Health Care or Sick Care? An Insider's Perspective with Dr. Amy Beard
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December 1, 2021 - Episode #85 - Health Care or Sick Care? An Insider's Perspective with Dr. Amy Beard
Is our Health care system broken? You and I can have our theories on this but why not hear an insider’s perspective? Today I’m interviewing Dr. Amy Beard. In this interview you will hear Dr. Amy’s story of tremendous health struggle and why nothing worked until she discovered Functional Medicine. We discuss why our health care system is broken, what doctors do NOT learn in medical school, the importance of the body, mind and soul approach, the value of Functional Medicine, nutrition and faith. Yes, this is a full discussion that leads off with us talking about our dogs! If you are ready to feel empowered to take control of your health and to stop the reliance on a broken system that seems determined to keep you sick….keep listening. That’s what is happening today on the Healthy Harmony podcast. This candid discussion is one you don't want to miss! Hear these topics......
Ready to be empowered and take control of your health? Then this podcast is just for you! To connect with Dr. Amy Beard and her practice....go to www.amybeardmd.com. Dr. Beard has a virtual practice and sees all clients first before she connects them with her team of health coaches. For your FREE gift that I created just for you...the 2021 Holiday Survival Guide - How to Beat Stress, Combat Cravings and Stay Joyful in the Season click here https://bit.ly/2021healthyholidaysurvival Read Full Transcript below Where else to listen: (note: Google is only available on android devices)
FULL TRANSCRIPT December 1, 2021 - Episode #85 - Health Care or Sick Care? An Insider's Perspective with Dr. Amy Beard Speaker 1: Is our healthcare system broken? You know, you and I can have our theories on this, but why not hear an insider's perspective? Today, I'm interviewing Dr. Amy Beard. In this interview, you will hear Dr. Amy story of tremendous health struggle and why nothing worked until she discovered functional medicine. We discuss why our healthcare system is broken. What doctors do not learn in medical school, the importance of the body, mind, and soul approach, the value of functional medicine, nutrition, and yes, even faith. This is a full discussion that leads off with us talking about our dogs. Yes, those furry critters that are close to our heart. If you are ready to feel empowered, to take control of your health and to stop the reliance on a broken system, that seems determined to keep you sick. Keep listening. That's what's happening today on the Healthy Harmony podcast. Welcome. This is the Healthy Harmony podcast. I'm Jennifer Pickett, Dietitian turned functional medicine, health coach. I help spiraling moms overcome the overwhelm through functional wellness coaching, the body, mind, and soul so they can transform their health and live a deeply fulfilled life of freedom and harmony. Okay, let's get real. When it comes to your health, you know what to do. I help you make the shift from knowing to actually doing. The last 25 years of experience have taught me that the absolute last thing a woman needs is a lecture about self care and another unrealistic diet plan. I've recognized the importance of compassionate and intentional health practices. So you can feel good because guess what? When you build good, you are more likely to make better decisions for your health. If you're ready to take control of your complete health, address the obstacles standing in your way and live a life of freedom and harmony, my friend, you're in the right place. Don't forget. I have a gift for you. The holiday survival guide, how to beat stress, combat cravings, and stay joyful in the season. Here's the deal. You're busy enough. It's simple. It's practical. I created this just for you, and it's exactly what you need to help you shift from barely surviving these crazy holidays to truly thriving. Every year we say the same thing. I won't get so stressed out. I'll manage those sugar cravings ultra to enjoy the season I'll be present and in the moment. And it seems like every year, even though we have the best of intentions, we shift to survival mode before we know it is January 1st, and we're a burned-out, stressed-out mess with extra weight that can not happen this year. So I've created this guide to help you do just that, to get out of survival mode and help you thrive to help you beat stress, combat cravings, and stay joyful in this season. So this is a free gift just for you to access that gift. Go to Bitly forward slash 2021 healthy holiday survival. Again, that's Bitly forward slash 2021 healthy holiday survival to download that guide. We're right now, our guest today is Dr. Amy Beard. She was born and raised along the banks of the Mississippi river, and she has called little rock Arkansas home for the past 20 plus years. She started her career as a registered dietician and worked for several years as an RD before deciding to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Beard has always known that a healthy diet and lifestyle were keys to optimal health. That feeling limited by her degree in dietetics, Dr. Beer decided to complete a doctorate of medicine. And then she went on to complete a three-year residency in family medicine, she's board certified in family medicine, but it was while working as an ER and family physician that she really understood and realized that the pathway to optimal health again, with patient empowerment, it was her own health struggles that led her to functional medicine nails. She's certified as a functional medicine practitioner. In fact, Dr. Beard is one of only five doctor dietician, certified functional medicine practitioners in the country. One of five, that's awesome. Outside of work. She's also a competitive athlete patients with chronic conditions, performance athletes, and yes, frustrated weight loss patients seek out her unique gift for unlocking their health potential. Dr. Beard is an advocate for changing our current healthcare model to one that is dedicated to prevention early assessment and improved management of those complex chronic diseases. Please welcome Dr. Amy Beard. Welcome. Welcome. I have got one of my absolute favorite functional medicine doctors on the show today, and you're going to love her as much as I do, please. Welcome Dr. Amy Beard. Hey Amy. Speaker 2: Hey love from Arkansas. Speaker 1: I'm so glad you're here. Um, we're going to have a lot we've, uh, we're going to hit on some really hot topics today, some controversial topics, but like first things first. Can we talk about our dogs? Can we just talk about our dogs? Go ahead. Speaker 2: Oh, you have, you've opened up Pandora's box. Um, I can talk dogs all day long. I'm a bit of a dog freak, but I, as you know, have a standard poodle his name, his full name is Beauregard Booker Bluford Beard Boop, the Fourth. Those are family names, but we just call him Bo. Speaker 1: Um, and I have seen Bo and he is precious. He is precious and he always looks sharp. Plus has on some kind of like little kerchief around his neck. Like he's always looking good. He's always looking ready. Speaker 2: Uh, yeah, his, his signature kerchief. Um, that probably needs a good washing right now, but yeah, he he's, my baby; never had a standard poodle before, but I am a huge fan now. Sweetest little boy. I mean, he's just an awesome dog. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good dog. So, and you know, you have a doodle. Speaker 1: Yeah. We have a Bernadoodle that's Libby, uh, and we have a golden doodle and that's Roux and they're the opposite. As far as their personalities, Libby is like, here I am, look at me, please give me some love and attention right now. I don't think I will ever receive love and attention again. And then Roux is the most laid-back dog, you know, he's just like a little old man dog, but he's only a puppy. So they're both, you know, they're both very different in their personalities and they're just hilarious. We have a blast with them and that they think, you know, if all else fails and we can't get meat anywhere, I know we can probably get some squirrels because these two are mighty squirrel hunters. Speaker 2: And it must be a poodle trait because Bo is the same and he is, um, he's super chill, loves his love and likes to, uh, thinks he's a lap dog and he's 50 pounds, but he could literally not get enough cuddles. He's the most loving little dog. Okay. Speaker 1: Yeah. Both of these are saying, that's what fine. And they're good for us, you know, they're good for our rest level. They make us smile. They make us take them for walks and be active. Now I will tell you, they make sorry. Podcast hosts, like, sorry. I mean, yeah. It sounds like no, no, no. Okay. You're fired as podcast host. They, and they're not good coaching assistant. So they've been fired as that as well, but from a stress management standpoint, they're fantastic. Speaker 2: Yes, I would agree. Speaker 1: Yes. A good, good stuff. So, um, what I love about this, is there something you and I share in common, we're both dietitians. So I'm curious, you started as a dietitian. What made you want to further pursue your medical education and become a doctor? Speaker 2: So I like you was probably a little bit disillusioned with, uh, the field of dietetics. I felt like even when I was going through the program and afterwards, I felt like, Hmm, I don't know that this is the best advice that I'm giving people. Um, and so, and then also, you know, nutrition was just one facet of health and there was so much more that I wanted to know and I felt that going to medical school would accomplish those goals for me. I could learn more about the, the human body, uh, and, and get a good idea of how, how it all worked and how I could use that to help patients. Speaker 1: Yeah. So did it meet those goals? How was it shifting from being a dietician to going into, uh, into medical school? Speaker 2: Well, um, to be honest, you know, I'd gone through the dietetics program and worked in some hospitals and clinics and realized the shortcomings of the educational program and was in pretty much encountered the same thing in medical school. And it was basically a lot of, uh, treat this with this pill or procedure and never addressed the why the why's were always, um, idiopathic that term was used a lot in medical school. We don't know why, but here's the pill that you use. And these are the labs you check. And for me, Speaker 1: Can I explain that term idiopathic, like explain that term to us Speaker 2: Unknown. Cause we, we don't know, we don't know, it's idiopathic, Speaker 2: It's like throwing darts at a dartboard, right? Like we're just going, we're gonna turn our head. We're gonna throw some darts at a dartboard and we hope this works. We don't know why this is happening, but we're just going to guess at what might fix it is that it, Speaker 2: And it doesn't fix it because it just treats the symptoms root, root causes are never were never discussed in my medical school training. Now I never heard the word gut health or GI microbiome, not once. And for me I'm like, wow, how can you even begin to address people's health issues without at least knowing some, something about that. Speaker 1: Right. Right. Oh, and I'm curious about something, the nutrition training as a, when you into medical school, traditional medical school, was there, what did the nutrition training look like? What did the lifestyle change education look like? Speaker 2: It was pitiful. I was, I could not believe it. I think it was probably a total of maybe four hours about nutrition and it was just the big stuff, you know, carbs, protein fats, vitamins minerals. And basically it was in the context of always treating diabetics and that was it seriously, you know, and we should be eating margarine and not butter. And Hey, if you're a diabetic, you know, they need to be drinking artificial sweeteners. And I was just like, this is the same stuff I heard medical school that I did not agree. I mean my dot text program and I didn't agree with, and here they are, it's the same stuff. And, um, it was, um, it was, it was disappointing. Speaker 1: Yeah. Very. Was there anything else in your education, um, to be a doctor that kind of stood out to you? That was very disappointing Speaker 2: At the time. I didn't really realize it, but it was looking back now. It was just all this focus on pharmaceuticals. I mean, that makes up your ma that makes up a huge chunk of your medical school and residency program. Education is just the use of pharmaceuticals and never trying to really uncover the root causes of what is really going on. That's causing this. And I didn't realize it at the time, you know, because I was still at the term functional medicine. I'd never heard of at that point and had never really considered root causes. But, um, once you start practicing that while you're like, okay, this does not work, right. Why are we continuing to do this? And that's really one of the reasons why just when I was done with my family medicine residency, and I had worked in a clinic and saw the, just the way that the approach did not work, I chose to go straight to the ER because I, I figured I could at least, you know, help people in that regard and not just enable, uh, the use of pharmaceuticals to, to treat symptoms that only made matters worse. Speaker 1: So you went from family practice to the ER, and I know that you have had, you have a very significant history, um, with your own personal struggles with your health. So I want you to tell us your story about your health struggles. Speaker 2: Sure. Um, so I can remember even as a child having lots and lots of problems with chronic ear infections, strep throat, uh, which then became, uh, IBS problems and as a young child, which then turned into depression, anxiety, OCD issues, which then continued in my twenties and then started becoming more of joint pain, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, uh, worsening, depression, um, acne, and, uh, and, uh, all kinds of other, if there's whatever I exist, I had it, um, was used. I felt like a Guinea pig at the time. Just always pills for this pills for that, go see this specialist, get this test, have this imaging study done. Um, and I went through all of that and nothing was, nothing was working. And then eventually when I was in residency, um, it just really got bad. Um, and at one point my pain was so intolerable. I was in medical school and I would, I wanted to be a surgeon, but I could not handle the long cases because my neck and back were being such pain that I gave up on that, that dream of becoming a Sergeant and went the family medicine route. Um, but you know, I was diagnosed with, you know, likely Ms in my thirties, uh, and had most of my colon removed, oh man, guess, guess what? The problems didn't go away. They only worsened and more things developed. And it was a chance meeting with a functional medicine physician that changed the course of my life and my health. Speaker 1: Oh, goodness. So tell me what that looked like, how you met this, this functional medicine physician. Speaker 2: I really, so I had a concierge medicine practice in, uh, in Arkansas, uh, after I got burned out in the ER. Um, and I'm not sure how she ended up in my office, but she did. And she started talking about all kinds of things. I had never heard of, uh, the gut micro-biome, uh, glow to thigh on alpha-lipoic acid. And just talking about all these antioxidants and what they do for your body and toxicity. So I was like, okay, I've never heard, you're a doctor, I'm a doctor, but I've not heard of this. Where did you hear about this? And she's like, it's my, I heard it through my functional medicine training. She was a certified functional medicine physician out of Tulsa. And I was like, okay, tell me how I can learn more. Um, because she really impressed me with her knowledge and she was so vibrant and just the picture of health. So I wanted to know more about this, but I was not doing, I was not doing very well when I met her. And so I went, I attended one functional medicine conference and was surrounded by all kinds of other physicians and healthcare professionals. And I was like, okay, this isn't quackery. It looks legit. These people look more normal. What I was hearing was making sense. And so I, I signed up for every functional medicine course I could, after that conference. And within about two years, I had attended all of them and started implementing the, the principles I was learning about my practice at that time and seeing results, positive results. I was like, okay, I'm sold. This is the way. And I've never looked back. Speaker 1: I love how it was your personal health struggles. And this woman that appeared, you know, that introduced you to functional medicine and how that dramatically changed your health. And then you started offering it to others after that training. And it started helping everybody else. So what are you hurting myself? Most importantly, yourself. Yeah, because you can't help. And this is what I try to emphasize to mamas. We can't help others until we help ourselves. Like, we try really, really hard, but it can only last so long. So I love that like continuum. So what would you say are the biggest benefits of functional medicine? Speaker 2: For me, it is just, it's helping people understand what's causing their problems. A lot of people don't understand that the decisions that they're making every day, day in and day out are contributing to their problems. It's not so much what the doctor does. It's much more about what they're doing. Okay. Speaker 1: And that powerful statement. That's a powerful statement. I think we miss that sometimes. Speaker 2: Yeah. It's, it's not what your doctor does. It's what you do. That's going to determine how happy you are. Yeah. Um, it, it, it really, and I truly believe that because I see it all the time. A lot of, um, of the chronic issues facing us today are directly related to lifestyle choices. Definitely. And we all have control over that. Okay. You have control over your health. Don't let anybody think you other let you think otherwise, because you do. And so functional medicine for me is it just empowers people with the knowledge and the understanding so that they can be their own, they can provide self care right there. They don't have to be so dependent up on a, a medical system that really isn't about health. Speaker 1: Let's talk about that. I mean, we've got this medical system and I think it's becoming very apparent, not been very vocalized that we've got a very broken healthcare system. So let's talk about that. Tell me, why do you think it's broken? Speaker 2: Because it's never uncovering addressing the root causes of people's problems. It's just perpetuating the problem by, you know, when you don't uncover the root causes and you don't treat the root causes and just throw pills at their symptoms, these patients don't get better. Right. They just have more symptoms and issues that develop so that this is not, this is not going to lead to a healthy society ever. Right. I don't care how many medications you can develop if you're not addressing the root cause. What's, what's the purpose here. Speaker 1: So, right. And I think we're quickly starting to see it's not healthcare, it's sick care and they didn't get it when you're sick. So my goal is simply to stay out of this sick care system as much as possible. And again, you've said it so many times before that pill for an ill approach. And so I think people are really just, they're not even being heard. They go into the doctor's office, they're having problems. The doctor listens extremely briefly and then shuts them off and says, here you go and give them some prescriptions. And, um, it, it blows my mind how this is just, it's just acceptable. It's just, it is what it is. And no one ever talks about those lifestyle. Those lifestyle changes, the good nutrition and the stress management and the sleep, um, Speaker 2: Time. Okay. You literally do not have time. And it's the way it's the insurance model. It's the way it's constructed. And doctors simply have to see so many patients an hour and you're only going to have so much time. And, and I, and I've heard doctors say, this is that, oh, I can't do that. It just takes too much time. Oh, the patients, the patients are going to do that. I'm not going to talk about that. They're never going to do that. They're just want a pill. Well, are we going to enable this type of behavior? Do we go into this profession to help people or to enable people? I, I don't, I didn't, I'm not going to enable people. I've just made that choice that I was not going to do that. Um, that's why I got out of that system. Um, but you know, I think there's been a lot of propaganda over the years that has, has worked really well to program people that you are supposed to take pharmaceuticals to be healthy. And they've, and they've, and there's been a lot of people that fell for it. Speaker 1: Yeah. And I thank you. You know, you tapped into something, these doctors don't have time, and I want it to, I want to be clear with everybody. We are talking about a broken system. When we talk about a broken system, we are not saying all doctors and nurses are bad. What we're saying is that we've got a lot of really good individuals, a lot of individuals with a good heart who went into medicine with the intent to help people. And they're stuck in a broken system. So even if a doctor is taking too much time, that healthcare administrator is going to come down on them, is that correct? Speaker 2: Yes. You have to see so many people an hour. That is always the first thing that's discussed. When you interview with, uh, a clinic or something, it's like, oh, this is how many patients you see a day. That is the first, first topic. And so, and like you said, it's, it's the system. It's not necessarily your, your personal physician or nurse who you may love and might be a wonderful person. I get that. I have several friends that are physicians, but they do not have the tools to help you. They weren't taught the tools. Yeah. And if you haven't gone out on your own to try to acquire more knowledge, like most doctors don't have time to do that. They're doing paperwork for two or three hours after their clinic ends. Yeah. You know, I have patient, I mean, I have physician friends who are stuck in this system. I can't stand it. Speaker 1: It's very heartbreaking. Very, very heartbreaking. And do you think people are sick and tired of being sick and tired? And what blows my mind is the amount of young women that we see that are on medications. And that is when all the problems started. I had someone today say, I just, I want to feel 28 years old again, because she feels so much older because of all her health problems. But the health problems came about as a result of the medications that she was put on when she voiced some concern about what was going on with her body. So I just, it got high. It gets fired up. Cause we're, we're using medications to silence people. Speaker 2: Yes. You just try. And it's, it comes down to also to something called standard of care that is developed by, uh, people, some physicians, but there's a lot of people who develop these standards of care that aren't physicians and you ha you basically forced to prescribe this pill for this issue. And that's what you do. And anything that falls outside of that, you're basically, you're told not to do it because you know, if something bad happens and we can't protect you legally, Speaker 1: It's just crazy. Okay. Something else I want to clarify with people is, um, functional medicine looks at the body as a system and everything works together. And what is interesting to me? Did you get any of the in medical school? And then when you were in practice as a traditional medicine doctor, was the body viewed as a system, did specialists talk to each other to coordinate care for a patient? What did that look like? Speaker 2: No, no, that's all we have all these specialties, right? Specialties within a specialty events. So they treated the body as if whatever is impact packing. The brain is not also impacting the rest of your body. You know, it's just the way that it is expressed. And nobody was putting two and two together that, oh, you have IBS and headaches. And so you would go see the gastroenterologist and then the neurologist and not realize that those two things were, were, were related. And so the doctors go about, you know, each specialty does their own little thing. And so they put you on this medication that their doctor puts you on this medication and still the underlying cause again is never a true, Speaker 1: Never address. And the specialist never talked to each other. And I think that's what people don't understand. These specialists that are working on the same body, they do not communicate with each other, which shows a huge deficiency that people need to understand. Speaker 2: I don't, they might communicate in the inpatient hospital setting, but that's it, you know, if you've got people in the ICU or the ER, or inpatient ward, and yeah, you might have some specialists that might communicate with each other about what's going on, but as an outpatient setting, absolutely not revealing the med list and learning that there's prescriptions on their medicines that are on there, that they didn't prescribe. And they just kind of make sure that whatever they're prescribing is not gonna, you know, uh, cause problems with other medications. And so that's about as far as it goes. Speaker 1: Yeah. It just, it blows my mind. So now you're doing things completely differently. You have a very thriving, functional medicine practice and you do things a little bit differently. So first of all, let's look at you as a, as a functional medicine physician. What sets you apart from these other functional medicine doctors? Speaker 2: Okay. So I'm going to be very honest with you. When I, when I attend some of my functional medicine conferences, it can get very, um, granola is not the right word, but very, um, pseudo religion and things that I don't sit well with me. Um, I think often in the, in the functional medicine world, uh, Christianity and faith is kind of pushed to the side and, and everything that is of spiritual matters is brought into the fold. And that could be, I don't know if, um, you know, setting up some crystals in your house, does you good or whatever, go for it. You know, it's your truth, right? Your truth, your truth, all these things a lot. But that's, that's what I was picking up on in these conferences. That, again, didn't sit well with me and where are we? The people that work with me and all my staff, we're all Christians. And I think that sets us apart because I don't, without God and faith, I don't, you'll never be able to achieve true health. Speaker 1: Amen. I've seen the same thing. And, you know, I think I love that you're a faith-based practice. I think it's so important because that was going to be one of my next questions is how do you incorporate faith into all of this, but it's vitally important. We can't, we're missing that piece of it. Um, and you gotta have that, that crucial piece. So how do you incorporate faith? Speaker 2: Well, you know, there are questions that we ask when you become a new patient about your faith. So we want to know a little bit about that. And if we see that you are of a similar mindset and you're a Christian, we're going to really include that in our discussions. And I always, when I see that and I have a patient who's struggling, I always like to share God's promises with them. I love that we go through the, his, his, the scriptures of, of what he, he commands of us to do with our body and our health, and then the promises that he has made. And I think that really just, it helps the patient mentally, but it also reminds them that your creator is there for you. And he's a vital part of your health. And, um, you, you cannot leave him out of this. You just can't. And the patients who do where faith is very important to them, they do better hands down. Yes, Speaker 1: Yes they do. Because I think they're truly grasping that body, mind and soul approach. And they understand that their creator cares deeply about his creation. And as we all see ourselves as unique beings created by a magnificent creator, Speaker 2: And we tap into the power of the holy spirit, it's real. I cannot, it's almost, once you experiences experience, God's greatness and goodness in your life, you will want to share that with everybody that you can Speaker 1: So true. So true Speaker 2: Functional medicine, you know, I'm going to share that with everybody, but it's also God, what he's done for me and what I know he can do. Speaker 1: And I love how you incorporate all of this. I mean, it's just, it's so very important. There's something else that's very unique about your practice. Your practice is based off of having health coaches to really help clients implement changes. So tell us why are health coaches so very important Speaker 2: When I added health coaching to my practices, when people really started to get better, um, because a lot, a lot of what the patients are doing is lifestyle interventions and making changes. And sometimes those changes can be difficult. And sometimes it takes an at an outward perspective, another perspective that start you, somebody else objectively seeing what's going on and kind of showing you what might be your roadblocks and how to, and a lot of wonderful tips that have worked for other patients and having you try those as well. Um, so, you know, our coaches have worked with so many patients that they've learned a lot in learn from your patients. I learned something from every single patient encounter and that's good because I use what I learned from my other patients. And so the health coaches pick up on this as well, and I'm telling you they're great. And in fact, most people, most people can be helped just with health coaches. Yeah. You don't even need a clinician. And I want people to understand, especially functional medicine, trained health coaches, they really, really do need to be functional medicine trained. Speaker 1: I agree. I agree with you being a dietician, like you seeing that training and then going through the functional medicine training. And, um, I I'm amazed. I'm like, why wasn't this discussed? Like, why didn't we discuss the gut microbiome? Why? I mean, there was nothing about using someone's strengths. There was nothing about coaching, about brainstorming, about positive psychology. There was really nothing about how to bring about positive change and lifestyle interventions. There was nothing about prevention. It was all about disease, state management and diets. And I know I got to the point where I was like, okay, this, this isn't helping anybody. If I just give them a diet, pat them on the head and say, good luck. It's not happening. They're not making changes. So, um, I have, so I am the newest coach on Dr. Amy's team. And I am beyond thrilled to be working with this incredible woman. I love how she does business because she does it with heart. It's a faith-based practice and we're making some changes in the practice. So tell us about those changes. Cause I know everybody's going to be very interested in how you do things and how they can get some help specifically. Speaker 2: So yes, in welcome aboard. We're very, very, very happy you're here. I feel very blessed. I feel like God has once again, brought this another wonderful person into my life. So thank you. Speaker 1: Um, and, and, you know, I told you the day we first met, which during the interview, I got to meet Bo which again, I was like, you know what? I like, I like this lady, like we can, we can grow up together. Um, but I, I shared with you during the interview that I had been praying about working with a functional medicine doctor for a full year. So to see how God answered that prayer, it just, it still, it gives me chills. So I just love how God has taken care of all the details and to be part of your team, the most amazing individuals. Like it's just, it's the coolest thing. So, so tell everybody how we're doing things now and it's different than how they can get plugged in. Speaker 2: So what's different now is that every new patient meets with me first. Um, at first, um, the old way we were having everybody meet with a health coach to do, uh, an initial health and medical investigation, which is still done by the right. It's just, I kind of start that, but I wanted a chance to meet with patients, make sure that I understand what they wanted from us, what they needed from us and make sure that they got off on the best path, whether that was working strictly with a health coach, working with the clinician, working with both the clinician and the health coach, which is a lot of people, um, or maybe you need group meetings. I was just trying to make sure that expectations were, were managed appropriately. Um, but it was really about getting patients up on the right foot with the practice in, in, in me expediting things, if I could, whether it was ordering labs right off the bat, because so people who had worked with other functional medicine physicians, uh, may have already done a lot of things that we typically have them do, but they're still having problems. And so I know that that patient's going to need some labs or typically, um, and so it was all about making the process more efficient and streamlined and, uh, making sure that the patient understood what was in part to take place because we're very different. And a lot of people have never, uh, never encountered anything like this with health coaches and functional medicine, because we do things very differently. Even the labs that we ordered and how we interpret them are very different than mainstream medicine. And the fact that we focus so much time on lifestyle interventions. Um, and so you just, it's, it's, um, it's a lot for people Speaker 1: And this is why people are having such phenomenal results. I'm, I'm blown away at just how quickly people start to see results as they start to implement those lifestyle changes that we suggest and the way everyone works together as a team. But also, I think it's very impactful that you see them first, and that really does expedite the process because you're able to look to your health coaches, your other clinicians, and say, look, this person, I, you know, I'm concerned about X, Y, Z, here's where we need to focus our efforts first in addressing the root of the issue. And that's what we're doing here. We're trying to address the root of the issue. Let's stop putting a bandaid on it and calling it a day. Let's get to the root of the issue. Speaker 2: Yeah. And that's what I start the investigation, but I'm trying to pick up on the big things first. And it's you guys, the health coaches that continue that investigation and start really digging out all the other details that can have big impacts. Speaker 2: Yes. Yes. It's really very cool how it works. So, you know, I think, uh, there's so many people who have not worked with a health coach before, or if they've, maybe they have, and they had a really bad experience or they've had no experience. And so coaching is really brainstorming. It's bringing out the best I'm my goal is to bring out the best in someone, not throw everything at them, but to help them implement some of these small changes. And it's amazing how much better someone feels when they feel like they've got somebody in their corner that when they come to your team, they've got a bunch of people in their corner. And it's amazing just the change in them and their demeanor and demeanor. When I say them from one visit to another, um, you know, I saw somebody today that Dr. Kinard had already seen and, you know, she was so pleased with that visit and, um, just her whole demeanor had changed. Speaker 1: She was so very helpful. So I love what's happening. I love the results that people are seeing. So we're gonna we're gonna refer you guys to the website. It's uh, AmyBeardmd.com. Is that correct? Speaker 2: Yes, that's right. Speaker 1: I could have messed that up. That would not have been good. AmyBeardmd.com. And if you're a new patient, you're going to see Dr. Amy herself for the first visit so she can get to the root of the issue very, very quickly. I love our team approach. So as we start to wrap things up, what would be the number one thing that, uh, that somebody can do to take control of their health? What is it, what is that one healthy habit that they need to start with? Speaker 2: From my experience, we are putting poison into our bodies every day via the route of our mouth. It just is. And that alone, um, would really do wonders for people. If they would just start eating real food and get, and stay away from the stuff that's been processed at that food was not around a hundred years ago. You probably don't need to be Speaker 1: Very good point. Yeah, very good point. And I love how functional medicine looks at food. We look at food as food is fuel. Food is information. Food is medicine and food is connection. I mean, so food needs to be a positive experience. And, um, we also kind of have to understand the forces at work here, the big food companies and the big pharmaceutical companies do not care about your health. They just care about making money, Speaker 2: Follow the money. Speaker 1: That's going to be another podcast. Okay. That's going to be like another one because, but I think people need to understand. We need to wake up and understand healthcare is sick care, and it's just about the money. It has nothing to do with your health and it's time for all of us to step up, take control of our own health and become our own best health advocate. Cause things are rough out there Speaker 2: And it's only going to get worse. I'm afraid, but you do not have to be dependent upon that system. Speaker 2: Amen. I love it. Okay. So what is your final word of encouragement to our listeners? Speaker 2: Oh gosh. Um, I keep telling people, I keep telling patients and people this all the time is stop with the constant worry please. And I told us not to worry several, several times. And he did that for a reason because worry will destroy you. Speaker 1: I firmly believe that. And yes, when the Bible repeats it over and over and over again, I think there, it's trying to him that he knows, God's trying to emphasize, Hey, I need you to listen. This is not going to be good for you. And I think we have to give it to him as cliche as it may sound like I can't, I'm not in control. I messed it up when I, when I try to be in control. But when I give it to him and I say, okay, guide. So my prayer most days now is first thing in the morning is God, give me what I need for today. Yeah. Speaker 2: That's all we have. He's already taking care of tomorrow anyway. So what good is it to worry about it? He's already taken care of it. Speaker 1: Yes. Love it. Well, get out of the way. That's a perfect way to end it. Get it over to God. So I knew this would be a fun conversation. Thank you so much for joining me on this. Again. I love being the newest member of your team is such an awesome dynamic team. So guys, if you are interested in meeting Dr. Amy Beard, uh, you do that very easily by going to AmyBeardmd.com. And if you have any questions, there's people to answer your questions. So we've got you taken care of. So thank you for joining us today. We're going to have you back on. So, cause we've got a lot, this guys, you and I have a lot of fun talking. So there's a lot of other hot topics that, you know, we can't have a show go on for five hours. So I thought today was a partier. Speaker 2: We're not Joe Rogan material yet, already or not. Speaker 1: And we got other stuff to do. Like we've got clients that need to be saying. Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, it was, it was so much fun, Jennifer and I can't wait to do the next one Speaker 1: And stick. Thank you so much. Speaker 2: You're welcome. Speaker 1: I told you that you would just love Dr. Amy Beard, her openness and honesty is refreshing. She is absolutely brilliant yet. She's so humble. And let me tell you that is something that is very unusual nowadays. So if you want to learn more about her practice, visit Amy Beard, md.com. Again, that's Amy Beard, md.com. And remember the way her system is set up is that you will be seen by her virtually first, before you see one of her health coaches, my friend, before I leave you, I want to remind you of something. I know it's the holidays and things are even crazier than they normally are, but let me encourage you to take care of you. I'll see you next week. Bye y'all. |
