Category: Nutrition

1. Sovereign Silver- Colloidal Silver

Sovereign Silver booth is where I did my book signing this year. Silver has been used for more than 2,000 years to help safeguard human health. It is a natural element that can be found in whole grains, edible and medicinal mushrooms, mammalian milk, spring water, sea water and tap water.

Sovereign silver is known for its health benefits. First it has antimicrobial properties, which can help combat harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungi in the body. Second, it may support the immune system by assisting in the body’s defense against pathogens. Third, sovereign silver has anti-inflammatory properties, which can aid in reducing inflammation and promoting overall well-being. Finally, it’s considered a safe and natural alternative to antibiotics, making it a potential addition to your wellness routine.

2. Elari – Tigernut Milk  

Elari Tigernut Root Milk comes from the mighty tigernut—a tiny root with a powerful legacy of great taste and superior nutrition. Elari Tiger Nut Milk is a healthy choice due to its lactose-free, nutrient-rich composition, supporting digestive health, and providing essential vitamins and minerals for overall well-being.

3. Hempress – Hemp organic period products

Not sure if you would like this section about the founders in it?

(Hempress was founded by two young and passionate women, Marilyn and McKenna, during their college years. Their vision was to create a sustainable solution to end the problem of single-use product waste and pollution, while reimagining the personal care items we use every day.) 

Hempress offers high-performing, safe, and genuinely sustainable products, meticulously crafted through a conscious supply chain. With their products, you can have peace of mind, knowing you’re making a positive impact on your body and our Earth.

4. Malk – Almond & Oat milk

Malk milk is a healthy choice, being a plant-based alternative made from only 3 ingredients, no gums, and organic! It’s rich in nutrients, including vitamin E and calcium, which support heart and bone health. Additionally, it’s dairy-free, making it suitable for lactose-intolerant individuals and vegans.

5. Planted Eats – Bread 

Planted Eats Gluten-free bread not only is it absolutely delicious! It’s also a healthier option compared to traditional bread. Planted Eats bread is typically made with wholesome, organic ingredients like vegetables, whole grains, and seeds, providing essential fiber for digestive health and sustained energy. The bread is so filling and nutrient-dense.

6. Truvani – Only Bars

7. Juni – Sparkling Tea

8. Black Walnut – Protein Powder

9. Scott’s Protein Balls 

Scott’s protein balls offer a nutritious and convenient snack option. These protein balls are rich in high-quality protein, which is essential for muscle repair and overall health. They provide a good balance of healthy fats, fiber, and essential vitamins and minerals. Scott’s protein balls are free from artificial additives and excessive sugars, making them a healthier alternative to many processed snacks. Their portability and delicious taste make them a satisfying and beneficial choice for on-the-go nutrition.

10. Ezekiel – New Flax Wraps 

The new Ezekiel Flax Wraps offer a healthier alternative to traditional wraps. These wraps are made from freshly sprouted live grains and flaxseed, which enhances their nutritional profile by increasing nutrient absorption and digestibility. They’re typically high in fiber, providing better digestive health and helping with weight management. Ezekiel Flax Wraps are low in refined carbohydrates and added sugars, making them suitable for those seeking a lower glycemic index option. Their focus on whole, organic ingredients contributes to a nutritious and satisfying meal choice.

11. Wild Wonder 

Wild Wonder is a healthy beverage option with several benefits. Wild Wonder is made from natural ingredients like herbs, fruits, or botanicals, providing a refreshing and unique flavor experience. Many Wild Wonder beverages are free from artificial additives and excessive sugars, making them a healthier alternative to sugary drinks. They contain antioxidants and phytonutrients, which can contribute to overall well-being by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation. Additionally, Wild Wonder’s focus on natural ingredients aligns with a health-conscious lifestyle, promoting a more nutritious beverage choice.

12. Food Earth – Ready-made plant-based meals, perfect for Indian food lovers! 

Food Earth have ready-made plant-based meals. They are nutrient-dense and delicious! These shelf-stable, organic, pre-packaged meals are amazing for busy days. They are great for on-the-go. I have even traveled with them in my carry-on luggage. An option you can heat these up in 3 minutes on the stovetop! These are so tasty.

13. Edward and Sons – Coconut Caramel

Organic Sweetened Coconut Caramel is the perfect dairy-free substitute for decadent desserts as it boasts wonderful taste and versatility. Stir a spoonful into coffee or tea or pour it over berries, ice cream, or cake. Chill in the fridge, then spread on your favorite dessert. This Coconut Caramel is made with only two ingredients organic coconut milk and organic coconut syrup.

14. Sati soda – CBD-infused drinks

Sati Soda is a natural, organic, refreshing, CBD infused drinks.

A healthier alternative to many conventional sodas. Sati Soda offers a refreshing taste with a reduced sugar content, making it a better option for those looking to cut back on added sugars in their beverages. Additionally, Sati Soda offer unique flavors derived from real fruits and botanicals, enhancing the overall taste experience. Choosing Sati Soda can be a healthier choice for quenching your thirst while making more mindful beverage choices.

15. Primal Kitchen – Avocado oil 

Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil is a healthier alternative to many cooking oils. Avocado oil is known for its high smoke point, making it suitable for various cooking methods, including frying and grilling, without breaking down and forming harmful compounds. Primal Kitchen’s avocado oil is made from high-quality avocados, ensuring a nutrient-rich oil with monounsaturated fats, which are heart-healthy. It’s free from trans fats and artificial additives, contributing to a cleaner and more nutritious diet. Using Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil can be a smart choice for both your cooking and overall health.

16. Pur Gum 

Pur gum is a healthier option when looking for a chewing gum that aligns with natural and clean ingredient preferences while still enjoying the benefits of chewing gum. Pur Gum is Aspartame free. They also have new products on the horizon including jumbo-size gum and popcorn!

17. Dr Bronners – New Golden Milk Chai Chocolate 

Dr Bronners Chocolate is vegan, 70% cocoa, gluten-free, sweetened with coconut sugar, and perfectly balanced! This fair trade organic chocolate has a perfect balance of rich, nutty, pure cocoa flavor with complex notes of dried fruit and sweet caramel. Dr. Bronner’s chocolate nurtures special relationships between many different producers and farm communities around the world—West African cocoa grown using regenerative organic agriculture, award-winning Indonesian coconut sugar, Congolese cocoa butter, and Madagascan vanilla bean. They call that Magic.

19. Remedy – New Super Ube Glow

Super Ube Glow is a deliciously creamy purple wellness shake packed with purposeful ingredients like vibrant purple sweet potato and a blend of antioxidants, plant-based protein, and superfoods for a radiant inner glow. Super Ube Glow contains 12g of protein, 7g of fat, 3g of sugar, and zero cholesterol. Super Ube Glow is USDA organic, non-GMO, dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and vegan.  

20. GoodSam – Macadamia Nuts  

Buttery and a little sweet, GoodSam Organic Macadamia Nuts are the real deal! They’re organic, sourced in Kenya, and are sustainably and regeneratively harvested. You can feel good about these nuts and each part of the process.

21. Lakanto – Monk Fruit Sweeteners

Lakanto is known for its monk fruit natural sweeteners. What sets Lakanto apart is its innovative approach to monk fruit extraction. Their commitment to preserving the fruit’s inherent benefits and flavors results in a product that’s pure, wholesome, and perfect for the Earth Diet. Lakanto Monk Fruit Sweetener, be it in classic granulated form or powdered, is an impeccable alternative to refined sugar without compromising on taste or quality.

22. Mojo Cacao 

The main ingredients in Mojo Cacao Vegan chocolate are nuts, dried fruits, spices and selected cocoa beans of the highest quality. The company is constantly looking for new ideas, which then translate into its products. Therefore, along with traditional additives in chocolates you can find popcorn or habanero peppers. The company produces three types of chocolate: bitter, milk and white. 

23. Olipop – Sparkling Tonic 

Olipop is a brand that specializes in crafting a range of sparkling tonic beverages. These beverages are designed as a healthier and more natural alternative to traditional sodas. Olipop beverages typically contain lower sugar levels, natural ingredients, and functional elements like prebiotic plant fiber to support gut health. This drink is incredibly popular at the moment!

24. Pri Manuka honey 

Pri Manuka honey is 100% sourced from New Zealand and Australia! Aside from jars of honey, they sell other products including chocolate and skincare made with honey. Manuka honey is antibacterial and bacteria-resistant. It is great to use on skin for acne and cuts, but also just as great to eat! They also have honey chocolates sweetened with nothing else but Manuka honey. 

25. Fabalish – Falafel bites

Packed with flavor, Their chickpea veggie bites are baked, not fried, and never dry. A nutritious, plant-based staple that you can feel good about. Just heat & eat! Healthy meets convenience. Great for salads, bowls, wraps, or as a snack paired with their dips.

26. Edward & Sons – Jackfruit 

Young Jackfruit is picked before its starch changes into sugar making it’s neutral flavor and “meaty” texture a great meatless alternative for plant-based dishes. It makes an excellent vegan, soy and gluten free substitute for meat in numerous recipes of your favorite dishes. As jackfruit is cooked it begins to flake or shred into the ideal texture for vegan pulled pork and meatless recipes. It has a very mild flavor, making young jackfruit an excellent base to carry many different sauces and seasonings. 

27. Capellos – Buttermilk Biscuits

These gluten-free Buttermilk Biscuits are the first of this kind on the market! They are delicious and made with organic buttermilk, pasture-raised eggs, and clean oils. 

28. Chuti punch 

The Chutni Punch product line includes a set of three unique and colorful flavors of fragrant finishing spices, inspired by the tastes of India. The flavors are spicy peanut, savory channa and super sesame. Chutni is a finishing spice that gets added to an already prepared meal, as opposed to an ingredient during preparation. Much like salt or pepper, Chutni Punch is sprinkled on eggs, toast, or any other food that could use a kick of flavor.

29. Bragg 

Bragg is known for producing various health and wellness products. A long-time favorite of mine! They sell Apple Cider Vinegar, Nutritional Yeast, Olive Oil, amino acids (healthier soy sauce that is gluten-free) and other great products. 

30. Lesser evil popcorn 

Shouldn’t a handful of popcorn only have a handful of ingredients? Well, Lesser Evil has three: organic popcorn, extra-virgin coconut oil, and Himalayan pink salt. They make it with minimal processing for maximum snackability. They air pop the most tender butterfly popcorn, making it lighter, fluffier and lower in fat and calories. 

31. Everybody Eat – Crackers 

Everybody eat are clean, gluten free, plant based, delicious snack thins and crispbreads (and more) that people can enjoy together—regardless of most dietary restrictions and preferences.

32. Coco Caye – Coconut sugar

Coco Caye’s tropical-rainforest-friendly Coconut Sugar is minimally processed and light beige in color, their coconut sugar tastes just like caramel and has very fine granules that dissolve instantly in coffee and tea giving them sophisticated caramel undertones. This Coco Caye Coconut Sugar is delicious & has a great unique flavor!

33. Maya Kaimal – Indian Food

Create an authentic Indian dish whenever you wish. With Maya’s “speed-scratch” sauces, dals, chanas, and rice you can enjoy the benefit of her family’s time-honored recipes. No roasting, toasting, grinding or measuring required.

34. Jasberry Food 

Jasberry rice is a special variety of rice that was developed over a decade through natural cross-breeding. Organic and non-GMO, Jasberry rice is dark purple and delicious. Jasberry rice has 40 times more antioxidants than brown rice, 4 times more antioxidants than quinoa, and 7 times more antioxidants than kale. Jasberry rice’s amazing antioxidant content makes it the world’s newest superfood!

35. True Made Foods 

Who needs sugar when you have carrots, squash, and spinach? They use the best fruits and vegetables to get that iconic condiment taste without any added refined sugars or artificial sweeteners.

36. Eat Meati – Mushroom Root Protein

Meati provides a juicy, tender, and animal-free, whole-food protein to add to your favorite dishes. Made with 95% mushroom root, a complete protein, and is full of fiber and other essential nutrients found in animal protein like iron, B vitamins, and zinc.

37. Uglies 

Uglies Kettle Chips are crafted from Upcycled potatoes with slight imperfections—potatoes that are too large or too small; have varied colors or the wrong sugar content. Some of the potatoes are slightly blemished and, of course, some are just farmer surplus.

38. Pur – Popcorn 

Pur Gum is known for their aspartame-free gum! They now have new products on the horizon including jumbo-size gum and popcorn! The popcorn is amazing!

39. Blue Circle Food – Seafood

Blue Circle Foods is a sustainable seafood company founded in 2005 by organic industry pioneers. They produce feel good fish for every day eating – from fillets to fun things like salmon sausages and burgers always free from fillers and breadcrumbs.

They are passionate about continuous improvement in both aquaculture (fish farming) and wild-caught fishing practices. 

40. Cane’d –  Cane juice 

All of their juice blends are 100% Natural, Non-GMO Verified, No Added Sugar and Fresh Cold-Pressed to contain all the nutrients as present in the raw fruits and vegetables. Their juice blends provide natural hydration and boost the immune function. They enhance the nutritional properties and flavor of Cane Juice by pairing it with healthy fruits and Ayurvedic ingredients.

https://www.drinkcaned.com/41. Primal Kitchen- Buffalo Sauce

Bring the heat and the flavor with Buffalo! This creamy, feisty, medium-heat sauce is bursting with Buffalo flavor. Primal Kitchens Buffalo sauce is made with avocado oil and cayenne pepper, and without added flavors or artificial ingredients, for a crowd-pleasing condiment that makes a mouthwatering addition to cauliflower bites and chicken wings.

 

42. Rind Pina Colada 

Featuring organic coconut crisps, dried pineapple, and Piña Colada-seasoned cashews, Rind remixed your favorite fruits and nuts into a flavor fiesta!

43. Tia Lupita – Cactus Tortillas + Hot sauce

That’s right, Cactus! Used for centuries, this delicious superfood is one of the most sustainable plants on the planet. Their tortilla chips have all the crunch and texture you’re used to and are packed with superfoods! All of their Cactus Tortilla Chips are NON GMO Project Verified, Grain Free and Gluten Free.

Their Hot sauce is handmade in small batches and all 4 varieties use simple, all-natural ingredients and no added sugar!

44. Saint James – Tea

Saint James Tea has a simple philosophy when it comes to ingredients: all-natural only. For far too long, ready-to-drink teas have been overpowered by artificial additives and pumped full of sugar. At Saint James, they have a deep respect for their select ingredients, which allows them to use so few. They value sustainable sourcing, the massive health benefits of tea leaves, and pair each flavor with just the right amount of organic plant-based sweetener.

45. Beekeeper Made

Beekeeper Made makes their natural skin care products from start to finish, beginning with fresh honey, beeswax, and Propolis, on their family farm in Ohio. In addition to all of these hand-made products containing natural ingredients, Beekeeper Made honors its hardest worker, the honeybee, by committing to staying cruelty-free.

46. Good Sam – Coffee 

100% organic Arabica coffee beans sourced from the indigenous tribes at Pueblo Bello, Cesar, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Grown on sacred grounds at an altitude of 4,340 feet.

The women farmers who hold their newest Brave Day Coffee bring hope and empowerment to their communities and that’s what they want for our planet.

47. Happy Wolf – Fridge fresh bars

Happy Wolf make their bars with the simple whole-food ingredients like sunflower seed butter, oats, dates and honey. With no additives or anything artificial, the fridge is their only “preservative”.

48. Fibers of life – Eco-friendly Dryer balls

Fibers of Life products are produced in Nepal and support social and environmental development.  The Dyes that are used to create these dryer balls are AZO free. Azo Free dyes are dyes that do not contain carcinogenic compounds.

49. Bandit – Vegan Cheese

Bandit uses nothing but real ingredients like cashews and coconut to create these absolutely delicious cheeses! Their cheese is made with a hands-on process that requires time and passion.

50. Flock – Chicken Chips

Chicken chips are made with simple ingredients: 100% real premium chicken skin and salt. With the crispy and crunchy texture of potato chips (without the carbs) and the protein of jerky, this is the ultimate guilt free, keto friendly, low carb, and high protein snack.

Understanding Sovereign Silver:

The Gut and Gut Health:

How Sovereign Silver May Benefit Gut Health:

3. Immune System Support: A significant portion of the body’s immune system is located in the gut. By promoting a balanced gut microbiome and reducing the presence of harmful pathogens, Sovereign Silver may indirectly support the immune system, helping it function more effectively.

How to Use Sovereign Silver for Gut Health:

It’s been researched over and over—some foods can make you feel better, and some worse. Better might mean good energy, less joint pain, a clearer head, more focus or more strength, or all of the above. One aspect of better/worse might be related to the amount of inflammation in the body.

We know that certain foods produce more and certain foods reduce inflammation. It’s not that far to leap to say how you feel in your skin might sometimes be related to what you ate. Let’s take a closer look at inflammation: what foods cause more and what foods cause less. Because eating different actually could make a difference in how good we feel.

What is Inflammation?

Inflammation is a natural process, part of the body protecting itself, or helping to heal itself. Very useful for acute situations: a cut, a broken/sprained limb or other injury or infection. The body sends out chemical alarms and signals the immune system to go to a specific injury. Then, when the fire is out, the immune system calms down to normal balance. When the body continues to send out alarm bells for an acute injury for weeks, months or years, it is harmful and can lead to health issues. This is chronic inflammation.

We know environmental toxins and lifestyle (FOOD, sleep and stress) contribute to chronic inflammation. With lifestyle, specifically, drinking alcohol in excess, higher body mass (unless you have tons of muscle), too much or not enough exercise and lots of stress and smoking all add to the inflammatory load of the body. We also know that if out of control, chronic inflammation does contribute to diseases: Alzheimer’s, asthma, cancer, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis and type 2 diabetes.

Lowering inflammation using food and nutrient building blocks has been well researched. It is known that vitamins A, C and D as well as Zinc, the spices turmeric, ginger and garlic and antioxidants can reduce inflammation.

Even those who test negative for cow’s milk allergy may have hypersensitivity reactions to dairy products.

Excessive spitting up and vomiting in infants may be treated by putting them down on their left side after meals—of course, never when sleeping. It’s always face-up to wake up to reduce the risk of crib death. Also, as I discuss in my video How to Treat Reflux in Children with Diet, you can try smaller, more frequent feedings, thickening or changing formulas, and in breastfed infants, which is ideally how all babies should be fed, eliminating cow’s milk and eggs from the mother’s diet. 

You may recall that, in my video Treating Reflux in Babies with Diet, I talk about how more than 40 percent of infants with reflux can be successfully treated with cow’s milk removal. It can also affect them on the other end, too, as cow’s milk allergy can be a major contributor to diaper rash and also contribute to chronic constipation in 80 percent of affected kids. In one study, however, only a single kid tested positive for having an actual allergy to cow’s milk, so it seems to be a kind of sensitivity reaction that can really only be diagnosed by giving a cow’s milk-free diet a try. Anal fissures in infants may be practically pathognomonic for cow’s milk allergy, meaning so characteristic of the condition that it could be used as a diagnostic sign, with no allergy testing required. 

It’s like when cow’s milk hypersensitivity was demonstrated in 10 of 17 children with severe reflux. In the majority of patients, the hypersensitivity to cow’s milk was identified only by eliminating it and then re-challenging to confirm. Researchers did endoscopies, measuring the acid that gurgled up before and after milk consumption, then verified by repeating milk exposure with double-blind placebo-controlled challenges when necessary. Yet, all but one of the children proven to have this adverse reaction to dairy tested negative on allergy tests. So, the kids tested negative for a cow’s milk allergy, but they still got better by cutting out the cow’s milk. “In conclusion, an association of cow milk hypersensitivity and severe GERD [reflux] was observed not only in infants but also in preschool/school children.”  

Another disease that can be cured with cow’s milk elimination is eosinophilic esophagitis, a chronic inflammatory disorder of the esophagus, the tube that connects your mouth to your stomach. To figure out what’s causing the inflammation, an elimination diet is prescribed, where you basically remove everything, then each time you add back a food, doctors insert an endoscope down your throat and take biopsies to see if that particular food made things worse. How many freaking foods are there?! You can imagine how difficult, costly, invasive, confusing, and frustrating that may be for families. So, researchers at Northwestern figured why not just see what happens if you remove just one food from their diet instead of making them go through all that. Their finding? Eliminating cow’s milk induced remission in 65 percent of the children they tried it on. Normally, doctors would have to try to coat their patients’ throats with steroids to knock down their immune response. Doing so then sets the stage for infections like thrush, though, and of course, as soon as the steroids are stopped, the esophageal inflammation comes raging back because you aren’t treating the underlying cause. But steroids are considered the standard of care. Too bad there’s never been a head-to-head test of cow’s milk elimination versus steroids…until now. 

As you can see in the graph below and at 3:40 in my video, researchers conducted a comparative effectiveness trial of cow’s milk elimination versus a swallowed steroid and found they both appeared to work just as well, which is to say the cow’s milk elimination worked better because there are no side effects and you’re treating the actual cause. They concluded, “Our results suggest that cow’s milk elimination is an effective treatment option that should be considered as a first-line therapy…” 

In adolescence, cow’s milk protein intolerance can contribute to chronic fatigue syndrome, evidently a common problem in young people with chronic fatigue and most importantly “a treatable contributor to their symptoms.” But again, most were unaware that dairy was a problem, possibly because it can take hours between milk ingestion and when you start feeling worse, so people don’t make the connection. So, even those who report no problems after milk ingestion may still be suffering problems after consuming dairy. 

Finally, what about adults? Well, there’s lactose intolerance. Most people on Earth are lactose-intolerant after weaning, with the exception of some human populations that developed lactose tolerance about 10,000 years ago, thanks to a mutation in the lactase gene that enabled adult humans to digest lactose (milk sugar). As you can see below and at 4:53 in my video, they were mostly select European populations, whereas most Hispanics, Africans, and Asians remain intolerant, which may be a good thing, since acid regurgitation, reflux, and heartburn is so common among adults in the Western world. Food intolerance may play a role in adults as well. Milk was found to be the leading culprit, but researchers were using what’s called a leucocytotoxic test, where you see how someone’s white blood cells react to individual foods in a petri dish. 

This test is frowned upon by professional allergy associations as not being sufficiently sensitive and specific. It can’t hurt, though, to put it to the test. A double-blind, randomized, controlled trial was performed in 38 reflux patients for which proton pump inhibitor drugs failed to completely control their symptoms. What happened when the diet was given a try? As you can see in the graph below and at 5:48 in my video, researchers randomized people to either a diet in which they excluded foods they tested sensitive to (most often dairy) or one that instead excluded foods for which they didn’t test positive to control for the placebo effect. A month later, the symptoms in the control group dropped, but the symptoms in the true diet exclusion group dropped significantly further. The researchers kind of felt bad for the control group, so they switched those participants to the right diet, too, and two months later, everyone was feeling better. 

I covered the effects of maternal diets on breastfed babies in Treating Infant Colic by Changing Mom’s Diet and Infant Seizures Linked to Mother’s Spirulina Use. Breast is best, but you may also be interested in The Best Baby Formula and Formula for Childhood Obesity. 

For more on dairy and child health, check out the Related Videos below. 

No one loves a good recipe more than we do. With the boundless inspiration from food blogs and cookbooks, we could try a new recipe every day and have plenty of fodder for years to come. But sometimes, you want to free-style it without a recipe – and that’s where a simple recipe-free dinner bowl can save the day. All you need to do is grab a bunch of your favourite delicious and healing ingredients and toss ’em together for a one-bowl meal. But which ingredients to include?

Here are what we believe to be six essential elements of a simple, recipe-free dinner bowl.

1. A good source of protein

Protein is essential for healing, repair and growth. Whether you’re vegan or Paleo, a clean source of protein will help you feel satiated, balance your blood sugar and keep you feeling fuller for longer. For a meatless option, try chickpeas, lentils, mung beans, almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, baked tofu, or crumbled bits of your favourite veggie burger, and if you consume animal products opt for free range meats, eggs or fish.

2. A nourishing, anti-inflammatory fat

Healthy fats, such as ghee, coconut oil, olive oil, or omega-3 fatty acids such as flax oil or hemp oil, add flavour along with a multitude of healing benefits for our brains, joints, skin, muscle tissue and cells. As with protein, a nourishing fat will keep your blood sugar levels even and prevent you from reaching for mindless snacks an hour later. Wondering which oils are safe to eat or heat? Check out this handy infographic.

photo: iStock/anakopa

3. Heaps of dark leafy greens

These leafy powerhouses are packed with antioxidants that prevent cell damage, as well as B vitamins, fibre, iron and calcium. They’re also rich in chlorophyll, otherwise known as the ‘blood of plants’, which means it can help nourish our red blood cells, cleanse and detoxify, and can help prevent cancer, too.

Any dark leafy green will do here, so pick your favourite (or a mix of a few different ones). Depending on the time of year, you can have your dark leafy greens raw or lightly steamed – it’s up to you!

4. A lip-smacking, delicious sauce

You truly cannot make a simple recipe-free dinner bowl without a great dressing or sauce. You can choose a vinaigrette or dollop on a thick, creamy dairy-free sauce. Often, a dinner bowl dressing will contain some of the elements above – like an amazing anti-inflammatory fat, or protein-rich, blended nuts and seeds. Some sauce ideas are:

• Basil or kale pesto
• Tahini + garlic + lemon + salt
• Almond butter + ginger + maple syrup + tamari + garlic
• Cashew cream
• Hummus, with a little bit of extra water to make it pourable
• Tapenade
• Lemon + olive/flax oil + chopped herbs of choice
• Avocado + cumin + lime + red pepper flakes
• Coconut milk + curry powder + salt

Photo: iStock/AlexPro9500

5. Seasonal vegetables

Nature is pretty smart. It offers us nutrients in abundance during the times of year we need them most. What’s seasonal depends on where you live – but here at the Academy of Culinary Nutrition headquarters, we like to roast winter veggies, garlic and onions for our recipe-free dinner bowls during the fall and winter and add asparagus, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini and even fresh fruit during the spring and summer months.

Seasonal veggies not only provide us with excellent nutritive properties, but they also add fibre – which keeps us pooping on a regular basis!

6. A mix of textures.

A variety of tastes and textures can really help your simple recipe-free dinner bowl sing! So pair fresh vegetables with cooked veggies, combine crisp greens and crunchy toasted seeds, toss fresh herbs into your vinaigrette, spiralize your vegetables for added texture and flair, toss in cubes of velvety avocado. You get the picture!

Optional: a gluten-free grain or pseudograin

If you consume grains, a cooked gluten-free grain adds texture, fibre, protein and energy-boosting B-vitamins. Try cooked quinoa, buckwheat, sorghum, brown rice, wild rice, teff, millet or gluten-free oats. You could also sprinkle on some raw buckwheat for a tasty crunch. However, if you don’t eat grains, all of the essential elements above will create a full and satisfying meal.

Feature photo: iStock/nata_vkusidey

So what did we miss? What do you like to add to your power bowls?

Introduction

[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast. I didn’t check my episode numbers yet, but I think this is going to be episode number 272 with a really special guest, really cool guy, someone that’s been intimately involved with FDN in the past. He has taken this and like nine other certifications and ran with it to the 10th degree and is now making waves in the space exposing the brain on fire and quite frankly has been for a while.

One other really cool thing about you, Brendan, and it throws people off if they’re on video, because you’ve always looked like mature, right? You’re a big dude, you got the beard. But Brendan’s super young and has done this stuff at a really young age as well. It’s always cool to get to talk to someone that’s so passionate at a young age. Where’s this guy going to be in 15, 20 years if this is what 30 looks like, basically?

I’ll read his bio really quick, since we are live on video today. If you’re checking this out on audio and not aware yet that we are doing more lives on video, just make sure you’re tuned in with us on Facebook, YouTube. We’re going to get LinkedIn set up soon, but definitely YouTube and Facebook are the places to be.

We do announce these podcasts, so you’ll know when they’re coming out live and you can tune in with us. You can say, hey, ask questions, but as always, all of these things will still be released on our audio platforms where you guys all listen.

Brain on Fire: Metabolic Health & Functional Education

Brendan is a mental and metabolic health scientist and researcher, functional medicine educator, writer, and speaker. He is a board-certified holistic health practitioner, master nutrition coach, master personal trainer, USAW sports performance coach, and CrossFit trainer. He began his career as a personal trainer and nutrition coach at the age of 18 after disappointingly being medically discharged from the United States Navy SEAL training pipeline due to an injury.

After being exposed to the power of functional lab testing in the start of his career, he began intensely pursuing that as a career path, which has led him to be widely regarded as one of the top leading experts in metabolic health and functional education. True. He is the proud owner and founder of the Metabolic Solutions Institute for Functional Health and Fitness Practitioners and the creator of the Functional Mental Health Practitioner Certification Course, (FMHP). Definitely excited to talk about that today.

He’s also the founder of the Metabolic Solutions Research and Education Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to changing the way the world views mental health through advancing the science of mental health dysfunction. He is also the creator of the Mental M.A.P., a cutting-edge lab panel for mental health, and the NeuroCeuticals™ supplement line.

Last but not least, when he’s not educating doctors, practitioners, and professionals, helping clients overcome their most severe health struggles, or producing cutting edge scientific education, Brendan also enjoys all things fitness and is probably working out. He also enjoys anything in nature and any activities that expand his heart, mind, and soul.

My friend, welcome to the podcast.

Brain on Fire: Powerful Stories

[00:02:43] Brendan Vermeire: Thanks for having me, man. It’s a pleasure. And as we were saying backstage, you and I have been friends for a long time and have gotten to work together professionally. So, I’m just tickled that we have the opportunity to co-create some good stuff for the audience today.

[00:02:56] Detective Ev: It is really fun full circle.

When I was just getting started in the world of FDN, Brendan was already mentoring and stuff. So, that was fun. Then I got to work with Brandon Molle a lot too. And it’s so weird. This is the guy who got me through the course. It’s nice just getting to hang out with you guys on the flip side.

With that said, how we always start this podcast, and I know we can nerd out forever, but man, your story is so powerful. We definitely can’t go away from our normal script today, that’s for sure. We always ask what the people’s health challenges were because 99 percent of the people that have ever come on in all these episodes, they’ve been through stuff. That’s how you get into this space, right? No one sets out for this at five years old, basically.

So, Brendan, what were the first health symptoms that you dealt with and what did those things look like?

[00:03:36] Brendan Vermeire: I think you and I have a lot of overlap with the struggles that we had. And I think both being younger millennial men, I think there’s a lot of power to the stories that you and I can both share with many young men starting to struggle with mental health.

Brain on Fire: An SSRI at a Young Age

Of course, the mental health pandemic and epidemic doesn’t discriminate men, women, young people, old people. I’m sure we’ll get into some of the different statistics on neurodevelopmental disorders, mental health disorders, suicide, and neurodegeneration, but it’s just really reached crisis points.

Although the largest growing demographic of consumers of neuropsychiatric drugs are young men, that’s the demographic that seems to be overlooked and may be suffering in a lot of ways. And I think you and I contributed to some of those statistics. I know there’s a number of statistics I’ve directly contributed to myself. So, it gets weirder and almost harder for me to even tell some of my story because there’s the very long, painful version and I’ve gotten good at consolidating into like succinct cliff notes.

I was first put on a neuropsychiatric drug at the age of 17. I was just doing a physical for athletic participation purposes and for wrestling season and mentioned that I struggle with some depressive kind of seasonal effective stuff. So, without any blood work, without a referral to a psychiatrist or psychologist or any kind of objective evaluation, it’s just here’s an SSRI, 17-year-old trying to navigate senior year of high school and whatnot.

SSRIs didn’t work well for me. Now they have all the stern black box warnings of sexual dysfunction or increased suicidal ideation, but they still get dispensed like Halloween candy. So, that’s like 17. As you read in my bio, age of 18, I signed a six-year Navy SEAL contract and signed away my life to the United States Navy for the SEAL program, but I was medically discharged from a preexisting injury.

Brain on Fire: Intensive Care

That was like my life dream and my sense of purpose, which is very important for mental health (clinical pearl) getting taken away from me. So, that sort of put me in a bad place of like, all right, I just lost my life dream that I’ve been working for many years.

Becoming a fitness health professional was always like a fallback. I was very passionate about fitness, health, nutrition, and optimizing performance. So, I was at this crossroads of either go to college or do the college kid thing, which didn’t resonate with me. It’s just not who I am, jumping through the hoops of academia.

And Rick Sanchez, who’s the smartest man in the universe, he always says that school is not a place for smart people. So, I subscribed to that ideology. But it wasn’t until I was 21, I was actually back in front of my physician, I think for another physical, and similar reports of like still struggling with mental health.

Now, by this point, I had already been a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach for three years and had three years of professional experience, and even though extremely fit and metabolically healthy, still struggling very much psychoemotionally and mentally. Then this time I got put on a dopamine drug. And this time, because of the history, I was actually referred to a clinical psychology clinic.

I underwent formal neuropsychiatric evaluation and was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and ADHD. It was actually two weeks later, I woke up breathing out of a tube in the intensive care unit because I chose to overdose on the dopamine agonist, Wellbutrin or Bupropion. There were a lot of other things going on.

Brain on Fire: A Toxic Relationship

I was in the beginning of what turned out to be the most traumatic thing. And I hate how much the word trauma gets overused these days. It’s been very appropriated. But easily this relationship that was a very toxic sort of prototypical narcissist empath kind of dynamic, again, I know that gets overused these days, but that’s what I was in.

I was cheated on, lied to, manipulated, emotionally abused, and it was an extremely traumatic relationship. It was actually trying to save this woman that I was engaged to, who had three children, it was trying to save her that got me into functional medicine, FDN.

Just to speed up this story a little bit, because this is the hook and puts me on the trajectory to understand how I got to where I am today. I was Mr. Science of the human metabolism, optimizing performance and fitness through nutrition and exercise and supplementation and now I find myself in this horribly psychologically toxic relationship. But I was very in love with this person, and she got this mysterious illness. It was her mysterious illness, where her demeanor, her aura completely changed – a lot of neuropsychiatric changes and volatile behavior, a lot of neurological symptoms, peripheral neuropathy, numbness, tingling, stabbing, ice pick pain that kind of was moving throughout her body. There were a lot of things going on.

And as far as some of the root causes of her, she had a lot of unresolved childhood trauma. She had suffered a lot of concussions from cheerleading and stunting, getting dropped on her head. We lived in a water damaged, musty home. It was a really stressful life with her three children from two different kind of deadbeat fathers. Life was hard.

Brain on Fire: Self-Education & Self-Healing

She was literally bedridden, would get out of bed to do her job, take care of her three kids. And then I was trying to support her and the three kids hustling as personal trainer while being emotionally abused and manipulated in this relationship.

The point being, it was trying to save her that I started diving deeper into root cause medicine. Because we had been to the medical doctor who ran blood work on her – can’t find anything wrong with you. Blood work looks normal; maybe it’s all in your head.

So, we tried chiropractic, we tried naturopathic medicine, we tried physical therapy we tried all these things. We were doing our own research, doing parasite cleanses, diving into methylation. Being the science health professional dude that I was, I took it upon myself to try to save her. And ultimately, that’s what steered me into studying functional medicine and a lot of psychology because I was trying to navigate what the heck is going on in this relationship.

Ultimately over the course of time, I managed to get out of that toxic situation. She ended up taking her life in 2020, leaving behind her three kids. I don’t know. In a lot of ways, I always like to say my work is my medicine. The career that I have built has been the thing that has saved me, and it gives me a sense of purpose.

I have managed to heal a lot of my own issues through my learning and my education and importantly, my service to others. So, in a lot of ways it’s a blessing and a curse. My work is my medicine and that’s a little bit of what has helped steer me to where I am today.

Brain on Fire: Work That is Medicine

[00:10:52] Detective Ev: Thank you. As someone who knows the story overall pretty well, we’ve gone in depth with it before. I’ve went through one of your courses and you’re very transparent about things there; I think that’s a perfect summary. It highlights a lot of the main things. You did have your own unique struggles, but also, you’re dealing with another human being that has their very own unique struggles.

I loved in particular about what you just said, because I don’t think I’ve heard it worded this way, is the work and career as the medicine. And I could not relate to that anymore. It’s almost as if, if I didn’t have this, I don’t know where I’d be. And some people would argue against what we just said, actually.

Some people would say you don’t want any external thing to be that validating thing or medicinal in that way. And I don’t think you and I literally rely on it. I think it could be taken away and we’re at peace now. We’ll figure it out.

But man, you know what, of all the things to argue and debate, that one, I’m just going to say, dude, who cares. If that’s the worst thing that I use to help as medicine is my career and it’s helping others and not hurting anyone, I think that’s okay. I think there’s worse crutches out there that we could possibly have. Also, I find it interesting because this is something men don’t talk about very often, but I feel like the story is very common in its own way.

Brain on Fire: Growing Pains

It’s unique to everyone, but common in its own way where we have an experience, usually the first person that we ever really loved. And it’s probably not an ideal relationship for one reason or the other. Every now and then you hear the high school sweetheart thing. It’s pretty dang rare in our generation. But that has a profound impact.

And so, just like you, you’re trying to help this person and that’s what created this amazing passion and all these cool things that you’ve done and are still doing. I was in a similar boat, except I was the bad person, right? I was acting crazy with all this stuff. And I’m not really politically correct. I try to be a little more politically correct with the mental health stuff because it wasn’t crazy in a literal sense. It was just not me.

I’m dealing with some serious stuff, abusing drugs, not acting the way I normally would. But it was actually because of how bad I hurt that person, not physically, but hurt that person in the relationship mentally and emotionally that was my wake-up moment where I’m like, dude, you got to go figure this crap out. So, I was almost interestingly in this opposite boat, but a very similar thing where I’m the negative person. I need to fix this to hopefully mend this.

Now it doesn’t work out that way and I don’t know that it’s supposed to necessarily. I think these are the growing pains that occur when you’re pursuing that.

Brain on Fire: Imposter Syndrome

But the work is medicine thing, I couldn’t agree with more. All those speeches with kids, I always make a joke that they gave me more that day than I’ve ever given anyone else in a speech. And interestingly, with all the stuff you’ve done, you might say something similar.

With that said, all that story and that background, it’s one thing to take the pain and put it into purpose, you have taken this and put it into obsession, man. And one part of that is you’re very intelligent. Maybe you can consume information faster than others. But this isn’t a person, guys, where you got one certification or two certifications, then stopped. This has become lifelong learning, a dedication to it, legitimate research, legitimate funding for studies and trying to work things out.

I don’t want to jump too far ahead into just present day. I guess I want to fill in the gaps here a little bit. Roughly speaking, how many certification programs have you done, time studying? I really want people to understand the depth of what you’ve done in terms of your knowledge.

[00:13:59] Brendan Vermeire: I like that you’re giving me the opportunity to speak to that. Cause I think everybody struggles with imposter syndrome, right? Gosh, I was a mentor for FDN for how many years? And it’s all the graduates, I was really mentoring and coaching them how to transcend that imposter syndrome that a lot of people have upon graduation. Do I have enough knowledge and or experience to help somebody else with their health and with their healing and everything?

Brain on Fire: The Scientific Literature

There are definitely moments where it’s, am I qualified to be doing what I’m doing? And yet I look at it the other way. It’s, I am the most qualified to be doing what I’m doing and nobody else is really doing what I’m doing. I think what I’ve built is unique.

I was in college, I was working full time and going to school full time. And I knew that essentially, what I knew I wanted to do was help people reach their health goals using lab testing and science. The company I was working for, they had a lab testing program, big corporation, billion-dollar company, but they required you to be a licensed dietitian.

So, there for a while, I was looking into dietetics or clinical nutrition. Medical school, like conventional medical school didn’t really resonate. I didn’t want to be a part of the conventional healthcare model. Naturopathic was attractive to me, but it felt like it was missing the fitness, the nutrition, the metabolic, it was a little bit too woo and Chinese and acupuncture and herbs. I’m like, no, lift weights, drink protein shakes, eat really clean, and use lab testing to objectively qualify progress.

It was when I was going through those tumultuous times, I don’t even know how many certificate programs I’ve been through. So many, right? Precision Nutrition Level 2, USAW Sports Performance Coach, CrossFit, NASM, FDN, all the things, so many others that are not even really well recognized, advanced mentorships. But honestly, the best education I feel like I’ve gotten was my own just self-research. I got to a point where I was just like, I’m tired of, I’m going to take this person’s word for it or that person’s word for it. What does the scientific literature say?

Brain on Fire: A New Type of Mental Health Professional

So, I really just started diving deep into the scientific literature. And this is where our whole industry claims to be very evidence based, but a lot of times I see a lack of citations.

Whereas like most of my slide decks, I just finished a gut/brain axis course that was like over 400 slides, hundreds of citations, hundreds of excerpts. Because there’s a wealth of scientific literature that’s sitting there at all of our fingertips. So, for me, I felt like I didn’t have, for one thing, ADHD, being its own sort of phenotype of that’s not how I learn. I’m very much autodidactic and self taught in a lot of ways. Felt like I didn’t have time.

And somebody that really inspires me is Paul Stamets where he’s become the most famous, respected mycologist in the world. He doesn’t have a traditional Mycology PhD, academia background, and yet he’s managed to become the most famous and well-respected mycologist.

To me, it’s interesting, there’s a lot of socioeconomic things too. I think young people are struggling to be able to actually put themselves through college, get a paying job, pay off their college debt. That business model is actually failing right now as the economy is failing right now too.

So, there’s a lot of factors, but ultimately, I’m proud of the path that I’ve walked in and feel good about the education I’ve put myself through, the experience and real-life experience I’ve gained. And that’s why it’s really fulfilling for me to be bringing this FMHP thing to the world, because I think it’s very needed. I think we need a new type of mental health professional, and that’s what I’m attempting to fulfill.

Brain on Fire: Irrefragably Certain

[00:17:55] Detective Ev: I think it’s going to be a perfect transition because you actually hit on one thing that I was hoping we’d get to – the time spent. And that’s something I noticed about you from pretty much day one because you were constantly referencing this.

It’s, I actually read scientific literature. I actually go into the studies and dissect this and figure out what’s useful and what’s not. We do need more of that, full transparency. And it’s a shame because that’s not as sexy, right? We just want, even in the functional medicine space, we want these quick fixes or the supplement for that or something that sounds good.

But even at FDN, we have an advanced course now called Scientific Literacy so people can learn to read this. And how many people really go through it, right? I don’t think it’s our most popular advanced course, I’ll put it that way. But I think one thing that excites me about this mindset and philosophy and actually basing it in science is it’s pretty hard to argue someone that can cite a hundred different things in their slide deck, right?

Because Brendan, for example, for you guys that don’t know, he’s lectured two doctors without a college degree before the age of 30. How do you do that? If you can back up what you’re saying with research, yes, you could go do that.

It’s funny because it is tough. I think it’s a learning curve. I’m not an expert in it by any means. I don’t think it’s an unobtainable thing for most people that are even mildly intelligent. You can figure this out, but we just don’t think about it because it’s not sexy.

Brain on Fire: The Prerequisite

It’s not fun to go (define fun, right?), to go through PubMed or whatever it might be. It’s fun if you get what you’re looking for, but you got to back this stuff up and you got to understand. What’s really cool about your things that you’ve created is not only is it probably this wonderful mix of all these different certifications, fine, but it’s actual databased research that makes sense and that we can rely on.

So, I’d love to talk about this mental health program now. This is actually something that people could go through if you’re an FDN practitioner, if you’re not an FDN practitioner, someone could just go through this. You don’t have to have any prerequisites, is that correct?

[00:19:45] Brendan Vermeire: Yeah, technically. With the time that I spent with FDN and the relationship I have, it was a very organic evolution of the FDN model and the FMHP model is the same blueprint, but it’s a completely different curriculum. So, my ideal student would be somebody that just graduated from FDN, is wanting to really take their skills/knowledge to another level and specialize in this mental health and kind of neuroinflammatory realm.

But technically, I, above all else, especially considering I don’t have a college degree, I look for the desire to serve and the desire and passion to learn. If they’re passionate about learning and they’re passionate about serving others, I look for that more than any other credential. So, I technically do not require prerequisites.

But with the growing community that we have, we’ve been getting a lot of therapists, for example, cause obviously they’re mental health professionals that do talk therapy and they’re wanting to integrate more holistic, functional root cause ideology into that.

Brain on Fire: A Needed Combination

Therapist kind of struggle a little bit just because they don’t have that like hard science, the metabolic physiology, cellular biology. Anybody that has a strong understanding of just essentially physiology and metabolic health sciences, it’s going to be easier to pick up because the course is extremely dense and technical, for sure.

[00:21:14] Detective Ev: Okay. So, I’ve been through one of Brendan’s other things that I can 100 percent guarantee you will get dense and technical in these things. If you love science and really love it, it’s a good place to go. And it’s cool because you do learn a fricking lot.

I think some of the most profound things I’ve ever taken from your one course in particular was the fact that, as technical as you get and as deep of an understanding as one can obtain from going through it, you still always bring the people going through the course back to the fundamentals. It’s, you get to bed on time, man, eat real food. Let’s start here, let’s do this stuff.

We can have fun with the science, and we can break this down and get super complicated. But at the end of the day, if you’re not doing these basic foundational things first, good luck. You’re just doing Western medicine with supplements basically. You need to be able to do both.

All right, just like FDN then, there’s no prereqs, especially in your case though, because I would imagine it’s even more dense in terms of the technical science. It wouldn’t hurt to have maybe a little background or interest in some of these things probably to go through. But I appreciate that – if you have the passion and willingness to serve, I think you can get through these things.

Brain on Fire: Functional Medicine for Mental Health

It was very tough for me going through FDN in the beginning. I went through fast, but it was tough. So, I didn’t have a background in this stuff, but I had that passion. See, I wanted to serve, and it allowed me to get through.

Let’s break down the curriculum. Obviously, it’s for someone who would be very interested in serving people with the mental health stuff. What will I learn if I go through this program? How’s it broken down?

[00:22:36] Brendan Vermeire: The most simple way to explain it would be functional medicine for mental health. Although I think that’s just easier to understand, I feel like that’s devaluing what it really is. In my opinion, it’s a lot more.

When I came into the functional medicine space and was doing my rounds, especially with my background of fitness, nutrition, metabolic physiology, to me, using exercise, movement, nutrition as medicine, it’s just common sense. It’s intuition.

As a personal trainer and nutrition coach back in the day, I was like, this is great. I want to help people on a deeper level. And sure, I saw over and over, client after client, maybe they come in for the scheduled workout, but they stay because of the life coaching and the psychological coaching that they’re getting out of it.

When you have clients that are reporting, yeah, I went to my doctor and my blood work looks better than ever. And especially one of the things that got me hooked on the lab testing was I really like objectivity. For me, my spiritual practice is just as important as my scientific work and pursuits. I look at my spiritual practice, that is my subjective pursuit of truth. And my scientific work is the objective pursuit of truth.

Brain on Fire: Lack of Foundations

I like to keep my head in the clouds and feet on the ground rooted in evidence. And when I look at the functional medicine industry, I still think it’s way to pill based. I think there’s a lack of effective client centered coaching. I see so much theory and not enough evidence to back it up, some of the common practices and common sort of narratives that people say all the time.

What I’m noticing, my friend, is this increasing growing demographic of practitioners, coaches, self-healers, clients, patients that are way excessively complicating health. That’s something I’ve always loved about Reed and the FDN program was bringing it back to the foundations – the DRESS for Health Success, diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction, supplementation.

The majority of the time when people are struggling with their mental, metabolic, just health in general, it’s a lack of foundations. It’s a lack of integrity with the foundations of their lifestyle. Yet they get put on this sort of hamster wheel of, you haven’t done this test yet, you haven’t done that protocol yet, you need to open the lymph, do the drainage, bind the this, deactivate the mast cells, and what’s your mitochondria cell danger response. It’s a lot of hypotheticals. It’s a lot of theoretical and it’s not rooted in objective data.

So, I’m always bringing people back to what is your reliable objective data with the lab testing and specific clinical biomarkers that are well validated through mountains of published literature. That way we have this objective framework to start doing that self-experimentation. We can be doing, what are you lacking in your life and how can we intervene upon that, whether it’s more psychological intervention, whether it’s supplemental, whether you want to do pharmaceuticals with the doctor.

Brain on Fire: The Nocebo Effect

A huge part of what I do with the FMHP program is creating that framework for success. We’re using the rigors of clinical testing and biomarkers and literature, but combined with client centered coaching, psychology.

For example, to illustrate that point, I think the nocebo effect is one of the biggest root causes that nobody’s talking about. We’re all familiar with placebo. We all have recognized, yeah, placebo, that’s a real thing where if you take a pill that could be an empty capsule, but if you expect it to have a positive impact on your health, you are very likely to experience positive health effects, even if there was nothing in that capsule. That’s placebo.

Nocebo is the exact opposite. It’s essentially, if you are being conditioned to expect to have a negative response to any sort of intervention or therapeutic, you are more likely to have a negative response, even if there’s nothing in that capsule, right?

So, what would happen if you run a bunch of experimental functional lab testing and you tell a client, oh gosh, even though you went to your doctor and your doctor said your blood work looks fine and there’s nothing wrong with you and it’s all in your head, you’re on a neuropsychiatric drug to help you feel better, actually, we see that you have mold illness based on this mycotoxin test. And you have a leaky gut and HP axis dysfunction, mitochondrial dysfunction, estrogen dominance, and all of these things, right?

What are you conditioning? You’re conditioning them to think – there’s so many things wrong with me and my mast cells are activated. My cell danger response and my mycotoxicosis, I’ll never get better. All the while, none of those parameters are testing their physiology.

Brain on Fire: Letting Go

So, they’re going to start experiencing negative effects because you’ve conditioned their brain to do that. We have to bust out of that while also systematically looking at what’s going on in their physiological systems and how do we best support that holistically?

[00:27:41] Detective Ev: I don’t know that I would have been able to word it as well, but it was a phenomenon I noticed in myself actually several years back where so many things were really good. And I was noticing that certain foods we’re still breaking me out. Cystic acne was a part of my story. I wish I had tracked this a little better so that I could (not that it would be fantastic data), but at least so I could give, hey, I did this, and it led to this.

There was almost just a letting go period, I think very mental and emotional, which ironically came during the pandemic. It’s bad in a sense, but it felt so hopeless at times that I was almost like, dude, who cares about all this crap that I’m worrying about health wise. There’s bigger problems, bigger fish to fry right now.

But the irony of that is it allowed me to break some of the restrictions that otherwise did help me in the past. That was real. When I was at my sickest, it did help, but I didn’t need them anymore. I didn’t need to not eat this food or never stay up past 9:30, otherwise, the world’s going to collapse. When I was at my sickest, it did help. That is true. And I know that for a fact.

Brain on Fire: A Trauma Response

I think I’ve seen this where it gets maintained for way longer than it needs to be. And it’s hard for someone to register (and I speak for myself at least), that, okay, I’m eating this food. (This is nocebo to a “T”. It’s with the food in this case.) Oh, this is going to break me out. And sure as crap, it does.

But then what was happening, Brendan, when I was a little more open to eating out at certain restaurants and stuff, I would realize, after the fact, that I was getting exposed to those foods that broke me out, but I didn’t know I ate it, and it didn’t break me out. It was like, oh, okay. So, there’s only one difference here and it’s my perception about what’s going on.

I’ve never heard that theory that’s being under talked about, but I would agree with you now that you’ve said it. I think this is happening a lot. So, I looked at it as more like these neurotic tendencies going on way too long. It’s things that, yes, were very useful at one point. Cause you do, Mr./Mrs. So-and-So, you got five different diagnoses: you’re like dying. You can’t get out of bed. I get it. We might need to tighten things up for a little bit.

But it’s dude, you’re good, man. You’ve been good for a while. And I think, not to overuse the word myself, but it’s a trauma response in and of itself that we keep holding on to these old habits to keep us nice and safe because it was so fricking scary when we were in the midst of it. But dude, isn’t the point to heal? Isn’t the point to let some of this go eventually.

Brain on Fire: Module One

And it’s been amazing to find as I’ve let some of this stuff go, the amount of things I can, all of a sudden, enjoy and eat. Like, I didn’t eat dairy for years. Dairy does actually really well with me it seems, at least so far. I don’t have anything objective to back up that it’s something I’m reacting to, and I can enjoy it in my diet again. Not for everyone, but totally fine for me. And I restricted it for six, seven years because it was so bad for me. It always affected me. It’s interesting how that goes.

Although I loved what you said, I still think maybe it’s worth dissecting a little more how things are broken up in your specific curriculum for your program. I know something that you post about a lot is like the neuro inflammation aspect. I’m assuming people get to learn about that. So, I’m just using a basic example. But if we had to break it down into some sections what can someone expect if they get to go through your program to learn?

[00:30:40] Brendan Vermeire: I’ll rattle off the overview of the curriculum, the outline, just give people more specific tangible idea.

Module one is setting the stage. It’s setting the framework of the clinical intake and the philosophy and what it’s all about, the client centered coaching strategies to make sure that we’re employing effective psychology and motivational interviewing into guiding people. Cause if we’re coaches and practitioners, at the end of the day, all we can do is talk at somebody to try to educate and empower them and motivate them and guide them through the obstacles that they will have to overcome to reach their goals.

Brain on Fire: Module Two

Module two is where things get intense. It’s like a 40-hour module. Even some of the doctors in the program are drowning in it because we dive deep into the subjects of brain inflammation or neuroinflammation, neuroplasticity, or how the brain rewires itself, thoughts become proteins and a phrase that I coined called microglial activation syndrome.

The point being, module two is really what sets the stage for the rest of the program, because we’re really studying neurophysiology and understanding this homeostatic equilibrium between this neurodestructive, neurodegenerative, neuroinflammation phenotype that occurs when there’s too much microglial activation, too much fire burning in the brain.

Why do we see that Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death for Americans? What is that? It’s chronic neuroinflammation, right? The chronic inflammatory, chronic disease crisis is driving just excessive degeneration of the brain. It starts in utero. It starts with the mother’s immune system, the mother’s microbiome. That’s why we see autism at 1 in 36. It’s a neurodevelopmental disorder that turns into a mental health disorder that turns into a neurodegenerative disorder.

So, we go deep into the underlying neurophysiology of what’s going on there, which is primarily regulated by the glial system of the brain. Basically it’s 40 hours of super deep insight into neuroinflammation, which is destroying Americans’ brains, versus neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, which is essentially how we heal, regenerate, and rewire the brain.

Once we learn that inside and out and what biomarkers we can objectively use to qualify what’s going on there, for example, there is a brand-new biomarker that just became commercially available and it’s a blood-based biomarker that is reflective of brain cell damage. We actually have biomarkers we can pull out of your vein reflective of damage going onto your brain.

Brain on Fire: Modules Three Through Five & Level Two

We have the objective tools to be able to qualify what’s going on here and track progress objectively. Are we moving these biomarkers in the right direction or not? That sets the framework.

And then the rest of the curriculum, it’s module three with methylation and understanding methylation and epigenetics and all the processes related to that. Module four – going deep into the organic acids test and how we employ that. Module five – gut/brain axis, which is probably my favorite subject.

Because in my opinion, when we’re trying to improve the neurophysiology. I always preach mindset, metabolism, microbiome, those are the three big pillars. If somebody is really struggling with their mental health, I would argue that it’s primarily a mindset issue, a metabolic issue, and/or microbiome/gut issue. The gut/brain axis is a huge module.

Then in the level two curriculum, we start going into mold illness, metabolics, psychedelics, trauma, and just keep going from there. So, that’s actually the curriculum right there, mapped out module by module.

[00:34:10] Detective Ev: Thank you. I’m glad I asked in a different way, because that’s very exciting, especially just the 40 hours dedicated of that one section. Again, if you know this guy, it’s not surprising. But it’s going to be good. Forty hours with him is 80 to 120 in the average course. You’re getting some bang for your buck there.

Also, I just wanted to say hi. Our friend Ryu’s on. We just started doing the live version of these podcasts. We’ve always done the prerecorded for three years. And Ryu’s been hopping on with us now. He said, “perceptions from beliefs collapse our reality or form it to reinforce their initial belief.” That was just about our comments from before.

Brain on Fire: Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs

One thing I had to mention specifically with the neuroinflammation. I can’t remember the first person, it actually literally might’ve been your course, when someone posed that idea to me. So, I actually hadn’t heard that before as a legitimate idea, or maybe it was finally getting solidified and it’s something you scroll over on social media. I don’t know. But for the first time I actually thought about that. I’m like okay, that’s interesting.

Then this is where the actual science part can be interesting, guys. Cause there’s a lot of studies out there done that you would have never heard about. And if you try to go find them, you can see some interesting stuff. So, I kept thinking, neuroinflammation. And maybe this was a stupid question at the time, but it turned out to be fruitful. I said, wouldn’t anti-inflammatory drugs then temporarily help mental health issues? And sure, as crap, I go on PubMed, I just type in this stuff. I search for a little while, and I find not only a study, I found a meta-analysis done that showed the temporary efficacy of NSAIDs on anxiety and depression.

For those that might not understand, NSAIDs are the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Those are like your Advils and stuff. Now, correlation is not causation, but let’s use some common sense. I take an Advil and the meta-analysis shows that these patients have better depression outcomes temporarily while the Advil’s working, right? Huh! I’m not saying that’s definitive, but interesting for this neuroinflammation thing. How fascinating is that?

And then, maybe a little embarrassing, but nonetheless a true part of my story, when I was abusing drugs, when I was younger, I don’t know how to describe this.

Brain on Fire: Making a Connection

This wasn’t something I set out to do, but I used to get headaches a lot when I was younger as well, a bunch of symptoms, right? The whole gamut, you know how it is. This was what I considered recreational; this might sound stupid to some.

But it was like a Friday night, I’m like 15. I’m smoking a bunch of weed and I would take three Advil. Now, no one in the world takes Advil for recreational purposes. But I felt amazing mentally when I smoked weed and took Advil. Knowing what we know, those actually can both be anti-inflammatory in many ways, which is really fascinating. I’m not recommending go do that. Take the course, learn the natural stuff. That might be a little more beneficial than popping three Advil.

But it was weird making that connection when I finally put all this together. I’m like, Dude, you used to do that because you felt so good. You were a 15-year-old; you had no profound thought about this at the time. But why would an Advil boost your mood? I literally felt better temporarily for the night. So, it’s really cool stuff.

You mentioned already, based on your curriculum, there’s a few things that maybe could be main contributors to the mental health thing. I’m curious if you could break down for us in this relatively short podcast, I know it’s a lot. I defined, at one point, when I’m trying to explain this in a school or something, I define it as non-circumstantial and circumstantial mental health issues. What I mean by that is I let kids know basically that you can be someone like me that didn’t really have any terrible circumstances in my life.

Brain on Fire: The Pharmacological Approach

I didn’t grow up in a mansion, but I grew up with two parents that loved me. It was a good household, man. I had friends at school. Most things were going well. And yet I still had severe health issues, mental health wise. And then my friend, I won’t mention his name, sexual abuse, physical abuse, dad dies. It was bad, right? Now, he also dealt with similar mental health symptoms before he passed away.

When you’re looking at this from a functional perspective, and using my nonclinical definitions of circumstantial and non-circumstantial mental health issues, do both of those things look the same when you look at the biochemistry of the person? Like if it’s a trauma or no trauma, would it still look the same or would they have different profiles?

[00:38:06] Brendan Vermeire: Yeah, it can. It gets pretty complex and messy. But we’ve been sold this narrative for a long time by the pharmaceutical industry that mental illness is the result of brain chemical imbalances. We don’t know why you have the bipolar, the schizophrenia, or the depression, or whatever. We don’t know why it’s heterogeneous in origin, multiple environmental and lifestyle factors seem to be implicated, but just brain chemical balance. You’re lacking serotonergic signaling or dopaminergic signaling or whatever.

So, for many decades, the pharmacological approach was using different synthetic drugs to modulate a lot of different neurotransmitter receptor activities – the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine agonists or antagonists, NMDA with the benzodiazepine, so on and so forth.

The point being that was all based on the previous leading theory of mental illness, known as the monoamine theory, which focuses on the monoamine neurotransmitters, the serotonin, dopamine, GABA, acetylcholine, so on and so forth.

Brain on Fire: Acute Vs. Chronic

While the monoamine theory hasn’t really been disproven, it’s not the whole picture. Now there’s these other theories that have taken over in the scientific communities. The monoamine theory – the outdated theory – we don’t really go off so much anymore. Now it’s all about the neurotrophic theory and the cytokine theory, which are two sides of the same coin.

The neurotrophic theory is looking at neurotrophic factors, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, nerve growth factor. These are different families of proteins that are basically regulating the formation and growth and remodeling of your brain cells themselves. BDNF is very neuroprotective. It’s helping with neurogenesis or the birth of new neurons and how these neurons are wiring and firing together. That’s the neurotrophic model, which is neuroprotective and neurodegenerative.

And then there’s the cytokine/chemokine theory, which focuses on the role that pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines, which are also proteins, are essentially causing the brain to burn up through excitotoxicity and neuroinflammation.

Why I focus so much on the microglial cells is they really regulate both. The analogy I like to use is a forest. A forest could either be thriving and growing – the foliage, the trees, the plants are all growing and proliferating, forming this complex, beautiful green ecosystem. That’s like a brain that’s thriving and growing with all of its neural connections, all of its folds and density as opposed to if there’s an out-of-control forest fire for years and years, the whole forest burns down. That’s neuroinflammation.

So, the question is, what is the balance? We need an occasional acute cleansing fire. If COVID is trying to infect your brain, it’s that cleansing forest fire that burns off the COVID. We need acute neuroinflammation. But it’s the chronic, dysregulated neuroinflammation that has no resolution that causes these issues.

Brain on Fire: The Physiology & the Psychology

With mental illness, there’s a lot of components of the neuro endocrine dysregulation and how all the hormones are changing the way that signals are being transmitted in the brain, which directly ties into the neurotransmitters as well, some more kind of the endocrine, the signaling molecule effect, but then the neurotrophic factors that are actually in charge of protecting and regenerating the tissues of the brain versus the neuro inflammation.

For more of a physiological perspective, those are the major components, but then what makes mental health more complex is that psychoemotional experience and how the thoughts influence the epigenetic expression and the psychological factor as well. At least if we create a framework and we have data points, we can start navigating people a little bit better and objectively qualify them.

Like, do you have neuro inflammation or not? Or rather, it’s not really black and white, you have or you don’t but how much do you have, how often do you have it? For example, you think about a lot of Americans that are chronically inflamed walking around with a C-reactive protein of five. That directly causes leaky brain, activates the glial system, drives neuroinflammation.

There’s an approach we have to take of addressing the physiology and the psychology. And that’s what makes mental health so fascinating.

[00:42:13] Detective Ev: It is. It sucks that so many people are suffering, but from a purely scientific perspective, it is fascinating. It’s amazing in a sense to me that my friend could have such a uniquely different experience than myself, and yet here we are presenting with dang near at times, identical stuff. It’s like, how can that happen?

Brain on Fire: A Dying Mental Health Stigma

It’s just becoming more open minded to things. At the very least, maybe in a little bit too of aggressive way, but the mental health stigma is clearly dying.

It was crazy going back after, especially the first major round of COVID the first year, it was odd getting to see it with kids. Because adults, we can be mean, but generally speaking, we’ve matured a little bit. We’re a little nicer to people, not always. But there’s a few less bullies as we get older versus high school, for example.

What’s fascinating is the difference in the way people perceived what I was saying, post pandemic versus beginning. Like even the jocks, the people that would screw around in the back, they don’t like it, but they’re being respectful, right? They’re being quiet. They got their arms crossed, yeah, I’ll listen at least. Or maybe they do care and they’re pretending they don’t. So, it’s affecting a lot of people.

And I think the more perspectives that we can have, that’s really what’s going to help. See the therapist if you have to. Do this kind of technical stuff. I think a mix of all of it would be really good.

I had a client at one time who was on an SNRI. She shared this publicly, so it’s okay. Her name’s Amanda. She basically had her dad pass away in a house fire when she was really young, and she was coming to me almost 10 years later. Now the mental health symptoms started then. She said, Ev, I went to a counselor. My parents had me do all this stuff. I got on the medication. I think I’ve done everything I can here.

Brain on Fire: The Most Scientifically Validated Lab

I was hesitant to take that on. That’s trauma, man. I want to make sure this person’s done what they can in that area, because that’s not me. I don’t know how to deal with that, not well. Then we ran the labs, and sure as crap, there’s a bunch of stuff to work on here.

So, most of these things, I think, end up being very much multifaceted. Because if you have someone like me that didn’t have the trauma, but has the mental health symptoms, the mental health experiences, including the panic attacks, that was traumatic. So, now I have that versus my friend who has the trauma. Do you think his labs are going to look great after he’s been dealing with this for all this time? It all ends up playing together anyway.

As we wrap up here a little bit, Brendan, obviously we’ll shout out where people can find you. The first thing I got to ask though, is you already talked about a biomarker. I don’t think we ever named it and then you mentioned the C-reactive protein. For someone who is so in this data, knows a ton, uses a bunch of labs, and is very big into blood work, I will never forget you saying, it is the most scientifically validated lab that we have, right? Which I appreciate.

What are maybe a top few markers, if you could narrow it down to that, that you think everyone should really be checking out and making sure is in a good range if they’re struggling with mental health?

[00:44:52] Brendan Vermeire: Absolutely. There’s a lot of them.

Brain on Fire: The Mental M.A.P.™

That’s where studying all the different brain organ axes, whether it’s the gut/brain axis or the liver/brain axis or the kidney/brain axis or the HPA/brain axis, right? There are all these different physiological axes which is why we have to take this root cause approach of assessing their physiology of which systems in your body are compromised because we have to work as close to the source of dysfunction as possible.

Maybe for one person, one of the prime drivers of their mental health issues is more metabolic and glucose dysregulation. So, we have to be looking at their insulin, their glucagon, their blood sugar, hemoglobin A1C, and all that. Somebody else, maybe it’s fatty liver issue. In which case, what are their liver enzymes and serum bile acids doing? Or for other people, it’s a kidney issue or a gut issue.

That’s why I created The Mental M.A.P.™. The Mental M.A.P.™, is essentially a proprietary lab panel. M.A.P. stands for micro glial activation profile. What I did was go scouring through the literature to identify which biomarkers are best studied in relation to mental illness and different types of neuroinflammatory disorders.

There’s some that are very common and well known, such as the C-reactive protein. It’s the best studied inflammatory biomarker on the planet. And yes, it is heavily implicated in virtually every mental health disorder and or degenerative condition known.

Then some of these more novel biomarkers, like I was mentioning before, Neurofilament light chain. It’s essentially a protein filament that’s released by damaged neurons that we’re measuring in the blood. It’s a direct marker of neuronal damage. So, if somebody has more neuro inflammation or TBI or concussion and more neuron damage, they’re going to have higher levels of this protein filament floating around in blood.

Where to Find Brendan Vermeire

Then there’s other things like homocysteine, for example, which is typically thought of as more of a cardiovascular prognostic marker because it drives endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis. But it also is an NMDA receptor agonist, so it can actually drive leaky brain and activate glial cells and drive this excitotoxic response in the brain.

We typically, in the functional world, think of it as a methylation marker. So, that’s the thing, there’s so many different biomarkers that, while not necessarily always specific to mental health, are very much implicated in a variety of mental health pathologies.

[00:47:08] Detective Ev: Awesome, thank you. We’ll have where everyone can find your stuff. Just to say it verbally, where can they find you, where can they learn about The Mental M.A.P.™? Then, where can they sign up for your program, if they’d like to do it? Give us all that.

[00:47:17] Brendan Vermeire: Website is metabolicsolutionsllc.com. Just on the homepage, we’ve got all the main links that you can get to wherever you’re trying to get to. And then my main social media platform is the_holistic_savage on Instagram, which, that’s just my main platform to communicate with the world. I put out a lot of good content on there. I’m not too hard to find.

[00:47:36] Detective Ev: Sweet. Then the signature question to finish this up. And man, with you, this could be a lot. I feel because you love the science, but you also understand that some of the foundational simplest stuff is the best things that we can do, I might not be too surprised by your answer. We’ll see.

Signature Podcast Question

The signature question is, if I gave you a magic wand and you could wave it and get every single person in this world to either start doing one thing for their health or you could get them to stop doing one thing, it’s one or the other, what is the one thing that Brendan Vermeire would get them to do?

[00:48:01] Brendan Vermeire: Honestly, I’m going to say going for a walk in nature almost every day.

It’s funny. Being like a fitness junkie, I have my fitness, my nutrition, my lifestyle regimen, my girlfriend says I’m like highly neurotic. Which I don’t see it that way. I think I’m obsessive, I’m passionate, I’m regimented.

Honestly, I think about my weightlifting or my yoga or my nutrition or sleep is sacred. I cannot function, nothing crashes my mental health more than not good sleep. But nothing boosts my sense of wellbeing more than just walking in nature. Even after this podcast, I’m about to go for a nature walk and reconnect with the planet, nature, sunlight, pseudocommensal exposure. So, walking in nature.

[00:48:50] Detective Ev: I usually don’t comment after that, but I do love that.

I don’t have regrets really. And this is such a funny regret to have. So, I wish I knew this when I was depressed because I love hiking now. Man, I never got out of my house, I never fricking left. I went where I had to go for a second, did some drugs, came back. That was it.

I want to know what would Evan Transue be feeling like if it was my most depressed day and I just walked out on the hiking trail and actually started doing that? Would it be possible to feel that same level of depression?

Conclusion

Now everyone’s experience is unique. I’m not saying it’s that simple. I just say, I want to know for myself. So, I wish I could go back solely for that reason. I’ve said this a million times, I just want to know would I feel this way cause I can’t buy it. I feel so different when I’m out there that I can’t buy it.

And then it begs an even bigger question for the next podcast. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing every day anyway? Tune in next time for the Health Detective Podcast. Na, I’m just kidding.

Thank you so much, Brendan. This was great, brother.

[00:49:40] Brendan Vermeire: No, thank you, my friend. It was truly a pleasure.

You can always visit us at functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com, on YouTube @FDNtraining, on Instagram @fdntraining, or on Facebook @FunctionalDiagnosticNutrition.

For more informational and functional health-oriented podcasts like this one, go to functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/health-detective-podcast/.

To learn more about us, go to functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/about-fdn-functional-testing/.

I was forwarded a Dr Mercola newsletter titled “In defense of low-fat eating”, which featured a presentation by Denise Minger at the Icelandic Health Symposium in March 2017, discussing possible merits of a high-carb low-fat diet. This presentation led me to revisit the talk and look into the research, including a paper by Walter Kempner published in 1975 titled “Treatment of massive obesity with rice/reduction diet program. An analysis of 106 patients with at least a 45-kg weight loss.”

Kempner called his dietary approach, the rice-fruit-sugar diet, which was designed to provide no more than 5 grams of fat, around 20 grams of protein, and a significant amount of carbohydrates within a 2,000-calorie daily intake. Notably, Kempner allowed for the liberal consumption of white sugar and dextrose, with some patients averaging 100 grams daily (and up to 500 grams in some cases). The macronutrient composition of the diet was approximately 94% carbohydrates, 4% protein, and 2% fat. That was Kempner’s base diet. For obese patients, he recommended the same rice-fruit-sugar intake but with calories severely restricted. Such patients were limited to 400-800 daily calories, about the same as liquid meal-replacement diets, followed by a gradual reintroduction of vegetables, lean meat, and poultry. Not exceeding 1,000 calories at any time.

The study involved 106 patients chosen based on their extraordinary weight loss of at least 45 kilograms. The average weight loss among these individuals was 64 kilograms. Kempner used an interesting measure of obesity called relative weight, with patients initially having a relative weight of at least 1.64. Results indicated an average weight loss rate of 0.24 kilograms per day, equivalent to approximately 1.68Kg (3.7lb per week).

The plan extended beyond diet to include daily exercise tailored to each patient’s capacity, and patients reported daily to local “rice houses” for monitoring. Kempner’s strict enforcement, including public posting of non-compliance, led to allegations of physical discipline against patients who strayed off-plan.

Blood pressure, blood glucose, triglycerides, and uric acid levels significantly improved. Notably, cholesterol levels remained unchanged, challenging the idea that dietary cholesterol affects blood cholesterol.

Walter Kempner’s rice diet was a controversial approach to weight loss. Its blend of extreme dietary modifications, discipline, and medical supervision yielded impressive short-term results, although such methods nowadays would likely result in complaints rather than results.

You can read the full article below.

Our brain is a marvel of nature, constantly working to process information, regulate our bodily functions, and keep us going day in and day out. To support this incredible organ’s health and functioning, we need to pay close attention to our diet. One crucial group of nutrients that our brain relies on is B vitamins. In this blog, we’ll explore why B vitamins are essential for brain health and suggest five foods that can provide these vital nutrients.

The Role of B Vitamins in Brain Health:

B vitamins are a group of water-soluble vitamins that play various roles in maintaining our brain’s health and functionality. Here’s why they are so important:

1. Energy Production: B vitamins, particularly B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), and B6 (pyridoxine), are essential for converting the food we eat into energy. This energy is crucial for powering the brain’s countless processes, ensuring that it functions optimally.

2. Neurotransmitter Production: B vitamins, especially B6, B9 (folate), and B12 (cobalamin), are involved in the synthesis of neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters regulate mood, memory, and cognitive functions.

3. Reducing Homocysteine Levels: Elevated levels of homocysteine in the blood are associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases. B vitamins, particularly folate, B6, and B12, help lower homocysteine levels, potentially reducing the risk of such conditions.

4. Brain Development: Folate, in particular, is crucial during pregnancy for the proper development of the fetal brain and the prevention of neural tube defects.

Five Foods Rich in B Vitamins:

2. Free-Range Chicken: Chicken, especially the breast meat, is a great source of B3 (niacin) and B6 (pyridoxine), which contribute to overall brain function and neurotransmitter synthesis.

3. Turkey: Turkey is another excellent source of B vitamins, particularly B3 (niacin) and B6 (pyridoxine). It also contains tryptophan, an amino acid that the body converts into serotonin, promoting mood regulation and cognitive function.

4. Leafy Greens: Vegetables like spinach, kale, and broccoli provide folate (B9), which is essential for brain development and reducing the risk of cognitive decline.

5. Legumes: Beans, lentils, and peas are rich in various B vitamins, including B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), and B6 (pyridoxine). These nutrients help support energy production and neurotransmitter synthesis.

How good is the evidence that flossing is effective? According to randomized controlled trials, what is the optimal toothbrushing and flossing sequence? 

“Over the years, it has been generally accepted that the use of dental floss has a positive effect on removing plaque. The American Dental Association (ADA) even reports that up to 80% of plaque may be removed by this method.” How do we know? You can use what’s called a split-mouth design, where each person can act as their own control—for example, by flossing only one-quarter of their mouth. Researchers asked study participants to stop brushing their lower jaw so that plaque would build up, then they were randomized to floss half and leave the other half as the non-flossed control. As you can see below and at 0:37 in my video Should You Floss Before or After You Brush?, not only did flossing cut plaque by about 60 percent after just three weeks, more importantly, it also halved gingivitis signs—bleeding on probing and another index of gum inflammation. Note, though, that this compared flossing to doing nothing. The study subjects weren’t allowed to brush their lower jaw. So, flossing is better than nothing, but is flossing plus brushing better than just brushing alone? 

“The advocacy of floss as an interdental cleaning device hinges, in large part, on common sense,” but common sense doesn’t go very far as a form of evidence. You don’t really know until you put it to the test. What’s the efficacy of dental floss in addition to a toothbrush? Surprisingly, only 3 out of the 11 studies the researchers looked at found a significant added benefit. 

The anti-flossers were positively giddy, comparing dentists who continued to advocate flossing in the face of the data to flat-earthers. Dentistry is a profession “in denial,” they wrote. “Over 80% do not floss regularly and it is hard to accept that these ‘the great unflossed’ were right and we, ‘the highly educated intelligencia’ may actually have been wrong…Flossing doesn’t work—get over it!” 

So, you’ve heard of the tooth fairy. Is flossing just some tooth fairy tale? The review showing that only 3 out of 11 studies found a significant benefit to flossing in addition to brushing was published back in 2008. Since then, more studies have found that while the evidence on additional plaque reduction is weak, there is at least some evidence that flossing with toothbrushing helps with gingivitis, which is a primary reason you want to reduce plaque anyway. Why might they not have found stronger evidence? “Trials were of poor quality and conclusions must be viewed as unreliable,” so basically, we don’t have good evidence either way because good studies really haven’t been done.  

Why not? Why wouldn’t Big Floss fund the studies? It appears that all floss works the same. If you compare unwaxed to woven to shred-resistant floss, they all have about the same plaque-removal efficacy, something all such studies appear to have found. So, why would a floss company fund a study to show that flossing in general is good if it can’t show that its product is better than another? You might just buy its competitor’s floss. 

Where do we stand today? “Although technically the evidence for flossing is weak, more importantly, the methodology and rigor of the studies examining flossing effectiveness are also weak.” For example, the studies didn’t assess the frequency or quality of people’s flossing. (You can see an incorrect way of flossing below and at 3:18 in my video.) The bottom line is that the American Dental Association continues to recommend brushing and flossing every day. But what’s the proper sequence? Should you floss before or after you brush? 

“Some dentists argue that flossing should come first because you stir up the particles and plaque that the toothbrush can brush away subsequently. The fluoride from your toothpaste is also more likely to reach the interdental areas [the spaces between teeth] if food wedged in between the teeth is removed before brushing.” Others, however, “recommend brushing be done first and their rationale is that brushing teeth first removes the bulk of the particles on the teeth and flossing afterward can remove interdental plaque better. It could also force the remaining bit of fluoride that is left on the teeth from toothpaste into the interdental spaces.” You don’t know until you put it to the test. 

An article titled “The Effect of Toothbrushing and Flossing Sequence on Interdental Plaque Reduction and Fluoride Retention: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial” reported that flossing first won—both in terms of getting rid of significantly more plaque, as well as getting more of the fluoride between the teeth. “When we use dental floss after brushing, much of the particles that are removed by dental floss would stay in place.” The bottom line is that flossing followed by brushing is preferred. 

What about oil pulling? Short answer: Don’t do it. Long answer: You’ll find out in my four-part video series listed below in Related Videos.  

Treating the cause of cavities by reducing added sugar intake is the most important thing for protecting your teeth, but is there anything else we can do to improve our oral health? See below. 

Introduction

[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Hello, my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast by Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. My name is Evan Transue, aka, Detective Ev. I will be your host for today’s show on how to respect the rest.

If you do not know me, never heard of me before clicking on the podcast for the first time, whatever it might be, I’m no one special in particular. I work at FDN, have my own FDN business, and do some public speaking for mostly students, but I’ve evolved into adults as well. However, I love speaking to students though. I’ll do that as long as they think I’m young enough to be able to do that.

I had seven different diagnosed health conditions at the age of 18. Basically, from 5 to 18, I got sicker and sicker. And I finally came to a conclusion that I needed to take my health into my own hands, not because I knew what I was doing, but because I knew Western medicine, through really no fault of their own, was not able to serve me in the way that I needed to be served.

Fast forward all these years later and thank God I found the FDN program. Now they can’t get rid of me. FDN helped me get to a place where I no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for any of the seven health conditions that I mentioned before and also possibly saved my mom’s life with what she was dealing with. That’s why I’m here, that’s who I am, and I absolutely love what we do.

Live Podcasts

With that said, today we’re going to be interviewing a gentleman named Scott Shortmeyer. I got to meet him in Boston at a biohacking conference that we were having FDN at. And then Kimberly Boem, someone who’s been on the podcast before, she was speaking there representing FDN. Absolutely fantastic conference. Very small but it was a lot more intimate than most conferences where it’s a five-minute conversation and you’re done.

Today we are talking to Scott Shortmeyer. I’m not going to read his bio because I read the bio live and this is a recording from that. If you guys want to catch our podcast live, make sure you’re subscribed to us on YouTube. Check out our Facebook page and then we will be doing them on LinkedIn soon. Everything that we do live will always be put on this podcast approximately one to two weeks later. But if you want to engage with us, say hello or ask questions, then of course going live is the way to do it.

Without further ado, let’s get to today’s episode.

Hello everyone and welcome to another live episode of the Health Detective Podcast. I think we are on episode number 271, which is crazy. We’re very lucky, I just get to do this part and then we have a wonderful team as Scott just got to meet today. That’s how we’re able to do all these episodes.

But it’s great to be able to talk to you today, Scott. I do have your bio. I usually record these things first and then do that afterwards. But when we’re doing the live part, I think it’s important that I read the bio live in case anyone tunes in with us today.

Respect the Rest: Total Life Load

Scott is a husband of 20 years, father of three girls. He’s a 20 plus year sales leader, podcast host of the Rest and Recovery Podcast, longtime endurance athlete, coach, and turned FDNP with the goal to enable clients to thrive and live this one life. Other than the father part, it sounds like we got a lot in common here so I’m thinking this is going to be a good podcast.

Scott Shortmeyer: Awesome.

Detective Ev: Thanks for coming on with us today.

[00:04:54] Scott Shortmeyer: I appreciate the opportunity to chat with you, tell a little bit of my story, and the value of FDN that I’ve found as well.

[00:05:03] Detective Ev: And that’s what we’ll start with first.

I’d love to hear your story, when the symptoms began, because most people do not get into this space without having a personal story. Most men definitely do not get into this space without having a personal story and most sales type men do not get into the space, that’s for sure. We have a few variables against us and yet here we are. I’d love to hear about what was going on.

[00:05:25] Scott Shortmeyer: I did notice that I think we need a men’s group of FDN folks.

But yeah, I think my awareness came in my late thirties because of, in a word, burnout. You mentioned all the things of my personal life. I was doing all of those good things not wisely during my thirties and basically blew up. My hormones were a mess, went into depression for about two years at the end of my thirties, early forties. Really the root cause of that was not accounting for what I call my total life load of all the things in my life.

Respect the Rest: The Natural Path

My career was taking off at the beginning of my thirties. My family was growing. We had three kids in three years. And then I had the wise idea of getting back into running. I didn’t do 5k’s, I had to go do marathons and triathlons. So, I couldn’t go just the simple route.

During that timeframe, I was basically not getting sleep – four or five hours of broken sleep for nearly a decade – and it showed up. I just wasn’t being wise with all the things and accounting for the total life load of the stress and lack of sleep.

My testosterone was like 200 to 225 at that time. For all intents and purposes, that was a quote/unquote “athlete”, granted, an everyday athlete and I just went sideways. Learned about health from my wife. She was doing some things for our kids because of the food allergies that they were dealing with and started getting into more of the holistic health. Discovered an MD that did a lot of that, some muscle testing, and she helped me get on a path over the next few years into that.

[00:07:13] Detective Ev: Let’s be honest, and I don’t know your personal story, so maybe it was something you were very open to. You are aware at this point then that you have these problems, you know what’s going on, but now you have to make this transition into more natural things, especially muscle testing.

I’m not condemning that, by the way; I actually do believe in that. But for many people, that’s a stretch. That’s a huge paradigm shift to do something like that coming from Western medicine. So, was there any resistance on your end in the beginning trying to transition to natural?

Respect the Rest: Normalizing the Abnormal

[00:07:41] Scott Shortmeyer: Oh, yeah. You’re reading different things, especially reading herbs and the stereotypical things when it comes to holistic or natural, and some limiting mindset on my side, probably on what it can or cannot do.

I think ultimately what we now as FDNs face is that cultural shift of the sick care model and normalizing feeling mediocre and that, oh, it’s just normal. Were there valid things? Like I had kids and didn’t sleep, sure. But it’s not normal, however normalized it’s become.

Getting into the natural, it was definitely different. I didn’t go kicking and screaming, but I also wasn’t driving the bus. My wife was the big driver on a lot of that initially. Eventually I woke up and realized, you know what? She’s pretty smart so I should probably listen.

[00:08:33] Detective Ev: I don’t like stereotypes, but this one works very well in the world of functional medicine. Us guys are a little more reluctant to these types of things. And women just seem to have this really wonderful, beautiful, intuitive healing side. They just get this stuff a lot easier than us.

I can’t tell you how many people, Scott, I’ve interviewed on this podcast. So, I always say the number is 95%, it’s probably higher. But the amount of people that I’ve interviewed on this podcast, which largely has been women, say the reason they got into the natural side of things is I just knew; it was a gut feeling; it just didn’t make sense. So, it wasn’t something profound that happened. They just knew instinctually something’s not adding up here. They finally had their final straw and then they’re willing to go try some different things.

Respect the Rest: Focusing on Sleep

By the way, for those that don’t know, I’m assuming the range is offhand, I actually don’t myself. I wanted to test this recently. You said, I think your testosterone was about 200 to 225. What would be a good range for a male at that age?

[00:09:30] Scott Shortmeyer: Definitely not that. I would say at least double 500 or so, 600 would be my guess. I know the range from a medical model is like 200 to 1100 or something crazy from a range perspective. And yeah, I would say anything over 5 would be much healthier. Obviously, it depends on the person.

[00:09:54] Detective Ev: Just know if you’re low on Western medicine range, that’s usually not a great sign.

Okay, so you have this paradigm shift, you’re becoming very open to the natural side of things. You did mention some specific things, but I’m always curious. What was the first thing that really got the needle moving for you in terms of, wow, I’m starting to feel better, this is getting me results? Was it a dietary thing or fixing that dang sleep you had going on?

[00:10:15] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah. It was really the sleep. That was a key driver that I focused on for an extended period of time, really dialing that in and understanding some of the simplicity and how well that works. It doesn’t have to be a pill or some fancy thing. I think sleep is just bookending your day and having some focused attention to it.

Respect the Rest: Self-Education

There were some habit changes that I probably was justifying staying up late because I earned it somehow, and justified the Netflix binge or whatever that compounded the negative spiral. But yes, sleep was definitely a huge one in realizing the cascade effect that has on your health and everything from hormones to physical recovery to whatever, mental state, especially.

So, I think that’s where I started to dive into it, started to do some research. I discovered some different people, the benefit of doing things like this, the social webs, and just doing some self-education and awareness really was a key driver.

[00:11:29] Detective Ev: Gotcha. I’m actually curious about one thing because I always like to know what was going through people’s heads at the time. I think that’s very relatable to the people that might be listening right now that are actively struggling.

You mentioned for almost a decade, you’re doing this 4 to 5 hours of sleep per night on average. And you almost viewed it as, I’m rewarding myself from things that I did during the day. Did you have any idea at the time that this wasn’t okay to be doing, because some people don’t get this? Many individuals are looking at four or five hours of sleep and they’re just thinking, as long as I can wake up and operate the next day, I’m fine.

Obviously, the body’s resilient, it can last for some period of time but not forever. So, did you even register this as something that was not going to work out permanently?

Respect the Rest: A Number of Reasons Why

[00:12:13] Scott Shortmeyer: No, definitely not at the time. And like you said, the famous words, I’m fine. And just because I was functioning doesn’t mean I was functional at all.

For a while it was a joke and it’s really not funny now. It’s actually pretty sad. I don’t remember my thirties. There’s literally gaps in my memory. Like, we’re sitting having family conversations with my wife about things we did with our kids. They’re telling me and I’m literally acting like I was not even in the universe. It’s just heartbreaking now because there’s only so much time we have with our kids. I’ve got three daughters and it’s just an omission that I can’t reclaim.

There’s a number of reasons why I was doing those things at the time, I think the psychology, mental aspect of it and some other things probably, but trying to reclaim past glories maybe in my youth or something.

[00:13:05] Detective Ev: I don’t recall anyone else ever actually describing it like that that I’ve interviewed, but I had a similar thing. Now, I always attributed it to being, when I was younger in high school, I had these mental health issues. I was abusing drugs as a result, and I always associated the lack of memory with that kind of stuff.

But looking back, I don’t know if it was that straightforward, because basically from 15 to 18 is this huge blur. And I wasn’t necessarily using drugs yet at 15, that started later in my life. And then that’s when things got really bad.

Respect the Rest: Becoming Aware

But I think, yeah, with that lack of sleep and the constant stress maybe your mind represses some of it, or you just can’t form these good memories. Cause we do know that part of REM sleep, for example, is forming memories from the day; it’s processing things. So, my gosh, if someone’s never sleeping, that actually makes a lot of sense that certain memories wouldn’t stick. And you’re right, it’s not funny.

I loved that last little bit of your bio. I don’t know if people caught that, but you talked about this one life to live. That’s something I’m really big on. You don’t want to be not remembering multiple years or a fricking decade of your life when it’s already incredibly short. I love the passion for that and I definitely get that.

Moving into the FDN thing then, we’ve already specified it’s one thing for us guys to get into this and be open to this, in this case, listen to the wife and say, okay, I need to do some of this. It’s a whole nother thing to say, I’m going to go and actually make this a career. I’m going to get the certification; I’m going to start a podcast.

What made you want to do FDN? How did you even find this?

[00:14:30] Scott Shortmeyer: It started with the podcast. I realized with the sleep piece, so many people I was having, I became aware, right? It’s that red car driving the street and all of a sudden you see red cars everywhere. And so suddenly I was like, I’m hearing in the conversations the normalization of sleep deprivation basically, and also the warrior badges of staying up late for the Netflix binges.

Respect the Rest: The Medical Director Program

I’m just hearing it more and then correlating how people felt. And I’m like, I got to dig into this more. Then I was like, I’m going to start a podcast, even if it’s just me learning. I’ll start talking and just having conversations because I’m smart enough to be curious, but maybe not the most brilliant guy. I was just a curious person.

Then I just kept investigating and decided I’m going to record these conversations and realized so many people are just friendly and want to have conversation to advocate health.

Then the Biohacking Congress, I know FDN is a pretty big partner with them. I discovered that through some of the folks I interviewed. Went to one as a media partner, actually saw Reed speak. I think it was October of ’21. We did a couple more events and then it was Boston where actually you and I crossed paths.

At that point, I was well into another year or so into really digging into this. Looked at other certifications that had the functional health space. When I learned more about FDN further and had conversations with you and Kimberly Boehm, who was there, she spoke and did a panel with her there, anyway, I just realized what FDN was.

The key differentiator for me was that medical director program. It didn’t feel like just habit structures, which is critical, right? It’s really foundational, that lifestyle. We have the DRESS protocol. But it was more about really having that competence and understanding the lab work and not just what it says, how to apply that to life. Then having that reach back on the medical director program, I think was really for me the pivot.

Respect the Rest: We’re the Biohack

And I was like, all right, I’m doing this now. Because it didn’t even cross my mind the first year or so even though I was looking at these certifications. I was like, I’m doing this and signed up within, I think, two weeks.

[00:16:52] Detective Ev: I think this is the classic like sales DNA, right? Logical yet impulsive.

I totally get this because it was the labs too that resonated with me. Listen, I think both of us would acknowledge that the habit change and mindset aspects are very important. In fact, most people don’t realize this, salespeople are huge on this. Most sales companies are very big on training the mindset stuff. That’s like who the motivational speakers are built for are these sales teams out there. We’re all listening to tapes and reading books.

But there’s a certain time where we are logic oriented and we’re trying to get some objective data. We’re always tracking numbers. And I think the labs, that’s what appealed to me. I said, okay, I can stop just playing this subjective game of I think I’m feeling better, I think I’m doing okay, I think my skin’s a little clearer, to, all right, I did this and the numbers either got dramatically better, maybe a little bit better. So, it’s not anything huge or it got worse. I can start tracking this and make a science out of my own body.

And that’s what we actually understand at the Biohacking Congress is that we’re the biohack, that’s the science of the self. We’re using the labs to figure out what’s going on with us. So, that’s amazing.

Respect the Rest: Loving the Learning

I didn’t realize that you were at the October ’21 one though. That would make sense because Reed did speak there. I was there and Raewyn, his wife, was there. That was the first biohacking Congress I got to go to. It was really special; it was fun. A few hundred people running around there and definitely a fun, nerdy group for sure.

While you were saying this, the podcast actually preceded even the FDN certification. I guess once you got into this in terms of realizing what it could do for you, you seem to have very rapidly developed somewhat of a passion for this in terms of sharing this information with others and continuing learning about it, it seems, right?

[00:18:32] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah, absolutely. It was like, the more I learned, I just kept peeling back the onion and just pursuing it and learning. I didn’t know what biohacking was and so got curious about that.

I probably got a little ahead of myself too and was trying too many things too soon. But that’s part of you get bought into something and you just jump right in. And I think probably up to that point, I was probably an over-consumer of supplements anyway. Now I know how to be a little more prescriptive about it or wiser about the utilization.

But yeah, I just got really enthralled with it, enjoyed the conversation. And every conversation, I was learning something new about the body and how it functions and just, honestly, the wonder of it of how complex but at the same time, straightforward, I think that the body is and just amazed how one thing can cascade into a myriad of things, right?

Respect the Rest: The Reticular Activating System

It’s not just throw a pill at this thing and everything will be fine, that symptomatic model. It was really understanding the why and really digging into it, then again, attenuating my ear to hear things. And I think I’ve heard this in other FDN conversations of suddenly you’re diagnosing people in every conversation. Not diagnosing, we don’t diagnose, but just, that could be an issue, that’s probably what’s going on.

[00:20:06] Detective Ev: It’s bittersweet. You brought up that comparison of you want to buy a red car and you see the red car everywhere. I think many people actually have probably heard of this, I learned this from Tony Robbins years ago.

That’s the reticular activating system, the RAS. It’s really big for goal setting. That’s why they say set your goal on a specific amount of money or a specific outcome, because then you’ll start seeing these things. To me, that’s very practical, very real. It’s not just woo-woo.

If I wanted to make a hundred thousand dollars a year, and I set that goal, I’m going to start seeing things that are going to lead me to that opportunity. But similarly, the reason it’s bittersweet is because you can do that with very positive goals, but the second that you realize some of the sickness where you experience it yourself, you start to see it everywhere.

It’s amazing to me when I talk to certain family members or friends that otherwise respect what I do, they’re not being rude, but they’re like, do you really think this is that big of an issue? I’m like, I see it in you. They haven’t even caught it yet in themselves. We’re just trying to fight it out here on the front lines and help people out.

Respect the Rest: Shocking Results

When you were going through the FDN curriculum, one of the things that we include in the cost of tuition is our lab tests to run on yourself. Now you were already doing a lot of research. You seem like a very big doer, like you’re like, hey, I’m going to do what I have to do. So, you probably already felt a lot better by then. But I’m curious, what showed up on the labs for you that was maybe notable things to still work on even when you’re going through the course?

[00:21:31] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah. And up to that point I was doing not traditional, little broader scope and biomarkers with blood work. But never did the stress and hormone profile and the other labs, the mucosal barrier.

I think the big one was, and it’s interesting the snapshot in time for the SHP, was my cortisol was completely tanked. Which when I think back at first, I wasn’t accounting for it. But I was in the midst of a very stressful time. I was training for a half marathon and then I was involved in a private matter, but it was intense that I was driving this resolution and I realized how I was stressed. It was personal and professional and so it was really intense. And I think it showed up in the lab for that.

Then I was surprised on kind of the result on the GI MAP and the mucosal barrier. I’ve had stomach issues in the past probably related back to the over training and under recovered stuff. But I think that was another one that was a bit of a shocker currently that I thought I had more or less resolved or improved considerably. That just reawaken me to that.

Respect the Rest: Perception of Stress

I was like, oh, maybe I am thinking backwards again. Okay, maybe yeah, there are some indicator lights happening that I was ignoring, even though I’m bought in and aware. You help justify things or rationalize at times.

[00:23:00] Detective Ev: I love all the labs, obviously we all do. But the SHP, the stress and hormones profile, in particular is very useful. Because I think for those of us that require that objective data to really make huge changes in our lives, when I saw that too, and I saw that my stuff was tanked, it was like, wow. You realize the weight of the situation.

And you used a phrase in the beginning of this episode, you said “life load”. I love that. So, I always say stress. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard someone say it as “life load”. I think that’s more relatable for the average person. Because the average person, just like we had to be taught, I almost have to teach them that stress can be, yes, it can be bills, but it can also be exercise. It can also be staying up late and they don’t register stress like that.

They register stress as I’m late on bills or I’m fighting with a family member. It’s only a few things. When you word it as “life load”, I think that’s a lot more relatable in the sense of, okay, look at what you’re doing. Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So.

Respect the Rest: Getting Started

You wake up at six, at the gym by seven, there for a couple hours, working a nine to five, got the kids when you come home, stay up late on TV, and then you do it all over again. Would you have a high life load? I think most of us would say yes, but that’s how the majority of people are living to some degree. Crazy to think about.

What are you doing now because I only actually have a basic understanding of this? Are you practicing as an FDN? Is it just the podcast? Do you take clients? I’d love to learn more about that.

[00:24:23] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah, I am a recent graduate. So, I’m in the process of onboarding clients. I do have a couple that we’re just starting to ship out lab work and work with them. I’ve had conversations with folks and some coaching but nothing with the labs just yet other than myself. But that’s in process at the moment.

[00:24:47] Detective Ev: I keep forgetting the timeline here. Yeah, obviously recent graduate. We were talking about just meeting you in person at least. I think that would have been just last year.

Good news is you have the kind of sales and business background. That’s normally the hardest part for people to learn. They can learn the health stuff all day. If you combine that, it’s easy. There’s no shortage of people who need this. It’ll be exciting to see what does the year from now look like for you.

Is there a specific demographic or niche that you’re focusing on? I know many of us guys will sometimes focus on working with other men. I didn’t know if that’s the case for you. What are you passionate about helping?

Respect the Rest: Athlete Focused

[00:25:21] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah, that is my intent. I’m not going to say no to people. And especially, back to the beginning, my wife is probably the biggest advocate. There’s her girlfriends and we’ve had conversations and friends. But largely men, 30 to 60 is my demographic to help prevent folks from doing what I did in my 30s. And now I’m not in my 30s. So, there’s different requirements and needs to live a long, healthy life.

And yeah, men, then niching down further as an everyday athlete focused on the health of athletes, working with some, having some conversations with collegiate and professional athletes as well as executive programs.

[00:26:09] Detective Ev: I’m definitely excited. I know we’re getting a little bit ahead, but I’d love to review this in six months to a year and see where you’re at. Because what’s cool about you is I can obviously tell you’re super into this and a smart guy. But there’s something I’ve noticed that obviously we already acknowledge men are sometimes reluctant to this and I think it’s because they don’t relate to it.

What’s cool about you is, good looking dude, healthy looking, and you don’t come across as nerdy as you probably are in the back of your head. I have my moments. I can fake it sometimes. And then I start talking too much. I’m like, oh crap, I got to shut up. And I think where this is really useful is a lot of men, they’re going to relate to someone like you more. Sales leader guy, athlete. Cool, I’ll actually learn from him. And it opens up a conversation that sometimes is very hard to have.

Respect the Rest: Putting it Together

Unfortunately, a lot of men, their first symptom that they ever take care of is a major diagnosis or a heart attack or something happens at work. That should not be the first symptom that men are getting help for. This needs to start much earlier and then we could have a lot better lives.

Same with women, right? There’s plenty of women out there that do the same thing. They’ll push until they get that diagnosis. It’s like holy crap guys, there was stuff going on for years. There’s a decade of half the time a human should be sleeping before things really got out of hand for you, right?

[00:27:21] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah, 100 percent. The drivers are different for men and women but at the end of the line the issue is similar. You know seeing my wife and friends and you got moms who are mom’s taxi and running all over and maybe have careers as well. So, that’s an intense thing.

And then for the men, yeah, we are definitely reluctant to speak up. We somehow have validated the lone wolf mentality and I’ve got this. And you probably do, but you do need support and collaboration and partnership and an ability to figure out when things are not going well and having the skill to understand or somebody to talk to, to address the indicator lights.

I think it started out the conversation of like just a lacked awareness, right? I didn’t see the red car. So, putting together what I call the science and the subjective of the lab work and then how I feel and trying to understand how I feel and what those things are and what’s driving those things.

Respect the Rest: Neglecting Rest

Eating something and feeling bloated an hour later is not normal, but we’ve normalized it, right? Or whatever, fill in the blank. Or they’re always on. I’m a, like you said, a doer. Wind me up and point in a direction and I’ll go. I think many men are like that, right? It’s just the get-her-done mentality. I’m not shunning the get-her-done or there’s other phrases that probably won’t bear repeating, but the just get-her-done mentality. But you have to account for the rest and all that, right?

I mentioned the podcast and you need hashtags, but #respect the rest. And I think that to me is a cultural issue that we have everywhere that we’ve culturally ignored rest and culturally accepted the 2 AM as a must every single day in order to achieve success and it’s not. Then you throw in all the other stuff like over caffeinate it and blah, blah, blah.

[00:29:25] Detective Ev: Really well said. And the causes of this are multifaceted, right? Because on one end, you have a very practical thing of just speaking for society. At one point, maybe 50 years ago, one income, 40 hours a week could have provided for a family. And generally speaking, that’s hard for a lot of people to do now. So, you have the very practical side of working, not resting, because some people have to.

I’ve been on both ends of this, right? I’ve been in that too, especially in the early twenties. That’s exactly what it was. But there’s a time now where things are going well, and I still find myself in that same thing. So, I think it’s okay to want to be a guy and go achieve things and do this stuff.

Respect the Rest: Limited Number of Hours

Scott Shortmeyer: Absolutely.

Detective Ev: We also do have to sit there and ask the question sometime like, when does this end? When does this become realistic? Is this sustainable over a long period of time?

We have a woman named Jenn Malecha, who is an FDN. Actually, she’s the one who got me into FDN. She’s been doing it for 10 years and she’s very driven, very focused, always been that way. Honestly, she inspires me, and I try my best to apply it to my own life. I’m still working on it, but I always hear like these statements from her.

What she does is, obviously, the hours in the day are very limited. Even if you didn’t sleep at all, which is impossible, you still only have 24 hours. She’s an extremely successful businesswoman, and what she realized is I can only add so much more in terms of hours, but I can make myself better and get a lot more efficient. I can learn more, I can learn to delegate certain things. And so, she’s extremely good at focusing on her zone of genius.

I don’t know if she follows this a hundred percent strict a hundred percent of the time, but her claim at least is I’m not working more than 40 hours a week and I’m doing three, two week vacations a year. And you’re like how the heck do you do this? How do you make more money?

I’m going to get better in those 40 hours and act like that’s my 24 hours, right? That’s what’s amazing too. We all do that, especially as guys I saw this.

Respect the Rest: Being More Efficient

And I love him to death. We’ve talked about this. My dad did the same thing. We’ll just keep pushing the hours until there’s no more. Then we forget that we can become more efficient. If you were going to become more efficient at the 16-hour mark, just do it at the 12th. Still get at least four hours of rest, right? Do it at the 10th or the 8th. You can always get more efficient and make those hours that you are doing very useful.

We don’t need to spend more time on that per se, but I just think that’s a really powerful thing. And I say it half the time, just as a reminder to myself that I can only add so many hours, but I can get pretty much unlimited in terms of more efficiency and knowledge at least while I’m here. I can keep learning, reading, studying, and those things can get better.

So, you can make all the money, you could still hit the goals, you can have fun, and have a life and health that sustains you for a long period of time. Because, man, what a nasty thing it must be to grind for 40, 50 years straight, get to the finish line and there’s no health left to enjoy all the things you’ve built.

[00:32:15] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah, and you hear it a lot when people retire not to get morbid. But they retire and within a few years unfortunately pass away. There’s a variety of reasons for that.

Respect the Rest: Contributing Factors

But I think going back to your point there’s a lot of contributing factors to burn out and your underlying why. It’s just really taking a step back and then having that healthy boundary to turn it off.

The beauty of technology is it’s always on; the terrible thing about technology is it’s always on.

[00:32:44] Detective Ev: Yeah. We have to be the ones consciously to say, okay, enough is enough. I’m not doing this right now because I can always access it.

And I think that’s really the core of all the issues. You can access work 24/7 now, you can access the TV, whatever. We were made that you can only access stuff roughly you know, depending on where you live, maybe 8 hours to 16 hours a day based on the light. And then you have to go to bed, you got to chill out. But we don’t have that luxury anymore.

With all that said, I want to shout out your podcast and talk about some of the things that you love nerding out on there and what people can expect. I always shout out podcasts on our podcast. The way I look at it is this is a modern form of TV. The reason I compare it to that is because you don’t just watch one TV station or one show. You probably have a lot of things you like. So, I love for other people to explore other podcasts and listen.

Yours is called the Rest and Recovery Podcast, correct me if I’m wrong. And what can they expect to hear on there? What are some of the topics you go over?

Respect the Rest: Foundational Elements of Rest & Recovery

[00:33:36] Scott Shortmeyer: I would say four foundational elements that correlate to rest and recovery, which is sleep, nutrition, mindset, and fitness. To have a lot of experts in all those domains to speak to how to live this one life, that’s the ultimate mission and how to equip people with the awareness, the skill, to be able to rest well and apply it to their lives, whatever is most applicable.

So, I think using that tool of the podcast, to be able to listen and hear experts and how they explain it in their life, and then how you can use it.

[00:34:14] Detective Ev: We have been trying to shift the podcast a little bit in a positive way. Because what we’ve realized after all these episodes is, and I think this is an evolution of the space, just the functional medicine space in general. I think we’re keeping more people, adding people, at not a significant rate.

Honestly, I think there’s like a small percentage of the population that’s really into this. I know people are coming in left and right. It seems like that. But if you go out and walk on the street, you talk to 95 percent of people, they can’t even define functional medicine, let alone tell you what people like us do. It’s still very limited.

All of that to say, I think the people that are here, they’re here to stay and they’re wanting more nerdy topics. They’re wanting to dive a little deeper into stuff.

For our last bit of time here, maybe roughly 10 minutes or so, one of the things clearly that you’re focused on is this rest and recovery aspect. Obviously, that’s the name of the podcast. And we can start with the super fundamental stuff.

Respect the Rest: The Importance of Natural Light

If you’re not even trying to go to bed at 9 or 10 o’clock you’re already shooting yourself in the foot. If you’re waking up to an alarm three hours before you should, again, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Those are things that you got to work on no matter what. There is no FDN coach out there that can fix that for you, you got to get that down.

However, there are many people, including myself at one point, that are trying to do the best that they can with the sleep. They’re like, I’m going to bed on time, and I still wake up and I don’t feel good.

So, as you are starting to work with people more and more, I’m sure you’re going to be doing the FDN foundational stuff. That’s fantastic. What are some of the more advanced things maybe you’ve learned in terms of rest and recovery that the average person just might not have ever heard of and they can walk away with today and not just say, all right, I need to get eight hours. I get that. But maybe some hacks or something that can help them along the way.

[00:36:02] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah. There’s a spectrum of options out there from zero costs to pretty expensive.

I think some of the simple ones that people overlook because it just seems remedial, but it’s so important is light. I say bookend your day. When it comes to habits or dealing with the sun, people don’t realize how important morning sunlight and evening light and how that triggers your whole body, the intelligent, ornate design that we have.

Respect the Rest: Designed to Work with Nature

I’m a Christian, so I believe we’re designed by God, a pretty smart guy, I would think, who set this up in giving us nature to work with our body in our circadian rhythm. How important things like grounding is to help with our nervous system getting us regulated properly so we can have that rhythm throughout the day to be more effective throughout the day and then when it’s time, more effective at powering down and going to sleep.

[00:37:09] Detective Ev: You mentioned around the middle of the show about some things are actually very straightforward, despite how complex they can get. And it is hilarious, right? The straightforward part of this is, get outside in the morning, get outside at night. Okay. You don’t need to read anything; you don’t need to do anything else. Just do those things. It’s as natural as can be and it will work out for you.

In fact, the morning light routine was the only thing ever that fixed the sleep cycle for me. I always had issues with that. Even eating well, doing all the supplements, it was a pain in the butt for me trying to fix that. And after about a month of doing it, I was good to go. I could effortlessly go to bed at 10, wake up at six and I’ve never looked back since.

We could give a whole podcast on this easily, but for those that might be either newer to the whole light thing, especially the morning light, or maybe they’ve heard it, but it almost seems too simple. They’re like, no way this can be that big of a deal.

Respect the Rest: Resetting our Rhythms

You just mentioned this is one of the most important things to you. And I would second that. I always talk about this. What’s the science behind that? Why do we have to get out in the morning even if we have busy lives, kids, work? So, why do we have to prioritize that?

[00:38:35] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah. Circadian health is a growing discussion point that I’ve been reading on and realizing how the eyes are the windows to our soul and how our entire body has a circadian clock. Each thing relies on that and the importance of the light as being that trigger point.

Getting out into the light and getting the body to start functioning as it ought to, it has that innate intelligence to operate in a certain way. And our modern lifestyle gets it out of whack. That’s a good way to reset or reclaim our rhythms and get the body in it.

I’ve got a client, before I had the FDN, was doing some sleep coaching, and that was one of the things that helped him as well. He had terrible insomnia. Every morning would go and do that, and it worked significantly for him in really helping his health overall.

[00:39:12] Detective Ev: Nice. I actually say the same thing to clients because many of them, their sleep’s not great. Certainly, they’re not ready to wake up at sunrise, especially if it’s in the summer. They’re like, that’s 5:40 AM. Do you understand that? And I’m like, yes, I do.

I always say, have you ever woken up to an alarm you didn’t want to wake up to before? They’re like, oh yeah, I pretty much do that every day anyway. I say, perfect.

Respect the Rest: Entrained with the Light

So, what we were going to do is we’re going to set that alarm for right around sunrise, like five minutes before. You get out, just go out for 20, 30 minutes, it’s all I’m asking, no glasses, no sunglasses. Then you can come back in and sleep, I don’t care.

Actually, this is something I just came up with – that whole going back to sleep part – because I figured it wouldn’t matter long term. And I’ve seen a hundred percent success rate with this within a month. It does take up to 30 days for some. But when these people do this, even if they come back in after the 30 minutes and need to sleep, really, it’s just a nap at that point.

What happens is their circadian rhythm starts becoming entrained with the light. And then all of a sudden, almost universally, they have this day, roughly two weeks in where they’re like, hey man, I woke up without the alarm today, and I didn’t need the nap, and I went to bed on time.

The body was made for this, guys. So, when you give it a chance to do this, that’s just how it works. It’s like when we eat real food and we feel fantastic, that’s not something so profound. We’re just doing what we were supposed to be doing and feeling how we were supposed to feel.

So, are you blocking the blue light at night? Are you fully into this then?

[00:40:30] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah. I was just going to go there.

Respect the Rest: Overdosing of Blue Light

Some relatively inexpensive ways to help with that is the overdosing of blue light is what I call it.

We’re staring at these screens, our phones, computers all day and it’s constantly triggering our brains to think it’s noon. That’s the negative about it. Just like we’re saying the morning sun sets it, we’re doing this morning sun perpetually with this overdosing of blue light and not having those other spectrums of light throughout the day.

So, a good way to mitigate that is blue blocking glasses. There’s a company called Wave Blocker. Sorry, that was for EMF. EyeJust is what I use, screen protectors. You can put it on your device. I got both. And I recommend it to a lot of people just because it’s a simple passive way. It’s inexpensive. And it’s just that, to me, pennies add up to dollars. Over time you do a couple little things that are relatively inexpensive and that is going to compound over time positively.

[00:41:30] Detective Ev: It’s a shame that, not really in our space, I think most people are open to it, but the general public, some of this stuff can oftentimes look so extreme. Not so much the sunrise thing but the second I start talking about blue light blocking glasses, this is still weird.

And I first learned about this six years ago when I was just applying anything I learned at the time. Then there’s people that were on it way before that. It’s a shame that it sounds extreme because when you look at it, this is as natural as possible, not wearing the glasses, but blocking certain parts of the light spectrum at night. That’s why we call it night. It’s dark, there’s no more light. And we invented stuff.

Respect the Rest: No Sunglasses

My favorite quote by Dr. Jack Cruz is that human beings are the only animals smart enough to invent artificial light and dumb enough to live under it. It is amazing. What an interesting thing to be smart enough to do this. Then we’re like, oh, let’s live under it 24/7. It’s wow, digging our own grave.

[00:42:22] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah. And to piggyback off that, like the culture thing and talking glasses, the other side of that, and I think Dr. Jack talks about it, is stop wearing sunglasses. You say that and people are like, what are you talking about?

It’s just like, you wear sunglasses that block the sun. No, if you don’t wear sunglasses, your eyes adapt. So, when you’re wearing the sunglasses, you’re creating, I’ll call it a deficiency, that’s not the right term, for your eyes to adjust to the natural light and to work with the natural order of the circadian rhythm.

[00:42:57] Detective Ev: Yes. That one even meets resistance in the functional space. Again, those people are normally open to the blue blockers. Even if they don’t do it, they’re like, okay, I respect you. I get it. I would do anything for my health too, if I felt that I needed it.

The sunglass one, people can’t get over the whole style or whatever. But it was hilarious because six years ago, I ditched the sunglasses and I put on blue blockers. It’s very interesting, especially when you’re in your family that might not be. I was living with my parents at the time, I was like 21. It just looked so odd.

Respect the Rest: Signals Through Your Eyes

Wait a second, so you take off your glasses during the day now and you put them on at night. Obviously, they’re not sunglasses, but you know what I mean? And the answer was yes.

People don’t realize when we were talking about the increased rates of skin cancers and burning and all this stuff, they aren’t told that one of the ways your body picks up the signal to create melanin to protect you from the sun is through your eyes.

Scott Shortmeyer: Yep.

Detective Ev: It’s fascinating when you realize how simple that is.

The other thing too is I hear all these people thinking about, my eyes are so sensitive. The first thing I say with that, I’m like, if your eyes are sensitive enough that you’re bothered outside, how did you think you were going to make it through life if we just never invented sunglasses? How did your ancestors make it here? Do you not think that there’s something wrong with that?

[00:44:07] Scott Shortmeyer: Yeah, that should be the indicator light on the dashboard saying something is off.

[00:44:12] Detective Ev: Yes, I have also found people rejoice in this, I think, 100 percent success rate with that sensitivity eventually going away.

If you guys are interested in that, what you start with is exactly what Scott recommended. You start with the morning light, right? Tell your body what time it is. Let those eyes get adjusted. You finish with the sunset; you get outside as much as you can. Expose yourself to actual light. I’m not saying cause yourself pain, don’t be stupid. But you want to progressively work towards not needing these sunglasses.

Respect the Rest: A Game Changer

I know what people mean when they say the sensitivity thing, because that would have happened to me years ago. But it’s been so long now, it’s amazing to me when I’m standing outside with someone that is actually complaining because of how bright it is. I’m like, dude, I’m not thinking about this at all. It wouldn’t even register.

And I can’t help but think that I’m not only this arrogant, but I’d have to think we’re the correct ones here because we weren’t born with a pair of sunglasses when we came out of our mothers. So, I’m going to guess that maybe we weren’t naturally supposed to have those, and we should be able to see outdoors. Radical idea, I know, but to me that just makes sense.

So, I appreciate you nerding out with me on that. I’m sure we could talk about light forever. It’s cool to me always when someone brings that up as the first thing when I talk about what’s something really important to you because it is for me. It was a game changer. My health would not be the same without it.

And I’ve taken it, this really is extreme, the thing that I did that I’m actually most proud of with the light stuff in the same way is in the beginning of the pandemic, I camped for 60 days. And I wasn’t living outside all day. I went in and worked. But even when I worked, I had the computer set up at the window. I wanted to know how good can I feel when I am outside all the time.

Respect the Rest: Modifying Needed Sleep

And there were seven nights that I missed due to lightning storms. I figured not a great experiment if I die. There’s 53 days that I actually got to do that. At first it was a little uncomfortable, right? Your body getting used to this, I’d never camped before. I went from no camping to camping for 60 days straight. And so, it was weird.

Then once I adjusted, the biggest thing that was crazy to me, I needed about maybe two hours less sleep outside than I did inside, and I felt better. I think that was just because of the light, right? Because grant you, it was summer. So, I’m sure this wouldn’t always be the case.

But it wasn’t really dark until 9:40 here. And the first light’s coming up at 4:50. So, I’m only getting this six, six and a half hours of sleep where normally I would need eight, eight and a half. I felt fantastic, more recovered, looked better even than now. I just, I did, I looked healthier. And this is what we were supposed to do naturally. I did it for 60 days and I feel the best I ever have in my 20 something years on this earth.

[00:46:44] Scott Shortmeyer: That’s an awesome testimony. It’d be interesting if you had wearable data to see the different splits on sleep with REM and deep sleep and how quality that was. It probably was high if you were waking up, rested, the quality of sleep.

Where to Find Scott Shortmeyer

[00:46:58] Detective Ev: Listen, Scott, I always talk about my highs and lows, so I’m thankfully doing very well right now. Everything worked out.

But the funniest part is I ran labs before I did the experiment. I never ended up running the same labs afterwards because I was just broke during the pandemic. Like I was speaking at schools for a nonprofit beforehand. I went from like, all right, this is going well to, wow, this sucks. So, failed experiment in that sense, but subjectively and anecdotally, it went pretty well.

Maybe we’ll give it another try if my parents are willing to have me move back again to go camp in their backyard. That was an interesting one to explain to my dad. He said, yeah, you’re allowed to move back, but why exactly? To sleep in our backyard? That was a foreign concept to him.

So, Scott, with that said, obviously you’re on the market, you’re helping people, they can now work with you. Where can they find the podcast or contact you? And then obviously if they wanted to work with you, what’s the process there?

[00:47:44] Scott Shortmeyer: The podcast is the Rest and Recovery Podcast on all the different channels. Website is berestedbewell.com. And then my functional health practice is called Causeway Health – bridge to a better you. That website is causewayhealth.co. You can find me there.

Conclusion

[00:48:01] Detective Ev: Sweet. Scott, thank you so much for coming on.

Seriously, if you remember six months, one year down the line, I think you’re probably going to be someone that just takes this and runs with it. I have a very strong feeling about that. So, I’d love to see where you’re at and how that’s working. It’s always great to talk to another guy who’s doing this because everyone has health issues. we need more men in the space helping other guys.

[00:48:19] Scott Shortmeyer: Absolutely. Evan, I really appreciate the opportunity to be here, man. And I’d love to take you up on that.

You can always visit us at functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com, on YouTube @FDNtraining, on Instagram @fdntraining, or on Facebook @FunctionalDiagnosticNutrition.

For more informational and functional health-oriented podcasts like this one, go to functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/health-detective-podcast/.

To learn more about us, go to functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/about-fdn-functional-testing/.

Think adopting healthier eating habits means saying goodbye to pizza forever? Think again! You can eat better versions of your favourite foods – and healthier pizza is a good place to start.

Creating a ridiculously scrumptious pizza that will also nourish your mind, body and soul boils down to three main components: crust, sauce and toppings. Let’s dive right in so you can start formulating the most delicious, satisfying pizza of your life!

Step #1: Healthify Your Pizza Crust

You can make a simple pizza crust with so many nourishing ingredients. Zucchini, cauliflower, sweet potatoes or gluten-free flours are just a few items that build a tasty base. Just add some spices and chopped herbs and you are all set! If you need some inspiration, check out Meghan’s Best Gluten-Free Pizza Crust Ever here.

When you are running short on time, keep it simple. Sliced vegetables, like roasted eggplant rounds or portobello mushroom caps, can also work beautifully as a makeshift crust. Take it from me, these Grilled Portobello Mushroom Pizzas (at the bottom of this post) can do no wrong!

Step #2: Healthify Your Pizza Sauce

Stop! Put down that processed, sugar-filled jar of pizza sauce. There are so many healthier options. A few spoonfuls of crushed tomatoes will work perfectly, and so will salsa, hummus, mashed avocado, pesto or even a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Step #3: Healthify Your Pizza Toppings

Now that you have a delicious crust and a yummy sauce, all you have left are the toppings! Load up on vegetables like peppers, mushrooms, onion, cherry tomatoes or zucchini. Chopped fruit like roasted plums or pineapple will add an awesome hint of sweetness. And don’t forget your greens! A handful of arugula on top can add the perfect finishing touch.

To make your healthier pizza a complete meal, ensure you include a source of protein within your toppings like lentils, crunchy roasted chickpeas or diced chicken. When it comes to pizza toppings, the sky is the limit. Get inspired with some of my favourite combinations here.

How do you healthify your pizza? What are your favourite toppings? Share your tips with us in the comments below!

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What did double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials on berries and the first clinical study on the effects of berries on arthritis find? 

How might berries improve human health, healthy aging, and quality of life? It may be due to their anti-inflammatory effects, since inflammation can be an underlying contributing factor in the “development, progression, and complication” of a number of chronic diseases.  

As I discuss in my video Berries for Inflammation and Osteoarthritis Treatment, higher intake of anthocyanins—the brightly colored pigments in berries—has been associated with anti-inflammatory effects, which “may be a key component” underlying the associated reduction in chronic disease risk. But these are all just associations. You can’t prove cause and effect until you put it to the test. 

A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial found that blueberry smoothies could turn off inflammation genes. At 0:48 in my video and below, you can see a graph measuring the expression of pro-inflammatory genes in white blood cells taken from individuals before and after six weeks of drinking placebo smoothies without any blueberries. Those study participants in the placebo group got worse over time; six weeks later, more inflammatory chemicals were pouring out. In contrast, the blueberry group started out about the same at week zero, but after six weeks of daily blueberries, their expression of inflammatory genes went down. 

Wrote the researchers, “In addition to attenuating inflammation, our findings from this study demonstrate that blueberry consumption was able to significantly decrease the levels of free radicals in the whole blood,” the bloodstream. There was no change in the placebo group, but after six weeks of blueberry smoothies, the amount of free radicals in their blood was extinguished by half, as you can see in the graph below and at 1:27 in my video. Does all of that antioxidant and anti-inflammatory power actually translate into clinical benefits? For example, what is the effect of blueberry consumption on recovery after excessive weight lifting–induced muscle damage? 

In a randomized cross-over study, participants were given either a blueberry smoothie or an antioxidant-matched placebo smoothie 5 and 10 hours before and again 12 and 36 hours after exercise-induced muscle damage. The smoothies were either about a cup and a half of frozen blueberries, a banana, and apple juice, or, for the placebo version, they were made without the berries but with added dextrose and vitamin C to match it for calories and antioxidant power. Even so, the blueberries worked better at mopping up free radicals. As you can see in the graph below and at 2:16 in my video, the oxidative stress without the blueberries went up and stayed up, but it came right down with the blueberries. Great, but we care about the recovery of muscle strength so we can jump right back into training. On blueberries, there was the same drop in peak torque 12 hours later, but a day later, there was a significantly faster restoration of peak muscle strength, demonstrating that the ingestion of blueberries can accelerate recovery, which may be especially relevant to athletes who compete over successive days. 

That’s all well and good, but what about using berries to treat inflammatory diseases like arthritis? Yes, they may have protective effects against arthritis in a rat, significantly reducing “paw volume”—how swollen their paws get when injected with some inflammatory irritant, as you can see in the graph below and at 3:06 in my video—but there had never been any human arthritis berry studies until now. 

Remember that amazing study that showed that strawberries alone could reverse the progression of precancerous lesions? The strawberries were dramatically downregulating pro-inflammatory genes, as you can see in the graph below and at 3:27 in my video. Give strawberries for six weeks to people with diabetes, and not only does their diabetes get better, but their level of C-reactive protein, which is a marker of systemic inflammation, also drops by 18 percent, as you can see at 3:32 in my video. 

Even a single meal can help. As you can see below and at 3:46 in my video, if people eat a largely unhealthy breakfast, their level of inflammatory markers goes up over the next six hours—but less so if just five large strawberries are added to the meal.  

So, can strawberries improve pain and inflammation in confirmed knee osteoarthritis? Osteoarthritis patients were randomized to get about a pint and a half of strawberries a day for 12 weeks, and certain inflammatory markers plummeted, as you can see below and at 4:16 in my video. Did they actually feel any better, though? There were significant reductions in constant pain, intermittent pain, and total pain. The first clinical study on the effects of berries on human arthritis found that a “simple dietary intervention, i.e., the addition of berries, may have a significant impact on pain, inflammation, and overall quality of life in obese adults with OA [osteoarthritis].”  

In my Daily Dozen, I recommend eating at least one serving of berries every day—either ½ cup fresh or frozen. What else can berries do? Check out the Related Videos below. 

And, for more on arthritis and inflammation, see below. 

When it comes to family meals, quickly creating nutrition-packed meals that satisfy the varying palates of many mouths can often feel like a heroic effort. It doesn’t have to. The Choose Your Own Adventure Meal is a fantastic low-pressure family mealtime solution that doesn’t require extra hours in the kitchen. All you need is a small spread of ingredients linked with a common theme and each family member can customize their DIY dinner. It’s win-win all around.

Beyond the ease it brings to family mealtime, this style of dinner has many other hidden benefits:

Getting Started: 5 Quick Steps to Setting Up  Choose Your Own Adventure family Meals

Step 1: Pick a base for toppings.

This can be rice, quinoa, noodles, potatoes, pizza dough, tortillas, soup broth, lettuce cups, and many others. Choosing from what you already have is the best place to start to reduce food waste and make use of your leftovers.

Step 2: Pick a theme to guide the flavours.

A quick scan of your fridge and pantry will give you an idea of which direction to take. An easy trick is to think in terms of regions of the world such as Latin American, Italian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Southeast Asian, etc. to guide your seasoning choices.

Step 3: Set up your toppings.

Grab a sheet pan, muffin tin, or series of little bowls and set out your toppings.

Step 4: Provide a delicious sauce.

A yummy sauce or salad dressing always adds a punch of flavour and really brings the adventure together. Think of a simple salsa or hummus, perhaps a lemon tahini dressing, a Thai peanut style sauce made with almond butter, or a curry infused coconut kefir. Get in the habit of having a few prepped in the fridge and freezer to save time.

Step 5: The fun begins!

Start building your family meals, adding toppings and adventure chatting.

10 Fun Themes for Choose Your Own Adventure family Meals

Your themes will depend on your household tastes, but these are some flavourful and easy ideas for family meals to start with!

Taco or Tostada Night

Get adventurous with tacos or tostadas. Optional toppings include:

• black beans
• chickpeas
• avocados or guacamole
• sweet potatoes
• bell peppers
• hot peppers
• fresh summer corn
• purple cabbage
• radishes
• cherry tomatoes
• herbs
• shredded chicken
• grilled fish
• roasted cauliflower
• spice rubs
• peaches
• pineapple
• mango
• dairy-free cheese

Find more inspiration here.

Build A Rice Bowl

Rice or quinoa works great as the base, or you can have fun with other gluten-free grains like millet, buckwheat, wild rice, or sorghum. And don’t forget about cauliflower rice! From there the themes are endless, including:

• Rainbow rice bowls
• Buddha bowls
• Burrito bowls
• Sushi rice bowls
• Mediterranean quinoa and lentil bowls
• Falafel or kofta bowls
• Hawaiian poke bowls

Find inspiration here.

Tater Toppers

Roast and halve sweet potatoes and set them on the table for topping. Any build-a-bowl theme from above can double up as a tater topper theme. Some yummy topping ideas include:

You can also top your sweet potatoes with leftover chili, curry, or other types of stews. There isn’t much that doesn’t play along with sweet potatoes!

Dressed Up Toast

Take any of the above themes to create an array of toppings for a super quick Choose Your Own Adventure meal on your favourite gluten-free bread. Find more inspiration here.

Noodle Bar

Cozy up in the winter to a nourishing and warm soba noodle bowl or freshen up in the summer with your own gluten-free pasta primavera bar with gorgeous summer veggies.

Salad Bar

Photo: That Clean Life

Seriously, how much fun did the salad bar used to be when you were a kid? Now you can set one up at home with even better ingredients and a homemade vinaigrette or two.

A good salad has a mix of flavours and textures. Try combining fresh vegetables with cooked elements like roasted sweet potato, squash, beets (or any root vegetable or winter squash), beans and grains, cooked tofu, tempeh, or other vegan meat substitutes, or chicken, fish, or eggs. Add toasted nuts or seeds for crunch, and dried fruit for a pop of sweetness.

More salad ideas:

Breakfast for Dinner

Top your own gluten-free waffles, pancakes, or savory crepes with either sweet or savory toppings. Or, create a smoothie bowl bar with homemade coconut kefir, frozen berries, homemade granola, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, and whatever else you like.

You can find loads of breakfast for dinner family meals below:

Lettuce Wraps

Go grain-free with this taco/wrap type vessel. Lettuce is happy to wrap its way around so many flavours. Try setting out falafels or kofta with an assortment of grated raw veggies, hummuses, lemon tahini dressing, or a coconut kefir raita. Toast some nuts and get wrapping!

Avocado Smash

This is a handy, no-cook summer meal. Like sweet potatoes, avocados work with many of the same flavours for building a bowl or tater toppers. Simply halve, pit, and serve each member their avocado base and get topping for a delicious midsummer dinner.

Hot Pot Night

Start with a soothing homemade broth and watch in delight as your family adds their own pre-cooked noodles, tofu, seaweed, perhaps some miso, and a rainbow of veggies for their individual bowls. Or, go rustic Italian style and create personal minestrone bowls using a spread vegetables, stewed tomatoes from a jar, fresh herbs, lentils or legumes, and your favourite gluten-free pasta. Use a Crock-Pot to set the broth on the table and set your toppings around it.

You can grab 22 noodle recipes right here.

Tips for Success and Fun With Choose Your Own Adventure Family Meals

Photo: Found Her Productions

• Ensure you always include a couple of items each family member likes. Kids are put at ease by familiarity and their confidence to try some of the newer ingredients will grow with time.
• Get your family involved with choosing the theme and selecting the toppings. The more children get to participate in the kitchen, the less apprehensive they are to try new things.
• For more selective and cautious eaters, a breakfast for dinner theme can be a winning place to start. Homemade waffles or pancakes can be made ahead, frozen, and then easily thawed for a last-minute spread of nourishing delights.
• Talk about food in ways that appeal not just to taste but to all your senses. What colours do you see? What smells do you notice? What happens when you add these two flavours together? What sauce will you choose? What are you going to name your dish? This can facilitate curiosity without a feeling of pressure to taste immediately.
• Be patient and don’t pressure. If you find kids selecting only one or two items, that’s okay. The whole idea of the Choose Your Own Adventure meal is experimenting and having fun. Their palates will broaden in time with trust.
• Watch your quantities. A little goes a long way here. No need to spend too much time creating toppings or setting out too much of each. The magic is in how quick and low fuss these types of family meals are designed to be.
• Choose toppings that you personally like. Repurpose any topping leftovers into a lunchtime salad, soup, or omelet the following day, which also saves on prep work for your following meals.
• There is no right or wrong. It is all about what each person enjoys. Get creative and have fun!

Take some of the pressure off of family dinners by trying the Choose Your Own Adventure-style of family meals. There are endless possibilities to explore – and it’s never too late to get started!

Natural flavors are substances derived from plant or animal sources that are used to enhance the taste and aroma of food and beverages. These flavors are typically extracted from fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, or other natural sources. They are used in a wide range of food products to provide a more appealing and authentic taste profile.

Here are some key points about natural flavors:

1. Source: Natural flavors can be obtained from various sources, such as fruits (e.g., citrus oils), vegetables (e.g., garlic or onion extracts), spices (e.g., vanilla or cinnamon), and even animal products (e.g., beef or chicken extracts).

2. Extraction: The extraction process typically involves heating, crushing, pressing, or enzymatic treatment of the source material to isolate the flavor compounds.

3. Enhancement: Natural flavors are used to enhance the existing flavors of a food product or to impart a specific flavor that may be missing or desired.

4. Labeling: In many countries, including the United States, food manufacturers are required to label natural flavors as such on ingredient lists. However, they are not required to specify the exact source or composition of the natural flavor, which can sometimes be a proprietary blend.

5. Versatility: Natural flavors are used in a wide range of products, including soft drinks, snacks, condiments, baked goods, and processed foods, to improve taste and aroma.

Natural flavors are substances derived from plant or animal sources that are used to enhance the taste and aroma of food and beverages. These flavors are typically extracted from fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, or other natural sources. They are used in a wide range of food products to provide a more appealing and authentic taste profile.

Here are some key points about natural flavors:

1. Source: Natural flavors can be obtained from various sources, such as fruits (e.g., citrus oils), vegetables (e.g., garlic or onion extracts), spices (e.g., vanilla or cinnamon), and even animal products (e.g., beef or chicken extracts).

2. Extraction: The extraction process typically involves heating, crushing, pressing, or enzymatic treatment of the source material to isolate the flavor compounds.

3. Enhancement: Natural flavors are used to enhance the existing flavors of a food product or to impart a specific flavor that may be missing or desired.

4. Labeling: In many countries, including the United States, food manufacturers are required to label natural flavors as such on ingredient lists. However, they are not required to specify the exact source or composition of the natural flavor, which can sometimes be a proprietary blend.

5. Versatility: Natural flavors are used in a wide range of products, including soft drinks, snacks, condiments, baked goods, and processed foods, to improve taste and aroma.

The potential link between the Mediterranean diet and dementia risk was explored in a recent study titled “Mediterranean diet adherence is associated with lower dementia risk, independent of genetic predisposition: findings from the UK Biobank prospective cohort study” by Shannon et al.

The UK Biobank, a long-term population-based cohort study that began in 2006 and recruited over 500,000 participants, provided the base data for this investigation. After selection criteria were applied, 60,298 participants were followed for an average of 9.1 years, during which 882 dementia cases were reported.

The Mediterranean diet, with its claimed health benefits, was assessed using two scoring systems: the MedDiet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) score and the MedDiet PYRAMID score. These systems assigned one point for meeting specific criteria, making no distinction for exceeding targets. Researchers also added a third scoring system (which allowed partial points) but found it provided only marginal improvements in differentiating dietary patterns.

Participants were divided into low, medium, and high adherence groups based on the MEDAS score. The high adherence group displayed healthier characteristics, such as more women, lower obesity rates, higher education levels, lower smoking rates, and greater physical activity. We had the usual “healthy person confounder” therefore. Notably, the PYRAMID score failed to provide a characteristics table, making it challenging to assess this system’s groupings and potential confounders. (As it happened, the PYRAMID score found nothing, so this ended up not being an issue).

The study claimed that higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with a lower risk of dementia, but that’s not what the results showed. Out of six outcomes examined, four were non results. That was the majority. Researchers implied that the PYRAMID scoring system achieved a signficiant result, but it didn’t.

The discussion section acknowledged the strengths and limitations of the study. Strengths included a large sample size and consideration of genetic risk factors. Limitations included the inability to establish causation, potential inaccuracies in diet questionnaires, concerns about reverse causality, and the unavailability of data on specific diet components like sofrito (a sauce made from tomatoes, peppers, garlic, onions and olive oil) in the UK population. The study also noted that UK Biobank participants might not represent the broader UK population due to their generally better health and higher socioeconomic status.

On the whole, this was another poor population study, which claimed more than it found, once again showing the inadequacies of these kinds of studies.

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