♪ KEYRIS MANZANARES: What does it mean to be healthy?

Many of us are in pursuit of wellness, from ancient practices rooted in cultural wisdom to modern innovations, each offering us a way to reach a healthier, more balanced life.

Coming up, we'll explore allergies, diabetes, food as medicine, alternative healing practices, physical fitness, and more.

You're watching VPM News Focal Point.

Production funding for VPM News Focal Point is provided by ♪ KEYRIS MANZANARES: Welcome to this special edition of VPM News Focal Point.

I'm Keyris Manzanares.

Today we dive deeper into the many paths to wellness.

We begin with food.

For centuries, certain cultures have seen food as medicine.

Next Anchor/Producer Angie Miles, examines the relationship between what we eat and our overall health.

ANGIE MILES: The Biden administration has called for Medicaid health benefits to be used for the purchase of groceries.

A creative solution addressing food scarcity and poor nutrition, and acknowledging the medicinal power of food.

In Fredericksburg, Dr. Nimali Fernando has been working on the same issue with children, promoting food as medicine in her pediatric practice.

NIMALI FERNANDO: A lot of the kids I was seeing were either overweight or obese, and I wanted to really sort of study, what are kids eating?

How can I help?

How can we prevent this?

So that's what I set out to do, starting the Dr. Yum Project, and then also shifting my practice to a private practice where I could share a kitchen, share a garden, and really focus on nutrition as sort of the cornerstone of the practice.

ANGIE MILES: By teaching children and their families how food can alleviate many ailments like attention issues and weight challenges, and improve overall wellness, her practice and the connected nonprofit, known as the Dr. Yum Project, are working to change outcomes for whole communities.

HEIDI DEEUGENIO: The Meal o Matic is a really cool tool that you can use.

You can look in your refrigerator or your pantry and see what's available, and then create a customized recipe out of all those things in your kitchen.

It's a really great way to be able to get kids that don't think they like a lot of foods to be able to control what the meal is with foods that they do like.

ANGIE MILES: According to the founders, data demonstrates already that the effort to promote the curative power of food is paying dividends in healthier communities and improved diets.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: While food holds the promise of healing, food allergies can also pose a life-or-death threat to an increasing number of Americans.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dietary allergies affect an estimated 6% of adults and 8% of children.

We have more on the issue from Anchor/Producer Angie Miles.

PATRICK OSBORNE: When I looked down, and my whole body was covered in hives.

And I guess my mom had told my older brother to put calamine lotion.

But all I remember was just being covered in this pink lotion from head to toe.

ANGIE MILES: Patrick Osborne had his first allergic reaction to food around the age of 4.

Initially, fish sticks, then salmon, then tuna.

PATRICK OSBORNE: That's when I just decided, 'Hey, I'm going to stay away from any kind of fish.'

Mom would cook the fish in the house.

I would just leave, you know, go play outside or something like that.

ANGIE MILES: Now, married with a family, food allergies pose a challenge for the entire Osborne household.

KRISTIN OSBORNE: I have three sons who have multiple life-threatening food allergies.

PATRICK OSBORNE: David, he's about 1.

What is he, 2?

Something like that.

And she said that he wasn't breathing right and he was drooling.

So I put him in the car seat, wanted to take him to the doctor.

KRISTIN OSBORNE: They tested him for dairy, egg, and wheat.

And I remember getting the phone call from the nurse thinking, 'Oh, it's just one of the three.'

And she said, "No, it's all three."

And I remember thinking, 'What do I feed him?'

ANGIE MILES: Kristin, the only family member without any known food allergies, has a passion for making sure her family enjoys healthy meals that are safe for them to eat.

KRISTIN OSBORNE: So today, we're making gluten-free meatballs with a gluten-free spaghetti pasta and a delicious salad with a vegan feta crumbles and gluten-free baguettes.

All the spices and all the ingredients have to be checked.

I have to read the ingredient label to make sure there aren't any allergens that we're allergic to.

ANGIE MILES: Kristin coaches her boys to understand that staying safe from allergens should not detract from a sense of joy and adventure at mealtime.

BENJAMIN OSBORNE: When I discover something new that I can eat and it's really good, I like it because it's a new addition to the other foods that we've had.

DAVID OSBORNE: There have been some surprising ingredients in some of my favorite foods, and I'm like, 'Really?

There's beet root in this, but it tastes so good.'

KRISTIN M. OSBORNE: Through the years of advocating on behalf of my children, I realized there were other parents who really needed someone to kind of hold their hand through the process.

ANGIE MILES: Kristin is founder of Virginia Food Allergy Advocates and has worked closely with schools, places where food allergen safety has become a prominent issue.

HEIDI SOWALA: There are about 3,000 students in Virginia Beach City Public Schools that we have identified with life-threatening allergy, the peanuts to the other nuts to milk now, sometimes to some perfumes to some odors.

We're seeing just different life-threatening allergies.

ANGIE MILES: Schools are required by law to stock life-saving epinephrine.

But what happens if a child is between school and home when an allergic reaction occurs?

KRISTIN M. OSBORNE: So I was approached by a parent almost a decade ago about helping her student safely ride the bus, and needed accommodations for epinephrine.

And after working with the school system, we arrived at changing the guidelines so that bus drivers would be able to recognize anaphylaxis, but also administer epinephrine to the students who are allowed to self-carry their epinephrine in their backpack.

ANGIE MILES: And Virginia Beach schools made the change to prepare all school bus drivers just in case.

JEFF BOZARTH: When we're initially hired, we go through training and we're taught how to use the EpiPen.

Really helps our confidence when we're out with the actual children on the bus that if something were to happen, we would know how to handle the situation and help that child.

ANGIE MILES: Five-year-old Isaiah is just beginning his school career, something that adds a little worry for his mom.

CAITIE MAHARG: It's somewhat nerve wracking because I think sometimes people think, "Oh, gluten-free, that's just a trend."

And for so many people, it's not a trend, it's a matter of life or death.

And for our son, if I know at school they're going to have something, they'd let me know what they're going to have and I create something for Isaiah, so he doesn't feel left out.

ANGIE MILES: Isaiah's mom advocates for him and others in an entrepreneurial way.

CAITIE MAHARG: You're very welcome.

We have our cinnamon roll.

Is this all together?

Okay.

There you go.

CUSTOMER: Thank you.

CAITIE MAHARG: You're very welcome.

ANGIE MILES: Maharg is a professional chef, who experiments with recipes at home and who founded a company so that those with food allergies can experience the joy of special treats, safely.

CAITIE MAHARG: The more I thought about it, I was like, 'You know what?

Isaiah's never had a donut' and nowhere we went made donuts that were safe for him.

And I was like, 'I'm going to tweak around with some of these recipes and see what I can come up with.'

The donuts that I make are gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, everything-free.

(laughing) And it's a good product and I put my heart into it.

And Isaiah is probably our biggest fan.

Anytime I think of new flavors or anything, he is my, the first one that gets to try it for me.

ANGIE MILES: Isaiah receives care for his specific food allergy issues at the University of Virginia.

Pediatric Allergy Specialist, Dr. Jonathan Hemler, works with patients to try to expand the list of foods they can eat safely.

We asked him why food allergies are on the rise in America.

DR. JONATHAN HEMLER: The most common theories are something like, "The Hygiene Hypothesis," where we are using our hand sanitizers and soaps and detergents and we're just very clean.

And our bodies aren't exposed to the microbes that they should be exposed to in order to keep your GI tract functioning properly.

There's some very recent research looking at detergents.

They are designed to break things down.

And there's, at least in the lab, has been shown that those things can actually break apart the linings of your GI tract and specifically, in your esophagus and in your lower gut.

And that is what may be the catalyst for allowing food to get in there that shouldn't get in there.

And that's why, potentially, food allergies develop.

ANGIE MILES: While research into the “why” continues, in earnest, at places like UVA, experts and families living with food allergy challenges say the more important issue is making it possible for people to live well, despite the specter of food allergies.

At UVA, that might mean research into immunotherapies to help people tolerate their known allergens.

For the general public, it can mean advice on how to avoid food allergies altogether.

DR. JONATHAN HEMLER: I think the most important thing for many people to know, especially new parents, is that the earlier you introduce allergenic foods, especially like it's been studied mostly with peanuts, but also milk, egg, tree nuts, those other things, the thought is that you'll be able to go on to prevent future food allergies.

CAITIE MAHARG: Our story begins on the first day of school.

"No peanuts," said Eppie.

“She knew.” ANGIE MILES: Avoiding food allergies or avoiding the dangers of having them, these are motivators for researchers and parents as they manage the pitfalls of food allergies and look for silver linings as well.

KRISTIN M. OSBORNE: And that silver lining is that my kids love to be in the kitchen.

They fully understand the food that we eat, but we do our best to make sure that the kids feel included and they can create some of these delicious foods on their own when they leave the house.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Now we shift our focus to another critical health concern, diabetes, and how a new drug is giving hope to families managing the disease.

News Producer Adrienne McGibbon brings us the latest medical advancements.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: The Troutmans have two children with two different stories.

Their youngest child, Jenna, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 11.

AMANDA TROUTMAN: For our daughter, everything she eats and all of her activity, her glucose blood sugar is measured 24 hours a day, so it's never ending.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: William has not been diagnosed with diabetes, but because of his sister's diagnosis, he's at a higher risk.

So his parents decided to put the 17-year-old on a drug recently approved by the FDA called Tzield.

AMANDA TROUTMAN: We knew what it meant to have a child with Type 1 diabetes and the relentless nature of it.

So we definitely wanted any portion of extension, 'cause that's what Tzield is supposed to do is extend the life of the beta cells that produce insulin, so we were thrilled.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: Early studies of Tzield show it delays the onset of diabetes by two to eight years for adults and children.

Dr. Bryce Nelson is the Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU and oversees William's care.

DR. BRYCE NELSON: Think about the impact of that two years could be in a child in middle school and not having to go to the school nurse, not being singled out in a way that makes them feel different.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: Dr. Nelson says this medicine is revolutionizing how he treats diabetes.

DR. BRYCE NELSON: Prior to that medication, even if I knew someone was in this particular stage, all I could do was wait until they needed to go on insulin, wait and watch.

Now there's something I could potentially do.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: By delaying the onset, Dr. Nelson says the treatment decreases the long-term effects diabetes has on major organs, like the heart, kidneys, nerves, and blood vessels.

Some side effects from Tzield include fever, fatigue, nausea, and headache.

Amanda Troutman says she hopes the drug will buy her son some more time.

AMANDA TROUTMAN: Our hope is that while in the waiting, something else will come out and you know, just getting back some of what diabetes can steal.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Moving beyond conventional approaches to health and wellness, we turn to music's healing powers.

In Roanoke, I spoke with a therapist who uses melody, harmony, and rhythm to help those in addiction recovery.

JIM BORLING: How recovery is going for you.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Linda MacDermott and her music therapist, Jim Borling have been meeting for 20 years.

Each one of their sessions starts like this, setting an intention.

LINDA MacDERMOTT: My first session was, I have a hole in my soul and I feel like I just feel like I have a hole in my soul.

And so kind of that was the intention to see what's going on.

That's the best I could do.

So I grew up, through my childhood every type of abuse that can happen, happened.

And I learned at the age of probably 10 and a half, 11, to keep a liquor bottle in my room.

Because when I drank, did a shot of liquor, I didn't have to feel what had just happened or deal with that.

So that continued on.

The main drugs I used were marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol.

But I wasn't opposed to trying anything else as well.

But that was my staple drugs.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: MacDermott says she never thought music could be a healing agent until she met Borling.

JIM BORLING: I'd always been interested in music as a child, and I can tell many stories of even being a child when I felt the expansiveness of music.

I didn't have the vocabulary to describe that but I realized there's something really special here.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Borling has been a music therapist for close to 40 years.

He specializes in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music which was developed by music therapist, Helen Bonny.

JIM BORLING: So the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music is in its simplest terms, it's the combination of non-ordinary states of consciousness.

And we could say that's deep relaxation kind of an expanded sense of awareness, an intention that is a purposeful reason for entering into a session.

Music, which is basically classical music that may be Beethoven or Bach or Mozart, could be Chopin or Sibelius or some intentional contemporary music.

And the interaction of the guide and the traveler or the therapist and client in a way that encourages the spontaneous flow of imagery from within.

(soft music) KEYRIS MANZANARES: Borling holds contracts with local recovery facilities in Roanoke, Virginia where he helps those battling addiction with the emotional and spiritual aspect of their recoveries.

JIM BORLING: So we're really working with expanded layers of healing that are profound and particular, to the human experience.

It might even take you to elements that we could call transpersonal that is connection with something greater than ourselves.

I can tell you that people with addictions are absolutely searching for that.

LINDA MacDERMOTT: Sometimes when it would get really intense the music would be like these drums and really loud and you could just feel it through your whole body.

I mean, I remember we had an hour session and I think it went over a little bit and I thought we were only doing it for five minutes.

It was just incredible.

So there's a lot, if you're open to it and you can just relax and bring it in.

And then, what it does is it just kind of stays with you.

In the next two or three weeks you can feel the difference in the shifts.

What it means to me, to the core is it saved my life.

Emotionally.

It saved my life emotionally.

It gave me a place to start in a safe environment and a safe place to start being able to look at some things and to be accepting and to meet who Linda was.

I didnt know who Linda was.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: From music to acupuncture, natural healing modalities are becoming more popular.

I visited an acupuncturist in southwest Virginia who uses Chinese medicine to provide drug free pain relief.

NILE BACHMANN: My name is Nile Bachmann, and I'm the owner and operator of the Blue Ridge Clinic for Chinese Medicine here in Floyd, Virginia.

I specialize in drug-free pain management for the people of the New River Valley, mostly using acupuncture, [SPEAKING TO CLIENT] tap the needle in and something called Tuina.

It's an acupressure massage.

We have a lot of retired people, that's a big population here in Floyd.

So all of the complaints that go along with that are something that I see frequently.

Any type of joint pain, back pain, neck pain.

But we do have a fairly thriving community of younger to middle-aged homesteaders and they do a lot of gardening, farm work, physical labor.

So we have the pain that is associated with that.

We see that quite a bit.

JOY FRANCE: I had had a car accident many years ago that I have a really bad neck and neck injury that's just going to be with me for the rest of my life.

And so I was trying to get pain relief and just be able to move through the rest of my day, you know move through my days without pain as much as possible.

And the chiropractor did a great job.

The massage therapist that I was going to did a great job, but it just didn't seem to be holding for my body and every body is different.

And so I came here and I thought, I'm going to give it a shot.

NILE BACHMANN: What we're doing with the needles has both a local and a non-local effect.

The local effect is to stimulate the healing and growth factors in the tissues where we insert the needles.

And the non-local effect is more nervous system mediated.

The stimulation of the needles will release the body's natural painkillers, endogenous opioids in the spinal cord and change the perception of pain to some degree higher up in the central nervous system.

JOY FRANCE: My neck pain is something that's just always there, but it can be excruciating.

It can be something that stops you in your tracks and stops how you live your life and how you exist and how you are for your family.

What is done here in this facility is not only good for pain relief, it's really an overall, all body help.

NILE BACHMANN: We really need in this country and in the world alternatives to pain management that do not involve medications, that do not necessarily involve costlier higher interventions, ways that we can address the pain before it becomes debilitating.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: When we think of healing, we often turn to experts, but sometimes the answers are inside of us.

Senior Producer Roberta Oster introduces us to a man whose physical disability propelled him beyond his wildest dreams.

(participants shouting) ANTOINE CRAIG: My name is Antoine Craig and I'm on the U.S. Men's National Blind Soccer Team.

I'm also a U.S. Paralympic track and field athlete which I'm ranked number two in the country.

We are the first ever blind soccer team in America and I believe that we have an opportunity to not just show up in LA 28 for the Olympics there, but I think we have a good chance of winning it.

So tell me how to dribble.

I'm a mental health therapist.

Right now I'm trying to focus more on like individuals with disabilities and men's issues.

Like I've gotten to the point now, like in life and career, like I'm able to give back and kind of be that beacon that I didn't have when I first lost my vision.

So, I've been able to volunteer different stuff.

The next group.

Thank you.

We have the kids coming out from the Department of the Blind and Visually Impaired here in Richmond, and they're part of a summer camp and they introduce them to different experiences.

(Antoines gonna take us through some dribbling.)

KEAGAN ANGEVIN: Really appreciative of Antoine and all of his work you know, I know he's got a very busy schedule with training, competing.

You know, I think any chance we get to have a role model within the community to work with us at Sportable and work with us at the Department of the Blind and Visually Impaired.

I think it's incredible.

So we're really appreciative of him coming out and excited for a good day.

ANTOINE CRAIG: Well, eventually you get to the point where we can do this.

(football rattling) Our balls, most balls have eight to six, like rattles, like metal casings in it that actually has ball bearings in it, and it makes a rattling noise.

So when it moves, it allows us to track it with our ears 'cause we're all actively tracking the ball.

[Interviewer] Oh, that's interesting.

ANTOINE CRAIG: So if we get a little, certain amount of distance then we got to say [].

So your hearing has to be pretty, pretty on point.

(There you go.)

KEAGAN ANGEVIN: Blind soccer is all about communication and, you know I think that's one of the really incredible things about the game is you really get to kind of key in on who your teammates are, who your coaches are, who your guides are.

And that's, that's one of the things I love.

And so I'd say communication is probably the biggest thing.

And then certainly just trying to orient yourself on the field, learning, you know, similar learning where your teammates voices are but also learning kind of where, you know different pockets on the field are.

And certainly the touch of the ball.

Antoine's an incredible role model.

He obviously, he's on the national team with blind soccer and then he does some other adaptive sports throughout as well.

Huge influence within not only the Richmond community but also national community.

Good, good, good.

Here, here, here, here.

ANTOINE CRAIG: Middle school is really when I started to notice like big changes in my vision.

I was unable to see books, read books in school, the fine print, I couldn't see the chalkboard, and that became a struggle for me.

Like, I wasn't able to, you know, complete like many classes, my grades were suffering just so many things.

And I have a genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa and it's just basically where your retinas are unable to produce a protein to help fuel them.

So they slowly start to die over time.

The doctor was a little, like, very blunt and they basically told me that I have retinitis pigmentosa and there's nothing I can do about it.

I was going to lose my vision and I was going to go blind.

On my own, I had to kind of start the journey of like figuring out what's my next steps, right?

As a blind person, like how do I even like function now?

Like what do I do?

I had a friend at the time like convinced me to go to school because I really was just uncertain on what I was going to do next.

Like many jobs, you know, I couldn't do anything at that point.

I didn't have any cane skills and I didn't know how to use voiceover or any like, assistive technology.

I didn't know about any of this stuff.

So, school was the next natural progression.

Yeah, there you go.

So after grad school, I started my own private practice called LegendaryU Counseling.

And one of my goals was to make myself available to individuals with disabilities and individuals who are similar to my story, right?

Like, I'm a young man who lost their vision and maybe not know where to go and I just want to make sure I'd be that beacon for them.

Many of my clients, young men, clients that come in like they don't recognize that there's more emotions besides anger and happy, right?

There's a whole plethora of emotions in the middle there.

And just introducing them to those emotions is something I find very valuable and helpful to them.

Like to allow them to express themself more and not internalize so many things.

Because it's really easy, as a young man, to go through this world and not really be heard or have your feelings validated.

That's why I make it a point, like even with my social media, I try to make sure that like you guys see me doing everything.

(football rattling) ♪ Have you seen ANTOINE CRAIG: You see all this stuff, all the opportunities that we have.

♪ Dream to be the best ANTOINE CRAIG: When I first lost my vision I did not know this whole world of athletics, Sports existed.

And I think that would've sped up my ability to just overcome the challenges of like being down or being sad about it.

I think I could have turned into who I am today a little bit quicker.

Don't be afraid to dream, you know, aim for the moon, land on the clouds, right?

So anything that you want to do, there's always somebody out there who can, who's already doing what you want to do.

So just reach out to them, ask them how they did it.

Find you a mentor.

Don't be afraid to try different things, you know I think that's the biggest message, the biggest takeaway.

KEYRIS MANZANARES: Today we've highlighted food and music as healing modalities, advances in medicine, and families finding solutions to managing serious illnesses.

We've also learned how to tap into ourselves for inspiration.

You can find these stories and more online at vpm.org/focalpoint.

Thank you for watching.

See you next time.

Production funding for VPM News Focal Point is provided by ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪