080 The Habits of Healing with Dr. Donna Perillo

Dr. Donna Perillo, host of The Habits Of Healing Podcast, joins me for a wonderful episode touching on all areas of health, including mental, spiritual, and emotional health.

Dr. Perillo is a doctor of chiropractic and is also a Fellow of The International Academy of Clinical Acupuncture, a Certified Nutrition Specialist, and a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. She is affiliated with numerous professional & civic organizations and leads seminars on various health-related issues.  She has also written and produced Arthriticise Relief from Arthritis of the Neck, Arthriticise Relief from Arthritis of the Lower Back, and Habits of Healing 21 Day program.

 See all episode artwork, links and notes at:

https://blog.dirobi.com

This show is for informational purposes only. 

None of the information in this podcast should be construed as dispensing medical advice. 

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Find episode links, notes and artwork at:

https://blog.dirobi.com

This show is for informational purposes only.

None of the information in this podcast should be construed as dispensing medical advice.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Transcript

Dave Sherwin: 0:12

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Dr. Perillo: 2:59

Thanks for having me Dave. Great to be here.

Dave Sherwin: 3:02

Yeah thank you. I've looked forward to this. I love your credentials the various things you've done and are engaged in. And I also like the holistic approach that we're going to be talking about soon that you have to health but before we jump in and tell our listeners a little bit more about yourself.

Dr. Perillo: 3:20

Yeah I got into chiropractic kind of a crazy way. I used to suffer with the back pain neck pain headaches from a car accident actually and I was working I was waitressing my parents on the restaurant and the waiter threw a crooked pen and he said you should go see this guy. He could help you. Because I would almost be in tears and pain. And he said well heal really can help you with your allergies and asthma. And I said I looked at him. Yeah right. OK. Because I had had. Asthma from the age of five. I did 17 years of allergy shots and drugs. And so I didn't go. And then one day I was used to being a rock band because I am a musician and I was getting a perk because it was the day of Heart's heart spandex and there's the crooked pen sitting there. And the same doctor's name and I looked at the woman and said Do you know this doctor she's like oh my god. He saved me. I was going throughmenopause so I looked at her and I went. He helped you with metaphors. Oh yeah I was suicidal. So that's when I said you know what. Let me go check this out. So I went and he did an exam took some blood work and I went back and he said he would do my blood work. He said Do you eat protein. I said I do. And he said well you proteins lower you're not digesting it so that you could be having an antibody antigen reaction going on and that could be causing your allergies. So I was very skeptical because I was medical for my whole entire life. And I needed the medication to live. So I used to have asthma attacks from September to January every night like clockwork. And I started with him in November I still had them. I was going to him three times a week. I had started to take a lot of supplements and my family and friends thought I was crazy. Wasting your time wasting your money. What are you doing. But he came around to the following September not want to tap. So I started to ask a lot of questions and one day he said to me he said if you go to health care you'll never be bored. And I said Oh I like that because I get bored so easily. And boy if your words were never said it's the more you know the more you know you don't know. So that's how I began to become a chiropractor. And because he did a lot of the bloodwork analysis I found fascinating the analysis so I went and I got my master's in nutrition and my certification and my diploma. And I also love sports so I have my different sports injuries so. You know it's nice to combine things. And so that's my background that's why I got into all of this kind of roundabout. But I never got a record deal. Try to get a record deal so that's how I became chiropractor it's really quite interesting and it's been 25 years now. Actually it's 30 now 30 years and so you've got a lot of experience you've worked with a lot of different people.

Dave Sherwin: 6:43

And tell us about the habits of healing podcast when did you start that yeah I started that I guess about a year or so ago.

Dr. Perillo: 6:53

I love I love media. I love creating and I thought people need to know that there they have alternatives that there is there are a lot of things out there that they can do to help themselves. I think what's happened in our healthcare system is it's become you go to the doctor and the doctor is in charge of your health. And I think that now people want to try to take control back of their life and they want to know because I get this question also what can I do to help myself. What can I do. And I believe that you need to prove true healing to take place. You need not only to address the physical part and the structural core but you need to address the mental emotional spiritual part of us. And then in such a toxic world that we live in and where our food supply is hybridized and genetically modified you need to really be on a on a healthy diet and you need to know things about the environment how you can get some of those toxins out of your system. So I like to teach my patients that different things that they can do and that's how the habits of healing came about right. I really go into the triad of health and try to give them ideas about you know what can they do physically what can they do mentally emotionally spiritually and what can they do nutritionally and environmentally so that they can stay healthy and their families can stay healthy. And that's how the habits of healing came about. And that's sort of what my e-book is going to be all about to give people ideas so they have some type of STARTING POINT.

Dave Sherwin: 8:52

So you are are also Pastor and psychologist too.

Dr. Perillo: 9:01

I'm a big fan of an NLP and Tony Robbins. And I really think that we need we need to have positive thoughts in our mind. And. It's a very difficult thing because most of us are brought up with negativity. Oh you're you know you're not going to math or you're not going to in science or you're stupid or you know you're standing crooked or you look like a hunchback. What whatever it is your parents said to you that you sort of adapt that. I see that with a lot of kids a lot of children. It gets me so upset because you know people are kids are 8 year 8 or 9 years old and all I can't do math. They're only 8 or 9 years old and they already have in their head they can't do math that's just crazy. So I think that that mental emotional spiritual and you have to be on the path of why you're here. Legal role here for a reason and I think you need to be on that path. And yes so and actually in my office is. I have a psychologist actually in my office. So that is not definitely not my expertise but I practice what they preach so I do my goals every day. I am grateful for what I have and try to count my blessings and try to be aware of negativity.

Dave Sherwin: 10:34

Yeah. And I of course I say that tongue in cheek you're certainly not trying to be a pastor or a psychologist but you are trying to help your patients to address their own emotional and psychological and spiritual needs and so that's quite a thing to to kind of bite off so to speak because you're dealing with so many different backgrounds different faith traditions different places emotionally. And so I think it resonates for a lot of people. I'm sure a lot of people listening. Oh yeah. I mean of course it makes sense to have those things in balance but we're all from such different backgrounds. Men are different than women and older to the young. And all of us have different traditions and stories. So how how do you introduce the principle to a person and help them to address any issues they may be having and improve in those areas where you know you can't be all things to all people but you have this vision of them becoming their best self. So how do you address that.

Dr. Perillo: 11:36

Well typically when someone comes into the office they're usually coming for some type of physical symptom and then I'll ask them when this began and what was happening in their life around that time. And so it goes it goes back sometimes and sometimes still the light bulb goes off in their head. Oh my God. My mother died. I was getting divorced at the time or whatever it is. And it's sort of like bringing the file up out of the computer. Like it's in it's in the computer. But you bring it up on the screen and they become aware of it. And it seems to open up the gates so that they can heal from that that they realize that there may be a connection there. So that's sort of how I bring that up. It's not. I asked some questions on my intake just about. Their stress level. Their energy level. Of course their pain level. But. You know different things that happened in their life in. Once they get to know you and they they trust you. Then they open up a little bit more. And that's how I get. Into that whole realm tonight. You know it's a subtle thing because you don't want to pry into people's lives but you want to make them aware hey you need to come to terms with this.

Dave Sherwin: 13:12

Yeah absolutely. And let me let me just ask you for a couple definitions. Let me just help us all wrap our heads around this concept so. So first of all define spiritual you mentioned a couple of times and the work that you do and you do you separate out kind of spiritual challenges people are going through from emotional challenges are those kind of one and the same. Talk to us about the difference between spiritual issues and emotional issues. Well I think spiritual issues are.

Dr. Perillo: 13:48

Related to why we're here. And I think that the emotions that we see are. And the physical elements that we that we have. Are just manifestations to try to get us to stay on our spiritual path. Whatever that is for that individual. And. It's you know there is there is a distinction. Between. Does that make sense.

Dave Sherwin: 14:23

Yeah I mean the way I'm hearing it when you talk about why we're here the word meaning comes to mind a person finding the meaning in their life. Yes. Does that work.

Dr. Perillo: 14:36

Yeah. You know the meaning in your life and so mentally. Well I'm from the East Coast. So everybody's stressed to the max. I mean. Little kids are stressed and that's just the kind of world we live in. We're over on overload. And so that physiologically affects. Everything that affects of course your endocrine system the adrenal glands or stress hormones and it starts when they're young. So. You know. It's just it's interesting to see because when you're younger it's very difficult to kind of try to look at your future or to see but when you were older you kind of look back and you say oh oh that could that that's why that happened to her. That's what that was. Oh here's where I'm supposed to be. So it's I think it's very difficult when you're younger to take a different path. One of the things that I found when I became a chiropractor. I joined a consulting management group. Every month we met and every month there was a day long at the end of the day. We always had a motivational speaker. And. So I got into goal setting. And I got into visualization and got into affirmations a lot of different things that I wasn't exposed to as a kid. And. I don't think most kids are exposed to. And you know what are the things I have in my mind. I want to create a program for the young people because I wish I had this type of technology when I was a kid who even thought about goals. It was you know even if you ask kids now what do you want to do and when you get old or what are you going to go to college for. Very few of them know exactly. And. I think so we get off track a little bit. With that type of. Information does that make sense to you.

Dave Sherwin: 16:53

Absolutely. So it sounds like when a patient comes into your office you're looking at their whole being you're not just thinking hey this person has a physical problem and I'm like a mechanic and I'm going to take my tools and I'm going to fix their problem. You're look at the whole thing. Is are there emotions involved. Is this person a goal set or are they are they positive. Could there be underlying factors that are contributing to the problems are having in their health and that just sounds to me like you're trying to treat them as a person not as a broken object.

Dr. Perillo: 17:30

Right. Absolutely. And then of course there's always that nutritional component. It's it's very interesting because we were around the holidays now and I remember during the holidays in my office I have physical therapy and acupuncture also. And you would say around the holidays people have exacerbations of their sin symptoms where they would be healing healing getting better and all of a sudden boom. And it's interesting because what happens around the holidays is we go to parties and we make our traditional foods and we eat them and we usually don't have them the rest of the year. We usually you know party the rest of the year like we do around the holidays and it's amazing what diet does to people how it affects their muscles their ligaments their joints their headaches because they become so toxic and it's an overload on their body so their healing is not as efficient as it could be.

Dave Sherwin: 18:35

Yes. Let's jump into that a little bit. You have the podcast habits of healing. What are some of the the biggies what are some of the major problems you're seeing that a lot of people have and those things you have to work on. Most what would you say are the main common denominators that are causing people problems in their diet.

Dr. Perillo: 18:55

Their diet. Well I think the main thing is people think they have a good diet and then they don't. So what I'm working with something someone nutritionally the first thing I do is I want to see their blood work. I want to see two weeks of their diet and I say to them please don't change. I want to see what you eat. And if you get any symptoms. And then I look at if they're taking any supplements or whatever they're doing. So it's it's it's really interesting because people think that you're eating well and then I'll look at your diet. And seriously there will not be a fruit or a vegetable and their diet and they'll say oh I hear pretty good and I say Well do you ever ever eat. You ever eat any fruit. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. Oh and then you'll see one day maybe they had an apple and I what about vegetables. Well they consider French fries vegetables so and obviously French fries are hydrogenated and we don't want to eat hydrogenated fats. So sometimes it's a real challenge because when you get people that do not eat vegetables and fruit it's a real. It's a real effort. It's almost like they're addicted. It's an addiction for them it's so hard for them not to eat carbs not to eat the bad carbs they're so used to it. I get a lot of young girls who are vegetarians they don't want to eat animals they don't want to. Which is fine. But then what they're doing is their diet consists of bread pasta and cheese. So they don't have protein you know you don't have the right proteins in your body then your immune system can't function right because your immuno cyst your immune system your immunoglobulin is your need protein and you need that protein that you e to be broken down into amino acids because they are the building blocks of these things. So it becomes a challenge for them. But but you know people think people saying oh are you vegetarian. I say no I'm not a vegetarian. I did that for a year. And I do much better with having more protein. It's I think it's just a genetic thing and everybody's a little different and may have something to do with their blood type. I don't know. I am a.. So. But I do know that. I was brought up with eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. So for me to eat protein and greens is not an issue. But I do also grow up eating a lot of ice cream candy soda pop pasta Italian bread. You know they were they were definitely staples. Growing up in an Italian household. So you know at first it's it's a challenge. But then you just get used to it. It becomes part of your lifestyle. So you have to kind of and that's why I call it habit because you get in these habits and you need to break the habit and create a good one. Create a new one to take that place. And in order to do that you have to figure out which triggering that you want to have whatever it is that you want to have.

Dave Sherwin: 22:34

Yeah. Lot of interesting points in there and I want to back up just a little bit and touch on one on the vegetarianism you've been there done that you're an expert in this field. You've you've got a certification in nutrition and you know what you're talking about a few hours ago I was introduced to the concept that vegetarians aren't necessarily healthy. I think there's a perception of what a vegetarian is both by people who are not vegetarians and by people who are vegetarian so are you vegetarians are saying please don't be offended that just you know a lot of many of you have studied it. You know what you're doing you're doing it right. But but look the fact is most are not.

Dr. Perillo: 23:18

It's just it's just a fact. When someone says to you that they're a vegetarian don't assume that means they're a healthy eater. My sister pointed this out to me years ago and I've noticed it ever since I assumed that when someone said they're a vegetarian that meant that they ate healthy food and she's told me not for a lot of vegetarians. It just means meat is yucky. They're not healthy. They just don't eat meat. I was like What. That's weird.

Dave Sherwin: 23:46

And she said next time you're out to dinner with a vegetarian watch what they eat. You know where I'm going right. Absolutely. And for those of you listening that are vegetarian I don't judge I'm not trying to say all vegetarians are this way but just be self-aware enough to do what Dr. Perillo just said keep a nutritional journal don't change anything and just keep a nutritional journal for two weeks and check how much protein you got and how many vegetables you ate and just see if your diet is actually healthy because Dr. Pearla what you said is absolutely true in my experience. I'm in the I'm just finishing up my Precision Nutrition level one nutrition certification. And they have a very interesting comment in there about what you said about people's thoughts about their diet. A lot of people think they're a healthy eater and in Precision Nutrition they say that's just a concept in their head that someone says I eat a healthy diet. That's just a concept in their head. It's not reality.

Dr. Perillo: 24:57

Exactly. Exactly. Yes there. And they look at you. And and so you have on a patient like that you have to it's kind of most of the time goes slowly and say OK I'm going to show you. Ideally what you should do. Now you tell me what you can do because if I throw this all at you can you handle it and most it's an honor. And then I'll say OK so now we need to know what can you comply with. Let's just start with little changes. Let's just change little things because because if you if you haven't had a clean healthy diet and you're used to eating a lot of carbs and sugar it is it's mind blowing to people. It really is a disease. They just have no clue. They think pizza is healthy and. It may be cauliflower pizza pizzas white flour even the gluten free ones. I have some patience that. Can't do some of the gluten free because most of the gluten free is corn. Corn is genetically modified or rice rice has a lot of arsenic in it. And. So then they'll say well what if it's organic or I. You know I I don't know I know a lot of times in the fields where they're doing Rice There's arsenic that I don't know the amount in the rice. But. If. If you're trying to detox and you have heavy metals which can cause a lot of problems neurologically cancer wise and auto immune wise you need to to really try to detox. So it really depends how healthy a patient is. And you know most people go by symptoms but sometimes would happen. This is what happens a lot as patients come in. And you take an intake and you say do you have any. And I go through all the systems. Do you have high blood pressure now do you have high cholesterol. No. And then later on I find out while they're on high blood pressure medication and they're on cholesterol reducing medication. So in their mind they don't have a problem because as long as they take the drugs they're OK. There's not a problem when they don't realize is that that system is broken. It's broken. And so when there's one thing wrong it's sort of like an onion. Or. It just it just mounts and mounts and mount so. OK so now you start with the cholesterol inducing meds which have a lot of side effects. My mom just recently passed away of dementia and we think. That. The cholesterol medications she was on for years had a part in it. I don't know if it had a total part in it but. That. That for sure. My mom also worked in a machine shop and was around a lot of metal. And when I had done a hair analysis on her she had a lot of heavy metals. And the problem was that she was on blood thinners. So we had to be really careful how we collated metals out of her. And. And so I needed to have a medical doctor worked alongside me which is not always an easy thing to find. That's it. It's usually they just want to do their thing and you know don't do anything else. So that was that was a huge learning experience for me and an ongoing experience for me because. So many people are getting dementia now and it's it's it's a real eye opener to go into a nursing home and see what those patients go through and what they look like and what the families go through.

Dave Sherwin: 29:06

You know you talked a little bit about about how we think we're eating well versus how we're really eating. And I'm sure that what you're describing here with your own mother and with with other people's aging parents as well as is the case of of you know we're human. Right. We sometimes have a perception of what's going on that's different than the reality of what's going on. I was critical of vegetarians earlier and and yet you know I'm I've you know true confessions here I'm no better than anybody else and I know that I have to correct my diet on a regular basis. That is when you talked about a food journal every 90 days. I find it really beneficial to track my nutrition for a while. And it's surprising how easy is to get off track. For example I started on the third. So I've got just it's just an old school. I'm kind of an electronic guy generally. But for some reason I like an old school journal and a pen for some of this stuff. And on the 3rd of November I just decided hey it's time I got to keep track of everything I'm putting in my body and so from the third till today I've literally written and I've carried it everywhere and I've literally written everything I've eaten and then I'm going to review it and just check for protein and vegetables and all the things that you're talking about. And when I'm doing it I'm always surprised how many times someone puts a brownie in front of me and I'm tempted but I'm like Oh I'd have to put that in my journal. And so you know it's it's surprising how often this stuff comes up and so I'm not sitting here you know with the microphone saying I'm holier than thou. I eat a perfect diet. I don't need a perfect. I've got to constantly work on myself or I find I go backwards. I find it's like you talked about earlier with the goal setting. I think if we don't have health goals we're just naturally going backwards. If our business isn't growing it's shrinking in our relationships our relationships are either getting better or they're shrinking. What are your thoughts on that. I'm just kind of thinking it's human nature that if we're not really on our game it's easy to regress Oh I couldn't agree with you more day.

Dr. Perillo: 31:31

That's why every day I look at my journal and you know sometimes you get you get like a little down and then you know I have to slap myself and say God you have such a great life and you know you're letting little stuff. It's like that book Don't sweat the small stuff. Yeah. And I think some times we take things for granted. I think we do that often we take things for granted. I remember I was years ago I was treating a patient for back pain. And she was agoraphobic. So she was afraid to even come out of her house. And this woman had a great marriage great kids and financially fine. Like. There really was a lot of stress involved. And so you sit back and so you. So I said well. You know I gave her homework to do I said OK. Like to Go home and I just want you to tell me what you're grateful for. And sometimes. People have a problem. My wife's in the disaster. I don't you know I'm not grateful for anything. So I look at them and I say What can you say. And they look at me like. Well yeah. And can you talk. Can you hear. Can you walk. I mean just things that we take for granted every day. Get up in the morning you get out of bed and you don't need whatever it is to do it. Like. Little things like that that are huge that when they're taken away are major issues but we take that for granted.

Dave Sherwin: 33:18

Yeah. And so you see gratitude as key to to well-being is it something that you work in your practice with everyone.

Dr. Perillo: 33:28

You know gratitude or maybe keep your gratitude journal part of your practice. Talk to us about some of the advice you're giving to people generally on their emotional and spiritual well-being. Yeah you know it depends on the patient depends on the patient. You know sometimes I have. I have a lot of older patients have a lot of seniors. And. You know it's it's difficult to watch I'm practicing a long time so I know people a long time and it's tough to watch when one of the spouses gets sick. And. You know they have a tough time they have to take care of them. And this is physically challenging and. It's it's almost like well what would they have to live for. And. So you know. You really have to depend on the patient but you have to try to show them the sunny side of the page. And you know it's tough. As a chiropractor you see patients frequently and you get close to them you know their you know them you know their families you know them for years. And. You know it's it's it's a different kind of profession it's not like a patient comes in and they're just you know another person walking in the door. You really get to know them and so you try to help them in any way that you can and depending on the patient and depending what level of killing they are at some point. Sometimes there are people come in they just want their back pain gone that's it. And. But sometimes. There are more. Um I'm almost like a therapist because I'm listening to them. And I'm listening to them and which nowadays in our health care system most doctors don't have that privilege anymore. They're in they're out they can't really listen to you. They know you're lucky they even have time to look. At. Your. Test results or whatever else. So I'm fortunate that I can do what I do how I do it. Because I've been practicing so long so health care has to be a lot different than it is now. Yeah. And and of course here at the other podcasts we're going to give people ways they can contact you and people that are you know they're resonating with your message and think man she could really help me and we'd love to have you talk to some people directly and and help them. But for those people that are listening that you may never come across again other than the message they hear on this podcast what are some of the common denominators that you're finding that the most people are either weak on or some just good ideas they could apply that would help most people. We're not asking for a diagnosis here just some things that you think a lot of people are kind to either out of Wakhan or like a tip or two of things you think most people could do that would really help them right now. Well. As a chiropractor of course I want everybody to get adjusted. And I think you know I'm a physical structural level I think people need to look at their posture posture toes you will lock and. You know structurally people can do. Kurt Pratik physical therapy massage yoga a lot of my patients do yoga touchy Zumba those types of things on or on a physical level on a mental emotional spiritual level. I I think that visualization visualizing how you feel and I go I go into this in my 21 day healing program I actually wrote the music and I did voiceovers for people to kind of get in touch with what's going on with them on a physical and emotional level. And. Also meditation and prayer you know it really depends on you know some people are religious in nature some people are spiritual in nature it just depends on. Where you are. But I think just having some quiet time and quiet space. Is Important. And on a. Nutritional environmental level I think that there are certain supplements because people will say to me Well Woody you know what do you think. And. Everybody's. Different individually and that's why I look at what we're. However on general protocol of supplements. I think a good multivitamin is important. And I think one that's more naturally based in foods fruits and vegetables and sprouts is more absorbable. And. I think antioxidants because we are so inundated with toxins the air we breathe the water we drink the food we eat it. You cannot stay away from toxins so an antioxidant. I think the oils the omega oils and that also is different for everyone everybody. There are different ratios in your body and there are different tests that can actually tell you one that everybody just says OK I'm taking fish oil. Well are you taking a fish oil that is Jhon genetically or not genetically. Is there any analyzed so that you know there's not a lot of mercury in that because now you're just putting more toxins in your body. And how do you know the ratio. The EPA DHEA and then maybe you you digest Galay better. So you know maybe you need a little borage oil in there or. You know it's things that are just OK everybody could do the same thing because we're so different. And I love that we're doing a lot of genetic testing now because that. That is the key I think we're so different genetically as two enzymes that we have or don't have or sniffs that we haven't. I love the way that's going.

Dave Sherwin: 39:58

Yeah you and I track similarly on supplements cos I own a supplement company. I mean this is the Nairobi health show and dirobi.com is our our Web site and everything you said I just say amen. I personally take a multivitamin and antioxidants and fish oil every day. I haven't actually been tested for just how much official I should take. I take four grams a day just based on my research. And I you know I weigh 195 pounds and I just kind of did a little bit of research but never got my blood work done or anything like that. That's kind of interesting. How does a person test to know just how much how much omega 3s they need.

Dr. Perillo: 40:37

Well you know that there are fatty acid there are companies that test fatty acid blood. There's one called spectroscope and there's one in New Jersey called biolab by Abbadi and it kind of breaks down the different fatty acids. Fascinating and. So things like that are really helpful. I actually do muscle testing in my office. And I will test different formulas in my office. Show. Up. You know but some people will want to have the test because they like to see it in black and white or actually it's color to up. It's sort of like doing a saliva test to see your adrenal stress level and you can you can tell somebody is that the cortisol levels are going higher. What is going on with all of that.

Dave Sherwin: 41:38

So ok xel I'm going to put you on the spot now for a minute. As we all know nutrition is critical too to all of this you know for not putting the right stuff in our mouths than you know we're not getting all those macronutrients and micronutrients that we need. And so now it's time to put you on the spot. Dr. Perillo and ask you what is your favorite healthy breakfast.

Dr. Perillo: 42:06

Well I'm not a big breakfast eater because I usually like to work out in the morning. So what I do before I go before I go to the gym is I actually do a protein shake and I like to make it in my little new tribelet. Because I like the idea of having. You know. A handful of greens and I could get in that one shake I can get a lot of nutrition in my body and because. It's a numerable it and it's not a juicer. I'm also getting the fiber which is also a huge factor in people's diets not only for elimination but fiber helps to detox the body it absorbs things. So do you before your workout or after your workout before I always have to have something in my body before I workout. Sometimes I will have. Yogurt with some fruit and nuts and maybe some hemp. Or some cheap seats. And you know what I forgot to mention is probiotics and enzymes also. Right. Because you have to make sure of the microbiomes is normal and it is not normal in most people for a lot of different reasons one of which is our diet with all the food dyes and chemicals and everything like that. So. That. That is huge. So yeah. So yogurt good eggs are good. Now I can actually. And most people will not do this for breakfast. But Ali. My leftovers for breakfast I'll have chicken. I'll have whatever I don't have a problem to eat that in the morning but I know a lot of people don't like to eat heavy like that. But I. That doesn't bother me to do that. OK. Now what. Now what other things are for working with the diabetic patients that I have them do. Speaking of protein. And just because of that I will have them at every meal have just a little bit of protein even if it's just a slice of turkey or a little bite of chicken just something because you want to get those the the digestive juices working so that you can absorb whatever you're taking.

Dave Sherwin: 44:38

OK. Let's move on to lunch then. Good healthy lunch yeah.

Dr. Perillo: 44:43

People people laugh at me because again I don't really eat a lot of bread and most people think of lunch they think of a sandwich. And so I usually have salad. And I'll usually have chicken or some kind of fish in it. That's usually what I have for lunch. Ok. Sounds good and healthy. Yeah you learned items when I do. Now to also as always have hummus with. Some veggies that's another thing that idea. And in between a lot of times I'm taking a handful of seeds or a handful of nuts trying to keep my blood sugar level. OK so not so snacks and good dinner. Good sources of low oils dinner. Depends on the lunch and how much I eat at lunch. Again I eat a lot of salads and I eat a lot of calories. So I love kale and I love broccoli romped to one of my favorites. Sometimes I. You know I like to have protein at every meal but I don't always eat a lot maybe three four ounces tops. And I eat a lot of vegetables a lot of vegetables. So Brussels sprouts I'll make a big bag of them or I'll eat those sometimes for lunch. That's with all the. Depends on a day from working if I have how much time I have to eat. Every day is a new adventure in my life. Yeah but you have the some general principles. Sounds like you go by and similar to me. I like to get protein with every meal as well I really like that. So you're trying to get protein every time you eat. You try to eat lots of vegetables you like you like seeds you have. You have a good supplement strategy I like that you get the multivitamin the fish oil the probiotics products and I'm forgetting one o enzymes.

Dave Sherwin: 46:45

Yup. And now and then let's shift gears now from nutrition to exercise. You'd mentioned kind of a punch list earlier as you talked about posture. But let's go through that again what kind of things you're finding with your clients are not that there's any like. Right. I mean the best type of exercise is what someone will do and enjoy. Right. So I think we understand that. But still that being said as a chiropractor deals with someone whose bodies you know you're trying to keep them in their best posture and at their best generally what type of exercise are you seeing people have success with or are currently advising people to try.

Dr. Perillo: 47:23

Yeah I I when I wrote my arthritis size DVDs I wrote that really for some of my seniors because I would show them what to do and they would forget. And finally I said let me just videotape it so they don't have to do this all the time because like I just don't have the time to teach them every time. Sometimes with the physical therapist there makes it easier as they go and they do that. So it depends on the age of the patient if you're talking about seniors then I do just basic range of motion things with them make them aware of their posture and give them some things that they could do at home. And also we have a lot of places they can go and they can do yoga or. And they have. And then they'll say well I can't get up and down well they have ceded yoga. They have they have now programs for seniors that are available. If you're talking about younger people a lot of younger people do go to the gym and sometimes the problem with them is there overtraining. So you have to it depends on the person. I try to get my patients. To to join a gym. And some of them have it in their house. I have a gym in my house I have a gym in my office and I still go to the gym because psychologically when I'm at that gym and I'm looking at people and they look really good it motivates me ok just do it whereas when I'm home or the phone rings or somebody is at the door I get interrupted and then I have an excuse. So when I go to the gym I don't have an excuse. So yes so exercise I've been exercising regularly since I'm 26. Pretty religious about it. I do down 25 30 minutes of aerobic. That could be a treadmill a bike elliptical. And then I do get 45 minutes of weights. Now every now and then I do a yoga class for me. I like yoga. But it is so hard for me to slow down. So I know it's a really good thing for me to do because I'd rather be pumping iron. Than to hold a pose. But went on it. I think the combination of yoga and exercise is incredible because with yoga you're getting those stretches and you're you're you're more mindful and you're more engaged when you're working out. I think one of the things. I always tell people when you're working out make sure you concentrate because it's usually that third set where your your mind's going onto the next thing that you get her. It's like more. More. Athletes get hurt in practice and they do it again because and again they're more focused.

Dave Sherwin: 50:12

Interesting. Yeah we're just warming up. Can't believe how many injuries I've heard of over the course of my life even with professional athletes that are like stretching and pull a hamstring and you know getting into or out of a car they get injured. It's so funny how we think injuries come from like your primary thing you know or whatever it can be totally random can't it.

Dr. Perillo: 50:35

Yeah well you know that's the thing with chiropractic chiropractic. So because of pain everything is pain. But I didn't get into chiropractic necessarily you know it helped my back pain pain and headaches tremendously. But the thing that fascinated me was that it helped my allergies and asthma. And so when when you were people are getting it just it it's about your nervous system and function. It's about your nervous system being able to communicate with your entire levee system in your body and getting the proper feedback. And. So that's why people come in and know they can't even walk. They hurt their back and I'll say OK well what happened. Well I just bent over to pick up a pencil. Now. We all know that. That did not cause the problem the problem was everything they did that built up to that and that was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Was that picking them up. So you know your body can tolerate tolerate tolerate that finally. Bu. It's the same thing with nutrition. People. I I am sensitive to sulfites so I can have and then bends away. And all of that that's why a lot of times. I've mentioned hermit's so sometimes I make my own but sometimes I buy it because I don't have time in. The deli department. Usually there's Benzoate. And and so that goes into a whole thing about liver detox and how your liver breaks down these things. But anyway that's another whole topic. But anyway. The diet is is. Is it's a buildup. So say you went say you're allergic to sulfites and you had vinegar. Balsamic vinegar well that has some soul sides. And then let's say you had something like you had a glass of wine. And. And so if you did something every day builds up and all of a sudden all of sudden Oh I have pipes or I have a rash. I don't know what happened when my stomach loaded. You know it just take this and it. Just I look pregnant. That's an interesting thing with gluten. I had a patient come in once eating. With complaining that anytime she had gluten. She not all the time and sometimes the pregnant and she didn't look pregnant that day. Well the next time she came in she did was amazing. So sometimes it's it's very obvious to people and sometimes it's not. That's why I'm a huge fan of the elimination diet.

Dave Sherwin: 53:24

Yeah. Now speaking of which gets into some you know you need to work with the person one on one of course to do something like that. How does a person get a hold of you. Dr. Pröll I'm sure there's people listening right now who are thinking Man I really like her I like her style I like her the way she analyzes things. So how does a person get a hold of you.

Dr. Perillo: 53:45

Well my website is drperillo.com that's D R in my last name. P as in Peter E R I L L of dot com and my office number is 9 7 3 8 7 2 2 1 3 3. So they can reach me. Either way they are. And my email. Is Dhana. At. donna@drperillo.com.

Dave Sherwin: 54:16

Okay so thank you so much. Then of course you got Facebook dot com slash habits of healing and that's more for your podcast I assume.

Dr. Perillo: 54:23

Yeah yeah. I'm on Facebook. Yup yup. I think I'm on LinkedIn. I that's a social media it's definitely not my forte.

Dave Sherwin: 54:37

All right. But those are places people can get a hold of you and now with that being said and you've given us lots of good information I've kept you a long time I appreciate it and appreciate you being on the show. But are there any last thoughts or are things we've maybe not touched on enough that you'd like to kind of leave our audience with.

Dr. Perillo: 54:57

Well first of all just let me thank you. This has been fun. I love to talk as you can notice and I love to talk about what I do and how I got here and there's just so much to learn. I think that the main thing for people is sometimes they get overwhelmed. They don't know where to start. They don't know what to do and the other thing is they stop and start. They start one thing but they don't really give it a chance. And so my advice is do your homework and then decide what you're going to try and you know give it a chance. So let me just tell you for instance somebody comes into me for chiropractic and they come in once or twice and they say oh I don't think this is working well. You know one or two adjustments isn't going to fix 10 20 30 40 years of abuse but you know our mindset is when we take a pill our symptoms go away but. Symptoms going away does mean that your healthy saw. I guess that's my takeaway you really the symptoms are warning signs but you take a pill and the other way. It doesn't necessarily mean that the cause of why you getting them went away. Yeah it's amazing. It's amazing that our society has got kind of gotten to that point where we just want to mask the symptoms you know and I don't think many of my listeners are that way. They wouldn't be here they wouldn't be listening to you or me if they thought that way because they'd just be doing their own thing and waiting for the next symptom to come and then going and getting a drug to cover it up. But but generally speaking that's our society.

Dave Sherwin: 56:40

You know it is something hurts. I don't want it to hurt. And so I appreciate people like yourself in this world that are dedicated to treating the causes not just the symptoms. Yes you want the pain to go away but you want it to go away forever if possible and eliminate whatever is causing the pain. It just makes so much more sense right.

Dr. Perillo: 57:04

Exactly. Exactly because you know you don't really know and most people know that is one pill and that has side effects and then you were on another pill and statistically people by the time they were in their 50s and 60s they were on medication. So that's that's always been my goal is is to not need medication.

Dave Sherwin: 57:28

Excellent. I love it. And for those of you listening that sounds like a great goal for all of us so thank you Dr. Perilla for joining us today appreciate you taking the time.

Dr. Perillo: 57:37

You're welcome. Great talking to you.

Dave Sherwin: 57:41

Okay and for all of you listening. Thank you so much for tuning in and supporting the show as always please leave your reviews on iTunes. And even if you lie and say it's a 5star show that would be just awesome with me if you just leave. Great reviews about the show and and make sure you check out dirobi.com. If you go to blog.dirobi.com. That is where we make the show notes for all of our episodes so you can learn all about Dr. Perillo and links to her website if you missed it if you like driving. You didn't catch what she said. Don't worry about it. Go to the blog. Look up this episode and you can contact her directly we'll have links to her Facebook and her website. This is episode 80. And make sure and check out dirobi.com where my book 7 habit 7 hits. Boy I was just about to take credit for Steven Covey's book my book formula 7 is for sale for free. There is no you don't have to pay anything you do. You do go through the checkout because that's how it gets delivered you enter your name and your e-mail and whatnot. Hit by. Although the amount is zero and you'll get the book as an e-book for free so make sure and check that out as well until next time. This is Dave Sherwin wishing you health and success.

Miranda: 58:58

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