Eden Fromberg:
Hold on to your hats and count your blessings because we are going on a really powerful journey into wellness with this Shift Series interview.
I am so honored to welcome Eden Fromberg to the series Eden is an integrative physician, obstetrician and gynecologist (in New York no less!) who advocates for holistic living, movement as medicine and believes in the power of nature and our innate bodies wisdom for healing.
We truly travel the globe in this interview from how to tap into your innate healing via accessible everyday practices that anyone can do, to how cultural influences influence our beliefs on wellness, to poop! (yes we talk about the still somewhat taboo “squatty potty” and the influence of how we sit versus squat to our pelvic and whole body well-being) and so much more.
Eden is powerhouse of light and love and one of the most informed medical minds advocating for women’s health in a new paradigm way.
Grab your ginger tea and a comfy spot to sit and join us.
In gratitude and more…
Lindsay
Lindsay and Eden talk about holistic living.
Tell us a little about yourself
I am an integrative obstetrician, gynecologist, and osteopathic clinical professor. I am board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, and in holistic and integrative medicine, have provided low-intervention, culturally sensitive, physiologic childbirth services in the Hudson Valley, Bali, and New York City, and have trained and collaborated with midwives in settings ranging from hospitals to birth centers to homes to village clinics. My broad focus is now on holistic women’s health and well-being throughout the life cycle. In addition to supporting women in fertility, physiologic pregnancy and childbirth options, and all areas of general gynecology, I have a special interests and expertise in holistic approaches to pain, sexual dysfunction, and chronic and complex women’s health problems. In addition to supporting women in fertility, physiologic pregnancy and childbirth options, and all areas of general gynecology, I have a special interests and expertise in holistic approaches to pain, sexual dysfunction, and chronic and complex women’s health problems. I also offer medical educational consultations, and teach workshops and trainings in specialized approaches to yoga and somatic education via my yoga & healing arts center in downtown Manhattan called Lila Wellness.
Tell us about your path to creating your business and your vision
My personal story has had a dynamic impact on my professional journey: I was raised a third generation vegetarian in an academic family, and grew up with an awareness of the wholeness of all things and goodness in all people, as well as a sense that women’s connection to the natural world is an essential element of our well being. These fledgeling insights – plus some formative books and a couple of tragicomic gynecological experiences – inspired me, in my teens, to begin my study of nutrition, yoga, midwifery, bodywork, fertility, dance, and herbal medicine, all of which I incorporate into my work today. After working in women’s health and midwifery centers and clinics in Santa Cruz, California, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I realized that having a deeper understanding of science and research combined with the ability to empower women in their bodies, lives, and relationships was important to me. My commitment to women’s health led me to choose the admittedly arduous path of attending osteopathic medical school, which is all of the coursework of any typical medical school curriculum, plus an extended curriculum of theory and hands on treatment techniques regarding how the structure of the body affects its function. I am working with what I call a “biointelligent” paradigm that is intrinsically holistic and incorporates the fascinating research now being done in areas ranging from neuroplasticity, to the microbiome, to epigenetics, to the effects of prenatal exposures. At a time when stress levels, environmental toxicity, immobility, and nutritional depletion are truly at an all time high, it is exciting to be able to translate current research and innovation into practical ways in which as women we can deepen our connection to our bodies, our food, our relationships, and our environments, and participate in our own well-being.
Tell us a little about yourself and your philosophy on wellness:
I believe that each of us have to become participants in our own well-being, and that each of us has the innate power to do just that. Prevention and a holistic, functional, energetic, truly biointelligent approach to the body is what is necessary, and what research is increasingly proving to be more effective with fewer risks and side effects than more limited conventional medical approaches. We are on the verge of a new paradigm in health, wellness, and medicine in which coherence, biointelligence, holism, and communication are all essential elements. Balance and wellness are, because we are alive in an ever changing environment, always dynamic processes, and best supported by responsive inquiry. My own intensive and ongoing inquiry informs the work I do with patients and clients in my medical and consultation practices in which I create unique, holistic prescriptions and engage a lot of patient education. Good information and perspectives are essential in order for us to be able to make our best decisions. Biointelligent wellness strategies that restore and optimize the body’s resilience in the face of adversity can open us to fresh perspectives and creative solutions.
What was the catalyst in your life to fuel your commitment to wellness?
My family was truly the catalyst for my commitment to wellness. Even if it is in my genes, epigenetic research tells us that 80 percent of genes can be switched on or off by lifestyle choices and exposures, which is one of the key concepts in my biointelligent paradigm. My grandfather owned and operated Hygiology, an organic vegetarian retreat in the Hudson Valley, New York, where my parents met and married. Even though Hygiology was a place for wellness, it was too late for my grandfather, who I never met as he dropped dead of a heart attack in his 40s, along with many of the men in my father’s family. I grew up with an awareness that diet and lifestyle could make a difference in health as early as the 1970s when wellness strategies like plant-based diets and aerobic exercise to prevent heart disease, and transcendental meditation to lower blood pressure, were being explored by my parents and their friends. My mother grew up in a working class vegetarian household in Brooklyn in the 1930s and my grandmother would squeeze finely grated carrots through cheesecloth to give my mother the beta carotene vitamin A precursors she somehow knew were important, and freshly squeezed orange juice for vitamin C. At times in my life, experiences and illnesses have come forth to challenge me and further catalyze my commitment to wellness, and have taught me the importance of managing stress, doing self care and self practice, and I am grateful to have developed a foundation early in life that I can build on and refine to meet my needs moving forward. This puts me in a unique position as a holistic physician. With a background and lifestyle firmly rooted in wellness and a rigorous training and ongoing studies in traditional as well as osteopathic and holistic medicine, I have a broad spectrum of modalities and approaches to bring to my patients.
How do you stay healthy, resilient and vibrant?
For me, it is as important for me to maintain my center as it is for me to explore my reach. Being grounded and well connected in my own body allows me to do my work and face my challenges in a way that sustains rather than depletes me. I view my body as an ecosystem within the larger ecosystem of the people and planet on which I live. I’ve discovered how important sleep is, and how rhythms and pacing are as important as nutrition. While I believe that particulars about diet is something best individualized, I shop at the farmer’s market and eat a whole foods diet including plenty of healthy fats, cultured foods like kim chi and ruby sauerkraut, and good protein sources, while minimizing sugars and carbohydrates. I incorporate movement into my daily life, alternating and combining techniques for best results, including yoga, dance, somatics, biomechanics, and breathwork. I make time and space in my life for my body, breathing, and, most importantly, love. This is not to say that my life is perfect and that it all works out every day.
If there was only one thing a person could find the energy and resources to make a priority what would it be?
Movement!
What is your favorite inspirational quote for wellness / awesomeness / thrival?
“I would not be surprised if someday hormones were found to be the bridge between matter and spirit.” – Robin Lim
Eden Fromberg, DO, FACOOG, DABIHM, is an integrative obstetrician, gynecologist, and osteopathic clinical professor whose innovative approach to reframing the medical dialogue and implementing effective health and wellness strategies has healed, treated, and supported women around the world.
