Little one: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.

Hey and welcome to the Wellness Mama podcast. I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com and I’m again as we speak with return visitor, Dr. Steven Gundry. And on this episode, we break down and debunk the myths of the Blue Zones. And I like this matter as a result of Blue Zones, I really feel like, are sometimes quoted and cherry-picked for his or her information to attempt to promote completely different plans or dietary supplements or merchandise that individuals have. And I like that we received to go deep on what the info really says about Blue Zones. And it won’t be what you suppose. I actually realized some issues about this that I didn’t know, together with some stunning statistics. I do know certainly one of these will completely shock you about one of many components that may be 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 info really 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 obtainable now within the US. We speak about their motion patterns and their day by day life-style habits, in addition to components and information round nutrient consumption and mineral consumption and why these are such essential 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 in all probability heard of him, however Dr. Gundry is the founder and director of the Worldwide Coronary heart and Lung Institute, in addition to the Heart 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 Test e-book, and plenty of others. He has over 300 articles revealed in peer-reviewed journals, and he focuses on a dietary method to decreasing illness and reversing issues like autoimmune illness. In truth, his statistic for doing that along 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 as we speak, 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: Effectively, I’m tremendous excited to leap into a subject that the title may be a bit stunning to individuals at first look, however I do know that you’ve got numerous information and expertise to help this, and I’m tremendous excited to study from you as we speak. We’re gonna speak about debunking Blue Zones. So to begin broad and provides some background, I might love so that you can clarify what are the most important misconceptions on the subject of Blue Zones as a result of I’ve been watching this information now for over a decade, and it looks as if plenty of individuals cherry-pick the info 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 rules pushed individual and you actually go to the basis of issues. So what are these misconceptions on the subject of Blue Zones?

Dr. Gundry: Effectively, as I speak about in that chapter within the, within the new e-book, Intestine Test, 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 numerous these locations the place within the water or islands or within the Mediterranean, and possibly 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 perfect longevity on this planet. And who could be within the viewers however Dan Buettner, who really 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 wished, I believe, to pick these components of the Blue Zone cultures that help his perception system. And, sadly, while you really take a look at what individuals eat in these areas, that doesn’t help his perception system one bit.

We might use Okinawa for an instance. The Okinawans, the one detailed description of the Okinawan food regimen was accomplished 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 another grain merchandise. The opposite factor that’s distinctive concerning the Okinawans is they really eat an enormous quantity of bitter, spicy inexperienced leaves and spices. In truth, in Japan, they’re known 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 truth, as I speak about within the e-book, the Okinawans can’t develop rice as a result of their local weather doesn’t help rice rising. So, oh nicely.

Now possibly probably the most spectacular factual information comes out of Sardinia. So Sardinia is an Italian island. It’s mainly received two populations, bunch of people that stay down by the ocean, they’re fishermen, and a bunch of people that stay up within the mountains, they usually’re goat and sheep herders. The one individuals who have longevity stay within the mountains. The individuals who stay down by the ocean don’t have longevity, attention-grabbing sufficient. Uh, yeah. And the individuals who stay within the mountains, what makes them have extra longevity is definitely the boys stay so long as the ladies. Now, most individuals know that males on the whole stay about seven years shorter lives than girls. You guys are the stronger intercourse, we received to confess it. However in that island, the boys really exceed the ladies’s longevity. Why is that? Effectively, 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 boys are people who smoke, and the ladies aren’t a lot. And it’s really the nicotine in smoke that is likely one of the finest 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. Nevertheless it’s actually nice for longevity. And in reality, 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 really why they stay a lot longer. Sorry about that Dan.

Now the opposite factor that’s attention-grabbing, 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 known as polyamines, which as soon as once more are extremely lifespan-promoting compound. So, a lot for the primary grain and bean concept there.

Effectively, let’s speak about 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 numerous sheep and goat cheese and goat yogurt, not like another a part of Costa Rica. And there’s a extremely attention-grabbing 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 unfavorable facet to their food regimen that they need to tolerate only for energy. Oh nicely, and we might go on and on.

Katie: Effectively, 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 simply stated smoking may really be a consider longevity for these individuals as a result of I’ve seen a few of this information as nicely about nicotine itself, particularly if we will isolate it from smoking and the dangerous components that include that. Would you say there may be a time and a spot for nicotine consumption that’s not from smoking for longevity perspective?

Dr. Gundry: Effectively, once more, I believe my buddy Dave Asprey makes use of nicotine drops on a regular basis. He argues, maybe accurately, that each one nice concepts happened in a restaurant with smoking cigarettes and consuming 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. They usually eat a food regimen with numerous tubers. They do eat numerous coconut. However right here’s one other instance the place the smoking doesn’t appear to have the unfavorable influence that we discover.

And I’m going into the e-book, and I’ve talked about it earlier than, one of many issues that in all probability will get these individuals away with the unhealthy results of smoking: Smoking causes oxidative stress, and oxidative stress makes use of up an important antioxidant known as vitamin C. And we’re one of many few animals that don’t make our personal vitamin C. We’ve got to ingest it. Vitamin C is crucial 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. Identical approach people who smoke have very distinct patterns of coronary artery illness that might be prevented by vitamin C. So I believe 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’ve got 4 of these genes, however the fifth gene is 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 stay half so long as a traditional rat. However when you put vitamin C of their consuming water, in order that they’re consuming vitamin C all day, they’ll equal how lengthy a rat would usually stay, providing you with an concept of simply how essential type 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 info really says in what our key takeaways ought to be on the subject of Blue Zones. It feels like actually not grain and bean consumption in excessive quantities, probably root greens and tubers having the next place, particularly ones which can 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 vital for longevity by any means.

And I do know individuals additionally speak about components like typically they transfer extra, like individuals like goat and sheep herders in all probability get rather more motion than the typical American. It looks as if they typically have nice group and/or areas with good mineral, extra minerals within the soil or the consuming water. However what out of your perspective are the important thing takeaways that we will really study once we take a look at the info with an correct lens that we will all study from?

Dr. Gundry: Effectively, I believe you’ve hit on numerous them. Most of those stay 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 US. Loma Linda means lovely 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 information, delivery certificates have been destroyed through the battle. And one of many theories of why Okinawans have been so long-lived is that when individuals have been requested how outdated they have been, they made wild guesses, and there’s really no information. The opposite factor, significantly in Europe, is that pensions are primarily based on dwelling individuals, and numerous instances, you want that pension to outlive, and so that you don’t declare deaths of people that have really died, so that you simply maintain getting their pension. So, there’s all kinds of different issues.

I’d add, one of many issues that shocked me after I was doing the analysis for Intestine Test, is that individuals with the longest lifespan of any nation on this planet is a bit tiny nation between France and Spain known as Andorra. And it’s solely 150,000 inhabitants. And it’s approach 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? Effectively, as I suggest in Intestine Test, sure. It seems that sausages, historically ready sausages, have polyamines and the actually nasty sugar molecule in beef, lamb, and pork, and milk known as NU5GC, is eaten by the micro organism throughout fermentation of sausages. In order that explains why you may type of have your cake and eat it too. So you may have cheese and sausages like charcuterie and possibly stay a extremely very long time.

Katie: That’s actually thrilling as nicely, as a result of actually you additionally hear them say, , in these areas they don’t eat meat, they don’t eat animal merchandise, and it looks as if that can be some cherry-picking of information and never an correct illustration. And particularly, I do know it’s tougher to search out within the US, however it looks as if there may be 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 approach, straightforward to search out, uh, sheep cheeses, Manchego. You will get at Costco or Dealer Joe’s. You could find pecorino cheese, which is a sheep cheese. Goat cheeses are a bit tougher to search out, however even Dealer Joe’s has goat brie. A number of corporations are actually 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 information, and possibly not, that is only a analysis matter for me proper now of mineral consumption in these areas or if their atmosphere 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 numerous YouTube movies about this, our soil is so depleted right here in the US of minerals. In truth, 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 really chargeable for taking these natural compounds and minerals and placing them into the soil, primary, after which aiding the basis system of the plant to take up these minerals into the plant. So, , corn could seem like corn now, however it bears no relationship to what corn was 50 years in the past. A chunk of broccoli could seem like broccoli now, however it 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 those who aren’t, quote, official Blue Zones, they stay 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 can 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: Effectively, 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, in fact, avoiding glyphosate nonetheless doable. And the second, it could seem to be that is additionally a theme in podcast friends that I’ve had is we’re just about at some extent within the fashionable world the place we do need to complement with sure issues to achieve these minimal quantities. Like, sadly, we’re not at some extent the place we will get all the pieces from meals, even when, such as you stated, we ate all day lengthy.

Dr. Gundry: Yeah, and one of many theories that’s really come out of animal research is that animals, in the event that they’re disadvantaged of a selected nutrient, will repeatedly eat of what’s obtainable to them to get to this important nutrient quantity of their physique. Issues that they’d by no means contemplate consuming or an animal that doesn’t eat numerous carbohydrates, however the carbohydrate that’s offered within the food regimen has these important minerals, the animal will go and eat these things till it will get what it’s on the lookout for. I imply, I at all times comply with my canine within the spring. They’re consuming younger shoots of grass. And I’m going, yeah, that’s attention-grabbing. What are you guys doing that for? They’re not throwing up. They’re on the lookout for younger shoots of grass. Effectively, and that’s the place all the latest little bits of polyphenols and minerals are coming from. Canines are fairly sensible, too.

Katie: I believe that highlights one thing actually essential as a result of I’ve questioned this for a very long time. We hear typically that People particularly are overfed and undernourished. Just a few years in the past, I switched from occupied with 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 appeared to be rather more in tune with what it wished to eat. I’ve questioned if many of those issues we’re having within the US, in fact, are multifaceted, however it’s as a result of we’re so poor in a few of these micronutrients that our our bodies are craving further meals like canine would to attempt to hit these minimums for survival and if we might really 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 e-book was they took some, nicely, let me preface that. We all know that our microbiome determines numerous 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 e-book, Intestine Test, is we’ve primary, starved our microbiome as a result of we don’t eat any soluble fiber. And we’ve, , 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 each 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 have been actually hungry for a couple of week earlier than they adjusted. And I believe 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 accomplished your job. We’re blissful. Don’t must go search for the rest. Thanks very a lot. Let’s have a superb day. And I believe that actually does converse to the facility that we used to have in a wholesome microbiome that we fed what they wanted, like a tuber as an example, 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 hanging instance. And I might love to listen to in our previous few minutes, really, what your individual day by day habits and food regimen and foundational issues that you simply 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 big quantity of inner 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: Effectively, 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 based on the canine. Then I don’t eat breakfast for probably the most half. Through the winter months from January by June, I don’t eat lunch both. I eat all my energy in a couple of two-hour window from 5 to seven at evening. Do I’ve to try this? No. I’ve been doing it now, I believe, for 25 years, so it appears to be working. Through the summer season, I type of again off from that.

There’s fairly good proof, and I talked about it in Intestine Test, and I’ve prior to now, that in all probability when you actually wished 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 time and again in Intestine Test is you must have downtime to your intestine wall to restore itself. It can not consistently be concerned in digestion and absorption of meals. It has to have restore. And you’ll do that to a automotive, 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’s nearly no restore time for our intestine. And whereas there are numerous superb causes to do time-restricted consuming, intermittent fasting, I believe 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 a bit 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 try this that I’ve realized now in 25 years of working with my sufferers is in that e-book. And in order that’s what I do. I take numerous 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 simply simply can’t sustain with what we ought 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 median of it in a 16-hour window within the US. And I believe 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 believe 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, typically with issues which can be harming it, actually not typically with issues which can be serving to it. So possibly a few of these shifts like specializing in these nutrient-density, including in some sheep and goat cheeses. I do know you could have dietary supplements that assist with the restoration course of when you have leaky intestine. And I do know you go tremendous deep on this matter in Intestine Test on how you can actually resolve the issues at a intestine degree. Nevertheless it looks as if these easy methods typically get ignored as a result of they’re easy, and I see that sample again and again. However the nice information is that our our bodies, once we can do these easy issues, know how you can heal they usually wish to, and they’ll. And so I like that you simply give individuals their energy again by making that so accessible on this e-book 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 study a lot from you. It’s at all times an absolute pleasure to get to speak to you, and I’m so grateful to your time. Thanks for being right here as we speak.

Dr. Gundry: Effectively, Wellness Mama sustain the nice work.

Katie: Effectively, thanks. And thanks as at all times to all of you for listening and sharing your most dear assets, your time, your power, and your consideration with us as we speak. We’re each so grateful that you simply did. And I hope that you’ll be part of me once more on the following episode of the Wellness Mama podcast.

Should you’re having fun with these interviews, would you please take two minutes to go away a score or evaluation on iTunes for me? Doing this helps extra individuals to search out the podcast, which suggests much more mothers and households may benefit from the data. I actually admire your time, and thanks as at all times for listening.