Latest / hol+ with Dr. Taz MD | The Future of Medicine is Holistic / Microinflammation: The Slow Burn Behind Symptoms You Can’t Explain
Transcript
- [00:00:00] This episode is sponsored by Hol+ a holistic health platform built around [00:00:05] education, personalization, and integrative care. Hol+ blends [00:00:10] holistic, integrative, and functional medicine clinics with learning resources like blogs, [00:00:15] YouTube videos, and of course this podcast, so you're not just treated, you're informed.[00:00:20] The platform also includes holistic health quizzes and a curated wellness shop, helping you [00:00:25] make choices that support your body at the root level. Hol+ is [00:00:30] holistic healthcare designed for real life. Visit us at holplus.co [00:00:35] to learn more about the platform. Again, that's [00:00:40] holplus.co If you are tired, achy, foggy, and carrying [00:00:45] weight that will not move, I do not think you have four problems. I think you [00:00:50] actually have one. Let's talk about microinflammation and what actually [00:00:55] calms it down. Inflammation traditionally is treated as acute, a three-alarm [00:01:00] fire, something that you have to run and solve immediately. But chronic [00:01:05] low-grade inflammation is rarely screened for. The [00:01:10] HSCRP is hardly a part of a standard physical set of labs. [00:01:15] Each symptom that I just talked about, those four, usually gets its own [00:01:20] appointment, and usually, and I'm sure you're agreeing with me, each of those symptoms [00:01:25] often get their own prescription. Anti-inflammatories manage the [00:01:30] three-alarm fire, but never really ask the question of what's going on [00:01:35] underneath. What's switching it on? Why is it even there to begin with? [00:01:40] Here's what we understand when we think differently, when we think holistically or [00:01:45] through the functional medicine lens. We understand that microinflammation is [00:01:50] real. It's a slow burn. It's happening below the threshold of a standard [00:01:55] test and above the threshold of just feeling good. It's [00:02:00] systemic, which means that's the reason why it's showing up in your joints, your brain, the gut, [00:02:05] and your skin all at one time. And unrelated symptoms, [00:02:10] although they seem unrelated, are usually one pattern, not [00:02:15] four different problems Inflammation and micro inflammation are usually [00:02:20] driven by daily inputs. That means our food, our sleep, your stress, your gut, they all [00:02:25] matter and they are all modifiable. That's the good news. [00:02:30] But there are about six different ways I see over and over again that micro [00:02:35] inflammation will show up in you and I want you guys to be able to recognize it. [00:02:40] So maybe again, jot these down if you think this is relevant to you or even share it with me in the [00:02:45] comments below. Just feeling tired all the time. Your immune [00:02:50] system is running in the background, it's consuming energy and nothing you do will [00:02:55] lift that constant fatigue. Morning stiffness and achiness. Have any of [00:03:00] you experienced that? That's the inflammatory signaling that accumulates [00:03:05] overnight. Brain fog and low mood. That's another way that inflammation [00:03:10] will actually cross into the brain and affect our neurotransmitter signaling, whether we're [00:03:15] anxious or depressed, sad or happy. Stubborn weight, [00:03:20] especially around the middle. Inflammation and insulin resistance reinforce [00:03:25] each other and will cause oftentimes that middle weight gain that takes [00:03:30] forever to lose. Your skin, whether it's a breakout, acne, [00:03:35] eczema, rosacea, the skin mirrors the gut at every age. And then [00:03:40] getting sick more often or taking way longer to recover. This means that your [00:03:45] immune system is busy, busy keeping up and it's responding [00:03:50] poorly to new challenges because it's already in a subtle [00:03:55] micro inflammatory state Let's get to the root cause. In [00:04:00] functional medicine, we ask why does the immune system do what it's [00:04:05] doing? Why does it get switched on and start to overreact, or in some cases, [00:04:10] under-react? And we wanna solve it for you. We understand that blood sugar [00:04:15] swings, constant crashing of blood sugar, you're high, you're low, you're all over the place, [00:04:20] causes micro inflammation. At first undetectable, but over [00:04:25] time, so obvious you can no longer ignore it. We know that the gut [00:04:30] is the root of inflammation. I have been talking about this forever, that almost 75% of the [00:04:35] inflammation I see actually begins in the gut. Ideas like gut [00:04:40] permeability or gut dysbiosis, these are things we have to pay attention to, and [00:04:45] they're a reason why the immune system turns on, turns off, or [00:04:50] overreacts. Stress and cortisol. We know that cortisol is an [00:04:55] anti-inflammatory until you're in a cortisol loop that does not shut off. [00:05:00] When you are in that cortisol loop, you then enter the place where cortisol becomes [00:05:05] pro-inflammatory, causing many of the symptoms that you experience day to day. [00:05:10] Sleep is an opportunity for inflammation to quiet down, so poor [00:05:15] sleep or insufficient sleep is a window where inflammation no longer [00:05:20] has an opportunity to resolve. And we know that ultra-processed foods, along [00:05:25] with, you know, a lot of the fast foods that are out there, all of those things are [00:05:30] impacting you towards an inflammatory signal. Visceral fat, which we've talked [00:05:35] about, is metabolically active and also produces inflammatory messengers. [00:05:40] And then hidden infections, sensitivities, the environmental load, all of [00:05:45] that is worth looking at when the basics are already in place [00:05:50] We talk a lot about inflammation and micro inflammation at Whole Plus, and here is sort of our [00:05:55] general strategy, what we really try to adopt when we're thinking about where this is coming [00:06:00] from and how we can solve it for you. It's all about stabilizing that blood sugar first, the [00:06:05] protein, fiber, fat at every meal, eating every four hours or so and having a [00:06:10] 12-hour fast. Eating brightly colored fruits and vegetables, foods rich in [00:06:15] omega-3 fats like fatty fishes, having your monounsaturated fats like olive [00:06:20] oil, and a wide range of plants throughout the week are a great way to really [00:06:25] mitigate micro inflammation. Now, if you're having trouble getting all of those foods in on a day-to-day [00:06:30] basis, I know many of us do, this is where supplementation can help. And what we do [00:06:35] at Whole Plus is really offer our patients physician-approved, guided, [00:06:40] personalized supplementation, all available in our Whole Plus shop. Sleep, again, [00:06:45] one that we all struggle with, trying to get about seven to nine hours of consistent sleep, [00:06:50] consistent wake time. This is where a lot of inflammation can resolve. When your [00:06:55] gut is inflamed, it's very difficult to get inflammation to go away. So really [00:07:00] working on the gut. You know, do you have leaky gut? Do you have an overgrowth of the wrong gut bacteria? [00:07:05] These are important questions to ask to help inflammation come down. Lowering [00:07:10] that chronic stress load, that's a no-brainer. That's a direct input into your immune system. [00:07:15] And then, of course, testing. Where's your CRP? Where's your fasting insulin? And [00:07:20] even your hemoglobin A1c give us a baseline to help us track you when it [00:07:25] comes to micro inflammation. Inflammation's not a life sentence. It's a [00:07:30] signal, and it responds way faster than most people expect. Which of these [00:07:35] six symptoms do you recognize, and what have you done to turn them around? And if you need support [00:07:40] and help, remember that we are here for you at Whole Plus. There's an entire provider [00:07:45] team that does this day in and day out. But if your starting step is [00:07:50] really just maybe trying something to see if your body responds, head over to our [00:07:55] shop for physician-curated, trusted supplements that we recommend at [00:08:00] shop.wholeplus.co. If you wanna dive deeper into this conversation around [00:08:05] inflammation and its impact on your health and longevity, check out my latest podcast [00:08:10] episode with Dr. Darshan Shah, where he and I go head-to-head talking about [00:08:15] inflammation, micro inflammation, the immune system, and everything in between.