Skip to content

By playing, you agree to uListen's Terms and Privacy Policy and YouTube's Terms of Service.

Lewis HowesLewis Howes

These Foods Will KILL YOU! (Don't Eat This To LIVE LONGER) | Dr. Steven Gundry

- Sign up for my FREE newsletter & get a dose of inspiration from our world-class guests, learn how to improve your life!

Dr. Steven GundryguestLewis HoweshostLewis Howeshost
Jul 12, 20201h 2mWatch on YouTube

Summaries, chapters, transcripts, and FAQs on this page are made by uListen, not YouTube.

Great conversations run long. Their best ideas don't have to.

uListen is free on iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome, and Claude.

See how

Transcript

  1. 0:00 – 3:08

    Avoiding Sugar and Simple Carbs to Protect Immunity

    1. SG

      If you have to read a label, you should put the package back because there shouldn't be a label on a head of lettuce. The best way to suppress your immune system is sugar. All of us have the power to heal ourselves.

    2. LH

      Many of us are so unaware of the foods we eat and how it affects our bodies, and in this interview, Dr. Steven Gundry teaches us the key foods to be eating to live a longer, healthier life. How can we boost and protect our immune system in time of pandemic, crisis, stress, and overwhelm? What are the things we can do right now?

    3. SG

      Yeah. So the first thing you do is you absolutely, positively stay away from simple carbohydrates.

    4. LH

      Wow.

    5. SG

      And I can tell you that if it's in a package, it is probably a simple carbohydrate, even what would appear to be healthy. So, uh, plantain chips, um-

    6. LH

      No.

    7. SG

      Yeah.

    8. LH

      I can't eat those? Come on.

    9. SG

      Read the label and it will scare you to death. Will I eat plantain chips? Sure, I will, but I will use them as a dipping chip to get guacamole in my mouth.

    10. LH

      Or olive oil.

    11. SG

      Or olive oil, yeah. So...

    12. LH

      Ah, man.

    13. SG

      I know. So you stay away from simple carbohydrates.

    14. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    15. SG

      And what's really scary in times of pandemics-

    16. LH

      Mm-hmm

    17. SG

      ... is the grocery store shelves are empty-

    18. LH

      [laughs]

    19. SG

      ... of bread and bagels and pasta-

    20. LH

      Ah

    21. SG

      ... and tomato sauce-

    22. LH

      That's good for you

    23. SG

      ... and milk and ice cream and orange juice. There's five to six teaspoons of sugar-

    24. LH

      Of sugar

    25. SG

      ... in a cup of orange juice.

    26. LH

      So it's actually good when the shelves are cleared of all the bad things.

    27. SG

      That's right. Believe it or not, right now most of everything in the grocery store is actually good for you because it's all been cleared out of all the bad stuff.

    28. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    29. SG

      But what worries me is all that bad stuff is being consumed.

    30. LH

      Yeah.

  2. 3:08 – 8:01

    Immune Boosters: Olive Oil, Mushrooms and Vitamin D

    1. SG

      Yeah. So what boosts the immune system, it turns out that, um, olive oil.

    2. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    3. SG

      The polyphenols in olive oil actually really boosts the immune system. So do components of mushrooms. And, you know, I, I make one, and we'll get you some, called MVitality, which is a mushroom extract. But mushrooms in general, even the humble button mushroom, will actually boost your immune system, and it does that actually by having the sort of complex sugars that your gut bacteria really, really like.

    4. LH

      Wants and needs.

    5. SG

      Exactly. And so it's more of an indirect effect. You give your gut bacteria what they want and need. They in turn will tell the immune system, "Hey, we got this."

    6. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    7. SG

      And, you know, "Relax and enjoy yourself."

    8. LH

      Wow.

    9. SG

      The other thing, every human being that I see initially with leaky gut or autoimmune disease has a low vitamin D level.

    10. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    11. SG

      Uh, I had Mark Hyman on my podcast recently.

    12. LH

      That's great.

    13. SG

      And Mark has never seen vitamin D toxicity.

    14. LH

      Mm.

    15. SG

      I have been measuring vitamin D levels for over 20 years now. I have never seen vitamin D toxicity. Uh, I-

    16. LH

      You can't have too much necessarily.

    17. SG

      I, yeah, I have yet to see it. Uh-

    18. LH

      Right

    19. SG

      ... could it exist?

    20. LH

      I mean, if you have a whole bottle a day, maybe it's not good.

    21. SG

      Yeah. Well, and actually, Dr. Holick from, uh, Boston University, who's really the world expert on vitamin D, has seen it only once, and that was in a physician who by accident was taking a million international units of vitamin D3 a day for six months. That's a lot.

    22. LH

      That's a lot. [laughs]

    23. SG

      Now-

    24. LH

      What is that, a whole cup full a day or something?

    25. SG

      That... Well, he, he had been getting it from a compounding pharmacist-

    26. LH

      Okay

    27. SG

      ... and it had been mislabeled.

    28. LH

      Mm.

    29. SG

      So he wasn't doing it on purpose. Um-

    30. LH

      Got it

  3. 8:01 – 12:04

    Vitamin C, Zinc, Quercetin, Astaxanthin and Blocking Viruses

    1. SG

      The second thing we need to do is we need to get, if you can, timed-release vitamin C. Linus Pauling was right. Vitamin C is incredibly antiviral, but what he didn't know is we can't absorb enough vitamin C and keep it in our bloodstream because-

    2. LH

      It comes out

    3. SG

      ... it comes out very, very quickly. So get yourselves some time-release vitamin C. The stores are empty. Amazon's empty.

    4. LH

      Right.

    5. SG

      But-

    6. LH

      In the future [laughs]

    7. SG

      ... bar- barring ... Yeah, in the future. Barring that, go to ... If it's still there, I go to health food stores every day-

    8. LH

      Yeah, yeah, yeah

    9. SG

      ... and just kinda check and see what's there and what isn't. Get yourself just the chewable tablets-

    10. LH

      Yeah. It's still good

    11. SG

      ... or get the capsules and take it four times a day.

    12. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    13. SG

      Take 500 to 1,000 four times a day.

    14. LH

      Yeah. It's still better than nothing. Yeah.

    15. SG

      It's still better than nothing. Uh, zinc is a great idea. Get about 30 milligrams of zinc. I'm a big fan of quercetin, sometimes pronounced quercetin. It's a compound that's present in the white pith of citrus, it's in apples, and it's in onions.

    16. LH

      Hmm.

    17. SG

      And it actually may be the compound that the old wives' tale, an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

    18. LH

      Right.

    19. SG

      So quercetin is also very antiviral.

    20. LH

      Okay.

    21. SG

      And there's an exciting new paper that was just published yesterday that astaxanthin, uh, seems to prevent the inflammatory response to the coronavirus.

    22. LH

      Hmm. Asta-

    23. SG

      Astaxanthin. It is a, a compound that actually makes salmon red. Um, a- and salmon eat algae and plankton that have, that produce astaxanthin. It's, uh, you know, it's, it's a really cool compound.

    24. LH

      Wow.

    25. SG

      Yeah.

    26. LH

      Do you think it's possible that we could defend and arm our bodies and our immune system could be so strong that if any virus like the coronavirus came in our mouth and was in us, that we could reject it and not attach to our bodies?

    27. SG

      Correct. That's the whole idea.

    28. LH

      Really? It's possible to do that?

    29. SG

      You, you are designed to-

    30. LH

      To defend it

  4. 12:04 – 15:03

    Fish Oil, DHA and the Sushi Question

    1. SG

      Okay. Next is you gotta get some form of long-chain omega-3 fat, be- better known as fish oil.

    2. LH

      Hmm.

    3. SG

      And vegans have no excuse anymore. There is algae-based DHA and EPA. But here's the deal. Your brain, uh, is about 70% fat. So if you wanna call me a fathead, you know what?

    4. LH

      [laughs]

    5. SG

      I will taunt you.

    6. LH

      You'll take it. Yeah, yeah.

    7. SG

      And, uh, I can just see now the internet, um, lighting up.

    8. LH

      [laughs]

    9. SG

      Gundry is a f-

    10. LH

      [laughs]

    11. SG

      ... fathead. So half of the fat in your brain is actually an omega-3 fat called DHA. So half, basically half of your brain-

    12. LH

      Mm-hmm

    13. SG

      ... is fish oil.

    14. LH

      Wow.

    15. SG

      And as I talk about in The Longevity Paradox, you look at people, what are called the omega-3 index, which basically looks at how much DHA you have in you over the past two months. People with the highest omega-3 index have the largest brains and the largest areas of memory, the hippocampus. People with the lowest levels of DHA have the most shrunken brains and the smallest mer, em- memory areas, hippocampus.

    16. LH

      Hmm.

    17. SG

      So mom was right when she said fish is brain food, you know, she was absolute- She didn't know why it was, but we now know it's DHA is really what makes your brain.

    18. LH

      So sushi's good.

    19. SG

      Sushi is actually not a good idea.

    20. LH

      Oh, wow.

    21. SG

      Most of the people I see with high mercury levels are sushi eaters or dentists. Uh, so and particularly-

    22. LH

      Huh

    23. SG

      ... sashimi grade tuna.

    24. LH

      God, it's so good though.

    25. SG

      You just wanna, you just kinda-

    26. LH

      So good

    27. SG

      ... wanna stay away from it.

    28. LH

      Ah, sugarfish-

    29. SG

      Sorry

    30. LH

      ... is amazing though.

  5. 15:03 – 19:20

    Polyphenols and Why Stressed Plants Are Better

    1. SG

      So you gotta have polyphenols in your diet.

    2. LH

      So poly-

    3. SG

      What the heck is a polyphenol?

    4. LH

      [laughs]

    5. SG

      How do you remember polyphenol? Think, think about Polly Want A Phenol.

    6. LH

      Okay.

    7. SG

      Um, phenols are plant compounds, polyphenols are plant compounds, that plants use primarily to protect themselves-

    8. LH

      Oh

    9. SG

      ... against stress and sunlight.

    10. LH

      Uh-huh.

    11. SG

      Uh, just interesting fact. We know that red wine is beneficial for you because of actually two polyphenols. The most famous is resveratrol. The other one is quercetin or quercetin. The higher the grapes are grown, the higher in altitude the grapes are grown, the more polyphenols they make.

    12. LH

      'Cause they need more to protect themselves, right?

    13. SG

      Yeah, exactly. It's basically, uh, suntan.

    14. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    15. SG

      Uh, you know, they, they've actually protected themselves against sunburn.

    16. LH

      Interesting.

    17. SG

      Also, the more the plant is stressed, the more polyphenols it makes to protect itself.

    18. LH

      Right.

    19. SG

      Okay? So polyphenols are traditionally in dark colored berries, so for instance, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. Interesting fun fact, the leaves of these trees or vines have more polyphenols than the actual fruit does.

    20. LH

      Hmm.

    21. SG

      So for instance, black raspberry leaves have far more polyphenols than black raspberries. Um-

    22. LH

      Wow

    23. SG

      ... and I take black raspberry capsules, oh, by the way, and it's in the book.

    24. LH

      There you go.

    25. SG

      Um, so olives, for instance, are loaded with polyphenols.

    26. LH

      Huh.

    27. SG

      And olives that are stressed, uh, produce-

    28. LH

      Even better

    29. SG

      ... are even better.

    30. LH

      Wow.

  6. 19:20 – 23:22

    Nut Butters, Goat Milk and the Spinach Lectin Surprise

    1. LH

      What nut butter that I can eat that's actually okay?

    2. SG

      So, uh-

    3. LH

      Is there one?

    4. SG

      Yeah, so w- interestingly enough, we have a number of people with rheumatoid arthritis who react to the peel of an almond.

    5. LH

      Hmm.

    6. SG

      There is a lectin in the peel of almonds.

    7. LH

      So you take the peel off-

    8. SG

      So you take the peel off

    9. LH

      ... so the s-

    10. SG

      And so-

    11. LH

      ... deskinned almonds are okay

    12. SG

      ... yeah, so like Marcona almonds. And there are actually a couple of companies that now make peeled almond butter, and you can find them.

    13. LH

      Really?

    14. SG

      Yeah, and-

    15. LH

      It shouldn't be an issue then

    16. SG

      ... it shouldn't be an issue, yeah. So, um, if you're gonna choose-

    17. LH

      That's interesting

    18. SG

      ... yeah. So walnuts are a great choice, pistachios are a great choice.

    19. LH

      Every time I eat a walnut I sneeze.

    20. SG

      Ah, so there are some tannins in walnuts that certain people react to.

    21. LH

      [laughs]

    22. SG

      So stay with, stay with pistachios. Uh, macadamia nuts-

    23. LH

      I love macadamia nuts

    24. SG

      ... yeah, they're really good. Um-

    25. LH

      Okay. Mac nuts are okay

    26. SG

      ... yeah. So but yeah, so get yourself some peeled almonds.

    27. LH

      I'm gonna do that now.

    28. SG

      Try it.

    29. LH

      Okay. Uh, you said American milk is something that we should not have in order to fix leaky gut.

    30. SG

      Yeah.

  7. 23:22 – 28:59

    Label Lies and Starving the Gut Bacteria

    1. SG

      So getting back to Dr. David Kessler-

    2. LH

      Yes

    3. SG

      ... head of the FDA, we thought that carbohydrates were carbohydrates, and, you know, and complex carbohydrates, uh, starches were fine because they're complex carbohydrates.

    4. LH

      Uh-huh.

    5. SG

      Everybody's wrong. Uh, food manufacturers have figured out how to make a complex carbohydrate a simple carbohydrate, and make you think it's a complex carbohydrate.

    6. LH

      Okay.

    7. SG

      So when you read a label, number one, if you have to read a label, you're probably, you should put the package back because there shouldn't be a label on a head of lettuce.

    8. LH

      [laughs] Right.

    9. SG

      Give you an example. But you have to take... And if anybody, if the take home point from this is w- we're sa- will save so many people's lives.

    10. LH

      Hmm.

    11. SG

      Read total carbohydrates on the label, then take away the dietary fiber. That'll be the next thing under it. So that will tell you the amount of grams of sugar per serving in that package. Do not look at where it says sugar.

    12. LH

      Sugar. That's exactly-

    13. SG

      Do not look at added sugar.

    14. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    15. SG

      It is a lie.

    16. LH

      So if it says zero sugar, zero added sugar-

    17. SG

      Yeah So let me give you an example that he used on my podcast, which was a great example. He said, "Let me... What would you find in a store? The label says it's 300 calories, it has zero fat, it has zero grams of sugar, and it has four grams of protein, and it has 35 grams of carbohydrates."

    18. LH

      Is that broccoli? I don't know. What is that? [laughs]

    19. SG

      It's a bagel.

    20. LH

      A bagel?

    21. SG

      A bagel. And-

    22. LH

      Wow. 300 calories?

    23. SG

      300 calories.

    24. LH

      Wow.

    25. SG

      Zero sugar.

    26. LH

      How is that zero sugar? I thought the-

    27. SG

      That's just it. The li-

    28. LH

      I thought it turns into sugar

    29. SG

      ... the label law lies to you

    30. LH

      Wow. Wow

  8. 28:59 – 35:45

    Plant Paradox: Chemical Warfare, Fruit and Seasonal Eating

    1. SG

      We gotta eat for the bacteria. The Plant Paradox is that there's certain plants that absolutely, positively do not want us to eat them.

    2. LH

      At all, in any circumstance.

    3. SG

      At all, under any circumstance.

    4. LH

      Whether you cook them or chop them-

    5. SG

      They-

    6. LH

      ... or slice them or skin them, doesn't matter

    7. SG

      ... they were here first, and they had it really great before animals arrived 'cause nobody wanted to eat them. And-

    8. LH

      [laughs]

    9. SG

      ... my, you know, my, my research at Yale was in human evolutionary biology, so plants have the same evolutionary drive as animals.

    10. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    11. SG

      They wanna grow, and they wanna have babies, seeds.

    12. LH

      They wanna protect themselves.

    13. SG

      And they wanna protect themselves.

    14. LH

      They don't wanna die.

    15. SG

      They... Exactly.

    16. LH

      Right.

    17. SG

      So when animals arrived, they had a problem 'cause animals can run, they can hide, they can fight. But plants are stuck. But plants are chemists of incredible ability.

    18. LH

      Mm.

    19. SG

      So they can turn sunlight into matter, like around your wall here.

    20. LH

      Wow.

    21. SG

      And so what they use is chemical w- warfare to actually-

    22. LH

      Defend themselves

    23. SG

      ... defend themselves.

    24. LH

      Right. Yeah.

    25. SG

      And to even make animals do their bidding, um-

    26. LH

      Huh

    27. SG

      ... because, for instance, you know, just throw out an example, most plants want you to eat their fruits because the fruit contains-

    28. LH

      To reseed them

    29. SG

      ... seed to-

    30. LH

      Yes

  9. 35:45 – 41:03

    The Microbiome, Genes and Whether Aging Is a Choice

    1. SG

      So, yeah, we have w- well over 100 trillion, uh, bacteria. And since the Human Microbiome Project was, you know, finished about five years ago now, I mean, we didn't know that these guys really existed. Um, in fact, I was, uh, it was at, on my podcast, The Dr. Gundry Podcast, we had Dr. David, uh, Kessler, who was head of the FDA- Hmm ... in the Reagan years, who made the, um, guidelines for the labels, the labeling laws on the back of packages that, you know, show saturated- Mm-hmm ... fats and carbohydrates. And the labels, by the way, if we get into this, are completely wrong. Yeah. Um, they were forced on the Reagan administration by big food companies. Wow. And so anyhow, you, if you feed bacteria what they want to eat, and this is all in The Longevity Paradox, they will- Take care of you. They will not ... They'll take care of the wall, the lining of your gut, and they, you will not actually age

    2. LH

      Hmm

    3. SG

      Which is kinda cool.

    4. LH

      So if you take care of-

    5. SG

      Of them

    6. LH

      ... of the bugs in your body, you will not age.

    7. SG

      Right. So you got 100 trillion bacteria. You have over 10,000 different species of bacteria and just last year they discovered another thousand, so who knows?

    8. LH

      Right

    9. SG

      So 99% of the genetic material that exists in you and me is non-human genetic material.

    10. LH

      Wow.

    11. SG

      We're only ... Our genes are actually so unimportant it's kinda humorous.

    12. LH

      [laughs]

    13. SG

      And when people take a family history, what they're actually finding out is if you, if your parents taught you how to eat, and most people's parents teach the kids how to eat, and your parents had diabetes or your parents had high blood pressure or your parents had coronary artery disease and you ate like your parents did, the odds are that you will do that.

    14. LH

      Right

    15. SG

      For two reasons. The food choices that you made, but more importantly, you inherited your bacteria-

    16. LH

      Hmm

    17. SG

      ... from your parents and actually your siblings. And ...

    18. LH

      So it's not the genes of your parents that mean you are susceptible to heart disease or, um, Alzheimer's or whatever, right? It's not the genes of your parents. It's typically the, the foods they ate, that you're probably eating the exact same foods that cause the same type of problems.

    19. SG

      Correct. Yeah.

    20. LH

      Right

    21. SG

      I mean, there are ... There's, there is an Alzheimer's gene and my program, according to Dale Bredesen, is the best way not to activate that gene. Um, and there are certain genes that people inherit that make the world's meanest, nastiest, stickiest cholesterol that most doctors don't even measure. And oh, by the way, if you're prescribed a statin drug, um, you know, a lipid-lowering drug-

    22. LH

      Mm-hmm

    23. SG

      ... it actually worsens the, this other particle.

    24. LH

      Wow.

    25. SG

      Yeah. So yeah, there are genes, but they're such a small part. Uh, Nature Magazine had a big article in late 2018, uh, I think proving that only about 7 or 8% of what will happen to us is based on our genes and 97 or 98% of what's going to happen to us is based on our environment and our food choices.

    26. LH

      Yeah, our decisions. Yeah.

    27. SG

      Our decisions, yeah.

    28. LH

      Now, you said we can ... You know, aging is essentially a choice, is what I'm hearing you say, but if someone watching is saying, "Well, Dr. Gundry, you've got white hair. You look older than when you were 10 years old."

    29. SG

      Yes. [laughs]

    30. LH

      So how can, so how can, how can you say that you're, you can eat certain things that can reverse aging or can make you not age when you look older than when you were younger?

  10. 41:03 – 46:52

    Poop as Bacteria, Viruses and Why We Need Microbes

    1. SG

      And in fact, in, in The Plant Paradox, uh, in the, the original manuscript I had said, "When you look in the toilet you should see a giant anaconda looking back up at you."

    2. LH

      [laughs]

    3. SG

      And my editor, uh, Julie Wills, you know, called me up. She said, "Uh, do you know there's a movie where-

    4. LH

      Yeah

    5. SG

      ... an anaconda is coming-

    6. LH

      Space in a toilet [laughs]

    7. SG

      ... yeah, coming out, coming out of the toilet. And I said, "Oh, yeah." She said, "I don't think we want that visual in your book."

    8. LH

      Yeah, yeah.

    9. SG

      And she said, "We ... Let's, let's take that out."

    10. LH

      [laughs]

    11. SG

      So, uh, but what we didn't know, what you and, you didn't know, I didn't know, is that that giant coiled snake is not the fiber and the roughage-

    12. LH

      Hmm

    13. SG

      ... that we ate. It's actually bacteria that have eaten the fiber-

    14. LH

      No way

    15. SG

      ... and re-

    16. LH

      The bacteria inside of us?

    17. SG

      Well, yeah

    18. LH

      That's coming out?

    19. SG

      That's coming out. So most of your poop-

    20. LH

      Oh my gosh

    21. SG

      ... is, if you will, baby bacteria.

    22. LH

      No way.

    23. SG

      And so the more-

    24. LH

      So we wanna get the bacteria out of us?

    25. SG

      Well, no. You want them to grow and prosper. And the more they grow and prosper-

    26. LH

      [laughs] This sounds like aliens in our body that's like feeding off us.

    27. SG

      Well, you know, you, you're absolutely right. And one of the things that is kinda hard to embrace is we, we probably only exist as a place for bacteria to live on Earth.

    28. LH

      Wow.

    29. SG

      And i- and you know, intelligence-

    30. LH

      So if there was no bacteria inside of us-

  11. 46:52 – 53:40

    De-Aging, the Gut Wall and Time-Restricted Eating

    1. SG

      So Terry Wahls and her giant anacondas. And whenever we do a podcast with her, uh, from Iowa, she has these dolls of poop, um-

    2. LH

      Really?

    3. SG

      Yeah.

    4. LH

      I gotta-

    5. SG

      Oh, you-

    6. LH

      ... I gotta meet this person. [laughs]

    7. SG

      Oh, you... She... So, um, we, uh, we've become friends through the years and our diets, uh, recommendations are very similar and becoming more and more similar as time goes on. And recently, as she, uh, and her wife, uh, began doing time restricted feeding. Um, for the last 18 years during the winter I only eat calories two hours a day.

    8. LH

      Mm.

    9. SG

      So in 22 out of 24 hours-

    10. LH

      Wow

    11. SG

      ... I'm not eating any calories. And I've done that for 18 years now. So that's, that's pretty interesting, time restricted feeding. Time restricted feeding means you limit the number of hours you eat in the day.

    12. LH

      Wow.

    13. SG

      Um, so she, and we had talked about this, so she and her wife actually really started doing this. And I, I see her about once a year and I, uh, noticed on, on the podcast, you know, she looks the best I have ever seen her. And so we're talking about this and she said, "Well, you know, uh, I started, you know, after kind of reading and listening and, you know, The Longevity Paradox, this, you, you know, this is something real. And, uh, this... Not just me, other people have done this. Um, and we started doing it. And I started doing it and then my wife said, "You know, uh, there's something here. I'm gonna join you." And they have kids. And now they... He... She's saying, "Our kids have noticed that we are getting younger."

    14. LH

      Hm.

    15. SG

      And, and I said, "Well, you know, this, you're right," I said, "because, you know, I've known you through the years and you clearly are, you know, younger now than when I knew you a few years ago." And she said, "Yeah, our kids notice and they're calling us, you know, Benjamin Button, uh-

    16. LH

      Right

    17. SG

      ... 'cause we're de-aging." So I think this whole anti-aging thing is wrong. I think it is really quite possible to de-age And as I talk about in The Longevity Paradox, what's fascinating is that, and you can prove this in animal models, that you age as your microbiome changes, number one, but more importantly, the, the wall of your gut is, should be impermeable even though it's only one cell thick. And the surface area of your gut and my gut is the same as a tennis court. So inside of you and me- Hmm ... is a tennis court. Crazy. Surface area. And the problem is that that wall of our gut is only one cell thick, and these cells are held together with, uh, tight junctions. Uh, best example for anyone who's no longer young is Red Rover, Red Rover, which- Sure ... we all played as a kid. Yeah. Where we locked arms and- Uh-huh ... people ran across, and a big guy like you- I always ran through Oh, yeah. "Oh, let's go." Oh, yeah. [laughs] And you're the guy, you know, and the two- Break the r- Yeah. The two girls go, "Ah, here comes Lewis. Ah." [laughs] And they don't get to play that in school anymore, by the way. It's too dangerous. Oh, right. Yeah. Too- Kids get hurt ... 'cause of people like you. Yeah. [laughs] So they're all locked arm in arm, and as long as they're locked arm in arm, all those, you know, 100 trillion bacteria and all the other toxins stay on their side of the wall. On the other side of the wall, 60 to 70% of all your white blood cells, all your immune system, is lined up on that wall. Why? Because that's basically the border, and if your invading army is coming through the border- Hmm ... you want a guy- you got, you wanna have your army on the other side. And what's cool is as long as that wall is intact, you do not age. Hmm. But as that wall becomes leaky, and that's the whole story of the- Leaky gut. Leaky- Leaky gut Yeah ... then you begin to age. And Hippocrates, 2,500 years ago, said all disease begins in the gut. Mm-hmm. And he was absolutely right. All diseases begin, and I add on, end in the gut. [upbeat music] I started manipulating the immune system by food, and sure enough, um, you've got an autoimmune disease, we can teach you to get rid of it by changing, primarily getting lectins out of your diet. That's it, huh? And changing your gut bugs to be basically friendly gut bugs. And the friendly gut bugs actually tell your immune system that, "Hey, guys. We're all great down here. We're down at the beach. We're singing Kumbaya." Yeah. "Beautiful bonfire." And your immune system is basically the cops, uh, and the cops go, "Oh, yeah. We know these kids. Great kids. Uh, let's go have a donut." And now, so that's how it's supposed to be. But let's suppose a gang member moves into your neighborhood. Now all of a sudden you got, you're putting up bars on your windows, and you got neighborhood watch patrols, and you're shooting guys with hoodies without asking questions. So what's happened to most of us, through some of the foods we eat, like all these wonderful snacks we're talking about- Mm-hmm ... we've, we've let these gang members loose. And the good guys actually can't eat simple sugars and these saturated fats. They, they want leaves and they want tubers. Hmm. What are called- They die off. They die off. Exactly. So the gang members are running rampant, and now your immune system is going, "Oh, my gosh. You know, the city's taken over by gang members, and we're gonna have armed patrols everywhere, and anytime we see anything that looks a little odd, we're gonna shoot and ask questions later." And so what's happened to everybody with autoimmune disease is their immune system is just hyper on guard 'cause it's no longer getting the messages from the good bugs, "Chill out. Everything's cool. You know, kumbaya. Love, love, love. Peace and love." And that's what's happened. And it's, it's so cool to get somebody who can just, you know, change the food they eat. They may not want it initially, but when they start

  12. 53:40 – 56:43

    Patient Story: Chronic Pain and a Guacamole Slip-Up

    1. SG

      feeling better- Yeah ... they go, uh, uh... For instance, on Monday, young lady, 36 years old, lives out in, uh, La Quinta- Mm-hmm ... was sent to me with what's called chronic pain syndrome. Now, a lot of doctors toss this off as, "Oh, you're crazy," or, "You're depressed," or, "You're just anxious," and you treat them with antidepressants. And she was in constant pain, and it was so bad that she actually had to work from home. Hmm. Really couldn't move, and she had a kid and a husband and- Right ... so she had heard about me. She said, you know, "I've heard about you. Um, you know, what do you think?" I said, you know, "Come on. Let's, let's do this." I said, "What's happening is that your pain is actually coming from nerve cells inside your gut that are being stimulated by rogue, um, cops, if you will, and they're trying to tell you that you shouldn't move." Hmm. Um, "So let's start." So I saw her a couple months later in January, February, and I said, "How are we doing?" She said, "You know, the pain's less, but it's definitely still there." So I said, "Well, you know, just stay at it." Mm-hmm. "If you can feel a difference, don't give up." Yeah, yeah. So sh- I walked in, um, on Monday and I almost didn't recognize her. [laughs] And I said, she's got a giant smile on your face. I said, "So, you know, how you doing?" She said, "Perfect." I said, "What, what do you mean?" And she says, "Do you know what it's like to not have pain?" [laughs] And I said, "Well, yeah, I do, um, now." Uh, he said, she said- I forgot what not having pain feels like.

    2. LH

      Wow.

    3. SG

      And it, it's amazing. She said, "I just feel great. I, you know, it's been so many years, I'd forgotten what, you know, feeling normal felt like."

    4. LH

      Uh-huh.

    5. SG

      She said, "But let me tell you a story. You can't cheat." And I-

    6. LH

      [laughs]

    7. SG

      And I sh- I said, "Yeah, I know that, but how'd you find out?" She said, "Well, you know, there was this office party a couple weeks ago. And all they had, they had some, they had some chicken, and they had some nachos, and they had some guacamole." And she said, "I noticed that the guacamole had tomatoes in it." Uh, believe it or not, guacamole is not half... supposed to have tomatoes. Your, your listeners should realize that guacamole-

    8. LH

      [laughs]

    9. SG

      ... should not have tomatoes.

    10. LH

      Sure.

    11. SG

      But, uh, she said, "I figured, well, the safest thing to eat is to put some guacamole on my plate and have a piece of chicken 'cause, you know, I wanna be nice." She said, "I'll tell you, within an hour-"

    12. LH

      Ugh

    13. SG

      ... "my left elbow just started throbbing, and then my hand started-"

    14. LH

      Oh, man

    15. SG

      ... "freezing up." She said, "I actually had to leave the party and go home," and she said, "I had to lay down, and I couldn't get up for about two hours." And she said, "And, and I was trying to be good." And she said, "It's, it's amazing that, you know, this could do this."

    16. LH

      Wow.

    17. SG

      Yeah.

    18. LH

      This is crazy.

    19. SG

      Yeah.

    20. LH

      So you said you essentially ca- was, uh, you know-

    21. SG

      This is crazy

    22. LH

      ...

  13. 56:43 – 1:00:28

    Restorative Medicine, Gluten, Grains and Foods to Avoid

    1. LH

      were doing heart surgeries, 10,000 of them-

    2. SG

      Yeah

    3. LH

      ... and said, I don't wanna be offensive here. I'll make sure I'm saying the right thing, but you're now essentially a functional med doctor.

    4. SG

      Yeah, I don't under-

    5. LH

      In a sense, right?

    6. SG

      Frick. I, um, with all-

    7. LH

      You're not-

    8. SG

      With all due respects to Mark Hyman-

    9. LH

      Yes

    10. SG

      ... uh, Jeff Bland created the w-, uh, created functional medicine, and Jeff's a friend of mine. I don't know what functional medicine means.

    11. LH

      Right, right, right.

    12. SG

      What I do is restorative medicine.

    13. LH

      Right.

    14. SG

      All of us have the power to heal ourselves. Now, the guy who said this was Hippocrates, and Hippocrates, uh, brilliant. He, he believed that any organism had the ability to have perfect health.

    15. LH

      Hmm.

    16. SG

      And that every organism had the ability to achieve perfect health as long as the obstacles to perfect health were removed.

    17. LH

      Hmm.

    18. SG

      And Hippocrates believed that the physician's job was to identify the obstacles to that organism having perfect health, the patient, and remove them from the patient.

    19. LH

      Right.

    20. SG

      And the patient would do the rest.

    21. LH

      Yeah.

    22. SG

      So what, what I try to do, I basically do detective work, and I think I'm pretty good at finding the obstacles. And many of those obstacles, believe it or not, are lectins.

    23. LH

      Hmm.

    24. SG

      And the other obstacle is you gotta get the gang members out of your gut by basically starving them to death and giving the good guys what they wanna eat.

    25. LH

      Starving them of the lectins.

    26. SG

      Starving them of simple sugars-

    27. LH

      Yes

    28. SG

      ... and lectins and saturated fats. Like-

    29. LH

      You remove those things.

    30. SG

      Yeah. They, they have nothing to eat, and they leave. For instance, I'll give you an example of something interesting. Uh, we actually have bacteria in our gut that enjoy eating gluten, uh, a lectin.

  14. 1:00:28 – 1:02:04

    What to Eat: Leaves, Tubers and a Liter of Olive Oil a Week

    1. LH

      you eat?

    2. SG

      Uh, you eat what you're supposed to eat. You're supposed to eat leaves.

    3. LH

      Yes.

    4. SG

      You're supposed to eat tubers, uh, like jicama, like sweet potatoes-

    5. LH

      Uh-huh

    6. SG

      ... like rutabagas. You're supposed to eat tons of olive oil. Ton-

    7. LH

      Really?

    8. SG

      Tons. I use a liter a week.

    9. LH

      Of olive oil?

    10. SG

      Of olive oil.

    11. LH

      You drink it or you're cooking with it?

    12. SG

      No, but, no, I pour it on everything.

    13. LH

      Oh, really?

    14. SG

      Yeah.

    15. LH

      Wow.

    16. SG

      Pour it on everything. The only purpose of food is to get olive oil into your mouth. This is what I told Dr. Oz-

    17. LH

      Really?

    18. SG

      ... a few weeks ago. Just think, the only purpose of food is to get olive oil in your mouth. In Crete and Sardinia, they use a liter of olive oil per week. A Spanish study of 65-year-old people for five years, making them use a liter of olive oil per week against a low-fat Mediterranean diet, at the end of five years, the olive oil users had improved memory compared to the low-fat diet. The women had 65% less breast cancer than-

    19. LH

      Wow

    20. SG

      ... the low-fat Mediterranean diet.

    21. LH

      [whistles]

    22. SG

      And they had less heart disease. Liter a week.

    23. LH

      Olive oil.

    24. SG

      Liter a week. Can't, can't beat-

    25. LH

      That's the, that's the fountain of youth, huh?

    26. SG

      Yep. It really is.

    27. LH

      Olive oil.

    28. SG

      Olive oil.

    29. LH

      It's the secret.

    30. SG

      It's the secret.

Episode duration: 1:02:04

In the uListen app, the transcript lights up word by word as you listen. Get uListen

Transcript of episode cFVD08B8D48

Get more out of YouTube videos.

Read along on your phone, search it beside the video, or ask your favorite AI app what was said.