What's In Your Belly?

Living well is not only about what you feed your mind. Your belly matters too. In fact, healing your belly can actually make you a nicer person! Less reactive, more peaceful, and joyful. Your gut is your second brain. Let's make your belly as free as your mind. Dr. Davis of Wheat Belly fame is here to help you cure your microbiome. With her science background, Julie Wilcox introduces us to her Win-Win diet and the world of flexitarians. Love yourself inside and out.

Transcript

This is Shine On,

The health and happiness show and Ella's Leash production.

Heard as a podcast around the world,

But heard first on radio stations 100.

7 WHUD-FM and 9,

20,

12,

60,

And 1420 AM.

All in New York's Hudson Valley.

Shine On,

Bringing you healers and dreamers and people who want to make life richer.

It's your time to shine on.

Hi it's Casey,

Thank you so much for tuning in to Shine On.

So our mission today is to make your belly feel better.

Do you often have irritable belly aches?

Maybe someone in your household does?

What if,

Perhaps,

Your gut,

Your second brain could be healed in a way that you would be happier?

Like your spouse better?

Feel more energetic?

Our first guest believes all of these things are possible.

Dr.

William Davis is our guest.

He's a renowned preventive cardiologist and author of the groundbreaking number one New York Times bestseller,

Wheat Belly.

And the best sellers that followed the Wheat Belly cookbook,

Wheat Belly 30 minutes or less and on and on.

And he's back with his new book called Supergut.

I have to tell you when we first had Dr.

Davis on,

When Wheat Belly first came out,

I got letters.

I got letters from people saying,

Are you crazy?

What makes you think people would stop eating bread?

It's impossible,

People wrote to me.

Because bread is just so ingrained in our lives.

But here's the deal.

The flour and the wheat that grandma used,

That's not what you're getting today.

All the research is out there and it's so easy to find.

Do you know that most people have glysophate in them?

Like the Roundup weed killer stuff?

It's so a part of our agriculture system now.

It's in the earth.

It's in us.

Another horrifying fact is that we're filled with antibiotics from the cattle and the farm animals that we eat.

So I don't eat regular wheat flour unless I get to take out pizza,

Which is pretty darn often now that I come to think about it.

But otherwise,

I'm like a spelt bread girl or except for the pizza,

I just try to stay away from it.

But people are passionate about their bread.

No,

You're right.

It's polarizing because the information was so different from what we're being told by even the US government.

Yeah.

So we're talking super gut now with the author of the wheat belly series of books.

Super gut is a four week plan to reprogram your microbiome,

Restore health and lose weight.

So Dr.

William Davis,

I have found that many people live with bad bellies and they just think it's part of life.

That's right.

It's everywhere.

It takes the form of irritable bowel syndrome or ulcerative colitis or depression or autoimmune diseases or skin rashes.

And so in my estimation,

Everybody has disrupted their microbiome.

Most of us by age 40 have taken 30 courses of antibiotics.

That alone is a major disruptive factor of the composition of microbes in your gastrointestinal tract.

But it's other things also.

It's exposure to other drugs like anti-inflammatory drugs,

Like statin cholesterol drugs,

Synthetic sweeteners like aspartame and diet colas,

Emulsifying agents to make foods mix in salad dressings and ice cream.

So we swim in the sea of things that have disrupt the microbiome and people don't often regard say depression or rosacea as something that originates in the gut.

But it does.

All right.

First off,

You're not saying we shouldn't take antibiotics,

Are you?

No.

So there's a time and place for everything.

If you've got pneumococcal pneumonia and you can't breathe,

They're about to put you on a ventilator,

You need an antibiotic.

But if you have,

Let's say a bronchitis,

That's a viral infection and the doctor hand you a prescription just in case it turns into something bacterial.

That's a lousy reason to take an antibiotic.

So why they have a place,

They should be used far less.

And of course,

Much antibiotic exposure doesn't come through a prescription.

It comes through food because antibiotics are used to fatten up livestock.

And so we are exposed.

And glyphosate,

That's the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup.

Glyphosate is an herbicide,

Yes,

But it's also a potent antibiotic.

And 100% of Americans have detectable levels of glyphosate in our urine,

Blood,

Skin,

Hair,

Et cetera.

And so we're exposed to these things that disrupt the composition of microbes.

That's the bad news.

The good news is you can take concrete steps to restore microbes that have been lost and to push back unhealthy microbes that have walked into the picture and taken their place.

Four week plan to reprogram your microbiome,

Restore health,

And lose weight.

The book is called Supergut.

Dr.

Davis is our guest.

I'm just still,

Before we take these steps,

I'm just freaked out that I have glyphosate in me because of the food that I eat.

Should I go all organic?

Is that what we should do?

I think that's a step in the right direction.

Sadly,

We can't avoid these things entirely.

We can only minimize our exposure because it's everywhere.

Glyphosate is now in the soil,

Water,

Air,

And our bodies.

And so all we can do is try to minimize those exposures.

I'm like,

Don't use it on your lawn.

Try to buy organic foods whenever availability and your budget permit.

Because it is,

When Monsanto filed its patents for glyphosate as an herbicide,

They also filed patents for glyphosate as an antibiotic.

But it's an antibiotic of the worst kind because it kills off healthy species of bacteria and it doesn't kill off the unhealthy snow species.

It actually selects for unhealthy microbes to proliferate in your GI tract and elsewhere.

All right.

And something to think about,

You know,

When you're buying your burgers,

You don't want the antibiotics that the livestock was given.

So maybe you want to choose something organic.

Where do we start with Supergut?

What's the easiest first step if there is an easiest first step?

Well,

There's actually a series of steps,

But I will tell your listeners that restoring microbes that we've lost can be extremely powerful.

My favorite example is a microbe called lactobacillus reuteri,

R-E-U-T-E-R-I,

Named after the German scientists who discovered it,

Gerhard Reuter.

When you restore this microbe lost by 96% of Americans,

Lost by almost all Americans,

You restore it and wonderful things happen.

One of the things that happens is it causes the brain,

This microbe in the GI tract,

Causes your brain to produce more oxytocin.

Oxytocin is the hormone of love and empathy.

You restore this microbe,

You like your spouse better,

You like your family,

Your coworkers better,

You have less anxiety in social settings,

And you regain lost muscle.

We lose muscle as we age.

It comes back,

Muscle and strength.

You sleep deeper,

Your appetite is turned off,

And ladies love it because it smooths their skin wrinkles because there's an explosion of dermal collagen.

This is one microbe.

It's extraordinary power in restoring some of the microbes we've lost.

All right,

Wait a minute.

What is.

.

.

You said Reuter?

You said Reuter?

R-E-U-T-E-R-I,

After Gerhard Reuter.

Okay.

We got to send some to Congress right away.

That's number one.

Well,

You raise an important issue.

Is this part of the reason why there's so much contentious debate nowadays,

Anger and hate?

I think it is.

A lot of the internal dialogues we have with ourselves,

Whether it's happy or sad or angry or hate,

A lot of it originates.

We like to think that we are responsible for our own internal thoughts,

But a lot of it is colored by the composition of microbes in your GI tract,

And you can change it.

Good.

Where do I get this Reuter stuff?

You can buy it as a probiotic.

There's a product called Gastrus,

G-A-S-P-R-U-S,

And the company is Biogaya,

B-I-O-G-A-I-A.

Weird words because it comes from Sweden,

Of all crazy things.

They sell it to you as a probiotic for infants.

The dose is very low,

So one of the things that I've done with my audience worldwide is we make yogurt out of it.

It's not so much that yogurt is magical.

It's a way to increase bacterial counts.

We measure the number of bacteria in these yogurts,

And we're getting about 250 to 260 billion bacteria,

So we increase the number of bacteria 1,

000-fold by making yogurt out of it,

In a very specific way,

By the way.

That's all described in the book.

It's also in my blogs,

Et cetera.

It's easy to do,

And it's delicious.

You eat this yogurt,

And that's where people get smoother skin,

Increased muscle,

Increased empathy,

All these things.

Now,

That's one microbe.

There are other microbes you can pick and choose for the effect you want.

You can take a microbe,

For instance,

To lose waist circumference,

Waist size.

You can take another microbe to reduce arthritis pain.

You can take another microbe to be happier or to be more effective at work.

You can take another microbe and give it to a child,

And they have less asthma.

They sleep through the night.

They take longer naps and have 50% fewer bowel movements if you're still changing diapers.

So you can pick and choose the benefit you want once you understand that we've lost these important microbes,

And they can be restored.

I want all the microbes,

Dr.

Davis.

I want them all.

I want all the microbes.

How do we check if our microbes,

If our microbiome,

You know,

Is there a test we could take to see how it's doing?

There's a number of things you can do.

You can just look for telltale signs,

Very common signs that you've disrupted your microbiome,

Such as all those conditions like depression or irritable bowel syndrome,

Just bloating,

Bloating,

Loose stool.

That tells you something's wrong.

Some people have fat malabsorption.

They see fat droplets in the toilet,

Or they see staining of the toilet where the water meets the porcelain.

There's also a new consumer device called Aire,

A-I-R-E.

It's only been out a couple of years,

And it tests for hydrogen gas on the breath.

This helps you map out where unhealthy microbes are.

Not healthy microbes,

Unhealthy microbes,

Because these microbes produce hydrogen gas.

You can kind of map out how high up in the GI tract,

Because when you lose important microbes,

Unhealthy microbes step in to take their place.

These are largely stool microbes like E.

Coli and Klebsiella,

And they produce hydrogen gas.

There's some other tests too,

Like stool analysis,

But you don't have to do those kinds of tests.

If you're a modern person living a modern life,

It's virtually certain you have disrupted your microbiome to some degree,

And you can take steps to reorganize the microbes in your GI tract.

Right.

I'm a big fan,

Because really I had this,

The worst,

The worst,

The worst.

I lived the first half of my life just always in pain and avoiding situations,

Avoiding foods.

I only ate like eight things,

Because I knew if I ate the ninth thing,

Gosh,

God knows what would happen.

But I fixed that now,

And I'm fine now.

Thank you for your help,

By the way.

But I want to ask you this.

Why can't I eat pasta?

Why?

When I eat pasta,

I don't feel good.

I'm an Italian woman,

And maybe I'll eat pasta like twice a year,

And both times I feel awful.

Because there's many reasons,

But a big reason is agribusiness changed what the wheat plant is.

So you and I think of wheat,

We all think of wheat right at four and a half,

Five foot tall field of grass,

Right?

It's not.

It's an 18-inch tall,

Short,

Stocky,

What's called a high-yield semi-dwarf strain.

It's actually created in a laboratory about 50 years ago.

That is now what constitutes what is virtually all wheat products sold.

There are many things different about that plant.

They selected,

For instance,

For an increase in pest-resistant components.

This is something like phytates and wheat germagglutinin.

They chose it because it made the wheat plant more resistant to molds and insects,

But they're also gastrointestinal toxins to humans.

And so they intensified inadvertently the toxicity of the wheat plant to humans.

They also changed the gliadin protein.

The gliadin protein's within gluten.

And now there's a 400% increase in celiac disease.

But this gliadin protein is really not digestible by humans.

We don't have the enzymes to break it down.

So it's broken down to pieces or peptide fragments.

These peptide fragments act as opioids on the human brain.

They stimulate appetite.

So modern wheat is not only toxic to the GI tract,

It's also a very potent appetite stimulant.

That's why people say,

I can't give it up,

Because they have an opioid addiction to the gliadin-derived opioid peptides.

That's why people also go through an opioid withdrawal syndrome over about five days when they stop eating all things wheat.

They have fatigue,

Depression,

Nausea,

And headaches for about five days.

And then you're free to do it.

Wow.

This is amazing.

Supergut is the book,

So it's going to show us how to eliminate bad bacteria,

How to bring back the good missing bacteria.

It's a four-week.

How difficult is this to work into someone's life?

There are some steps you have to take,

Because you know what?

You're doing this,

Because your doctor's not doing it.

The doctor should be experts in nutrition and nutritional supplements and the microbiome,

But they're not.

They're experts in generating revenue for their healthcare systems,

Dispensing pharmaceuticals and procedures to generate revenue.

So when it comes to,

Let's take something very simple and powerful,

Like vitamin D.

They should be experts in vitamin D,

Because it's so powerful,

But they're not.

They'll even say stupid things,

Like,

Oh,

Your level's fine at 25 or something like that,

Because they're not interested in being experts in nutrition nor the microbiome.

So it's in our own hands.

It's in your hands to take control.

That's the sad part.

The good part is you have,

Your listeners have extraordinary capacity to reestablish health that is far superior to the kind of health your doctor can provide.

All right.

You must be tons of fun at the doctor conventions.

But I want to tell you this.

I've read several times that until recently,

Many medical schools didn't even teach nutrition.

Is that true?

That is true.

And medical schools don't teach health.

They teach healthcare.

That is why you need to do a colonoscopy,

Not how to reorder your microbiome so you don't get colon cancer in the first place.

And so that's why our business,

Your business,

My business,

The business of your listeners is to restore health.

The business of healthcare is to make money for healthcare insiders.

Those are two very different things.

Right.

Supergut is the book.

Dr.

William Davis,

Our guest,

Tell us one thing we could eat right now today.

Aside from the gastrous Biogaya yogurt,

What is one thing that we might have in our home that could help us start our journey as we walk to the bookstore to buy this book?

Extra-virgin olive oil is a very helpful thing for your microbiome because the oleic acid in extra-virgin olive oil is very influential on the gut micro composition and the production of various nutrients from it.

Do you have a second favorite?

There's something called prebiotic fibers such as inulin and the fibers in legumes like black beans and white beans.

Very helpful or influence.

Now people are often intolerant because they've so disrupt their microbiome.

They can't tolerate those kinds of things.

They say,

I can't eat those foods like food allergies and food intolerance.

Those are all signs by the way of a massively disrupted microbiome that you have to get back in order.

Beautiful.

How do we find out more information about you?

So I have a new website.

I just converted my old wheat belly blog that was trafficked by 33 million people.

Now it's called Dr.

Davis,

Drdavisinfinitehealth.

Com.

Dr.

Davis,

Can you eat bread?

Is there a bread that you will eat?

Is there somewhere a slice of something that isn't bad?

You know through the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas,

I had biscuits and gravy.

I had cheesecake.

I had pumpkin pie.

I had focaccia bread.

But we made them with alternative ingredients like almond flour,

Ground gold,

Flaxseed,

Coconut flour and they're delicious.

You can have pizza.

You can have all those things,

But we're going to recreate it with things that don't stimulate appetite,

Don't raise blood sugar,

Don't cause autoimmune diseases.

That's Dr.

William Davis,

Number one New York Times bestseller.

Supergut is a four week plan to reprogram your microbiome and restore your health and lose weight.

Four week plan there.

Supergut.

I want you to meet Julie Wilcox.

Julie introduced me to a new world called flexitarian.

A flexitarian is somebody who eats a more plant based diet but will have a little meat or fish every now and then.

A flexitarian.

Maybe that's something to aim for in Julie's eight week plan.

Her book is called The Win Win Diet and she has a master of science degree in nutrition and dietetics from New York University.

She says jump into the plant world.

It's huge.

Oh,

There's so much variety.

I mean,

The vegetable kingdom is huge.

So from dark leafy greens to tomatoes and beets,

Red bell peppers,

Broccoli is a favorite,

Eggplant zucchini.

So all the vegetables out there,

You want to get as much color and variety as is possible.

Same with the fruit,

Berries,

Peaches,

Plums.

Great to be seasonal.

Whatever is in season,

Nuts and seeds are wonderful,

Extremely nutritious.

Plant based proteins like tofu,

Tempeh and seitan.

And then whole grains.

Whole grains like whole wheat flour,

Corn flour,

Spelt,

Oats,

Quinoa,

Bulgur,

Millet.

There's so much variety in the plant based world.

It never really gets boring.

And then of course for people that are pescatarian or even flexitarian,

Some lean chicken and some lean fish.

Those are all great options.

I'm an amaranth girl myself.

Oh,

Lovely.

Well,

Amaranth porridge in the morning is a wonderful breakfast with a little maple syrup and some walnuts,

Maybe some cinnamon.

Wonderful.

I buy my amaranth cereal by the case.

Like I get those delivered to my house 12 boxes at a time.

But right now with the supply situation,

I can't get my amaranth cereal.

Very frustrating time.

I know it can be really difficult.

I was looking for my corn flour for a couple of days and it was not in a single store nearby.

Yeah.

So throw some science at me.

Why corn flour over a different kind of flour?

So corn flour in its purest form is not defined as is white flour.

So basically you're trying to stay away from highly processed white flour,

Which essentially deprives you from all of the nutrients that come in the original wheat and the whole grain.

So the bran and the germ are essentially stripped away from the grain and the only thing that's left is the endosperm.

But what's in the bran and the germ is all the nutrients that we want,

All the healthy protein and carbs and healthy fats and the vitamins and the minerals.

So corn flour is just one type of flour that's not refined.

But even better than that is whole wheat and like I said,

Spelt or oat flour,

Almond flour,

Chickpea flour.

The market has tons of options now.

It's really expanded for the plant-based world.

Right.

Julie Wilcox,

The win-win diet.

Where can people go to find more information about you?

They can go to juliewilcoxwellness.

Com.

They can go to Julie Wilcox Wellness on Instagram and Facebook as well and to Julie Wilcox on LinkedIn.

Anything else our listeners need to know?

Yes.

I just want to say that plant-based eating has so many benefits and I just want people to be aware of how it enhances energy and improves sleep and immunity,

Increases focus and of course helps with weight loss and really helps to prevent,

Manage and treat almost all the chronic diseases out there in the world.

Beautiful.

I just followed you on Instagram.

Gorgeous.

Did you make that sourdough creation I'm looking at?

I absolutely did.

Julie Wilcox can make you a flexitarian with the win-win diet.

How to be plant-based and still eat what you love.

And along with having a science education,

Julie is a wellness consultant,

Writer,

Teacher,

Coach and co-founder of Ishta Yoga in New York.

So what are we eating today,

Kids?

More plants,

Perhaps?

Says the lady who had cheese and crackers for dinner three nights this week.

They were rice crackers and fresh mozzarella.

But still,

I'll go introduce myself to something green today.

All right,

So I did it.

I went and signed up for the yoga teacher training,

Restorative yoga teacher training.

I signed up.

I start next month.

I don't know where this will lead.

Maybe we'll do some restorative yoga on the Insight timer,

Right?

That's a possibility.

This is a for sure.

We are getting together at the end of February live in person for beautiful sunsets on the Hudson,

Outdoors under the moonlight with sparklers.

We've got walking trails.

We've got a labyrinth.

And we've got plenty of cozy things to do inside.

We're definitely bringing blackout poetry to the party because we had so much fun with that on our online retreat over New Year's weekend.

So we'll have a little art,

A little inspiration.

I've got some guests lined up to come and I would like you to come.

So join us.

The retreat center,

The Marianne Dell Retreat Center is in Austin in New York.

It's the last weekend in February.

You can get details at kacysplace.

Com.

And our next Sunday zoom call is all about self love and happiness.

We have a special guest Becky Morrison joining us.

And that is Sunday,

February 13th.

A free zoom call Sunday at 11 get details at kacysplace.

Com kacysplace.

Com K A C E Y.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Wishing you and your belly a very nice day.

Okay,

So we started out saying our mission today was to get a little healthier and take good care of our bellies.

And there's so much information out there that may be very confusing.

Thankfully our thought for the day is going to break it right down and make it very easy.

There's a quote from Michael Pollan.

And if you're serious about really cleaning up your diet,

He might be the best place to start.

He wrote,

This is your mind on plants.

He wrote in defense of food,

Cooked food rules.

And he's currently the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Anyway,

So with all the research Michael Pollan has done for decades,

He can sum up his rules for eating in seven words.

And that is our thought for the day from Michael Pollan who said,

Eat food,

Not too much,

Mostly plants.

I'm going to say it again.

Eat food,

Not too much,

Mostly plants.

Shine on.

You've been listening to Shine On,

The health and happiness show for your entertainment only.

Heard Sunday mornings on 100.

7 WHUD and 920,

1260 and 1420 AM all in New York's Hudson Valley.

Subscribe to Shine On and catch a show anytime at kc.

Co.

Shine On.

Reviews

I love that quote: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants"! Getting my probiotics now! Great podcast!