Youngster: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.
Howdy and welcome to the Wellness Mama podcast. I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com and I’m again right this moment with return visitor, Dr. Steven Gundry. And on this episode, we break down and debunk the myths of the Blue Zones. And I really like this subject as a result of Blue Zones, I really feel like, are sometimes quoted and cherry-picked for his or her knowledge to attempt to promote totally different plans or dietary supplements or merchandise that individuals have. And I really like that we received to go deep on what the information truly says about Blue Zones. And it won’t be what you suppose. I actually discovered some issues about this that I didn’t know, together with some stunning statistics. I do know one in every of these will completely shock you about one of many components that is perhaps contributing to longevity in sure Blue Zones. And it’s positively not gonna be what you suppose.
And Dr. Gundry breaks down how, whereas Blue Zones are sometimes used to advertise vegetarian or vegan or excessive grain diets, that’s not what the information truly says. And there’s some distinctive different issues that stand out, together with consumption of sure uncommon meals that aren’t as frequent within the US however out there now within the US. We discuss their motion patterns and their day by day way of life habits, in addition to components and knowledge round nutrient consumption and mineral consumption and why these are such vital components.
And on the finish, he additionally shares his private non-negotiables and 80-20 of what he does daily to keep up his well being and power and vitality whereas he nonetheless maintains a really energetic profession, working with sufferers, writing books, and doing analysis as nicely. And also you’ve most likely heard of him, however Dr. Gundry is the founder and director of the Worldwide Coronary heart and Lung Institute, in addition to the Middle for Restorative Medication. He’s written many bestselling books, together with The Plant Paradox and the companions to that, The Longevity Paradox, The Power Paradox, his new Intestine Examine guide, and lots of others. He has over 300 articles printed in peer-reviewed journals, and he focuses on a dietary strategy to lowering illness and reversing issues like autoimmune illness. The truth is, his statistic for doing that together with his sufferers is over 94%. He’s been doing this work for many years, and he’s one of many actually robust voices on this house. I’m very excited to share him with you right this moment, so let’s bounce into the episode. Dr. Gundry, welcome again. I’m so excited to have you ever again once more.
Dr. Gundry: Hey, it’s nice to be right here, thanks.
Katie: Properly, I’m tremendous excited to leap into a subject that the title is perhaps slightly stunning to individuals at first look, however I do know that you’ve got lots of knowledge and expertise to help this, and I’m tremendous excited to be taught from you right this moment. We’re gonna discuss debunking Blue Zones. So to begin broad and provides some background, I might love so that you can clarify what are the largest misconceptions in relation to Blue Zones as a result of I’ve been watching this knowledge now for over a decade, and it looks as if a number of individuals cherry-pick the information from Blue Zones to attempt to show their very own level or promote their very own product. And I do know you’re a really first ideas pushed particular person and you actually go to the foundation of issues. So what are these misconceptions in relation to Blue Zones?
Dr. Gundry: Properly, as I discuss in that chapter within the, within the new guide, Intestine Examine, the chapter is mainly entitled, Cigarettes, Cheese, and Meat: New ideas from the Blue Zones. Simon & Garfunkel used to say {that a} man hears what he needs to listen to and disregards the remaining. And initially, the Blue Zones, all people wonders, nicely, the place the phrase Blue Zones come from? We’re speaking about lots of these locations the place within the water or islands or within the Mediterranean, and perhaps it’s the ocean.
Now the Blue Zones, there was a gathering in Montpellier, France, which is within the south of France, various years in the past, and a researcher received a blue-tip felt-markering pen and went to a map of the world and drew some circles round 5 locations that he thought, he thought had the most effective longevity on the earth. And who can be within the viewers however Dan Buettner, who truly has trademarked the time period Blue Zone. So I’ve to watch out after I say it or use it. And so Dan is a vegetarian, nearly vegan. And so he needed, I feel, to select these components of the Blue Zone cultures that help his perception system. And, sadly, whenever you truly have a look at what individuals eat in these areas, that doesn’t help his perception system one bit.
We may use Okinawa for an instance. The Okinawans, the one detailed description of the Okinawan food regimen was completed by the US army in 1947 as an occupying nation. We took over Okinawa. And the one description of what Okinawans ate again then was by the US army, primary. The Okinawans, 85% of their food regimen is a purple candy potato. The soy that they eat is miso. They hardly eat any rice, they usually actually don’t eat some other grain merchandise. The opposite factor that’s distinctive in regards to the Okinawans is they really eat an enormous quantity of bitter, spicy inexperienced leaves and spices. The truth is, in Japan, they’re referred to as the spice eaters. So there’s nothing of their food regimen that helps the concept that beans and rice is what makes them nice. It’s a candy potato. Sorry about that. The opposite factor that’s distinctive about Okinawa, in actual fact, as I discuss within the guide, the Okinawans can’t develop rice as a result of their local weather doesn’t help rice rising. So, oh nicely.
Now perhaps probably the most spectacular factual knowledge comes out of Sardinia. So Sardinia is an Italian island. It’s mainly received two populations, bunch of people that reside down by the ocean, they’re fishermen, and a bunch of people that reside up within the mountains, they usually’re goat and sheep herders. The one individuals who have longevity reside within the mountains. The individuals who reside down by the ocean don’t have longevity, fascinating sufficient. Uh, yeah. And the individuals who reside within the mountains, what makes them have extra longevity is definitely the boys reside so long as the ladies. Now, most individuals know that males on the whole reside about seven years shorter lives than ladies. You guys are the stronger intercourse, we received to confess it. However in that island, the boys truly exceed the ladies’s longevity. Why is that? Properly, about 95% of the boys smoke, and solely about 25% of the ladies smoke. And we see this repeated in a number of different Blue Zones, like Ikaria, Greece, like at Ciroli within the south of Italy. The lads are people who smoke, and the ladies aren’t a lot. And it’s truly the nicotine in smoke that is without doubt one of the greatest mitochondrial and couplers, longevity brokers identified to mankind. Now, I don’t smoke. I don’t suggest smoking. The issue with nicotine, it’s addictive. However it’s actually nice for longevity. And actually, all of those longevity compounds that everyone’s speaking about, nicotinamide, riboside, NMN, niacinamide, nicotinic acid, that’s a cousin of nicotine and that’s truly why they reside a lot longer. Sorry about that Dan.
Now the opposite factor that’s fascinating, they’re sheep and goat herders. So daily they’re consuming sheep and goat yogurt, sheep and goat cheeses, and as I’ve talked about in my final two books, these cheeses have two health-promoting properties. Primary, they’re loaded with medium-chain triglycerides. A 3rd of the fats in cheese and goat milk and cheeses are MCTs. Secondly, they’ve these compounds that I write about referred to as polyamines, which as soon as once more are extremely lifespan-promoting compound. So, a lot for the primary grain and bean idea there.
Properly, let’s discuss a spot that does eat grains and beans, the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica. Now, all of Costa Rica eat beans and eat corn, and that’s their state. And the Nicoya Peninsula does eat beans and corn. However what’s distinctive about this little half is that they’re sheep and goat herders, they usually eat lots of sheep and goat cheese and goat yogurt, in contrast to some other a part of Costa Rica. And there’s a extremely fascinating paper that I reference that the individuals in that area credit score the goat and sheep with their longevity, they usually suppose that the beans and corn are a destructive side to their food regimen that they need to tolerate only for energy. Oh nicely, and we may go on and on.
Katie: Properly, that’s actually a far cry from the US the place these issues are simply tolerated for energy and easily getting sufficient energy to exist. That’s an enormous distinction than the breakdown of nutritionally what most individuals eat, actually within the US. That’s completely fascinating to me that you just stated smoking may truly be a think about longevity for these individuals as a result of I’ve seen a few of this knowledge as nicely about nicotine itself, particularly if we will isolate it from smoking and the dangerous components that include that. Would you say there is perhaps a time and a spot for nicotine consumption that’s not from smoking for longevity perspective?
Dr. Gundry: Properly, once more, I feel my buddy Dave Asprey makes use of nicotine drops on a regular basis. He argues, maybe appropriately, that every one nice concepts took place in a restaurant with smoking cigarettes and ingesting espresso and having a glass of wine. And he won’t be far off. However apparently sufficient, an island in Papua New Guinea, the Katawans, the Katawans smoke like fiends. They’ve by no means been identified to have most cancers. There has by no means been a case of a stroke or coronary heart assault in these individuals. And so they eat a food regimen with lots of tubers. They do eat lots of coconut. However right here’s one other instance the place the smoking doesn’t appear to have the destructive influence that we discover.
And I’m going into the guide, and I’ve talked about it earlier than, one of many issues that most likely will get these individuals away with the dangerous results of smoking: Smoking causes oxidative stress, and oxidative stress makes use of up a vital antioxidant referred to as vitamin C. And we’re one of many few animals that don’t make our personal vitamin C. We have now to ingest it. Vitamin C is important for knitting collagen again collectively. Collagen breaks on a regular basis, and people who smoke have extra wrinkles as a result of their collagen has damaged as a result of the injury of daylight they usually don’t have any vitamin C to place it again collectively, apparently sufficient. Similar means people who smoke have very distinct patterns of coronary artery illness that will be prevented by vitamin C. So I feel the people who smoke in these long-lived areas have a food regimen that’s extremely wealthy in antioxidants in vitamin C. And there’s a really well-known examine in rats. There’s 5 genes that make enzymes that take glucose and convert it into vitamin C. So there’s 5 enzymatic steps. We have now 4 of these genes, however the fifth gene known as a ghost gene. It doesn’t work. And that’s why we don’t make vitamin C. Should you take rats and provides them the human gene sequence, rats make vitamin C, these rats will solely reside half so long as a traditional rat. However when you put vitamin C of their ingesting water, in order that they’re ingesting vitamin C all day, they’ll equal how lengthy a rat would usually reside, supplying you with an concept of simply how vital sort of a steady provide of vitamin C is.
Katie: Wow, that’s fascinating as nicely. I might love to listen to out of your perspective what the information truly says in what our key takeaways needs to be in relation to Blue Zones. It appears like actually not grain and bean consumption in excessive quantities, doubtlessly root greens and tubers having the next place, particularly ones which might be wealthy in issues like polyphenols are like brightly coloured. I might guess additionally issues like though they drink wine in lots of of those locations, wine could also be not crucial for longevity by any means.
And I do know individuals additionally discuss components like usually they transfer extra, like individuals like goat and sheep herders most likely get way more motion than the typical American. It looks as if they usually have nice group and/or areas with good mineral, extra minerals within the soil or the ingesting water. However what out of your perspective are the important thing takeaways that we will truly be taught once we have a look at the information with an correct lens that we will all be taught from?
Dr. Gundry: Properly, I feel you’ve hit on lots of them. Most of those reside in hilly areas. Loma Linda, the place I used to be professor for a lot of my profession, which is the one Blue Zone in the USA. Loma Linda means stunning hill, apparently sufficient. And Loma Linda, the Adventist group, has the longevity. The remainder of Loma Linda doesn’t, apparently sufficient. One factor I’d add, in Okinawa, all the medical data, start certificates had been destroyed in the course of the conflict. And one of many theories of why Okinawans had been so long-lived is that when individuals had been requested how previous they had been, they made wild guesses, and there’s truly no data. The opposite factor, notably in Europe, is that pensions are primarily based on residing individuals, and lots of instances, you want that pension to outlive, and so that you don’t declare deaths of people that have truly died, so that you simply preserve getting their pension. So, there’s all kinds of different issues.
I’d add, one of many issues that stunned me after I was doing the analysis for Intestine Examine, is that individuals with the longest lifespan of any nation on the earth is slightly tiny nation between France and Spain referred to as Andorra. And it’s solely 150,000 inhabitants. And it’s means up within the Pyrenees Mountains. And the Andorrans have a really, so they really have a lifespan of about 90 years, each women and men. Fairly good. The Andorrans are sheepherders, they usually eat sheep cheese and sheep yogurts, they usually eat sausages daily. And also you go, nicely, wait a minute, that looks as if, wait a minute, cheese and sausage is the important thing to longevity? Properly, as I suggest in Intestine Examine, sure. It seems that sausages, historically ready sausages, have polyamines and the actually nasty sugar molecule in beef, lamb, and pork, and milk referred to as NU5GC, is eaten by the micro organism throughout fermentation of sausages. In order that explains why you’ll be able to sort of have your cake and eat it too. So you’ll be able to have cheese and sausages like charcuterie and perhaps reside a extremely very long time.
Katie: That’s actually thrilling as nicely, as a result of actually you additionally hear them say, you recognize, in these areas they don’t eat meat, they don’t eat animal merchandise, and it looks as if that can also be some cherry-picking of information and never an correct illustration. And particularly, I do know it’s more durable to seek out within the US, but it surely looks as if there is perhaps one thing to including extra sheep and goat dairy merchandise to our food regimen, which actually are very minimal in American food regimen consumption from my understanding.
Dr. Gundry: Yeah, I imply, fortunately, we’re starting to see like plain goat yogurt. It’s a Dealer Joe’s. There are sheep yogurt merchandise now. Uh, it’s, in a means, straightforward to seek out, uh, sheep cheeses, Manchego. You may get at Costco or Dealer Joe’s. You will discover pecorino cheese, which is a sheep cheese. Goat cheeses are slightly more durable to seek out, however even Dealer Joe’s has goat brie. A number of corporations at the moment are making goat mozzarella, goat cheddar. So individuals ought to search for these. They are going to make a distinction.
Katie: That’s nice to know. I’m curious when you noticed any knowledge, and perhaps not, that is only a analysis subject for me proper now of mineral consumption in these areas or if their surroundings naturally has extra of the minerals that we’re not getting in our food regimen, particularly if we’re consuming processed meals.
Dr. Gundry: Yeah, one of many issues that I do lots of YouTube movies about this, our soil is so depleted right here in the USA of minerals. The truth is, there’s a Senate doc from 1939 that I’ve written about in earlier books that mainly says, our soil is so depleted, this was 1939, that we must eat repeatedly and nonetheless couldn’t make up for the shortage of minerals in our food regimen, consuming repeatedly.
The opposite factor that’s occurred in our soil, is glyphosate is an antibiotic, and it’s killed off the microbiome of the soil. And the microbiome of the soil was truly answerable for taking these natural compounds and minerals and placing them into the soil, primary, after which aiding the foundation system of the plant to take up these minerals into the plant. So, you recognize, corn could appear like corn now, but it surely bears no relationship to what corn was 50 years in the past. A chunk of broccoli could appear like broccoli now, but it surely actually has a 3rd of the minerals of fifty years in the past. So yeah, we’re profoundly mineral-depleted. And by chance, these Blue Zones, or these long-lived people who aren’t, quote, official Blue Zones, they reside in distant areas, glyphosate has by no means come close to them. They farm the land or choose the land. They’re consuming greens and leaves which might be rising in eight toes of loam soil. And they also’re getting these vitamins which have lengthy been lacking in our food regimen.
Katie: Properly, and primarily based on that statistic of we’d need to eat repeatedly and we nonetheless wouldn’t get sufficient minerals, it looks as if there’s two keys there to focus on. One is, after all, avoiding glyphosate nonetheless potential. And the second, it will seem to be that is additionally a theme in podcast company that I’ve had is we’re just about at a degree within the trendy world the place we do need to complement with sure issues to achieve these minimal quantities. Like, sadly, we’re now not at a degree the place we will get the whole lot from meals, even when, such as you stated, we ate all day lengthy.
Dr. Gundry: Yeah, and one of many theories that’s truly come out of animal research is that animals, in the event that they’re disadvantaged of a specific nutrient, will repeatedly eat of what’s out there to them to get to this important nutrient quantity of their physique. Issues that they might by no means contemplate consuming or an animal that doesn’t eat lots of carbohydrates, however the carbohydrate that’s offered within the food regimen has these important minerals, the animal will go and eat these items till it will get what it’s on the lookout for. I imply, I at all times observe my canine within the spring. They’re consuming younger shoots of grass. And I’m going, yeah, that’s fascinating. What are you guys doing that for? They’re not throwing up. They’re on the lookout for younger shoots of grass. Properly, and that’s the place all the most recent little bits of polyphenols and minerals are coming from. Canine are fairly sensible, too.
Katie: I feel that highlights one thing actually vital as a result of I’ve questioned this for a very long time. We hear usually that People particularly are overfed and undernourished. A couple of years in the past, I switched from eager about energy and macros in any respect and checked out nutrient density in meals, particularly micronutrients. I consciously began upping my mineral consumption, and I seen that I used to be far much less hungry and that my physique gave the impression to be way more in tune with what it needed to eat. I’ve questioned if many of those issues we’re having within the US, after all, are multifaceted, but it surely’s as a result of we’re so poor in a few of these micronutrients that our our bodies are craving additional meals like canine would to attempt to hit these minimums for survival and if we may truly profit ourselves by being much more acutely aware in our mineral consumption and our nutrient consumption.
Dr. Gundry: Yeah, completely. One of many research that I alluded to in earlier guide was they took some, nicely, let me preface that. We all know that our microbiome determines lots of what we’re on the lookout for when it comes to energy and the types of energy we’re on the lookout for. And one of many themes of the guide, Intestine Examine, is we’ve primary, starved our microbiome as a result of we don’t eat any soluble fiber. And we’ve, you recognize, genocided our microbiome as a result of we actively eat glyphosate, we actively eat antibiotics, nearly all of the meats that we eat are loaded with antibiotics, a brand new examine out two weeks in the past confirmed that every one quick meals meals have antibiotics in them. And glyphosate.
So when you take regular volunteers in China and put them on a two-week water-only quick, and half the group will get 100 energy of prebiotic fiber, indigestible by us, however the meals for the intestine microbiome. The group that received the prebiotic fiber on a water quick had completely no starvation for 2 weeks. The group that simply received water had been actually hungry for a few week earlier than they adjusted. And I feel that confirms that mainly the microbiome was being fed, then sends textual content messages, these are literally postbiotics, to the mind saying, hey! We’re good down right here. You’ve completed your job. We’re joyful. Don’t must go search for anything. Thanks very a lot. Let’s have day. And I feel that actually does converse to the ability that we used to have in a wholesome microbiome that we fed what they wanted, like a tuber as an illustration, nice supply of prebiotic fiber, and we didn’t attempt to kill our microbiome daily with what we ate.
Katie: Wow, that’s positively a putting instance. And I might love to listen to in our previous few minutes, truly, what your personal day by day habits and food regimen and foundational issues that you just do daily, your non-negotiables, your private 80-20 since you are nonetheless a really prolific author. You talked about you’re nonetheless seeing sufferers. You appear to have this large quantity of inside power and drive to enhance the world. So I might love to listen to what your private life appears to be like like for a minute and what your day by day non-negotiables are.
Dr. Gundry: Properly, let’s see. Each day non-negotiable is I’ve to take our canine for a two-mile stroll, hike within the hills. That’s non-negotiable in line with the canine. Then I don’t eat breakfast for probably the most half. Through the winter months from January by way of June, I don’t eat lunch both. I eat all my energy in a few two-hour window from 5 to seven at evening. Do I’ve to do this? No. I’ve been doing it now, I feel, for 25 years, so it appears to be working. Through the summer time, I sort of again off from that.
There’s fairly good proof, and I talked about it in Intestine Examine, and I’ve up to now, that most likely when you actually needed to make peace together with your intestine and promote longevity, a six-hour consuming window, might be optimum. So which means an 18-hour fasting window. One of many issues I’m going over and over and over in Intestine Examine is it’s a must to have downtime on your intestine wall to restore itself. It can’t always be concerned in digestion and absorption of meals. It has to have restore. And you’ll do that to a automobile, you’ll do that to an airplane engine. The concept, the typical American eats 16 hours a day from the second we rise up to actually earlier than we go to mattress. And so there may be just about no restore time for our intestine. And whereas there are lots of excellent causes to do time-restricted consuming, intermittent fasting, I feel one of many causes that’s missed by so many individuals is the necessity for restore of the wall of the intestine.
Years in the past, taking a look at, there’s a worm mannequin of longevity. The worm is C. elegans. And the worm mannequin of longevity, this mannequin has labored for each longevity selling polyphenol drug, et cetera, we at all times begin with this worm mannequin as a result of no matter works within the worm mannequin at all times works in increased organisms. So one of many fascinating issues is the worm begins to die. Because the wall of its intestine, and it has slightly tiny digestive system, however the wall of its intestine is just one cell thick like ours. And as gaps seem within the wall of that worm’s intestine, the worm begins to die. The extra that wall will get destroyed, the quicker the worm dies. And that has had, and Hippocrates stated it 2,500 years in the past, all illness begins within the intestine, and all illness begins in a leaky intestine. So the actually intestine examine is all of us want a intestine examine to advertise the integrity of the wall of artwork. And all of the methods of how to do this that I’ve discovered now in 25 years of working with my sufferers is in that guide. And in order that’s what I do. I take lots of dietary supplements. I’m a man who a very long time in the past stated dietary supplements make costly urine. They don’t. You’re proper, our meals, our soil is so depleted that you just simply can’t sustain with what we needs to be getting in our food regimen with out supplementing.
Katie: And I do know you talked about that statistic, which appears so staggering to me as nicely, that individuals eat a mean of it in a 16-hour window within the US. And I feel I additionally learn that the typical, we expect we simply eat three meals a day, however out of your intestine’s perspective, any time energy enter the physique and need to be dealt with, that’s an consuming occasion. And I feel the newest one I noticed was it was one thing like 17 instances a day, one thing is getting into your physique that your intestine has to cope with. So it’s actually such as you stated, we’re not getting any intestine relaxation. We’re bombarding our guts, usually with issues which might be harming it, actually not usually with issues which might be serving to it. So perhaps a few of these shifts like specializing in these nutrient-density, including in some sheep and goat cheeses. I do know you have got dietary supplements that assist with the restoration course of when you’ve got leaky intestine. And I do know you go tremendous deep on this subject in Intestine Examine on easy methods to actually resolve the issues at a intestine stage. However it looks as if these easy methods usually get neglected as a result of they’re easy, and I see that sample time and again. However the nice information is that our our bodies, once we can do these easy issues, know easy methods to heal they usually need to, and they’re going to. And so I really like that you just give individuals their energy again by making that so accessible on this guide and actually in all your books, which I’ll be sure that are linked within the present notes. However Dr. Gundry, I at all times be taught a lot from you. It’s at all times an absolute pleasure to get to speak to you, and I’m so grateful on your time. Thanks for being right here right this moment.
Dr. Gundry: Properly, Wellness Mama sustain the great work.
Katie: Properly, thanks. And thanks as at all times to all of you for listening and sharing your Most worthy sources, your time, your power, and your consideration with us right this moment. We’re each so grateful that you just did. And I hope that you’ll be part of me once more on the following episode of the Wellness Mama podcast.
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