EP25: The Power of Naturopathic Medicine with Dr.Candice Staniek

This is winning with wellness, a podcast about inspiring the wellness warrior in you. If you're feeling lost or alone in your wellness journey, or looking for new ideas and inspiration, you are in the right place, a place you can learn about all things wellness, in business life and living. Your host, Jenny rice, we'll be bringing you inspiring stories and practical tools to improve your overall wellness personally and professionally. Imagine what living a life of wellness would be like. Thank you for joining us today.

Hi, everyone. It's Jenny rice from winning with wellness. So excited to be on this other podcast. And I was laughing I listened to a few of my podcasts in a row. I say that a lot. So just know that it's genuine and true. I'm thrilled to be here and honored that you guys are listening. Your time is valuable. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I am so, so excited. Yes, I said it again. I have an amazing guest with us today and it's Dr. Candace Stanek and she is absolutely incredible and all things wellness, and I can't wait to dig in with you welcome Dr. Candace.

Thank you so much, Jen and glad to be here. Oh, so thrilled.

Okay, you guys, I want to share a little bit about Dr. Candace so that you know where her grassroots are from and what her passion is, but we're going to dig into it even deeper through questioning. So Dr. Candace believes in the healing power of nature and the body's innate ability to heal. As an out of the box thinker and naturopathic doctor, Dr. Candace strives to provide guidance and tools so you can return to balance and wellness. Don't we all want a little bit of that? Dr. Candace approaches wellness from a physical, emotional and multi dimensional perspective. It is truly a holistic and heart centered approach. I am thrilled to have you here to dig into this passion of yours. Thank you so much for being here. Dr. Candace.

Yeah, thank you very much Jenny.

All right, let's get at it. I want to know people want to know what does wellness actually mean to you? I mean, this is not only your business your passion you went to school for this Tell me tell me what does wellness actually mean to you?

Yeah, so wellness is I really think it's it's really an all areas of our life. So when I say holistic approach, I genuinely mean that I look for practitioners that I can align with in all areas so I might refer someone to a financial advisor for example, if that's an area of stress, absolutely referring to other practitioners for physical wellness, so chiropractors, massage therapists, etc. So wellness to me really is touching all those areas. So physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and all the areas career relationship, passion, spirituality, etc, that family that goes all in that so really that holistic because wellness is at the center of everything we do, plain and simple. We don't have our wellness nothing else is going to kind of flow

when we forget sometimes that our health and wellness is or other than time is our most valuable asset and our most important commodity that we own and that I I'm very curious because we all end up where we are generally in our professions due to some type of personal history or experience and what have you learned on your wellness journey that you would love to turn back time on and share with your younger self?

Oh, that's a good one. Mmm hmm. Um, I would say for me, I would say it's more in my journey of medicine, that I would have wanted to start school sooner. Do you have a degree in business I worked in business for eight years before returning to school so I think I would have liked to start my program sooner and to have believed in myself sooner because I had talked myself out of doing the sciences while I was in my undergrad and ended up like really loving the sciences because all of the sciences are prerequisites for naturopathic medicine so I would have definitely done that stuff sooner.

It's so interesting how you know I share a similar story different pathways obviously of my worthiness or self doubt dig I allowed it to dictate my my trajectory. Obviously I'm where I'm supposed to be now due to the journey etc. But it's so interesting when we reflect back on on those things. So when you think about that, When it because with being a natural Pathak doctor tell me like, is there What drew you to that? Because, you know, I mean there's different pathways you've got to take him with you to that and and what would draw somebody to that that maybe lives in a Western ice medical, you know, belief system that has never been to a naturopathic doctor.

Yeah, so I would say it was sort of inherent in me and then it sort of went hidden for a little while, as I mentioned and came back. But what drew me to it was that I was faced with a career decision. Either I was going to get a finance or accounting designation, or I wasn't going to get promoted. And I thought, well, I might not get promoted here but I will get promoted either in another company or through my own business, which is what ended up happening so I ended up going on a very extensive search, I think for I don't know six months or something. I looked at all kinds of degrees and came across natural Pathak medicine more than once though, because I had seen a naturopathic doctor. And she said to me, don't don't do it. It's way too much work. And I had kind of put it in the background, let it go. And I had come back to it and I read the principles of naturopathic medicine. I thought, Oh my gosh, I'm living my life like this, like, you know, first do no harm, returning to the power of nature for healing, like all the answers are so powerful. Yeah. Um, and in terms of individuals, you know, may be concerned naturopathic medicine versus allopathic. So allopathic is your traditional medicine doctor, medical doctor. So why they would concern naturopathic medicine, they might not be getting answers that they're looking for, they want an individualized treatment program or plan, they want a doctor that will spend time with them. So naturopathic doctors spend about an hour or more on the first visit, identifying the history and then making a treatment plan. So it's not definitely not a cookie cutter approach. Definitely not the 10 or 15 minute visit you might traditionally get. And, you know, we have a lot of lot of training over 800 hours of training in natural modalities. So that really is our expertise, as a profession of naturopathic doctors. So there's many, many, many things that we can, you know, look at as far as treatment modalities are concerned.

I love it. And I encourage everybody that's even thinking or listening right now that has thought about going to see a naturopathic doctor, I have a full team of people that support me and I love that you were sharing that, you know, like you refer to different doctors, you you know, you connect, and I love my allopathic doctor, but she again is overwhelmed and inundated in her own field, she doesn't have the time or the resources to spend with me and be proactive with my healthcare. So her and I are like that last minute situation where things are not well and I need it dealt with right away, I might have broken a lamp kind of thing. That's what I go see. But my naturopathic doctor, and I really wish Dr. Candace lived in my neighborhood because I would go see you as well, I think you're amazing at what you do. She Yeah, we spend the time and I love that you address that that's so important. It's getting to the root cause and, and looking at it as a as a way to be proactive and, and also, you know, digging in because many times our elements come from from other sources. It's not the obvious like when my jaw is, is sore, there's nothing to do with my jaw. It's the stress in my body that comes through the clenching that I do. Right? It's not like my jaw stop working. I'm doing the things that I shouldn't be doing. So I love and appreciate the value that your field really gives an individual which is amazing. And I'm gonna I'm just going to point this out for anybody that's listening in you guys. I know you're listening from all over the world. Double check what your coverages you never know what kind of medical coverage you might have. I know I here in Canada get coverage to actually see, you know, doctors like Dr. Candace. So I encourage you guys to look and see what your coverages don't limit. Don't limit yourselves if if you might have resources for that, which is amazing. So I would love to know what when you started this journey and you know, I think it's so interesting that someone's like, don't do it. It's hard. I love that. Look that hack. Talk about like, thank goodness you didn't listen.

Yes, yes, yes.

So thank you for stepping into the obviously uncomfortable boundary of working really hard. You know, we need more People like you out there. When when you think about, what do you find you end up prescribing? Or what would you say are some of the top issues that you're seeing right now that you're helping people through?

Yeah, so I guess the most prevalent that's sort of shifted in the past year would be stress. And this is really in every area. So whether it's with family, friends, workplace, etc. Second to that, and this hasn't really changed, but it is definitely there is infections, I treat a lot of infections. Because I find so interesting. We spent a lot of time in school studying infections, how they present where they come from, etc. etiology is what they call that. And I can tell you, oh, man, they don't show up the way that we learned in the textbook. I mean, they do sometimes, but many times they don't. And I've been investigating, you know, different presentations of infections, particularly viruses and bacteria, because they're just not showing up the way that they would present or they're showing up in the body in different locations than they're supposed to be in so yeah. Yeah, you know, so for example, like last week, I had an individual that had here itching ears, and there's certain bacteria that's normal for the ear. And when I was working with her, we discovered that she had bacteria in her ear that was more predominantly supposed to be in the abdomen into so it's like, well, how does that happen? Well, that's because the body is connected in different ways and things travel around the body and show up in places are not supposed to be

so interesting. Yeah. And okay, so Oh my gosh, I honestly I could spend hours asking you questions when when you think about so let's let's revert back to the stress point that you said you've seen a highlight in that and again, I'm I'm asking this question and I anybody that's listening, this is not to replace a visit with a doctor. This is not to replace you know, you don't get to hold Dr. Candace accountable because she's sharing stuff on the book. But I feel like we need to vary. But I would be curious if you're open to sharing like maybe your top three tips for people right now that are experiencing high levels of stress, to help them kind of move through that with grace or transition into a little more place of calm? Is there any way you

could share? That would be okay, yes. Um, so what I'm going to say is align yourself with like minded people, because they will have your back and you will have their back. The other thing is to limit social media. And I'm very well aware, trust me that many of us go to social media for information or to follow certain people because we like their content, etc. But be very cognizant of what information you're looking at because there's a lot of information out there that's confusing to the public and that frankly you know, should be investigated further or have a perhaps medical conversation to really identify what's going on. And then thirdly, I would say in general ensure that you're taking nutrients so basic nutrients, multivitamin, B complex, those be kind of my top top ones, there's many, many other ones, but not stress related or other related,

right yeah, I love it. And actually, you know, those are really three viable like viable viable points because we are what we eat, we are what we consume, and we are who we spend our time with and really it's all about what we allow to absorb in and you know the people we spend our time with influence our thoughts and and who we are and who we strive to be what we watch read see absorb You know, that's a form of consumption as well and then of course, our food intake if we're not fueling our bodies, how does it heal? How does it manage high levels of stress so that is some sound advice Dr. Candle so much. When when we think about it's something I'd love to, to really bounce into, and I share on this podcast quite often is the reason I did this podcast was, you know, I was raised believing and not that it was like the solid belief but it was just this awareness that you were either you know, healthy You know, I'm air quoting, healthy or you were sick, we never talked about that gray area of where we lived and, and in that gray area, most of us are not living our best life. And it's the gray area, when I say which time to redefine your wellness, you know that, you know, we're always either moving towards health or away from health one or the other. So, when you think about redefining wellness, and what I just shared, what pops to mind for you?

I think the first first thing that pops to mind is self awareness. And again, this goes to every area of your life, like how does a person feel when they eat a certain food? I spent a few months sort of observing, you know, just the food actually tastes good. And most of the time, frankly, it doesn't, it doesn't taste good. Or I'm eating this food because there was some memory from the past about my family having waffles, for example. But the waffles unless they're, like, buttered and have syrup on them actually don't taste great. So why am I eating it? So that's one thing around food, but even just self awareness around emotions, how do you feel at home? And how do you feel when you go out in the public? How do you feel after you talk to certain people or, you know, consume certain things, as Jenny had mentioned, that self awareness is such a critical piece of the wellness picture. Because if we don't have that self awareness, we can't actually assess if we're well, because what we think is well, isn't if you were to sit in front of a naturopathic doctor, for example, or other practitioners, you might identify that you're actually not well, it's like, oh, I've been operating out of this sub optimum optimum level that I thought was well, that really isn't well, it's my 60%, sort of my 100%. Like, what else is possible if I actually felt Well, if my mood felt Well, if my body felt well, so I think that self awareness piece is huge. And I think it doesn't get enough emphasis in terms of how someone's doing.

I totally agree. Holy smokes, you're you're so speaking to me right now. It's like crazy. So I want to flip the table because we're I can't believe how fast the time is going. So is there a question before we you know, transition to the end of our call? Is there a trend? Is there a question you're wishing I would ask so that the viewers knew, am I missing something you'd love to make sure that we share?

Mmm, hmm. No pressure? No pressure at all. I'm going to Yes, what what is the difference between a medical doctor a naturopathic doctor and a natural path? Because there are differences

to good one. Okay. That's my question go.

Oh, a medical doctor, their program and you can look this up. But I have done a comparison between Stanford University and best your university where I was trained. The science and clinical training is the same if you compare our so I have just as many hours in science training and clinical training as medical doctors, where there's a huge difference between a allopathic doctor and a naturopathic doctors that naturopathic doctors have over 800 hours in natural therapies and modalities. So nutrition counseling, physical medicine, herbal medicine, and homeopathy plus whatever other curricular extracurricular activities we have participated in, which could be a lot.

I've met you I'm sure there's on that list.

Yeah, so um, we're also trained in pharmacy, a lot of people don't realize that we are trained in pharmaceutical medicine as well, and imaging and blood work. So it really is all those things, but the our ability to order those things is dependent upon the province of which we're living because we have a certain scope of practice. Now in terms of a naturopath, this is a layman's term, but it does not necessarily include a naturopathic doctor. There are some people who use a term naturopath who are not medically trained. And so if I do hear that, can you repeat that again? So there are some individuals in Canada probably the US as well, that use the term natural path who are not medically trained. That's kind

of terrifying. I hope everybody heard that. So be clear, okay, and keep going. So

if you are wondering if the person you're speaking to is medically trained, they will be listed on their state or provincial Association website. You can always confirm their credentials and their license, a naturopathic doctor will have a license on their invoice that they're using for billing purposes. Your natural path won't. That's, that's huge. It's It's huge. And it's nothing against other practitioners. I know they're doing very good work in their area of interest or specialty, but it's misleading to the public. And so I feel it's important for individuals to know when they're looking for practitioners that they're working with.

Yeah. And again, like you're saying, Dr. Candace, and I appreciate that you honor that, it doesn't mean that the work isn't valuable, and that you should stop seeing who you're seeing. It's just being conscious of, of what you're what you're stepping into, so that you're, you know, what you're purchasing, you know, the support that you're getting. So I love that you share that. And I had no idea. So that's really great. podcast is all about, it's shedding the light on the thing. So you know, learned a couple new things today.

Yes, yeah.

Well, listen, thank you so much for being here, we're gonna make sure that your contact information is in the chat. And I do know that you had a workshop that you're creating and curating. And we're going to make sure that you share the link with me so that I can put that into the show notes so that if people are interested in stepping into that workshop with you, can you give like a 32nd? what it's about the workshop?

Yeah. So I have basically sums up by reclaiming your energy, it'll be a six to eight week program, there is myself will be present in the program, like in person. And then we'll also be some curated content online to consume plus a bunch of PDFs and a individual group that people can access.

Love it. And I love that you share that. It's you It's so interesting. There are a lot of workshops nowadays that people aren't live. So that is an important piece. So thanks for sharing that. Yeah. Dr. Canis, it has been a thrill and an honor to have you here. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. Thank you for not listening to the the other physician who told you it was hard and for stepping in. We need more. We need more of you out there. So thank you so much for doing the hard work. And my pleasure happen.

My pleasure.