February 18, 2025 • 51 mins
In this episode, Matt Tack and Dr. Alfred Alessi explore chronic pain and health empowerment. They announce the Spring into Health block party and discuss thyroid and metabolic health. The conversation covers the link between gut health and chronic disease, the profitability of chronic pain in healthcare, and pain management strategies. They also address diet's impact on inflammation, managing thyroid and blood sugar without medication, and lifestyle approaches to reversing type 2 diabetes. Stress, sleep, and functional medicine are emphasized. Listeners are encouraged to learn about their health and attend consultations and events.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
So let's be real.
Chronic pain is a big business in the medicalindustry that there's no fortune to be made in
getting people off medications out of pain andbacking to living their lives.
So instead, the system thrives on symptommanagement and not actual resolution.
Welcome to Health Decode, your number onesource for real health information with your
(00:23):
host, doctor Alessi and Matt Tack.
Alright.
You were born ready for this.
Welcome back to Health Decoded, where weunravel the complexities of health and wellness
with science backed insights.
I'm your host, doctor Alfred Alessi.
And the famous co host, Matt Att.
(00:46):
Good to see you, man.
Today's episode is all about you, the listener,and giving you real answers to empower you to
live to the healthiest and highest version ofyourself.
Yeah.
Today, we're gonna be highlighting somequestions we commonly hear that we helped,
patients debunk and get functional, actionableanswers.
And here's a quick teaser.
(01:06):
Stay tuned as these questions could havequestions questions you better have, basically.
A little bit of a mouthful there for you, guy.
Man, that,
it's a lot of things.
What's going
on with the beard?
You're trying to trying to look like me orsomething?
I am.
I'm growing it out a little bit.
Maybe it's a little bit of laziness, but, I digit in.
(01:29):
I'm digging it too.
It's a good look.
It makes you look a little bit like, morelumberjack y.
The thing is is, like, mine grows straight out.
It's it's kinda weird how that happens.
It's like some guys, like, get that naturalcurl and that mine's freaking all wiry and
grows straight out.
It's weird.
Well, it has to get some it has to
get some length first, man.
It's a My girls, like, tell me they're like, doyou can't kiss me with your beard because I'm
(01:52):
like, it's, it just goes straight into themlike needles.
We'll clarify for the listeners by girls he'stalking about his daughters, not like a slew
of women that he's kissing.
So That's true.
I got a lot of girls in my life.
Awesome, man.
Well, just a couple updates for everybody.
You know, we're we're doing a really cool thingon March 8, man.
(02:13):
I'm super excited.
We're gonna be doing our spring into healthblock party at the clinic, Alessi Functional
Health in Tampa, where we're gonna be having abunch of really cool things going on.
We're gonna be doing complimentary X rays andevaluations and health screens for our patients
and friends and family, anyone who shows up.
We're gonna have tons of free food from somelocal vendors.
(02:35):
We're gonna have some local businesses outthere displaying themselves.
There's gonna be a dance fitness class withJenna from Bands and Booty.
There's gonna be ideally some other boot campkind of fitness going on, and then some chair
massage from, a good friend Jake Naderman withUplevel Movement.
So it's gonna be a really cool time.
(02:55):
If you're in the Tampa area, March 8 from nineto 1PM, definitely come out.
Completely free event.
Would love to see everybody out there.
We'll have some time slots for the, theexercise portion as well.
So, you'll be able to kinda tag in, when thosecome about.
So we'll make sure to get those programmedbeforehand, so that you can sign up for some
(03:17):
classes.
You can get that that booty fit, or you can, oryou can do some other classes that you might
enjoy.
Awesome, man.
Yeah.
Looking forward to that.
Well, let's let's get into it, man.
Today's episode, we really wanted to provide aton of value just based on the things that we
hear on a daily basis in the clinic.
(03:39):
These are questions that we we get all thetime.
We've been doing this for, you know, fiveyears, and and a lot of the questions tend to
repeat themselves because we see the samethings in this field.
So we basically came up with, like, a list.
We have, like, a running list of questions wehear.
But for today, we came up with a list of someof the the more common ones, and we just kinda
(04:00):
wanna get into it and and provide a little bitmore detail.
So we really put some time into answering thesefor you guys.
So, also, you know, I will say if this issomething that rings a bell or, strikes a nerve
with you, then let's connect and let's let'slet's see if we can help you out because there
are ways to get around these things that youdon't have to be frustrated and you don't have
(04:21):
to deal with these symptoms and stuff likethat.
So, let's just start.
The first one we have here is you know, we hearthis all the time.
Hey, my doctor my doctor quotes, my doctor saysmy labs are normal, but I still feel awful.
I still have symptoms, whether it's fatigue,bloating, struggling to lose weight.
So is there something missing in what theytested me?
(04:44):
And, you know, so this is classic, man.
The your labs are normal.
So docs like, well, it's it must all be in yourhead.
But here's the deal.
Conventional lab ranges are based onstatistical averages of the general population,
which is not necessarily what's optimal forhealth.
Right?
Is average is not optimal.
So let's be real.
If the general population is increasinglyoverweight, inflamed, dealing with chronic
(05:09):
disease, do you really wanna be in that averagenormal crowd?
Probably not.
Right?
If we're talking about what health is and andwhat, like, thriving is.
So traditional medicine relies on referenceranges that are designed only to catch the most
extreme cases of dysfunction.
So if you fall within that range, you're, youknow, traditionally trained doctors are just
(05:30):
gonna say you're normal.
Right?
But they don't the problem is these rangesdon't account for functional deficiencies where
a marker might technically be normal, but stillsuboptimal for proper physiological function.
So that's where functional medicine, theapproach we take, we dig deeper.
So instead of stopping at the bare minimum, wetake a systems based approach.
(05:51):
We're looking at how different biomarkersinteract and whether they align with optimal
function, not just the absence of disease.
So for example, let's talk about thyroidfunctions.
Most conventional doctors will only run a TSHtest.
Right?
That's your thyroid stimulating hormone.
If that falls within the lab range, which canvary widely, by the way, between labs, they'll
(06:14):
declare that thyroid as normal.
But here's what they're missing, and I see thisall the time.
So TSH is a signal hormone.
It's not actually a thyroid hormone.
It tells your thyroid what to do, but itdoesn't measure if the actual if the thyroid is
actually producing the hormones efficiently orif your cells are using them properly.
So many patients have a normal TSH, but stillfeel awful because the free free t three, which
(06:38):
is the active thyroid hormone is low or eventheir reverse t three is elevated.
So then this blocks proper thyroid function.
Also, other things like autoimmune thyroidconditions like Hashimoto's, it doesn't show up
on a TSH alone.
So the research actually shows that ninetypercent of hypothyroidism cases are actually
(06:59):
autoimmune in nature.
That's a huge number, man.
Ninety percent of hypothyroid, which is verycommon, they're autoimmune, meaning the body is
attacking the thyroid gland.
This is really cool.
A study published in the journal ofendocrinology and metabolism found that fifty
percent of people with normal TSH still hadsymptoms of hypothyroidism due to an
(07:21):
undiagnosed conversion issue or an autoimmunethyroid disease.
So this means millions of people are being toldthey're fine while they're still struggling
with the the the die off symptoms of that,which is weight gain, brain fog, cold
intolerance, which is kind of a random one, butpeople have that, and then fatigue.
And so this is all because they didn't checkbeyond the surface.
(07:43):
They just looked at the the one marker.
Another example I'll I'll I'll share is bloodsugar and metabolic health.
So it's all it's more than just about glucose.
Right?
Another major blind spot in this conventionaltesting.
So many doctors will check your fastingglucose, but it's really just a snapshot of the
blood sugar regulation.
(08:03):
By the time fasting glucose has been elevated,insulin resistance has often been developing
for years.
So a better approach or a more functionalapproach is checking fasting insulin,
hemoglobin a one c, and even doing like acontinuous glucose monitoring.
So that's where you wear one of those devicesthat kind of taps into the the capillaries on
(08:26):
the surface of the skin, and it gives youconstant feedback.
The technology is really cool.
It's Bluetooth to your phone.
You can just track.
It even alerts you if you get a spike in bloodsugar or if you dip.
So, again, that's a more functional approach.
A study in The Lancet diabetes andendocrinology showed that eighty eight percent
of US US adults have some degree of metabolicdysfunction.
(08:49):
And we're these are all big numbers I'mspitting out here.
Fifty percent, ninety percent, eighty eightpercent.
So, you know, I guess what I derive from thatis that the conventional medicine approach just
seems to be missing something.
If people are going to their doctors andthey're still eighty eight percent of people
have some kind of metabolic dysfunction.
Right?
So we talk all the time about what islifestyle, what is functional health look like.
(09:13):
So, you know, the and, the last one I wannareally share is is gut dysfunction, and this is
often overlooked.
So gut dysfunction really is is is the key toinflammation and chronic disease.
Standard lab panels ignore gut health.
Right, despite the massive impact it has onmetabolism, inflammation, immune function.
(09:33):
If you have bloating, food sensitivity, brainfog, your doctor might just give you a a a
label IBS and then say, you know, you're onyour way.
Right?
But functional medicine is gonna look a littlebit deeper.
So we can do things such as comprehensive stooltesting where we're gonna assess imbalances
within the microbiome.
We're gonna we can see inflammation.
(09:54):
We can see if there's infections, parasites.
We can check things like leaky gut markers.
So there's a protein called zonulin thatactually maintains the strength of the the the
cells, the cell wall in your gut lining.
And if there's issues with that protein, we cantest for that and see if someone has things
like leaky gut.
Another thing is things like SIBO, which issmall intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
(10:18):
A lot of docs don't even know to test for this.
In many cases of IBS are actually an overgrowthof bacteria in the small intestine that then
causing those symptoms.
So really the bottom line, man, is if your labsare normal, but you feel like trash, it's time
to look a little bit deeper.
Right?
Something's being missed.
So just because a number falls inside thisarbitrary range doesn't really mean your body's
(10:43):
functioning optimally.
It just means you're you're in the same stateas everyone else, which is probably suboptimal
health.
Right?
So getting a second opinion, not just a quickglance is gonna be a better take.
And conventional medicine often just waitsuntil a disease develops before really acting.
Whereas functional medicine, we're preventingdisease.
(11:03):
We're gonna optimize health and ensure that youactually feel your best, not just not sick.
Right?
So that's, I know that's a mouthful, but I Ireally think for when we hear that question,
that's the route we need to take.
Yeah.
That's, I'd like such valuable information tooin terms of how you can be the educator of your
(11:26):
health.
And, when you go to a standard, generalpractitioner, which many of our friends say it
and a good friend of mine, Jason is the exactsame thing.
Right.
He is showing precursors to just chronic pain.
He's trying to figure it out, but his GP had noidea.
So he's like, look, I can't help you.
(11:47):
And so dealing with that root cause is anunderstanding of like, does he have
fundamentally, what do his labs look like?
And then fundamentally, how can, how can weidentify some of the things that you just
mentioned?
But, you know, just kind of bringing it backhome, I've been dealing with chronic pain for
years.
And, even when I didn't know.
(12:10):
Right.
You don't know what you don't know.
How was I going to heal my body?
And so we did the same thing, you know, acouple of years ago, I think at this point,
maybe it was like last year, we had to diveinto what my numbers look like.
And, that was me being proactive and wanting towanting to just figure things out right where I
(12:34):
even had a small thyroid issue, and within myT3.
And so we had to figure that stuff out and Ihad to create that hurdle and then, have now
since, navigated, on the complete flip side,which my blood work comes back consistent every
time.
But why chronic pain?
Let's talk about this.
Why chronic pain is a cash cow for the medicalsystem and I won't, no one's fixing it at the
(12:57):
source.
So let's be real.
Chronic pain is a big business in the medicalindustry that there's no fortune to be made in
getting people off medications out of pain andbacking to living their lives.
So instead the system thrives on symptommanagement and not actual resolution.
(13:17):
So let's dive into just a few things that weneed to talk about on the way the models are
structured.
So most conventional pain management followsthe pharmaceutical first model.
So I'm sure you've seen this when you go into astandard practitioner, get an antihistamine,
right.
Take some ibuprofen, you know, just.
(13:40):
Those things are just a mass, the inflammation,that you're having in your body.
Right.
Tylenol, all those things that are going to beover the counter, let's mask it.
Instead of looking at maybe it might be adehydration issue, right?
A lot of times, getting your proper pH levelsfigured out before taking, an Excedrin, or an
(14:01):
ibuprofen is the best protocol there.
Muscle relaxers to numb the tightness, right?
Where there's other things that you can use,like self myofascial release on some tight
muscle groups of getting a foam roller.
Right.
Those are different actionable items that youcan take.
Hey, I got a strain, getting bodywork doneroutine, body, bodywork done.
(14:23):
That's like an important thing instead ofmasking it with other antihistamines.
Right.
The other way, which steroid injections tosuppress, symptoms temporarily.
Right.
A lot of times people, ah, we'll just give youa cortisol shot or we'll give you a steroid
injection to just mask the pain once again,instead of diving into why is that why is that
(14:46):
pain there in the first place?
So asking those questions of, do I really needthis?
Now there are times where maybe those areappropriate, right, to just settle the muscle
down muscles down and get them to relax so thatyou can use other measures.
Opioids are a major thing in today, right?
When the pain persists, Hey, just like mask itagain.
(15:09):
Now those aren't long term things that you needto put in place because those will ultimately
be damaging to other organs in your body.
You want to make sure you measure those thingsproperly.
And then when all else fails, Hey, we gottagive you surgery.
Right.
And usually that's the case is that like athere we're going to be angling you towards
surgery so that you walk away with a massivemedical bill.
(15:32):
Or your insurance is stuck with it instead oftrying to figure out, Hey, do I need this?
And then what are measures that I can take,that potentially could get me out of this and I
don't need surgery, right?
There are always measures, always betterquestions that you can ask.
So here's the problem.
None of these pro none of these, approachesactually fix the root cause.
(15:54):
They just slap a band aid on the symptoms andthen keeping patients dependent on ongoing
treatments.
Right.
I gotta buy this again.
I gotta get more, antibiotics, whatever itlooks like.
But if we look at the science, it's clear thatchronic pain, isn't just about pain itself.
It's about what's driving it.
So we always say, ask better questions, getbetter answers and the true root causes of
(16:18):
chronic pain.
So let's dive into these a little bit further.
A lot of doctors just flat out ignore these.
So chronic inflammation sensitizes painreceptors.
Inflammation.
Isn't just a buzzword.
It's one of the primary drivers of a persistentpain.
And, we love adding in these things because,people have done the research.
(16:40):
So a 2020 study in the journal of pain researchfound that systematic inflammation lowers the
pain threshold.
So making the modern body more sensitive topain signals.
In other words, the more inflamed you are, themore everything is going to hurt.
That's just the stress loads that are on yourbody naturally create more inflammation.
(17:02):
So you need to utilize other measures to reducethat pain or that stress threshold to reduce
the inflammation in your body.
So inflammation leads to nerve hypersensitivity, amplifying pain signals, even when
there's no active injuries.
So that can lead to other areas.
One thing we do in our clinic, is we target thecore root of the pain when it's actually might
(17:24):
be creating inflammation in other areas.
That's called our soft weight technology thatbasically naturally creates that's, that,
regeneration, in new tissue that reduces theamount of inflammation and the target source.
So that's a natural way of producing your bodystem cells and it could be, Hey, the shoulder
(17:46):
could be indicating a number of other areas,but if you deal with it directly where it's at,
it could hinder, some other areas.
So another, another thing that we want to talkabout is, inflamed tissues have, more blood at
poor blood flow and healing capacity, which iswhy injuries and aches seem to linger
(18:08):
indefinitely.
So we just wanna make sure that the restrictedblood flow, hey, how much blood flow are you
getting into your body?
That naturally, that's why we believe insaunas.
Right?
Getting in saunas where you increase your bloodflow, which, exacerbates, I shouldn't say
really exacerbates, but increases the amount ofblood flow, which increases, the promotion of
(18:29):
just healing throughout the rest of your body.
And what fuels, chronic inflammation.
So we go back always to the root cause of like,Hey, what are you putting in your diet?
One of the big precursors, that we like toexplain to everything is like, usually it's
dehydration that starts out right now.
People getting enough water throughout the day.
(18:50):
You need to drink, at minimum, really a threeliters of water.
I love getting a liter jug, and getting aboutthree of those in daily.
I do believe that liquid IVs and other portionsthat you can, you can put those in there.
You don't, those do have some sugars, processedsugars that you probably don't want to be
adding all the time.
(19:11):
So you don't want to be continually dumpingthose in just water is a great source.
So, but other things that are precursors tothis as highly processed diet, right?
Chronic stress, poor sleep, sedentary behavior.
So are you eating and sitting down and watchingTV?
Right.
One of the things that we've done as a habitstructure within our families, we typically eat
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and then walk, right.
That reduces that glycemic spike that you mighthave from carbohydrates, in fats that you've
been eating for dinner or lunch.
And so just walk, you know, even if a five, tenminute walk really helps and reduces that
glycemic spike that you might have.
So all things conventional medicine rarelyaddress, right?
(19:53):
Like, Hey, go for a walk after you eat.
That's typically not a question that's askedyou walk after you eat.
Are you, are you properly hydrated throughoutthe day?
So other things that we want to tap into isjust poor movement, mechanics, and postural
dysfunction that destroy joints.
So most people don't injure themselves in onebig catastrophic catastrophic event.
(20:15):
Instead, chronic pain develops due to years ofsitting too much.
So that's a weakening of core stability and theshortening of the hip flexors.
Right.
So you'll see yourself, and that's where wekind of come into the clinic and structurally
realign that, is to really elongate those hipflexors.
(20:35):
So you don't have, any type of anterior flags,repetitive, faulty movement patterns, like
walking with poor gait mechanics.
You know, one of the things that our friend,Jake, is that for years I was running
incorrectly.
Right.
I wasn't running where the there the outside ofmy toes roll in.
(20:57):
And so even though it's a nerdy way to look atthings, there was one of the things that I even
had to look at of how I was running, and how Iwas properly be laying my feet.
And I should be bowing my toes forward andlanding on my toes and letting my heels come
down softly.
So even a running pattern is really importantbecause usually people strike with that heel
(21:19):
first.
Right.
So those are the things to ask yourself as faras how am I walking right?
Are my legs like boat in?
How can I, how can I work on my abductor?
I might have an abductor complex from my justknees are, tilting it a little bit when I'm,
when I'm walking.
So those are, those are just some of the thingsfrom a walking standpoint, how important that
(21:41):
is.
And then ignoring muscle imbalances leading toimproper.
Bloating and excess of wear and tear.
So, to explain this a little bit further, whenyou're ignoring your muscle imbalances, those
are just some of the things that have triggeredfrom you maybe sitting throughout the day, you
becoming a little bit more shelled and rolledwith your shoulders because you've, you've been
(22:05):
kinked up and dialing on a keyboard for anumber of years.
Your neck is actually loaded a little bitforward, which creates muscular imbalances, in
your delts and your neck and the cervicalregion.
And, and you're, you're all crunched up, right?
What does that do that tightens up your wholebody?
So your, your stress load is so much moreincreased, and you have all these imbalances
(22:30):
and until you rectify those, that stress will,will lead to diseases.
Right.
And so that's the important of just gettingthat relaxed state, of making sure you have
spinal realignment, both in the hips and in thecervical region.
But here's the catch.
So we don't want to just sit here and obviouslydog on, you know, Western medicine, but there,
(22:54):
there are questions that you need to ask.
So most doctors never assess the biomechanicsof your body.
Right.
They won't look at you and be like, Hey, thefirst thing we need to look at is actually your
spinal alignment.
And the second thing we have, we probablyshould reduce a little bit of that weight.
Right.
Being honest with people, is an importantthing.
We need to lose weight.
We need to get your spine realigned so that youcan reduce that stress load.
(23:19):
Instead, they prescribe painkillers and tellpatients to yeah.
You probably should stretch a little bit more.
Right?
What does he what does even stretch look like?
What does that mean?
Stretch looks like, right?
Yeah.
Which doesn't fix the root issue.
So, as we dial in the functional medicineapproach to actually fixing chronic pain, so
here's some, some mechanics that you can use.
(23:40):
If a pain is a symptom, not the problem, thenthe goal should be to identify and fix the root
cause.
That's exactly what we do with an integrativeapproach.
Number one, the spinal biomechanics correction.
So CBP has been proven in clinical studies torestore proper spinal alignment and reduce
(24:02):
chronic pain long term.
So we talked about getting the spinalrealignment, that could be through
decompression therapy.
That could be through a number of differentthings, but decompression therapy, and
chiropractic correction, right?
Unlike traditional chiropractor adjustments,CBP focuses on correcting posture and movement
patterns, spreading, preventing pain fromcoming back.
(24:25):
That's one of our main goals at Alessifunctional health too, is to allow you to live
with a pain free future, right?
It's not it's to educate you through theprocess.
That's our one differentiator, that we think wedo the best, the absolute best in the game is
educating you so that you can go out and do ityourself.
Right.
And then we're always here for you, but thosethings are things that you can use soft wave
(24:48):
therapy for stem cell activation and tissueregeneration.
It's something that I talked on a little bitearlier, but soft waves use electro hydraulic
shock waves to stimulate cell stem cellproduction, reducing inflammation, accelerate
healing.
Check this out too.
This is a really cool, some clinical trialshave shown this off wave.
(25:10):
They've used this quite a bit in Europe too.
I like how Europe usually things that followright.
Europe will cause they have a less restrictive,they're a little bit more, forward thinking in
terms of like how they're utilizing.
A lot of people walk too.
So generally they aren't as overweight so theycan use technologies like this, but clinical
trials have shown that soft weight therapyreduces pain up to 70% in just a few sessions,
(25:34):
particularly for tendon and joint issues.
And I just want to note on this, the reason whytendons and joints are so imperative, for the
purposes of longevity is because that's whatholds your muscular structure, right?
So the largest organs in your body is your Tthe strength of your tendons and your joints
are going to be a direct indicator of how muchmuscle mass you can hold on to later in life.
(25:59):
So we need to make sure that we are protectingthose.
And there's not an insane amount ofinflammation, right?
Anti inflammatory nutrition to lower your painmarkers.
This is where, you know, some supplementationcomes in, but mainly it's through whole food
sources, but excess omega six fatty acids fromvegetable oils, like drive chronic information.
(26:22):
Right.
While omega threes from wild caught fish, grassfed meat, lower it according to the journal of
American college of nutrition in 2018, thatstudy the cutting out of pro process seed oils,
like, canola oil, soybean oil, and sunflowerdramatically reduce inflammation and pain
levels.
(26:42):
As we, kind of wrap up my segment here, buttargeting strength and mobility training, we
have GoDA and ATG methods.
But to go to the greatest of all time actions,something that I, I kind of explained it in a
little bit detail, but identifying faultymovement patterns, and retrains the body for
optical biomechanics reduces stress on joints.
(27:05):
That was one thing that I did because Irealized that my impact on my heels, needed to
be reverted to more toe action.
Right.
So I have this rolling effect where I have asofter impact on my heels.
So the ATG, the athletic truth group, systemfocuses on strengthening and a full range of
motion, preventing joint breakdown.
(27:28):
As we were talking about, joints, how pivotaljoints are, in promoting, muscular muscular
density, right.
And maintaining that stronger joints you have,the more muscle mass you can, you can hold on
to a study in the sports health in 2021.
Found that targeted strength training reduceschronic knee and back pain by fifty to eighty
(27:51):
percent over time.
Something drugs could never, ever accomplish.
Man, and that's you said something there thatis just so profound.
It's like fixing pain at the source and gettingto the root cause of people's problems and
getting them healthy is actually bad forbusiness.
Right?
And so that's the whole concept here is thatconventional medicine and pharmaceutical
(28:12):
industry, it's a business, and and everyoneknows that by now.
So if more people corrected their biomechanics,improved their metabolic health, reduced
inflammation naturally, guess what?
They wouldn't need these lifelong prescriptionsof pain meds.
They wouldn't need the recurring steroidinjections or the expensive surgeries that in
this country, the failure rate of surgery isfifty percent.
(28:33):
So flip a coin, you might come out there with asuccessful spinal surgery, you might walk out
of there debilitated.
Right?
And so that's bad business for thepharmaceutical industry is that, they're
they're just managing something so that youkeep coming back, coming back, coming back.
And so we like you said, we do it differentlyat our clinic, and I tell every single person I
(28:53):
meet that my goal is for you to not need me.
Right?
Like, if I have you coming back to my officeover and over again with an issue, right, with
an active acute issue, then we didn't do ourjob.
A lot of patients continue to come to us forpreventative and optionally for maintenance
care because they choose to, but they don'tneed to.
And so Thanks.
(29:13):
You know, we've kind of taken the chiropracticmodel and gone a different route.
We're not trying to keep you on the hookforever.
We wanna discharge you at some point and say,hey.
You're good.
Now just maintain what we've taught you, andyou'll be good.
Right?
And let let us empower you through this andeducate you through this whole process, and now
you are the one who's in in control of yourhealth.
So that's that's kind of the approach we take,and I've had other chiros be like, dude, that's
(29:36):
not a good business model.
And I'm like, well, we get a ton of peoplesending us their friends and family, and it's
actually been pretty good for us.
So because people wanna get out of pain.
They don't wanna feel like they're thereforever.
They want an end line.
Right?
And so that's our goal.
So the next question that we had here on ourlist is, let's see.
I was told that taking medications for mythyroid or blood sugar is my only option.
(29:58):
Right?
And this kinda goes for anything.
Are there natural ways rather than justmanaging the symptoms?
And this is kind of what we just talked about.
Right?
Medications are not a real solution becausethey are not bioidentical.
Your body has to figure out what this is, andit's gonna have an action inside the body, but
it's not actually going to assimilate and dosomething that's gonna naturally cause your
(30:19):
body to start healing.
So I wouldn't say that I'm a % anti medication.
There's times when they're necessary, right,for short term interventions, acute conditions,
or lifesaving emergencies, of course.
But the problem is they're handed out likecandy, right, often without a second thought as
to, like, why is the dysfunction happening inthe first place.
And I think we're just gonna continue to beatthe drum on this and and beat this dead horse
(30:42):
in our podcast that there's other options.
Right?
And so the, the medical the the conventionalmedicine operates basically on a diagnose and
prescribe model.
So you have x, here's x drug.
Right?
You have y, here's y drug.
And it's kind of a lazy system.
If you ask me, Nobody's really asking, like,why did this happen in the first place?
(31:03):
Hey.
Did you have a stressful event that might havetriggered an autoimmune condition to then now
lead to these symptoms?
Right?
Did you go through some kind of major trauma?
Right?
What are what are these more, in-depth causes?
So, you know, a couple case studies that thatwe've got and and I'll kinda share here is,
like, managing versus reversing type twodiabetes.
(31:25):
I think this is something that people stilldon't know is that type two diabetes, which is
a lifestyle related disease, it's not a geneticcondition, is reversible.
I'll say that again.
Type two diabetes is reversible.
We have done it in our clinic, and we've helpedpeople to get those numbers to normal.
So, you know, most doctors universally willjust prescribe metformin and tell patients to
(31:47):
watch their diet.
But, like, what does that even mean?
Right?
Go go low carb, go keto, but they don't teachpatients how to actually reverse insulin
resistance, which is the issue.
Right?
That's the root cause.
So, a a 2121 study in nature medicine foundthat a low carb, high protein diet combined
with resistance training can reduce hemoglobina one c levels as effectively as metformin.
(32:15):
Wow.
Right?
So why?
Because it addresses the root cause, which isthe insulin resistance rather than just
suppressing the blood sugar levels, which isthe symptom.
So what actually causes insulin resistance?
Chronic consumption, chronic overconsumption ofrefined carbs and processed seed oils, lack of
muscle mass.
(32:35):
Right?
Muscle mass is the largest site in your bodyfor glucose disposal and poor sleep and high
stress, which are gonna bump cortisol up andthen lower insulin sensitivity.
So instead of just handing out metformin, like,why aren't we teaching patients to cut out the
processed sugar and the seed oils that arefueling the inflammation?
Encourage resistance training.
(32:56):
This is something you and I preach.
Right?
Get that muscle mass up because it's gonnaimprove glucose metabolism.
Your body's gonna utilize that glucose more.
And then addressing sleep quality and stress,which are gonna directly impact insulin
sensitivity and cortisol.
So if patients actually reverse their diabetes,they wouldn't need metformin for life.
Right?
But, again, that's bad for business for the thepeople selling metformin and the big pharma.
(33:23):
Also to add Yeah.
Also to add to that, you know, and what peoplea lot of people don't know, and that's why this
needs to be said is that it's not even justmetformin, that this type two bi diabetics are
on, but a lot of people, you know, that haveaccess weight, because that's those are
typically the people with type two diabetes.
(33:43):
They'll, you know, prescribe a GLP one and thatwill actually be targeting your muscle mass
first, which is why we say resistance trainingfirst, right?
Because if you're going to get on that, you'regoing to be losing 30% up to 30% of your muscle
mass, which it's not fat loss.
(34:05):
It's actually muscle loss.
And so when you combine those things, it'sactually not the greatest precursor for the,
what longevity looks like to you because you'relosing so much muscle mass in that time.
What you want to do is be targeting that fatfirst, right?
Lose the fat while you're gaining the muscle.
And then over time with a level of consistencyand resistance training here, you know, I like
(34:28):
getting into what it should look like atminimum of three days a week for forty five
minutes.
That's what resistance training should looklike for a type two diet.
Yep.
And so to expand on that, go listen to the lastepisode we did about weight loss and all of we
we got super into the weeds and and deep, wedid a deep dive on everything you just said
(34:50):
there.
So that's a good summary.
So, you know, kind of to wrap up this question,like, medications should not be used as a as a
lifelong thing.
They should be a bridge between acute, right,emergent kind of thing to get you back to then,
lifestyle.
So medicate medications can be a useful tool.
Right?
But they're never the only tool, so I'll letpeople need to know that.
(35:12):
Right?
There's other options, but, again, temporary.
So you're just putting a Band Aid on a bulletwound sometimes.
Right?
So this is exactly why we we take functionalmedicine approach to look deeper because the
goal isn't to keep you dependent on drugs.
The goal is actual health restoration.
And so, you know, again, like, it's not thebest business model because we're giving giving
(35:33):
you healthy, we're giving you the answers, andnow you can do it on your own.
But we're not in the business of of takingpeople's money and keeping them sick.
We're in the pea the business of empowering andchanging the world really through an impact
that's gonna be passed down through generationsultimately.
So here's question number four.
I eat well and exercise, but I still have somegut issues, inflammation, and brain fog could
(35:58):
hidden toxins, food, sensitive activities, orstress be the missing link.
So your gut is the command center of yourhealth.
You have to understand that it's going todictate everything.
It's going to have a neurological release toyour brain.
All those things are going to be dictated fromyour gut.
In fact, they say your gut is actually yourfirst brain.
(36:18):
Yeah.
That's going to actually show you everythingthat else is good that's going on.
So you want to make sure, when you have more ofan alignment with your gut, you're going to
have in my, you're going to have a deep,deeper, spiritual sense.
You're going to have more cognitive release.
So make sure, these are the things that, youwant to be putting in place.
So the gut isn't just about digestives, aboutthe command center for your immune system,
(36:41):
brain function, metabolism, and even mood.
If your gun is off, everything is off, youknow, it, but here's the problem.
Most people don't realize they have gut issuesbecause they don't always show up as bloating
or stomach pain.
Instead, gut dysfunction can manifest as brainfog and fatigue, joint pain and inflammation,
anxiety, and depression, auto immune diseases,chronic skin condition like eczema and acne.
(37:08):
And yet conventional medicine barelyacknowledges gut health issues, until you've
had full blown IBS or even Crohn's or colitis,but let's break down why your gut is so
critical to overall health and why just eatingmore fiber and popping at probiotic isn't
enough.
You know, those, those famous greens thateveryone is on nowadays.
Right?
(37:29):
So here's gut dysbiosis, the CR the root ofchronic inflammation and disease.
Your gut is a home of trillions of bacteriathat regulate immune function, neurotransmitter
production, and metabolic health.
When your gut bacteria are balanced, you feelgreat when they're out of whack, then there's
(37:49):
dysbiosis.
If it can trigger systematic inflammation anddisease.
So here's a study done in 2021 by gut micromicrobes found that gut dysbiosis is a direct
directly linked to auto immune conditions,chronic inflammation, even mood disorders like
anxiety and depression.
(38:10):
So translation your gut microbiome.
Doesn't just affect digestion.
It affects your immune system and brain, whichaffect your digestion.
Right.
And what's wrecking people's gut healthAntibiotics.
Right?
That's wiping out the solid gut bacteria thatyou have.
So think of your kids.
Right?
(38:30):
If you're constantly putting them antibioticsevery single time, they get a little sniffly
cold.
That's exactly what it's doing.
Glyphosate, herbicides and non organic food.
Right?
Which have been linked to a leaky gut and, andmicrobiome disruption, processed foods, as we
(38:50):
talked about, artificial sweeteners, which feedbad bacteria and cause inflammation, chronic
stress, and poor sleep, all things that wementioned, both of which alter gut bacteria and
composition and gut health.
Isn't just about digestion.
It's about preventing chronic disease before iteven starts.
So let's dig into a little bit about what leakygut is.
(39:11):
So typically this is where people are going tosee this a little bit later in life.
You're not going to see this.
You, you could see this at an early age, right?
We might be actually seeing it more with the,the amount of gut and the gut dysfunction that
we're seeing in adolescents.
If you're an adolescent with leaky gut that's,that's, you know, those times are probably
coming, but typically you're going to see thisin your twenties and thirties, leaky gut, is
(39:35):
intestinal permeability.
All right.
So just to give you a little bit of explanationabout how the gut works, it goes, it breaks
down your food through the largest smallintestines.
It's broken down.
All those micro macronutrients are then getinto the gut and then they're pushed out into
the bloodstream.
So if you're in chronic inflammation, you're,you're not getting enough of those macro
(39:57):
micronutrients.
If you're, if your quality, if you feed yourfood sources, isn't there.
So this happens when the lining of your gutbecomes damaged, allowing toxins, bacteria,
undigested food particles to leak into yourbloodstream.
Research in the journal of clinicalgastroenterology found that increased
(40:21):
intestinal permeability is linked to autoimmunedisease.
Auto immune diseases like Hashimoto'srheumatoid arthritis and even multiple
sclerosis.
So what causes leaky gut?
So you have a number of different things thatwe already talked about.
But glyphosate, again, that's a herbicide andconventional food, weakens gut lining and
(40:42):
integrity.
So then you have, like the ibuprofen, theaspirins NSAIDs have been shown to increase gut
permeability.
So doing those on a daily basis is notsomething as a precursor for longevity, right?
Gluten and seed oils could trigger aninflammatory response that worsens gut barrier,
(41:02):
gut barrier dysfunction.
So if you're struggling with chronicinflammation of joint health or joint health or
auto immune issues, your gut is likely part ofthe problem, where you're going to dive into
the most, the most, where you can have a, abody that naturally heals itself is when you
(41:25):
focus on your stress and sleep receptors.
Right?
The overload gut killers.
Most people don't realize the stress andlasting sleep can literally change your gut
microbiome.
And you see your body recovers.
This is what's kind of cool about how the bodyworks is that when you get proper sleep, your
spine is actually releasing fluid, right.
(41:46):
And allowing your cerebral fluid just to go andcleanse the brain.
Right.
And so you get a therapeutic soup, whichindicates everything else in the body.
So if you're not getting proper sleep, yourbrain is not getting the proper nutrients that
it needs to potentially reduce the amount ofinflammation in the body, particularly in the
gut.
So they're all interconnected.
(42:08):
High stress levels, increased cortisol, whichdirectly impacts gut bacteria increases gut
permeability, decreased digestive enzymeproduction, leading to bloating reflux and
nutrient malabsorption.
This is important because what people don'trealize is that when you have a backup and you
have heartburn, you have indigestion, thattypically is because you have not enough
(42:34):
enzymes within the stomach.
Right?
So you want to make sure that maybe that youcan incorporate, some, apple cider vinegar or
various things that have more digestive enzymesbuilt up.
So that you're aiding that into the productionof the breakdown before it gives in the largest
small intestine, right?
Fuel cravings for processed foods, sugar,further reckoning of gut health.
(42:56):
So the gut brain connection is very real.
And if your nervous system is constantly inflight or fight mode, your gut health will
eventually suffer.
Yeah.
So, you know, like, that's that's great, man.
And then it's all about, again, like, comingback to what's the functional medicine approach
(43:16):
to gut health.
And so you said it, like, instead of justthrowing probiotics on the problem, which is,
like, basically, like planting flowers in atoxic waste dump, you're throwing a bunch of
good stuff onto something that's not working.
So the systematic approach is number one, wehave to identify what are the inflammatory
triggers.
Right?
So we can assess for food intolerances such asgluten, dairy, seed oils, artificial sweeteners
(43:40):
that are contributing to the inflammation.
Then you gotta balance the gut microbiome.
We can check for stool tests.
We can see if there's dysbiosis, SIBO, candidaovergrowth, parasites, toxins, and then find
out what those are and now reduce that toxicburden.
So, you know, if there is glyphosate exposure,heavy metals, mold, how do we get those out?
(44:01):
And then heal and rebuild.
So we use a combination of elimination dieting,fasting, anti inflammatory nutrition, gut
healing nutrients, some of the best likeglutamine and collagen, and then lifestyle
changes to restore gut health from the groundup.
Right?
It's all about lifestyle because if you cancreate something that is foundationally part of
your lifestyle, then you can do that forever.
(44:22):
Right?
And so a healthy gut is gonna equal bettermetabolism, brain function, immune system, but
most doctors are just completely ignoring thisnow.
So unless you're dealing with full blowndigestive stuff, they often just kinda dismiss
you as, again, IBS in air quotes.
So if you're dealing with chronic inflammation,brain fog, weight issues, autoimmune symptoms,
(44:43):
your gut is the first place to look because ifyour gut is off, everything else will be off.
Right?
So last question before we wrap up, this isjust one I really, really wanna drive home is
and to say it in a nice way.
Right?
If your doctor is dismissing you or if yourdoctor is not listening to you or telling you
that it's in your head, get a different doctor.
(45:06):
Get a more functional doctor who's gonna sitthere and take the time to understand what your
problems are.
So this is something we hear a lot.
Right?
It's every time I bring up alternativetreatments like functional medicine or hormones
balancing or gut health, my doctor doesn't takeit seriously.
So, like, why is conventional medicine soresistant to these holistic approaches that
I've heard work or actually do work.
(45:27):
Right?
And so, again, beating the drum here,conventional medicine isn't about prevention.
It's about lifelong customers because it's aprofit driven system.
These doctors have to hit quotas of how manymedications they give out a month, a week,
whatever.
Right?
And that's just the truth of it.
That's the ugly truth.
So the pharmaceutical companies are the onesfunding the medical schools, the research, the
(45:48):
guidelines.
So the entire system is set up for them to havetheir kind of stake, right, or their way.
So conventional doctors are they're trained toprescribe, not prevent.
That's just how it is.
I'm not saying that they're bad people.
I'm not saying that they're ill intentioned.
That's just how they're trained.
Right?
And so if you were a a professional athlete andyou were trained to do one thing and then now
(46:09):
they're telling you to do this, you're you'regonna have no idea what that is.
Right?
So they're trained to diagnose and prescribemedicine.
So according to JAMA, the journal ofalternative medicine twenty nineteen, the
average doctor receives less than twenty hoursof nutrition education in their entire medical
training.
Right?
So your doctor's not gonna be the one to tellyou how to eat healthy.
(46:30):
That means they probably know more about thelatest diabetes drug than actually how to
reverse insulin resistance with diet andexercise.
So, you know, honestly, let's be real.
When was the last time your your doc talked toyou about gut health, microbiome, use things
like that strength training?
Right?
When was the last time they asked you if youwork out, kinda what your hormones are doing?
They don't.
And because that's that's not what they'retrained to do.
(46:51):
So the system being built on
How do you even go further and ask your doctorwhat, yeah, what do you know about the drug
you're prescribing me?
What do you what do you really know about thedrug you're prescribing me?
Because typically What did the rep tell you?
Right?
Yeah.
What the rep tell you?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly, man.
And so, you know, again, the system is built onchronic disease, not health.
(47:11):
So if you heal your gut, if you fix your yourchronic pain through natural things, you're not
gonna need the system.
Right?
And so that's not good for them.
So, the functional medicine approach is alwaysroot cause.
Right?
We focus on metabolic health, balancing bloodsugar, insulate insulin, inflammation before
diabetes develops.
Right?
(47:32):
Hormonal health, supporting the thyroidadrenals, sex hormones naturally instead of
just prescribing synthetic hormones, which, youknow, bioidentical hormones can be helpful, and
and I think there's a time and a place forthose, but they shouldn't be the first, and you
gotta use them wisely as well.
And then, obviously, like, this is a big one,man.
Biomechanics and movement.
(47:53):
Right?
If you can correct someone's posture the waytheir body moves before the chronic pain sets
in, you're gonna eliminate the need for thingslike over the counter NSAIDs, which so many
people just eat like candy.
And then obviously focusing on gut and immunehealth function.
So the bottom line is the system doesn't wantyou to be healthy, but we do.
(48:13):
We want you to be healthy.
We want you to thrive.
So conventional medicine isn't interested inthose solutions.
But if you want Band Aids, right, if you justwanna cover it up and this is the weirdest
thing, man.
We see this a lot, actually.
Some patients come in and they just that'sreally what they want.
They're like, dude, I just wanna be out of painfor a little bit.
Let's just give me a couple of things.
And I'm like, hey.
That's we can do that.
If that's ultimately what you want, I'll serveyou in that capacity.
(48:36):
But we always educate on why long termcorrectional things are best, and that's how
you can maintain long term.
So, that's what functional medicine is.
I love it.
This is a great episode.
Great education for people just to reallyunderstand, again, their body and to ask better
questions, to get better answers.
(48:56):
So we're here for you.
I love these questions that are coming through,but the truth is real health.
Isn't about coming from a prescription pad.
It comes from understanding your body,identifying the root cause of dysfunction and
making lifestyle changes that can actuallycreate long term vitality.
Yes.
And if that, if that makes us the black sheepof the medical world, so be it because the
(49:20):
people getting the real results in our clinics,the ones ditching medications, reversing
chronic conditions, and actually feelingbetter.
Aren't the ones following the mainstreamscript.
Right.
They're the ones rewriting it.
So let's keep decoding health one truth at atime.
Beautiful, man.
A great great finish there.
I love that.
Awesome, man.
Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
(49:42):
We hope this helped.
If you have found yourself with these similarquestions, if you're curious, please reach out
to us.
We would love to hear from you.
You can go to our website,alesseefunctionalhealth.com.
You can book an appointment, a consultationwith myself or one of my team members, and
let's start digging into what's going on.
Let's try to find you some answers and thengive you some real health solutions.
(50:05):
As always, if you like the episode, pleaseshare this.
Please subscribe.
That's how we can expand and we can reach morepeople.
And go, again, AlessiFunctionalHealth.com.
Go to resources.
Sign up for our newsletter.
That's how you'll know what's going on in ourclinic.
Awesome event going on March 8 in Tampa,Florida at Alessi Functional Health.
It's gonna be a health fair where we're gonnado a ton of really cool things and have a lot
(50:27):
of really cool, vendors and and companies outthere sharing in the mission.
So thank you so much again for joining us.
I'm doctor Alfred Alessi with my cohost, MattTack.
Stay curious, stay empowered, and remember,your health is in your hands.
Thank you for tuning in to Health Decoded,where we break down the truth about all things
(50:49):
health and empower you to take charge of yourwell-being.
If you found value in today's episode, pleasesubscribe, leave a review, and share it with
someone who needs to hear this.
For more resources and personalized support,visit us at Alessifunctionalhealth.com and sign
up for our newsletter.
To hear your questions answered live on theshow, send them to ask at Alessi f x health dot
(51:12):
com.
That's ask@alessifxhealth.com.
Until next time.
Stay curious, stay empowered, and remember,your health is in your hands.
So let's be real.
Chronic pain is a big business in the medicalindustry that there's no fortune to be made in
getting people off medications out of pain andbacking to living their lives.
So instead, the system thrives on symptommanagement and not actual resolution.
Welcome to Health Decode, your number onesource for real health information with your
(00:23):
host, doctor Alessi and Matt Tack.
Alright.
You were born ready for this.
Welcome back to Health Decoded, where weunravel the complexities of health and wellness
with science backed insights.
I'm your host, doctor Alfred Alessi.
And the famous co host, Matt Att.
(00:46):
Good to see you, man.
Today's episode is all about you, the listener,and giving you real answers to empower you to
live to the healthiest and highest version ofyourself.
Yeah.
Today, we're gonna be highlighting somequestions we commonly hear that we helped,
patients debunk and get functional, actionableanswers.
And here's a quick teaser.
(01:06):
Stay tuned as these questions could havequestions questions you better have, basically.
A little bit of a mouthful there for you, guy.
Man, that,
it's a lot of things.
What's going
on with the beard?
You're trying to trying to look like me orsomething?
I am.
I'm growing it out a little bit.
Maybe it's a little bit of laziness, but, I digit in.
(01:29):
I'm digging it too.
It's a good look.
It makes you look a little bit like, morelumberjack y.
The thing is is, like, mine grows straight out.
It's it's kinda weird how that happens.
It's like some guys, like, get that naturalcurl and that mine's freaking all wiry and
grows straight out.
It's weird.
Well, it has to get some it has to
get some length first, man.
It's a My girls, like, tell me they're like, doyou can't kiss me with your beard because I'm
(01:52):
like, it's, it just goes straight into themlike needles.
We'll clarify for the listeners by girls he'stalking about his daughters, not like a slew
of women that he's kissing.
So That's true.
I got a lot of girls in my life.
Awesome, man.
Well, just a couple updates for everybody.
You know, we're we're doing a really cool thingon March 8, man.
(02:13):
I'm super excited.
We're gonna be doing our spring into healthblock party at the clinic, Alessi Functional
Health in Tampa, where we're gonna be having abunch of really cool things going on.
We're gonna be doing complimentary X rays andevaluations and health screens for our patients
and friends and family, anyone who shows up.
We're gonna have tons of free food from somelocal vendors.
(02:35):
We're gonna have some local businesses outthere displaying themselves.
There's gonna be a dance fitness class withJenna from Bands and Booty.
There's gonna be ideally some other boot campkind of fitness going on, and then some chair
massage from, a good friend Jake Naderman withUplevel Movement.
So it's gonna be a really cool time.
(02:55):
If you're in the Tampa area, March 8 from nineto 1PM, definitely come out.
Completely free event.
Would love to see everybody out there.
We'll have some time slots for the, theexercise portion as well.
So, you'll be able to kinda tag in, when thosecome about.
So we'll make sure to get those programmedbeforehand, so that you can sign up for some
(03:17):
classes.
You can get that that booty fit, or you can, oryou can do some other classes that you might
enjoy.
Awesome, man.
Yeah.
Looking forward to that.
Well, let's let's get into it, man.
Today's episode, we really wanted to provide aton of value just based on the things that we
hear on a daily basis in the clinic.
(03:39):
These are questions that we we get all thetime.
We've been doing this for, you know, fiveyears, and and a lot of the questions tend to
repeat themselves because we see the samethings in this field.
So we basically came up with, like, a list.
We have, like, a running list of questions wehear.
But for today, we came up with a list of someof the the more common ones, and we just kinda
(04:00):
wanna get into it and and provide a little bitmore detail.
So we really put some time into answering thesefor you guys.
So, also, you know, I will say if this issomething that rings a bell or, strikes a nerve
with you, then let's connect and let's let'slet's see if we can help you out because there
are ways to get around these things that youdon't have to be frustrated and you don't have
(04:21):
to deal with these symptoms and stuff likethat.
So, let's just start.
The first one we have here is you know, we hearthis all the time.
Hey, my doctor my doctor quotes, my doctor saysmy labs are normal, but I still feel awful.
I still have symptoms, whether it's fatigue,bloating, struggling to lose weight.
So is there something missing in what theytested me?
(04:44):
And, you know, so this is classic, man.
The your labs are normal.
So docs like, well, it's it must all be in yourhead.
But here's the deal.
Conventional lab ranges are based onstatistical averages of the general population,
which is not necessarily what's optimal forhealth.
Right?
Is average is not optimal.
So let's be real.
If the general population is increasinglyoverweight, inflamed, dealing with chronic
(05:09):
disease, do you really wanna be in that averagenormal crowd?
Probably not.
Right?
If we're talking about what health is and andwhat, like, thriving is.
So traditional medicine relies on referenceranges that are designed only to catch the most
extreme cases of dysfunction.
So if you fall within that range, you're, youknow, traditionally trained doctors are just
(05:30):
gonna say you're normal.
Right?
But they don't the problem is these rangesdon't account for functional deficiencies where
a marker might technically be normal, but stillsuboptimal for proper physiological function.
So that's where functional medicine, theapproach we take, we dig deeper.
So instead of stopping at the bare minimum, wetake a systems based approach.
(05:51):
We're looking at how different biomarkersinteract and whether they align with optimal
function, not just the absence of disease.
So for example, let's talk about thyroidfunctions.
Most conventional doctors will only run a TSHtest.
Right?
That's your thyroid stimulating hormone.
If that falls within the lab range, which canvary widely, by the way, between labs, they'll
(06:14):
declare that thyroid as normal.
But here's what they're missing, and I see thisall the time.
So TSH is a signal hormone.
It's not actually a thyroid hormone.
It tells your thyroid what to do, but itdoesn't measure if the actual if the thyroid is
actually producing the hormones efficiently orif your cells are using them properly.
So many patients have a normal TSH, but stillfeel awful because the free free t three, which
(06:38):
is the active thyroid hormone is low or eventheir reverse t three is elevated.
So then this blocks proper thyroid function.
Also, other things like autoimmune thyroidconditions like Hashimoto's, it doesn't show up
on a TSH alone.
So the research actually shows that ninetypercent of hypothyroidism cases are actually
(06:59):
autoimmune in nature.
That's a huge number, man.
Ninety percent of hypothyroid, which is verycommon, they're autoimmune, meaning the body is
attacking the thyroid gland.
This is really cool.
A study published in the journal ofendocrinology and metabolism found that fifty
percent of people with normal TSH still hadsymptoms of hypothyroidism due to an
(07:21):
undiagnosed conversion issue or an autoimmunethyroid disease.
So this means millions of people are being toldthey're fine while they're still struggling
with the the the die off symptoms of that,which is weight gain, brain fog, cold
intolerance, which is kind of a random one, butpeople have that, and then fatigue.
And so this is all because they didn't checkbeyond the surface.
(07:43):
They just looked at the the one marker.
Another example I'll I'll I'll share is bloodsugar and metabolic health.
So it's all it's more than just about glucose.
Right?
Another major blind spot in this conventionaltesting.
So many doctors will check your fastingglucose, but it's really just a snapshot of the
blood sugar regulation.
(08:03):
By the time fasting glucose has been elevated,insulin resistance has often been developing
for years.
So a better approach or a more functionalapproach is checking fasting insulin,
hemoglobin a one c, and even doing like acontinuous glucose monitoring.
So that's where you wear one of those devicesthat kind of taps into the the capillaries on
(08:26):
the surface of the skin, and it gives youconstant feedback.
The technology is really cool.
It's Bluetooth to your phone.
You can just track.
It even alerts you if you get a spike in bloodsugar or if you dip.
So, again, that's a more functional approach.
A study in The Lancet diabetes andendocrinology showed that eighty eight percent
of US US adults have some degree of metabolicdysfunction.
(08:49):
And we're these are all big numbers I'mspitting out here.
Fifty percent, ninety percent, eighty eightpercent.
So, you know, I guess what I derive from thatis that the conventional medicine approach just
seems to be missing something.
If people are going to their doctors andthey're still eighty eight percent of people
have some kind of metabolic dysfunction.
Right?
So we talk all the time about what islifestyle, what is functional health look like.
(09:13):
So, you know, the and, the last one I wannareally share is is gut dysfunction, and this is
often overlooked.
So gut dysfunction really is is is the key toinflammation and chronic disease.
Standard lab panels ignore gut health.
Right, despite the massive impact it has onmetabolism, inflammation, immune function.
(09:33):
If you have bloating, food sensitivity, brainfog, your doctor might just give you a a a
label IBS and then say, you know, you're onyour way.
Right?
But functional medicine is gonna look a littlebit deeper.
So we can do things such as comprehensive stooltesting where we're gonna assess imbalances
within the microbiome.
We're gonna we can see inflammation.
(09:54):
We can see if there's infections, parasites.
We can check things like leaky gut markers.
So there's a protein called zonulin thatactually maintains the strength of the the the
cells, the cell wall in your gut lining.
And if there's issues with that protein, we cantest for that and see if someone has things
like leaky gut.
Another thing is things like SIBO, which issmall intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
(10:18):
A lot of docs don't even know to test for this.
In many cases of IBS are actually an overgrowthof bacteria in the small intestine that then
causing those symptoms.
So really the bottom line, man, is if your labsare normal, but you feel like trash, it's time
to look a little bit deeper.
Right?
Something's being missed.
So just because a number falls inside thisarbitrary range doesn't really mean your body's
(10:43):
functioning optimally.
It just means you're you're in the same stateas everyone else, which is probably suboptimal
health.
Right?
So getting a second opinion, not just a quickglance is gonna be a better take.
And conventional medicine often just waitsuntil a disease develops before really acting.
Whereas functional medicine, we're preventingdisease.
(11:03):
We're gonna optimize health and ensure that youactually feel your best, not just not sick.
Right?
So that's, I know that's a mouthful, but I Ireally think for when we hear that question,
that's the route we need to take.
Yeah.
That's, I'd like such valuable information tooin terms of how you can be the educator of your
(11:26):
health.
And, when you go to a standard, generalpractitioner, which many of our friends say it
and a good friend of mine, Jason is the exactsame thing.
Right.
He is showing precursors to just chronic pain.
He's trying to figure it out, but his GP had noidea.
So he's like, look, I can't help you.
(11:47):
And so dealing with that root cause is anunderstanding of like, does he have
fundamentally, what do his labs look like?
And then fundamentally, how can, how can weidentify some of the things that you just
mentioned?
But, you know, just kind of bringing it backhome, I've been dealing with chronic pain for
years.
And, even when I didn't know.
(12:10):
Right.
You don't know what you don't know.
How was I going to heal my body?
And so we did the same thing, you know, acouple of years ago, I think at this point,
maybe it was like last year, we had to diveinto what my numbers look like.
And, that was me being proactive and wanting towanting to just figure things out right where I
(12:34):
even had a small thyroid issue, and within myT3.
And so we had to figure that stuff out and Ihad to create that hurdle and then, have now
since, navigated, on the complete flip side,which my blood work comes back consistent every
time.
But why chronic pain?
Let's talk about this.
Why chronic pain is a cash cow for the medicalsystem and I won't, no one's fixing it at the
(12:57):
source.
So let's be real.
Chronic pain is a big business in the medicalindustry that there's no fortune to be made in
getting people off medications out of pain andbacking to living their lives.
So instead the system thrives on symptommanagement and not actual resolution.
(13:17):
So let's dive into just a few things that weneed to talk about on the way the models are
structured.
So most conventional pain management followsthe pharmaceutical first model.
So I'm sure you've seen this when you go into astandard practitioner, get an antihistamine,
right.
Take some ibuprofen, you know, just.
(13:40):
Those things are just a mass, the inflammation,that you're having in your body.
Right.
Tylenol, all those things that are going to beover the counter, let's mask it.
Instead of looking at maybe it might be adehydration issue, right?
A lot of times, getting your proper pH levelsfigured out before taking, an Excedrin, or an
(14:01):
ibuprofen is the best protocol there.
Muscle relaxers to numb the tightness, right?
Where there's other things that you can use,like self myofascial release on some tight
muscle groups of getting a foam roller.
Right.
Those are different actionable items that youcan take.
Hey, I got a strain, getting bodywork doneroutine, body, bodywork done.
(14:23):
That's like an important thing instead ofmasking it with other antihistamines.
Right.
The other way, which steroid injections tosuppress, symptoms temporarily.
Right.
A lot of times people, ah, we'll just give youa cortisol shot or we'll give you a steroid
injection to just mask the pain once again,instead of diving into why is that why is that
(14:46):
pain there in the first place?
So asking those questions of, do I really needthis?
Now there are times where maybe those areappropriate, right, to just settle the muscle
down muscles down and get them to relax so thatyou can use other measures.
Opioids are a major thing in today, right?
When the pain persists, Hey, just like mask itagain.
(15:09):
Now those aren't long term things that you needto put in place because those will ultimately
be damaging to other organs in your body.
You want to make sure you measure those thingsproperly.
And then when all else fails, Hey, we gottagive you surgery.
Right.
And usually that's the case is that like athere we're going to be angling you towards
surgery so that you walk away with a massivemedical bill.
(15:32):
Or your insurance is stuck with it instead oftrying to figure out, Hey, do I need this?
And then what are measures that I can take,that potentially could get me out of this and I
don't need surgery, right?
There are always measures, always betterquestions that you can ask.
So here's the problem.
None of these pro none of these, approachesactually fix the root cause.
(15:54):
They just slap a band aid on the symptoms andthen keeping patients dependent on ongoing
treatments.
Right.
I gotta buy this again.
I gotta get more, antibiotics, whatever itlooks like.
But if we look at the science, it's clear thatchronic pain, isn't just about pain itself.
It's about what's driving it.
So we always say, ask better questions, getbetter answers and the true root causes of
(16:18):
chronic pain.
So let's dive into these a little bit further.
A lot of doctors just flat out ignore these.
So chronic inflammation sensitizes painreceptors.
Inflammation.
Isn't just a buzzword.
It's one of the primary drivers of a persistentpain.
And, we love adding in these things because,people have done the research.
(16:40):
So a 2020 study in the journal of pain researchfound that systematic inflammation lowers the
pain threshold.
So making the modern body more sensitive topain signals.
In other words, the more inflamed you are, themore everything is going to hurt.
That's just the stress loads that are on yourbody naturally create more inflammation.
(17:02):
So you need to utilize other measures to reducethat pain or that stress threshold to reduce
the inflammation in your body.
So inflammation leads to nerve hypersensitivity, amplifying pain signals, even when
there's no active injuries.
So that can lead to other areas.
One thing we do in our clinic, is we target thecore root of the pain when it's actually might
(17:24):
be creating inflammation in other areas.
That's called our soft weight technology thatbasically naturally creates that's, that,
regeneration, in new tissue that reduces theamount of inflammation and the target source.
So that's a natural way of producing your bodystem cells and it could be, Hey, the shoulder
(17:46):
could be indicating a number of other areas,but if you deal with it directly where it's at,
it could hinder, some other areas.
So another, another thing that we want to talkabout is, inflamed tissues have, more blood at
poor blood flow and healing capacity, which iswhy injuries and aches seem to linger
(18:08):
indefinitely.
So we just wanna make sure that the restrictedblood flow, hey, how much blood flow are you
getting into your body?
That naturally, that's why we believe insaunas.
Right?
Getting in saunas where you increase your bloodflow, which, exacerbates, I shouldn't say
really exacerbates, but increases the amount ofblood flow, which increases, the promotion of
(18:29):
just healing throughout the rest of your body.
And what fuels, chronic inflammation.
So we go back always to the root cause of like,Hey, what are you putting in your diet?
One of the big precursors, that we like toexplain to everything is like, usually it's
dehydration that starts out right now.
People getting enough water throughout the day.
(18:50):
You need to drink, at minimum, really a threeliters of water.
I love getting a liter jug, and getting aboutthree of those in daily.
I do believe that liquid IVs and other portionsthat you can, you can put those in there.
You don't, those do have some sugars, processedsugars that you probably don't want to be
adding all the time.
(19:11):
So you don't want to be continually dumpingthose in just water is a great source.
So, but other things that are precursors tothis as highly processed diet, right?
Chronic stress, poor sleep, sedentary behavior.
So are you eating and sitting down and watchingTV?
Right.
One of the things that we've done as a habitstructure within our families, we typically eat
(19:32):
and then walk, right.
That reduces that glycemic spike that you mighthave from carbohydrates, in fats that you've
been eating for dinner or lunch.
And so just walk, you know, even if a five, tenminute walk really helps and reduces that
glycemic spike that you might have.
So all things conventional medicine rarelyaddress, right?
(19:53):
Like, Hey, go for a walk after you eat.
That's typically not a question that's askedyou walk after you eat.
Are you, are you properly hydrated throughoutthe day?
So other things that we want to tap into isjust poor movement, mechanics, and postural
dysfunction that destroy joints.
So most people don't injure themselves in onebig catastrophic catastrophic event.
(20:15):
Instead, chronic pain develops due to years ofsitting too much.
So that's a weakening of core stability and theshortening of the hip flexors.
Right.
So you'll see yourself, and that's where wekind of come into the clinic and structurally
realign that, is to really elongate those hipflexors.
(20:35):
So you don't have, any type of anterior flags,repetitive, faulty movement patterns, like
walking with poor gait mechanics.
You know, one of the things that our friend,Jake, is that for years I was running
incorrectly.
Right.
I wasn't running where the there the outside ofmy toes roll in.
(20:57):
And so even though it's a nerdy way to look atthings, there was one of the things that I even
had to look at of how I was running, and how Iwas properly be laying my feet.
And I should be bowing my toes forward andlanding on my toes and letting my heels come
down softly.
So even a running pattern is really importantbecause usually people strike with that heel
(21:19):
first.
Right.
So those are the things to ask yourself as faras how am I walking right?
Are my legs like boat in?
How can I, how can I work on my abductor?
I might have an abductor complex from my justknees are, tilting it a little bit when I'm,
when I'm walking.
So those are, those are just some of the thingsfrom a walking standpoint, how important that
(21:41):
is.
And then ignoring muscle imbalances leading toimproper.
Bloating and excess of wear and tear.
So, to explain this a little bit further, whenyou're ignoring your muscle imbalances, those
are just some of the things that have triggeredfrom you maybe sitting throughout the day, you
becoming a little bit more shelled and rolledwith your shoulders because you've, you've been
(22:05):
kinked up and dialing on a keyboard for anumber of years.
Your neck is actually loaded a little bitforward, which creates muscular imbalances, in
your delts and your neck and the cervicalregion.
And, and you're, you're all crunched up, right?
What does that do that tightens up your wholebody?
So your, your stress load is so much moreincreased, and you have all these imbalances
(22:30):
and until you rectify those, that stress will,will lead to diseases.
Right.
And so that's the important of just gettingthat relaxed state, of making sure you have
spinal realignment, both in the hips and in thecervical region.
But here's the catch.
So we don't want to just sit here and obviouslydog on, you know, Western medicine, but there,
(22:54):
there are questions that you need to ask.
So most doctors never assess the biomechanicsof your body.
Right.
They won't look at you and be like, Hey, thefirst thing we need to look at is actually your
spinal alignment.
And the second thing we have, we probablyshould reduce a little bit of that weight.
Right.
Being honest with people, is an importantthing.
We need to lose weight.
We need to get your spine realigned so that youcan reduce that stress load.
(23:19):
Instead, they prescribe painkillers and tellpatients to yeah.
You probably should stretch a little bit more.
Right?
What does he what does even stretch look like?
What does that mean?
Stretch looks like, right?
Yeah.
Which doesn't fix the root issue.
So, as we dial in the functional medicineapproach to actually fixing chronic pain, so
here's some, some mechanics that you can use.
(23:40):
If a pain is a symptom, not the problem, thenthe goal should be to identify and fix the root
cause.
That's exactly what we do with an integrativeapproach.
Number one, the spinal biomechanics correction.
So CBP has been proven in clinical studies torestore proper spinal alignment and reduce
(24:02):
chronic pain long term.
So we talked about getting the spinalrealignment, that could be through
decompression therapy.
That could be through a number of differentthings, but decompression therapy, and
chiropractic correction, right?
Unlike traditional chiropractor adjustments,CBP focuses on correcting posture and movement
patterns, spreading, preventing pain fromcoming back.
(24:25):
That's one of our main goals at Alessifunctional health too, is to allow you to live
with a pain free future, right?
It's not it's to educate you through theprocess.
That's our one differentiator, that we think wedo the best, the absolute best in the game is
educating you so that you can go out and do ityourself.
Right.
And then we're always here for you, but thosethings are things that you can use soft wave
(24:48):
therapy for stem cell activation and tissueregeneration.
It's something that I talked on a little bitearlier, but soft waves use electro hydraulic
shock waves to stimulate cell stem cellproduction, reducing inflammation, accelerate
healing.
Check this out too.
This is a really cool, some clinical trialshave shown this off wave.
(25:10):
They've used this quite a bit in Europe too.
I like how Europe usually things that followright.
Europe will cause they have a less restrictive,they're a little bit more, forward thinking in
terms of like how they're utilizing.
A lot of people walk too.
So generally they aren't as overweight so theycan use technologies like this, but clinical
trials have shown that soft weight therapyreduces pain up to 70% in just a few sessions,
(25:34):
particularly for tendon and joint issues.
And I just want to note on this, the reason whytendons and joints are so imperative, for the
purposes of longevity is because that's whatholds your muscular structure, right?
So the largest organs in your body is your Tthe strength of your tendons and your joints
are going to be a direct indicator of how muchmuscle mass you can hold on to later in life.
(25:59):
So we need to make sure that we are protectingthose.
And there's not an insane amount ofinflammation, right?
Anti inflammatory nutrition to lower your painmarkers.
This is where, you know, some supplementationcomes in, but mainly it's through whole food
sources, but excess omega six fatty acids fromvegetable oils, like drive chronic information.
(26:22):
Right.
While omega threes from wild caught fish, grassfed meat, lower it according to the journal of
American college of nutrition in 2018, thatstudy the cutting out of pro process seed oils,
like, canola oil, soybean oil, and sunflowerdramatically reduce inflammation and pain
levels.
(26:42):
As we, kind of wrap up my segment here, buttargeting strength and mobility training, we
have GoDA and ATG methods.
But to go to the greatest of all time actions,something that I, I kind of explained it in a
little bit detail, but identifying faultymovement patterns, and retrains the body for
optical biomechanics reduces stress on joints.
(27:05):
That was one thing that I did because Irealized that my impact on my heels, needed to
be reverted to more toe action.
Right.
So I have this rolling effect where I have asofter impact on my heels.
So the ATG, the athletic truth group, systemfocuses on strengthening and a full range of
motion, preventing joint breakdown.
(27:28):
As we were talking about, joints, how pivotaljoints are, in promoting, muscular muscular
density, right.
And maintaining that stronger joints you have,the more muscle mass you can, you can hold on
to a study in the sports health in 2021.
Found that targeted strength training reduceschronic knee and back pain by fifty to eighty
(27:51):
percent over time.
Something drugs could never, ever accomplish.
Man, and that's you said something there thatis just so profound.
It's like fixing pain at the source and gettingto the root cause of people's problems and
getting them healthy is actually bad forbusiness.
Right?
And so that's the whole concept here is thatconventional medicine and pharmaceutical
(28:12):
industry, it's a business, and and everyoneknows that by now.
So if more people corrected their biomechanics,improved their metabolic health, reduced
inflammation naturally, guess what?
They wouldn't need these lifelong prescriptionsof pain meds.
They wouldn't need the recurring steroidinjections or the expensive surgeries that in
this country, the failure rate of surgery isfifty percent.
(28:33):
So flip a coin, you might come out there with asuccessful spinal surgery, you might walk out
of there debilitated.
Right?
And so that's bad business for thepharmaceutical industry is that, they're
they're just managing something so that youkeep coming back, coming back, coming back.
And so we like you said, we do it differentlyat our clinic, and I tell every single person I
(28:53):
meet that my goal is for you to not need me.
Right?
Like, if I have you coming back to my officeover and over again with an issue, right, with
an active acute issue, then we didn't do ourjob.
A lot of patients continue to come to us forpreventative and optionally for maintenance
care because they choose to, but they don'tneed to.
And so Thanks.
(29:13):
You know, we've kind of taken the chiropracticmodel and gone a different route.
We're not trying to keep you on the hookforever.
We wanna discharge you at some point and say,hey.
You're good.
Now just maintain what we've taught you, andyou'll be good.
Right?
And let let us empower you through this andeducate you through this whole process, and now
you are the one who's in in control of yourhealth.
So that's that's kind of the approach we take,and I've had other chiros be like, dude, that's
(29:36):
not a good business model.
And I'm like, well, we get a ton of peoplesending us their friends and family, and it's
actually been pretty good for us.
So because people wanna get out of pain.
They don't wanna feel like they're thereforever.
They want an end line.
Right?
And so that's our goal.
So the next question that we had here on ourlist is, let's see.
I was told that taking medications for mythyroid or blood sugar is my only option.
(29:58):
Right?
And this kinda goes for anything.
Are there natural ways rather than justmanaging the symptoms?
And this is kind of what we just talked about.
Right?
Medications are not a real solution becausethey are not bioidentical.
Your body has to figure out what this is, andit's gonna have an action inside the body, but
it's not actually going to assimilate and dosomething that's gonna naturally cause your
(30:19):
body to start healing.
So I wouldn't say that I'm a % anti medication.
There's times when they're necessary, right,for short term interventions, acute conditions,
or lifesaving emergencies, of course.
But the problem is they're handed out likecandy, right, often without a second thought as
to, like, why is the dysfunction happening inthe first place.
And I think we're just gonna continue to beatthe drum on this and and beat this dead horse
(30:42):
in our podcast that there's other options.
Right?
And so the, the medical the the conventionalmedicine operates basically on a diagnose and
prescribe model.
So you have x, here's x drug.
Right?
You have y, here's y drug.
And it's kind of a lazy system.
If you ask me, Nobody's really asking, like,why did this happen in the first place?
(31:03):
Hey.
Did you have a stressful event that might havetriggered an autoimmune condition to then now
lead to these symptoms?
Right?
Did you go through some kind of major trauma?
Right?
What are what are these more, in-depth causes?
So, you know, a couple case studies that thatwe've got and and I'll kinda share here is,
like, managing versus reversing type twodiabetes.
(31:25):
I think this is something that people stilldon't know is that type two diabetes, which is
a lifestyle related disease, it's not a geneticcondition, is reversible.
I'll say that again.
Type two diabetes is reversible.
We have done it in our clinic, and we've helpedpeople to get those numbers to normal.
So, you know, most doctors universally willjust prescribe metformin and tell patients to
(31:47):
watch their diet.
But, like, what does that even mean?
Right?
Go go low carb, go keto, but they don't teachpatients how to actually reverse insulin
resistance, which is the issue.
Right?
That's the root cause.
So, a a 2121 study in nature medicine foundthat a low carb, high protein diet combined
with resistance training can reduce hemoglobina one c levels as effectively as metformin.
(32:15):
Wow.
Right?
So why?
Because it addresses the root cause, which isthe insulin resistance rather than just
suppressing the blood sugar levels, which isthe symptom.
So what actually causes insulin resistance?
Chronic consumption, chronic overconsumption ofrefined carbs and processed seed oils, lack of
muscle mass.
(32:35):
Right?
Muscle mass is the largest site in your bodyfor glucose disposal and poor sleep and high
stress, which are gonna bump cortisol up andthen lower insulin sensitivity.
So instead of just handing out metformin, like,why aren't we teaching patients to cut out the
processed sugar and the seed oils that arefueling the inflammation?
Encourage resistance training.
(32:56):
This is something you and I preach.
Right?
Get that muscle mass up because it's gonnaimprove glucose metabolism.
Your body's gonna utilize that glucose more.
And then addressing sleep quality and stress,which are gonna directly impact insulin
sensitivity and cortisol.
So if patients actually reverse their diabetes,they wouldn't need metformin for life.
Right?
But, again, that's bad for business for the thepeople selling metformin and the big pharma.
(33:23):
Also to add Yeah.
Also to add to that, you know, and what peoplea lot of people don't know, and that's why this
needs to be said is that it's not even justmetformin, that this type two bi diabetics are
on, but a lot of people, you know, that haveaccess weight, because that's those are
typically the people with type two diabetes.
(33:43):
They'll, you know, prescribe a GLP one and thatwill actually be targeting your muscle mass
first, which is why we say resistance trainingfirst, right?
Because if you're going to get on that, you'regoing to be losing 30% up to 30% of your muscle
mass, which it's not fat loss.
(34:05):
It's actually muscle loss.
And so when you combine those things, it'sactually not the greatest precursor for the,
what longevity looks like to you because you'relosing so much muscle mass in that time.
What you want to do is be targeting that fatfirst, right?
Lose the fat while you're gaining the muscle.
And then over time with a level of consistencyand resistance training here, you know, I like
(34:28):
getting into what it should look like atminimum of three days a week for forty five
minutes.
That's what resistance training should looklike for a type two diet.
Yep.
And so to expand on that, go listen to the lastepisode we did about weight loss and all of we
we got super into the weeds and and deep, wedid a deep dive on everything you just said
(34:50):
there.
So that's a good summary.
So, you know, kind of to wrap up this question,like, medications should not be used as a as a
lifelong thing.
They should be a bridge between acute, right,emergent kind of thing to get you back to then,
lifestyle.
So medicate medications can be a useful tool.
Right?
But they're never the only tool, so I'll letpeople need to know that.
(35:12):
Right?
There's other options, but, again, temporary.
So you're just putting a Band Aid on a bulletwound sometimes.
Right?
So this is exactly why we we take functionalmedicine approach to look deeper because the
goal isn't to keep you dependent on drugs.
The goal is actual health restoration.
And so, you know, again, like, it's not thebest business model because we're giving giving
(35:33):
you healthy, we're giving you the answers, andnow you can do it on your own.
But we're not in the business of of takingpeople's money and keeping them sick.
We're in the pea the business of empowering andchanging the world really through an impact
that's gonna be passed down through generationsultimately.
So here's question number four.
I eat well and exercise, but I still have somegut issues, inflammation, and brain fog could
(35:58):
hidden toxins, food, sensitive activities, orstress be the missing link.
So your gut is the command center of yourhealth.
You have to understand that it's going todictate everything.
It's going to have a neurological release toyour brain.
All those things are going to be dictated fromyour gut.
In fact, they say your gut is actually yourfirst brain.
(36:18):
Yeah.
That's going to actually show you everythingthat else is good that's going on.
So you want to make sure, when you have more ofan alignment with your gut, you're going to
have in my, you're going to have a deep,deeper, spiritual sense.
You're going to have more cognitive release.
So make sure, these are the things that, youwant to be putting in place.
So the gut isn't just about digestives, aboutthe command center for your immune system,
(36:41):
brain function, metabolism, and even mood.
If your gun is off, everything is off, youknow, it, but here's the problem.
Most people don't realize they have gut issuesbecause they don't always show up as bloating
or stomach pain.
Instead, gut dysfunction can manifest as brainfog and fatigue, joint pain and inflammation,
anxiety, and depression, auto immune diseases,chronic skin condition like eczema and acne.
(37:08):
And yet conventional medicine barelyacknowledges gut health issues, until you've
had full blown IBS or even Crohn's or colitis,but let's break down why your gut is so
critical to overall health and why just eatingmore fiber and popping at probiotic isn't
enough.
You know, those, those famous greens thateveryone is on nowadays.
Right?
(37:29):
So here's gut dysbiosis, the CR the root ofchronic inflammation and disease.
Your gut is a home of trillions of bacteriathat regulate immune function, neurotransmitter
production, and metabolic health.
When your gut bacteria are balanced, you feelgreat when they're out of whack, then there's
(37:49):
dysbiosis.
If it can trigger systematic inflammation anddisease.
So here's a study done in 2021 by gut micromicrobes found that gut dysbiosis is a direct
directly linked to auto immune conditions,chronic inflammation, even mood disorders like
anxiety and depression.
(38:10):
So translation your gut microbiome.
Doesn't just affect digestion.
It affects your immune system and brain, whichaffect your digestion.
Right.
And what's wrecking people's gut healthAntibiotics.
Right?
That's wiping out the solid gut bacteria thatyou have.
So think of your kids.
Right?
(38:30):
If you're constantly putting them antibioticsevery single time, they get a little sniffly
cold.
That's exactly what it's doing.
Glyphosate, herbicides and non organic food.
Right?
Which have been linked to a leaky gut and, andmicrobiome disruption, processed foods, as we
(38:50):
talked about, artificial sweeteners, which feedbad bacteria and cause inflammation, chronic
stress, and poor sleep, all things that wementioned, both of which alter gut bacteria and
composition and gut health.
Isn't just about digestion.
It's about preventing chronic disease before iteven starts.
So let's dig into a little bit about what leakygut is.
(39:11):
So typically this is where people are going tosee this a little bit later in life.
You're not going to see this.
You, you could see this at an early age, right?
We might be actually seeing it more with the,the amount of gut and the gut dysfunction that
we're seeing in adolescents.
If you're an adolescent with leaky gut that's,that's, you know, those times are probably
coming, but typically you're going to see thisin your twenties and thirties, leaky gut, is
(39:35):
intestinal permeability.
All right.
So just to give you a little bit of explanationabout how the gut works, it goes, it breaks
down your food through the largest smallintestines.
It's broken down.
All those micro macronutrients are then getinto the gut and then they're pushed out into
the bloodstream.
So if you're in chronic inflammation, you're,you're not getting enough of those macro
(39:57):
micronutrients.
If you're, if your quality, if you feed yourfood sources, isn't there.
So this happens when the lining of your gutbecomes damaged, allowing toxins, bacteria,
undigested food particles to leak into yourbloodstream.
Research in the journal of clinicalgastroenterology found that increased
(40:21):
intestinal permeability is linked to autoimmunedisease.
Auto immune diseases like Hashimoto'srheumatoid arthritis and even multiple
sclerosis.
So what causes leaky gut?
So you have a number of different things thatwe already talked about.
But glyphosate, again, that's a herbicide andconventional food, weakens gut lining and
(40:42):
integrity.
So then you have, like the ibuprofen, theaspirins NSAIDs have been shown to increase gut
permeability.
So doing those on a daily basis is notsomething as a precursor for longevity, right?
Gluten and seed oils could trigger aninflammatory response that worsens gut barrier,
(41:02):
gut barrier dysfunction.
So if you're struggling with chronicinflammation of joint health or joint health or
auto immune issues, your gut is likely part ofthe problem, where you're going to dive into
the most, the most, where you can have a, abody that naturally heals itself is when you
(41:25):
focus on your stress and sleep receptors.
Right?
The overload gut killers.
Most people don't realize the stress andlasting sleep can literally change your gut
microbiome.
And you see your body recovers.
This is what's kind of cool about how the bodyworks is that when you get proper sleep, your
spine is actually releasing fluid, right.
(41:46):
And allowing your cerebral fluid just to go andcleanse the brain.
Right.
And so you get a therapeutic soup, whichindicates everything else in the body.
So if you're not getting proper sleep, yourbrain is not getting the proper nutrients that
it needs to potentially reduce the amount ofinflammation in the body, particularly in the
gut.
So they're all interconnected.
(42:08):
High stress levels, increased cortisol, whichdirectly impacts gut bacteria increases gut
permeability, decreased digestive enzymeproduction, leading to bloating reflux and
nutrient malabsorption.
This is important because what people don'trealize is that when you have a backup and you
have heartburn, you have indigestion, thattypically is because you have not enough
(42:34):
enzymes within the stomach.
Right?
So you want to make sure that maybe that youcan incorporate, some, apple cider vinegar or
various things that have more digestive enzymesbuilt up.
So that you're aiding that into the productionof the breakdown before it gives in the largest
small intestine, right?
Fuel cravings for processed foods, sugar,further reckoning of gut health.
(42:56):
So the gut brain connection is very real.
And if your nervous system is constantly inflight or fight mode, your gut health will
eventually suffer.
Yeah.
So, you know, like, that's that's great, man.
And then it's all about, again, like, comingback to what's the functional medicine approach
(43:16):
to gut health.
And so you said it, like, instead of justthrowing probiotics on the problem, which is,
like, basically, like planting flowers in atoxic waste dump, you're throwing a bunch of
good stuff onto something that's not working.
So the systematic approach is number one, wehave to identify what are the inflammatory
triggers.
Right?
So we can assess for food intolerances such asgluten, dairy, seed oils, artificial sweeteners
(43:40):
that are contributing to the inflammation.
Then you gotta balance the gut microbiome.
We can check for stool tests.
We can see if there's dysbiosis, SIBO, candidaovergrowth, parasites, toxins, and then find
out what those are and now reduce that toxicburden.
So, you know, if there is glyphosate exposure,heavy metals, mold, how do we get those out?
(44:01):
And then heal and rebuild.
So we use a combination of elimination dieting,fasting, anti inflammatory nutrition, gut
healing nutrients, some of the best likeglutamine and collagen, and then lifestyle
changes to restore gut health from the groundup.
Right?
It's all about lifestyle because if you cancreate something that is foundationally part of
your lifestyle, then you can do that forever.
(44:22):
Right?
And so a healthy gut is gonna equal bettermetabolism, brain function, immune system, but
most doctors are just completely ignoring thisnow.
So unless you're dealing with full blowndigestive stuff, they often just kinda dismiss
you as, again, IBS in air quotes.
So if you're dealing with chronic inflammation,brain fog, weight issues, autoimmune symptoms,
(44:43):
your gut is the first place to look because ifyour gut is off, everything else will be off.
Right?
So last question before we wrap up, this isjust one I really, really wanna drive home is
and to say it in a nice way.
Right?
If your doctor is dismissing you or if yourdoctor is not listening to you or telling you
that it's in your head, get a different doctor.
(45:06):
Get a more functional doctor who's gonna sitthere and take the time to understand what your
problems are.
So this is something we hear a lot.
Right?
It's every time I bring up alternativetreatments like functional medicine or hormones
balancing or gut health, my doctor doesn't takeit seriously.
So, like, why is conventional medicine soresistant to these holistic approaches that
I've heard work or actually do work.
(45:27):
Right?
And so, again, beating the drum here,conventional medicine isn't about prevention.
It's about lifelong customers because it's aprofit driven system.
These doctors have to hit quotas of how manymedications they give out a month, a week,
whatever.
Right?
And that's just the truth of it.
That's the ugly truth.
So the pharmaceutical companies are the onesfunding the medical schools, the research, the
(45:48):
guidelines.
So the entire system is set up for them to havetheir kind of stake, right, or their way.
So conventional doctors are they're trained toprescribe, not prevent.
That's just how it is.
I'm not saying that they're bad people.
I'm not saying that they're ill intentioned.
That's just how they're trained.
Right?
And so if you were a a professional athlete andyou were trained to do one thing and then now
(46:09):
they're telling you to do this, you're you'regonna have no idea what that is.
Right?
So they're trained to diagnose and prescribemedicine.
So according to JAMA, the journal ofalternative medicine twenty nineteen, the
average doctor receives less than twenty hoursof nutrition education in their entire medical
training.
Right?
So your doctor's not gonna be the one to tellyou how to eat healthy.
(46:30):
That means they probably know more about thelatest diabetes drug than actually how to
reverse insulin resistance with diet andexercise.
So, you know, honestly, let's be real.
When was the last time your your doc talked toyou about gut health, microbiome, use things
like that strength training?
Right?
When was the last time they asked you if youwork out, kinda what your hormones are doing?
They don't.
And because that's that's not what they'retrained to do.
(46:51):
So the system being built on
How do you even go further and ask your doctorwhat, yeah, what do you know about the drug
you're prescribing me?
What do you what do you really know about thedrug you're prescribing me?
Because typically What did the rep tell you?
Right?
Yeah.
What the rep tell you?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly, man.
And so, you know, again, the system is built onchronic disease, not health.
(47:11):
So if you heal your gut, if you fix your yourchronic pain through natural things, you're not
gonna need the system.
Right?
And so that's not good for them.
So, the functional medicine approach is alwaysroot cause.
Right?
We focus on metabolic health, balancing bloodsugar, insulate insulin, inflammation before
diabetes develops.
Right?
(47:32):
Hormonal health, supporting the thyroidadrenals, sex hormones naturally instead of
just prescribing synthetic hormones, which, youknow, bioidentical hormones can be helpful, and
and I think there's a time and a place forthose, but they shouldn't be the first, and you
gotta use them wisely as well.
And then, obviously, like, this is a big one,man.
Biomechanics and movement.
(47:53):
Right?
If you can correct someone's posture the waytheir body moves before the chronic pain sets
in, you're gonna eliminate the need for thingslike over the counter NSAIDs, which so many
people just eat like candy.
And then obviously focusing on gut and immunehealth function.
So the bottom line is the system doesn't wantyou to be healthy, but we do.
(48:13):
We want you to be healthy.
We want you to thrive.
So conventional medicine isn't interested inthose solutions.
But if you want Band Aids, right, if you justwanna cover it up and this is the weirdest
thing, man.
We see this a lot, actually.
Some patients come in and they just that'sreally what they want.
They're like, dude, I just wanna be out of painfor a little bit.
Let's just give me a couple of things.
And I'm like, hey.
That's we can do that.
If that's ultimately what you want, I'll serveyou in that capacity.
(48:36):
But we always educate on why long termcorrectional things are best, and that's how
you can maintain long term.
So, that's what functional medicine is.
I love it.
This is a great episode.
Great education for people just to reallyunderstand, again, their body and to ask better
questions, to get better answers.
(48:56):
So we're here for you.
I love these questions that are coming through,but the truth is real health.
Isn't about coming from a prescription pad.
It comes from understanding your body,identifying the root cause of dysfunction and
making lifestyle changes that can actuallycreate long term vitality.
Yes.
And if that, if that makes us the black sheepof the medical world, so be it because the
(49:20):
people getting the real results in our clinics,the ones ditching medications, reversing
chronic conditions, and actually feelingbetter.
Aren't the ones following the mainstreamscript.
Right.
They're the ones rewriting it.
So let's keep decoding health one truth at atime.
Beautiful, man.
A great great finish there.
I love that.
Awesome, man.
Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
(49:42):
We hope this helped.
If you have found yourself with these similarquestions, if you're curious, please reach out
to us.
We would love to hear from you.
You can go to our website,alesseefunctionalhealth.com.
You can book an appointment, a consultationwith myself or one of my team members, and
let's start digging into what's going on.
Let's try to find you some answers and thengive you some real health solutions.
(50:05):
As always, if you like the episode, pleaseshare this.
Please subscribe.
That's how we can expand and we can reach morepeople.
And go, again, AlessiFunctionalHealth.com.
Go to resources.
Sign up for our newsletter.
That's how you'll know what's going on in ourclinic.
Awesome event going on March 8 in Tampa,Florida at Alessi Functional Health.
It's gonna be a health fair where we're gonnado a ton of really cool things and have a lot
(50:27):
of really cool, vendors and and companies outthere sharing in the mission.
So thank you so much again for joining us.
I'm doctor Alfred Alessi with my cohost, MattTack.
Stay curious, stay empowered, and remember,your health is in your hands.
Thank you for tuning in to Health Decoded,where we break down the truth about all things
(50:49):
health and empower you to take charge of yourwell-being.
If you found value in today's episode, pleasesubscribe, leave a review, and share it with
someone who needs to hear this.
For more resources and personalized support,visit us at Alessifunctionalhealth.com and sign
up for our newsletter.
To hear your questions answered live on theshow, send them to ask at Alessi f x health dot
(51:12):
com.
That's ask@alessifxhealth.com.
Until next time.
Stay curious, stay empowered, and remember,your health is in your hands.
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