Monthly Archives: November 2022

Speaker 1- During these stressful times, practicing self-love is more important than ever. But what exactly does that mean? Dr. Erica Steele from holistic family practice medicine in Virginia Beach is here to explain. Good to see you. Dr. Steele. Yeah. Good

Speaker 2- to see you too, Cheryl.

Speaker 1- So happy you’re here. So let’s get started here. And I know we will talk today about self-love and general health.

Speaker 2- Yes, definitely. Yeah, it’s a month of love. We have February. And it’s also Heart Health Month. So it’s appropriate to have this discussion.

Speaker 1- All right, perfect. So we’re going to talk about the heart first and the impact of metabolic health and how that correlates with your heart.

Speaker 2- Yes, people don’t realize the metabolism is not just about weight gain or loss; it’s all of the chemical processes within the body. So if your metabolism isn’t working correctly, your body will not detoxify. And a lot of times, those toxins will, then the liver will dump it into your bloodstream, creating anemia, but also issues with your heart and your bloodstream. So it’s essential to work on your diet because that’s really the top of it, that your nutrition, what you’re putting into your body, will fuel your metabolism.

Speaker 1- Yeah, and I love how you look at the total body approach; there’s no tunnel vision here. And so, speaking of nutrition, I want to dive into that a little bit. Because how do we know what’s healthy? What’s not healthy? I mean, you hear you shouldn’t have too much fat, but for example, avocados have a lot of healthy fats.

Speaker 2- Exactly. Yeah, there are many nuances, especially when it comes to fat. And people, really, people need to understand fat is fat, right? Healthy fat, unhealthy fat, if you’re eating more than 20 to 25% ratio of your total calories, which is your metabolic rate. You know, unless you’re a long-distance runner, or unless you’re a triathlete, or you’re hiking, you know, something like that, you know, you don’t need excess fat. And in fact, the more excess fat, the more it creates issues with your lipid panel, cholesterol, triglycerides, and things like that because it’s clogging the liver; the liver can’t handle that much fat, plus the gallbladder has to work harder. So many people with different gallbladder issues result from that high-fat diet, and then even removing the gallbladder if they don’t take an enzyme. After that, they’re going to have a tough time digesting fats. So I think we think when we think heart health, immediately we go to fat. But we also have to be mindful that there is a balance between what’s healthy and what’s not healthy. And it’s all data-driven. We really focus on holistic family practice on data. So it’s data from the individual. So we’re not just taking it from generalizations. It’s all specific to the individual patient meme.

Speaker 1- Oh my gosh, okay, so how do we know what to eat and what not to eat?

Speaker 2- The first thing we do in my practice is put patients on a metabolic scale that comes over all their body composition. So it goes over their metabolic rate, which is how many calories they need, their fat, their visceral fat if they need to lose weight, if they need to gain muscle, and then that gives us a number for us to work with, then I’ll look at their lab work and see okay, are they processing glucose? Well, are they not processing glucose? Well, their triglycerides are elevated, and looking at their lab work determines what kind of diet I want to put them on. And I really focus mainly on macros. So I focus on the metabolic rate and how many calories the person needs to take in. And then I break down the ratios of macros, meaning your proteins, your fats, and your carbohydrates, based off of the lab work that I have from the patient,

Speaker 1- You put everything together. And I know you have a course and teach classes about all this.

Speaker 2- We do. We do have a course coming up. It’s a four-week course because I get a lot of demand from people asking, like, I don’t know anything about nutrition. Teach me about food. And so I decided to put together a course for anybody. You don’t have to be a member of our practice. You just text holistic nutrition to our office telephone number, and it’s four weeks. So we’ll talk about the role of nutrition. We’ll talk about heart health, we’ll talk about the impact of metabolic health, what’s healthy, and what’s not healthy, will dispel a lot of myths, a lot of fad diets out there. We’ll go through that so that people have a deeper understanding and can make that powerful choice, even if they don’t use a practitioner like me.

Speaker 1- Dr. Steele, you’re so good at your work. Thank you for joining us today.

Speaker 2- Awesome. Thank you for having me. All right.

Speaker 1 – Between raising children and managing households, and pursuing careers. Women have a lot on their plates, and the stress could affect their health. Dr. Erica Steele from holistic family practice in Virginia Beach has some tips for balancing our busy lives. Hey, doctors, Hey, how are you? I’m well; I get treatment every time a counseling session. I really think everybody does. By the way, going on. So you know, all the stuff I have going on here. Yeah, ching. Um, firstly, how do we create balance in our life?

Speaker 2 – Yeah. Well, we’ve talked about this, I think, many times before; I think number one is not being so hard on ourselves. Okay. I think we, as women, tend to strive for perfection. And it just doesn’t exist. In my office, I have this picture hanging from a quote from Salvador Dali: Have no fear of perfection; you’ll never reach it. Oh, great.

Speaker 1 – I just fit, be forgiving.

Speaker 2 – credibly forgiving of yourself and accepting of yourself, okay. It’s unrealistic to be able to do everything and be all things to all people. And I think we, as women, because we’re so compassionate, empathetic, understanding. And we have that capacity to raise children, and we extend that throughout all of our relationships and tasks that we have to accomplish.

Speaker 1 – Yeah, you hear some Wiser moms telling you, like, act like you’re on an airplane, put the mask on yourself first. And then on your children? Are you fine? Yes, we are doing that, though.

Speaker 2 – I think they’re crashing and burning, you know, they’re coming into my office, and they’re stressed out, their hormones are a mess, they’re eating unhealthy, they’re exhausted, they’re trying to keep up with everything. And they, unfortunately, develop, you know, debilitating health care conditions due to all of the internalized pressure and stress.

Speaker 1 – Okay, what must we do to solve this problem? We know that it’s a problem; we know that it can help, hurt our immune system and make us unhealthy. So what do we do?

Speaker 2 -So what I always recommend people to do is the first hour of the day is just for them. Okay? That may mean you have to go to bed a little later. That may mean you have to get wake up a little bit earlier. Right. But that first hour is dedicated to and may not even be an hour as well, like, but the first, you know, once you open your eyes, breathwork, you know, just deep breathing, you know, deep meditative breathing for 10 rounds. Right? Okay? Meditation has been shown to improve a lot of mental focus, balance, health, overall stress levels, and reduction. And then from there, you know, do the normal, take a shower, personal hygiene, all of that stuff before you even set the day? I had a lot of cases before that. They’d be like, Well, I have little kids. Oh, my gosh, I think we don’t realize that we can teach our children how to live and take care of themselves. Yeah, so we created a little snack drawer for them. So like, if they get up early in the morning, they know they go to little snack drawer, they go, and they eat that up, they sit at the table, they do their thing right now, obviously, you want to make sure else’s

Speaker 1 – child Right, exactly.

Speaker 2 – Like it, I’m not saying, just leave them, but you know, you don’t have to jump up, be there. You know, like, it’s okay, we can start the day because if you start the day like that, then the tone sets for the day, meaning that you’re not going to be rushed and hurried into every single instance circumstance situation, you’re going to be more mindful and more attentive. And

Speaker 1 – what role do you think societal norms play in women working themselves to death? I mean, you know, making themselves sick because they’re unwilling to take time for themselves. Yes,

Speaker 2 – I think we are constantly comparing ourselves to culture, you know, we see this celebrity, this mom, or the team guys. Hello, exactly. Or then we’re looking at Facebook and Instagram. And we’re like, you know, envious. I had a case, unfortunately, this last week, and they’re like, you know, this other family bought this big, $5,000 5000 square foot house. And this is, and they’re upset because they don’t have that. And I’m like. First, you have to clean that thing. My mind goes practical, always. However, it’s like, you know, being grateful for who you are, what you have. And what you’ve created for yourself is so important. You see, we have and do exactly what we have. And we can do, and we can’t do anymore. Right? And that going back to that perfection and need to perform and do and drive and our culture society, just as Americans, we are very much in the Go, go, go go go. Unlike other countries, let’s say in Europe, where you know, they have a lot of downtime and relaxation, and they’re walking everywhere. And it’s a little bit more steadfast. Well, you

Speaker 1 – know, I have more questions. And so, where do people go if they have more questions? I understand you’re doing a Facebook Live as well? Yes,

Speaker 2 – we are. So we have two options for consultation with our office for all those moms that are super, super exhausted, and tired. We have a wellness exam and a comprehensive initial consultation just mentioned Coast Live, and we’ll get you set up. All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I’ll ask her questions during the show. So that’s how you can get in touch with Dr exactly, and we have our Facebook Live coming up from the 20th to the 30

Speaker 1 – Great, thank you, Dr. Steele, sure.

Speaker 1 – Recently, celebrity men like Will Smith and Johnny Depp, Fat Boys, have made headlines for their bad behavior, signaling possible mental health challenges. So Dr. Erica Steele from holistic family practice in Virginia Beach joins us now to weigh in. Good morning. Dr. Steele, how are you doing?

Speaker 2 – I’m doing very well, April; as always,

Speaker 1 – we all have opinions. And we’ve walked away with views about the slap heard worldwide. And of course, the Johnny Depp case on Court TV, you know, what’s on Court TV? So I mean, what does this mean, as you know, mental wellness?

Speaker 2 – Well, I think, especially for mental health awareness month, which we’re in May, it really brings a lot more awareness to men’s mental health and the perspective that real men, like everyone else, including women, struggle with mental health issues.

Speaker 1 – Do you think any of it relates to us being in quarantine for as long as we had and dealing with COVID? At all? What’s your take on it?

Speaker 2 – Well, I think with the court with quarantine, it allows people to sit with themselves. And when we’re so busy running around doing everything, right? We tend to neglect our mental and emotional state. And so when we have to slow down and be fully present with ourselves, we have to deal with things that we haven’t dealt with in the past.

Speaker 1 – I’m now interested in a holistic healthcare perspective. What can we all learn from these scenarios?

Speaker 2 – So I think what we can learn specifically from, let’s say, Will Smith because they’re both different. Will Smith really be triggered by something in the past, right? And so he was initiated by words that Chris Rock said, and it really triggers that fight or flight response, that primitive response that we all have; a lot of us will either fight flight or freeze. In the case of Will Smith, he fought in the case of Chris Rock; he froze. And that’s what we can glean from that perspective, at least with that particular case.

Speaker 1 – Okay, and then moving on to Johnny Depp. What’s your feedback on that?

Speaker 2 – So with Johnny Depp and again, similar to Will Smith, but different. He mentioned something in the case where he said, you know, he realized at a certain point that he was married to his mother and Johnny Depp experienced abuse in his childhood from the past are experienced adverse childhood experiences. And so he didn’t deal with that. And so often, if you don’t deal with those things from the past, mentally and emotionally, you tend to normalize certain behaviors and relationships. And then, in the case of Johnny Depp, when you don’t deal with your mental and emotional state, you tend to act out using drugs and alcohol to suppress unhealed emotions from the past.

Speaker 1 – Right. And I just want to clarify, Johnny Depp hasn’t been charged with a crime; he’s facing a civil lawsuit or a defamation case. So what are the viewers supposed to walk away with from these experiences they see on television from celebrities?

Speaker 2 – Well, I think the first thing is to take celebrities off of a pedestal because so often, we hold them to this much higher standard that we believe they’re supposed to not be human and, and all actuality, they are human. And then they have a tremendous opportunity to be able to teach us all, especially our men, right, because men have a tendency to feel ashamed of their emotions, not deal with their emotions, suppress their feelings, because they want to be strong, perceived strength, or they want to be, you know, unstoppable, or whatever we’re all who knows. But the reality is that we, as human beings, must deal with our mental and emotional health. Because if we don’t, it can lead to sabotage, like, for instance, relationships. And, you know, I mean, Will Smith was getting an award that evening for his work, and it was so clouded by the events. So it shows that even with no matter what your status is, no matter how much money you make, no matter what professional athletes you have, or even personal ones, if you don’t deal with your mental and emotional health and well-being, it’s eventually going to catch up with you.

Speaker 1 – So if people out there want to go a step further and deeper, you’re offering some help, especially for men you know are dealing with mental health issues.

Speaker 2 – Yeah, so my, my practice is very unique. It’s not this traditional practice: you go, sit down, talk; it’s more, we’re doing a webinar where we kind of go into my perspective. So it’s really about teaching people awareness, educating them, and then coaching them and teaching them practically what they can do step by step. It’s a nonjudgmental, loving, or supportive atmosphere and a perfect space to talk. And so we’re hosting that free webinar. Anybody and everybody can come. Men especially are encouraged to attend. But of course, women and all people can come.

Speaker 1 – Dr. Erica Steele, thank you so much for this.

Speaker 2 – Awesome Thank you, Miss. Thanks for having me sure

Speaker 1 – addicts play a role in our health, from our risk of heart disease to cancer to mental health issues. But our next guest says trauma can also be passed down in our DNA. Dr. Erica Steele from holistic family practice in Virginia Beach is here to explain Hey, Erica, how you doing? Hi, I’m, well, how are you? So good, I hadn’t heard that. So explain what that means trauma being passed in our DNA.

Speaker 2 – So this is a relatively new frontier in healthcare. And being an innovator, I’m always looking at, and always wanting to find the cause, like I always want to see the root cause as a naturopath. And so what they’ve studied, as they’ve become more aware of genetics, and metal genetics, which are all are all of the enzymatic processes that make up the DNA and, you know, move everything in the body is structured around that, they found that there’s actually transgenerational trauma that is passed down from generation to generation, which I find just to be fascinating. And so that impacts the genes of the DNA of children coming in. And then as we know, through epigenetics, the environment to which we put the genes in that that leaves people more susceptible to chronic disease, etc. So it’s really fat. I mean, we’re like at the very beginning of understanding all the impacts of this on our health. But I think it’s fascinating, and I wanted to share it with your viewers today.

Speaker 1 – Yeah, that is fascinating. It’s called ancestral trauma. I mean, for somebody like me, who’s African American, so are you saying my ancestors, who may have been slaves in the past, pass that down to my DNA? Correct. And

Speaker 2 – I have African genetics, obviously, as well. And Native American, right. And so I got it kind of both genocide and the impact of slavery on my mother’s side. And this is what got me intrigued with this. On my mother’s side, my mother’s side, suffered with mental health issues passed down generation to generation, to the point that my mother, unfortunately suffers from di D, which is dissociative identity disorder. So that kind of already started getting me and growing up around that really got me inspired to kind of learn more about how the genetics impact because of course, I didn’t want it to affect me, and impact me; I watched this incredibly brilliant woman, just over the years to grade further and further and further, upon research, and upon learning, I understood that the effects of slavery had negatively impacted the men in the men, the protectors in the African lineage from slavery, etc. And then there were impacts of sexual abuse and things like that that impacted her DNA as well. So all around her neurotransmitters, and even mine, when I got my EEG done, I got my brain map, that whole schizophrenic network was all affected by that. Now, because I was aware and educated, I could do something about it. I wasn’t. I didn’t have to be a victim of my genes; I overcame it. So it’s pretty fascinating the power that we have, now that genetics are coming out, and we’re able to really put all these pieces together,

Speaker 1 – my goodness. So it’s not just the environment you grow in, but you must also consider the DNA. So how do you avoid this? Or how do you get past it like you’ve done?

Speaker 2 – I did an EEG which is a brain map. I’ve got some excellent professionals I work with, in the allopathic world who can do this. So we do EGS look at that, and look at like your 23andme or your ancestry results. We look at those, and we start to stabilise in addition to doing other like CBT style treatments, EFT, I throw in some Kundalini in there, some meditation, some guided imagery, as well as really supporting what we call the HPA axis, the hypothalamus, pituitary-adrenal, because the adrenals when you’re when you come in with trauma, they also found this even with Holocaust, DNA, Jewish DNA that the cortisol was coming in low cortisol is the stress hormone. Just because it had already been exhausted, so making sure we support those nutritionally supplementally, I mean, it’s really a very incredible time. I think some of the current events are traumatizing to people with trauma stored within their DNA. So now is the time to look at this and push this frontier forward in healthcare and medicine throughout Well, I’m very excited to be a part of

Speaker 1 – Dr. Erica Steele, it is fascinating. We’re out of time real quick, how can people find you?

Speaker 2 – So, all over the place, they can call our office and look me up online; we do have classes where we can explore. So if this message calls to anybody to explore their trauma, feel free because lifestyle has so much to do with it. Many people who have been traumatised also experience chronic disease and don’t take care of themselves. We also have a lot of health programmes to help people get back on track. And of course, all this stuff comes up amid everything as we do that. So the webinar dates are June 20 to 24 and June 29. And I look forward to seeing everyone there. All right.

Speaker 1 – Thank you so much Dr. Steele.

Speaker 1 – Welcome back. Spring could be a great time to start practicing healthier lifestyle habits. And today, Dr. Erica Steele from holistic family practice in Virginia Beach is here to discuss one of the latest health fads, detoxification. We’ve talked much about it here on the coastline, Dr. Steele; welcome back to the show. It’s great to see you today.

Speaker 2 – Thank you so much for having me again.

Speaker 1 – Let’s talk about this detoxification. What is it for folks who don’t know, and why should people look into it?

Speaker 2 – Yeah, so detoxification is the process of ridding your body of environmental toxins. We have metabolic products with our waste products from just our metabolism, but then we also detoxify from all the different chemicals in our environment.

Speaker 1 – Alright, what sort of symptoms might somebody be experiencing if detoxing is in their best interest?

Speaker 2 – Excessive sweating and body odor are bad breath, fatigue, brain fog, gassing, bloating, and constipation. Those are all typical symptoms that somebody really needs to detoxify their organs.

Speaker 1 – I’ve got quite a few of those on the list. All right, so let’s say that somebody, not any particular daytime talk show host, has some of these symptoms; why would detox be the best option to help them?

Speaker 2 – Well, detoxification number one, especially in spring, it’s a great transition because we tend to eat heavier in the winter. And then we transitioned to eating lighter in the spring where it was, excuse me, Summer, were more active and that kind of thing. So detoxification can be a healthy tool for overall Oregon health and function, and hygieneYou know, we’re taught to brush our teeth and, we’re prepared ta shower, those sorts of things. But we’re not necessarily led to detoxify our organs and how to detoxify our organs.

Speaker 1 – A lot of that is detoxifying your diet, right, like eating pure foods, is that right?

Speaker 2 – Yeah, I often tend to advise patients if they’re going to do it themselves without a health care professional to start just with their food, right? So we tend to know what we’re eating and not eating. That’s healthy, right? So we tend to see if we’re eating junk, we’re eating processed foods, those sorts of things. So eliminating those, but there are also some really popular food-based detoxes, such as the Daniel fast or the whole 30, which remove all of the pro-inflammatory foods in the diet. So then, we detoxify our bodies naturally by eliminating those things from the diet.

Speaker 1 – And you’ve talked a lot about this on our show, in your segment, the holistic wellness men, and we had just one yesterday about crafting better metabolism and your body. So, what’s next for somebody looking to detox once we take care of our diet?

Speaker 2 – So once you look at your diet, then that’s when we use herbs, or we’ll use homeopathy. A lot of times, I’ll look at labs to be able to determine that a funny story. The first time I detoxified somebody, I was like, brand new naturopath. I was like, You know what, I’m just gonna go do it, wing it. And the patient actually got really sick. And she called me up as like, oh my gosh, what did I do? I ran labs and looked at her adrenals which are stress glands. She was a busy real estate agent. And they were just exhausted. Electrolytes were just in the toilet. And so when I learned then was this, I’m never going to detoxify somebody without looking at their labs because there are so many things that you really just don’t know, she was, you know, super busy, high energy, but then your body needs extra energy to detoxify. So I always look at labs. So, of course, I can review somebody’s labs for them. We also have a 21-day detox program, and we have some webinars coming up to educate you more because that’s really important, especially if you have a diagnosis or you’re on medications or things like that.

Speaker 1 – Speaking of your webinars, you’re going into more detail about detoxification one coming up soon. How can we watch it?

Speaker 2 – Yeah, so we have it. It’s an online webinar. You can text our office, and they’ll give you links to our website, socials, etc. And so you’ll be able to tune in then, and it’s an hour long, and I’ll educate you from beginning to end. I always love to inform people about how they can live naturally.

Speaker 1 – Dr. Erica Steele, you always teach me. I legitimately learn so much every time I talk to you. Thank you so much for coming to the show. I can’t wait to talk to you next time.

Speaker 2 – Awesome. Sounds good. Have a great day. You too.