Kimberly Spencer (00:00:00) - Hello. Hello, my fellow sovereigns, and welcome back to the Crown Yourself podcast. I am so honored to be here with you today because this week we are diving into all things mental health, and physiological health because a part of claiming your sovereignty is claiming your own power. Within your physical body. We are all blessed with these. What some of my mentors call a meat sack, a soul, and a meat sack. And we have an intricate layer of feedback from our bodies to our brains and vice versa. That is this beautiful dance that I have done the dance for years since I healed myself from ten years of bulimia. And in that experience of that process, I realized how intertwined mental health is with physiological health. That's why I couldn't have thought of a better guest to bring to you than Dr. Isabel Hunsicker. Dr. Isabel Hunsaker is a classically trained doctor, so, yes, she went to medical school. She was trained in allopathic medicine and all the sort of prescriptive medical practices that we know in hospitals and with our doctors here in the US today and basically all around the West.
Kimberly Spencer (00:01:21) - She is also a functional medicine doctor and her story is super powerful as far as her own experience with her own mental health and what she discovered along the way as far as taking care of her physiological health from an integrative functional medicine perspective. She is the host with her amazing husband of the MD and Chef team show. Her husband is an expert chef and they combine a beautiful mishmash of healthy eating from her chef husband and the actual somatic physiological mental health practices for an integrative medical meshing for this beautiful dance between mental and physical health, which I hope for you that you are able to listen to this podcast and you glean some beautiful insight into some possibilities for your own empowerment of your health, for the empowerment of your health. Now, I also want to put on a trigger warning on this podcast that in this podcast we will be discussing the concept of suicide and the actual experience of that from Dr. Isabel's perspective. And that I know is a challenging topic. And for me, one of the things that I love about Dr. Isabel is that she brings such honesty and authenticity to the experience of what just a few simple shifts in her practices led her down a path that was very, very challenging and that really, truly, deeply impacted her mental health and the transformation that happened because of that, the transformation into becoming a functional medicine doctor into finding new solutions and finding an integrative approach to her own health.
Kimberly Spencer (00:03:26) - And with that, I give you Dr. Isabel Hunsicker. While we make every effort to bring you the best and correct information, we are all still learning and I am simply presenting my views. I am not a licensed medical professional and even for my guests who are licensed medical professionals, this podcast is purely for general informational, educational, and entertainment purposes. The use of any of this information on this podcast or materials linked in this podcast is at your own risk and you take full ownership of your results. This podcast is not intended as a substitute for professional medical treatment and or diagnosis. Always consult with a doctor for any medical issues you may be having. Welcome to the Crown Yourself podcast, where together we build your empire and transform your subconscious stories about what's possible for your business, body, and life. I'm your host, Kimberly Spencer, founder of Crown Yourself and I'm a master mindset coach, bestselling author, and TEDx speaker, known to my clients as a game changer. Each week you get the conscious leadership strategies you need to help you reign with courage, clarity, and confidence so that you too can make the income and impact you deserve.
Kimberly Spencer (00:04:53) - Imagine this podcast as your royal invitation to step into your full potential and reign in your divine purpose. Your sovereignty starts here and your reign is now. Hello, my fellow sovereigns. I am so honored to be here with you, with Dr. Isabel. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me.
Dr. Isabel (00:05:16) - All the way up, up, up to California.
Kimberly Spencer (00:05:20) - Up to California. Doctor Isabel. Visiting us from the land of the Kiwis, the New Zealanders. But if you can tell by her accent she is not as a New Zealand, just as I was not an Australian.
Dr. Isabel (00:05:33) - Yeah, no. I left in 2000 for America and Colorado. It was just time for a change. Do you know I hit 40 and I was like, I'm not happy with my life. I have to change it.
Kimberly Spencer (00:05:45) - So what is it that drove you into medicine and into doing what you're doing now?
Dr. Isabel (00:05:51) - Well, it all started with that game operation. Remember, I was five years old and my mom got me the game of operation.
Dr. Isabel (00:06:02) - And I loved operation And my my uncle Dolly, because I'm Cuban, was an anesthesiologist. And when he would come into the room, he would just light it up. You know, those types of people, like when they come into the room, you're like, Wow, I want what you got because I love that energy. And so I said to my mom, my mom said that I said this, that I'm going to be a doctor just like my giolito. And then, you know, you just begin that journey. And I had a whole bunch of, you know, self-sabotaging stories that you had to overcome. Like I was not smart enough. So let me see. I had to do Chemistry 101 and premed three times. You know, I would always withdraw just before it was the finals because I knew I was going to fail. So I just had to really work on being bold and courageous and saying I'm going to do whatever I got to do to become a medical doctor.
Kimberly Spencer (00:07:00) - And so now how has your practice shifted over the years?
Dr. Isabel (00:07:04) - Well, in 2000 I had I'm a family practice doctor and trained in America.
Dr. Isabel (00:07:10) - And in 2000, I just remember telling my husband over a winter night, babe, I am really unhappy practicing medicine in America. You know, we don't have a health care system. We've got disease management. And that's hard, you know, to go, my gosh, what I'm doing isn't working. And then he said, well, what do you want to do? And I go, Let's go somewhere else in the world, you know, where they've got different medicine. And at the time we used to keep we used to ski with the Kiwis in Colorado, and I remember skiing with the Kiwis and they would go, take us through the powder and stuff and go, Where are you guys from? Because I love your accent. And they said, We're from New Zealand. I go, Where is that? And they said, Down under. And so I said, one day, this is what happens when you start verbalizing things out of your mouth. One day I'm going to move there.
Dr. Isabel (00:08:07) - Holy moly. Five years later, in 2000, we moved to New Zealand I'm 40, my husband's 42 and we've got two kids and we just started our new life here in New Zealand. So I want to encourage the listeners that you can change your life at any time. It's just got to be a decision you make.
Kimberly Spencer (00:08:27) - Yeah, I think one of the things that I, I am hearing from this is like just your level of decisiveness, speaking what you wanted into reality, seeing a problem with the system that you were in, and then choosing a different system. And so now you work with your husband who is a chef in really starting solutions for healing rather than just disease management.
Dr. Isabel (00:08:51) - Yes, exactly. Well, it's so funny because once we moved here to New Zealand in 2000, um, I got exposed to functional medicine. Are you familiar with functional medicine? Well, I love functional medicine. It's like that's the real medicine where you get to the root cause of taking care of things.
Dr. Isabel (00:09:11) - And it took a while. I had to learn all this stuff because it's a totally different way of learning medicine. It's like you have to go back to medical school and get retrained. And so a lot of doctors. Just don't do that. So I got retrained while I was still practicing mainstream medicine, and in 2013 I was moved to stop private practice and and start reaching more people. And so we started Doctor on a mission to help prevent and reverse disease and give people hope. And now my husband's come on board because he's a trained chef. He was trained at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. So he was trained by the European chefs. And he was like, Babe, I'm going to help you because people don't know how to eat. They don't even know how to cook. And I was like, yes. So now we're just working together through telemedicine and just helping people. And we do one-on-one consultations and just work with people.
Kimberly Spencer (00:10:12) - What is the greatest disease that you're seeing coming up now, now that we are exiting from the pandemic, What are the commonalities of issues that you're seeing and the origins of the issues that you're seeing?
Dr. Isabel (00:10:25) - Anxiety and depression are? The number one that I'm that we're seeing right now.
Dr. Isabel (00:10:30) - And there's so much that we can do to help people, you know, if that mainstream medicine has no they just don't have a clue on how to take care of that, which is really sad. I'll just share a little bit about my story as to why we've become so passionate about this. So in 2013, I was 53 and we were like excited to start a doctor on a mission. I'm a mother, a wife, a medical doctor, and now a brand-new entrepreneur. And I'm like, okay, well, I didn't learn how to do this. Just like you didn't learn how to do this online. You're kind of like, okay, how do I do this? How? And you're doing you.
Kimberly Spencer (00:11:10) - Are you stumbling and fumbling your way, throwing spaghetti at a wall? You're doing the best you can figuring it out.
Dr. Isabel (00:11:17) - That's funny. Brendon Burchard said to throw spaghetti on the wall and see if it sticks and nothing was sticking. But anyway, a year later, I just became really anxious.
Dr. Isabel (00:11:28) - And when I became anxious when I become anxious, I don't sleep. And so what happened was I ended up only sleeping 2 to 3 hours every night for 17 nights straight. Oh, I know. And by the end of that, 17 nights, I look, I tried to take my life twice. In those three days. Yes, it was messy and ugly and painful. But by the grace of God, that plan was stopped. And like now, fast forward. I see why that was stopped. You know, like, I see the goodness from that. But just at that point, I was like, Holy moly, I need help. And my husband took me to the doctor and the doctor said, You're suicidal. You got to see the psychiatrist. I just want to let you know, Kimberly, from medical doctors, to seeing a psychiatrist is a big deal because, yeah, this isn't supposed to happen to us. We're supposed to be.
Kimberly Spencer (00:12:26) - And I mean, given the fact that you know, through medical school, they are you're so deprived of sleep like it's a back almost used as a badge of honor going through that process.
Kimberly Spencer (00:12:37) - And it's sleep is really not provided. And I remember reading, oh, that book eludes me at this moment, Tony being a.
Dr. Isabel (00:12:46) - Doctor.
Kimberly Spencer (00:12:47) - No, it was it was based on a study that showed nightshift workers. Oh, yeah. That showed the study of just the amount of productivity that that just decreased substantially and the amount of workplace issues, injuries, and mental health issues that arise from just the lack of sleep. And it really is it is a problem.
Dr. Isabel (00:13:09) - It is a huge problem and it is a badge of honor. I mean, you're grown up in the medical system to be like, I only silently needed 45 minutes of sleep and I'm still doing my 36-hour shift. I mean, I hope and pray that that whole system is changing because it's not very helpful for the doctor, but also for the patient.
Kimberly Spencer (00:13:31) - Yeah, I personally would really prefer to have a well-rested doctor because my father went through a very similar experience to you. That is not only I admire your transparency for sharing about your suicidal inclinations and what, you know, how that plan was foiled.
Kimberly Spencer (00:13:50) - But you're you're absolutely right. That's something that people I'm sure you've experienced judgment from that story as far as like you're not you're supposed to be invincible.
Dr. Isabel (00:14:01) - Like, oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And, and during that, that whole 17 nights, you know, I was listening, you know, we have two voices, the cheerleader and the critic. Well, the inner, the critic one, you know, and I was listening to the inner critic like, this is not going to work. A doctor on a mission is not going to work. You're not going to help people. You know, this just will not work. So stop it right now. And I was like totally invested spiritually, and emotionally into doing this because I want to help people not be sick because it's so much preventable. You know, it.
Kimberly Spencer (00:14:36) - Sounds very much like Napoleon Hill's outwitting the devil. Yeah, I love that experience of producing, which is if you haven't read that book for the listeners, it's the book of Napoleon Hill's journey of writing, thinking, Grow Rich, and the devil of the inner critic that he had to continuously outwit to keep going on this 30-year project that he was that he was doing.
Dr. Isabel (00:14:58) - And look at how his book has changed the world. And he didn't get paid for any of that stuff. Yeah, not now. I mean, not until after the years after. And I just was overwhelmed with fear. And so, yes, I totally relate to Napoleon Hill. And so, look, here's the deal. So the psychiatrist said, Isabel, look, get on medicine. And I totally surrendered. Look, Kim, I wanted to get better and I wanted to continue being a doctor. I would do whatever the doctor told me to do. And so I just said, yep, I'll take the medicine. But here's here's the. And it really helped me, and I'm so glad this happened. He said, Isabel, you're going to need to be on this medicine for the rest of your life. And I just was like, Sure, sure, whatever you said. But inside I was like, Hm. We'll see about that, buddy.
Kimberly Spencer (00:15:55) - I know you and I have an affinity for proving doctors' limiting beliefs wrong.
Dr. Isabel (00:16:01) - And look. So my husband and I went on a journey, a five-year journey of figuring this out. Because you know what? I was that kind of a doctor. I was the kind of doctor that said, Take this medicine for the rest of your life. It's going to help you because that's what I was trained to believe till I had this journey put in front of me and was like, I'm going to figure this out. And so that five-year journey helped me figure out what is going on and how we can help change mental health. You know, like I'm on a mission with my husband to change mental health and the medical system to help people understand it's about brain health. It's it's bigger than that pill. And so now I'm off the medications safely. I underline safely. I never encourage anybody to just go, I'm off this medicine after listening to Dr. Isabel. No, no, no, not on my shift, you know, And I'm calm and I've got that.
Dr. Isabel (00:17:00) - I listen to the inner cheerleader. Like I turn up the volume of the inner cheerleader and I take away the microphone from that critic because it is the devil. It really is the devil. And look, I'm a Christian. There is a devil. And you know what? The devil doesn't want you to think that there's a devil, but there is a devil. So whoever doesn't doesn't believe in that. That's fine. Think of it as the inner critic. But I just say the inner critic so that we all are on the same page.
Kimberly Spencer (00:17:28) - Yeah, the inner critic, the devil, the ego. It's. It's all those pieces of that, that voice inside of us that wants to keep us small. And what I found through my coaching practice is when people are on that have that thing that like has their heart soul, they have that physiological response, like, this is my mission, this is what I am made for. That is when that voice will show up the loudest.
Dr. Isabel (00:17:55) - Because it doesn't want you to win.
Kimberly Spencer (00:17:57) - Yes. Also, for me, what I had to learn was that it wants to keep us safe in our smallness versus really recognizing our divinely given power to impact so many people.
Dr. Isabel (00:18:13) - Okay, here, you get this. I love that.
Kimberly Spencer (00:18:18) - It's awesome.
Dr. Isabel (00:18:21) - I just like, oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Medicine does not have a clue. Really? Still after all this stuff. So anyway, that's what my husband and I are doing. Okay, you guys, listen up. You don't have to be anxious and depressed. And so that's where we're going right now.
Kimberly Spencer (00:18:40) - So with doctors on a mission, how has it been working with your husband?
Dr. Isabel (00:18:45) - Just to clarify, it's a doctor on a mission.
Kimberly Spencer (00:18:48) - Oh, sorry, Doctor. On a mission. Yeah.
Dr. Isabel (00:18:49) - I love it. I love it Now. He's always been the back end, you know, with it, because I'm just. I'm just the face, you know? But he's the back end, so he's learned how to be the IT person.
Dr. Isabel (00:19:02) - He's a maximizer. And now that he's come forward to being the chef, you know, and doing all these crazy reals and being fun and teaching, you know, doing edutainment and just being beautiful as a beautiful chef. We're gluten-free, dairy-free sugar-free, and just teaching people that they love it because he makes it fun and delicious. And that's the way food should be. Fun and delicious and beautiful, too.
Kimberly Spencer (00:19:29) - Yeah. So how has being gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free really impacted your mental health?
Dr. Isabel (00:19:36) - It's decreased inflammation by 100%. One of the other things that my husband and I have been trained in is by Dr. Dale Bredesen, who wrote the book The End of Alzheimer's. Have you ever read that book?
Kimberly Spencer (00:19:46) - No, I haven't.
Dr. Isabel (00:19:47) - Oh, well, he shows that inflammation is one of the biggest causes of Alzheimer's. And being dairy and gluten-free really helps decrease. Let's see. I've got here decreases the fire. So whenever anybody says inflammation, think fire, fire, fire.
Dr. Isabel (00:20:05) - And that's what a lot of chronic disease is. That's what a lot of anxiety and depression is, is your brain is on fire.
Kimberly Spencer (00:20:14) - So how do we tone down? Like, what are some practical tips aside from maybe going gluten-free, dairy-free, or sugar-free? Decreasing those the stimulants that are just in everything? I mean, my goodness, I came back to America and tried to find hummus that didn't have soy or canola oil in it. And it was a challenge at the store. So now my husband's making it on his own. But like, what are some other tips to decrease? Because I know many of my listeners have struggled with variations of anxiety, and depression, whether it was clinical or, you know, diagnosed or just their own, you know, uncertainties and anxieties about life in the day-to-day.
Dr. Isabel (00:20:57) - The first thing is knowing that you can be in control of this. It does not have to be in control of you. I think that was the hugest thing.
Dr. Isabel (00:21:06) - Number one. And number two is realizing that it's a lot of things that cause anxiety and depression. It's not just nutrition. It can also be exercise and sleep. Your relationships. It can be toxins, it can be adverse childhood experiences. I mean, you and I both have had to, like, rewire our brains and say, no, that is not my story. This is my story. And, um, yeah, so there's just a lot of other things. And then head trauma, the importance of hormones. Okay, so hormones, the reason I specified my age is because I was 54 when I tried to take my life. I was menopausal. Medicine does not take that into account. Medicine looks at a woman who's anxious and depressed and gives them an anti-anxiety medication or sometimes an antipsychotic medication. Instead of checking their hormones and putting them on body identical hormones. Well, you know what? I learned how to do that through the Institute of Functional Medicine and learned hormones have changed my life and other women's lives in their 40s and 50s and 60s.
Dr. Isabel (00:22:29) - And I was like, oh, my gosh, people need to know about this, especially women, because there's so much to talk about. But the point is that. Two-thirds of people with Alzheimer's are women, and anxiety and depression increase our risk of Alzheimer's as women Twice. Two times. That's not being talked about. We're just handing out anti-anxiety medication. And so just like I want women, especially women, because I'm you know, my lane is women because I get women and so does my husband, because we got two daughters and all of our animals have been girls. So my husband totally gets women. We're just like on this lane to help women understand you're in control. You just need a little bit of course, correction, and somebody to help you guide you so that you can live clearly and happily, happily until your last breath here on Earth.
Kimberly Spencer (00:23:28) - Yeah. And just recognizing, I think your story is such validation and permission and a testimony to brain chemistry and how having suicidal ideations and obviously I'm not a mental health expert, but having those experiences sometimes as a result of biochemistry.
Kimberly Spencer (00:23:47) - It was your biochemistry. Yes, that was that was the that was really the problem which was causing this lack of sleep, which. So it was a ripple effect versus and you were able to look as a functional medicine doctor to look at the root cause of what that is rather than like let's treat all these symptoms of maybe the lack of sleep or maybe the depression or maybe the anxiety and instead really treat that root cause of of the hormonal imbalance.
Dr. Isabel (00:24:12) - And all the other things and.
Kimberly Spencer (00:24:14) - All the other pieces of it, you.
Dr. Isabel (00:24:15) - Know, and your zinc level, your vitamin D levels, your thyroid. I mean, it was your ace. It was just a bigger picture. And look, I want to say, Kimberly, that was well, that was a good compact of what I just had experienced. I just wanted to say it wasn't I wasn't anxious and depressed and suicidal because I had a Prozac deficiency. I had deficiencies in a lot of different areas that just needed to be lifted and cared for.
Dr. Isabel (00:24:43) - And now I know how to take care of it. And so can other women. And so can the. Because you see, if we heal the women in women heal their families, women so powerful, heal the families. So let's heal the women because they infect everybody else. When the women benefit, everybody else benefits.
Kimberly Spencer (00:25:06) - And oh, I would have benefited from you as a doctor when I was 16 struggling with all my hormones and that we're all a result of hormonal deficiency, bulimia, the Pmdd and all the cycles of all that experience. And also my diet was piss poor back then. It was riddled with sugar and toxins and things that I just would not even think of consuming these days. But then, the power of looking at us as holistic beings. And I think that your story is such a testimony to really how holistic we are. Like we're not just a one-size-fits-all solution. If you were to revolutionize the world of medicine, which you are, what you are doing, what is the process that you would want that revolution to go through?
Dr. Isabel (00:26:01) - Okay, First, nutrition food.
Dr. Isabel (00:26:05) - Just like Dr. Mark Hyman, my mentor in functional medicine, says food is medicine. And an add-on to that, which is my husband, Chef Michael. Or food is your poison. Yeah, please. Let's get I mean, if there's a devil, he would have schools, which I know there is. He would have schools feeding kids sugar all day long. So the teachers have to deal with kids that are ADHD because their blood sugars are going up and down. So the kids would have, you know, porridge with orange juice and sugar or toast for breakfast, you know. And so just let's get the nutrition under control. I'm telling you, get the nutrition under control and it will help so much. But there's so much junk food, I cannot tell you. How much money goes into promoting and advertising this terrible food? They should go to jail. They should be paying for people's health care. It blows me away. Do you know what I mean?
Kimberly Spencer (00:27:14) - Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (00:27:16) - Like, yeah. The fact that There is a very large fast food chain in the children's hospital, Los Angeles just.
Dr. Isabel (00:27:24) - Might be getting taxed.
Kimberly Spencer (00:27:25) - That is. That is. That is. That is a serious issue for me.
Dr. Isabel (00:27:29) - Oh, me too. And it's here, here in New Zealand too. They should be getting taxed heavily to pay for the damage that they're causing. Yes, yes, yes. Everybody has a choice. But you know what? Sugar is very addictive. If you put. Who was it? Dr. Lustig? I love Dr. Lustig. He's a pediatrician in San Francisco. He is like breaking all the rules in medicine and just saying, you know what? We got it wrong and we got to change things. I love the boldness and courageousness of doctors like that and people like you. But he said he did a study and you put a rat in a cage and one is a cocaine lover and the other is a sugar level. Guess what? The rat will press the sugar level eight times more than the cocaine.
Kimberly Spencer (00:28:19) - Oh, my gosh. Oh, my goodness.
Dr. Isabel (00:28:22) - So you know what? The food industry has us addicted. You know, yes, we're in control. But you know what? It's also chemicals in your brain. Your brain rules you if you don't get it under control.
Kimberly Spencer (00:28:36) - Yeah. Yeah. And what we put in our body once we become addicted to foods, foods, and sugar, it's like if you don't know and if it's widely accepted that, oh, that's just fine. Oh, that's just how it is. Like, I'm not the biggest fan of the mom wine culture. Like I do love my glasses of wine. Me too. But the whole like, I need this to suffice and go through my day as this is like the cultural norm that we should accept that we need to be drinking day drinking throughout the day to be able to be with our children. I'm like, I disagree with that model of the world. And the same.
Dr. Isabel (00:29:14) - Way you get a clap for that one.
Kimberly Spencer (00:29:19) - And the same with sugar if you don't. But if it's a societally widely accepted thing that, oh, when you go to a restaurant, you have a Coke and then you don't realize how much you're putting into your body and that it could be detrimental, especially with the myth of the Diet Coke or the diet soda.
Dr. Isabel (00:29:39) - The diet drinks make you fat. It's just wrong. It's just wrong and it gives you arthritis. So don't do that. Anybody who's listening.
Kimberly Spencer (00:29:48) - Oh yeah, haven't drank a soda in years. But my family, my aunt just died of breast cancer and it was the fastest metastasizing breast cancer that the doctors had ever seen. She drank at least 2 to 5 cans of Diet Coke every single day for the past 15 years.
Dr. Isabel (00:30:03) - I'm sorry.
Kimberly Spencer (00:30:04) - So, I mean, I've seen it destroy, like, not saying that it's coke. It's. There are other obvious factors, but like, holistic looking at the holistic picture, I love that you'd start your revolution with nutrition. So what would be next in your step-by-step system to revolutionize the medical system?
Dr. Isabel (00:30:22) - Hormones.
Dr. Isabel (00:30:22) - Hormones in everybody. And you know, when I'm talking hormones, I'm talking about your vitamin D level because vitamin D is a hormone, you know? So I know, like didn't know that.
Kimberly Spencer (00:30:35) - Oh, well, what if it's not a vitamin?
Dr. Isabel (00:30:37) - It's a hormone. But anyway, it's another misnomer. I'd change that to, I would say hormone D. And then we also would check estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, pregnant, alone, thyroid, mean insulin levels, like what is your fasting insulin? Those would-be hormones are the next big chunk. And do you want to know what my third one would be?
Kimberly Spencer (00:31:08) - Yes. Yes.
Dr. Isabel (00:31:10) - Brain control, letting people know they're in control of their brain health, giving people the power and the understanding that they're the doctor. I'm just their second opinion. They're the doctors inside of them and they need to doctor themselves. And I'm just their doctor on the outside saying, okay, just do a little bit of this and try this. And exercise is the fourth.
Dr. Isabel (00:31:35) - Next is relationships. Next is adverse childhood experiences. Mean look. Your future, your present, and your future don't have time for what happened in the past. Like learn from it, but then let it go.
Kimberly Spencer (00:31:53) - Amen.
Dr. Isabel (00:31:55) - Amen.
Kimberly Spencer (00:31:56) - Amen. And it's it can sound trite of like, oh, let go of these things. And it's especially if you're so used to holding on to that bag like I always sometimes with my clients who have had severe childhood trauma, I have them make a fist and like really hold it tight and we hold it to hold it tight and we hold it tight for the 30s to a minute. And then finally I say, open your hand as fast as you can. And they open and they're like, Ah, it's the fingers are just aching because they've lost all blood flow. And that's exactly what it feels like when you drop a suitcase that you've been holding on to clutching when you drop your baggage. It's it's that initial like, oh my gosh, this is like it feels so painful.
Kimberly Spencer (00:32:39) - It feels liberating after the first minute. But first, you have to get blood flow back to the hand. And that's that's the like the ability to to let go, to forgive. Like having that be a daily practice along with your exercise, nutrition, and making sure that you go to a functional medicine doctor. I'm such an advocate of functional medicine doctors who really understand the body as a holistic picture.
Dr. Isabel (00:33:10) - And we're not covered by I mean here in New Zealand, Australia, we're not covered by insurance. So people have to invest in themselves and realize, you know, what kind of a life do you want to have? It's up to you. And unfortunately, people kind of hit rock bottom before they start saying, I got to do something. So I encourage people to prevent that. Don't fall off the cliff.
Kimberly Spencer (00:33:31) - Yeah, do it and do it before, not after. Because before, like when you had that rock bottom moment that can trigger that. So, so often what I've seen is that that does trigger that like reactionary almost trauma cycle again versus being proactive, being the visionary, leaning into how good can you actually stand and how good can your body actually feel? How good can you feel in this palace that we have for our homes?
Dr. Isabel (00:34:01) - And what can you do because you feel so good? You know, how can you show up in your business, your family, your life for yourself, for your friends? You know, life's not about drinking wine all day long or drugging yourself.
Dr. Isabel (00:34:17) - Oh, and I don't want to. I don't want people to think that I'm trivializing adverse childhood experiences because, you know, I had to deal my I had to work with my own junk. I had an alcoholic father who had and just briefly, I remember now from the work that I did, I learned how to be afraid. Like where did I learn how to be afraid, you know? Well, it was when Dad brought home a shotgun and showed us it was loaded. And in the in the in the closet. He was very abusive. He was an alcoholic, abusive alcoholic, and psychologically. And he said, well, I was like, ah, you're gross. I don't like you. And I loved my father, but I didn't like his alcoholism, which was covering up his anxiety and depression. But anyway, I remember Dad saying one night I didn't I was I heard it through the wind, through the doors to my mom saying, if you don't, I'm going to kill the kids first in front of you.
Dr. Isabel (00:35:15) - I heard that as a nine-year-old. So now, whenever not now, but in the past. In the past, whenever I would feel fear. I would think I'm going to get killed. But there was like nobody around my dad would have been dead, you know, So you had to learn how to go this. That was my life and this is my new life. And like you, I'm so glad I went through that. And I'm so glad I went through what I went through in 2014. Really, Kimberly? It's like, holy moly. Thank you. You know that. I know what it's like now to be on the inside as a patient with mental health issues and as a doctor outside looking in on patients. So I just have so much mercy and love for people. And I'm just I'm grateful that that happened.
Kimberly Spencer (00:36:08) - I think it's it's such a strong perspective and a testament to your practice and to who you are and to your mission As far as your transparency, especially about that.
Kimberly Spencer (00:36:21) - Like that is something that so many people have so much shame around if they've ever had suicidal ideations or, you know, traumatic childhood experiences or just, you know, they've just felt off. And I hope that this interview with Dr. Isabel has given you a bit of grace, compassion, and some tools, her revolutionary system, to go find a functional medicine doctor to support you. And some of the processes of really looking at these pieces that aren't necessarily examined by traditional allopathic medicine. So, Doctor Isabel, what is I just I'm curious if you could change a child's diet and I asked this for my own personal benefit.
Dr. Isabel (00:37:03) - Yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (00:37:04) - What would an ideal child's diet look like for you if you could change the school systems and how children eat?
Dr. Isabel (00:37:11) - Sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free. Simple. It's inflammation and it's keeping the blood sugars nice and stable. We study research. Recent research has shown that dairy and gluten inflames the brain. The brain is growing in children. You know, the brain is growing in children.
Dr. Isabel (00:37:33) - Why do you have it on fire, you guys? And then you send them to the doctor and the doctor says, Oh, they've got ADHD. Then you put them on Ritalin. It's like, stop this. Stop this craziness. Yeah. I wanted to say something about medication. There is a place for medicine. Like I'm grateful that I use the medicine. Yes. I mean, it helps me get through, but it's not something that you need for the rest of your life.
Kimberly Spencer (00:38:02) - Yeah. And being able to really look at that. And obviously, this is something that talked to your doctors about, and like Dr. Isabel said, like not on her watch. Do not go off your medication. Like just because you listen to this interview, definitely work with a doctor, find a functional medicine doctor, find a doctor who will work with you, and look at what the root causes are and really be able to dive into that. And like for me, I've been gluten-free and dairy-free for the past almost a decade, Changed my life like changed my life changed my brain chemistry changed how I feel on a daily basis.
Kimberly Spencer (00:38:41) - Sugar-free. I've just gradually decreased sugar over the years and like, oh my gosh, I can't even get through half an ice cream if I share one with my son. Because that's, that's all that that's all that he's getting. Like, I personally am not the parent who likes to have cracked out children on sugar. And so I don't understand why, as a parent, you would want to give your child sugar, because I'm like, that's I don't like the result. So I'm all about cause and effect. But Dr. Isabel, it's been so great to have you on. Are you ready for a little rapid fire? Sure. All right. Who is your favorite female character in a book or a movie and why?
Dr. Isabel (00:39:19) - Well, I love Joyce Meyer. Do you know Joyce Meyer?
Kimberly Spencer (00:39:24) - I don't.
Dr. Isabel (00:39:24) - Oh, she's. She's a pastor. A Christian pastor.
Kimberly Spencer (00:39:28) - Oh, yes, I do. My. One of my clients loves her.
Dr. Isabel (00:39:30) - Yeah, I love her. She's. She has grown me up to be, you know, to turn down that inner critic.
Dr. Isabel (00:39:37) - I love her.
Kimberly Spencer (00:39:39) - Awesome. Who would you be? What woman would you trade places with? Like, live in their body. See how they think and experience their life just for a day.
Dr. Isabel (00:39:48) - Mel Robbins.
Kimberly Spencer (00:39:50) - You were the first woman to say that on this podcast and am surprised. I love Mel.
Dr. Isabel (00:39:55) - Robbins. I love her. I love her just her the way you know, she gives me encouragement to just be me when I'm in front of a camera or on Instagram Live or Facebook. You know.
Kimberly Spencer (00:40:09) - I love it all in all the places. Awesome. If you were to have your success at twice the speed, what would you have done differently?
Dr. Isabel (00:40:17) - I would have started being a functional medicine doctor. I would have. Yeah, I would have started functional medicine in 1995. But, you know, that that whole school didn't start until 2000 anyway, so. Oh.
Kimberly Spencer (00:40:30) - And what is your morning routine?
Dr. Isabel (00:40:33) - My morning routine is to before I get out of bed. I always say today is going to be the best day of my life.
Dr. Isabel (00:40:42) - Something good is going to happen to me today and something good is going to happen through me. And then I go make coffee for my husband. Organic, of course, organic coffee beans with a little MCT oil and coke and homemade coconut milk. And then we each go and do we just do our own study? We do some reading. I read the Bible and just get encouragement to press on.
Kimberly Spencer (00:41:07) - Awesome. What is your evening routine to support your morning routine?
Dr. Isabel (00:41:11) - Um, before I go to bed, turn off the Wi-Fi. Brush my teeth. Get into bed. Kiss my husband on the lips. Read something positive and just sum up the day and go, Wow, this was great. This was great. I learned from this and just say, thank you, God, for being with me and I'll see you tomorrow.
Kimberly Spencer (00:41:32) - Fabulous. And lastly, two questions. One, what do you define to be your queendom or your kingdom?
Dr. Isabel (00:41:41) - My queendom is bold and courageous. And don't let anybody stop you from doing what you're supposed to do because you know, inside of you, you just know.
Dr. Isabel (00:41:53) - You know what I mean? You just know I'm supposed to do this and I know you guys don't get it, but I see where we're going. Yep. And when we get there, you'll see it too.
Kimberly Spencer (00:42:07) - Here's to the crazy ones, as Steve Jobs said.
Dr. Isabel (00:42:11) - Oh, yeah.
Kimberly Spencer (00:42:12) - And lastly, how do you crown yourself?
Dr. Isabel (00:42:16) - Being love. Being loving instead of judgmental. I don't like that. I like being loved in this world because the world needs more love. So when I have my crown of love, then I know I'm me the way I'm supposed to be. Because then you.
Kimberly Spencer (00:42:36) - Didn't know how to crown yourself. Knew I needed you.
Dr. Isabel (00:42:40) - To pull that off and then.
Kimberly Spencer (00:42:42) - Come out of you a little bit.
Dr. Isabel (00:42:43) - Little something.
Kimberly Spencer (00:42:46) - So lastly, where can we find you? How can we work with you? How can we join you? The doctor is on a mission to revolutionize medicine.
Dr. Isabel (00:42:55) - Thank you. Well, it'll all be in the show notes. But the number one place that I invite every but all women is to join us on the shame, free anxiety, and depression Community Private Facebook group.
Dr. Isabel (00:43:07) - It's free. You get education and guidance. And then if you like what you see, there's more. We can go in deeper, but that's the first place where you get to know and and see what Chef Michael and I do to help you have a better day. A better life.
Kimberly Spencer (00:43:24) - Amazing. Doctor Isabel, thank you so much as always. My fellow sovereigns own your throne. Mind your business, because your reign is now. Thank you so much for tuning in today. If what you heard resonated with you, be sure to subscribe and start creating a bigger impact now by sharing this with a friend. Just by doing that one simple act of kindness, you are creating a royal ripple to support more people in their sovereignty. And if you're not already following me on social media, connect with me everywhere at Crown yourself now for more inspiration. I am so excited to connect with you in the next episode and in the meantime, go out there and create a body, business, and life that rules because today you crown yourself.
