(upbeat music) - Welcome to the Confidence Through Health podcast. My name is Jerry Snyder as a health wellness and sports performance coach. My goal each week is to bring you experts to help you take control of your health and build your self-confidence. Thanks for including me today on your journey to better health. - I'd like to thank our sponsor for this episode of All In Health And Wellness. You're looking for a health coach. You're looking for a sports performance coach. You're looking for nutrition guidance, like for instance, a meal by meal plan that will help you understand how to eat, it will teach you how to eat, and it will give your body yourselves the proper nutrition to feel great and be able to perform at your best, not just basically, but also emotionally and mentally. If you're looking for those things, you're looking for the key to improve your sports performance, both from a nutrition standpoint and an exercise physical standpoint, and a mental standpoint is your approach, your athletic event. All In Health And Wellness is able to help in these areas. Go to allinhealthandwellness.com and you'll find the contact information for how to get in touch with them and get started on the plan that will improve your life. - So thank you, Dr. Earley, for being a guest on the Confidence Through Health podcast. - No, happy to be here. - So as we were talking a little bit before, we want to talk about carcinogens and what the dangers are out there for people. But give us a little background as to why is that something that you care about? Why is helping people prevent cancer or treat cancer? Why does that something you care about? - Yeah, so I'm Chief Medical Officer and I'm a physician. I'm the Chief Medical Director of Invita Medical Center out here in Scottsdale, Arizona. And we're a center of excellence for cancer and really difficult chronic diseases. Lyme disease and other neurological autoimmune conditions. And so really advanced internal medicine. We're just on the road from Mayo Clinic and MD Anderson. We actually are treating patients that even these institutions are failing from. And we see all stages. We see early stage, late stage. We've seen amazing results, but really what makes us different in people travel to us is the fact that we treat patients with a personalized plan. Again, we call it precision medicine as far as this goes. It's really a dynamic of when you're able to actually take a patient and actually understand what is the root causes? What is the actual, the genetics of the tumor? And we run a lot of information data to be able to make decisions off of. And we've been doing this for close to 25 years. - Yeah. - Being able to actually make sure that we're able to take a patient and understand what's going on with their cancer, what's the root causes, what's their physiology? And then design treatment plans based upon them and being able to choose the right medications or integrative agents, diet, exercise, being able to make sure that we're delivering these medications effectively to the tumor. I mean, this, one of my good examples that I like to provide is that when you do a high dose chemotherapy, when you don't know that it's actually targeted for you, it's targeted for the public and population, but when you're able to actually target that and or even if you don't target it, you just run the guidelines, the cookbook approach. So what is the treatment for a stage four colorectal cancer patient? How much of that chemotherapy actually gets into the actual tumor? When you give it in a high dose and an IV, five to 7%, five to 7%. Okay, this is what the data shows. Really interesting because the rest of it's going elsewhere in the body, killing the body, destroying the brain, brain, chemo brain, destroying the actual gut, which is necessary for nutrients, destroying the bone marrow, which is necessary for immunity. And so when you start to be able to see this, it's literally going to all the places that we don't want, only a small fraction is getting to the tumor. What we do at Invita is really design the right medications and then we deliver the actual, the medications in a way that's able to target to where being able to have maximum effectiveness with these medications. We deliver medications with under what's called interventional radiology where we have a catheter the size of your hair that we're able to go directly into where the tumor is at and deliver the medications directly, it's similar to, like for instance, when you get a set of going and doing a heart transplant to be able to change a valve and do an open heart surgery, you're able to go in with a catheter to be able to go directly to where that's at and replace the valve and leave with, you know, a bandaid. And it's a much better approach. Again, similar, we do this with tumors. We go directly in through the vasculature and go directly to where the tumor is, deliver the medications and we're getting 95 to 100% delivery of these medications directly to tumors. So it's both the right medications at the same time, the best targeting of the medications that really makes us unique in what we're doing. - Yeah, well, so you mentioned something and I wanna make sure that genetics is such a hot topic, especially in the health world right now, like epigenetics and genetics and people that I talk to, I know are getting the wrong impression of like, "Oh, well, I'm just this way because it's my genes." And they forget about how much of the environment is acting on us. And you said the genetics of the tumor, that's different from your genes, right? - Yeah, so it's, so you have your genes and then you have how medications are metabolized, how they clear, that's called pharmacogenomics, where you're able to see, not everybody metabolizes medications the same way. We kinda know that, redheads, I'll tell you, just redheads, we have genes, most redheads have genes that burn through pain medication, you know? So redheads are very, we're notorious for waking up in the middle of a surgery because we just burn through pain meds, right? And so that's our own genes and how they work. But there's also genes that people have that are, that predispose them to mutations and to cancer. And so this is where when you see cancer, there's genetic mutations that are in a cancer, right? All cancers have specific gene mutations, mutations that shouldn't be there that are causing cancers to either, you know, there's two types of genes, there's either genes that mutate that cause the cancer to grow rapidly, or there's genes that mutate to be able to not cause a cancer to have the breaks. It's like a runaway truck going down a mountain without breaks, right? And so this is that breaking mechanism that cells have to not grow is lost and mutated. So depending upon the genes that are mutated is what causes cancers to be able to grow. But it is, it's when you talk about epigenetics and genetics, I love this topic because even with things like that we know, and it's not a very high population that are having cancer genes that you're born with, like Braco1, Braco2, many people know that, right? When you have Braco1, Braco2, you have a higher risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and even a slightly higher risk of pancreatic cancer with Braco1 and Braco2 gene mutation. But you're born with those. The point here is that even with that, you're at a higher risk of developing cancer, but not all Braco1, Braco2 mutation cancers or individuals that have the diagnosis will develop cancer. And of course, why? Because it's environmental and it's the way the epigenetics, you mentioned, epigenetics is, why does a gene turn on and turn off? And genes are not this static disposition in the body. We wanna work with our genes and genes are awesome. I love doing deep dives on patients, being able to see, okay, what are the genes that you're born with and what are these, what makes us who we are? It's how we process dopamine in our brain and how we process estrogens and how we process medications. They're beautiful and they're exciting, but it's one, it's that if we know who we are and we know our genes and then we know how to make sure that our genes are working for us and not against us. And this is where it's one of these areas where the majority of cancers are environmental, either carcinogens or environmental toxins that cause cancer or their infections that actually create, again, oncogenic infections or cancer causing infections. And many times people don't even go on, I like to say to my patients, I said, I have yet to meet, I have yet to meet a medical oncologist who when they actually, and this is even in an early stage, I have yet to meet a medical oncologist. So maybe they're out there, maybe they're listening to the podcast that they are, please reach out to me. I'd wanna be able to meet you. But that takes a cancer patient and is able to say, okay, even if you're an early stage, what caused this cancer? What caused this early stage breast cancer? - Right. - You know, and this is where, yeah, you can cut it out, you can remove it, that's good. We actually have very precise treatments where we can go in and freeze off an early stage breast cancer as well as biotherapy. It's like you go to a dermatologist and they freeze off the skin cancer in front of you. I mean, it's beautiful, it's good. We do this at a very high level underguided imaging where you can go in and actually freeze the tumor. So you don't even need a surgery to be able to remove it. But I always like to say even this is we look to, you know, make sure the candidates are appropriate for this, but what caused the cancer in the first place? And so we run a extensive level of testing on carcinogens or environmental toxins that may have caused that actual cancer, you know, female breast cancers, and we can talk about this too. Again, organophosphates, herbicides, pesticides. We've seen strong correlations to herbicides, pesticides, causing the amino breast cancer. We've seen infections be a real, again, interesting correlations with our data and our research. And so we always like to say it's not just, yeah, you're a cancer patient, let's cut it out, let's burn it out, let's actually evaluate what's going on with your body so we can work with your body to be able to make sure that we remove the obstacles to why these diseases began in the first place. Why did that tumor develop? Why is the immune system not a functioning? And oftentimes when you look at this too, chronic infections, chronic environmental toxins, they're not just creating mutations at the site of where the tumor's developing, but they're also suppressing immunity. - Yeah. - Okay. So this becomes a perfect storm for patients when it comes to cancer. Our bodies are usually really resilient anyways. I mean, we're, we do so much bad to our bodies, you know? We literally put them through so much and yet they still keep fighting. They still, or, you know, we put them through surgery and those suppressing immunity and they still recover, you know? We're eating sugars and we're destroying our body, we're staying up late, we have anxiety and difficulty with our mental health, right? All of these things and we still keep going and yet, you know, what if you have this understanding of the body where you can actually identify where do things go wrong? So you can start working with your body to be able to make it sure it goes right. And so that's really, again, such a big deal. So raising awareness of what's going on and to be honest, I just don't see it in the medical oncology world. And inevitably, we love it and I love to raise awareness about it because it's a critical thing, you know? What's interesting is that there's so many states that have passed legislation now to be able to say, I need to label carcinogens in my environment, you know? I mean, we're in the area where, and I love it, awareness is great, you know? To be able to say, yes, there's carcinogen on your coffee cup, you know? You're in the state, you know, yeah. And I'm exposed to those carcinogens, but where we are missing the mark is that so many of them are hidden and we don't know. And so that's great to be able to know that you're in some place that you have environmental exposure. But two, it's really important for not just a population, but to be able to know if you do have disease and these are issues that are going on, we need to identify what's driving that tolerance, like having, you know, a forest fire and, you know, you treat the forest fire by, you know, putting water all over it. But guess what? There's still a gas line that's feeding that forest fire. And you're trying to douse it with water and water's a great treatment for a forest fire. It's the best, it is the best, right? But you're trying to douse it and yet you're still, you're not removing that cause. You're not removing that growth signaling. You're not removing the reason why the actual mutations occurred in the first place and causing those epigenetic shifts to be able to actually propagate the cancer. So this is where what, you know, remove the gasoline. You know, I'm like, we're removing the gasoline before it ever begins. But then if it does begin, yeah, get it out so that we can actually have the best ability to treat these diseases. And even if it's an early stage, remove it, but I don't want it to come back. I don't want it to come back in a different form of cancer or a different, you know, even the, you know, the same type of cancer, even into the future. So this is where there's a lot that can be gained when it comes to education, knowledge, and being able to be making good decisions with the knowledge that's gained. So I hope that makes sense. - Yeah. And is this, so is this why, like, I think we've all, we probably all know somebody that has had cancer gone through treatment, traditional treatment. And, you know, and then they get the, you know, oh, I'm cancer free label, right? And so it's like, okay, now I'm a survivor. And three years, five years down the road, oh, it came back, right? I think we all know somebody that this has happened to, right? And, you know, I look at it from the standpoint of, and it's the same thing with somebody that, you know, goes and like, oh, I gotta lose weight. I'm gonna lose this weight. I'm gonna lose all the weight. I'm gonna work really hard to lose the weight. I'm gonna do all the things that are, that are quote-unquote, right? And then, you know, they get there and they go, oh, I got it. I can relax and go back to where I wanted to live my life before. And it is, so is that like, we're going through the traditional treatments for cancer, which, and it's working for that individual at that time. But since they're not changing their environment and what, the way they live, that exposure's still there just knocking on the door, waiting, I'm coming back, I'm coming back. And eventually it comes back. Yeah, so there's a couple things there. It's a great question. And it's just a, it's a wonderful question because that is the case. And when you actually get it out and you remove all of the cancer, then there's still, or if you don't evaluate those, those underlying root causes, there is a strong risk of it coming back. One of the concerns that I have as well though, in the conventional world is that, so you can remove the tumor, everybody's so happy. Oh, yes, the breast cancer is gone. You go through that celebration, your cancer free. And the problem is, is that you can actually, you still have metastatic spreads. What cancer, right, you have the single cells that break off from the main tumor, that spread to get to other areas, right? Either the lymph nodes, other organs spread through the blood. One of the things that we do as well that is so critical is that even if you have, you remove cancer, you go through your celebration. Oh yeah, it's gone, right? You can actually run blood work to see that they're called circulating tumor cells. Knowledge has been around for a while where you can actually run the blood work to be able to see are there any presence of cells, cancer cells floating around in your bloodstream? They're not gonna show up on an image, even if you do a pest scan CT, you're not gonna see them 'cause they're single cells. They haven't developed tumors yet, but they are present in the bloodstream. This is for us as far as in our processes and our protocols. Yeah, if you have a tumor, you also wanna evaluate, is it spread, not seen on imaging, but has it been seen on the blood? Because if it's in the blood, then guess what, you need further treatment besides just clearing it on out, freezing it, or even doing a lupectomy or clearing it on out with surgery. And so this is where it changes the process, changes the protocol 'cause I think so too frequently, way too frequently, you're removing it, you're celebrating as a patient, and you think you're clear and what is the hope? You're not diving deeper to say, is there something more, is there something more? You're just assuming, this is what my doc says. This is the national guidelines, this has been what's covered by my insurance. So you're assuming, yay, I'm good, this is what the expert in the local area is telling me, and you can actually go deeper to say, hold on, can you actually evaluate, and is there something deeper, because if there's circulating cells in the blood, then guess what, you're at a high risk for it coming back two to three years later, and you don't wanna treat that now before you're going back in your next imaging scan and just hoping that it's clear. This is what happens, right? It's like, I'm just blinded, I'm gonna say, okay, I'm just gonna go back, and I'm gonna get my imaging, and I'm gonna hope it's clear the next time. And this is where it's kind of like pin the tail on the donkey kind of, you're just blinded going through and just hoping that it's good. And yet you can actually say, hold on, there's biomarkers that are telling us how the immune system is doing. There's testing to be able to say, have you removed those root causes? Have we removed the inflammation? Have we cleared the circulating tumor cells? Okay, now we've got a treatment plan for you. Now we've empowered the patients to be able to say, yeah, now there's a dynamic of, it's not just, let's just hope for the best when we know that we've all know people that it comes back, we say, I don't want it to come back. You don't want it to come back. And many times when people go through treatment and they're identifying these things, they actually feel healthier after treatment, then they do even during. Let me say that again, when you treat cancer at Advita, you feel better after treatment because you're actually removing the inflammation or the root causes of why the actual cancer developed in the first place. And so that's where it becomes really beautiful. But to your point, again, you wanna be able to, yes, you wanna remove the root cause, but you also wanna remove all of the cancer. You know, it's possible, right? And make good decisions based upon that. I hope that makes sense. Well, you know? - And it's, I think, like cause my wife has got a family history of breast cancer, right? And so she goes and gets her mammograms and she does all the stuff. But being my wife and the way that we eat, the way that we live, I'm like, it's, you know, she's got dense tissue. So they're always like, oh, let's look a little deeper. Oh, nope, there's nothing there. I'm like, yeah, there's not gonna be anything there. She's, it's gonna be fine. 'Cause we're preventative in how we do it. But I can easily see how so many people would look at it and not go for the root cause because it's just, oh, well, my family history is everybody has breast cancer. Or my family history is everybody's had colon cancer. So it's just, it's just a matter of time before I get it versus how do I, how do I prevent it? And if I do get it, how do I prevent it from coming back? - Yeah, it's a couple of things. I mean, it's not just what you eat either. It's how do you, how's your lymphatics draining? - Right. - Especially with breast tissue. Again, it's, how are those lymphatics draining? 'Cause it's such a, it can be very condensed and congested even with the type of like undergarments you're wearing as far as wire undergarments that are restricting blood flow and lymphatic drainage. And there can be a lot there. And it's almost like, I've heard this analogy with lymphatic drainage is that it's kind of like a, a fish tank where you have awful water in the fish tank. But what you do is that you're always trying to remove the fish and trying to like resuscitate the fish out of the tank and you're trying to be able to deal with the fish and then you're dumping them right back in the actual pond of the, or the fish tank that's got, you know, that's boggy, that's got all the junk and that doesn't have oxygen. So when this is occurring, you can't get the healthy nutrients. It's really interesting, healthy nutrients don't get to the tissue as effectively. And it's congested because you're not getting lymphatics flowing and detoxing the actual tissue. And so with this, it's like, yes, we are what we eat, but we also are, we are what we consume. We are what we assimilate and get to the tissue. And then you also wanna clear out the byproducts, the difficulty and the toxins, 'cause that's gonna help to oxygenate the tissue. It's gonna help to give nutrients to the tissue and clear it. - Another thing, sorry, it's just another thing that you said. I think it's important it goes back to kind of, you know, thinking about treatment and not coming back or radiation. So this is where many times the treatment itself can be carcinogenic or cancer-causing. So chemotherapy, when you give chemo, many times chemotherapy is a carcinogen. You know, we were gonna talk about this today, but I think it's worth noting. Chemotherapy is a carcinogen. So many times, even if you get cancer and you go through chemotherapy, if you don't clear that out of the system, it actually has a propensity to be able to come back with a different type of cancer, right? Because it's chemo, it's a treatment, you wanna use it wisely, effectively targeted, but you also wanna make sure that you're acknowledging that it is, if it remains in the system, that it can actually cause cancer itself. Another thing that you were talking about with mammograms, I like mammograms, I think mammograms are effective, but you also wanna be wise with how you use 'em. I feel like right now, we're using mammograms and so many women, there's kinda this debate, all the radiation that you get in a mammogram. If you're getting a mammogram by the time you're 40 and continually getting it every single year, without eating well and you get all that radiation exposure to the breast tissue, guess what's gonna happen? I don't care if you have a family history of breast cancer or not, guess what's gonna happen to your breast? You'll develop breast cancer because the radiation in a mammogram creates the actual, the damage to the tissue creating breast cancer. And so this is where you can help prevent that with the things that you eat, making sure that you have antioxidants and protection and there's beautiful things, like even kelp that can help to remove radiation exposure and help heal tissue. Actually, the breast tissue is filled with iodine as well. So kelp and your different, your sea vegetables are great for breast health. But when you're actually trying to protect, you wanna make sure that you're protecting against that harmful radiation that's going on with mammograms. The other thing that I like to share too is that there's actually really amazing technology, like there's technology out there for your listeners, for you, called QT ultrasound. And this, so what's interesting is when you just go and ultrasound everybody's like, "Ah, an ultrasound of the breast." I mean, we've been there, done that. If you've done a diagnostic mammogram, which is both a mammogram and ultrasound. - Right. - There's better technology in the actual mammogram or in the ultrasounds though. If you think about this, it's kind of more geeky, but an ultrasound probe has both the waves pushing it out and the receiver end. So it creates a little bit of a, they're good images, but they still can be pretty blurred. - Yeah. - A QT ultrasound is where you actually are seeing an ultrasound where the probe has got receiving and the receiving end is at the opposite end of the sound waves. And so it gives crystal clear images. And for people with, again, breast screening, you can see some amazing imagery as far as this goes. And being able to be crystal clear, even with women who have dense breast, which I know a big issue with mammograms, you need to have 3D mammograms if you have dense breasts, but I even say a better option for imaging and look at it as QT ultrasound. So you can have crystal clear images of the breast and guess what, they're sound waves. There's no radiation. There's no radiation. And you can see crystal clear the actual, the calcifications and the actual issues that are going on with the breast. So there's one of those areas where you want to be able to make sure that you're not causing more harm that you're only doing good. And so that's another option for women as well. But yeah, UV radiation of, or not UV radiation, but the radiation exposure coming from a mammogram is definitely concerning. So you wanna make sure you're evaluating the risk and benefits if you're a patient. What's that? Is there better technology talking with your doctor? What's the best strategy for you to be able to say it's just completely safe is not appropriate. You know, you wanna make sure that you're making those best medical decisions based upon the knowledge and data. So. - Well, and something like that where you've got, you've got that exposure. If, like you were saying, if you're eating well, your body's operating properly, your immune system's not on high alert. You might be able to handle that on a periodic basis and be like your body can take care of it. It's gonna, like, it's still gonna do damage, but your body's gonna be able to repair it because it's not dealing with all these other things. - That's right. - If you're constantly exposing yourself to carcinogenic items in your environment, you're not eating properly. And so that you're dealing with, you know, cells that are not forming properly. And so you're trying to get rid of those because you didn't get them the right nutrition. And your gut is inflamed, which is, you know, a huge 80% of your immune system, right? - Yeah, exactly. - And so it's like, if your immune system is on high alert all over the place, and then you add in a preventative test or screening that's going to also expose you to damage. Like, it's no wonder that these things are just popping up. - Yeah. - You know, and I say popping up not because they're popping up, but because we're not taking care of the potential of like maybe six different root causes that could all cause something either individually or all at the same time, right? - That's right. - Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. You're spot on with that analysis. You know, it's interesting too. I was just thinking, I mean, so one of the things that Dr. Prado and I and Veda and Veda Health we've been going into is healthcare plans for employers and wellness programs, for employer groups all across the United States and all 50 states. But again, this way that we screen and the way that we actually work on prevention, it's so interesting to me that again, when you look at just a conventional basis or the conventional resources that you learn in medical school, it's just so missing the mark. And it's usually oftentimes what your insurance company is paying for or willing to pay for is what your doctor is going to be recommending. And so the problem with this though, is that it's oftentimes very antiquated and actually doesn't do the best thing or the best technology. I mean, we were living in the 21st century with cell phones that literally are regenerating and having new versions every year. I mean, there's new technology coming out and yet there's been this, I almost feel like in the way of medicine is that there hasn't been the same adaptation to technology into these wellness benefits of how can you actually screen better, how can you be healthier and do what we're talking about on a systemic basis. And this is for us as far as doing this on a system-wide basis for employer groups to be able to actually have wellness and being able to do this through their employees, we call it in data health. And this is the part where we are able to do this. But this is where we have a blood test. I'll give you this example. We have a blood test that'll screen in a blood test, 70 cancers in one blood test. And this is approved in the United States. We have the ability to be able to do this and yet there's this technology getting it into the hands of people. It doesn't happen, right? And so a large part of it is, how do you use this technology, the QT ultrasound? How do you use the blood tests that's able to screen 70 cancers and make sure that you're not, again, this is breast cancer and all the different types of breast cancer are some of the cancers in the 70. So that's a, when you look at these kinds of tests, it's utilizing technology to make sure that, yes, we want to be healthy, but we also want to develop the ability to be able to access and utilize the technologies out there so that you can, you know, 'cause even, I want to say too, even with the best diet lifestyle that you can get, things occur 'cause things are hidden. - Oh, sure, sure. - And so you want to be able to really understand, what I love is that when it comes to wellness as well, being able to run, we run many biomarkers, even for wellness, to be able to make sure that it's not, you know, what is your inflammatory rate? Again, it may not even be that you have joint issues or having a lot of, you don't feel the inflammation or you have underlying, you know, your gut, you don't even know that your gut is inflamed or it's responding negatively to a certain food. And when you start to be able to pull the right blood tests and the right evaluation, now you can start to tweak and hone your body in a way that's going to be life-altering. You know, it's interesting. I run these tests on some of the most healthy people I know. And there's things that it's like, okay, even though they're physically fit and physically healthy and they have high levels of energy and great brain function and they feel great, you still run this and it's so surprising to me that even with that, there's always something. I've never run a test on somebody where it's like, man, you are perfect, you are great, you are doing awesome. And this is where when you actually are able to tweak, even these healthy individuals, sometimes it can be a big thing that's underlying. Like the homocysteine level is just through the roof where there's other factors where it's like, wow, you're a cardiac patient, you know, ready to, it's not just about cholesterol. I don't have to go into that. But it is not just about cholesterol, it's about so many other factors. But when you start to be able to take these wellness patients and say, wait, that is a problem. Your immune system is not functioning as high as you should and you don't even know it. This becomes an impactful way to be able to tweak. And I like to say biohack or be able to actually say, I wanna optimize your health. So that this is not something that it just is surprising to you like we do with our cancer patients. It's also something you can do with the healthy, the well, to be able to say, how can I optimize this to be able to really make sure that we can live well into, I'm a big fan. I think easily we can live 95 or above average patient. Easily, you know, so I don't know you and your research and your, you know, but again, I think easily, but our average life expectancy in the United States is 78 to 77, it shouldn't be. This should be something where when you know disease exists and it's a good quality. I know people talk about when I share this with them too, as far as 95 and above. And they're like, well, Doc, I don't wanna, I don't wanna live in a bad quality of life. Like, I wanna have good quality. And I'm like, that's what I'm talking about. 95 and above with a healthy quality. 'Cause guess what? You know that there's a prevention of Alzheimer's and dementia, you know? You wanna protect against Parkinson's. Guess what? Some of these chlorinated pesticides. Very strong correlations to Parkinson's. These neurodegenerative diseases, again, they call it type three di, Alzheimer's is a type three diabetes, right? Where did the diabetes begin? Well, mercury, lead, these heavy metals in our systems, lead to insulin resistance, there's many different factors. But when you start to be able to then say, okay, how can you look at this if you're starting to have these dynamics where, I say too, even, well, diabetes, and people are familiar with pre-diabetes. Well, what if I told you that your insulin is already responding in a way, even before you ever even know that you're pre-diabetic? Right. Like, you know that this is the case. And if these are things, they're easy to run. They're cheap blood tests. You run it and then you're able to say, now we can look at what's the cause? What's going on? This is where, this is giving knowledge and resources to actually direct you. So you're not doing healthcare alone. To be able to say, yeah, we're gonna walk through and give you not just my knowledge. This is peer-reviewed data. This is not just, this is not just Dr. Early. I mean, we've been doing this for 25 years at a high level at in beta. But this is where it's all, this is data that's out there. This is data that we have in our populations over 25 years of treating patients at a very high level. And you're able to say, how can I optimize you? So you're able to get that level of, not just preventative disease, but I wanna make sure that your mind stays healthy, that your memory stays healthy, that you have great energy levels, that you're, and this is where many times it's, there's generalities that are really helpful. But this is also where what I come to understand is that with genetics, maybe a Mediterranean diet is better for some people. Maybe more of a low-carb paleo diet is gonna be more effective for some people. And it depends, actually, this is interesting. It depends on how your body is responding to your environment. And you can run this with various tests that are available. And you can also look at the genetics, because genetics play a role of how our body interacts with the environment around it. So you can actually optimize your own body through these various tests and knowledge to be able to say, yeah, I mean, the Eskimos, the Eskimos could metabolize fats incredibly well, right? It usually works incredibly well. And there's genetic aspects to this. But it's, you know, you give that to somebody that's maybe in from Sicily, and they're not gonna be metabolizing as well, 'cause they need more of a specific diet that's unique to them in that Mediterranean lifestyle. So, and now we live in a United States where we're a melting pot with all different genes, and it's interesting and beautiful and good, but you can start to be able to actually analyze that, to be able to say, what's the best for you? Because what's different, it's personalized medicine, it's precision medicine at the highest level, right? It's not just saying what's good for general populations. Yeah, sure. Removal of carcinogenic toxins out of our environment. That's good for everybody, right? That's good for everybody, no question about that. Trying to have diets filled with nutrients and support. Yeah, that's good for everybody. But when you're talking about real specifics, it really is down to the air, very individual. Like what do you need to optimize yourself to make sure that your hormones are in balance, that your gut is in balance, and what are foods that you're eating that your body, like you alluded to, is reacting to those foods, right? And so it really becomes an individual personalized basis. And so to be able to do that on a systematic basis within V to health with employers is really fun and it's exciting, I love this with what we're doing. But at the same time, it's being able to, more resources to educate and be able to provide. I just, I love talking about this because the ability to shift and change health and not being sick care, but health care, and actually focus on prevention and wellness. It really restores people's ability to do what their God-given gifts are and their talents to be able to do, really work with, I love your book as far as this goes out sharing that with you earlier. I love your book, you know, working with that God-given design to be able to really optimize your health, not just for, you know, not just so you can, you know, diet 77 with Alzheimer's and dementia and diabetes and numbness and the fate and tingling, right? And neuropathy, but how can you live into, I believe, you know, over a hundred, I think you can easily with the technology that we have, be able to live to 95 and over for the average population. But I do believe that again, even well into your hundreds, that you can live with a great quality of life and again, have length of life. And so this is what really is so important that when you optimize the health, this is possible. It's doable. I know people that are currently doing it now, you know? It's one thing if you don't ever, if no humans ever lived over a hundred, but we know humans live over a hundred, which is why, why are they living over a hundred? And what's different from them? And how can we do this for everybody? Because guess what, it's possible. You know, if the blue zones are a good example of this, you know, the study of people that populations that live over a hundred, what are they doing? What makes a difference in their lives? So, yeah. - Well, and so there's so much that you packed in there and I'm like, oh my gosh. - I'm sorry, I don't-- - No, it's good conversation. It's good. - So like, listen to you, I'm like, oh my gosh, this could be like a five hour long conversation. Because you are, you're hitting so many things, but one of the, like, and just to throw this out there, like, and I've said this before, like, my personal goal, once I started really researching and getting into and going, like, okay, this is how I need to live my life on a health perspective. Because when I got to college, I went to the corporate world and it was just like, I got to make money. I got to, you know, get off dad's dime and all that kind of stuff. And, and took myself and found myself-- - That's not everybody in fast food, you know? - Yeah, no. And then, you know, like eight years ago, about eight years ago, I was like, maybe nine years ago, I was like, okay, no, no, God's calling me to do this other thing. It's what he told me, but before, I've just got to step out and do it. And I've lost 50 pounds since where I was. I wouldn't have looked overweight at that point, like, you know, but, but I'm back to where I'm at the weight I graduated high school at. - Bravo. - Like, I'm a fit athlete again. And my goal is to lift 140. And so I'm like, why not? Let's, let's go for it, right? And so-- - Amen, I love it. - So I look at every day as like, what do I do? Not just to like, oh, I want to feel good today. I want to, but what do I do to make sure that my body treats me well? Cause I'll be 50 in a month. So it's like, what do I do to make sure my body treats me well, 90 years from now? - That's right. - Right? And like, that's how I look at not just like, oh, I had a tough day, that cake's gonna make me feel better for an hour, right? That's not the way I need to look at it. But, but the other thing I want to make sure that people hear and understand, cause I've lived this with my wife in trying to figure out some of her health issues that she's had in the past couple of years, is that I would, we went to her doctor and was like, and we've switched doctors now, thanks to our insurance change. We're able to go back to a doctor that we love and trust. And, and he thinks the way that we do I've had him on the podcast before. But this other doctor, you know, and I was like, I want this test done. I was like, I need to see these test results and out test. I was like, I need to see this. Something's going on. - Absolutely. - Cause she went for her physical. She was like, ah, this, you know, I'm, I'm still fatigued. I'm still this. She goes, oh, but you're eating, right? And you're exercising. And yeah, you've got a little weight you could lose, but, you know, everything else is great. Your blood test is completely normal. - How many people have heard that before? Oh, 95% of the population is fairly all year. Your blood test looks normal. Everything looks normal. And then guess what? A year, a month later, they're in the hospital cause they have a heart attack. And it's like, oh my gosh, you know, I mean, this is the story of, you know, I had a friend who is just, you know, who did that as far as that goes. And he wasn't following with my advice. He was going to another, well known, you know, Mayo Clinic on the road and he goes and gets a full executive physical. And guess what? A month later, he comes and gets a heart attack. And he had a clean bill of health. And I say, there's so much more. You're right, the old test. There's so much more deeper level to say, how is the body metabolizing? How is it working? What are these deep, these deeper levels to say, it's not just, you know, these standard tests, even if it's an executive physical wellness. Again, you're, you're paying thousands of dollars for this thing. And yet it's still not giving you that biolettic information to be able to, to understand and adapt and work with your body. I'm so glad that you have a doc that's doing that now. And then that's for you. - Well, in the, so the previous one, she was like, her response initially was like, why do you want this test? What's it going to tell you? I don't know this test. Your insurance is not going to approve it. And I was like, I don't care. I pay the $400, right? Like, I don't care. I want, and we got the test. And to your, one of the things you said earlier, like the, one of the things that told us was that her lymphatic system was clogged. And I was like, you're in, in her doctor was like, how do you do it? I'm like, yeah. It's like, so we've got a detox a little bit. We got to flesh some things out. We got to get some stuff moving a little bit better so that your system will work better as a whole. Because it is, it's, it's, it's, everything has to work together in one piece, right? And so like you were saying with, if your, your cells might show in, you know, whether it's your breast tissue or your colon or whatever, like, okay, you're, you're cancer free. But if there's cancer floating around your blood system because they didn't test that, like you're not well yet. That's right. That's right. Cause they all work together. And so for somebody that's out there that's like, okay, I've had that situation where it's like, how do, is there an approach to that doctor to say, this is what we need to do? Is it just a flat out? Go find somebody else who can listen to you about getting more blood tests or different blood tests? Or is it, okay, I need to, I need to contact Envida and find out, can, can y'all work with them in that area to get those blood tests done and, and get that stuff? You know what I'm, is that what it says? - Yeah, great, great. That's a great question. So my couple of advice that I would, I would give here is that try to get it from your local doc, you know, if you, if you know the test, like, you know, again, you're mentioning an oak test, great test, organic assets, right? Being able to see how things are metabolizing through the body. It's a very easy test to be able to perform. And yet there's some docs that it's just, they won't, they will not run additional tests. It's like, some of this is, this is just the situation that we're in in our environment, you know, in our, in our medical insurance complex, I call it, right? Is that I'm only going to do the things that I'm going to do because I'm seeing again, you know, 30 other patients, 40 other patients today. I don't, I don't have the time. I just, I have my process, my protocols and my insurance is going to cover it. So this is why I do it. Really, again, what happens in the conventional system. And so as a result of that, it's like, you can be like, I have the best test. I was reading about this, I learned about this. I know that this is going to be really helpful for me. And it could be, it could literally be the best thing for you. And yet your doctor's like, no, I'm not going to do it. I can't do it. Now it literally flat out refused. This happens all the time in oncology, right? They're like, can I please, you know, I had a doc, I had a doctor who brought his wife here. And he actually, he did his rounds at MD Anderson, you know? And he's like, he actually lives in Texas. And he's like, I'm going to go, I'm going to go to MD Anderson when his wife got, you know, early stage breast cancer for the first time, goes to MD Anderson. It's like, can I please run these tests, right? And they're like, no, we don't run them. He goes, please, what if I pay cash for it? What if I, what if I do it? Just just please run them. They're like, no, sorry, sir, we can't do that for you. We will not do it, right? And so really there are dynamics where you do and lo and behold, his wife did have, again, circulating tumor cells that were identified. We treated, they're gone. She's doing great. She also, we also identified some various carcinogens and cleared those out from her now. So now she's got a plan where she's feeling better. She's more healthy. But again, this is because we know what we're doing. So in some cases, yeah, I'm doing Vida. And we'll help you, right? In other cases, it's if you have an employer that wants a wellness plan that's, again, state of the art that's implementing this into your health insurance coverage, this can be an add-on to your wellness plan. That's actually, there's really neat tax incentives for employers that it actually pays for itself in taxes 'cause lo and behold, the government wants you to be healthy as well. And they wanna incentivize you to be able to be healthy. And so this is where we've developed these plans for wellness to be able to actually help employers, to be able to do this for all of their employees and have a system that works. But at the same time, if you don't, then it's one of these areas where, if you have a doc that doesn't wanna do that test, then go find another doc. And there are docs, and we have in our insurance plan, nationwide, again, docs that are covered integrative doctors, functional medicine doctors, naturopaths nationwide, that is a part of our medical plan as well, our healthcare plan. But when you actually have, again, if you're paying cash and you're saying, I have a doc, I'm not on an insurance plan, but my doc is failing to run this for me, then get another doc. Find a doc that has time for you. Find a doc that's willing to be excited about the new discoveries and science, actual science. Okay, not just process or protocols, but somebody that is inspired, and usually these docs have lived it themselves, that have personal experiences because I'm inspired, why my story is I had Type 1 diabetes when I was 10 years old, Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune condition that attacks the pancreas again, and for this, I'm insulin dependent. But guess what? I'm one of the most healthy Type 1 diabetic you'll ever meet in your life, because I know myself. I know where I'm at, and I've been inspired by this work of being able to optimize my own health and to be able to make sure I'm living it. You're similar with your wife, and it's usually docs that have had an ability to say, "I do this because, not because I want to be more busy. I do this because patients are suffering and hurting, and there can be better out there." It really is a mission to me, it's a God-given mission to say, "You know what? I want to be able to go and treat people the way that they actually are deserving to be treated, instead of feeling like we're being treated like cattle." And I want to be cautious about being too inflammatory as far as that goes, but I do feel like many times, even in Texas, I've gone to see ranches and cattle are treated incredibly, incredibly well. And I see some of the way my patients are being treated before they come to me. And I think this is, they're so much better. There is so much better. The cattle on the ranches in Texas, I've seen be treated so much better with more personalization and they want to be able to, you're given such care to these cattle, and yet humans deserve that too. So be an advocate for yourself. Better is out there. This is where awareness is where it starts. And then do your own research, being able to keep evaluating, do your own research, make sure that you're seeing this. I think when you start to know that it's the paradigm shifts, it's rock your banister that ran the four-minute mile that literally says it's possible to run a four-minute mile and then everybody starts running a four-minute mile. It's true. And when you start to say, wait, there's better out there, it's possible, then it starts to be able to unravel this incredible momentum that starts to be able to seek what's good for you. And I'm not here to say, again, I'm not here to say what's good for all of your listeners because it's all individualized. That's my point, is it's individualized for you, but to be able to be motivated to find what are those options that exist? If the doctor, you're running into a wall with your doc, yeah, get to a doc that's gonna listen to you. Get to a doc that's gonna be inspired to be able to say, I'm gonna dive deeper. If you want to be able to bring your research, I'm gonna look at your research 'cause I'm passionate about healing people and I want to be able to help you. And so I want to listen to you. Those are the kind of desires that I think it's really important. In VEDA is a medical center. The healthcare plans, great, we're serving a lot of people in the wellness. In VEDA itself, in VEDA Medical Center, we see a lot of really sick people. Our clinic is filled with and we're expanding and growing and it's beautiful in Scottsdale, but it's filled with patients that are cancer patients and then really sick patients that have gone around for doctor to doctor. Again, neurodegenerative, autoimmune conditions. Can't really find anything in there and say, I need a better way. I need to find something. That's really where in VEDA comes in and really it's worth travel, evaluation, testing, let's evaluate it. But when it comes to being able to say, how do you be well? That's, this is, you know, be passionate about your health. Be passionate, look at these resources. Know that it's available so that you can be passionate. And certainly I'm here to, you know, if your listeners want to email you, Jerry, and I'm certainly happy to be able to correspond back and forth. I'm happy to be able to get questions. I mean, I love this stuff. It's my life. It's a mission, you know? And sometimes it's over my wife sometimes, but you know, I just, I can't turn it off. I love it. - Right. Well, one of the things about like to, the last thing about like just the doctors and the differences between, you know, because there are some that they want to be a doctor, whether it's a family history of like doctors in the family. And so I'm going to follow it, the family line. And, you know, it's just what we do. And there's obviously some doctors that are like, well, hey, it's a pretty good profession as far as financial and that kind of thing. But the reality, I heard this, this, that it's a couple of years old. So I don't, I'm sure it's still pretty accurate. But the cutting edge research doesn't hit your primary care doctor's office for like 15 years. Because they're so busy in just the, okay, just keep treating this way, this way, this way, this way. This is what we've done for years and years and years. But if you look at like, and I'm not trying to say that their stuff is right or wrong, but if you look at like the recommendations from the Heart Association as to what you're supposed to do for diet, the recommendations from, you know, the Cancer Society for what you're supposed to do for diet. That stuff changes like every couple of years. - It sure does. - Your doctor's research stuff is like. - On colleges that have graduated for medical school are outdated in the current technology in 18 months. - Oh my gosh. - And if you're busy, and I don't blame, I don't even blame doctors. I think you're eliminating a really good point. There is a, well, one, I wanted to share that, yeah, technology is driving so fast, that this is where being able to have proper resources, being an advocate for yourself, to be able to speak to the doc is a really good thing, right? And many times, the advent of the internet, you actually have, you yourself have resources as a patient that are awesome. So you need to be an advocate for yourself. That's great. This was not the case, you know, pre-internet where the only, you know, source of understanding and knowledge came from the doctor and what they learned in clinical practice through the books that were on his shelf, you know, and this was, and it was stood between you and being well. Now the internet, it is. It's, it provides challenges to doctors because I know it's like, oh, the patient thinks that they know what they're doing. There's a, that's very real in the psychological aspects of docs, but I always welcome it because I'm not, I'm not threatened by it. I want to make sure patients and good doctors are not threatened by that. Patients are coming with research. They're, you are, you know, people in the United States are intelligent, especially those that are wanting to pursue their own healthcare, that are doing the research themselves, being able to collaborate with your doc and find a doc that's a team member on that is really helpful and very good. The other thing I will say though is that you're right, that things are outdated. And I want to say this is that many times doctors go into medical school because they, they love helping people, most docs. I mean, this is even where, you know, some docs, yeah, very few percentage are like, oh, I'm just going to go because it's, it's a great financial means and I'm going to go because the financial dynamic. And even that, I mean, doctors itself have really, there's been a shift as far as echoes. So even, even that there's not a lot of docs that go into medicine for the money. There's a lot of docs that go into medicine because they actually want to help people. The system though, that they're in is what is very binding. And this is where when you talk to docs, I mean, the rates of physician burnout are very real because they don't like being a cog in a wheel. They don't like just being able, having to see 40 patients a day just to be able to keep the lights on in their actual clinic. And they don't want to then have to, they sell out to an actual hospital administrative group because it's easier and they, you know, the hospital administration is running the admin form. They have less authority over what they do, but it's at least they just become a cog in a wheel that's a little easier. The system and then you have an insurance company, a bureaucratic insurance that says, this is what you can do, this is the only thing. And then the docs become less, I don't know, I want to say less human, less ability to be having that ability to think freely for themselves and do right and have doctor-patient relationship. They want to just be, let's just be a robot and do this, this, this, and this. When it doesn't work for, you know, it's a bell shaped curve. Sometimes it works for patients, but when it doesn't, you're really in trouble. - So I think the heart of docs is that they really do go into medicine to help treat people. I think what we're dealing with is an insurance medical complex that makes it very challenging to be able to restore the doctor-patient relationship and to be able to really do this in a way that's individualized, personalized medicine at its highest level. And that's really what I think the, where in VITA really shines, at VITA health really shines, but again, this is where it's a dynamic of being able to do and treat patients at a personalized level with a technology that exists. And the system, you almost have to get out of the healthcare medical insurance complex in order to then be that advocate, you know? I found a lot of times DPCs are really helpful as far as this goes for people looking at a DPC 'cause they're doing this independently, they have a little more time. Cash pay practices, and VITA has been cash pay until we started actually developing our own health insurance through in VITA health system. But again, cash pay practices where you're able to see docs that are able to say, I'm not doing this from an insurance company or a bureaucrat telling me what I'm doing this because you're my customer and it gets free markets back into that system of, okay, Jerry, I'm treating you and you're paying me directly for those services, I'm gonna serve you in this way. If there's been a beautiful trend towards this where patients are saying, enough is enough, I need something different in creating the free markets that are able to actually have more of this doctor patient interaction at a deeper level as far as that goes. But, you know, it's to say that the health care system is absolutely broken and this is where there's areas that you see glimmers of hope to where you actually do have this doctor patient personalized medicine, doctors that are able to listen and, you know, really take your research and evaluate it and make sure that it's going right by you. But again, I don't blame doctors, I blame the system, I guess is right, you know, it's a system in which a lot of doctors are practicing in hope that helps. - No, it does and I fully believe it is because it's, you know, when you talk to doctors, like I've got a doctor friend from my church that our kids are at the same age and so we'll see each other at like youth group stuff and, you know, so there's a youth group party that happened a couple of years ago and I remember, I'll never forget this and like, I'm eating, but I'm eating very nutritious, like in like, I'm not eating the potato chips or the, you know, stuff that it was also provided and didn't get dessert. And he's just like, dude, like live a little. And I'm like, no, this is, this is, I am living. I am living, actually, because he goes, yeah, he goes, no, that is the best way to eat. But I was like, but what? He goes, yeah, most people don't want to hear that and most people don't want to deal with it. You know, there's not time to talk to him about it. And I'm like, that's the key. So it's not time to talk to him about this is, because they're, they're, they're rushed through. And so it's like, give me something quick. Oh, I know diet, okay, I know it. Like, but do you know it, right? And like, that's why I exist because I'm able to say, no, no, no, come to me, let's talk about this is how you put together nutrition plan, right? It's not a diet, it's a nutrition plan to live a long life, to be healthy, to boost your immune system, to be able to get rid of all these things on a preventative standpoint. - Well, Jerry, that's actually, that's absolutely, it's a mindset, right? You said, live a little, right? And it is, it's a, this is how you live, you know? I mean, I think I love to say, again, how many people out there are dealing with, well, energy issues, they don't have energy. They're not sleeping well. They're anxious, they're depressed. And this is literally like, again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. They're not thinking well, there's brain fog, right? And I'm like, do you want great health? Do you want to be able to actually live? And this is where it makes a difference when we're making those decisions in front of us. Yeah, you can reach for that self-soothing chocolate cake feel good for just a little bit, but literally that lasts very, very short, very short. It's like, that's not worth it, that's not living. That's actually, you're feeling awful and you're not actually fully, fully living your mission and you're the way, what your purpose is for your life. And so I look at that and I do it. There's a, there's a dynamic I always love to say when it's a mind shift that happens, a paradigm shift, it actually the nutrition becomes easy. Oh yeah. It's easy. You know, we know that like, you start to walk, guess what? Walk and just moving, it's building endorphins. You're actually, it's more motivating. Oh yeah. It would actually start the journey, but it's, I want to remove that line that somehow being eating that chocolate cake or being able to, again, pound those chips are like the thing that it's making us feel better. That's, that's not our medicine. That's actually, it's not our medicine. That's, it will make you feel worse. And so it's very addicting to be on things that are, you know, going on walks, walking 8, 8,000 steps a day and actually feeling good to be able to keep it going and then being able to have blood flow and the energy. I mean, even this, I mean, I don't want to be crass, but even, you know, you see like data on exercises and just walking 30 minutes a day. And it's the same effect as Viagra. The same act for people dealing with erectile dysfunction. And it's like, yeah, you don't need a pill to do this. Just walk in exercise and guess what? It's awesome. It's great. And it's good health because it's good blood flow. There's, you know, and if there, you have good, you know, if that's not an issue, then guess what? You're having good blood flow to the brain as well. And you're thinking, well, it's, so, I don't know, those are just, those are dynamics where it really is powerful to be able to reframe your mind, to be able to say, no, don't, no more sick care. I reject that. That's a lie. And I really believe it's a lie that we need to reset our frame, our understanding of what it means to live. What it means to truly be healthy because, you know, feel like we've been kind of living in this status quo. It's like a frog that just keeps getting boiled and never really jumps out. We've been living this status quo around because of this insurance medical complex that we can't get out and do something better. I mean, I love the fact that you got jumped out of corporate America. And you're now you're, you're independently thinking for yourself. And now it took you on this trajectory of living to 140. And I confirmed that and it's great, right? But this is where it's so much better than just living in this status quo of, it's just because everybody's doing it around me. And actually you can open your eyes and where is awareness to be able to live differently, do things differently, actually be outcome based. And that's good data, that's good science, right? It's not just not just going along with doing everything everybody's saying because it's what the neighbor's doing, you know? There's better out there. - Yep. Well, and 'cause that train, we can see it. That train is headed for a pretty big catastrophe. - It is, it is. But you know, even that it gives us the ability to, the, you know, pain is not a bad thing. Pain should cause us to shift trajectory. - Right. - And this is where even when we see our society or demographics going down a kind of a no road, I always say don't use it to just be regretting or shame. Use it to motivate you to change your trajectory. And guess what? You're never too late to bear with actually get your body to be able to do what it needs to do and start working with your body. Start working with your body and allow the pain or the suffering or the difficulty, not to be a curse, but use it to be able to actually work for you and be a blessing. To be able to actually move it in a direction that's able to encourage you towards changing your behavior so that you're not doing the same thing and experiencing the same results. - So, right. Well, that's perfect. And I, we've gone over time. I appreciate your time so much. It's been great, Dr. Ertley. So is there anything like as far as connecting with Invita is the best way to just go to a website? - Yeah. So a couple of things. If you want to look at the actual medical center, it's Invita.com-en-v-i-t-a.com. It means in life. And so if you're looking or interested and in our insurance products and the actual the managed service organization that we have, to be able to help employers, to be able to actually get their employees on health, it's InvitaHealth.com. - Okay. Awesome. So I'll link those in the show notes so people can get to them pretty quick and easy. And I want to thank you so much for your time. This has been phenomenal conversation. - Awesome. Thank you, Jerry. My pleasure. Thanks for checking out the Confidence Through Health podcast. Please subscribe, post a review, share this episode with those you love who need a little extra help with their health journey. Visit AllInHealthInWellness.com to learn more about the coaching programs that I provide. All episodes are produced by the social media cowboys, your source for all online marketing needs. Go to socialmedicowboys.com for more information. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
Everyone knows that a cancer diagnosis is a serious issue, but what if we could dramatically reduce the number of cancer patients through prevention? Dr. John Oertle joins the podcast to share tips for preventing a first diagnosis but maybe more importantly, preventing the spread or reoccurrence of cancer with proper treatment.
