Back Clinic Nutrition Team. Food provides people with the necessary energy and nutrients to be healthy. By eating various foods, including good quality vegetables, fruits, whole-grain products, and lean meats, the body can replenish itself with the essential proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals to function effectively. Nutrients include proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water. Healthy eating does not have to be hard.
The key is to eat various foods, including vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. In addition, eat lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, and low-fat dairy products and drink lots of water. Limit salt, sugar, alcohol, saturated fat, and trans fat. Saturated fats usually come from animals. Look for trans fat on the labels of processed foods, margarine, and shortenings.
Dr. Alex Jimenez offers nutritional examples and describes the importance of balanced nutrition, emphasizing how a proper diet combined with physical activity can help individuals reach and maintain a healthy weight, reduce their risk of developing chronic diseases, and promote overall health and wellness.
Proper nutrition can be difficult for individuals with work, school, and busy schedules to prepare fresh, healthy meals. Healthy food is essential for a healthy nervous system and spine to promote a healthy musculoskeletal system, metabolism, bone strength, tissue growth, and repair. The body requires more nutritional value to heal itself to support damage or injury.
Nervous System and The Spine
The nervous system runs throughout the body like an interstate highway and impacts every bodily function. Disrupting signals can cause a backup, like a massive traffic jam. At that point, no matter how healthy the diet is, the body is unable to process all the food thoroughly to break down all the nutrients. Chiropractic adjustments ensure that blood circulation and nerve energy flow function optimally so that messages sent from the brain and body are transmitted without disruption.
Disrupted Nervous System
The nervous system influences every part of the body, and digestion is no exception. The nervous system tells the body what it needs to do with the food/fuel. When the nervous system is unbalanced and experiencing problems, the nutrients that the body needs don’t get appropriately stored, broken down, or used correctly, leaving the body feeling not full and unsatisfied.
Nutrition Improves Musculoskeletal Health
It is essential to understand that nutrition and musculoskeletal health depend on a healthy nervous system and spine.
Food high in protein and calcium increases bone density.
Protein and calcium are vital as the body ages.
A healthy skeletal structure will ensure and maintain a healthy body.
Food is the primary source of nutrients for the body to rebuild and repair torn muscles.
The Relation Between Nutrition And Recovery
Nourishment plays a vital role in maintaining the body’s health and helps in reducing the risk of illness or injuries. There are several links between nutrition and recovery that includes:
Injury Rehabilitation
A diet rich in antioxidants like:
Berries
Apricots
Grapes
Milk
Nuts
The body becomes stronger to combat inflammation.
Foods rich in lean protein like:
Yogurt
Tofu
Beef
Provide the body with essential building blocks that help repair cellular damage.
Joint Or Back Pain Alleviation
Overweight and obesity generate unnecessary load on the spine or joints, resulting in back pain.
Reducing weight through proper nutrition filled with proteins and magnesium instead of unhealthy fats and calories will help reduce the strain being put on the musculoskeletal system.
Increased Energy Levels
Food high in sugar or preservatives makes the body feel sluggish and tired.
As a result, the body is constantly exhausted, fatigued, sleepy, and irritable.
Proper nutrition increases energy levels.
Maintaining the nervous system and spine’s overall health.
Body Composition
Malnutrition Risks
Malnutrition can be difficult to spot early, but there are various risk factors to recognize. These include:
Depression doubles the risk of malnutrition, especially among men.
References
Bollwein, J et al. “Nutritional status according to the mini nutritional assessment (MNA®) and frailty in community-dwelling older persons: a close relationship.” The journal of nutrition, health & aging vol. 17,4 (2013): 351-6. doi:10.1007/s12603-013-0034-7
Curtis, Elizabeth et al. “Determinants of Muscle and Bone Aging.” Journal of cellular physiology vol. 230,11 (2015): 2618-25. doi:10.1002/jcp.25001
Gentile, Francesco et al. “Diet, Microbiota and Brain Health: Unraveling the Network Intersecting Metabolism and Neurodegeneration.” International journal of molecular sciences vol. 21,20 7471. 10 Oct. 2020, doi:10.3390/ijms21207471
Oxland, Thomas R. “Fundamental biomechanics of the spine–What we have learned in the past 25 years and future directions.” Journal of biomechanics vol. 49,6 (2016): 817-832. doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2015.10.035
Pérez Cruz, Elizabeth et al. “Asociación entre desnutrición y depresión en el adulto mayor” [Association between malnutrition and depression in elderly]. Nutricion hospitalaria vol. 29,4 901-6. 1 Apr. 2014, doi:10.3305/nh.2014.29.4.7228
In today’s podcast, Dr. Alex Jimenez and Dr. Mario Ruja discuss how health and immunity play a role in the human body to achieve overall health and wellness.
How To Protect Our Health & Immunity?
[00:00:00] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: And it is going live, Mario. How are you doing, man? Today we’re doing a presentation, my brother on health and immunity. How are you doing, my brother?
[00:00:12] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Excellent. You know what, this is a topic that everyone’s talking about, and we all deserve to have a great conversation and, most of all, to support each other with knowledge and with positive intent. Absolutely.
[00:00:32] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Mario, what we’re going to do today is you and I, as we discuss, we want to present this information for the public so that they can understand that first of all, this is by no means any treatment, this is a disclaimer. I have to say that a licensed doctor must perform all treatments. This is only for educational purposes. It is not treated and is not used for diagnosis and treatment as standard disclaimer would go. Typically, I’d had that presented, but what we’re going to be doing now is going to be doing a webinar series, Mario and I. We’re going to be doing a four-series webinar where we will discuss health and immunity and how we can improve our immunity in getting our bodies strong enough. Now we’ve been going through this process of COVID 19 and the SARS and all the SARS-CoV-2 viruses. And what we want to do is give ourselves a better option, a better treatment protocol that is there for us so that we can kind of come up with a plan to help our body support itself. So Mario and I put together these program protocols here. And what we want to do is we want to present an excellent presentation where we’re going to go over natural approaches and natural forces to help in immunity. Now, Dr. Ruja practices on the central side of town. I practice in the far east of El Paso, and what we provide our patients is quite a bit of information, but people often want to know what they can do. So what we’re going to start doing today is we’re going to start talking about what we can and cannot control the virus. One of the things that we’ve learned is that separation is probably the best key, and we’re using social distancing as one of the things that prevent us from getting close now. I like to give people some insight into what we’re doing in our offices to prevent the virus from spreading. Mario, tell us a bit of what you’re doing in your particular practice when you’re doing prevention for treating patients, and you’re working through your protocols with your patients?
[00:02:33] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: In my office, we have a system through which we use the enviro masters in each of the rooms that fumigate each room, and then we utilize U.V. light for the specific use of disinfectant from bacteria, virus and fungus, U.V. light. And the other thing that we use is the masks. We wear masks inside we space patients, and we also ask them if they can wait in the car until they get to be seen and they can call us directly. And that way, they feel more comfortable. So if we get more than, let’s say, three patients at one time where we can’t place them in different rooms and we like to put everyone in separate rooms, so they’re not together next to each other, we ask them to wait in the car and then we will call them and let them know we are ready for you. And then they walk in. They go directly into the room and do a procedure is done. And so those are things that we’re doing. And then, of course, you know, we’re, you know, disinfected tables. We’re doing all of that. We use a lot of U.V. lighting that is positive in terms of prevention. You know, when everyone washes their hands, when they walk in, the first thing they do is wash their hands. And we’re encouraging people to do the same thing when they get home. So we want to be a model to our community to say, Look, don’t just do this because you come to my office, do this at home with your family. How about that?
[00:04:29] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We’re likewise in terms of our office; we’ve taken the no-touch approach. One of the things that we do is we don’t have any sitting areas in our office, no more. We have quite a few rooms. So what we have is the ability to open the door. And we make sure that everybody has a mask when we walk them in. Now they don’t touch anything. We are touchless. We walk straight into the room. We have them lay down. We have the tables covered with special paper that prevents viral static. And also, once we work on them, they get up, walk out a different door, and don’t touch anything other than the table. So one of the things is that we don’t allow anyone to get near each other and they walk in, walk out almost in the design of our office. It’s a flow-in and flows out process. There’s no treatment in the sense of touching the diagnostic treatment protocols, such as the computers. None of that goes on. We ask all the questions and the moment before the patient comes in. We sterilize a room, and after the room, they’re also sterilized. So it’s a great process because if we look at the area of contact, the doctors are wearing gloves, our face masks are protected. We have masks on and provide the mask for the patient itself. So we try to give it the most comfortable thing like yourself. We also do the process by which we had them wait in the car until they were ready. Once they call, we go, OK, we’re ready. And as soon as we got the room ready cued, it allowed us to bring in a patient. So one of the most important things is to do the pre-post-treatment protocols on the viral static processes. And that’s the way we control the host. You know, sort of we are the potentials, right? So together with the doctor, the mask, and the staff with the mask and gloves. This prevents all the processes from occurring, at least in our area, because in your side of town, we’ve noticed that there’s also there’s this predisposition as well as on our side. My side of town has a more significant number, so many shows up. So we have to be very careful to control those hosts in that capacity now. I want to go over and begin the presentation, and we’re going to talk about the things that create our predispositions, and you and I were going over this. We coronary vascular disease is one of the highest predisposing factors. Diabetes, we’ve talked about things like obesity, hypertension, age. Tell me a bit about your situation with Mario. When you look at this list here, when you’ve seen that in the studies, what have you learned about the predisposing factors that are also out there causing dramas to our patients?
[00:07:23] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: You know Alex, that is something that we all have not just to be mindful of, but we need to motivate people towards the highest level of health, which means decreasing your inflammatory process or inflammatory state of your body. OK. So when we’re talking about cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, hypertension. I connect that with metabolic syndrome, which we’ve had other shows before I can remember. And this is unbelievable because we talked about that before three or four months. I mean, do you remember that, Alex?
[00:08:09] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, we were talking about it.
[00:08:10] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah, we talked about it before anything COVID 19. And we wanted to inspire our community and everyone to decrease their risk for metabolic syndrome again, which is one of the biggest ones because obviously, you know, 150 plus triglycerides, the belly fat about obesity, and type two diabetes. So that is huge. So this is such a, I should say it’s a connection. It’s follow-through with our insightful conversation you and I had three or four months ago, Alex. Absolutely.
How To Protect Our Health?
[00:08:54] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, the studies were presented, and it became evident early on in the COVID 19 saga that it’s still going on that those that were unhealthy were the predisposed ones. It’s seamless when you are the, I hate to say, but you could sometimes tell people were morbidly obese; it wiped out the whole family. And in one case where you could see that many were, you have to ask yourself, Well, why does the entire family? But then we found out there were underlying issues regarding their health, whether they had diabetes or had hypertension issues. One of the ones that are also really big is chronic kidney disease. I heard the number, and then the statistics show that up from two percent higher increase mortality to over 16 times more mortality rate with kidney disease. There’s a clear link between the blood pressure, the ability for the body to profuse that gets limited when the oxygen level goes down, that the failure of the kidneys and the heart and the liver gets compounded by this disorder that affects the alveoli of the lungs. From what we’re understanding, it’s not so much the virus that kills us. It’s the inflammatory cytokine storm that causes this drama. So they’ve learned that people with radiation therapy, people with predisposing chemotherapies, their lungs are predisposed to injuries, autoimmune conditions like lupus. Some disorders like even chronic neurological diseases like M.S. Those people are predisposed because their immune system is in a different, responsive state. So when we talk about these treatment protocols, one of the things that we have to do is how do we squelch? How do we deal with these reactive oxygen species that cause this cytokine storm? So our goal and our emphasis are until we have an inoculation or a vaccine for this process as we develop it, our job is to mitigate the inflammatory reaction. And there are quite a few things that naturally we can do to minimize this inflammatory response. Now what we’re going to do is we’re going to continue with the hearing, and we’re going to take a look at specific areas here. We talk about co-morbidities. Mario tells us a bit of what we’ve seen here regarding co-morbidities. And by the way, we have all the studies here. So as we do this presentation, all the links will be provided at the bottom so that you can look at these studies individually, and they make more sense to you when you pull them up.
[00:11:29] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Alex, as we spoke earlier, three or four months ago, when we started going…
[00:11:38] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Across the aisle…
[00:11:43] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Thanks for the intro music, Alex,
[00:11:50] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: No problem.
[00:11:51] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Was that Van Halen or what?
[00:11:53] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: No, Alexander’s music is actually.
[00:11:57] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: OK, I’ll tell Alex. Thank you. So getting back to what we’re talking about again. Again, our natural innate immune system is that blueprint through our DNA, RNA in our recovery resilient pattern within our cells. We can adapt and thrive and get through all of these variables in life; I mean, we’re dealing with viruses all the time, Alex. I mean, last year it was again influenza. You know, 50000 people again, I don’t have the exact numbers, but 50000 people die. OK. And you know, through that, we’re looking at who the risk factors are? What are the co-morbidities? What are those things that set us up for the most significant failure rate? So when we’re looking at 71 percent and 78 percent of those cases that are not working through and creating that resilience and working through the COVID 19 or other things? I mean, again, that’s what we spoke about three-four months ago. I mean, I want to say like, we’re psychic, you know, like, wow, you know.
[00:13:32] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It affects it, you know? And one of the craziest things is that the school’s out, and you know, as well as I do, is that every time we hear about this, we may find out that this virus is present in our population way before we’re even talking about it. We’re talking about it’s gone from March to February to now, early January. We’re going to hear about facts that this thing was present even in mid-December. You’re going to see.
[00:13:56] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I was not surprised. I wouldn’t be surprised.
[00:13:59] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: There is no logic behind the fact that it keeps on in Greece other than the fact that this thing got out of hand way before even there were notifications.
[00:14:08] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: And you know what, Alex? Just to, you know, beyond the point with what you mentioned, the three things whether it’s COVID 19 or whether it’s influenza or whether it’s anything, you know, stressing our immune system, we will fail if we have these predispositions. Alex, which is one diabetes just like diabetes, gives us a predisposition for cancer. Yes, it does. Diabetes provides us with a predisposition for cardiovascular disease, correct? Yes. Diabetes gives us all that. And then you’re looking at chronic lung disease, obviously, because the ecosystem where COVID 19 thrives is that respiratory environment. So, of course, if that is at risk or altered or at a shallow resilience pattern, of course. I mean, you will know people who have asthma. Like my wife, Karen has asthma and chronic health issues. I mean, my gosh, you know, it’s critical that we are aware and we are mindful again; let’s not panic. OK, but we’re aware, mindful, and strategic planning to deal with and work through these times. So if you have diabetes, type two diabetes, or type one diabetes, please be extra cautious. If you have asthma and any chronic lung disease, please know. I mean, you know what? You’ve got to decrease your exposure because your body cannot deal with it, right?
[00:16:00] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: And when the craziest components of this virus are that it’s very silent in most cases and most of the situation as we see the numbers come in. Those in the 70s and 80s range are suffering the most significant amount. So many times, it’s the kids who are bringing it to their homes. And when we look at places like Italy, we look at places like Pakistan, where there’s a high concentration of populations and youth; it’s almost like they’re inoculating their homes. And then those with these predisposing issues become the victims. So clearly, we’re seeing that the individuals who may have nothing to do with being exposed are indirectly exposed by those who visit them. So that’s why we, as a population, you’re going to hear it everywhere in the news; as you listen to it consistently, we have to be mindful of those that we surround ourselves with.
[00:16:51] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I want to jump in and make this correlation that you just mentioned right now, the youth with the elderly and the secondary morbidity risk factors within our population. And I honor and respect the fact that we as a nation, as a society and a city, I’m just going to verbalize this. I know it’s not comfortable. I know it’s very irritable. It has economic effects. It has emotional consequences. It has all of these things. But let me say this, OK? Number one. The youth, the children, they’re not going to school. The child care facilities are shutting down. That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it, Alex, because now the symptoms were children. You don’t have any symptoms. I mean, we have seen a study right here. Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of CDC, March 31, 2020. We’re talking about less, you know, 25 percent have symptoms. So for children…
How To Protect Our Immune System?
[00:18:02] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: And the studies, 25 percent, as you said, 20 percent of people.
[00:18:06] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: What happens is those children have they’re very resilient. They’re very strong. So now, if they are exposed, they have multiple exposures with other children and teachers. With all that, they go back to their parents, and then their parent is either diabetic or has, you know, Crohn’s disease, fibromyalgia, or asthma. They are actually putting their own family at risk. So, it’s such a sensitive area, Alex. And nobody wants to stay at home, and we want our kids at school. I mean, I can tell you right now, you know, it gets to the point where it gets irritable. But I think for the greater good right now, and it’s absolutely good.
[00:18:54] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: When we got this on the fact that these underlying issues, you know, as the studies are 60 percent of the people, as you see right, there has one underlying issue. Even if these one, just one, whether it’s heart disease, kidney disease, a chronic liver disorder, these are the underlying diseases that basically and asthma and asthma is an issue, OK? So these are of the three.
[00:19:18] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Let me ask you what the percentage is? OK, you may or may not know this, but it just came to mind. What percentage of our population is dealing with asthma or asthma-related issues? What are they?
[00:19:33] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It’s a pretty good substantial amount. I mean, I don’t know the percentage; it’s at least about five percent of the population is chronic or has a predisposing issue with asthma, and if not there in the triggering zones as they trigger that area, let’s assume they get it. Their body becomes distressed in some capacity, and they launch themselves into an asthma attack. That’s just the asthma of not including the inflammatory response of this virus. In terms of the cytokine storm, you know?
[00:20:03] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: You know, Alex, earlier this year, my wife Karen had to go to the E.R. due to respiratory issues and things like that. And I mean, it was a trigger again, December, January. You know, it’s like the flu. You know that that time where if you’re on edge, that’s it. OK, that’s it. You won’t recover. And it’s like, Thank God that that happened then instead of now, Alex. Absolutely. I think it, I mean, and then my oldest son, Gabrielle, he’s always had challenges, you know, kind of like that. It’s like, man, it’s so frustrating for children. But I could just imagine this is devastating for people 50 and older.
[00:20:54] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Exactly. It is. It’s an issue that what we have to do is we have to figure out what’s going on. We’re noticing it’s most likely males are 1.3 times the chance to see this.
[00:21:07] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: More males again. Why is it, males?
[00:21:09] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Oh, yes. We’ll look at this percent smoking two point five times a morbidity risk COPD congestive obstructive pulmonary disease 2.5 to 11 times. Smoking is almost devastating. If you’ve done it and you’ve been ill overnight.
[00:21:30] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: This is a game-changer. And I want to advocate and motivate and support and show love. Suppose you are smoking, not just smoking, but vaping. Also, I’m just going to throw that out. Absolutely not. You have to agree with me, but hear me out again for the greater good. OK. Vaping, smoking, any of those things, please, it will put you at risk, and of course, certain people need to, you know, again, medications, I mean, I have, you know, patients that are using cannabis and CBDs and all that for chronic pain. And you know what, I understand. Again, it’s for the greater good. But the thing is, do you notice Alex within our conversations that we started five months ago, six months ago? Do you notice the same culprits showed themselves over and over and over again? Do you see that? Look at this. I mean, metabolic syndrome. Did we have the same conversation four months ago? Look at smoking males. Do males remember smoking in overweight? Remember that one? Yeah, crazy. Yeah, it’s crazy for me.
[00:22:47] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: With the kidneys, I mean, if you can see the disparity between two and 50 percent, that’s one that kind of is. It’s perplexing because of the range. But when you understand kidney pathology, there are five stages of kidney disorder from kidney stage level one, which is a mild amount of kidney issue to the severe extent. Usually, we have a blood test going to test that. But if you’re in stage five or stage four…
[00:23:11] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: You will have kidney dialysis, I mean, come on, Alex. I mean, this is going to…
[00:23:17] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Affect…
[00:23:18] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Your liver.
[00:23:19] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: No, the ability to break down the the the byproducts and to purify the blood, so to speak, and to clean it, so to speak, is going to be diminished if the kidney function is impaired in any way. So these are things that we have to look at in terms of what we’re doing now. We have some studies here in China, and they’re already coming in and saying that three percent of the 80-year-olds were the first reports. Of this, 87 percent of the people live between the ages of 30 and 79 years of age, eight percent, 80 percent, only eight percent are in their 20s. Moral OK. However, it’s a negligible mortality rate in the 20s, teens less than one percent. We live in a very culturally similar environment, such as we’re like in Italy, where the children and the grandparents do co-mingle, and specifically, we rate we stay. And, commonly, grandmas live with their families, and the young are involved in that situation. It’s like the perfect storm if the kid gets it and brings it to the parent. Well, that’s precisely what’s going on, the love of the passion of hugging those children, though they carry it, and they don’t have the presentation of the symptoms, which most, you know, a large number of people don’t have this presentation at all. They don’t have symptoms. Eighty percent of people don’t even have symptoms. So when they get that 20 percent of that of mortality, that’s the ones that associate with people with issues. And when they’re in their 80s and 90s, that’s what happens here. We have fatality rates averaging in the U.S. Go ahead, go ahead of two point three percent.
[00:24:57] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: When you threw this out, we’re talking about China now; we’re not talking about the U.S.
[00:25:03] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: No, but this was China, but if you look at this, this is the fatality rate in China, so this is the same, very similar to what’s going on in Italy, right?
[00:25:13] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: What I’m thinking about it because I’m looking at three percent, 80 years old and older. Right. And then huge 87 percent, 30 to 79. And I’m thinking. It should be a lot more for a more senior right, Alex. I’m just thinking, you know? Oh, sure.
[00:25:36] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: The reason is I say, Well, no, it’s not so much. At the elderly age, the immune system isn’t as vigorous as when you’re younger. So as what they’re seeing is that the immune system when you’re younger is a much more explosive potential, right? So in that situation, someone in their late 80s and 90s, because we’re having even in our own town, we’ve only had one person over over 80s that passed away. The majority of our people are again in exactly these ranges, which is what they say.
[00:26:07] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: And Alex, they said this because I want to understand the article from February with JAMA. Are they saying that the mortality is three percent death or three percent survival?
[00:26:21] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: No mortality percent is mortality. The death rate.
[00:26:24] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: OK, so that’s what I’m saying. I was expecting 80 and older to have higher mortality. That’s right.
[00:26:32] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah. OK, so that makes sense.
[00:26:34] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah, I mean, it’s expensive for them to be like 90.
[00:26:37] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: No, and actually, if you look at El Paso Times and the Apostle presentation, you’ll see that the parabolic curve actually happens between the 70s and 60s. So that’s where a significant number of people pass away.
[00:26:51] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Obviously, there’s more. You know what? I’m trying to like, understand the y factor, Alex. So what I’m thinking about is those people from 30 to 79, they have more interaction, social interaction with diversity, people who are 80. Again, I hate to say this; they’re pretty much secluded, like on their own, if we visit like grandma once a month. Exactly, yes. So that’s one thing that’s got to play into, right?
[00:27:19] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: That’s got to play into it. Because the reality is when I see my elderly, many of them want to live on their own. And many of them do. And the perfect storm is having the elderly come cooped up together. And that’s where we have the rest homes where people are actually in the health care, in the hospice areas, in the elderly are sick homes. Those people have high numbers. And you see in the news where those areas are huge, and we see that happening. So I think there’s a lot to be learned as we’re going in this. One of the things that we’re trying to do here is to give people a heads up about what’s going on. And we’ve noticed that an early sign of susceptibility or that you’re being exposed to this is anosmia. Do you believe that Mario? Anosmia, the lack of smell.
How Inflammatory Factors Affect Our System
[00:28:10] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: That was very surprising. For me, like the inability to smell if you’re OK because of the damage, like, you know, what’s happening? But again, I’m thinking because of the pathway, the pathogenic path, you’re breathing in all of that. And then there is taste.
[00:28:36] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: As they both go into effect in the match of the smell is what we taste on. So we see that these kinds of parables or parallels are being noticed. One of the things that we’re witnessing is high inflammation burn induced by vascular inflammatory myocarditis. So in the inflammatory response, we’re seeing if the person is having some sort of inflammatory response. It goes from the lungs to the heart and the liver; these people have myocardial issues in inflammatory areas because they work on the type two receptors, the type two receptors easy to remember type two, there’s two lungs, two valves, two kidneys. OK, so those areas that have the two in there. Type 2s are the ones that are going to get pounded really hard. So when we see that, we understand that there is an association with inflammatory vascular issues for that. Now we also noticed that there’s a lag time. Now we’ve seen here that there’s a five-day lag time. Now the influenza virus hits two at a rate of almost two days. We’ve had a range between actually it’s nearly seven, but they’ve averaged the number to five days, meaning by the time the symptoms are present, you can know that someone’s affected you. The influenza virus nails you at two to three days, a very fast-moving bug. This one doesn’t move as fast, but it has symptoms within five days.
[00:30:06] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Getting back to what you’re saying about, can you move back to the previous one, please? Absolutely. So again, I just want to reiterate in our conversation, the first five minutes of the conversation when we talked about was about inflammatory processes of the body. Yes, that reaffirms that anything in your body is at a risk factor of inflammation, whether it’s your heart, your lungs, or your kidneys. Those are direct, specific markers, risks, and morbidity factors, all of our outcomes with COVID 19. Absolutely right. There’s no question, so if you are dealing with heart issues, on heart medication, or beta-blockers, please be not just mindful if you’re in that conversation. Again, don’t panic, but listen to our discussion on our podcast and in our, you know, future presentations because we want you to plan and understand, but not to panic and, you know, be all over the place. You see, we want to make it through this time, you know, and not just buckshot, you know, wear a mask. And because I wear a mask, I’m going to be OK. No, you’re not.
[00:31:53] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Mario, we talked about the common symptoms presented because there’s a lot of confusion about I’m sneezing, and I got it. Right? Yeah. So one of the things is is that we have to look at the common presentation. The virus stimulates interleukin six and interleukin nine interleukin eight to these particular ones, affecting the hypothalamus through the prostate gland and approaching what that does. That creates the immediate response for temperature. So the body, once the body releases those are inflammatory cytokines. It causes the immune system to kick off. So at the immune system gets kicked off. It’s usually done at the launching of the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus raises the body temperature, the first one of people’s very first signs. So when we look at this, it’s not. It’s not uncommon that the most common symptom in this presentation is a fever. The fever is the thing that we assess, which; you mentioned that one of the things that we also do is to assess these dynamics to determine if you have a fever. In the beginning, people were sneezing, and it caught us at the same time as the hay fever stuff, you know, in the sneezing that happens locally. So almost if you sneeze, you feel like you were exposed to it. But the reality of sneezing is not the presentation that is noticed on this virus. This virus starts replicating. And by the end, it makes its heyday when it hits the lungs. So by the time it hits and causes a reactionary thing at the lung wall or the alveoli, it causes the inflammatory reaction to spilling out the cytokines that trigger the temperature change. So it’s like it does not like normal. Like, I got hay fever, I got nasal congestion. These people are being affected in a much more drastic way. It goes directly to the lungs. It enters the blood system. It goes, and it trends later does translations of the DNA. And once it starts producing that the body identifies it, the cells die, and then the immune system kicks in. By that time, you begin having congestion. So the cough and the fever are somewhat kind of misplaced sometimes. So we had the one that usually tipped us off the earliest is the fever.
[00:34:13] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: And this is where again. It is the same pattern, the same pattern as the flu. Exactly. It would be mindful. I mean, this is not something; it’s not a different animal. No, it’s another species, but it’s in the same family. OK, so we’re talking about fever as the body’s response to fight the virus, correct? Correct. So that’s what it’s doing. Your body responds to fight and increase temperature and look at the correlation again. I want to make things simple because sometimes we get so complicated and things like that. I want to kind of bring it down to the common conversation. Number one, what do you hear in the news and media? The higher temperature in your environment, once it goes over 80 degrees, the COVID 19 decreases. Is that what we’re hearing?
[00:35:14] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Absolutely. That’s it.
[00:35:15] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Matter of fact, it escalates with fever. So now the body is attempting to do the same thing. The body is fighting to increase its own heat for lack of better words to fight the virus. OK. And then with that, you’re talking about coughing now. Again, cough, shortness of breath. Now it gets a little more specific because, again, it’s not just a runny nose. Many people, you know, all have runny noses and say, Oh, I have COVID 19. Well, that’s not such a significant marker because I have shortness of breath and I have a fever. OK, with coughing. Now that one, we need to get real. Because just for you, coughing without fever and shortness of breath is a different conversation, Alex.
[00:36:08] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: One of the common things is that people have headaches. They have dizziness. These are all the chills. That’s a big one that people sometimes start feeling overall aches. They start having shortness of breath. Once the lungs are involved in the pulmonary exchange of oxygen is limited. That’s where the body starts trying to produce. The heart kicks up the same receptors, and temperature increases to tachycardia. So these are the areas that are being identified so we can see a correlation between those coronary issues that are secondary sputum production. So from here to here, we can see that we got the majority of symptoms from this area. We do end up having headaches. But look, where you notice nasal congestion, it’s way down there. Two percent to five percent of the people have the presentation and COVID virus of nasal congestion. OK? There are cases where we’ve noticed that the method and mode of transmission sadly is hand-washing touching the face in the triangular region of the eyes and the nose area in the mouth. This is an area. Also, oral-fecal is a place with the virus propagates. So when we’re looking at that, we have to make sure that we wash our hands very well when it comes to oral-fecal. It seems disgusting, but the reality is in our population, people may sometimes not wash their hands, or if they do wash their hands, they touch the faucet before they wash their hands. Does it make sense? So at that point, someone comes in after and handles the faucet in a public restaurant. And bam, you got it, and you touched your face.
[00:37:48] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: It makes sense, and you don’t want that, Alex. This same conversation, again, is nothing new. So people need to use common sense. They need to be mindful and focused. When you and I go to the gym, OK, let’s forget COVID 19, forget all this stuff, OK? You know, going to the gym to work out. You have everybody’s stuff on the bench, on the dumbbells, on everything. Correct? It will get everyone very aware. So let’s look at it this way again. Go back to the basics of life. Number one, wash your hands before you eat. Wash your hands after you go into a different environment. Wash your hands. Sanitation. Hygiene. Let’s step it up, everybody. Step up your hygiene. Don’t take it for granted, OK? And just because you wear a mask, but you’re not washing your hands. Well, let me tell you, you have your mask over your nose in your mouth, correct? Right. Happens to your eyes. Exactly. That’s a conversation, right?
[00:39:03] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: So you realize that it comes in through the eyes as well.
[00:39:06] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: And then let’s say you eat what you’re going to have to take your mask off to eat. So this is where that exposure is if you don’t wash your hands. And many people are using these hand sanitizers like crazy, right? And they’re dumping it. My point is to wash your hands, correct? Absolutely. And do that. So that’s an excellent point, Alex. Again, when we go to the gym and work out, how often do we wash our hands after leaving the gym? How many times, Alex?
[00:39:37] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Every single time we don’t leave. We don’t leave until we wash our hands.
[00:39:42] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: We wash at least three times before leaving.
[00:39:44] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We wash it the first time, the second time you get the bugs off, and then spend a little bit cleaning the arms and the elbows down because you have to.
[00:39:52] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: And then we are finished? No. Three times, you want to get that movement in and wash it all the way here. You know, like all the way to this, not just here. Don’t just rinse your fingers.
How To Stop Inflammation?
[00:40:04] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: The virus protects itself by an outer coating that is liposomal? So one of the crazy things is just thinking about it. How do you get grease off your dishes? You wash them with soap. Soap destroys the cell wall of the bacteria. So in a situation, you can see that just hand-washing. That’s why everyone talks about it is one of the main reasons we can discuss that. We noticed that the eyes we heard early reports that that the eyes would be like almost they’d all have, like bloodshot eyes. In the beginning, it was a very common presentation. Well, the reason is the immune system is protected very much at the eye level, at the conjunctival level. So one of the things, if something enters through the conjunctiva, you will have a reactionary response at that level. So often, you’re going to see many people producing kind of eye weeping, and because it enters through the eyes as well, it’s not as common as it does in the nose, in the mouth. But it is an area which is which goes to your point. We have to have eye protection. So in that sense, the best thing we can do if we’re in an environment such as a clinic is to have at least some sort of face coverage to prevent that stuff from occurring from floating around anywhere that it goes. Did you want to add anything to that particular point?
[00:41:25] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah. You know, what I wanted to add is, again, the connections with other viruses. You see, I remember what we were dealing with AIDS, right? Fluid exchange eyes. You know, again, aids, HIV, those things need to be renewed in our daily usage and function. Likewise, be aware that just because you’re not touching your mouth, you’re touching your eyes. That’s an open portal. Going to see it is it’s an open portal to our blood-brain barrier. It’s an open portal to our system. And so with that, we mustn’t be only aware of it, but we protect ourselves in those areas. And what I would say is overall, the distancing, you know, I think this is the distancing. I mean, we’re not going to wear goggles everywhere we go, OK? The distancing is essential. And again, that spread, that coughing, OK, you’re not going to catch it by walking next to someone, and all of a sudden, it jumps into your eye. That’s right. Is that OK? To say yes, I’m going to jump into your eye?
[00:42:55] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: No. But yeah, that’s what they’re talking about.
[00:42:58] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: So what we’re talking about is we’re talking about those things. So I don’t want people to get confused and go, Oh my gosh, I got to wear goggles all day everywhere.
[00:43:09] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: So in terms of once it breaks into the cells and once it does that, one of the great is that once inside the cell, the virus can make up, then 10000 copies itself per hour. 10000 copies. Mario, the cell, once it enters the liposomes in the ribosomes, it takes over the system. It uses an Android system where it just recreates its body parts and creates all the parts to propagate 10000 per hour. That’s per cell.
[00:43:40] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Hey, Alex. And I love this quote by Andrew Pecos. I love that guy, John Hopkins, who knows exactly what is going on. I love this quote. It’s like, you have these unexpected visitors breaking into your house, and they’re there for a while, and they’re going to eat your food. You know what? They’re going to use your furniture, and they’re going to produce 10000 babies and just trash it. And there it is. I love that because that’s where our own immune system has to block these unexpected visitors; say, No, you know what? We’re going to quarantine you, and we’re going to kick you out. And that’s where the older we are, the more susceptible we are, the less resilient we are. And with our secondary morbidities of CVD, diabetes, obesity, stress, sleep, we didn’t talk about that; Alex, lack of sleep we seeing right now. Are you? You and I haven’t come up to deal with these guys.
[00:44:52] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We will be discussing at length the things that we can do, Mario, regarding the treatment protocols because what we’re just doing is the beginning of this process. But here we discussed, and we discussed this earlier. We talked about the ranges. You can see here that the fatality rate is one point thirty-eight, but you can see that the ratio is the highest in this particular group here. And as you look at that age group between the 60s and the 70s, that much falls in line with our town. And what we’re seeing is that in ours, ours is more like this in this town, and it’s going like this in our side. We don’t have this because we’ve usually done an excellent job, and we were able to identify early that the carriers of these things were non-symptomatic. So we’ve been able to hold that number of the elderly.
[00:45:45] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: We are doing a great job. Yeah, in our town. So you know what I mean? We looked at the ratio from the Chinese model earlier, Alex. But again, I want to elucidate and complement the mayor, Mayor Margo, and all county and city officials working diligently. Veronica Escobar and the other representatives, you know what? We are doing great. We’re doing a great job, are doing exceptionally well compared to Houston, Dallas, Austin. We’re doing tremendous, and we need to pull together, work together, support each other to do this.
[00:46:38] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I got to tell you this Mario, at that point, Dee Margo, had like a linear cut to this day as soon as we had 65 that were positive. He shut the downtown. He shut the town down. He just basically shut it off instantly. He put into the effects of the greater order, which was the governor’s orders. He put that into effect, closing down the schools, closing down all the aspects, closing down the parks, closing down everything. Because he knew then that his job was before us having one loss of life, just one loss of life, that’s before all that happened. Our mayor jumped on it, and we’re actually fortunate in this particular town where we live that we’ve been able to stop the massive hits that happened because we triggered the parachute push or the pull to slow down the city way before most towns would ever. I doubt there were very many towns that, after 65 people, positively shut it down. We are the 17th largest city in the United States. We are bigger than guess where? We are bigger than Miami. Mario, do you realize that we are bigger than Miami, and we were able to stop it? So to your point? Our mayor did very well by shutting down the city and threatening those promises during those tough times.
[00:47:55] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Leaders have to make tough decisions. Period. You know, we have to they have to step up. May not be popular, may not be, you know. Warm and fuzzy. But for the higher good.
[00:48:15] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: The higher the good, exactly,
[00:48:16] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Exactly. We have to do that. And in another component, I’m not sure if you have a slide on this one, but in terms of our exposure, you know, with our sister city Juarez, Mexico. It’s a different conversation, isn’t it? Yeah. If that were to be considered delineation because they shut down the border.
[00:48:44] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: What happened in terms of, let’s say, our sister city has a lot to do with the awareness, also the proximity and the close quarters of how people live here. We’re probably a little bit more spaced out. We closed down the city and did many mitigating factors to prevent distinct from getting out of hand on us. So as we looked at this, we have been able to respond in a bit much more aggressive fashion than what most people would have been able to do. So why does it spread so quickly? This is what we were talking about earlier we were talking about. This is getting to the mechanics of the ACE2 area or receptors. This virus has these tiny prongs and these little spikes they call, and it’s engulfed. It’s a bilipid layer area that protects it. And inside, it has an RNA molecule, a chain that will deploy on you. But the question is, it will land on some body component. And what we’re learning and this goes to the treatment protocols that we’re going to be discussing a little bit later than when we discussed these areas, we can see that the receptors in these areas are the ones that receive it. And from there, it deploys its pod. And once it deploys its pod, the virus actually enters the system through that area. This area, through the membranes, typically through a membrane wall, usually at the alveoli or the tissue that it affects. So these are the areas where the body works on it. So the Antigua’s antibodies treatment disrupts the interaction between the virus and the receptors. So what we’ve been trying to do is to stop it here. We’ve been trying to vaccinate against it directly. And then now, when we do natural effects, we go from the insides’ ability to mitigate the messy reaction in this area. OK. So those are the dynamics of what’s going on. It’s not so much that the virus itself makes the killing, but the inflammatory reaction that the body strikes against it causes the direct response to the virus. So because once the virus kills the cells, the cell membrane dies. Then what? Because macrophages, granular sites, and all the cool things we’ve been talking about actually cause inflammation in the body. This is the virus that we have seen. We talk about the spikes. This is the spike. This is where the ACE2 blocker or the receptor is received, which would be the cell in this area. So in that particular region, that’s how the science of soap, because this right here, this is what you and I were talking about that layer. There is a bilipid layer that gets disrupted with Mario, soap. So just hand-washing would be very useful in this area. I know you’ve been doing a lot of hand-washing in your office, correct? Yes. To avoid certain foods. OK, so you know, we have a DNA of foods, anti-inflammatory diets. We talked about that, you know, one of the things that you and I were discussing: the metabolic diet, the metabolic syndrome diets. You know, these Mediterranean diets, when we’re dealing with anti-inflammatory dyes, are what we would be focusing on. And what we’re going to be talking about now is explicitly focusing on anti-inflammatory foods and foods that prevent sensitivities to our body that cause immune reactions. Because if we mitigate the inflammation, it’s almost like we slow down the inflammatory process in our body or almost create a body that is less susceptible to inflammation. That’s the kind of treatment protocol we want to focus on. Now, when you look at these diets, what sort of proper diets would you recommend in terms of helping with the immunity of your patients?
What Is The GPS In The Body?
[00:52:45] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Very simple. If you can, go back to the previous slide. So let’s look at this one. Let’s look at that GPS conversation. Can you circle that one right there? Excellent check. Yes. Number one. Get rid of gluten foods. Gluten, again, really simple. Gluten is all about the glue that is the glue in your foods, in your breads, preservatives get it out. Eat raw. OK, there you go. Or gluten-free? You can’t go wrong with popcorn. It’s going to be all right. The other thing that we’re looking at again is to decrease the processed foods, Alex. P is for processed. So if it’s in a can, if it’s in a box and it’s been sitting there for more than twenty-four hours or 48 hours, you know what? Let’s not put in your body because obviously those artificial flavorings, those preservatives, which are what chemicals preserve the taste and the process of that food right for storage. That is not something that your body needs. It’s not. You know what? I just need more preservatives to my body because I want to be stronger and increase my immune system. So that’s the P. The P is for preserves. Get rid of them, OK? And then the S is our favorite, and it’s not for supersonic. It’s sugar. Sugar. Get rid of it because sugar is the most potent inflammatory sizzle. It’s that atomic nuclear bomb. OK.
[00:54:48] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You see, and this is when you and I go to the store. We’ve noticed that everything is gone in the process and the sugar aisles.
[00:54:55] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yes. From there, the shelves are empty. If it’s a box, it’s gone. And then you go, and then you go into produce man guacamole, you got tomatoes, and you got the spinach is there, but we got the boxes.
[00:55:17] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, that’s amazing.
[00:55:19] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Of course, the feel-good foods. And we need to be mindful of that because the longer you stay in your house, you will start to munch and crunch and start to have snacks. And usually, those snacks are not baby carrots and celery sticks. No, they’re not. There are those snacks that you buy the Dollar General. For a dollar, and they have a lot of sugars, so that is what we call emotional foods, balanced emotional foods, you want to feel good, you know, drink some wine. Let’s not forget about the wine. You’re emotional. Yes, I did throw that just because I love you.
[00:56:04] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I don’t do wine.
[00:56:06] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Anyway, I know you used to be part of it. We want to be mindful of red wine, especially.
[00:56:14] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, stop the inflammation. And as we’re looking at those anti-inflammatory foods, the same kind of approach to a metabolic-free diet, even a ketogenic diet, is the whole focus is stopping inflammation, and inflammation is at the core of this. If we can squelch the inflammation in our bodies, we prepare our bodies in the event that we become exposed to this virus. So it is a simple approach to almost whenever you prepare your body for an event, a competition, you want to allow it to be as ready as possible. You don’t want it to be beaten down with processes that are inflammatory or reactionary that can burden itself. So it’s a critical component that what you’re saying, no, we have to look at a proper diet equals increased enhanced immunity. It’s as simple when we look at it. A poor diet impairs the immunity reaction, which will cause a more reactive oxygen species. Our processes, known as the body, are a way to destroy things that are reasonable winning control, but anything in excess causes the issues. Suppose our body is already cued up if we have inflammatory foods. If your BMI is above, the main number we’re using was 26, if your BMI, and that’s a measurement of waist versus hip and height. So we have to look at those numbers, and you start to notice that people that are not as healthy, that don’t exercise to a certain extent, those are the people that are more predisposed to this event when it happens. So it’s wise now, under a doctor’s watchful eye, to exercise, do cardiovascular exercising, drink the right amount of water, and make sure you get the proper sleep? Simple things like that will go very far in the healing process or prepare your body for it. Let’s say an event where, as they’re saying at this point in New York, they did a sample of the population. They said that at present, even of the non-symptomatic population that they’re testing in the suburbs, thirteen point nine percent only 14 percent of people already have been exposed to it. So when we’re looking at that, if this thing is going to go throughout a population at the rate that it is, it is wise to prepare our bodies. It is wise to prepare our bodies in an anti-inflammatory way. It is wise to get sleep. It’s wise to get the body mentally prepared and give ourselves this opportunity to eat appropriately to actually prevent a massive assault in inflammation or an inflammatory way that helps the body so things that we can do here to support our immune system. Take a look at that, Mario, so we have that.
[00:59:04] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: You love this stuff, Alex.
[00:59:06] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: So when we look at, you know, wild, you know, smash fish, OK, so we look at that…
[00:59:14] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: What is smashed fish, Alex? Is it like salmon?
[00:59:20] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It is basically organic fish.
[00:59:23] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: When you look at organic, wild salmon.
[00:59:34] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, we call it smash fish.
[00:59:34] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Call me on my hotline. We all put my hotline at the bottom, Alex; I think we need to.
[00:59:42] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I will ensure that. And by the way, we’re going to get to this one in a few minutes. So in terms of the plant-based diet, we want to make sure that that goes on too. So what kind of things do you do for a plant-based diet, Mario?
[00:59:54] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: You know, I will say this. I am basically vegan, Alex, with this wonderful COVID 19. I have become vegan. Yes, that’s right. So I am doing lentil soup. I am doing spinach with balsamic vinaigrette. Oh man, I’m telling you, I’m going crazy.
[01:00:20] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Fruits and vegetables?
[01:00:24] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Oh, all the time.
[01:00:26] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Grass-Fed meats?
[01:00:28] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I don’t know if they’re grass-fed, Alex, but I’m still looking for those.
The Gut-Lung Connection
[01:00:35] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: What we’re talking about here is we’re also going to be talking, and we’re going to have a unique addition to this process because one of the areas we’ve learned that the gut-brain is a well-connected organ system. The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal connection is established. Now we’ve known of a great one, which is the intestine two long connection. OK, so we’re starting to see that the intestine and the flora in the intestine have much to do with the reactionary or inflammatory response in the lung. I’m going to be discussing that, too. Here we got a lot of amazing stuff that we will be talking about.
[01:01:18] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: The gut-lung connection.
[01:01:20] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: The gut lung connection, right? So we’re going to be discussing that. So when we’re dealing with things like high fiber, the whole purpose of the fiber is to feed our bugs right to provide our probiotics or our bacteria that are evident at different stages of the colon. So what we want to make sure is to establish that a high fiber diet does not have roughage. But a variety of fibers is not good to have one type of kale, but different kinds of vegetable green leafy to different hard celery. All other fiber types assist different stages of bacterial growth in the intestinal colon. So we must do this in terms of the nuts and the seeds. The oils. Chicken soup? Yeah. Yeah, you know, chicken soup. Why would chicken soup be so good? We’ve learned that when we look at the ingredients in chicken soup, it has everything from the enzymes to the bio mechanisms that help our body heal better. The bioflavonoids, all those things that help our body heal properly, are in the chicken soup.
[01:02:29]Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I hear this; I don’t know if it’s correct, but it’s an excellent old wives tale, and it goes something like this. Chicken soup is Jewish penicillin or Mexican penicillin. I’m not sure. But you know what? It’s powerful. Yeah, because I mean, you hear that it’s like all of a sudden.
[01:02:56] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It allows the body to react to all these things, right? So when we look at these kinds of things, we see that these foods are all put together in chicken. You know, it’s great. It’s got everything it needs, man. So when we deal with snacks, we deal with ginger. We deal with turmeric.
[01:03:14] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Turmeric is awesome. Turmeric is what I call liquid gold for your immune system. Anti-inflammatory liquid gold.
[01:03:27] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes, organic coffee. And one of the things about coffee is that when we look at the coffees if it doesn’t say organic, it’s full of pesticides. So we need to make sure that all are our coffee and your tea is very organic. The oils, the avocados, the macadamias. These are important because they establish normal inflammatory responses.
[01:03:54] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I love guacamole. Avocados. Great fats, plentiful, I mean, I’m telling you that one, I can eat that for like breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
[01:04:05] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I can too. And there’s the problem that it’s too good; actually, it’s kind of really good. We got all these things like the turkey tail. Mario, do you like that turkey tail? Now, why would turkey tails be so good, huh?
[01:04:19] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Turkey tail is so good when you think about that.
[01:04:22] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Culturally speaking, my parents would love that. They eat that as the essential part of the rest of the turkey. Oysters, lion’s mane. We’re going to have to kind of figure out where to get these kinds of things.
[01:04:36] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: OK, I’ll go with this one. And you can circle this one. Shiitake mushrooms are my favorite. They’re awesome. And why is that? I just like, say it’s right there. There it is. I like saying its name.
[01:04:57] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Shiitake.
[01:04:58] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I don’t know. It’s cool. I mean, Turmeric. I don’t know. It sounds kind of deadly, man. Like that tomb turmeric. What are you going to do? Shiitake is cool. You got to eat fun foods, Alex.
[01:05:12Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Mario, you said right here, clean eating. Clean eating is one of the most important foods.
[01:05:20] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Red peppers, blue peppers, green peppers, purple eggplants. I mean, the more color, the better. More the rawer, the better. I mean, keep it simple. And, of course, there are so many things like Golden Seals. You can go into the many herbs like crazy. Yeah, this I’m telling you. Just go to basics. I mean, you may not find my grass-fed meat. I mean, I don’t know if you have a farm or something, where are you going to go after the chickens, but just make it simple. And I would say during this time of quarantine, being at home with your family, spending more time than you ever have maybe wanted to spend with your husband or wife and children, perhaps. But also, there are no more excuses for you not to eat healthily. Yes. Not to cook your meals. OK. There are no more excuses. And, and I would say again in our prior conversations, the blessings of COVID 19. I know people probably like, Whoa, what’s he talking about? Which was Dr. Jimenez, and not talking about this is risky or crazy guys. OK, well, let me tell you. Make put this into your testimony. Yes, utilize this time to come closer together to your family. Start to cook together and eat together. You have no excuse, then you can’t say, well, I have a meeting at seven o’clock. And you know, you have a meeting, maybe you have no meeting. How about that one? You have all day to cook. Look at this video, go on YouTube, go somewhere, and cook your own meal with your wife, daughter, and son. Like, start cutting some stuff. Make sure you don’t cut your fingers because I know that’s new art for you. OK. And fix it in like, eat over it. And I like, you know, hey, how does it taste? I think it needs more salt. Do you know? And you know what? Let’s make it spicier. This is such an unbelievable opportunity to take advantage of it, guys. Yes, you may not see this time ever in your lifetime.
Conclusion
[01:07:46] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, I want to say, Mario, I get that. You’re absolutely right. You hit it on point. It is a very important time to retool our bodies, fix them, and replenish them. It almost seems as if the reports are coming in because the world has been different since that first presentation we made. The carbon footprint is a whole lot smaller in the skies, and the seas are clearer than they’ve ever been before. If that pause is good for the Earth, that pours is good for us as humans. So we need to take that moment and appreciate it. We’re going to be coming across with these, you and I, we’re going to be doing these presentations. We will be doing this webinar will stand the next one next week, particularly. We’ll probably do more this week on other subject matters with this particular report on health and wellness and specifically on immunity. We need to hit it’s a four-part series. We will be hitting this in as we have many more components to discuss. We’re going to be going deep into the actual things that we can do because from what we gather, the initial onset was to give us some list of supplements that we could take. We gave those on our prior presentations and our and our YouTube presentations, and they’re there for you to review. But the and it’s under the antiviral strategies that we did. But this will elaborate on the things that we can do to supplement our immune system and make our immune stronger, not just the supplementation but the nutraceuticals. We’re looking at it from a neutral genomics area, a neutral genetics component. We’re going to be talking biochemistry, but we’re going to be dealing more realistically. So today was the beginning of our new presentations that we’re going to be doing here with Eventbrite and through Eventbrite protocols. We’re now going to discuss our topics and present them to the population out there, not just to El Paso. Hopefully, we can help change more than just the clinical components and the biochemistry and people’s lives, but also the spiritual components of their lives because that’s the functional medicine approach. Our whole goal is to prepare the body to heal itself to deal with complex degenerative issues and holistically assist the body. So wellness components and natural medicine are a very important part of what we’re doing. So we look forward to doing that. And Mario, thank you so much for being part of this because you and I will make an impact. Little by little, day by day, hour by hour, we’re going to be making some impact. So it looks very good in terms of our presentation, and we look and see if you can share this out there, and I’ll give it to the people. Anything else, Mario?
[01:10:34] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah, I want to reaffirm and enlighten you, Alex, and the vision you started and being so gracious and inviting me to the party, as they say, this is not a conference. It’s fun. Yeah, it’s not about us. This is about. Impactful health, functional medicine. It’s about motivating, inspiring, and supporting life change and legacies. And I am happy and look forward to connecting with as many people as possible, not only in our community but also in the viewers. We are here to share. And we’re here to be authentic. And we’re here to create the simplicity of life function. So please take the time for yourself and your loved ones. Take the time because you have it now to let them know how much you love them, how much you forgive them, how much you care for them. And then I will say this. Cook a meal together, eat it, and share the love.
[01:11:52] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Amen, brother. We’ll catch it there. We went a few minutes over, but we’ll be ready for next week. Brother, I love you, and we’ll keep on going forward. OK, but so I ended. I’ll call you in the back end. Bye-bye, brother.
In today’s podcast, Dr. Alex Jimenez and Dr. Mario Ruja discuss the importance of the body’s genetic code and how micronutrients provide the necessary functional nutraceuticals that the body needs to promote overall health and wellness.
What Is Personalized Medicine?
[00:00:00] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Welcome, guys. We’re Dr. Mario Ruja and me; we’re going to be discussing some essential topics for those athletes that want the advantage. We’re going to discuss fundamental necessary clinical technologies and information technologies that can make an athlete or even just the average person a little bit more aware of what’s happening in terms of their health. There’s a new word out there, and I have to give you a little heads up where we’re calling. We’re actually coming from the PUSH Fitness Center, and that people still work out late at night after going to church. So they’re working out, and they’re having a good time. So what we want to do is bring in these topics, and today we’re going to be talking about personalized medicine, Mario. Ever heard of that word?
[00:01:05] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah, Alex, all the time. I dream about it. There you go, Mario.
[00:01:12] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: There you go, Mario. Always giving me a laugh. So we’re going to be talking about is the personalized arena of what we have now. We’ve come to a state where many people tell us, Hey, you know what? It would be best if you had some more proteins, fats, or they come up with some convoluted idea, and you’ll end up with your eyes crossed and, most of the time, more confused than anything else. And you’re pretty much a lab rat to all these different techniques, whether it’s the Mediterranean, low fat, high fat, all these kind of things. So the question is, what is it specific to you? And I think one of the frustrations that many of us have, Mario, is that we don’t know what to eat, what to take and what’s good exactly. What’s good for me doesn’t mean that it’s suitable for my friend. You know, Mario, I’d say it’s different. We come from a whole other type of genre. We live in a place, and we’ve gone through things that are different from two hundred years ago. What do people do? We’re going to be able to figure this out nowadays in today’s DNA dynamics; though we don’t treat with these, it gives us information and allows us to relate to the issues that are affecting us now. Today, we will be talking about personalized medicine, DNA testing, and micronutrient assessments. So we’re going to see what it is that how are our genes, the actual predisposing issues, or they’re the ones that give us the the the workings of our engine. And then also, if it’s good for that, we want to know what our level of nutrients is right now. I know Mario, and you had a very dear and near question the other day with one of your, I think, was your daughter. Yeah, so what was her question?
[00:02:52] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: So Mia had had a well, excellent question. She was asking me about utilizing creatine, which is very predominant in athletes. You see, it’s the buzzword, you know? Use creatine to build more muscle and such. So the point that I talk to you about, Alex, is that this is something so important that we cannot let in terms of the sports environment and performance environment. It’s like taking a Bugatti, and you’re saying, “Well, you know what? Do you think about just putting synthetic oil in it?” And well, is it the synthetic oil necessary for that Bugatti? Well, it’s good because it’s synthetic. Well, no, there are lots of different synthetic forms, you know, it’s like five-thirty, five-fifteen, whatever it is, the viscosity level it has to match. So same thing for athletes and especially for Mia.
[00:04:06] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Let the audience know who Mia is, what does she do? What kind of things does she do?
[00:04:08] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Oh, yeah. Mia plays tennis, so her passion is tennis.
[00:04:13] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: And she’s nationally ranked?
[00:04:15] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Nationally, and she plays internationally on the international circuit ITF. And she’s right now in Austin with Karen and the rest of the Brady Bunch, as I call them. You know, she’s working hard and through all this COVID kind of disconnect. Now she’s getting back into the fitness mode, so she wants to optimize. She wants to do her very best to catch up and move forward. And the question about nutrition, a question about what she needed. I needed a specific answer, not just general. Well, I think it’s good. You know good is good and better is best. And the way we look at it in that conversation of sports performance and genetic, nutritional, and functional medicine, it’s like, let’s get really functional, let’s be on point instead of buckshot. You know, it’s like you can go in and say, you know, generalities. But in terms of this, there is not a lot of information out there for athletes. And that’s where the conversation is linking the genetic and linking the micronutrients. That is phenomenal because, as you mentioned, Alex, when we look at the markers, genetic markers, we see the strengths, the weaknesses, and what’s at risk and what is not. Is the body adaptive, or is the body weak? So then we have to address the micronutrients to support. Remember, we talked about that to support that weakness in that DNA, that genetic pattern with something that we can strengthen. I mean, you can’t go and change your genetics, but you surely can increase and be specific with your micronutrients to change that platform and strengthen it and decrease the risk factors.
[00:06:24] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It’s fair to say now that the technology is such that we can find the, I wouldn’t say weaknesses, but the variables that allow for us to improve an athlete at the genetic level. Now we can’t alter the genes. That’s not what we’re saying is that there’s a world of what they call SNPs or single nucleotide polymorphisms where we can figure out there’s a specific set of genes that can’t change. We can’t change like eye color. We can’t do those. Those are very coded in, right? But there are genes that we can influence through neutral genomics and neutral genetics. So what I mean by my neutral genomics is nutrition altering and affecting the genome to more adaptive or opportunistic dynamics? Now, wouldn’t you like to know what genes you have that are vulnerable? Wouldn’t she want to know where her vulnerability is as well?
Is My Body Receiving The Right Supplements?
[00:07:18] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: What do we all want to know? I mean, whether you’re a high-level athlete or you’re a high-level CEO, or you’re just a high-level mom and dad, that’s running around from tournament to tournament. You cannot afford to have low energy that, when we talked about the markers, you know that methylation within the body we want to know, are we processing or how are we doing in terms of the oxidative pattern within ourselves? Do we need that extra boost? Do we need to increase your knowledge of that green intake detoxified pattern? Or are we doing well? And this is where when we look at the patterns of genetic markers, we can see that we are well-prepared or we are not well prepared. Therefore, we have to look at the micronutrients. Again, those markers to say, “Are we meeting our needs, yes or no? Or are we just generalizing?” And I would say 90 percent of athletes and people out there are generalizing. They’re saying, Well, you know, taking vitamin C is good and taking vitamin D is good and selenium, you know, that’s good. But again, are you on point, or are we just guessing right now?
[00:08:36] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Exactly. That’s the thing when we’re in that store, and there’s a lot of great nutritional centers, Mario, that are out there, and we’re looking at a wall of a thousand products. Crazy. We don’t know where we have holes, and we don’t know where we need them. You know, there are certain deficiencies. You’ve got bleeding gums; most likely, you’ve got some scurvy or some kind of issue there. That unit may need a specialist, but let’s assume if we look at things like scurvy, right? Well, we know that gum starts bleeding. Well, it’s sometimes not that obvious, right, that we need certain things. There are hundreds and thousands of nutrients out there. One of the things that we call them, we call them, is cofactors. A cofactor is a thing that allows an enzyme to work right. So we are a machine of enzymes, and what codes those enzymes? Well, the DNA structure. Because it produces the proteins that code those enzymes, those enzymes have code factors like minerals like magnesium, iron, potassium, selenium, as you mentioned, and all different components. As we look at this, this hole that we’re we’re facing a wall. We would love to know exactly where our holes are because Bobby or my best friend says, you know, you should take protein, take whey protein, take iron, take what may be so, and we’re hit or miss. So today’s technology is allowing us to see precisely what it is, where we have the holes.
[00:10:00] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: And this point that you mentioned about the holes, again, the majority of the factors are not that extreme like scurvy, you know, bleeding gums. We’re not, I mean, we live in a society where we’re gosh, I mean, Alex, we have all the foods that we need. We’ve got too much food. It’s crazy. Again, the issues that we talk about are overeating, not starving, OK? Or we’re overeating and still starving because the nutritional pattern is very low. So that’s a real factor there. But overall, we are looking and addressing the component of what subclinical issues, you know, we don’t have the symptoms. We don’t have those significant marker symptoms. But we do have low energy, but we do have a low recovery pattern. But we do have that problem with sleep, that quality of sleep. So those are not huge things, but those are subclinical that erode our health and performance. For example, little by little, athletes cannot be just good. They need to be the tip of the spear top. They need to recover quickly because they do not have time to guess their performance pattern. And I see that they don’t.
[00:11:21] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, as you mentioned that, I mean, most of these athletes, when they want to, they want to assess their bodies. They want to know where every weakness is. They’re like scientists and laboratory rats for themselves. They’re pushing their bodies to the extreme, from mental to physical to psycho-social. Everything is being affected, and put it in at full throttle. But they want to know. They want to see where that extra edge is. You know what? If I could make you a little bit better? If there was a little hole, what would that amount to? Will that amount to a two more second drop over a while, a microsecond drop? The point is that technology is there, and we have the ability to do these things for people, and the information is coming faster than we can even imagine. We have doctors worldwide and scientists around the world looking at the human genome and seeing these issues, specifically at SNPs, which are single nucleotide polymorphisms that can be changed or altered or assisted in dietary ways. Go ahead.
Body Composition
[00:12:21] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I’ll give you one: the Inbody. How about that? Yeah, that’s a tool right there that is critical for a conversation with an athlete.
[00:12:31] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: The Inbody is the body composition.
[00:12:32] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah, the BMI. You’re looking at it in terms of your hydration pattern; you’re looking at in terms of like, yes, body fat, that that whole conversation everyone wants to know, you know, I’m overweight my belly fat again. We had discussions on metabolic syndrome. We talked about risk factors, high triglycerides, very low HDL, high LDL. I mean, those are risk factors that put you in a pattern in that line towards diabetes and that line towards cardiovascular disease in that line of dementia. But when you’re talking about an athlete, they’re not worried about diabetes; they’re concerned about, am I ready for the next tournament? And I’m going to make the cut going to the Olympics. That’s yes, I mean, they’re not what they want to do that Inbody. They’re the micronutrient, the combination of genome nutrition, that genomic nutrition conversation on point allows them to honor their work. Because I’m telling you, Alex, and you know, this here, I mean, everyone’s listening to us, again, the conversation I share with people is this, why are you training like a pro when you don’t want to be one? Why are you trained like a pro when you are not eating and have the data to support that pro-level workout? What you’re doing? If you don’t do that, you are destroying your body. So again, if you’re working as a pro, that means you’re grinding. I mean, you’re pushing your body to little miss neuromuscular. Furthermore, we’re chiropractors. We deal with inflammatory issues. If you’re doing that, you’re redlining that, but you are not turning around to recover through micronutrition-specific chiropractic work. Then you’re going to damn it; you’re not going to make it.
[00:14:26] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We’re going to show that we’ve been able to see in a lot of times cities come together for specific sports, such as like wrestling. Wrestling is one of those notorious sports that puts the body through massive emotional and physical stresses. But a lot of times, what happens is individuals have to lose weight. You’ve got a guy who’s 160 pounds; he’s got a drop-down 130 pounds. So what the city has done to avoid these things is to use body-specific weight and determine the molecular weight of the urine, right? So they can tell, are you too concentrated, right? So what they do is that they have all these kids line up all the way to UTEP, and they do a specific gravity test to determine if they’re able to lose any more weight or what weight they are allowed to lose. So someone who’s about 220 says, You know what? You can drop up to about, you know, x y z pounds based on this test. And if you violate this, then you do that. But that’s not good enough. We want to know what’s going to happen because when the kids are in a load and are fighting another person that is just as good of an athlete, and he’s pushing his body, that’s when the body collapses. The body can handle the load, but the supplementation that the person has had, maybe their calcium, has been so depleted that suddenly you got this kid who was 100 injuries; the injuries, the elbow snapped dislocated. That’s what we see. And we wonder how did he snap his elbow because his body has been depleted from these supplements?
[00:15:59] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: And Alex, on the same level, you’re talking about one on one like that pugilistic, that intense three minutes of your life on the other level, when it comes to tennis, that’s a three-hour conversation. Exactly. There are no subs there. There’s no coaching, no subs. You are in that gladiator arena. When I see Mia playing OK, I mean, it is intense. I mean, every ball that’s coming to you, it’s coming to you with power. It’s coming in like, can you take this? It’s like someone fighting across a net and looking at it. Are you going to quit? Are you going to chase this ball? Are you going to let it go? And that is where that definitive factor of optimal micronutrition connected with the conversation of what exactly you need in terms of genomic conversation will allow someone to scale up with a decreased risk factor of injuries where they know they can push themselves more and have the confidence. Alex, I’m telling you this is not just nutrition; this is about the confidence to know I got what I need, and I can redline this thing, and it’s going to hold. It’s not going to buckle.
[00:17:23] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know what? I’ve got little Bobby. He wants to wrestle, and he wants to be the biggest nightmare is the mom. Because you know what? They’re the ones that wish Bobby to thump the other Billy, right? And when their kids are getting thumped on, they want to provide for them. And moms are the best cooks. They’re the ones who take care of them, right? They’re the ones that make sure, and you could see it. The pressure on the child is immense when parents are watching, and sometimes it’s incredible to watch. But what can we give moms? What can we do for the parents to provide them with a better understanding of what’s going on? I got to tell you today with DNA tests. You know, all you have to do is get the kid in the morning, open his mouth, you know, do a swab, drag that stuff off the side of his cheek, put in a vial, and it is done within a couple of days. We can tell if Bobby’s got strong ligaments, if Bobby’s micronutrient levels are different to provide the parent with a better kind of a roadmap or a dashboard to understand the information that’s affecting Bobby, so to speak, correct?
[00:18:27] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Because and this is what we’ve come a long way. This is 2020, guys, and this is not 1975. That’s the year when Gatorade came over.
[00:18:42] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Come on; I got my tub. It’s got a lot of things on the side of it. I will have everything you look like Buddha when you develop diabetes with so much sugar from those protein shakes.
The Right Supplements For Kids
[00:18:52] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: We have come a long way, but we cannot just go in and go; oh, you need to hydrate here drink these electrolytes, Pedialyte and all that. That’s not good enough. I mean, that’s good, but it’s 2020, baby. You got to scale up and level up, and we can’t use old data and old instrumentation and diagnostics because the kids now start at three years old, Alex. Three years old. And I’m telling you right now at three, it is unbelievable. By the time they’re five and six, I mean, I’m telling you the kids that I see, they’re already in select teams.
[00:19:33] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Mario…
[00:19:34] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Six years old, they’re in a select team.
[00:19:36] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: The thing that determines if a child is ready is their attention span. Yeah, I got to tell you, you can watch this. You got to see a kid who’s at three years and six months, and he isn’t paying attention. Three years and eight-month, all of a sudden, he can focus.
[00:19:50] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: It’s on like a light switch.
[00:19:52] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: In front of the coach, right? And you can tell because they wander and they’re not ready. So we’re bringing the kids and exposing them to loads of experiences. Then what we need to do is give moms and dads the ability to understand and athletes of the NCAA and see how I can see what’s happening in my bloodstream? Not a CBC, because the CBC is for basic stuff, like a red blood cell, white blood cell. We can do things. Metabolic panel tells us a generic thing, but now we know more profound information about the susceptibility of the gene markers and see this on the test. And these reports tell us precisely what it is and how it pertains now and progression.
[00:20:37] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: So this is where I love. This is where I love everything in the world of performance is pre and post. So when you’re a sprinter, they time you. It’s electronic time; when you’re a wrestler, they look at you. Do you know what your winning ratio is? What’s your percentage? Anything, it’s all data. It’s data-driven. As a tennis player, a soccer player, they will track you. Computers will track how strong? How fast is your serve? Is it 100 miles an hour? I mean, it is crazy. So now, if you have that data, Alex, why is it that we do not have the same information for the most critical component, which is that biochemistry, that micro nutritional, the foundation of performance is what happens inside of us, not what happens outside. And this is where people get confused. They think, “Well, my kid works four hours a day, and he has a private trainer. Everything.” My question is that is good, but you’re putting that kid at risk if you are not supplementing on point, say precisely when it comes to the special needs of that child or that athlete, because if we don’t do that, Alex, we are not honoring the journey and the battle, that warrior, we’re not. We’re putting them at risk. And then, all of a sudden, you know what, two-three months before a tournament, BAM! Pulled a hamstring. Oh, you know what? They got fatigued, or all of a sudden, they had to pull out of a tournament. You see, I see tennis players doing all of that. And why? Oh, they’re dehydrated. Well, you should never have that problem. Before you go in exactly where you are, you should already know what you’re doing. And I love the combination and a platform that we have for all of our patients because, within two or three months, we can show pre and post, can we?
[00:22:39] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We can show body composition to the Inbody systems and the incredible systems we use. These DEXAS, we can do bodyweight fat analysis. We can do a lot of things. But when it comes down to predispositions and what’s unique to individuals, we go down to the molecular level, and we can go down to the level of the genes and understand what the susceptibilities are. We can go on once we have the genes. We can also understand the micronutrient level of each individual. So what’s pertaining to me? I may have more magnesium than you, and the other child may have depleted magnesium or calcium or selenium or his proteins or the amino acids or are shot. Maybe he’s got a digestive issue. Perhaps he’s got lactose intolerance. We need to be able to figure out these things that affect us.
[00:23:29] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: We can’t guess. And the bottom line is there’s no need for that. Everyone has that beautiful conversation, Alex, about, “Oh, you know what? I feel OK.” When I hear that, I cringe, go, and feel OK. So you mean to tell me that you are putting your health the most precious thing you have and your performance based on a feeling like, wow, that means that your urine receptors and turns the pain tolerance are dictating your health. That’s dangerous. That is completely dangerous. And also, so clinically, you’re not able to feel your deficiency in terms of vitamin D, your deficiency in terms of selenium, your deficiency in vitamin A, E. I mean, all of these markers, you can’t feel it.
[00:24:21] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We need to start presenting to the people out there, the information, it’s out there because what we want to let people know is that we’re going deep. We’re going down to these gene susceptibilities, the gene understanding as it is today; what we have learned is so powerful that it allows parents to understand a whole lot more of the issues pertaining to an athlete. Not only that, but the parents want to know what my susceptibility is? Do I have a risk of bone arthritis? Do we have issues with oxidative stress? Why am I always inflamed all the time, right? Well, believe it or not, if you got the genes for, let’s say you got the gene that makes you eat a lot, well, you’re likely going to gain weight. You can raise 10000 people’s hands who have that same gene marker, and you’re going to notice that their BIAs and BMI are way out of there because it’s the susceptibility to that now. Can they change it? Absolutely. That’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about understanding the ability to adapt and change our lifestyle for the predispositions we may have.
[00:25:26] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah, this is wonderful. And I see this quite frequently in terms of the conversation about losing weight, you know, and they go, “Oh, I did this program, and it works great.” And then you have 20 other people doing the same program, and it doesn’t even work, and it’s almost like hit and miss. So people are becoming disillusioned. They’re putting their bodies through this incredible roller coaster ride, which is like the worst thing you could do. You know, they’re doing these unnecessary things, but they cannot sustain it because why? At the end of the day, it’s not who you are. It wasn’t for you.
[00:26:05] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You may need a different type of diet.
[00:26:06] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yes. And so we, again, our conversation today is very general. We’re starting this platform together because we have to educate our community and share the latest in technology and science that addresses the needs.
[00:26:26] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Personalized medicine, Mario. It’s not general; it’s a personalized health and personalized fitness. We understand that we don’t have to guess if a diet is better for us, such as a low calorie, high-fat diet or a Mediterranean style food or a high protein diet. We won’t be able to see that these scientists are putting information together from the information we are continuously gathering and compiling. It’s here, and it’s a swab away, or blood works away. It’s crazy. You know what? And this information, of course, let me be mindful of before this starts. My little disclaimer comes in. This is not for treatment. Please do not take anything; we’re taking this for treatment or diagnosis. You got to talk to your doctors, and your doctors have to tell you exactly what’s up there and what’s appropriate for every individual we integrate.
[00:27:18] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: The point is that we integrate with all healthcare professionals and physicians. We are here to support and champion functional wellness. OK. And as you mentioned, we’re not here to treat these diseases. We’re here to optimize again when athletes come in and want to be better. They want to get healthier and help the recovery rate.
Can Stress Age You Faster?
[00:27:46] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, that’s it. Do you know what the bottom line is? The testing is there. We can see Billy’s not been eating well. OK, Billy has not been eating well. I can tell you, well, he eats everything, but he hasn’t had this level of protein. Look at his protein depletion. So we’re going to present to you some of the studies out here because it’s information, though it’s a bit complex. But we want to make it simple. And one of the things that we were talking about here is the micronutrient test we were providing here. Now I’m going to present you guys to see a little bit here. And what we use in our office when a person comes in and says, I want to learn about my body. We present this micronutrient assessment to figure out what’s going on. Now, this one was, let’s say, just it was in a sample for me, but it tells you where the individual is. We want to be able to level the antioxidant level. Now everyone knows that, well, not everyone. But now we understand that if our genes are optimal and our food is optimal, but we live in an oxidative stress state…
[00:28:45] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Exactly
[00:28:46] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Our genes will not function. So it’s important to understand what the problem is.
[00:28:51] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: It’s rust. I mean, when you’re looking at this, and I see two markers, I see the one for oxidative, and then the other one is the immune system. Yes, right? So again, they correlate together, but they are different. So the oxidative I talk about is like your system is rusting out. Yeah, that’s oxidation. You see apples turning brown. You see metals rusting. So inside, you want to absolutely be at your best, which is in the green in that 75 to 100 percent functional rate. That means you can handle the craziness of the world tomorrow, you know?
[00:29:31] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes, we can look at the stress of the human body, Mario. What we can see actually what’s going on, and as I continue with this kind of presentation here, we can see what this individual is and what is his actual immune function age. So a lot of people want to know this stuff. I mean, I want to know where I lie in terms of the dynamics of the body, right? So when I look at that, I can see precisely where I lie, and my age is 52. OK. In this situation, OK, now as we look down, we want to know.
[00:30:02] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Hold on. Let’s get real. So you mean to tell me that we can get younger through this incredible system? Is that what you’re telling me?
[00:30:14] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It tells you if you’re aging quicker, OK, how does that sound, Mario? So if you can slow down, if you’re in that top 100, the green, you’re going to be looking like a 47-year-old man when you’re 55. Right? So from the structure, immune function, and oxidative stress in the body, what’s going to happen is that we’re going to be able to see exactly where we are in terms of our body.
[00:30:37] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: So that is correct? Yes. So we could be our birth certificate could say 65, but our functional metabolic markers can say you’re 50.
[00:30:51] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes. Let me make it real simple, OK? People often understand oxidative stress; yes, we hear about antioxidants and reactive oxygen species. Let me make it simple, OK, we’re a cell. You and I, we’re having a family meal right where we’re enjoying ourselves. We are normal cells. We’re happy, and we’re functioning where everything is appropriate. All of a sudden, there’s a wild-looking lady. She’s got blades and knives, and she’s greasy, and she’s slimy, and she comes on. She hits the table, boom, and she kind of walks away. You know, it’s going to unsettle us, right? It’s going to be, let’s call her an oxidant, OK? She’s called a reactive oxygen species. Now, if we got two of those walking around the restaurant, we kind of keep an eye on her, right? All of a sudden, a football player comes and takes her out. Boom knocks her out, right? In that situation, this greasy, slimy weapon-looking lady, correct, that’s scary. That was an antioxidant. That was vitamin C that wiped her out, right? There’s a balance between oxidants and antioxidants in the body. They have different purposes, right? We have to have antioxidants, and we have to have oxidants in order for our body to function. But if you got 800 of those ladies like zombies all of a sudden.
[00:32:02] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*:I could see them as zombies.
[00:32:07] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It is. You know what you’re going to want. Where are the football players? Where are the antioxidants, right? Take them out. The football players come in, but there are just too many of them, right? Anything that you and I do in a conversation could be healthy cells, and we’re having this conversation at the dinner table. We’re disrupted totally. We cannot function in an oxidative stress environment. No. So basically, we may have all the supplements, and we may have all the nutrients, and we may have the proper genetics. But if we’re in an oxidative state, right, an elevated level, we’re not going to be aged. It will not be a comfortable night, and we will not recover.
[00:32:46] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: We will be at a higher risk factor for injuries. Exactly. And the other thing is we also have the risk factor where we will age faster than we should.
[00:33:04] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: That night would be rough is there’s like a hundred of those people around. So we need to know the state of the balance in life, the antioxidants we see, and all the antioxidants foods like A, C, E. That is what this test does. It shows you the level of oxidants in the body.
[00:33:19] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Hey, Alex, let me ask you this. Everyone loves to work out. When you work out, does that increase or decrease your oxidative stress? Please tell me, because I want to know.
[00:33:30] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It increases your oxidative state.
[00:33:31] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: No, stop it.
[00:33:32] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It does because you’re breaking the body down. However, the body responds. And if we are healthy, Mario, right? In that sense, our body first has to break down, and it has to repair. OK? We want to have antioxidants because it helps us go through the process. Part of healing and part of inflammation is oxidative balance. So, in essence, when you’re working out too hard or running hard, you can overburn the bar, and those are the things that you and I have to kind of look at, and this is the balance.
[00:34:08] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Now this is like the paradox, right? You know what, if you overwork, you’re going to look fabulous. But you know what? You’re actually breaking down. And if you don’t work out, there goes your cardio. There go other risk factors. So this is where it is so critical that we need to balance and know precisely what each person needs to be at their best. And we can’t guess; you can’t take the same supplements as me and vice versa.
The Right Cofactors For Your Body
[00:34:41] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I can, we can. But it’s to me, I may not be a lot of waste of money, or maybe we’re just missing the whole process. So in this entire dynamics here, just looking at this test, Mario, just using it at this particular assessment, we want to see also what our cofactors are on. We talked about proteins; we talked about genetics. We talked about things that make these enzymes work, our body functions, and pure enzymes in this particular model that you’re seeing what the cofactors are and the metabolites are. Well, you see amino acids levels and where they are in your body. If you’re an extreme athlete, you want to know what those things are.
[00:35:14] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Oh yeah, I mean, look at that. Those aminos. Those are critical.
[00:35:20] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You think Mario?
[00:35:21] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah, I mean it’s like every athlete I know, they’re like, Hey, I got to take my aminos. My question is, are you taking the right ones at the right level? Or do you even know, and they’re guessing. Ninety percent of the people are assuming you’re looking at antioxidants. Look at that. That’s the beast right there, glutathione. That’s like the granddaddy of antioxidants right there. And you want to know is, is that football players, that linebackers are going to crush those zombies, you know? And again, vitamin E, CoQ10. Everyone talks about CoQ10 and heart health.
[00:36:00] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Coenzyme Q, exactly. A lot of people take cardiac medications specifically to lower their cholesterol.
[00:36:10] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: What does CoQ10 do, Alex? I want to get you started.
[00:36:15] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Because you know what? Many documentation came out early on when they did many of these medications. Yeah, they knew they had to end it and put coenzyme Q in it. They knew, and they patented it because they knew that they had it. Because if you don’t give coenzyme Q right, you have inflammatory states and neuropathies. But these people have issues, and now they’re starting to understand. That’s why you see all the commercials with the coenzymes. But the point is that we need to know where our present state is right. So when we understand those things, we can look at the tests. And we can look at the dynamics of it. Wouldn’t you like to know which antioxidants? It’s so clear.
[00:36:52] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I love this. I mean, look at that. You know what? It’s red, green, black and that’s it. I mean, you can see it right away. This is your board. This is your command center. You know, I love the command center. It’s like, everything’s there.
[00:37:10] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I know Mario, you know, with those athletes, they want to be at the top level. Yes, it looks like this person’s floating somewhere in the middle, but they want to top it at 100 percent, right?
[00:37:19] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Alex, they’re on the bench.
[00:37:23] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah. And when they’re under a lot of stress, who knows what? Now, these tests are straightforward to do. They’re not complex to go in. Take a lab test sometimes are these are urine tests, something we can do.
[00:37:33] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: And we can do those in our offices in a matter of minutes, precisely in a matter of minutes. Crazy.
[00:37:38] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It’s crazy.
[00:37:40] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: This is why it’s so simple. It’s like my question is, what color is the red bus? I don’t know. It’s a trick question.
What Supplements Are Right For You?
[00:37:50] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Well, going back into our topic today was personalized medicine and personalized wellness and personalized fitness. Doctors around the country are starting to understand that they cannot just say, OK, you’re pregnant. Here’s a folic acid pill. OK, here are some nutrients, though every doctor has to be taking care of their own clients. They’re the ones that are doing this. But people have the ability to understand; where are the other holes? Wouldn’t you want to make sure you have suitable selenium?
[00:38:17] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Before you have symptoms. That’s the thing, and this is why we are not treating. We’re not saying that issues, diagnosis issues, what are you doing to optimize and decrease your risk factors?
[00:38:35] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: There’s the issue of longevity, too, because I mean, the issue of longevity is if you’re providing your body with the right substrates, the right cofactors, the right nutrition. Your body has a chance to make it to 100 years plus and actually function. And if you have a depleted life, well, you’re burning the engine, so the body starts having issues, you know, so as we look at those kinds of things…
[00:39:00] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Can you return to our two markers? Look at that immune system.
[00:39:12] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, there’s a reason they stop here at 100 because that’s the whole idea. The entire idea is to get you to live 100 Centennial. So if we can do this, if you’re a person who’s, let’s say, 38 years old, and you’re in the midst of your life, and let’s say you’re a business person and you’re a junkie for business. You’re a junkie for entrepreneurship. You want to throttle you against the world. You do not want a kind of Nicholas the worm weakness, so to speak, taking you out of your football run in life. Because otherwise, you can trip up on things. And what we want to be able to provide people through nutritionists who registered dietitians to doctors through the information out there to supplement your lives better. And it’s not just about little Bobby; it’s about me, it’s about you. It’s about our patients. It’s about every single one of them who wants to live a better quality of life. Because if there’s a depletion in certain things, it’s not now. But in the future, you may have a susceptibility that will bring out diseases. And that’s where those susceptibilities are. We can take it to the next level because we can see what’s going on. In terms of this, I’m going to go ahead and bring this back up here so you can just see what we’re looking at. You can see the B-complex is now we have a lot of B-complexes, and we got people texting all over the place here, and I’m getting zapped with messages.
[00:40:42] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Your oxidative stress is going up, Alex.
[00:40:45] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Well, it’s crazy that we’ve been here an hour, so we want to be able to bring information out for you guys as time goes on. I want to go through this and talk about the individual antioxidants now; those are your football players, man, those are the ones taking those people out. Making your whole life a lot better, right, Mario. This is the kind of stuff that we look at. You know your glutathione on your knees. Your coenzyme Q selenium is your vitamin E’s carbohydrate metabolism.
[00:41:10] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Look at that, I mean, glucose and insulin interaction called energy. The last time I checked, it was called turbo.
[00:41:21] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We got to listen; we got a lot of good doctors. We got like Dr. Castro out there. We got all the great doctors out there that are running over.
[00:41:30] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I mean, we’re going to get in trouble.
[00:41:32] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: All right. Facebook is going to knock us out.
[00:41:41] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: It will put a time limit on this.
[00:41:43] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I think it’s our views. But the bottom line is to stay tuned. We’re coming. This can’t cover everything. Hey, Mario, when I went to school, we were terrorized by this machine called the psycho cycle.
[00:41:58] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*:How many ATP’s, Alex?
[00:42:00] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I mean, how many miles? Is it glycolysis or aerobic or anaerobic, right? So when we start looking at that, we start seeing how those coenzymes and those vitamins play a role in our energy metabolism, right? So in this individual, there were certain depletions. You can see where the yellow comes in. It affects the whole metabolic process, energy production. So the person is always tired. Well, we kind of understand the dynamics of what’s going on. So this is critical information as you and I kind of look at this, right? We can see what is it that we can offer? Can we provide information to change how the body works better dynamically? So this is crazy. So, in terms of it, we can go on and on, guys. So what we’re going to be doing is we’re probably going to be coming back because this is just fun. Do you think so? Yeah, I think we’re going to come back to what we’ve got to change the way that all El Paso is and not only for our community but also for those moms who want to know what is the best for their family members. What can we offer? The technology is not. We’re not going to allow ourselves in El Paso to be ever called the fattest sweaty town in the United States. We do have unbelievable talent out here that really can teach us about what’s going on. So I know that you’ve seen that, correct? Yeah.
[00:43:18] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Absolutely. And what I can say is this Alex? It’s about peak performance and peak ability. And also, getting the correct specific customized genomic nutrition pattern for each individual is the game-changer. That’s the game-changer from longevity to performance and just being happy and living the life that you were meant to live.
Conclusion
[00:43:51] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Mario, I can say that when we look at this stuff, we get excited about it, as you can tell, but it affects all our patients. People come in all depleted, tired, in pain, inflamed, and sometimes we need to find out what it is. And in our scope, we are mandated to be responsible and figure out where this relies upon and where this lies in our patients’ problems. Because what we’re doing, if we help their structure, the musculoskeletal, neurological system, their mind system through a proper diet and understanding through exercise, we can change people’s lives, and they want to be able to fulfill their lives and enjoy their lives the way it should be. So there’s a lot to be said. So we will come back sometime next week or this week. We’re going to continue this topic on personalized medicine, personalized wellness, and personalized fitness because working with many doctors through integrative health and integrative medicine allows us to be a part of a team. We have GI doctors, you know, cardiologists. There’s a reason we work as a team together because we all bring a different science level. No team is complete without a nephrologist, and that person will figure out precisely the implications of all the things we do. So that person is very important in the dynamics of integrative wellness. So for us to be able to be the best kind of providers, we have to expose and tell people about what’s out there because a lot of people don’t know. And what we need to do is bring it to them and let the cards lie and teach them that they had to tell their doctors, “Hey, Doc, I need you to talk to me about my health and sit down. Explain to me my labs.” And if they don’t, well, you know what? Say you need to do that. And if you don’t, well, time to find a new doctor. OK, it’s that simple because today’s information technology is such that our doctors cannot neglect nutrition. They cannot neglect wellness. They cannot overlook the integration of all the sciences put together to make people healthy. This is one of the most important things that we got to do. It’s a mandate. It’s our responsibility, and we’re going to do it, and we’re going to knock it out of the ballpark. So, Mario, it’s been a blessing today, and we’ll continue to do this in the next couple of days, and we’ll keep on hammering and giving people the insights as to what they can do in terms of their science. This is a Health Voice 360 channel, so we’re going to talk about many different things and bring a lot of other talents. Thanks, guys. And you got anything else, Mario?
[00:46:11] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I’m all in.
[00:46:12] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*:All right, brother, talk to you soon. Love you, man. Bye.
A typical diet consists of consuming three meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between. However, this is not always the case, depending on individual eating patterns and habits. Getting started eating healthy and losing body fat does not require severe dietary restrictions, starvation, and constantly exercising. Although achieving rapid weight loss might sound appealing, individuals often end up feeling depressed, tired, and unmotivated after some time. This is the most common cause of not maintaining a healthy balance and achieving optimal health. Individuals can still eat the foods they love by making long-term improvements that include:
Understanding the body’s caloric needs
Making smart nutritional choices
Adopting healthy eating habits
Incorporating enough exercise
Having all of the necessary information to make educated and informative choices for the body is the most effective and valuable way to getting started eating healthy.
Getting Started
Healthy eating starts with learning and adopting new ways to eat. This means adding fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and cutting back on processed foods with added fat, salt, and sugar. Converting to healthier eating also includes learning about balance, variety, and moderation.
Healthy eating is not the same as going on a diet. It means making adjustments/changes that an individual can live with and enjoy. Diets are temporary, as they are intended to cut out certain types of foods to make the body readjust and lose fat. However, during a diet, individuals can become hungrier and think about food all the time. A common side effect is to overeat after the diet to make up for the foods that are missed. Eating a healthy, balanced variety of foods is more satisfying to the body. Combined with more physical activity can help the individual get to a healthy weight—and maintain the healthy weight.
Make Healthy Eating A Habit
Think about the reasons for healthier eating.
Improving overall health.
Increase energy.
Feel better.
Set an example for kids and family.
Think about small changes that can be made.
Choose the ones that can be maintained.
Don’t try to change everything at once.
Set manageable and achievable goals, like having a salad and a piece of fruit each day.
Make long-term goals as well, like having one vegetarian dinner a week.
Get Support
Having a support team can help make the adjustments easier. Family and friends can help make meals, share healthy recipes and cooking tips. For more help, consult a doctor, registered dietitian, or health coach. Get started today.
Body Composition
After Lunch Energy Dip
Most individuals have experienced the moment when after having a nice filling lunch then afterward feeling the need to take a nap. Having a sleepy feeling about one hour after lunch, known as the post-lunch dip, decreases:
Alertness
Memory
Vigilance
Mood
A study in the British Journal of Nutrition followed 80 participants over 12 weeks to find whether eating almonds impacted this post-lunch dip. The results found that an almond-enriched high-fat lunch helped reduce memory decline by 58% compared to a high-carbohydrate lunch.
References
American Dietetic Association (2009). Position of the American Dietetic Association: Functional foods. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 109(4): 735–746. Also available online: www.eatright.org/About/Content.aspx?id=8354.
Dhillon, Jaapna, et al. “Effects of Almond Consumption on the Post-Lunch Dip and Long-Term Cognitive Function in Energy-Restricted Overweight and Obese Adults.” British Journal of Nutrition, vol. 117, no. 3, 2017, pp. 395–402., doi:10.1017/S0007114516004463.
Gallagher ML (2012). Intake: The nutrients and their metabolism. In LK Mahan et al., eds., Krause’s Food and the Nutrition Care Process, 13th ed., pp. 32–128. St. Louis: Saunders.
Katz DL (2008). Dietary recommendations for health promotion and disease prevention. In Nutrition in Clinical Practice, 2nd ed., pp. 434–447. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture (2015). 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans 8th ed. health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/. Accessed January 12, 2016.
In today’s podcast, Dr. Alex Jimenez, health coach Kenna Vaughn, chief editor Astrid Ornelas discuss about metabolic syndrome from a different point of view as well as, different nutraceuticals to combat inflammation.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Welcome, guys, welcome to the podcast for Dr. Jimenez and crew. We’re discussing today’s metabolic syndrome, and we’re going to be discussing it from a different point of view. We will give you excellent, useful tips that can make sense and are easily doable at home. Metabolic syndrome is a very vast concept. It contains five major issues. It has high blood glucose, it has belly fat measurements, it has triglycerides, it has HDL issues, and it pretty much has a whole conglomeration of dynamics that have to be measured in the whole reason we discuss metabolic syndrome because it affects our community very much. So, we’re going to be discussing these particular issues and how we can fix them. And give you the ability to adapt your lifestyle so that you don’t end up having. It’s one of the most important disorders affecting modern medicine today, let alone once we understand it. Everywhere you go, you’re going to see a lot of people having metabolic syndrome. And it’s part of a society, and that’s something you see in Europe as much. But in America, because we do have a lot of foods and our plates are usually bigger, we have the ability to adapt our bodies differently by just what we eat. No disorder will change so quickly and fast as a good mechanism and a good protocol to help you with metabolic disorders and metabolic syndrome. So having said that, today, we have a group of individuals. We have Astrid Ornelas and Kenna Vaughn, who will discuss and add information to help us through the process. Now, Kenna Vaughn is our health coach. She’s the one who works in our office; when I’m a practicing physician on physical medicine and when I’m working with people one on one, we have other people working with dietary issues and dietary needs. My team here is very, very good. We also have our top clinical researcher and the individual who curates much of our technology and is at the cutting edge of what we do and our sciences. It’s Mrs. Ornelas. Mrs. Ornelas or Astrid, as we call her, she’s ghetto with the knowledge. She gets nasty with science. And it’s really, really where we are. Today, we live in a world where research is coming and spitting out of the NCBI, which is the repository or PubMed, which people can see we use this information and we use what works and what does it. Not all information is accurate in PubMed because you have different points of view, but it’s almost like a finger on a pulse when we have our finger in. We can see the things that affect it. With certain keywords and certain alerts, we get notified of changes for, let’s say, dietary sugar issues or triglyceride issues with fat issues, anything about metabolic disorders. We can kind of come up with a treatment protocol that is live adapted from doctors and researchers and PhDs around the world almost instantaneously, literally even before they’re published. For example, today happens to be February 1st. It’s not, but we’ll be getting results and studies presented by the National Journal of Cardiology that will come out in March if that makes sense. So that information is early hot off the press, and Astrid helps us figure these things out and sees, “Hey, you know, we found something really hot and something to help our patients” and brings the N equals one, which is patient-doctor equals one. A patient and therapist equal one that we don’t do specific protocols for everyone in general. We do specific protocols for each person as we go through the process. So as we do this, the journey of understanding metabolic syndrome is very dynamic and very deep. We can start from just looking at someone to the bloodwork, all the way to dietary changes, to metabolic changes, all the way down to the cellular activity that it’s actively working. We measure issues with BIAs and BMI, which we have done with previous podcasts. But we can also get into the level, the genomics and the changing of the chromosomes and the telomeres in the chromosomes, which we can affect by our diet. OK. All roads lead to diets. And what I say in some weird way, all roads lead to smoothies, OK, smoothies. Because when we look at smoothies, we look at the components of smoothies and come up with dynamics that are abilities to change now. What I look for is when I look for treatments, I look at things that make people’s lives better, and how can we do this? And for all those mothers, they understand that they may not realize that they do this, but a mom doesn’t wake up saying, I’m going to give my kid food. No, she’s kind of doing a mental lavage of bringing the whole kitchen because she wants to infuse the best nutrition for their child and offer their best kind of options for their baby to go through the world or daycare or elementary school, through middle school, through high school so that the child can develop well. Nobody goes out thinking that I’m going to give my kid just junk and. And if that’s the case, well, that’s probably not good parenting. But we won’t talk about that well; we will talk about good nutrition and adapting those things. So I’d like to introduce Kenna right now. And she’s going to be discussing a little bit of what we do when we see someone with metabolic disorders and our approach to it. So as she goes through that, she’s going to be able to understand how we evaluate and assess a patient and bring it in so that we can start getting a little bit of control for that individual. Kenna, it’s all yours.
Kenna Vaughn: All right. So first, I just want to talk about the smoothies a little bit more. I am a mom, so in the morning time, things get crazy. You never have as much time as you think you do, but you need those nutrient nutrients and so do your kids. So I love smoothies. They’re super fast. You get everything you need. And most people think that when you’re eating, you’re eating to fill your stomach, but you’re eating to fill your cells. Your cells are what need those nutrients. That’s what carries you on with the energy, the metabolism, all of that. So those smoothies are a super great option, which we give our patients. We even have a book with 150 smoothie recipes that are great for anti-aging, helping diabetes, lowering cholesterol, controlling inflammation, and things like that. So it’s one resource we give to our patients. But we do have multiple other options for the patients who come in with metabolic disease.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Before you go in there, Kenna. Let me just kind of add that what I’ve learned is that we have to make it simple. We got to take homes or takeaways. And what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to give you the tools that can help you in that process. And we’re going to take you to the kitchen. We’re going to grab you by the ear, so to speak, and we’re going to show you the areas where we need to look at. So Kenna is about to give us the information in terms of smoothies that will assist us with dietary changes that we can provide our families and change its metabolic disaster that affects so many people called metabolic syndrome. Go ahead.
Kenna Vaughn: OK, so like he was saying with those smoothies. One thing that you should add to your smoothie is, which what I love to add in mine is spinach. Spinach is an excellent choice because it gives your body more nutrients. You are getting an extra serving of vegetables, but you can’t taste it, especially when it gets covered up by the natural sweetness that you find in fruits. So that’s a great option when it comes to the smoothies. But another thing that Dr. Jiménez was mentioning is other things in the kitchen. So there are other substitutes that we’re kind of wanting our patients to use and implement. You can start small, and it’ll make a huge difference just by switching out the oils you’re cooking with. And you’ll begin to see an improvement in your joints, your kids, and everyone will just improve immensely. So one thing we want to get our patients into using is those oils, such as avocado oil, coconut oil, and… Olive oil? Olive oil. Yes, thank you, Astrid.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: That was olive oil. That was Astrid in the background. We’re getting the facts out excellent and continue.
Kenna Vaughn: When you switch those out, your body breaks things down differently with those unsaturated fats. So that’s just another option that you have in that kitchen besides making those smoothies. But like I said before, I’m all about quick, easy, simple. It’s way easier to change your lifestyle when you have a whole team around you. And when it’s easy, you don’t. You don’t want to go out and make everything super difficult because the chances of you sticking to it aren’t very high. So one thing we want to do is make sure that everything that we’re giving our patients is easy to do and it’s attainable for everyday life.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I’m very visual. So when I go to the kitchen, I like making my kitchen look like the cocina or whatever they call it in Italy, the cucina and I have three bottles there, and I have an avocado oil one. I have the coconut oil one, and I have the olive oil right there. There are big bottles there. They make them pretty, and they look Tuscan. And, you know, I don’t care if it’s an egg, I don’t care. Sometimes, even when I’m having my coffee, I grab the coconut oil one, and I pour that one in and make myself a java with coconut oil in it. So, yeah, go ahead.
Kenna Vaughn: I was going to say that’s a great option too. So I drink green tea, and I also add coconut oil in that green tea to help boost everything and give my body another dose of those fatty acids that we want.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I got a question for you when you have your coffee like that; when you have the oil in it, does it kind of lubricate your lips.
Kenna Vaughn: It does a little bit. So it’s also like chapstick.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, it does. It’s like, Oh, I love it. OK, go ahead.
Kenna Vaughn: Yeah, I also have to stir a little bit more just to make sure everything gets it right. Yeah. And then another thing just talking about something our patients can do when it comes to at home, there are tons of different options with eating fish. Increasing your good fish intake throughout the week, that’s going to help also. And just because fish provides so many great things like omegas, I know Astrid also has some more information on omegas.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I got a question before Astrid gets in there. You know, look, when we talk about carbohydrates, people, is it what a carbohydrate is? Oh, people say an apple, banana, candy bars, and all kinds of stuff people can rattle off carbohydrates or proteins. Chicken, beef, whatever they can rile up. But one of the things I found that people have a difficult time with is what good fats are? I want five. Give me ten good fats for a million dollars. Give me ten good fats like lard, like meat. No, this is what we’re talking about. Because the simple fact that we use and we’re going to add more to it relative bad is going to be avocado oil. Olive oil. Is it coconut oil? We can use things like butter oils, different types of margins, and not margins, but kinds of butter that are from, you know, grass-fed cows. We basically can run out of creamers, you know, non-nondairy creams, very specific creamers, those we run out of it, right? Real fast. So it’s like, what else is fat, right? And then we search for it. So one of the best ways to do it is that we’re not going to always put creamer on top or our butter on top, which by the way, some coffees they have, they put butter in it and blend it, and they make a fantastic little java hit. And everyone comes with their little ginger and oils and their coffee and makes espresso from heaven, right? So what else can we do?
Kenna Vaughn: We can, like I said, adding those fish in, which is going to help to give our bodies more of those omegas. And then we can also do more purple vegetables, and those are going to provide your body with more antioxidants. So that’s a good option when it comes to the grocery store. A rule of thumb that I love and heard a long time ago is to not shop in the aisles is to try to shop on the edges because the edges are where you’re going to find all that fresh produce and all those lean meats. It’s when you start to get into those aisles, and that’s where you’re going to start finding, you know, the cereal, those bad carbohydrates, those simple carbohydrates that the American diet has come to love but does not necessarily need. The Oreos?
Kenna Vaughn: Yes.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: The candy aisle that every kid knows. OK, yes.
Kenna Vaughn: So that’s just another great point there. So when you come into our office, if you’re suffering from metabolic syndrome or just anything in general, we make your plans super personalized and give you so many tips. We listen to your lifestyle because what works for one person might not work for another. So we make sure that we provide you with information that we know you’ll be successful with and provide education because that’s another huge part of it.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: All roads lead to the kitchen, huh? Right? Yes, they do. OK, so let’s zoom on precisely for the fat and the nutraceuticals. I want to give you an idea as to what type of nutraceuticals are appropriate for us because we want to bust down these five issues affecting metabolic syndrome that we discussed. What are the five guys? Let’s go ahead and start them up. It’s high blood sugar, right?
Kenna Vaughn: High blood glucose, low HDLs, which will be that good cholesterol everyone needs. Yes. And it’s going to be the high blood pressure, which is not considered high from a doctor’s standard, but it is deemed to be elevated. So that’s another thing; we want to ensure that this is metabolic syndrome, not a metabolic disease. So if you go to the doctor and your blood pressure is 130 over eighty-five, that’s an indicator. But yet your provider might not necessarily say your blood pressure is super high.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: None of these disorders here by themselves are clinical states, and, individually, they’re pretty much just things. But if you combine all these five, you have metabolic syndrome and feel like not too good, right?
Astrid Ornelas: Yeah, yeah.
Kenna Vaughn: Another one is going to be the excess weight around the belly and the higher triglycerides.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Easy to see. You can see when someone has a belly that’s hanging over like a fountain, right? So we can see that you can go to it sometimes Italian restaurants and see the great cook. And he sometimes I got to tell you, sometimes it’s just, you know, we talked to Chef Boyardee wasn’t a thin guy. I think that Chef Boyardee, you know what? And the Pillsbury guy, right? Well, it wasn’t very healthy, right? Both of them suffer from metabolic syndrome just from the outset. So that’s an easy one to see. So these are the things we’re going to be reflecting on. Astrid will go over some nutraceuticals, vitamins, and some foods that we can improve things. So here’s Astrid, and here’s our science curator. But here’s Astrid, go ahead.
Astrid Ornelas: Yeah, I guess before we get into the nutraceuticals, I want to make something clear. Like we were talking about metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is not a, and I guess per se, a disease or a health issue itself. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that can increase the risk of developing other health issues like diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. Because metabolic syndrome is not, you know, an actual health issue itself, it’s more so this group, this collection of other conditions, of other problems that can develop into much worse health issues. Just because of that fact, metabolic syndrome has no apparent symptoms itself. But of course, like we were talking about, five risk factors are pretty much the ones we discussed: excess waist fat, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides, low HDL, and according to health care professionals. To doctors and researchers, you know you have metabolic syndrome if you have three out of these five risk factors.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes. Three. Now, that doesn’t mean that if you have it, you have symptoms. As I see it was evident on. But I got to tell you in my experience when someone has more than three or three. They’re starting to feel crummy. They don’t feel right. They just feel like, you know, life’s not good. They have just an overall. They don’t look it right. So and I don’t know them, maybe. But their family knows that they don’t look good. Like mom doesn’t look good. Dad does look good.
Astrid Ornelas: Yeah, yeah. And metabolic syndrome, as I said, it has no apparent symptoms. But you know, I was kind of going with one of the risk factors with waist fat, and this is where you will see people with what you call the apple or pear-shaped body, so they have excess fat around their abdomen. And although that’s not technically considered a symptom, it is a factor that can; I guess it can give an idea to doctors or other health care professionals that this person who is, you know, they have prediabetes or have diabetes. And, you know, they have excess weight and obesity. They could have an increased risk of metabolic syndrome and therefore developing, you know, if it’s left untreated, developing other health issues like heart disease and stroke. I guess with that being said; then we’ll get into the nutraceutical.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I love this, I love this. We’re getting some good stuff, and we’re getting some information.
Astrid Ornelas: And I guess with that being said, we’ll get into the nutraceuticals. Kind of like, how Kenna was talking about what’s the takeaway? You know, we’re here talking about these health issues, and we’re here talking about metabolic syndrome today. But what’s the takeaway? What can we tell people? What can they take home about our talk? What can they do at home? So here we have several nutraceuticals, which I’ve written several articles in our blog and looked at.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You think, Astrid? If you look at 100 articles written in El Paso, at least in our area, they were all curated by somebody. Yes. All right.
Astrid Ornelas: Yes. So we have several nutraceuticals here that have been researched. Researchers have read all these research studies and found that they can help in some way and some form improve, you know, metabolic syndrome and these associated diseases. So the first one I want to discuss is the B vitamins. So what are the B vitamins? These are the ones that you can usually find them together. You can find them in the store. You’ll see them as B-complex vitamins. You’ll see like a little jar, and then it comes with several of the B vitamins. Now, why do I bring up B vitamins for metabolic syndrome? So one of the reasons like researchers has found that one of them, I guess, one of the causes of metabolic syndrome could be stress. So with that being said, we need to have B vitamins because when we get stressed when we have a hard day at work when we have, I guess a lot of you know, a lot of stressful things at home or with family, our nervous system will use these B vitamins to support our nerve function. So when we have a lot of stress, we will use up these vitamins, which increases stress; you know, our body will produce cortisol. You know, which serves a function. But we all know that too much cortisol, too much stress can actually. It can be harmful to us. It can increase our risk of heart disease.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, as I remember when we did this, all roads lead to the kitchen in terms of getting the food back in your body. All roads lead to the mitochondria when it comes to the area of the breakdown. The world of ATP energy production is surrounded and wrapped around with nicotinamide, NADH, HDP, ATPS, ADP. All these things have a connection with vitamin B of all sorts. So the vitamin B’s are at the engine in the turbine of the things that help us. So it makes sense that this was the top of the vitamin and the most important one. And then she’s got some other endpoints here on niacin. What is with niacin? What have you noticed there?
Astrid Ornelas: Well, niacin is another B vitamin, you know, there are several B vitamins. That’s why I have it there under its plural and niacin or vitamin B3, as it’s more well known. A lot of several are so clever. Many research studies have found that taking vitamin B3 can help lower LDL or bad cholesterol, help lower triglycerides, and increase HDL. And several research studies have found that niacin, specifically vitamin B3, can help increase HDL by 30 percent.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Incredible. When you look at NADP and NADH, These are the N is the niacin, the nicotinamide. So in the biochemical compound, niacin is the one that people have known that when you take it the good one or the one that’s supposed to be, you get this flushing feeling and it makes you scratch all your part of your body, and it feels good when you scratch because it makes you feel that way. Right, so lovely. And this huge.
Astrid Ornelas: Yes. Yes, and also, I just want to highlight a point about B vitamins. B vitamins are essential because they can help support our metabolism when we eat, you know, carbohydrates and fats, good fats, of course, and proteins. When the body goes through the metabolism process, it converts these carbohydrates, fats, and protein. The proteins turn into energy, and B vitamins are the main components in charge of doing that.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Latinos, in our general population, know that we have always heard of the nurse or the person who gives vitamin B injection. So you heard of those things. Right. Because you’re depressed, you’re sad, what would they do? Well, you know what would inject them with B12, right? Which are the B vitamins, right? And the person would come out like, Yeah, and they’d be excited, right? So we’ve known this, and this is the elixir of the past. Those traveling salesmen, who had the potions and lotions, made a living off of giving B vitamin complex. The first energy drinks were first designed with a B complex, you know, packing of them. Now here’s the deal. Now that we’ve learned that energy drinks cause so many issues, that we’re heading back to the B complexes to help people better. So the following vitamin we have there is that one that we have the D, we have the vitamin D.
Astrid Ornelas: Yeah, the next one I wanted to talk about is vitamin D. So there are several research studies on vitamin D and the benefits, the benefits of vitamin D for metabolic syndrome, and just how I discussed how B vitamins are beneficial for our metabolism. Vitamin D is also helpful for our metabolism, and it can help regulate our blood sugar, essentially our glucose. And that in itself is very important because, like one of the predisposing factors of metabolic syndrome, high blood sugar. And you know, if you have uncontrolled high blood sugar, it can lead to, you know, it can lead to prediabetes. And if that is left untreated, it can lead to diabetes. So research studies have also found that vitamin D itself can also improve insulin resistance, which is pretty much one that can lead to diabetes.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, I just wanted to put out the vitamin D is not even a vitamin; it’s a hormone. It was discovered after C by Linus Pauling. When they found it, they just kept on naming the following letter. OK, so since it is a hormone, you just have to look at it. This particular vitamin D or this hormone tocopherol. It basically can change so many metabolism issues in your body. I’m talking about literally four to five hundred different processes that we’re finding. Last year was 400. We’re now almost 500 other biochemical processes that are affected directly. Well, it makes kind of sense. Look, our most significant organ in the body is our skin, and most of the time, we ran around in some sort of skimpy clothes, and we were in the sun a lot. Well, we didn’t stand to reason that that particular organ can produce a tremendous amount of healing energies, and vitamin D does that. It is produced by the sunlight and activated. But today’s world, whether we’re Armenian, Iranian, different cultures in the north, like Chicago, people don’t get as much light. So depending on cultural changes and closed people living and working in these fluorescent lights, we lose the essence of vitamin D and get very sick. The person who takes vitamin D is much healthier, and our goal is to raise the vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and one that embeds itself by it and is saved in the liver along with the fat in the body. So you can raise it slowly as you take it, and it’s tough to get toxic levels, but those are at about one hundred twenty-five nanograms per deciliter that are too high. But most of us run around with 10 to 20, which is low. So, in essence, by raising that, you’re going to see that the blood sugar changes are going to happen that Astrid is speaking about. What are some of the things that we notice about, particularly vitamin D? Anything?
Astrid Ornelas: I mean, I’ll get back to vitamin D in a bit; I want to discuss some of the other nutraceuticals first. OK. But pretty much vitamin D is beneficial because it helps improve your metabolism, and it helps improve your insulin resistance, at least towards metabolic syndrome.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: How about calcium?
Astrid Ornelas: So calcium goes hand-in-hand with vitamin D, and the thing that I wanted to talk about with vitamin D and calcium together. We often think about these five factors that we mentioned before that could cause a metabolic syndrome. Still, there’s, you know, if you want to think about it, like what are the underlying causes for a lot of these risk factors? And like, you know, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, people who don’t engage in an exercise or physical activity. One of the things that can predispose a person or increase their risk of metabolic syndrome. Let me put the scenario. What if a person has a chronic pain disease? What if they have something like fibromyalgia? They’re constantly in pain. They don’t want to move, so they don’t want to exercise. They don’t want to aggravate these symptoms. Sometimes, some people have chronic pain or things like fibromyalgia. Let’s go a little bit more basic. Some people just have chronic back pain, and you don’t want to work out. So just you’re not choosing like some of these people aren’t choosing to be inactive because they want to. Some of these people are legitimately in pain, and there are several research studies, and this is what I was going to tie in vitamin D and calcium with that vitamin D and calcium. You know, we can you can take them together. They can help improve chronic pain in some people.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Incredible. And we all know that calcium is one of the causes of muscle spasms and relaxers. Tons of reasons. We’re going to go into each one of these. We’re going to have a podcast on just vitamin D and the issues in calcium because we can go deep. We’re going to go deep, and we’re going to go all the way to the genome. The genome is genomics, which is the science of understanding how nutrition and the genes dance together. So we’re going to go there, but we’re kind of like we’re penetrating slowly in this process because we have to take the story slowly. What’s up next?
Astrid Ornelas: So next, we have omega 3s, and I want to specifically highlight that we’re talking about omega 3s with EPA, not DHA. So these are EPA, which is the one that’s listed up there, and DHA. They are two essential types of omega 3s. Essentially, they’re both very important, but several research studies and I’ve done articles on this as well have found that I guess taking omega 3s specifically with EPA, it’s just more superior in its benefits than DHA. And when we talk about the omega 3s, these can be found in fish. Most of the time, you want to take omega 3s; you see them in the form of fish oils. And this is going back to what Kenna discussed before, like following a Mediterranean diet, which mainly focuses on eating a lot of fish. This is where you get your intake of omega 3s, and research studies have found that omega 3s themselves can help promote heart health, and they can help lower bad cholesterol to your LDL. And these can also improve our metabolism, just like vitamin D.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Want to go ahead and blanket all these things under the fact that we’re also looking, and when we’re dealing with metabolic syndrome, we’re dealing with inflammation. Inflammation and omegas have been known. So what we need to do is to bring out the fact that omegas have been in the American diet, even in a grandma’s diet. And then, like again, we hear back in the day when grandma or great-grandma would give you cod liver oil. Well, the highest omega-carrying fish is the herring, which is at about 800 milligrams per serving. The cod is next when it’s around 600. But because of the availability, the card’s much more available in certain cultures. So everybody would have cod liver oil, and they’d make you close your nose and drink it, and they knew that it correlated. They would think it’s a good lubricant. Still, it was an anti-inflammatory specifically with people, and usually, grandmothers who knew about this right helps with the intestines, helps the inflammation, helps with the joints. They knew the whole story behind that. So we’ll go deep into the Omegas in our later podcast. We have another one that’s here. It’s called berberine, right? What’s the story on berberine?
Astrid Ornelas: Well, pretty much the next set of nutraceuticals that are listed here, berberine, glucosamine, chondroitin, acetyl L-carnitine, alpha-lipoic acid, ashwagandha, pretty much all of these have been tied into what I talked before about chronic pain and all of these health issues. I listed them up here because I’ve done several articles. I’ve read various research studies that have covered these in different trials and across multiple research studies with numerous participants. And these have pretty much found, you know, this group of nutraceuticals here that are listed; these have also been tied in to help reduce chronic pain. You know, and as I discussed before, like chronic pain, you know, people who have fibromyalgia or even like, you know, let’s go a little bit simpler people who have back pain, you know, these inactive people who have sedentary lifestyles simply because of their pain and they can be at risk of metabolic syndrome. A lot of these research studies have found these nutraceuticals themselves can also help reduce chronic pain.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I think the new one is called alpha-lipoic acid. I see acetyl L-carnitine. We’re going to have our resident biochemist on the following podcast to go deep into these. Ashwagandha is a fascinating name. Ashwagandha. Say it. Repeat it. Kenna, can you tell me a bit about ashwagandha and what we’ve been able to discover about ashwagandha? Because it is a unique name and a component that we look at, we will talk about it more. We’re going to get back to Astrid in a second, but I’m going to give her a little break and kind of like, let Kenna tell me a bit of ashwagandha.
Kenna Vaughn: I was going to add in something about that berberine.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Oh, well, let’s go back to berberine. These are berberine and ashwagandha.
Kenna Vaughn: OK, so that berberine has also been shown to help decrease the HB A1C in patients with blood sugar dysregulation, which will come back to the whole prediabetes and type two diabetes situations that can occur in the body. So that one is also has been shown to decrease that number to stabilize the blood sugar.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: There’s a whole thing we’re going to have on berberine. But one of the things that we did in terms of metabolic syndrome definitely made the top list here for the process. So there’s ashwagandha and berberine. So tell us all about ashwagandha. Also, ashwagandha is the one. So in terms of blood sugar, the A1C is the blood sugar calculation that tells you exactly what the blood sugar does over about three months. The glycosylation of the hemoglobin can be measured by the molecular changes that happen within the hemoglobin. That’s why the Hemoglobin A1C is our marker to determine. So when ashwagandha and berberine come together and use those things, we can alter the A1C, which is the three-month kind of like the historical background of what is going on. We’ve seen changes on that. And that’s one of the things that we do now in terms of the dosages and what we do. We’re going to go over that, but not today because that’s a little bit more complex. Soluble fibers have also been a component of things. So now, when we deal with soluble fibers, why are we talking about soluble fibers? First of all, it is food for our bugs, so we have to remember that the probiotic world is something we cannot forget. People need to understand that, though, that probiotics, whether it’s the Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium strains, whether it’s a small intestine, large intestine, early on the small intestine, there are different bacteria to the very end to see come to the back end. So let’s call that the place that things come out. There are bacteria everywhere at different levels, and each one has a purpose of discovering that. There’s vitamin E and green tea. So tell me, Astrid, about these dynamics in terms of green tea. What do we notice as it pertains to metabolic syndrome?
Astrid Ornelas: OK. So green tea has a lot of benefits, you know? But, you know, some people don’t like tea, and some are more into coffee, you know? But if you want to get into drinking tea, you know, definitely because of its health benefits. Green tea is an excellent place to start and in terms of metabolic syndrome. Green tea has been demonstrated to help improve heart health, and it can help lower these risk factors that pertain to metabolic syndrome. It can help, you know, several research studies that have found that green tea can help lower cholesterol, bad cholesterol, LDLs.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Does green tea help us with our belly fat?
Astrid Ornelas: Yeah. There’s one of the benefits of green tea that I’ve read about. Pretty much one of the ones that probably that it’s most well known for is that green tea can help with weight loss.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Oh my gosh. So basically water and green tea. That’s it, guys. That’s all. We limit our lives that are also, I mean, we forgot even the most powerful thing. It takes care of those ROSs, which are reactive oxygen species, our antioxidants, or oxidants in our blood. So it just basically squelch them and takes them out and cools their cool and prevents even the normal deterioration that happens or the excessive deterioration that occurs in the breakdown of normal metabolism, which is a byproduct which is ROS, reactive oxygen species are wild, crazy oxidants, which we have a neat name for the things that squashes them and calms them and puts them in the order they call antioxidants. So the vitamins that are antioxidants are A, E, and C are antioxidants, too. So those are potent tools that we deal with as we lower body weight. We free up a lot of toxins. And as the green tea goes into squirt, squelch them, cools them, and gets them out of gear. Guess where the other organ that helps with the whole insulin production is, which is the kidneys. The kidneys are flushed out with green tea and then also helps. I notice that one thing that you haven’t done, Astrid, is done articles on turmeric, right?
Astrid Ornelas: Oh, I’ve done a lot of articles on turmeric. I know because, from the list that’s up there, turmeric and curcumin are probably like one of my favorite nutraceuticals to talk about.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, she’s like gnawing on a root and a couple of times.
Astrid Ornelas: Yeah, I have some in my fridge right now.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, you touch that turmeric, and you can lose a finger. What happened to my finger? Did you get near my turmeric? The root, right? So. So tell us a bit about the properties of turmeric and curcumin in terms of metabolic syndrome.
Astrid Ornelas: OK. I’ve done several, you know, a lot of articles on turmeric and curcumin. And we’ve also discussed that before, and several of our past podcasts and turmeric is that it’s that yellow yellowish could look orange to some people, but it’s usually referred to as a yellow root. And it’s very popular in Indian cuisine. It’s what it’s one of the main ingredients that you’ll find in curry. And curcumin, pretty sure some of you people have heard of curcumin or turmeric, you know? What’s the difference? Well, turmeric is the flowering plant, and it’s the root. We eat the root of turmeric, and curcumin is just the active ingredient in turmeric that gives it a yellow color.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Guys, I will not let anything but the top type of curcumin and turmeric products be available to their patients because there’s a difference. Certain ones are produced with literally, I mean, we got solvents, and with the way we get things out and of curcumin and turmeric or even stuff like cocaine, you have to use a distillate. OK? And whether it’s water, acetone, benzene, OK, or some sort of a byproduct, we know today that benzene is used to process many types of supplements, and certain companies use benzene to get the best out of turmeric. The problem is benzene is cancer-producing. So we’ve got to be very careful which companies we use. Acetone, imagine that. So there are processes that are in place to extract the turmeric properly and that are beneficial. So finding suitable turmeric, all turmerics are not the same. And that’s one of the things that we have to assess since it has so many products in the world is running real crazy to try to process turmeric and precisely, even if it’s the last thing that we’re discussing today on our subject matter. But it’s one of the most important things today. We don’t even understand aspirin. We know it works, but the total magnitude of it is yet to be told. However, turmeric is in the same boat. We’re learning so much about it that every day, every month, studies are being produced on the value of turmeric into the natural diet, so Astris is in tune in on the target on that. So I’m sure she’s going to bring more of that to us, right?
Astrid Ornelas: Yes, of course.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: So I think what we can do today is when we look at this, I’d like to ask Kenna, when we look at a metabolic syndrome from the presentations of symptoms or even from laboratory studies. The confidence of knowing that N equals one is one of the essential components that we have now in functional medicine and functional wellness practices that a lot of physical medicine doctors are doing in their scope of practice. Because in metabolic issues, you can’t take metabolic away from the body. Does the metabolism happen in a back problem? We notice a correlation with back injuries, back pain, back issues, chronic knee disorders, chronic joint musculoskeletal disorders, and metabolic syndrome. So we can’t tease it. So tell us a bit, Kenna, as we close out today a bit of what a patient can expect when they come to our office, and they get kind of put in the “Oops, you got metabolic syndrome.” So boom, how do we handle it?
Kenna Vaughn: We want to know their background because, as you said, everything is connected; everything is in-depth. There are details we want to get to know all so we can make that personalized plan. So one of the first things we do is a very lengthy questionnaire by Living Matrix, and it’s a great tool. It does take a little while, but it gives us so much insight into the patient, which is great because it allows us to, like I said, dig deep and figure out, you know, traumas that might have happened that are leading to inflammation, which how Astrid was saying then leads that sedentary lifestyle, which then leads to this metabolic syndrome or just kind of down that road. So one of the first things we do is do that lengthy questionnaire, and then we sit down and talk to you one on one. We build a team and make you part of our family because this stuff isn’t easy to go through alone, so the most success is when you have that close-knit family, and you have that support, and we try to be that for you.
Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We have taken this information and realized it was very complex five years ago. It was challenging. 300 300-page questionnaire. Today we have software that we can figure out. It is backed by the IFM, the Institute of Functional Medicine. The Institute of Functional Medicine had its origin over the last decade and became very popular, understanding the whole person as an individual. You can’t separate an eyeball from kind of the body as you can’t separate the metabolism from all effects that it has. Once that that body and that food, that nutraceutical that nutrient enters our body. On the other side of our mouth is these little weighting things called chromosomes. They’re spinning, and they’re churning, and they’re creating enzymes and proteins based on what we feed them. To find out what’s going on, we have to do an elaborate questionnaire about mental body spirituality. It brings in the mechanics of normal digestion, how the entanglement works, and how the overall living experience happens in the individual. So when we take into consideration Astrid and Kenna together, we kind of figure out the best approach, and we have a tailor-made process for each person. We call it the IFM one, two, and three, which are complex questions that allow us to give you a detailed assessment and an accurate breakdown of where the cause can be and the nutraceuticals the nutrient nutrients that we focus on. We push you right direction to the place where it matters into the kitchen. We end up teaching you and your family members how to feed so that you can be good to those genetic genomes, which you’re, as I always say, ontogeny, recapitulates phylogeny. We are who we are from the past to the people, and those people have a thread between us and my past, and everyone here’s past. And that is our genetics, and our genetics responds to the environment. So whether it goes in the south fast or exposed or predisposed, we’re going to discuss those, and we’re going to enter the world of genomics soon in this process as we go deeper into the metabolic syndrome process. So I thank you all for listening in on us and know that we can be contacted here, and they’re going to leave you the number. But we have Astrid here that’s doing research. We have a team established by many individuals who can give you the best information that applies to you; N equals one. We got Kenna here that there’s always available and we’re here taking care of people in our beautiful little town of El Paso. So thank you again, and look forward to the following podcast, which will probably be within the next couple of hours. Just kidding. All right, bye, guys.
In today’s podcast, Dr. Alex Jimenez and PUSH Fitness owner, Daniel Alvarado discuss how PUSH was created and demonstrate how the right motivation can help people achieve their goals as well as, improving their overall health and wellness.
Discussion
Dr. Alex Jimenez and PUSH Fitness owner, Daniel Alvarado introduce today’s podcast.
[00:00:01] Daniel Alvarado: You know what keeps them moving and growing and living? Tell me. It is another catfish or that predator. So we never have predators in our lives. We stay stuck, and we don’t progress anything. So every time we ask God to take away the stress or God take away this issue. We’re asking God to make us weaker, not stronger. OK. Because instead of asking like, “Hey God? Make me more creative. Make me more passionate, make me more patient.” We ask for, hey, take away this, but then we still want everything else that comes along with it. How does that work? It’s not easy.
[00:00:41] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I don’t know. I mean, if you think about it’s from the first time we’re born. It’s not easy. You got to be one in a trillion sperm, really, and only God is very clear that if you don’t get to that egg first, you’re done. So from the moment where we’re given a chance, we’re on the point of destruction from the beginning. Exactly. So, in essence, why did that sperm get to that egg? So you can pass and fight through it.
[00:01:19] Daniel Alvarado: All right, so then you think of everything else as far as how people complain, how people say, you know, I want more money, I want this, but they don’t look at everybody’s backstory, the backend and the behind the curtains. They think, “Oh man, Jimenez, you are a doctor?” You don’t know how many times you’ve lost and rebuilt your practice or if you’re a gym owner and you haven’t made it. You don’t know how often you have to go in at 4:00 in the morning to get a workout in because you have to train people all day long to ensure that this business stays afloat. You know, people don’t see the back. You see, they’re quick to say, Oh, must be easy. No, it’s not easy until you step into the person’s shoes because you’re the one that has to sign the checks. You’re the one that has to stay up at night and figure out payroll. You’re the one that has to be creative and figure out how you’re going to make ends meet. You are the one that constantly has to be on it. You know, as much as you want to kick back and say whatever and do this, and I would love to work out four or five hours a day. That’s my passion and your passion.
[00:02:23] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It’s my passion too.
[00:02:24] Daniel Alvarado: And can we? No, right. What do we have to do? Do we have to be meticulous? We have to be disciplined and ensure we have a proper order to stay on top of the schedule. Yes or no? Absolutely. Exactly. You know, so I’m saying at the end of the day that if you don’t have something chasing you, I mean, you become fat and dormant and become lazy.
[00:02:45] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I think nature is designed to eliminate you. Alex would say, you know, it’s survival, the fittest limiting the species or whatever he’d call it when he’s in biochemistry. You see, I got to tell you it’s not easy to be a business owner. It’s not. It’s not easy when you have no sleep. Ever since I’ve known you, you’ve put the time in from early hours, and you here at 4:30 in the morning and here what time it is? Now you’re here, and we’re here sharing some stories. You know, it’s one of those things where it’s going to be nonstop all our lives. But here’s the thing if you don’t do it, it doesn’t stimulate you to become good at what you do, right? You become lethargic. Everything goes bad. You slowly begin the process of ceasing to exist.
[00:03:36] Daniel Alvarado: Right. So we all need rest to rejuvenate. Get creative. It’s scientifically proven. You need that to reset. You have to. Otherwise, you burn out. Right? But after how many days of rest, one or two where you get this disconnect spastic. Then afterward, you are like, “Alright, cool. I rested enough.” So you don’t stay stuck there.
[00:04:04] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: No, and I pray for vacation, right? And when I get it, after about three days, I’m like, OK, all right. I’m done.
[00:04:10] Daniel Alvarado: Let’s go.
[00:04:11] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, OK, what I’m going to break. What am I going to do? That’s how we are.
[00:04:15] Daniel Alvarado: Exactly. But that’s what makes you so successful.
[00:04:17] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah. Well, it drives us, and it drives us to create who we are. And it also gives us a vision as to what we’re going to do. When we start this podcast, you know, Daniel, we want to get or tell the people a bit of the story of what you do and tell them about, you know, where you’ve been and what’s been happening with you. OK. So for me, it’s very important to share with the people what is happening. I’ve always been one to say, you know, I see how hard you work, and I see how much effort you put into things. But I’d like to know a bit of you as to what made you and what kind of makes you click a little bit. When I discuss these things, I want to ask you what made you begin PUSH? What made you start this massive organization?
How PUSH Fitness Started
PUSH Fitness owner, Daniel Alvarado explains how PUSH started.
[00:05:16] Daniel Alvarado: I want to reach the masses of people and help people. So in all reality, my sister, my brother-in-law, my brother, we’ve all come from platforms as far as I’m speaking, preaching, singing, whatever it is. I was always kind of the black sheep. And I mean it in a good way because I wasn’t trained differently. I just was very rebellious. That makes any sense. I wanted to create my own. So if someone is going right, I go left. If the people go right, I go left. I was always trying to find a different way, and I was stubborn enough to become the most successful by the end. But that’s what allowed me to create this place to reach the masses of people and have my platform of change in people’s lives.
[00:06:14] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Let me ask you when you first started PUSH; what was your reason you started it out? You were always into fitness ever since I’ve known you; you’ve always been into a deep understanding. You see, I love sharing that story with people about when I first met you; you were driven. I mean, you were hunting for knowledge. You were trying to figure out what it was that made people tick, and you wanted to teach people… A little cocky, I’d say. But being 18 years old, I mean, who isn’t right at that age? You haven’t been thumped in the head a couple of times. But you did, and you shared it with people, and you did that. But what made you? What drove you? Because I got to tell you, I’m a big believer, Daniel, about when you evaluate families, I see how hard your dad works. I see how your mom’s incredible in terms of what she does. She wins these CrossFit competitions just on meer drive. You have to turn off the lights to get her off the wall because she keeps on going, right? I mean, what is it that what do you feel drove you and what started the whole philosophy of trying to help people out?
[00:07:24] Daniel Alvarado: I mean, you put in my parent’s work ethic; they just never stop. They still don’t stop and try to move forward despite what life throws at them, and they’re successful in their way. They never stop working towards their marriage, towards their love, towards serving each other. They showed me that we always have to help people, and they serve each other. They serve at the church, and they serve wherever they go. No matter where my dad is, he’s always trying to help. It doesn’t matter. You try to take out your trash can and table; whatever it is, he will help. But that’s where I learned it from him. You don’t just go anywhere and just be wherever you go. You always serve. And that’s my interfaith mentality. You know, it’s biblical. Wherever you are, we are supposed to serve people as husbands and wives. We’re supposed to serve each other. That’s what makes us so successful. You know, you look at Jesus in the Bible, and what do you do? You serve people. He helped people. Not the norm. The most unorthodox, nonreligious people. You know, all the people there that needed the most help, not the most religious. And I think that’s what I love to do. I love helping the people that need the most help. The unconventional. Not the people that are all ready to let go. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I do love helping them. But I guess I like helping the unorthodox.
[00:09:08] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah. You know what, when you mentioned that about your dad, one of the things I noticed is that I came here to work out at around six o’clock in the morning and it was freezing outside, literally freezing. You had a flat tire. Your dad was lifting in the car by himself to get that tire up. Yeah, it was crazy. By the time I got there, I was like, Is this guy working on it? There was no jack, and he was picking up the car himself. He’s pushing that thing up and lifting the vehicle to fit the tire on. I was like; You got to be kidding me. You didn’t even know until I told you, and you said, “Man, my dad never asked for help.”, you know, he does it. That’s one of the things you said, and that’s who we are. We are our parents. We eventually become our parents to some extent, and that’s very much how you are. Your philosophies have guided the PUSH fitness entourage, and the people who come here have been like extreme athletes. Tell me a bit of that in terms of what drove you to pick athleticism as your way of serving.
[00:10:11] Daniel Alvarado: I think I’ve seen the potential of what people can be pushed to if you believe in them. Often, people will, you know, people do believe in themselves, but it’s amazing what you see people become or individuals or athletes. When you say, Hey, I believe you. Someone that is not your mom, not your dad, because it’s kind of expected. You know, not that they have to tell you that, but you know, it’s kind of sometimes expected. You’re right. Yes, exactly. But then you have this stranger saying, I believe you genuinely wholeheartedly, and it brings out that much more in you. I know that’s how I was, and I still remember various times where you tapped me on the shoulder and said, you know. What are you doing? You can, and I’m very different; I don’t need someone to preach to me. It might get going, and that gets you going to move on to the next level of the mountain. And that’s what I love seeing as a potential that you could bring down in all individuals.
[00:11:32] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: When you see it, pretty much you’ve been able to see everyone crack. What is it you look for when you see them kind of hit that wall when you start working with an individual with a specific set, whatever sport they’re in, or whatever their dreams are? Weight loss or whatever it is. What is it you look for?
[00:11:50] Daniel Alvarado: To see the reason why they’re quitting. Are they genuinely tired, or have they been babied so much by society that they don’t know how to push for themselves anymore? It’s a sensitive society nowadays; you can’t push kids because they get their feelings hurt or feel this way or that way. And sometimes it’s like you got to wake your butt up; if not, you will not make it in this life. Nothing comes easy, and I think we’re expecting things to become easy because we’re, you know, microwave generation, where everything wants to be done so quickly. So I look for the reason as to why they’re quitting. This is genuinely why they are tired, and are they going to throw up? All right. But you remember firsthand that when I worked out with you, I went to the restroom and threw up. I came right back. Why? Because it’s what you build with that person that respect, you know, why would you want someone who is an equivalent you when he gets hard, you know?
[00:12:59] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, exactly right.
[00:13:00] Daniel Alvarado: How are you going to count on them? How do you depend on them? When it gets tough, they are going to jump off the wagon; that’s it. You are left alone.
The Right Motivation
PUSH Fitness owner, Daniel Alvarado explains to Dr. Alex Jimenez how the right motivation can influence not only kids but adults as well.
[00:13:09] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know you’re given responsibility. A huge one with a lot of the El Paso kids in whatever sports they do and whatever the sport, whether it be agility, sport-based or just some sort of sport-based system where they’re just kind of, you know, let’s say, hockey or even things like tennis or golf. But they all have a moment of reaching within. I love how you do that in terms of going ahead and seeing the depths of what is wrong with them, and you can connect with them like no other. I’ve noticed that every single time with my kids, too, when you train them. Did you ask why? So really, at that point, you know, no one cares what you know, they care that you care and that caring allows them to open up, huh?
[00:13:55] Daniel Alvarado: Right? Yeah, it does. You know, it makes them feel like, you know, I do have it in me. I need a quit babying in myself. And I need to get up and get after this because no one will give it to me, and I got to get up after it and work for it. Period.
[00:14:11] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I would tell my daughter when they would come in and say, “You know what? I’m not coming in, you know, I’m not going today.” And I said, All right, well, let me call Daniel. “No!” Now they sense the obligation and trust you have put into their hearts like no other? Because that’s what they want. They want someone to believe in them.
[00:14:35] Daniel Alvarado: Exactly, to push them.
[00:14:37] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: That’s why the push to PUSH, you know, there’s another way there’s the adage the push. You know, these are vital points. Do you have to deal with the mind-stuff while working with them? How do you work on developing a child’s mind or working them through their mental impediments or their mental kind of dynamics to make them better of who they are? If that makes sense.
[00:15:04] Daniel Alvarado: You had to build a foundation with them. First, you had to build trust with them. You can just go in and yell at them, Hey, let’s go. Move your butt! You know, you can’t do that. You have to build a relationship first, have them trust you, and understand why you’re pushing them. And then when they’re at the brink of giving up, and you yell at them, and they know why you’re screaming at them. A good parent after they spank them and ground them. They’ll tell them the reason why they did that. But they don’t stop loving them. They appreciate it because they know they’re wrong. Right? It’s the same concept here. Obviously, I yell at them after they know, like, hey yeah, I was sulking, and you start feeling sorry for myself and get after it, right?
[00:15:53] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, from my own experience with what you did. You see, you have a lot of moms watching you train their kids. Moms are sharp. There’s nothing more intelligent than a mother in this world. And they intuitively, they understand, and they feel the depths of the change in the child. Right? So when they see the depths of the difference in the child, they trust you. And this is in mass because I have like a whole wall of families, moms, dads. They bring their kids no matter what. Tired, cold, sleet, rain, snow. They bring their kids here to train with you and your entire crew with the philosophies of pushing to those limits. You know, how does that feel when you see those kids excel?
[00:16:45] Daniel Alvarado: I feel proud. I’m pretty much over the moon because you see the hard work you took to instill that time into them and make sure their full potential came out. So it’s rewarding, and it’s inexplicable.
[00:17:03] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Let me ask you this. You’re not young, and you’re in your 30s, which is a very young age. However, you’ve lived long enough to see some of these kids go on in to do their thing. Tell me how that feels in terms of you watching them develop in terms of their they’re who they are, and what they develop because of the foundation, or at least influenced by the foundation of just don’t give up and keep on pushing through it. How does it feel? What do you think?
[00:17:36] Daniel Alvarado: In a lot of sense, a lot of pride, because you can see what they could have been in there, what they couldn’t have been in times. Some kids do come from poor extremities. And so to see them excel believing themselves, go to college, get a successful job, and be something of a higher profession that otherwise they thought they couldn’t build or settle for less and not letting them settle for less is amazing. That’s why I keep doing what I’m doing.
[00:18:17] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Do these kids keep calling you and talking to you personally?
[00:18:21] Daniel Alvarado: Yeah, they do. They still keep up with me as far as what they’re doing, how they’re doing. They’ll come in and work out. So, you know, to share with me everything. It’s fun. You build that long-lasting relationship.
[00:18:35] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: If you could come up with a couple of words indicating what makes PUSH unique and you can look deep inside your heart and figure out what it would be a word to get an obituary being read about you. What would they say about PUSH and you, huh? Would you want them to say?
[00:18:55] Daniel Alvarado: Honestly, that they had somebody other than their parents believe in them.
[00:19:03] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: That’s amazing. That’s a considerable component of everything that’s going on. When do you think someone actually should be coming out to this place and enjoying the kind of lifestyle that this place, you know, helps enhance their lives with? When is that time?
[00:19:21] Daniel Alvarado: Whenever. Whenever you want to be a better version of yourself.
[00:19:25] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: What do you think people sometimes think about, you know, why shouldn’t they come in? What should not be an impediment of them coming in here?
[00:19:35] Daniel Alvarado: Their image. They can’t do it, that they’re not like, you know, they’re obese, having problems, low back problems, and looking foolish. You know, the whole thing is that in the day, we’ve all looked foolish to an extent or another. But the point is if I always assumed what others thought and paid attention to how I felt this was for members and not being good enough, then I wouldn’t be where I’m at.
[00:20:03] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I tell you, I’ve learned a lot from you, and if anything, my kids have learned a lot from you by just your persistence. You know, I can honestly tell you that my son is better as an athlete because of your relationship with you. But let me ask you, what kind of physical and emotional changes have you watched your clients attain their goals?
[00:20:34] Daniel Alvarado: Hearing people say. “He saved me from diabetic medications.” We hear people say like I would have died, been in this obese state, and you saved my life. And that’s how do you not get emotional with things like that? How do you not get emotional and people saying, like, you know, I thought I couldn’t walk or had this muscle imbalance, or how do you say where I have this one client that couldn’t build muscle? I can’t remember the terminology, but the fact that she can build muscle now, where the doctor told her she wouldn’t be able to squat a bar, and now she’s squatting over one hundred and thirty-five pounds, that’s phenomenal. How does that not keep you motivated to get up every day when you don’t feel like getting up? You know, and I’ll repeat it, in King David’s words. You know when you had to encourage yourself because somebody is not always there to inspire you. So you do have to encourage yourself so you can be the best or somebody else that needs it more than you. Ultimately, someone has more complicated than you, and you can always help somebody under you.
Conclusion
Dr. Alex Jimenez recaps today’s podcast.
[00:21:52] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Well, Daniel, you said it is very short and essential keywords. You know, we appreciate you. We’re here at the push fitness center. You know you got some information there that you can use to find Mr. Alvarado. The PUSH fitness center is a monster center with many people who care and change people’s lives. Suppose you guys have any questions, comments, or ideas about what we do for people. Let us know, and we’re here to serve as Daniel is. Thank you very much, brother, and I appreciate everything you’ve done. And God bless, brother.
The previous article talked about how photobiomodulation or low laser therapy can help improve the gut microbiome. Today’s article gives an in-depth look at how photobiomics can provide the therapeutic potential to the gut. When it comes to the gut, an individual must take care of it. Supplying it with wholesome, nutritional food feeding the good bacteria will provide outstanding results like more energy throughout the day, the feeling of being full, weight loss, and healthy brain function. By eating these nutritional foods, the body can feel good; however, when harmful bacteria come into play and starts attacking the gut, it causes the gut microbiome to have all sorts of problems that can turn into chronic pain. Some of the ailments can be leaky gut, IBS, and inflammation, to name a few. When these harmful pathogens affect the gut, it can cause the body not to function correctly and dampen a person’s ability to go about their everyday life.
Photobiomodulation Works With The Gut
So how does photobiomodulation work with the gut microbiota? Research studies show that when photobiomics are being applied to the gut, the low laser wavelength can help rebalance what is happening to the gut and maintain diversity in the gut microbiota. It can sustain a healthy production of vital metabolites, and the diversity can help the gut from getting many harmful bacteria from causing too much trouble in the gut. Not only that, but photobiomodulation therapy affecting the gut, directly and indirectly, gives it a mimicry of the circadian clock from the brain. Since the brain and gut are connected with the brain giving signals to the gut microbiota to regulate and produce the bacterial metabolites.
The Brain-Gut Connection
The brain and gut connection is more of consistent bidirectional communication between the brain and gut. Studies show that the gut and brain connection ensures the proper maintenance of gastrointestinal homeostasis and has multiple effects on motivation and cognitive functions in the body. When inflammation comes to play in the gut; however, it can affect the gut to not work properly and disrupt the signals it is receiving from the brain and vice versa. When there is a disruption in the bacterial diversity in the gut, it can decrease the brain’s circadian rhythm. The disruption of the bacterial diversity of the gut can even reduce vitamin D absorption in the gastrointestinal tract, causing inflammation and heightening the effects of autoimmune properties that the body is experiencing.
Vitamin D and Photobiomics
Studies have shown that vitamin D plays an essential role in bone health and regulating gastrointestinal inflammation. This is huge since vitamin D has anti-inflammatory properties and can dampen the effects of Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and IBD or inflammatory bowel diseases. Vitamin D has many beneficial properties since it can help improve the body’s immune system and has anti-inflammatory properties. Anyone who takes vitamin D in supplement form or food form as part of their daily ritual will notice that they have more energy in their system and feel good overall. That is because vitamin D can modify the integrity of the epithelial cell in the gut and increase the composition and immune response to the gut microbiome. When vitamin D and photobiomics are combined, it can restore the vitamin D receptors in the gut and cause improvements to body immunity and bone health and dampen the inflammatory effects that were causing harm to the body.
The Vagus Nerve
Another unique fact that photobiomodulation can help is that it can improve low vagus nerves in the brain. Since the brain and gut are connected, it shows that photobiomics can help the brain by decreasing the inflammation receptors that are disrupting the brain-gut connection and causing problems to the body. The vagus nerve is a part of this connection since it sends the information back and forth from the brain to the gut. Studies show that the vagus nerve is represented as the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system. This means that the vagus nerve can oversee many crucial bodily functions, including sending information between the brain and gut. Not only that, but the vagus nerve represents an essential link to neurological and inflammatory responses to the body. When inflammation affects the gut and the vagus nerves, it can disrupt the signals to the brain, causing the inflammation to become worse and hurting the body. Treatments like photobiomodulation can target the vagus nerve and help increase the vagal tone in the body and inhibit cytokine productions.
The 4 R’s
When the body is being affected by inflammation, treatments can help the body feel a bit better and start recovering. With photobiomodulation therapy and natural foods that are beneficial to the gut can bring the balance of a healthy lifestyle back to a person. For a better gut, doctors have recommended the 4’s for gut health.
The First R: Remove
REMOVE– Removing foods that a person has a food sensitivity or allergic reaction to can help dampen the effects of inflammation to the gut. These can be common foods like dairy and wheat or processed food containing high fats and added sugars.
The Second R: Replace
REPLACE– By replacing processed food with wholesome, nutritional food that is chalked up with the necessary vitamins and minerals can give the body more energy and put the person in a good mood. Thus, helping the gut produce more enzymes to digest the nutritional foods.
The Third R: Reinoculate
REINOCULATE– Adding prebiotics and probiotics into your recovery process can help improve the beneficial bacteria in the gut. Fermented food is a great way to get the necessary probiotics and prebiotics into the gut.
The Fourth R: Repair
REPAIR– Eating certain food that can help repair the gut lining in the gut microbiota ensures that inflammation won’t flare up due to gut stress. Adding fermented foods, butyric acid, L-glutamine, and aloe vera into a person’s diet is excellent in gut repair.
Conclusion
Overall, gut health is essential to the human body as it helps the body function properly. With the help of photobiomodulation, it can help the recovery process. Since photobiomics are still providing excellent results to treat patients with inflammation, it is necessary to combine whole, nutritional foods and the proper supplements into the everyday lifestyle so the body doesn’t have specific ailments like inflammation. This new combination has opened the doors to many new avenues of effective treatments for inflammation and improving overall body health and wellness.
References:
Breit, Sigrid, et al. “Vagus Nerve as Modulator of the Brain-Gut Axis in Psychiatric and Inflammatory Disorders.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, Frontiers Media S.A., 13 Mar. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5859128/.
Carabotti, Marilia, et al. “The Gut-Brain Axis: Interactions between Enteric Microbiota, Central and Enteric Nervous Systems.” Annals of Gastroenterology, Hellenic Society of Gastroenterology, 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4367209/.
Silverman, Robert G. “Photobiomics: A Look to the Future of Combined Laser and Nutrition Therapy.” Chiropractic Economics, 5 Oct. 2021, www.chiroeco.com/photobiomics/.
Tabatabaeizadeh, Seyed-Amir, et al. “Vitamin D, the Gut Microbiome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.” Journal of Research in Medical Sciences: The Official Journal of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd, 23 Aug. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6116667/.
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