The Berman Method
The Berman Method
Episode #171: Christmas and Holiday Excuses
Did you know that many times, the corporate medical system isn't focused on truly healing you but rather on keeping you reliant on medications? In our latest episode of the Berman Method podcast, we, Dr. Jake Berman and physician assistant Jenny Berman, challenge the conventional approach to healthcare. We shed light on the contrast between treating health problems at their core versus just addressing symptoms. From the pitfalls of relying on blood pressure and statin medications to the hidden costs of ignoring root causes, we urge listeners to become self-advocates in their healthcare journey. Let's rethink how much we invest in our health compared to other expenses and redefine health insurance as a tool for catastrophic events rather than everyday well-being.
Staying healthy during the busy holiday season might sound impossible, but even small steps can make a big difference. We share personal stories and practical advice on setting achievable fitness goals and maintaining accountability, no matter how hectic life gets. Whether it’s squeezing in a 20-minute workout or keeping up with health appointments even when family visits, consistency is key. Listen as we recount tales of friendly challenges and the power of peer support in inspiring progress. Plus, we remind you about our upcoming office closure, so you're ready to keep up your wellness routines through the holidays. Join us as we explore how incremental goals and accountability can lead to a healthier lifestyle.
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This is the Berman Method podcast, featuring Dr Jake Berman and physician assistant Jenny Berman. We are here to treat problems and not symptoms. Disclaimer this podcast is for entertainment purposes only and not to treat anyone or to give medical advice. If you are interested in any information that we are giving and would like to use this for yourself, we recommend that you contact your primary care physician or reach out to us and ask us questions about yourself specifically. Enjoy.
Speaker 2:And we are rolling baby with the Berman Method podcast of three. Dr Jake Berman here with my beautiful co-host.
Speaker 1:Jenny Berman, physician assistant.
Speaker 2:And our little tiny nugget, Walker Ryan Bermanator, sitting over there all snug as a bug in a rug.
Speaker 1:Or a blanket.
Speaker 2:Or a blanket.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he actually has a blanket on that has his name on it and we don't know who it's from. So if you're listening to this podcast and you sent us a blanket, A blue blanket super soft, that says Walker all over it. It's very soft. It says Walker Ryan actually all over it.
Speaker 2:But yes, it came and we haven't found the gifter, yet Claim it so that we can be gracious, correct and express gratitude.
Speaker 1:Correct. We love it. It's very soft.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So here we are, the Berman Method podcast treating problems and not symptoms. Where David going against Goliath, where Goliath is the corporate medical system, big pharma, the health insurance companies, where they do not have your best interests in mind. They are focused on client retention and not curation. Perfect example is not a single pharmaceutical in the world that doesn't have at least one side effect that requires another pharmaceutical to treat that side effect, and so on and so forth, and every single pharmaceutical is geared towards treating symptoms, not a problem. Right, and once you figure that out, the game has changed. You're taking a blood pressure medication to treat high blood pressure, but why is your blood pressure high to begin with? High blood pressure is not a normal part of aging.
Speaker 1:Right and we've talked about it several times that my favorite one is the statin medication, the medication they put you on to treat your high cholesterol, or they'll put you on it just because they think your risk of cardiovascular disease has been increased for one reason or another. So they put you on a statin medication to lower quote, unquote lower your risk of cardiovascular disease or lower your cholesterol values, and that statin medication is causing side effects, such as your blood sugar levels increasing. So now you're in a pre-diabetic range of your blood sugar because of the statin medication that you're taking, when really we could have just focused on the problem of fixing your diet or fixing your inflammation, since 90% of the time cholesterol values being elevated is actually related to inflammation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but then we would be treating the problem and we'd actually be curing something and we wouldn't be able to sell a pharmaceutical.
Speaker 1:Right. So yes, we've talked about it so many times but that the doctor's offices get paid for prescribing certain medications. Certain pharmaceutical companies pay the physicians, pay the hospital money to prescribe and dispense their pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 2:It is crazy, absolutely crazy. If you haven't watched that docudrama on Netflix, pain Pill, watch it, because, yes, it's a drama, look at Walker smiling.
Speaker 1:He's smiling, sleep smiling.
Speaker 2:You got to watch that docu-series. Yes, it's a drama and it's dramatized because it's a show. However, the events are real. That is how it happens. The doctors are getting kickbacks for prescribing XYZ pill. It's just the way it is. It's the way that it happens. Here's another really crazy fact 70% of young American men would not be able to get accepted into the military due to health reasons. 70% of young American men. You can't even get into the military because you've got something going on health-wise where you're just not healthy enough to go serve your country.
Speaker 1:That is crazy. That is crazy 70%.
Speaker 2:It's absolutely crazy, that is.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that stat yeah. So yeah, these are things that we've talked about several times on podcasts and we just want to kind of review it and we're going to jump into something else, but we even, as we mentioned, experienced it ourselves just this past month. So if you didn't listen to the past two podcasts, highly recommend that you go back and listen to those. This is something we preach all the time, but then we actually experienced it once again for ourselves, with me personally. So definitely go back and listen to the prior two podcasts.
Speaker 2:You have to be a self-advocate for your health care. Your health insurance is not going to pay for what's going to keep your quality of life higher. It may pay to keep you alive. However, it will not pay for your quality of life to be higher. You've got to think of your health insurance like car insurance.
Speaker 2:You do not expect your car insurance to pay for your oil changes, your tire rotation, your brake pads. You don't expect that. You expect that you're going to have to pay out of pocket to keep your car running as long as possible, as good as possible. Your car insurance is just there for that catastrophic injury or that catastrophic event where you total it and you need a new one. That's what your health insurance is for. Your health insurance is for that oh man, didn't see that one coming.
Speaker 2:It's not to help you stabilize your blood sugar. It's not to help you resolve your back pain or knee pain without surgery or pain pills. Your health insurance is not going to pay for that. And if they do pay for it, they're going to pay for the cookie cutters are us version. You got to take control of your own health and pay for it. How much money did you spend this past weekend on dinner, drinks, social events, entertainment, amazon, and how much have you spent on your own health care in the past month trying to improve it? Being proactive that's not paying for your health insurance premium. I'm talking about how much have you spent out of your own pocket to go be proactive versus reactive.
Speaker 1:Right, it's to improve your quality of life, right. That's what we're paying for is to actually see an improvement of your quality of life. To progress instead of regress, to be able to come off of medications instead of on medications. That's what you're paying for for your own health care.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly. So anyways, here we are at the end of another year. This is coming out the Monday before Christmas, I believe. So two days from now, santa will be here and Christmas is here. Walker's waking up he just heard the sound of Santa and Walker's like oh, I want to get awake now.
Speaker 1:I keep hearing my sisters talk about Santa and Elfie and I need to know what this business is all about. So, yes, christmas coming, chaos season is fully in force.
Speaker 2:It's crazy. It happens every single year and I actually make a business plan around anticipating everybody trying to use the excuse. Let's just pick up after the holidays.
Speaker 1:I'm too busy.
Speaker 2:I'm too busy. We've got family coming to town. I'm traveling, let's just pick up after the. What does that even mean? Like pick up, you mean we're going to set it down right now and we're not going to pick it up?
Speaker 1:We're just putting our health on hold. Hang on one second. I got to go through all these holiday parties and all the events and the alcohol and buying the presents and family coming in town. I don't have time to spend an hour on my own health today.
Speaker 2:That's my favorite one family coming in town. So I work with people almost on a daily basis this time of year that try to finagle their way out of an appointment because they have family coming in town and it's usually a grandparent who is trying to cancel an appointment. That's gonna help them avoid surgery, help them avoid getting out of the race, help them keep playing with their grandkids. But yet when their grandkids come into town they say you know what? I'm going to skip that appointment because I've got company coming in town. And my answer has been the same for the past few years it's this one right here. And my answer has been the same for the past few years it's this one right here.
Speaker 2:So you're trying to tell me that your family does not care about you so much that they would rather you skip two hours out of your day that could help you maintain a high quality life and maintain the ability to interact with them socially, because they want to be selfish and gobble you up for the whole entire day. Like you, literally cannot get away for two hours 30 minutes to drive to me, an hour to get tortured, a 30 minutes drive home. You can't sacrifice two hours out of your week because you have family in town. You've got company in town and I'm going. Have you ever asked them if they mind if you sneak away for two hours to go prevent surgery, to prevent needing to take pain pills? Have you explicitly asked your son or your grandkids that question?
Speaker 1:Right, and they would probably be more than happy for you to do it. Be like, yeah, go for two hours, we'll just hang out here by the pool and move your appointments, move it to the morning, move it to the evening. Do something virtual. That's an art practice. When people try to cancel this time of year because they're too busy, oh, we will switch it to virtual for you. Don't worry, we can still spend 20 minutes on your health to check in.
Speaker 1:And really, here's the the big part the most difficult times to come in to the wellness practice, to the PT practice because you're off track, because you're not doing your homework, you're not tracking, you're not staying consistent with your macros, you're not drinking enough water, you're not doing your exercises those are the most important times to be coming in to help prevent further regression. Regression. If you're off track and not coming in for the accountability check or for the manual therapy check or for making one specific goal that we can focus on for the next week, that's when you start slipping even further and then that week of slipping turns into two weeks of slipping, turns into three weeks of slipping, because the more off track you are, the more difficult it is to get back in the office, so that's where the slips keep coming in.
Speaker 2:You're hitting the nail on the head, and that's a perfect segue into one of the big things that I think we need to bring up is the accountability factor, the writing it down factor. The accountability factor, the writing it down factor Are you physically stronger and more mobile right here, right now, today, two days before Christmas 2024, than you were two days before Christmas 2023? How do you know? Did you write it down? Have you been keeping track? How many air squats can you do? Can you get down on the ground and back up again without using your hands? If so, how long does it take you to do it? Have you actually timed it? How many pull-ups can you do? This is one thing that our good buddy, rob, challenged me to. I think it was.
Speaker 2:Before Thanksgiving yeah, it was beginning of October. We were at Tavern watching one of the Gator games and two drinks into it. He's like you know what we should do? We should do pull-ups. And I'm going okay, great, how many do you want to do? And he goes we should do 25. And I'm going 25 pull-ups.
Speaker 1:Yeah, initially you were like, oh, that's fine, we can do that because you and I do chin-ups every single month. So that's something that we can do, that because you and I do chin-ups every single month. That's something that we test ourselves on the first Sunday of every month on four different exercises the same four exercises, and chin-ups is one of them. And so we've been tracking since January 1st of 2024, the beginning of every month how many chin-ups can we do, and you were at 23.
Speaker 2:So you're like this is easy, I can get to 25. I'm like sure, by Thanksgiving, for eight weeks from now, I got this.
Speaker 1:Rob was like no, no, no, Pull-ups. So if you don't know, pull-ups is a forward hand grip, chin-ups is a backwards hand grip, so they are different. They utilize different muscles, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like doing a lat pull pulldown but you're lifting your whole entire body weight up, so wide grip pull ups. And I'm going, wow, 25 of those within eight weeks I think it was seven weeks at the time Like that's crazy. I would be surprised, surprised if I could get do 15 now. So that's crazy. He's like, yeah, we can do it. I'm like, okay, let's do it, let's agree to it. It'll be a competition. Whoever gets their first wins. And the next morning was Sunday and I go to the gym and I'm like, oh man, I can't believe. I agreed to this and I tried it and I think I got 13. And I'm going, oh boy, we've got some work to do.
Speaker 2:But the point of this is that we were texting each other regularly, every single week. One of us would progress one or two repetitions and text each other, and that would be motivating me. If he sent me a text, I'd be like, oh crap, he's beating me by two now, so I'd have to put in more work during the week and try to text him back and the like it was the week of Thanksgiving. Rob sends me a video video proof of 24 pull-ups and right before he sent me the video, I was at 22 pull-ups and I'm going are you effing kidding me? I thought for sure that I was beating him at this point and we had just had Walker. Like two days before Thanksgiving, we just had Walker. This is Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I get this video and I'm like son of a gun.
Speaker 1:Next morning Walker's a solid 20 hours old and I was like you better get out of here and go to the gym and do your pull-ups. I said, get out. Walker's only 20 hours old. We're going to be fine here. Leave, Go do your pull-ups, Bring me back some breakfast and I'll see you in a little while. Go beat Rob.
Speaker 2:So Wednesday morning I take off, I go to the gym. I'm like, okay, I got one thing in mind. The only thing I got to accomplish is at least 24 pull-ups, because I got to at least tie them, if I don't beat them, and I get 23 and three quarters.
Speaker 2:Like I could not finish that 24th pull-up and I'm going oh, and it hurts so bad. But at the same time, I was really, really grateful, because two months prior to this, there was no way I could do 15 pull-ups. There was just no way. It wasn't possible. It wasn't physically possible. However, we set a goal, a target, a competition, and we pushed each other over the next two months and two months later, I had a almost 100% increase from what I was able to do two months prior to that, and the only way that that was possible was through accountability. If I didn't have to, if there wasn't a deadline, if I didn't have somebody that I had to answer to, there's no way I would have done it Right. No way I would have did it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you 100% have to have some self-initiative right. So even if you make a goal I mean we have clients every single week that will make a goal and will not, even coming weekly, may not achieve that specific goal. However, they are mindful of it, they are still working towards it, they are still thinking about it with every decision that they're making. So you have to have some self-initiative to help keep yourself accountable when we aren't there. But keeping these appointments on a weekly basis, even through the busiest season, through the most difficult season, is still going to make you a better person today than you would have been had you not had that accountability, had you not had that support, the guidance, the knowledge. So the most difficult times to see the provider or to go to these accountability check-ins or to track your food, to do your exercises are the most important times where you're going to make the most progress and take a step forward instead of taking a step back.
Speaker 2:That is huge. What you just said right there the way that I'm going to interpret it and regurgitate it is you've got to set a target, you got to set a goal is you've got to set a target, you got to set a goal, and I prefer to make a big goal Like this was. My example was 25 pull-ups in eight weeks when I could barely do 10. At the time I'm like, oh crap, that's 150% increase from where I currently am in eight weeks. That's not a lot of time. But the reason why I did it I was talking with Rob about this is, even if we don't make it to 25 by Thanksgiving, what if we just get close? What if we just get close to 25? What if we just get 20? 20 wide grip pull-ups is more than I've ever done in my life.
Speaker 1:Right, it was still a significant percentage increase from where you started, at 13.
Speaker 2:Yes, so the goal is 25. I'm going to be 40 this year. I've never done 20 and I ended up doing 23 and a half Right, right. So we didn't hit the goal. I didn't hit the goal, but I'm still way better off than I was two months ago.
Speaker 1:That's exactly it. And you know it doesn't have to be a big, big goal, because sometimes that's intimidating to individuals, especially on our side of the ball right Working with the health and wellness, and saying that we have to completely cut out gluten or dairy, or saying that we need to lose 50 pounds as opposed to starting out with 15. You don't have to make a goal, so it's intimidating to where you're just like I can't do it, I'm not going to do it. You can make a smaller goal, as long as you have the support and the accountability, the knowledge, the guidance to be able to take you step by step to get there. And then, once you hit that first goal, then we make another goal, then we make another goal and I'm feeling that right now, postpartum, we're not sleeping very much. The first two weeks Walker slept through the night miraculously amazing, and now he's decided, since we moved him into his crib, that he doesn't want to sleep as much. So we're not sleeping right now.
Speaker 1:My typical workout time is to be in the barn and the gym by 5 AM.
Speaker 1:That's not happening right now, but if I'm setting a goal to say I'm at least going to move for 20 minutes, even if I have to strap this baby to me and move for 20 minutes.
Speaker 1:That is getting my mind right to work back into being able to get into a real workout routine six weeks in. Once I get cleared by the doctor and once Walker's sleeping a little bit better. If I wait the full six weeks and just say, eh, it'll happen when it happens, then six weeks from now I'm starting from ground zero, as opposed to right now. If I make a 20-minute commitment to myself, as opposed to the 90 minutes that I used to work out daily, 20 minutes is not anywhere what I used to be able to do, but it is a starting point to get my mind right, to get my muscles reactivating, to keep me on track with my meal plan. When I exercise and my mind is clearer, I'm more focused on making sure I'm fueling my body appropriately so that 20 minutes can make a big difference. It doesn't have to be a huge goal.
Speaker 2:It's funny because you're out there this morning with Walker strapped to your chest and a little kangaroo pouch and you're doing the best that you could do versus me. Had that been me, you would have came home from the gym and where would I have been?
Speaker 1:On the recliner, with Walker on your chest.
Speaker 2:Yes, I would have been sleeping on the recliner passed out in the recliner with the baby on my chest, using it as an excuse. He wasn't sleeping and I couldn't really work out today, but you did what I should do and I've done that in the past, right when you traveled and Vera was small, I strapped her to my chest in the little carrier and we went on our daily walk, so trying to find my inner Jenny and making sure I don't use it as an excuse to get it done. It may not be as good as what you would like it to be but, however, it's better than nothing.
Speaker 1:Right, right, yes, that's it. You just have to through all of this chaos. Your routine is not going to be the same. Because of the holidays, because of traveling, because of family. Our house is in constant chaos right now, with the amount of boxes coming in and toys and the kids. You know, I put five toys away and then there's 10 toys back out. It's a constant chaos, but we have to still prioritize our health, our efforts, our accountability measures and even if it's not 90 minutes, 20 minutes is going to be enough to keep you moving in the right direction.
Speaker 2:Good, love it, anything else I think that's it.
Speaker 1:Merry Christmas everybody. We are just a reminder. Reminder offices closed from December 24th through January 1st. So we'll be back on January 2nd. My office opens back up at 7 am on January 2nd. Your office at 8 am on January 2nd.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're actually technically closed. However, we're still seeing clients come in, so two of my staffers are going to see clients between Christmas and New Year's, if you want to get in through that week that we're technically closed, we are accepting appointments on the schedule. Just don't expect fast responses from calls, texts, emails Actually don't expect responses period from me. I just don't do it.
Speaker 1:Emails Actually don't expect responses period from me. I just don't do it Well and you probably won't get much of a reply by calling the office. But you can text the office. We will be monitoring text messages coming into the office you can email. So if you need to reach the office, whether you need medication refill, you want to try to schedule an appointment for that week between Christmas and New Year's, which needs to be by appointment only. Please text the office 239-431-0232 so we can get back to you guys, as opposed to calling, or you may email Jake or myself and we will get back to you as soon as we can. But Merry Christmas everybody. Plan to be better at the start of this new year than you were at the start of 2023.
Speaker 2:Perfect. We're going to try to get another episode in before the year is over, so that will be the Monday before New Year's Merry Christmas.
Speaker 1:Merry Christmas. Thank you for subscribing on your social media and podcast platforms to the Berman Method Dr Jake Berman with Berman Physical Therapy and Jenny Berman, physician Assistant, with Berman Health and Wellness. You can find more information on our website wwwbermanptcom for physical therapy, bermanptcom forward slash wellness for the health and wellness. You can also find us on social media, facebook, instagram and on your podcast platform, so be sure to follow us, like us, subscribe to us and, if you would like any further information, definitely visit our website and reach out to us. You may also find our free reports on the websites as well, where you can download this free information for yourself. Have a great day.