The concept of wellness has completely saturated American society these days. From prominent discussions on sober government web sites to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop. To help cut through the hype and misinformation often rampant around wellness claims today, we spoke with Novant Health integrative medicine expert, Dr. Russell Greenfield who has some thoughtful advice on evaluating the claims often issued under the umbrella of wellness.
Transcript:
Roland Wilkerson 0:06
So the concept of wellness is completely saturated in American society these days. You see it everywhere. From prominent discussions on sober government websites like the CDC, to Gwyneth Paltrow was famous; what many would call infamous website known as Goop. This is Roland Wilkerson with Novant Health Healthy Headlines to help cut through the hype and misinformation often rampant around wellness claims. Today, we spoke with Nova health integrative medicine expert, Dr. Russell Greenfield, who has some thoughtful advice on evaluating the claims often issued under the broad umbrella of wellness. And we should note that the idea of wellness, taking care of yourself, is at the core of integrative medicine, which focuses on treating the whole patient.
Dr. Russell Greenfield 0:52
I think you know, it's a little crazy out there. It's a little wild west, there's many, many, many products and all kinds of things. that people are saying we should buy, I think it's most important for listeners to understand, at least in my frame of reference, that health and wellness comes from within. And so really the role of a health care practitioner is to bring forth what we were all born with that innate capacity to heal, to be in balance, to respond well to treatment, if it is necessary, and to hopefully stay well through the long haul. We don't need a whole lot of external factors to build up our immune system or things of that nature, we need to participate in healthy means of living, we need to eat relatively well, we need to sleep relatively well. We need to manage our stress, we need to move there are certain compliments to conventional medical care that we might explore. And we need to honor and use conventional medical care where it is necessary. A big part of what we try to do Roland is, again make people comfortable with the idea that they don't have to choose between either or they don't have to choose between conventional medicine and a more natural approach to health and well being. There's a way to actually combine them. So we try to take that either or make it and help people participate more fully in their care and give them where possible, a greater sense of control over their future health. And we'll be.
in in in like in a sentence or two, what is wellness?
That's a tough one. But I can tell you what we think health is in my field. We define health as balance and balances, dynamic changes moment by moment, day by day. But what we really talk about here is resilience so that whatever comes our way, we can bounce back and get into that space of balance. So it's really comfort, resilience, ease. And what a lot of that means is again, building up what we were born with. So whether you use the term health or wellness, whatever the case may be, I think it's really more about helping people reach their true potential. And that means each and every one of us, including myself.
Roland Wilkerson 2:52
And I think her point here is that basically the great American money machine has recognized that in a rate of medicine is catching on. And so you've you've got some characters who they're not medical providers, but they're people pushing supplements, and, and other things. You know, in the name of holistic medicine when in fact, it's really not holistic medicine.
Dr. Russell Greenfield 3:20
It's true. And you know, just taking a look with social media and the internet and you can find all manner of information, anything that you really want to believe in to be honest with you, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's beneficial for us. So, you know, to the degree that we take a look at things like vitamin supplements and herbs, you know, it's fascinating. It is estimated that there are anywhere between 70,000 and 80,000 products out there that could be termed vitamin supplements and herbs, to be honest with you, my team myself, the physicians and physician assistants that I work with and the pharmacist, we believe in perhaps 20, maybe 25 of those products, but going into the health foods store or even our supermarkets nowadays, and certainly going on to the internet, it would be it would be easy for anybody could be convinced that any one of these things, any one of these 70,000 things could be beneficial for me. How do we decide? And does health really come in a bottle? We don't think so except with rare instances where perhaps a specific medication may be warranted, or even a specific vitamin supplement or herb might be warranted. But the majority of health actually comes from what we were born with. And the goal of a healthcare provider is to bring forth that innate healing capacity to its greatest benefit. And then if we need more than that, we can offer that too. We all need to take additional responsibility or maybe even most responsibility for our health and well being. So that means working with in my estimation, a good conventional medical practitioner, good primary care provider, etc. But it also means doing our homework, finding the good resources, finding the good references, find the good books to listen to finding the good people to learn from and do That in concert with our physician so that it's not separate, you know, you people are stuck in this equation of either or either they're going to use conventional medicine, or they're going to use this complimentary even alternative medicine stuff. And that might include vitamins, supplements and herbs. We try to take that either or, and make it an equation that looks more like and so for an otherwise healthy person, to be honest with you, the best opportunity for us as integrative medicine practitioners, is to work with somebody who is already well, and see we can make simple tweaks to their regimen to try and help keep them that way. So does everybody need a vitamin supplement herb? No. There are certain ones that were a little bit more fond of because it just so happens that people are a little bit more deficient. And let's say vitamin D as an example. probiotic therapy may be beneficial for a significant number of people, women over the age of 40 are more likely to be a little bit low in magnesium and so we might recommend those things. But beyond that, it's really based on the individual. So to make a blanket statement that everybody It requires a multivitamin everybody requires calcium or everybody should take coins MQ 10. I simply don't agree with that.
Roland Wilkerson 6:07
Gotcha. So let me go let me go deep on one little topic because a couple of people I work with mentioned it all the sudden, charcoal is getting a lot of attention these days. What's your take on that?
Dr. Russell Greenfield 6:20
Largely charcoal is being promoted as a way to detoxify, to get rid of toxins that were exposed to in the environment, and maybe even certain foodstuffs and things of that nature. Used sparingly, I would say, I don't think it's going to hurt anybody. The downside is to remember especially if you're taking medication or even vitamin supple...
