#1 Holistic Doctor: ''If You Want to Avoid Cancer - Start Doing THIS Today''

There's 150,000. plus toxins in our environment that have. never been here before. They do cause biological problems. They. do cause hormone dysregulation, plaque. in our arteries. These are all things. that could eventually pile up and lead. to chronic disease. Dr. Darshan Shah is a health and. wellness specialist. He's a board. certified surgeon, published author, entrepreneur. 25 years as a naval doctor. A deep. knowledge in the areas of heart, cancer, trauma, and surgery.

What are the signs that we have too many. toxins in our body? Usually, you're just not feeling good. Brain fog, allergy symptoms, your skin. has eczema, fatigue, not sleeping well. How do I avoid getting cancer? And I. always say, cancer's biggest enemy is. being diagnosed at stage one. Or. metabolic health, inflammation, exposure. to toxins. Once you start doing. something about those root causes, your. personal cancer risk starts to go down. Why are you seeing. healthy people having heart attacks? 50%.

of people find out they have heart. disease at their first heart attack. Somewhere between 30 to 50% of that. first heart attack is fatal. There are. people in their 40s getting heart. attacks, and women are particularly. susceptible. If someone has toxins in. their body, is it reversible or are they. stuck? Your liver can detoxify you from almost. anything. The problem is. The number one health and wellness. podcast. Jay Shetty. Jay Shetty. The. one, the only Jay Shetty.

Today, everything from what we eat to. what we put on our skin to the air we. breathe is full of toxins. What is going. on? The media will have you convinced. that everything is full of toxins. The. reality is that is not true. But, we do. live in a world that's very different. than our world was 67 years ago. We have. many man-made chemicals that are now. going into our environment, right? And.

we're seeing evidence that this is. causing people to get sicker quicker, right? And so, we need to be able to. mitigate against these until the laws. catch up and we stop dumping this stuff. into our environment, right? So, even. though you're hearing a lot about toxins. being everywhere, the reality of the. situation is it's not too late to modify. your habits and your environment so. you're not as exposed as you would. normally be without some knowledge. What. are toxins because I feel these words.

get thrown around, right? What actually. is a toxin? Okay, so a toxin, my personal definition. of a toxin is something that humans have. made that they put into the environment. through chemistry, through just. manufacturing processes, and these are. now entering our bloodstream and our. biology. Now, thank God we are able to. detoxify ourselves from a lot of these. toxins that are put out there. There. could be toxins such as pesticides in. our food, for example. Microplastics. could be considered a toxin. There are.

toxins in plastics like BPA. There are. forever toxins that are put out there in. our clothing. So, these are all things. that are chemicals that were never in. our environment before we started making. them as humans, okay? And so, when we. look at the breadth of toxins, there's. 150,000. plus toxins in our environment that have. never been here before. And the reason. we use the word toxin or toxic is. because they do cause biological. problems. They do cause hormone. dysregulation, for example. They cause.

plaque in our arteries. all things that. could eventually pile up and lead to. chronic disease, and that's why we want. to avoid them as much as possible. What. are the three most common ways we're. exposed to toxins that are having that. level of negative impact? to give you four, actually, okay? I'm. sorry. Give me four. Air, water, food, and skin. And so, we can talk about each. and every one of those, all four of. those, and what are some simple tactics. that we can use to just reduce our. exposure in those environments. And I.

think it's really important to know, like, our body, our biology is so good. at detoxifying us. It's just when the. level of exposure exceeds our ability to. detoxify that we start getting into. trouble. Yeah, let's talk about each of. those because, you know, when I'm having. this conversation with you, I'm thinking. about the fact that these are things we. do every day. Like, everything you just. said, this isn't something that you do. once in a while. So, even if That you. breathe air all day long. Totally. So, even if there's still time. to shift it, the problem is these are.

things we do daily, and therefore, if. you do something daily, you can also go. down downward spiraling as quick. So, let's start with whichever one you want. to start with. Right. You can go. downward spiraling if you don't perform. certain actions to mitigate the. exposure, or you can do an upward spiral. if you perform some of these actions. So, you can actually end up healthier in. the future because you take little. actions every day that stack up over. time. I think you've had James Clear on, right? Awesome. I love him. Oh, you got to have him on. He wrote.

Atomic Habits. A 1% change every day. adds up to a 3,700%. change year over year. It's massive. So, just make tiny little adjustments in. your life every day, and this will add. up over the course of the year. You. don't have to do it all in one day, right? So, let's talk about air, for. example, okay? Obviously, we're all. breathing all day long, right? But, where do you spend the most time in your. day? Probably in your work environment. For you, it might be this podcast. studio, and your bedroom at night, where. you sleep, right? Most of us spend 16. hours in our bedroom at night. And the.

problem with air is when it gets. localized into one area and doesn't have. a way to escape into the environment, there's no way for it to clean itself, okay? So, the best thing you can do in both of. these environments is try to open a. window, all right? The outside air is. generally cleaner than the inside air. and you can check this on your phone. app. It's on every weather app now, the. air quality index, okay? And so, it's. kind of hidden sometimes. You can we can. find it on your app. And if the air.

quality index outside is green, you're. probably safe to open your windows, right? And how often do we open windows. anymore in our life, right? We assume. that we need to live in this. air-conditioned environment. The reality. is the air outside is actually making us. healthier and allows the toxins that are. accumulating to go outside and get get. back out into the environment and get. recycled. So, number one thing, open the. windows. Number two, if you're in a home. or an office environment where there's. air filters for a central air. conditioning system, make sure those are.

changed regularly. That's something that. everyone should be doing. I remember. when I first heard about this, I was. like, when was the last time I changed. my air filters? It'd been like 2 years. And I called the people over to change. it and they look at the filters like. bunch of dust and stuff in the filter. and a lot of people forget to do that. A. lot of employers forget to do that at. work, too. So, ask your HR department. like, are we changing these regularly? Most employers do have contracts with. HVAC people that'll change those. regularly. And that's it. That's the. Pareto principle. The Pareto principle.

states the 20% of actions that you can. do to achieve 80% of the result is where. you should focus your energy. Opening. windows, changing air filters. And lastly, if. you're in an environment where you can't. really open a window, for example, or. the air quality index is not good. Maybe. you live in a city that's heavily. polluted. There are fantastic portable. air filters you can get that you can put. in individual rooms for room size. Some. of these are two, three hundred dollars. and they can filter your air for you all.

day. And there you go. You've. cleared the air. Solved it. Yeah. And. it's so simple. Right. Everything you. just said, you could do it right now. today. Mhm. And the first couple of. things you even said wouldn't cost us. anything. It's not going to be a habit. that you have to develop. It's. immediately changeable. I checked on my. weather app right now. It's 27, which. says good. Says air quality index is 27, which is similar to yesterday at about. this time. Right. So, Let's open Let's. open some windows. Yeah, should we open.

some windows? Yeah. I'm going to. actually test that. I'm going to open. the windows in this room when we leave. because right now it's closed for sound. And I'm going to see how the air quality. changes. It Well, it's not measuring it. directly on your phone. It's telling you. what the weather department is telling. you. Now, there are devices you can buy. They're also pretty inexpensive, $40, that'll tell you the particulate count. and the air quality index of the actual. room that you're in. You don't need to. do that, but if you're one of these. curious people, I bought one and I use. it for a little while and you'll be.

surprised how opening the windows, all. of a sudden it goes from red to green. How is the air quality cleaner outside. than inside? Because I think most of us. would assume that pollution's outside, inside's cleaner. Yeah, that's that's. the assumption that most people make, but in reality when air gets trapped in. small rooms, the filtration is not good. That trapping of the air and the dust. and the toxins in the environment just. all end up staying in this little trap. confined area. And that's why air. filtration devices work really well cuz.

it's constantly putting that air through. a filter. What was the second one? Water. Right? We all drink a lot of water. We. should be drinking a lot of water. We. should be staying hydrated. If you're. not drinking a lot of water and you're. drinking a lot of like sugary beverages, sodas for example, what I would say is. try to drink a lot more water. It's. great for your detoxification systems, but the water that comes from your tap. in most municipalities has a lot of. chemicals in it, okay? And so, there are.

ways that you can filter that water out. of your tap. So, what I tell all my. patients to do is look at where you get. most of your water from. That particular. sink, if you can get a reverse osmosis. filtration system, which again is about. two or three hundred dollars, and put it. under your sink, you can install it. yourself or you can have a plumber do it. for about a hundred dollars. That will. completely remove all of the heavy. metals, the toxins, fluoride, etc. in. the water, so that whatever water you're. drinking there is completely filtered.

Now, if you can get a reverse osmosis. system, there are of course those. pitchers that you can buy that have a. filter in them, the carbon filters. And. so, that's another way that you can. remove these toxins from the water. But. in general, you want to be drinking. filtered water as much as possible out. of glass bottles. So, all the plastic. bottles we're drinking out of, there's a. ton of microplastics, especially if. they're out in the heat that accumulate. in that plastic bottle. Try not to drink. out of plastic water bottles if at all.

possible. Get yourself a big glass water. bottle, fill it from a reverse osmosis. or filtered system every day. And once. again, where do you spend the most time? At home? Where do you get most of your. drinking water from at home? Probably. your kitchen sink. You only need that. one spot. And at work, try to get your. employer once again to get a reverse. osmosis or some sort of filtration. system in that work sink as well. It's. shocking to me the. situation we have with plastic water. bottles. It's shocking. Because I feel like 99% of us are.

drinking water from a plastic water. bottle. It's what's sold in every single. store, every single brand, whether. you're at the airport, whether you're at. the grocery store, wherever you are, you. barely will see a glass water bottle. It's just not that common. Right. Until Ashton Hall did his Saratoga. Did. you see that with his morning routine? No. Okay. Okay. There was a There was a. I think he's a former NFL athlete who. recently did his morning routine and he. had the Saratoga water water.

Mhm. It's this blue water bottle. Yes. Yes. And he he uses that and it's. like it's gone crazy because his video. is so viral. But but it's interesting to. me that plastic water bottles have just. been the norm for so long. For someone who's sitting there going, "Jay, I've been drinking out of a. plastic water bottle for 10 years. I'm. fine. What does a microplastic even do? What is drinking. What is the big deal, Dr. Shah, from. drinking from a plastic water bottle?". What would you say? I think. microplastics, we don't really know yet.

what they're doing. But there's. indicators in science that there is harm. being done. So, for example, one of the. indicators is they did a research study. where they look at the blood vessels of. people that have suffered strokes and. heart attacks. And you can actually see. microplastics in the wall of the blood. vessel. And as we know, you know, that. cholesterol can accumulate there, that. blood vessel can get blocked, that can. lead to a heart attack, it can lead to. stroke. This is also happening in what's. called the microvasculature, the tiny blood vessels that we can't. even see with the naked eye.

Those are more easily blocked. So, we. know every organ in our body needs blood. to survive and to thrive. And if you're. blocking those micro vessels with. microplastics, it can be a huge problem. There's a lot of studies also done where. we're finding microplastics accumulating. in our testes and ovaries, also in our. brain. They've done studies of this. And. it can't be good. This is something that. is blocking hormonal signals, is. blocking neuronal signals. And we really. got to mitigate our exposure. Plastic,

you know, wasn't in our environment to. the degree it is now 100 years ago. And. we're just running this mass experiment. across all of Western civil All across. the whole world, actually, on what are. the effects of microplastics going to. be. And what we don't want to do is, you. know, for example, when you reach 100. years old and now all of a sudden a. research study comes out that says. microplastic accumulation leads to. Alzheimer's disease, leads to. cardiovascular disease. We don't want to. end up there, right? So, I don't want to. say it's easy, but it's easier than you.

think it is to avoid microplastics. Well, I think you've raised a really. important point there because I think. the challenge with us as humans is we. wait for some conclusive evidence to. make small changes that would only. benefit us. So, as you said, there are. already studies and research being done. that point towards there being issues. here. Why take a risk? Like it's not. worth it, right? It's not worth it. What. are some of the ways in which. microplastics are hiding in our everyday.

life beyond water bottles? For example, a lot of clothing have microplastics in. them and also forever chemicals. And so, look at the tag of your clothing and see. what it's made of. If you're buying, you. know, wool or if you're buying 100%. cotton, chances are it's probably safe. However, a lot of these synthetic blends. can be a problem. So, you really want to. do some research there on your clothing. Even everything in our kitchen is made. out of plastics now. Cutting boards, the. Tupperware that we store our food in,

right? And here's the worst situation. with plastics. When you heat up plastics. in a microwave, for example, the. plastics and the chemicals leach into. your food in a very, very high degree. So, never warm up anything in the. microwave in something plastic. If you. have a cutting board, for example, that's made out of plastic, look at. what's happening to the cutting board. You'll see little pieces of plastic. after you've cut your vegetables. Throw that away and get yourself a. wooden cutting board, right? Look at.

what you're stirring your food in when. you're cooking. A lot of those utensils. that people use, they're putting a. plastic utensil inside of their food, heating it up, and basically it's. melting into the food. Don't do that. Get a wooden spoon, a metal, something. with metal. All of these small, minute. changes, it might seem overwhelming once. again, like, "Oh, I got to go through my. whole kitchen and change everything out? No, you don't have to do it all today. But, over the next 6 months, year, as. you're, you know, losing Tupperware, getting rid of it, buy ceramic storage.

containers instead, you know? As you're. replacing things, get rid of the plastic and go more. towards something that's more. sustainable. Not only is it good for. your biology, it's also great for the. environment, right? Yeah. I actually I. actually I'm going to say, Dr. Shaw's. being nice. I'm not giving you 6 months. I'm not giving you 3 months. Today, go. into your kitchen and remove everything. that is plastic that connects with your. food. Whether it's the Tupperware, whether it's a spoon, whether it's the.

chopping board, get rid of the plastic. from your kitchen. It's just not worth. it. Right. Right, it's not worth it. It's. not worth it for your health, absolutely. And, you know, I know. there's a lot of controversy here and. talk about plastic straws, for example, plastic utensils. All of this stuff, like, when it comes. in contact with heat, it becomes. particularly dangerous. And so, the less. you can use some of these things, the. better. How did companies get away with. it for so long? You know, unfortunately, the way our. laws are structured is until something. is proven unsafe, you can put it out.

into the environment. And that's the. problem. It's the exact opposite of. pharmaceuticals. You have to do massive. studies to make sure something is safe. before you can put it out into the. public, right? Unfortunately, with every. other chemical, until it's proven. unsafe, you can't do anything about it. Even the EPA is hamstrung. They have to. do a study to prove something is unsafe. before they say, "Hey, let's let's hold. off on this getting out in the. environment, you know?" So, it's just. this train that left the station a few.

decades ago and it's can't be stopped. now. Before we started, we were talking. about something else. You talked about. coffee cups. Yeah. Talk to me about. that. Yeah, so I've given me to a friend who. came on my podcast and we measured some. testing on him and we he high levels of. forever chemicals and plastics in his. testing. And And I started asking him. like, "Where is this coming from?" He's. like, "I'm pretty good about plastics. I. don't drink out of plastic water. bottles.". And but then I saw him grab a cup of. coffee and take one of those paper cups.

and fill it with coffee. Well, those. paper cups are actually lined with a. plastic liner. You put hot coffee in. there, guess what's happening? It's melting. If. you use those uh K-cups, the the ones. that come in plastic, those are heat. going right through a plastic cup. You. won't even believe this, a lot of tea. bags are made out of plastic. I don't. know if tea bags are made out of tea. bags are made out of plastic. Yeah, believe it or not. It doesn't look like. plastic, looks like cloth, but it it's. actually plastic. So, you have to be. really careful about these things and.

start asking questions and have. alternatives for yourself. So, I went. from I had a curing machine at home, believe it or not, and I would use 50 of. these plastic containers of coffee every. month. And I just switched out to using. a French press. And now I never see. plastic little containers. Same thing. with tea bags. Now we use a special. metal container that we put tea in and. we do it this way. It actually feels. nicer. You feel more in connection with. your coffee and your tea because there's.

not this kind of plastic barrier between. you and your tea and coffee. And for. your long-term health, it's probably the. right thing to do. When your immune. system is too busy, it doesn't have the. time or the ability to attend to all of. its different roles, right? So, cancer. cells get missed and you develop cancer. Amyloid accumulates in your brain, you. develop Alzheimer's disease. These. things happen because our immune system. just literally doesn't have the capacity. to do all the different jobs we're. asking it to do. I talked to so many. people that say, "My mother got.

Alzheimer's, so I know I'm destined to. get Alzheimer's.". And I tell them there's a gene test for. Alzheimer's called APOE. Even if that. comes up positive that you have a higher. risk of Alzheimer's, we know we have the. technology now to reverse that trend and. prevent Alzheimer's in you from ever. occurring. And in fact, we can keep you. mentally sharp for the rest of your life. if you just put into place simple. lifestyle interventions. We've been. convinced through marketing that we need. to do more and more and more and more.

And the reality is you need less. You. just have to know where to cut back. Let. your body keep you healthy. Your biology. is an incredible system. It's made It's. like I keep saying it's evolved over. millennia to keep you healthy. Give it a. chance to do it. So, we did water, we. did air. What's the next one? We talked a lot about plastics, which is. great. Okay, so let's talk about your. food, okay? So, a lot of the chemicals that come to us. in our food come from how we're growing.

our food in farms now. We're spraying. our foods with lots of chemicals. Glyphosate is still not illegal in the. United States. So, glyphosate as. everyone's heard of is also another. chemical that's found on foods. I do a lot of testing on our patients in. our clinic that are suffering from. multiple problems that we can't figure. out. Why do they have headaches and. fatigue and brain fog and gut issues? And we find massive levels of glyphosate. in their system. You don't have to do. the testing to know this is a problem,

okay? And so, glyphosate is sprayed on. vegetables and fruits. There are certain. fruits and vegetables that are very. susceptible to glyphosate spraying. because they have very thin skins. And. so, the glyphosate can actually. penetrate in the skin into the fruit. And so, those are the ones if you're not. buying organic, you want to wash them. really, really well before you eat them. The Environmental Working Group is a. great website, ewg.org. They have what's called the Dirty Dozen. on their website. And these are 12 foods. every year they test that have high.

levels of pesticides on them. And those. are the foods you want to either avoid. What are they? Sometimes it's. blueberries, sometimes it's apples. It's. like anything with a thin shell on it. And so, you want to be really careful. about those types of foods and and. having a good washing routine. And then, you know, trying to buy organic if at. all possible. I think there's this. misconception out there that buying. organic is super expensive. Actually, if. you go to farmers markets, a lot of them. are willing to deal with you and and,

you know, give you a good price on. things. Sometimes better than your. supermarket. I found this myself where I. can find better pricing at the roadside. stand or at a organic farm than I can at. my own supermarket. And so, I think if. you try to get organic if you can. And. if you can't, look at that list on the. website ewg.org, try to avoid those and. at least look up a YouTube video on how. to wash your fruits and vegetables. effectively. Yeah, it's so hard because. you're like, "Hey, I'm being healthy. I'm eating blueberries. I'm eating. apples." And then you're stuck with this.

side of it where it's like, "Well, wait. a minute. I thought I was making a. healthy choice." Yeah. Like, you're not eating packaged foods. You're eating fruits. You are. Yeah. But then there's something in it. So, you got to be even more careful. I. think, you know, the way to think about. it is, absolutely, you want to eat. blueberries over, you know, a Twinkie, for example, right? But even. those blueberries, you want to be. careful about what you're putting into. your system. And, you know, I think that. we've gotten so used to this lifestyle. of convenience where you just go to the. supermarket, you're in and out in 30.

minutes. You don't even have to think. about what you're getting. You just pick. it up, throw in your cart, and you zoom. out of there, right? And I think we need. to go back to a time period where humans. lived where we were much more mindful. about what we're putting in our body. We. respected food. We thought about our. food before we ate it, and we enjoyed. the meal. And so, you cooked at home. more. I think we need to go back to a. lifestyle where we have more of a. connection with our food, and then all. of this stuff becomes more automatic. One of the biggest things I'm constantly.

trying to work on is just eating slower. Yeah. Right? I find like it's so easy. I was. thinking about this where it started. So, when I was a kid, I ate fast in. school because my mom would make me a. Indian packed lunch sometimes. And I'd. be embarrassed of it. So, I'd eat it. really fast. And then when I worked in. the corporate world, if you took a lunch. break, you were just not hustling. Like. you weren't effective enough. So, then. I'd eat really, really fast. When I was. a monk, we ate very, very slow, but we. only ate like one meal a day, so it was. very limited practice. And then when I. left again, I went back to the corporate.

world and working world and eating fast. again. And I find when I'm eating slow, my digestion's better, my stress is. better, everything's better. When I'm. eating fast, it's almost like you're. bloated, you've got indigestion, like. everything just from such a simple. habit. Yeah, you bring up a really good. point there, Jay, because this is the. balance between your parasympathetic and. sympathetic nervous system. When you eat, you're supposed to be in a. state of rest and relaxation. That's the. parasympathetic state. But like you. said, most of us eat in a sympathetic.

state where we're stressed out, just. trying to get through the meal. Sometimes we're on our computer or our. phone while we're eating, and we never. allow our bodies to go into this. parasympathetic state. And we spend 90%. of our life in sympathetic and 10% in. parasympathetic. And it's the exact. opposite of how our caveman ancestors. used to live. They used to rest and. relax all day long. They would walk. around. The only stressful times they. had is if they were being attacked by an. animal or another, you know? So, so we. need to get back to taking time to.

eating our food. Just not only for our. digestion, but also for our. parasympathetic state to have just an. opportunity to spend some time with us. All right, it's so good to it's so good. to understand that. And that I remember, yeah, that that flip of how quickly. society has changed from the way we used. to live to the way we live now. And how. we all don't have enough time to do the. simple things that our bodies need, right? Is is huge when you think about. it like that, like the comparison. Yeah. The flip, it's pretty insane. Yeah. You.

know, I talked to a lot of my patients. and I'm like, "You have to give yourself. some time to self-care." And they're. like, "I don't have any time to. self-care. You you want me to build in a. 6-hour self-care routine?" Like, "No, no, no. Self-care means giving yourself. 20 minutes to eat instead of 5 minutes. to eat. That is practicing self-care. That allows you to downshift from this. high sympathetic state into. parasympathetic. And when you're in that. state, you do have time that your body. is able to recover. And all your body. needs, your body doesn't need a lot of. time to recover, but it does need some.

time to recover. And meals is a perfect. time for that. Mhm. Yeah. And the fourth. one is skin. Skin. Yeah, okay. So, women. on average use between 10 to 12 products. on their skin every day and men use. between six to eight products on their. skin every day. And most of us don't even think about. it, right? We go to CVS or we go to the. supermarket and we buy our skin care. products right off the shelf. We need a. lotion, we need a, you know, perfume, hair wash. We just buy it, right? The. reality is a lot of that stuff, over 90%.

of the stuff that we buy in our. supermarkets, is filled with toxins. If. you ever look at the label on it, you're. like, you can't even pronounce 90% of. the words on there, right? And just. because you can't pronounce them doesn't. mean it's a toxin, but the minute you. start looking them up, you're like, "Oh. my gosh, there's some bad stuff in. here." Thank goodness, there are apps. and there are websites now that can help. us to understand what's inside of these. products because it's hard for the. average Joe to really understand all. these chemicals and if they're bad or.

good for you. And so, you can scan these. products and we mentioned this on the. last podcast. There's an app called. Think Dirty. There's an app called Skin. Deep. There's a few of them out there. that people can use. And. the beauty of this is you only need to. do it one time, right? Like, how many. times have you changed toothpaste in. your life? Rarely. Rarely, right? Scan it once, you're like, "Oh, wait a. minute. That's at the red level. I. should probably shouldn't be buying. that. Let me see what the alternatives. are. Okay, here's something that's green. and it's affordable to me and I can. switch to that. And then once you switch.

to it, that's it. You made that 1%. change that day. And this is going to. stack up to a 3,700% change for the rest. of the year for you. Year after year. after year, right? Same thing with your. skin products that you use, your lotion, your hair wash. Um you also. want to try to minimize amount of. perfumes that you use, your deodorant, all of it you want to kind of look at. There are perfumes out there that are. considered non-toxic like essential oils. and things like that, but still our skin.

is an incredible barrier to the outside. environment, right? You want to protect. it. You want to be able to give It only. has a certain amount of also barrier. capacity, right? And the more you keep. putting on it, the harder it is for your. skin to delineate what's a toxin and. what's not, okay? And so just using. detoxified products, it will allow your skin to function. better in the long run. One other quick. hint I have on this I'll get I'll give. to you. Just also for better hair care. for people, I think we're convinced by.

advertisements on TV that we need to. wash our hair every day, right? And the. reality is the more you wash your hair, the more you're drying your skin, the. more you're killing the microbiome of. your hair and your hair becomes more and. more unhealthy. That's why every time. you shampoo, you need a conditioner. because your shampoo is drying your. scalp. In reality, especially for men, if you. wash your hair once a week or You mean. wash your hair with shampoo, right? With. shampoo, right. Once a week or once. every other week is much better for your. scalp, much better for your hair, less.

exposure to toxins, your microbiome can. flourish. When I learned this, it. completely changed the quality of my. scalp from, you know, having dandruff. and having lots of dry scalp issues, itchiness all day long to having a great. head of hair and no scalp issues. So, Wow. Yeah. So, washing your hair with. water is fine. It's fine. But, it's washing your hair. with shampoo and conditioner every day. or every other day. And you're saying. once a week. Once a week. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. That's the lowest I've heard it.

cleaner, your hair will stay cleaner, and your hair will retain the natural. oils that'll keep it healthy. I've. almost been trained to believe that when. I use shampoo or conditioner, obviously. it smells better, you feel better, but. you can actually be clean without that? Like, your hair will be clean without. that? Absolutely. Absolutely. If you. We've evolved for millennia to keep our. scalp healthy. And now, we've never. needed chemicals to keep our scalp. healthy. How How come all of a sudden. last 50 years we've been convinced that.

we need all these chemicals in our scalp. to keep it healthy? It's not true. The. opposite is true. Crazy when you say it. like that. Right. When you think about it, like, you like, what are we even doing? Look at pictures. of people from back in the '30s and '40s. and '50s when they didn't have all these. products. Their hair looks incredible. Like, you. rarely see male pattern balding or women. with thinning hair. It's because they. didn't wash their hair like this every. every day, you know, with every shower. Wow. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm literally.

mind-blown right now. I'm like, these. are such They're They're such, again, simple changes, simple steps, and we're. protecting ourselves with ease, right? It's It's super easy to do it. you know, we've been convinced through. marketing that we need to do more and. more and more and more. And the reality. is, you need less. You just have to know. where to cut back, right? And And know. what's Let your body keep you healthy. Your Your biology is an incredible. system. Like I keep saying, it's evolved. over millennia to keep you healthy. Give.

it a chance to do it. And you have a. three-ingredient skin care routine we. can create ourselves, right? I've always been talking about that with. multiple dermatologists and things like. that. I think the simpler the better. But, yes, we can do stuff like that. What is it? What? I haven't developed it. yet, so yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. We'll talk. about it one of these days. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is our environment aging us faster than. our genetics? Yes. It's definitely more. about our environment than it is our. genetics. It's so funny, you know, this. whole We We had this human genome.

project that went on for about five plus. years, an an incredible project where. some incredible scientists decoded our. entire genome, and we thought this was. going to be the answer to disease. This. was going to be the answer to reversing. chronic disease, keeping us alive. longer. And what we're learning since. then more and more is it's not in the. DNA. It's more about how our environment. turns on and turns off segments of our. DNA to either keep us healthy or develop. in the opposite direction. And so, we.

used to say. even just five years ago that that your. DNA is really only 20% of the equation. Now we're saying your DNA code is. actually probably 10% or less of the. equation. It's which DNA segments are. turned on and off. That's totally your. environment. What are the signs that we. have too many toxins in our body? How do. we know? It's usually you're just not. feeling good, okay? And one thing I do. want to emphasize is that our body is. incredibly resilient. By the time you. feel something is usually later on in.

the process of accumulation, okay? So, you don't want to wait till you start. feeling something. You want to start. making these mini changes now so you. stay healthier for the long term. Some of the symptoms of toxin. accumulation include brain fog, include. allergy symptoms, your skin has eczema, for example. You can have. fatigue, not sleeping well. These are. all symptoms that if you go to a doctor, they're like, "Ah, I don't really know. what's going on." Really, toxin.

accumulation needs to be the fourth leg. of that stool that we always talked. about of health, right? We have sleep, we have exercise, we have our nutrition. Toxins is that fourth leg that we need. to start mitigating on so that we stay. healthy for the long term. If someone. has toxins in their body, Yeah. is it. reversible or are they stuck? No, absolutely reversible. Your body has a. tremendous ability to to detoxify. Your. liver is this incredible organ. Do you.

know the liver is the only organ in our. body that we do not have a medical. device to replicate what it does? Wow, I. did not know that. We can replace your. kidneys with dialysis, you know, your. heart, we even have heart lung machines, for example, but your liver has chemical. processes that cannot be replaced. And. that's because it's incredibly complex. It can detoxify you from almost. anything. The problem is when the level. of accumulation occurs faster than the. rate of detoxification, and then the. toxins end up in your plasma, your.

bloodstream, and deposit into your. organs. Doesn't mean that the game is. lost or it's too late. You just have to. start somewhere at some time to start. decreasing your exposures so your body. can catch up. Okay, and we've talked. about all the strategies you can do. that, right? there's one more strategy I think people. need to think about. We think that we. need to live in this super clean. environment, and we buy eight different. cleaners for all the things that we. clean in our house, right? You have a. spray bottle for your windows, you have.

a spray bottle for your cabinets, you. have one for the toilets, and then you. have different products to mop your. floor with, and air fresheners, for. example. You don't need any of that stuff. Okay? If you. you need very few products that's. diluted at different levels to clean. things. And so soap is extremely. effective. There's a great company, I. have no financial affiliation with them. called Branch Basics, and I've gotten to. know the founder. She makes one product. that's non-toxic, you buy a big bottle,

and it lasts you for months and you just. dilute it to different levels for your. windows, for your toilets, for your. floor, and that's all you need. It's. It's actually simpler and cheaper to do. it that way. You know, she's changed how. we clean our house completely because. now we spend less money, less time. cleaning our house and it's not using. toxic chemicals. I'm I'm thinking about. it. I'm thinking there are so many. places in our home Mhm. where we're. exposed to chemicals. Yeah. And as you said, if we just spend.

this weekend just going, "I'm just going. to look through my apartment. I'm going. to look through my home. I'm just going. to get rid of all of this stuff. I'm. going to find really easy replacements.". Like you said, you only have to do it. once. It's not something you have to. keep doing. Absolutely. I have a list on. my website actually. Maybe we can link. to it in the show notes. Absolutely. Uh 50 actions you can take. And if you just check off one a week, in. a year, you're done. I like that. I like. that. That's really strong. There you go, right? That's really strong. Yeah. Delson, we've talked a lot about. toxins. We've talked a lot about. microplastics. But I think this is.

really important right now. I want to. talk to you about the top three causes. of death in the United States because I. don't think we're as aware as we should. be, but I think we're all experiencing. whether that be with friends or family. So, could you take us through the top. three? Yeah, absolutely. I think it's an. important topic for us to all talk about. because. you know, I want to I want to put some. positivity in this conversation. We are. living in an incredible time in history. right now. The founder of Nvidia, the founders of.

Google, they are all telling us, "Look, what we're seeing is we're going to be. able to apply the power of artificial. intelligence and quantum computing to. the problem of disease." And there is. not a zero chance that during our. lifetimes. we'll be able to cure. most disease using this incredible power. that's coming, right? We're not there. yet, but But a lot coming. So, it's a. really amazing idea to think about this,

right? And it might sound like science. fiction to some people, but my iPhone. sounded like science fiction 10 years. ago, right? So, so what I want people to. know is that just stay healthy and alive. long enough to experience this. technological revolution. Now, that being said, if you go to the. CDC's website, they publish every single. year the top 10 causes of death. Number one is heart disease. In the top five are cancer and also. Alzheimer's disease. And metabolic.

disease is also in the top 10, but. metabolic disease is one of the root. causes of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and heart disease. So, we can talk about. all of those four because I think. they're important to touch on. And the. reason is people might think that it's. outsourced to their doctor to prevent. them from getting these diseases, from. getting these chronic diseases, but. really. the Western medical system is not well. equipped to prevent and to turn around. these chronic diseases, but we, through.

our habits and through our routines, we. absolutely can make these diseases a. possible non-entity during our. lifetimes. I read a incredible. statistic. It said more than half of US. adults don't know heart disease is the. leading cause of death despite its. 100-year reign. So, that's been true for 100 years, but. we're not aware of it. And even when you. say the word heart disease, I'm like, how does someone even get that?

you a couple more statistics. 50% of. people find out they have heart disease. at their first heart attack. Somewhere. between 30 to 50% of that first heart. attack is fatal, right? And that's when. people are finding out. And I just read. this morning, it's happening at a. younger and younger age. So, we thought. heart attacks is a disease of old men. and women, right? Or just old men, most. people thought. The reality of the. situation is there are people in their. 40s getting heart attacks and women are. particularly susceptible and the reason. is. women don't have the same symptoms men.

have. Women symptoms are more symptoms. such as fatigue, brain fog, inability to. get their day done. Men have severe. chest pain a lot of times with heart. attacks, right? And so women get. diagnosed later with heart disease and. therefore they don't can't get treated. for it. So there's lots of different. types of heart disease. The one that. we're mostly focused on is development. of what's called plaque in the blood. vessels of your heart. Plaque is a. thickening of the blood vessel wall due. to many different factors that cause it. to close off. Believe it or not, even.

though there's a lot of blood going. through your heart, the blood vessels. that supply your actual heart muscle to. keep it alive are really kind of tiny. I. used to operate on these when I was a. surgeon and you have to look under a. microscope a lot of times to see these. blood vessels to operate on them and so. they get blocked pretty easily and. that's what we're talking about. And how. do they get blocked? There's a. combination of factors. I would say. there's four factors that lead to heart. disease. Most people think it's LDL. cholesterol. That's not true. The four.

factors that lead to heart disease are. number one, metabolic disease and that's. just a fancy way of saying that our body. is unable to handle the amount of sugar. that we have so our glucose levels are. high all the time and our insulin levels. get high all the time. Second factor is. inflammation and we can dive into that a. little bit more. Third factor is damage to the wall of. the blood vessel. That's called the. endothelium. That happens when you have. high blood pressure that's untreated for. a long time which over 50% of Americans. have. and or high stress levels or even.

overtraining and lastly is an. accumulation of cholesterol in your. blood vessel wall. Specifically a kind. of cholesterol that's grouped under. what's called apoB and we can talk about. that and why that's important. Yeah, let's talk about all four of those. because I think again, when you hear. about that, we're starting to have. healthier conversations around glucose. spikes and sugar, but I still don't think we understand. fully, or maybe there's some denial that. those things are connected to a heart.

disease in in our understanding at. least. Like I think we're still I mean, I remember last week I was just doing a. analysis of what products people eat on. a day-to-day basis. And I was in my. hotel and I was just looking at the. snack bar skin the hotel. I couldn't eat. any of it because most of it wasn't. plant-based. But I was looking on the back of it and. there was a bag of a very famous. chocolate, which the packet is only this. big. Like it's tiny. And it has 60% of your daily sugars.

That's if you should even be eating that. much sugar anyway, but it's 60% of your. daily sugars in a bag that I would as a. kid finish in like 3 seconds, right? And. so it's worrying to think about the. amount of sugar intake we're having. without even knowing. I don't think. we're aware of how much sugar's in a. packet of chips, a chocolate bar, the drinks that we're drinking every. day. Like there's no understanding of. it. So, let's go through each of those. as well. Let's start with number one.

Yeah, let's start with metabolic. disease, right? So, you've had Casey. Means on here and a few experts on. metabolic disease and the reality of the. situation is not just the packages of. candy, right? A lot of people say, "I'm. I don't eat candy. I don't eat desserts. I'm fine." The reality is sugar and. fructose is hidden in a lot of different. foods, specifically ultra-processed. foods and refined grains, okay? And so, those can be particularly dangerous. So, even a sandwich, for example, you're.

like, "Sandwich there's no I'm not. putting sugar in my sandwich." Well, the. refined white bread combined with the. condiments like the ketchup and the. mustard, there's a lot of sugar in. there. There's even sugars sometimes. added to the meats that you're eating. And so, if you wore like a continuous. glucose monitor, a sandwich for a lot of. people can cause a huge spike. There are. easy ways to mitigate this problem, and. one of them is, of course, avoiding. refined grains, avoiding ultra-processed. food, but also starting every meal with.

some fiber. If you put fiber into your. system first, your body's ability to. absorb the sugar that follows it is much. reduced. That's one thing you can do. And the. second thing you can do is move around. after every single meal, all right? So, instead of you go to a restaurant, they. give you a basket of bread or some. tortilla chips, say, "I'm not going to. have that, please. Instead, I'll start. with a side salad." And as soon as. you're done, instead of just going. straight to your car, your couch, go for. a little 5, 10, 15-minute walk. Those.

two simple actions can completely change. your body's relationship to sugar, in. addition to avoiding ultra-processed. food, sugary drinks, etc. Yeah, I love. that one. That's been the big one for. me. It just I've been trying to. structure my food eating in that way. Yes. And the walking part is. life-changing. I've found that if I sit. on the couch to watch a show straight. after dinner, I'm now getting some. massive reflux, I'm digesting food. badly. There's there's some sort of. discomfort that I'm feeling, whereas.

just walking around for 10 minutes, all. of a sudden I'm comfortable. And and. that's it. It's such a small, simple. step that people can take. It's it's a small, simple step, and you. know, it doesn't take a lot, actually. It really doesn't. Just takes 5, 10. minutes if you can do it. What was the. second cause? Let's talk about high. blood pressure, because I think that. this is affecting people at a much. younger, younger age. I'm seeing people. in my clinic in their 20s with high. blood pressure. Let's define that. High. blood pressure is anything over 130 over. 80 in my definition. And there's huge.

research studies showing that for every. 10 points that you have of your blood. pressure being over 130 over 80, you have a 15% chance of having. cardiovascular disease, an increase of. 15% of having cardiovascular disease and. complications from it. So, it's really. important to manage your blood pressure, right? The problem is most of us don't. even know we have high blood pressure. until it's way too late. And the reason. for that is where do you get your blood. pressure measured, right? Your doctor's. office. Yeah. Right? If you even go to a doctor,

50% of people don't even go to see a. doctor. Right? So, that's true. Yeah, 50% of people don't see a primary. care doctor. All of their medicine is. administered through urgent cares and. emergency rooms. That's crazy. It's. crazy right now. It is really crazy. If. you talk to urgent care and ER doctors, they think it's 100% because they're. seeing people all time. It's the busiest. they've ever been since, you know, ERs. and emergency rooms were even invented. So, anyhow, I think that.

even if you get your blood pressure. measured at a doctor's office, usually. it's a garbage measurement. And the. reason for that is you're doing one. blood pressure measurement, usually it's. the last person that was just hired at a. doctor's office doing your blood. pressure. And also, you know, you're. stressed out, you might have white coat. syndrome. Usually that blood pressure is. looked at and it's like, "Oh, we'll. check it again next year, next time. you're here." And then it gets kind of. ignored. The best way to do this, I would do this. even if you're in your 30s, is buy a. blood pressure cuff for your home. Look up a good YouTube video on how to.

measure your blood pressure. You want to do it first thing in the. morning, sitting in a specific way. You. want to do it three times and you. average those three readings. You want to optimize for 120 over 70. You want to try to be as close to that. as possible. If it's anything over 130 over 80, that. should ring an alarm bell in your mind. You want to try it again next week, do. the same procedure, try it again the. following, do the same procedure. If. this keeps happening for three to four. weeks in a row where it's over 130 over. 80, you need to go see a doctor and.

bring them your blood pressure. measurements, and show them what you. did. Because. we have a lot of different ways to. control blood pressure. It doesn't need. to be just medication. There's sleep. issues, like sleep apnea, that can lead. to high blood pressure. There's dietary. issues, like too much salt in your diet, which I'm not saying salt is bad for. you. Salt is good. Some people eat a lot. of ultra-processed food with a lot of. additional salt and sugar that can lead. to high blood pressure. Everything is. very interrelated, as you can see, right? So. the key is knowing. Once you know, you. can mitigate for the bad effects of high.

blood pressure. The problem is now we. diagnose blood pressure issues 5 to 10. years too late. Then it takes us 5 to 10. years of messing around trying to treat. it before we finally get it right. So. people are living with high blood. pressure for 10, 20, 30 years. By then a. lot of damage has already been done. Yeah, so people just need to go get. checked. Exactly. need to know now, and monitor it. regularly. not go get checked. Check it yourself. Get a blood pressure cuff. Check it. yourself, because the going to get. checked, a lot of times you get tricked. into a false sense of comfort thinking.

it's normal, or my doctor said. everything's fine, right? I think it's. I'm a big believer in empowering. yourself with a few numbers about your. health, and one of them is definitely. blood pressure. So knowing your own. blood pressure, and checking yourself is. a good idea, in my opinion. It's so. amazing how you could just miss it just. by a little bit. But like you're saying, 5 to 10 years. 5 to 10 years is not a little bit, right? it's not. Yeah. 5 to. People ignore it a long time. That's. late. Yeah. If someone checks themselves right. now. and they have high blood pressure, what.

should they do? First thing, don't freak. out, right? I mean, it's just one. measurement, or three averaged into one. Check it again the following week, and. check it again the following week. There's a lot of things you can do to. lower your blood pressure naturally. We talked about some of the dietary. interventions. There's also, you know, start listening to the Daily Jay on the. Calm app. It's just some breathwork, some meditation can be massively. beneficial in reducing blood pressure. naturally. Going for a walk after meals, sleeping better, all of these things can.

help. things. Simple things, right? It's It's It always comes down to the. basics. Yes, it really does. comes down to the basics and then being. really aware of these little nuances, I. feel. Like the more time I've spent with. you, you realize, yeah, it's about these. simple things like your nutrition, your. sleep, your exercise, and then at the other end it's about the. microplastics, the toxins, the And these. are the more nuanced things that require. a bit more organization and. orchestration. Right. Inflammation is.

one of the root causes of heart disease. Yes, and Alzheimer's. And. yeah, and cancer. Okay, so what is. inflammation? It's an overactivity of. your immune system. Your immune system. is what keeps us healthy. It fights off, we all know, viruses, bacteria, but it. also fights off cancer cells. It also. has a major role in healing us from. injuries throughout our body. When your immune system is too busy. and this can happen for many different. reasons, but there's one in particular, it doesn't have the time or the ability.

to attend to all of its different roles, right? So cancer cells get missed and. you develop cancer. Amyloid accumulates. in your brain, you develop Alzheimer's. disease. These things happen because our. immune system just literally doesn't. have the capacity to do all the. different jobs we're asking it to do. So there's one place where most. inflammation starts and that's in your. gut, okay? Most of our immune system, 80-90% of our. immune cells are located in our gut. And. when our gut is unhealthy, toxins are.

instantly absorbed through our gut into. our bloodstream and our immune system. has is asked to fight these off. And so. it's really important to maintain a. healthy gut so that our immune system is. allowed some time to do its other jobs. If you're someone who gets sick often. Mhm. or has a regular cough or sore. throat, is that a sign that your immune. system's weak? Yeah, absolutely. It. could be for sure. What should you be. doing? So, the. Cuz I feel like we just let it go. I.

know a lot of people who just Every time. I see them, they're like, "Oh, you know, I just got a cough. Like, just got a. sore throat. I'm just just got sick. again." Like, you know, every month. you're hearing about it. Yeah. And you kind of just live life that way. Yeah, it's unfortunate. We get used to. it, right? And so, there's a lot of ways. to keep your immune system. healthy. One is it is We We keep going. back to the basics, but I will say sleep. is a such an important factor in immune. system health. The less you sleep, the. weaker your immune system gets. And it's. all It's so predictable, you know? And.

so, having good deep sleep is very. important. We talked about toxins. The. less your immune system has to deal with. toxins, the better it has the capacity. to help detoxify you from viruses and. fungi, so you don't get sick. And then. lastly, I would say is keep your gut. healthy, you know? Make sure you're. eating a lot of fiber. Make sure you're. avoiding things like Advil and. nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, unless you absolutely need them. Don't. take antibiotics, unless you absolutely. need them. That can kill your gut. bacteria. Keep your gut as healthy as.

possible. Lots of fiber. It's super. important as well for your gut to be. healthy. What are the negative impacts. of antibiotics and Advil? They're like. nuclear bombs to your gut bacteria. You. take an Advil, you take. any nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. or an antibiotic, especially, your gut bacteria take a while to. regenerate. It's really a tragedy. in modern medicine, because you know, when I was in medical school, I was. taught there's no downsides to.

antibiotics. Why not just fling. antibiotics at people? I think people. know better now, for sure, but it's. still, you know, doctors don't have time. to sort through all these things. And. sometimes you just writing someone a. prescription for an antibiotic gets them. out your door. And people are seeking. antibiotics all the time. They want. something. They want a pill to They want. a quick fix, a pill to take. And I think. that um we have to be much more mindful. because the same antibiotic that's. killing your sinus problem is killing. your gut bacteria, right? So, unless you.

absolutely need it, I would be very. careful about taking antibiotics and. non-steroidals. I think now, you know, we've come to this age where we can buy. these things over the counter in massive. tubs of like 180 pills of Advil, right? And the minute you have a little ache or. sore, even people going to the gym, they. take a little Advil before and get a. better workout. It's killer for your gut. bacteria. So, you want to avoid these if. at all possible. What do you do for a. headache instead? Curcumin. Yeah, there's lots of natural remedies for,

you know, headaches, taking a nap. Curcumin is a powerful. anti-inflammatory, especially if you. take it with papaverine, which increases. its absorption. Try that first. You can. even try this if you're having back. pain, neck pain. Look, I'm not telling. people live with pain, absolutely not. But, don't also become a chronic user of. Advil every single day. Yeah, because. the pain you're actually setting. yourself up for is far worse. And I. think that's what we just don't see. I. think we've all been trained to believe. that as long as I don't feel anything,

I'm good. Yes. Not realizing that the numbing and the. suppressing of that signal, that sign, that alert that's trying to say, "Hey, take a look at your gut or take a look. at whatever it may be." Yeah. It's It's so easy to just kind of just. avoid it and hide it almost. This. happens with all of disease, Jay, is. that we cover up the symptoms with. pharmaceuticals and we never look at. what is the root cause of why we have. that in the first place, right? So, if. you're having pain, it's your body. screaming out saying, "Hey, there's a.

root cause issue going on here. Help me. figure this out so that we don't have. long-term issues." Instead, a pill will. cover up the symptoms and it numbs you. to that signal, and that's the problem. And what was the next one after. inflammation? Then we talked about. cholesterol leading to heart disease. So, one point I want to make here is I. think a lot of us are stuck in this. mentality of LDL cholesterol leads to. heart disease. Explain that, because I don't think most. people even know what LDL cholesterol. is. Yes, so if you get a cholesterol. panel and um your doctor tells you, "Oh,

your total cholesterol is high, your LDL. is high. I think you might need a statin. to mitigate the effects of this so that. you don't have heart vessel blockages in. the future." Well, we already know that. it's not just cholesterol that leads to. heart disease. It's all the combination. of things that we talked about. If your doctor talks to you about LDL, or you hear or you're following your. LDL, really that's 1980s, 1990s medicine. now. We have a new biomarker that. everyone should know what this number. is, especially once you hit the age of.

40. It's called ApoB. ApoB is a protein. wrapper around all the bad forms of. cholesterol. I'm doing air quotes here. for your listeners, the bad forms, LDL, VLDL, LP little a. All these forms of. cholesterol that are damaging to your. heart. So, if you know what your ApoB. level is, you want to continually. improve your diet, improve your. activity, your sleep, your exercise to. get that lower and lower so that you. don't deposit cholesterol into your. arteries. Why are you seeing. healthy people.

having heart attacks? You look, a lot of. us look at an outward appearance of. someone and we say, "Oh, that person. must be healthy. They look thin. They. look like they take care of themselves.". The reality is what's going on under the. hood of our health is very different. than what we can see on the outside. I. see a lot of athletes in our practice. You know, these are people that are. trained athletes. They're at the top of. their profession. And when I do some. simple blood tests on them, I see they. have a ton of inflammation. They have. metabolic disease. They have high ApoB,

the cholesterol marker. Their hormone. levels are off. And we have the. technology now, very simply, to look at. this. We just don't because we look at. the mirror and we say, "Well, I must be. healthy. I look okay." How much of this. is based on family history and how much. of it is lifestyle? Is it based on our. genetics? Is it based on something that. we've inherited? Or is it something. we're creating for ourselves? I think. family history and our genetics has a. role, but it's much smaller than we.

think. And even if you have a family. history, that is not your destiny. Your. environment can turn off those genetic. signals depending on the lifestyle and. the environment that you live in. I love. that you have that perspective. You. always say that to me as well because we. talk a lot about our South Asian and. Indian heritage and how some of the. health markers that I have today, you'll. always remind me that some of them are. not my lifestyle but based on the past, but you feel very confident that we can. actually shift that. Yeah, you know, I.

don't worry too much with you because. you live an incredibly healthy. lifestyle. So, you're turning off the. genes that. if you did not live an incredibly. healthy lifestyle, they would be turned. on. They would cause damage quickly. And. we're monitoring you, right? We're doing. some simple blood tests that everyone. has access to. They can ask their doctor. for it anytime to make sure that you're. under close monitoring so that your. genetics don't lead to an unhealthy. destiny. Yeah, I'm glad I'm glad that. you have that positive outlook because I. think for a long time there was this. feeling that like, "If you have a family.

history of this, you're screwed." Right? Right? It's over for you. Right? And. it's great for us to realize that we. shouldn't live in that trap, that. mindset trap that. "Hey, you're you're destined for the. same." The place I see that the most is. with Alzheimer's disease, right? I. talked to so many people that say, "My. mother got Alzheimer's, so I know I'm. destined to get Alzheimer's.". And I tell them right off the bat that. even if you if even if we did a gene. test for you, there's a gene test for. Alzheimer's called APOE. Even if that.

comes up positive that you have a higher. risk of Alzheimer's, we know we have the. technology now to reverse that trend and. prevent Alzheimer's in you from ever. occurring. And in fact, we can keep you. mentally sharp for the rest of your life. if you just put into place simple. lifestyle interventions. Can we test for. Alzheimer's disease? Yeah, so this is a. great question because it's a perfect. example of this incredible age that. we're living in. So, through the power.

of computation and computers, we have. found protein signals in our blood that. can tell us whether or not you're headed. towards Alzheimer's disease now. So, now. with a simple blood test, we can see how. likely it is that you will get And this. is not genetic risk, this is actually. developing Alzheimer's, okay? So, the old test for Alzheimer's was we. would have to do. a high radiation scan of your brain to. see if you had potential Alzheimer's. disease developing. Because of the.

radiation, because of the complexity of. the scan, no one would get it until. you've had a lot of the signs and. symptoms of Alzheimer's. Now, we can get. this blood test that highly correlates. with the scan. It's called the P-tau 217. blood test. It's just come out a few. months ago, actually. It's very new and. I'm incredibly excited because now we. can screen for Alzheimer's, we can see. if our treatments are working cuz this. blood biomarker can go up or down. It's. actually a quantitative number. It's not.

just a yes and no. So, we can actually. see what direction you're headed and if. the treatments are working. Something. you mentioned, I feel like so many. people, Dr. Shah, feel like this. fear of Alzheimer's, especially if they. have a family history. And you kind of. carry that fear around, right? And it's. a hard way to live because you're scared. it's going to happen, there's data that. proves it could be there. What should. you do if you are fearful that. Alzheimer's runs in your family, it. could happen for you? What should you be.

changing? It's a lot of the basics that. we talked about, but the things that are. going to make the most difference with. Alzheimer's particularly is number one, getting into a practice of giving your. brain some time to relax, right? And you. talk a lot about this, breathwork, meditation, all of this is so important. We live in a state where our brain is. hyperactive all the time and just. turning down the noise in our brain. once a day is incredibly powerful. The. second thing that you can do is a.

technique called mental reprocessing. Our brain loves to work. It loves to do. something. Specifically, what it loves. to do is to learn new things, think about them, and then talk about. them to somebody else without like an. electronic device in front of you the. whole time, right? So, reading, thinking. about it, talking about that book to. somebody else, very powerful. This is why there's this huge study done. on nuns that had genetic risk for.

Alzheimer's but never got Alzheimer's. even into their 80s and 90s. And the. reason is what were they doing? They. were constantly learning about religion. through their Bible and talking about. and teaching it to people. This is what. kept their brains healthy. Wow. Yeah. That's pretty fascinating. I. didn't know that one. Uh-huh. I love that one because I mean, that's why people love podcasts cuz you. can listen to something on a podcast. You have a podcast, too. People can. listen to something, they can share it. with someone. Does that work as well if. you're listening or does it have to be. reading? No, listening, learning, active.

learning is actually very works. incredibly well. So, doing something. with your hands and learning in that. fashion, any type of learning. Learning, thinking about it, talking about it, teaching it is the cycle called mental. reprocessing that works incredibly well. to keep your brain healthy. I love that. because I find that most of us. the challenge is if you're not learning, you're just thinking. And then you're. overthinking. You're ruminating. Exactly. And you're thinking about. something that isn't that useful. So,

you're thinking about the person that. cut you off in traffic. Or you're. thinking about the person who spoke to. you badly at work. Or you're thinking. about your boss or whatever it may be. And none of those thoughts are learning. or helping you or healing you or making. you happier or making you healthier. They're just spinning around in your. mind. Absolutely. And as soon as you learn. something it interrupts that pattern. Yeah. And now you're like, "Oh, wait a. minute. I learned this really cool thing. today. I'm going to share it with three. people." And all of a sudden that's. actually helping your brain. Keeping.

your brain younger and healthier. It. There's this chemical hormone in our. brain called BDNF. I think you and I. have talked about it before. Brain-derived neurotrophic growth. factor. This chemical when it's secreted. in our brain causes our neurons to. connect. And so, our brain is nothing. but a connection of the neurons that. we're born with, right? And the more. connections we have, the more mentally. sharp we are. And as we age, those. connections start to dissipate, unfortunately. As you sleep less, as you.

expose yourself to more toxins, this is. a problem. The opposite of that is. having good levels of BDNF. Your BDNF. increases, and you've seen these studies. with meditation, increases with active. learning, increases with exercise, walking increases BDNF levels. Anything you can do to increase BDNF. levels in your brain, you should be. doing it every day. Yeah, again, really, really accessible, practical steps. That's why I love talking to you because. the changes are always things any of us.

can do. You don't have to learn a new. habit. You don't need to go build a new. skill. It's just finding time for these. really, really simple things. You know, you said something powerful to. me and it resonated with me because it. elicits an emotional reaction. It's this. fear of Alzheimer's because you have a. family member that has it, right? And so. many people are living with this fear. And whenever I see a patient that comes. in with this fear, I tell them all the. things I talked about with you, but I. also hand them a book that I think is. very powerful. Dr. Dale Bredesen wrote a. book called The End of Alzheimer's, and.

it really gets your head wrapped around. the multifactorial nature of Alzheimer's. and all the different things that leads. to it. It is not just one gene. It's not. just amyloid, for sure. We know that as. a fact. And it empowers you to. understand that there's a lot of things. you can do to prevent Alzheimer's and. even reverse it if you have signs of. cognitive impairment. So, I think it's. really important for the mindset shift. to happen just for all of us as a. population that this is not the destiny.

that we are going to be handed is. Alzheimer's disease or being frail. That. does not have to happen. We can all live. vibrant, long, healthy lives, and I'm a. big believer in education. There's. certain books that I love. We've talked. about a few of them. That's one that I. think is very important if you have the. fear of Alzheimer's. I'm glad you talked. about that. I'm glad you responded to. that because I think the other fear we. all have is a fear of cancer. I think. I've lived my lifetime. I think when I. was young, it was one in four. Then I saw it become one in three, and.

now it's like one in two. And so when you have those odds, we're. sitting in this room thinking, well, that means one of us, right? When you're. with your friends, everyone's sitting. there going, well, one of us is going to. get it. And that's a really sobering, painful experience, especially because. so many people right now are losing. people to cancer, even people who are. quite young. Yeah. You know, I have. friends losing people their age. I have. mentors. I have uncles, aunts, whoever. it may be. It feels like everyone I know. at a certain point has it.

Yeah. How do I avoid getting cancer? Right, right. So, I do want to say. something about those statistics though. because I think it's important to. understand the nuance behind it. Yes, there are more cancers being discovered. for certain types of cancer. For. example, younger and younger people are. getting colon cancer, and it's a. perplexing everybody, you know? I think. I know why, but you know, it's it's a. big problem, right? However, other. cancers, because we have better. screening for cancers, we're diagnosing.

more of them, but we're also treating. more of them at a much earlier stage, right? I always say, cancer's biggest. enemy is being diagnosed at stage one, right? Stage one, you're talking cure. At stage three or four, you're talking. five-year survival rates. But, not to. discount the issue that there is a. higher incidence of cancer right now, and we do need to be more cognizant, and. I think there's a lot of reasons for. that. A lot of those reasons are at the. root causes of health that we talked. about. Poor metabolic health, inflammation, exposure to toxins. Once.

you start understanding those are the. root causes, and you start doing something about. those root causes, your personal cancer. risk starts to go down, and I think. that's important. Yeah, I like the way you just brought. that back, because it's all connected. It's all connected. Right, it's not. like, "Oh, if you do toxins, it'll get. you this, and if you do, you know, microplastics, it'll get you this." It's. It's not like a flowchart, it's. literally like, "No, this is all. connected." Yeah. And each of it can. spiral off in any way.

Those four factors we talked about with. heart disease, guess what? Those are. also four factors that can potentially. lead to cancer, right? Inflammation, metabolic disease, high blood pressure, poor vascular. Those are all things that. lead to cancer, all things that lead to. Alzheimer's. It's all connected at these. root causes of health. Yeah, and that. actually is beneficial for us, because means we don't have to think. about all of these things. We just need. to think about the basics, and then the. core principles you've spoken about. today to actually help us with all of. that. It's not like we have to have a. different game plan for Alzheimer's, and.

a different game plan for cancer, and a. different game plan for heart disease. You can have the same game plan. Yeah, very well said. It's the same game. plan. It's just understanding what what. those key moves are, right? Yeah, yeah, and and knowing how the. strategy changes when there's like. that's how I like to think about it. We. if we're athletes preparing for a game, you can't predict what's going to happen. in the game. You can plan for the game. and then based on your opponent's moves, you then strategically have to shift.

And the quicker you spot your opponent's. shift in strategy, the better you can. So, the quicker we spot cancer, the. quicker we see signs of heart disease, the quicker we see signs of Alzheimer's, the quicker we can make progress. Right. How late or early are we spotting. cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's? Unfortunately, it's still too late. And. the way the current Western medical. system is set up is we wait until things. get to a danger zone before we start. doing something about it, right? And the. reality is we have the technology to.

spot all of these things 20 to 30 years. prior to getting a diagnosis. We're just. not doing it, right? And so, there are. blood biomarkers like we talked about. for metabolic health. There are scans. that you can do that are extremely. preventative for cancer. If everyone, you know, out there listening, if you're. over the age of 40, you have not had a. colonoscopy done, get it done. Like. these are things that your insurance. cover. Skin cancer is another great. example of this. There are apps now that. you can scan moles and see if they're.

cancerous or not, right? Most people. wait until it's just way too late to go. see a doctor and ask about it. So, I. think there's some level of personal. responsibility that we have to take here. to be more proactive and understand what. are some of these markers, what do they. mean, and can we check them earlier? And. also, we have to challenge our medical. professionals that we see. Why are you not checking certain blood. biomarkers? We need to check these on a. regular basis. Every time you go to the. doctor every year, I think it's. important to ask your doctor to check.

for metabolic health, for inflammation, for apoB, the heart biomarker that we. talked about. Let's Let's just list out for people. Yeah. If you could give people a list of. everything they should check today. to ensure that they have a healthy life, what should they be checking? I'll give. you the list, but I also also have this. on my website. We can link to this in. the show notes. There are 10 key. biomarkers that I look at and I empower. my patients to follow these on their. own. That's the key. No one's going to.

care more about your health than you do. Everyone deals with a spreadsheet in one. form or another. Just make one with. these 10 markers on it. Put the dates on. the top, the 10 markers on the left, and. just start following them yourself, right? And so I Some of them are blood. tests. Some of them are simple tests to. obtain at home, such as your blood. pressure that we talked about. And I can. list a few of these for you, and then we. can give people the uh resource, right? Okay. So, some blood tests that everyone needs. to understand are hemoglobin A1c. This.

is a 3-month average of your blood. glucose. Your doctor won't raise an alarm until. it gets to 5.7 or above. That's. pre-diabetes. 6.5 or above is diabetes. You want to keep it as close to 5.2 or. below. That's optimal range. If it. starts ticking up to 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, now we have a problem. We need to start. making changes in our diet, in our. movement, to get it back in the right. direction. Inflammation is tracked by a biomarker.

called hs-CRP. Highly sensitive C-reactive protein. This is a very simple, extremely. inexpensive blood test. Your insurance. covers it. You want this as close to zero as. possible. If it's over one or two, there's inflammation going on, most. likely in your gut. Your gut starts at. your mouth. You look at your oral health. as well. The next biomarker we talked about at. length is apoB. That's the one of of. cardiac risk of all the bad forms of. cholesterol. I also like tracking vitamin D levels.

This is vitamin D is a hormone. We track. yours. We know that, you know, we need. to supplement the vitamin D sometimes. It's hard to be out in the sun 30-40. minutes a day, right? Then there are. markers that you can do at home, blood. pressure. There's a special kind of. scale that I try to get everyone to buy. It's a scale that goes way beyond. weight. Weight to me is not super. useful. What is useful is amount of. skeletal muscle mass you have and how. much fat mass you have. You always want. to make sure that you have enough.

skeletal muscle so that you can live. your day-to-day life, but also your. metabolism lives in your muscle. People. that struggle with poor metabolic health. often have a lack of good amounts of. skeletal muscle. And so we can track. this using what's called a bioimpedance. scale. These are like 20 bucks. You can. buy them and you step on them with bare. feet. This is electrical current that. you don't even feel goes through your. body and it tells you these numbers and. you see what direction you're headed in. What's really important here is men.

after the age of 40, women after. menopause, we start decreasing our. skeletal muscle mass rapidly. And you. want to start increasing your protein. intake and increasing your strength. workouts to track the skeletal muscle. mass as well. So these are some of them. and there's a few more that are a little. bit more technical but easy to follow. Once again, cheap, easy, insurance. covers some of these things. I think. it's important to empower yourself with. these numbers. And where can people go. to get them? My website drsha.com and. there's links right on there. They're.

free. I want everyone to have them. You. don't have to come to me as your doctor. Bring this list to your doctor. That's. fantastic. Dr. Shah, you honestly, every. time we talk, I walk away feeling. lighter, I feel clear, and I feel so. confident that I can actually make a. change in my health. And I'm so glad. that you share things in such a concise, interesting, and also optimistic lens. Thank you. that people can go and live and make a. change in their life. And these. resources are going to be huge for. people. I think this episode is going to.

be one that everyone's going to share. with a friend, a family member, whether. you're dealing with a fear, whether. you're worried about a particular health. challenge that you might have, or you're. just trying to get the basics right and. be on the lookout for toxins and. microplastics, I hope this episode has. served you today. Dr. Shah, is there. anything that I didn't ask you about. that you really want to talk about or. share with me and my audience? Yeah, I. think you know, one important topic that. you talk a lot about is how does mental. health tie into all of this? And I think. it's so important. And I'm seeing this.

more and more in my own clinical. practice that if I don't address mental. health, the physical health sometimes. struggles in following. Mhm. But also the opposite is true. When. I have patients that are struggling with. mental health issue, whether it be. depression, anxiety, attention deficit, bipolar, if we're not looking at the biomarkers. and what's going on in your biology, we're never going to be able to make. major changes up here, right? And so, a.

lot of people are on a high doses of. medication, sometimes multiple. medications. And guess what? The minute. we get their hormones fixed, their. vitamin D fixed, they start reducing. their dosage. We get people off. medications a lot of times. So, they're. so interconnected. So, my reason for. bringing that up is a lot of people they. feel physically fine, but they're. struggling with mental health issues. They still need to look under the hood. and see what's going on in their. biology. I'm so glad you raised that. I. encourage my community to do the same.

because I think for a long time mine was. the other way around where I'd like. figure it out the mind and then had to. focus on the body a little bit and you. realize how interconnected they are and. I can agree with you more. I think so. much of what we're dealing with mentally. could be solved with the right change in. nutrition, sleep, diet, supplements, vitamins, everything that you're talking. about. You can make so many shifts, so. at least positive improvements. Yes. And and I would encourage anyone. who's struggling with something mentally.

to also go and prioritize these things. that seem very physical, but ultimately. it's just health. Exactly. It's just one big thing. Yeah, we're we're connected beings. We don't. have a cardiovascular system and then a. nervous system. It's all one part of our. being and our emotional health and our. physical health are so interrelated. Absolutely. Everyone subscribe to Dr. Shaw's podcast Extend if you want to. hear more from him and the experts that. he connects with. As I said, Dr. Shaw's.

my doctor. I trust him. I work hard with. him. I'm always trying to figure out new. ways to be better, healthier, and. happier and I feel like you just Again, this is just another masterclass. It was. brilliant to have you back on and this. is going to be one of those episodes I. know people are going to get so much. value from. I hope so. That's my purpose. in life. I want to empower each and. every person, each and every one of your. listeners to have full control of their. health and feel like they have the power. to avoid chronic disease and turn their. health around. Absolutely. Thank you. If.

this year you're trying to live longer, live happier, live healthier, go and. check out my conversation with the. world's biggest longevity doctor, Peter. Attia, on how to slow down aging and why. your emotional health is directly. impacting your physical health. Acknowledge that there is surprisingly. little known about the relationship. between nutrition and health and people. are going to be shocked to hear that cuz. I think most people think the exact. opposite.