Latest / NHA Today Podcast / Forget the Biohacks: 7 Pillars for Better Health with Dr. Asa Frey and Dra. Joanna Frey
Transcript
- Stephan Esser MD: Hello and welcome today's NHA Today podcast. Today I'm joined by Dr. Asa Fry and Dr. Joanna Greggs and Diaz, who specialize in medically supervised water fasting and long-term individualized care programs for people who suffer with chronic disease. Together they founded and now run a beautiful residential lifestyle change facility called Back to the Garden in Tropical Puerto Rico. And all of you who are viewing this should go visit at some point and see it and experience it. So Team, welcome to the podcast today. Dra. Joanna Frey: Hello. Dr. Asa Frey: Good to be here. Thank you guys. Good to be here. Good to see ya, Steven. Stephan Esser MD: And so now you run the only Latin American clinic specializing in disease prevention and reversal using lifestyle changes and supervised water fasting. You know, yet you guys came from a very different place. Tell me, has this always been your shared vision? Dra. Joanna Frey: Well, for me it has. You know, I started this journey when I was around sixteen it wasn't focused on just eating. It was in or avoiding disease. I wanted to live a life with clear mind and compassion and respect for my body. So ⁓ as was getting into college ⁓ and met my husband in college, and we learned, we started to learn about water fasting, and then we went to true north, things just concretized more. ⁓ And we realized, you know what, if Stephan Esser MD: Yeah. Dra. Joanna Frey: You know, my husband was we were in the same plane. So what we decided is like we can create a center where we can water fasting, but built it in nature under the seven pillars, which is a system that I've been developing f since I started my journey. So we built that. And I have to say it's not the only one Latin America. It's the only one in the world because we don't have a water f a clinical water fasting facility. Where it's around all those seven pillars. So the patients that come to our clinic, they might not be in sync with the seven pillars, but it happens naturally because our center is in nature. We're in a six acre farm, tropical farm, and we have set it up in a way where patients can walk to different areas to get sun some sort of endemic tree from a region. or listening to the birds or walking barefoot or doing some sort of stretching on the open air gazebo. And so it's a vision that's amplified. It's it's taken a whole wor you know, it's it's it's improved through the years and and i is it is a wonderful place. It's just a different and unique. Stephan Esser MD: Beautiful. I was gonna say you you talk about these seven pillars. So walk us through what these seven pillars are. and actually before we go further, how can people go look more about this, right? How can they find this online? Where can they r learn more about this? Dra. Joanna Frey: ⁓ they can visit our website. We have an English and a Spanish website and they can go to Back to the Garden PR like Puerto Rico.com and of the information is there. We have pictures, we have the prices, we have our the philosophy, we have blogs. So it's great. ⁓ to answer your Stephan Esser MD: Awesome. So this'll all be on the show notes. We'll make sure those are there for all of you viewing so you go right to it. So yes, the seven pillars, the foundation of the program, tell us. Dra. Joanna Frey: Yes, well, first of all, I didn't invent these pillars. I just recognize them. They're biological inputs. The human being has evolved for millions of years, long before modern medicine existed. And each one carries real clinical weight on its own. Just to mention them, the most important, the core pillar from those seven is presence. presence is where arises. And it's something that would is not spoken in this plant-based world or even in the general health world. Everything's always directed to a tangible pillar like food or movement. But presence is where we start, is where we recognize that we are not our personalities, our addictions, our dependencies, that we are bigger than that. And then from there we create a clear mind. That is not attached to what? To our poor behaviors. We can see the poor behaviors. When we can see that we don't need to be part of them. And then from there, we practice the other seven pillars. It's the most important one. That's why people fail with diets. Doing this for so many years, it's really hard for people to stick to a healthy diet. It just is. And sure you've recognized that in your practice. So it's a point the in the What it what happens is that if you don't have presence, you will always fall into your deteriorated personalities that you've lived through your life. The other one is that presence is a foundation, and then we have high, minimally, minimally processed plant diet. A lot of fiber, a lot of phytonutrient, movement, conscious movement, contact with nature, sun exposure. ⁓ Stephan Esser MD: So we've got presence as the foundation, all right. Okay, so nutrition is the second. All right, beautiful. Movement, third, okay. Contact with nature. Okay. Beautiful. Dra. Joanna Frey: sleep hygiene and having healthy relationships. It's as eloquent, logical, once start practicing it, everything falls into place. It really does. Stephan Esser MD: Beautiful. Dr. Asa Frey: ⁓ and for anybody who's read any Shelton or any, you know, hygiene books from the eighteen hundreds, nineteen hundreds, you'll notice that ⁓ they're very similar to the essentials of health that you'll read from Shelton or any of these other guys like Jennings or Graham. so or right? So that where they come from. and they're sort of just like they they meet the modern world now. And so we had to change some of them, but essentially they're they're ⁓ they come right from the principles that go right that come right out of natural hygiene. So we're we're happy to continue that ⁓ that tradition and we c we would definitely consider our practice to be to be a hygienic practice. we stick to ⁓ the principles and ⁓ people get well fast and we don't see a reason to add anything else. Stephan Esser MD: What I like is this kind of what you're wrapping everything in or creating the foundation of with this concept of presence, right? Because so many people are just going from like, I need ⁓ I need another recipe, right? But the reality is no, if you're not even aware of who you are and what you stand for, where you are and your presence in this time and this place and this, you know, all this, this greater consciousness, then it's not just one more recipe, right? It's just that's gonna fall flat after you make it the next week and then, know, off you go, back to the Chick-fil-A. Dra. Joanna Frey: Mm-hmm. Dr. Asa Frey: Mm-hmm. Dra. Joanna Frey: Exactly. Stephan Esser MD: Right. So Dra. Joanna Frey: Exactly. Dr. Asa Frey: And we've seen we've seen a profound difference in terms of the patients who go through a a virtual program with us and prepare for fasting. We usually do these three month programs that fantastic. They prepare people for fasting but also address the underlying causes of their illnesses ⁓ so they can get a lot better before they come and see us and then they get even better when they fast and so we get even more credit, you know. But once we added in this program, the presence ⁓ the practice of presence and teaching people how to do that. has become a like a catalyst, right? So not only are we giving the information guiding people, but people actually they integrate these these principles now. And that's because of the presence that we teach. Stephan Esser MD: Now, this is we all have busy lives. You are running a clinic, you are running a residential center, you have a family, the rest of the world, right? Chaotic and busy at times. What are two things that you each do to in presence every day? Dra. Joanna Frey: Well, of the ways that I've improved my practice is presence because presence sounds just like beautiful presence, right? But how do we put that in practice? One way that has helped me a lot, I've been trying meditation for many years, but the one that's really helped me profound more in my practice is ⁓ what what's called tea ceremony, which is meditation tea. And ⁓ it's more and more enjoyable and it's it makes it easier to practice something that never lacks in my everyday practice is I start my day with a meditation with T because it helps me. That's that's how you know you need to identify is the vector that's gonna help you get there. So and stretching ⁓ that those two are crucial. That morning and nighttime routine It's imperative for anybody that's looking for health. You and even in a midday routine, because you gotta get off track. You get off track with stress, with work, so you need to go back to that center. And then you if you practice that, everything else falls into place. This is what Dr. Asa was saying. When right now we have a group of patients and you can see clearly the difference of people that have done the program and haven't. Stephan Esser MD: Right. Dra. Joanna Frey: The ones that haven't are fasting, but they're anxious. They're they're still looking for the outside to heal inside. What can I do? What can I and then the ones that have done the program, we've been working with them with the tea ceremony and with other ⁓ tools, they're together. They're fasting with such wisdom that usually it takes third or your fourth fast to accomplish. I remember my first fast, I was so immature. Stephan Esser MD: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right. Right. Right, right. Dra. Joanna Frey: I was anxious. I was like, when is this gonna finish? What am I gonna do all day? Now it's different. When I go fast, I'm like, I don't want I I I enjoy not doing anything. And that's where healing occurs. you surrender to it. Surrendering. Stephan Esser MD: Right, right. That complete, I was gonna say that complete physiologic rest, right? Giving the body that chance. And so what about in the middle in the middle of a busy day? Well, and you're busy and things are chaotic, how do you right, you're seeing patience, Asa. how do you, you find that moment of presence in the midst of it? Dra. Joanna Frey: Ex and enjoying it. Dr. Asa Frey: Mm. So a really good tool that you guys can all write down and start taking notes, right, is something that we teach patients, which is called spaces, right? when we allow the momentum of thinking planning and worrying and stressing, right, that momentum builds up and then it's kind of hard to like stop that the train. And so we people is ⁓ something called spaces. And it's when you change from activity to the next activity. Let's I'll give you an example, okay? At when I get to the office, right? I park my car and I sit in the car. And I don't immediately get out of the car and run to the office and jump right into it, just in and see impatients, right? I sit in the car and I take a minute and I just sit there and breathe and do nothing, right? And be quiet. And then after that, you'll find, ⁓ the momentum has subsided, right? I'm not thinking or worrying or planning, and I'm a little bit more here. And then I, you know, go to work, right? But then, right, at lunchtime, you do the same thing. It's just a minute, right? So during the day, maybe this takes you 10 minutes total, but you've broken up the momentum. So you stop that train and the train goes back to zero. And then it builds up a little bit, and then you'll bring it back, right? Stephan Esser MD: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Okay. Right. Nice. So you're taking that moment intentionally to pause before you're going into the next storm almost to kind of be present and allow yourself to be present. Yeah. Yeah. It's a beautiful tropical star. That's hilarious. when people come and stay at your residential facility, what's the average length of stay for people? Dr. Asa Frey: Tropical storm though, so it's it's like a beautiful storm. I'd say the average length is around two weeks, maybe a little bit less. Really we have a wide variety. We have some people who come for thirty, forty days, which is, you know, not that many people. And we have a lot of people that come for ten days, maybe a week. It really depends on their case. ⁓ what's their motivation? How's their mentality? What kind of conditions are they dealing with? ⁓ what are their goals? So there's all these different factors. And before we decide how long they're gonna come come and stay, we have A discussion, right? We go over their ⁓ their history and what are you trying to get and how long can you take off work? And there's all these different factors that we have to take into consideration. But I would say more or less, yeah, 10 days, 14 days, that's a pretty decent essay, especially for a first time. when we talk about fasting, people are always looking for that like the low bar, right? Like what's the least amount of time I Stephan Esser MD: Right. Dra. Joanna Frey: Mm-hmm. Stephan Esser MD: Right. Dr. Asa Frey: And so a week typically always comes up as, ⁓ you know, I can manage that. That's kind of like a little, you know, vacation. And I would say, yes, that's great if you were a really healthy person and you don't really have like any big goals in terms of health improvement. Yeah, come for a week. That's great. That's like what we do like every year. That's what we try to do every year. but if you really want to make like a big Dra. Joanna Frey: Yeah. Stephan Esser MD: Right. Dr. Asa Frey: dent in your health. I shouldn't use that word. It's terrible. If we want to make like huge improvements, right? then try to come for longer, try to come for 10, 14 days. And then and then as sort of deepen in your fasting practice, add a days every time. See if you can, you know, not push yourself, but see if you can last a little bit longer and you'll get so these huge dramatic results come with a little bit little bit longer time at the center. Stephan Esser MD: One of things that I like, you know, when I ⁓ for you guys is that you put a lot of stuff on social media and on the internet. I've seen some fantastic interviews and videos about patients coming with autoimmune disease, with complete, you know, remission, with their obviously their blood pressure just kind of melting away. So a lot of great, beautiful results. So thank you for putting those things out there, right? So that people can see just how powerful this therapeutic intervention really is. ⁓ with that in mind, actually, Dra. Joanna Frey: Mm-hmm. Yes. Stephan Esser MD: Would you share with us, you know, kind of a client story or a patient story you had maybe not too long ago that could be, you know, inspirational to our viewers? Dr. Asa Frey: We absolutely. we do have a lot of this type of content on social media. It's not AI, these are real people, you know, and we're pretty much just interviewing them, saying, you know, tell us who you are and where you come from and what happened to you. We had a patient last group, which was in last month. Her name was Maria. Maria came for for her lupus. ⁓ she has systemic lupus. Dra. Joanna Frey: Yeah. Dr. Asa Frey: And the interesting about her is that she came to our center eight years ago, right? And she had all of these joint pain and kidney problems and problems breathing and after about twenty one days, all of that is gone. She feels fantastic and was gone like eight years and then she comes back and guess what? Like she kind of fell ⁓ Dra. Joanna Frey: Mm-hmm. Dr. Asa Frey: After a few years, yeah, you fall back. You fall back into your old habits. And sh I guess she forgot about back to the garden until like a couple months ago. And she's like, ⁓ duh, like I can just go stay at Back to the Garden and get back on the wagon and ⁓ get back to my healthy diet and my good sleep routine. And and ⁓ so that's what she did last month and it was great to see her again. and she had you know, very similar results to what she had previously. Dra. Joanna Frey: Mm-hmm. Stephan Esser MD: Beautiful. Dr. Asa Frey: ⁓ so so yeah, it was lupus and lots of auto other autoimmune conditions do very well. ⁓ we have at least at least two or three of them every month I come here. Dra. Joanna Frey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Stephan Esser MD: What I love about the message that the National Health Association to and shares and that you guys share and are passionate about is that you're not selling a product. You're not selling supplements, right? Your website's not full of all kinds of real random merchandise, right? ⁓ one day it'll be full of dried bananas, but we'll see. Yeah. But you know, it's you're providing an education for these people that they ideally can take and live out this life for decades to Dra. Joanna Frey: Mm-hmm. No, no, no. Right. Mm-hmm. Principles, yeah. We're teaching them principles. Stephan Esser MD: Yeah, yeah. And that's what you talked about. I saw on your website, right? That I've heard you say that principles in health are more than more important than chasing trends. ⁓ you know, Doctor Diaz, tell me what you mean by that. Dr. Asa Frey: Yeah. Dra. Joanna Frey: Mm-hmm. Well, trends change like what every six months. know, there's always a new diet, there's a new biohack. Tomorrow there's gonna be a new supplement. But principles don't change. The body will always need those seven pillars: the sunlight and the rest and the movement and the real food and the connection and the presence. When we chase, this is the thing. When people chase trends, they divided. We keep searching outside for what we already Have the tools to resolve inside. So we we neglect, we become ignorant of the power of our body. And that search of looking for outside, what it does is that it furthers you from your own connection. You're looking forward, outward instead of going in, going to the core and changing and fixing what's disconnected and start building. What's gonna give you a long time practice? ⁓ really interesting because we have a lot of patients that come to the clinic and they want miracles. They want just to come and fast and they can remove their whole past. And that's a patient that's lacking in principles. They don't understand that everything starts what? Building the inside, becoming clear with your clear intention, with a good practice, with practicing those pillars. That will take you what to remove that anxiety, those addictions. And the issue is that when people talk like that, I just want to go there and like I want to try to see if I can remove everything. You know something, you know that they're not ready to change. They just want something quick. And you let them come because they will get something quick. That's the fascinating thing about fasting. That will give you quick results. It will you come for five, seven, ten days they change their life. Something way they change their health, it doesn't it it's comparable maybe to when they're worth 15, 20 years old, you know, if they're ⁓ but thing is that I remind them when you leave the center, you will be the same person internally in terms of your intention and your knowledge and your fundamentals that you were before. So you're gonna go fall you're gonna fall off the wagon quickly. Stephan Esser MD: Yeah, yeah. Dra. Joanna Frey: It's you need to be realistic. So that's why we need to always go back to those principles, because they stay with us forever. Stephan Esser MD: Right. And one of the things I like that you said there was about the practice. You know, I it's it's interesting. I don't normally think of, let's say, nutrition or exercise per se as practice. And yet if I think about it in that way, it makes it so much more approachable in the sense of, yeah, I'm I'm practicing, I'm moving forward, I'm learning continually, right? About in, you know, maximizing these areas of my life. makes it a little bit more less judgmental, maybe a little less intimidating to think like, you know, that you're constantly learning on in that process. don't have to be perfect. Yeah. you know, are your offerings in both Spanish and English everything that you guys offer for Dr. Asa Frey: Yes. We are not going to force anybody to speak or listen to my Spanish or so everything we have is in Spanish and English. ⁓ the website has been recently updated and there's plenty of you know, ⁓ I think almost every page is translated into English. So if you find something that's not in English, please let me know. But ⁓ yeah, our virtual programs and during fasting, so you you know, I'm the one who's checking everybody. So if you speak English, I'm speaking English with you. Stephan Esser MD: Ha ha. Dr. Asa Frey: So you got nothing to worry about. If you're from the States or you're from Europe, ⁓ we see plenty of patients from those from those areas who who don't speak any Spanish. Stephan Esser MD: Very nice. Do you guys offer online tele like ⁓ counseling and things of that nature? Dra. Joanna Frey: No, we have the three month program. The three month program. because we used to do consults and then we're like, what is this? This is a waste of our time, is a waste of your time. Because it's hard to get well with just one or two or three consults. So we knew that our patients needed that consistent guidance. So our program, the first six weeks, we meet once a week. We you show us all your data. Stephan Esser MD: Tell us about that. Right. Dra. Joanna Frey: So you show us what how you're eating for an amount of days and your blood pressure and your blood sugar and your temperature and other pillars. And they do that sort of homework and they turn it in. And then when we prepare a plan specific for that patient, and then we meet online through a phone call just to clarify, answer questions. And we do that in six weeks consistently. So you can imagine like we're what we're doing is that we're esgrimando, which means that we're opening the body and we're looking at everything you're doing and well how you're doing it so we can say these things we need to we need to change we need to improve this we need to so we we organize in faces you know we don't do everything at once it's impossible we do it in faces so the patient and we do we give them articles we give them videos that are connected to their deficient areas so we start building the fundamentals In six weeks, we see great changes. I mean, how could you not with a patient that's compromised? then the last month is to play around. They go on their own, and then we still have contact continuously. And it's wonderful. And if you're coming to fast, we do some mimicking fasting. So we prepare them. So when they come to fast, it's not like, what is this? You know, their their body's used to it. They're sort of like more acquainted mentally, emotionally, physically. And it's wonderful. They come to the center and They have such an enjoyment of themselves. Just being there, enjoying, just getting sun. They're not searching for anything. They're just learning how to be, which is the most important thing. Stephan Esser MD: ⁓ beautiful. And so I know talking about the center, simple question here. What is your favorite fruit or vegetable that's growing or grows on the center? Each of you. Favorite fruit or vegetable? Dra. Joanna Frey: Ha ha Dr. Asa Frey: ⁓ we w we have the best pineapples. I grow the pineapples and they are awesome, right? You pick them, they they turn yellow. They're all y then you know when you go to the grocery store and all the pineapples are all green? Those are not good pineapples. You need to wait until the pineapple is yellow, yellow, and then you can pick it. And you leave it for a day or two and you smell it and it just smells so sweet. that's those are the best. Stephan Esser MD: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. ⁓ Mouth is watering. We love pineapples. All right, what about you? Dra. Joanna Frey: I have to say bananas. I'm I I love my bananas. I mean we have different we have all different types of bananas. manzanos, which is apple bananas, it's definitely my favorite. ⁓ And yeah, swollen and they're little and they're just so delicious. But we have ice cream bananas, we have diff we have like 10 different types of bananas. So we're discovering as we go in our in our finca, in our farm. ⁓ but yeah, we have tons. ⁓ Stephan Esser MD: ⁓ What type of banana? Right. Right? The the little small ones, yeah? Mm-hmm. Dra. Joanna Frey: ⁓ and the coconuts. The coconuts are wonderful too. Yeah, we have like coconut that is like a kombucha style. It's like a it's sparkling. Stephan Esser MD: Everybody Dr. Asa Frey: ⁓ yeah. The coconuts are fantastic too. So we have ⁓ we have a different yeah. Stephan Esser MD: ⁓ my goodness. Everybody needs to get on their flight now, book their stay, get in there and come to the center. I'm I'm on my way. Need some fresh pineapples. Dra. Joanna Frey: Ha ha ha Dr. Asa Frey: ⁓ we forgot to mention you we I grow cane, so that's like a huge thing too. I I've I got like a big, you know, industrial juicer and I I grow cane. is cane sugar cane, right? It's a big long grass, it's a big stock and I I put it through there and all the juice comes out. ⁓ my gosh, it's delicious. Dra. Joanna Frey: ⁓ yeah. Stephan Esser MD: A press Dra. Joanna Frey: The best. Stephan Esser MD: Right. Right. What is the name what is the word for the sugarcane juice again in Spanish? Guado, okay, that's right. Yeah, there. Dra. Joanna Frey: Guadaple. Guadaple. And you make the mess lemonade with guadaple. It's the best way to drink guadaple. Yeah. Yeah. Stephan Esser MD: ⁓ I bet. I bet that's some right, I bet's amazing. ⁓ That is awesome. So I a question for you both, right? Do you have any health Meaning like in a given day, no matter how stressed, how busy, no matter how much this is happening, that's happening, these are certain things that you are going to do for you. Dr. Asa Frey: So I would first say that you gotta get outside. The getting outside ⁓ a non nego it's n it's a non negotiable and you know, I we can't avoid it, right? Because we're we live in Puerto Rico and it's like it's nice outside. But it doesn't matter where you live. You need to get you need to get outside. You're a human ⁓ Right? You are not like you're not a mole. You're not supposed to live in the darkness and in the air ki the conditioned air and you know without any dirt touching you. You need to get outside, you need to like touch things that are real, that is not metal and concrete and and polyur, you know, plastic everywhere. Stephan Esser MD: Right, right. Dr. Asa Frey: you you're getting so we don't realize how much you're getting from being outside. Just from being in contact with the sun, like the nitric oxide gets released and it improves your blood pressure, ⁓ not to mention the vitamin D and the you know the cortisol that comes down when we touch a tree, or you know, get in contact with those chemicals that the trees are are are g secreting for us. They're basically there for us. So You know, the nature's there for you and you're part of it. So you you know, allow yourself to be part of it and get outside and get out of the house. You don't need to be out all day. Just get out. Just get out. That would be a non negotiable for me. Dra. Joanna Frey: Yes, I agree with that. I have a few, but I'll be short. ⁓ need to start with my tea ceremony because that gets me in a great place and then I stretch. I'm a big stretcher, and for all of you listening out there, if you can't touch your toes, we're in big trouble here. We need to be flexible, and has to be part of our routine. I I'm a plant eater, and then I also Stephan Esser MD: Love it. What about what about you? What are they? All right, right. Right? Got it? Dra. Joanna Frey: spend time outside and then at night I need to have my I need to go to bed early. I need to be in bed by 8, 8 30, have those seven to eight hours. And that's non-negotiable. I do that everywhere. We just went to Guatemala and every time I was just telling my patients because they will they want to know how we travel healthy and I tell them I bring the pillars with me. I don't drop them off. This is not a purse this is my structure of living. I mean hello Stephan Esser MD: Right. Right. And I've seen your videos, right? Where you pre prepared the food and you've chopped things up and you've got them in the containers and you're traveling. Right. Yeah. Well, and why, right? Because you're prioritizing your health, right? You're wanting to be vital for decades to come, which I think is beautiful. So, you know, on that topic, you're raising your children with similar principles that you espouse. What is the hardest part of raising them in a culture that may not always be supportive of? Dra. Joanna Frey: So so yeah, that's that's what it is. ⁓ would never eat outside. Never never eat beside that that would be ⁓ Well, that's funny because that's what everybody asks me. it's just it seems like it must be really hard and it it they they're thinking it's hard because they don't practice this way. It's not hard because I that's all I do in my house. I make breakfast, I pack their lunches. ⁓ lunches are made from our for the food that we eat in our house. They play video games. So it that's not hard. What is hard is just being a parent in general, you know, dealing with adolescents, dealing with the kids that don't sleep at night because they're babies and you have to nurse them. Just the regular stuff that's that it should be hard because it makes us stronger. But when you have this way of living, it it doesn't make it harder. My children, I would say easier. My children are extremely healthy, they don't get sick. Like other kids unfortunately are. They're smart, they're together, they know about their body, they know how to make good, they're assertive. If we go, they go to parties all the time from their school and there's it's all junk. The worst thing you can imagine. they go there and they know how to manage themselves. They don't struggle about how to tell people what they eat or or how to eat. They don't eat when they go to the parties, they're already eaten. ⁓ They don't need to answer any questions. They live their lifestyle with a lot of grace. It's natural. It's embra it's it it's a it's part of their DNA. So that's not hard. What's hard is just just her. You know how it is being a parent is, you know, it's ⁓ it's challenging just because of what it is. Stephan Esser MD: Right, right. It can be challenging. And the and the two of you, it's yeah, I was gonna say the two of you it sounds like are pretty cohesive because I've tried to counsel a number of patients over the years, right, who one spouse feels a certain way, the other spouse feels a different way. That's a different level of conflict, right? That then creates more challenges. ⁓ you know. Dr. Asa Frey: Mm-hmm. Dra. Joanna Frey: Well, when that happens, I always tell the mother, which is usually the one that's interested in changing, you need to start with yourself. You can't you know, a lot of moms are like, I want to change my kids. You need to get yourself together. You need to get yourself in that place of knowledge, of fundamentals, of practicing, and then everything will fall into place. It does. The husband sees the changes in the wife. She sees she's feeling better, she looks better. She acts differently. it's inevitably because all humans, even the top the most toxic ones, inside, we all have that's part of our nature. We want to thrive and balance. So eventually that falls into place. But you know, that's the mom, you know, these parents need to start by them your own practice and then the rest will fall where it should be. Stephan Esser MD: Asa, anything you wanna close on those topics at all? Anything you wanna share? Dr. Asa Frey: Yeah, well y you guys did it yourselves, right? We started out with this idea that it was hard and then really we ended with it it's challenging, right? But challenge implies that it's also also very satisfying. So nothing nothing, you know, nothing that's easy is really to be that satisfying. And just what Doctor said, I was just gonna reiterate that ⁓ 'cause I was thinking the exact same thing. Esther's talking about a parent and changing the kid, and I'm thinking, Well, that parent needs to change, that parent needs to change, that parent needs to change, and they need to do it first because the kid is there's no way you're gonna get a kid to do things that the parents is not are not doing. ⁓ as much as you hear the parent complain that the kid is picky and the kid is this way and the kid is that way, and it's like, Man, it's your kid. What are you talking about? This is your kid. It's not somebody else's kid, it's your kid. So he lives in your house, he eats your food, like he he watches you do, you know, it's monkey see monkey do, They they learn from you, they're nurtured by you. they you know, so so that desire to see your kid do healthy things needs to first come from right, from a desire within you to do those healthy things. And ⁓ even if a spouse that's still not on the same page after the wife is like looking all good, he still doesn't want to like change his habits, the kid still sees ⁓ the difference between the two parents. So over time that kid develops this, you know, the memories of the mom eating well and the mom walking and the mom doing stretching and the mom going to bed early. And and then he sees that, you know, the dad and what the dad has been doing for the past ten, fifteen, twenty years. And then he'll see the consequences of the of the dad. So, you know, so you're you're an example. You're a teacher and ⁓ you should act you should act like one. Dra. Joanna Frey: Mm-hmm. Stephan Esser MD: Yeah. You know, we're getting to right. We're we're getting to the end of our time together. And I think this is a nice segue that you guys brought me to here. And I wanted each of you perhaps to share with our viewing audience of why you believe applying these principles to their lives is A so powerful and B so important, right? On, you know, whatever levels that, you know, kind of vibrates with you on. But if you could each kind of share that with us and then ⁓ you know, we'll kind of close up here. So kind of Dr. Asa Frey: It's a it's a big res b big responsibility. Stephan Esser MD: Why should people adopt your seven principles, make these changes in their life? You know, why? So we'll start with ⁓ Doctor Diaz. We'll start with Dra. Joanna Frey: ⁓ me? ⁓ Stephan Esser MD: Yeah. Dra. Joanna Frey: Why should people practice the seven pillars? Why okay, well, first of all, we need to stop being narcissistic. We need to remind ourselves that we came to this planet to serve. So when you that that that's our priority. We we we're here to help others, to to our community. So ⁓ from that principle, well, the most eloquent and compassionate thing and clear-minded thing would be. Stephan Esser MD: Yeah, why? Like I mean, i for themselves, for the community, for their family, for their like why? Like it Dra. Joanna Frey: To take care of this container, this beautiful container that you were brought to earth. Honor it, respect it. And how do you do that? You align with the physiological aspects of yourself, what your physiology is asking for. You're not trying to be a tiger eating fruit, right? You see that in nature? You see a tiger eating fruit. No, you would think he's confused, something's wrong with him. the only thing we're saying is align with your physiology. ⁓ Align with your true self, and the way to do that is with what we've been seeing for thousands and thousands of years. Go outside, get some sun, have that internal practice. To every time you have an action to the world, it doesn't come from fear and addiction and anxiety and from a negative place, but a place that you can ⁓ add You want to ⁓ You want to give from a place where you can help others. that's the simplest and most powerful way. So if that if you're not aligned with that, then you're not ready to change and that's okay. Eventually, I hope you will. ⁓ Stephan Esser MD: Beautiful. Asa. Dr. Asa Frey: So y everybody's got goals, right? Everybody wants to get somewhere. nobody's ⁓ perfect. Nobody out there is saying, ⁓ like I've I've reached my health goals, I'm all there. maybe there's a few people out there, but we're not talking to those people, right? So if if that's you, d you know, keep doing what you're doing. I'm sure you're doing great. But if if ⁓ if not one of those people who's like brimming, you know, up to here with energy and up to here with joy and peace and happiness, and you're looking for more. Then look at the seven pillars. This is not we don't have to cut this isn't like a biohack, right? We don't have to like play with words to convince you that this stuff is real. Just like read read them. It's totally self explanatory. It all makes sense. It's all right there. It's super super out there, obvious, open. so just take a look at it and read it. And if it makes sense to you, which it will just just as a you know diet based in plants makes sense because we're not carnivorous apes. so do all these pillars. Yeah, you're you're a human. We're all humans. You need all these things. So you need sort of like a you know, a system, a strategy to ⁓ get them into your life, and that's what the seven pillars are. Stephan Esser MD: Beautiful. Well, team from Back to the Garden PR, thank you for joining today on the NHA Today podcast. Thank you for everybody for viewing today. of their links will be in the show's notes, and I hope all of you will plan a vacation and a getaway to this spectacular Back to the Garden PR. And look forward to seeing you on the next ⁓ NHA Today podcast soon. Thank you for joining us today, both doctors. Dra. Joanna Frey: Thank you. Bye-bye. Dr. Asa Frey: Thank you, Doctor Sher. See guys.