June 4, 2025 • 31 mins
What we feed our bodies has a tremendous effect on our physical and mental health. Lis Schmelzer discusses the importance of being aware of how what we consume affects all our bodies’ systems. She also discusses the role of functional medicine in bringing our bodies and minds into a state of well being. Lis is a Clinical Nutritionist, Nutrition Sales Executive, and wellness advocate. Additional information and Lis’s contact information can be found at https://nourishwisconsin.com/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
Welcome everybody.
This is Avoiding the Addiction Affliction,brought to you by Westwords Consulting.
I'm Mike McGowan.
You've heard it.
You are what you eat.
It's more than just an old adage.
It's really who we are.
We're gonna talk about takinga holistic approach to all that
ails us with our guest today.
Liz, do I get to writeLi, do I say Lis or Liz?
(00:35):
Lis.
Okay.
Lis, it's Elizabeth, but Lis?
Lis Schmelzer and Lis is a clinicalnutritionist, nutrition sales
executive and wellness advocate.
Welcome, Lis.
How are you?
I'm great.
Thank you for having me.
Well, I'm so glad you could do this.
This is one of the things we'vedone a 250 or so of these podcasts,
and this is an area that we don'ttouch on nearly enough, right?
(00:58):
For people's mental healthand physical health.
And you and I had a conversationthat led me to, want you to do this.
So let's start with a termthat I was unfamiliar with.
So call me stupid if you want to.
Those of you listening, but what isfunctional medicine and how is that
different from traditional medicine?
Sure.
Great question.
(01:19):
So functional medicine is anevidence-based model of individualized
care and it focuses on theinterconnectedness of everybodies system.
So it's more of a systemic approach.
It works to uncover the root causeand considers the complexities
of what has influenced ourshort-term and long-term health.
(01:40):
Because it isn't just one thing.
So it's a combination of our environment,our lifestyle, our diet, and our genetics.
And so our health over our lifetimeis like a treasure map, and we have
all these little breadcrumbs that haveled us to our current state of health.
And it can be a preventative approach,it can be an alternative approach, and
(02:02):
it really should be a complimentaryapproach with conventional medicine.
And here's why that is extremelyimportant, is because traditional
and conventional approaches andfunctional or integrative approaches
are meant to compliment one another.
And so I'll use high bloodpressure as an example.
(02:23):
Conventional medicine will focus on avery acute organ specific intervention,
typically involving a prescriptionthat will quickly balance blood
pressure, which is absolutely necessary.
Because if we don't control that,you know, we can end up with.
Catastrophic events but with thespecific focus on the heart and
(02:45):
kidneys, whereas functional medicinewill turn to diet and lifestyle and
environmental and genetic factors toreally work to optimize everything
that affects our blood pressure.
So our sleep, our movement, our stressmanagement, how our body is detoxifying
(03:06):
nutritional therapies and using all ofthose things to balance blood pressure.
And it does take more timeand more of a commitment.
It's funny you should say that becauseafter we talked, I told my son who
was having some issues about this and,and he, so he went to see somebody.
He loved it.
And you know, I've had a fewissues, like most people, and
(03:29):
you're right, they treat it and.
I like my doctors, but they askquestions like, how's your nutrition?
And if you go I think it'sokay, then it ends there and...
Right.
There's no context around that.
Right.
And so you know, to exploreit in more depth, I think is
what you're talking about.
Mm-hmm.
Well, and or so let's get to it.
(03:50):
We put, as Americans especially,we put a lot of stuff into our
body that it isn't good for it.
Yeah.
Food access is something I'm reallypassionate about and I often hear
people say, you know, just exercisethe willpower to choose healthy food.
(04:11):
And food quality and food access,specifically fresh food access,
they're not simple solution problems.
And the reality is the qualityand access to fresh food is an
interconnected web that spans fromsoil microbiology to global trade
policies and everything in between.
(04:31):
So we have to consider how, you know,agricultural practices, pesticide
and herbicide use, fertilizerand nutrient use, the quality of
the soil and the water health.
Land availability and our practices likeregenerative agriculture being used,
(04:52):
and is the water source being tested?
And then of course, how doesthis all impact our environment?
And then we look at the supply chainintegrity and specifically food miles.
So how far is our foodtraveling from seed to table?
How are we processing it?
Are we able to store it?
And you know, really if we can't keepour food from spoiling after harvest,
(05:17):
it's no use to the end consumer.
And that whole process doesgreatly degrade the nutrient
density of the fresh food.
And then we have the layer offederal oversight, which affects,
you know, everything we justdiscussed, including allowable
ingredients, agricultural practiceswhat's being used as preservatives.
(05:41):
And lastly the socioeconomics.
So we have these at risk low incomeneighborhoods that are just saturated with
convenience stores or fast food options.
And these places are reallyheavily populated with
processed or shelf stable foods.
But there are, you know,transportation barriers.
(06:01):
And this can include limited or unreliableaccess to public transportation.
And we also have educational barrierswith nutrition knowledge and how to
cook and prepare and store fresh food.
So you have all of these things togetherand it's really the perfect storm and
it can be a real struggle to get qualityfood, and it's not a problem that can be
(06:28):
solved by the farmers or the manufacturersor the politicians or the consumers.
It's an everybody problem and itreally calls for an everybody solution.
Wow.
That's really a great summary of itbecause a lot of the populations that
you mentioned that don't have accessor availability of fresh foods report
(06:48):
higher incidences of obesity and diabetesin a variety of different diseases.
That is, we are what we consume, right?
Mm-hmm.
I think we all have a bunch.
I've read, we all have a bunch ofmicroplastics coursing through our
system, whatever those do, right?
Yes.
There's very powerful clinical literaturethat's coming out and yeah, I mean.
(07:13):
I am grateful that we've had the abilityto make that transition in our home to use
other materials outside of plastic, butI know that's not the same for everyone.
And it really goes back to how our foodis processed and packaged and stored.
When I was a kid we ate so differently.
(07:33):
And I think a lot of people say thatit's not it's not a get off my lawn.
I'm the old guy, but we did and,and having a soda was a treat.
And I remember our parents might buya case of 10 ounce bottles, and that
would be split between two of us.
So no big gulp allowed.
(07:54):
My grandmother was a registered dieticianand my grandfather was a general surgeon.
So I grew up with, you know, thebest of both worlds in functional
medicine and conventional medicine.
But my grandma would getorange chocolate, she loved.
And I remember she would take onepiece and then she would package it
(08:14):
up and put it away, and that was herpleasure and her treat for the day.
Yeah.
I love when you go into a store now theyhave the bigger bars, right, the bigger
chocolate, and they say sharing size.
I'm like, share it with who?
I ain't sharing this with nobody.
(laughs) Right.
Yeah.
It's like, come on.
Or, or the other one that cracks meup is when you see a bag and it's
(08:36):
like number of servings per container.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, for most people, the minuteyou open a bag that goes down to one.
Right.
So there's one serving percontainer no matter what they say.
Right.
We put a lot, and I know people.
That's this the otherone I wanted to get to.
I've had people tell me, talk about sugar.
Talk about sugar.
Talk about sugar.
Mm-hmm.
There's a lot of peoplewho have given up sugar.
(09:00):
Lis, my mom was a recovering alcoholic andwhen she stopped drinking, she switched to
Coca-Cola and she drank a lot of it, andshe used to early in her recovery, dump
teaspoons of sugar into the Coca-Cola.
Wow.
So something was... right.
Something must have been going onin her body that craved that, and
(09:21):
then she weaned herself off of that.
But sugar is in everything.
Yeah, I'm really glad you brought this upbecause sugar is so powerful and I feel
almost guilty and a parody discussingthis on the heels of Easter after I just
ate my weight in jelly beans, right?
(laughs)
But you know, of course we're talkingabout refined sugar, so not naturally
(09:44):
occurring sugars, and these areoften referred to as added sugars.
But refined sugar is ubiquitous.
It's found in very unsuspecting items.
Hot and cold cereal, bakedgoods, pasta, crackers.
Obviously the sweets like candy, icecream, cookies, but drinks like Gatorade
(10:05):
or other juices, alcohol, condimentshave very high content of added sugar
and canned or prepackaged fruit.
And the problem with refined sugaris it affects the pleasure and reward
center of our brain, specifically thefeelgood neurotransmitter dopamine,
which you're extremely familiar with.
(10:27):
And in a way it is similar to thestreet drug cocaine because it's causing
that influx of the neurotransmitter.
And so this is affecting our motivationand our learning and pleasure and reward.
And because of that, itcan be very habit forming.
And so once this happens, our brainremembers this pleasure and subconsciously
(10:52):
encourages us to eat it again.
And over time, our dopamine receptorsbecome desensitized, which means our brain
is telling us that we need more to feelthe same amount of pleasure and reward.
And you know, this is significantlydifferent than how cocaine or
a drug impacts dopamine, right?
(11:14):
So cocaine will block the re-uptake orthe recycling of that neurotransmitter
dopamine, which causes the brain to beflooded with this chemical messenger and
causing euphoria, which is a lot differentthan experiencing pleasure and reward.
But we actually have visual representationthrough brain imaging that proves
(11:35):
how sugar activates dopamine release.
And I think most people would be reallysurprised to know that sugar activates
dopamine at the same intensity as cocaine.
And so we're seeing in the brain imagingof obese individuals, the imaging of the
reward center of the brain looks similarto those of cocaine addicts because of the
(12:01):
desensitization of the dopamine receptors.
Wow.
And when you talk, we're saying sugar, butthis includes corn syrup, fructose, right?
Right, right.
So refined sugar, it's like pouringgasoline on our immune system's defense
mechanism, which is inflammation.
(12:23):
So inflammation is used to helpprotect the body, to eliminate the
threat and support the healing.
So this becomes detrimental becauseinflammation is a contributor and
at the foundation of obesity, toothdecay, mood and memory disorders,
(12:44):
cancer, gastrointestinal disease andespecially cardiometabolic illness.
And so back to corn syrup.
Let me ask you a question.
So you did mention that soda was afavorite treat of yours as a kid.
But tell me what is your favorite candyor indulgence or sweet indulgence?
(13:05):
Oh my goodness.
I'm gonna, oh, this is terrible!
This is terrible!
People are gonna judge me now.
No one's judging be honest, Hey, Isaid I ate a whole bag of jelly beans.
Yeah.
If I'm in a convenience store andI have a choice, I'm pulling out
a package of Hostess cupcakes.
Okay!
And I'm not even sure.
(13:25):
Lis that, that classifies as food.
(laughs)
Well, it's nostalgic toyou for some reason, right?
Well, it tastes good.
That's the part.
And so when you talk about sugar,the people who've given up sugar tell
me, oh, I feel mu so much better.
And are they lying?
(13:45):
So, I mean, do they or is it, is it hard?
'cause it's in so much stuff.
Right.
To give it up.
To give it up is a lot of work inreading labels and cooking by yourself
and staying away from almost everythingyou can get in a convenience store.
Right.
Well, let me ask you a question.
If you eat an apple, whichis very high in natural sugar
(14:07):
compared to eating your ho ho.
Cupcake.
How do you feel?
What do you notice about the waythat your brain is functioning
and your energy levels?
Well, okay, the energy level, theapple feels better mentally when
you eat it and nothing adversehappens to my energy level.
(14:29):
The cupcake tastes better, providesme, and it's probably the dopamine
rush, provides me some satisfaction,but I think I get truly your
grandmother was on the right track.
I get all the satisfaction I'm lookingfor out of the first bite of the cupcake.
Mm-hmm.
I don't need the other one and ahalf that comes in the package.
(14:52):
So the other one and a half issimply just finishing the product.
Mm-hmm.
So here's the main differencewith natural sugars and refined
sugars besides being synthetic.
So corn syrup and the white sugar,fruit juice concentrate, any syrup or
anything ending with OSE at the end of it.
(15:14):
So natural sugars have othernutrients in them, like fiber,
protein, fat, antioxidants,vitamins and minerals and water.
And so what that does is it causesour body to process and absorb it
slower in a more modulated way.
So we don't see those extremes,spikes and sugar rushes that you might
(15:39):
experience, which does affect our energyand the way that we process thoughts.
Hmm.
So when I feel better on anapple, that's not a myth.
I just do.
And when I feel more lethargic, ifI eat a pint of ice cream, and I
haven't done that for a while, butit's, that's what the body does.
It reacts to that.
Mm-hmm.
(15:59):
Well okay, this is part, you, you saidit's all of us together, the systems,
but there's a lot of articles lately,and people know this, the same food,
the same cupcake that I talked aboutthat I can buy here in Wisconsin.
It's different if I buy it in Germany.
Mm-hmm.
There are regulations in other countries.
We have a lot more additives inour food than other countries do.
(16:24):
Mm-hmm.
We allow it.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So there are major regulatory differencesfrom country to country and as an example.
The European Union, the UK, Brazil,and other countries have either
completely banned or restrictedcertain agricultural practices.
(16:46):
So like pesticide and herbicideuse, specifically glyphosate and
paraquat, which have extremelyharmful health outcomes.
And these same countries havealso improved their supply chain.
So they utilize a more localized,sustainable food system.
Local, seasonal, regional ingredients.
(17:08):
And what this does isit reduces food miles.
It reduces food waste, but italso improves nutrient density in
the food that they're consuming.
So examples would be supportinglocal farmers and growers using
food markets or farmer markets,and then also doing food co-ops.
So they're pooling the resources.
(17:28):
And then furthermore, these samecountries have federal oversight that
recognizes and restricts or bans thedetrimental health effects of ingredients
like the synthetic food coloring andsweeteners because of the health risks.
So thankfully recently the FDA announcedthe phasing out and discontinuation
(17:50):
of eight synthetic food dyes becauseof the links to cancer and dementia
and other focus related disorders.
So I'm hopeful that we'll startto see a trend in that direction.
We both have, well, I saw you last ata school and I spent a lot of time in
schools and those people who cook lunchfor the kids do an incredible job because
(18:14):
the money they get per pupil is so low.
I have no idea how they serve anything.
I know [inaudible] with theirrecipes and... absolutely.
So this starts when you'reyoung, not just what you consume,
but the messages you get.
And so we're talking about a lotof environmental factors, right?
(18:35):
Socioeconomic, where you growup, the messages that you get
about health, that all goes intofunctional medicine, I would think.
Yes.
I mean, there's astounding researchproving that if we make an impact
at the youth level that we cancreate generational change.
(18:57):
Because when kids come homewith all these tools, they're
sharing that with their parents.
With their grandparents.
Yeah.
Their aunts and uncles.
So it's super importantto make an impact at the,
at the children youth level.
That's funny you should say that.
I'm grinning because when I've donea lot with drug prevention, right?
(19:17):
And so back 20 some years ago, we dida lot on cigarettes and we made an...
we... collectively, It's stunning.
Almost no kid.
Now, I don't wanna talk about vaping, butalmost no kid in high school smokes now.
It's just so amazing.
And I would get older people comingup and saying to me, oh, those
damn schools 'cause, 'cause thekids were coming home and saying to
(19:37):
their grandma, why are you smoking?
And it motivated a... areyou raising your hand?
Did you actually do that?
I have a memory that I justshared with my family at Easter.
My grandma smoked Winston's and...
Is this the same grandma who was...
No, no, no, this is my other, this is...
Okay.
This is' chocolate Grandma.
(19:58):
Right?
Okay, go ahead.
But it was Red Ribbon Week at school.
I was in elementary school and wewere given a piece of paper and it
was a contract and we were supposedto find a family member or a friend
and have them sign it that they wouldagree to quit smoking for 24 hours.
And I immediately thought of my grandma.
I was so excited to bring this to her, tosign it, and I was standing on her porch
(20:23):
so proud, handed her this piece of paperand she ripped it in front of my face!
(laughs)
(laughs) Yeah.
I mean, that just showsyou the power of addiction.
Yeah.
But a lot of those people endedup stopping at some point.
And they would say, it's because ofmy grandkids, it's because of my kids.
(20:47):
And so I think that thatis a strong message.
You know, we don't do nearlyenough with this, I don't think.
I know you do your thing, and I, Iknow there are people who do, but just
the understanding of the role thatinflammation plays in the body and
in our health is so misunderstood.
Don't you think?
Oh, absolutely.
(21:07):
And it's it's ubiquitous.
And it's intended, as I mentioned,to be a protective mechanism.
But when you look at some of thestatistics, the top over the counter
medications sold in the world areanti-inflammatories and the top prescribed
medications are indicated for diabetes.
(21:29):
So when you're looking at the correlation,if we follow the physiology of what
is causing chronic inflammation,what is causing insulin resistance.
And not to oversimplify it, but insulinresistance is predominantly chronic low
grade inflammation, and it's caused bya number of things, but excess refined
(21:52):
sugar intake, physical inactivity.
One of my personal favoritetopics, the microbiome and
imbalances of the microbiome.
Poor sleep hygiene, stress imbalance, andtoxin exposure and genetic predisposition.
But when you look at that list.
Six out of the seven, we havesome level of control over.
(22:16):
And so when we're looking at, you know,limiting processed foods and increasing
fresh foods, higher in fiber that's reallycontributing to the, the inflammation
epidemic, if you wanna call it that.
As you click throughthe list, I'm thinking.
(22:36):
Got it, got it, got it, got it, got it.
You know, it's a miracleI'm talking to you.
Oh, I know.
It's easier said than done, right?
(laughs)
Yeah.
Well, since you talked about itbeing a favorite topic people are
going, well, whoa, whoa, whoa.
What is that?
Talk about the microbiome.
Yeah, so the microbiome is thetrillions of bacteria that live
in our intestines and our gut, andit's really shaped by our diet.
(23:02):
So you said the cliche,we are what we eat.
It's 100% true.
If we eat inflammatory foods, we'refeeding inflammatory bacteria.
And so what happens is we end upcrowding out our good bacteria by
nourishing the bad bacteria and thesebad bacteria actually excrete or
(23:24):
release pro-inflammatory endotoxins.
And one that listeners may have heardLPS or lipopolysaccharides triggers
systemic inflammation and it alsoblocks insulin signaling and leads
to glucose intolerance and affectsour brain function and our emotion.
(23:45):
And it's interesting with the weightloss trends that are happening.
One of the ways that you cansupport natural GLP one secretion
is through having a healthymicrobiome and going back to...
Well, how do we supporta healthy microbiome?
Again, it's limiting those processedfoods and increasing the amount of fresh
(24:10):
food that we're putting into our gut.
And then of course, somesupplementation with probiotics.
You know, it's, it's amazing that,we're, many of us, myself included,
are weak minded individuals.
I, about a year and a half ago, Ihad a, an allergic reaction to a
medication that caused me to cough.
Have a and, and I went to my doctor.
(24:31):
She said, oh, that happenswith this med sometimes.
The cough will go away inabout six to eight weeks.
(laughs) And, and I'm like, ohmy gosh, I talk for a living.
And she said, if you stay away fromthese things, it will help your
cough and then, you know, whatever.
And it did.
So I gave up a lot ofwhat you're talking about.
We've talked about todayfor about eight weeks.
(24:53):
Drank tons more water.
I felt tons better.
I could feel the inflammation going away.
Mm-hmm.
And then, and this is, don't, again,don't judge me, judge me on the cupcakes.
The minute that the coughing ended, Iadded the diet soda back to my diet.
Mm-hmm.
And, and just 'cause it says diet orlow-cal doesn't mean it's good for you.
(25:19):
I'm the same way with gluten.
I should avoid gluten.
I should not eat gluten.
And I have done, I'm agluten-free diet yo-yo'er.
But there's certain instances, likewhen my mother-in-law makes her
amazingly delicious dinner rolls, likeI am eating one of those dinner rolls.
(25:40):
(laughs)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
You know, it's, it's, it's funny And thisis all associated with our, all together
with our mental health you know, ouremotions as well as our physical health.
Mm-hmm.
This has been just incredibly fascinating.
Can we do this again?
Can we go into more depth Lis afterpeople say, oh, oh, I wish she
(26:00):
would've talked more about X, Y, and Z.
I would love to I mean, I, we didn'teven have the chance to dive into
the, the genetics side of everything.
Yeah.
Right.
Which is super important.
And there's actually a pretty newrecently emerging line of genetics,
branch of genetics called Nutrigenomics.
(26:21):
And it, it.
Is the study of how nutrition influencesour gene expression and how gene
variations affect our body process,how our body processes nutrients.
And so that information iscritical with treatment plans
and developing nutrition plans.
So yeah, I would loveto dive into that more.
(26:44):
Yeah, that would be great.
And you know, we started this off the air.
You know, I talk to people,those of you who listen.
And we were talking about the factthat there's a lot of recovering people
that I know who consume a tremendousamount of caffeine, and I would like
to talk more about that as well.
Mm-hmm.
Because young people are consumingan abnormal amount of caffeine.
(27:06):
Right.
Alcohol is terrible for the, there's no.
There's no good amount ofalcohol to put into your body.
All those, all those fake studiesabout wine being good for your
heart and stuff like that, haveall been debunked scientifically.
So there's a variety of differentplaces we could go from this.
Well, and it's the, it's theantioxidants that are in the wine,
(27:29):
which you can get from other sources.
Like a billion of other sources.
Yes.
A a lot of food sources that don'tcontain alcohol or a harmful substance.
Yeah.
So I, I'll leave you this as a getaway.
If, if when we get off of thistoday, if I or anyone else wanted
(27:49):
to start, we just wanted to starttaking better care of ourselves
holistically because it's overwhelmingto think of the whole package.
Where, where, what'sa good place to start?
Most people that I work with startwith increased water consumption.
Believe it or not, it's so simple.
It's, it's typically free but just focuson increasing your water consumption
(28:14):
to close to 64 ounces a day or higher.
Other great starts are phasing outor crowding out those processed
foods and increasing yourconsumption of fresh food intake.
And I think that is a great startbecause you have to make sustainable
changes that are lifelong.
(28:36):
And we just keep building from there.
So starting with a really simpleimplementation or modification and
then continue to build, to things likeswapping out plastic storage containers
for glass or other materials or yourcleaning supplies or things like that.
Well, I'm not gonna let three of myclosest people listen to this podcast
(28:59):
because they're on, they're on meall the time about increasing my
water intake and more fresh foods.
Oh, yeah.
So I need them to just do an aha,like I need a hole in the, so,
So how many ounces of watera day are you getting, Mike?
Does that count diet soda?
No.
No.
You know it's funny yesterday, I, I dida series of presentations at a school.
(29:21):
So I probably drank a hundredounces of water yesterday or close.
Awesome.
Right?
'Cause you were using your voice?
And I'm in a school, soI'm carrying a bottle.
Right.
And they all now have these.
In Wisconsin folks, wecall them bubblers, right?
Yes.
Drinking fountains, water fountains.
And they all have this whereyou put the bottle underneath
and it fills it up with water.
(29:43):
Mm-hmm.
So, you know, I'mfilling it up constantly.
When I'm not working, I'm much lesshealthy than when I am working.
Hmm.
Interesting.
And, and I'm, I'm aware of that.
And and part of that isattached to, you know, boredom.
What is easy.
I had a person the other day askme what's my favorite thing to eat?
(30:04):
And my answer, and it's an honestanswer, is what's quickest?
You know, and that's that.
Convenience drives us, especiallywhen we have extremely busy schedules.
But, you know, there are tricks to beingable to increase our water consumption.
So you mentioned one, having arefillable water bottle is key.
Putting in some naturalthings like pieces of fruit.
(30:27):
If you're looking forsomething that's flavored.
And then we can also do things likesetting timers because I am also a
creature of habit, and if I'm in mywork and I'm focused and I'm in my
flow, I'm not thinking about takinga sip of my water to get my water
consumption in and all of a sudden it's3:00 PM and I've only had my coffee.
(laughs)
(30:47):
Yeah.
So.
Right, right.
I'm right there with you.
Right.
That's great.
We can all be more healthy.
This has been great.
And you know, I do feel a tad guilty, butguilt motivates and I also feel motivated.
So the next time we talk, Iwill be consuming more water
and less, less Hostess cupcakes.
(laughs)
Love to hear it.
(31:07):
Love to hear it.
For those of you listening thanks Lisfor your expertise and perspective.
We hope you find health andwellness, wherever you are.
For those of you listening,please listen anytime you're able.
Share it with people that you know, besafe and take care of your whole self.
It's a journey that allof us need to be on.
Welcome everybody.
This is Avoiding the Addiction Affliction,brought to you by Westwords Consulting.
I'm Mike McGowan.
You've heard it.
You are what you eat.
It's more than just an old adage.
It's really who we are.
We're gonna talk about takinga holistic approach to all that
ails us with our guest today.
Liz, do I get to writeLi, do I say Lis or Liz?
(00:35):
Lis.
Okay.
Lis, it's Elizabeth, but Lis?
Lis Schmelzer and Lis is a clinicalnutritionist, nutrition sales
executive and wellness advocate.
Welcome, Lis.
How are you?
I'm great.
Thank you for having me.
Well, I'm so glad you could do this.
This is one of the things we'vedone a 250 or so of these podcasts,
and this is an area that we don'ttouch on nearly enough, right?
(00:58):
For people's mental healthand physical health.
And you and I had a conversationthat led me to, want you to do this.
So let's start with a termthat I was unfamiliar with.
So call me stupid if you want to.
Those of you listening, but what isfunctional medicine and how is that
different from traditional medicine?
Sure.
Great question.
(01:19):
So functional medicine is anevidence-based model of individualized
care and it focuses on theinterconnectedness of everybodies system.
So it's more of a systemic approach.
It works to uncover the root causeand considers the complexities
of what has influenced ourshort-term and long-term health.
(01:40):
Because it isn't just one thing.
So it's a combination of our environment,our lifestyle, our diet, and our genetics.
And so our health over our lifetimeis like a treasure map, and we have
all these little breadcrumbs that haveled us to our current state of health.
And it can be a preventative approach,it can be an alternative approach, and
(02:02):
it really should be a complimentaryapproach with conventional medicine.
And here's why that is extremelyimportant, is because traditional
and conventional approaches andfunctional or integrative approaches
are meant to compliment one another.
And so I'll use high bloodpressure as an example.
(02:23):
Conventional medicine will focus on avery acute organ specific intervention,
typically involving a prescriptionthat will quickly balance blood
pressure, which is absolutely necessary.
Because if we don't control that,you know, we can end up with.
Catastrophic events but with thespecific focus on the heart and
(02:45):
kidneys, whereas functional medicinewill turn to diet and lifestyle and
environmental and genetic factors toreally work to optimize everything
that affects our blood pressure.
So our sleep, our movement, our stressmanagement, how our body is detoxifying
(03:06):
nutritional therapies and using all ofthose things to balance blood pressure.
And it does take more timeand more of a commitment.
It's funny you should say that becauseafter we talked, I told my son who
was having some issues about this and,and he, so he went to see somebody.
He loved it.
And you know, I've had a fewissues, like most people, and
(03:29):
you're right, they treat it and.
I like my doctors, but they askquestions like, how's your nutrition?
And if you go I think it'sokay, then it ends there and...
Right.
There's no context around that.
Right.
And so you know, to exploreit in more depth, I think is
what you're talking about.
Mm-hmm.
Well, and or so let's get to it.
(03:50):
We put, as Americans especially,we put a lot of stuff into our
body that it isn't good for it.
Yeah.
Food access is something I'm reallypassionate about and I often hear
people say, you know, just exercisethe willpower to choose healthy food.
(04:11):
And food quality and food access,specifically fresh food access,
they're not simple solution problems.
And the reality is the qualityand access to fresh food is an
interconnected web that spans fromsoil microbiology to global trade
policies and everything in between.
(04:31):
So we have to consider how, you know,agricultural practices, pesticide
and herbicide use, fertilizerand nutrient use, the quality of
the soil and the water health.
Land availability and our practices likeregenerative agriculture being used,
(04:52):
and is the water source being tested?
And then of course, how doesthis all impact our environment?
And then we look at the supply chainintegrity and specifically food miles.
So how far is our foodtraveling from seed to table?
How are we processing it?
Are we able to store it?
And you know, really if we can't keepour food from spoiling after harvest,
(05:17):
it's no use to the end consumer.
And that whole process doesgreatly degrade the nutrient
density of the fresh food.
And then we have the layer offederal oversight, which affects,
you know, everything we justdiscussed, including allowable
ingredients, agricultural practiceswhat's being used as preservatives.
(05:41):
And lastly the socioeconomics.
So we have these at risk low incomeneighborhoods that are just saturated with
convenience stores or fast food options.
And these places are reallyheavily populated with
processed or shelf stable foods.
But there are, you know,transportation barriers.
(06:01):
And this can include limited or unreliableaccess to public transportation.
And we also have educational barrierswith nutrition knowledge and how to
cook and prepare and store fresh food.
So you have all of these things togetherand it's really the perfect storm and
it can be a real struggle to get qualityfood, and it's not a problem that can be
(06:28):
solved by the farmers or the manufacturersor the politicians or the consumers.
It's an everybody problem and itreally calls for an everybody solution.
Wow.
That's really a great summary of itbecause a lot of the populations that
you mentioned that don't have accessor availability of fresh foods report
(06:48):
higher incidences of obesity and diabetesin a variety of different diseases.
That is, we are what we consume, right?
Mm-hmm.
I think we all have a bunch.
I've read, we all have a bunch ofmicroplastics coursing through our
system, whatever those do, right?
Yes.
There's very powerful clinical literaturethat's coming out and yeah, I mean.
(07:13):
I am grateful that we've had the abilityto make that transition in our home to use
other materials outside of plastic, butI know that's not the same for everyone.
And it really goes back to how our foodis processed and packaged and stored.
When I was a kid we ate so differently.
(07:33):
And I think a lot of people say thatit's not it's not a get off my lawn.
I'm the old guy, but we did and,and having a soda was a treat.
And I remember our parents might buya case of 10 ounce bottles, and that
would be split between two of us.
So no big gulp allowed.
(07:54):
My grandmother was a registered dieticianand my grandfather was a general surgeon.
So I grew up with, you know, thebest of both worlds in functional
medicine and conventional medicine.
But my grandma would getorange chocolate, she loved.
And I remember she would take onepiece and then she would package it
(08:14):
up and put it away, and that was herpleasure and her treat for the day.
Yeah.
I love when you go into a store now theyhave the bigger bars, right, the bigger
chocolate, and they say sharing size.
I'm like, share it with who?
I ain't sharing this with nobody.
(laughs) Right.
Yeah.
It's like, come on.
Or, or the other one that cracks meup is when you see a bag and it's
(08:36):
like number of servings per container.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, for most people, the minuteyou open a bag that goes down to one.
Right.
So there's one serving percontainer no matter what they say.
Right.
We put a lot, and I know people.
That's this the otherone I wanted to get to.
I've had people tell me, talk about sugar.
Talk about sugar.
Talk about sugar.
Mm-hmm.
There's a lot of peoplewho have given up sugar.
(09:00):
Lis, my mom was a recovering alcoholic andwhen she stopped drinking, she switched to
Coca-Cola and she drank a lot of it, andshe used to early in her recovery, dump
teaspoons of sugar into the Coca-Cola.
Wow.
So something was... right.
Something must have been going onin her body that craved that, and
(09:21):
then she weaned herself off of that.
But sugar is in everything.
Yeah, I'm really glad you brought this upbecause sugar is so powerful and I feel
almost guilty and a parody discussingthis on the heels of Easter after I just
ate my weight in jelly beans, right?
(laughs)
But you know, of course we're talkingabout refined sugar, so not naturally
(09:44):
occurring sugars, and these areoften referred to as added sugars.
But refined sugar is ubiquitous.
It's found in very unsuspecting items.
Hot and cold cereal, bakedgoods, pasta, crackers.
Obviously the sweets like candy, icecream, cookies, but drinks like Gatorade
(10:05):
or other juices, alcohol, condimentshave very high content of added sugar
and canned or prepackaged fruit.
And the problem with refined sugaris it affects the pleasure and reward
center of our brain, specifically thefeelgood neurotransmitter dopamine,
which you're extremely familiar with.
(10:27):
And in a way it is similar to thestreet drug cocaine because it's causing
that influx of the neurotransmitter.
And so this is affecting our motivationand our learning and pleasure and reward.
And because of that, itcan be very habit forming.
And so once this happens, our brainremembers this pleasure and subconsciously
(10:52):
encourages us to eat it again.
And over time, our dopamine receptorsbecome desensitized, which means our brain
is telling us that we need more to feelthe same amount of pleasure and reward.
And you know, this is significantlydifferent than how cocaine or
a drug impacts dopamine, right?
(11:14):
So cocaine will block the re-uptake orthe recycling of that neurotransmitter
dopamine, which causes the brain to beflooded with this chemical messenger and
causing euphoria, which is a lot differentthan experiencing pleasure and reward.
But we actually have visual representationthrough brain imaging that proves
(11:35):
how sugar activates dopamine release.
And I think most people would be reallysurprised to know that sugar activates
dopamine at the same intensity as cocaine.
And so we're seeing in the brain imagingof obese individuals, the imaging of the
reward center of the brain looks similarto those of cocaine addicts because of the
(12:01):
desensitization of the dopamine receptors.
Wow.
And when you talk, we're saying sugar, butthis includes corn syrup, fructose, right?
Right, right.
So refined sugar, it's like pouringgasoline on our immune system's defense
mechanism, which is inflammation.
(12:23):
So inflammation is used to helpprotect the body, to eliminate the
threat and support the healing.
So this becomes detrimental becauseinflammation is a contributor and
at the foundation of obesity, toothdecay, mood and memory disorders,
(12:44):
cancer, gastrointestinal disease andespecially cardiometabolic illness.
And so back to corn syrup.
Let me ask you a question.
So you did mention that soda was afavorite treat of yours as a kid.
But tell me what is your favorite candyor indulgence or sweet indulgence?
(13:05):
Oh my goodness.
I'm gonna, oh, this is terrible!
This is terrible!
People are gonna judge me now.
No one's judging be honest, Hey, Isaid I ate a whole bag of jelly beans.
Yeah.
If I'm in a convenience store andI have a choice, I'm pulling out
a package of Hostess cupcakes.
Okay!
And I'm not even sure.
(13:25):
Lis that, that classifies as food.
(laughs)
Well, it's nostalgic toyou for some reason, right?
Well, it tastes good.
That's the part.
And so when you talk about sugar,the people who've given up sugar tell
me, oh, I feel mu so much better.
And are they lying?
(13:45):
So, I mean, do they or is it, is it hard?
'cause it's in so much stuff.
Right.
To give it up.
To give it up is a lot of work inreading labels and cooking by yourself
and staying away from almost everythingyou can get in a convenience store.
Right.
Well, let me ask you a question.
If you eat an apple, whichis very high in natural sugar
(14:07):
compared to eating your ho ho.
Cupcake.
How do you feel?
What do you notice about the waythat your brain is functioning
and your energy levels?
Well, okay, the energy level, theapple feels better mentally when
you eat it and nothing adversehappens to my energy level.
(14:29):
The cupcake tastes better, providesme, and it's probably the dopamine
rush, provides me some satisfaction,but I think I get truly your
grandmother was on the right track.
I get all the satisfaction I'm lookingfor out of the first bite of the cupcake.
Mm-hmm.
I don't need the other one and ahalf that comes in the package.
(14:52):
So the other one and a half issimply just finishing the product.
Mm-hmm.
So here's the main differencewith natural sugars and refined
sugars besides being synthetic.
So corn syrup and the white sugar,fruit juice concentrate, any syrup or
anything ending with OSE at the end of it.
(15:14):
So natural sugars have othernutrients in them, like fiber,
protein, fat, antioxidants,vitamins and minerals and water.
And so what that does is it causesour body to process and absorb it
slower in a more modulated way.
So we don't see those extremes,spikes and sugar rushes that you might
(15:39):
experience, which does affect our energyand the way that we process thoughts.
Hmm.
So when I feel better on anapple, that's not a myth.
I just do.
And when I feel more lethargic, ifI eat a pint of ice cream, and I
haven't done that for a while, butit's, that's what the body does.
It reacts to that.
Mm-hmm.
(15:59):
Well okay, this is part, you, you saidit's all of us together, the systems,
but there's a lot of articles lately,and people know this, the same food,
the same cupcake that I talked aboutthat I can buy here in Wisconsin.
It's different if I buy it in Germany.
Mm-hmm.
There are regulations in other countries.
We have a lot more additives inour food than other countries do.
(16:24):
Mm-hmm.
We allow it.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So there are major regulatory differencesfrom country to country and as an example.
The European Union, the UK, Brazil,and other countries have either
completely banned or restrictedcertain agricultural practices.
(16:46):
So like pesticide and herbicideuse, specifically glyphosate and
paraquat, which have extremelyharmful health outcomes.
And these same countries havealso improved their supply chain.
So they utilize a more localized,sustainable food system.
Local, seasonal, regional ingredients.
(17:08):
And what this does isit reduces food miles.
It reduces food waste, but italso improves nutrient density in
the food that they're consuming.
So examples would be supportinglocal farmers and growers using
food markets or farmer markets,and then also doing food co-ops.
So they're pooling the resources.
(17:28):
And then furthermore, these samecountries have federal oversight that
recognizes and restricts or bans thedetrimental health effects of ingredients
like the synthetic food coloring andsweeteners because of the health risks.
So thankfully recently the FDA announcedthe phasing out and discontinuation
(17:50):
of eight synthetic food dyes becauseof the links to cancer and dementia
and other focus related disorders.
So I'm hopeful that we'll startto see a trend in that direction.
We both have, well, I saw you last ata school and I spent a lot of time in
schools and those people who cook lunchfor the kids do an incredible job because
(18:14):
the money they get per pupil is so low.
I have no idea how they serve anything.
I know [inaudible] with theirrecipes and... absolutely.
So this starts when you'reyoung, not just what you consume,
but the messages you get.
And so we're talking about a lotof environmental factors, right?
(18:35):
Socioeconomic, where you growup, the messages that you get
about health, that all goes intofunctional medicine, I would think.
Yes.
I mean, there's astounding researchproving that if we make an impact
at the youth level that we cancreate generational change.
(18:57):
Because when kids come homewith all these tools, they're
sharing that with their parents.
With their grandparents.
Yeah.
Their aunts and uncles.
So it's super importantto make an impact at the,
at the children youth level.
That's funny you should say that.
I'm grinning because when I've donea lot with drug prevention, right?
(19:17):
And so back 20 some years ago, we dida lot on cigarettes and we made an...
we... collectively, It's stunning.
Almost no kid.
Now, I don't wanna talk about vaping, butalmost no kid in high school smokes now.
It's just so amazing.
And I would get older people comingup and saying to me, oh, those
damn schools 'cause, 'cause thekids were coming home and saying to
(19:37):
their grandma, why are you smoking?
And it motivated a... areyou raising your hand?
Did you actually do that?
I have a memory that I justshared with my family at Easter.
My grandma smoked Winston's and...
Is this the same grandma who was...
No, no, no, this is my other, this is...
Okay.
This is' chocolate Grandma.
(19:58):
Right?
Okay, go ahead.
But it was Red Ribbon Week at school.
I was in elementary school and wewere given a piece of paper and it
was a contract and we were supposedto find a family member or a friend
and have them sign it that they wouldagree to quit smoking for 24 hours.
And I immediately thought of my grandma.
I was so excited to bring this to her, tosign it, and I was standing on her porch
(20:23):
so proud, handed her this piece of paperand she ripped it in front of my face!
(laughs)
(laughs) Yeah.
I mean, that just showsyou the power of addiction.
Yeah.
But a lot of those people endedup stopping at some point.
And they would say, it's because ofmy grandkids, it's because of my kids.
(20:47):
And so I think that thatis a strong message.
You know, we don't do nearlyenough with this, I don't think.
I know you do your thing, and I, Iknow there are people who do, but just
the understanding of the role thatinflammation plays in the body and
in our health is so misunderstood.
Don't you think?
Oh, absolutely.
(21:07):
And it's it's ubiquitous.
And it's intended, as I mentioned,to be a protective mechanism.
But when you look at some of thestatistics, the top over the counter
medications sold in the world areanti-inflammatories and the top prescribed
medications are indicated for diabetes.
(21:29):
So when you're looking at the correlation,if we follow the physiology of what
is causing chronic inflammation,what is causing insulin resistance.
And not to oversimplify it, but insulinresistance is predominantly chronic low
grade inflammation, and it's caused bya number of things, but excess refined
(21:52):
sugar intake, physical inactivity.
One of my personal favoritetopics, the microbiome and
imbalances of the microbiome.
Poor sleep hygiene, stress imbalance, andtoxin exposure and genetic predisposition.
But when you look at that list.
Six out of the seven, we havesome level of control over.
(22:16):
And so when we're looking at, you know,limiting processed foods and increasing
fresh foods, higher in fiber that's reallycontributing to the, the inflammation
epidemic, if you wanna call it that.
As you click throughthe list, I'm thinking.
(22:36):
Got it, got it, got it, got it, got it.
You know, it's a miracleI'm talking to you.
Oh, I know.
It's easier said than done, right?
(laughs)
Yeah.
Well, since you talked about itbeing a favorite topic people are
going, well, whoa, whoa, whoa.
What is that?
Talk about the microbiome.
Yeah, so the microbiome is thetrillions of bacteria that live
in our intestines and our gut, andit's really shaped by our diet.
(23:02):
So you said the cliche,we are what we eat.
It's 100% true.
If we eat inflammatory foods, we'refeeding inflammatory bacteria.
And so what happens is we end upcrowding out our good bacteria by
nourishing the bad bacteria and thesebad bacteria actually excrete or
(23:24):
release pro-inflammatory endotoxins.
And one that listeners may have heardLPS or lipopolysaccharides triggers
systemic inflammation and it alsoblocks insulin signaling and leads
to glucose intolerance and affectsour brain function and our emotion.
(23:45):
And it's interesting with the weightloss trends that are happening.
One of the ways that you cansupport natural GLP one secretion
is through having a healthymicrobiome and going back to...
Well, how do we supporta healthy microbiome?
Again, it's limiting those processedfoods and increasing the amount of fresh
(24:10):
food that we're putting into our gut.
And then of course, somesupplementation with probiotics.
You know, it's, it's amazing that,we're, many of us, myself included,
are weak minded individuals.
I, about a year and a half ago, Ihad a, an allergic reaction to a
medication that caused me to cough.
Have a and, and I went to my doctor.
(24:31):
She said, oh, that happenswith this med sometimes.
The cough will go away inabout six to eight weeks.
(laughs) And, and I'm like, ohmy gosh, I talk for a living.
And she said, if you stay away fromthese things, it will help your
cough and then, you know, whatever.
And it did.
So I gave up a lot ofwhat you're talking about.
We've talked about todayfor about eight weeks.
(24:53):
Drank tons more water.
I felt tons better.
I could feel the inflammation going away.
Mm-hmm.
And then, and this is, don't, again,don't judge me, judge me on the cupcakes.
The minute that the coughing ended, Iadded the diet soda back to my diet.
Mm-hmm.
And, and just 'cause it says diet orlow-cal doesn't mean it's good for you.
(25:19):
I'm the same way with gluten.
I should avoid gluten.
I should not eat gluten.
And I have done, I'm agluten-free diet yo-yo'er.
But there's certain instances, likewhen my mother-in-law makes her
amazingly delicious dinner rolls, likeI am eating one of those dinner rolls.
(25:40):
(laughs)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
You know, it's, it's, it's funny And thisis all associated with our, all together
with our mental health you know, ouremotions as well as our physical health.
Mm-hmm.
This has been just incredibly fascinating.
Can we do this again?
Can we go into more depth Lis afterpeople say, oh, oh, I wish she
(26:00):
would've talked more about X, Y, and Z.
I would love to I mean, I, we didn'teven have the chance to dive into
the, the genetics side of everything.
Yeah.
Right.
Which is super important.
And there's actually a pretty newrecently emerging line of genetics,
branch of genetics called Nutrigenomics.
(26:21):
And it, it.
Is the study of how nutrition influencesour gene expression and how gene
variations affect our body process,how our body processes nutrients.
And so that information iscritical with treatment plans
and developing nutrition plans.
So yeah, I would loveto dive into that more.
(26:44):
Yeah, that would be great.
And you know, we started this off the air.
You know, I talk to people,those of you who listen.
And we were talking about the factthat there's a lot of recovering people
that I know who consume a tremendousamount of caffeine, and I would like
to talk more about that as well.
Mm-hmm.
Because young people are consumingan abnormal amount of caffeine.
(27:06):
Right.
Alcohol is terrible for the, there's no.
There's no good amount ofalcohol to put into your body.
All those, all those fake studiesabout wine being good for your
heart and stuff like that, haveall been debunked scientifically.
So there's a variety of differentplaces we could go from this.
Well, and it's the, it's theantioxidants that are in the wine,
(27:29):
which you can get from other sources.
Like a billion of other sources.
Yes.
A a lot of food sources that don'tcontain alcohol or a harmful substance.
Yeah.
So I, I'll leave you this as a getaway.
If, if when we get off of thistoday, if I or anyone else wanted
(27:49):
to start, we just wanted to starttaking better care of ourselves
holistically because it's overwhelmingto think of the whole package.
Where, where, what'sa good place to start?
Most people that I work with startwith increased water consumption.
Believe it or not, it's so simple.
It's, it's typically free but just focuson increasing your water consumption
(28:14):
to close to 64 ounces a day or higher.
Other great starts are phasing outor crowding out those processed
foods and increasing yourconsumption of fresh food intake.
And I think that is a great startbecause you have to make sustainable
changes that are lifelong.
(28:36):
And we just keep building from there.
So starting with a really simpleimplementation or modification and
then continue to build, to things likeswapping out plastic storage containers
for glass or other materials or yourcleaning supplies or things like that.
Well, I'm not gonna let three of myclosest people listen to this podcast
(28:59):
because they're on, they're on meall the time about increasing my
water intake and more fresh foods.
Oh, yeah.
So I need them to just do an aha,like I need a hole in the, so,
So how many ounces of watera day are you getting, Mike?
Does that count diet soda?
No.
No.
You know it's funny yesterday, I, I dida series of presentations at a school.
(29:21):
So I probably drank a hundredounces of water yesterday or close.
Awesome.
Right?
'Cause you were using your voice?
And I'm in a school, soI'm carrying a bottle.
Right.
And they all now have these.
In Wisconsin folks, wecall them bubblers, right?
Yes.
Drinking fountains, water fountains.
And they all have this whereyou put the bottle underneath
and it fills it up with water.
(29:43):
Mm-hmm.
So, you know, I'mfilling it up constantly.
When I'm not working, I'm much lesshealthy than when I am working.
Hmm.
Interesting.
And, and I'm, I'm aware of that.
And and part of that isattached to, you know, boredom.
What is easy.
I had a person the other day askme what's my favorite thing to eat?
(30:04):
And my answer, and it's an honestanswer, is what's quickest?
You know, and that's that.
Convenience drives us, especiallywhen we have extremely busy schedules.
But, you know, there are tricks to beingable to increase our water consumption.
So you mentioned one, having arefillable water bottle is key.
Putting in some naturalthings like pieces of fruit.
(30:27):
If you're looking forsomething that's flavored.
And then we can also do things likesetting timers because I am also a
creature of habit, and if I'm in mywork and I'm focused and I'm in my
flow, I'm not thinking about takinga sip of my water to get my water
consumption in and all of a sudden it's3:00 PM and I've only had my coffee.
(laughs)
(30:47):
Yeah.
So.
Right, right.
I'm right there with you.
Right.
That's great.
We can all be more healthy.
This has been great.
And you know, I do feel a tad guilty, butguilt motivates and I also feel motivated.
So the next time we talk, Iwill be consuming more water
and less, less Hostess cupcakes.
(laughs)
Love to hear it.
(31:07):
Love to hear it.
For those of you listening thanks Lisfor your expertise and perspective.
We hope you find health andwellness, wherever you are.
For those of you listening,please listen anytime you're able.
Share it with people that you know, besafe and take care of your whole self.
It's a journey that allof us need to be on.
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