VITALS & VALUES PODCAST

Welcome to Vitals & Values, a podcast that explores the intersection of modern medicine, human connection, and purpose-driven care. Each episode features thought leaders, clinicians, and changemakers who are reshaping healthcare from the inside out. Whether you’re a provider, patient, or simply curious about how values influence outcomes, this podcast offers timely insights and heartfelt conversations that matter.

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Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 10/27/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 10/27/26

Muscle Is Medicine: What It Actually Takes to Build It

Dr. Lara Baatenburg ran for 15 years and thought she was doing everything right for her health. Then she walked into a CrossFit class and had to rethink what she tells her patients. She and David explain why muscle is a health organ, not a vanity project, and what it takes to build it.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 10/20/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 10/20/26

Suck It Up, Buttercup: Physician Burnout, Private Equity & Fixing Healthcare | Dr. Todd Otten

Doctors get told to suck it up. So do patients. Dr. Todd Otten, a former Navy flight surgeon who burned out, walked away, and went on to make a feature documentary, joins Dr. Lara and David to talk about what’s pushing clinicians out of medicine and what anyone can do about it.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 10/13/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 10/13/26

Why I Left Insurance Medicine

A patient texted Dr. Lara at 5:30 a.m. while she was between sets at the gym. By 10:10 that morning, a serious eye infection had been caught, treated, and sent to the right pharmacy. In this episode, she compares that morning with what the same text would have meant in a 3,000-patient insurance practice.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 10/6/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 10/6/26

Healthy Habits in Marriage: What Changed in Our First 4 Months

One of them thinks in calories and protein. The other wants color, texture, and olive oil on everything. Four months into marriage, David and Dr. Lara talk about what changed in their workouts, their sleep, and the snack cabinet, and what held steady because they share the same values.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 9/25/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 9/25/26

Are Your Hormones Really Out of Balance? — Cortisol, Testosterone & Menopause Myths

Same vague symptoms, different hormone blamed depending on which corner of the internet you're on — cortisol, testosterone, thyroid, estrogen. Dr. Lara walks through what these hormones actually do, when testing is genuinely useful, and why so much of the online conversation is built to sell you something.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 9/11/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 9/11/26

Our Top 5 Fall Foods — And the Ones We Think Are Overrated

A butternut squash plant has quietly taken over the garden — and possibly the whole episode. Dr. Lara and David run through their favorite fall foods, disagree about apple cider donuts, and make the case that a pumpkin bar doesn't ruin anything.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 9/8/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 9/8/26

DO YOU REALLY NEED THE ER? | The $350 vs. $2,000+ Healthcare Problem

David woke up with something lodged in his eye and was staring down a $2,000 ER bill. Instead, he was in and out in 20 minutes for $300. In this episode, ER physician Dr. Todd Chassee explains the model behind Right Care Clinic — what it can treat that urgent care can't, why it costs a fraction of the ER, and why physician ownership changes the incentive structure entirely.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 8/31/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 8/31/26

The Truth About MMR: What Actually Changed (and What Didn't)

A headline can be technically true and still leave you with the wrong idea entirely. Dr. Lara and David dig into what actually changed in recent MMR vaccine policy, what didn't, and why the gap between the two is exactly where public confusion tends to live.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 8/18/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 8/18/26

Why Your Pain Keeps Coming Back: What Manual Therapy Can Find

David has thrown out his low back once a year for years. It took a manual therapist pressing on his hamstrings to find part of the actual problem. In this episode, Rhapsody of Motion founder Melissa Traiger explains what manual therapy actually is, why it's not just a deeper massage, and why recurring pain often traces back to somewhere nobody thought to check.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 8/11/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 8/11/26

10 Health Mistakes We Made Trying to Be Healthy

David and Dr. Lara both spent years doing things they were certain were healthy — restrictive fasting, low-carb obsession, a gallon of water a day, running until it hurt. This episode is their honest accounting of what they got wrong, why it felt right at the time, and what they'd tell their younger selves instead.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 8/4/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 8/4/26

The Testosterone Boom: Who Actually Needs TRT?

David has been on testosterone replacement therapy for six months, after a five-year path that started with a number his previous doctor called normal. In this episode, he sits down with Dr. Treesenberg — a men's health specialist and TRT patient himself — to unpack who actually needs treatment, what the monitoring really looks like, and where the hot new world of peptides is more testimonial than proven.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 7/28/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 7/28/26

Understanding the Pelvic Floor: Insights from a Pelvic Floor PT with Kelly Ruther

Most people think the pelvic floor is a women's issue, treated with Kegels. Pelvic floor physical therapist Kelly Ruther explains why both assumptions are wrong — and why the muscle group behind leaking, pain, and prolapse can't be treated in isolation, no matter what your feed says.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 7/21/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 7/21/26

GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs: 5 Things to Know BEFORE You Start

Roughly 1 in 5 GLP-1 users are on a compounded version that's never been through FDA review. Most people don't know that going in. Dr. Lara and David walk through the five things worth understanding before you start one of these medications — no judgment, just the facts your doctor should be covering with you.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 7/14/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 7/14/26

"Is European Food Actually Healthier?" | What We Learned from Our Italian Honeymoon

Everyone has a friend who "didn't gain a pound" in Italy. David decided to actually test it — InBody scan before, InBody scan after two weeks of pizza, pasta, and Aperol spritzes. In this episode, he and Dr. Lara recap their honeymoon through Rome and Sicily, and share what the scale and the science actually said.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 7/7/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 7/7/26

Our Wedding Wasn't Perfect—It Was Better Than That

David and Dr. Lara stepped away from the mic to get married. In this episode, they're back with the full story — the rehearsal dinner at Jana's house, the scooter ride through downtown Grand Rapids, and the moment a lost set of keys accidentally produced the best photos of the whole weekend.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 6/5/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 6/5/26

10 Things Your Doctor Wishes You Knew

Most people think they understand what's happening at a doctor's office. Most people are at least a little wrong. Dr. Lara and David work through the ten things physicians wish their patients actually knew — not about diagnoses, but about how medicine works, what doctors are thinking, and where expectations and reality tend to diverge.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 5/29/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 5/29/26

The Honest List: Top 10 Most Overrated Health Foods

Some of the foods marketed hardest as healthy are doing a lot less than you think — and a few of them are quietly working against you. David and Dr. Lara build their honest top 10 list, with personal confessions included. One of them hurt David enough that he warned you about it at the start of the episode.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 5/22/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 5/22/26

“The Lie of Overnight Transformation” | Why Real Health Takes Time

David's transformation took 14 years. Social media wants to show it in six months. In this episode of Vitals & Values, he and Dr. Lara push back on the overnight success myth — from weight loss to cardiovascular disease to the identity shift that makes the difference between lasting change and the same cycle on repeat.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 5/15/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 5/15/26

“Big Pharma & Your Doctor” : Myths, Money, and Medicine

When a TikTok clip about doctor kickbacks went semi-viral, the comment section had opinions. In this episode, Dr. Lara and Dr. Jana respond with something better than opinions — their actual experience. What pharma reps do, what they don't do, and where the line actually is.

Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 5/8/26 Lara Baatenburg, MD, MSCP 5/8/26

Broken by Design: Why American Healthcare Fails Patients, Doctors, and Everyone In Between

A zinc blood test costs six dollars cash. The same test through insurance, after a denial, costs $230. Nobody — not the patient, not the physician — can explain why. In this episode of Vitals & Values, Dr. Lara and David stop being polite about the American healthcare system and start being specific.