Dr. Erica Oberg

01/13/2026

January doesn’t need another reset.

Before changing everything, it helps to understand what your body is actually doing. A thoughtful health baseline labs, data, and personalized interpretation creates clarity. And clarity makes every next step more effective.

Schedule a baseline consultation: https://www.drericaoberg.com/make-an-appointment/ Or call our office: 858-215-4935

01/12/2026

January Jump Start with Coach Jen
A 3-Part Live Coaching Series

Reset your nutrition, movement, and sleep—without overwhelm.

Feeling stuck, tired, or out of rhythm after the holidays?
The January Jump Start is a supportive, practical 3-part live coaching series designed to help you rebuild healthy lifestyle habits that actually fit real life.

No dieting. No guilt. No “all or nothing.”
Just clear guidance, accountability, and momentum to help you feel better in your body.

Program Details

-Dates: Fridays, January 16, 23, and 30, 2026
-Time: 12:00–12:45 PM PST
-Format: Live on Zoom
-Length: 45 minutes per session

Cost: $49 (includes all 3 sessions)

Coach: Jen Snyder

Each session includes focused coaching and live Q&A.

What You’ll Get

3 live, guided coaching sessions
Clear, practical education you can use right away
Simple weekly homework (nothing intense)
Accountability and structure to carry you through January

Bonus:
Complete the homework for all three sessions and receive $100 off a package of three 60-minute 1:1 coaching sessions with Coach Jen.

The 3 Sessions

Session 1: Nutrition Foundations for Real Life
Learn how to eat in a way that supports energy, fullness, and consistency, without dieting or perfection.

Session 2: Exercise That Supports Your Body
Create a realistic movement routine that builds strength and energy without burnout.

Session 3: Sleep, Stress & Recovery
Improve sleep quality, manage stress, and support recovery so everything else works better.

Who This Is For

This series is ideal if you:
-Want structure without pressure
-Feel overwhelmed by nutrition and fitness advice

Are ready to feel better without extremes, Want support and accountability in a low-stress format

Ready to Join?

Save your spot and start the new year strong.

👉 [Register Now – $49]: https://app.gohighlevel.com/v2/preview/8mCN8Nr9Oq4QmhEDgh4R

Your spot is confirmed upon registration. Zoom details will be emailed prior to each session.

01/07/2026

Time-Rich Care vs. Rushed Visits

I had coffee with a colleague who practices conventional internal medicine. She's brilliant, caring, and exhausted.

"I have fifteen minutes per patient," she said. "By the time I review the chart and address the main complaint, the visit is over. I can't dig into root causes."

This isn't a failure of individual doctors. It's a limitation of the system.

The average primary care physician sees 20-30 patients per day. That model is excellent for acute issues and quick decisions. It's much less suited for slow, complex health problems that unfold over years.

This is one reason I chose a different structure. New patient visits in my practice are 90 minutes. Follow-ups are 30-45 minutes. I see fewer people per day, but we go much deeper.

With that time, we can talk about your sleep, stress, nutrition, movement, supplements, and family history alongside your lab results.

We can test more comprehensively and design a plan that addresses WHY your symptoms are happening, not just what to prescribe.

Conventional care and integrative care aren't competitors. You need urgent care when you break a bone, and you need a thoughtful, time-rich visit when your body is sending early warning signals.

If you feel rushed in most appointments and want space for the full story, schedule at www.drericaoberg.com or call 858-215-4935.

In your ideal world, what would a doctor visit feel like from start to finish?

01/06/2026

"It's Not Just in Your Head"

A new patient said something to me recently:
"I don't want to be difficult, but I really don't think this is just in my head."
I looked at her and answered: "You're not being difficult. You're being accurate."

This scene happens more often than it should, especially with women, and especially with complex symptoms that don't fit a neat label.
Your symptoms don't have to show up on a basic lab panel to be real.

Examples I see often:
- Period pain that stops your life, which can be endometriosis, not "normal" cramps
- Crushing fatigue with normal thyroid labs, where antibodies and reverse T3 tell another story
- Digestive issues that come and go, linked to SIBO, dysbiosis, or food reactions
- Anxiety after an infection, sometimes driven by inflammation affecting the brain

The most important diagnostic tool I have isn't a fancy test. It's listening.

When you say your symptoms are affecting your quality of life, I believe you. When you notice patterns that don't make sense, I'm curious, because they often match known physiology once we map them out.

If you've been told "it's just stress" or "everything is fine" but your body says otherwise, schedule at www.drericaoberg.com or call 858-215-4935.

We can listen properly and investigate together.

If you've had to advocate hard to be taken seriously, what finally helped you feel heard?

01/01/2026

One Small Change for the New Year

New Year's Eve often comes with pressure to reinvent everything on January 1st.
After many years in practice, I've seen that lasting change rarely comes from huge resolutions. It comes from small, sustainable shifts repeated over time.

Instead of overwhelming yourself, try this:
- Instead of "I'll lose 50 pounds" →"I'll eat a protein-rich breakfast within an hour of waking"
- Instead of "I'm cutting out all sugar" →"I'll cut my added sugar in half and notice how I feel"
- Instead of "I'll work out every day" →"I'll move my body 3 times a week in ways that feel good"
- Instead of "I'll fix all my health problems" →"I'll get one comprehensive blood panel and address what it reveals"

Health isn't built in a single month. It's built through daily decisions plus a plan that respects your physiology.

If this year was hard on your health, please know you don't need perfection in the new year. You need consistency, compassion, and people who listen, starting with you.

If you'd like support designing small, realistic changes for 2026, schedule at www.drericaoberg.com or call 858-215-4935. Together we can map out your first steps.

What's one small, realistic health change you're committing to in 2026? I'd love to hear it.

12/30/2025

Brain Fog Is a Signal

"Why does my brain feel so foggy? I used to be so sharp."
Many people write brain fog off as aging or stress. In my experience, it's rarely "just" either of those. It's your brain asking for help.
In clinical practice, I often see brain fog linked to:
-Inflammation from the gut, when the gut barrier is compromised, inflammatory molecules reach the brain
- Blood sugar swings, the brain needs steady fuel, not spikes and crashes
- Nutrient deficiencies, especially B vitamins, vitamin D, magnesium, and omega-3s
-Thyroid insufficiency, even borderline changes can slow cognition
-Poor sleep architecture, the brain can't clear waste if deep sleep is disrupted
-Chronic stress and cortisol changes, long-term high cortisol can shrink the hippocampus (your memory center)

Meditation and mindset work are helpful, but they can't fix a B12 deficiency, a sluggish thyroid, or an inflamed gut. This is why I test, and why I take symptoms like brain fog seriously.

If brain fog is getting in the way of how you think and work, schedule at www.drericaoberg.com or call 858-215-4935. Together we can check root causes and build a plan that supports your brain, not just your schedule.

If you've dealt with brain fog, what's made the biggest difference for you, even if it was a small shift?

12/25/2025

Gifts That Can't Be Wrapped

It's Christmas Eve, and I'm thinking about gifts that can't be wrapped.
This year, I've watched patients give themselves:
→ The gift of finally testing for deficiencies they suspected for years
→ The gift of prioritizing sleep instead of pushing through exhaustion
→ The gift of asking for help instead of suffering alone
→ The gift of believing that their symptoms are real

These choices aren't dramatic. They're small, consistent decisions that add up over time.
-One person treated a longstanding vitamin D deficiency and felt seasonal depression lift for the first time in years.
-Another addressed gut health and saw anxiety decrease in a way medication alone had never achieved.
-Another finally received an accurate diagnosis after years of being told "everything is fine."

The best gift you can give yourself isn't in a store. It's in the decision to listen to your body and take its signals seriously.

If part of your gift to yourself this coming year is to get real answers and a clear plan, schedule at www.drericaoberg.com or call 858-215-4935. We'll find a time that works for you after the holidays.

What health gift are you planning to give yourself in the coming year, even if it's a small one?

12/23/2025

It's Not Willpower, It's Biochemistry

"Just eat better and exercise more."
If I had a dollar for every time a patient heard that before coming to see me, I could retire.

This advice ignores one important truth: Your ability to lose weight, manage stress, and maintain energy is not just about willpower. It's about biochemistry.
A patient I'll call Sarah came in after two years of eating clean and exercising six days a week, with no results. She'd been told she wasn't trying hard enough.

On our first visit, I suspected insulin resistance and ordered proper testing. Her fasting insulin was 18 (optimal is under 5). Her A1C was creeping up. Her cortisol curve was inverted, high at night when it should be low.

This wasn't a motivation problem. It was a metabolic problem.
We made targeted changes:
→ Timed her meals to support insulin sensitivity
→ Added nutrients to support mitochondria
→ Adjusted exercise type and timing to match her cortisol pattern
→ Addressed the chronic stress driving everything
Six months later, she'd lost weight steadily without punishment, her labs normalized, and she had her energy back.

The point isn't the number on the scale. The point is that her body was telling a story no one had translated.

If you recognize yourself in this story, schedule at www.drericaoberg.com or call 858-215-4935. We can check for insulin resistance, thyroid issues, and other root causes instead of blaming willpower.

Have you ever felt blamed for symptoms that were really biochemical? What changed the story for you?

12/17/2025

Normal" Labs vs. Feeling Normal

"I feel like I'm going crazy. I have all these symptoms, but every test comes back normal."
This is one of the most common and most frustrating experiences in healthcare today.

The issue isn't that your symptoms aren't real. The issue is that we often test for disease, not for optimal function.

Example: A standard lab may report vitamin D at 32 ng/mL and call it "normal." Technically true, you won't develop rickets. But research on brain health suggests an optimal range closer to 40-60 ng/mL.

The gap between "not sick" and "thriving" is where integrative medicine lives.
I see this pattern with:
→ Thyroid function—TSH looks normal while free T3 is low
→ Iron—Ferritin is technically sufficient but too low for real energy
→ Blood sugar—Fasting glucose is fine but insulin is elevated
→ Inflammation—Basic CRP is normal while high-sensitivity CRP tells another story

Conventional medicine is excellent at treating heart attacks, infections, and emergencies. Where people often feel lost is in that gray zone where they're tired, foggy, and "off", but nothing is "wrong enough" on paper.

This is why I spend time listening, and why I often order tests that look beyond the basics. Your story plus your labs together tell a much deeper truth.

If you feel "not normal" even when your labs look fine, schedule at www.drericaoberg.com or call 858-215-4935. Together we can look at optimal ranges, not just survival ranges, and connect the dots with your symptoms.

Has this happened to you? What helped you finally get answers?

12/16/2025

Do Supplements Really Work?

"Should I even bother with supplements? I heard they just create expensive urine."

I've been hearing this question a lot lately. The supplement industry can feel overwhelming and confusing.
Here's what the latest research actually shows:

The COSMOS trials followed older adults for several years, comparing a daily multivitamin to a placebo. The multivitamin group performed better on memory and cognitive tests, with benefits similar to reversing about two years of brain aging. These were rigorous, placebo-controlled trials.

Does this mean every supplement works? No.

But it does mean the right nutrients in the right form can support brain health in meaningful ways.

Take vitamin D. Most of my new patients in sunny Southern California are still low in it. We spend more time indoors, we wear sunscreen, and our bodies aren't making enough. Vitamin D converts into a hormone that regulates over 5% of our genes and plays a key role in mood, immune function, and brain health. People with healthy levels are significantly less likely to develop dementia.

So the question isn't "do supplements work?"
The question is: Are you testing to see what YOUR body needs? Are you using pharmaceutical-grade products your body can actually absorb?

My approach with patients is simple:
→ Test first, know your baseline
→ Focus on essentials like vitamin D, omega-3s, magnesium, and B vitamins
→ Choose quality over quantity
→ Retest so we know it's working

Your body deserves better than guesswork.
If you're curious about how this applies to you, schedule online at www.drericaoberg.com or call 858-215-4935.

What's been your experience with targeted supplementation? Have you noticed a difference when specific deficiencies were addressed?

03/05/2024

Raising a toast to a woman who truly modeled living well. These are lessons we can all take to heart ♥️ I’m sure you are in for a beautiful adventure in your next life 💫

This is something we should all read at least once a week. Make sure you read to the end!

Written by Regina Brett

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 50 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.

So here is the column:

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important s*x organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?”

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative – dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

41. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

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Picture:
Iris Apfel August 29, 1921 - March 1, 2024
R.I.P. 🙏🏽

03/03/2024

Getting stronger with Amber and Pilates!