Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Dr. Jennifer Ashton - ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent, OB-GYN, Nutritionist, and Best-selling Author, new book “The New Normal: A Roadmap to Resilience in the Pandemic Era”

Transcript

Dr. Jennifer Ashton - ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent, OB-GYN, Nutritionist, and Best-selling Author, new book “The New Normal: A Roadmap to Resilience in the Pandemic Era” · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: They are they are celebrities, they're CEO entrepreneurs. And my
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Speaker 1: next person, she is what I call an industry decision maker.
1:05
Speaker 1: My next guest is Dr Jennifer Ashton. Dr Aston is
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Speaker 1: a double Board certified physician as an O, B G
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Speaker 1: Y N and Obesis and Obesity medicine and the nutritionist
1:15
Speaker 1: with a master's degree in nutrition where she hate the
1:18
Speaker 1: fact that I actually have a Kristpy creemes on my
1:20
Speaker 1: app I have Krispy Creme doing up. She is ABC
1:25
Speaker 1: news Chief Medical Correspondent. Dr Jennifer Aston has been a
1:28
Speaker 1: trusted voice providing vital health and medical information that's g
1:31
Speaker 1: M A three what you need to Know and constant
1:35
Speaker 1: coverage on ABC's news on the COVID nineteen pandemic. She
1:38
Speaker 1: released saw the latest book, The New Normal, A Road
1:40
Speaker 1: Back to Resilience in the Pandemic Era. It must read
1:43
Speaker 1: God and I must say it is a must read
1:45
Speaker 1: guy to dealing with the continued challenges of the pandemic.
1:48
Speaker 1: Because tell you what, Folks is not going anywhere, and
1:50
Speaker 1: we discussed she discusses that in the book. She's one
1:53
Speaker 1: of the most trusted health personalities on TV today she's
1:56
Speaker 1: an active medical practice, is a leading voice in a
1:59
Speaker 1: new book, The New Almost out now, and we teach
2:01
Speaker 1: us how to think like a doctor, which I never
2:03
Speaker 1: ever thought about, the whole principle to help us stay inform,
2:07
Speaker 1: make decisions about your health, and better navigate the new normal.
2:10
Speaker 1: Please welcome to Money Making Conversation. Dr Jennifer Aston. How
2:15
Speaker 1: you doing, sir? Thank you for that very kind intro,
2:20
Speaker 1: and I'm so glad to be able to talk with you. Well,
2:23
Speaker 1: you know that I think that you have been probably
2:27
Speaker 1: first of all, I feel fortunate to have you on
2:29
Speaker 1: this show. You know, it was either you or Dr Foulcher.
2:31
Speaker 1: You you, you and my people. You know what I'm saying,
2:33
Speaker 1: you know, because of the fact that, okay, let's have
2:37
Speaker 1: going back when it all happened, because that's what this
2:38
Speaker 1: book is about, the new normal. Okay, when I thought
2:41
Speaker 1: it was just gonna be two months. I can tell
2:43
Speaker 1: you this, Dr Ashton. When I first went out, I
2:47
Speaker 1: live in Houston, and I live in Atlanta, Georgia. My
2:49
Speaker 1: headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and I was in Houston and
2:52
Speaker 1: I drove down surprised my family because you know, nobody
2:56
Speaker 1: wanted to fly so I just drove. I just up
2:57
Speaker 1: woke up and drove to Houston from Atlanta, and I
3:00
Speaker 1: went inside my first home depot. I had a mask,
3:05
Speaker 1: I had rubber gloves. I have my uh little peril
3:10
Speaker 1: I had because before it got cleared off the ship,
3:12
Speaker 1: I just happen to have some parrel. And when I
3:14
Speaker 1: got back to my truck, I didn't know what to do.
3:17
Speaker 1: I didn't know do I take my gloves off? Do
3:19
Speaker 1: I do? I do I put the lotion on my hands.
3:22
Speaker 1: It was that whole I guess uncertainty. That's unsafe zone.
3:27
Speaker 1: Now I'm a lot more comfortable not saying that I'm
3:29
Speaker 1: not wearing a mask. I wear a mask. I understand
3:32
Speaker 1: my understanding respect social distancing now. But that's something that
3:36
Speaker 1: you have the educators on and you had to live
3:39
Speaker 1: through the process of dealing with a political system at
3:42
Speaker 1: the time that was in denial by COVID, and Anteen
3:45
Speaker 1: talked to us about that. Well, I think it was
3:49
Speaker 1: more than denial. I mean, first of all, I you've
3:53
Speaker 1: heard me say in my book, You've heard me say
3:56
Speaker 1: on national television, I stay in my lane. Um, you know,
4:00
Speaker 1: I'm a doctor. I speak about medicine, health, wellness, public
4:04
Speaker 1: health science. That's it. Thank goodness. I am not a politician.
4:08
Speaker 1: I don't know anything about finances like you do. UM.
4:13
Speaker 1: I don't know about whether entertainment. Don't ask me the
4:16
Speaker 1: latest show except for Britain. I haven't watched any TV
4:20
Speaker 1: in the last year. UM. But when this all started,
4:25
Speaker 1: the issue I think was that the masks was not
4:31
Speaker 1: communicated well. And so that was one of those really
4:37
Speaker 1: seminal moments in the pandemic where we lost a lot
4:43
Speaker 1: of trust um, and by we, I mean everyone in
4:46
Speaker 1: science and medicine. And the reason for that, let me
4:49
Speaker 1: just explain, is that we did not know before April
4:56
Speaker 1: of last year that so many p bowl could be
5:00
Speaker 1: infected with COVID and show no symptoms at all and
5:04
Speaker 1: spread the virus. We also didn't know that it would
5:07
Speaker 1: shut down the entire world because we had never seen
5:10
Speaker 1: that in anyone's lifetime, right molesque influenza pandemic, and so
5:17
Speaker 1: prior to April, in medicine, the only time we put
5:22
Speaker 1: a mask on someone was a sick person in the
5:25
Speaker 1: hospital to protect others. So even though a lot of
5:28
Speaker 1: people would say, well, isn't it common sense to put
5:31
Speaker 1: a mask on yes and no. But in science and
5:35
Speaker 1: medicine we go by data, not just well something looks
5:38
Speaker 1: like it makes sense. And also remember that those types
5:42
Speaker 1: of supplies were in very, very high demand, so we
5:47
Speaker 1: couldn't say to the entire country million people, yeah, everyone
5:52
Speaker 1: put a mask on UM because A we didn't have
5:55
Speaker 1: the science to support that. Be we didn't know that
5:58
Speaker 1: so many people could be in fact did with COVID
6:00
Speaker 1: and NAT show symptoms and see we had a ppe shortage.
6:04
Speaker 1: So until we learned what we learned in the first
6:07
Speaker 1: three months, the recommendation was, no, this is not necessary.
6:12
Speaker 1: I know it makes people feel better, but there's no
6:14
Speaker 1: science to support this. And I have UM. You know,
6:18
Speaker 1: I go through in the book. I have a lot
6:20
Speaker 1: of these ashton Isms, as I like to call them,
6:23
Speaker 1: which are these medical sayings that I've said in the
6:26
Speaker 1: last sixteen years of being a doctor, and and one
6:30
Speaker 1: of them is that I really believe you can communicate
6:35
Speaker 1: any level of complex medical or scientific information to anyone,
6:41
Speaker 1: including a child, if the messenger is the right person
6:47
Speaker 1: or you know, uses the right communication skills. And to
6:50
Speaker 1: be honest, the right communication skills were not used early
6:54
Speaker 1: on in the pandemic um. But as I also say
6:57
Speaker 1: in the book, we have a big leaver in that saying,
7:01
Speaker 1: be careful when you point a finger, because three are
7:04
Speaker 1: usually pointing back at you. And so I don't I'm
7:07
Speaker 1: not one that says, well, it was this person's fault
7:10
Speaker 1: or that faults or whatever. We've got more than enough
7:13
Speaker 1: to handle right now by staying in the present and
7:16
Speaker 1: looking in the future. Well, here's the thing I'm talking
7:19
Speaker 1: to Dr Jennifer Aston, the New Normal, that's the name
7:22
Speaker 1: of her book. Uh, I'm gonna go some things that
7:27
Speaker 1: really are stood out to me, the importance of laughter
7:30
Speaker 1: and love. Talk to me about that. Yeah, I mean,
7:34
Speaker 1: anyone who's been through a crisis or a trauma in
7:37
Speaker 1: their life knows that, Um. You know, laughter can be
7:41
Speaker 1: more than just an icebreaker, right, It can be therapeutic. Um.
7:45
Speaker 1: Anyone who's been to a week of funeral um and
7:49
Speaker 1: it stood vigil in a hospital while someone is in
7:52
Speaker 1: the operating room knows that. You know, sometimes that's a
7:56
Speaker 1: really powerful way to kind of release a lot of
8:01
Speaker 1: tension and stress, and it can be very healing. Um.
8:06
Speaker 1: So I think if we can't laugh usually, you know,
8:10
Speaker 1: I say, at ourselves and for me, that's an endless
8:14
Speaker 1: supply of material. Let's just put it that way. You know,
8:18
Speaker 1: then then we're really in trouble. And in terms of love,
8:22
Speaker 1: I think that you know, this is an area that
8:25
Speaker 1: does cross, you know, straddle lanes between medicine and public
8:29
Speaker 1: health and and the rest of our society. Is that
8:33
Speaker 1: I really do believe that if you act with love
8:36
Speaker 1: as your primary motivation, you will never go wrong. Well,
8:40
Speaker 1: the thing about it is that you are a real doctor.
8:42
Speaker 1: Will emphasize that because the fact that the reason to
8:45
Speaker 1: say that because you have to deal with certain levels
8:47
Speaker 1: of anxiety here you have to deal with real patients
8:50
Speaker 1: okay o b G Ryan uh. And then your nutrition noess.
8:54
Speaker 1: And then also you have to come on TV because
8:56
Speaker 1: some of your life was flipped from just being a
8:58
Speaker 1: periodically on TV the TV all the time, which in
9:01
Speaker 1: turn meant that you became an authority on something that
9:04
Speaker 1: you were developing information as you went along, and people
9:07
Speaker 1: will hold you accountable for if you said something and
9:12
Speaker 1: again you're still in the learning process. Would you turn
9:15
Speaker 1: put stress on you? How did that stress create anxiety
9:19
Speaker 1: in your life? You talk about it. There's certain instances
9:21
Speaker 1: in your book Um, in my situation, I gained weight.
9:26
Speaker 1: You know, my whole life had suddenly become at the house.
9:31
Speaker 1: I picked up five pounds, I realized I was even
9:32
Speaker 1: three meals a day. So that was the stress that
9:34
Speaker 1: was that was brought into my life. Your stress was
9:37
Speaker 1: because your face was now recognizable an America's authority on
9:42
Speaker 1: that I'm used to work. Correctly, you are an authority
9:45
Speaker 1: on COVID naighteen and that was not fair. Correct. Well,
9:50
Speaker 1: let me person of all, it's my job, so and
9:53
Speaker 1: I and I really feel incredibly blessed to have the
9:57
Speaker 1: responsibility that I have. You know, in medicine, UM, we
10:02
Speaker 1: take this Hippocratic oath, and that is primarily to be
10:06
Speaker 1: a teacher of what we know, whether it's teaching our
10:09
Speaker 1: patients or teaching other student doctors. But I would also
10:13
Speaker 1: if I could revise the Hippocratic oath today, I would
10:15
Speaker 1: add student to it. And that's what I've been doing
10:19
Speaker 1: for over a year. And people say, well, you're not
10:22
Speaker 1: a specialist in infectious disease. Absolutely correct, But a lot
10:26
Speaker 1: of people don't know that. In medical school we have
10:28
Speaker 1: to learn every specialty. We just don't learn one body
10:32
Speaker 1: part and take it four years and then that's it. Um.
10:36
Speaker 1: You know, there's a human being connected to that body part,
10:39
Speaker 1: so we have to learn every specialty and then in
10:42
Speaker 1: covering this pandemic. Um, I was literally speaking to Tony
10:46
Speaker 1: Fauci by personal cell phone either every week or every
10:50
Speaker 1: other week at nine o'clock at night at seven o'clock
10:53
Speaker 1: in the morning. And you're right, there was a massive
10:56
Speaker 1: responsibility that came um on my shoulder, is to not
11:01
Speaker 1: only understand this rapidly evolving and changing information, but to
11:05
Speaker 1: communicate it in the right way. And as you were
11:09
Speaker 1: asking your question, I couldn't help but think you know
11:12
Speaker 1: when you said I I am an actual, real doctor
11:15
Speaker 1: and not just playing one on TV. I do speak
11:19
Speaker 1: to real patients who I'm responsible for their lives, and
11:25
Speaker 1: when they get scared and they get anxious, it doesn't
11:28
Speaker 1: matter that we're one on one. I have to answer
11:31
Speaker 1: their questions and put them at ease both in their
11:34
Speaker 1: mind and in their spirit. And there's absolutely no difference
11:38
Speaker 1: between doing that and what I do on national television.
11:40
Speaker 1: So it's like when we have people leaders of faith
11:44
Speaker 1: on g M A three, and every single time we say, gosh,
11:50
Speaker 1: that person is a really good speaker, and then I
11:52
Speaker 1: laugh and I say to myself, of course they're a
11:54
Speaker 1: good speaker. That's what they do for a living. They
11:58
Speaker 1: speak to their congregation every week. So um, you know,
12:03
Speaker 1: I think that the recognizing that people were scared and
12:07
Speaker 1: anxious and felt this degree of uncertainty was something that
12:11
Speaker 1: I realized literally from the first minute. And I realized
12:15
Speaker 1: it because I was feeling the same thing. You know.
12:19
Speaker 1: The interesting thing about your book when I first read it,
12:22
Speaker 1: and because it hit home with me because they talked
12:24
Speaker 1: about you know, COVID ninteen and high effects. Uh, you know,
12:28
Speaker 1: people of color, African American black men especially. You know,
12:32
Speaker 1: it affects men differently than it affects women. In fact,
12:34
Speaker 1: the impacts me in a lot more. Picked it up
12:36
Speaker 1: from your book, Dr Aston, thank you very much. Didn't
12:38
Speaker 1: know that, So I'm just letting everybody know a very
12:40
Speaker 1: informative book. But the thing about is that when we
12:43
Speaker 1: hear the story about Jason the bus driver who made
12:46
Speaker 1: national news. I remember I saw his video when he
12:49
Speaker 1: was complaining about the person who was coughing on the bus,
12:52
Speaker 1: and then weeks later he died. But it was not
12:54
Speaker 1: only tied to COVID but we started to realize COVID
12:57
Speaker 1: affected people for different ways. And then in a book
13:00
Speaker 1: you started you start talking about how you can create change,
13:04
Speaker 1: and one of the great changes is weight loss. Right,
13:09
Speaker 1: So I want to unpack two really important things that
13:11
Speaker 1: you say. There is Shawn. Number one, race okay, um,
13:16
Speaker 1: the effects, the disproportionate effects on people of color, black
13:20
Speaker 1: and brown populations for this virus. Uh was should have
13:25
Speaker 1: been seen and expected. Oh that's my little doggie here
13:29
Speaker 1: and home um. And so it was not a surprise
13:34
Speaker 1: that we were seeing more obesity, more high blood pressure, UM,
13:40
Speaker 1: more heart disease, coexisting medical conditions, pre existing medical conditions
13:45
Speaker 1: in people of color. Therefore, it's not a surprise when
13:50
Speaker 1: you saw more disproportionate rate of death amongst black and
13:53
Speaker 1: brown people with this pandemic. Also their jobs which put
13:57
Speaker 1: them at risk, their access to testing and medical care
14:00
Speaker 1: put them at risk. And right now, I think we're
14:04
Speaker 1: in a very interesting but precarious position in medicine because
14:10
Speaker 1: on the one hand, there are people who think that
14:12
Speaker 1: you should not identify someone at all by their race
14:16
Speaker 1: or ethnicity in medicine, and everyone should just you know,
14:19
Speaker 1: be you should be blinded to that and treat everyone
14:22
Speaker 1: the same. I fundamentally disagree with that because what that
14:26
Speaker 1: does is it throws out all of the knowledge that
14:29
Speaker 1: we have about what constitutes you at being at a
14:34
Speaker 1: higher risk than a thirty year old Asian woman for example. Right,
14:39
Speaker 1: And if we can't identify risk factors, then we can't
14:42
Speaker 1: take aggressive preventative steps to protect you. So I do think,
14:48
Speaker 1: and I talk about Jason's story in the book about
14:51
Speaker 1: how when he died of COVID we didn't even know.
14:55
Speaker 1: Being male put you at risk at greater risk. Being
14:58
Speaker 1: black put you at greater risk. Being obese put you
15:00
Speaker 1: at greater risk. Having diabetes put you a greater risk.
15:03
Speaker 1: Now we do so as individuals and as doctors, we
15:08
Speaker 1: can take steps to lower that risk. You can never
15:11
Speaker 1: make it zero, right, I can't. I can't make you
15:14
Speaker 1: not male, I can't make you not black. I can't
15:18
Speaker 1: make someone, um who is seventy five not seventy five.
15:23
Speaker 1: But we can take steps to reduce the conditions of
15:27
Speaker 1: overweight and obesity. So I go through those dietary steps.
15:32
Speaker 1: Some of them are easy. Believe me, this is not
15:35
Speaker 1: a major overhaul. These are baby steps. Um, But who
15:39
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Speaker 1: E R dot ai. You know, interesting thing about it
17:44
Speaker 1: is that you're absolutely right. Like you say in your book,
17:47
Speaker 1: you say what you can't change is your age, but
17:49
Speaker 1: everything else you can have an impact on. When you
17:51
Speaker 1: discuss dit beats, you talk about low load sugar, nutrition
17:56
Speaker 1: more exercise sustained weight loss, but the big thing is
17:59
Speaker 1: the weight loss, you know. And I'm I'm African American,
18:01
Speaker 1: and I know my sisters, I know my family, I
18:04
Speaker 1: know the history of African Americans. Our diets uh tend
18:07
Speaker 1: to run open. It's high blood pressure, cholesterol levels, tend
18:10
Speaker 1: to run higher, diabetes, and suddenly this pandemic comes into
18:14
Speaker 1: our lives. And I remember I was watching the news
18:16
Speaker 1: and it was not based in Atlanta. There was an
18:18
Speaker 1: eight of the tend um patients checked into hospital or
18:22
Speaker 1: African America. I was actually stunned. I couldn't believe it.
18:25
Speaker 1: But from a media standpoint, do you think there was
18:27
Speaker 1: not recognized early on? All the world was just confused,
18:31
Speaker 1: that's what was going on. And especially just seeing African
18:34
Speaker 1: Americans rolling into in hospital blaming it own, you know,
18:38
Speaker 1: large households, uh, mass transit services and things like that.
18:44
Speaker 1: I think there was a lot of blame. It goes
18:46
Speaker 1: back to what I said about pointing the finger, right.
18:50
Speaker 1: I mean, in my opinion, I have looked at this
18:54
Speaker 1: pandemic and our country like it's one big patient and
18:59
Speaker 1: so and someone, for example, who's been a lifelong smoker
19:03
Speaker 1: comes into the hospital with lung cancer. We don't blame
19:07
Speaker 1: the person for smoking cigarettes for thirty years. We treat
19:11
Speaker 1: their lung cancer. And so I think that you know,
19:15
Speaker 1: pointing out the reasons why is important so you can
19:18
Speaker 1: try to fix them. But if it's done with the
19:21
Speaker 1: intention of shifting responsibility, then I think that's a problem.
19:26
Speaker 1: And UM, you know, I'll share with you something that
19:30
Speaker 1: I hope will inspire your viewers, um like it has
19:34
Speaker 1: inspired me and my family. But in the last week,
19:38
Speaker 1: I've been yet on quarantine again for sean again, even
19:43
Speaker 1: though I've had both doses of the vaccine. UM. I
19:47
Speaker 1: was exposed to someone who has COVID at work and
19:52
Speaker 1: I had quarantine, and I decided that I wanted to
19:55
Speaker 1: do my own dietary experiment during this period of quarantine.
20:00
Speaker 1: And I had watched the movie Game Changers, which I
20:02
Speaker 1: don't know if you've seen it, but if you haven't,
20:04
Speaker 1: I recommended, And it's about all of these elite athletes
20:09
Speaker 1: and normal people who change their diet and become vegan. Now,
20:15
Speaker 1: I will tell you I was the about as far
20:18
Speaker 1: from a vegan as it is possible to be. Okay,
20:22
Speaker 1: I ate chicken every single day, eggs every single day pork.
20:27
Speaker 1: I loved pork. I was trying to cut down on
20:29
Speaker 1: red meat, but I was I mean every meal, I
20:32
Speaker 1: was eating head animal protein in it. This is just
20:35
Speaker 1: ten days ago, by the way, you're the first person
20:36
Speaker 1: I'm discussing this. And I said, let me get my
20:41
Speaker 1: kids who are in college, and you know they're around
20:44
Speaker 1: obviously because they're not in school, and I said, let's
20:47
Speaker 1: try this experiment. Let's do it together. And I've got
20:50
Speaker 1: all these kind of frozen fake meat things and looked
20:55
Speaker 1: up some recipes and whatever. And I'm ten days in.
20:59
Speaker 1: I have not had an egg, i have not had chicken,
21:02
Speaker 1: I've not had dairy, and I've not had pork. And
21:05
Speaker 1: I'm still alive, and actually I feel pretty good. Now.
21:10
Speaker 1: I'm not suggesting that you have to go to that extreme,
21:13
Speaker 1: but my point with that, and I go through this
21:16
Speaker 1: in the book and in my other books also, but
21:19
Speaker 1: specifically in The New Normal, is that you can This
21:22
Speaker 1: is one of those silver lining blessings I believe in
21:26
Speaker 1: this pandemic is we're all at home a lot more,
21:30
Speaker 1: and you know, we're all concerned with our health. So
21:33
Speaker 1: now is the time to try one of these experiments.
21:36
Speaker 1: Because you literally have nothing to lose other than a
21:39
Speaker 1: couple of pounds. And that is a major, major way
21:43
Speaker 1: that anyone can improve their health, lower their cholesterol, lose
21:47
Speaker 1: a couple of pounds, and protect the environment. Believe it
21:52
Speaker 1: or not. Um Even though that wasn't my primary motivation,
21:54
Speaker 1: the more I learned about it, the more it's getting
21:57
Speaker 1: up there. But listen, if I can do it, anyone
22:00
Speaker 1: can do it. I'm gonna be honest with you. I
22:03
Speaker 1: I started my own little home garden. I had to
22:05
Speaker 1: look at three tomato pots. I I harvested over a
22:09
Speaker 1: hundred tomatoes. I had my Popolamo peppers. I have my
22:13
Speaker 1: Haalopenia peppers, cilantro uh. And so now I bought a
22:17
Speaker 1: new building in Atlanta, and so I have a certain
22:20
Speaker 1: area because it's a private lot that I'm on. One
22:23
Speaker 1: of a private lot I've set aside, and I told
22:25
Speaker 1: my staff that's going to be our garden where I'm
22:28
Speaker 1: going to have potatoes out there. I'm going to have
22:30
Speaker 1: Atlantish cabbages, excuse me. And it's about eight different vegetables.
22:34
Speaker 1: Because I I want to agree with you, this is
22:38
Speaker 1: the time when you want to change your habits, change
22:41
Speaker 1: your life, your life. I am going all live and
22:44
Speaker 1: I would tell you this, A homegrown tomato is a
22:46
Speaker 1: lot sweeter than a store about tomato. So when you
22:49
Speaker 1: buy stuff from an organic is not chemically induced. So
22:53
Speaker 1: I am your pain and I read it in your book.
22:55
Speaker 1: I read you know, because I read that about the pandemic.
22:57
Speaker 1: It's physical. I did the pandemic physical idea that December
23:01
Speaker 1: and so so I would like going through your book
23:03
Speaker 1: on chick chick okay, doctor chick check and then and
23:07
Speaker 1: also I got to the point we said the pros
23:08
Speaker 1: and cons of tele telemedicine. Because you are a real doctor,
23:12
Speaker 1: talkers talked to us about the whole pros and cause
23:14
Speaker 1: of telemedicine. Well, the first thing I would say to
23:17
Speaker 1: your to your viewers is whether it's telemedicine or texting
23:23
Speaker 1: or just a local clinic that you like, make sure
23:26
Speaker 1: you have a connection, a relationship, ideally with some kind
23:33
Speaker 1: of healthcare provider. UM. That's another one of the wake
23:36
Speaker 1: up calls of this pandemic. People get sick, they don't
23:39
Speaker 1: know who to call. UM. You know, I and I
23:42
Speaker 1: do believe that telemedicine, as I talked about in the
23:45
Speaker 1: in the book, is the silver lining of this pandemic
23:48
Speaker 1: because there's a lot that you can accomplish with the
23:51
Speaker 1: telemedicine visit with a provider that you don't have to
23:55
Speaker 1: go a long distance, wait in a waiting room, etcetera, etcetera.
23:59
Speaker 1: There's a tremendous amount that can be done via telemedicine. UM.
24:04
Speaker 1: In the past, people were kind of intimidated by it,
24:06
Speaker 1: but we had no choice in this pandemic. UM. You know,
24:10
Speaker 1: I saw my patients that way for three months when
24:13
Speaker 1: we were on lockdown in New York City. So, UM, look,
24:16
Speaker 1: you can't do any kg, you can't draw blood via
24:19
Speaker 1: telemedicine yet, but you can accomplish a lot. And I
24:23
Speaker 1: think that the key and why I wanted to write
24:26
Speaker 1: the book and really explain to people how to think
24:28
Speaker 1: like a doctor, is so that they could understand when
24:32
Speaker 1: do I need to go to the emergency room, When
24:34
Speaker 1: do I need to go to urgic here? When do
24:36
Speaker 1: I need to call my own doctor? You know, if
24:39
Speaker 1: you have one, UM how to assess these things? Is
24:42
Speaker 1: it really bad? Is it? You know? Emergency room level?
24:45
Speaker 1: And you don't have to be a doctor to learn
24:48
Speaker 1: to think like one, and that can help alleviate a
24:52
Speaker 1: lot of the anxiety and the uncertainty, not only for
24:55
Speaker 1: us but for our family. Yeah, you talk about you
24:57
Speaker 1: have anxiety moment in the book. Well, you thought you
25:00
Speaker 1: may have have COVID because your blood parsons changed. You
25:03
Speaker 1: called for your children, they called the emergency, and then
25:06
Speaker 1: you refused to go because then you attend the discussion
25:08
Speaker 1: about e R when you should go to the hospital.
25:12
Speaker 1: That's the whole process of what you're talking about in
25:14
Speaker 1: the book to talk about that moment, because I think
25:16
Speaker 1: we all because I would, let me tell you this
25:18
Speaker 1: doctor asked them. I remember when when COVID, when we
25:22
Speaker 1: was being quarantined, if I got a caugh, I really
25:25
Speaker 1: was a high level paranoord about what was happening to me,
25:28
Speaker 1: you know, you know, because I didn't know. Nobody was
25:30
Speaker 1: giving me information, so I didn't know. And I'm a
25:33
Speaker 1: guy who knows my body, I really do. And I
25:36
Speaker 1: love what you're talking about knowing your body. Exercise, talk
25:39
Speaker 1: to yourself and walk through the whole process. Because that's
25:42
Speaker 1: what this book breaks down. It's when you said thinking
25:44
Speaker 1: like a doctor, and when you had that moment, I could,
25:48
Speaker 1: I could. I was so sympathetic in your whole process
25:51
Speaker 1: because of the fact that one you're dealing with it
25:53
Speaker 1: all the time. You said Rahand in your book, acting
25:56
Speaker 1: like you're talking to me. You said, made a breathing
25:57
Speaker 1: ground for pandemics, cruise ships, prison, nursing, the holds in
26:01
Speaker 1: the households. Here you are thinking you have COVID eighteen
26:05
Speaker 1: workers through that process. So you know when I well,
26:10
Speaker 1: First of all, my brother, who's also a doctor in
26:13
Speaker 1: the bronx Um up here in New York, had COVID
26:16
Speaker 1: in March um. He got exposed taking care of patients
26:20
Speaker 1: in the emergency room. And soon after that, I had
26:25
Speaker 1: an episode that one night that I talked about in
26:28
Speaker 1: the book. It turned out to be an allergic reaction.
26:31
Speaker 1: But my blood pressure dropped and my heart rate went
26:34
Speaker 1: pretty high, and I almost fainted. I almost lost consciousness.
26:39
Speaker 1: And I was just home with um my two children
26:42
Speaker 1: who were in college, and my daughter's boyfriend, also a
26:45
Speaker 1: college student, and I'm the only parent my kids have.
26:49
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of pressure that's in the back
26:51
Speaker 1: of my mind always, right, I mean, the only reason
26:55
Speaker 1: most parents, I think would agree with this that I
26:57
Speaker 1: really care about my health is because my kids. Right,
27:01
Speaker 1: Because if I die, I'm dead, but I don't want
27:04
Speaker 1: to leave my kids without a parent. So um. I
27:09
Speaker 1: was on the phone with my boyfriend at the time,
27:11
Speaker 1: who's also a doctor, and he said, you don't sound good.
27:15
Speaker 1: You should call nine one one. And I have never
27:17
Speaker 1: called nine one one in my life, so right there,
27:21
Speaker 1: it tells you kind of what level I was at.
27:24
Speaker 1: And the paramedics came into my apartment and they checked
27:28
Speaker 1: my blood pressure and I started to feel better. My
27:31
Speaker 1: vital signs were normal, and they said I told him
27:34
Speaker 1: I was a doctor, and they said, do you want
27:36
Speaker 1: to go to the emergency room? And I said absolutely
27:40
Speaker 1: not because New York City was on lockdown at this point.
27:47
Speaker 1: I did not want to be exposed to COVID, and
27:52
Speaker 1: I knew based on my vital signs that I was okay,
27:55
Speaker 1: that it was likely just a reaction to some bene
27:58
Speaker 1: drill that was probably buyer that I took. But the
28:02
Speaker 1: point is that I explained in the book is that
28:05
Speaker 1: I have that medical knowledge, but the average reader doesn't.
28:08
Speaker 1: So when you get scared, or when you have a symptom,
28:10
Speaker 1: how should you decide where to take it? And I
28:15
Speaker 1: go through a lot of those Ashton is ms. Like
28:18
Speaker 1: you know, really bad things don't get better on their own,
28:21
Speaker 1: get worse. So if you're getting worse and not better,
28:26
Speaker 1: you should get it checked out. If you would have
28:28
Speaker 1: gone to the emergency room for this issue in then
28:33
Speaker 1: you should probably go now because now hospitals are much safer,
28:39
Speaker 1: you know, And if you're having chest pain or the
28:41
Speaker 1: worst headache of your life, something that could literally kill you,
28:45
Speaker 1: you should one call nine one one and get yourself
28:49
Speaker 1: to an emergency. We talked about so I kind of
28:51
Speaker 1: talk people through that. R right. Absolutely, you do do
28:54
Speaker 1: a very fantastic job. I talked about the pros and
28:57
Speaker 1: calm of telemedicine where you ought to your doctor. You
29:00
Speaker 1: are double Board certified nutrition nutrition iss Where should we
29:06
Speaker 1: not get this is my favorite chapter book. We're not
29:09
Speaker 1: to get your medical news that so you know, I
29:12
Speaker 1: was deep in the book, so you know, doctor Aston,
29:14
Speaker 1: I was deep in the book when I got to
29:15
Speaker 1: that part, and I just wanted to talk about that
29:17
Speaker 1: before we leave. And I want to also thank you
29:19
Speaker 1: for taking the time to be on the show to
29:21
Speaker 1: bring my view was a very heartwarming book and also
29:23
Speaker 1: informative book. But before you go afrom and talk about
29:26
Speaker 1: where not to get well. Don't get it from your
29:30
Speaker 1: next door neighbor unless they're a doctor. Don't get it
29:32
Speaker 1: from your friend unless they're a doctor. Don't get it
29:35
Speaker 1: from any um like non credential social media sites right um,
29:41
Speaker 1: you know it should be CDC or someone with an
29:45
Speaker 1: m D after their name that has the position like
29:49
Speaker 1: I do. Where you know, millions and millions of people
29:52
Speaker 1: are listening. So I have to make sure every single
29:56
Speaker 1: word I say is accurate and correct to the best
30:00
Speaker 1: of our knowledge based on scientific data. I mean, it
30:03
Speaker 1: is unbelievable how many times I speak to real people
30:07
Speaker 1: who say, well, I heard that dot dot dot and
30:10
Speaker 1: I and I say, this is not a game of telephone.
30:13
Speaker 1: You guys, like, what do you mean you heard it?
30:16
Speaker 1: This isn't a gossip story, This is your health. So
30:20
Speaker 1: I do go through that in the book. And you know, listen,
30:24
Speaker 1: we learn every day we don't know everything in medicine
30:27
Speaker 1: and science. And any doctor who says that they do
30:30
Speaker 1: either hasn't been a doctor for very long or is
30:32
Speaker 1: not one you should listen to. Well, you're a doctor
30:36
Speaker 1: I listened to all the time. You know, I have
30:38
Speaker 1: two doctors I love and pandemic as Dr Ashton's one
30:41
Speaker 1: that Dr Fauci is the other. And thank you for
30:43
Speaker 1: this new book, The New Normal. Uh. I have a
30:46
Speaker 1: fan club of ninety thousand fans. I'm gonna put it
30:49
Speaker 1: in the book. I have at one point six million
30:52
Speaker 1: social media follows. I'm supported that way, but more importantly,
30:56
Speaker 1: I just wanted to share your world, so with my
30:58
Speaker 1: world and also the Sean thank you written and listen.
31:02
Speaker 1: Please let's stay in touch. I I usually only use Instagram.
31:06
Speaker 1: My handle is at d r j Ashton, and I'd
31:09
Speaker 1: love to hear from your followers and your viewers. And
31:15
Speaker 1: I don't look at Twitter or Facebook that much because
31:18
Speaker 1: I feel like people are mean and I feel like
31:21
Speaker 1: we need a lot more nice in the world today.
31:23
Speaker 1: But um, I really appreciate you having me on. And
31:26
Speaker 1: next time I come to Atlanta or Houston, I want
31:29
Speaker 1: one of those backyard tomatoes. Thank you, appreciate you, Stay
31:32
Speaker 1: strong and stay safe. More importantly, see your TV all right.
31:37
Speaker 1: If you want here more Money Make Conversation interviews, please
31:39
Speaker 1: go to Money Making Conversation dot com. Ra Sean McComb
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