Dr. Will Cole ON: The Foods You ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT Eat To Live Longer! | Jay Shetty

continually eating foods that don't love. you back is like staying in a toxic. relationship and wondering why you're. still miserable but avoiding foods that. don't love you back isn't restrictive. it's self-respect the best-selling. author and host the number one Health. and Wellness podcast on purpose with Jay. Shetty. hey everyone welcome back to on purpose. the number one Health podcast in the. world thanks to each and every single. one of you that come back every week to. listen learn and grow now if you've been.

listening lately you've been hearing me. repeat this Mantra happy healthy and. healing this is something I've been. repeating to myself a lot recently I'm. happy I'm healthy I'm healing it's been. making a big difference in my life and I. know that you're here because you want. to be happy you want to be healthy and. you want to heal now today's guest is. someone who talks about that in such a. phenomenal way and everything from the. gut to the brain to what we digest every. day to our feelings and our traumas and. how they affect the chemicals inside of.

our body and our mind I'm talking about. doctor will call a leading functional. medicine expert who consults people. around the globe starting one of the. first functional medicine Telehealth. centers in the world over a decade ago. named one of the top 50 functional and. integrative doctors in the nation Dr. will call provides a functional medicine. approach for thyroid issues autoimmune. conditions hormonal imbalances digestive. disorders and brain problems Dr will.

call is also the host of the popular the. art of being well podcast make sure you. check it out and the New York New York. Times best-selling author of intuitive. fasting the inflammation spectrum and. the brand new book gut feelings healing. the shame-fueled relationship between. what you eat and how you feel if you. don't have that book yeah I want you to. go in order right now gut feelings we. are going to put the link in the show. notes make sure you grab a copy as.

you're listening right now or watching. uh Dr will call thank you for being here. I need you to be my hype man everybody. that's a great way to start your day oh. thank you man thank you well well you I. always say to my guests I'm like you had. to live all of that so you actually had. to do it thanks uh but I also can I call. you will of course yeah I just want to. say for everyone who's watching will. took a flight this morning from. Pittsburgh to New York City to be on the. show I appreciate him so much for doing. that I really really value that I love. connecting with people in person yeah.

I'm happy to be here yeah I and I can't. wait to dive in that's good I was just. saying to you earlier that our community. our audience here on purpose really. loves learning and really loves getting. really practical applicable tools when. it comes to their health uh I think one. of the things that I by the way I love. the name of the new book like gut. feelings I think the gut has often been. so ignored in the conversation yeah we. often talk about how do you feel up here. what's your head saying yeah and then we. feel about the heart versus the head and.

I feel like the gut was forgotten for so. long. why is the gut so important in that. conversation and why should it not be. ignored you're right and even I think. we've come a long way in the past 12. years since I've been in functional. medicine people growing awareness but. we're still scratching the surface I. realize I'm probably talking to more of. the health nerds and it's definitely not. the general population so we have a far. way to go and our gut is a major part of. our health but you don't necessarily.

have to have extreme digestive symptoms. to have underlying gut components to why. you feel the way that you do so your gut. and brain are actually formed from the. same fetal tissue so when babies are. growing in their mother's womb they're. formed from that same fetal tissue and. they're inextricably linked for the rest. of our lives through what's known as the. gut brain Axis or the connection between. the gut and the Brain 95 of Serotonin. are happy neurotransmitter it's made in. the gut stored in the gut fifty percent.

of dopamine is made in the gut stored in. the gut if you think about it the. intestines kind of even resemble the. brain and the vagus nerve is what really. innervates and connects both the gut and. the Brain researchers call the gut the. second brain we have to understand to. understand so much of what ales modern. society we have to understand gut health. and it's no coincidence that most of. probably your listeners would know. Hippocrates the father of modern. medicine he said all disease begins in.

the gut well if disease begins in the. gut then so does healing begin in the. gut and it's also home to 75 percent of. the immune system inflammation is a. product of the immune system and you. look at the epidemic rise of autoimmune. problems and really inflammation is the. commonality between just about every. health problem autoimmune issues. metabolic issues hormonal problems to re. really research looking at what's known. as the cytokine model of cognitive. function how inflammation impacts how.

our brains work so things like anxiety. and depression fatigue all have the. roots in not only inflammation but also. the gut brain connection so it is the. far-reaching implications of this is. vast we have to understand it to deal. with it and what are some of the biggest. mistakes we're making when it comes to. our gut like what are the things that I. think you would say that we're just so. unaware of or unsure about that are. causing gut challenges I think the. interesting thing about gut issues is. that when you figure out that you have.

something you're concerned about yeah. and you start talking to your friend or. someone you realize everyone has it but. no one talks about it right right it's. not like one of those things that people. share very openly right but you start. recognizing wow everyone has digestive. issues everyone's having some sort of. inflammation everyone's having this kind. of thing so what are some of the habits. traits that you think have kind of. become widespread that is actually. taking us down this road that maybe. we're just not aware of enough I'm. always telling my patients is just. because something's common doesn't. necessarily mean it's normal just.

because it's your everyday doesn't mean. you should settle for it and I really. can't tell you how many times when I'm. talking to somebody online and we're. going through their systems of their. body and they have these aha moments of. whoa I thought that was just me I. thought that was just my lot in life. because I have it every day but I think. they need to we as a human race need to. take inventory and kind of get in our. bodies or know that you teach about this. so eloquently of just being aware and. mindful of how our body works because it.

maybe you're every day but it doesn't. mean to be normalized so I mean we could. talk about digestion and you're right. people don't want to talk about it it's. very normal for me to talk about poop at. my office it's like and then I look. across the Telehealth across the the. internet and I realize it's not as. normal as I think it is I see their. partner like uh we've never talked about. this before you know uh we get real real. fast but it's important because it's a. window into probably lots of other. things in your body but it's normal to.

have one to two we say snakes a day as. far as bowel movements are concerned on. the Bristol chart many people go two. three days without a normal bowel. movement or it's always loose or always. really strained and like pebbles that's. not normal your bowel movements are a. window into your overall health so we. start there but then we look at energy. levels throughout your day do you need. lots of you know sugar and caffeine to. get through the day that's not normal. but that's a lot of people's everyday. certainly uh do you have ravenous.

Cravings of food do you have trouble. losing weight do you have hair loss do. you have skin problems these are all. like we call in functional medicine. these are like check engine lights check. engine lights on but why the body's. telling us something we have to go. upstream or get to the root cause of why. you have the problem in the first place. yeah and I think for a lot of people it. becomes hard because I found for a long. time as well that as I became more aware. of these things yeah and as I sort off. to help. it was really difficult to find good.

personalized advice because you see. everyone say well you have to drink this. one thing you have to do this one thing. right it becomes this fad and. something's helping some things don't. and you don't know how they're all. interconnected and I feel like people. get quite stuck and that's why I love. books like yours and podcasts like yours. because people can kind of follow along. and go okay I'm dealing with this. challenge. um one of the things that I love that. you talked about was the process you. call shameflammation and I wanted to. talk about how can one begin to confront. that so she inflammation I.

you know you know this as writing books. and educating people and speaking you'll. wake up in the middle of the night like. oh that's a good way of conveying what. I'm trying to say because you see it. play out in people's lives all the time. I see it on an hourly basis when I'm. Consulting patients people that eat. really clean they are working out. they're doing all the wellness stuff. they go to erwan they they do all the. things you're supposed to do that's me. by the way so I'm one of those people. that I'm like I eat cleaner than 99 of.

my friends I work out I stay healthy I. don't drink alcohol I don't smoke like I. have a very clean life. and I still had high forms of. information I work with Mona Sharma. identity yeah Simone is my health card I. love her and so and my wife is my health. coach too she's been a dietitian and. nutritionist and ayurvedic uh Health. practitioner so my wife and Mona kind of. tag team on my life you're a good hands. I'm very fortunate but you know so yeah. let's talk about that because I'm. actually that person I'm that person. who's I'm like guys I pretty much don't.

have any bad habits yeah so that's why. shamefulness yeah so that's 99 of my. patients as well you're not alone is it. you have very erudite people that are. trying to do the best things that are. probably most of them better off than. they would be if they weren't doing. these things but there's these missing. pieces and what I explore with my. patients and what I get to talk about in. gut feelings is these missing. physiological and psychological missing. links to what is keeping you stuck at.

that Plateau what is keeping you back. from leveling up how you want to feel so. shameflammation is the is Convergence of. the mental emotional and the physical. and really the conversation that I get. to have with patients and I also get to. have in this book and gut feelings is. the fact that mental health is not. separate from physical health mental. health is physical health and our brain. is a part of our body just as much as. anything else is and as I mentioned. earlier the implications of the vagus. nerve the gut brain axis and.

inflammation and its role in our health. but our thoughts and emotions on one end. of that coin stress shame trauma even. intergenerational trauma that esoteric. non-measurable stuff impacts the. measurable meaning it will Spike. inflammation levels it'll impact how. your Vegas new work when our neighbors. vagus nerve Works it'll impact how your. hormones are expressed so we have to. look at what I call for my patients.

shameflammation and what is our. relationship with food what is our. relationship with our body what is our. relationship ship with ourselves and. start shifting paradigms around how we. live life because you could you could be. doing amazing things for your health. eating good foods working out but if. you're going into it with such a sense. of dread and Obsession and you know. something that I say in the book is you. can't heal a body you hate you cannot. shame your way into Health many people.

try to and they're doing good things. that even makes sense on paper but. they're going into it with such a. Negative sense of intention and yeah. intention it's sabotaging it's producing. a completely opposite result so I want. to bring good things but let's do it. with a good intention and that's what. shameflammation that concept is all. about yeah understood what are some of. the quick things that if anyone's. thinking I'm feeling inflammation what. are some of the things in our physical. like things that we're consuming that. are likely to cause inflammation yeah so. there's the physiological and the.

psychological again so the physiological. let's go on that side yes so that it. starts the foods that we eat I mean. every food we eat either feeds. inflammation or or fights it there's. there's no neutral food there's no. Switzerland meal it's it's serving your. physiology it's doing something it's. maybe in incremental waste maybe in. negligible ways but it's some in very. major ways so we have to take inventory. of every food we eat other every meal is. another opportunity to bring. inflammation up or bring inflammation.

levels down so what I call the. inflammatory core four are the four. Foods or food ingredients that are most. likely to disrupt that gut microbiome. all the trillions of bacteria in our gut. that that regulate our inflammation. levels regulate hormones regulate our. brain and neurotransmitters so that's. going to be gluten containing grains. would be number one and I have a nuanced. conversation about this there are better. versions of gluten you can get Ancient. Grains you can get sourdough bread to.

ferments some of this a lot of the foods. that I'm going to be talking about here. are what we've done to the food not. necessarily the food in and of itself. but for the sake of Simplicity gluten. containing grains looking at that in. your life number two would be industrial. seed oils things like soybean oil. vegetable oil canola oil palm oil palm. oil exactly yeah I've just been taking. off a lot of those because that was. somewhere where we hadn't got to yet so. I'm off palm oil canola oil I can only. eat things in olive oil avocado oil at. the moment love it yeah thanks Mona yeah.

yeah yeah thanks for that conventional. Dairy I would say that and added sugar. which is no surprise I'm short of people. but even the nice sounding euphemisms. for sugar you know that are hidden very. cleverly on labels that they may be. better for you options and I'm not. demonizing this entire sugar industry. but I'm saying look at the amount of. added grams of sugar you're consuming in. a day you may be surprised so decreasing. that and if I could make the core for a. plus one I would add alcohol to that.

list is people oftentimes they eat. cleaner. they clean up their diet they know about. the inflammatory core4 but they keep in. alcohol in their life as like oh that's. my one Vice but they are kept back their. guts are still struggling their mental. health is still struggling their energy. levels their weight loss resistance. still struggling so I would at least. look at alcohol as a role into these as. well because it's becoming quite. normalized within the wellness world. specifically and at the end of the day.

there's no. healthy amount of alcohol there are. better for you options certainly and I. have to be pragmatic but it's something. that I would take into consideration. yeah I know that's great I mean that's. so practical and I think everyone is. listening to that I think we've all. heard about a friend I'm gluten-free too. but I've heard about friends being. gluten-free and this and that and we. often laugh about these things yeah but. it's it's interesting to hear just how. simple it can be right these are not. huge changes none of these changes are. like hard to find necessarily these.

things are becoming more and more common. at least at a grocery store yeah and we. can start making healthier choices in a. simple way uh let's talk a big bit about. gut microbiome because so I recently had. a surgery and I had to take uh Tramadol. and a bunch of other stuff to like. painkillers to try and deal with the. pain and and Mona was like all right. we're gonna have to start with your. microbiome all over again after this is. all over what is that relationship. between. uh painkillers and all of that with our. gut microbiome as well like where's the. connection there well I mean your gut is.

just a major regulator of so many. different Pathways in the body so it is. such a central role but when you're. taking either NSAIDs or antibiotics or. other pain medications they could really. do a number on your gut uh they it can. really impact the gut lining as well as. the microbiome Metropolis this got. Garden within within our. gastrointestinal system so that doesn't. mean we shouldn't be on those. medications when they're properly.

prescribed there's surgeries where you. need to be on things like that but just. as Modena said what are we going to do. afterwards what's sort of the long game. here to start supporting gut health. again because pragmatically those. medications just like certain foods and. either everything we do in life. influences this gut Garden so there's. some things that hurt it more than. others and especially people that are on. medication some medications long term. specifically antibiotics and some pain.

pills as well they really can do. quite good damage on the gut that we. have to work on rehabilitating over time. yeah and so that's just something to be. conscious of as well it's something to. be conscious of talk with your doctor. about because oftentimes there isn't a. conversation about gut health when it's. no take this see later but I would just. want to be empowered as a patient and be. informed as to your options and have. Choice yeah and you've talked a bit. about how the connection between alcohol. and intuition and I was intrigued by.

that like what what have you seen as the. connection there that you well well I. think again as I mentioned earlier I. think alcohol people don't want to go. there right that's how they socialize. that's how they hang out with their. friends that's how they wind down they. say they deal with the background. anxiousness and they don't really want. to see how this drink can impact how. they feel and how they truly can know. what their body loves when their body. doesn't love so alcohol can impact both. you your body on both the physiological.

and the psychological level it's going. to impact your gut microbiome certainly. what's it doing what's happening it can. do a few things it's going to disrupt. the microbiomes the microbiome is. depending on the study that you look at. it's upwards of 100 trillion bacteria. and we have about 10 trillion human. cells so we are all about 10 times more. bacteria than human and when we drink. alcohol it is really especially people. that are consistently drinking it is. quite disruptive to this microbiome.

balance and it can breed things like. bacterial overgrowth people a lot of the. times people that I that I talk to they. have something called sibo small. intestinal bacterial overgrowth and. alcohol is a component certainly not the. only driver of that but it is a. disrupter and breeder of bacterial. overgrowth by messing up the balance the. of this microbiome component and it also. can increase intestinal permeability or. a increase what they call leaky gut.

syndrome it's uh when the things are. passing through the gut that shouldn't. be able to pass through the gut like. undigested food proteins bacterial. toxins called lipopolysaccharides and. then that's the seminal event that a lot. of things when the immune system sees. undigested food and bacterial toxins in. the bloodstream then there's something. called molecular mimicry it's sort of. the the case of mistaken identity when. the immune system starts this Cascade of. inflammation and that's what can trigger. autoimmunity when the immune system. loses recognition of self which I think.

that's happening on a physical level but. then you think about what's happening on. a mental emotional spiritual level with. so many people of losing recognition of. self and we have this epidemic rise of. autoimmune conditions 50 million. Americans at very least have an. autoimmune disease Millions more are. somewhere on that autoimmune. inflammation Spectrum so alcohol is. implication in that is it really is. something that allows it can be a. trigger for a lot of people not only on. a mental emotional level we know but I.

think people's relationship with alcohol. exists on a spectrum. um and you may not be a full-blown. alcoholic people need to look at. themselves and say how am I using this. tool in my life and is it in alignment. with how I want to live my life is it in. alignment with how I want to feel yeah. that's that's a great message to to get. people to reflect on yeah uh what that. was the physiological what are some of. the psychological things to be aware of. yeah well I think the research around.

stress is very fascinating I mean we. know when your body is in a state of. stress and look the stress is normal it. is good in measured amounts what I'm. talking about here is chronic stress. it's that. I'm being chased by this Tiger but. there's no tiger many people are stuck. in various degrees of sympathetic. fight-or-flight stressed State and their. bodies in overdrive all the time and we. need a balance we need the sympathetic. nervous system just as much as we need.

the parasympathetic the resting the. digesting mechanism but many people are. just an over accentuation of a. sympathetic nervous system response and. cortisol levels coming up because their. body is in that fight or flight mode. cortisol is not inherently bad just like. inflammation is not inherently bad we. need inflammation to fight off viruses. and bacteria and heal wounds but it's. the chronic inflammation that's a. problem same with chronic stress. cortisol being high for too long is not. good that is cortisol by itself is an.

endogenous immunosuppressant which means. it's a natural anti-inflammatory so. inflammation comes up cortisol comes up. to try to Abate and attenuate the higher. inflammation levels and to help you to. actually get you out of that stressed. state but it's just unsustainable. because there's no real threat for many. people but they're not sleeping well. they are eating out of alignment with. what's working for their body and they. are I would say unhealthy relationships. with technology and all of this will be.

what researchers call an evolutionary. mismatch there's a genetic epigenetic. mismatch our genetics haven't changed in. 10 000 years but yeah our world has. changed very dramatically in a very. finite period of time when you're. putting that into context with the. totality of human history so if our. genetics haven't changed in 10 000 years. just think of how much how world has. changed in a few Generations whether. it's the foods we eat or the foods we're. not eating our stress levels our. exposure to toxins. Collective and individual trauma all of.

these things are the Confluence of. factors The Perfect Storm of variables. that are giving rise to these. inflammatory autoimmune brain health. mental health problems so the. psychological side of how I see these. stressors play out in people's lives is. chronic stress but it's a lot more. nebulous right it's a lot more. Insidious because it's easy to say Don't. eat those four Foods because they're. going to spike inflammation it's another. thing to say well don't stress and then.

they're stressing about not stressing so. yeah you have to really like bring. context and practical tools and what I. call them in the book is metaphysical. meals because you need to treat these. acts of Stillness just like you would. Meal Time yes which I know we're on the. same page here it's like you have to. just like you show up for breakfast. lunch and dinner and or you show up to. the gym you need to start feeding your. head in your heart just as much as you. feed your body and it's very much a part. of healing and you have to deal with.

both sides of the coin both the. physiological and the psychological so. stress and whether that be bringing. healthy boundaries in or having a better. relationship with technology or. prioritizing your asleep or bringing in. self-care practices in your life that. are nourishing to you that are feeding. you on a mental emotional level yeah. that's just one but there are you know. many levels to that but we have to look. at both sides yeah no definitely thank. you so much for walking us through those. and when if anyone's like me while I'm. listening to that whenever I sit down.

with someone who's an X-Men this space. I'm like there's a part of you that just. gets more stressed because you go oh God. I'm doing all the wrong things right. like and I'm sure people are listening. or watching right at home or at work or. if you're traveling and you're going of. course I need to change so much and I. think that's kind of where our problems. perpetuate because we go okay I need to. change everything and then we end up. changing nothing and I think that's. always the issue right when you feel you. want to change everything you end up. changing nothing and. as people are listening to this like. where's a good place for someone to.

start like and I'm sure you you work. with so many people on this journey and. I always say to people like I don't. think we have the real crisis we have in. the world today is a crisis of habits. and conditioning because most people I. know know what they want to change or. know who they want to be or how they. want to change they just can't. make it through that path right they. can't stick with it so where's a good. place for someone to strive they're. listening right now and they're saying. Dr will call I can hear that I have a.

ton of those physiological and. psychological challenges I need to. figure this out where does someone stop. I would first start with your headspace. because it is. you do not have to be perfect quote. unquote you don't have to have it all. together to start making positive action. in your life and if you're waiting for. the right time it's now because there's. always going to be some reason why we. should put it off because there's a. vacation a holiday around the corner.

there's a birthday party there's a. whatever holiday around the corner and. that is many people have that paralysis. of analysis oh I'll start at the New. Year oh I'll start at this date but the. reality is I find that there's. exceptions to that rule of maybe there's. a certain date within the next few weeks. that's bet that's practical for you but. if you're looking at really putting it. out in the calendar I very rarely see. people need to do that because I need. you to realize that how are we going to.

navigate through those times because. there's always going to be something yes. yeah and I would really what I say is. just lean into it yeah you don't have to. have it all figure it out because what I. find is when you get the ball rolling. and people get their head a little bit. above water. they want to keep doing the things that. make them feel good yeah and they start. to realize what I call in the book and. for my patients I call it food piece and. body piece because I want people to. not come into this Wellness thing.

whether improve their energy or improve. their digestion or improve their brain. health I want them to see this as a form. of self-respect using self-care as a. form of self-respect because it's the. sort of toxic dieting culture that tells. us well you can't have that there's a. lot of Shame around that right that's. like very much breeding ground for. inflammation. that's the antithesis of sustainable. Wellness the Genesis of sustainable. Wellness is really realizing that you.

get to do things that make you feel good. yeah and I said recently on social media. that I think I think is the paradigm. shift that I want to say here is that. the continually eating foods that don't. love you back is like staying in a toxic. relationship and wondering why you're. still miserable. but avoiding foods that don't love you. back isn't restrictive it's self-respect. and that's the if you want to talk about. the first thing it's having that pivotal. paradigm shift to say look Oh I thought.

it was about all these things I can't. have. no have whatever you want but I want. people to love feeling great more than. they thought they were going to miss. something that dimmed their light. so from that place of self-respect I. find people make better choices for. their life because if they you know the. analogy that I use in the book is like. if you realized you were a Lamborghini. and not an old beat up jalopy how would. that impact how you fueled yourself.

owners of luxury Vehicles know how to. take care of their car they don't need. to be taught that they're parking it way. in the back they are cleaning it they're. fueling it appropriately many people see. themselves as the old lemon and not the. luxury car and that's the paradigm shift. that I want people to have because then. all the rest falls into place they don't. have to be perfect because they just. want to continue to pick themselves up. and they have their why is bigger than. their excuses that is such a good point. I'm so glad that you went there because. there were a few points that I just want.

to unpack for everyone the first was you. said to start with the headspace and I. think that's really powerful and. everyone who's listened on purpose right. now is already naturally doing that by. being here is because if you're stressed. you eat badly and when you eat badly you. get more stressed and you get inflamed. and then everything else that you're. saying then you get more stress and it's. just this never-ending cycle and so when. you figure out what's going on up here. and then you can start changing what's. happening here it's it's a great way so. I think that was a fantastic point the. second thing that I really took away.

from that is this idea of self-respect. and how we see ourselves. and it took me a long time to recognize. what that really meant personally so I. grew up addicted to chocolate I I ate. and sugar obviously so I ate a chocolate. bar a chocolate biscuit a chocolate. yogurt and a chocolate ice cream pretty. much every day while I was a kid up. until when I went to University where I. would eat a chocolate bar and a like a. liter of sprite every single day like. that got me through University and I was.

healthy and I was lean and you know. whatever that meant and he thought I'm. fine and then you start to see things. not catch up with you but you start to. see the impact of certain things and I. think people still have this in there. well I just want to have fun I just want. to enjoy life and I don't have to think. about this and I think what's so. interesting is what you're saying is. that that actually isn't enjoyment. because it's damaging and when you start. realizing that the fun you're having is. actually not fun genuinely for what's.

happening inside you just can't see that. yeah and I think that took me a long. time to connect that it's not like. starving yourself from what you want. it's actually like your body doesn't. actually want that yeah which takes so. long to kind of fix our mind because. we're so conditioned to believe that oh. I love pizza and I love this and I love. them it's like well you don't you've. just been conditioned through your. tastes like. I always talk about one of my friends uh. their kids look forward to blueberries.

and grapes as their reward because. that's how they've been brought up like. for them like blueberries are like Sour. Patch Kids right right like that's their. Sour Patch Kid was for me it was Sour. Patch Kids. which are terrible for me and I still. love them and when I go to the theaters. my wife really has to like and so my. wife was the one who helped me change my. habits when she met me she goes you. can't eat chocolate every day like you. can't have that she was like once a week. you can't have every day and and it took. me ages and then and then we got there. and then she replaced it with monk fruit.

and I used to eat these cacao nibs. sweetened with monk for and now I've got. to a point where if I'm if I'm at home. I'm barely I don't remove refined sugars. from my diet. and it took a long process and now I. found actually when I go back and have. an indulgent dessert it doesn't taste as. good to me and that was a huge Jennifer. I was like oh wow it's not and sometimes. I'll still crave like a burger a really. like juicy Friedberg and I'm plant-based. so I'm talking about plant-based burgers.

and when I have it I'll actually not. enjoy the feeling afterwards I'm like I. actually didn't miss that at all yeah. and so I don't know if that aligns with. what you've been saying but I was just. trying to give a very genuine reflection. of dealing with a lot of these vices. myself absolutely and I think a lot of. people can resonate with that and like. that's that repairing that gut feelings. connection that I'm talking about you. know the gut and the feelings there's. things that were changing on a. physiological level when you start. cleaning up your diet eating nutrient. dense foods regulating your blood sugar. lowering inflammation levels supporting.

your gut health. and then also when you make that. connection you go back to those foods. and you may not like them at all I hear. that many times for patients and they're. shocked like these things that they. loved things that they thought they. couldn't live without they could they. say I could take it or leave it yeah. yeah that's food peace it's like that. you're not bound by that food if you. want to have it have it but I would just. say use all food as a mindfulness tool. yeah eat it consciously did it love you.

back maybe it didn't love you back but. you love socializing with your friends. or it brought you some enjoyment in the. moment and it was worth the payoff of. maybe the bloating or the inflammation. then eat it and move on shame is worse. than any food yeah but maybe you take it. and eat it mindfully and realize. afterwards no it actually wasn't worth. it so maybe next time I'll have less of. it or I won't have it at all because. like you said like cacao nibs and monk.

fruit there's so many better options. that taste really freaking amazing. absolutely yeah you don't have to eat. like a boring rabbit to be healthy. absolutely yeah I've been loving like. the who kitchen bars as well so good so. good like that's one of my the sad parts. of New York City is Hugh kitchen closed. down I mean yeah remember that place. yeah the pandemic took it out oh wow. their bars yeah they're still alive and. strong with the chocolate bars yeah yeah. they're talking about it's great but. yeah I feel like they're you're so right.

that there are so many other. Alternatives so many other places that. that you can discover new things and. even spending time with friends like. recently I've been trying to and of. course there's there's access here and. things that are in your city but I found. like like my wife she'll go to a workout. class with a lot of her friends and. that's like their way of socializing. together or me and my wife will go to a. cold plunge together or go find an. infrared sauna together or something. like that where even doing health and. wellness with friends has actually.

become a fun way of socializing where it. was easier to be like oh let's just talk. out for dinner which by the way I still. love to do and it's not that we don't do. it but it's the idea of there are so. many alternative ways to spend time. together where your friendship actually. improves too oh yeah because now you're. not just doing dinner in a movie every. time so yeah I I think there's I just. think the idea of experimenting is. healthy yeah whether you went to a cold. lunch and enjoyed it or not that's up to. you but the idea that you went and tried. something new with your friends yeah I. promise you whatever you do trying. something new with the people you love.

is going to be a Winnie the way yeah. right absolutely and I think that that's. uh key Point too when people want to. start making healthy choices they're. afraid of it changing their what they do. for fun yeah or changing their. relationships like you mentioned alcohol. well everything I do with my friends is. centered around unhealthy food and. alcohol what's that going to look like. look if they're your true friends. they're going to be there for you and. I've seen so many people start bringing. the healthy food to the party and really.

being a light it's my wife how are you. basically describing my life and people. are like wait what this is healthy what. the heck because it it really shifts. hearts and Minds around this or maybe. you go to the cold plunge and they never. they thought it was weird at first yeah. right now they all want to do it people. want to feel good it's just just because. it's been done over and over again. doesn't mean you have to keep doing it. like start leveling up and be the leader. for your friend group yeah because it.

really everyone thanked you in the long. term it for sure for sure and I've seen. whole family and friend groups change. because of one person deciding I want to. live a different way I want to start. doing things that love me back yeah. trust me in the beginning my male ego. with my wife telling me like my wife. would see me like grab a chocolate by. putting my mouth just give me the look. and everyone will be like Jay you are. you literally gonna let her do that I'm. like she's actually doing it for my own. good like I feel so much happier yeah. since I've let go you know of refined.

sugar like it's made such a big. difference in my life and I've still got. a long way to go I'm working on lots of. different things but yeah no I I love. that I wanted to ask you because I feel. like you're one of the few people. actually talks about this connection. how are hormones the internal. communication system for the body. because I feel like hormones are not. talked about enough and there's not. enough of a conversation about them but. that's been something you've been. leading sure and that's part of the the. psychological so sorry the physiological. side of things that the psychological. impact so hormones are kind of akin to.

biochemical emails and if you look at. your body as this sort of Corporation. the different systems of the body are. not always communicating appropriately. they're either communicating too much. because the body's in that sympathetic. nervous system overdrive whereas. cortisol levels is being really secreted. quite a bit you have we have What's. called the hypothalamic pituitary. adrenal axis so this is something that. we can quantify on with patients via. labs and see cortisol levels and.

cortisol circadian rhythm issues. cortisol is too high when it should be. low it should be a nice s-shaped curve. or it's always low or it's always high. and it's that imbalance that breaking of. the Goldilocks principle it's. homeostasis it's you don't want hormones. too high you don't want hormones too low. but you want them High when they should. be High when they should be low just. like our gut microbiome bacteria just. like inflammation levels it's all. subject to this law of the of Goldilocks. principle so it's really.

um hormones are a major influencer in. how we want to feel but both the. physiological and the psychological. impact how hormones are expressed so if. somebody has an unhealthy gut if they. have things like chronic infections I. deal a lot with people that have chronic. lyme disease and people that have mold. toxicity uh quite often because they. have different genetic variants that. make them more sensitive to things like. autoimmune problems so we can find and. measure this on Labs higher levels of. mold toxins Lyme bacteria different.

environmental toxins like glyphosate in. the body that's shifting their nervous. system in that stress State as well. that's going to really impact hormones. tremendously so that I could measure. hormones on a hormonal test which I. would and you'll see cortisol levels all. off you'll see typically estrogen. progesterone testosterone very low. sometimes estrogen will be high with. estrogen dominance but for the most part. when you're in a sympathetic fight or. flight stressed say most hormones will. be sluggish they'll be on the low end of.

normal or really low but then if you. just saw the hormones happening in a. vacuum you'd think well it's a hormonal. problem well no there's a bigger context. as to why the hormones were off in the. first place so that's why context. matters when it comes to all these. different aspects of Health but. supporting hormones are certainly. imperative when you're talking about. somebody's mood when you talk about. somebody's gut feelings hormones are. those biochemical emails so I have to. measure them I have to optimize them. thyroid is another major player too.

because many people. they're just getting basic thyroid Labs. they're not really getting complex. thyroid Labs so we have to really look. at the complexity of thyroid hormone. metabolism but is this something that. like. at least and I'm asking is someone who. was born and raised in London obviously. like how much of this is accessible in. the United States or across the world. like. how do people ask for these Labs where. do they get them because I was one of. those people for years that got checkups. done and got my blood tests done and. things like that and they'd always be. like Jay you're fine and I was like but.

I don't feel fine like yeah I know. something's going on and they'll be like. no you maybe you're a bit stressed and. I'm like yeah I'm sure I am but it's. more that like I can feel something and. it took till I started working with. darshan at next health I don't know if. you know next Health I've heard of them. yeah next out to the incredible facility. in LA but again it's it's something that. requires like access and it's expensive. and it's not you know it's not easy it's. in La it's in Miami it's not something. that everyone can access and so I go. well how does someone get those tests.

and the same as me I was just told for. ages I was told oh maybe you're stressed. you know just just relax a little bit. and I'm like no I don't feel right. so how yeah how does someone get those. tests how does someone get that detail I. know volume is a great source the gut. test that they send to your house and. you do the stool test but yeah how do. people get access to that yeah I think. we're living in a time where there's. still a massive Gap but to democratize. this where it should be but in the past. 12 plus years I've seen a lot improving.

then and the reality is most of the. thyroid labs and the hormonal tests. actually are conventional tests meaning. they're mainstream tests that if you ask. your doctor your conventional pcpg they. will do it they have to do it they can. do it they can decline doing it but if. you have a decent relationship with your. doctor and if it's clinically. appropriate they should be able to run. this panel even if it's slightly outside. of what their routine Labs because look. the conventional model of care is. largely trained to diagnose the disease. and match it with the medication so it's.

the extra Labs the other labs that we. run in functional medicine is slightly. Superfluous to a conventional medicine. doctor because if it's not going to. change the treatment why would they run. it the for example to use the thyroid as. an example they just need a TSH a. thyroid stimulating hormone and maybe a. T4 to give the person that levothyroxine. that Synthroid that pharmaceutical. thyroid replacement hormone okay so. that's all that they need so if we want. to look at all the other conventional. thyroid labs they are available but if.

the end result's still going to be that. medication then why would they run it so. I understand it from a model side of. things but these are conventional tests. most of the ones that I'm talking about. are a very widely accessible and offset. through insurance or completely covered. by insurance they just have to be ran. and coded appropriately and be. clinically appropriate for you so full. thyroid panel something called thyroid. stimulating hormone like I mentioned T4. but then what we would add in functional. medicine is total T3 something called.

free T3 free t for and then what are. called thyroid antibodies the leading. drivers of low thyroid function in the. west are autoimmune in nature. Hashimoto's disease or autoimmune. thyroiditis is the most common. autoimmune disease as a whole let alone. the most common driver of low thyroid. function so you have to run thyroid. peroxidase and thyroglobulin to see. because it's in that case it's not truly. a primary thyroid problem the thyroid. problem is because the immune system has. lost recognition of self again and is.

attacking it so and Graves disease is. the other type of autoimmune thyroid. problem and then I have to run what's. called reverse T3 which in states of. inflammation your body can make these. basically thyroid break molecules that. slow down thyroid function so the point. being it's a lot more complex than just. a TSH and to make it more accessible and. you know I mean that's what we've done. for the past 12 years is try to make. this as democratized as it can be to. decentralize this so people can have.

agency over their health and be. empowered with this information it's. their body they have a right to know so. we have different Telehealth models to. make it accessible for people and. there's a lot of direct to Consumer labs. to be honest with you even if you don't. have access to a functional medicine. doctor or if you don't want a functional. medicine doctor there are great Labs. there's one called inside tracker I have. no connection to these Brands inside. tracker and base are two that I'm I've. had them on my podcast before they are. brilliant and you don't need a doctor.

for for it so you could just order it. yourself I think it's just good to know. right this is so useful because I think. it's good to a know what to ask for what. to look for I think as someone I. consider myself someone who's fairly. uneducated uh as a recipient as a. patient of these things yeah because. until you study yourself I would say. until I started studying myself and. reading myself and interviewing people. that I wanted to learn from I had a very. limited understanding because that's how. I grew up and so I think for me at least.

I find it very interesting to be like. okay well these are the tests I need to. ask for these are the tests I can do. because even the other thing I want to. ask you is what are the most missed. healthy food intolerances because that's. a whole nother thing that I think we're. not aware of so the the inflammatory. core4 that I mentioned that's an obvious. one but I wouldn't even call those. healthy foods right I mean most of them. are really processed refined boxed foods. but I would say the healthy food. sensitivities or food intolerance is the. food reactions and this is really.

pertinent to most of the people that I. talk to because they are eating better. than most people but they're still. struggling so the number one and let me. bring a caveat to all of these Foods. it's not necessarily these Foods fault. the heart of what I do in functional. medicine is bio-individuality and even. healthy foods what works for one person. may not be right for you and I would say. also what serves you today and what your. body loves now. if we're actually fixing the problem of.

why you had the problem in the first. case then over time you'll be able to do. more things so I'm going to say these. foods with that preface because don't be. fearful of these Foods don't become. orthorexic but just a massive problem. within Wellness that's orthorexia sort. of disordered eating around healthy. foods that is not what I'm trying to. convey here so that's important to know. but also for the people that are. struggling with these issues it could be. a massive game changer for them because. they may be thinking oh I've been doing.

what I thought was healthy but I was. unintentionally sabotaging my health so. number one people that have sibo small. intestinal bacterial overgrowth that I. mentioned it's linked to things like. anxiety and depression it's linked with. other autoimmune problems it's also the. leading cause of things like IBS. irritable bowel syndrome it's linked to. bloating like uncomfortable bloating. people will tell me they feel like. they're nine months pregnant even though. they're not pregnant as far as. uncomfortable bloating and things like. acid reflux and GERD so there are.

there's a class of foods that are known. as higher FODMAP Foods fodmaps is an. acronym that stands for uh fermentable. oligosaccharides disaccharides. monosaccharides and polyolys which is. just a verbose way of saying fermentable. sugars so things like onions and garlic. really healthy foods right cruciferous. vegetables like broccoli uh asparagus. brussels sprouts really healthy foods. but they're all higher in these. fermentable sugars so people that are. thinking they're doing the good things.

with sibo I've done that for so long. yeah. onions and garlic and they're getting so. bloated they're getting so much. gastrointestinal upset so look is the. problem. you get to heal the sibo so you can. bring those high fodmaps in yes so. fodmaps would be a lot for our people. that are probably a lot of our listeners. right now it's just people that are very. well read but they're still struggling. with these problems they're eating. healthier but they're still struggling. so look at higher fodmaps and. potentially look at sibo as the driver. of that FODMAP intolerance and then I.

mentioning a lot of uh people that have. mold toxicity mycotoxins is what they're. called higher mold foods can perpetuate. flare-ups too so a lot of grains even. you know healthy grains like gluten can. beam and gluten-free grains can be. higher in mold coffee can be hiring mode. wine other alcohols can be higher in. mold and people that have a sensitized. immune system should look if they have a. mold problem look at foods that could. potentially contain mold and then.

another one that I see are higher. histamines foods that are higher. histamines or histamine liberators or. histamine releasing foods can definitely. be problematic for people that have sibo. these gastrointestinal gut problems and. people that have I mean there's other. symptoms of histamine intolerance like. anxiety because your gut and brain this. gut feelings connection again here. people that have lots of Kombucha people. that have lots of bone broth people have. lots of fermented pickled foods even. avocados can be higher in histamines.

so these are the gray areas that we need. to look at because that's why you need. to diagnose yourself effectively because. yeah and or if you're doing all the. things and still struggling these are. the areas you need to look at to say. what are these check engine lights in my. life why is my body reacting to kombucha. it's not kombucha's fault but is it the. body telling me that this is releasing. histamines right now and then I have to. ask the question why do I have histamine. intolerance in the first place which. unsolved trauma can be part of that sibo.

mold toxins can be a part of that. chronic lyme the psychological and the. physiological so this is what I see. sadly play out in people's lives but. it's only sad until you find out and. give it when you give them answers then. it's anything but sad because then it. says aha Mona like wow I can do. something about it I mean that's exactly. how I feel like everything you'd be. talking about like this is the journey. I've been on because it's it's that. feeling of I feel healthy to that. feeling of recognizing wow there's so. much about health that I did not. understand.

then getting accurate tests that. actually tell you what's going on. because I think there's a lot of like oh. you just need a bit of this so you need. a bit of that and that doesn't work like. the accurate testing is such an. important part of this because then the. recommendations can be healthier yeah I. think a lot of recommendations are just. based on basic symptoms and that doesn't. necessarily always go the right way and. then of course consistency in the. recommendation that feels like the the. full Journey absolutely and I think look. if what you're doing is working for you.

and you feel great don't look for. problems where there isn't any of course. but I think we have an epidemic rise of. people that are doing all the things. that are really compliant people that. are doing things that doctors are. telling them to do but they're still. spinning their wheels that's what I'm. talking about here we have to do better. here so I think that these These are. what I find clinically to be missing. links for people then they fix a few. things and it really kind of allows. their body to take their health to the. next level and and start feeling the way.

they want to feel and when you start. repairing these things whether it's. repairing their gut health or regulating. their nervous system or whatever we're. talking about here all of those Foods I. just made mentioned almost all of them. can be reintroduced so temporarily maybe. avoid them but longer term let's fix the. problem that drove it in the first place. yeah everyone make sure that you grab. the book gut feelings and subscribe to. the art of being well podcast uh by will. uh Dr Wilco I was just wanted to ask you. is there anything that you haven't. shared on today or something that is on.

your heart your mind or in your gut that. you feel like you need to you need to. share that we haven't touched a point no. man I really appreciate the opportunity. it's been great we'll have to have you. on the art of being well I'd love to I'd. love to but no this has been so useful. because I think you've given us a very. 360 degree approach of so many different. aspects of our health of course everyone. can read the book got feelings to go in. depth on all of this and listen to the. podcast to understand more about. everything we've discussed today and I. hope this is the first of many times.

we'll sit down and get to do this but. thank you so much we end every episode. with a final five which are the fast. five rounds so you have to answer these. in one word or one sentence or maximum. so you can do one sentence all right one. word in one sentence kind of nervous. let's go let's go for it okay uh. question number one what's the best. health advice you've ever received or. heard it's what I actually said earlier. it's one that I always telling myself. and I'm telling my patients is you can't. heal a body you hate it's a pointer to. work that we need to do as reframing our.

relationship with our body and with food. and with Wellness itself love that. question number two what's the worst. piece of Health advice you've ever heard. or received well the antithesis of that. that somehow you're going to shame your. way into wellness it's not going to work. yeah okay uh question number three. something you used to value for your. health but you don't anymore probably. taking tons of supplements. I have a simplified version I know what. I feel the best on.

um so I to me food is first supplements. are a great bonus targeted 100 but food. is primary so I think streamlining and. figuring what are the biggest needle. movers for myself is definitely that for. me that's a great answer uh question. number four what's your current purpose. in life. it's hopefully being a light for God and. it is and what that means for me is just. hopefully. staying in my Lane in the best of ways.

and just enabling me to bring hope to. people that are really struggling with. silent health problems and I get to see. it play out all the time this is more. than a sentence but yeah I love what. they get to do that's beautiful uh Fifth. and final question if you could create. one law that everyone in the world had. to follow what would it be. kind. and think before you speak. a health law have any health nurse that. will help people as social diseases.

right a social relationship disorders. bring about physical disorders too but. if you want something a little bit more. on a micro level I would say. Allah you said Allah to to people should. live by. uh I would say use food eat foods that. love you back and find out what they are. be curious about what they are because. when you focus on that the rest of the. stuff kind of is put into perspective. yeah I love that Dr will call everyone.

the book is called gut feelings the. podcast is called the art of being well. uh Dr will call on Instagram as well. make sure you follow him everyone who's. been watching or listening make sure. that you tag me and Dr willcole on. Instagram on tick tock on Twitter let us. know what resonated with you what you're. going to try what you're going to try. and shift remember you don't have to. change everything all at once she's. going to try to put one thing into. practice and watch how your life changes. uh thank you so much for being here so. grateful for you and I love this. conversation likewise if you love this.

episode you'll enjoy my interview with. Dr Daniel Layman on how to change your. life by changing your brain.