Brain & Body Things

Janna Friedly, M.D., is a board certified physiatrist at the Rehabilitation Medicine Clinic at Harborview Medical Center and a Professor at University of Washington School of Medicine. She is the Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington. She is also the Editor in chief of the PM&R journal - the official scientific journal of the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

She has spoken extensively on the topic of Post-Acute Sequelae of Sars-COV2 (PASC) or “Long COVID”. She developed a Post Covid rehabilitation clinic at Harborview Medical Center, and has been invited by clinics all over the country to help them develop similar programs.

I had the honor of working with Dr. Friedly in her clinic for several months over this last year.  The multidisciplinary, multimodal treatment model spearheaded by her expertise on the topic is extremely successful at helping people with this often debilitating diagnosis. 

In this episode we discuss:

• Dr. Friedly’s personal experience with COVID and Long-COVID.
• Common symptoms people continue to experience after COVID.
• What makes some people more susceptible to Long COVID.
• Possible mechanisms for ongoing symptoms. 
• The medical work up for Long COVID.
• Successful treatments for Long COVID.

The podcast episodes drop weekly on Monday over the summer. Subscribe to stay up to date, and tune in when you can! Be sure to rate, review, and follow on your favorite podcast app and let me know what other brain & body things you'd like to hear about. 

For more information about me, check out my website.

Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Tik Tok @drnatashamehta.
Follow Dr. Janna Friedly on Twitter, @JannaFriedlyMD.

This episode is not sponsored.

Roger Luo, MD is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R). He specializes in the non-operative management of musculoskeletal and sports injuries affecting the spine, peripheral joints, muscles and tendons.

He is an assistant professor of spine and musculoskeletal medicine and serves as the associate residency program director in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He is active in a number of professional organizations and has presented or published several case studies on orthopedic, musculoskeletal and other injuries.

Dr. Luo and I both completed residency in PM&R at Rutgers-New Jersey Medicine School/Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation. Following graduation, he went on to complete a fellowship in Sports and Spine at Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC. 

Dr. Luo works as a physician and a coach for both his patients and students. He’s always finding new ways to motivate people — and that’s why I had to interview him for this podcast. Because it’s not always easy to be well. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• What is PM&R or physiatry?
• How to empower people who have limited resources to exercise.
• Different ways to combat burnout in healthcare. 

The podcast episodes drop weekly on Monday over the summer. Subscribe to stay up to date, and tune in when you can! Be sure to rate, review, and follow on your favorite podcast app and let me know what other brain & body things you'd like to hear about. 

For more information about me, check out my website.

Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Tik Tok @drnatashamehta. 

This episode is not sponsored.

Dr. David Katz is a medical doctor and specialist in Preventive Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine, with particular expertise in nutrition. He is a voice of reason in an incredibly confusing space. His eloquent and articulate speaking style has brought him recognition by peers as the “poet laureate of health promotion.”

Dr. Katz is the founder and former director of Yale University’s Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center (1998-2019); Past President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine; President and Founder of the non-profit True Health Initiative; and Founder and CEO of Diet ID, Inc. 

The recipient of numerous awards for teaching, writing, and contributions to public health, he was a 2019 James Beard Foundation Award nominee in health journalism.
 
Katz has an extensive media portfolio, including serving as  a nutrition columnist for O, the Oprah Magazine; an on-air contributor for ABC News/Good Morning America, and OpEds in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.  He is one of the original 150 “Influencers” selected by LinkedIn and has a social media following of nearly one million.

He holds multiple US patents; has over 200 peer-reviewed publications; has published many hundreds of on-line and newspaper columns; and has authored/co-authored 19 books to date including multiple editions of leading textbooks in nutrition, preventive medicine, and epidemiology.

His career-long focus has been the translation of science into action for the addition of years to life, and life to years, and on the confluence of human and planetary health.

In this episode, we discuss: 

• Adding years to life AND life to years.
• The limitations to researching diet.
• How to interpret studies about diet.
• Diet quality.
• Choosing the best diet for you.
• Choosing oils.
• Choosing pantry items.
• Taste bud rehab.

Reference links to topics in this episode:

How To Eat: All Your Food and Diet Questions Answered

Actual causes of death in the United States, JAMA 1993

“Vigevity”

Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Blue Zones

Healthy Eating Index (HEI) - Diet Quality measure

The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health

Cuisinicity - Food Blog by Catherine Katz

The podcast episodes drop weekly on Monday over the summer. Subscribe to stay up to date, and tune in when you can! Be sure to rate, review, and follow on your favorite podcast app and let me know what other brain & body things you'd like to hear about.

For more information about me, check out my website.

Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Tik Tok @drnatashamehta. 

This episode is not sponsored.

Dr. Jaspal Ricky Singh is Vice Chair & Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College of New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He is a triple-board certified physician specializing in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Sports Medicine and Pain Medicine. 

Dr. Singh specializes in a multidisciplinary approach to treat pain by integrating physical therapy and interventional techniques into his care. Through the use of minimally invasive, fluoroscopic-guided spine procedures, peripheral nerve blocks, electrodiagnostics and musculoskeletal ultrasound, Dr. Singh individualizes his treatment plan with a focus on functional restoration.

Dr. Singh has been honored as Super Doctors- New York Rising Star, New York’s Top Doctors in Pain Medicine and America’s Best Doctor by Castle Connolly.

He has a comprehensive website where you can learn more about him at rickysinghmd.com and make sure to tune into his podcast called The Back Story.

In this episode we discuss:

• Causes of low back pain.
• Treatment options for low back pain.
• The importance of core strength in preventing and treating back pain.
• How  to best work your core.
• Boutique fitness.
• The importance of recovery.
• Are there exercises you should never do?
• Protecting your spine.  
• Learning what your body needs.

The podcast episodes drop weekly on Monday over the summer. Subscribe to stay up to date, and tune in when you can! Be sure to rate, review, and follow on your favorite podcast app and let me know what other brain & body things you'd like to hear about. 

For more information about me, check out my website.

Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Tik Tok @drnatashamehta. 

This episode is not sponsored.

Lindsey Zubritsky, MD, FAAD, is a board-certified dermatologist specializing in general medical dermatology, surgical dermatology, cosmetics, and pediatric dermatology.

She is passionate about all things dermatology, especially debunking skincare myths and educating the public using her social media platforms. Find her on Instagram and Tik Tok as @dermguru.

She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology and serves as one of their social media ambassadors.  She is also an editor for the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD), the leading evidence-based peer-reviewed medical journal for dermatologists, and routinely reviews submissions for publication. She has contributed to numerous beauty articles as a skincare and dermatologic expert including Women's Health, Byrdie, InStyle magazine, Forbes, CNN, MSN, Esquire magazine, BuzzFeed, Allure, Yahoo!, The EveryGirl and many more. She has lectured at several national and local conferences and was the guest speaker for Grand Rounds at numerous dermatology residency programs across the country. 

In this episode we discuss:

• Why skin is important.
• How to take care of your skin at all ages.
• Common areas of confusion in skin care marketing.
• Stretch marks.
• Scaring. 
• Hair loss.
• Nail discoloration

The podcast episodes drop weekly on Monday over the summer. Subscribe to stay up to date, and tune in when you can! Be sure to rate, review, and follow on your favorite podcast app and let me know what other brain & body things you'd like to hear about. 

For more information about me, check out my website.
Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Tik Tok @drnatashamehta. 

This episode is not sponsored.

Dr. Joel Press is the Physiatrist-in-Chief at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City and a Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. He has published extensively, chaired numerous courses, and lectures both nationally and internationally on the rehabilitation of spine and sports-related injuries. He is a Past President of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, North American Spine Society, and the Physiatric Association of Spine, Sports, and Occupational Medicine.

In this episode we discuss:
- Movement as medicine.
- Buzz words like "pain-free" and "anti-aging".
- The truth about the natural history of the aging, active body.
- Pros and cons of the one size fits all approach to exercise.
- Living with chronic pain.
- Experiences, challenges, and hope for the future of the treatment of pain.

The podcast episodes drop weekly on Monday over the summer. Subscribe to stay up to date, and tune in when you can! Be sure to rate, review, and follow on your favorite podcast app and let me know what other brain & body things you'd like to hear about.

For more information about me, check out my website.
Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Tik Tok @drnatashamehta. 

This episode is not sponsored.

Welcome to the Brain & Body Things podcast! I'm your host, Dr. Natasha Mehta.

I'm a medical doctor here to help you wrap your mind around all things brain and body by talking with experts in a variety of fields of medicine. See below for this seasons line up! 

1. Let movement be thy medicine: Dr. Joel Press on dealing with pain, injury, and the aging musculoskeletal system.
2. Dr. Lindsey Zubritsky on skin, hair, & nails - common misconceptions and frequently asked questions.
3. Back pain explained with Dr. Ricky Singh.
4. All things diet & nutrition with Dr. David Katz.
5. The system is unwell - Dr. Roger Lou on becoming a coach and a teacher.
6. Understanding Long COVID with Dr. Janna Friedly.
7. Brain fog...with Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez.
8. Is hormone imbalance a thing? Hormones and more with Dr. Arti Thangudu.
9. Things you should know about sleep - with Dr. Meredith Broderick.

The podcast episodes drop weekly on Monday over the summer. Subscribe to stay up to date, and tune in when you can! Be sure to rate, review, and follow on your favorite podcast app and let me know what other brain & body things you'd like to hear about. Follow me on Instagram, Tik Tok, or Twitter @drnatashamehta. 

This podcast is not sponsored.