Dr. Katie Takayasu, PLANTS FIRST

[0:02]Hi, I'm Zivi Owens, the creator and host of the award-winning podcast that you're listening to right now

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[0:54]Dr. Katie Takayasu is the author of Plants First a physician's guide to wellness through a plant forward diet

[1:04]This is one of several episodes that we are launching this month to help with a focus on health and wellness

[1:10]Dr. Katie is an integrative medicine physician and

[1:14]Speaker in the holistic health space

[1:16]Bridging the gap between traditional Western medicine and the evidence-based complementary health tools of nutrition

[1:22]acupuncture meditation botanicals and lifestyle optimization

[1:25]She works one-on-one helping patients to recognize their own innate wisdom for finding balance in the mind body and spirit and

[1:32]In group settings with the gentle bit effective Dr. Katie detox a jumpstart to reclaiming wellness and lifestyle balance by harnessing the body's natural

[1:39]Wisdom for detoxification available in five-day and ten-day guided resets

[1:44]She loves being with other people who bring her joy, especially her husband and two sons

[1:49]Welcome Dr. Katie. Thank you so much for coming on moms. Don't have time to read books to discuss your book

[1:54]Plants first a physician's guide to wellness through a plant forward diet. Oh, I'm so glad to be here. Thank you for having me

[2:01]This is this is fantastic

[2:03]Well, as Dr. Katie knows, I am currently in the car doing this podcast, which is literally the first time I've ever done this

[2:10]but

[2:11]Trying to fit in going to a kid's sporting event and also my work. So here we are

[2:16]Oh, I just love it because I find often that moms are just not as real with themselves as we really need to be in this

[2:24]Feels this it was very real. So thank you

[2:27]Well, it's perfect for your book, which is also very real as you share a lot of really personal stuff in the beginning

[2:33]Before you give us basically the secrets to better health and living and wellness and and eating and balance and all the rest

[2:42]So why don't you tell listeners a little bit about your book and your journey really to getting to this place in your life because I found that absolutely fascinating

[2:51]You know, it was so thank you so much. It was it was so important for me to share my own journey as part of this process because I think

[3:00]All of us when we see people who seem to quote have it right or have

[3:05]You know have it all going on that we forget that everybody struggles and everybody has moments in their life that are just

[3:14]Unbelievably, you know sort of

[3:18]Just change things and sort of set them on different pathways and my journey started out in northwest Ohio

[3:25]literally amongst some cornfields and

[3:29]As the doubt of a family doctor and I saw what it meant to be a real doctor as as a kid and just this beautiful

[3:37]Sort of way that you could take care of someone and

[3:40]And through that I think mostly through boredom actually

[3:44]I struggled with my weight when I was a kiddo

[3:48]and really it really caused me a lot of shame and embarrassment

[3:52]And and it really wasn't until medical school

[3:56]When I really felt the pressure of just all the things coming down on me all at once

[4:02]That I recognized what it meant to actually feel so anxious that I wasn't hungry anymore

[4:08]And I so remember coming home that like first break from school and my grandmother saying gosh

[4:15]You look great. I'm like oh my god. This is coming at the highest cost. You know because I literally everything smelled like formaldehyde to me

[4:23]And and then I you know I sort of got through different stages of that mostly surrounded by community

[4:31]And figuring out like what was going to actually support me and started eating a little bit healthier and then I got to residency and

[4:38]I wanted to be pregnant with my little people and

[4:42]I wanted to become a mom and that wasn't an easy journey either

[4:46]And so I kind of found myself in a yoga class, you know kind of broken in a place

[4:51]And at the same time started acupuncture and stopped eating hospital food and like doing all the things

[4:57]That I think really now lead to a very like holistic lifestyle

[5:02]And that's how I came to this practice of integrative medicine of seeing the whole person and treating

[5:09]Not just things with drugs, but actually getting to the root cause and understanding like this is how real life is and this is how we need to make it work

[5:17]So I I have walked the walk for sure

[5:21]Well, yeah, I was really I was moved by your story and

[5:26]Especially the part where you are trying to navigate this very very stressful job and I showed up sometimes to be a resident

[5:35]You didn't even know you were going to be overnight working for 30 hours straight and you just had to like

[5:40]You know you couldn't even like go to the bathroom without

[5:45]The nurse the nurse who was calling you. It's just very impressive by the way that you could even stop in the middle, but anyway

[5:51]I know I know that's like a conversation for moms right where like you can stop midstream. Ah, you know kids make everything different. I mean impressive

[6:01]But also just knowing how intense that is and and how

[6:07]On or about how the fact that you and your husband just all you could do on the one day off is just like eat pizza and red wine on the couch

[6:13]Like how else do you recoup from such an intense thing not to mention the

[6:18]most

[6:19]Always want about doctors especially the rotation you're in like they don't kids and everything like how do you separate

[6:26]How do you separate that?

[6:27]How do you possibly like build a wall and then be like, okay, now I'm gonna go out to dinner when you've had this really intense on the job

[6:34]Feeling like like tell me a little about that because I always wonder that about doctors

[6:38]You know, I think it comes back to this whole mentality of

[6:42]Of work hard and play hard and pushing the body to its limits and you know, they're supposed to be some

[6:50]Like amazing thing that you learn about yourself when you push yourself like sort of beyond the capacity of yourself to like even take care

[6:59]And I think that's what that's what residency showed me was that there's as much as we

[7:06]You know want to

[7:08]We want to learn and we want to help and we want to become this noble thing in life

[7:14]That for some it comes at a high cost and I often wonder like what you know the purpose of that high cost is for me

[7:22]To be here doing this and for that maybe it is it is worth it

[7:26]But could we make that journey a little bit more gentler

[7:29]For those who are coming up behind us because it is true that there were so many moments where I was just like so

[7:37]Tired that it didn't matter

[7:40]What you were put in front of me any kind of comfort

[7:43]There was no comfort other than lying flat and trying to sleep and of course, you know at that time

[7:49]I was also like anxious and so you know try to mix

[7:54]Extreme fatigue with anxiousness and all at once you have a recipe for insomnia

[7:59]And that was the first time that I also struggled with my own sleep and you know

[8:05]It's not an easy it's not an easy thing to kind of unravel

[8:10]But it's it's slow and steady things that I figured out along the way that made the difference ultimately

[8:16]And you know what I was thinking today about

[8:18]I was thinking today about you and about

[8:21]This beautiful podcast that you have that moms don't have time to read books

[8:26]But I think there's a I thought about like why do we read I read for comfort

[8:31]I read because it's information and I love I genuinely love to learn

[8:36]But ultimately it's because it's a source of comfort for me and I feel like in this day and age like

[8:43]We don't as people have time for comfort and moms especially because of our demands

[8:48]And I want I want more comfort in my life and you know, I want my patients to have that too

[8:55]Well, they can just listen to the podcast that there you go

[8:58]That's right

[9:00]I should I should just market through doctors. What if I was like a missed opportunity

[9:05]I know it's totally true that finding finding the people finding the people that you connect with and that and that know the

[9:12]Know the message is good

[9:13]But that's really where plants first sort of started really is in my mind with this idea of like

[9:19]I'm gonna stop eating hospital food because

[9:22]Hospital food does not make me feel well

[9:24]I remember like you know, we would get free food at Columbia and and at the time it would taste so good

[9:31]You know, you'd be like oh my god

[9:32]I just want these burritos

[9:34]Because it would just be comfort again

[9:36]And then you'd feel terrible two hours later and like you know, so tired

[9:41]And so I started packing my lunch and that I think was a really crystallizing moment for me one because it caused me to have to be prepared to do that

[9:48]Probably to strengthen my immune system because I was at risk of like foodborne illness at like any time because I was carrying it around

[9:54]Without access or refrigerator, which is now kind of like, you know, gross

[10:00]But at the time, I think it really showed me the power of what we put in our bodies three times a day plus or minus a snack and how powerful that can be as far as like controlling and not even controlling, but just helping mood and stress and anxiety, our digestive issues are fatigue, all the things that we sort of,

[10:22]like look at and be like, why do I not feel well? Yeah, and you make such a good case for avoiding inflammation like all that.

[10:32]Like, okay, okay, I get it, I get it, I know it's so bad.

[10:37]It's so easy, it's so easy to cause inflammation in your body, you know, even just something as simple as stress and force, but then it's so easy to eat wrong.

[10:47]It's so easy to slip into these habits and you have like your whole little pyramid on how we can avoid doing this and what we can do better and the things that we should think about adding versus the things that we have to restrict.

[11:00]Absolutely, I love that whole idea of like crowding out it's not that, and I say this as a mom who has two little boys who love to eat things like Pringles and soda.

[11:11]We don't, we don't categorically have any forbidden foods in my house. Everything is welcome, but it's everything in the right place the right time after you've eaten, you know, something that actually nourishes the body.

[11:23]And when I sort of, you know, have that rule at home, it tends to work out just fine and my kids don't feel deprived.

[11:31]They understand that, you know, certain foods are more, you know, treat foods or snack foods as opposed to real foods.

[11:38]But it's that crowding out mentality that prevents this idea of restriction.

[11:43]And I know you've had, you know, you've been so open and I just love, I love how open you've been with the realness of your life and just how things have played out for you in life.

[11:55]You know, you've talked to about this restriction mindset and the difference between that and something that incorporates more, you know, more foods more generosity with oneself.

[12:06]It's that grace that we need.

[12:08]So true.

[12:09]Yeah, restriction doesn't really get me anywhere.

[12:13]You know, it just makes you upset.

[12:15]Yes, yes. Even when I'm like, I think I'm just going to like, not eat carbs today. And the next thing you know, I didn't even want them. It's just as soon as I said, no, I was like, well, now I better have like, I don't know, so much stuff.

[12:27]It's totally forbidden fruit. So the whole idea and plants versus like let's talk about inflammation.

[12:34]Because there actually is good information in the body that you need.

[12:37]And then there's the really not so helpful chronic information, which is what most of us feel on a regular basis.

[12:43]And then use an anti inflammatory diet with some, you know, caveats to make it applicable to real life to real living.

[12:52]And then let's move from there with that 80 20 mindset of that you don't need to be perfect. You only need to do a really good job about 80% of the time.

[13:01]And that creates so much grace and space in my life for just, you know, next week is my kids birthday and we're going to eat cake and it's going to be all.

[13:12]I have twin boys who are who are turning 10, which you know it's a that's a really big deal.

[13:19]It is a very big deal. Yes, I have twins who are almost 15, which I can't 15. I know I can't even believe in it's crazy.

[13:27]But yeah, twins, which probably do not help with your insomnia by the way, having twin boys.

[13:33]Honestly, honestly, most of the insomnia started after there were just a couple of like very at the time seemingly innocent like life changes that kind of all compiled at the same time.

[13:47]And then you, I felt this like, you know, oh, gosh, my sleep is disrupted. What's going to happen at work tomorrow. Am I going to be really tired. What if I'm short with the kids and then all at once this sort of anxiety like fills itself.

[14:01]And then, you know, everything is scarier at night.

[14:05]It's like all these life circumstances kind of get us into a place where if there's anything kind of unbalanced or a little bit, you know, not completely, you know, in check, it becomes scarier and kind of out of control.

[14:18]And that's how insomnia starts for so many people. It's very innocent. It's just worry.

[14:24]It's not not being able to kind of regulate things.

[14:28]I've literally like, when I wake up at four, I want to like get out of bed and go right. It's very.

[14:34]I've been like, I've had to do these breathing exercises to myself every night just like going to take 10 seconds. I'm just going to do this until I fall asleep again.

[14:47]Yeah, if you can police, if we can police the mind, especially when it comes to sleep about relaxation and just get out of like the head space of thinking often the body just knows what to do.

[15:02]And that's also like a big premise of like what I talk about in the book is that we need to create the circumstances in our life that'll actually allow us to succeed.

[15:12]And thinking and overdoing and over judging is a chronic problem for many of us who are high achieving, you know, women and high-chating people.

[15:22]I always say at night time it's not what wakes you up. It's what keeps you awake. And so you might wake up because you roll over in bed or your bed partner snores or get to go to the bathroom or whatever.

[15:34]But, you know, going to the bathroom in light doesn't keep you awake for three hours. It's the thinking. It's the thinking that ensues thereafter right.

[15:42]And there you do find the problem.

[15:44]So I also I love breathing exercises and something as simple as like, you know, imagining numbers and, you know, where you're sending your breath in your body and really being present with it is often enough to short circuit that unhelpful part of the brain that just wants to fire because we want to be, you know,

[16:03]keeping human, human doings not human beings.

[16:06]Yes, very true.

[16:08]You also give a lot of really amazing looking recipes, particularly the chocolate news. I'm like, why do I go right to the most decadent of all these recipes?

[16:18]Well, because it's really delicious. That's why. Yeah, yeah, extra dark, extra dark.

[16:24]So when you were figuring out and what I also like, is there aren't so many recipes. I think some cookbooks you're overwhelmed. It's like, what would I ever make first.

[16:32]But not only do you have just the right amount of recipes, but then you give us like here's, you know, day one, day two, day three.

[16:38]And, and the way you do it.

[16:40]I was like, you know what, I can actually do this. Like these recipes sound really good.

[16:44]And these meals sound good. Like how great to wake up to like a morning glory muffin or, you know, one of this granola that you make versus like the banana that I grab, you know.

[16:55]Well, you know, food is information is as food is love and food is comfort and food is food is a process me making, you know, cooking can be actually very helpful for people as a sort of therapeutic exercise.

[17:09]I really never understood that until I discovered my love of being in the kitchen, which is kind of new for me that wasn't, you know, that wasn't a thing that I had prior to five years ago.

[17:20]But the way that we fuel our bodies with food really matters. And it's that magical balance of fiber fat and protein, along with flavor as those in my circle like to say that really makes food so worthwhile and so nourishing.

[17:39]And that's the difference right between grabbing a banana and eating a morning glory muffin for instance.

[17:45]All the morning glory muffins are kind of magic I just have to say if you're going to make one recipe for your family that's the work that that's the one to start with because it's really tasty people love it it's not super hard.

[17:56]And then you can freeze it which also makes it really great for grabbing go if you need to make a double batch and store them.

[18:02]And that's the difference between eating something like that, which is actually no not that big and you know a big banana, because the banana is only fiber there is no protein there is no fat so there's no nothing to anchor the energy of that carbohydrate.

[18:17]And therefore you have a different response in the body and in the end it all comes down to biochemistry what is this food actually doing to my body.

[18:25]When you have the right balance for you and everybody's like a little bit different.

[18:29]Then your body rewards you and you feel great and you're hunger is satiated for you know several hours, but if you ever eat a meal or snack.

[18:37]And you're like not hungry for six hours or more you know you over did it.

[18:42]And if you eat something in your hungry like 45 minutes or an hour later.

[18:47]And you also know that you didn't do it quite right for yourself and so that causes pause for me when I eat something and I feel that way I'm like oh darn it what was it about that meal or snack that wasn't quite right.

[18:58]And then I sort of go back and try to figure out to even find you know what works you know for me because it's a personal journey.

[19:06]But do you still play the piano.

[19:09]Oh yeah I went I went yeah I went home last weekend to my families house for a wedding and while my parents were at church so that I had like time for myself just for me.

[19:22]I just sat down in front of the piano and just played whatever was was there and I had just gone to a wedding so I was really inspired by the music and so I started to sing because that was a big part of me growing up was with my family we had like a little string quintet and we used to play for weddings so we have a lot of like wedding appropriate music that brings so much joy.

[19:43]So I just sat there and just played the piano and I was reminded again of that theme of comfort like it was just so comforting for me to be there for myself I was only there for me it was wonderful and that in my mind I want to be back in that space.

[20:00]So much more often than I give myself the, you know, the, the space for these days.

[20:05]I love that. Well, you know, it's like, whether it's books or piano or exercise or yoga or whatever. And I know you've got such a great relationship with yoga and everything like just finding what works for you and that you can somehow fit in with your life.

[20:20]It makes all the difference. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's like, I call that your wellness intuition. It's like what you know to be true about what makes you feel good.

[20:30]And it's like that particular amount of protein every day or it's that type of exercise.

[20:36]You know, maybe for me, it's a gentle exercise. I think a lot of women over exercise in our circuits. I don't know if you see that amongst your friends or people that you hang out with also.

[20:46]But if you over exercise, like you can cause yourself more stress, but finding that appropriate amount of exercise knowing like, hey, I feel really awesome when I sleep eight and a half hours of, you know, every night.

[20:57]Or if it's six hours, whatever your rhythm may be. And then, of course, finding those things that help us pay attention to our deeper in ourselves, the real us.

[21:07]That's it. That's what we're that's what we're going after it. And that's what the wellness intuition really sort of invites you to try to figure out.

[21:15]Amazing. So in addition to your amazing book. So do you see, do you regularly see patients and where is your office? Like what if somebody wants like a private consult, you do that remotely.

[21:27]Yeah, I love seeing patients. I don't think there was ever going to be a time of my career that I just don't interact with people one on one. It is so fun.

[21:37]I just, I was literally born to do it. And I always walk away from a new patient visit feeling like really pumped. And I think generally the patients I see also feel that, you know, the energy is is great that way.

[21:51]So I have a private practice. It's in Connecticut. I can see patients either virtually are in person from New Yorker, Connecticut.

[22:00]And it's a lot of fun. We go through what I would consider to be like the important things that you need to know about your health.

[22:08]And it's not like, you know, it starts with your maybe or has your medication list in it, but it's so much more about lifestyle and what your rhythms are in your life, talking about sleep and exercise and nourishment and all the things that might be going on in your life that you want an integrative medicine to focus to.

[22:26]Because I like to sit in that space of understanding all of regular Western medicine. That's how I was trained in residency, but really going into the complimentary modalities. So I do a lot of acupuncture with patients.

[22:39]I talk about the importance of herbs and supplements. We go through meditation techniques. If that's what the person, you know, is looking for and we go through all of the stuff that really makes us up as humans taking both a scientific look at it, but also

[22:54]a spiritual and an emotional look at it. So it's it's really a very holistic way of practicing. So I would love to see love to see anybody because that's really truly where I derive so much joy.

[23:07]But other ways that people can sort of connect with me as well. I have a website that I'm really proud of that has a ton of free recipes.

[23:16]And they all have like little health tips that are attached to them so that you understand why turmeric is good for you and how you should be consuming it in the diet.

[23:25]And I also have I also have a newsletter that people can get in touch with me with it. I also gives free recipes. I find that giving people the tools.

[23:36]It's not just enough to sort of say here's the science, but like it's in better to say like here's the science, but here's the practical real stuff that you need to actually build that science like into your life. And I find food to be a really nice opportunity for that.

[23:53]And so what is your website? My website is dr kd.com. I'm on instagram at dr kdoc tr kate. And then the last thing that people can get in touch with me is that I I realized a few years ago that that it's tough to take all of this even just our conversation and put it into practice.

[24:16]And so I have a program. I call the dr kd detox and it just helps people reset recalibrate their bodies on their own because we all have that innate natural wisdom.

[24:26]And I do that online with people in programs, along with me, ill delivery and Connecticut. I wish you lived closer. I would sign it to you. I literally I'm dry. I mean, I think I'm driving through Connecticut now. I don't know why I haven't even I haven't looked up in a while. I'm probably pretty close to you.

[24:46]Nobody has a wonderful resource. So many who are wanting to take that deeper dive. Who want to go who want to go a little deeper and they want to connect with me on, you know, multitude of levels and sort of, you know, just ways.

[25:00]I love that. I love that technology brings us together this way.

[25:03]So amazing. Well, congratulations. Thank you for all this helpful stuff. All this helpful. I shouldn't say stuff information and by sharing your own story, just making it also relatable and inspiring.

[25:15]And, and I'm definitely going to be diving into these recipes. They look amazing. So thank you.

[25:20]Oh, thanks. They have a wonderful rest of your ride and enjoy the game. Thank you. All right. That was a great day. Okay. Bye. Bye.

[25:29]Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at zebi Owens and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.

[25:38]Also sign up for my newsletter at zebiowens.com and sign up for my virtual book club and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week.

[25:45]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Textures Sound for the Sound Editing. And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro and out trim music.