Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000095A
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00:16 Food is medicine isn't really a new concept, but it does have
00:20 dramatic implications for our lives. 00:22 Stay with us. The Ultimate Prescription starts right now. 00:27 I'm Dr. James Marcum. 00:29 Are you interested in discovering the reason why? 00:32 Do you want solutions to your health care problem? 00:35 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:38 Well, you're about to be given the Ultimate Prescription. 00:43 Thanks for joining us here today at the Ultimate Prescription. 00:46 I'm your host Nick Everson, and I'm here with Dr. James Marcum. 00:49 And on today's program we're going to be 00:50 discussing, Food As Medicine. 00:52 It's not a new concept, but it's a very important one. 00:55 Dr. Marcum, welcome to the program. 00:57 Yeah, this has been an exciting topic to talk about, because not 01:01 often do you hear how food can treat disease 01:05 as well as prevent disease. 01:07 And what we've done is we've looked at the different studies 01:11 that have been done, and pulled the science out. 01:13 And we're trying to teach people how to add these to their lives, 01:17 so they might feel better and do better. 01:19 And it's hard to know where truth is sometimes. 01:22 Yeah, I was just going to say, you mentioned some 01:23 scientific studies here. 01:24 Those are great sources. 01:26 There's also sources on the Internet, and you know, 01:27 your friends tell you different things about health. 01:29 How do you know what is a reliable source when it comes 01:33 to finding out the truth about health? 01:34 Well, it's very hard. 01:36 And not only for medicine, but for anything it's 01:40 hard to know the truth. 01:41 You know, you see stuff on the Internet, and on these websites, 01:44 and on TV, and it's hard to sort through who's making money, 01:48 who's not, who might have a conflict of interest 01:52 when they're writing these things. Sure. 01:54 So it's even hard for me to sort through. 01:57 But a couple of things that I've done is, one of the things 02:00 that I've done is I try to go back to the Scriptures, 02:03 and test it with the Scriptures. 02:04 Is what they're teaching and saying in harmony 02:07 with the Scriptures? Right. 02:08 So that's one thing that has helped me out a lot. 02:11 There is a place for medicines... 02:13 Don't get me wrong. 02:14 ...in modern treatment, especially in acute problems. 02:17 Right. But for chronic disease I sort of 02:19 shake my head sometimes. 02:20 But there's some good websites that I think have some great 02:23 information, and one of them I like to think is our website. 02:30 And what we try to do at Heartwise as a ministry is we 02:34 try to give the balance. 02:36 You know, there's a place for modern medicine. 02:38 There's a place for lifestyle medicine. 02:40 And it's not all about the food. 02:42 There's other things in our life that makes up 02:43 our chemistry, too. Right. 02:45 And we let people know that balance. 02:47 And we help look at other studies, 02:49 and see what's out there. 02:50 And we sort of give that balance. 02:52 And not everyone has the same formula for health. 02:54 You know, what might work for you might not 02:57 work for someone else. 02:59 But one thing that we add is we put, we let people know that 03:01 the most important thing is that relationship they have 03:04 with the heavenly Father. 03:06 Because that's what heals us. 03:07 That brings us all together. 03:09 Some people I see might not ever do everything, or anything, 03:12 right healthfully, but as long as they have that relationship 03:16 they know that God's grace is enough to bring healing. Right. 03:20 And that's encouraging. 03:21 So we show that worship, how worship also, 03:24 separate than exercise and nutrition, 03:26 also has a healing effect; what it does to our DNA, 03:29 what it does to our brains. 03:31 So we like to think our website is a good source of information. 03:35 Right, right. There's one that's very good for diabetics called, 03:38 Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Okay. 03:44 That's Neil Barnard's site. 03:46 And if they go to our website, we have these in 03:48 our reference page, where they can find them again. 03:52 I mean Neil's been on our radio program, and he's very good 03:57 for type 2 diabetics. 03:58 Another good site is Michael Greggor, and that's: 04:04 That is the site that I go to the most for 04:08 nutritional information. 04:09 Why is that? Because there's no conflict of interest. 04:13 Dr. Greggor's not making any money. 04:15 He's not in anyone's back pocket. 04:17 I know him from being on our programs before. 04:20 He has a good heart. 04:22 He just wants to help people. 04:24 And what he does is he reviews every single nutritional study 04:28 out there and looks at it. 04:30 And he's the reason a lot of these studies are now coming 04:33 to the surface, because he's publicizing. 04:35 And he's taught us which ones are good studies, 04:37 and which ones aren't good. 04:38 So that's an excellent site at: NutritionFacts.org 04:42 Another good one that I work with is, you know, I don't know 04:46 if you've heard of the China Study. Uh huh. 04:48 T. Colin Cambell wrote that. 04:50 But his son, Nelson Cambell, has created a wonderful website 04:53 wonderful website called: 04:57 And that website not only has communities that you can join 05:01 to learn how to be healthier, and eat good, 05:03 it's got cookbooks. 05:05 It's got meals you can actually buy for an affordable price. 05:08 It's got ideas. It's got ten day jump starts. 05:12 It's got lectures. A lot of things it can do. 05:14 It's sort of like a jump starter if you need some extra 05:16 help to get healthy, and understanding. 05:19 So those are some sites that I use on a frequent... 05:21 And there's many other good sites. 05:23 Dr. McDougall has a good site. 05:25 Joel Fuhrman has a site that helps many people. 05:28 So there's many other good sites out there that help people get 05:32 good information about how you can use food as medicine. 05:36 Dr. Hippocrates doesn't have a site. 05:38 You know, back when he was alive, a long time ago, 05:41 they didn't have the Internet. 05:43 But we have so much information. 05:45 I see that you have an iPad there. Yeah. 05:47 We can get information so easy. 05:48 But it's hard to know what's good information, 05:51 and what's bad information. 05:52 Because everyone is throwing stuff out there. 05:54 You know, how do you know what to believe? 05:55 Do you believe what Dr. Oz says? 05:57 Do you believe what Dr. Fuhrman says? 05:58 There's so much out there. 06:00 So that's why... That's what I do to find out the truth. 06:03 Go to the Bible. See if it makes sense. 06:05 Look at the scientific studies. 06:07 And that's what we're trying to do in this series. 06:09 Go through the food. 06:10 And there's many other scientific studies 06:12 that we're not looking at. 06:13 But I tried to choose the strongest studies about 06:16 the foods that where people could use food as medicine. 06:19 Yeah. Now if people haven't seen you on the program before, 06:21 what type of foods are you advocating here? 06:24 Oh, we try to advocate basically eating a whole food 06:28 plant based diet. Eating foods that grow that God's given us. 06:31 Based on what God told us in Genesis about what He wanted, 06:34 designed us to eat: fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains. 06:37 In the Scriptures we have the original health study in Daniel 06:42 which says he wants to eat food that grows, 06:45 that's real food, not a lot of processed foods, and Kibbles. 06:48 Now some people have to eat that to stay alive. 06:50 We certainly understand that. 06:52 And some people, you know, mental health belief systems. 06:55 Those are things that we have to put into the 06:58 equation for individuals. 06:59 Because remember, not every one has the same formula. 07:02 And I tell patients sometimes, I would rather have you be happy 07:06 and eat, you know, something bad occasionally, 07:09 than be an unhappy ogre and eat perfectly. Right. 07:11 Our brain health's important, too. 07:13 But what I found is as you work with people, and teach them how 07:16 to do substitutes, eventually God helps them that when they 07:20 eat bad they feel bad. 07:21 And they're doing things for the right reasons. 07:23 Not for them, but they're doing things because God is 07:26 moving in their lives. 07:27 And that's what we try to get across at Heartwise. 07:30 So that's sort of what I recommend is a whole 07:32 food plant based diet. 07:34 That's not being a vegetarian. 07:35 That's not being a vegan. 07:37 That's eating predominately plants. 07:39 That doesn't mean you never can have something else, 07:41 if that's what it takes to sort of give you the balance. 07:44 But that's sort of what we recommend at our 07:46 Heartwise Ministries website. 07:47 Yeah. Now this sounds like a great plan. 07:50 Is there a movement in society headed this direction? 07:53 Or if not, why is there not more people headed this way? 07:58 Because it's so good for us, and the research shows it. 08:00 I think, you know, if you think back, if you'll look back in the 08:03 50's for instance, everyone thought that cigarettes 08:06 were the best things, you know. 08:08 In fact there was a study that showed that cigarettes, 08:11 they thought was a treatment for lung cancer. 08:14 We know that that's not true! 08:15 And, you know, you wonder who paid for that one. Right. 08:18 You know? And yet throughout time, now we know that 08:20 cigarettes are still so bad for us, and yet 20% of people 08:24 still smoke cigarettes: 20%! 08:27 And yet we know how bad it is. 08:29 Well, I think as time goes on we're going to find out that 08:32 certain foods that we are putting in through years 08:35 and years is what's attributing to our health. 08:37 And if you look, like every year the rates of cancer, 08:39 heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, 08:43 sleep apnea; they go up every year. 08:45 Well, something's causing it. Right. 08:48 It just doesn't happen. 08:49 And yet prescription drugs go up each year. so 08:51 So it doesn't take a person very long to figure out 08:54 the system is not working. 08:56 Well, what's causing chronic disease? 08:58 Is it the food? Is it the stress? 09:00 Is it our lifestyle habits? 09:02 And you have to say, Well, probably. 09:04 And just like cigarettes, sometimes there's a lag time. 09:07 And sometimes people can even have the truth, 09:09 and still not do anything with it. Right. 09:11 You know? And that's a shame. 09:13 But we're not here to judge people; we're here to love them, 09:16 give them the truth, introduce them to the relationship with 09:19 God, that's a healing force. 09:21 And then let God work in their lives to make changes. 09:24 So we've got some food to talk about today. 09:26 What do we have here? 09:27 Yep. So today's topic we're going to talk a little 09:29 bit about turmeric. Okay. 09:31 And turmeric is a root. 09:32 This is actually one that looks just like turmeric. 09:35 But this is what? This is ginger actually, right? 09:38 That's ginger, but they look the same. 09:39 They look almost the same. 09:41 And so this one looks like it in its natural form. 09:43 And you can buy it this way at the grocery store. 09:44 But there's also supplements, pills. 09:47 It's the same thing, right? Uh huh. 09:48 And you can get it that way. 09:50 This may be a little bit easier to put it down that way. 09:52 But this is a good thing to be used for a spice in foods, 09:57 and of things like that. 09:58 What is so good about it? 09:59 Well, it's interesting about this root. 10:01 In India they use the pigment, the yellow pigment, 10:05 the curcumin, that's the active ingredient that seems 10:07 to help so much. Okay. 10:08 They noticed that people that lived in the country 10:11 of India had less cancer, less inflammatory disease. 10:15 And when they sorted through it they said, 10:16 It must be the curcumin. 10:18 Because they ate a lot of that spice in all their foods. Right. 10:21 And it's in this root. 10:23 And I used to try to put this in my oatmeal every day. 10:26 It was just too labor intensive. Sure. 10:28 So now I've moved to the capsules; what I use. 10:31 It's yellow because it has this pigment in it. 10:33 And there's been so much research on it. 10:36 I'm going to share a little bit of this research, 10:38 the science that's been done to prove that this is something 10:41 that someone might want to add to their treatment regimen. 10:44 Well, there's 5,000 articles that have been done, 10:47 about 50 clinical trials where they compared it to people on 10:51 it to people off of it. 10:52 And the literature is very strong for two things that this 10:56 seems to help: 1. in cancer, both preventive and treatment, 11:00 and 2. in inflammation in the body. Okay. 11:03 So this seems to help, in looking at the studies; 11:06 four different types of ways for cancer. 11:08 It seems to stop DNA from mutating into cancer. Uh huh. 11:12 It works as an anti-oxidant, which decreases free radicals, 11:17 which stimulate cancer. 11:18 It helps it to slow down. 11:20 It's an anti-prolifer to the agents, 11:22 so it doesn't divide as fast. 11:24 And it also seems to stimulate things in our body that has 11:28 the cancer to self-destruct. Okay. 11:31 So it works on different mechanisms, this curcumin. 11:33 Very good at doing this. 11:36 Other things that's been shown to help, studies have shown 11:38 that it helps in lung disease. 11:40 Again, it decreases the immutations. 11:42 One study that I read, up to 33% lower mutations in people 11:48 that take this that had lung cancer. 11:49 Cancers like multiple myeloma, that's a blood cancer. 11:55 One of the studies on pancreatic cancer; that's one of the most 11:58 deadly cancers that we have. 12:00 It's just a really aggressive cancer. 12:04 And they studied different people with advanced 12:07 metastatic pancreatic cancer. 12:09 And out of those people, 2 out of 21 tumors responded to 12:15 curcumin or turmeric. Right. 12:17 Whereas if they wouldn't have had that they would have died. 12:19 So this is something that seems to help a lot. 12:22 In other studies it seems to help people recover 12:25 faster after surgery. 12:26 It helps treat inflammation in people with different types 12:30 of arthritis and joint pains. 12:32 And also it just, in my life it's helped my inflammation. 12:38 You know, I had some bad feet. 12:39 You know, my feet, I had tendonitis in my feet. 12:42 And it seemed to help the tendonitis a great deal. 12:45 Now if you want to increase the amount of it, some people mix 12:49 black pepper with it. 12:50 That has a chemical called paperine, and that increases, 12:54 slows down the metabolism so you can raise the amount 12:58 of the curcumin, which is the active ingredient of turmeric. 13:02 So there's a lot of different things that this root can do, 13:06 this pigment within the root. 13:07 And it's been very solid. 13:08 So the two things that I want people to take home is this 13:11 can really help with inflammation, 13:12 and this can really help in preventing different types 13:15 of cancers, and perhaps treating it at some level. 13:18 Now does it take cancer away all of the time? 13:21 No, but it certainly could be an adjunct to people that are 13:25 getting other types of therapy for cancer. 13:28 Right. Now is there any difference between having the 13:30 root raw and taking the pill supplements? 13:32 Yes, there is. I always think if you can take it in its 13:35 natural form it probably gets absorbed better into your body. 13:40 Okay. But for me it just wasn't practical. 13:42 Not only did I do that, and I got pigment on my fingers 13:45 every day, it took too much time. Sure. 13:47 So I just have gone to... 13:48 You know, some people, you know, have a capsule that they 13:51 break and sprinkle on it? Uh huh. 13:53 Some people take these type of capsule. 13:54 But if you notice, if you touch it long enough, or you cut it, 13:57 your fingers would get the yellow pigment, 13:59 which is the curcumin. 14:00 That seems to be the active ingredient that helps us so 14:03 much, even though studies of also shown that the root itself 14:06 has some health benefits as well. Really? 14:09 Now I think it's so interesting that as we learn more about 14:12 food, and as science develops there's going to be more and 14:15 more studies showing all the different values that food have. 14:17 Now why haven't we seen this before? Right. 14:20 Well, no one's making a billion dollars a year doing studies 14:24 showing the different chemicals that are in that that acts 14:27 similarly to the chemicals that we have in pharmaceuticals. 14:30 Right. But I've noticed that the food that God gives us, 14:33 it helps our entire chemistry. 14:35 Now people that are taking this they have to be careful 14:38 if you have gallstones, because it can increase, and may cause 14:42 the gallstone to, the gallbladder to contract. 14:44 People with kidney stones, they might have to do that because 14:48 you know, it increases the level of a chemical called oxalate. 14:51 And an oxalate can sometimes lead to stones. 14:54 So people with that might have to cut down their 14:56 dose just a little bit. 14:57 But it just shows in the studies most of them have about 15:00 a quarter of a teaspoon a day, you know, 15:03 about 250 milligrams of this. 15:05 And if you look at this right here, this has in it... 15:09 Um I can't, let me see, it tells you how many 15:11 milligrams it has in it. 15:12 But it says this has at least, ah, oh this has at least 2. 15:16 This one has 350 milligrams. 15:19 So each of the doses have a little bit different. 15:22 But at least a quarter of a teaspoon of this to help 15:25 in inflammation, help lower the risk of cancer. 15:28 So this is something that I take every day because I think 15:31 the literature is so strong. 15:33 Yeah. You know I didn't realize it had the ability to 15:35 positively effect so many different diseases. 15:39 Yeah. And it's just those are things that are very valuable. 15:43 And that's just what we know now. 15:44 I'm sure more is going to be discovered as we move on. 15:46 Alright. That sounds like some great advice regarding turmeric. 15:49 There's more to come, and we'll be back in just a moment after 15:52 a short break on the Ultimate Prescription. |
Revised 2017-04-03