WISH Well Podcast: Women's Integrative Summit on Health & Wellness

Thanks for listening to Season 2 of the podcast! I’m so grateful to all of you listeners and to all of the amazing guests I’ve had on the show. I’m looking forward to a short break before getting ready for the next season so I hope you all stick around for more of this little podcast!

Lynn Stiff, MD, RD, MS is a dietitian-turned-physician passionate about empowering individuals to make realistic and sustainable diet and lifestyle choices that can prevent, treat and reverse chronic disease. She is a board-certified Family Medicine physician and is faculty at a local Family Medicine residency program. She recently sat for her Lifestyle Medicine board certification in November and started an Integrative Medicine Fellowship through the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. Lynn takes a holistic approach to health and believes that health is not determined by a number on the scale, but by a collection of behaviors each individual engages in. She is passionate about promoting wellness for patients and health care providers. For more information and education, check out her blog nutritionhealthlife.com, or podcast, Medicine for Life.

Dr Anne Kennard is a Board Certified OBGYN, Fellowship trained in Integrative Medicine, an herbalist, and registered yoga instructor. She also holds a BS in Nutrition Science. She is passionate about women’s health in the body, mind, and spirit.
She authored an Amazon bestselling cookbook: “Nourish: An Integrative Medicine Cookbook”, and speaks nationally on topics including women’s integrative medicine, nutrition, and physician wellness. She teaches yoga and culinary medicine for the Mindful Healthcare Collective.

Dr. Riva Rahl is a 24/7 Platinum physician for Cooper Clinic Platinum direct medicine practice. She received a double Bachelor of Arts at Rice University and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine. Dr. Rahl completed her internal medicine internship and residency, and a residency in emergency medicine, serving as Chief Resident for one year, at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Emergency Medicine and author of Physical Activity and Health Guidelines (Human Kinetics, 2010).

Find out more information at cooperaerobics.com/Cooper-Clinic/Our-Physicians/Riva-L-Rahl,-M-D.aspx

Supriya Rao, MD is a board certified physician in internal medicine, gastroenterology, and obesity medicine. She is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Duke University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and gastroenterology fellowship at Boston Medical Center. She is a managing partner of her GI practice, Integrated Gastroenterology Consultants, located in the greater Boston area. She is also director of medical weight loss at Lowell General Hospital. Her clinical interests include gut health and motility, inflammatory bowel disease, preventative health/wellness, and weight loss. You can follow her on Instagram @gutsygirlMD

Neeta Gautam, MD is a board certified Family Physician practicing in California. Her interest in prevention and caring for the whole patient (as well as herself!) led her to study the field of Ayurveda, the traditional medical science of India. She now incorporates these ancient practices in her self care and the care of her family and patients. Her goal is to empower patients to be in charge of their well being with support and knowledge while honoring the patient's goals for health.

Dr. Cybele Mathai is a Board Certified Internal Medicine MD currently working as a primary care doc at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. She is a single mom with a 13 year old son. She was born in Kerala, India and moved to the suburbs of Chicago when she was 5 and lived there through high school. Dr. Mathai attended medical school at Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, India and moved back to Chicago, where she completed her intern year. She then moved to Delaware where she completed her internal medicine residency. In 2005 after being sick of the winters, she moved to San Antonio, TX. Her interest in health and wellness started after going through a divorce in 2009 and realizing she needed to take care of herself so she could take care of her son and prevent the chronic medical problems that ran rampant in her family. She always had an interest in preventative medicine so she started talking to her patients about that, started the Couch to 5K running program and eventually ran 2 half marathons. She started working out to different Beachbody programs the first of which was Insanity and she loved it. This cemented her fitness journey. She tried a different variety of diet and nutrition plans, but what really changed her view on health and wellness was the book Deep Nutrition and discovering intermittent fasting. She took courses in Functional Medicine with IFM and loved their nutrition focused way of healing people. She started speaking to her patients about different ways they can reverse Diabetes, metabolic syndrome, gut issues and it made a difference. She is looking into getting a Lifestyle Medicine and Culinary Medicine certification so she can further her knowledge and be even better prepared to help others. Her belief is that we can live long healthy lives with a focus on nutrition, fasting, and movement by improving healthspan and not just lifespan. Follow Dr. Mathai on Instagram @functional_wellness_doc

Veronica Goebel is a native Houstonian, wife, and mom of three children. She was an elementary school teacher for 6 years before making the decision to stay home and raise her kids. The transition from working mom to stay-at-home mom was tough at first, and she was forced to take a deep look at her life, habits and relationships. During this time she was asked by a family member to run a marathon. Having never run one mile, she signed up and 6 months later ran her first 26.2. The training process changed her life and taught her the discipline she needed. Her favorite quote is, “Only the disciplined ones are free in life. If you aren’t disciplined, you are a slave to your moods. You are a slave to your passions.” -Eliud Kipchoge. These days you can find her up at 5 am, in bed by 9pm and making the most of the time in between. Follow her on Instagram @vgoebruns and look for her as a Chevron Houston Marathon race ambassador @chevronhoustonmarathon

Dr. Stacie Bass is a physician anesthesiologist in Houston, TX. She is also a mom of 3 kiddos (age 5, 7, and 9), a fitness lover, certified personal trainer, and competitive bodybuilder. Dr. Bass grew up in Houston, TX, and is a proud Texas Longhorn (c/o 2001), completing medical school and anesthesiology residency at UTMB in Galveston, TX in 2009 (where she met her husband, Michael) . They had a "short" 8 year stint in Lexington Kentucky where they had all their kids, and she spent years as a "runner" completing 10 half marathons, eventually finding her love of weightlifting/bodybuilding. Stacie nationally qualified in the bikini division in 2017 and 2018, and plans to compete in 2020 in the figure division. In 2020 she earned her NASM Certified personal training certification. In addition to her upcoming bodybuilding competitions, her goals for this year are to complete a more extensive nutrition certification to supplement the ACE Certification she earned in 2018, and to help coach others to learn their way around the weight room, balance in both nutrition and fitness, and how to stay consistent despite all the obstacles that life throws at us. Follow Dr. Stacie Bass on Instagram @drmusclemom

I struggled with moving forward with continuing to post on social media without addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. This week's episode is a short one. I just wanted to discuss my thoughts on what is going on at this very moment in our nation and in our world. This affects every single person. Please take a listen. Stay safe. Stay healthy. I will be bringing back my weekly interviews next week. #stayhome #flattenthecurve

In this episode, you will meet Dr. Heather Colmenter. Heather and I have known each other since 2007 when I was an intern and she was my upper level resident. But we didn't reconnect again until long after we both had graduated from residency and were in practice. Her word for health and wellness is acceptance, and she will describe her journey as a busy full time anesthesiologist to her diagnosis of breast cancer and how that changed her path. Dr. Colmenter is a board certified anesthesiologist, integrative medicine fellow, and pain management fellow. She is also a breast cancer survivor. Hear her story of acceptance and how she rose above all of her challenges. She credits her support system of her family and friends, her spirituality, and her self care. She co-founded the non-profit organization Hola Bloom (www.holabloom.org) whose mission is to provide breast cancer education and awareness accessible also for Spanish speakers. Heather is also helping to manifest our inaugural WISH Well conference this May in Houston, TX.

Welcome to the WISH Well podcast. Here, I will be interviewing women from all walks of life to discuss their health and wellness journey. Please subscribe, and I hope you enjoy listening!