Harvest #2

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

The field of public health is so broad and we look at the health of a population and what makes people healthy, what keeps people healthy. We look at income and education and jobs and community supports and there are so many things that go into making and keeping people healthy and Public Health looks at all of those things.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

Since about 1970 in the United States, we've been getting our information from some centralized authority, whether that's a government authority or some medical authority. And that centralized authority is trying to come up with one way of treating everybody, one diet for 240 million people.

Mark Swann:

To me, the word harvest also has a connotation of community and people sort of working together. And that's what we're all about at pebble street as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Hello, this is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. Today is September 25, 2011 and our theme today is Harvest. My goal as a physician and a mother is to see individuals making healthy personal choices and thriving in the community because their well being has a ripple effect. Everything is interconnected. One person's health is my health and yours. If we want a better world, that's where we have to begin with ourselves. Joining me in the studio today, as always, is our co host, Genevieve Morgan, Wellness Director for Maine Magazine. On today's show we have conversations with Julie Alfred Sullivan, the Public health Director for the City of Portland. We also talk with Dr. Richard Maurer, a naturopathic physician at Coastal Naturopathic center in Falmouth, Maine, and with Mark Swan, the executive director of Preble street in downtown Portland. We hope you will enjoy our program on Harvest as we enter into this autumn season. Thank you for listening. So one of our segments every week is about food and nourishing ourselves, feeding ourselves. When patients come into my office, food is a very important topic. And it's not just food from a physical standpoint, it's food from an emotional, spiritual, intellectual standpoint. We talked about that last week on our Beginnings show on the September 18th show. So I have Jen Morgan in the studio with me again. Jen, as we keep reminding people, is our wellness editor for Maine Magazine and does our Maine Magazine minutes. I know food is particularly important to her and she's going to be speaking with Dr. Richard Maurer later on in the show about food. But today we're going to focus on a few actual food choices.

Genevieve Morgan:

I see you have some delicious looking products over there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yes, delicious indeed. And local because they all came from the Whole Foods Market here in Portland, Maine. They sponsor this segment and let us pick through and look at their locally grown foods. So what's interesting to me is we have foods you might not consider to be local. For example, we have these lovely red rocket peppers from the Little River Farm in Buxton. You think of these as sort of Mexican or hot or spicy and really they can be grown anywhere. So we'll talk a little bit more about the peppers and the health benefits of these. But we also have a few other items. We still have blueberries. These are wild Maine blueberries. These came through the Stoneset Farm in Brooklyn. And we have some tomatoes from backyard farms in Madison, Maine. What's great is that these are all things that you can do. You can eat these foods and stay healthier than you would be if you didn't eat these foods. I guess that's a silly thing to say, but you know, the world is so busy and fast paced and we forget that there are simple things that we can do to stay balanced. And I like to think about food as medicine. And that's I can't remember which famous person said this, but let food be your medicine and medicine be your food. This is something that we talk about all the time in my office and on a daily basis almost, we're getting research coming out that's showing us about the benefits of eating healthy food. And I have in front of me Spirituality and Health magazine.

Genevieve Morgan:

You write for that magazine, don't you?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I do write for this magazine. Actually. I guess it takes me a little while to actually read my magazines. But anyway, it was funny because there were three things that I was really interested in. One of them was a study out of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston that showed that men and women who eat berries on a regular basis may have a lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease.

Genevieve Morgan:

Wow, that's fascinating.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it is fascinating, and it's especially fascinating because actually it's even more important in men than in women. And men tend to be a little bit more challenging from a health standpoint. You know, men, they aren't necessarily as into their health as women. Studies have shown.

Genevieve Morgan:

I think that's true.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So the reason why these berries are so important is because they have flavonoids in them, antioxidants, which are also found in tea, red wine, chocolate, and citrus fruit. And the people in this study were followed by for 20 to 22 years. And the top 20% of flavonoid consumers were 40% less likely to develop Parkinson's. And this is so interesting. So we have Maine berries, locally grown Whole Foods Market. Such an easy way to get these flavonoids into your diet. Sprinkle them on some cereal.

Genevieve Morgan:

They taste delicious.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

They taste delicious. Absolutely. And another thing that tastes delicious are these backyard farms tomatoes. Now, on the WLOB segment that we've done for the past couple of years, we've talked about lycopene and prostate cancer. That's just one of the substances that we find in tomatoes. We also are finding that tomatoes are good. In addition to preventing a lot of chronic diseases such as cataracts, these lately have been shown to have lipid lowering effects, which means that they're counteracting the cholesterol in your blood. And they're showing that people who eat more tomatoes are less likely to develop vascular disease. The important thing about vascular disease is that it's sort of a silent killer.

Genevieve Morgan:

And isn't cardiovascular disease one of the top four killers in the country?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, heart disease is one of the top killers. And vascular disease, which tends to be people. If you get a heart attack, you do have vascular disease. The vascular disease is related to your blood vessels. So you can have a buildup of these cholesterols and fats in your blood vessels. And so we know that if you have a buildup of fat in your heart and you get a heart attack, then that's obviously you have vascular disease in other parts of your body. There are people who don't get to the place where they actually will have a heart attack. They'll just end up having what we call vascular insufficiency. And they'll have pain in their legs or they won't, you know, the blood won't flow back and forth quite as well, they'll get swelling in their legs. And we know that over time, people who have vascular disease are likely to also develop heart attacks and possibly dementia.

Genevieve Morgan:

In your practice, Lisa, do you see that you're able to help people control cardiovascular disease with food and acupuncture and more natural methods? Is that something that that lifestyle and diet helps fix?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

If you can do it from a preventive standpoint, you're even better off. Primary prevention, but we talk about secondary prevention and tertiary prevention. You sort of get in there after the fact and yeah, diet, lifestyle, we teach qigong. I do acupuncture with people, which helps with stress. And all of these things can contribute to lowering one's risk of vascular disease, heart disease.

Genevieve Morgan:

In the article I just published in maine magazine with Dr. Maurer, who we're going to be talking to later, I actually saw in the CDC reports about our state that cardiovascular disease is one of the top problems for the state of Maine. So for everyone listening out there, it's really interesting that what you're saying, it's in your own power to help alleviate symptoms of cardiovascular disease through diet, through people like you, right?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It is. It's absolutely in your own power. And I think sometimes this is one of the things that we worry about with health care is we feel powerless. We feel like we're at the whim of our local clinic. We can't get in to see our doctors. We need a pill, we need a quick fix. But it really starts far before you get to the doors of your doctors.

Genevieve Morgan:

Starts with a tomato, starts with a

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

tomato, starts with some berries. Also, an interesting thing that came out of Spirituality and Health this month talks about coffee preventing against diabetes. And again, we know diabetes, obesity, those are both risk factors for heart disease. We in the Portland area like to go over to Bard Coffee, and that's another local establishment. We love the people at Bard. Hi, Jeremy. And if you're having your daily cup of coffee, maybe not more than that, then you're going to have protective effects against diabetes and also prevent heart disease.

Genevieve Morgan:

Great. I actually have a nice coffee from Bard behind me right now. Well, there you go.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So again, locally grown, we have the berries, we have the backyard farm tomatoes, a little bit of coffee. And actually there are a lot of things that we talk about on the website that sort of just give you sort of the ground floor entry into health. We've. I spent a lot of time exploring health over the last few years on my blog. I write more about spiritual health now, but this is really where I started when I was coming into Chinese medicine and integrative medicine was talking about how we feed ourselves and how we feed ourselves from a physical standpoint. So this is one of the reasons why we focused on health so early on. And in fact, when we go on WLOB every week on our Thursday segments at 6:50 in the morning, we bring in our basket of fun, we bring in our locally grown foods, we talk about how we prepare them, and we give people tools they can use.

Genevieve Morgan:

And you can find some of your recipes on our website, am I right?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yes, absolutely. You can find them on our website. You can find them in the E. News. We talk about food and eating and the Farmer's Almanac Online, which is another that's another publication that we write for. So we're out there. We're spreading the message of health and nourishment and eating and foods.

Genevieve Morgan:

Planting the seeds for harvest.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Exactly. It's all about harvest. So, Jen, thanks so much for having this great conversation with me today. Thanks for joining us on this segment. And we'll be back again in a minute.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So our featured guest today is Julie Sullivan, the public health director for the city of Portland. And today we're talking for a theme. We're talking about harvest and about reaping what you sow. And that has multiple connotations which we've discussed in our earlier introduction. I'm sitting here with Genevieve Morgan, Wellness editor for Maine Magazine. Good morning, Jen. Hello. Good morning, everybody. And I'm going to tell you a little bit about Julie, and then we're going to get started. Julie's a dear friend of mine. I've known her for a while. She is the Public health director for the City of Portland, overseeing a nearly $6 million budget with more than 100 staff in five program areas. Under her leadership, the health Department doubled grant revenues while decreasing general fund reliance by 15%. Previously, Julie was the health promotion program manager and started the city's first minority health and community health outreach worker initiatives. Before Moving to Maine, Ms. Sullivan served as project director for a $3.3 million Department of Justice demonstration grant for children exposed to violence at the Chicago Department of Public Health. Ms. Sullivan earned MBA and MPH degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a BA in History from Northwestern University. I'm impressed.

Genevieve Morgan:

So am I.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Lots of things that you've done in your life, lots of degrees that you have. And you know that I have a master's in public health myself, so this is very dear to my heart. And I know that Jen is wondering, and the rest of us as well, what is public health and what does this have to do with wellness? What does it have to do with medicine? What's the intersection? Tell us. Julie well, public health, I think, is

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

something that's very hard for people to define. I think most often people think of public health as perhaps health care for poor folks. Maybe immunizations, a flu shot is something that's often connected with public health. But the field, what's always been interesting to me about it, the field of public health is so broad and we look at the health of a population and what makes people healthy, what keeps people healthy. We look at income and education and jobs and community supports, and there are so many things that go into making and keeping people healthy. And public health looks at all of those things, whereas medicine is very focused on individuals and the needs that they present to an individual practitioner and an individual moment in time. And when we want to look at the prevention factors and all the assets that are in place in communities to make and keep people healthy.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So we are talking about wellness on a much bigger scope. We're talking about the wellness of the family, the wellness of the community, and really the wellness of the country and the world. Honestly, if you look at the World Health Organization, that's Public health on a global Absolutely. So I know that one of your projects recently has been Portland Defending Childhood. And I'd like you to speak a little bit more about that.

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

It's a new award from the Department of Justice and looking at the impact of children's exposure to violence. And it's something that most people really aren't aware of, especially when you look at very young children, maybe ages 0 to 5, who might be witnessing some domestic violence in the home. Many folks might assume that a baby is too young to really get it, to really have any sort of negative impact from that, or that a toddler or preschooler is sleeping and didn't hear it. And what unfortunately, what we find most often is that especially with domestic violence, which is most often chronic and not just a one time thing, that there's a pretty severe impact or there can be on a developing brain. And that often when these children come to school, it's the first time anybody's noticing that There might be some challenges for that kid and they have a hard time sitting still and paying attention and school and things begin to snowball from there. And so we want folks to know that there is an impact when children are witnessing violence and that there are signs to look for when a kid is struggling and that there are supports in the community available to children and families to seek services when they need them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what are those signs? If I'm a teacher or a social worker or a community member or even a parent, perhaps a co parent in a situation where I don't have my child full time, what signs signs am I looking for?

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

With little kids, it's a short list of symptoms because they only have limited ways of expressing themselves. So often it's regression in toilet training, problems sleeping, kind of maybe odd complaints about a headache or a stomachache. So a lot of they're sort of nonspecific signs. But it's certainly violence in the home or violence in the community is one thing to look for. And as you know, we have a growing number of refugees who have been through unbelievable trauma in their country of origin. And so they're coming here. And those kids have seen things and witnessed things and been directly affected by things that we can't. That thankfully we can't even really understand. And so we're building capacity as well to deal with that kind of trauma too.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I read the percentages. 15%. 15%. 15% of our city's population is a minority.

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

Yes. I mean, Maine is still, of course, one of the whitest states in the country, but Portland is not at the same rate as the state at all. And we have increasing numbers, certainly from all sorts of different countries in Africa, but also from Afghanistan and Iran and, you know, very large families that have been through very serious trauma coming here.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So we've been talking about sort of the negative aspects of violence, whether it's violence coming from a different country, violence in the home, if you're from the United States. But. And that's all about reaping what you sow. You know, something happens early on and then later on you see an impact. Tell me about the things that the city has to offer that actually can change things for the better. So you're actually. So we're talking about harvest and abundance. And I know that you spend so much money right now to try to get people healthier. Tell me what types of things you're doing.

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

I would start with our maternal and child health nurse Home Visitors, which is part of the main family program, and a series of home visits are offered to every first time parent in the state of Maine. And our nurses visit families in Portland and so they're able to help new parents adjust to having a new baby. And anyone who's had a new baby knows that there's little that can really prepare you for that. And so there's lots of assistance in that transition and also in breastfeeding and making sure the baby is developing appropriately. And we also do do some parenting support groups and infant and toddler playgroups which are great ways for parents to get support from one another as well as from our nurses and for the kids to play together, which is always a good thing. And we also have six school based health centers, so we're in most of the schools in Portland, all three high schools and King Middle and across some of the elementary schools as well. And that's a great way to provide additional medical services for kids who need them in the school. Some of the assistance is managing chronic disease, but also with the older kids there's reproductive support and mental health and dental services.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you do work with immunizations. Tell me about the immunizations.

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

Our India Street Clinic provides every immunization you need at very low cost or no cost. And we also connect with our school based partners to be providing flu clinics for kids as well to make that as accessible as possible. We allow younger siblings to come into the school and get those shots as well when we do our flu clinics.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you told me there's a travel clinic as well.

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

There is a travel clinic. We want to support people being healthy no matter where they go. We know that getting the acquired shots to travel to different parts of the world can be prohibitively expensive and so we are able to provide, I believe, everything that is needed at a much more reasonable cost and that helps us to be able to provide services for those who can't pay as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you've also, we've talked about immunizations, we've talked about school based health and preventing violence in the home. I know that eating and food choices have been pretty important. And there was a recent campaign that you did with regard to sugar beverages, is that right?

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

Yes, we just did a campaign that's wrapping up to raise people's awareness on exactly how much sugar there is in soda in these sports drinks. Some of the vitamin drinks that are marketed as being very healthy are loaded with sugar. Some can have 16, 20 packets of sugar in them. And some surveys show that 2/3 of high school kids are drinking at least one of these beverages a day. They're empty calories. They don't fill people up. They so therefore they're not adjusting how much they eat otherwise and the pounds just pack on. And folks aren't even aware of that happening. And we've been really pleasantly surprised by the reaction to that campaign. In fact, in the rotunda of City hall we have an exhibit with a liter of soda and the amount of sugar in it that people can actually see. And there's other sort of different bottles showing how much sugar is usually in these drinks. And I'm always amazed, every time I walk by, there's somebody in there fondling and drinks and looking pretty disgusted by what they see. So it's been great to see that awareness.

Genevieve Morgan:

Lisa and Julie My son came home yesterday from lunch and said that he'd had a chocolate milk. He goes to King Middle School, but he said there was high fructose corn syrup in the milk. Have you heard of that?

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

No. I will certainly share that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's something we need to work on, isn't it? Yeah.

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

We've had a great partnership with the Portland public schools and Ron Adams, who is in charge of the food service there, has been a terrific partner in bringing local main foods into the schools and increasing how much healthy food is available. We've used a large federal grant that we got in obesity prevention to buy salad bar equipment for each school. So the schools are doing much better than they ever have before. But I will share that with our guys.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And how do you network with the entire state as far as public health is concerned? I know that in the last few years we now become a cdc, a center for disease control, and we've been linked in nationally. How does the city of Portland actually link in with what's going on with the state of Maine?

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

I would say the largest source of our funding is through state contracts. So we are accountable to the state through, let's see, we've probably got about 50 different funding sources or 50 different contracts and at least a third and probably close to a half of those from the state. So we work very closely in implementing often mutually agreed upon objectives to further their work.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Can you give me some examples of projects that people might be familiar with?

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

Oh sure. Our school based health centers are a state grant. The reason why I paused is that so many of the state grants are federal pass through. The state of Maine does not allocate. The legislature has not, at least in my tenure, does not allocate very much money to public health at all. Most of the money that is available to us through contracts from the state is via the Fund for Healthy Maine, which is tobacco settlement money which is going to be once again severely at risk going into the state legislative session. It's been cut back. And if that continues to be cut back, that will affect immunizations, that will affect maternal child health, home visiting. These were things that were on the block last year and survived. But the governor is intending to cut at that fund again. So I certainly want to point out that there's. Maine is one of the lowest states in the country, along with Arkansas, Mississippi in funding state funding provided for public health.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So most of the money is coming through the federal pass through. So that's the United States government.

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And the tobacco funding, just address that briefly.

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

That is the tobacco settlement from a number of years ago in which, gosh, 20 or 30 attorneys general from around the country sued all the major tobacco companies. And so as part of that settlement, the companies have to give billions into this national fund which is then allocated out with some formula to the states. And so again, that's really the source of funding for public health in Maine. And it does support home visiting, school based healthcare, I believe, certainly immunizations. We do a lot of work around substance abuse prevention as well. That comes from the Office of Substance Abuse. A big topic right now, of course is bath salts. And so we're trying to get some education out there for folks on bath salts.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Wait, bath salts is a big topic and yet I have not heard of this. So we just have a few more minutes left. Just briefly, bath salts.

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

Bath salts is some odd name for a new drug that's out there. That is a chemical synthetic drug that reminds me of what I used to hear about PCP or angel dust. It has horrible effect on people. And what we're seeing, we've seen unfortunately a case or two. Our own clinics, we know the ER and the Poison Control center are seeing significant cases. Bangor has had a huge number of cases. And folks are violent and paranoid. They're very harmful to self, dangerous to others. They're very delicate, delusional. They have no idea what's going on. They're ripping their clothes off and you know, they've found a naked woman in a pipe somewhere, you know, a drainage pipe. You know, we had someone come in who was out of his tree, out of his tree. And you know, the police are, police have to take them down to the er. It's a dangerous situation. So it's certainly something that we want people to be aware of. And there's more and more information coming

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

out and how can we access this information? What's the best way to get information on all of these programs you've just described?

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

Well, most of it is available on our website, which is Portland, Maine, all spelled out all one word.gov and we'll

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

have that also on the Dr. Lisa website for people who would like it. And I know that you've done so much work, I have to say that the people who do public health work and wellness are perhaps the least recognized. It's a very difficult job. Along with social workers. I'm just going to make a shout out to the social workers and the teachers of the world. But Julie, we so appreciate your coming in and talking to us about what you're doing with public health. It's an amazing resource available to the city of Portland, to the state of Maine, and we wish you all the best.

Julie Alfred Sullivan:

Thank you very much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So I'm here with Genevieve Morgan, Wellness Editor for Maine Magazine and she is going to talk a little bit with Richard Maurer, Dr. Richard Maurer. And I'll let her introduce Dr. Maurer.

Genevieve Morgan:

Thank you, Lisa. Those of you who read the magazine know that I interviewed Dr. Maurer this month for an article called what's for dinner? Dr. Maurer earned the Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from the National College of naturopathic medicine in 1994. He supervises medical residents for the Maine Medical Center CAM Residency Fellowship and he is adjunct faculty at the University of Southern Maine. Dr. Maurer is a member of the American association of Naturopathic Physicians, the Maine association of Naturopathic Doctors, and is an active member of Slow Food and the Weston Price Foundation. He lectures regularly, has authored numerous health related articles, compiles a quarterly newsletter and is in the process of writing a book on the fat back diet. Dr. Maurer specializes in physiologic basis of disease through effective diagnosis and treatment. He addresses weight issues, thyroid problems, anemia, pre diabetes, digestive diseases and food allergies. He applies the fat back diet principles for many conditions including ADD and autism. Dr. Maurer is available for teaching and lecturing on natural therapies. He has practiced naturopathic medicine in Maine since 1994 and practices at Coastal Naturopathic center in Falmouth, Maine, which he also owns. Am I right?

Dr. Richard Maurer:

Yes.

Genevieve Morgan:

Oh, great. Welcome, Richard. So nice to have you here.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

It's a pleasure.

Genevieve Morgan:

We had such a good time talking the other day about what people should be eating for dinner. And today Lisa and I have been talking about so many things. But our last segment was about local food. And there are so many, so many reasons why we should be eating locally from an economic perspective. But I'm interested in what you have to say about why people should eat local from a health perspective and a scientific perspective.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

That's a good question. There tends to be a division between what is healthful and what is local. Local we think of farmers, we think of farmers markets. Historically though, if we go back to say, my great grandmother, there was only local. Local foods created the community cuisine and culture that we look at now when we're studying what is so healthy about the Mediterranean diet. For example, there's a great article. If we go back a few years to 1972, the Scientific American did an article called lactose and lactase. This is studying the enzyme that helps one digest milk sugar. If you were from Sweden or European countries, there was only about a 2% to 10% chance that you would not have enough lactase to digest milk sugar. So you were not lactose intolerant. Whereas they studied people from Thailand and China and the rates were about 98% lactose intolerant. I use this as a way of comparing not because lactose intolerance is the most important condition I see in my practice, but it's one many people have heard of. And that is just one enzyme that has shown preference to a local, regional way of eating. And there are probably thousands upon thousands of other enzymes in our body that help us digest and be healthy. Eating a local cuisine.

Genevieve Morgan:

Let me just ask you, do you think that it is the environment influences genetics over a long period of time, or that your genetics start to play a role in your preferences, or your allergies, or the way that your body metabolizes?

Dr. Richard Maurer:

In that particular study and numerous subsequent studies, the environment really changes the genetic preference.

Genevieve Morgan:

So what we're really talking about then is you need to understand where you come from and what your culture is in order to figure out what the healthiest foods are for you to eat. But if you move to a region, eating locally is also important, is that correct? You need to choose. You need to look at your own personal background and then where you live.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

Yes, and there's both genetic reasons for that. But furthermore, I'm reminded of patients I've seen over the years who are trying to do a raw foods cleansing diet and they're quite gaunt and they're very sick all winter because they're trying to do this based upon a book that was written by some self proclaimed medical authority living in Southern California. And they're trying to do this diet in March in Maine with perhaps two young children at home and a demanding life schedule. When I tell them they need chicken soup and perhaps marijuana toast, the surprise in the room is palpable.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And this is important. I mean, when we talk about locally grown foods and Whole Foods Market does sponsor our locally grown food segment in Chinese medicine, which is the type of medicine that I've integrated into my western medical practice, there is a very seasonal element to all of this. So when people come in and it's October, they really should be eating winter squash. They shouldn't be eating watermelon grown in Bailey's or something like that. Do you have the same sense from your own practice?

Dr. Richard Maurer:

I do. I do recognize that the human body is extraordinarily adaptable, but those adaptations over time have also always responded to the seasonal change. We change our enzyme output from our pancreas based upon what foods are locally available. And that's been working that way for thousands and thousands of years.

Genevieve Morgan:

So Richard, do you have a specific example of a patient that you can tell me more about that exemplifies what we're talking about?

Dr. Richard Maurer:

I do. We could. Frequent themes I see are related to to someone's metabolism. Either that pre diabetes metabolism or the thyroid metabolism. There was a woman who I saw just recently who she was very discouraged. She started training for a triathlon and while training she was gaining weight despite keeping her diet the same and no small amount of weight. Obviously her frustration was warranted and we ran tests. She does have hypothyroid and she has the kind that is most popular common in women and that is the autoimmune hypothyroid. It slows the metabolism down whenever there's an event that is stressful to the body, like decreased caloric intake or increased activity.

Genevieve Morgan:

So Interesting, really.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

And this is a wonderful trait. Of course, this is terrific. To help a woman survive the potato blood famine in Ireland. I don't think this particular patient was very excited about her ability to survive a difficult time.

Genevieve Morgan:

I know many women who would not like the idea of training for a triathlon and gaining weight.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

But understanding it meant that we had to watch her thyroid numbers much more frequently and adjust medications more aggressively. And it worked fine. And she has a better understanding that she can't feast her famine, her exercise, she has to stay very consistent with it so her body doesn't perceive it as a stressful one time event, which is what she's ultimately wired for from her long past genetic survival.

Genevieve Morgan:

So there we go. It is nature and nurture.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

Absolutely.

Genevieve Morgan:

What I think is interesting about what you're saying is about how people get their information about food. And we spoke a little bit about that in the interview, but I'd like you to spend speak more to that to our listeners today.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

Well, that's. Thank you. I think the dilemma we all have is trying to answer that question. Thank you. To author Michael Pollan, what to eat? Or as we wrote, as you titled the article, what's for Dinner? This question has been asked forever. And the answer has traditionally come from our local community, culture, family, that cuisine aspect of what to eat. And the other one is what's unique about ourselves as individuals. The problem is since about 1970 in the United States, we've been getting our information from some centralized authority, whether that's a government authority or some medical authority. And that centralized authority is trying to come up with one way of treating everybody, one diet for 240 million people. I tend to treat people in my naturopathic medical practice on a one on one basis. So to help someone understand themselves as individuals requires interpretation of their past history, their family history, proper interpretation of their blood tests. And I'm ordering blood tests that help me evaluate for what happens when they eat something. So their thyroid tests, their insulin tests, their glucose. They're not getting diabetes, perhaps in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, but they're getting migraines and cholesterol problems and high uric acid and conditions that precede diabetes. But it means that they inherited the diabetes gene or that slight hypothyroid gene, the gene that slows your metabolism down every time you decrease your caloric intake. So to help people understand themselves is extremely useful in helping them gauge what a healthy diet is.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And what I like about what you just said was that you do treat the individual and it's one on one. But you're talking also about their family history, their cultural history. And I know that you're a part of the slow food movement and, and sort of getting back to things that are more important about cooking and eating than just nutrients that are ingested. So the family aspect of things, how much do you do with that in your practice?

Dr. Richard Maurer:

I do a great deal in a general medical practice. I am the true family doctor in a way.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Right. Which I love because I'm also trained in family medicine. So I just have to give you a big sort of verbal hug for that, Richard, for, for focusing on the family.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

Thank you. And I think we all appreciate when we see a child and an adult and a grandparent all in one family, we are better doctors, we're better diagnosticians. And I think the family benefits by having a better understanding of what they need to do to be at their optimum, to be the healthiest.

Genevieve Morgan:

Well, and what I like about being in the room with the two of you is I feel like I'm in the presence of the new future of medicine, which is expansive with, which includes many different aspects of healthcare and is not speciality based that you both are so expansive in your treatment of people first and disease second. And I just wanted to give you a chance, Richard, to talk about naturopathic medicine for maybe a minute or two and what it is actually, because I think there is some misperception about naturopathic medicine that it's not real medicine. But from what you've just told me, those tests sound very clinical. They sound absolutely what a regular traditionally trained medical doctor would do.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

Yes, as a naturopathic doctor, I went to an undergraduate premedical program and then a four year residency based naturopathic medical college in my own practice here. Since for the past 18 years, I have seen a number of people. I use a great deal of blood tests. The clinical labs here probably know me very well. I interpret them as I think the traditional general practitioner would have. I do a bit more physiologic based medicine. I'm always trying to understand what makes somebody work, what's happening when they exercise, what's happening when they eat, what is their response to that. And that's my specialty or my basis. And I think naturopathic doctors as a rule tend to be more physiologically based. It's a big word, but basically means that they're studying the way people work, what makes them healthiest. And through that we treat disease by using more natural therapies, diet, nutrition, herbal medicine, and physical medicine.

Genevieve Morgan:

So how can people learn more about your practice and how to get in touch with you? And if they want to become a patient, make an appointment.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

They can certainly Visit our website, coastalnaturalhealth.com they can call the office we are Coastal Naturopathic center in Falmouth, Maine.

Genevieve Morgan:

And are you accepting new patients?

Dr. Richard Maurer:

We are.

Genevieve Morgan:

Great.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And all of this will be available on the Dr. Lisa website.

Genevieve Morgan:

It's been very insightful.

Dr. Richard Maurer:

Thank you Lisa. Thank you Genevieve.

Genevieve Morgan:

To read more about Dr. Richard Maurer's approach to health, lifestyle and diet, pick up the September edition of Maine Magazine at your local newsstand or Visit us@mainmag.com.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

each week on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour we feature a segment we call Give Back. Give Back is in recognition of the fact that wellness goes far beyond the individual into the family, the community and the world at large. Each week we also read a quote from Our Daily Tread Thoughts for an Inspired Life, a book that was written to raise money for the organization Safe Passage, an organization founded by my late Bowdoin College classmate Hanley Denning. This week's quote from our Daily Tread is from John when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. And indeed, this goes back to our Harvest theme and the idea that we always reap what we sow. On today's Give Back segment, we are interviewing Mark Swan. Mark Swan has been the Executive Director at Preble street in downtown Portland city since 1991. Preble street is a non profit social service agency offering a wide variety of programs including a resource center, teen center, Florence House, soup kitchens, housing, employment advocacy and social work services. Mark is a graduate of Bowdoin College and has a Master of Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts. Welcome Mark.

Mark Swann:

Thanks for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I have sitting next to me Genevieve Morgan. And what I love is the fact that we have a room full of Bowdoin graduates.

Mark Swann:

Go you bears the Bowdoin Mafia right here.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Hey, wait a minute. I don't know about this mafia thing. We need to be a little bit more careful about that. But I'm really interested in hearing what you've been doing for the last 20 something years. What year is this that you're celebrating as the executive director?

Mark Swann:

20 years. They just surprised me with a little party last week.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Are you originally from Maine, Mark?

Mark Swann:

No, I'm from the Boston area.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And what made you get into this business?

Mark Swann:

After I graduated from Bowdoin, I moved back to Boston. I was driving a truck, I was trying to figure out next steps and I got involved through volunteering at a couple different programs including a shelter and a refugee resettlement program. And I went to work at the refugee resettlement program for several years while I got my master's but was still doing some volunteering at this homeless shelter. And, and some Bowdoin friends of mine who had settled in Portland said there's a job opening up here in Portland at this very cool little agency called Preble Street. And they sort of knew the mission, knew the work, knew some board members and said you should look into it. So it was just perfect timing for me. I was 28 years old. I was looking for a move and a change and 20 years later I'm still there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And 20 years later. We know there's of a lot, lot of programs that have been put in place since then. I know that you have a few that you're really interested in talking about. One of them is Lighthouse.

Mark Swann:

Yep. Yeah, we've grown a lot and changed a lot. When I started in 91, it was just me and Florence, a wonderful social worker.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And is Florence what the Florence House is?

Mark Swann:

Yes, we named Florence House after Florence. Florence Young, who's a social worker here in Portland and had many roles at Preble street as a staff person, a board member and a supervisor for students. So it's just Florence and I in the chapel at the corner of Preple street and Cumberland Ave. And we had a small soup kitchen. But we had a great mission and wonderful vision and great board members and we have just taken on new responsibilities and tried some new programs and picked up some programs when other agencies have come close them. So we currently. It's really hard for me to believe 20 years later, but we've got about 170 employees. We run several different facilities and programs. We have all kinds of interesting partnerships with other organizations. So we've come a long way.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have. You've come a long way. I was reading on your website that you serve 900 meals daily in eight soup kitchens across the city for a total of 480,000 meals a year.

Mark Swann:

Yeah, and that website's a little bit outdated. We're now very sadly breaking records every month. And we're now serving more like 1100 meals a day in Portland just in our soup kitchen. That's not our food pantries, but just in the prepared meals. So we are unfortunately very, very busy.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So that leads into talking about the Maine Hunger Initiative. Is that related?

Mark Swann:

Yeah, we started that a couple years ago as a result of, of just increasing numbers and also our sense that there really wasn't a statewide voice in terms of advocacy and policy issues related to hunger. So we kind of just raised the bar for ourselves a little bit and said, let's work on that as advocates and doing research and offering policy solutions to hunger because, I mean, we're the largest emergency food provider in Maine. But that's not the solution solution. Pantries and soup kitchens are not the solutions. We need to do much more than that and much better than that. And that's where public policy comes in, whether that's related to the economy, jobs, housing policy, and also benefits like food stamps and school lunch programs and school breakfasts. And there's a lot of very compelling anti hunger programs out there offered through the federal government. But Maine needs to do better at accessing those and making those available to people who are experiencing hunger.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Now, earlier on in the show we had Julie Alfred Sullivan from the city of Portland's Public Health division and she talked a little bit about the work that's being done with adverse childhood events and the ending domestic violence in order that we can have healthier families and healthier people as time goes on. What's a, what sort of an impact do you see in your line of work with Preble street as far as early childhood events impacting later on, later lives?

Mark Swann:

Well, we've certainly seen in the last couple years with the recession, the economic stress in families has just added such a, just another component and level of tragedy for families. And we're seeing many, many more parents with small children coming in for services. We're seeing a lot more teens coming into our teen center or the Lighthouse Shelter. And part of it is because a result of, you know, family issues, family violence, neglect issues, and just the economic stressors that have kind of trickled down to kids in their lives. So the work we're doing at the teen center, including with public health, the city of Portland Public Health Department is a big partner with us, but we're really trying to kind of embrace and surround young people when they do end up on the streets. Everybody talks about runaways. An awful lot of these kids we're serving are not runaways. They're kind of throwaways. They're coming from really dysfunctional families with abuse and violence. And as hard as it is to say this, sometimes leaving the home was maybe one of their smartest decisions to get out of that environment. So they're coming in, they're on the street, they're coming into the teen center or staying at the lighthouse shelter. And we need to treat those kids as if they're in crisis, because they are. It's an emergency. We're not just feeding people. And we don't want to maintain their lives on the street. We want to help them get off the street. So we have a school program at the teen center run by the school department. We have the health clinic, Day one is there doing substance abuse and mental health counseling. We provide meals and drop in services. But the whole effort is really to again kind of embrace that young person with opportunity, with caring adults, with consistent advice and, and adults and professional social work. So it's a big effort on our part, working with the young people.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Now I read on your website that you have more than 5,000 volunteers and I'm hoping that that's also old information that you have a lot more volunteers. Now I know that there are a lot of people in the community who want to be able to help in some way. What do you usually suggest for people who are interested in giving back to their own community?

Mark Swann:

The volunteer piece is a critical part of getting our work done. And the majority of the volunteer jobs are in the soup kitchen or the food pantry. It's helping prepare meals, serve meals, clean up after meals. And we're doing three meals a day at the resource center, two meals a day at the teen center, although we want to expand that to three. Three meals a day. At Florence House we have a food pantry. So in terms of scheduling for potential volume volunteers, there's all kinds of opportunities. It's 365 days a year. We have groups come in, we have corporations, we have churches and temples who come in on a regular basis. But because the sheer volume in meals and number of meals in these different facilities means we're always looking for volunteers. We really are. And there's a seasonality to that. This is the time of year people are sort of paying a little more attention, I think, to these issues than in the summer in their school. Groups and Rotary clubs and that kind of thing contacting us. But we're very much looking for volunteers right now. The best way to do that is to go on our website, preblestreet.org and get in touch with a volunteer manager.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So people who are interested in being in touch, that should be easy enough to do.

Mark Swann:

The other piece for the community as well is food drives. We are absolutely very concerned about the coming winter and our ability to really meet the demand. As I said, in May, we had the busiest month ever in 35 years at Preble street. And then we surpassed that in June, we surpassed that in July, and we surpassed that. So numbers are going up, and it's harder and harder for us to find sources for food. We work very closely with Hannaford and Shaw's and Whole Foods and all of those places are very generous. But we still are dependent on churches to do food drives, school groups, companies, you name it, we need the help.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So we've named the theme of this show harvest. And harvest is very important for you as well. It's not just about harvesting for people who have plenty. It's harvesting so that you might be able to give it back to others who don't have quite as much, at least not right now. Maybe if you can give it back to them and get them started, you can change their lives in some way.

Mark Swann:

Yeah, I think to me, the word harvest also has a connotation of community and people sort of working together. And that's what we're all about at Preble street as well. I think the motivation for me. Well, just this morning, a client who I've known for a long time, and he's not homeless, he's not in the shelter, he's poor. He moves in and out of different apartments. He comes to us for support and some services and occasionally food. And he came up to me this morning with a huge smile on his face to show me his new teeth. And he's been working for a long time to be able to afford a whole new set of dentures. And he was so happy. He had such a great smile. And those are the. I mean, there are little things like that that keep us going. And we also have recently have had a couple what I call alumni of the lighthouse shelter who have gotten in touch with us and wanted to. And have heard about our trying to move and have gotten in touch with us to tell their story and how much lighthouse meant to them. We have an emergency Room doctor in Baltimore who's telling his story about the Lighthouse Shelter through a screenplay. I had an unsolicited phone call from a young man just about two weeks ago, just calling to say, just checking in, just wanted to say hi. I heard about Lighthouse. You guys were great to me a few years ago. I have a house, I have two kids, I got a job. And you know, we get wonderful people feedback and gratitude. That's not why we do the work, but it does help, it does keep you motivated. I've been involved in this work for a long time because I inherently believe that we're all equal and the value of one person is equal to the value of another person. And I think people living in poverty are often dismissed, dehumanized, forgotten, stereotyped. And I actually think those biases in that environment right now is getting harsher for people who are poor. So I think my intention and that of the agency I work for is to break down some of those barriers, provide some education. BE advocates, allow for people to have a voice to counter some the of some of that dialogue that's out there right now that I think is pretty unhealthy and at times mean spirited. And it's not good for a community. It's the opposite of harvesting. It's dismissing. And that's what we're trying to work towards.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Do you have any events upcoming in the next year or so that might be good fundraising opportunities for people to contribute?

Mark Swann:

Well, the major initiative we're working on right now is to relocate the Lighthouse Shelter. We've been running that shelter. It's the only shelter for teenagers in southern Maine and we've been running it since 2004. And it is in a building that is falling apart. We rent it, it's in rough shape, but more importantly, it is full every night. We're really, we are literally turning young people away two out of three nights. And their options are to go to a very crowded adult shelter or sell their body for a place to sleep for a night. Neither very healthy. Good choices. So we really need to move the Lighthouse Shelter and expand it and have better space and be able to provide more services there. So we are up to our eyeballs right now and finding a building and securing the funds and it's going to be all private fundraising. So we're out there knocking on doors and asking for help. We need to raise three and a half million dollars. So it's a big effort on our part.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So people can go to your website and they can find out more information about the fundraising initiatives and what's going on with the Lighthouse Shelter there.

Mark Swann:

Absolutely. Yeah. And we're happy to talk to people or meet with people or give tools or any of that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Great. Well, Mark, thank you so much for coming in today. You're doing great work. Congratulations on 20 years. Keep it up and we'll see how things are going with the Lighthouse Shelter and your initiatives in the future.

Mark Swann:

Great. Thanks very much for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Thank you. Today on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour, we explored the idea of health, wellness and community connection. This is a frequent topic on our Bountiful blog. Here is one of our recent posts available on Bountiful the sunrise has shifted to its late September position. My well loved gray cardigan has come out of storage. The kids are back in their autumn routine, and this morning we taped the second Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. Our theme was harvest. We decided upon the harvest theme because that is what we're doing here in Maine, reaping what was earlier this spring sown in our farmers fields. We are gathering apples and pumpkins, readying ourselves for a new season. And we are contemplating what it means to see the benefit of something that has spent a period of time gestating, something that has spent a period of time in quiet, or not so quiet, growth. Earlier this week I gave a talk on mindful Parenting at our local Whole Foods Market in Portland. Having helped raise nine younger siblings before embarking on the mothering journey with three children of my own, I have a sense of what parenting requires. By no means do I call myself an expert. I have thoughts to share and that earlier this week is what I did. These thoughts are an ongoing conversation begun when I started writing for Parent and family newspaper in 1999. As most of us who helped raise children realize, parenting is the ultimate long term investment. It is the ultimate example of reaping what we sow. My son, who left this week for a long term volunteer opportunity in Guatemala, represents one of my life's most friends rewarding investments. I wish him well on his journey. Wellness, too, is perfect example of reaping what we sow. If we eat apples and pumpkins, we will feel one way. If we make not so healthy food choices, we will feel differently. This applies both in the long and the short term. And food, as discussed in last week's Beginnings show, is but one way of nourishing ourselves. Wellness goes beyond the physical. It is emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual. As I discussed in a Farmer's Almanac online article recently, feeding ourselves requires more than simply ingesting nutrients, which is why each week we are offering the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. We want to help our listeners and ourselves be fed. We are more than willing to sow the seeds and see what grows. We anticipate a bountiful harvest. Thank you for being a part of my world and I'd like to welcome welcome this week another little individual to my world, the baby of my friend Sarah. Congratulations Sarah and park on your new baby girl. I hope you will all join us again next week on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. May you have a bountiful life

Mark Swann:

Sam. Sa.