November 11, 2025 • 21 mins
Welcome to the Wellness Connection Podcast! I’m Fiona Kane, and in this episode, we explore how every system in your body is connected and why understanding this can change how you manage your health.
From urinary tract infections and mouth infections to high blood sugar, blood pressure, and mental health, many symptoms are interconnected. Ignoring a “small issue” can sometimes lead to bigger health problems, but early awareness and intervention can make a huge difference.
Learn how:
Your gut, skin, and nutrition affect each other
High glucose and blood pressure impact your kidneys, heart, and eyes
Mouth infections can influence heart health
Mental and physical health are deeply intertwined
Simple signs like dehydration, headaches, and skin changes reveal important clues
Understanding these connections helps you respond early, prevent serious complications, and take better care of yourself and your family.
If you find this episode useful, please like, subscribe, and share to help others discover the importance of listening to their bodies.
Outro: Music by Musinova from Pixabay
Learn more about booking a nutrition consultation with Fiona: https://informedhealth.com.au/
Learn more about Fiona's speaking and media services: https://fionakane.com.au/
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Credit for the music used in this podcast:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello, welcome to the Wellness Connection podcast.
I'm your host, Fiona Kane.
Today I'm going to be talking toyou about something that I think
of when I talk to people aboutnutrition and health, and I hear
different stories aboutnutrition and health, is that a
lot of people don't realize thatall the systems in their body
are all connected together.
(00:21):
So we see things as veryseparate.
I think part of the reason isbecause we have a specialist for
every different thing.
So you know you've got theneurologist for the brain, and
you've got the cardiologist forthe heart, and you've got the
orthopod for the for the bones,and you've got the nephrologist
for your kidneys, and they'reall different.
And so there's differentspecialists in different areas.
(00:43):
But it's just a good reminder tolet people know that all of
these systems are connected.
Might sound silly, but peopledon't always think of it that
way.
They don't understand it thatway.
And so some of the examples Iwant to give you to help you
understand this sort of commonthings I see.
So one of those things is thatyour bladder is connected to
(01:04):
your kidneys.
So for people who suffer fromurinary tract infections, know
that they can very, very quicklymove to your kidneys and cause
you a lot of drama, a lot of,you know, a kidney infection can
be really nasty and reallypainful and really dangerous,
right?
So when you suffer, if you'rethe sort of person that suffers
(01:27):
from urinary tract infections,you really do need to get on top
of them as quickly as possible.
You need to learn what's causingthem, maybe how you can prevent
that.
Whether or not you know, ifyou're the sort of person that's
prone to them, the things thatyou can do that might be
preventative for that.
You need to learn the signs andsymptoms so you can quickly get
on it when it happens and knowthe difference between maybe
(01:50):
when you need to just uh drinksome urine from the pharmacy and
when you might need to actuallygo and get um do a urine test,
maybe go on some antibiotics orsomething like that.
But uh kidney infections arereally, really serious business.
So urinary tract infections cancause a lot of serious issues.
So it's really, really importantthat we don't just see it as oh
(02:11):
yes, it's a bladder issue,because it's not just a bladder
issue, it is actuallypotentially a kidney issue,
which is uh really, reallyserious stuff.
And um, people often just letthese things go and say, Oh no,
it'll get better.
If it's not getting better, thenyou know you've got to do
something about it.
The um the next one I see is Isee um I see if people have say
(02:31):
infections somewhere in theirbody, they say they might have
an infection in their foot.
And I heard someone say this notthat long ago where they said,
Oh, yeah, my brother's got thisum this bad infection in his
foot and his you know, legs allswollen, but he's really healthy
otherwise, so I don't think it'sa problem.
It's like, no, that really is aproblem.
(02:51):
If you have an infectionanywhere in your body where it's
kind of swelling up andinflamed, if you've got that
inflammation anywhere, uh that'sa problem.
And it might be a localizedproblem initially, but it won't
stay a localized problem if youdon't go and get help for it.
So please do go and get help forit.
Go to your doctor, go and seesomeone about it, and do what
you need to do because youactually, you know, even though
(03:14):
I'm about natural medicine,sometimes the best thing is you
need to be on antibiotics,that's what you need to do.
But you need to go and getthings identified and treated
because I think what we do is wedo a lot of Doctor Google thing
and think that we knowsomething's safe.
No, it's best to actually getthings assessed and uh and
diagnosed, and if you needantibiotics, use them.
(03:34):
I think the problem is um thegood thing and the bad thing is
in the Western world inparticular, we're used to
antibiotics now, so we don'trealize that infections can kill
you.
But once upon a time, peopleknew that you could you could
have a small wound, and um thatcould take your life, and and I
think now people are not asaware of that because we've got
antibiotics, and because sooften we get saved from that
(03:56):
fate more often than not becauseuh we do have antibiotics.
So just understanding that smallinfections can lead to big
infections, and if you've gotyour circulation, your
circulatory system goes aroundyour whole body.
So whatever's going on in yourfoot is going to go elsewhere,
it's not just gonna stay there.
Uh, the same goes for mouth,your mouth.
(04:16):
So a lot of people they getreally like they're they're
afraid to go to the dentist,they don't want to go to the
dentist, and um, and they haveterrible infections in their
mouth and they just sufferthrough them and don't do
anything about it.
And again, that's really, reallydangerous.
If you think about, if you stopand think about it and think
about your mouth and think aboutwhere it is, then think about
(04:39):
are there any vital organsnearby?
Stop and think about that,right?
Your mouth and your brain arepretty much in the same place.
Well, they are in the sameplace, right?
So you're so close to yourbrain, but not only that, but
your heart's just here andyou've got all this circulation
going between your heart, youknow, up to your brain and and
um and things uh things uh beingcirculated around your body.
(05:03):
Uh what is actually a really,really common thing is people
getting mouth infections.
And if you have mouthinfections, sometimes uh what
can happen is the infection fromyour mouth can actually end up
sitting somewhere on a heartvalve and actually damaging your
heart valves.
Did you know that?
Probably not, but that canhappen.
(05:24):
So if you'll if you've gotalready got any weakness in
regards to your heart and you'regetting mouth infections, you
really want to get that seentoo.
Um, it's not uncommon, and I'veactually heard stories where
people have spent many, manyyears on drugs, and you know,
back in the days in in mygeneration, there were so many
people who were on heroin anddrugs like that, and they've you
(05:44):
know finally kicked the habitand finally come clean and
finally got their life in order,and they go and get their teeth
fixed up, and while they'regetting their teeth fixed up,
they have a heart attack becauseof all of the infection that's
in their mouth.
That's it's it's has a this it'sa systemic thing.
If you've got infection in yourmouth, it's going to travel to
other places.
You've got that uh infectiongoing in other places.
(06:07):
Not only that, though, you'vegot when your body is in that
mode, um, that inflamed modewhere it's sort of dealing with
something, it's in that sort ofemergency inflamed mode.
It's not really in a kind ofrest and digest and calm and
that kind of mode.
So the problem is when your bodyis in that mode, uh, you um, you
know, if your body's in thatmode all the time, it's not in
(06:30):
the mode where it's actuallykind of looking after everything
because it's just too busytrying to patch something up.
Uh, the same thing goes for, andI've talked about this before,
but in regards to uh how havingsort of high glucose levels,
high blood sugar levels, whichis sort of diabetes, insulin
resistance, that sort of thing,well, that in that high blood
(06:50):
glucose, that glucose in yourbloodstream, it damages your
vessels.
So it's like shards of glass andit damages your vessels.
So then what happens is yourbody sends cholesterol to do
just like as a band-aid, just togo and you know, um, plug that
hole and and and fix that littlespot, right?
Now, if you only had thatassault to your blood vessels
(07:12):
occasionally, it wouldn't be abig deal.
Your body makes a bit ofcholesterol to patch things up,
it all sorts itself out, itheals, everyone's fine.
But if you're having that, likeif you're having the high
glucose all of the time, thenwhat's happening is you're
getting this assault to yourblood vessels all of the time.
Therefore, you're pumping lotsof cholesterol to the area to uh
(07:33):
heal and protect your bloodvessels, you're more likely to
get these blockages and thesesituations where you get these
hardened areas where thischolesterol hardens and sticks
there and causes a problem.
So, you know, cholesterol seenas the bad guy and ultimately it
does a bad thing, but itactually was trying to do
something good and ultimatelydid something bad because we
(07:54):
didn't understand what was goingon in our body, and we're not
protecting our vessels fromthis.
And if you um go back and listento the cholesterol episode, I
think if you just typecholesterol and you'll find it,
I think it was like 30something, maybe I can't
remember, it was a while ago.
I'd probably need to do anotherone at some point.
So, you know, we have tounderstand that um that our
(08:15):
blood sugar level affects ourvessels, also affects, in
particular, one of the thingsthat you'll see is say if
someone starts having uhdifficulty with their vision,
well, that could be a sign thatyou've got high uh blood glucose
and it's damaging your vessels.
So, you know, we need tounderstand that our uh what we
eat and how well we manage ourblood glucose levels affects the
(08:38):
vessels in our eyes.
It also affects the vessels inour feet, so those small
vessels, which is why peoplewith diabetes often have issues
with wounds on their feet, thatkind of thing, and need to uh
and because they just don't getthe circulation to their feet
because those vessels have beendamaged.
The same goes for erectiledysfunction, which is often a
(08:59):
cause of heart disease anddiabetes and this kind of
insulin resistance syndrome.
The vessels get damaged, and soyou get that sign, and you
think, oh, I just need to go andtake some blue pills, and that
might be fine.
But you actually also do need toinvestigate what's behind it and
do you actually need to dosomething to protect your heart
health and your blood glucoselevels and you know reverse that
(09:21):
insulin resistance that you'redeveloping.
So it is really, reallyimportant to understand again,
these things are connected andnot just see things as kind of
random, sort of unusual things.
The other thing in regards tovision, which I've talked about
before, and it has happened inAustralia.
There was one boy in Australiawho went blind in one eye before
they realized that you know hehad a vitamin A deficiency and
(09:45):
he was permanently blind in thateye, but they saved the other
one because they discovered itin time.
So if you're having issues withyour vision, particularly your
night vision, there could be asign that you're deficient in
vitamin A.
So again, don't kind of just gooff with this random symptom.
We've got to investigate whatit's about, and uh and some
things affect other things.
So if you're not eating thefoods with vitamin A, then
(10:08):
you're not getting enoughvitamin A to feed your eyes.
But it also, if you're notdigesting well, if you have
indigestion, digestive issues,maybe you're not absorbing the
nutrient as well.
So there's just so many thingssort of to think about here.
The point of this episode reallyisn't to give you all the
answers, it's more of an episodeof making your thing and realize
that things are connected,right?
(10:29):
So the other thing is that um,you know, when we have skin
issues, it's often a sign ofpoor gut health.
So when you're having, if you'rehaving rashes on your skin, or
if you're having uh if you ifyou're having sort of eczema,
psoriasis, those sorts ofissues, well, it can be a sign
of poor gut health and it couldbe a sign of nutrient
(10:50):
deficiencies, it can be a signof food sensitivities, all of
those things, but it's not sortof just some random thing.
It's usually associated withsomething else.
So we need to investigate it andnot go, okay, okay, that's just
a skin thing.
Might just be a skin thing, butthe skin issue you're having
might indicate that you'revitamin A deficient as well.
And you could end up going blindfrom a vitamin A deficiency just
(11:12):
by thinking else it's a skinthing, it's all right, and not
looking more into it, right?
And not kind of figuring outwhat is behind things.
So it's really, really importantto understand that these signs
and symptoms, these things areconnected.
So the other one I wanted tobring up today is um that the um
(11:33):
I'll get there in the end.
Oh, yeah, in regards to what Iwas talking before about the
vessels getting damaged by thehigh glucose levels, that also
affects your kidneys.
So if you've because you'rethere's small vessels that go to
the kidneys, and those vesselscan get damaged by the blood
glucose, they can also getdamaged by high blood pressure.
(11:53):
So one of the really commoncauses of people having uh
kidney damage is actually causedby high blood pressure, and so
it's it's blood pressure andkidneys are not a separate
thing.
That's what people sometimes getconfused with what's kidneys got
to do with blood pressure.
If your blood pressure is toohigh, then it can absolutely
damage your kidneys.
(12:14):
So again, we need to manage ourblood pressure so we can manage
our kidney health.
The two things go togetherbecause our body systems are
connected.
The other one I see commonly ispeople talk about you know brain
foods and heart foods as ifthey're sort of separate things,
but they're not separate things.
What's good for your brain,things that are
anti-inflammatory and thingsthat are you know are good for
(12:36):
your cells and your brain isalso good for the cells in your
heart.
So whether that be you know yourgood fats or your protein, uh,
those kinds of foods, uh it'syou know, uh those two things
are connected, they're very muchconnected.
Your blood um heart isconstantly pumping up nutrition
and and and uh and and blood tothe brain and circulation to the
(12:57):
brain, those two things arereally connected.
So your heart health will affectyour brain health, which is one
of the things, one of the thingsthat can cause people to have
dementia as they get older, isthat they have these like like
micro um like small strokes andsmall I I've had a couple of
small strokes when I was in mytwenties.
They're they're called infarctswhen you have the stroke and it
(13:20):
damage, it does permanentdamage, and it's just this like
a small, like localized area,uh, although it might have these
TIAs, and a TIA is a trans atransient ischemic attack.
Um, and uh if they clear up andyou don't end up with any
damage, then it stays at that.
But if you end up with uhdamage, then it's an infarct or
a small stroke.
(13:40):
And um you know these thingshappen a lot when people are
really, really inflamed andthey're and they've got they've
got circulatory issues andthey've got heart health issues.
Well, the heart can throw offclots or cause all sorts of
sorts of issues that affect thebrain, right?
So again, you know, your hearthealth will affect your brain
health, and you could bedeveloping uh dementia because
(14:02):
you're having a lot of manystrokes, and so bit by bit your
parts of your brain are dyingoff.
So, again, the two things areconnected.
We have to not think of likeheart health and brain health as
like two separate things.
No, these things are connected.
So the other one uh that'sthat's worth mentioning, and um,
I might leave it here that look,there's lots of things that are
(14:24):
connected, and I can probably domore in future episodes, is two
other things I wanted tomention.
So, one is you know hydration.
So uh when we're not hydratedenough, you often get headaches.
So sometimes people get aheadache, they go for a panodol,
and uh maybe water would beenough because we're just
dehydrated.
And if you think of um, youknow, our skin and that sort of
(14:45):
thing, if your skin looks like aprune, you're probably
dehydrated, right?
If you think of like a grape, adehydrated grape, a dehydrated
grape is a sultana, right?
So that gives you an idea of howimportant hydration is.
So when we look at differentsymptoms like headaches or if
our skins uh if we start lookinglike uh a sultana, uh, there's
(15:06):
clues there that we needhydration.
So uh, and understand that waterdoes a lot of things.
Like when you go to get a bloodtest, if they can't get your
veins, and I've got terrible,terrible veins.
Well, one of the reasons is notyou don't have enough blood, you
don't have enough fluid.
So we we drink more water, wecan make more blood, and we can
have more circulation, and theycan actually do a blood test.
The two things are veryconnected.
(15:28):
Uh, but uh also um when we drinkplenty of water, we can make
synovial fluid, which is youknow the joints in the in our
joints.
So the synovial fluid is a fluidthat sits in between you know
the cartilage and the and thewhere the bones connect and
everything, and that protectsyour joints, that cushioning,
right?
Well, we have less of thatcushioning when we dehydrate it.
(15:49):
So, you know, we've got to sortof understand, start to learn
signs and symptoms, how dothings relate to each other?
We're really gonna tune into thebody and learn some of these
things.
How do things relate to eachother?
When do I need to?
When is it an emergency?
When is it not?
If you're not sure, ring anambulance or go to the doctors
or go, if you're not sure, gethelp because it really is
(16:10):
important.
The other one that I see uh is Isee people, you know, they'll
ring their GP and say, Oh, I'mhaving, I'm having uh, you know,
I'm having chest pains and oh,but I don't want to go to the
doctor, I don't want to go tothe uh hospital.
Well, you know, you're probablypast that point.
(16:30):
You really do need to go to thehospital unless you've already
had a diagnosis and alreadytalked to your doctor and you
know what's going on.
But if you don't know what'sgoing on, then you need to ring
the ambulance, not wait untilyour GP rings you back in two
hours or something like that.
So uh, you know, if you'rehaving if you're having chest
pain, you've got to treat thatlike a a it's an emergency until
(16:50):
otherwise, as you've got to cantreat that like it's a medical
emergency.
And um, and the same withactually the other one I see too
uh is um ticks.
People don't understand you'vegot to get ticks removed as soon
as possible because that couldbe um they can cause major
health issues.
So again, you don't kind of go,oh well, I'll wait and go next
(17:11):
week.
You go and get that removed asfast as you can because we know
that all of the diseases, Lymedisease and things like that
causes a lot of health issues.
The longer that ticks in there,the more you're gonna have
problems.
So I said there's only two morethings, but I have one more
thing to go because I thoughtthis one was worth mentioning as
well.
Um, and it's in regards to youknow, noticing we we think that
(17:33):
our mental health is separatefrom our physical health, but
it's absolutely not.
And your physical health couldbe one of the reasons why you're
having issues with your mentalhealth.
So if you're low in nutrition,if your gut's not working
properly and you're inflamed,um, you know, and and what what
we do know is that uh depressioncan actually be caused by an
inflamed brain, and it may beinflamed because of your diet,
(17:55):
your lifestyle, some otherhealth issue, not enough
nutrition, not enough water, awhole bunch of things.
But um, your mental health andyour physical health are very
much connected.
Um your gut health and yourmental health are very much
connected.
But even if you know you'regetting out and exercising and
sunshine and all those things,it's very much connected to your
mental health.
(18:16):
So don't see mental healthissues again as being this
isolated thing that don't haveanything to do with your
physical body.
That absolutely can and do.
And look, and we even know thatlike if someone, you know,
there've been studies on thiswhen someone sits in a if you
sit in a crouched sort ofposition, it could actually
cause you to start feelingdepressed and anxious.
Uh, and and it's one of thosethings that you're more likely
(18:37):
to probably sit in that positionif you're depression, depressed
and anxious, but also being inthat position can cause you to
feel depressed and anxious.
I can't say depressed, I said itright at that time.
So I just wanted to give you anidea.
This idea of this was uh sort ofwaking you up to some ideas of
things that you know, reallylistening to your body and
getting to know and getting abit of knowledge to know what's
(18:58):
an emergency, what's not, uh,that everything is connected.
So don't assume things arerandom and disconnected, things
can be very much connected andunderstanding that if you get
onto things early, if you if youum identify what the issue is,
um, if you get support or helpor whatever thing you need
earlier, then you're more likelyto have good results.
But if you don't, then you'remore likely to have you know
(19:21):
results that turn out to be, youknow, really negative for you.
So please start paying attentionto your body, starting paying
attention to signs and symptoms,listening to some of my podcasts
and um and talking to whoever itis that your health
professionals are aboutdifferent signs and symptoms and
things that you can do, um,knowing when to treat something
like emergency, knowing how tohelp um help reduce the risk of
(19:44):
certain things.
It's the sort of sort of thing Italk to my clients about a lot.
Is you know, these are the sortsof things you do if you start
having these symptoms or thatsymptom or that kind of thing.
It's really useful stuff to knowso that you can look after
yourself and your family.
And I'm sure those things I'vemissed in here too.
The list could be very, verylong.
I might even do another episodealong the same topic with some
(20:05):
different um different thingsthat you might not be aware of.
Anyway, I just thought that wasuseful information.
I just I see so often people notrealizing that the body is a
body systems are all connected,your body is all connected.
I'm you know, attempted to startsinging that, you know, leg
bones connected to the thighbone, all that kind of you know,
that song I won't because you'llnever tune in again.
(20:27):
But it's all connected, and wehave to understand it is and
often simps systems affect othersystems, and that can be a real
problem.
So you have to understand thatuh, you know, we need to treat
things um, especially whenthey're localized and when
they're sort of one thing beforethey become six things, ten
things, lots of things.
Anyway, I will leave it there.
(20:48):
Uh, this is a podcast where Ilike to talk about or you know,
have real conversations aboutthings that matter.
I hope that was useful to you.
Please like, subscribe, share,rate, review, all of those
wonderful things.
And I'll talk to you all againnext week.
Thank you.
Bye bye.
Hello, welcome to the Wellness Connection podcast.
I'm your host, Fiona Kane.
Today I'm going to be talking toyou about something that I think
of when I talk to people aboutnutrition and health, and I hear
different stories aboutnutrition and health, is that a
lot of people don't realize thatall the systems in their body
are all connected together.
(00:21):
So we see things as veryseparate.
I think part of the reason isbecause we have a specialist for
every different thing.
So you know you've got theneurologist for the brain, and
you've got the cardiologist forthe heart, and you've got the
orthopod for the for the bones,and you've got the nephrologist
for your kidneys, and they'reall different.
And so there's differentspecialists in different areas.
(00:43):
But it's just a good reminder tolet people know that all of
these systems are connected.
Might sound silly, but peopledon't always think of it that
way.
They don't understand it thatway.
And so some of the examples Iwant to give you to help you
understand this sort of commonthings I see.
So one of those things is thatyour bladder is connected to
(01:04):
your kidneys.
So for people who suffer fromurinary tract infections, know
that they can very, very quicklymove to your kidneys and cause
you a lot of drama, a lot of,you know, a kidney infection can
be really nasty and reallypainful and really dangerous,
right?
So when you suffer, if you'rethe sort of person that suffers
(01:27):
from urinary tract infections,you really do need to get on top
of them as quickly as possible.
You need to learn what's causingthem, maybe how you can prevent
that.
Whether or not you know, ifyou're the sort of person that's
prone to them, the things thatyou can do that might be
preventative for that.
You need to learn the signs andsymptoms so you can quickly get
on it when it happens and knowthe difference between maybe
(01:50):
when you need to just uh drinksome urine from the pharmacy and
when you might need to actuallygo and get um do a urine test,
maybe go on some antibiotics orsomething like that.
But uh kidney infections arereally, really serious business.
So urinary tract infections cancause a lot of serious issues.
So it's really, really importantthat we don't just see it as oh
(02:11):
yes, it's a bladder issue,because it's not just a bladder
issue, it is actuallypotentially a kidney issue,
which is uh really, reallyserious stuff.
And um, people often just letthese things go and say, Oh no,
it'll get better.
If it's not getting better, thenyou know you've got to do
something about it.
The um the next one I see is Isee um I see if people have say
(02:31):
infections somewhere in theirbody, they say they might have
an infection in their foot.
And I heard someone say this notthat long ago where they said,
Oh, yeah, my brother's got thisum this bad infection in his
foot and his you know, legs allswollen, but he's really healthy
otherwise, so I don't think it'sa problem.
It's like, no, that really is aproblem.
(02:51):
If you have an infectionanywhere in your body where it's
kind of swelling up andinflamed, if you've got that
inflammation anywhere, uh that'sa problem.
And it might be a localizedproblem initially, but it won't
stay a localized problem if youdon't go and get help for it.
So please do go and get help forit.
Go to your doctor, go and seesomeone about it, and do what
you need to do because youactually, you know, even though
(03:14):
I'm about natural medicine,sometimes the best thing is you
need to be on antibiotics,that's what you need to do.
But you need to go and getthings identified and treated
because I think what we do is wedo a lot of Doctor Google thing
and think that we knowsomething's safe.
No, it's best to actually getthings assessed and uh and
diagnosed, and if you needantibiotics, use them.
(03:34):
I think the problem is um thegood thing and the bad thing is
in the Western world inparticular, we're used to
antibiotics now, so we don'trealize that infections can kill
you.
But once upon a time, peopleknew that you could you could
have a small wound, and um thatcould take your life, and and I
think now people are not asaware of that because we've got
antibiotics, and because sooften we get saved from that
(03:56):
fate more often than not becauseuh we do have antibiotics.
So just understanding that smallinfections can lead to big
infections, and if you've gotyour circulation, your
circulatory system goes aroundyour whole body.
So whatever's going on in yourfoot is going to go elsewhere,
it's not just gonna stay there.
Uh, the same goes for mouth,your mouth.
(04:16):
So a lot of people they getreally like they're they're
afraid to go to the dentist,they don't want to go to the
dentist, and um, and they haveterrible infections in their
mouth and they just sufferthrough them and don't do
anything about it.
And again, that's really, reallydangerous.
If you think about, if you stopand think about it and think
about your mouth and think aboutwhere it is, then think about
(04:39):
are there any vital organsnearby?
Stop and think about that,right?
Your mouth and your brain arepretty much in the same place.
Well, they are in the sameplace, right?
So you're so close to yourbrain, but not only that, but
your heart's just here andyou've got all this circulation
going between your heart, youknow, up to your brain and and
um and things uh things uh beingcirculated around your body.
(05:03):
Uh what is actually a really,really common thing is people
getting mouth infections.
And if you have mouthinfections, sometimes uh what
can happen is the infection fromyour mouth can actually end up
sitting somewhere on a heartvalve and actually damaging your
heart valves.
Did you know that?
Probably not, but that canhappen.
(05:24):
So if you'll if you've gotalready got any weakness in
regards to your heart and you'regetting mouth infections, you
really want to get that seentoo.
Um, it's not uncommon, and I'veactually heard stories where
people have spent many, manyyears on drugs, and you know,
back in the days in in mygeneration, there were so many
people who were on heroin anddrugs like that, and they've you
(05:44):
know finally kicked the habitand finally come clean and
finally got their life in order,and they go and get their teeth
fixed up, and while they'regetting their teeth fixed up,
they have a heart attack becauseof all of the infection that's
in their mouth.
That's it's it's has a this it'sa systemic thing.
If you've got infection in yourmouth, it's going to travel to
other places.
You've got that uh infectiongoing in other places.
(06:07):
Not only that, though, you'vegot when your body is in that
mode, um, that inflamed modewhere it's sort of dealing with
something, it's in that sort ofemergency inflamed mode.
It's not really in a kind ofrest and digest and calm and
that kind of mode.
So the problem is when your bodyis in that mode, uh, you um, you
know, if your body's in thatmode all the time, it's not in
(06:30):
the mode where it's actuallykind of looking after everything
because it's just too busytrying to patch something up.
Uh, the same thing goes for, andI've talked about this before,
but in regards to uh how havingsort of high glucose levels,
high blood sugar levels, whichis sort of diabetes, insulin
resistance, that sort of thing,well, that in that high blood
(06:50):
glucose, that glucose in yourbloodstream, it damages your
vessels.
So it's like shards of glass andit damages your vessels.
So then what happens is yourbody sends cholesterol to do
just like as a band-aid, just togo and you know, um, plug that
hole and and and fix that littlespot, right?
Now, if you only had thatassault to your blood vessels
(07:12):
occasionally, it wouldn't be abig deal.
Your body makes a bit ofcholesterol to patch things up,
it all sorts itself out, itheals, everyone's fine.
But if you're having that, likeif you're having the high
glucose all of the time, thenwhat's happening is you're
getting this assault to yourblood vessels all of the time.
Therefore, you're pumping lotsof cholesterol to the area to uh
(07:33):
heal and protect your bloodvessels, you're more likely to
get these blockages and thesesituations where you get these
hardened areas where thischolesterol hardens and sticks
there and causes a problem.
So, you know, cholesterol seenas the bad guy and ultimately it
does a bad thing, but itactually was trying to do
something good and ultimatelydid something bad because we
(07:54):
didn't understand what was goingon in our body, and we're not
protecting our vessels fromthis.
And if you um go back and listento the cholesterol episode, I
think if you just typecholesterol and you'll find it,
I think it was like 30something, maybe I can't
remember, it was a while ago.
I'd probably need to do anotherone at some point.
So, you know, we have tounderstand that um that our
(08:15):
blood sugar level affects ourvessels, also affects, in
particular, one of the thingsthat you'll see is say if
someone starts having uhdifficulty with their vision,
well, that could be a sign thatyou've got high uh blood glucose
and it's damaging your vessels.
So, you know, we need tounderstand that our uh what we
eat and how well we manage ourblood glucose levels affects the
(08:38):
vessels in our eyes.
It also affects the vessels inour feet, so those small
vessels, which is why peoplewith diabetes often have issues
with wounds on their feet, thatkind of thing, and need to uh
and because they just don't getthe circulation to their feet
because those vessels have beendamaged.
The same goes for erectiledysfunction, which is often a
(08:59):
cause of heart disease anddiabetes and this kind of
insulin resistance syndrome.
The vessels get damaged, and soyou get that sign, and you
think, oh, I just need to go andtake some blue pills, and that
might be fine.
But you actually also do need toinvestigate what's behind it and
do you actually need to dosomething to protect your heart
health and your blood glucoselevels and you know reverse that
(09:21):
insulin resistance that you'redeveloping.
So it is really, reallyimportant to understand again,
these things are connected andnot just see things as kind of
random, sort of unusual things.
The other thing in regards tovision, which I've talked about
before, and it has happened inAustralia.
There was one boy in Australiawho went blind in one eye before
they realized that you know hehad a vitamin A deficiency and
(09:45):
he was permanently blind in thateye, but they saved the other
one because they discovered itin time.
So if you're having issues withyour vision, particularly your
night vision, there could be asign that you're deficient in
vitamin A.
So again, don't kind of just gooff with this random symptom.
We've got to investigate whatit's about, and uh and some
things affect other things.
So if you're not eating thefoods with vitamin A, then
(10:08):
you're not getting enoughvitamin A to feed your eyes.
But it also, if you're notdigesting well, if you have
indigestion, digestive issues,maybe you're not absorbing the
nutrient as well.
So there's just so many thingssort of to think about here.
The point of this episode reallyisn't to give you all the
answers, it's more of an episodeof making your thing and realize
that things are connected,right?
(10:29):
So the other thing is that um,you know, when we have skin
issues, it's often a sign ofpoor gut health.
So when you're having, if you'rehaving rashes on your skin, or
if you're having uh if you ifyou're having sort of eczema,
psoriasis, those sorts ofissues, well, it can be a sign
of poor gut health and it couldbe a sign of nutrient
(10:50):
deficiencies, it can be a signof food sensitivities, all of
those things, but it's not sortof just some random thing.
It's usually associated withsomething else.
So we need to investigate it andnot go, okay, okay, that's just
a skin thing.
Might just be a skin thing, butthe skin issue you're having
might indicate that you'revitamin A deficient as well.
And you could end up going blindfrom a vitamin A deficiency just
(11:12):
by thinking else it's a skinthing, it's all right, and not
looking more into it, right?
And not kind of figuring outwhat is behind things.
So it's really, really importantto understand that these signs
and symptoms, these things areconnected.
So the other one I wanted tobring up today is um that the um
(11:33):
I'll get there in the end.
Oh, yeah, in regards to what Iwas talking before about the
vessels getting damaged by thehigh glucose levels, that also
affects your kidneys.
So if you've because you'rethere's small vessels that go to
the kidneys, and those vesselscan get damaged by the blood
glucose, they can also getdamaged by high blood pressure.
(11:53):
So one of the really commoncauses of people having uh
kidney damage is actually causedby high blood pressure, and so
it's it's blood pressure andkidneys are not a separate
thing.
That's what people sometimes getconfused with what's kidneys got
to do with blood pressure.
If your blood pressure is toohigh, then it can absolutely
damage your kidneys.
(12:14):
So again, we need to manage ourblood pressure so we can manage
our kidney health.
The two things go togetherbecause our body systems are
connected.
The other one I see commonly ispeople talk about you know brain
foods and heart foods as ifthey're sort of separate things,
but they're not separate things.
What's good for your brain,things that are
anti-inflammatory and thingsthat are you know are good for
(12:36):
your cells and your brain isalso good for the cells in your
heart.
So whether that be you know yourgood fats or your protein, uh,
those kinds of foods, uh it'syou know, uh those two things
are connected, they're very muchconnected.
Your blood um heart isconstantly pumping up nutrition
and and and uh and and blood tothe brain and circulation to the
(12:57):
brain, those two things arereally connected.
So your heart health will affectyour brain health, which is one
of the things, one of the thingsthat can cause people to have
dementia as they get older, isthat they have these like like
micro um like small strokes andsmall I I've had a couple of
small strokes when I was in mytwenties.
They're they're called infarctswhen you have the stroke and it
(13:20):
damage, it does permanentdamage, and it's just this like
a small, like localized area,uh, although it might have these
TIAs, and a TIA is a trans atransient ischemic attack.
Um, and uh if they clear up andyou don't end up with any
damage, then it stays at that.
But if you end up with uhdamage, then it's an infarct or
a small stroke.
(13:40):
And um you know these thingshappen a lot when people are
really, really inflamed andthey're and they've got they've
got circulatory issues andthey've got heart health issues.
Well, the heart can throw offclots or cause all sorts of
sorts of issues that affect thebrain, right?
So again, you know, your hearthealth will affect your brain
health, and you could bedeveloping uh dementia because
(14:02):
you're having a lot of manystrokes, and so bit by bit your
parts of your brain are dyingoff.
So, again, the two things areconnected.
We have to not think of likeheart health and brain health as
like two separate things.
No, these things are connected.
So the other one uh that'sthat's worth mentioning, and um,
I might leave it here that look,there's lots of things that are
(14:24):
connected, and I can probably domore in future episodes, is two
other things I wanted tomention.
So, one is you know hydration.
So uh when we're not hydratedenough, you often get headaches.
So sometimes people get aheadache, they go for a panodol,
and uh maybe water would beenough because we're just
dehydrated.
And if you think of um, youknow, our skin and that sort of
(14:45):
thing, if your skin looks like aprune, you're probably
dehydrated, right?
If you think of like a grape, adehydrated grape, a dehydrated
grape is a sultana, right?
So that gives you an idea of howimportant hydration is.
So when we look at differentsymptoms like headaches or if
our skins uh if we start lookinglike uh a sultana, uh, there's
(15:06):
clues there that we needhydration.
So uh, and understand that waterdoes a lot of things.
Like when you go to get a bloodtest, if they can't get your
veins, and I've got terrible,terrible veins.
Well, one of the reasons is notyou don't have enough blood, you
don't have enough fluid.
So we we drink more water, wecan make more blood, and we can
have more circulation, and theycan actually do a blood test.
The two things are veryconnected.
(15:28):
Uh, but uh also um when we drinkplenty of water, we can make
synovial fluid, which is youknow the joints in the in our
joints.
So the synovial fluid is a fluidthat sits in between you know
the cartilage and the and thewhere the bones connect and
everything, and that protectsyour joints, that cushioning,
right?
Well, we have less of thatcushioning when we dehydrate it.
(15:49):
So, you know, we've got to sortof understand, start to learn
signs and symptoms, how dothings relate to each other?
We're really gonna tune into thebody and learn some of these
things.
How do things relate to eachother?
When do I need to?
When is it an emergency?
When is it not?
If you're not sure, ring anambulance or go to the doctors
or go, if you're not sure, gethelp because it really is
(16:10):
important.
The other one that I see uh is Isee people, you know, they'll
ring their GP and say, Oh, I'mhaving, I'm having uh, you know,
I'm having chest pains and oh,but I don't want to go to the
doctor, I don't want to go tothe uh hospital.
Well, you know, you're probablypast that point.
(16:30):
You really do need to go to thehospital unless you've already
had a diagnosis and alreadytalked to your doctor and you
know what's going on.
But if you don't know what'sgoing on, then you need to ring
the ambulance, not wait untilyour GP rings you back in two
hours or something like that.
So uh, you know, if you'rehaving if you're having chest
pain, you've got to treat thatlike a a it's an emergency until
(16:50):
otherwise, as you've got to cantreat that like it's a medical
emergency.
And um, and the same withactually the other one I see too
uh is um ticks.
People don't understand you'vegot to get ticks removed as soon
as possible because that couldbe um they can cause major
health issues.
So again, you don't kind of go,oh well, I'll wait and go next
(17:11):
week.
You go and get that removed asfast as you can because we know
that all of the diseases, Lymedisease and things like that
causes a lot of health issues.
The longer that ticks in there,the more you're gonna have
problems.
So I said there's only two morethings, but I have one more
thing to go because I thoughtthis one was worth mentioning as
well.
Um, and it's in regards to youknow, noticing we we think that
(17:33):
our mental health is separatefrom our physical health, but
it's absolutely not.
And your physical health couldbe one of the reasons why you're
having issues with your mentalhealth.
So if you're low in nutrition,if your gut's not working
properly and you're inflamed,um, you know, and and what what
we do know is that uh depressioncan actually be caused by an
inflamed brain, and it may beinflamed because of your diet,
(17:55):
your lifestyle, some otherhealth issue, not enough
nutrition, not enough water, awhole bunch of things.
But um, your mental health andyour physical health are very
much connected.
Um your gut health and yourmental health are very much
connected.
But even if you know you'regetting out and exercising and
sunshine and all those things,it's very much connected to your
mental health.
(18:16):
So don't see mental healthissues again as being this
isolated thing that don't haveanything to do with your
physical body.
That absolutely can and do.
And look, and we even know thatlike if someone, you know,
there've been studies on thiswhen someone sits in a if you
sit in a crouched sort ofposition, it could actually
cause you to start feelingdepressed and anxious.
Uh, and and it's one of thosethings that you're more likely
(18:37):
to probably sit in that positionif you're depression, depressed
and anxious, but also being inthat position can cause you to
feel depressed and anxious.
I can't say depressed, I said itright at that time.
So I just wanted to give you anidea.
This idea of this was uh sort ofwaking you up to some ideas of
things that you know, reallylistening to your body and
getting to know and getting abit of knowledge to know what's
(18:58):
an emergency, what's not, uh,that everything is connected.
So don't assume things arerandom and disconnected, things
can be very much connected andunderstanding that if you get
onto things early, if you if youum identify what the issue is,
um, if you get support or helpor whatever thing you need
earlier, then you're more likelyto have good results.
But if you don't, then you'remore likely to have you know
(19:21):
results that turn out to be, youknow, really negative for you.
So please start paying attentionto your body, starting paying
attention to signs and symptoms,listening to some of my podcasts
and um and talking to whoever itis that your health
professionals are aboutdifferent signs and symptoms and
things that you can do, um,knowing when to treat something
like emergency, knowing how tohelp um help reduce the risk of
(19:44):
certain things.
It's the sort of sort of thing Italk to my clients about a lot.
Is you know, these are the sortsof things you do if you start
having these symptoms or thatsymptom or that kind of thing.
It's really useful stuff to knowso that you can look after
yourself and your family.
And I'm sure those things I'vemissed in here too.
The list could be very, verylong.
I might even do another episodealong the same topic with some
(20:05):
different um different thingsthat you might not be aware of.
Anyway, I just thought that wasuseful information.
I just I see so often people notrealizing that the body is a
body systems are all connected,your body is all connected.
I'm you know, attempted to startsinging that, you know, leg
bones connected to the thighbone, all that kind of you know,
that song I won't because you'llnever tune in again.
(20:27):
But it's all connected, and wehave to understand it is and
often simps systems affect othersystems, and that can be a real
problem.
So you have to understand thatuh, you know, we need to treat
things um, especially whenthey're localized and when
they're sort of one thing beforethey become six things, ten
things, lots of things.
Anyway, I will leave it there.
(20:48):
Uh, this is a podcast where Ilike to talk about or you know,
have real conversations aboutthings that matter.
I hope that was useful to you.
Please like, subscribe, share,rate, review, all of those
wonderful things.
And I'll talk to you all againnext week.
Thank you.
Bye bye.
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