The Power of Plants as Medicine

Dr. Leta Jussila

Tom, thank you so much. Really honored to be here.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. You said so many cool things leading up to this interview in the couple minutes that we were on. I want to make sure we capture those as we go. But one of the interesting things you said, was you said that the body has to digest everything. We’re gonna be talking about plants today and the energy from plants and the endocannabinoid system. But just explain to me when you said the body has to process everything or digest everything. Explain that a little bit.

Dr. Leta Jussila

I love it. Well, first of all we just think that the body’s gonna digest food and drink, whatever we put in our mouth. But in Chinese medicine, through that lens, we view that anything incoming, anything outside of us incoming to your whole field, your energetic field is what you have to digest. So as much as we don’t eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at breakfast, because we know that it’s too much food to process, which makes us feel heavy, no energy, brain fog, depression, we tend not to, but we often, what we’re seeing in the clinic now, Tom, is that people spend too much time incoming information. So too many movies on Netflix, too much surfing the internet actually too much experience. And what happens is it’s an overload. We can’t process it just like we can’t process that amount of food. And we wonder why we don’t feel good.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that’s interesting because you see people now instead of just like sitting and relaxing, any downtime they have, they’ve got their phone right in front of them. And I’ve never been that bad about it, but I did start noticing myself like, okay, I don’t have anything to consume right now. And then looking for that stimulation, I really had to start catching myself and avoiding that, which is really, really interesting. So I just thought, I mean, even just that little bit you talked about is really helpful, I think, hopefully for a lot of people. It’s okay to not always be consuming. If you fed your body food 24/7, every minute of the day, you would not be in great shape. And the same thing with information, the same thing with stimulating the nervous system, it’s not a great thing to be doing. It’s like running your car all day. The car is gonna break down and that’s a great piece of advice. I didn’t even think we’re gonna go there. But when you mentioned it early on, I wanted to bring that out right at the beginning. That was really, really good.

Dr. Leta Jussila

One thing I’ll tell patients is that you, most of us use an air filter. Most of us use a water filter. You have to filter out, right. Because if you keep thinking, right, you’re still moving Qi, you’re still moving energy, you’re having thoughts. They’re just not going anywhere. They’re just . So energy is always moving and transforming.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. That’s awesome. Another thing you said is that the body’s either leaking or blocking, and then you mentioned that it’s not a matter of if you’re gonna get out of balance, it’s how quickly you can get back into balance. Talk a little about those concepts too.

Dr. Leta Jussila

I love it. Thanks Tom. So in Chinese medicine, we have this fundamental principle called yin and yang, and all it is simply is opposing forces. They compliment each other, they define one another. You tend to have a night out with your friends and then you want some quiet time. It’s like people in the city go to the country for vacation, people in Tahoe go to San Francisco, right? So we’re always wanting to balance out the energy, whether you know it or not. And if we were to simplify life in general and how we feel, money is a really easy way to measure. Sometimes it’s hard to measure happiness or measure energy, although we can, but you either leaking or blocking. So leaking means we’re paying monthly fees for companies that we haven’t used in a while. 

Blocking could be that you’re really blocking the money from coming in, right. And that’s obviously a bigger topic, but same with energy, we’re either leaking energy or we’re blocking it, because you will have enough. And I know you know this, Tom, I mean, amazing people and doctors on this summit have been sharing that there’s endless amount of energy all around you. You just have to know how to tap into it and how to use it. And one of the things that a lot of these healers and doctors are teaching us is how to use it so you never feel depleted. And it’s a really beautiful and very simple things that you can do.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. That’s awesome. Can you give us some examples of simple and easy things they can do?

Dr. Leta Jussila

Absolutely. So in Chinese medicine, we have a section called Qi Gong. Qi is energy or life force and Gong is a practice, a skill. And we use the quickest way to change your Qi or change your mind is to take a breath. And I know it’s very simple, but there’s a lot of different kinds of breath, right? So I always tell people, well, we can breathe into our chest, that’s pretty easy. We know now a lot of healers and yoga practitioners force us, okay, let’s breathe into our belly. But two other areas that we teach you is to breathe into your side, your liver meridian, right? So this helps with stress reduction and anger and frustration. And then also breathing into your low back, which is the Ming Meng, which is like the place that all of your energy comes from. It’s like ancestral energy and tapping into that. And we tend to not breathe into the sides or the low back, which means you’re not using these resources that you have in your body that’s available to you.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah, that’s awesome. So when you say breathe into that, obviously the air component is gonna be in the lungs, but you visualize the energy breathing into the sides of the body and then also down in the lower back.

Dr. Leta Jussila

So the easiest way to do this is put your hands on your body where you want to breathe. It gives the mind something to do. And so I always tell patients, put your hands on your ribs and then just breathe into your palm, just fill up your palms with air, right. And then you’ll start to realize if you practice that two, three, four, five seconds a day, you start to realize you have more relaxed energy. And that’s what we want, Tom. We want people to be relaxed, peaceful and calm, but energized, present, vital.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. Just like you are right now. I love it. And one of the things that you told me is that when you got your doctorate, when you became a doctor, your thesis or your study was in the endocannabinoid system. So let’s start going into plants. Cause this is the Global Energy Healing Summit. Plants have amazing impact on energy and plants are energy. I mean, that’s what they’re made of, everything’s energy, but plants are vibrant energy. So talk to us about the importance of the endocannabinoid system.

Dr. Leta Jussila

Thank you, Tom. So, well, first of all, this energy, this Qi, this life force is in you, it’s in each of us, and it’s awakened and developed based on practice and skill set. So the cool thing is, is that it’s available to you. You have energy, sometimes you have more energy or less energy and part of what plants and herbal medicine does and even these practices of breath work or Qi gong, they allow you to get more access to a greater amount of energy and then be able to use it, direct it to the place in your life or place in your body that needs it most. So the power of plants as medicine what is herbal medicine, what do plants do? Well, they work to aid, restore and harmonize those opposing forces of yin and yang that I spoke about earlier. Now the word herb can relate to many different things. 

We use the roots, the flowers, the stem, the bark, the seeds, all different aspects of the plants. And they all have different therapeutic effects. So we don’t need to go into unique properties and functions here, but the herbs in self soak up the mineral content. It also soaks up the photosynthesis from the sun. And so when these plants out in the farms all over the world, they absorb the sun’s energy through we learned this in third grade photosynthesis and it converts the CO2, carbon dioxide and the water into nutrients, right which are actually viewed as carbohydrates. And the energy from this plant is transformed in your body, into usable energy, in a lot of direct and indirect ways. So it’s amazing, but you have to understand that herbal medicine and plants have this energy, you take it in and it’s gonna do different things based on the plant, but it’s gonna give you usable energy and life force. 

And very simply when I teach my classes in my herbal mentorship, you have to understand that sometimes herbs are gonna be adaptogenic, which means you want them to balance whatever’s too high and whatever’s too low. Sometimes plants, we call them nootropic. So nootropic means they enhance very specifically your memory and cognitive function, and then hit words that most of us know, they are anti-oxidant, they’re anti-inflammatory, anti-viral anti-microbial, and the last one is immune modulatory. And just means that they’re gonna help balance your immune. And that’s the power of plants as medicine, because they’re gonna do what your body needs because your body has this intelligence and it’ll prioritize and the plant works with your body’s natural prioritization system and its beautiful synergy.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. You talked about, and we’ll get more into plants in a second You talked about the immune system a little bit. A lot of people are misguided when they think about the immune system, having an overly active immune system is just as bad as having, in many cases, a underactive immune systems. So I liked how you talked about balancing the immune system. That’s really what we want to be healthy, right?

Dr. Leta Jussila

Yes. I mean, absolutely. You don’t want anything overactive or underactive. I mean, that’s the whole idea of finding that balance. Immune system is a huge topic and we know a lot about the connection between your brain and your immune system and the gut microbiome. And you mentioned, one of your first questions to me was about this endocannabinoid system. And if some of our listeners don’t know about it, it’s probably the largest medical discovery that we’re gonna see in our lifetime. It really became prominent in the eighties in Israel, tons of amazing research and webinars on the internet about this. But Dr. Raphael Mechoulum and his team in Israel discovered this amazing system. And the best thing I can say to you very simply is think of a symphony, you have the conductor conducting the symphony, and that’s what the endocannabinoid system does. It’s the conductor to conduct your nervous system and your cardiovascular system and your immune system. And so now in medicine, Tom as doctors, if someone has a cardiovascular issue, absolutely, we’re gonna look at that system, but we also have to look at and feed the endocannabinoid system.

Tom McCarthy

And how do you do that? How do you feed the endocannabinoids system?

Dr. Leta Jussila

Well, the first thing I always ask patients is, or ask myself is, is their system depleted. And it’s very simply as if you have unfortunately, a chronic disease or a diagnosis, we know that your system is not working. If you have symptoms, then it could be an acute phase. And of course a diagnosis or chronic diseases, a chronic deficiency, there’s no test for it yet. There’s is a team at John Hopkins looking at a blood test. But if you’re deficient, the one way you can increase that is through a supplement, through taking these cannabinoids from a hemp or cannabis plant. And that’s as much as I love to tell my patients, I want you to eat your kale and eat your beets and drink water, nothing is gonna replenish this endocannabinoid system in the brain and all over the body as does the cannabis plant and the hemp plant. So that’s why it’s such a big topic in this world right now to get access and educated about it.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. And I met you because you are a medical advisor to a company that I’m very fond of that has products along, in what you’re talking about, that feed the endocannabinoid system, is called PrimeMyBody. What are some of the products that PrimeMyBody has that could be helpful to people?

Dr. Leta Jussila

Well, I love that you’re asking that because there is going to be times in our lives where we need to supplement our diet. We know that in the United States, our farmers were not taught biodynamic sustainable farming, like the method. So our soil is nutrient deficient. And so these plants, the reason why herbal medicine is so effective is because they absorb all the minerals from the soil, but then also have natural minerals in them. And so PrimeMyBody is a hemp based international company where they use not just science and observational clinical studies to prove that their formulas work, but they’ve taken a look at what are the most common things that individuals are facing right now. And it’s heart health, it’s immune system, it’s cognitive brain function, it’s also stress, cortisol and weight gain. So what they’ve done is, as a mission of the company is to say, okay, we know that we’re living in a world where there’s too much stress. There’s too much stress financially, socially, all the things that do now and just to bold and recycle all the responsibilities, it’s a lot. And when we have that much stress on the system, we can’t really perform. And one of the things that I want to say, Tom, is that, Chinese medicine used to be about longevity. The emperor said I want to live forever, but how we practice this medicine now it’s about vitality because we don’t know how long you’re gonna be here, but we know so much now to keep you vital so that decline in health could be an hour, six hours, six days, six weeks. It doesn’t have to be 20 years. My body does such a good job with their formulations. One of the formulas shield, it has seven western herbs, six Chinese herbs, and then tons of cannabinoids terpenes to make it a well-rounded formula. So we’re looking at what do we need now to feel supported, to feel held, to feel vital, so we can be out there and give our gifts.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. So the product you just talked about, shield, tell us a little bit about that. That sounds fascinating. Why would somebody take that with the Western herbs, the Chinese herbs? What does that help with?

Dr. Leta Jussila

Well, it’s a great question because if you look at, if you look at what’s in, I don’t want to go over the 13 herbs, you can always Google. I have a 20 minute webinar on it that PrimeMyBody has, but every single person immune system is different. So if we were all in the same room, someone if their immune system was weak, they might have a sore throat. Someone else might get a headache first or stuffed up or runny nose. So our immune systems show up a little bit differently. So what’s great about this formula is that it has antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, all the things to help in a synergistic way, support the immune system, no matter what is your Achilles’ heel, if that makes sense.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. And so you said stress, what types of things can help with stress in terms of plants and herbals, and maybe even formulas that you have the PrimeMyBody.

Dr. Leta Jussila

That’s great. Well stress, one of the things is that I always look for an herb or a plant that’s adaptogenic. So that is gonna help balance out the stress and mushrooms are really known as that. I mean, a lot of people are taking Reishi and Lion’s mane and Chaga, tons of amazing adaptogenic herbs Now, PrimeMyBody put out a formula called CALM. I mean, it makes sense, right? When we’re overactive, when we’re ribbed up in the brain, it’s really hard to get in that sympathetic, relaxed state. And when you’re too revved up, it’s hard to be present. It’s hard to do anything and especially fall asleep. And when people have that shot, that rise in cortisol, we start to gain weight, and then it becomes that cycle of not feeling good about ourselves. So with CALM it has a bunch of cannabinoids. Again, they always do cannabinoids terpenes and then a bunch of adaptogenic herbs. And again, it does what it needs to in the body. And what’s great about the formulas that I’ve seen, Tom, that PrimeMyBody puts out is that patients ask me all day long, well, how much do I take? Am I gonna have to be on it forever? And the beauty is that every time you take an herb or supplement, you’re empowered, you’re starting a relationship with this plant. So then it can reveal its secrets to you. So you can kind of discover on your own, your relationship with it. It could be once a day, could be three times a day. It could be twice a week. And that’s the beautiful part about getting individuals on board to take more control over how they feel and what they can do about it.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. That’s beautiful. And the herbs address more the cause versus just the symptom, it sounds like. They really start to work at the root cause to modify and to balance and make some great changes there. Yeah, that’s awesome. I remember the first time I took CALM, I was in a hotel somewhere. And I had like the most amazing sleep ever, very dreamy though, like super vivid dreams are like, whoa. So it really did work. A lot of people as they age worry about cardiovascular. What types of things are helpful for people that have either already having challenges with their cardiovascular system, their heart and their circulation, or are concerned about it?

Dr. Leta Jussila

That’s a great question. Well I know this is a Global Healing Summit, so you could be listening from all over the world, but in United States right now, we just got the studies from 2020. So we don’t have anything for 2021 yet, but we’re looking at close to 800,000 of us affected by cardiovascular disease. And then number two is respiratory lung issues, which is only at 120,000. So you can imagine that this is a big deal. And spiritually Tom, if I may, I ask Americans are we not happy? Are we not joyful? Are we not doing things that we love? Are we not in relationships that we love? I mean why, why is our heart health waning? And it shows up in a lot of different ways. It shows up in not recovering after your Peloton workout. It shows up that libido’s low, which is a huge one. And of course all the different, like blocked carotid arteries and and I mean, low blood pressure, high blood pressure. I mean, we could go on and on and on, when your heart isn’t functioning well when it doesn’t have nitric oxide production, what are the symptoms that show up in all of these people’s bodies? And then again, go down the road of chronic disease.

Tom McCarthy

And so you mentioned nitric oxide, talk a little bit about that. I know a while back it was called the miracle discovery. What does it do? What does nitric oxide do?

Dr. Leta Jussila

So in simple terms, it widens and dilates your circulation pathways. So oxygen, blood, nutrients, all of these compounds are transported through your blood, to your organs, your cells and your tissues. So what happens is, is that it’s supposed to be a two way street, right? You want to continue to flush metabolic waste and harmful toxins from your body. But if your blood’s not moving, if it’s really sluggish, things aren’t gonna happen, you’re gonna feel toxic. You’re not gonna feel good. And so what happens is, is that you produce nitric oxide in your red blood cells, you should be making it. And I always kind of related to CoQ10 as soon as you reach like age 40, you start to wane. So you have to, again, supplement, which is okay. Nitric oxide, people don’t realize that they might not be producing it, which means it’s like walking around with a backpack of rocks on your back, right? It’s like, you don’t have the ingredients inside your body to make what you need. As much as you need flour and sugar to make a cake, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have that stuff in your kitchen, you’re not gonna make a cake.

Tom McCarthy

And nitric oxide can be produced from plants. I think beets are a good source of it, right?

Dr. Leta Jussila

Beets, green leafy vegetables are also rich in nitrate and they can be converted to nitric oxide in the body when you consume them.

Tom McCarthy

PrimeMyBody I know, has a product called CORE and I love it. And it’s interesting after I take it, I can actually see my veins kind of pop out a little bit. They’re getting that good oxygenation and the blood is flowing even easier. So I can even see like, whoa, that’s pretty cool. And that product I think, is going to be re-introduced and a new formulation coming up, right?

Dr. Leta Jussila

Yeah. We’re so excited that Nathan’s on board and working on that formula. And I’ve had thousands of patients that have tried CORE from PrimeMyBody, and everybody’s different. I have my some of my men, patients, male patients who it’s been amazing for them with their libido. It’s very sad and very personal things that go on when a man or woman or however you identify, it affects your personal esteem and whatnot. But my family, my parents, I mean, the people I care most about, it’s energy all day long. They cannot believe how much energy they have. And I was training for gymnastics in the Olympics and I’ve been a division one field hockey player. And so I understand muscle growth and I also understand recovery. And so I have a lot of athletes using nitric oxide because you don’t want to be sore. And what happens is, is that when nitric oxide comes into the body, the recovery time, it’s just smooth.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. That’s what I’ve heard. Yeah. So even from younger people, that’s what I’ve heard is that it’s really impactful. It helps them recover, and maybe they still are producing quite a bit of nitric oxide, but it really does help them too. That’s fantastic.

Dr. Leta Jussila

Yeah. It’s really beautiful. And it’s high time that we knew someone was gonna develop a supplement because we knew from, I mean, I’ve been studying nitric oxide for so long, but we’re finally have access to a supplement. I mean, that is a huge discovery and achievement on its own that we have access to a supplement because we knew that we’d been deficient, but it wasn’t until recently out of Texas that they were able to actually develop a supplement. So super exciting times.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. That’s outstanding. So LeTa, where do people find you, first of all? If they want to work with you, and you can work over Zoom or over the phone, I guess, where can they find you?

Dr. Leta Jussila

Thanks, Tom. Well, my website, my medical website is doctor.leta.com. So doctor spelled out, LETA, and I have a membership site. I keep it super affordable for people. It’s called the herbal mentor, where I educate individuals and empower them on having a long, healthy relationship with all kinds of herbs and plants and lifestyle stuff based on Chinese medicine.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah, that’s awesome. And then for PrimeMyBody, I know there’s this special page that people can go to too where you’re a medical advisor for the company. And you’re very integral in that company. So it’s PrimeMyBody.com/globalhealing. So PrimeMyBody.com/globalhealing. Go there, and I know there’s gonna be a special offer for everybody that goes to that page. So doctorleta.com and PrimeMyBody.com/globalhealing. So LeTa, what kind of final words of wisdom do you have for everybody? I know they’ve gotten a ton out of what you’ve had to say so far. What would you like to leave them with?

Dr. Leta Jussila

Well, I want to say that the power that made the body can heal the body and there is unlimited energy potential. You have access, you can take a sip right now. You find your center. I mean working with thousands, I mean, tens and of thousands of patients, Tom, and whoever’s listening, you have to understand that everything is an inside job. Nothing outside of you should rock you from your core, your beliefs, who you are and why you’re meant to be here and what you’re doing. And so if you are a seeker and want to be able to really harness and transform and create the skillset to utilize Qi, have more of it, know what to do with it and understand when to take certain plants and certain nerves that encourage you to continue to obviously listen in to all these amazing masters of this summit and seek out the ones that you resonate with to continue to learn from.

Tom McCarthy

Yeah. Well I know everybody loves your energy. You have amazing energy and it’s been so cool having you on. Thank you so much for being part of this summit. You did an amazing job today.

Dr. Leta Jussila

It’s my honor, Tom. Thank you so much.