September 23, 2025 • 29 mins
On this show, Dr. Leslie Cisar describes three key principles to health that she focuses on with her patients who are struggling with a chronic health condition. Her strategies in these three areas help patients get unstuck so they can restore their resiliency and vitality. Dr. Cisar specializes in healing migraines and hosts the popular podcast Healing Migraines Naturally. If you are struggling with any chronic condition, including migraines, you won't want to miss this show!
Five To Thrive Live is broadcast live Tuesdays at 7PM ET and Music on W4CS Radio – The Cancer Support Network (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
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Five To Thrive Live is broadcast live Tuesdays at 7PM ET and Music on W4CS Radio – The Cancer Support Network (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
Five To Thrive Live Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Any health related information on the following show provides general
information only. Content presented on any show by any host
or guest should not be substituted for a doctor's advice.
Always consult your physician before beginning any new diet, exercise,
or treatment program.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Five to Thrive Live. I'm
Carolyn Gazella and I co host the show with my
good friend doctor LESE. Olschuler. Today I'll be talking with
doctor Leslie Caesar, who I've had on the show before.
She specializes in treating migraines, but she has three key
principles she uses with her patients who are struggling with
(01:01):
really any chronic health condition. She is a licensed naturopathic
physician and graduate of the prestigious Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine,
which is now sonora In University. She is also an
international speaker and teacher on the philosophy and application of
naturopathic medicine. But before we begin, I'd like to thank
our sponsors. Beginning with Cetria, a patented form of glutathione
(01:24):
clinically proven to raise blood glutethione levels. Glutathione is the
master anti accident in the body's primary defense against free radicals.
It also helps support respiratory health. For more information, visit
Cetria Gludethione dot com. Also cognizance citicoline, which is nature's
way of keeping the brain's energy producing centers firing on
all cylinders. If you're looking for a way to enhance
(01:45):
your brain function, including memory, focus, and attention, look for
Cognizant on the label or go to Cognizan dot com
for more information. Prothriver's Wellness Brain is a product that
contains Cognizant as well as other brain supporting nutrients and herbs.
You can find Prothriver's Wellness Brain online at pure formulas
dot com. There's also Prothriver's Wellness Sleep, which combines higher
(02:09):
dose melatonin and other sleep supporting natural ingredients specifically designed
for thrivers. You can find Prothrivers Wellness Sleep at pure
formulas dot com. And doctor Ohira is Probiotics. It's a
best selling probiotic for more than thirty years, and it
contains twelve probiotic strains that are shelf stable so no
refrigeration is required. Because of a unique three year fermentation process,
(02:32):
it's a very effective Probiotic. Learn more at doctor Ohira
probiotics dot com. Doctor Caesar, thank you so much for
joining me.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, well, I'm excited to just dig in. So today
I'd like to take a deep dive into each of
your three principles. But first tell us what those principles
are and why you focus on these three in your
clinical practice.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah. So this, these three principles are the three core
tenets of nature pathic medicine. And I like to be
very explicit about this with my clients because when you
go to a doctor, when you go to a natural practitioner,
(03:18):
the treatment is going to flow from their theory or
understanding of why you are sick in the first place.
So it's critical that we as patients, you know, when
we're not feeling well and we want some help, right,
we want to make sure that we're going to a
(03:40):
provider that looks at the problem in a way that
resonates with us. Otherwise we're going to be frustrated with
the interaction. So, for example, in allopathic medicine or conventional medicine,
if you to ask your medical doctor, you know, why
(04:03):
do I have these migraines? Why don't I feel well
an allopathic medicine. The fundamental reason why people get sick
is believed to be really sort of bad luck. Now
everything is couched in genetics. You know, it's because of
your genes. It's because of your genes. But genetics is
(04:26):
really just a scientific sounding way of telling people you're unlucky. Right,
So if that is true that we you know, get
migraines or we get sick, we have a chronic condition
because we're unlucky, then it would make sense to give
(04:47):
medications what we call, you know, medications or drugs that
are going to mask the symptom, try to take away
our perception of the symptom, or alter the biochemistry enough
to sort of a board or short circuit the biochemistry
that's generating the symptom. Because what else could you do, right,
(05:07):
if it's just sort of bum luck, bad genes, you know,
Roulette wheel, it would make a lot of sense to
just try to mask or all body's ability to make
those symptoms. It's a very logically coherent approach. I think definitely.
(05:29):
You know, the people that reach out to me for help,
and I'm sure you're podcast listeners, intuitively, they don't really
resonate with that explanation. I know that I didn't resonate
with that explanation when my migraines became chronic and I
was getting a migraine just about every other night, and
(05:49):
the over the counter Advil wasn't cutting it anymore, and
so I went into my medical doctor, who I really liked,
and I thought, you know, I'm going to go into
the doctor, because doctor help you get better, and she's
going to figure out what's wrong here. Because I intuitively
knew that I wasn't getting these migraines just for no
(06:11):
reason or because I was unlucky, but there had to
be some reason that could be determined. There was probably
a lot under my own control, and if I just
knew what it was and I could take the right action,
I would feel a lot better. I had that intuitive sense,
and I think a lot of people have that intuitive
sense too. So if you're going into a practitioner that
(06:35):
doesn't view your migraines or your health conditions in that light,
you're going to end up frustrated, just like I did.
Because my medical doctor kept giving me migraine drugs, prescriptions
for migraine drugs that I kept leaving the office going
why is she giving me this? I thought doctors helped
(06:56):
you figure out what's wrong. And I left that those
appointments very frustrated. And I hear this a lot from
my clients that they become so frustrated with their neurologists
because they're going to the neurologists thinking that the neurologist
is really going to dig in and figure out, Okay,
what's really the underlying cause, the factors, how do we
(07:19):
address this? What are the controllable things that you can
do to turn this around? And then if we do
those things, your body is going to heal itself and
feel a lot better.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, So the three key principles that you're going to
identify actually help you get to the underlying causes correct,
exactly exactly. So in nature pathect medicine, we believe that
disease starts when we humans are not living in an
(07:49):
environment that is conducive to human flourishing. Right, So we humans,
we can live in a lot of different environments. Unlike
other animals, Plants that have to be at a certain latitude,
have to have a certain amount of sunlight and rainfall,
and there has to be certain food sources we humans.
(08:13):
We can live from the Arctic to the equator, we
can consume a lot of different types of foods, but
still there areters that we have to live within in
order for our body to flourish. And in nature, pathic medicine,
the philosophy of diseases that we've just sort of stepped
outside of those lines. And when that happens, there are
(08:37):
three things that occur, and these tie in to those
three principles. So what starts to happen when we sort
of move outside of our compatible environment is that the
vitality diminishes, the composition of our blood starts to become abnormal,
(09:01):
and we start to accumulate waste material and toxins. And
so if you want to activate your body's ability to
heal itself and recover from illnesses, you want to kind
of work backwards from those pieces. So first of all,
(09:25):
we want to look at are there any things in
the environment that sort of we are in that we
are sort of creating for ourselves. Are there anything Is
there anything in that environment that's not conducive to our
human flourishing, And these can be things that would be
in our physical environment. So like a very obvious example
(09:47):
would be, you know, if somebody decides they're going to
stay awake until two in the morning playing video games,
there are some things that are going to start to
happen because we human are not supposed to be awake
during the night. We are not nocturnal animals, right, So
if we sort of sort of violate that natural human
(10:11):
circadian rhythm, there's going to be downstream effects. So like,
for example, the cortisol level in our blood is going
to start to move away from the optimal human parameters
because we are staying up until two in the morning.
(10:31):
So that the first principle then would be environment and
then something that would would kind of get in the
way of our health would be lack of sleep. Is
that how it kind of goes together.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Well, So what we want to do is we want
to make those corrections, those environmental corrections that we have
control over, and then we want to start to correct
that composition of the blood. Now, everything in the blood
is generated. What is our blood is composed of the
(11:10):
nutrients that we consume, and then our cells use those
nutrients to do their work and they generate hormones and
enzymes and all these other components. That make our body work,
and those components are distributed through the blood. But the
key factor here is that the cells have to have
(11:30):
the nutrients that they need to function properly. So what
happens is when the environment is not conducive to human
flourishing and the composition of the blood starts to become abnormal.
We want to correct that by making sure after we've
(11:53):
corrected the environment, making sure that the cells have the
nutrients that they need to fundnction optimally so that they
can make the correct cortisol level. They can course correct
because the body is going to do that. That's the
natural intelligence of the body. It wants to course correct,
but it has the cells have to have the nutrients
(12:14):
that they need to do them. The number one barrier
to getting the nutrients that your cells need to your
cells is your digestive function.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
So there's all these books out there on all these
different types of diets. Everybody has a different camp. You've
got the car you've got people from the carnivores to
the vegans, right, so you've got all these different ways
of eating. But more foundational to that is you have
to have good digestive function because no matter what food
(12:50):
you eat, you have to be able to break that
food down and get the nutrients out of the food
into your blood and then circulate it to the cells.
So with the first principle, we want to think, okay,
is there anything that's going to create a barrier to
getting those nutrients out of my food and to the cells.
(13:13):
And this is why nature pathic doctors are very famous
for looking at digestive function and sort of treating the
gut right, because nothing is going to come into our
body except through the digestive track, and so if we
can't break our food down, we're going to have a
We're gonna have a big barrier, a big blocker to
(13:35):
that and getting things course corrected.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Okay, that makes a lot of sense. So the first
principle then is the gut and digestion m H.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
And what I have found too is that when the
when the digestion is not working well, people's appetite changes
dramatically because if our digestive track is struggling to break
down nutrient dense food, and you know, as we know,
(14:07):
nutrient dense food is very colorful food. This is why
people are told to eat a rainbow, right because the
different colors in the food indicate the different nutrients within
the food. So what do a lot of people like
to eat. They like to eat very beige food, right Oh,
I would just love to have some pretzels right now,
(14:29):
I would just love to have some crackers pasta bread, right, Oh,
that sounds really good. When the digestive function starts to decline,
people want to eat more and more beige grains. Not
that there's no nutrients in grains, but it's not the
most colorful food. It's not the most nutrient dense food.
(14:54):
So people will beat themselves up. Why do I have
all these food cravings? Why do I want to eat
sugar all the time? Why can I put down the
chips or the pretzels? Why am I always having to
eat at eight pm? Well, if your digestion is poor,
you are going to be pulled to eat very easily
(15:14):
digestible foods. And those are what we typically call, you know,
snack foods, junk foods, those types of foods that everybody
is trying so desperately not to eat.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
So what is the second principle? I just want to
be mindful of our time.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
So the second principle is we have to clear metabolic
waste material in toxins. When the cells get the nutrients
that they need to do their work, they generate waste material.
That waste material has to be removed from the cell,
(15:53):
put back into the bloodstream, transported to the liver. The
liver is going to do the bulk of this work
and then detoxified and then eliminated from the body. So
our body is continuously intoxifying itself. It's continuously making toxins
(16:14):
in waste material. That's normal. That's why we have our
organs of detoxification and elimination so that we can get
them out of the body. But when our health starts
to decline, when our environment is not ideal for human flourishing,
one of the things that happens is these waste materials
(16:35):
start to accumulate. Of course, we are also exposed to
toxins in the environment, right and the food supply, the
water supply, the air supply. Those are going to enter
our body as well, and our organs of detoxification have
to process those and we have to eliminate those from
the body. So we also have to have the nutrients
(16:58):
that our liver needs to run those detoxification pathways. So
if we start to develop a blocker in the first principle, right,
if we're not getting those nutrients that our liver needs
to the liver, we're going to start to develop a
backlog of waste material in toxins. It's going to be
harder and harder to get that waste material out of
(17:21):
the body.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Right, So those two definitely relate that. The first principle
and the second principle. What's the third principle? And then
let's circle back with some of these.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So the third principle is restoring our resiliency and vitality.
So what is vitality? This is a word that's being
used a lot right now. We're kind of having a
moment where everybody's talking about resiliency and vitality. So what
(17:53):
does this really mean? So within nature, pathic medicine, and
some other systems of meta us in like homeopathy, there's
a concept that we call the vital force. Some people
would call it the life force. In Chinese medicine they
use the word chi. It's basically putting a name on
(18:16):
the organizing energy of the body. Right, So we are alive, right,
So there's an animating life force to every living thing.
On the planet, including us. And so what do we
call that, Well, it's a little hard to name. It's
a little hard to put your finger on it. We
call it the vital force, or it can be called chi,
(18:40):
it can be called different things within different systems of
what you might call natural medicine. So that's the organizing
energy of the body that keeps everything running in homeostasis.
Vitality is the strength of that organizing force. So if
(19:00):
our vitality starts to diminish, the ability of that life
force or that vital force to keep everything regulated, keep
everything humming in balance, is going to be diminished. It's
going to get harder and harder and harder for that
life force to keep everything harmonious. So our vitality is
(19:24):
the strength or the robustness of the vital force. So again,
if we're going to stay up until two in the
morning playing video games, we could feel our vitality start
to diminish. Right, it's pretty obvious. I'm using this as
kind of an obvious example. You're going to start to
feel pretty drained, a little bit tired, right, you can
(19:48):
feel your vitality start to lag. So the life force
is there because we are alive, but we want to
strengthen the vitality, and so there are things that we
can do to we sort of absorb vitality from our environment,
(20:08):
and there are some natural therapies that also sort of
add vitality to us. Yeah, let's go through some of those.
What are some interventions that we can use to restore
resiliency and vitality. So some things that you can do
within the environment is simply going outside. So when we
go outside into the environment, we are literally absorbing electrons
(20:34):
from the earth. So a lot of people now are
talking about grounding, right, so this is like walking barefoot
on the grass, making actual contact with the earth. This
is a principle or a therapy that was widely used
in nature pathic medicine more than one hundred years ago.
And you know, people used to be in contact with
(20:56):
the earth a lot more. But you know here in America,
in our mind, modern life, I mean, you might go
weeks without even making contact with the earth. But when
we touch the earth, we are literally absorbing electrons into
our body. And so part of this vitality aspect is
literal voltage. Literal energy even at the cellular level, increasing
(21:22):
that voltage that literal energy in the body. So simply
going outside, making contact with the earth, being exposed to
a little bit of sunlight, a little bit of wind,
fresh air, these things will increase your vitality. A major
major source of vitality is our food. So our food
(21:48):
if it's if it's not processed to death. Our food
is alive and has a life force, has some vitality.
So food that is alive and has vitality can rot, right,
food that can sit on a shelf for a year
because it was processed in a factory that doesn't have
very much vitality in it. And so what has happened
(22:11):
to our food supply, This is a major reason why
we have so much chronic disease and suffering in America,
is because the food supply has been taken over by
processed food or what I like to call factory made food.
And that food look at the expiration dates, it does
(22:33):
not rot, does not rot very easily at all, and
that indicates diminished vitality in the food. So, just with
our eating habits, simple things like getting outside and getting
out into the environment, that can increase your vitality.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So what is your overall philosophy about dietary supplements. Do
you use dietary supplements to impact these key areas or
do you start with you know, diet and exercise.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
So the first thing that usually has to be done,
you know, more than nine out of ten times, is
restore the digestive function. Because if you can't break your
food down, I really question if you can break down
capsules of nutrients supplements, I really question that. So the
(23:27):
first thing is let's assess, okay, is your digestion functioning well?
And you know, let's be honest, for most Americans, it's not.
The most widely sold prescription and over the counter medications
are to treat digestive symptoms like heartburn, gas, bloating. Right,
(23:50):
these are some of the most widely used medications by Americans,
and people are taking them because they're experiencing digestive symptoms
we shouldn't have. So we have to make sure that
the digestion is functioning well and if it's not. What
I usually use are some gentle herbs, usually in the
(24:11):
bitters herb category, and these are herbs that have been
used for hundreds, if not thousands of years that gently
stoke the fire within the digestive track. We don't want to,
you know, just give something like hydrochloric acid, or just
give pancreatic enzymes. We want your stomach to make the
(24:34):
hydrochloric acid that it is supposed to make. We want
your pancreas to make all the different types of enzymes
that are required to break your food down. You can't
put all of that in a capsule, it's not possible.
So we want to one make sure that the environment
that people are eating in is conducive to digestion. You know,
if you're in like a semi flight or fight fight
(24:57):
or flight state to be digesting well, right, So many people,
you know, they're eating launch at work, they're checking emails,
they're on a zoom call, they're you know, if they're
working at home, they're trying to get housework done. At
the same time, if you're stressed out while you're eating,
that's going to be counterproductive to your digestion. So it's
(25:20):
a combination of making sure that the environment for good
digestion is being met and then using some gentle therapeutics
to actually get those organs doing what they are supposed
to do, and then making sure that we're eating food
that the so I also will recommend, you know, if
(25:40):
the digestion is very poor, we don't want to eat
a whole big bowl of kale. That's going to be
really hard to break down. That's one of the most
nutrient dense foods out there. So if the digestion is poor,
we want to start with more easily digestible foods and
then stimulate the digestive organs, make sure the environment is
(26:02):
conducive for digestion, and then just put the food in
there that they you know, that we can be successful at.
And then relatively quickly, within a few weeks, I will
see people with you know, daily heartburn taking a prilo
sect daily. Usually within three to four weeks, we can
get somebody completely weaned off of prilo sac and eating
(26:24):
a wide variety of foods, you know, the tomatoes and
everything else where they would say, oh, I could never
eat this before. But if we don't have good digestion,
we're not going to get anything into our blood. And
if we can't get it into the blood, we can't
get it into the cells, and then the cells are
not going to be able to do what they need
to do. And that's really the first step.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
To recover that yeah, and that's just in line with
what doctor Elschuler and I, you know, focus on diet
and lifestyle first and then use supplements as a supplement.
And I love this concept. So just to review, there
are the three areas. You focus on our digestion and
gut health, and then clearing toxins and supporting detoxification, which
(27:07):
we talk a lot about that on the show, and
then restoring vitality. I think those are really great things
to emphasize. Excuse me, and before I let you go,
where can people find out more about you and your
work and what you're doing in your clinical practice.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Yeah. So I have a free Facebook group called Healing
Migraines Naturally with Leslie Caesar and d They're welcome to
check that out. I do have a podcast called Healing
Migraines Naturally on all the major podcast platforms. And then
my website is doctor Leslie Caesar dot com. So that's
d R Leslie Caesar dot com.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Right, and Caesar is ci s a R.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Perfect. Well, this has been great, Thank you so much,
and I'm going to give you one last little piece
of it vice for our listeners if they're struggling with
chronic health. What's your last piece of advice for them?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
I would really make sure that you are working with
a provider that is in alignment with your beliefs around
your health. So if you are going to a practitioner
that does not think you can recover your health and
you think you can, there's a mismatch and you're not
(28:30):
going to get anywhere with that.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Time to interview a new doctor. Mm hmm all right, Well,
thank you again, doctor Caesar. This has been an interesting show.
Thank you for joining me, thank you for having me. Well,
that wraps up this episode of five to Thrive Live
once again. I'd like to thank our sponsors pro Thrivers Wellness,
Sleep Formula, Cetria Glutathione the superior glutathione to support liver
(28:53):
and immune health, Cognizance of Cooling to help enhance memory,
focus and attention, and doctor Ohira's award winning show heel
Stable Probiotic. This has been a great show. May you
experience joy, laughter and love. It's time to thrive everyone,
have a great night.
Any health related information on the following show provides general
information only. Content presented on any show by any host
or guest should not be substituted for a doctor's advice.
Always consult your physician before beginning any new diet, exercise,
or treatment program.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Five to Thrive Live. I'm
Carolyn Gazella and I co host the show with my
good friend doctor LESE. Olschuler. Today I'll be talking with
doctor Leslie Caesar, who I've had on the show before.
She specializes in treating migraines, but she has three key
principles she uses with her patients who are struggling with
(01:01):
really any chronic health condition. She is a licensed naturopathic
physician and graduate of the prestigious Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine,
which is now sonora In University. She is also an
international speaker and teacher on the philosophy and application of
naturopathic medicine. But before we begin, I'd like to thank
our sponsors. Beginning with Cetria, a patented form of glutathione
(01:24):
clinically proven to raise blood glutethione levels. Glutathione is the
master anti accident in the body's primary defense against free radicals.
It also helps support respiratory health. For more information, visit
Cetria Gludethione dot com. Also cognizance citicoline, which is nature's
way of keeping the brain's energy producing centers firing on
all cylinders. If you're looking for a way to enhance
(01:45):
your brain function, including memory, focus, and attention, look for
Cognizant on the label or go to Cognizan dot com
for more information. Prothriver's Wellness Brain is a product that
contains Cognizant as well as other brain supporting nutrients and herbs.
You can find Prothriver's Wellness Brain online at pure formulas
dot com. There's also Prothriver's Wellness Sleep, which combines higher
(02:09):
dose melatonin and other sleep supporting natural ingredients specifically designed
for thrivers. You can find Prothrivers Wellness Sleep at pure
formulas dot com. And doctor Ohira is Probiotics. It's a
best selling probiotic for more than thirty years, and it
contains twelve probiotic strains that are shelf stable so no
refrigeration is required. Because of a unique three year fermentation process,
(02:32):
it's a very effective Probiotic. Learn more at doctor Ohira
probiotics dot com. Doctor Caesar, thank you so much for
joining me.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, well, I'm excited to just dig in. So today
I'd like to take a deep dive into each of
your three principles. But first tell us what those principles
are and why you focus on these three in your
clinical practice.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah. So this, these three principles are the three core
tenets of nature pathic medicine. And I like to be
very explicit about this with my clients because when you
go to a doctor, when you go to a natural practitioner,
(03:18):
the treatment is going to flow from their theory or
understanding of why you are sick in the first place.
So it's critical that we as patients, you know, when
we're not feeling well and we want some help, right,
we want to make sure that we're going to a
(03:40):
provider that looks at the problem in a way that
resonates with us. Otherwise we're going to be frustrated with
the interaction. So, for example, in allopathic medicine or conventional medicine,
if you to ask your medical doctor, you know, why
(04:03):
do I have these migraines? Why don't I feel well
an allopathic medicine. The fundamental reason why people get sick
is believed to be really sort of bad luck. Now
everything is couched in genetics. You know, it's because of
your genes. It's because of your genes. But genetics is
(04:26):
really just a scientific sounding way of telling people you're unlucky. Right,
So if that is true that we you know, get
migraines or we get sick, we have a chronic condition
because we're unlucky, then it would make sense to give
(04:47):
medications what we call, you know, medications or drugs that
are going to mask the symptom, try to take away
our perception of the symptom, or alter the biochemistry enough
to sort of a board or short circuit the biochemistry
that's generating the symptom. Because what else could you do, right,
(05:07):
if it's just sort of bum luck, bad genes, you know,
Roulette wheel, it would make a lot of sense to
just try to mask or all body's ability to make
those symptoms. It's a very logically coherent approach. I think definitely.
(05:29):
You know, the people that reach out to me for help,
and I'm sure you're podcast listeners, intuitively, they don't really
resonate with that explanation. I know that I didn't resonate
with that explanation when my migraines became chronic and I
was getting a migraine just about every other night, and
(05:49):
the over the counter Advil wasn't cutting it anymore, and
so I went into my medical doctor, who I really liked,
and I thought, you know, I'm going to go into
the doctor, because doctor help you get better, and she's
going to figure out what's wrong here. Because I intuitively
knew that I wasn't getting these migraines just for no
(06:11):
reason or because I was unlucky, but there had to
be some reason that could be determined. There was probably
a lot under my own control, and if I just
knew what it was and I could take the right action,
I would feel a lot better. I had that intuitive sense,
and I think a lot of people have that intuitive
sense too. So if you're going into a practitioner that
(06:35):
doesn't view your migraines or your health conditions in that light,
you're going to end up frustrated, just like I did.
Because my medical doctor kept giving me migraine drugs, prescriptions
for migraine drugs that I kept leaving the office going
why is she giving me this? I thought doctors helped
(06:56):
you figure out what's wrong. And I left that those
appointments very frustrated. And I hear this a lot from
my clients that they become so frustrated with their neurologists
because they're going to the neurologists thinking that the neurologist
is really going to dig in and figure out, Okay,
what's really the underlying cause, the factors, how do we
(07:19):
address this? What are the controllable things that you can
do to turn this around? And then if we do
those things, your body is going to heal itself and
feel a lot better.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, So the three key principles that you're going to
identify actually help you get to the underlying causes correct,
exactly exactly. So in nature pathect medicine, we believe that
disease starts when we humans are not living in an
(07:49):
environment that is conducive to human flourishing. Right, So we humans,
we can live in a lot of different environments. Unlike
other animals, Plants that have to be at a certain latitude,
have to have a certain amount of sunlight and rainfall,
and there has to be certain food sources we humans.
(08:13):
We can live from the Arctic to the equator, we
can consume a lot of different types of foods, but
still there areters that we have to live within in
order for our body to flourish. And in nature, pathic medicine,
the philosophy of diseases that we've just sort of stepped
outside of those lines. And when that happens, there are
(08:37):
three things that occur, and these tie in to those
three principles. So what starts to happen when we sort
of move outside of our compatible environment is that the
vitality diminishes, the composition of our blood starts to become abnormal,
(09:01):
and we start to accumulate waste material and toxins. And
so if you want to activate your body's ability to
heal itself and recover from illnesses, you want to kind
of work backwards from those pieces. So first of all,
(09:25):
we want to look at are there any things in
the environment that sort of we are in that we
are sort of creating for ourselves. Are there anything Is
there anything in that environment that's not conducive to our
human flourishing, And these can be things that would be
in our physical environment. So like a very obvious example
(09:47):
would be, you know, if somebody decides they're going to
stay awake until two in the morning playing video games,
there are some things that are going to start to
happen because we human are not supposed to be awake
during the night. We are not nocturnal animals, right, So
if we sort of sort of violate that natural human
(10:11):
circadian rhythm, there's going to be downstream effects. So like,
for example, the cortisol level in our blood is going
to start to move away from the optimal human parameters
because we are staying up until two in the morning.
(10:31):
So that the first principle then would be environment and
then something that would would kind of get in the
way of our health would be lack of sleep. Is
that how it kind of goes together.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Well, So what we want to do is we want
to make those corrections, those environmental corrections that we have
control over, and then we want to start to correct
that composition of the blood. Now, everything in the blood
is generated. What is our blood is composed of the
(11:10):
nutrients that we consume, and then our cells use those
nutrients to do their work and they generate hormones and
enzymes and all these other components. That make our body work,
and those components are distributed through the blood. But the
key factor here is that the cells have to have
(11:30):
the nutrients that they need to function properly. So what
happens is when the environment is not conducive to human
flourishing and the composition of the blood starts to become abnormal.
We want to correct that by making sure after we've
(11:53):
corrected the environment, making sure that the cells have the
nutrients that they need to fundnction optimally so that they
can make the correct cortisol level. They can course correct
because the body is going to do that. That's the
natural intelligence of the body. It wants to course correct,
but it has the cells have to have the nutrients
(12:14):
that they need to do them. The number one barrier
to getting the nutrients that your cells need to your
cells is your digestive function.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
So there's all these books out there on all these
different types of diets. Everybody has a different camp. You've
got the car you've got people from the carnivores to
the vegans, right, so you've got all these different ways
of eating. But more foundational to that is you have
to have good digestive function because no matter what food
(12:50):
you eat, you have to be able to break that
food down and get the nutrients out of the food
into your blood and then circulate it to the cells.
So with the first principle, we want to think, okay,
is there anything that's going to create a barrier to
getting those nutrients out of my food and to the cells.
(13:13):
And this is why nature pathic doctors are very famous
for looking at digestive function and sort of treating the
gut right, because nothing is going to come into our
body except through the digestive track, and so if we
can't break our food down, we're going to have a
We're gonna have a big barrier, a big blocker to
(13:35):
that and getting things course corrected.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Okay, that makes a lot of sense. So the first
principle then is the gut and digestion m H.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
And what I have found too is that when the
when the digestion is not working well, people's appetite changes
dramatically because if our digestive track is struggling to break
down nutrient dense food, and you know, as we know,
(14:07):
nutrient dense food is very colorful food. This is why
people are told to eat a rainbow, right because the
different colors in the food indicate the different nutrients within
the food. So what do a lot of people like
to eat. They like to eat very beige food, right Oh,
I would just love to have some pretzels right now,
(14:29):
I would just love to have some crackers pasta bread, right, Oh,
that sounds really good. When the digestive function starts to decline,
people want to eat more and more beige grains. Not
that there's no nutrients in grains, but it's not the
most colorful food. It's not the most nutrient dense food.
(14:54):
So people will beat themselves up. Why do I have
all these food cravings? Why do I want to eat
sugar all the time? Why can I put down the
chips or the pretzels? Why am I always having to
eat at eight pm? Well, if your digestion is poor,
you are going to be pulled to eat very easily
(15:14):
digestible foods. And those are what we typically call, you know,
snack foods, junk foods, those types of foods that everybody
is trying so desperately not to eat.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
So what is the second principle? I just want to
be mindful of our time.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
So the second principle is we have to clear metabolic
waste material in toxins. When the cells get the nutrients
that they need to do their work, they generate waste material.
That waste material has to be removed from the cell,
(15:53):
put back into the bloodstream, transported to the liver. The
liver is going to do the bulk of this work
and then detoxified and then eliminated from the body. So
our body is continuously intoxifying itself. It's continuously making toxins
(16:14):
in waste material. That's normal. That's why we have our
organs of detoxification and elimination so that we can get
them out of the body. But when our health starts
to decline, when our environment is not ideal for human flourishing,
one of the things that happens is these waste materials
(16:35):
start to accumulate. Of course, we are also exposed to
toxins in the environment, right and the food supply, the
water supply, the air supply. Those are going to enter
our body as well, and our organs of detoxification have
to process those and we have to eliminate those from
the body. So we also have to have the nutrients
(16:58):
that our liver needs to run those detoxification pathways. So
if we start to develop a blocker in the first principle, right,
if we're not getting those nutrients that our liver needs
to the liver, we're going to start to develop a
backlog of waste material in toxins. It's going to be
harder and harder to get that waste material out of
(17:21):
the body.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Right, So those two definitely relate that. The first principle
and the second principle. What's the third principle? And then
let's circle back with some of these.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So the third principle is restoring our resiliency and vitality.
So what is vitality? This is a word that's being
used a lot right now. We're kind of having a
moment where everybody's talking about resiliency and vitality. So what
(17:53):
does this really mean? So within nature, pathic medicine, and
some other systems of meta us in like homeopathy, there's
a concept that we call the vital force. Some people
would call it the life force. In Chinese medicine they
use the word chi. It's basically putting a name on
(18:16):
the organizing energy of the body. Right, So we are alive, right,
So there's an animating life force to every living thing.
On the planet, including us. And so what do we
call that, Well, it's a little hard to name. It's
a little hard to put your finger on it. We
call it the vital force, or it can be called chi,
(18:40):
it can be called different things within different systems of
what you might call natural medicine. So that's the organizing
energy of the body that keeps everything running in homeostasis.
Vitality is the strength of that organizing force. So if
(19:00):
our vitality starts to diminish, the ability of that life
force or that vital force to keep everything regulated, keep
everything humming in balance, is going to be diminished. It's
going to get harder and harder and harder for that
life force to keep everything harmonious. So our vitality is
(19:24):
the strength or the robustness of the vital force. So again,
if we're going to stay up until two in the
morning playing video games, we could feel our vitality start
to diminish. Right, it's pretty obvious. I'm using this as
kind of an obvious example. You're going to start to
feel pretty drained, a little bit tired, right, you can
(19:48):
feel your vitality start to lag. So the life force
is there because we are alive, but we want to
strengthen the vitality, and so there are things that we
can do to we sort of absorb vitality from our environment,
(20:08):
and there are some natural therapies that also sort of
add vitality to us. Yeah, let's go through some of those.
What are some interventions that we can use to restore
resiliency and vitality. So some things that you can do
within the environment is simply going outside. So when we
go outside into the environment, we are literally absorbing electrons
(20:34):
from the earth. So a lot of people now are
talking about grounding, right, so this is like walking barefoot
on the grass, making actual contact with the earth. This
is a principle or a therapy that was widely used
in nature pathic medicine more than one hundred years ago.
And you know, people used to be in contact with
(20:56):
the earth a lot more. But you know here in America,
in our mind, modern life, I mean, you might go
weeks without even making contact with the earth. But when
we touch the earth, we are literally absorbing electrons into
our body. And so part of this vitality aspect is
literal voltage. Literal energy even at the cellular level, increasing
(21:22):
that voltage that literal energy in the body. So simply
going outside, making contact with the earth, being exposed to
a little bit of sunlight, a little bit of wind,
fresh air, these things will increase your vitality. A major
major source of vitality is our food. So our food
(21:48):
if it's if it's not processed to death. Our food
is alive and has a life force, has some vitality.
So food that is alive and has vitality can rot, right,
food that can sit on a shelf for a year
because it was processed in a factory that doesn't have
very much vitality in it. And so what has happened
(22:11):
to our food supply, This is a major reason why
we have so much chronic disease and suffering in America,
is because the food supply has been taken over by
processed food or what I like to call factory made food.
And that food look at the expiration dates, it does
(22:33):
not rot, does not rot very easily at all, and
that indicates diminished vitality in the food. So, just with
our eating habits, simple things like getting outside and getting
out into the environment, that can increase your vitality.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So what is your overall philosophy about dietary supplements. Do
you use dietary supplements to impact these key areas or
do you start with you know, diet and exercise.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
So the first thing that usually has to be done,
you know, more than nine out of ten times, is
restore the digestive function. Because if you can't break your
food down, I really question if you can break down
capsules of nutrients supplements, I really question that. So the
(23:27):
first thing is let's assess, okay, is your digestion functioning well?
And you know, let's be honest, for most Americans, it's not.
The most widely sold prescription and over the counter medications
are to treat digestive symptoms like heartburn, gas, bloating. Right,
(23:50):
these are some of the most widely used medications by Americans,
and people are taking them because they're experiencing digestive symptoms
we shouldn't have. So we have to make sure that
the digestion is functioning well and if it's not. What
I usually use are some gentle herbs, usually in the
(24:11):
bitters herb category, and these are herbs that have been
used for hundreds, if not thousands of years that gently
stoke the fire within the digestive track. We don't want to,
you know, just give something like hydrochloric acid, or just
give pancreatic enzymes. We want your stomach to make the
(24:34):
hydrochloric acid that it is supposed to make. We want
your pancreas to make all the different types of enzymes
that are required to break your food down. You can't
put all of that in a capsule, it's not possible.
So we want to one make sure that the environment
that people are eating in is conducive to digestion. You know,
if you're in like a semi flight or fight fight
(24:57):
or flight state to be digesting well, right, So many people,
you know, they're eating launch at work, they're checking emails,
they're on a zoom call, they're you know, if they're
working at home, they're trying to get housework done. At
the same time, if you're stressed out while you're eating,
that's going to be counterproductive to your digestion. So it's
(25:20):
a combination of making sure that the environment for good
digestion is being met and then using some gentle therapeutics
to actually get those organs doing what they are supposed
to do, and then making sure that we're eating food
that the so I also will recommend, you know, if
(25:40):
the digestion is very poor, we don't want to eat
a whole big bowl of kale. That's going to be
really hard to break down. That's one of the most
nutrient dense foods out there. So if the digestion is poor,
we want to start with more easily digestible foods and
then stimulate the digestive organs, make sure the environment is
(26:02):
conducive for digestion, and then just put the food in
there that they you know, that we can be successful at.
And then relatively quickly, within a few weeks, I will
see people with you know, daily heartburn taking a prilo
sect daily. Usually within three to four weeks, we can
get somebody completely weaned off of prilo sac and eating
(26:24):
a wide variety of foods, you know, the tomatoes and
everything else where they would say, oh, I could never
eat this before. But if we don't have good digestion,
we're not going to get anything into our blood. And
if we can't get it into the blood, we can't
get it into the cells, and then the cells are
not going to be able to do what they need
to do. And that's really the first step.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
To recover that yeah, and that's just in line with
what doctor Elschuler and I, you know, focus on diet
and lifestyle first and then use supplements as a supplement.
And I love this concept. So just to review, there
are the three areas. You focus on our digestion and
gut health, and then clearing toxins and supporting detoxification, which
(27:07):
we talk a lot about that on the show, and
then restoring vitality. I think those are really great things
to emphasize. Excuse me, and before I let you go,
where can people find out more about you and your
work and what you're doing in your clinical practice.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Yeah. So I have a free Facebook group called Healing
Migraines Naturally with Leslie Caesar and d They're welcome to
check that out. I do have a podcast called Healing
Migraines Naturally on all the major podcast platforms. And then
my website is doctor Leslie Caesar dot com. So that's
d R Leslie Caesar dot com.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Right, and Caesar is ci s a R.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Perfect. Well, this has been great, Thank you so much,
and I'm going to give you one last little piece
of it vice for our listeners if they're struggling with
chronic health. What's your last piece of advice for them?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
I would really make sure that you are working with
a provider that is in alignment with your beliefs around
your health. So if you are going to a practitioner
that does not think you can recover your health and
you think you can, there's a mismatch and you're not
(28:30):
going to get anywhere with that.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Time to interview a new doctor. Mm hmm all right, Well,
thank you again, doctor Caesar. This has been an interesting show.
Thank you for joining me, thank you for having me. Well,
that wraps up this episode of five to Thrive Live
once again. I'd like to thank our sponsors pro Thrivers Wellness,
Sleep Formula, Cetria Glutathione the superior glutathione to support liver
(28:53):
and immune health, Cognizance of Cooling to help enhance memory,
focus and attention, and doctor Ohira's award winning show heel
Stable Probiotic. This has been a great show. May you
experience joy, laughter and love. It's time to thrive everyone,
have a great night.
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