Dr. Rachel Wellner MD

My guest today, Dr. Rachel Elner, MD, is an incredible woman, and I am so honored that I met her.
Dr. Rachel is the founder and CEO of Kalem Diagnostic Solutions, a biohacking company that is developing state-of-the-art technology to give biopsy results in minutes and end the nightmare of the long waits for results.
And you will revolutionize medicine as we know it for sure. Dr.
Elner is board-certified licensed to practice medicine in several states. She has written extensively about oncology and related topics.
And on top of it, she is the author of the Dr. Rue series, a delightful and engaging collection of children's books that blend adventure with health education.
The series features Dr. Ru, a charismatic kangaroo doctor, and her team of lovable friends.
Together, they embark on exciting journeys across the globe, solving medical mysteries, and teaching valuable health lessons along the way, making health an adventure targeted at children ages. For 2A, the doctoral series is an innovative approach to introducing important health concepts to young readers.
Dr. Rachel is so busy, and she was so kind to open her home to me and my team so we could record this episode since she couldn't even drive to our studios.
So this is a very special, very important episode of Cat on the Loose. We are literally on the loose today in Marina del Rey with Dr.
Rachel for a super, super special conversation. And I hope you guys enjoy it.
As always, 100% organic, never scripted, never edited. And I am so happy and honored to present to you guys the latest partner of Cat on the Loose,

a new brand of mocktails owned by another Latina woman. And the brand is named S.A.O.
S.A.O. S.A.O.
comes from the famous Latin phrase, which I love so much, man's sana incorporisano.

In English means a healthy mind in a healthy body.

It was created by entrepreneur Tatiana Dupone to inspire us all to decompress and de-stress in a healthy, conscious way. Instead of going for the famous alcohol during happy hour, let's go for some delicious mocktails with adaptogens, which are natural substances that help our bodies manage stress and restore balance after stressful situations without the harmful effects of alcohol, plus nootropics, which are great for brain health, herbs and monk fruit instead of sugar.
Check out the delicious flavors on Sun Mocktails on Instagram, SAO Mocktails and drink.sunmocktails.com online for more information and to order yours now. I'm absolutely obsessed.
A lot of you guys know I was married to an alcoholic for a really long time. He lost his life to this horrible disease.

So I'm all about fighting alcohol abuse.

And whenever I find amazing alternatives for us to fight stress, but not with alcohol,

I'm right on board.

So I'm insanely, insanely happy to be partnering with this incredible brand.

And I know they're going to go to the moon and back. Very well-deserved, incredible work.
Some mocktails. Check it out, guys.
Hi, America. Dr.
Rachel. First of all, I have to say thank you for opening up your home to us because if I would not come to you, we probably would never do this, right? Mi casa su casa.
What's in my house? Are you kidding? I know. I'm so great.
We try to schedule you to be on the podcast for so many months. And I know you're so, so, so, so busy.
Finally, I'm like, okay, I got to go to this woman because I want to talk to her. And I don't want to wait anymore.
So thank you with all my heart. You know, I'm a huge fan.
I thank you the same way. You know, you're such a busy person.
And you're so needed and so important. And thank you for taking the time because...
Powerful women. So for you guys that are listening to the podcast, please, please, please go watch this episode because first of all, our background today is different.
Cat on the Loose is literally on the loose. We are in Marina del Rey.
It's your home, but it's also your creative studio. We are going to talk about all of it because not only you are a fantastic doctor, you have an incredible body of work as a doctor, but you are the writer of this beautiful, beautiful children's books.
I don't even have children and I fell in love with the books. Dr.
Rue, these adorable, adorable characters. You guys got to see it because it's something you have to see on video.
We cannot talk about it and explain. And we're going to talk about all the books, how you are teaching kids about health in a fun way.
That's why she's on location. Kids can be healthy anywhere they go.
Yes, yes, yes. Well, let's start from the beginning for people that don't know you.
You are obviously a super successful doctor. You're an MD.
You've done so much in the name of science. And you started a company called Calum.
So can you explain to people that don't know your work, what is Calum? Because I know it's going to change medicine as we know it. And I think I have an audience of women all over the world, and I think this is so important.
So let's pause and talk about Kalem for a second. Sure, Kat.
So Kalem Diagnostic Solutions, I named the company Kalem, which is a Latin word for heaven, actually. um and essentially like i I recognized as a breast cancer surgeon that there was a significant pain point for patients.
And there are a lot of pain points when you're dealing with breast cancer. But one significant one was when a patient would go and have a biopsy done.
So a patient would have, let's say, a spot on her mammogram that looks suspicious, that looked like it could be cancer. And so the doctor said, we have to take a piece of that tissue out and analyze it to see what it is.
That's what a biopsy is. So often unbeknownst to the patient who prepares herself for that biopsy and thinks that that's the worst when it's over.
Then that patient is told to go home, come back in several days, anywhere from three days, 10 days, sometimes weeks it takes for a biopsy to come back. And during that time, that patient is so full of anxiety.
It's very hard to describe. I would get calls two o'clock in the morning, things like that from patients saying, I just know I have cancer.
And in the breast cancer space, 80% of biopsies are benign. So most of those patients- Meaning a negative result.
Exactly. Most of those patients did not have cancer.
So you're suffering, anticipating the result, and it turns out it's nothing. And it happened to me, by the way.
Oh, and the patients that end up having cancer, a lot of them will actually attest to the fact that the worst part was waiting, knowing that they couldn't do anything about it. They're powerless.
I wouldn't say it's equally as painful, but it is as painful or it's very painful for

the physicians because the physicians have their hands tied. We can't do anything for the patient.
The medical centers can't treat the patient. So with this pain point in mind, knowing how long it takes for biopsies to be tested because of the long process it takes to process tissues and read slides and things like that, I have

devised a system or device that actually performs rapid biopsy, biopsy results in five minutes. So while the patient is actually there in the procedure room, there's a printout, you know, using software, AI, in addition to some interesting autofluorescent techniques that actually will render that biopsy result so the patient can learn right away whether she has cancer.
Now, I should say it's not limited to breast cancer. Right, right.
You know, we're trying to tackle the top five to begin with, which is skin, colon, prostate, breast, and lung. That's pretty incredible.
So this is what Calum is developing. Technology that will give patients biopsy results in under five minutes.
That's incredible. And obviously it will change the world.
It will change medicine as we know it. Well, you know, if you just think about it, the minute a patient knows what's going on, he or she can get treated, outcomes will change.
Cancer is a time-sensitive problem. The earlier, the faster that you treat it, the earlier you diagnose it, the faster that you treat it, the better the outcome for the patient.
You let that cancer sit there and not do anything, the cancer is going to grow. It is going to spread and it is going to kill.
And that's what, you know, Kalem is all about, is trying to stop that process as early as possible. And this is why when I met you, ever since I met you a few months ago, I was like, we have to talk about it.
We have to spread the news because it did happen to me, by the way. I do.
I'm very religious about getting my mammograms because you're a doctor. You tell me if I'm right.
Many years ago, my doctor told me girls with big boobs like us, we have a lot of tissue, right, in our breasts. And many times the mammogram comes saying like, oh, you need to go get retested.
You might have something in there. They don't know what it is because they can't see as well as women with small boobs.
And it happened to me twice. Once, many years ago, they thought I had something and they brought me back to do a different test, turned out to be nothing.
And last year, exactly the situation that you mentioned, in the middle of my summer, I did my mammogram and they called me and said, we think you have something in there. And they were going to give me the result three weeks later.
I don't know why, because that's how long it took. It was going to take here in California, Kaiser.
And all those three weeks, my life was in pause. Because like you said, if you might have a cancer diagnostic, you're not thinking about going on vacation.
You're not thinking about making plans for the future. You're thinking like.
You don't even want to make breakfast. Exactly.
My life was paralyzed. I remember sitting on my couch working and literally making plans.
Like, okay, if something happens to me, this is what I got to do. No, no, no.
So, yeah, it's paralyzing. It's paralyzed.
Thank God, turn out again. It was nothing again.
But when I met you, I was like, oh my God, the agony, the agony of the waiting. And so many women that were there that day with me that went back to the test, you're sitting in that waiting room and your life is on the balance.
And it's just one of the most horrible feelings in the world i had to have a biopsy when i was 25 and even at that age of 25 knowing that the risk of cancer that is just so low right it's almost it's almost not possible it does happen but it's very rare but um i can tell you that waiting for those biopsy, I just had that thinking, feeling, like my heart was in my feet that I have breast cancer. I'm sure of it.
I know something's wrong. I know this is not right, that kind of thing.
I didn't, thank God. It was everything was benign.
Now, just to dispel a little bit, that large breasts, there's maybe one study out there that says that you know women with large

breasts are at increased risk for cancer it's it's intuitively you think that you have a higher risk because there's more breast tissue but the truth is you know just to dispel not not to panic women with large breasts because it really isn't a very large uh risk factor pain goodness but what is a risk factor is dense breasts. Dense breasts.
Dense breasts. And, you know, dense breasts means women that have, it's very fibrotic tissue.
This issue is sort of firm. Mammogram is hard to see through it.
And those patients have an increased risk of breast cancer. So do you, so now this is a, I think this is a question

that a lot of women have, because depending on which doctor they go to and even which state you are at, because I know California varies from Florida, it varies from somewhere else, different opinions, but you're a doctor and you're definitely an expert in your field. In general, do you think most women should get a mammogram every year? You know, some of the guidelines have said every two

years. But, you know, even with all of this new technology, which is kind of incredible, AI imaging, mammogram is still the tried and true.
So the physicians will still recommend the mammogram as the most sensitive and specific test to get done. It's not always the only test that needs to get done.
Oftentimes, patients will also need an ultrasound, possibly an MRI, depending on her risk. But, you know, it's a case-by-case situation.
But in general, the guideline is once you are about 40 years old, you should start getting mammograms once a year. About 40.
But they should. Because I know so many.

It's unbelievable to me.

I still hear women saying, I don't think I need it.

I'm scared.

It hurts.

I mean, it can save your life.

It's not the most pleasant exam in the world.

No, it's not.

But it can save your life, right?

And some people have very sensitive breasts.

Yeah.

So it does hurt when the breasts get compressed by the mammogram machine.

But it's like a second.

The truth is, it's not so bad.

And we want to... sensitive breasts.
Yeah. So it does hurt when the breasts get compressed by the mammogram machine.
But it's like a second. The truth is, it's not so bad.
And one out of eight women in this country get breast cancer. That's 12%.
One out of eight women. That's 12%.
So catch your mammogram. Yeah.
And the pain. Deal with the pain.
Yeah. Endure it.
I'm not insensitive to it. I'm just saying endure it because for a few moments while you're having that test, you could be saving your life.
No, and listen, I think, I agree, hurts. And like I said, big boobs hurts even more.
Yeah, because very large breast tissue. Insensitive breast tissue.
But it's only a few seconds. It's not like you're there for many minutes.
It's only a few seconds, right?

You know, everybody's different. And I've heard some women say it's like, it's the worst experience.
And other women, like for me, I've had done and I'm like. Yeah, same.
I don't care. It's fine.
But, and other women just, you know, it doesn't bother. Everybody has different thresholds for pain and their bodies are different.
So there's judgment here in terms of you know um of how difficult it can be but it is early detection is known to be one of the most important factors in determining survivability and breast cancer yeah and goals have to get yes goal get tested and that that's also what's prompting me to do this early biopsy. Because, you know, think about it.
Instead of waiting two weeks to find out, you know, right away, it's actionable. So this test that Kalem is developing at your bio lab in Texas is being tested now, right? And our test results are incredible.
Amazing. It works.
So hopefully it's something that will be rolled out. Yeah.
You know, there's always a process. There's like the FDA and everything else, the regulatory, you know, there's what's CMS for CPT codes.
And there's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of red tape when you are trying to do something like this, but the way that I'm doing this is on specimen biopsies has already been taken out of the body. So there's no danger or harm to the person.
Um, and you know, my test has proven that there's no injury to the tissue. It will still go to pathology for confirmation, but you'll get an actionable answer right away.
Oh, my God.

That's fantastic.

Basically, the physician, whoever's taking care of that patient can take care, can operate or get the chemo or do whatever needs to be done almost immediately. That's incredible.
No more waiting. And Canada Luz is gratefully sponsored by a local, wonderful Los Angeles business, gold standard builders, a design and construction company, licensed general contractors, a passionate team delivering great service, quality and fair pricing.
They pay great attention to every detail. The owner, Adam Kornfeld, is so hands-on with his projects.
That's why their clients keep going back for more. So if you guys are thinking about remodeling your homes, a bathroom, a bedroom, maybe getting your backyards ready for summer.
If you're interested in doing any projects in the great LA area, these are the guys that you definitely should go to. Super reliable, super nice.
Give them a call for free estimates. 1-800-469-9189.

Take a look at their website for amazing photos of their projects. www.goldstandardbuilders.com.
This is a really good one for everyone that loves to play poker and everyone that is planning a trip to Las Vegas. I invite you to come check out the most fun private game in the city held right inside Aria's VIP poker room.
Even if you're not that into poker or new to the game, this is a great opportunity to network with businessmen, athletes, and celebrities in a super exclusive environment. Mr.
Beast and Dan Bilzerian have played in it. Golf Pros have played there.
It's like an elite exclusive social club, but also a really fun environment. To play Texas No Limit Hold'em, it's blowing up definitely one of the hottest places in Las Vegas right now, but your name needs to be on the list in order for you to gain access.
So make sure you send me a message

through Instagram at realcatontheloose or text me or send me a WhatsApp at 1-310-6920-578 and I will put your name on the list. They also offer incredibly special comps that are available only to my guests, they will reimburse

Aria hotel fees for

up to $350 in case you

decide to stay at the Aria hotel. They will give you private transportation from the airport to your hotel and to the game, and they will give you access to airfare deals for business and first class.
I mean, they will totally roll out the red carpet for you,

and you're going to have so much fun. Table 1 is the place to play poker in Las Vegas.
Why do you think it's called Table 1? Because it's the number one game in town, baby. Now, speaking of tests, that goes for guys too, right? Because I know I have a really massive male audience.
Men, speaking of being tested for cancer, same thing. A lot of men are so afraid of going to the doctor and being tested for prostate cancer, right? You know, it's interesting with men versus women.
And if you study the history of like cancer, for instance, there's this really good book called The Emperor of All Maladies. Dr.
Mukherjee, I forget his first name. It's really good.
And it goes over from the beginning how cancer was discovered, early treatments were discovered and things like that. And in like the 70s, there was a big movement of women who were advocates and they started raising awareness about breast cancer.
And more and more women joined and became very vocal about it. I think it kind of like paralleled the ERA and the women's movement and all that stuff.
So even to this day, there are hundreds of advocacy groups for women with breast cancer or who are afraid of breast cancer or fighting against breast cancer. And're vocal and um men tend to be a little more introverted about it and they don't want to talk about it okay prostate cancer could mean if they have to have their prostate removed now we have great treatments now there's robotic surgery radiation nothing this that but it can cause in rare instances impotence and incontinence these are the some very big fears for men i mean you know just as a woman is afraid of losing her breast a man this is you know men it's a very touch fine that's on sweat and um you know i found i mean you know support groups for men they're just not as available and they're not is talkative yeah so so true you know, I found, I mean, you know, support groups for men, they're just not as available and they're not as talkative.
Yeah. So.
So true. That's why I think it's so important to talk about it, right? Yeah.
You know, why not talk about it? Get the support you need. Get the treatment that you need.
And you're not alone. Yeah, I agree.
And I think men need more platforms and to be able to talk about it. That's why I mentioned it.
Yeah, and I appreciate it because I get messages from men that want to know, talk about it, how to get tested, where should I go, I'm embarrassed, I'm scared, I'm afraid. And there are always resources, right? Because it's as important for them to get tested.
They need to, you know, it's for men, you know, it starts with, hey, Jamie McDonald here. This is my brand new song.
Oh God, I'm desperate, down on my knees, send help in the doctor's office, they do a digital rectal exam and feel for the prostate to see if it's enlarged or through any lumps on it. And a man will also have a blood test, his prostate levels to basically check to see if they're elevated.
And if those two things are a problem, then they will be recommended for biopsies. Yeah.
And then several biopsies are taken. It's not comfortable.
I will not say that it's comfortable. Sometimes that PSA, that prostate-specific antigen that I was talking about, the hormone, sometimes it will be elevated and it's not cancer.
It's just because the prostate's enlarged. So, you know, men need to get a little, I think a lot of men are educated about it, but I think it's important for more men to be educated about it, that, you know, to learn more.
The knowledge is power. Understanding that elevated PSA doesn't always mean cancer.
Oftentimes it means a benign problem. And it just is a matter of then going to the doctor, having the exam, and the doctor will determine if he needs biops.
Yeah, go talk to your doctor. Now, let me ask about skin cancer because the past few months, it's been so much in the media because so many influencers and podcasters.
I was going to say, is that the sun? No, I do see the sun in California. What do you know? California is 105 degrees.
They go and they're like, oh, sunscreens cause cancer cancer it's like this big controversy i don't wear sunscreen and this is like more chemicals la la la la la la and so i need to ask your opinion about it oh she's showing her book because you're educating children and adults i think a lot of adults everybody i i can't wait wait. We're skipping ahead here.
Paige, Paige, I'm skipping ahead in this spoiler alert. Wait a second.
So I think Dr. Ru is for adults as well.
It is. Okay.
So this book is called Doctor in the Case of the Red Hot Hawaiians. And these little piglets, their skin is red and itchy.
So Dr. Ru gets called over to Hawaii.
She flies her own plane and she brings her team with her and she has to figure out what's going on. And you know, this book goes over a bunch of different causes, spider, bisphastal, volcanic ash, things like that.
So it's exciting for kids to try to figure out what the cause is. But it ends up being pretty simple.
These piglets

were dancing for their luau. They were practicing and somebody had to cut down some trees.
So there was a little deforestation and the sun was getting on their face and they weren't putting on their sunblock. You need to wear your sunblock.
It's important. Okay.
Sunblock does not cause canister That being said, you know, I'm all about buying organic products and healthy products. So read your labels, you know, sometimes creams have some toxic elements in them.
So read your labels, buy organic products if, you know, especially it makes you feel safe, but it's very unusual for something like a product like sunblock to cause skin cancer the sun though does cause skin cancer so it's you're not wearing your sunblock so okay the spf 30 hula smear it here rub it there spread or squirt it everywhere don't forget your backing dose don't forget shoulders bellies ears and nose, foam, or spray sunblock keeps that raise away. Don't let sunblock make you sick.
Smooth on sunblock, nice and thick. So that's why you guys have to go get Dr.
Rue because these books are so fun. Oh my God.
So I was going to say, it's not just for kids because you can educate adults as well because i'm not a doctor but you know i've have been obsessed obsessed with sunscreen ever since i was 18 years old because when i was i you know being half brazilian i grew up going to the beach with my parents it wasn't just you being, me. We worship.
But you know, we had the freaking... Maybe that.
We had the tin and the Vaseline and the baby lotion. How dark should we possibly get? Yeah.
I did it too. My parents never put sunscreen on me, you know? No, no.
We would literally just burn in the sun. We would burn and then get tan.
Get tan. And that's what we wanted.
I got like. I was like lobster.
Yeah. Can I tell you? You know.
I'm going to tell America. I never got tan.
I used to go to the tanning machine. No, that's cray cray, right? I used to.
Not the spray tan. Like literally the tanning machine.
Oh my God. I went, you know, I love my mom and she's smart now, but she didn't know.
So when she was, you know, maybe 40 and I was, you know, a late teenager, she starts taking me to the tanning salon. And we're talking about me and I don't know, we're getting tan in the tanning salon in the Winker in Connecticut.
Yeah. They didn't know anybody.
I mean, now these are places that I would never walk. They should be illegal, I think.
Yeah. I mean.
But I did have like a pre-cancerous, like right here. I had a bunch of little freckles.
Yeah. And I went to the dermatologist.
Well, I have a little scar. You can barely see it.
But I went to the dermatologist and he took the freckles and he did a little biopsy. And I was 18.
And he told me, and I never forgot, and a big shout out to Dr. Nestor, Mark Nestor.
He's one of the popes of dermatologists in the world. He's fantastic.
Where is he? In Aventura, Florida. Dr.
Raleigh. I love Aventura.
That's where my great friend is. He's fantastic.
Yeah. He talks about skin cancer all over the world.
And he said to me, if you don't start putting sunscreen, you're going to be wrinkled like a prune. You're going to get skin.
And he scared me to put sunscreen ever since then. And everybody tells me that I have pretty fabulous skin for my age, and I think I do.
So when I see, and we live in California, look at the sun, right? So when I see these bitches and I see this, this influencers try to influence people and telling people like, oh, don't put sunscreen. It causes cancer.
It's worse than the sun. I want to strangle them.
I wish they could see your face now. You need STF 36 or higher, right? You just, every day.
Every day. There are sensitive areas.
Your face, for instance. Your hands.
You know. Here, the chest area.
The chest is incredible. Because girls don't put sunscreen.
This is where I have wrinkles. And they'll never go away.
Because, you know, I used to go running and out in the sun. And I didn't want to cover this up.
And nobody put, they went and put sunscreen here. And you forget the neck and the chest area, which is exposed all the time.
This is where I had my little pre-cancerous one. So you're dismissifying, like you said, buy organic, read the label.
But sunscreen is super important. It is incredibly important.
You have to sometimes weigh things. Weigh risks versus benefits, okay? Nothing in this world is perfect.
The food we eat is not perfect. It's far from perfect.
The air we breathe is not perfect, but it's what we have. Right.
So do your best to try to be just intuitively smart about things. And don't just completely drop something that's important.
And I'll go back to Kalen for a second, which is interesting. There is a procedure called Mohs surgery, right? So when someone has like a skin cancer on the face, the dermatologist will take a little slice and another slice and another slice.
And they go to send it for pathology takes about an hour. So the whole procedure takes three to five hours.
So that's another use for my unit is in five minutes. You can tell as the person if they've even cleared the patient of the cancer.
Amazing. So, you know, that's that's that I really, really want to do because it's very awful for patients to sit in a chair for six hours waiting for pathology results and things like that.
Not to mention how many more patients can those dermatologists treat? Yeah. Right? You know, the dermatologist wants to treat as many patients as they can.
They don't want patients to weed and have the skin cancer grow.

Oh, no.

And we say skin. A lot of people think it's not serious because, oh, it's skin cancer.
But it kills. Well, melanoma is one of the most serious.
Right. If you don't get it soon enough, right? I mean, basal cell and squamous cell in general are less aggressive and you do have more time and they're generally treatable.
Generally. I don't want to say always.
They're generally treatable if they're on the skin and people don't usually suffer recurrent, maybe recurrence, but not death or metastases from those types. That being said that being said yet you're right if it doesn't get treated it will it can kill and melanoma is one of the deadliest forms of cancer there is oh my god so you know um this is this is no joke skin cancer is no joke and you know skin is the largest organ in the body people don't realize that it's called's called the integument.
It's an organ. It covers your whole body.
Yeah. So, you know, you get the whole thing checked.
You have to go to the doctors to check your back and things like that. You know, places that you can't see.
And I love that you said, use your common sense because nothing is going to be perfect, right? There is, you know, I had so many patients ask me, what do I do now for a diet? I have a very good friend who has been a vegan and gluten-free and organic for most of her life. So she was a teenager.
And then she had breast cancer at 42. And she still keeps her diet.
And I encourage her to keep her diet. Although I joked.
I said, I don't want to tell her to say her name. But I was like, hon, go get a hamburger, please.
You know, I joke with her because. And try a little bit.
Go get a cheeseburger. Yeah.
But it's fine. I support what she's doing.
That's fine. It's good for her lifestyle.
She feels good and she likes it.

But it didn't prevent the cancer.

Right.

So the point is that we as humans have to understand that we can't control everything.

Right.

We can control some things.

We want to be, you know, sovereign about our lives and do the best that we can do and educate ourselves the best we can.

But we cannot control it.

Yeah, we can make everything perfect.

I live by kind of like the 80-20% rule.

That's great.

Because I can never be perfect.

Like 80% of the time I try to eat a really clean diet.

I drink lots of water. I eat organic.
Like I have a super clean lifestyle. You just need to have a hot dog on the street.
But I will have my glass. Yeah, I will have my glass of wine.
Yeah, I will eat. If you're in New York City, you better go eat a hot dog on the street.
I will eat my burger. Yeah, exactly.
Every once in a while. I'll eat.
I should. And it works for me.
You can do it once a year. You can do it twice a year.
And it works for me. That way I feel like I don't feel too guilty, but I feel good about what I do most of the time.
You're not doing anything. You know, the human body in general is pretty good.
Healing itself is pretty good at detoxing. It's good.
If you eat something toxic or whatever, it's usually not going to sit in your body. Your body can detox it.
Yeah, detox. So, you know.
Especially if we move, right? I think for me, like just moving, exercise, like walking. People ask me, why cancer? Why so much cancer? Why so much? Well, we have come a long way with health.
Heart disease has gone way down, right? What else is left to cancer? I mean, we've become healthier as a society. So cancer is your own body that starts to betray you and your own cells that keep growing without stopping, without having any checks and balances.
So some of it is just that we're living longer. We're getting older.
It's good. We're healthier.
We're living longer. And cancer, you know, starts to happen.
Because what happens as we age the DNA, which is, you know, our genetic code, which also has repair genes, it starts to break down a little bit. So those repair genes are not as successful as they used to be.
And when those repair genes don't fix the DNA, cancer becomes expressed. So as we age, I don't want to say it becomes inevitable and everybody gets cancer, but it becomes before coming.
But it is also happening in younger people too. So my theory on know, my theory on that, aside from, you know, family history, which is very strong, you know, I do think that there's pollution and, you know, our food could be better and things like that.
Oh, my God, yes. We could do better with food.
There are issues. Want to hear another one? Yeah, so let's, okay, before we run out of time.
I have the nutrition one. It's very fun.
Yeah, let's do it. Before we run out of time, so let's okay before we run i have i have the i have the i have the nutrition one it's very yeah let's do before we run out of time so let's shift gears to the doctor because they're adorable and again guys go look at the videos on the youtube channel cat on the loose podcast and on our instagram because they're so cute and i agree like because i'm not a kid but when i was looking at the books myself I fell in love with the characters because they're so cute.
And like I said, they're so educational. And you are a poet and you're an artist.
So, okay, let's talk about the nutritional one, because I think everybody could learn. I mean, with all the respect, Americans could learn a lot.
A lot about nutrition. A lot.
Thank you so much. Well, so first of all, Doctor Who's hanging out behind cats.
So Doctor Who is the girl kangaroo doctor. She's a female kangaroo doctor.
She's so cute. She has got a magic pouch, right? So she's a marsupial.
And marsupials have pouches. That's what makes them marsupials.
So in her pouch, and I thought this was just the cutest idea. You know how doctors used to walk around with their little bag of medical supplies? So I figured, let's put the medical supplies in her pouch, right? So she's got those medical supplies in her pouch.
And whenever she gets the call to duty, it sparkles and kicks and becomes kind of magical. And she becomes Dr.
Rue. She is, otherwise she's a Dr.
Marsha, but she becomes Dr. Rue.
So, you know, in this book, so one of the books you wrote all about nutrition, because there are a bunch of books, by the way, guys, and the books are available on Amazon. And I am putting the link on this episode.
If you guys have kids, nieces, nephews, sons, daughters, and if you want to read it for yourself, because like I said, they're fun even for adults, but they are available on Amazon. So one of them is exclusively about nutrition.
Yeah. So that's super cool.
Okay. So it's doctor in the case, the picnic pirates, and she gets called to Washington, D.C., where they're having a 4th of July barbecue, and the little bear cubs are not feeling well.
And the little bear cubs, it's so interesting what we tried to do in this book or what I did in this book. I tried to take things that these animals actually did.
So bear cubs tumble, okay? They actually tumble in real life. So in this book, I had them tumbling and doing acrobatics, and that's what they were going to do for the 4th of July show.
But all of a sudden they're getting sick. They don't feel well.
They're angry. They're tired.
They're moody. They don't know what's going on.
And so, you know, they're like, are you watching too much bear TV? Are they sleeping? Are they hibernating too much? And then I explain the concept of a hibernating versus sleeping. Right.
So I look at, I look at everything, every chance to educate kids, you know, that I could find. Can you do the, the food wrap? I'm going to try.
There is a really cute wrap at the end. Okay.
So Louis Lama over here, he's like a straight guy, right? Edie's like a straight man in the sense that he's like you think he's so serious all the time and um and you don't think he's got any real size to him and all of a sudden at the end of you know during that performance when they figure out what's wrong with the kids or the bear cubs he gets up and sings the pyramid rap now i'll be honest this pyramid they've replaced it with a food pit food plate but we you know i love this image for kids it still teaches kids what how to eat properly okay i have fp louie i'm here to say this is what you eat to make a breakthrough day my make a breakthrough day my make a breakthrough day my make a breakthrough day. Let us start at the bottom with H2O.
This is a funny name for water in case you did not know. Drink it hot.
Drink it cold. Drink it fruity.
Drink it fizzy. Drink cups or bottles.
Did you just get busy? Step up to your vegetables and many kinds of fruit. They're full of vitamins.
Can I get it? Cauliflower, baby carrots, a juice, strawberry, star fruit, a fuzzy peach, and broccoli. I have F.T.
Louis and I'm here to say the food you eat can make or break your day my make or break your day my make or break your day my make or break your day and there's more but so it's fun it's just so fun and I think on my Instagram we need to find the rappers that We need to find the animator, like, to make these characters come to life. Because that would be so cute.
So, I mean. Oh, my God.
All of them. You know, Dr.
Rue. We've got, you know, Louis Lama and Terrence Toad.
And over there is Kirby Koala. Kirby Koala is Dr.
Rue's nurse. And louie lama is the postman so he always brings the news of when there's the health crisis going on and terence toad is the comic relief character who is like the assistant but he's always messing up he's always eating bad food and uh and then he And he learns and he tries.'s very cute amazing it's very funny it's so amazing so these characters and you know we also bring in other characters when they go to a place and there's a lot of comedy in this um but it's a fun way to educate adults and children it's obviously you're an insanely talented writer and i think it's pretty obvious you what you do, but it's not like you're just a doctor going to, you know, the office and charging patients and I'm coming home.
You want to make a difference in the world. And to me, that's what I fell in love about you and your work.
And it's obvious that what you're doing with Calum is going to change the lives of millions of people. so if anybody out there listening, if you guys want to know more, the website is Kalem Diagnostics.
So www.kalemds.com. So D-S like David Sam.
It's a diagnostic solution. Kalemds.com.
Or they can reach out to you directly, right? Your Instagram, Rachel. Well, I'm going to put the links, by the way, for anybody that wants to know more.
This is www.doctoru.health, and that connects to Amazon also. These are the cutest, cutest books.
Congratulations. I have, I'll tell you, by illustrator, I can't take credit for that.
Her is irina jerngova yeah she is from ukraine right yeah she literally drew these in the middle of the war wow um and she's told me that you know it got her through some really dark times to be able to write these fun fantastic adventures and i just you know i watched her just go crazy with the panties that makes it that makes that these books are insanely special for your work the fact that irina made this beautiful beautiful drawings like you said can you imagine i cannot imagine living in a country you know all over and she's amazing yeah i it's so funny this this one's called doctor in the case the hacking hippo which you know so hilda hippo is the opera singer and this one takes place in australia and um you know i wrote this sort of a la covid and um she develops a cough and this is all about germs so i told arena i want to see all these germs kind of coming in attacking h into her mouth. I said, I want one germ to be a ballet dancer.
I want one to be a rapper. I want one to be a break dancer.
I want, you know, so, and, um, so she, she did that amazing. Like she, she drew that.
And, um, you know, then in the back there's super soap and super soap comes and cleans up all the germs. No, she's an incredibly talented illustrator.
She did exactly what I asked her to do. She's really, really good.
She is fantastic. The books are adorable.
Guys, go check it out on Amazon. Dr.
Rachel Welner, it's such an honor to be here. You have no idea.
We finally did it. Congratulations on all your on all your home that's like that's a bad hug personally yeah i know we're sitting down but i know that we're gonna get 10 million questions after this episode because the subject right cancer biopsies sunscreen is so so rich so i'm definitely gonna invite you to come back because i know i'm gonna get hundreds hundreds of questions for you.
So hopefully next time you come into the studio, it's my honor. You're a phenomenal woman.
Yes. You're incredible guys.
Be safe out there. Go wear your sunscreen, right? Go get tested.
Wash your hands. Okay.
I didn't give you a song from, uh, Hackey about Madonna, Don't Don't just stand there Let's get to it, wash your hands There's nothing to it, go You are an artist You're fantastic Dr. Rachel Welner, guys, be safe out there And I'll see you very soon This was such fun, this was such an honor Bye from me, bye from Dr..
Rui, Terrence, and Kirby. And the whole crew.
And Kat. Thank you.
Big shout out to the Burrata House, one of my favorite casual dining places in the heart of West Hollywood. They make authentic, delicious, fresh Italian food, sandwiches, pasta, salads with the delicious, delicious, fresh burrata on top on 161 South Crescent Heights.
So if you're looking for a place that you can have a quick bite for lunch, dinner, takeout for your family, this is it. And I love, of course, supporting local businesses.

So if you guys are in the Los Angeles area, West Hollywood, go check out the Burrata House. If you

guys want to see pictures, burrathouse.com on Instagram, burrathouse. I love, love,

love their food so much. Everything is really, really yummy.
Hey, Jamie McDonald here. This is

my brand new song. Desperate Desperate Oh, I need heaven

Need heaven and I

Be sure to check out my breakout single

Desperate on all streaming platforms