Latest / The Action Catalyst / REMASTERED: Health Tips for Busy Business Executives, with Dr. Josh Axe (Fitness, Nutrition, Stress, Medicine)

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REMASTERED: Health Tips for Busy Business Executives, with Dr. Josh Axe (Fitness, Nutrition, Stress, Medicine) · The Action Catalyst

• 0:00
  Host: Doctor Josh Axe. He is on a mission to transform the
• 0:04
  health of millions all across America. And in 2008 he founded
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  Exodus Health Center, and it very quickly grew to be one of
• 0:12
  the largest wellness clinics in the United States. And now he's
• 0:17
  a syndicated radio host. He has one of the top natural health
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  websites in the world. It's DrAxe.com, all this his work
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  kind of combines the power of advanced nutrition with recipes
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  super foods and cleansing to sort of help reach people or
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  help people reach their optimum level of health. So Dr. Josh
• 0:36
  Axe, welcome to the show. Thanks for being here.
• 0:38
  Dr. Josh Axe: Excited to be here.
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  Host: What do you think are some of the the most dangerous trends
• 0:43
  that you're seeing in health, particularly as business people,
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  that we might have to be aware of?
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  Dr. Josh Axe: Sure, well, you know, there are a lot of a lot
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  of both good trends and bad trends out there. I would say
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  when it comes to sort of bad trends, you know, a lot of these
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  things have happened for a long period of time, and that's just
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  sort of sitting at your desk all day long. And the other thing
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  would be, obviously, just poor diet choices. And I would say
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  one that one of the things that would goes along with that is a
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  lot of these energy shots today. You know, I think a lot of times
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  we think, okay, I want that quick fix. I want that little
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  boost of energy. And so even things like five hour energy
• 1:22
  today, and there's things much, much worse than that. But you
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  know, whether you're stopping in a gas station or a convenience
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  store just going to your regular restaurant, they have these
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  little things everywhere. And you know, doing these large
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  amounts of especially, I know coffee too, over the past 20
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  years, has become the meeting place for so many business you
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  know, small business meetings and things along those lines.
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  But you know all of that excess caffeine and all of the
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  stimulants over time, your body becomes dependent upon them, and
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  it really isn't, isn't good for your body. So on the flip end of
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  that, I think eating a diet that's higher in especially
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  vegetable juices. And so for me, I one of the things I've taught
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  my patients for years is, hey, let's not overdo the coffee. Not
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  that a cup of coffee a day for most people in the morning isn't
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  going to be a big issue. In fact, I think it's. It can be
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  healthy and fine for some people, but, you know, I get the
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  same buzz, and even a different type of buzz, and improved
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  health benefits from doing vegetable juice. And the great
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  thing about vegetable juices is they sell these Now oftentimes
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  where they do a process called Cold pressurization instead of
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  pasteurization, which is better. And so you can pick these up at
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  Whole Foods. Even sometimes, Starbucks will have some of
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  these juices. You know, I think that that's actually a great
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  option, is to do some veggie juice, because veggie juice is
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  getting like a high, concentrated dose of fruits and
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  vegetables. Actually. In fact, one glass of veggie juice can be
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  the equivalent of eating five to six servings, at least, of
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  vegetables. And so it is kind of like a day's worth of vegetables
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  in one single glass. A lot of these naked juices and odwalia
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  juices. The problem is, is that it's pure fruit juice, and
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  sometimes they're even putting fruit juice concentrates in
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  there. And so the great thing about vegetable juice is that
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  it's going to be much lower in sugar, much higher in nutrients.
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  And, you know, and not to say that a little bit of sugar, that
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  there's no issue with a little bit of sugar, if you're getting
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  some sugar from carrots and beets and a veggie juice, or
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  even a little bit of grapefruit juice or lemons or things like
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  that. A little bit of sugar isn't that bad. But the problem
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  with most of these, again, the naked juices, is they're pretty
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  much pure fruit juice and just really a lot of sugar.
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  Host: So talk to me about the five hour energy shots.
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  Dr. Josh Axe: Now, there are things worse than five hour
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  energy, in fact, when we first all of these energy drinks got
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  in the market, I've written several articles on especially
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  things like Red Bull, and there were other ones out there that I
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  think were even they were even pulled off the market because of
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  it was causing heart issues in people. In fact, some people
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  were having heart failure and heart issues from drinking all
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  of these energy drinks, five hour energy came along. They've
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  done a great job. The good thing about them is they do have
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  better ingredients in theirs, which I think is a bonus. But
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  still, a lot of these things are stimulants, and it depends on
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  the person as well. For some people, if somebody is getting
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  plenty of rest, somebody has a personality that's very calm and
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  that's their natural state, they may actually do better with a
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  five hour energy and not have as many long term issues. But
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  again, even if it's natural, doing stimulants, relying on a
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  stimulant for your body all of the time typically isn't the
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  best. But I would say, if somebody has an issue, let's
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  say, like adrenal fatigue, caffeine and stimulants can
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  actually really wear on your adrenal glands over time and
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  again. This isn't for everybody. That's what's kind of hard about
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  answering questions sometimes, is five hour energy. For some
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  people, their bodies might do fine with it, and for other
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  people, long term, it's really going to cause some potential
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  issues. Use, especially with the adrenal glands, kidneys and
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  those types of things.
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  Host: So veggie juice, though, that's the that's the safe play.
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  Dr. Josh Axe: It's the safe play. You know, people use it.
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  And you know, everything from Gershon therapy and the
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  treatment of cancer to naturally boosting energy to cleansing to
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  detox. In fact, if somebody is looking for an energy boost, the
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  ultimate vegetable is beets beet juice. They're actually studies
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  now on triathletes and on athletes and increasing their
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  endurance time, their stamina, their overall strength. It
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  actually contains something in it called nitric oxide. I think
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  this is interesting that many of us are aware of Lance Armstrong
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  and being banned from cycling and and a lot of professional
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  cyclists today, including what Lance Armstrong was busted for,
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  is got busted for something called blood doping, and that's
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  where he's actually oxygenating his red blood cells. And the
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  amazing thing is, is if you're consuming beet juice, you're not
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  doing it to the degree they were doing it, but you're doing it in
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  a completely natural and healthy way. In fact, beet juice
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  increase nitric oxide naturally in your body. So it's great for
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  people for improving their heart health, but it is incredible for
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  naturally increasing your stamina, energy and endurance.
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  And so again, if you want a natural energy boost, beetroot
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  juice or beet juice is is fantastic.
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  Host: So what do you think are some other misconceptions, like
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  foods that people have where you go, Hey, I think I'm eating
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  healthy, but really, as it turns out, it's I'm not eating healthy
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  at all.
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  Dr. Josh Axe: Yeah, well, I actually have an article on my
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  on my health website, that really gets into the health
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  foods that people think are healthy and that really aren't
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  healthy at all. And so all I can go ahead and walk everybody
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  through what some of these, what some of these foods are. But for
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  starters, you know, one of the biggest ones, and I kind of
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  mentioned this earlier, but there's no doubt, the fruit
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  juice. So many people think it's healthy. It's it's definitely
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  not. It's just it's so much concentrated sugar. Now, eating
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  fruit by itself, or eating fruit in a smoothie, fine, when you go
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  to the grocery store, we're buying pasteurized orange juice
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  or or, you know, or the kids apple juice. Now, if you're
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  actually doing fresh pressed juice from fruits, some people
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  are going to do great with that. Other people it may be too much
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  sugar, but if that's really the only extra sugar you're getting
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  during the day, it's not going to be issues. If you just got
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  done with a really hard workout, or you're about to work out,
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  it's not going to be an issue either, because your body is
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  going to burn up all of that sugar. So again, doing fruit
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  juice around the workout, not as much of an issue, either. But
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  let's say somebody has sensitive blood sugar, of course, a
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  diabetic, or just your average person today, who's even just a
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  few pounds overweight. In that case, no doing fruit juice, even
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  fresh, fresh pressed juice. Now, again, it's different. If it's
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  okay, you've got quite a few vegetables in there as well. And
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  then you're doing like you're juicing one apple as part of
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  your juice mixture. Again, not really much of an issue there as
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  well. I think that's completely fine for just about everybody,
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  unless, again, somebody is in a semi diabetic or diabetic state.
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  But yeah, again, it really, it really depends on the person.
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  But just to give you an example, if you are doing a big, let's
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  say a 20 ounce, a big thing, and it's almost mostly juice, you're
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  getting probably 60 to 70 grams of sugar in a 32 I think about
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  that, a 16 ounce soda. You know, there's typically 40 grams of
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  sugar when fruit juice, it's pretty close. I mean, you're
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  going to have 60 to probably almost 80 grams of sugar. Well,
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  it just depends. But either way, it's a lot of sugar in one
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  sitting, without any fiber, and so it's just something to be
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  conscious of. And again, if you're working out your your
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  body will burn it up. And in that case, it's probably not a
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  concern.
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  Host: Wow.
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  Dr. Josh Axe: Yeah, well, I have a whole, a whole thing here, of
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  several things, and we don't have to spend a lot of times on
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  these, but one of the things that surprises some people is
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  there is a lot of farm fish today, and especially if
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  anybody's buying tilapia or just regular salmon, most a lot of it
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  is farm now. Again, if it says wild caught, well, great. It's
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  wild caught. That fish is fantastic for fruit, for your
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  health. But you know, a lot of these farm fish today, they
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  contain what are called PCBs. They also contain dioxins and
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  these are toxins that shouldn't be in there. And also, you know,
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  one of the things that salmon is touted for is it's omega three
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  fatty acids, and it's a specific ratio of omega three to omega
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  six fats. And omega three fats are anti inflammatory, and most,
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  almost everybody, has heard of omega three fats at this point,
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  and they're great for your health. But if a if a fish has
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  been farmed, it's omega three fats are typically 10 times
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  lower than in wild caught fish. And so you know, if somebody is
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  buying fish, wild caught is 10 times superior nutrients
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  oftentimes, or at least an Omega three fat ratio, and then
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  oftentimes, and then also it's completely free of toxin. So
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  that's a much better option as well. And I would say, just a
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  few other foods to consider and keep out of your diet. Another
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  big one is canola oil. Many people think canola oil is
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  healthy. The problem is, 90% of canola oil today is either it's
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  genetically modified and it's partially hydrogenated so in
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  most cases. It's just as bad as any other vegetable oil. And
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  then I would say artificial sweeteners. This is something a
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  lot of people are still using. It surprises me, even in the
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  business world, and they think, Oh, I'm gonna do, you know, a
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  Coke Zero, or some sort of diet soda. And you know, Splenda
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  breaks down into chlorine in the body, and those high levels of
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  chlorine basically suffocate your cells. They lead to other
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  illnesses over time, and they actually one of the biggest
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  problems is artificial sweeteners, whether it be
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  aspartame or splendor, also known as sucralose, is they kill
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  off probiotics in your gut. And that's one of the big thing, and
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  there's actually several studies on this, is that they kill off
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  that good gut flora, which 80% of your immune system is located
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  in your gut. So if you're consuming artificial sweeteners,
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  it can decrease nutrient absorption. It can cause a
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  condition called leaky gut over time, even increasing your risk
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  of allergies, food sensitivities, other health
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  issues and so again, artificial sweeteners is probably one of
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  those other things I still see a lot of people doing, but it's
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  definitely pretty, pretty destructive to everyone's
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  health.
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  Host: You know, one of the other things that I always wonder
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  about is Caesar salad. You know, it's like...
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  Dr. Josh Axe: Well, it depends. You know, of course, romaine
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  lettuce is a great bitter lettuce. It's good for your good
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  for your liver, your gallbladder and some of your other organs.
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  But, yeah, the problem is, is some of these salads today have
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  more dressing than they do lettuce and vegetables, and so,
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  you know, if you're doing, let's say you're doing a small amount,
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  let's say a tablespoon of a natural Caesar that's made with,
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  let's say cashews or macadamia or something like that. Let's
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  say more of a natural substance, you know, a vegan based recipe.
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  I think that's okay, you know, to do a couple tablespoons of
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  that. But yeah, traditional Caesar today is loaded with
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  soybean oil. And we know soy is a major issue today in terms of
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  increasing estrogen in men, increasing the risk of cancer in
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  women. And so they have what are called phytoestrogens. So again,
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  most of them have soybean oil and cotton seed oil, which are
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  it's a genetically modified oil, really high in calories as well.
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  But again, the other, the bigger issue is that it's a
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  hydrogenated oil. And so yeah, I agree with you most. If you're
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  going to just go to a regular restaurant and buy a regular
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  Caesar salad, it is not good for your health. It's yeah, and I
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  think, you know, a great replacement is doing, you know,
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  olive oil and balsamic vinegar or something along those lines,
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  or even buying a natural in fact, there, if you go to a
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  place like Whole Foods, if that's in your area, you can
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  probably find a more natural Caesar. And you still want to
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  use that in moderation, but that's, that's at least a better
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  option.
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  Host: So I want to talk about some stress level stuff. What
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  are some things we can do to kind of manage the stress level
• 12:45
  a little bit?
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  Dr. Josh Axe: You know, for stress, here's what I think a
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  lot of people don't realize, is that, and I know that you do
• 12:53
  realize this, but stress is healthy if it's taken in doses.
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  You know, I my wife and I work out all the time, and but we
• 13:02
  always take at least one day a week off, and typically two. And
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  the reason is, is when we work out, we work out hard, it's when
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  we don't schedule in times of rest that you're gonna have an
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  issue. And so again, you can work as hard. I mean, in most
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  cases, you can work really, really hard, be into things, and
• 13:18
  give it your all, but you have to take at least one day a week
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  off, and you at least in you have to schedule things
• 13:24
  throughout your day that get your mind off things and allow
• 13:27
  your body to rest. And so you know your mind, in a way, is a
• 13:30
  muscle. It has to work if you never rest it. It's just like,
• 13:34
  you know if you're trying to work your you know your biceps
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  over time, if you give it too much of a load, day after day
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  after day, you're left in these heavy dumbbells, eventually
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  you're going to tear it, you're going to injure it. And the same
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  thing can happen with our with our with our minds and our
• 13:50
  emotions if we overdo it. And so one of the things I've had my
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  patients do over the years is get out a sheet of paper, have
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  them write down on the left side everything that is stressing
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  them out, and their work hours and kind of all, you know, we
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  kind of brainstorm and write out all those things on the right
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  shot side of the sheet of paper. I have them write down all of
• 14:07
  the things they love to do, things that bring them joy,
• 14:10
  things that help take their mind off, things and and whether that
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  be going for a walk or going to the mall or watching a movie by
• 14:18
  themselves, whatever it is, we kind of write down all those
• 14:22
  things that they love to do. And so we go down the left side, and
• 14:25
  we start figuring out, okay, how do we better deal with this
• 14:28
  situation? What can you get out of your life? Because a lot of
• 14:31
  times we have too many things we're doing, and what things
• 14:34
  that you can say no to? And then on the right side, we start
• 14:36
  scheduling those things in, because a lot of us have a work
• 14:39
  schedule. We have scheduled in to bring kids to soccer
• 14:42
  practice, or whatever it is. You really need to schedule in times
• 14:46
  of rest, times of joy, you know, in times to live life and and I
• 14:52
  see this in a lot of people, in business professionals, this is
• 14:54
  something where I understand, I'm type A, I will go out there
• 14:58
  and I, I'll put in an 80 hour week. Week or I would if I
• 15:01
  didn't have scheduled in times of rest. And understanding this,
• 15:04
  in fact, there's a great book that really hits on this topic.
• 15:07
  It's called the powerful engagement. It's a it's a great
• 15:10
  business book that everyone might enjoy. But they really
• 15:12
  talk about this, and they actually have done studies on
• 15:15
  business executives, and they found they were much more
• 15:17
  effective when they schedule it in times of rest, and that might
• 15:21
  look like you once a day, taking a 30 minute walk in the
• 15:23
  afternoon and kind of letting your brain recharge and get
• 15:27
  refreshed. Even something as simple as that makes a big
• 15:29
  difference. Even, you know, taking your time and working out
• 15:32
  in the middle of the day, even if it's just 30 minutes that it
• 15:35
  allows to reset your brain. In fact, in the book, they really
• 15:38
  talk about it takes 20 minutes of not thinking about and
• 15:41
  concentrating on something for your brain to reset. And if you
• 15:43
  can take 20 to 30 minutes completely away from thinking
• 15:47
  and being engaged, it really allows your body to sort of
• 15:50
  reset there. So anyways, I think in terms of stress, you know,
• 15:54
  that's an important thing to consider, and I talked about the
• 15:56
  business side, it's a similar thing, though, with parents,
• 15:58
  whether you're a business exec you're not. I know a lot of moms
• 16:01
  out there, sure, they're with kids all day, and they probably
• 16:05
  get zero alone time in an average week. And so one of the
• 16:09
  things I work with those moms are doing is getting three hours
• 16:13
  by themselves a week, and so they can walk through the mall
• 16:16
  or do lunch with the best friend or whatever it might be. But
• 16:18
  this is really, I think it's important for everyone to try
• 16:21
  and do you know, I know everyone has a different spiritual
• 16:23
  beliefs, but this is a, this is something, you know, taking a
• 16:26
  Sabbath or a day off. Just gonna say that from from the beginning
• 16:29
  of time. And if you look in other cultures, both in Asian
• 16:32
  culture, European culture, there is a very long time in the
• 16:36
  middle of day where people are resting. So, you know, in
• 16:39
  Europe, lunch is definitely longer, typically an hour and a
• 16:41
  half to two hours, in some cases, in Asia, again, it's, you
• 16:45
  know, there's times for tea and those sort of things in the
• 16:49
  middle of the day. And so a lot of times, I know business execs
• 16:51
  in the US are working from 6am to 10pm I mean, that's that can
• 16:59
  be common.
• 17:00
  Host: Well there is a lot here, as you can tell my friends.
• 17:03
  We're a fan of your mission, so you're doing a good thing. So
• 17:06
  keep at it, my friend.
• 17:07
  Dr. Josh Axe: Thanks for having me. I love your podcast. Love
• 17:10
  your mission, what you're doing, and I just really appreciate you
• 17:12
  having me on your show.