June 1, 2025 • 56 mins
Dr. Carver and functional medicine certified health coach Irene Chang demystify the confusing world of nutrition by exploring evidence-based approaches to eating and lifestyle changes. They discuss how conventional nutrition advice has misled us while revealing practical strategies for making sustainable health improvements without feeling deprived.
• Health coaching bridges the gap between medical advice and patient implementation through accountability, motivation, and personalized support
• The food pyramid promoted harmful practices like eating six times daily, causing blood sugar spikes and insulin resistance
• Protein-rich breakfasts (aim for 30g) provide longer satiety and help maintain muscle mass as we age
• Seed oils (soybean, corn, canola) are highly inflammatory while traditional fats like coconut oil may actually support health
• Elimination diets can identify personal food sensitivities and heal gut lining damage
• Fasting insulin levels predict health problems years before they manifest and should be regularly tested
• Simple meal prep strategies like batch cooking, freezing portions, and keeping frozen vegetables on hand make healthy eating practical
• Food combinations matter: eating protein and fat before carbohydrates can significantly reduce blood sugar spikes
If you're interested in working with Irene, visit her website at https://www.3hcoaching.net/ or email irene@3hcoaching.net for a complimentary initial consultation to explore your health goals.
To contact Dr. Carver directly, email her at drcarver@carverfamilydentistry.com
Want to talk with someone at Dr. Carver's office?
Call her practice: 413-663-7372
Reverse Gum Disease In 6 Weeks! With Dr. Rachaele Carver Online Course!
Learn more about here: https://reversegumdiseaseinsixweeks.info/optinpage
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. Information discussed is not intended for diagnosis, curing, or prevention of any disease and is not intended to replace advice given by a licensed healthcare practitioner. Before using any products mentioned or attempting methods discussed, please speak with a licensed healthcare provider. This podcast disclaims responsibility from any possible adverse reactions associated with products or methods discussed. Opinions from guests are their own, and this podcast does not condone or endorse opinions made by guests. We do not provide guarantees about the guests' qualifications or credibility. This podcast and its guests may have direct or indirect financial interests associated with products mentioned.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Carver (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of the Root of
the Matter.
I am your host, dr RachelCarver, and today I'm welcoming
Irene Chang.
She is a patient of mine whohas just recently finished her
studies for functional nutrition.
Is that correct?
Irene Chang (00:16):
Irene, Actually it's a functional medicine
certified health coachingprogram.
Dr. Carver (00:21):
Okay, fantastic, thank you.
So I've asked Irene to come ina little bit talk about
nutrition, because it's veryconfusing.
People think, okay, yes, Ishould eat fruits and vegetables
, but should I eat meat, shouldI not eat meat?
And then you've got the wholecarnivore crab that says no,
vegetables are terrible for you,and so there's just a lot of
confusion and I would love foryou to maybe dive in, tell us a
(00:45):
little bit.
You've been learning the mostup-to-date information about
nutrition, so why don't you tellus a little bit about why you
wanted to get this degree andthen go from there?
Irene Chang (00:57):
Yes.
So my journey started when thelockdown started over four years
ago, march 2020.
And I was, like most people,concerned about my immune
function against coronavirus and, especially as an older
population, we were morethreatened right Immune function
(01:18):
and virus.
So then I was always a fan ofDr Mark Hyman, read a lot of his
books, so I started to listento his podcast and read more
books and really studied aboutfunctional medicine, which is
more of root finding, root causefor your symptoms, rather than
(01:41):
suppressing symptoms andmanaging it with medications and
procedures for all the chronicdisease that most people suffer
from nowadays.
That just led me to learn a lotmore about what is the current
information, which a lot oftimes, the medical schools don't
teach those things and sincethey're not on the licensing
(02:05):
exam for medical doctors, whohas time to read all about
newest studies and newestinformation from various
literature?
Doctors don't have time.
So the thing there's a big gap.
I think what's been happeningthe last, I would say like 20
(02:25):
years, even like a microbiomehuman genome project, all these
things that happen and what themedical field is still working
with right for the patients anddealing with the chronic
diseases especially.
So that led me so once Ilearned so much about it and all
(02:46):
the misinformation.
I would say that we have beentold by the government, like the
food pyramid or the doctors, ormedia, especially the media
promoting all the big foodcompanies promoting this and
that and this and that Rememberthe ad Got Milk?
They had to take it downbecause there was no basis for
(03:09):
science, things like that.
So then I was like I'm learningall this stuff and I'm like
floored by this, like wow, wehave been so misinformed.
How is this possible?
So then that led me to likewhat can I do as an individual?
I am practicing it.
I make sure my husbandpractices it.
(03:31):
But then I felt like this issomething that I would like to
share with other people, becauseso many of these diseases the
top disease like cardiovascular,the top diseases like
cardiovascular cancer, diabetes,autoimmune Alzheimer all these
can be prevented if you can workon having better lifestyle
(03:54):
choices right Every day, day andout.
What do you do?
What are the choices one makes?
So that's why I wanted to be ahealth coach, because health
coach is a new thing Nobodyreally knows.
They know the trainer, physicaltrainer, they might know
business coaching, but thehealth coaching is still fairly
(04:16):
new.
It was only started to gettingnational board license or not
license, certification bynational board only, like 2014.
It's fairly new.
This insurance doesn't cover it, but there are now a lot of
(04:36):
functional medicine doctors whounderstand that in order for
their patients to get better,they really need to change their
behaviors.
It's not about what they'retelling them what to eat, how to
do supplements.
It's about really what are theygoing to change to eat and move
(04:56):
and how to sleep better, how todeal with their daily, daily
chronic stress and or theirrelationships all these things
that we are dealing with day today.
Dr. Carver (05:13):
Yeah, I got my certification in 2015,.
Right, when it was brand new,and I I my dream for future
medicine is that there arehealth coaches on every single
staff of every internist, justat a minimum.
Right, because doctors don't,especially with the way that
medicine becomes so corporate.
Right, they have eight to 10minutes with a patient.
(05:35):
You can't make any lastingchange with somebody if you just
want to give them a medication,okay, but people are pushing
back against that kind ofmedicine.
They're tired of taking so manymedications and still not
really feeling better.
So it is the role of coaches.
And the other thing, too, isthat health is so individual,
(05:56):
right, and so the blanketstatement of eat this or don't
eat this or do this and don't,doesn't help, because we all
know that we should eat an appleversus a bag of Doritos, like
people know what, which one ishealthier, but why do we reach
for the Doritos versus the apple?
Right, and the health coach hasthat time to figure out.
(06:17):
Why are you, do you know?
Why are you sabotaging yourhealth when you, on a logical
level, you know better?
Right, there's always somethingunderlying.
You know the stress, the stress, the emotional trauma.
You know, you name it, andthat's the value of having a
coach and it's unfortunate thatinsurance doesn't cover.
They lag behind anything that'svaluable for a long time.
(06:40):
But if you really, if you thinkabout the value of having
somebody, if you're reallywilling to try to make those
changes like maybe 2025 is thatyear that you are really going
to put what you want intopractice then think about the
cost.
How much do you spend onStarbucks every every day, right
?
Think about those kinds of howmuch that adds up.
(07:02):
Would it be more valuableputting that five to ten dollars
a day into a monthly coachingsession?
Maybe then the coach will teachyou how to make your own
delicious latte, right?
Irene Chang (07:15):
with a much better health outcome.
Yeah, it's kind of likeappealing audience people.
The health coaches basicallyhelp clients to find out what
their health goal is.
Realistic right, it's the SMARTgoal.
It's a specific and measurable,achievable, realistic and
time-sensitive goals, like threeto six months, let's say.
(07:38):
But there's a motivationalinterview that goes in to really
peel the onion layers of why doyou really want to do this?
Because when it comes from theclient not from doctors or
nutritionists, but when it comesto client they have the agency
to change because that's theirown, it's a client driven.
(08:00):
So health coaches are like justlike a GPA GPS.
I mean like you want to gosomeplace, you haven't been to
or you have not been successful,because, after all, people try
to have better diet and mostpeople 80%, something like that
fails.
Right and they end up gainingmore weight.
Having somebody who is like aguide or a cheerleader or
(08:25):
support, like a little cane oractually a guide going on a hike
.
You don't want to road, youwant to go to top, the client
decides where they want to goand coach is basically a very
empathetic partner who helpedthem to navigate better.
(08:45):
And then when there's a success, they celebrate.
When there's a failure, thenthey refigure it out, so I think
it's a really good way to makesmall changes that's sustainable
, absolutely.
Dr. Carver (09:01):
What you keep saying is so important, because this
is patient driven.
It's not the coach, is notsomebody to tell you what to eat
, but just exactly what you saythe patient is telling you, or
the client, whatever, is saying.
This is a goal that I wouldlike, but I need a little bit
help in achieving that goal andthat is what the coach is there
for.
But you have to meet a person.
(09:22):
You know where they're at right.
It's the same thing you come infor a down point, maybe you
have.
You go to a new dentist andyou're like, okay, what do I
need?
And maybe that dentist says youneed five crowns and you need
all this deep cleaning and allthese kinds of stuff.
And, and a lot of times patientwill just walk out the door
because that's not you'retelling them instead of saying
(09:43):
what are you hoping to do?
Here's what I see.
Obviously, as a dentist, I haveto tell if you have the disease
.
But if the patient doesn't wantto believe you, they don't
trust you.
If it's not one of their goalsor values to have a very healthy
mouth, they're not going to doit.
And so there's that art toworking with people You're
trying to understand theirvalues and meet them where
they're at.
Irene Chang (10:03):
And also there's the accountability part, so that
we check in At least it doesn'thave to be long term, I say
three, four months on theregular check-ins.
And then there's accountabilityand client decide how they want
to track their progress andwhen that doesn't go well,
because there's always alsoenvironmental factor and like,
(10:25):
oh, I wanted to do this by mychildren, my husband, my wife, I
can't.
So then how do you re-evaluateand come up with different ways
to deal with, to get to thatgoal?
There's a lot of working,collaborative also.
Dr. Carver (10:45):
And that's a great point too, and that's why I know
a lot of things, but I needthat accountability.
I myself work with health, eventhough I am the health coach,
but I need somebody to help holdme accountable Absolutely.
I think that's a huge, hugevalue with having somebody there
, because we can all say certainthings and then whatever life
(11:06):
happens right and we fall outand we forget why we're doing
things.
Yes, that's hugely valuablebecause so many people make the
I don't remember the statisticright, but how many of us make
resolutions and then by the endof January it's already kaput.
So let's talk a little bitabout, maybe, nutrition, and
maybe you mentioned the foodpyramid.
Why is the current?
(11:26):
Now it's MyPlate, right.
Yes, taking the pyramid, tellus about how, what the MyPlate
talks about, and maybe youragreement or disagreement with
how it's laid out.
Irene Chang (11:37):
I think the MyPlate is much better than food
pyramid, which also reminds youhow they wanted us, want us to
eat like six times a dayremember it was like every two
hours you have to eat, otherwiseyour metabolism is going to go,
which is actually the exactopposite, because it keeps
spiking your blood sugar everytime you eat, and people are
(12:00):
supposed to eat a lot ofcarbohydrate, grains especially,
so it was just to keep spikingand spiking and a lot of times
you would start that glucosespike roller coaster up and down
, up and down, so of coursepeople would be tired and want
to eat something after eating,whatever the muffin and the
(12:21):
orange juice and coffee.
Two hours later you're hungryalready and like becomes
hypoglycemic.
I think it's better becausethere's a lot more emphasis on
vegetables and fruits andvegetables rather than grain.
However, I think, depending onwhere people are, I think
(12:42):
there's still to me there's toomuch again emphasis on starch,
mainly grain, because unlessyour insulin fasting insulin is
like perfect under three orsomething.
People really should bewatching out their carb,
(13:02):
especially the starch, besidessugar, of course sugar, but
starch consumption, because aswe get older, we just become
more insulin resistant ourselvesand it's a lot harder to
metabolize those starch, goingin and spiking the blood sugar,
(13:23):
because the more you do it, moreinsulin resistance happens and
that's basically the beginningof all chronic disease the
insulin resistance andinflammation that follows.
So to me, I think there shouldbe even more emphasis on
vegetables and a little bit of afruit the less sweet fruits and
(13:46):
a little bit of a fruit theless sweet fruits.
And then, of course, the proteinthing is always so
controversial and I think itdepends on the people what they
want to eat.
Some people don't like thetaste of meat or some people
don't want to eat because of thereligious reasons.
But to me I eat all the foodI've always done that and ate a
(14:06):
lot more fish because I'm fromSouth Korea and Korea, just like
Japan, is a peninsula, japan'sisland.
So I just grew up eating a lotof seafood because it's abundant
.
We didn't eat a lot of meatbecause it wasn't abundant.
And if you think of Asian foodgenerally East Asian, chinese,
(14:27):
japanese, koreans we just eat alot more vegetables.
So if there's a meat meat notthe main thing I was always
shocked like, oh my God, there'sa huge meat with a little bit
of vegetable.
No, no, it's the other wayaround Lots of vegetables, a
little bit of meat mixed in.
So to me the protein part isindividual.
(14:49):
But I think if you eat moreprotein on regular basis in
other words, breakfast, lunchand dinner it makes you full.
You don't get as hungry becauseit lasts in your system longer
as well.
As we need protein tosynthesize our muscle and keep
(15:11):
minimize our muscle loss as weget older.
So I think it's reallyimportant to have enough protein
and I tell all my clients themost important thing is to start
the breakfast with at leastlike 30 grams of protein.
Protein heavy meal should bebreakfast, so when you're eating
the first meal after fastingovernight, that has to be
(15:34):
protein rich food so that you'renot hungry at least like four
or five hours, because if you'rehungry after eating first meal
in two, three hours, that wasn'tadequate and that's not a good
idea, because it should make youfeel full and not have a
craving for sugar.
(15:58):
I just think that eating a lotmore vegetable is very important
because that also gives youfiber, which is so important to
feed your gut bacteria.
Without it, your microbiome isbeing starving and if they don't
eat, if you don't feed them,they might eat your own mucin
(16:20):
layer and make it leaky gut,make holes and then all the
stuff that you don't want to putinto your blood is not going in
.
This is what you don't want todo.
Mixing your blood with the foodor food, whatever the leftover
things, unclean stuff right,that should be kept away.
(16:43):
But when you have a leaky gut,which part of the reason is not
feeding microbiome and theydon't produce what's keeping the
gut lining healthy, like thebutyrate, which is so important
to make sure your gut lining istight.
So if you don't do that, thenyou're going to compromise your
(17:05):
gut lining and that createsleaky gut, which is probably the
number one way to createinflammation.
Dr. Carver (17:15):
I totally agree and this is what fascinates me about
the carnivore diet.
I've spoken on the podcastbefore.
My brother-in-law lost over 100pounds last year doing
carnivore.
He started last January.
It's amazing.
His cardiologist was so flooredthat now he and his wife, who
are in their 70s, startedcarnivore.
(17:35):
They were like, just theycouldn't because he and my
brother-in-law had a heartattack at 25 years old Wow.
So he's been followed by thiscardiologist.
He's almost 50 now and so thecardiologist has seen over 25
years his numbers and everythingand was just floored.
But I'm always curious, like Ireally want to do a stool test
on him because I'm like what ifyou have no fiber?
(17:56):
Like what does your microbiomelook like in there?
But some people, he's thriving,like every ailment he ever had
gone.
He looks amazing, he feelsamazing.
So this is where I think, whenwe talk about food,
individuality is reallyimportant, right?
Somebody like me who's stillcycling that going carnivore.
(18:17):
I don't have any weight to loseand I need carbohydrates to
make hormones right and again,to feed the microbiome.
So it's very interesting to meand this is where I think, when
all these new companies arecoming out with all these
specific genetic things, whereyou can say what is the best
diet for me.
So there's some interest, somekind of companies out there who
(18:39):
are trying to do that, and myhusband just bought me this
little breathing device.
It's called lumen and the goalis to try to.
This is by breathing differenttimes of the day, depending what
you eat and what you exercise.
I'm not exactly sure thephysiology behind it I haven't
studied much about it but helpsyou try to maximize your
(19:00):
metabolism Because, as you weresaying, when our metabolism is
working well and that doesn'tmean eating every two hours,
right, but when your metabolismis working well and your insulin
levels are controlled, that'swhere you get health and that's
where you get longevity, right.
And so it's really interesting.
You breathe into this thing andsomehow by your breath it can
tell how much carbs or fat youare burning.
(19:23):
You're burning and thatdetermines when you first wake
up in the morning.
Ideally you should be in fatburn right before you go to bed,
according to the lumen again, Idon't know all of the science
on that, but that's how they'regauging and over 30 days it
tracks you for like 30 days andthen kind of gives you an idea
of what's happening so it cantry to help you again
(19:44):
individualize, and again, I'mnot.
I've been doing it for a coupleof days and I'm not sure it's
perfect there, but it'sinteresting and it's cool.
There's more wearables that canhelp us track things right,
like heart rate, your sleep, allthese things.
But I agree with you.
I think what you said aboutprotein is really, really
important, that the older we getespecially, the more protein we
(20:05):
need.
And sometimes that's tough,because the older we get also
our digestive capability goesdown right.
We don't have much stomach acidour digestive, and so it's
harder.
Irene Chang (20:14):
Yeah, don't absorb as much.
Dr. Carver (20:15):
Yeah, don't absorb it.
So that's where I talk to somany of my patients about apple
cider vinegar, like even betainehydrochloride, right, Like a
little extra stomach acid tolittle thing.
The lemon water, right, theselittle kind of things to try to
get your stomach at.
Irene Chang (20:32):
So many people are on you know the PPI's for reflux
and it's the worst thing.
Dr. Carver (20:39):
Maybe you can talk to us a little bit about that,
because I think that is such acommon medication.
So tell us a little bit.
So is acid reflux a sign ofhaving too much acid in your
stomach?
The thing?
Irene Chang (20:50):
is.
I think that all that GERD andPPI problem it should be dealt
with.
Eating properly again and noteating too late again and not
(21:11):
eating too late and sometimesit's a sleep apnea too.
But taking this ppi for forlong term, I think they said,
and the pharmaceuticals whenthey came out with it and
initially in 1980s they said, oh, you know, you shouldn't be
taking for six, six weeks.
But then people are taking themfor years and years and there
there's a lot of yeah, problemwith side effects from that.
So I think that one needs to betapering it off.
(21:32):
That's what the doctorsrecommend not relying on this,
but changing their diet so thatmaybe you don't want to eat
tomatoes and things that wouldyou know, spicy food, things
that would upset your stomachand have acid reflux.
But I think there's a way tonot do that.
(21:54):
In other words, gradually fixit with diet and lifestyle
rather than relying on PPI,which has a lot of side effects.
Dr. Carver (22:04):
And this is where a health coach is so so, like this
is one of the things I thinkhealth coaches can help with the
most is how do I get mydigestion more ideal?
And again, like you said, Ihave patients every day that say
yep, I've been on this for adecade and a thing, oh my Lord.
And then, and there's all thisscience showing that it causes
(22:24):
allergies food so that you likeall sorts, because I tell
patients.
why do you think your stomach issupposed to be of an acid of
two, and now you're going tostop producing acid.
How are you going to digestanything?
And yet a stomach acid is whatproduces the bicarb, it's what
produces your digestive enzymes,which produce the bile, no bile
and food.
(22:45):
No, you can't break downanything, so it's really
problematic.
Irene Chang (22:49):
People can be malnutritious.
They eat so much, but they'renot getting nutrition nutrient
in and they're not breaking downand all these things relate to
each other.
Dr. Carver (23:00):
So they're not making enzymes, they're not
making hormones and you couldeat all you want, but if they're
not being absorbed andmetabolized, then what good does
that do?
Exactly and I think that'ssomething that I suffered for a
long time was I could eateverything, I could never gain
anything, and with my eczema Iwasn't breaking things down
(23:21):
properly.
My digestion was really justshot.
Irene Chang (23:26):
One of the important tools that we have as
a health coach is eliminationdiet, because that is 21-day
elimination diet and I've donethat with several of my clients
and it's not like that.
You can't eat them forever,like the gluten, dairy corn,
sometimes eggs and shellfish,but you figure it out by
(23:50):
eliminating for 21 days andintroducing it slowly, one by
one.
Caffeine is another one, butthen that does not mean you
can't have them for the rest ofyour life, but it just heals the
gut and dosage matter.
Some people could have some ofthe cheese, but then they can't
(24:10):
have a lot of them, and soyou're figuring it out so you
could live with the food withoutconstantly affecting your gut
lining and having leaky gut,which then of course
inflammation and all theproblems, metabolic problems,
just all the problems.
So fixing that gut lining byhaving elimination diet works
(24:34):
well.
Dr. Carver (24:36):
That was the first thing I did 14 years ago.
I took wheat out of my you know,on all these steroid creams,
took wheat out of my diet forfour weeks and my hands cleared
90%, and that's all I did.
And I was like, oh geez, andthe cool thing about the gut, it
turns over in a few days, right, so it can heal relatively
(24:57):
quickly.
But when we're constantlyeating it, so it's amazing.
And the benefit of this, likeyou said, is like some people
don't like to diet.
They don't want to do thisbecause they don't want to feel
restricted, like I can never goout to eat and I can, but again,
if you just take three weeks toremove one thing and and for me
to have my hands clear 90, Imean, it was so excruciating
(25:19):
itchy, like to me.
I was like I'm sold when youhave that kind of a win without
having to take medications, justdoing one simple thing.
As much as I love bread, but Iwas like I can't take it anymore
.
Right, you can now have.
Irene Chang (25:34):
There's so much gluten-free stuff and that's one
of the things I help.
Same thing with my husband too.
He found that glutensensitivity is not a celiac but
it affects not only your gut,your skin, but your brain.
You don't want to get dementiawhen you get older because of
gluten.
There's so much you can do nowby substituting, replacing.
(25:56):
You don't have to feel deprivedat all.
He makes his own cookies nowwith almond flour and all the.
So I think those are the thingsthat also health coaches can
help.
With a pantry, eliminatingcertain things, but replacing it
.
There's People don't have.
I don't feel people have tofeel deprived.
I think it's just the makingsmart choices and making changes
(26:21):
and adapting to it because,like you said, the benefit is
huge.
Dr. Carver (26:27):
Yeah, yeah, we talked a little about protein.
Let's talk about fat a littlebit.
What?
What is like the, the newestscience and bag about fat.
I've talked about a lot on thispodcast we've had somebody on
talking about this, which is abig problem the seed oil problem
.
Irene Chang (26:42):
I think it's such a really real because, first of
all, and most people get seedoil from ultra-processed food
and they put soybean oil, cornoil, canola oil, all these seed
oils, because they make theproducts last long and it's
cheap.
So when people consumeultra-processed food meaning all
the stuff that's manufacturedfood, not the real food we're
(27:03):
not talking about like tomatowith the water and salt in a jar
.
We're talking about the stuffthat's packaged all the chips,
the snacks, all the packagedfood, which is a lot of it.
When I go grocery shopping Ilook at other people's car I'm
like, oh, my God, it's reallysad, but all that food has seed
(27:24):
oil and the omega-6 seed oilfrom them.
One it has all the pesticideanyway, all the GMO with the
pesticide.
But those seed oil, as Iunderstand it from like the Dr
Ben Bickman who talks about thisextensively it really is those
are the omega-6 oil from seedoil.
(27:47):
Right, mainly that's the onethat creates oxidized fat in our
lipid and it's not thatcholesterol, it's not the LDL,
it's actually the oxidized LDLthat causes cardiovascular
(28:07):
disease and stroke and they aremainly coming from seed oil.
So it's not the saturated fat,like coconut oil is very healthy
food.
And when I think of one thirdof the global population, they
live on coconut oil and theyhave a lot less dementia and
(28:32):
neurodegenerative disease thanwe do because of coconut oil
consumption.
Saturated fat is not the devil,in other words, it depends.
I think there's seven, eightdifferent saturated fat anyway,
but it seems from the latestscience the seed oil is really a
problem.
It's a inflammatory, it's apro-inflammatory fat versus like
(28:55):
omega-3 fat from fish andseafood.
That's anti-inflammatory, sothey're like the opposite.
So we need to, and Americanpeople don't really eat as much
seafood as other countries, sowe need to consume a lot more
(29:16):
seafood, especially the smallfish that has a lot of fatty,
small, fatty fish that hasomega-3.
And if we can't do it, forwhatever the reason, then we
need to take supplements so thatit's anti-inflammatory, it's
good for your brain.
It's really essential, rightfor health and metabolism and
(29:40):
also the brain.
That's so important.
And of course, there's onething people can do is basically
reduce, stop eating thosemanufactured food.
That's really if you could justeat what nature made.
Dr. Carver (30:01):
It's funny when you talk about the supermarket.
I have the hardest time goingbecause I had the same way.
When you know stuff, you justfeel like none of that food.
But 90% of stuff in grocerystores isn't real food.
At least in America.
It's not real food because it'scheap and it's fast and the
lifestyle we all live is we'reall tired, we don't want to cook
, we're all moms and dads areworking and it's a shame, but
(30:25):
it's very hard and it's it canbe stressful going.
I was just in the supermarketyesterday and I was thinking I
just you go into the healthyaisles, right, there isn't a
single like granola bar thatdoesn't have seed.
I love there.
Like there's this new brandcalled Junkless and like one of
the first ingredients is canolaoil.
(30:45):
I'm like my Lord, like what doyou think is junk if you put
canola oil and you're junkless?
But I have yet to find agranola bar that doesn't have a
seed oil in it and this one, oneof my things is like I've got
to make one because, yes,ideally it'd be great.
We all eat health food, butlet's be realistic.
Irene Chang (31:09):
Sometimes we need something on the go right,
they're not in supermarkets.
You can find them online, likewhether it's Bulletproof or
Parallel Valley and all thesecompanies direct consumer.
They're not in grocery stores.
Yeah, no, you really have toseek out, because the companies
are out there making themwithout any seed oils, but
they're not in supermarkets.
Dr. Carver (31:29):
No, my other favorite one is the Raw Bars
R-A-W-R.
They're really good.
They have a lot of good flavorstoo, so that's a go, and you
have to keep them refrigerated.
Irene Chang (31:39):
Well, that makes sense.
Dr. Carver (31:41):
Yes, the same thing.
I order them online, but it'syeah, it's hard, it's hard to,
and then those things obviouslyare more expensive.
So it's a challenge.
Eating healthy doesn't have tobe expensive, and I think that's
a big misconception a lot ofpeople have.
So we know that there arecertain foods.
(32:02):
Okay, if we can't afford allorganic, what at least are the
things?
Right If you have a banana thathas a thick skin, so eat a
regular banana, a potato onions,all these things.
Irene Chang (32:14):
You're not eating skin.
So, yeah, no, that's fine, butlike a strawberry, right.
Dr. Carver (32:19):
The pesticides are able to go in easier.
So that's what you want tothink of.
If someone has a thicker skin,it may be okay to not eat organs
, but berries they absorb a lotmore.
Irene Chang (32:29):
Actually, to me, the best way to shop is buy
frozen, organic frozen fruits.
I always do, because it's somuch cheaper and better actually
to buy organic frozenblueberries or strawberries any
of these fruits because theywere frozen at the time of
harvest, which was actuallybetter than staying in the
(32:51):
supermarket shelf.
Dr. Carver (32:53):
They have the most nutrition, because that's the
other thing.
When you're buying organic, itmay have been picked weeks ago
and then it had to travel so far.
By the time it gets you, maybeit doesn't have a pesticide but
it must have the nutrients.
I don't even trust salmon.
Irene Chang (33:06):
I'd rather buy frozen, wild-caught frozen
salmon because they did it rightthen when they caught it and
processed it.
Who knows if they were frozenand defrosted and then looks
fresh, so I don't trust them.
We do have a nice some of theselocal farms, like regenerative
farms that I work.
Dr. Carver (33:27):
We're lucky where we live, we're lucky.
They're coming more and more.
Yes, there's a new one rightwhere I live that they just
bought this great farm in thewhole, like it's all
regenerative.
Irene Chang (33:36):
That's awesome.
Dr. Carver (33:37):
And it's so exciting .
You can see, they must have, Idon't know, a hundred sheep
grazing now in people orchardsthat had gone to rotten.
Irene Chang (33:47):
I cannot wait.
Dr. Carver (33:47):
Because I do.
I have to order all my meat andseafood and have it shipped to
the house because I just don'tlike.
You said anything and thegrowth was being super fresh.
Irene Chang (33:56):
I got them from Square Root Farm in Lanesboro.
That's a good one too, and tome also, vegetables.
People always say like, oh, Idon't have time to cook
vegetables.
But you know what, if you buyorganic frozen vegetables like
whether it's just spinach orkale or even mushrooms they're
already cut up and all you needto do is take it out of your
(34:16):
freezer and dump it.
Either you want to do is takeit out of your freezer and dump
it, either you want to do make astew or a stir fry.
It's so much easier and you'recutting out all that time that
you have to wash and cut.
And I think to me when you dothat the cooking becomes a
really simple and doesn't take alot of time.
And if you have mixed like, Imix my own herbs already, so I
(34:40):
put all the Italian herbs andsome all spice herbs and I make
my own.
So I might have like herbs that12 of them already mixed in.
So I put a lot of herbs andspices when I cook, whether it's
just stir frying or marinatingmeat or making a lot of stews,
especially when it's colder souptoo.
(35:02):
But I make a lot of stewsBecause then you can make a
one-meal dish with moresubstance than stew.
So when you have all that donealready, and then I also make
sauces and then I also makesauces, so you have like two,
three different flavors of sauceby mixing different ingredients
and you can keep it in therefrigerator.
(35:23):
You could put some ginger andgarlic.
It puts an Asian sauce.
You mix oyster sauce with theblack bean sauce and hoisin
sauce and some sesame oil andit's already with the garlic and
it's already made.
All you need to do is pour themand you stir fry it.
You could put some tofu orchicken or salmon, whatever.
Dr. Carver (35:47):
But it really doesn't take more than 15, 20
minutes.
And that's amazing, because Ithink that's one big complaint
to say I don't have time.
But right, you said instead of,and that's why people buy the
foods, because it's easier tojust take the jar off the shelf.
But again, so those have theseed oils in them, they have all
sorts of GMO products and peststhat you name it.
That's one thing that I, when Iwas trying to coach people too,
(36:12):
is like you can do it, but youhave to plan for it, right?
So maybe you pick one daywhether it's a weekend or one
night a week, where I'm going tomake the Asian sauce, or my
favorite sauce is chimichurri,which with the cilantro and the
parsley.
I love that, with meat orchicken, with anything.
I love having that, and it'snot that easy to make.
(36:33):
Right?
A couple of ingredients, youblend them in the blender, make
a batch yeah, make a batch.
Yeah, exactly.
And then you have that in thefridge.
So on other busy weeknights,you throw some chicken in, you
put your sauce on, you pour out,like you said, the frozen
vegetables.
Again, those are going to havethe most nutrient density.
I'm like you.
I always have frozen peas,always, always, always, and then
(36:56):
the mixture of the othervegetables too, but there's one
vegetable without a doubt I canget my kids to eat the peas.
It has a good combination ofthe carbs and the protein and
it's green.
So that's and it is.
It just takes a little bit oftime?
Irene Chang (37:13):
Yeah, and I make.
Let's say, I make like fourportions.
So if I'm making, let's say,black rice with vegetables,
which is one of my signaturedishes people love it and I make
it I would eat a quarter of itand I divide them up into
portions and freeze them in aglass or stainless steel and
(37:34):
then label them.
You have the side dish already.
You've got the vegetables, lotsof vegetables and some rice.
So you've got it.
So all you need is protein andyou take it out the night before
.
Okay, what am I going to eattomorrow night?
Okay, I'll take it out, put itin the refrigerator so it's
going to defrost by itself andthen, by the time dinner comes
(37:54):
along, all you need to do isreheat it and have some sort of
a protein which is pretty easyto make while you're reheating
that stuff.
Right, or you already have some.
Or open up the can of a couplecans of sardine.
This is so great and I cook alot of, like the salmon in the
(38:15):
can, wild-caught salmon, whichis like a tuna, but use that.
The other day I made a sardinecake like a crab cake, but with
the sardine you don't even haveto do anything, right, you just
take it out of the can, mush itup with some other stuff.
Oh, I use a lot of capers.
Capers are great, so nutritious, and then automatically adds
(38:39):
saltiness and unami flavor.
So mix some of them and thenyou pan fry it.
It's done in 15 minutes.
It's no big deal.
Health coaches can help, becauseI can figure out like okay,
what are the vegetables, whatare the protein, what are the
grains or things?
What do you like to eat Like?
(39:00):
Do you like eating cauliflower?
Okay, let's make a big batch ofmashed cauliflower using frozen
cauliflower, and it's easy.
Again, you can divide them upand make four different servings
and then you've got itvegetable and carb together and
you've got it vegetable andcarved together.
Cauliflower is an amazing food.
Dr. Carver (39:19):
God it has my favorite.
We actually my kids love tomake quesadillas, but again,
like with all the grains and allthis stuff.
So I had one time my bestfriend in Texas sent me some
cauliflower tortillas and theywere the most.
Usually, if you try to buy themin the store, they're anything
gluten-free.
It just breaks easily, right?
It doesn't stay nice and foldedlike a burrito.
(39:44):
And she's sending these andthey're like even my kids were
totally fooled.
They had no idea, becausecauliflower can have a strong
taste.
They and and I called them andI said, okay, but what are what?
How can you make them so good?
And they taste exactly likeflour tortillas.
And there it's cauliflower andbutter and baking there you go.
I don't know the exact recipe,oh my god.
And so I ordered them fromtexas.
(40:05):
I get a huge, a huge box nicesent to me and I freeze them
because they they will thaw veryeasily and they are the most so
.
That's like in the morning, ifI'm in a hurry I'll make some
scrambled eggs, throw it in mylittle tortilla and it's amazing
, it's.
It's.
That's like in the morning, ifI'm in a hurry I'll make some
scrambled eggs, throw it in mylittle tortilla.
And it's amazing, it's.
It's.
That's a nice easy thing I dothat too I would.
Irene Chang (40:24):
I do the cauliflower thins, the round one
instead of the bread.
That's so great for breakfast,with some little bit of avocado
egg and some smoked salmonPerfect breakfast.
And you, I, I wear the cgm.
It gets 10, the perfect score.
Yeah, I think it's just, andyou don't have to know so much.
People usually eat same food.
(40:46):
There's a repertoire of samefood, so once you figure it out
how to do it and how to shop andcook quickly, you're fine.
You don't have to like thinkabout, like, what am I gonna eat
?
You you've got them, you have.
You've got some in therefrigerator, already in the
freezer, because you may, whatdo you?
Dr. Carver (41:04):
think so.
Maybe tell us a little bit moreabout some staples.
You think that you alreadymentioned frozen vegetables,
frozen fruit.
What are some other, likepantry staples?
Well, to be able to make a,healthy.
Irene Chang (41:15):
Yeah, in terms of snack, definitely nuts and seeds
.
Those are great and I also justgot some unsweetened coconut
flakes so you can mix nuts andwhatever all kinds of nuts,
walnuts, pistachio, whateveralmond, all the nuts.
Hazelnut is great too and youmix them with a little bit of
(41:39):
coconut flakes and because ithas, again, great source of
fiber and you could have somedark chocolate.
If you don't want to have anysugar, you can have the littlest
chocolate that has astidia init and so that's a great snack.
Right In terms of pantry, forthe dry food, I have like a
(42:00):
dried shiitake mushroom.
Again, you can just put it inthe water so you don't have to
have in the refrigerator, youcan put them in the water for an
hour before and it's abeautiful and healthy and
flavorful mushroom that you canput it into stir fry or stew or
soup.
I also use seaweed as a snacktoo, even like a sardine.
(42:23):
People think, oh, I don't likesardine.
But if you actually take, let'ssay, seaweed, which is always
cutting, you buy cut up seaweedwhich has some sesame oil or
olive oil on it.
You can wrap, let's say,sardine right in a seaweed.
(42:43):
And I put kimchi, because Ihave kimchi and I'm Koreans, I
always have kimchi.
So a piece of kimchi andsardine and I wrap it with the
seaweed and that's great andit's very nutritious.
The the seaweed I have jars of,like like tomato in water always
(43:06):
buy the italian ones becausethey are skinless and like
artichokes, you know in in jarolives.
When I'm really hungry I alwaysjust eat, eat olives first,
like, oh, I'm starving, I can'twait.
Okay, I'm going to pop in ahalf dozen olives right away so
that I don't feel like I'mhungry.
(43:26):
You always want to have someguacamole thing so you can eat
with a celery or a cucumbereasily.
Celery or cucumber easily Again, great snack or appetizer.
What else do I have?
And I use a lot of black riceinstead of white or brown rice
(43:46):
because it has all those, youget more nutrition.
You freeze them, you cook in abig batch, again you freeze them
, so then they come out and then, as long as they're defrosted,
you can even microwave to heatthem up again.
Very versatile right to mixwith things.
So, yeah, that works well.
What else?
(44:06):
I have a lot of frozen food.
I really use a lot of frozenveggies so that, in case I
didn't go to supermarket orfarmer's market, I still have a
plenty of vegetables that I canjust quickly cook, because,
again, I think vegetables arebetter cooked.
Dr. Carver (44:25):
Yeah, and then if you, if you listen to some of
these people who are in thecarnivore right and they're
saying, oh there's, there's somany anti-nutrients and
vegetables thing, right, somepeople are like Dave Asprey,
right, he hates raspberries andhe's sensitive, right, Not
everybody has an absolutesensitive, so you know.
But when you cook these thingsyou properly cook them it takes
(44:48):
away the antigen.
Same thing with even with nutsand seeds.
If you sprout them, which youcan buy sprouted nuts and seeds
it takes away some of thoseanti-metriens that some people
will say.
And then, if you think aboutbread but think about sourdough
bread, the way that that'sfermented right.
Also, it eats a lot of thesugar in the bread.
So the way foods are prepared.
(45:10):
Also, why is kimchi so great?
Same thing it's fermented rightand that is huge for our-.
Irene Chang (45:17):
I think that's the same thing with the quinoa too
the way Americans cook.
That's not how it's cooked.
They're supposed to befermented, and I think every
culture, traditional culture,has fermented food because
that's how we preserve it.
It's better for you, right,with all the microbiome and
raising down.
Dr. Carver (45:37):
Yes, versus the seed oils to preserve.
Yeah, we've switchedfermentation because it takes
such a long time.
And still the same thing aboutbread.
It is not hard to bake a loafof bread, but a homemade bread.
If you make your kidssandwiches, say for lunch, maybe
it lasts two or three days, butit lasts two or three days and
(45:57):
you don't have to put any of theother stuff in it.
Irene Chang (46:00):
The other one that I recently started to use is
mung beans.
Do you know mung beans?
It has so much protein I had noidea compared to other beans.
So mung beans are very easy tocook and it can become part of
like a batter too, making uppancakes and stuff.
So I've been using that too,which is great, and I use in the
(46:21):
Korean cuisine.
I use the noodles made out ofsweet potato.
That's a staple of Koreancuisine and that's the noodle
dish you can order from anyKorean restaurant, and so you
have vegetables, sometimes meatand not meat whatever but the
main carb is sweet potato,because it's 100% sweet potato
(46:44):
noodles.
Dr. Carver (46:46):
That's my favorite food, I think.
Sweet potatoes I absolutely do.
That's why I loved it.
Back in the years I tried thepaleo and that was my go-to,
always with the meat and thesweet potatoes, which is
interesting because they're veryhigh, like in progesterone,
which I think was something mybody was really and that's those
things like cravings right,that can tell you something your
(47:07):
body is needing.
And I think about, like my kids, and they've gone through these
phases where they'll be likereally into a certain food and
then all of a sudden one daythey're like no, I don't like it
anymore.
And you think, what do you mean?
You liked it yesterday but thenthe more I got into the science
of nutrition, I was like, huh,maybe their body now is
sufficient in that specificnutrient that now they don't
(47:28):
care for, especially if it's anatural food.
Irene Chang (47:30):
I think the problem with the children now.
I think they're so used toeating ultra-processed food
they've lost the ability.
It's basically hijacked.
We all have that innate abilityto crave something when we're
lacking nutrition.
But if they don't eat naturalfood growing up and they have no
idea and they just keep eatingall these manufactured food-like
(47:54):
stuff, then they lost thatability, which is really they do
, and it messes up all thehormones and the satiety signals
.
Dr. Carver (48:03):
And all of that because of the way that those
foods stimulate the nervoussystem in a not so good way.
Irene Chang (48:11):
And you never really feel full and they're
supposed to be so tasty.
Anyway, because of that, theyhave that the combination of the
sugar, the fat, the salt, thecrunchiness, all this snacks and
sweetness, because that's whatthey go for, that's their
manufacturing, for that blisspoint, so that people get
addicted, and that's really.
Dr. Carver (48:34):
Yeah, I don't know, it worries me about that yeah, I
, I don't know it's, it's itworries me about that.
And to trying to raise twoteenagers who you know, trying
to tell them hey, you know, whatyou're eating now is going to
affect your future health.
Right, I started with the leakygut.
Everything started for me as ateenager.
I had acne, and so it was onyears of antibiotics, right,
(48:54):
like destroyed my gut and it wason birth control for a long
time.
That also destroys your gut.
Then I went on acting oh please, you know so.
And and then now you know thex-men.
Everything, I think, is aresult of my predisposition.
And then then I had two babiesand a stressful job and all you
(49:15):
know, and there's justballs.
But we're trying to teach thembecause they don't feel
necessarily bad now.
So it's hard for them tounderstand that they need to do
better.
But my 16 year old she's alreadycoming around and I was talking
to her in my last podcast.
She gave me a list.
She's like I need to eat thesefoods to have clear skin and I
was like fantastic.
She said, mom, I need oysters.
(49:36):
And I was like, yes, they'revery good sports, it's zinc,
right?
So we went to down to Guido'sand there was only one person
there.
So he said I don't have time toshuck them for you, so we'll
have to try them in a restaurant.
So when we were in Florida forThanksgiving and we went to a
seafood restaurant, so she wasable to try oysters, which I
don't.
They're too slimy for me, Idon't love them.
(49:58):
But we've got a great video ofboth my 13 and 15-year-old
trying the oysters.
So they're like okay, they'reopening them.
And this was my child, who isthe pickiest eater on the planet
, and so it's very exciting tosee her yes, yes, to see her
eating.
And because she wants to haveclearer skin and she knows she
needs zinc, because she wants tohave clearer skin and she knows
(50:20):
she needs zinc, so it's likenow that she's motivated to do
it right.
And so I think that's the hardthing as a parent is, I was
always trying to push, push,push instead of just saying give
them the choices, like justexposing them to a lot of things
without being too pushy becausethey're coming back around.
That's great.
Well, we're coming up to almostthe end of our time.
Is there any other littletidbits or nuggets or anything
(50:44):
important that you think weshould know?
Irene Chang (50:45):
I think if people really want to change their
projector health outcome, theyreally should work on lowering
their insulin resistance.
And the way that works reallycomes from food.
And if you don't put sugar andstarch and especially like
fructose, all the juices, orangejuice, all that if you don't
put them into your body, thenthere's no reason.
(51:08):
There's a less reason forpancreas to release insulin
constantly and it creates thatinsulin resistance.
And it's really a scary thingbecause we don't, most doctors
don't order and people have noidea what their fasting insulin
level is.
They only know the fastingglucose, which is just a
snapshot of that morning, andinsulin the insulin fasting
(51:33):
insulin goes at least a decadebefore.
So I think I wish people canget their fasting insulin level
from their doctor and lab bloodwork so they know where they are
so they can project.
Okay, if I keep going this way,10 years later I may end up
having Alzheimer's.
You know what I mean.
This needs to be installed inpeople and I think that's what
(51:56):
I'm trying to share.
Dr. Carver (52:00):
So important and I'm glad you brought that up
because, and especially what youjust said, I want to reiterate
that it's not just about thediabetes but Alzheimer's, and
they're calling Alzheimer's nowdiabetes, and it is true, like
with we.
And then you mentioned a CGM,which is a continuous blood
glucose monitor which isavailable to all of us.
I recently my HBA1C, which is akind of a measure of the
(52:26):
insulin.
Over time was creeping up alittle bit, so I was like huh
and so I ordered one.
It was like a hundred dollarsfor two months.
It's called L-O-S-T-E-L-O.
You don't need a doctor'sprescription or anything.
It's not.
There are other programs thatare better that give you more
data.
It's a good stepping stone.
It's so easy to use, it's notuncomfortable, and so then you
(52:48):
can kind of track when I eat anapple, what happens, or when I,
because it's really interesting,because maybe an apple spikes
my blood sugar, but it doesn'tto yours, it's individual.
Irene Chang (52:59):
Yeah, it might spike people eating oatmeal for
heart health, but it might spikereally high for some people, so
they need to know that's soimportant.
Dr. Carver (53:07):
And I think the other thing about that, what you
can learn about, is foodcombination, because what I
discovered with mine was that ifI eat fat and protein first and
then have my carb after, myinsulin doesn't go high.
But if I eat the carb first, soI would most mornings have top
of one macadamia nut, you know,and then have a scrambled egg
(53:30):
and then maybe eat my, my fruit,or if I was going to have
oatmeal or something, and that'sreally I know I had.
One of my favorite places to gois Mario's and they have their
homemade popovers, which I loveand who knows if it's got the
glyphs there or whatever.
Irene Chang (53:47):
But I'm like I can't not have my popover but
because I eat like the beansfirst and I have my protein and
the fiber first, then my blood,the fat, then my blood sugar
spiked by the other thing thatit's proven to be very effective
that after you eat, if youcould just walk 15 minutes or
dance a couple songs away,that's going to blunt the spike,
(54:10):
so that's going to have lessinflammation and less insulin
resistance effect building up,and it's tough where we live
because in wintertime it'sharder to get.
Dr. Carver (54:23):
Like you said, just get up and dance a couple of
songs, vacuum the house right,or just you know some kind of
activity, and you'll see that Inoticed that tremendously on my
CGM too.
Yep, Yep, Almost immediately.
Well, Irene, thank you.
You've given us so much greatinformation for those of us
maybe who are looking for ahealth coach or want to find out
(54:44):
more about it.
How can they reach out?
Irene Chang (54:46):
I have my website I think it's going to be listed
by to irene at 3hcoachingnet andI'd be happy to give
complimentary initialconsultation and find out what
their health goals are.
And we can reach their goals.
Small steps, tiny steps.
Dr. Carver (55:05):
That's right, and if changing your diet and
lifestyle is on the top of thatlist, please reach out to Irene.
We will put all of thatinformation in the show notes
for you.
Irene, we will put all of thatinformation in the show notes
for you, and again, thank you somuch for taking your time this
afternoon to tell us a littlebit about nutrition and health
(55:25):
coaching.
It's such a valuable tool.
So I hope everyone enjoyed thisepisode and we will catch you
on the next one.
Irene Chang (55:32):
Thank you so much for having me.
Dr. Carver (55:34):
Thank you for having me.
Thank you, hello.
I'm Dr Rachel Carver, aboard-certified naturopathic
biologic dentist and a certifiedhealth coach.
Did you know that over 80% ofthe US population has some form
of gum disease?
Many of us don't even know thatwe have this source of chronic
infection and inflammation inour mouth that's been linked to
(55:55):
serious consequences like heartdisease, diabetes, stroke,
dementia, colon cancer, kidneydisease, even pregnancy
complications.
Would you like to learn how toreverse and prevent these
chronic, debilitating conditionswithout spending a lot of time
and money at the dentist?
Join me for my six-week course,where I will teach you the root
cause of disease.
You'll learn how to be your ownbest doctor.
(56:17):
Are you ready to get started?
Let's go.
Welcome back to another episode of the Root of
the Matter.
I am your host, dr RachelCarver, and today I'm welcoming
Irene Chang.
She is a patient of mine whohas just recently finished her
studies for functional nutrition.
Is that correct?
Irene Chang (00:16):
Irene, Actually it's a functional medicine
certified health coachingprogram.
Dr. Carver (00:21):
Okay, fantastic, thank you.
So I've asked Irene to come ina little bit talk about
nutrition, because it's veryconfusing.
People think, okay, yes, Ishould eat fruits and vegetables
, but should I eat meat, shouldI not eat meat?
And then you've got the wholecarnivore crab that says no,
vegetables are terrible for you,and so there's just a lot of
confusion and I would love foryou to maybe dive in, tell us a
(00:45):
little bit.
You've been learning the mostup-to-date information about
nutrition, so why don't you tellus a little bit about why you
wanted to get this degree andthen go from there?
Irene Chang (00:57):
Yes.
So my journey started when thelockdown started over four years
ago, march 2020.
And I was, like most people,concerned about my immune
function against coronavirus and, especially as an older
population, we were morethreatened right Immune function
(01:18):
and virus.
So then I was always a fan ofDr Mark Hyman, read a lot of his
books, so I started to listento his podcast and read more
books and really studied aboutfunctional medicine, which is
more of root finding, root causefor your symptoms, rather than
(01:41):
suppressing symptoms andmanaging it with medications and
procedures for all the chronicdisease that most people suffer
from nowadays.
That just led me to learn a lotmore about what is the current
information, which a lot oftimes, the medical schools don't
teach those things and sincethey're not on the licensing
(02:05):
exam for medical doctors, whohas time to read all about
newest studies and newestinformation from various
literature?
Doctors don't have time.
So the thing there's a big gap.
I think what's been happeningthe last, I would say like 20
(02:25):
years, even like a microbiomehuman genome project, all these
things that happen and what themedical field is still working
with right for the patients anddealing with the chronic
diseases especially.
So that led me so once Ilearned so much about it and all
(02:46):
the misinformation.
I would say that we have beentold by the government, like the
food pyramid or the doctors, ormedia, especially the media
promoting all the big foodcompanies promoting this and
that and this and that Rememberthe ad Got Milk?
They had to take it downbecause there was no basis for
(03:09):
science, things like that.
So then I was like I'm learningall this stuff and I'm like
floored by this, like wow, wehave been so misinformed.
How is this possible?
So then that led me to likewhat can I do as an individual?
I am practicing it.
I make sure my husbandpractices it.
(03:31):
But then I felt like this issomething that I would like to
share with other people, becauseso many of these diseases the
top disease like cardiovascular,the top diseases like
cardiovascular cancer, diabetes,autoimmune Alzheimer all these
can be prevented if you can workon having better lifestyle
(03:54):
choices right Every day, day andout.
What do you do?
What are the choices one makes?
So that's why I wanted to be ahealth coach, because health
coach is a new thing Nobodyreally knows.
They know the trainer, physicaltrainer, they might know
business coaching, but thehealth coaching is still fairly
(04:16):
new.
It was only started to gettingnational board license or not
license, certification bynational board only, like 2014.
It's fairly new.
This insurance doesn't cover it, but there are now a lot of
(04:36):
functional medicine doctors whounderstand that in order for
their patients to get better,they really need to change their
behaviors.
It's not about what they'retelling them what to eat, how to
do supplements.
It's about really what are theygoing to change to eat and move
(04:56):
and how to sleep better, how todeal with their daily, daily
chronic stress and or theirrelationships all these things
that we are dealing with day today.
Dr. Carver (05:13):
Yeah, I got my certification in 2015,.
Right, when it was brand new,and I I my dream for future
medicine is that there arehealth coaches on every single
staff of every internist, justat a minimum.
Right, because doctors don't,especially with the way that
medicine becomes so corporate.
Right, they have eight to 10minutes with a patient.
(05:35):
You can't make any lastingchange with somebody if you just
want to give them a medication,okay, but people are pushing
back against that kind ofmedicine.
They're tired of taking so manymedications and still not
really feeling better.
So it is the role of coaches.
And the other thing, too, isthat health is so individual,
(05:56):
right, and so the blanketstatement of eat this or don't
eat this or do this and don't,doesn't help, because we all
know that we should eat an appleversus a bag of Doritos, like
people know what, which one ishealthier, but why do we reach
for the Doritos versus the apple?
Right, and the health coach hasthat time to figure out.
(06:17):
Why are you, do you know?
Why are you sabotaging yourhealth when you, on a logical
level, you know better?
Right, there's always somethingunderlying.
You know the stress, the stress, the emotional trauma.
You know, you name it, andthat's the value of having a
coach and it's unfortunate thatinsurance doesn't cover.
They lag behind anything that'svaluable for a long time.
(06:40):
But if you really, if you thinkabout the value of having
somebody, if you're reallywilling to try to make those
changes like maybe 2025 is thatyear that you are really going
to put what you want intopractice then think about the
cost.
How much do you spend onStarbucks every every day, right
?
Think about those kinds of howmuch that adds up.
(07:02):
Would it be more valuableputting that five to ten dollars
a day into a monthly coachingsession?
Maybe then the coach will teachyou how to make your own
delicious latte, right?
Irene Chang (07:15):
with a much better health outcome.
Yeah, it's kind of likeappealing audience people.
The health coaches basicallyhelp clients to find out what
their health goal is.
Realistic right, it's the SMARTgoal.
It's a specific and measurable,achievable, realistic and
time-sensitive goals, like threeto six months, let's say.
(07:38):
But there's a motivationalinterview that goes in to really
peel the onion layers of why doyou really want to do this?
Because when it comes from theclient not from doctors or
nutritionists, but when it comesto client they have the agency
to change because that's theirown, it's a client driven.
(08:00):
So health coaches are like justlike a GPA GPS.
I mean like you want to gosomeplace, you haven't been to
or you have not been successful,because, after all, people try
to have better diet and mostpeople 80%, something like that
fails.
Right and they end up gainingmore weight.
Having somebody who is like aguide or a cheerleader or
(08:25):
support, like a little cane oractually a guide going on a hike
.
You don't want to road, youwant to go to top, the client
decides where they want to goand coach is basically a very
empathetic partner who helpedthem to navigate better.
(08:45):
And then when there's a success, they celebrate.
When there's a failure, thenthey refigure it out, so I think
it's a really good way to makesmall changes that's sustainable
, absolutely.
Dr. Carver (09:01):
What you keep saying is so important, because this
is patient driven.
It's not the coach, is notsomebody to tell you what to eat
, but just exactly what you saythe patient is telling you, or
the client, whatever, is saying.
This is a goal that I wouldlike, but I need a little bit
help in achieving that goal andthat is what the coach is there
for.
But you have to meet a person.
(09:22):
You know where they're at right.
It's the same thing you come infor a down point, maybe you
have.
You go to a new dentist andyou're like, okay, what do I
need?
And maybe that dentist says youneed five crowns and you need
all this deep cleaning and allthese kinds of stuff.
And, and a lot of times patientwill just walk out the door
because that's not you'retelling them instead of saying
(09:43):
what are you hoping to do?
Here's what I see.
Obviously, as a dentist, I haveto tell if you have the disease
.
But if the patient doesn't wantto believe you, they don't
trust you.
If it's not one of their goalsor values to have a very healthy
mouth, they're not going to doit.
And so there's that art toworking with people You're
trying to understand theirvalues and meet them where
they're at.
Irene Chang (10:03):
And also there's the accountability part, so that
we check in At least it doesn'thave to be long term, I say
three, four months on theregular check-ins.
And then there's accountabilityand client decide how they want
to track their progress andwhen that doesn't go well,
because there's always alsoenvironmental factor and like,
(10:25):
oh, I wanted to do this by mychildren, my husband, my wife, I
can't.
So then how do you re-evaluateand come up with different ways
to deal with, to get to thatgoal?
There's a lot of working,collaborative also.
Dr. Carver (10:45):
And that's a great point too, and that's why I know
a lot of things, but I needthat accountability.
I myself work with health, eventhough I am the health coach,
but I need somebody to help holdme accountable Absolutely.
I think that's a huge, hugevalue with having somebody there
, because we can all say certainthings and then whatever life
(11:06):
happens right and we fall outand we forget why we're doing
things.
Yes, that's hugely valuablebecause so many people make the
I don't remember the statisticright, but how many of us make
resolutions and then by the endof January it's already kaput.
So let's talk a little bitabout, maybe, nutrition, and
maybe you mentioned the foodpyramid.
Why is the current?
(11:26):
Now it's MyPlate, right.
Yes, taking the pyramid, tellus about how, what the MyPlate
talks about, and maybe youragreement or disagreement with
how it's laid out.
Irene Chang (11:37):
I think the MyPlate is much better than food
pyramid, which also reminds youhow they wanted us, want us to
eat like six times a dayremember it was like every two
hours you have to eat, otherwiseyour metabolism is going to go,
which is actually the exactopposite, because it keeps
spiking your blood sugar everytime you eat, and people are
(12:00):
supposed to eat a lot ofcarbohydrate, grains especially,
so it was just to keep spikingand spiking and a lot of times
you would start that glucosespike roller coaster up and down
, up and down, so of coursepeople would be tired and want
to eat something after eating,whatever the muffin and the
(12:21):
orange juice and coffee.
Two hours later you're hungryalready and like becomes
hypoglycemic.
I think it's better becausethere's a lot more emphasis on
vegetables and fruits andvegetables rather than grain.
However, I think, depending onwhere people are, I think
(12:42):
there's still to me there's toomuch again emphasis on starch,
mainly grain, because unlessyour insulin fasting insulin is
like perfect under three orsomething.
People really should bewatching out their carb,
(13:02):
especially the starch, besidessugar, of course sugar, but
starch consumption, because aswe get older, we just become
more insulin resistant ourselvesand it's a lot harder to
metabolize those starch, goingin and spiking the blood sugar,
(13:23):
because the more you do it, moreinsulin resistance happens and
that's basically the beginningof all chronic disease the
insulin resistance andinflammation that follows.
So to me, I think there shouldbe even more emphasis on
vegetables and a little bit of afruit the less sweet fruits and
(13:46):
a little bit of a fruit theless sweet fruits.
And then, of course, the proteinthing is always so
controversial and I think itdepends on the people what they
want to eat.
Some people don't like thetaste of meat or some people
don't want to eat because of thereligious reasons.
But to me I eat all the foodI've always done that and ate a
(14:06):
lot more fish because I'm fromSouth Korea and Korea, just like
Japan, is a peninsula, japan'sisland.
So I just grew up eating a lotof seafood because it's abundant
.
We didn't eat a lot of meatbecause it wasn't abundant.
And if you think of Asian foodgenerally East Asian, chinese,
(14:27):
japanese, koreans we just eat alot more vegetables.
So if there's a meat meat notthe main thing I was always
shocked like, oh my God, there'sa huge meat with a little bit
of vegetable.
No, no, it's the other wayaround Lots of vegetables, a
little bit of meat mixed in.
So to me the protein part isindividual.
(14:49):
But I think if you eat moreprotein on regular basis in
other words, breakfast, lunchand dinner it makes you full.
You don't get as hungry becauseit lasts in your system longer
as well.
As we need protein tosynthesize our muscle and keep
(15:11):
minimize our muscle loss as weget older.
So I think it's reallyimportant to have enough protein
and I tell all my clients themost important thing is to start
the breakfast with at leastlike 30 grams of protein.
Protein heavy meal should bebreakfast, so when you're eating
the first meal after fastingovernight, that has to be
(15:34):
protein rich food so that you'renot hungry at least like four
or five hours, because if you'rehungry after eating first meal
in two, three hours, that wasn'tadequate and that's not a good
idea, because it should make youfeel full and not have a
craving for sugar.
(15:58):
I just think that eating a lotmore vegetable is very important
because that also gives youfiber, which is so important to
feed your gut bacteria.
Without it, your microbiome isbeing starving and if they don't
eat, if you don't feed them,they might eat your own mucin
(16:20):
layer and make it leaky gut,make holes and then all the
stuff that you don't want to putinto your blood is not going in
.
This is what you don't want todo.
Mixing your blood with the foodor food, whatever the leftover
things, unclean stuff right,that should be kept away.
(16:43):
But when you have a leaky gut,which part of the reason is not
feeding microbiome and theydon't produce what's keeping the
gut lining healthy, like thebutyrate, which is so important
to make sure your gut lining istight.
So if you don't do that, thenyou're going to compromise your
(17:05):
gut lining and that createsleaky gut, which is probably the
number one way to createinflammation.
Dr. Carver (17:15):
I totally agree and this is what fascinates me about
the carnivore diet.
I've spoken on the podcastbefore.
My brother-in-law lost over 100pounds last year doing
carnivore.
He started last January.
It's amazing.
His cardiologist was so flooredthat now he and his wife, who
are in their 70s, startedcarnivore.
(17:35):
They were like, just theycouldn't because he and my
brother-in-law had a heartattack at 25 years old Wow.
So he's been followed by thiscardiologist.
He's almost 50 now and so thecardiologist has seen over 25
years his numbers and everythingand was just floored.
But I'm always curious, like Ireally want to do a stool test
on him because I'm like what ifyou have no fiber?
(17:56):
Like what does your microbiomelook like in there?
But some people, he's thriving,like every ailment he ever had
gone.
He looks amazing, he feelsamazing.
So this is where I think, whenwe talk about food,
individuality is reallyimportant, right?
Somebody like me who's stillcycling that going carnivore.
(18:17):
I don't have any weight to loseand I need carbohydrates to
make hormones right and again,to feed the microbiome.
So it's very interesting to meand this is where I think, when
all these new companies arecoming out with all these
specific genetic things, whereyou can say what is the best
diet for me.
So there's some interest, somekind of companies out there who
(18:39):
are trying to do that, and myhusband just bought me this
little breathing device.
It's called lumen and the goalis to try to.
This is by breathing differenttimes of the day, depending what
you eat and what you exercise.
I'm not exactly sure thephysiology behind it I haven't
studied much about it but helpsyou try to maximize your
(19:00):
metabolism Because, as you weresaying, when our metabolism is
working well and that doesn'tmean eating every two hours,
right, but when your metabolismis working well and your insulin
levels are controlled, that'swhere you get health and that's
where you get longevity, right.
And so it's really interesting.
You breathe into this thing andsomehow by your breath it can
tell how much carbs or fat youare burning.
(19:23):
You're burning and thatdetermines when you first wake
up in the morning.
Ideally you should be in fatburn right before you go to bed,
according to the lumen again, Idon't know all of the science
on that, but that's how they'regauging and over 30 days it
tracks you for like 30 days andthen kind of gives you an idea
of what's happening so it cantry to help you again
(19:44):
individualize, and again, I'mnot.
I've been doing it for a coupleof days and I'm not sure it's
perfect there, but it'sinteresting and it's cool.
There's more wearables that canhelp us track things right,
like heart rate, your sleep, allthese things.
But I agree with you.
I think what you said aboutprotein is really, really
important, that the older we getespecially, the more protein we
(20:05):
need.
And sometimes that's tough,because the older we get also
our digestive capability goesdown right.
We don't have much stomach acidour digestive, and so it's
harder.
Irene Chang (20:14):
Yeah, don't absorb as much.
Dr. Carver (20:15):
Yeah, don't absorb it.
So that's where I talk to somany of my patients about apple
cider vinegar, like even betainehydrochloride, right, Like a
little extra stomach acid tolittle thing.
The lemon water, right, theselittle kind of things to try to
get your stomach at.
Irene Chang (20:32):
So many people are on you know the PPI's for reflux
and it's the worst thing.
Dr. Carver (20:39):
Maybe you can talk to us a little bit about that,
because I think that is such acommon medication.
So tell us a little bit.
So is acid reflux a sign ofhaving too much acid in your
stomach?
The thing?
Irene Chang (20:50):
is.
I think that all that GERD andPPI problem it should be dealt
with.
Eating properly again and noteating too late again and not
(21:11):
eating too late and sometimesit's a sleep apnea too.
But taking this ppi for forlong term, I think they said,
and the pharmaceuticals whenthey came out with it and
initially in 1980s they said, oh, you know, you shouldn't be
taking for six, six weeks.
But then people are taking themfor years and years and there
there's a lot of yeah, problemwith side effects from that.
So I think that one needs to betapering it off.
(21:32):
That's what the doctorsrecommend not relying on this,
but changing their diet so thatmaybe you don't want to eat
tomatoes and things that wouldyou know, spicy food, things
that would upset your stomachand have acid reflux.
But I think there's a way tonot do that.
(21:54):
In other words, gradually fixit with diet and lifestyle
rather than relying on PPI,which has a lot of side effects.
Dr. Carver (22:04):
And this is where a health coach is so so, like this
is one of the things I thinkhealth coaches can help with the
most is how do I get mydigestion more ideal?
And again, like you said, Ihave patients every day that say
yep, I've been on this for adecade and a thing, oh my Lord.
And then, and there's all thisscience showing that it causes
(22:24):
allergies food so that you likeall sorts, because I tell
patients.
why do you think your stomach issupposed to be of an acid of
two, and now you're going tostop producing acid.
How are you going to digestanything?
And yet a stomach acid is whatproduces the bicarb, it's what
produces your digestive enzymes,which produce the bile, no bile
and food.
(22:45):
No, you can't break downanything, so it's really
problematic.
Irene Chang (22:49):
People can be malnutritious.
They eat so much, but they'renot getting nutrition nutrient
in and they're not breaking downand all these things relate to
each other.
Dr. Carver (23:00):
So they're not making enzymes, they're not
making hormones and you couldeat all you want, but if they're
not being absorbed andmetabolized, then what good does
that do?
Exactly and I think that'ssomething that I suffered for a
long time was I could eateverything, I could never gain
anything, and with my eczema Iwasn't breaking things down
(23:21):
properly.
My digestion was really justshot.
Irene Chang (23:26):
One of the important tools that we have as
a health coach is eliminationdiet, because that is 21-day
elimination diet and I've donethat with several of my clients
and it's not like that.
You can't eat them forever,like the gluten, dairy corn,
sometimes eggs and shellfish,but you figure it out by
(23:50):
eliminating for 21 days andintroducing it slowly, one by
one.
Caffeine is another one, butthen that does not mean you
can't have them for the rest ofyour life, but it just heals the
gut and dosage matter.
Some people could have some ofthe cheese, but then they can't
(24:10):
have a lot of them, and soyou're figuring it out so you
could live with the food withoutconstantly affecting your gut
lining and having leaky gut,which then of course
inflammation and all theproblems, metabolic problems,
just all the problems.
So fixing that gut lining byhaving elimination diet works
(24:34):
well.
Dr. Carver (24:36):
That was the first thing I did 14 years ago.
I took wheat out of my you know,on all these steroid creams,
took wheat out of my diet forfour weeks and my hands cleared
90%, and that's all I did.
And I was like, oh geez, andthe cool thing about the gut, it
turns over in a few days, right, so it can heal relatively
(24:57):
quickly.
But when we're constantlyeating it, so it's amazing.
And the benefit of this, likeyou said, is like some people
don't like to diet.
They don't want to do thisbecause they don't want to feel
restricted, like I can never goout to eat and I can, but again,
if you just take three weeks toremove one thing and and for me
to have my hands clear 90, Imean, it was so excruciating
(25:19):
itchy, like to me.
I was like I'm sold when youhave that kind of a win without
having to take medications, justdoing one simple thing.
As much as I love bread, but Iwas like I can't take it anymore
.
Right, you can now have.
Irene Chang (25:34):
There's so much gluten-free stuff and that's one
of the things I help.
Same thing with my husband too.
He found that glutensensitivity is not a celiac but
it affects not only your gut,your skin, but your brain.
You don't want to get dementiawhen you get older because of
gluten.
There's so much you can do nowby substituting, replacing.
(25:56):
You don't have to feel deprivedat all.
He makes his own cookies nowwith almond flour and all the.
So I think those are the thingsthat also health coaches can
help.
With a pantry, eliminatingcertain things, but replacing it
.
There's People don't have.
I don't feel people have tofeel deprived.
I think it's just the makingsmart choices and making changes
(26:21):
and adapting to it because,like you said, the benefit is
huge.
Dr. Carver (26:27):
Yeah, yeah, we talked a little about protein.
Let's talk about fat a littlebit.
What?
What is like the, the newestscience and bag about fat.
I've talked about a lot on thispodcast we've had somebody on
talking about this, which is abig problem the seed oil problem
.
Irene Chang (26:42):
I think it's such a really real because, first of
all, and most people get seedoil from ultra-processed food
and they put soybean oil, cornoil, canola oil, all these seed
oils, because they make theproducts last long and it's
cheap.
So when people consumeultra-processed food meaning all
the stuff that's manufacturedfood, not the real food we're
(27:03):
not talking about like tomatowith the water and salt in a jar
.
We're talking about the stuffthat's packaged all the chips,
the snacks, all the packagedfood, which is a lot of it.
When I go grocery shopping Ilook at other people's car I'm
like, oh, my God, it's reallysad, but all that food has seed
(27:24):
oil and the omega-6 seed oilfrom them.
One it has all the pesticideanyway, all the GMO with the
pesticide.
But those seed oil, as Iunderstand it from like the Dr
Ben Bickman who talks about thisextensively it really is those
are the omega-6 oil from seedoil.
(27:47):
Right, mainly that's the onethat creates oxidized fat in our
lipid and it's not thatcholesterol, it's not the LDL,
it's actually the oxidized LDLthat causes cardiovascular
(28:07):
disease and stroke and they aremainly coming from seed oil.
So it's not the saturated fat,like coconut oil is very healthy
food.
And when I think of one thirdof the global population, they
live on coconut oil and theyhave a lot less dementia and
(28:32):
neurodegenerative disease thanwe do because of coconut oil
consumption.
Saturated fat is not the devil,in other words, it depends.
I think there's seven, eightdifferent saturated fat anyway,
but it seems from the latestscience the seed oil is really a
problem.
It's a inflammatory, it's apro-inflammatory fat versus like
(28:55):
omega-3 fat from fish andseafood.
That's anti-inflammatory, sothey're like the opposite.
So we need to, and Americanpeople don't really eat as much
seafood as other countries, sowe need to consume a lot more
(29:16):
seafood, especially the smallfish that has a lot of fatty,
small, fatty fish that hasomega-3.
And if we can't do it, forwhatever the reason, then we
need to take supplements so thatit's anti-inflammatory, it's
good for your brain.
It's really essential, rightfor health and metabolism and
(29:40):
also the brain.
That's so important.
And of course, there's onething people can do is basically
reduce, stop eating thosemanufactured food.
That's really if you could justeat what nature made.
Dr. Carver (30:01):
It's funny when you talk about the supermarket.
I have the hardest time goingbecause I had the same way.
When you know stuff, you justfeel like none of that food.
But 90% of stuff in grocerystores isn't real food.
At least in America.
It's not real food because it'scheap and it's fast and the
lifestyle we all live is we'reall tired, we don't want to cook
, we're all moms and dads areworking and it's a shame, but
(30:25):
it's very hard and it's it canbe stressful going.
I was just in the supermarketyesterday and I was thinking I
just you go into the healthyaisles, right, there isn't a
single like granola bar thatdoesn't have seed.
I love there.
Like there's this new brandcalled Junkless and like one of
the first ingredients is canolaoil.
(30:45):
I'm like my Lord, like what doyou think is junk if you put
canola oil and you're junkless?
But I have yet to find agranola bar that doesn't have a
seed oil in it and this one, oneof my things is like I've got
to make one because, yes,ideally it'd be great.
We all eat health food, butlet's be realistic.
Irene Chang (31:09):
Sometimes we need something on the go right,
they're not in supermarkets.
You can find them online, likewhether it's Bulletproof or
Parallel Valley and all thesecompanies direct consumer.
They're not in grocery stores.
Yeah, no, you really have toseek out, because the companies
are out there making themwithout any seed oils, but
they're not in supermarkets.
Dr. Carver (31:29):
No, my other favorite one is the Raw Bars
R-A-W-R.
They're really good.
They have a lot of good flavorstoo, so that's a go, and you
have to keep them refrigerated.
Irene Chang (31:39):
Well, that makes sense.
Dr. Carver (31:41):
Yes, the same thing.
I order them online, but it'syeah, it's hard, it's hard to,
and then those things obviouslyare more expensive.
So it's a challenge.
Eating healthy doesn't have tobe expensive, and I think that's
a big misconception a lot ofpeople have.
So we know that there arecertain foods.
(32:02):
Okay, if we can't afford allorganic, what at least are the
things?
Right If you have a banana thathas a thick skin, so eat a
regular banana, a potato onions,all these things.
Irene Chang (32:14):
You're not eating skin.
So, yeah, no, that's fine, butlike a strawberry, right.
Dr. Carver (32:19):
The pesticides are able to go in easier.
So that's what you want tothink of.
If someone has a thicker skin,it may be okay to not eat organs
, but berries they absorb a lotmore.
Irene Chang (32:29):
Actually, to me, the best way to shop is buy
frozen, organic frozen fruits.
I always do, because it's somuch cheaper and better actually
to buy organic frozenblueberries or strawberries any
of these fruits because theywere frozen at the time of
harvest, which was actuallybetter than staying in the
(32:51):
supermarket shelf.
Dr. Carver (32:53):
They have the most nutrition, because that's the
other thing.
When you're buying organic, itmay have been picked weeks ago
and then it had to travel so far.
By the time it gets you, maybeit doesn't have a pesticide but
it must have the nutrients.
I don't even trust salmon.
Irene Chang (33:06):
I'd rather buy frozen, wild-caught frozen
salmon because they did it rightthen when they caught it and
processed it.
Who knows if they were frozenand defrosted and then looks
fresh, so I don't trust them.
We do have a nice some of theselocal farms, like regenerative
farms that I work.
Dr. Carver (33:27):
We're lucky where we live, we're lucky.
They're coming more and more.
Yes, there's a new one rightwhere I live that they just
bought this great farm in thewhole, like it's all
regenerative.
Irene Chang (33:36):
That's awesome.
Dr. Carver (33:37):
And it's so exciting .
You can see, they must have, Idon't know, a hundred sheep
grazing now in people orchardsthat had gone to rotten.
Irene Chang (33:47):
I cannot wait.
Dr. Carver (33:47):
Because I do.
I have to order all my meat andseafood and have it shipped to
the house because I just don'tlike.
You said anything and thegrowth was being super fresh.
Irene Chang (33:56):
I got them from Square Root Farm in Lanesboro.
That's a good one too, and tome also, vegetables.
People always say like, oh, Idon't have time to cook
vegetables.
But you know what, if you buyorganic frozen vegetables like
whether it's just spinach orkale or even mushrooms they're
already cut up and all you needto do is take it out of your
(34:16):
freezer and dump it.
Either you want to do is takeit out of your freezer and dump
it, either you want to do make astew or a stir fry.
It's so much easier and you'recutting out all that time that
you have to wash and cut.
And I think to me when you dothat the cooking becomes a
really simple and doesn't take alot of time.
And if you have mixed like, Imix my own herbs already, so I
(34:40):
put all the Italian herbs andsome all spice herbs and I make
my own.
So I might have like herbs that12 of them already mixed in.
So I put a lot of herbs andspices when I cook, whether it's
just stir frying or marinatingmeat or making a lot of stews,
especially when it's colder souptoo.
(35:02):
But I make a lot of stewsBecause then you can make a
one-meal dish with moresubstance than stew.
So when you have all that donealready, and then I also make
sauces and then I also makesauces, so you have like two,
three different flavors of sauceby mixing different ingredients
and you can keep it in therefrigerator.
(35:23):
You could put some ginger andgarlic.
It puts an Asian sauce.
You mix oyster sauce with theblack bean sauce and hoisin
sauce and some sesame oil andit's already with the garlic and
it's already made.
All you need to do is pour themand you stir fry it.
You could put some tofu orchicken or salmon, whatever.
Dr. Carver (35:47):
But it really doesn't take more than 15, 20
minutes.
And that's amazing, because Ithink that's one big complaint
to say I don't have time.
But right, you said instead of,and that's why people buy the
foods, because it's easier tojust take the jar off the shelf.
But again, so those have theseed oils in them, they have all
sorts of GMO products and peststhat you name it.
That's one thing that I, when Iwas trying to coach people too,
(36:12):
is like you can do it, but youhave to plan for it, right?
So maybe you pick one daywhether it's a weekend or one
night a week, where I'm going tomake the Asian sauce, or my
favorite sauce is chimichurri,which with the cilantro and the
parsley.
I love that, with meat orchicken, with anything.
I love having that, and it'snot that easy to make.
(36:33):
Right?
A couple of ingredients, youblend them in the blender, make
a batch yeah, make a batch.
Yeah, exactly.
And then you have that in thefridge.
So on other busy weeknights,you throw some chicken in, you
put your sauce on, you pour out,like you said, the frozen
vegetables.
Again, those are going to havethe most nutrient density.
I'm like you.
I always have frozen peas,always, always, always, and then
(36:56):
the mixture of the othervegetables too, but there's one
vegetable without a doubt I canget my kids to eat the peas.
It has a good combination ofthe carbs and the protein and
it's green.
So that's and it is.
It just takes a little bit oftime?
Irene Chang (37:13):
Yeah, and I make.
Let's say, I make like fourportions.
So if I'm making, let's say,black rice with vegetables,
which is one of my signaturedishes people love it and I make
it I would eat a quarter of itand I divide them up into
portions and freeze them in aglass or stainless steel and
(37:34):
then label them.
You have the side dish already.
You've got the vegetables, lotsof vegetables and some rice.
So you've got it.
So all you need is protein andyou take it out the night before
.
Okay, what am I going to eattomorrow night?
Okay, I'll take it out, put itin the refrigerator so it's
going to defrost by itself andthen, by the time dinner comes
(37:54):
along, all you need to do isreheat it and have some sort of
a protein which is pretty easyto make while you're reheating
that stuff.
Right, or you already have some.
Or open up the can of a couplecans of sardine.
This is so great and I cook alot of, like the salmon in the
(38:15):
can, wild-caught salmon, whichis like a tuna, but use that.
The other day I made a sardinecake like a crab cake, but with
the sardine you don't even haveto do anything, right, you just
take it out of the can, mush itup with some other stuff.
Oh, I use a lot of capers.
Capers are great, so nutritious, and then automatically adds
(38:39):
saltiness and unami flavor.
So mix some of them and thenyou pan fry it.
It's done in 15 minutes.
It's no big deal.
Health coaches can help, becauseI can figure out like okay,
what are the vegetables, whatare the protein, what are the
grains or things?
What do you like to eat Like?
(39:00):
Do you like eating cauliflower?
Okay, let's make a big batch ofmashed cauliflower using frozen
cauliflower, and it's easy.
Again, you can divide them upand make four different servings
and then you've got itvegetable and carb together and
you've got it vegetable andcarved together.
Cauliflower is an amazing food.
Dr. Carver (39:19):
God it has my favorite.
We actually my kids love tomake quesadillas, but again,
like with all the grains and allthis stuff.
So I had one time my bestfriend in Texas sent me some
cauliflower tortillas and theywere the most.
Usually, if you try to buy themin the store, they're anything
gluten-free.
It just breaks easily, right?
It doesn't stay nice and foldedlike a burrito.
(39:44):
And she's sending these andthey're like even my kids were
totally fooled.
They had no idea, becausecauliflower can have a strong
taste.
They and and I called them andI said, okay, but what are what?
How can you make them so good?
And they taste exactly likeflour tortillas.
And there it's cauliflower andbutter and baking there you go.
I don't know the exact recipe,oh my god.
And so I ordered them fromtexas.
(40:05):
I get a huge, a huge box nicesent to me and I freeze them
because they they will thaw veryeasily and they are the most so
.
That's like in the morning, ifI'm in a hurry I'll make some
scrambled eggs, throw it in mylittle tortilla and it's amazing
, it's.
It's.
That's like in the morning, ifI'm in a hurry I'll make some
scrambled eggs, throw it in mylittle tortilla.
And it's amazing, it's.
It's.
That's a nice easy thing I dothat too I would.
Irene Chang (40:24):
I do the cauliflower thins, the round one
instead of the bread.
That's so great for breakfast,with some little bit of avocado
egg and some smoked salmonPerfect breakfast.
And you, I, I wear the cgm.
It gets 10, the perfect score.
Yeah, I think it's just, andyou don't have to know so much.
People usually eat same food.
(40:46):
There's a repertoire of samefood, so once you figure it out
how to do it and how to shop andcook quickly, you're fine.
You don't have to like thinkabout, like, what am I gonna eat
?
You you've got them, you have.
You've got some in therefrigerator, already in the
freezer, because you may, whatdo you?
Dr. Carver (41:04):
think so.
Maybe tell us a little bit moreabout some staples.
You think that you alreadymentioned frozen vegetables,
frozen fruit.
What are some other, likepantry staples?
Well, to be able to make a,healthy.
Irene Chang (41:15):
Yeah, in terms of snack, definitely nuts and seeds
.
Those are great and I also justgot some unsweetened coconut
flakes so you can mix nuts andwhatever all kinds of nuts,
walnuts, pistachio, whateveralmond, all the nuts.
Hazelnut is great too and youmix them with a little bit of
(41:39):
coconut flakes and because ithas, again, great source of
fiber and you could have somedark chocolate.
If you don't want to have anysugar, you can have the littlest
chocolate that has astidia init and so that's a great snack.
Right In terms of pantry, forthe dry food, I have like a
(42:00):
dried shiitake mushroom.
Again, you can just put it inthe water so you don't have to
have in the refrigerator, youcan put them in the water for an
hour before and it's abeautiful and healthy and
flavorful mushroom that you canput it into stir fry or stew or
soup.
I also use seaweed as a snacktoo, even like a sardine.
(42:23):
People think, oh, I don't likesardine.
But if you actually take, let'ssay, seaweed, which is always
cutting, you buy cut up seaweedwhich has some sesame oil or
olive oil on it.
You can wrap, let's say,sardine right in a seaweed.
(42:43):
And I put kimchi, because Ihave kimchi and I'm Koreans, I
always have kimchi.
So a piece of kimchi andsardine and I wrap it with the
seaweed and that's great andit's very nutritious.
The the seaweed I have jars of,like like tomato in water always
(43:06):
buy the italian ones becausethey are skinless and like
artichokes, you know in in jarolives.
When I'm really hungry I alwaysjust eat, eat olives first,
like, oh, I'm starving, I can'twait.
Okay, I'm going to pop in ahalf dozen olives right away so
that I don't feel like I'mhungry.
(43:26):
You always want to have someguacamole thing so you can eat
with a celery or a cucumbereasily.
Celery or cucumber easily Again, great snack or appetizer.
What else do I have?
And I use a lot of black riceinstead of white or brown rice
(43:46):
because it has all those, youget more nutrition.
You freeze them, you cook in abig batch, again you freeze them
, so then they come out and then, as long as they're defrosted,
you can even microwave to heatthem up again.
Very versatile right to mixwith things.
So, yeah, that works well.
What else?
(44:06):
I have a lot of frozen food.
I really use a lot of frozenveggies so that, in case I
didn't go to supermarket orfarmer's market, I still have a
plenty of vegetables that I canjust quickly cook, because,
again, I think vegetables arebetter cooked.
Dr. Carver (44:25):
Yeah, and then if you, if you listen to some of
these people who are in thecarnivore right and they're
saying, oh there's, there's somany anti-nutrients and
vegetables thing, right, somepeople are like Dave Asprey,
right, he hates raspberries andhe's sensitive, right, Not
everybody has an absolutesensitive, so you know.
But when you cook these thingsyou properly cook them it takes
(44:48):
away the antigen.
Same thing with even with nutsand seeds.
If you sprout them, which youcan buy sprouted nuts and seeds
it takes away some of thoseanti-metriens that some people
will say.
And then, if you think aboutbread but think about sourdough
bread, the way that that'sfermented right.
Also, it eats a lot of thesugar in the bread.
So the way foods are prepared.
(45:10):
Also, why is kimchi so great?
Same thing it's fermented rightand that is huge for our-.
Irene Chang (45:17):
I think that's the same thing with the quinoa too
the way Americans cook.
That's not how it's cooked.
They're supposed to befermented, and I think every
culture, traditional culture,has fermented food because
that's how we preserve it.
It's better for you, right,with all the microbiome and
raising down.
Dr. Carver (45:37):
Yes, versus the seed oils to preserve.
Yeah, we've switchedfermentation because it takes
such a long time.
And still the same thing aboutbread.
It is not hard to bake a loafof bread, but a homemade bread.
If you make your kidssandwiches, say for lunch, maybe
it lasts two or three days, butit lasts two or three days and
(45:57):
you don't have to put any of theother stuff in it.
Irene Chang (46:00):
The other one that I recently started to use is
mung beans.
Do you know mung beans?
It has so much protein I had noidea compared to other beans.
So mung beans are very easy tocook and it can become part of
like a batter too, making uppancakes and stuff.
So I've been using that too,which is great, and I use in the
(46:21):
Korean cuisine.
I use the noodles made out ofsweet potato.
That's a staple of Koreancuisine and that's the noodle
dish you can order from anyKorean restaurant, and so you
have vegetables, sometimes meatand not meat whatever but the
main carb is sweet potato,because it's 100% sweet potato
(46:44):
noodles.
Dr. Carver (46:46):
That's my favorite food, I think.
Sweet potatoes I absolutely do.
That's why I loved it.
Back in the years I tried thepaleo and that was my go-to,
always with the meat and thesweet potatoes, which is
interesting because they're veryhigh, like in progesterone,
which I think was something mybody was really and that's those
things like cravings right,that can tell you something your
(47:07):
body is needing.
And I think about, like my kids, and they've gone through these
phases where they'll be likereally into a certain food and
then all of a sudden one daythey're like no, I don't like it
anymore.
And you think, what do you mean?
You liked it yesterday but thenthe more I got into the science
of nutrition, I was like, huh,maybe their body now is
sufficient in that specificnutrient that now they don't
(47:28):
care for, especially if it's anatural food.
Irene Chang (47:30):
I think the problem with the children now.
I think they're so used toeating ultra-processed food
they've lost the ability.
It's basically hijacked.
We all have that innate abilityto crave something when we're
lacking nutrition.
But if they don't eat naturalfood growing up and they have no
idea and they just keep eatingall these manufactured food-like
(47:54):
stuff, then they lost thatability, which is really they do
, and it messes up all thehormones and the satiety signals
.
Dr. Carver (48:03):
And all of that because of the way that those
foods stimulate the nervoussystem in a not so good way.
Irene Chang (48:11):
And you never really feel full and they're
supposed to be so tasty.
Anyway, because of that, theyhave that the combination of the
sugar, the fat, the salt, thecrunchiness, all this snacks and
sweetness, because that's whatthey go for, that's their
manufacturing, for that blisspoint, so that people get
addicted, and that's really.
Dr. Carver (48:34):
Yeah, I don't know, it worries me about that yeah, I
, I don't know it's, it's itworries me about that.
And to trying to raise twoteenagers who you know, trying
to tell them hey, you know, whatyou're eating now is going to
affect your future health.
Right, I started with the leakygut.
Everything started for me as ateenager.
I had acne, and so it was onyears of antibiotics, right,
(48:54):
like destroyed my gut and it wason birth control for a long
time.
That also destroys your gut.
Then I went on acting oh please, you know so.
And and then now you know thex-men.
Everything, I think, is aresult of my predisposition.
And then then I had two babiesand a stressful job and all you
(49:15):
know, and there's justballs.
But we're trying to teach thembecause they don't feel
necessarily bad now.
So it's hard for them tounderstand that they need to do
better.
But my 16 year old she's alreadycoming around and I was talking
to her in my last podcast.
She gave me a list.
She's like I need to eat thesefoods to have clear skin and I
was like fantastic.
She said, mom, I need oysters.
(49:36):
And I was like, yes, they'revery good sports, it's zinc,
right?
So we went to down to Guido'sand there was only one person
there.
So he said I don't have time toshuck them for you, so we'll
have to try them in a restaurant.
So when we were in Florida forThanksgiving and we went to a
seafood restaurant, so she wasable to try oysters, which I
don't.
They're too slimy for me, Idon't love them.
(49:58):
But we've got a great video ofboth my 13 and 15-year-old
trying the oysters.
So they're like okay, they'reopening them.
And this was my child, who isthe pickiest eater on the planet
, and so it's very exciting tosee her yes, yes, to see her
eating.
And because she wants to haveclearer skin and she knows she
needs zinc, because she wants tohave clearer skin and she knows
(50:20):
she needs zinc, so it's likenow that she's motivated to do
it right.
And so I think that's the hardthing as a parent is, I was
always trying to push, push,push instead of just saying give
them the choices, like justexposing them to a lot of things
without being too pushy becausethey're coming back around.
That's great.
Well, we're coming up to almostthe end of our time.
Is there any other littletidbits or nuggets or anything
(50:44):
important that you think weshould know?
Irene Chang (50:45):
I think if people really want to change their
projector health outcome, theyreally should work on lowering
their insulin resistance.
And the way that works reallycomes from food.
And if you don't put sugar andstarch and especially like
fructose, all the juices, orangejuice, all that if you don't
put them into your body, thenthere's no reason.
(51:08):
There's a less reason forpancreas to release insulin
constantly and it creates thatinsulin resistance.
And it's really a scary thingbecause we don't, most doctors
don't order and people have noidea what their fasting insulin
level is.
They only know the fastingglucose, which is just a
snapshot of that morning, andinsulin the insulin fasting
(51:33):
insulin goes at least a decadebefore.
So I think I wish people canget their fasting insulin level
from their doctor and lab bloodwork so they know where they are
so they can project.
Okay, if I keep going this way,10 years later I may end up
having Alzheimer's.
You know what I mean.
This needs to be installed inpeople and I think that's what
(51:56):
I'm trying to share.
Dr. Carver (52:00):
So important and I'm glad you brought that up
because, and especially what youjust said, I want to reiterate
that it's not just about thediabetes but Alzheimer's, and
they're calling Alzheimer's nowdiabetes, and it is true, like
with we.
And then you mentioned a CGM,which is a continuous blood
glucose monitor which isavailable to all of us.
I recently my HBA1C, which is akind of a measure of the
(52:26):
insulin.
Over time was creeping up alittle bit, so I was like huh
and so I ordered one.
It was like a hundred dollarsfor two months.
It's called L-O-S-T-E-L-O.
You don't need a doctor'sprescription or anything.
It's not.
There are other programs thatare better that give you more
data.
It's a good stepping stone.
It's so easy to use, it's notuncomfortable, and so then you
(52:48):
can kind of track when I eat anapple, what happens, or when I,
because it's really interesting,because maybe an apple spikes
my blood sugar, but it doesn'tto yours, it's individual.
Irene Chang (52:59):
Yeah, it might spike people eating oatmeal for
heart health, but it might spikereally high for some people, so
they need to know that's soimportant.
Dr. Carver (53:07):
And I think the other thing about that, what you
can learn about, is foodcombination, because what I
discovered with mine was that ifI eat fat and protein first and
then have my carb after, myinsulin doesn't go high.
But if I eat the carb first, soI would most mornings have top
of one macadamia nut, you know,and then have a scrambled egg
(53:30):
and then maybe eat my, my fruit,or if I was going to have
oatmeal or something, and that'sreally I know I had.
One of my favorite places to gois Mario's and they have their
homemade popovers, which I loveand who knows if it's got the
glyphs there or whatever.
Irene Chang (53:47):
But I'm like I can't not have my popover but
because I eat like the beansfirst and I have my protein and
the fiber first, then my blood,the fat, then my blood sugar
spiked by the other thing thatit's proven to be very effective
that after you eat, if youcould just walk 15 minutes or
dance a couple songs away,that's going to blunt the spike,
(54:10):
so that's going to have lessinflammation and less insulin
resistance effect building up,and it's tough where we live
because in wintertime it'sharder to get.
Dr. Carver (54:23):
Like you said, just get up and dance a couple of
songs, vacuum the house right,or just you know some kind of
activity, and you'll see that Inoticed that tremendously on my
CGM too.
Yep, Yep, Almost immediately.
Well, Irene, thank you.
You've given us so much greatinformation for those of us
maybe who are looking for ahealth coach or want to find out
(54:44):
more about it.
How can they reach out?
Irene Chang (54:46):
I have my website I think it's going to be listed
by to irene at 3hcoachingnet andI'd be happy to give
complimentary initialconsultation and find out what
their health goals are.
And we can reach their goals.
Small steps, tiny steps.
Dr. Carver (55:05):
That's right, and if changing your diet and
lifestyle is on the top of thatlist, please reach out to Irene.
We will put all of thatinformation in the show notes
for you.
Irene, we will put all of thatinformation in the show notes
for you, and again, thank you somuch for taking your time this
afternoon to tell us a littlebit about nutrition and health
(55:25):
coaching.
It's such a valuable tool.
So I hope everyone enjoyed thisepisode and we will catch you
on the next one.
Irene Chang (55:32):
Thank you so much for having me.
Dr. Carver (55:34):
Thank you for having me.
Thank you, hello.
I'm Dr Rachel Carver, aboard-certified naturopathic
biologic dentist and a certifiedhealth coach.
Did you know that over 80% ofthe US population has some form
of gum disease?
Many of us don't even know thatwe have this source of chronic
infection and inflammation inour mouth that's been linked to
(55:55):
serious consequences like heartdisease, diabetes, stroke,
dementia, colon cancer, kidneydisease, even pregnancy
complications.
Would you like to learn how toreverse and prevent these
chronic, debilitating conditionswithout spending a lot of time
and money at the dentist?
Join me for my six-week course,where I will teach you the root
cause of disease.
You'll learn how to be your ownbest doctor.
(56:17):
Are you ready to get started?
Let's go.
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