The Link Between Pet Health, Environmental Toxins and Family Wellness with Dr. Marlene Siegel

Dr. Laura: Welcome to another episode of Well-Adjusted Mama. This is a podcast dedicated to educating empowering women from preconception, pregnancy, birth and through early motherhood on wellness lifestyle. Um, I’m your host, Dr. Laura Brayton. I’m a maternity pediatric chiropractor, a functional medicine practitioner and mother who has hand selected experts in natural holistic healthcare specialties to shine light on options and choices during this exciting phase of a woman’s life. Today’s episode is about the link between pet health, environmental toxins and family wellness. And my special guest is Dr. Marlene Siegel. Dr. Siegel helps pet parents and veterinarians by find solutions when traditional medicine has nothing more to offer their patients, committed to always offering solutions when others have given up. Uh, has led Dr. Siegel to be an international lecturer, researcher for integrative veterinarian technologies and a consultant. In addition to her full time clinical practice, Dr. Siegel contributes her wealth of knowledge, writing journal articles and participating in webinars and podcasts. She’s a true pioneer with a special expertise in ozone therapy, photodynamic therapy, detoxification, lymphatic fascia, hyperbaric and energy medicine. Her success in treating complex chronic dis ease is attributed to her focus on bioregulatory medicine, identifying the root cause of disease and establishing safe and effective solutions. Dr. Siegel has developed online courses for pet parents and veterinarians for pet parents. Her course enables them to learn how to integrate holistic lifestyle and therapies for their fur babies. Her online courses for veterinarians are focused on supporting veterinarians who want to learn more about integrating alternative services into their mainstream practices. When she was unable to find, uh, proper diets and supplements to meet her patients needs, she developed her own raw food and essential supplements company and is preparing to launch Espaws Family Wellness Centers, which are detox centers for pets and their human parents. For more information, you can check out websites@drmarleansiegel.com evolvestore.com and transformingvetmedicine.com hi Dr. Siegel, welcome to the show. I’m very excited to have you on today.

Dr. Siegel: Oh, I’m so delighted to be here. What a great audience you have.

Dr. Laura: Thank you. So today we’re going to talk about the link between pet health, environmental toxins and family wellness. And so the moms and parents that are listening to this that do have fur babies want to know how that’s going going to be incorporated into their new family as babies being born. So I’m really excited for you to share your insight into this topic.

Dr. Siegel: Wonderful. Okay, I’ll Let you drive.

Dr. Laura: Okay, good. So talk to me about essentially your history of how it sounds like you went from traditional veterinarian practice to more of a holistic type of practice that you incorporate a lot of modalities into the way you take care of fur babies. Tell me about that journey.

Dr. Siegel: So you’re right. I’ve been practicing for 40 years. And my first 20, 15, 20 years was in traditional medicine, although I was a little out of the box even then. But there was a riding accident with my youngest daughter and our show horse, and the horse actually saved her life. The horse and rider were in a class and the horse reared in the air, and no one had taught my daughter to just bail off to safety if your horse rears in the air. And so she’s trying to hang on by pulling on the reins and dates dangling from the reins and she’s pulling the horse over backwards. The number one cause of a rider’s death, when a horse rears in the air, is falling over and crushing them. So we had a 50 pound child and a 2000 pound horse, and it wasn’t looking pretty. So the horse in her, I think she intentionally knew to try to push herself as far away from my daughter as possible. And so she kind of plied on her left hind leg and she was pushing herself to the right as my daughter was starting to slip off the saddle to the horse’s left. So she was trying to push herself away. But when they hit the ground, because she did go over, you could not see space between horse and rider. So I jumped the rail and I was running towards my daughter, not knowing what I was going to find. Horse got up and she seemed to be okay. My daughter was still on the ground, not moving. So when I got there, she opened her eyes and by the grace of God, she was fine. But that wasn’t the end of our journey. So back at home, something else happened. And the horse looked like she was going to rear again, and the trainer interceded. We had veterinarians come out and look at her and they literally said to me, we don’t know what’s wrong with her, but she’s not safe to ride and you’ll never show her again. And you can put her out to a pasture or you can put her down, which means putting her to sleep, killing her.

Dr. Laura: Right.

Dr. Siegel: And that just wasn’t an option for me, you know, even though they were doing the best that they knew how to do. That typical line, we have nothing else to offer you. Get your affairs in order. That was Just not acceptable to me. And so I, at that point, started looking for answers where answers didn’t exist. So people ask me, what was the end of the story? How did they do? Well, five months later, after integrating even the beginning of alternative medicine, they went on to win the United States Youth Reserve National Championship, which is the most prestigious horse show for youth riders.

Dr. Laura: Oh, my God. It just gave me chills. That’s really tremendous.

Dr. Siegel: I want to encourage people, if there’s nothing else that you remember from this podcast is do not accept somebody else’s limitations. You know, and it doesn’t mean that we’re going to all live forever. We’re all leaving this planet. There is no other exit strategy, but we can live the healthiest, longest life possible and show up in the most vibrant way. And we can accomplish the things that we came here to accomplish if we set our mind to it.

Dr. Laura: So, yeah, that is tremendous in it. It’s 100% true. And I think as moms, we have that due diligence to, uh, do that for our children and fur babies as well. Right. Until they’re adults and they can really make decisions on their own, it’s up to us to keep asking questions, second, third, fourth opinions, and not stopping until we’ve helped our child get what they need. Right. The support and guidance that they need. Yeah. Unfortunately, when they say there’s no options, just means they don’t know. Right. And that’s weird to me, I think, as a chiropractor, because I even see that with patients, and then they come to me and I can help them. Right. And it’s like, well, why not just say, well, I’m sorry, I can’t help you, but maybe here’s some other either modalities or practitioners, like just thinking outside of the box and being an educated practitioner, that we all have our limitations as practitioners, but when we’re aware and knowledgeable about what other people are doing, then we can make appropriate referrals. And I will tell you, when I refer people to a provider who’s able to help my patient, they’re so grateful to me, and I didn’t do the work, but I got them to the path that got them the relief they needed. Right. So this is so important for all of us to be aware of.

Dr. Siegel: Oh, uh, it very much is. I was just in a position where I didn’t have anybody to refer to.

Dr. Laura: There was. So what. I mean, what decade are we talking here? How long ago?

Dr. Siegel: This was, um, 20 years ago.

Dr. Laura: Okay, so 20 years ago, I guess. Well, What I found, you know, going down the journey with our, um, family dog is holistic vets were quite rare and I mean, 20 years ago. I don’t even. Like you said, do they even really exist? Ben Nering school was very traditional, very allopathic. Right. So we ended up finding holistic vet for our dog. She lived for 18 years, God bless her, but it was with chiropractic adjustments and supplements and hyperbaric oxygen and all of the things that we did to support, uh, regular functional toenail trimming to help with her alignment and posture. All of these things that we did to support her overall health and wellness. That I know is how she was able to live such a long life. Right. But it was hard to find a vet like that even. Um, and this is as of this year, right? So in other words, there’s not a lot of you guys out there, is it growing? Are more vets becoming educated and interested in this type of healthcare?

Dr. Siegel: Yeah, I think there are more veterinarians becoming interested. But, you know, being able to find a practice owner that is willing to start making those changes and integrating these services, they’re not a lot. And the other part that I find very interesting is a lot of people are taking on the label of, oh, I’m a holistic veterinarian because I do chiropractic or because I do acupuncture or I use herbs, but they’re still feeding processed food. They’re still not understanding biology. So I would help our listeners to really understand what does it mean to live a more holistic lifestyle? What does it mean to have that health minded? Because this is really about practicing health care and not broke care.

Dr. Laura: Right.

Dr. Siegel: In our allopathic model, we’re taught to name it, blame it, and then come up with a pharmaceutical or a treatment for it. And a lot of holistic quote unquote practitioners are instead of using an antibiotic, they’re using a needle or an herb. So that’s still not where we need to be. We really need to understand the biology of our pets. How were they designed to function the best? The best analogy is thinking about our cars. If you buy a car that has to run on diesel gas and you try to put unleaded gas in there, it’s not going to work well. In fact, you’ll probably kill your engine. Or if you have a car that’s supposed to have premium gas, but you choose to more often than not put in regular gas, your engine’s not going to last as long. You’ll get it in There, but it’s not going to last as long. So the principles are really understanding how the biological pathways of our body work. How are they different for the pet? And then how can we give them a lifestyle that will help them live the longest, healthiest life possible? Because this is not a pill for the ill and a diet for the disease. This is truly understanding how to create the lifestyle which supports the metabolic terrain, the environment that makes us all up, uh, so that the microbes can live in harmony and do what they’re supposed to do. And our biological pathways are going to work, which, it’s an amazing system. And we’re the only regenerative body out there. How cool is that? Like, we literally make a new body in humans, they say every seven years, but whatever that number is, we certainly can see regeneration from. We grow from little babies into big people, and then we start out as puppies and kittens, and they grow into adult animals. And if they get cut, they can heal, and if they get sick, they can get better. It’s an amazing model. The problem is we, as the supporters of our pets, have forgotten that there are certain rules to how the body works. And if we go against those rules or we don’t support them, then the body’s not going to function as well as it was designed to. Ironically, we’re designed to survive, but we want to thrive. But surviving means when circumstances are not ideal. That is our caveman days when food wasn’t available and dogs lived outside and they lived in caves and maybe they didn’t get food all the time. Well, the strongest were able to endure that fasting, endure the cold and survive until summer came, and then they can go back into thriving. So these are adaptations that we have in our pet’s bodies and our bodies, if we use them appropriately, they actually will extend longevity, right?

Dr. Laura: Yes, 100%. So, I mean, I know all about this for the human body and I just would love to learn more about how this can be. The same concept can be applied to animal bodies as well. They also can regenerate. And that would be, you know, joints, skin, organs. Right. All the parts of the body, the brain can all go through anti aging, right?

Dr. Siegel: Yep. So where I’d like to start to make the listeners have a more clear pathway is I have a six step process. And you can actually download the PDF, it’s on my website. I don’t know if you can put it in the show notes, but the six steps is truly the outline for how to create that lifestyle for our pets to survive. So step number one, you have to stop doing the things that are messing it up. So we have to feed a species appropriate diet. They don’t eat like we did. They are obligate carnivores. They have no dietary requirement for carbohydrates. But when you’re feeding a kibble diet, it’s 40 to 60% sugar. So right there we’re creating a massive problem. And then the hormones, chemicals, pesticides, the GMOs, all of that just contribute. So food number one, water. Water needs to be highly filtered and structured. And in my world, I love when we can add molecular hydrogen as an antioxidant. So food and water and then the environment, we want to have an EMF safe place, being able to mitigate the amount of incoherent light frequencies that are coming into the body and turn them into coherent light frequencies. And we have tools to be able to do that. And of course, cleaning the house using organic problems, essential oils and vinegar and water and a little elbow grease and. But getting away from the petroleum based chemicals and then going into the things that we do our laundry in. So even though our pets aren’t wearing clothes, but they are laying on our bed and they’re laying on our laps and we’re holding them and so they’re near the clothing that we’re wearing. So we don’t want to have these xenoestrogens, which are hormone dysregulators. We want to have natural clean products that we’re doing our laundry in. And then the last part that we look at is the ants in our brain. Those are the automatic negative thoughts and they’re equal to every other piece that I just explained to you. Because when we have negative thoughts and we’re living under a lot of stress, our pets are in training to those negative or low frequencies, the neurochemicals that we’re giving off when we are in a state of stress or we have a lot of negative thoughts. So one of the things I like to ask people is keep a diary for one day, one 24 hour day. How many negative thoughts or negative things do you say out loud or in your head? Because they count as well. And then as you keep track of that, which of those thoughts can you let go of? Which of them do you not need anymore? Because your pets are in training to that meaning that they’re actually picking up the energetic frequencies. And it’s not that you have to feel guilty that you create a disease in your pet. Look, we’re all learning at the right Time, it’s all divine. But once you learn, you cannot unsee, you cannot unhear, and you cannot unthink. Um, so these are the principles that are really the foundation for starting that healing process. So, number one, stop doing the things that are causing a problem. Number two is making sure we have all the essential nutrients that the body needs to function. And they think it’s quite humorous. We just talked about how the body is regenerative and it can make all these things and. But it is limited by just a few essential vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and amino acids. And, you know, was God playing a joke and said, well, I’m going to make sure you don’t screw up your world entirely because you’re dependent on these things to come in through your diet. And if you don’t have them, you don’t have the CO factors to help your body work properly. So I think that’s in our world today, we know the farming is not regenerative. And I live in a farm food forest. I literally live in a food forest. And I still take my vitamins, my minerals, my M fatty acids and my amino acids that are the essentials. Because I don’t want to wonder if my body is going to be deficient in something. So I take that and then I eat very intentionally. Number three is healing the leaky gut, because we all have leaky gut. We walk outside and there’s glyphosate raining on us. It’s everywhere. That’s just one of the toxins that we have to worry about. But we have mycotoxins, which are the toxic fungal products. We have microplastics, which, if you ask me today, what do I think is the most egregious toxin we’re exposed to? It’s actually microplastics.

Dr. Laura: They’re so scary.

Dr. Siegel: We’ve never tested. We’re now testing for that. And I am the only veterinarian in the world to be testing microplastics. So we’re doing the first foundational studies to actually see what these numbers are. And are you ready? The Average person has 21 particles of plastic. Normal is zero. But the average person has 21. These animals are clicking in, in the high 30s, high 40s, and even into the 60s.

Dr. Laura: How are you testing for this in blood?

Dr. Siegel: It’s a blood test. Yes. In a specific lab that is doing the testing on that. I think we’re going to see more labs coming out that are able to test for this. But right now it’s really a small number, but it is Horrifying what we’re seeing.

Dr. Laura: How do you get rid of them? I mean, once they’re in your body, what do you.

Dr. Siegel: Let me finish the process, and then we’ll go into detoxification. So number three was healing the leaky gut. And then number four is the detoxification. We have six organs of elimination. We have the kidney, the colon, the lungs, the liver, the skin. Lymphatics, slash fascia, because I now come. They’re not technically combined, but the lymphatics run through the fascia. And the fascia is everything that makes up the space, and it connects everything. So it’s a major piece for us to understand not only how the mitochondria, ah, make energy, but how they communicate to the microbiome. It’s through the fascia. And time and gravity and injury and inflammation all causes problems within that fascia, and we start to get shorter and we wind in. And especially in your profession, I’m sure that you’re dealing with fascia all the time. Well, we deal with it with our pets as well. So we want to make sure we’re able to support the organs of elimination. And one of the things that I see when we’re doing blood testing and we’re testing for these organs is that the liver in particular gets so bogged down that the liver enzymes are almost not even registered. What we’re measuring in the liver is a particular enzyme that is released from the cell when the cell breaks open. Now, every day we’re having normal cell turnover, just living in metabolism. There’s a certain amount of enzyme that’s being released as that, uh, individual cell dies. So we know what normal is supposed to be. What was normal when I started practicing 40 years ago is no longer the same normal ranges because the labs are constantly changing their bell curve. So when they change the bell curve, they’re looking at a population that comes in through the lab, and they’re saying, middle is normal. And then you can be on the left outlier or on the right outlier. But I don’t want to be compared to a more sick society.

Dr. Laura: Right.

Dr. Siegel: People are so much more sick now than they were 40 years ago. So I don’t want to compare my numbers to today’s numbers because that’s just comparing to a sick population. So thank goodness I’m old enough to remember what normal was in liver.

Dr. Laura: Talking about the animal blood work or people blood work. Okay, so which makes sense, honestly. I knew that about the humans. But if humans are also getting sicker, why wouldn’t Their pets get sicker as well.

Dr. Siegel: Yeah, it’s the same application. Of course, we have labs that are more specific for animals, and the ranges are animal specific, but they’re doing the same thing. They’re making that bell curve.

Dr. Laura: Wow.

Dr. Siegel: That was number four. Number five is the mitochondria. And here’s the linchpin. I keep it at number five and not number one, because if you don’t do all the other things leading up to it, it’s a mute issue. So the mitochondria are literally living organisms inside that have become adapted to living with us. And they not only produce the energy that runs our body, but they also communicate between themselves and the microbiome through the fascia to determine what genes we turn on and we turn off. So you’ll hear a lot of people talk about parasites and bacteria and viruses, and they’re awful. And we want to kill them all off. No, we are more them than we are us. And the more of them that we kill off, the more genetic, Functional genetic information that we’re losing. So it’s really important that we focus on the terrain. Think of your body as a planet, and on that planet, we have to have all of the things going fairly good so that everybody can live in homeostasis or symbiosis. So everybody needs to get along. It’s only when the terrain becomes so inhospitable. Sort of like if you were trying to have a garden and all you could get to grow were weeds. It’s not the weeds that are the problem, just like the parasites aren’t the problem. It’s the fact that the soil is so bad, the terrain and the soil is so bad that it can’t support anything else. And so just like the weeds which are trying to establish a microbiome, these pathogens are coming out because the healthy flora can’t survive in this inhospitable terrain. So now we create pathogens which are, in their own way, trying to create a home that they can survive in. So when we start thinking a little differently and we start realizing that we are a definitely a planet within a planet. And when we start taking care of that planet and in the way that we would want our planet to be taken care of, then we can start making better choices and different decisions that actually promote health. And the number six is clearing the trapped emotions that are associated with all dis. Ease. And I say it intentionally that way. There is no disease that is something that our western world and maybe the who made up, I don’t know. And they are making us believe that it is a thing. It’s not. Dis ease is simply our body communicating to us that it’s no longer in harmony. So instead of shutting it off by giving it an aspirin or taking a pill for the ill, we need to listen and say, what are you trying to tell me? Same thing with the pet body. What are they telling us with their symptoms? But there’s one extra little twist on the pet body is that there’s no coincidence that you have your pet in your life at this time in your life with whatever challenges that pet is dealing with, whether it’s emotional or physical, there’s a relationship between that and you, their sole parent. So lots to open up there so much. Okay, so now you asked me the question, how do you get rid of toxins in general?

Dr. Laura: Yeah. Well, specifically microplastics, but yes.

Dr. Siegel: So like everything else, test, don’t guess, you have to know what you’re dealing with. So the first thing that I do with any consultation that I do is I get our pet owners to test. And it’s not just microplastics, it’s the mycotoxins, it’s heavy metals, it’s glyphosate. We have to know because these interact with each other. So by just cherry picking one thing, you may not get the results that you want because one is imparting an.

Dr. Laura: Effect on the other vaccine ingredients.

Dr. Siegel: Of course you know that the toxins come in from everywhere. The other side of that are the nutrient deficiencies which are equally as important to test for because I’ll give you an example, vitamin D. We all know vitamin D is so important for us humans. You and I as omnivores get vitamin D from the sun and from our protein, but carnivores only get it from their protein. So these animals that are either not eating a protein because it’s either vegetarian based or they’re using guar gum or there really isn’t any meat in the diet or if that meat never saw daylight. So if it’s not grass fed, grass finished. I want to make that distinction. Because now you see companies that are claiming grass fed meat, but that meat can be outside. That animal could have been outside for one day and it’s its entire life and they can call it grass fed.

Dr. Laura: Oh my God.

Dr. Siegel: Very misleading.

Dr. Laura: I had no idea.

Dr. Siegel: Grass finish means that animal stayed outside and it never came inside, it was never given grains, it stayed out and ate grass its entire life. So it’s very important to make that distinction. So we Want to know what we’re testing for? Because an animal that has a vitamin D deficiency, which is 85% of dogs eating processed foods, were shown in a university study to be vitamin D insufficient. And vitamin D, amongst all the many things that it does, it runs the entire innate immune system. That’s the one. We don’t have to think. So if you turn off that whole system, are we really surprised that cancer rates in dogs are now almost 100%, even under a year of age? Yeah. And cats, they say one out of three highly underreported. So we’re seeing exponential increases in chronic disease, not just cancer, autoimmune disease, obesity, diabetes, osteoarthritis, allergies, the list goes on and on. So if a pet parent’s out there and you’re thinking, wow, does my pet have a problem? Have you ever been to the vet? Does it have a health issue? You probably are dealing with deficiencies and toxicities. And you can sit there and throw all the drugs you want. You can sit there and do as much immune suppression as you want. You’re not going to fix the root cause of the problem till you understand what it is. And you can’t guess at it. You have to test.

Dr. Laura: So regarding diet, are you a fan of raw food?

Dr. Siegel: I own a raw food company, so I guess yes.

Dr. Laura: So I know, like for cats and dogs, that supports that carnivore. Right. And I’m assuming it’s grain free.

Dr. Siegel: Yeah. Well, well, okay, that, that’s very interesting. You said grain free because these processed grain free diets are actually causing heart disease in dogs and cats.

Dr. Laura: Because it’s processed.

Dr. Siegel: It’s processed. And so grain free is not carbohydrate free. So what we want to do is talk about species appropriate. What did you know? I’m going to couch this because anytime I want to know what the answer really is, not marketing, not somebody’s opinion. I look at nature and I say, if I have a carnivore in nature, how do they eat? Well, they kill an animal and they eat it in the state that they killed it in. There is no processing that creates a kibble in the wild. So therefore I have to conclude that if nature didn’t intend for them to eat a kibble, that’s why they didn’t create that in the wild. They created them to eat another animal in the state that they killed it in because A, it has the level of moisture that they need because 70% moisture, B, it’s enzymatically active. So dogs and cats do not have amylase in their saliva. They were never designed to chew their food thoroughly, mix it with their saliva to break down carbohydrates. They were designed in the wild to kill something, but when you kill something in the wild, you attract other carnivores because you just made a big commotion. You guys chased it down, you wrestled with it, there’s a lot of screaming going on. So other carnivores are going to look and say, hey, there may be some free meal over there, let’s go check it out. So you have to tear, gulp and swallow as quickly as you can, stuff yourself with meat when it’s available and then go back to your cave and digest it in safety. So that’s how they were designed to eat. So a lot of our pet parents that changed to a raw diet. Of course, when the gut health improves and these animals eat the way they were designed, they just scarf it. It’s not even 30 seconds and that bowl is empty and they’re going, but they want more. Well, biologically speaking, they’re trying to stuff themselves because food is available and they don’t know when the next meal is coming. But in our captive lifestyle, we’re feeding our animals twice a day. We can get into fasting on another talk because we do recommend proper fasting for animals. You know, for now, let’s just talk about the fact that they eat twice a day. So you don’t feed them to satiety, you feed them to their biological needs. And then I did one other thing with my raw food company because I only went to make a food because I could not get a, uh, company to make it back. When I started making my food, there was only three major raw food companies out there. One use synthetic vitamins and, well, minerals are already synthetic, but they use synthetic vitamins. And another company used GMO fed meats. And so nobody would make a proper diet. So I just put my fist down on the table and said, well, by Jove, I’ll make it myself. And then I thought, what did I just say? And uh, then I did, you know, so the right people came in at the right time and so we made a raw diet. But interesting, the labeling requirements for pet food is that you have to add vitamins and minerals and fatty acids to the food. Well, the problem with that is A, they have to make them synthetic to be stable and that’s not bioavailable to the pet. And then b, if they put fatty acids like fish oils, they turn rancid quickly and rancid Fish oils are worse than no fish oils. And then, of course, they add all kinds of other things, fillers, into the diet. And then, of course, to make it cheap, they have to use cheap meats. And so that wasn’t working for me. So what I said was, well, what if we don’t label it complete and balance, and we just differentiate the macronutrients from the micronutrients? So the macronutrients for me are the meat, fat, bone and organ meat, which is in our macro diet, and that is a raw product. But we test for salmonella, E. Coli and listeria. My product is made in a USDA facility. Everything is checked before it leaves. So we know it’s a clean, healthy product. And the animals are grass fed, grass finished, handled very humanely. So I know what that product looks like. And then separately, I found. Took me four years to find a company who would make the level of vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids that were of the standard that I required. And I actually had companies say to me, well, Dr. Siegel, no one’s gonna know. And I looked at this person in the face and said, I know. And I’m, um, the one that matters because I’m gonna look at my client and tell them, this is the best thing I can provide for you and I better mean it. So then when I separated the micronutrients, it was really cool because now I could dose based on body weight and metabolic need. Let me think about. You’re gonna feed a Chihuahua and you’re gonna feed a Great Dane. The same food. Other than the kibble size, how do you know they’re getting the same nutrients? It’s not like it’s evenly distributed and homogeneous through the whole pile. You don’t. So this way I could actually control. And when we test, I know what I can increase to be able to make up the metabolic needs.

Dr. Laura: Awesome. So for pet owners listening, how do they find this food?

Dr. Siegel: So, Dr. And then marlenesegel.com is the main hub. My hospital is accessible from there. Blogs, articles. I have programs that teach pet parents how to actually create a holistic lifestyle. It’s a deep dive. And, uh, I don’t think I’ve had anybody take the program, even health practitioners, and not say it was overwhelming how much information they learned. But, uh, you own the program, so, you know, you start with, I have them do A, column A and column B. So column A. All the things we’re supposed to be doing, but we haven’t learned to do them yet. So anytime you’re out learning not just this podcast. Anywhere you’re learning. Start making that list. All the things you should be doing, but you’re not, for your pet or for yourself. And then column B are all the things you shouldn’t be doing, but you still are because no one’s taught you how to substitute something better. Then you take that list and you pick one thing from column A to start and one thing from column B to stop, and you make that who you are. Then when that’s comfortable and you don’t have to think about it, then you go on and you pick one or two other things to start and one or two other things to stop. And then you keep doing that. And before you know it, within a month or two, you’ve made a massive lifestyle change for you and your pets. Yeah.

Dr. Laura: You have to do it in bite sized steps.

Dr. Siegel: Right.

Dr. Laura: So it’s not overwhelming.

Dr. Siegel: Yeah. Break it down into little chunks. And it’s interesting because people will do more for their pets than they will for themselves. Not mamas. Mama bears will do for the pets and their babies.

Dr. Laura: Right.

Dr. Siegel: Because that’s who we are, but not.

Dr. Laura: So much for themselves. And this podcast is always about mama self care.

Dr. Siegel: Yeah. Yeah. I just met Katie Wells at a conference. Oh, my God, what a beautiful human being she is. And I’ve been following her for years. Um, and she’s on baby number seven. Like, this woman is amazing. And we just got to talking. I didn’t know who she was and she didn’t know who I was. And we started talking about my food forest and some of the things I was growing. And I brought in fruit leathers, and we found out that we just live in the same state. She’s just in the north part of the state of Florida and I’m in the middle. So how cool is that? Our tribe is getting closer and closer. We’re finding each other, we’re supporting each other. And if I had one other thing, I hope I dropped a lot of mic drops here. It would be find your tribe. Find the people who you resonate with and stay with them. And then encourage others who are like minded to join you. And if somebody isn’t ready, God bless them. It’s okay. You know, they’re on their journey. You’re on your journey. You can’t be responsible for anybody but you. And you be the light. You be the model. You hold that torch up proud. And you light that path for others to follow.

Dr. Laura: Well said. Dr. Siegel. I’m so grateful for you coming on the show today. Thank you so much.

Dr. Siegel: Thank you. Bye, everybody.

Dr. Laura: Well, I hope you enjoyed Today’s episode with Dr. Siegel. She is so passionate about transforming veterinary medicine from a holistic, integrative perspective. With all of the amazing tech that’s now available for pet parents, pets deserve the same love and TLC and holistic lifestyle. So really being mindful that, uh, how we care for our pets is going to impact not only our pet’s health, but the entire family’s health as well. So if you want to learn more about her and how you can get her products or learn from her online courses, check out her website at, uh, drmarlenesegel.com that’s-r m m a R L E N E S I E G E l dot com.