Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe - Dr. Danielle Belardo: Wellness Facts vs. Wellness BS
Episode Date: May 3, 2022The incredible Dr. Danielle Belardo is joining Kaitlyn on the mic today to drop FACTS about popular health and wellness trends, and she’s making KB (and all of us) question literally everyt...hing we've read online. Danielle is a cardiologist who is out to debunk the misinformation we all fall for – including the pseudoscience she’s been a victim to herself. In this episode, Danielle exposes the truth about holistic supplements, clean makeup brands, and getting an IV drip for a bad hangover. When it comes to our health, we are all just searching for the real answers and Danielle is here to help. In this episode, we’re getting answers to questions like: Should you pee after sex? Is intermittent fasting worth it? And, should Kaitlyn stop doing the trend that’s making her have non-stop bowel movements (sorry, TMI)? We’re finding out what has actual evidence and what is just plain BS. TALKSPACE - Match with your dedicated therapist today at talkspace.com, and use promo code vine during sign-up to get $100 off your first month. ZOCDOC - Go to Zocdoc.com/VINE and download the Zocdoc app for FREE to start your search for a top-rated doctor today. PROGRESSIVE - Quote at Progressive.com to join the over 27 million drivers who trust Progressive. EUROPEAN WAX CENTER - Make a reservation today - your first wax is free! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Hey, everybody.
You're listening to Caitlin Bristow's podcast, Off the Vine.
Take it away, Bree.
Wine.
Lots of wine.
Hey, be on the mic, turn it up, let's go.
Hey, ramen, Pino, ready for the show.
Everyone's welcome.
So come on in because OTV.
It's about to be.
Welcome to Off the Vine. I'm your host, Caitlin Bristow. I feel like I talk a lot on this pot about my heart.
And this episode is really all about my heart, but in a little bit of a different way. Okay, that was stupid.
It's about cardiovascular health. Anyway, my guest today is an incredible cardiologist and advocate for evidence-based medicine.
So her favorite thing to do other than like saving lives is to debunk all the misinformation out there on social media.
She is so smart, just an amazing person all around.
She just went to Ukraine to provide medical aid to everyone there.
We talk about, is celery juice the new fad or is it really stupid?
We talk about intermittent fasting.
Is it for you or is it for nobody?
I love this conversation and you're going to learn so much.
I hope you enjoy this episode with Dr. Danielle Bellardo.
make my freaking font size 20 because I'm getting all the 90 glasses.
My font is also size 20.
Hello.
Hi.
How are you?
Good.
How are you?
Oh my gosh.
This is like the universe speaking to me that I'm talking to today.
It's so random that my girlfriend was just sending me a bunch of your podcasts without
me even realizing you're who I was talking to.
No way.
I didn't even look when she was sending them.
I wasn't reading like who it was or whatever.
I just knew she was sending me podcast.
podcast because I get to the reason why, but she was like, I need to get through to you, Caitlin.
You got to listen to all the debunking of these things that you're trying to do.
And I was like, I'm all for like a myth buster and any, it comes to like beauty and wellness.
I'm so into it.
So very excited to talk to you today.
I was scrolling through your Instagram and like every post is somehow more impressive than
the last.
And obviously you're credible.
So it's so cool.
I started following you.
Very excited.
Oh my gosh. Well, that's so nice. I've been following your journey forever. And I love your journey for you. You are just like so amazing women empowerment. You've really just done the most and the best. So I love it. So such an honor for me to get to chat with you. Well, right back at you. I'm so thrilled. And even more gorgeous than I ever picture. You are so beautiful. Just for everyone listening in case you can't say this, she looks so gorgeous. That is so nice of you.
because I just came from a workout and feel like this is sweaty hair dried.
Oh, my God.
And then I-Cash, low-pony sleek look and it's just power by sweat.
I got a spray tan yesterday.
Don't tell me I can't get spray tans.
No, no, I love spray tans.
I have a whole, yeah, we have a whole podcast episode about how spray tans are great.
SPF is everything and spray tans are a-okay.
Okay, yes.
I'm always so scared people are going to tell me I can't have spray tans or wine.
No, no, no, never.
I always do like an intro for everybody at the beginning of the episode.
I don't think I'll do it justice.
So I kind of wanted you to have the floor and give my listeners just like an overview of who you are and what you do.
Oh, sure.
I'm Danielle Valardo.
I am a cardiologist in Southern California in Newport Beach.
And I am also a podcast host.
I do a little bit of nutrition science and pseudoscience deep.
debunking with some health and wellness stuff. It's called Wellness Fact versus Fiction. And I am a
huge fan of Caitlin Bristow. That's so cool. I had no idea. I honestly like the world works in the
most mysterious ways. And it's so funny because I'm going to tell you when it gets more towards
a confession time about why she's sending me these things about you. But I had a question for you
because obviously there's a lot of haters online. And the more you kind of get into,
all this stuff, the more, you know, people are going to have their opinion. And it must be hard because
you're putting out like facts and you're talking to scientists and you're really doing your research
and you've had your education. And so how hard is it for you to continue to put out all this information
that people are probably, they don't want to hear sometimes? Yeah, no, I totally agree. So I think
the people who don't want to hear the correction of the misinformation are oftentimes people who
just been victims of the misinformation. So like at the end of the day, everyone is looking for
health and happiness. Like, that's what we're all looking for. And I think a lot of people have been
deterred by traditional medicine because truthfully, I'm not here to say traditional medicine's
perfect. You know, like our current health care system and everything has tons of issues,
including, you know, the facts that people get very limited time with their doctor and things
like that. But I think that what motivates me to keep going is that, you know, I've seen how
misinformation can harm patients firsthand. COVID pandemic was a huge one. And, you know, I see it all
the time in cardiology. And I think that seeing how much misinformation can harm people, and even if
you think it's benign, something like, oh, take this supplement, you know, sometimes that steers someone
away from getting guideline-directed medical therapy or it steers someone away from getting a
really, you know, dangerous diagnosis. For example, one of my partners in my practice, I'm in a
multidisciplinary practice, one of my partners to gastroenterologists. So a patient recently who was being
prescribed iron supplements forever from this like a natural holistic person. Turns out the patient
had colon cancer that went undetected years and years and years. And that's why they were iron
deficient. And so my biggest passion for it comes out of patients. You know, I just want what's best for
everyone. Wow. I mean, it's so scary because we all want that out of our doctors. And I do think
that's something that people are terrified of, like, especially in the States with the health care,
it's so different in Canada. But like so many people would rather, you know, stay home and not
figure out what's wrong because they can't afford to, which is so sad to me.
but there's so few people that like the fact that you go to someone holistic thinking you're getting
like you know the proper information and then you're diagnosed with colon cancer like what did
they do wrong there did they could they have gotten blood work like what yeah so yeah that's a great
question so for this patient particularly they were getting blood work but you know and i don't blame
the patients because i think that a lot of times patients will go to a busy primary care doctor
and i don't blame the doctors either because it's just a function of the system it's just a
total mess. We talk about this a lot on my podcast, just about how to navigate the health care
system the best you can and be your own best advocate. Not everyone who's holistic or natural is
totally giving misinformation. And not everyone who's a traditional allopathic physician,
like board certified physician like myself, is also giving accurate information. You know,
so there's obviously incorrect ways in each field. So then people listening are probably like,
oh my God, then what do I do? My best bet is always have a low threshold to get a second opinion.
And also, if you don't feel like your doctor is listening to you or giving you the time you deserve, you have to be your best, you are your own best advocate.
Go for, find another physician, find someone you jive with.
You might not be able to, because the way health care is built out, you may not be able to get all of your questions with your, say, your primary care in one setting.
But you could, you know, if there's someone you're comfortable with, you can be honest with, you feel like they're listening to you.
They'll schedule another appointment with you and you'll be able to, you need to feel heard.
you need to go listen to. And a lot of times what the holistic like side of things provides is a lot of them are cash,
their fee for service. And so, you know, you're paying however many hundreds of dollars. So they're giving you a full hour.
That hour is valuable. You know, patients want to be heard and listened to. It's just our traditional health care model is not built that way.
So I tell everyone to advocate for themselves. And I always say if someone's going against the expert scientific consensus, if they know something that all of our guideline committees and every cardiologist in the world doesn't know, it's
probably wrong and they're probably selling you something gosh that's where i ever since i've gotten into
the world of like sales and selling things and being sold things i don't trust anyone even like
doctors to me they're so hard to trust because i'm like are you just getting paid
do you have like some deal worked out with this company that that's what medication you're
supposed to get well can i tell you you can look that up so everyone listening so you can look up
any physician and see if they've gotten a single dollar from any pharmacy
companies. You can go on Google right now, Danielle Bellardo, CMS, whatever. You can go to CMS
payments and see I've taken $0 from pharma, you know, and you can look up and see how much any
doctors taken from pharma. The issue is, though, is that all of these like other natural
providers online, they could be selling you supplements, et cetera. There is no CMS payments record
for them, right? So if someone's selling you their supplement or their diet plan, you can't look it up
the same, but you certainly can for physicians. You can look up any physician and see how much
taken from pharma whoa whoa game changer that is so good to know nobody would know that unless
somebody told them like yourself so thank you because that's always something that freaks me out
and someone who i'm on medication for anxiety and depression and that freaks me out at first
but i will say from i've been on it for three years now it's made all the difference in my life i have
a question for you now i don't i don't know if you're like that's something i can't give advice on
not. But I wanted to actually try and wean myself off because I feel like I have narrowed it down to
like, this is when I get depressed. This is when it's all around my hormones. So I wanted to see if I
could like somehow get myself off of it or or at least like maybe down to half and see. But I'm
scared about how I'm going to be off of them is do you think that's a good idea for me after three
years? Yeah. So I think that one is that so I so I'm a cardiologist. So I am.
That's why I was like, maybe you can answer that.
Yeah, I did internal medicine draining, and I know a good amount of psych, but not a ton.
And then cardiology fellowship, I would certainly say that is a question for psych.
So I think the other thing is, is the person that knows other red flag, I always do like red flags for people online giving health information.
If someone's speaking out of their scope, too, that's super concerning.
Like, as a cardiologist, like, I definitely should not be titrating psych meds.
You know what I mean?
Right.
That being said, do I know that it's possible for patients?
to titrate down medications over time. Absolutely. And some patients titrate off and they do great.
Some patients titrate off and then in a different season of their life, they need it again.
It really is something you work with your health care provider, but it's totally possible.
Okay. I also wanted to know if you know anything about, because I know you've done so many things
and studies and learn so much. And I'm sure you just know from your own personal knowledge,
but like, do you do anything with hormones or do you recommend? Because there's so many people
that are holistic in Nashville that do like hormone training and blood work to see what vitamins
you need. I'm scared. I have so many things wrong with my hormones and I know that deep down in my
soul and I don't know what to do about it. Yeah, you, you should listen to. So I did the first two
episodes of my podcast I did with Jen Gunter. She's an OBGYN board certified OBGN. She's
brilliant. She does all women's health stuff, debunks a bunch of stuff about hormones and misinformation.
And then another episode I did with R.D. Thangadu was a board certified endocrinologist. So she goes through all of the hormone testing you hear of on the internet why it's not validated, why all of these like certain hormone tests, they sell you like the Dutch test and these other ones. She literally explains step by step why it's not even a validated test, why it doesn't give you an accurate reading of cortisol. And she goes through the whole hypothalmic pituitary access. And I promise you it's in a way that is digestible for everyone. You don't have to be a
medicine, you'll probably listen to it and be like, oh my God, I have so many people who email
me and they say, like, wow, I've spent so much money on X, Y, or Z to get no answers. And I was
the same way. So what made me want to do this is like, even when it comes to like, so I don't
know Derm, right? So like, I used to think like, oh, the more you spend on a skincare product,
the better or the more you spend on like clean beauty, all this stuff. Until my friends who are like
expert dermatologists were like, that's not what you should be doing. You should just be using a
retinal, like a prescription dose retinal. You should just be.
doing, you know, get Botox, like just, you know what I mean? Like, this is like X, Y, or Z. And so I realized
myself, I'm like, wow, I'm trained in how to critically appraise scientific research. And if it's
outside of my specialty, I totally have fallen for stuff too, like a million times. Yeah, of course.
I think we all do no matter what, you know, matter what. The hormone stuff is a, is, is hairy,
though. It gets so confusing and scary. Did you say hairy? Because that's what I heard. And literally,
that's what's happening to my body. I'm like growing sideburn.
and hair out of my body where I'm not supposed to be growing it.
And I'm like, something's out of whack here.
Well, I'll find you an answer.
Do not be defeated.
You will all adopt you as my patient and we'll get the answer to it.
Yes.
Oh, my God.
I just like, I all of a sudden felt lighter and better about everything.
All right, a quick little pause to talk about something that is so very important.
And that is your mental health.
I know some of you are doing some spring cleaning right now.
And it can be such a good feeling to declutter your space and start fresh.
I actually just did that.
And same goes with your mind.
Over the years, thoughts and emotions can really build up.
and that's why it's so important to talk to someone who is actually trained to declutter your mental
space. Therapy has been in my life for a while now and it really helps me get clear on my thoughts,
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Tell me about IVs.
When you get IVs in your bloodstream and you get that hookup and they're hydrating you
and they're giving you all the things, is that beneficial and worth the money?
All right.
I will break your heart when I tell you right now.
Not only is it to not to get home IVs unless it's clinically indicated by your physician
because you have, say, you know, some sort of, I don't even, I can't even think of an instance
in which I would send someone with a home IV.
Actually, if you're sick enough and dehydrated enough to need a home IV, you should be in the hospital and monitored.
And getting too many home IVs especially actually can be dangerous.
There's infection risk, and you can actually blow out your veins.
And I did my internal medicine residency training for three years at Temple in North Philly, where I saw, you know, a lot of patients that were unfortunately drug addicted.
And, you know, they were using obviously lots of needles.
And then they end up having to use needles in their feet.
And so people that are getting, you know, tons of IV therapy, I've even seen.
here in Southern California. Sometimes, you know, they're unable to, they blow their veins and
their brachials and they're unable to, you know, and it's infection risk and it's just the best way
to hydrate at home is just drink fluids. And then if you're sick enough that you need an IV,
you should be seen by a doctor, get lab work done, see what's going on, see if there's a cute kidney
injury or something like that. But what about if you're just super hungover and need to be hydrated right
way. Is that okay? So, so I, I think like, you know, once in a while, am I going to say it's,
you know, horrible? Probably not. But I just think the benefits aren't worth the risks to me in
this scenario. I just, you know, I think that you can hydrate orally. And the truth is,
if you can't hydrate with PO with like bi-oral and you're vomiting nonstop, that's when I think
it separates the level of acuity. Like you may need, you know, like ER. I know people try to avoid going
the hospital, but sometimes, sometimes it's needed, you know, and especially with like a really
bad hangover or someone's profusely vomiting, they can have kidney injury and a lot of electrolyte
abnormalities. And you can't monitor that without labs. So I am. That's true. That's true.
That little IV is probably not. Pedialite. Oh, pediolite. Yeah, yeah. That's, I don't get them all the
time, but if I'm like super desperate, I do. But yeah, that's, that's fair enough. And so how did you get into
cardiology like what was that something you just always wanted to do yeah so i liked cardiology a lot
in medical school but then um decided to go into cardiology and my dad who's super healthy like was like
a top triathlet all this stuff he started to like have some shortness of breath on his like eight
mile of running and i was like listen i don't know enough yet i was in med school i was like but that just
he's like maybe i have asthma i was like i don't think you have asthma at like 60 so i sent him for a
stress test then ended up going for a calf and then it turned out he had a 99% blockage of his right
coronary artery. And my dad's something that was eating super healthy, was really healthy also.
And so he's doing great now. He got a stent. And now obviously I micromanage all of his cardiovascular care.
And he's totally back to running and he's totally fine. But it made me realize that like prevention is the
most important thing. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death for both men and
women. And prevention, you know, needs to be done thoroughly and early. And so looking back at my
dad now, like, you know, if I knew then what I knew now, I would have had him on a statin years earlier.
and all those things. Yeah. So how can people prevent and and because like your dad,
he probably didn't know anything until it was actually there. What can people like us at home do
right now? Is that just as simple as exercising, eating right and all of those things?
So something that will actually probably make you like, be like, oh my God, that's kind of crazy
is there's this study called the P-Day study where they actually looked at children who died of other
reasons, children who died of like trauma and stuff. And they found that atherosclerotic lesions,
so the lesions that have plaque build up start as young as in like childhood, you know,
five-year-olds, really young. So we start to build up plaque in our coronary arteries when we're
really young. And so it's really just minimizing it throughout your lifespan. So the best things you
can do are one is get a good primary care doctor. A really good primary care doctor,
who you trust, who listens to you, who is hopefully evident.
and space and know your numbers. So things like know your blood pressure, because there's risk
factors for our disease. So knowing your blood pressure, knowing your cholesterol, knowing your family
history is really important, things like diabetes. And then, of course, the other things that are
important, like exercise and eating, you know, a healthful diet. But definitely getting in with a good
PCP. I know when we're in our 30s, especially in your 20s and 30s, you think like, oh, nothing's
ever going to happen to me. You know, I'm seeing patients with heart attacks that are getting
younger and younger. And so, yeah, now we have the tools. So what I say, the reason I love
preventive cardiology so much is because I can say with full confidence, we know how to prevent
cardiovascular disease. So if a 30-year-old comes to see me and they're like, I never want to get a
heart attack, you know, we can pretty much make that happen. As long as we just, as the patient,
you know, follows like everything we recommend, it's really, we really have the science down in most
cases. Of course, there's some, you know, random cases where you can't, but the majority of
cases for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, you can prevent it. So, yeah, so finding a good
doctor that you trust is probably the number one. Okay. That's, I feel like I have a great
doctor, but again, I'm always like, are you or are you not? Yeah, well, now you're going to be my
patient, all right? So we're going to make sure. I'm sold on you, big time. I've done my research
on you for this podcast. I'm like, yes, absolutely.
With all, you know, being in cardiovascular, did you get so frustrated at all the misinformation
and all of these people coming out and say this about the vaccine and this about the vaccine?
Is that what made you get into debunking all of these myths and truths?
Or was this something that you've always been into?
Yeah, that's super interesting.
Yeah, like there's always a misinformation.
So I'm really involved in like the nutrition science base, especially with cardiovascular disease,
which is always misinformation there.
But the pandemic really elucidated.
It was crazy.
So I was in my last year of cardiology fellowship.
So that's after four years of med school, three years of medicine residency,
three years of cardiology training.
I was in my last year of training when the pandemic hit.
And we got redeployed to COVID.
And I was in Philadelphia for my training.
And so we got hit really hard for the pandemic.
So I was seeing, you know, in April of 2020,
I was seeing people our age.
So I was seeing physicians our age in their 30s that were getting super sick,
that were getting intubated,
that were getting cardiomyopathy.
from COVID. And then I was coming home to social media and having someone be on my Instagram
be like, you bitch, COVID's not real. And I remember, oh my God. And at this time, I was like going to
work every day. We didn't even have N95 masks. I was begging my social media, send us N95s. We didn't
even have any protection. There were cardiology fellows. We had a group text around the country.
There was one that ended up in the ICU. You know, we were all like so scared. And I was coming home and
I was like, there's no way. There's no way people don't believe it's real. And then
The pandemic just became so polarized.
It was the most shocking thing to me.
And I think that what I realized is that, you know, the people that are the victims of misinformation,
like even the people that say to me like, you bitch, the pandemic's not real.
Even those people, I know that it's not because they're like really angry.
It's me and me because when you get into an echo chamber and you only watch a certain
kind of news or a certain kind of like information stream, it really does build your world for you.
And so I can't blame them.
I do constantly advocate.
So look at all of our professional society meetings for medicine.
I do advocate physicians getting out there because I, you know, on social media,
because I do think there's a huge disconnect.
Physicians talk a lot to each other.
We just had our American College of cardiology meeting last weekend where thousands of
cardiologists from around the world come and discuss the latest research and all this stuff.
We talk to each other about stuff.
And then patients talk to each other about stuff.
And then there's this huge disconnect between all the physicians and the patients outside of the office.
And I think social media, doctor,
need to help fill that gap because there's so much kind of skewing people the wrong way.
And it's not the person listening's fault, you know, because they're just looking for answers.
So, yeah.
Yeah, they're looking for answers and taking in probably what they want to take in.
And sometimes it's what makes people feel a little more safe or what they want to believe in.
And that's where it gets a little, a little tricky.
But like the people you have on your podcast are so credible and backed by so much research and
science that it's like just listen to my podcast please like not even just for the downloads and
the ad money like you probably want to use this platform just to spread so much information that
you're passionate about yeah well i so my the biggest thing that really kind of stirred me to this
besides covid is so my niece was diagnosed with leukemia at like when she was six she's now thank
god in remission but i'm in the fortunate position where my my best friend from uh medical school
became a pediatric oncologist when my niece was diagnosed.
I knew nothing about pediatric oncology.
And my sister and her husband, like, all they wanted was her to get better, right?
And I couldn't believe the amount of predatory information online.
Do this, eat these things, do this cleanse, do all this stuff to help a child.
And when you're a parent, and I looked at my sister and her husband, like, all they want to do is help, you know?
And so my sister would show me things and I'd be like, I don't know about this.
And I'm in the fortunate position where I have a friend that's a pediatric oncologist.
She was like, no, like listen to these guideline directed oncologists.
and follow X, Y, or Z.
But not everyone's in that position.
It actually breaks my heart because it's like, it's so unfair.
Like everyone should get, I'm trying to like make everyone be able to get access to
evidence-based information.
It shouldn't be gate-kept.
And, you know, and it's scary because all everyone wants is the same thing, which is just
health, you know?
It's true.
I feel like I do think that health is the number one thing.
And you, that's, first of all, I'm glad your niece is in remission and doing better.
because, oh, my gosh, how scary is that for everybody?
But you recently posted the most badass message to people who send you hate as well for the work you do right after you got back from Ukraine.
First of all, incredible that you went.
Can you talk a little bit about that experience?
Yeah.
So I went to the Poland-Ukraine border to volunteer.
I went to a place called Medica, which is the border right where when people enter Poland,
and they literally walk, like, through this border.
And so what happened was when the war broke out,
I saw there were so much unbelievable medical need.
You think of, like, all I thought of my niece.
Like, imagine if she was undergoing chemo during a war,
and there's children being treated in a bomb shelter.
And there's just people with chronic conditions that need to be treated.
And so I spoke to a physician who was over there,
and she was, like, helping with rescuers without borders.
And she's like, we don't have any physicians.
We need help.
And I'm, you know, now out of training.
I'm in private practice.
So I have the flexibility where I was like, you know what, I'll just go.
So I found out on Tuesday.
I flew out on Friday.
I brought my other friend from med school as a cardiologist.
We both went out there.
We were the only two doctors on the border for a whole week at night.
And it was just unbelievable.
The amount of the amount that these people have been through, some of them have, we saw
some patients from, you know, Mariupil, who their entire town had been leveled.
One woman whose entire family had died.
And, you know, they, they come in with various medical concerns, obviously, because, you know, they can't just go to CVS and fill their medications before they escape the country, you know?
And so tons of acute on chronic issues, but also tons of just, like, needing, obviously, support.
We saw hypothermic kids, which is really heartbreaking.
And, yeah, so the one really good thing that came out of it, though, is when we were over there, thank goodness for social media.
I put a call out on, like, Twitter and Instagram for anyone that wants to.
volunteer and we got over 300 doctors and nurses that signed up to volunteer so now they're
staffed around the clock which is amazing wow see how cool is that like for every few bits you don't
know you're talking about if you are like over there in ukraine helping and getting volunteers
and doing things that not only matter but make like such a difference in the world i think that is
so inspiring and i'm just like that's so amazing that you that you got out there and did that
Do you have plans to go back?
Yeah, so I want to go back.
I'm trying to figure it out with my work schedule, but I want to go back in May.
It's unbelievable because the people I've been talking to are there now, you know, it's not like,
even though like maybe news coverage may slow down or whatever, like the amount of refugees
is like continuing.
It's a continuous stream 24 hours a day.
They still need a lot of medical help.
And I feel like, you know, there's a lot of people who obviously like for whatever reason,
like, you know, whether their job won't allow it or, you know, for so many reason in health
care, people can't volunteer. I'm in a position where I can and, you know, where I have medical
expertise that helps for the situation. So, yeah, so I'm trying to go back in May schedule,
scheduling stuff to be figured out. But yeah, the people, the Ukrainian women, because it's mostly
women, children and elderly. And they are, like, when I tell you, the bravest, strongest,
I can't even. Most badass women, like the women I met there, I couldn't even believe, like,
they would be in an arrhythmia with their heart going, like,
200 and they'd be like, I have to go. I have to leave the tent because the only ride I know
that's taking me through Poland is going to be here in two seconds. And I'd be like, no, ma'am,
like your heart's going really fast. Like, let me, you know, they're just so strong. They've been
through so much. Yeah, like physically and mentally just so strong. That is incredible. And do you
have like a specific charity or certain things that you like to work with for there that people that
are listening to donate to. Where we were in Medica was like where, like as I mentioned,
the border from everyone going from Ukraine to Poland. And their rescuers without borders is
phenomenal. They're called SSF. I cannot pronounce the French version of it. But if you Google
SSF rescuers without borders, they're amazing. And then also one of the most phenomenal
organizations that was there, it's doing phenomenal work. You've probably heard of them.
World Central Kitchen. They are doing amazing things, feeding everyone at the border. They're
actually also feeding people like elderly in Ukraine who can't leave their homes.
They're traveling in and bringing them meals.
Those two organizations, I think, have been just outstanding on the ground.
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Obviously, everyone on social media is an expert when it comes to health and wellness.
Always they are.
You must have so much that just goes through your head when you see unqualified people talking about their expert opinion on all of this.
Now, this is where my confession comes in.
Okay.
I am on, you're going to hate me.
You're going to hate me and you're going to shake your head.
It's going to be nothing I've never seen before.
I'm on day eight of celery juice in the morning.
I know.
I know.
Obviously, speaking of like people who aren't experts, I'm following medical medium.
Is that where you got it from?
Yes.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I know.
but now I'm like how stupid am I he's not even a doctor he's a medium who I totally like
believe in mediums but not too ones that are going to give medical advice and but here's my
confession that is just that is not even the worst of it so I'm on day eight and I am I
literally shit my pants yesterday I it was making breakfast and liquid like just juice
just started pouring out of my
fucking butt hole. And I
was like, no, this is not happening right now.
No, this is not. And I was just laughing, running
to the bathroom, going, no, no.
Podcast material.
But then I'm sitting there and in my
little uneducated brain, I go,
well, this is perfect. This is what it's supposed to be
doing. I'm cleansing my body.
I'm getting rid of all the toxins.
This is probably my liver. This is from me
drinking. And eight things in a row now,
I have shit about eight times
before noon and I
thought that was a good thing
now my best friend Bree who told me
about you then I put
together because I sent you to Bree and I
said look what I'm having on the podcast
I know you probably have questions you want
me to bring up and now I'm excited
and she goes Caitlin that's the woman
I was telling you about
and I was like oh my gosh
because my girlfriend was like
she's like I'm not trying to be rude but you're really not
supposed to like have a spout that opens
out of your but hole like as much
you think that this is cleansing you that's not right. And so I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to look
like such an idiot. No, no. It's so not embarrassing. Like literally there's nothing I haven't seen.
I've seen I thought you can on top. I've seen patients who've been on like 200 plus supplements
a day. What? Oh yeah. Like I've seen people that have been on like everything. So celery juice is
like, yeah, it's benign. So the reason why medical medium is so silly is because he, um,
so celery juice isn't harmful. It's also not a, it's also not a miracle.
cure. And what celery juice, the silly thing about celery juice is that it's taking away the thing that we
do, we do have data that's beneficial, which is the fiber, right? So dietary fiber in the form
of eating food, not in the form of supplements, we know is really important for lowering
mortality risk for both cancer, for heart disease, it's good for bowel health, GI health and
everything. And celery juice removes the fiber. That being said, you know, celery juice if someone
enjoys it, like if they actually enjoy it, like sure, is it something we would ever advocate for,
in our guidelines. No, of course not. You know, it's taking away one of the most important parts of
it, which is fiber. But he really does. He has a loyal following. When I, when I've debunked some
medical medium things, he's got some passionate followers that come for me. I bet. I'm scared right now.
Yeah. I bet that's anytime you have, you talk to anybody who, like, even if someone who didn't like me
or agree with me had me on their podcast and I stood my ground, those people, if they had the most
loyal following, they would come after me.
Same thing as if people come after me.
I have a very loyal following who I friggin love.
And they would do anything to, like, stand up for me, which is why I love them.
But that's just, that's the, you know, power of people having opinions and especially on the internet.
But it is crazy to think that he's a medium, not a doctor, right?
Right.
And so when he talks about detox all the time, you know, we always as doctors, like, we always think like, oh, wow, here he goes again.
Because, you know, your liver and your kidneys are your free detox system.
They literally detoxify you.
Nothing you eat can detoxify you.
Your livers and kidneys are doing it.
If your liver or kidney, either of your kidneys or your liver are not working, you have
to see a position.
The medical medium will not fix it.
So, you know, detox is really just kind of a silly sales term.
And it really works, right?
Because like the concept, this is the difference between science and pseudoscience, is that
pseudoscience can sound sciencey. So can actually, you can believe it. They'll put all these
terms and these mechanisms in it. And you're like, well, that kind of makes sense. But then it's really
just totally, you know, wrong. And so, yeah, so why do people sometimes feel better after celery
juice cleanses? I think in general, because people are putting themselves on an elimination diet.
So maybe they weren't, they weren't drinking a huge coffee in the morning with like a bunch
of creamer and a bunch of other stuff in it that was upsetting their stomach or maybe they've
switched out some other meals. And so whenever anyone does an extreme diet, it feels better,
whether it's a celery juice cleanse or like the carnivore diet or something like that.
If they feel better, it's usually because it's some sort of an elimination diet. It's not
because of that specific thing they're doing. That makes sense.
That makes so much sense, actually. So, but then I'm like, but why is it just going straight
through my body and why am I pooping seven times? And by pooping, I mean like peeing out of my
butt. Why am I doing that like? How much are you drinking?
16 ounces. Well, that's not that much. I'm literally, it's, it's coming right back out of me.
My body's just not used to drinking celery. I think it's time you re-add the fiber in. Just start
eating the celery. Start eating the celery and that'll be just as good. You could do like old school
ants on a log, put some peanut butter and raisins on it. You know what I mean? I do love that.
Well, I don't like raisins, but I love peanut butter on celery. Okay, you know what? You're right.
I'm just going to go back to eat some celery because like my girlfriend said, she's like, um,
love that you're feeling like this is doing something, but that's not supposed to happen.
And I'm like, that's a good point.
Best thing for your GI tract, the best thing for your gut microbiome, even though the data
in the gut microbiome space is super limited.
But one thing we do know for sure is the best thing is fiber, it's dietary fiber.
So eating fiber in the form of not supplements, but in form of whole food, so legumes,
beans, bean pastas are like the best fiber thing ever.
I tell everyone to try to get up to, for my patients, you want to lower their cholesterol,
I'll try to get up to 60 grams of fiber a day, but do it slow, like adding five grams per day.
So their gut can get used to it.
Fiber is the best thing for you.
Okay.
That's good to know.
And I'm removing that from my celery.
Wow.
No judgment on the celery juice.
No, that's, I was expecting full judgment.
That's why it was my profession.
When I was in med school, I did the master cleanse.
Remember from the office when Kelly had the lemon cayenne?
Yes.
I learned it from the office.
And then my friends in med school were like going on.
vacation like to Miami or something and I was like oh yeah let's do the master cleanse and I did it for like five
days I like almost passed out yeah I was like in med school we all do it that's so interesting I mean
sometimes do you feel like you need to try these things in order to debunk them well that I tried because
I really thought it was going to work at the time fair enough now yeah like I guess there are some I
recently went to Arizona like to a spa weekend with my sister and one of my friends and her
sister. And I was like trying the cold water plunging because I have a whole episode coming up
debunking all of that. And I was like, oh, okay, so this is miserable and the science doesn't even
really support it. So yeah. What's that guy? Wim Hof. Wimhoff. Oh my gosh. My girlfriend,
I won't name her name, but she like swears by all of that stuff. But again, like it's just, it's
just like that might work for that person. Right. And then they get some credibility and do all the
craziest things that nobody else in the world is going to do. So then you're like, well,
the cold water plunge must work for everybody. Well, the best example I give everyone is why everyone's
like, why do you always hear so much about whether something's supported by a randomized controlled
trial or something that's supported by like all of this robust research? And the best example I give is
that I have a patient who I love dearly. Okay. And he lets me tell this story. When Mr.
Smith, I'll call him. That's not his real name. But when he puts his left shoe on first,
those days that he puts his left shoe on first, he does not get chest bean. I'm not kidding.
This is a man with coronary artery disease. And when he puts his left shoe on, he does not get chest pain.
When he puts his right shoe on in the beginning of the day, that is a day he gets chest pain
and he has to take nitro, sublingal nitro. I am not kidding. And so imagine if I let anecdotes.
This is why anecdotes are not evidence. Imagine if I let this anecdotes,
anecdote. And I'd be a cardiologist telling everyone they have to put their left shoe on first because
I had one patient that it worked for. Right. You know, so that's why we depend on, you know,
I don't think anyone's going to do a trial, but you would depend on a randomized control trial
or people are randomized putting their left shoe on or their right shoe first and see if it affects
their chest pain, which obviously wouldn't. But you know what I mean? Like anecdotes, that's a silly one,
but truthfully, like something could work for someone, but it could also not work for someone else.
it can be silly like if you think about it that way or put it put it in that way but there's also so many
supplements and vitamins out there that is the new health vitamin and the new anti-aging and all
adrenal supplemental supplements this one um what is it nads nads vitamins yeah it's an idea
what is your theory on all of these supplements and vitamins that people are taking so much of
So it's such a big thing now that, so I just had the privilege of being the lead author of our new American Society of Preventive Cardiology Clinical Practice Statement, which is a paper where I had some of, I was so lucky, I had some of the world's top cardiologists and some of the world's top nutrition scientists, some of who are going to be on my podcast, including Kevin Hall, who's the head of nutrition at the National Institute of Health. So like the head of nutrition. And our papers open access. And supplements are such a huge topic that we actually, for the
first time in a cardiology, you know, clinical practice team included supplementation and our
advice about it. And our advice is actually supplementation outside of deficiency is not generally
helpful. So for women of childbearing age, taking a multivitamin with folic acid, of course,
is recommended. And taking a multivitamin generally is pretty benign. But like, you know, unless you
are specifically deficient in something, taking a bunch of supplements can be dangerous. There are
herbal supplements that actually cause arrhythmia. So I see this in my office. I'll see a young 30-year-old
woman who started taking all of these herbal supplements who's going into something called
atrial tachycardia. I see that all the time. Then we also see people who on my episode with
Dr. Artie's endocrinologist I'm going to connect you with. These adrenal supplements actually have
like pig, they're made like they've crushed up like bovine or pig like serums in them, steroids. And so
you essentially are giving people over-the-counter steroids because supplements aren't regulated,
right? So they're not regulated the same way drugs and medications are. And they can actually
cause people to have adrenal issues when you're taking the adrenal supplements. So supplements can be
super dangerous. They're also compounded. There's no standardization of compounding them.
So outside of a multivitamin, folic acid, some B12, vitamin D, if you're in an area where you're not
getting a lot of sunlight, generally I would say stick to just getting only taking supplements.
if you have a deficiency and then if you have a deficiency we don't just blanket treat a deficiency right
so like that patient i told you about iron deficiency yes we don't just treat it you have to figure out
why are they bleeding where are they bleeding from this patient had colon cancer that could have been
cured had he gotten it checked five years ago you know okay so dive a little deeper into why these
problems are why you're deficient in them instead of just trying to mask them with a multivitamin
yeah well micha multivitamin is totally benign i i think multivitamin are fine
Folic acid for women, stuff like that, fine.
But yeah, like the hair, skin, and nail supplements, they don't work either.
Shit.
I know.
I'm going to set you up with a good team.
It's going to get it all sorted out.
Wait.
This honestly, I'm going to sleep better tonight knowing that.
We're going to make sure you have all women, amazing, evidence-based team.
We'll get you sorted.
Okay.
That actually makes me so happy.
Okay.
I don't know if you even like to call it a diet, but what diet or what program do you follow
when it comes to eating food?
So I am personally vegan, but I,
always clarify that I am vegan for ethical reasons. What kind of dietary pattern is healthful
in our clinical practice team we just released. It's still a plant predominant one. So it could be
fully plant-based or it can include some animal products like cardiovascularly beneficial or
things like fatty fish. So like salmon, mackerel. So I try to separate my own personal preference
with the nutrition science. I work very hard on that. And so the good news is that a plant
predominant diet is beneficial for luckily what we're finding with nutrition science data is that
the same dietary patterns to say like a Mediterranean style diet or um you know anything that's kind of
plant forward doesn't have to be vegan anything that's plant forward is good for not only cardiovascular
disease prevention but it's also good to prevent dementia it's also good to prevent cancers it's
also good to prevent diabetes it's also good to prevent hypertension so it's luckily like what we
tried to get across in our clinical practice statement is that you don't need one seven different diets for
seven diseases really just eating any sort of you know the more plants the better and also just not being
hard on yourself truthfully i always state everyone no one food in one dose is going to cause disease
like it's just not you know so i think that there's too much extremism out there that people have to
follow like something super strict but in reality we're looking at the total dietary pattern and it has to be
something you're happy with like no one should be tortured by their diet either so you know yeah it's that's
something i think a lot of people struggle with and there's so many fads and so much information on
social media that makes you look like this person or gets you this body and it's just so awful that
people can you know buy into that which i do sometimes too like intermittent fasting what is your
take on intermittent it's a great one so um intermittent fasting so by the way
When it comes to being dogmatic about nutrition science, I just want to fully admit I've been there.
So I used to think you had to follow like a really strict plant-based side.
Then I thought like I believed in intermittent fasting and then I tried plant-based keto.
Like as I evolved as a cardiologist, as I began to learn nutrition science and learn more from more experts and learn how did you research myself, I began to be much more broader and say, oh, wow, I guess it's not that simple after all.
So intermittent fasting is one of those that I thought, I was like, oh, this has to work.
And then Ethan Weiss, who's a cardiologist at UCSF, did the largest randomized controlled trials.
This is a trial where people are randomized to a time-restricted feeding versus control where they just eat whenever they want.
And they did it for several months at a time.
And they found that the intermittent fasting group did not lose any more weight.
And they actually, the intermittent fasting group lost more muscle mass.
And so what do I say when patients ask?
about it. This is my view on it. So there's lots of people out there on social media that'll
try to make up all these mechanisms that so if you ever see something that puts mechanisms over
outcomes, meaning you want the outcomes. Like if the outcome you're looking for is weight loss or
improving heart health or diabetes, that's what's most important. But the mechanism, so like the
hypothesis behind it, which people can pseudoscience and make sound very sexy, that is where people
can get tricked. And there's lots of those mechanisms for fasting, but it hasn't panned down.
an outcome. So my view on it is if you like it and you enjoy it, stick with it. If you don't
like it, don't force yourself to do it because the data hasn't shown us it's beneficial outside
of just general caloric restriction. Yeah, because it's always talking about like regenerating
your cells even and all stuff. So yes, there's this word apoptosis they always use and that's
another red flag. It's like a red flag all over you. Oh my gosh. So like what is your best
advice for not falling into health and wellness traps? Like there's so much out there. How do you know
who to trust. It's such a good question. And I get asked that all the time. And it's so hard
because I fall into them too. So one thing I would say is that when it comes to your own personal
health, like I mentioned, I can't emphasize enough, whether it's a nurse practitioner or a
physician's assistant or a physician, get a good primary care person who gives you the attention
you need, someone you trust. And then I genuinely, and so for each of my podcast, I've asked
all the experts this question for their specialty too. And everyone, we all kind of say the same
things. So you can always Google whatever question you have with the society guidelines name,
meaning, so say if you have a question about high blood pressure, you could Google high blood
pressure, American College of cardiology, a bunch of stuff will come up. Because here's a thing,
the way guidelines are made, and now that I've just written a clinical practice statement,
I kind of know how it works when you're working with all of these physicians and scientists,
you know, for ours on nutrition, like I'm vegan, but I'm working with plenty of people who aren't
vegan, people that like Mediterranean, et cetera. So it's not just one person's opinion. You're all
rating and appraising scientific research to come up with a consensus. And guideline committees,
like for cardiology, for American College of cardiology guidelines, you can't have a vested
interest in industry. So you can't be taking money from pharma to be a guideline chair.
You have to also, you know, have a certain amount of publications and things like this.
So if someone's saying something that goes completely against the expert scientific consensus,
this, then your spidey sense should go up. And you should be like, why is this? And so for dermatology,
it's the American Academy of Dermatology. For GYN, it's the American College of Eccetrics and
gynecology. And so already during her endocrine episodes, talks about how the endocrine society
and the American College of Endocrinology are those. And so it really is. It's always, there's like
a formula for a pseudoscience pusher. They're always selling you on a mechanism. And they're always
selling you on something that no one else knows. And then they always have like a shop where they're
selling a supplement or like a diet plan of sorts or like a coaching program. And it's just it's kind
of like that same formula. So yeah, just to keep your spiky sense up. And and I used to be a hater on
guidelines. Like I used to be like such an annoying vegan where I'd be like, oh, they're just being
biased, whatever. And then when I actually learned scientific evidence, I was like, no, the data actually
shows that you can eat animal products and still be incredibly healthy, you know, as long as
a plant predominant diet.
It is, Gwyneth Paltrow is not your doctor, everybody.
Oh, my God.
Goop is wild.
Oh, my gosh.
I know there's so, it scares me how much misinformation they could be putting out there
because I don't know where they get their info.
Well, I think it's really cool you're interested in this because I keep saying, like, I think
our generation is really smart.
And I think that we can make, like, evidence-based stuff cool.
Like, I think we can, like, well, none of us want to be duped.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, I feel like that our generation, we can be the ones to kind of, like, flip this on its head and, like, just be, like, call out the bullshit, you know?
Like, all the Rogan stuff.
Oh, my gosh.
I can't.
So many people, I hear you, it's scary.
And I have one question before I get into a couple debunk questions I have.
But what do you say?
What is your message to people who still at this day and age know the harms and still smoke cigarettes?
Oh, great question.
Yeah.
So I always first, like, I always approach smoking with a place of compassion because yes, it's an addiction.
Every patient I have that smokes does not want to smoke.
Like, they truly don't.
Like, they actually, like, want to quit.
Like, if they could just flip a light switching, what they would.
So I think that the first thing is to acknowledge that it's really hard.
and that you may not quit the first time.
You may not quit the seventh time,
but you can do it.
A big part of quitting smoking is called like these readiness to change.
So someone has to be really ready to change.
I will say if there's one,
one modifiable risk factor to reduce your risk for dying of a heart attack
or cancer or anything in this world, it's smoking.
And so even if you're not ready today,
get yourself on a path to think about being ready,
talk to your doctor about it because it is literally the number one thing we can do to improve our
health. Yeah. And that's all you. That's enough said right there. Okay. I have a few things because
there's some that I'm like, come on, this has to be true. But you could tell me your take on it.
Peen after sex and cranberry juice do not prevent UTIs. Please, it's wish. You are correct. So I learned
this on my podcast. I was so Jen Gunter. So I thought that it was true.
I believe to this one.
Well, I thought, I believed the peeing after sex one, literally until, like I recorded that
episode there.
Yeah, so the data shows that peeing after sex does not prevent UTIs whatsoever.
And the cranberry juice thing totally debunks.
They've actually done randomized control trials.
And so, yeah, you can just, you can just cuddle after bed and not even, like, worry about
getting up to pee.
And that was a shocker to me.
I didn't know it either.
That's crazy.
Okay.
It's crazy.
Low calorie diets do not equal weight loss.
So it depends. And so it depends on what your energy balance is. So at the end of the day,
certain people have like a certain energy deficits that require them to lose weight. If you're
burning more calories, then you're taking in, then you will lose weight. But where energy
expenditure gets confusing is that you essentially, we all have different levels of our basic
metabolic rate. So what our metabolic rate is as we burn calories through the day, just doing
our normal physiological functions. Right. And we also have, you know, a lot of our calorie
expenditure goes to things like exercise, of course, but also like things that we're not even
thinking about. So like your immune cells, your neurocells, your cardiac cells, your reproductive
system. And so it's not as simple as calories in versus calories out. It's a little more complex
than that. But at the end of the day, to get into a calorie deficit is required.
for weight loss.
Okay, makes sense.
Clean skin care is not always superior.
Okay, so this one could save us a lot of money.
This one, I believed.
This was 100% the one I believed.
I used to be totally in all in.
No, I learned from the dermatologist I interviewed Ronella Hirsch.
She's amazing that clean beauty is a scam.
It's just a marketing scam.
I know.
And I was like, oh, my goodness, I saved so much money.
But I think now I actually have some empathy for,
with the companies now because now I think it's spread so far that if you're coming out with
the company it's like they probably feel pressure to say that it's clean you know what I mean
like Kylie Jenner just switch to all of her products to clean and it makes no difference so
there's this big thing we talk about a lot on my podcast called the naturalistic fallacy and it's
this erroneous belief that just because something is natural it's super healthy and we know
that's wrong right because like anthrax is natural like that kills you you know so
things that can be synthetic can be totally safe generated in a lab super safe and just because
something's clean yeah it definitely may not be safe or effective so what about products that aren't
clean that we're putting on our skin every day is that harmful well so it turns it so it'll depend on
the product right so i think that the the issue is is whether or not this is from what i've learned from
ronella is that whether or not it's clean may not be whether or not the product works for you like
the clean designation is in and out of itself is is kind of useless like doesn't really make a
difference it depends on like what's actually in the product and i learned from her like i can't
believe how much skincare i navigated in my 20s without going to a dermatologist and then realize like
just go to a dermatologist just get into point with the dermatologist it's actually worth it they can
do like a full evidence based assessment and get you on a really really good plan yeah so true
one more exercise does not increase our metabolism i to me i always thought eating a lot throughout
your day increases your metabolism is that true what is the trip oh my gosh you will love it so
you have to you have to you have to listen to my episode that came out with uh herman ponsor he wrote
the book burn so he's an evolutionary anthropologist who does metabolism research so i'm doing a
metabolism series on this because this is such an interesting question so metabolism what is
metabolism. So metabolism isn't in and of itself. It's all that your cells are doing all day,
every day to keep you alive. So this is homeostasis. This is your immune cells. This is your
digesting. This is everything. And so exercise, when you exercise, then a certain amount of your
calorie expenditure, so your energy bank goes towards exercise. But then your body's really smart.
Your body wants to maintain homeostasis. So your body will actually tampen down some of its other
calorie expenditure. So through Herman's research, actually, what he found was that people that
were super active, he looked at the Hadza, which is a, they're in Tanzania, their hunter-gatherer
tribe, and they measured their metabolic rates for over a week. And they essentially found that even
though they exercise five times as much as Americans, they actually burn the same amount of calories
per day as us, as a sedentary American. And the reason being isn't because exercise isn't good for you.
It's because they're expending some energy towards exercise,
but then they're actually dampening down the things in their body that they don't need.
For example, instead of putting a ton of our body's energy into, like, our own immune cells,
that's why they have lower rates of autoimmune disease, lower rates of allergies,
because they're using all their energy expenditure for exercise.
But when it comes to weight loss, exercise is actually not great for weight loss.
the majority of weight loss is through diet.
And that's because you essentially, your body is so good at homeostasis.
So it's so good at regulating how much calorie expenditure you'll do for exercise,
that it'll regulate itself.
And then you end up exercising a ton and burning not that many more calories than you would
if you weren't.
Exercise has non-weight loss benefits like cardiovascular health, immune health,
and, you know, autoimmune disease and cancer prevention, all this stuff.
But for weight loss, it really is the most.
majority of its diet.
I mean, I believe that.
I work out for like mental reasons.
Yes, so good for mental health.
And I love building muscle.
There's just something like that makes you feel important for muscle building,
especially as we get older and strength.
It's so important.
It's for a million health reasons.
Yeah, absolutely.
And lastly, what is your favorite myth to debunk?
This is like totally going to fall flat on everyone our age because they don't care.
But for me, of course, as a cardiologist, it's about statin.
It's a medication for it's a medication that has all of the myths, but your listeners and my listeners, a lot of them are too young to none of them are on them yet.
But that's probably my favorite, because I take it personally, or the myths from the carnivore group that eating a meat-only diet, you don't need any, you don't need to eat any plants and you can be totally healthy.
I don't know how they go to the bathroom.
Right.
Yeah, that's so true.
I'll tell you how.
Yeah, so are you.
Everyone has to go.
My gosh.
Yeah, that can't be good.
Okay, that's interesting.
And I can't let you go without hearing a confession from you.
So how long have you ever gone with someone calling you the wrong name?
Like, you know?
So I went, so I was in med school, and I had this surgeon who was, like, older than me.
Of course, he was like, just an older guy.
And he started, my name is Danielle.
He called me Deandra.
And we were in the OR, and I answered to it because I was like, listen, I'm not going to
I'm not going to, you know, step on anyone's toes.
But he'd be like, Deandra, hand me this.
Deandra, hand me that.
DeAndre used the retractor.
And I was, like, constantly like, yeah, I just was, I was Deandra.
So then, like, for months on my surgery rotation, he constantly was referring to me as Deandra.
He'd even put Deandra on the whiteboard.
It's just like, I literally was like, I can't correct him now.
Then I'm presenting research a year later at our medical, like, organization thing.
And he introduces me to this entire stage of people as Deandra.
And I literally was like, yes, hello, I did not correct it.
And so I went.
for my entire medical training with this attending physician as DeAndra.
And I still think to this day, he definitely is probably like, how is Deandra doing?
And I will not correct him.
So yeah, I really wrote that one out.
That's like your alter ego, you're Deandra.
That's, you should like reach out to see how he's doing, but from your email or like Instagram.
So then he's like, what?
And then you're like, yeah.
I almost like don't want to hurt him.
Like I just, I almost would be like, oh, my email's wrong.
My name is Deandra.
You're like, that's something I would do, too.
You know what I mean?
Like I, people that were in the audience were like, her name's Danielle.
And I was like, no, no, I'm Deandra.
Today, I'm Deandra.
Oh, gosh.
Well, Danielle, where could everybody find you on Instagram, your podcast and all of those things so we can get educated?
Thanks.
So Instagram, I'm at Danielle Ballardo, MD.
My podcast, anywhere you listen to podcasts, it's called a wellness fact,
versus fiction. And then I'm on Twitter at DeBalardo MD. I haven't gotten into TikTok yet. I know you're
TikToking. I love TikTok and I got to get into it. It's hard. It took me a long time to get
into it. And now then I became like really into it for a while. And I'm like, shit, I should really do a
TikTok. Well, thank you so much for having me. I love everything you do. And we'll be in touch so
I can make sure we get your health squared away. Yeah, 1,000 percent. Thank you for caring about my
will be. And I appreciate you so much. Thank you for coming on the podcast. And I appreciate
everything that you do. And we'll definitely talk soon and we'll exchange numbers and
there's lives now. Thank you so much for having me. I'm Caitlin Bristow. I'll see you next
Tuesday. Thanks for listening to Off the Vine with Caitlin Bristow. Get new episodes every
Tuesday exclusively on
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