September 9, 2021 • 43 mins
Our bodies are the sacred homes of our souls. It is one of our sacred responsibilities to understand how it works and to take care of it. In this episode, 3x best-selling author, telehealth pioneer, and leader in functional medicine, Dr. Will Cole, joins Devi in a conversation about activating our bodies' intuition by integrating modern and ancient ways of healing. In this episode, Dr. Cole shares insights on the impact of high stress on our physical health, how inflammation is connected to every health challenge, and why Keto and intermittent fasting can change and enhance the way you experience your body.
Dr. Will Cole's latest book, "Intuitive Fasting" is available everywhere now!
Connect with Dr. Cole on IG: https://www.instagram.com/drwillcole
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M from grandmothers who whispered in their baby girl in
two fathers on dimly lit street corners, instructing young soldiers
to always keep their eyes open. You be queen, you
(00:21):
were fired. You will pass through centuries on the hands
of your daughters. They called you wisdom. Proverbs on the
backs of diamond eyed school children who growing into hymnals
recited by amethyst holding urban philosophers who recited neighborhood commandments
out of the windows of restored ALCHEMYO chariots to keep
the warmth of their blood. Be wise, be smart, being black.
(00:46):
Opal Brown courts bloodstone and prayer. Be every form of
Jim se King told scribe, scribe, told son, son, told wife,
wife told her daughter, and daughter told the ants. This
is at the ancestors told me that you would come
to give wisdom of thousands. They said you would come
(01:08):
dropping Dropping the Gym. Hey, welcome to the Dropping Jim's Podcast.
I'm your host, DeBie Brown. Welcome back, Welcome back. So
let's go today's show. We're diving into health. We talk
a lot on this show about spirit, about our minds,
our bodies, our souls in the connection, and today's episode
(01:30):
feels really really nourishing already, because we're going to talk
about how to really come into integration with all those
facets of our human experience. And I have a real
heavy hitter on the show today, someone whose work, even
without meeting them, had really informed and impacted my life
in the way that I treat and experienced my body.
(01:53):
So today's special guests on the show is Dr Will Cole,
which I'm sure so many are already familiar with his work,
already familiar by following him on Instagram, by following his work,
and today we get to hear from him. Dr Will
Cole is a leading functional medicine expert who consults people
around the world via webcam and locally in Pittsburgh. Named
(02:14):
one of the top fifty functional medicine and integrative doctors
in the nation, Dr Cole specializes in clinically investigating underlying
factors of chronic disease and customizing a functional medicine approach
for thyroid issues, autoimmune conditions, hormonal imbalances, digestive disorders, and
(02:36):
brain problems. He's the best selling author of Keto Terian,
The Inflammation Spectrum, and the New York Times bestseller Intuitive
Fasting and which He shows how to use the powerful
benefits of flexible intermitute fasting to gain metabolic flexibility and
find food peace. Dr Cole is also the host of
(02:57):
the new podcast The Art of Being Well and as
co hosted the popular podcast Goop, Fellas Podcast and Keto Talk.
And you know, when I think about bringing Dr Cole
on this show, something that has radically changed about my
life in the last couple of years, but especially I
feel like in the last eighteen months is the way
that I experienced my body and something I've shared on
(03:19):
social media quite a bit after I had my son
was that intermitute fasting and also a keto diet really
helped me reclaim my connection to feeling my body. Yes,
I was able to lose weight from my pregnancy, really effortlessly,
um in a way that felt nourishing to me. But
aside from the weight loss, I have noticed such a
(03:42):
deep love and acceptance of my body in such a
new way. I've noticed such a deep connection to really
being able to fully here, understand and also support my
body's needs. Uh. And one of the things that has
really changed my life is I have been able to
(04:03):
move through so much inflammation and really restore my body
to UM what feels like deep peace and deep nourishment.
And so I'm excited to see how all of that
has been possible and to learn all of the things
from the genius that is Dr Will Cole. Welcome to
(04:25):
the show. Dr will Cole. Thank you so much, Thank
you so much. I'm excited that we're talking. It's official,
It's official, And you know, on this show, I always
love to ground it with how I've connected to people.
UM and I follow you on Instagram and we've had
a little bit of exchange there. But I love your
posts and I love your books. And as I shared
(04:47):
with the audience as we were getting going, you know,
intermittent fasting is something that it changed my life. It
changed the way that I relate to my body. It
changed the way that I feel like it allowed me
to really activate my body's intuition in such a deep way. UM.
So I'm so excited to have you here. You have
(05:09):
such incredible books, such incredible work that you've put into
the world, and I'd love to ground this conversation by
first starting with what exactly is functional medicine. Well, thank
you so much for having me. Functional medicine in there
are three main points that I see it and how
I see it. From number one, we interpret labs using
(05:31):
a thinner reference range. So anybody that's listening right now,
they'll know they get when they get their standard labs,
they go to their doctor's office, they get their number
on a lab, and then they're being compared to this
reference range, this extra y interval of numbers. We get
that reference range largely from a statistical Bell curve average
(05:52):
of the population of that specific lab. So people know,
you know, think about this, Who are people that are
predominantly going to labs? Sadly people with health problems. So
there's a lot of people that know, intuitively, there's something
not right here. I don't feel good in my body.
There's my body is telling me something, and they go
and they try to get that substantiated with labs, and
(06:14):
the labs come back quote unquote normal many times, and
the doctor says, everything's fine, you're just depressed. There's an antidepressant,
you're just getting older, you're just a new mom, you
just need to lose weight, all of these sort of
well intentioned reasons, but what they're really in effect telling
the patient is you're a lot like the other people
with health issues that we're comparing you too, and comparing
(06:36):
yourself to people with health problems. There's no way for
you to find out how to feel your best and
find out what's going on in your body. So we're
looking at a thinner range within that larger reference range.
That's the functional range. Where does your body function the best,
Where does vibrant wellness reside? That's the functional range. So
we're looking at the thinner interval within that larger reference
(06:58):
range of optimal not average. And then number two, we
run more comprehensive labs, so we're looking at root issues
like underlying gut problems or chronic infections, or hormonal imbalances,
or the list goes on. It's case specific. We want
to look at a health history comprehensively and then run
appropriate labs, but thorough labs. We want to be comprehensive.
(07:18):
And then we realize we're all created differently and there's
not going to be a cookie cutter approach to getting healthy.
And I could have a hundred people with the same
diagnosis that let's say fatigue, Well, what's causing fatigue for
one person is not causing it for the next person.
So I want to really look at We see these
symptoms like fatigue or weight loss, resistance or anxiety or
(07:42):
different types of inflammation. We see these as check engine lights.
We know that check engine light is on, but why
that's different. We want to look at the root issues
and and see the individual We call it bio individuality.
It's it's the uniqueness of you. And so that's in
a nutshow of functional medicine is so I started one
of the first functional medicine telehealth centers in the world
(08:03):
over a decade ago. So a lot of the things
you see me posting on social media is me being
talking like we're talking right now. But I do this
eleven hours a day with people with their labs and
their health. I love it so much. It's such a
sacred responsibility for me to really give people answers that
are trying to seek what the heck is going on? Wow,
I love I mean the way that you even framed
(08:25):
your work as a sacred responsibility is so powerful to me,
especially as we have such you know, we're finally starting
to expand on bigger conversations on how the medical industry
is not always very helpful or healing and also in
communities of color. How the medical industry is also really
structured for oppression um and has quite often killed people
(08:47):
from a lack of looking at the total view of
a human being. So when I hear you say that,
I'm just like my God, like the power in this,
the power of us even seen ourselves as we get
seen by the medical community, as this is something sacred.
This is our body, this is our this is the
house of our soul, this is the human technology that
(09:10):
we work with on earth to be human. And the
fact that it's not seen such as a sacred responsibility
like you framing it that way, it's really powerful for me.
Thanks so much. I mean, I really this is something
I take very seriously. I have a heart for the
people that are going through it because there's so many
people are kept back from the things they were created
(09:31):
for because of their health issues that they're that they're
experiencing right now, and so many people are delegitimized systematically
because they these are silent issues. Many times I deal
a lot with people with autoimmune problems. On the outside,
they look quote unquote normal, but they don't know. People
don't know what it takes just to get through the
(09:53):
day when you're struggling with different autoimmune issues and different
inflammatory problems. So to give a voice and give answers
to people that are really seeking and not getting the answers,
it's something we have to do so much better in healthcare,
and hopefully you know, in my way, in my lane,
I'm doing that for my patients. Wow. Wow, what's the
first thing that you do when someone comes into you. Well,
(10:16):
it's all telehealth and it's been tell health for twelve years.
When I'm talking to them, I'm stepping into their home
quite figuratively, like very much on a real energetic level,
even that I'm coming into their space, and it's interesting,
even though we're separated through a computer and we're not
(10:37):
there physically together, to hold space for people that are
going through very heavy things is a major part of
my job because it's not just about getting the words,
meaning you're not just getting information during that it's a
consultation at first, right, so I'm getting health history. I'm
really digging deep into these things that aren't really asked about.
(10:59):
I had one older gentlemen tell me years ago, and
I still think about it. He asked me all the
questions we had in the questionnaire and the consultations over
an hour and he said, he said, are you in
the KGB? Are you trying to get information out of mean?
It's like, no, I'm not in the KGB. But I
don't want to be redundant. I don't want to add
to your pile of doctors visits that you've done. I
want to really do be of service to you and
(11:20):
see what's being missed here and not be redundant an
autopilot or just being flippant with what's going on. I
really want to be thoughtful and do my due diligence.
So it's a lot of question asking, but it's beyond
it's beyond that. The holding space part is the space
in between the words. It's like, okay, what's the frequency
in which are even operating with Because there's the clinical
(11:41):
side of things, but what's going on behind the scenes
that maybe they don't even know. It's ineffable, they don't
even know really what's going on. So it's the science
and the art of functional medicine is how I see it.
But it's it's it's holding both with respect. Wow, how
big of a role do you see mental an emotional
health plane into someone's physical health. Wow, I mean that's
(12:05):
an important thing. It's something that we talk about a lot,
and even just that first consultation when I'm talking to
them online, we're talking a lot about it. And I
have to educate people because in the West, people like
to separate mental health from physical health. But the reality
is mental health is physical health. Our brain is part
of our body, and there's a whole field of research
(12:27):
actually looking at this for a long time. It's called
the cytokine model of cognitive function. Cytokinds are pro inflammatory cells,
so it's research looking at how inflammation cyto kinds. How
does inflammation impacting how our brain works, How is it
impacting mental health? So mental health is one and the
same with physical health. But if you're looking at this
bidirectional relationship, right, our thoughts and emotions impact our physiology,
(12:52):
meaning a stressful season of our life, or a toxic
relationship ship or unhealthy work environment or whatever is going
on mental emotionally that impacts your physiology. There's so much
research coming out about the impact that negativity, stress trauma
has on our body, has on our inflammation levels, has
(13:14):
on our gut health, has on our hormones has in ship,
putting our body more in this sympathetic fight or flight
stress state. But conversely, our physiology meaning underlying GUP problems
or inflammation things that are going on in our body,
impacts our thoughts and emotions. Meaning if you have high
inflammation levels, that's going to drive anxiety. If you have
(13:35):
underlying GUP problems, it's linked to triggering neurological symptoms. So
there's so many we have to look at both sides
of the coin, and when we separate them as some
sort of thing that's compartmentalizes the mental health, it's really
one and the same with physical health. Oh my gosh,
that you know I had. I had some real experiences
(13:57):
with understanding that within my own body recently, especially in
the last year. Um Like, I ended a really significant
relationship in my life and the last year and I
saw my health dramatically improve, like dramatically in ways that
I didn't think we're possible. I'm someone that had previously
suffered from chronic pain for close to twenty years and
(14:19):
doctors could never figure out what it was. And then
when I started one intermitte fasting and then also clearing
my life of non serving connections. I just saw my
ability to heal myself, my ability to be with myself
expand truly in ways I can never fathom. Dr Cole like,
it felt very very much like a miracle what I
(14:42):
have seen take place in my body. Yeah, it's powerful.
We give our body the chance to do so, to
find homeostasis that there. I've seen people up against some
really heavy things be able to move the needle really
significantly if they give their body the chance to do so.
And I how you even said that. It's like you
intermitted fast it but it also is like you went
(15:04):
on a fast of certain things that weren't serving you.
You're you want a fast of things that we're impacting
your physiology just as much as a food that's inflammatory.
And people need to realize the thoughts and emotions and
stress and shame. That's junk food for the soul. You
can clean up super you could be super healthy eating
kale and kombucha, but if you're throwing down a big
(15:26):
slice of stress every day, that's gonna raise inflammation levels
just as much as that quote unquote junk food. People
need to realize that. And look, that's tougher to do
because it's easy to say that food is not going
to serve you, that food is gonna sabotage how you
want to feel, it's going to raise inflammation, impact your gut,
help whatever. It's a lot harder to say this emotion
(15:50):
or this person that's integral your life for this situation,
because not everybody can leave a situation overnight and it
just stopped it. But it's that work, that's the work
that you really teach so eloquently about, is that they
have to start dealing with that because that impacts their
physical health so so intensely. God Well, like I'm like,
(16:12):
let's just go to church right now. Um, that is
so powerful. And I think you know too. And and
to the point that you said, because I do want
to always be connected to the fact that there are
there is always privilege available. So there are some relationships,
there are some experiences, there are some jobs that you
can't just say, all right, let me let's start from scratch,
(16:35):
you know, And sometimes we do have to be in
the thick of things. But even the awareness of it,
the awareness of the potential effect it is having on you,
gives you freedom, even if it's not a scenario you
can step away from just yet expanding yourself to the acknowledgement,
to the observation of how it's affecting you propels you forward,
(16:56):
I think energetically in so many ways um and allows
your body to be heard and felt in so many ways.
M Absolutely, I think. I think Egard totally said this
one time. He said, you have to be look at
any given situation. He said, can you change it? Can
you leave it? And if you can't do either either
(17:17):
change or leave it, you need to be an acceptance
of it. And sometimes that acceptance is radical. It's like
you have to have a piece that passes all understanding
because it seems unacceptable. But I have found that people
if they can't change it and they can't leave it,
they have to be in a state of acceptance through it.
But I still acknowledging that it's it's it is not
(17:38):
something that's going to serve them long term. But if
they can't leave it, I feel like if people can
change the things, they can change people that are really
in tough situations, but they deal with the things they
can change and things don't have to be perfect to
start feeling better and start reclaiming their health. People need
to realize that they don't have to have it all
sorted out to start feeling better. Are moving people in
(18:00):
the right direction, because oftentimes people feel like they have
to like they like they just have to be Martha
Stewart in the kitchen and have no stress, nothing to
worry about, like then my life will be good. But
the reality is that's not true. You could be wherever
you're at right now to at least improve the situation
with with positive things, even if it's even if it's
(18:22):
little things, even if not everything's perfect. Thank you so
much for that. Thank you for that. When we started
the show, Um, one of the things that I kind
of was so excited to stay right away was like
inter medifasting changed my whole life. Uh. And I've been
really excited to talk to you about this because even
before I found you on social media, I connected with
(18:44):
your book Ketoterian and it's a mainstay in my house.
And I have a three year old who I think
he was just a natural born vegetarian, like he will
just never doesn't want to taste me, doesn't want to
have anything to do with it. So I'm honoring that, um,
And so in the book book I found some really
powerful recipes that i've really that have been so nourishing,
I think for myself for sure, and also for my child.
(19:07):
But I was so excited because I started Keto because
I started seeing it on Instagram and I'm like, what
is this? And then I did a deep dive, like
I said, Okay, I think I'm called to do this.
So I spent three weeks researching it and reading books
and reading you know, background behind it. Your book was
one of the game changers for me. And then when
(19:27):
I started Keto, I noticed that it really cured this
lifelong issue I had with inflammation, Like I was always swollen.
My face was swollen, my hands, my feet, my stomach
was always swollen even if I was barely eating, and
I couldn't understand it. And so I guess this is
my long way of asking you, how is it that
(19:49):
keto changed my life? Like? What did it do to me? Actually?
I love it. Let's talk about the science of it,
because it's exciting. It's very exciting, And that's kind of
what I was saying with the physical stuff. It's like
the physiological stuff is how powerful small changes can what
the ripple effect that can have on your health just
(20:10):
small things. And ketogenic diet and interment fasting, both of
those are really part of the same umbrella of research
because the ketogenic diet is in many ways fasting mimicking,
So it's mimicking the benefits of fasting while you're eating,
so eating in a specific way and with ketoterian it's
(20:31):
a clean ketogenic diet. Like right when I made the
name of the title, it's like this amalgamation is alchemy
between the best of being clean, plant forward, eating whole
foods with a ketogenic approach. That's what keytotarian is. So
there's vegan, vegetarian and pscytarian way of doing the ketogenic diet.
But it's cyclical, you know, always in keytosis, most people aren't.
(20:52):
So high fat, high healthy fats, moderate protein, low carbohydrate
diet is what the keyto gen guy is. So support
something called the beta hydroxy butty rate. The liver produces
beta hydroxy beauty rate b HB out of the liver
and it's a what researchers call an epigenetic modulator. So
(21:14):
epigenetics is the the influence that that the our environment
can have on our genes. So it kind of it
instructs genetic expression, and one of them is it works
on a lot of different inflammatory pathways, so you're explaining
all lowered inflammation. Inflammation is the commonality between just about
(21:36):
every health problem under the sun. I mean, if you're
looking at autoimmune conditions or metabolic issues, or fatigue or
anxiety or depression, there's research looking at inflammations, implication and
just about every health problem. So this is a natural
way and completely freeway, meaning that you just have to
be eating food in a specific way or fasting not
(21:59):
eating foods in a very a specific way to support
this beta hydroxy betterate, which is known also in the
research as the fourth macro nutrient. So we have protein, fats, carbs,
and keytone bodies. Uh, and it's a natural way to
lower inflammation, increasing brain function, and improve something called b
d n F brain drive neurotropic factor actually encouraging your
(22:21):
brain to make new neurons and improve something called neuroplasticity,
which is the brain's ability to repair itself, and it
improves mitochondrial function, It improves something called atapa G which
is cellular recycling, selling the renewal pathways. I go on
and on and on, but the I think it's eloquently
put this way. I quote in the book and Intuitive Fasting,
(22:43):
my newest book, guy named Paracelsus. He was one of
the fathers of modern medicine. Hippocrates, the other guy, the
Hippocratic oath. Every doctor takes it. He used fasting for
his patients in Greece thousands of years ago, but Paracelsus
and Switzerland also used it. He was known as the
Martin Luther Menace because he was reforming medicine at the time.
He called fasting which produces key tones the physician within
(23:07):
which I think the state of cyclical ketosis is that
it's this inner doctor that allows your body to repair, renew, rebalance.
And we're just catching up with antiquity, with with with research,
with science, with the scientific literature. I love you so
that we're just catching up with antiquity because it's the pathways, right.
But yeah, but it's like, you know, it's really the
(23:30):
things that worked through the ages are the things that
will always work. And it's like, you know, science and
capitalism and so many different things, so so many different
layers that sometimes blend together. Um, I think put all
of these other quote unquote tools or resources in front
of us, because the bottom line is it makes money,
(23:52):
you know, but it's not necessarily what's best for us.
And I'm finding that so much of these ancient techniques
and practices. You know, it's like science wants to say, oh,
there's not scientific research, Well who funded it? You know
what I mean? Scientific research has to be funded. That's
how we get it. And so it's like that to
me is never the leading force of how I make
(24:12):
a choice for myself. Um, if someone's saying if there's research,
the backs that are not even though there is quite
a bit of research around this what we're speaking to today.
But yeah, but you're right. I mean I I encourage
people like the same thing, be your own and of
one experiment. Now there is science in this now, but
people like you said they knew anecdotally for thousands of years.
Fasting has been used around the globe for thousands of years,
(24:36):
not because they had a double blind, placebo controlled trial,
but because they saw it improved their health. Yeah. Yeah, okay,
you know when we when we're talking about when we're
talking about fasting, and especially you know, it's so it's
so interesting because the fasting aspect of it is what
I believe really ignited my intuition in new ways that
(24:58):
has served me mind, by and soul. Like fasting for
me has really turned into such a a nourishing, holistic
approach to get all of me in alignment. And you know,
I think many religious belief systems, especially in Christianity, fasting
is a mainstay, you know, of the belief. Like very
often I'd hear friends and people say, Oh, I'm fasting
(25:19):
because I'm waiting to get you know, deeper insider understanding
from God. And I have found that, you know, fasting, meditation, prayer,
it has. It has such a gorgeous balance coming together
in the clarity that I feel in my brain, um
in the spaciousness I feel in my body, and also
I feel like I'm more deeply fed, you know that
(25:42):
when I am eating, it's in a way that is
far more serving to myself and my body. And I
manifasting makes me, honestly, I feel like a completely different
creature entirely now, almost like a superhero sometimes. So I'm
just curious, why how is this working in me? Yeah? Well,
I mean I think that's beautiful. And that's why I
(26:04):
called the book Intuitive fasting because I wanted to reclaim
intermittent fasting from and take it back in my own way,
like for me and my people and my patients and
things that this is a concept that I've talked about
with patients for a long time, but I wanted to
reclaim it him in fastening from diet culture and just
diet culture and also take GUYE culture culture and educate
(26:27):
them from a functional medicine standpoint and just a more
mindful of standpoint. The fasting is way beyond this zeitgeist
bubble that fasting is having in our culture right now.
It's lived on for thousands of years, and even when
the zeitgeist pop culture bubble burst, it will still live
on because it's just something that's just part of our DNA.
(26:49):
Humans fasted for a long period of time, So there's
a lot of things going on here, and it's so
tied into the keytogenic diet. And that's why I recommend
a cyclical, clean ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting. I don't
advocate someone to fast their way out of a poor diet.
So by bringing these together and amplifies the benefits of both,
and it's just a powerful tool and fasting. Researchers estimate
(27:12):
that our genetics haven't changed in ten thousand years, that
our world has changed so much. It doesn't take much
of a look around to see how much our world
has changed just in a generation or two, let alone
in ten thousand years. Our world has changed very much
in a very dramatic period of very short period of time,
very dramatically. So it's what researchers call a genetic epigenetic
(27:34):
mismatch or an evolutionary mismatch. That our DNA is living
in this brave new world eating things that we've never
eaten before, eating not just what we're eating, by how
much we're eating and when we're eating has changed so
much and exposed environmental toxins and chronic stresses and technology.
All that stuff really can trigger genetic predispositions that have
(27:57):
laid dormant for ten years but are being triggered and
awoken like never before in human history because of this
onslaught of epigenetic stressors. So that's what fasting really does.
It kind of takes us closer to our roots. It
kind of decreases that chasm just a little bit between
(28:18):
genetics and epigenetics and our body is like I'll take
whatever I can get, even like fast, thank you, Like
I'll move a little bit closer to where I came from,
thank you. And it's like a little little csta in
a way for your body to kind of get back
to where it came from. And it's that inner physician
(28:38):
that Paracelsis said thousands of years ago. So it's tapping
into this beta hydroxy bet it's tapping into this inter position.
It's doing amazing thing systemically throughout your body, just cascades
of healing throughout your body. So that's what intriment fasting does. Wow. Wow,
how did you find your work in this way? Well,
(28:59):
I was, in hindsight, I was a very weird kid.
I look back and I think, man, my son's fifteen
years old. I was a strange kid, like seeing myself
like through what he's doing. Like. My first job was
at the finish line selling shoes at the mall where
I'm from in western Pennsylvania. That's a pretty cool job
(29:20):
for a young guy. It was. It was cool. I
got a discount. You yeah, get all the kid. So
that's I used my paycheck at finish line to go
to the health food store co op in my small
town to like buy the latest, like adapted genic herbs,
and it was I was bio hacking before bio hacking
(29:41):
was a thing, to like see how food and natural
medicines and fasting was part of that. How would this
impact how I felt? So that was just a passion,
personal passion of mine, and then it evolved to me
wanting to be formally trained in this. So I went
to an integrative medicine school and you know the rest is,
you know what I do. I graduated and knowing I
wanted to do telehealth. It's not that I the telehealth
(30:03):
wasn't even a thing twelve years ago. Was called we
called it, we didn't have a name for it. We
called it a virtual functional medicine clinic because that's kind
of what it was. But then later on the term was,
you know, telehealth. But I've spent my entire career talking
to people via webcam like this, and it's just I
have a family history of autoimmunity, and it's that specifically.
(30:23):
It was very much a personal passion of mine. So
it was all born out of that. The weird health
and their kid kind of evolved from there. That's so cool.
And I think especially I was at a retreat many
years ago in Sedona and it was a retreat about
physical healing and it was mostly doctors at the retreat.
(30:44):
I was probably one of the only one because they
were getting like extended um I don't know what it's
called extra learning credits that you know, you know, every
year to keep up with continuing education, Yes, continuing education.
And I remember one of the doctors that I sat
next to for this for this week end was um.
He was a heart surgeon and he was there and
he was saying how he had to keep it a
(31:06):
secret that he was at this spiritual health retreat because
his community would not accept him. And and I was
so and I was so curious about that, and I said,
you know, well, why what brings you here? And he
was like, because we're dying. He was like, my colleagues
are dying left and right, like all the doctors I
(31:28):
work with, we have such poor health, smoking, drinking, you know, UM.
And it that was just so fascinating to me that
it's like health is healing, yet the disconnect from doctors
being able to care for themselves, and then also all
of the larger understanding of the body and the soul.
(31:48):
How that's not even in all of the education that
is required to be a doctor. That's not a part
of it. And that was so striking to me. Yeah,
I know it's I I quoted or cited a study
in my second book, the book before Intuitive Fascinting. It's
called the inflammation spectrum, and I studied I study in
(32:08):
in a medical journal that showed that the majority of
medical students would once they're you know, towards the end
of their their career or their their student career, is
that they would fail a basic nutrition test. Most conventional
doctors would fail a basic nutrition test. But yet look
at the statistics. It's like the majority of health problems
we face as a society is largely lifestyle driven. So
(32:32):
why isn't it being taught, Why is being talked about
not even just not being taught. Why is this being
discouraged from people asking questions or wanting to have agency
over their health? Why is this So there's a lot
of reasons for that, probably, but I'm my job here
is to say, like, let's empower the person that we're
(32:52):
talking to, whether that's my patient or it's people listening
to this podcast is to um really ask whys and
find out what's going on for their health because you're
not going to get it largely from the mainstream system.
You're going to get those pockets of amazing physicians. And actually,
most of my colleagues in functional medicine are conventionally trained.
(33:13):
They're they're being trained through the Institute for Functional Medicine.
The Cleveland Clinic has a Functional Medicine Center that we're
all trained through i FM. So there are amazing physicians
that are conventionally trained, but by and large they are
small pockets within a big, monolithic system that is not
going to be talking about these things. Wow. Yeah, the
monolithic system really stuck out. Yeah, because it is. It's
(33:35):
a it's such a vast system, and you know, I
think that's the that's the thing that all of us
just have to make more peace with, is that every everything,
everything has its layers to it. You have your good,
you're mediocre, you're bad. But yeah, I mean, the good
thing is we have statistically one of the best emergency
care systems in the world. But how we're dealing with
(33:57):
chronic healthcare, how we're dealing with mental health, that's the problem.
Because I we can always should all be commending the
good things. But just because we have good things with
emergency care and life saving surgeries and things in that realm,
that's all amazing, But what are we doing with everybody
with chronic health problems? So that's a lot of people. Um,
So that that's what I'm trying to empower people to do,
(34:20):
and realizing that if you change the hearts of mind
of the individual, if you got to start grassroots thing
and honestly think with the advent of podcast and the
democratization of information like this and articles and the blogosphere,
and I was talking about this for as long as
we for the past twelve years or so, I think
that's what has brought integrated medicine sections within mainstream institutions.
(34:43):
Like when we started out, there was no Cleveland Clinic
functional medicine center, and now there's integrated medicine sections within
mainstream institutions. I really believe in parts due to the
people wanting wanting information and wanting options and choice with
their healthcare. Wow. Yeah yeah, Is there anything in your
(35:04):
field that you're excited about right now? Right now? Personally? Um,
Like I'm consulting patients eight am to six pm, six
thirty seven pm, like all day long, throughout the day.
What is exciting to me is the what we're doing.
Most of my patients are private one on one telehealth
(35:25):
like this, we're talking one on one. But we started
this group model, which is really exciting for me because
if you have you know, fifty people in a virtual
room and I can talk to everybody fifty at at
the same time, versus doing fifty hours individually, I'm able
(35:47):
to really help a lot more people. And also it
gives people a community where they are very isolated because
maybe their family and friends don't get it, like they
don't know what fatigue, they don't know what it's like,
they don't know what odd immunities like, they don't know
what panic attacks are like. And to provide not only
me being able to reach more people in a ten hour,
(36:07):
eleven hour day, but also it's an amazing community and
it makes it more accessible for people. You have talked
about privilege and accessibility. We're excited for those two reasons,
like we're able to help more people, were able to
create a community, but it also enables us to make
this more accessible and more affordable to people as well,
so I'm excited about that model too. Wow, I'm excited
(36:29):
about this sim yet so last last piece that I
would love to ask for anyone that is really feeling
themselves kind of perking up to hearing this conversation. Maybe
this is taking you into a new pathway in your
mind and heart, and the options are starting to expand
for you, rebalancing, replenishing, restoring. What are some ways to
(36:53):
start doing that, to start kind of coming into this
functional medicine approach, this more holistic view of one's health.
What are some ways or some maybe something someone could
do each day some questions to start asking, Yeah, thank you,
that's a great question. So here a few things. Going
back to that earlier statement of intuitive fasting, that concept
(37:15):
is I've created that book and that concept for people
outside of my clinic for than just just read to
use fasting as a medicine, but also as a meditation.
So I think that that is what fully in fasting
can be used. Like it's one thing to talk about
the clinical nutrition, the science of it, what's it doing
for your health? What's it what's the physiological health benefits
(37:37):
of it? That's using fasting as a medicine we talked
about that, but let's not leave it like that. And
I think that it's so much richer, so much exponentially
more powerful when you use fasting how our ancestors used it,
and no matter where you came from, no matter where
what your heritage looks like, fasting has been used for
(37:59):
not just health benefits by early doctors, but also used
for spiritual benefits, benefits, for mindfulness benefits. So I brought
in the book, I brought this concept called metaphysical meals,
which is basically just what our ancestors were just called
stillness or prayer or meditation. It's it's using these things
that calm the noise, because there's physiological noise going on
(38:21):
in our body in the form of chronic inflammation, hormonal imbalance,
underlying gut problems. This is uh, this analogy that I
use of like how we see climate change going on
in our world, we're seeing physiological climate change in the
form of chronic inflammation in the human body. That's proverbial
imbalance going on. And we're part of nature, one and
(38:42):
the same. So we're just like a physiological manifestation of
what we're part of and what I want people to
realize is that there's also a lot of mental emotional noise.
I mean, all you have to do is look at
at social media and the sort of endless vortex of noise,
and a lot of it is is negative, like what
you and I are trying to do, and you do
(39:02):
so great. It's just creates some pockets of light within
a toxic tribal environment. And I feel like the concept
that I talked about and intuitive fasting is really that resetting,
calming the physiological noise in the form of calming inflammation,
but also if you use it as a meditation, it's
(39:23):
also calming that mental emotional noise too, and that's the
best healing. So I think that people bring acts of
stillness in their life, bring some intermittent factsing that's flexible
in their life. And I put together before week protocol
in the book. So it's very light, very flexible, very
checking in with your body throughout all of this. Because
we are all different and some fast some people need
(39:46):
fat more fasting, some people need less. And I would
say a third thing would be bring in nourishing things
for your guts. So a lot of soups and stews
I think are really needed and are old as far
as food is concerned, because many people their gut is
so unhealthy and then they think, I just gonna load
(40:07):
up on like all these vegetables. I'm gonna have tons
of like salads, and I like that's like personification. That's
the the quintessential meal is like a big old salad.
But a lot of vegetables can be really difficult to digest.
So if you need to meet your gut where it's at,
So having lots of soups and stups, which again this
is nothing new ancestrally, people would have done this for
(40:27):
a long time and having soups and stews. So we
need to just give our gut a break, almost predigestive
for our gut in a way, by cooking it down,
having lots of soups and studies to allow our body
to digest it more easily and stress because digestion requires
a lot of energy. So if you give your body
a bit of a break. So if if people just
(40:48):
did that, like bring more meditation stillness in their life,
maybe even during a fast, I think would be exponentially
more powerful. And third, some soups and steers man, the
world will be better place with just the three things.
Wow wow, wow, Yes, thank you for the tools. Dr
will Cole. So grateful for your time. I know you
(41:09):
are just exceedingly busy in the way that you are
serving the world. So I am so grateful for your time,
So grateful for your three books Keto Terry and the
Inflammation Spectrum, and your latest Intuitive Fasting which is in
stores and available now. And you have an incredible podcast,
The Art of Being Well UM that is constantly giving
so much deep information UM. And so I just I
(41:33):
hope everyone floods to Dr Will Cole's page and also
do this podcast, because you know, my show is centered
around making higher consciousness really applicable to the daily life
UM and finding a path of grace, of ease and surrender.
But a huge piece about doing that everyone listening is
really caring about your body. You have to care about
(41:55):
how you work inside, how you feel inside. Your internal
life is dare I say, even more important than your
external life. So I hope you connect to this deep
work and Dr Will Cole. I'm so grateful, cannot wait
to connect again in the future. Thank you so much,
Thank you so much for having me all right, big, big, big, big,
(42:17):
big Thank you to Dr Will Cole for blessing us
with some of his time coming on this show. You
can connect with him in so many ways I already shared,
but write this down. If you haven't his books, cop them,
get them Amazon Prime, lest go keyto Terry and the
Inflammation Spectrum and the latest bestseller Intuitive Fasting. Really really
(42:38):
powerful tools for your toolbox, especially if you're exploring ways
to make those deeper connections with mind, body and soul
and create for yourself a lifestyle that feels worthy of
the calling on your life. So you connect with Dr
Will Cole through his books, through his YouTube videos, through
his podcast, and definitely through his Instagram. We are so grateful.
(43:00):
Cannot wait to talk and catch you next week. If
you get a chance, go ahead and share this with
a friend, leave a five star review, leave a little
right up. Thank you so much for joining us here
on Dropping Gems. Love you guys, big love, and I
must stay Hey. Find me on social Let's connect at
Debbie Brown. That's Twitter, on Instagram or go to my
(43:21):
website Debbie Brown dot com. And if you're listening to
the show on Apple Podcasts, please please please don't forget
to rate, review and subscribe and send this episode to
a friend. Dropping Jims is the production of I Heart
Radio and The Black Effect Network. It's produced by Jack
Quease and me Debbie Brown. For more podcast from My
(43:45):
heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
M from grandmothers who whispered in their baby girl in
two fathers on dimly lit street corners, instructing young soldiers
to always keep their eyes open. You be queen, you
(00:21):
were fired. You will pass through centuries on the hands
of your daughters. They called you wisdom. Proverbs on the
backs of diamond eyed school children who growing into hymnals
recited by amethyst holding urban philosophers who recited neighborhood commandments
out of the windows of restored ALCHEMYO chariots to keep
the warmth of their blood. Be wise, be smart, being black.
(00:46):
Opal Brown courts bloodstone and prayer. Be every form of
Jim se King told scribe, scribe, told son, son, told wife,
wife told her daughter, and daughter told the ants. This
is at the ancestors told me that you would come
to give wisdom of thousands. They said you would come
(01:08):
dropping Dropping the Gym. Hey, welcome to the Dropping Jim's Podcast.
I'm your host, DeBie Brown. Welcome back, Welcome back. So
let's go today's show. We're diving into health. We talk
a lot on this show about spirit, about our minds,
our bodies, our souls in the connection, and today's episode
(01:30):
feels really really nourishing already, because we're going to talk
about how to really come into integration with all those
facets of our human experience. And I have a real
heavy hitter on the show today, someone whose work, even
without meeting them, had really informed and impacted my life
in the way that I treat and experienced my body.
(01:53):
So today's special guests on the show is Dr Will Cole,
which I'm sure so many are already familiar with his work,
already familiar by following him on Instagram, by following his work,
and today we get to hear from him. Dr Will
Cole is a leading functional medicine expert who consults people
around the world via webcam and locally in Pittsburgh. Named
(02:14):
one of the top fifty functional medicine and integrative doctors
in the nation, Dr Cole specializes in clinically investigating underlying
factors of chronic disease and customizing a functional medicine approach
for thyroid issues, autoimmune conditions, hormonal imbalances, digestive disorders, and
(02:36):
brain problems. He's the best selling author of Keto Terian,
The Inflammation Spectrum, and the New York Times bestseller Intuitive
Fasting and which He shows how to use the powerful
benefits of flexible intermitute fasting to gain metabolic flexibility and
find food peace. Dr Cole is also the host of
(02:57):
the new podcast The Art of Being Well and as
co hosted the popular podcast Goop, Fellas Podcast and Keto Talk.
And you know, when I think about bringing Dr Cole
on this show, something that has radically changed about my
life in the last couple of years, but especially I
feel like in the last eighteen months is the way
that I experienced my body and something I've shared on
(03:19):
social media quite a bit after I had my son
was that intermitute fasting and also a keto diet really
helped me reclaim my connection to feeling my body. Yes,
I was able to lose weight from my pregnancy, really effortlessly,
um in a way that felt nourishing to me. But
aside from the weight loss, I have noticed such a
(03:42):
deep love and acceptance of my body in such a
new way. I've noticed such a deep connection to really
being able to fully here, understand and also support my
body's needs. Uh. And one of the things that has
really changed my life is I have been able to
(04:03):
move through so much inflammation and really restore my body
to UM what feels like deep peace and deep nourishment.
And so I'm excited to see how all of that
has been possible and to learn all of the things
from the genius that is Dr Will Cole. Welcome to
(04:25):
the show. Dr will Cole. Thank you so much, Thank
you so much. I'm excited that we're talking. It's official,
It's official, And you know, on this show, I always
love to ground it with how I've connected to people.
UM and I follow you on Instagram and we've had
a little bit of exchange there. But I love your
posts and I love your books. And as I shared
(04:47):
with the audience as we were getting going, you know,
intermittent fasting is something that it changed my life. It
changed the way that I relate to my body. It
changed the way that I feel like it allowed me
to really activate my body's intuition in such a deep way. UM.
So I'm so excited to have you here. You have
(05:09):
such incredible books, such incredible work that you've put into
the world, and I'd love to ground this conversation by
first starting with what exactly is functional medicine. Well, thank
you so much for having me. Functional medicine in there
are three main points that I see it and how
I see it. From number one, we interpret labs using
(05:31):
a thinner reference range. So anybody that's listening right now,
they'll know they get when they get their standard labs,
they go to their doctor's office, they get their number
on a lab, and then they're being compared to this
reference range, this extra y interval of numbers. We get
that reference range largely from a statistical Bell curve average
(05:52):
of the population of that specific lab. So people know,
you know, think about this, Who are people that are
predominantly going to labs? Sadly people with health problems. So
there's a lot of people that know, intuitively, there's something
not right here. I don't feel good in my body.
There's my body is telling me something, and they go
and they try to get that substantiated with labs, and
(06:14):
the labs come back quote unquote normal many times, and
the doctor says, everything's fine, you're just depressed. There's an antidepressant,
you're just getting older, you're just a new mom, you
just need to lose weight, all of these sort of
well intentioned reasons, but what they're really in effect telling
the patient is you're a lot like the other people
with health issues that we're comparing you too, and comparing
(06:36):
yourself to people with health problems. There's no way for
you to find out how to feel your best and
find out what's going on in your body. So we're
looking at a thinner range within that larger reference range.
That's the functional range. Where does your body function the best,
Where does vibrant wellness reside? That's the functional range. So
we're looking at the thinner interval within that larger reference
(06:58):
range of optimal not average. And then number two, we
run more comprehensive labs, so we're looking at root issues
like underlying gut problems or chronic infections, or hormonal imbalances,
or the list goes on. It's case specific. We want
to look at a health history comprehensively and then run
appropriate labs, but thorough labs. We want to be comprehensive.
(07:18):
And then we realize we're all created differently and there's
not going to be a cookie cutter approach to getting healthy.
And I could have a hundred people with the same
diagnosis that let's say fatigue, Well, what's causing fatigue for
one person is not causing it for the next person.
So I want to really look at We see these
symptoms like fatigue or weight loss, resistance or anxiety or
(07:42):
different types of inflammation. We see these as check engine lights.
We know that check engine light is on, but why
that's different. We want to look at the root issues
and and see the individual We call it bio individuality.
It's it's the uniqueness of you. And so that's in
a nutshow of functional medicine is so I started one
of the first functional medicine telehealth centers in the world
(08:03):
over a decade ago. So a lot of the things
you see me posting on social media is me being
talking like we're talking right now. But I do this
eleven hours a day with people with their labs and
their health. I love it so much. It's such a
sacred responsibility for me to really give people answers that
are trying to seek what the heck is going on? Wow,
I love I mean the way that you even framed
(08:25):
your work as a sacred responsibility is so powerful to me,
especially as we have such you know, we're finally starting
to expand on bigger conversations on how the medical industry
is not always very helpful or healing and also in
communities of color. How the medical industry is also really
structured for oppression um and has quite often killed people
(08:47):
from a lack of looking at the total view of
a human being. So when I hear you say that,
I'm just like my God, like the power in this,
the power of us even seen ourselves as we get
seen by the medical community, as this is something sacred.
This is our body, this is our this is the
house of our soul, this is the human technology that
(09:10):
we work with on earth to be human. And the
fact that it's not seen such as a sacred responsibility
like you framing it that way, it's really powerful for me.
Thanks so much. I mean, I really this is something
I take very seriously. I have a heart for the
people that are going through it because there's so many
people are kept back from the things they were created
(09:31):
for because of their health issues that they're that they're
experiencing right now, and so many people are delegitimized systematically
because they these are silent issues. Many times I deal
a lot with people with autoimmune problems. On the outside,
they look quote unquote normal, but they don't know. People
don't know what it takes just to get through the
(09:53):
day when you're struggling with different autoimmune issues and different
inflammatory problems. So to give a voice and give answers
to people that are really seeking and not getting the answers,
it's something we have to do so much better in healthcare,
and hopefully you know, in my way, in my lane,
I'm doing that for my patients. Wow. Wow, what's the
first thing that you do when someone comes into you. Well,
(10:16):
it's all telehealth and it's been tell health for twelve years.
When I'm talking to them, I'm stepping into their home
quite figuratively, like very much on a real energetic level,
even that I'm coming into their space, and it's interesting,
even though we're separated through a computer and we're not
(10:37):
there physically together, to hold space for people that are
going through very heavy things is a major part of
my job because it's not just about getting the words,
meaning you're not just getting information during that it's a
consultation at first, right, so I'm getting health history. I'm
really digging deep into these things that aren't really asked about.
(10:59):
I had one older gentlemen tell me years ago, and
I still think about it. He asked me all the
questions we had in the questionnaire and the consultations over
an hour and he said, he said, are you in
the KGB? Are you trying to get information out of mean?
It's like, no, I'm not in the KGB. But I
don't want to be redundant. I don't want to add
to your pile of doctors visits that you've done. I
want to really do be of service to you and
(11:20):
see what's being missed here and not be redundant an
autopilot or just being flippant with what's going on. I
really want to be thoughtful and do my due diligence.
So it's a lot of question asking, but it's beyond
it's beyond that. The holding space part is the space
in between the words. It's like, okay, what's the frequency
in which are even operating with Because there's the clinical
(11:41):
side of things, but what's going on behind the scenes
that maybe they don't even know. It's ineffable, they don't
even know really what's going on. So it's the science
and the art of functional medicine is how I see it.
But it's it's it's holding both with respect. Wow, how
big of a role do you see mental an emotional
health plane into someone's physical health. Wow, I mean that's
(12:05):
an important thing. It's something that we talk about a lot,
and even just that first consultation when I'm talking to
them online, we're talking a lot about it. And I
have to educate people because in the West, people like
to separate mental health from physical health. But the reality
is mental health is physical health. Our brain is part
of our body, and there's a whole field of research
(12:27):
actually looking at this for a long time. It's called
the cytokine model of cognitive function. Cytokinds are pro inflammatory cells,
so it's research looking at how inflammation cyto kinds. How
does inflammation impacting how our brain works, How is it
impacting mental health? So mental health is one and the
same with physical health. But if you're looking at this
bidirectional relationship, right, our thoughts and emotions impact our physiology,
(12:52):
meaning a stressful season of our life, or a toxic
relationship ship or unhealthy work environment or whatever is going
on mental emotionally that impacts your physiology. There's so much
research coming out about the impact that negativity, stress trauma
has on our body, has on our inflammation levels, has
(13:14):
on our gut health, has on our hormones has in ship,
putting our body more in this sympathetic fight or flight
stress state. But conversely, our physiology meaning underlying GUP problems
or inflammation things that are going on in our body,
impacts our thoughts and emotions. Meaning if you have high
inflammation levels, that's going to drive anxiety. If you have
(13:35):
underlying GUP problems, it's linked to triggering neurological symptoms. So
there's so many we have to look at both sides
of the coin, and when we separate them as some
sort of thing that's compartmentalizes the mental health, it's really
one and the same with physical health. Oh my gosh,
that you know I had. I had some real experiences
(13:57):
with understanding that within my own body recently, especially in
the last year. Um Like, I ended a really significant
relationship in my life and the last year and I
saw my health dramatically improve, like dramatically in ways that
I didn't think we're possible. I'm someone that had previously
suffered from chronic pain for close to twenty years and
(14:19):
doctors could never figure out what it was. And then
when I started one intermitte fasting and then also clearing
my life of non serving connections. I just saw my
ability to heal myself, my ability to be with myself
expand truly in ways I can never fathom. Dr Cole like,
it felt very very much like a miracle what I
(14:42):
have seen take place in my body. Yeah, it's powerful.
We give our body the chance to do so, to
find homeostasis that there. I've seen people up against some
really heavy things be able to move the needle really
significantly if they give their body the chance to do so.
And I how you even said that. It's like you
intermitted fast it but it also is like you went
(15:04):
on a fast of certain things that weren't serving you.
You're you want a fast of things that we're impacting
your physiology just as much as a food that's inflammatory.
And people need to realize the thoughts and emotions and
stress and shame. That's junk food for the soul. You
can clean up super you could be super healthy eating
kale and kombucha, but if you're throwing down a big
(15:26):
slice of stress every day, that's gonna raise inflammation levels
just as much as that quote unquote junk food. People
need to realize that. And look, that's tougher to do
because it's easy to say that food is not going
to serve you, that food is gonna sabotage how you
want to feel, it's going to raise inflammation, impact your gut,
help whatever. It's a lot harder to say this emotion
(15:50):
or this person that's integral your life for this situation,
because not everybody can leave a situation overnight and it
just stopped it. But it's that work, that's the work
that you really teach so eloquently about, is that they
have to start dealing with that because that impacts their
physical health so so intensely. God Well, like I'm like,
(16:12):
let's just go to church right now. Um, that is
so powerful. And I think you know too. And and
to the point that you said, because I do want
to always be connected to the fact that there are
there is always privilege available. So there are some relationships,
there are some experiences, there are some jobs that you
can't just say, all right, let me let's start from scratch,
(16:35):
you know, And sometimes we do have to be in
the thick of things. But even the awareness of it,
the awareness of the potential effect it is having on you,
gives you freedom, even if it's not a scenario you
can step away from just yet expanding yourself to the acknowledgement,
to the observation of how it's affecting you propels you forward,
(16:56):
I think energetically in so many ways um and allows
your body to be heard and felt in so many ways.
M Absolutely, I think. I think Egard totally said this
one time. He said, you have to be look at
any given situation. He said, can you change it? Can
you leave it? And if you can't do either either
(17:17):
change or leave it, you need to be an acceptance
of it. And sometimes that acceptance is radical. It's like
you have to have a piece that passes all understanding
because it seems unacceptable. But I have found that people
if they can't change it and they can't leave it,
they have to be in a state of acceptance through it.
But I still acknowledging that it's it's it is not
(17:38):
something that's going to serve them long term. But if
they can't leave it, I feel like if people can
change the things, they can change people that are really
in tough situations, but they deal with the things they
can change and things don't have to be perfect to
start feeling better and start reclaiming their health. People need
to realize that they don't have to have it all
sorted out to start feeling better. Are moving people in
(18:00):
the right direction, because oftentimes people feel like they have
to like they like they just have to be Martha
Stewart in the kitchen and have no stress, nothing to
worry about, like then my life will be good. But
the reality is that's not true. You could be wherever
you're at right now to at least improve the situation
with with positive things, even if it's even if it's
(18:22):
little things, even if not everything's perfect. Thank you so
much for that. Thank you for that. When we started
the show, Um, one of the things that I kind
of was so excited to stay right away was like
inter medifasting changed my whole life. Uh. And I've been
really excited to talk to you about this because even
before I found you on social media, I connected with
(18:44):
your book Ketoterian and it's a mainstay in my house.
And I have a three year old who I think
he was just a natural born vegetarian, like he will
just never doesn't want to taste me, doesn't want to
have anything to do with it. So I'm honoring that, um,
And so in the book book I found some really
powerful recipes that i've really that have been so nourishing,
I think for myself for sure, and also for my child.
(19:07):
But I was so excited because I started Keto because
I started seeing it on Instagram and I'm like, what
is this? And then I did a deep dive, like
I said, Okay, I think I'm called to do this.
So I spent three weeks researching it and reading books
and reading you know, background behind it. Your book was
one of the game changers for me. And then when
(19:27):
I started Keto, I noticed that it really cured this
lifelong issue I had with inflammation, Like I was always swollen.
My face was swollen, my hands, my feet, my stomach
was always swollen even if I was barely eating, and
I couldn't understand it. And so I guess this is
my long way of asking you, how is it that
(19:49):
keto changed my life? Like? What did it do to me? Actually?
I love it. Let's talk about the science of it,
because it's exciting. It's very exciting, And that's kind of
what I was saying with the physical stuff. It's like
the physiological stuff is how powerful small changes can what
the ripple effect that can have on your health just
(20:10):
small things. And ketogenic diet and interment fasting, both of
those are really part of the same umbrella of research
because the ketogenic diet is in many ways fasting mimicking,
So it's mimicking the benefits of fasting while you're eating,
so eating in a specific way and with ketoterian it's
(20:31):
a clean ketogenic diet. Like right when I made the
name of the title, it's like this amalgamation is alchemy
between the best of being clean, plant forward, eating whole
foods with a ketogenic approach. That's what keytotarian is. So
there's vegan, vegetarian and pscytarian way of doing the ketogenic diet.
But it's cyclical, you know, always in keytosis, most people aren't.
(20:52):
So high fat, high healthy fats, moderate protein, low carbohydrate
diet is what the keyto gen guy is. So support
something called the beta hydroxy butty rate. The liver produces
beta hydroxy beauty rate b HB out of the liver
and it's a what researchers call an epigenetic modulator. So
(21:14):
epigenetics is the the influence that that the our environment
can have on our genes. So it kind of it
instructs genetic expression, and one of them is it works
on a lot of different inflammatory pathways, so you're explaining
all lowered inflammation. Inflammation is the commonality between just about
(21:36):
every health problem under the sun. I mean, if you're
looking at autoimmune conditions or metabolic issues, or fatigue or
anxiety or depression, there's research looking at inflammations, implication and
just about every health problem. So this is a natural
way and completely freeway, meaning that you just have to
be eating food in a specific way or fasting not
(21:59):
eating foods in a very a specific way to support
this beta hydroxy betterate, which is known also in the
research as the fourth macro nutrient. So we have protein, fats, carbs,
and keytone bodies. Uh, and it's a natural way to
lower inflammation, increasing brain function, and improve something called b
d n F brain drive neurotropic factor actually encouraging your
(22:21):
brain to make new neurons and improve something called neuroplasticity,
which is the brain's ability to repair itself, and it
improves mitochondrial function, It improves something called atapa G which
is cellular recycling, selling the renewal pathways. I go on
and on and on, but the I think it's eloquently
put this way. I quote in the book and Intuitive Fasting,
(22:43):
my newest book, guy named Paracelsus. He was one of
the fathers of modern medicine. Hippocrates, the other guy, the
Hippocratic oath. Every doctor takes it. He used fasting for
his patients in Greece thousands of years ago, but Paracelsus
and Switzerland also used it. He was known as the
Martin Luther Menace because he was reforming medicine at the time.
He called fasting which produces key tones the physician within
(23:07):
which I think the state of cyclical ketosis is that
it's this inner doctor that allows your body to repair, renew, rebalance.
And we're just catching up with antiquity, with with with research,
with science, with the scientific literature. I love you so
that we're just catching up with antiquity because it's the pathways, right.
But yeah, but it's like, you know, it's really the
(23:30):
things that worked through the ages are the things that
will always work. And it's like, you know, science and
capitalism and so many different things, so so many different
layers that sometimes blend together. Um, I think put all
of these other quote unquote tools or resources in front
of us, because the bottom line is it makes money,
(23:52):
you know, but it's not necessarily what's best for us.
And I'm finding that so much of these ancient techniques
and practices. You know, it's like science wants to say, oh,
there's not scientific research, Well who funded it? You know
what I mean? Scientific research has to be funded. That's
how we get it. And so it's like that to
me is never the leading force of how I make
(24:12):
a choice for myself. Um, if someone's saying if there's research,
the backs that are not even though there is quite
a bit of research around this what we're speaking to today.
But yeah, but you're right. I mean I I encourage
people like the same thing, be your own and of
one experiment. Now there is science in this now, but
people like you said they knew anecdotally for thousands of years.
Fasting has been used around the globe for thousands of years,
(24:36):
not because they had a double blind, placebo controlled trial,
but because they saw it improved their health. Yeah. Yeah, okay,
you know when we when we're talking about when we're
talking about fasting, and especially you know, it's so it's
so interesting because the fasting aspect of it is what
I believe really ignited my intuition in new ways that
(24:58):
has served me mind, by and soul. Like fasting for
me has really turned into such a a nourishing, holistic
approach to get all of me in alignment. And you know,
I think many religious belief systems, especially in Christianity, fasting
is a mainstay, you know, of the belief. Like very
often I'd hear friends and people say, Oh, I'm fasting
(25:19):
because I'm waiting to get you know, deeper insider understanding
from God. And I have found that, you know, fasting, meditation, prayer,
it has. It has such a gorgeous balance coming together
in the clarity that I feel in my brain, um
in the spaciousness I feel in my body, and also
I feel like I'm more deeply fed, you know that
(25:42):
when I am eating, it's in a way that is
far more serving to myself and my body. And I
manifasting makes me, honestly, I feel like a completely different
creature entirely now, almost like a superhero sometimes. So I'm
just curious, why how is this working in me? Yeah? Well,
I mean I think that's beautiful. And that's why I
(26:04):
called the book Intuitive fasting because I wanted to reclaim
intermittent fasting from and take it back in my own way,
like for me and my people and my patients and
things that this is a concept that I've talked about
with patients for a long time, but I wanted to
reclaim it him in fastening from diet culture and just
diet culture and also take GUYE culture culture and educate
(26:27):
them from a functional medicine standpoint and just a more
mindful of standpoint. The fasting is way beyond this zeitgeist
bubble that fasting is having in our culture right now.
It's lived on for thousands of years, and even when
the zeitgeist pop culture bubble burst, it will still live
on because it's just something that's just part of our DNA.
(26:49):
Humans fasted for a long period of time, So there's
a lot of things going on here, and it's so
tied into the keytogenic diet. And that's why I recommend
a cyclical, clean ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting. I don't
advocate someone to fast their way out of a poor diet.
So by bringing these together and amplifies the benefits of both,
and it's just a powerful tool and fasting. Researchers estimate
(27:12):
that our genetics haven't changed in ten thousand years, that
our world has changed so much. It doesn't take much
of a look around to see how much our world
has changed just in a generation or two, let alone
in ten thousand years. Our world has changed very much
in a very dramatic period of very short period of time,
very dramatically. So it's what researchers call a genetic epigenetic
(27:34):
mismatch or an evolutionary mismatch. That our DNA is living
in this brave new world eating things that we've never
eaten before, eating not just what we're eating, by how
much we're eating and when we're eating has changed so
much and exposed environmental toxins and chronic stresses and technology.
All that stuff really can trigger genetic predispositions that have
(27:57):
laid dormant for ten years but are being triggered and
awoken like never before in human history because of this
onslaught of epigenetic stressors. So that's what fasting really does.
It kind of takes us closer to our roots. It
kind of decreases that chasm just a little bit between
(28:18):
genetics and epigenetics and our body is like I'll take
whatever I can get, even like fast, thank you, Like
I'll move a little bit closer to where I came from,
thank you. And it's like a little little csta in
a way for your body to kind of get back
to where it came from. And it's that inner physician
(28:38):
that Paracelsis said thousands of years ago. So it's tapping
into this beta hydroxy bet it's tapping into this inter position.
It's doing amazing thing systemically throughout your body, just cascades
of healing throughout your body. So that's what intriment fasting does. Wow. Wow,
how did you find your work in this way? Well,
(28:59):
I was, in hindsight, I was a very weird kid.
I look back and I think, man, my son's fifteen
years old. I was a strange kid, like seeing myself
like through what he's doing. Like. My first job was
at the finish line selling shoes at the mall where
I'm from in western Pennsylvania. That's a pretty cool job
(29:20):
for a young guy. It was. It was cool. I
got a discount. You yeah, get all the kid. So
that's I used my paycheck at finish line to go
to the health food store co op in my small
town to like buy the latest, like adapted genic herbs,
and it was I was bio hacking before bio hacking
(29:41):
was a thing, to like see how food and natural
medicines and fasting was part of that. How would this
impact how I felt? So that was just a passion,
personal passion of mine, and then it evolved to me
wanting to be formally trained in this. So I went
to an integrative medicine school and you know the rest is,
you know what I do. I graduated and knowing I
wanted to do telehealth. It's not that I the telehealth
(30:03):
wasn't even a thing twelve years ago. Was called we
called it, we didn't have a name for it. We
called it a virtual functional medicine clinic because that's kind
of what it was. But then later on the term was,
you know, telehealth. But I've spent my entire career talking
to people via webcam like this, and it's just I
have a family history of autoimmunity, and it's that specifically.
(30:23):
It was very much a personal passion of mine. So
it was all born out of that. The weird health
and their kid kind of evolved from there. That's so cool.
And I think especially I was at a retreat many
years ago in Sedona and it was a retreat about
physical healing and it was mostly doctors at the retreat.
(30:44):
I was probably one of the only one because they
were getting like extended um I don't know what it's
called extra learning credits that you know, you know, every
year to keep up with continuing education, Yes, continuing education.
And I remember one of the doctors that I sat
next to for this for this week end was um.
He was a heart surgeon and he was there and
he was saying how he had to keep it a
(31:06):
secret that he was at this spiritual health retreat because
his community would not accept him. And and I was
so and I was so curious about that, and I said,
you know, well, why what brings you here? And he
was like, because we're dying. He was like, my colleagues
are dying left and right, like all the doctors I
(31:28):
work with, we have such poor health, smoking, drinking, you know, UM.
And it that was just so fascinating to me that
it's like health is healing, yet the disconnect from doctors
being able to care for themselves, and then also all
of the larger understanding of the body and the soul.
(31:48):
How that's not even in all of the education that
is required to be a doctor. That's not a part
of it. And that was so striking to me. Yeah,
I know it's I I quoted or cited a study
in my second book, the book before Intuitive Fascinting. It's
called the inflammation spectrum, and I studied I study in
(32:08):
in a medical journal that showed that the majority of
medical students would once they're you know, towards the end
of their their career or their their student career, is
that they would fail a basic nutrition test. Most conventional
doctors would fail a basic nutrition test. But yet look
at the statistics. It's like the majority of health problems
we face as a society is largely lifestyle driven. So
(32:32):
why isn't it being taught, Why is being talked about
not even just not being taught. Why is this being
discouraged from people asking questions or wanting to have agency
over their health? Why is this So there's a lot
of reasons for that, probably, but I'm my job here
is to say, like, let's empower the person that we're
(32:52):
talking to, whether that's my patient or it's people listening
to this podcast is to um really ask whys and
find out what's going on for their health because you're
not going to get it largely from the mainstream system.
You're going to get those pockets of amazing physicians. And actually,
most of my colleagues in functional medicine are conventionally trained.
(33:13):
They're they're being trained through the Institute for Functional Medicine.
The Cleveland Clinic has a Functional Medicine Center that we're
all trained through i FM. So there are amazing physicians
that are conventionally trained, but by and large they are
small pockets within a big, monolithic system that is not
going to be talking about these things. Wow. Yeah, the
monolithic system really stuck out. Yeah, because it is. It's
(33:35):
a it's such a vast system, and you know, I
think that's the that's the thing that all of us
just have to make more peace with, is that every everything,
everything has its layers to it. You have your good,
you're mediocre, you're bad. But yeah, I mean, the good
thing is we have statistically one of the best emergency
care systems in the world. But how we're dealing with
(33:57):
chronic healthcare, how we're dealing with mental health, that's the problem.
Because I we can always should all be commending the
good things. But just because we have good things with
emergency care and life saving surgeries and things in that realm,
that's all amazing, But what are we doing with everybody
with chronic health problems? So that's a lot of people. Um,
So that that's what I'm trying to empower people to do,
(34:20):
and realizing that if you change the hearts of mind
of the individual, if you got to start grassroots thing
and honestly think with the advent of podcast and the
democratization of information like this and articles and the blogosphere,
and I was talking about this for as long as
we for the past twelve years or so, I think
that's what has brought integrated medicine sections within mainstream institutions.
(34:43):
Like when we started out, there was no Cleveland Clinic
functional medicine center, and now there's integrated medicine sections within
mainstream institutions. I really believe in parts due to the
people wanting wanting information and wanting options and choice with
their healthcare. Wow. Yeah yeah, Is there anything in your
(35:04):
field that you're excited about right now? Right now? Personally? Um,
Like I'm consulting patients eight am to six pm, six
thirty seven pm, like all day long, throughout the day.
What is exciting to me is the what we're doing.
Most of my patients are private one on one telehealth
(35:25):
like this, we're talking one on one. But we started
this group model, which is really exciting for me because
if you have you know, fifty people in a virtual
room and I can talk to everybody fifty at at
the same time, versus doing fifty hours individually, I'm able
(35:47):
to really help a lot more people. And also it
gives people a community where they are very isolated because
maybe their family and friends don't get it, like they
don't know what fatigue, they don't know what it's like,
they don't know what odd immunities like, they don't know
what panic attacks are like. And to provide not only
me being able to reach more people in a ten hour,
(36:07):
eleven hour day, but also it's an amazing community and
it makes it more accessible for people. You have talked
about privilege and accessibility. We're excited for those two reasons,
like we're able to help more people, were able to
create a community, but it also enables us to make
this more accessible and more affordable to people as well,
so I'm excited about that model too. Wow, I'm excited
(36:29):
about this sim yet so last last piece that I
would love to ask for anyone that is really feeling
themselves kind of perking up to hearing this conversation. Maybe
this is taking you into a new pathway in your
mind and heart, and the options are starting to expand
for you, rebalancing, replenishing, restoring. What are some ways to
(36:53):
start doing that, to start kind of coming into this
functional medicine approach, this more holistic view of one's health.
What are some ways or some maybe something someone could
do each day some questions to start asking, Yeah, thank you,
that's a great question. So here a few things. Going
back to that earlier statement of intuitive fasting, that concept
(37:15):
is I've created that book and that concept for people
outside of my clinic for than just just read to
use fasting as a medicine, but also as a meditation.
So I think that that is what fully in fasting
can be used. Like it's one thing to talk about
the clinical nutrition, the science of it, what's it doing
for your health? What's it what's the physiological health benefits
(37:37):
of it? That's using fasting as a medicine we talked
about that, but let's not leave it like that. And
I think that it's so much richer, so much exponentially
more powerful when you use fasting how our ancestors used it,
and no matter where you came from, no matter where
what your heritage looks like, fasting has been used for
(37:59):
not just health benefits by early doctors, but also used
for spiritual benefits, benefits, for mindfulness benefits. So I brought
in the book, I brought this concept called metaphysical meals,
which is basically just what our ancestors were just called
stillness or prayer or meditation. It's it's using these things
that calm the noise, because there's physiological noise going on
(38:21):
in our body in the form of chronic inflammation, hormonal imbalance,
underlying gut problems. This is uh, this analogy that I
use of like how we see climate change going on
in our world, we're seeing physiological climate change in the
form of chronic inflammation in the human body. That's proverbial
imbalance going on. And we're part of nature, one and
(38:42):
the same. So we're just like a physiological manifestation of
what we're part of and what I want people to
realize is that there's also a lot of mental emotional noise.
I mean, all you have to do is look at
at social media and the sort of endless vortex of noise,
and a lot of it is is negative, like what
you and I are trying to do, and you do
(39:02):
so great. It's just creates some pockets of light within
a toxic tribal environment. And I feel like the concept
that I talked about and intuitive fasting is really that resetting,
calming the physiological noise in the form of calming inflammation,
but also if you use it as a meditation, it's
(39:23):
also calming that mental emotional noise too, and that's the
best healing. So I think that people bring acts of
stillness in their life, bring some intermittent factsing that's flexible
in their life. And I put together before week protocol
in the book. So it's very light, very flexible, very
checking in with your body throughout all of this. Because
we are all different and some fast some people need
(39:46):
fat more fasting, some people need less. And I would
say a third thing would be bring in nourishing things
for your guts. So a lot of soups and stews
I think are really needed and are old as far
as food is concerned, because many people their gut is
so unhealthy and then they think, I just gonna load
(40:07):
up on like all these vegetables. I'm gonna have tons
of like salads, and I like that's like personification. That's
the the quintessential meal is like a big old salad.
But a lot of vegetables can be really difficult to digest.
So if you need to meet your gut where it's at,
So having lots of soups and stups, which again this
is nothing new ancestrally, people would have done this for
(40:27):
a long time and having soups and stews. So we
need to just give our gut a break, almost predigestive
for our gut in a way, by cooking it down,
having lots of soups and studies to allow our body
to digest it more easily and stress because digestion requires
a lot of energy. So if you give your body
a bit of a break. So if if people just
(40:48):
did that, like bring more meditation stillness in their life,
maybe even during a fast, I think would be exponentially
more powerful. And third, some soups and steers man, the
world will be better place with just the three things.
Wow wow, wow, Yes, thank you for the tools. Dr
will Cole. So grateful for your time. I know you
(41:09):
are just exceedingly busy in the way that you are
serving the world. So I am so grateful for your time,
So grateful for your three books Keto Terry and the
Inflammation Spectrum, and your latest Intuitive Fasting which is in
stores and available now. And you have an incredible podcast,
The Art of Being Well UM that is constantly giving
so much deep information UM. And so I just I
(41:33):
hope everyone floods to Dr Will Cole's page and also
do this podcast, because you know, my show is centered
around making higher consciousness really applicable to the daily life
UM and finding a path of grace, of ease and surrender.
But a huge piece about doing that everyone listening is
really caring about your body. You have to care about
(41:55):
how you work inside, how you feel inside. Your internal
life is dare I say, even more important than your
external life. So I hope you connect to this deep
work and Dr Will Cole. I'm so grateful, cannot wait
to connect again in the future. Thank you so much,
Thank you so much for having me all right, big, big, big, big,
(42:17):
big Thank you to Dr Will Cole for blessing us
with some of his time coming on this show. You
can connect with him in so many ways I already shared,
but write this down. If you haven't his books, cop them,
get them Amazon Prime, lest go keyto Terry and the
Inflammation Spectrum and the latest bestseller Intuitive Fasting. Really really
(42:38):
powerful tools for your toolbox, especially if you're exploring ways
to make those deeper connections with mind, body and soul
and create for yourself a lifestyle that feels worthy of
the calling on your life. So you connect with Dr
Will Cole through his books, through his YouTube videos, through
his podcast, and definitely through his Instagram. We are so grateful.
(43:00):
Cannot wait to talk and catch you next week. If
you get a chance, go ahead and share this with
a friend, leave a five star review, leave a little
right up. Thank you so much for joining us here
on Dropping Gems. Love you guys, big love, and I
must stay Hey. Find me on social Let's connect at
Debbie Brown. That's Twitter, on Instagram or go to my
(43:21):
website Debbie Brown dot com. And if you're listening to
the show on Apple Podcasts, please please please don't forget
to rate, review and subscribe and send this episode to
a friend. Dropping Jims is the production of I Heart
Radio and The Black Effect Network. It's produced by Jack
Quease and me Debbie Brown. For more podcast from My
(43:45):
heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
Devi Brown
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