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The Inflammation Solution: A Deep Dive into the book Plant Powered Plus · To Your Good Health

0:00
David Friedman, BS: Hello, This is Dr.
0:00
David Friedman, host of to Ood Health Radio.
0:03
What if I told you that your headache, skin problems, joint pain,
0:06
depression, digestive issues, and.
0:09
Even though stubborn menopause symptoms all share the same hidden root cause,
0:14
And what if the solution isn't found in a prescription bottle, but something
0:18
you can address naturally right now, starting with your gut, we're talking
0:23
about inflammation and with us as Dr.
0:26
Will Sitz.
0:27
Award-winning gastroenterologist.
0:29
he's discovered chronic inflammation is indeed the silent killer behind
0:34
virtually every modern disease.
0:36
But here's the good news, it can be conquered by healing the gut immune
0:40
connection and science proves it.
0:42
His new book, plant Powered Plus, offers a program that's helping
0:46
people reduce inflammation, supercharge their immune system.
0:50
And reclaim the vitality without restrictive diets or deprivation.
0:55
If you're tired of managing symptoms and ready to address
0:58
the root cause, stay tuned.
1:00
I have a gut feeling this will change everything you thought you knew
1:03
about health, and it all starts now.
1:16
Our next guest is an award-winning gastroenterologist, internationally
1:19
renowned gut health expert and New York Times bestselling author.
1:23
He received his medical degree from Georgetown University and earned a
1:27
master's in clinical investigation from Northwest University.
1:31
He also completed The NIH funded fellowship in epidemiology At
1:36
UNC, he's authored 25 scientific papers and has delivered keynotes
1:40
and briefings to Congress.
1:42
The USDA, the NFL alumni, his book Fiber Fueled And the Fiber Fueled Cookbook have
1:49
over 500,000 copies in print and been translated into 20 languages worldwide.
1:55
He's the co-founder and co CEO of.
1:58
38 Tara, a supplement company setting new standards for clinical effectiveness,
2:03
transparency, and integrity.
2:05
His new book is called Plant Powered Plus, activate the Power of your Gut to Tame
2:11
Inflammation and reclaim your Health.
2:13
Welcome to the show, Dr.
2:15
Will Sitz.
2:17
Will Bulsiewicz: Thank you, Dr.
2:17
Friedman.
2:18
It's a great pleasure to be here.
2:19
David Friedman, BS: Oh, so great to you on the show first year, what motivated
2:22
you to write Plant Powered Plus?
2:25
Will Bulsiewicz: the backstory is that I've taken care of thousands of
2:28
patient's who have dealt with chronic inflammatory health conditions.
2:31
just an example would be something like ulcerative colitis.
2:34
These people are suffering, they're frustrated, they want to be, well, they
2:38
don't want to be defined by their disease.
2:41
And the problem is that our conventional healthcare system.
2:44
Says to them, take your medicine.
2:46
It doesn't matter what you eat.
2:48
And they know that's not true.
2:50
So they're searching for answers and they would come to me and say,
2:53
Hey Doc, what do you recommend?
2:55
And I couldn't find a great book to recommend to them.
2:57
So I reached a point where I said, I need to write the book.
3:01
But as I was researching this topic, David, I asked the question,
3:05
how many health conditions.
3:06
In modern America are associated with inflammation, and I found over 130 with
3:12
studies to back it up and I have those studies posted publicly on my website.
3:16
Anyone can review them right now.
3:18
David Friedman, BS: Wow, I know what you're saying.
3:19
That inflammation's the key.
3:20
And I think lot of the doctors I interviewed, they agree with that.
3:23
It's a silent killer.
3:24
But people say, alright, so that's a silent killer.
3:27
They have different approaches of the weight.
3:29
To get to it and to affect it.
3:31
Briefly explain what's happening in our bodies and why is
3:33
inflammation so dangerous.
3:35
Will Bulsiewicz: because inflammation is basically activation of the
3:38
little army that protects your body.
3:40
And when we have inflammation to, for example, eliminate an infection or
3:45
to help you to recover from exercise or recover from some bodily injury.
3:50
That's good inflammation.
3:51
You need that.
3:52
It makes you stronger and more healthy.
3:55
But what we don't need is unnecessary ongoing chronic inflammation, which is
4:01
what we're currently struggling with.
4:03
And the reason why This is happening is because 70% of the immune system
4:09
is in the lining of our intestines.
4:12
The home of your immune system is in your gut.
4:16
And they are so close to the 38 trillion microorganisms
4:22
that make up our microbiome.
4:24
The only thing that separates them, David, is what's called the gut barrier,
4:27
which is a single layer of cells that's meant to protect our immune
4:32
system and keep the bad stuff out.
4:35
But the problem is that if the gut barrier starts to wear thin.
4:39
Get weak, get porous, things can sneak across.
4:43
And when those things sneak across, it creates a chronic low grade
4:47
activation of the immune system.
4:49
And this contributes to these 130 health conditions that I'm describing.
4:55
David Friedman, BS: Yeah.
4:55
Over the past decades, as you mentioned, IBS, Crohn's, ulcerative
4:58
colitis, it's on the rise.
4:59
What's the primary cause of This?
5:01
Is it the toxins?
5:02
Is it the food quality or widespread use of pharmaceuticals?
5:05
All the above.
5:06
Is there one, like public enemy number one, you found?
5:09
Will Bulsiewicz: it's hard to say, Hey, there's this public enemy number
5:11
one, when it is so multifactorial.
5:13
You know, if you think about the way that, I just think about the
5:16
way that my grandparents lived, that's not that long ago, right?
5:20
We're talking about less than a hundred years ago, where the current food system.
5:25
The vast majority of the food that's in your supermarket, it didn't exist when
5:29
my grandparents were kids let alone the internet, let alone access to phones
5:34
and tablets and devices and electronics and all these different things that
5:38
are pulling us away from meaningful connection, pulling us away from exercise
5:43
and life outside the home, pulling us away from eating real, natural food.
5:49
So it's not so much that we need to go back to living in a cave.
5:53
We do need to sort out how to live in the modern world with all of these
5:58
amenities and things that are, very convenient, but at the same time, we
6:02
need to figure out how can we live in this current world and thrive.
6:06
And that's really what the book is about, is about small choices
6:10
that can lead to big results.
6:12
David Friedman, BS: I love that.
6:13
I love that.
6:13
I'm almost done with your book.
6:14
It's fantastic.
6:15
You put a lot into that and, kudos to you.
6:17
I know in the book you say 95% of Americans don't consume enough
6:20
fiber share with us why is this such a catastrophic health crisis
6:24
And what are people doing wrong?
6:25
I.
6:26
Will Bulsiewicz: Well, I think that the issue is that fiber is found in
6:29
plant-based food, and unfortunately, the modern diet has not prioritized
6:33
plant-based food as much as it should.
6:36
so if you think about it, here's the layout in America.
6:39
As we sit here And we have this conversation, 60% of our calories
6:43
come from Ultraprocessed foods.
6:45
When I say ultraprocessed.
6:47
Basically what that means is food that had to be made industrially because
6:52
you can't make it in your kitchen.
6:53
You don't have the ingredients.
6:55
It's not possible.
6:56
And that's 60% of our calories and 30% of our calories come from animal products.
7:01
And it's not to vilify animal products and make it sound like you can't
7:04
be healthy and consume these foods.
7:07
But it is to say that there's zero fiber content.
7:10
You don't get any fiber from that.
7:12
So what's left is 10%.
7:15
And unfortunately the number one thing in the 10% is the potato because we're
7:19
eating lots of chips and french fries.
7:22
So we need to increase the plant foods in our diet.
7:25
And the reason why fiber is so important, David, is not just because
7:29
it contributes to bowel movements.
7:31
Now don't get me wrong, I'm a gastroenterologist.
7:33
I think bowel movements are very important.
7:36
I think we should talk about them, but.
7:39
What's really happening there is the new science of fiber, which has shown us that
7:44
fiber can enter into your large intestine and become food for your microbiome.
7:50
They get to eat, they become stronger, And then they actually transform the fiber and
7:56
stops being fiber and turns into something new called short chain fatty acids.
8:01
And these are the.
8:02
Most anti-inflammatory thing that I have come across in all of my years of
8:08
studying medicine more than 20 years.
8:11
And they have a beneficial impact on your microbiome, on your gut
8:14
barrier, and on your immune system.
8:17
So all of the things that we're focused on and trying to improve
8:21
in this book, we can achieve that.
8:23
If we were to address this deficiency of fiber in America.
8:27
David Friedman, BS: What about people with severely inflamed guts like
8:29
Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis?
8:30
These conditions often cause excessive bowel movements and diarrhea to them.
8:34
The idea of adding more fiber, especially raw vegetables, sounds like torture.
8:39
Are there certain conditions where people should avoid fiber altogether
8:42
or there specific types of fiber that maybe can benefit their healing?
8:46
Will Bulsiewicz: I want people to understand that the gut And the
8:50
gut microbiome, it's like a muscle.
8:53
It can be trained, it can be made stronger, you can improve
8:58
the function of it, and when necessary, it can be rehabilitated.
9:03
And for people that have these complex health conditions like Crohn's disease
9:06
and ulcerative colitis, and I've cared for thousands of them, don't
9:10
go and do raw salads on day one.
9:13
That's what you're gonna do later.
9:15
We can build towards that.
9:16
That would be like walking into the gym and lifting the
9:19
heaviest weight that the gym has.
9:20
That's how you hurt yourself.
9:22
You gotta start gentle.
9:24
So if you look at the protocol that's in this book, there's a three phase
9:27
protocol, I created this protocol with those people in mind because
9:31
I know that in the beginning.
9:33
We have to enter into this conversation gently.
9:36
So what we do is we start with simple stuff like soups that are blended and at
9:41
the same time, David, there are many ways to heal the gut that don't involve food.
9:46
We should take advantage of that, And we should do that first because we can
9:49
make our guts stronger by doing those things before we start to add more food.
9:54
David Friedman, BS: Yeah, that's so true.
9:55
Speaking of fiber, what about this carnivore diet?
9:58
All they eat is, beef and bacon and, they say, oh, stay away from
10:01
grains, fruits, nuts, legumes.
10:03
They're the root cause of disease is, all meat is the answer.
10:06
As a GI expert who's research plant-based nutrition, what's your response to that?
10:10
Popular fad diet.
10:11
Hope it's a fad.
10:13
I hope it's not around for longer.
10:14
Will Bulsiewicz: It is a fad.
10:15
And I think that like the messaging to your listeners here today is don't fall
10:20
into the trap of following whatever the popular diet is, because it's
10:24
funny, David, in 2020, a plant-based diet was the most popular diet.
10:29
And by 2023, the carnivore diet, which is diametrically opposed, the complete and
10:34
polar opposite, was the most popular diet.
10:37
So clearly the trends have no clue what they're doing, but the science is
10:42
very consistent And the science is not something that suddenly changes overnight.
10:46
My position today is very similar to the position it was 10 years
10:49
ago, except I've refined it and I've gotten better and where we are today.
10:54
Is that there are many different ways in order to achieve a healthy diet.
10:58
You don't have to be vegan, you don't have to be vegetarian, and
11:02
honestly, the label that you put on it is not what really matters.
11:06
What matters is the quality of your diet, And also I'm of the
11:10
complete and total belief that you need to include lots of plants.
11:15
It doesn't need to be the only thing, but they need to be present
11:18
and they need to be powerful.
11:20
David Friedman, BS: So you have patient's who've gone
11:21
carnivore initially feel amazing.
11:24
Lose the weight.
11:24
They have more energy, they feel better.
11:25
They come in bragging, but the majority of them, those results are temporary.
11:30
I'm wondering could those early benefits be less about eliminating
11:33
plants and more as a result?
11:34
Maybe they're cutting out sugar and all that ultraprocessed foods
11:37
and they're saying it's meat.
11:39
Will Bulsiewicz: A hundred percent.
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A hundred percent.
11:41
It's the most restrictive, diet that exists.
11:45
But the one advantage of This is that if you are following the standard
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American diet, which includes 60% ultraprocessed, which includes tons
11:54
and tons and tons of sugar, and all of these additives, there's about
11:58
10,000 food additives that are in our food system, and most of them we know
12:01
very, very little about what they do to human health, let alone the microbiome.
12:06
You know, this gives you a framework to move away from that.
12:09
So I completely understand where people report that they feel better, and
12:13
that's the reason why they feel better.
12:14
It is not the fact that they've eliminated such a small amount of
12:18
plant-based food in their diet.
12:19
The plant-based food was barely there to begin with.
12:21
How can that be the problem?
12:23
David Friedman, BS: I agree.
12:23
How can somebody know?
12:24
We're talking about inflammation.
12:25
People are wondering, Hey, I wonder if I have inflammation in my body.
12:27
Do you recommend any specific tests like C-reactive protein?
12:31
Is that still the gold standard?
12:33
Will Bulsiewicz: I think the C-reactive protein can be an excellent
12:35
test that's readily available in the care with your doctor.
12:38
But I think that there's a few ways that I would, approach this, David, from
12:41
a, a gastroenterologist perspective.
12:44
The first is that if you go and you look at the health conditions that
12:47
are associated with inflammation, the.
12:49
I mentioned earlier, there's over 130 of them, and you can find them at my website.
12:53
They're there for you to review.
12:55
If you have several of these you already know.
12:59
You already know because inflammation contributed to the development of
13:03
those health conditions, we may see them as separate and different.
13:06
And I'm not saying that inflammation is the only thing, but inflammation
13:10
is contributing to the manifestation of these different health conditions.
13:15
And the other thing that I would say.
13:16
Is, how do you feel?
13:18
I think it's really important that we get back to just like this simple
13:22
doctor patient relationship And this question, how do you feel?
13:26
That to me is really where medicine starts between a doctor and a patient.
13:30
you know, you think about when you get the flu, what happens?
13:34
You get extreme fatigue, you get muscle ACHE's, you get joint pains.
13:39
You might get a sore throat or a stuffy nose or a cough,
13:43
chronic low grade inflammation.
13:45
Can manifest with all of those symptoms, except they're not gonna be as intense
13:50
and sudden and severe as when you get the flu, but they may be present
13:55
every single day in your life and you may just accept them as normal.
13:59
Look at the energy drink industry in this country.
14:01
David.
14:02
It's exploding.
14:03
Clearly.
14:04
We have an energy problem and energy is very closely tied to inflammation.
14:09
So are these other symptoms And so is bloating and other gut symptoms.
14:13
David Friedman, BS: So true.
14:14
Another eye-opener from your book that I'm a hundred percent on board with.
14:17
I'm so glad you said it.
14:18
You explained that our metabolism is strongest in the morning and
14:21
weakest in the evening, meaning the same meal eaten at different times,
14:25
produces completely different results.
14:27
So for all those intermittent fasting listeners out there, should they be
14:31
front loading their calories earlier in the day or these, breakfast
14:35
skippers doing it backwards?
14:37
Should they be skipping dinner instead?
14:39
Will Bulsiewicz: So culture teaches us that like dinner is
14:42
the biggest meal of the day.
14:43
Culture teaches us that you're so busy that you need to get to work.
14:46
And so just skip breakfast.
14:49
don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of this myself.
14:51
Many times, but the evidence are very clear that if we were to shift our caloric
14:57
intake, shift our meal times to earlier in the day, it would be to our benefit
15:03
because we have a circadian rhythm.
15:04
It's a 24 hour rhythm, and there's specific time points.
15:08
When we are most well positioned to digest our food and have a healthy metabolism,
15:13
And the morning is the absolute best time, And the worst time is the deeper
15:18
and deeper that you get into the evening.
15:19
As it turns dark, we should not be turning towards food.
15:23
We should be preparing for sleep instead.
15:26
So for these people who are following a time restricted eating pattern,
15:29
I think that's a wonderful thing.
15:31
And as much as you can.
15:32
Like really, truly, David, to me, the most important part is like
15:36
taking that last meal of the day and trying to get it as early as you can.
15:39
That to me is where the money is at.
15:41
David Friedman, BS: Yeah, and a common sense is, you know, you wake
15:43
up in the morning, you need fuel for your day, you're active, you
15:47
come home after work, it's dark.
15:49
You eat for.
15:51
What, so you have energy watching TV on the couch And then you go to bed
15:53
three hours later with food in your stomach digesting while you're sleeping.
15:57
right.
15:57
It's just common sense.
15:58
It's like, we need food for fuel.
16:00
We don't need wa guess you're on a honeymoon.
16:02
Have a big dinner.
16:03
But,
16:03
Will Bulsiewicz: It's a special
16:04
occasion
16:04
David Friedman, BS: but you know, for the most of us, no.
16:06
Will Bulsiewicz: Yeah, exactly.
16:06
That's a special occasion.
16:07
That shouldn't be just a routine Tuesday night, you know?
16:10
David Friedman, BS: Exactly.
16:11
Exactly.
16:12
Hey, let's talk fermented foods.
16:13
I know there's been an explosion of interest in kimchi and
16:15
sauerkraut and kombucha.
16:17
What makes fermented food so powerful and how much do we actually need?
16:21
Will Bulsiewicz: Okay.
16:21
Well, so I think the thing about fermented foods is that
16:24
these are transformed foods.
16:26
They're not the same as the ingredients that went in.
16:28
They come out different.
16:30
And part of what can happen is you can add these living microbes,
16:34
both bacteria and yeasts.
16:36
You would find them in all the foods that you just mentioned, And also
16:39
kefi and yogurt and some other ones.
16:42
These living microbes, and they're a part of this ecosystem
16:45
that's in that fermented food.
16:48
But also what started as specific, you know, carbohydrates and proteins and fats.
16:54
They get transformed too.
16:56
We get brand new forms of fiber.
16:58
we get peptides, bioactive peptides, which are basically
17:01
transformations of the protein.
17:04
And we can get things like conjugated linoleic acid,
17:07
which is a very healthy fat.
17:10
So basically fermentation is transformation, but it's actually
17:13
elevating the food for us.
17:15
And there's research outta Stanford, University.
17:17
Some of my friends actually professors Christopher Gardner and
17:20
Justin and Erica Sonenberg, where.
17:23
It was very interesting, David.
17:24
This was a human clinical trial and they had people consuming fermented food,
17:29
increasing their fermented food intake, and just in a matter of eight weeks,
17:34
they increased the diversity of their microbiome, and when that happened,
17:38
they actually reduced inflammation.
17:40
So there's two points that are takeaways from this study.
17:43
Number one, if you increase your fermented food, that's good for your gut.
17:48
It's good for your immune system, but also number two, the entire core thesis
17:52
of my book was just proven in a human clinical trial at Stanford University.
17:57
When we make the gut healthier, we are creating an anti-inflammatory effect.
18:02
David Friedman, BS: Wow.
18:03
I know one fascinating fact you shared is that most of the serotonin in our
18:06
bodies produce in the gut, not the brain.
18:09
So for people struggling with depression, anxiety, or mood issues,
18:12
does this mean something different for their treatment approach?
18:15
Don't focus on the brain, go right to the gut.
18:17
I.
18:18
Will Bulsiewicz: It can, and, and you know, here's the beautiful thing.
18:20
The body doesn't separate those things.
18:22
The gut And the brain.
18:23
They're interconnected.
18:24
they're talking to each other right now, as you and I are having this conversation,
18:29
the body doesn't compartmentalize the way that you and I as doctors would
18:32
think about things and neurologists.
18:33
That's the brain and I'm the gut guy, right?
18:36
But actually the body is just one.
18:39
know, you think about this time of year where the weather is cold, you're
18:43
not spending as much time outdoors.
18:44
You don't get as much exposure to natural sunlight.
18:47
And many people get a little bit, blue.
18:49
You get a little bit moody And the treatment for That is light.
18:55
the interesting thing about That is if you were to get light in the morning, ideally
19:00
outside, but if you're up in Illinois.
19:02
this could be a light box that provides 10,000 mugs.
19:06
That light exposure, it increases the serotonin in your brain.
19:09
It increases serotonin throughout your entire body, And that helps
19:13
your entire circadian rhythm.
19:16
I sincerely believe, 'cause I've seen this in my own life, David,
19:20
you will feel the difference.
19:21
You will notice how much it helps you, And then you will never want to go back.
19:25
David Friedman, BS: I'm glad there's so much research now
19:26
that Alzheimer's dimension.
19:27
is really gut focused.
19:29
I'll tell you, I relate.
19:30
I had severe colitis, ended up being diagnosed with Crohn's in my
19:33
fifties, And we found that it was from a, uh, PFAS chemical in my water.
19:37
And of course, DuPont's being sued for that.
19:39
But I could not remember my office manager doc.
19:42
17 years she'd been with me.
19:43
I said, talk to the brunette at the front.
19:45
I didn't know her name.
19:47
It was amazing the things that, the gut affected my brain.
19:51
and depression, I got depressed.
19:53
it was the gut.
19:54
People think it's the, oh, your depression, treat the brain, get some.
19:57
Pills for the brain.
19:58
Alzheimer's, just the brain.
19:59
Hey, I'm telling you, I think that This something untouched so far
20:02
with our knowledge of the gut and how it really produces our emotion,
20:06
our personality, our memory.
20:08
Have you seen that as well?
20:09
Will Bulsiewicz: A hundred percent.
20:10
In fact, I've lived it.
20:11
So you're sharing your personal experience with Crohn's disease, and if you went back
20:15
to 2012, I was laying in a dark room on the couch and I just wanted to be left
20:19
alone because I was clinically depressed.
20:22
I was anxious.
20:23
I was 50 pounds overweight.
20:24
I had high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and I
20:27
didn't want the treatments.
20:28
That I had been trained to provide at some of America's most elite
20:31
institutions, Georgetown, Northwestern, the University of North Carolina.
20:35
I didn't want those things.
20:36
And That is what started me on my journey that allows me to be here today.
20:41
And what I've discovered during that process over 15 years roughly, of
20:45
not only helping myself, but also helping my patient's, and now here
20:49
writing books, what I've learned in that process is what's in this book.
20:53
And you know, David Depression.
20:55
We have actually shifted in our knowledge of this condition.
20:59
It's not just neurotransmitters and it's not just oh mood, This is inflammation.
21:05
They actually have shown that major depression is neuroinflammation,
21:10
and if you look at the gut microbiome in people who are
21:12
depressed, you will see an inflamed microbiome at the exact same time.
21:17
As I've said before, you can't separate these things.
21:20
David Friedman, BS: Yeah, so true.
21:21
And I know course food's important, but of course we turn to supplements and
21:25
there's so many overhype stuff out there.
21:26
When it comes to gut health, and I know you've got a company was 38
21:30
Terra, what are the top three that get the seal of approval from Dr.
21:35
BI?
21:35
Will Bulsiewicz: so one of the things that I teach in the book, there's
21:37
an entire chapter about supplements.
21:39
And I think the thing about supplements is we can't let the failures of the
21:44
supplement industry to stand in the way of us receiving the health benefits
21:49
that could come from the use of.
21:51
High quality, proper supplements.
21:53
So what we need to do is we need to find the evidence-based ones
21:56
that really can have an impact.
21:58
I'm a big believer in prebiotic supplements.
22:01
That's what we offer at 38 Terra.
22:02
I formulated it myself.
22:05
It is completely clean, which means that it is NSF certified for sport.
22:09
That's the highest level testing that exists.
22:11
And we have a, research study which shows the effects of our product on
22:16
the gut microbiome during the course of 15 days of use, and I'm very
22:20
proud of what we found in that study.
22:22
So I'm of the belief that whether you have Crohn's disease or you have no disease
22:26
at all, that the gut is so important.
22:28
We should be supporting it, And we should be supporting it on a daily basis.
22:32
Food comes first.
22:33
Don't get me wrong, food comes first, but there is a place where
22:37
supplements can really add to what we're doing with our diet.
22:40
If I'm going beyond that.
22:42
I really think vitamin D is an essential supplement.
22:46
Now we can test for vitamin D, but if you're deficient, and most Americans are
22:51
particularly this time of year, vitamin D is an important part of supporting
22:55
our gut microbiome, our gut barrier, and our immune system all at once.
23:00
And I guess if I were to add a third one in the evening.
23:04
I love mineral supplements, so I really love magnesium
23:08
and zinc taken before bedtime.
23:11
the magnesium can contribute to better sleep, but also both magnesium and zinc.
23:16
These are minerals that are necessary for repair process, and when we're
23:20
sleeping at night, that's when our body is repairing and restoring itself.
23:23
So we need those minerals at that time.
23:25
David Friedman, BS: Yeah.
23:26
I'm so glad you're bringing up, you know, quality.
23:28
It's so important.
23:29
'cause you know, as a naturopath, I hear all this, oh, this
23:32
didn't work, this didn't work.
23:33
I look in the back, I said, there's no certification.
23:34
You don't know what's in there.
23:35
There was a company in Florida selling echinacea, which is for immunity.
23:40
People have allergies, people have sinus.
23:42
And they had hay and grass in the capsules.
23:44
There was no ation.
23:45
Now imagine if you're allergic to hay or grass and you're taking a supplement
23:49
to help your hay and grass allergy.
23:52
so there was no certification and it's so tough in this wild,
23:55
wild west of new supplements.
23:56
So I commend you for, honoring the quality and You know what's in the product.
24:00
Is in the product.
24:01
So kudos to that.
24:02
Will Bulsiewicz: It's tested and proven.
24:03
David the NSF certified for sport.
24:05
For those who aren't familiar with this.
24:07
We subject ourselves, we pay for it, And we subject ourselves and they test
24:11
our ingredients before we manufacture.
24:13
They come to our manufacturing, operation and they basically audit us and they
24:18
make sure that everything that we're doing is the way that it's supposed
24:20
to be, including clean, And then they test our product after manufacture.
24:24
For over 300 different things, including proving that what's on the label
24:28
is what's actually in the product.
24:30
So whether it's our product or someone else's, people should know.
24:33
NSF certified for sport.
24:35
That's what that means, and it's really important.
24:37
David Friedman, BS: Fantastic.
24:37
when it comes to curtailing inflammation, what's your views on coffee?
24:40
Is it gut healthy or does it aggravate our microbiomes?
24:43
I get asked this.
24:44
A lot.
24:44
What's your view on that?
24:46
Will Bulsiewicz: there's a very clear answer to this, but before
24:48
I step into it, let me just say number one, I am definitely biased.
24:52
So, I love coffee.
24:54
David Friedman, BS: Are you drinking coffee right now?
24:55
Will Bulsiewicz: I, I have it.
24:56
I have it to the side.
24:57
I mean, it's hard for me to talk and, and have a great conversation
25:00
with you, but, and drink it at the same time, but it's right here.
25:03
but also, in being fair, there are some people that it's just not a good fit.
25:08
There's some people that it makes them anxious.
25:09
There's some that it makes it hard for them to sleep at night.
25:11
My wife is like this.
25:13
And there's some people that, it will actually upset their digestive
25:17
system and give them some diarrhea.
25:18
So if you're one of those people don't feel bad, there's other
25:21
options that you can choose.
25:22
But David, here's the story on coffee.
25:24
There's research that was done at a company called Zoe, where I'm the
25:27
actually their US medical director.
25:30
Where what we found is that the number one thing out of everything in your diet,
25:36
the number one thing That is impacting your microbiome is actually coffee.
25:41
it affects over a hundred different microbes.
25:44
And what's interesting though is it's really a story about
25:48
the impact of consistency.
25:50
Because if you're a coffee drinker, you probably have that
25:53
cup of coffee every single day.
25:56
And the impact of one cup of coffee is very small.
26:00
If you were to compare it to, for example, a salad.
26:03
But the difference is you don't have that salad every day, but you do have
26:07
that coffee every day, So, It goes like this day, one little nudge day two,
26:11
another little nudge day three, a third nudge, and you repeat that on 30 days.
26:17
And next thing you know, each of those nudges has basically
26:20
cumulatively added up to a big impact.
26:22
So coffee to me is actually a gut health drink.
26:26
David Friedman, BS: That's great.
26:26
I'm curious, I can't let you go without asking the question.
26:28
I wondered when you find colon cancer, is it more common in meat
26:32
eaters are plant-based dieters less likely to get the disease?
26:36
Will Bulsiewicz: it's very clearly associated with processed meats.
26:40
There's concern that red meat could be potentially contributing.
26:44
what we have seen in recent years, so I'm a gastroenterologist.
26:48
I've diagnosed many people with colorectal cancer.
26:51
It breaks my heart and I take it very personal because these are many times
26:56
people in their forties who have a family and they're just like me.
27:00
everything that I can do within my power to help to contribute to
27:03
the prevention of this disease.
27:05
I want to do now, we have seen the disease shift towards
27:09
younger people in recent years.
27:10
This has been like publicly reported everywhere, we've also
27:14
seen it in the way that we provide preventative procedures like
27:17
colonoscopy, where now we start at 45.
27:19
It used to be 50, but we're still not catching everyone at 45.
27:25
Why is this happening, I'm not surprised.
27:28
We have a fiber deficient diet.
27:31
And we're consuming 30% of our calories from meat.
27:35
It's not that meat is inherently like by itself going to cause cancer,
27:39
But when you have no fiber and tons of meat, you have no balance.
27:43
You have no balance.
27:45
So if we could get back to balance by increasing our fiber intake, it
27:49
would really, really help to protect you from this health condition.
27:53
But the other thing for people to know is that even if you were a
27:57
hundred percent plant-based, you can still get colorectal cancer.
28:00
Food isn't the only thing that contributes to this health condition.
28:04
It's in our environment, in the modern world, which is very
28:07
different than it used to be.
28:08
So please get screened, please, when there's an opportunity, go and get tested.
28:12
And if you see blood in your stool or something is going on that
28:16
you're not really sure what's going on, talk to your doctor about it.
28:19
Because from my perspective, the earlier that you get checked, the
28:22
safer that you're likely to be.
28:23
David Friedman, BS: Yeah, well said.
28:24
It goes back to the five.
28:26
You're focused.
28:26
I had a patient says, this doc is uh, two bowel movements.
28:30
Okay.
28:30
And I said, yeah, two's good.
28:32
Two or three per day is perfect.
28:34
She goes, no, no, I'm asking a week.
28:35
I go two per week.
28:36
And I'm like, whoa.
28:38
and like you said, and I dug into her diet, no fiber So, It makes sense.
28:42
If you've got this petrified gunk and junk staying not flowing out, wouldn't
28:47
that be more likely to get cancer?
28:49
It's not a natural flow.
28:51
It just Right.
28:52
1 2 bowel movements a week.
28:53
Probably not healthy.
28:55
Will Bulsiewicz: So, no, it's not, it's, certainly not And actually,
28:58
This is one of the things, You know, we have sort of made poop this thing
29:01
that we're not allowed to talk about.
29:03
yet, there's a lot of high quality information that you can learn
29:08
about your own body and particularly your gut health by simply
29:12
understanding your bowel movements.
29:14
and when we move towards constipation, it's very clear that there is a change
29:19
in the microbiome That is not beneficial.
29:22
So you're a hundred percent right David, that there are some
29:24
concerns there and changes in the microbiome are what contribute to
29:27
the development of colorectal cancer.
29:29
David Friedman, BS: Yeah, so Trent, we talked about coffee.
29:31
I can't leave you without talking about the other popular beverage.
29:34
Hopefully you don't have one there by your side.
29:35
Wine.
29:36
It used to be considered healthy and all the news now says all
29:39
alcohol, even in moderation is inflammatory and disease causing.
29:43
What's your views on vino?
29:44
Do people have to give it up?
29:46
Will Bulsiewicz: I have changed my personal position on this in the last few
29:49
years, and part of This is that there was a study that I came across, but before I
29:53
explain that study, I must also say that just one glass of wine in the evening.
29:59
And let's be honest, the vast majority of alcohol consumption
30:02
is typically late in the evening.
30:04
Just one, a glass of wine in the evening is enough to disrupt your sleep.
30:08
I really shouldn't have to say more than that, that should be sufficient.
30:12
That being said, there was a, study where what they did is they
30:15
took a group of people they gave them a certain amount of alcohol.
30:19
It was enough to make them intoxicated, And then they, checked their blood
30:23
every 30 minutes for two things.
30:26
They checked the blood alcohol level And the second thing was something called
30:31
lipopolysaccharide lipopolysaccharide.
30:34
It is something that coats particular types of bacteria, like e coli, it's
30:40
not supposed to be in your blood.
30:42
It's supposed to be in your gut.
30:44
When you find it in your blood, it means that you have a leaky gut
30:48
because this stuff is sneaking across and getting into your bloodstream,
30:52
and This is what contributes to chronic low grade inflammation.
30:56
Lipopolysaccharide.
30:58
So in this study, they were checking these two things, blood,
31:02
alcohol, and lipopolysaccharide.
31:04
And what you saw was you could literally superimposed the graft on top of one
31:10
another when the blood alcohol went up.
31:13
So did the lipopolysaccharide when it went down, so did the lipopolysaccharide.
31:18
And the lipopolysaccharide did not turn to zero until the
31:22
blood alcohol level was zero.
31:25
So that was enough evidence for me to say that I don't believe that there's
31:30
any amount of alcohol that I can sit there and say you should consume.
31:35
I think we're better off playing it safe and limiting it to as little as possible.
31:39
David Friedman, BS: Wow.
31:40
Thanks for clearing that up.
31:41
That's.
31:41
Good info.
31:42
The book is called Plant Powered Plus, activate the Power of Your Gut to Tame
31:47
Inflammation and Reclaim Your Health.
31:49
Excellent book.
31:50
I'm almost finished with it.
31:51
Highly recommend getting it you know, if you're suffering from disease or maybe you
31:55
just wanna be proactive and stay healthy, This is a great book for you and you
31:58
can learn more at the gut health md.com.
32:01
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32:05
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32:08
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32:10
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32:14
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32:20
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