Dr. Jennifer Douglass,CPM,PhD

Staying motivated to maintain a holistic and integrative approach to health care over time is done by creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of feeling better the more one does in terms of lifestyle changes. Motivation increases as people continue to feel the positive effects of their efforts, encouraging them to make even bigger changes and get their families involved.
 
Transcript: "How do you stay motivated to maintain a holistic and integrative approach to health care over time? I would say for me and for the vast majority of my clients, the way people end up staying dedicated is by how they feel. It's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy in its own feedback loop. The more you do, the better you feel. The better you feel, the more you do. So you just want to continue to do these things over and over and over again. I would say by the time most of my clients are six to nine months in, they ask what else they can do. They want to add on to their health care plan and to bite off bigger pieces and really integrate this. Sometimes then they're asking their husband to come in or their wife, their partner, their mom, their brother, anybody that they can partner with, their kids. And before you know it, I have whole families that sign up for my care because they understand that these lifestyle changes really do have an effect over a long period of time and people feel better and feeling better is a motivator."

I recommend 10 minutes of daily physical activity for my clients, such as yoga, walking, hiking, swimming, rebounding, using a yoga ball, marching in place, dancing, or anything else that gets your heart rate up and your joints moving. Doing this can help prevent stagnation in the body, which can lead to chronic illnesses or pains. People often find that they want to do more than 10 minutes once they get started and take up a regular exercise routine.
 
Transcript: "Are there any particular physical activities you recommend to your clients? Yep, daily movement. 10 minutes a day, 5 to 7 days a week. It could be a couple poses of yoga, it could be a walk, it could be hiking, it could be swimming, it could be some time on your rebounder or your yoga ball, it could be marching in place, it could be dancing, it could be anything, anything you can think of that is movement, that gets your heart rate up a little bit, gets you moving your big joints and moving your fascia and your lymph around. We are largely a sitting society and because of that we create a lot of problems in our body with stagnation. And with that stagnation can come, you know, chronic illnesses or chronic pains or discomforts that we see in a lot of people nowadays. People are amazed that when they start doing 10 minutes a day how that changes things. And just by showing up for that 10 minutes a day it encourages most people to want to do more than that and then they actually take up a normal exercise routine all on their own."

Having a support system is largely individualized and depends on the person. People who need it should make sure they have a coach, friends, family, or internet groups to provide accountability, while those who don't need it can rely solely on themselves.
 
Transcript: "Do you think having a support system is important when trying to make a change for the better? Why or why not? I think this is largely individualized. I think each person needs something different in making changes. For me, having a support system doesn't matter so much. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it. But I know a lot of people that do need a support system. They need to make sure that they have a coach in place, that they have friends and family members for accountability. They like Facebook groups or other groups on the internet. They need a lot of checking in and help around their goals and maintaining them and making sure that they're really getting good accountability throughout a day or throughout a week, depending on what the changes are. Other people are really independent and they feel really good with doing it on their own, making their own goals, sticking to them, and their accountability is to themselves. Their competition is with themselves. So they don't feel like they need a lot of people around them to keep them going. And many times those types of people feel like having more people involved actually weighs them down and makes it so they're not able to work out when they want to. They're not able to eat when they want to because they feel like they need to be on a schedule and with their accountability buddies and that kind of thing. So largely, I think it has to do with who you are. Everybody needs something different. And as long as you're honest to yourself about what you actually need, then you're actually going to be able to achieve your goals."

I would never eat dairy products because they are inflammatory and often tainted with things that are not good for our body.
 
Transcript: "I have to giggle at this one because anyone on this platform or anyone in my life or in my practice would see this. They would know the immediate answer. Given your expertise, what is the one thing you would never do? Eat dairy products. I'm not a baby cow. You're not a baby cow. And dairy products came into our lives many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many centuries ago as starvation food. And I could go on a very long rant about this, but I will keep it simple and say not eating dairy products. They are inflammatory. They are not good for our body. And most of the dairy products in the United States are tainted with something that you certainly would not want in your body or several somethings that you would not want in your body. That's my answer."

It is recommended that women should be evaluated by a pelvic health physical therapist after six weeks of delivery, however it is best to evaluate each woman individually depending on her postpartum condition.
 
Transcript: "Should a woman be referred to a pelvic health physical therapist after her six-week follow-up with her OB or midwife after a vaginal delivery or a c-section? Depending on what's going on, this is a big question. So, depending on what's going on for her postpartum would be whether or not she needs to see a pelvic floor physical therapist. The truth is it won't hurt anybody to go and be evaluated and to make sure that things are healing well and the musculature is tightening up and that mom feels good. However, some women need to see someone before that six-week visit because they're having serious problems from their pregnancy or from their delivery and they need to be evaluated sooner. Some people don't develop any issues until they start to lose some of the weight or get back to exercising or after carrying the baby around for a really long time. You see some bodily changes that when mom is at her six-month or nine-month postpartum time, she realizes that things aren't good. The way things are going back doesn't feel right and at that point we give a referral. So, it's very, very individualized. But as a general rule, I think everybody should be evaluated postpartum."

The best way to start your holistic and integrated health journey is to find a qualified professional to help you understand how everything you do affects your body. A plan can then be made to figure out what works for you, and food can be used as medicine.
 
Transcript: "What tips would you give to someone who's just starting out on their holistic and integrative health journey? First would be to get with a qualified professional that can help you understand how all the parts of your body work with all the things that you're doing in your life. Your exercise, your sleep, your hydration, your nutrition, your relationships, all of it has to do with how your body does what it does, right? If we don't sleep enough, it affects it. If we don't drink enough, it affects it. If we eat the wrong foods, it affects it. Having that initial intake visit with someone helps you to understand how everything you do has an effect, right? Food is medicine. So if we understand that, we can then make a plan. From there, we can tweak that plan, see other providers, figure out the parts that work for us in the day-to-day, fitting into our day-to-day life. But yeah, I think seeing somebody that's qualified to help you understand your body and your journey is probably the best thing that you can do starting out."