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Lewis HowesThese Foods Will KILL YOU! (Don't Eat This To LIVE LONGER) | Dr. Steven Gundry
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50 min read · 10,297 words- 0:00 – 3:08
Avoiding Sugar and Simple Carbs to Protect Immunity
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
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?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah. So the first thing you do is you absolutely, positively stay away from simple carbohydrates.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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-
- LHLewis Howes
No.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
I can't eat those? Come on.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Or olive oil.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Or olive oil, yeah. So...
- LHLewis Howes
Ah, man.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
I know. So you stay away from simple carbohydrates.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And what's really scary in times of pandemics-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... is the grocery store shelves are empty-
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... of bread and bagels and pasta-
- LHLewis Howes
Ah
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... and tomato sauce-
- LHLewis Howes
That's good for you
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... and milk and ice cream and orange juice. There's five to six teaspoons of sugar-
- LHLewis Howes
Of sugar
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... in a cup of orange juice.
- LHLewis Howes
So it's actually good when the shelves are cleared of all the bad things.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
But what worries me is all that bad stuff is being consumed.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- 3:08 – 8:01
Immune Boosters: Olive Oil, Mushrooms and Vitamin D
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah. So what boosts the immune system, it turns out that, um, olive oil.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Wants and needs.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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."
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And, you know, "Relax and enjoy yourself."
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
The other thing, every human being that I see initially with leaky gut or autoimmune disease has a low vitamin D level.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Uh, I had Mark Hyman on my podcast recently.
- LHLewis Howes
That's great.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And Mark has never seen vitamin D toxicity.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
I have been measuring vitamin D levels for over 20 years now. I have never seen vitamin D toxicity. Uh, I-
- LHLewis Howes
You can't have too much necessarily.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
I, yeah, I have yet to see it. Uh-
- LHLewis Howes
Right
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... could it exist?
- LHLewis Howes
I mean, if you have a whole bottle a day, maybe it's not good.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
That's a lot. [laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Now-
- LHLewis Howes
What is that, a whole cup full a day or something?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
That... Well, he, he had been getting it from a compounding pharmacist-
- LHLewis Howes
Okay
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... and it had been mislabeled.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
So he wasn't doing it on purpose. Um-
- LHLewis Howes
Got it
- 8:01 – 12:04
Vitamin C, Zinc, Quercetin, Astaxanthin and Blocking Viruses
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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-
- LHLewis Howes
It comes out
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... it comes out very, very quickly. So get yourselves some time-release vitamin C. The stores are empty. Amazon's empty.
- LHLewis Howes
Right.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
But-
- LHLewis Howes
In the future [laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... bar- barring ... Yeah, in the future. Barring that, go to ... If it's still there, I go to health food stores every day-
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah, yeah, yeah
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... and just kinda check and see what's there and what isn't. Get yourself just the chewable tablets-
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah. It's still good
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... or get the capsules and take it four times a day.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Take 500 to 1,000 four times a day.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah. It's still better than nothing. Yeah.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And it actually may be the compound that the old wives' tale, an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
- LHLewis Howes
Right.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
So quercetin is also very antiviral.
- LHLewis Howes
Okay.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And there's an exciting new paper that was just published yesterday that astaxanthin, uh, seems to prevent the inflammatory response to the coronavirus.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm. Asta-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
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?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Correct. That's the whole idea.
- LHLewis Howes
Really? It's possible to do that?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
You, you are designed to-
- LHLewis Howes
To defend it
- 12:04 – 15:03
Fish Oil, DHA and the Sushi Question
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Okay. Next is you gotta get some form of long-chain omega-3 fat, be- better known as fish oil.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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?
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
I will taunt you.
- LHLewis Howes
You'll take it. Yeah, yeah.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And, uh, I can just see now the internet, um, lighting up.
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Gundry is a f-
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... fathead. So half of the fat in your brain is actually an omega-3 fat called DHA. So half, basically half of your brain-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... is fish oil.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
So sushi's good.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Sushi is actually not a good idea.
- LHLewis Howes
Oh, wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Most of the people I see with high mercury levels are sushi eaters or dentists. Uh, so and particularly-
- LHLewis Howes
Huh
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... sashimi grade tuna.
- LHLewis Howes
God, it's so good though.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
You just wanna, you just kinda-
- LHLewis Howes
So good
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... wanna stay away from it.
- LHLewis Howes
Ah, sugarfish-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Sorry
- LHLewis Howes
... is amazing though.
- 15:03 – 19:20
Polyphenols and Why Stressed Plants Are Better
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
So you gotta have polyphenols in your diet.
- LHLewis Howes
So poly-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
What the heck is a polyphenol?
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
How do you remember polyphenol? Think, think about Polly Want A Phenol.
- LHLewis Howes
Okay.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Um, phenols are plant compounds, polyphenols are plant compounds, that plants use primarily to protect themselves-
- LHLewis Howes
Oh
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... against stress and sunlight.
- LHLewis Howes
Uh-huh.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
'Cause they need more to protect themselves, right?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah, exactly. It's basically, uh, suntan.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Uh, you know, they, they've actually protected themselves against sunburn.
- LHLewis Howes
Interesting.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Also, the more the plant is stressed, the more polyphenols it makes to protect itself.
- LHLewis Howes
Right.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
So for instance, black raspberry leaves have far more polyphenols than black raspberries. Um-
- LHLewis Howes
Wow
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... and I take black raspberry capsules, oh, by the way, and it's in the book.
- LHLewis Howes
There you go.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Um, so olives, for instance, are loaded with polyphenols.
- LHLewis Howes
Huh.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And olives that are stressed, uh, produce-
- LHLewis Howes
Even better
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... are even better.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- 19:20 – 23:22
Nut Butters, Goat Milk and the Spinach Lectin Surprise
- LHLewis Howes
What nut butter that I can eat that's actually okay?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
So, uh-
- LHLewis Howes
Is there one?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah, so w- interestingly enough, we have a number of people with rheumatoid arthritis who react to the peel of an almond.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
There is a lectin in the peel of almonds.
- LHLewis Howes
So you take the peel off-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
So you take the peel off
- LHLewis Howes
... so the s-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And so-
- LHLewis Howes
... deskinned almonds are okay
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... yeah, so like Marcona almonds. And there are actually a couple of companies that now make peeled almond butter, and you can find them.
- LHLewis Howes
Really?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah, and-
- LHLewis Howes
It shouldn't be an issue then
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... it shouldn't be an issue, yeah. So, um, if you're gonna choose-
- LHLewis Howes
That's interesting
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... yeah. So walnuts are a great choice, pistachios are a great choice.
- LHLewis Howes
Every time I eat a walnut I sneeze.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Ah, so there are some tannins in walnuts that certain people react to.
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
So stay with, stay with pistachios. Uh, macadamia nuts-
- LHLewis Howes
I love macadamia nuts
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... yeah, they're really good. Um-
- LHLewis Howes
Okay. Mac nuts are okay
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... yeah. So but yeah, so get yourself some peeled almonds.
- LHLewis Howes
I'm gonna do that now.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Try it.
- LHLewis Howes
Okay. Uh, you said American milk is something that we should not have in order to fix leaky gut.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah.
- 23:22 – 28:59
Label Lies and Starving the Gut Bacteria
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
So getting back to Dr. David Kessler-
- LHLewis Howes
Yes
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... 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.
- LHLewis Howes
Uh-huh.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Okay.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs] Right.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Sugar. That's exactly-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Do not look at added sugar.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
It is a lie.
- LHLewis Howes
So if it says zero sugar, zero added sugar-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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."
- LHLewis Howes
Is that broccoli? I don't know. What is that? [laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
It's a bagel.
- LHLewis Howes
A bagel?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
A bagel. And-
- LHLewis Howes
Wow. 300 calories?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
300 calories.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Zero sugar.
- LHLewis Howes
How is that zero sugar? I thought the-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
That's just it. The li-
- LHLewis Howes
I thought it turns into sugar
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... the label law lies to you
- LHLewis Howes
Wow. Wow
- 28:59 – 35:45
Plant Paradox: Chemical Warfare, Fruit and Seasonal Eating
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
At all, in any circumstance.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
At all, under any circumstance.
- LHLewis Howes
Whether you cook them or chop them-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
They-
- LHLewis Howes
... or slice them or skin them, doesn't matter
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... they were here first, and they had it really great before animals arrived 'cause nobody wanted to eat them. And-
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... my, you know, my, my research at Yale was in human evolutionary biology, so plants have the same evolutionary drive as animals.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
They wanna grow, and they wanna have babies, seeds.
- LHLewis Howes
They wanna protect themselves.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And they wanna protect themselves.
- LHLewis Howes
They don't wanna die.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
They... Exactly.
- LHLewis Howes
Right.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
So they can turn sunlight into matter, like around your wall here.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And so what they use is chemical w- warfare to actually-
- LHLewis Howes
Defend themselves
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... defend themselves.
- LHLewis Howes
Right. Yeah.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And to even make animals do their bidding, um-
- LHLewis Howes
Huh
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... because, for instance, you know, just throw out an example, most plants want you to eat their fruits because the fruit contains-
- LHLewis Howes
To reseed them
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... seed to-
- LHLewis Howes
Yes
- 35:45 – 41:03
The Microbiome, Genes and Whether Aging Is a Choice
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Which is kinda cool.
- LHLewis Howes
So if you take care of-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Of them
- LHLewis Howes
... of the bugs in your body, you will not age.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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?
- LHLewis Howes
Right
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
So 99% of the genetic material that exists in you and me is non-human genetic material.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
We're only ... Our genes are actually so unimportant it's kinda humorous.
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Right
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
For two reasons. The food choices that you made, but more importantly, you inherited your bacteria-
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... from your parents and actually your siblings. And ...
- LHLewis Howes
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.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Correct. Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
Right
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... it actually worsens the, this other particle.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah, our decisions. Yeah.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Our decisions, yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
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."
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yes. [laughs]
- LHLewis Howes
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?
- 41:03 – 46:52
Poop as Bacteria, Viruses and Why We Need Microbes
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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."
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And my editor, uh, Julie Wills, you know, called me up. She said, "Uh, do you know there's a movie where-
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... an anaconda is coming-
- LHLewis Howes
Space in a toilet [laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... 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."
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah, yeah.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And she said, "We ... Let's, let's take that out."
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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-
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... that we ate. It's actually bacteria that have eaten the fiber-
- LHLewis Howes
No way
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... and re-
- LHLewis Howes
The bacteria inside of us?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Well, yeah
- LHLewis Howes
That's coming out?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
That's coming out. So most of your poop-
- LHLewis Howes
Oh my gosh
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... is, if you will, baby bacteria.
- LHLewis Howes
No way.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And so the more-
- LHLewis Howes
So we wanna get the bacteria out of us?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Well, no. You want them to grow and prosper. And the more they grow and prosper-
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs] This sounds like aliens in our body that's like feeding off us.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And i- and you know, intelligence-
- LHLewis Howes
So if there was no bacteria inside of us-
- 46:52 – 53:40
De-Aging, the Gut Wall and Time-Restricted Eating
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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-
- LHLewis Howes
Really?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
I gotta-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Oh, you-
- LHLewis Howes
... I gotta meet this person. [laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
So in 22 out of 24 hours-
- LHLewis Howes
Wow
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... 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.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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."
- LHLewis Howes
Hm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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-
- LHLewis Howes
Right
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... '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
- 53:40 – 56:43
Patient Story: Chronic Pain and a Guacamole Slip-Up
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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."
- LHLewis Howes
Uh-huh.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
She said, "But let me tell you a story. You can't cheat." And I-
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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-
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... should not have tomatoes.
- LHLewis Howes
Sure.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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-"
- LHLewis Howes
Ugh
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... "my left elbow just started throbbing, and then my hand started-"
- LHLewis Howes
Oh, man
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... "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."
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
This is crazy.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
So you said you essentially ca- was, uh, you know-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
This is crazy
- LHLewis Howes
...
- 56:43 – 1:00:28
Restorative Medicine, Gluten, Grains and Foods to Avoid
- LHLewis Howes
were doing heart surgeries, 10,000 of them-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah
- LHLewis Howes
... 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.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah, I don't under-
- LHLewis Howes
In a sense, right?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Frick. I, um, with all-
- LHLewis Howes
You're not-
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
With all due respects to Mark Hyman-
- LHLewis Howes
Yes
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... 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.
- LHLewis Howes
Right, right, right.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
What I do is restorative medicine.
- LHLewis Howes
Right.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And that every organism had the ability to achieve perfect health as long as the obstacles to perfect health were removed.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Right.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And the patient would do the rest.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- LHLewis Howes
Starving them of the lectins.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Starving them of simple sugars-
- LHLewis Howes
Yes
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... and lectins and saturated fats. Like-
- LHLewis Howes
You remove those things.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
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.
- 1:00:28 – 1:02:04
What to Eat: Leaves, Tubers and a Liter of Olive Oil a Week
- LHLewis Howes
you eat?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Uh, you eat what you're supposed to eat. You're supposed to eat leaves.
- LHLewis Howes
Yes.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
You're supposed to eat tubers, uh, like jicama, like sweet potatoes-
- LHLewis Howes
Uh-huh
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... like rutabagas. You're supposed to eat tons of olive oil. Ton-
- LHLewis Howes
Really?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Tons. I use a liter a week.
- LHLewis Howes
Of olive oil?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Of olive oil.
- LHLewis Howes
You drink it or you're cooking with it?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
No, but, no, I pour it on everything.
- LHLewis Howes
Oh, really?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Pour it on everything. The only purpose of food is to get olive oil into your mouth. This is what I told Dr. Oz-
- LHLewis Howes
Really?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... 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-
- LHLewis Howes
Wow
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
... the low-fat Mediterranean diet.
- LHLewis Howes
[whistles]
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
And they had less heart disease. Liter a week.
- LHLewis Howes
Olive oil.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Liter a week. Can't, can't beat-
- LHLewis Howes
That's the, that's the fountain of youth, huh?
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Yep. It really is.
- LHLewis Howes
Olive oil.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
Olive oil.
- LHLewis Howes
It's the secret.
- SGDr. Steven Gundry
It's the secret.
Episode duration: 1:02:04
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Transcript of episode cFVD08B8D48