Today’s post features a few key takeaways from a recent Wellness Your Way podcast interview. Find the full episode here and be sure to subscribe to Wellness Your Way so you don’t miss future episodes!
Guest Bio: Dr. Andrea Perez
Dr. Andrea Perez is a board-certified family physician with 20 years of experience. Her desire to serve diverse families with equitable and high-quality healthcare led her to open Health Development & Restorative Medicine, PC in the Bronx, NY. where she and her staff passionately attend to the community’s physical, emotional, and mental health needs.
Top Insights from Dr. Perez’s Interview
- Western medicine has taught us to separate our body parts. We go to a gastroenterologist if our stomach hurts, and a cardiologist for heart issues. Western medicine is priceless for emergencies and saves lives all the time! However, there are many conditions that are not appropriately treated by compartmentalizing our bodies. Seeing the body as a whole is far more valuable for true healing.
- The physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental bodies all work together and impact each other. If you run 5 miles per day and eat a full pizza for each meal, you won’t be healthy. If you eat “perfectly” but are full of anger and unresolved emotions, you won’t be healthy. Integrative medicine approaches medical care using all of the available, proven modalities together to treat the entire body and the whole
- Recurrence of chronic conditions is often due to not addressing the entire For example, if you treat type 2 diabetes just with medication, you may lower the A1C and feel good, celebrating that success. But if you haven’t addressed the underlying causes (mental, spiritual, physical, emotional), there is often a recurrence.
- Many of the root causes for chronic conditions are stress induced. We are often not in touch with who we are and are not internally validating ourselves. This can lead to an emotional imbalance and being out of touch with our bodies.
- Rest and sleep are different, but both essential. Sleep is an actual physical state with distinct stages and bodily processes. Rest, on the other hand, is a simple removal from everyday activities and chance to pause. It can be meditation, prayer, being in nature, listening to relaxing music, deep breathing, or many other things, but it is essential to our overall health.
- We need to honor our commitments to rest just like we honor every other commitment. Andrea recommends putting blocks of time on your calendar and closing down whatever is done (or NOT done!) at the designated time to truly rest. We cannot pour from an empty cup, and rest is not selfish. When we take care of ourselves, our cup is overflowing, and we can serve others from the saucer!
- The most important nutrition tip is to eat whole foods. Whether you’re vegan or keto, paleo or vegetarian, eat more whole foods. Do your best to try to eat more locally grown foods – they are richer in nutrients and fresher.
- Sugar is a precursor to many chronic diseases, including diabetes and Alzheimer’s. If there was one thing that is normalized today that is harming us most, it is sugar. And by the way, it’s not the occasional, intentional cookie that is the issue … it’s the unintentional consumption of daily added sugar that adds up.
- Our lymphatic system is an underappreciated, vital system of our body. We have lymph nodes all throughout our body which filter any toxins that we are exposed to. Moving, and specifically bouncing, is key to activating the lymph.
Want to hear the full episode, including why sitting still is key to true healing, Dr. Andrea’s own journey with allowing herself rest and how she prioritizes it now, how much water she recommends drinking, Dr. Andrea’s 2-word fitness advice and a simple tool that helps her move more, and so much more?
Head over here to catch the full episode with Dr. Andrea Perez!
Now it’s your turn! What is one thing you learned from this interview? What’s one thing you’re committed to changing after learning from Dr. Andrea Perez?
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