Nutrition is Science-Backed Medicine

By Dr. Justin Marchegiani

Nutrient: “a substance that provides nourishment

essential for growth and the maintenance of life.”

You Are What You Eat

Why do people change their diet? While popular answers are to lose weight (fat), or to get in better shape (adding muscle), good nutrition is in fact about so much more than changing your physical appearance. Proper nutrition–diet and supplementation–is a science-backed way to improve your health. “You are what you eat,” and everyday you have the power to decide how the foods you consume will serve you. Let food be thy medicine: heal your gut, balance your hormones, improve your mood, boost your energy, and more.

Nutrition as Medicine

As kids, many of us were told to eat our vegetables–why? ”Because they’re good for you.”

As adults, we are told to eat our vegetables–why? “To shed some weight.”

Neither of these answers demonstrates the true healing nature of what we put in our bodies, so, without further ado, here are some of the most powerful science-backed healing properties of a healthy diet!

Click here for a personalized health plan from a functional medicine doctor!

Physical Appearance

We all know that changing our diet can help us lose weight, but did you know that a healthy diet can improve the appearance of your skin and hair too? B-vitamins, like biotin, have been shown to improve the appearance of skin and nails. Collagen also supports healthy hair, skin, and joints!

Increased Energy

A poor diet lacking in healthy macro and micronutrients–paired with a diet high in sugar, alcohol, and processed foods–can lead to headaches, brain fog, and fatigue. On the other hand, eating grass fed meat, healthy fats, and lots of fresh vegetables will give your body the fuel it needs to function optimally.

The Standard American Diet (“SAD” – a fitting acronym) is full of inflammatory processed foods and refined carbs & sugar which deplete the immune system, increase the rate of cancer, and increase the risk of developing autoimmune disease. 

Inflammation is the root cause of most diseases: but a diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods is the best gift you can give yourself to feel and function at your best!

Better Sleep

Poor sleep–whether you’re lacking hours, or your sleep quality is not that good– can increase your risk of diabetes, decrease your immune system, and accelerate aging. 

Alcohol and caffeine both impair sleep quality. Caffeine has a half-life of around 6 hours, so ideally you want to have your last cup by 2pm. Alcohol robs you of restorative REM sleep, which in addition to its dehydrating effects, lead to the next day’s dreaded hangover.

Food that positively affect sleep include veggies, grass-fed beef, chia seeds, sweet potato, wild-caught salmon, and those rich in magnesium. On the other hand, simple carbs and sugar negatively affect blood sugar and sleep–especially if consumed in the evening.

Balanced Hormones

Your body *needs* fat! Fat is required for your body to produce various hormones and keep inflammation low. Carbs, especially simple carbs, can actually increase inflammation and disrupt the delicate balance of your hormones.

If you suffer from leaky gut or other gut issues, you may be deficient in gut bacteria. Probiotics, like those from fermented foods–like sauerkraut, kimchi, and kombucha– provide your gut with beneficial bacteria which can help keep your hormones in balance.

Improved Mood

Did you know that dairy, sugar, and gluten are linked to depression? While the Mediterranean diet, rich in saturated fat, fish, and vegetables is associated with both decreased rates of depression *and* a longer lifespan!

Ready to Take Charge?

By now, you should have all the motivation you need to make a change for the healthier. Here are some resources to help you get started:

• The JustInHealth Eating Plan
  • How to Eat, What to Eat, and the Healthy Meal Matrix
• Nutrient Support
  • If you or your diet is deficient in certain nutrients, supplementing with high quality supplements shouldn’t be overlooked!
    • Iron Supreme: Hypothyroidism, anemia, and iron deficiency are all linked. Many women are iron-deficient, which can be remedied by eating red meat and supplementing with a high-quality iron supplement, like Iron Supreme.
    • Magnesium Supreme: Magnesium is essential for proper function of over 300 enzymatic reactions and for the performance of many vital physiological functions. A magnesium deficiency can lead to osteoporosis, blood sugar problems, poor sleep, muscle cramps, and more.
    • Multi-Nutrient Supreme: Your daily all-in-one for general nutrient support! Vitamins A, B, C, D, E and so much more!

Questions? Click here if you are ready for help learning how to take your health back into your own hands!

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24939238

Jun S Lai, Sarah Hiles, Alessandra Bisquera, Alexis J Hure, Mark McEvoy, John Attia; A systematic review and meta-analysis of dietary patterns and depression in community-dwelling adults, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2014;99(1):181–197

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5532289/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5637834/

Food Allergies and Joint Pain

By Dr. Justin Marchegiani

Food allergies and intolerances are common culprits of inflammation, which is considered to be the root of modern diseases. The body can be allergic to any food, therefore any food is capable of causing inflammation, potentially leading to joint pain and arthritis.

Most doctors who are specialized in treating arthritis and many other joint issues tend to rely on medications that only address symptoms of the conditions and totally ignore the underlying cause. Many patients who go to a rheumatologist for joint pain are prescribed medications that may provide temporary relief, but have a dangerous side effects in the long term.

In the last five years of seeing patients with joint pain, I have found that many patients respond positively to simple nutritional and dietary changes.  By removing inflammatory foods that aggravate the immune system, my patients’ joints see great improvements thanks to these dietary changes alone.

Medications do nothing more than mask the symptoms of pain, all the while aggravating other issues, such as gastrointestinal and liver problems.  These medications also cause mineral deficiencies (folic acid, vitamin C, and other nutrients) which continues to worsen the problem the drugs were originally prescribed for.  Proper nutrient levels are very important for helping joints, ligaments, and tendons to heal properly.

While you’re on a medication in hopes of it fixing your joint pain, you are actually setting yourself up for more long-term severe joint pain in the future.  Addressing the underlying cause (the source of your inflammation) is the best way to solve the problem- for good.

The vicious cycle in summary:

Click here for help determining the cause of your joint pain.

Autoimmunity is an underpinning:

Osteoarthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Ankylosing spondylitis

Lupus

Spondylitic arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis

reactive arthritis

Fibromyalgia

Scleroderma

Common inflammatory foods:

All grains, including: wheat, barley, rye, oats, corn, rice, millet, sorghum, etc.

Lectins

Night shades (potato, eggplant, tomato, peppers, tobacco).

Sugar

Legumes (peanuts, soy, beans)

Anti-inflammatory foods:

Wild-caught fish and/or fish oil

Grass-fed Meat

Coconut oil

Lower glycemic fruits, such as berries

Non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and asparagus

Herbs such as turmeric, garlic, and ginger

Green tea

Experiencing Joint Pain? Click here to ask a functional medicine doctor about it.

Top 10 Anti-Inflammatory Foods | Podcast #197

Welcome to a functional medicine podcast! In this video, Dr. J and Evan Brand discuss what the top 10 anti-inflammatory foods are, what nutrients derive from them and how essential can those nutrients be to our gut and overall health.

Keep tuning in for more videos to get the latest about what’s happening on the functional medicine world. Hit subscribe, smash the bell, and don’t forget to share!

Dr. Justin Marchegiani

In this episode, we cover:

02:34     Importance of Nutrients in Anti-Inflammatory Foods

05:35     Ways and Mediums for Foods to be Consumed

10:44    All About Priorities

23:54    Glyphosate Affects Glycine

28:10    Digestion Problem Epidemic

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Hey, guys. It’s Dr. Justin Marchegiani here. Evan Brand, happy Monday! How are you doing?

Evan Brand: Happy Monday to you, man. I’m doing great. Summer’s going along fast. I mean, it’s already like mid-August now, and before you know it, it’s gonna be September, October, November. Then I’ll be complaining that it’s cold. So—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I know. Can you believe it, man? Time flies when you’re having fun. Any uh— fun stuff happen this weekend for you?

Evan Brand: Not— Not, I mean, every weekends fun but nothing out of the ordinary. You know, we— we did some hiking and-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.

Evan Brand: -saw a bunch of butterflies and— Oh! We did get chiggers on us. That was not fun.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: [incomprehensible] chiggers are interesting. Yeah.

Evan Brand: It was two weeks— Not two weeks, two hours picking chiggers off of us. They were so small I had a little magnifying glass. You literally could barely even see it. At first, I thought it was ticks.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Wow!

Evan Brand: It’s small. And so now, we’re all covered in chigger bites. But besides that, We’re doing good.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Excellent. Very good, man. Yeah. Doing a lot of water skiing this weekend, uh— enjoying Austin. It wasn’t quite as hot as it normally is in the summer this weekend so it’s pretty fun.

Evan Brand: That’s great. Yeah. you’re gonna— You’re gonna miss out on the uh— the water. I guess I have to revisit the water.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Totally. Absolutely. Well, let’s dig in, man. Let’s talk about our top ten anti-inflammatory foods. So we make a lot of recommendations to patients on, you know, certain foods, and— You know, we tend to follow like a Paleo template, right? And the Paleo template is nothing more than utilizing anti-inflammatory, nutrient dense, and low toxin foods. And we typically— Animal protein, the quality component’s also factored in, right? Organic, pasture-fed, you know, antibiotic-free, hormone-free. Animal products can have a lot of really great nutrient density, right? A lot of people that are plant-based, they kind of miss out on that. Do you know, uh— I got a lot of conversation to people on nutrient-density. So, for instance, 500 calories and grass-fed meat packs a lot of nutrition, right? You can get 500 calories of grass-fed meat in about eight ounces of meat, which is pretty reasonable, right? A lot of people, they’ll go out and they’ll get like a sev— you know, a six to eight ounce kind of Filet Mignon, or a bigger Rib Eye. Lot of good nutrients there. To get 500 calories of Kale, you got to consume 16 cups of Kale. That’s a lot of Kale! Most people would never consume that much. So the nutrient density is easier in some of these animal products, and it’s easier to get. It’s easier to access. Most people couldn’t do 16 cups of Kale in two days, let alone one day. But almost anyone could do eight ounces of grass-fed meat at one meal. And I’ll— Typically, if I go to a nice steak restaurant, I’ll even do— I’ll even do 16 in one meal for some good Rib Eye.

Evan Brand: Yeah. Let’s talk about why. I mean, why is it so important? You got to have these nutrients to—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Right.

Evan Brand: For one, you got to stabilize your blood sugar. And so, if you’re not getting good fats-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmhm—

Evan Brand: -good proteins in, you must stabilize in blood sugar. And then, two, all the different-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Great.

Evan Brand: -micronutrients in amino acids that you get from your meats. Those go into fuel hormones, and neurotransmitters.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Right.

Evan Brand: So this is why like Vegetarians and Vegans, they come to us so often, but they a lot of times have a mental health issue, like an Anxiety problem. And it’s because they have no protein in. Or if they do have protein, as you mentioned, it’s beans. And then they have a bunch of digestive problems ‘cause they’re eating like cups of beans a day.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. So when we look at animals, right? Animals have a great ability to concentrate plant matter. So part of the reason why a lot of animal products can be superfood is because they concentrate plant matter. Number two, if you do organ meats— organ meats. If you look at like— Just Google like Vitamin A, you know, animal versus plant. I mean, you’re gonna see a lot of the plant-stuff. It’s— It’s beta-Carotene and uh— precursor compounds, right? These mixed Carotenoids, these beta-Carotene things, they have to get converted. Right? It’s not active Vitamin A. But if you get animal-based Vitamin A, whether it’s from Cod liver oil or actual liver— liver glands but they weren’t from good quality grass-fed meat, it’s already activated. So a lot of these nutrients are ar— already activated in animal-based forms. And number two, they’re— they’re concentrated, right? Part of the reason they’re concentrated is because the animals concentrate plant matter as they grow. If they’re— you know, if they’re like a natural kind of sustainably farmed type of thing, they’re gonna be grass-fed, and they’re gonna have access to it. We’re not talking about the CAFO feedlot thing. A lot of these, you know, documentaries, you’ll see like cow-spiracy. They kind of just like lump in all animal products are like this, and they— they pretend like there isn’t another option over here that uses organic and kind of like naturally farmed uh— protocols-

Evan Brand: Yeah.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: -to make it work, right?

Evan Brand: Yup, well said. Let’s talk about gut real quick and then we’ll get into the food. So, if your-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.

Evan Brand: -gut’s inflammed, you’re gonna have a leaky gut situation.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmhm—

Evan Brand: You and I measured this on Stool testing. We look at levels of Calprotectin. We look at secretory IGA.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Right.

Evan Brand: And if your gut’s inflamed, you’re more susceptible to pick up infections. So bacteria and parasites, and worms, and everything else that we see, if you’re gut’s leaky because your gut’s inflamed because you’re eating inflammatory foods, that’s a big like Domino effect. And you could take all the herbs in the world to kill your infections but you have to have an anti-inflammatory diet at the base of it. Otherwise, it won’t work. I’ll just give an example. I did a case review this morning with some clients. And they’re vegetarians. And I’ve been really trying to get them to eat animal proteins but they won’t listen to me. The biggest foundation of their diet is grains. And we’ve looked at their IGA levels, and their IGA levels are still terrible. Now, we did clear some infections, but they have a bunch of parasites. And, I don’t think they’re be— gonna be able to heal their gut if they stay a hundred percent vegetarian. All they eat is like salad three times a day, and then they poop out undigested leafy greens. It’s like your body’s trying to tell you something, but they won’t listen. So—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: E— Exactly, and that’s a really important component. We talked about some of these foods. There’s lots of different ways and mediums in which these foods can be consumed— soup, or smoothie, or— or juice, or sauteed, or cooked. [inhales] I think it’s really important that you— one, you should be able to digest and break down these foods. Like, some people may say, “I have a really terrible experience eating meat.” Well, why? Right? Your digestive system probably stinks, and that’s why you have a hard time breaking it down. Your hydrochloric acid and enzyme levels probably aren’t good, so you can’t break the amino acids down in the meat. So, typically, when patients are like that, I say, “Hey. Eat the highest amount of meat that you can handle without any negative consequences. That may be an ounce, right? And then I’ll say, well, let’s try making it so it’s broken down even better. Maybe use a soup type of form, where everything’s broken down, cooked, peeled, mashed, sauteed. That way, there’s the— the least amount of stress on your gut to extract these nutrients. So when we go into our top 10 list, it’s not gonna be an order of like, you know, ones being the best, 10’s being the worst. We’ll just kind of give you our top ten categories, and from there that you guys can uh— figure out what works for you. But in general, uhm— the cooking method may be really important. LIke Evan said if you can’t processthe— the leafy greens and such and you see a whole bunch of stuff in your stool, that may be a problem.

Evan Brand: Yeah. Y— You got to do something.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Big time.

Evan Brand: Let’s dive in.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Alright, cool. So off the bat, I will just say, we’ll just kind of go into our animal products. I would say, grass-fed meat, uhm— and grass-feds, you know— or not grass-fed, but I would say, like Wild-caught Salmon, uhm— Cod, Haddock, fish that are very high in Omega-3’s that are more wild-caught are gonna have excellent amount of Omega-3’s. And along with grass-fed meat, which is gonna have a very high amount— amount of Omega-3’s because the grass increases the Omega-3 content and decrease the Omega-6. Omega-6 is a more inflammatory kind of arachidonic acid 2 pathway, or prostaglandin E2 pathway, more inflammatory. So if you get more of the grass-fed, you’re gonna increase the Omega-3’s in that anti-inflammatory fat.

Evan Brand: yup, and the good thing is, you can actually measure this. If someone wants to get their blood checked, you could do like an Omega-3 or Omega-6 blood test, and you can look at your ratios. What we saw prehistorically was closer to 1:1 ratio, Omega-3 to -6. Now, it’s something crazy, like 20 times higher Omega-6 in the diet versus Omega-3’s ‘cause there’s peanut oil and other Omega-6 rich oils and all the foods that you eat at restaurants.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Totally. Totally. So, I’m gonna put the— I’m gonna put the uhm— the high-quality Salmon and the Omega-3 fish on there. I’m gonna put the grass-fed meat on there. I would even go into high-quality saturated fats like Coconut oil. Coconut oil’s gonna be an excellent one, especially if there’s any inflammation. Most people can tolerate Coconut oil. I’d even say some could probably even do butter. BUtter can be really anti-inflammatory. But some people may have a reaction to the small amount of Lactose or Casein in there, so Ghee may be better. But the more inflamed you are, a good quality saturated fat Coconut tends to be very helpful. And it’s very heat stable too, so the cooking of that won’t oxidize it and make it a— a free radical-based fat, [crosstalk] like transfat.

Evan Brand: Yup. I would add Avocados to the list while we’re talking about fats.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yup.

Evan Brand: I do an Avocado, not everyday. II did get obsess with Avocados for a bit and started getting migraine headaches from them. Maybe sometype of Histamine reaction or—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmhm—

Evan Brand: …or Polyol reaction. I’m not sure what it was but uh— I believe isn’t Avocado a FODMAP?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: It is. It’s a moderate FODMAP. It’s also a monounsaturated fat, so it’s a good one. It’s that good meme on the Face— Facebook I— I see a lot. It’s just great. It’s like an— an Avocado looking in the mirror like having a conversation with himself and he’s like, “You’re fat,” and then he goes, “But you’re a good fat.” [laughs]

Evan Brand: Exactly. I love that one.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: [laughs] Is it a great little meme? So I like it. It’s a good quality fat. Lot of good nutrient density in there. And not even good g— egg yolks next. Eggs and/or egg yolks. Uh— I would say, some people that can’t tolerate eggs may still be able to tolerate the yolk to a lot of good fat-soluble vitamins. So I would go to the eggs and/or egg yolks next. And again, just to be clear to everyone, if we— if we don’t highlight the quality, the quality’s always assumed to be the highest. So pasture-fed, you know, organic, you know, cage-free, of course, will be assumed uh— with all the quality of foods we talk about here.

Evan Brand: There’s a huge difference. Some may say a note about that. There’s a big difference even between certified organic eggs and certified organic pastured [crosstalk] local—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes.

Evan Brand: So like the Whole Foods Organic Eggs, the yolk is still pretty yellow, but we get these local eggs. There’s a pasture like 20 minutes from here. The eggs are— the yolk is so orange, you can’t even believe it. You’ve never even seen a yolk like that. So if you guys haven’t sought out a local farm, go on the website Eat Wild. Just Google “Eat Wild” or “Local Harvest” and type in your zip code and you can find all sorts of farms, and you could probably find farmer’s markets where you’re gonna get legit— legit quality.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Totally. And— And Joe Salitan who runs Polyface Farm, he’s taking some of his pasture-fed organic eggs. He sent them to the lab, and he actually compared uhm— conventional eggs that he bought at the local grocery store near him. And, then again, this is— I haven’t seen the lab analysis, but uh— I trust Joe. He said that the Folate levels in his eggs were 20 times higher than the conventional eggs.

Evan Brand: That’s amazing.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: So I mean, it’s like, let’s say, you do spend twice the amount of money on something— Let’s say you don’t even get 20 times more. Let’s say you get three or four times more nutrition in certain parts. Is that worth it? I think so.

Evan Brand: Absolutely. Well— So I posted on my facebook page last week. I just put up a podcast with Stephanie Seneff all about Glyphosate.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes.

Evan Brand: It’s a really good episode. And I told people that of you’re not eating a hundred percent organic, that you’re slowly killing yourself. And the lady said that— that I was in an elitist and I was an a-hole, and all these other mean names, and it’s because I told her that if you can afford a new iPhone, you can afford to pay the extra 1 dollar to get organic versus conventional. I don’t think that’s elitist. That’s just saying, “You could probably spend the extra buck because if— if you don’t spend the extra dollar now, you’re gonna spend more money later down the road when you have a health problem caused from that food that was lower quality.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. It hits a lot of people’s hot buttons because it’s— the argument really is about priorities. Right? It’s w— where things are more important, money tends to go, right? The problem is, there are a lot of people that kind of have an entitlement, where they expect optimal health but they want to put zero time or money towards it.

Evan Brand: Yeah.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And like if you read Micheal Paulins book— I think it was The Omnivore’s Dilemma. He talked about the amount of money that we use to put towards our food in the 1950’s. It was about 18% of our daily income— or our yearly income. And then, today, it’s been down to 9%. So what does that mean? We’re allocating 50% less of our resources to healthy quality food. I think that’s part of the reason why, you know, we’re sicker as a country, is that we want cheaper, more convenient food, which tends to be more processed and more inflammatory, and less nutrition in it. So there’s a sense of entitlement out there, and we’re just trying to fix the entitlement by, one, inspiring people and motivating them, and number two, giving them the education of like—alright, “Where can I get these things? Which foods are the best from a nutrient density anti-inflammatory stand point. And then piggybacking on that, the Monsanto had a big lawsuit. Uhm—They came back Friday night to take a 290,000,000-dollar lawsuit with this uhm—with this gentleman up in the bay area who was spraying pesticides. He worked on the school, and he would spray pesticides and he ended up getting this Lymphoma that was directly correlated uh— connected to the Monsanto uh— Roundup Glyphosate he was spraying. And it’s interesting— I want to just kind of go off this reef one sec— is the attorney from Monsanto is saying, “Hey. We have 80 studies saying it’s totally safe.” But they still ruled on his favor because the evidence was so compelling. So my question is, “How the heck do you have such strong evidence where a judge is gonna rule on your favor, which is so hard against a Monsanto team that has like the best lawyers, probably teams of attorneys, to rule against them, when you have 80 studies saying it doesn’t? That kind of makes me second guess how these studies could even be created, where you can manipulate the sample size. YOu may not have a great group to compare it to. Maybe you’re not giving an accurate amount of the dose of Roundup because you’re not comparing all the different foods. How the f— The fact is, how can you get 80 studies saying it when now you have evidence that people are actually uhm— coming down with it. That’s— That’s a scary part. That makes me, let’s just say, second guess a lot of conventional scientific research out there from all kinds of different mediums, from various procedures and medications and drugs.  

Evan Brand: Yeah, well said, and so just to clarify for people, if something is not marked organic at your grocery, you can assume that it is sprayed with Glyphosate. We have millions— hundreds of millions of pounds sprayed in the US each year, and it really should not be called conventional food. I should really be called chemical, and then— So there’s the chemical section and then there’s organic. It shouldn’t be conventional because that’s not conventional. Conventional was organic just a short time ago. Now, organic has to be labeled organic but-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes.

Evan Brand: Your grandparents ate conventional in the 1940’s before Glyphosate was invented, and that was organic back then because Glyphosate-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Right.

Evan Brand: -didn’t exist.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And here’s the— he’s part of like the reason why a lot of this stuff’s skewed. RIght? If like, you’re Monsanto, and you’ve invested billions of dollars into a product, and you’re researching the product, what are the odds are that you’re gonna come up with negative information— let’s just say, shutting down this product, like sho— like showing that it’s negative and bad and harmful? Now, again, a perfect world would happen is, it would— you may— you may kind of like, you know, manipulate the study a little bit. A lawsuit like this happens and then, it sends a signal to every company. “No. We got to be really careful because we don’t want to be shut down with a massive lawsuit like this that would cripple a company. . Number two is, if I’m like, you know, Josh Mo, scientist at a university, and I want to do a study at this— looking at the safety of Glyphosate or Roundup, how do I get the ability to do a study on that? I have to license that product, that chemical, from Monsanto. Would you think Monsanto’s gonna license that product to me to use in the study? Probably not. This is what becomes, This becomes really hard to— to know the safety of some of these things, where it’s a little bit more ay, easier to do a study on Vitamin C, or an herb because there’s no major patent or massive company behind it. So it’s easier to study nutrients and herbs because it— they’re just out there in nature. There’s no patent on it. No one has exclusive rights to it. So I think it’s easier to believe some of the plant or nutrient or vitamin-based research out there. But when you have a licensed product that people have invested billions into, it’s harder to get unbiased research on those compounds.

Evan Brand: Yup. Agreed. So, eat organic is the goal. Check out the podcast with Stephanie because it will make you just really understand  why are we having so much trouble digesting Gluten and dairy and it’s because of the Glyphosate is replacing a Glycine amino acid in the profile, so the protein literally becomes indigestible. It’s mind-blowing! It makes perfect sense, and this is why so many dog foods are going grain-free and a lot of these cat foods are going grain-free. It’s ‘cause the pets can’t digest the food either because the food has Glyphosate in it. That’s why these cats and dogs are having allergy problems and Cancers. A lot of pet cancers.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Totally makes sense, and we a little kind of— We went off the— the beat and path here for a sec but I think it’s important to highlight this because if foods have these various residues, even if it’s on our top 10 list here, it may not be a good food for that.

Evan Brand: yeah. And a lot of our listeners \are already smart cookies, but if you see natural or something that does not mean anything, if you see organic, that is organic. That is a certification. It’s completely different than natural.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Little different, yeah.

Evan Brand: Yup. Go for organic.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: You can make that claim. There’s a little more behind that claim.

Evan Brand: Let me say a couple things about coconut. You mentioned coconut oil. I would tell people too. If you— If you like it, or if you’re looking for a swap, and you’re not doing well, with like Almond milk or if you’re still drinking conventional milk, coconut milk, you can do a full fat coconut milk. YOu can use that as creamer in your coffee if you have to have it. You could do uh— just coconut butter is awesome like coconut cream is great. So there’s or just eat a straight coconut and eat the meat of the coconut. There’s a tons of benefits.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Totally. Now, let’s go onto some various herbs that we can add with our foods. Uh— Big fan of Curcumin or Turmeric, as well as Ginger. And if any of my patients are listening, they know how much I like the Ginger tea and how important it is for helping with bile films and also helping with inflammation reduction. So, Ginger’s excellent. And then also Turmeric or Curcumin, which is kind of the concentrated kind of active compound in Turmeric is great for inflammation. I have a liposomal Curcumin uh— a Liposomal Curcumin because a lot of Turmeric isn’t quite well-absorbed in the powder forms, so the liposome helps with the absorption. That product’s called Curcumin Supreme, but in general, these— these can be excellent ways to reduce inflammation by adding the spice to your food, uh— supplementing with it, and/or doing a Ginger tea or a Ginger Kombucha can really help reduce inflammation in your body.

Evan Brand: Yeah, that’s great. I would say Cinnamon would be one to add to the list, too, of things you should have.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: For blood sugar too.

Evan Brand: Yeah. I love using Cinnamon to help with stabilizing blood sugar. There’s actually-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmhm—

Evan Brand: -some blood sugar supplements that have Cinnamon as an ingredient, so that show you how powerful it can be, not only as a spice or a flavoring, but just for if you’re having issues with hypo or hyperglycemia. You could definitely look into it.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Absolutely. Let’s go into some various nuts and seeds. I mean, there’s some really good seeds. Chia seeds are great. They have really good Omega-3 content. Omega- 3 is that anti-inflammatory uhm— fatty acid. Uhm— So we have Chia the Chia seeds in there. We also have walnuts, which are excellent for Omega-3 fatty acid content. Uhm— Are there any other seed— We have Flax as well, which has some good Omega-3 content. We had got to be careful with a lot of the plant-based fats. The plant-based fats that are the Omega-3-based tend to be more Alpha-linolenic, which has to get converted to a 20-carbon EPA, or Eicosapentaenoic, which then gets converted to Docosahexaenoic, which is the 22 Carbons. So it goes 18-Carbon to 20 to 22. And this process of adding two Carbons and two Carbons basically requires certain enzymes to be there and can decrease the conversion. So, that’s why the— the animal fats tend to be a little bit more superior on the EPA and DHA side because of the conversion process.

Evan Brand: ‘Cause you’re avoiding the conversion process, you’re saying?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: [crosstalk] Yeah. you’re bypassing the conversion process when you’re doing animal products. When you’re doing plant, there is a conversion process. Now, the less inflamed you are and the more Insulin-sensitive you are, the more you can convert that. So there’s an enzyme called delta-5 desaturase. Should it delta-5 or delta-4? But that enzyme is involved in that Alpha-linolenic to Ecosapentanoic conversion, and the more inflamed you are and the more Insulin-resistant you are, that enzyme downregulates and decreases the conversion. So you get less of those good quality anti-inflammatory Omega-3’s.

Evan Brand: Makes sense.I’d like to add pumpkin seeds to the list. I’ve been-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Very high in Zinc.

Evan Brand: -feeling so good with pumpkin seeds. I found a brand that’s organic, just a little touch of salt on them, and I do great with those, and most people can tolerate those quite well.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Excellent. Very good. Now, if we go to some of the fruits, I mean, I would go to the more nutrient-dense lower sugar fruits ‘cause high sugar in— in higher forms can be inflammatory just because it increases Insulin, and it causes these Advanced Glycation End Products. So we got to be careful with the sugar component. So I would say things like uhm— Blueberries, uh— Raspberries, uh— Blackberries, Strawberries— There’s a lot of research with blueberries and the various bioflavonoids helping our neurological tissue, our neurological health, decreasing Alzheimer’s and Dementia. Uhm— So a lot of these nutrients have a lot of phytonutrients, a lot of antioxidants. Some haven’t been studied  enough to even know the health benefits of, so I think it’s always good to keep some of these components in there to maximize antioxidant levels and overall phytonutrients.

Evan Brand: I would throw in the Citrus a bit too. Some Lemon, some Limes could be great.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes.

Evan Brand: I do that in the morning. A lot of people say that they just don’t have an appetite to drink water, or just, they don’t like the taste of it or something, so they just don’t drink much, especially a lot of teenagers that I work with. So I just tell them, “Make a little homemade Lemonade. Do a dash of Stevia or Monk Fruit, Lime, Lemon, and drink it, and that can be great. There’s a ton of benefits to that. And even some of the heavy metal detox protocols that I’ve learned-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmhm—

Evan Brand: -the companies recommend that the client drinks Lemon to help during the process, so that’s pretty cool.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Totally. Absolutely. Is there anything else? So then we also have like our green vegetables. And then again, a lot of these green veggies are gonna be very high in Sulforaphane, uh— Diindolylmethane, uhm— a lot of various antiCancer uhm— es— antioxidant compounds that are gonna be very helpful. This can be our any green leafy vegetable. It can be Bok Choy. Uhm— It could be Broccoli. Just really good leafy greens, color greens— very anti-inflammatory, very antiCancer, very uh— Estrogen metabolite type of uhm— to Estrogen metabolite detoxifying compounds, I would say.

Evan Brand: Yeah. And we weave and use Broccoli extract in some of our protocols, so there’s actually really, really good solid evidence on the helping with Estrogen metabolism. So if you’d have any type of uh— Phthalate or plastic PA type exposure, which everyone has, then Broccoli extracts, or just eating Broccoli or Broccoli sprouts are awesome. I have a friend who actually makes a lot of different sprouts. He grows them and sells them at the farmer’s market, and people loved that stuff, and they feel so good.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: That’s great. That’s great. And also say, uh— bone broth and/or organ meats, kind of put them on the same category ‘cause they’re more like deeper internal type of uhm— nutrient compounds. So, bone broths, you’re gonna get from either like uhm— a Crock pot or you’ll buy the bone broth or you’re doing Instapot with high quality, good animal bones in there, and/or organ meats, too, where there is liver or some glandular tissue. It’s gonna be excellent, lot of good vitamin A, lot of good fat soluble nutrients and bone broth is great ‘cause you can sip it and it really helps with the gut lining. It’s very high in Glycine, which is one of those uh— components that I think is affected by Roundup or Glyphosate, right? Glyphosate, it affects Glycine, right? What was the mechanism Stephanie Seneff said?

Evan Brand: So— Yeah. It— I believe the— So the Glyphosate, it is uh— I believe it’s a Glycine molecule that has something extra added to it. So, it replaces a Glycine. It’s like the body thinks that it’s Glycine but it’s not, so that’s why it’s so dangerous.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: But I imagine it may block some of the effects that Glycine would normally have on the body.

Evan Brand: That’s right.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Glycine has a lot of beneficial effects at helping to be a backbone for Glutathione, so I imagine that Roundup or Glyphosate probably decreases Glutathione function. And I imagine it probably decreases the enterocytes that line our gut, ‘cause I know there’s research that in— increases gut permeability. I know Glycine’s really important for gut function. Correct?

Evan Brand: Yeah. That would be the mechanism. She did talk about that. How it does— not only does it increase the leaky gut situation but it also increases blood-brain barrier permeability, too. So, if you have a leaky gut, you have most likely have a leakly— a leaky brain as well, which is not good.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And we’re getting some questions in here that are inquiring about like, “Oh! If I get Glyphosate toxicity, what will I do?” I mean, I would say, liposomal Glutathione is great and/or just a lot of the Sulfur amino acids to make it. So, like, we have products that we use that give concentrated Sulfur-based amino acids like Glycine, Glutamine, uhm— Cysteine, Taurine. So then, these Sulfur-based amino acids can get converted to a lot of these compounds and they run our Phase-2 Cytochrome P450 oxidase pathways.

Evan Brand: Yeah. So, uh— Samuel had asked about a product form Zach Bush called Restore. I’ve had clients who’ve been taking Restore for over a year. I tested their levels of Glyphosate. These were people who said they’ve been eating organic, so we know they’re getting no new exposure to Glyphosate. They’re not using it around the house, and they’ve been taking Restore for a year. Their levels wer— we’re still off the charts. So I’m not convinced. I know he’s done some research on— on his own about gut permeability, which is awesome, but I’ve seen the data firsthand, testing people, and Glyphosate levels are still high. Now, I don’t know what their levels were like before they started that product. So maybe their levels were—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: [crosstalk] It could have been higher.

Evan Brand: …higher.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Exactly.

Evan Brand: And maybe it reduced it 10 times, so I’m not against it. I think it’s in the category of things that might help. Can’t hurt. But it’s not the ultimate cure-all. I talked with Dr. Shaw. He says sweating is key, and then Stephanie said that Fulvic acid is one of the best binders to— to soak it up and so I’ve been using a couple different tinctures lately to help with heavy metals, and it happens to have Fulvic acid in it. So, that’s kind of the go-to.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: That’s excellent. So, in general, a lot of the Sulfur amino acid compounds I think are good to help with Glutathione. Uh— I think getting liver-tonifying support in herbs, whether it’s Silymarin and Milk Thistle or Dandelion root or red root— things that support lymphatic flow are gonna be helping. Uh— Good sweating, good Fulvic acid, minerals— It hink all that’s gonna help.

Evan Brand: I want to say the last food, and it’s sweet potatoes, and it’s because everyone is against-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm—

Evan Brand: -Carbohydrates so much, and sweet potatoes changed my life. When I had adrenal problems, I was going so low carb, and I couldn’t handle the stress of it. I believe my— my adrenals may have been just too  weak to adapt to Ketogenic— maybe I’m wrong, maybe there was something else and my gut infection’s weakening me, but when I just added in a small sweet potato, just a couple times a week, that was the— Carb read feed at dinner time that I needed to really help me-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.

Evan Brand: -sleep better. And then once I slept better then I had more energy during the day.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah, and I think, you know, we got to look at your situation as you’re definitely leaner and more Insulin-sensitive. So, just remember, if you’re an Insulin-resistant individual, right— uh— maybe a little bit overweight, hip-to-waist ratio is off a bit, that may not be the right advice for you. But if you’re in a place where you’re more Insulin-sensitive, you’re at a better weight for yourself, it couldn’t be— It couldn’t hurt trying it and just seeing how things like your sleep improve.

Evan Brand: You’ve got Vitamin A.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmhm—

Evan Brand: You’ve got Vitamin B5, B6—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Potassium, uhmhm—

Evan Brand: Yeah, Potassium, Riboflavin— I mean, there’s a lot of good B’s in your sweet potatoes. I want to hit this question up, and I didn’t mean to distract if you have something else to say, but there was a question, or just a comment, from Gary, and he mentioned that the dilemma is you talk to the cardiologist nutrition people and they advise , basically, the opposite of what we’re saying. However, if you listen  to functional cardiologist, like Justin and I’s mutual friend, Jack Wolfson—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Jack Wolfson, yup.

Evan Brand: He’s a Board-Certified Cardiologist. Guess what he’s dietary protocol is for all of his patients. It’s Paleo. It’s a Paleo template, and he reverses heart issues with the Paleo template. So you can’t pay attention to the conventional nutritionist that are trained by big Pharma.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And just remember, when we— when we talk about any dietary advice, we don’t talk about a diets. We talk about a template.

Evan Brand: Yup.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And that template allows us to take meat and bring it downstrip below ‘cause their digestion maybe really messed up or sensitive. Ratch it up all kinds of things like bone broth and healthy fats and— and plant proteins or plant nutrients, right? So we have in a template type of methodology. We have the ability to customize macronutrients, to customize the digestibility aspect of these foods to help someone out. So, it keeps us in a position where we’re the least automatic as possible ‘cause we have— we’re not handcuffed to a diet, if you will.

Evan Brand: Right. Yeah, well said. Uh— There was uh— comment here from Eva that you probably like to hear. “Hi, Justin. Wanted to say my nightly light cramps are gone since I started to take magnesium malate three times a day. That’s cool.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: That’s great. Really cool. Excellent.

Evan Brand: Has a question here about Charl— from Charlie, “Grass-fed beef but grain-finished beef still optimal?” No, it’s not. You want a hundred percent grass-fed, grass-finished. They do the grain at the end because it helps to add some fat and marbling to it, but I, personally, like grass-fed and -finished.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah, I mean, if you don’t have the ability to get that because you— you only can get the grass-fed but grain-finished, just at least make sure it’s organic so then there’s gonna be a less Roundup or no Roundup in the grains at least. So then you have at least that aspect.

Evan Brand: That’s a good point.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmhm—

Evan Brand: There’s a good question from another person. My son had GALP He eats grass-fed meats, organic chicken. He’s Gluten dairy-free. Any thoughts?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uuuhm— Who’s question is that one?

Evan Brand: Iit just says BC. There’s no name, just initials.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Okay. Got to— I’m trying to find that question.

Evan Brand: It was near the top.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Okay, got it. Uhm— So in general, I would just say first, goat tends to be driven up by fructose. Okay? So, fructose can get converted to Uric acid. And again, it’s Fructose. We had a lot of questions about this. So, like, “Dr. J, what’s— what’s Fructose? It’s Fructose.” No, it’s not. It’s Fructose. I got a big conversation with Dr. Robert lustig at the University of California, San Francisco about it. It’s Fructose. Uhm— But in general—

Evan Brand: I’ll just start saying it like you then. I wouldn’t say Fructose. I’m gonna have to correct myself now.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. Oh, he was like, “Dude, it’s Fructose.” I’m like, “Alright. I’ll say Fructose from now on.” Uhm— But in general, with Fructose, that can be the big driving factor of Uric acid, alright? That can be the big one. So, they may need to go. They may need to decrease some of the Purine-rich meat to start, so a lot of the Purine-rich meat may be the organ meats, may be the higher fatty meats, in the meantime, while they get the carbs down and they cut the fructose down beneath like 12 to 15 grams per day. And then—

Evan Brand: And then grains too, ‘cause she said gluten-dairy free but she didn’t say [crosstalk] grain-free.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Of course, grain-free— all that. Get all that stuff out of there. I’d even do nightshade-free as well, and make sure the Carbs are very low and the Fructose— the Fructose is low as well, below 13 grams. And then start from there.

Evan Brand: And alcohol. I’ll get rid of alcohol if they’re doing it. There are people could, “ Oh! I’m organic, gluten-free!” And then they drink two glasses of wine at night.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Exactly. Yup. So I would start with that and then I’ll— the alcohol as well, and then see how it goes.

Evan Brand: Alright, let’s keep going here. Thanks for the feedback, Mary Anne. Uh— Did you see any other questions? I think that was most of them. We— We hit Samuel. He was asking about the supplements to eliminate  Glyphosate. I commented on that already. And then, Em-Em here. Do you know of a good d— desiccated glandular supplement?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: So desiccated glandular— So it’s got to be— So it’s got to be porcine. So for my thyroid support, thyroid balance, I have one. It is— It’s got some active thyroid constituents in there, so it’s something I only recommend to someone that needs it and has lab testing to support it. So, that’s a good product but it wouldn’t be necessarily recommended in unless there’s Lab Testing saying that you need it.

Evan Brand: Yeah, good point.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.

Evan Brand: Uh— Last question here form Roshan, “It’s becoming evident. My Hypochloridia’s due to loose pyloric sphincter that let’s acid rain too soon. Exercises involving abdomen, worsens at immediately anyway to treat this.”

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. So, number one, just getting the stomach acid and the enzymes up uhm— will help with that. Number one, it will help—

Evan Brand: [incomprehensible] will work better, you’re saying?

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. It will make it work better, I mean. So, they’re saying that the pyloric sphincter— so that’s the sphincter that goes from the stomach to the small intestine. Uhm— That is opening up soon. So I would just get the food digested better. You could always throw some bitters in to help as well. But I get that sphincter working better by getting the right pH there, and that tends to help in obviously like the low-hanging fruit, like not eating when stressed and such.

Evan Brand: Yeah. Not eating in a rush-

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmhm—

Evan Brand: -not scrolling on Instagram while—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Chewing your food up enough.

Evan Brand: Yeah. A lot of people have terrible eating habits. You know, my clients, I tell that I want them to eat in peace and they laugh and say, “But that’s so boring.” It’s like, what are you doing then? And they’re like watching TV, playing on their phone, reading the newspaper, and like in an argument with their friend, all at the same time while they’re eating. It’s like, “No wonder we have a digestion problem epidemic.”

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. I mean, I would just say, if your digestion’s better and good and you’re feeling good after your meals, you can obviously cheat a little bit with some of those recommendations. But if your digestion’s not good, then you want at least give yourself that 10-15 minutes of peace.

Evan Brand: It’s easy.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uhmhm—

Evan Brand: Five minutes before the meal, chill out. Five minutes after— you know, try not to rush through the meal.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. And then, what can help a Hiatal hernia is on— one, there’s some uhm— visceral manipulation technique that maybe an Osteopath or a Chiropractor can do. But get rid of the inflammation in the gut— typically, infections, H. pylori, SIBO, and/or make sure the digestive support is on track. So you actually have the right amount of nutrients to right enzymes and acids to break your foods down so you can digest it and absorb it.

Evan Brand: I had a Hiatal hernia one time, and I think it just disappeared ‘cause I’m not bothered by that part of my—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: [crosstalk] Yeah.

Evan Brand: I don’t feel anything anymore.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: It could have been infection-based. So let’s kind of summarize a lot of the foods. And again, in no particular order just ‘cause uhm, you know, all these foods are gonna be part of diet and they— they should all be there. I would say, bone broth. I would say Ginger, Turmeric. I would say a lot of your— your lower sugar fruits that have high bioflavonoids and phytonutrients with low levels of Fructose. I would say, you’re grass-fed meat. I would say your Salmon and your good quality fish, and such. I would say you good fats, like Avocado, Coconut oil, good saturated fat. You’re Chia seeds, your Flax seeds, your Walnuts, your Avocados. Is there anything else, Evan that you want, and then obviously you’re non-starchy green vegetables. That could be Bok Choy, Kale, Spinach, Celery.

Evan Brand: Pumpkin seeds. Don’t forget—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds. Is there anything else you wanted to add to that list, Evan? I think good quality hydration.

Evan Brand: Uhmhm— Don’t skip out on that. A lot of people do a lot of teas and a lot of coffee because they don’t do Soda, which is great, but you can’t skip the good high quality water because tea and coffee— they are diuretics, so—

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Totally.

Evan Brand: Organic coffee all day, great! But, okay. You got to drink water, as well. How simple.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Bingo! I guess that’s excellent, Evan. Well, hey! Today was a great podcast. Appreciate everyone listening. Head over to thyroidresetsummit.com. We got a Summit  coming out, end of the year to probably be in January. We’re moving it back a little bit to get more great speakers involved in the summit. More time here. And, Evan, anything else you want to say? I would just say give us a thumbs up. GIve us a share. You know, hit the— the bell as well so you get the alerts to these great talks so you guys can be involved and connected. Anything else, Evan, for you?

Evan Brand: Uh— People can reach out if they want to. Schedule a consult with you, your site. And they also— you also have those supplements mentioned on there. The Curcumin Supreme. That’s at justinhealth.com. And then, if you want to check out my site, consult with me, evanbrand.com. We love helping you all. We really appreciate the feedback. Take good care of yourselves.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Evan, you have a great day. Everyone out there, have a phenomenal week too.

Evan Brand: See you later.

Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Bye now.

Evan Brand: Bye.

References:

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Paulin’s book

https://thyroidresetsummit.com/

https://www.evanbrand.com/

https://justinhealth.com/

Top 8 Anti-Inflammatory Foods

By Dr. Justin Marchegiani

Inflammation is considered the root cause of virtually all modern diseases. As people discover the scary side effects of pharmaceutical anti-inflammatory drugs, they are beginning to seek out natural solutions. Today we are going to learn more about inflammation and the top foods to reduce inflammation!

Common Symptoms of Inflammation

If you have ever injured yourself and the area became warm and swollen, you’ve experienced ‘healthy’ inflammation. This is the normal process of your immune system healing your body. However, when the immune system goes into overdrive and starts attacking healthy cells and tissues, we are met with a case of unhealthy inflammation.

Common signs of inflammation include:

• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Bloating and digestive distress
• Skin issues: acne, rashes, dry patches, etc.
• Puffiness
• Joint pain

If inflammation is ignored, it becomes a chronic issue that can lead to debilitating conditions and diseases. Chronic inflammation leads to autoimmune disease, premature aging, irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, and even cancer!

Click here to schedule a consult to determine if autoimmune diseases are causing your health to suffer!

Top 8 Anti-Inflammatory Foods

By incorporating the following foods into your diet, you can eat your way back to full health!

Salmon

The omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil and fish such as wild-caught salmon have been shown to be some of the most effective anti-inflammatory agents available. In fact, the American Heart Association recommends fish oil supplements to prevent the vascular inflammation that causes heart disease! Adding wild-caught salmon, herring, sardines, and anchovies to your diet is a great way to get the omega-3s DHA and EPA that reduce inflammation.

Turmeric

Turmeric’s active component curcumin has been used for centuries as an anti-inflammatory agent in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine. Because of its ability to inhibit inflammation, curcumin has been studied as a treatment for colitis, chronic neurodegenerative diseases, arthritis, and cancer. Turmeric can be used as a spice in your food, enjoyed as a tea, or you can even take pure curcumin as a supplement!

Dark Chocolate

You may have heard of resveratrol as an antioxidant in red wine. However, there are several more delicious places you can find this phytonutrient, such as in dark chocolate. Resveratrol has been shown to protect DNA, protect cells from free radicals, and fight inflammation. Resveratrol has also been studied for its ability to treat arthritis and joint pain! If you’re craving something sweet, dark chocolate (80% cacao or higher) is a delicious option that has the power to heal your body.

Green Tea

Green tea’s antioxidant properties have made it a popular method of cardiovascular and cancer prevention. It’s anti-inflammatory properties have only recently been discovered, but it is theorized that the increased green tea consumption in Asia may play a significant role in the reduced instances of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and lower rates of neurocognitive decline.

Chili Peppers

Chili peppers have been used for centuries by native peoples for their medicinal properties. The anti-inflammatory capsaicin in chili peppers has a bonus ability: it works as a painkiller, too!

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil has become a star because of its amazing health benefits and other uses. Coconut oil is full of healthy fats which help burn body fat and improve brain function. It is also anti-inflammatory, making it a staple in my kitchen as well as my cooking oil of choice!

Ginger

Ginger provides a major boost to your immune system, and has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries for its healing properties. It’s ability to modulate the immune system makes ginger a powerful weapon against inflammation.

Green Vegetables (Bok Choy, Broccoli, Swiss Chard)

Green vegetables are high in antioxidants that fight free radicals and reduce inflammation. Not to mention the insane amount of vitamins and minerals they provide to heal and nourish your body! Green vegetables protect against oxidative stress and prevent and reduce inflammation in the body.

What to Avoid

We have become aware of the dangerous side effects of pharmaceutical drugs such as steroids and NSAID medications, for example, stomach bleeding, heart attack, and stroke. Because of the life-threatening side effects of these drugs, it’s important to seek out alternative methods of treatment, such as the foods and herbs listen in this article.

However, your diet is also important to consider: diet is a huge factor determining not only your level of inflammation, but your overall health as well! Processed foods, sugar, alcohol, and any food intolerances must be limited/avoided in order to keep inflammation low.

If you are dealing with chronic inflammation or other health issues, click here to work with a functional medicine doctor and get the help you need to get back to optimal health!

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26400429

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3011108/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21139128

Macronutrients and micronutrients – Nutrition basics

By Dr. Justin Marchegiani

Today’s talk is going be on Nutrition 101.  We’re going to go over what macronutrients and micronutrients are. We’re going to show how to customize a diet according to you what your needs, goals, and desires are. So first things first, when we’re dialing our diet, there’s got to be a couple of things that are in common across any way of eating.  We want our diet to be macronutrient agnostic.  In the paleosphere,  you can go high-carb, low-carb, high-fat, low-fat, high-protein, low-protein.  We just want to make sure we fulfill these 3 criteria: nutrient-dense, low toxin, and anti-inflammatory.  That’s really important. If we’re nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, low toxin, we’re good to go.  We can dial up carbs high or low based upon our metabolism.

In-Depth Look at Macronutrients

We have protein, we have fat, and we have carbohydrate.  You can see we have four calories in protein, 4 calories in carbs, 9 calories in fat.  And what’s happened is in the 50’s and 60’s, fat was one of these macronutrients that was demonized because the higher amount of calories in there and one of the first thing we could measure in the blood was cholesterol.  So it just made sense. Let’s demonize fat because we can actually see some of it in the blood and we know it has more calories.  But what we come to find is that the hormonal effects of each one of these macronutrients is far different.

We have protein and we have more of a hormonal effect of glucagon.  We have fats and we have a more hormonal effect of peptide YY and ketones, which are appetite suppressant.  And then carbohydrate, we have more insulin.  So it would tend to be the carbohydrates based on endocrinology that are driving fat gain. Because it’s the insulin  opening the cell up.  It’s taking a lot of the extra sugar that can’t be stored in the cell.  And it’s shuttling it to the liver and pumping it out as palmitic acid, which is a saturated fat. And again, we can literally get fat by having too much carbohydrate. And that tend to be what’s driving most of the obesity epidemic.

Click here to know more about macronutrients and micronutrients through a functional medicine doctor consult.

The Protein Analysis

When we have proteins, it primarily comes from two sources.  We have animal and we have plant. It’s really important to break it down this way.  The reason why is animal proteins tend to be very high in protein, also some fat in there.  If we’re doing lean chicken breast, lower.  But there’s going to be some fat in there and it’s also going to be very low in carbohydrate.

Now when we go to plant proteins, unless we’re doing like a plant, like a pea protein powder or a rice protein powder or a hemp protein powder, outside of that example, you’re going to have a lot more carbohydrate. Typically two-thirds to seventy-five percent of the bulk of that item will be carbohydrate.  For example, we have rice and beans.  About 15‑18 grams of protein to about 60-70 grams of carbohydrate.  So you can see if we’re eating whole foods, not powders, if we’re eating real foods, you get a whole bunch of carbohydrates. That is when you do it plant-wise or vegetarian-wise versus the small amount of protein. Some of the benefit that we get with animal protein are good essential fatty acids, vitamin A, D, E, K, EPA, DHEA fat and cholesterol, which is the hormone building blocks.

In my opinition, animal protein is going to be the best. It’s going to be the most complete and it’s going to be higher in sulfur-based amino acids. Amino acids are going to help run glutathione pathways, which is a natural antioxidant.  So animal proteins are always going to be superior.

The Categories of Fats

Now we deal with fats.  Fats come in a couple different varieties.  To keep it simple, we’re going to have:

Mono-unsaturated fats. That’s going to be like your avocado.  Pretty good fat.

Poly and saturated fats.  These are going to be like our fish oil.  So fish oil, salmon, tuna–good fats.  And also our omega 3’s, too.

Saturated fats. They’re going to be primarily animal sources with the exception of coconut oil.  Coconut’s a saturated fat.  We’re going to have butter in there.  We’re going to have a lot of the fat in beef, chicken, fish.  There’s going to be some saturated fat in there as well, stearic acid as well.

The Carbohydrate Classifications

Non- starchy

Non-starchy are our vegetable carbs. Non-starchy carbs, low in sugar, high nutrition.  These are your broccoli, kale, spinach, asparagus, and carrots.

Starchy

Starchy can be high nutrition.  But it can also be higher in carbohydrates.  Sweet potato, yam, jicama, starchy tuber, squash, etc.  Some break down the sugar faster or slower but again, relatively speaking, much higher in carbohydrate but still relatively high in nutrition as well.

Low sugar fruit

We have low sugar which are going to berry, strawberries, raspberries passion fruit, lemon, lime, grapefruit.

High sugar fruits

These are going to be our tropical fruits.  They are going to be your papayas, mangoes, watermelon, bananas and pineapple.

Glycmic Index

The reason why I classified as high sugar is because a lot of times we use the glycemic index. Because fruit is primarily fructose. Fructose does not have a very high glycemic index, but it can still create insulin resistance.  So I want to make sure that we’re taking into account the sugar part of it because fructose is a sugar.  It may not have a higher glycemic index, so I want to classify as low sugar and high sugar.

Adjust Macronutrients According to Your Needs

Depending on where we’re at here, we can dial these up or down.  We can be macronutrient agnostic, essentially. So we can dial the carbs up higher for our CrossFitter or if we’re doing triathlons.  We can up the starchy and we can up maybe the non-starchy or if we have insulin resistance. Also, we can go on low on everything here, except the non-starchy. Maybe we just go up on the vegetables.  So we can dial things up or down depending on where our metabolism is at.

What should you eat?

There’s also one filter that we have to apply to it.  We have to answer yes to these three questions.  These are my essential questions that all patients have to answer yes to.

Anti-Inflammatory

The food needs to be anti-inflammatory.  So if we’re eating foods that are driving inflammation, excessive inflammation, it’s going to: cause our body to break down excessively fast, create pain and put stress on our adrenal glands. Those are not good since it’s going to break our body down faster.

Nutrient-Dense

Next it has to be nutrient-dense.  This is very important. Outside of macronutrients, we have micronutrients–vitamins, minerals, water.  So we have to make sure the foods we’re eating are nutrient-dense.  Again, you can see here, one of the things I did not talk about are grains because grains are very nutrient-poor. And then when you actually factor in gut irritation, the lectins, the phytate, the oxalic acids which actually can chelate but it can hug and pull more nutrients out, it’s actually even more nutrient-poor and its very inflammatory. That’s why grains don’t fit in. It’s got gliadin in it, gluten essentially, and wheat germ agglutinin, other lectins.

Low in Toxins

Now the low in toxins is important because let’s say we’re having good old fashioned broccoli but it’s got a whole bunch of pesticides in it, that’s not good.  So that doesn’t fit the low toxins.   Having a template that looks at quality is so important because you can have the same exact macronutrients. But if you throw in a whole bunch of carcinogenic pesticides, it can put stress on the body, stress on the liver, and disrupt your health.

Get a Customized Diet Template

We want to make sure we look at things from a perspective of is it anti-inflammatory, nutrient-dense, and low in toxins.  But we can also adjust the macronutrients according to what your body’s needs are.

So for instance, if you’re a CrossFitter, we may jack up the carbohydrates high.  We may keep the proteins and the fats relatively high as well.  We may keep the carbs over 200.  If you have insulin resistance or diabetes, well, guess what?  We’re only going to be getting non-starchy carbohydrates in for our carb sources and we’re going to be very high in fats and then moderate to low in proteins.

So I can dial that up and down according to what my patient’s needs are.  We just have to make sure the following template is in place.  We don’t really want to look at calories.  The only time I look at calories is when people are actually not eating enough and that can happen sometimes.  When you’re in a stressed-out state, it’s very common to not really have much of an appetite because the blood’s going to the extremities and are going away from the core.

Summary

So again, we have our calories, not that big a deal. But again the hormones are important and also making sure we have the right categories down. Then we can adjust the macronutrients according to what your body’s needs are.

So again, this is a foundation if you have other chronic health challenges or issues, this is the starting point and if you want to reach out to me and get a hold of me for more in depth issues, feel free and click on screen or click below. Subscribe so you can get more of my great free information.

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