Mindful Medicine

In the U.S., maternal mortality and morbidity disproportionately affect black women at a rate four to five times greater than white women. In New York City, black women are 8 to 12 times more likely than white women to die as a result of pregnancy and birth-related causes.

Joining us to talk about these sobering statistics is Latham Thomas. She supports women in embracing optimal wellness and spiritual growth, especially during their childbearing years.  A celebrity doula and maternal wellness expert, Latham is the founder of Mama Glow, a global women’s health and education brand serving women along the childbearing continuum.

In this episode Latham and Dr. Holly talk about a range of wellness topics affecting pregnancy, including what exactly a doula does, educating mothers about their choices in birthing options, environmental factors that affect comorbidities that disproportionately affect black women & families, and how quarentine could nudge us toward a (much needed) "anti hustle" lifestyle. 

When most people think of "habits" they think of bad things. Smoking or picking at your nails. But habits can be good things also, and we're going to talk about simple ways to transform your life by incorporating healthy habits day to day.

And occupational therapists are the people who help get you back to doing the things they like to and need to do in their everyday lives. 

Inherently they have a holistic perspective, that focuses on adapting the environment to the needs of a patient.

Susan Roberts is an occupational therapist with a diverse background incorporating spiritual wellness, nature, and traditional healing into her practice.

In this episode, she talks about her decades-long career as an occupational therapist, what she means by "sustainable health," as well as folk and indigenous healing practices. 

WFH is the newest acronym in the cultural lexicon: Working From Home. During this pandemic, it seems like a lot of people are shifting to this type of office.

Whether you're setting up shop at your kitchen table or hunched into your laptop for a Zoom call from bed, ergonomic issues are more likely to occur while working from home, especially since most people's transition to this lifestyle was quite abrupt.

Dr. Chad Henriksen is a chiropractor and has been working in the industry for 20 years now, and joins Dr. Holly today to talk ergonomics, alignment, and tips for productivity from home.

Anxiety and dread about the state of the world right now are keeping many of us awake at night.

Whether it's your health or your job, some aspect of COVID-19 is probably throwing you off and making it difficult to rest. But we hope you can find some comfort in knowing this is happening to SO many other people right now.

Dr. Michael Awad is a fellowship-trained sleep surgeon and chief of sleep surgery at Northwestern Medicine, and joins Dr. Holly to talk about sleep apnea, how sleep can build immunity, what to do when the world feels out of our control, and he tells us a bit more about this newer field he's in: sleep surgery.

A study published this June in Nature Medicine, says inflammation after meals varies significantly among healthy adults, pointing to the need for personalized eating plans.

The study – which consisted of 1,103 subjects including 600 identical and non-identical twins – demonstrated that surprisingly genetics plays a minor role in determining personal nutritional response and even identical twins can respond very differently to the same foods.

Inflammation fuels the fire of most chronic diseases, and joining Dr. Holly to talk about that is Dr. Haya Al Khatib, one of the lead nutritionists in this study. 

Practicing mindfulness can be especially helpful in times of stress. In our current health crisis, millions of people continue to be affected by COVID-19 in one way or another: Health concerns or worries, employment woes, social distancing rules making it challenging to connect with family and friends have all been familiar themes. 

Mindfulness is a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and the surrounding environment. Being present and in the moment means we put aside any negative thoughts about the past or worries about the future—and just be. 

Joining Dr. Holly today is Dr. Mimi Secor, a Family Nurse Practitioner with over 41 years of experience specializing in Women’s Health. She shares her top 10 ways to practice mindfulness in our everyday lives. 

We talk a lot about stress on this show. But now more than ever, stress management is key to getting through each day.

Joining Dr. Holly is Dr. Chris Mosunic to talk about holistic ways to de-stress, his company VIDA health, and diabetes management.