Speaker 1: Half the population, more than 130 million Americans, suffer from at least one chronic illness. We’re talking about hypertension, heart disease, arthritis, right? We all know that staying healthy is expensive, but our next guest says there are some ways we can stay well on a budget.
For National Wellness Month, she has promised to share those tips with all of us here in the studio. And you at home, you’re fortunate. Dr. Erica Steele from Holistic Family Practice is back on Coast Live. Dr. Steele, thank you so much for coming in today. How are you doing?
Speaker 2: I’m doing so well. Thanks for having me. It’s back in the studio.
Speaker 1: And can we just like a round of applause for this outfit you’ve got?
Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: Oh, it’s a runway today. Uh, alright, so let’s just set the stage; how can Americans. First, maintain their wellness without breaking the bank.
Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, it’s all the simple small things you can do that you don’t even think about. Right. So water filtration isn’t a cost to it, but some things like sleeping, for instance, are underutilized. Yeah. As far as a wellness tip. Right, Right. And it’s totally free. You just lay down, go to sleep. There you go.
Speaker 1: And you’ve talked about, you know, both in our interviews with you and in your holistic wellness minute segment that you do for us, um, you know, ways that we can. Help to quiet our mind and reduce our stress and anxiety. That’s a big part of getting more sleep as well, right?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, totally. Meditation, breath work. Even when stressed, just take a few minutes to breathe and laugh like your segments. Exactly.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah, I try, I try to laugh, and I have some fun. All right.
Speaker 2: So don’t take yourself too seriously.
Speaker 1: Oh, well, I certainly can’t do that, okay. So of getting. This is step one. Yes. Steps 2, 3, 4, whatever might have to do with what you’ve got.
Speaker 2: Correct? Yes. So we talked about the water filtration. So Burkey is like your gold standard in terms of water filtration.
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: So obviously, you know, drinking water bottles are more expensive, but it’s essential too. Filter your water. Mainly because here in Virginia, we have chlorine, chloramine, and all kinds of different toxins in our water, right? So this is a perfect, affordable tabletop option. So it’s ideal for renters, so they don’t have to do any plumbing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that’s huge. Does it taste better after you filter it?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, of course. Okay. Silky smooth.
Speaker 1: That’s great. And what’s up with the crock pot here?
Speaker 2: So the crockpot, So I live by a crockpot. I have all the appliances, every single one of them. I barely use my stove. So what I do is I usually put all my proteins in the crock pot.
Like on Sunday night, Monday, whatever. And I’ll put, you know, like, for instance, this has low-fat cottage cheese in it cuz it’s high protein. It has some sauce in there, and it has some seasonings in there. And then just my chicken. Yeah. And then that way, you know, organic chicken breasts naturally, and all my proteins are done for the week.
So I have 12 chicken breasts in there, and you can buy them in bulk, like Sam’s Club, that kind of thing, and then throw them in there, which speeds up your meal prep time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that’s huge. Uh, I’m trying, I’m trying to get a handle on that the older I get, you know, that I need to plan my meals ahead of time.
Because when you don’t plan, and something comes up on a Tuesday you didn’t expect, I end up door-dashing McDonald’s. Yeah. And that’s not good for my wellness.
Speaker 2: and paying like a hundred dollars. Oh yeah. Yeah, exactly. I heard this is like $2 for McNugget. This is crazy. You’re like, what up? Exactly.
Speaker 1: You’ve also brought some journals in. I wanna talk a little bit about journaling. How can that help us with overall wellness?
Speaker 2: So the last tip I have, I absolutely love this tip. So we have two journals. One is a trash journal and a treasured journal, right? Okay. The trash is all the crazy negative things that come out of your, you know, all the frustrations, all the, you know, curse words, all the things, right?
Yeah. And then your treasure journal is gonna be all of your happy things, all of your aspirations, all of your, you know, affirmations, all the positive things. And I like to keep them separate. So that this one eventually you could throw away and this one you can keep forever. I,
Speaker 1: Getting in touch and being introspective with yourself is essential.
I think a lot of times, that’s the hardest step. What’s your opinion on, you know, talking to somebody, going to a counselor or a therapist even that’s important?
Speaker 2: Oh, a hundred percent. I think somebody who’s not a friend or family member is objective, right? Who doesn’t have a dog? Who’s gonna be honest with you?
Unfortunately, you have to be open to people being honest with you. Yeah. So, and, you know, it’s tough. We, we face ourselves. We’re human and fallible in so many different ways, but some places and people can really help.
Speaker 1: That’s excellent advice. I love listening to you talk about this stuff, and that’s great because you have a webinar coming up where everybody can hear you talk about all the details.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have a webinar coming up, so we’re still doing them on Zoom, and it just kind of goes deeper into those budging tips. I know many people are really stressed, especially about the economy and things like that, so I wanted to offer a lot of free education for people to incorporate all these natural things in their life without having to spend a whole lot.
Speaker 1: You know what? You put it best, and thank you so much. You see, you make this subject that can be a big hurdle for especially men. You know, we talked about that a lot. It can be hard to talk about health and wellness stuff, and you make it fun, digestible, and easy to understand. So just thank you so much for everything.
Speaker 2: Aw, thank you so much. I so appreciate it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Dr. Erica Steele, guys, thank you so much.
What do you think?