Participants:
Series Code: MH
Program Code: MH230006S
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00:01 Fire can be valuable and necessary.
00:03 We need controlled fire. 00:05 But it's out of control fire that can be devastating. 00:08 Like fire, inflammation has an important role 00:11 until it gets out of control and becomes destructive. 00:14 Chronic inflammatory diseases have been recognized as 00:17 the most significant cause of death in the world today 00:20 with more than 50% of all deaths attributed 00:23 to inflammation related diseases. 00:26 We obviously need some help putting out our internal fire. 00:29 I'm Rise, your guide through this series. 00:31 And today we're going to look at how to quench the flame. 00:53 Inflammation is something our body makes when it's not happy. 00:57 And sadly, like inflation, it's at an all time 00:59 high in our society. 01:01 Small flare-ups of inflammation aren't so bad 01:03 since it's our immune system working to heal our body. 01:07 It's when inflammation becomes chronic 01:09 that we've got problems. 01:11 Basically, if you're experiencing pain, 01:13 weight gain, depression, chronic disease, 01:16 or want to prevent these conditions, 01:18 this topic is super relative. 01:21 The first question I have is, where is all the 01:23 inflammation coming from? 01:27 So many different things. 01:28 It comes from the kind of foods that we're exposed to, 01:31 it comes from the lack of any physical movement, 01:35 it could come from the kind of chemicals that we're exposed to, 01:38 whether they are used in the agricultural realm, 01:41 or in our environment, the smoke, the chemicals that are 01:45 thrown in the ocean. 01:46 But internally it's mostly food. 01:50 Yeah, well there are many things that fuel chronic inflammation, 01:54 you know, in our lifestyle. 01:56 For example, what we eat. 01:59 You know, lots of sugar keeps that 02:03 chronic inflammation going. 02:05 AGEs, you know. 02:09 Advanced Glycation End-products, you know. 02:12 Or stress, or lack of sleep. 02:16 All of those things can fuel chronic inflammation, 02:19 and therefore keep the chronic pain going. 02:22 Dr. Quave brought up the topic of AGEs. 02:25 So let's talk AGEs. 02:27 AGEs stand for, Advanced Glycation End-products. 02:32 I can picture you guys tuning me out right now. 02:35 But wait a minute. Hold on. 02:36 I want to explain what he's referring to. 02:39 AGEs are harmful compounds that are formed in the bloodstream 02:42 when protein or fat interact with sugar in such a way 02:46 that it changes the protein. 02:48 There are a number of things that can increase 02:50 AGEs production, like getting older. 02:52 We can't do anything about that one. 02:54 Inflammation, high blood sugar. 02:56 These are just a few things that can trigger 02:58 higher AGEs in the body. 03:00 In other words, we produce them. 03:02 But what Dr. Quave was referring to is AGEs that 03:06 enter our body through the food we eat. 03:09 What food is that? 03:10 Well just like we produce AGEs, 03:12 animals produce AGEs in their bodies too. 03:15 And when we eat their flesh, which has AGEs in it, 03:17 and then grill, broil, roast, sear, bake, or fry the meat, 03:22 the AGEs content in the meat increases 10 to 100 fold. 03:27 Not double, not triple. 03:30 Your crispy bacon could have a 100 fold more AGEs in it 03:33 than that of uncooked meat or boiled meat. 03:37 Excessive intake of fructose, glucose, and alcohol 03:40 also creates an environment inside our bodies 03:42 that's favorable for the generation, for the production 03:46 of Advanced Glycation End-products. 03:48 So even though we're not actually absorbing AGEs, 03:51 we are increasing our own production of them. 03:54 And either way, it's not a good deal. 03:57 AGEs age us. 03:59 They can actually ignite chronic inflammation. 04:02 They damage the liver. 04:03 Think fatty liver. 04:05 Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the most 04:07 common liver disease in the world. 04:10 The liver isn't the only thing negatively affected. 04:13 AGEs promote kidney disease as well. 04:15 But they also affect the brain, leading to dementia. 04:18 They harm blood vessels, can promote cancer, 04:21 chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, 04:24 result in poor diabetes outcomes. 04:26 Getting the picture? 04:27 AGEs also promote weight gain, abdominal fat, 04:31 insulin resistance. 04:32 And that's independent of how many calories are in the food. 04:36 I get it, we can't always completely avoid AGEs. 04:39 Actually impossible. 04:40 And low levels are generally nothing to worry about. 04:43 But they can accumulate. 04:45 When you consume too many AGEs or form too many, 04:48 your body can't keep up with getting rid of them. 04:51 Guess what happens when people are put on a low AGEs diet? 04:55 Inflammation decreases, kidney health improves, 04:58 insulin sensitivity comes back, 05:01 and the risk for diabetic complications is reduced. 05:04 Wow. 05:06 Some of American's favorite foods are high in AGEs. 05:10 Fried bacon is probably the worse, but well done steak, 05:14 barbecue ribs, aged cheese, are all high in AGEs. 05:18 I'm sorry, don't hate me. 05:20 I wish it wasn't so. 05:22 But that's not the worst of it. 05:24 In her research, Dr. Kahleova found white meat to be 05:27 one of the biggest contributors to our AGEs intake, 05:30 And that's because we eat a lot of it. 05:33 After pork, chicken is the most commonly 05:36 eaten meat in the world. 05:38 And how do we eat it? 05:39 Fried. 05:41 What is a low AGEs diet? 05:43 Basically, that would be one that's focused 05:45 on plant-based foods. 05:47 Plant-based foods naturally have much lower AGEs content. 05:52 Choosing healthier ways of preparing foods 05:54 would dramatically reduce AGEs intake as well. 05:57 So for example, boiling, poaching, or cooking meat 06:02 or fish with an acidic component such as 06:04 lemon juice would accomplish this. 06:06 The take-home is that AGEs harm the body cells. 06:10 Dr. Facemire is going to be talking about AGEs as well. 06:13 Cardiovascular disease is now an inflammatory disease. 06:17 Yes, you can have plaque. 06:19 Remember I talked about fire, right? 06:22 For the fire, you need gas and you need the wood. 06:25 So you can have wood, you know, and you can have 06:27 the cholesterol, and maybe no wood, right, no wood, 06:32 just very little, but if you have the gas 06:36 and you have the spark, you create fire. 06:39 So everything is important in the role of 06:43 cardiovascular disease. 06:45 But I think inflammation, we haven't studied that enough. 06:48 And now there are things that are coming to the surface 06:50 in science that is telling us, telling us clearly 06:53 that stress causes inflammation. 06:57 The cigarette causes direct toxicity and inflammation 07:00 to those endothelial cells. 07:02 It's all injury to the endothelial cell. 07:06 Lack of vitamin D, low vitamin D: 07:08 endothelial cell problem. 07:10 And you know, the foods we eat. 07:13 I know in summer we love the grilling. 07:18 We have some AGEs, these very toxic compounds 07:22 that are formed and directly toxic to the endothelium. 07:24 So they're making all holes, holes in the endothelium 07:28 causing inflammation. 07:30 And the beauty is that you can repair it. 07:32 How? Nitric oxide. 07:35 Oh, where can I get nitric oxide? 07:37 Nitric oxide is the main compound in Viagra. 07:40 But how can you get nitric oxide? 07:42 Powerful greens. 07:44 The powerful greens that when you masticate them, 07:47 they interact with your bacteria in the mouth 07:50 and they change from the inactive phase to the 07:53 active phase as you swallow, as they act with chloric acid. 07:57 And they will interact with the GAD bacteria. 08:00 It produces wonderful compounds that actually 08:03 heal the endothelium. 08:05 I tell my patients, you were born with your arteries being 08:08 Teflon, Teflon arteries. 08:09 Nice and smooth. 08:11 And life comes, foods come, stress comes, 08:14 other viruses, toxicities, lead, everything that happens, 08:18 you know, mercury in our mouths, all of that 08:21 causes a lot of inflammation. 08:24 And that Teflon becomes Velcro. 08:27 And Velcro attracts all these particles that are circulating. 08:32 Inflammatory particles, LDL particles, 08:35 all of these molecules that are full of inflammation. 08:39 They are trapped. 08:40 And that is how plaque is formed. 08:42 So food is one of the things that I tend to address first, 08:50 but not without actually finding out where people are. 08:56 You know, early in my career of lifestyle cardiology 09:00 I was so eager, you know, to change my people's, 09:04 my patient's diet and what you eat. 09:07 But after 15 years I discovered that 09:14 there are people, patients that I saw 09:16 that were living in their cars. 09:18 The only access they had was a food pantry 09:20 that had canned foods. 09:23 There are people with many allergies. 09:26 Nuts they couldn't eat. 09:28 So I know food is important, but what I learned also 09:32 is that something that may be good for you 09:35 is not good for me. 09:37 And so instead of generalizing, we do have guidelines. 09:41 But I just wanted to encourage your viewers that 09:44 if something didn't work for you... 09:46 I have a patient that came one day, and they said, 09:47 "I've been vegan," that's what I called it, "vegan 09:50 for 10 years and I was so sick and I didn't feel good." 09:55 And I said, "What were you eating?" 09:57 And you know, "I was having coffee in the morning 10:00 with a piece of toast. 10:02 And I have pasta and some beans." 10:09 "And what else?" 10:11 "Oh, that was every day I eat." 10:14 So there was a recent research that mentioned 10:18 that in a week, in order for your heart and your body 10:22 to be healthy, you need 30 variety of plants and fruits. 10:27 Thirty. 10:29 So it's not just, you know, what we eat. 10:32 It's how we eat it. 10:33 Are we eating it with stress? 10:36 I tell my patients that struggle with changing their diet, 10:40 I say, relax. 10:42 Don't worry about it. 10:44 If you're fighting this diet, if you're not accepting this 10:48 change, your body is not going to heal. 10:50 You know, we cannot address one thing at a time. 10:54 Our brain, our mind is connected. 10:58 Our emotions will play a role in healing. 11:02 So for some people, they go full force in changing their diet. 11:05 For some people, they are not. 11:06 And for some people beans are good, 11:09 and for some people they need to actually soak the beans 11:11 for two days prior. 11:13 And so having a lifestyle doctor that will actually 11:18 understand your needs and work with you is very important. 11:24 Our story is so vital to understanding 11:28 why we have the level of inflammation we do. 11:31 And to help us problem solve as to how we can reduce it. 11:35 I love that she brought that up. 11:37 She makes another important point next 11:38 about insulin resistance. 11:41 So insulin resistance and glucose plays a huge role 11:44 in inflammation to the point that we know that 11:48 if you're a diabetic, we categorize you as 11:52 cardiovascular, part of the cardiovascular disease group. 11:58 Because we know that if your A1C is out of control, 12:04 more than seven, you are at a very high risk 12:07 of forming those plaques. 12:09 Remember, I tell my patients usually, we have a fire. 12:12 What do you need for a fire? 12:14 You need the wood, that's the plaque. 12:17 Right, that's the things we eat, the cholesterol. 12:19 And then we need the gas. Okay. 12:23 That gas is that inflammation. And that's sugar. 12:26 And that sparks the fire in our arteries. 12:29 So it sounds like she's likening plaque to the wood, 12:32 and that certain things can set it aflame. 12:35 Such as elevated blood sugar and inflammation. 12:37 What else? 12:39 Well, there's so many factors. 12:41 Of course, you know, we eat often times three times a day. 12:45 And so what we eat has a great potential to either 12:49 promote inflammation or to dampen or calm inflammation. 12:53 I remember the amazing work of Dr. Walter Willett 12:57 who was the director of the department of nutrition 13:00 at Harvard; a physician researcher who ran the Harvard 13:06 health professional studies. 13:07 One of the best studies ever done, 13:09 along with the Adventist health studies 13:11 that had been done concurrently. 13:13 And he pointed out that there are major foods 13:18 that promote inflammation. 13:20 So that's the neat thing, when you have 13:22 thousands and thousands, tens of thousands 13:24 of doctors and nurses and health professionals 13:28 participating in a study, documenting what they have eaten 13:31 for decades, and then 20 years later you find out about 13:36 a new test that was never available before, 13:39 but they froze that blood sample from 20 years before. 13:43 So they can go back in time and do a test on a sample 13:47 at the very beginning and do a pre and post test 13:50 of, for instance, the cardiac CRP measure of inflammation. 13:55 And they discovered there were some 13:57 real key inflammatory foods. 13:59 Number one, processed meats. 14:02 Okay, we know from their own studies that even just red meat 14:06 increases the risk for developing diabetes, 14:08 which is caused by inflammation as well, 14:10 by over 30%. 14:12 But if you have processed meats primarily instead of 14:16 red meats, now you're actually three times more likely 14:20 to be inflamed than if you just ate red meat. 14:23 You're better off not eating any meat really 14:25 to get rid of the inflammation. 14:27 So processed meats definitely. 14:29 If you eat meat and you eat processed meat, 14:31 get away from the processed meats first and foremost. 14:34 But number two, and equally problematic, 14:37 is processed grains. 14:43 You know, a lot of people consume a tremendous 14:47 amount of processed grains. 14:49 And you're thinking, "Yeah, but it's plant-based." 14:51 It's plant-based, but it's not whole plant-based. 14:55 It is refined. 14:57 It is something that has been robbed of the majority of 15:01 it's nutritional value that is there to protect your body. 15:05 Yes, it still has the calories, it still has all the fat, 15:07 and carbohydrates, and the protein, 15:09 but it doesn't have the nutrients; the vitamins, 15:12 and the minerals, and all the other phytochemicals that are 15:14 so necessary for that food to be properly metabolized 15:18 and actually be healthy for you. 15:20 So processed grains, as in white flour, white rice, 15:25 etc., etc., is really inflammatory. 15:29 Extremely inflammatory. 15:31 So if you have a chronic disease, you want to move away 15:34 from those foods in particular because they promote 15:37 the process and the degeneration of that disease. 15:44 Number three is something we will all intuitively understand. 15:48 And that is sugar, high fructose corn syrups, 15:52 sodas, candy, and all the plethora of those fast foods 15:59 that are just sweetened dessert type foods, right. 16:02 You know, yummy type snacks that might look good 16:06 and might taste good, but they're really bad for the body. 16:10 So those are a given. 16:12 Those are automatically going to be diabetogenic, 16:15 obesogenic, they're going to be carcinogenic, 16:19 they're going to be neurogenic. 16:22 They're going to be promoting degeneration of the brain. 16:25 I've found in my work with Alzheimer's patients 16:28 that just one meal of sweets or highly refined products 16:34 can set them back for a week. 16:36 That's why I refer to dementia as a transitory phenomena 16:41 that's based on what you're exposed to. 16:44 So if you're constantly exposing your brain 16:47 to unhealthy foods, you're going to be in a 16:49 constant state of dementia if your brain has 16:52 degenerated to that point. 16:54 But as you start moving away from those dementogenic 16:57 foods or exposures, then all of a sudden you start having 17:01 more lucid moments because you're moving away from 17:04 the dementogenic exposure. 17:07 So sugars and sweets are a real challenge to inflammation. 17:15 Okay, so all those words: obesogenic, diabetic, 17:18 carcinogenic, dementogenic; meaning that these factors 17:24 produce or promote obesity, diabetes, cancer, or dementia. 17:29 And then fourthly, actually not even a food group, 17:33 but it actually was so important to Harvard research 17:37 that they actually made it one of the four food groups 17:40 that promoted inflammation. 17:43 And it was artificial sweeteners. 17:46 And so artificial sweeteners are a big time problem. 17:49 In fact, when my children were growing up on the 17:52 island of Guam, there was always soda available everywhere. 17:58 And we'd go to a party and there were big ole things of soda. 18:02 My kids, every once in a while, because we never had sodas 18:06 at home, they would come and say, "Can we have a soda?" 18:09 And I would go, "No, I'm sorry, honey, you can't." 18:11 They'd say, "What about a diet soda? 18:12 There's no sugar in it at all." 18:15 And I'd say, "Honey, I'd rather you have a regular sugar soda 18:18 than a diet soda without any sugar." 18:21 Because at least sugar is real and the body can metabolize it, 18:26 whereas the artificial sugars are really toxic to the body 18:30 regardless of what they say. 18:33 Promoting diabetes risk, promoting insulin resistance, 18:37 promoting inflammation in the body, of course 18:39 as the Harvard research showed many, many years ago. 18:43 And then there's another food in particular. 18:45 Any kind of dairy product tends to be inflammatory. 18:50 So those are five categories of foods that I would, 18:53 I would encourage people to move away from, 18:55 especially people with digestive problems. 18:58 The number one food I recommend for them to avoid, 19:02 at least for a while to see, is dairy products. 19:05 Because it's the most likely food to 19:07 create digestive distress. 19:09 I am so glad Dr. Youngberg brought up digestive problems. 19:13 The gut can actually be a primary source of inflammation. 19:17 It's the hub where what we put into our mouth, 19:20 the gut microbes, and the immune system meet up. 19:23 It's estimated that 70 to 80% of our immune cells 19:27 are physically located at the gut. 19:30 A lot of communication goes on between the intestinal 19:33 microbes, the intestinal wall, and the rest of the body. 19:36 Basically, system wide inflammation can stem 19:40 from the gut. 19:41 Now you may feel inflammation in the knee, 19:44 you may have an auto-immune condition 19:45 that may be manifested in your skin, 19:47 but its origin may be here. 19:50 Like Dr. Youngberg mentioned, artificial sweeteners 19:53 affect gut health. 19:55 They're not some innocent bystander. 19:58 We're talking about things like diet soda, 20:00 zero drinks, sugar-free coffee, creamers, water flavorings, 20:05 or powdered lemonades. 20:06 It's in so many common grocery store items. 20:10 You know what other part of the body is constantly 20:12 eaves dropping on the gut and immune system dialogue, 20:16 making it more like a three-way chat? 20:18 The brain. 20:20 It used to be thought that the brain was sealed off, 20:23 off in the attic by itself. 20:25 But we now know that the blood-brain barrier 20:28 can get inflamed and lead to neuroinflammation. 20:31 When we look at skin inflammation, many people think, 20:35 "Well, if my skin is inflamed, it had to come into direct 20:39 contact with something that's irritating." 20:43 Which may be true in some cases. 20:45 But if you just exclude all the external factors, 20:49 then you need to be looking at the diet also. 20:53 Are you eating a pro-inflammatory diet 20:57 that would be high in fat, high in saturated fat, 21:01 high in antigens? 21:03 Are you eating a lot of dairy, a lot of cheese, 21:07 that may introduce some antigens from the diet into your skin 21:15 that may cause inflammation? 21:17 But the truth is, sugar is actually one of the greatest 21:21 pro-inflammatory mediators. 21:23 And some of us maybe have heard of the term, junk food vegan. 21:28 And so we might be vegan, but we can still eat, you know, 21:34 vegan ice cream, and I think even Oreos are vegan, 21:38 and chips, and all this stuff. 21:40 And this is simple carbs. 21:43 And simple carbs, even if it's salty... 21:45 Because we think, "Oh, sugar. It's always going to be sweet." 21:48 No. Sometimes sugar actually comes from 21:52 the breakdown of salty. 21:53 But if it's simple carbs, it's not the whole grain. 21:56 Then that quickly breaks down into sugar. 21:59 So we're talking about the snacky type foods. 22:01 And sugar is a huge pro-inflammatory mediator. 22:05 So it actually can increase anxiety symptoms, 22:08 it can increase depressive symptoms. 22:10 Some studies even show it increases 22:13 psychotic symptoms as well. 22:15 And I've had patients that have come to me that have 22:19 schizophrenia, and they tell me, "You know, when I eat 22:22 too much sugar, I notice the voices get worse." 22:24 And so there's a real, often a quick connection, 22:27 and I believe that's because of the inflammation. 22:30 So in America, we live a pro-inflammatory lifestyle. 22:37 Everything about our lifestyle in America is pro-inflammatory. 22:40 You know, from what we eat, I mean the standard American diet, 22:45 it's amazing. 22:46 85% of the standard American diet is processed food or meat. 22:52 And of the 15% that is supposedly healthy, 22:57 about half of that is, you know, what they consider vegetables, 23:00 is French fries and ketchup. 23:03 About half of that, you know. 23:04 So really, the standard American diet is very pro-inflammatory. 23:11 But besides our diet, just the stress that we all live under 23:17 in America, the go, go, go mentality, 23:20 that's very pro-inflammatory. 23:23 You know, through cortisol and the way it affects 23:26 our adrenal glands and our hormones. 23:30 And lack of exercise. 23:32 You know, exercise is very anti-inflammatory. 23:36 And a lot of times we get too busy with things that are 23:39 going on in our lives to exercise routinely. 23:42 And that's a big deal too. 23:46 So I think in general if we just take a little time 23:52 to calm down, focus on our lifestyle on eating healthy, 23:58 on exercise, on getting some sleep, 24:03 and having some good connections with other people, 24:06 we're going to go a long way to reducing 24:08 inflammation in our lives. 24:10 The other thing you can do is just say, okay, what is more 24:13 likely to be causing inflammation? 24:15 A lot of it starts with diet. What's your diet? 24:20 The American diet tends to be inflammatory. 24:24 It's the SAD diet. the Standard American Diet. 24:28 And so we have to look at the diet initially and see, 24:33 you know, what are we eating? 24:35 Are we eating those foods that are creating 24:37 an inflammatory response in the bowel? 24:40 And this gets into the bowel. 24:42 What most people don't recognize is 70% of the 24:45 immune system is in the bowel. 24:48 So if you start getting inflammation in the bowel, 24:52 you're going to affect your immune system. 24:55 And frequently anything going on with the skin 25:01 is coming from the bowel. 25:04 You know, your psoriasis and all that kind of stuff, 25:06 usually, you've got an inflammatory response in the 25:08 bowel that we're not taking care of, 25:11 that we need to look at. 25:12 Otherwise, we're missing things. 25:14 Brett, do you see any association between 25:16 food intolerances and pain? 25:21 Absolutely. 25:22 Usually, it has to do with how food allergies 25:26 can trigger chronic inflammation. 25:28 And I think it's really important for my patients 25:32 to be tested for food allergies. 25:34 You know, a lot of patients that I see come in, and 25:36 they've seen ten other doctors who can't seem to figure out 25:40 what's going on with them? 25:42 You know, they've got this generalized body pain, 25:44 this fibromyalgia, these achy joints, these achy muscles. 25:47 And a lot of times it can be a food allergy. 25:50 And we figure out exactly what they're allergic to 25:52 and get them, you know, on a better diet 25:57 that's suited better for them. 25:59 And a lot of times their chronic pain goes away. 26:01 Chronic pain going away in response to elimination of 26:05 certain foods in the diet? 26:07 That's right. 26:08 I put my patients on elimination diets as well 26:10 to see if food intolerances are contributing to their symptoms. 26:14 It can be a very informative and effective approach in 26:17 individuals who are struggling with chronic inflammation. 26:20 Inflammation plays a role in some auto-immune diseases. 26:24 For example, in rheumatoid arthritis. 26:26 We performed a study in people with rheumatoid arthritis 26:31 and we put them on a plant-based diet for 16 weeks. 26:36 It was a low fat plant-based diet that also eliminated 26:40 some of the foods that may be problematic for some people, 26:43 such as soy foods, gluten-containing grains, 26:47 and other foods that may cause some problems to some people. 26:51 And after 16 weeks of this plant-based elimination diet, 26:58 the pain levels decreased, and also the symptoms 27:05 in rheumatoid arthritis, such as the number of 27:08 swollen joints, for example. 27:10 Now it's not only about numbers. 27:13 It's also about the quality of life. 27:15 For example, some of the study participants in the beginning 27:18 of the study were not able to tie their shoe laces. 27:22 And after only a few weeks on a plant-based diet, 27:24 they were able to do it. 27:26 They were able to do, you know, regular activities 27:30 that they were not able to perform before. 27:32 So when we're talking about reduction in pain 27:36 and in swelling, we're talking about real quality of life 27:41 and what we can do on an everyday basis. 27:44 Seems like it would be a good idea to take an honest 27:46 look at our lives. 27:48 Not with shame and blame. 27:49 Just to be willing to identify potential inflammation igniters. 27:52 I know some of the content of these videos may be 27:54 challenging, but hang in there. 27:56 It can get complicated, but that is because you're complicated. 27:59 I'm complicated too. 28:00 But the learning and the transformation of that knowledge 28:02 into practice will be worth it. 28:04 There's nothing like living life in a healthy body. 28:07 It's what you were made for. |
Revised 2025-06-30