January 30, 2025 • 23 mins
Gut, Food, & Health series
“Your body will tell you what it needs. Be curious about what your body's telling you, you will make the right decision.” —Dr. Edison de Mello
The health of our gut is intricately tied to the health of our mind. Emerging research reveals just how profoundly our thought patterns can influence digestive function and overall well-being. Hence, mastering the mind-gut connection may be the key to unlocking optimal vitality.
Dr. Edison de Mello is a pioneering integrative medicine expert and clinical psychotherapist. As the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of the Akasha Center for Integrative Medicine, he blends cutting-edge science with holistic wisdom to help patients achieve transformative results.
Tune in as Dr. de Mello shares eye-opening insights on the surprising link between our thoughts, gut function, and mental resilience.
Meet Dr. de Mello:
Dr. Edison de Mello, MD, PhD is the founder and Chief Medical Officer of the Akasha Center for Integrative Medicine. He is a board-certified integrative physician and a licensed psychotherapist. Dr. de Mello completed his residency at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, where he trained in a biopsychosocial model and integrated complementary medicine into Family Medicine.
Inspired by his grandmother, Nana, who practiced natural healing, Dr. de Mello's approach combines Western and Eastern medicine, focusing on treating the mind, body, and spirit. He has written several articles and contributed to Dr. Andrew Weil's upcoming book on the microbiome and food addiction. Dr. de Mello is also on the advisory board of several organizations and a member of various professional associations.
Connect with NextGen Purpose:
Resources:
📖Book
Bloated?: How to Reclaim Your Gut Health and Eat Without Pain: De Mello MD PhD, Edison
Episode Highlights:
01:51 Gut and Mental Health Connection
07:08 Practical Tips for Improving Gut Health
11:06 Processed Foods and Mental Health
14:53 Changing Eating Habits
21:06 Understanding the Role of Hormones
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Justine Reichman (00:13):
Hello, and welcome to Essential
Ingredients. I'm your host,Justine Reichman. With me today
is Dr Edison de Mello for our3rd part in our 3 Part Series of
Gut, Food And Health. Today,we're going to talk about
mindset, food and gut. Welcome,Dr. de Mello.
Edison de Mello (00:30):
Thank you. It's nice to see you again.
Justine Reichman (00:32):
Nice to see you again. We're still here. I
got my IV today, and I want todiscuss that too, and how that
affects mindset. The mindset ofgetting the IV, and what we can
do so that we can give ourselvesthe best possible life, and not
let fear take it over. Now, Iknow that's a little bit of a
(00:54):
detour from talking about food,but I think what we eat can give
us more anxiety. What we eat canattribute different ways that we
respond to things. I'd love tostart off with just asking you
again to just introduceyourself, what you do and your
title, for those that are maybetuning in for the first time.
Edison de Mello (01:15):
So I'm Edison de Mello. I'm an MD and the
Founder and Chief MedicalOfficer of the Akasha Center for
Integrative Medicine. And I'malso trained as a clinical
psychotherapist.
Justine Reichman (01:31):
Quite a great combination. Body, mind, health,
it's all in one. I do love it.And I don't find it's very
common.
Edison de Mello (01:41):
And for me, I could not see myself being a
doctor without that particulartraining before medicine.
Justine Reichman (01:49):
resurface that question and see what staggering
statistics you might have on theimpact of our gut on mental
Edison de Mello (01:56):
Great question. I think we said it before, and I
health.
think was in the first segment,that up to 10 to 15% of the
global population have beendiagnosed or suffers with IBS
(02:17):
inflammatory bowel disease. Inthe name inflammation,
inflammatory says it all. That'sa staggering number. What that
comes up to is what 800 millionpeople in the world, and those
are people who have beendiagnosed. What about the ones
who have not been diagnosed? Theones who have no access to
medical care, the ones who areafraid of the diagnosis itself?
(02:42):
This is all my personal opinion,I would at least double that
number. So that alone is asecond number. In the United
States, we have shown of caseswho have been diagnosed, they
amount to about 3 million cases.But this is only IBS. It doesn't
cover all the other symptomswithin the gut.
Justine Reichman (03:05):
How many other symptoms, roughly, are there?
Edison de Mello (03:08):
You can have a leaky gut syndrome. You can have
SIBO, a small intestine bacteriaovergrowth. You can have
candidiasis in your stool thatshows that it's in your gut. So
it is a slew of other symptomsand diagnosis that you can have
out there. But because IBS isthe one that is most prominent,
(03:32):
which has been significantlystudied, that's the one that
people tend to research and toput numbers to it. The other
staggering statistics is that ofall people with mental health
issues, including depression andother forms of emotional
instability, it's been provenscientifically that up to 20% of
(03:55):
those individuals have a baddiet. And so the idea is 20%,
again, it's a staggering number.If we were to look at those 20%
and help them eat differently, Ican assure that those
statistically would decrease.
Justine Reichman (04:14):
Are there any programs out there that help
support individuals to work ontheir guts so that they can have
better results, and not have thechallenging mindset, the
challenging it can declutterwhat's happening maybe in the
head?
Edison de Mello (04:34):
There are a lot of services that you can find
online, a lot of resources, alot of incredible nutritionists
and naturopathic doctors andMDs, and many, many people,
either integrative medicineexperts, naturopathic experts.
As I said, functional doctorswho have been talking about this
(04:56):
for the last three decades. Theonly question is that they are
not tailored to youindividually.
Justine Reichman (05:04):
That you need to see somebody personally.
Edison de Mello (05:06):
And if you can see somebody personally, if you
have the ability to invest alittle bit on your health, and
sadly, not all of us can do it,then it becomes more tailored to
your needs. The way I explainthis is very simple when I do my
lectures. There's 8 billionpeople on the planet, and
(05:27):
there's 8 billion differentfingerprints. So we are not all
the same. We may look the same,talk the same, have the
sometimes the difference, thesame symptoms, but there's an
individuality to all of oursymptoms. And that's why, if you
have an infection and the personactually has the same infection,
(05:48):
one antibiotic may work for youand not for that person because
it's very tailored to your DNA,to your genetics, to what you
eat. So all of this leads me toreally recommend that for those
who can sit with a professionalperson and let her or him
develop together with you a verypersonalized eating plan.
Justine Reichman (06:12):
What can they hope to achieve in the short and
long term by doing that?
Edison de Mello (06:18):
The relief of the symptoms, and that's the
thing that I said the most here.I think in the last segment, I
explained that we have a programcalled The Reset Program. So 21
day reset, somehow, somewhere,somebody decided through
observation, it's notscientific, but observational
study that it takes any system.21 days to change, to adapt, to
(06:42):
change. I haven't been able tofind research validating that,
but it's out there. We have 20days detox, 21 day this. So we
use it as an incentive to getpeople started. And in those 21
days, most people will havetheir symptoms decreased. And
then we tell them, can you pushfor another one week? Can you
(07:04):
double it for 42 days? Sosymptom relief is incredible
incentive. And I tell you what,you adjust. We are adaptable
beings. If you don't eat sugarfor three weeks, the next time
you ingest sugar, it's gonna betoo sweet because we are
adaptable. So give it a try. Tryto eliminate one of those foods.
(07:27):
Go against everything that youbelieve you cannot do. You can
do it and see what happens.
Justine Reichman (07:32):
I'm curious, because for me, it seems like
Edison de Mello (07:32):
A great question. Again, I believe all
this is natural. I want to dothis. I would want to sit down.
Let's put it together. Let'sfigure it out. I'm into it, and
I recognize that not everybodyhas the same resources, or the
same time, or the same ability,whether it's to cook the food.
there's a lot of differentresources one has to do. So I'm
(07:55):
wondering, is there something wecan offer that makes it
accessible for them to do babysteps? Maybe it's not perfect,
but it's a little bit betterthan not doing it.
Justine Reichman (08:07):
It's so true. Because when I eat, I'm always
of us can do it, and some of usare afraid of change. Change is
like, do I want dessert? I mightbe full in 20 minutes. And you
scary. Yeah. And also, I'll askyou before I answer or give you
tips. I will ask your listenersto consider the question, what
am I getting from eating the wayI eat? What am I getting from
resistant being resistant tochange? It's called the
(08:29):
secondary gain, the baby stepthat you can take. The first one
know what? I am, unless it'sChinese food, then I tend to get
that I think is empirical, iswatch your thoughts when you're
eating. Are you reallydedicating time? Even if it's 15
minutes for you to start andeat. Or you're in your cell
phone, are you driving? Are youthinking about the next meeting?
Because you are releasinghormones when you think about
(08:51):
those things. Sometimes, you'restressed out that you release
cortisol, which is anti insulin.So be aware of your eating
habits. Where do you eat? And doyou dedicate time to nurture
your body? Or do you eat on thefly just because you have to?
The second thing that I wouldsay is that, anybody can do it.
Don't eat 100% of the food thatyou think you need. Stop at 75%.
(09:17):
If you think you need a wholeplate of food, stop at 75% and
wait 20 minutes. Why is that?Because there's a delayed
response from the gut. Yourbrain tells your gut to be
prepped for landing. I'm hungry.
(09:39):
hungry after 20 minutes. I'm notsure what that's all about.
That's a different conversation,but I know what you mean so I
try to do that too. I was out todinner last night with my dad,
and he's like, I could reallyeat some more. I'm like, give it
a few minutes.
Edison de Mello (09:52):
Exactly. Give it a few minutes. And this
research actually is showingthis, if people wait 20 minutes,
75, 20% of the time that youwill not have seconds because
that's how long it takes for thefeedback loop to reach your
brain. So try to do that and seehow your body responds. And the
(10:13):
other thing is how much wateryou're drinking. You're drinking
water with your food. Are youdrinking sodas with your food?
Are you drinking sugary foodswith your food? Can you only sip
water during a meal if you needto? I usually tell people to
drink before or after becauseyou're gonna bloat.
Justine Reichman (10:34):
Is that the reason? Because I've heard that
before. Don't drink during themeal because you'll bloat.
Edison de Mello (10:41):
But why you bloat? Because the water will
indirect or very directly,actually, I was going to say
indirectly, but it's directlygoing to affect your digestion.
Remember, you have to have allthe salivary enzymes doing their
job when you eat, and water willdisrupt the system.
Justine Reichman (11:00):
So I'm curious, many times if you're in
a hospital or wherever, you havea nutritionist and they're like,
okay, they give you some mashedpotatoes, they give you some
vegetables, and they give you apiece of protein, right? They
call it a balanced meal, and ithas the fruits, the vegetables,
the leans, all that kind ofstuff. Do you look at that and
say, this is positive, and thiscan promote positive mental well
(11:21):
being and a resilient mindset.
Edison de Mello (11:23):
I looked how it's been cooked. I looked at
the quality of the food. You mayhave in a hospital setting, for
example. You may have all theneeded food elements on that
plate, but how is it cooked? Ifyou're over cooking a vegetable,
you have no vitamins. And if youdraining the water after you're
(11:44):
cooking, that's very rich water,rich in elements, rich in
vitamin for the vegetableitself. It's not useless, but
it's not as potent as it couldbe. What meat are you eating?
What kind of meat are youeating? I believe that for those
of you, those of your listenerswho can eat vegetarian at least
(12:08):
two to three times a week, I'mnot saying don't eat meat. Some
people need the meat. But togive the body a break, it takes
a lot for us to digest meat, andthat's why when we eat meat,
full amount of meat, especiallyred meat, you're tired because
your body is expending a lot ofenergy to digest.
Justine Reichman (12:28):
So do you spend the same amount of energy
eating fish and chicken?
Edison de Mello (12:32):
No, you don't.
Justine Reichman (12:36):
I'm curious, and this is a personal question
because I love vegetables, but Ifind a lot of them, I find are
very hard to digest on mystomach. No matter what I do, I
always get a little gas fromit.Gotta be honest. I'm actually
good eating a piece of steak inthe morning, just a slice or two
and a little salad. And to me, Ifeel fine with that. Much better
(13:00):
than eating, because breakfast,I don't eat eggs because I'm
intolerant. And if I just eatthe vegetables, I have a
problem.
Edison de Mello (13:07):
I urge you to try the Japanese breakfast. It's
vegetables, brown rice, misosoup. And not red meat, but
fish.
Justine Reichman (13:18):
Okay, so it's still having that, so I can do
the fish.
Edison de Mello (13:21):
I would recommend that you don't eat
meat right after you wake up orin the morning because your body
is still trying to wake up tothe fact that you're being
fasting for the last 8 or 10hours. However hours you sleep.
So to go in and add a big pieceof red meat, it may be too much
(13:43):
for the system. The same is truefor people who eat a lot of
bread, cheese, bacon. TheAmerican breakfast.
Justine Reichman (13:52):
Or the English breakfast, or the French
breakfast.
Edison de Mello (13:59):
Here's a story. I know we don't know how much
time we have, but in medicalschool, I would go to lactose on
cardiovascular medicine. Theywere sponsored by the drug
companies. And guess what? Theywere serving bacon, eggs, bagel.
Justine Reichman (14:15):
They want you to buy their medication.
Edison de Mello (14:19):
I would look at this going, wait? Is any counter
intuitive? Is anybody looking atwhat's being served? And we're
talking about cardiovascularmedicine, right? So I say to
you, listen to your body. Ifyour body says, I need some more
protein in the morning. Any moreprotein? Good. Listen to it now
that your decision needs to becongruent with what's best for
(14:41):
health. Not for your taste buds,but for health. And certainly,
fish is much easy digestiblethan red meat.
Justine Reichman (14:50):
Let's talk about the mindset of this
because it can be veryintimidating for people. And as
we eat different foods, theymake us tired, they make us
angry. They do all thesedifferent things. So how do we
bridge the gap to eat the rightfoods to have the right mindset,
to make it more accessible andless confrontational, less
scary?
Edison de Mello (15:11):
I think I alluded to this before, and I'm
happy to go back there because Ithink it's very powerful. Your
body will tell you what itneeds. So if you take a moment
to listen without judgment.Without, no, I'm not gonna do
that. But to be curious, becurious about what your body's
telling you. You will make theright decision. So that's the
(15:32):
first step. Don't make thedecision based on what your
brain is saying to you. Like yousaid before that you get a
little hungry when you don'teat, right? What do you say? You
get a little angry? So here's astep. Why wait for so long to
eat? Sometimes, I forget to. SoI put a little alarm on my
(15:55):
phone, on my iWatch, and itbeeps like, okay, I have to eat.
So come here with your body.It's a partnership. I'm going to
be a little corny here, if Imay. There's a time in your life
that you become the mother toyour body, because who puts your
body to sleep? Who feeds yourbody? Who protects your body
(16:15):
from being hit by a car? So askyour question, would I'll be
feeding my children, if I had achild, what I'm feeding my body?
Justine Reichman (16:23):
I think that's a really great way to look at
it. And my last question isabout processed foods and the
impact they have on our brainhealth. Because we talked
before, I think it was inanother segment about the
supermarkets. And one commentthat I've often heard is, buy
the outside. The fruits, thevegetables, it's the things that
(16:45):
are fresh. And then in themiddle is all the processed
stuff. But people do includeprocessed foods. I prefer to
make my own. But why do we seeprocessed foods and refined
sugars in terms of, how doesthat negatively impact the brain
function and mental health?
Edison de Mello (17:05):
Read the label.
Justine Reichman (17:06):
Read the label, because in my mind,
they're creating inflammation.You know? They create stress,
deregulation, all thesedifferent things. Yeah,
I won't eat it.
Edison de Mello (17:14):
read the label by law in our country, you have
The analogy, you become the mother. So ask
to list the ingredients of allfoods, even for foods that are
imported. Take the time to readthe label. If there's food
coloring there, if there's foodpreservatives more than once or
two, sometimes they have to ifthere is added sugar, ask
yourself, would I feed my child this?
(17:43):
yourself that. Read the label.It's impossible in the 21st
century for me to say to yourlisteners, don't ever eat
processed food. Remember, wetalked about, I think it was in
segment one, that we need to berealistic. The message that we
give into the patient, who is apatient, where is she? Or is he
at that moment? So be realisticso that you're not going to lead
(18:06):
her or him feeling like theyfailed. Don't say that don't eat
processed food, but tell themwith the label.
Justine Reichman (18:17):
Basically, top three things you want to tell
Edison de Mello (18:20):
The amount of sugar. How many different
them.
preservatives are in there? Andhow much of processed wheat is
in it? Now, wheat is everywhere.The problem is how long it takes
(18:41):
the process. In this country,farm to table is three years for
weed, in most cases. In Europe,it's three months.
Justine Reichman (18:52):
I don't know if I mentioned to you that when
I was in Europe, I ate acroissant. I didn't feel bad. I
ate all sorts of things that Ididn't eat here, and I felt
fine.
Edison de Mello (19:00):
Most people who have gluten sensitive
intolerance, celiac disease?Forget it. But if you have
gluten intolerance or glutensensitivity, most of them do
better with a zero. I think it'scalled 00 flour, something which
is the flour/process that it'sin the ones that they use in
(19:22):
Europe.
Justine Reichman (19:23):
So if there's one thing you wish your patients
knew that they could do thatwould make a really big change
for them, and that was easy,what would it be?
Edison de Mello (19:31):
Great question. I think I've been saying that in
this segment also, but I willsay it again. Listen to what
your body needs, it's gonna tellyou. Knw your brain, know your
taste buds, number one. Numbertwo, as a doctor, as a
previously trained therapist,watch your thoughts. What is the
(19:53):
first thing that you think whenyou wake up in the morning?
Because that's going toinfluence your decision making,
processing, everything that youdo. How you're going to arrive
at your job? What kind ofbreakfast you're going to have?
What kind of day you're going tohave? What are the first thing,
the thoughts that you have inthe morning? And what's the last
thought that you have when yougo to bed? Those things
(20:15):
influence your decision. Thenlisten. Listen with curiosity.
Don't be judgmental, but becurious about, oh, I wonder what
it would be like for me not toeat steak in the morning
anymore. Or maybe just once in awhile, and switch a little bit
to salmon, to sea food. And forsome, what it like for me to
(20:37):
really crack this up, and notdrink any sugar, eat any other
sugar for next three weeks? Ican do this and then say where
your body's gonna tell you. Inother words, be curious.
Justine Reichman (20:48):
I like that. Be curious. I think that's so
important because you're beingcurious about what you're
putting in your body that youhave control over you're
putting. You're having controlover the choices you make around
the processed food, having aneducation and knowing what to
look for. They've given peopletips. I'm so appreciative. I
think that if we consider whatwe're eating, how it makes us
(21:11):
feel and think antiinflammatory, we have a chance
to live the best possible life,right?
Edison de Mello (21:17):
And then you understand that we are hormonal
beings. Everything about what wedo is hormones. Your sleep
hormone, your hunger hormone,you feel happy hormone, it's all
influenced by what we eat.
Justine Reichman (21:30):
So we're finishing off this drip that I
had here, and you gave me thephosphatidylcholine to help with
my brain. And what else did youput in here?
Edison de Mello (21:41):
A combination of all the essential vitamins
that you need to be able to havea really strong immune system.
So you got vitamin C, you gotcalcium, magnesium, you got a
little bit of zinc, you got Bcomplex in there, and you have
something called glutathione,which is the most amazing
(22:03):
antioxidant that there is. Allof this is geared towards
decreasing the inflammatoryburden in your body.
Justine Reichman (22:11):
A group effort. It's your food, and it's
your supplements. Andunderstanding how they work
together, because when they workon their own, they may have
helped you in some way. Butputting it together really is
the power.
Edison de Mello (22:26):
Exactly. I would add two more things to the
beautiful summary that youcreated. It's your food, it's
your mindset, it's your mind. Iwould say it's also, who do you
go to when the rough gets going?Your support system. Who is your
support system? What do you turnto? What is your belief system?
(22:46):
And do you believe you aresomebody who can make changes?
Justine Reichman (22:52):
Thank you, Dr. de Mello. Thank you so much for
joining us in this series aboutfood, gut health and mind. I
think it's really been eyeopening for myself. I will
continue to come back and getmore of these so that I can see
how they impact my mentalhealth. And in particular, my
memory. It will be a pleasure tohave you back. And for those
that want to tune in and want tohear more from Dr. de Mello, or
(23:15):
learn more about what he does,check out his center.
Edison de Mello (23:18):
akashacenter.com. And also the book that I've been
talking about, it's calledBloated?.
Justine Reichman (23:25):
Bloated?. We're going to add a link for
the book Bloated?. You'll beable to get it. It's a great
read, and it's really cute. Iwant to hear what you guys
think. Tell me what you think onthe cover. Thank you, Dr. de
Mello. I'll see you again soon.
Edison de Mello (23:37):
Thank you for having me.
Hello, and welcome to Essential
Ingredients. I'm your host,Justine Reichman. With me today
is Dr Edison de Mello for our3rd part in our 3 Part Series of
Gut, Food And Health. Today,we're going to talk about
mindset, food and gut. Welcome,Dr. de Mello.
Edison de Mello (00:30):
Thank you. It's nice to see you again.
Justine Reichman (00:32):
Nice to see you again. We're still here. I
got my IV today, and I want todiscuss that too, and how that
affects mindset. The mindset ofgetting the IV, and what we can
do so that we can give ourselvesthe best possible life, and not
let fear take it over. Now, Iknow that's a little bit of a
(00:54):
detour from talking about food,but I think what we eat can give
us more anxiety. What we eat canattribute different ways that we
respond to things. I'd love tostart off with just asking you
again to just introduceyourself, what you do and your
title, for those that are maybetuning in for the first time.
Edison de Mello (01:15):
So I'm Edison de Mello. I'm an MD and the
Founder and Chief MedicalOfficer of the Akasha Center for
Integrative Medicine. And I'malso trained as a clinical
psychotherapist.
Justine Reichman (01:31):
Quite a great combination. Body, mind, health,
it's all in one. I do love it.And I don't find it's very
common.
Edison de Mello (01:41):
And for me, I could not see myself being a
doctor without that particulartraining before medicine.
Justine Reichman (01:49):
resurface that question and see what staggering
statistics you might have on theimpact of our gut on mental
Edison de Mello (01:56):
Great question. I think we said it before, and I
health.
think was in the first segment,that up to 10 to 15% of the
global population have beendiagnosed or suffers with IBS
(02:17):
inflammatory bowel disease. Inthe name inflammation,
inflammatory says it all. That'sa staggering number. What that
comes up to is what 800 millionpeople in the world, and those
are people who have beendiagnosed. What about the ones
who have not been diagnosed? Theones who have no access to
medical care, the ones who areafraid of the diagnosis itself?
(02:42):
This is all my personal opinion,I would at least double that
number. So that alone is asecond number. In the United
States, we have shown of caseswho have been diagnosed, they
amount to about 3 million cases.But this is only IBS. It doesn't
cover all the other symptomswithin the gut.
Justine Reichman (03:05):
How many other symptoms, roughly, are there?
Edison de Mello (03:08):
You can have a leaky gut syndrome. You can have
SIBO, a small intestine bacteriaovergrowth. You can have
candidiasis in your stool thatshows that it's in your gut. So
it is a slew of other symptomsand diagnosis that you can have
out there. But because IBS isthe one that is most prominent,
(03:32):
which has been significantlystudied, that's the one that
people tend to research and toput numbers to it. The other
staggering statistics is that ofall people with mental health
issues, including depression andother forms of emotional
instability, it's been provenscientifically that up to 20% of
(03:55):
those individuals have a baddiet. And so the idea is 20%,
again, it's a staggering number.If we were to look at those 20%
and help them eat differently, Ican assure that those
statistically would decrease.
Justine Reichman (04:14):
Are there any programs out there that help
support individuals to work ontheir guts so that they can have
better results, and not have thechallenging mindset, the
challenging it can declutterwhat's happening maybe in the
head?
Edison de Mello (04:34):
There are a lot of services that you can find
online, a lot of resources, alot of incredible nutritionists
and naturopathic doctors andMDs, and many, many people,
either integrative medicineexperts, naturopathic experts.
As I said, functional doctorswho have been talking about this
(04:56):
for the last three decades. Theonly question is that they are
not tailored to youindividually.
Justine Reichman (05:04):
That you need to see somebody personally.
Edison de Mello (05:06):
And if you can see somebody personally, if you
have the ability to invest alittle bit on your health, and
sadly, not all of us can do it,then it becomes more tailored to
your needs. The way I explainthis is very simple when I do my
lectures. There's 8 billionpeople on the planet, and
(05:27):
there's 8 billion differentfingerprints. So we are not all
the same. We may look the same,talk the same, have the
sometimes the difference, thesame symptoms, but there's an
individuality to all of oursymptoms. And that's why, if you
have an infection and the personactually has the same infection,
(05:48):
one antibiotic may work for youand not for that person because
it's very tailored to your DNA,to your genetics, to what you
eat. So all of this leads me toreally recommend that for those
who can sit with a professionalperson and let her or him
develop together with you a verypersonalized eating plan.
Justine Reichman (06:12):
What can they hope to achieve in the short and
long term by doing that?
Edison de Mello (06:18):
The relief of the symptoms, and that's the
thing that I said the most here.I think in the last segment, I
explained that we have a programcalled The Reset Program. So 21
day reset, somehow, somewhere,somebody decided through
observation, it's notscientific, but observational
study that it takes any system.21 days to change, to adapt, to
(06:42):
change. I haven't been able tofind research validating that,
but it's out there. We have 20days detox, 21 day this. So we
use it as an incentive to getpeople started. And in those 21
days, most people will havetheir symptoms decreased. And
then we tell them, can you pushfor another one week? Can you
(07:04):
double it for 42 days? Sosymptom relief is incredible
incentive. And I tell you what,you adjust. We are adaptable
beings. If you don't eat sugarfor three weeks, the next time
you ingest sugar, it's gonna betoo sweet because we are
adaptable. So give it a try. Tryto eliminate one of those foods.
(07:27):
Go against everything that youbelieve you cannot do. You can
do it and see what happens.
Justine Reichman (07:32):
I'm curious, because for me, it seems like
Edison de Mello (07:32):
A great question. Again, I believe all
this is natural. I want to dothis. I would want to sit down.
Let's put it together. Let'sfigure it out. I'm into it, and
I recognize that not everybodyhas the same resources, or the
same time, or the same ability,whether it's to cook the food.
there's a lot of differentresources one has to do. So I'm
(07:55):
wondering, is there something wecan offer that makes it
accessible for them to do babysteps? Maybe it's not perfect,
but it's a little bit betterthan not doing it.
Justine Reichman (08:07):
It's so true. Because when I eat, I'm always
of us can do it, and some of usare afraid of change. Change is
like, do I want dessert? I mightbe full in 20 minutes. And you
scary. Yeah. And also, I'll askyou before I answer or give you
tips. I will ask your listenersto consider the question, what
am I getting from eating the wayI eat? What am I getting from
resistant being resistant tochange? It's called the
(08:29):
secondary gain, the baby stepthat you can take. The first one
know what? I am, unless it'sChinese food, then I tend to get
that I think is empirical, iswatch your thoughts when you're
eating. Are you reallydedicating time? Even if it's 15
minutes for you to start andeat. Or you're in your cell
phone, are you driving? Are youthinking about the next meeting?
Because you are releasinghormones when you think about
(08:51):
those things. Sometimes, you'restressed out that you release
cortisol, which is anti insulin.So be aware of your eating
habits. Where do you eat? And doyou dedicate time to nurture
your body? Or do you eat on thefly just because you have to?
The second thing that I wouldsay is that, anybody can do it.
Don't eat 100% of the food thatyou think you need. Stop at 75%.
(09:17):
If you think you need a wholeplate of food, stop at 75% and
wait 20 minutes. Why is that?Because there's a delayed
response from the gut. Yourbrain tells your gut to be
prepped for landing. I'm hungry.
(09:39):
hungry after 20 minutes. I'm notsure what that's all about.
That's a different conversation,but I know what you mean so I
try to do that too. I was out todinner last night with my dad,
and he's like, I could reallyeat some more. I'm like, give it
a few minutes.
Edison de Mello (09:52):
Exactly. Give it a few minutes. And this
research actually is showingthis, if people wait 20 minutes,
75, 20% of the time that youwill not have seconds because
that's how long it takes for thefeedback loop to reach your
brain. So try to do that and seehow your body responds. And the
(10:13):
other thing is how much wateryou're drinking. You're drinking
water with your food. Are youdrinking sodas with your food?
Are you drinking sugary foodswith your food? Can you only sip
water during a meal if you needto? I usually tell people to
drink before or after becauseyou're gonna bloat.
Justine Reichman (10:34):
Is that the reason? Because I've heard that
before. Don't drink during themeal because you'll bloat.
Edison de Mello (10:41):
But why you bloat? Because the water will
indirect or very directly,actually, I was going to say
indirectly, but it's directlygoing to affect your digestion.
Remember, you have to have allthe salivary enzymes doing their
job when you eat, and water willdisrupt the system.
Justine Reichman (11:00):
So I'm curious, many times if you're in
a hospital or wherever, you havea nutritionist and they're like,
okay, they give you some mashedpotatoes, they give you some
vegetables, and they give you apiece of protein, right? They
call it a balanced meal, and ithas the fruits, the vegetables,
the leans, all that kind ofstuff. Do you look at that and
say, this is positive, and thiscan promote positive mental well
(11:21):
being and a resilient mindset.
Edison de Mello (11:23):
I looked how it's been cooked. I looked at
the quality of the food. You mayhave in a hospital setting, for
example. You may have all theneeded food elements on that
plate, but how is it cooked? Ifyou're over cooking a vegetable,
you have no vitamins. And if youdraining the water after you're
(11:44):
cooking, that's very rich water,rich in elements, rich in
vitamin for the vegetableitself. It's not useless, but
it's not as potent as it couldbe. What meat are you eating?
What kind of meat are youeating? I believe that for those
of you, those of your listenerswho can eat vegetarian at least
(12:08):
two to three times a week, I'mnot saying don't eat meat. Some
people need the meat. But togive the body a break, it takes
a lot for us to digest meat, andthat's why when we eat meat,
full amount of meat, especiallyred meat, you're tired because
your body is expending a lot ofenergy to digest.
Justine Reichman (12:28):
So do you spend the same amount of energy
eating fish and chicken?
Edison de Mello (12:32):
No, you don't.
Justine Reichman (12:36):
I'm curious, and this is a personal question
because I love vegetables, but Ifind a lot of them, I find are
very hard to digest on mystomach. No matter what I do, I
always get a little gas fromit.Gotta be honest. I'm actually
good eating a piece of steak inthe morning, just a slice or two
and a little salad. And to me, Ifeel fine with that. Much better
(13:00):
than eating, because breakfast,I don't eat eggs because I'm
intolerant. And if I just eatthe vegetables, I have a
problem.
Edison de Mello (13:07):
I urge you to try the Japanese breakfast. It's
vegetables, brown rice, misosoup. And not red meat, but
fish.
Justine Reichman (13:18):
Okay, so it's still having that, so I can do
the fish.
Edison de Mello (13:21):
I would recommend that you don't eat
meat right after you wake up orin the morning because your body
is still trying to wake up tothe fact that you're being
fasting for the last 8 or 10hours. However hours you sleep.
So to go in and add a big pieceof red meat, it may be too much
(13:43):
for the system. The same is truefor people who eat a lot of
bread, cheese, bacon. TheAmerican breakfast.
Justine Reichman (13:52):
Or the English breakfast, or the French
breakfast.
Edison de Mello (13:59):
Here's a story. I know we don't know how much
time we have, but in medicalschool, I would go to lactose on
cardiovascular medicine. Theywere sponsored by the drug
companies. And guess what? Theywere serving bacon, eggs, bagel.
Justine Reichman (14:15):
They want you to buy their medication.
Edison de Mello (14:19):
I would look at this going, wait? Is any counter
intuitive? Is anybody looking atwhat's being served? And we're
talking about cardiovascularmedicine, right? So I say to
you, listen to your body. Ifyour body says, I need some more
protein in the morning. Any moreprotein? Good. Listen to it now
that your decision needs to becongruent with what's best for
(14:41):
health. Not for your taste buds,but for health. And certainly,
fish is much easy digestiblethan red meat.
Justine Reichman (14:50):
Let's talk about the mindset of this
because it can be veryintimidating for people. And as
we eat different foods, theymake us tired, they make us
angry. They do all thesedifferent things. So how do we
bridge the gap to eat the rightfoods to have the right mindset,
to make it more accessible andless confrontational, less
scary?
Edison de Mello (15:11):
I think I alluded to this before, and I'm
happy to go back there because Ithink it's very powerful. Your
body will tell you what itneeds. So if you take a moment
to listen without judgment.Without, no, I'm not gonna do
that. But to be curious, becurious about what your body's
telling you. You will make theright decision. So that's the
(15:32):
first step. Don't make thedecision based on what your
brain is saying to you. Like yousaid before that you get a
little hungry when you don'teat, right? What do you say? You
get a little angry? So here's astep. Why wait for so long to
eat? Sometimes, I forget to. SoI put a little alarm on my
(15:55):
phone, on my iWatch, and itbeeps like, okay, I have to eat.
So come here with your body.It's a partnership. I'm going to
be a little corny here, if Imay. There's a time in your life
that you become the mother toyour body, because who puts your
body to sleep? Who feeds yourbody? Who protects your body
(16:15):
from being hit by a car? So askyour question, would I'll be
feeding my children, if I had achild, what I'm feeding my body?
Justine Reichman (16:23):
I think that's a really great way to look at
it. And my last question isabout processed foods and the
impact they have on our brainhealth. Because we talked
before, I think it was inanother segment about the
supermarkets. And one commentthat I've often heard is, buy
the outside. The fruits, thevegetables, it's the things that
(16:45):
are fresh. And then in themiddle is all the processed
stuff. But people do includeprocessed foods. I prefer to
make my own. But why do we seeprocessed foods and refined
sugars in terms of, how doesthat negatively impact the brain
function and mental health?
Edison de Mello (17:05):
Read the label.
Justine Reichman (17:06):
Read the label, because in my mind,
they're creating inflammation.You know? They create stress,
deregulation, all thesedifferent things. Yeah,
I won't eat it.
Edison de Mello (17:14):
read the label by law in our country, you have
The analogy, you become the mother. So ask
to list the ingredients of allfoods, even for foods that are
imported. Take the time to readthe label. If there's food
coloring there, if there's foodpreservatives more than once or
two, sometimes they have to ifthere is added sugar, ask
yourself, would I feed my child this?
(17:43):
yourself that. Read the label.It's impossible in the 21st
century for me to say to yourlisteners, don't ever eat
processed food. Remember, wetalked about, I think it was in
segment one, that we need to berealistic. The message that we
give into the patient, who is apatient, where is she? Or is he
at that moment? So be realisticso that you're not going to lead
(18:06):
her or him feeling like theyfailed. Don't say that don't eat
processed food, but tell themwith the label.
Justine Reichman (18:17):
Basically, top three things you want to tell
Edison de Mello (18:20):
The amount of sugar. How many different
them.
preservatives are in there? Andhow much of processed wheat is
in it? Now, wheat is everywhere.The problem is how long it takes
(18:41):
the process. In this country,farm to table is three years for
weed, in most cases. In Europe,it's three months.
Justine Reichman (18:52):
I don't know if I mentioned to you that when
I was in Europe, I ate acroissant. I didn't feel bad. I
ate all sorts of things that Ididn't eat here, and I felt
fine.
Edison de Mello (19:00):
Most people who have gluten sensitive
intolerance, celiac disease?Forget it. But if you have
gluten intolerance or glutensensitivity, most of them do
better with a zero. I think it'scalled 00 flour, something which
is the flour/process that it'sin the ones that they use in
(19:22):
Europe.
Justine Reichman (19:23):
So if there's one thing you wish your patients
knew that they could do thatwould make a really big change
for them, and that was easy,what would it be?
Edison de Mello (19:31):
Great question. I think I've been saying that in
this segment also, but I willsay it again. Listen to what
your body needs, it's gonna tellyou. Knw your brain, know your
taste buds, number one. Numbertwo, as a doctor, as a
previously trained therapist,watch your thoughts. What is the
(19:53):
first thing that you think whenyou wake up in the morning?
Because that's going toinfluence your decision making,
processing, everything that youdo. How you're going to arrive
at your job? What kind ofbreakfast you're going to have?
What kind of day you're going tohave? What are the first thing,
the thoughts that you have inthe morning? And what's the last
thought that you have when yougo to bed? Those things
(20:15):
influence your decision. Thenlisten. Listen with curiosity.
Don't be judgmental, but becurious about, oh, I wonder what
it would be like for me not toeat steak in the morning
anymore. Or maybe just once in awhile, and switch a little bit
to salmon, to sea food. And forsome, what it like for me to
(20:37):
really crack this up, and notdrink any sugar, eat any other
sugar for next three weeks? Ican do this and then say where
your body's gonna tell you. Inother words, be curious.
Justine Reichman (20:48):
I like that. Be curious. I think that's so
important because you're beingcurious about what you're
putting in your body that youhave control over you're
putting. You're having controlover the choices you make around
the processed food, having aneducation and knowing what to
look for. They've given peopletips. I'm so appreciative. I
think that if we consider whatwe're eating, how it makes us
(21:11):
feel and think antiinflammatory, we have a chance
to live the best possible life,right?
Edison de Mello (21:17):
And then you understand that we are hormonal
beings. Everything about what wedo is hormones. Your sleep
hormone, your hunger hormone,you feel happy hormone, it's all
influenced by what we eat.
Justine Reichman (21:30):
So we're finishing off this drip that I
had here, and you gave me thephosphatidylcholine to help with
my brain. And what else did youput in here?
Edison de Mello (21:41):
A combination of all the essential vitamins
that you need to be able to havea really strong immune system.
So you got vitamin C, you gotcalcium, magnesium, you got a
little bit of zinc, you got Bcomplex in there, and you have
something called glutathione,which is the most amazing
(22:03):
antioxidant that there is. Allof this is geared towards
decreasing the inflammatoryburden in your body.
Justine Reichman (22:11):
A group effort. It's your food, and it's
your supplements. Andunderstanding how they work
together, because when they workon their own, they may have
helped you in some way. Butputting it together really is
the power.
Edison de Mello (22:26):
Exactly. I would add two more things to the
beautiful summary that youcreated. It's your food, it's
your mindset, it's your mind. Iwould say it's also, who do you
go to when the rough gets going?Your support system. Who is your
support system? What do you turnto? What is your belief system?
(22:46):
And do you believe you aresomebody who can make changes?
Justine Reichman (22:52):
Thank you, Dr. de Mello. Thank you so much for
joining us in this series aboutfood, gut health and mind. I
think it's really been eyeopening for myself. I will
continue to come back and getmore of these so that I can see
how they impact my mentalhealth. And in particular, my
memory. It will be a pleasure tohave you back. And for those
that want to tune in and want tohear more from Dr. de Mello, or
(23:15):
learn more about what he does,check out his center.
Edison de Mello (23:18):
akashacenter.com. And also the book that I've been
talking about, it's calledBloated?.
Justine Reichman (23:25):
Bloated?. We're going to add a link for
the book Bloated?. You'll beable to get it. It's a great
read, and it's really cute. Iwant to hear what you guys
think. Tell me what you think onthe cover. Thank you, Dr. de
Mello. I'll see you again soon.
Edison de Mello (23:37):
Thank you for having me.
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