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Rachel Yucatel
Today on Misunderstood with Rachel Yucatel, 99%.
Serena Poon
Of people are dehydrated. I would say everybody's got parasites. I'm not knocking Starbucks, it's just not for me. They also blend their matcha with sweetener. They blend it with sugar.
Rachel Yucatel
People may only know you as this powerhouse in wellness and nutrition, so I want to start from the beginning.
Serena Poon
I grew up with just loving food and food and the kitchen was always the center of our household. Food has always really been about love and connection for me.
In my senior year of college my daddy was diagnosed with stage four liver cancer. There was a moment we're in the living room and my dad is sitting there and he's got this like hard boiled egg that he's holding and he's looking at this egg, he starts to get super emotional, he starts to sob and he's just like my life has been reduced down to an egg.
I talk about meditation, hydration and eating the rainbow. Try and get all the colors of the rainbow in because you actually hitting all the different molecules, all the different polyphenols, all the different vitamins and nutrients that you need.
Rachel Yucatel
If someone listening feels overwhelmed by wellness, what is the very first step you would recommend that they take?
Serena Poon
Just getting yourself to a point where you are.
Rachel Yucatel
So many of us think wellness is about green juice supplements or counting macros, but what if it's really about something different? What if it's about blending science, nutrition and energy? My guest today is Serena Poon. She's built her career helping people bridge the gap between science and Spirit showing that the body doesn't just respond to what we eat, but also to what we feel, think, and believe. As a nutritionist, reiki master, and founder of Serena Loves, she's guided some of the biggest names in Hollywood towards health that radiates from the inside out. But behind that glow is a serious science. Deep research into longevity, cellular repair, and emotional resilience. Today, we're talking about what's misunderstood about wellness. Why clean eating doesn't always mean health, why burnout is a symptom of disconnection. And how the latest breakthroughs in longevity can be simple, practical, and accessible to all. Please enjoy my conversation with the powerhouse Serena Poon Sa.
Serena, thank you so much for joining me today on Misunderstood. I'm excited to get healthy and live a very long time. So welcome.
Serena Poon
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I love what you're doing. I love that you're talking about truth and humanity here. So it's a real pleasure. I think I see a little fluffy one in the back.
Rachel Yucatel
1 of 3.
Serena Poon
Reminds me of my little gizmo. He was there. Pomeranian. He's a bridge. But it looked very similar, and I.
Rachel Yucatel
Was like, oh, cute. Well, yes, that is a Pomeranian. A very fat and healthy one.
So who. I just love her too much. I can't, you know, I can't. Every day I'm like, okay, we're starting her diet, and I just can't do it. I sucker.
Serena Poon
I understand. They rule the household, you know, so.
Rachel Yucatel
Right. So where are you? Where are you based?
Serena Poon
Well, right now I'm in L. A, which is where I'm based. It's actually highly unusual. I'm usually on a plane. People ask us where we live, and. And I'm like, business class usually in there. So it's actually nice that I'm in la, but I do leave in a few hours.
Rachel Yucatel
Oh, amazing. All right, well, I'm glad you made time for this. So people may only know you as this powerhouse in wellness and nutrition. So I want to start from the beginning. People that might not know you or might not know where you're from and more personal things about you, but can you tell us a little bit of your childhood and how you got into nutrition and wellness to begin with?
Serena Poon
Yeah, sure. It's so funny. I don't see myself as this powerhouse. So.
It'S funny to hear you say those words. And I receive it. Thank you. So, really, I mean, I grew up with just loving food and food, and the kitchen was always the center of our household. Even when we had massive family gatherings and you've got tables set up in every room in the house, everyone is sort of eating and congregating in the kitchen, you know, even if they're standing. And so food has always really been about love and connection for me. And when I was in college, and I was actually in college studying political science. So I am first generation Chinese, born here in the US in la. My parents are from Hong Kong. Like they grew up there and then they immigrated over here and you know, did like college and university here. They actually met here, which is kind of funny, but yeah, they met here in la. And, and so, and so, you know, like standard Chinese protocol, right? Like I'm either supposed to be a doctor or a lawyer or CPA or something like worthy. So I went to Berkeley. I was studying political science so that I could be. Because, you know, I said I was going to be a pediatrician and then like had my, and then changed my mind. So, like the next thing that was, you know, okay to do is to be a lawyer, so studying political science to go to law school. But I was also studying nutrition just because I like loved to eat and I loved food. And it was just more of something I was taking because I enjoyed it. And then in my senior year of college, my daddy was diagnosed with stage four liver cancer. So what had happened was, you know, he had this like blood disease, you know, he had a Hep B. I don't know if it came from vaccinations or something that they did in young men back then, but his, his grandfather had it too and had died from that. His father didn't, but his grandpa did. So he was checking, you know, as an adult, like every six months, making sure that he was okay. And somehow between two six month checkups, he was told that he was okay to being told he was stage four. And that was devastating. And he was like in his 40s. So, you know, it just changed life, you know, instantly. And even at the time you can't like process and you're, you know, I'm like 20, right? So you can't process this information.
It doesn't matter how much. It's like coming down. And so here my dad's telling me, you know, he's got like five years and I'm sitting here thinking I've got to like have baby, get married, have babies, like be a big time lawyer all in five years. And in reality he probably only had a matter of months. And so he kind of stretched that time to a little over a Year, it was probably a lot longer than he really should have. He wanted to make sure we were okay. And then he, he transitioned at a little over like a year and three months. And, you know, he really did suffer during that time, even though he, my dad, he was a microbiologist and he even taught parasitology at like, Kelsey LA at night and ran the clinical lab there at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. And so we had support, you know, we had amazing doctors and an amazing oncologist that was like family to us. And so he did chemo and radiation. And here he's also drinking like all the teas that our families, like our relatives smuggling in from China. So he's doing all the things, but he obviously wasn't getting better. And he was also, you know, in a lot of pain. So, you know, during that time I started looking at plants and herbs and like, what other things are we not doing that could at least maybe alleviate some of his discomfort?
And that's sort of like how I started going in that direction, looking at nutrition. Nutrition just wasn't even like the word didn't even, didn't even come out during that time period. You know, this was like over years ago. And so, you know, and talked about it. And here's my daddy, who's someone that is like, he's a foodie and he like, loves food. And he kind of was like, he couldn't eat anything. Everything made him sick. And in order to like get any type of nutrition, like any type of energy into him, they were like, eat, eat eggs. Like eat a hard boiled egg. And he could barely get it down. So. So that there were a couple really impactful moments that happened during that time. And it just shifted everything for me. You know, I just thought, like, this is not like, there has to be more. You know, everyone suffers. It's not just the person who's sick, the whole family. So. So after he, after you transition and he was 48, my mom was diagnosed two months later, you know, at 45. And she had. And it was like this rare form of ovarian cancer. There are only like 24, 25 cases before her. So it was like an experimental sort of like treatment that we did. And she had to do the whole thing. She had to do a full hysterectomy. So she went instantly into menopause, couldn't do any hormone therapy because that was what was driving the cancer. And in the process of shock and grief, she had to do all of that, plus chemo and radiation. And then that became our journey. So it went from, oh my gosh, there's stuff that we don't know that we're not maybe doing and looking into plants and food and nutrition, to her doctors measuring the size of the tumor by the time she was diagnosed to when we took everything out at the rate of growth and saying, this started right when my daddy was at his sickest, like when he was dying. So somehow this is stress related because she has a great genome. There's genetically no markers for cancer to this day. Her siblings and none of her parents had cancer, and it was like, stress related. So then sort of like, I realized at the time, and it sounded very noble. It was like all that mattered was the health and happiness of the people that I love. So. Which sounds amazing and great and noble, and at the same time, I left myself off that list. And it was to whatever end, you know, I will sacrifice sleep, I will sacrifice, you know, whatever it is, whatever it takes to make sure that the people I love are healthy and happy, I'll do so. So then, of course, you know, then I had some health issues because, you know, here you are and you're a caretaker almost to an extreme. And then of course, we also had some other family members that were sick. So there was this like seven year period where, you know, so many people in the family were getting sick or cancer or someone else died. And it was a tough time. And so there's sort of like this desperateness to, like, make sure everyone's okay. And in that time frame, I, you know, obviously had so much inflammation in my own body, wasn't taking care of myself, because somehow we think that we can translate our energy or, you know, to someone that we love and make them better, you know.
And so then I had to have surgery.
Rachel Yucatel
Oh, my gosh, what a story this is.
Serena Poon
Make it concise. It could go on.
Rachel Yucatel
No, no, keep going. This is an amazing story, but very sad.
Serena Poon
It, you know, it is. And what I've learned is there everyone has, like, their experience with the loss of someone that they love or the suffering of someone that they love. And so, you know, our family was going through that. I ended up needing to have surgery to remove, like, damaged, inflamed tissue in my body. And then I ended up getting MRSA from, like the. Or MRSA is mrsa. It's like a deadly staph infection. And I associated this with, like, soldiers. It was like, what, like, you know, soldiers got during the war because they're out there getting wounded and getting infected and, you know, it's that's kind of what my association to Mercer was. I mean, you can get it, it happens. Staff is kind of exist sort of everywhere. Everywhere. But it's actually very common to get staph from the hospital from an environment that's supposed to be sterile.
Rachel Yucatel
Yeah.
Serena Poon
So I ended up getting this and it was in my chest. And then I spent the next. I almost died. And then I spent the next eight years kind of trying to get this staph out from in my chest where it sort of was just like made a home. And it's really hard to get it when it's, when it's there. So I ended up having about. I ended up having eight surgeries. Almost died after the fourth one because I had like a massive hematoma, like post op, 12 days. Post op. Wow. And so all of this led, all of this kind of led me to where I am now because when I first, you know, coming off from what happened with my parents, I decided to go to culinary school. I thought, you know, food is medicine and food is love and here it's not being utilized that way. We forget. And it's not like necessarily the fault of the doctors. It was just the training. It was not, it wasn't incorporated and still isn't really incorporated into the training in medical school. You know, food as a form of medicine. So I went to culinary school instead of law school. After my daddy passed and after my mom, you know, went through her treatments and I studied at Le Cordon Bleu, the grand diploma, I became a chef and I started my journey. I'm like kind of jumping around a little bit. I started my journey doing that, like trying to serve people through food and nutrition almost directly. And then when I went through my own health journey where, you know, I had to have these surgeries and I was still working as a chef and having, you know, and doing my business that way and then having this after my fourth surgery, having a near death experience where I didn't know if I was going to be able to even use the whole left side of my arm and my body. And as a chef you need both, you know. And so, and so during my recovery I was like, what am I going to do? Like to support myself, like, how am I going to make a living? So I decided to just focus on the consultation part of my practice, which it was all kind of built into the food and to working with clients. I was always in like private, private practice and as a private chef. So then I just did the consultation part of it. And because I know I'm in LA and surgery, like, especially elective surgery is so common here. Especially because one of my specialties because of my own experience was pre op and post op, you know, how to really prepare the body and the tissue to optimize for healing. Because any type of surgery is traumatic, even small, and the body receives it that way. And then how you. How you really optimize the recovery process post op? So I started doing that while I was recovering. And, you know, during that time when I almost died, I kind of went through this dark night of the soul, you know, where I'm here and I'm going through this experience and it's painful and it's sad, it's lonely, it's dark. And I'm sitting here thinking, gosh, I'm a good person. Like, I don't understand why this is happening. You know, you kind of like go into base where you're a victim. You know, like, this happened to me, right? And that was when I realized that I, like, remembered, like, why I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm doing what I'm doing because of what my dad went through and like, what my family went through. And it was just like, it was just like this, this shift, this like, reminder that it's not happening to me, it's happening for me and to, like, get back on track. And so that's why, you know, that's when I realized I'm here for a reason, a purpose much bigger than this, you know, much bigger than, like, sitting in my bedroom trying to figure out how I was going to crawl to the bathroom to go to the bath, you know, to go to the bathroom because so much. I was so weak and in so much pain post op.
And. And that's when I started the consulting part of my business. And that's also when I really dived into my spirituality.
Rachel Yucatel
Right.
Serena Poon
I had been working with this woman, but very 911 ish, you know, it was like I'd work with her and then I didn't. Like, I wasn't consistent with the calls. And then I'd like, have a mom and then I'd call her and I realized, here I am. I'm. So with my diet and fitness and supplements, everything else really consistent, but with my spiritual practice, I wasn't. So during that time when I was recovering and I was doing my consultation, part of my, like, building up that part of my business, I committed to being very, you know, consistent with her every three weeks, three to four weeks, you know, to talk to her. And that became that inflection point in my. In my spiritual journey. And after about eight months, she said. And her name was Nicole, this master healer, she's amazing. She was, like, in New Mexico and has the most unbelievable story. After about eight months with her, she said, you know, she'd go through and say, oh, you know, I. I'm seeing these colors and this light. And she'd go through what she called releases, you know, head to toe, my body, these releases. And I didn't know what she was talking about. I didn't know what she meant. There's certain areas of my body that needed more. You know, she'd say the energy was stuck or there'd be more that she had to release. And while she was doing that, I was like, well, what can I do to help myself? I just call you. You know, you do whatever you're doing for an hour and a half. I just sit here. I don't really do anything. You call me back and then tell me this is what you did, and I feel better. So as we're going through the body head to toe, and she was telling me where there were. There was, like, blocked energy, and where she did releases, I realized that it. You know, we're talking about energy centers, you know, and those energy centers, they line up with your organ systems. And there is. There is a synergy, and there's actually. There's a thread between supporting those different. Your different energy centers and supporting those different parts of your physical body and your organs. So. So that's when I developed, like, what I call culinary alchemy. And that was where I was, you know, talking and going, okay, I. You're working on, like, my sacral. You're working on this part of my body. And, yes, it doesn't feel it. You know, I'm having issues there. And so what can I do to support that area of my body physically? And that's when I started to design, like, foods, you know, different types of, like, certain foods that I would eat or make into a juice or a smoothie and supplements to support the same areas of my body that she was saying needed support energetically and that in culinary alchemy.
Rachel Yucatel
Wait, can I just stop you for a second? Because I find this whole story fascinating. You've covered, like, 90% of all my questions back to back. So thank you.
You just had a conversation with yourself, but it was all in my head, so thank you very much. But I think there's a lot of people that get caught in so they get sick or someone they know gets sick and they get caught in just listening to what the doctors say. And it's medical and it's, you know, nutrition. Nutrition is off to the side, right? It's not even about food, but it's about the medicines that they're given or the chemo or the things that they get in the hospital or are told to do. And then there's the other side of it, which seems to some people a little like hoo hay, right? Whether it's Chinese medicine or it's acupuncture or it's food. And a lot of people are like, oh, that's like a whole placebo effect that doesn't really exist. So my question for you is, when did you start to realize. And I guess we all know because we heard the story with your father that the medicine wasn't working no matter what they were giving him. And he had a lot of support from very, you know, people with a lot of credibility in the field of medicine. And that didn't work. And he ultimately transitioned. But. So when did you start to say there's gotta be more and food is the answer and herbs?
Serena Poon
It was, you're right, it was during that time, you know, even though my daddy did transition, right. It was, there was a moment and I've shared this kind of like here and there in my journey. There was a moment when like, I will never forget it. You know, there was a moment we're in our, we're, we're in the living room and my dad is sitting there and he's. And he's got this like hard boiled egg that he's holding and he's looking at this egg, you know, and, and I come in and, you know, he starts to get super emotional. He, like, he starts to sob and he's just like, he's looking at this egg and he, and he's like, my life has been reduced down to an egg. Like it was so critical for him to take this egg in because he could barely take in any food. Everything was making him sick. And here this egg is packed with all this protein and all these nutrients. And if he couldn't get anything else in, if you could get in this egg, it would like be just enough to like get him, you know, through half of the day or something like that. I mean, this is told. And it was, it was so.
It was, it was just one of those moments in life that I will never forget. Because not only should no one ever feel like they're reduced down to Any one thing, you know, deval and egg. You know, here's my dad, who's like my knight in shining armor, who's so many things, who's helped so many people.
But it was the fact that this was something that he loved, like food gave him joy. You know, it was a way that we were connecting and. And it felt almost like punishment the way he was, you know, looking at this egg, which is just like. Like now it's like a punishment. So I realized that, like, we aren't using. At the. At least during that time, we weren't using food in a way to nourish the soul and the soul and our mind as much as we nourish with the body. And we weren't doing it at all because we were just looking at medicine, you know, and food in and of itself is because we get so many amazing nutrients, you know, vitamins and minerals and polyphenols and molecules activate longevity pathways. You know, this is all coming from Mother Nature in a very natural way, in a way that our body is actually designed better to receive that medicine through nature than that medicine through chemical pathways, which is why we often have, you know, there's often a side effect or reaction or response to. To, you know, like conventional medicine and pharmaceuticals, not to say that there isn't a need for it, right? But there is so much that we get from Mother Nature through food that can be equally healing and even more so sometimes, because that's what the body wants. And then there's that emotional component to it. There's the fact that we have a relationship with our experiences with food. You know, we commune over food.
Rachel Yucatel
Right?
Serena Poon
There is. And this is a big part of my work too, which is, you know, the. The memories that are connected when we have experiences and when we have experiences with food, right, that can become people's addictions, you know, their good habits, both.
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Serena Poon
Taxes and fees extra.
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Serena Poon
Yeah, no, 100% stem cells are, it's a great, you know, it's a good example. Depending on your inflammation level, stem cells can immediately bring the, bring your inflammation levels down. So if you're pretty in tune with your body, you might experience and feel what it feels like when your inflammation levels drop. When you're system within your systemic inflammation levels drop. And depending where inflammation resides in your body, whether it can be, you know, in like it could be in your stomach, you know, it could be in your joint, it could be in your ear, wherever it is for you. Yeah, inflammation goes down, you might experience some sense of relief would, which would be immediate. But over time, yes, it takes time for those cells, you know, I call them like your good little soldiers that you've now received to go into your body and start to do the repair work. And you are not necessarily going to feel it, but over time there will be improvements and it's, it's interesting and, and that happens. That's the same thing with like sleeping well every single day, you know, or, and no one does, but at least most of the time we try to right. And eating well. I think that's where sort of like the 8020 rule kind of comes from.
Rachel Yucatel
Where.
Serena Poon
Yes, if you have a meal that is naughty and gluttonous and it's fried and sugary and salty and all the things, let's say you're at a game or something like that, is it going to Feel great in that moment? Yes, because it's activating all those neurotransmitters that make you happy and then maybe four hours later you're going to feel terrible. So there are sometimes those experiences that are immediate, but it is really about the over time. Over time, things add up. So to me, longevity, yes, we have and we're on the forefront. So we see what is happening and what is already here now that the rest of the world will know about very, very soon. But at its core, the foundation of longevity, and I put that in quotes because everyone kind of has their own sort of separate definition that's in addition to living longer, it's really about what you do every single day. You know, it's what you do every single day. It is how you live. It is your. It is your. I practice what I call holistic lifestyle medicine, and that's holistic with a W, because it is your physical body, your mind body, your energy body, your soul body. It is all of it, you know, and every part of it has to be healthy, you know, every part of it has to, you know, be balanced. And you have to kind of do it on a regular basis. So, yes, I think that if you drink your green tea every single day and you're getting in those polyphenols and that EGCG and you're getting all those benefits from that green tea, it is absolutely going to pay off in the long run. Are you going to feel like a hit of it? You know, like you might if you had an espresso, you know, and if you're looking at that green tea to give you energy just because that's caffeine, you may not, may or may not experience it depends how sensitive you are to caffeine. But is that green tea going to benefit you in the long term? And are you going to be able to feel 30 years or 15 years of benefits in a moment? No, you won't, but you will feel it over time. And when you are older and you're doing all these things, what you will feel and experience is what you. Is how you felt when you were younger, in reflection. But you're still there.
Rachel Yucatel
Now, wait, I want to ask a question about green tea, because I've always wondered. This is green tea and the benefits from it. Like you're talking about, can you get it from all green tea? If you go into Starbucks, if you get the little packets at the grocery store, if you're in the Chinese or Japanese restaurant and they have ice cream tea, where are you getting the real green tea from, from.
Serena Poon
So green tea obviously like different types of green tea will have, you know, more or less of the different types of polyphenols or like the catechins. So matcha is a form of Japanese green tea and it has the highest levels. I mean that's something I've been drinking for almost 20 years.
Commercial Narrator
Wow.
Serena Poon
And it's probably got the most benefits. At the end of the day, you want green tea that is ideally organic, you know, and it's been grown in soil that's not full of metals, you know, quite often. And there's going to be metals in soil that's like normal, natural, that happens in nature. But there is some, there are some teas that are grown in soil that is, has higher levels of certain metals that we don't want in our body. So I would say, you know, you know, pick and choose your teas, do a little bit of research and make sure it's not. If it's not loose leaf, which is always best, but if it's not loose leaf, it's bagged in like some sort of plant based cellulose, so it's not like a microplastic. And make sure it's sourced from a place that's good soil and it's organic.
Rachel Yucatel
No, it sounds like you would never get matcha at Starbucks though.
Serena Poon
I mean.
I have, I have when I'm really desperate and I'm in some country and I'm just like matcha, but like, no. And they also, and sorry to all those Starbucks. I'm not knocking Starbucks. It's just not for me. They also blend their matcha with sweetener. They blend it with sugar. Right.
Rachel Yucatel
So I want to get into a whole day in the life of everything you're eating and doing because I think our listeners are going to want to know. But you brought up that you guys like kind of are on the forefront of longevity. So I want to know, I wrote this down when you were talking what break breakthroughs feel most exciting and accessible to everyday people that you're seeing in longevity right now?
Serena Poon
Well, breakthroughs I have to think about, like what is happening in the everyday.
Well, I think that people have been talking about nad precursors for a while now. David's been talking about it for I don't know, like 15 years. And nad drips have been around for a long time. I was getting them pre Covid, you know, so I think it's great that people are aware now of different supplements and molecules that help support our batteries. You know, here nad Precursors help support that. There comes in different forms. It can be nmn, nr, nar, there's different ones. They all help support our system in terms of helping our bodies make that nad right. There's a much higher awareness of like mitochondrial support. You know, there's a lot of supplements out there and that's really important. Most people, I think people talk about telomeres a lot. I mean Dave and I never talk about telomeres, but talking about mitochondrial support, like, that's great. And here we have a much higher awareness of photobiomodulation. So you know, there's all this talk about red light therapy. It's been around for decades and decades and decades, you know, and it's great that it's way more accessible to people now. So the more accessibility, the more cost, the more, the less cost prohibitive it is. Right. Where before red light. Because I've been doing red light for again like probably 15, 20 years now. It's something that you can just, you can order off of Amazon and you can.
Rachel Yucatel
Well, that's what I was going to say. When they're, when it's so accessible, does it mean that the potency is still there and it's just as good?
Serena Poon
Yeah, because it's really about the technology. You know, now you have to make sure you have a good brand. You know, you got to do your research and make sure that that brand, that the wavelengths in that brand, whatever device it is, whatever brand it is, is calibrated appropriately to the wavelengths.
That are in the clinical study and clinical studies. Right, right. And with photobiomodulation, it's different wavelengths address different conditions. So you know, different wavelengths are great for our skin, great for like pain, great for muscle, great for collagen. There's so many different things. It's great for like neurodegenerative conditions. So it just depends on the different frequencies. So whatever it is that you want it for, you want to make sure that the device that you buy is calibrated to give you the results that you want.
And they've got some paperwork that shows that they're not just like claiming it and saying it. But just because it's out there for everyone does not mean that it's not great. It's great. It's been around for a long time. People just don't know about it. And even stuff like hot and cold, cold, you know, whether or not you're in a five thousand dollar ice bath or you are jumping into your pool or your, or the ocean, it doesn't make a difference. You know, it's about the shock to the system. You know, that's what's important. You know, it's about. It's about putting that. Your body in what we call this sort of adversity mode. Temporary, temporarily, this temporary stress of the system. That's what we want to do. So you don't need to have like an $8,000, like, bathtub filled with ice or something that keeps it. It's just it. And it's not for everybody either. It's not women. You know, it can be very good for men. But if you're talking about Chinese medicine and. And some of the these more Eastern practices, balance is really what we're always looking to have. You know, and there can be good stresses, but, you know, extreme hot and extreme cold is not necessarily beneficial for women. During different times of our lives, different times of the month, you know, you have to be really mindful about that type of thing. But what I'm seeing more and more, which I think is great because I've always been about, like, ancient wisdom, you know, what's on the forefront is that we're. We are now just sort of making. We are just making devices and we're making ancient wisdom more accessible.
Rachel Yucatel
Right.
Serena Poon
You're talking about like, the biohacking world, you know.
Rachel Yucatel
Right.
Serena Poon
You know, whether or not we're talking energy or quantum. I mean, these things have been around since, like, Tesla. Now there's more and more devices and products that we can buy. Same thing with, like, testing. Right. Like.
Rachel Yucatel
And you do. You do Reiki, right? Reiki, Yeah, I do Reiki.
Serena Poon
It was during that time when I kind of figured, when I developed culinary alchemy and I was working with that master healer that was in New Mexico, Nicole, not Nicole Noel. She after about working together for eight months, she was like, come out to come out to Santa Fe. I want to like, teach you everything that I do. Because she really thought she was like, 70 and she really thought she was going to transition soon, so wanted like apprentices. And so at first I was like, what, are you crazy? I can't do what you do. Like, this is nuts. And I was scared to go. And then finally after about. I think it was November, I went in February. So it was like three, four months. I finally went there, went by myself. It was the first time I was meeting her in person. She picked me up in this, like, giant old clunky Cadillac from Albuquerque. And then, like, and then we drove out to Santa Fe and I stayed with her in her House. And she showed me everything that she did. Like, she had all these papers for me and notes and, like, you know, stuff that she had written down. When she channeled and we channeled, I mean, it was. Was. It was. It was nuts. It was so cool, though.
Rachel Yucatel
And did she do, like, spiritual journey stuff? Like, I. I was just in San Francisco this weekend, and everybody was talking about how every three months they go on some LSD journey, and it's totally changed their life, which I'm too scared to do, but this seems to be part of what everyone's doing now.
Serena Poon
Yeah. So it's so funny, the different things that trend. I've never done that. And that wasn't what she did. It was just totally just like, energy. Got it. And so. And it was when I came back from that weekend with her, I was like. So I was so nervous about doing it wrong. You know, I'm like, I'm trying to do it the way Noel does it, but I want to do it wrong. And I was also working with this other healer. He's amazing Rob. He's based in Barcelona. He was just like, there's no way you can, like, do it wrong. Everyone just has, like, their own technique and their own style that they've kind of curated through their experiences. So I decided to study Reiki because I just, like, needed some structure. You know, I, like, I just needed a program. I needed some structure. And so I did that for three years, became a Reiki master. And I've studied so many things, you know, quantum touch and energy to, like, to somatic to. I mean, there's so many different things. And so now when I do it, it's. It's really, like, a combination of everything. So I may call it Reiki, and it is, but I add in other things, too.
Rachel Yucatel
Got it. Okay. So can you walk people through what you think is good? Like this holistic approach with your, you know, culinary alchemy and all this. Like, what should we. Should we be eating and doing every day? Starting with, obviously, a good night's sleep.
Serena Poon
Okay.
Rachel Yucatel
Does it count if you have to take a sleeping pill to sleep?
Serena Poon
Well, you should be taking sweet dreams. It works much, much better. I'll send you some. It's actually taking people off of, like, Ambien. People aren't jet lag on it. Like, I have no time. I just, like, sleep wherever I need to sleep. Like, I never get jet lag. It's just something that really helps your body get into the circadian rhythm. It needs to be in wherever you Are and it gets you like, if you wear a, a, you know, like a wearable, like some sort of a tracker, you'll see the next day it gets you very good deep sleep and very good REM sleep. So I'm about quality of sleep. You know, it's not like it's about quality sleep. So if you are sleeping four or five hours, but almost the whole time you're in deep in rem, like you're probably getting better quality sleep than someone who's in bed for like eight hours and only getting like 30 minutes, you know, or like of one or the other. But you know, I keep it really simple. People ask David and I all the time, like if you had three things that are top three things for longevity, like, what would you say? We obviously different say different things. He talks about molecules, I talk about meditation, hydration, and eating the rainbow. You know, at some point in your day, it would be ideal if you could cover the colors of the rainbow through whole base, like whole food foods, you know, so through your plants, like vegetables, fruits. Try and get all the colors of the rainbow in because you're actually hitting all the different molecules, all the different polyphenols, you know, all the different vitamins and, and nutrients that you need. If you can actually kind of like make sure that you're, you're hitting every color, it's really easy to do. It's a visual. It makes your food look pretty if you get it all in one plate and if you can't, at least throughout the day. And it's a really simple thing that I can even use teach kids, because doing it as a family, it works even better. So that's like, that's a very simple thing to remember. And you can do it anywhere on the planet because wherever you are, you're just like being mindful about the choices when you're going through the menu, if you're eating out, like, especially if you're traveling.
Rachel Yucatel
So do you care about calories, do you care about carbohydrates or meats? Like, do you stay away from eating meat?
Serena Poon
So I'm personally plant based. I have to be a bit more mindful about making sure that I get in enough plant protein or taking supplementing with some amino acids, like some essential amino acids if I do not get in enough. So it's a little bit trickier if you are plant based, for example, because you have to make sure that you're ticking off all the boxes.
Rachel Yucatel
But are you plant based because that's your personal choice, or do you believe that no one should be eating animal meat?
Serena Poon
Oh, no. I mean, it's my personal choice. It started for me when I was actually, it was during this time when I had all these surgeries, you know, and I was. And because surgery in and of itself, so inflammatory.
Wix User / AI Business User
Yeah.
Serena Poon
It's so hard on your system. I was trying to put myself in the most, the least inflamed state that I could possibly be in, that I could control, you know, with like diet and what I was putting into my body. So I went plant based. But then of course, the irony is after my fourth surgery when I like almost died and lost like 2 liters of blood from internal bleeding, I ended up having to eat liver. I mean, I was eating, I was, you know, I was right back into like full, full, full meat because I had to rebuild my hemoglobin and had to build back my blood. But I'm not opposed. It's more about being mindful about how much meat you are eating. And I would always, I will always recommend to everybody to make sure there's more, more plants, you know, on your plate than anything else. I don't count macros. I'm not a big caloric counter, you know, and I don't, I don't count like carbs, you know, I, I have a lot of people are like, I try and stay away from carbs. Really. It's person dependent. You know, we do need a balance of all of it. You know, we need some healthy fats, we need some healthy carbs, and we need some healthy food, healthy, you know, protein.
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Serena Poon
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Serena Poon
What do you think makes the perfect snack?
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Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.
Rachel Yucatel
Could you be more specific when it's cravenient?
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Okay, like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter available right down the street at am, pm Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at am pm.
Rachel Yucatel
I'm seeing a pattern here.
Commercial Narrator
Well, yeah, we're talking about what I.
Serena Poon
Crave, which is anything from am, pm.
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Rachel Yucatel
But will you eat pasta or you'll make zucchini pasta?
Serena Poon
Oh, oh my God. I will eat pasta I at least once a week. Are you kidding? Like I'm Chinese. I grew up on noodles and rice, you know, comfort food. So yeah, I mean Italian food is probably one of my favorite things to make. Was my favorite coming out of culinary school. Is my favorite cuisine to make. I love making fresh homemade pasta too. Wow. Absolutely. I mean you have. Your body needs a balance of things.
Rachel Yucatel
Yeah. Okay, and. And what is your cheat day look like or your cheat meal?
Serena Poon
Okay, so I have such a weakness for fries. And I will get fries if I've been traveling for 22 hours from like the US to Asia and we check into a hotel and we will order french fries. It's not the end of the world. So, you know, and there's a lot of things and some people are really strict about seed oils. Well, unless you're at a certain restaurant, if you're going to have anything fried, it's going to have oils in it that are not good for you. But so is the air that you breathe depending on what city that you're in.
Rachel Yucatel
Yeah.
Serena Poon
So I mean, I don't believe in like, I don't believe in perfection. That's not, that's not a way like I believe in. I believe in being very mindful, being educated, taking care of yourself, providing yourself with as much resources as you possibly can, but knowing that the end of the day it's your basics and fundamentals. That's where it all comes from, you know, having like your emotional, well being so important to longevity, you know.
Rachel Yucatel
I want you to tell our listeners about your brand Serena Loves. Can you share a little bit about that with us?
Serena Poon
Yeah, so, so Serena Loves is basically like a lifestyle brand in a way. But I also have supplements there. So my brand, my platform really is very education driven and I, there's tons of information on there and it's really about education, nourishment and providing you some tools that can help you on your journey. So there is everything from, you know, I'll talk about everything from Reiki and food and nutrition all the way to stem cells and exosomes and peptides and apheresis, you know, and everything that's happening out there in the world that we're not talking about on a regular basis yet. And then I have supplements because what I found during my now over 20 years of private practice was, you know, I couldn't, there weren't products that I could recommend to my clients and felt very confident in. So now I have a supplement line with, with you know, like certain SKUs that I think are what everybody should have and I've.
Rachel Yucatel
Is one of them. The thing you were talking about to go to sleep.
Serena Poon
Oh, sweet dreams. Oh yeah. I didn't even realize that was going to be as popular as it is. But I mean it's, I've got world, I've got many actually world leaders on that. And it's just a game changer for me.
Rachel Yucatel
Is it a, is it a tea or. It's a pill.
Serena Poon
It's actually a chewable, so even better. Yeah. And people like it. So it's a chewable and it's, it's really about the recipe. It's A blend. It's nothing like super crazy special. It's a little bit of 5 HTP, a little bit of inositol, a little bit of L theonine and then a little bit of melatonin. But only 1.5 milligrams because you're not supposed to be taking a ton of melatonin actually is not ideal for you or your brain. And you know, we can talk about that another time.
Rachel Yucatel
Why did just quickly. Why does melatonin work on some people but doesn't for for others?
Serena Poon
I think it depends on the amount. You know, I think that what people are taking most of the time, people are taking too much.
Rachel Yucatel
Oh, interesting.
Serena Poon
Yeah. Anywhere like right around between one and three, especially for women, you know, women going through menopause or perimenop menopause start to have issues with sleeping. And you know, between 1 and 3 is a good target. And if it's kind of like, if it's kind of like sustained release, that's really what works better with our body. There are, it's interesting that you asked me that because there are some people that say that it gives them nightmares. I've had like maybe a handful of people that say, oh, I can't take melatonin. It, it gives me nightmares. But I also don't know where they got their melatonin from, like what format of it, what, how high the dose, you know, what brand. Kind of depends, you know, I mean if it's blended with other things, it may or may not be the melatonin that's, you know, giving them nightmares. But it depends on what form of it that you're taking and the dosage.
Rachel Yucatel
What is one thing that we all are misunderstanding that we all are eating right now or putting in our body that is so dangerous Us.
Serena Poon
Oh, wow.
Well, it's been talked about a lot, but it's true. I would say microplastics are a really. And it's been an ongoing thing, you know, it's. There's been a lot of talk about it recently just because there's finally been some long standing studies that have been published. It's hard because it is in everything. Right. You can go get a paper cup from a coffee shop up and that paper cup is probably lined with plastic somehow, you know, just so, so it doesn't leak. You know, that's why, that's why those paper cups with, with our drinks don't leak after 20 or 30 minutes. It's because it's lined.
Wix User / AI Business User
Right.
Serena Poon
And so it's really about being More mindful of it and choosing non plastic whenever you can. Because we're going to get it in, we're going to get it into our systems no matter what. And then there's different ways to take it out, you know. You know, one of the things when we're talking about, you know, sort of like modalities or therapies and treatments, you brought up stem cells which by the way, you can do them here now. So you know, you don't have to go all the way to Panama to do them. We can talk about that later. I'm like, stay in the States. There's.
Rachel Yucatel
Well actually let's talk about that also because they were so specific about how now in Panama they have much more transparency here. Let's be honest. You could go to any med spa that's run by a 25 year old person who doesn't know where they're getting their stuff from. It just says they're doing a facial with exosomes or you know, they're giving you stem cells and you probably don't know where they got it. And I don't even know if they know where they got it.
Serena Poon
Yeah, they probably don't. So I would not do that ever.
Rachel Yucatel
Right, so where would you get the stem cells in America?
Serena Poon
America? Well, I, I have a source for stem cells and it comes from, you know, it comes from an fda, an FDA registered laboratory. You know, it's got an ind. So you know that means that the FDA is aware that the, the products that are in this lab are being reviewed as an investigation, an investigation, you drop drug. So that means it is at the, you know, it is at the highest caliber in terms of viability, sterility. You know, it is being checked across the board and it's held at the highest standard.
Rachel Yucatel
Right, but where are we finding that?
Serena Poon
So you can ask your provider, you know, you can ask them for the certifications. They have to show it to you if they have it right. Where it's from. I mean ideally your stem cells are from cord blood that is from a cord bank in from a U.S. hospital. Right. Where they have patient records and they can check for all of that. Like you can ask for that. And that's one of the most, you know, there's. My team has actually been asking me to do like an educational series on like exosomes and stem cells and all the different.
All the different questions that you want to ask. You know, viability is one of them. You know, you want to, you want to make sure that what you're getting isn't like frozen dead. Yeah. Right. And there's no viability. Right. So that's a good question to ask. It's important to ask where it's from. You know, it's really important to ask if it's been expanded. You know, that's.
Rachel Yucatel
What does that mean?
Serena Poon
That means that they've taken like the first generation of cells and they, they've expanded them in a dish and, and, and so they can expand it or blossom. There's different words for all kinds of mean. It means the same thing. And there's multiple generations and you really don't want anything past like three generations. Ideally you're getting stuff that's first generation means. This is like from umbilical cord blood or some is umbilical cord tissue, but umbilical cord blood. And that's, that's going to be like the safest for you. As long as it's been processed, you know, as long as it's been processed at a lab that has these certifications and are held at these standards, then you know you're getting something that's safe. Yeah, but at the end of the day, that's a really good point that you make. It's, it's not easy, you know, to get these things. And usually if it's the right source, then the provider can give you that information. Right.
Rachel Yucatel
And you would think, I mean, the, the providers that are getting the real stuff will want to show you that it's the people that push back, that I wouldn't use their stuff.
Serena Poon
You know, I'm always like, this is what we have here. You know, these are the percentages. This is where it's from. This is, you know, traces all the way back to like the cord, you know, the core bank that it's from. If someone can't show you that, don't use it. It's the same thing with supplements. You know, if you have a question about how much nmn is in that. We get this question all the time, you know, like, what brands? And it's like, we can't keep track of brands, you know, I have no idea. But what you can do is you can always ask the brand itself. I want to see your certificate of analysis. That is public information. They have to show you, you know, and some will literally just have it on their website because they're legit. And that certificate of analysis will show you how clean it is, you know, and the concentration, how pure it is. It'll have all of that there. And, and you know, when they're legitimate. They can provide it for you or they can at least tell you.
Rachel Yucatel
Right. Last question. On your daily intake, do you. Do you drink alcohol?
Serena Poon
I don't, but it's not like I won't, you know, if I really felt like it and if I wanted to, like, I don't know if there was a celebration or if there's. If I felt like it, you know, then I would. I stopped drinking alcohol back when I did ivf. So when I was doing IVF to freeze my eggs many, many, many years ago, I just wanted to put. I just wanted to be as healthy and clean as possible. And so I stopped drinking for like nine months.
Rachel Yucatel
Did you notice a difference in yourself?
Serena Poon
Huge difference. I mean, you will look younger within a matter of weeks. Like your skin instantly gets better. I mean, alcohol at the end of the day is a toxin, you know, like, there's no. It is what it is, you know, and from a social perspective and a communal sort of like community perspective, I. You know, it makes sense that people. We've just kind of ingrained it into ourselves that, like, we kind of need to do this to do that. So I get that. But we should not, like, deceive ourselves. Like, it's a toxin, and if you're going to take in a toxin, just know that you are. And take some pine, you know, take binders before bed and make sure it doesn't, like, you know, hurt your liver. Have it just kind of like have the binders bind to the toxins and pass through your liver. Make sure you stay hydrated and you nourish your body the next day. But I mean, that is kind of where it started from, was when I did the ivf, and then it just became part of my lifestyle and. And you kind of like, forget, you know, you're just drink. And then there's just more and more and more studies that come out that show damage. And, you know, it's. It's not like a preach of mine. It's just. Just, you know, it's not good for you. So if you're going to do it, it's like meeting fries. I know fries aren't good for me, but I like it. I eat it once in a while.
Rachel Yucatel
Right. We had on last week a woman who is known as the worm queen. I don't know if you're familiar with her, but she's gone viral and has a whole platform based on putting out a parasite cleanse. And she fully believes that parasites are in America. Everyone thinks that they have to travel to get them and go to some, you know, tropical place. And she says they're right here. And she thinks almost everyone has them and they don't know it. So do you believe in a parasite cleanse here?
Serena Poon
I do, and I 100% agree. People, we all like. I would say everybody's got parasites, and it might not be in high, high numbers. A full path panel, pathogen panel is some. As a standard test that I run for every single client, for everybody. And that tells me the amount of parasites, bacteria, fungal, virus, like, everything that's. And so are they freaked out by.
Rachel Yucatel
That answer that comes back?
Serena Poon
I mean, no. I mean, it depends, you know, Like, I don't. Usually when I'm working with someone, they don't get the results. I get the results, and then I go through the results and I tell them what they need to know. And I don't freak out anybody about anything, because solvable and everything is resolvable. Like, whatever it is that's going on with you is going on right now in this moment in time, and we can change it.
Rachel Yucatel
Right. But that's what's interesting, because the cause of whatever it is, the headaches, the stomach aches, the bloating, is about what's in your body, don't you think?
Serena Poon
Oh, for sure. And parasites are. They are the source of a lot of those problems. I mean, even cancers. I have some colleagues that, like, truly believe that parasites are the root cause of every kind of, like, disease and ailment. I don't know that I necessarily agree with that sentiment.
Rachel Yucatel
Right.
Serena Poon
We'll say that. I agree that parasites are the root cause for a lot. A lot of conditions. And I mean, listen, there's something called zoonotics. I mean, we give things to our fur babies and they give them to us. I mean, you don't have to be. You don't have to swim over in Bali to, like, pick up something like, you can get it, you can get it here, and you can get it easily. And most of us have a little bit of everything, but our bodies and our immune system knows how to take care of it. Some people, it's out of hand, you know, and if it's out of hand and you're. You're. You are, it's coming out of you, then, you know, I mean, even if before then you should do a cleanse, it's good to do these cleanses like, at least like once a year or something like that.
Rachel Yucatel
Yeah.
Serena Poon
But.
Rachel Yucatel
Yeah, fascinating stuff. All right, last question. If someone listening feels overwhelmed by wellness, what is the Very first step you would recommend that they take.
Serena Poon
I would say start small. You know, like the way I work with clients and you know, I have had. I have, I work with some of the most prominent people on the planet. Like, we start small because you can't make something a part of your lifestyle. It's not sustainable when you're overwhelmed. And one of the things I start everyone on is just hydration. 99% of people are dehydrated. I think in the entirety of my career, I've had like three clients, clients ever that were well hydrated. You know, one of them was a, was a pro athlete, like of the elite. Of the elite. You know, other than that, everybody is chronically dehydrated. Yeah. Just getting yourself to a point where you are drinking enough water that your body does not have to ration it is a small but massive, massive improvement that, that everyone and anyone can do. Literally starting like right now.
Rachel Yucatel
How many glasses of water does that take?
Serena Poon
It depends on the person.
Rachel Yucatel
I mean, I don't know that I have one a day. I'll be honest with you.
Serena Poon
Okay, then, then you're, you need.
Rachel Yucatel
Then me. I'm off.
Serena Poon
So. So yeah, so it depends on the person. Like I, I have, I have. Like I say you should try to target one ounce, like per pound that you weigh in that. If you weigh 120 pounds, shoot for 120 ounces. Okay. Now you might not get there, but make a goal to be, to get three quarters of the way. So if you are 120 pounds and your goal, your target is 120 ounces of water, try to get to like, you know, 100, right. Like 90. I mean that's about, that's a little bit less than 3 liters. Now if you're someone that works out, you do cardio, you sweat a lot, you do hot yoga. Yoga, you're going to need more and bodies. And this is something everybody really needs to remember. You know, our bodies are the most incredible, complex, amazing machines. You know, our bodies figure it out. Like whether or not we consciously decide our bodies taken whatever it is that we give it and it figures out, it figures out how to like get through and survive. So you not barely drinking a glass of water a day, you have not keeled over and died yet. Yet. Because your body has figured out how to take whatever it is that you are giving your body and make it work with that amount of hydration. Right. Function better if you give it more 100%, you know, like, does it mean you're Going to function optimally if you go and you slam two liters of water today. No, that's not happen just like anything else. You have to like, because your body is. Your body's used to a specific baseline right now is function on a glass of water a day or two, whatever it is that you do.
Commercial Narrator
Yeah.
Serena Poon
As you add in more water, you know, you're going to have to like, you know, give your body the opportunity to kind of like integrate it in, assimilate it and realize this isn't a one time thing, you know, Like, I. I'm not just getting an extra glass today. Like, oh, okay, I'm. I'm getting now 48 ounces of water. Now. I can adjust. I can adjust my system to know that I can get in 48 hours, 49, 48 ounces, you know, and then you also detox accordingly as well. So water is the simplest thing and we can start right now. And then the other thing I said about eating the rainbow is just like, just think about what you're putting into your body today. Like, did you only do, like, you know, only doing greens is not good either. Right. Like, did you only do one color, one thing or what? What did you put into your body today? Try and make an effort. Effort. I mean, you can go get a wrap and have all the colors in a single wrap.
Rachel Yucatel
Right. Does sparkling water count?
Serena Poon
I mean, sparkling water can count. It's not as. It's not quite as like. Well, it can. Especially if it's like mineral. Mineral water.
Rachel Yucatel
Right.
Serena Poon
Okay. Drinking as much, you know, that's how.
Rachel Yucatel
I've survived, I guess.
Serena Poon
Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, little by little, you know, added in a little bit more. And of course, you know, you want it to be like quality water, but that can be a whole other conversation because I don't want to stress people out. It's like I drink more water and now it's got to be special kind of water. Just at least get yourself hydrated because, you know, if you're talking about quality of water, the better the water, like, the more actual hydration you get, you know, so you don't want it to be like depleted of minerals. And if it. And if it doesn't have minerals, put a little bit of like natural salt in there.
Rachel Yucatel
Right. I keep hearing that that's the thing to do. All right, so, Serena, we could talk to you for hours and ask you a billion class questions, but tell people where they can find you so they can get some answers on their own.
Serena Poon
So on social Instagram, you can find me at Chef Serena Poon. And then on my website it's Serena loves dot com. And thank you so much for having me today. I know I just went on and on and on.
Rachel Yucatel
No, I. It was great. And. And if people want to get your supplements and the sleepy time.
Serena Poon
Oh, yeah, that's on the website.
Rachel Yucatel
On the website.
Serena Poon
And you can go to the supplement section.
Rachel Yucatel
Perfect. And we'll put it in the show notes as well. Serena, thank you so much. I really appreciate you.
Serena Poon
Thank you so much.
Rachel Yucatel
Thank you so much for listening to Misunderstood. I'm your host, Rachel Yukatel. Please be sure to subscribe to the show and give us a five star rating and review. You can support the show by joining our patreon@patreon.com misunderstood with Rachel Ukitel. Do you have ideas for the show or want to reach out? Email us@infomisunderstoodpodcastmail.com that's spelled M I S S. Understood. Thank you so much and I'll see you next time.
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Hey, what's up?
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I want to go back to school and get a pet and buy a house and save retirement and travel the world.
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Original Air Date: December 4, 2025
Guest: Serena Poon, Nutritionist, Chef, Reiki Master, Founder of Serena Loves
In this deeply personal and insight-filled episode, Rachel Uchitel explores the intersection of science, spirituality, energy, and nutrition with wellness expert Serena Poon. From Serena’s moving family story and her own struggles with health crises, to concrete advice on hydration, nutrition, longevity, healing, and energy work, the conversation demystifies holistic wellness. The segment highlights what mainstream health often misses, debunks wellness trends, and offers accessible steps for healing and longevity, emphasizing the power of combining science with ancient wisdom.
"All that mattered was the health and happiness of the people that I love... And at the same time, I left myself off that list."
— Serena Poon ([10:46])
"It's really about what you do every single day. ... Every part of [your body] has to be healthy, you know, every part has to be balanced."
— Serena Poon ([30:44])
"I don't believe in perfection... It's your basics and fundamentals. That's where it all comes from—having your emotional well-being is so important to longevity."
— Serena Poon ([50:39])
"99% of people are dehydrated... Just getting yourself to a point where you are drinking enough water that your body does not have to ration it is a small but massive, massive improvement that anyone can do."
— Serena Poon ([64:14])
Uchitel’s open curiosity and Serena’s down-to-earth expertise lead to a conversation that’s practical, human, and deeply motivating. Serena’s vulnerability in sharing her personal history brings warmth, while her explanations demystify intimidating wellness concepts, making ancient and modern tools accessible to all.
This summary captures the episode’s wisdom, emotional depth, and practical guidance, spotlighting memorable moments, expert tips, and the original voices of the speakers. Perfect for those seeking an authentic, actionable understanding of holistic wellness beyond the headlines.