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August 2, 2023 70 mins

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Episode #45 - Lies I taught in Medical School with Dr. Lufkin: Lifestyle, Diet, and Chronic Disease Reversal

Have you ever wondered about the long-held beliefs we take as gospel truth, especially when it comes to our health and wellness? The fascinating Dr. Lufkin, author of 'Lies I Taught in Medical School', joins us today to unravel some of these misconceptions. He shares his journey from being a staunch medical professor to his eye-opening realization that the evolution of medical knowledge can sometimes lead to misinformation being passed on in medical schools.

Dr. Lufkin's personal story of reversing his chronic diseases through lifestyle changes is a testament to the power of diet, sleep, exercise, and meaningful relationships. We discuss real-life examples from his family - his dietitian aunt who maintained a healthy weight throughout her life, his 83-year-old physically fit uncle, and his mother who lived to 97, all showing the profound impact of lifestyle on health. Our conversation takes a cultural twist as we compare the lifestyle differences between Puerto Rico and America and their effects on health.

We delve deeper into the power of lifestyle changes in preventing and reversing chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes, using Dr. Lufkin's son's recovery as an example. We also explore the benefits of intermittent fasting and the tricky ways marketing can misrepresent the healthiness of food. As we discuss diet and lifestyle's importance in caring for those with Alzheimer's disease, Dr. Lufkin highlights the influence of the pharmaceutical industry and the need to address mental health when making dietary changes. Join us for this revealing conversation and broaden your understanding of health, wellness, and the lies we've been learning all along.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Is this thing on?
Welcome to Rebooted the Podcast.
I'm your host, elita Hernandez.
Come join me weekly to hearabout my journey from recovery
to healing after having a strokeand other life challenges.
So let's get talking.
Hi everybody, I'm back.

(00:26):
Elita Hernandez Rebooted thePodcast, always bringing you
interesting and important thingsfor your health.
Today I have Dr Lufkin, whowrote a book about the lies I
taught at medical school, sothis is going to be very
interesting.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Dr Lufkin, how are you?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hi, good morning Elita.
I'm so happy to be on yourpodcast.
I'm a fan and it's great to beon the show.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Thank you so much, so we got to just deep dive in.
I don't know how we're going tobegin with the book.
So, first of all, you've been amedical doctor for all your
life I guess well, most of yourlife and did you teach as well?

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, I went to medical school after college and
then did my residency andinternship and then a post
graduate fellowship and then Iimmediately began teaching at
UCLA medical school, where I, asa professor.

(01:30):
I became a professor there, andthe great thing about being a
medical professor in a lot ofsituations is that I was able to
not only practice medicine andsee patients.
I was able to continue beingdoing what doctors do.
But in addition to that, as amedical professor, I was able to
do research and have alaboratory funded from research

(01:53):
grants and publish a lot of peerreviewed scientific papers.
And then maybe the one of thebest things about it was also
teaching and working withmedical students and other
health practitioners in trainingand young doctors, and as often
as not, I'd learn more fromthem than they would from me, I

(02:15):
think, just from their questionsand their bright minds.
It's so much fun.
It's a great job.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
So this book that you publishedrecently when did you start
that book?

Speaker 2 (02:30):
This book.
I started it about two yearsago.
It followed on a personalhealth journey that I had and
that's what sort of triggered mewriting the book, but it's
something I've been thinkingabout for about the last decade
really.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Wow.
So the title of the book isLies.
I Taught in Medical School.
So when I saw that I was like,what is that about?
Because I am a person that inmy journey since I was six,
since I had the stroke six and ahalf years ago, I have changed
my complete life.
So I've changed from my mindsetto how I live my life, what I

(03:13):
eat, what I think, likeeverything.
So, to save my life because Ihad lost 50% of my left side and
I didn't have a bleeding stroke, it was just lack of oxygen,
but thank God that I was able torecover, that I'm recovered
from it A lot of people don'trecover and I was fortunate that

(03:35):
I was sleeping.
It happened while I was sleepingand I was woken up by a dream
that a doctor walked into mydream and said Ms Hernandez, you
just had a stroke, just likethat, and I woke up.
And I woke up.
I was like God, whatever youwant to think of something, woke
me up to say get up, you justhad a stroke.

(03:55):
So, yeah, I'm telling you thatsaved my life, because I don't
know what, if I would have keptsleeping or something, who knows
I could have.
Probably, who knows if I wouldhave died.
But since then I've just beenon the journey to really find
out the truth about health,about getting better, getting
your health, improving healthand not maintaining disease.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
But healing disease.
Yeah, yeah, it's so importantto reinvent yourself, like
you're doing, and as all of us,we go through our lives.
We're continually changing andgrowing and we're never too old
to learn new things and nevertoo old to become a new person.
And my journey is a littlesimilar to yours.

(04:41):
I was doing fine teaching formany decades at the medical
school and then I came down withfour chronic diseases.
I didn't have a stroke, but Ideveloped four diseases that I
was prescribed medicines for,and these were the same diseases
that killed my father, that myfather died of, but he was

(05:02):
almost 90 when he died, but Iwas much younger.
I still had kids in elementaryschool and I could see the
writing on the wall.
And when I got those diseases, Ibegan to question and
investigate the diseases andinvestigate the research and I

(05:24):
realized that things werechanging our understanding of
these diseases and that many ofthe things that I had taught
before in medical school andmany of the things that are
still being taught wereincorrect.
And in this country we have abig in the world, really we have
a big problem with chronicdisease, and it's like never

(05:47):
before in history.
And that's kind of what thisbook is about.
It's about my journey and thenthe things that helped me
reverse these diseases.
I eventually got off all themedications, which is great.
The diseases were reversed, butin order to do it, I began, I

(06:09):
think, like you're doing.
I examined my life, I turnedthe page and I changed my
lifestyle.
I changed the foods I waseating, the sleep, the exercise,
the friendships, the you knowall these things make a
difference.
But that's kind of what thebook's about and just the idea

(06:32):
of lies.
The title is sort ofprovocative, against people's
attention.
I don't think anyoneintentionally teaches lies, but
there's a famous quote from anold expert doctor, one of the
leading doctors.
He said that 50% of what welearn in medical school will be

(06:53):
either incorrect or completelywrong in five years.
The problem is we don't knowwhich 50% it is that reflects
the evolution of medicalknowledge and the uncertainty.
So when I talk about lies it'sjust a matter of underscoring
the things that maybe we gotwrong.
They weren't really taught, aslies the mistakes we made, kind

(07:17):
of.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Right right right.
Well, I mean it has to be verydifficult.
I mean I have empathy for thedoctors because you have to go
through some grueling educationfirst of all, and then you have
to deal with people every day,which is not an easy task.
And I dealt with people when Iworked in the IT field, right?
So I was like customer service,helping people with problems

(07:40):
and computer things, and thatwasn't easy.
Because you have to deal withpeople, you have to deal with
their issues, right, so you haveto deal with their
personalities.
You have to be like apsychologist almost trying to
help other people.
And I find people are very stuckin the how do you call it, the
ritual of medical, of medicine,maybe you know like, oh, I have

(08:02):
something wrong, let me go tothe doctor, let me go to the
doctor, oh yeah, they give me apill, they give me, you know, I
mean, and I mean I personally Itell you I don't like any
medicine, any medicine, okay,unless I'm dying, that I have to
have something, you know.
But I've got enough all mymedicine.
I was diabetic, I'm still typetwo, you know, diabetic, but I

(08:24):
may, I watch, I maintain myA1C's at 6.1.
So I'm, you know, I'm good and,but I was at 13 and a half.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Wow, wow so.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
I went from 13 and a half before I had the stroke
okay to 6.1, from changingeverything.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Wow, good for you.
That's your mark, markable.
Yeah, that's great yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
And I think I mean my personal opinion.
Unfortunately, our foods,nobody really even though we
have an.
Fda, and we have all this stuffabout foods.
I don't think it's reallymanaged properly, like the
chemicals they put in foods,like the preservatives.
All that stuff I do a lot of.
I do a lot of reading.

(09:07):
I do a lot of research also andI've read a couple of articles,
studies that found out thatsome of the chemicals in our
food are changing our DNA.
Absolutely that it changes thecomposition of DNA which could
could I don't know could enablethese diseases to really get to

(09:28):
us, you know, and otherchemicals that are in our foods
that are not necessary.
You know, like we need to goback to basic eating raw food
salads and greens and naturalfoods and things like that, like
we used to do and that'd be sodependent on the store frozen
dinner.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Absolutely, absolutely, somebody.
Somebody said that if we, if wewent back to eating the foods
100 that only eight foods thatwere available 150 years ago,
most of us would experience asignificant improvement in our
health.
Yes, because of all the youknow, the ultra process junk

(10:05):
foods that are reallyproblematic and and right and
like you say, the simple trickin a supermarket is just avoid
the center aisles where all thejunk food is, and if you stay
around, foods that require arefrigerator or a freezer or
foods that that spoil are, are,in general, going to be

(10:29):
healthier than foods that sit onthat don't spoil and sit on the
shelves for 20 or 30 years.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
I mean, I didn't know how people don't think about it
.
If you have I don't know, sayan example some kind of bread
you buy has preservatives in it.
Most of the time they'll startgetting moldy when it gets old.
But I've seen other ones thatit looks looks just as fresh and
has been there for a month.
How is like people don't thinkabout why is that thing still

(10:56):
look the same after a month?
That's not normal.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Like let me eat this oh.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Like the hostess Twinkie after you know 20 years,
I hope.
I hope your sponsor is nothostess.
I apologize.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
No, way no no, no.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
No way but it's funny , yeah, it's funny.
You say that growing up, when Iwas raised, my mom was a
dietitian.
So she was, you know, sheworked in hospitals and she
basically taught people aboutfood.
So you can imagine what we ateat home was.
You know, we followed therecommendations of the, you know
, the FDA and the USDA, the foodpyramid, we, we, we, basically

(11:40):
we got rid of butter and we atemargarine.
It was full of seed oils andtrans fats.
You know, we, we, we ate lowfat food and and and what.
In my opinion, I think a lot ofthose recommendations are
unhealthy and actually aredriving a lot of the chronic

(12:02):
diseases we have.
Those types of processed foodslike margarine are not as
healthy as something, say,butter or olive oil or coconut
oil, even.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
Right.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
That way.
But yeah, it's, it's, it'sfascinating and I, I I believe
that the number one thing we cando to affect our health for
chronic disease is is in thechoices we make about our
nutrition.
Other things are going to beimportant, you know sleep,
stress, exercise, but butnutrition is something we get to

(12:37):
choose every single day.
We get to make a choice everyday and and start over with that
and you're you're absolutelyspot on what you said about the
healthcare system and and all ofus are a part of it as
participants, in other words, we.
When I go into, I would ratherhave a pill than not.

(12:58):
It's easier to have a pill thanthan do, than maybe watch my
diet, but at the end of the day,watching my diet and eating
healthy is going to be much moreeffective than any pills,
because a lot of the pills justtreat the symptoms and I can
take the pills, but I won't.
I won't necessarily get better,but if I change my lifestyle

(13:22):
and what I eat and how I live mylife, I will become a different
person and I won't need thepills anymore, Exactly, exactly.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
So, yeah, I'm anti pills and then I'm reading
everything Like right now, thisis my breath.
Oh, you can't see my breakfast,but I have my protein shake.
I have every morning plantbased protein.
I have a moringa tree.
You know what moringa is?
Moringa is a plant which has oh, yes, Okay.

(13:53):
So I have a moringa tree acrossthe street.
I cut the leaves, I dry them, Idry them up and I put them in
my protein shake, I put them inmy tea, I put it in, I eat it as
a microgreen.
You know, it's just like rightoutside.
Yeah, that's nice, I live inSouth Florida so we just went

(14:14):
through mango season so I'moutside picking mangoes, I pick
up the coconuts, I pick up theavocados that grow.
My family's from Puerto Rico,so my grandparents had a farm.
So my summers as a little girlI spent in Puerto Rico in the
farm feeding the chickens andtaking care of the animals that

(14:36):
work for food and all the plants, and I used to just grab the
fruits, froth the trees and eatthem.
So I have a thing about natureand dirt and I'd like to get in
there.
So I have, like, my herb plantshere, my basil and my cilantro
and all the things that I usefor cooking.

(14:58):
I grow it myself and a littlespace that I have, but I
remember those days.
So you were talking, I got tomention my aunt.
So my aunt Hilda, she passed awhile ago.
Rest in peace.
But my aunt Hilda was one ofthe first ones, one of the, well
, the first kind of woman in ourfamily to get a degree in the

(15:20):
50s.
She went to Hunter College inNew York and she became a
dietitian and so she had to.
Oh, really.
Yeah, she was a dietitian and Iremember when we used to go her
house she always had she had herpyramid right, so we had a
little protein or vegetable oror carb or whatever.
Then she would give us.

(15:42):
Even at the end of dinner shewould have a little dessert,
even if it was a little bit ofice cream or some fruit or
something.
But she had everything measuredand we and she maintained my
aunt did not gain, she didn'tgain weight till the end of her
life.
So she maintained if she hadthe same weight, I think she
fluctuated three or four poundsand her entire life and she died

(16:04):
at 85.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
Wow Good.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
And the only reason, yeah, and she died because she
got shingles and then theshingles got complicated and
then she had the men's shot.
I don't know what happened.
They just, you know, aged toand and she passed.
And my uncle, her husband, heused to.
He used to man the farm.
He built the house that theylived in Puerto Rico.
He built the house I was therewhen they built it and then he's

(16:29):
had the farm.
So he used to grow beans andand coffee and everything you
can think of, and he, he wasstill in doing that at 83 years
old.
He was still fit, muscles, hehad muscles.
He was still fit out thereevery day.
He worked out there and he had,he told me when I was there

(16:49):
taking care of them.
He said to me um, so I'm havinga hard time breathing, I'm not
sure what's going on.
And that's when they found outhe had lung cancer.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
So yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
So that that did him in at the end.
You know, um, but I'm tellingyou, if it wasn't for disease,
he would still be in the field.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
Uh-huh.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Mother mother died at 97 years old and she had 16
children and she lived in PuertoRico on the farm and she was a
strong, tall woman.
I remember she was very talland strong and she lived to like
96, 97 years old.
Wow.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
Good for her yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
And the thing is talking about food.
So I find food is so importantand people don't understand this
.
You know that's the food youput in.
You is so important.
In Puerto Rico the soil is red.
It's like a brick color becauseit's so fertile, the minerals.
You can smell it.
I have.
I just smell it.
I wish I could take it with me.
That, don't let you.
I just want to take a whole baghere Because if I bring that

(17:47):
here and put it in my pot,forget it, everything will grow
and um.
So I remember just everythingbeing so fresh and you still,
when you go to the island, youcan go and you walk the.
You just walk down the street.
You got trees everywhere,fruits and everything you can
think of.
You know.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, I just visited Puerto Rico a couple of years
ago and it was I hadn't beenthere in a while and it was
after the hurricane, buteveryone was so friendly and so
nice.
I just had such a warm feelingat just being on the island and
enjoying it.
What a, what a wonderful,magical place that is.
I think more people know aboutit.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, it's.
People are there told differentthan they are here.
I'm sorry they they somethingdoes America does something to
people because when you live inPuerto Rico it's a simple life
Okay, you live for your family,you take care of your land to
help your family, the house, andyou have your own things.
Of course, times have changedsince I was a little girl.

(18:46):
I'm 58 now, so it's been a longtime.
So things have changed in 50years, you know.
But you still have that.
You still have that life in thecountry and stuff like that.
But city says change people.
You know money changes people.
You know people live indifferent places and you
simulate to where you live.
So your whole dynamic changes.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
So what do you?
So?
From the things I was reading,you have different categories of
diseases, so we can just pickone with diabetes.
What have you found out aboutdiabetes?

Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, that's very interesting.
Diabetes is probably the singlemost important disease that
we're facing and it's theinteresting thing about diabetes
is that diabetes when I when Isay when I talk about diabetes,
I'm referring to type twodiabetes, which is which is 90

(19:44):
over 90% of it's the most commontype.
That type one is is a differenttype, but it's much more in
common that the common one thateveryone's getting, that more
people are getting now than everin the history of the world, is
this type two diabetes and acouple of things really
surprised me about it.
One, that it's so foundational,in other words, type two

(20:08):
diabetes in itself.
It creates problems with ourbodies, but it also contributes
to other chronic diseases.
Another type two diabetes islinked to heart attack.
It's linked to stroke.
It's linked to cancer.
It's linked to Alzheimer'sdisease.
Alzheimer's disease is calledtype three diabetes just because

(20:30):
of so many people with there'san increased association of
glucose abnormalities, which iswhat diabetes is, and
Alzheimer's disease.
The other interesting thingabout type two diabetes that I
didn't realize as a as a doctor,I always thought that type two
diabetes was, was like a lot ofdiseases you know you either had

(20:53):
it or you didn't have it.
You know, and if you had it,you know you, you did things to
treat it.
Well, what I'm realizing now istype two diabetes is based on
something called insulinresistance, and I don't know if
you've talked about that withyour audience, but it's not yet.
But the body doesn't handle,process the normal hormones that

(21:14):
metabolize sugars, basically,which is insulin, and this
insulin resistance increasesover time in all of us, and as
we get older, we all get more ofthis bad insulin resistance.
And once the insulin resistancecrosses a certain threshold
with your like you mentioned orHA1C values or your fasting

(21:37):
glucose.
Once the insulin resistancegets high enough, then the
diagnosis is made you have typetwo diabetes.
But what was a real revelationto me was the fact that all of
us, as we get older, are HA1Cand our insulin resistance
increases.
It gets higher and higher.

(21:58):
And the way I look at type twodiabetes now is it's it's a
disease of aging.
In other words, it's sort oflike gray hair.
In other words, if I live longenough and if I don't die of
something else first, I will gettype two diabetes.
Everybody will.

(22:18):
So what's the message there?
Well, the message is that thereare things that we can do to
prevent type 2 diabetes and, asyou found out, there are things.
Type 2 diabetes can actually bereversed with lifestyle changes
, with diet.
You know, unlike maybe a canceror a stroke, you can't reverse

(22:41):
it with diet.
You can lower the risk for it,but once you've got it, it's
hard to reverse Type 2 diabetes.
You can actually go off insulin, go off all your medications I
mean, one of my four chronicdiseases was prediabetes and I
was on metformin and by changingthe lifestyle like you did, I

(23:03):
was able to wind it back.
So I'm no longer prediabetic.
I mean, I'm still type 2diabetes, like we all are, but
I'm in remission, in other words, and that was really a
revelation to me.
So the type 2 diabetes, the factthat it contributes to all the

(23:23):
chronic diseases, that the topmain killers that will kill 90%
of us type 2 diabetes is a rootcause.
And insulin resistance,secondly, that we're all on the
path to diabetes throughincreasing insulin resistance as
we age.
It's something we're all facing.
And then the third thing isthat we can reverse type 2

(23:44):
diabetes, and many doctors stilldon't really accept this, but
it's been shown to mysatisfaction in control trials.
Where, you know and there arecompanies like Verde Health that
actually the insurance will payfor they will put start you on
a nutritional plan that willreverse your type 2 diabetes and

(24:07):
get it off there.
And the fact that we all get itwe all are on the path to
diabetes.
What difference does that make?
Well, what it does.
I think it should inform ourchoices about the food we eat,
even if we're not diabetic,because we're all essentially at
risk for type 2 diabetes andwe'll eventually get there if we

(24:28):
live long enough, so at age 30,at age 40, before we're
diabetic, before any of thesethings happen, we should look at
the choices we make in our foodand avoid the foods that drive
insulin resistance and thatdrive us on the path to becoming
diabetic.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, that's so true, I was just thinking a couple of
things.
So my son he's 20, one of mysons is 23 now.
When he was about maybe 12, 13years old, he had gained some
weight and he went to the doctorand he said you know, he's
pre-diabetic.
You know, his sugars are alittle high, he's too young, he

(25:11):
needs to lose weight.
I came home and I'm like heck.
No, you know so this is nothappening to my son.
So, right away, change the diet.
You know snow more pizzas.
You know no more going toMcDonald's.
You know the fast way, because,as a, as a, at that time, I was
a single mother.
Unfortunately, when you're in arush and you have a job and you

(25:32):
have kids, you're trying tofind what is the fastest way to
feed them and you're notthinking of nutrition, You're
thinking I need to feed them.
And because everybody takestheir kids to McDonald's and
Burger King, who cares?
It's so bad for you, I don'tenter those places.
And it took when I saw my childlike that, boom.
We took care of it.
He lost his weight and he wasdetermined as he got older.

(25:55):
Now he is completely fit.
He goes to the gym every day,he watches what he eat.
He lost about 65 pounds of fatas he got older, you know, when
he was like 18, 19, when hestarted working out.
And now he's built muscle andhe's going for a weightlifting
competition for heavy weightsand stuff like that.

(26:15):
So so he changed his life.
He changed his lifestyle.
He saw me when I got sick withthe stroke too, and I wanted to
mention that I thought aboutthese things when I worked in IT
and I used to be an IT manager,so my job was very, very hectic
.
I would go, you know, 10, 12hours a day.
I'd be running around, peoplehave problems and I wouldn't eat

(26:36):
properly.
And I remember I was gettingthe signs back then about the
diabetes, because my sugar wouldplummet and I would start
shaking and I'm like what iswrong with me?
And I'm like, and I could feellike I was going to pass out,
and I'm like I don't know what'sgoing on, because I had no food
in my stomach.
I had no, no fuel.
So so from me not eating, theneating, spiking my sugar, going

(26:59):
up, then going back down, thengoing back up, I didn't
understand it.
I understand it Now, the damageI did to my body.
I was doing damage to my body.
So my body couldn't figure outwhy I store the food, because I
need it later.
So then I started gainingweight, right.
So then I started getting heavyand then I was drinking.
So that didn't help, drinkingliquor and all that stuff.
But I know that my lifestylecontributed to my sickness, due

(27:25):
to the of not sleeping properly,drinking alcohol too much Okay,
Poor, poor eating habits.
So not eating breakfast, noteating till four o'clock in the
afternoon, have an eating allday, drinking coffee all day,
you know.
Try to fill myself with sugar,Okay, which is the worst thing
you can do, because white sugaris so bad for you and and like I

(27:48):
, destroyed my system and whatbe.
So before I had the stroke, Iwas heavy, I was.
I have lost about 70 poundssince then.
And of course, maintained itover the last six and a half
years.
I lost 70 pounds and and it'sbeen a challenge it's not, it's
not.
I tell people this is not easy.
There's no pill.

(28:09):
Stop looking for quick fixes.
Okay, stop listening to thestuff on TV.
Oh, there's a new program.
You just come and you take apill and you lose 50 pounds.
No, it's what you put in themouth.
You know.
I tell people, right, you?

Speaker 2 (28:27):
have to watch.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
There's no quick fix for anything.
You have to work at it.
So I say help.
Being healthy is a job.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
In our side, one of the things that that I'd be done
I've begun doing.
And everybody, you knoweverybody does everyone's
different.
Everyone has, you know, choosestheir own thing.
My mom, the dietitian, alwaystold me you know, you get up,
have a healthy breakfast, youknow if you're going to work out
, you eat something before youwork out.

(28:57):
You know you take some, youknow, gatorade or something or
you know, and then you have asnack in the middle of the day
and then you have lunch and thenyou have a snack in the middle
of the afternoon, then you havedinner and then you have some
snacks in the evening.
And what I've done is I'veunderstood about myself is
that's not a good way for me,and what I do now is I actually

(29:23):
I get up in the morning, I don'teat breakfast and I don't eat
lunch, and I eat dinner with myfamily and that's my one meal of
the day, and then I don't eatfor the rest of the day, and
this is something calledintermittent fasting that some
people do.

(29:43):
And you know you shouldn't ifyou have any medical condition,
you shouldn't just go ahead andstart it, especially if you're a
diabetic or anything.
But it's something that youknow works for some people and
I've found for me it really Inever thought I would I would be
able to function without eatingfor such a long time, but your
body switches to somethingcalled ketones and for me at

(30:07):
least, I get a lot of clarity inmy brain.
I used to get like brain fogwhen I eat breakfast.
I'd like mid morning.
I'd be like you know, after abig lunch and everything.
So that's one thing people canlook at too is, you know, we're
understanding so many differentthings and there's so many
different options that we get tochoose with our lifestyle.

(30:29):
It's fun to try differentthings and figure out what works
best for our own health, youknow.
Exactly Some people can'ttolerate dairy, you know, and
for them, you know, that doesn'twork.
Or some people can't tolerategrains, you know, and.
But we, you know, we get tofind what food works best for us

(30:50):
and it can really make adifference in our lives.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
It does, and I'm happy you mentioned intermittent
fasting, because that's onething that I do do and that's
what changed a lot of my, myweight, and that came off faster
.
So I usually don't eat from 8pmto probably 10 in the morning,
so you know 12 hours orsomething like that, 14 hours.

(31:17):
I do intermittent fasting, so Itry to eat in between, you know
10 and eight, and you know, andthen I don't eat anything after
that and drink a lot of water,and especially here in South
Florida, so a lot.
Oh, my God, we have a heated.
I have a heat advisory on mycomputer because it's been, oh,
really Wow.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
The humidity.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
the humidity is the problem is 60% humidity and then
it's 95 degrees, so it was like110.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
So, I mean my picture is beautiful, as if I could
just stay at the beach all daywould be nice, but I can't.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
I'm out in California and it's hot here, but at least
it's drier than on the East.
Coast, so at least we have thehumidity working for us a little
bit.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
I lived in California for 13 years.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Oh really.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
I lived in San Fernando Valley when I left I
lived in Lake Butaris nearSylmar yeah of course.
Of course up there.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
Beautiful up there.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
I missed the California mountains.
That's the only thing If Icould have this weather I have
here with mountains, and thenI'll be like in Puerto Rico,
right.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
That's what it is.
Yeah, that's right, exactly.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
So I do miss the mountains because there's really
no, where it is it's the onlymountain we have is the garbage
dump.
But anyway, going back tointermittent fasting, I have
somebody that I met here thatlives here in South Florida.
She wrote a book aboutintermittent fasting and I'm
going to have to call her.
I'm going to have her on theshow and talk about that,
because, oh great yeah.

(32:55):
Yeah, I found that that has been, it was.
It's kind of weird what yourmind does.
Your mind tricks you, right.
So the minute you sayintermittent fasting, you can't
eat for so many hours, yourbrain goes what, what do you
mean?
I can't eat.
Like it does something right,Like what do you mean, like you,
freak out, I can't eat for 12hours.
You're not going to die,there's nothing body adjusts and

(33:20):
you're not.
You're not hungry, you don'tthink about it, you just go.
I actually, I feel like I havemore energy.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
I do too.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
I do too A lot of people go and go and go, and
then I'm like, oh, I have to eat.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
Exactly, yeah, yeah, and it's, it's I use before I
did this.
I would like it would be likelunchtime and I go oh, it's
lunchtime, I got to figure outwhat to eat, and then I'd go,
you know, and I'd like I'd sortof have to force myself to eat
something, or I picked and Ireally wasn't hungry, and same
with breakfast.
So the intermittent fasting,the great thing about it is when

(33:53):
you save money because you'vegot, you know, as much food and
you also save time.
It's great with time and I, Ilike you, I thought I'd be
hungry.
I said, oh, this isn't going towork, I'm going to be hungry.
But what I found and maybeyou've noticed it too, when I,
when I go into fasting, likeovernight and you know I don't

(34:15):
eat after dinner, and then thebody changes from glucose
metabolism to ketones, you know,and you go into this, this
state called ketosis and withketosis it's, it's decreases
your appetite.
So I find I'm not, I'm not, youknow, mid morning, and I
haven't eaten since, you know,six o'clock the night before,

(34:37):
with dinner In mid morning, I'mreally not that hungry.
I'm drinking black coffee, I'mdoing my thing and you know,
whatever it is including workingout and and it's, it's really,
it's really great.
And then that that you know,when I finally do eat, I can
really pay attention to what I'meating, I can choose really
healthy food and whatever it is,it tastes really good because I

(35:00):
haven't eaten for 10 hoursExactly.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
It's like you enjoy your meal even more because
you're like wow, this tastes sogood.
You know, but celebration.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
Exactly, exactly.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
But yeah, my husband complains that he's never hungry
.
He's because he's doing theintermittent fasting with me and
he, I'm not hungry, I said, butI just cooked dinner you
haven't eaten yet I'm not hungry, so sometimes he eats a little
bit, and then some of these arealready full.
Like he is different, you knowlike he loves more weight than I
did, because usually time menlose faster than women.

(35:32):
We have more fat content rightIn our bodies and and I tell, I
tell people I said you know youhave to it's all about how you
think of your life and how youthink about food.
Unfortunately, there are peopleout there that are very
dependent on food, so that's awhole nother.
You know, it's a mental issue,emotional issue, because people
are emotional eating and Iremember doing that before.

(35:55):
The same way, when you grab,when you're, you think life is
hard.
So I'm going to grab a glass ofwine, you know, I mean I could
enjoy a glass of wine, but whenyou're reaching it for a reason,
the same way you reach for food.
Right, it's not helping.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
Yeah, yeah, and the and that was a revelation to me
too, and I talked about this inthe book a little bit about how
the food we eat, especially theultra process junk foods, it's,
it's, it's, there's a hugepsychological component to it.
In other words, you could, youcould, someone can, understand

(36:34):
how harmful these foods are, butthen they'll go ahead and eat
them anyway, even though theyknow the damage they're doing to
their bodies.
It's because they're otherpsychological factors.
It's actually like an addictionand I mean, I'm, I'm a process
junk food addiction.
It's addict in remission.
You know, I, I would, you know,I, I've been there, done that.

(36:57):
But now I've made the choice.
But it wasn't, it wasn't easy,it wasn't just a matter of
saying, oh, I know, this isharmful for me, I'm going to
stop.
I had to, like address certainthings that were driving the
addiction and you know and it'sjust like other substances like
alcohol or tobacco or othertypes of addictions that we can
have that if we don'tacknowledge the psychological

(37:20):
components and really reallyface it head on, it's a struggle
to give it up.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
And.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
I and you added the word addiction, because that's
what it is.
We become addicted to foods, webecome, you know, different to
different substances in ourenvironments, so it's not just
alcohol and tobacco, but otherthings too, and it's unfortunate
.
It's unfortunate and yeah inthe process food.
If I just yeah, if I could.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
On the process food.
One other thing that juststruck me in this was that
process food has a lot ofeffects on our body, on chronic
diseases Like we.
You know, we've mentioned allthese things.
There's one thing I didn'texpect and that is the effect it
has on mental health.
There's a there's a gentleman,christopher Palmer, who's who's

(38:14):
written a book called BrainEnergy.
He'd be great to have on thispodcast.
He's a psychiatrist fromHarvard Medical School Finding
that his patients would haveschizophrenia and manic
depressive orders, these severepsychiatric disorders, where
they're in mental hospitals oron medication.
He found that for some but notall of them, but some of them he

(38:37):
could change the food that theyeat and basically take them off
, process junk foods and removethem entirely, and they go off
all medications and theyactually get better and they can
go into society.
And so this, this tie betweenfoods we eat and mental health,
is very interesting.

(38:58):
But the the really fascinatingpart is that it not only drives
things like schizophrenia and,you know, major depression, but
it also, if we step it back alittle and think about you and
me and our families and ourfriends living our regular lives
, we're we're not full onpsychiatric, we don't have

(39:18):
psychiatric diagnosis.
But think about it the food,the junk food, the same effects.
If it could drive these mentalfull on mental conditions.
It can also drive subtle thingslike how we relate to our
friends, how we relate to ourspouse, how we relate to our
family, these interactions, andwe've seen how, how our world in

(39:40):
the last, in the last decade ortwo, has been polarized.
You know politicians can't talkto each other anymore in
Washington.
You know the the world hasbecome so polarized.
People are.
People are arguing and beingmore combative and I can't help
but think that the fast foods,the junk foods that are

(40:03):
inundating our world now can't.
I can't help but wonder whatrole these are playing in it,
because we know they have aneffect on our mental health.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
Is there anything that the, the medical community
can do to like restrict some ofthese?
Like you know, provenscientific that these chemicals
are not good for us.
Because, you know, I mean, likethey always say, my rule of
thumb is right if I can't, if Ican't pronounce what's in the
ingredients, I'm not going toeat it.

(40:35):
So and basically, if it's a, ifit's in a, in a frozen container
or if it's sealed in a package,is processed.
But not everything.
You know it could be naturallyprocessed but you have to look
at the ingredients.
So I'm used to it now.
But I go to the store takes meforever.
I'm like I know that, I knowwhat that's in there, like I
read all my labels and all thisstuff and and people.

(40:57):
You know marketing is amazing.
Okay, marketing can be good formarketing can be bad and the
sense of her food.
So they will put a label on itand they'll say fat free, low,
low fat, whatever.
Look at the ingredients becausethey might tell you that but
it's not.
It's usually the opposite.

(41:19):
It's a marketing ploy to get tobuy it.
You know, and again, this isjust reasons that I've done.
When it comes to like sugar,like refined sugar, refined
sugar is so bad, white sugar isso bad, and I and I and I kind
of did a test.
I only I usually have honey inmy teeth.
Okay, natural honey.

(41:40):
I buy like a gallon.
We have Florida honey, you know, and so the other day I
couldn't get honey, so we hadsugar in the house and I don't
like it.
But I use it for a couple ofdays and my stomach was hurting,
like I started getting stomachissues, and I'm like what and I
go wait a second I started usingwhite sugar, so I cut the white

(42:01):
sugar again.
I'm very, I'm very sensitive.
Like I know, my body, like my,my stomach, starts getting
triggered by something and I'mlike, what did I eat?
Like I'm trying to figure itout, you know yeah people are.
People are not in tune to theirbodies.
Your bodies give you somewarning signals.
So, before, before I had thestroke I had, my body was
reacting.

(42:21):
I had severe headache on oneside of my head.
I had.
I had these weird likeabdominal cramping, almost like
a menstrual cramping.
That's how it felt, like Okay,and I can add my insulin and my
sugar would not go back below400.
Wow For two weeks, for twoweeks.

(42:44):
I was like this I went to theemergency room three times, went
to my medical doctor.
Nobody could figure it out.
I went to the doctor.
On a Friday I was at thehospital here and the doctor was
so upset to the doctors like,oh, you have migraines, and he
gave me oxy.
How are you describing me?

(43:04):
Oxy coding.
You don't know who I am, youdon't know my history.
Okay, wow, and.
And I left the hospital andthat night I got, went home and
I had a stroke.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Wow, wow.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
Nobody could figure out.
How can you not figure out likethis?
Like ah, like I could feel myhead, like I was going to
explode.
I'm on one side of my head.
I'm like what is going on?
You know nobody, nobody.
Nobody paid attention to meLike I'm crazy.
I that's one thing that I getupset about that I go and I'm
like these are my symptoms.
I have this pain here.
I have this pain here, like Iknow what's going on, and the

(43:40):
doctors that I didn't know, likethey ignore what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah, yeah that that that's such an important issue
and and you know what you saidabout sugar certainly everyone
everyone at least is beginningto understand how bad sugar is
for.
For us it's, it's really.
And the interesting thing isour body has no requirement for
sugar.
In other words, the glucosethat is in sugar, our body can

(44:06):
make it from other foods.
So there's no requirement forsugar or carbohydrates of any
form.
So we can live fine withoutcarbohydrates.
But what a lot of people don'tknow.
They're aware that sugar is soharmful in all these diseases,
but many people don't understandthat that flour and rice and

(44:26):
these refined carbohydratesconvert into sugar essentially
in our mouths and our digestivesystem.
So eating a piece of whitebread is like eating a candy bar
.
You know the it, because itconverts.
As far as our body sees it,it's just a burst of glucose.
Same thing with white rice andI mean, and I love bread, I love

(44:49):
rice, I love all these things,but I want to see my, I want to
live to see my grandchildren,you know.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
So it's an easy decision for me, I can give up
these things.
I still eat rice, unfortunately.
I'm Puerto Rican.
I can't be without my rice andbeans, but I have.
I make like a Jasmine rice butI have tons of red beans on top
of it.
Okay, so I eat more protein.
You know, it's just the flavor,right.
So I mix everything together.

(45:15):
I have my vegetables, I have myother protein, so I'm trying to
do the balanced meal Right.
So my plate is not my wholeplate, is not this big thing of
rice anymore, it's portioncontrol.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah Well, I have the same cultural issue at home.
My wife was born in China andshe's Chinese, and so you know
rice is.
So you know we.
You know we work with ourculture, we work with what we
have, and you know we, we do thebest choices that we can with
all that.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
Exactly, exactly.
So what about?
And I'm just choosing diseasesbecause unfortunately my mother
has Alzheimer's and she has it's.
It's in the beginning.
I guess she's 85 years old,she's amazing, she's still
physically.
She's incredible.
We live with them becauseduring COVID we had to move in

(46:07):
together.
My aunt is 83.
She fell and hit her head andbroke her arm five years ago.
So now she has dementia and andwhat was weird is that she I
mean, yeah, I know, it's just alabel they put on her for the
disease, but my aunt and mymother are so different.
So my aunt, when she fell, shehit her head.

(46:30):
She has like amnesia, I saybecause she can't remember
anything that happened in thepast at all.
It's just gone.
It's like somebody just wipedher history away.
She, she's once in a while isinteresting I see her wake up
and what I mean is that all of asudden she did the day she was
sweeping and I was like shehasn't done that for years.
Like all of a sudden, like herbrain triggered something.

(46:53):
I used to do this, you know,and I'm like what are you doing?
I'm sweeping and I'm like, okay, I just let her be, you know.
So you know I, because I'm withthem you know pretty much 24,
seven, so I see the changes inthem.
And then my mother, my mother'sa classical pianist.
She can still play Chopin andshe now she has to put the music

(47:15):
notes, but she can still readmusic and she can still play and
she can remember everythingthat happened in the past.
But her short term memory isthe issue.
So the short term memory andthen instructions.
I can't give her a three partinstruction, right.
So I have to say, mom, justtake this here, okay.
But I can't say, can you takethis and then go here and then
do this?

(47:35):
I can't do that because ourbrain can't handle the three
part or the.
There's too many steps.
She, she lost already two stepsby the time I get to the third
one.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
One of the things that that surprised me about in
this book about Alzheimer'sdisease and understanding it, is
the way that it's tied tocarbohydrate metabolism and
insulin resistance.
So for some patients not allpatients, but some patients with
Alzheimer's disease they canget a dramatic improvement in

(48:09):
their brain fog and their mentalfunctioning If they change the
foods.
They need to avoid foods thatdrive insulin resistance.
So it's basically what it turnsout to be is a low carbohydrate
type diet or a ketogenic diet.
In in ketosis there's a.
There's a great practitionernamed Heather Sanderson who runs

(48:32):
she would be great on thispodcast as well.
She runs nursing homes forAlzheimer's patients, but her
nursing homes are a littledifferent because for her
nursing home, the Alzheimer'spatients go there to get better
and then they go home, which issomething that you don't expect

(48:54):
with Alzheimer's disease.
And see, I interviewed her fora program for my podcast that I
and I and she was talking aboutketosis and the diet effects on
Alzheimer's patients.
And she says at her centers,all the food is food that's
designed to minimize thisinsulin resistance in this

(49:17):
effect and I go well.
That's great.
But how do you know it?
How do you know it works?
You know, and she goes well.
Sometimes it's really dramatic.
We have one one of one of herpatients is a gentleman who when
he's in ketosis in other wordswhen he's observing the
ketogenic diet he can recognizehis children, his

(49:37):
grandchildren's names and hesmiles and he interacts with
them.
But she can tell as soon as hegoes out of ketosis, you know,
if he, if he eats somecarbohydrates or something,
he'll no longer remember theirnames or even recognize them.
It's really dramatic.
So that's that's something to toconsider, and Dale Bredesen has

(50:01):
written a number of books aboutthat, about the end of
Alzheimer's and differentapproaches to remove toxins in
the environment that you'vetalked about change diet and
these other things that for someAlzheimer's patients can
actually blow down the diseaseor even reverse it, because
Alzheimer's is a big.
It's a big diagnostic categorythat likely represents a lot of

(50:25):
different diseases.
You know even well, deficiencycan cause brain fog and memory
loss.
So just give someone a B12 pillyou know vitamin B12.
You'll quote cure theirAlzheimer's.
You know they didn't reallyhave Alzheimer's, they just had
memory loss because of B12, butthey were diagnosed as

(50:46):
Alzheimer's because that's whatwe call people, old people who
can't remember things.
We call it Alzheimer's.
But anyway, there's a lot ofbreakthroughs with Alzheimer's
disease and the effect oflifestyle and, again, these
choices we make.
So I would urge anyone withcaring for anyone with

(51:06):
Alzheimer's disease to lookclosely at the lifestyle because
that can have a dramatic effect.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
Oh yeah, I mean I cook every day for them, even
though I'm a very busy, verybusy life with business and the
podcast and a whole bunch ofthings that we're doing.
But it's important to me.
We were raised to take care ofour family.
My grandmother died here, thishome, when she was 90.
My uncle, my aunt's husband,died of cancer here and he was

(51:34):
young.
He was only 65 when he died andwas really sad.
But we've always taken care ofour family.
So my mother and my aunt and Ialso have my husband's aunt here
.
She's younger, she's like 71.
But she physically has somelimitations and stuff.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
So we kind of all take care of each other.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
But I watched the diet.
I changed things.
My aunt is very stuck to likeshe only eats certain things.
She's very picky, so I try tomodify it.
Because she want a chickencutlet.
Breaded chicken is fried.
So I'm like mm.
So I try to do it, so I bake it.
Then she'll complain about that, so I try to alternate, like

(52:23):
I'll bake meat for her insteadof frying, like I change Like
the Puerto Rican food, I changeit Instead of frying things, I
bake it or put in the air fryerjust to not have any oils and I
try to modify it.
And I give my mother theprotein.
I give her protein every day,plant based, with the moringa
powder and everything too.
And so I try to give herhealthy things as well Fruits

(52:47):
and vegetables.
I always have a bowl either ofclums or a cantaloupe or
something in the table so theycan eat.
I take it out, have some fruit,don't have cake and don't have
cookies.
And they still like those things, but what?

Speaker 2 (53:00):
am I going to do?

Speaker 1 (53:01):
I have to you give it Exactly, so you kind of weigh
it.
I try to buy them healthy icecream if they want ice cream.
So I'm at that, I mean at 85years old.
Come on, she's lived a longlife already.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
But all these diseases.
I mean, like we said, myhusband's cousin.
Unfortunately, he passed awayhe was only 46 years old,
because he was diabetic and hegave up on his life.
He got heartbroken, he washeartbroken and he basically
gave up and when he passed awayhe was a big man, over six feet

(53:47):
tall, big guy, and he actually Ihave his picture here Very
handsome man, Very handsome man.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
That was him right there.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
Wow, yeah, yeah.
So that was JC's aunt's onlyson and his kidneys shut down.
All his organs shut down oh mygoodness Basically Wow Because
of the diabetes, the sugar, andI tell people, I said you can't,
this is not a game, diabetes isnot a game.
When the sugar and I know thisfor a fact because it happened

(54:21):
to me when I was at the worsthealth in my life my sugar was
at 550.
I wasn't taking, I wasn'tchecking my blood and I wasn't
taking care of myself.
And that's the truth.
I was just eating whatever, Iwas drinking.
I was not doing anything.
This was about 10 years ago andmy sugar was like at 550.

(54:41):
I went to the doctor and I saidI don't know what's going on,
but for the last couple of weeksI'm losing weight and I lost 20
pounds, but I wasn't doinganything and I couldn't figure
out why I was losing weight andI was thirsty, and thirsty, and
thirsty and I was drinkinggallons of water a day and I'm
like what is?
Something's not right.
And when I went to the doctorhe said you're lucky you haven't

(55:02):
had a stroke or a heart attack.
Right now.
He says your blood pressure isthrough the roof, your sugar was
550.
Your A1C was like 14.
It was, I was a mess.
And he says basically, yourorgans are starting to.
Your body's eating itself.
Right, it's eating the fat.
It was eating itself away.

(55:22):
And I didn't understand that thediabetes starts eating the high
sugar starts eating your organsand starts so you can have.
You start getting like abladder infection.
I had a bladder infection.
You start getting as a woman.
You get yeast infections,horrible yeast infections, just

(55:43):
so many things, and people don'tunderstand.
And that's what happened toCarlos, who passed away, his
kidney shut down.
He was on dialysis already.
He just gave up and he had alot of medication.
When I cleaned out his house wefound all the insulinses were

(56:04):
there.
He was on some kind of trialmedication.
Everything was there.
He didn't take it.
He just didn't take it.
Wow, wow.
And it was all about eating.
Because what was he eating?
He would ask for McDonald's andKentucky Fried Chicken.
The worst two things you canpossibly eat as a diabetic you
can't eat.
Kentucky Fried Chicken FriedChicken, fried Fat, I mean come

(56:27):
on.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting the effects you can
get with the diet.
Of that.
There's one extreme veganism isone extreme and then the other
extreme is sort of carnivore,where people eat only meat.
And there's a study with thecarnivore people when they eat

(56:49):
only meat they don't eatcarbohydrates at all, and the
carbohydrates is the food groupthat causes diabetes.
So when you take type 2diabetics and they convert to a
carnivore diet, uniformly theirdiabetes goes into remission.
It's amazing because they don'thave any carbohydrates in their
diet.

Speaker 1 (57:08):
It's not interesting?

Speaker 2 (57:10):
Yeah, because type 2 diabetes is basically a disease
of carbohydrate intolerance.
It's sort of like lactoseintolerance is what people who
don't like milk and dairy arelactose intolerant, so that's a
disease.
You have diarrhea, you have allyour upset.
So how do you cure lactoseintolerance?

(57:31):
Well, you stop eating anythingwith lactose in it, so you avoid
dairy.
So how do you controlcarbohydrate intolerance, which
is type 2 diabetes?
Well, you avoid carbohydratesand the diabetes goes away.
It's amazing and this I don'tthink it's emphasized enough to
people and it's not well knownor even accepted by some

(57:56):
physicians.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
Yeah, of all the years I've been diabetic, since
the last, since I was like 40.
Actually I had gestationaldiabetes, so for both my
children and both pregnancies,and the doctor told me this is a
sign that you will going to befull blown diabetic.
But still didn't understand.

(58:18):
I'm in my 30s, what are youtalking about?
I mean, we're at that age, inour 30s.
We're like, yeah, ok, whatever,so I'll stop eating one thing.
Then, when they start saying,well, you can't eat rice, you
can't eat pizza, I'm like whatare you talking about?

Speaker 2 (58:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:33):
It's not.
It goes from one extreme to theother.
So as a human being, we're veryresistant to change.
So when somebody tells you youcan't do something, all of a
sudden you're craving that right.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
Yeah, yeah, and we're complex people.
I have a patient who's diabeticand he's about to get his feet
amputated, both of his feet forthe diabetes and the number one
cause of amputation is diabetes.
You know it's a common thing.
But I was asking him about hisdiet and he says he has one coke

(59:08):
a day and it's all his doctorwill allow him.
And I said one coke, that's all.
Sugar that's driving yourdiabetes and he goes I love my
coke, I don't need my feet.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
Really.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
Well, he says we're all complicated organisms and
all the things that drive us.
But he was very clear that ifyou take the coke you're going
to have to give yourself moreinsulin.
It's going to drive your thing.
But he still did it one day aweek and he was starting to go
blind and his feet were going tobe amputated, but for him it

(59:51):
was worth it to have the coke.
That's terrible.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
That's terrible, that's terrible.
And talking about that to othereffects of diabetes.
So when I had the stroke myvision changed.
So before it changed and I keptsaying I'm having a hard time
seeing, I went to the doctor andmy vision changed three times
and actually got better.
I don't understand that.

(01:00:15):
It got better, not worse.
So I was like I had to take myglasses.
I go, wow, I couldn't actuallysee Like I could see actually
better.
I said this is really weird, meand my brain.
I'm starting to think I wonderwhy we should do some research,
like I should have been a doctor.
I'm always like let's doresearch.
Why did vision change.
Why did it change?

(01:00:35):
Like maybe it has something so,and I had.
I remember going when I wasreal sick.
They told me I had diabeticeyes already and they showed me
the picture how my veins were,the blood vessels were really
bad.
And he said if you don't dosomething you can lose your
vision.
So thank God, till today, myeyes all healed.

(01:00:58):
I have no diabetic eye, my eyesare normal, they're back to the
way it was.
And again, just telling peopleyour body does heal.
Our body is a fine-tunedmachine.
Okay, it heals itself.
You cut yourself, it sealsright.
And people used to tell me allthe time oh, but you're diabetic

(01:01:19):
.
I don't like labels, okay, Ihave something fine, but I'm not
gonna harbor on it every daybecause then you're focusing on
the disease and not a cure.
At least I feel that way, so youknow they used to tell me oh,
you're diabetic, you have tocare for you, you can't cut
yourself, you won't heal.
And I'm like I healed in twodays it was sealed.
I have no problems I have.

(01:01:40):
My feet are fine, you know, Idon't have.
I'm always, you know, watchingeverything and it's really sad
because I see people in thestreet and you can see the edema
, you know, in their legs, youknow, especially for homeless
people, because I see a lot ofpeople around and you can see
their edema in their legs andtheir red and puffy and I feel

(01:02:01):
so bad for them Because it'slike I know the disease is
eating their body away.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Yeah, yeah, I mean the number one cause of
amputations.
Diabetes is the leading causeof blindness.
It's also the leading cause,the number one cause of renal
failure and renal transplantsand dialysis.
So it's huge business for thehealthcare system.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Yeah, well, that's the other side of it.
I don't wanna get toocontroversial, but I know
there's a lot.
The pharmaceutical company,that's a whole, nother thing.
Like again, I'm not one formeds.
You know I'm happy that you'retalking about things that people
can help themselves andunderstand that your body does
heal, because that's important,and you, as a medical doctor,

(01:02:47):
it's great that you're doingthat.
You know to teach other doctors, you know, look at.
You know, look at this, look atthat.
You know, just a littledifferent change of perspective.
That the body is it can heal,and how can we help other people
to really understand it?
You know, the only commercialsyou get on TV are the

(01:03:11):
commercials for the drugs,unfortunately, but there's never
a commercial that says hieverybody, today we're gonna
heal your body.
Today, if you stop eating this,guess what?
You know, like they don't donone of that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
Yeah, no, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
You know they have I always.
I mean, I hate to say I'm notgonna mention the name, but
there's a commercial that comesout that has like a diet plan
right and have prepaid, pre-madefood right, and every time that
commercial comes on the TV I'mlike oh yeah, and you lose
weight but you get cancer at thesame time.
Because you're eating processedfood.

(01:03:47):
So you know, I always add to itlike doesn't people realize
that that convenience is notnecessarily healthy?

Speaker 2 (01:03:56):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
So besides diabetes, which is huge, alzheimer's
become something that's it'shuge as well.
They're building a new at thehospital.
They bring a whole new buildingon neuro, neuro, neurology I
guess for Alzheimer's and thingslike that.
A whole other building just forthat.
And I live in Boca Raton,florida, which is a very they

(01:04:20):
have a lot of, you know, elderlycommunity here.
So I see it all the time.
I see the elderly.
It breaks my heart because Isee my mother at 85.
And if you see her she lookslike she's 50, okay.
And then I see other peoplethat are just looked like
they're just walking deadbecause they're so ill from

(01:04:42):
their disease and they don'tknow how to function.
They don't know about diet andthere are dietitians, because
I've been, I was sent to anutritionist and a dietitian,
but still there's somethingmissing, like there's something
missing there.
When you go to the nutritionist, I don't know.
Like I said, it's your mindset,you have to be prepared, I want

(01:05:04):
to be healthy, you have to likeI think they should have.
Besides going to nutritionist,you should go towards
psychologist, because I think weshould talk about where we're
at Mentally and emotionally, orlike we talked about when it
comes to food, to address thosethings before you start doing a
nutrition plan.
Because a person who's havingemotional issues with food and

(01:05:27):
then you give them a nutritionplan and you tell them you can't
eat this and you can't eat that, it's like a, it's like a
mental breakdown.
When they told me you can't eatpizza anymore, you can't have
this anymore, I'm like, excuseme, wait a second.
All my life I eat a certainfood and now you want me to cut
everything and and like startover again.
That's very difficult, that's avery difficult task to do.

(01:05:51):
That.
You know, I was really likefighting it, like no, I'm gonna
eat what I want to eat you knowlike, but.
But this has been such anamazing conversation I know we
can probably talk for hours onend.
There's so many differentdiseases high blood pressure you
know my ancestors from highblood pressure as well.

(01:06:13):
That's one of the reasons whyshe fell.
She went to walk to go get themangoes at the neighbor's house
and she literally justflat-faced on the ground.
I think her blood pressure wentup and she just collapsed.
And I've taken a goodcardiologist now and they've
adjusted her medicine.
So thank God she's good nowwith her blood pressure and and

(01:06:34):
mentally she's stable.
You know I don't see in thelast three years it hasn't
really Changed too much.
You know it's been prettysteady, which is good.
At least I don't have a few.
I'm both of them.
They're not.
Is that they haven't gottenworse?
You know, so severe, even withCOVID.
We all had COVID as well.
But but anyway, um, we can getyour, we can get your book on

(01:07:01):
all platforms, correct you?
But your book is sold on Amazonand all these.
Yeah, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
It's actually the pre-orders for Amazon or gonna
be going up in a couple weeks.
It's available on my website inaudiobook form currently and if
, if the readers would like toGet the first chapter, I'm happy
to give it to them for free.
They can download it from mywebsite if they want I can.
I can give them the link here,if you'd like.

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, and I'll put it under the
description and the podcast.
Everybody can get to it.
And and reach, reach you andGet this incredible book to, to,
to just really help you thinkabout your health and the
alternatives you have and thatwe can heal through food and
just some lifestyle changes andthat's why yeah, yeah, it's the

(01:07:53):
website's Robert Lufkin LufkinMD.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
Calm, and if you just put slash chapter, you'll be
able to download the the audioVersion and print version of the
first chapter of the book, andhope you enjoy it if you read it
.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
Oh yeah, definitely.
Like I said, I was goingthrough it, I'm still gonna read
.
I have so many books right nowI've been interviewing about I
don't I think I did alreadyabout eight different authors on
different books and anddifferent things and and and I
heard that there's a I forgotthe day moving right now.
I got a press release the otherday regarding there's a new

(01:08:33):
like an award for for writers,because it's okay.
Yeah, it's very hard to be awriter these days because
Technology has changed things.
I mean it's making it easierfor you to get your book out
there.

Speaker 2 (01:08:46):
But it's not the same , like before Was a captivating
title.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
It's not exactly the way you know.
What do you think?
It's just to get your attention.
Would you've got my attention?
That's for sure.
But I'm happy that we had thisgreat conversation for over an
hour and we covered a lot ofdifferent things.
I'm happy you're healthy, I'mhealthy, and hopefully we get
some other people out therehealthier too.

Speaker 2 (01:09:15):
Thanks.
Thanks so much, alita, forhaving me on your program.

Speaker 1 (01:09:17):
This is you're very welcome.
Thank you so much and have anawesome day and We'll have
everybody check out your newbook you too Thanks.
Thanks, bye, bye.

Speaker 2 (01:09:29):
Bye.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
Come celebrate your event and create new memories at
Studio 33 right here in FortLauderdale, off the exit 32
commercial Boulevard.
Call us today so you canschedule appointment and see the
location as an intimate settingfor your private event.
Call us at 954-530-7193 again954-530-7193.

(01:09:54):
Also, our website is studio 33F, as in Frank LLcom, and you
can find us on all social mediaat Studio 33 FLL as well.
Again, call us today for yourappointment.
You come see our venue.
We are filling up fast till theend of the year.
954-530-7193.
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