Speaker 1: Welcome back. Diseases can be challenging, and many people don’t understand. Joining us today to discuss chronic illnesses and integrative medicine is Dr. Erica Steele of Holistic Family Practice in Virginia Beach, with the top hat on. How are you doing? Happy New Year.
Speaker 2: Happy New Year.
Speaker 1: You are glowing as always. Okay. We’re talking about chronic disease, so this is a serious topic. Yeah. What type of people with chronic illness do you work with?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, so many people. , so your typical hypertension. Okay. Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, overweight people, thyroid conditions, cancers, autoimmunity, you name it, I’ve seen; I’ve been in practice a long time, so I’ve seen just about.
Speaker 1: All right. So how are you trying to work with their primary doctors and make it an integrative system?
Speaker 2: Yeah. A lot of stigma says that I’m an alternative doctor. Okay. Which is not valid. I actually don’t practice alternative medicine. It needs more science.
They have to ditch their other doctor and then come to me. And that’s not the case a lot of times. So patients need an allopathic doctor for medication management, especially if they come in and they already have a chronic disease. So the last thing we wanna do is pull that medication and then let’s say their blood pressure shoots up are very dangerous, or their glucose shoots up, which is really dangerous.
So I always work alongside allopathic doctors, from endocrinologists to card. To internal med oncologist, you name it, I’ve,
Speaker 1: okay. And how does the partnership work? How do you guys stay on one page?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they manage the disease. That’s what they’re trained to do, to look for, identify and diagnose the disease process and address that. And I’m really taught about the health of the patient. Okay. So that’s why when you go to your medical doctor and ask them questions about nutrition, Supplements, or things like that, they’re like, I don’t know. Or they give you really outdated information because, or general information. Because they need to be trained in that, where we’re really trained at building the health of the person.
So if you build the person’s health, the body was made to heal itself, and it can and will heal itself if given the right environment.
Speaker 1: Okay. So what have been some of the results of the experience? Oh my gosh. Of health.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh. This is why I do what I do. Yeah, because it’s so amazing. See, people really get their lives back. They can have more energy, play with their kids, and run around with their grandkids. Travel sometimes even changes relationship statuses because that was the source of the problem. So yeah, it’s incredible, and I feel so grateful to see so many transformations in people’s lives.
Speaker 1: live their best life. Cuz that’s the phrase that was so 2022. Exactly. Exactly. We’re dragging into 2023. So what are some of the? That you can give viewers now that may be suffering from chronic disease.
Speaker 2: First things first. Simply put, mindset is critical. So you have to decide. That’s the first thing, right? If you don’t decide that you’re gonna get well, then forget it. Nothing anybody can say; I don’t care what kind of doctor you are, it’s not gonna help, right? So make a decision then. Simple things. Sleep. We, you guys, talked about that. No happy boo. I know. No nap, boo.Exactly. Water is important. Half your body weight ounces in water. And it’s also important; many people think they’re doing what they must do. So they come in, and they’re like, I ask ’em, how much water do you drink? And they’re like, oh, I drink an, I drink a ton of water. Come to find out, the only drink, like 32 ounces of water. How many do you need now? So half your body weight and ounces in water. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that’s a calculation. Chandler to come out here, calculate it on the spot.
Speaker 2: I’ll be very vulnerable. Okay. So mine would be about 80. Okay. Ounces of water per day. Wow. So that’s a lot of water. Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1: All right. So I have so many questions. You answer so many, but I live with so many. Do you have an open house where people can get some questions?
Speaker 2: Yes, we do. We have a virtual open house. So, we’re pretty much gonna take people through the practice so they can see how we do what we do. We take a lot of data on patients, and that’s also a misconception that we’re pseudoscience or don’t do much data when we take it. So much data on patients, right? Because our goal is to educate the patient on what the data means, coach them around practically what they need to do, and then hold them accountable to achieve results.
Speaker 1: Okay. And what are you saying in your office right now? Are you seeing the RSV, the Covid and Oh, and the flu?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that’s. Been going on forever. Oh. So it’s nothing new to us. Okay. Yeah. It’s not that I know. Everybody’s oh my God. That’s like another day in the life. Yeah. We catch respiratory issues. We want to ensure you know it doesn’t become pneumonia. And things like that. We try to build people’s immune systems and educate them early. So October timeframe, educate them on what they need to do. Stabilize their immune system rather than like reactive houses on fire. Grab the hose. Oh my gosh. Got it. We are proactive.
Speaker 1: Dr. Erica Steele, thank you so much. Awesome. Thank you. We appreciate it. All right.
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