Staying Natural in a Toxic World with Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald

Welcome to Mama Goddess. I'm your host, Alexandra J. Johnson. This podcast is all about rocking your goddess life, creating vibrant health and celebrating motherhood and family life. It's about living an authentically awesome life. Let's have some fun.

Hello and welcome.

I'm Alexandra J. Johnson and Today's guest is Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald. Patricia is the founder of the Santa Monica Wellness Center. She has a doctorate degree in acupuncture and Oriental medicine, a master's degree in traditional Oriental medicine, and a doctorate in homeopathic medicine. She is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, as well as a certified clinical nutritionist. She is the wellness editor of the AOL Huffington Post Media Group and the author of the bestseller bestselling award winning book, the Detox the Missing Link to Radiant Health, Abundant Energy, Ideal weight, and peace of mind. Welcome, Patricia.

Thank you, Alexandra. I'm so happy to be with you today.

I'm so happy to be with you as well. I love your wisdom and your work and I'm so excited for you to share all of your goodness today with all of our parents to be and parents.

Right. Great. Thanks for inviting me.

I'd love to start off with just getting a little bit more into your background of what actually is acupuncture and Oriental medicine for those that don't know what it is. And what inspired you to become an acupuncturist, herbalist, and nutritionist.

Okay. Well, actually, I had an interest in natural health since I was a teenager when I came across a book called Jane Brody's Nutrition Book, because she was a New York Times author on nutrition. And it was in the early 80s when, where I'm from, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there wasn't a lot of whole foods eating as we know it today. There was a lot of cheesesteaks and hoagies and soft pretzels and Wonder Bread. So when I read this book, I thought, wow, just eating fresh food was actually an interesting concept to me. I thought, well, that makes sense. Instead of fixing your body with medicine, you actually put nutrients inside and can have better health. So I was a teenager and I had pimples and pms and I started eating healthier and my pimples and PMS went away. And then I came across a book called Back to Eden, which is kind of a classic herbal book, I think was written in the 1930s and I was in my late teens then, and I thought, wow, I hadn't been exposed to herbal medicine either. And then I started experimenting with herbs, went to an herbal shop in Philadelphia and came home. And fortunately, my parents were up for it, since I wasn't doing drugs or other things that teenagers might want to be getting into. So they let me boil these herbs and experiment with herbal formulas, and they couldn't argue with the results that my health was better than most teenagers. So that's kind of the short story of it all. And then I. This is before the Internet or even fax machines or anything like that. So I knew from watching television that California was a place that people were into healthy lifestyles. So I was kind of looking for schooling and education in medicine. I wanted to be a medical doctor, but I couldn't find any medical schools that taught herbal medicine. So I found Chinese medicine schools, most of which were in California. So I relocated to California to pursue that. And when you asked, what is acupuncture in Oriental medicine? I didn't really actually know that I heard of acupuncture vaguely. Acupuncture was not very popular in the States in the early 80s, that's for sure. It was really not actually known much in America until the early 70s when an investigative reporter went to China and needed acupuncture and then wrote about it in the New York Times. So I didn't know much about Chinese medicine. I just knew about kind of Western herbalism. And I was so happy to find this whole system that is 3,000 plus years old of healing. Chinese medicine is basically a system of healing that's been used in continuous use with lots of documentation and protocols for thousands of years. And within the whole system, the medicine includes things like what they call Chinese dietary therapy, which is nutrition. The herbal medicine piece, acupuncture, or acupressure, which stimulates and adjusts points on the body that help with the flow of the energy that helps support organs and healthy function. And it also includes qigong and tai chi, which are kind of movement, breathing, meditation. So it's basically a whole system of healing that's both preventative and curative.

And then how is that different than, you know, people going to their regular medical doctor? I mean, I know it's worlds apart, but I'm just curious for people that aren't familiar at all, can they go to their medical doctor and do this? How does it. How do we utilize this ancient tradition?

Sure. Well, it's great that the times we're living in, I feel so spoiled because we have the best of ancient medicines and we know a lot about them. And there's even more research explaining why they work.

And.

And then a lot of the Western doctors are more open to understanding the need to share the best of both worlds. So we kind of call it integrative medicine. So myself being more of a Chinese medicine homeopathic practitioner, I notice that when my patients, I'll send them to medical doctors for their physicals or their gynecologists for their checkups, I always want to make sure they're up to date on testing their colonoscopies, that kind of thing. And then I, I noticed that the doctors they're interfacing with are so happy they're seeing me or other like minded practitioners because they realize that we can all really share the best of everything to have optimal healthcare. So I find Western medicine so excellent for diagnostics. Like I will look at blood work or MRIs and that kind of thing, which really actually helps me even in some choices for herbs or treatment protocols. And, and also when it comes to pharmaceuticals and medications sometimes, I mean, of course you might expect that I might prefer natural medicines such as herbs. However, I do recognize the need for Western pharmaceuticals. So I think if they're used in a prudent manner, using them for emergencies or using them in the hopes that eventually a patient could make lifestyle adjustments to maybe lower certain medications. I think if both the east and west practitioner just really have the patient's health care in mind, you can really have a great kind of synergy of both areas of medicine.

That's awesome.

I love that you have that vision because usually it's kind of like one.

Or the other, you know, and people.

Definitely kind of have like oh, medical doctors.

No.

Or alternative medicine.

No.

So I love this beautiful synergy that you're engaging in. That's very inspiring.

Thank you.

I really enjoy it. I really, really love sharing the medicine with all the practitioners and having the PAT has a team and they can choose the team members as long as they're dedicated and good professionals.

So what do you recommend for your clients who come to you or they've been seeing you for a while and they want to get pregnant? Is there a protocol that you recommend or certain things that you recommend a woman to do before she gets pregnant?

Sure. It's so individual, right? Because sometimes they'll ask me, you don't want to overanalyze it. Right. So I'll say just go for it. Like when are you ovling? Okay, go get, you know, go for it. Right. It depends on their background, you know, because I don't want them to be overly concerned that they have to do everything perfectly in order to get Pregnant. So it's that balance of, you know, not worrying but taking, like, good measures for healthcare. So I don't know, an example would be, like, a woman who's maybe in a super stressed out corporate job, and I've been maybe dealing with her, with her stress patterns, and often I see fibroid, you know, patients with fibroids, and we're dealing a lot with stress patterns. So if she was, like, asking, you know, I want to get pregnant or have a child, I kind of try to help them look at their lifestyle and see, you know, nutritionally as well as, like, environmentally. Well, you know, is this a job position you think you could stay in because it seems kind of stressful? Or help them look at maybe some tai chi or qigong or meditation or ways to balance. So to prepare the body for healthy pregnancy, we want to look at nutrition, lifestyle influences, toxic influences, whether it be toxic relationships, environmental influences, electronic influences. I try to help them assess individually what would be best for them without being too overly dogmatic, because I want it to be a natural process. Pregnancy not being a disease, just a beautiful. So it's really individual, based on the personality of the patient, and if I know their healthcare history already, to really just see what would be optimal for them to have a healthy and enjoyable pregnancy. Right.

So I'm just curious.

It seems like our culture is a little bit wacky on balanced and healthy lifestyle. What does it mean for us to have a healthy and balanced lifestyle? When do we know that we're healthy and balanced? It seems like there's so many things pulling at us to not be healthy.

Sure, definitely. Alexandra. In Chinese medicine, no matter what the condition, we'll always ask so many questions that might seem not related to the actual condition. So certain questions we always ask sleep patterns, bowel movement patterns, digestive patterns, bloating, dietary patterns, if they're getting enough exercise, if they're feeling anxious or depressed. So there's just certain hallmarks of an imbalanced lifestyle that a lot of people don't recognize as something that's an issue because they might just think it's something they've dealt with for a long time. For example, like a lot of people have interrupted sleep or restless sleep. They go to bed, but they wake up throughout the night. So if they're already having those issues, no matter what we're treating them for, we try to help resolve those issues. So a lot of it's really education. And I find that the more the patient is educated, whether it be through a practitioner like myself or Books or seminars or listening to your recordings, then they learn more because it resonates. It's just, you know, when you talk about nature and natural things, the beauty is the patients receive that and they go, that makes sense. It's like you're telling them what they already know. And we all know just that universal truth about we need good sleep, we need movement, we need enjoyment, loving relationships. So it seems so basic, yet we've gotten away from the basics that I often find myself just talking about a lot of the basics throughout the day and reminding patients and helping them be able to get back to the basics.

And what stops people from getting back to the basics? Is it like an addiction to stress, addiction to being busy? Just what do you find in your clients that people just don't take the time to really nurture themselves?

I love that question because one of my pet peeves is people use the word busy a lot. Certain people ask, how are you doing? Oh, crazy busy. No matter what's going on, they'll often respond with that. And so you can tell they're identifying with stress or busy. There are certain people that just commonly use those words no matter what. Right. So I often will ask them to, for 30 days go on an abstinence of certain words such as especially busy and perhaps stress, to look at other choices. Because the word busy implies other than when it's used properly and can be used occasionally. But sometimes it just implies this lifestyle of being unconscious and too busy to really pay attention to your inner source, your inner voice, you know? Right. So sometimes just the innocent choices we make without realizing the long term repercussions can create stressful patterns. And also nowadays, if we don't do anything, a society is throwing a lot at us and sometimes it can be overwhelming. So some imbalances can be. For example, I was treating a patient yesterday who she's recovering from some gynecological issues we were working on. A lot of it had to do with her stress at work. So she finally got that under balance. And then she said, yesterday my boss asked me to take on more responsibility, so of course I couldn't say no. And I said, well, you could have said no. Well, she said, yeah, but not really. So that was just an example of, I mean, in her case, she's not ready to say no. So that's her personal where she's at. And that's understandable. People are fearful of losing their jobs, yet just sometimes taking on more than they can handle. Before they know it, things are out of control. And yes. They find that a lot of these busy habits like the Internet and the computer and constant texting and being busy all the time creates a similar pattern in the brain as addiction to things like heroin. So to recognize that and to withdraw from it takes a concentrated decision. Because if you start leading someone into an area of meditation or yoga or tai chi or qigong, you'll initially kind of run into resistance at the beginning because they're more comfortable checking their BlackBerry. Mm. And it becomes normal.

Like, that's like our new normal for.

A lot of us, right?

Yes. They don't think of it as a stressor because let's say you look at 20 emails and they're all super positive and wonderful. So you wouldn't think that as a stressor. However, what it's doing to the nervous system, the research is finding, is very stressful to the actual nervous system and creating and contributing to some anxiety and depression patterns in people. So I've been working with a lot of patients on that element because I'm seeing more anxious and depressive kinds of patterns. And what happens during the engagement of texting and email checking and hearing the noises of your phone. Somebody wants you. Is when that happens, you're not breathing. So there's a stress response in the body that's similar to actually any other type of stress response, yet the person's not perceiving it as a stressor. So often they're not taking measures to get those kind of things under control.

That's fascinating that it's stressing for us. It's actually like a stress. I know for me, I definitely have that. Sometimes when I'm at the computer, even if it's not stressful, I'm just not breathing. I'm like, okay, maybe I need to take a deep breath.

There's a columnist, Linda Stone, who wrote an article about this, and I believe the New York Times picked it up and Huffington Post picked it up. Up, it was called. She calls it email apnea because there's breath interruption while you're checking your email. And just two weeks ago, Newsweek magazine, the COVID story was eye crazy. Like iPhone, ipod, iPad, Right? Oh, right. Yep. And the article is so well written, I encourage your listeners to just look it up online and read. Went into great detail about how these electronics and the stimulation are affecting our society and contributing to a lot of mood disturbances and that kind of thing. And they did several studies. One was where college kids were asked to be without these devices for a day. And there was pretty significant anxiety just from not having Access to them for a day.

Wow, that's crazy.

Right? It's a new kind of toxicity. I mean, it's a toxicity that is overstressing the body. And we didn't really think of the electronics as a type of toxicity, but it's increasing so dramatically. It's kind of becoming an area that we all need to look at. Right.

So on the topic of toxicity and electronics, I'm curious about the toxicity just in the world. What do we need to be aware of around toxicity? Is there anything that we need to be concerned about or things that we should do in order to protect ourselves around the toxicity of the world?

Sure, yeah. I mean, sadly it is a real issue. I wrote the book the Detox Solution about a decade ago and I tried to provide solutions and help people identify toxic influence like personal care products and how to get a good water purifier and clean air and that kind of thing. And that was when genetically modified organisms were just kind of getting started. So now as we know, that's kind of grown into leaps and bounds and we have to kind of be more aware of not just pesticides, but genetically modified organisms which haven't really been tested very well. So I do recommend getting produce, fruits and vegetables as organic as possible. Looking at farmers markets, local co ops, supporting smaller farmers. So you really get the nutrients as well as you want to have the toxicity of the pesticides as well as the effects of the genetically modified organisms. So considering what we do every day is eat, looking at the food first would be really important. When you're looking at, for those people who eat animal products, meats, that kind of thing, you want to really avoid antibiotics and hormones and you know, support your small farmers, get, you know, read what, how they were fed and that kind of thing. So you can avoid just, you know, putting in your mouth chemicals that you don't need and in turn have more nutrients that actually can support your body's natural detoxification. Another area, the personal care products is really quite interesting because it's not regulated by the FDA like food is. However, what you put on your skin ends up in your bloodstream. So really important to stay away from the petroleum based chemical personal care products, certain chemicals like sodium laureth sulfate. There's a group called the Environmental Working Group that you can look on their website and they really analyze wonderfully the cosmetics that are safe and not so safe. Looking at sunscreens, a lot of sunscreens have toxic chemicals, whereas others simply block the rays from the sun and aren't as toxic. So personal care products, food, obviously we want clean water. Looking at fluoride being added to the water, chlorine, that kind of thing, I think have a really good water purifying system in your house so you can avoid the plastic bottles, which is another level of toxicity, and then depends on where you live. Looking at air purifiers, for example, when I treat children with asthma, rather than treating them and giving them herbs and acupuncture, I first ask the parents to get an air purifier for the child's room because they're spending a minimum of 8 to 10 hours there every day. And that's often had a big effect. So just because you can't see the air pollution, sometimes we don't realize, depending on where we live, how that could be an influence.

Wow. And the air pollution is like the air pollution of the environment outside, but then also in our home. Right. With all toxic stuff.

Yeah, the toxic, you know, what's outside gets inside.

Right.

And then just the nature of depending on, you know, what materials were used or newer homes, outgassing, formaldehyde, that kind of thing. Like here in Southern California, we have nice weather year round for the most part. So some areas that don't get good airflow from the ocean, so their windows are open, so they're getting the smog and the poor air quality in the house. So inside air as well as outside air. Just to take note, if you're looking to reduce toxicity.

And then what's your thought on the toxicity? Just as you were talking about kind of the technology, the eye Crazy. And we're just so all about our blackberries and iPhones and computers. Does this disrupt our energy in some way, like being always connected to technology?

Yes, because it overstimulates the nervous system. And there's something called the parasympathetic sympathetic nervous system, like the fight or flight response. And so it's normal to occasionally need to use that to, you know, run away from danger, or occasionally we need to just take quick action like a paramedic or that kind of thing. However, nowadays the new norm is to kind of be in fight or flight to some degree a lot. And that is very stressful to the endocrine system, the glands, the nervous system, and then in turn, they're not going to be functioning optimally. And one of their functions is to help release toxicity and to absorb nutrients. So there's some degeneration and inflammation that can come from that. And we're just starting to really kind of notice this and Assess this because it happens so fast. You know, the whole, you know, now everyone is, you know, it's assumed, has a cell phone and kids. I think in this icrazy article, the statistics for the average amount of texts that a teenager will do in a month was something like 3700. So we're just really starting to see the dramatic effects with it. I mean, we're also seeing more kids with behavioral issues. And I treat a lot of teachers, and I know they feel that they have to have so much more responsibility because there's more children with behavioral challenges and focus challenges. And we can't help but wonder if the contributing factor of just extreme electronics that just keep rapidly getting faster and faster has its effect on our individual systems as well as society.

And then the overload for the children as well. Right. I mean, it just seems like a lot of stimulation for children.

Right, right. They're more comfortable being stimulated than being calm. Yesterday I had a new patient and his mom, and he came in referred by the pediatrician, and he was. He has a diagnosis of adhd and he was very hyperactive at the beginning of the session. However, as soon as he was handed the ipod to start playing the games, he was completely focused and quiet. And it's interesting because they're finding things like qigong and tai chi and yoga and things that mimic being in nature really are helping children. Yet it's so easy. And I completely understand when you just need a break from your child because it's a lot of work taking care of them, and it's so easy to plop them in front of the television. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. However, it's with the electronics and the television. They're just getting more and more addicted and used to it. They don't have the balance of. I mean, nowadays they can't run out in the neighborhood and climb trees, perhaps because maybe there's a safety issue, but somehow we need to balance by having them in sports, at a park, just having fun without having just electronic stimulation as they're.

And what about natural rhythms? Like, why is that important? And how do we tap into the natural rhythms of our natural rhythms and the age girl's natural rhythm. Why is that so important for us as parents and also for children?

Right. You know, it's so funny that we even have to answer this question. And it's such a good question. Right. The fact that we are so disconnected from what we talk about as natural or our own nature is very true. And I Mean, quite frankly, most of my day is spent reminding people what they kind of already know. And they agree with me. It's just reminding them. Like getting back into nature. It's amazing how distracted we've become. Like, just a simple rhythm would be looking at the four seasons, right? Winter, spring, summer, fall. So winter, spring, summer, fall is the rhythm of the seasons. But the rhythm of the seasons that nowadays seems to be popular is called more, bigger, better, faster.

Right?

I was watching an interview with some Facebook executives a few months ago and they were talking about the success of Facebook is because we can do everything yesterday or we can do everything immediately and we can just get faster and bigger and better. Just after a few minutes of watching it, I just thought I'd be exhausted if I even worked at that company. Because I mean, being in Chinese medicine, we educate our patients on how to live within the seasons, like certain foods at certain times a year or in the summer. A lot of patients will come in in the summer and they go, God, I've been tired lately, I just want to sleep. I go, it's August. You're supposed to be tired and relaxing and just kind of lazy. It's okay. They go, oh. And then when I kind of maybe give them permission, they realize they actually don't feel so bad after all. They were just judging that they're not being so fast and productive as they think they're supposed to be, right? So some of it. And also like winter, spring, summer, fall, right? There are times the year you plant a seed and you kind of nurture it and wait for it to grow. You can't force it to grow and you can't, like, production is not going to be at an all time high at certain times of the year. So just even thinking about the seasons, I mean, when I bring up this point about it's not we have four seasons and they have different rhythms. It's amazing, the response. People go, oh, wow, that's a good point. I'm thinking that wasn't that much insight, but that's how far away we've gotten where it's just about everything so much faster. So starting there. Okay, so we might want to listen to nature sounds on our ipods or something like that in the gym. But it would be better to be outside. So for those people who can do some kind of exercise outside, I recommend that versus being, being inside if they're not able to. Even exercises like tai chi or qigong, which mimic a lot of the movements, actually mimic things in nature, help people to get More in touch with the inner quiet while still having movement and breathing and kind of connect more to their intuition and that peaceful place inside. I recommend a lot of patients put off exercising because they're not getting to a gym. So I'll say walk around the block, you know, walk your dog. Things that are. Oh, okay, good point. You know, so just some of the real basics to be. If we want to get in touch with our natural rhythms, we need to be actually around nature. And nature is not steel or concrete. So whether it's having more plants in the home, eating more plants, planting plants, you know, walking, being in nature, listening to music that is soothing, some of these very simple yet basic elements help people start slowing down to a more natural rhythm. And then they start becoming more intuitive as to what choices are actually better for their own inner balance.

That's so cool too. I like how you said too, that when your client, it was like August and she was tired and she wanted to sleep and you're like, just, that's what you're supposed to be doing. I think for so many of us women too, and just in our culture that we always want to be at one pace all the time.

That's a really good point, Alexandra, because I mentioned that one woman. But honestly, that happens a lot when patients come in and they'll say, let's say they're getting over a cold or flu. And I'll go, yeah, I don't have the symptoms anymore, but I'm really exhausted. I say, that's great. Body is telling you it needs rest. If you don't fight it and you honor it, it will restore you and you'll be back to what you consider a good energy level. And quite honestly, it's pretty much always true. And when they hear that, they go, okay, they're questioning that they're not back to that super fast paced energy that they were before they either got sick or maybe even went through the loss of a loved one. And they're grieving and then their energy is low. So it's really interesting, just this society that honors the fast pace to not recognize and be aware of the just times that you need more rest or to go within or there's going to be a day you might need 12 hours sleep. I mean, to be able to recognize when that's just a way that your body is helping you heal and restore.

I like that too, of like the framework of it helping us heal and restore. Not like something's wrong. That's been a process for me of like, oh, I need tons of sleep. Like, what's wrong? We're always looking for what's wrong rather than, oh, wow, my body just needs. This is just what my body needs right now. And like, honoring that and trusting our body and intuition, that's a big challenge for a lot of people in our culture, I think.

Right. I think because in the media and just maybe in general in the workplace, they're rewarded for more productivity, whether. And maybe the quality could be suffering because it's not really sustainable to just keep going and going without a pause and a breath. The working.

I'm curious on the working work life balance and especially for the modern working woman and the modern woman, how does the modern woman find peace and be a great mother and also live in the modern world where she might be working as well?

Right, yeah, that's a good hot topic, that's for sure. Because we live in a time where women can have executive positions and run companies and I mean, do things that women generally weren't able to do not too long ago. So, I mean, to have the opportunities is certainly great that their doors aren't shut and women can use their skills and genius and intelligence and if they want to run a company, they can. So it's an interesting balance because. Yeah, I mean, those who choose to be parents and raise children and find a balance, I guess it's really defining what you want and what the balance is. You know, I mean, having children and then is the job going to be. You're going to be away from home 10 hours a day, 6 hours a day, 4 hours a day? What is important to each woman, I think is important for them to make the decision as they're making these choices so they don't look back with regret. If they're moving forward and they're comfortable with, maybe they have really good childcare support or family members helping out. Moving forward. I think it's really good for the parents to assess and discuss with their. With each other what's realistic for moving forward so there's not burnout or dissatisfaction or regret or extra stress. Because when you get into a lifestyle that just becomes overwhelming and stressful, I don't think that's really going to benefit anyone. So a lot of it's preparing, planning, discussing, looking at all the issues involved, because a lot of them are issues that really weren't around years ago. So it's kind of a huge experiment right now in terms of this, as they say, work life balance.

And what's your thought on mothers being away from their children? So much do you notice? Is there anything that you notice in your practice of mothers that are away from their child, often bonding, attachment or behavioral shows or just.

Right. That's a hot button topic also, which I would get in a lot of trouble for, I'm sure. But I mean, I do see a lot of moms that have been creative with their work. I'll say what I've seen work really nicely is moms who decided to have areas of work where they either could work from home a bit or they weren't that far away from the house that long, or they're able to be there, you know, picking their child up from school. Like really when a child feels that they're a priority and that, you know, really the best adjustments are being made for them, that really gives them of course, good self esteem and of course lets them feel that they are loved, not that they aren't loved if those things aren't happening. But children get mixed messages easily and if the parent is so stressed, the child often kind of takes that on. So I've seen some great situations where the moms have been really creative in choosing professions or developing their own small businesses because they wanted to not be away from their children, especially when they were smaller growing up before they were able to really be away from home longer. So I've seen that. I would say those moms seem to me least stressed and they're not juggling so much carpooling and driving and who's going to pick the kid up because they're kind of choosing to do things more around the home or within the home. And now as much as we talked about the toxicity of electronics, the beauty of the Internet is that people are starting home based businesses and they're able to sometimes work from home. So if they're able to kind of maybe speak their needs more to their employers or speak their needs more to themselves or really discuss what is best for the family, they could make maybe a blueprint and really try to see if they can kind of really design a life that is creating a quality family life for everyone.

That's great. So then there's definitely a feeling. I know I have it and I've talked to other mothers wanting to be able to do it all and to have it all and to be able to have a business and have a family.

Yeah.

Can you just talk about having it all?

Sure. It's interesting because that's a phrase that's used so much and sometimes I ask women like, okay, what does that really mean? I mean Raising children take, it's a 24, 7 job whether, you know, even if you're not there physically, it's the concerns. You never are not concerned about your children. So I think, I mean, there are some women there, as we in Chinese medicine will say, like their qi, their life force is just so amazing that they're able to do so much and do it well. And so for those women, maybe they can juggle everything and do it great and not feel burned out. And that's great if they're truly happy and satisfied and the family is reasonably happy and balanced and functional. Right? We always talk about dysfunctional family. Things are reasonably functional. Nothing's going to be perfect. And everyone has issues and we all have issues that our families passed on to us. There's difference between everyone has some issues and there's a difference between severe dysfunction, of course, for women and family members who some people just have that kind of way, they're able to juggle a lot and do it well. I think it's just so important to be honest for each woman to be honest with her needs, her wants, her desires, what's practical, what's the priorities, the priorities of the family. If the priority is the family, are the other choices going to support that priority or are they going to compromise it? So I think it's a lot of dialogue, conversation, because a lot of this is new territory. To be honest. I have definitely women in my practice in tears because they feel like all the other women they know have it all and are doing it all and they just feel like it's too much for them. But I said, guess what, your friends are saying the same thing, but they're not saying it to each other. So if it gets too much, it's important to express that truth instead of trying to keep going and going and then, you know, having this secret that you've taken on too much and you can't handle it because not every woman would. You can't predict what it's going to be like to raise a child till you have your baby. And it's going to be different for each parent. You know what they need, what they want. I know my former financial advisor, she was top of her in the corporate world for the firm she worked for, she was like the most successful, etc. Etc. She was pregnant, she was full four. She just took another level of test. She was completely ultra successful in her business. After she had her first child, she called me and said she was leaving the profession to raise her children. So she didn't plan for that. She was planning to go back to work, you know, after her maternity leave, but two weeks into it she was like, I want to be with my baby. And since then she. This was her. She had a second child and they're both over the age of 10. And since then she has created some neat part time businesses for herself that satisfy her sense of intelligence and creativity and wanting to contribute. And she's been able to really be present for her two boys and they're like a very close family, so that's just interesting. She course corrected and adjusted as she saw, like, wait a minute, wow, I have this baby here. I want to be with this baby as much as possible. So she made a decision which her husband and her decided to scale down. And you know, they were living a little more luxurious life, but they said they'd rather have more time with the children than have the home they had and they were very happy with their choices. So I think it's important to be able to be honest and be able to adjust if things aren't what you thought they would be. So you don't continue to live inauthentically and have that stress pattern be manifest within you, which is only going to affect your children if they can sense that the parents are feeling overly stressed or overly pushed. Right.

I think it's interesting too, the family is being a priority. I don't and I have been super focused on creativity. So for me to be pregnant and kind of preparing for our family, I can feel the shift into, wow, family is super important. And I look around and there's not that many role models for people that are actually putting family first and not like productivity and success. It feels like in our culture, especially in America, that it's very much productivity and like you're only a successful human being if you're being productive rather than having to focus on a family. Do you find that?

You know what's interesting, Alexandra? I find that what we read in the press and the media, the people that would be considered successful, maybe they're getting the press in the media, but when I look at maybe more.

I.

Don'T want to generalize any type of culture, but when I look at maybe the non white collar executive types or the maybe more middle income blue collar workers that I know in Los Angeles, I see a lot of family first. I see a lot of hard working people that are working for their family and they're not tweeting and they're not Facebooking that much and they're at the kids Soccer game.

And.

This one guy who delivers products to our office, he always loves to talk about his son and his sports team and he shows me pictures and he drives the truck and he is the happiest guy. And his wife is lovely and they are always showing us things and inviting us over. And their family is their family. They're very happy with their jobs, which are nothing that's particularly upwardly mobile. And they have a small home and their kids go to a decent school and the kids are actually pretty happy. And they definitely have family first. So I feel like there is a lot of family first. But it doesn't get a lot of press because in the high productivity world is what you're seeing more maybe in magazines. And what's written about these people are not necessarily. This truck driver is not blogging. Right.

It's interesting. It's interesting with the happiness factor too. You know, there's like true meaning and purpose in his life. And you know, like he really just sculpted his life.

I noticed like the simpler, like sometimes choosing simplicity, which doesn't mean being boring. It just means like appreciating the simple pleasures, appreciating simple times, maybe not having as much stuff. I just seem to notice the correlation of when you have less stuff or needing to acquire a lot of stuff, you might have more time for being with people or listening or just might be a nice, interesting correlation there.

And like earlier you were talking too about especially for pregnancy and just like a woman kind of stepping into motherhood, of really honoring the special time, like not trying to have a full life where they're just like doing so many things that they actually don't enjoy the miracle of creating life. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Sure. Our society, we're so used to having so much instant. Or we can, like, if you have an idea or a question, you can Google it and find the answer. You can get your latte exactly how you want it at Starbucks. Right. So we're used to that instant gratification. So it's so different to be pregnant and have a child because it's growing in your womb. There's not that much you can do about it other than eat well and take care of yourself. So when women get pregnant, it's often such an amazing time in their lives and they're used to being used to a certain pace that they're used to. Because again, like we've talked about, that's what society seems to be rewarding. So I try to really help them or support them in like Just honoring the rhythm. They might be tired. Some women are tired at the very beginning, the first trimester or the last trimester, or they have different cravings or they have different moods. And to just let them know that, you know, they're going through this time and just let it be rather than fighting it. They seem to do really well. And most women I've seen through this have really just enjoyed their pregnancy. And I just. It's such a. One of the most beautiful things in the world is to see a pregnant woman. You know, it's just so beautiful. It's so nature. It's so, you know, their face. They're just so beautiful. It's just a certain radiance that I just encourage them to really enjoy that special time.

Beautiful. And to not focus on. Because I know there's some people who can focus on, like, the weight gain or the body changes. And I'm always just like, what? I still, to this day, six and a half months pregnant. I'm like, there is a human being growing inside of me. Like, I. It's almost too much to like, comprehend intellectually.

Exactly. Right. I mean, I think obviously on the magazine covers, it seems like every celebrity gets a postpartum, like, weight loss thing. How do they lose the weight? So there's a big pressure to celebrities, which a lot of people kind of sadly want to model this. I see most of that weight loss pressure coming from that image. If there are kind of, you know, people are focused on that. But if women have pretty good eating habits before they're pregnant, and in general, they didn't have a history of poor habits or severe food addiction, usually things normalize, especially when they're breastfeeding. I mean, nature usually takes care of it. I think that's also important.

Yeah.

Not to put pressure on yourself to lose weight, other than if it's unhealthy or you're developing some unhealthy habits. But for the sake of just natural. After you deliver, it's going to take some time to get back to the weight you're comfortable with. And if you just let nature take its course and eat well and breathe and move a little, usually it evens it out nicely. But you might not be the size two of that celebrity on the magazine cover or size zero. Excuse me, size zero. Right.

And then I always question too. Right. It's like just spending all this time on losing all this weight. I could be totally wrong. And they might be completely happy and present for their child, but it's like, maybe you should focus on breastfeeding or taking care of your child rather than having your hot negative zero body.

Right. I mean, fortunately, to be honest, I haven't really had any patients. This is actually probably shocking because I'm sitting here in Santa Monica, California, but I haven't really had patients that worried about weight loss after pregnancy, Although I see it in the magazines and that kind of thing. But maybe because most of them, I was with them during their pregnancies and kind of checking in about their healthy habits anyway, so I think nature just took its course and they were fine. So I haven't actually dealt with them generally with too much concern about that, But I know that it's a thing or can be.

Right. Totally. So I'm just curious. I know you're super passionate about epigenetics. Can you talk about that and why that's important and how that impacts our child's health and why that's so exciting? I find it so fascinating.

Right. I know. I love. That would be a whole other great conversation. Although I'll give you some good points now. Yeah. So epigenetics. What I love about epigenetics is, you know, anything that's empowering to us because I really believe and have observed that there's really nothing that limits our optimal health. So we might not have the knowledge or the habits or the access to getting what we need for optimal health. For example, sure, some people don't have access to good food or they wouldn't know what to do to heal something. So I don't mean that every person is to blame if they don't have optimal health, but it exists on the planet somewhere. A lot of the resources for optimal health. Okay. So the only limitation before the awareness of epigenetics is people would think, oh, I have this problem because of my genes. So it seems like you're stuck with it. So it's not very empowering. So after they finished the human genome project, they realized that there's all these genes, all these combination of genes. There really wasn't a lot they could do with just the genetic information. And they realized there's this whole layer called epigenetics, which is really what switches the genes off and on. So, yes, we have the genes that we have. They're not going to change the DNA itself, but it can be affected. You know, it can be turned on or off, like to prevent or, you know, to actually express a certain disease or condition. For example, a lot of the elements that have been shown to switch off cancer genesis exist in fruits and vegetables. Also the area of mindful meditation, qigong, that sort of thing has been shown to switch off certain disease causing genes. And then correspondingly, the drug companies are spending a lot of their money trying to develop drugs to turn off and on these genes. So what I love is that like it's more of a case for being mindful, being meditative, being forgiving, eating more plants, more good foods, and knowing that by doing that you can prevent, you know, serious illnesses, cardiac illness like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, that kind of thing. So women during pregnancy can help to give their baby healthy genetic expression by eating as healthy as possible during pregnancy, especially emphasizing fruits and vegetables and watching the stress response. So we know there's no downside to that. It's safe for most people to have fruits and vegetables and meditate. Right. So there's a lot of research in that area and it is a big area that's really fascinating. And we're going to see more and more coming out because more research keeps showing how our attitude and our food can switch off and on the genes.

It's so fascinating. And like you said, it's so empowering as a pregnant woman to be able to realize that what you do day to day, moment to moment with your emotions and your food and your lifestyle and your environment that actually is creating and potentially shifting and changing the genes of your child and yourself. That is miraculous that we have that ability.

It's so empowering. And I mean, as a practitioner, I really love to empower patients. So I love to say, let's say a patient's struggling with weight and they're not eating so great. And I know they have diabetes in their family history and their blood sugar is starting to rise a little. I say, okay, you have the genes most likely for diabetes. However, they don't need to express and turn into this. However, there needs to be some changes made, possibly rather quickly. But when they kind of hear that, oh, I don't have to have that disease just because I have the genes, oh, I can do something. And it's at the genetic level, it seems even more scientific and empowering than just generic eat better kind of advice. Right?

So interesting. I love it. And this is like a new kind of science that's been just coming out, right?

Yeah. This happened a few years ago. PBS had a special that any of the listeners could Google and watch. It was so interesting called the Ghost in the Genes. That was a really good one. And that explains the basics. It's a really great way to understand. Yeah, it's not been really, it's been rapidly increasing. I actually get Google Alerts. On my Google Alerts, I have epigenetics and every day I get a few articles on it. And a lot of it's like pharmaceutical companies exploring it as well as seeing the different foods and stress response modifications that help. So it's new, but it's very rapidly increasing in interest because of our healthcare needs. Right.

There's so much and I think it's so great too to move from the victim to, oh, I have the genes. And I'm just like, I have these diseases and it runs in my family rather to. For me it's like a call the self responsibility of having that responsibility of like, wow, my destiny is in my hands in many ways if I do these things.

Exactly. Yeah. That's why I really am drawn to it because all of Chinese medicine is all about empowerment and lifestyle choices and creating health. So to me, the epigenetics adds this wonderful 21st century layer. Like any excuse you have, I have an answer for you. So you can't say, oh, I have the genes. I'm like, sorry, I'm not going to go for that. I whip out my epigenetics research.

That's so great. That's awesome. So I'm just curious on the health and just kind of the lifestyle, is there any specific recommendations that you recommend women do during pregnancy? Whether it's nutrition or supplements or things that you think that women really need to thrive during pregnancy?

Right. I think first of all, being pregnant is one of the most vulnerable feelings a woman can have because before becoming pregnant, you know, she was like anyone else in the workplace. You can come and go as you please. Your body's your own. Right. And so it's the first time she's feeling like she's maybe not as able to do everything that she could physically. Although of course most things you can do. So I think it's important to just make sure she feels supported by her partner or her loved ones and express if she has different needs that she might not have had before she was pregnant. I think that is one of the most important is the emotional support when we talk about needs and be gentle with herself, you know. And then when it comes to some of the practical, like of course, eating well, we talked about, I don't recommend a lot of supplements. I'm pretty conservative unless there's special needs during the pregnancy. But of course a good prenatal and a good probiotic I think is really good. Often digestive enzymes could be recommended. And omega 3 fatty acids, that would be like the main good foundations that would complement a really healthy diet. You know, a lot of herbs are not really necessary during pregnancy, and some of them could be considered unsafe. So I wouldn't recommend any woman taking herbs on her own unless she was, you know, with a licensed naturopath or a doctor of Chinese medicine or someone who really is authorized to deal with herbs during pregnancy, other than culinary herbs that naturally occur in food, which are very healing. Also, like prenatal yoga is wonderful. Tai chi, qigong, you don't really need to do a lot during pregnancy just to really support the natural process. And just the few basic nutrients I mentioned are usually adequate.

Fantastic. So one more question. What do you think that our children need from us the most? How do we best support them to create healthy lifestyles for themselves?

I think our children need from us the most our presence because they model what we are. So if we're present with them and we're modeling healthy lifestyle, they pick up on that and they have a sense of comfort and security. If we're feeding them organic foods and sending them to yoga class, but we're not present and we're not there for them, that might not necessarily create a healthy child. So, number one, a child knows when you're there for them. There's nothing that can replace that. It doesn't mean just physically there, but knowing that you have their back. Of course, we always have our children's back, but you know what I mean. When you're talking to your child, please do not be on the BlackBerry at the same time. I know it sounds silly, but it happens. And to really listen to, like, the little things that have happened throughout the day that, you know, I know parents do this. I mean, I'm not telling parents to do things that I'm sure they're already doing, but just to maybe be very mindful, because it's easy for us as adults to be distracted and overwhelmed with our responsibilities. So to really check in with ourselves as parents, whether and if we find we're not that present with ourselves, than to do some mindful meditation or qigong or tai chi, or take a class or bring our children to the class with us just for that presence, because they really pick up on if an adult is in fight or flight a lot. When I see patients who tend towards anxiety and we take a health history of their family environment, they often have vivid memories of growing up in what they describe as a stressful environment. Their parents, they describe their parents were always and Fight or flight and that kind of thing. So that is like, number one. And then after that, sure, you know, clean diet, expose your child to a variety of foods. Kids are just, you know, naturally sometimes picky. So the more you just expose them to a variety of foods and don't give in every single time they want chicken nuggets, you know, then they'll be exposed to fruits and vegetables. You can blend them and sneak them in different recipes. So you want to have them develop, like, a palate for a variety of fresh, healthy foods. And, you know, maybe just schedule or really be aware of the electronic stimulation. Make sure there's a balance between them reading or doing yoga or climbing a tree. Just to kind of be mindful of the balance, I think is key. So again, if the parent is mindful and has maybe a mindful practice, then things might not get out of control from, you know, like, feeling overwhelmed or stressed. And the decisions and the choices can be made in more of a preventative kind of way rather than waiting until, you know, there are problems down the road.

Right. I love that. I love present as number one. That's amazing, because we can get so wrapped up in doing all the right things. And.

And I want to kind of also just complement that with as much as I say presence to not try to be the perfect parent, because you'll be the perfect parent if you're present with your kids and they know they're loved. You know, we're all going to make mistakes, and most mistakes are fixable as long as the child feels like you're present with them and they're loved. So that is important to not be like, we have so many books and so many tools and tips and ways of parenting, which is great to take it in, but it's also important to be able to, like, follow that mother's intuition. And that comes from being present with yourself and trusting and trusting in that wonderful process of life and enjoy parenting and to not, you know, worry or be guilty too much if, you know, you're not living up to these expectations that maybe have been set at an artificial level. Right.

And like you said, our children pick up when we're kind of in fight or flight. So if we're stressing ourselves out about being the perfect parent, our child is picking up on that and we're not actually being helpful for them.

Right. Absolutely. I've seen that pattern time and time again with a lot of families that I've been honored to treat.

So cool.

Love it, love it, love it.

Well, thank you so Much for your wisdom. Can you share where people can find out more about you, read your blog, connect with you, work with you?

Sure. Our website is SantaMonicaWellness.com that's our clinic. And on the Huffington Post, I have a blog. So you can just go on the Huffington Post and put in Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald and you'll see the articles I've been posting on there for several years. And we have a blog on our website as well. Also. I actually really, as much as I'm not that into electronics, actually, I like Twitter. Because what I like about Twitter is when I come across, I love educating people, patients, sharing information. So I come across a good article. I say, gosh, can we xerox this and give it to the patients? I like to share things. Or if I'm in Whole Foods and I come across this new product, I go, wow, I'd love to tell the patients about this. So I now tweet it. So I don't tweet. I just tweet when things come up that I find interesting. But I think that is a good resource if someone wants to follow and just get information on things that come up that I think are interesting to share.

Nice. And your Twitter is just search for your name.

Well, it's drpatriciafitz, but you could also search the name on Twitter. And also on our website, we have our Facebook and Twitter logo, which allegiance to there.

Awesome. Fantastic. Well, thank you. Thanks for sharing all of your goodness with us and inspiring us and inspiring us to slow down and connect and trust ourselves.

Well, thank you, Alexandra. This is so much fun sharing this with you and hearing your insights, and it was just wonderful.

Beautiful. Well, thank you. Thank you.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Mama Goddess. Sending you lots of love and blessings. If you'd like to connect more, go to mamagoddess.com until next time. Keep rocking it and have an awesome day.