Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000068B
|
00:01 Welcome back... On today's program,
00:03 we're talking with Dr. Marcum about supplements 00:05 and nutritional prescriptions. 00:07 And, we have some questions from viewers just like you 00:10 that have been submitted to our website at 00:12 heartwiseministries.org 00:14 And, Dr. Marcum, our first question for today is: 00:17 "What do you consider a natural remedy?" 00:19 Yeah, and Nick that's a great question 00:21 because there are so many people out there 00:24 that watch the internet or seen this; 00:26 everyone is trying to make money selling supplements, 00:29 this and that, herbs and there's nothing 00:31 wrong with that if needed. Sure! 00:33 But sometimes they're just not needed period. 00:36 So what do I consider a natural remedy? 00:38 Well, you know, things that God gave us 00:42 at the beginning are natural remedies. 00:44 Getting enough rest, that's a natural remedy. 00:47 Drinking water - that's a natural remedy. Right 00:49 Movement - that's a natural remedy. 00:52 Eating foods that have lots of 00:54 fruits and vegetables, nuts and grains, 00:55 those are natural remedies because they have substances 00:58 in those that changes the chemistry of the entire body. 01:01 Being happy - that's a natural remedy. 01:04 Having worship in our life and service, 01:06 those are natural remedies, 01:07 so we were made to do those things. 01:09 Those are positive inputs that help us for the good. 01:12 Now, some people have a deficiency. 01:16 If you have a deficiency in something, 01:18 then you would need to supplement. Sure 01:20 For instance, if you have diarrhea, 01:21 you might run low on magnesium. 01:23 If you don't get out in the sunshine, 01:25 you might run low on vitamin D. 01:28 If you don't eat certain foods, 01:30 you might run low on the B vitamins. 01:33 If you have bleeding, you might run low on iron. 01:37 But as a general, a person that's healthy 01:39 and eats a well-balanced diet, they usually don't have 01:42 a lot of deficiencies... so if they take a lot in, 01:45 they just get more than they need, 01:47 and it's usually not needed. 01:49 So that's what I consider a natural remedy... 01:51 something that God has given us at creation 01:54 to do every single day that changes the chemistry 01:56 of the entire body rather than just not one chemical pathway 02:00 which some supplements and nutrients do, 02:03 you know, something that just changes everything... 02:05 those are more natural remedies. Right 02:07 And so, if you have a deficiency, 02:08 you're going to be experiencing some symptoms 02:10 to let you know something is not right. Right 02:12 So if you feel healthy, you may not need those supplements. 02:15 For instance, someone might have a broken bone, 02:17 and the doctor might discover that they don't have enough 02:20 vitamin D and they need calcium and vitamin D for strong bones. 02:24 Some might have lots of diarrhea 02:26 or might have a funny heart rhythm... 02:28 And during evaluation, we found, "Oh, you're low on magnesium." 02:31 Well, you have a deficiency and then I would 02:33 try to supplement it with things like, 02:35 greens which have magnesium. 02:37 If you're running low on potassium, 02:38 maybe things like bananas and potatoes. 02:40 But they might benefit from boosting their level quickly 02:43 and we have pills that will do that for a short period of time 02:46 so we can make sure they get all the things that they need 02:48 over a long haul. 02:50 Does that make sense, Nick, or did I confuse you? 02:51 No, I think that's some great advice. 02:53 Yeah, natural remedies isn't what everyone thinks... 02:55 "Oh, it's a natural herb or natural this..." 02:57 Not to me, more of a natural remedy is something 02:59 that changes the entire chemistry of the body 03:01 that God gave us... that's a natural remedy! 03:03 I guess a God-given thing that we're not 03:06 paying attention to anymore sometimes. Sure 03:08 It can be really simple. Yes, it's really simple. 03:10 Another viewer asks: "Is it true that the hibiscus 03:13 flower helps lower blood pressure?" 03:16 Yes, well hibiscus is... if you have 03:19 blood pressure problems and they can't figure out 03:21 the reason why - it's sort of a genetic thing, 03:23 yes, hibiscus tea is something that is used naturally 03:27 that lowers blood pressure. 03:28 Is it the leaves from the flower 03:30 or what part is it, do you know? 03:31 It's the chemicals of the flower that lowers it. Okay 03:35 But remember, when people take hibiscus or whatever, 03:38 natural things, you know, I don't see that 03:41 a whole lot different than a medication. 03:42 Because the medicine changes your chemistry, 03:45 hibiscus changes your chemistry, 03:46 it still has chemical compounds in it. 03:49 A lot of the medicines were originally derived from plants. 03:53 So... but the hibiscus is one that's very safe 03:56 that people can use to help lower their blood pressure. 03:58 It's sort of... what I would say - a natural remedy 04:01 if a person does have a disease state. 04:03 Now that's another situation where people would benefit 04:07 from a natural remedy if you have a disease state. 04:10 For instance, if people have plaques of coronary 04:13 artery disease - that's a disease state, 04:15 they would benefit from more greens and less fat. 04:18 Another disease state is if people have diarrhea, 04:21 they would benefit from more magnesium which 04:23 slows the bowel down and replaces electrolytes. 04:25 You see where I'm getting at? Yes 04:27 I keep hearing a theme also about eating more greens. 04:30 Yeah well, greens are very good for things like magnesium. 04:34 It's very good to help take toxins out of the body, 04:37 keep the bowels running good. 04:39 God gave us lots of green things to eat. 04:41 Some of us don't eat as many greens, 04:44 but fruits are good to eat and nuts are good to eat. 04:46 All of these have chemicals in them that help our body, 04:49 and some people have deficiencies and they can 04:51 get the deficiencies just from the food they eat. 04:54 Now, can supplements ever do harm? 04:57 Yes they can... in fact, some people would 04:59 take too many of a substance called, "beta-carotene," 05:01 and some of the other ones, they didn't really need them. 05:04 They took too many and it actually did harm to the body 05:06 because it saturates receptors 05:08 so they can't get the good things and I guess 05:10 too much of any good thing can be bad. 05:14 Too much exercise can be bad. 05:16 You can cause oxidation if you exercise. 05:18 Too much sleep - rest, can be a bad thing. Yeah 05:21 Too much water can even be a bad thing. 05:24 So, yes, you can get too much of a good thing, 05:27 and that's why I think it's about moderation in life. Right 05:30 Once again, a balance of all the right ingredients. 05:33 Now if you are short of a nutrient or substance 05:36 or chemical in your body, then you might want to 05:39 take a supplement until you can bring it up 05:42 to the balance that you need. 05:43 If you have a disease state, you might need something. 05:45 So those are the specific cases when you do need 05:48 supplements and extra things and nutrition. 05:51 Now another viewer asked: "When is Coenzyme Q10 useful?" 05:56 First of all, what is Coenzyme Q10? 05:58 Coenzyme Q10 is a substance that the muscles need 06:02 sometimes to keep it from being sore. 06:06 And, I use Coenzyme Q10 in people that are usually 06:09 on statins that have sore muscles. Okay 06:13 Because there are proteins in muscles that sometimes 06:15 can be hurt by a statin and if they have really sore muscles, 06:17 Coenzyme Q10 can also help muscles. 06:21 So some people that have a deficiency in certain proteins, 06:24 Coenzyme Q10 might help it because the deficiency 06:26 could be generated by medicines they are taking 06:30 or other different problems. 06:32 Now, other things that are good for muscles 06:34 besides Coenzyme Q10 is muscles love water. 06:38 Muscles loves magnesium and calcium and potassium, 06:42 and you get all those if you eat 3 to 5 fresh fruits 06:45 and vegetables a day - so muscles like those things too. 06:48 But in people that have deficiencies in certain 06:50 enzyme systems, Coenzyme Q10 might help bring that 06:53 enzyme system up - especially I use it specifically 06:57 in people that have soreness on statins that we don't want to 07:00 stop the statin because we really need to keep it going 07:03 in people that have sore muscles that sometimes helps them a lot. 07:07 So where does Coenzyme Q10 come from? 07:09 I don't know... It's not found in a natural 07:11 diet or plant resources? You can get it in your diet, 07:14 but sometimes in deficiency, you don't get the numbers 07:16 that you need to be at, but it's a coenzyme. 07:18 It's a chemical that helps enzymatic reactions, 07:21 specifically in proteins in the body. 07:24 But I don't know, specifically, what foods have it. Okay 07:27 You know, we had another question come in: 07:29 "What are some natural sleep aids?" 07:31 I know, once in a while, I have a hard time getting to sleep 07:33 because maybe I'm thinking about stuff, 07:35 so if I can just relax my mind, and just try and not focus on 07:38 the day's work or whatever I've been worrying about all day, 07:41 that helps, but what are some natural sleep aids? 07:43 Well, some of the natural remedies to help people 07:45 sleep is exercise because it gets people tired; 07:49 it makes chemicals called "endorphins" that help 07:51 relax you - everyone feels relaxed after this, 07:53 so that's one natural remedy that helps you sleep. 07:56 Of course avoiding stimulants... 07:58 You know, too many stimulants can do that. 08:00 There are foods that help like bananas - that helps. 08:04 Bananas and kiwi have chemicals in it that get turned to 08:08 serotonin in the brain which helps people relax. 08:12 So any of those things... anything that decreases the 08:16 process called oxidation could help us rest better. Right 08:20 So things that are oxidizing in our body are things that 08:22 cause inflammation... people that eat lots of fats, 08:26 lots of proteins, lots of animal that causes inflammation 08:29 in the body that hurts our ability to rest and relax. 08:32 So anything that puts also stress on the body, 08:35 helps keep us awake. 08:36 For instance, if you watch TV at night, 08:38 too much light at night... that might put stressors 08:42 in the body that also stimulates the body not 08:45 to produce the medicines, the chemicals 08:48 that we need to sleep better. 08:49 So those are some simple things to do that might help 08:51 people rest better. 08:53 Do you ever have a hard time, yourself, getting to sleep? 08:55 No, I never do - I can hit that thing and I'm 08:59 asleep in no time at all. 09:01 Sometimes if my mind is really busy, Nick, 09:05 working on a project that I'm really working on, 09:08 sometimes my mind works on it as I'm asleep, 09:10 and I don't sleep as deep, but I don't have 09:12 too much problems going to sleep, 09:14 but a lot of people do, and a lot of people 09:16 go for these medications that help them sleep. 09:19 But unfortunately, these medicines don't solve the 09:21 problem - they just treat the symptom. 09:24 and all the medicines have been shown to hurt 09:26 the cognitive ability... you're not as smart, 09:28 and you're not as safe like driving. 09:30 So I don't really, if we can find out other ways to 09:33 help people rest and sleep better, 09:35 it's always better than taking a sleeping pill. That's right! 09:38 You know, I have a 6-month-old son and we have found 09:41 that whenever we get him lots of fresh air during the day, 09:43 he seems to sleep a little bit better at night, 09:45 so exercise, fresh air, that's really good for us. 09:47 All those things help out a lot. 09:48 So those are natural remedies that can help us sleep better. 09:52 Now we've got a question about aging, someone asks: 09:54 "How do foods help with aging?" 09:57 Like what foods might be useful? 09:58 Yeah, aging - you've heard this word called "oxidation." Yeah 10:03 That's like the body is rusting! 10:06 So foods that cause oxidation are bad. 10:09 They cause aging, they change our genetics, 10:12 they make us get older quicker. 10:14 Things that cause antioxidants prevent these free radicals 10:19 performing that slows down the aging process. 10:22 That protects - there is a part of the chromosome 10:25 called the "telomere," it helps with that. 10:28 So basically for aging, we want to take 10:30 more antioxidants and less oxidants. 10:33 So what are foods that cause oxidation? 10:36 Well, unfortunately, those are things that come from animals, 10:40 the cheese, dairy, lots of processed foods. 10:45 That stimulates the process called "oxidation" in the body, 10:49 turns on all these bad chemicals that sort of 10:52 makes us more acidic - oxidizes. 10:55 But when we take the antioxidants, 10:57 that sort of turns off the oxidation process. 11:00 So antioxidants not only helps aging, 11:03 but it helps inflammation in the body, 11:05 it helps the genetics of the body. 11:07 Now what are foods that have antioxidants in them? 11:09 Yeah, what are some sources of antioxidants? 11:11 Blueberries - one of the best! 11:13 All the berries are good antioxidants. 11:15 Goji berries, but basically the fruits, vegetables, nuts, 11:19 mainly fruits and vegetables have lots of antioxidants. Right 11:23 Now some people that are especially low in antioxidants, 11:26 really focus on the berries, those type of things. 11:30 A handful of berries every now and then really helps 11:33 bring up the oxidation to counteract all these 11:36 antioxidants we're getting. Oh okay 11:38 So I tell people, if they have to have something that 11:42 oxidizes it - you know, foods that they 11:44 have to eat some bad food occasionally 11:46 for whatever reason... 11:47 Well chase it with some greens which helps the body 11:51 move it through quicker; 11:52 help it through some magnesium that will help 11:54 the bowels move quicker; 11:56 chase it with some antioxidants that help balance 11:59 some of the bad effects of the food. 12:01 So antioxidants are very important in the aging process, 12:05 very important in inflammation and keeping the blood vessels, 12:09 has lots of good things that help the entire body. 12:11 So eat more blueberries, more antioxidants... 12:15 More fruit, more vegetables, basically the things that 12:17 we've talked about all along has all those good things 12:20 and less of the things that cause oxidation... 12:22 less of the fat, less of the cheese, less of the meat, 12:25 less of the processed foods. 12:27 And unfortunately, guess what's happened? 12:29 In our world, we're eating more of the bad stuff, 12:31 so we're aging quicker, we're turning on our genetics, 12:34 we're causing all these inflammatory things in our body 12:37 which causes all these health problems 12:39 and sooner or later turn on symptoms, 12:41 and rather get at the cause, well they say, 12:43 "Well let me get rid of the oxidation things in my life," 12:46 rather than get at the cause, we're treating the symptom. 12:50 So we're not really fixing the problem, 12:52 and sometimes when we treat symptoms, 12:54 we can make things worse. Right, right 12:56 I think that's some great advice. 12:58 We've got another question here, somebody asks: 13:00 "Is hawthorn useful for hearts?" 13:03 You're a cardiologist, so you should be know. 13:05 Yeah and we get a lot of questions about herbs 13:08 and supplements and I'm not an herbologist, 13:12 but a lot of doctors that are good at herbs are called 13:15 "naturopaths," and they are very good because they 13:17 use these every day similar to how I would use medicines. 13:22 And there are some herbs out there that have been studied 13:25 very well and that are very useful for certain conditions. 13:29 Now the herbs, if you're taking an herb, you have to make 13:32 sure it doesn't interact with something else you might be 13:34 taking in the body. Okay 13:36 A lot of herbs interact with blood thinners and antibiotics 13:39 and things to make them less or more effective... 13:41 So you have to talk to your doctor about that, 13:43 and you have to get someone that really knows 13:45 the amount that you should take because we're 13:47 assuming we're taking an herb or a supplement 13:50 for either a deficiency or a disease state. Yeah, right 13:54 For in hawthorn, the disease state is the heart is not as 13:57 strong as it needs to be. 13:59 And this hawthorn helps the heart through chemicals 14:05 called "glycosides" makes the heart beat stronger. 14:09 So this is one - hawthorn that actually will help 14:12 the heart beat stronger. 14:13 It's used very often in Europe to make the heart beat stronger, 14:17 similar to a medicine we use here called, "digoxin." 14:20 Another herb that's used on the cardiovascular system 14:24 that's been proven in scientific studies, 14:26 double-blinded studies that shows they work 14:29 is one called "horse chestnut," 14:31 and some people with vein problems and vascular problems 14:34 can take horse chestnut because there are chemicals 14:37 in horse chestnut - it helps the veins do better. 14:43 So there are many herbs out there that do work 14:46 and a good naturopath could help guide you through that. 14:51 There's an "Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine" 14:54 that can help if you want to learn more, 14:55 but I see these herbs and supplements - the place for 14:59 them is to help get over disease state, 15:01 or if you're running low on something - then natural. 15:04 But most people can get what they need in the foods 15:07 and supplements that they take from what God gave us. 15:10 They don't need that extra boost. 15:12 So, other than supplements, 15:14 how about the vitamins, let's talk about that for a minute, 15:15 what are some needed vitamins? 15:17 Yeah, the most common one I see is people that don't 15:20 go out in the sun 30 minutes, 3 times a day, 15:22 need vitamin D. 15:24 Vitamin D is really a pro-hormone. 15:26 It helps the bone, it helps the brain. 15:29 Vitamin D is needed in every cell of the body. 15:31 So if you have vitamin D 15:33 deficiency, you're not going to feel good. 15:34 It helps the blood pressure, it helps the vessels, 15:36 helps you fight depression, helps the bones, 15:39 many different things. 15:40 Another one that's very important is "thyroid." 15:43 Now even though that's not a nutrient, 15:45 Every cell in the body needs thyroid hormone. Right 15:48 So will have your thyroid checked; 15:50 sometimes you run low on that. 15:51 We already talked about the B6 and B12, 15:53 especially for people that eat a whole food plant-based diet, 15:56 and don't take any things like fortified soy, fortified... 16:02 You know there are certain milks are fortified with B vitamins. 16:04 Some people don't take cereals and grains that have that... 16:08 They might need a supplement if they stay away 16:10 from all of that fortification. 16:13 Now if somebody wants to learn more about where they can get 16:15 information on supplements and nutritional prescription, 16:17 where would you direct them? 16:19 There's an "Encyclopedia of Supplements," 16:22 they can get that on the website, 16:24 and could check with a naturopath that 16:26 might be able to help you, 16:28 or some doctors have some basic knowledge. 16:29 I have some basic knowledge, but I try to get specialized 16:33 help, but remember - I only use it if a person 16:35 is in a diseased state or has 16:37 a deficiency and I try to use the things that God gave us 16:40 first, and then if that doesn't work and we have to add some, 16:44 then I want to do it under a very supervised situation, 16:47 on someone that uses these and knows the proper amount, 16:49 and the interactions. 16:51 So everything we put in either has a benefit or a harm. 16:54 Well thank you, Dr. Marcum, for sharing with us about 16:56 this important topic. 16:58 Stay right there, we're going to be back in just a moment. 17:06 Let's pray together... 17:07 Father, Thank You for helping us to learn about our 17:10 bodies today, Father, and continue to guide us. 17:13 And thank You so much for Your everlasting love. |
Revised 2016-06-22