CRISTINA ROSE 0:00
Oh Hey friends, welcome to this week’s episode of “Not Your Momma’s Podcast”. And today, our special guest is Dr. Serena Lewis Everett, a dedicated family medicine physician with a passion for delivering evidence based healthcare solutions. Her holistic approach focuses on addressing both social and biological aspects of patient’s well being to achieve optimal outcomes. Dr. It is such an honor to have you on I’m so excited to dive on our topic.
DR. SERINA LEWIS 0:33
Yes, I’m looking forward to it and answering questions and connecting.
CRISTINA ROSE 0:38
So how can individuals incorporate evidence based methods into their daily lives to improve their overall health?
DR. SERINA LEWIS 0:45
Okay, yes. So I’m gonna take a step back and say what evidence based is so evidence base is applying or translating research that we do, particularly random random control studies, that’s considered the gold standard of research. We apply those findings from those studies to like daily care practices, and clinical decision making. We also use those things to continually improve clinical practice. And so people can achieve higher care. So patients can and there’s a lot of evidence based methods out there that I’m sure you’ve kind of even heard of at home. So there’s no secret that bad habits such as smoking, physical activity, inactivity and poor diet, contribute to the development of different cardiovascular diseases, and increase your risk factors for stuff like obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure. But then we also know that leading a healthy lifestyle can also reduce those factors. Right.
CRISTINA ROSE 1:42
Exactly And, you know, helps with the mind, too, you know, and absolutely. So much of your body.
DR. SERINA LEWIS 1:49
Mm hmm. I have a lot of patients on that I see that say doing cardiovascular things and activities have to reduce their stress, right? Because goes to mental health, right. So as you kind of brought up, the first big one is like get moving. So we really should be doing about 150 minutes of some type of moderate cardio exercise a week. Okay, in addition to doing some type of strength training, at least twice a week, and what exercise does at the cellular level, it allows our oxygen levels to go up as our brain function, as you mentioned, with mental health, to improve your body functions better, and you just feel better, right? And there was actually a study that showed in Stockholm, that the antidepressant effects kind of the mental health of running was also associated with more so growth in the hippocampal area in the brain, which is responsible for learning and memory.
CRISTINA ROSE 2:40
So he helped improve that. Is that what I understood? Oh, wow, yeah. Then underestimate how much like walking, just walking Kynapse everything. I mean, you underestimate it, but it can do wonders, and it really helps your brain think, especially if you take an electronic free walk, you know, and I mean, and I think that’s, that’s important, too. It’s kind of, you know, limit our social device use.
DR. SERINA LEWIS 3:09
Exactly. Which, which goes along to our mental health, our body health, our body image health. I mean, the list goes on. Yeah, social media. And another thing that you can do this evidence based is feeding your gut bacteria, surprisingly. So our gut biome increases our risk of incorrect biomimicry service because like inflammatory conditions, right.
CRISTINA ROSE 3:36
well, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Oh, wow. Yes. Yeah. So I know how it’s so important. And how like all about this, you could Yeah, like mental health, with your, like, life and on the people underestimate how important your gut is to even just having energy for the day. You know? And yeah, so I just, think it’s so important and love to talk about gut health because it’s extremely important and you know, having great probiotics and antibiotics and supplements to help balance those things that you were talking about.
DR. SERINA LEWIS 4:16
100% So you, you hit it spot on Route, right, so the probiotic supplements, fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut are good and a half and plenty of fiber helped with that gut health, which is important. It’s a mention I took as a reason to miss out on things that you said. Um, another thing is like admitting sugary drinks, right, so sugar sweetened beverages have little nutritional value. And a robust body of evidence has shown that they’re linked to weight gain, and increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease and even some cancers. So doing more water, unsweetened teas, sparkling water, even coffee and limiting obviously coffee with not a lot of cream, right? Yeah, that is not good. Everybody loves to Kramer. I mean, I’m gonna that’s one of my guilty pleasures. But I’ve learned to do like almond creamer, right little bits of oat milk, you know, you go to Starbucks and you order oat milk and almond milk. That’s the reason why people do less calories, less sugar. Another one is getting good sleep, right? So poor sleep can actually driving insulin resistance, and can disrupt your appetite hormones and reduce your physical and mental performance. And sleep is one of the strongest individual risk factors for weight gain and obesity. So people who don’t get enough sleep tend to make bad food choices, right? It’s like think about the people that work overnight, right? They’re eating snacks. They’re snacking on like, 24 hour back Donald’s, right, higher and fat, sugar calories. And it leads to like unwanted weight gain. So it also kind of goes right we still kind of tying it back into weight and weight management and healthy living. But it goes into mental health too. So you know the kind of the kind of the few that I have.
CRISTINA ROSE 5:55
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DR. SERINA LEWIS 7:11
Yes, so a lot of women. So the biggest thing I see my women face is having the time because of the active busy schedule that they have. Right? And so how do you fit and but still like trying to keep up with social media and they haven’t like being thin and looking the best you can. Right?
CRISTINA ROSE 7:28
So the pressures, right? Be unicorns in the world.
DR. SERINA LEWIS 7:36
The biggest thing to do I know it’s gonna sound crazy, is trying to avoid restrictive diets, my ladies, okay, because everybody’s like, Oh, I want to go to the beach. So I’m gonna do a seven day diet and you do the diet, and then you gain it all back after you do the diet.
CRISTINA ROSE 7:54
Yeah what your thoughts on fasting for women?
DR. SERINA LEWIS 7:56
Fasting is good. So intermittent fasting has been shown to reduce central visceral fat in our bellies. Right? And so that reduces your risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease and high cholesterol. So power is exactly the hours you can I would stick to the 168 if you can. Because I think that’s the one I see more often more often people use and they can actually adhere to it, right? Because if you’re going to do something like that, you wanted to find something that you can actually adhere to. Yeah, right. Looking like a lifestyle. Yeah. And I think seeing 16 Eight is easier to do than a little bit more of the restrictive hours that I see some people do. But that’s more like for people that are like they’re working out all the time, and they have the time to work out. If you’re a busy mom, right? You have a lot of busy moms, then regular intermittent fasting, maybe skipping breakfast or going to breakfast, what high protein and then doing your lunch or bigger dinner is better. Yeah, I think it’s more easier to keep up, maintain. So you’re not yo yoing. Right?
CRISTINA ROSE 8:56
Yeah, and that we tend to do that a lot. Like, you know, trying to diet and lose weight, or doing good. And then they always gain it back. You know, it’s like they gain it back. I don’t know the exact so don’t quote me.
DR. SERINA LEWIS 9:10
You’re right. You’re absolutely right. And that’s why people kind of like you see, I know you see ozempic And everyone’s like, Oh, I do ozempic Because I lose the weight but then they lose the weight and then they gain it back and they’re going back to the doctor to get ozempic again. Yeah, right. So it’s better to maintain and do it the healthy way if you can. Another thing for my ladies, nurture your social relationships. So this is great to have your podcast right? Keeping your social relationships actually contributes to good mental well being. Studies show that people with better well being closer friends and family live longer, healthier lives right than those who do not. Another big one is meditation from a lady’s stress has a negative effect on your health right you can affect your blood sugar, your food choices, your reducer, immune system, contribute to like fat distribution. So meditating has good There’s no scientific evidence that supports that meditation helps with stress management and improving your health. In one study it showed involving 48 people, people with high blood pressure diabetes. In the both of those groups, the researchers found that meditation actually lowered their bad cholesterol, which is their LDL, and if patient compared to people who didn’t meditate, so that’s always an option if you’re on the go, right. Pop on that calm app, especially when the workday is crazy.
CRISTINA ROSE 10:27
No, yeah, come on the comments. I know.
DR. SERINA LEWIS 10:31
Brown noise a little. Another thing is like taking your vitamin D supplements, right? So everybody’s really into supplementation now, multivitamins, but my ladies, Vitamin D is important. You hear me? Vitamin D is important for your bones, right? Yeah, because I like men. We lose our estrogen as we get older, right? Our estrogen is very protective of us when we’re young, like you’re pretty young. As you get older, you lose that your bones get brittle and that leads to osteoporosis. Right? So taking vitamin D like a supplement or not, right two to 3000 units a day. And calcium 1200 milligrams a day prevents that multivitamin by yourself does not do it right. Back in the bottle. It only has a little bit in there. You have us ladies specific similarities my sisters, we got to do a separate right in addition to the multivitamin, okay. And then we already talked about getting enough sleep avoiding like bright light so you mentioned like the phones earlier avoiding those fumbles before you go to bed because that affects your sleep.
CRISTINA ROSE 11:38
And I heard that like if I hurt people there was a study and I forget where I saw it and people that see on their phones past 11pm start to can develop depression and stuff like that like yes good like you know as just cut it off by 11 Otherwise it’s just you can start to develop not very good thoughts and that really will mess up with your sleep
DR. SERINA LEWIS 11:59
100% You’re spot on with that. And so like you said the bright lights can affect a lot of things. It reduces your body’s ability to be I know you’ve heard of melatonin Nicobar to counteract the melatonin gummies and things. But having that like extra blue light, like you said at 11 o’clock, and digital screens and things like that. It reduces the your body’s way of producing his own melatonin. So we want to help our bodies do that. So cutting off those phones, turn that phone off, turn it off that TV at least 30 minutes before 30 minutes or hour before bed does help. I know everybody’s busy. And we all want to check guard schedules for the next day and got to try to avoid that if at all possible. One thing I do not turn on like white noise, and it kind of makes me a little sleepy. So I like that because it forces me to like turn off everything in common.
CRISTINA ROSE 12:47
Yeah no it is good to stay in those routines.
All right, Dr. Serena Lewis, I cannot wait to dive into the Power Mom Chronicles with you and figure out what your answers are and pick your brain a little bit more.
So my first one to you is what’s a game changing lesson life has taught you.
DR. SERINA LEWIS 13:08
So game says this life has taught me is setbacks are reframed as learning opportunities. Yeah, meaning that every setback that I’ve had in my life, I had to learn how to not look at it as a failure, but a learning opportunity. And even though I was uncomfortable at that time, I had to pick myself back up and try again, it’s something right. So it makes you become more made me become more resourceful, and demonstrate resilience, like by the medical school the first time I didn’t get in the first time. And so taking learning what I did wrong, getting, you know, reassessing, and then getting back to it right. And I got it in the next time. And I just apply those, I’ve applied that to like every little aspect of my life, even when it came to dating, I’m married now, but even setbacks that because I know a lot of my ladies are dating, right? Or even when it come when it comes to being a mom, right? I can’t be perfect. I’m not a mom yet. But I have a lot of patients that are and I feel like kids and their parents, and they’re always sharing that with me, like they they’re constantly learning from their kids. They’re constantly learning in their parenthood journey, I think that can be applied to anything.
CRISTINA ROSE 14:15
Exactly, And reflecting on your journey, what practical lessons or insights can our listeners apply to improve their own lives?
DR. SERINA LEWIS 14:23
Yes, so get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable, right? So you’re not, you’re never not going to be growing, right? So if you find yourself in a space was like, oh, okay, I’m used to doing this. I’m used to doing that. Try something else, right after the bigger dream. But because if you look at the people like Jeff Bezos, they go for the bigger dreams by being uncomfortable by doing something that somebody else might not have done right, which can bring up fear and anxiety definitely can be in a comfortable position. But it’s in those moments that you might be inspired to do something else. Um, you might realize that you Gotta move into uncharted territory, particularly with transformative dreams. But a lot of times that requires just comfort.
CRISTINA ROSE 15:07
Yeah I know, I always one thing I’ve learned about having the podcast from everyone, it’s like, if you have a fear for it and a desire, just go for it, you know, right? Like, it’s not going to be a smooth ride, nothing ever is. And like you said, you’re gonna learn and navigate and, you know, other ideas will spark up along the way. And so my third question to you is offer a piece of wisdom for moms or anyone really, you know, striving to find their strength and voice.
DR. SERINA LEWIS 15:36
Yes so for my mom’s I would say, especially because I have a lot of patients that your mom groups, right, learn to filter the feedback of others, filter it out a little bit, right, because it can dampen your dreams and kind of the group goals, especially if there’s a real negative, right, like, like slightly off the cuff remark to you about something about your dream or intentions, you kind of gotta learn how to flush that out. But we still be open to advice and be mindful, right, because that person really may be trying to help you, but you just got to use it structured in a way that you can use it for your own journey. So remember, just always listen to your inner wisdom, irrespective of what other people may think about your dream or your or your goal.
CRISTINA ROSE 16:18
Perfect, and the best advice you’ve ever received.
DR. SERINA LEWIS 16:24
That’s advice I’ve ever received, go for it. So those are small words, but my mom used to say them all the time. And I’ve applied that to every asset of my life, kind of, as I mentioned before, so just go for it when you feel like oh, go for it, like it’s day that you don’t want to do it, go for it in the back of your mind. And so that’s why I like certain points like The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost or if by Rudyard Kipling, because it, those, they it mentions all of the journey, the journey that you may have, and all the obstacles that you may have to overcome. But you still want to go for steel, right? Because you want to be successful. Yeah. And that’s the only way to do that.
CRISTINA ROSE 17:00
Well, that was such a great way to end this week’s episode of “Not Your Momma’s Podcast”. Thank you so much, Dr. for coming on and sharing all of your insights. All of her links are down below in the show notes. Don’t be shy. Go say hi, and I hope to see you all in the next one. Thanks for listening