Inside the Future of Personalized Medicine for Powerful Women

Episode Transcript
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Christine DeHerrera (00:03):
Today on the you Are the Magic podcast, I
talk with Dr Emily Aaron and DrConnie Desarden, both board
certified internal medicinephysicians who left the
traditional healthcare system insearch of a better alternative.
They believe in collaborativecare and they actually recognize
that each patient is unique.
How forward thinking.

(00:23):
We cover exciting topics likehow to maximize your energy
regardless of your age, how toprioritize your health,
including sleep and mentalhealth, and they let you in on a
little secret that theinsurance companies don't want
you to know.
Welcome to the podcast, ladies.

(00:45):
Thank you, hello.
I'm so excited for today.
I made a goal at the beginningof this year to go to more
in-person events and I went to apodcast conference in LA.
And I'm going to a femaleentrepreneurs conference in
October.
And I'm going to a femaleentrepreneurs conference in
October, and I met you guysearlier this year at the Female

(01:08):
Founders Collective here locally, which is so fun, absolutely.

Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden (01:12):
Yeah , such an elegant event Met a
lot of cool people.
I think you were the one thatwe connected with the most.

Oh well, that's nice, but it's just like
being in person is so, soimportant and I mean I'm still
recovering from the pandemic, Ithink and so like getting out
and seeing people in person.
And so I was so grateful and assoon as I was talking to you
guys, I was like, oh my gosh, Ihave to have them on the show,
because you guys do such coolstuff in your medical practice

(01:44):
and everybody that's listeningto this is some kind of high
achiever, even though I kind ofhate the word high achiever
because it's kind of likeexcluding people but people
doing all the things, runningtheir business and writing their
books and you know, family,friends, community building, all
the things that everybody does.
And I was like you guys areprobably seeing lots of folks

(02:06):
like that in your practice.
So I just want to jump right inwith everything.
I was lucky enough to have myown business start very

(02:36):
organically and doing thingsthat I loved, and I just
wondered like what drew each ofyou to medicine, if it was some
family business or like if youhad a fun story about it.
What drew you to medicine?

I used to read a lot of National
Geographic as a kid and anytimethey had anything on biology I
was all about it.
I think my dad kind of plantedthe seed because he wanted to do
medicine and didn't get achance to, so I just like took
it and ran with it, basically.

Oh, I love that.
I mean, it's so interesting howthese things spark in us, right
, and that family piece of likeyour dad not being able to
pursue that himself.
Like that's incredible.
Emily, what's your?
How did you get into medicine?
I?

Dr. Emily Aaron (03:26):
think mine's probably fairly similar.
I think we're.
We're both products of, like,the gifted and talented
generation where, like, if youshow aptitude in STEM,
especially as a woman and withproud parents, they're going to
suggest things like maybe youshould be a doctor, maybe you
should be a lawyer, or somethinglike that.

(03:47):
So it was sort of brought intomy head as well, before I was
old enough to even realize whatI wanted as a person.
But it's funny also how thatwas just the perfect predestiny.
That's where I needed to be,that's so my mind was there for
really who knows what reason,but this is where we ended up
and I couldn't see myself doinganything else.

Well, it sounds like the gifted and
talented program worked Okay.
And Emily, I have a question,because in your bio it says you
were intern of the year and soyou know I've watched Grey's
Anatomy and I'm sure a lot ofour listeners have, and of
course that's Anatomy and I'msure a lot of our listeners have
, and of course that's residency.
But we've all watched all themedical shows like how does one

(04:30):
become intern of the year andhow does that compare to what we
see on television?
Got it, got it.

So it's definitely.
There's a lot of metrics aboutyou get feedback from your
attendings at the end of everyrotation and your upper levels.
So the people that are moreadvanced in training also give
feedback and it's just aconsistency across the year of
being willing to do the work ofan intern, which the shows are

(04:57):
accurate sometimes in thatregard that it's the scut work,
it's the stuff nobody wants todo, it's the busy stuff and the
stuff that's frustrating.
So you just show up, you do itwith a smile and you do it to
the best of your ability and allof that stuff comes together
and they look at your patientcare and give you marks on that.

So so it's like kind of the never a ding
grading process, exactly.

Constantly the never a ding grading process,
exactly, constantly, constantassessment.

Yeah, yes, okay.
So you guys kind of come fromdifferent areas.
Like you're from New York,connie and Emily are from Texas.
So like how did you guys meet?

So we were in a practice in Denver.
I moved here, I think Januaryof 2021.
Emily had already been here.
Straight out of residency cameto Colorado and actually, when I
was doing the interview process, most of the people that I was
interviewing with were femalesand in the past, when I've

(05:58):
joined a practice, obviously alot of men, a lot of older men.
So the fact that there was ayoung female physician and like
two young like nursepractitioner and a PA, I was
like that's it, I have abuilt-in friend group.
That's where I want to go.
So I feel like we just kind oflike honed into each other and

(06:19):
we were like, ooh, I want to.
I want to go there and befriends with her like, oh, I
want to.

I want to go there and be friends with her
.
I love that.
I love that that's so fun.
I mean, yeah, it's still kindof a boys club in a lot of ways,
I would imagine.
So yeah, female centered andrun practice was probably like
wow.
So was it like a traditionalmedical practice, like you're
dealing with insurance and allof that?
That's what I thought, socorrect me if I'm wrong.

(06:47):
From the patient perspective,the appointments are pretty
stacked and a pretty shortamount of time and obviously you
guys are young doctors and I'msure it was very exciting and
fun at first.
But what led you to wanting togo off on your own and did you
both have the idea and then justshare it?

(07:08):
Like how did how did you end upforming this practice?

So I think about four or five years into
practice I started to feel alittle bit of oh wow, is this it
Like?
Am I really gonna be feelinglike I'm just treading water all
the time?
I'm basically throwingband-aids around to put a damper
on the problem but then notsending them to or sending them

(07:36):
rather to see a specialist totry to fix it.
Blah, blah, blah.
Because you don't have thatmuch time with patients in a
traditional practice.
You, on average in the US, youmanage 2,500 patients as a
primary care doctor, so you canimagine trying to know those
people well while also, at thesame time, trying to actually
spend time with them when you'reonly allotted about 15 minutes

(07:59):
per visit.
So if everything runs on time,you might get to spend three to
10 minutes with your patient.
So it's hard to know peoplewell and it's hard to get to the
nitty gritty of all the causesunderlying their problems with
that little time.

Yeah, 2,500 patients, that's for one person
.
That's bananas, I meanabsolutely bananas.
Like how did we get here?
I mean that's not an actualquestion because we know how we
got here, but oh, my heavens,wow.
And especially when you thinkback to like how doctors used to
operate, like at the turn ofthe, you know, the 1800s, early

(08:36):
1900s, probably well into themiddle of the 1900s, actually,
like a lot of doctors actuallycame to people's homes and got
to see them in their naturalenvironment, meet their families
, and you guys don't have any ofthat information in a
traditional practice and thatwould affect people.
I would think, like how do youthink that affected?

(08:59):
Like how you would knoweverything you need to know
about somebody.

I mean, you don't know who is
supporting the patient.
How do they have an income ifthey're so ill?
You know, are they going homeand being abused?
You know, are they workingtheir butts off just to make
ends meet?
All of that, all of thosethings that they tried to make

(09:25):
it a measure in terms of, like,how complex is this patient?
And it just created morepaperwork and the people weren't
actually getting helped.

That makes sense, because I do think about,
like, all the things we fillout now, and when you go into a
traditional appointment, theyask you a lot of questions,
which is a good start, but yeah,I mean, people probably don't
feel if they're in really hardsituations, like telling a total

(09:54):
stranger who also has 2,499other people to keep track of,
oh my goodness.
So you guys, you did yourtraditional practice.
Emily, you have this idea Like,how did that go?
Were you like, hey, I mightstart my own practice?
Do you want to come?
Or how did that happen?
Right, that's a big leap.

I definitely knew that I didn't want to do it
by myself, because it's a lotespecially if you're going to be
responsible 24-7.
, you need some sort of lifeoutside of the business.
So having a partner was reallynecessary.
But I never knew that I wouldfind just the most perfect
partner, and I think really likeit sparked from friendship but

(10:38):
then also getting to know eachother and talking about cases
that we had been taking care of,because as doctors, that's like
all we do is talk aboutmedicine outside of medicine and
understanding that we both havesimilar values with respect to
patient care and also similarapproaches to taking care of

(11:00):
people and what that actuallylooks like.
So I was like hey, what do youthink about this?
And I think Ange had somereservations.

I think I shut her down at first
because I was just scared andyou know they don't teach you
about business in med school, soI'm just like, no, no, I can't
take this on.
But then, after I had a baby, Iwas like how do I, how do I
change my life like something'sgot?

to be yes.
Yeah, I mean the having thebaby, and I can imagine thinking
of going back to those 2500people and no doubt like really
long, long hours yeah, you justfeel like like no one is getting
the best part of you you're.

Dr. Connie Anjoli Desard (11:39):
You're like only going halfway for
each, each group, your, yourhome life, your work life.
It's a very discouragingfeeling.
I would say yeah.

I think it's interesting that you said
Emily about like the sharedvalues and like the quality of
patient care, because likethat's really the foundation of
any business or anything thatwe're doing.
Really it's like what is thevalue of this business or any
anything that we're doing.
Really it's like what is thevalue of this and like what does
this mean and how can I bringthat meaning forward.

(12:13):
And so I absolutely love thatyou call your practice.
They are really in standard,the gold standard.
I was like that is so cool andlike means so much, but what
does that mean to you guys?
Tell me more about that,because I thought that I was
like that is the best name, Ilove it.

Yeah , I think, first off, we didn't
want to have like a typical,like the medical center of this,
the medical practice of this.

Colorado mountains, yeah.

So we were like, what do we do?
And, and I don't know how westumbled, we wanted like gold to
be in it somehow, because welike sparkly things as well.
Yeah, um, and and of course,the gold standard, like the it's
kind of like a general termthat a lot of um, I think the
areas of study use, but formedicine it is like the top way

(13:08):
to practice, the top test forthat diagnosis, the top
treatment for that disease.
So I think it was nice to justfind a pseudonym, kind of uh,
the word aurelian is is anotherword for gold to just make it a
little flair, a little flounce.

I love that .
I didn't even think about itfrom the sparkly standpoint but
I am here for all the sparklesas well, and I'm sure many of
your patients are as well.
So like yes, this is so cool.
Like it's got lots of meaningand such richness, which in a
business is so valuable, because, like it just says so cool,
like it's got lots of meaningand and such richness, which in
a business is so valuable,because, like it, it it just
says so much without having tokeep talking about it.

(13:53):
So I just I love it.
I think that is so very cool.
So I myself have dipped a toeas a patient and concierge and
personalized medicine, usuallyfor specific things.
Like I had a mold exposure andso I found a doctor who that was
the real specialty of his, andthen I used to get lots of bad

(14:15):
migraines which are totallyunder control, I am so happy to
say, but I had personalizedmedicine for that because I was
just not able to get anywhere.
But a lot of people listeningmight not have heard of
personalized medicine orconcierge medicine, or it may be
only in the context of like anultra elite celebrity whose

(14:38):
doctor travels with them orsomething.
So say more about like how yourpractice works and what does it
mean to have personalized careon top of your regular health
insurance?

Yeah.
So I think the best sort ofstarting point for this is that
your primary care physician isthe beginning and the end of
everything.
We're the person who's going tobe able to start working on the
problem with you, and we arealways going to be the ones that
are finishing the problem withyou, whether that means you're

(15:12):
90 and you've decided you don'twant anything aggressive anymore
, or we finally got it sortedand we're just continuing
refills and whatnot.
So that is how important it isto have a good primary care
clinician that can really beyour quarterback for your
problems, because we've all beento specialty appointments

(15:33):
before and they're fantasticscientists, they're great
doctors, but they're looking attheir box.
They're looking at your problemfrom the kidney perspective or
the heart perspective, at yourproblem from the kidney
perspective or the heartperspective.
We're the trained clinicians,because that's what internal
medicine does is the whole adultpatient to really try to have
all of that communication and tomake the whole storyline make

(15:56):
sense at the end of the day.
So the reality is, because ofthe burden on the US healthcare
system, with too few primarycare providers and they're
seeing 2,500 patients they did astudy and said you can't even
reach the standard of carewithout 26 hours in a day worth

(16:18):
of work.

So just work, no sleep, no food,
just work.
No food for you.

Yeah, exactly so I think America.

Absolutely, absolutely.
So that's where I think thereal point for having a
personalized provider wherewe're gonna be spending 30, 60
or 90 minutes with you.
Those are our visit links inthis practice.
That way we can uncover all ofthe things that are making you
unwell.
Is it actually something you'reeating?

(16:51):
Is it actually something thatyou're doing or not doing, or am
I just writing you a pill?
Well, the quickest thing to dois just write you a pill, so we
need to have more time to talkabout those things.
So I think that's really thefocus of the personalized
medicine, and at our practice wedon't take any insurance.
It's a membership-basedpractice.

(17:13):
We try to make it morefinancially attainable than lots
of other models you can look atby really focusing on what are
we adding to their health careand what benefit is that adding
to the patient.
So we have a couple of extratests and labs we do in our

(17:34):
practice that your health careinsurance will never pay for
from a wellness perspective, andthat's because we've looked at
the risk of these tests and it'svery low.
And we've looked at the risk ofthese tests and it's very low.
And we've looked at thepotential benefit of these tests
and that's very high.

So I love that.
I love that you said a coupleof things.
I want to talk about some ofthose tests, because I mean just
understanding what they canuncover seems like such
preventive care.
So we're going to come back tothat in just a minute.
But by spending enough time andgetting to the root of the

(18:08):
problem, I think I can speak formyself and a lot of my friends.
We tend to self-diagnose.
Especially, you listen to apodcast and it talks about XYZ
supplements or XYZ commonproblems, and so it's like you
go to the doctor and you try toa podcast and it talks about XYZ
supplements or XYZ commonproblems, and so it's like you
go to the doctor and you try totell them what's wrong versus

(18:30):
like these are my symptoms andwhat do you think.
So I thought that's reallyinteresting and you guys have
enough time to really get intoit with people to find out, like
what is actually going on.
And that's so unusual.
I mean, do you have any, uh,like not breaking patient
confidentiality, but like peoplethat have come in thinking they

(18:52):
had one thing and then it wassomething else, or anything like
that, because I would suspectyou get some interesting, some
interesting stories.

I can think of anything off the
top of my head where it was likethey thought one thing and it
was completely different.
Gosh, I'm trying to think.

Well, I think the answer is it kind of happens
.
Often it's hard to pick likereally often it's hard to pick a
specific example, but I thinkone of our favorite things that
we uncover is the patient's justnot drinking enough water.
So you know it's something weall struggle to do and reach

(19:34):
those water goals.
And you know you're seeing them.
For, let's say, they get dizzy,lightheaded, they're having
high heart rate and they've beendiagnosed with something called
POTS and somebody's put them ona beta blocker to suppress the
heart rate and we're like okay,let's also shoot for 120 ounces
of water a day and put a littleelectrolyte packet in one of

(19:58):
those once a day and they'reable to come off their beta
blocker.
So it's coaching them throughthe lifestyle.

I mean that , okay, number one, that's just
so scary like to be onunnecessary heart medications
and also, like I mean we talkabout water a lot, but I think
getting that amount, especiallyif you're in a dry area we're in
Colorado, which is super dry,but like there's a lot of places
in the country and so that thisis probably an issue and you

(20:26):
guys have the time to like getto the bottom of things instead
of just slapping a prescriptionand not that to take away from
prescription medication, becausethat's not what I'm saying.
But wow, that's a really goodexample.
And wow, I've kind of gotsmacked on that one Heart
medications, when they justneeded more water.

(20:46):
Oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh.

That's just , oh, my goodness, Okay.
So let's talk about some of thetests that you guys do, Because
I've heard of these and I wasreading about them on your
website as well, in preparationfor our interview, of course and
I mean start with the one foryour heart to look for calcium
deposits Like that seems likethat should be a no brainer for

(21:11):
everybody over a certain age.
Can you tell me about?

that no, no insurances pay for it
and it's completely political.
It hasn't Nothing to do withstandard of care, what we think
is best for the patient.
It's all about money as to whyinsurance companies don't pay
for it.
The test has gotten so muchbetter over the years.
So basically, when you have aplaque a little schmear on your

(21:35):
blood vessel, the longer it'sbeen there your body tries to
quote, unquote heal it bydepositing calcium into it and
that lights up on a scan.
So the one caveat is that therecan be soft plaques that still
haven't been stabilized with thecalcium.
So for some people it might notbe a full picture.

(21:55):
If you've been on cholesterolmedications, like most likely
it's a full picture.
But I mean nowadays with thescans and this is more for
people who have known heartdisease or who have, like,
significant plaque I mean we cansee on a, on a CT scan, how
much the stenosis is.
We can now, nowadays we cantell if it's a soft plaque or a

(22:18):
hard plaque there's.
I mean the technology hasgotten so good but these are
super expensive tests.
That CT calcium score, I kindof see it as like a screening,
like if that was off the chartsthen you would do like a more
in-depth one, but I think itshould be for everyone.
Absolutely, you know at least,why not get one of age 40 and

(22:38):
just see, like, have I alreadystarted building things up?
I have a strong family history.
Like, have I already startedbuilding things up?
I have a strong family history.
And if your score is zero andthings look great, you know,
maybe you don't have to do onefor another five to ten years,
but if it's not, then startdoing something about it.

Yeah, I mean it just seems that, like
with the different technologythat's available, that again
they could prevent so much, somany things, so many different
kinds of hearts and clotting andstrokes and all of that, which
I mean yeah, that's yeah.
So tell me if there was acouple other ones that I know

(23:15):
you guys are.
I just think this is soimportant for people to
understand that there's morethan just going to the doctor,
should they care to, to look atwhat other alternatives there
are.
Or I mean, again, a lot ofpeople listening to this are
probably already doing likebiohacking and all of these
things, and so putting theseother tests into rotation I
think makes sense.

(23:35):
If you're already like, reallyfocused on longevity, so yeah
say more yeah.

So we also add a total abdominal ultrasound and
then the transvaginalultrasounds.
What we love about ultrasoundsis you're not exposed to any
radiation, and the reason why wefeel like both of those tests
are valuable is the fact thatpatients get gallbladder cancer,
they get pancreatic cancer,they get kidney cancer.

(24:04):
You cannot pick that up on ablood test.
A lot of people don't realizethat until it's super advanced
you're not going to see anythingon a blood test, and most of
these cancers are things thatyou're also not going to have
symptoms for until it's veryadvanced.
So the transvaginal ultrasoundjust to circle back to that
quickly is because there is noroutine screening for ovarian

(24:28):
cancer and even though it is avery rare cancer, we take a
harmless picture once a year andwe might accidentally catch
something sooner than it being astage four and being
untreatable.
So I think we're looking tobalance your exposure.
One reason we don't do thecalcium scores every year

(24:48):
because that comes withradiation, so it becomes
counterproductive at a point.
But we're just trying to catchthings faster than they would be
caught by traditional means andI can think we can all say
universally that that's not themotivation of the insurance
companies, and that's really thereason why a lot of these
things aren't covered.

Yeah, I mean, I think anybody that is
fortunate enough to have healthinsurance has tangled with their
insurance company oversomething at some point.
And yeah, and so we have to beso proactive and I know that's
something that's reallyimportant to you both is for
patients to be proactive.
Can you talk more about howsomebody that is maybe just used

(25:35):
to going to their doctor, likeyou know barely being able to
have a conversation like how webe more proactive, just in a
very general sense, about ourhealth and health, longevity,
and also like the vibrancy thatwe all want to have?
I mean, everybody here iswanting to do big things in

(25:56):
their lives and continue to dobig things, and so, like, how do
you get that level of vibrancy?
Like, how can we be moreproactive?
How do you get that level ofvibrancy Like how can we be more
proactive?

It's hard in the traditional system,
so we kind of have to separateit into your physical.
Is your physical your problemvisits?
Are your problem visits?
When it comes to the physical,definitely knowing about
age-appropriate cancer screeningtests, the doctors can order
the tests that we do in ourpractice the CT calcium score,

(26:26):
the abdominal ultrasound, thetransvaginal, if you have.
Definitely knowing your familyhistory is crucial because if
there is something that you'remore prone to you know, advocate
for yourself to try to getthose tests done.
Even if it does, unfortunatelyit might end up being like an
extra cost, um, but just knowingwhat you have in your family

(26:48):
and doing the age appropriatescreenings.
That being said, that's that'sgoing to be for your physical.
They're supposed to make sure,okay, at this moment nothing is
like overtly wrong.
Then you make a nice little listof all the little quirks health
quirks that you might have andunfortunately in the traditional
model that has to be a separateappointment.

(27:08):
You might only get 15 minutes totalk about it.
I would definitely prioritizewhich ones bother you the most.
How much are you willing to doLike if you don't want to take
any medications for it?
When you're asking thequestions, just see, like, what
are all the options to treatthis problem?
How necessary is it to treat it?
Can I go the rest of my lifewith just letting it, you know,

(27:33):
just happen?
Is my bum knee going to cause aproblem 20 years from now?
Those kinds of things.
But a list is just a great wayto guide the doctor and say,
like these are the things thatare important to me that I want
to get out of this visit and itmight take a couple of visits to
hit everything.
I think I really feel for thedocs that are still in the

(27:57):
traditional system, because justhaving only 15 minutes to focus
on a problem, even one problem,it just doesn't do justice to
the patient and also, as adoctor, you want to fix people's
problems.
That's kind of our deal.
So I think both parties leaveunsatisfied.

So just being really specific with that,
that sounds smart, I mean, justlike anything else, like break
it down and, again, like a lotof people that are listening are
probably pretty busy and kindof running from one thing to the
next, and so it's important tostop and think like how am I
feeling?

(28:40):
Am I feeling?
And like taking notice even ofwhat's going on in our bodies,
which again, like there's somuch about like you know
performance and you know thingsof that nature, but it's the
other stuff that, how's my heartworking?
Like that's important, yeah,yeah.

And I think in the traditional
system I think you kind of haveto be a squeaky wheel too, which
you know, the people who havetheir nine to five jobs, and
that we're trying to conquer theworld.
You don't have the time to callthe office every day and say,
hey, what did the doctor thinkabout that?
So at least, if you like,schedule a visit, you have their
undivided attention, no matterhow many visits it takes to kind

(29:24):
of get the problem solved.

Yeah, yeah, I noticed in your packages like
obviously the longerappointments, but quite a few
appointments are included in apackage and I didn't think about
why that would be.
But yeah, so that you have thetime to address each of these
things.
And and I, yeah, that's.

(29:47):
That's so interesting and likejust not how we're used to
thinking about going to thedoctor.
It's like oh, I went and Ishould have my one appointment
and be done, and or, if it'ssomething more serious, it's
like it's still just not at thelevel that you guys are talking
about.
It's still like pretty fastmoving and short appointments

(30:08):
and you might see multipledoctors for the same thing, and
so then you lose the continuityaltogether.
You're starting from scratch atthat point.

Yeah , oh, my goodness yeah.

Yeah, well, it's exciting what you guys are
doing, and I hear you areadding back the visiting
patients in their homes as partof some of the packages that you
offer.
Tell me about that Because,okay, I've heard of personalized
medicine.
I have not heard of in-homedoctor visits.

Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarde (30:40):
We're kicking it old school.

Yes, it's so much fun, it's so satisfying.
We have the option to add themon a la carte to any package.
So if you're a patient whodoesn't feel they need that all
the time, you can do it at anytime for that additional a la
carte fee.
We have a larger package.
We call it the AdvancedSolutions Program.

(31:01):
No-transcript.

(31:35):
Have a wheelchair van.
They don't have any way to helpget him into the car and get
him somewhere.
You can do some things overvideo visit and that has
expanded in its utility and, Ithink, in a very good way.
But there's so much to be hadby actually laying hands on the
person, being able to put yourstethoscope on their back, being

(31:57):
able to see if they're swellingin their ankles and then, as
she alluded to, watching themmove around in the room and move
around in the house and seewhat barriers they have.

So, yeah, yeah, I mean, it's a whole
nother level of understandingand I take it back.
I have heard of thesepersonalized visits because
there's a very popular youtuberand podcaster.
He owns a big, big media agency.
This guy named Gary V GaryVaynerchuk and he recorded one

(32:31):
of his podcasts while havinghe'd gotten hit with a
basketball in early morningbasketball fun with his friends
and his doctor came and stitchedhim up in his office.
So like we got the whole gamutfrom like I need a couple of
stitches because I'm overdoingmyself to like getting really
good care in your home for yourelderly parents or grandparents

(32:51):
or whoever I think that's.
I mean, it's just great thatwe're heading in a direction
where there's so many moreoptions.
It's unfortunate how we had toget here, but I'm always an
optimist and I'm hopeful thatsomehow what has become our
traditional system can like takesome of these steps eventually.

(33:12):
I mean, I'm probably being waytoo optimistic.

I know, I know they're going to go
down swinging.

They're not going to make anything for us.
That is true for sure.
So, okay, I asked some of myfriends who run businesses and
have families and just doing allthe things that everybody does,
for some questions for you guys, because I thought that would
be really fun, and so I'm gonnalook into a couple of those.

(33:41):
So, for the ladies who arerunning full speed doing all the
things like, what do you wantthat group us, what do you want
us to know about what we shouldbe thinking about related to our
health and being able topreserve this level of vitality
for as long as we possibly can?

That's a giant massive question.

I feel like if you have something,
I feel like it has to be kindof like what stage of life are
you in?
Yeah, kind of I don't know.

It's definitely that, and it changes with the
stages of life quite drasticallyfor women.
I think you know a couple ofthings.
Having insight into yourself,because you are living in this
body every day, all day, youneed to be able to understand
and recognize how you're feelingand what you're feeling.
Number two you need to findsomebody that's going to listen

(34:43):
to you.
And unfortunately, sometimesthat takes a lot more advocating
and being that squeaky wheel onyour part.
But I think particularlywomen's issues sit with us
stronger because we bothexperienced them firsthand.
When you go to the doctor andthey're like oh, maybe you're
just anxious here, have ananxiety pill, I don't know.

(35:06):
So it's a multifacetedself-care, recognizing when you
need that self-care.
And what does that look like?
That looks like healthyexercise, eating healthily,
drinking all that water, nothaving 600 milligrams of
caffeine in the morning and thennot drinking a glass of water

(35:27):
till dinnertime.
All of those things are hard tobalance with your busy
lifestyle, family and careerwise.
So you can't forget about you,because you can't give your best
to anything if you forget aboutyou.

And I just want to add sleep in
there which.
I know like sometimes sleep isa problem for people, but I mean
it can affect your immunity,your mood, your like brain fog
that a lot of people haveliterally everything from head
to toe, and chronic sleepdeprivation is just the enemy of

(36:00):
innovation, I'll say.

Yeah, I think we could probably do whole
episodes on each of those areaslike eating, caffeine, sleep,
movement.
For sure.
I think your suggestion to justreally pay attention to
yourself and how you're feelingit seems so obvious but I can
speak for myself that there weredefinitely decades in there

(36:25):
where I was so busy running mybusiness and helping my clients
and all of that and then being amom, that I kind of didn't do
those things and I mean thatseems so bananas to me now and I
know I'm not the only one whojust completely deprioritized
myself.
And if you'd asked me how I wasfeeling, I probably, honestly,

(36:50):
wouldn't have been able toanswer at some points Like I
don't know.
Or if I did, I might tell youoh, I had a migraine, but I
wouldn't know why.
There wouldn't be something Icould specifically point to.
And so I think just the beingaware of what's going on and
then having those conversationswith your doctor if they're

(37:10):
physical or even mental because,like you know, sometimes that
going to that therapist issomething that's really an
important part of how we carefor ourselves or when you stop
sleeping, and a lot of timesthis stuff gets written off as
women's issues and like we can'thandle it or something, and
it's like, no, we can handle allof it.

(37:32):
That's the problem, folks, wecan handle all of it.
That's the underlying issue ofeverything no only kidding, but
also like, besides, besides,what am I feeling?
What's going on in my body?
But, acknowledging these stages, and I feel really hopeful
because I'm older than you guysand it's so exciting now to see

(37:55):
people talking about all thesedifferent stages, like things
that are happening in your teensand your 20s and your 30s and
all the way up, and that was notthe case even like 10 years ago
.
It was just, you know, therewas like two stages, like you
could have a kid and you can'thave a kid anymore.

That was the only thing anybody cared about
or talked about.

It's like there might be some nuance in
there.
So I think just those twothings alone are really exciting
and useful for people to diveinto.
And again, walking away fromthis conversation of putting a
note in your phone or somethinghow's it going for me Taking

(38:34):
those couple minutes?
That might be all that peopleneed to recognize.
I actually haven't drank anywater today, or gosh.
I didn't sleep well last nightat all and I'm still trying to
do like this huge day when maybe, if I can, I can adjust it.
Or yeah, how much of your timewhen you're working with people

(38:55):
do you guys spend talking aboutthings like all the caffeine and
the nutrition and supplementsand things like that?

It's definitely a huge chunk of the
visit, like just getting throughthe supplements, because we
also like to make sure thatpeople aren't hurting themselves
, because I would say the basisof health is the lifestyle
behind it.
If you're eating a ton of sugar, eating fatty foods, you're not
going to feel great.
If you're sitting eating fattyfoods, you're not going to feel

(39:24):
great.
If you're sitting on the couch,you're not going to feel great.
So that is always going to bethe hardest part and the most
important part.
At the same time, we work witha nutritionist.
That's been really excellentthat we offer to our patients.
Of course, like they, they goto her like as her patient.

She operates like independent from us, but
she is excellent, so we refer toher a lot.

Yeah , and just trying to get support
from other specialties, becauseeven keeping one person
motivated is a very genuine task, so we try to get a little team
on board.

Is a gargantuan task, so we try to
get a little team on board.
I love it.
I mean, that's the thing we'reasking our bodies and our brains
to do stuff that we're notdesigned for.
And one of the things that'sbecome clear to me over the
years is, like, how much supportwe really need.
Like people should have anutritionist, and they should
have you and like, and atherapist and all these things,
and we shouldn't feel weakbecause we have these things.

(40:27):
It's like we're asking ourbodies to do things that are
basically bananas, and so, ofcourse, we need more support,
and I think, like your practicejust sounds amazing to have all
of these options in that, likepeople can work with and and
really be seen, and that's somuch of a problem as well, as

(40:50):
you know, being the number inthe system, but like and that's
not just in medicine, it's inalmost everything, and so like
that factors into people'shealth and wellbeing as well.
Oh my gosh, I have so many morequestions.
Let's see, but I'm going to,I'm going to rein myself in.
Maybe you guys can come back.
So I think, like, can we talk alittle bit about I mean, this

(41:17):
sounds like such an unsexy wayto say it, but insulin
resistance, okay, this is athing that happens to lots of
people.
It happens more as you getolder and it's like for you to
be a fully functioning person,your body's got to like, process
sugars properly.
And can you just talk about howdevastating that can be for

(41:39):
people and what to do before itbecomes devastating?

Yeah .
So there are some unfortunatepeople where the insulin
resistance is genetic and you'rekind of constantly fighting it.
But I would say you know, justliving in the US and the way
that our food is processed, it'skind of something that we all
have to contend with at somepoint, because we can have any
and everything at any time.

(42:03):
We want Sugar, carbohydrates.
Not all of them are createdequal, obviously.
You know the whole greens aregoing to be better than like the
white flour.
But everything down to whenyou're digesting it, the gut
flora digesting your food, thesugar causing inflammation.

(42:27):
You know everyone givescholesterol a bad rap, but the
sugar causes inflammation andthat can speed up plaque buildup
as well, your kidneys trying tofilter out that sugar.
They don't like it.
It irritates that as well.
I think we also are constantlychallenging our poor little

(42:49):
pancreas to take on all thesegiant carb loads and, believe it
or not, it's almost like avicious cycle.
The more you challenge it, themore damage the pancreas can get
and then it will work less foryou.
The higher those sugars itdamages the pancreas as well.
So unfortunately we kind of alot of it.

(43:14):
We're doing it to ourselves.
The weight plays a big role, ofcourse, because your body gets
this extra sugar and it's like,oh, let me store it for later.
Your body gets this extra sugarand it's like, ooh, let me
store it for later.
And then you start noticing alittle lump here, a little lump
there, a little cellulite here,um.
So, unfortunately, you know,it's not like a body positive,

(43:34):
like antibody positivity oranything, but a higher weight,
higher sugars, higher bloodpressure, more chances of all of
the things that we don't wantheart disease, stroke, you know,
you name it.
Kidney disease, your eyes startfailing, just multi-organ
failure.
So everything, everything is alot of.

(44:00):
It is what we're doing toourselves, unfortunately, and
I'm still trying to figure out away how to remedy that besides
like moving to Europe orsomething or moving to Bhutan.

Well, it's funny you mentioned that, though
, because when you go to theseother countries that do not have
the terrible ingredients andall the added sugars and
preservatives and all this stuff, it's like you feel like a
totally different person.
Added sugars and preservativesand all this stuff it's like you
feel like a totally differentperson.
You might eat like similar meal, but you don't feel inflamed
afterwards, at the very least.
So, at the beginning,no-transcript more, as people

(44:40):
are getting older and under alot of stress and all that like
what are some early signs thatthey're before it would show up
clinically.
Like my blood work, all itlooks great still, which hooray
for me, but I can tell, like myjust in how my body is that it's
not, but I think I don't havethe words for like what it is.

(45:02):
That's different.
Like what can we notice?
Back to noticing how.
Words for like what it is.
That's different.
Like what can we notice?
Back to noticing how we feel.
Like what, what is that?

Yeah , you might.
You might notice like a littleextra puffiness around the face
when you wake up in the morningor even throughout the day.
Legs, not necessarily becauseof inflammation, but if you're
getting a lot more heartburn,like you need to change your
diet.
So some of the GI upsetbloating, extra gas.
Um, I thought of another oneand then it slipped my mind.

(45:32):
Oh for, for, specifically forinsulin resistance.
You can get a darkening of theneck and sometimes you can get
it like in the underarms, likebasically anywhere where you
flex, you can have like adarkening of the skin.
Um, that shows that you'rehaving some insulin resistance.
There are some people usuallythis is like more far gone but
if your vision starts to getblurred, that can be a sign of

(45:56):
your sugars being higher thanthey need to be.
Also, some people can confusefeeling like their sugar is too
low and they need to eatsomething all the time and
having headaches triggered it byit.
They can confuse that as likeoh, my sugar's too low, but
maybe it's just that you're usedto a very high level, so you're
just constantly feeding thatsugar beast.

(46:17):
Um, to to feel normal.
Quote unquote normal for you?

Oh, that's so interesting because, yeah,
like, definitely I don't want tolike my blood sugar drops, so I
better just keep on snacking.
Yeah, and it's like causing theexact opposite problem.
It's like oh, your bloodsugar's high through the roof,
oh my gosh.

Most of our livers are also very capable of
cranking out extra blood glucosewhen our sugar is low, so you
don't necessarily have to havean ice cream cone.
You can just let your body dothe work.

Oh dang, we're back to the body is really
smart.
The body is so smart.
I think about that.
No-transcript discussed, likemovement and sleep and all that,

(47:31):
but you guys are the experts.
So for people that are startingto have awareness that there is
such a thing as cortisol, whatdo you have to say about that?

Got it.
So I definitely want to kind ofstart this one off saying that
traditional Western trainedmedicine and functional medicine
sort of.
I think we're getting the besthealth care if we're doing a
marriage of all the doctrinesbecause, as traditionally
Western trained MDs, we are kindof taught that you do not have

(48:03):
a cortisol problem unless youactually have high cortisol in
your blood work and that meansyour adrenal gland is over
functioning or you're having anabnormal signal coming from your
pituitary gland.
So we, a lot of Western trainedMDs, put it in a box and say if
I can't do a blood work for itand it doesn't say that it's

(48:24):
high, then I'm not going todiagnose you with that.
And it's something else.
Now the world of functionalmedicine takes it from the
perspective of we're looking notonly at cortisol regular blood
work we're looking at urinarymetabolites of cortisol,
sometimes salivary metabolitesof cortisol, and we're trying to
find different areas of thesame hormone cascade that might

(48:46):
look like they're out of range.
Now, from a practicalperspective of somebody who's
passionate about both doctrinesand really likes to figure out
the most effective, least costlyway to get there is, we're
really just looking at totalinflammation and how you feel If
you don't have an abnormalblood cortisol, which is the

(49:08):
case for most people because,going back to how smart our
bodies are, we've got some greatcompensatory mechanisms to not
allow that to stay out of rangefor long on a measurable way.
But we need to look at thatunderlying cause of inflammation
and say if you're feelingswollen, water retention, super

(49:30):
fatigued, everything hurts, allthe time there is total body
inflammation going on.
Am I going to be able tomeasure that?
Maybe, maybe not.
Probably not is the actualanswer.
What are we going to do aboutit?
We're going to look ateverything causing inflammation.
We'll rule out real autoimmuneconditions such as rheumatoid

(49:52):
arthritis or lupus.
But once we've ruled out thosemeasurable autoimmune causes of
high cortisol, high inflammatorymarkers, then we're going to go
back to those lifestyle,functional medicine things and
think about what is driving ourinflammation.
Is it sugar?
Is it stress?
Is it alcohol?

(50:13):
Is it the fact that we'rehaving way too much gluten?
So there's this whole study oflike whether or not we have too
much gluten, and I think theanswer is yes.
Even if you don't have trueceliac disease, we know it
increases inflammation.
Another little, just fun tidbitabout inflammation is we know

(50:34):
that meat.
Eating meat will release a lotof inflammatory cytokines in our
bloodstream and they stayactive in our bloodstream for
about six hours.
What do we do?
Usually, six hours later we eatagain, and in America we
probably have meat at that meal.
So you're never getting out ofthat inflammatory cascade,
whether it's cortisol or someother unmeasurable inflammatory

(50:57):
marker.

Yeah, oh, wow, that that's so interesting
and again, there's so manydifferent ways to come at it.
You might not need anadditional blood test if you
have all these factors and youcan start working with that.
Well, that's good news for alot of people that maybe aren't
going to go to a functionalmedicine doctor and take that

(51:26):
and take that.
And also how exciting becauseall the things that you
mentioned are in our controlthat we can make changes to, and
so that that is reallyremarkable which you mentioned
about autoimmune diseases.
I just have probably could haveone more question for the next
three hours, but again, one ofthe questions from one of my
friends was you know, women arediagnosed with, not like an
autoimmune doctor, that'slooking at all the autoimmune

(52:05):
diseases, versus like seeing anendocrinologist or dermatologist
or rheumatologist you know whatI'm trying to say
Rheumatologist, so and I waslike I don't know.
I will ask my super geniusguests.

Yeah , I think the way that the
physicians look at things is youfind one problem and you you
attack it down until you findthe the source of it.
Um, I, I really hope thatthere's someone looking to see
all the triggers.
Definitely, I would say theviral route is one of the one of

(52:44):
the things that is beingstudied, because we learned so
much with COVID how it just liketurned on the immune system in
such a way that it devastatedeverything.
Um, so, definitely, viralcauses, environmental triggers,
I think is huge, especially herein Colorado, since there was
like a lot of ex-military sites.
So you have all these pocketsof of neighborhoods that were

(53:07):
like everyone got this one typeof cancer or, you know, everyone
is just like chronically ill.
Um, so I think I feel likewe're going in the direction of
finding, yeah, the source.
Um, you know viruses you can'treally control that stay healthy
.
Environmental stuff.
I mean we just got to do better.

(53:28):
Yeah, you know the way that weprocess anything from from metal
to, you know, military testing,to to the food.

We're doing it to ourselves we keep
circling back toself-responsibility.
How interesting, yes, which iswhy it's so important for women
to run their businesses, takecare of themselves, take care of
their family.
Because we can have so muchinfluence.
When we are, you know, fully inour power and have access to

(54:01):
funds, we're making money.
As business owners, you canfund things to look into this
and fund cleanup of projectsfrom the 1950s and just
different things.
I mean, it is pretty shocking.
There are definitely areas thathave large amounts of homes on
them now, because I've lived inColorado for a very long time

(54:23):
and like I grew up here and it'slike why would you build near
some of these sites?
It's like holy moly, and I'msure that's the case all over
the country.

Dr. Connie Anjoli Desar (54:34):
There's places because, oh, yeah, yeah,
strong military, like focusingon women, um, because I mean,
we're just recently learningabout how, like, when you have a
baby, the baby's dna canactually become part of your dna
, um, and you're like hosting aparasite.
So yeah, basically we're doingit to ourselves, I guess.

Oh my gosh, accurate, oh my goodness, yeah,
okay.
Well, that's good and it makesme feel hopeful that you're
hopeful, that people are lookingat like underlying triggers for
all this stuff, because itmakes sense and even viral, like
understanding that that's anunderlying cause might affect

(55:21):
how people are treated, or ifpeople are aware, like being
treated earlier, before there'sa lot of damage and and that
kind of thing like perhaps sookay, one of the coolest things
I think is like I'm reallyfortunate to like connect with
people from all ages, like 20sto 70s and 80s, and since, like

(55:43):
we were talking earlier aboutyou know different stages of our
life, I thought it would be funto like hit each decade like
I'll name them and you guys saylike one thing that people
should, in that decade, shouldreally be thinking about related
to their health.
So here we go.
Hopefully it's fun, okay, whatshould people women,

(56:06):
particularly in their twentiesfocus on?

just as a quick note, Hydrating and diet,
starting those habits, creatingthose habits so that they'll be
sustainable.
It's easy to drive through andget a cheeseburger, but having
those foods is addictive becauseof the chemicals in these foods

(56:31):
and they make them craveablefor a reason.
So every decade of life it getsharder to change your habits.
So really trying to focus onthat active, hydrating eating
right to fuel your body in your20s is a good place oh, I love
that.

I wanted to add mental health to
that.
Um, you know, finding out yourmental health quirks earlier in
life because we see it down theline when you're in your 40s or
50s or 60s all the copingmechanisms that you've kind of
like acquired over the years orjust fail you, um.
So just I would say, gettingplugged into your mental health

(57:09):
as early as you can is a goodthing to do.

Yeah, I love that.
I love both of those.
That is so good.
Where were you guys when I wasin my 20s?
I know where you were.
You weren't here yet.
Okay, 30s, 30s what are welooking at?

You know, for 30s I was thinking
about this and I think you'restill trying to hammer down the
diet and exercise.
I don't think you figure it outin your 20s, because in your
20s you're just challenging howfar your body can go.
How many nights of no sleep canI go through without needing to

(57:53):
crash?
You know how many cheeseburgerscan I eat in a row, you know,
before I start getting abellyache or something.
So I think 30s is likeperfecting your diet and
exercise and you still love that?

yeah, yeah all right, 40s, 40s, 40s so 40s
is for me.

I was gonna mention just like
that's, that's the start of likeall the cancer screenings, um,
just being really healthconscious.
You know, you're kind of likealmost halfway through your life
.
What are the things that aregonna get me so, looking at your
family history, um, doing allthe the age-appropriate cancer
screenings?
Um, and I I kind of want to sayit for the 50s, but sometimes

(58:44):
in the 40s people start havingthe hormone issues, so I'll
leave it for the 50s.

All right, 50s, this is going to be a
shocker Hormones, hormones,hormones.

You know, once your ovaries give up
everything, we're just likelittle deflated balloons.
Everything were just likelittle deflated balloons and
some people are.
The pendulum is swinging nowmore towards hormone replacement
therapy.
When we were in training it waslike absolutely no way you're
going to give yourself cancer.

You're going to kill people.

Yeah, pretty much.

But just being able to maintain your
hormone chemistry for as longas you can, your hormone
chemistry for as long as you can.
I think in the long run it'stechnically not a guideline to
use it as like primaryprevention for things like heart
disease, osteoporosis, you knowif you haven't had a problem
already, but I think we'reswinging towards that.

(59:37):
Hormones, hormones, hormones.
Paying attention to your body.

Yes, and if they're following since their
20s, it's a lot easier becauseyou're on it.
All right 60s.

Yes, 60s are transitioning to that being a
senior.
Starting to think about gettingMedicare, if you're going to
start getting Medicare at 65.
Thinking about retiring, if youhaven't already thought about
retiring.
Although we're all working alot longer and in a lot of
places, that's a good thing, butsometimes it's, you know.
So starting to look at how do Ireally want to spend that last

(01:00:16):
30% of my life, 30, 40% of mylife?
We don't think people canreally live past 120.
That's theorized as, like themaximum age.
So you are for sure, without adoubt, at least hovering around
the halfway point, at that point, and you need to think about
what matters to you and what youwant everything to look like.

(01:00:37):
And so if it's being active,then keep being active and
stretching those joints andmaking sure that you're trying
to work out the appropriate wayto give your joints health,
rather than going and lifting250 pounds you might be causing
more back problems than yourealize, kind of thing.
So understanding how toergonomically take yourself

(01:00:59):
through the finish lineeventually.

Christine DeHerrera (01:01:02):
I like that .
I like that, yeah, and I mean120 sims absolutely bananas.
But more and more people areliving longer, which is
interesting and I don't know,like in my Instagram a week or
two ago, like when it was stillthe Olympics, like there was a
lot of videos of people in theirnineties and one hundreds like

(01:01:24):
doing swimming competition andrunning competition.
So it just proves.
I mean, genetics are obviouslya huge part of that, but like,
if you care for yourselfproperly and follow all of the
steps, you guys are saying likewho knows what you can do and
accomplish, and if you're goingto be here, you want to feel
good, all right.
And last but not least, andagain, we obviously could keep

(01:01:44):
going to 120, but we'll stop at70 because I know lots of very
vibrant, amazing 70 plus yearolds I was going to say for your
80s you can do whatever youwant.

Dr. Connie Anjoli Desarden (01:01:53):
I love it.
I love it.

All the rules are out the window.
Time to start smoking anddrinking again.

Dr. Connie Anjoli Desar (01:02:01):
Smoking and drinking have all the
cheeseburgers and sit on thecouch.

Dr. Emily Aaron (01:02:07):
Heart disease over developing over 60 years of
life.
So you know definitely at thatpoint and it looks different for
everybody.
Yeah, you need to always.
I think the flat answer after70 is focus on quality and
what's important to you,understand your priorities and
we'll help you meet those goalsby talking about that priority.

So I love that.
So essentially, be an advocatefor yourself throughout your
health and like through yourwhole life looking at your
health and just keep going withthat and drink that water.

And drink that water At 80, you
still have to hydrate.
Give me more.
Give me more hydration?

Yeah, because you've taken up smoking
and drinking again, oh my gosh.
Well, thank you guys.
I mean I can see how passionateyou are about a lot of aspects
and I'm sure we could spendhours on it like going into
other ones.
So again, I would invite you tocome back and we can dig into

(01:03:09):
like a specific topic reallydeep.
But I feel like there's a lotof value for people.
Where can they find you guysonline if they want to learn
more about your practice?

Yeah , so our website is the Aurelian
standardcom.
We do have an Instagram, whichcould be more active the
Aurelian standard.
At the Aurelian standard, we'relocated at Rose medical center,
so it's 4545 East ninth Avenue,suite 240.
If you Google either one of ournames, it should pop up.

(01:03:42):
If you Google the Aurelianstandard, great Awesome, great
Awesome.

Good, well, I'm really excited about what
you're doing and I think thatthis was a really super fun
episode.
So thank you guys for comingand hope to see you again.

Yes, absolutely, it's a great time.

Dr. Emily Aaron (01:04:01):
Yeah.

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