Pamela Wirth and Dr. Cori Stern discuss natural stress management, immune system optimization, anti-aging and heavy metal/chemical detoxification. Dr. Cori Stern has been helping people restore and optimize their health naturally since 2001. Her passion for alternative medicine grew out of a sick childhood characterized by a very poor diet, incessant chronic infections, and never-ending cycles of antibiotics. At the young age of 15, she decided to take her health into her own hands and began self-studying topics like the gut-brain connection, toxins, and how diet impacts a person’s overall well being. Later in life, upon re-realizing her childhood dreams of helping those who suffer heal naturally, she decided to become a chiropractor at 32 and graduated at 37. She now assists people all over the world with overcoming health challenges and advocating for their healthcare. Dr. Cori Stern oversees a busy private practice where she also educates other chiropractors on how to achieve optimal results with their clients. She is the creator of the Dr. Cori Stern - Take Control of Your Health channel known for its bite-sized information on a wide range of modern health topics.
Pamela : Hi, this is Pamela Worth from Hello Health and the Encouraging Wellness podcast, and today I have Dr. Cori Stern, who is an amazing doctor in her own right, has been helping people restore and optimize their health naturally since 2001.
Her passion for alternative medicine grew out of a sick childhood characterized by a very poor diet in Sussex, chronic infections, and never-ending doses of antibiotics. At the young age of 15, she decided to take health into her own hands and began self-studying topics like the gut-brain connection, toxins, and how diet impacts a person's overall well-being. Later in life, upon realizing her childhood dreams of helping those who suffer and wanted to help them heal naturally, she decided to become a chiropractor. She graduated at 37 and now assists people all over the world in overcoming health challenges and advocating for their healthcare.
Dr. Cori Stern oversees a busy private practice where she also educates other chiropractors on how to achieve optimal results with their clients. She's the creator of Dr. Cori Stern's "Take Control of Your Health" channel, known for its bite-sized information on a wide range of modern health topics. So today, we're going to touch on natural stress management, optimized immune system, natural anti-aging, natural digestive health, and the first step to any heavy metal and chemical detox, which is really important for people with chronic illnesses in terms of helping get their immune system back on track. Thank you, Dr. Cori, so much for being here.
Dr. Cori : Thank you so much, I am honored to be here amongst all your wonderful guests.
I've been following your show.
Pamela : So, what inspired you to become a natural health doctor, and what are some of the common health concerns that people come to you asking for help with?
Dr. Cori :I like to start my inspirational story when I was a fetus. So, I actually think that I was sick before I was even conceived. My parents ate what I call a garbage diet, and so did their parents. So, I come from a couple of generations of what I call garbage food eaters. I was born with some chronic health issues. I always had ear infections, throat infections, bladder infections. I was always on antibiotics, and I was continuously being fed garbage food. I didn't actually eat what I call real food, which we'll talk about during the show.
Additionally, my parents were heavy smokers, both cigarettes as well as marijuana, so I was inhaling a lot of second-hand smoke. I thought it was normal to be sick all the time. I didn't know anything different. By the time I was 15, I had a chronic throat infection, strep throat. I was diagnosed with strep throat and was put on one antibiotic after another, and I wasn't getting better. It was summertime, and here I was, a teenager, and I couldn't even hang out with my friends because I was feeling so crappy.
I came to the conclusion that medical doctors didn't seem to know how to get people better, and I decided I was going to get myself well. So, I started doing some research. This was back in the olden days before there was the internet (I just turned 60), so this was in the mid-'70s. I did a lot of reading, and one of the things I stumbled upon was a magazine that's still in print today called Prevention. It's a mainstream alternative health magazine, and reading that, I discovered that there was a connection between what you eat and the state of your health. I never knew that; no one ever told me that. Clearly, my parents didn't know it or didn't care, and my teachers did not teach me that in school. I realized why I was sick all the time and decided to change my own diet at 15.
I was working as a babysitter, and I lived in Manhattan in a high-rise building with lots of families with children. I was the building babysitter, so I was making good money (a dollar an hour, but it was big money back then). I saved up all my money and started buying my own food. I cleaned up my diet, eliminated sugar, white flour, and chemicals. Back in those days, there was one health food store in Manhattan, if you can believe that. They also had a book rack with revolving book racks with paperbacks on them, and I found a book there called "Back to Eden," written in the 1920s, which I called the herbal Bible. It had every single herb on planet Earth and its therapeutic application. I devoured that book, read everything, memorized it, started buying herbs, and making concoctions in my bedroom. Between cleaning up my diet and taking herbs, I healed myself.
That seed was planted in me that maybe one day I would be able to help restore the health of other people using all-natural means, things that God gave us to keep us healthy. That's really how the journey started. It took me a while to get there because, as you mentioned, I didn't actually decide to be a chiropractor until I was 32. I wasn't really ready at 15 to do something serious, but in the meantime, I gave birth to a child with a rare genetic disorder who needed many surgeries. As soon as he was stable, off I went, and I have an extremely busy practice in New York City. My dream has come true. I'm helping thousands of people to restore their health naturally without the need for toxic pharmaceuticals.
Pamela : Which is amazing! So, tell us, what are some of the common things people are coming to you with?
Dr. Cori : So there's everything under the sun, but some of the more common things right now, I would say, are thyroid issues. Many people have dysfunctional thyroids, whether that means the thyroid is underactive or overactive, or they have an autoimmune condition affecting their thyroid. This is something we're seeing very commonly. I have a lot of women who are trying to get pregnant and struggling with fertility. Young women, I have a lot of people who have elevated blood sugar, so they're either on the verge of becoming diabetic or they already are.
Then you have the common everyday things: complaints that many people have, such as no energy, poor sleep, anxiety, and/or depression. Unfortunately, I'm seeing an exponential number of new cancer cases. And don't let me leave out digestive problems. That's probably actually the most common thing. Almost every single patient has some kind of digestive complaint, whether that be constipation, loose stool, bloating after eating, or reflux, like acid indigestion. These are the everyday issues that we're helping people with.
Pamela : no it's it's yeah I certainly Implement across a lot of that too so what are some of the I don't want to say higher impact but what are some of the easier things that people can do that you'd like to start with when you're talking with someone
Dr. Cori :
That's a great question because the one thing you don't want to do is overwhelm people and give them too many things to do at once or too many changes to make because most people simply cannot confront that. So, I work with what I call small gradient changes. If you just change this a little bit and this a little bit, you're going to get a huge result. Then we change something else, and we change that a little more.
I always start with number one, reducing the amount of processed foods that people are eating because processed foods are toxic. They're often loaded with sugar, which is really bad for you. It's inflammatory and actually interferes with your body's ability to absorb nutrients. Nutritional deficiencies lead to ill health and symptoms. In addition to sugar, also processed grains, so anything made out of flour. We start to reduce that. At the same time, we're increasing some of the good stuff.
What we teach patients is the difference between good and bad food. Good food is things that grow on the ground, grow on a tree, or have a mother and are minimally processed. Minimal processing means cooking or sprouting or fermenting. Anything else is what we call a processed product, and that's bad food.
Your body is made out of cells, and your cells are always dying and you're growing new ones. That's why you're not dead. The material that your body uses to grow the new cells is food. If you're eating good food, you'll grow good cells, and your body will function properly, and you'll feel well. If you're eating bad food, you'll grow bad cells, and one or more things will go wrong, and you won't feel well, and eventually, you will be sick. So, that's our starting point.
The other part of it is while we're eliminating some of the bad stuff people are eating, we're also eliminating their toxic load, their exposure or use of toxic products. We start to educate people about what's actually in things like body care products, things that you put on your skin, laundry detergent, household cleaning products, and so on. Again, we don't tell you to go home and throw out everything and buy all new stuff. When you're done with that toxic cleaning product, replace it with a safer one.
I've actually written an article called "Everyday Items You Never Knew Were Toxic," and it's available on my website for anyone who wants it. Some of the things on there are rather shocking. For instance, most people don't know that the toilet paper they're using is toxic, and you're putting it on very delicate tissue that usually absorbs toxins. The amount of exposure that we have on a daily basis to toxins prevents people from being healthy. So, these are the starting points: slowly reducing your toxic load and slowly increasing the amount of nutrient-dense foods that you're eating.
Pamela : Well, and then, to touch on what you mentioned about cells, which are largely made of water, do you have any favorite types of water that you prefer to drink or avoid, or specific reverse osmosis (RO) systems that you recommend or don't recommend for water purification?
Dr. Cori : Yes, I actually have a rather long video on my show with a water expert, and this guy is a genius. He makes his own filter system. After I interviewed him, as soon as we were done, I said, "I want to buy your filter," because I understood then what's important about water. It should be such a simple thing, right? It's the basis of life. Every living thing on planet Earth needs water, but we've turned it into something unnatural.
The first problem is that most water systems, especially municipal water systems, are filled with chemicals. They're full of chlorine, fluoride, and other toxins like bromine. The other problem is that the water sits in a reservoir and it's still. In nature, we don't drink still water. We drink moving water like from a stream, and there's a reason for that. When water is still, the molecular structure of it changes. The structure becomes chaotic, and the water is not as hydrating anymore.
A lot of people tell me, "I'm thirsty all the time. My lips are dry, my mouth is dry, my skin is dry, and I drink and drink and drink, and I still feel thirsty." Not all water is equally hydrating. Some filters take the minerals out of the water, and the minerals are what keep the water alkaline or at least neutral pH, which is what your body is. The water in your body is neutral to slightly alkaline, and that's what water is supposed to be in nature. When you take the minerals out, it becomes acidic. It's really important to be drinking water that's properly structured, has all the minerals in it, and has all the toxins taken out.
This guy's filter does that. He has a website called refreshingcleanwater.com where you can watch his videos and learn about it. I don't get any commissions from him; I just really love the water that comes out of my filter. If you're going to drink bottled water, he recommends the best brands in the U.S., like Mountain Valley Spring Water, Fiji, and Evian. These are the cleanest ones. Mountain Valley Spring water comes in glass bottles, which is preferable.
The other part of that is that many people are salt deficient. They've been told that salt is bad for various reasons, like it elevates blood pressure, and people are programmed to avoid salt and drink a lot of water. It's not true that salt is bad. Bad salt is bad; processed salt is bad. Salt made in a laboratory or commercial salt is bad. But salt from the earth or from the sea is actually an essential nutrient. Your body can't function without it. Every cell in your body has sodium channels, and your nervous system, your electrical impulses, need salt to work properly.
One of the things we see is that people are salt deficient, and then they're drowning themselves with a lot of water, further reducing their sodium levels. It can lead to problems like muscle spasms, muscle cramps, numbness, and tingling. So, many of my patients put a quarter teaspoon of good-quality salt, like pink Himalayan or good-quality sea salt, in eight ounces of water and sip on that throughout the day. That's what electrolytes are. When you're sweating a lot or exercising heavily, you need them, but many people need them on a daily basis.
Pamela : Yeah, no, I think that's really important as well. What are some of the primary obstacles that you find that people encounter when they're trying to help themselves naturally?
Dr. Cori : Number one, processed foods have chemicals in them that are addictive. Sugar is actually more addictive than cocaine, so you can't just tell somebody to stop eating sugar because they can't. They're addicted to it. If they try, first of all, they'll feel awful; they'll go through withdrawal. Secondly, they will have severe cravings and won't be able to resist. Then they'll end up failing, feel like a failure, and give up. That's one of the reasons why we have to do this very gradually. I have patients who say, "Dr. Cori, just tell me everything you want me to stop eating and tell me everything that you want me to eat, and I'll do whatever you say." I actually say, "No, we can't do it that way. I don't advise you to do that." So, this is how we're going to do it. We're going to slowly reduce.
I actually literally have to remove the obstacle of people wanting a quick fix. People are also very programmed and, I could use the word brainwashed, by advertising, by even TikTok videos. They want to take a pill and get better or fix a symptom with a pill. They're also programmed by their medical doctors and the whole conventional medical system. So even if they're seeking out alternative health modalities like mine, they're still thinking in terms of symptom management. "I have high blood sugar. What do you have for that? I need to lose weight. What pill do you have for that?" This is something that I literally have to deprogram people.
I always start off before I even accept a patient by saying, "This is not a quick fix. We don't do symptom management. We don't do symptom suppression. That's what pharmaceutical drugs do. That's not what we do. What we're going to do is grow you enough healthy new cells for you to start functioning better. We're essentially going to grow you a new body or new body parts." Then I say, "And how long might that take?" Then we'll talk about how long it might take.
Those are the primary obstacles: addiction to substances, chemicals, and foods, sometimes also alcohol or other things. And then the desire to snap their fingers and be all better and not really wanting to commit to a process that's going to take some time.
Pamela : Yeah, I mean in our family's case, it was communicated very early that it's very important that we go ahead and remove sugar and gluten because we've got to start fixing the gut. The gut drives so much of what's going on in your brain, in your sleep, your hormones, your skin's expression, and your energy. They said, "Look, you know it's going to take about a year, maybe even a little bit more to really clean out your body. While we're doing this, we're going to be detoxing and getting rid of bad bacteria and viruses that are clogged up in your system. You're actually going to feel bad for about 30 to 60 days."
So when I'm talking with people, a lot of them want to stop because the detox process is really uncomfortable. I don't know if you have any favorite or faster ways to detox, but in the case that the doctor I had worked with, it was using a lot of plants in that detox process. You just feel yucky for about 30 or 60 days because those bad cells are unhappy, and they're going to try and make your life miserable, try to tell your brain to put the stuff back in again, so to speak.
Dr. Cori : That's true, and I do try to avoid having people feel so bad that they can't continue. So the first thing I always do when considering a detox is to prepare the body for the detox before we even start it. You have a few detox organs, and we want to make sure they're working properly so that the detox actually occurs, right?
For example, here's something that most people don't really know about: you have salivary glands, and they're called the parotid glands. For those of you old enough to remember the mumps when your cheeks swell up, it's a virus that causes the parotid gland to swell up. The parotid glands produce a special kind of saliva that assists with the detox process. Sometimes, I'll give somebody a supplement that helps their parotid glands work better.
We also want to make sure that the liver is actually able to do its job. The liver has many functions, but one of its most important jobs is detox. Some people's livers don't do it really well, so we want to fix that first; otherwise, you can become more toxic. Your kidneys are also detox organs, so we want to make sure your kidneys are functioning well, and we clean them out. You have to be able to eliminate through urine and your poop; otherwise, you're going to be re-poisoning yourself.
So when we start with that, usually we'll get a better result, and it's more comfortable. I do a lot of what I call drainage, which is making sure all the drains are open and working. Just as I change people's diets gradually, I also do gradient detoxes. One of the detox programs I use involves supplements from a company called Standard Process. Standard Process is the oldest nutritional supplement company in the United States, created in 1929, and they make Whole Food supplements. These supplements are made from real food, which is where your body is supposed to get its nutrition.
They have a detox program that's a shake with protein, vegetables, and some detox herbs. It's designed to be gradual. You start with one shake a day for a couple of days, then go to two, then three, and then ramp it down. It's a more gentle approach, and even with that, some people may not feel good. In those cases, I'll slow it down for them to avoid crankiness, aches, or energy crashes.
Pamela : Yes, I love that you take people through a process, and I love that you've got the health channel with bite-sized information. What are some of the topics that you like to cover on there?
Dr. Cori : Oh, wow! I cover everything. I have a video about what we just talked about - how to prepare your body for a detox and how to do a safe detox. I also recently posted a video about how I healed my own back injury really fast. I have a video on fasting as well. I often interview experts on my show; I love bringing guests on. For instance, I interviewed a fasting expert who was in the middle of a 30-day fast while I was talking to him. He made some excellent points about how our bodies are biologically designed to have periods of time when food is not available, and constantly eating can disrupt our metabolic processes, potentially leading to metabolic syndrome.
I've covered topics like raw milk and raw dairy. Additionally, I have a couple of videos about fertility, sleep, and stress. Stress is a major concern for many people, and I've made several videos on that topic because it can lead to various health problems. I think I have close to 80 videos now, and I'm always open to taking requests. If any of your listeners have a particular health topic they want to hear about, I'm happy to discuss anything related to health under the sun.
Pamela : So, what are some of your favorite ways to handle stress? I mean, that is a big part of no matter what's going on.
Dr. Cori : Yeah, so the first and most important thing to know about stress is that when you're under stress, your body burns more minerals. When you're under stress, everything - all your body functions - are accelerated. Your nervous system is hyperactive, all your organs are working harder, your heart's beating harder, and your adrenal glands are secreting stress hormones. In order for all those body functions to work properly, they need minerals. Minerals are like the motor that keeps things running. Minerals are needed for your glands to secrete hormones. When you're under stress, and everything is working harder, your body needs more minerals, so it's burning more minerals. If you're not taking in enough good quality minerals, you're going to become mineral deficient, and it becomes a vicious cycle because when you're mineral deficient, it's more difficult to handle stress. You will have symptoms like depression, anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, and you become what I call a "stress mess."
A lot of people are mineral deficient. Minerals originally come from the soil. Plants get their nutrients from growing in the soil, and animals get their nutrients from eating things that grow in the soil, and that's how we get them. But in the United States, at least, the soils are very depleted of minerals. Commercial farms use artificial fertilizers made from petroleum, which not only lack nutrients but are actually toxic. On the other hand, minerals come from natural sources like horse manure, and organic farms use natural fertilizer. That's why organic food is more nutrient-dense. If you're not eating enough nutrient-dense food, you are most likely mineral deficient. The solution is to feed your body good quality minerals. Most people need supplementation because once you're deficient and depleted, you can't correct the deficiency with food alone. You'd have to eat too much.
My favorite stress mineral comes from the same company I mentioned earlier, made from food, and it's called "Min-Chex." I affectionately refer to it as "Chill-Chex" and call it a "chill pill." I take it regularly, and most of my patients are on it. Even my employees take it. If anyone is having a bad day at the office, they can just grab some. It helps stabilize your nervous system and make everything work better. So when stress happens, which it will, you're able to deal with it instead of breaking out, panicking, or having anxiety.
Another thing you need to handle stress better is fat. Fat has been vilified, but it's actually critically important for your health. Your brain is mostly fat, so many people are fat-deficient as well. They avoid fat, go for skimmed milk, fat-free products, and eat the wrong kinds of fat, which makes them sicker instead of healthier. Good quality fat and good quality minerals together make a big difference in handling stress. Once you have that physical stability, you can do things like meditation. When you're mineral deficient, you can't sit still and be quiet. With proper nutrition, it's a lot easier to engage in stress management activities like meditation or deep breathing, which can help you calm down.
Pamela : Yeah, great ideas! I know in our own family, I find it hard to make sure that everyone's getting enough of the right foods. A lot of times, we do lean on supplementation or making smoothies. Smoothies are fantastic because I can throw a bunch of stuff in there, and nobody knows what's in there. But, yeah, anything else we forgot to touch on? Any other topics, feedback, or things you want to make sure we discuss today?
Dr. Cori : well, I did just mention earlier, I think I mentioned the word milk, so I just want to give a shout out to dairy because dairy is something else that's been had a terrible reputation. Many people are allergic to milk or lactose intolerant, or think that dairy is bad for you, and I will tell you that pasteurized dairy is bad for you. So when you pasteurize milk, you're heating it to a super high temperature, and you denature the protein in the milk, and then it becomes toxic. The same thing happens to grain when you heat grain to a high heat, the protein in the grain denatures, and it becomes toxic. So that is not part of nature; that's a process that makes it into a processed product, and it's no longer a food.
But throughout millennia, tribal cultures, indigenous populations have relied on raw dairy for the basis of their nutrition, whether that comes from a cow or a camel or an ox or a yak. Raw dairy is so full of nutrients and probiotics, natural probiotics, and it actually has a lot of nutrition in it that people are not getting. One of the things that is in there that most people don't eat is vitamin F. People have never even heard of it. Vitamin F is essential for healthy skin and protects you from sunburn. So if you have enough vitamin F in your body and you sit out in the sun, you won't sunburn. It's actually vitamin D collecting in your skin, and vitamin F will take the vitamin D and transport it into your cells where you need it, and it won't stay in your skin. So people are now using toxic sunscreen to avoid skin cancer because they think the sun is dangerous, but it's actually a vitamin F deficiency.
So things like raw butter and raw cream are really high in vitamin F. And then there's the fat-soluble vitamins, vitamin A, D, K, that's present in any kind of animal fat, and many people are deficient in that as well. By the way, that's critically important for fertility. So I don't know if you know you have listeners that are trying to get pregnant. I have a great video about that topic, about fertility and fat, eating the right kind of fat and fat-soluble vitamins.
Pamela : Thank you. I will add all of your contact information in the show notes. Just real quick, do you want to share your website here?
Dr. Cori :Sure, yeah. The website is DrCori.com. My name is spelled C-o-r-i, so it's DrCori.com. On there, you can download "Everyday Items You Never Knew Were Toxic." My health channel is on YouTube, and it is my name, Dr. Cori Stern, "Take Control of Your Health." You can also reach out to me with any health questions that you have at questions@drcori.com
Pamela : Awesome! Thank you so much, Dr. Cori. So much good information and so much to help so many people. So thank you so much!
Dr. Cori : thank you