🔢 Key Takeaways
- By adopting a healthy lifestyle, including exercise, healthy diet, quality sleep, and stress management, we can control the biological age of our immune system, leading to a stronger and more resilient immune system.
- A healthy immune system is essential for overall health and vitality, with every major health concern linked to its proper function. Maintaining a well-tuned immune system is critical in warding off disease and maintaining good health.
- Ultra-processed foods activate our immune system, leading to 'angry fat' linked to obesity and health problems. Losing five pounds of the 'right type' of fat can improve health. Understanding how our diet affects our immune system is key to improving our health.
- Functional medicine looks at the body's processes, such as immune and digestive function, and uses the four R program - remove, replace, reinoculate, and repair - to restore balance and improve overall health.
- To maintain a healthy GI tract, remove harmful foods, restore proper enzymes, reinoculate with pre and probiotics, and repair damage. A wholesome Mediterranean-style diet is crucial. Over-medication can adversely affect the gut microbiota.
- Traditional Chinese medicine utilizes natural compounds with a symphonic orchestration to manage bodily functions while modern pharmacology targets specific receptors with single molecules, which can lead to iatrogenic disorders for chronic conditions.
- Exploring historical foods and collaborating across countries and disciplines can lead to the discovery of new molecules that have significant positive effects on our health. One such discovery is Himalaya tarry buckwheat, which has high levels of immune-strengthening nutrients and can be a valuable addition to our diets.
- Balancing and harmonizing the immune system is crucial for good health. Knowing your immuno identity can help in achieving this goal, and Bid Boldt Health offers a simple test to determine yours.
- Endurance athletes need to ensure they are getting all the necessary nutrients to maintain immune resilience. Flavonoids found in foods like berries, citrus, turmeric, and peanut skins play an important role in cellular communication and immune function. Whole grains and a variety of nutrient-dense foods are essential for optimal immune health.
- Choosing whole foods that are non-grain and gluten-free, like organic oats and buckwheat, can activate and strengthen the innate immune system, while cutting out processed foods and opting for whole foods is crucial for optimum health.
- A pharmaceutical-grade fish oil plant in Dutch Harbor, Alaska partners with a fishing company to process frozen fish with high nutritional value into sustainable, anti-inflammatory fish oil that retains quality even after being shipped for a week.
- Rapid freezing and careful storage can preserve the quality of fish and yield higher prices. Quality of non-red meats should also be considered, including how the animal was raised, to ensure safety.
- Eating organic, locally-sourced food can improve your health and help the environment. By making small changes like shopping at farmer's markets and reducing food waste, we can support a more sustainable food system.
- Organic farming and biometric devices may be small in size, but they are powerful tools for creating positive change in our health and agriculture industries. By using sustainable techniques and monitoring our health constantly, we can take a proactive approach to improving our well-being and the world around us.
- Wearable technology allows individuals to take control of their health through continuous monitoring, creating a personalized and accessible field of healthcare while bridging the gap between disease care and health care system.
- To achieve optimal health and become a complete human, focus on improving physical, metabolic, cognitive, and behavioral function. Starting with the immune system can provide quick feedback, but also work on improving society, culture, and people's lives.
- Big Bold Health believes in advocating for your own health while improving the health of our world. Their 90-day Immunity Plus program has been shown to reduce immune age, and they use friendly bugs to enhance plant nutrient content.
- Our genes do not solely determine our health. By making small lifestyle changes such as giving up sugared soft drinks, we can positively influence our genes and achieve optimal health. Remember the importance of discipline and respect in reaching our goals.
- Respect for oneself is essential for success and means upholding a code of conduct. Talent without character leads to failure. Greatness is being respected by those you respect, even if it means facing criticism for upholding your principles.
📝 Podcast Summary
The Importance of Boosting Our Immune System Through Lifestyle Changes
Our immune system is constantly producing new cells, but with aging, these cells become worse off due to immune aging, leading to weakened immunity, which, in turn, may make us vulnerable to infections. However, the biological age of our immune system can be controlled by adapting a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise, healthy diet, quality sleep, and stress management. Epigenetic sequencing using gene chip technology can help determine our immune system's biological age and immunosenescence. Exposure to stress, smoking, alcohol consumption, ultra-processed foods, and xeno-toxic chemicals modify the immune system's epigenetic markings, leading to immune aging. Therefore, adopting healthier lifestyle practices can help boost our immune systems and lead to a healthier, disease-free life.
The Key Role of the Immune System in Building Resilience
Resilience, defined as the ability to perform varied functions with vitality and enthusiasm, is a crucial element of health. Our immune system is key to providing us with the resilience needed to live our lives to the fullest. Dr. Jeffrey Bland, father of functional medicine, highlights that every major health concern is linked to the immune system. This includes diseases like dementia, Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disorders, autoimmune disorders, type two diabetes, and obesity. The immune system resides not just in our blood, but in every organ of the body, including the brain and gut. Therefore, ensuring a properly configured immune system is crucial for good health.
The Link Between Ultra-Processed Foods and 'Angry Fat'
Changes in our diet over the past century, specifically the rise of ultra-processed foods, have activated our immune system, leading to 'angry fat' linked to obesity and health problems. Losing just five pounds of the 'right type' of fat can calm down the immune system and improve health. Dr. Jeffrey Bland, founder of the Institute for Functional Medicine, has been studying how different organs communicate with one another and how to address root causes of disorders. Advances in genomic techniques have further validated his early work in functional medicine. Understanding how our diet affects our immune system is key to improving our health.
Functional Medicine and the Four R Program
Functional medicine is an upstream way of looking at the body's processes, measured by physiological characteristics such as the immune system, digestive physiology, and cell communication. Clinical management can be achieved through the four R program- remove, replace, reinoculate, and repair. This program focuses on restoring proper gastrointestinal, immune and digestive function by removing toxins and allergens, replacing digestive enzymes, reinoculating with probiotics, and repairing any issues. Developed in the early 1990s, this program has been taught to hundreds of thousands of practitioners globally to improve patients' overall health and well-being.
The Four R Approach for a Healthy GI Tract by Dr. Jeffrey Bland
Dr. Jeffrey Bland explains the four R approach for a healthy gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The first R is removing the culprits causing damage to the GI tract, such as processed foods, sugar, and toxins. The second R is restoring the enzymes required for proper digestion, including pancreatic enzymes and hydrochloric acid. The third R is reinoculating the gut with pre and probiotics, which promote a healthy microbiome. The fourth R is repairing the damage to the GI tract, caused by a faulty diet and lifestyle, drugs, and alcohol. Dr. Bland emphasizes the importance of a wholesome diet, like the Mediterranean-style, in nourishing a healthy microbiome. Lastly, he discusses the difference between modern and natural medicine and the adverse effects of overmedication on the gastrointestinal microbiota.
Traditional Chinese Medicine vs Modern Pharmacology
Traditional Chinese medicine focuses on managing body functions through the use of hundreds of bioactive compounds found in nature, while modern pharmacology focuses on acute disease management through single molecules that target specific receptors in the body. The use of single molecules for chronic conditions can lead to iatrogenic disorders. Plants have evolved to have symphonic orchestration of bioactive compounds to manage their function. These compounds, when consumed in their natural state, act like adaptogens by adjusting to the receptor sites in the body in a malleable manner. While both medicines have their benefits, traditional Chinese medicine offers a whole different treatment regime.
The Discovery of Himalaya Tarry Buckwheat as a Superfood
Dr. Jeffrey Bland's story of discovering Himalaya tarry buckwheat highlights the importance of exploring historical consumption of foods to find new molecules that have significant positive effects on health. It also emphasizes the importance of partnerships and collaboration across countries and disciplines to further research. The discovery of Himalaya tarry buckwheat as a superfood with high levels of immune-strengthening nutrients has led to clinical research and field trials. This story showcases the potential of exploring traditional foods and collaborations to enhance our understanding of the nutrients that benefit our health.
Understanding Your Immuno Identity for Optimal Health
Balancing and harmonizing the immune system is more effective than boosting it, as boosting can lead to hyperinflammatory states. There are five immuno identities that represent different archetypes of immunological imbalance, including hyperimmune function, pre-autoimmune types and disorders, immune suppressed type, dormant immune systems, and balanced immune system. Bid Boldt Health is a company that focuses on balancing and harmonizing the immune system, and they provide a simple 30-questionnaire to determine which immuno identity one has. It's important to understand our immune system's state and work towards improving it, as compromised immune systems can lead to serious illnesses and even death.
The Importance of Balancing Your Immune System with Nutrients
Balancing our immune system for resiliency is key to overall health, rather than simply treating symptoms. Endurance athletes are particularly at risk due to compromised immune resilience from not getting all the necessary nutrients. Flavonoids, found in foods like berries, citrus, turmeric, and peanut skins, are important for cellular communication and immune function. However, it’s important to put things in perspective, as high flavonoid foods like onions would require over 10 pounds to provide the same nutrients as one serving of tart buckwheat. Therefore, focusing on whole grains and a variety of supercharged foods is essential for optimal immune health.
The Importance of Choosing Whole Foods for a Strong Immune System and Better Health
Foods that keep blood sugar low can have a valuable impact on overall health and immune system, while processed foods can have adverse effects. Non-grain related, gluten-free products like organic oats and buckwheat can be high in phytochemicals like beta-glucan, which can activate and strengthen the innate immune system. To support overcoming illness and living longer, minimizing processed foods and incorporating whole foods is crucial. For example, consuming an apple instead of apple juice or apple sauce can keep blood sugar low and have a more beneficial effect on health. It is important to be informed about food choices and seek out sustainable agriculture and organic farming practices.
Sustainable Fish Oil Production in Alaska
A pharmaceutical grade manufacturing plant has been built in Dutch Harbor, Alaska in partnership with a major fishing company that uniquely processes fish on board the ships and freezes them to minus 20 within 20 minutes of being caught, capturing all of their nutritional value. The plant is designed to process the frozen fish and create fish oil that retains all of its natural anti-inflammatory properties, making it a sustainable and highly sought after product. The plant is MSC certified and has a higher standard certification that requires both sustainable fishing and a stable Shoreside community. This unique process creates a product that is better than fresh fish and retains its nutritional value even after being shipped for a week.
The Impact of Freshness on Fish Quality
Freshness of fish affects its texture, flavor, and nutrient composition. The degradation process starts as soon as the fish is caught, even at ice temperature. A specialized process involving rapid freezing and careful storage of fish products can preserve their quality and may sell for much higher prices. Wild Alaskan fish caught through this process, for example, can fetch up to $3 per pound, compared to traditional market prices of $1.15 per pound. In the case of non-red meats, it's important to consider the quality of the meat, including how the animal was raised, to ensure the absence of veterinary medicines, antibiotics, and harmful chemicals.
The benefits of choosing locally-sourced, organic food
Choosing locally-sourced, organic food can have a positive impact on your health and the environment. The story of Polly and Mel Coleman's ranch demonstrates how moving away from commercial beef production and towards a natural beef production system resulted in Polly no longer experiencing an allergic reaction to their own beef. This was due to the elimination of chemical processing, antibiotics, and medicines that were present in commercial beef production. Making small changes, such as shopping at local farmer's markets and reducing food waste, can help support the transition to a more sustainable and regenerative food system.
The Growing Role of Organic Agriculture and Biometric Devices in Health and Sustainability
Organic agriculture accounts for less than 3% of the total era of farmland in the United States. However, the organic movement is an agent of positive change that is growing. Techniques such as limited chemical intervention and carbon capture can help make agriculture more sustainable. A significant transformation in the medical and health and wellness space is the ability to measure biology 24/7/365 through biometric devices such as the Apple watch and Aura ring. These devices can help assess immune system health and provide early warning for potential health issues.
The transformational power of wearable health technology
The development of wearable health technology has given individuals the ability to measure their bodily functions continuously, creating a personalized laboratory of their body. While the disease care system lacks resources for daily tuning of the body, these tools provide the opportunity for individuals to become their own personal health coaches. The healthcare system is beginning to separate from the disease care system, allowing health to become a personalized and accessible field with a new set of tools. The use of wearable technology will become more widely accepted as they become more cosmetically attractive and generate AI provides personalized outcomes. Wearable technology, such as the Apple Watch and rings, provide a convenient method for individuals to have an intimate relationship with their personalized healthcare.
Dr. Jeffrey Bland on Complete Human Function and Tuning Up for the Best Day in Life
Dr. Jeffrey Bland emphasizes on the four quadrants of function that people aspire to perform at high levels, namely physical, metabolic, cognitive, and behavioral function. All four quadrants need to be tuned up to become a complete human being and to have the best day in our lives. The immune system is a place to start because it gives quick feedback which helps in taking charge of our health. However, it's not the only gateway to owning our health. Dr. Bland's biggest commitment in the remaining years of his life is to pay forward as he had a privileged life and experienced extraordinary things. He also advocates for improving society, culture, and people's lives.
Embrace Bold Health and Enhance Your Immunity
Big Bold Health is a movement that promotes being bold about your health and advocating for others to achieve the same. It offers a 90-day program called Immunity Plus, which has been shown to reduce immune age in humans by 6-7 years in just 90 days. Additionally, Big Bold Health is dedicated to improving the immune system of the soil, plants, and animals through the use of friendly bugs, which enhances the nutrient content of the plants and ultimately benefits human health. Overall, Big Bold Health encourages individuals to give back and live a purposeful life while striving to improve their health and the health of our interconnected world.
Take Control of Your Genes for Optimal Health
Dr. Jeffrey Bland emphasizes the importance of being in charge of our genes and recognizing that health is determined by our function, not by the absence of disease. He suggests starting with giving up sugared soft drinks and understanding the influence of our lifestyle and environment on our genes. Dr. Bland's three truths for leaving a lasting impact on the world are to be a good teacher, recognize the importance of our genes in determining our health, and understand that health is based on our function. In addition, he emphasizes the lessons of discipline and respect from his experience playing basketball under coach John Wooden at UCLA.
Upholding a Code of Conduct for Self-Respect and Success
Respect for oneself is an integral part of success, and it starts with upholding a code of conduct. Dr. Jeffrey Bland shared a story of a coach who dismissed a talented player from the team for disrespecting himself. The player went on to become a star at another school but failed to learn the lesson of self-respect. This example serves as a reminder that talent without character is a recipe for failure. Dr. Bland's definition of greatness is being respected by those you respect, even if it means facing criticism for upholding your principles. Ultimately, it's how the people you respect respond that determines if you're on the right path.
