Evolution of Medicine Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

This week’s podcast guest is Katie Baric, Executive Director at Hands on Peru—a nonprofit organization in Peru and the US, created as a response to the deep inequities in access to medical care among the rural poor of Peru. Hands on Peru is a medical center that provides a range of basic medical services, from dentistry to ultrasounds.

The organization also has a mission to serve as an educational platform for students and medical practitioners from around the world. Katie invites listeners to reach out to her at katie@handsonperu.org to learn about opportunities for visiting and working with the organization to learn about pioneering public health theory into practice.

During the episode, Katie also highlights the launch of Chimuk, a social enterprise empowering local women through knitting, and the impact of these initiatives on the community's health and wellbeing.

Download and listen to the episode to hear about:

·       How Katie came to co-found Hands on Peru.

·       Katie’s and James’ introduction at the Lifestyle Medicine Conference in Mexico City, and why they were inspired by the unique conference format that modeled the principles of lifestyle medicine.

·       Peru’s practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

·       And much more!

Please tune in to learn about opportunities to travel to Peru to participate in this community development and healthcare initiative.

In this episode, James Maskell is joined by Dr. Jeffrey Morrison, the newly elected president of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM). Since its founding in the 1960s, AAEM has been at the forefront of understanding and addressing environmental causes of illness.

Dr. Morrison shares how AAEM is experiencing a resurgence, fueled by a new generation of passionate practitioners dedicated to tackling chronic illnesses like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and metabolic dysfunction through the lens of environmental health.

Key topics include:

• The impact of mold exposure, heavy metal toxicity, EMFs, and other environmental toxins on chronic disease.
• How AAEM is training practitioners to integrate environmental factors into their care strategies.
• Building a community of practitioners to advocate for policy changes that improve public health.
• Highlights from the upcoming AAEM conference in San Antonio, featuring renowned speakers like Del Bigtree and Erin Brockovich.

James also reflects on how Dr. Morrison’s innovative clinic shaped his early thinking about lifestyle medicine and patient engagement.

Tune in to explore how AAEM is leading the charge for a healthier future through environmental medicine.

Rob Kress, with a background in pharmacy and herbology, joins James for a compelling discussion on the critical need for men’s health-focused medical practices. This episode is meant to inspire practitioners to create successful, holistic men’s health practices that can effectively address the current men’s health crisis.

The conversation stems from the recognition that many existing practices are primarily geared toward women, leaving a gap in addressing men’s specific health needs. Rob Kress shares with listeners his program, Man Unmedicated, which is a 30+ hour training program designed to equip practitioners with both clinical knowledge and coaching skills. Man Unmedicated offers a dual approach to men's health:

1. Functional Medicine Training: Focuses on labs, hormones, medications, and other clinical aspects related to men’s health.
2. Holistic Wellness Training: Covers the "seven peaks of wellness," including physical health, movement, exercise, and emotional/mental well-being, providing a more comprehensive approach to men's health.

Listen to the episode to hear more about:

• Opportunities that come with building men’s health-focused practices
• The importance of creating relatability and trust with male patients by sharing personal health journeys
• Strategies for building referral-based, community-centered practices around men's health groups and coaching
• Ongoing mentorship and support to help practitioners implement this model in their communities
• And much more

The State of Men’s Health Functional Forum, August 2024

Man Unmedicated

Julia Hotz is a journalist and author, who wrote a book called The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service and Belonging. James and Julia connected because her new book is strikingly synergistic in topic and title to James’ second book, The Community Cure: Transforming Health Outcomes Together, which calls for readers to adopt group care principles to make lifestyle medicine more widely accessible and sustainable.

This is an enlivening conversation, where you’ll hear about the data backing social prescribing as an antidote to the most prevalent chronic health issues of this generation: illnesses exacerbated by the loneliness epidemic, such as attention and mood issues and a slew of chronic illnesses.

Tune in to learn about:

• Financial benefits of social prescribing
• Business solutions for supporting community-based solutions to chronic health issues
• How science backs social prescribing as an effective solution to ailments like chronic pain, trauma, dementia, diabetes and loneliness
• Potential for insurance companies to incentivize social prescriptions
• The benefits of art and nature on health
• And much more

VagusFest launched in spring 2024, and Dr. Kelly Livingston took the concept and ran with it, creating a sucessful event that engaged her local community members. Dr. Livingston joins this podcast episode to share her experience applying James Maskell’s VagusFest model in Darien, Connecticut.

The VagusFest model enables local practitioners to host local community events that demonstrate to local attendees the power of vagal toning, and indirectly, the benefits of lifestyle, functional, or integrative medicine. Functioning as a promotional event for local clinics, VagusFest addresses a public relations issue for functional medicine, which is that the general perception that patients must invest significant time into their health journey before seeing results. VagusFest hosts can showcase how their approach to medicine offers immediate benefits through direct experience at the event.

Download and listen to the episode to hear more about:

• Reasons for practitioners to prioritize nervous system regulation in their practices.
• Dr. Livingston’s favorite resources on vagal toning, including books by Deb Dana and Stanley Rosenberg.
• Challenges and successes of previous VagusFest events.
• The value of group medicine and community engagement.

This podcast episode is brought to you by Pulsetto. Pulsetto is a leader in the vagus nerve revolution. Their vagus nerve stimulator is extremely easy to use, great for addressing pain and sleep issues.  Order your first one at goevomed.com/Pulsetto. If you like it and want to order for your patients, you can also order wholesale much like you would do with supplements. This is potentially a powerful tool to use in your practice. 

Expanding upon the July 2024 Functional Forum about reversing cognitive decline, this podcast episode offers the full conversation between Dr. Heather Sandison and James Maskell.  Dr. Sandison is the author of Reversing Alzheimer’s: The New Toolkit to Improve Cognition and Protect Brain Health.

In this episode, the guest delves deeper into the potential for functional medicine to reverse dementia, and Dr. Sandison shares her success in using a comprehensive approach to improving cognitive function for patients.  She also discusses challenges and controversies surrounding this approach, including the role of mold and toxins in brain health

This is a hopeful discussion that offers listeners:

1. An overview of the factors that clinicans want to consider addressing with dementia patients
2. Findings from clinical trials that use lifestyle and personalized medicine
3. An understanding of cost saving benefits of a functional medicine approach
4. The potential for AI to assist in supporting decision-making protocols
5. And much more!

Kirkland Newman is the founder of MindHealth360, host of the London Functional Forum Community, and is organizing the Integrative Medicine for Mental Health Conference, occurring October 10-13, 2024 just outside of  Washington, DC.

The conference aims to bring together various practitioners and professionals in the mental health field to discuss concrete solutions and advancements in mental health care. The conference will address topics such as brain health, technology addiction, gut-brain connection, trauma therapy, genomics, and more.

The goal is to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice and provide practitioners with a wider toolbox to address mental health issues. The conference is open to medical and mental health professionals, as well as passionate individuals interested in mental health transformation.

This episode offers a preview of cutting-edge perspectives on mental health, including cognitive decline. When you listen, you’ll learn about:

1. Kirkland’s vision to integrate functional medicine into mainstream mental health practices.
2. The epidemic of mental health issues, especially among young people, is a concern, and conventional medical practices seem ill-equipped to address the problem.
3. An introduction to some IMMH speakers, including Dr. Daniel Amen, who focuses on brain health rather than mental health; Dr. Robert Lustig, who discusses technology addiction and the impact of the amygdala on mental health; Dr. Georgia Ede, Dr. Dale Bredesen, and more. 
4. The gut-brain connection, trauma's impact on biochemistry and the gut, and the importance of safe connection and social engagement in healing are also highlighted in the conversation.
5. And much more!

In this Business of Functional Medicine episode, Kristen Brokaw hosts a conversation with Dr. Jarrod Spencer, a sports psychologist who also works with corporations and high net-worth professionals. In this episode, Dr. Spencer discusses the importance for clinicans to manage emotional energy and mental fatigue. Given that healthcare is usually a high-stress role, individuals must prioritize their emotional health and well-being.

Getting enough sleep, counseling and developing a mental toolbox to effectively manage emotional energy are examples of strategies healthcare providers should be employing. He also highlights the significance of creating a positive and supportive culture in the workplace, including practices like fist bumping and high fiving to foster camaraderie among staff members.

This episode validates physician burnout and offers helpful tools for managing emotional energy and mental fatigue.

If you listen to the full episode, you’ll hear about:

1.       Dr. Spencer’s scoring system, for measuring emotional energy, or one’s psychological capacity to effectively deal with immediate stressors in their life.

2.       Mental fatigue significantly impacts a person's perception of effort. When mentally fatigued, individuals are more likely to perceive tasks as requiring more effort, which can decrease their endurance and motivation.

3.       Emotional and mental fatigue can lead to negative thinking, decreased performance, and burnout.

4.       Compassion fatigue and neglecting one's own emotional well-being can have negative consequences on both personal and professional life.

5.       And more!

On this episode, our guest is Mastin Kipp, a best-selling author and creator of Functional Life CoachingTM. Mastin joined the podcast to talk about his recent book titled, Reclaim Your Nervous System, which discusses the importance of prioritizing the nervous system in healing and overall well-being.

Mastin asserts that befriending and addressing resistant parts of ourselves can promote healing and improve our relationship with our nervous system. Mastin highlights the power of group care and co-regulation in creating a safe space for emotional expression and healing.

This podcast release coincides with Evolution of Medicine’s launch of VagusFest, which is a participatory nervous system healing event that practitioners can organize to promote healing in their communities. If you’re interested in hosting your own event, please contact support@goevomed.com. 

Check out the full podcast episode to hear about:

• Mastin Kipp’s journey into coaching and the study of the nervous system.
• The power of group settings for facilitating behavior change and creating a sense of safety.
• Co-regulating groups can drive the adoption of functional medicine as a standard of care, with clinicians providing support and addressing root causes when necessary.
• Challenges of expressing emotions and the societal conditioning that often discourages emotional expression.
• And more!

Robert Lustig, MD joins James for this information-packed episode that unifies mental and metabolic healthcare. Dr. Lustig is a pediatric endocrinologist and food educator, who focuses on spreading awareness about the topic of this podcast.

During this episode he walks through the connection between nutrition, brain health, and mental health. They touch on topics such as the impact of ultra-processed food on metabolic health, the role of the amygdala in fear conditioning and chronic toxic stress, and the importance of the vagus nerve in regulating the nervous system.

Dr. Lustig also highlights the need for public education and policy change to address the systemic health crisis and mental health crisis. Dr. Lustig will be speaking at the Integrative Medicine for Mental Health Conference in October 2024.

Check out this informative, empowering episode to hear about:

• Dr. Lusting’s new book on the amygdala and its connection to food.
• The importance of understanding the difference between food science, nutrition and metabolic health.
• The role of mitochondrial dysfunction in systemic and mental health disorders.
• The potential for a cultural shift toward prioritizing metabolic health and the challenges facing it.