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Welcome to <\/span>PIMpod<\/b>, the new podcast from Peninsula Integrative Medicine. Through conversations with our physicians and other experts, PIMpod explores the many ways we can better understand our health, address the root causes of illness, and take a more informed and personalized approach to well-being.<\/span><\/p>\n In this inaugural episode, host <\/span>Maya Mazin<\/b> sits down with <\/span>Dr. Rebecca Green<\/b><\/a>, founder and medical director of Peninsula Integrative Medicine. With more than 20 years of experience in naturopathic, functional, and integrative medicine, Dr. Green shares her personal journey into medicine and what led her to develop an approach that brings together conventional medical science, naturopathic medicine, East Asian medicine, advanced diagnostics, nutrition, and lifestyle medicine.<\/span><\/p>\n Their conversation explores what it really means to practice integrative medicine, why understanding the <\/span>why<\/span><\/i> behind symptoms matters, and how a more comprehensive approach can support both immediate health concerns and long-term wellness. Read the full transcript below.<\/span><\/p>\n Prefer to listen?<\/b> Listen to the inaugural episode of PIMpod here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Maya Mazin (MM):<\/strong> Welcome to PIMpod. Today I have the honor of interviewing Dr. Rebecca Green, the founder and medical director of Peninsula Integrative Medicine. Dr. Green is a licensed naturopathic doctor and acupuncturist with more than twenty years of experience in integrative and functional medicine. She specializes in hormone health, thyroid disorders, longevity medicine, metabolic health, and complex chronic conditions. Trained in both naturopathic and East Asian medicine, Dr. Green combines conventional medical science with evidence-based, holistic approaches, including advanced diagnostics, personalized nutrition, and lifestyle medicine. Her work focuses on identifying and treating the root causes of disease while helping patients optimize long term health. She is licensed in California and Washington and is recognized for her patient centered approach that emphasizes collaboration, education, and personalized care. Dr. Green, thank you so much for joining me today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. Rebecca Green (Dr. RG):<\/strong> What a lovely introduction. Thanks for having me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> So first, I would love to learn more about your journey into medicine and specifically what drew you to integrative medicine.<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. RG:<\/strong> This is a great question. And I think that it can be a circuitous path for a lot of people, since it\u2019s a route different from the conventional route, which is, as a kid, always something that I wanted to do. I wanted to be a pediatrician or a family practice doctor. I would practice on my dolls. I was really interested in physiology and the way bodies worked and then went to undergrad was pre-med, and that\u2019s where I was introduced to a microbiology professor and ended up doing my undergraduate thesis in microbiology and became fascinated with microorganisms and the way that they fundamentally control our food chain and our physiology.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And from there, I went into gastroenterology research and started to have a slightly different picture around how I might want to treat as a future doctor and started to ask a lot of the why around conditions, and simultaneously was introduced to one of the students who had just started naturopathic medical school. And a little bit of kicking and screaming forced me to go and sit in on a class. And I met a lot of the people going through that education and realized that this was very much aligned with my philosophy around wanting to, address nutrition and address other reasons why someone might be ill instead of more of an algorithm. Here\u2019s a condition. Let\u2019s find the medication or the treatment that specifically addresses that condition from a more conventional medical standpoint. And so I ended up enrolling. And then, because of my background in learning yoga and Ayurveda, eastern medicine also appealed to me. It\u2019s a different lens that you can look at physiology and do some problem solving. So ultimately, it was a way for me to try to amass more tools to understand how the human body works and to give people resources in order to heal themselves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> That\u2019s incredible. And in terms of giving resources, you eventually built your own practice, right? And so I\u2019m wondering what that process was like? And what were some of the biggest challenges maybe you faced in the process of specifically an integrative health practice?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. RG:<\/strong> Ah, well, I, when I graduated, I worked at a clinic locally in Portland, Oregon, and it was such a gift really to work with the providers who are there. I covered two maternity leaves at the same practice, both of the providers had gone out and had twins, so it\u2019s a little bit longer of a maternity leave for each of them. And I learned a lot from that doctor, Doctor Meaghan Dishman, who practices in Bend, about how to manage patient care and how to manage a practice more or less. And, her specialty was in women\u2019s health and fertility, and I learned a lot from her. I went on to move to California and worked for a couple of different practices and learned more about what I appreciated and what I felt might need improvement in terms of, you know, running things.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So eventually I branched out on my own so that I could provide a space where, from start to finish, patients would feel very supported, the staff at the clinic would feel very supported, and there was an ecosystem that was healthy, both in the office environment. And that\u2019s something that we could also use as a way to support our patients. Because what I did learn is that if management isn\u2019t healthy, if it isn\u2019t promoting the same principles and foundational health that we want for our patients, it\u2019s really hard to convey that and to and to have like a relaxing, supportive atmosphere. So that\u2019s what I really envisioned. And I never had the intention of growing the practice as big as it is now. But I\u2019ve told this to countless people that I sort of accidentally meet people that I really enjoy and really love to work with. And we find a way to expand and to work together. So that\u2019s how we accidentally became a bigger practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> That\u2019s beautiful. And I know your practice offers a couple things that you don\u2019t find at a conventional doctor\u2019s office. And one of those is a long new patient visit. And so I\u2019m wondering, what can a patient expect at their first visit, which is different from a typical fifteen minute doctor\u2019s appointment, for example?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. RG:<\/strong> Well, certainly the amount of time that we spend with our patients tends to be longer, much longer than a standard new patient visit. And I think part of that is our desire to gain an understanding around other aspects of someone\u2019s health that they may not have time to go over in more of an insurance based rapid fire patient after patient model. I would say it\u2019s even more like medicine was practiced in the 40s and 50s, even 60s to some extent, where you had a family doctor, you went in, they understood you both as a person and your health care, your conditions, what you needed to be seen for. So you can\u2019t get that kind of understanding from short visits. So we go from, you know, head to toe someone\u2019s history, their family history, their, you know, medications, what kind of supplements they might be taking. Are there any interactions? It\u2019s just a very detailed history. And I think that\u2019s the only way to really get the foundation to understand someone\u2019s health long term and also to be able to track it.<\/span><\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> And I know you also have patients who come in with normal labs, but still have very severe symptoms sometimes. Right? And so I\u2019m wondering, how do you handle those patients whose labs come back normal but still are experiencing pain and need help?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. RG:<\/strong> I think that\u2019s a lot of where conventional healthcare may not support the majority, is where, you know, I would say there are a lot of people that have, say, burnout and they\u2019re tired or they\u2019re having sleep issues. And yeah, fundamentally their labs are normal. But we have a lot of other tools first, aside from looking at labs to try and help someone feel better, so whether that\u2019s, you know, acupuncture suggestions or lifestyle suggestions, you know, adjusting the time to bed, giving different exercise routines someone can do or different nutrition advice. And usually, someone\u2019s primary care doctor may not order the full complement of labs that would help to elucidate the real issue behind why someone\u2019s not feeling well. So we look for areas where information might be missing and can order labs that are slightly different, or look at the problem differently. And then with the Chinese medicine side of my background, sometimes it\u2019s about just using a different lens and trying to understand physiology that way, that could be helpful. So it might be a herbal formula. But yeah, we can treat based on data. We could also just treat people, you know, based on their symptoms, treat empirically. And if people feel better and are armed with the information they need to, then that\u2019s, that\u2019s real. That\u2019s the real goal, right?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Related Reading:<\/strong> What \u201cNormal\u201d Lab Results Might Be Missing<\/a> by Dr. Rebecca Green.<\/em><\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> Of course, that sounds amazing. And of course, you are both, you know, licensed as a naturopathic doctor, and also you mentioned East Asian medicine. So I\u2019m wondering, how do you balance between knowing pharmaceuticals, lifestyle and herbal intervention? How do you kind of find how to balance those three things?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. RG:<\/strong> I would say over the last two decades, it\u2019s been, you know, partially just that clinical experience. At the end of the day, I\u2019m a very pragmatic provider and I want to use the most efficient way to get someone from feeling unwell to feeling well. And so, you know, sometimes that means using a medication temporarily and then weaning off that medication and just using herbs or supplements or lifestyle. And sometimes it\u2019s, you know, the reverse where we try, you know, herbs, lifestyle, etc. and then maybe if that doesn\u2019t work, then try a medication. But, all of it is trial and error ultimately. I mean, we could be armed with information, but everyone\u2019s body responds differently. But I try to give very, very practical approaches. So that way people feel better as quickly as possible without depleting their bodies in other ways. So, what is the least invasive, most effective way we can do things? And I think that\u2019s what it takes, you know, education and clinical experience to figure that out. And so I always hope for the best. And luckily for me, my patients generally feel better. But it\u2019s a team effort. And I always hope to empower people so that they don\u2019t need me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> That\u2019s amazing. And now transitioning to some of your clinical interests and specialties, I\u2019m wondering what does healthy aging or anti-aging even look like for your practice? And what does a realistic protocol or timeline look like?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. RG:<\/strong> So I would say it depends on the person and what they\u2019re coming in for. Typically, people are more concerned with aging the older that they get. And if they have symptoms that start to come up. So I\u2019d say that\u2019s most common in someone\u2019s 40s or 50s, maybe earlier if they\u2019re very proactive. But what that means to me is just setting the stage so that the habits people have and the supplements people are taking based on their labs, based on their genetics, are contributing to their health in the long run, because most people don\u2019t necessarily want to live longer. It\u2019s that they want to live well for as long as possible. And I think the amalgam of things that we offer people tends to contribute well to that. Since naturopathic medicine in general is lifestyle medicine. And a lot of it is data driven around, you know, someone has a vitamin deficiency if someone needs thyroid support. If someone has high cholesterol and they need to bring that down. So all of that in my book is healthy aging.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Related Reading:<\/strong> Men Over 40: What to Watch, What to Test, and How to Stay Strong for Life<\/a> by Dr. Rebecca Green<\/em><\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> That\u2019s great. And I know another option you offer, not necessarily for aging, but in general is bioidentical hormone therapy or HRT. And for patients who maybe have never heard of it, what is it and who does it maybe tend to benefit and how?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. RG:<\/strong> So hormone therapy in general is now so much more popularized and accessible, which is great. Over the last ten years, I\u2019ve seen hormone therapy go from something that was a bit more controversial conventionally to offer women, both through perimenopause and the menopausal transition. It was usually only used for women who had extreme symptoms. And now we\u2019re understanding there\u2019s a lot more benefits in terms of healthy aging again. So I tend to look at, you know, someone\u2019s symptoms, certainly, but also labs to see whether or not, there\u2019s a need for using hormones that are identical to the ones that our bodies make. So that could be testosterone, estrogen, progesterone. <\/span><\/p>\n There are both conventional prescriptions one can use like a hormone patch, and then there\u2019s also other custom compounded options. People can use two, especially for women with testosterone. We use a much lower dose. So that tends to be compounded from a specialty pharmacy.\u00a0 but the goal is to preserve health, so be preserving bone, preserving muscle mass, preserving mental health, preserving, you know, sleep in a more symptom free lifestyle. So it can be extremely beneficial just to help women, especially through that transition, but also men, because men do have a decline in their testosterone levels as they get older. So whether or not that\u2019s augmented, naturally through weightlifting or through supplements, there are some that actually help men to produce testosterone or if they need some amount of testosterone replacement or medications that help the body produce more testosterone. It, you know, it\u2019s an area of focus of mine because it does fall within that healthy aging sphere. And just having people feel as good as possible for as long as possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nPIMpod, S1, E1: Meet Dr. Rebecca Green Transcript<\/strong><\/h3>\n