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Language: en
welcome to Dr leam plugged real insights
from The Cutting Edge this is a strip
down video where I share behind thes
scenes insights as a scientist as a
doctor on topics related to health and
wellness it's raw it's direct it's
unscripted no sugar coating just real
talk and real SS all right and today
we're going to talk about colds and flu
and what you can do about them uh in
order to be able to recover faster so
first of all I want to sort of say what
causes a cold or a flu different viruses
and I know viruses are kind of a
triggering uh topic these days but you
know what got to live with it we live in
a world filled with bacteria viruses
different kinds of organisms there and
we breathe it in during the winter time
when other people are sniffling and
coughing and sneezing we stand a good
chance of getting sick ourselves all
right so one of the common symptoms of
having a cold or flu um is you get body
AES and the question is why does that
happen and what can we do about it so
when you're infected by a virus a cold
virus or a flu virus all right your body
responds by activating one of its
powerful Health defense systems now I
wrote about my health defenses in my
first book Eat to beat disease all right
if you haven't read it you should check
it out there's a whole section about
inflammation and Immunity it's sort of
two sides of the same coin the same
Health defense but it's a healthy
defense your body's going to have a
reaction when it's infected by virus and
it's going to ratchet up unleash its
immune system uh and it's really the
reaction that your immune system has
that causes the body aches so here's how
it actually goes basically it's not the
virus that causes the uh reaction it is
the body's reaction to uh the virus so
when you get infected your um immune
system senses it right away the viruses
um uh give are kind of give a dead
there's a dead giveaway that you've been
infected and your body just sends these
inflammatory uh cells right into uh the
uh location of infection right so um and
this these inflammatory cells are are
First Responders think about 911 to
being infected by a cold or a flu virus
now what's going to happen those First
Responders those immune cells are going
to dump inflammatory cytoid all right
inflammatory cines basically are virus
and bacteria killers and that the cells
the inflammatory cells that are there
are there to gobble up all the infected
and dead cells that might be around so
this is actually a situation where
inflammation is a normal Natural Healthy
response by bringing acute cells the
First Responders uh to to the infected
parts of the body your nose your sinuses
your lungs your Airways your broncus you
see what I'm saying and maybe even your
stomach you know a lot of us get an
upset uh stomach when we get the flu for
example
and that inflammation is what actually
causes us misery because basically those
inflammatory cells are releasing cyto
kindes those cyto kindes which are virus
Killers by the way and bacteria killers
they actually cause those symptoms they
make us feel pretty crummy and achy all
right so one of the things that those
cyto kindes do is in addition to cleanup
they are orchestrating the rest of the
immune response to say hey we have a 911
situation an emergency situation here
let's kill what's the bad guys are here
but let's call in the backup troops the
real immune system to come in to be able
to make sure everything is wiped out and
the rest of the body uh is clean those
pyocin those initial signals released by
the immune cells the First Responders
cause the runny nose cause the swollen
sinuses cause the muscle aches and pains
too that accompany the flu all right now
one of the cyto kindes that's released
that causes muscle aches is called inter
Lucan 6 I6 and that really makes your
muscles feel really really sore and your
achy muscles Force you also to slow down
and you're not going to be moving around
quite quite as fast right when you get
sick at a certain point you suddenly
sort of cross over that line where
you're like I got to BU light down
someplace that and that achiness for
example that Crum you feel that is your
body's way of shutting down your agenda
you thought you were going to go to that
dinner party that meeting that movie
nope you are going to lay down and rest
so that's actually also a way uh to to
uh send a signal for us to actually just
chill out and allow ourselves to heal
listen to your body when you're feeling
so painful there's like you know like
you just feel totally like crap lay down
let your body heal all right fortunately
flu cold maybe last a week few days all
right then your immune system wins the
virus is gone and the cyto kindes go
down and guess what your aches and pains
disappear that's what's actually going
on when you actually get the flu um and
you can go back to your normal
activities when you're actually done
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get back to the video so how do you
remate these body aches right cuz I told
you they're all good reactions you
actually want them your body is sending
the appropriate signals at the right
time in order to be able to get you to
rest and so your body can heal so like
basically comes with a territory um but
so what can you actually do well resting
is in fact the single most important
thing you can do it allows your muscles
to relax takes off the strain from your
body got to stay hydrated all right
because when you're fighting a a
bacteria you want to stay hydrated you
want your uh tissues your cells to be
flowing smoothly and liquid we need
water in our body and if you're dried
out okay your uh throat is dry your your
sinuses are dry man that actually helps
the virus actually kind of get a bigger
uh trench because it actually prevents
our immune cells from actually doing
their job doing the active accurate cell
killing virus killing all right so stay
hydrated keep those nice moist uh
sinuses and Airways so drink plenty of
fluid now Rel relaxing with a hot
beverage can be very helpful uh relaxing
is good all right some chamomile tea can
calm your body now chamomile has been
shown to contain a bioactive called
appenine a pi i g n i in aagen is also
found in parsley for example but
appenine is a powerful anti-inflammatory
so not only when you sip some chamomile
tea when you're sick not only does it
actually calm you down the hydr you but
the appenine found in chamomile flowers
that's in a te also helps to lower the
inflammation right so you might be
taking non-steroidals and uh ibuprofen
those kinds of things or cold medicines
but the natural form of this actually
can be also helpful to lower
inflammation now I got to tell you um I
was talking about chamomile tea I would
actually advise not to have regular tea
with caffeine or regular coffee when I
feel sick when I got the flu for example
I I kind of stay away from my morning
coffee which I normally drink that
caffeine whips you up it actually uh uh
causes your sympathetic wakeup um
neurotransmitters to come pouring out
all of a sudden you're more alert that
kind of counters your healing relaxing
chilling uh uh kind of state of being so
I would say and the caffeine also
depending on when you drink it can
interfere with your sleep
now if you have it in the morning it
should be burned out by the evening but
then it actually doesn't allow you to CH
it during the day if you have it later
in the day coffee or tea for example
that can interfere with your sleep and
when you're sick you really really want
to have good deep REM sleep rapid eye
movement sleep this is like when you
dream okay because when you're in that
deep Sleep Number One your brains uh
kind of um uh channels sewer drain opens
up to de to uh uh allow the release of
the toxins so you detox your brain when
you got good sleep whether you get the
flu or not okay so that's always the
reason to get good night's sleep but the
other thing that happens is that when
you're sleeping um you're got microbiome
reboots your immune system reboots it
rebuilds itself you actually are in an
active healing mode as well okay um so
that's actually something I recommend
doing is chamomile tea to relax no
caffeine drink a warm beverage um I try
to avoid caffeine but here's another
thing that actually could be helpful
grandma was right chicken soup can
actually be good for a cold or the flu
besides the fact that we're used to
having chicken soup uh whether you make
it yourself or you have it called in or
uh somebody else makes it for you here's
the cool thing food is medicine research
has discovered that chicken soup
contains natural peptides these are
fragments of proteins that are anti-
inflammatory all right these peptides
that are found in chicken soup temper
the effect of inflammation makes you
feel better so like I said Grandma was
right have some chicken soup it's good
for your cold good for your flu good for
your symptoms and by the way if you want
to actually get a little bit more out of
the chicken soup you can make it
yourself or somebody's going to make it
for you um you should try to make it
with bone broth chicken soup chicken B
bone broth made from chickens and why is
that cuz bone broth which is boil down
chicken bones will actually contain a
lot of collagen and amino acids that's
what bone broth is really rich in and
those are useful to help your body heal
and build itself back up all right
remember I told you your immune system
inflamatory system is going to be you
know chopping down all the bad cells
dead cells bad bugs bacteria viruses
guess what there's some repair that's
going to need to be done having amino
acids collagen protein those are
actually going to be helpful so chicken
um bone broth in chicken soup will
contain those peptides uh and the amino
acids that actually help you heal up now
you can have chicken noodle soup if you
want right and you add some veggies in
it like carrots or celery those can be
sources of dietary fiber and guess what
that dietary fiber does it feeds your
gut microbiome that's the 39 trillion
bacteria that live in our gut guess what
when we're sick and we actually make our
gut bacteria happy you know what our gut
bacteria does releases short chain fatty
acids that guess what lowers
inflammation so again some chicken soup
uh you got chicken noodle soup you add
some carrots add some celery make it
with bone broth now you've got something
that's the peptides that actually um
lower inflammation you've got um amino
acids and collagen for healing now you
have some carrots and you've got some
celery now you get some dietary fiber to
help your gut bacteria help your body
lower inflammation and boost immunity as
well all right now here's a something
that you may or may not know in Asia
chicken soup is also used it's kind of
like a universal uh Panacea for colds
and flu chicken soup is also used in
Asia but you know what how the in Asia
how they often make chicken soup if
you're recovering from an illness they
will make it with
ginger so chicken boiled down from Bones
now you got the bone broth so in Asia
often chicken soups made actually as a
bone broth you pull out the bones you
pull out the cooked meat the spent meat
now you boil it with ginger now what's
in ginger ginger uh contains a natural
bioactive called ginger all gingerol is
anti-inflammatory so now you have
chicken soup made with bone bone broth
you got the amino acids you got the
peptides lowers inflammation now you add
the ginger side of things with ginger
all you got more anti-inflammation does
that make sense so all these kinds of
old school techniques that go back
Generations actually wind up as we're
doing food and medicine as medicine
research to actually be really really
good for clearing up the cold clearing
up the flu getting those sinuses uh and
symptoms all cleared up now here's
another thing that you might not have
thought about if you are not familiar
with the Asian way of healing with
chicken soup chicken bone broth uh
Ginger you know what else is often added
in uh Asian healing chicken soups guess
what GOI berries you know GOI berries G
oji these are little tiny red berries
they usually come dry you can get them
in a herb store Asian market they come
dried in a package you put them into um
the chicken soup and they just kind of
hydrate up they start releasing the
natural bioactives found in Goji berries
one of them is called Zia zanthin z a x
n TI t h i n Zia zanthin it's a coronoid
and you know what zanthin is good for
it's anti-inflammatory but it's also
good for vision it actually helps lower
the risk of developing something called
macular
degeneration age related macular
degeneration the most common cause of
vision loss in people over the age of
65 all right but Zan does something else
it boosts something called te- helper
cells now te helper cells are one of the
super soldiers that are found in your
immune system and you know what when you
have zanthin in your chicken soup that
also has ginger in it that zanthin ramps
up ratches it up your tea helper cells
which then can help your body fight the
virus all right sound like a pretty good
deal to me and I've had plenty of
chicken soup both with noodles and
carrots and celery but also the Asian
version if you haven't tried that I
strongly recommend you trying it just
make bone broth uh add some ginger boil
the ginger in there peel it okay um a
little trick to peeling by the way
Ginger that a lot of people don't know
because it's kind of a pain to cut out
with a knife and then you lose a lot of
the
ginger a really effective way to uh uh
peel gingers with the back of with the
edge of a spoon you take a big hunk of
ginger root and you just scrape it keep
on scraping it guess what you'll see
that skin coming right off really cool
little trick then cut the ginger into
bigger pieces throw it right into the
chicken soup cook it cook it right down
all right don't eat the ginger that all
the good stuff the ginger all will be in
the broth add some Goji berries now you
got the zanthin the zanthin um is
anti-inflammatory good for your eyes and
guess what it actually boosts your tea
helper cells this is some of your immune
system that actually helps you fight
back bacteria viruses anything that your
immune system needs to take care of
you've actually boosted it all right
Herbal Healing here it is in chicken
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my course now back to the video you
might be asking Dr Lee what else
contains zanthin if it's useful for our
immune system now I'm going to tell you
broccoli has zanthin kale has zanthin
spinach Swiss chart squash you know the
fall squash all right pumpkin which I
love to eat pumpkin also contains
zanthin and the goji berry all right now
you might think about like I showed you
I told you some of the orangey ready
fleshy things as as well as a little
dried goji berry but broccoli too and
kale all right and spinach so zanthin is
a great way to actually uh heal your
body when you're sick and you can throw
it into chicken soup now you might not
be hungry when you're sick but when you
do eat think about the foods that I just
told you about the chamomile tea the
chicken soup with the ginger the GOI
berries I do want to say there's
something you should probably avoid
doing when you're sick and that's eating
ultr processed foods all right
now it's up to debate what you act what
the final definition or the ultimate
definition of an ultra processed food is
I like to have in this unplugged version
something that comes in a box or a bag
or or can or a jar comes from a factory
it's got a ton of ingredients in there
you look at the ingredient label which I
tell everyone to do and you can't
pronounce some of the ingredients that
are in there and you have no idea what
they're doing in there not something
that you would actually throw into your
um uh saucepan or your pot if you cooked
it at home that's probably an ultr
processed food all right Ultra processed
foods with all these additives and
chemical ingredients can damage your gut
microbiome and when you damage your
Healthy gut bacteria guess what happens
well they're supposed to lower
inflammation so when you damage them
inflammation goes up just what you don't
want when you're fighting a cold or the
flu so stay away from Ultra processed
foods I know you know like when I'm
doing research or traveling to give a
lecture or to do teaching and I've
gotten sick in the past you know you get
there and you got to push your way
through man you're in the train station
the bus station the airport and there's
all this food around you and you're
hungry I always tell myself don't don't
eat the ultra processed food Foods if I
want to feel better I got to I need all
my healthy bacteria fighting for me to
actually get better as quickly as
possible if I want to bounce back before
some big event I better stay away from
Ultra processed foods the other thing
that you want to do is kind of stay away
from um huge fatty foods french fries
all those deep fried things that are not
good for you anyway when you're sick and
you eat those Foods it actually just
kind of upsets your stomach uh can set
back your gut microbiome amp ify
inflammation uh all right because of the
um Advanced glycation end products that
they stimulate in your body all those
deep fried foods another thing to avoid
this is probably a no-brainer you don't
need me to tell you this is avoid
alcohol all right don't go out with the
guys or the gals to go for that drink or
beer if you're offered it you know and
you're sick and you don't want to talk
about being sick just politely decline
because the alcohol let me tell you the
alcohol amplify the inflammation in your
body and make you feel crappy the
alcohol also will dry you out all right
dehydrate you all right so now you're uh
amplifying uh inflammation you're
dehydrating yourself you're really
making the virus um a little happier or
you're tipping the odds in favor of the
virus winning so don't drink alcohol all
right um it's just going to uh make your
symptoms worse and last longer so you
want to actually get some relief the
relief of are the things that I uh I
told you about some chicken soup all
right is good some Camal tea what you
want to do is relax all right if you
need to perform you need to do something
out there go do it but then Retreat back
and chill out that's what I do when I'm
busy and I'm traveling and I don't feel
well I got to say after I've switched my
diet years ago to a healthier diet when
I'm sick I actually double down on my
healthy foods actually recover a lot
faster and these days I hard ever get uh
a cold or a flu in fact I can't hardly
remember the last time I had one I had
one about I had one last year that was
the first time in probably four or five
years uh I actually had a Col flu now
some basic advice um I'm not giving you
medical bu basic common sense if you're
not getting better from a cold or flu
after about a week I recommend you call
your doctor all right because something
else might be going on and it's best to
actually get that checked out you don't
want to be
uh nurturing a a a walking pneumonia or
some other infection that's going on
that's not clearing up um that you know
food as medicine isn't going to be able
to help uh you might actually need
something more specific to help you get
over whatever it is that uh is infecting
you all right so remember body aches
muscle aches all right that's actually a
signal that your body's Health defenses
against a virus is at work those aches
and pains that you get from cold and
viruses they're and flu viruses they're
a clear signal you got to slow down and
rest and as you are resting okay your
achiness will go away you can help
yourself with a little food as medicine
a little calmness all right a little
quiet a little not stressing out and a
little chicken soup all right you can
have it Mediterranean style Jewish style
you can have it Asian style all of these
things uh are good for you the chicken
soup with the peptides a lower
inflammation
that's the latest piece of scientific
discovery I want to share with you a lot
of people don't know that all right
that's it for today Dr Le plug hope you
learned something new and something
useful uh and if you enjoyed this video
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