March 29, 2026

EP-138 Living Parkinson’s Author Steve Yellen

A Parkinson’s diagnosis can feel like a trap door, but it can also become a turning point if you build the right kind of plan. We sit down with Steve Yellen, author of Living Parkinson’s, to trace his path from a small left-hand tremor to the life-changing words “I think you have Parkinson’s” and then to a decision that many people struggle to make: stop waiting and start steering.

Steve explains how reassurance about life expectancy initially lulled him into passivity, and why research participation, education, and one key concept flipped the switch. That concept is self-efficacy, the psychology of believing you can influence your outcome. We talk about how self-efficacy grows through short-term goals, visible examples, and support, and why that matters for living with Parkinson’s disease day to day. From triathlons and Spartan races to “just getting out the door,” the focus stays on progress that fits your body, your symptoms, and your life.

We also get practical about Parkinson’s wellness: exercise, sleep, nutrition, and stress management, plus Steve’s realistic “85% rule” for eating well without burning out. We cover supplements and “no-harm” swaps, and we repeat the most important guardrail: run changes by your doctor and beware anything that sounds too good to be true. Along the way, we discuss telling adult children and navigating work disclosure, finding like-minded community, and why gratitude can be a powerful mindset even when the disease is unpredictable.

If you’re looking for Parkinson’s motivation that doesn’t shame you, and a framework you can adapt whether you’re newly diagnosed or years in, this conversation will meet you where you are. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a nudge, and leave a review with your own best strategy for staying proactive.

Steve Yellen can be reached via his website: livingparkinsons.com

Co-hosts: Judy Yaras & Travis Robinson
www.INDYpodcast.net

00:00 - Welcome And Meet Steve Yellen

02:05 - The Tremor That Changed Everything

08:20 - From Denial To Taking Control

15:05 - Sharing The Diagnosis With Others

19:30 - Turning A Framework Into A Book

24:10 - Short-Term Goals Build Momentum

27:55 - Wellness Pillars And Smart Nutrition

32:10 - Community Gratitude And Final Takeaways

WEBVTT

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Welcome to I'm Not Dead Yet with Judy and Travis, a podcast about living an extraordinary life with extraordinary circumstances.

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Welcome to the I'm Not Dead Yet Podcast.

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I'm your co-host, Travis Robinson.

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I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at age 35 in 2014.

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And I'm your other co-host, Judy Yaris.

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My husband Sandy had Parkinson's disease for 18 years.

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I was his care partner.

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Today's episode we'll be talking with Steve Yellen, who's the author of Living Parkinson.

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Hi, Steve.

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Hi, Travis.

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Hi, Travis.

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Judy, how are you?

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We're good.

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Thanks for coming on the show today.

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I'm really excited to be here.

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Thank you.

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Judy, you want to introduce Steve?

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Yes.

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I'll I'll give the a little background and then we're going to hear more directly from Steve.

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But Steve lives on the East Coast.

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He lives in Connecticut with his wife, and he has four adult children that he said would sort of spread over the eastern seaboard.

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So I think that's that's pretty well there.

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And he was diagnosed with Parkinson's at 55, but is still working.

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So I think we'll have some interesting conversation about his book, about his life, and we'll see where it all goes.

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So thanks for coming on, Steve.

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Oh sure.

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Steve, why don't you tell us a bit about your background?

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Where is your origin story from a superhero perspective?

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Well, I'm I'm not sure I can give a superhero pers perspective, but I could definitely give the common man perspective of it.

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Um so about seven years ago, almost right now to the exactly the day it was March 2019, um, I was lying in bed with my wife, and she noticed that I had a tremor in my left hand.

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And it was kind of ironic, you know, she said maybe you should see the doctor.

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I was kind of putting it off as something just an just an injury, a nagging injury.

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And the joke was, she said, maybe it's Parkinson's is a joke.

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Well, I went to the doctor, they eventually referred me to a neurologist, and the neurologist did a couple of, you know, had me move my hand, twist my hands, what move my feet, things that now we all know is a UPDRS test.

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And he came back, I went out of the room, came back, and he said the words that were that pretty much changed my life.

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He said, I think you have Parkinson's.

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And that was it was a pretty big shock.

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You know, I expected it to be something like it's nerve damage, you pull the muscle, do some rehab.

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And um, you know, I remember him saying the word, one of the words first things he said to me is Parkinson's disease doesn't impact your life expectancy.

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And that stuck with me in a positive way, although I will admit it probably took me three or four days to go home before I had the guts to actually Google Parkinson's disease life expectancy because I was afraid of what I would see.

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Right, right.

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But I wanted to believe it wasn't the case, so I went to get a second opinion in New York, and the doctor said the same thing.

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You have Parkinson's, and he kind of said the same thing, it doesn't impact your life expectancy.

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But he referred me to a doctor more locally here in Yale, who I saw, third doctor for the first time, said the same thing to me.

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And I think that lulled me into a sense of passivity almost, where I said, you know, well, look, this isn't gonna affect my life expectancy.

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I have a tremor, let me just live my life.

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And I kind of went on, you know, just doing what I normally did.

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Parkinson's wasn't impacting me day in, day out.

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And probably two or three years into my journey, a couple of things happened that coincided.

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One was I started to do a couple of research studies, like PD Gene, where they looked at my genetic makeup, and I got into like an exercise-related study where I was working with a physical therapist who really educated me on exercise.

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You know, some of the other things that went on at the same time was one of in one of my doctor's appointments, my doctor said, you know, I think it might be good for you to go on medication.

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And I think those two things, combined with just maybe a couple of other things I've been learning about Parkinson's, kind of got me to the point where I feel like a spark went off.

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And I realized, you know, maybe by being passive, I really wasn't doing the right thing.

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I was letting Parkinson's gain ground on me that it just sparked me into taking control of things.

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And I've always been the kind of person that really enjoyed solving problems, you know, investigating a problem, building a solution, really coming up with almost like a framework for solving the problem and then going aggressively after it.

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And I felt like, you know, looking back, I kind of regret those first couple of years, but I kind of took that proactive approach.

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I learned as much as I could about Parkinson's.

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I started to kind of get more proactive about the way I did things.

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Um, and some of the things I learned was, you know, how important exercise is, how you know, being in the best possible shape and wellness, how that can impact you.

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I think of wellness as tilting the playing field in my favor as much as possible.

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And, you know, having the right doctors.

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And one other thing I learned that really was a big moment for me was so when I was talking to a researcher about how much to exercise, you know, I made the comment of, well, you know, for me, if you tell me three days is good, I want to do six.

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And she said that's an example of self-efficacy.

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And I never heard the term before, but that one I wasn't really excited to go home and Google.

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And went home and looked it up, and I realized that self-efficacy was basically in layman's terms, a person's belief that they can take charge of their situation and have control of it.

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And I started to look into it.

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It's a psychological concept, so it's documented.

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And what I learned was there's ways to enhance your self-efficacy.

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And one of the ways is short-term goals.

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Another way is by seeing examples of people that have succeeded.

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And a third way is just getting support from your, you know, the people around you.

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And I realized that I probably had some of that in me for a while because I was always a short-term goal-focused person.

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You know, go hit a goal.

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Don't, you know, I couldn't sit there and say, well, I want to basically aim for this three years out.

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I'd rather achieve something in two months than another two months than another two months.

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And I started to incorporate that in everything I did.

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So I used goals as motivation to exercise.

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So as opposed to saying, you know, I'm going to be after exercise for the rest of my life, I said, look, I'm going to sign up for an event, do the event in a couple months, then do the next one, the next one.

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And I'd always been kind of a weekend athlete, but I really started doing a lot of events.

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And one thing I did is I've the last three, four years, I've done seven triathlons, eleven Spartan races, and I've actually raced up the Empire State Building steps three times.

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Wow.

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But each one of those is a goal that when I complete it, I don't think I do great at it.

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But when I complete it, I feel like, wow, I just threw another log on the fire.

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What's the next one to do?

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So that's kind of the way I've tried to manage myself.

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And, you know, I've done the same thing with advocacy and with participating in research studies, but really trying to take charge, and that led me to kind of write the living Parkinson's in that.

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I had told a few friends about it, and they said, you know, why don't you think about writing a book?

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And I told them they were crazy.

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And then they tried, told me again, they said, You're still crazy.

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And finally they convinced me to do it.

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And I kind of took this framework that I had built, everything I'd learned and everything I'd experienced, and try to put it in writing in an actionable way that no matter where you start, whether you can't walk around the block or whether you're already doing marathons, you can take away some points out of the book to get you in a better state and live a better life.

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It's not a medical book, it's not a memoir.

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It's almost like a guide or a framework to build a roadmap.

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And that's that's really what kind of got me on this long journey uh to get really where I am now.

00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:08.000
So I I want I'm gonna go back a little bit because I I want to go to that sort of aha moment.

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You know, you said you spent the first couple of years and you really were just rolling along.

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Were you on medication at that point, or did you not start medication right away?

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I did not start medication.

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And I think again, that might have been one of the things that lulled me into a little of the sense of passivity.

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So I was kind of living my life.

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I didn't notice anything changing.

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So I probably didn't think about it as much, which again, I'm what I was told from a lot of people is you know, just don't let it really change your life, which I feel a little bit differently about now.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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So I asked you a little bit about medication, and you were saying you didn't start medication right away, that it it allowed you to just kind of roll along.

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And during that time, you know, most people, when they hear that term, uh you have Parkinson's, they go into this sort of slump.

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And it sounds like maybe you didn't allow yourself to do that.

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Is that true?

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Or did you do you feel like you had a moment where you just completely crashed and went, oh my God, what how am I gonna get out of this now?

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Or what am I gonna do about this?

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You know, as I look back, it's interesting.

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I almost feel like it's probably a form of denial.

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And that what I did is I compartmentalized it and said, because I remember when I got the diagnosis, I just said, okay, I gotta go, I gotta get to work because I'm, you know, I'm already late for work.

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And I called my wife on the way in, just said, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's, I'll talk to you when I get home.

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So I almost compartmentalized it, which some people might say was good because I didn't let it negatively impact me, but I also didn't use it in the positive way.

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I've been using it since that moment that you talked about.

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Okay.

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Okay, that makes sense.

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And then you moved into actually being very proactive and looking at what you could do.

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Like it's unusual in many cases for people to start clinical trials as early as you did, because it sounds like you started them early on with your diagnosis.

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Is that right?

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Well, what I did is I, you know, I've always been kind of interested in understanding as much as I can about, you know, what I have.

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And what I one of the things I did is I took actually a neuroscience course on Duke University Online, one of the free courses and the chapters on neurotransmitters to understand really some of the science behind it.

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But I got into a couple studies just to learn what I could.

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Most were observational.

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Right.

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So because one of the things that you know, I enjoyed going in observational studies because I could work with the researcher, talk them understand what they were looking at.

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And I always loved the data.

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I love to get my data back.

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So when they did measurements on me, I would get the data and I could, you know, keep it.

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Even if I couldn't use it now, I that's one of the reasons I kind of advocate a lot for people doing research studies, because I've done studies on things like my biome, where now I have a complete profile of my biome, which I don't know what it means today, but if 10 years from now somebody says that's gonna really help you, I can go back and pull it out of my you know files.

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Absolutely.

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I think that's great.

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It's taking a very proactive approach.

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Yeah.

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All right.

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Now we're gonna sort of fast forward a little bit.

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Sure.

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Uh, and and this is an area you said you have adult children, and this is a conversation that a lot of people that have adult children or even younger kids have issues with.

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Is when did you tell your children or where you worked?

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Like, did you come out right away with it?

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Did you hold on to it for a little bit?

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It's a good question.

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So my my immediate family, I told pretty quickly, probably within a few weeks.

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It was kind of an odd situation because we were all together and I kind of said, Hey, can everybody come in?

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I want to talk about something.

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And I don't think anybody knew what we were, you know, we use usually don't do like family meetings.

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Okay, um, I told them, and you know, I think for the first day or so it really probably gave them a little bit of a jolt.

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Um, I'll be honest, it probably jolted my parents more than my kids because as a parent, I could imagine what would happen if you had one of your children come and tell you they've got a neurodegenerative disease.

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But um they, you know, they eventually kind of saw my attitude, and I think that kind of got them feeling a little bit better.

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And, you know, I've been pretty lucky in that I've had a pretty easy journey, you know, with Parkinson.

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So I think that's helped too.

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But um, I told I and with my friends also it was the same thing.

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I didn't really hide it from anybody.

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You know, honestly, when it comes to things like work, I kind of keep things personal.

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I like to keep my personal life separate from work.

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So I didn't aggressively go out and tell anybody, but it was a situation where if they found out, it never bothered me.

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Like it never bothered me to tell anybody that I had Parkinson's.

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And, you know, even today, you know, now in particular with the with the book out there, I'm much more aggressively talking about it.

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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Because I think there's a lot of people in this young onset PD group that are afraid to talk about it or afraid to let their workplace know about it.

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And it's interesting to see your point of view that you were able to just like let it be.

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It wasn't even a don't tell, don't ask.

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It was literally like, this is what's going on.

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If someone asked, you were very clear with it.

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Yeah, I just felt like I wasn't gonna hide it.

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You know, I don't like, I don't want to say not telling the truth.

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I don't like high kind of hiding something unless there's really a specific reason.

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Okay.

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So I didn't feel like I had to, but on the other hand, I, you know, that's true.

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I didn't want it to impact me because people might think there might be some people that say, oh, geez, he's not gonna be able to perform his job as well as he could, or anything like that.

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And I still feel I've been lucky again.

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I feel like after seven years, I'm still as on top of my game as I've ever been.

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That's fantastic.

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Okay, so let's talk a little bit about the book.

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So you weren't planning on writing a book, but now a couple friends said, Hey, why don't you write a book?

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So, how did this come about?

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Well, I'll tell you, I I can tell you, even when I was doing everything, you know, and kind of almost like building the framework for myself, I had never considered it.

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I don't consider myself a great writer.

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And, you know, I was telling the story to one of my friends, and I used to send out emails to people just talking about what me and my kids would do.

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We have our shirts that were called Team Yellen, which we designed.

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And when I do one of these events, I try to get one of my kids to do it with me.

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So my daughter will do a triathlon with me, my son will do a Spartan with me, another son will race up the Empire Stapling Steps, and I would send out emails and do some fundraising.

00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:30.799
And one friend of mine who's an author came up and said, You know, Steve, your story is kind of interesting.

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You ever think about writing a book?

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And I said, No, and I really have no interest.

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And then he came up to me a couple months later and asked me again, and I still said no.

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And then he called me maybe at a weak moment where he asked me the third time and I said, Well, how would this work?

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And he kind of described it to me because him being an author, he would just kind of coach me along.

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And I remember him saying that, you know, of all the people, some people ask him to write a book, some people he suggested to, they usually just drop off and you know, kind of it just drifts into nothing.

00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:08.480
But I so I kind of started, and initially it was, you know, a little bit of I write something and he'd say, you know, you it's not really the right direction, this isn't the way you want to approach it.

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And somehow working back and forth, we came upon a little bit of a formula.

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And I'm the kind of person that if I kind of get a formula in my head, I can, you know, rinse and repeat pretty well.

00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:24.480
And I think what happened was when I got that formula, the book is based on seven strategies people can take.

00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:27.759
Then I could kind of use that formula for each strategy.

00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:30.559
And it evolved from there, it kind of moved on.

00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:43.200
And one of the interesting things that happened to me through the process is it really, ironically, I I wouldn't say I'm happy I have Parkinson's, and I would definitely rather not have it, but it really gave me a new purpose.

00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:48.559
And I really feel like I have something I can contribute to people that really can help people.

00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:52.399
And when I share the book, you know, the book's been now out a few weeks.

00:15:52.559 --> 00:16:02.799
And there's some of the people that have read it, they comment on Facebook or in reviews saying, This is a great book, it really helped me, or there's people that have contributed to it that said, I wish I had this when I was diagnosed.

00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:11.039
And nothing makes me feel better than that because if I can help other people in some ways with their journey, um, that's really all I'm after.

00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:11.919
That's great.

00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:13.120
That's really great.

00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:16.879
And I know that somebody's gonna always think this or ask it.

00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:18.879
You know, were you a runner?

00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:23.519
Were you doing triathlons before your diagnosis of PD?

00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:31.519
Well, I had done some triathlons over the years, um, but I will say I don't consider myself a good athlete.

00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:41.919
And I will say that on the record because when I used to do these triathlons with my friends, I would train twice as hard, and inevitably I would finish near the back of the pack.

00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:51.120
Um, I always tell people I would finish a triathlon, and when I'm finishing the crossing the finish line, I see some of the winners walking their bikes back to their car and driving out of the parking lot already.

00:16:51.360 --> 00:17:01.440
So I was never a good athlete, but one of the things I really, really like to emphasize, whether it's here or in the book, is nobody should look at what I do and try to copy that.

00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:09.279
There's people I know that do marathons and iron men that I could never do on the best day of my life when if I was 40 years younger.

00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:17.680
If you're if to you walking a lap around the track is your short-term goal and your stretch goal, that's as good as my goal being a sparring.

00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:18.400
Right?

00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:21.920
There's absolutely no your goals are your own goals.

00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:34.160
Like when I do these races, the thing that makes me feel good is that I look around and I see like out of 2,000, 3,000 people, there's maybe 25 people 60, 60 years or older, and probably none of them have Parkinson's.

00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:45.200
And when I finish, no matter where I come in, I see all these, you know, 20-year-olds, 30-year-olds, you know, buff guys and buff girls, and you know, and I come in way behind them, but I finished.

00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:48.000
And I remember my wife saying to me, geez, you're covered with mud.

00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:49.119
Do you regret doing this?

00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:52.319
And I'm like, no, I can't wait for the next one because I just did it.

00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:53.519
I made my goal.

00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:57.279
So I I'm really a believer, and that's where that self-efficacy comes in.

00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:08.799
Short-term stretch goals, whatever your goals are, it's not my goals that matter, it's not making a podium that matters, it's feeling good about yourself that you achieved something you didn't think you could.

00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:10.960
It's getting, it's just getting out the door.

00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:19.519
And I think that's, you know, that was my takeaway from the book is that you're not telling people this is what you have to do.

00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:24.799
But the idea of finding those short-term goals, finding what you can do.

00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:47.680
Maybe it is just getting up from your TV chair and walking around your house to start, or maybe walking out the door and walking around the block to start, that that may be where you have to just look at that one thing and not try to say, oh, I'm gonna train for a 5K or I'm gonna train for a triathlon.

00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:58.559
And I think this is the importance of where you could really help people with your book is to let them know it's okay that you don't have to do this kind of program.

00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:01.680
You're not really pushing a program per se.

00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:03.359
I couldn't have said it better.

00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:04.319
That is so true.

00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:09.440
And I was really very careful because for every success I had, I had failures.

00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:15.200
I try to do these little knickknacks to do hand-eye coordination, and I bought three balls to try to juggle.

00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:19.279
And my kids picked the balls up in 15 minutes, they were juggling.

00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:21.839
I can't even juggle two balls to this day.

00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:28.480
And I always tell people, I am hoping to God that at some point they don't say juggling will help you with Parkinson's.

00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.440
Because if it does, I'm in really, really bad shape.

00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:32.559
You're in trouble.

00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:37.440
I am in really big trouble because I somehow I cannot juggle to save my life.

00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:54.480
But I really feel like that's really important message that nobody uh, and that's the way I kind of try to set the book up, which is I'm very, very careful to quickly say throughout the whole thing, this is what I did, this was my challenge, but really it's all about you picking the right challenge for yourself.

00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:55.440
Right.

00:19:55.680 --> 00:20:00.960
And I I think that's important for people to understand that that it's a baby step.

00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:05.680
It doesn't have to be a big step, just a baby step.

00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:06.640
You try it.

00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:09.519
Travis, I know you do this as well.

00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:32.400
Yes, and that's something that I felt like I could relate to Steve reading the book that I did was you and I have similar values on that.

00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:37.599
It's really about resilience and tenacity.

00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:41.680
Those are my two favorite words when I think of Parkinson's.

00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:53.839
And I think this is what the book is sort of saying to us is that you have the resilience that if you're gonna have the failure, you you didn't sit down and say, okay, that's it.

00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:54.799
I'm done.

00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:56.559
You picked yourself up.

00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:00.079
It's just like a toddler that's learning to walk.

00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:01.839
They walk, they fall.

00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:10.559
They pick themselves up again, they walk, they fall, and they go through this process until they're really upright and walking and not falling as much.

00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:29.759
And I think that's what we want our listeners to get from this, and what you obviously want your readers to get from the book is that it's okay to fall, and it's okay to only walk a couple steps, but eventually you can build that up if you really stay with it.

00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:35.039
I feel like in the book you talked about how many hours you work out and and what your program is.

00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:45.279
And I I think for most people it would feel a bit overwhelming to do that, but yet I think you're looking at how you can get people started.

00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:50.559
And I'm sure when at the very beginning, you weren't working out as much at that point.

00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:51.839
Am I right with that?

00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:53.039
Is that safe to say?

00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:54.240
Yeah, it definitely is.

00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:57.839
And you know, I tend to be a little bit some people might say obsessive personality.

00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:59.680
So, like when somebody says you can work out this much.

00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.000
I try to squeeze in as much as I can.

00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:06.880
And you look honestly, like you said, exercise is even just one of the strategies.

00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:27.039
I mean, we all know that exercise is so important for Parkinson's, but even just the support structure you have, you know, is one of the chapters, the education, learning as much as you can about the disease, you know, attitude like we talked about, and even wellness, you know, there's some basic things that you can probably do to just put yourself in the best possible position to win the battle.

00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:34.160
Um, I heard, you know, Bass Bloom, who's a researcher in Europe, say, you know, when you have Parkinson's, you should train like an Olympic athlete.

00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:34.400
Right.

00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:44.799
And I know he doesn't necessarily mean literally you should be at that level of performance, but you just need to hone yourself as in what whatever way makes sense for you to just be a little bit better.

00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:59.920
And then, you know, some of the other areas like participating in research and doing advocacy, those just have uplifting type, you know, really can impact your overall mood, your attitude, and just give you again those boosts of energy by just doing them to the right level that's right for you.

00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:00.799
Yes.

00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:12.720
I I think this idea of giving back to people, of sharing your experiences, this and the positivity that you bring to the table is really important.

00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:17.759
And a lot of people are not able to reach that very often.

00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:26.160
And just hearing from more people that have PD, such as yourself, hearing from Travis that that this is something the more positive.

00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:28.000
Your words mean something.

00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:34.480
And if you can keep those positive thoughts, do you do any kind of meditation, anything like that along the way?

00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:38.880
I don't remember seeing that in the book, and I wasn't sure if that was part of what you do.

00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:53.200
You know, one of the one of the parts I look at when in the wellness chapter, one of the things I have is I have my four pillars of wellness that I call it, which is basically exercise, nutrition, sleep, and then either mindfulness or like stress management, which is that last one.

00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:56.799
And I put it all on a foundation of low toxicity living.

00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:05.759
And in the mindfulness one, very occasionally I will do a little bit of a like lie back, use one of the apps to just listen to it, you know, for maybe relax for five, ten minutes.

00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:10.960
But I I've been lucky in that I just tried to have I have a pretty low stress life.

00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:13.680
I've always said that I feel like my life is pretty easy.

00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:19.759
And I've learned over the years, maybe I've gotten a little bit wiser to believe not to sweat the small things.

00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:20.160
Right?

00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:30.880
It sounds crazy having Parkinson's, but I always tell my kids, I tell my kids, you know, unless I get a call from a doctor saying your blood test came back and there's something really bad, you can deal with anything.

00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:34.559
And I try to do that as you know, I try to live by that as much as I can.

00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:40.960
But you know, one of the things I always like to mention, and we haven't really talked about it, is I do know that everybody's journey is different.

00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:46.160
And some people, depression is part of their journey, which makes it even harder for them to get up and do things.

00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:52.960
So I never like to ever make any assumptions because not only the journey is different, but people are just wired differently.

00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:53.279
Yes.

00:24:53.599 --> 00:25:02.880
So, you know, I never again I always try in the book, and even just when I'm talking to anybody, I never want to make a presumption saying, well, why don't you just do this or why don't you just do that?

00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:12.559
I know for people it can be much, much harder to do certain things than it is for others, whether it's physical, emotional, mental, there could be so many different barriers with Parkinson's.

00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:27.039
So I mean, I always say I'd like to be able to take credit that I haven't had that much progression because of what I've done, but I know that it could just be that I had a very, you know, very light, for lack of a better term, flavor of Parkinson's that hasn't impacted me as much.

00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:27.839
Mm-hmm.

00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:28.720
Yeah.

00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:30.799
We know we really never know.

00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:37.599
Each person is so different, they're so unique in their I always call it a boutique disease, you know.

00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:41.039
It's like the specialization for each person.

00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:42.799
So it really makes a difference.

00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:43.759
Yes.

00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:53.119
Custom made your weaknesses and your challenges.

00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:55.279
Absolutely.

00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:58.720
And I did like the way you broke it down into sections.

00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:00.559
I thought that was very, very helpful.

00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:02.079
Like in your wellness section.

00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:09.119
Now, with nutrition, is there anything specific that you uh want to let people know about that you do?

00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:13.519
Or the one thing I try to do is um there's a couple of things with nutrition that I look at.

00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:22.240
I I try to follow the Mediterranean kind of mind diet, which I think is the general um consensus that most of the organizations say is good.

00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:31.039
But one of the things I believe is I I kind of create these little rules, and this is probably the either the engineer in me or the marketer in me that likes to box things up.

00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:36.319
And I call it my 85% rule, which is I know it's the perfect diet or the perfect state.

00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:39.200
And if I could achieve it, that would be great.

00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:43.359
But if I achieve it 100%, I'm cutting out some of the things I really enjoy.

00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:55.359
So I feel like if I can hit 85% and still have my Guinness draft every once in a while, or a bagel or a slice of pizza, those probably aren't the list of an Olympic athlete, you know, what an Olympic athlete trains with.

00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:56.240
But you know something?

00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:57.920
I'm not gonna be as happy if I do that.

00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:01.599
Now, there are certain things that don't mean as much to me that I will cut out.

00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:04.960
But 85% I feel is you know a good thing.

00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:10.000
And then the other one, which is related to nutrition, which is like supplements, which a lot of people talk about.

00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:15.359
And I always say I will never recommend anything because it's such a wide open field.

00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:16.799
You should always talk to your doctor.

00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:26.559
But I kind of also follow in that area like what I call my no-harm rule, which is some people think dairy impacts, you know, inflammation and can impact Parkinson's.

00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:31.119
Well, cutting out milk and having almond milk in my coffee isn't gonna hurt me.

00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:32.480
So I just do it.

00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:34.559
You know, maybe it'll help, maybe it won't help.

00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:38.079
Even if it doesn't help, I'm just having almond milk versus regular milk.

00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:38.720
Right.

00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:40.000
What's the what's the harm?

00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:54.240
And there's even and there's even some supplements like fish oil that I take, which I feel like I eat a lot of fish, but you know, again, the worst thing I'm doing is spending a little bit of extra money on a supplement, but I I try to stick to really what's very mainstream.

00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:59.359
I always run it by my doctor, and I always take, you know, a moderate dose of whatever I think about.

00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:05.359
You know, you just said something that's so important, and I I just want to reiterate that that you always run it by your doctor.

00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:08.160
And we we talk about this all the time.

00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:19.119
Don't make decisions on whether it's supplements or what I call the woo-woo treatments, things that the promises that sound like they're way too good to be true.

00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:21.039
Always run it by your doctor.

00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:22.559
Have that conversation.

00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:24.319
That is very, very important.

00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:32.559
And I'm sure that that plays in a lot to your success as well, is that you've made your doctor part of your team.

00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:38.319
They're as much a part of what you're doing as you and your family supporting you.

00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:43.920
They they are another aspect of the support team that you have going for you.

00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:45.599
Yeah, that's true.

00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:52.640
And one of the things I mentioned in the book is when I see my doctor, I see him every four months, and I probably spend 45 minutes or an hour with him.

00:28:52.799 --> 00:29:03.519
The first half hour is just me bringing topics I want to discuss, asking him what is he like in the latest research, but definitely always asking him those questions, like, you know, I saw a post about this supplement.

00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:04.240
What do you think?

00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:09.119
And he'll say, Well, you know, the jury's kind of out on that, you know, and we'll talk about it.

00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:11.039
And but I mean it's the same thing.

00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:12.799
I would completely agree with what you're saying.

00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:17.920
Like, you know, you did nobody should, I don't personally believe, I would never advocate in the book.

00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:22.960
I clearly don't, I just say this is what I do, but obviously talk to your doctor before you do anything.

00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:35.440
But um, I just think that, like you said, everybody's so unique that you know, knowing even what supplements to take is really um, you know, is something you should talk to your doctor or nutritionist about.

00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:36.000
Right.

00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:37.279
Absolutely.

00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:43.359
Do you have any parting words of things you want to say to our listeners?

00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:49.920
A couple takeaways, like maybe the three most important things you can kind of filter on here?

00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:53.920
You know, I guess what I would probably say is um I wasn't prepared for this.

00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:54.960
No, I know.

00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:57.759
No, and I'm and I'll make it clear to our audience.

00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:00.319
I did not ask him ahead of time.

00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:02.720
So this is sort of putting you on the spot.

00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:03.920
But but it's okay.

00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:07.359
It's like what sort of like whatever comes to mind first, you know.

00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:08.319
Yeah, sure.

00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:13.519
One of the things is I think that whole kind of snowflake unique aspect that everybody's different.

00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:16.079
And I that's something I really try to highlight the book.

00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:28.640
If anybody read the book, I would say, look, I try to tailor the book to wherever you are in your journey, whether it's you have aggressive Parkinson's, you have a more lighter version of it, whether you're just starting, whether you're 10 years in, right?

00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:31.279
Try it's it's adaptable to what works for you.

00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:31.680
Yes.

00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:35.359
And even, you know, you're you're there's so many different aspects to Parkinson's.

00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:38.640
There's the motor, the non-motor, the the emotional.

00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:40.400
So you can hopefully adapt it.

00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:45.599
And and I really believe that that's really important, is everybody should have an individualized plan.

00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:50.960
And that's kind of the way I wrote the book, which is take what you can, adapt it to your plan and your situation.

00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:54.160
But if you leave with a couple of nuggets that you can change, right?

00:30:54.319 --> 00:30:55.680
I've yeah, I feel good.

00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:57.440
So I think that'll be one thing.

00:30:57.839 --> 00:31:01.039
One of the things I also noticed, I interviewed a lot of people as part of the book.

00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:02.000
Yes, I saw that.

00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:02.799
I thought that was great.

00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:03.839
You had really good people.

00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:06.799
We love Ray Dorsey, and you know, I love Andrea.

00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:09.279
So you had really great people in the interviews.

00:31:09.680 --> 00:31:13.200
I I learned a lot from them, and I interviewed people that are on the journey too.

00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:13.519
Right.

00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:14.880
And it was really interesting.

00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:16.559
You know, first of all, I learned from everybody.

00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:18.400
You know, that's one thing I always try to do.

00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:26.480
And I would say the more you're out there in the community, and maybe this is a good takeaway, you know, everybody says, you know, go out in the community, meet other people with Parkinson's.

00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:33.839
I couldn't agree more that because you learn you'll learn as much from them as you will from your doctor or any book or any, you know, any research you do.

00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:38.079
But find the right find the right group of like-minded people.

00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:38.640
Yes.

00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:52.880
Because like I find that I enjoy meeting with people that are less of a traditional support group, but more of a group of people with Parkinson's that are all taking the same approach, that are sharing this is work for me, this is not work for me, I had this, I had that.

00:31:53.200 --> 00:32:05.759
And so I mean, I would say if you go out to try to find people to, you know, try to go out, I would encourage people to go out and find other people with Parkinson's, but find like-minded people because that will really put you in a better position.

00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:07.680
That would probably be another maybe takeaway.

00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:08.880
That's great.

00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:09.519
Okay.

00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:11.200
Agreed.

00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:25.200
So the third one is probably maybe the toughest one, but one of the things I did see from the people I interviewed, it made me feel really good because every one of them, you know, now again, some of them were maybe more success stories, but every one of them expressed gratitude.

00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:27.039

EP-138 Living Parkinson’s Author Steve Yellen

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