ANEW Insight aims to revolutionize the way we think about health and wellness. Dr. Supatra Tovar explores the symbiotic relationship between nutrition, fitness, and emotional well-being. this podcast seeks to inform, inspire, and invigorate listeners, encouraging them to embrace a more integrated approach to health.
Dr. Supatra Tovar is a clinical psychologist, registered dietitian, fitness expert, TEDx Speaker, and founder of the holistic health educational company ANEW (Advanced Nutrition and Emotional Wellness). Dr. Tovar authored the award-winning, best-selling book Deprogram Diet Culture: Rethink Your Relationship With Food, Heal Your Mind, and Live a Diet-Free Life published in September 2024 and created the revolutionary course Deprogram Diet Culture that aims to reformulate your relationship to food and heal your mind so you can live diet-free for life.
Persistent symptoms can be frustrating, especially when you have been searching for answers and still do not fully understand why you do not feel well. Chronic health concerns are often complex, and understanding them may require looking at broader patterns and contributing factors rather than focusing on one symptom in isolation.
In Part 1 of the ANEW Insight Podcast, Dr. Supatra Tovar speaks with Dr. Kevin Smith, DC, functional medicine practitioner, published author, and founder of the Chronic Conditions Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more than two decades, Dr. Smith’s work has focused on helping people investigate persistent health concerns and explore factors that may contribute to ongoing symptoms.
The conversation explores the functional medicine perspective on chronic health concerns and what it means to search for contributing factors rather than focusing exclusively on symptom suppression. Dr. Smith discusses how he approaches metabolic and musculoskeletal concerns, the role of laboratory testing, chronic inflammation, blood sugar regulation, gut health, hormones, stress, and the nervous system.
Dr. Tovar and Dr. Smith also discuss the connection between psychological stress and physical health, how the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems influence the body, and practical approaches to nervous system regulation. The conversation then turns to insulin resistance, how insulin functions, dietary patterns, and differing perspectives on factors that may contribute to metabolic dysfunction.
You will learn about:
• Why chronic symptoms may have more than one contributing factor • What Dr. Kevin Smith means by a root-cause approach to chronic health concerns • How functional medicine approaches persistent symptoms • The difference between metabolic and musculoskeletal health concerns • Why Dr. Smith looks at patterns rather than individual symptoms alone • How automatic thoughts and emotional states can influence health behaviors • The connection between stress, mindful eating, and digestion • What insulin resistance is and why it matters for metabolic health • How insulin helps regulate glucose and energy • Why constantly eating throughout the day may affect insulin levels • Dr. Tovar and Dr. Smith’s perspectives on diet, saturated fat, carbohydrates, and insulin resistance
Timestamps
00:00 Welcome and introduction to Dr. Kevin Smith 02:00 Why chronic symptoms may have multiple root causes 04:00 Symptom management vs. searching for root causes 06:00 How the gut, nervous system, and metabolism are connected 09:00 Inflammation, movement, nutrition, and individualized testing 10:00 Chronic stress and the autonomic nervous system 13:00 Practical strategies for stress and nervous system regulation 15:00 Automatic thoughts, emotional eating, and health behaviors 17:00 Breathing, the parasympathetic nervous system, and mindful eating 18:00 Understanding insulin resistance 19:00 How insulin works and why blood sugar regulation matters 22:00 Insulin signaling, saturated fat, and competing perspectives 25:00 Closing thoughts and what’s coming in Part 2
Key Topics Covered
Persistent health symptoms Chronic health concerns Functional medicine Root-cause approaches Chronic illness Metabolic health Musculoskeletal health Chronic inflammation Gut health Blood sugar regulation Insulin resistance Prediabetes Type 2 diabetes
Thank you for joining us on this journey to wellness. Remember, the insights and advice shared on the ANEW Body Insight Podcast are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine. To learn more about the podcast and stay updated on new episodes, visit ANEW Body Insight Podcast at anew-insight.com. To watch this episode on YouTube, visit @my.anew.insight. Follow us on social media at @my.anew.insight on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads for more updates and insights. Thank you for tuning in! Stay connected with us for more empowering stories and expert guidance. Until next time, stay well and keep evolving with ANEW Body Insight!
SPEAKER_00
Welcome to the A New Insight Podcast, empowering and inspiring your journey to optimal health. Hosted by Dr. Supatra Kavar, clinical psychologist, registered dietitian, fitness expert, and author of Deprogram Diet Culture. Rethink your relationship with food, feel your mind, and live a diet-free life. I follow my guests' journey to optimal health, providing you with the keys to unlock your own wellness path. Tune in and evolve with us. Hi, and welcome everyone. I am so glad to have functional medicine practitioner Dr. Kevin Smith with us today. Dr. Kevin, welcome.
SPEAKER_01
Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER_00
I'm going to read a little bit about Dr. Kevin, and then we are going to get into all things chronic conditions. I really want to pick his brain on how we can help people get through some of the uh ailments that they are facing today. Dr. Kevin Smith is a functional medicine practitioner and founder of the Chronic Conditions Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He specializes in helping people uncover and address root causes of chronic health conditions, including gut dysfunction, autoimmunity, chronic pain, thyroid disorders, insulin resistance, inflammation, adrenal dysfunction, and peripheral neuropathy through natural non-invasive approaches. After years of seeing patients struggle with symptoms that were often managed rather than truly resolved, Dr. Smith dedicated his work to helping people restore balance to the gut, nervous system, and metabolic pathways so the body can begin to heal more effectively. His approach combines functional lab testing, nutrition, nervous system regulation, detoxification strategies, structural correction, and sustainable lifestyle interventions to support long-term wellness. Today, Dr. Smith is passionate about making functional medicine understandable, practical, and actionable for people who feel like they have tried everything without finding answers. Through education and individualized care, he helps people improve digestion, energy, sleep, pain, hormone balance, metabolic health, and overall quality of life. Dr. Kevin, welcome.
SPEAKER_01
Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER_00
So you often work with people who feel frustrated after years of unresolved symptoms. What are some of the most common root causes you see as being overlooked in conventional health care?
SPEAKER_01
Well, I think that the uh answer to that question is kind of kind of complicated. There's more than one cause, uh, more than one thing that drives uh problems. I think that if you grouped a bunch of different problems into musculoskeletal problems such as back pain or neck pain or headaches, and then you've uh looked at it from a metabolic standpoint of view, in terms of autoimmunity, thyroid problems, blood sugar problems, metabolic tends to trump other problems. And so we look at both. We look at metabolic issues and we look at musculoskeletal problems, depending on what the person brings to the party. So if they have more of a musculoskeletal issue, if they have back pain or if they have uh knee pain or um foot and ankle problems, then I'll look at it that way. And if they have a problem involving um, say gut problems or brain problems or high blood pressure or hormone imbalances, then I have to look at it from a more of a metabolic standpoint and use that as a launching point.
SPEAKER_00
What got you into looking at root cause uh treatment? Most practitioners out there kind of um go with the sick care rather than health care route, uh giving medications and things that are going to help alleviate symptoms, but don't necessarily uh go into solving the issue. What made you decide to go this route?
SPEAKER_01
So, first of all, I completely agree with you. I think that a lot of practitioners today are more focused on chasing symptoms, usually in the form of using a drug, than they are about uncovering and deciphering the hidden root causes of what's driving those problems in the first place. And as a result of that, people tend to get a superficial or a glossy overview of the problem without the doctor really digging in to figure out what's driving that problem. Like, for example, if you have high blood pressure, the question that I want to ask is why do you have high blood pressure? Is it nobody has a problem just because there's always a hidden root cause that's driving everything? Say it's um autoimmunity or it's um a nutritional deficiency or it's uh uncontrolled stress that's not been resolved. It's something that that is not at the forefront of what most practitioners do, but in my opinion, they should be doing that.
SPEAKER_00
Yes, that's what drew me to you. I am a big fan of Dr. Michael Krieger, who has nutritionfacts.org, and he is a similar guy in that he really does want to be in healthcare rather than sick care. So he's a guy that has delved into the scientific literature to really understand how especially nutrition plays a role in our health and how we can better our nutrition first. I mean, if you look at it, kind of the pillars of good health would be nutrition, you know, aligning with our circadian rhythm, making sure that we're getting enough sleep, addressing our mental health. So let's actually kind of delve into some of the, you know, kind of core issues that you um that you face. And you talk a lot about healing the gut, the nervous system, and metabolic pathways together. Can you describe and explain to our listeners how these systems are connected and why it's so important to address them as a whole?
SPEAKER_01
Sure. So, for example, if you uh when I talk about metabolic issues, what I'm referring to there is things like um the triggers that are underlying the cause of the problem. So, for example, that would be things like anemias or uh problems transporting oxygen on your red blood cells. That would be like blood sugar balance. That's typically the number one stressor in the body. It would be things like uh the cortisol levels that's produced by the adrenal glands and affects the brain uh that regulates your fight or flight response in the nervous system. I'm talking about um sex hormones, estrogens, progesterones, testosterones, all the different metabolites that compose those sex hormones, chronic inflammation, and oxidative stress, which collectively can influence your blood pressure and the health of your uh blood vessels, leading to atherosclerosis, heart attack, and strokes. Um there would be things like uh gut problems, such as absorption or the uh bowel transit times that can lead to problems like diarrhea or constipation or poor absorption of the nutrients, uh, food sensitivities, uh chemical sensitivities, and latent uh viral infections that have not been resolved, such as a Epstein bar virus problem or a cytomegalovirus, or a problem involving um herpes. Uh those those those problems can throw off or dysregulate your metabolism, leading to things like thyroid issues or the ability to make energy correctly. And so rather than just throwing a pill at the problem, we have to undercover, uncover the hidden root causes, and that comes in the form of lab testing. And the lab tests come in the form of blood, urine, stool, and saliva. So I can take objective measurements and find out what is the cause of this person's problem.
SPEAKER_00
Wow. I and I think for many people, chronic inflammation can be at the center of a lot of modern health issues. What are some of the biggest contributors to inflammation that people may not realize are impacting their health every day?
SPEAKER_01
Well, I think that the uh the lack of movement is uh is a major contributor of inflammation. People that have a very sedentary lifestyle or sit and work in front of a computer all day and don't get enough exercise or movement. Um certain nutrients contribute to inflammation, such as uh grains and sugar and certain dairy items, uh, things like that. But that more importantly, you you have to be tested. There's no one size fits all approach here. So I look at everybody as a as a as a fingerprint, a unique character, and I I I look at foundational lab testing first. And the foundational lab test comes in the form of a blood analysis and urinalysis, and then from there I can build a uh a care plan that is tailor-specific to that person's unique profile.
SPEAKER_00
Yes. So we have a lot of like nutritional, uh, you know, and sedentary issues that contribute to inflammation. But what do you have to say about our kind of chronic stress? From what I see in my practice, most people are in their sympathetic nervous system the majority of the time. That tends to come actually from the way that they think and the way they've been conditioned to think. And when we are in this kind of chronic, you know, stress state, talk about what that does to the body and how detrimental it can be if you have in it in combination with inflammatory diet and sedentary behavior. How does that combination exacerbate inflammation?
SPEAKER_01
Okay, so the autonomic nervous system is your fight or flight response. And so when the tiger is chasing you through the jungle, the sympathetic nervous system kicks in and it pumps more blood to your extremities so you could run away real fast. It opens it dilates your pupils and your eyes, allowing more light to come in to see what is the danger, and um it reduces digestion. And um you want to think of uh the sympathetic as the excitatory division and the parasympathetic as the relaxing division. And ideally, they should be in harmony with each other. You don't want to be too sympathetic dominant, nor do you want to be too parasympathetic dominant. So when it comes to the gut, uh parasympathetic dominant would mean lead to problems such as constipation, whereas sympathetic dominance leads to problems such as diarrhea. So you want to strike a happy balance between the two. If your readers or your viewers or listeners ever do any heart rate variability testing, that measures the um the pulse in between the heartbeats. And so it can it can show you where you are on the grand scheme of things. Are you sympathetic dominant or are you parasympathetic dominant? And ideally, you want to be right right in the middle. So people that are too sympathetic dominant or are are under pressure all the time, they have deadlines to follow, they have an agenda to follow, they have to meet a criteria or a sales quota, or they have kids nagging them all the time. That is no good because it causes too much stress and in the body. And the same thing if you have two parasympathetic dominants. So people that can regulate this stuff get there by just exercising or going outside and playing, going for a walk, taking the dog to the park and just playing like you did back when you were a kid. And um people that don't pay attention to that stuff, they tend to have all kinds of other other issues. It's one of the five pillars of wellness and and health that I often talk about. And so one of the ways that I tell people to regulate that is to first of all do a mind dump. Just get everything in your mind at the time down on paper, write down everything so you're not spinning so many plates in your head all the time, or meditation or guided imagery, or something just to calm that down. It really does help a lot. I use an app and my phone called Calm. And so I listen to guided imagery every day to calm my mind and to regulate things and to it just creates a more peaceful environment for any anybody who can do it. You don't have to have any special equipment, just a cell phone is all it takes. Or if you're in the mood to do like a to journal, just go to the dollar store and get one of those little spiral notebooks and write down everything that's going on in your mind at the time until there's nothing left. And you'll feel it's a very, very cathartic way to get rid of stress.
SPEAKER_00
Yes. Interestingly enough, I believe firmly, and I see this in my practice all the time, that people have these running thoughts that are on autopilot in the background. And they're usually negative, and they're usually based out of something that they learn from childhood or from adolescence or even from young adulthood that they've thought so often that they're not even necessarily aware of that. Then in combination, we have these societal forces. We have a lot of negativity in our media, social media, uh, news media. Uh, we also have a lot of negative uh messaging coming from advertisements. So we're kind of bombarded with all of kind of this negativity. And when people let that run on an automatic tape in the background, it affects everything they do. First, it affects their feelings because they're, you know, very anxious, they're very depressed, they're very worried. And when they get that way, that's when they usually make choices that might be harmful for them. They may be overeating, they may be comfort eating uh or emotional eating, they may be uh, you know, so depressed that they don't exercise, they might um doom scroll endlessly, they may, you know, buy unnecessary stuff that advertising's supposed to tell them that will make them, you know, better. And what I do is I help people get an awareness of those thoughts. And that's where I think the interesting work lies because as soon as you become aware of that thought and how destructive it is and how it does not suit you, and then you learn how to formulate the thoughts that are more suitable for you, then you can start the work of nervous system regulation, like you're talking about. It's really hard to do it when you're unaware, or you're just like, okay, I'm gonna say my mantras, you know, and you're still stressed out, or I'm gonna go on a walk outside. I eat that person and you're walking and you're mad, right? You have to learn about how powerful these thoughts are first, and then learn how to understand and control the nervous system, which I think for people, when they don't have practice in it, they think it's really hard when actually it is quite easy. You know, two minutes of controlled timed breathing where the exhale is longer than the inhale, splashing cold water on your face to activate the vagus nerve, doing a little bilateral stimulation. There's all sorts of ways to get into the parasympathetic nervous system. And when you're there, that's when a lot of the good stuff can happen. That's why something like mindful eating is so important when you need to um, you know, assimilate and digest all of these foods effectively. If you are stressed out when you're eating and you're thinking terrible thoughts, your digestion will shut down and won't function the way that you want it to. So all of the like, you know, hoping and wishing and you know, over-exercising and getting yourself into your, you know, sympathetic nervous system won't do you any good. But I agree with you, you have to have the balance between the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. So let's pivot a little bit and talk a little bit about insulin resistance. I've done a lot of research on insulin resistance and I've actually followed a lot of the research that um Dr. Michael Krieger uh brought up and has uh you know put on nutritionpacks.org and put into his books like How Not to Die, which I think is one of the best books out there. Terrible name, terrible book name, but really, really interesting book. And in that book, and in the research that he has found, um, the he has found that the one of the primary drivers of insulin resistance is too much saturated fat in the diet. Have you come across the same kind of research? And how do you uh conceptualize and help people understand insulin resistance on a deeper level?
SPEAKER_01
So um insulin resistance is the precursor for pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, and it has to be taken seriously by a lot of people. I believe that it is one of the most undiagnosed and misdiagnosed problems that we have as a people. And um maybe about 25 years ago, when uh I had just graduated, um the prevailing thought at the time was to try to snack throughout the day, to graze throughout the day. And uh they said that that's one of the ways that you want to keep your blood sugar levels up, is to constantly feed your system. And what they what later on they found out that that's one of the most surefire ways to develop insulin resistance. What whenever you eat anything, whether it's a carbohydrate, a protein, or a fat, your body is going to respond by making and secreting insulin. Insulin is a hormone that's produced by the beta cells of your pancreas. And the job of insulin is to take the molecules that you consume and shuttle them into a cell where it can be made into energy. And this happens regardless of the macronutrient. If it's a carbohydrate, a protein, or a fat, it does the same thing, but it does so much more so with uh carbohydrates. Carbohydrates, uh, the way that I can describe this is if you're gonna make a campfire, the little tiny twigs that you use for kindling to start the fire are like carbohydrates. They burn very quickly, they go up very brightly, and they're gone in a flash. Whereas the wrist size twigs that you put on after you have a bed of coals present, they're like proteins. They burn slower. And um then the big, thick logs that you put on the fire later on in the evening are like fats. So that's why you're hungry again after like an hour after you eat Chinese food.
SPEAKER_00
But insulin only takes glucose to the cells.
SPEAKER_01
Because of gluconeogenesis and the ways that the biomechanical pathways of converting uh proteins and fats into glucose. So if you are constantly eating, constantly putting stuff into your system, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, you're constantly overloading your system with insulin. And after a while, the cells become numb to the insulin signals.
SPEAKER_00
Well, actually, the the research that I have read that actually is somewhat true. But um when you have excess saturated fat in the bloodstream, the liver can only process so much of that. And then it goes out into the bloodstream, which of course is what is one of the primary drivers for cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, and things like that. And if you have so much in the blood, it it then will seep out towards the muscle cells and it will actually cover the muscle cells. And when it's covering, and like, you know, gumming up is a like the the term, the very, very technical term that Dr. Krieger uh explains, gums up the receptors for insulin. So, yes, if you have a lot of, you know, say carbohydrate or glucose in the bloodstream and it needs to get to the muscle cells, it can't when it's uh the receptors are actually gummed up uh by fat. And so you have that excess insulin uh in the glucose running through the blood, unable to deliver the glucose to the cells. So it remains in the bloodstream, which then increases obviously our blood glucose levels and makes us the resistance is the insulin not being able to get into the cells, and then it gets confused in the pancreas. And the pancreas is like, well, I'm making a ton of this, uh, but it's not really going anywhere. And then it just that's when it starts to uh become dysfunctional. So a lot of the research out there is is, you know, well, a lot of doctors out there, particularly, especially in sick care, they're like, if you're becoming insulin resistance, you've got to cut your carbs and up your protein. And actually, that is what is driving your insulin further, especially if the protein that you're ingesting is high in saturated fat. So, you know, there's been a lot of research done where people can completely lower their umor, you know, decrease the insulin resistance if they reduce greatly their saturated fat intake and then focus on whole carbs, meaning like whole grains, beans, legumes, uh, vegetables, and fruit. And that's kind of the opposite advice of what you see out there with most doctors. But that is what has shown to uh decrease uh prediabetes and insulin resistance and actually even reverse diabetes. But there's so much more to go over. We're out of time for this half of this podcast, and I really want to pick your brain some more on all things chronic conditions. So will you join me for the second half, Dr. Smith? Okay, wonderful. Thank you all for joining us. Stay tuned for the second half of this really interesting conversation with functional medicine practitioner, Dr. Kevin Smith. Thanks for tuning in to the A New Insight Podcast. Please remember the content shared on this podcast is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Tune in next time and involve with us.
.png)
