Episode 40: Integrative Medicine the EASY Way!
“The EASY Way, the focus is on weight loss. But honestly, it’s about elevation of health, and weight management really is just one of the facets that is the fruit of the work,” explains Dr. Krista Coombs, IFM.
Dr. Krista has spent 22 years in the healthcare industry with the last 10 years being in integrative medicine. Dr. Krista’s catalyst came to her when she was celebrating her 50th birthday on a beach feeling sad about not being able to kayak because it was winter. She had been seeing a lot of complex patients with autoimmune issues and feeling like there had to be an easier way to help them. She laid down in the sand and began doing EFT, and while she was tapping she came up with the foundations for her program, The EASY Way for Weight Loss with Dr. K.
The EASY Way is a four phase process focusing one week on each letter. The acronym stands for eating (and all the physiological practices involved), activities (physical, mental, and spiritual), sleep, and the commitment to saying yes yesterday.
Though Dr. Krista applies this program to weight management, it truly can be used for anything because it begins with the fundamentals and builds from there. By applying this process to herself, Dr. Krista was able to not only lose weight, but also regain control over her health in a way that helped her to be less burned out. As a sensitive and highly empathic person, Dr. Krista often struggled with taking on the emotions of others. But by simplifying things down to the fundamentals, she has been able to better protect herself and allow space for grounding. Physicians are primarily taught that self care is selfish and that they are there to be servants to their patients. But the truth is that to be a good physician, it is just as important to take care of your own health needs.
Integrative medicine can sometimes get caught up in the weeds and seem overwhelming for new patients. With the EASY way, integrative medicine can be simple and approachable. The great thing about this method is that it’s not just applicable to weight loss. The EASY method can really be used for anything in life as a mindset shift to focus on the fundamentals and build along the way.
About Dr. Krista Coombs:
Dr. Krista Coombs has been in healthcare serving thousands of patients since 2001. For the first 10 years of her practice, something seemed to be missing. Dr. Coombs was never quite satisfied offering only one paradigm approach to health even though Chinese medicine, her first love, was a phenomenal system to have as a foundation.
Dr. Coombs had her “come to Jesus moment” when she turned 42 and through forcing the medical system to test, learned she indeed had developed an autoimmune condition that was quickly debilitating her. She knew she would have to shut down her clinic and be dependent on her partner for the rest of her suffering days if she didn’t commit to changing how she lived. So, she changed. And rapidly. Dr. Coombs devoured everything she could find about her condition and embarked on a genuinely remarkable, enjoyable, tiring journey of education into the deep rabbit hole called Functional medicine and the implementation of so much of what she learned to help heal herself.
She has been on a remarkable healing journey since, and has integrated Chinese medicine with Functional medicine, creating a beautiful holistic lifestyle medicine approach to helping her patients learn to manage serious chronic conditions, including chronic pain, infertility and her fav – autoimmune management. Dr. Coombs is always learning and adjusting her practice, so it’s not surprising that she eventually wanted to do more.
Dr. Coombs recently embarked on a new learning journey to deliver education and support through the online group model and to her great delight, it’s a game changer for her and for so many already! She doesn’t know exactly where her curious, creative, nerdy mind will take her in the future, but she does know she will have to serve those who are unwell, who find her, by teaching them they have the power to correct a lot of the imbalance they are seeing as symptoms, then helping them create balance using the knowledge she soaked up that just keeps growing every single day. She can’t do all that alone which is why Dr. Coombs loves collaboration. “Teamwork makes the dream work.” She is standing on the shoulders of giants and the excitement for this medicine and its potential to help others never gets old.
In This Episode We're Talking About:
- Why combining medical paradigms can be challenging at first, but once the challenges are overcome, a practitioner will skyrocket their ability to serve
- How there is a rite of passage to become a functional medicine practitioner and it’s years of hard study and application
- Why foundational education and mindset adjustments are the keys to long term success for all patients. Some aren’t ready and just need supports to learn enough to trigger being ready. Some never become ready and this isn’t the medical paradigm for them. And that’s ok. Focus on those who are ready and near ready.
Quotes:
- “The easier I make my life, the easier it is to manage my own health concerns. And so translating that over to other people, which is a big part of my calling, has been very fruitful because more people are learning that they are self empowered and can handle their own healing journey, and not need to be codependent on a practitioner for very long.” (5:49-6:10 | Dr. Krista)
- “We need to acknowledge that we need to be in a discomfort zone in order for growth to happen.” (13:06-13:10 | Dr. Krista)
- “Honestly, you could do anything the easy way because you just have to layer it. You start with the fundamentals, and then you layer with complexity as you are comfortable with learning more.” (14:02-14:15 | Dr. Krista)
- “It’s a four phase process and everybody says how easy it is once they learn the tools, and they just make this different mindset shift that food is for fuel and performance, for real. That’s really, really what it is for the body.” (14:37-14:53 | Dr. Krista)
- “I think getting in the discomfort zone is the one pivotal choice that I’ve made on a regular daily basis that has helped me evolve at a faster rate in the last year.” (34:40-34:50 | Dr. Krista)
- “The easy way, the focus is on weight loss, but honestly it’s about elevation of health, and weight management really is just one of the facets that is the fruit of the work.” (43:47-44:01 | Dr. Krista)
Links for this Episode:
Connect with Dr. Krista Coombs::
Website: https://www.drkristacoombs.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acupluswellnessclinic
AcuPlus Wellness Clinic: https://www.acupluswellness.com/
Online Group: https://www.theeasyway.ca/
Connect with Dr. Lara Salyer:
Website: https://drlarasalyer.com
Catalyst Kit: https://rightbrainrescue.com/p/catalyst_kit
Instagram: @drlarasalyer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer
Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer
TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor
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About The Catalyst Host, Dr. Lara Salyer:
I worked as a family physician for 15 years until burnout changed the trajectory of my career. I realized I wanted to start a holistic functional medicine practice in my rural hometown and made it happen. In addition to practicing functional medicine, I now mentor practitioners who are looking to change their paths in healthcare by using what I refer to as the “Catalyst Roadmap”. I share each step of this framework with listeners so that they may apply it to their careers, relationships, personal goals, and projects.
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