A recent paper titled “Popular dietary patterns: alignment with American Heart Association 2021 dietary guidance: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association” has received a great deal of media attention. Professor Christopher Gardner was the lead author of the paper. We have covered his work in previous Monday notes.
In 2021, the American Heart Association (AHA) issued a scientific statement setting out 10 key principles of a heart healthy diet. This Gardner et al paper simply reviewed 10 diets against these 10 key principles. The 10 diets were: DASH; Mediterranean style; pescetarian; vegetarian; vegan; low fat; very low fat; low carbohydrate; Paleo and very low carbohydrate.
The article emphasised that we consume diets, rather than nutrients, and that the historical focus on nutrients needs to be shifted away from. This was positive. Consistent with the approach of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the article referenced Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges, which were developed by the Institute of Medicine and have been used since 2005. The article didn’t challenge these ranges. The recommendation that carbohydrate should form 45-65% of one’s energy intake should have been the first challenge!
The AHA assumes that animal foods are bad and plant foods are good, fat is bad, and carbs are good etc. Inevitably, therefore, plant-based diets (DASH, Mediterranean, pescetarian, vegetarian and vegan) scored well and low-carb, keto, Paleo diets scored badly.
By using this as a base, the Gardner et al study replicated the erroneous assumptions. The most striking part of the paper was a very visual red/green coloured table where the plant-based diets scored lots of greens “fully meets AHA recommendations” and the animal-food based diets scored lots of reds “does not meet AHA recommendations.” The recommendations were wrong, not the diets.
I repeated the exercise with the following approach 1) know the nutrients that we must consume 2) know where we find those nutrients 3) judge diets according to the essential nutrients that they provide. As the essential nutrients are optimally found (and in the right form) in animal-foods, this turned the table red and green the other way round.
The full version of this article can be read below
Frittatas are an endlessly versatile dish that are equally as delicious as a snack or a main dish for a meal. You can serve them warm or cold and they are a perfect pre-prepare option for lunches on the go.
Ingredients: Large knob of butter ½ red onion, finely sliced ½ red pepper, seeded and finely sliced ½ green pepper, seeded and finely sliced ½ yellow pepper, seeded and finely sliced 6 eggs Some freshly ground black pepper.
Method: 1. Melt the butter in a heavy frying pan and lightly fry the onion and peppers for about a 10 minutes.
2. Whisk the eggs and pour them into the frying pan. Give the whole mixture a good stir and cook on a low heat for about 15 minutes, or until the whole mixture is set.
3. Gently tip out onto a plate, serve a slice immediately and/or chill for the lunch box.
On this Episode 350 of Health Solutions, Shawn & Janet Needham RPh talk to Reed Davis about his background, how to reduce and avoid stress, and how important diet is. Reed is a functional medicine practitioner who used to be a paralegal fighting for the environment. Watch to find out why Reed changed career paths!
Blueberries are put to the test against insulin resistance, oxidation, and DNA damage.
A famous pair of Harvard studies involved so many people over such long a time that they’ve accumulated millions of person-years of data. As I discuss in my video Flashback Friday: Blueberries for a Diabetic Diet and DNA Repair,the studies found the consumption of anthocyanin-rich foods, those containing brightly colored plant pigments and “particularly blueberries,” was associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Just two or three servings of blueberries a week has been associated with a 23 percent lower risk. In my Daily Dozen, I recommend at least one serving of berries every day—a half-cup of fresh or frozen berries or a quarter-cup of dried.
What do berries have to do with diabetes? Well, type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance, and interventional studies “clearly showed that dietary BBE [berries] ameliorates insulin resistance.” Sounds good, but that was in diabetic mice.What happens in people? As you can see in the graph below and at 1:05 in my video, those consuming a lot of anthocyanin-rich foods like berries didn’t just have less inflammation,but significantly lower insulin resistance as well. By how much? By as much as you would get walking an hour or so a day, seven days a week.
How many berries were they eating?They were getting 35milligrams of anthocyanins a day, which, as you can see below and at 1:28 in my video,would be equivalent to a cup of strawberries or cherries, a half–cup of raspberries, a quarter–cup of blackberries, or just a few spoonsful of blueberries. That was just a snapshot-in-time cross-sectional study, though. What we need are interventional trials, where you give people blueberries in a double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled clinical trial to truly put them to the test, and we got just that.
In order tofakeoutpeople with a placebo, the researchers used powdered blueberries equivalent to about two cups of fresh blueberries in a smoothie. As you can see in the graph below and at 2:09 in my video, the results demonstrated a significant improvement in insulin sensitivity.
There are a lot of blueberries in two cups!What benefits could be expectedfor a typical half-cup serving? Another study demonstrated a significant reduction in postprandial oxidation—that is, all ofthe free radicals created when you eat some sugary breakfast like corn flakes. The antioxidant capacity of your bloodstream takes a nosedive two hours afterwards, as your body tries to cope. But, eat it with a half-cup of blueberries, and your antioxidant levels start out higher and stay higher after the meal. The researchers also tried adding just a quarter–cup of blueberries, but that was not enough.So, we should strive for a full serving. You can see a graph depicting this below and at 2:29 in myvideo.
The reason we care about free radicals is because they can damage our DNA. Can a single portion of blueberries really improve protection against DNA damage?Yes! Researchersdrew blood from people before and after they ate some frozen blueberries, then exposed their white blood cells to free radicals in the form of hydrogen peroxide. They found that blueberries significantly reduced the DNA damage done within a single hour after berry consumption. “However, the protective effect was transient,” and our DNA vulnerability returned within two hours.So, we should eat super healthy foods like berries at every meal. In conclusion, one serving of blueberries can improve our cellular resistance to DNA damage, “thus supporting the importance of consuming vegetable foods regularly.”
Berries pack such a nutritional punch that I recommend eating at least half a cup a day in my Daily Dozen.(Download the free iPhone or Androidapp, or print the Daily Dozen checklist here.)
Blueberries are put to the test against insulin resistance, oxidation, and DNA damage.
A famous pair of Harvard studies involved so many people over such long a time that they’ve accumulated millions of person-years of data. As I discuss in my video Flashback Friday: Blueberries for a Diabetic Diet and DNA Repair,the studies found the consumption of anthocyanin-rich foods, those containing brightly colored plant pigments and “particularly blueberries,” was associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Just two or three servings of blueberries a week has been associated with a 23 percent lower risk. In my Daily Dozen, I recommend at least one serving of berries every day—a half-cup of fresh or frozen berries or a quarter-cup of dried.
What do berries have to do with diabetes? Well, type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance, and interventional studies “clearly showed that dietary BBE [berries] ameliorates insulin resistance.” Sounds good, but that was in diabetic mice.What happens in people? As you can see in the graph below and at 1:05 in my video, those consuming a lot of anthocyanin-rich foods like berries didn’t just have less inflammation,but significantly lower insulin resistance as well. By how much? By as much as you would get walking an hour or so a day, seven days a week.
How many berries were they eating?They were getting 35milligrams of anthocyanins a day, which, as you can see below and at 1:28 in my video,would be equivalent to a cup of strawberries or cherries, a half–cup of raspberries, a quarter–cup of blackberries, or just a few spoonsful of blueberries. That was just a snapshot-in-time cross-sectional study, though. What we need are interventional trials, where you give people blueberries in a double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled clinical trial to truly put them to the test, and we got just that.
In order tofakeoutpeople with a placebo, the researchers used powdered blueberries equivalent to about two cups of fresh blueberries in a smoothie. As you can see in the graph below and at 2:09 in my video, the results demonstrated a significant improvement in insulin sensitivity.
There are a lot of blueberries in two cups!What benefits could be expectedfor a typical half-cup serving? Another study demonstrated a significant reduction in postprandial oxidation—that is, all ofthe free radicals created when you eat some sugary breakfast like corn flakes. The antioxidant capacity of your bloodstream takes a nosedive two hours afterwards, as your body tries to cope. But, eat it with a half-cup of blueberries, and your antioxidant levels start out higher and stay higher after the meal. The researchers also tried adding just a quarter–cup of blueberries, but that was not enough.So, we should strive for a full serving. You can see a graph depicting this below and at 2:29 in myvideo.
The reason we care about free radicals is because they can damage our DNA. Can a single portion of blueberries really improve protection against DNA damage?Yes! Researchersdrew blood from people before and after they ate some frozen blueberries, then exposed their white blood cells to free radicals in the form of hydrogen peroxide. They found that blueberries significantly reduced the DNA damage done within a single hour after berry consumption. “However, the protective effect was transient,” and our DNA vulnerability returned within two hours.So, we should eat super healthy foods like berries at every meal. In conclusion, one serving of blueberries can improve our cellular resistance to DNA damage, “thus supporting the importance of consuming vegetable foods regularly.”
Berries pack such a nutritional punch that I recommend eating at least half a cup a day in my Daily Dozen.(Download the free iPhone or Androidapp, or print the Daily Dozen checklist here.)
[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Well, 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 with FAQ from course advisors’ calls with the public.
If you’re listening to this one on one of the first days that it came out, then I am currently in the wonderful wild city of Boise, Idaho for the Cell Core Conference. I will be representing FDN there. So, if somehow you happen to be at this conference and you are listening to the podcast or you’re local, come say hi. We’d love to see you guys. There are plenty of FDNs that are going to be at this conference apparently, so I’m really excited for this, and I can’t wait.
Anyway though, today I wanted to do a shorter podcast and more course focused. As many of you know, I went back to the course enrollment side of things a couple of months ago. That means I am one of the several people that you can talk to if you are interested in the course, to learn more about it, see if it’s a good fit for you, all that good stuff.
What’s really cool about those calls, I love the way that FDN does this. I don’t really mind sales or salesmanship, but I don’t like having to lie to people or mislead people. I won’t do sales for that reason. Honestly, in many of the jobs that I had before this that were sales oriented, like at 18, I sold cars. You know, it wasn’t always, but it happened. After like a couple times of that, I just got uncomfortable, and I didn’t want to do it anymore.
FAQ: In No Particular Order
What I love about FDN is we are genuinely on those calls to guide people. That is the idea. There are people that I have referred to other courses, some I have referred away from the FDN course. And there are people that I have referred to just practitioners instead of going through an entire course because that’s what they needed. That’s a good way to do sales or course enrolling, or whatever you want to call it. You ethically advise people, figure out what their problem is, do some investigative work to figure out what’s going on, and then you help them find the solution if you’re qualified to do that. That sounds like a pretty good thing to do.
With that all said, I’ve been having conversations being in this role again, and I just figured I gotta make a podcast on this, an updated one, cause I think I did this a year and a half, two years ago. But I needed an updated one that our team can send to people so that we can just buff out some of the most frequently asked questions.
I highly recommend watching our course tour. But I figure more people will listen to this because, one, you only have to listen to it, and two, it is going to be about half the time of the course tour itself, I estimate. But I can talk a lot, so we’ll see what happens today.
I’m just going to buff through these and give some answers and they’re in no particular order. I will put in the show notes what questions we will be talking about today so that you guys can just skip to one or two of them if you’d like.
FAQ: Who Can Go Through the FDN Course?
First one I want to address is who can go through the FDN course. Good news, anyone, but I put a little asterisk on that.
When I say anyone, it means that, we’re not going to stop you from purchasing it per se. I mean, especially if you don’t get on a call with us, you could literally just go online and buy the course, which is wonderful. But you might find yourself either pleasantly surprised or disappointed if you didn’t go through the process to figure out if it was a good fit for you.
So, when I say anyone can go through the course, it does mean that the FDN course was not designed in such a way that you have to have a science background. You do not need a medical background, or a health background. What you do need though, is definitely a passion for this, which I assume you already have if you’re looking into it. But you need to have a willingness to do the work and study.
Clearly, FDN doesn’t take as long as college, but I would imagine that this is probably pretty equivalent to college level classes. We’ve heard that said before by Reed Davis himself. He considers it almost like a master’s level in terms of its toughness. So, impossible? No. Many people can do master’s programs. But what you need to understand is that you are not doing an online certification where you just click a few buttons every single week for a stupid quiz, and all of a sudden you get a certification. You’re not buying your certification here. You are paying for our actual training that we give you.
FAQ: How Long Does the Course Take on Average?
There is one-on-one mentorship, there’s one-on-one testing. It is a somewhat tough course. Certainly, for the online world it’s a tough course. The point is, though, there’s a benefit to that and that means that you will actually have credibility. Because a lot of these other courses, if you haven’t realized, can’t offer much credibility. Not even because their content is bad, but because they allow you to just graduate without actually properly testing you.
So, anyone can go through but be ready to study and be ready to work.
Next is how long does the course take on average? The course has actually shifted upwards in time, and this is not because our students are getting lazier, it’s because more content has been added over time.
I just got informed that the average is now taking between nine and nine and a half months, where for the longest time we were saying eight and a half. I’m going to have to update this in my conversations because apparently it is nine and a half. Is it possible to do it quicker? It absolutely is.
My girlfriend was working full-time, and she had to deal with me. I always kind of make a joke of that, but that is quite serious. She just finished in seven months, graduating just a few weeks ago. My one friend just graduated on Thursday, and it is Friday at the time of recording this. So, by Thursday, I mean yesterday. He was not actually working at this time, but it took him about six or seven months to get through this. So, it can be done quicker for sure, but the average rate now is nine and a half.
FAQ: What Are the Advanced Courses For?
What are the advanced courses for? Some people get confused by this. They ask, I see all these advanced courses about blood chemistry, thyroid, what is that? How is that different than the main course?
The main course is a program that is designed to teach you the FDN system. The FDN system is actually something unique. It was a system created by Reed Davis, who I reference all the time on this show, the founder of FDN. He came up with it by running over 10,000 labs on clients and concluded that the set of labs that we teach, even though they’ve been updated for the times because there is more advanced technology now than there was before, the core labs stay the same. That is because they show the most prevalent issues in people who are chronically ill.
When you get those things that show up on those tests under control and you coach up their body through D.R.E.S.S – diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction, and supplementation – that’s how you get a person well on a consistent basis. That’s what we’re doing here.
So, if you want to learn that, if you want 150 hours of course content and counting, if you want access to the labs, that’s another big one, the only way to get access to the labs through any of our programs is by going through the main FDN course. If you want the one-on-one mentorship, group mentorship, all that stuff, that’s the main course.
The advanced courses are intensives that are way cheaper because there’s no mentorship and they’re just shorter, obviously, but they’re for one or two specific topics. We have Functional Blood Chemistry, we have Organic Acids, we have Thyroid, Oxalates, Blood Sugar Management, Heart Health.
FAQ: FDN Advanced Courses Are Also Available to the Public
There’s a bunch of cool advanced courses that we offer. When you would want to use those is maybe you’re someone who graduated, and you want to just expand your knowledge, totally fine. Maybe you’re someone who graduated, and you want to dive into a very specific topic deeper just to have that as your niche and you want to really be able to speak that language, that’s fine too.
Another category that it’s for is it is available to the public. You don’t have to be an FDN to go through the advanced courses. So, generally speaking, who I recommend to the advanced courses are people who I’m talking to on calls that I see that our philosophies are not aligned. And I’m not necessarily condemning them for that. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing or that we’re good or they’re right and we’re wrong. It’s a difference in philosophy.
I will talk to some people on the phone, they are bent on using specific labs. They are bent on just using blood chemistry for functional healthcare. That is fine. They’re entitled to that. And if they are so gung-ho about it, there’s no point in sending them through the main course. They won’t get a benefit if they believe that only blood chemistry is beneficial for clients, which of course, I don’t believe that.
I actually rarely believe that, but some people do. They are entitled to that and I’m sure if you give me five more years, my knowledge base will expand, and my opinion might change to some degree. So, they are great people for the advanced courses too. They respect what we’re doing, they like our teachers, they like our philosophy, they just don’t want to go through the main course.
FAQ: Health Coach Mastery for Board Certification
The other quote/unquote “advanced course”, it’s not really an advanced course, it just came out and it’s between the main course and the advanced courses. It’s somewhere in the middle. It really is, and I’ll explain why.
It is now a program where we teach health coaching. Some people are still coming to us and asking about board certifications. They’re asking about more of the coaching side. The FDN main course has always been about lab testing and really getting deep into science. Of course, coaching’s helpful. We’re not saying it isn’t, but it was never about that. It was about being a health consultant more or less, right?
Picture a business consultant coming into someone’s office to tell them how to better run their business. We’re kind of telling them how to do that with their body. Versus a business coach might come in and talk about the mindset and how to structure the finances and all those things, and how to stop having limiting beliefs. So, we’re not coaches in that sense, although you could be both, we are consultants.
But so many people ask for the coaching side, and many people are very attracted to this board certification. Apologies if you’ve never heard of this, but it’s called NBHWC. It stands for the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaches.
That program that we have now, it’s called Health Coach Mastery. That’s the course I’m referring to that’s in between the advanced courses and the main course, somewhere in between. That one gives you all of the requirements necessary for board certification.
FAQ: Upcoming Podcast on Health Coach Mastery
I’m going to have a podcast out soon with Dr. Lori Rose. She’s the one who does the main parts of the teaching in that particular course, and we’ll get to hear a lot more about that. That’ll be out in a few episodes, so stay tuned for that.
But yeah, that one’s health coaching and it does have a few advanced courses. It includes in it: Coaching Mastery, which is something that we have as an advanced course, Functional Blood Chemistry, Herbalism, and Mitochondria. So, you basically get four advanced courses in that course. Pretty cool. Can I make meal plans?
I know this seems like I’m jumping, but I’m really just going to the most commonly asked stuff.
FAQ: Can I Make Meal Plans?
Can I make meal plans?
No, you cannot make meal plans. You are not a nutritionist or dietician just because you went through FDN. If you are a nutritionist or dietician, I would imagine you could do that, but you’d have to do that separately.
What we can do though, we’re not completely helpless here, and this is actually how we do a lot of our stuff. When you have a correctly worded terms of service agreement and you have your client sign it, there is nothing wrong with you educating them on dietary changes that you believe would benefit their current state. They can make an informed decision to do those things or not do those things themself. We include that terms of service agreement in the course.
FAQ: How Do I Legally Get Lab Work?
How do I legally get lab work?
We have thousands of graduates; we’ve been around for years. It’s funny cause they think we’re doing something sneaky. Like, oh yeah, we say we don’t diagnose or treat, right? That’s what we have to say. I’m thinking, you’re not great for the course if you are willing to be sneaky, but also, this isn’t a play on words. It’s not what we are doing at the FDN course.
We facilitate the orders through our medical director program. The legal way to do this, again, is to have your clients sign a terms of service agreement, accepting that you are allowed to send their information to these doctors to order the tests. The clients will run the tests on themselves. When you get the results back, you are allowed to give them an educational consult to show them what you have learned from the labs.
We’re not diagnosing anything. We are educating them on the labs. It’s not a play on words or being sneaky with legality, it is a completely different thing than someone going in and diagnosing someone with a disease. That’s not what we do.
Most of these people have already been diagnosed and it didn’t help them. It just gave them some clarity as to why they were dealing with what they had, but it didn’t get them better. So, we don’t even want to do that anyway most of the time.
I hope this makes sense. And if it doesn’t, you can always reach out to us for this or any question you have from the podcast at fdntraining on Instagram. You can check that out there.
FAQ: In What Countries Can I Work as an FDN?
What countries can I work in as an FDN?
We have practitioners in over 50 countries around the world and counting. It would be probably a little bit easier to say which countries you couldn’t work in.
We can get the labs almost anywhere. Most of these places can actually ship the labs back out too. The real issue comes in, if it’s going to come in at all, with places shipping them back out. For example, China would be a place that it is tough to do this. I believe we can get the labs in. It is hard to get the labs out.
This is kind of easy cause if you’re listening to this podcast, I can see the most common countries that listen. So, I will tell you this right off the bat. Canada, USA, totally fine. Australia, totally fine. The UK and almost anywhere in Europe, totally fine. These are not issues for us as FDNs. Mexico, fine. All those things are good to go.
We will use slightly different labs depending on where you’re at in the world, but we have the training for that in the course. In fact, if you are living in Australia, for example, the course will change just slightly to address the labs that you will personally be using as someone who is working with clients in Australia. You might live in the USA, but maybe your client base is in Australia for whatever reason, and that’s totally fine. We can help you with that. So, there’s really not a lot of limitations on what country you can do this in, which is amazing.
FAQ: Book a Call
But even if you couldn’t get the labs there, FDN is still a very lifestyle-based program, and you would want to definitely call us before making this investment. Like if you know that you can’t use labs in your country for whatever reason, give us a ring and we’ll make sure that it would still benefit your situation.
FDN is so much more than the labs that it might still be worth it for you to pursue the program. That’s situational and that would need to be discussed with someone. So, definitely book a call with us at fdntraining.com/call.
FAQ: Can I Run Labs In New York State?
What about New York State? Apologies for anyone out of the United States, this might be irrelevant to you. But I get asked this all the time, so I have to say it. What about New York State? Can I run labs in New York State?
Yes. There is a disclaimer though. That one disclaimer being that we will have to sometimes swap out certain labs, but FDN has figured this out in pretty much every way.
The only issue is blood work. We cannot order the blood work through our medical director program. I mean you can, but they would have to leave the state to get a blood draw, basically. Super annoying. I don’t like it. You know what? It’s very rare that this can happen.
So, I will take this moment to join us all together politically, because we all have different politics. That’s fine. In FDN, there’s a wide range just like there is anywhere else. One thing I’m sure we can all agree on is that New York state believing that you do not have the right to take a test where you voluntarily go somewhere to have your blood drawn, yeah, that seems ridiculous to me.
I don’t know why they believe in that or why you wouldn’t have the right to get your blood drawn and get results from it, but that is what is believed there. Now, of course, a doctor can order blood work, but they don’t believe that you should just have the right to go do that yourself. A little crazy to me, but that’s actually how it is in many countries around the world too. So, it does happen.
FAQ: Will There be Enough for Me to Start a Career in the FDN Course?
The rest of the stuff in New York state is totally easy. You can do all the main stuff taught in FDN in New York. We have a ton of practitioners there and even more clients there. Not a big deal, definitely not a reason to not go through the course if you otherwise consider it a good fit for you.
Will there be enough for me to start a career in the FDN course? Yes.
FDN is a system. Remember what I said in the beginning. It is made for people who have possibly never even gone through anything medical or health wise. Maybe you are an accountant or a teacher or an engineer. I always use these examples because I actually know of people who have had these exact careers and went through FDN. In fact, many of them have been on the podcast before. You can actually listen to their stories. They switched to FDN and were able to make careers out of this.
If you do not believe that you have any business savvy whatsoever, like you’re really helpless out there, whether it’s social media, talking to people or whatever. Cause you don’t have to do any one thing. But if you don’t have any plan, now we offer a business school. You can literally add that on when you are purchasing the course and you get a thousand dollars off. Normally it’s $2000. Now it’s a thousand dollars if you buy it when you buy the main course.
If you don’t feel like doing that, you can purchase it afterwards. It’s going to be more, but you always have that option to purchase business school at any time. We did a podcast on that as well, and I can put that one in the show notes for you guys.
FAQ: FDN Business School
I had someone leave a review and they were nice enough to still leave a five star. But they said, Ev, please put some of the episodes that you’re referencing in the show notes. So, I will make sure that I do that for you guys. But yeah, we have a podcast on our business school.
It’s designed for someone who doesn’t know anything about business, and we can take them from zero to hero in 90 days onboarding their first client or set of clients. Just like the FDN course is designed for someone who might not necessarily have the health side, and we can take you to a very advanced level. We took the same approach with business school.
We’re assuming you know nothing and we’re trying to get you to an advanced level, at least advanced enough that you can go out there and earn a significant income doing this or replace a job if that’s what you’re looking to do.
FAQ: Are There Job Opportunities for FDNs?
With that said about jobs, are there job opportunities? Do I have to work by myself or for myself, or can I get a job somewhere else? The answer is yes. But the most guaranteed way, in my opinion, to have a positive ROI on this in a quick manner is to work for yourself. Some people, no matter how many times I say that they’re not going to do that though, and that is fine.
So, what the job opportunities look like right now at the time of recording this is thankfully they get better every year. When I graduated six years ago, you didn’t really hear about this at all. At least, I certainly didn’t hear about it. Nowadays, constantly there are postings in our professionals’ group where people are asking about, all right, how can I hire FDNs? And some of them are outside people.
They are doctors or chiropractors or people who never went through FDN reaching out to us to hire our practitioners. That’s amazing. And they’ll actually let you work remotely, which is even cooler. Other times, and this is, I think, a really big testament to our system. One of the more common ones is you see other FDNs hiring FDNs because their practice is so big that they need to bring on other FDNs to their business. I think that’s pretty awesome.
So, are there job opportunities out there? Yes. Are they increasing by the week? Actually, yes, they are. Would I go through this course trying to just get a job? I personally wouldn’t. I think it’s very competitive, I think there’s a lot of applicants, and I think you’re going to probably need to bring something extra to the table to compete with the other applicants.
FAQ: Competitive FDN Market
Because what happens is the people that come into our professionals’ group asking to hire someone, they start out by just looking for someone who has the FDN certification. But then maybe 20 people apply, and a few of them have some advanced degrees, and a few of them have some maybe advanced trainings in other functional medicine things like other testing or whatever. So, you’re going to be competing against people that have been more involved with this for a longer period of time. It’s just not a good way to bank on it.
Even though I’m someone myself who hires other FDNs, it’s not what I would bank on personally. I just want to be honest with you guys. So, take the job opportunity if you feel that it’s right for you. I would not go through this course banking only on that unless you have a preexisting deal with someone that you know in your local area, maybe a chiropractor or acupuncturist. I have heard of that before. I’ve heard that working. That wouldn’t be a good move overall.
FAQ: How Does Financing for the FDN Course Work?
How does financing work? This will be my final question for today. Keeping this nice and simple, short and sweet.
Financing works in a few different ways. If you pay in full for the course, you do get some bonuses. You get credits towards our advanced courses; you also get a credit towards one of our lecture packages.
Our lecture packages are these things that Reed used to do and people still do. I just did one about a month ago myself, and it was awesome. It was really fun actually. The lecture packages have all the slides that you need to give a public talk, talking about one or more FDN topics.
I did our stress and hormones one. It has all the marketing material; it has the exact step-by-step guide for what you need to do to figure out who in the audience would be a qualified client that you can actually help and that can move forward with your services. That’s pretty cool.
And if you purchase it, which again, you get a credit for it, so you would’ve technically purchased it as far as we’re concerned, you will get a call with the big man himself, Reed Davis. He will coach you for an hour to help you with your talk and make sure that you’re ready to go. I think that’s about as cool as it gets. Totally worth it.
So, if you pay in full for the course, you get those bonuses. Outside of that, you can finance in-house for 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, or 24 months. And I’ll touch more on those in a second. But I want to list off the third option. Those other payment plans, remember, were in-house.
FAQ: Monthly Finance Fees & Paying the Balance off Early
There is third-party financing available through a firm. If you have good to excellent credit and you want to try that out, that would be the cheapest monthly option overall. Not by a significant amount, but it is enough. So, if you feel that that could be good for you, that’s something to look into.
Otherwise, assuming you do one of our in-house payments, and let’s say you do the 18 month one, you are going to be adding a $25 a month finance fee for every month that you finance with us. If someone did the 18 month one, they would be paying $450 extra in finance because 18 times $25 is $450. Similarly, 24 months would be $600.
Now, what’s really fun about FDN, and I like that they do this. It’s not necessarily fun, it’s more cool. I don’t know what classifies this as fun. But what’s a nice part about all of this is if you ever pay off your remaining balance in full and you’re on a payment plan, you do not owe us the rest of the financing fees.
What would this mean? If I’m on a 24-month payment plan, I’m paying an extra $25 a month for the finance fees. Let’s say I graduate in eight months, I start taking clients, I have a good amount of extra money in the next two months. And I’m like, well, wait a second. This is spare income, so I might as well just pay off the course.
I would’ve been paying for 10 months, right? So, I would’ve paid $250 in finance fees, 10 times $25. Now I would’ve spared myself of an extra $350 in finance fees cause I paid off the remaining balance of the course at 10 months.
Talking Fast & Technology
We will only charge you for finance fees if you literally financed that month. Anytime you want to pay off early, you’re more than welcome to do that.
This answered a lot of the main questions I typically hear, and our other course enrollment advisors typically hear. I know I went through this pretty fast, but here’s the wonderful thing. It’s a podcast, so if you click pause and you rewind it, you can actually hear it all over again. I’m just being funny, I’m not actually that much of a smart aleck.
So many people comment on how fast I talk, and I know I’m a podcast host. I’m trying to do better, but I’m an excitable person. And dude, I don’t know, something in my brain is mis-wired. Or you could say it’s wired well, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s a little mix of both. I think most people that know me would say it’s both.
I’ve never understood it. Cause not only do I talk fast, but I type like way, lightning fast. It’s like 90 plus words per minute, and I do mean that actual number. Because if you know typing, that sounds almost unbelievable. But it really is 90 plus words per minute, and I’ve been able to do that since I was in fourth grade.
If I’m doing one of those tests, it’s, well, okay, no one cares about this. I’m going to shut up. Just please, please forgive me for talking so fast. I just get excited. It’s just who I am and that’s why we have pause and rewind and slow down buttons. We have technology, we can all work together here. I can talk fast, and you can still get the information.
Conclusion
If you have any other questions or you listen to this, and this is all sounding pretty good for you and you want to clear up a few other things, one of the links for this podcast is fdntraining.com/call. You can choose to book a call with one of our course enrollment advisors. I’m hoping to talk to you guys soon if you do find that that’s relevant to you.
But I will be back next time with another interview. I’m going to go continue to enjoy, again, the wild city of Boise, Idaho. You guys have a great week/weekend. I’ll see you next time.
Good food and nutrition are undoubtedly important, but sometimes we become so fixated on our diets that we forget all of the other things around us that could potentially impact our health. The chemicals in our cleaning products, cookware, beauty care brands, furniture, food storage containers and more all contain alarming compounds that damage the environment, can worsen allergies and asthma, disrupt the endocrine system and may even increase the risk of cancer. But there are solutions – you can begin to create a more eco-friendly home today by incorporating simple changes into your daily life.
What’s more, these air fresheners don’t actually make things ‘fresh’ or clean – they only hide odours. If your home is smelly, find the source of the smell and clean it! However, if you enjoy a scent in your home, try using essential oils in a plug-in aromatherapy diffuser or a reed diffuser.
Depending on what scent you choose, essential oils are powerful and can help you relax, aid with sleep, improve your mood and even repel insets – but it’s extra important that you use oils that are top quality.
Swap The Paper Towels
Instead Try: Washable Dish Towels and Rags Made of Old Shirts and Sheets
Paper towels are an energy drain on the environment because they require water, energy and trees to be produced – and then we throw them in the trash. Even recycled paper towels use water and energy. According to one survey, 95% of American households use paper towels.
To mop up kitchen spills, dust or clean your home, try using cut-up old dish towels and t-shirts. They are absorbent, re-usable, and it’s likely you already have some old duds on hand that you could transform!
There are a multitude of amazing DIY home cleaning recipes for every room in your house! For a great compilation to get you started, check out these 10 non-toxic home cleaning recipes.
Swap The Conventional Moisturizer
Instead Try: Coconut Oil
Check out the ingredients on a bottle of conventional moisturizer. We bet you won’t be able to pronounce more than half of them! Beauty care products are loaded with chemicals that mess with our endocrine systems, including:
But did you know that coconut oil makes an amazing moisturizer? That’s why it’s often included as an ingredient in beauty products, but you can use it on its own. Plus, it’s anti-microbial and anti-bacterial, and smells great! Keep a second jar in your bathroom for easy application.
Swap The Plastic Containers or Plastic/Foil Wrap
Instead Try: Glass Containers or Beeswax Wraps
Plastics have a double-barreled impact: the environment on one hand, and our health on the other.
About 380 million tons of plastic are produced yearly. Plastic shopping bags, plastic cutlery, plastic wrap, plastic food storage bags, plastic cups, plastic water bottles, plastic Tupperware containers, the list is endless. Anywhere from 22 to 43 percent of that plastic ends up in landfills, where it won’t biodegrade. Plastic also ends up in our oceans, 14 million tons per year, where animals mistake it for food, get tangled up in it, or it destroys their habitat.
Instead of plastic, use glass or steel containers to store your food in your eco-friendly home. Mason jars are inexpensive and you can find them at your local hardware store. Swap the plastic wrap for reusable food wraps (they’re often made of beeswax). Or, if you’re handy with a sewing machine, you could even make your own fabric covers for bowls and plates.
According to Mimi Huang, a toxicologist, “Assuming you use your cookware appropriately, i.e. not heating it excessively and unattended, always heating the pan with something in it, not scratching off the Teflon and consuming it for dinner, using non-stick pans is relatively safe for humans.” Teflon-ites claim that it’s safe up to 350 degrees. But how do you know what level of heat your element is producing?
Boiling, steaming, microwaving, air frying, and sous-vide cooking are put to the test for nutrient retention.
I’ve made videos on how not to die from heart disease, how not to die from cancer, and how not to die from other deadly diseases like diabetes, but some of the most popular videos on NutritionFacts.org are on topics like the best way to cook sweet potatoes.
Okay, then! Well, what’s the best way to cook bell peppers? As you can see in the graph below and at 0:28 in my video Flashback Friday: Best Way to Cook Vegetables, you can see a chart illustrating the antioxidant power of raw green peppers and red peppers. Microwaving or stir-frying doesn’t seem to do much, though, with boiling, there’s a drop. If you then measure the antioxidant activity of the leftover boiling water, you’ll find that the antioxidants weren’t destroyed. They were just leached out into the cooking water. So, the researchers’ conclusion is that it’s “vital to consume the water used for boiling in addition to the peppers, as bioactive compounds will be present in the water.” But that’s not the take-away I get from this study. Whether or not you drink the cooking water, red peppers have nearly twice the antioxidant power of green peppers no matter what. So, while both peppers are Green-Light foods, ironically, the red peppers are even greener.
What about mushrooms? It’sprobably best not to eat them raw, but what’s the best way to cook them? “Since cooking techniques clearlyinfluence the nutritional attributes of mushrooms, the proper selection of treatments is a key factor to prevent/reduce nutritional losses. Microwaving and grilling were established as the best processes to maintain the nutritional profile of mushrooms.”According to researchers, a “significant decrease was detected in the antioxidant activity especially after boiling and frying, while grilled and microwaved mushrooms reached higher values of antioxidant activity.”
Boiling had a similar negative impact on the antioxidant power of cauliflower, which serves as a kind of rough proxy for how many phytonutrients of potential benefit we might be losing, but, as you can see in the graph below and at 1:56 in my video, blanchingwas better. Cauliflower was dunked into boiling water for three minutes and then run under cold water to stop it from cooking. I had never heard of steam blanching, but that has the same idea. Steam the cauliflower for three minutes and then cool it off, which appears to be better since you’re not immersing it in water. Note, though, that thereisn’tmuch difference between steaming for six minutes and steaming for three minutesbefore running the veg under cold water. It’s too bad the researchersdidn’t look at roasting. I think that’s how you can really make cauliflower taste really good. In fact, I have two recipes for roasted cauliflower in myHow Not to Die Cookbook. (All proceeds from my book sales go to charity, of course.)
There are certain antioxidants we’re especially interested in, like lutein, which is the eyesight and brain-protecting green vegetable compound. As you can see below and at 2:38 in my video, you can see an image of the back of the eyeball. Lutein protects those sensitive light–sensing nerves in the eye by blocking the high–energy, blue light rays, which helps us see better and may also help us think better.
Researchers compared the effects of four different cooking methods on lutein concentrations. If you take a look at the chart below and at 2:51 in my video, the first thing you’ll notice is that broccoli hasabout 50 times more lutein than cauliflower. This isn’t a surprise since lutein is a plant pigment, and cauliflower is too white.
Then the researchers compared boiling, steaming, microwaving, and sous–vide cooking,a fancy term for boiling in a plastic bag. What did they find? Boiling actually made lutein levels go up! How is that possible? Heat “disrupts the cell walls and subcellular compartments that enhance the release of antioxidant compounds.” Sous vide was similar. Microwaving was detrimental, at least for broccoli,andsteaming was the superstar, nearly doubling lutein levels, as you can see below and at 3:30 in myvideo.
Heat isn’t the only way to liberate lutein from greens. As you can see in the graph below and at 3:43 in my video, if you finely chop spinach, you can double the amount of lutein released during digestion in this experimental model. Make a green smoothie, pesto, or a pureed spinach dish, and you may triple the bioavailability. You have to watch the heat, though. Steaming or boiling is one thing, but cooking at super high heat, like stir-frying, can reduce lutein levels to nearly nothing.
When researchers looked at different cooking methods on the anthocyanin pigments in blue- or purple-flesh potatoes, they found that frying and even air-frying are both bad. Those potatoes just seem sensitive to extremely high heat.
In fact, these special antioxidant plant pigments appear to be sensitive to really high temperatures, so we should try to avoidfrying, especially deep frying. That was one of the conclusions of an expert panel on cooking methods: Avoid deep frying foods. Not only because of the nutrient losses, but also all ofthe added oil, not to mention“the production of toxic compounds” at those temperatures. So, that continues to be a challenge to the food industry. What’sits solution? Forget deep fat frying—let’s try frying in pure molten sugar. It’s like the SnackWell’s cookie phenomenon taken to its logical conclusion. Oh, you want low-fat? We’llfry in sugar.
Boiling, steaming, microwaving, air frying, and sous-vide cooking are put to the test for nutrient retention.
I’ve made videos on how not to die from heart disease, how not to die from cancer, and how not to die from other deadly diseases like diabetes, but some of the most popular videos on NutritionFacts.org are on topics like the best way to cook sweet potatoes.
Okay, then! Well, what’s the best way to cook bell peppers? As you can see in the graph below and at 0:28 in my video Flashback Friday: Best Way to Cook Vegetables, you can see a chart illustrating the antioxidant power of raw green peppers and red peppers. Microwaving or stir-frying doesn’t seem to do much, though, with boiling, there’s a drop. If you then measure the antioxidant activity of the leftover boiling water, you’ll find that the antioxidants weren’t destroyed. They were just leached out into the cooking water. So, the researchers’ conclusion is that it’s “vital to consume the water used for boiling in addition to the peppers, as bioactive compounds will be present in the water.” But that’s not the take-away I get from this study. Whether or not you drink the cooking water, red peppers have nearly twice the antioxidant power of green peppers no matter what. So, while both peppers are Green-Light foods, ironically, the red peppers are even greener.
What about mushrooms? It’sprobably best not to eat them raw, but what’s the best way to cook them? “Since cooking techniques clearlyinfluence the nutritional attributes of mushrooms, the proper selection of treatments is a key factor to prevent/reduce nutritional losses. Microwaving and grilling were established as the best processes to maintain the nutritional profile of mushrooms.”According to researchers, a “significant decrease was detected in the antioxidant activity especially after boiling and frying, while grilled and microwaved mushrooms reached higher values of antioxidant activity.”
Boiling had a similar negative impact on the antioxidant power of cauliflower, which serves as a kind of rough proxy for how many phytonutrients of potential benefit we might be losing, but, as you can see in the graph below and at 1:56 in my video, blanchingwas better. Cauliflower was dunked into boiling water for three minutes and then run under cold water to stop it from cooking. I had never heard of steam blanching, but that has the same idea. Steam the cauliflower for three minutes and then cool it off, which appears to be better since you’re not immersing it in water. Note, though, that thereisn’tmuch difference between steaming for six minutes and steaming for three minutesbefore running the veg under cold water. It’s too bad the researchersdidn’t look at roasting. I think that’s how you can really make cauliflower taste really good. In fact, I have two recipes for roasted cauliflower in myHow Not to Die Cookbook. (All proceeds from my book sales go to charity, of course.)
There are certain antioxidants we’re especially interested in, like lutein, which is the eyesight and brain-protecting green vegetable compound. As you can see below and at 2:38 in my video, you can see an image of the back of the eyeball. Lutein protects those sensitive light–sensing nerves in the eye by blocking the high–energy, blue light rays, which helps us see better and may also help us think better.
Researchers compared the effects of four different cooking methods on lutein concentrations. If you take a look at the chart below and at 2:51 in my video, the first thing you’ll notice is that broccoli hasabout 50 times more lutein than cauliflower. This isn’t a surprise since lutein is a plant pigment, and cauliflower is too white.
Then the researchers compared boiling, steaming, microwaving, and sous–vide cooking,a fancy term for boiling in a plastic bag. What did they find? Boiling actually made lutein levels go up! How is that possible? Heat “disrupts the cell walls and subcellular compartments that enhance the release of antioxidant compounds.” Sous vide was similar. Microwaving was detrimental, at least for broccoli,andsteaming was the superstar, nearly doubling lutein levels, as you can see below and at 3:30 in myvideo.
Heat isn’t the only way to liberate lutein from greens. As you can see in the graph below and at 3:43 in my video, if you finely chop spinach, you can double the amount of lutein released during digestion in this experimental model. Make a green smoothie, pesto, or a pureed spinach dish, and you may triple the bioavailability. You have to watch the heat, though. Steaming or boiling is one thing, but cooking at super high heat, like stir-frying, can reduce lutein levels to nearly nothing.
When researchers looked at different cooking methods on the anthocyanin pigments in blue- or purple-flesh potatoes, they found that frying and even air-frying are both bad. Those potatoes just seem sensitive to extremely high heat.
In fact, these special antioxidant plant pigments appear to be sensitive to really high temperatures, so we should try to avoidfrying, especially deep frying. That was one of the conclusions of an expert panel on cooking methods: Avoid deep frying foods. Not only because of the nutrient losses, but also all ofthe added oil, not to mention“the production of toxic compounds” at those temperatures. So, that continues to be a challenge to the food industry. What’sits solution? Forget deep fat frying—let’s try frying in pure molten sugar. It’s like the SnackWell’s cookie phenomenon taken to its logical conclusion. Oh, you want low-fat? We’llfry in sugar.
May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Unfortunately, skin cancer is America’s most common cancer. Fortunately, it is said to be the most curable if caught at early stages and is also the most preventable. Prevention is key and we can all do what it takes to look after our skin.
Disclaimer: Being a nutritionist who believes in a functional approach, I will always let my clients know the Best Foods to Eat for prevention and healing. Please note these can assist with your treatment, and as always check with your doctor before consuming any of these foods.
There are three main categories of skin cancer: squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and melanoma. Rarer types are Merkel cell tumors and dermatofibrosarcoma protruberans.
Conventional Treatments1
For basal cell carcinoma:Treatment may include topical creams or surgery.
For melanoma:Treatment may involve surgery, radiation, medication, or chemotherapy.
For squamous cell carcinoma:Treatment may include topical creams or surgery.
Myrrh essential oil. For millennia, myrrh essential oil (EO) has been used to treat a wide range of diseases, including dry, chapped, and aging skin. It was used by the ancient Egyptians to embalm mummies and its highly antioxidant properties make it good for treating inflammation and for wound care. Ancient Greek soldiers took it into battle to treat bleeding injuries. Myrrh EOis easily applied to the skin mixed with a carrier oil, such as coconut, jojoba, almond, or grapeseed oil. You can also safely apply a few drops neat directly to the site of a skin cancer. Myrrh EO is steam distilled from the resinous sap of the Commiphora shrub that grows in the Middle East and northern Africa. It is harvested not unlike how sap from sugar maple trees is collected before it is made into syrup.
Frankincense essential oil. Like myrrh EO, frankincense EO can be applied directly to the skin neat or diluted with a carrier oil to help relieve skin cancer symptoms. Many researchers have been studying its effects on different kinds of cancers in recent years—everything from bladder to ovarian cancer. A 2013 in vitro study (meaning, testing of the cell cultures took place in petri dishes rather than on living human subjects) published inOncology Lettersfound that the use of frankincense and myrrh EO on cancerous basal cells seems to encourage the apoptosis, or cell death, of these skin cancer cells. While producing promising results, the researchers noted that further studies are needed.5
Home Remedy: Coconut Oil Rub
Coconut oil contains several saturated fats (including 9 percent palmitic acid) that are known to selectively kill damaged skin cells.6Make a paste with 1 cup of coconut oil and the dry contents of:
3 3-milligram melatonin capsules
3 5,000-IU vitamin D capsules
2 500-milligram green tea capsules
2 500-milligram pomegranate capsules
Rub this paste once or twice a day gently into the skin on and around your skin cancer lesions.
Best Foods to Eat
Registered dietician and skin cancer survivor Anne Cundiff says: “They found my malignant melanoma early enough for it to be treated with surgery. Along with skin checks every six months, I have promised to take better care of my skin by wearing at least 30 SPF sunscreen at all times, staying out of the tanning bed, and increasing my consumption oflycopene-rich foodsto help keep my skin cells plump and happy. I hope you do, too.”7She explains: “This powerful antioxidant found in reddish-colored fruits tends to act as a natural sunscreen, providing an SPF of 3 or 4 from the inside out. In addition, lycopene helps your skin act as a natural filter, allowing enough sunlight through for your body to produce vitamin D.”8
To prevent or fight skin cancer, try preparing meals that contain:
• For beta-carotene: carrots, kale, mango, spinach, squash, sweet potato.
• For epigallocatechin gallate (ECGC) and polyphenols: cacao, garlic, green and black tea, oregano, rosemary, thyme.
• For lutein: collard greens, kale, spinach.
• For lycopene: apricot, guava, ruby red grapefruit, tomato, watermelon.
• For selenium: Brazil nuts and some meats.
• For vitamin A: sweet potatoes and eggs
• Cruciferous veggies: broccoli, Brussels sprout, cauliflower, cabbage, kale
Possible Emotional Causes:buried guilt and shame,lack of self-acceptance,anxiety, embarrassment, fear and feeling attacked.
Healing Affirmations: Repeat these affirmations throughout the day.
· “The past is in the past, it is forgiven and forgotten.”
· “I accept myself.”
· “I am safe and protected.”
· “I am free, joyful, peaceful, and loving in this moment.”
Energy Healing Technique:Breathe light into your crown chakra. Chant the sound of “Om” or “Eee.”
Five Steps to Prevent Skin Cancer
1.Eat foods rich in lycopene to replenish skin cells (see “Best Foods to Eat” above). This powerful antioxidant found in reddish-colored fruits tends to act as a natural sunscreen, providing an SPF of 3–4 from the inside out.
2.Exercise regularly.
3.Get enough vitamin D—both from sunlight and supplements—but avoid sunburn and stick to the recommended dosage of supplements when taken internally.
4.Eat a wholesome natural diet.
5.Drink less alcohol and give up smoking altogether.
Additional Tip
Buy natural skincare products or make your own. Stay away from any sunscreen or lip product that has these ingredients: avobenzone, homosalate, oxybenzone, octisalate, octocrylene, octinoxate, retinol, retinyl palmitate, or vitamin A. Oxybenzone alone is a synthetic estrogen that penetrates the skin and can disrupt the hormone system.Over half the of beach and sport sunscreens in the marketplace contain oxybenzone. Its primary function is to absorb ultraviolet light, but some research shows it can be absorbed through the skin. EWG’s staff and other toxicology experts believe that oxybenzone is linked to hormone disruption and potentially to cell damage that could lead to skin cancer.10
According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), we should look for mineral products that include zinc oxide,titanium dioxide, 3 percent avobenzone, or mexoryl SX. These ingredients protect skin from harmful UVA and UVB light rays.11Recommended brand: Babo Botanicals.
You’ll find a recipe for homemade sunscreen in Chapter 25, “Healthy Homemade Body Care.”
For sunscreen I recommend OLITA. It is EWG approved and doesn’t contain any of those toxic ingredients mentioned above. OLITA is an organic mineral sunscreen lotion that is gentle on sensitive skin but packs powerful protection for a day. Made with only clean, organic, nontoxic ingredients, is fragrance-free, and water-resistant for up to 80 minutes. The SPF ranges from 30-50, is EWG approved, Non-GMO, non-nano, and animal cruelty-free. It is also reef safe, unlike most sunscreens. Lastly, if you can’t eat it don’t put it on your skin, OLITA you can literally eat, the clean ingredients include coconut oil, olive oil, jojoba seed oil, and shea butter. They have sunscreen sticks for kids, and babies, and tinted to blend with your makeup. Olita is THE sunscreen of the summer! I am going on my second year of using it now ever since I found out about it. I love how it feels on my skin – so hydrating and blends right in. This stuff is so healthy for your skin. You will love it. And this brand gives back to ocean conservation. You can feel good about buying OLITA.
5. Y. Chen, C. Zhou, Z. Ge, et al., “Composition and Potential Anticancer Activities of Essential Oils Obtained from Myrrh and Frankincense,” Oncology Letters,vol. 6, no. 4 (October 2013), pp. 1140–46,https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3796379.
When I was doing the research for my bookCancer Free with Food, I was determined to find the number one food that was the most effective for fighting cancer. What I found I was not expecting. In all my research I discovered over 30 years of research on broccoli sprouts for killing cancer cells. The #1 cancer-healing food on earth is: without a doubt broccoli sprouts.
Cancer Free with Foodis one of the top 100 cancer books of all time! It is constantly a best seller daily on Amazon which you can get here.
It is hard not to become fascinated withbroccolisproutswhen you learn they are incredibly potent killers ofcancercells because of their unusually high sulforaphane content. Sulforaphane is also found inbroccoli, spinach, kale, cauliflower, bok choy, cabbage, and brusselssprouts. Butbroccolisproutscontain the most of any other vegetable on the planet.
Paul Talalay, M.D., a professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who has done research for 25 years on vegetable compounds, is a major advocate ofbroccolispouts. He says:“Three-day-oldbroccolisproutsconsistently contain 20 to 50 times the amount of chemoprotective compounds found in maturebroccoliheads and may offer a simple dietary means of chemically reducingcancerrisk.”2
In 1992, Talalay and his research team found that sulforaphane has the ability to reinforce the body’s natural defenses against oxidative stress, inflammation, and DNA damage. 3 Over the years, many studies by other researchers have supported Dr. Talalay’s conclusions. 4 One by Jed Fahey, Sc.D., director of the Cullman Chemoprotection Center at Johns Hopkins University, proved thatbroccolisproutsprovide “dramatic protection” against digestive issues, including stomach cancer, ulcers, gastritis, and overgrowths of Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium “strongly associated with inflammation related to digestivecancers.”5 During an experiment involving 48 patients with H. pylori infections in which half the volunteers ate 2.5 ounces ofbroccoli sproutsper day for two months, and half ate the equivalent amount of alfalfasprouts, which do not contain sulforaphane, biomarkers of infection dropped for the volunteers eating the broccolisprouts. 6
BroccoliSproutsAre Good for AllCancer and Especially Useful for . . .
• Stomachcancer • Coloncancer • Prostatecancer • Bladder cancer 7 • Breast cancer 8 • Livercancer • Braincancer
If you are doing chemo, radiation, and surgery, you may have a higher risk of developing an infection, so I would strongly advise incorporatingbroccolisproutsinto your diet at this time.
Suggested “Dosage” • To healcancer: 2.5 ounces ofbroccoli sproutsper day • To preventcancer: 2.5 ounces ofbroccolisprouts every third day
Ways of IncorporatingBroccoliSproutsin YourCancer-Healing Kitchen
Since reading all the studies, I have madebroccolisproutsa weekly staple on my shopping list. I pick up a small container once a week and addsproutsto my juices and smoothies, and use them as garnishes on soups, salads, and gluten-free pasta. To save money, consider growingbroccolisproutsin your own kitchen!
One of the easiest and most convenient ways to incorporate Broccoli Sprouts is with a once-a-day Broc Shot! I was so excited to find Broc Shot a ready-to-take wellness shot made with one ingredient: broccoli sprouts! Broc Shots have been the quickest and easiest way to get my daily dose of Sulphoraphane especially while traveling. Broc Shot guarantees 15mg of sulforaphane in one shot! Each activated shot guarantees real benefits in days, not weeks. You can feel it instantly. The energy and boost in your brain is undeniable. These shots have been a game changer in my life, making it the easiest and quickest way to get a dose of sulforaphane. Products like this make our lives so much easier, and healthier!
Dr. Mehmet Oz says, “Broccolisproutsare best when eaten raw in order to absorb the full nutrient andcancer-fighting properties including glucosinolates, which can preventcancer.”9
Ways to incorporatebroccolisproutsinto your diet include:
• Eat them raw by the handful. • Juice them.
• Add them to your salads, soups, and smoothies.
Resources:
1. Veronique Desaulniers. “The Landmark Johns Hopkins Sulforaphane Cancer Study Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You About,” Truth About Cancer blog (accessed June 30, 2018), https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/johns-hopkins-sulforaphane-cancer-study.
2. Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. “Cancer Protection Compound Abundant in Broccoli Sprouts, Johns Hopkins Scientists Find,” ScienceDaily (accessed June 26, 2018), www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/1997/09/970919062654.htm. Also: Melissa Hendricks. “More Reasons to Eat Those Vegetables,” Johns Hopkins Medicine, Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences (accessed June 30, 2018), https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/institute_basic_biomedical_sciences/news_events/articles_and_stories/ca ncer_disease/2010_08_eat_veggies.html.
3. “Potential for Added Medical Benefits Uncovered for Widely Used Breast Cancer Drug,” Johns Hopkins Medicine News release. (November 7, 2013), https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/ potential_for_added_medical_benefits_uncovered_for_widely_used_breast_cancer_drug.
4. “Broccoli Sprouts,” Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (accessed June 26, 2018), https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/broccoli-sprouts.
7. Miranda Hitti. “Broccoli Sprouts vs. Bladder Cancer?” WebMD (posted February 28, 2008), https://www.webmd.com/cancer/bladder-cancer/news/20080228/broccoli-sprouts-vs bladder-cancer.
8. Melissa Hendricks. “More Reasons to Eat Those Vegetables,” Johns Hopkins Medicine, Institute for Basic Bio medical Sciences (accessed June 30, 2018) https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/institute_basic_biomedical_sciences/news_even ts/articles_and_stories/cancer_disease/2010_08_eat_veggies.html.
9. Mehmet Oz. “Nine Cancer-Fighting Foods,” The Doctor Oz Show blog (posted December 16, 2016), https://www.doctoroz.com/gallery/9-cancer-fighting-foods.
If you know or guess that your body is overloaded with toxins, a detox is a good idea. You would throw out a bucket of dirty water entirely before you began adding clean water to it, wouldn’t you? I suggest doing a full-body detox, which includes a gut cleanse and liver cleanse, so you can lower the toxic burden in the body, give the lymphatic system a chance to restore itself, and let the gut heal so it can absorb nutrients properly. A toxic buildup can lead to anxiety, depression, and fatigue because your gut can’t properly absorb the nutrients you are giving it. When I was sick, I underwent a major detox for three months. This was what I needed to heal my gut and restore balance throughout my body, as well as to dissolve the tumor from my neck. Some people need more or less time. I recommend working with an integrative doctor, nutritionist, or naturopath if you feel you need a longer detox.
For a daily detox and for health maintenance I drink one broccoli sprout shot every day! If you haven’t already heard of Broc Shots I’m m so excited to introduce to you the ready-to-take wellness shot made from the powerful compound sulforaphane and made with one ingredient: broccoli sprouts, They are a great detox!
This is the quickest and purest way to add sulforaphane to your daily routine. Broc Shot makes it easy to optimize our health and these shots are perfect for traveling – they are shelf stable so you don’t have to keep them refrigerated while on-the-go. I have been taking these shots daily since December and have noticed a key difference in energy levels, alertness, and overall health! The results are instant – you can feel instant energy!
Why not incorporate Broc Shots into your daily routine?
Here’s why I take Broc Shot daily:
Detox: Sulforaphane switches on antioxidant genes to help fight against 80,000 toxins we are exposed to daily.
Reduces inflammation: Sulforaphane reduces levels of inflammatory molecules in our body.
Improves gut health: Sulforaphane balances the microbiome, feeding our good bacteria and helps heal the gut lining.
Did you know the #1 Cancer Healing Food I share in my book, Cancer-Free with Food, is Broccoli Sprouts! I became absolutely fascinated with broccoli sprouts when I discovered they are incredibly potent killers of cancer cells because of their unusually high sulforaphane content. Sulforaphane is also found in broccoli, spinach, kale, cauliflower, bok choy, cabbage, and brussels sprouts. But broccoli sprouts contain the most of any other vegetable on the planet.
[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Well, 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 where we get serious about your biz.
We’re taking a little bit of a different route today. I’ll be flying solo as the title implied. This one is not necessarily for any one group in particular. I would imagine anyone that listens to this could benefit to some degree, I would hope that’s the case. But if I had to say which group of people it’s really for, it is for the people out there that are wanting to become practitioners and have fear around this.
Whether it’s FDN practitioners or not, I don’t really care. I’m talking about a functional health practitioner, whatever that means to you, whatever certification or set of certifications that means to you or degrees doesn’t matter. I definitely want to talk to people who are actively done with their certification process and out there doing the work. Let’s chat about this.
One of the biggest problems that I see, especially as someone who is fortunate enough to get to do this podcast, gets to talk to a variety of people. I also do some stuff on the course enrollment side for FDN, meaning that I get to talk to people who are interested in coming onto the practitioner program there; they want to get certified. I get to see a variety of people, a variety of mindsets. I have seen people have massive success financially with the FDN program and I have seen people come in, been here for a while, and they haven’t done much with their certification.
Get Serious About Your Biz: What is Success?
I want to talk about something that certain areas of this might seem a little tough love. And I don’t think it’s anything that’s going to be too extreme. It just might be slightly different than what I normally would display on the show.
It’s not that I’m hiding something on the show, it’s that there’s a time and place for every side of your personality. Generally speaking, this side of my personality wouldn’t be something that I go out of my way to share on this podcast. But I think this needs to be shared and said. It’s, again, a lot of good stuff. I don’t think it’s going to be that much tough love, but there might be a sprinkle of that in here.
I am fascinated by success, and I don’t mean just financially. A lot of the times though, money is one of the most objective measurements that we can use for success, but that’s not what success necessarily means. Success is life satisfaction. It is happiness in our relationships, the success of our relationships.
And I don’t mean to give a circular definition with that, but the fulfillment that comes from our relationships. How well they do overall, right? Are we having constant arguments with the people in our life or do the people that we surround ourselves with inspire us and encourage us to grow? We have healthy interactions more often than not.
So, success is something that could be defined in many ways. I think again, financially, monetarily, it’s one of the easiest ways to measure success objectively.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Ev’s Personal Story
How do you necessarily measure a happy relationship? A lot of people could say they’re happy in their relationship. But if you actually tracked their interactions, which would be nearly impossible, I assume you might find that what some people consider a happy relationship is very different than what others consider a happy relationship.
Money is pretty black and white as long as you’re talking about the same currency of a particular country. If we’re talking USD, it’s pretty objective. You either have a certain amount or you don’t. You charge a certain amount, or you don’t.
What I’m getting at with all of this is there’s something missing in a lot of people’s psychology and consciousness when it comes to doing this work, doing any work, starting any business. This is universal in business. It really holds them back. And this can hold employees back as well, just so you know.
What am I getting at here? I don’t want to seem so all over the place, or like I’m beating around the bush. I want to share a story and then this will make sense.
At 18 years old, a lot of you guys know, if you listen to this podcast regularly, things we’re not going particularly well for me. When I turned 18, I was physically on house arrest. Not something I’m particularly proud of, but I’m very transparent. I had an ankle monitor on my leg.
A few weeks before I had been arrested and was sent to juvie. The reason I was sent to juvie is cause I was not 18 yet, right? Thank God I wasn’t 18 yet. I got kicked out of school 17 days into my senior year of high school. Things weren’t going as I had planned.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Not Great to Better and Better
There were drugs involved, there was mental health issues involved. My health was not great, and I don’t mean just mentally, physically as well. It was terrible. A lot of things were going wrong.
What’s interesting is if you looked at my life from the outside, a lot of things were set up pretty well for me. I grew up in a good area. Not perfect, none of this was perfect, but I grew up in a pretty good area. I wasn’t great at sports. I was pretty smart though, I did really well in school. It was kind of easy for me, especially at those lower levels of grades, like straight A’s were fairly effortless, didn’t really have to study or anything. I had a good family, mind you. So, I was in a position where if I just did the bare minimum, almost, you could have very easily seen me achieving a standard level of success, but that didn’t happen.
What happened is the exact opposite. Now, we could talk all day about why that happened. Was it the mental health issues, was it this, that, or the next thing? That’s fine. That doesn’t really matter. The point is, I hit a very low point.
When many people hit low points, and this is actually statistically backed up to some degree when you talk about incarceration. Now, grant you, going to juvie for a handful of days is not particularly the same as getting incarcerated for years; I’m not suggesting that. I’m not trying to sound like a hardened criminal; I’m still a nerd. But the prospects aren’t good for these people. If you look at the stats, it’s not really great. And yet things turned out okay. Actually, they’re getting better for me every single year.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Personal Development
Now don’t miss the point. Remember, I am sharing a story. This is not to brag or to show off, this is a different thing. It actually could not be farther from that cause I don’t think I’m special at all.
Bragging would be, oh, I’m special. Look what I get to do, and you don’t get to do it. This could not be farther from the opposite of that. This is showing, if I can do this, you definitely can do it. It is called reverse bragging. I just coined that term. How did we go then from an 18, terrible, to only 27 years old, not that much older, nine years later, everything in my life is statistically better than most people if you compared it that way.
I don’t think we should always play the comparison game to be clear, but these things do matter. You can kind of judge where you’re at in life based on those things. How did that happen? What occurred at 18 is I had the great fortune of getting around some amazing people.
Now, I always tell this story from the context of health. I always talk about how they were in a network marketing company that sold health and wellness products, and it actually got me into the whole holistic health space. That is true. But there is a whole other side of that that actually preceded even the health side that was more important to me, believe it or not. It was personal development. I got introduced to this concept that I actually had some control of the outcomes of my life by taking different actions than other people.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Effective and Inspiring Community
Now, this is not to say that we are always in control in this world. We’re definitely not. You could get a giant solar flare tomorrow that we barely have any warning about, and it could take out the whole earth in theory. Okay? Unlikely to happen. I’m just saying we are out of control in the grand scheme of things. But most of the time, we have a little bit of control. Assuming everything stays even moderately normal, you have some control.
I had never thought about this before, not even for a second, I don’t think I’d ever thought about this before. And the older I get, the more I realize most people never think about this at all, even as well seasoned adults. That’s a nice way of saying old people, right? But I’ll get to that in a moment.
I was handed some books by my mentor, Ben. And Ben is still a good friend of mine. He’s actually been on the show. His name’s Dr. Ben Torres, a physical therapist now, does stuff online, really awesome guy. He handed me some books and said, I want you to read these.
Now, I don’t even know if I finished any of them at the time. That wasn’t the point. I looked up to this guy, I liked the people I was around, I had nothing to lose, and I wanted to impress them. I wanted them to think highly of me. We all want people to think highly of us, right? But I really needed them to think highly of me at that time in my life, cause I loved being in this group and I could see what it was doing for me.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Statistical Anomalies
So, I started reading this stuff. I couldn’t believe what was on those pages. What was on the pages were people who had lived full lives with trials and tribulations, some of the craziest stuff you’ve ever heard, and massive success had been acquired by them. Financially? Sure. But also relationship wise, impact wise, actually being able to do something good for the world that could be looped into impact, of course, but it was amazing.
And for $10 to $20, on average, those people would sell these books. In those pages, they could teach you many of the most important things that they had learned in their entire life. Took them the whole lifetime to learn. For $15, I could get it on average. No one had ever shared this with me.
I think my Aunt Corinne, may she rest in peace, she unfortunately passed away from cancer, I think she tried. Some of the books she gave me as a kid looking back were more personal development-ish. But it wasn’t quite the same. I’m not discrediting what she did for me, but it wasn’t quite the same. No one had done this. I couldn’t believe it.
I’m like, why do people not talk about this? Some of the most successful people of all time write the steps right in the books. Couldn’t believe it. And what is my point in all of this? Well, nine years later, after being involved with that group, the proof is in the pudding. Because you could say that some people from that group just got lucky. And you can see elements of luck in certain things, no doubt about it. But you can’t discredit statistical anomalies occurring over and over and over again with one group of people.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Dedication to Dealing with the Hard Stuff
All have different personalities; all have different strengths and weaknesses. Very different people in many senses. Driven, maybe that’s the one underlying similarity, if anything.
But the biggest thing is this dedication to personal development – working on one’s self, working on one’s mindset, facing one’s fears, working on the things that are weak about you, weaknesses, facing the parts that you don’t want to face, uncovering those things, right? The stuff that you’ve been dealing with since you were a kid, and you’ve ignored that for the last 30, 40 years, you don’t even acknowledge that it exists. You might not even know that it exists at this point.
So, here’s what happened to that group of people that stuck around and kept doing the personal development stuff. Again, I cannot stress enough. This is not to try to impress you, this is not to try to brag to you, this is to impress upon you a really important principle for a very important reason, maybe set of principles even. I don’t want to share their personal financial stuff with their names, so I will list off real stories. This is factual stuff; this is not fake. But I might not mention their names.
We had a large group of people that were involved in this, like a large group of people. And there are some that I couldn’t even think about right now. So, let’s talk about some of those kids and what they ended up doing. Because that entire group that we were with was pretty much 18 to maybe 23, 24 years old. So, this is only nine years and think about how young they would still be.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Success Stories
This stuff I’m about to list off, some of it is amazing no matter what age you are, let alone, some of these people are 27 to early thirties. Think about that.
Here’s what happened to some of them. One of them has a business that is doing over $300,000 a month, some months, always $200,000 a month, some months. Works completely online. Employs 9 to 10 other people, might even be more than that at this point. One of them makes well over $150,000, $200,000 a year and works completely online, sets their own hours. Another one makes well into the six figures, and she was one of the first people in our group to ever start the online social media stuff. She saw that vision before anyone else did.
Two out of the three people I listed so far, by the way, dropped out of college, didn’t finish.
Another one, started a very niche business selling a very specific type of jewelry. And he gets accepted every single year into one of the largest vendor shows in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they work for almost 40 days straight, him and his wife. They make a substantial amount of money, like enough for two people’s income in just those 40 days. They work the rest of the year too traveling around and do this stuff. But it’s very niche, very particular, and they had success there. So that’s kind of interesting.
Get Serious About Your Biz: More Success Stories
You might not believe this one, if you don’t believe it, totally fine, but I’m telling you the truth. One of the kids has a business that does over a million dollars a month. In fact, they’re actually at $2 million a month right now. It is a huge brand. You might actually have heard about it. He does that with his girlfriend, and he’s had a lot of success in various areas. One of them speaks internationally in the network marketing space and leadership space.
Another one is a large, big-time influencer on social media for gym stuff, aesthetics, strong man, things like that. He’s doing pretty well. Hangs out with the best of the best, strongest of the strong.
Myself, I did do okay financially, but some of those numbers that I’m listing off are way past what I’m currently doing, at least at this given time. But I set a dream to go speak in schools. My original dream was to speak in schools. And at the age of 27, I have given over 550 presentations professionally, someone paid for it, to over 50,000 people around the country. And all of those presentations really only happened in the last five years. But I set the goal nine years ago.
Another, I don’t even know, 10 or 20 or so of these people were completely online making low level six figures, living their best life, that’s for sure, setting their own schedule. A couple of them are doing very well in real estate wholesaling. Another one has a half a million dollar a year business training dogs.
Get Serious About Your Biz: It’s a Lifetime Journey
Do you get the point? I’m not trying to just list these off for no reason or trying to just show you, oh, look at what all these friends are doing. Look at how cool this is. This is for a reason. These are 27- to 31-year-old guys and girls, mixed group of people here. Different personalities, like I said, different interests, different upbringings.
How is all of this happening? How is this possible? And then how are there 50-year-olds that only make $40K, $50K a year, which I’m not condemning, by the way. I’m only condemning it if they try to make more and wish to make more, and they have never achieved that yet in their life. It’s not even a condemnation even at that, I’m just being direct. That’s all I’m doing is being direct.
How is that possible? It’s personal development, it’s consciousness, it is developing a belief in yourself. When I say personal development, I do not mean going to the self-help section of Barnes and Noble and reading a book once every three months. That could be a part of it, but I don’t just mean that. Personal development is not a month, it is not a year, it’s not even 10 years. It is a lifetime journey.
When you engage in personal development in the way that I’m talking about it, you are embarking on a lifelong journey and committing to yourself that for the rest of your time here, you will work every single day to get a little bit better. Better at what? Anything. Anything. Relationships, your personality, your finances, anything. Your health. Obviously, that should be par for the course for a podcast like this. That’s what personal development is.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Lives of Quiet Desperation
It is not for a little bit, and then you quit. Nor is it, you get to a certain point and then you stop. It is a lifelong commitment to do something that most people will never even consider doing, let alone actually do.
There’s a saying that says, “most people live lives of quiet desperation.” Sigmund Freud actually said this. I wouldn’t normally quote Freud; he had some interesting things, right? But he said, as we find it, life is too hard for us. I’m paraphrasing what he said, cause it was a little more complicated, that’s for sure. But he talked about, most people can’t get through their lives without these distractions, whether it’s TV, drugs and alcohol, or whatever.
And I’m not perfect, okay? That’s not what I’m saying. But there’s some people that need to numb out every single day because they don’t want to acknowledge what they’re doing or not doing in life. Personal development is setting goals, setting a vision for yourself, and actually going after it. It’s living a life with intention. It’s not just waking up every day, oh, hope that gets better. Hope that gets figured out. What a sad way to live, man.
There’s another saying that says, most people die at 25, but get buried at 75. Think about that. Most people die at 25 and get buried at 75. What does it mean to die at 25? It means that you’ve given up, you threw in the towel, you stopped learning.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Avoiding Personal Responsibilities
You somehow claimed that the best times of your life were your four or five years in college when you’re getting blacked out drunk every weekend and having interactions with random people. That’s the best four years of your life? Staying up late, eating like crap, eating the heck out of your body, that’s the best time of your life? Most people die at 25 and get buried at 75.
Most people don’t have good relationships. Look at the statistics on this. Fifty plus percent of people get divorced. Fifty plus percent of people get divorced. We have broken families in the United States of America. We have a 70% obesity rate.
And yes, we do have a large international audience. I didn’t forget about you people in Australia, in UK, or Canada, or any of the other countries that listen to us regularly. I do see you guys, but I gotta pick on my Americans here. How is this happening? What is going on? This is a lack of willingness to work on ourselves. That’s what’s going on.
We are pushing away personal responsibility from anything in our lives as fast as we can in every area. We want someone else to take care of it for us, and there’s a tradeoff for that my friend. Because guess what? You kind of can get people to take care of it for you. But here’s the thing, they’re never going to do it in the way that you want.
I mean, think about that. You can go to jail. Jail will feed you. You don’t have to worry about healthcare. You’ve got a place to sleep. Is that living though? Is that freedom? Is that what you want?
Get Serious About Your Biz: Control What You Can Control
That’s what happens when you give up personal responsibility in your life. You don’t necessarily go to jail, but you’re subject to the plans that someone else set out. That’s what’s going to happen.
When you engage in personal development, the control that you get back outside of the worldly forces that we will never have control over. Right? I can’t control volcanoes; I can’t control tornadoes and stuff like that. That’s different. But chances are, I’m going to wake up tomorrow and chances are the world’s going to be pretty similar to the way it was today. Not always, definitely not always, but more likely than not, it’s going to be that way, probably the same as yesterday.
Chances are winter’s going to come, chances are spring’s going to come, chances are summer’s going to come, right? So, there’s predictable things, and within those predictable things, we have some control over what we’re doing. What we need to do is work on ourselves and actually live intentionally.
What on earth does this have to do with the business side? And why is this on the FDN podcast? The reason this is on here is because, it saddens me. It doesn’t anger me even though I come across as passionate. I get that. It saddens me that we have practitioners that are some of the smartest people in the world.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Perpetually Stuck
We have other people in the health space that aren’t FDNs, that give us calls on the course enrollment side. They are some of the nicest, smartest, coolest people you can imagine. They’ve got so many dang letters after their name; you couldn’t even count them. And they’re making nothing. They’re helping no one, doing nothing with any of this. They have the same problems that they did 10 years ago in their life. They’re still stuck. How can this be?
Well, you know what happens? They’ll read every dang book about health and about biochemistry, biology, or whatever cause that’s their passion. They’ve never once read a book on themselves. And I don’t mean you literally, I mean on humans. I mean on psychology, on the things that you’re weak at. If you have the same problems in your life right now and in your relationships that you had 10 years ago, I’m sorry, you are doing something wrong. You are not engaging in personal development.
This is not to suggest, again, that we can’t have weaknesses. Of course, we have weaknesses. I have weaknesses; I have a lot of weaknesses. But if those weaknesses are just as prevalent and just as strong in my life as they were 10 years ago, that is a problem. That is my fault, that is no one else’s fault, it is mine.
If you are making the same amount of money that you made 20 years ago, that is your fault. That is your problem. It’s your responsibility, no one else’s. If you’re making less, wow, you really have a big problem. I hope you’re at least happier with what you’re doing, cause otherwise you’re really backing up.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Study Yourself
We spend so much time as people in this holistic space learning about health, and we never learn about humans. We never learn about ourselves. There is no reason that you shouldn’t be out there doing this work, helping people, making an awesome income and impacting people in a positive way.
If you just went through a basic Health Coach certification, you already know more than the vast majority of people in this country and around the world. The United States is the country I’m referring to. You already know more; you already have enough to help them, and yet you’re not doing it. You have no clients. You’re not making any money. That is your fault; that is not anyone else’s fault.
We have to put as much dedication and commitment into studying ourselves as we do any other area. The late Jim Rohn said this, he said, learn to “work harder on yourself than you do at your job”. That is not to imply to be lazy at your job. It’s to imply to work even harder on yourself. It’s literal. There’s no secret implication there. You work hard at your job, and you work even harder on yourself.
You know what happens? Eventually the job actually gets a lot easier. Because it’s also said that when you do more than you’re paid for, working on yourself can be a part of that, you will soon be paid for more than you do. When you do more than you’re paid for, you will soon be paid for more than you do.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Work on Yourself
For four years I didn’t make a dime public speaking. That was doing more than I was paid for. I was still giving my all, I was still trying to help people, I was still sharing stuff, but I wasn’t making anything. That was doing more than I was paid for. Now I can go into a school 10 minutes down the road and they’ll give me $400 for an hour to be there.
That is not me bragging. That is me just telling you what happens. You do more than you’re paid for, soon you will be paid for more than you do. There is no way I can justify $400 in an hour. That’s crazy. It’s still crazy to me. And some people make a lot more than that, a lot more than that.
But it’s the work I did on myself and the things I was willing to put in. Because guess what? To go public speak, there’s a lot more to it than just showing up and doing that. You gotta put in the time, you gotta work on your confidence, you gotta work on your communication skills, you gotta work on your ability in dealing with people. And these are the things that apply to almost all areas of business. Yes, I’m talking about public speaking in that instance, but this applies to business in general.
Nowadays, with the internet, I guess you can get away without having to deal with people as much. You could do things behind the screen. And if that’s really your thing, fine, so be it. Go do it that way. That is totally okay.
Get Serious About Your Biz: It’s a Choice
But a better way to live, most likely, a more fulfilling way to live would be to work on those things that you don’t want to work on, the things that you don’t like, the things that if people around you had to be honest and list off to you that they thought you weren’t good at, those things. That’s what needs to be worked on.
So, what did I do? What did this group of people do at 18 that has led to the difference? We started working on ourselves, harder on ourselves than we did at our jobs. That’s what happened. And I realized, okay, dude, you’re kind of a jerk to people.
That was true back then. I hope you guys don’t see me as that now. I know I’m being a little, again, harsh on this podcast, but back then I was seen as a jerk to people. Back then, I was seen as lazy, uncommitted. Those aren’t great qualities for a business owner. Oh, not to mention I had no confidence.
I couldn’t talk to anyone without blushing. I’m a heterosexual male and I couldn’t talk to men without blushing. Such bad social anxiety I couldn’t even talk to you one-on-one. And now I can go speak to 800 people at once, no problem, not even think twice about it.
That is not Evan Transue bragging, that is showing you I’m not special. I probably had worse social anxiety than 95% plus of the people that will ever listen to this podcast, and yet now I do something that 95% of people listening to this podcast will never do. You could do it, probably won’t do it. That’s a choice.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Get Out of Your Way
That’s the willingness to work on yourself if you want your business to take off, if you actually want to help people. Cause a lot of people say that, right? What person in the health space doesn’t say that they want to help people? If you ask them, what are your top few goals? Why’d you get into this? They want to support other people.
If you actually want to do that, then you gotta put your money where your mouth is. You gotta actually show up and figure out why is it that some people are coming into the FDN course and other health certifications, and in two years of graduating, they’re doing a hundred thousand dollars a month, online businesses. That’s incredible.
How are they doing that? How do we have other people that have never even used social media for their business and they’re doing half a million dollars a year, 40-hour work week, half a million dollars a year, employ other FDNs? How can that be? They work on themselves. There is no one achieving that type of thing without working on themselves.
At some point, you gotta get real with yourself and realize that you are the only thing in today’s world holding you back. It’s not the government, it’s not the economy, it’s not your sister, it’s not your husband, it’s not your wife, it’s not your mom, it’s not your dad, it’s not your great-grandfather. It’s you. It is you.
And this doesn’t mean that people don’t go through things in life. I’ve been through some things. I’ve been through worse things than a lot of people. A lot of people have been through worse things than me. That’s not to not acknowledge those aspects.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Serving at the Highest Level
In fact, you’re going to have to acknowledge those aspects if you want to succeed at what I’m talking about here with personal development. But that’s not the reason.
There is someone out there winning right now. Think about this. There is someone out there right now less qualified than you, not as intelligent as you, that’s making more money, helping more people, living a better life, happier. And yet they have none of the qualifications that you do. It has to be consciousness; it has to be the personal development side. There’s nothing else left. If they’re less skilled than you in every single way, and they have more, it has to be consciousness.
We have a duty to ourselves and the people around us to become the best versions of ourselves. That is when we can serve the world at the highest level. That’s how that works.
I watch people, because there’s a wide variety of ages in the world of FDN. There are people who come through that are in their early twenties, there are people that come through that are, I think the oldest I’ve seen is like 70 something years old. It’s rarer that it happens in the older group but it’s still a tragedy when it’s happening to someone at 30, 40, 50 years old too.
These people, what I’m referring to is they walk around scared. They walk around having the same issues and insecurities that they had at 15 years old. Some kid was making fun of them in school, and they still have the same problem. And they allow that to dictate their life today. They allow that to be a reason that they don’t succeed today.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Prospective What Ifs
At what point do you open up your eyes and accept the fact that you aren’t going to be here forever? I think about this all the time. And people, you know, they don’t like this, they don’t want to talk about this, generally speaking. Not always, but generally speaking, they don’t want to have these discussions. But this is real, man. And if you’ve listened this far into the podcast so far, you know I’m speaking some truth. Otherwise, you wouldn’t keep listening to me.
I need you to think about this. How would you live your life if you knew that next year was the last year? Because there’s nothing guaranteeing that it’s not, by the way. And I’m not trying to provoke fear or put that in the back of your head. I think about this constantly though.
It’s one of my biggest secrets, secret weapons that is, not secrets as in it’s hidden. I would tell anyone this, it’s my secret weapon. When I’m feeling lazy, when I’m feeling sorry for myself, when I’m on the pity potty, when I’m allowing or about to allow fear to stop me from doing something I know I want to go do or know I should be doing, I say, what if tomorrow was it?
If you knew tomorrow was it, would you still be making the same decision? And almost every single time that gets me into action because I realize how real that can be. Do not waste your whole life, never having the business, never succeeding, never getting the clients, never achieving the goals that you wanted to achieve, just cause you’re scared and unwilling to work on it.
Get Serious About Your Biz: On the Other Side
Like what are you thinking? You think this is forever? Not only is it not forever, it’s a very, very short period of time and I’m realizing that the older that I get. You don’t have the same level of energy the entire time that you’re here and it’s already short. It’s a lot different being 18 years old than it is 48 years old, I would imagine. I’m seeing some differences at 27 years old; I notice my recovery’s a little different. I notice I seem a bit more prone to injury in activities that I’m doing. It’s different already.
And you are going to spend your life letting fears and things that you don’t want to work on, that you don’t want to look at about your past and about yourself, you’re going to allow that to dictate the entire time that you’re here. Man, how pathetic is that? What a waste of time on this planet. What a waste of a privilege to be here and to be able to even listen to a podcast like this.
Think about how good you have to have it to be able to do this and you’re sitting here wasting away your life cause you’re a little scared. Cause you don’t want to talk about what happened when you were a kid. You’re not that type of person, you’re just shy. Right? Man, that’s just not a way to do it.
On the other side of all those fears, of all those limiting beliefs, of all that stuff you don’t want to deal with, is an amazing life. It is really freaking cool to be able to say that there’s almost nothing that you don’t believe that you can’t do when you put your mind to it.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Extraordinary Takes Effort
There is nothing I don’t believe I can’t do other than very realistic things. If I just start playing basketball at 27 years old as a six-foot guy who does not jump particularly high, I jump kind of well, I guess, it would be unrealistic to say I’m going to get into the NFL or the NBA. That’s probably not going to happen. Okay, fine. Fair enough.
Just about anything else though I believe I can do. And that is not motivational rah-rah crap. That’s the truth. And you know why? I know I can do almost anything because most people won’t even try. I know I can hit half a million in business in the next few years. I know I can do that because most people aren’t even trying.
And you might say, well, Ev, come on. Of course, everyone wants that amount. Oh yeah? People want a lot of things. They want a lot of things, but most of them won’t even set the dang goal. Most of them won’t even try. You think people out here and practitioners out here making half a million dollars a year or a hundred thousand dollars a month just accidentally happened? A fairy came and sprinkled dust on them, and all of a sudden something magic happened? Dude, you don’t do extraordinary things without being an extraordinary person. And being an extraordinary person is largely a choice.
There are certain aspects like being seven feet tall, that would probably give you an advantage, again, in basketball, NBA, or something like. That’s extraordinary and that was out of that person’s control. Fine. Most other stuff though, to be extraordinary is a choice.
Get Serious About Your Biz: The Tradeoff
And a lot of this, most of it comes down to the personal development side – working on yourself, working on your belief, working on your confidence, working on those parts of yourself that you never wanted to look at. On the other side of all that, and all those fears, man, one of the best lives ever, actual living instead of just surviving. No longer believing that the best four or five years of your life were when you could barely speak cause you were slurring so bad cause you were drunk. And no longer waking up every single day for a job that you hate resenting Monday through Friday and hiding from it on the weekends.
It’s a better way to live, living intentionally. But you gotta give the tradeoff. There is no such thing as something for nothing. The tradeoff is working on the things that most people will never even acknowledge.
If this is still disconnected for you as to what this has to do with business, I don’t have anything more for you at this time. I’m sorry about that. It has everything to do with business though. So, if you still don’t get it, maybe relisten really quick. It goes beyond business too, which is really nice. It’ll affect every area of your life positively.
But today I need you to make a decision for yourself. And this isn’t about taking the FDN course. I mean, you might already be graduated for all I know. This has nothing to do with that side of things. The people that are listening to this show are in the health space to some degree. That I know for sure. They have an ability to go out and help other people.
Get Serious About Your Biz: Everyone is Different
If you are not doing that yet, why? Why? How much longer are you going to allow all the fears and limiting beliefs and stuff someone said 20 years ago to keep affecting your life today? And how much differently would you act on a daily basis? What things would you allow yourself to do, give permission for yourself to do if you knew you only had six months? If you knew you only had a year?
And if your life would look dramatically different if you knew that you had that timeframe, oh man, you better get to changing that pretty quick then. Because there’s no guarantee that you don’t have that timeframe. You could have less. And you don’t want to think about that and dwell on it in such a way that it causes you mass amounts of fear. That’s not the point. You put just enough of it in until it sparks you back into action, until it outweighs your fear and then you let it go. That’s what you do.
How much more time are you going to spend with the same problems and not live how you’re supposed to be living? Get involved with the personal development side. The reason I didn’t give any recommendations today of a book to read or audios to listen to, although I did indirectly recommend Les Brown, is because your side of personal development might look different than mine.
I needed to work on emotional vulnerability, I needed to work on forgiveness, I needed to work on personal responsibility. Chances are you’ll probably need to work on all of those things to some degree, but it’s different for everyone.
Conclusion
And I really needed to hit those. Once I did that, it was one of the most freeing things I’ve ever done that has positively impacted all areas of my life. It’s not a destination, it’s still something I work on every single day. You have to do it. But man, there’s a wonderful world waiting for you when you’re ready to do this.
And since our time here is very short at its best and even shorter at its worst, I would make that decision very soon. There are people out there that need the knowledge that we have. So, if you can’t do it for yourself in the immediate moment, at least do it for them. When you do this, you’ll see how it translates to the business side. It is everything for the business side. I hope this makes sense.
I’ll be back next time with another interview or something more health related, but this was something that I needed to put out. And now that it’s out, it’s out. It can be shared with other people when I need to share it. Hopefully you can share it with a friend or two if you find that it’s relevant to them.
But outside of that, you guys have a wonderful day. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Health Detective Podcast.
The study claiming that a Mediterranean diet could reduce the risk of early death in women by a quarter has gained significant media attention. However, it is essential to delve deeper into the details of the study and the actual Mediterranean diet to understand the implications better.
First, it is crucial to note that the study focused on a fictitious version of the Mediterranean diet, which was constructed by academia.This version does not accurately represent the authentic Mediterranean diet, which comprises animal foods, vegetables, and some fruits, with white starchy carbohydrates. The discrepancy between the actual diet and the one studied raises questions about the applicability of the findings.
Secondly, the study’s methodology involved reviewing 16 population studies that included around 700,000 women. The researchers primarily focused on cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence rates. The CVD incident rate during the 12.5 years of follow-up was 4%, which equates to a fraction of one percent per year. The “quarter” difference mentioned in the headlines applies to this small incident rate, resulting in an absolute risk difference of only 6 in 10,000 per year.
Furthermore, the study did not comprehensively account for several factors that could impact CVD rates, such as smoking, age, alcohol consumption, exercise, income, education, diabetes, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The lack of adjustments for these factors in the reviewed studies weakens the overall conclusions drawn from the review.
In summary, while the headlines may be attention-grabbing, it is essential to recognise that the study’s findings are based on a fictitious Mediterranean diet and do not account for important confounding factors. Consequently, it is misleading to suggest that women who consume this made-up Mediterranean diet are far less likely to die early than those who do not.
The full version of this article can be read below
As a mindfulness-based registered dietitian with a decade of experience, I have seen the transformative power of mindful eating in improving emotional wellness.
Stress, anxiety, and other emotions can often lead to unhealthy eating habits that may exacerbate mental health issues. In this article, I will discuss how mindful eating can help you cope with stress, anxiety, and other emotions. Additionally, I will share specific practices and mental health resources to help you navigate these challenges and find balance in your life.
Mindful Eating for Emotional Wellness
The Connection Between Emotions and Eating Habits
It is not uncommon for individuals to use food as a coping mechanism during times of stress, anxiety, or emotional turmoil (1). Emotional eating, or eating in response to feelings rather than physical hunger, can lead to overeating, weight gain, weight loss, and negative emotions such as guilt or shame (2). This cycle can perpetuate itself, making it difficult to break free from the grasp of emotional eating.
I often get asked questions about if emotional eating is bad by new Mindful Nutrition Method students in my program, and my answer is always the same! Experiencing emotional eating of any kind is not “bad”, it’s part of our human experience! The goal is to build our mindfulness muscle so we’re better able to understand, observe, and take more aligned action based on the awareness of our emotional eating habits over time.
Mindful Eating: A Path to Emotional Wellness
Mindful eating is an approach that encourages individuals to pay attention to their internal cues, such as hunger and satiety, while also being aware of the emotional and environmental triggers that may influence their eating behaviors (3). By practicing mindfulness, individuals can develop a more compassionate and non-judgmental relationship with food, which can ultimately lead to improved emotional wellness.
Research has shown that practicing mindful eating can result in numerous mental health benefits, including reduced anxiety, depression, and emotional eating (4). In one study, participants who received a mindfulness-based intervention experienced significant improvements in emotional eating behaviors and reported increased feelings of self-compassion (5).
Embracing Mindfulness During Emotional Eating Episodes
While the ultimate goal is to reduce emotional eating, it’s important to recognize that challenges may occur. During these moments, practicing mindfulness can still be beneficial in mitigating the impact of emotional eating. Instead of judging yourself or feeling guilty, try to observe your thoughts and emotions without judgment, and acknowledge the situations or “triggers” that led to emotional eating.
By doing so, you can gain valuable insights into the underlying causes and develop more effective coping strategies for the future (14). Moreover, incorporating mindfulness during emotional eating episodes can help you remain present, potentially preventing overindulgence and promoting greater self-compassion. Remember that progress is a gradual process, and developing a non-judgmental and compassionate approach towards yourself is crucial for long-term success in achieving emotional wellness.
The Role of Self-Compassion in Emotional Wellness
Developing self-compassion is an essential aspect of mindfulness and can have a profound impact on emotional wellness. Self-compassion involves treating yourself with kindness, understanding, and acceptance, particularly during challenging moments (8). Research has shown that individuals with higher levels of self-compassion tend to have lower levels of anxiety, depression, and emotional eating (9).
To cultivate self-compassion, consider the following strategies:
Practice self-kindness: Instead of judging yourself harshly or engaging in negative self-talk, try to treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding you would offer to a friend. This can help break the cycle of negative emotions and promote emotional wellness (10).
Embrace your imperfections: Recognize that everyone makes mistakes and experiences setbacks. By accepting your imperfections, you can develop a healthier relationship with yourself and better cope with stress, anxiety, and other emotions (11).
Offer yourself loving kind wishes such as “May I feel at peace with food, may I be at ease around food, may I experience my emotions fully with care, and may I not judge my experiences with food” and many more to explore.
Mental Health Resources for Coping with Stress and Anxiety
In addition to practicing mindful eating and cultivating self-compassion, it’s important to seek additional support when managing stress, anxiety, and other emotions. Consider exploring the following mental health resources:
Professional therapy: A licensed therapist or counselor can provide valuable guidance and support as you navigate emotional challenges. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) are two evidence-based approaches that have been shown to be effective in treating stress and anxiety (12).
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR): This is an eight-week program designed to help individuals develop mindfulness skills and coping strategies for stress, anxiety, and other emotions. Research has shown that MBSR can lead to significant improvements in mental health and emotional wellness (13).
Support groups: Connecting with others who are experiencing similar challenges can provide a sense of community and support. Many organizations offer support groups for stress, anxiety, and emotional eating, both in-person and online.
Takeaway
Mindful eating, self-compassion, and accessing mental health resources can play a significant role in improving emotional wellness and helping individuals cope with stress, anxiety, and other emotions. By adopting these strategies and seeking support, you can cultivate a healthier relationship with food, yourself, and your emotions.
Find Freedom & Balanced Nourishment.
Embrace a Balanced & Peaceful Relationship with Food.
If you’re looking to develop a healthier relationship with food and transform your eating habits, consider joining our online group coaching program, the Mindful Nutrition Method. Our program is designed to help you cultivate a mindful approach to eating and develop a healthier relationship with food and your body.
Get the 3-part system that will help you discover your balance, enjoy food fully, and nourish your relationship with food to feel confident, balanced, and at peace. You’ll learn the skills and strategies you need to make lasting changes to your health and well-being. Don’t wait to start your journey towards a healthier, happier you.
References:
Van Strien, T. (2018). Causes of emotional eating and matched treatment of obesity. Current Diabetes Reports, 18(2), 11.
Ricca, V., Castellini, G., Lo Sauro, C., Ravaldi, C., Lapi, F., Mannucci, E., … & Faravelli, C. (2012). Correlations between binge eating and emotional eating in a sample of overweight subjects. Appetite, 59(2), 418-421.
Framson, C., Kristal, A. R., Schenk, J. M., Littman, A. J., Zeliadt, S., & Benitez, D. (2009). Development and validation of the mindful eating questionnaire. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 109(8), 1439-1444.
Katterman, S. N., Kleinman, B. M., Hood, M. M., Nackers, L. M., & Corsica, J. A. (2014). Mindfulness meditation as an intervention for binge eating, emotional eating, and weight loss: A systematic review. Eating Behaviors, 15(2), 197-204.
Alberts, H. J., Thewissen, R., & Raes, L. (2012). Dealing with problematic eating behavior. The effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on eating behavior, food cravings, dichotomous thinking and body image concern. Appetite, 58(3), 847-851.
Jordan, C. H., Wang, W., Donatoni, L., & Meier, B. P. (2014). Mindful eating: Trait and state mindfulness predict healthier eating behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 68, 107-111.
Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (2012). Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works. St. Martin’s Griffin.
Neff, K. D. (2003). Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity, 2(2), 85-101.
Mantzios, M., & Wilson, J. C. (2015). Mindfulness, eating behaviors, and obesity: A review and reflection on current findings. Current Obesity Reports, 4(1), 141-146.
Neff, K. D., & Germer, C. K. (2013). A pilot study and randomized controlled trial of the mindful self‐compassion program. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69(1), 28-44.
Breines, J. G., & Chen, S. (2012). Self-compassion increases self-improvement motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(9), 1133-1143.
Hofmann, S. G., Asnaani, A., Vonk, I. J., Sawyer, A. T., & Fang, A. (2012). The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36(5), 427-440.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 144-156.
Katterman, S. N., Mindful Eating for Emotional Wellness.
[00:00:00] Detective Ev: Well, hello my friends, and 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 about the possibly best whole food supplement on the market today. We’re talking to this guy, Steven Abbey, who is really onto something here.
Steven has a scheduler that sent stuff over. The sheet itself was all about micronutrients and eating good foods and all this kind of stuff. When I saw this, I was so ignorant, to be honest. Because a lot of the sheets that get sent to you in the functional space are about nutrition and stuff like that, and it just seems generic. But again, I’m the one that’s being ignorant here because even though I’m like, oh, I “know this” quote/unquote, so also a little bit arrogant with this, I’m like, ah, okay. I just have a good feeling about this guy; we’ll bring him on.
He takes the nutrition side to such a deep level. There were at least five or six different things that I learned from this podcast alone. It might be even more than that, but I can think of those off the top of my head just from listening to this guy.
One, it goes to show don’t judge by stupid media sheets because just because you think you know that stuff doesn’t mean you actually do. And two, you guys are going to love the episode. I am just going to read his bio and then we’re going to get right into it today.
About Steven Abbey
Steven Abbey has taken a novel approach to the health and wellness industry with the establishment of SOS Nutrients, a Santa Barbara based smoothie company. Steven’s interdisciplinary background featuring degrees in economics and psychology from the University of Colorado has allowed him to develop comprehensive understandings of economy, politics, and healthcare.
His diverse career encompasses significant roles such as co-owner of Neighborhood Power Incorporated, a solar development company that achieved 40 million in back orders in 2016, as well as owner and co-founder of Allied Logistics, a Ventura-based aerospace manufacturing and exporting firm that was awarded Small Business Exporter of the year in 2003. In addition to his entrepreneurial pursuits, Steven has demonstrated a commitment to philanthropy by co-founding the nonprofit organization Adopt-A-Pet in 1996. The initiative has since facilitated homes for over 2 million pets and increased its annual operating budget to over $2 million.
His innovative approach to the health and wellness industry exemplified by SOS Nutrients showcases the potential for further advancements in the field driven by sustainable and wholesome product development. I didn’t know all this stuff prior to having him on the podcast. I only saw all of this afterwards.
You guys are going to love this. I am glad to be wrong that this is not just some generic nutrition advice. Without further ado, let’s get to today’s episode.
All right. Hello Steven and welcome to the Health Detective Podcast. How are you?
Steven Abbey: Good. How are you doing?
Detective Ev: I’m doing very well. Thank you for asking. Little jealous that you’re out in California, but that’s okay. I’m jealous of a lot of our practitioners out in California. I think I’m only a few more people away from telling me that they’re out there for me to get out there myself.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Psoriasis Treatment
But with that said, we’re not here to talk about the wonderful weather in California. What we are here to talk about is something kind of interesting.
I’m fascinated by what we were just talking about off air with the label side and how there’s synthetic versus the naturals in terms of the supplements, vitamins, ingredients that are being thrown in. Cause I think this is something that, admittedly, I have some stuff to learn about; and I’m sure it tricks many other practitioners out there as well.
But before we even get there, everyone that listens regularly knows, I’d love to figure out how the guest got into this space because very few people do it by accident. It normally, becomes intentional based on experiences that they had, whether it’s health wise or just things that they learned. So how did you get into this space? What was going on? Did you have health issues, or did you see something that was just a huge gap in the supplement space?
[00:04:03] Steven Abbey: Well, I started out with health issues and then I saw the gap later. I had really serious psoriasis along with reactive hypoglycemia, along with chronic fatigue. I was just not doing well.
When I would go to a doctor, they might have a type of treatment that’s very short term, but it wasn’t any long term for psoriasis, if any of your listeners know. It is not an easy thing and there are drugs that work, but it required a liver biopsy because it can destroy your liver and that’s a legitimate possibility. Even if it doesn’t show on the liver biopsy to be destroying it, it’s still doing damage.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Nothing on the Market
After the first liver biopsy, I was like, okay, I’ll never do that again. But I just started looking into and really seeing what could be done for all of my conditions. I ended up becoming fascinated with what was available in terms of all these studies that nobody seems to be paying attention to or a lot of people don’t.
Then I started going outside of my own health issues and going into cancer, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions, and these fascinating studies that were just not being utilized even by a lot of practitioners, which just kind of shocked me.
The thing that put me over the edge was several years ago. A couple of really close friends had what I would say are preventable diseases where I helped them go through the last months of their life. I was part of their team of people supporting them. It just decimated me and to the point where I could not see an easy way to get them really good nutrition in a simple form that they could take.
In the end, I just decided I’m going to make one. Because one, let’s prevent these things from happening if we can in a simple way. Then two if somebody does have something, let’s give them really everything in the toolbox to support it. So, that’s the reason why I designed what I did.
[00:06:14] Detective Ev: Okay. A few things there. I actually gotta jump to this first, not that I want to get too dramatic right into the podcast. But I’m really passionate about this, I can tell that you are, pretty much anyone that listens. You know, again, we’re here for a reason with this.
Best Whole Food Supplement: No Info or Action Steps
What you just talked about with you seeing these people come to the end of their life with preventable diseases, I think that’s what ends up happening to a lot of us, whether we are consciously thinking about this every day or not. But in our space, it’s one thing
I had cystic acne, I had anxiety, depression. I’m not lessening those things, but you know, I was stable at one point. I was suffering, but I would say, stable. I was good; I wasn’t at any risk of passing away from that by any means. When you start to realize that there are people out there that actually left this earth early or they suffered for 10, 20 years needlessly because they aren’t getting the right information, they’re never told about these studies, or they’re never given the action steps that would be concluded from the studies themselves; that’s sad to me.
I want to make the most out of the time here. I want to feel good for as long as I can because it’s very short, passes very quickly it seems. So, I just really respect that. You see these people at the end of their life and like, all right, how can I do something ideally to prevent it, but at the very least to give them a nutrition that they need simply if they’re in that state.
Rewinding that even a little bit though, you had talked about, you had these health conditions. You weren’t in the health space before those conditions though, were you? Or you were in a completely different field?
Best Whole Food Supplement: Health Nuts
[00:07:38] Steven Abbey: No. I had a business manufacturing and exporting aircraft component, so totally different space. But it ended up becoming my passion.
I ended up basically training with some naturopathic doctors here in Santa Barbara where I was going in and we would be working together. I was just helping them out and then I would do the research on what they were doing. To me it ended up being a fascinating time. I had my day job of this really intense aerospace company and then I would come back and just do my passion. I would do it for free just cause I was interested.
I’d gotten my own health dialed in and now I was just like, whoa. What else is there? This was kind of interesting and that’s how I got into it and really went down that path of learning on it.
[00:08:32] Detective Ev: It’s like this space is a space stealer, like we steal people from other spaces. It doesn’t matter what the job is, obviously that is completely different than the health space. You find yourself with these issues and if you’re blessed enough to get those solutions, man, it’s all consuming in the best way, right? You become so positively obsessed with this and just wanting to share this with other people that I think that’s why we look like health nuts to half the people we talk to.
I’m like, I don’t want you to get it cause I don’t want you to go through this stuff. But man, it’s actually a really great way to live when you wake up every day and you’re excited to do what you want to do.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Simplistically Treatable
So, you have the health issues, in a completely different field, and you’re doing stuff on yourself. You’re getting better, which is amazing. Then eventually you’re deciding that you kind of want to venture into this space.
If I’m clear, this is the first time actually going into this space as a business, I suppose, or as a worker in some way with the SOS Nutrients. Is that correct? Like you weren’t doing coaching or anything before that?
[00:09:21] Steven Abbey: No, I’ve been doing coaching for years, but I didn’t set up a product. And that coaching was usually friends and family, you know, sometimes people would come out. But to me, again, it was my passion. I would literally give away my time for free. I would go and help people.
The thing is, like these diseases that are so prevalent and rampant, like diabetes, like hypertension, I’ll just say they are very treatable. It’s just almost simplistic. I shouldn’t make it that way, it’s not for every situation. But say somebody has diabetes, if they change their lifestyle and then they add some nutraceuticals to their diet and they create a really good base of nutrition, I have yet to see somebody’s blood sugar not.
I have a friend of mine, Tamara, who had a 9.5 A1c. Her numbers went down too low in terms of her 24-hour blood glucose monitor. Her numbers were going down into 55 at night. But it would never get over like 115 during the day, even after a meal. If somebody knows what 9.5 A1c is, you know, before that time she was averaging 180.
Best Whole Food Supplement: The Power to Undo
The thing is, if you take real nutrition, if somebody is motivated, you can turn that around in almost every case I’ve seen. It’s just a matter of motivation and having the information that somebody can apply. To me, I just get so excited by that because we have the power to undo that.
The reason that is causing it is the real question. Like obesity and diabetes and all these things, why are we having such massive influxes of that?
[00:11:01] Detective Ev: I appreciate the polite way of saying that because I get what you’re doing. It can almost be shocking the first time someone hears that if they’re listening and they happen to click on our show today. Maybe they don’t know anything about the space, and they listen with type two diabetes or whatever, it can almost be a shocking statement to hear that.
But yeah, for whatever it’s worth, there are many conditions that people walk around, and I ask them, is this something that can be consistently put into remission or whatever? They’ll say no. It’s like, well, we do that 95% of the time. And you’re doing it consistently too. So, it’s a paradigm shifting thing for people.
SOS Nutrients, you know, obviously, there’s a million different companies out there. But again, I was fascinated by some of the stuff that your scheduler had sent over. Cause I’m like, all right, this guy actually really seems like he’s taking it to the next level. I’ll just give you the floor with that. I mean, what makes your product different than so many of these other ones on the market, even the ones that might look healthier or more natural?
Best Whole Food Supplement: Natural Balanced Amounts
[00:11:57] Steven Abbey: Well, I spent a lot of time looking into this. I’ll just say, there are many products that are comprehensive, but I’ve never seen one that’s not synthetic, if they’re fully comprehensive. And I’ve seen a bunch of products that are natural, but none of them are comprehensive.
They might have vitamin C, or they might have vitamin E, or in some cases they’ll even have a multivitamin that’s fairly whole foods, right? But I know the source and I tested that source. Well, there’s one major one; I won’t name their name. It’s unfortunate there’s adulterations there.
But the bottom line is, what I did is I put together a product that every item is whole foods. An example, the iodine instead of potassium iodine, which is a synthetic form of iodine, which is in almost every product that has iodine, I have a blend of three organic kelps from Iceland, far away from any industrialized centers.
So, vitamin C, instead of ascorbic acid, or calcium ascorbate or liposomal vitamin C, which all have a base of ascorbic acid, which are a synthetic, I have a blend of berries, freeze-dried organic berries. It’s way more expensive, it’s 20 times more expensive than me buying ascorbic acid. It’s 45 for the iodine I just mentioned.
I have a guava leaf extract, an organic one from India for the zinc. That’s 35 times more than zinc gluconate.
So, it’s a very expensive way to do it but it’s all whole foods. It’s in natural balanced amounts that your body can assimilate or let go, but it’s in gentle whole foods ways with all the co-factors there. And as well it’s nine different components, right?
Best Whole Food Supplement: Challenge Offered
Besides, for all the RDA stuff that I just mentioned, vitamin A, vitamin B, all the B vitamins and et cetera, et cetera, you also have a blend of organic mushrooms and a full dose, two grams. If you know what that means, that’s a full dose of mushrooms for the day. And you have a full dose of greens and berries and prebiotics and probiotics and enzymes and botanicals. It’s nine major components.
The original product is without any flavorings or sweeteners, so I have people mix it into a smoothie. So, now if they make a healthy smoothie and they add this in, it’s a life-changing experience. It’s not just, you’re taking your average multivitamin. But it does take effort, takes effort to make that smoothie. If somebody does that correctly, and I have really good recipes on my website, you have major shifts.
I’m proving that now with a bunch of studies that I’m doing just here locally in Santa Barbara, just taking before and after. And if somebody on this podcast wants to do a challenge, they can get ahold of me. We’ll come up with what it is and if it doesn’t meet the numbers that we say, that, or better, it’s all free.
[00:15:01] Detective Ev: Awesome. I love that. I love the conviction with it.
What’s actually interesting, Steven, and why I had a huge appeal to your guys’ stuff and what you’re doing, I don’t think many people on this show even realize this cause I’ve been hosting it for two and a half years, the whole way that I got introduced into any form of natural medicine is I got into a sales company at 18.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Experience with An Adulterated Product
Now, I had like seven different diagnosed conditions; I felt like heck. But I wanted to get around good people. I made some bad decisions in high school; I was just trying to get that straightened out.
They were a sales company. It was like one of those network marketing, affiliate marketing type of things. So, I didn’t give a crap what the product was about at the time. I cared that they were super motivated people that weren’t going out, doing drugs, getting drunk every single weekend. I needed people who were focused to help me out.
What was interesting is the product that they sold, and looking back, I’m sure plenty of it was synthetic. This just shows you how much benefit, extra, you could get from actually good sourcing. It was a high potency multivitamin that was also mixed into like energy drinks, quote/unquote “energy drinks”. It was more just like lower dose caffeine. It was supposedly healthy; that’s what they labeled it as. Anyway, not the point.
We were doing these sales events all summer long, and so we’re drinking like two or three of these every single day. And we’re drinking the shots that they have and all this stuff. I’m not thinking twice, I just want to hang around the cool people. What happened after like a month of this, it started to feel really good. And I wasn’t thinking at that time too much, I wasn’t analyzing it that much.
Two months goes by, I still feel really good. Now, I contributed this, of course, to being around the most amazing people I’d ever met. I figured, well, yeah, the people that you surround yourself with, that’s why I feel this way.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Finding the Studies
But then the sales group kind of died out and we stopped consuming the product. All of us still remained friends. Some of these people are still my best friends to this day, nine years later. About a month after I stopped using that product, I felt the depression and the panic attacks start to creep back in.
I’m sure I did not use such a technical term at the time, but I had this thought that went something along the lines of, do nutraceuticals have something to do with my health? Like no one had ever introduced this concept to me. And I did the same thing that you did, probably less in depth than you did, I went online and just started researching this.
I’m like, there’s studies on all of this stuff. Why is no one saying to me that I don’t necessarily, not a hundred percent of the time, but I don’t necessarily need a Xanax or a SSRI? I might need these certain things to help me actually feel good.
We really get into the weeds in functional medicine. There are fancy labs, you got people on carnivore diet, on this diet, whatever, but sometimes the seemingly basic stuff with the nutrients actually really matters. So, my question for you next is outside of the obvious, because I actually don’t think many people can explain this where it’s like, why would I not want a more natural source than not? What are some of the issues with the synthetic stuff? Are there direct side effects? Is it an assimilation issue as you kind of already alluded to? Like what are some of the big problems with getting ascorbic acid versus vitamin C from a whole food source?
Best Whole Food Supplement: Synthetic Vs. Natural
[00:17:53] Steven Abbey: Well, ascorbic acid is a good one to actually go on because there’s so much information on, but there is on everything.
I’ll give you an example with ascorbic acid. So, ascorbic acid used to be manufactured in a lab in New Jersey and 90% of the world’s supply was made out there. That’s all moved over to China. Now, 95% of the world’s supply is made in China.
The way that they manufacture, they’re actually a couple different ways, but the main supplier with the patented process, the way they do it is they take high fructose corn syrup, put it under incredible pressure, incredible heat. They do an acetone wash, and then they neutralize it with hydrochloric acid.
In the end you have a molecule that is chemically identical to what you find in nature. However, by itself, it will not even cure scurvy; it has no vitamin activity on its own. It has got to have the bioflavonoids and co-factors to work. Otherwise, it doesn’t have any ability to have vitamin activity.
Now, I have on my website a study that compares dietary vitamin C and progression towards heart disease and supplemental vitamin C. Supplemental, the more people took, the faster they were moving towards heart disease. Whereas the dietary was shown to be protective, albeit a weak protective effect, but it was a protective effect as opposed to moving you faster towards heart disease.
As people took more and more, it was moving them faster and faster. In fact, the highest dose was moving them three times faster towards heart disease than if somebody didn’t take it at all. There have now been tons of studies on this.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Not Isolated to One Component
I’ll give you another one. Beta carotene. So, beta carotene can be made from a petroleum product, right? And so, beta carotene, I think for most people, at least in my mind, before I knew this, it sounds like a really healthy thing. Oh yeah, we all need beta carotene. We’ve all heard how good it is, right?
But there was a study done on smokers because beta carotene was shown to be protective of people getting lung cancer. They’re like, oh, all these smokers, we’ll test it on them because a good number of them are going to develop lung cancer. So, they did a double blind, placebo-controlled study. Once they unblinded it, cause it was going to continue on, once they unblinded it, they were like we can’t continue to do this. This is unethical. We have to stop this study.
Now if you think about it, it’s actually not hard. One, you take something, you make it totally unlike anything in nature, and you give it in these massive doses that has never happened. One, you’ve isolated it. Now it’s not part of a normal food structure, and you’re giving it in this huge amount.
You don’t ever get beta carotene like that in nature. It’s usually part of a much bigger complex that your body can gently utilize in the way that it wants to. And there are, you know, hundreds of carotinoids and you’ve chosen to take one carotenoid and take this huge amount. So, to me, natural medicine, really to a great degree, you almost always want to be using a whole food or an extract where it comes from a whole fruit, but it’s not isolated down to just the one component.
Best Whole Food Supplement: The Body Reacts Differently to Synthetics
[00:21:08] Detective Ev: First of all, phenomenal answer. That was great. I’m glad I asked you. I’m not trying to get political with it, but I don’t think we need to be supporting China in any excessive way. So just that alone, I’m like, all right, well, I’ll be a little more careful next time, with the vitamin C thing, if I was going to buy a high dose one. Because admittedly, I had been using the ascorbic acid.
I had heard some counters to some of this stuff where it didn’t seem to be as big of a deal. One, I want to stay focused on science, but I don’t even need science to know that nature obviously did not intend that to be manufactured in a lab. I do not need science to know that. And so, it’s just intuitively common sense to me that what you’re suggesting and what you offer just seems like a safer, better option.
And I don’t want to be ignorant here, but I’ll throw it out there. Obviously, a lot of the higher quality brands, they add the bioflavonoids to the product. I’m guessing now that’s to make it actually work. But is that still incomplete then for something like a whole food source?
[00:21:59] Steven Abbey: So, a couple of different things on that. One, does it work? Yes, it’s going to work way better. Is it ideal? No. In my opinion it’s a synthetic mixed with some other things that are going to make it so that it’s going to be used more like in nature. But I think the body reacts differently.
Best Whole Food Supplement: The Body Knows How to Utilize Natural
In the study I just mentioned where they were looking at heart disease and progression, people were eating things that would have all of those co-factors, and yet the people having more and more supplemental vitamin C was moving faster and faster towards it. But you know, I bet it’s better by far. It would be my guess, but I don’t know that.
In cancer treatment, they use ascorbic acid, and they inject it into your veins, you’ve probably heard about this, and up to a hundred grams a day, pretty much the top end. What they do oftentimes is they put a plasma, a high oxygen plasma, because on the site of the cancer, it actually creates hydrogen peroxide. So, it needs the extra oxygen to be able to do that. But you are doing that now like a drug. That is not daily nutrition; that is using it as a drug.
To me, as close to whole foods as I can get is always the way that I’m going to go. I won’t say that there’s never a time to take a synthetic vitamin or mineral, but for daily nutrition, I would definitely stay away from it. The more that you can stay with natural substances like a turmeric or like an amla powder or like any of these sort of things for specific treatments, the better, in my opinion, cause your body knows how to utilize those.
[00:23:37] Detective Ev: Well, that’s a great point, and I thank you for your objectivity with that. This is where I always try to ask questions to see where the audience would be going.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Learning the Labels
The first thing I’m thinking especially is with the vitamin C thing. I had a Covid protocol that I got from someone else, a PhD. It worked phenomenally for my family and stuff, but of course we would not be doing those doses every day. At the same time, I got an IV nutrient place down the road from me that for a few hundred dollars, they’re going to do the 100 grams of, I don’t think they actually offer 100 grams of vitamin C there, but it’s something extraordinarily high that cancer patients do come in and get sometimes.
But again, you use the key word, you’re using it like a drug. That is a treatment because at that time, the pros outweigh the cons. But no one wants to be doing that on a daily basis. You have cancer though; you gotta do what you gotta do. I think that’s a really fair take with it.
Now, one thing that you had said to me right before we got on, I really am interested in this. Cause I think as health professionals, especially FDNs, we want to believe that we’re so much better at reading the labels and stuff. And sure, we know when we see a vegetable oil, terrible. We are looking out for manufactured in a facility that also processes wheat if we’re dealing with a client with celiac disease, fine.
But you seemed pretty adamant in the idea that perhaps like even these natural people might not be aware of how to actually read the label in relationship to what we’re talking about today. So, how do the manufacturers kind of trick some people on those labels? Or are people just not looking for what you’re referring to at all?
Best Whole Food Supplement: Understand How Labels are Written
[00:24:58] Steven Abbey: Well, they almost always put it right on the label, but you have to know what to look for.
So, if you see zinc gluconate that gluconate, that “ate” at the end is almost always going to be a synthetic. So, whether it is potassium iodide, if it has an “ide” at the end of it, it’s almost always a synthetic. You also have the outliers, like ascorbic acid is a synthetic, but it ends in acid, right? You know beta carotene; you just need to know that can come from a natural source. It’s just much more expensive so almost always it’s going to come from a synthetic source.
The manufacturers list it right on the label in almost all cases. That’s not a hundred percent of the cases because I know people that have gone in and asked the manufacturers directly and they’re misleading them, I’ll just say that. The advertising is always talking about whole foods and the thing is all about whole foods. But then you look at the label and if you actually understand how it’s written, you can immediately see that it’s all synthetics.
Pretty much all the major brands, if you look at the nutrients when they’re all comprehensive, they’re just all synthetic, not all, maybe 95% or 90%. So, just learning how to read that. And there’s a good book that I bought years ago that really explained it, went down into each nutrient. Supplements Exposed: The Truth They Don’t Want You to Know About Vitamins, Minerals, and Their Effects on Your Health. It was a great way of reading each ingredient. And that was a big step in my learning towards always wanting to have that.
Best Whole Food Supplement: High Quality, Right Amounts, & Reasonably Priced?
[00:26:37] Detective Ev: Cool. All right. Thank you.
Going to the next level then. Some people are going to be listening, Ev, already, I knew to avoid the synthetic. I have a whole foods multivitamin, whatever, and so maybe they’re on that. But the one thing that I always thought in my head, and you kind of already touched on this, was this idea of, I know one of the reasons these companies do this is because it’s astronomically more expensive to get something from a whole food source than it is to just, again, create it in China, in that case with ascorbic acid.
So, when you are manufacturing this stuff, you also mentioned that you’re actually getting the proper amounts of ingredients in because that’s another thing I’m thinking. Even if it’s a whole food supplement, they’re probably not going to have the proper amounts, cause I’m guessing there’s a pricing issue. How do you deal with all of this? How do you make sure you’re getting that good quality?
I know you mentioned something about Iceland, but we kind of flew right through that part. So, how do we deal with the quality, keeping it reasonable price, when actually still getting all these high-quality ingredients and the right amounts?
[00:27:31] Steven Abbey: Well, my product is not inexpensive and that has been a struggle.
Best Whole Food Supplement: A Comprehensive, Perfectionistic Product
Just to give you an idea, I mean, my vitamin C blend of berries is 20 times more expensive than if I bought ascorbic acid; it’s actually more than that. The zinc that I buy is a guava leaf extract and it’s organic. I forgot if it’s 35 or 45 times more. It’s actually, in one of my presentations I do. The iodine that I mentioned, that’s 45 times more expensive. Then potassium iodine, it’s just very expensive, and pretty much across the board.
But I am going to make a multivitamin. It’ll be coming out in July. But that multivitamin will all be whole foods. It will take many capsules cause it’s whole foods, right? It will be less than my other, like smoothie products.
But the smoothie product, the thing that I like about that is I put in a full blend of mushrooms, I put in a full blend of greens, not just the stuff to get folate and things like that. There’s a cruciferous blend and it’s a lot of stuff, prebiotics, none of that’s in a multivitamin. So, it’s expensive, but it’s very comprehensive. And it’s kind of a perfectionistic product cause it’s such a passion of mine and I really wanted to do it right.
It’s not going to be for everybody, but it is unique in that there’s nothing like it on the market, at least currently. There’s a reason why there’s nothing like it cause it is expensive.
[00:28:59] Detective Ev: Well, fair enough. I mean this in the best way possible because I love what you’re doing. I would almost go as far as to correct what you’re saying cause I don’t think it is expensive. I meant that when I was talking about it before.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Expensive is Relative to What You Get
Expensive, in my opinion, maybe I’m missing the definition, but is relative to what you get. I mean, some of the lab tests that our clients use, you might literally have one client that’s utilizing $1,500 worth of labs. Now if that showed us nothing, that would be pretty expensive. What a waste of money. Right? But I can get enough insight as an FDN practitioner.
I’m not making a claim, this is a factual statement. We have had clients go through the program that spent another couple thousand on our sessions and $1,500 on the labs. They had a thyroid condition, autoimmune beforehand, and then they were in remission by the end of that program, even though they had had this for 10 years beforehand. So, if that person spent $20,000 on what we did, it’s not expensive at all. It’s great; you saved their life. You really changed the entire trajectory.
So, I’d give yourself credit for what you’re doing because it takes some guts to actually innovate and to actually do the right thing. Because, if this was in a store and you’re walking down and you see both products, you’re like, well, that’s too expensive, then you would think that. But if you can actually hear it through, it’s clear that you’re trying to do the right thing and offer people this in a way that matters.
I love that the multivitamin is coming out in July. I’m actually very interested in that part. I do, I don’t know if people would call it a smoothie, cause it’s not the most fun ingredients, but it’s an Ev shake is what I call it. I’d love to add it into that. That would be kind of interesting.
Best Whole Food Supplement: The Huge Disconnect
Where do we think Western medicine is missing the mark on this other than the obvious? I mean, how is it that you and I, seem like reasonably intelligent guys, certainly yourself with your background, how is it though that we can go online, read the books, look at the studies, and come across this stuff? Then yet, some of the best doctors in the country are still not recommending the things that someone like you is talking about.
[00:30:45] Steven Abbey: Mind boggling. I have no idea.
A friend of mine recently had a heart attack and he went to the emergency room. They actually sent him home because they didn’t see it as a heart attack yet. He went home and he was still feeling crappy, so he went back. They sent him home again and he was still not feeling well. He was like, I’m not going to go. And his girlfriend was just like, no, you’re going; something’s wrong. So, they brought him in.
They ended up, he was having a heart attack all that time. And they did all this magic that is Western medicine. Then they put in some stents, which are not a long-term solution. Sent him home with no nutritional advice, no checking into what he was doing. He was having a pint of ice cream before bed every single night. And at one time he was fully diabetic. If you understand what that means, he’s so off the rails with nutrition.
They just basically patted him on the back and sent him home and said, you’re good to go, we’ve put in stents. That is not accurate. I do not understand the disconnect. There are many different ways of dealing with what he has specifically.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Sulforaphane & Cancer
The same thing for cancer. I’ll give you an example of just one thing. A very large meta-analysis recently came out looking at cruciferous vegetables in cancer. And cruciferous vegetables, I’m sure your listeners know, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, things like that, right? Those have a substance called sulforaphane. That’s been shown to be very preventative of cancer.
In this large meta-analysis, basically the authors came out and said, those people that have three to four servings a week of cruciferous vegetables across the board of all cancers lower their cancer risk by 40%. If that is accurate, let’s just assume for a second that it is, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been involved with many people that have died of cancer. That one thing right there would be amazing to have cause even if it didn’t keep them from getting cancer, maybe it will lower the metastasis rate because it will block angiogenesis.
It’s been shown to do that along with things like turmeric, along with things like amla powder. These are all very much going to slow down that process of angiogenesis or the creating of a blood supply to any tumor that’s created. The tumor can’t get any bigger than the head of a pin by itself without a blood supply. Without a blood supply, tumors are not dangerous. It’s only when they get a blood supply.
So, if you can block that from happening, you can change the outcome drastically. To me that is a really good way to start. And all of those things are in my product because of that reason, but I don’t leave it there.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Does This Product Support Different Diets?
Every day I make a smoothie. I always put a cruciferous vegetable in it. Then if somebody were actually treating cancer, I would say, don’t put in a normal cruciferous vegetable. I would say put in broccoli sprouts because they have 10 to 100 times what broccoli, which is the highest form of a cruciferous, for sulforaphane. It has 10 to 100 times that amount, and you can actually have efficacious doses for the cancer that they currently have as opposed to just preventing it, which is a very different thing.
[00:34:04] Detective Ev: Wow. How would this mix in, because our practitioners have a variety of different dietary backgrounds. Of course, we always recommend whole foods, but we’re not particularly strict in that area.
Like some of us do really well on certain things and others don’t do as well. We have practitioners in long-term ketosis. We have practitioners that wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. So, if someone, for example though, is on a ketogenic diet or whatever, like could they add this in? Because I know that there’s the smoothie aspect.
Is this something that has some natural sugars and carbohydrates in it or is this something congruent with someone in ketosis? Because I’m thinking a lot of these people out there get into keto, not because they were bored one day and said they want to try that, no one has ever said that. They do it because they feel like heck. So, they’re removing a lot of stuff. They’re putting their body in a more anti-inflammatory state, which is wonderful.
But I do think about, unless they’re actually doing like the whole organ meat thing, which might have its own complexities, they’re actually probably missing a lot of the micronutrient side.
Best Whole Food Supplement: How to Use it With Ketogenic
So, I’m like, all right. Well, you nailed the macro side perhaps for your own body and your unique individual needs. But what about this micro side? Could someone add it in for pretty much any diet?
[00:35:07] Steven Abbey: Yeah, they’re going to have to be careful the way they make it, so they don’t throw themselves out of ketosis, right? Otherwise, you’re walking a fine line whenever you’re dealing with ketosis and staying into that level. The product itself should not throw people out but how you make the smoothie will. So, somebody with the multivitamin, they could do that.
But personally, I would be doing a very low carbohydrate version of a smoothie. It would have to be really well done. It would be with something like avocado, be some berries, and then probably water. I mean, it would be a very low carbohydrate and the berries would only be a certain amount. But they are very low in terms of glucose as well.
People on a ketogenic diet really need to be very careful that they’re doing all these good things in terms of, it’s kind of an elimination diet to a great degree. That’s why I think a lot of them are having such success with that component of it. I would say you have to do it right because otherwise the long term can be very hard, especially on women, from my perspective.
But to get those nutrients in would be really valuable because it would be hard to get comprehensive nutrition in for them on all the things. They’ll be missing some micronutrients in most cases.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Entrepreneurial Shift
[00:36:32] Detective Ev: Excellent.
So, May 2023 when we’re recording this, by July though, that multivitamin when it comes out, I mean obviously that would be good to go then, right? They could add this in pretty easily.
Steven Abbey: Absolutely.
Detective Ev: Sweet. All right, Steven. Nice. I think you just hit a huge thing for I think a lot of our audience. That’ll be cool.
With that all said, it’s not often that I can do this, but so often we’re talking just to the client side of things on these shows, but I know our practitioner’s ears are lighting up. Cause one, they might want to use your products with their clients, but they’re going to want to use it themselves.
So, since the practitioners are already probably pretty engaged in this conversation, if I may, I’d actually like to ask a business question. How are you finding success with the entrepreneurial side of this? Because we have some people that go through our program and they crush it, man. Like by the next year, job is quit that they didn’t want to be at, and they’re doing the FDN thing. We have others three years in, it’s rarer, thankfully, and increasingly rarer, but they’re still kind of fumbling around. I believe it’s more of a consciousness and mindset thing.
For yourself, you literally jumped into a completely different industry and you’re selling something that is at least somewhat fairly niche, even in the natural space, because you have to demand that high of a quality in your product. How have you dealt with maybe that entrepreneurial shift?
Best Whole Food Supplement: Passion Product
[00:37:44] Steven Abbey: Well, this wasn’t done as a business decision. I know this is going to sound funny, but basically, I had coaching from the former president of Balance Bar, Dick Lamb. He’s here in Santa Barbara and was kind enough to coach us. He was part of a program.
I’ve spent a small fortune on this, and I’ll be curious to see how this goes. But bottom line is, he said, make it taste good. The current version, by the time this comes out, we will have a flavored version. I did that under duress cause I’d rather just stay with the unflavored for people that are not going to mix it into a smoothie. They need to have something so that they can take it every day or five, six times a week at least. So, I’m making a flavored version. But he said, make it taste good. The current version, I wouldn’t say tastes great. You need to mix it into a smoothie.
He said, make it really inexpensive. It’s not super inexpensive; it’s expensive. But it’s really high-quality stuff. He said, make it super convenient. I’m putting it into a smoothie, that requires effort. So, I went down this path. And he said, make it have a high profit margin. It doesn’t. I mean, basically you can see I’ve put all this money into the product itself because, again, it’s a passion project.
So, I’ve gone outside of the normal business model. I have been in the business model in my aerospace company that I had, in my real estate company I’ve had, in a solar development company that I’ve had, those have been all businesses that I’ve been trying to make money. This is not that case.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Confirmation of Integrity
This is, I want to actually change people’s lives. And I think that they can. Really if they show up, I will guarantee the results. But they have to show up, that’s the key thing.
I’m doing a test right now with five more people, I’ve done it with five people. The results that we got were fantastic. It’s a clear understanding of what they just need to do. It’s just having them do it.
[00:39:39] Detective Ev: Okay. So then, because I kind of got what you meant, but then to be concise, one of your business strategies is staying with your integrity no matter what, despite the recommendations.
[00:39:48] Steven Abbey: Well, it’s either going to stay with it or it’s not going to be here because it’s not going to be filled full of synthetics.
Me making a multivitamin, that is a step down, but I want to meet people with where it is. But it stays within the integrity of the company in terms of it is all whole foods. Right? That to me is what I am. You know, that is my promise to people that are going to use this product.
But, you know, from a business perspective, I don’t know. We’ll see. I think people are going to see real results. If they spend the time to understand what this is about, I think it makes a lot of sense. It really does.
[00:40:28] Detective Ev: Well, I think you’re on the right podcast and there’s many out there like this, right?
The majority of people might not make these sacrifices, but like our practitioners, before they’ve even come to FDN, a lot of them have spent $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 plus on their health trying to figure this stuff out.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Testing a Local Influencer
Even I, and I’m a younger guy, I’ll still spend the money that I can because I’m more focused on the results and feeling good and enjoying my life to the degree that I’m able while I’m here, than I am about a few extra dollars on that. The good news is so many of our practitioners save money in other spaces cause we’re not the people going to the bar every weekend, right? We have these healthy habits, so we’re not eating out as much cause we probably eat at home more. So, it kind of all works out nicely.
With this said though, you have definitely had some pretty cool, it seems like, testimonials or transformations with people who have followed your philosophy and worked with these products so far. So, I’m just curious, is there anything that sticks out at the top of your head? Like what’s a really cool transformation that maybe someone underwent by just simply adding this stuff into their life?
[00:41:26] Steven Abbey: Well, I pitched a local influencer here in town. I said, hey, his name is Forrest Galante. He’s the host of Animal Planet and Discovery. And he’s not only just the star of that show, he’s actually the one who produces the show. He’s on like Joe Rogan all the time. He is always flying off all over.
And I said, hey Forrest, how about this? I’ll bring you a smoothie for the next three months and we’ll take your blood beforehand and take your blood afterwards. All I need from you is to actually take the smoothie. And he’s like, sign me up.
Best Whole Food Supplement: Fantastic Results
We did a whole series of blood tests. In advance, I said, I’m not sure how much this is going to make a difference to you because it’s not a huge amount of time, but let’s give it a try because you’re in great shape. He’s 34 years old, looks like a Greek god, works out six days a week, looks fantastic.
When we got his numbers back, he was pre-diabetic. His inflammation, if those listening know what a CRP is, or C-reactive protein, he was 10.9. You’re not supposed to be a 10.9, you’re supposed to be under one. He was way high in that. His oxidative stress, measured by F2-Isoprostane and 8-OHdG, lipid oxidation level and DNA damage, they were off the chart. The 8-OHdG where it gets to the red zone where you don’t want to be, was at 390. He was 1,048, to give you an example, way over.
As it turns out, he had to go to Australia and Africa and all these other things, so he left early. We only had five and a half weeks in the end, not three months. But his C-reactive protein, inflammation marker, went from 10.9 to 1.6. Still not perfect, but way better. His A1C went from 5.7, marker for blood sugar, went from the bottom end of pre-diabetic to 5.0. That’s a fantastic result, where you want to be.
And then his F2-Isoprostane went from like a thousand and something and dropped by 52%. His 8-OHdG, which again is the DNA damage usually from oxidative stress, but it can be from a bunch of things, went from 1,048 to 335. These are massive differences.
Where to Find Steven Abbey & SOS Nutrients
I didn’t know what he was dealing with when I first started doing it, but I made those smoothies very healthy. He had them, roughly, six times a week, only for five and a half weeks. But that was what the difference was. I get super excited by that. We’re continuing on and we’re going to do another test probably in July. But the problem with it is he’s always gone, so it’s hard to get it consistent.
But sometimes he’s just taking just the product by itself. Sometimes he’s taking it with a smoothie, but he’s mostly doing it. So, we’re going to have another set of results in a couple months.
[00:44:27] Detective Ev: Excellent. So cool.
One of our tests that we use in our core lab testing here has 8-OHdG on it. Those numbers are crazy. That transformation is awesome. It really stuck out that’s on our Metabolic Wellness Panel. This is great, Steven.
Where can people find you if they’d like to order the products now or get in line for the multivitamin in July? Because this will be out definitely before then. So, where can people find you?
[00:44:48] Steven Abbey: The best place is our website. It’s sosnutrients.com, it has a ton of information on there. Also, you can write in, and I will personally answer it. Everything comes to me, and I will happily jump on a phone call. There’s no obligation or anything. Again, it’s just my passion, so I’m happy to sit down and chat with anybody, show them, go over what they could expect.
Conclusion
[00:45:13] Detective Ev: Cool. I know that you’re not an FDN or anything, I get that, but you have no idea how much you relate actually to our audience. It’s just so clear that your heart’s in the right place and all that stuff.
We will have that in the show notes. I’m also just genuinely interested in what you’re doing. I’m the type of person that will pay for someone that goes to those extreme levels. That’s what I have found to be best.
I’ll also keep you guys, as the audience, updated what happens with me. I’m already in a pretty good state of health, but I’ve been known to work a little excessively, I love what we do. And if it can even help me with that, man, I’m good to go.
Thank you so much for coming on today. This was, honestly, way more than I expected, fantastic. Thank you.
[00:45:48] Steven Abbey: Well, fantastic. I really appreciate you having me on. And here’s a discount code that you can have, that you can give out to your audience: Discount code: HD20.
And for anybody that’s interested, feel free to reach out. I would love to chat.
I discuss the best and worst foods for gum inflammation and bad breath.
Yes, saturated fats produce an inflammatory response, and, yes, inflammation is “recognized as one of the key underlying etiologic [causal] factors in periodontal disease.” That could explain why moderating our intake of meat and dairy could “promote periodontal health,” but plant-based diets don’t just offer lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein. They also have higher levels of complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. So, we don’t necessarily know what the mechanism is. Saturated fat intake is associated with the progression of periodontal disease, but, at the same time, dietary fiber intake may be protective. Either way, you don’t know until you put it to the test.
As I discuss in my video Best Foods for Halitosis and Gingivitis, a randomized controlled trial investigated the effect of a dietary intervention on dental health. At seven months of age, more than a thousand infants were randomized, and about half were assigned to a low saturated fat and cholesterol intake to see if they get less heart disease when they grow up. They’re still just in their twenties, but, as children and adolescents, those randomized to the healthier diets ended up with better saliva production. The researchers had them chew on items like wax cubes, and those randomized since infancy to the better diet produced more saliva. “Saliva is essential for the maintenance of oral health,” for example, clearing out sugar and acid faster from our teeth. The researchers “believe that the greater increase of salivary flow was due to the greater intake of fibre-rich food items like grains, vegetables, fruit and berries requiring more chewing which in turn is known to increase salivary flow rate,” that is, saliva production. Is it possible the subjects’ bodies were just used to putting out more saliva? “In other words…in addition to general health benefits, dietary fibre may have benefits on oral health as well,” but it might not necessarily be the fiber itself but simply the act of chewing.
That reminds of me of another study I review in my video, in which a single high-fiber meal was able to reduce bad breath for hours. Halitosis is caused by gaseous sulfur compounds that are produced by a certain type of bacteria concentrated on the back of our tongue. When we eat, the reason bad breath gets better may be “due to the‘self-cleaning’ of the mouth while chewing food.”So, it makes sense that foods that need to be chewed more intensively have a stronger self-cleaning effect on the back of our tongue than foods that require less chewing, but you don’t knowuntil you put it to the test.
Study subjects ate two very similar meals: One had a whole–grain roll, a raw apple, and jam, so there was more fiber and more chewing, while the other meal had white bread, jelly, and cooked apples,so less fiber and less chewing. Then,the researchers measured the halitosis compounds in the participants’ breath at two hours after the meal and then again at eight hours. Bad breath levels dropped even after the low-fiber meal, but they dropped significantly more after the higher-fiber meal and stayed down even eight hours later, as you can see in the graph below and at 2:38 in myvideo.
The reason a high-fiber diet may improve periodontal disease may be the fiber, the lower saturated fat intake, or just the chewing—or perhaps another possibility. Maybe it’s the nitrate-containing vegetables. We know “the ingestion of dietary nitrate”—in the form of greens and beets—“has been proven to exert many beneficial and clinically relevant effects on the general health,” including maintaining good blood flow and reducing inflammation in general. So,mightimproved circulation to the gums and anti-inflammatory effectsbenefit periodontal patients?
Let’s find out. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial investigated the repeated consumption of lettuce juice? Why lettuce juice? That sounds so unappealing! Not to worry, though. “To improve patient acceptance,” the lettuce juice and the placebo juice were seasoned with a chamomile-honey flavor and sweetened with an artificial sweetener. (That sounds even worse!)
But, the lettuce juice concoction worked. “This clinical intervention trial demonstrated an attenuating effect of dietary nitrate on gingival inflammation.” You can see the results graphically below and at 4:00 in myvideo. In the placebo group, most of their teeth (about 60 percent)had no gingivitis, but 40 percent did have mild gingivitis and there was almost no moderate gingivitis. After drinking placebo lettuce juice for two weeks, there was no real change, as you might expect. In the lettuce group, they started out a bit worse; about half of their teeth had mild or moderate gum disease. But, then, after two weeks of actual lettuce juice, there were significant improvements. There was no more moderate disease, the mild disease rates were cut in half, and three-quarters of their teeth had no gingivitis at all.
The researchers concluded that their “findings suggest that the ingestion of dietary nitrate,” such as from greens and beets, “may be a clinically useful adjunct in the control of chronic gingivitis in periodontal recall patients.” They may be useful for controlling other chronic diseases, too. What’s good for the mouth—not smoking and eating a healthier diet, for instance—is good for the rest of our body. Many dental professionals, who may see their patients more frequently than do physicians, should be counseling them on living more healthfully. And, indeed, in one study surveying dental hygienists, “[n]early all (95%) felt that dental hygienists have a role in helping patients improve nutrition,” yet that’s not what happens at all. When a group of patients were asked, less than one in ten said they got dietary advice from their dental professionals. Why? Because “although dentists were motivated to include nutrition in their clinical care, most felt unqualified to provide dietary guidance and thus shied away from doing so.” That never stopped physicians!
But it’s true. Nutrition is neglected in dental school, just like in medical school, and,“in most cases,courses in nutrition education were taught by biochemists, and only a few individuals (hired part-time or on an ad hoc basis) had training in applied nutrition.”It’sreally not rocket science, or is it? Get it? (Rocket is another name for arugula, an excellent source of dietary nitrite!)Dietary nitrate is hard to “beet!”
I discuss the best and worst foods for gum inflammation and bad breath.
Yes, saturated fats produce an inflammatory response, and, yes, inflammation is “recognized as one of the key underlying etiologic [causal] factors in periodontal disease.” That could explain why moderating our intake of meat and dairy could “promote periodontal health,” but plant-based diets don’t just offer lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein. They also have higher levels of complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. So, we don’t necessarily know what the mechanism is. Saturated fat intake is associated with the progression of periodontal disease, but, at the same time, dietary fiber intake may be protective. Either way, you don’t know until you put it to the test.
As I discuss in my video Best Foods for Halitosis and Gingivitis, a randomized controlled trial investigated the effect of a dietary intervention on dental health. At seven months of age, more than a thousand infants were randomized, and about half were assigned to a low saturated fat and cholesterol intake to see if they get less heart disease when they grow up. They’re still just in their twenties, but, as children and adolescents, those randomized to the healthier diets ended up with better saliva production. The researchers had them chew on items like wax cubes, and those randomized since infancy to the better diet produced more saliva. “Saliva is essential for the maintenance of oral health,” for example, clearing out sugar and acid faster from our teeth. The researchers “believe that the greater increase of salivary flow was due to the greater intake of fibre-rich food items like grains, vegetables, fruit and berries requiring more chewing which in turn is known to increase salivary flow rate,” that is, saliva production. Is it possible the subjects’ bodies were just used to putting out more saliva? “In other words…in addition to general health benefits, dietary fibre may have benefits on oral health as well,” but it might not necessarily be the fiber itself but simply the act of chewing.
That reminds of me of another study I review in my video, in which a single high-fiber meal was able to reduce bad breath for hours. Halitosis is caused by gaseous sulfur compounds that are produced by a certain type of bacteria concentrated on the back of our tongue. When we eat, the reason bad breath gets better may be “due to the‘self-cleaning’ of the mouth while chewing food.”So, it makes sense that foods that need to be chewed more intensively have a stronger self-cleaning effect on the back of our tongue than foods that require less chewing, but you don’t knowuntil you put it to the test.
Study subjects ate two very similar meals: One had a whole–grain roll, a raw apple, and jam, so there was more fiber and more chewing, while the other meal had white bread, jelly, and cooked apples,so less fiber and less chewing. Then,the researchers measured the halitosis compounds in the participants’ breath at two hours after the meal and then again at eight hours. Bad breath levels dropped even after the low-fiber meal, but they dropped significantly more after the higher-fiber meal and stayed down even eight hours later, as you can see in the graph below and at 2:38 in myvideo.
The reason a high-fiber diet may improve periodontal disease may be the fiber, the lower saturated fat intake, or just the chewing—or perhaps another possibility. Maybe it’s the nitrate-containing vegetables. We know “the ingestion of dietary nitrate”—in the form of greens and beets—“has been proven to exert many beneficial and clinically relevant effects on the general health,” including maintaining good blood flow and reducing inflammation in general. So,mightimproved circulation to the gums and anti-inflammatory effectsbenefit periodontal patients?
Let’s find out. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial investigated the repeated consumption of lettuce juice? Why lettuce juice? That sounds so unappealing! Not to worry, though. “To improve patient acceptance,” the lettuce juice and the placebo juice were seasoned with a chamomile-honey flavor and sweetened with an artificial sweetener. (That sounds even worse!)
But, the lettuce juice concoction worked. “This clinical intervention trial demonstrated an attenuating effect of dietary nitrate on gingival inflammation.” You can see the results graphically below and at 4:00 in myvideo. In the placebo group, most of their teeth (about 60 percent)had no gingivitis, but 40 percent did have mild gingivitis and there was almost no moderate gingivitis. After drinking placebo lettuce juice for two weeks, there was no real change, as you might expect. In the lettuce group, they started out a bit worse; about half of their teeth had mild or moderate gum disease. But, then, after two weeks of actual lettuce juice, there were significant improvements. There was no more moderate disease, the mild disease rates were cut in half, and three-quarters of their teeth had no gingivitis at all.
The researchers concluded that their “findings suggest that the ingestion of dietary nitrate,” such as from greens and beets, “may be a clinically useful adjunct in the control of chronic gingivitis in periodontal recall patients.” They may be useful for controlling other chronic diseases, too. What’s good for the mouth—not smoking and eating a healthier diet, for instance—is good for the rest of our body. Many dental professionals, who may see their patients more frequently than do physicians, should be counseling them on living more healthfully. And, indeed, in one study surveying dental hygienists, “[n]early all (95%) felt that dental hygienists have a role in helping patients improve nutrition,” yet that’s not what happens at all. When a group of patients were asked, less than one in ten said they got dietary advice from their dental professionals. Why? Because “although dentists were motivated to include nutrition in their clinical care, most felt unqualified to provide dietary guidance and thus shied away from doing so.” That never stopped physicians!
But it’s true. Nutrition is neglected in dental school, just like in medical school, and,“in most cases,courses in nutrition education were taught by biochemists, and only a few individuals (hired part-time or on an ad hoc basis) had training in applied nutrition.”It’sreally not rocket science, or is it? Get it? (Rocket is another name for arugula, an excellent source of dietary nitrite!)Dietary nitrate is hard to “beet!”
For many new gardeners, growing your own food may seem like a daunting (or even impossible) task. When you get right down to it, there are only a few key components you need for a healthy garden – but of course, there are many variables that can impact the overall results. I believe that anyone can learn to grow their own food successfully, whether you have a windowsill or an expansive backyard. Like with culinary nutrition and cooking, start with what you have and learn basic techniques before moving on to the complexities. In this guide to growing your own food, I’ll show you how to get started!
Benefits of Growing Your Own Food
Reduce Food Waste
Growing your own food cuts back on food waste in a big way. When you grow your own food, you have the ability to use the “ugly food” that most stores throw out because it isn’t market-pretty. You are able to harvest only what you need so nothing sits in your fridge or wilts before you have had a chance to use it.
More Nutrients
Fruits, vegetables, and herbs have more nutrients when grown in healthy soil. Food starts to lose nutrients as soon as it’s harvested. Most produce at grocery stores are picked days or even weeks before and often transported from far-away farms.
Great Taste
Seasonal, just-harvested food tastes fresh and delicious! You might be surprised by what selective eaters (both adults and children!) will eat when they’ve had a hand in growing their food or can easily sample fresh from the garden.
Save Money
Growing your own food can also help you save money at the grocery store. While there can be some initial investment when purchasing seeds, soil and other things you need to get started, once you get into the flow you’ll likely be making fewer trips to the grocery store.
Knowing the basics of what plants need will help get you started with growing your own food. Let’s get growing!
Growing Your Own Food: What You Need
Soil
There are many reasons to grow your own food and it all starts with the soil. Healthy living soil is the foundation of a thriving garden. It’s the microbiome of the garden, teaming with microbes, bacteria and other organisms that help feed plants by breaking down the nutrients in the soil. Healthy soil has worms, fungi and other organic matter. It’s a web of life, whereas dirt is considered dead, lacks nutrients or any of the organic matter that helps to grow food.
Our soil isn’t what it used to be when our great grandparents were tending their gardens; we now have to build up our soil by amending it with things like compost, mycorrhizae fungi, worm castings, kelp meal, etc. Soil health is what contributes to the nutrients in the fruits and vegetables we eat. So when we have nutrient-depleted soil, we likely have nutrient-depleted food crops.
Soil is the most important component of your garden, and it’s where you’ll want to focus your budget above anything else. There are many garden soil recipes and mixes you can make or buy. A popular recipe is:
50% topsoil
30% compost and
20% other organic matter like chicken manure, vermicompost, mushroom compost, composted cow manure at a rate of 5% each
Avoid peat – it just isn’t sustainable. You can buy bagged soil at a garden center or home improvement store that is labeled for your growing method or purchase it in bulk.
Soil Buying Tip
When it comes to buying soil in bulk you definitely want to go to the soil yard to see it and feel it. Hold a clump in your hand and squeeze it. Does it fall apart immediately? Is it still clumpy? Does it mostly stay formed but falls away? You want your soil to stay formed a little bit, but also loose enough that it can be crumbled easily.
You will want to continue to work on your soil health each season by adding amendments. Organic compost is my number one recommendation.
Sunlight
Most edible plants need at least 6 hours of sunlight per day to produce enough energy to fully mature or set fruit. Some plants require more than 6 hours of sunlight, preferring 8 hours. These are some general guidelines for how much sun specific plants need:
Fruiting plants like eggplant, melons, peppers, and tomatoes want 8 hours of direct sun.
Root producing vegetables want a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight (8 is better) and these include radishes, parsnips, carrots, turnips, beets, and potatoes.
Leafy greens can handle less sunlight; about 2–4 hours of direct sun and some prefer shade during the hottest parts of the day depending on your location and season.
Most herbs prefer 4+ hours of sun per day.
Why Is Sunlight Important?
Plants that do not get enough sunlight will be weaker, and may not reach maturity or be smaller than their intended size. Keep this in mind when setting up your growing space because it will help determine what you can grow successfully.
Water
Too much or too little water can be detrimental. More plants die from over-watering than under-watering. Unfortunately, there isn’t a one size fits all schedule. It is very dependent upon the temperature, rain, wind, and microclimate of your garden area.
You want to have 1 inch/2.54 cm per week of water for your garden with the low and slow method. This means you water deeply, less frequently, and at the surface of the soil. Roots will seek out water, if you water shallow, the roots will be shallow. Watering deeply means the roots will seek out the water deeper in the soil and as a result, will be stronger and more drought-tolerant.
You have the option of hand watering, drip irrigation, soaker hoses, and emitter tubing.
Watering Tip!
One way to check if your plants need water is by putting your finger down into the soil and pulling it out; if it is dry or mostly dry, your plants need more water.
Growing Your Own Food: Planting Tips
Knowing what to plant each season, along with the plant size and space requirements, will help you create a productive garden. Most fruits and vegetables in each plant family have the same needs for optimal growing (water, season, space, nutrients, whether they like to be direct sowed or can do well as a transplant, etc.).
The cool season consists of temperatures between 35°F to 65°F (1.6°C to 18.3°C). Some cool-season plant families include:
As a general rule, when sowing seeds, plant them at a depth that is 2–3 times their width. I highly suggest looking into intensive planting and square foot gardening for spacing plants. Often the spacing recommendations on seed packets are meant for farmers who are using industrial machines. With square foot or intensive planting, you can grow plants closer together. Intensive planting uses similar spacing guides as square foot gardening without planting in exact squares.
Whichever way you plant, you need to harvest often, taking no more than ⅓ of each plant. Succession planting is key to having a continual harvest. Succession planting means spacing out sowing your seeds by 2–3 weeks so as one set matures others are in various stages of growth. This ensures that you won’t have any single crop coming to maturity at the same time.
You can do this all season long until you reach the spot when there won’t be enough time for the plant to reach maturity before the first fall frost. (If they are not frost-tolerant.) To know when this is, simply look at your seed packet, look for days to maturity, then count back from your first frost date. You can search online for your local frost dates quite easily.
Tending To Your Plants
Tending your garden is pretty simple. It requires that you pay attention to your plants, their watering needs and that you harvest often. This will help you catch any pest issues before they become a big problem and allows you to remove diseased parts of your plants before they can spread.
If you have quality soil and have amended it with compost you shouldn’t need to feed your plants in a single season, except for heavy feeders like squash and tomatoes that will want to be fed every 2–3 weeks. The choice of what to use goes beyond the scope of this post, but I suggest always using organic fertilizers/amendments. Ensure you follow the directions and remember that when it comes to fertilizer of any kind, more does not mean better.
Growing Your Own Food On a Windowsill
If you live in an apartment or condo and do not have access to a balcony or patio you can grow herbs on a sunny windowsill. All you need is:
a pot with good drainage
a tray to catch water
quality soil specifically for containers
some herbs to transplant
You will want to make sure that the mature size of your herbs will fit in the container you have chosen and that your windowsill gets 4+ hours of direct sunlight (6 is even better). I recommend containers that are 6 inches deep for healthy roots. There are also small hydroponic garden kits that come with lights and growing medium if you do not have enough light in your space or a good window.
When growing in containers it is important to water consistently at the soil level and feed as suggested on the food package. You also have the option to grow microgreens or sprouts. You can use any food-safe container and quality soil or mats that are specifically made for growing microgreens.
What Else Can I Grow On a Windowsill?
You can grow basil, kale, peas, broccoli, and pretty much any seed you would grow in a culinary garden.
Growing Your Own Food on a Patio or Balcony
You can grow many varieties of fruits, vegetables, and herbs on a patio or balcony with the right amount of sunlight. Sunlight will determine what you can grow. If you do not have a lot of direct sunlight, focus on leafy greens and herbs if you have at least 4–6 hours of sunlight in your space.
If you have 6+ hours of sun you can grow roots and fruits. There are many different types of containers to choose from. You can use ceramic pots of many sizes and colours. Grow bags are a great option when you are looking for something that can pack away easily in the off-season. They come in great sizes for growing on a patio or balcony. I recommend no shallower than 6 inches for leafy greens, 16 inches for rooting vegetables like carrots, and 24 inches deep for tomatoes and larger plants.
When it comes to choosing plants or seeds, look for varieties that were bred specifically to be compact or patio varieties. There are many, many options to try.
Growing Food in Your Yard or a Community Garden
After determining what area is the best place for your garden based on sunlight, proximity to your water source and kitchen, you need to decide what kind of garden you want. You have the option of:
an in-ground row garden
raised beds
containers
or a combination of the above
The benefits of raised beds are many, which is why I recommend using them. I have grown in a row garden, raised beds, and containers. Raised beds are by far my favorite, with containers second. Cedar and redwood are two of the most used types of wood for raised beds because they are long-lasting and rot-resistant. The best option is wood that is 2 inches thick to hold in your soil without the wood bowing. The optimal height of raised beds is 12–24 inches tall so larger, longer plants or those with long tap roots have room for their roots to grow. Use the highest quality soil you can based on the mix mentioned above.
Whatever kind of space you live in there are options for you to grow some of your own food. All you need is quality soil, amendments, seeds or transplants, enough sunlight, water and your growing method of choice. I invite you to get started growing your own food, and have fun experimenting!
Plant-based diets are put to the test in the treatment of periodontal disease.
How does nutrition affect periodontal disease? First, what is it? “Periodontal disease is a bacterial infection that results in inflammatory destruction of the connective tissue and bone that support the teeth.” As such, it is therefore one of the leading causes of our teeth falling out. Like most infections, though, the way in which our body responds may play a critical role. The presence of bacteria is the primary cause, but a susceptible host is necessary to initiate disease.
The standard explanation of periodontal disease is the plaque theory, which posits that the buildup of plaque leads to gingivitis or gum inflammation, which then leads to periodontitis or inflammation lower down beneath the gums. But, in some forms of periodontal disease, plaque doesn’t appear to play a critical role. There has been more interest in the last few years in the importance of systemic health, our body’s response. In this respect, nutrition may be of great importance because it’s been implicated in a number of other inflammatory diseases, all of which carry elevated periodontal disease risk.
Traditionally, when we think of the effects of nutrition on dental diseases, we’re only thinking about cavities. But what about the role of diet in periodontal disease? There has been less research, but if it’s about inflammation, one would expect diets rich in saturated fat to make things worse, increasing oxidative stress as well as inflammation. So, we may want to cut down on saturated fat, but let’s not just speculate. Is there an association between cholesterol levels and periodontitis? If not, it would be hard to implicate saturated fat. In fact, there doesappear to be a link. Those with high cholesterol do appear to have up to double the risk.
So, what about periodontal conditions in vegetarians? A hundred vegetarians versus non-vegetarians were studied, and those eating vegetarian had “better periodontal conditions (less inflammation signs, less periodontal damage, and better dental home care).” It should be considered, however, that vegetarians may not just be avoiding meat but may also be healthier in other ways, like practicing better dental care.
Do people who eat more saturated fat get more periodontitis? Yes, in one study, participants had double the risk at the highest levels of saturated fat intake. That was a study in Japan, where they eat less than half the meat and dairy than do Americans in the United States. The only way to know for sure, though, is to do an interventional trial where you change people’s diets and see what happens. And, researchers did just that and found that bone loss was indeed magnified by a diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol—at least in the rats they studied.
In my video How to Treat Periodontitis with Diet, I talk about the kind of study that I was looking for. Its title kind of ruins the suspense: “A High-Fiber, Low-Fat Diet Improves Periodontal Disease Markers” in terms of probing depth, clinical attachment loss, and bleeding on probing—all of the standard measures. And, of course, eating a healthier diet also improves body weight, blood sugar control, and systemic inflammation, but that complicates matters. Maybe people’s mouths got better just because they lost so much weight.
Researchers have shown that you can improve periodontal disease with bariatric surgery, such as stomach stapling. After eight weeks on a diet, the study participants went back on their regular diet and gained back most of that weight. But, the periodontal disease improvements persisted, suggesting that it was more than just the weight loss that lead to the improvements. Might the high-fiber diet have altered their good gut flora or perhaps their oral flora? What exactly was going on?
German researchers took 20 women with mild to moderate chronic periodontitis and, for a year, tried to transition their diets towards more wholesome nutrition. This meant more plant foods, more whole foods, more fresh foods—trying to center their diets around vegetables, fruits, whole grains, potatoes, and legumes (beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils). After 12 months, the patients showed a significant reduction of probing pocket depth and gingival inflammation. And, for the first time, the researchers measured decreased concentrations of inflammatory chemicals inside the crevice between the tooth and gums. These chemicals, which are thought to be responsible for the tissue destruction in periodontal disease, decreased by as much as 75 percent. And all the while, their oral hygiene status didn’t change, suggesting it was the diet that did it. But what was missing here? A control group. Nevertheless, there’s never been any randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of diet for periodontal disease until now, which I’ll cover next.
