The Good Mood Podcast

Victor Cirone, registered herbalist returns to the Good Mood Podcast to talk about how the sickness of our civilization may contribute to disease. Modern medicine may be a mechanism of healing "sick machines" and true healing should be concerned with the restoration of "what belongs to nature". 

Victor discusses the work of John Zerzan, and other Green Anarchists, while describing how herbal medicine might help us realign with nature's internal wisdom and agenda that lies outside of society and time. 

Victor talks about how plant medicine differs from pharmacotherapy, and how true holistic medicine is about educating the patient to understand how disease arises. Is disease simply a process of a pathological society being driven inward? Can we heal as individuals without addressing the societal pathology that has shaped our mental and physical illness? Victor and I discuss these questions. 

After listening, make sure you check out Episode 2, "The Fascinating and Threatening Other" where we talk about lawful and unlawful images, psychoanalysis and herbalism. 

Find Victor at:

His website: https://www.victorcironeherbalist.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victorcirone/

Herbal Webinar Series: https://www.facebook.com/herbalistsandherbs/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTEnrihcuUi2R-EqfgMNGfw

Good Mood Foundations: a 6-week lifestyle program for mental health and emotional wellness: taliand.com/good-mood-learn

Dr. Emily Bennett is a classmate and fellow naturopathic doctor. Emily focuses her practice on community medicine and advocacy. She has a special interest in addressing oppressive power structures we might encounter in our society, and in our clinics, both the conventional medical clinic, but also the ways we might inadvertently shame patients within the context of an alternative healthcare model.   

We talk about Emily's work with empowering patients through body awareness, and having deeper conversations around conventional, potentially shame-inducing treatment goals, like weight loss or dietary changes. 

We talk about how shame might be addressed head-on in a healthcare setting and how we can work towards dismantling oppressive power structures embracing a more inclusive and supportive healthcare model.   

Health is subjective and, as naturopathic doctors who focus on individualized medicine, I believe that the work Emily is doing is important. How we approach the therapeutic encounter can have a major impact on our patients relationships to their bodies and their health experiences.   

I hope you enjoy this episode.   

Find Emily at:  

Website: http://emilybennettnd.ca/ 

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/shamelesslycoping 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dremilybennett/

Good Mood Foundations: a 6-week lifestyle program for mental health and emotional wellness: taliand.com/good-mood-learn

In this episode I talk to Melissa "Scare" Croden, a professional mixed martial artist and my cousin.

Mel's MMA career started a few years ago, in 2015. As an amateur she won 5 for 5 fights before turning pro in Fall of last year. As a pro she has won 2 out of 2 fights. Her pro career has been temporarily interrupted due to Covid-19, however she is scheduled to fight again in Fall. 

We talk warrior mindset, how the mind-head-brain complex is the most important component for success as an athlete, and what it takes to train and fight in a cage. 

Mel explains why she disagrees with the phrase "A warrior is never angry." We talk emotions, aggression, our animal instincts, respect, humility and how the warrior path is a way to find oneself and develop as a human being, or human beast. 

A word of warning, there are some swears in this episode, so listen with headphones if at work or if kiddies are around. 

This is a juicy episode where we can really examine the mind of a high-level female athlete in a high-stakes, high-performance sport. 

I'm so proud of Mel and excited to share her with you all. 

You can follow her on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarecroden/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarecroden/

And you can read her blog: https://crodenm.wixsite.com/melissacroden/blog-1

You can also support her career here: https://makeachamp.com/melissacroden/32978

Good Mood Foundations: a 6-week lifestyle program for mental health and emotional wellness: taliand.com/good-mood-learn

Dr Erin Tewinkel is a fellow naturopathic doctor and Teen Wellness Warrior. She believes that adolescence holds keys to opportunities most parents miss. And that if a young person is given the proper foundations of health, they have access to health the rest of their life.

I love seeing teens in my practice. Adolescence is a time where we can really make a big difference as healthcare practitioners, teachers, parents and peers to help shape a teen's experience, creating mental and emotional resilience. This is a time when mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety often surface and modelling emotional intelligence, maturity and mindfulness can have massive impacts on the ways we teach our teens to interact with the world.

In this episode we talk about the teen brain. How teens are in the process of pruning neural synapses in order to streamline their brain, and how parents can help teens through the turbulent times of social media, hyper-emotionality and hyper-rationality to set them up for emotionally intelligent, mentally well adults. 

We talk social media, gist thinking, preserving that emotional "spark", keeping girls cage free and wild, modern day teen stressors that can contribute to the rise of anxiety, and lots and lots of tips for boosting emotional intelligence. 

This episode is a great listen for anyone interested in how our mental health evolves as we move through adolescence and how the skills we learn during this time can set us up for courage, compassion, strength, passion and resilience in our adult years (but it's never too late to learn)!

Find Dr. Erin Tewinkel, ND at: 

Facebook Group: Connecting with Your Teen - The hows, the whys, and the in and outs!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/raisingresilientteenagers/

5 Day Mini-Challenge - Connecting with your Teen

https://bewell41a815.clickfunnels.com/connectionchallenge

Instagram: @drtewinkel

Website: www.erintewinkel.com

Good Mood Foundations: a 6-week lifestyle program for mental health and emotional wellness: taliand.com/good-mood-learn

In today's episode I talk to Dr. Lachlan Crawford, fellow mental health focused naturopathic doctor. Lachlan has a practice in Toronto helping patients find the root of their mental health concerns.  

She incorporates mindfulness into her practice and has participated in a few silence meditation retreats a 30-day retreat in Thailand and a 10-day silent Vipassana retreat.   

We talk about mindfulness, self-compassion, chronic low-grade anxiety and how carrying an umbrella everywhere you go might actually undermine your ability to be happy.  

This is an awesome conversation where we talk medicine, meditation, metal health and more (how's that alliteration for you?). 

Hope you enjoy it!   

Find Dr. Lachlan at: 

Instagram.com/drlachlancrawford_nd 

Facebook.com/drlachlancrawford website: 

www.lachlancrawford.com  

More resources:  

Kristen Neff's work: Selfcompassion.org

*Reference to Schopenhauer in the episode should actually be reference to Albert Schweizer

Good Mood Foundations: a 6-week lifestyle program for mental health and emotional wellness: taliand.com/good-mood-learn

In this episode I talk to my friend and colleague Dr. Fernando Janer Sanchez, a naturopathic doctor and fellow graduate of the class of 2014 from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. Fernando lives in Puerto Rico teaching Mind-Body Medicine and Physical Examination at the Puerto Rican naturopathic college, Universidad Ana G. Mendez. 

Fernando and I talk about psychoneuroimmunology, the social determinants of health, and how your occupation might affect your immune system. He shares his history as a social worker in New York City and in Puerto Rico working in a needle exchange program with homeless youth. We discuss how acupuncture can be a helpful treatment in addictions, how harm reduction is important for empowering change, and how recognizing community needs is the most important factor to delivering care. 

This convo takes us from the weeds of inflammatory cytokine interleukin 6 to the expansive feelings of humility and awe. We also learn about Fernando's community project, Proyecto Bohique.

Learn more about it here: https://www.facebook.com/proyectobohique/

Good Mood Foundations: a 6-week lifestyle program for mental health and emotional wellness: taliand.com/good-mood-learn

Micro-dosing, taking small doses of psychedelic substances, like LSD or psilocybin-containing “magic” mushrooms, probably entered the public consciousness in early 2015, after James Fadiman, PhD and author of The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide, appeared on the Tim Ferris Podcast.

Fadiman is the author of the 2011 book “The Psychdelics Explorer’s Guide” where can be credited with presenting the idea of taking a “sub-perceptual” dose of a hallucinogen, like LSD or Psilocybe cubensis “magic” mushrooms, that contain the hallucinogen psilocybin.

A sub-perceptual dose means that, while these substances still exert effects, they don’t produce a noticeable hallucinogenic “high”. While other substances can be used, the most common way to practice micro-dosing is with about 1/10th to 1/20th of a standard “trip dose” of LSD or psilocybin, the two most commonly taken psychedelics.

In this episode I talk to Dr. Amanda Satov, a fellow naturopathic doctor. Amanda became interested in the healing power of psychedelic plant medicines on a trip to the Amazon rainforest of Peru. Her background in culinary arts and her interest in working with patients through transitional periods in their lives, led to her deep dive in the history, science and current research surrounding psychedelic, or entheogenic medicines. 

Dr. Amanda is also a reiki practitioner. She is a fellow Toronto practitioner. 

You can find Dr. Amanda Satov, ND at:

https://www.amandasatov.com/

and on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandasatov.nd/

Now, the psychedelic medicines, like psilocybin or LSD, that we talk about in this episode are not currently approved for therapeutic use. Nor are they legal to procure outside of certain exceptions for scientific research. Dr. Amanda and I are having this discussion because we're interested in it and excited about what the future holds for using psychedelics in the realm of mental health, however we are in no way advocating their use outside of a therapeutic encounter. This discussion is for educational purposes only. 

To learn more: 

https://remedycentre.ca/

https://www.fieldtriphealth.com/

https://thethirdwave.co/

https://maps.org/

https://clearskyibogaine.com/ibogaine-toronto/

Good Mood Foundations: a 6-week lifestyle program for mental health and emotional wellness: taliand.com/good-mood-learn

Dr. Daina Patel is a Chiropractic Doctor with a focus on women’s back pain and plant based nutrition. Daina shares her journey to a plant’s based diet as well as her own personal struggle with inflammation and chronic pain.

We talk about the difference between being plant based and vegan, how nutrition is not about adhering to specific “diets” per se but an ongoing process developing a deep relationship with our individual bodies and food.

Daina and I discuss how diet plays a role in inflammation that lies at the root of chronic pain and other health conditions like depression and anxiety.

We also talk about mindset for dealing with pain and suffering, and how breathing is the cornerstone of not only chronic pain and inflammation but perhaps our entire health.

This is such an interesting conversation, that highlights the fact that no matter what health condition we start with, the journey towards optimal wellbeing involve a variety of factors. However, optimal health is not really a destination, but a process that involves lots of patience, persistence and self-compassion.

I hope you enjoy it!

Dr. Daina’s website: https://www.drdainapatel.com/

Her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.dainapatel/

Top 6 Back Pain Exercises for busy and ambitious women: https://download.dainapatel.com/guide

5 Day Better Posture Challenge: https://go.drdainapatel.com/challenge-optin

The Healthy Sisterhood Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheHealthySisterhood/

Welcome to episode 10 of the Good Mood Podcast. In this episode I interview my friend Ivo Suvee, a biohacker. Biohacking is the art of optimizing one’s biochemistry and physiology through various practices from basic lifestyle techniques to using more advanced technologies like apps, genetic testing, and employing unique compounds like peptides.

Whatever the method the goal of biohacking is to tweak health to be the best version of ourselves.

Ivo’s story is interesting. From a young age he was interested in using food to optimize his health. He then applied this interest to enhance his physical fitness and more recently has noticed a profound impact on using various lifestyle techniques to optimize his mood.

Ivo emphasizes first tackling the “low hanging fruit” of diet and lifestyle strategies, stacking them to produce the profound effect of moving from a mild-to-moderate depression, or dysthymia, to a robust and resilient mood state.

We talk diet and exercise, genomic testing, gut microbiome, intermittent fasting, light exposure, BDNF, hormesis and even the use of peptides like oxytocin to boost mood.

Keep in mind of course that none of this episode is meant to replace the one-to-one health advice of a licensed professional and that many of the therapies we talk about: from peptides to psychedelics, to even genetic testing, are not therapies that an Ontario-licensed ND has access to and are discussed for purely educational purposes.

I hope you enjoy this conversation!

Here are some of the links discussed in the episode:

https://selfdecode.com/

https://superhumanradio.net/

https://www.viome.com/

https://seeds.md/epigenetic-test/

https://humancharger.com/

Good Mood Foundations: a 6-week lifestyle program for mental health and emotional wellness: taliand.com/good-mood-learn

I talk to my friend Erica L. Robinson, a naturopathic medicine graduate, health coach, holistic nutritionist, kinesiologist and expert on the sacred embodied feminine. 

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Daoism there is a Yin (feminine) and Yang (masculine) energy present in all things. From the anima and animus of the Jungian psyche, our relationships, the archetypes in Disney's The Lion King, to all of society, we can find a dualistic masculine/feminine nature. 

According to Erica, female burnout and hormonal dysfunction such as hair loss, infertility, acne, and fatigue come in large part to living in a more masculine energetic state. 

It's through reclaiming and embodying the feminine aspects of our being that can allow women to feel energized, connected, creative, balanced and in flow. 

It's important to note at this point that when we talk about masculine/feminine duality we are speaking of something different than gender, or even biological sex. However, Erica's clients are largely cis-gendered, female-identifying, heterosexual women and so most examples will be with this in mind--we can't speak for everyone's experience. However, of course we all have masculine and feminine parts within our beings and our relationships, and this dualism exists on a spectrum. 

This is a fascinating episode that discusses a problem that I have identified in myself, at the heart of many hormonal imbalances in my patients, and that Erica has located as a core feature in the health issues she's worked with in her career. 

I hope you enjoy this dynamic conversation! 

Erica's website: https://www.erica-robinson.com/

Reclaiming Our Sacred Feminine Energy webinar https://www.erica-robinson.com/feminine-energy-opt-in

Her Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ericaellerobinson/

Good Mood Foundations: a 6-week lifestyle program for mental health and emotional wellness: taliand.com/good-mood-learn