Building Resilient Communities Through Natural Healing with Dr. Melissa Oden

Building Resilient Communities Through Natural Healing with Dr. Melissa Oden

About Dr. Melissa Oden

From hospital social work to rural disaster planning, Dr. Melissa Oden and I explore leadership in public health, natural healing, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Learn how emergency management, education, and advocacy come together to build resilient Texas communities.

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Introduction

Good, beautiful day, beautiful, beautiful souls! This is Charla Anderson, host of the Charla Anderson Show~Collector & Connector of Fascinating People (& EVERYONE is Fascinating!), especially you.

Reading the bio of my guest today, with every credential imaginable in social work, public health, and community leadership, it felt like reading an encyclopedia, if you know what that is. Oh, my goodness. Dr. Melissa Oden, we met a couple of decades ago. We hadn’t even figured out where yet. And today, I’m not letting her get away with all that talk. 

We’re going to get the real story where she came from how she built a life in public health and natural healing and why resilience and proactive wellness matter now more than ever and the difference she’s making in communities across texas Because beneath all of those credentials, she is a fireball and fun and a courageous systems thinking, disaster planning, natural health leading oxymoron, if I’ve ever heard of one. 

…BUT FIRST…

We’re going to take our 22 second mini vacation. We’re going to take in a breathing exercise, breathe in some calm for seven seconds, hold for four seconds, let out some gratitude for 11 seconds. And then… We’ll get going. So here we go. Breathe in some calm. I am calm. Hold. Relax. Release. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Shouldn’t we do that more often?

Dr. Melissa Oden, I’m so excited to re-engage with you. We’ve known each other for so long and we’ve reconnected again in the last few months. So how are you, and who are you? This is what I’m going to say. Tell us who you are in this world, and then we’ll talk about what you do. Well,

First of all, thank you so much for having me. I always love to do these kinds of shows. They’re so much fun with the organic conversation and just what we can learn about each other. And so I’m happy to be able to be here today and share with your audience. But wow, I don’t even know what to say after that intro. That was fabulous. Thank you. an oxymoron yeah that is a word that has never been used to describe me at least in my within my hearing so i’m gonna write this day down for sure um you know i think about this a lot i have been and am so many things but isn’t that representative of how we are as women we wear so many hats and no no i’m not throwing shade on the guys out there in the audience at all But if you’re a woman out there, you do know we wear many, many hats. And so it’s like, who am I today? Or maybe who am I this minute, right? 

But, you know, that long list of alphabet soup behind my name really just has to do with my work. It really does. doesn’t necessarily have to do with me as a person. Sometimes it’s very hard to separate, as we all know, if we’re out in the work world. But, you know, I like to think of myself as just a really fun, Jesus-loving, tea-loving woman, cat mom. You know, just love to hang out with my friends, go to movies, hang out with my family. Just really live life as much as you can because it’s just so short. It is so short. And, you know, in my work world does take up an awful lot of my time, which it should. I mean, I’ve been given things to do, right? I mean, God has given us all things to do. And so I just happen to be in a position where I can focus on that a little bit more in this time of life. But I really enjoy people. 

I really enjoy helping them be the best that they can be. My company’s mantra is helping people heal. It has been from the day that I decided to do this work in 1997. So it’s been a long time that I’ve held that mantra for my company. And so I believe that. I believe that for everyone out there. I believe that for myself personally. You know, even though things may go sideways sometimes, I always believe people have the opportunity to heal. And that’s just not physically right. It’s in every aspect of life. It’s a holistic view of who people are, what they can be, and how I can help them. So yeah, that was a really broad answer. But maybe we can drill down a little bit more.

Well, fireball, I find it, that’s that, really. You’ve always just been so to be in such a standard, it’s not the most fun, typically associated with healthcare careers, you know, or systems and all that stuff, you know, disasters. I mean, goodness gracious.

That was not on my radar when I started, I will tell you. But it’s been funny because I am literally in midlife right now. And it’s, it’s funny when you look back on what you’ve done and where you’re going. It’s a very strange place to be, right? No one in high school like tells you this, right? No one tells you, no one prepares you in high school for this. By the way, you’re going to get to midlife and all of a sudden you’re going to question every single thing about your entire life, um, because it’s getting you ready for what’s coming up next. And I have to remember that because it gets hard sometimes. But when I look back on where I started and how far I’ve come, it just absolutely, um, amazes me how, and I’m going to say this, and I know people are going to wonder about it, but it was really kind of easy. 

And I think it’s because I was paying attention to where God had me going. And every decision that I made in my career was very intentional. It may not have turned out exactly like I thought it would, but it certainly always turned out better than I thought it would. And it was funny, we were talking before off camera about soap operas, and I told you that General Hospital was the one that kind of got me started in my career. You know, I just loved Nurse Bobby Spencer. You know, I just loved that whole idea of being in the hospital. And what happened was I found medical social work. And, you know, when I was… well, I should back up a little bit. When I was probably 14 or 15, I started volunteering at my local hospital. And so I was, I was a candy stripper. I was going to say, do they call it candy strippers? Well, they had just kind of sort of morphed into junior volunteers at that point. And so we were, we were junior volunteers. I did it with my very best friend, who was probably the best four summers of my life before I went to college. So much fun doing that. And that’s where I really started to dig into the medical field. 

And so I thought, you know, I’m going to be a nurse. Well, here’s what happened. I met the social worker at the hospital. I didn’t know what that meant, but I became really good friends with her and she became a really wonderful mentor to me. And when I ended up going to college, I switched my major to social work. And I thought this I want to do what she’s doing because I felt like she was helping so many people out. in such a very unique way. And funny enough, when I ended up doing my first internship in my undergrad, she was my supervisor. I got to do it there and she was my supervisor. And I’m so glad because I had a very life-defining event when I was there, and I lost a patient. I lost a patient to suicide in the hospital and I felt like that was my responsibility because that was the first patient that she’d let me see by myself. 

And so I saw him on a Monday, and I think the very next day he died, and I came back on Friday, and she told me what happened, and I just lost it. And she said the thing that has stuck with me forever. She said, honey, there is nothing you could have done about that. People who don’t want to live are going to find a way to exit this world, no matter what you say or do. And that has freed me from a lot of things in my social work career. A lot of things. And just in general, right? Just in general in life. And so anyway, so after I finished my master’s in social work, I actually went to work for that hospital. And I went to Med Surge where she was. She had moved into rehab and we got to work together, which I just felt like was such a full circle moment for me. Yeah. I just felt like it was just full circle.

Were you stalking her? I was.

I kept up with her for a long time. I don’t know where she is now. She retired and I kind of lost track with her. But at any rate, that’s really how this whole thing got started. And it has just really blossomed from there. I’ve been very blessed in my career to be able to do a lot of things to help I hope, a lot of people, not just in my area, but across the state. And in fact, I’ve had opportunities to speak outside of the state and help people with their community health in their own states. And so it’s been really a lot of fun. It’s been a lot of fun.

So doing social work is a very broad term, right? So you’re talking about primarily in the institutions, the hospitals and rehabs and stuff.

That’s what I wanted to do. I never wanted to go into governmental stuff. I never wanted to do CPS. That was just not what I was called to do. Thank you, thank you, thank you. But I was, but listen, one of the things that I love about social work and public health really more than social work is that it’s so broad. And what happened was, what had happened was, I got into my social work at the hospital. And because of the internship that I’d had before I graduated, which, by the way, was teaching sex ed at Girls Inc. of Tarrant County. Amazing year. I was an AmeriCorps member. 

That’s where we met. Girls Inc. Yes, Amy Razor. Hi, Amy, if you’re watching.

Anyway, I love her. A long time ago. Yes, because I started my internship there in 2000, in August of 2000. So 26 years ago. But I, and that in and of itself is a whole story. I was not supposed to be there, but I ended up there and it changed everything. everything for me. I fell in love with this thing called health education. And I was really good at it. I just found out I was really, really good at it. And so I tried to get out of my social work program twice to get into the brand new public health program at the Health Science Center in Fort Worth. And didn’t make it. And it wasn’t because of my grades. It just wasn’t time. It just wasn’t time for me.

And I didn’t understand it at that point. So I went ahead. I finished up my MSW, went to work as a social worker. And man, I missed that life as a health educator. I missed what I had been doing at Girls Inc. so desperately. And so I finally got into that MPH program. And switched over to public health. And man, everything just took off like a rocket ship. I mean, it was just, it was so incredible. From 2003, when I started that program until now, I mean, really, so many things have happened. So many great things have happened. I have met so many fantastic people. I’ve gotten to speak in many different places. I’ve had partnerships with folks that I never thought I’d have partnerships with. I’ve gotten to do work, boots on the ground in communities that desperately needed it, that I never thought I’d be doing, entering disaster recovery and, you know, the work with urban planners and all of that good stuff. 

And so, you know, when I think about it, it just amazes me what God can do when you’re willing and when you listen to that call. And I just, I’m so blessed. I’m just so blessed to be able to, because all I wanted when I got out of high school was to help people. And that is so cliche. Now I graduated in 1988. Y’all can do the math. My birthday’s in March, but that’s all I wanted to do was help people grow. I had no idea other than doing the hospital social work, what that was going to mean. I had no idea that God had this world that he was going to open up for me to really get me into places that I never could have gotten into by myself. And so it’s just been, it’s been a whirlwind to be sure. It’s been an absolute whirlwind.

It’s so much fun just to hear that, you know, and you know, we, we, I don’t call my show religious or, you know, in fact, I do say it’s not religious. It’s about relationships. And so, yeah, so we I like to kind of clarify that because if we talk, I talk about God all day long, but I’m not talking about God in a box religion. So I think that you are the same on the same page.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

So right now, this is, you know, we’re both a part of NACWI, the National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs. And we know the founder, Diane Cunningham. She was my guest recently. She’s a I want to be exuberant like her when I grow up. You know, I mean, she’s just a fun person.

November, actually, we were at the NACWI meeting in Grapevine. It was Christmas time, we were at that cute little restaurant in Grapevine, we just recently reconnected at the NACWI meeting in Hearst.

But it’s, I mean, you know, you’re memorable. So I hadn’t forgotten you all these years. You know, that’s one of the cool things. Just hit it off, right?

Yeah, well, you know, that’s one of the cool things about working in Tarrant County that I tell people all the time. I don’t, and I work with people all over the place. Tarrant County is special. I think that we have a special connection with all of the folks that we work with. And I have connections. I still have connections with people that I, you know, connected with when I was working in the hospital. If they were marketers that came to see me, which by the way, the rules on that are totally different now. 

So I feel like I was very fortunate to be able to meet the people I was able to meet when they could just walk up to the med surge floor and talk to me. Right. They can’t do that anymore. But I have connections and colleagues and friends from almost 30 years back now. And I don’t know that every county is like that, but I know Tarrant County is. And I that’s another way I just feel so blessed is that I am here in this county working on some fabulous things with some fabulous people. And it makes all the difference in the world, you know. When

I was flying, I’m a 34-year flight attendant, and I was based in Houston with Delta, and they changed all the bases, right? And they even closed Dallas. But I would be flying, and people would go, and they’re going to Dallas. And I would go, why? There’s nothing to do over there. Got to go to Fort Worth. It’s got the cattle drive. It’s got the, you know. It does. Way back then, I was an advocate for the west side of the Metroplex. Okay, way back then. 

And before I even lived up here, didn’t know anything really about it, except that there’s a dividing line right down the airport and it doesn’t mean dallas people are bad or you know and none of that it’s just is it kind of a mindset of cow town decided to go you know full-on cow town country and dallas decided to cosmopolitan yeah go cosmopolitan you didn’t see that And a lot of that has to do with the history of the two cities as well.

It’s my understanding that the assassination of John F. Kennedy had a lot to do with that because of how people viewed Dallas after that happened. And so it just kind of morphed from there. But it is true that Fort Worth has a little bit different vibe going on. And people talk about how friendly we are and how easygoing everything is over here. It’s a little bit more.

Oh, much stuff to do, so much fun stuff to do in one area. You can get there and walk around. So I’ll just mention, you know. I love the memorial of John F. Kennedy’s last day, last night. He stayed in Fort Worth, and he made a speech at the Hilton. That’s a speech on 8th Street down there. And made a speech on those steps before he got in and went over to die on that dreadful day. But there’s a beautiful memorial. A lot of people don’t know that. People who know a lot about Kennedy do not know that there’s a beautiful monument set up for him in downtown Fort Worth.

As you know, I’ve been a member of the Texas Public Health Association for 21 years now. And we actually had when I was president the first time around, we had our conference there at that hotel. And so when we went to tour that hotel, the guy who did our tour told us all about that, gave us little buttons and challenge coins and all sorts of stuff. And so that’s kind of a special place in our hearts, too, just because that’s kind of where we had our conference.

But I got to go to the dedication. Oh, how fun Jim Wright was, wasn’t it? I get to meet some pretty cool people, but that’s just a good thing to know because historically, I don’t think everybody wants to go see the book depository, which, and believe it or not, I’ve never been there. I mean, I haven’t either. It’s not on my bucket list. I like to see him live over there. I have been to the Grassy Knoll. Yes, I have been to the Grassy Knoll and met a lot of people there on his birthday a couple of times, but. Anyway, I don’t know how we got off. How did we get off? Anyway, because we knew we would. It’s like this is when your name means to chat in Spanish, you know, and joy in Greek. And then you’re so vibrant. And just who knows? We just do a lot of catching up. So fun.

So my name, Melissa, is Greek and it means honeybee, which is why you see the bee in my branding. That was my branding. So there you go. Inquiring minds, if you wanted to know.

Now we know. So I’m going to ask you this. And we kind of talked about it a little bit before the show, but I know that you’re very much a holistic medicine person to have come from the medical side of things and on the boards of these, you know, health and whatever they are, all these, I can’t remember all of them. I’ve always been intrigued by you being able to marry the two sides, the pharmacy or the, you know, medical side. How do you say it? Allopathic?

Yeah, the allopathic. Well, yes, the allopathic side, the Western medicine side.

Yeah. The Western and the Eastern sides. And you, you’ve done a really big, you probably are an advocate to a really good one to talk to when people are trying to figure things out in the system. So. Yeah.

So I’ve been a natural health practitioner for almost 30 years. And that came from my own health issues. I was diagnosed with stage four endometriosis when I was 24. And I’d had it for 12 years before I was ever diagnosed. And keep in mind that back then, that was 1994. Back then, we did not have the internet like we do now. We did not have what we have now to research these things. And so I literally did research at the library and in real books, right? Like I still have all the books that I ever bought on the topic right over there in my bookcase. 

And so I did my own research because I knew that there had to be a way to get well. I was not willing to accept what was happening. And so I found out all the information I could. I ended up having a fabulous OB-GYN that for whatever reason took a personal interest in my case. And he partnered with me to help me get well. And so that’s another thing that I really advocate for doctors. I really wish you’d partner more with your patients because they’re not dumb. They’re not dumb. And they really, I think, want more than you think that they do. But at any rate, so when so after I did my research and I decided what I wanted to do to try and fix the situation, I went to his office and I said, look, this is what I think we need to do. And we talked it through. He agreed with me. And I did actually do six months of a drug treatment to get that because at that point, I didn’t know about natural health. So I’m still working in the allopathic world at this point. So I did six months of a drug treatment called Danocrine. And it actually did put me into remission. And it was after that point that I found out about natural health.  

And I always credit my natural health practitioner, who is still with me. I’ve been with her for 30 years. She has been with me through all the ups and downs. We still work on things because… Life. You breathe this air. We drink this. I mean, life. Right. So you have to stay on it. But I really credit her with helping to keep me in remission because she understood what was happening. She understood the tenets of natural health, that the body has everything that it needs to heal itself. Sometimes it just needs a little help. And that’s how I became interested in it because at that point, even though I had gone into remission, I’d still had four surgeries after that to clean up scar tissue. 

Every time you go in there to clean up scar tissue, if you know anything about endometriosis, you create more scar tissue. So you get a little bit of pain relief at the time, but then later on down the road… You know, so she ended up putting me on some aloe vera juice and some other things. But that aloe vera juice actually healed me from the inside out. And I was, let’s see, I was diagnosed when I was 24, when I was 33, I think. I went in to have a tubal ligation done, and my doctor, who was the same one, seen me all these years, who did that tubal, he said, I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but I only found a little bit of scar tissue in there, and he said it didn’t hinder anything. He said, whatever you’ve been doing, you need to keep doing it. 

It was that aloe vera that whole time just healing me from the inside out. In fact, it had even healed the scars from where I’d had my gallbladder out when I was 27. And so, you know, that’s when I really and I believe I believed in natural health before then. But that was actual confirmation that whatever I had been doing and I knew what I’d been doing was working. And so at that point, I was like, you know what? We need to just go full steam ahead with this thing. So when I was 27, actually, when I created my company, I decided that I did not want other women to go through what I had been through. It was really, really difficult. And at this point, we’re starting to see a little bit more of the internet. We’re starting to see a little bit more different ways of being able to research things. And so I said, you know what? I’m going to create a health education company. 

And all I’m going to do is go into doctor’s offices and take over the responsibility. I was 27. What did I know? Take responsibility for educating these women because doctors don’t have time. If they can hand it off to somebody else who’s been there and knows what to do, surely it will help their patients. I entered the world of higher ed to be able to get the credentialing that I needed to do that. And 15 years later, I came out with four degrees, including my doctorate. And a lot of things have changed for me. I’d been in remission for a very long time. And it was just not a topic that I was passionate about anymore, if you know what I mean. Not because I don’t appreciate it for other women. It’s just that I had moved so far past that it was hard for me to think about going back to that place. And I had already been introduced to public health. And there were so many other things that I wanted to tackle. Knowing what I knew about allopathic medicine, knowing what I knew about natural health, I figured that public health would be the best way to do that. And so that’s kind of how that whole thing started. 

But I can’t remember a time that I’ve been without my herbs or my essential oils or my supplements. Everybody, aloe vera juice. Am I? Yeah. Everybody needs to supplement y’all. Our food is not food. And I’m so happy to see what’s going on right now with Secretary Kennedy and the new health ed promo thing that he’s got going on, the campaign, because we are not eating real food. Even if you think you’re eating real food, you are not eating real food. And so what happens is there’s this gap that you get in your nutrition. Even if you’re vegan, even if you’re vegetarian, you are not getting everything you need. You have to supplement so that your body can do what it needs to do. And so what those herbs do is they fill in those gaps and they help your body either heal or stay healthy, whichever, wherever you fall on that spectrum. And so I, and, and now we’re starting to get to the point where people are looking at what’s which I’m so happy about because that’s where it’s all happening. 

So if you can keep yourselves healthy, then you can keep yourself healthy. And so this is evolving as we’re speaking, right? This is all evolving. And so I try to stay, I attend as many webinars as I can, natural health webinars weekly, and I try to stay in the loop with everything that’s going on. I do have, you know, four different brands in my store that I can pull from for people who are looking for solutions because I, because I use different brands and I only represent the ones that I know work and that I have full confidence in. But I also think that people want to know that there are options out there for them based on what they need, not just what I’m carrying in the store. Right. So I try to carry a variety of things. I’ve got, I think, four or five things going on right now, but anyway, it’s just been a real challenge for me as someone who’s had health issues to balance all of this. And the older we get, by the way, the more challenging it gets. Again, did I mention I was in midlife? It’s… it’s been a challenge. So the conversations I’m having, I’m in midlife too, cause I’m going to be, I’m going to live to 120.

So I’m only 72.

So the conversations I’m having with my natural health practitioner now are different than they were 20 years ago because I’m just in a different place, but that’s okay. We’ll, we’ll get it, we’ll get it worked out and it’ll be fine at some point.

So you may like this thing, the saying that I have, it’s like if God can create it, he can heal it. And we have, I did a rant a couple of years, a year and a half or two ago. I called it a rant. I call it the white coat syndrome. The authority of this white coat. And I just went off on it because my mama had a baby in 1943. And they told her she had to be bedridden for two weeks. Oh, my gosh. She had this new baby, which was all healthy. Everything was good. But the advertising agency that had created the white coat for the medical community to get them, you know, more authority, they kind of became these gods in the, you know, in this world. And I was like, mom. 

You know, there’s been billions of babies born, and most of them are probably out in the middle of the field. They squat down, have a baby, tie it on, and run and catch up with the tribe. I mean, you know, not laying in bed for two weeks and eating bonbons or whatever, right? Watching General Hospital. I mean, a baby, it’s the most natural thing in the world, but they had, and so that’s just an example in my world of, of what, how it got maybe the unbalanced in the, in the medical world and that they’re not even allowed to take a nutrition class.

Things are changing. I know they’re changing and I’m so grateful. Yeah, I know that a lot of medical schools are not only adding more nutrition courses or adding them if they’ve never had them. But I know here in the local area at the osteopathic school, they have added public health. to their DO’s curriculum plan. Because we know that it’s really, really important to understand what we call the social determinants of health. That is our buzz phrase in public health. They are social determinants of health. These are the determinants that have nothing to do with medicine. They have everything to do with where you live, what your occupation is, what the air you’re breathing is, the quality of water that you’re drinking, the economic development that you may have, Um, and you know, I, I say this and people kind of get shocked by it, but I will say it till the day that I die. Your zip code has more to do with your health outcome than your genetic code.

It truly, truly does. If you live in a zip code that is a food desert or doesn’t have good water or has a very high infant mortality rate, by the way, we have eight zip codes in Tarrant County alone that have infant mortality rates that third-world countries should not have. That should not be. Your health outcomes are going to be worse than if you had cancer in your family’s background or if you had diabetes in your family. Whatever it is in your genetic code is not going to matter nearly as much as what you’re dealing with in those social determinants of health in your zip code. And so that’s what public health tries to do. Public health tries desperately to look at those social determinants of health and determine… what it is that we need to do to strengthen communities to make them healthier. 

I’ve been working with urban planners for the last 10 years on some active transportation projects. We’ve kind of morphed out of those grants because those grants ended, but we’re working on some different projects now. And the one thing that I know that is so exciting about this partnership and has been for the last decade is that we know as public health practitioners what people need to be healthy. But we need the urban planners to help build the infrastructure to make those things happen. We can’t just tell people to go take a walk when they live in a very unsafe neighborhood or they don’t have sidewalks or if they don’t have a car and can’t get to a grocery store to get those fresh foods that they need or if they don’t even have a grocery store to get any sort of fresh foods that they need or whatever the case may be. And so it’s been really fun to be able to work with these urban planners who know how to build infrastructure so that we can help our folks be healthy and be able to get to the things that they need in a healthy way. 

And so it’s been eye-opening for me. And that’s the other thing with social work. Social work has been its very one-on-one oriented now. If you remember, and I don’t know if you know your social work history, but back in the day when Jane Addams was designated as the first social worker, it was very grassroots. It was very community-oriented. Yes, she did work with people, but she worked in a community base. Social work has now become very one-on-one. It’s become very therapy oriented. And I will say there are some excellent therapists out there who are social workers. But we have forgotten our roots. We have forgotten that the work happens at the community level. You get the most bang for your buck at the community level. Everybody, when you raise the water, all the boats rise, right? So I think that’s really where I, when I was a public health, when I was an MPH student, I really started to see this.

It was a 180 for my social work degree. We look at communities. How do we make communities better? healthier. And I think that we have not done a very good job of separating ourselves from the medical field. Yes, we work with them, but we are not a part of them, as you would think. We’re partners, but we’re not the same animal. You know what I mean? So, Many medical schools have started to realize this now, and doctors, doctoral students, doctor students, are becoming a little bit more versed in the social determinants of health, and I think that is only going to help their practice. It’s just, it’s only going to help their practice and their patients.

Good to know, good to hear. So, I was what’s coming to mind a little bit is and maybe this is totally unrelated, but I was on a mission trip with my kids and, you know, junior high or whatever. And we were in I think it was Arkansas. We were helping build a playground or something like that. And they had this. lunch program the school lunch program does that have anything to do with you you guys so this is what i witnessed and i was appalled and i knew it was going on but i witnessed it so they’re they’re giving every kid a tray and it’s got an apple and a milk and a sandwich and chips and you know whatever they had every single person got every single thing They went right over to the trash can, threw away the milk, threw away the apple, threw away. 

And I was like, can’t you take that home for your family? And I asked the lady, I was like, how can this be? This is so wasteful. Well, these are the rules. And I was like, I was mortified. I was just, I was just, you know, she’s doing her job. Right. But it’s, it’s, it’s a silly system. That’s silly. Yeah. a lot of they’re eating the chips and the cookie and throwing everything else away and this was this was a you know 15 years ago so

yeah and that has a couple things one is public health law and what you can and can’t do with food that has been served to touched yeah um but the other thing is money it always comes back to money

but they’re spending the heck of a lot of money on that food that’s just going in the trash can right and and And it’s a bigger picture than that.

Think about this. How much more are we paying for organic foods than we pay for conventional? It’s absolutely insane. Do you know it is cheaper to farm organic than it is to farm conventional? And yet we pay three to four to five times more for organic foods. And so it starts at the top. It doesn’t start at the school. Yeah, it doesn’t start at the school level. It starts at the top. And so until we… Oh, I totally get that. Yeah, until we can figure that out and until we can figure out how to provide those types of services in schools better for kids and get those fresh foods to them, you know, we’re going to continue.

And teach them to eat the fresh foods, the good, better, you know, they’re… I was in, you know, I got robbed at gunpoint in Memphis. But right before that, I’d noticed that there were not… I drove up there. I was going to a convention, stayed in an Airbnb. And then I was like, I need to go to the bathroom. So I went to two different service stations and they didn’t have a door on them or didn’t have, you know… And then I saw a whole family of… they all got in a minivan, probably 10 people, a lot of people. 

And I bet they had, it must have been payday because they had a, everybody had a pile of chips and drinks and sodas and, and that’s all they know. I mean, there’s gotta, you know, they gotta have an instinct that something’s not right. Some, at least the adults, but what, you know, what do they do about it? Those things taste good. Those crunchy chips and those ice creams.

Unfortunately, they do. And one of the projects that, well, it depends on whether or not they’re in a food desert. So one of the projects that I worked on, one of the first projects I worked on with the urban planners, with the American Planters. planning association, Texas chapter was helping one of our local nonprofits, um, bring fresh fruits and vegetables into corner stores because typically in poor neighborhoods, um, that’s what they have are corner stores. And so that was one of the projects that we actually worked on that was quite successful, not because of us, but because we were able to support, um, the executive director of that particular, um, nonprofit to be able to do that. And they were able to sustain that for many years.

I’m not quite sure what the situation is now, but I do know that that’s been a huge push for folks because grocery stores do not want to come into those neighborhoods for many reasons. One of them is density, but they don’t want to come in. And so what do you do when you can’t get to a proper grocery store? Well, you got to work with the corner stores and see what they’re willing to what they’re willing to bring in. They lose a lot of money on fresh foods because clearly they go bad at some point, right? So placement of those fresh fruits, easy for me to say, fruits and vegetables has been a topic of conversation because a lot of them would be placed in the back of the store, but many folks don’t ever go to the back of the store. 

We try to get them to put them up front where people could go in, grab them, you know, Pay for them, have some fresh foods up front. So I do know across the country, not just in Tarrant County, there has been a movement to be able to utilize corner stores a little bit better in that regard. But it has to be a win-win for that store owner because they can lose a lot of money if they don’t sell those fresh fruits and vegetables. And the other thing is what you said, right? People don’t value… those things as much as they do the fast food. I mean, it is so much faster and easier to go through a drive-thru somewhere and spend less money, by the way, than going to the store and getting some organic whatever and pay five times as much, right? So… You can feed a family of five or six or seven a lot cheaper through the drive-thru, unfortunately, than you can by going to the grocery store and getting real food, as real as you can get it anymore. So there are, again, social determinants, social determinants of health. What are we doing to make things easier for people? How are we, you know, actually providing real food? 

Again, I’m just so hopeful with this new campaign. that senator kennedy is doing that um that we’re going to start to see some changes i do know some of the things he’s already done have been very helpful i know the red dye issue he’s already addressed um i know he’s been talking to coca-cola about uh some different things about their formulations and whatever um yeah get the high fructose corn syrup out which does nothing and then artificial sweeteners too i i have a poem pink yellow and blue they’re killing you these artificial things but if you know stop drinking diet soda please yes of all things.

Do you know what I call a diet? So, you know, cola diet, the die with a cross at the end. I mean, this, this, the, the artificial sweeteners and the artificial fats are literally killing you and your butt. None of us are, none of us are skinnier and healthier because of them. But so I, what I learned a long, long time ago, and a lot of it, almost was instinctual but what i’ve learned is that the your brain completely is bypassed when you’re taking those artificial things and so it thinks you’re not getting anything so it stores everything yeah and so i mean that’s i learned that and i’m just me walking you know that was when i was flying and i saw an article and i figured it out and Yeah, we’re, we’re on to something and I’m grateful that it’s being exposed and at least change I think fluoride coming out of our water is going to be a blessing of blessings that put take that sludge waste product and get rid of it out of our systems.

I agree. I agree. And, and I don’t, I’m not stupid. I mean, I know that all of these things, I probably won’t see the results of them in my lifetime. They will take decades to unravel what has been done to us over the last, 100 years. Yeah, at least. Yeah. So so but you have to start somewhere. You know, the best day to start was yesterday and the next best day to start is today. So just remember that. And and in terms of, by the way, that diet soda and aspartame and stuff, which, by the way, is killing you. You know, I would much rather see somebody, if you’re going to have a soda, which I do every once in a while. Listen, I’m a huge football fan. 

And at the beginning of football season, I have my little thing of Dr. Pepper and I’m good for months. I don’t do it often at all. But I would much rather see somebody take a six ounce, the little one, the six ounce can of real soda with real sugar in it and have that than drink a diet soda that is literally pickling your liver. Yeah. People just don’t understand that they have been lied to in this marketing. And just please, please, please understand they are lying to you.

They are lying to you. And their marketing is, you know, they’re massively successful marketing. I mean, naming it Diet Coke was the best name. sorry was the best uh marketing name i think they could have ever come up with people you know when when i i remember we started playing coke and for i mean uh we had coke and seven up i think or coke and then uh um fresca and tab and those are you know fresca’s got a big it’s a big upswing right now the young people are going oh this is this is good i’m like look at it then i had my back in the day i was like you know So my, my ex-husband would go in and order an eclair and a tab. And the consumption of sugar doubled with the, with the introduction. 

So people were thinking they’re getting that it’s counteracting, but it wasn’t. And it still isn’t. And it’s only escalated. So, I mean, these are things that nobody talked about back then. I was, I was, I was weird.

And to compound that problem, no one is moving their body. You got to move. Your body was made to move. In fact, for years now, I’ve had this standing, I’m sitting today, but this is a standing desk. And the first time I was ever introduced to a standing desk was when I was a professor at the Health Science Center. And I loved it. I stood all the time. It was rare that I sat down. In fact, if any of my students ever came to my office and saw me sitting, they’d be like, oh, my goodness, Dr. Oden is working on something really serious because she is sitting down. And so, you know, that helped me so much to be able to just to. the flow of everything and just to burn some more calories. 

And I did have an anti-fatigue mat that I would stand on. So I wasn’t standing on the hard floor and that, that mat was, is just, in fact, I have one in here too. It is just phenomenal to be able to do that. I don’t stand nearly as much as I used to. I just, I’ve had some back issues. And so I’ve tried to make it a little more even now, you know, I stand some in the morning and I sometimes sit in the afternoon, it just kind of depends on how things are going. But, people need to be, Smoking, sitting is the new smoking, right? People need to do some things that move their bodies. Pickleball, I would love to learn this game. I’m going to learn this game at some point, maybe this summer. 

But that I think has really, the surge of that, the popularity in that sport has really helped people figure out that they need to move and then it can be fun. My exercise drug of choice happens to be walking. I power walk three to four days a week and I’ve just started re-implementing some strength training because guess what? Did I mention I was in midlife and I found out that midlife can affect your hips, and it has affected mine. And so I’m doing some strength training that a PT physical therapist gave me some information on to keep those hips strengthened so that I don’t fall, right? Or so if I do fall, I don’t fall and break a hip or something. So I’m starting to implement some of those things. But I will tell you that moving your body will solve a lot of issues for you. Um, and it will keep you mentally healthy. So if you’re fighting a mental game right now, get out there and move. Um, we’re having spring. 

I don’t know where everybody’s watching from, but we’re having spring right now in February in Texas. And so I’m super excited because I get to get outside and do my walks outside. Like I really love to do. And there is nothing better for your mental health than getting out there and walking in nature. Um, And

grounding is another piece of it. So you’re walking in shoes that are not grounded, most likely, most people are. So touch the flowers or touch the trees or touch the leaves. Mindful. Touch nature. Sit in the sun and just bask and allow the sun, not sunscreen suns, real sun. We talked about that before the show. Most of the things you put on your skin, which is your biggest organ, you said, and I’ve known. But, you know, they cause much more damage than the real sun. 

And so anything that you’ve heard demonized that was natural, you might want to reconsider and research. By the way, Google isn’t search. I mean, Google is search. It’s not research. Correct. Yes. Call Dr. Odin. How are they going to find you? So we’re DrMelissaOdin.com, right? Is it DrMelissaOdin.com? 

Yes, it’s just DrMelissaOdin.com That’s where you can find me. And

Why would they find you? So they’re going to come. What are you, what are you doing? Are you a coach? How are you? What are your clients looking for?

I’ve got two things going on, of course, because, you know, why just have one thing when you can have two? You know, I’m not busy enough. Let’s just have two things going on. The first thing I’ve got going on right now probably doesn’t, may not apply to your audience, but I’ll tell you about it anyway. I run a membership called the Adjunct Collective. And because I am currently an adjunct professor and I have been for the 12 of the 15 years that I have been a professor. I know the unique challenges that adjuncts have in terms of being able to be supported and have what they need to be able to teach effectively in the classroom for a university. And so I have a monthly membership for those folks to help support them, give them the resources that they need, but most importantly, provide for the community so that they don’t feel like they are so alone, because that is the number one thing that I hear regularly. adjuncts are just isolated. I don’t have keys to the faculty lounge, if you will, to be able to interact with other folks. And so I try to fill that gap for them. But probably what your listeners are most interested in, I’m reworking my offering for women. 

I used to have a program called Women in Stress, Reclaiming Your Life. And that was based on my master’s public health thesis that I did many years ago. Because stress is the number one killer of women. Hands down, it is not breast cancer, it is stress. It is stress that causes heart disease, and we all know this is Heart Month, and so I’m kind of giving a plug to American Heart Association right now, but they’re doing some great things to try and help women with their heart health. But I am revamping that program, and I’m calling it The Resilient Woman. 

Now, I don’t have things in place just yet, but if you’re on my email list, you’re gonna be getting things. In fact, I was just working on my email for this week before we jumped on here, So you’ll be finding out more about that through my email. But that’s going to be another community where women can come together and really find that bond and find that community to help them become more resilient. Because let me tell you, folks, we’re not living in a world that’s getting any easier. And if you want to be healthy, then there are multiple things that you’re going to need to do to be able to do that. 

And so I want women in particular, because we have such challenges at particular phases in life, that I want them to have a place to be able to come and learn how to do that in a safe place amongst other women who are experiencing the same thing. So I’m working on that right now. But you will see that on my website. And if you would like to join my email list, just so… So you can find out a little bit more about that. You can go to my website and I think it says join newsletter up at the top or something like that. My VA does this for me. She’s wonderful. I am the least techie person you’ll ever meet, so I turn all that over to her. But it’s on that homepage somewhere. But just put your email in there. I promise you I do not spam. People who are on my email list, really, I’ve got a huge open rate because I really put a lot of thought into these emails that I do every week. I love writing them, and I’ve gotten some great feedback. So I don’t spam you, I promise. You get one email a week from me, so…

Oh, that’s nice to hear for sure. People don’t like spam, but I’m very on purpose with those. Yeah, I don’t either. So your favorite quote every day has the potential to be the best day of your life. And I, you know, it’s like. Love where you are. It’s the only place you got to take the next step from wherever you are. This is all you. This is the only place you have right this second, right? You can take every moment you get a choice every moment you get a choice this moment in this moment in this moment if I don’t like where you are. you can make a different choice on your next step. And your next step can be a different choice. Open a book, open it, you know, whatever, you know, so we are advocates. We are advocates of loving people exactly who and where they are just like, you know, and, you know, and the harder people are to love them where they need it. That’s my quote. So yeah, we want to make a difference. 

And you said your goal was to help people. And it’s kind of cliche, but it’s not. I think so many of us have a heart to do that. And then we get into the business. real world and realize that yeah it’s uh we got to help ourselves too first i mean you got to help yourself too can’t serve from an empty cup absolutely um thank you so much this time goes fast every single week i can hardly stand it But it’s so much fun to talk with you again. And I really, really, really appreciate you taking your time and sharing your energy and your wisdom with us today. And I appreciate it. Loving you and getting to know you. And I’m so inspired by you. Thank you for having me. 

I really appreciate it. It’s been so much fun to reconnect. Effervescence. Oh, thank you. Thank you. And listen, we’ll be in touch. And don’t forget to like and subscribe, by the way, YouTube. I forget to say that. And to remember to always choose joy.

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About  Dr Melissa Oden

Dr. Oden has been practicing social work for 25 years and a public health practitioner for 20 years. Her work experience ranges from social work in hospital and long-term care settings, to teaching and public health education and community practice, to professional development training and project management for applied social research projects.  Her most recent fieldwork focused on Emergency Management and Disaster Planning in rural Texas and developing cross-disciplinary collaborations between urban planners and public health professionals.  Additionally, she is a natural health practitioner and Certified Leader in Natural Health. She is well-versed in helping people begin their natural health journey.  She is currently founding CEO of DMO Enterprises, LLC.

She is a Licensed Master Social Worker with Independent Practice Recognition (LMSW-IPR) and a Certified Health Education Specialist® (CHES®).  She is an active member of the Texas Public Health Association (TPHA). She recently made history in that organization by becoming the first member to serve as President twice 2016-2017, & 2023-2024). She continues to serve on the Executive Board & Governing Council and is recognized as an association Fellow.  She is also a charter member and Past President of the University of North Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health Alumni Society Board. She is the recipient of the 2012 Texas Public Health Association Jessie A. Yoas Memorial Advocacy Award for continuing the important work of advocating of key public health issues. She was also recognized in 2014 by Texas Wesleyan University as an alumnus “Mover & Shaker”.  Dr. Oden was recognized as an Outstanding Faculty in Research with Student Involvement in April 2018, and her Planners4Health Team was awarded the Promising Practice Award from the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) for their work in tornado recovery in Van Zandt County, Texas. Dr. Oden lives in Fort Worth, Texas with her 7-year-old orange tabby cat, Oliver.

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