"From Clinic to Kitchen: Dr. Alexis McNeil’s Recipe for Healing"

Exploring the intersection of women’s health, nutrition, and joyful living.

Dr. Alexis McNeil, NMD

Inspired by her mother's battle with breast cancer, Dr. Alexis McNeil changed career paths from artist/designer to physician. It was Naturopathic Medicine that extended her mother's life and enlightened Dr. McNeil to her passion for healing.

Upon earning her medical degree from Sonoran University of Health Sciences in 2009, Dr. McNeil completed a two year residency in Acute Family Medicine and Women's Health at Centro de Salud Familiar in downtown Phoenix, AZ.  Together with her husband Dr. Jason McNeil they formed North Valley Medical Center, a full-service primary care clinic dedicated to compassionate patient centered care.  As a physician she remains true to her artistic talents by focusing on cosmetic injections and aesthetics. Most of her career was spent providing integrative primary care to women and she remains an expert in women’s health and hormones.  She continues to co-manage medical patients behind the scenes with the talented physician team at NVMC.  

Although she loves and misses the one-on-one patient care, her passion for healthy baking ignited change in her career path in 2022. As a life-long sweets junkie and health-obsessed baker, she recognized a need to simplify healthy baking and launched her company “Detox Desserts”.  Through Detox Desserts, she continues to teach nutrition and inspire healthy transformation by sharing her simple method of baking and line of clean baking ingredients that are designed to transform sweets into superfoods and improve health.  She created Detox Desserts for the modern, health-conscious baker that wants to have their cake and eat it too.  Detox Desserts baking ingredients and a full selection of healthy, hand-crafted desserts are available for pick-up at North Valley Medical Center or nationwide shipping.  Click here for more information and to order your clean sweets today!

Out of the office you will find Dr. Alexis with her family and friends, backpacking through Europe, swimming, and joyfully playing in her kitchen.

Instagram: detox.desserts

Website: www.detoxdesserts.com

Visit www.gethellohealth.com 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi, this is Pamela Wirth with Hello Health Podcast. And today I have Dr. Alexis. Doctor, it is a pleasure to have you. Thank you, Pamela. So obviously, you've got an incredible background, not only you know, inspired by your mom, your own mom's battle with breast cancer, but you've got a medical degree and you are taking care of patients as well as family members and have also started this incredible um food company. So tell us a little bit about you. Thanks, Pamela.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Yeah, my journey has been long and twisted. I um I actually started out in college um as an art major. I was a sculptor and an industrial designer and worked in the field for a few years. And then my mother was diagnosed with stage four uh breast cancer, was given six months to live. And at that time, I was um in my early 20s. She was in her mid-40s, and it caught my whole family by surprise, of course. And we had at that point just kind of had a real traditional, you know, standard American diet. None of us, I mean, we're all we always like had a very active life, but certainly we're not health conscious. Um, our our idea of a vegetable was like, you know, some frozen broccoli. And and that's kind of how we all grew up. Lots of, I also come from a really severe um uh family of diabetics, lots of type ones and um, you know, treats. We're always going to the donut shop and making cookies, and and that's just kind of how we lived. And um, so of course, we were all just shocked. My mom at that point, she was this brilliant scientist and a head of research department at a big university, and she just made it her job to figure out oh my gosh, like I'm so young. What could I have done different uh to prevent this? And she started, you know, giving me all of this amazing research. Um, you know, she started implementing changes into her life. So I got to witness that. And she was passing on the research to me. So I got to read it and understand it at the same time. And um, my whole family just woke up into, you know, what is a healthy diet and lifestyle, and and how can we work together to improve so none of this happen has to happen to anybody else. Um so kind of fast forward, we we made all these huge changes. Um, my mom, who, you know, unfortunately when she was diagnosed, um, it had already metastasized to her bones and her brain. So um she was able to slow it down and she ended up living for five years after she was given six months to live. So she did well, and it gave us this beautiful time as a family to spend together. We all kind of had our own healing happen. I got so interested in medicine. My brother got so interested in medicine. We both ended up changing career paths and going to medical school. Um, so I always kind of say, you know, my mom, in a way, sacrificed her own life to save her family. And um, in her diagnosis, actually, she was the oldest of eight. It triggered um her two youngest sisters to start getting screening younger and saved their lives too, because um, you know, they ended up having cancer in their 30s. They would have never been diagnosed had my mom not gone through that.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Yeah, no, it's terrible. And, you know, similarly or not similarly, my mother was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. Um, given 90 days to live, she's in a year seven and a half now. So we're we're doing okay. But again, it's been an incredible journey to be able to have her and kind of rekindle a relationship and and um something that's a little bit um it's still parent-child, but something just a little bit different and more unique because it's um it is kind of it feels like borrowed time. But similarly, in our family, all of our love and support was shown around sugar and trees and like let me make you something. And it was usually baking. It wasn't, you know, um so it uh it it's been really interesting, and it's something that I've really um tried to share with my family um is the need to show love through additional cooking, but it's not necessarily sugary cooking or things that really get that um that that sugar rush going through simple carbohydrates and things. So um so tell us a little bit about your medical practice and then how you started this food company to help other people.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Well, I've been a physician in Arizona since 2009. So I feel like um I have been through the gamut and seen what people struggle with. I specialized in women's health, um, did a lot. I, you know, I have an integrative medical practice. So, you know, we meet people where they are, we do a lot of diet education, we try to get people off of drugs they don't need. Um, although if someone really needs a drug, we prescribe it, but we do it only, you know, if it's absolutely we've we've tried everything else. Um so we're really trying to do lifestyle implementing those big changes and getting people on um the road to wellness with with proper nourishment. Um so as human beings, we are wired to like sweet tasting things. It's just genetic in us, you know, it's the it's the rapidly digesting carbohydrates, like you say, they give us quick energy, it feels good, and we seek it as humans. We just can't help but not. Um, so I see people struggle. I, you know, 50% of Americans have some kind of blood sugar or insulin problem. And um so it was me having this absolute love to be in the kitchen and baking. It's how I nourish my family, how I love to just even nourish myself. It's how I would unwind after big, heavy pay through patient loads all week. So it was me kind of in the 16 years of seeing what people struggle with and um not being being unwilling to compromise with my own nourishment and with my own sweet tooth because I love sweet things. I love it. Um so it was it was over the years of just kind of loving to use those old school family Betty Crocker style recipes because they still felt good, like nourishing my soul. Yet, how do we modernize those and make them super clean and something I actually want to feed my family? So I kind of figured out this little system of baking in my own kitchen where it was just like cup for cup, one-to-one substitutes for flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. And these are, you know, the foundational ingredients in traditional dessert and also the ones that cause a lot of problems, whether it's you know, food allergies, sensitivities, or um just being unhealthy. And um, so I was just basically, you know, trying to figure out how can I use these recipes, make clean virgins. And my family is like, they don't, they didn't want anything that was healthy. So I had to know that these desserts were coming out secretly healthy because they were they were tough critics. And it's just refining this little swap system I created over the years. And um, and after 16 years of the patient care and really seeing like, oh my gosh, this is like a this is this is a big problem with people, like people with metabolic disorders, people with just you know, sugar addictions, people with you know, the diabetes diabetes and insulin sensitivity issues with cardiovascular disease. 50% of Americans have some kind of cardiovascular disease too. And 50% of us have some kind of food allergy, dietary restriction, um, or a food sensitivity. So um, so yeah, the detox desserts was born out of kind of my love for baking, my love for nutrition, and not and being unwilling to compromise and figuring out this own little baking system in my in my own kitchen. Um so I basically was after 16 years, just kind of it's like I knew I needed to make a change and this this thing was calling me. And um so finally I just I just surrendered to it. It got so big. Um, I couldn't not do it. Um, so luckily my husband and I um own my own our practice together, and he, you know, he saw it too. He saw it in me. He's like, you know, I really think you've got something, and I want you to have the the freedom to run with it. And, you know, feel free to take a step back here in the practice. I'll lean in and let's make this work. And so that was, you know, back in 2023. I launched my ingredients as kind of an e-commerce um store, basically, to just simplify healthy baking for people and make it accessible. Um, because healthy baking, it's it's complicated. Most of the time the results are unpredictable, disappointing. So it was my you know intent to just simplify healthy baking, um, allergy-free baking for people. And I launched those, and the feedback from bakers was like, wow, this is so awesome. And everybody else was like, oh my gosh, Dr. Alexis, I love this concept, but I don't want to bake. And so it was very shortly after we launched the ingredients. We're like, oh, well, we never actually intended to start a bakery, but it looks like we need to start a bakery too. So uh I built out the bakery late last year, and now we've um now been drop shipping our desserts all made with our signature ingredients um nationally. Yeah, it's going so good.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Fantastic. So tell us kind of some of the ingredients that you found are low, lower inflammatory on the system that people still enjoy and is actually um doctor-approved.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Yeah, yeah. I'm I'm really trying hard to um balance macronutrients when we're we're working with these ingredient substitutes, you know, really pumping in a lot more protein. Protein is what's gonna satisfy us, so we're not grabbing for more and more. You know, I'm one of those people, you give me a rack of Oreos, I will eat the whole rack of Oreos. So um, people that tend to overeat, which is a lot of people having balanced macronutrients, healthy, good fats, lots of protein, the carbohydrates being low, but the carbohydrates contained within them being very slowly digesting. So you're just getting that nice trickle of carbohydrates for sustained energy. Um, that's what we're going for. So there's a lot of the nutrition science and kind of baking chemistry packed within those the baking substitutes. Um, but that's what I I've I've found that um, and that's what I've always practiced with um my patients when I'm teaching nutrition is balanced macronutrients. And it's not hard. It's like we want 20 to 30 grams of protein at least, breakfast, lunch, dinner. We want a dose of some healthy fat, you know, something, you know, extra virgin olive oil, nuts and seeds, avocados, things like that. And then we want a small amount of slowly digesting healthy carbohydrate. Um, yeah, so that's it. My ingredients are foundational in the Mediterranean diet, which, you know, isn't trendy or sexy, but it's the diet that that's most revered and studied for improving longevity and decreasing disease. And that's, I feel like what we're all going for long, healthy lives, um, versus, you know, just being a vegan or a keto or, you know, one of these more trendy diets that maybe work for some people for some things, but long term isn't to promote longevity and decrease disease.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Do you have any suggestions for people that are easy things to start with before going all in? All in with what respect? In terms of cooking or changing ingredients, or things that you would suggest in terms of adding into your um recipes or your grocery list, or things, you know, that I think sometimes people can get overwhelmed by the idea of doing I mean, well, some people like to do everything all at once, and then some people are like, look, there's only so far I can take my family, and and so maybe some easy things to start with, especially with those that are maybe older or younger.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah, just tiptoeing into the the healthier, healthier realm of baking, absolutely. Um, getting the white flour out, I say that's a great place to start and getting the white sugar out. So if you can just if you can stick to a whole grain, um that's it, that's really even if it's not a gluten-free whole grain, just stick to a whole grain. That's gonna way serve your body. Um, you know, remember that fiber is what slows down digestion of a carbohydrate. So, you know, pairing a healthy carb with lots of fiber with a healthy fat is then going to slow down the digestion even further, which is gonna provide nice sustained energy, more balanced mood, um, you'll sleep better. So just getting the white flour and refined grains out, switching to whole grains and um the sugar and and in detox desserts, I'm um I'm getting all of the rapidly digesting carbohydrates out. So I do not use you know honey or maple syrup or even dates with with detox desserts. Um can you do that in a healthy way? Absolutely, absolutely. But um first I would say get white sugar out, switch it to honey, little you know, dates, maple syrup, something like that, and then ease your way even out of those and maybe reduce those by half.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

And then in terms of if certain tests or things that you encourage people to do, or um things that they they can understand a little bit more about themselves, it is it purely a blood test, or are there other ways that they can kind of take a look at themselves and say, okay, well, I actually feel better, or my joints, or like certain ways that you you know encourage people when you first meet with them to understand what might be causing inflammation in their body and what inflammation is and kind of some essential next steps for how to deal with some of this.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Um, I I love what you said about um just feeling into your body. Is it do I feel inflamed today? Um, I I would go even as far as to say, did I have a good healthy bowel movement today? Do I feel empty, you know, after my bowel movement? Um, did I sleep well? You know, our bodies were designed to rest and heal during rest. And did I sleep a good seven to nine hours restfully? Do I wake up with energy? Um, that would be another question to ask yourself. And I know we've all felt days where you know we eat bad the day before we wake up and our joints just feel stiff and our brains don't feel quite clear. So, so yeah, I would just say really um pay attention to just like kind of your normal and um and then a good yearly blood work that is actually complete um with a lot of panels that regular doctors don't often do in a yearly blood work. So um, you know, besides the basic like liver and kidney function and red and white blood cells, I always do a complete thyroid checkup. I do um inflammatory markers like HSCRP, I do um uh ferritin, which is a storage form of iron, also can be with ferritin's high. It's also an inflammatory marker. Um and insulin levels, like it's so easy to see if your body is a little bit insulin resistant. And if you are, that causes inflammation. Um, any of fasting insulin above 10, in my opinion, is too much. Um, and if you do have a high resting uh fasting insulin level, you have to be ultra concerned about reducing any rapidly digesting carbohydrate because that's gonna affect your metabolism a ton. High fasting insulin tells your body to start storing anything that you eat as fat, even a good healthy food. So it's just paramount for a properly functioning metabolism to have normal fasting insulin levels. So there's so much, and insurance will pay for these, you know, inflammatory, just basic inflammatory markers and insulin levels. I so I don't know why normal primary care physicians don't automatically um check it yearly, but but those simple things can tell you so much about your body.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Wow, that's fabulous. Any other suggestions or thoughts you want to make sure you get across with our listeners today? Anything particular around women's health or anything that you've learned that you would really like to pass on to those, you know, most people in the family are women that are the caregivers, not only of themselves, but their spouses, their children, their aging family members. Anything in particular you really want to share with any with anyone here?

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Um I'd say, I'd say for women too, because we like you said, we are like the nurturers, we're the caregivers, and I feel like most women's lives are like running marathons. And we tend to get so sapped out because we give and give and give and don't usually stop and properly rest, um, which uh can just really cause your adrenal health to go into the toilet. Something I've experienced personally, and then I've seen it with gosh, it seems like three-fourths of my patients. I see this with um core just abnormal cortisol levels, where whether it's just cortisol that are in the tank all the time and they have adrenal fatigue, or they have just high cortisol levels 24-7, and they're just always tired and wired, and they can't sleep, and um their brain isn't you know functioning clearly. So that would be one thing for sure for women to test, keep an eye on, um, and then just to kind of piece that back into the dietary um uh how how good clean diet can help your cortisol normalize. Um, you know, any kind of blood sugar spike causes um a metabolic stress in your body, which your body is gonna recognize just as a basic stress, which is gonna produce more cortisol. So so for me, for when I'm teaching people about diet and stress, you have to go back to this balanced macronutrients, no highs or lows in blood sugar, proper rest, um, and checking your cortisol level because normal cortisol will make your life so much better. It's going to affect all your sex hormones, uh your you know, estrogen, progesterone function properly. And because if your cortisol isn't, you don't have that nice diurnal of your cortisol, you have no foundation for hormonal health. Yeah, that's a whole nother story. It is, yeah. It's something I fit into, it's a lot, but it's just I don't think people understand the gravity of of that particular hormone and how it affects our whole body and functioning.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Well, and and I frankly have done a deep dive with my doctor who introduced us. Um, you know, she said that it was super important before we attack any hormone levels to attack that cortisol level. And I think so many of us get caught up in in taking care of everything and and then you, you know, and then you start to feel bad, and then you think, oh, it must be hormones. Potentially we can take a look at why we feel that way first, and then we can attack the hormone. So um and thankfully, I haven't had to attack the hormone since I got the cortisol levels under control. So anyway, it's it's super interesting and and something people don't have to be aware of for sure. So thank you so much for sharing everything. Oh, of course. Thanks for having me. Any other suggestions or anything else you want to add?

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Any anything else you'd like to ask me?

SPEAKER_00 20:57

I don't know. No, it's great. Um, I'll make sure that we have your detox.desserts on Instagram on the show notes, as well as your website, detoxdesserts.com. And it is a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Thanks, Pamela.