You Are The Magic
You Are the Magic helps high achievers reignite their passion by tapping into the power they already possess—without adding more hustle to their plate. Hosted by Christine DeHerrera, a seasoned business coach, PR pro, and writer with over 20 years of experience, each episode blends mindset, strategy, and a dash of woo so you can create success that lights you up and makes your wildest dreams feel like your new normal.
You Are The Magic
Inside the Future of Personalized Medicine for Powerful Women
Inside the Future of Personalized Medicine for Powerful Women
In this episode of You Are The Magic, Christine sits down with two powerhouse physicians, Dr. Emily Aaron and Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden, founders of The Aurelian Standard. Both board-certified internal medicine doctors, they left the traditional healthcare system to create a personalized, concierge-style practice where patient care comes first. For women running high-level businesses, this conversation is essential listening — your creativity, leadership, and bold visions depend on vibrant health, and these doctors share how to protect it. From optimizing your energy at every age to little-known preventive screenings that insurance companies don't want you to know about, this episode is packed with powerful, actionable insights.
Christine, Dr. Aaron, and Dr. Desarden dive into how high-achieving women can proactively guard their vitality, longevity, and mental clarity. You'll learn why hydration, sleep, and personalized primary care are critical to sustaining success over the long haul. They reveal how traditional medical models often fail busy entrepreneurs — and why concierge medicine offers a life-changing alternative by getting to the root cause of fatigue, brain fog, and inflammation, instead of just covering symptoms.
Whether you’re scaling your company, writing your next book, or leading a global movement, your health is your greatest asset. In this episode, you’ll discover how to think differently about aging, wellness, and preventive care so you can create decades of vibrant, magnetic work. Plus, Christine and the doctors offer practical strategies for staying energized, managing stress, and taking ownership of your health — even with a packed schedule.
Ready to uplevel your energy and impact? Download The Business Detox Playbook — your free guide to cutting through the chaos and focusing on what truly moves the needle: Get it here.
Connect with Dr. Emily Aaron and Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:
🌟 Website: www.theaurelianstandard.com
🌟 Instagram: @theaurelianstandard
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Thank you for listening and just remember, you are the magic!
Today on the you Are the Magic podcast, I talk with Dr Emily Aaron and Dr Connie Desarden, both board certified internal medicine physicians who left the traditional healthcare system in search of a better alternative. They believe in collaborative care and they actually recognize that each patient is unique. How forward thinking. We cover exciting topics like how to maximize your energy regardless of your age, how to prioritize your health, including sleep and mental health, and they let you in on a little secret that the insurance companies don't want you to know. Welcome to the podcast, ladies. Thank you, hello. I'm so excited for today. I made a goal at the beginning of this year to go to more in-person events and I went to a podcast conference in LA. And I'm going to a female entrepreneurs conference in October. And I'm going to a female entrepreneurs conference in October, and I met you guys earlier this year at the Female Founders Collective here locally, which is so fun, absolutely.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Yeah, such an elegant event Met a lot of cool people. I think you were the one that we connected with the most.
Christine DeHerrera:Oh well, that's nice, but it's just like being in person is so, so important and I mean I'm still recovering from the pandemic, I think and so like getting out and seeing people in person.
Christine DeHerrera:And so I was so grateful and as soon as I was talking to you guys, I was like, oh my gosh, I have to have them on the show, because you guys do such cool stuff in your medical practice and everybody that's listening to this is some kind of high achiever, even though I kind of hate the word high achiever because it's kind of like excluding people but people doing all the things, running their business and writing their books and you know, family, friends, community building, all the things that everybody does. And I was like you guys are probably seeing lots of folks like that in your practice. So I just want to jump right in with everything. I was lucky enough to have my own business start very organically and doing things that I loved, and I just wondered like what drew each of you to medicine, if it was some family business or like if you had a fun story about it. What drew you to medicine?
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:I used to read a lot of National Geographic as a kid and anytime they had anything on biology I was all about it. I think my dad kind of planted the seed because he wanted to do medicine and didn't get a chance to, so I just like took it and ran with it, basically.
Christine DeHerrera:Oh, I love that. I mean, it's so interesting how these things spark in us, right, and that family piece of like your dad not being able to pursue that himself. Like that's incredible. Emily, what's your? How did you get into medicine? I?
Dr. Emily Aaron:think mine's probably fairly similar. I think we're. We're both products of, like, the gifted and talented generation where, like, if you show aptitude in STEM, especially as a woman and with proud parents, they're going to suggest things like maybe you should be a doctor, maybe you should be a lawyer, or something like that. So it was sort of brought into my head as well, before I was old enough to even realize what I wanted as a person. But it's funny also how that was just the perfect predestiny. That's where I needed to be, that's so my mind was there for really who knows what reason, but this is where we ended up and I couldn't see myself doing anything else.
Christine DeHerrera:Well, it sounds like the gifted and talented program worked Okay. And Emily, I have a question, because in your bio it says you were intern of the year and so you know I've watched Grey's Anatomy and I'm sure a lot of our listeners have, and of course that's Anatomy and I'm sure a lot of our listeners have, and of course that's residency. But we've all watched all the medical shows like how does one become intern of the year and how does that compare to what we see on television? Got it, got it.
Dr. Emily Aaron:So it's definitely. There's a lot of metrics about you get feedback from your attendings at the end of every rotation and your upper levels.
Dr. Emily Aaron:So the people that are more advanced in training also give feedback and it's just a consistency across the year of being willing to do the work of an intern, which the shows are accurate sometimes in that regard that it's the scut work, it's the stuff nobody wants to do, it's the busy stuff and the stuff that's frustrating. So you just show up, you do it with a smile and you do it to the best of your ability and all of that stuff comes together and they look at your patient care and give you marks on that.
Christine DeHerrera:So so it's like kind of the never a ding grading process, exactly.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Constantly the never a ding grading process, exactly, constantly, constant assessment.
Christine DeHerrera:Yeah, yes, okay. So you guys kind of come from different areas. Like you're from New York, connie and Emily are from Texas. So like how did you guys meet?
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:So we were in a practice in Denver. I moved here, I think January of 2021. Emily had already been here. Straight out of residency came to Colorado and actually, when I was doing the interview process, most of the people that I was interviewing with were females and in the past, when I've joined a practice, obviously a lot of men, a lot of older men. So the fact that there was a young female physician and like two young like nurse practitioner and a PA, I was like that's it, I have a built-in friend group. That's where I want to go. So I feel like we just kind of like honed into each other and we were like, ooh, I want to. I want to go there and be friends with her like, oh, I want to.
Christine DeHerrera:I want to go there and be friends with her. I love that. I love that that's so fun. I mean, yeah, it's still kind of a boys club in a lot of ways, I would imagine. So yeah, female centered and run practice was probably like wow. So was it like a traditional medical practice, like you're dealing with insurance and all of that? That's what I thought, so correct me if I'm wrong. From the patient perspective, the appointments are pretty stacked and a pretty short amount of time and obviously you guys are young doctors and I'm sure it was very exciting and fun at first. But what led you to wanting to go off on your own and did you both have the idea and then just share it? Like how did how did you end up forming this practice?
Dr. Emily Aaron:So I think about four or five years into practice I started to feel a little bit of oh wow, is this it Like? Am I really gonna be feeling like I'm just treading water all the time? I'm basically throwing band-aids around to put a damper on the problem but then not sending them to or sending them rather to see a specialist to try to fix it. Blah, blah, blah. Because you don't have that much time with patients in a traditional practice. You, on average in the US, you manage 2,500 patients as a primary care doctor, so you can imagine trying to know those people well while also, at the same time, trying to actually spend time with them when you're only allotted about 15 minutes per visit. So if everything runs on time, you might get to spend three to 10 minutes with your patient. So it's hard to know people well and it's hard to get to the nitty gritty of all the causes underlying their problems with that little time.
Christine DeHerrera:Yeah, 2,500 patients, that's for one person. That's bananas, I mean absolutely bananas. Like how did we get here?
Christine DeHerrera:I mean that's not an actual question because we know how we got here, but oh, my heavens, wow. And especially when you think back to like how doctors used to operate, like at the turn of the, you know, the 1800s, early 1900s, probably well into the middle of the 1900s, actually, like a lot of doctors actually came to people's homes and got to see them in their natural environment, meet their families, and you guys don't have any of that information in a traditional practice and that would affect people. I would think, like how do you think that affected? Like how you would know everything you need to know about somebody.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:I mean, you don't know who is supporting the patient. How do they have an income if they're so ill? You know, are they going home and being abused? You know, are they working their butts off just to make ends meet? All of that, all of those things that they tried to make it a measure in terms of, like, how complex is this patient? And it just created more paperwork and the people weren't actually getting helped.
Christine DeHerrera:That makes sense, because I do think about, like, all the things we fill out now, and when you go into a traditional appointment, they ask you a lot of questions, which is a good start, but yeah, I mean, people probably don't feel if they're in really hard situations, like telling a total stranger who also has 2,499 other people to keep track of, oh my goodness. So you guys, you did your traditional practice. Emily, you have this idea Like, how did that go? Were you like, hey, I might start my own practice? Do you want to come? Or how did that happen? Right, that's a big leap.
Dr. Emily Aaron:I definitely knew that I didn't want to do it by myself, because it's a lot especially if you're going to be responsible 24-7., you need some sort of life outside of the business. So having a partner was really necessary. But I never knew that I would find just the most perfect partner, and I think really like it sparked from friendship but then also getting to know each other and talking about cases that we had been taking care of, because as doctors, that's like all we do is talk about medicine outside of medicine and understanding that we both have similar values with respect to patient care and also similar approaches to taking care of people and what that actually looks like. So I was like hey, what do you think about this? And I think Ange had some reservations.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:I think I shut her down at first because I was just scared and you know they don't teach you about business in med school, so I'm just like, no, no, I can't take this on. But then, after I had a baby, I was like how do I, how do I change my life like something's got?
Christine DeHerrera:to be yes. Yeah, I mean the having the baby, and I can imagine thinking of going back to those 2500 people and no doubt like really long, long hours yeah, you just feel like like no one is getting the best part of you you're.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:You're like only going halfway for each, each group, your, your home life, your work life. It's a very discouraging feeling. I would say yeah.
Christine DeHerrera:I think it's interesting that you said Emily about like the shared values and like the quality of patient care, because like that's really the foundation of any business or anything that we're doing. Really it's like what is the value of this business or any anything that we're doing. Really it's like what is the value of this and like what does this mean and how can I bring that meaning forward. And so I absolutely love that you call your practice. They are really in standard, the gold standard. I was like that is so cool and like means so much, but what does that mean to you guys? Tell me more about that, because I thought that I was like that is the best name, I love it.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Yeah, I think, first off, we didn't want to have like a typical, like the medical center of this, the medical practice of this.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Colorado mountains, yeah.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:So we were like, what do we do? And, and I don't know how we stumbled, we wanted like gold to be in it somehow, because we like sparkly things as well. Yeah, um, and and of course, the gold standard, like the it's kind of like a general term that a lot of um, I think the areas of study use, but for medicine it is like the top way to practice, the top test for that diagnosis, the top treatment for that disease. So I think it was nice to just find a pseudonym, kind of uh, the word aurelian is is another word for gold to just make it a little flair, a little flounce.
Christine DeHerrera:I love that. I didn't even think about it from the sparkly standpoint but I am here for all the sparkles as well, and I'm sure many of your patients are as well. So like yes, this is so cool.
Christine DeHerrera:Like it's got lots of meaning and such richness, which in a business is so valuable, because, like it just says so cool, like it's got lots of meaning and and such richness, which in a business is so valuable, because, like it, it it just says so much without having to keep talking about it.
Christine DeHerrera:So I just I love it. I think that is so very cool. So I myself have dipped a toe as a patient and concierge and personalized medicine, usually for specific things. Like I had a mold exposure and so I found a doctor who that was the real specialty of his, and then I used to get lots of bad migraines which are totally under control, I am so happy to say, but I had personalized medicine for that because I was just not able to get anywhere. But a lot of people listening might not have heard of personalized medicine or concierge medicine, or it may be only in the context of like an ultra elite celebrity whose doctor travels with them or something. So say more about like how your practice works and what does it mean to have personalized care on top of your regular health insurance?
Dr. Emily Aaron:Yeah.
Dr. Emily Aaron:So I think the best sort of starting point for this is that your primary care physician is the beginning and the end of everything.
Dr. Emily Aaron:We're the person who's going to be able to start working on the problem with you, and we are always going to be the ones that are finishing the problem with you, whether that means you're 90 and you've decided you don't want anything aggressive anymore, or we finally got it sorted and we're just continuing refills and whatnot.
Dr. Emily Aaron:So that is how important it is to have a good primary care clinician that can really be your quarterback for your problems, because we've all been to specialty appointments before and they're fantastic scientists, they're great doctors, but they're looking at their box. They're looking at your problem from the kidney perspective or the heart perspective, at your problem from the kidney perspective or the heart perspective. We're the trained clinicians, because that's what internal medicine does is the whole adult patient to really try to have all of that communication and to make the whole storyline make sense at the end of the day. So the reality is, because of the burden on the US healthcare system, with too few primary care providers and they're seeing 2,500 patients they did a study and said you can't even reach the standard of care without 26 hours in a day worth of work.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:So just work, no sleep, no food, just work. No food for you.
Christine DeHerrera:Yeah, exactly so I think America.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Absolutely, absolutely. So that's where I think the real point for having a personalized provider where we're gonna be spending 30, 60 or 90 minutes with you. Those are our visit links in this practice. That way we can uncover all of the things that are making you unwell. Is it actually something you're eating? Is it actually something that you're doing or not doing, or am I just writing you a pill? Well, the quickest thing to do is just write you a pill, so we need to have more time to talk about those things.
Dr. Emily Aaron:So I think that's really the focus of the personalized medicine, and at our practice we don't take any insurance. It's a membership-based practice. We try to make it more financially attainable than lots of other models you can look at by really focusing on what are we adding to their health care and what benefit is that adding to the patient. So we have a couple of extra tests and labs we do in our practice that your health care insurance will never pay for from a wellness perspective, and that's because we've looked at the risk of these tests and it's very low. And we've looked at the risk of these tests and it's very low. And we've looked at the potential benefit of these tests and that's very high.
Christine DeHerrera:So I love that. I love that you said a couple of things. I want to talk about some of those tests, because I mean just understanding what they can uncover seems like such preventive care. So we're going to come back to that in just a minute. But by spending enough time and getting to the root of the problem, I think I can speak for myself and a lot of my friends.
Christine DeHerrera:We tend to self-diagnose. Especially, you listen to a podcast and it talks about XYZ supplements or XYZ common problems, and so it's like you go to the doctor and you try to a podcast and it talks about XYZ supplements or XYZ common problems, and so it's like you go to the doctor and you try to tell them what's wrong versus like these are my symptoms and what do you think. So I thought that's really interesting and you guys have enough time to really get into it with people to find out, like what is actually going on. And that's so unusual. I mean, do you have any, uh, like not breaking patient confidentiality, but like people that have come in thinking they had one thing and then it was something else, or anything like that, because I would suspect you get some interesting, some interesting stories.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:I can think of anything off the top of my head where it was like they thought one thing and it was completely different. Gosh, I'm trying to think.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Well, I think the answer is it kind of happens. Often it's hard to pick like really often it's hard to pick a specific example, but I think one of our favorite things that we uncover is the patient's just not drinking enough water. So you know it's something we all struggle to do and reach those water goals. And you know you're seeing them. For, let's say, they get dizzy, lightheaded, they're having high heart rate and they've been diagnosed with something called POTS and somebody's put them on a beta blocker to suppress the heart rate and we're like okay, let's also shoot for 120 ounces of water a day and put a little electrolyte packet in one of those once a day and they're able to come off their beta blocker. So it's coaching them through the lifestyle.
Christine DeHerrera:I mean that, okay, number one, that's just so scary like to be on unnecessary heart medications and also, like I mean we talk about water a lot, but I think getting that amount, especially if you're in a dry area we're in Colorado, which is super dry, but like there's a lot of places in the country and so that this is probably an issue and you guys have the time to like get to the bottom of things instead of just slapping a prescription and not that to take away from prescription medication, because that's not what I'm saying. But wow, that's a really good example. And wow, I've kind of got smacked on that one Heart medications, when they just needed more water. Oh my gosh.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Oh my gosh.
Christine DeHerrera:That's just, oh, my goodness, Okay. So let's talk about some of the tests that you guys do, Because I've heard of these and I was reading about them on your website as well, in preparation for our interview, of course and I mean start with the one for your heart to look for calcium deposits Like that seems like that should be a no brainer for everybody over a certain age. Can you tell me about?
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:that no, no insurances pay for it and it's completely political. It hasn't Nothing to do with standard of care, what we think is best for the patient. It's all about money as to why insurance companies don't pay for it. The test has gotten so much better over the years. So basically, when you have a plaque a little schmear on your blood vessel, the longer it's been there your body tries to quote, unquote heal it by depositing calcium into it and that lights up on a scan. So the one caveat is that there can be soft plaques that still haven't been stabilized with the calcium.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:So for some people it might not be a full picture. If you've been on cholesterol medications, like most likely it's a full picture. But I mean nowadays with the scans and this is more for people who have known heart disease or who have, like, significant plaque I mean we can see on a, on a CT scan, how much the stenosis is. We can now, nowadays we can tell if it's a soft plaque or a hard plaque there's. I mean the technology has gotten so good but these are super expensive tests. That CT calcium score, I kind of see it as like a screening, like if that was off the charts then you would do like a more in-depth one, but I think it should be for everyone.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Absolutely, you know at least, why not get one of age 40 and just see, like, have I already started building things up? I have a strong family history. Like, have I already started building things up? I have a strong family history. And if your score is zero and things look great, you know, maybe you don't have to do one for another five to ten years, but if it's not, then start doing something about it.
Christine DeHerrera:Yeah, I mean it just seems that, like with the different technology that's available, that again they could prevent so much, so many things, so many different kinds of hearts and clotting and strokes and all of that, which I mean yeah, that's yeah. So tell me if there was a couple other ones that I know you guys are. I just think this is so important for people to understand that there's more than just going to the doctor, should they care to, to look at what other alternatives there are. Or I mean, again, a lot of people listening to this are probably already doing like biohacking and all of these things, and so putting these other tests into rotation I think makes sense. If you're already like, really focused on longevity, so yeah say more yeah.
Dr. Emily Aaron:So we also add a total abdominal ultrasound and then the transvaginal ultrasounds. What we love about ultrasounds is you're not exposed to any radiation, and the reason why we feel like both of those tests are valuable is the fact that patients get gallbladder cancer, they get pancreatic cancer, they get kidney cancer. You cannot pick that up on a blood test. A lot of people don't realize that until it's super advanced you're not going to see anything on a blood test, and most of these cancers are things that you're also not going to have symptoms for until it's very advanced.
Dr. Emily Aaron:So the transvaginal ultrasound just to circle back to that quickly is because there is no routine screening for ovarian cancer and even though it is a very rare cancer, we take a harmless picture once a year and we might accidentally catch something sooner than it being a stage four and being untreatable. So I think we're looking to balance your exposure. One reason we don't do the calcium scores every year because that comes with radiation, so it becomes counterproductive at a point. But we're just trying to catch things faster than they would be caught by traditional means and I can think we can all say universally that that's not the motivation of the insurance companies, and that's really the reason why a lot of these things aren't covered.
Christine DeHerrera:Yeah, I mean, I think anybody that is fortunate enough to have health insurance has tangled with their insurance company over something at some point. And yeah, and so we have to be so proactive and I know that's something that's really important to you both is for patients to be proactive. Can you talk more about how somebody that is maybe just used to going to their doctor, like you know barely being able to have a conversation like how we be more proactive, just in a very general sense, about our health and health, longevity, and also like the vibrancy that we all want to have? I mean, everybody here is wanting to do big things in their lives and continue to do big things, and so, like, how do you get that level of vibrancy? Like, how can we be more proactive? How do you get that level of vibrancy Like how can we be more proactive?
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:It's hard in the traditional system, so we kind of have to separate it into your physical. Is your physical your problem visits? Are your problem visits? When it comes to the physical, definitely knowing about age-appropriate cancer screening tests, the doctors can order the tests that we do in our practice the CT calcium score, the abdominal ultrasound, the transvaginal, if you have. Definitely knowing your family history is crucial because if there is something that you're more prone to you know, advocate for yourself to try to get those tests done. Even if it does, unfortunately it might end up being like an extra cost, um, but just knowing what you have in your family and doing the age appropriate screenings. That being said, that's that's going to be for your physical. They're supposed to make sure, okay, at this moment nothing is like overtly wrong.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Then you make a nice little list of all the little quirks health quirks that you might have and unfortunately in the traditional model that has to be a separate appointment.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:You might only get 15 minutes to talk about it. I would definitely prioritize which ones bother you the most. How much are you willing to do Like if you don't want to take any medications for it? When you're asking the questions, just see, like, what are all the options to treat this problem? How necessary is it to treat it? Can I go the rest of my life with just letting it, you know, just happen? Is my bum knee going to cause a problem 20 years from now? Those kinds of things. But a list is just a great way to guide the doctor and say, like these are the things that are important to me that I want to get out of this visit and it might take a couple of visits to hit everything. I think I really feel for the docs that are still in the traditional system, because just having only 15 minutes to focus on a problem, even one problem, it just doesn't do justice to the patient and also, as a doctor, you want to fix people's problems. That's kind of our deal. So I think both parties leave unsatisfied.
Christine DeHerrera:So just being really specific with that, that sounds smart, I mean, just like anything else, like break it down and, again, like a lot of people that are listening are probably pretty busy and kind of running from one thing to the next, and so it's important to stop and think like how am I feeling? Am I feeling? And like taking notice even of what's going on in our bodies, which again, like there's so much about like you know performance and you know things of that nature, but it's the other stuff that, how's my heart working? Like that's important, yeah, yeah.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:And I think in the traditional system I think you kind of have to be a squeaky wheel too, which you know, the people who have their nine to five jobs, and that we're trying to conquer the world. You don't have the time to call the office every day and say, hey, what did the doctor think about that? So at least, if you like, schedule a visit, you have their undivided attention, no matter how many visits it takes to kind of get the problem solved.
Christine DeHerrera:Yeah, yeah, I noticed in your packages like obviously the longer appointments, but quite a few appointments are included in a package and I didn't think about why that would be. But yeah, so that you have the time to address each of these things. And and I, yeah, that's. That's so interesting and like just not how we're used to thinking about going to the doctor.
Christine DeHerrera:It's like oh, I went and I should have my one appointment and be done, and or, if it's something more serious, it's like it's still just not at the level that you guys are talking about. It's still like pretty fast moving and short appointments and you might see multiple doctors for the same thing, and so then you lose the continuity altogether. You're starting from scratch at that point.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Yeah, oh, my goodness yeah.
Christine DeHerrera:Yeah, well, it's exciting what you guys are doing, and I hear you are adding back the visiting patients in their homes as part of some of the packages that you offer. Tell me about that Because, okay, I've heard of personalized medicine. I have not heard of in-home doctor visits.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:We're kicking it old school.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Yes, it's so much fun, it's so satisfying. We have the option to add them on a la carte to any package. So if you're a patient who doesn't feel they need that all the time, you can do it at any time for that additional a la carte fee. We have a larger package. We call it the Advanced Solutions Program. No-transcript. Have a wheelchair van. They don't have any way to help get him into the car and get him somewhere. You can do some things over video visit and that has expanded in its utility and, I think, in a very good way. But there's so much to be had by actually laying hands on the person, being able to put your stethoscope on their back, being able to see if they're swelling in their ankles and then, as she alluded to, watching them move around in the room and move around in the house and see what barriers they have.
Christine DeHerrera:So, yeah, yeah, I mean, it's a whole nother level of understanding and I take it back. I have heard of these personalized visits because there's a very popular youtuber and podcaster. He owns a big, big media agency. This guy named Gary V Gary Vaynerchuk and he recorded one of his podcasts while having he'd gotten hit with a basketball in early morning basketball fun with his friends and his doctor came and stitched him up in his office.
Christine DeHerrera:So like we got the whole gamut from like I need a couple of stitches because I'm overdoing myself to like getting really good care in your home for your elderly parents or grandparents or whoever I think that's. I mean, it's just great that we're heading in a direction where there's so many more options. It's unfortunate how we had to get here, but I'm always an optimist and I'm hopeful that somehow what has become our traditional system can like take some of these steps eventually. I mean, I'm probably being way too optimistic.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:I know, I know they're going to go down swinging.
Christine DeHerrera:They're not going to make anything for us. That is true for sure. So, okay, I asked some of my friends who run businesses and have families and just doing all the things that everybody does, for some questions for you guys, because I thought that would be really fun, and so I'm gonna look into a couple of those. So, for the ladies who are running full speed doing all the things like, what do you want that group us, what do you want us to know about what we should be thinking about related to our health and being able to preserve this level of vitality for as long as we possibly can?
Dr. Emily Aaron:That's a giant massive question.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:I feel like if you have something, I feel like it has to be kind of like what stage of life are you in? Yeah, kind of I don't know.
Dr. Emily Aaron:It's definitely that, and it changes with the stages of life quite drastically for women. I think you know a couple of things. Having insight into yourself, because you are living in this body every day, all day, you need to be able to understand and recognize how you're feeling and what you're feeling. Number two you need to find somebody that's going to listen to you.
Dr. Emily Aaron:And unfortunately, sometimes that takes a lot more advocating and being that squeaky wheel on your part. But I think particularly women's issues sit with us stronger because we both experienced them firsthand. When you go to the doctor and they're like oh, maybe you're just anxious here, have an anxiety pill, I don't know. So it's a multifaceted self-care, recognizing when you need that self-care. And what does that look like? That looks like healthy exercise, eating healthily, drinking all that water, not having 600 milligrams of caffeine in the morning and then not drinking a glass of water till dinnertime. All of those things are hard to balance with your busy lifestyle, family and career wise. So you can't forget about you, because you can't give your best to anything if you forget about you.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:And I just want to add sleep in there which. I know like sometimes sleep is a problem for people, but I mean it can affect your immunity, your mood, your like brain fog that a lot of people have literally everything from head to toe, and chronic sleep deprivation is just the enemy of innovation, I'll say.
Christine DeHerrera:Yeah, I think we could probably do whole episodes on each of those areas like eating, caffeine, sleep, movement. For sure. I think your suggestion to just really pay attention to yourself and how you're feeling it seems so obvious but I can speak for myself that there were definitely decades in there where I was so busy running my business and helping my clients and all of that and then being a mom, that I kind of didn't do those things and I mean that seems so bananas to me now and I know I'm not the only one who just completely deprioritized myself. And if you'd asked me how I was feeling, I probably, honestly, wouldn't have been able to answer at some points Like I don't know. Or if I did, I might tell you oh, I had a migraine, but I wouldn't know why. There wouldn't be something I could specifically point to.
Christine DeHerrera:And so I think just the being aware of what's going on and then having those conversations with your doctor if they're physical or even mental because, like you know, sometimes that going to that therapist is something that's really an important part of how we care for ourselves or when you stop sleeping, and a lot of times this stuff gets written off as women's issues and like we can't handle it or something, and it's like, no, we can handle all of it.
Christine DeHerrera:That's the problem, folks, we can handle all of it. That's the underlying issue of everything no only kidding, but also like, besides, besides, what am I feeling? What's going on in my body? But, acknowledging these stages, and I feel really hopeful because I'm older than you guys and it's so exciting now to see people talking about all these different stages, like things that are happening in your teens and your 20s and your 30s and all the way up, and that was not the case even like 10 years ago. It was just, you know, there was like two stages, like you could have a kid and you can't have a kid anymore.
Dr. Emily Aaron:That was the only thing anybody cared about or talked about.
Christine DeHerrera:It's like there might be some nuance in there. So I think just those two things alone are really exciting and useful for people to dive into. And again, walking away from this conversation of putting a note in your phone or something how's it going for me Taking those couple minutes? That might be all that people need to recognize. I actually haven't drank any water today, or gosh. I didn't sleep well last night at all and I'm still trying to do like this huge day when maybe, if I can, I can adjust it. Or yeah, how much of your time when you're working with people do you guys spend talking about things like all the caffeine and the nutrition and supplements and things like that?
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:It's definitely a huge chunk of the visit, like just getting through the supplements, because we also like to make sure that people aren't hurting themselves, because I would say the basis of health is the lifestyle behind it. If you're eating a ton of sugar, eating fatty foods, you're not going to feel great. If you're sitting eating fatty foods, you're not going to feel great. If you're sitting on the couch, you're not going to feel great. So that is always going to be the hardest part and the most important part. At the same time, we work with a nutritionist. That's been really excellent that we offer to our patients. Of course, like they, they go to her like as her patient.
Dr. Emily Aaron:She operates like independent from us, but she is excellent, so we refer to her a lot.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Yeah, and just trying to get support from other specialties, because even keeping one person motivated is a very genuine task, so we try to get a little team on board.
Christine DeHerrera:Is a gargantuan task, so we try to get a little team on board. I love it. I mean, that's the thing we're asking our bodies and our brains to do stuff that we're not designed for. And one of the things that's become clear to me over the years is, like, how much support we really need. Like people should have a nutritionist, and they should have you and like, and a therapist and all these things, and we shouldn't feel weak because we have these things. It's like we're asking our bodies to do things that are basically bananas, and so, of course, we need more support, and I think, like your practice just sounds amazing to have all of these options in that, like people can work with and and really be seen, and that's so much of a problem as well, as you know, being the number in the system, but like and that's not just in medicine, it's in almost everything, and so like that factors into people's health and wellbeing as well.
Christine DeHerrera:Oh my gosh, I have so many more questions. Let's see, but I'm going to, I'm going to rein myself in. Maybe you guys can come back. So I think, like, can we talk a little bit about I mean, this sounds like such an unsexy way to say it, but insulin resistance, okay, this is a thing that happens to lots of people. It happens more as you get older and it's like for you to be a fully functioning person, your body's got to like, process sugars properly. And can you just talk about how devastating that can be for people and what to do before it becomes devastating?
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Yeah. So there are some unfortunate people where the insulin resistance is genetic and you're kind of constantly fighting it. But I would say you know, just living in the US and the way that our food is processed, it's kind of something that we all have to contend with at some point, because we can have any and everything at any time. We want Sugar, carbohydrates. Not all of them are created equal, obviously. You know the whole greens are going to be better than like the white flour. But everything down to when you're digesting it, the gut flora digesting your food, the sugar causing inflammation. You know everyone gives cholesterol a bad rap, but the sugar causes inflammation and that can speed up plaque buildup as well, your kidneys trying to filter out that sugar. They don't like it. It irritates that as well.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:I think we also are constantly challenging our poor little pancreas to take on all these giant carb loads and, believe it or not, it's almost like a vicious cycle. The more you challenge it, the more damage the pancreas can get and then it will work less for you. The higher those sugars it damages the pancreas as well. So unfortunately we kind of a lot of it. We're doing it to ourselves.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:The weight plays a big role, of course, because your body gets this extra sugar and it's like, oh, let me store it for later. Your body gets this extra sugar and it's like, ooh, let me store it for later. And then you start noticing a little lump here, a little lump there, a little cellulite here, um. So, unfortunately, you know, it's not like a body positive, like antibody positivity or anything, but a higher weight, higher sugars, higher blood pressure, more chances of all of the things that we don't want heart disease, stroke, you know, you name it. Kidney disease, your eyes start failing, just multi-organ failure. So everything, everything is a lot of. It is what we're doing to ourselves, unfortunately, and I'm still trying to figure out a way how to remedy that besides like moving to Europe or something or moving to Bhutan.
Christine DeHerrera:Well, it's funny you mentioned that, though, because when you go to these other countries that do not have the terrible ingredients and all the added sugars and preservatives and all this stuff, it's like you feel like a totally different person. Added sugars and preservatives and all this stuff it's like you feel like a totally different person. You might eat like similar meal, but you don't feel inflamed afterwards, at the very least. So, at the beginning, no-transcript more, as people are getting older and under a lot of stress and all that like what are some early signs that they're before it would show up clinically. Like my blood work, all it looks great still, which hooray for me, but I can tell, like my just in how my body is that it's not, but I think I don't have the words for like what it is. That's different. Like what can we notice? Back to noticing how. Words for like what it is. That's different. Like what can we notice? Back to noticing how we feel. Like what, what is that?
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Yeah, you might. You might notice like a little extra puffiness around the face when you wake up in the morning or even throughout the day. Legs, not necessarily because of inflammation, but if you're getting a lot more heartburn, like you need to change your diet. So some of the GI upset bloating, extra gas. Um, I thought of another one and then it slipped my mind.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Oh for, for, specifically for insulin resistance. You can get a darkening of the neck and sometimes you can get it like in the underarms, like basically anywhere where you flex, you can have like a darkening of the skin. Um, that shows that you're having some insulin resistance. There are some people usually this is like more far gone but if your vision starts to get blurred, that can be a sign of your sugars being higher than they need to be. Also, some people can confuse feeling like their sugar is too low and they need to eat something all the time and having headaches triggered it by it. They can confuse that as like oh, my sugar's too low, but maybe it's just that you're used to a very high level, so you're just constantly feeding that sugar beast. Um, to to feel normal. Quote unquote normal for you?
Christine DeHerrera:Oh, that's so interesting because, yeah, like, definitely I don't want to like my blood sugar drops, so I better just keep on snacking. Yeah, and it's like causing the exact opposite problem. It's like oh, your blood sugar's high through the roof, oh my gosh.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Most of our livers are also very capable of cranking out extra blood glucose when our sugar is low, so you don't necessarily have to have an ice cream cone. You can just let your body do the work.
Christine DeHerrera:Oh dang, we're back to the body is really smart. The body is so smart. I think about that. No-transcript discussed, like movement and sleep and all that, but you guys are the experts. So for people that are starting to have awareness that there is such a thing as cortisol, what do you have to say about that?
Dr. Emily Aaron:Got it. So I definitely want to kind of start this one off saying that traditional Western trained medicine and functional medicine sort of. I think we're getting the best health care if we're doing a marriage of all the doctrines because, as traditionally Western trained MDs, we are kind of taught that you do not have a cortisol problem unless you actually have high cortisol in your blood work and that means your adrenal gland is over functioning or you're having an abnormal signal coming from your pituitary gland. So we, a lot of Western trained MDs, put it in a box and say if I can't do a blood work for it and it doesn't say that it's high, then I'm not going to diagnose you with that. And it's something else.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Now the world of functional medicine takes it from the perspective of we're looking not only at cortisol regular blood work we're looking at urinary metabolites of cortisol, sometimes salivary metabolites of cortisol, and we're trying to find different areas of the same hormone cascade that might look like they're out of range. Now, from a practical perspective of somebody who's passionate about both doctrines and really likes to figure out the most effective, least costly way to get there is, we're really just looking at total inflammation and how you feel If you don't have an abnormal blood cortisol, which is the case for most people because, going back to how smart our bodies are, we've got some great compensatory mechanisms to not allow that to stay out of range for long on a measurable way. But we need to look at that underlying cause of inflammation and say if you're feeling swollen, water retention, super fatigued, everything hurts, all the time there is total body inflammation going on. Am I going to be able to measure that? Maybe, maybe not. Probably not is the actual answer. What are we going to do about it? We're going to look at everything causing inflammation. We'll rule out real autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. But once we've ruled out those measurable autoimmune causes of high cortisol, high inflammatory markers, then we're going to go back to those lifestyle, functional medicine things and think about what is driving our inflammation.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Is it sugar? Is it stress? Is it alcohol? Is it the fact that we're having way too much gluten? So there's this whole study of like whether or not we have too much gluten, and I think the answer is yes. Even if you don't have true celiac disease, we know it increases inflammation. Another little, just fun tidbit about inflammation is we know that meat. Eating meat will release a lot of inflammatory cytokines in our bloodstream and they stay active in our bloodstream for about six hours. What do we do? Usually, six hours later we eat again, and in America we probably have meat at that meal. So you're never getting out of that inflammatory cascade, whether it's cortisol or some other unmeasurable inflammatory marker.
Christine DeHerrera:Yeah, oh, wow, that that's so interesting and again, there's so many different ways to come at it. You might not need an additional blood test if you have all these factors and you can start working with that. Well, that's good news for a lot of people that maybe aren't going to go to a functional medicine doctor and take that and take that. And also how exciting because all the things that you mentioned are in our control that we can make changes to, and so that that is really remarkable which you mentioned about autoimmune diseases. I just have probably could have one more question for the next three hours, but again, one of the questions from one of my friends was you know, women are diagnosed with, not like an autoimmune doctor, that's looking at all the autoimmune diseases, versus like seeing an endocrinologist or dermatologist or rheumatologist you know what I'm trying to say Rheumatologist, so and I was like I don't know. I will ask my super genius guests.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Yeah, I think the way that the physicians look at things is you find one problem and you you attack it down until you find the the source of it. Um, I, I really hope that there's someone looking to see all the triggers. Definitely, I would say the viral route is one of the one of the things that is being studied, because we learned so much with COVID how it just like turned on the immune system in such a way that it devastated everything. Um, so, definitely, viral causes, environmental triggers, I think is huge, especially here in Colorado, since there was like a lot of ex-military sites. So you have all these pockets of of neighborhoods that were like everyone got this one type of cancer or, you know, everyone is just like chronically ill. Um, so I think I feel like we're going in the direction of finding, yeah, the source. Um, you know viruses you can't really control that stay healthy. Environmental stuff. I mean we just got to do better. Yeah, you know the way that we process anything from from metal to, you know, military testing, to to the food.
Christine DeHerrera:We're doing it to ourselves we keep circling back to self-responsibility.
Christine DeHerrera:How interesting, yes, which is why it's so important for women to run their businesses, take care of themselves, take care of their family. Because we can have so much influence. When we are, you know, fully in our power and have access to funds, we're making money. As business owners, you can fund things to look into this and fund cleanup of projects from the 1950s and just different things. I mean, it is pretty shocking. There are definitely areas that have large amounts of homes on them now, because I've lived in Colorado for a very long time and like I grew up here and it's like why would you build near some of these sites? It's like holy moly, and I'm sure that's the case all over the country.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:There's places because, oh, yeah, yeah, strong military, like focusing on women, um, because I mean, we're just recently learning about how, like, when you have a baby, the baby's dna can actually become part of your dna, um, and you're like hosting a parasite. So yeah, basically we're doing it to ourselves, I guess.
Christine DeHerrera:Oh my gosh, accurate, oh my goodness, yeah, okay. Well, that's good and it makes me feel hopeful that you're hopeful, that people are looking at like underlying triggers for all this stuff, because it makes sense and even viral, like understanding that that's an underlying cause might affect how people are treated, or if people are aware, like being treated earlier, before there's a lot of damage and and that kind of thing like perhaps so okay, one of the coolest things I think is like I'm really fortunate to like connect with people from all ages, like 20s to 70s and 80s, and since, like we were talking earlier about you know different stages of our life, I thought it would be fun to like hit each decade like I'll name them and you guys say like one thing that people should, in that decade, should really be thinking about related to their health. So here we go. Hopefully it's fun, okay, what should people women, particularly in their twenties focus on?
Dr. Emily Aaron:just as a quick note, Hydrating and diet, starting those habits, creating those habits so that they'll be sustainable. It's easy to drive through and get a cheeseburger, but having those foods is addictive because of the chemicals in these foods and they make them craveable for a reason. So every decade of life it gets harder to change your habits. So really trying to focus on that active, hydrating eating right to fuel your body in your 20s is a good place oh, I love that.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:I wanted to add mental health to that. Um, you know, finding out your mental health quirks earlier in life because we see it down the line when you're in your 40s or 50s or 60s all the coping mechanisms that you've kind of like acquired over the years or just fail you, um. So just I would say, getting plugged into your mental health as early as you can is a good thing to do.
Christine DeHerrera:Yeah, I love that. I love both of those. That is so good. Where were you guys when I was in my 20s? I know where you were. You weren't here yet. Okay, 30s, 30s what are we looking at?
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:You know, for 30s I was thinking about this and I think you're still trying to hammer down the diet and exercise. I don't think you figure it out in your 20s, because in your 20s you're just challenging how far your body can go. How many nights of no sleep can I go through without needing to crash? You know how many cheeseburgers can I eat in a row, you know, before I start getting a bellyache or something. So I think 30s is like perfecting your diet and exercise and you still love that?
Christine DeHerrera:yeah, yeah all right, 40s, 40s, 40s so 40s is for me.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:I was gonna mention just like that's, that's the start of like all the cancer screenings, um, just being really health conscious. You know, you're kind of like almost halfway through your life. What are the things that are gonna get me so, looking at your family history, um, doing all the the age-appropriate cancer screenings? Um, and I I kind of want to say it for the 50s, but sometimes in the 40s people start having the hormone issues, so I'll leave it for the 50s.
Christine DeHerrera:All right, 50s, this is going to be a shocker Hormones, hormones, hormones.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:You know, once your ovaries give up everything, we're just like little deflated balloons. Everything were just like little deflated balloons and some people are. The pendulum is swinging now more towards hormone replacement therapy. When we were in training it was like absolutely no way you're going to give yourself cancer.
Christine DeHerrera:You're going to kill people.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Yeah, pretty much.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:But just being able to maintain your hormone chemistry for as long as you can, your hormone chemistry for as long as you can. I think in the long run it's technically not a guideline to use it as like primary prevention for things like heart disease, osteoporosis, you know if you haven't had a problem already, but I think we're swinging towards that. Hormones, hormones, hormones. Paying attention to your body.
Christine DeHerrera:Yes, and if they're following since their 20s, it's a lot easier because you're on it. All right 60s.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Yes, 60s are transitioning to that being a senior. Starting to think about getting Medicare, if you're going to start getting Medicare at 65. Thinking about retiring, if you haven't already thought about retiring. Although we're all working a lot longer and in a lot of places, that's a good thing, but sometimes it's, you know. So starting to look at how do I really want to spend that last 30% of my life, 30, 40% of my life? We don't think people can really live past 120. That's theorized as, like the maximum age. So you are for sure, without a doubt, at least hovering around the halfway point, at that point, and you need to think about what matters to you and what you want everything to look like. And so if it's being active, then keep being active and stretching those joints and making sure that you're trying to work out the appropriate way to give your joints health, rather than going and lifting 250 pounds you might be causing more back problems than you realize, kind of thing. So understanding how to ergonomically take yourself through the finish line eventually.
Christine DeHerrera:I like that. I like that, yeah, and I mean 120 sims absolutely bananas. But more and more people are living longer, which is interesting and I don't know, like in my Instagram a week or two ago, like when it was still the Olympics, like there was a lot of videos of people in their nineties and one hundreds like doing swimming competition and running competition. So it just proves. I mean, genetics are obviously a huge part of that, but like, if you care for yourself properly and follow all of the steps, you guys are saying like who knows what you can do and accomplish, and if you're going to be here, you want to feel good, all right. And last but not least, and again, we obviously could keep going to 120, but we'll stop at 70 because I know lots of very vibrant, amazing 70 plus year olds I was going to say for your 80s you can do whatever you want.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:I love it. I love it.
Christine DeHerrera:All the rules are out the window. Time to start smoking and drinking again.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Smoking and drinking have all the cheeseburgers and sit on the couch.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Heart disease over developing over 60 years of life. So you know definitely at that point and it looks different for everybody. Yeah, you need to always. I think the flat answer after 70 is focus on quality and what's important to you, understand your priorities and we'll help you meet those goals by talking about that priority.
Christine DeHerrera:So I love that. So essentially, be an advocate for yourself throughout your health and like through your whole life looking at your health and just keep going with that and drink that water.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:And drink that water At 80, you still have to hydrate. Give me more. Give me more hydration?
Christine DeHerrera:Yeah, because you've taken up smoking and drinking again, oh my gosh. Well, thank you guys. I mean I can see how passionate you are about a lot of aspects and I'm sure we could spend hours on it like going into other ones. So again, I would invite you to come back and we can dig into like a specific topic really deep. But I feel like there's a lot of value for people. Where can they find you guys online if they want to learn more about your practice?
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Yeah, so our website is the Aurelian standardcom. We do have an Instagram, which could be more active the Aurelian standard. At the Aurelian standard, we're located at Rose medical center, so it's 4545 East ninth Avenue, suite 240. If you Google either one of our names, it should pop up. If you Google the Aurelian standard, great Awesome, great Awesome.
Christine DeHerrera:Good, well, I'm really excited about what you're doing and I think that this was a really super fun episode. So thank you guys for coming and hope to see you again.
Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden:Yes, absolutely, it's a great time.
Dr. Emily Aaron:Yeah.