Fearless Wellness: How Holistic Choices Empower Health After 60 w/ Dr. James Thompson | Ep. 296 - The Aging Well Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
What if aging wasn't something to fear, but something to
embrace with clarity, confidence, and purpose?
Welcome to the Aging Law Podcast, where we explore the
science stories and strategies that help us to live longer,
healthier, and more purposeful lives.
I'm your host, Doctor Jeff Armstrong, an exercise
physiologist with a passion for making science simple and life

(00:24):
better as we age. Today's guest is Doctor James
Thompson, an internal medicine physician and author of Fearless
Wellness. Doctor Thompson's work centers
around empowering older adults through holistic, proactive
health strategy. His message is clear and timely.
Aging well isn't just possible, it's accessible, and it begins
with your next decision. In this conversation, we discuss

(00:45):
how the right mindset paired with small, sustainable
lifestyle changes can radically shift the aging experience.
If you've ever wondered what it means to age fearlessly, this is
an episode you won't want to miss.
Thompson, welcome to the Aging Well podcast.
Tell us about yourself and what sparked your interest in

(01:08):
holistic health. Well, thank you for the
invitation. I'm a retired allergist and
immunologist who grew up in the in the Chicago area.
I'm a native of Chicago and I'vespent the last 30-4 years until
last summer practicing allergy, taking care of patients of all
ages that have allergies, asthma, immune problems, skin

(01:31):
problems, and it was very fulfilling.
But I found out about 15 years ago from a after experiencing a
Daniel Fass, or rather participating in a Daniel Fass
at my church, that there's a huge gap in my knowledge base of
nutrition. And the reason why I found out
is because one week into it, I felt rejuvenated.

(01:52):
And I knew it had to be more than just the prayer because
part of the Daniel fast was pretty much eating a whole food
plant based diet after sundown. And so although the prayer I'm
sure had a lot to do with it andthat that kind of rolls into
holistic medicine health, I was certain the food had a lot to do
it to the fact that I wasn't eating processed food, meat,

(02:12):
egg, dairy, and, you know, caffeine.
And so I delve head first into studying and that's when my eyes
became opened as a physician that I was really doing a
disservice to my patients not talking about preventive care
route, about root cause, about what they're eating, about how
they should be eating. And once I did that, it just

(02:36):
exploded into into a benefit, a huge benefit for my patients.
Not everyone stopped on a dime, but I planted seeds that over
the ensuing years really came tofruition with a lot of my
patients and it helped me personally and in terms of
changing some problems, modifying some problems I had.

(02:57):
I had 25 years of taking 3 medicines for blood pressure
taking since the lower my cholesterol, having some
achiness in my knees because I was trying to run my way away
out of run my way to health careand away from medicines, but I
couldn't do it. But when I went whole food plant
based that changed everything within a matter of months.
So from my personal experience from from diving into learning

(03:21):
about nutrition, it pretty much pretty much revolutionized my
approach to medicine. I think that's a sad factor of
still Western medicine is that we don't embrace the exercise
and the nutrition early in the medical education, You know, you
have to kind of learn it the hard way.
And we have a number of doctors on here that are in that same
position. You know, it's late in their

(03:42):
career. They started having healthcare
issues and they realized, you know, this way that we've been
treating people isn't quite working.
And if I change my diet, it can have.
Absolutely. So you use the phrase fearless
aging. What do you What's this mean to
you, and how did it become central to your philosophy?
Well, I was thinking about the pillars, what I thought should

(04:02):
be the pillars of seeking good health, singing better health,
optimizing your health. And it just turned out that I
knew, I knew that food would come first.
So that, so I needed, I wanted an acronym that people could
rely on to, to recall the important factors of good
health. And so Food First, plant based

(04:24):
and then exercise. Everybody agrees how important
exercise is. It's really underestimated.
Exercise can slow your progress to dementia.
Maybe you can avoid it all together.
You know, we've always known it's good for the heart and
lungs, but it's good for stress relief, good for sleep, good for
your gut microbiome, good for every aspect of life.

(04:45):
And then there's avoiding toxins, crucial.
Many people think automatically,OK, tobacco, alcohol, which
should be avoided. But I mean, I'm also talking
about those food toxins that arein processed food, 60% of which
infiltrate the standard Americandiet, also often called the SAD
diet. And so avoiding those are
important too. So we take pressure off our off

(05:07):
of our livers and our kidneys and gut.
And then there's restorative sleep.
Well, cardiologists put that in the top five now.
It's really important for adultsget that 7 to 9 hours sleep for
almost everybody system, not theleast of which is the brain.
And then the E is the second E is for engaging.
Well, I'm sorry, the L is for lessening stress that may be in

(05:29):
yoga and meditation. Any way you can manage that
stress because it's hard to manage stress ORS many of them
we can't change. And then this second E is for
engaging your mind. For someone like me that just
retired, I'm 67 years old, I need to keep my brain exercising
too. I can't just settle on the couch
now and play golf. I'm not even a golfer.

(05:51):
But if you do. That and you don't play golf.
Yeah. That's something and so, but
you've got to do something mentally active and it needs to
be more than just crossword puzzles or Sudoku.
It needs to be something that engages different parts of your
mind. You're learning a new
instrument, learning an learningwriting a song, writing a book,

(06:11):
something that really involves movement and vision and
different areas of the mind. And then there's the last Two's.
We're actually the only Two's. The first one is social action,
or rather social energy. Social energy is important
because that also contributes toour health and we collaborate
for the common good. There's certain hormones to get

(06:32):
in balance. Oxytocin goes up, which is good
for the heart and other organs and tissues.
So that's important also. And then last but not least,
spiritual connectivity, something that grounds is
something that we can call on intime of need.
So I think from a holistic approach, that's how we can
optimize our health. And that's what motivated me to
write this book because I first started with a blog three years

(06:54):
ago on my website. And then I said, well, maybe I
should put this in a book. I was thinking mostly about my
family and friends, but I thought maybe others could
benefit too. Yeah, I love that that acronym
and it kind of embraces all thatwe talked about on the Aging
Well podcast. And we have our six pillars of
health that have kind of evolvedfor me from the first four, from

(07:15):
teaching pathophysiology and exercise, where exercise always
came first because I'm an exercise Physiology.
So of course that's got to be there.
Then there's maintaining healthybody composition, eating a
healthy diet, which all kind of embraces what you were talking
about in there. And then so exercise, maintain
healthy body composition, eatinga healthy diet, and then we put

(07:36):
non-smoking in there. And that's just kind of for me
from teaching pathophysiology and exercise was like, those are
the things that if you do that you're going to, you know, live
a little bit longer life and be free of illness.
And then we've since added sleepand that has kind of become
moved its way to me up to being kind of that top priority.
Because if you don't get good sleep, you're not going to be

(07:57):
able to exercise, You're not going to get the full recovery
from the exercise, You're not going to get the full benefits
of the exercise. And then we've added purposeful
social connections. And then we also teach what my
one of my friends from high school kind of identified, you
know, it spells out the acronym spies.
So we talked the spiritual, physical, intellectual,

(08:17):
emotional and social Wellness. And I kind of always put it in
that order. And that's where Jay kind of
identified the spies. And so that all kind of
encompasses, you know, the fearless.
And so I think we're really on the same page when it comes to
what is important for aging, notonly for longevity, but just for
vitality and for purpose. So many people over the age of

(08:42):
60 begin to feel like their health is kind of set in stone.
What? Why is it so important to change
that belief? Well, people should understand
that the body is designed to be resilient, to be restorative,
you know, from birth through life.
So it's never too late to changecourse, change trajectory of

(09:03):
health by doing some good things, by choosing good foods
and letting go of foods that aren't so healthy, by engaging
in regular exercise, by doing, by by adopting these pillars
that we mentioned, you can add decades on to your life.
And there are tons of studies toback that up.
I'm not really a fan of testimonials.

(09:25):
I'm, I'm I believe in evidence based medicines and decision
making, which means that things can change over time.
So getting set in our ways aboutcertain things is not good.
We want to we want to continue to learn.
The person that's going to be most successful at this are
people that engage in in this type of exchange of information,
people that TuneIn to this podcast, people that continue to

(09:48):
learn from people like Doctor Michael Gregor and Doctor Neil
Barnard and Doctor Colon Campbell, T Colon Campbell,
That's how you improve and optimize your health.
So what are some of the biggest mindset shifts you believe are
essential for aging well? Well, I think it's essential to
a keep learning about it. That's that's key education.

(10:09):
And then, you know, you can't have just education and then sit
back. You have to implement, you have
to take action. And I think if you follow some
of these pillars that you promote and that I promote,
that's that's enough action to take because that's going to
keep you busy, right? But in terms of engaging your
mind and meditation and getting the rest and proper food choices

(10:29):
and spreading this to other people so that you can be in the
same circles that people are of like mindedness are with you
because you can support each other.
That's where the social energy and social connection comes.
And realizing that when we do these things, it's not just a
personal commitment. It's not just a personal
benefit, it actually contributesto the surrounding environment,
the climate change, it can to maybe a few less animals being

(10:53):
slaughtered and abused and exploited.
And so there's a trifecta of benefit that, once you realize
this can be your fuel, can motivate.
You and so you advocate for holistic approaches to health
and health and aging. What does this look like in
terms of the practical, the everyday terms?
Well, I believe in taking thingsone step at a time and people

(11:14):
can start to improve upon their life, their lifestyle, their
health span by making small adjustments.
It might mean, OK, I've been addicted to meat and sugar for
all these years. All right, on Mondays, I'm not
going to eat meat. I'm going to start there.
And then, you know, you expand, you don't get stuck in neutral.

(11:35):
You map out a plan that gradually increases, making good
changes. Small changes add up to huge
outcomes. And I think we're, we're going
to era now where everybody wantsimmediate gratification.
But we should understand that especially for over 30 or over
50 or over 50 that we've had years of not doing such great

(11:57):
things. So we're not going to turn on a
dime and all of a sudden feel rejuvenated in one day.
On the other hand, it's not going to take years to do either
because once you get some of thefood toxins and and chemicals
out of your life and you replacethose with healthy wholesome
food, you start to feel the impact of that within days to

(12:18):
weeks. Not to mention this gut
microbiome that is exploding in research and how that impacts
every aspect of life. And if the gut microbiome is
right up there next to the brainand importance, that means every
time we put a fork in our mouth,a spoon in our mouth, a cup to
our lips, we are making a statement about our health.

(12:38):
Yeah, that's, it's an important statement to make.
We are, you know, we're making astatement about our health.
What, what do we prioritize in our lives?
And so how do you go about integrating, you know, what,
what I would call the the spies,the spiritual, the physical, the
intellectual, emotional and social well-being into your
clinical and educational work? Well, I'm retired now, but what

(13:00):
I am medical director of a foundation called Healthy Living
with a Vision Foundation and we do a lot of virtual
presentations to provide nutritional and medical
information to marginalized communities and people and
communities of need. We also do in person events to
provide services as well as information.

(13:21):
So personally I map my day out to exploit the OR rather support
those pillars that I mentioned. I start off getting up in the
morning with meditation followedby prayer and then exercise.
And then I generally have a eating window of six to seven
hours. That gets us into a discussion

(13:42):
about intermittent fasting, timerestricted eating.
But I think it's a the importantthing there is not to be eating
real close to bedtime. So I avoid that.
And then of course, I followed my plant based lifestyle.
I feel my social connection is involved with this foundation,
which I don't get paid for. And so I, I try to make sure I'm
checking those boxes on a daily basis.

(14:05):
Now there may be a day where deviate and I'm not quite on par
with what I I plan, but the thing about it is when most
days, when those when you are predominantly following this,
this plan, a deviation isn't going to set you back.
So understanding that that we have progress over perfection
here. Things don't have to, things

(14:27):
don't have to be perfect to makea difference.
And many studies have shown that.
I mean, you look at the Blue Zones, Blue Zones, people might
not be aware there were five places around the world where
people live well past their ninehundreds.
And they're functional mentally,physically.
And you see, well, what is the common denominator, these five
unrelated places around the world where people live so long?

(14:48):
And The thing is, they eat mostly plants.
They're very spiritually collected, very socially
connected. They have purpose, they're
moving all the time. They may not, they don't have,
most of them don't have gyms they're going to, but they're
walking hills and constantly doing the gardening.
There's getting some sun. All these things add up.
So I try to mimic that in some way, even though I'm in a very

(15:08):
modernized society and I'm surrounded by meat eaters in my
own family, that's another story.
But you just try to do the best you can.
And I continue to to learn and and try to have a steady intake
of things that help me to improve upon my life.
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(15:30):
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(15:52):
Thank you. And now back to the podcast, you
were practicing. What were some of the the major
obstacles or pushback that you got from your patients as you
were trying to get them to implement some of these
practices in their lives? You know, interestingly, I have
to think hard to answer that question because most patients,
I would say 90 plus percent wereso receptive of it because first

(16:14):
of all, they're shocked that their allergists ask them about
what they eat because their primary doctor doesn't ask them
that. They're often even shocked that
I even touched, you know, put a stethoscope on them, look in
their ears, look in their throat.
There are a lot of the primary doctors don't do that anymore.
And so they are very receptive to what I say because I when
they ever they come in, I engagethem and I'm not usually just

(16:35):
looking down typing the whole time.
And so they tend to have that trust.
And so I don't, I didn't really have much pushback on the on the
other hand, if you ask me, did it work?
Did it did how many, you know, what number of people or
percentage of people made changes?
That's a small percentage, but Ifelt like I was planting seeds
and I felt like it was hard to gauge that because when you're

(16:57):
successful with managing people and health, you don't see them
that often, you know, you know, especially a specialist, you
know, So it was hard to gauge sometimes.
But occasionally I'd have a realboost of, of, of energy and, and
gratefulness when a patient would come back to an
appointment and say, yeah, I've lost 12 lbs.
And it's just been, you know, six months and I'm feeling so

(17:20):
much better. I'm resting better and so it was
easy for me to incorporate it from the standpoint of the trust
and the bond I have with my patients.
The difficulty was not having time.
You know, we're talking about asthma medicines and medicines
for eczema and things like that.I have these little 1520 minute
slots like most doctors have forfollow up.
How do you put in there a discussion about nutrition and

(17:41):
exercise and meditation and all that?
So some of the people that I thought were more in need of
this I would see more often. And then yes, I get an
occasional patient that would, Iwould start talking about the
importance of cutting back on the meat.
Oh, doc, I can't live without meat.
You know, I can't live without milk or cheese.
And so I would focus on things they should have instead of

(18:02):
things they shouldn't have, you know, edging the stuff off the
plate by having them eat a lot of fiber containing food, which
means plants. And so I found by that approach,
not so much focus on what they have to get rid of, but what
they need to add in to their daily meal.
I had some success with that because there's studies now that
show that even if people keep eating, and I hate to say this,

(18:22):
but even even if people keep eating that piece of chicken, if
they're eating some broccoli with it and some brown rice and
they're having some fruit, thereis kind of a neutralizing effect
in terms of antioxidants and micronutrients and things like
that that can still improve upontheir health.
Now, of course, if they want to optimize, they'll let go of that

(18:43):
piece of fried chicken and that cheese, but there's still some
gain just by adding in these healthy foods, and some studies
have recently shown that. And even if you just make that
shift from fried chicken to, youknow, baked chicken or broiled
chicken, you're doing your body some good.
And it would seem, I guess it makes sense that you being an
immunologist and an allergist, you're going to have patients

(19:07):
who are probably much more receptive to making some
lifestyle changes because they're allergic to something,
they're reacting to something intheir diet.
Yes, if it's aligns with what many allergists do.
Many allergists first want to identify trigger factors and
then if they're avoidable, focuson that because that means less
medicine, less intervention, Maybe you don't need allergy

(19:29):
shots. And so, yeah, she can turn the
turn that table, you know, 45° to food and you don't have to be
allergic. I tell people, you know, food
allergy isn't very common in adults, but I tell them that
there are, there are other ways foods can bother you, not just
allergy, you know, the, there are ways foods can bother you
because of the additives, the preservatives and they, and it

(19:51):
shows up, it can show up years later in terms of nerve
problems, in terms of young women with reproductive health,
in terms of men with, with Ed, you know, erectile dysfunction.
And so I so some. You can customize this
conversation with people to kindof hit on what may be their
interests, which is always an important thing is, you know,
why would I talk with an adult about something that impacts

(20:14):
children unless it's their children?
So one thing that I loved about allergy, practicing allergy is I
saw whole families and they could stick with me through
life. There's not other.
I don't think there are many other specialties where you can
say that. So how?
How do you react to this is a huge push, especially on social
media, and there's a lot of physicians that are pushing

(20:35):
this, but pushing like the carnivore diet and the ketogenic
diet, which I mean, I can see the benefits of ketogenic diet a
little bit more than the carnivore diet.
But how do you react to that? Or how do you help your patients
to understand the difference between the medical advice
you're giving them and the medical advice that some other
doctor has given them? Well, I share with them my, my

(20:57):
opinion on it, evidence based opinion as well as just personal
and professional opinion. I share that with them and then
I give them resources. I give them some YouTube
resources. If they want studies, I provide
them some studies and some websites like something called
pcrm.org, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, where

(21:18):
they address these issues at different times, at different
times throughout the past years.And it's very clear if you
listen to cardiologist, most cardiologists, there are always
exceptions, but if you listen tomost, they'll tell you the
ketogenic and carnivore diet is horrible for your heart.
In the long run, yes, in the short run, you may feel better,

(21:38):
you may lose some weight, your blood sugars may go down, but at
what cost? You are increasing your
inflammatory markers and that's evidence base.
When you increase your markers markers, you increase your risk
for cardiac disease, cancer, anddementia.
Oh, for a year or two you might be feeling lean and mean, but 5
or 10 years later you might all of a sudden start forgetting how

(22:00):
to make your way back home from work because you have flooded
your system with bad cholesterol, because you are
inflamed and that's no way to live that.
There are studies that show thatthere's an there's an increase
in all 'cause death when you eatthat way.
We found out with Kovat 19, there was a 5 country study

(22:20):
including United States looking at health care workers that
those that ate the carnivorous diet or ketogenic diet had a 40
plus percent higher risk of having severe Kovat, whereas
those that ate plant based had a70 plus percent less risk of
having severe covet. Now what does that tell you?

(22:41):
And and this there have been follow up studies to that from
Harvard that confirmed that typeof relationship.
So I think that should, I think that should make people think
twice about selling their soul, losing a few pounds.
Yeah. And what about grains versus,
you know when we talk plant based, you know, people can
shift along, we need a lot of grains.
Is that healthy, Not healthy? What's our approach to the grain

(23:05):
based part of the diet? I'm glad you asked that because
there's a lot of confusion out there and I kind of put that in
the box of of a way people approach sugar.
Sugar is bad, right? Everybody seems to adapt the
fact that sugar, especially the ketogenic people, sugar is bad
carbs when really there are carbs that aren't so healthy and
they're carbs that are very healthy.

(23:25):
And the complex carbs that you find in Whole Foods are healthy.
Yes, complex carbs are sugars attached together in a chain,
but they're absorbed more slowly.
They, they, they, they help to satisfy us more.
And so grains are important. Grains have protein in them.
Grains have minerals, grains have fiber.
But The thing is, not all grainsare the same.

(23:48):
White flour is a grain but has almost 0 nutrition.
Yes, it has energy. Your body is going to chew up
that sugar for energy, but it's going to give you an insulin
spike. And it has.
It's devoid of micronutrients. It's devoid of fiber.
On the other hand, whole grains,whole intact grains, quinoa,
amaranth, corn, non-GMO corn, those are healthy.

(24:11):
So I think people need to understand that grains are
important. And there was a, there was a
study called the Global Burden of disease maybe a 10 years ago
a little more. And they found that the most
important thing to life, the most important thing for health
is eating fruit, grains, vegetables, and that the the

(24:34):
most, the common denominator among people that suffer the
most, that die off the earliest,are people that have a deficit
of those things. And so grains are important, but
it's not just any grain, it's the grains that are minimally
processed, that have their fiber, that have their, you
know, their germ. And that's the problem with a
lot of these highly refined grains is they they've, they've

(24:56):
polished all that off and now you've got empty calories.
And that's probably an area where organic makes a little bit
better sense than your your non organic foods because of all the
toxins that they put into the pesticides and things like that
that are sprayed on the grains. Oh yes.
I think if you can, you should choose the organic fruits,
veggies and grains when possible.

(25:18):
People will think, people don't often think grains don't connect
grains with glyphosate or some of these type, these sprays and
they don't understand that they use that to, to dry the oats, to
dry the wheat. So there's a, there's an
advantage as an economic advantage to them using these
grains so they can harvest them more at the same time instead of

(25:39):
different times due to dampness.So, but what does that do?
That creates some problems potentially that can be toxic to
you. So yes, I always make sure I
have the GMO free organic grainsas much as I.
Can So are there any particular habits you believe offer the

(26:00):
greatest return for aging adults?
Well, I think the most importantthing is food because that's
something we do every day, multiple times a day if we're
fortunate. And those choices, if you can
make better choices, that's a great start.
And then following these other pillars we mentioned, exercise,
avoiding toxins, restorative sleep, these are all winners.

(26:23):
As much as you can integrate them into your daily routine.
These are and be patient. On the other hand, if you
already have had a heart attack and have a stent, if you've
already had a stroke, if you have mild cognitive impairment,
which is something that precedesAlzheimer's, you may need to go
faster. You may need to get a coach, a
health coach and a guy you know.If your physician is not aware

(26:47):
of holistic approach like this that involves plant based
eating, then perhaps find a functional medicine doctor or
someone that can provide that information.
And, and this is a core message on this podcast, but it's also
one of your core messages that Wellness should be accessible.
And what does accessibility and aging look like?

(27:08):
And how can people start with what they have?
We were talking about, you know,organic and GMO, non-GMO foods.
Those can be a little bit more expensive for some people.
How do you approach this with your patients and your people
that you're educating? Well, I try to encourage them to
do the best they can with the resources they have, and I try

(27:30):
to provide them information on how they can save some money.
I mean, dried beans and rice aren't as expensive as meat.
Eggs. Look how expensive eggs are, you
know? And so there's a way to approach
this, and I provide them resources.
There's some very nice resourceson YouTube on how you can eat on
$5 a day. And so I try to point them

(27:53):
towards those things and understand and get them to
analyze where their dollars go and that some of these foods
that they can buy, if they bought in bulk, actually in the
long run, there's a savings. And then there's a how to.
Because some people, I mean, what is that?
Some people don't know what amaranth is, you know, you know
what? Theft.
Yeah. These are some ancient grains,
but they, they've walked past them in the store and some of

(28:15):
them you can get sales and buy them a bulk and, and really save
on them. So it's really know how and
setting them up with resources that can give them information
how how to use these foods, how to cook these foods, how to
clean certain vegetables. Until I went plant based, I
didn't even know what leeks were.
I thought they were like leechesor something.
Leeks are in the onion tram and I went on YouTube and learned

(28:36):
how to clean them and, and you know, so when you actually look
towards certain shortcuts, not shortcuts, I would say hacks
where you can save that money, like go to a farmer's market or,
you know, make sure you get vegetables that are in season.
I mean, it's a revelation to some people that frozen
vegetables are healthy. I'll tell you some frozen

(28:58):
vegetables are healthier than the ones sitting out there.
They had to travel 10 states or five states from the, you know,
from where I am to somewhere Midwest or to the East Coast and
really have lost some of their nutrition along the way.
Whereas when frozen vegetables are frozen, they're cut right
off the, they're frozen right off the vine after being cut.
So a lot of that nutrition is locked in and frozen in.

(29:19):
So, you know, some frozen mixed vegetables or, you know,
whatever you choose, frozen peas, they're not usually that
expensive. So there is an approach where
you can actually save money. Now it's difficult when people
are eating fast food every day out of convenience and
inexpensiveness. It's tough to come up against
it. But I have people understand
that, that there's a reason why corporations do that.

(29:42):
They they want to make money andyou're basically, you're
basically shortening your lifespan when you do that.
Now, they don't want, corporations don't want to kill
you off. You're a consumer, but it's a
slow death. And so if you can turn this
around and even when you go to McDonald's, chew something
healthier. They do have salad.
They do have smoothies, things like that.
Then you can make a difference. But it's so important because

(30:05):
life, I mean, it's it's so important for you to do things
that increase not only your health span, but you're not only
a lifespan, but your health span, which is how many years
you get to live. Not having to see doctors every
day, taking tons of medications and being set up for procedure
I. Think one of the greatest
challenges in this country rightnow is providing accessibility

(30:25):
to all the things that you've been talking about.
You know, if so many people thatbecause the locality they live
in, they can't get access to what would be considered really
healthy food. And then I always get frustrated
when I see and God bless the people that are, you know,
providing food for the poor and things like that and, and give
to food pantries and things likethat.

(30:46):
But you see these people being handed boxes of food and A food
pantry and right on top of it isa loaf of white, you know,
Wonder Bread, you know, where, you know, it's called Wonder
Bread because we wonder why theycall it bread.
But, you know, and I, I try and really emphasize and we have the
church I go to has a really good, they're not a food pantry,
but they have a contribution system to where, you know, they

(31:08):
encourage people. This is what the food pantry
needs and they do it really well.
But I'm like, you know, when youbuy the stuff, don't just put
the stuff that you have on your shelf that is just not something
you can eat because you don't like it.
It's not very good. You know buy quality when you're
going to be giving to people that are in need because they
they need the healthier food too.
I couldn't agree more. They need the healthier food and

(31:30):
they need the information, the education.
Because you brought to mind in Chicago, there was a description
of some of these places as having food deserts.
And I'm from Chicago and actually I for a while was on
the board of directors for Growing Home Incorporated.
That was where you have urban farms or you teach people to
grow food. But what I found, what we found

(31:51):
is even when you placed some of these like Whole Foods, some of
these places that have great food in these communities of
need and give them certificates to discount the food, they tend
to often still go to that McDonald's down the street.
So what's the gap there? What's the problem?
The problem is a lack of awareness, a lack of resources.

(32:16):
Because I know in Inglewood, a community where we had our one
of the major urban farm, the life span there is 65 and most
people there, many of people areunemployed.
And many of the people that we were, we were employing in our
urban farm to give them not onlya source of food and something
to do and some money for work. We're really training, doing job

(32:38):
training. We found that many of them just
didn't know what to do with these foods.
So if we put a box of fresh, wholesome produce on every step,
every doorstep in Inglewood, we,in my, a lot of it might get
thrown out because they didn't even know what to do with this
food. So we, what did we do?
We started putting recipes in there and, and they're building

(32:59):
a, a site there. We can actually bring the
community in and have cooking classes.
So it takes more than just changing from food deserts to
access to healthy food. It takes education, it takes
know how it takes showing peoplewhat to do with this food and
why it's so important. And so that's those are big
challenges. But I think, you know, as a

(33:20):
vegan, I hate saying this, but Ilike eating an elephant one bite
at a time. Maybe.
Is there a vegan approach to that?
You know, I don't know. There's nothing big enough.
Eat. A banana too small?
Eat a melon or something like that.
There you go. And melons are so healthy.

(33:43):
Oh yeah. So you want to eat those and
savor those one bite at a time. That's right.
That's right. So as we talk about education
and, you know, kind of getting people to advocate for
themselves, how can individuals become stronger advocates for
their own health, especially within a healthcare system that
tends to focus more on treating a disease, putting band aids on

(34:06):
ailments rather than Wellness? It's really about becoming more
aware of this tendency, the factthat they're doctors for the
most part. And I hate to ever have a broad
brush of, you know, opinion because there's, there are many
doctors now that are engaging and becoming more aware of the
fact that it's important to eat plant based.

(34:28):
But the majority are still stuckin neutral because they don't
doc. You just don't know what you
don't know. And it's just not in the DNA of
medical school training. Still the majority of them to
enlighten doctors about root causes and about preventive
medicine and about nutrition. So with that in mind, people
have to become their own advocates.
They have to be empowered with this information and they have

(34:50):
to have a constant go for resources.
So my I can I tell people, look,I don't want you to go a week
without spending an hour or two on these sites where you can get
this type of information. pcrm.org, they have a YouTube
site called the Exam Room. If there's multiple episodes
every week about nutrition on Doctor Michael Gregor's site,

(35:12):
nutritionfacts.org. I don't, I'm not affiliated with
either of those sites and none of these sites, people get paid
for that. So it's very important to get
information that is untarnished by sponsorship from either big
farm or big corporation. And it's about education, it's
about knowledge. So that's what I try to impart.

(35:33):
Look, here are some resources. If you find some resources,
fine. If you're hesitant about them or
or something you don't understand, let me know.
And because I'm always interested in learning about
more resources for people too. And I asked them to look at some
movies like Forks Over Knives, movie, like What the Health.
There's a number of good movies for young people.
Game Changers, Game Changer. That's really good for them to

(35:55):
see that you can build muscle, be the fastest person, strongest
person and eat just plants. Yeah, that is an exercise
physiologist. That's one of those hard
obstacles to overcome with students and even with myself
is, you know, getting enough protein.
Can I get enough protein eating a more vegan diet?
And how do you go about doing that?

(36:16):
Yeah, I explained people to people that it's overhyped the
protein part because all plants have protein, whether they're
fruits, vegetables, grains, whole legumes, herbs, spices,
they all they all have protein. So and then the there's more
protein in certain subgroups to those foods like the beans and
the whole grain. And so I tell some people, you
know, eat more beans and whole grains to get more protein, but

(36:39):
understand that the last thing you have to worry about if
you're eating a diverse plant based diet or leading that
lifestyle, the last thing you'regoing to have to worry about is
protein. And I tell them you can measure
it. You know that, you know, roughly
for average size male, we're talking about 4550, about 50
grams of protein. And for a female about 1010g
less right per day. That's not hard to get that from

(37:02):
plants. Now, if you're eating, say a raw
food diet and you're only eatinglettuce and stuff like that, you
might run into some caloric deposition, perhaps some protein
deposition because you can only eat so much fiber, right?
But most people aren't doing that.
So if you're eating really a diverse and what does diverse
mean? Well, you think of a plate.

(37:22):
I tell people when they go to the shop, think of a plate in
your head, your fruit, your vegetables, your whole grains
and your legumes. And then think of what you like
within those 4 subgroups. And then don't forget the at the
other add-ons, herbs and spices,nuts and seeds if you're not
allergic to them. And mushrooms.
Now some people, I don't like mushrooms.

(37:43):
I explained to them how healthy mushrooms really are.
Maybe grind them up, put them inthe smoothie or your soup or
your Stew, I said, but find a way to get some mushrooms in
there. They are anti cancer.
They some of them even have somevitamin D and they, they just
have so much to offer. But I think as much as we can
get plants into our life, that is what parlays into

(38:04):
improvement, into healing, into resilience and to having more
energy and it's self fulfilling.Nothing more pleasurable to me
to find people that come back tome before I retire and they are
just rejuvenated. They love how they feel.
They love the energy they have by letting go of dairy,
replacing those calories with Whole Foods.

(38:25):
They just love everything about it.
The digestive system is better now.
Some of them plow, you know, people that dive in too fast
sometimes hit a wall because they're not used to the fiber.
The average American diet is less than 20 grams of fiber.
And then if you go all the way from 15 to from like 12:15 to
40, you're going to find your system's not going to like it

(38:46):
because it's just not used to it.
So that gut microbiome, you had to go baby steps sometimes with
that. And I coach people.
To So what are some of the overlooked opportunities for
older adults to more proactivelyimprove their health?
Overlooked opportunities, well, that's a broad one.
I would say for older adults whoare we talking about retired

(39:07):
already or not? Yeah, I guess, yeah, approaching
a retirement, those that are kind of in their, yeah, their
latter years where they're past their prime.
Yeah. Well, I always, I like to take
opportunity, whether it's the church setting, whether it's
venues like this or other speaking engagements to tap into
what their interests should be. And what often is at that time

(39:28):
when you're at that age, you're starting to feel vulnerable
because you have friends in their 40s or 50s that have had
strokes, heart attacks, stents, things like that.
And you start to be conscious ofthe fact that this could be me.
So, so one thing I find that that almost everyone in that age
group is in tune with is, is that they're more, they can be,

(39:50):
they, they can be more vulnerable to these things.
And The thing is, I validate that you are vulnerable right
now at the age of 40 or 50 or 60, you are building in your
body, if you even stand Americandiet, you are making a case for
you to have dementia. You are making a case for you to
have that heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney disease,
diabetes, metabolic ill health. But you can turn it around.

(40:14):
You can turn it around starting with your very next meal.
So for a lot of people, even if they're not experiencing this.
They know someone that is, someone in their family, some
friend. There's a reason why the
American Cancer Society has lowered the age for screenings
for colon for colon cancer. It's because the standard

(40:34):
American diet fosters colon cancer.
That bacon and sausage and ham and cold cuts that we like so
much, the Polish sausage every time, if we eat it regularly, we
are increasing our risks of colon cancer and some other
cancers by 18%. People don't once they realize
that and they can process that, I want them to think the very

(40:54):
next time they they have their meal, their breakfast, and they
want to order that bacon and eggs and toasts and you know,
butter, butter and filtrated grits that that's a step in the
wrong direction. And so maybe you can take those
steps where you're going to avoid that.
You're going to have that whole wheat toast without the butter
on it. You know, you're going to have

(41:15):
that coffee without the cream. You know, you're going to not
going to have that sausage. You know, you can maybe you're
going to go to egg whites, but then don't stop there.
At some point, maybe a tofu scrap.
So, you know, so anyway, it's, it's a process, but I think
it's, it's an important one. And I think people at that age
you mentioned are more receptiveto it because of what's going on

(41:36):
around them and what they may personally be experiencing.
So Speaking of personally, this is a question we ask of all of
our guests and you've alluded tosome of it, but we'll just kind
of bring it to a summary here. What are you doing personally to
age well? Well, I'm following, I'm, I'm
trying to practice what I preachfor one and following these 8
pillars. And every day I eat, I try to

(41:57):
make sure that's an opportunity to enhance my health and I'm not
doing anything to detract from that or cause ill health.
And so it's a daily process thatI engage in and that I find very
fulfilling. And so I do that.
I exercise every day, I pray every morning, things I

(42:17):
mentioned. And I, I make sure I continue to
learn about the nuances of this field because there's so much
research going on. And there are things that if
you'd asked me about 3 years ago, I'd answer differently,
like oils, certain things about oils, you know, seed oils and
olive oil because of research. And so I think the most
important thing for me to continue to do is continue to

(42:38):
learn, continue to share, continue to learn in this
setting from people like you andencourage more people to do
that. And I think if I do that, then
I'm giving myself the best chance to have an enhanced
health span and lifespan so thatcan continue to do the things I
want to do. People my age, what's the most
number one thing they want to have as they get older?

(43:00):
Independence, you know, when you, when you have grown
children and you have, you're, you're in the sandwich society,
you have grown children and you have elderly parents that you've
taken care of. Both my parents had dementia and
died from it. Then you realize when you have
to deal with your parents, this is going to be me one day, you
know, and so and I want to be independent.

(43:20):
I don't want to be approached bymy child saying, dad, we need
your car keys. Dad, we need your checkbook, you
know, and these are things I hadto do with my parents.
So that motivated me. I want to put that off as long
as I can. And so I try to share this with
other people because many peoplein their 40s, fifties, 60s can
identify with that. So you mentioned seed oils and I

(43:41):
hadn't really intended to go down that pathway, but what's
your kind of opinion on the oilsthat we are consuming?
Three years ago I would have said no oils.
Not at all. Not at all because I listen, you
know, Doctor Esselstyn, a wonderful cardiologist who
reversed severe cardiac vessel disease in his patients and he

(44:01):
did it with no oils and that's what he preaches and many vegan
health oriented sites adopt thatright now.
But I feel a little different now.
There's been research that's shown that some of these seed
oils aren't so bad, especially linseed oil.
That's flaxseed oil, you know, avocado oil some, although
avocado's not a seed, it's more like a fruit.
But the lent flaxseed is And so I don't have the stance I had

(44:25):
before some of these oils used occasionally just because it
maybe it helps you to eat healthier, right.
And that air fryer, you know, you, you want a little crisp to
your, to your sweet potato fries.
Now, why do I say, why didn't I say olive oil?
Most people like, well, why didn't you say olive oil first?
You know, well, olive oil has a,a, a smoke point that is not so

(44:47):
good for frying, deep frying or pan frying.
So if you're going to use olive oil and you should use quality
olive oil if you are, it should be drizzled on something.
Maybe if that replaces butter, that's a huge step up.
But you know, why are oils not so good?
I think that's an important thing to address.
Well, one, no matter what the oil is, it's 9 calories per gram

(45:10):
to give you an idea of how that stacks up to the other macro
ingredients or macro foods. Sugar, all carbs are 4 calories
per gram. Protein is 4 calories per gram.
So you're having more than double the calories whenever you
use oil. And for anybody trying to watch
their weight or struggling with that inner fat, because there
are, there's something called tofi thin on the outside, fat on

(45:32):
the inside, which is driving your risk for cardiac disease
and kidney disease. Well, those people want to
really make sure they're not in taking fat because a lot of
people are under the impression that it's the sugar.
When it comes to diabetes, pre diabetes and metabolic syndrome,
which involves a host of five different things that lead to
ill health. It's not so much the sugar as it
is the fat that infiltrates the cells and makes you insulin

(45:55):
resistant. We want to cut back on the fat.
So in that respects, yes, keep those fats low, the oils low.
I don't say no oil anymore. I personally don't use oil on a
rare occasion, but I allow myself down when I go out.
I feel more at ease when I eat at a restaurant and and they use
some seed oils on something I'm going to eat.
I don't have any much other choices other than not eat the
dish I like. Then I'll allow for that because

(46:18):
studies have shown that seed oils don't increase.
Those in general don't have sucha high impact on those
inflammatory markers. On the other hand, I know as I
mentioned, they're high caloric.They don't offer nearly as much
new micronutrients as other whole food choices.
And lastly, they're not so good for blood vessels.
That's something that came out in Game Changers that when you

(46:38):
have a oily meal, that it affects the integrity of your
blood vessels, how they can relax, how they can allow blood
flow through. And that's involved.
That is, that is a characteristic of all oils.
So that's why you want to reallyminimize oils.
But my stance is not so open andshut.
It's not so, you know, now it's not so cut and dry now that that

(47:02):
you should avoid all oils. No, I think you know, some
limited oils, especially seed oils, high quality olive oils.
Is is OK. I think it's OK, unless perhaps
you've already had a heart attack and you're really trying
to reverse that atherosclerosis.Then not only those oils you
should cut out, you should probably cut back even on
avocados and lessen seeds for a while until you have things

(47:26):
really under control. So what percentage of the diet
do you think should be fat? I mean, typically, I think we
recommend about 30%. Yeah, I think.
It should be lower than that forfor optimizing your diet.
I think you don't even have to worry about the percentage if
you are minimizing oil and you are eating whole food plant

(47:47):
based, you don't have to worry about the fat.
You don't have to worry about the fat and greens.
Yes, they're fat and greens, butmost of it is omega-3, so that's
great. And so you don't have to worry
about the fat and fruit. You don't have to worry about
the fat and beans, herbs, spices.
So you really don't even have toworry about the percentage if
you're eating a whole food plantbased diet.

(48:10):
Now say you say you're just, youjust like numbers and you want
to deal with that. Well then yes, I think getting
it below 30% is good, and saturated fat you should try to
avoid altogether. Yeah, we had APA on recently,
Louis Burdis, who is his companynow, I guess it's called
Diabetes 180. So he works in helping people

(48:32):
reverse diabetes and he was ableto reverse his wife's diabetes
in six weeks just switching to acompletely plant based diet.
And he advocates for keeping thefats at about 10 to 15%, which
seems to make really good sense for me.
And you know, we don't need quite as much fat as we probably
think we do. And my apologies to my ketogenic

(48:55):
friends out there. But you know, and again, the
quality I don't think is, is a big of an issue either, as long
as we're really focusing on the ones that are going to be more
omega-3 as opposed to Omega 6 and getting that balance in
place. And that seems to be where the
literature is at is that, you know, it's, it's not so much
what type of fat you're eating, it's, it's how much of the Omega

(49:16):
threes versus Omega six that we tend to be getting.
So what does your daily diet look like?
We talked about kind of your, your prayer, meditation,
exercise habits and those types of things.
But what about your What would be a day day of food be like for
you? It typically starts off with a
loaded bowl of oatmeal. I love oatmeal, it's a great
filler. It's a grain that gives you

(49:36):
minerals and gives you somethingcalled beta glutens and some
antioxidants that are unique to oats.
And the less processed oats the better.
I have a tough time finding oat groats in this area, but so I
have to settle for seal steel cut oats and occasional roll
doats. I don't do anything more
processed than roll doats. But really, I'll tell you, if
the only way you're going to getoats in is the highly processed

(49:58):
oats, even instant oats, then eat them.
That's fine. It's still oats.
It's just that when you get to that highly processed oats, they
often have other additives. So look at the labels.
You don't want to add it. Sugar and chemicals you can't
pronounce. So I generally will batch cook,
I even batch cook my oats, some steel cut oats usually on the
weekend so I can eat them for the next four or five days
without having to worry about it.
Put them in the fridge, just warm them up on the stove.

(50:20):
And then I throw in all kinds ofother things that enhances the,
the, the benefits I'm going to get from this meal.
Blueberries, I throw in blueberries, blackberries.
Usually they add up to about a cup.
I crushed some walnuts. Walnuts, in my opinion, the
healthiest nuts you can eat. They have omega-3.
They don't have a lot of saturated fat.
So I throw in some walnuts. I throw in a tablespoon or two

(50:40):
of ground flaxseed. I even throw in a little wheat
germ from Doctor Gregor is How Not to Age book.
Wheat germ is is that one of those reverse aging foods and
cinnamon. And I usually use either oat
milk or soy milk. And then I have some Ezekiel
bread use. I love the I love that bread.
Sesame is my I love the sesame. I love the Raisin cinnamon.

(51:03):
There's from sprouted beans, youknow, I mean from sprouted
seeds. And so that's my, that's usually
my breakfast. And then I usually just eat 2
meals. I'll snack on fruit, sometimes
on fruit with some almond yogurtin the afternoon.
I try to get, if I hadn't had a handful of nuts like the
walnuts, I may have some almondsin the afternoon as a snack.

(51:26):
Oh, I put banana in that oatmealtoo, so I forgot to put that.
I usually that's my sweetener asa banana.
But then yeah, sometimes I feel like a sandwich.
So I'll have that couple slices of that Ezekiel bread.
I'll slather some almond butter on it, and then for my
substitute for Jelly, I'll put just blueberries on there.
I'll just have actual untainted blueberries lathered across in

(51:50):
the in the almond butter. And the almond butter is raw
almond butter with no added salt, no added oils.
Yeah. You know, to really improve your
health, you got to become a goodlabel reader and understand you
want to first look for what the first ingredient is and the
salt, oil and sugar. What's that content?
I know if they've added salt, it's not for me because I'm a
salt restrictor. I went 25 years on blood

(52:12):
pressure medicines and I don't want to have to go back on.
And then oils, you know, if theyhave any oils, especially those
palm oil, coconut oil, those areloaded with saturated fat.
But any added oil, peanuts have almonds have oil already, so
they don't need any extra oil. And then so the salt oil,
definitely no sugar added high fructose corn syrup and put it

(52:32):
back. So that's my lunch out.
Sometimes that would be a sandwich if I want that plus
plus some fruit. And for dinner, I batch cook
usually on the weekends. So it's always beans of the
week. It's either black beans, I'll
make a big pot just in case somebody else wants something
too. No meat in it of course, but
it's nice seasoned up, nice herbs and spices, which helps

(52:53):
towards your plant diversity. And so I have a this week it's
lentils. I made a big pot of lentils.
Lentil, not the green ones. I had the orange, the red
lentils, orange to red lentils. So that's what I'm eating every
day, but I'm dressing it up withdifferent things around it.
I have collard greens I can steam.
I have kale I can steam. I sometimes just chop them up
and make a salad out of collard greens, kale, throw in some

(53:15):
cilantro, throw in some frozen wild blueberries.
And then I have some corn tortillas that are low sodium,
don't have other additives that I don't like.
They're fresh to keep them in refrigerator.
That kind of that's kind of a bread for me.
Every now and then I'll have I'll go to the bakery, into an
artisan bakery and get some sourdough.

(53:35):
Sourdough's pretty healthy and you're not getting the dairy and
so don't that. So that's kind of the meal.
The meal has a centerpiece instead of meat, it's a bean of
some sort. I mentioned black.
That is lentils this week. So I salute 5 beans.
It's those that I mentioned. You know, the chickpeas would be
a week for me. They either be curried or some

(53:56):
other way. I'll put other spices in them,
but there'll be a bean of the week and then I'll surround it
with other things. Sometimes it'd be chickpea
pasta, pasta made from chickpeasthat looks and tastes and has
texture like pasta from wheat. And then sometimes it'll be
whole wheat pasta. So sometimes it'll be feral or
barley that it will be migraine of the week.

(54:17):
I'll make it in a in a instant pot.
Doesn't take long and I feed offof it for a week now.
Desserts. Often fruit is for dessert.
Sometimes you want something a little special, so I'll freeze
some. This, you know, in season now is
watermelon. I'll cut.
I'll get a big watermelon. I'll have half of it cut up that
I can go to in refrigerator for a snack.

(54:37):
The other half I'll freeze and it'll make like a slushy, you
know, and so I'll just take it out of the freezer, put it in a
blender and it's, it's fantastic.
So I've never thought of doing that.
That's cool. So.
That's, that's, that's typicallywhat I do, but it revolves
around the beans, the blue zones.
That's another thing that was common in the Blue Zones and
five different places and in theworld, Loma Linda, CA here,

(54:57):
Costa Rica, Sardinia, Italy, Icaria, Greece, Okinawa, Japan,
all these places, the common food was beans.
That's what they all had in common.
So. So I make it a common intake for
me. Yeah, I love the oatmeal.
I, I do. I've started doing a morning
kind of the, the whole grain oat, the I put hemp seed in it

(55:20):
and flax seed, little bit of chia seeds.
And I do sweeten it a little bit, but I use what is
erythritol or however you pronounce that erythritol.
Yeah. So, so I can keep eating that.
That's good. So how can our listeners and
viewers connect with you? And more importantly, where can

(55:41):
they find your book Fearless Wellness?
The book is on Amazon. I'm looking into another source
also, but currently it's on Amazon.
I have a website, fearlessmd21.com, and I
mentioned my foundation, HealthyLiving with a Vision.
It's Healthy Living with a vision.
Found Healthy Living with a vision.org is how you would get

(56:02):
to that and see what kind of events we're doing.
We do a lot of town hall events that are virtual.
They're on Zoom and they're about nutrition, about pre
diabetes, about some very mainline mainstream topics.
So that's those are my handles. I'm also on Instagram.
It's connected with my my website and that's how that's
where I hang out. So anything we missed today, we

(56:25):
talked a lot about a lot, a little bit more than I probably
even planned to, but I'm sure wemissed some stuff because you're
just chock full of information and you're really helping to
kind of put the nail in the the beef coffin for me.
And I have a daughter who won't eat really most meats.
And we've been fighting with herjust trying to get her eat

(56:45):
protein. And I really just have to lean
into, yeah, OK, let's let's try plant based.
What can we get you to eat that's going to be good source
of the protein that you need, but good source of
carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits and so on?
I'm being inspired. Well, good, good.
And when I've had other parents tell me about that where their
kids don't want. In fact my grandchild when I

(57:07):
mentioned she's not particularlyfond of meat.
So I encouraged without trying to pressure her mom and dad, to
just open up more widely the plant based sources and not
worry about her protein. If you can get her, eat some
beans. She likes beans, so I'll give
her all the beans she wants and some grains.
She also likes grains. She used to make money from age

(57:28):
1. I would have her assist me and
making oatmeal in the mornings. So she loves oatmeal and you
have you have protein and oatmeal, you have iron, you have
some other minerals. So I think having people having
even young people migrate to things that they do like that
are healthy is important. And not to worry too much about
the protein because as I mentioned, protein is in every

(57:50):
plant they eat, but it's in a higher, it's at a higher level
and the beans and the whole grains.
So if you're concerned about that, make sure they eat more
beans and whole grains. Now there are tons of beans out
there. A lot of people, oh, they don't
like beans, but they often are thinking about 1 bean or one
type of bean or dish they like. They might do OK with lentils,
they may even peas. That's a legume.

(58:10):
Soybean is a legume, you know, so tofu, and that's another way
to get protein in is to introduce tofu.
And tofu can be made to whateverflavor you attach it to and it
can really make a difference with that protein intake.
And it's so healthy. It's anti cancer.
I mean, it's anti, you know, the, it has a phytoestrogen.

(58:31):
Many people misconceive and think, oh, it's going to cause
more breast cancer or prostate cancer.
No, it reduces risk of that. It also has some calcium and it
also has some fiber in it can lower your cholesterol.
It can help with blood sugar management.
Soybeans good, but you know, it is based on how it's processed.
So tofu is about the limit. I mean, there are these soy
burgers and things out there. I tell people read labels

(58:52):
because they add stuff, you know, the Impossible Beyond
burger, tons of fat and salt in those.
So it's a good transition food, but not a good staple.
So, you know, it's, it's a process.
But in terms of your daughter, Ithink there may be some
intrinsic thing there that's going to enhance her health, but
not eating a lot of meat and something called TMAO that is

(59:13):
inflaming. And there's a number of other
things how our meat, you know, our meat is fit.
Our meat meat the, the cows aren't fit, but they used to be
fit. You know, cows aren't, most cows
out there aren't grazing and getting grass anymore.
They're eating GMO soy products and wheat products and corn and
things like that. And I'm not a big demon about I,
I don't demonize GMO products iswhat they do with GMO products.

(59:36):
You know, so they spray the corn, they, they lather it with,
you know, the glyphosate and they do that with the other
wheat and some of the soy products.
So, so they're tainted and that's what the cows get.
But then when you eat the cow, what are you getting?
So that's why I think if you're going to eat beef, Buffalo.
Is probably a much better way togo.

(59:57):
Well, for a vegan, you know thatdoesn't help us.
But there's no vegan Buffalo outthere.
Everybody starts eating Buffalo,you know?
What's going to happen? But but I understand the
concepts, Yeah. So if you could leave our
listeners with one practical. Empowering take away today.
What would that be? I would say learn as much as you

(01:00:18):
can about. Nutrition using the right
resources likepcrm.org, like Doctor Gregor, go to my site, I
put many blogs about nutrition. It's a learning process and
that's where it starts. Because once you learn, you know
that you can start taking control with your next action.
And action is where it starts, where it really starts.

(01:00:40):
OK, well, this was a fascinatingconversation.
I really appreciate having you. On Today, I've learned a lot.
I've been encouraged a lot. It's nice to see we're kind of
on the same page with our pillars, although we express
them a little bit differently. But working together, hopefully
we're getting people to age well.
Yes, that is the hope. And hope is so crucial.

(01:01:02):
This is in this era we're in. Thank you for listening.
Hope you benefited from today's podcast.
And until next time, keep aging well.

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Fearless Wellness: How Holistic Choices Empower Health After 60 w/ Dr. James Thompson | Ep. 296

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Fearless Wellness: How Holistic Choices Empower Health After 60 w/ Dr. James Thompson | Ep. 296