Exploring the Transformative Power of Plant-Based Diets

The intricate relationship between gut health and overall well-being emerges as a focal point in our discussion. As vegetarian and vegan diets become increasingly prevalent, we explore the compelling evidence presented in the Netflix documentary, *Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut*, directed by Anjali Nayar.

We delve into the vast ecosystem of microbes residing within our digestive systems, which may hold the key to influencing various aspects of our health, including mood and immune function. Drawing upon our personal experiences, Michael and I candidly share how our dietary choices have transformed our health journeys, emphasizing the significant impact of nutrition on both physical and mental wellness. Join us for an enlightening conversation, where we sip tea and invite you to reflect on the profound implications of what we consume in shaping who we are. (originally aired June 8, 2024)

The conversation centers around the emerging recognition of gut health, particularly in the context of vegetarian and vegan diets, as pivotal to overall well-being. Michael and Diane Herst delve into the profound implications of the Netflix documentary, 'Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut', directed by Anjali Nayar.

They explore the intricate relationship between the trillions of microbes inhabiting our digestive system and their influence on various aspects of health, including mood regulation and immune function. The episode serves as a personal narrative of their own dietary transformations and the significant insights gleaned from the documentary, emphasizing the notion that our dietary choices greatly dictate our physical and mental health.

By engaging listeners in a reflective dialogue, the hosts invite them to explore the transformative potential of plant-based eating and its underlying scientific principles, thereby advocating for a more conscientious approach to nutrition and health management.

Takeaways:

• The documentary 'Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut' illuminates the intricate relationship between gut health and overall well-being, emphasizing the importance of diet in maintaining a balanced microbiome.
• As individuals increasingly adopt vegetarian and vegan diets, the podcast discusses the potential health benefits associated with these dietary choices, particularly in relation to chronic health conditions.
• The hosts, Michael and Diane, share their personal journeys with plant-based eating and how it has significantly influenced their health, particularly in managing autoimmune diseases and inflammation.
• The episode stresses that each person's microbiome is unique, necessitating individualized dietary approaches to optimize gut health and overall wellness.
• Insights derived from the documentary reveal that a diverse diet rich in fruits and vegetables can enhance gut microbiota, thereby promoting better health outcomes.
• Throughout the discussion, the hosts advocate for a proactive approach to health, encouraging listeners to explore dietary changes that may positively impact their health, particularly through plant-based nutrition.

Find everything "One More Thing" here: https://taplink.cc/beforeyougopodcast

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Meineke
• Weight Watchers
• Jenny Craig
• Keto
• Paleo
• Namaste
• Caputo
• Hack Your Health

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hey, one more thing before yougo. As vegetarian diets have increased
in popularity, veganism hasgained recognition as a healthy and
potentially therapeutic dietchoice. An interesting approach to
how microbes in our gut may bethe key to everything that's wrong
with us or that's right withus. After watching an interesting
documentary this weekend, wefound that it also creates balances

(00:25):
in our gut microbes. And weare going to have a conversation
about our journey with that.Veganism, vegetarianism, and microbes
in our gut. We recognize somany things that we're going to talk
about, and we want to sharethem with you. I'm your host, Michael
Herst. I'm here with my lovelywife, Diane.

(00:45):
Hello.
Welcome to one more thingbefore you go over the Teacup Sunday
with Michael and Diane. Hey, Diane.

(01:07):
Hey, Michael. I realized whenI said hello in the introduction,
it sounded like my Meinekeguy. Hello.
Hello.
I love those commercials somuch. Oh, they just make me smile.
It's mine. Key, mine, Mike,mine. Podcast. Yeah. Especially when

(01:29):
they were running them like, Idon't know, a bazillion times in
the morning.
I loved it.
I loved it.
I know other people probablyhated it. I loved it.
Then every. Which one, becauseobviously, you know, we get. You've
got the tickle, the guy.
Oh, my God. My favorite.
You got them driving acrossthe ocean. You got them, you know,

(01:50):
with the water in there,getting them coffee.
Coffee. The one man band thing.
Oh, yeah, yeah. And thesurprise, surprise, little thing
out from the. Yeah, I got you.
I got you.
No, it's. It's. Well, that'sthe power of marketing. Right? It

(02:11):
just did it.
Oh, my gosh.
Like, it was supposed to. Kindof crazy.
Yep.
Kind of crazy, man.
And I don't like commercials,but those are like, a lot.
Yeah. I mean, you stop in themorning before you get ready, you
know, before you go into work.
Yeah.
You would, like, stop in andwatch my commercials.

(02:32):
I watch my. My little Germanguy, so I don't know why.
Yeah. Running out of thebathroom. Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Hold that.
Stop.
Wait.
My commercial. My commercial.
Kind of crazy this week, youknow, I know that. You know, we do
a lot of tv, as everybodyknows, and I know mostly Sundays.
This is what we're talkingabout. But in this particular case,

(02:52):
this really. This isn't areview of this particular documentary,
although it's very good andyou should watch it. This is more
about our journeys with whatcomes about of it as you as a community.
One more thing before we go.Community. Know that, you know, I
primarily have been Vegan forlike close to 25 years now. Yeah,

(03:14):
you know, I'm technicallypescatarian because I do eat fish
and occasionally I eat eggs,but when I eat eggs, I, I have to
yell at myself because my bodyyells at me and I don't eat fish
as often as I used to anymore.But it's primarily vegan. And do
you remember back when I wasfirst diagnosed with this incredibly

(03:39):
horrible disease, therheumatologist that I had when I
was starting to investigatealternatives to the like four or
five different drugs they wantto put me on, and I had found some
interesting information inregard to diet and what we eat and
how it affects people withrheumatoid arthritis. And he basically

(04:00):
told me it was a bs.
Yep, he did remember that. Andhe also, he also didn't tell you
about the, the braces, thehand splints to wear overnight? He
didn't tell you about those.So you found about those like 10
years too late. And they werearound at that point, but he didn't
bother to tell you.
The shame. It just shows youthe medical profession and how the

(04:22):
medical profession is designedor the health industry is designed
to keep people within thatindustry, which, that's a whole nother
conversation we'll talk about.But you know, we talk about society
and culture here on thispodcast. And this, this is a societal
issue, I do believe, you know,in regard to that. Well, part of

(04:43):
that comes with our diet. Whatwe eat, what we, you know, what we
put into our bodies that'llcliche we are what we eat is like
100% true. You know, and frommy perspective, you know, as an individual
that's been primarily veganfor the last 25 years or so, as I
said. And then you now haveevolved into a diet that's I would

(05:09):
say 85 to 90% vegan. Becauseyou still eat chicken.
I'd say, I'd say at least 80.80% vegetarian. I don't know that.
I don't know. I mean, I eat alot. I eat a lot of eggs.
Yeah, you eat eggs.
I, I eat cheese.

(05:29):
Vegetarian from thatperspective. So.
And I use what I did, I didjust this week, I gave up my regular
butter for plant based butter.I did do that. I only have regular
milk. Lactose free though, butregular dairy milk on my cereal.
So that's like maybe once aweek. I mean, I, I don't do a lot.

(05:50):
I probably the most I do is,is I eat chicken. Yeah, because that's
not every day either.
Yeah, you've Even changed. Youdon't really beef very rarely, do
you? If we go out to.
Very rarely.
Something you eat like a grassfed or something like that.
A grass fed burger. Yes. Iwill do that once in a while. I don't

(06:11):
eat fast food anymore. Yeah,not, not that I wouldn't want it,
but I just don't do it becauseit was years of me going to the fast
food places and boy did justwrecked me. It wrecked me.
Well, and you know, we foundfrom personal experience that it
helps to manage disease. It'shelped me manage my rheumatoid arthritis.

(06:32):
I'm not on any rheumaticdisease. Rheumatic.
I don't know, it sounds so old fashioned.
Here's your rheumatic. I gotsome rheumatic stuff going on here.
Rheumatism, my rheumatism, myrheumatism acting up.

(06:52):
I don't know why that's.
You know. Yeah, see back whenthat was, I go, there's my old man
impression. Now I'm an oldman. So it fits. It's okay. But we
know that it helps manage myrheumatoid arthritis and it does
it pretty effectively. Andbecause it does it pretty effectively,

(07:14):
you know, when I slip off ofit, I honestly can and you know,
from being around me, know howmuch it affects me when I do kind
of make. Take a misstep or ifwe go someplace and I say, hey, does
this have this in it? Thishave that in it? And they go, oh
no, it doesn't. And then, youknow, after we eat it and I come
home and the next day I can'tmove. You know, we know that. Well,

(07:36):
yeah, it did have something init. We know that it works and that
what we eat, you know, is whatit is.
It has definitely been triedand tried and tested a lot.
You know, I know that theyfound a bazillion diets out there,
everybody. Weight Watchers.And I mean, help me out with some

(07:57):
of these. There's WeightWatchers, there's Jenny Craig. Jenny
Craig. And some of these havealready gone under.
Yeah, I think Jenny Craig's no longer.
I don't know, I think WeightWatchers did the same thing.
No, Weight Watchers is stillaround. They're just, they keep reinventing.
They keep reinventing whatthey're doing. Probably because they're
trying to stay with it. But Ithink Oprah still, Oprah's still

(08:17):
on Weight Watchers board. Sothey're still, they're still alive.
And of course we have the keto diet.
Keto right.
I mean, you name it. Paleo diet.
Paleo diet, right.
They go into a whole slew ofstuff but really in reality, you
know, some of the diet thatthey've, that they've got out there,
they go, oh, this is morehealthy for you. I had a conversation
with an individual thatliterally said to fix all of your

(08:40):
ailments, you need to, youknow, stop being a vegan and you
need to eat meat and eat meatand introduce meat and just have,
you know, meat six times a day.
Let's be clear, she was not adietitian of any means.
She was just not a dietitian. Correct.
Regular person that thinks sheknew the answers.
And the whole thing of it isthat we know that from my perspective

(09:03):
and what I learned way backwhen, I won't mention any names but
the doctor, the rheumatoiddoctor back in Colorado had told
me that it was a bunch of bs.There was no scientific proof in
regard to whether or not dietwould have any effect on inflammation
or arthritis. You know, I wishI would have found another doctor

(09:23):
because as we have come tofind out that it does have a significant
effect on it.
Now that could be because atthat time there maybe wasn't scientific
proof. They were just peoplewere writing about it. Oh, okay.
Well, yeah, these people thatwere writing were dietitians and
people writing were otherrheumatologists and Dr. Brown who

(09:45):
luckily when we moved here toArizona, I found a doctor that actually
followed Dr. Brown's protocolin regard to going to a vegan diet
and elimination, foodelimination and taking out specific
foods like nightshade groupand anything what, eight or nine
vegetables in the nightshadegroup along with eliminating red

(10:07):
meat and pork. And they saidyou could kind of get away with chicken.
But when I tried it, I didn'thave any real luck with it. They
said you could eat turkey.Well, same thing. So.
And you don't really liketurkey anyway?
Not really. I never beenreally been a big turkey guy, but

(10:28):
I have turkey legs.
You can be a little bit of aturkey butt sometimes, but we can.
All be turkey butts every oncein a while. You could be a turkey
butt, I could be a turkey butt.
I'm never a turkey butt.
You're a turkey butt, I'm aturkey butt. Everybody's a turkey
butt.
There's a turkey butt.
But yeah, I mean it helps withrheumatoid arthritis. It helps with

(10:51):
being heart healthy. Veganismand this almost is like cannibalism,
doesn't it?
Cannibalism you really hatethat word. Every time you say it.
It's like you go to arestaurant and you say the way the
host says veganism orcannibalism. Which one would you
like, please? Well, I'll takethe cannibalism. Do you have something

(11:11):
in between? Can I have alittle cannibalism with my veganism
to spice it up a little bit?
Stop it.
But you know, realistically,when we've done it and even your
evolution with food has madesome drastic changes. We know it's
drastic. This documentary ison Netflix. And I know that you would

(11:36):
never believe we'd be onNetflix because we never talk about
being on Netflix, do we?
Gee, I can't imagine being ourfavorite streaming service.
It's called Hack youk Health,the Secrets of youf Gut. It's a directed
by Anjali Nair. It's starringthe cast is, is. It's all, all these
people are themselves, actually.
Yeah.

(11:57):
Julia Enders. And Julie Endersis an md. She's an author. She's
a gut specialist, actually.Heidi Kramer. And she's also, she's
a mentor. She's doctoractually, also as well, John Kryon
self, a neurologic scientist,University of College York. And we

(12:21):
have a neuroscientist and aneurologist here because there's
a connection between your gutand your brain. And they're finding
that, believe it or not, withAlzheimer's and with Lewy Body Dementia
now, too.
And Parkinson's.
And Parkinson's. So, you know,he got involved as well. There's
a microbiologist and severalother people. And they followed this

(12:43):
group of individuals in regardto their methodologies and what they
were doing. They followed fourpeople with their different, different
ailments. Journeys, I guess.
Yeah, yeah. Well, aliments.Some of them had, like, physical
ailments going on with them.
Yeah. They had one person thatwas on a. She called, it is her words,

(13:07):
a forever weight loss diet.Because she'd, she'd, she'd go on
a diet that they wanted, thesefad diets, and then she'd lose the
weight, then she'd put it allback on, and then she'd go on another
diet and she'd lose the weightand then put it back on. And she
called it a forever diet.
Well, just like everyone elseis on.
Yeah, it's a forever orforever weight loss diet, you know,

(13:27):
and we'll talk a little bitabout the Mediterranean. Now, obviously,
disclaimer. We are notdoctors. We are not scientists. We
are not dietitians. But thisis from our own personal experience
and what I've learned over thelast 25 years. So everything that
we talk about right now isbased upon what we've learned and
what we've observed in like,this documentary and several other

(13:47):
documentaries in regard to,you know, health. Because I take
a very proactive approach inmy disease. And I took a proactive
approach because, as we know,and I haven't been. This part of,
this part of my journey hasnot been talked about on the podcast
before on the show. You know,I went from 165 healthy individual,
165, 170 pound individual,down to 100 pounds. And this disease

(14:12):
just tore me up.
You were. Yes, but let's beclear, you were still 165 even after
you had. Had the. Beendiagnosed for a number of years.
I was. And then the drugs theyput me on.
Right, that's what droppedyour weight, is what did it.
And then I've learned to come,learn to find out that, you know,
the gut and what's in your gutand your, the gut microbes are key

(14:36):
to allowing your body to healthe way it needs to be healing and
to take care of itself the waythat you take care of. And that it
will have an a, either anegative or positive effect on something
like autoimmune disease. Andthat if you don't have the right
amount of the microbes inyour, the right gut health in your
body, in your stomach, in yourbowels, in your whole body actually

(14:59):
has got them, then what itdoes is it creates chaos. And that
chaos turns into inflammation,and inflammation turns into pain,
pain turns into grumpy. Neverhave I been in pain and grumpy at
the same time days and weeks.You know, it turns into chronic pain.

(15:22):
And chronic pain is not fun tobe around. It's not fun to experience,
it's not fun to be around, andit's not fun to watch your body deteriorate
because of certain thingsabout. So everything we're talking
about right now is becauseI've learned the hard way from my
perspective. And you recentlylearned a little bit of the hard
way yourself in regard to this.

(15:43):
Yes, I did.
And it was nice to see thisdocumentary validate some things
in regard to that and to kindof really delve deep into what options
we have in the proactivechoice that we need to make to keep
our own health on track. Youknow, kind of a.
Well, I thought it wasinteresting. You know, they talk
about everyone's microbiome,basically the whole, the whole area

(16:07):
where the microbes live. Andeverybody, everybody's microbiome
is so individualized that notone thing is going to work for you
that's going to work for me.So there's really no blanket way
to approach this. And you haveto be proactive in your own individual

(16:28):
health.
You know, it is, it's ajourney. Anybody that's gone through
or walked this path before,it's a journey. And if you've got
an autoimmune disease orchronic problem in regard to that,
you know, our youngestdaughter has got endometriosis. We've
talked about that on the showbefore. She's been on the show a
couple of different timestalking about it as well herself

(16:50):
with me, realistically, youknow, these kind of autoimmune diseases,
if managed correctly,literally, it's like night and day.
I mean, night and day. Youhave seen her, you've seen me at

(17:11):
an absolute pain. I mean,where I can't hardly walk and move,
I can't hardly stand upstraight. If I ate something I wasn't
supposed to eat or if I had anissue with accidentally going, I
won't say off the wagonbecause I really don't. But if we,
you know, if there's somethingthat go, I'm going to try this, you

(17:33):
know, I pay for it and younotice it and you know, it's from
a vegan perspective and from avegetarian perspective, there are
nutritional benefits of beinga vegan. I am also gluten free. So
I add gluten free on top ofthat because it has been proven,
there are scientific studiesthat have been done that gluten wheat

(17:56):
and I won't list offeverything in there, but I'll leave
some links to the articles.But has a detrimental effect on inflammation
and that it will cause you to.And people with rheumatoid arthritis,
people with gout, people with,oh my gosh, Mississippi lupus, anything

(18:17):
along that line, it willcreate a negative environment in
your body. So I'm gluten freeas well. But experiencing a diet
like in fresh fruits andvegetables and legumes and whole
grains, you know, the rightwhole grains depending upon whether
or not you've got rheumatoidlike me, where you can't have.
Wheat because there's stillsome other grains you can't have.

(18:39):
Not just the wheat, but I've switched.
To, I've switched to stufflike amaranth and millet and buckwheat
and you know, Namaste's got afantastic gluten free flour blend.
Blend that we cook with and Imake muffins and I make pancakes
and I make, you know, anythingthat we'll say a regular pasta and

(19:00):
pasta.
The pasta's with. The pasta'swith Caputo.
No, the pasta is with Namaste.The pizza and the bread and the focaccia.
Oh, that's what is with theCaputo Fiore galut, which is like
fantastic. And you know, maybeI'll do a show one of these days
on all of those things so thatpeople kind of have a good, really
a wide variety. Because when Ifirst started this journey, man,

(19:22):
it was hard, wasn't it?
Yeah, I think the bread partwas the hardest. At the very first
there just wasn't. Therewasn't the gluten free products out
there. And the ones that were.Were awful.
Yeah. Like cardboard.
They've gotten better.
That and the fact that theyput. You learn these things. Modified

(19:45):
food starch is actually wheat. Yes.
So if you're reading yourlabels. Yes. If you're reading labels,
they will say modified foodstarch and they will be specific.
If it's tapioca food starch,which is fine because it's not gluten
or rice, they'll do rice,white rice. But sometimes if it says

(20:06):
just modified food starch,more than likely that's wheat.
Dear Clear. All right. It alsosay multodextrin or corn starch type
thing. It will sometimes saythat. Now some people can have that.
I cannot. People withrheumatoid arthritis really will
stay away from corn, corn, corn.
And that's what a lot of thegluten free products. They substitute

(20:27):
corn for the wheat.
Yeah. And you know, it'sinteresting because I was on, I stopped
all meat and just again,occasionally fish, even way back
when. And you know, I would,before I had the, the allergic reaction
to the medication that theyhad had me on. Again, like I said

(20:47):
earlier, I was £165 and I wasdoing really, really well.
And you were golfing.
I was golfing. I was, yes. Iwas doing reading a normal lifestyle
and I started losing weightdrastically because of the medication
and stuff. But they said,well, that's because you're vegan.
It's like I was 165 poundsbeing a vegan. So you know that's

(21:08):
not true. So. And we all knowthat eating more fruits and vegetables
can promote heart health andreduce the risk of other chronic
diseases and so forth. Like wejust talked about the fact that this
was a medical clinic foreverybody out there. Obviously Diane

(21:28):
and I Know, it was a medicalclinic. This was a medical clinic.
So obviously, for them to comeout and blame my weight loss immediately
on the fact that I was a,quote, vegan, unquote, you know,
was absolutely ludicrous fromthat perspective. And it was like,
now I gotta find out. It's along story about having to get off

(21:48):
of everything and then tryingto regain my health. And that's a
whole nother show. Yeah,another show. But if people are finding
out that the role of plantbased diets in weight management
is effective and that it willhelp improve your digestive health
because it puts the rightmicrobes and so forth in Charlie

(22:11):
saying, hi, yes, Charlie,what'd you need, baby? Just give
me a minute. You know, it putsthe right microbes within your system.
It balances them out, which.That's kind of what this show talked
about. You know, there was aone woman in there that she goes,
was it. She had 30 or 60. Didthey tell her? 60. 60 different fruits

(22:35):
and vegetables. She wassupposed to start juicing.
Oh, put it. Put in the juice.Yeah, it was a lot.
Well, they gave her.
And it was. And it wasveggies, that. Veggies and fruit.
Oh, some of it you wouldnever, ever, ever want to put in
a smoothie or juice.
Plus, I think she kind ofmisunderstood just a little bit because
when they gave her the sheetshe was reading from, I think they

(22:57):
gave her 60 that she couldpick from and she thought she had
to put them all in.
Yeah, so she did.
So she did. And she's kind ofgone. No, that's kind of.
And some of those that she,when she was putting it in, I'm like,
don't. Stop, Stop it. Don'tput that in there. That's. I mean,
no. And we do. We do juices.We, you know, we do fresh fruit and

(23:20):
vegetable juices. And we'relike, would you ever put that. No,
I would never, ever think toput that in there.
And when I found out that, Imean, when we. When I stopped juicing,
because I stopped juicing fora little while because of my hands
and the equipment that we had,it caught up with me. And it caught
up with me really fast.
Yeah. And lasted a while. Itwas hard to combat it.

(23:45):
Hey, we had to take a reallyquick break because Charlie had to
go out back. Now, that's my.That's my radio commercial voice.
It's pretty good. Just, youknow, put the little German. Put
the German accent on. You'rethe Meinekey guy. Well, not really.

(24:07):
Well, that depends Will I get lucky.
Or, you know, I don't like theMeineke guy in that way.
Okay, good.
He just makes me laugh.
No, it is interesting. Afterwatching that documentary really
got me more aware of, I guess,realizing again what this can actually

(24:31):
do to us. And I think you hada realization yourself, because we
were talking about the factthat when your microbes get kind
of screwed up in. When they'rebalanced, you feel great.
Yeah.
When they get off balance,when they're messed up with a kill.
And you'd have to watch thisdocumentary to really understand

(24:51):
it because it would be way toomuch to go into in regard to. Yeah.
And we're not. We wouldn't beable to do it justice. It was so
well done. Yeah, it has. Ithas. It's very entertaining. It sounds
like it really wouldn't beentertaining. It's entertaining and
it's interesting and justthings that, like, wow, that really
does make sense. Like, neverwould have put that together, but

(25:13):
that makes a lot of sense. Sothe thing that I learned or that
I realized or I was confirmedwas, you know, I started a serious,
like, really finally beingserious about exercise and weight
loss. May 1, 2023, is when Istarted. And I started, I went off.

(25:35):
I just was like, okay, this iswhat I'm doing. This. I'm not getting
any younger. And this is. Ican't feel this way anymore. And
I wanted to lose 70 pounds.And I, I, I put it out there to my.
And to myself. I'm not goingto focus on the number, but I had
to have some sort of an endgoal. But I was like, I'm just going
to see how much I can lose bymy birthday, and then I'm going to

(25:58):
see how much I can lose by ayear later. And, you know, I just
keep doing these littlethings. And of course, things got
messed up. Of course they did,because I'm human. But I've been
able to pretty much stick withworking out seven days a week. Sometimes
I don't do as much as Ishould, but I, I try to at least
do something. But last month.Well, what are we in? We're in June.

(26:24):
So when I. I know. So themonth of May, I weigh myself every
first of the month. It's theonly time I weigh myself. I don't
measure myself, and I don't doanything else other than that. So
when I was, When I weighedmyself on June 1st, I realized I
gained almost 5 pounds in themonth of May. One month, I gained
5 pounds back of I had lostalmost 30 pounds. And I gained 5

(26:47):
back, and it about destroyedme. But I realized exactly why it
happened, and I was honestwith myself, and I had gotten. I
went back on sugar. I was bad.I went back on sugar the month of
May, kind of in April. May.And I totally saw it. I finally saw

(27:08):
it. Like, I looked at it and Ifelt it, and I realized how much
pain I was in and how it wasreally messing with my head, too.
Like, my depression came backworse as I was eating the sugar.
And then seeing this, it waslike, wow. I mean, I just saw the
connection for the first timein my life.
And your stomach. I mean, youwere having.

(27:29):
And my stomach.
Yeah, we'll say problems inthat area that, you know, you hadn't
had for quite some time, andthat created, you know, the problems
in there. So basicallyreintroducing that poison.
Yeah, unfortunately, becauseit tastes good. It really does. But

(27:50):
I also realized the. The moreI, you know, it start. Of course,
it started off with, oh, I canhandle just a little bit. It's fine.
I can, you know, but. But justthat little bit led to more and Led
to more and my craving for it.I had not craved it in almost a year.
I was craving it constantly.So it obviously reacts with the brain

(28:14):
and every. I mean, everythingis all connected, for sure, and you
have to be very, very careful.And again, it's very individualized.
Some people can just have alittle bit and then be fine, but
I have an addictivepersonality, so that's. I go. I go
big or go home on everything. So.
Well, and realistically, it.It is. You know, there were a couple

(28:35):
of people in the documentarythat they were talking. They had
depression and they had someother things, you know, going on
with them that were similar tothat. And one of them is a chef who
literally, she says, well, Ihave to taste what I'm fixing, but
she's a pastry chef.
Yeah.
And then she had to realize sugar.
Sugar is the worst thing for her.

(28:56):
Exactly. So, you know, it'sinteresting because, you know, in
this article that I had found,and I'll try to make this quick,
there were two articles that Iread at the National Library of Medicine,
national center forBiotechnology Information with the
National Health Instituteofficial website of the United States

(29:17):
government.
Wow.
Yeah. I have to take a day ofthe breath. I have to have a smoothie
to give me some energy. Tocome back to this show. The health
advantages of a vegan diet.Exploring the gut microbiota. Microbiota.
There we go. Gut microbiome.That's A new one Connection. It was

(29:42):
written by Mariam Glickbauerand Ming Ching Ye. This review examines
whether or not there'sevidence that the strict vegan diet
confers health advantagesbeyond that of a vegetarian diet
or overall healthy eating. Fewstudies include vegan subject as
a distinct experimental group.Yet when vegan diets are directly
prepared or compared tovegetarian and omnivoric diets, a

(30:06):
pattern of protective healthbenefits emerge. The relatively recent
inclusion of vegan diets inthe study of gut microbiota and the
health allows us theopportunity to assess whether the
vegan gut microbiota isdistinct and whether or not the health
advantages and characteristicof a vegan diet may be partially
exclaimed by an associatedmicrobiota profile. I know that's

(30:29):
a lot to take in, but I'llleave a link in the show notes. Everybody
has it. The relationshipbetween the diet and the intestinal
microbial profile appears tofollow a continuum with vegans displaying
a gut microbiota that'sdistinct from that omnivores, but
not always significantlydifferent from that of vegetarians.

(30:49):
The vegan gut profile appearsto be unique in several characteristics,
including a reduced abundanceof pathobots and a greater abundance
of protective species,reducing levels of inflammation,
which is a key factor inmaking, you know, the microbial mic.
Why do they have to make thisso complicated? Microbiota with protective

(31:12):
health effects. So in reality,that right there just validated for
me for my rheumatoidarthritis, that eating the diet that
I'm eating now and even kindof moving away from fish that I eat,
not every day, not all thetime, but I do introduce it. Staying

(31:34):
away from the eggs says, yeah,you're able to reevaluate your gut
and what's in it to help mewith my inflammation. So it, it was
also another refresher for meand a wake up call as well, because
it gave me validation inseveral. Between the documentary
and that article gave me,yeah, immense validation.

(31:55):
Yeah. Well, I think that whatI liked about the documentary too
is that they, they start rightout saying, you know, look, yeah,
the stuff that you're probablydoing with your body is probably
screwing up your gut andthat's why you feel like crap. But
you can change it. And that Ithought was really great that they
said at the beginning, in themiddle, at the end, you can change

(32:18):
this, you can feel better. Andso immediately, right, you immediately
texted Nicole to hey, yougotta watch this. I don't know if
she, I don't know if she did,but well, yeah.
I don't know if she did eitherbecause she probably went. Looked
at it and went, ah, crap, isdad getting on me again? You know,
look, I'm not always on mydaughter, but I am trying to be proactive

(32:40):
with her health because she'sin pain. We've seen it, we've witnessed
it. We watched her sit theredouble over in pain. So I want her
to feel better and I want herto be able to get over this and to
be able to make, you know,approaches. I've, I've talked to
her for years and she hastaken some steps.
She's. She's done better.
Yeah, she's actually so. But,you know, this, this whole system,

(33:04):
I think especiallyunderstanding more about the, the
types of gut bacteria, notbacteria, probiotics and, you know,
well, bacteria. There's goodas well.
There's good bacteria and bad bacteria.
Bad bacteria. It's like kindof a war zone inside your body.
They do such a great job. Imean, they really do. Let's just.

(33:26):
There's some animation stuff,which I will. I'm a sucker for that.
I love, I love anything withanimation, so. But it's really cute.
It's really, it just reallyexplains everything. It really does.
And done very effectively andefficiently because it's done in
such a way that you'reenthralled with each one of these
people's journeys to see wherethey're at with it. And they do use

(33:47):
the methodology, methodologiesin there. That might give people
some.
Yeah.
Pause.
You might, you might get alittle squeamish at some of it because
I did. But, you know, hey, ifit works, it works, right?
It does. And, you know, I, Iwould recommend that, you know, if
you are considering becoming avegan or considering vegan. A vegetarian,

(34:11):
you know, do it at a time, youknow, introduce it a step. It doesn't
happen overnight. I need totell everybody that. Again, I'm not
a dietitian, but I am anindividual that experienced this
and learned it. I'm anindividual that. I have been an advocate
for this lifestyle for quitesome time now. And I can tell you

(34:32):
that for me, it works. And Ihad a severe case of. I've been on
nine different drugs for myrheumatoid arthritis and all that
did was put me from 165 poundshealthy, 165 pounds to 100 pounds
almost put me in the hospitaland, you know, a hard journey trying
to get it back. So getting ridof all of that, I was able to get

(34:55):
off of my Medications, notrecommending that you get off your
medications or cut them coldturkey. You talked that over with
your doctor.
This is just our journey. Thisis just what we've done.
Exactly. I personally was ableto get off those medications and,
and be able to continue withmy journey with managing it with
food, with this diet, withjuicing, with fruits and vegetables.

(35:17):
And it's closely related tothe Mediterranean diet and the Blue
Zone diet. Yeah, it is theMediterranean diet and the Blue Zone
diet. If you're not familiarwith the Blue Zone diet, the Blue
Zone diet is. They call it adiet, but it's really a lifestyle.
And, you know, it started outwith nine blue Zone diet or blue
zone areas. Now slip to like11, I think, or 12 because they've

(35:40):
added a couple more. Butthey're the longest living individuals
on planet earth that live inthese nine different zones or now
11 different zones.
They believe that it's becauseof what they eat.
It's what they eat and how they.
Eat it and also how they live.And also how they live.
I was gonna say it's alifestyle. It's not just a diet.

(36:01):
It's a lifestyle. You have tolearn to take stress out of your
life and to get good rest andto not get angry. And there's a whole
many different things aboutcommunity and about talking with
people and looking out foryour family, looking out for your
neighbors, looking out forother people, keeping that community.
Connection. Yeah, connection,which we're looking out for you guys.

(36:25):
This is our community. Onemore thing before you go is our community.
And, you know, we want to lookout for everybody that's in here
and make sure that you guyshave options and, you know, ways
of improving your life in avery proactive, in a very positive
way. As you all know, we'vedone this. We're closing in on publishing
400 episodes here. We've gotover 400 interviews. You know, I'm

(36:48):
still posting, you know, eachweek, but it's been a journey and
I want to make sure that we asa community continue to grow in a
positive way as well.
Yep. We want everybody to feel good.
And is from your perspective,Diane, how. I mean, everybody just

(37:08):
heard how it was teaching me.How did it. I mean, how I feel, what
it's doing for me. Tell me howit's doing for you. How do you feel
about.
About eating 80% veggies in mydiet, you mean?
Yeah, I mean, has it made asignificant difference?
Oh, yeah. I mean, I didn'tthink. I never. I don't think I'VE

(37:31):
ever lost close to £30 in ayear. I mean, not that that's. It
really doesn't sound like alot, right? £30. It took a year to
lose almost £30. But I thinkthat's part of it, too. I think if
you do it slowly, you know,and just kind of just, you know,
not focus so much on a number,but just say, I'm just gonna do this.

(37:52):
I'm gonna do this for me, andI'm gonna do this to feel better
and, you know, not just knowthat it's just gonna be. It's gonna
take time. It takes what ittakes. That's what I told myself.
This is gonna take as long asit takes. I'm not gonna stop, you
know, and, yeah, I'm gonnamess up, but I'm gonna get back on
it. And I have been able towhere normally decades of doing this.

(38:15):
As soon as I mess up, I'd belike, well, I already messed up.
I'm just going to do it. Well,I'm not doing that anymore. I realize
I focus on what I did wrong. Isee what it did to me. I really connect
with what it did, how I feel,and then I get better, you know,
and I get back on it. Right, so.
And you've noticed what itdoes when you. When you introduce

(38:38):
to your body things that yourbody doesn't like, you know what
it feels like. You recognize.
I know what it feels like now.
Yeah.
When I was. When I was back onthe sugar, When I was back on the
sugar, I realized my anxietylevels went back up where I had been
off of my anxiety meds for awhile, and I. So I started back on

(38:58):
them, and then I felt worseafter that, too. So I got back off
of those, Got off the sugaragain and again. This is just for
me. This might not work foreverybody, but I was hurting from
head to toe. I was achyeverywhere. When I would eat the
next day after I'd eat thesugar, I was achy everywhere. I was
like, wow, I've never realizedthat before, but, yeah, that makes

(39:19):
that. That actually washappening to me for years, and I
didn't realize it.
It just felt like normal. Andagain, just to emphasize, this is
our experience, right? We'renot doctors, we're not giving you
medical advice or we're nottelling you what to do. If you choose
to try this yourself, pleasedo it with caution. Make sure you
talk to your doctor, yourhealth practitioner, whoever you

(39:39):
trust within this arena, andthey may or may not agree with it,
but you need to be proactivein your choices as well and tell
them that this is somethingthat I want to try or something that
I want to do, take control ofyour health, take control of your
direction in that regard. So.Yeah, I mean, you never believe I'm

(40:04):
92 years old, right?
No, not at all.
Not at all. No. It's asituation that I think that. Check
out that again, this wasn't areview of the documentary. It really
wasn't. This was a wake upcall for Diana and I both to really
kind of have a better, deeperunderstanding of what our gut feels

(40:24):
like when it's supposed towork correctly and. And along with
the rest of our body. And weall know it. Do you like having heartburn?
Do you like having headaches?Do you like having. Well, I'll just
be gross diarrhea orconstipation? Do you like having
to not go to the bathroom fortwo, three, four days in a row kind

(40:47):
of a situation?
I don't. Yeah.
But, yeah. Anyway, well,listen, I think we talked everybody's
ear off enough. Yes, hopefully.
And my phone is about to die.
They're going to be animmediate, immediate, immediate.
Okay. I'm now vegan. Thank youvery much. I appreciate you.

(41:09):
You know, take it slow, Takeit slow. Try it out. Take it slow.
Yep. Hey, one more thingbefore you all go. We want to thank
you for being part of the Onemore thing before you go community.
Thank you for being part ofour family. Thank you for being with
us with each and every episodethat we're here. If you love us,
please make sure yousubscribe, you follow, and you share

(41:32):
and comment and give us areview because it just helps us to
bring you bigger and betterand more things. And again, reminder,
there's going to be somechanges evolving. You've already
seen some of them already.Keep that in mind. And I think one
more thing before you all go.Do you have anything else to say,
Diane?
No, I don't. I think I'm good.

(41:54):
Have a great day. Have a greatweek and thanks for listening and
watching.
Bye. Thanks for listening tothis episode of One More Thing before
youe Go. Check out [e-mail] youm
can find us as well assubscribe to the program and rate
us on your favorite podcastlistening platform.