Speaker 1: Selma Blair, Selena Gomez and Lady Gaga are just some of the celebrities who have recently gone public with their health battles with autoimmune diseases. Dr. Erica Steele from Holistic Family Practice in Virginia Beach joins us now with some ways that you can reduce your risk. You know, autoimmune diseases are running rampant.It seems like everybody I know. Something. Yes. Why do you think that is?
Speaker 2: Well, just to kind of summarize it, if you look at it, a lot of times in Western medicine, we look. You know, all the physiological aspects, so like the environment, our lifestyle, food, genetic risk factors. But a lot of, like in Eastern medicine, they don’t really think about, or at least they do think about, we don’t think about in western medicine is all the subtle things like the self-criticism, the judgment of self, because all of those things really weigh the system down and then it’s gonna fuel unhealthy lifestyle habits and behaviors.
Speaker 1: Do you think that’s what happened with the celebrities I mentioned?
Speaker 2: Well, those celebr. Obviously living very demanding lives, right? Mm-hmm. and hyper focus. Hyper critical. Demand. Demand. Demand, perform, perform, perform. So there’s gotta be some element of that in play, for sure.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Let’s go down the list of things that might be causing these autoimmune diseases.
Speaker 2: Yes. Well, we touched on a little bit environment, right? There’s so many toxicities within the environment. We can go on and on and on about those things. Mm-hmm. , you know, from endotoxins to neurotoxins to PBAs. Plastics, chlorines, you name it. Our bodies are just really overwhelmed more so than ever, especially in our food supply too.
Mm. With being food, you know, some of us are not necessarily eating the healthiest, majority of the immune system is housed in the digestive system, so that’s getting a direct impact. And then a lot of times people don’t think about. Sleep too. Um, especially people with high demanding lifestyles such as celebrities.
Yeah. That’s the first place they skimp on. We all do unfortunately, is sleep. It’s like, Oh, I’ll work another hour. I’ve gotta get this done. You know, just push, push, push, drive, drive, drive, and then eventually the body just can’t handle that much stress.
Speaker 1: So that’s upsetting the body. Andwhat are some of the autoimmune diseases that are sur.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we have of course, Ms. Lupus, Slime disease, fibromyalgia, but then some of the other ones you don’t think about are autoimmune, like arthritis and things like that. Rheumatoid thyroid, hypothyroidism, Hashimotos. Pretty much anything where the body is attacking itself is an autoimmune condition.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.And so what else? I mean, can you do to help yourself, ?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think. You know, this may sound simple, but like we talked earlier about the, the hiking, right? Yeah. So going out in nature, connecting, getting out of your office, learning how to really love and forgive yourself, that’s a great baseline because then that’s gonna fuel behavior.
Gonna fuel habit. If you feel good about yourself, you’re gonna treat yourself well. You’re gonna drink plenty of water, you’re gonna be conscious of that. You’re gonna exercise, you’re gonna move, you’re gonna eat healthier, even if you don’t want to. You don’t have to be.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: You know, you’re gonna just have that motivation to do what you need to do to take care of yourself and
Speaker 1: that emotional health is so important as well.And I know you touch on that a lot in your classes too. Yes, we do. And you have some upcoming classes?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we do. So we’re specifically talking about autoimmune conditions, spec specifically for the family because we really wanna really talk about the entire family getting well, especially with children.
Like the sooner you get on top of this, the sooner you teach them, the healthier that they will be as they grow up. So, Classes on Saturday, April 20th at three, and then Wednesday, April 24th at five 30.
Speaker 1: How long are your classes? They’re about register. Do two hours.
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. They’re two hour classes. We definitely ask you to pre-register so we know how many people to plan for.
Speaker 1: Is there a cost to come?
Speaker 2: Um, there is a fee. You can go to our website or event Bright. I think it’s like 2020 bucks or Sounds like, See that’s not that bad. Yeah, it’s, it’s not that bad.
Speaker 1: And then you have a Facebook Live?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we do. I’m very excited about our Facebook Live. We’re kind of trying something out where we’re gonna come in and actually answer your.
Anything and everything you have to ask about autoimmune diseases, and that’s gonna be Wednesday, April 17th at five 30 on our Facebook page, Holistic family practice via,
Speaker 1: I’m sure people have a lot more questions about all of this. Oh my gosh. Because I mean, there’s so many terms that you threw out there that people are probably writing down going, Okay, I’m gonna Google this.I know before they can just make an appointment with you or coming of one.
Speaker 2: Of course, definitely. And it’s so vast, and I. To why a lot of times allopathic doctors sometimes miss autoimmune diseases because they’re so complex, so true, and there’s so many different moving parts and so many components. So really educating yourself is key.
Speaker 1: Wonderful. Dr. Steele, thank you so much.
Good to see you.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
What do you think?