Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine: Recent Episodes
Rob Downey, MD, IFMCP
Bringing you the leaders in Functional and Integrative Medicine, Dr. Rob Downey explores the cutting edge protocols and strategies to reclaim health and create a better life, from the inside out.
You know what would make you feel better—so why is it still so difficult to do? When exhaustion, brain fog, low mood, and overwhelm become your normal, it's easy to blame yourself for lacking motivation or discipline.
Psychologist Dr. Matthew Campbell sits down with Dr. Rob to offer a more compassionate—and actionable—explanation: you may be depleted of five primal needs your body was built to receive.
He reveals why sunlight, sleep, movement, genuine connection, and intentional consumption can influence how you feel more profoundly than another complicated health protocol—and how to restore them without attempting a total life overhaul.
You'll leave with a simple way to reduce friction, create momentum, and begin feeling like yourself again.
Connect with Dr. Campbell here: http://www.ourprimal5.com
Key takeaways:
• Depletion often masquerades as laziness. Before judging your motivation, examine whether your body is receiving enough sunlight, sleep, movement, connection, and nourishing input.
• Foundational health is more powerful than it looks. Complicated interventions cannot consistently compensate for neglected biological and emotional needs.
• Movement should feel inviting, not punitive. Walking, playing, exploring, or moving with friends can combine physical activity with joy, nature, and connection.
• Make healthy behavior easier than unhealthy behavior. Reduce friction by placing helpful choices within reach, removing common temptations, and creating routines that require less daily negotiation.
• Progress begins with one attainable action. Drink your coffee outside, walk with your dog, protect your bedtime, or call someone you care about. Momentum matters more than perfection.
What if the way you manage your money isn't all that different from the way you manage your health? In this episode of Field Notes, host Heather Moon sits down with financial planner Tanner Link for a fascinating conversation about the surprising parallels between financial wellness and functional medicine.
Just like chronic health issues rarely start with symptoms alone, financial stress often stems from deeper patterns hiding beneath the surface — impulse behaviors, lack of awareness, misaligned priorities, and operating on autopilot.
Together, Heather and Tanner unpack how budgeting, mindful spending, long-term habits, and small daily decisions compound over time, proving that whether you're healing your body or building financial freedom, sustainable change doesn't come from quick fixes… it comes from understanding the root cause and making better choices consistently.
Connect with Tanner here: https://www.linkassetmgmt.com/
Key Takeaways
• Financial health and physical health follow the same principle: symptoms often point to deeper underlying patterns.
• Budgeting isn't a restriction — it creates awareness around unconscious habits and spending behaviors.
• Small daily decisions compound over time, whether you're building wealth or improving health.
• Impulse spending can quietly sabotage long-term financial stability, just like unhealthy habits impact long-term wellness.
• True financial freedom isn't about becoming rich — it's about reaching a place where money no longer controls your peace of mind.
What if burnout isn't the price of success—but proof you're doing success wrong?
In this powerful conversation, Garrett Wood shares the heartbreaking story that transformed his understanding of achievement, stress, and identity. Drawing from his work in hypnotherapy, nervous system regulation, and executive well-being coaching, Garrett explains why grit, hustle, and pushing harder eventually fail—even for the most driven people. He reveals the hidden drivers of burnout, from misaligned values and sensory overload to subconscious beliefs and emotional labor, and offers a radically different model: one where success comes from alignment, not sacrifice.
If you've ever felt exhausted despite doing everything "right," this episode may completely change how you think about performance, purpose, and fulfillment.
Connect with Garrett here: https://www.gnosistherapy.com/
Key Takeaways
• Burnout isn't a badge of honor. Caring deeply about your work can actually increase your risk if you don't have the right recovery and support systems.
• Your environment matters more than you think. Many people aren't broken—they're simply operating in environments that clash with their nervous system needs.
• Grit is a useful tool, not a lifestyle. The ability to push through adversity is valuable, but relying on it exclusively eventually leads to burnout.
• Success requires alignment. Sustainable performance happens when your values, strengths, role, and environment work together instead of against each other.
• Small changes create massive results. The fastest path out of burnout often isn't a dramatic life overhaul—it's identifying and improving the few areas creating the most friction.
Most athletes spend countless hours training their bodies, but what if the biggest factor holding them back is something they rarely train at all? In this insightful episode of Field Notes, sports psychologist and former Olympic ski coach Andy Liebner reveals why mental performance may be just as important as physical preparation.
Drawing from his own journey as an elite athlete, coach, and PhD candidate in sports psychology, Andy shares practical strategies for building confidence, overcoming self-doubt, mastering visualization, and staying focused under pressure. Whether you're a competitive athlete, weekend warrior, coach, parent, or simply someone pursuing better health and performance, this conversation offers powerful lessons on how your mindset can either limit your potential or unlock it.
Connect with Andy here: https://www.facebook.com/p/Coach-Andy-Liebner-100046294872992/
Key Takeaways
• The conversations you have with yourself matter most. Your self-talk shapes confidence, resilience, and performance more than any outside influence.
• Mental training is often the missing piece. Many athletes believe performance is 50% mental, yet spend almost no time actively training their minds.
• Visualization is a powerful performance tool. Mentally rehearsing success can help your brain respond as if you've already experienced the moment before it happens.
• Focus on what you want, not what you fear. High performers direct their attention toward desired outcomes instead of trying to avoid mistakes.
• Parents, coaches, and mentors have enormous influence. A few well-timed words of encouragement can change an athlete's confidence, mindset, and trajectory.
In this powerful episode of Field Notes, Heather Moon sits down with Jenny Loudon, co-founder of the Alaska Eating Disorders Alliance, for a compassionate and eye-opening conversation about the reality of eating disorders.
Jenny explains why these illnesses are so often misunderstood, overlooked, or minimized — especially when someone does not "look sick." The discussion explores how eating disorders impact the mind, body, relationships, and identity, while challenging many common assumptions around food, weight, and health.
From social media pressure and perfectionism to atypical anorexia, binge eating disorder, orthorexia, and the lack of treatment access in Alaska, this episode offers both education and hope.
Most importantly, it reminds listeners that eating disorders are serious, but recovery is absolutely possible with the right support.
Learn more about Jenny and AKEDA here: https://www.akeatingdisordersalliance.org/
Key Takeaways:
• Eating disorders are both mental and physical illnesses — and they can be life-threatening.
• You cannot tell if someone has an eating disorder just by looking at their body.
• Disordered eating exists on a spectrum, and people deserve help before things become extreme.
• Social media can fuel shame, rigidity, and body comparison, so auditing your feed matters.
• Recovery is possible, especially when people get specialized support early.
Season 5 of the Field Notes podcast continues with a thoughtful conversation hosted by Heather Moon, who is stepping into a larger hosting role this season with her signature warmth, curiosity, and whole-person approach to health. In this episode, Heather sits down with returning guest and Alaska-based personal trainer Heidi Cox to explore what fitness really looks like when it's aligned with real life, changing hormones, injury recovery, mental health, and sustainable wellness. Together, they unpack the importance of individualized care, behavior change, movement as medicine, and why true health goes far beyond the number on a scale. From navigating perimenopause and burnout to rebuilding trust with your body after injury, this episode offers an honest, encouraging, and deeply practical conversation about creating strength, resilience, and vitality from the inside out. Learn more about Heidi here: https://changingtidesfitness.com/
Key Takeaways:
• Movement should be viewed as a powerful tool for healing and resilience — not punishment or a checkbox to complete.
• Sustainable fitness starts with individualized care: what works for one person may not work for another, especially during hormonal changes, injury recovery, or periods of burnout.
• Small, consistent habits often create the biggest long-term results. Simple daily movement, hydration, better sleep, and realistic goals matter more than extreme routines.
• Real transformation happens when people connect with their deeper "why" — the emotional reason behind wanting to feel stronger, healthier, or more confident.
• True wellness requires a whole-person approach that supports physical health, mental health, nutrition, stress management, and long-term behavior change together.
What if the headaches, fatigue, brain fog, poor sleep, allergies, or "mysterious symptoms" you've been chasing for years aren't just about food, supplements, or stress… but the environment inside your own home?
In this fascinating episode of the Field Notes podcast, Dr. Rob Downey and Joe Rignola dive into the emerging concept of "functional medicine for the home" — exploring how air quality, lighting, EMFs, water, cleaning products, and even the items in your pantry may be silently taxing your body every single day.
Dr. Rob shares why he partnered with Clean Elements and Lindenhaus, how simple changes like improving lighting or opening windows can dramatically support health, and why creating a safer, lower-stress home environment may unlock healing for people who feel stuck despite "doing everything right."
If you want to have a talk with me or a Lindenhaus team member, or sign up to have your home assessed, here's my link (this is also where you would express interest in becoming an Advisor on my team in Alaska): https://www.cleanelements.co/rob-downey
More broadly, if you live in Alaska and want to know more, explore the full service here: https://www.cleanelements.co/alaska-team
Most broadly of all, If you live or have a home in the United States, take a look at how it works here (there's a good chance there's a Lindenhaus team near you, part of what I want to spread the word about): https://www.cleanelements.co/how-it-works
Key Takeaways:
• Your home environment may be contributing to fatigue, headaches, brain fog, poor sleep, and chronic inflammation.
• Air quality, lighting, EMF exposure, water contaminants, and personal care products all play a role in overall health.
• Simple changes — like improving airflow, adjusting evening lighting, and reducing nighttime screen exposure — can support better sleep and recovery.
• Clean Elements home assessments provide personalized insights and practical "swap-out" recommendations without fear-based messaging.
• Dr. Rob emphasizes a balanced, step-by-step approach: focus on reducing unnecessary stressors while remembering the body is naturally resilient and designed to heal.
In this fascinating episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Dr. Shawn Talbott to unpack the powerful connection between the gut and the brain—and why your microbiome may have far more influence over your mental fitness than most people realize.
Together, they explore how gut bacteria can affect stress resilience, mood, sleep, motivation, and even cognitive clarity through pathways involving neurotransmitters, inflammation, and the immune system.
What makes this conversation especially compelling is that it stays grounded in both science and practicality: yes, there are exciting advances in psychobiotics and targeted supplements, but the real foundation still comes back to everyday choices like eating more fiber, adding fermented foods, improving sleep, and creating the conditions for your body to work with you instead of against you. It's a smart, hopeful episode that makes a complex topic feel clear, relevant, and actionable.
Learn more about Dr. Talbott here: http://3WavesWellness.com
5 Key Takeaways:
- The gut-brain axis is a two-way communication system, meaning your gut affects your brain, and your stress levels can also directly affect your gut.
- Certain gut bacteria may influence the production of key neurochemicals like GABA, serotonin, and dopamine, impacting mood, relaxation, motivation, and sleep.
- Dr. Talbott emphasizes the "3 Fs" for gut health: fiber, fermented foods, and flavonoids.
- Supplements can be helpful, but they work best when used strategically and alongside lifestyle changes, not as a replacement for them.
Better gut health can create a positive upward spiral—helping people feel better, which often leads to better choices around food, movement, and sleep.
In this fascinating episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Greg Lee—a former NASA systems engineer turned acupuncturist and chronic illness specialist—to explore a radically integrative approach to complex health conditions. Drawing from decades of clinical experience, Greg explains how hidden drivers like mold toxicity, stealth infections, nervous system dysregulation, inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction can keep people sick even when their labs look "normal."
He walks through the tools he uses to uncover and address these deeper patterns, including advanced medical scanning, frequency-specific microcurrent, nanoparticle botanical therapies, molecular hydrogen, peptides, and insights from Chinese medicine. The result is a conversation that feels both deeply technical and surprisingly hopeful—especially for people who have tried everything and still feel stuck.
Learn more about Greg Lee here: https://www.lymeresearchcenter.com/FIELD
Key takeaways:
• Greg Lee blends systems engineering, Chinese medicine, and functional healing to approach chronic illness from a completely different angle.
• Many chronically ill patients may be dealing with hidden root causes such as mold, co-infections, biofilms, neuroinflammation, and energy depletion.
• Greg uses a noninvasive scan to assess stress patterns related to infections, organs, neurotransmitters, detox pathways, and mitochondrial function.
• Molecular hydrogen stood out as a major tool for reducing brain fog, calming inflammation, and supporting detoxification and neurological recovery.
The episode offers hope for people with complex cases by showing how sequencing the right therapies in the right order can help the body regain stability and resilience.
In this powerful episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob sits down with Christine Ruch to explore one of the most overlooked pieces of true healing: the nervous system. Christine shares her own journey from being diagnosed with MS and doing everything "right" in the world of diet, supplements, and holistic health—yet still getting sicker—until she discovered that deeper healing required more than a perfect protocol.
Together, she and Dr. Rob unpack how unresolved stress, trauma, hypervigilance, and emotional suppression can quietly block recovery, and why embodiment, surrender, and nervous system regulation may be the missing link for so many people with chronic illness. This is a deeply hopeful conversation about learning to trust the body's wisdom, slow down, and create the inner safety that allows real healing to unfold.
Key takeaways:
• Healing is not always about doing more. Sometimes it starts by addressing nervous system dysregulation beneath the surface.
• You can eat perfectly, take the right supplements, and still stay stuck if stress and trauma are running the show
• Embodiment is not a concept to think about. It is a felt experience of being present in your body and learning to listen to it.
• Real healing often requires surrender, allowance, and trust rather than rigid control and constant striving.
• One simple starting point: sit with discomfort for 30 seconds at a time and remind yourself, "There is nothing to fix."
Learn more about Christine here: https://www.christineruch.com/
This episode of Field Notes, hosted by Nurse Practitioner Heather Moon, explores the often-overlooked intersection between functional medicine and spirituality through a deeply human conversation with hospital chaplain Frank Alioto.
Together, they move beyond protocols and lab results to examine how meaning, connection, and presence shape the healing process just as much as biology.
Frank shares powerful insights from his work with patients and families in moments of uncertainty, emphasizing that true care isn't about having the right answers—it's about showing up, asking the right questions, and honoring what matters most to each person.
The conversation reveals that healing is not simply the absence of disease, but a holistic experience that includes emotional, relational, and spiritual well-being—and that sometimes, the most profound intervention is simply being present.
Key Takeaways:
• Healing is multidimensional—true wellness includes physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual health.
• The question "What matters most to you right now?" often reveals deeper needs than symptoms alone.
• Presence—not just treatment—is one of the most powerful forms of care in both medicine and life.
• Spiritual distress and unresolved emotional issues can manifest physically and impact long-term health.
• Illness can be both something to address clinically and a catalyst for deeper reflection, growth, and meaning.
In this powerful Field Notes episode, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Dr. Jeff Brown to unpack a topic that far too many women have been told to simply endure: painful periods, hormone imbalance, and the deeper systemic issues driving their symptoms.
Dr. Brown shares his journey from conventional medicine into functional and regenerative care, explaining why he became frustrated with symptom management and was drawn to a root-cause approach that actually helps people heal.
Together, they explore why women are so often dismissed in traditional medical settings, why common does not mean normal when it comes to menstrual pain, and how conditions like endometriosis can dramatically improve when the body is supported through better testing, nutrition, stress reduction, gut healing, detoxification, and properly balanced hormones.
It's an eye-opening conversation that offers both validation and hope for women who are tired of being told to "push through" symptoms that deserve real attention.
Learn more about Dr. Brown here: http://hormonehealthwithdrbrown.com
- Painful periods are common, but they are not normal and should be seen as a sign that something deeper needs to be addressed.
- Dr. Brown explains why many women feel dismissed in conventional medicine, especially in rushed, insurance-based models that leave little room for complex root-cause care.
- Proper hormone testing matters, and timing is key—especially testing during the luteal phase to better understand estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone balance.
- Healing often requires a whole-body approach, including gut health, inflammation reduction, detoxification support, movement, and nervous system regulation.
- Dr. Brown shares a transformative endometriosis case that shows how powerful the right functional approach can be in restoring hope, balance, and quality of life.
In this episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob sits down with functional health practitioner Kim Heintz to explore the long and frustrating journey that led her from chronic illness to vibrant health.
Kim shares how debilitating migraines that began in childhood eventually spiraled into anxiety, fatigue, brain fog, and digestive issues—symptoms that conventional medicine struggled to explain or resolve.
After being told she might simply have to live with these problems, Kim began digging deeper and discovered the power of functional medicine testing, root-cause investigation, and lifestyle changes.
Together, Kim and Dr. Rob discuss how hidden stressors—ranging from gut dysfunction and food sensitivities to mineral imbalances and environmental stress—can quietly accumulate until the body reaches a breaking point.
Kim's story offers both a cautionary tale about ignoring subtle health signals and an empowering reminder that when we identify and address the real drivers of illness, meaningful healing is possible.
Learn more about Kim here: https://www.kimheintz.com/
Key Takeaways
• Chronic symptoms often have deeper root causes. Migraines, fatigue, anxiety, and digestive issues are frequently connected through underlying imbalances rather than being isolated problems.
• The "bucket theory" explains symptom overload. When stressors like poor diet, toxins, infections, and emotional stress pile up, the body eventually reaches a tipping point where symptoms appear.
• Functional testing can reveal hidden drivers of illness. Tools like GI testing and mineral analysis can uncover imbalances that traditional labs often miss.
• Gut health plays a central role in whole-body wellness. Many chronic symptoms—from migraines to mood changes—can be linked back to gut dysfunction and inflammation.
• Small foundational habits can create big health shifts. Hydration, mineral balance, diet changes, and stress management can dramatically reduce symptom burden when applied consistently.
In this Field Notes conversation, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with speech-language pathologist and holistic feeding specialist, Lena Livinsky to reframe "picky eating" as a whole-body, whole-family issue—less about willpower or "bad behavior," and more about safety, biology, skills, and environment.
Lena shares how conventional feeding therapy often over-focuses on behavior, and how working through her own child's selective eating helped her connect the dots: when a child's nervous system is dysregulated or their gut and sensory systems are off, eating can feel threatening, not nourishing.
She introduces her BLOOM Framework—rooted in connection—to help caregivers zoom out, identify the real bottleneck, and create steady, realistic shifts that help kids feel safe enough to explore food again.
Learn more about Lene here: https://lenalivinsky.com/
Key takeaways
• Connection and nervous system regulation are the "root" of progress—kids can't "rest and digest" when they don't feel safe.
• "Picky eating" is often better understood as selective eating with underlying drivers (discomfort, sensory load, stress, gut imbalance).
• Lena's BLOOM Framework maps the core levers: Balanced health, Learned oral skills, Optimal microbiome, Open exploration, Mealtime boundaries.
• You can do a lot at home before (or alongside) extensive testing: simplify gut disruptors, support circadian/light hygiene, and create low-pressure exposure to food.
If something feels off (limited foods, gagging/choking, food pocketing), trust your gut and seek the right-fit, interdisciplinary support—small changes, started early or late, can still move the needle.
If you have a child (or grandchild) in your life who struggles at the dinner table… this conversation might change how you see everything.
In this episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with integrative psychiatric provider Dr. Josh Waddell to unpack mental health through a functional medicine lens—moving beyond symptom labels and "chemical imbalance" shortcuts to ask what's actually driving anxiety, depression, and emotional instability in the first place.
Dr. Waddell lays out a clear roadmap for understanding mental illness as a progression—from real-world triggers to cellular/mitochondrial disruption to downstream neurotransmitter changes—then introduces his practical "Four Pillars" framework (Body, Mind, Spirit, Environment) to help people pinpoint where their system is wobbling and what to address first.
The conversation is equal parts compassionate and actionable, emphasizing that mental health struggles are not a character flaw, that healing is often about restoring stability in the right pillar(s), and that the best plan is the one that meets you where you are—sometimes including medication as a bridge so deeper root-cause work can actually stick.
Learn more about Dr. Josh Waddell here: http://www.arukahwell.co
5 Key Takeaways
Mental health symptoms often follow a progression: triggers → mitochondrial/cellular dysfunction → neurotransmitter changes, so "root cause" usually sits upstream of brain chemicals.
The Four Pillars (Body, Mind, Spirit, Environment) offer a simple way to identify what's most off—and why progress can stall when you're only focusing on one area.
You can't out-supplement a toxic context: chronic stress, unhealthy relationships, burnout jobs, or constant distressing media exposure can keep the nervous system stuck.
A timeline exercise (mapping life events, illnesses, stressors, and turning points) can reveal the earliest catalyst and clarify where to start.
Supplements can help, but basics matter: food-first, third-party testing, avoid vague proprietary blends, and match herbs/supports to your symptom pattern—not trends.
In this episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Dr. Jen Mann to talk about one of the most frustrating (and common) experiences in modern health care: the "mystery illness" — the symptoms that don't fit neatly into a diagnosis, and the exhaustion that comes from chasing answers. Instead of defaulting to more tests, more protocols, or another "perfect stack," Dr. Jen invites a different starting point: your body already has information — and learning to listen is part of the medicine.
Together, they explore how healing can be both science and art… and how true recovery often begins when we shift from "fixing what's broken" to cultivating more aliveness. Along the way, Dr. Rob shares how many patients get stuck in the pressure to "figure it out," and why the relief sometimes comes not from finally getting a label — but from rebuilding trust in your own internal guidance, regulating your nervous system, and finding support that makes the journey feel human again.
Learn more about Dr. Jen here: http://novawellnessmed.com
Key Takeaways
- Healing is both science and art. Tests and protocols can help, but they're most powerful when paired with presence, self-compassion, and deeper listening.
- Mystery illness can be a doorway, not a life sentence. Reframing symptoms as signals (instead of personal failures) reduces suffering and opens curiosity and growth. You are the primary agent in your healing.
- Doctors, supplements, AI, and tools can support you — but your relationship with your body is the foundation.
- Rigid wellness routines can become another form of stress. Hustle culture can sneak into "health" and keep the nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight. Regulation + connection accelerate recovery.
- Nervous system practices (done in ways you enjoy) and healing in community/partnership can fast-track progress and reduce overwhelm.
In this powerful episode of Field Notes—hosted by Nurse Practitioner Heather Moon—we're joined by Mary Ellen Doty, NP, a pioneer in wilderness medicine and founder of Wilderness Medical Staffing.
Mary Ellen shares gripping stories from serving as the sole medical provider in some of the most remote and unforgiving environments on earth, including Bush Alaska, where medicine is practiced not by protocol alone—but with presence, creativity, and deep respect for the human story.
Learn more about Mary Ellen here: https://maryellendoty.com/ Her journey reveals a stark contrast between relationship-centered care in extreme settings and the burnout-driven pace of modern corporate medicine, offering timely lessons on resilience, meaning, and what it truly takes to heal both patients and practitioners.
Drawing from decades of experience and her upcoming book Medicine at 50 Below, this conversation is a moving reminder that when medicine slows down, humanity shows up—and everyone benefits.
Key Takeaways:
True healing requires presence and time, not rushed, transactional care
Burnout in healthcare is driven more by loss of meaning than lack of money
Rotational and boundary-based work models can restore balance for clinicians
Harsh environments reveal the importance of community, adaptability, and systems thinking
Practicing medicine with purpose benefits patients, providers, and entire communities
This episode is a powerful reminder that the future of medicine isn't about doing more—it's about caring deeper.
If you've ever felt burned out, disillusioned, or called to a more human way of healing, this conversation will stay with you.
In this powerful episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Dr. Chloe Weber for a deeply human conversation at the intersection of functional medicine, Chinese medicine, and lived experience.
Dr. Weber shares how her son's rare neurological condition became the catalyst for her life's work—pushing her beyond the limits of conventional care and into the ecosystem-based wisdom of Chinese herbal medicine, CBD, and spagyric extraction.
Together, they explore why modern chronic illness demands a proactive, pattern-based approach to health, how ancient formulas can be intelligently adapted for today's world, and why women's hormonal health and neurological resilience deserve far more nuanced support than they currently receive.
Learn more about Dr. Chloe Weber: http://radicalrootsherbs.com and http://Noxiherbs.com
Key Takeaways:
Chinese medicine treats the body as an ecosystem, not a collection of isolated parts—addressing root patterns, not just symptoms.
Personal healing journeys often spark the most powerful innovations, as seen in Dr. Chloe Weber's work born from advocating for her son's neurological health.
Herbal formulas and CBD can be deeply therapeutic when used intelligently and in ways that support underlying imbalances.
Modern health challenges require updated ancient wisdom, blending time-tested Chinese medicine with today's science and realities.
Women's hormonal health needs cycle-aware, dynamic support, not one-size-fits-all solutions.
This episode is equal parts science, story, and soul—an inspiring reminder that true healing begins when we stop treating symptoms in isolation and start supporting the whole human system.
What if the missing link behind stubborn hormone issues, mood swings, fatigue, and digestive chaos isn't your hormones at all—but your gut? In this powerful Field Notes conversation, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with nutritionist and gut-health expert Jacqui Meehan to unpack the deeply personal story that led her from chronic illness to healing, and why the microbiome is the true cornerstone of vibrant health.
Learn more about Jacqui here: https://www.jacquimeehannutrition.com/about
Together, they explore the gut-brain-hormone connection, why so many people "do everything right" and still feel awful, and how simple, overlooked shifts in digestion, lifestyle, and nutrient absorption can unlock dramatic changes in energy, mood, and hormonal balance—especially for women. If you've ever felt dismissed, stuck, or frustrated by surface-level health advice, this episode may completely change how you understand your body—and where real healing begins.
Key Takeaways:
- Gut health is foundational—not secondary. The microbiome influences digestion, immunity, hormones, and mood. You cannot fully heal or optimize health without first stabilizing gut function.
- You're not just what you eat—you're what you absorb. Many people eat well but still feel depleted because poor digestion and low stomach acid block nutrient assimilation. Fixing absorption often unlocks rapid improvements.
- Stress directly disrupts digestion and hormones. Chronic stress shifts the nervous system into fight-or-flight, suppressing stomach acid, bile flow, and gut motility—setting the stage for inflammation and imbalance.
- The gut and brain are in constant two-way communication. Through the vagus nerve and microbial metabolites, gut health shapes mood, stress resilience, and emotional regulation—sometimes even more than mindset alone.
- Hormonal balance depends on the microbiome. Certain gut bacteria can recycle excess estrogen instead of eliminating it, contributing to estrogen dominance, PMS, PMDD, and PCOS—making gut repair essential for hormone health.
In this deeply moving episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Veronique Ory to explore the powerful intersection of embodiment, trauma, and healing. Veronique shares how lived experiences—especially those shaped by early life, intergenerational trauma, and unexpressed emotion—are stored in the body, influencing our health, behavior, and sense of safety long after the original events have passed.
Together, they unpack why healing isn't about "fixing" ourselves, but about creating enough safety to let go, soften old narratives, and reconnect with the body through compassion, curiosity, movement, and presence. Blending wisdom from yoga, somatic work, psychology, and functional medicine, this conversation offers a hopeful, grounded reminder that when we learn to listen to the body—and honor both pain and joy—profound personal and collective transformation becomes possible.
Learn more about Veronique here: http://YogaWithVeronique.com
Key takeaways:
All experience is embodied. Emotions, stress, and trauma don't just live in our thoughts—they are stored in the nervous system, fascia, and tissues, shaping health patterns until they are consciously felt and released.
Healing requires safety, not force. We often hold on to old wounds because they once protected us. True healing happens only when the body feels safe enough to let go, not when the mind tries to "fix" or override the process.
Suppressed emotions create bigger reactions later. No emotion is inherently bad, but unexpressed feelings tend to surface as overwhelm, illness, or sudden emotional eruptions. Somatic practices allow emotions to move through the body in healthy ways.
Forgiveness is about freedom, not approval. Letting go of old stories and grievances isn't about condoning what happened—it's about releasing the emotional charge so it no longer hijacks the body or dictates health outcomes.
Small shifts can create paradigm-level change. Gentle, embodied actions—like changing daily habits, slowing down, choosing nourishing movement, or removing inflammatory inputs—can unlock profound transformations in health, agency, and self-trust.
In this Field Notes conversation, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Dr. Avinish Reddy to explore a powerful but often overlooked truth about longevity: social connection isn't a "nice to have" — it's a biological necessity.
While modern health culture fixates on metrics like VO₂ max, glucose, sleep scores, and diet precision, Dr. Reddy explains how meaningful relationships directly shape stress physiology, immune function, metabolic health, and long-term vitality.
Drawing from clinical data, neuroscience, and real-world patient outcomes, the episode reframes connection as a measurable driver of healthspan — one that lowers inflammation, stabilizes blood sugar, improves sleep, and reduces mortality risk.
The message is simple but profound: optimizing health in isolation is incomplete. Longevity is built in relationship.
Key Takeaways
- Social connection is a core pillar of longevity, with isolation linked to up to a 50% increase in early mortality risk
- Meaningful relationships lower stress hormones, improve sleep quality, and positively influence glucose and inflammation
- Simple daily habits (calling loved ones, walking with friends, shared meals) outperform complex protocols when sustained long-term
- Healthspan depends on integrating social connection with movement, nutrition, and purpose — not tracking metrics alone
- The benefits of connection compound over decades, making midlife habits critical for long-term resilience and vitality
Learn more about Dr. Reddy: https://www.elevatedmedical.com/
Dr. Rob Downey welcomes Benjamin Bressington for a wide-ranging conversation that goes far beyond the mushroom hype cycle and into lived experience, integrity, and true therapeutic potential. Benjamin traces his path into mushrooms through years spent navigating infertility and IVF, where he witnessed firsthand the physical and emotional toll of narrow, protocol-driven medicine. That disillusionment, combined with his own struggle with depression as a high-performing entrepreneur, led him to explore mushrooms as a tool for accessing buried trauma and restoring a sense of vitality that talk therapy alone never unlocked. The discussion then turns practical and deeply educational. Benjamin breaks down why caffeine creates a cycle of "borrowed energy" and crashes, while certain functional mushrooms support the body's natural energy systems more sustainably. He also exposes why many mushroom supplements fail—using clear analogies to explain the difference between fruiting bodies and mycelium, and why extraction methods matter so much. By unpacking spagyric extraction and microdosing concepts, this episode equips listeners to make informed, discerning choices in a rapidly growing (and often misleading) wellness space.
Time stamps
01:27–06:19 — Infertility, IVF, and disillusionment with conventional medicine 03:04–04:08 — Depression, trauma, and mushrooms as a catalyst for healing
08:43–10:12 — Caffeine crashes vs. clean, adaptogenic mushroom energy
18:12–24:08 — Fruiting bodies, extraction methods, and why most products fail
Key takeaways
- Caffeine often stimulates fake energy, while mushroom adaptogens support real, sustainable energy production.
- The therapeutic impact of mushrooms depends heavily on fruiting body sourcing and extraction quality.
- Many "high-dose" mushroom products are ineffective because they rely on mycelium and weak extraction methods.
- Ancient practices like spagyric extraction and microdosing offer insights that modern wellness often overlooks.
Get your free sample: https://checkout.bareremedy.net/energygummy1?event_id=1ecc8bda-7d0c-4db1-a6e7-850bf586a522
Heather Moon, our wonderful nurse practitioner here at Seaworthy, is taking over as host for this episode of The Field Notes Podcast!
She welcomes fellow NP, Marcia Mankin, whose lifelong passion for skin health began on a Wyoming ranch and deepened through profound personal experiences with melanoma in her family. Together, they explore something I wish more people understood: your skin isn't just a surface.
It's a living, intelligent messenger—constantly reflecting your internal health, your environment, your stress levels, your sleep quality, and even your emotional state. Marcia brings decades of surgical and clinical wisdom to this conversation, helping us see how skin changes often reveal what's happening before we see it anywhere else.
Heather and Marcia also unpack the lifestyle patterns that shape skin health—nutrition, movement, hydration, sun exposure, and daily habits—and they shine a light on popular aesthetic trends that may do more harm than good. It's an empowering, science-grounded discussion that reminds us that the fundamentals matter far more than quick fixes. If you've ever wondered why your skin suddenly looks dull, inflamed, puffy, reactive, or "off," this episode will help you understand the deeper story and make meaningful changes that support whole-body vitality.
5 Key Takeaways
- Your skin is often the first place deeper issues—autoimmune, inflammatory, emotional, or organ-related—show up.
- Whole foods, adequate protein, hydration, and micronutrients directly support collagen, repair, and radiance.
- Stress, sleep quality, and emotional health influence the skin almost immediately—often within hours.
- Be cautious with trendy aesthetic procedures like PDO threads and injectable PDGF; research is limited, and risks include inflammation and scarring.
- The most powerful skin practices are simple: daily sunscreen, gentle cleansing, hydration, good sleep, and consistent care.
In this episode of the Fieldnotes podcast, Dr. Rob Downey interviews naturopathic doctor Sarah Love about why nutrition alone often fails to resolve modern health issues. Sarah explains that despite patients following excellent diets, chronic stress, lack of breaks, and sympathetic overdrive frequently block healing. She emphasizes the importance of intentional rest, reconnecting with nature, and stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. Her clinical experience led her back to herbal medicine and the creation of her own caffeine-free tea blends designed to support relaxation, gut health, cognitive clarity, and daily rituals that restore vitality. The conversation highlights simple, "common-sense" lifestyle practices — like scheduled breaks, outdoor time, and herbal tea — as essential foundations for wellness.
Timestamps: 02:40 – Diet alone not healing patients. 04:54 – Break culture urgently needs revival. 06:43 – Breaks must be truly restorative. 13:48 – Herbal teas reintroduced into practice. 21:39 – Gut drives overall body health.
_______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Breaks are essential for true healing. Stress blocks digestion and vitality. Nature exposure boosts parasympathetic activity. Herbal teas support gut and mind. Simple habits outperform complex interventions.
In this episode of the Fieldnotes podcast, Dr. Downey interviews Natalie Lund and opens up about her unexpected journey through perimenopause and how it forced her to rewrite long-held beliefs about her body and identity. She shares how she experienced medical gaslighting when her symptoms were dismissed, and how she found real relief through hormone therapy and the mindset-shifting technique of rapid transformational therapy (RTT). She explores how hypnosis and RTT helped her reclaim control over her life, reset her mental and physical state, and begin seeing her femininity and wellbeing in a completely new way. The conversation offers raw personal testimony, practical tools for women navigating hormonal chaos, and a message that transformation is possible when you stop trying to live by old rules.
Timestaps: (00:05:12) Realizing the symptoms meant perimenopause (00:18:45) Doctors dismissed her pain and fog (00:29:33) Discovering RTT & hypnosis as tools (00:41:20) Hormone therapy changed her outlook (00:55:10) Reclaiming identity beyond physical symptoms
____________________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Hormonal life changes demand identity transformation Medical dismissal doesn't mean symptoms aren't real RTT and hypnosis changed her internal narrative Hormone therapy unlocked physical and mental clarity Reclaiming femininity starts with redefining self
In this episode of the Fieldnotes Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Marissa Heisel—a chiropractor and midwife—about the importance of trusting our body's innate wisdom and recognizing that true healing begins from within. She shares how modern society, particularly for women, has conditioned us to depend on external authorities rather than our own intuition. Through her experiences in chiropractic, midwifery, and holistic care, Dr. Heisel emphasizes the power of self-trust, simplicity, and returning to natural grounding practices to restore vitality and sovereignty over one's health.
- (00:02) Introduction to Dr. Marissa Heisel and the theme of self-healing
- (02:11) Her transition from conventional medicine to holistic practice
- (03:48) Core philosophy: "You are your own best medicine"
- (08:24) How cultural conditioning undermines women's body wisdom
- (32:05) Practical guidance—using breath and nature to reconnect to inner balance
Key Takeaways
- We are both our own best expert and our most powerful healer.
- Cultural conditioning often erodes self-trust, leading to overreliance on external validation.
- True healing begins by simplifying—removing noise and reconnecting with the body's signals.
- Mindful breathing and grounding in nature are accessible ways to restore inner clarity and resilience.
Learn more about Dr. Marissa here:
In this episode of the Fieldnotes Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Jodi Cohen, founder of Vibrant Blue Oils, about the transformative power of essential oils on the brain and nervous system. Cohen recounts her personal journey, showing how scent can help regulate the vagus nerve, restore parasympathetic balance, and support emotional healing. She explains the direct neurological link between smell and safety, how scent can rewire stress responses, and why essential oils like clove, lime, and rose can serve as simple yet profound tools for trauma recovery, anxiety relief, and nervous-system regulation. Timestamps: (01:18) Started using oils for sleep (03:50) Discovered vagus-nerve stress connection (05:57) Created clove-lime parasympathetic blend (12:49) Used rose oil to heal grief (27:15) Linked neck fascia to relaxation ____________________________________________________________________________ Key Takeaways: Smell directly accesses the brain. Oils can shift stress to calm. The vagus nerve controls healing. Grief inspired powerful emotional blends. Regulation begins with the parasympathetic system.
In this episode of the Fieldnotes podcast, Dr. Rob Downey is joined by Dr. Michael Blahut, a family practice physician with integrative training, to discuss his philosophy that the life you live is your medicine. Dr. Blahut emphasizes that lifestyle and our connection to the natural world are the most potent forms of medicine, going beyond supplements and testing. The conversation centers on restoring the body's original biological blueprint by tapping into nature's wisdom through simple practices. They explore the critical roles of natural light and the circadian rhythm in health, discussing the benefits of sun exposure and the use of tools like blue blockers. Finally, they delve into the power of sound and frequency for nervous system regulation and the profound importance of belief, purpose, and community as fundamental, root causes of health and well-being.
Timestamps: (01:05) Lifestyle is the wellspring of health. (03:04) Life you live is medicine. (04:51) Get outside; get natural sunlight. (26:54) Sound shifts nervous system state. (33:20) Purpose, community matter most.
_______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Your life, not pills, is the medicine. Restore your body's natural health blueprint. Daily sun exposure regulates your health. Sound and rhythm heal the nervous system. Purpose and community are the best medicine.
In this episode, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Angie Gallagher—an exercise physiologist and integrative health coach with over 25 years of experience in cardiac rehab—about why conventional heart care is missing the mark. Angie shares how her frustration with recurring cardiac events in patients led her to explore functional medicine approaches, integrating gut health, nervous system regulation, and metabolic markers into her practice. The conversation dives into overlooked lab tests, the gut–heart axis, HeartMath for nervous system balance, and why managing stress and blood sugar may be more important than cholesterol. Angie’s holistic approach redefines what it means to truly protect the heart.
Timestamps: 01:15 – Angie’s shift from conventional care 05:40 – Key labs doctors often miss 10:20 – Gut inflammation linked to heart disease 13:30 – HeartMath improves nervous system balance 18:45 – Blood sugar more critical than cholesterol
_______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Gut health directly impacts heart health Blood sugar drives endothelial damage HeartMath balances stress and HRV Standard tests miss root cause markers Nature and breathwork support heart healing
In this powerful episode of the Fieldnotes Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Dr. Melissa Mondala to explore how food, lifestyle, and the gut-brain-immune connection can transform mental health.
From her own journey overcoming IBS and acne to helping her husband manage autoimmune disease, Dr. Mondala reveals how simple, evidence-based changes can spark profound healing.
She shares insights on why nutrition can be as effective as antidepressants, how sleep and exercise influence mood, and the hidden impact of substances and environmental toxins. If you’ve ever wondered how lifestyle choices shape your mind, body, and resilience, this episode offers a hopeful roadmap for lasting vitality.
Key takeaways:
- The gut produces 90% of neurotransmitters, directly linking digestion, immunity, and mood.
- Plant-based eating and stress reduction resolved Dr. Mandala’s IBS and improved her husband’s autoimmune symptoms.
- Nutritional counseling can achieve remission rates for depression equal to or better than SSRIs.
- Short, frequent “exercise snacks” throughout the day boost energy, mood, and clarity.
- Sleep, environmental toxins, and even sensitivity to noise all play major roles in mental health.
In this episode of the Fieldnotes podcast, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Debi Silber, founder of the Post Betrayal Transformation Institute, about the profound and often misunderstood impact of betrayal on physical, emotional, and psychological health. Dr. Silber shares her personal experience with family and marital betrayal that led her to conduct doctoral research on the topic, resulting in the identification of Post-Betrayal Syndrome and a five-stage healing process. She emphasizes that betrayal doesn’t resolve with time alone and presents shocking statistics on how it manifests in the body. The conversation highlights the importance of moving beyond survival mode, establishing boundaries, and embracing forgiveness at the right stage of healing. Her initiative, National Forgiveness Day, also underscores the power of intentional, guided emotional recovery.
Timestamps: (01:23) Time doesn’t heal betrayal wounds. (02:13) Betrayal breaks spoken, unspoken rules. (05:24) Personal power loss affects healing. (13:02) Healing has five predictable stages. (33:19) Forgiveness accelerates when timed right.
_______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Betrayal impacts mind, body, and spirit. Time alone doesn’t heal betrayal trauma. Healing follows five defined transformation stages. Survival mode can block true recovery. Forgiveness works—but only when ready.
In this powerful "Podcast Rewind" episode of Field Notes Podcast, Dr. Elena Villanueva joins Dr. Rob Downey to explore a transformative approach to healing that blends functional medicine, quantum science, and emotional wellness. Dr. V discusses how chronic conditions like diabetes, fatigue, and mental health struggles often stem from unresolved trauma, stress, and neurological imbalances—not just physical factors. Through case studies, personal experiences, and cutting-edge insights, she shares how deep healing becomes possible when we address the mind, body, and spirit together. The episode offers both inspiration and actionable wisdom for anyone ready to go beyond the pill and reclaim their vitality.
Timestamps: (02:35) Doctors lack root cause training (10:53) Neurological rewiring unlocks healing power (14:59) Stress triggered diabetes and hypertension (19:19) Rapid shifts: mind, body, spirit (38:58) Inner child work deepens self-love
_______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: True healing requires root cause awareness Quantum science enhances traditional medicine Emotional stress causes physical illness Inner child work restores self-worth Functional medicine can reverse chronic conditions
In this episode of the Fieldnotes Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with nurse and holistic health expert Esther Yunkin to explore Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism. Esther shares her journey from working in the ER to embracing a functional medicine and holistic approach, emphasizing the importance of looking at the body, mind, and spirit as a whole. They discuss the root causes of thyroid dysfunction, common misdiagnoses, lab testing strategies, and practical lifestyle adjustments to manage stress and autoimmunity. Esther provides actionable advice for patients to take agency in their health and simplify complex care plans, highlighting her own holistic practices and self-paced program.
Timestamps: 00:02 – Introduction to Esther Yunkin 06:51 – Importance of thyroid lab testing 10:03 – Ask why thyroid labs abnormal 21:36 – Stress and autoimmunity interplay 37:08 – Low vitamin D triggers discussed
_______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Root causes key to thyroid health Labs empower patient health decisions Stress fuels autoimmunity, complicates thyroid Simplicity aids sustainable lifestyle changes Vitamin D often overlooked trigger
In this powerful episode of the Fieldnotes Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Aimie Apigian to explore the cutting-edge science behind trauma and how it's stored in the body—not as a memory of events, but as an internal biology of overwhelm. Dr. Aimie shares personal stories and clinical insights about how unresolved trauma shapes chronic illness, anxiety, and depression, while offering hope through somatic healing and nervous system repair. We discuss her upcoming book, The Biology of Trauma, why movement is essential, how early life stress imprints us, and what it truly takes to reset our systems and reclaim vitality. Whether you're a practitioner, patient, or simply curious, this conversation redefines what healing can look like.
Timestamps: 04:03 Trauma = internal overwhelm, not event 09:40 Chronic illness linked to stored overwhelm 13:16 Movement clears adrenaline, resets safety 18:35 Early stress leaves lasting imprint 36:48 Somatic work resolves stored panic
_______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Trauma lives in biology, not memory Overwhelm leads to chronic health issues Movement discharges stress hormones effectively Early experiences shape lifelong stress patterns Healing starts with your nervous system
In this episode of the Fieldnotes Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey interviews environmental health coach Jenny Johnson, who shares her personal and professional journey into the world of environmental toxicity, particularly mold exposure and Lyme disease. Jenny recounts how her family's move to an organic farm for a healthier lifestyle ironically led to severe illness due to hidden environmental biotoxins. Drawing from her recovery experience and advanced training under experts like Dr. Shoemaker and Dr. Bredesen, Jenny now empowers others with practical tools, testing strategies, and coaching to uncover the root causes of chronic illness. She highlights how chronic inflammation, often driven by environmental triggers, is frequently misdiagnosed, and stresses the importance of personalized healing plans and nervous system regulation in true recovery.
Timestamps: (03:41) Family hit hard by mold exposure (05:05) Son’s neurodivergence reversed post-detox (15:00) Mold is more than mold (21:28) Chronic inflammation mimics many diseases (43:02) DIY mold tests empower families
_______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Mold exposure often hides in plain sight Chronic illness can stem from environment Testing empowers informed health decisions Nervous system health drives recovery Personalized plans beat one-size-fits-all fixes
In this episode of the Fieldnotes Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dana and Colleen, co-founders of The Digital Dojo, about trauma, healing, and personal transformation. They explore how trauma—both acute and subtle—can be stored in the body and inherited across generations. Through a unique fusion of traditional Chinese medicine, martial arts principles, and performance coaching, they share practical frameworks like NAP (“repeat after me” method) to help individuals safely engage with and heal from trauma. The conversation also covers distinctions between self-worth and self-esteem, and how finding one’s “why” can drive meaningful change.
Timestamps: (00:47) Trauma blocks wellness and healing efforts. (03:10) Talking unlocks hidden trauma patterns. (06:34) Trauma = unmet resources in moment. (08:15) Inherited trauma via ancestral chi. (17:12) NAP technique prevents emotional flooding.
_______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Trauma can be multigenerational and subtle. Healing requires emotional safety, not force. NAP helps process trauma gently. Self-worth matters more than esteem. Purpose fuels commitment to healing
In this episode of the Fieldnotes podcast, Dr. Downey interviews integrative psychiatrist Dr. Michael Broukhim, who shares his transformative journey from personal loss to pioneering holistic mental health care. Motivated by the death of his father and a mystical hospital experience, Dr. Broukhim embraced energy healing, osteopathic medicine, and integrative psychiatry. He now helps patients safely taper off psychiatric medications by addressing root causes through lifestyle changes, trauma work, and community connection. The conversation critiques modern psychiatry's overreliance on meds and highlights the healing power of presence, emotional safety, and spiritual practices.
Timestaps: (02:43) Father’s hidden cancer shapes purpose (06:09) Turn to integrative psychiatry begins (10:02) Critiques rushed, med-focused psychiatry (22:14) Steps for safe med tapering (33:13) Practical healing tools: nature, touch
____________________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Healing requires presence, not prescriptions. Psychiatry overlooks root emotional issues. Safe tapering needs lifestyle support. Spirituality can drive real transformation. Connection and curiosity heal deepest wounds.
In this episode of the Fieldnotes podcast, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Colin Zhu—a family and lifestyle medicine physician, chef, and health coach—about the powerful role food plays in shaping personal well-being, community connection, and planetary sustainability. Drawing from his upbringing under a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner and his diverse medical background, Dr. Zhu explains how disconnection from our food sources has widespread health and ecological consequences. He emphasizes that food is more than nourishment—it's a love language, a tool for healing, and a reflection of our relationship with ourselves and the planet. Together, they discuss how mindfulness, meaningful relationships, and small daily choices can catalyze major transformations in individual and collective health.
Timestamps: (00:55) Food connects us across all levels (04:30) Food is emotional and political (07:04) DOs embrace holistic mind-body healing (10:32) Livestock drives rainforest destruction (17:23) Relationships predict health and longevity
____________________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Food is love, culture, and identity. Disconnection from food harms health. Lifestyle medicine treats root causes. Small habits create lasting change. Wellness thrives through collective action.
In this episode of the Seaworthy Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey interviews women's health coach Saoirse Nash about her personal journey with chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) and the broader systemic issues surrounding women's healthcare. Saoirse shares how recurring UTIs in her youth were normalized and dismissed, leading to years of inadequate treatment until she took control of her health through holistic and functional approaches. The discussion explores the intersection of anatomy, immune and gut health, poor diagnostic tools, and the role of chronic stress and environmental toxins in women’s health. Together, they emphasize the importance of patient empowerment, lifestyle changes, and the need for better research and advocacy—highlighting organizations like Live UTI Free that offer critical support and information.
Timestamps: (00:00) UTIs common, especially in women (01:51) Saoirse’s health journey begins with UTIs (06:25) Gut health linked to immune defense (08:13) Standard UTI tests often fail (30:35) Trust your body and instincts ____________________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Chronic UTIs are often misdiagnosed and undertreated. Gut health is vital for immune defense. Stress and trauma impact physical health deeply. Women’s symptoms are too often normalized. Trust your body—advocate for better care.
In this episode of the "Fieldnotes" podcast, Dr. Rob Downey interviews Courtney Cowie, a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and certified coach, about her personal and professional journey through chronic gut health issues, including IBS, IBD, mold toxicity, and Lyme disease. Courtney shares her powerful origin story—from childhood stomach aches and years of ineffective conventional treatments to her transformative experience with Chinese medicine in Japan and her eventual embrace of functional medicine. Together, they explore the critical role of functional testing, the gut-brain connection, and the importance of root-cause approaches in healing chronic digestive conditions. Courtney also highlights how personalized testing, diet, and trauma-informed care can empower patients to regain their health and vitality. Timestamps: 00:48) Courtney discusses her IBS diagnosis (05:00) Bathroom stops planned during runs (06:11) Herbalist urges eating meat (14:31) Microscopic colitis finally diagnosed (17:17) Mold toxicity and Lyme uncovered ____________________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Chronic gut issues often start in childhood. Conventional medicine may overlook root causes. Functional testing reveals hidden gut dysfunction. Mold and Lyme can mimic IBS symptoms. Diet, stress, and trauma impact digestion deeply.
In this episode, Dr. Rob Downey welcomes Dr. Darin Ingels, a naturopathic doctor and expert in environmental and allergy medicine, to discuss alternative and functional approaches to managing allergies. Dr. Ingels explains how conventional allergy treatments, like shots, often fail to address the root causes of immune overreaction. He explores lesser-known but effective methods such as sublingual immunotherapy and Low Dose Allergen (LDA) therapy, which aim to retrain the immune system for long-term relief. The conversation highlights how allergies can manifest in surprising ways, even affecting mood and cognition, and emphasizes the need for personalized, root-cause solutions beyond standard protocols.
Timestamps: (00:29) Dr. Ingels joins allergy discussion. (02:42) Alternatives to allergy shots explained. (06:04) Allergies affect brain and behavior. (17:48) Immune therapy improves depression symptoms. (26:48) Remote testing and treatment possible.
_______________________________________________________________________________ Key Takeaways: Allergies are immune system overreactions. Standard allergy tests can miss triggers. Sublingual therapy is safe and effective. Allergies can affect brain and mood. Root-cause treatment leads to long-term relief.
In this powerful episode of Field Notes – Dr. Rob Case Studies 2, Dr. Rob Downey shares the deeply personal story that led him into functional medicine: a patient suffering from severe psoriatic arthritis, depression, and fatigue, who had exhausted all conventional treatment options.
Her transformation through botanical medicine and holistic care became a turning point in Dr. Rob’s career, igniting his passion to explore root-cause healing. The episode explores how lifestyle interventions—like an anti-inflammatory diet, stress reduction, and gut repair—can reverse chronic disease and restore hope.
Dr. Rob also unpacks the science of leaky gut and autoimmunity in accessible, empowering language that inspires both practitioners and patients alike.
Key Takeaways: * A case of psoriatic arthritis reversal using functional medicine became the catalyst for Dr. Rob’s career shift. * The patient improved 50–75% through a botanical protocol (Boswellia, Curcumin, Quercetin) and naturopathic care. * Chronic symptoms included depression, fatigue, pain, and functional disability—impacting every area of life. * Functional medicine emphasizes systems-based healing: anti-inflammatory nutrition, stress management, and supplements. * Dr. Rob explains leaky gut with vivid metaphors and highlights its role in triggering autoimmune diseases.
You can learn more about the Case Studies event here:
In this episode, Dr. Rob Downey and Joe Rignola explore the profound link between peace and health. Dr. Rob discusses the importance of cultivating peace to achieve vitality, presenting the science behind stress and its impact on our physical and emotional well-being. He emphasizes how maintaining inner peace can regulate bodily functions such as digestion, immunity, and cognitive clarity. The episode also introduces practical tools like heart rate variability devices and supplements like ashwagandha for enhancing peace, underscoring the critical role of safety—both physical and emotional—in achieving peace. Listeners are encouraged to take proactive steps toward peace through mindfulness practices, positive psychology, and self-care.
Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction to Dr. Rob and Joe (02:28) Importance of peace vs. food (06:31) Cultivating peace through self-care (11:15) Heart rate variability as peace tool (22:56) Supplements for peace available
____________________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways:
Peace is Central to Health.
Stress Management Affects Vital Functions.
The Role of the Nervous System.
Mindfulness Practices and Tools Help.
Safety is Essential for Peace.
In this episode of the podcast, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Jenny Harkleroad, an expert in functional medicine and wellness. Jenny shares her personal journey of overcoming chronic pain and discovering the powerful connection between the mind and body. After suffering a severe back injury, she explored alternative healing methods, including muscle testing and subconscious work, which helped her identify emotional pain manifesting as physical pain. She discusses her transformation from a successful real estate career to founding her wellness company, Balanced You, and how she now helps others overcome pain by addressing the root causes within the subconscious. The episode emphasizes the importance of mental and emotional health in healing chronic pain. Timestamps: (00:00) Rob introduces chronic pain topic. (02:24) Jenny’s back injury leads to transformation. (08:00) Pain revealed as emotional, not physical. (16:00) Subconscious work helps eliminate pain. (38:52) Jenny’s app and wellness resources. _______________________________________________________________________________ Key Takeaways: Chronic pain may have emotional roots.
The subconscious mind is a powerful tool for healing .
Pain can be a signal for life changes.
Subconscious reprogramming can transform relationships.
Healing doesn’t require struggle.
In this episode of Field Notes, Dr. Steven Masley, a physician, nutritionist, and expert in functional medicine, joins host Dr. Rob Downey to discuss the critical role of diet and lifestyle in preventing and reversing heart disease. Dr. Masley shares his insights on how heart health can be significantly improved through simple, actionable changes, such as consuming "smart fats," minimizing sugar intake, and incorporating probiotics. He emphasizes the power of real, minimally processed foods and discusses how incorporating Mediterranean and plant-based diets can reduce risk factors like high blood sugar and inflammation. The conversation highlights how people can take control of their health and prevent heart disease and other chronic conditions through sustainable lifestyle changes. Timestamps:
(00:40) Dr. Masley discusses heart disease prevention. (03:04) Mediterranean diet and longevity insights. (05:03) Key heart-healthy foods for improvement. (09:21) Importance of reducing sugar and sweeteners. (19:47) Mediterranean diet's long-term benefits. ________________________________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways:
- Heart disease is preventable with simple lifestyle changes
- Incorporating Mediterranean and plant-based diets can reduce risk factors
- Healthy fats and probiotics play a vital role in heart health
- Reducing sugar and sweeteners is key to prevention
- Gut health is critical for maintaining a healthy heart
In this podcast episode, Dr. Rob Downey and Dr. Evan Hirsch discuss the intricacies of chronic fatigue syndrome, long COVID, and how to restore energy and vitality. Dr. Hirsch shares his journey from experiencing chronic fatigue to developing a program to help others reclaim their energy. They discuss the root causes of fatigue, including toxins, heavy metals, mold, infections, and nervous system dysfunction. The episode also delves into the importance of understanding energy systems and the impact of stressors on overall health. Additionally, Dr. Hirsch explains the comprehensive approach of his program, emphasizing personalized treatment over testing, and how lifestyle changes and nervous system retraining can lead to lasting health improvements.
Timestamps: (00:01) Dr. Downey introduces Dr. Evan Hirsch. (02:02) Chronic fatigue and long COVID overlap. (05:57) Toxic 5 causes fatigue and burnout. (10:53) Adrenal and mitochondrial dysfunction discussed. (36:49) Dr. Hirsch offers a free consultation. _______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways:
Chronic Fatigue and Long COVID share common causes.
Energy is our birthright.
The Toxic 5 contribute to fatigue.
Personalized treatment over lab tests.
Nervous system retraining is essential.
In this episode of the Field Notes podcast, Dr. Rob Downey engages in a deep conversation with Bob Martin, a former criminal trial lawyer turned meditation teacher and therapist. They explore Bob’s transformative journey from a high-pressure legal career during Miami’s infamous “Cocaine Cowboys” era to discovering the profound benefits of meditation. Bob shares insights on how meditation helps cultivate compassion and loving-kindness, facilitating personal transformation and emotional healing. They discuss the significance of self-love, the importance of befriending one’s thoughts, and the ability to experience awe as a way to enhance mental well-being. The conversation emphasizes the need for intentional meditation practices to foster balance and personal growth, ultimately leading to a fulfilling life.
Timestamps: 00:00:01 Introduction to Bob Martin. 00:01:51 Bob’s background as a lawyer. 00:04:03 Meditation’s role in personal transformation. 00:09:17 The importance of loving-kindness practices. 00:47:35 Bob shares his daily gratitude ritual.
_______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways:
Clarity: Use simple language to ensure ideas are easily understood.
Relevance: Tailor content to audience interests for better engagement.
Actionability: Provide specific steps for practical application.
Prioritization: Highlight critical points first for quick comprehension.
Visuals: Use charts and infographics to enhance understanding.
In this episode of the Field Notes Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey and Joe Rignola dive into a variety of health topics, focusing on supplements, energy, stress management, and sleep. Dr. Rob shares his personal supplement regimen, highlighting key vitamins, minerals, and anti-inflammatories that help him maintain optimal health despite the stresses of his medical career. They discuss the importance of a simplified, effective supplement plan for overall well-being, as well as tips for boosting energy and sleep quality. The episode also explores immune support, gut health, and the role of morning sunlight in setting the body’s circadian rhythm. Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction of hosts and Q&A. 02:59 – Dr. Rob's supplement regimen discussed. 13:39 – Year-round immune support supplements. 20:47 – Tips for better sleep hygiene. 24:49 – Importance of morning sunlight exposure. _______________________________________________________________________ Key Takeaways:
Simplify Your Supplement Routine
Support Your Immune System Year-Round
Prioritize Sleep Hygiene
Energy Comes from the Inside
Morning Sunlight Sets Your Circadian Rhythm
Dr. Rob Downey speaks the Holistic Mom, MD, Dr. Madiha Saeed, board certified family physician, best-selling author of The Holistic Rx: Your Guide to Healing Chronic Inflammation and Disease and Adam's Healing Adventures.
Timestamps:
[02:37] The Holistic Kids Show[05:40] About Dr. Madiha Saeed and her parenting “wins” [14:16] Involving family in healthy living [18:37] Quenching inflammation [25:45] How the pandemic is affecting inflammation [32:11] Adam’s Healing Adventures + The Holistic Rx [36:35] Taking holistic medicine internationally
In this episode of the "Podcast Jasmine Parker Gallery," Dr. Rob Downey and functional medicine coach Jasmine Parker discuss the transformative power of functional medicine, particularly for individuals dealing with hypothyroidism and autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto's disease. Jasmine shares insights from her personal health journey, emphasizing the importance of a holistic, whole-body approach to healing. They explore how functional medicine coaching supports long-term health by focusing on behavior change, sustainable habits, and individualized care. They also discuss the value of mindset, realistic goal-setting, and how small changes can lead to significant improvements in health. Timestamps: (00:01) Introduction to functional medicine and coaching. (03:07) Importance of a holistic approach. (06:30) Moving beyond willpower for health. (16:30) Jasmine's personal autoimmune health journey. (25:33) Tips for starting functional medicine care. _______________________________________________________________________ Key Takeaways:
Holistic Health: Functional medicine looks at the body as a whole system.
Coaching Support: Coaches help with lifestyle changes and accountability.
Beyond Willpower: Success requires mindset shifts and realistic goals.
Realistic Goals: Tailored goals lead to sustainable health improvements.
Foundational Health: Sleep, stress management, and nutrition are key to healing.
In this episode of "Field Notes," Dr. Rob Downey, a functional medicine practitioner, interviews Reed Davis, founder of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (FDN). Davis shares his journey from environmental law to pioneering functional health practices, emphasizing the importance of addressing upstream health imbalances rather than relying solely on traditional diagnoses. He discusses his methods for identifying and treating root causes using alternative lab tests, personalized approaches to health, and a system for empowering both practitioners and patients. The conversation also highlights the necessity of individualized care, the role of stress and lifestyle in health, and the transformative potential of integrative wellness practices.
Timestamps: (00:38) Reed Davis' multi-certified global health impact. (02:34) Motivation behind founding Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. (05:10) Challenges with traditional diagnostic lab tests. (12:35) Importance of upstream health imbalances. (30:02) Personalized diets and food sensitivity testing.
_______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Functional medicine targets root causes, not just symptoms.
Personalized health plans are crucial for long-term vitality.
Addressing upstream health imbalances is key to healing.
Advanced lab tests provide deeper insights than standard exams.
Stress, lifestyle, and mental health are essential factors in holistic healing.
In this episode, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Matthieu Mehuys a landscape architect and passionate gardener, shares his journey from growing up on a family farm to becoming a global expert in regenerative gardening. He discusses the power of nature, how gardening can enhance personal health, and the importance of regenerating the planet through soil restoration. Matthieu also explains the benefits of weeds and how to work with nature for more sustainable and rewarding gardening practices. He emphasizes the shift from sustainability to regeneration and provides practical tips and resources for those wanting to start their own regenerative gardens.
Timestamps: (00:01) Rob Downey introduces Matthieu Mehuys. (05:30) Matthieu’s early gardening lessons at age 5. (08:27) Leaving the 9-5 job for gardening. (13:58) Transitioning from sustainability to regeneration. (30:15) Matthieu explains weeds’ benefits for soil. _______________________________________________________________________
Key Takeaways: Regenerative gardening benefits both personal health and the planet. Weeds are not the enemy – they restore soil health. Gardening with nature leads to sustainable, flourishing gardens. Embracing regeneration over sustainability offers endless benefits. Practical steps and resources are available to help you start.
In this episode, Dr. Rob Downey and Evan Transue discuss the evolution of functional medicine and its ability to address chronic health issues by using functional lab testing. They explore the strengths of Western medicine in life-threatening conditions and the limitations it faces in dealing with long-term health problems. Evan shares his personal journey with multiple health diagnoses and highlights the importance of understanding hidden stressors like hormonal, immune, and digestive imbalances. The episode also delves into the need for a balanced approach, combining conventional and functional medicine to achieve optimal health. Timestamps [00:00] Introduction to functional medicine’s revolution. [01:07] Strengths and weaknesses of Western medicine. [05:57] Importance of functional lab testing. [14:16] Work-life balance affecting health outcomes. [36:27] Humility and patient-centered care in health. _______________________________________________________________________ On this episode you will: Learn how functional lab testing uncovers hidden stressors like hormonal imbalances and gut issues. Discover the gap between conventional medicine and chronic illness management. Understand the power of a holistic, personalized approach to health. Hear about the importance of integrating functional medicine with traditional treatments for optimal wellness. Explore the role of lifestyle changes and nutrition in overcoming chronic health problems. If you’re ready to take control of your health, this episode is for you!
In this episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob Downey interviews Jane Hogan, "The Wellness Engineer," who shares her innovative approach to addressing chronic pain through neuroplasticity, breathwork, and nervous system regulation.
Drawing from her engineering background and expertise in functional medicine, Hogan explains how trauma and subconscious patterns contribute to pain and highlights the power of calming the nervous system to promote healing.
Through simple yet effective practices like visualization, mindfulness, and morning routines, she empowers individuals to take control of their well-being. With inspiring success stories and actionable tools, Hogan offers hope and practical strategies for transforming pain into vitality.
00:58 – Jane Hogan introduces her approach.
04:07 – Neuroplasticity's role in chronic pain.
06:14 – Childhood trauma impacts nervous system.
15:26 – Tools for calming nervous system.
47:37 – Guided exercise reduces pain instantly.
Jane Hogan, “The Wellness Engineer,” blends proven leading-edge science and ancient spiritually-inspired practices to help people release chronic pain using the mind, body, and breath so they can become empowered creators of their own health.
Her personal experience of reversing crippling rheumatoid arthritis using natural solutions inspired her to leave a 30-year engineering career and become a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, Certified Yoga Teacher, and wellness educator.
Jane’s Wellness by Design Blueprint has helped thousands of people release chronic pain naturally. She is the host of the Wellness by Design podcast and her empowering message has been featured on numerous podcasts and summits.
She has been published in Thrive Global and Elephant Journal magazines and is a contributing author on three best-selling books. Jane hosted the Becoming Pain-Free: Healing the Root Causes of Chronic Pain online summit.
In this episode, Dr. Rob speaks with Saril Vasquez, a functional medicine expert, about a holistic approach to hair loss. Saril shared her personal journey of overcoming severe hair thinning and how she discovered the root causes, like leaky gut, inflammation, hormone imbalances, and lifestyle factors. They discuss how most hair loss can be reversed through proper nutrition, personalized supplements, and sustainable lifestyle changes. Saril's insights remind us that healing is possible when we identify individual triggers and approach the process with patience and self-compassion. Her story offers hope to anyone struggling with hair loss. [01:12] Saril's personal battle with hair thinning [03:36] Root causes: diet, gut health, toxins [10:16] Importance of leaky gut and inflammation [17:24] Personalized plans for reversing hair loss [28:01] Sustainable strategies and community support shared Saril Vasquez is a Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor, True Cellular Detox Practitioner, & a Certified Interventionist. She has the honour and privilege of coaching men and women with a compassionate and patient heart on how to uncover their true root causes of hair loss & reverse hair loss naturally. As a result, her students “rewind the aging clock,” feeling confident about themselves again by gaining control & clarity about what turns on or turns off their hair loss. Saril is the founder and CEO of Belle Organix LLC, a global coaching company on a mission to help millions of people master their body mechanics to reveal their inner belles. Her practical approach, connecting symptoms to systems, has helped countless individuals hold a deeper understanding of how their seemingly random symptoms are actually crucially overlooked clues that could be used to find desperately needed solutions. She has been trained and coached by some of the greatest and most successful individuals in the functional medicine space. Her expertise lies in understanding how to connect the dots and put the puzzle pieces together for her troubled yet determined clients and students. As a result, her graduates are finally able to decode what is going on in their bodies, beyond genetics, that exacerbates or reverses their hair loss.
Today's episode is a bit different. This is a local lecture I did on Peace.
I explore the vital role of peace in our overall health and well-being. While many believe that diet is the single most important factor, I challenge that assumption by suggesting that effective stress management may actually have an even greater impact on health.
Drawing on tools from functional medicine, I explain how our autonomic nervous system influences our ability to find peace, emphasizing the need for a sense of safety and balance. I share insights into how practices like meditation and positive thinking can change our genetic expression, improve heart rate variability, and support both mental and physical wellness.
Elise Spofford joins us to guide a brief meditation exercise. We also discuss our upcoming wellness retreat in Costa Rica, a peaceful setting where we can deepen our connection to inner calm and vitality. (01:17) Importance of stress management over diet.
(05:00) Autonomic nervous system impacts health.
(09:09) Benefits of rest-and-restore mode.
(15:42) Heart rate variability as a wellness tool.
(33:50) Guided Meditation and wellness retreat in Costa Rica
Learn more here: https://healthacceleratorfx.com/yoga-and-functional-medicine-in-costa-rica/
In this episode, Dr. Rob Downey interviews Dr. Peter Kan about the concept of neurometabolic health, which bridges the connection between brain function and metabolic processes. Dr. Kan explains that optimal brain health depends on balanced blood sugar, adequate oxygenation, nutrient utilization, and inflammation control.
He discusses the role of functional medicine in addressing these areas through lifestyle and nutritional interventions, emphasizing that chronic inflammation, often originating in the gut, can undermine cognitive health.
Dr. Kan also highlights the importance of personalized approaches in functional medicine, as well as simple, practical lifestyle changes like reducing processed foods, increasing exercise, and setting health goals for lasting wellness.
01:16 - Dr. Kan on neurometabolic health
02:53 - Brain function-metabolism connection explained
05:05 - Reducing inflammation supports brain health
16:35 - Exercise as a metabolic booster
29:38 - Gut health affects whole-body inflammation
Dr. Kan believes that there are no accidents in life and everything happens for a reason. Although the family illnesses were difficult and stressful, his family’s health was transformed through it all. Thousands of hours of post graduate training and over 5,000 clients later, Dr. Kan is committed more than ever to use what he has learned to help those who has lost hope and lost in the insurance-based, profit-motivated, and pharmaceutically-driven system that is failing people with chronic conditions. Dr. Kan supports and manages patients with chronic conditions using a comprehensive approach by merging the exciting advances of functional neurology and functional medicine. Patients from across the country have come to seek out his holistic approach that is changing the lives of those suffering from chronic conditions. Dr. Kan regularly consults with other physicians on the methods he uses. Born in Taiwan and immigrated to America at the age of 13, Dr. Kan has deep appreciation of the Eastern wisdom and Western advances in natural healthcare. He believes in the God given ability of the body to heal and regulate itself, and that the body, mind, and spirit must be in alignment for healing to take place. It is his faith in God that gives him the passion and commitment to help patients with chronic pain find hope and healing.
In this episode, Dr. Jessie Hehmeyer, founder of Well Empowered, shares her approach to functional medicine, which combines data-driven insights with a heart-centered, holistic perspective. She views health as a sacred journey, encouraging clients to move beyond restrictive health narratives and instead create a "vision of vitality" to guide their unique paths toward wellness.
Dr. Hehmeyer and host Dr. Rob Downey discuss how honoring health can enable people to show up fully for their loved ones and passions, creating a deeper motivation for sustainable change. Through her personalized methods—including lab work and mindset shifts—Dr. Hehmeyer empowers people to break free from self-sabotaging habits, fostering resilience and self-compassion.
(00:34) Health as a "sacred journey."
(03:12) Connection between health and life purpose.
(07:30) Weight as a symptom of a deeper health issue
(13:00) Using labs to guide wellness plans.
(39:07) Replacing self-sabotage with self-compassion.
Dr. Jessica Hehmeyer’s life work is empowering individuals to create and sustain radical breakthroughs in health and vitality through educating patients, clients, and audiences on the targeted and science-based natural interventions of Functional Medicine. In her one-on-one counseling, she identifies the root cause of symptoms and conditions, employing food, botanicals, and lifestyle as medicine to tap into the body’s tremendous ability to heal.
As a speaker, she provides audiences with meaningful information and facilitates conversations that allow individuals to take immediate action to forward their commitment to health. In addition to her clinical, academic, and research-based knowledge, Dr. Hehmeyer understands the challenges people face when transforming decades-old habits. To this end, she walks individuals and audiences through a process to address the four fundamental aspects of producing and sustaining results: inspiration, information, strategy, and practice.
In this podcast episode, Jeff Patterson shares his transformative journey from a young boxer to a meditation expert, emphasizing how meditation can significantly enhance both athletic and everyday performance. He discusses the deeper principles of meditation, including the concept of yielding, which involves physical, mental, and emotional adaptability. Jeff explains how regulating the body, breath, and mind can help integrate meditation into daily life, leading to greater balance and resilience. He encourages listeners to commit to meditation for at least a year to fully experience its life-changing benefits, offering resources to support their practice.
(02:26) Jeff shares his meditation journey.
(06:54) How meditation enhances performance and awareness.
(18:52) Explanation of physical and mental yielding. (
29:59) Importance of regulating body, breath.
Get Jeff's book for FREE here: https://www.theyieldingwarrior.com/book
Dr. Rob is joined by functional medicine practitioner Dr. Sam Shay. They discuss the role of genetics in weight management, explaining that excess weight is often a symptom of deeper health issues rather than the primary problem.
He categorizes weight gain into three main types—inflammatory, hormonal, and caloric—each influenced by specific genetic factors such as inflammation genes, vitamin D receptor variations, and detoxification capabilities.
Through lifestyle changes, known as epigenetics, people can manage the expression of these genes to improve health outcomes, although genetic predispositions cannot be entirely altered. Dr. Shay shares practical examples from his practice, highlighting how personalized lifestyle adjustments can help clients overcome genetic sensitivities and achieve better health.
03:34: Weight linked to upstream issues.
06:25: Epigenetics impact gene expression.
07:35: Genes categorized: green, yellow, red.
28:03: Alcohol affects genetic detox ability.
In this episode of the "Field Notes" podcast, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Silvia Covelli and Dr. Achina Stein about a groundbreaking 45-day program aimed at addressing treatment-resistant depression through a holistic, functional medicine approach. Silvia shares her personal journey of overcoming severe depression after 25 years, highlighting the importance of integrating physical and mental health in treatment.
The program, based in Austin, Texas, focuses on identifying and healing the root causes of depression using comprehensive lab tests, diet, movement, and experiential therapies. The conversation emphasizes the need for a group setting, long-term strategies, and a shift away from conventional psychiatry’s symptom-focused treatments. They invite listeners to explore the program, which also offers scholarships and additional resources.
In this episode:
[3:30] Sivlia's story of overcoming depression
[10:05] What is so-called "treatment-resistant" depression
[20:15] The myth of a magic pill
[31:10] Life after depression
[46:40] Showing up for yourself
Silvia J. Covelli Founder & CEO The Healing Depression Project Silvia holds a degree in Sociology from Boston College. Following her undergraduate studies, she spent four years as a social science researcher at Harvard University. Later, she pursued graduate studies in finance and business law.
Silvia dedicated her career to entrepreneurship, evolving into a skilled business strategist and bringing ambitious projects to fruition. With a robust track record, she has a wealth of experience in business development and investments spanning both the United States and South America.
Dr. Achina Stein Clinical Director The Healing Depression Project Dr. Achina Stein: DO, DFAPA, ABIHM, FACN, IFMCP
Dr. Stein is an osteopathic physician who graduated from the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine in 1990 and has been in practice as a board-certified psychiatrist for 25+ years. Dr. Stein is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychiatry, and awarded the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award by NAMI-RI in 2008.
She is certified by the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine (ABIHM) and is a certified practitioner of the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFMCP). She is a former Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
I’m excited to share one of my favorite interviews I’ve ever done. It’s with the Father of Functional Medicine, Dr. Jeffrey Bland. This interview is from our Rewire Your Brain Masterclass, and I’m making it available for a limited time because I believe it will truly help so many people.
Dr. Bland discusses the intimate connection between the immune system and the brain. Much like the brain, the immune system can be “rewired” or, as Dr. Bland says, “rejuvenated.”
He also discusses what he calls the disease-care system or disease-care providers. “They are very skilled at understanding disease,” he explains. Then he asks, “If you had 10 patients with autoimmune disease who all take a certain drug, how many would have positive outcomes?”
You’ll probably be very surprised by the answer.
You won’t want to miss this.
In this episode:
4:00: Can you rewire your immune system?
13:30: The truth about autoimmunity and pharmaceuticals
19:30: Surprising facts about your genes and gene expression
34:10: The ideal healthcare system
Dr. Jeffrey Bland is a personable and highly respected thought leader who has spent more than four decades focused on the improvement of human health. He is known worldwide as the founder of the Functional Medicine movement, which represents his vision for a care model that is grounded in systems biology and informed by research that he has a unique ability to synthesize. His pioneering work has created the Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute (PLMI), as well as the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM), the global leader in Functional Medicine education. Since 1991, hundreds of thousands of healthcare practitioners have participated in PLMI and IFM programs, and this collective knowledge has positively impacted the lives of patients all over the world.
Dr. Bland began his career as a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Puget Sound. He is a natural educator and became involved with numerous academic institutions during the years he spent teaching. This includes the significant contributions he made to the founding and accreditation of Bastyr University, the first federally accredited university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in natural medicine in the US. In the early 1980s, Dr. Bland was hand-selected by two-time Nobel Laureate Dr. Linus Pauling to serve as Director of Nutritional Research at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. This experience marked both a personal and professional inflection point for Dr. Bland that has become an integral part of his career.
Trauma expert and co-founder of Rebel Health Tribe, Michael Roesslein, joins Dr. Rob for this special episode of the podcast.
This interview was part of our Rewire Your Brain Masterclass. It will be archived at the end of June, so be sure to listen now.
Michael discusses how to take a truly holistic approach to mental health and whole-body healing. He also goes deep into how the body may actually be the subconscious mind because it reacts faster than our brains.
Topics in this episode:
- [5:00] Preparing for the “storm” before the storm.
- [9:30] You’re not broken
- [16:00] Little-known secret to longevity
- [26:45] The body always remembers and always reacts
- [40:40] Learning to trust and connect again to heal
On this episode, I’m joined by women’s health and hormones expert Dr. Mariza Snyder.
Dr. Mariza illuminates the critical connection between glucose and insulin levels and how they impact our hormones and energy. Blood sugar is often misunderstood and not talked about enough, so this conversion is truly an eye-opener.
We also discuss ways to take your power and freedom back with the help of a great practitioner.
She also gives us practical advice to help you along your health journey.
Enjoy this fascinating episode as we dive deep into women’s health and wellness.
[1:40] - Dr. Mariza’s health journey
[4:30] - Blood Sugar-Hormone-Energy Connection
[14:45] - The power of wearable monitors like Oura Rings and Glucose meters
[19:12] - Importance of breakfast and how and when to fast
[28:30] - How a health plan creates peace, security, and freedom
Dr. Mariza Snyder is a functional practitioner, women’s hormone expert, and the author of eight books. The newest book, The Essential Oils Menopause Solution, focuses on solutions for women in perimenopause and menopause, and the #1 National Bestselling book, The Essential Oils Hormone Solution, focuses on balancing women’s hormones naturally.
She has lectured at wellness centers, conferences, and corporations for the past fifteen years on hormone health, metabolic health, nutrition, and detoxification. She has been featured on Dr. Oz, Oprah Magazine, Fox News Health, MindBodyGreen, and many publications. Dr. Mariza is also the host of the top-rated Essentially You Podcast (with over 6 million downloads) designed to empower women to become the CEO of their health. Check out her website, drmariza.com, for women's hormone tips, including recipes and supplementation.
Metabolism and weight loss expert Nagina Abdullah joins me for a fascinating podcast episode. Nagina has been helping women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond get lean and feeling their best for many years.
We’re so fortunate to have her share her best insights and tips today so you can learn how to easily boost your metabolism and energy WITHOUT restrictive dieting.
Yes, you can eat healthy and delicious real food, lose weight, and feel amazing. Nagina shows you how.
In this episode, you’ll learn…
[2:32] Meaning of Masala (spicy) Body
[5:39] Timing, adding, and pairing food
[16:40] The number one reason women are losing 10-20 plus pounds
[25:35] Why diets don’t work
[32:40] Truth about portion sizes
[37:43] Using spices as a tool for flavor and high metabolism
Nagina Abdullah, founder of Masala Body, is a health coach for female professionals, corporate executives, and 7-figure entrepreneurs.
She teaches tested and perfected metabolism-boosting strategies to help women lose 20-40 pounds while working 60+ hours a week, even if they have tried everything.
Nagina has a degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley, an MBA from NYU Stern AND worked for a top 4 consulting firm as a management consultant before starting her health coaching business. She has been featured in Health.com, Business Insider, People.com, and many more prominent publications!
Get Her Sweet Spice PDF eGuide Here:
https://masalabody.com/sweetspicepdf/
Dr. Elena Villanueva joins the podcast to discuss a new era in health and healing. We talk about getting to the real root causes of disease, like stress, trauma, and even generational trauma. She breaks down the often misunderstood topics of energy medicine, quantum science, and much more.
Join us for this fascinating conversation and learn how to go beyond pills and prescriptions and get to the true root causes of disease.
Join Dr. V's Masterclass here: https://inflammationmasterclass.com/?oid=7&affid=2801
In this episode:
2:05 - Moving beyond pills and prescriptions
7:00 - Making holistic and functional health more accessible
9:10 - A new era in health and healing
13:45 - Case study: from diabetes and depression to healthy and happy
23:00 - The science of Energetic medicine
27:27 - A new awareness of health and disease
34:20 - Understanding quantum science
Carol Comfort joins the podcast again for an enlightening conversation about health coaching and finding your personal path to healing.
They discuss having a tailored plan for health because everyone’s journey is unique and it’s critical to follow your own path forward.
Dr. Rob and Carol talk about where to start and how important it is to create tiny but powerful habits.
Don’t miss this wonderful episode of The Field Notes Podcast.
You’ll learn about…
[3:20] - Connection: The key to success
[5:45] - Integrating health coaching and practical modern medicine
[9:20] - The power of small, positive action steps
[22:30] - Achieving more by doing less
[27:00] Carol’s favorite health books
Carol Comfort is a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach.
After working in a functional medicine clinic for several years, she began her own private practice. Carol lives in Homer, Alaska, with her husband and their pup Tuuli on 20 peaceful acres where they raised two very independent children.
Carol enjoys hikes through the woods, kayaking, and cross-country skiing. Yoga and swimming are also regular parts of her fitness routine. In the summer, she swims in the small pond just out my front door. To help keep herself grounded and balanced, she’s kept a regular meditation practice for the last 20 years. She’s also a classically trained pianist and maintains a lively piano studio.
Connect with Carol here. <=
And you can download here App here. <=
Dr. Keesha Ewers joins the podcast to shed light on a topic that’s too often in the shadows: Sex Health. They discuss hormones, “life force,” trauma, the nervous system, and more. They also dive deep into what is “Functional Sexology,” a term coined by Dr. Keesha.
Dr. Keesha tells us about what she calls the “yellow brick road” of growth, healing, and gaining wisdom and strength.
You’ll learn about…
[5:00] - The innocence of infancy to the wisdom of elderhood
[8:23] - What Ayurveda says about libido and life force
[12:05] - How heartbreak, betrayal, and trauma impact your health, hormones, and libido
[21:00] - How your body can be hyper-vigilant and how it can lead to chronic disease
[26:50] - Reducing stress vs. your relationship to stress
[37:00] - Why stages of development are supposed to be hard
[42:00] - 5 places to look for root causes
Dr. Keesha Ewers is a board certified Functional and Ayurvedic medical practitioner, as well as Doctor of Sexology, family practice ARNP (advanced registered nurse practitioner), a trauma informed therapist, Huachumera (medicine woman trained in the use of plant medicine from Peru), and a Reiki Master. She is registered in Washington state in clinical hypnotherapy and certified in EMDR, Brainspotting, the Enneagram, and mediumship and Angel Therapy. Dr. Keesha is also a certified MAPS MDMA therapist. She is the founder of a new branch of medicine called Functional Sexology.
Dr. Keesha practices what she calls Mystic Medicine. Mystic Medicine sees EVERYTHING as God, including illness and suffering. She has seen that once the lesson is learned, the struggle is relieved. Dr. Ewers developed the 4 Pillar Freedom Framework and founded the Academy for Integrative Medicine to train people who are passionate about empowering themselves and then empowering others to heal themselves. Her Integrative Medicine Health Coach Certification Program is the only health coach program that trains coaches in Functional Medicine, Ayurveda, Positive Psychology, the Enneagram, Sexology, and laboratory testing.
https://www.drkeesha.com/
In this episode, Dr. Rob is joined by Dr. Anna Cabeca to bring clarity to the often complex topic of women’s health and hormones.
Women suffering from conditions like fatigue, hormone imbalances, skin and hair issues, mood swings, hot flashes, and more, are often told it’s a normal part of aging.
Dr. Anna is here to clear the confusion and offer real solutions and relief.
You’ll learn about…
[3:43] Misconceptions regarding bioidentical hormones
[8:18] The importance of nutrition and lifestyle
[15:53] The power of positive self-talk
[23:01] Why we need healthy fats in our diet
[29:13] The connection between trauma and women’s health
Anna Cabeca, DO, OBGYN, FACOG, is the best-selling author of The Hormone Fix KetoGreen 16 and MenuPause. Dr. Anna is triple board certified and a fellow of gynecology and obstetrics, integrative medicine, and anti-aging and regenerative medicine.
She holds special certifications in functional medicine, sexual health, and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. She lectures frequently on these topics throughout the world to large audiences and is known nationally as The Girlfriend Doctor and is the host of The Girlfriend Doctor show.
She has personally developed natural products to help women balance hormones and thrive through menopause, including the highly acclaimed Julva® cream for the vulva and MightyMaca® Plus, a powerful superfood blend. She now lives in Dallas with her daughters, horses, and dogs.
On this episode of Field Notes: An Exploration in Functional Medicine Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey is joined by Dr. Christine Schaffner, a naturopathic doctor and an expert in lymphatics.
[00:20] Introduction [04:05] Lymphatics [13:55] The function of a scar [21:00] Injections and scar tissue [27:59] What you can do to optimize your lymphatic system [37:18] Functional medicine as a paradigm shift [39:03] How to incorporate a biological dentist into your treatment plan [41:00] How does a topical agent work systemically?
Dr. Christine Schaffner is a board-certified Naturopathic physician who graduated from Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington. Prior to Bastyr, she completed her undergraduate studies in Pre-medicine and Psychology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Dr. Schaffner is passionate about practicing medicine and creating healing spaces. She is the Clinic Director of Sophia Health Institute, the clinic she co-created with her mentor Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt in Woodinville, Washington. She actively sees patients at Sophia Health Institute and through her practices at Marin Naturopathic Medicine in California, as well as Bella Fiore Organic Med Spa & Klinik in Seattle, Washington.
Along with practicing medicine in clinics she has co-created or owns, Dr. Schaffner has built partnerships and working relationships with practitioners who are committed to treating persistent Lyme disease all over the world. Through these connections, she has established a unique set of skills and knowledge to serve her patients.
With her diverse skill set, Dr. Schaffner seeks to improve access, outcomes, and speed of recovery for patients struggling with chronic illness wherever they may be.
If you're a highly sensitive person or deeply empathetic, you may easily pick up on subtle energies in the environment and go into fight, flight, or freeze mode.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Natasha Fallahi, The Sensitive Doctor. She is a MindBodyHealth expert, functional medicine practitioner, and Certified Autoimmune Coach specializing in an intuitive approach to living and healing.
Download her free ebook: Too Sensitive – 5 Things I Did to Heal from Depression, Anxiety and Hashimoto’s Autoimmunity.
Timestamps:[02:53] Natasha’s unconventional journey towards medicine [09:16] Healing Hashimoto’s intuitively [12:04] The health consequences of being empathic/intuitive- and its tie to autoimmunity [17:30] The common sense of functional medicine [29:18] Giving others hope: why diseases shouldn’t be labeled as irreversible [37:18] What is psychoneuroimmunology?
Deb Matthew MD, The Happy Hormones Doctor, joins the podcast today. She is a frequent guest expert on podcasts, radio, and TV news and talk shows, with more than 60 appearances on NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX. Dr Deb suffered for years with fatigue and irritability, and her quest to restore her own health led her to change everything about how she practices medicine. Together, we discuss hormones, how they can affect us, and how to find someone to accurately assess your hormonal imbalance.
Timestamps: [02:41] What started to change Deb’s fatigue and irritability? [04:43] How do hormones affect us? [08:59] Looking for a constellation of symptoms [22:06] “Cortisol steal” [30:15] How to find someone that can help you.
The topic of Pelvic Floor Fitness is not discussed nearly enough, despite the fact that pelvic floor issues affect millions of people.
Jana Danielson joins the podcast to pull back the curtain on the health implications that the pelvic floor has for women and men
You'll learn about:
[1:30] - Why this isn't talked about enough
[7:35] - The little-known and extremely important nerve
[14:00 - The physiology of your core and pelvic floor
[23:32] - How breathing properly is like CPR for your pelvic floor
Jana Danielson is an award-winning wellness entrepreneur who through her own experience with physical pain, turned her mess into her message. She is an Amazon Best Selling Author, owner of Lead Pilates and Lead Integrated Health Therapies, her bricks & mortar businesses and the Metta District, her online wellness community.
She is the creator of the Cooch Ball, the world’s first patented pelvic floor fitness tool for women. Jana has coached and consulted with thousands of women from all over the world to help improve their quality of life, their confidence and their impact in this world.
In this episode, Dr. Rob is joined by Dr. Jaban Moore to discuss intestinal permeability, AKA, "leaky gut."
Leaky gut can impact virtually all aspects of your health. Dr. Moore lays out some practical guidance you can take today to help you heal.
Highlights:
[2:45] - What is leaky gut?
[14:44] - Root causes of leaky gut
[19:20] - Conventional medicine vs. functional medicine
[24:00] - Leaky gut-autoimmunity connection
https://healingleakygut.byhealthmeans.com/?idev_id=29465
On this week’s episode of Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine, Dr. Rob Downey is joined by Dr. Heidi Hanna to discuss stress, how it impacts the brain and body, and tips for how we can be more resilient to stress. [05:30] How can stress bring out the best in us?
[14:00] How can people deal with stressful things that come their way without getting swept up into a stressed state?
[17:13] Questioning breathing techniques. [21:56] “Quick wins” to trick your brain.
[26:49] Acute stress in trying times.
[35:56] Acknowledging stress as opposed to fighting it. Dr. Heidi Hanna is the Chief Energy Officer of Synergy Brain Fitness, a company providing brain-based health and performance programs to individuals and organizations, a Senior Researcher with the Brain Health Initiative, and a Fellow and Advisory Board Member for the American Institute of Stress. Dr. Heidi is also an instructor at Harvard at a regular lecturer at Canyon Ranch Resort and Spa. She is a NY Times bestselling author who has written seven books, including The Sharp Solution, Stressaholic, Recharge and What’s So Funny About Stress?
Dr. Heidi has been featured at many global conferences including the Fortune Magazine Most Powerful Women in Business Summit, ESPN Leadership Summit and the Million Dollar Round Table. Her clients have included Google, Starbucks, Microsoft, Principal Insurance, Morgan Stanley, Ameriprise and WD40 as well as the PGA Tour and the National Football League. Dr. Heidi is also a National Board Member and Certifed Humor Professional with the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor although she won’t admit she’s funny.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Cory Muscara, and discusses topics like mindfulness. meditation, peace, and engagement. [04:41] What would you recommend for people who are game to try meditation? [11:37] Mindfulness and healthcare [21:43] How does presence make us strong? How does it help us set boundaries? [29:20] The “blessing” of adversity and what it really means [40:07] Peace and engagement [46:05] Forming a meaningful connection with others An international speaker and teacher on the topics of mindfulness and positive psychology, Cory is passionate about helping people find real peace. He believes that when people are deeply fulfilled, they are a better force in the world for other beings, the environment, and their communities.
For the past few years, he has taught mindfulness-based leadership at Columbia University and currently serves as an assistant instructor for the positive psychology graduate program at the University of Pennsylvania.
A graduate of the 2-year Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader training, Cory also has several years of extensive professional training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), completed certification with Mindful Schools & Search Inside Yourself, and has trained in Mindfulness-Based Inquiry, Breathworks Chronic Pain with Vidyamala Burch, the Trauma Institute led by Bessel Van der Kolk, and a 6-month relational meditation training in “circling” through Circling Europe. He is a 200-hour hatha yoga teacher, certified NLP & Eriksonian Hypnosis practitioner, and an Integrative Health Coach through Duke Integrative Medicine.
In 2012, Cory spent 6 months in silence living as a monk, meditating 14+ hours each day, and now aims to bring the teachings of mindfulness to people in a practical and usable way, presenting to schools, organizations and the general public. He has been featured multiple times on the Dr. Oz show, is a teacher on the Simple Habit and 10% Happier meditation apps, and his meditations have been heard more than 5 million times in over 50 countries.
In this episode, Dr. Dan Kalish and I have a discussion as two functional medicine physicians to talk about telemedicine, what they are doing to improve their practices, forming long term relationships with patients, and looking towards longevity in functional medicine.
[07:06] The budding presence of telemedicine
[16:09] The availability of health services for disadvantaged communities
[20:00] Transition to health sustainability, and forming long-term relationships with patients
[29:35] What happens after a patient is “cured”?
[31:30] Spiritual guidance in medicine
Check out Dr. Kalish’s Brain Restore Program
Dr. Dan Kalish, founder of The Kalish Institute for Functional Medicine, has trained over 2,000 practitioners on building successful Telemedicine and Functional Medicine practices. Founded in 2006, The Kalish Institute teaches clinical application and patient communication techniques through a hands-on, case-based approach. In direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Kalish has honed the focus of course-offerings at The Kalish Institute to meet the growing practitioner demands for knowledge on best practices in transitioning to Telemedicine. Dr. Kalish is an IFM Certified Practitioner, and a lead faculty for the Institute for Functional Medicine Practice Implementation Program. Dr. Kalish has authored three books on Functional Medicine, and is a notable speaker at Integrative Medicine conferences.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Marc David, the Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, a leading visionary and teacher in Eating Psychology, and the author of the classic and best-selling books Nourishing Wisdom and The Slow Down Diet. We talk all about how stress ties to the psychology of eating, and approaching weight loss holistically.
Timestamps:
[02:51] What SHOULD we eat?
[11:07] Why don’t zebra’s get ulcers? (and other stress responses)
[18:02] How does stress physiology impact our eating challenges and common health concerns?
[26:59] What is mindful eating?
[29:55] Changing your relationship with food.
[38:09] What is the background of stress responses such as emotional eating, overeating or binge eating?
[44:33] Resetting the body back to vitality.
Marc David is the Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, a leading visionary and teacher in Eating Psychology, and the author of the classic and best-selling books Nourishing Wisdom and The Slow Down Diet. His humorous, engaging, and informative speaking style have made him a popular and well loved presenter and his non-dogmatic approach to nutrition appeals to a wide audience of eaters who are looking for positive, inspiring, and innovative messages about food and health. Marc has held senior consulting positions at Canyon Ranch Resorts, the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, the Johnson & Johnson Corporation, and the Disney Company. Learn more about his work at psychologyofeating.com
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Jeff Bland about Functional Medicine and its impact on the medical community and health.
They talk about the future of medicine and how you can put functional medicine principles into practice for your own health and well-being.
Dr. Rob and Dr. Bland open up about their personal experiences in the early days of their careers in this powerful episode.
- The history of functional medicine
- Autoimmunity and what it actually entails
- Changing lives through functional medicine
- The fight against disillusionment
Jeffrey Bland has been an internationally recognized leader in the nutritional medicine field for over 35 years and is known as the father of functional medicine for his ability to synthesize complex scientific concepts in a manner that is both personable and accessible. A biochemist by training, Dr. Bland earned dual degrees in biology and chemistry from the University of California, Irvine, and completed his PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Oregon. He is a Fellow of both the American College of Nutrition where he is a Certified Nutrition Specialist and the Association for Clinical Biochemistry.
Committed to advancing education in the natural health sciences, Dr. Bland was the first member of the Board of Trustees of Bastyr University in Washington State, the first federally accredited university in the United States offering graduate and undergraduate degrees in natural medicine, and contributed significantly to its founding and accreditation. With his wife, Susan, Dr. Bland founded The Institute for Functional Medicine in 1991, a nonprofit organization focused on educating healthcare practitioners on effective approaches to treating and preventing chronic disease. During his decades-long career, Dr. Bland has traveled annually throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, presenting a highly regarded seminar series on science-based nutrition and health. He has provided lectures and medical education events to more than 250,000 health care providers in more than 50 countries.
Trauma expert, Dr. Aimie Apigian joins the podcast for this very important episode.
Dr. Aimie discusses the deep connection between trauma and disease.
She reveals how early trauma literally creates the operating system for your brain and nervous system.
And of course, we discuss steps you can take to begin to untangle this complex web of stored trauma so you can live a happy and healthy life.
She's also about to launch a life-changing new event called The Biology of Trauma.
Learn more about it here.
Dr. Aimie Apigian, MD MS MPH is the leading medical expert on how life experiences get stored in the body and restoring the body to its best state of health through her signature model and methodology, The Biology of Trauma™.
Dr. Aimie truly is the physician who healed herself. After a few years in a general surgery residency in Portland, OR, Dr. Aimie decided to forge her career path as a Trauma, Attachment, and Addiction Medicine Physician. She believes the healing journey can be accelerated through evidence-based tools and approaches to rewire the nervous system and the effects of chronic stress and trauma on the mind and body.
Having both parented children with effects from attachment and trauma issues and then having her own health challenges from chronic stress and traumas, she is intensely invested on finding what actually works practically and how to restore the body to its highest potential for health optimizing the biology.
Jodi Cohen joins the podcast to discuss hidden sources of stress and anxiety, and the best tips and solutions for relief.
Jodi Cohen is a bestselling author, award-winning journalist, and founder of Vibrant Blue Oils, a top resource for essential oils online, which welcomes 300,000 visitors every year.
Her #1 bestselling book, Healing with Essential Oils, synthesizes decades of leading scientific research to help explain how essential oils can work to support the body and the brain. Random House published her second book, Essential Oils to Boost the Brain and Heal the Body, on March 16, 2021.
After personally experiencing the profound physical and mental benefits of essential oils in addressing her own anxiety, insomnia, and autoimmunity, Jodi wanted to know why. Today, she holds certifications in nutritional therapy, functional neurology, herbalism, and aromatherapy, along with multiple continuing educational courses in plant medicine, brain health, Chinese medicine, and herbalism.
Learn more about Jodi here: https://vibrantblueoils.com/
Joe Rignola returns to the podcast to discuss how to build strength and resilience by facing your fears.
Using different tools and modalities like therapy, breathwork, plant medicine, and others can be helpful, but it's how to integrate the lessons learned in your every day life that truly move the needle and rewires your brain and nervous system.
Joe Rignola is an entrepreneur, filmmaker, and best-selling author. He began his own health journey about 16 years ago while dealing with depression, anxiety, severe digestive issues, weight gain, and more.
After researching alternatives to the medications he was on, Joe was able to take control of his health and lose over 45 pounds by changing his diet and lifestyle. Filled with gratitude for his newfound health and energy, Joe went back to school to study health and nutrition so he could help others along their journey.
He has founded, co-founded, and launched some of the most successful brands and events in the health space over the past 12 years.
He is the founder of the 170,000-member community, WellConnected.tv
In this episode, Dr. Rob is joined by pain expert, and energy worker, Debora Wayne.
Debora shares her inspiring story of overcoming chronic health conditions such as pain, ulcers, anxiety, insomnia, and more. She now helps people worldwide recover from debilitating and often life-threatening diseases.
DEBORA WAYNE, founder of The International Chronic Pain Institute, is a world-renowned energy healer and pain-release specialist helping men and women worldwide (virtually) to rapidly find and remove the hidden root causes of Chronic Pain, Chronic Fatigue, Depression and Anxiety, Trauma, Battles with Weight, Binge-Eating, BurnOut, and other chronic conditions.
Debora's proven programs are backed by science and have helped tens of thousands of people (virtually) from 150 countries around the world to remove pain, recharge energy, and transform their lives without pills, PT, or giving up the foods they love.
3:00 - Personal story of finding peace and the process of UNlearning to learn
15:01 - You don't need "belief" for energy healing to work
29:00 - Recovering from the "unrecoverable."
35:45 - Our natural state is ease, not DIS-ease
A cancer diagnosis doesn't have to mean giving up your power. Learn to navigate it with a holistic, integrative approach for your best outcome.
Dr. Shauna Birdsall is passionate about helping people with challenging health conditions fully understand their disease, navigate their integrative care options, and improve their quality of life. She helps to bridge the gap for patients between conventional and natural forms of medicine.
Timestamps:
[1:50] Breaking through the overwhelm and considering the different types of cancer treatments.
[6:55] How our cells go haywire
[13:00] Science of plant phytonutrients and their many benefits
[34:00] Supplementation: the right amount, the right place, at the right time
[38:50] Back to basics
Dr. Rob sits down with Matt Lilie, founder of BriteVibe and Next Level Method, to discuss entrepreneurship and life's real struggles of fear, anxiety, and more in this open, vulnerable, and very real episode.
3:00 - Matt's story of entrepreneurship
11:00 - Lessons in humility
14:50 - Faith, religion, lifestyle
25:05 - Running from suffering or leaning in
40:00 - Self-forgiveness
49:00 - Living authentically
Joe Rignola joins the podcast to discuss how we can stop self-sabotaging behavior and negative self-talk and overcome our fears so we can live a life of health, happiness, and purpose.
Joe is an entrepreneur, filmmaker, and best-selling author who has been serving people in the health and wellness space for over 12 years.
Learn more about Joe and his projects at wellconnected.tv
4:43: About our Rewire Your Brain Masterclass
14:00 - Growing out of darkness
19:00 - Not feeling alone and finding courage and safety
22:25 - Falling apart without going to pieces
33:30 - Fear is subconscious but trusting yourself is a choice
50:00 - Functional approach vs. medication
Time Stamps [03:44] Michelle Shares Her Interest and Mastery of ‘Flow’ and What It’s About
[14:05] The Fluid Drive
[23:00] Do You Have to be Receptive of Energy Healing to Benefit from the Practice
[26:34] This is How to be Your Own Osteopath
[47:01] Michelle’s Advice to Those Who May Have Previous Trauma in this Space
[1:00:00] This is How You Can Find Dr. Michelle Veneziano
Michelle Veneziano is a doctor of osteopathic medicine, a family physician, and an adjunct clinical professor at Touro University in Northern California. Her approach to osteopathic medicine is rooted in cranial osteopathy, a hands-on, evidence-based therapeutic practice that sources both Western and Eastern philosophies to support the body's ability to heal itself.
She’s here today to share her practices and insights for awakening the doctor that resides within us, connecting with who we really are, and living in alignment with nature. There’s some really interesting information here that you won’t want to miss.
If you're dealing with any chronic health conditions like fatigue, brain fog, pain, inflammation, or autoimmunity, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome might be a root cause no one is talking about. Beth O'Hara joins the podcast to discuss why this topic is monumentally important.
[04:09] Getting the Mast Cells Back to their Native State
[06:11] What Mast Cell Activation Is
[12:32] Beth O’Hara Shares Her Personal Experience
[18:19] Addressing the Root Causes
[28:05] MCAS and Histamine Intolerance
[38:57] Beth O’Hara and Her Reversing Mast Cell Activation Summit
Be sure to check out her Reversing Mast Cell Activation Summit here: https://www.mastcell.drtalks.com/?oid=16&ref=2755
In this episode, we discuss some of the true and surprising root causes of heart disease and other metabolic health issues.
5:30 - 8th and 9th inning medicine vs. 2nd or 3rd inning medicine
10:10 - Insulin resistance
20:00 - Proper testing
30:00 - Non-drug solutions
In this episode, we discuss some of the true and surprising root causes of heart disease and other metabolic health issues.
5:30 - 8th and 9th inning medicine vs. 2nd or 3rd inning medicine
10:10 - Insulin resistance
20:00 - Proper testing
30:00 - Non-drug solutions
On this episode of Field Notes, An Exploration of Functional Medicine, Dr. Rob Downey and Joe Rignola talk about the magic that happens in the quiet moments. Get a deeper look into the health benefits of mindfulness, meditation, and breathing techniques.
From peripheral neuropathy to migraines, chronic fatigue, and arthritis, chronic pain is plaguing our world. Reliance on pain medications, from opioids to even NSAIDs, can cripple the body’s natural resilience- but how do we address the root cause of this pain? Rob Downey, MD, IFMCP, speaks with pain expert Dr. Ryan Wohlfert about chronic pain and posture correction for optimal healing. Timestamps:
[01:47] The Chronic Pain Problem
[07:14] What IS pain? What exactly is your brain telling you?
[22:03] Posture secrets for optimal organ function
[32:02] A quick posture exercises to practice at home
[38:59] More at-home practices to take away for chronic pain
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Heidi Cox, CPT/Nutrition Coach, answering all your questions about starting the journey towards a personal goal. They talk about shaping positive relationships with health and food, handling setbacks to your plan, and how a health coach helps you throughout the process. Working on your mindset is just as important to your plan as fitness and nutrition.
Timestamps:
[03:00] What is the role of willpower in our lives?
[13:17] Avoiding negativity bias to shape affirmative relationships
[17:07] What starting a new health program looks like
[29:00] How to handle failures in your plan
[35:49] The benefits of hiring a health coach
About the Guest:
Born and raised in Alaska, Heidi is a 40-something married mom of two teens. Heidi began her fitness lifestyle as a competitive figure skater through her childhood years. After high school, Heidi lived in Kodiak and learned formal weightlifting on the Coast Guard base. As she and her husband started a family, they moved to Cooper Landing, Alaska where Heidi began teaching, Heidi's Booty Camp, to the community for the five years they were there. Upon a move to Wasilla, Alaska, Heidi became a certified personal trainer and trained at the Expert Level at The Alaska Club. From there she opened her own Personal Training business and left The Alaska Club. In 2016, Heidi and her family moved from Wasilla to Homer. Heidi now owns a Personal Training and Nutrition Coaching (focusing on holistic health and nutrition) business and teaches Heidi's Booty Camp at the SPARC facility to the community. She has clients from across the country to Homer and loves her job. Check out her Facebook page for all her information and updates.
“The right food, key nutrients, staying active, and stress management are the key pillars to see transformation.”
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Steven Masley, MD, about the preventative steps you can take to prevent heart disease. Food and nutrients play a critical role in shaping your health, and they discuss which areas to target that will transform your lifestyle. The focus is on preventing and reversing heart disease while enhancing one's overall health to feel fantastic!
About the Guest:
Steven Masley, MD, FAHA, FACN, CNS, is a physician, nutritionist, trained chef, and creator of one of the top health programs on PBS, 30 Days to a Younger Heart. He is a fellow of the American Heart Association and the American College of Nutrition and a Clinical Professor at the University of South Florida. His latest best-selling book is the new and revised The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up with a plan to help prevent and reverse heart disease. His work has been seen by millions on PBS, the Discovery Channel, The Today Show, and many other outlets. For more details, visit his website, www.drmasley.com.
Timestamps:
[07:14] Five heart-critical foods for your diet
[13:20] Has there been an evolution of heart disease risk factors?
[18:01] Low fat vs. healthy fat diets
[24:22] Lifestyle changes & reversing heart diseases
[32:13] What mineral changes can you implement yourself?
Dr. Rob Downey Speaks with Dr. Nalini Chilkov, creator of the OutSmart Cancer System and Founder of Integrative Cancer Answers, an online resource for patients and families whose lives have been touched by cancer. She is the author of the best seller book 32 Ways to OutSmart Cancer: How to Create A Body Where Cancer Cannot Thrive. Today we discuss integrative cancer care, essential vitamins and minerals, and protecting your health amidst the chaos of cancer.
01:45 Why integrative cancer care?
10:00 Patient-forward oncology- promoting patient agency
18:32 Embracing integrative cancer care alongside conventional care
23:12 Intermittent fasting & cancer care
29:37 Top supplements & plan building for cancer patients
43:28 Outsmart Cancer System
“The power is all in the body."
In this episode, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Holly McClure, PT, an expert specializing in practicing BioSynchronistics with patients. She defines the process and techniques behind BioSynchronistics, discussing the types of patients that would benefit from this practice. The healing process requires the restoration of the body and mind; listening to yourself is the best way to guide you.
About the Guest:
Holly grew up in the panhandle of Texas and graduated with a Master of Physical Therapy from Texas Tech University in 2006. Initially working for Anchorage Fracture and Orthopedic Clinic for 9 years, Holly then moved to Homer and practiced locally for 6 years. She specializes in her novel method, BioSynchronistics, and has been focusing on this treatment approach for the past 10 years. Her work surrounds complex cases, such as scoliosis, chronic pain, prenatal, and general orthopedics. BioSynchronistics brings the body in balance, so overuse injuries, repetitive activities, and postural dysfunction respond very favorably to this manual technique. Visit her website to register and schedule your own appointment.
Timestamps:
[02:50] Holly’s journey and professional development with BioSynchronistics
[09:15] What is BioSynchronistics? Discussing studies and techniques
[14:51] Defining and exploring fascial adhesions
[29:27] The importance of patient education to break habits
[34:27] How to “listen” to your body: is BioSynchronistics for you?
=
“As an artist, I think we need relationships, not just with other people, but with art and the spaces in our environments.”
In this episode, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Carla Cope, a local artist who has created the well-known video background for the Field Notes podcast. They discuss the importance of art on the journey to healing and recovery, and how it can be implemented into hospitals to brighten the mindset of patients.
Timestamps:
[05:31] The power of nature through art
[10:39] What are healing spaces in hospitals?
[17:58] Carla’s personal message in her artwork
[26:00] Making space: the importance of “room to breathe”
[33:33] Visual tour of Carla’s work throughout the clinic
Today, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Darin Ingels, about his personal battle with Lyme disease and how his experience developed his expertise. He continues to help patients stray from conventional medicine and treatment for a faster road to recovery. Learn more about his upcoming masterclass, Overcoming Chronic Illness to guide you through understanding sickness and strategies to help you regain your health.
Timestamps:
[02:21] Personal battle overcoming Lyme disease
[07:39] What are the misconceptions surrounding this community?
[14:12] How to know if you have Lyme disease
[19:49] Lifestyle changes to implement reducing chronic pain
[31:51] How to be your OWN advocate for your health
About the Guest
Dr. Darin Ingels is a licensed naturopathic physician, author, international speaker, and leading authority on Lyme disease.
He is a former Lyme patient who overcame his own 3-year battle with Lyme disease, after having failed conventional treatment and became progressively debilitated. Dr. Ingels found that proper diet, lifestyle management and natural therapies worked with his body to heal instead of against it. He then applied what he learned about his own healing journey to his own Lyme patients and found they recovered faster and with less side effects. Dr. Ingels has now treated more than 7000 Lyme patients using his novel approach, many of who have gone on to live healthy, symptom-free lives.
Dr. Ingels has been featured on WebMD, MindBodyGreen, BeWell, ThriveGlobal, Motherly and Dr. Ron Hoffman’s Intelligent Medicine podcast and is the author of The Lyme Solution: A 5-Part Plan to Fight the Inflammatory Autoimmune Response and Beat Lyme Disease.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Tim Jackson, creator of “The Heal Your Hormones” bootcamp. Together they talk about improving your health for free, or practically free. They also dive into all things mitochondria, lymphatics, and reducing general wear-and-tear on the body. Go to healyourbody.org and get 10% percent off an initial 1-hour consultation- use code DrRob10.
Dr. Tim Jackson is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Orthopedic Rehabilitation, and a Functional Medicine provider. He holds a B.S. Degree in Health Science and Chemistry from Wake Forest University. He serves clients in over 15 countries through his telehealth practice at www.healyourbody.org and has helped thousands over the last 8 years.
Dr. Jackson is the creator of the “The Heal Your Hormones” bootcamp for neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Kruse’s membership community and has contributed to the book “Diagnostic Testing and Functional Medicine” by Ameer Rosic. He has been featured in The Huffington Post, the “Bulletproof Executive” and “Ben Greenfield Fitness” podcasts, on multiple health and medical summits, and in two health documentaries.
He serves on the medical advisory board for Greensmoothiegirl.com, a site with several million annual visitors and for Your 2nd Half, a foundation that helps athletes with their career transitions. Dr. Jackson is available to comment on various functional medicine and wellness-related topics such as digestive health, energy and fatigue, autoimmune disorders, and mold toxicity.
Today, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Hannah Crum, “The Kombucha Mamma” about the wonderful benefits of kombucha and living foods. Kombucha is a fermented tea, transformed by sugar and brewing techniques to enhance the nutritional value of the beverage, and today they discuss all the benefits of the drink and help you decide if it’s right for YOU. Buy a starter kit here!
Timestamps:
[01:50] What is kombucha and what are its unique benefits?
[08:36] Tips for buying different varieties of kombucha
[19:50] The safety of “living foods”
[29:29] Do “living organisms” benefit EVERYONE?
[40:57] Finding a balance with your system and kombucha intake
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Marisol Teijero, ND, Queen of the Thrones® about the unknown benefits of castor oil. Castor oil is a multi-purpose vegetable oil that people have used for thousands of years- for medicinal, industrial and pharmaceutical uses. Today, learn how to use castor oil to your advantage.
Timestamps:
[01:27] A personal history with castor oil
[12:37] How does castor oil actually work?
[24:00] What molecule is a “superhero”?
[34:29] Digestion and the parasympathetic nervous system
[42:04] How to connect with Dr. Marisol
About the Guest
Dr. Marisol Teijeiro, Naturopathic Doctor & Queen of the Thrones® is an award-winning author and Medical Mystic who’s renowned for helping change people's lives by connecting them to the signs and messages that are all around them, but most importantly those coming from their bodies. She helps people all over the world learn how to illuminate their purpose and passion in life by understanding their body language through experience-based health & happiness practices. She’s recently been featured on various TV programs including nationally syndicated shows (Bloom & Daytime) as well as The Marilyn Denis Show in Canada. It’s her life's mission to help people unfold and understand their inner journey towards full expression of self by connecting the body, mind, and souls for infinite health.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Evan Hirsch, MD, world renowned fatigue expert and founder & CEO of the International Center for Fatigue. Through his best-selling book, podcast and online programs, he has helped thousands of people around the world optimize their energy naturally, and he is on a mission to help 1 million more. Fix your Fatigue with Dr. Evan’s program here.
Evan H. Hirsch, MD, is a World Renowned Fatigue Expert and is the Founder & CEO of the International Center for Fatigue. He suffered with fatigue for 5 years before he achieved resolution using the Fix Your Fatigue Program that he pioneered in his medical practice.
Through his best-selling book, podcast and online programs, he has helped thousands of people around the world optimize their energy naturally, and he is on a mission to help 1 million more.
He also helps licensed, functional medicine providers transition to a successful virtual practice so that they can have more impact, more success and a greater quality of life.
He is board certified in integrative medicine and when he’s not at the office, you can find him singing musicals, dancing and playing basketball with his family.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Randy Hartnell, CEO of VitalChoice.com, the leading online seafood company he and his wife Carla founded in 2001. Today, they talk about how Randy helps his customers live healthier lives by providing reliable access to safe, sustainable seafood, and educating them about the far-reaching impact of their seafood choices on our health, society, and the environment.
Randy Hartnell is CEO of VitalChoice.com, the leading online seafood company he and his wife Carla founded in 2001. Randy loves helping his customers live healthier lives by providing reliable access to safe, sustainable seafood, and educating them about the far-reaching impact of their seafood choices on our health, society, and the environment. Prior to founding Vital Choice, Randy spent more than twenty years as an Alaskan commercial fisherman. He has a degree in English Literature from UC, Berkeley. His first book, The Seafood Prescription—Live a Healthier, Happier, Longer Life with Nature’s Perfect Food, is due out later this year. He and his wife Carla reside in the Pacific Northwest.
Timestamps
[04:35] What makes wild Alaskan salmon especially healthy?
[09:43] How do omega-3 fatty acids make our body more resilient?
[19:30] The “good news” in terms of fishing
[23:30] Why not to worry about accumulation of fish-associated biotoxins, like mercury
[38:01] Randy’s health advice- and the beauty that comes with it
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Natasha Fallahi, The Sensitive Doctor. She is a MindBodyHealth expert, functional medicine practitioner, and Certified Autoimmune Coach specializing in an intuitive approach to living and healing.
Download her free ebook: Too Sensitive - 5 Things I Did to Heal from Depression, Anxiety and Hashimoto’s Autoimmunity.
Timestamps:
[02:53] Natasha’s unconventional journey towards medicine
[09:16] Healing Hashimoto’s intuitively
[12:04] The health consequences of being empathic/intuitive- and its tie to autoimmunity
[17:30] The common sense of functional medicine
[29:18] Giving others hope: why diseases shouldn’t be labeled as irreversible
[37:18] What is psychoneuroimmunology?
Natasha Fallahi, DC, is a MindBodyHealth expert, functional medicine practitioner, and Certified Autoimmune Coach specializing in an intuitive approach to living and healing.
She helps sensitive people suffering from chronic illness and trauma connect with their intuition and inborn gifts so they can feel at home in this world. Her approach is especially effective for people experiencing depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, vague pain, brain fog, food intolerance, chemical sensitivities, Hashimoto’s and autoimmunity.
Visit her website, www.DrNatashaF.com
Today, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Ocean Robbins, CEO, Food Revolution Network. Ocean reveals the secrets the industrialized food industry doesn’t want people to know, how specific ingredients and methods could be making people sick, and what they can do about it.
[02:28] The comorbidies of our population dependent on obesity
[06:20] How to get better, quicker
[13:20] Helping people with the least- why healthy food has a reputation for the wealthy
[18:17] How to habituate healthy habits
[37:11] Tuning around the stress of the pandemic
Heather Aardema is a National Board Certified and Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach. She’s the founder of Root of Wellbeing—a wellness and weight loss coaching boutique and she’s the creator of The Live Light Method—a novel approach to weight loss rooted in simplicity, functional nutrition, and positive psychology. Heather is an aspiring minimalist and an advocate of living light. After decades of an overloaded, addicted-to-busy schedule, she’s now freer and happier than she’s ever been before. She guides her clients toward their own wellness breakthroughs by helping them clear the clutter—in their heads, hearts and homes, so that they can get to the root of living lives they love. Heather is the host of The Life Cleanse Summit—Living on the Light Side and she's also been featured numerous times on popular wellness and minimalism platforms like No Sidebar, Minimalism Life, Becoming Minimalist, Optimal Living Daily, Optimal Health Daily, many online health summits, podcasts and more.
[01:28] Where did minimalism start for Heather?
[07:20] When physical items no longer provide happiness- a turn to minimal living from a wake-up call
[13:24] After reducing your clutter- how to avoid “deprivation”
[17:01] Strategies to de-clutter
[29:17] How “clutter”- extends to medicine and minimalism
[39:34] How to linger, longer!
“I decided I was done working inside. It started to weigh on me.”
Today, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Jacob Werner, the head beekeeper at Stoked Beekeeping Co. in Homer, Alaska. Stoked is a family run beekeeping company, which started in 2015 with just a single beehive. They now operate close to 150 beehives among south central Alaska’s pristine subalpine meadows. Today they talk about the health benefits of bee products- not limited to honey.
Get some delicious and beneficial bee products from the Stoked Beekeeping online store.
Timestamps:
[01:25] What’s so special about different types of honey?
[11:25] Health benefits from honey
[15:28] How almost every food item can be traced directly to bees
[22:03] Why local is best for bee items
[25:27] Educating others on the different aspects of beekeeping
Jacob Werner is the head beekeeper at Stoked Beekeeping Co. He has a degree in business management from Alaska Pacific University. He has worked for beekeepers in California, Quebec, British Columbia, France and now Alaska. While working in California, he started a small bee company 'Bearded Bees'.
Stoked is a family run beekeeping company based out of the beautiful town of Homer, Alaska. Started in 2015 with just a single beehive, they now operate close to 150 beehives among south-central Alaska’s pristine subalpine meadows.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Tony Kasandrinos of Kasandrinos Olive Oil to hear about the genesis of his family olive oil company and how it has become not just a cooking staple, but a health benefit.
Click here to get 50% off on the first order of your olive oil subscription, 15% off thereafter.
Timestamps:
[02:19] How did the Kasandrinos family get started in the olive oil business?
[07:49] The “philosophy” of olive oil.
[12:02] Olive Oil as pharmacology
[25:48] What is the origin of this olive oil?
[28:26] How do most people use Kasandrinos Olive Oil
[35:02] What makes your olive oil different & the Medditeranian diet
Tony is a native of Rochester, New York, but spent a good portion of his childhood in his father’s village in Niata, Greece. After graduating from the Aquinas Institute, Tony joined the Marine Corps in 1997 and retired from active duty in 2019. Tony currently lives close to family in Las Vegas, Nevada and runs sales and marketing at Kasandrinos full-time with his sister Effi, and cousin Efrosyni. In his free time, he loves traveling, being outdoors, and spending time around the table with friends and family. Tony’s favorite way to eat olive oil is drenched over a horiatik isalad (Greek salad) and lamb chops.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Marc David, the Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, a leading visionary and teacher in Eating Psychology, and the author of the classic and best-selling books Nourishing Wisdom and The Slow Down Diet. We talk all about how stress ties to the psychology of eating, and approaching weight loss holistically.
Marc David is the Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, a leading visionary and teacher in Eating Psychology, and the author of the classic and best-selling books Nourishing Wisdom and The Slow Down Diet. His humorous, engaging, and informative speaking style have made him a popular and well loved presenter and his non-dogmatic approach to nutrition appeals to a wide audience of eaters who are looking for positive, inspiring, and innovative messages about food and health. Marc has held senior consulting positions at Canyon Ranch Resorts, the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, the Johnson & Johnson Corporation, and the Disney Company. Learn more about his work at psychologyofeating.com
Timestamps:
[02:51] What SHOULD we eat?
[11:07] Why don’t zebra’s get ulcers? (and other stress responses) [18:02] How does stress physiology impact our eating challenges and common health concerns?
[26:59] What is mindful eating?
[29:55] Changing your relationship with food.
[38:09] What is the background of stress responses such as emotional eating, overeating or binge eating?
[44:33] Resetting the body back to vitality.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Marc David, the Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, a leading visionary and teacher in Eating Psychology, and the author of the classic and best-selling books Nourishing Wisdom and The Slow Down Diet. We talk all about how stress ties to the psychology of eating, and approaching weight loss holistically.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Michael Collins, who has been completely sugar-free for over 30 years. He is Chairman of the Board of a Food Addiction Institute that helps raise awareness about processed food and sugar worldwide, a 501(c) non-profit and is the founder of SugarAddiction.com which has been helping thousands successfully quit sugar for over nine years.
Do Michael’s 30-Day Sugar Detox today!
Timestamps:
[03:00] Why is sugar such a problem? Why do people have such a problem regarding sugar as an “addiction”?
[07:30] How does sugar addiction operate as, say, an alcohol or drug addiction?
[15:00] Getting to the root of sugar addiction
[25:04] Sugar triggering irritability
[33:50] Sugar addiction in children
[41:23] Why and how your brain deceives you
Michael Collins believes sugar addiction is very real and not to be taken lightly. As a person in long-term recovery from substance use disorder for over thirty-five years, he took a very keen interest in what sugar was doing to him and his friends in early recovery. After much research and experimentation – he quit sugar with the help of amazing mentors. He then raised two children sugar-free from the womb to six years old and as they grew he rewrote the rules for sugar and kids in childhood. He takes very seriously his stewardship of SugarAddiction.com and aims to provide information and community for anyone wanting to curb or quit sugar.
After a successful business career online selling software and information he decided that what really made him happy was helping people with their addictions. He has written a book on sugar detox and addiction and developed an intensive, online 30-Day Sugar Freedom Challenge. A firm believer in community support, to help with any issue, he has included membership in his private recovery forum with the challenge.
Do Michael’s 30-Day Sugar Detox today!
Today, Dr. Rob Downey talks to Lorne Carroll, RN, BSN, and public health expert about his goals working as a Public Health Nurse and Team Leader for the Public Health Nursing section in Alaska, as well as how the pandemic has brought forth the need for change in the global health field.
[05:12] Discussing Lorne’s fellowship through Johns Hopkins and the goal of the American Health Initiative project
[08:34] How should public health professionals properly address interventions?
[17:35] The importance of listening culture in the public health field
[27:55] How does crisis bring out the most crucial changes needed for society?
[38:57] Relationships with communities while working in public health
About the Guest:
Dr. Sally LaMont is a licensed naturopathic doctor (ND), acupuncturist (LAc), educator and cook, who sees patients at the Marin Natural Medicine Clinic in Larkspur, California. www.marinnaturalmedicine.com. There, she focuses on healthy aging, digestive issues, hormonal imbalances, heart disease, pre-diabetes, and dementia through personalized natural treatment plans that address the root cause.
Dr. Sally has created www.drsallyskitchen.com for her patients and the public to share strategies and recipes to beat chronic disease, using food as medicine. She hosts the Healthy Immune Reset and other digital courses to empower people to take charge of their health and master the lifestyle changes that prevent and reverse chronic disease so they can feel better, get stronger and live longer.
Dr. LaMont earned her Naturopathic Medicine degree in 1981 from the National University of Natural Medicine and her Master of Science in Oriental Medicine in 1986 at Emperor’s College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
As prior Executive Director of the California Naturopathic Doctors Association, Dr. Sally led the successful campaign to license NDs in California, granting almost 40 million people access to natural health care. She was awarded Physician of the Year in 2001 by the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians for her work.
Timestamps:
[04:46] There are two main branches of the immune system, the innate and adaptive immune systems. How are they different and what do they do?
[11:30] What are the main lifestyle changes that you recommend to begin strengthening the immune system?
[17:00] Is there a specific diet that we need to follow to support proper immune function?
[21:48] The life-affirming relationship with food
[24:30] Are there specific nutrients that should be supplemented to support proper immune function?
[36:30] What ideas do you have to help people actually take action on your recommendations?
Visit www.drsallyskitchen.com for recipes and vital health information!
www.thehealthyimmunereset.com is Dr. Sally’s digital course by the same name, starting in January!
Today Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Tom Blue, Partner at OvationLab, They discuss why functional medicine is a good idea and why the business aspect is important to the viability of functional medicine being an option for everyone.
Timestamps:
[01:17] Where does Tom fit-in in the functional medicine universe?
[06:47] What makes functional medicine “profitable”- for patients, practitioners, and shareholders
[14:33] The realization that disease management has become a “diagnosis delusion” for many
[19:29] Whats “new” in functional medicine on the macroscopic scale?
[28:14] The co-emergence of the same truths in multiple domains in functional medicine
[35:42] Why telemedicine was a long-time-coming, even before the pandemic
Tom Blue has dedicated most of the last 20 years to intensively researching and synthesizing new approaches to accelerate the application of emerging science and research in the day-to-day practice of primary care and personal health management. He is a healthcare entrepreneur with an impressive record of catalyzing innovative clinical and practice management businesses that serve providers, payers, patients and industry including:
- VirtualPractices.org, an initiative to support functional and integrative medicine practitioners in capitalizing on their training to create value for patients in the COVID-era
- LeadHealth (acquired in 2019 by Empowered Education) the first employer health organization dedicated to utilizing Functional Medicine and chronic disease-focused bundled episodes of care to reduce healthcare costs for self-insured employers and health plans
- LivingMatrix, the most widely used patient information management system by Functional Medicine practitioners (acquired in 2019 by Nestle Health Science)
- Liberty Direct, the nation’s first ACA exempt, DPC-integrated medical cost sharing program, (acquired by Liberty Healthshare in 2016)
Tom is a founding partner of OvationLab and in addition to a number of business advisory roles, he serves as a member of the Board of the American Nutrition Association; an industry strategy advisor to theInstitute for Functional Medicine; a member of the Leadership Council for the Personalized LifestyleMedicine Institute; and served for nearly ten years, as the Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer of the American Academy of Private Physicians, the national professional association for concierge and direct primary care (DPC) physicians.
“Understand that we have so much control over our health and that small changes in diet and lifestyle can make a huge difference.”
Today, Dr. Rob Downey and Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum cover the wonders of functional medicine health coaching, why it’s so effective, and where it is going in the future.
Go to www.functionalmedicinecoaching.org for more about Dr. Scheinbaum.
Timestamps:
[01:22] What led Dr. Scheinbaum to find the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy?
[06:00] Dr. Rob’s personal experience on the effectiveness of health coaching in his practice
[12:33] The importance of creating a safe space between a health coach and a client
[15:44] The accountability and assertiveness principle in health coaching
[19:30] Starting a new routine gradually
[24:58] Health coaching in a pandemic: how remote data collection is helping
Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum trains people to become Functional Medicine health coaches and helps practitioners and coaches for their practices because she believes that growing the health coaching profession will be the solution to combatting chronic disease and lowering healthcare costs. As founder and CEO of the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy, a collaboration with The Institute for Functional Medicine, Sandra is a leader in the field of health coaching education. An educator and licensed clinical psychologist for over 35 years, she was a pioneer in blending Functional Medicine principles with positive psychology, cognitive-behavior therapy, and mind-body medicine. Dr. Scheinbaum is the author of Functional Medicine Coaching, Stop Panic Attacks in 10 Easy Steps, and How to Give Clients the Skills to Stop Panic Attacks.
Wellness Coach and Hormone Balancing Fitness Expert Debra Atkinson has helped over 150,000 women “flip” their second half with the vitality and energy they want. She’s the bestselling author of You Still Got It, Girl: The After 50 Fitness Formula for Women; Navigating Fitness After 50: Your GPS For Choosing Programs and Professionals You Can Trust; and Hot, Not Bothered. Debra hosts Flipping 50 TV and the Flipping 50 podcast, an AARP top podcast for 50+.
She is a frequent speaker and TEDx presenter of Everything Women in Menopause Learned About Exercise May Be a Lie. She has 36 years of fitness experience, is an International fitness presenter for associations including International Council on Active Aging, IDEA, NSCA, and Athletic Business, and CanFitPro. She’s an American Council on Exercise Subject Matter Expert, and prior Senior Lecturer in Kinesiology at Iowa State University. Debra is also founder of FlippingFifty.com and creator of the Flipping 50 Fitness Specialist program for fitness professionals. She’s a frequent contributor at Huff Post, ShareCare, and other featured outlets and on the Education Advisory Board for Metfit.org.
Timestamps
[03:30] Debra's start in the fitness industry
[10:44] Creating healthy lifestyle habits
[13:08] What if the gym is inaccessible?
[20:07] Interval training in menopausal women
[30:02] Why the reasons you're not working out are the reasons you SHOULD
[37:00] How exercise is medicine
After being diagnosed with Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth in 2015, Shivan Sarna set out on a mission to heal her gut and get her life back. But she quickly was frustrated by the lack of accurate and reliable information. She spent the next year traveling around the country for appointments with the leading SIBO experts, reading everything she could find online and becoming a “patient expert” herself.
Get Shivan’s SIBO SOS Cookbook here!
Timestamps
[01:49] Shivan’s Background and her journey through IBS and SIBO
[06:50] The roadmap through SIBO recovery
[10:28] SIBO Testing: How is it different?
[12:10] How to get to the SIBO finish line, faster
[18:47] Refaximen: what is a minimal absorption antibiotic?
[23:03] Supporting the parasympathetic nervous system
Dr. Rob Downey speaks the Holistic Mom, MD, Dr. Madiha Saeed, board certified family physician, best-selling author of The Holistic Rx: Your Guide to Healing Chronic Inflammation and Disease and Adam's Healing Adventures.
Timestamps:
[02:37] The Holistic Kids Show[05:40] About Dr. Madiha Saeed and her parenting “wins”
[14:16] Involving family in healthy living
[18:37] Quenching inflammation
[25:45] How the pandemic is affecting inflammation
[32:11] Adam’s Healing Adventures + The Holistic Rx
[36:35] Taking holistic medicine internationally
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with health coach Carol Comfort about food being information for our bodies, the purpose of a health coach, and just taking it slow.
Today we will learn:
- What is the purpose of a health coach?
- How can collaborating with a health coach transform a physician's practice
- How does a FMCHC implement a food plan
- The scope of practice for a health coach in regards to nutrition
- A recent health related book that could benefit everyone
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with thyroid expert in nutrition, Tiffany Flaten, CNS, LN. Rock Bottom Thyroid Treatment: An 8-Week Thyroid Diet for People with “Normal” Thyroid Test Results to Thrive, Not Just Survive is Tiffany’s first book now available on Amazon.
Timestamps:
[01:22] About Tiffany Flaten, Thyroid Cancer survivor[07:45] Nutrition and thyroid health
[17:45] How to gradually incorporate nutritional changes into your daily life
[23:00] The culture of restrictive dieting
[28:23] Specific foods to focus on for thyroid problems
[38:07] Thyroid testing: where does traditional medicine go wrong?
Dr. Tom O’Bryan is considered a ‘Sherlock Holmes’ for chronic disease and teaches that recognizing and addressing the underlying mechanisms that activate an immune response is the map to the highway towards better health. Listen today as we discuss all things brain health.
Sign up for Dr. Tom’s program: You Can Fix Your Brain https://thedr.com/freemybrain
Dr. Rob Downey talks to Dr. Rodger Murphree about fibromyalgia, what causes it, who gets it, and why.
About the Guest
Dr. Rodger Murphree is a board certified chiropractic physician and board certified nutritional specialist. He is an internationally recognized fibromyalgia expert. His “Murphree Method,” a combination of functional and orthomolecular medicine, has helped thousands of patients get healthy and feel good again.
He’s the author of 3 books for patients and doctors including “Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,” “Treating and Beating Anxiety and Depression With Orthomolecular Medicine,” and “Heart Disease What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You.”
Dr. Murphree is a frequent guest on local and national radio and television programs including NBC, Fox, and ABC. He writes for several professional and public health related publications. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post as well as peer reviewed professional journals, including, Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Chiropractic Economics, Alternative Fibromyalgia News Magazine, The American Chiropractor, and Nutri-News.
He maintains a busy telephone practice, helping patients all over the world get healthy and feel good again.
Timestamps
[02:20] Why specialize in fibromyalgia
[04:30] The constellation of signs and symptoms in fibromyalgia
[07:28] Why is there so much "doom and gloom" with fibromyalgia?
[16:07] The hormonal aspect of fibromyalgia
[20:31] Stress management
[25:16] Sleep and fibromyalgia
You can learn more about Dr. Murphree www.yourfibrodoctor.com 205-879-2383
Be one of the first to attend The Fibro Summit.
Catherine Clinton, ND is a licensed naturopathic physician with a focus on gut health, autoimmunity and psychoneuroimmunology. Author, speaker, pediatric health advocate, Dr. Catherine Clinton practices in Eugene, Oregon.
Timestamps
[02:32] Advice for Mothers
[05:08] Terrain Theory and Germ Theory
[14:05] Coexistence of our terrain and the terrain of the earth
[24:52] How your thoughts affect your terrain, even down to the mitochondrial level
[32:00] Brain fog
[36:30] Education and research in terrain theory
Dr. Rob speaks with Margie Bissinger, PT, about utilizing a physical therapist to improve bone health, regardless of injury. They also dive into happiness, and how it CAN affect your bone health.
About the Guest:
Margie Bissinger is a physical therapist, integrative health coach, and happiness trainer. Margie has over 25 years of experience helping people with osteoporosis and osteopenia improve their bone health through an integrative comprehensive approach utilizing whole foods, exercise, supplements, mind-body relaxation techniques and happiness training. Margie is the author of Osteoporosis: An Exercise Guide. She oversees all the osteoporosis initiatives in the state of New Jersey as the physical therapy representative to the NJ Interagency Council on Osteoporosis. Margie created a holistic online 6-week program, Happy Bones, Happy Life to give people the tools to naturally achieve optimal bone health. She is the host of the Happy Bones, Happy Life Podcast.
Margie believes that happiness plays an integral role in our bone and overall health. She has been teaching her patients happiness habits for over 30 years and has seen the powerful effects happiness has on chronic pain and recovery. Margie teaches the Happy Me, Happy Life 8-week online program to help people increase their energy, health and level of happiness.
Margie has lectured to Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, hospitals, and women’s groups throughout the country on topics such as Unconditional Happiness, Osteoporosis, Posture, Ergonomics, and Work Place fitness. She has been featured in the New York Times, Menopause Management , OB GYN News and contributed to numerous health and fitness books.
Links:
- Happy Me, Happy Life - Margie's online 8-week Happiness Course (plus live monthly meeting for one year)- https://happymehappylife.mykajabi.com
- Happy Bones, Happy Life - Margie's online 6-week course for optimal bone health - https://www.happyboneshappylife.com
Timestamps
[04:40] A message for menopausal and post-menopausal women [08:20] The relief of achieving optimal bone density
[11:30] Antacids and osteoporosis
[17:30] How stress ties to osteoporosis
[23:55] Happiness based on internal rather than external circumstances
[29:52] The genome and bone health and happiness
[41:05] The act of appreciation
Deb Matthew MD, The Happy Hormones Doctor, is a best-selling author, international speaker, wife and mom of 4 boys. She is a frequent guest expert on podcasts, radio, and TV news and talk shows, with more than 60 appearances on NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX. Dr Deb suffered for years with fatigue and irritability, and her quest to restore her own health led her to change everything about how she practices medicine. Together, we discuss hormones, how they can affect us, and how to find someone to accurately assess your hormonal imbalance.
Timestamps
[02:41] What started to change Deb’s fatigue and irritability? [04:43] How do hormones affect us?
[08:59] Looking for a constellation of symptoms
[22:06] “Cortisol steal”
[30:15] How to find someone that can help you.
Dr. Rob Downey and Dr. Dan Kalish have a discussion as two functional medicine physicians to talk about telemedicine, what they are doing to improve their practices, forming long term relationships with patients, and looking towards longevity in functional medicine. ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. Dan Kalish, founder of The Kalish Institute for Functional Medicine, has trained over 2,000 practitioners on building successful Telemedicine and Functional Medicine practices. Founded in 2006, The Kalish Institute teaches clinical application and patient communication techniques through a hands-on, case-based approach. In direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Kalish has honed the focus of course-offerings at The Kalish Institute to meet the growing practitioner demands for knowledge on best practices in transitioning to Telemedicine. Dr. Kalish is an IFM Certified Practitioner, and a lead faculty for the Institute for Functional Medicine Practice Implementation Program. Dr. Kalish has authored three books on Functional Medicine, and is a notable speaker at Integrative Medicine conferences. Timestamps [07:06] The budding presence of telemedicine [16:09] The availability of health services for disadvantaged communities [20:00] Transition to health sustainability, and forming long-term relationships with patients [29:35] What happens after a patient is "cured"? [31:30] Spiritual guidance in medicine Visit his website: kalishwellness.com to learn about his Brain Restore Program
Today we learn more about the benefits of yoga and developing mindful awareness of our internal landscape and our external propensities can best move us in the directions that we seek.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Elise completed her yoga certification in 2010 with the SchoolYoga Institute and finished her massage therapy studies at the Institute of Therapeutic Massage of Western Colorado in 2013. She is currently studying with San Francisco-based teacher, Jason Crandall for her Advanced Yoga Teacher Training qualification. Elise is a licensed massage therapist in Alaska and an active member of the Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals. She is originally from Minnesota and has lived in Alaska for the past 10 years ~ first in the Bristol Bay area and now in Ninilchik on the Kenai Peninsula. Elise instructs yoga classes at the Ninilchik Health and Wellness Club and maintains a massage therapy private practice in Ninilchik as well.
Elise is an avid enthusiast of outdoor adventures ~ especially Kenai hikes, SUP outings on Alaska's lakes, and in the wintertime, cross-country skiing the Tsalteshi Trails. In her spare time, Elise is a tour guide with Premier Alaska Tours, and with her family, Elise is learning more about the salmon fisheries in southeast Alaska aboard her husband, Jeff's power-troller boat, the "Coho". Elise and Jeff have an 8 yr. old daughter, Citori, who keeps them on their toes with her impish antics. Citori is a yogini in the making and has inspired Elise to volunteer in local schools as a guest yoga instructor.
Visit her website: www.emspofford.abmp.com
On this week's episode of Field Notes: An Exploration in Functional Medicine Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey is joined Aryn Young and Beau Burgess to learn what makes Blood, Sweat, and Food special and how it compares to "Organic" food or food you buy at the grocery store. We also learn about agrarian and economic sovereignty for land and small communities.
For more, visit http://www.bloodsweatfood.com/
[00:33] Introduction to Aryn Young and Beau Burgess
[02:42] What makes Blood Sweat and Food special?
[09:23] Regenerative agriculture and more about Blood Sweat and Food
[28:30] How do we respect animals and have farm productivity
[32:12] Organic v.s. non-organic farming
[42:46] How animals impact the land
On this week’s episode of Field Notes: An Exploration in Functional Medicine Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey is joined by Jordanna Quinn, DO, MS, a board certified Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician and has specialty training in Regenerative medicine, Functional medicine, Anti Aging Medicine and Medical Aesthetics.
Timestamps:
[00:33] Introduction to Jordanna Quinn
[04:49] How did you get involved in Functional Medicine?
[07:32] Why do you think Functional and Regenerative Medicine is the wave of the future?
[25:44] How a pill doesn’t change your life
[28:40] Using vitality as a healing tool
[40:20] How does aesthetics fit into your practice?
On this week’s episode of Field Notes: An Exploration in Functional Medicine Podcast, Dr. Rob Downey is joined by Dr. Christine Schaffner, a naturopathic doctor and an expert in lymphatics.
[00:20] Introduction
[04:05] Lymphatics
[13:55] The function of a scar
[21:00] Injections and scar tissue
[27:59] What you can do to optimize your lymphatic system
[37:18] Functional medicine as a paradigm shift
[39:03] How to incorporate a biological dentist into your treatment plan
[41:00] How does a topical agent work systemically?
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Cory Muscara, and discusses topics like mindfulness. meditation, peace, and engagement. Read the rest of our blog here https://bit.ly/387S60b
Cory Muscara is an author, international speaker, and teacher on the topics of mindfulness and positive psychology.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Jeffrey Bland, the father of functional medicine.
Learn more about Dr. Downey https://seaworthymed.com/
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Misty Williams, and discusses topics like advocacy in your health treatments and getting your best sleep ever. Read more at our blog https://bit.ly/3frUscX . Misty is the founder of Healing Rosie, which provides high-performing women with the resources and community to successfully confront the unexpected chronic health issues that women often experience as they age. She is the host of the Best Sleep Ever summit, sign up here: https://bestsleepsummit.com
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Heidi Hanna, and discusses topics discuss stress, how it impacts the brain and body, and tips for how we can be more resilient to stress. Read more at our blog https://bit.ly/2Xq1Ejh.
Dr. Hanna is the Chief Energy Officer at Synergy Brain Fitness, a Harvard University instructor, and a NYT bestselling author.
[05:30] How can stress bring out the best in us?
[14:00] How can people deal with stressful things that come their way without getting swept up into a stressed state?
[17:13] Questioning breathing techniques. [21:56] "Quick wins" to trick your brain.
[26:49] Acute stress in trying times.
[35:56] Acknowledging stress as opposed to fighting it.
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Achina Stein, a functional medicine psychiatrist. We cover topics such as antidepressants, root causes of depression and anxiety, and the functional psychiatric applications to treating this. Visit https://seaworthymed.com/ for more. Dr. Achina Stein is an osteopathic physician and has been in practice as a board-certified psychiatrist for over 25 years. Visit her website at www.achinasteindo.com to sign up for her book for free and sign up for a free 30 minute consultation. Click here to read the written blog: https://bit.ly/3cpTD25
Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Dr. Shiroko Sokitch about the power of both love and healing.
Read more about Seaworthy Functional Medicine at https://seaworthymed.com/
ABOUT THE GUEST:
The owner of Heart to Heart Medical Center in Santa Rosa, California, since 1993, Dr. Shiroko is an expert at
using many modalities to bring your body to balance and wholeness. Her specialty is Healing When It Seems Impossible. She brings hope and healing to difficult health conditions by blending Chinese and Western medicine with a deep spiritual and emotional healing approach.
Trained in general surgery, and working as an Emergency room Doctor for 10 years while attending acupuncture school, gave Dr. Shiroko a broad range of medical experience. Her new book –Healing When It Seems Impossible – 7 Keys to Defy the Odds a book about her unique and comprehensive healing
approach is available on Amazon.
Chick here to read the written blog: https://bit.ly/2U1nyYf
