Speaker 1: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Wherever you may be,
Speaker 1: you are tuned into the Vitamin D Podcast with Dawn Day,
Speaker 1: and I am your host, Dawn Day, here to help
Speaker 1: you get a little light inside your soul to shine
Speaker 1: like the sun that you are. Now. For those of
Speaker 1: you who may be new to the Vitamin D experience,
Speaker 1: let me just say welcome. It's so nice to have you,
Speaker 1: and thank you for choosing to live your best life.
Speaker 1: I want you to think a Vitamin D like your
Speaker 1: usual daily multi vitamin. You take it because of what
Speaker 1: you want to be healthy, because you want to make
Speaker 1: sure you're covering every base nutrient wise well in the
Speaker 1: same vein. I like to think of motivation and positive
Speaker 1: thinking as a multi vitamin for your mind, body, and
Speaker 1: soul a k. A Vitamin D. You want to make
Speaker 1: sure you're keeping your mental and spiritual levels topped off
Speaker 1: so that your mind and soul and mind, body and
Speaker 1: soul are well taken care of. And just like a
Speaker 1: multi vitamin by him in, D is part of a
Speaker 1: series of actions to keep your body healthy, motivated, and inspired.
Speaker 1: It stopped one in keeping your mind, body and soul going.
Speaker 1: Like with meditation, meditestation, and vision boarding. It can all
Speaker 1: become void if you like that drive, that basic building
Speaker 1: block of reaching your dreams, that basic building block of
Speaker 1: living the life you deserve, that basic building block of
Speaker 1: living your best life. So, with all that being said,
Speaker 1: today is my guests I have with me the incredibly
Speaker 1: knowledgeable doctor Ken red Cross. Dr. Red Cross is a
Speaker 1: concierge physician as well as a medical educator who has
Speaker 1: been practicing medicine for over twenty years. Today, he joins
Speaker 1: us to talk about his book Bond, the Four Cornerstones
Speaker 1: of a Caring Relationship with your Doctor, and Vitamin DED
Speaker 1: what it does for the body and why we need it,
Speaker 1: and how the physical vitamin D is similar to my
Speaker 1: inspirational dose of vitamin D. We also talk about being
Speaker 1: an advocate for your health and how that can contribute
Speaker 1: to living your life. So, without further ado, it's time
Speaker 1: for your dose of Vitamin D. Vitamin D right with
Speaker 1: me and get excited. Dr rec Frost, how are you
Speaker 1: are you doing? It's good to see you. How are
Speaker 1: you doing over there? How are you? I am grateful,
Speaker 1: just walking to gratitude each day at a time. You
Speaker 1: know a girl, girl, you preach it to the converted. Okay, listen, well,
Speaker 1: I think it's about time we need to converse some
Speaker 1: more people because we have some stuff to talk about today.
Speaker 1: Let's make it happen. Well. And I'm just sitting here
Speaker 1: thinking this is like ultimately so amazing for this moment
Speaker 1: because as I speak upon vitamin D, I come from
Speaker 1: a sense of motivation and inspiration kind of out like
Speaker 1: the foundation of emotional and spiritual health. But now we're
Speaker 1: gonna see from a medical perspective, and I kind of
Speaker 1: want to do like a poetry are kind of like
Speaker 1: an in and out dance with you, because I want
Speaker 1: people to see how vitamin D as a whole, when
Speaker 1: it merges is is something that helps you go exceedingly
Speaker 1: and abundantly with life so that we can have our
Speaker 1: audience truly live out their best lives. There you go,
Speaker 1: I am ready to do that. So that sounds good
Speaker 1: to me. You don't have to ask me quite so.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us, um and you're
Speaker 1: tuning in. I want to thank you for taking this
Speaker 1: time to invest in your life, but more importantly, taking
Speaker 1: time to get excited about it. Now. As you know,
Speaker 1: we talk about vitamin D all the time. And now
Speaker 1: I have a doctor on the line on to where
Speaker 1: you're watching, and he's going to be discussing um vitamin
Speaker 1: D from a medical perspective, because especially in times like this,
Speaker 1: Dr red Cross, we have to really uh taking consideration
Speaker 1: what vitamin D is and the importance of it. So
Speaker 1: before we lead into that, tell me a little bit
Speaker 1: about you, what you do and your stance on vitamin D. Look,
Speaker 1: so thank you for having me on doing this. Is
Speaker 1: this is beautiful to sit here and be able to
Speaker 1: talk tell my folks, especially about viden D. It's very
Speaker 1: important to Look, I'm a physician, I'm here in New York.
Speaker 1: I am a concierge physician and what that means doing
Speaker 1: and everyone out there listening and watching. It's just like
Speaker 1: when you go to a concierge a hotel. They're supposed
Speaker 1: to know everything as far as your area to make
Speaker 1: you happy and get you there. And that's what I
Speaker 1: do for your health. And it's incredibly important, especially nowadays
Speaker 1: as we're all saying that that patient doctor relationship it's
Speaker 1: not the way it really should be, especially in our
Speaker 1: community as well. So I'm very passionate about that. And
Speaker 1: so the patient doctor bond. It's kind of my calling card.
Speaker 1: It's my calling as far as why I went into healthcare.
Speaker 1: So I'm blessed enough to feel like I'm not even
Speaker 1: working every day because I know I'm doing the work
Speaker 1: of a higher being. So I love doing it. Come on,
Speaker 1: and you know what I love to I think we
Speaker 1: find ourselves powerful than what we do when we realize
Speaker 1: that we are a conduit and a messenger, and in
Speaker 1: fact that you're saying like you're that bond, You're that tunnel.
Speaker 1: You are the connection between the patient the doctor because
Speaker 1: oftentimes we have these resources, but we don't know how
Speaker 1: to access it. So thank you for being the link. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you and thank you for allowing me to talk
Speaker 1: about it, because it's not only about the access, but
Speaker 1: it's about providing that convenience and also the time. On average,
Speaker 1: you get about seven and a half minutes with your doctor.
Speaker 1: That's the average here in the United States, and obviously
Speaker 1: that ain't good. No, especially when I want to know
Speaker 1: how's your family doing, did you have your colonoscopy? And
Speaker 1: how is your spirit doing? I can't get that in
Speaker 1: seven a half minutes. It's impossible. And so that's why
Speaker 1: I do what I do, and you're right, it's really
Speaker 1: good to be able to be a Conway because my
Speaker 1: goal each and every day, though, is to touch as
Speaker 1: many souls as I can, and that's the whole purpose
Speaker 1: of my existence and healthcare. I love that, um. And
Speaker 1: so now that we're talking, and you know you talked
Speaker 1: about also connecting the soul, I want to get this
Speaker 1: perspective and I want to help bridge this gap right here,
Speaker 1: and I speak about vitamin D. As I mentioned before,
Speaker 1: it comes of a sense of inspiration, and vitamin D
Speaker 1: is upon off my name, Dawn Day. You get vitamin
Speaker 1: D from the sun. So I'm here to shed light
Speaker 1: into the lives of other people. Now from a medical perspective, UM,
Speaker 1: it's a safe to assume that vitamin D you primarily
Speaker 1: receive that from the sun. And why is it so important?
Speaker 1: All right? So look, guys, so when we talk about
Speaker 1: vitamin D, I'm gonna kind of dial back all that
Speaker 1: we've learned about vitamin D. Everyone thinks about it just
Speaker 1: for bone health, but I'm here today to talk about
Speaker 1: the importance of vitamin D for our immune health. That's
Speaker 1: the key and the important thing. Now, the reason why
Speaker 1: it's so important in the in the black and brown community,
Speaker 1: is that we tend to be the lowest in vitamin D.
Speaker 1: African Americans about eighty percent of us. The Latinos about
Speaker 1: seventy percent or low in vitamin D. But why does
Speaker 1: that matter? Going well, because we know that vitamin D
Speaker 1: is very important for our immune system, but we're also
Speaker 1: learning it. Let's look at the disease states that the
Speaker 1: coronavirus or COVID nineteen has been affecting diabetes, right, lung disease,
Speaker 1: heart disease, obesity, and guess what, All four of those
Speaker 1: states are associated with low vitamin D levels as well.
Speaker 1: And so as we see that correlation and may help
Speaker 1: us understand why we've seen so many brown and black
Speaker 1: folks die from the coronavirus here in the United States,
Speaker 1: we can't say the vitamin D is necessarily a treatment
Speaker 1: for the coronavirus, but we can say that it's important
Speaker 1: to build our immune system. You know, it's interesting when
Speaker 1: I was looking at some of the stuff going, we
Speaker 1: had a lot of the doctors with the with the
Speaker 1: former president who was in office at this point. The
Speaker 1: interesting thing was, you asked Dr Fauci, what are you
Speaker 1: taking And he said, oh, I'll take a vitamin C
Speaker 1: and my vitamin D. So that was the proof of
Speaker 1: concept yet again, which is incredibly important, as I mentioned before,
Speaker 1: for our community to make sure that we learn about
Speaker 1: vitamin D and its benefits of why we should take it. Okay,
Speaker 1: so what is vitamin D and what's the best way
Speaker 1: to consume it all? Look, I'll tell you this. So
Speaker 1: you mentioned that vitamin D is that sunshine vitamin, right,
Speaker 1: But once again, our beautiful brown skin blocks the sun's rays,
Speaker 1: so we don't convert to get vitamin D from our
Speaker 1: skin as well as someone else who's a little less
Speaker 1: melanin in their skin. So that's why it's important for
Speaker 1: us to try to supplement it. Now, I'm a little
Speaker 1: bit closer to the Earth with the way I practice,
Speaker 1: so I'm Western trained, but I talk about Eastern medicine ideals.
Speaker 1: So it's one of those things that vitamin D is
Speaker 1: not easy to get out of our diet. Fatty fish
Speaker 1: livers are a way to get it. It's the reason
Speaker 1: why Grandma used to chase you around with coler Royal.
Speaker 1: She was a genius because she knew that that's where
Speaker 1: you can get a lot of vitamin D that way,
Speaker 1: but it's really not that robust in our diets these days,
Speaker 1: so it's hard to get enough. So therefore you have
Speaker 1: to supplement. Now, when you supplement, the key issist what
Speaker 1: is that range we want to be between forty and sixty.
Speaker 1: That's the sweet spot where we want to get to
Speaker 1: everyone where we start to get really a lot of
Speaker 1: the magic of what vitamin D can do for our bodies. Now,
Speaker 1: vitamin D really impacts over two thousand of our genes,
Speaker 1: so it's that immune health benefit, but so much more.
Speaker 1: Now you need to make sure you get your levels checked.
Speaker 1: You go to your doctor's office to either get them checked,
Speaker 1: and I know that's challenging for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: My practiced on I make house calls, so my whole
Speaker 1: practice is virtual where I come into your home via
Speaker 1: this way, or I actually come in physically. Another thing
Speaker 1: you can go you can go to actually nutrient power
Speaker 1: dot org and if you go there, you can actually
Speaker 1: go and get it at home test kit where you
Speaker 1: can actually I'm sorry on the power of D dot
Speaker 1: org sorry everyone, where you can actually go and get
Speaker 1: your actual vitamin D kit where you can order you
Speaker 1: get it sent to your home. It's a finger stick
Speaker 1: and you can send that right back, get your results,
Speaker 1: and go back to that same website. Put in the results.
Speaker 1: It will calculate how much vitamin D you should be
Speaker 1: taken as well, and how often should you check your levels?
Speaker 1: You can tell everyone every six months. Great question though,
Speaker 1: because some people just go and think it's kind of done,
Speaker 1: and it's not quite like that. I usually say every
Speaker 1: six months, because I'm here in New York in the Northeast,
Speaker 1: we get that cold whether we're not getting so much
Speaker 1: sun and now we're all locked in as well with
Speaker 1: the coronavirus unfortunately spiking up, and which leads means and
Speaker 1: the next thing I wanted to discuss with you, because
Speaker 1: you know, I'm coming from a perspective of just speaking
Speaker 1: from how the sunlight and getting exposed to that type
Speaker 1: of energy and that type of rays. But I just
Speaker 1: recently came from my home city of Detroit, and it's
Speaker 1: getting gloomy now in this season, and it makes me
Speaker 1: think about when we talk about the vitamin D levels,
Speaker 1: we talk about the immune system, well, we also talk
Speaker 1: about the idea of how does that affect our mood?
Speaker 1: And this whole notion of seasonal depression in which you
Speaker 1: talked about spiritually being fit or healthy with the doctor,
Speaker 1: how are we should how should we operate during this season?
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny you say that because when you
Speaker 1: talk to people about what do they notice when their
Speaker 1: levels are really low? Or better yet, what do they
Speaker 1: notice when their levels are finally replenished, And they all
Speaker 1: talk about an improved sense of moved a sense of
Speaker 1: well being. And that's one of those kind of spiritual
Speaker 1: sort of metrics that I love to always talk about
Speaker 1: because one of the bigger questions I ask patients when
Speaker 1: they come in is, hey, look how is your soul?
Speaker 1: Not that ankle, that foot. You know, we worry about
Speaker 1: the blood pressure all that as well, but I need
Speaker 1: to know how your soul is. And so damin D
Speaker 1: is one of those things. Look at this, everyone, do
Speaker 1: God's grace, we'd make a vitamin We make a pro
Speaker 1: hormone really with the sun in order to be able
Speaker 1: to do so much for And that's the important thing
Speaker 1: when we're talking about why vitamin D is so important
Speaker 1: for our health in particular everyone, but especially for us.
Speaker 1: When you see the numbers and you see the deficiencies
Speaker 1: that we have, and then you see the disease states
Speaker 1: and the depths that are happening from the coronavirus, and
Speaker 1: their studies to prove it. Vitamin D is shown to
Speaker 1: not only help our immunity, it's shown to to decrease
Speaker 1: our issues as far as with our long function, to
Speaker 1: help us with insulin resistance, good for diabetics and also
Speaker 1: for obesity for those who are low. This is a
Speaker 1: study out of Canada that was actually done with African
Speaker 1: American women or women of color. So there's a lot
Speaker 1: of good data out there, and so that's a big
Speaker 1: reason why I was so happy to connect with you
Speaker 1: to get this message out to many more to understand
Speaker 1: the importance. And I love that because it gives me
Speaker 1: so excited because as I always tell people, like I'm
Speaker 1: a walking, breathing version of vitamin D. But to really
Speaker 1: know that in a sense that the double entange of
Speaker 1: the pot of the pot, it actually is wholeness and
Speaker 1: it's good and it's shedding light on the things that
Speaker 1: are going on inside. And I think that's so important
Speaker 1: what you said, because there's one thing to just find
Speaker 1: a cure, but how do we get on the journey
Speaker 1: of combating because as new diseases and things come our way,
Speaker 1: the immune system has to be up to par because
Speaker 1: it's almost kind of like if you're rooted in your
Speaker 1: foundation with faith, you're rooted in your foundation of health,
Speaker 1: no matter what the winds may come, you can still withstand.
Speaker 1: And in these times it's about people standing. How do
Speaker 1: you equip yourself with the knowledge the sense of self
Speaker 1: on the outside as well as combating or able to
Speaker 1: see the things on the outside to be better and
Speaker 1: so do better. Yeah, let me tell you. One of
Speaker 1: the most important things is that you have to be
Speaker 1: willing to confront your doctor. And I don't mean in
Speaker 1: a negative way, everyone, I don't mean that. But look,
Speaker 1: I'm here to tell everyone listening and watching your health matters,
Speaker 1: whether you think it does it and whether the health
Speaker 1: care system which has dropped the ball. We're not going
Speaker 1: to even talk Tuskegee tonight, all right, I'm not going
Speaker 1: there tonight. But the point is we have some issues
Speaker 1: throughout health care that are still kind of there in
Speaker 1: some ways, and so you have to be able to
Speaker 1: know that you matter, your health matters. So we got
Speaker 1: to ask questions, We have to make sure that we're
Speaker 1: educated and armed with the information. That's part of my
Speaker 1: whole role. When I talk about what I do, thought,
Speaker 1: it's about medical advocacy. It's making sure that the other
Speaker 1: folks around you know that someone has got your back.
Speaker 1: And that's the important thing that we have to make
Speaker 1: sure with our health care. We bond together and say, no,
Speaker 1: I matter in this whole equation. And I love you
Speaker 1: said that because you know, even just speaking with some
Speaker 1: family members, there is a thing that I think, um
Speaker 1: and I can only speak for my family who are
Speaker 1: African American, almost like a fear of the doctor, not
Speaker 1: wanting to tell the doctor all the information. I was
Speaker 1: just talking to my cousin we actually share the same
Speaker 1: birthday and withhold information from the doctor. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: you should How transparent should you be? Yeah, you have
Speaker 1: to lay it all out. Let me tell you gotta be.
Speaker 1: You gotta be honest with two people, right, You gotta
Speaker 1: be honest with the man upstairs, and the next thing
Speaker 1: is your doctor. Second. All right, for a second, but second,
Speaker 1: because we have to know everything. We have to know
Speaker 1: what we're dealing with them. Once again, I wrote a
Speaker 1: book called Bond because it's the importance of that patient
Speaker 1: doctor bond, and the whole thing I mentioned in that
Speaker 1: book is that your doctor should feel like a member
Speaker 1: of your family, because let me tell your girl, you're not.
Speaker 1: You're not necessarily lying to your sister. You're gonna let
Speaker 1: her know what's up. And that's the important thing that
Speaker 1: I'm going to have when I'm talking to patients. I
Speaker 1: need them to let me know what's up. I need
Speaker 1: to know all of that stuff, even if they think
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear it. That's all the important
Speaker 1: stuff because all of that really affects us as a whole.
Speaker 1: It affects us emotionally, spiritually, and physically as well. So
Speaker 1: it's important that when you have that relationship with your doctor, man,
Speaker 1: it needs to feel like a family member. So that's
Speaker 1: why I say you deserve the best all of you
Speaker 1: out there. When you go there and you go to
Speaker 1: the doctor's office, you pay your co pay, You get
Speaker 1: there to a waiting room, which is already a bad name.
Speaker 1: It needs to be a reception theary because that tells
Speaker 1: you you're already gonna wait. And then you get in
Speaker 1: there and you get send it in a half minutes. No,
Speaker 1: not good enough And so that's why I say, you
Speaker 1: have to make sure you value your health. And in
Speaker 1: order to value your health, you gotta let us know
Speaker 1: everything that's going on. And if the time has cut
Speaker 1: a little short, then there's nothing wrong you saying thought
Speaker 1: and need a little bit more time, if you wouldn't mind,
Speaker 1: I wanted to share a couple more things. So it's
Speaker 1: about making sure that you've become an advocate for yourself
Speaker 1: and especially for your family as well, your parents, your
Speaker 1: grandparents incredibly important, especially with what we're going through here
Speaker 1: in the United States right now. And I love how
Speaker 1: you said advocacy because it's about taking charge of your life.
Speaker 1: And as I tell people all the time, you know
Speaker 1: it comes to living your best life, you have to
Speaker 1: hold it by the reins. Now, can you tell me
Speaker 1: how important is it um as far as receiving opinions.
Speaker 1: Are you one to say, hey, you should do some
Speaker 1: research and get multiple doctors, or what are the best
Speaker 1: ways that you recommend individuals? So what really for me?
Speaker 1: As I talked about that, look, it's about getting that
Speaker 1: relationship once again, to when you feel close to that
Speaker 1: family connection. And then one thing I love too, I
Speaker 1: love when patients are going they printing stuff off of
Speaker 1: Google or whichever little resource and they want to rap
Speaker 1: about it. And that's good because that means you're invested
Speaker 1: in your health. That's something for us to go to
Speaker 1: lots of time, especially on the natural side of healing.
Speaker 1: I'm usually pretty well reversed that I'm good there, but look,
Speaker 1: I've learned sometimes too, and that's another excitement for me
Speaker 1: on the other side of the table. So once again,
Speaker 1: this is a this is a relationship that we're having.
Speaker 1: Miss My title is what it is, and I've been
Speaker 1: fortunate enough to practice for twenty years now and do
Speaker 1: what I do. But we are a partnership here. We
Speaker 1: see eye to eye. I'm not up here, We're right here.
Speaker 1: And in order to have that talk, it gets back
Speaker 1: to that openness that you're talking about and being able
Speaker 1: to have an exchange of ideas and exchange of why
Speaker 1: that article doesn't pertain to you, but I love that
Speaker 1: you looked it up. And this is the person that
Speaker 1: may need that educated along the way. And once again,
Speaker 1: that's that sharing that just has to take place between
Speaker 1: the doctor and the patient. That's incredibly important, I think
Speaker 1: because you get better health care outcomes that way too, right,
Speaker 1: because it shows that you're invested in you want to
Speaker 1: know to know how what's going inside and outside of
Speaker 1: your body. Absolutely, So we're talking about these things now.
Speaker 1: You mentioned that with the vitamin D levels of immune
Speaker 1: system maybe weak, or perhaps you will notice a mood change.
Speaker 1: What other things can we notice if there's other things
Speaker 1: going on with our body that may be due to
Speaker 1: a vitamin D deficiency. I was reading that you can
Speaker 1: get cramps, uh, spasms. Bones are known to be more Bretto, Yeah,
Speaker 1: people will exactly. The bone health is something that we've
Speaker 1: known for years, and that's kind of where vitamin D got.
Speaker 1: His first claim to fame was to prevent ricketts. That's
Speaker 1: everyone when you see kind of those children that were
Speaker 1: bold that had boat legged many many years ago, we
Speaker 1: found out that was a vitamin D deficiency. So that's
Speaker 1: kind of how vitamin D kind of once again came
Speaker 1: to the story. But once we did more and more research.
Speaker 1: That website I mentioned before that Power of d dot
Speaker 1: org a lot of information there about vitamin D. I
Speaker 1: love when patients go there and get educated because there's
Speaker 1: so much more we can talk about on this show
Speaker 1: that will show you about all of the benefits. We're
Speaker 1: only focusing now because we know about the immune benefits
Speaker 1: and what's going on with the coronavirus. But you mentioned
Speaker 1: early are you know I love that mood piece because
Speaker 1: when I have a patient who comes in once again
Speaker 1: the levels to make sure that I like to say, darn,
Speaker 1: I joke around. I have a little thing I say,
Speaker 1: get on my level when I talked to because people,
Speaker 1: and I'm talking about my vitamin D level. Everybody so
Speaker 1: yo yo, yell, love it so between fourty and sixty.
Speaker 1: But when I talk about that once again, it's about
Speaker 1: the importance of making sure that that mood is there,
Speaker 1: that that mood is right. And when I get a
Speaker 1: patient who is down at sixteen and they should be
Speaker 1: much higher, and I get them back up to the
Speaker 1: levels to hear that her depression improved, that her mood improved,
Speaker 1: because that's what happens that a lot of doctor's offices
Speaker 1: around the United States, where there's always this quick thing
Speaker 1: to write script. My whole goal is never have to
Speaker 1: pull out my prescription pad. So therefore, if I'm talking
Speaker 1: to someone and they're kind of borderline, the mood isn't
Speaker 1: where it needs to be, and I realized their levels
Speaker 1: of that low when maybe they replenish that and see
Speaker 1: that benefit. I didn't need a prescription for that. I
Speaker 1: didn't get to know my patient. I just needed to
Speaker 1: get that relationship and I needed to make sure that
Speaker 1: I was working from inside out. And so that's the
Speaker 1: sort of thing that I love to see. When I
Speaker 1: see that clinically, and I just love that, it just
Speaker 1: makes me smile further, because that's why it's so important
Speaker 1: to get excited about your life. I had a conversation
Speaker 1: once I was on a game show Let's Make a Deal.
Speaker 1: We won, and then we were riding over to the
Speaker 1: production studio house to pick up our gifts and I
Speaker 1: was speaking with the nurse and I had just I
Speaker 1: don't know how I started it, but I went on
Speaker 1: to tell her how my mother had died from stage
Speaker 1: for breast cancer, and we talked about different elements and
Speaker 1: a different diseases, and she said how a lot of
Speaker 1: times people find that that it's due to cancer oftentimes,
Speaker 1: and she said, the leading calls that you will find
Speaker 1: is that it's due to stress. That whole constriction, because
Speaker 1: if you think about it, whether you're telling somebody to
Speaker 1: get on my level, or asking somebody not to kill
Speaker 1: my vibe because in the killing of that energy stores
Speaker 1: that comes a black it and we go into the
Speaker 1: situation of how is that moved? How is that moment
Speaker 1: to breathe so things can flow. So I love how
Speaker 1: you talk about the importance of that. Yeah, And when
Speaker 1: you talk about disease or what I I usually don't
Speaker 1: even say disease because I think that gives it too
Speaker 1: much power. Dot I call it disase because that's really
Speaker 1: what it is as far as the body. So when
Speaker 1: you're dealing with those things of disease causes inflammation, and
Speaker 1: our body doesn't like inflammation. Whether it's in our brain,
Speaker 1: whether it's in our heart, we just don't do well
Speaker 1: with it. You know, that stress response is good if
Speaker 1: you see it back in the day when we were
Speaker 1: cave people. You see a saber too tighter, you gotta run.
Speaker 1: But it ain't so good when you're doing it each
Speaker 1: and every day because it wears on you. It wears
Speaker 1: on you, and therefore your body is kind of like
Speaker 1: a bike outside in the rain for too long. After
Speaker 1: a while, it gets rusty, and that's what starts to happen.
Speaker 1: To your body as well. So chronic stress is not
Speaker 1: good for us, and you're right, it can cause disease
Speaker 1: and that's an important thing. Also interesting that when you
Speaker 1: talk about cancer diagnoses and that sort of thing, you know,
Speaker 1: vitamin D has been shown to be beneficial potentially for
Speaker 1: mortality benefits over the long term. So it's a lot.
Speaker 1: Like I said, it's a beautiful story when you talk
Speaker 1: about it, And why I joke around when I say,
Speaker 1: get on my level or talk about the power of
Speaker 1: d dot org and just ways to educate folks so
Speaker 1: that all of us are having these discussions in between
Speaker 1: our family. I want us to hopefully listen and say, mom,
Speaker 1: I just I just heard this dot lot. Maybe actually
Speaker 1: let's get our vitamin D levels and make it a challenge,
Speaker 1: a competition. Those are the sort of competitions we need
Speaker 1: to have. We have all these other crazy competitions with
Speaker 1: each other, but we don't have anything for our health.
Speaker 1: And that's what I want to change and I love that.
Speaker 1: So now, what are your thoughts on folks that feel
Speaker 1: as though they can increase their vitamin D levels by
Speaker 1: consuming dairy products. Are you for that or against it? No,
Speaker 1: I'm not look I'm not the biggest fan of dairy.
Speaker 1: Dairy is one of those things also that can cause
Speaker 1: a lot of inflammation as well. You know, it's interesting
Speaker 1: thought that you're from Detroit. I had a TV show
Speaker 1: yesterday from Detroit too, and the host says, well, Doc,
Speaker 1: I'm high yellow. I gotta worry about that. I'm like,
Speaker 1: high yellow doesn't matter. You still need to make sure
Speaker 1: you get your vitamin D as well. And so it
Speaker 1: is important as we as we kind of talk about
Speaker 1: this sort of thing um and making sure that no
Speaker 1: matter what, that we can't necessarily get it out of
Speaker 1: dairy because don't forget everyone, it's fortified, meaning that vitam
Speaker 1: D is added to milk. It's not necessary really fortified.
Speaker 1: So that's why. And don't forget you're not gonna get
Speaker 1: enough in that way of what your body needs as well.
Speaker 1: So that's the key thing about saying this is something
Speaker 1: you've got to supplement, you're not gonna probably get enough
Speaker 1: in your diet. Oh wow, Okay, because I was just
Speaker 1: speaking my godmother. She was I don't know if she
Speaker 1: was drinking oranges, but she said something like, you know,
Speaker 1: drinking and some dairy and using that to increase her levels.
Speaker 1: But just when you talked about the whole thing with
Speaker 1: stress and inflammation, I'm like, how that combats and works
Speaker 1: together as one? I'm unsure. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you
Speaker 1: find out a lot about when you talk to a
Speaker 1: lot of allergists. For instance, if you ever go to
Speaker 1: an allergy delta, they always say any time you come
Speaker 1: in with the rash, you're coming in with something. They say,
Speaker 1: are you doing any dairy? And that's the first thing
Speaker 1: they start to cut out. Or you see a rheumatologist
Speaker 1: and you haven't joined this comfort or joint pains, whatever,
Speaker 1: that first thing you always ask, you're doing any dairy?
Speaker 1: And it's once again, it's back to that inflammation. Everyone
Speaker 1: our body doesn't like it. So what are some of
Speaker 1: the things that you can do? Number one? You know, look,
Speaker 1: whether you're a meditator like myself or an exercise or
Speaker 1: like myself, that's one way. UM. And also just to
Speaker 1: make sure that you're bringing in those foods that you're
Speaker 1: eating whole foods. I love to do ginger a lot.
Speaker 1: I love to do things that are kind of a tumoric,
Speaker 1: things that are some natural kind of um, you know,
Speaker 1: anti inflammatory molecules that are out there that we can
Speaker 1: actually take into our food because food is medicine and
Speaker 1: people think about it that way. We're very cognizant about
Speaker 1: what we put in our bodies if we think about
Speaker 1: it that way, right, And I mean, if we were
Speaker 1: to be as cognizant of what we put on our
Speaker 1: bodies as we were inside our bodies, we have some
Speaker 1: long lasting machines. You can say that again, low and
Speaker 1: understanding like this finite of time that we have here
Speaker 1: and you know, realizing that this is one body that
Speaker 1: we have. And just like how you're talking about the
Speaker 1: mood and the different endorphins that go onto the body,
Speaker 1: how do we go in away that we can operate
Speaker 1: in our best self. Because even when you're saying about
Speaker 1: the bodymindeed, it almost has me thinking that it's appropriate
Speaker 1: to say it's a foundation of health. Yeah, and it
Speaker 1: really and truly is when you think about it. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: it controls almost some of the studies will say two
Speaker 1: to three percent of the entire geno. If you look
Speaker 1: at the receptors, there's receptors Revitamin D not only on
Speaker 1: our kidneys, on our brain is receptors which is probably
Speaker 1: why you get that benefit. So it really is a
Speaker 1: foundation of any supplement program when you think about it.
Speaker 1: I can talk about a lot of others. Of course,
Speaker 1: as fish oil is good. We understand the importance of
Speaker 1: fish oil. There are some other ones out there, one
Speaker 1: called asked xanthing that's a different one. That's what meets
Speaker 1: the salmon that orange pinkish color. It's an antioxidant. So
Speaker 1: there's a lot of things that we can piecemeal together.
Speaker 1: But it all starts with vitamin D. Hello, say it again?
Speaker 1: Say it again? DOTR Red Cross Right, all right. You
Speaker 1: can all start piece but piece if you want to,
Speaker 1: but it all starts with vitamin D. You heard it
Speaker 1: right here. Listen. I didn't have to say it, he said.
Speaker 1: And now you see why you're listening to the Vitamin
Speaker 1: D podcast. Get your lives. You got me shipping in
Speaker 1: in here. So another thing that I talked about. And
Speaker 1: I make sure that you know in a sense of
Speaker 1: like a piece, be still and understanding self. And I'm
Speaker 1: so glad that you said two things. One you're not
Speaker 1: in the whole business of writing prescriptions, and then two
Speaker 1: that you understand the sense of having a sound balance self.
Speaker 1: Can we talk a little bit maybe about why meditation
Speaker 1: is important, perhaps even therapy, talking about and how fitness
Speaker 1: plays a role as well. So I heard that heard
Speaker 1: the last part of your question that on about fitness
Speaker 1: playing a role as far as in uh, in the
Speaker 1: in the health. And so you know, that's a great
Speaker 1: question because the CDC says we're supposed to be getting
Speaker 1: seventy five minutes a week of high intensity exercise or
Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty minutes a week of moderate intensity exercise.
Speaker 1: And that's the important part because we know that watching
Speaker 1: what we're eating and watching what we're doing to make
Speaker 1: sure that that's a way to stay on this earth longer,
Speaker 1: to make sure that we're moving our bodies. And they
Speaker 1: were putting things in to that machine that you were
Speaker 1: talking about before. So exercise is important. And I'll tell
Speaker 1: you as well, exercise isn't working hard at work or
Speaker 1: I take a lot of steps at work. Doc, I
Speaker 1: love that, and I'm like, no, exercise. I need you
Speaker 1: to have the inability to speak in full sentence. That's exercise, okay,
Speaker 1: because that other stuff is just baseline. But I need
Speaker 1: you to really work it a little bit. And that
Speaker 1: can be brisk walking It doesn't have to be any
Speaker 1: thing overly strainuous. But I need that heart muscle working.
Speaker 1: That's the important part. Because you're a heart muscle. It's
Speaker 1: just like a bicep. You gotta work it and oh
Speaker 1: my okay, so here I go. I'm thinking of a
Speaker 1: double pont on that as far as, like you know,
Speaker 1: getting the heart muscle to work. But when you think
Speaker 1: about having that love of yourself getting that to work,
Speaker 1: it's gonna take you getting uncomfortable. And I want people
Speaker 1: to realize with everything that you said, if it sounds new,
Speaker 1: that means that you need to get uncomfortable and out
Speaker 1: of the norm. You need to approach your doctor as
Speaker 1: a peer, as someone eye to eye to say, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm standing up for myself because I care about my
Speaker 1: health too. You may not like to work out, whether
Speaker 1: it because you're exhausted or where your hair is gonna
Speaker 1: sweat out, needless to say, move your body. And then
Speaker 1: this whole idea when you're saying doing a temperature check,
Speaker 1: how often do we do a temperature check? Whether that
Speaker 1: be a sense of the meditation like you spoke of,
Speaker 1: or just simply asking how are you doing? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's an important question to ask. You know, you'd be
Speaker 1: surprised on every time I ask a patient I see them,
Speaker 1: I say, how is your soul? You'd be surprised if
Speaker 1: people look at me and say what you ask me?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I want to know how your soul
Speaker 1: is and what's going on? Let me tell you know,
Speaker 1: that's the most beautiful question that I can ask somebody
Speaker 1: because they started talking about what they want their careers
Speaker 1: to be, what they want their aspirations to beat, their dreams. Oh,
Speaker 1: there's nothing better than hearing a person's dream and sitting
Speaker 1: there and being able to encourage and inspire them to
Speaker 1: attain that. Like you said, look, we in on this
Speaker 1: earth forever. Come on the math, right, And I've done
Speaker 1: the math that I don't think I like the math.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna make sure that while I'm here every
Speaker 1: day like it's my last, and I want Patience to
Speaker 1: feel that way when we're together, recognizing that we're gonna
Speaker 1: make this a rich experience for them while we're here
Speaker 1: on God's green earth, and we're gonna make sure it's rich.
Speaker 1: And the best way to do that is trying to
Speaker 1: do their best to have good health. That's one of
Speaker 1: the big pillars to it, and taking the notion of
Speaker 1: getting out of this mode of having to survive and
Speaker 1: realizing that life is meant so that we can really
Speaker 1: thrive in that I agree, I agree with you, and
Speaker 1: it's stepping up to self, and it's stepping up to
Speaker 1: shape that I love you and not being so unapologetic
Speaker 1: about it. Now, I'm sure some people have been listening
Speaker 1: and they're wondering, can you just tell us how does
Speaker 1: your how your services work? If I'm a new patient
Speaker 1: and I'm interested in seeking out what is the first step?
Speaker 1: Can you walk me through that? Sure, guys. So my
Speaker 1: practice is a little is a little different. So as
Speaker 1: I mentioned before, being a concierge physician is about you
Speaker 1: my whole focus and you your happiness and how to
Speaker 1: do that. So I do it three ways. I have
Speaker 1: my house call service, where as it is you know,
Speaker 1: I go whether I'm traveling. I was traveling a lot
Speaker 1: more for COVID out West, South, everywhere. And then the
Speaker 1: second thing I do is a program where it really
Speaker 1: works for a lot of people who have older parents
Speaker 1: and smaller kids in their own career, so their parents
Speaker 1: are getting a little bit older, but they need support,
Speaker 1: their parents are older, they go to the doctor. They
Speaker 1: asked them, how was the doctor visits in the Paris
Speaker 1: And I don't know. I think it was all right,
Speaker 1: And you call the doctor. Doctor says, now when we
Speaker 1: talked about the diagnosis, is that other No, I'll put
Speaker 1: those pieces together for those families that need somebody that
Speaker 1: once again is their advocate, so I can make sure
Speaker 1: things don't go sideways, so I can make sure that
Speaker 1: what the doctor said makes sense, and so that everyone
Speaker 1: in the family get what's going what's really going on.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of a family type program. And then
Speaker 1: I have strategic advice, I call it. And that's when
Speaker 1: I have people all around the US and really all
Speaker 1: over the world where I'm literally there to be there
Speaker 1: monthly to just kind of talk through things, to give advice. Hey,
Speaker 1: I went to my doctor because I'm in Oslo, Norway.
Speaker 1: I went to my doctor. I got these lab results.
Speaker 1: He told me this does this make sense to you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it does make a little sense, or you know what,
Speaker 1: go back and ask them a little bit, ask him
Speaker 1: if people do this other tests or that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: So once again, I'm empowering the patient. I'm making sure
Speaker 1: so unable to do what I know my calling is
Speaker 1: to be able to affect souls in three ways that way,
Speaker 1: and so I'm able to do it through that way,
Speaker 1: that way or that way. But it allows me to
Speaker 1: kind of realize my purpose. So now we're talking purpose.
Speaker 1: Tell me what are do you possibly have? Maybe three
Speaker 1: or one? However, man, do you want to share any
Speaker 1: powerful quotes that you can say that someone can live
Speaker 1: by or maybe have helped you out in your journey? Wow?
Speaker 1: Um oh, that's a good one. The problem is all
Speaker 1: the things that I love is so dad going along.
Speaker 1: I don't have a memorized but I can tell you
Speaker 1: one of the things that I always really really come
Speaker 1: back to is something that our former President Obama said,
Speaker 1: And it gets back to what we were talking about
Speaker 1: as far as your your your care mattering, your health mattering,
Speaker 1: and about not wanting to exercise because you're gonna sweat
Speaker 1: out your hair or I don't got no time and
Speaker 1: I don't feel like doing this any other But it
Speaker 1: gets back to change, able to change? Or what did
Speaker 1: President Obama said? He told us all that we all
Speaker 1: had to change, but more importantly, he said we or
Speaker 1: who we've been waiting for somebody, for somebody else we
Speaker 1: or who we've been waiting for. And every time I
Speaker 1: go through my days and I think about what this
Speaker 1: needs to happen, and maybe I need to do this. No,
Speaker 1: I'm the one, and so we have to make that
Speaker 1: happen for ourselves. So I hope that after hearing this
Speaker 1: or seeing us, someone said, you know what, that's got
Speaker 1: a point. My health does matter. I am the one
Speaker 1: that needs to change my behavior. I am the one
Speaker 1: that needs to change and recognize that I do matter
Speaker 1: in this world and deserve the best. And that's what
Speaker 1: I want everyone to really walk away with. No yourself,
Speaker 1: know your word? You know. It takes me back to
Speaker 1: when I was in eighth grade. I've always been wanting
Speaker 1: to be a collector of quotes, but my eighth grade teacher, Ms.
Speaker 1: Karmel told me a quote that's still with me for years,
Speaker 1: and it's simply, I make myself what I am, and
Speaker 1: it's just said to self, of just whatever you want
Speaker 1: out of life, whatever it is that you can inquire,
Speaker 1: knowing the power is yours. We hear differently when we
Speaker 1: hear it, and I think it's the poem Imsidious I'm
Speaker 1: the captain of my fate, master of myself, invictus. I
Speaker 1: know it well. I know it well, but it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: let's time to get up. Let's hold up, let's stand
Speaker 1: strong and take vitamin D level seriously and as you said,
Speaker 1: get on my level, right, let's right, stop playing, let's
Speaker 1: make it happen and look and reach out. I have
Speaker 1: so many people doing around the US that as I
Speaker 1: talked about this, say doc, I'm on your level or
Speaker 1: I'm almost on your level. Like I said, we made
Speaker 1: a game out of our health. We make sure we
Speaker 1: have fun with our health. I want you to I
Speaker 1: want you to send those levels to say I'm on
Speaker 1: your level. That's the whole point is that when I
Speaker 1: hear forever and we need to make sure that when
Speaker 1: we're here that it's with quality. And that's what vitamin
Speaker 1: D allows us to live with. Yes, actually all the
Speaker 1: vitamin D there. You know, you know you can be
Speaker 1: like the spokesperson for the podcast and just literally and
Speaker 1: you will be saying nothing but facts of just how
Speaker 1: instrumental vitamin D is for life inside and out. Yes,
Speaker 1: Dr red Cross, absolutely, as I told you, you you didn't
Speaker 1: have to tell them about vitamin D. Like I told
Speaker 1: you before, you are preaching to the converted with so
Speaker 1: true question. Um, it's so fitting. That's your last name
Speaker 1: is red Cross, true last name, true last name, true
Speaker 1: last name is funny, you asked, though, because I practiced.
Speaker 1: I trained here in Columbia, here in New York, and
Speaker 1: I went out to Cali and I'm practiced in in
Speaker 1: UH with Margaret Mexican farm workers for a few years.
Speaker 1: I went out to Beverly Hills and you know, we
Speaker 1: went to Beverly Hills. Everyone thought I'd changed my name.
Speaker 1: I was like, look, I ain't that important. Thinks nothing. Um,
Speaker 1: but I'll tell you it's a it's a great story.
Speaker 1: It's a Native American last name, small tribe outside of
Speaker 1: the maryor In area, Monican tribe. Um. And we have
Speaker 1: a family historian and she traced us back to seventeen
Speaker 1: eighties seven John and Lucy. They had land and a
Speaker 1: little and a mule, um and so it's a native.
Speaker 1: John was native, Lucy was was African American nick name
Speaker 1: for sure. And um, you know, I'm the first doctor
Speaker 1: in my family. So I'm very proud of it. Yes, congratulations,
Speaker 1: and I'm so glad you said that because I just
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that a lot of people um
Speaker 1: take note of that as well, the fact that you
Speaker 1: said that you knew your history, and I'm sure when
Speaker 1: it comes down to health, we need to start asking
Speaker 1: questions what's down the lineage because like I spoke to
Speaker 1: you before about my cousin and not wanting to reveal
Speaker 1: information but then not knowing the other information that to
Speaker 1: self to reveal, because that plays a factor and everything
Speaker 1: matriculating in life right huge factor because we're talking about
Speaker 1: our genes, our genetics as you're talking about, and so
Speaker 1: you know, there's only but so much we can do
Speaker 1: right as far as with medications and and exercise. Some
Speaker 1: of it is kind of baked into us already. And
Speaker 1: if it's baked in, we even know about that, so
Speaker 1: that I can know if your father had a heart
Speaker 1: attack at forty six, guess what, we're gonna be checking
Speaker 1: a little bit earlier for your cardiac help. But I
Speaker 1: gotta know it. You gotta be open with but we
Speaker 1: gotta be like this to make sure I know that.
Speaker 1: So that gets back to that point is that no, no, no,
Speaker 1: this is a this is a no judgment zone all
Speaker 1: honesty through these four walls when I'm there. And so
Speaker 1: it's important when you talk about the family history and
Speaker 1: allowing us to know that. And glad you said that,
Speaker 1: because that's what I talked about. Vitamin D. Vitamin D
Speaker 1: is all about the light, and you know that the
Speaker 1: truth the way the light shines, the truth is going
Speaker 1: to shine light on whichever way. But like you said,
Speaker 1: how do we move forward? And sometimes we get stuck,
Speaker 1: but it's always about to get up and the constant movement.
Speaker 1: So dr Across, if someone is listening and they would
Speaker 1: like to reach out for your services or perhaps check
Speaker 1: out your book Bond that you discuss, can you tell
Speaker 1: us the information and also where to follow you on
Speaker 1: social media? Sure? So look, my website is dr ken
Speaker 1: red Cross dot com um and I'm a I'm all
Speaker 1: over the social media, whether it's Instagram or Twitter or
Speaker 1: Facebook is Ken red Cross m D. And I really
Speaker 1: mean it, reach out, just say hello, and and just
Speaker 1: realized that I'm here for everyone. I really feel that
Speaker 1: every time I do these shows or any time done
Speaker 1: for now, for this hour, wherever we've been together, they're
Speaker 1: all my patients, all of you are, and so I
Speaker 1: hope you feel the love, that happiness and make sure
Speaker 1: that we really get out there and get some healing,
Speaker 1: not only from the outside, but more importantly for me
Speaker 1: from within. Yes, yes, well, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: your times out of very Cross and thank you for
Speaker 1: being an advocate for somebody to say why vitamin D
Speaker 1: is important and challenge of everybody to get up on
Speaker 1: your level. There, we got up on that vitamin D level,
Speaker 1: especially the pod as we're talking abow, Hey, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you so much, Dr red Cross. Thank you for
Speaker 1: having me on dog. Haven't blessed that? Everybody? Wow? Look
Speaker 1: at that. I knew that this would be a good conversation,
Speaker 1: but it really took off to think. How often have
Speaker 1: you went in to see the doctor and have been nervous,
Speaker 1: second guessing on the questions that you should ask and
Speaker 1: feeling like things or the doctor doesn't care about you. Well,
Speaker 1: now you have a different perspective and a different perspective
Speaker 1: of vitamin D. Who would have thought that it would
Speaker 1: have such a strong effect on your emotions and health.
Speaker 1: And like a doctor red Cross said, you need to
Speaker 1: value your health and that's on the physical and the
Speaker 1: mental level. And if you ask me, I'd say on
Speaker 1: the spiritual level as well. And I really like the
Speaker 1: fact that he asks his patients how is your soul?
Speaker 1: Because how is your soul? How is your soul? No,
Speaker 1: how is your soul? I'm telling you that can hit
Speaker 1: and so many ways, and I'm going to start asking
Speaker 1: my friends and family and people that I love, how
Speaker 1: is your soul. For more information about Dr red Cross
Speaker 1: and Vitamin D, you can follow him on social media
Speaker 1: at Ken red Cross m D on Twitter and Dr
Speaker 1: red Cross on Instagram. If you're interested in checking your
Speaker 1: vitamin D levels, you can get a Vitamin D at
Speaker 1: home test kit at power of D dot org. As always,
Speaker 1: you can catch us here on your phone or whichever
Speaker 1: smart device you fancy each and every Monday with more
Speaker 1: inspiring conversations and insights. And if you're looking to get
Speaker 1: even more Vitamin D in your life, you can follow
Speaker 1: me at Dawn Day Speaks on Instagram and Twitter. And
Speaker 1: in the meantime, always remember you are your greatest asset.