Ever wondered how your morning smoothie or your night's sleep could influence your therapy sessions? Keri Cooper, an expert in holistic psychotherapy, joins us to uncover the profound connection between our daily habits and our mental health. From balancing blood sugar and leveraging the power of vitamin D, to embracing pharmaceuticals without shame, we navigate the delicate dance of combining holistic practices with Western medicine. Our conversation promises to offer insights that could transform your approach to mental health care, providing practical advice for those ready to make brave lifestyle changes for the sake of their wellbeing.
Dehydration and diet, two often-ignored culprits, take center stage as we dissect their impacts on our minds. We swap stories that bring to light the stark reality of nutrition's role in mental health and tackle the contentious issue of natural remedies versus established medical treatments. With each personal anecdote and expert critique, we build a case for critical thinking and informed decision-making in our healthcare choices, steering clear of the allure of unproven methods that neglect the harmony of a balanced healthcare regimen.
Our journey takes a turn towards the roots of our wellness woes, with a focus on education and mental health. Sharing from my own encounters with acupuncture and dietary tweaks, we paint a picture of how non-pharmaceutical approaches can provide solace. We probe the effects of stagnant educational systems and sedentary lifestyles on our children's mental health, advocating for a shift towards a more holistic view. This episode isn't just a conversation; it's a call to rethink our health and the systems that shape it, inviting you to join a growing chorus that values a more integrated approach to well-being.
If you like this show and believe in its message, please consider supporting our Patreon. For as little as $3/month, get access to behind the scenes content, early access to podcast episodes and more!
Send any questions or comments to allourlittlemesses@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you guys!
Subscribe to the newsletter here to get periodic updates on blog posts and more!
Ever wondered how your morning smoothie or your night's sleep could influence your therapy sessions? Keri Cooper, an expert in holistic psychotherapy, joins us to uncover the profound connection between our daily habits and our mental health. From balancing blood sugar and leveraging the power of vitamin D, to embracing pharmaceuticals without shame, we navigate the delicate dance of combining holistic practices with Western medicine. Our conversation promises to offer insights that could transform your approach to mental health care, providing practical advice for those ready to make brave lifestyle changes for the sake of their wellbeing.
Dehydration and diet, two often-ignored culprits, take center stage as we dissect their impacts on our minds. We swap stories that bring to light the stark reality of nutrition's role in mental health and tackle the contentious issue of natural remedies versus established medical treatments. With each personal anecdote and expert critique, we build a case for critical thinking and informed decision-making in our healthcare choices, steering clear of the allure of unproven methods that neglect the harmony of a balanced healthcare regimen.
Our journey takes a turn towards the roots of our wellness woes, with a focus on education and mental health. Sharing from my own encounters with acupuncture and dietary tweaks, we paint a picture of how non-pharmaceutical approaches can provide solace. We probe the effects of stagnant educational systems and sedentary lifestyles on our children's mental health, advocating for a shift towards a more holistic view. This episode isn't just a conversation; it's a call to rethink our health and the systems that shape it, inviting you to join a growing chorus that values a more integrated approach to well-being.
If you like this show and believe in its message, please consider supporting our Patreon. For as little as $3/month, get access to behind the scenes content, early access to podcast episodes and more!
Send any questions or comments to allourlittlemesses@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you guys!
Subscribe to the newsletter here to get periodic updates on blog posts and more!
If you liked this episode, consider buying me a coffee! It'll help keep me awake during late night editing sessions. Thank you!
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Speaker 1:
Hello and welcome to All Our Little Messes, a podcast focused on healing through intentional conversations about parenting, relationships, religion and more. I am your host, veronica Winrod, and I'm so happy to have you here listening in on my thoughts today. I hope you enjoy this episode. Hello, welcome back to All Our Little Messes. Today we're discussing holistic or natural healing within the world of Western medicine and whether there can be a balance between the two within the culture of pharmaceuticals. So this is a very nuanced topic. So I have a guest for you guys that utilizes this balanced approach within her practice. She's a holistic psychotherapist with over 20 years of experience in the field. Hi Curie, it's great to have you on today.
Speaker 2:
Hi, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:
Yes, it's been great. I'm really excited to talk about your experience with Western medicine and within your practice, because I know you tried to approach therapy with a holistic approach to the entire body and stuff. So what can you tell me about that?
Speaker 2:
I do. I really think that whenever we're addressing anything, you need to look at the entire body and the lifestyle that goes along with it, and mental health is no different, right? So when I was traditionally trained, it was you listen to their symptoms and then this is how you treat it with therapy and meds. But there's so much more to it than that, right? So what if somebody's blood sugar is all over the place and that's creating moodiness? What if somebody's not sleeping well? There's so many other options to look at that you really need to examine. You have to look at their entire lifestyle, and I feel like, when I incorporate that, the clients get so much better, so much quicker, because you're at root cause.
Speaker 1:
Right, yeah, no, actually my husband and I were actually just talking about that the other day, because I recently switched therapists. One of the first questions she asked me was how much vitamin D do you get? Because we live in an area where there's just like very little sun in the winter and like it's been very cloudy here, and so she's like how much you know how much sleep and how much vitamin D have been you've been getting, and I was just like, oh, that's weird. I'm used to people asking me what are your symptoms of depression?
Speaker 2:
Yes, I love that you asked about your vitamin D level because again like that's important.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, it's very important. And you also have the flip side of that, where you know people will try to approach you know medicine and therapy and things like that with such a holistic approach that they kind of forget that there is. You know there is a balance between the two and that there should be a balance, absolutely yeah, and like I've heard stories of people approaching you know cancer treatments and things like that and trying to cure it with you know herbs and essential oils and it's just yeah, it doesn't.
Speaker 2:
You know, when we talk about mental health and medications, there is a place for them Right, especially when you know if you're looking to change your lifestyle in order to get healthier and feel better. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes a while to start eating better, to get in a good exercise program, to be sleeping better, and in the meantime it's like you don't want to just sit there and suffer. Why not, then utilize some medication in order to help you feel better, to make these changes? It's really hard to make changes when we're super depressed or really anxious. So I see it as almost like this boost to really help you get on your path and then see okay, do I need this or have I been able to kind of fix it without that? And if you still need it, then you still need it, and there's no shame in that.
Speaker 1:
Right and I feel like within certain circles too, there's like this huge. There is a lot of shame to getting mental health help and to actually using pharmaceuticals to get there to, like you know, fix your problems, and to me that's very sad because you know like they're a very useful tool, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
And you know it's not like it's a quick fix. It's not like you're going to go on meds and feel 100% better and okay, everything is done. You still have to do the work. You still have to do the work to feel better. So you know I don't. It always pains me when I hear somebody say well, I don't want to take the easy way, it's not easy.
Speaker 2:
Going on medication is not easy, making lifestyle changes is not easy. None of this is easy, and I feel it's so important to remove the aspect of shame. Remove the aspect of shame from getting mental health, you know treatment, from being on medication, from making you know smart lifestyle changes. There's just no shame in any of this.
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes, and it's again, again. It's very sad that people see that as as shameful and as almost like weak. I had a. I had a friend who who she was having some depressive episodes and so she went to see a therapist and I think the appointment lasted 15, 20 minutes and she came out with a prescription for some kind of anti-anxiety medication and she was ashamed of it and I was just like that is that is so sad. I mean this. This girl could hardly get out of bed. She was really struggling and they helped her a lot, but she was so ashamed of taking them because of the stigma that was in like our friend circle, mainly because of the stigma that was around you know being depressed and you know having to go to therapy or whatever the thing was. She wouldn't tell anybody that she was on them, but she was like, obviously acting different.
Speaker 2:
Right.
Speaker 2:
But she wouldn't she wouldn't tell people Interesting Choosing to take care of yourself, choosing to take care of your mental health. It's a scary choice and it's a brave choice. It is so much easier to kind of just hide in your bed and say forget it, I can't, I don't want to, I don't want to try, I don't want to attempt to get myself help, to be able to put one foot in front of the next, to make that phone call for help. That is being brave, that is doing something. That is hard. It is.
Speaker 1:
It is very hard. It is so hard Like I remember when I made that first phone call it took me like three months to actually make the phone call, the number saved in my phone to call the clinic, and I would not call them because I didn't want to talk about what was going on. I was just like you know, it's totally fine, I'll get over it. One day I'll wake up and I'll totally snapped out of it. It'll be fine, it'll be cool.
Speaker 2:
Right, that's what so many people say it's totally fine, it's fine.
Speaker 1:
It's fine, it's fine, it's fine.
Speaker 2:
It's okay that it's not fine yeah.
Speaker 1:
Like we're not supposed to be fine. All the time Life happens, things happen to us, and like people seem to forget that because they're stuck in this cycle of I'm fine, I'm totally fine, I got this, I don't need help.
Speaker 2:
And it goes back to a bigger issue as well being able to ask for help. Just in general everyday life, it is okay to ask for help. It is okay to say, hey, can you pick up my kids? Hey, I need help around the house. Hey, it is okay to ask for help. We are not supposed to be able to do it all on our own. We are supposed to have a village. That is what helps.
Speaker 1:
I actually touched on that a couple of episodes ago on this podcast. I actually touched on that with another guest about the fact that there is not a village anymore and so the mental health crisis has become bigger. Yes, because there is no village, there is no foundation for people to fall back on when they actually do need help, and so they struggle even more and so they become more independent and more I'm fine, I got this and they really don't. And then that filters down to affect our children and our relationships, our spouses and everything like that, and it just has an absolute snowball effect.
Speaker 2:
Yes, it really does. It's interesting, when we talk about asking for help and in any aspect of life, the kids that I work with so often they'll say well, my parents do it all Like they don't get help. And then we talk about and what are you seeing? Well, I'm seeing they're frustrated. I'm seeing they have no patients. I'm seeing they're not happy, right, because we have to ask for help. We can't do it all on our own.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and I mean, if you don't have that village, then I feel like therapy or just even having someone to talk to, even if it's not traditional therapy, even just having someone to talk to, can be so beneficial Because, again, everyday life stressors, especially in today's modern society, really wear a person down and we need that, we need that support, but we don't get it.
Speaker 2:
Even just getting from somebody else like oh, I understand, I understand. What you're going through is so important. I was giving a talk at a high school for parents recently and a parent very bravely shared she's like we're falling apart in my house in terms of mental health. She's like it's a mess. And a woman from the back said wait, you live down the street from me. I thought you had it all together. I thought that you were judging me and hearing me upset with my kids. And she's like no, and I took a step back. I said nobody has it all together Nobody.
Speaker 2:
And that's why we need to be OK with getting help and removing that shame from it. And not having it together is not a flaw, it's just because we're human.
Speaker 1:
Right, and I feel like I actually was. This was again. My husband and I talk a lot about mental health and the lack of support for families and things like that, so we were actually talking about how it's almost I mean, I don't want to say it's a conspiracy, but it almost feels like a conspiracy sometimes where you have this system that isolates families and then you have the way our food industry and everything is set up as well, which further breaks down our bodies and affects our mental health and everything, and so it's very difficult for people to even use the everyday things around them, like food and herbs and vitamins and things like that, when they're so degraded and broken down like they can't utilize the tools that they should be able to utilize.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that brings up such an important aspect of mental health. When we talk about holistic approaches, food, yeah, I mean most of the food that is in our supermarkets is not real food.
Speaker 1:
Well, and even the organic labels. Like I have started to have to read the organic labels because, even though it says organic on it, they will still sneak stuff in because the FDA and the USDA do allow certain ingredients within organic products, and so I'm having to even read the labels on organic products sometimes because I'm just like this is not, this is unhealthy Right, and that's exhausting.
Speaker 2:
Oh it's so exhausting. You really have to go to the supermarket and read every label and this intense meal prep and everyone's schedules are all over the place. It's not easy, but when we talk about mental health, especially like so many of our chemicals are actually made in our gut like we need to be eating well, we need nutrients unless we are not going to feel well.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, like over the last couple of months, my husband has been gone a lot and he didn't sleep very well because his work schedule is anything from like 16 to 20 hours a day, so he wasn't sleeping very well, he wasn't always eating very well, and so over the last three months he started experiencing serious gut problems, gut health problems and just feeling worn down and tired and depressed and all of these symptoms and at first I was just like he needs to come home.
Speaker 1:
But then I was just like, well, yeah, he needs to come home. Obviously no-transcript his sleep and you know vitamin D and the lack of good food and you know he hasn't been taking all of these. Like he takes a lot of like herbal supplements and stuff like that that really helped and he hasn't been taking any of those. And it was just like it was such a striking difference from when he left, when he came home, because he hadn't been taking them for this band of like six months and that was it and his entire body had just completely broken down from the lack of good food and like vitamins and proper nutrition.
Speaker 2:
Yes, like our body needs this good stuff in order to properly, especially when we talk about mental health and you bring up gut issues. So many people are experiencing gut issues and again it's like it goes back to oh, it's fine, it's just me. Like it's just who I am. No, it's not. There's a problem. Please address it.
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:
I know and like I mean, it's funny too because, like you know, even, even like, every system in our body is connected. So what effects? You know what effects our, our gut or our heart, health or something like that could often affect. You know systems in our brain and systems in our lungs and you know our, our what's the word I'm looking for? Like our nervous system and things like that, and so, and people forget that, yes, they forget that and so, like, when you fix one problem is amazing to see the difference in another system of your body just because you fix one part.
Speaker 2:
Yes, it really is, because people forget that it's all connected, you're right, especially the mind. Your mind is connected to your entire body. Yes, it's so important to understand that. I recognize it and you know when we talk about food. The other really important area that I want to touch on is hydration. Water consumption is so overlooked and so important. No, we are seeing studies starting to come out that are showing like if you're not hydrated, not only can your cells not function and your physical health goes down, but also like you could be angry. It could lead to anger, it could lead to lack of focus. All that's really important to know. Yeah, yeah, you know it could be as simple as just drink a few more glasses of water a day, but again, you know, when you look at what people are drinking on a daily basis, not a lot of people are really drinking water.
Speaker 1:
No, it's just sports drinks and use and sodas and things that actually dehydrate our bodies.
Speaker 2:
They dehydrate our bodies and they are not good for our guts. They spike our blood sugar. You know, we look at teens and we're like, oh, they're so moody. Are they just so moody, or how much of this is because of their lifestyle of a horrendous not being hydrated and lack of sleep? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:
I mean, like we talk about food and hydration for teenagers. I mean they have vending machines in every high school, yes, yeah, and they get to sit right there. I mean they eat that stuff all day long and they have easy, ready access to it. And then we wonder why.
Speaker 2:
Right, why they're crashing every day, why all the time they can't focus, why they're moody, why they're upset, because their blood sugars are up and down all day long. And what's exciting is that it's, you know, been recently that more and more research is really coming into play with how our body and our health impacts our mind. So I'm kind of trying to get some time and it's, you know, what I've written books about and it's what I practice and you know, talk about. But it's so nice to actually see the research that says yes, yes blood sugar is an issue.
Speaker 2:
Yes, our mental health. I feel so vindicated right now.
Speaker 1:
Water really is important. I knew it, yes, yes. So there was something I actually wanted to talk about was you know, people also have a hard time being able to weigh the pros and cons of a treatment without being prejudiced. So you know the people that are more naturally minded or that that have, you know, certain religious beliefs or things like that they. There seems to be a trend of people discounting certain treatments because they're not natural, and I mean I recently heard of someone who actually denied cancer treatments because he'd heard about taking THC instead, and while I believe that THC can be very helpful and does have its place like denying actual cancer treatments because you read on the internet that THC is better it's just like it's so dangerous. It's so dangerous. People have developed this mentality that modern medicine is evil and it's out to get you, and so I have to stick to everything herbal and everything natural. So they're denying life-saving treatments and things like that and it's really sad and it's really scary.
Speaker 2:
It's hard because with anything in life there needs to be a balance Right. It's no different, I think, when you talk about the people who have gone really to one side. It's unheard of Unfortunately been, because not all the research has been truthful coming out of the medical community We've seen that as an issue but also not all the research coming out of the more holistic area isn't truthful either. So it's kind of things like what are you consuming on the internet and what are you consuming to kind of form your opinions, and I think it's really important to look critically at both ends.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, and I actually had experience with that myself just a couple of days ago. So my son has genetically. He has very soft enamel on his teeth and so he has problems with cavities and decay and stuff. He's still a toddler, so it's been a rough ride the last couple of years trying to just keep his teeth in his head.
Speaker 1:
And a couple of years ago we did a bunch of research on fluoride because everybody again there was this huge thing on the internet a couple of years ago where Florida is evil, florida is out to get you. It's been banned in all these countries and so I did some research on it and I was just like okay, we're not doing fluoride, we're not doing fluoride. So we're like I got rid of all our fluoride toothpaste and I replaced it with fluoride free and we started denying all fluoride treatments at the dentist. And then this last appointment, the doctor looked at me and he's like you really need to do fluoride, like you really need to do it, you need to look into it again, do some more research. So I did, I did more research and I was actually looking into it and like I feel like the websites I looked on when I did my first batch of research had really kind of just tried to scare monger me into not doing fluoride and talked about how osteoporosis and it's been banned in China and it's been banned in the UK or whatever countries in Europe, and all this because it breaks down our bones and it's poisonous, and they'd almost made it out to seem like a chemical byproduct, waste product.
Speaker 1:
And so when I started researching, I actually came across a couple of articles that said it was a naturally occurring mineral you could find all throughout nature and that the only times it became dangerous was because when we had basically a system overload of fluoride within our bodies, and that's when it became dangerous. And so like the fact that it's within like our water and like some of our food and our you know, our toothpaste and a bunch of our health care products and stuff like that, that's when it became dangerous. And so like I was just like, oh well, that makes much more sense. And so like, because I did all that research, I was like, okay, so I can find ways to kind of mitigate the overload of the fluoride within my son's body and within my body and, you know, maybe we can do use fluoride to actually help his teeth, right, I think that goes back to, like you know, being able to strike a balance.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, because you know the research on fluoride based upon applied topically or ingested is very different. Yes, and you know, ingested it is a no neurotoxin, and applied there is some benefit. So I think it comes back again to striking more of a balance of what do you individually need. You know, some people just happen to have great teeth. They may not choose to put fluoride on, and that's perfectly fine. Other people may really struggle with their teeth and then that may be the right choice for them, and that's perfectly fine. So, again, I think it goes back to you know, what does your individual body need? Yeah, and no cream, regardless of what you're picking.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and, like in his case, his individual body needed topically applied fluoride. And I was like so caught up in all this research that said you know, ingested fluoride, without even really talking about the topically applied stuff, the ingested fluoride was, you know so dangerous and basically we were poisoning ourselves and it crosses the blood brain barrier and everything else that they were. I freaked out and I was like no fluoride.
Speaker 2:
No.
Speaker 1:
And again, they hadn't really gone into the differences between the two. And so yeah, and I'm hoping it didn't affect his teeth, but we'll see. I mean, at this point I'm just like you know I can't make it things any worse, so forget it. But yeah, like yeah. There has to be a balance. People need to do like, right.
Speaker 2:
What? Anything with life, there has to be a balance, yeah, and so the balance literally is something all bad or all good, yes, there's a lot of in between. There's a lot of gray area with everything in our life.
Speaker 1:
Yes, exactly, and so, yeah, you need to like. I feel like you need to go into every medical situation, not automatically discounting one treatment over the other because of that.
Speaker 2:
Right. You need to own research and pull in. You know everything on both sides and also then decide what is best for you and what makes the most sense for you.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, for you and your body. I mean because, like I mean, in a lot of cases, you do know your body best.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. So yeah, Absolutely.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and that kind of actually leads into like the next thing I want to talk about was, like the symptomatic approach to illness that you know our current healthcare model really seems to take and the fact that you know there's just so many band-aid solutions. Yes, in medicine and within our, like our healthcare and our mental healthcare especially, there's just like so many band-aid solutions and nobody ever seems to get to the root of the problem and, like, I have my own opinions on why they don't get to the root of the problem, but you know we can talk about that in another episode.
Speaker 1:
But yeah, they only seem to treat the symptoms and there's like no, there's no effort or work to get to the root of a problem. So people continually they keep getting sick Absolutely. And like you, see that a lot in mental healthcare. You know again my friend, she went into an appointment and she was only, it was only a 15-minute appointment. She walked out with, you know, a prescription for an anti-exaggeration.
Speaker 2:
Right and I think that's unfortunately incredibly common yes, that people are going to either their primary care doctor or a psychiatrist and they're getting a script within minutes and no talk about are you seeing a therapist? What is your plan to work on this? Like, what else is going on in your life? And I think that's when we talk about, you know, some people kind of mistrusting the system. It's because of stuff like that that they're seeing, where they're just kind of given pills and no bigger solution and no root cause is being investigated, and that's not the way to go about doing this. Like we need to be looking further. We can't just constantly throw medication without anything else happening. Medication, you know when it works. Its best is in, you know, hand in hand with lifestyle changes or therapy.
Speaker 1:
Right, right. And, like you know, when I, when I scheduled one of my first appointments for therapy, like I couldn't help thinking I was like you know, if I had gone to my PCP and talked to them and be like you know, I don't feel so great, I'm really depressed and I'm having a hard time getting out of bed every day. The first thing they would have done is, you know, write me a prescription for some kind of anti-depressive or anti-anxiety med. And I'm like, and I would be on those meds right now and who knows what they would be doing in my body. It wouldn't be fixing my problems because I would still be depressed, I would still have like overwhelming anxiety, I would still have all of this trauma I hadn't worked through.
Speaker 1:
So, like I'm just like I'm really glad now that I actually like called the therapist instead and was like, hey, right, I want to fix this. I think this is what's causing it. And, yeah, like I didn't, I fortunately didn't have to experience that band-aid approach that so many people in society seem to have to experience and like, yeah, I've seen some of my friends go on them when I was younger and it was like this snowball effect of side effects and then you know more meds for the side effects and it would just get worse and the problem would compound, and it was. It was just so sad just to see them change so fast.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely, it's you know. And again it brings into this big issue, like when you look at, you know what we're even consuming on TV, like all the ads like, oh, you have a sleep problem, take this med, and that's you know. It can't be just that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, actually all the TV. That's funny that you bring up the TV ads because, like, I'm constantly seeing them. It's like I feel like it's like five out of ten, a good 50% of the ads on like TV and YouTube and they're all you know. Here's a new med. Ask your doctor about that If you're experiencing such and such, and I'm just like. That is just so strange to me.
Speaker 2:
Right, and other countries don't actually allow ads for these pharmaceuticals. Where you know we're one of the few.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's just so. It's just so weird like I, like when you actually stop and think about a patient being like hey, I heard about a new med, I want to take it, go and, like you know, going and asking your doctor Please write me a prescription. I saw an ad on TV. I guess just so strange when you say it out loud.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. You know, if you're going into a doctor's office and there's stuff going on, the doctor could then assess and say, okay, I think maybe you need, you know, x, y or. Z yes but to be learning about it off. You know a 20 minute or 20 second, you know, add on TV and then thinking that's the right choice. I think you know we need to have a bigger conversation.
Speaker 1:
Pharmaceutical companies really do run the medical industry in some cases yes, absolutely. No and so like, and it's just like you know situations like that where there's just like so many band-aid solutions just thrown at us 24-7 all the time it it really just goes to show that we need to be treating the whole person. It's not always one problem. There's always it's little problems feeding into one problem.
Speaker 2:
We have to treat the whole person within healthcare and when within mental health, especially to yes, and I really do think we're starting to see a shift more towards that, slowly but surely, which is, you know, fantastic and much needed Because, again, like we're kind of in a mental health crisis right now, it's pretty bad out there in terms of mental health. People are really Suffering and I think what they're seeing is that the old way is not really successful. We need to take a bigger look at this and we really need to Combine a healthy lifestyle you know, good supplements and, if medications needed, medication, but it's a combination approach. We need to be treating our bodies better.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I mean like, and medication shouldn't be, you know, the end goal here's medication, this will fix your problem, like, I feel like medication should be a tool to get us To our, you know, a desired result of, you know, actually being healed, but I feel like so often people just use it as the end goal. Oh, I'm taking him.
Speaker 2:
You know, I'm taking a med, I'm fixed right, yeah, no, any part of the treatment plan, but not the entire treatment plan.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so no, I feel like that's that's definitely something that that needs to be addressed in in modern healthcare too, because I've actually had experience with that myself, with with certain problems within pregnancy, where they, would you know, try to push meds For a problem that I was having and I was just like, well, is it gonna fix it? They're like, oh no, it's not gonna fix it, it'll just help you feel better, right? I'm just like um.
Speaker 1:
I don't like that. I don't like that approach, I don't like that idea. Yeah, I actually had to go to an atropath and they were able to help a lot more, and that was it was really nice. It was really nice being able to actually fix the problem and like actually see results instead of just, you know, a bandaid.
Speaker 2:
Yes, I think a lot of people have had those similar experiences. I know I have. You know, years ago I had some really bad stomach issues and I went to a doctor and they're like, oh you have, you know, ibs and here's some meds. I'm like, but why do I have? Why do?
Speaker 1:
I yes.
Speaker 2:
I don't know. It's just, you know it is what it is. And here's the medication. And instead of going on it, I actually changed what I was eating and saw a world of difference and have never suffered since. And you know, and that worked for me and that was great.
Speaker 2:
But I think that we always kind of need to take a step back and say, yeah, what is the root cause? What else is going on? Even just a few years ago, I had massive tooth pain and my dentist is like, oh, just go see the specialist. And I walked in, I was there for not even five minutes and she's like you need a root canal. And I was like, well, are we positive? And she's like, yeah. And I went to another doctor for a second opinion. He's like I think your sinuses are just really congested and it's putting pressure on. And I went to acupuncture to clear up my sinuses and absolutely that's what it was. I do not root canal, it was sinus pressure. And I've noticed now that I actually get that sinus pressure at the same time every year because I have some type of outdoor allergy.
Speaker 1:
Oh, my goodness, so they would have drilled out your tooth? Yep, oh my gosh, that is insane, and I got that.
Speaker 2:
That happens every day, right, but a lot of people maybe don't.
Speaker 1:
Oh, my gosh. So, yeah, just you know, treating the symptoms of illness and Like you were having tooth pain, but it wasn't like you know. And then that kind of that kind of ties into like you know, the whole. When you have symptoms in one part of your body, it could be, you know, like when you have illness in like your heart or something like that. I've heard of cases where it can present as abdominal pain. Yes, and so you know it was modern medicine. They would automatically just focus on the stomach area and completely forget about the rest of the body, when in fact it wasn't your stomach at all, it was your heart, or, in your case, it wasn't your teeth, it was your sinuses and allergies. Well, connected.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and when we talk about you know, especially kids, when it looks like they have, you know, an attention issue in the classroom, is it an attention issue? Or are they not having enough protein? Is there blood sugar all over the place? Are they not hydrated? Like we need to look at these things? Are they not getting enough exercise and they just have too much energy Like? Are they not being mentally?
Speaker 1:
stimulated enough on a daily basis. You can take these kids, these poor kids, and you stick them in a classroom for eight hours a day and then you wonder why they have, you know, attention deficit issues or whatever. And yeah, like kids, young kids are not meant to be put in one place for eight hours a day with no kind of physical stimulation at all.
Speaker 2:
Yes, school is very different now than it used to be, and it is very challenging and I know for myself. There's no way I could sit in a school all day long. I think back to what I was thinking.
Speaker 1:
I think back to what I was like when I was in school and I was just like, oh my gosh, it was eight hours a day, yeah, private school. We would have 15 minute recesses every four hours and I was like six, seven years old, being forced to sit at this tiny little desk and do my math or whatever, and I'm just like, oh my gosh, how did I survive?
Speaker 2:
Right, because you know that's not how we're made to be. Little kids are not meant to sit that long. That doesn't mean that they have a problem. It means our system has a problem.
Speaker 1:
Exactly and like, and then it affects them mentally and then, you know, kids, they get depressed from that lack of physical stimulation and the lack of you know like moving movements helps our mental health. Yes, I mean. That's why mental health providers will tell you exercise and there's a reason for that.
Speaker 2:
There are some great studies on exercise, comparing exercise alone to antidepressants, and exercise did better.
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes. And so then you wonder you know, these kids, from the time they're five years old until they graduate high school, have such a lack of movement within their bodies, and then we wonder why there's such a huge mental health crisis. Right, and so we're just trying to figure out how to get this junk food, lack of exercise, all of these things that are feeding into this, this mental health crisis within our kids, and we're just perpetuating the system yes, like we built the system that created this problem. And then we're sitting there wondering, huh, how did this happen? I don't understand what's going on. It's like we did it, we created it.
Speaker 2:
We did. We were thinking why don't we just continue to throw more and more money at it through the schools either? You gotta get back down to the foundations. These kids there's way too much pressure. They need weekends off from homework, at a bare minimum.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you know you need to get back down to basics, yeah, yeah, and you know I, and also I feel like mental health care also starts at a very young age too. Making it a practice to take their kids to a therapist like every two weeks, once a month, just to kind of build that foundation of mental health, is not something to be scared of and it's okay to struggle Like I understand and so like, and I feel like that's very healthy, like talk about what's going on and like I try to encourage even my four year old to talk about what's going on.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and it's just like if you're struggling in school, you get a tutor. Yeah, life also is a struggle at times and we need to know how to navigate and we need the skills to do that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and if parents are feeling overwhelmed and don't know how to cope with a child that is having struggles and having problems, and then it's fine to ask for help, that doesn't make you a bad parent. It actually makes you a good parent, a strong parent. Recognizing that I don't have the skills or the tools to help my kid, let me go get somebody that can.
Speaker 2:
It makes you a great parent to be able to recognize that and to be able to put your own ego aside, and so I need to bring in help.
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes, and you know, and I think that more parents should do that and not be scared of it, and should actively try to break away from this model that we've built around mental health care and around our kids of you know, I got this, I'm strong, I don't need any help, because you know it does directly feed into our kids, Even if it's like a subconscious thing. They see what we're doing and they mimic everything we do and so they're gonna see how we treat mental health and they're gonna take that on and they're gonna grow up the same way and the problem is just gonna it's just gonna perpetuate and get worse.
Speaker 2:
So yes, parents are definitely leading by example.
Speaker 1:
Yes, so Well, this was an amazing conversation. There was a lot of great information here, so thank you very much.
Speaker 2:
Curious. Thank you so much. It was such a great talk. I really really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:
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