Yep, three times

... back in 2013.

And it started really, you know, 2011, I was having a conversation with my dear friend Tom Dunham.

And Tom and I have partnered on our immersion side where we provide the one-week intensive health immersions, uh, and have done so for whole foods for, gosh, almost 16 years.

And in my own personal journey, it took, you know, years for me to try to understand how to, um, navigate the education of patients, developing resources, helping them change, coming alongside of them in a meaningful way.

And I said to Tom one night over dinner, I said, "You know, it took me so long to learn how to, you know, translate the science into action in my practice.

We should start a conference for healthcare professionals." And Tom's so great, he said, "Let's do it." We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Yep.

Can you provide us with a little bit more background regarding your place in this advocacy story, explaining how you helped turn a complex reform effort into a local call to action?

Yeah, absolutely.

Always happy to tell that story.

In Illinois, there's a lot of work.

There's been a lot of work ongoing for it, but with really no forward movement up until about 2025.

A lot of discussion about where all of these PBMs fit into our world or don't fit in some cases and just where the insurance companies, how the governmental side of things can help alleviate the pressures that independent pharmacies are seeing.

And for us, it was an opportunity, as I said before, some of us have the width to be able to speak up and maybe lead that charge.

It's easy to make your voice heard or something on the larger scale like NCPA fly in.

And Talk to us about what happens to the body when we stay in survival mode for far too long.

Yeah.

And let's talk about the physiology and then we can dive into kind of how the emotional regulation of that in the nervous system.

Yeah.

And first I would just say to anybody that's watching this, it is, you know, experiencing still the emotional experience of trauma and that I've been through some of that too, and I know how difficult it is, and I understand and can imagine how it feels to have years of that weighing on you.

And what you're experiencing is your body's natural response to a threat.

You know, we have a system that is in place in our body that was designed to respond to threats, that threat physiology, fight, flight, or freeze, which is really designed for survival.

Mm-hmm.

Please, Dr. Stoll.

All right.

So I've been doing this more than, more than 20... almost 25 years now.

Um, and, you know, if I had to just simplify this down, and I might slip in a fourth one, uh, I might have to slip in a fourth one, but, um, number one-

As, as many steps as you want

... yeah.

Number one, the most, like...

I'm gonna start in a little different place than I'm gonna end where I think we all would, would begin, which is with a plant-based diet.

bone density and arthritis.

Um, first, you know, before we get into the food, we have to just think about our bodies, um, and our muscular system, uh, as, you know, with the view that the body is in alignment.

So when we have a car and our tires are not in alignment, um, you don't notice it until one edge of the tire becomes worn down, and then you have abnormal wear pattern on the tire.

And the same thing happens with the body.

We have a misalignment that occurs from, in our body from an injury, from repetitive motion.

We can get weak muscles, um, from not stretching or working out.

I wanna just throw in, you know, one thing about this, is that sprouts are also a great source of calcium, right? So I just opened up-

Yes

What are some cooking methods and dietary choices that can help minimize the AGEs, advanced glycation end products?

Right, so that's a great question.

So advanced glycation end products, for everyone that are watching, the way to think about them is that our tissues, whether it's our skin or arteries, are elastic and vibrant.

AGEs take away that elasticity and create tissue-level damage.

that can lead to a host of other problems.

And one way to think about it, you know, the advanced glycation end products, AGEs, they age your body when you're exposed to them.

And they largely come from kind of two things.

Does anything in your diet and lifestyle impact these things?

doing good for others contribution is very important and it activates even more hope social community connection which we'll talk about in a minute and so finding ways to be of use and benefit to others is very important and we saw that in Marcy's life and there are lots of ways to do this even at a very simple at the most basic level which is just volunteering somewhere or Coming alongside of someone that is working on a lifestyle change.

If you've been successful, taking them on a grocery store tour, inviting somebody over for a meal.

It can be very simple things that we start with that can lead to these social action plans and routines.

And then being aware of fear and reframing that in a positive light.

if you have had those things spoken over you, or you've heard those things, simply to just flip it and reframe it in a positive light.

And again, imagining that future healthy self, excuse me, imagining that future healthy self and the positive outcomes of a lifestyle change.

And so this

leads to hope with grounded planning, hope with meaningful community and connection, hope with a plan that leads to a natural, sustainable lifestyle that produces health inside of the body.

And so based on your research, what are some key dietary themes that appear to be consistently beneficial for both disease prevention and slowing down aging overall?

Yeah, that is, you know, generally when we think about these disease processes and, you know, As we're just hearing, it's a dose-dependent response.

And so the greater the dose of plants, and I'll talk specifically about which ones, then the healthier the body.

And we have to understand when we're thinking about cancer, especially, It is a total system upheaval.

Your immune system has been compromised.

Your microbiome has been compromised.

You have systemic inflammation.

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