We have been listening to your questions and look forward to sharing a 3 part series -- "Ask Me Anything"
There have been a wide range of questions which we have combined into several themes.   This week we are focusing on your questions pertaining to Functional Medicine (training, medical practice, etc) and the Blue Zones.
Look forward to sharing our thoughts over the coming weeks. 

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We are all living in an exceedingly toxic world.   Every day we are  exposed to literally hundreds of chemicals, many of which have the potential to negatively affect our health.     Toxic chemical exposures have been linked to a variety of chronic health conditions including obesity, type 2 diabetes, infertility mood disorders, chronic fatigue, autoimmune disease, memory impairment, and cancer.   While avoidance is always the best, escaping exposure is nearly impossible.  This constant exposure is resulting in an ever-increasing body burden, or toxic load of chemicals. 
Join us during this month's podcast as we discuss all things Detox! 
We are joined today by Thrive staff member and health coach Wendy Croly, RN.  
Don't miss this great episode with all kinds of insight and tips to detox your life and make 2023 a healthy year! 

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Our skin is the biggest organ in the body and certainly gets our attention more than the others.  Our society is obsessed with perfection and anti-aging which explains the multitude of skin care products and procedures one can get. There are many out there who are more than happy to give you advice and sometimes it involves a pill, an expensive skin care ritual or worse a needle or scalpel. As a Functional Medicine provider my approach to skin care is no different than my approach to the health of other organs. First and foremost, we must look at the foundational contributors-sleep, diet, water intake, environmental exposures, etc. Often, we overlook these obvious contributors in hopes of finding the perfect cream or worse procedure, to give us the quick fix. As with other health approaches there rarely is a quick fix and long-term management must consider the foundational components as important in optimizing skin appearance. 

If you have never had a facial from Val then you are missing out. I am so excited to be with her here today to talk about skincare and get all of her secrets of course. We are so fortunate to have Val here at Thrive. She has an impressive bio. She initially started as a cosmetic makeup artist but in 2001 expanded into skincare when she became an aesthetician. She was the head of a day spa located in the Asheville are for over 13 years then in 2015 began working for Eminence, the leading organic skincare company. She worked as a training specialist training all of the aestheticians at prominent Eminence related  spas in the southeast.

But it was in 2017 that Val really changed paths as it was when she began working here at Thrive. Our connection to Eminence brought us together and we could not have been more fortunate. In 2018 Val experienced a life-changing event when she suffered from 3 strokes-luckily  while at work here at Thrive. While this was unfortunate in many ways it was also a catalyst for change. It was at this time that she developed a more holistic approach to her own health and ultimately to her skin care approach. Just like the approach in Functional medicine at Thrive Val focuses on the root cause of skin problems as your lifestyle shows up in your skins appearance. 

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As you are all aware October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so we felt it was fitting to talk today about this cancer but from a different angle. Today we are interested in focusing on Breast Cancer Prevention.

Breast cancer  is the second most common cancer and 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with it in their lifetime. Last year there were over 264,000 new cases and over 42,000 deaths. So for every130 newly diagnosed there are 19 deaths.   North Carolina rates are among the highest in the country with  129.7 cases per every 100,00 and 19.4 deaths for ever 100K.  Some good news with all of this: Most of the cases are diagnosed in the early stages (localized 35% or regional 37%) and the incidence has dropped slightly (0.3%) per year.

“Breast Cancer Awareness” month was established in 1985 by the American Cancer Society and AstraZeneca the pharmaceutical company responsible for development of Tamoxifen and Arimidex, common treatment agents used in the treatment of breast cancer . The early goal of Breast Cancer Awareness Month was to educate women about breast cancer and early detection tests so that they could take charge of their breast health. 

One of their key goals that they wanted to achieve was to promote mammograms as an important tool to be used in the fight against breast cancer. This is what we have  been taught is prevention.  While education and screening are important – this is not prevention of disease ; it is prevention of death. There is increasing evidence that suggest lifestyle and dietary factors play a significant role in the prevention of chronic diseases, including cancers like breast cancer

Today we want to focus on what is true prevention with the goal of educating and
motivating women to make change and empower them to take an active role in true
prevention of this disease.

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Chronic stress has been shown to be one of the greatest contributors to chronic disease.   Yet we often neglect the power of the mind to address healing.   Join us today with special guest Erika Sheprd as she delves into the  power of the Mind-Body Connection.  Learn how you can tap into your own innate abilities  to master your nervous system. 
Erika will share insight into this fascinating field and highlight  simple, proven ways to balance the nervous system to help lower stress, anxiety, overwhelm, and burnout naturally.

This podcast uses an AI scribe to convert Thrive's website content into conversational dialogue you can listen to wherever you are!

Join us today as we take a deeper dive into the Gut-Brain interaction and role of GI Psychology in optimizing management for gut-related health issues.  We are learning more everyday about the  bidirectional interactions between our brain and our gastrointestinal system and microbiome.    We welcome a special guest to the Thrive Healthcare podcast as we further educate our listeners on building a healthy foundation. 

Dr. Elyse Thakur is a clinical health psychologist, who specializes in treating gastrointestinal disorders. She has developed a GI psychology program in the Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at Atrium Health in Charlotte, NC. She is involved in clinical care, teaching and research. Her areas of interest include integrative medicine, implementation science, and novel approaches to care. She graduated with her PhD from Wayne State University, where she completed a randomized trial for her dissertation focused on “The Effects of Emotional Awareness and Expression Training and Relaxation Training for People with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.” She went on to complete her predoctoral internship at Baylor College of Medicine and then a fellowship at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, where she was grant funded to develop a “Referral Toolkit for the Behavioral Health Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome” – this toolkit was designed to help GI providers refer patients with IBS to behavioral health services . Dr. Thakur is passionate about treating patients with GI conditions and thinking creatively how to provide the best care possible.

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GI issues account for 10% of doctors visits and digestive issues have reached epidemic levels in the US.    Our gut health has really changed with all the changes in the environment.  The health of our gut is related the health of our gut barrier and the health of our microbiome.  A disruption in either of these can lead to not only gastrointestinal problems but also systemic problems throughout the body.  In fact, it is safe to say that you are only as healthy as your gut.  
Join us in this month's episode as we take a deeper look at the top triggers that are disrupting our  gut health.

This podcast uses an AI scribe to convert Thrive's website content into conversational dialogue you can listen to wherever you are!

This podcast uses an AI scribe to convert Thrive's website content into conversational dialogue you can listen to wherever you are!

One tool we can use to look deeply into a patient’s health and to personalize our recommendations are the labs and tests we check. Often patients get a basic biometric panel which can be limited, especially if there are health concerns or issues. These basic biometric tests are really designed to diagnose disease- not look for underlying causes which may be leading to symptoms. When we rely on the basic tests, we could be missing early signs which lie underneath the surface. We routinely run what we call functional labs which are more in-depth and look into the functioning of the body. 

This podcast uses an AI scribe to convert Thrive's website content into conversational dialogue you can listen to wherever you are!

Today we will be diving into Insulin!  Join us with our special guests from Thrive to take a deeper look at the role of insulin with your overall health.  Learn tips on diet and lifestyle measures to directly impact and optimize your insulin levels.  You won't want to miss this episode! 

This podcast uses an AI scribe to convert Thrive's website content into conversational dialogue you can listen to wherever you are!