Inside Functional Medicine

In this powerful episode, we are joined by Dr. Remina Panjwani for an in-depth conversation surrounding functional medicine, the root causes of illness, modern healthcare, nutrition, and the underlying disease processes affecting so many people today.

Dr. Panjwani breaks down the difference between simply treating symptoms versus identifying the true source of dysfunction within the body. We dive into how diet, inflammation, lifestyle, stress, and metabolic health all play major roles in chronic illness and overall wellness. This episode explores a deeper perspective on healthcare and why more people are beginning to seek answers beyond traditional medicine alone.

Throughout the conversation, we discuss:

-Functional medicine and its growing impact on healthcare
-Root causes of chronic illness and inflammation
-Disease processes and how they develop over time
-The connection between nutrition and overall health
-Preventative health strategies and lifestyle optimization
-Why symptoms are often warning signs, not the actual problem
-Modern healthcare challenges and patient advocacy

This episode is packed with valuable insight for anyone interested in improving their health, understanding the body on a deeper level, and learning how lifestyle choices influence long-term wellness.

Be sure to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE for more conversations surrounding health, mindset, wellness, performance, entrepreneurship, and personal growth.

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@Dualcoastpodcast @Movetoday365 @Danscoca

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Good morning, Dual Coast fans. Welcome back to another powerful episode of Dual Coast Podcast. I'm your host, Dan Skoka, joined by my West Coast co-host, Russ Rogers, joined by an amazing guest this morning, Dr. Amina Panjuani. Dr. Ramina, thank you so much for being here this morning. We really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Of course, of course.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

You know, after after reading your bio a few days back, I just feel like, wow, this is an impressive woman, which I knew when I met you in San Francisco at our Junes um uh conference. It was absolutely amazing. So uh to be able to spend a little bit of time with you was fantastic, and to have you as a guest on our podcast is absolutely amazing. So thank you for coming and being a part of Dual Coast. Yes. So I have um, you know, I was just telling you off air that I never read a person's bio, but today is gonna be a little bit different, okay? Because I'm gonna read a portion of it because I want to do you justice, Dr. Romina. First of all, Dr. Romina is a U.S. military veteran. And I want to stop right there, okay? Because I want to say thank you for your service. Thank you for your service. Yeah, and and we'll we'll dive into a little bit of that and find out, you know, about your past and everything. But again, thank you for your service and what you've done for our country. She is a best-selling author, internationally sought keynote speaker, international impact award recipient, and board-certified internal medicine physician specializing in functional medicine. Now you understand why I didn't try to do this on my own. It's just facts because your history of life is loaded with good stuff, you know? And so thank you for everything. Um, she also, and this is the last thing, she helps high achievers, leaders restore health, clarity, and longevity by integrating Western medicine with nervous system science, ancient wisdom, and lifestyle optimization. Yeah, yeah. Have Russ try to memorize that. No thanks. So let's go back, let's get on to you. Let's talk about your military background. Yeah, tell us kind of how that you know came on. What was the initial inclination that said, I, Dr. Ravina, you know, at that time, uh, what what was it that really inspired you to join uh the military service?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

You know, the generic answer back then was I wanted to just serve my country and go do something meaningful. But as I look back now, now in my 40s, I look back, it was actually a journey more than I thought I was gonna receive. It built who I am today. And to be to be fair, and when you're 17, 18 years old, your brain isn't fully developed. You're you're still growing. So I think I was searching for myself. That is my correct answer, and I was working on my self-worth. That is the true, honest, raw answer. And I got more than than I thought I would. Of course, there was financial, um, there was a financial and educational pathway for me because I come from an immigrant family, and we grew up uh basically living paycheck to paycheck. And I'm the first generation to get a college education, so I had to pave the way, I had to figure out the way and get the resources. So naturally I was like, hey, military will do all that and more. So fast forward, I you know, I graduated high school and coming from a South Asian background, too, it was there was a lot of cultural, societal pressures and expectations. And my parents would just say, well, just get married and have kids, but it just wasn't fulfilling, and I wanted more. So when I went to the military, I got deployed. This was 2003, 2004. I got deployed. I was in Baghdad, Iraq, a teenager basically. And yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

That was eye-opening.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Yeah, it definitely was. And this was one of the most impactful turning points that I that I still remember. There was a huge explosion that was a near miss, and I'm so grateful for that. And it was then where I knew I had to take things into my own hands. I need to get it out of my own way and figure it out if I wanted to I'm alive for a reason, right? So I need to make an impact in some way. And the first way I knew how is to get an education. So then I had the knowledge to have the skills that will be everlasting. And it would also build my self-worth for anyone otherwise that would challenge that. Education was part of the key. And so it was that was just part of the journey. So that's what that funded me, that got me forward. And I learned a lot. I learned I learned grit even more, even though there's things in childhood that builds you through it, but then you're faced with it in the military in a war zone. Um, you learn hard work values on top of you know what you've been through. And it built my confidence and it started building upon my self-worth.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

That's amazing. I gotta believe, Dan, what do you think about this? That uh Dr. Romina is not living paycheck to paycheck any longer.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

That's very fortunate.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

It took a long time.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Hey, a lot of hard work, right? It paid off. Yeah. So, you know, those hard times back and then taught you some life lessons to help you and the military to help you with where you are today.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Absolutely. And even a broader mission to to change the trajectory of my family. That was also something I didn't want to continue. Um, you could call it generational trauma. I didn't want to continue that.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow, wow, outstanding, outstanding. Yeah, that's amazing.

unknown 5:55

Dr.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Amina, were you a were you a physician in the military also?

SPEAKER_00 5:59

No, I went straight from high school, enlisted. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Wow. Yeah, wow. Interesting. Interesting. Um, I want to I want to get into the medicine aspect of things a little bit. Um, so quick question for you here. You talk a lot about the root cause medicine of things. So instead of just symptom management, what do you think conventional medicine misses most often today when people are told that their lab results look normal, but they still feel out of it, they don't feel good, they feel terrible, tired, achy, things like that. What do you think we miss in conventional medicine today?

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Oh, I see that so frequently. A lot of my clients. And having practiced on both sides, still practicing on both sides, I get to bridge that gap. And that is when we're in medical school, when we're in training, conventional system teaches you it's a reactive bandage approach. It's helpful for certain things like stroke, heart attack. Absolutely. You want that bandage approach. But there's a big gap when you look at root cause, you're looking at symptoms as itself, as diagnosis in conventional medicine. When you go deeper and under and uncover root cause, you're looking at all the contributing factors, right? You're looking at, well, what truly is the fatigue? What is causing your stress or hormones and balance? What is that? And you dig into not only your environment, but also your lifestyle, like your sleep, what are you eating, your exercise, are you doing the right things for your body, mind, body, and spirit as well, because it's it's all connected. We're not just we're a complex body of um systems that is is all one unit and it needs to function. Then, of course, you add in the modern advanced science with labs, and it gives you the tools for your own personalized approach. So conventional medicine is standard are reactive in the functional aspects. You really dig into root cause that's personalized to you and you look at everything.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Sure. Absolutely. I'm gonna piggyback on that question real quick. Stress is something that's overlooked greatly in medicine, in my opinion. What's your take on what stress actually does to the body? And do you think a lot of times the hormonal imbalance people may have is maybe not truly a hormonal imbalance, but more of a societal factor, stress related?

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Oh, absolutely. And it's more common than people think, and it actually it's coming to light more often because people are burning out. Well, what is the term burnout, right? It's your nervous system on stress gone unchecked. And if you dive in, and I'll just do a brief uh explanation of what that does to your body, if you break down your nervous system, it's it's your parasympathetic, your rest and digest in your fight or flight, your sympathetic nervous system. Um, there's also a third one. It's called the enteric nervous system, it's your gut. So oftentimes it's it's all out of uh, it's all dysregulated, not just the hormones, but you'll also have like gut and everything else. Um, but essentially what happens is think about if you're constantly stressed, right? Our bodies are designed as it was protective back in the days, like if you're getting chased by a bear and you need to escape, right? That's important. But what happens is eventually you stop. You have a period to rebalance. In our modern society, we have so many stressors, right? It could, our body doesn't know the difference between physical stress or thinking stress. And now you think about what you're consuming, right? Not just what you're eating, but social media and everything else out there. That's a stress because your body will interpret it that way. So, say you're thinking you have maybe underlying trauma or you're a stressful relationship or a job, and then on top of that, you're eating processed foods or you have some underlying inflammation, and there's certain foods that trigger it, throw in scrolling, doom scrolling, all that, it's a stressor, right? So going back to that nervous system, there's so much adrenaline and other imbalances and neurotransmitters that help, but then gone unchecked long term, it it gets imbalanced. It gets you to the fight or flight response. And specifically, there's something called cortisol. In functional medicine, you can actually measure this. And cortisol, what does is if that's elevated, you don't want to do anything else, right? You don't want to stop, you don't want to digest your food, your uh hormones, your sexual drive, everything goes out the door. So, what does that do in terms of symptoms-wise, right? You get brain fog, your maybe your blood sugar is off balance, and then you start change noticing a change in weight, um, you lose muscle. So then you also have uh maybe thinning hair, and it just goes on and on and on, and it ties into an imbalanced nervous system. So when you look at that, how long can you go trying to be functional, right? There's gonna be a stage where you're burning out. And what I see is people, when they've reached that, anything could set it off, right? It could just maybe you have a small cold, but then you're so depleted that it tips you over. So, what I like to do is I like to emphasize that give yourself permission to pause. And there's ways to do that. Instead of doing more, step back and rebalance what your body needs. Even something simple, getting back to the basics like breath work, right? Even it takes 30 seconds to tell your body that your nervous system is safe, right? And so tapping into things like that, um, going out of nature, eating the right types of food, exercising the right way, all those have a big impact.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Wow. So take a take us through your day, okay? Uh just you know, from the time that you wake up, take us through just a what we would call a normal day in your life of Dr. Romina. How does that look and where does balance and everything fit into the things that you're talking about here as you help other people?

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Oh gosh. So it depends. Not every day is the same. Um, I I'll pick up shifts at the hospital, so those are naturally more stressful, and I need to make sure I balance myself. Um, and then I also have I have two little kids, so I need to make sure I wake up before them and balance myself. Sometimes it doesn't work. Uh, we're not, you know, it's that's life, and that's the thing. You got to find your moments and create it, regardless of how busy you are. Um, and then if I'm traveling or whatever my entrepreneurial day looks like. But in general, I stick to the basics. I make sure I, as soon as I wake up, I'm not looking at my phone. That's the first thing. I just lay there, I just breathe and I connect to myself because just the simple acts of being present, breathing, regulating yourself, getting your nervous system regulated, your circadian rhythm is also affected, right? Uh, if your cortisol and melatonin, your sleep hormone are balanced by simple things, it also ties into a better um health, but also, you know, your sleep, wake, and nervous system cycle. Then uh looking at just the simple things. If you look at gratitude, so I not only do my breath work, I'll do like a simple meditation, but also starting with gratitude because science shows that gratitude can rewire your brain, neuroplasticity.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Yes, that's good. Well, it's great.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

And it's it's amazing because you know, ancient uh it's like you would practice these things, but science is showing you this too, it's measuring it. So you they can say, okay, yes, it's showing it's true. So, but nonetheless, like simple acts of breathing, um, being present, not looking at the screen, um, meditating, doing um a gratitude journal, those are just the simple things that help me get set for the day. If I don't do it, then I'm just uh I'm all over the place. And um, if that happens, then I just find moments throughout the day to re-center and do that. Just even breath work or just a simple guided meditation. I have an app if there's something that I like my mind is too busy. I don't have any stock in this, but it's it's a free app. It's called Insight Timer, and I take it with me wherever I go. I also um I love sound healing, sound therapy is amazing. There's also lots of data that shows that it adjusts your brain waves. And so if you if you do whatever the the technique you want, the key is to regulate yourself. And there's things that you can add in throughout the day. Should you have missed, you know, the morning thing. And then I make sure when I get back into um bed, I decompress and uh regulate myself before bed too, because those are the two peak uh moments that I like to tap into when I wake up and before I go to sleep.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Everything's yeah, so what does it do for somebody that immediately picks up their phone? Uh, what does that do to them right out of the gate? What what tone does it set for their day?

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah, well, the blue light signals to your brain that you're already in a stress mode. It it dysregulates that cortisol response. And so uh what you what would be better is to get that first direct sunlight. It hits your your retina and your eye and signals to your brain and it it regulates it better. So having even just a few minutes to not look at your phone does a lot for the day.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Yep. Yeah, love that. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

We live in such a hustle culture, and Russ, I'm sure you agree with this, and Dr. Mean, I'm sure you agree with this. That I'd say 90% of people, the first thing they do is grab that phone off their nightstand. 100% they want to look at their email, check their text on the nights, you were called, they missed that when they were sleeping. It's like the number one thing everybody does. And I mean, I I try not to do it, but I'm still guilty of it too, because you live.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

I can see it on your face, you're guilty.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

I am 100%.

unknown 15:48

100%.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

One thing I actually learned on the iPhone that I have an iPhone is you could actually turn the red light mode on. So I started doing that later on at night. Whether it really helps me or not, I'm not sure because I'm sure the screen still goes gives up a lot of blue light simultaneously. But I did try to start doing that. But it's so true that people just they put themselves in a sympathetic state so fast as soon as they wake up that they they don't downregulate at all, they just constantly live in that state throughout the day. And and then you play the dietary role in, and you know, it just it all plays a role. And I was actually gonna ask you that question. Now, say somebody wakes up and they kind of put themselves in a sympathetic state, they're you know, they're flying a little bit, they're not downregulating. Now, their mental health is not great. What effect do you would you say people's mental health has on their gut health simultaneously?

SPEAKER_00 16:38

I love that question because they're uh the the other nervous system I mentioned, the enteric nervous system, it's connected through your vagus nerve. It's one of the longest nerves in your body. Um, and it's called there's a gut brain axis. It's bi-directional, it goes both ways. So if your gut's inflamed, your brain is inflamed, and vice versa. And a lot of research has come about this, you know, one of some of the biggest institutions, Harvard, uh Johns Hopkins, and what it shows is that it truly there is a phenomenon. And when you look at the mental health aspects, there's a big um, well, the gap is kind of closing in conventional medicine because you can see there's so many aspects of not just adding medicines. The pharmaceutical grades are important if it's if it's needed, but there's also other things you do. So some of if you have like a dysbiosis, or basically if your your gut is off, you got to figure out what that root cause is. Is it inflamed because of certain foods that you may think that are healthy for you, but they're harming you because of the state you're in? If you're already stressed, that your gut is not gonna want to work because you're in a stress response, you're in a fight or flight, you don't have time to rest and digest. So if you look at the foods that you're eating, some of the three common triggers of food intolerances that I've seen, especially in the United States, because I would say overseas, especially Europe, it's cleaner. Like you could eat wheat and greens and it's fine. But if you're here, I see a lot and that it shows that you have um the common triggers like gluten, so wheat, uh dairy, and eggs. So what I what I have seen is if you take um someone through a reset, like an elimination diet, it's not really a diet, it's resetting your gut, it's taking away potential triggers and uh giving yourself the right nourishing foods that are fresh, whole foods, good sources of protein, and then supplementing with enzymes or whatever else you need. And you rebuild it. It takes about 21 days to get the trigger out of your system because your body builds um an autoimmune response. And so not only it could deposit anywhere. So it can deposit on your joints and it can show up like as an autoimmune issue. So people may have joint pain and get mistaken by that, um, a rash. And then if that's happening, then of course your gut too. So maybe you're not absorbing the right uh nutrients or building blocks to build neurotransmitters that affect your mood. Um, that's just part of it. But then if you look at if you're not your blood sugar is not regulated, well, you may get true word, hangry. But you know, like there's there's so much that goes into it, like anxiety, depression, whatever you want to label it, but there's a there's a root cause, and that's a gut-brain access. So when you look at the data, if you do a little bit, if you combine the lifestyle and get to root cause, you can either de-prescribe pharmaceutical medicines, or if you're not on it, you just you get regulated. And a little other uh something else I want to chime in is plant medicine is is coming forward. And I know in this in our current state, uh we don't we're moving forward to more openness in that, especially in uh mental health and in PTSD, because it's it's been shown how it restructures your brain and and it can help you long term. So I think that's also something to look out for is uh how plant medicine will eventually um start adding more therapeutic options.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Yeah, yeah. Wow. Amazing. You know, it seems like it seems like there is we, you know, we're in a as far as mental health, we're like at an all-time high, you know, and it seems like more people are addressing, you know, the mental health issues. What what is it? What do you what do you why do you think that we're in such a state here in America with mental health issues? Why is that?

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Well, I think there's still a stigma, it's getting better. Like before, um, you wouldn't you would just get labeled, oh, you're having panic attacks, you have PTSD, let's do this pharmaceutical medicine, and that's the bandage, which comes with side effects. And maybe if you get just basic tools, but it's I mean it's better than nothing, but it goes deeper. There's more to get to root cause. There's so many different modalities. And resources, if you if you know about it, then the more educated you are and aware you are, then you're gonna you're gonna look for those answers and and get the help you need. So I think as more is coming forward, there is more access slowly. There in certain places, um other states and cities definitely um have have more to to work on. But it's just uh I think there's there's gonna be more of a if there's more of a gap to close between information and access, um, and and lowering that stigma, then people will be more apt to looking for those. And I think especially if you look at the high performing people, right? Sometimes they don't know. They don't know what the signs of burnout and mental health is. Because if you're high functioning, you're not gonna present like the Typical symptoms of anxiety and depression.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

It shows up differently, right? You're not, you're gonna have just maybe a little bit of brain fog, or if you're hyperactive, then you have checklist to checklist. You can't stay present. Um, and then your your markers, if you get any lab testing, or if you even check a simple test like HRV, right? Heart rate variability, those things are gonna be just off. They're gonna be imbalanced. So a high performing individual is gonna present differently from just a normal population. So I think that also goes back to awareness, too.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Yeah. I think that's also where some of these mental health issues arise from is people see all these high performers and they don't show any signs of burnout, and they're always, you know, they normalize that burnout and they're always on the go and stuff like that. And other people are like, How come I'm not there? How come I'm not at that stage? And it kind of weighs on them a little bit because they're saying, All right, I'm doing the same thing. Why are they there? But I'm here, and they, you know, they keep normalizing that burnout, normalizing that burnout. But you know, also what you see might not even be true, it might not even be real, and other people take that into account, like, wow, like I'm I'm doing everything they're doing. How come I'm not at that stage? Yeah, and I think that weighs on a lot of people, and I think I think I mean I hate to say it, but I think social media is a big part of this too, as far as like mental health issues to nowadays. And I mean, it it's hard to normalize because what you see and you know what's actually happening could be two different things, and a lot of people believe it though, and I think it kind of weighs on them.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Oh, absolutely. Like I have for for myself, for example, I do have fun high functioning anxiety, right? And it took me a while to recognize that. But what that looks like to me is I have an endless checklist and I have to constantly perform. Um, and I've done it for years. I've done it like because lives, like if I'm if I'm in a life or death situation with a person, like I need to function, I need to push things aside and then get back to it. But uh what it looks like now on a normal day is I could be at the park with my little boy, and I'm trying to be present and like maybe be there, whatever he wants to do in his little toddler mind. But in the back of my mind, I'm like, okay, I have to do this. Did I do that? Do it, you know, and then it's like not able to settle down. And I have to break that pattern. I have to make sure, take the effort to be present because the present moment is all we really have. And kids are gonna grow, whatever you have in front of you, that moment's gonna be gone until you're present. And that's the time that you have, the memories that you have. So having the reframes, having the tools to figure out what you need, because if you fuel your cup, the things that fill you up that are important, that actually gives you better longevity in the long term as well. And it goes back to putting more into your cup. And that's why I I take also I block out time to make sure I go do something for myself every day. If I have if I get to go do like an hour-long yoga class, I will do that. If I get to go maybe go do a go hit the weights at the gym or just simple walk outside in nature and just be present, those are the little things that sprinkle in what brings you joy, what brings you joy and refuels your cup because the checklist is gonna be there, you're gonna constantly find something to perform at the next level. But I think it's just things that ground you and finding your balance.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

Yeah, yeah. You know, you talked about brain frog and you talked about, you know, when you go out and you help people, you know, of all all types of people with with clarity. That's part of part of your message. How how would you say if you're going into a room today and you're and you're you know, a guest speaker, what would you define as gaining clarity for their lives? How would you describe that to your listening audience?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Well, I have two things that come to mind. So, of course, the the clarity that comes with when you actually don't have brain fog on a sciencey level and a medical level, but then also the clarity, the internal clarity when you do that transformational work. So the brain fog. What what I think is um it's eye-opening what I see people is when they actually start clearing, and they, you know, we get to root cause, they're like, whoa, I just thought I was always like just forgetful or just slow. I thought that's what normal was. That you're just you have all you're a parent, you're owning a business, you're doing this and that, you're in midlife. I thought that's just part of getting older and just stress. And I and when they realize what they need to do and you get to root cause, they just they awaken in a different way. Their minds are sharper, they can be present, they can do more. And it's it's actually quite beautiful. You're like, wow, you're clear now. This is this is what it feels to be good, to feel good, to be awake for everything. And then, of course, the other clarity, right? That if you can break the patterns, if you you can take things into your own hands and create your own version of what you want to be. Um, and so that that's a different type of clarity.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

Yeah, I love it. Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Love that. Dr. Romina, in terms of your career and everything you've seen in healthcare, is there a truth about health that you believe now that maybe younger Dr. Romina would have disagreed with?

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Yeah, definitely. I think about when I was in training, you the trend is as you age, you're pretty much aging is is a disease. It's actually classified as a disease, right? But I think is how how you age, you can still control quality for the most part. But what I was in training while I was in training is doing the standard care, doing the standard approaches, eventually your body does break down. And so you see people in the last decade of life in and out of the hospital and just declining. And I thought that was just the sad truth. But until I got more training and was exposed to more skills and tools and a different perception, you can do things that create more longevity and optimal living, and your lifestyle has a big impact. Your lifestyle, your mindset, everything. So that truly changes not only how I live my life, but how I approach patients, and it makes a difference.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Yeah, it does make a difference. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Like I think I had um I think I had like an 80-year-old like walk like longer than I did. There's like a 90-year-old that does yoga, like you it's quite amazing, and it it's a full, complete um approach, right?

SPEAKER_02 28:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow, for sure. Amazing. Do you do you ever find it? Do you ever find it difficult? Oh I'm sorry. My my the recording went silent for a minute. I didn't know right know that you were talking. Um, do you ever do you ever find it difficult separating uh being Dr. Romina and mom?

SPEAKER_00 29:18

I gotta laugh at this because the other day, I think I'm just mom, and then my kids are like, Yeah, you're a doctor. Okay. And so they went to their pediatrician for their yearly checkup. And they're like, so you have to eat more fiber and less sugar. And so they come home and tell me, and like, mom, the doctor said, and I'm like, Oh, the doctor said, so you're gonna listen to whatever. Just as long as you're doing what they tell you, that's fine. So it's just funny because they they say the term doctor, like I have a doctor, but I'm still mom to them. It's a different concept.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

That's awesome. That's so funny. Dr. Amina, let's say somebody listening today on paper, they look fine, their lab results look great, their vitals look great, but you know, without getting too into the medicine aspect of things, they know something's off deep down. What's one of the first steps that they could take in maybe trying to find out what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Well, first thing is to make sure you're with the right uh physician. Because if you're in a conventional system and they haven't been trained to see a bigger picture, then you're gonna stick to the standard labs that tell you, yeah, everything is fine. And then they're gonna say, it's probably in your head. And I know this because I was told that. And I know through my journey, I would not say that to a patient because you know if your body's off, you just have to dig deeper. What is it? So that's the first thing. Are you with someone you could work with that actually listens and will dig deeper? And if not, then go look for a functional medicine doctor. Um, but to add even more uh on that, yeah. So the first thing is can you work with someone? Are they gonna listen? And what to do? Well, you can get uh lifestyle is big. I would dig into okay, what are you doing daily, all these factors? Um, and then of course add in the advanced labs because advanced labs are not they're not the labs that you're gonna see in a regular conventional uh office. For instance, if you look at basic labs, if you look like at a CBC, you're gonna get just basic lab work that gives you um, is your white count up? Do you have an infection, right? Or is your hemoglobin off? And um it's it's just gonna give you basics. But what you want is further testing, right? You want to see even more. Um, another example is hormones, maybe simple blood work for like a couple of hormones, but there's more to it. And so a functional approach would be if this is contributing to your symptoms, well, let's look at the entire biochemical pathway. So, how are you metabolizing that hormone? And which structure, the form of hormone, are you um building or not um building, or you know, if there's a a gap in the cycle or the building blocks? Are you deficient in vitamins? Uh, you know, just there's so much to the picture, and it's not just one snippet in time. So having a full advanced lab panel would give you a big picture as well. So you combine best of both, you get the labs as well as dig into your lifestyle, and that would help you get to root cause over time.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

Yeah. Because typically, if you go for a well visit, your physician's gonna get a CBC, gonna get a BMP on you, and maybe a thyroid panel.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Exactly. And in a limited thyroid panel, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

And then, you know, you still say, Listen, I feel like this, this, and this, but all those lab work, that lab work could easily look normal on a lot of people, but there could still be a root cause down there that they don't look at. And I think vitamin deficiency is something that's completely overlooked because, and I mean, I even personally, I I mean, I actually found a physician that does that kind of stuff, but personally, like it took me a while to find a physician that will look at those type of things. Yeah, and it's not an easy find for anybody listening. This is not something just simplistic that a lot of doctors will do or a lot of physicians will do. You have to kind of seek this out a little bit, but I think it's something that's completely overlooked from nutritional standpoint, you know, things of that nature. You and you agree vitamins are something that's overlooked, overlooked on panels.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Oh, for sure. The most common vitamin deficiency I see is a vitamin D3. Yeah, and that it shows up and it's important with so many pathways, right? It can affect your mood, your immune system, your hormone. It just taps into everything. Your brain, um, memory, it's simple and it can mask if it's you know missed, it can mask itself with symptoms. So that's just one of them. And then, of course, like the B vitamins, if you're absorbing them. And it brings me to like the food that you eat today, even though if it's clean and organic, it's still depleted. The soil that it grows in is depleted. So naturally, you will still have a vitamin deficiency. So I always like to at least get the basic, um, check the vitamins, but then also if you need a supplement, good quality supplement, and the most common one, of course, is vitamin D3 plus K2. If you're gonna do that, you want to have the absorption. Yeah, definitely it's it is overlooked, and but there's an answer to it. So if you can find it, and then you can target what the answer is. And sometimes it's a simple fix, and sometimes it's more complicated, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Sure, sure. Interesting. I I like calling it the sunshine vitamin, right? Yeah, so so what I think what I'm hearing you say is that we gotta get out and we need to move our bodies, we need to exercise more, we need to have more balanced life, we need to be more connected to our world, we need to pause, but we need we need the sunshine vitamin.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

Definitely the sunshine, yes. And in more of pausing sometimes, if you're go, go, go, it's okay to pause. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

Yeah, amazing. Yeah. You know, the the thing that I that I see, you know, in in our society today is that that we are we're lacking those things. We're lacking the sunshine. And and I I know that people that live in the Midwest or East Coast or whatever, you know, they may get less sun than we do here. Well, maybe not where you live, but here in California, you know, we get a lot of sun, right? So, you know, getting out and people are walking, people are moving, but because of the area in which people live, they may see sun three to four months out of the year. So therefore, it's a problem. So, do you recommend that they take a vitamin D to help with their with their mood and their stableness and their their life as far as maybe a supplement?

SPEAKER_00 35:47

Sorry, it cut out when you were saying it paused for a second, right? When you were saying when people in the Midwest Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

So, do for those people that live in the Midwest or the East, maybe they get a little bit less sun and they're lacking that vitamin D, do you recommend taking uh a vitamin D or some type of supplement to help them with their moods and with their balance throughout the day?

SPEAKER_00 36:10

Oh, yeah. In general, actually, even if you're out there getting sunlight, because there's a whole process for you to absorb it, break it down to make sure you have the right form. Even with that, most Americans are deficient in vitamin D. So I wanted to also mention that with when you look at functional medicine, you look at optimal levels, whereas conventional, it will just give you a range. So that's why you may be normal but feeling off. So if you look at optimal, um, and then adding that, like vitamin D is still one of the common ones. So whether you do get sunshine, but especially if you don't, then it's definitely it would for the most most people, a good quality vitamin D3 plus K2 would be beneficial.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

Okay. Yeah, that's great. It's interesting though that you bring that up, Ross, because there's definitely some geographic issues that people have with mental health and anxiety like that. Because when you're in a state, I mean, we're all across the country right now, obviously. So we cover all the different time zones right now between the year and but in New York, sometimes it's gloomy for three, four, five weeks at a time with one day of sunshine, and then you get another two, three weeks of gloominess. And out in Cali, it could be you know, sunshine for six months. And it's just and Dr. Romina, you agree, right? I think that does play a big role in people's moods because I I mean, I obviously I am more driven in the summertime, I'll be honest with you, especially living in New York. I have more drive, I have more motivation. When I can go outside at 7 p.m., 8 p.m., the sunlight's still shining, it's still 75 degrees. But in the winter time, when it's five degrees and it's dark at 4 p.m., yeah, I'm less driven.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

You don't like that 30 inches of snow that you could go out there and shovel and stuff like that? You don't enjoy that?

SPEAKER_01 37:55

That does not sound fun. Yeah, it doesn't put me in that sympathetic state as Dr. Romina would say.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

Yeah, and you know, there are more incidences of having uh depression. There was a study I remember actually back in in training that certain regions with exactly what you said, they are tied to a lower mood, and you know, you see more incidences of like depression and seasonal depression too. So just maybe get a second home, maybe go visit uh Russell during the winter. Come to Texas. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

That's the point.

SPEAKER_02 38:29

I like that is the play. I like that. Yeah, because we we have some mutual friends, you know, Dan, uh, you and I that that live in the Midwest and the East Coast, and they get that seasonal depression. And it's like, yeah, we don't get it here, you know. We just don't get, I mean, we had summer from January till middle of March before we got our next, you know, we were we were like not one week 95 degrees, it's like crazy, you know. So yeah, we definitely don't lack air.

SPEAKER_03 38:55

Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 38:56

But you know, the funny thing is though, if we get two or three days of it, like I could see how it kind of dampens everything, right? So when you're talking five or six weeks, holy smokes, like no thanks. Thumbs down, I'm out of here.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

Dr. Romina, we'll uh we'll probably make this the last question, but we have this quote or this statement that we'd like to end all the podcasts with, and you I think you're the perfect person to answer this. And that statement is wellness is not about perfection, it's about progress. What would you say that statement means to you?

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Yes, it it means you do something I like to I like to tell my clients and people I come across everyone that if you make one small change towards your goal in whatever aspect, then eventually it becomes a habit and that's your journey. So even if it's a small progress, you're still getting closer to your goal and you're making changes slowly every day.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

Yeah, love that. I love that. You know, she just Dr. Romain is like, boom, there it is. There's the answer. Not drawn out, not you know, paragraphs. Boom, there it is.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

Right. That's right. Oh, that is awesome.

unknown 40:12

Dr.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

Romina, where can people find you?

SPEAKER_00 40:15

Um, yes, I'm I'm almost you can find me anywhere. So Instagram, I keep it simple. Instagram is the best one to follow up to date where I'm going, what's coming up, events. Uh so D-R-R-E-M-I-N-A, Dr. Romina. My website, I also keep it simple. It's www.dromina.com. And um my book as well, that's on Amazon and also at Barnes and Noble. So reach out to me. I'd love to connect. Any questions, or if you want to work with me, whatever, I'm here.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Wonderful. You have been great today. Thank you so much for coming on to Dual Coast and blessing us with your experience, your knowledge, you know, everything about what you do. And I know we just got a glimpse of it, but thank you for sharing with all of us and all of our listeners today.

SPEAKER_00 41:05

Well, thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Absolutely. Absolutely coming on. Dr. Amina, this was powerful. This is my type of podcast. Ross knows that. Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

But we thank you so much for your time today. This was great. I hope our listeners got a lot out of this today. Please check out Dr. Amina on all her social media handles, check out her website. Please go look at her book on uh Amazon and at Barnes and Noble. Follow us at all our handles, Dual Coast Podcast. Please check us out on Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Podcasts. We'll see everybody next week. Dr. Amina, thank you again so much for today. Thank you. Thank you.