Episode 159
Kris Sargent:
The Unexpected Ally in Your Menopause Journey
This week, I sat down with Dr. Kris Sargent to explore an often-overlooked aspect of menopause: spirituality. We dive into how faith and community can be unexpected allies in your wellness journey, especially during major life transitions.
First Aired on: Sep 30, 2024
Episode 159
Kris Sargent:
The Unexpected Ally in Your Menopause Journey
This week, I sat down with Dr. Kris Sargent to explore an often-overlooked aspect of menopause: spirituality. We dive into how faith and community can be unexpected allies in your wellness journey, especially during major life transitions.
First Aired on: Sep 30, 2024
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
In this enlightening episode, I sit down with Dr. Kris Sargent, a functional medicine practitioner with decades of experience. We dive deep into the intersection of faith and wellness, debunk menopause myths, and explore how to thrive in every stage of life through holistic health practices.
Introduction
Dr. Kris Sargent, a chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner, joins me to discuss the importance of a holistic approach to health, particularly for women navigating menopause. With her extensive background in functional medicine and her personal journey through menopause, Dr. Sargent offers invaluable insights on maintaining optimal health at any age.
Episode Highlights
The Role of Faith in Wellness
Dr. Sargent emphasizes the importance of faith in overall wellness, regardless of one's specific beliefs.
- Faith can lead to reduced anxiety and depression
- It provides a sense of community and shared values
- Faith encourages gratitude, which can positively impact physical health
Debunking Menopause Myths
We challenge common misconceptions about menopause and aging, highlighting that this phase of life can be empowering and vibrant.
- Menopause doesn't have to be a negative experience
- Weight gain and other symptoms are not inevitable
- Lifestyle changes can significantly impact menopausal symptoms
The Importance of Individualized Approaches
Dr. Sargent stresses the need for personalized health strategies, especially during significant life changes like menopause.
- One-size-fits-all solutions often fall short
- Hormone replacement therapy isn't always necessary
- Diet, exercise, and stress management should be tailored to individual needs
Embracing Change and Discomfort
We discuss how stepping out of our comfort zones is crucial for personal growth and health improvements.
- Change often requires initial discomfort
- Small, consistent changes can lead to significant results
- Embracing new challenges can lead to unexpected opportunities
Holistic Approach to Health
Dr. Sargent advocates for a comprehensive view of health that goes beyond just physical symptoms.
- Mental, emotional, and spiritual health are equally important
- Community and social connections play a vital role in overall wellness
- Regular self-assessment and adaptation are key to maintaining health
Notable Quotes from this Episode
It literally is never too late. Or too early.
Dr. Kris Sargent
We are wired for survival, and so mental and emotional stress is one of the things that people discount the most.
Dr. Kris Sargent
Out of the discomfort comes change. We cannot create change in comfort.
Julie Michelson
Other Resources:
Connect with Kris Sargent
Watch this interview:
Episode Transcript
Kris Sargent:[00:00:00] I went through menopause around 53, 54, and it was mostly a non event. Now, I'm not going to tell you that it was easy, but it was mostly a non event for me, because I knew what I needed to do and I knew I needed to tighten in my diet.
Kris Sargent: I knew I needed to drop a lot of carbohydrate, at least in the beginning, because we're wired that. When estrogen goes down, that automatically puts us into a potential to have this pre diabetic space where, we just don't handle carbs and sugar very well anymore
Julie Michelson:[00:01:00] Welcome back to the inspired living with autoimmunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie, Michaelson. And today we're joined by Dr. Kris Sargent. Kris wrote and published her first book, simply functional medicine in 2017. And her second cultivating a mind soul and body for God is almost complete. She offers keynotes and workshops based on her work in cultivating.
Julie Michelson: And she's the host of spark faith. Over the years, Dr. Sargent has accumulated hundreds of hours of continuing education in functional nutrition, leadership, and personal development, as well as certification in first line therapy, a postdoctoral master's degree in advanced clinical practice and internal medicine, and she has 32 years in private practice.
Julie Michelson: Dr. Sargent also considers herself a clinical science [00:02:00] geek and sleuth. In today's conversation, we are talking about true lifestyle medicine and faith as a powerful component of wellness. We discuss the power of leaving your comfort zone and embracing change and growth at any age.
Julie Michelson: Dr. Kris, welcome to the podcast.
Kris Sargent: Oh my gosh, Julie, thank you so much. I, um, I just love doing podcasts and I love being able to talk to interesting people and all the things. So, um, thank you so much for your time and this is going to be fun. It's going to be a great conversation
Julie Michelson: y'all. It is. I'm very excited for our conversation.
Julie Michelson: We've been chatting and chatting and I said, Oh, I should probably just hit record. Um, I, I would love for you to share because I know you have been in the functional medicine world. For a long time. And, and a, I think it, you know, it makes listeners lean in, but also just, I'm always curious because it's not [00:03:00] usually nothing like what brought you into functional medicine, especially I would say ahead of the curve.
Kris Sargent: Definitely
Kris Sargent: ahead of the curve and female definitely ahead of the curve. Um, so when I was in chiropractic school, well before chiropractic school, I had horrible monthly hormones, like terrible. I was two different people. It was awful and probably ruined a bunch of really good relationships in my twenties, right?
Kris Sargent: Mood swings and all the things. Well, instead of having drug reps come in to chiropractic school, we had vitamin reps. And one day, um, this guy got up and presented all this material and all this really cool stuff that had to do with nutrition and I'm like, Oh, I want that. I want that. I want to learn more.
Kris Sargent: And I went up to him afterwards and I said, look, I want to do what you're talking about. I want to be able to talk to people and integrate nutrition with lifestyle. And I said, can I be a client? And he said, [00:04:00] no, I'm a vitamin rep. I, I'm not a practitioner. And I said, I know you're not, but would you help me anyway?
Kris Sargent: And I begged and I begged and he finally said yes. And, um, that led me down the beginning road of understanding that cleaning up my gut. I'd always eaten well because I'd always had a weight issue. So I'd always been pretty good. I thought, but we took out a bunch of stuff that you think is healthy, right?
Kris Sargent: Or better for you. Um, and within about three months, I was a different person. Oh, wow. And my cycles were completely different. And this was still in your case. They became a non event mid twenties.
Kris Sargent: Wow.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. I, it was 1990. So yeah, I just, it, and I was like, okay, as soon as I graduate, I'm going to do chiropractic care and I'm going to do functional medicine together because it just.
Kris Sargent: Made sense to me that if the body's healthy, then it's going to hold the adjustments better. Your nervous [00:05:00] system is going to fire better. Your immune system is going to take it all in better. Like all of it's going to work better together. And that's, that's how I started my practice, but it really was like female hormones and being a female, of course, I attracted females into the practice primarily.
Kris Sargent: And, um, Yeah, that's, that's how I, that's how it all started, you know, and, and at that time in 1990, um, Institute of Functional Medicine and Dr. Jeff Bland had really just rolled onto the scene with any kind of, um, like continuing education, like that's all you had, right? Yeah. It was just continuing ed.
Kris Sargent: There was no, there were no schools. There were no, there were no, There was nothing that had to do with certifications, there was none of that. So I just grew up in practice doing all of my continuing ed around functional medicine at the Institute of Functional Medicine and Jeff Bland. And so that was, that was the beginning and it really was the beginning.
Kris Sargent: We would have 500 people there on any given [00:06:00] weekend, but it was mostly chiropractors. I'm not gonna lie. I mean, there was, there was a handful of medical doctors, Mark Hyndman was there, probably James was there. I mean, I don't know, but, um, you know, there was, there was just this handful of us that just really stuck in, drove in and dove into functional medicine when nobody even knew that that was a thing.
Kris Sargent: Like you had to call it something, we had to call it nutrition. We had to call it a whole bunch of other things besides what it was. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Well, I love that. And I, I make so much sense. I know really understanding supporting and treating hormones is, is what led James down that path years ago, you know, from his family medicine practice.
Julie Michelson: Um, and I think like there is no other way, like once you realize, Hormones are key and the body is this integrated system. You can't separate it all into different compartments. Um, [00:07:00] you know, you have to, I don't care what you call it, but you have to find a different approach, which tends to fall under the umbrella now of functional medicine or integrative or whatever, you know,
Kris Sargent: again, multiple different names, whatever you want.
Kris Sargent: But at the end of the day, it is lifestyle medicine.
Julie Michelson: Yes. Amen. It is your
Kris Sargent: whole lifestyle. It's not just, even just eating right, like that's in my world anyway, that's about 80 percent of it. Um, cause that's going to turn on inflammation, turn off inflammation. And then you have the ancillary things that we all know are important.
Kris Sargent: Like drinking your water, like getting to the gym or walking or some kind of body movement, getting your sleep. Your body has to heal. And the only time it does that is when you go to sleep. I was going to say,
Julie Michelson: I, you know, even the perfect individualized diet and execution is only going to get you so far if you're not managing your stress and you're not doing all the other things.
Julie Michelson: So I [00:08:00] love that you hit on that. It really is truly lifestyle. And it's also not, um, That it is lifelong. I mean, we're always up leveling and shifting and what I'm doing today to feel really well is not what I was doing six years ago to feel really well. It's different.
Kris Sargent: It's different. And it does shift.
Kris Sargent: And I think women more than men, but, um, I think, What you said about diet being such an important part, but it's not all of it. And that's a lot of times when clients come in and they're like, well, I'm doing this and I'm doing this and I'm doing all these dietary things, but I still don't feel good. I'm like, okay, but have you had any labs?
Kris Sargent: And they're like, well, my doctor just ran everything and everything was normal. I've never seen a normal, right? And normal who want
Julie Michelson: look at our society. Like who really wants to be normal. Uh, uh,
Kris Sargent: normal is 70 percent of Americans are overweight and obese. Do you want to be normal?
Julie Michelson: No,
Kris Sargent: I hate to say it like that.
Kris Sargent: And I'm not [00:09:00] judging. No, no, it's
Julie Michelson: facts.
Kris Sargent: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Optimal. That's right. We should, we should make a new optimal. Medicine, medicine,
Kris Sargent: and that's what functional medicine really is. It's about optimizing physiology. It's about optimizing your health. It's about optimizing your outlook, your faith, your mindset, all of those things play into our neurotransmitters and our hormones all wrapped up together.
Kris Sargent: Or we can't, or we aren't going to be able to optimize our function in the world, right? For real. Right? And maybe for, for you and I, being people of faith, like, we want to do what God has out there for us. Right. In the best way possible. Yeah. So
Julie Michelson: well, and, and I know I warned you before I hit record that I, I was, we're just gonna, I'm going to see, I was curious where the conversation was going to go.
Julie Michelson: Of course I had ideas, um, but [00:10:00] I'm actually going to go with what I'm feeling in the moment. Let's talk a little, um, because, and we can weave all of it in because again, we are whole humans. It's all important. I do think. Something, one of the many things, but one of the, the big things missing when you go to your PCP or you know, or your, you know, whoever, whoever, primary nurse, practitioner, whatever you have, whoever, um, they don't ask about faith.
Julie Michelson: Right. Like they don't know. And it is actually important what, and I don't, it doesn't matter what your faith is, but, but let's talk about the importance if we're talking about total wellness. Share with me, because I know this is like, this is your jam. This is what you do day in and day out. And we can still touch on like weight gain and menopause and, but because that affects so [00:11:00] many of us as well.
Julie Michelson: But let's talk about this faith as a component of
Kris Sargent: wellness. Sure. Absolutely. I think, um, well, I mean, the studies are out that say that people of faith have, first of all, overall less anxiety and less depression period.
Julie Michelson: Something these days when both of those things are pretty rampant.
Kris Sargent: Right. And when you, when you have faith in, in, um, in something bigger than you, you realize that you don't have to control everything.
Kris Sargent: Like you, you can say and believe that, okay, if since I believe this, There's a, there's somebody else out there controlling what I need to do and what I need to learn. And I can choose to humbly accept the things that come into my life, whether they're, whether it's suffering. Right, like you've had autoimmune, whether it's suffering or something happy, either [00:12:00] way, you can have gratitude for that, and when we bring gratitude into the picture, now we have calmer everything.
Kris Sargent: So it does, you talk about menopause, you can have calmer hormones, you can have calmer adrenals, you can have calmer neurotransmitters. Transmitters because of having faith and faith tends to bring a community together. You're Jewish. You have a synagogue or temple. Um, you go to temple, you have people, you have your people, right?
Kris Sargent: I have my Kristian friends that I love hanging out with cause we all embrace a similar value system.
Julie Michelson: Yes. And
Kris Sargent: that's another part that when you are hanging out with people who have a similar value system, it makes you stronger. You become the five people that you hang out with. Right. Right. And so if you're hanging out with people that think the same way and that, that want you to be better, guess what?
Kris Sargent: You're going to be a better, a better version of the [00:13:00] human that you were put on the planet to be so that's, that's, yeah, that's where I think faith is. And for, for me and my practice, I think that as we choose our lifestyles, that we can do that, um, humbly and for his glory. For his, um, to, to honor God with our bodies, with our temples, the, which had this little tiny conversation about this a couple of minutes ago, like in the, in the Torah, right?
Kris Sargent: They had, there's books. Y'all, there are two books of the Bible that talk about how the temple was created, right? The Ark of the Covenant was created, like every detail, what it was made of, how big it was supposed to be, how it was supposed to be put together, how it was supposed to be honored,
Julie Michelson: where,
Kris Sargent: like, yeah, like all of it.[00:14:00]
Kris Sargent: And we're the same. If, as a Kristian, I believe that our body is the temple, we house the Holy Spirit, we house God now. And so, you know, casually, you really want to be in a sugar coma. If the Holy Spirit has something to tell you, right. If God is trying to talk to you and you're like, yeah, I just ate a whole piece of cake.
Kris Sargent: Like, how are you going to know
Julie Michelson: I'm stuck on the couch right now? I'll get back to you later. I'll
Kris Sargent: get back to you later. I want to tell the God of the universe that
Julie Michelson: I love that. Well, and you're, you're getting to, for me, what is such a, an important distinction. Um, Cause I love having conversations with people and finding out, you know, digging, I'm a digger.
Julie Michelson: You're a digger. This is what we do. Um, and I, I, to me, it's, it's almost to use a different word and tell me if this aligns or doesn't, I feel like it's my responsibility [00:15:00] to take the best care of my body possible, right? Like so that I can do the things I'm here to do. So, because sometimes at the end of the spectrum, which to me is, is like, that becomes an excuse is like, well, you know, whatever's going to be is going to be anyway, God's in charge.
Julie Michelson: So I don't have to try. You know what I mean? Like there, there is, that is not how I take anything I read or anything. people of like, you know, the center of a faith is not like, Oh, just sit around. Cause you know, you don't have an impact. Like we, we still always have a choice.
Kris Sargent: We do have a choice. And I think that, I think that people can get really wrapped up in feeling guilty about not taking care.
Julie Michelson: And
Kris Sargent: that can lead people down a really bad road because that's [00:16:00] the, that's the despair, right? Right. Instead of saying, I'm going to be grateful for where I am, I've made a lot of mistakes. And, you know, as a Kristian, like that's. In our world, in my world, like that's what Jesus died for, right? For, for me to not carry my sins and my choices, right?
Kris Sargent: My poor choices with me all the time. I can leave that over there and say, okay, I can start a new and I can start a new every morning, right? New March is every day. So I think it's, it's just really about that. Yeah for for people like set aside whatever happened in the past right so that now you can take a new Look at how you can handle this and then the motivation doesn't go away either.
Kris Sargent: You're not like Oh, I gotta get up my willpower to not eat the cake or the popcorn or whatever, right? It's [00:17:00] like no I can do it freely and make choices that will make God happy in a way And not out of guilt, not out of obligation, but out of gratitude.
Julie Michelson: I love that. And that
Kris Sargent: makes the whole thing so much easier.
Kris Sargent: There's no more, there's no more of that heavy shame and guilt. You can just make choices that you can be grateful that you have these choices. And that does not mean that I don't binge out on a big old bowl of popcorn every now and again. Right. Or a piece of key lime pie. Cause I'm going. But well, and
Julie Michelson: you know, it's not about perfect, like perfection.
Julie Michelson: We're not supposed to be perfect. We're not sustainable, even if it were attainable. So it's the, it's the knowing, you know, the knowing what I'm like, okay, well, no, for me on the popcorn is it would give me a migraine. Um, you know, but I can make a really great dairy free, grain free key lime pie. That's delicious.
Julie Michelson: Because that treats me, you know, I [00:18:00] know where my cheats are that aren't going to set me back. Um, and even if one did. Like you said, tomorrow's a new day. Like you just make a different choice. I find that next meal. Yeah. The perfectionism is especially, I mean, I know you're, you're, you work, we both work with women and men, but we both work with a lot of women.
Julie Michelson: And this perfectionism keeps people so stuck because as soon as they make a mistake, they throw the whole thing out. And it's like, Oh, just up level next, just next choice. Next choice.
Kris Sargent: Yeah, we're so pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Don't need help feeling competent. If you have to ask for help, like that is not.
Kris Sargent: That is not how we're wired. We're wired for community and we're wired to be around other people and to have other people with other gifts and talents to be next to us and to help us. Right. [00:19:00] Um, you know, if I didn't have somebody that could do my books for me, if I didn't have somebody chirping in my ear about some better ways to do marketing or a better way to present myself or whatever those things are, I, I wouldn't be sitting here with you.
Kris Sargent: Right. Right. Well, we are done. Those people.
Julie Michelson: We're still here, you know, God willing, like, thank you. So yeah, there must be more to do. We can continue growing. We should continue growing. Yeah. And, and so it's funny, we have a new gal working at the clinic who is amazing about prioritizing patient questions.
Julie Michelson: And she will like get a hold. Of the doctors and be like, so and so needs in between patients. Like she's not waiting. She's like, and she said to me, is that okay? Am I bothering them? I'm like, they love it. Like it's all about learning and growing. [00:20:00] And, and the whole reason we're here is, is, you know, to, to support people.
Julie Michelson: And so, And she'll ask questions like, well, why this and not that? Or, and I'm like, keep, you know, that's the whole point. Keep learning, growing, doing.
Kris Sargent: Absolutely.
Julie Michelson: And it just helps us serve better.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. I mean, who goes to seminary when they're 59, 60 years old? You do. I mean, yeah. Who takes on a master's degree at this age?
Kris Sargent: I do. And I'm not, I know. And I'm not the oldest one in the class and I'm not the youngest one in the class. And so it's. It's never too late either. And I think that some people do say, Oh, well, you know, I turned 45 and I started gaining weight and it's just part of the aging and that is a huge narrative, um, that undergirds a lot of.
Kris Sargent: Um, medicine really, you know, women who've just had children, maybe they're in their twenties or early thirties and they go into their doctor [00:21:00] and they've got, you know, three kids under the age of five and they wonder why they're tired and their doctor just looks at them and he goes, Oh, you have three kids under five.
Kris Sargent: Um, that's my biggest.
Julie Michelson: pet peeve in the world right there. Of course you're tired. I wouldn't be a doctor if I was tired. I'm something else like fatigue. It's different. And that is my biggest pet peeve. Yeah. And like I
Kris Sargent: put together, um, pregnancy recovery, a pregnancy recovery plan, because most of these women are just, frankly, they're iron deficient.
Kris Sargent: Right. And they're B complex deficient because their adrenals have had to take over for so long. And they're, yeah. And they've had lots of blood loss and just all the things. And progesterone tanks postpartum. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And their whole body is like, oh! We just had a baby. And, and, you know, you think back though, like biblical times, what did they do?
Kris Sargent: They didn't do anything. No, they were with other women
Julie Michelson: being taken care of and [00:22:00] nurtured and, you know, and, and we don't do that anymore. It's like, have a baby, get back to work. Like what? I
Kris Sargent: know it's crazy. You know, even a hundred years ago, women would go to bed when they had their period.
Julie Michelson: Right?
Kris Sargent: No. No, we take the pill non stop so that if I have to run in the Olympics, I'm not on my period that week.
Julie Michelson: Right? No, it's it is. So back to the body as a temple, like something got, got messed up. And I do think, and men also, there's, you know, all, all of the things also are affecting men at this point. We just did an interview. We're talking about, you know, it's just, Their hormones are affected by our lifestyle, our planet, you know, all the things, I mean, um, we were talking about, yeah, just the, the drop in testosterone, like, please, please, please.
Julie Michelson: And I know listeners are like, oh, she's going to do it again, [00:23:00] like driving electric cars. You're going to. Sit your sperm right on those batteries and, and, you know, and then wonder why you can't father children. Like there's a lot of, a lot of problems.
Kris Sargent: Along with all of the hyper processed foods, ultra processed foods and the sugar and aromatase enzymes shifting from testosterone to estrogen.
Kris Sargent: And guys are wondering why they have problems.
Julie Michelson: I have, I have had three clients and I already told you and listeners now I'm from Jersey. I don't have a filter. Yeah. I don't have much of one either. I think it's my age. You don't have a sense of humor. I'm not the right person. And yeah, well, I'm not, I'm only a couple of years younger than you.
Julie Michelson: So we're very well aligned. And I have, I've said to three different male clients when I've gotten labs back, like my testosterone is higher than yours and your estrogen is higher than mine. This is a problem. This is a problem. This is a problem. It's not good. No,
Kris Sargent: it's not. [00:24:00] It's such a negative feed forward cycle and they're using food to manage emotions that they don't know how to manage because They don't think they need help because they're men and yeah, it's, it's, yeah, it breaks my heart, you know, and then they, they wonder why, why ed, well, um, first of all, your brain is stressed out and you, you gotta have that all put together and your hormones are messed up.
Kris Sargent: Like how, how do you think your body's going to handle that? It's not, that's not going to be, we are wired for survival, right, right. And so, and women lose. Lose their drive to because they're so stressed out, right? Stress stresses. I think mental and emotional stress is one of the things that people discount the most.
Kris Sargent: Yes. I don't know how, what you see in your practice. Absolutely. But they start ticking off some of the things. I'm like, really, there's nothing going on in your life at all. And they're like, [00:25:00] well, there's this little thing and that little thing. And oh yeah, we're building a house. We bought a new property.
Kris Sargent: And I'm like, um, did, could, did you just tell me these five things? Cause now I'm stressed.
Kris Sargent: That's a lot to handle and they're like, well, I don't know, it's just part of life. I'm like that. First of all, you choose those things, right?
Julie Michelson: Busy. Like it's a badge of honor. You know, the two like busy
Kris Sargent: and I only have to
Julie Michelson: sleep four
Kris Sargent: hours.
Julie Michelson: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm a super sleeper. Cause I've heard, I've heard that's a thing.
Julie Michelson: I'm like, you know how rare that is. It's not really your thing. That's not what you wouldn't be talking to me if you were doing really well on your four hours a night. Exactly. I love, I want to, I want to circle back to this idea. You're back in school, right? I'm guessing since you just shared your age with us that you're also post menopausal.
Julie Michelson:[00:26:00] I am. So let's talk about that. This Um, you know, we, cause we touched on it and it, I don't know, it just energetically. I was like, Ooh, let's talk about that because I too, you know, many listeners now I'm an overshare. I don't, I had my ovaries and uterus removed in 2020. So I am also post menopausal, um, and I am.
Julie Michelson: And thus far the best part of my life yet. Right? I feel my best, my relationships are their best. The, you know, just all of the things this is, which I, I would wish, I always wish for my children, you know, every year or other things, but the same thing in their birthday cards. You know, may this be your best year yet.
Julie Michelson: That that is. That's the goal. Doesn't mean we don't ever have hard [00:27:00] stuff. Um, but, but let's talk about this. Like, do we have to wither up and waste away and no,
Kris Sargent: I wish I
Julie Michelson: was wearing a
Kris Sargent: sleeveless shirt. I'd show you my biceps. Um, and my lack of hanging fat, um, I'll keep
Julie Michelson: my arms down.
Kris Sargent: Um, no, honestly, I think that's so important though.
Kris Sargent: And it's important to talk about. So I went through menopause around 53, 54, and it was mostly a non event. Now, I also had a teenage daughter who had started her period around the same time. So I'm not going to tell you that it was easy, but it was mostly a non event for me, mostly because I knew what I needed to do and I knew I needed to tighten in my diet.
Kris Sargent: I knew I needed to drop a lot of carbohydrate, at least in the beginning, because we're wired that. When estrogen goes down, that automatically puts us into a potential to have this pre diabetic space where we don't, we just don't handle [00:28:00] carbs and sugar very well anymore. And so we start getting this belly fat.
Kris Sargent: Well, I wasn't about to have a belly fat. I've worked really hard just to keep my weight where it is. And, um, I'm like, no, it does. I don't believe that that has to happen. And so I just started shifting and I didn't feel, I found out that I didn't feel good when I was doing HIIT workouts. Yes. And heavy weights and kettlebell with my 35 year old friends.
Kris Sargent: I didn't feel good anymore when I did that. So I had to, like you said, you have to retool things. to make your body feel better. And so I did, I retooled and I, for me, it was up in cardio. I started running again. Um, I did some lightweights so that I could stay toned, but I can tell you that as I took care of my mom for the last five years, um, I, I had to change some things because my stress level [00:29:00] really.
Kris Sargent: Increased a lot. And yeah, so I had to change the way I did things. And ultimately I probably gained six or seven pounds over the last year that I was taking care of her one second. And, um, I realized that, you know, there was a lot more stress in taking care of her than I anticipated. And so she passed in March and it was.
Julie Michelson: Sorry. It's all good. Yeah.
Kris Sargent: That's okay. It's, I mean, when you have somebody with dementia, that's a whole different, that's another podcast we could do. It is. It is. But I, when she passed, I took a couple of months and kind of looked at what's going on in my life and what am I doing and how am I, and realized like, okay, I haven't checked it in a while.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. Seven pounds has got to go. I'm so tired of my jeans being tight when I sit in the zoom room all the time. And so I did, I just embarked on like, okay, what do I need to do? And I tightened [00:30:00] up my protein and I went back to the gym and um, I really have over the last. Yeah. June, July, August. I dropped the weight.
Kris Sargent: I put on, I'm clearly leaner, just looking in the mirror. My jeans are too big, same jeans. Um, and so I, back to it's never too late. Like, it literally is never too late. Yeah. Or too early. I always add that. Or
Julie Michelson: too early. Really? Because, you know, and because you don't, it's not, menopause isn't the only thing, right?
Julie Michelson: You mentioned stress levels. Like, life, take any segment of life and, and something is going to change. Um, and, and so we do constantly, people are always surprised. Like, well, what do you mean you need to up level? You know, this is what you do for a living. I'm like, well, yeah, and I went [00:31:00] from working at home and without even thinking, you know, walking 10 miles a day, just taking care of the animals on the farm and, and, and, you know, just, there's so many things that were built into lifestyle because I've been working from home for seven years.
Julie Michelson: Well, now I'm at the clinic every day. I'm under fluorescent lights. My windows don't open. I, I'm not walking 10 miles a day without putting any thought in. I'm not grounding in between clients because I'm not running around the clinic barefoot. Cause I feel like people would think that's weird. Also, um, we're on the second story.
Julie Michelson: I wouldn't be grounding anyway. So all these things, right. And it, it kicked my butt. Like two weeks in I had, I could feel the inflammation. I could, and I was like, wait a minute. I need to revamp my whole routine. Exactly. Exactly. Like
Kris Sargent: I am an early riser. Not everybody is, but I can tell you that [00:32:00] I agree with that.
Kris Sargent: And I think that I say this gently and in jest and serious all at the same time. Anybody can be a morning person. Sure. It's a choice. And is it hard at first? Sure. You, it may take a, it may take a month to get your schedule backed up so that you're going to bed at nine 30 or 10 so that you can get up at five or six.
Kris Sargent: Right. It's, it's good. It may take a little bit of work, a shift, a mindset, and you know, It's so worth it. I love that. I love it.
Julie Michelson: I've been an early riser for a long time. We're all different too though. Like I know if I don't work out in the morning, I don't care what story I tell myself. It is not happening.
Julie Michelson: Even if I am working like today, I'm, I'm home. It's not going to happen if it didn't happen in the morning. And James never [00:33:00] works out in the morning. It always works out at night. That works for him. It does. And men are different
Kris Sargent: than women that way too. True. True. They really are. I just know that I don't roll out of bed looking like this.
Kris Sargent: And I'm not doing it twice.
Julie Michelson: I love that. That's awesome. Yeah,
Kris Sargent: that's great. I love all my makeup. I love all the femininity that I can bring to the table that I wasn't always able to bring to the table as a professional and a physician who lived in a male world for most of my practice life. Um, but now I can bring it, you know, I can.
Kris Sargent: I can be as feminine and soft as I want to be. Um, and that's not going to happen if I have to go to the gym at one o'clock in the afternoon. Right. Right. Just not. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. But I love the, to me, the moral of the story is, and I, I love how you added the grace of like, okay, yes, it's funny, but I'm also serious because it is true.
Julie Michelson: We can all create whatever [00:34:00] change. Yes, we dedicate ourselves to and all of it takes time. I don't care. I find at least with clients. I'm sure it's the same with myself. If I paid attention, the things that seem like they're the simplest to do that. We don't have to put thought into creating that new habit.
Julie Michelson: Wrong. Those are always the ones that you know that it just seems . Those are the ones that don't matter.
Kris Sargent: Yep. . Yeah. Yeah. You have to. Yeah. I mean, it's like I tell clients when they're like, well, I'm just stuck. I don't know what to do. I'm like, okay, tomorrow morning you're gonna get up on the other side of the bed.
Kris Sargent: Just see the world from a different perspective. Yeah. Put your, to brush your teeth with your left hand. If you're a righty, like change something, get uncomfortable and it can be something simple. Go a different way to work. Go see something different at lunch, go find a different place to go for lunch, find something new and then feel that [00:35:00] excitement and then the other new things will, will come along and we compare our seemingly old habits with something new and now you have something new.
Kris Sargent: Yes.
Julie Michelson: I love it. I love it. And I love the, and maybe that's part of where I was like, you know, I'm in this, I'm in like the most exciting time in my life. Um, and I was laughing yesterday. Somebody created an opportunity, like a beautiful opportunity that has really tricky timing for me. And like in the, in the pit of my stomach, I feel this like excitement.
Julie Michelson: And I know from the outside, if I take, if I say yes to this opportunity. That's like kind of seems crazy on paper, but, and I was laughing cause I was like, you know what? I am not the person I was five years ago. Would it just immediately said, no, not possible. Doesn't make sense. And now over time from stepping out of the comfort zone, stepping out of the [00:36:00] comfort zone, stepping out of the comfort zone.
Julie Michelson: I now live out of the comfort zone. Yes. I don't live in the comfort zone. And as somebody who historically had a lot of anxiety and a lot, I don't have any of that either. So,
Kris Sargent: you know, I want to tell your listeners right now. Y'all, are you here? This is gold. Y'all it, it takes staying uncomfortable to really shift your life.
Kris Sargent: That means you might be a little hungry between lunch and dinner. That means you might have to figure out how to get up half an hour early so you can start. You might not like that alarm
Julie Michelson: clock in the beginning.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. No, I'd get to bed earlier so that you don't need one. Right. Right.
Julie Michelson: So, but out
Kris Sargent: of
Julie Michelson: the discomfort comes change.
Julie Michelson: We cannot create
Kris Sargent: change.
Julie Michelson: We do not create change in comfort.
Kris Sargent: Exactly. There's nothing on this planet that has shifted or changed that [00:37:00] isn't uncomfortable. I mean, we're headed into fall, right? You think the trees are not ready to drop their leaves. You think they're going fighting the nature cycle.
Kris Sargent: It's time to let go. I get to take I get to take a break. Yeah. I get to rest for three or four months. I get to store up energy so that when spring comes along, I can pop out some new ones. And that's how we are too. We have to step back. We have to look at things hard. And it helps when we have somebody like you or me coaching through air.
Kris Sargent: And I know we started this conversation with menopause, but menopause is the same thing. It's a natural, you can't, you can, it is part of the natural cycle. And you know, in my practice, I don't do very much with hormones. Um, and so. I do some, I do a lot, but I don't do it with a hormone, like an endogenous hormone, something taking a hormone.
Kris Sargent: I do it without that. You can do it with [00:38:00] food. You can do it with herbals. Sometimes you need a little touch of DHEA, a little bit of progesterone, or I may need to send somebody to go get some pellets or something else that if it's not working, I'm not, I don't leave that out. That it's not working. That it just shouldn't be.
Kris Sargent: And there's an awful lot that we can do without it. And I know in your practice, you guys do a lot, probably do more than I do. And
Julie Michelson: I don't, cause I'm not a physician, but yes, you know, and, and listeners know, I've had a lot of conversations about, you know, I went from fully cycling to having no, yeah, no party parts, no party parts.
Julie Michelson: Um, and so I personally am a firm believer if for, you know, that for me, that was a great choice. Um, but even so it is the same as I look at it this way. Um, mostly kind of, it's like when the diabetic says I can have the donut because I took my insulin. [00:39:00] Right. Well, how about you don't have the doughnut and you don't, you'll need less insulin.
Julie Michelson: It'll work better. Even if you're type one, like I'm not picking on, it was just low hanging fruit, but doing the lifestyle, like just getting hormone replacement and not changing diet. I know we were going to dig into gut health. Maybe you'll come back and we can dig deeper into, but we can definitely do that.
Julie Michelson: The whole lifestyle piece. We're not. Somebody just reached out and was like, I want, you know, it was a man, he wants TRT. Um, you know, what does that look like at your clinic? And I'm like, well, it looks like we treat the whole person. Like you're not going to come in and we're going to, like, that's not, we don't do that.
Julie Michelson: That's not
Kris Sargent: a thing. Yeah. No, like,
Julie Michelson: no. You know, you hear the ads on the radio for, you know, the men's clinic and literally they're like paying you to come in. And so. It, we're still whole humans and everything that you're doing with your clients, [00:40:00] even if they are clients who are using hormone replacement therapy, bio identical hormone replacement therapy.
Julie Michelson: Right. It's all going to work better
Kris Sargent: than if they weren't doing the thing. And they may need, they, they may even be able to get off of it. Eventually. Yeah. I mean, I took a little bit of thyroid right from, I had really bad postpartum after my first child and I was 30. I had just turned 39 about a month after she was born and it was awful.
Julie Michelson: Geriatric pregnancy. Oh, I hate that word. Like, like this is no one ever really say that to a pregnant woman. Exactly.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Those words up
Kris Sargent: a
Julie Michelson: man, clearly a man.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. I know. Yes. I was one of the first geriatric patients that my, my normal physician ever saw. And I was like, I'm out, I'm out. And I, you know, I found a midwife and we, I did a different, um, But, you know, all of that to just say that, [00:41:00] yes, we are all different. And yes, every woman needs a little bit different plan as they head into and head through menopause.
Kris Sargent: And it still needs to be holistically planned, right? Just taking hormone replacement can actually increase in inflammation for some women. And I've seen it happen. Their face blows up and they start gaining weight and I'm like, yeah, but what else are you doing? And they're like, well. Drinking every week and every night I have a drink, you know, alcohol, that's a whole, that's another podcast too.
Kris Sargent: You know, they're eating the same way. I'm like, well, you've just increased your inflammation. You haven't fixed anything.
Julie Michelson: Right.
Kris Sargent: So, yes, it does. You still have to go back to the basics for the foundation.
Julie Michelson: We're trying to get away from the band aid, right? Like, the band aid is just a band aid, and some, if you're not changing other things and addressing all of the other underlying stuff, Right.
Julie Michelson: Then replacement therapy becomes a bandaid [00:42:00] too. Like it's not, there is no doctor fix it. Like we have to, we have to kind of look inward and to kind of go full circle. There's another piece where faith, whatever your faith is. Is so important for health because we, we do need to get quiet and, you know, all of the other things that we, that you mentioned, you know, the community be still be in connection, be in community.
Julie Michelson: Yes. These are important things. You know, I love, you know, we're in different states and we get to meet over zoom and technology has a way of bringing people together. It has, as long as we remember actually to get out and like touch real people and hug real, have contact.
Kris Sargent: So important, especially you and I, right.
Kris Sargent: I, well, I worked with 100 [00:43:00] percent virtually. So, and I have clients everywhere. And I know that a couple nights a week, I do volunteer church one night a week. And I have a group of people that I hang out with on the weekends so that I have actual human touch regularly. Right. Yeah. My daughter lives with me, but she's 21.
Kris Sargent: So that's a hit or miss.
Julie Michelson: I was like, I'm telling people go run around and touch people. I heard it on a podcast. This is good for my health.
Kris Sargent: That's so funny because, um, it's a memory that I'll always have with my mom. She would touch everybody and post COVID, I'm like, mom, you just have to stop. And she just couldn't.
Kris Sargent: No, well, what I
Julie Michelson: learned to do, yeah.
Kris Sargent: Into babies. And I'm like,
Julie Michelson: often we'll ask permission, but I'm that person. I'll be like, I'm a hugger. Is that okay? As I'm already going in for the, it's like, here's your chance to run fast. But [00:44:00] I, it's, it's that mind Right. Like, you know, like again, I love this ability to connect with people around the world and, and, and make true real connection, but we still need in person connection and community.
Julie Michelson: Sometimes our five people are not in our physical space. That's okay. That's okay. But make sure somebody
Kris Sargent: Yeah. You have to have that. Yeah. We need those communities. You have to reach out. You have to find your people. Yeah. Yeah. And again, online, you can find those places too. Sure. Right. There's a, there's, and it's, it's not about the dating apps.
Kris Sargent: I know I'm single, but it's not about that. Right. It's like, there's other ways that you can connect with people in your community.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. I say, you know, whether it's faith based or whatever you enjoy, other people enjoy it too. And you can find those people that way. Like it's a [00:45:00] great way, or like you just said, volunteering is a great way.
Julie Michelson: If you've moved somewhere new or life has gotten smaller, show up in service and you'll find your people.
Kris Sargent: You absolutely, whatever your, whatever it is that you're passionate about. I love salsa dancing. And one of the first things I did when I moved to Nashville was like, okay, I know this is a big dance community here.
Kris Sargent: So I went and found people that would do salsa dancing just to have something to do. It's such a good one.
Julie Michelson: My daughter was living in Oxford this past year and, and she, she never had salsa dishes started. Somebody dragged her to a salsa class and that became her thing. And that was what I said to her. I said, anywhere you live in the world.
Julie Michelson: you now can, can find community through salsa dancing, you know, and it's not her like end all be all, you know,
Kris Sargent: but
Julie Michelson: it's [00:46:00] still her biggest passion
Kris Sargent: connection, but
Julie Michelson: it's a great, you know, and it's fun. Like you don't go salsa dancing and sit and sulk. Like you're, you have to be, I mean, five minutes
Kris Sargent: of the music and you're happy, happy dance, you know, read a five minute happy dance.
Kris Sargent: You're not feeling it today. I tell people like. Grab your phone, find your favorite song and go, if you have to go to the, go to the bathroom in your office and just dance in a stall if you have to, right? I wrote an article about that, dancing it out.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. Dance it out. Yes. Yes. Yes. If you're like me, you don't have to do it in front of people.
Julie Michelson: My daughter made me a, made us a playlist. It's called dancing in the kitchen because apparently I dance in the kitchen a lot. I didn't even notice until she, I was like, why'd you call it that? She's like, you guys are always dancing while you're cooking. And always, you know, cause it was a music on in the background.
Julie Michelson: So
Kris Sargent: that's what makes you happy. Right? Yeah. I used to embarrass my kids in home Depot. Oh,
Julie Michelson: I [00:47:00] think it's our job as parents to
Kris Sargent: agree.
Julie Michelson: I used to say, you know, I, as a kid, I was like, dad, like you, your mom with the touching people, my dad would make conversation. With and jokes, you know, with anybody checking us out and he was strangers just and and now I'm like, oh, that was such a beautiful gift.
Julie Michelson: I had no idea as a kid. I was horrified like dad, you know, why are you doing the same way? So I never knew a stranger. Such amazing, so many nuggets. I, I'm going to listen to this one again. Um, and I definitely want to have you, have you back and, and we can pick a thing and stick to it, but, but I, I really, um, really just felt called to, to bring in the conversation.
Julie Michelson: And I know, and this is, this is your conversation really. It is part of my
Kris Sargent: conversation for faith
Julie Michelson: and wellness and, and, um, Really, you know, [00:48:00] I believe I use the word responsibility. I'll let you wrap it up with your words, but you know, taking care of our bodies is, is a gift that we get, we get to do our best and continue every day.
Julie Michelson: Like you said, is an, is a fresh start to execute. Like, how can we better do this? Um, because it makes us better people. Yeah. I, I know on the inside that you serve. Yeah. When I was really sick, I was still a good person on the inside, but I wasn't contributing to my community because I felt like I couldn't.
Julie Michelson: And so there it is. Right there.
Kris Sargent: Right there. You couldn't contribute to the community. And I think it is a responsibility, but I also think it's an innate, um, I think it's in us. I think it's part of our DNA, if you will. I think
Julie Michelson: it's why we're
Kris Sargent: here. Um, to serve and when we can get out of our own way and.
Kris Sargent: Realize that volunteering [00:49:00] once a week to do whatever that is, that you are passionate, whether it's taking care of kitties or taking care of all people or teaching people how to salsa dance or whatever it is. If you, if it just jazzes you up, go do the thing and you will be healthier in the long run for that thing.
Kris Sargent: And, and it's, it is a responsibility. Without guilt, without shame, from a place of gratitude, I get to serve because my body's healthy, I feel good, and I get to do this.
Julie Michelson: It's an opportunity. It is an opportunity. I was trying to find the word and you, you got me there. Thank you. It's an opportunity. It feels better than responsibility.
Julie Michelson: Um, but it, it is, you know, it really, really is. And, and always, it is true when you're, you get it back and you know, tenfold when Yes. You show up in service. So, well, [00:50:00] you already did, but I'm going to ask you anyway, and give you one more opportunity. We always wrap with what is Dr. Kris's one thing, one step that listeners can take today to start to improve their health.
Kris Sargent: Well, okay. I'll go right down to the basics, right? Um, I, and I said it earlier, right? Your food is your biggest. impact on your body. And so when you feed it well, Then you will be more well. And so what does that look like? Does it have to be crazy? Do you have to do what Julie and I do? No, but let's just find, how about protein three or four times a day?
Kris Sargent: How about fresh fruits and vegetables all day? How about just that, just that. Yes. Real food. Out of boxes. Yeah. Eating stuff that has 4, 000 ingredients. Start drinking water with a little bit of sea salt in it so you can actually hydrate your cells. [00:51:00] Yes.
Julie Michelson: Support
Kris Sargent: your adrenals. Exactly. And you know, that's, that's going to get you out of your slump, right?
Kris Sargent: That's going to get you out of the hole. And then, you know, contact Julie, contact me. We do labs. So that you can know what you need to take in terms of vitamins. Most of my clients, probably yours too, have an entire cabinet that we call the, the supplement graveyard, right? That they've tried and they thought, yeah, I heard they have these subscriptions on the internet.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. I found it on Amazon. Oh, good goodness. Let's do targeted. Let's
Julie Michelson: find out what your body
Kris Sargent: needs, find out what you need. Yeah. To take that and use your word level up, um, your supplementation, right? So then you have your foundation of eat and drink and move and sleep. And then your supplements on top of that will start you with a, with a solid foundation, right?
Kris Sargent: Not one built on sand, one built on [00:52:00] the rock. And that's really going to start you in down a different. Down a different path and it doesn't have to be scary or hard. Thank you. No, or all at
Julie Michelson: once, right? Like it's step by step. No, it doesn't have to be all at once.
Kris Sargent: No, that's why, I mean, I do a 90 day coaching program because I know it's going to take, it's going to take you a month to figure out what to eat.
Kris Sargent: I know that to do that and how to do it and how to work it in and how do I batch cook and how do I have protein all the time? How do I do that? What does that look like? Um, and so, yeah, that's, that's how, that's where people need to start with somebody like you or me.
Julie Michelson: Amazing gold. Dr. Kris, thank you so much.
Julie Michelson: So thanks for hanging out with me extra long today and getting me ready for the weekend. Absolutely. My pleasure for everyone listening. Remember you can get the transcripts and show notes by visiting inspired living. show. Hope you had a great time and enjoyed [00:53:00] this episode as much as I did. I'll see you next week.
Kris Sargent: I knew I needed to drop a lot of carbohydrate, at least in the beginning, because we're wired that. When estrogen goes down, that automatically puts us into a potential to have this pre diabetic space where, we just don't handle carbs and sugar very well anymore
Julie Michelson:[00:01:00] Welcome back to the inspired living with autoimmunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie, Michaelson. And today we're joined by Dr. Kris Sargent. Kris wrote and published her first book, simply functional medicine in 2017. And her second cultivating a mind soul and body for God is almost complete. She offers keynotes and workshops based on her work in cultivating.
Julie Michelson: And she's the host of spark faith. Over the years, Dr. Sargent has accumulated hundreds of hours of continuing education in functional nutrition, leadership, and personal development, as well as certification in first line therapy, a postdoctoral master's degree in advanced clinical practice and internal medicine, and she has 32 years in private practice.
Julie Michelson: Dr. Sargent also considers herself a clinical science [00:02:00] geek and sleuth. In today's conversation, we are talking about true lifestyle medicine and faith as a powerful component of wellness. We discuss the power of leaving your comfort zone and embracing change and growth at any age.
Julie Michelson: Dr. Kris, welcome to the podcast.
Kris Sargent: Oh my gosh, Julie, thank you so much. I, um, I just love doing podcasts and I love being able to talk to interesting people and all the things. So, um, thank you so much for your time and this is going to be fun. It's going to be a great conversation
Julie Michelson: y'all. It is. I'm very excited for our conversation.
Julie Michelson: We've been chatting and chatting and I said, Oh, I should probably just hit record. Um, I, I would love for you to share because I know you have been in the functional medicine world. For a long time. And, and a, I think it, you know, it makes listeners lean in, but also just, I'm always curious because it's not [00:03:00] usually nothing like what brought you into functional medicine, especially I would say ahead of the curve.
Kris Sargent: Definitely
Kris Sargent: ahead of the curve and female definitely ahead of the curve. Um, so when I was in chiropractic school, well before chiropractic school, I had horrible monthly hormones, like terrible. I was two different people. It was awful and probably ruined a bunch of really good relationships in my twenties, right?
Kris Sargent: Mood swings and all the things. Well, instead of having drug reps come in to chiropractic school, we had vitamin reps. And one day, um, this guy got up and presented all this material and all this really cool stuff that had to do with nutrition and I'm like, Oh, I want that. I want that. I want to learn more.
Kris Sargent: And I went up to him afterwards and I said, look, I want to do what you're talking about. I want to be able to talk to people and integrate nutrition with lifestyle. And I said, can I be a client? And he said, [00:04:00] no, I'm a vitamin rep. I, I'm not a practitioner. And I said, I know you're not, but would you help me anyway?
Kris Sargent: And I begged and I begged and he finally said yes. And, um, that led me down the beginning road of understanding that cleaning up my gut. I'd always eaten well because I'd always had a weight issue. So I'd always been pretty good. I thought, but we took out a bunch of stuff that you think is healthy, right?
Kris Sargent: Or better for you. Um, and within about three months, I was a different person. Oh, wow. And my cycles were completely different. And this was still in your case. They became a non event mid twenties.
Kris Sargent: Wow.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. I, it was 1990. So yeah, I just, it, and I was like, okay, as soon as I graduate, I'm going to do chiropractic care and I'm going to do functional medicine together because it just.
Kris Sargent: Made sense to me that if the body's healthy, then it's going to hold the adjustments better. Your nervous [00:05:00] system is going to fire better. Your immune system is going to take it all in better. Like all of it's going to work better together. And that's, that's how I started my practice, but it really was like female hormones and being a female, of course, I attracted females into the practice primarily.
Kris Sargent: And, um, Yeah, that's, that's how I, that's how it all started, you know, and, and at that time in 1990, um, Institute of Functional Medicine and Dr. Jeff Bland had really just rolled onto the scene with any kind of, um, like continuing education, like that's all you had, right? Yeah. It was just continuing ed.
Kris Sargent: There was no, there were no schools. There were no, there were no, There was nothing that had to do with certifications, there was none of that. So I just grew up in practice doing all of my continuing ed around functional medicine at the Institute of Functional Medicine and Jeff Bland. And so that was, that was the beginning and it really was the beginning.
Kris Sargent: We would have 500 people there on any given [00:06:00] weekend, but it was mostly chiropractors. I'm not gonna lie. I mean, there was, there was a handful of medical doctors, Mark Hyndman was there, probably James was there. I mean, I don't know, but, um, you know, there was, there was just this handful of us that just really stuck in, drove in and dove into functional medicine when nobody even knew that that was a thing.
Kris Sargent: Like you had to call it something, we had to call it nutrition. We had to call it a whole bunch of other things besides what it was. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Well, I love that. And I, I make so much sense. I know really understanding supporting and treating hormones is, is what led James down that path years ago, you know, from his family medicine practice.
Julie Michelson: Um, and I think like there is no other way, like once you realize, Hormones are key and the body is this integrated system. You can't separate it all into different compartments. Um, [00:07:00] you know, you have to, I don't care what you call it, but you have to find a different approach, which tends to fall under the umbrella now of functional medicine or integrative or whatever, you know,
Kris Sargent: again, multiple different names, whatever you want.
Kris Sargent: But at the end of the day, it is lifestyle medicine.
Julie Michelson: Yes. Amen. It is your
Kris Sargent: whole lifestyle. It's not just, even just eating right, like that's in my world anyway, that's about 80 percent of it. Um, cause that's going to turn on inflammation, turn off inflammation. And then you have the ancillary things that we all know are important.
Kris Sargent: Like drinking your water, like getting to the gym or walking or some kind of body movement, getting your sleep. Your body has to heal. And the only time it does that is when you go to sleep. I was going to say,
Julie Michelson: I, you know, even the perfect individualized diet and execution is only going to get you so far if you're not managing your stress and you're not doing all the other things.
Julie Michelson: So I [00:08:00] love that you hit on that. It really is truly lifestyle. And it's also not, um, That it is lifelong. I mean, we're always up leveling and shifting and what I'm doing today to feel really well is not what I was doing six years ago to feel really well. It's different.
Kris Sargent: It's different. And it does shift.
Kris Sargent: And I think women more than men, but, um, I think, What you said about diet being such an important part, but it's not all of it. And that's a lot of times when clients come in and they're like, well, I'm doing this and I'm doing this and I'm doing all these dietary things, but I still don't feel good. I'm like, okay, but have you had any labs?
Kris Sargent: And they're like, well, my doctor just ran everything and everything was normal. I've never seen a normal, right? And normal who want
Julie Michelson: look at our society. Like who really wants to be normal. Uh, uh,
Kris Sargent: normal is 70 percent of Americans are overweight and obese. Do you want to be normal?
Julie Michelson: No,
Kris Sargent: I hate to say it like that.
Kris Sargent: And I'm not [00:09:00] judging. No, no, it's
Julie Michelson: facts.
Kris Sargent: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Optimal. That's right. We should, we should make a new optimal. Medicine, medicine,
Kris Sargent: and that's what functional medicine really is. It's about optimizing physiology. It's about optimizing your health. It's about optimizing your outlook, your faith, your mindset, all of those things play into our neurotransmitters and our hormones all wrapped up together.
Kris Sargent: Or we can't, or we aren't going to be able to optimize our function in the world, right? For real. Right? And maybe for, for you and I, being people of faith, like, we want to do what God has out there for us. Right. In the best way possible. Yeah. So
Julie Michelson: well, and, and I know I warned you before I hit record that I, I was, we're just gonna, I'm going to see, I was curious where the conversation was going to go.
Julie Michelson: Of course I had ideas, um, but [00:10:00] I'm actually going to go with what I'm feeling in the moment. Let's talk a little, um, because, and we can weave all of it in because again, we are whole humans. It's all important. I do think. Something, one of the many things, but one of the, the big things missing when you go to your PCP or you know, or your, you know, whoever, whoever, primary nurse, practitioner, whatever you have, whoever, um, they don't ask about faith.
Julie Michelson: Right. Like they don't know. And it is actually important what, and I don't, it doesn't matter what your faith is, but, but let's talk about the importance if we're talking about total wellness. Share with me, because I know this is like, this is your jam. This is what you do day in and day out. And we can still touch on like weight gain and menopause and, but because that affects so [00:11:00] many of us as well.
Julie Michelson: But let's talk about this faith as a component of
Kris Sargent: wellness. Sure. Absolutely. I think, um, well, I mean, the studies are out that say that people of faith have, first of all, overall less anxiety and less depression period.
Julie Michelson: Something these days when both of those things are pretty rampant.
Kris Sargent: Right. And when you, when you have faith in, in, um, in something bigger than you, you realize that you don't have to control everything.
Kris Sargent: Like you, you can say and believe that, okay, if since I believe this, There's a, there's somebody else out there controlling what I need to do and what I need to learn. And I can choose to humbly accept the things that come into my life, whether they're, whether it's suffering. Right, like you've had autoimmune, whether it's suffering or something happy, either [00:12:00] way, you can have gratitude for that, and when we bring gratitude into the picture, now we have calmer everything.
Kris Sargent: So it does, you talk about menopause, you can have calmer hormones, you can have calmer adrenals, you can have calmer neurotransmitters. Transmitters because of having faith and faith tends to bring a community together. You're Jewish. You have a synagogue or temple. Um, you go to temple, you have people, you have your people, right?
Kris Sargent: I have my Kristian friends that I love hanging out with cause we all embrace a similar value system.
Julie Michelson: Yes. And
Kris Sargent: that's another part that when you are hanging out with people who have a similar value system, it makes you stronger. You become the five people that you hang out with. Right. Right. And so if you're hanging out with people that think the same way and that, that want you to be better, guess what?
Kris Sargent: You're going to be a better, a better version of the [00:13:00] human that you were put on the planet to be so that's, that's, yeah, that's where I think faith is. And for, for me and my practice, I think that as we choose our lifestyles, that we can do that, um, humbly and for his glory. For his, um, to, to honor God with our bodies, with our temples, the, which had this little tiny conversation about this a couple of minutes ago, like in the, in the Torah, right?
Kris Sargent: They had, there's books. Y'all, there are two books of the Bible that talk about how the temple was created, right? The Ark of the Covenant was created, like every detail, what it was made of, how big it was supposed to be, how it was supposed to be put together, how it was supposed to be honored,
Julie Michelson: where,
Kris Sargent: like, yeah, like all of it.[00:14:00]
Kris Sargent: And we're the same. If, as a Kristian, I believe that our body is the temple, we house the Holy Spirit, we house God now. And so, you know, casually, you really want to be in a sugar coma. If the Holy Spirit has something to tell you, right. If God is trying to talk to you and you're like, yeah, I just ate a whole piece of cake.
Kris Sargent: Like, how are you going to know
Julie Michelson: I'm stuck on the couch right now? I'll get back to you later. I'll
Kris Sargent: get back to you later. I want to tell the God of the universe that
Julie Michelson: I love that. Well, and you're, you're getting to, for me, what is such a, an important distinction. Um, Cause I love having conversations with people and finding out, you know, digging, I'm a digger.
Julie Michelson: You're a digger. This is what we do. Um, and I, I, to me, it's, it's almost to use a different word and tell me if this aligns or doesn't, I feel like it's my responsibility [00:15:00] to take the best care of my body possible, right? Like so that I can do the things I'm here to do. So, because sometimes at the end of the spectrum, which to me is, is like, that becomes an excuse is like, well, you know, whatever's going to be is going to be anyway, God's in charge.
Julie Michelson: So I don't have to try. You know what I mean? Like there, there is, that is not how I take anything I read or anything. people of like, you know, the center of a faith is not like, Oh, just sit around. Cause you know, you don't have an impact. Like we, we still always have a choice.
Kris Sargent: We do have a choice. And I think that, I think that people can get really wrapped up in feeling guilty about not taking care.
Julie Michelson: And
Kris Sargent: that can lead people down a really bad road because that's [00:16:00] the, that's the despair, right? Right. Instead of saying, I'm going to be grateful for where I am, I've made a lot of mistakes. And, you know, as a Kristian, like that's. In our world, in my world, like that's what Jesus died for, right? For, for me to not carry my sins and my choices, right?
Kris Sargent: My poor choices with me all the time. I can leave that over there and say, okay, I can start a new and I can start a new every morning, right? New March is every day. So I think it's, it's just really about that. Yeah for for people like set aside whatever happened in the past right so that now you can take a new Look at how you can handle this and then the motivation doesn't go away either.
Kris Sargent: You're not like Oh, I gotta get up my willpower to not eat the cake or the popcorn or whatever, right? It's [00:17:00] like no I can do it freely and make choices that will make God happy in a way And not out of guilt, not out of obligation, but out of gratitude.
Julie Michelson: I love that. And that
Kris Sargent: makes the whole thing so much easier.
Kris Sargent: There's no more, there's no more of that heavy shame and guilt. You can just make choices that you can be grateful that you have these choices. And that does not mean that I don't binge out on a big old bowl of popcorn every now and again. Right. Or a piece of key lime pie. Cause I'm going. But well, and
Julie Michelson: you know, it's not about perfect, like perfection.
Julie Michelson: We're not supposed to be perfect. We're not sustainable, even if it were attainable. So it's the, it's the knowing, you know, the knowing what I'm like, okay, well, no, for me on the popcorn is it would give me a migraine. Um, you know, but I can make a really great dairy free, grain free key lime pie. That's delicious.
Julie Michelson: Because that treats me, you know, I [00:18:00] know where my cheats are that aren't going to set me back. Um, and even if one did. Like you said, tomorrow's a new day. Like you just make a different choice. I find that next meal. Yeah. The perfectionism is especially, I mean, I know you're, you're, you work, we both work with women and men, but we both work with a lot of women.
Julie Michelson: And this perfectionism keeps people so stuck because as soon as they make a mistake, they throw the whole thing out. And it's like, Oh, just up level next, just next choice. Next choice.
Kris Sargent: Yeah, we're so pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Don't need help feeling competent. If you have to ask for help, like that is not.
Kris Sargent: That is not how we're wired. We're wired for community and we're wired to be around other people and to have other people with other gifts and talents to be next to us and to help us. Right. [00:19:00] Um, you know, if I didn't have somebody that could do my books for me, if I didn't have somebody chirping in my ear about some better ways to do marketing or a better way to present myself or whatever those things are, I, I wouldn't be sitting here with you.
Kris Sargent: Right. Right. Well, we are done. Those people.
Julie Michelson: We're still here, you know, God willing, like, thank you. So yeah, there must be more to do. We can continue growing. We should continue growing. Yeah. And, and so it's funny, we have a new gal working at the clinic who is amazing about prioritizing patient questions.
Julie Michelson: And she will like get a hold. Of the doctors and be like, so and so needs in between patients. Like she's not waiting. She's like, and she said to me, is that okay? Am I bothering them? I'm like, they love it. Like it's all about learning and growing. [00:20:00] And, and the whole reason we're here is, is, you know, to, to support people.
Julie Michelson: And so, And she'll ask questions like, well, why this and not that? Or, and I'm like, keep, you know, that's the whole point. Keep learning, growing, doing.
Kris Sargent: Absolutely.
Julie Michelson: And it just helps us serve better.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. I mean, who goes to seminary when they're 59, 60 years old? You do. I mean, yeah. Who takes on a master's degree at this age?
Kris Sargent: I do. And I'm not, I know. And I'm not the oldest one in the class and I'm not the youngest one in the class. And so it's. It's never too late either. And I think that some people do say, Oh, well, you know, I turned 45 and I started gaining weight and it's just part of the aging and that is a huge narrative, um, that undergirds a lot of.
Kris Sargent: Um, medicine really, you know, women who've just had children, maybe they're in their twenties or early thirties and they go into their doctor [00:21:00] and they've got, you know, three kids under the age of five and they wonder why they're tired and their doctor just looks at them and he goes, Oh, you have three kids under five.
Kris Sargent: Um, that's my biggest.
Julie Michelson: pet peeve in the world right there. Of course you're tired. I wouldn't be a doctor if I was tired. I'm something else like fatigue. It's different. And that is my biggest pet peeve. Yeah. And like I
Kris Sargent: put together, um, pregnancy recovery, a pregnancy recovery plan, because most of these women are just, frankly, they're iron deficient.
Kris Sargent: Right. And they're B complex deficient because their adrenals have had to take over for so long. And they're, yeah. And they've had lots of blood loss and just all the things. And progesterone tanks postpartum. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And their whole body is like, oh! We just had a baby. And, and, you know, you think back though, like biblical times, what did they do?
Kris Sargent: They didn't do anything. No, they were with other women
Julie Michelson: being taken care of and [00:22:00] nurtured and, you know, and, and we don't do that anymore. It's like, have a baby, get back to work. Like what? I
Kris Sargent: know it's crazy. You know, even a hundred years ago, women would go to bed when they had their period.
Julie Michelson: Right?
Kris Sargent: No. No, we take the pill non stop so that if I have to run in the Olympics, I'm not on my period that week.
Julie Michelson: Right? No, it's it is. So back to the body as a temple, like something got, got messed up. And I do think, and men also, there's, you know, all, all of the things also are affecting men at this point. We just did an interview. We're talking about, you know, it's just, Their hormones are affected by our lifestyle, our planet, you know, all the things, I mean, um, we were talking about, yeah, just the, the drop in testosterone, like, please, please, please.
Julie Michelson: And I know listeners are like, oh, she's going to do it again, [00:23:00] like driving electric cars. You're going to. Sit your sperm right on those batteries and, and, you know, and then wonder why you can't father children. Like there's a lot of, a lot of problems.
Kris Sargent: Along with all of the hyper processed foods, ultra processed foods and the sugar and aromatase enzymes shifting from testosterone to estrogen.
Kris Sargent: And guys are wondering why they have problems.
Julie Michelson: I have, I have had three clients and I already told you and listeners now I'm from Jersey. I don't have a filter. Yeah. I don't have much of one either. I think it's my age. You don't have a sense of humor. I'm not the right person. And yeah, well, I'm not, I'm only a couple of years younger than you.
Julie Michelson: So we're very well aligned. And I have, I've said to three different male clients when I've gotten labs back, like my testosterone is higher than yours and your estrogen is higher than mine. This is a problem. This is a problem. This is a problem. It's not good. No,
Kris Sargent: it's not. [00:24:00] It's such a negative feed forward cycle and they're using food to manage emotions that they don't know how to manage because They don't think they need help because they're men and yeah, it's, it's, yeah, it breaks my heart, you know, and then they, they wonder why, why ed, well, um, first of all, your brain is stressed out and you, you gotta have that all put together and your hormones are messed up.
Kris Sargent: Like how, how do you think your body's going to handle that? It's not, that's not going to be, we are wired for survival, right, right. And so, and women lose. Lose their drive to because they're so stressed out, right? Stress stresses. I think mental and emotional stress is one of the things that people discount the most.
Kris Sargent: Yes. I don't know how, what you see in your practice. Absolutely. But they start ticking off some of the things. I'm like, really, there's nothing going on in your life at all. And they're like, [00:25:00] well, there's this little thing and that little thing. And oh yeah, we're building a house. We bought a new property.
Kris Sargent: And I'm like, um, did, could, did you just tell me these five things? Cause now I'm stressed.
Kris Sargent: That's a lot to handle and they're like, well, I don't know, it's just part of life. I'm like that. First of all, you choose those things, right?
Julie Michelson: Busy. Like it's a badge of honor. You know, the two like busy
Kris Sargent: and I only have to
Julie Michelson: sleep four
Kris Sargent: hours.
Julie Michelson: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm a super sleeper. Cause I've heard, I've heard that's a thing.
Julie Michelson: I'm like, you know how rare that is. It's not really your thing. That's not what you wouldn't be talking to me if you were doing really well on your four hours a night. Exactly. I love, I want to, I want to circle back to this idea. You're back in school, right? I'm guessing since you just shared your age with us that you're also post menopausal.
Julie Michelson:[00:26:00] I am. So let's talk about that. This Um, you know, we, cause we touched on it and it, I don't know, it just energetically. I was like, Ooh, let's talk about that because I too, you know, many listeners now I'm an overshare. I don't, I had my ovaries and uterus removed in 2020. So I am also post menopausal, um, and I am.
Julie Michelson: And thus far the best part of my life yet. Right? I feel my best, my relationships are their best. The, you know, just all of the things this is, which I, I would wish, I always wish for my children, you know, every year or other things, but the same thing in their birthday cards. You know, may this be your best year yet.
Julie Michelson: That that is. That's the goal. Doesn't mean we don't ever have hard [00:27:00] stuff. Um, but, but let's talk about this. Like, do we have to wither up and waste away and no,
Kris Sargent: I wish I
Julie Michelson: was wearing a
Kris Sargent: sleeveless shirt. I'd show you my biceps. Um, and my lack of hanging fat, um, I'll keep
Julie Michelson: my arms down.
Kris Sargent: Um, no, honestly, I think that's so important though.
Kris Sargent: And it's important to talk about. So I went through menopause around 53, 54, and it was mostly a non event. Now, I also had a teenage daughter who had started her period around the same time. So I'm not going to tell you that it was easy, but it was mostly a non event for me, mostly because I knew what I needed to do and I knew I needed to tighten in my diet.
Kris Sargent: I knew I needed to drop a lot of carbohydrate, at least in the beginning, because we're wired that. When estrogen goes down, that automatically puts us into a potential to have this pre diabetic space where we don't, we just don't handle [00:28:00] carbs and sugar very well anymore. And so we start getting this belly fat.
Kris Sargent: Well, I wasn't about to have a belly fat. I've worked really hard just to keep my weight where it is. And, um, I'm like, no, it does. I don't believe that that has to happen. And so I just started shifting and I didn't feel, I found out that I didn't feel good when I was doing HIIT workouts. Yes. And heavy weights and kettlebell with my 35 year old friends.
Kris Sargent: I didn't feel good anymore when I did that. So I had to, like you said, you have to retool things. to make your body feel better. And so I did, I retooled and I, for me, it was up in cardio. I started running again. Um, I did some lightweights so that I could stay toned, but I can tell you that as I took care of my mom for the last five years, um, I, I had to change some things because my stress level [00:29:00] really.
Kris Sargent: Increased a lot. And yeah, so I had to change the way I did things. And ultimately I probably gained six or seven pounds over the last year that I was taking care of her one second. And, um, I realized that, you know, there was a lot more stress in taking care of her than I anticipated. And so she passed in March and it was.
Julie Michelson: Sorry. It's all good. Yeah.
Kris Sargent: That's okay. It's, I mean, when you have somebody with dementia, that's a whole different, that's another podcast we could do. It is. It is. But I, when she passed, I took a couple of months and kind of looked at what's going on in my life and what am I doing and how am I, and realized like, okay, I haven't checked it in a while.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. Seven pounds has got to go. I'm so tired of my jeans being tight when I sit in the zoom room all the time. And so I did, I just embarked on like, okay, what do I need to do? And I tightened [00:30:00] up my protein and I went back to the gym and um, I really have over the last. Yeah. June, July, August. I dropped the weight.
Kris Sargent: I put on, I'm clearly leaner, just looking in the mirror. My jeans are too big, same jeans. Um, and so I, back to it's never too late. Like, it literally is never too late. Yeah. Or too early. I always add that. Or
Julie Michelson: too early. Really? Because, you know, and because you don't, it's not, menopause isn't the only thing, right?
Julie Michelson: You mentioned stress levels. Like, life, take any segment of life and, and something is going to change. Um, and, and so we do constantly, people are always surprised. Like, well, what do you mean you need to up level? You know, this is what you do for a living. I'm like, well, yeah, and I went [00:31:00] from working at home and without even thinking, you know, walking 10 miles a day, just taking care of the animals on the farm and, and, and, you know, just, there's so many things that were built into lifestyle because I've been working from home for seven years.
Julie Michelson: Well, now I'm at the clinic every day. I'm under fluorescent lights. My windows don't open. I, I'm not walking 10 miles a day without putting any thought in. I'm not grounding in between clients because I'm not running around the clinic barefoot. Cause I feel like people would think that's weird. Also, um, we're on the second story.
Julie Michelson: I wouldn't be grounding anyway. So all these things, right. And it, it kicked my butt. Like two weeks in I had, I could feel the inflammation. I could, and I was like, wait a minute. I need to revamp my whole routine. Exactly. Exactly. Like
Kris Sargent: I am an early riser. Not everybody is, but I can tell you that [00:32:00] I agree with that.
Kris Sargent: And I think that I say this gently and in jest and serious all at the same time. Anybody can be a morning person. Sure. It's a choice. And is it hard at first? Sure. You, it may take a, it may take a month to get your schedule backed up so that you're going to bed at nine 30 or 10 so that you can get up at five or six.
Kris Sargent: Right. It's, it's good. It may take a little bit of work, a shift, a mindset, and you know, It's so worth it. I love that. I love it.
Julie Michelson: I've been an early riser for a long time. We're all different too though. Like I know if I don't work out in the morning, I don't care what story I tell myself. It is not happening.
Julie Michelson: Even if I am working like today, I'm, I'm home. It's not going to happen if it didn't happen in the morning. And James never [00:33:00] works out in the morning. It always works out at night. That works for him. It does. And men are different
Kris Sargent: than women that way too. True. True. They really are. I just know that I don't roll out of bed looking like this.
Kris Sargent: And I'm not doing it twice.
Julie Michelson: I love that. That's awesome. Yeah,
Kris Sargent: that's great. I love all my makeup. I love all the femininity that I can bring to the table that I wasn't always able to bring to the table as a professional and a physician who lived in a male world for most of my practice life. Um, but now I can bring it, you know, I can.
Kris Sargent: I can be as feminine and soft as I want to be. Um, and that's not going to happen if I have to go to the gym at one o'clock in the afternoon. Right. Right. Just not. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. But I love the, to me, the moral of the story is, and I, I love how you added the grace of like, okay, yes, it's funny, but I'm also serious because it is true.
Julie Michelson: We can all create whatever [00:34:00] change. Yes, we dedicate ourselves to and all of it takes time. I don't care. I find at least with clients. I'm sure it's the same with myself. If I paid attention, the things that seem like they're the simplest to do that. We don't have to put thought into creating that new habit.
Julie Michelson: Wrong. Those are always the ones that you know that it just seems . Those are the ones that don't matter.
Kris Sargent: Yep. . Yeah. Yeah. You have to. Yeah. I mean, it's like I tell clients when they're like, well, I'm just stuck. I don't know what to do. I'm like, okay, tomorrow morning you're gonna get up on the other side of the bed.
Kris Sargent: Just see the world from a different perspective. Yeah. Put your, to brush your teeth with your left hand. If you're a righty, like change something, get uncomfortable and it can be something simple. Go a different way to work. Go see something different at lunch, go find a different place to go for lunch, find something new and then feel that [00:35:00] excitement and then the other new things will, will come along and we compare our seemingly old habits with something new and now you have something new.
Kris Sargent: Yes.
Julie Michelson: I love it. I love it. And I love the, and maybe that's part of where I was like, you know, I'm in this, I'm in like the most exciting time in my life. Um, and I was laughing yesterday. Somebody created an opportunity, like a beautiful opportunity that has really tricky timing for me. And like in the, in the pit of my stomach, I feel this like excitement.
Julie Michelson: And I know from the outside, if I take, if I say yes to this opportunity. That's like kind of seems crazy on paper, but, and I was laughing cause I was like, you know what? I am not the person I was five years ago. Would it just immediately said, no, not possible. Doesn't make sense. And now over time from stepping out of the comfort zone, stepping out of the [00:36:00] comfort zone, stepping out of the comfort zone.
Julie Michelson: I now live out of the comfort zone. Yes. I don't live in the comfort zone. And as somebody who historically had a lot of anxiety and a lot, I don't have any of that either. So,
Kris Sargent: you know, I want to tell your listeners right now. Y'all, are you here? This is gold. Y'all it, it takes staying uncomfortable to really shift your life.
Kris Sargent: That means you might be a little hungry between lunch and dinner. That means you might have to figure out how to get up half an hour early so you can start. You might not like that alarm
Julie Michelson: clock in the beginning.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. No, I'd get to bed earlier so that you don't need one. Right. Right.
Julie Michelson: So, but out
Kris Sargent: of
Julie Michelson: the discomfort comes change.
Julie Michelson: We cannot create
Kris Sargent: change.
Julie Michelson: We do not create change in comfort.
Kris Sargent: Exactly. There's nothing on this planet that has shifted or changed that [00:37:00] isn't uncomfortable. I mean, we're headed into fall, right? You think the trees are not ready to drop their leaves. You think they're going fighting the nature cycle.
Kris Sargent: It's time to let go. I get to take I get to take a break. Yeah. I get to rest for three or four months. I get to store up energy so that when spring comes along, I can pop out some new ones. And that's how we are too. We have to step back. We have to look at things hard. And it helps when we have somebody like you or me coaching through air.
Kris Sargent: And I know we started this conversation with menopause, but menopause is the same thing. It's a natural, you can't, you can, it is part of the natural cycle. And you know, in my practice, I don't do very much with hormones. Um, and so. I do some, I do a lot, but I don't do it with a hormone, like an endogenous hormone, something taking a hormone.
Kris Sargent: I do it without that. You can do it with [00:38:00] food. You can do it with herbals. Sometimes you need a little touch of DHEA, a little bit of progesterone, or I may need to send somebody to go get some pellets or something else that if it's not working, I'm not, I don't leave that out. That it's not working. That it just shouldn't be.
Kris Sargent: And there's an awful lot that we can do without it. And I know in your practice, you guys do a lot, probably do more than I do. And
Julie Michelson: I don't, cause I'm not a physician, but yes, you know, and, and listeners know, I've had a lot of conversations about, you know, I went from fully cycling to having no, yeah, no party parts, no party parts.
Julie Michelson: Um, and so I personally am a firm believer if for, you know, that for me, that was a great choice. Um, but even so it is the same as I look at it this way. Um, mostly kind of, it's like when the diabetic says I can have the donut because I took my insulin. [00:39:00] Right. Well, how about you don't have the doughnut and you don't, you'll need less insulin.
Julie Michelson: It'll work better. Even if you're type one, like I'm not picking on, it was just low hanging fruit, but doing the lifestyle, like just getting hormone replacement and not changing diet. I know we were going to dig into gut health. Maybe you'll come back and we can dig deeper into, but we can definitely do that.
Julie Michelson: The whole lifestyle piece. We're not. Somebody just reached out and was like, I want, you know, it was a man, he wants TRT. Um, you know, what does that look like at your clinic? And I'm like, well, it looks like we treat the whole person. Like you're not going to come in and we're going to, like, that's not, we don't do that.
Julie Michelson: That's not
Kris Sargent: a thing. Yeah. No, like,
Julie Michelson: no. You know, you hear the ads on the radio for, you know, the men's clinic and literally they're like paying you to come in. And so. It, we're still whole humans and everything that you're doing with your clients, [00:40:00] even if they are clients who are using hormone replacement therapy, bio identical hormone replacement therapy.
Julie Michelson: Right. It's all going to work better
Kris Sargent: than if they weren't doing the thing. And they may need, they, they may even be able to get off of it. Eventually. Yeah. I mean, I took a little bit of thyroid right from, I had really bad postpartum after my first child and I was 30. I had just turned 39 about a month after she was born and it was awful.
Julie Michelson: Geriatric pregnancy. Oh, I hate that word. Like, like this is no one ever really say that to a pregnant woman. Exactly.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Those words up
Kris Sargent: a
Julie Michelson: man, clearly a man.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. I know. Yes. I was one of the first geriatric patients that my, my normal physician ever saw. And I was like, I'm out, I'm out. And I, you know, I found a midwife and we, I did a different, um, But, you know, all of that to just say that, [00:41:00] yes, we are all different. And yes, every woman needs a little bit different plan as they head into and head through menopause.
Kris Sargent: And it still needs to be holistically planned, right? Just taking hormone replacement can actually increase in inflammation for some women. And I've seen it happen. Their face blows up and they start gaining weight and I'm like, yeah, but what else are you doing? And they're like, well. Drinking every week and every night I have a drink, you know, alcohol, that's a whole, that's another podcast too.
Kris Sargent: You know, they're eating the same way. I'm like, well, you've just increased your inflammation. You haven't fixed anything.
Julie Michelson: Right.
Kris Sargent: So, yes, it does. You still have to go back to the basics for the foundation.
Julie Michelson: We're trying to get away from the band aid, right? Like, the band aid is just a band aid, and some, if you're not changing other things and addressing all of the other underlying stuff, Right.
Julie Michelson: Then replacement therapy becomes a bandaid [00:42:00] too. Like it's not, there is no doctor fix it. Like we have to, we have to kind of look inward and to kind of go full circle. There's another piece where faith, whatever your faith is. Is so important for health because we, we do need to get quiet and, you know, all of the other things that we, that you mentioned, you know, the community be still be in connection, be in community.
Julie Michelson: Yes. These are important things. You know, I love, you know, we're in different states and we get to meet over zoom and technology has a way of bringing people together. It has, as long as we remember actually to get out and like touch real people and hug real, have contact.
Kris Sargent: So important, especially you and I, right.
Kris Sargent: I, well, I worked with 100 [00:43:00] percent virtually. So, and I have clients everywhere. And I know that a couple nights a week, I do volunteer church one night a week. And I have a group of people that I hang out with on the weekends so that I have actual human touch regularly. Right. Yeah. My daughter lives with me, but she's 21.
Kris Sargent: So that's a hit or miss.
Julie Michelson: I was like, I'm telling people go run around and touch people. I heard it on a podcast. This is good for my health.
Kris Sargent: That's so funny because, um, it's a memory that I'll always have with my mom. She would touch everybody and post COVID, I'm like, mom, you just have to stop. And she just couldn't.
Kris Sargent: No, well, what I
Julie Michelson: learned to do, yeah.
Kris Sargent: Into babies. And I'm like,
Julie Michelson: often we'll ask permission, but I'm that person. I'll be like, I'm a hugger. Is that okay? As I'm already going in for the, it's like, here's your chance to run fast. But [00:44:00] I, it's, it's that mind Right. Like, you know, like again, I love this ability to connect with people around the world and, and, and make true real connection, but we still need in person connection and community.
Julie Michelson: Sometimes our five people are not in our physical space. That's okay. That's okay. But make sure somebody
Kris Sargent: Yeah. You have to have that. Yeah. We need those communities. You have to reach out. You have to find your people. Yeah. Yeah. And again, online, you can find those places too. Sure. Right. There's a, there's, and it's, it's not about the dating apps.
Kris Sargent: I know I'm single, but it's not about that. Right. It's like, there's other ways that you can connect with people in your community.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. I say, you know, whether it's faith based or whatever you enjoy, other people enjoy it too. And you can find those people that way. Like it's a [00:45:00] great way, or like you just said, volunteering is a great way.
Julie Michelson: If you've moved somewhere new or life has gotten smaller, show up in service and you'll find your people.
Kris Sargent: You absolutely, whatever your, whatever it is that you're passionate about. I love salsa dancing. And one of the first things I did when I moved to Nashville was like, okay, I know this is a big dance community here.
Kris Sargent: So I went and found people that would do salsa dancing just to have something to do. It's such a good one.
Julie Michelson: My daughter was living in Oxford this past year and, and she, she never had salsa dishes started. Somebody dragged her to a salsa class and that became her thing. And that was what I said to her. I said, anywhere you live in the world.
Julie Michelson: you now can, can find community through salsa dancing, you know, and it's not her like end all be all, you know,
Kris Sargent: but
Julie Michelson: it's [00:46:00] still her biggest passion
Kris Sargent: connection, but
Julie Michelson: it's a great, you know, and it's fun. Like you don't go salsa dancing and sit and sulk. Like you're, you have to be, I mean, five minutes
Kris Sargent: of the music and you're happy, happy dance, you know, read a five minute happy dance.
Kris Sargent: You're not feeling it today. I tell people like. Grab your phone, find your favorite song and go, if you have to go to the, go to the bathroom in your office and just dance in a stall if you have to, right? I wrote an article about that, dancing it out.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. Dance it out. Yes. Yes. Yes. If you're like me, you don't have to do it in front of people.
Julie Michelson: My daughter made me a, made us a playlist. It's called dancing in the kitchen because apparently I dance in the kitchen a lot. I didn't even notice until she, I was like, why'd you call it that? She's like, you guys are always dancing while you're cooking. And always, you know, cause it was a music on in the background.
Julie Michelson: So
Kris Sargent: that's what makes you happy. Right? Yeah. I used to embarrass my kids in home Depot. Oh,
Julie Michelson: I [00:47:00] think it's our job as parents to
Kris Sargent: agree.
Julie Michelson: I used to say, you know, I, as a kid, I was like, dad, like you, your mom with the touching people, my dad would make conversation. With and jokes, you know, with anybody checking us out and he was strangers just and and now I'm like, oh, that was such a beautiful gift.
Julie Michelson: I had no idea as a kid. I was horrified like dad, you know, why are you doing the same way? So I never knew a stranger. Such amazing, so many nuggets. I, I'm going to listen to this one again. Um, and I definitely want to have you, have you back and, and we can pick a thing and stick to it, but, but I, I really, um, really just felt called to, to bring in the conversation.
Julie Michelson: And I know, and this is, this is your conversation really. It is part of my
Kris Sargent: conversation for faith
Julie Michelson: and wellness and, and, um, Really, you know, [00:48:00] I believe I use the word responsibility. I'll let you wrap it up with your words, but you know, taking care of our bodies is, is a gift that we get, we get to do our best and continue every day.
Julie Michelson: Like you said, is an, is a fresh start to execute. Like, how can we better do this? Um, because it makes us better people. Yeah. I, I know on the inside that you serve. Yeah. When I was really sick, I was still a good person on the inside, but I wasn't contributing to my community because I felt like I couldn't.
Julie Michelson: And so there it is. Right there.
Kris Sargent: Right there. You couldn't contribute to the community. And I think it is a responsibility, but I also think it's an innate, um, I think it's in us. I think it's part of our DNA, if you will. I think
Julie Michelson: it's why we're
Kris Sargent: here. Um, to serve and when we can get out of our own way and.
Kris Sargent: Realize that volunteering [00:49:00] once a week to do whatever that is, that you are passionate, whether it's taking care of kitties or taking care of all people or teaching people how to salsa dance or whatever it is. If you, if it just jazzes you up, go do the thing and you will be healthier in the long run for that thing.
Kris Sargent: And, and it's, it is a responsibility. Without guilt, without shame, from a place of gratitude, I get to serve because my body's healthy, I feel good, and I get to do this.
Julie Michelson: It's an opportunity. It is an opportunity. I was trying to find the word and you, you got me there. Thank you. It's an opportunity. It feels better than responsibility.
Julie Michelson: Um, but it, it is, you know, it really, really is. And, and always, it is true when you're, you get it back and you know, tenfold when Yes. You show up in service. So, well, [00:50:00] you already did, but I'm going to ask you anyway, and give you one more opportunity. We always wrap with what is Dr. Kris's one thing, one step that listeners can take today to start to improve their health.
Kris Sargent: Well, okay. I'll go right down to the basics, right? Um, I, and I said it earlier, right? Your food is your biggest. impact on your body. And so when you feed it well, Then you will be more well. And so what does that look like? Does it have to be crazy? Do you have to do what Julie and I do? No, but let's just find, how about protein three or four times a day?
Kris Sargent: How about fresh fruits and vegetables all day? How about just that, just that. Yes. Real food. Out of boxes. Yeah. Eating stuff that has 4, 000 ingredients. Start drinking water with a little bit of sea salt in it so you can actually hydrate your cells. [00:51:00] Yes.
Julie Michelson: Support
Kris Sargent: your adrenals. Exactly. And you know, that's, that's going to get you out of your slump, right?
Kris Sargent: That's going to get you out of the hole. And then, you know, contact Julie, contact me. We do labs. So that you can know what you need to take in terms of vitamins. Most of my clients, probably yours too, have an entire cabinet that we call the, the supplement graveyard, right? That they've tried and they thought, yeah, I heard they have these subscriptions on the internet.
Kris Sargent: Yeah. I found it on Amazon. Oh, good goodness. Let's do targeted. Let's
Julie Michelson: find out what your body
Kris Sargent: needs, find out what you need. Yeah. To take that and use your word level up, um, your supplementation, right? So then you have your foundation of eat and drink and move and sleep. And then your supplements on top of that will start you with a, with a solid foundation, right?
Kris Sargent: Not one built on sand, one built on [00:52:00] the rock. And that's really going to start you in down a different. Down a different path and it doesn't have to be scary or hard. Thank you. No, or all at
Julie Michelson: once, right? Like it's step by step. No, it doesn't have to be all at once.
Kris Sargent: No, that's why, I mean, I do a 90 day coaching program because I know it's going to take, it's going to take you a month to figure out what to eat.
Kris Sargent: I know that to do that and how to do it and how to work it in and how do I batch cook and how do I have protein all the time? How do I do that? What does that look like? Um, and so, yeah, that's, that's how, that's where people need to start with somebody like you or me.
Julie Michelson: Amazing gold. Dr. Kris, thank you so much.
Julie Michelson: So thanks for hanging out with me extra long today and getting me ready for the weekend. Absolutely. My pleasure for everyone listening. Remember you can get the transcripts and show notes by visiting inspired living. show. Hope you had a great time and enjoyed [00:53:00] this episode as much as I did. I'll see you next week.
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My Guest For This Episode
Connect with Kris Sargent
Kris Sargent
Kris wrote and published her first book, Simply Functional Medicine, in 2017. Her second, Cultivating a Mind, Soul, and Body for God, is almost complete. She offers Keynotes and workshops based on her work in Cultivating. For the last three years, she's had a podcast/YouTube channel called Spark Faith.
Formal Education and Continuing Ed:
Biology and Psychology from the University of Central Florida in 1988
BS in Human Anatomy
Doctorate of Chiropractic degree at The National University of Health Sciences(NUHS) in 1992. Post-doctoral Master’s Degree in Advanced Clinical Practice, 2009 NUHS
Over the years, Dr. Sargent has accumulated hundreds of hours of continuing education in Functional Nutrition, Leadership, and Personal Development, Certification in First Line Therapy, a post-doctoral Master’s Degree in Advanced Clinical Practice and Internal Medicine, and 32 years in private practice, Dr Sargent also considers herself a clinical science geek and sleuth.
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