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processed Meats now all of us that were
kids grew up you know at the you know
eating deli meats turkey and the ham
right I mean like that's basically you
you what did your mom what did your mom
pack in your lunch bag right yeah
exactly okay well that's that's a relic
of the 1950s you know of the sort of
ultra processed foods that are
everywhere Laden with chemicals that's
not what we want to be doing now I have
to say it doesn't mean
categorically that uh that the uh hams
or sausages are bad for you because if
you go to Italy or if you go to places
in Asia or Latin America where they
create they they create dried Meats kind
of the old way they're not putting
chemicals in there and they're not
manipulating it but here you know where
you go to the deli counter and you know
like yeah take take a look at that Deli
like that's not meat doesn't come like
that okay exactly so here's the thing uh
processed meats are actually classified
by the World Health Organization as a
carcinogen and you know linked to the uh
causation of cancer you got to eat a lot
of it but a lot of people actually eat I
mean how many hogies or Subs yeah right
um and I gotta say you know like when I
was growing up as a kid I I love those
kind of like fancy kind of like the deli
meats and stuff like that absolutely
totally not good for you so that's not
good for you it also damages the gut
microbiome uh and it can actually damage
your DNA so you want to kind of be cut
down or cut out uh sodas and processed
meats and then the other thing is really
a category and I call these ultr
processed foods so things are in a box
or in a can that you know like are
instant this or you know uh scoop out
and and eat it quick you know I don't
want to name any particular products um
I don't want to call any products out
but I think we all know the stuff a lot
of stuff we grew up with and or
advertised on television to kids you
know the Frosted this the pop that the
things that you that you know like the
TV dinners like things that used to be
like instant Foods got to be really
careful about that because if you take a
look at the packaging and I'm telling
you there's one thing your viewers can
get from me about things to watch out
for whatever you buy pick it up if it's
in a box or in a can and look on the
side don't look just at the that the
label look at the I mean at the name of
it look at the side and see if you
recognize the ingredients if if you
start you know if you lose start losing
track and you can't pronounce and you
don't know what most of that stuff is
it's an ultra processed food that harms
your DNA that lowers your immunity that
screws up your gut microbiome impairs
angiogenesis it actually causes our
cells to age faster those tiir burn down
faster oh man by those processed foods
yeah Ultra Ultra processed foods Ultra
right what's the difference between
Ultra and processed so look processing
is technically any type of food you
manipulate on like if you pick a tomato
and you cut it up and you make spaghetti
sauce at home that's processing you're
processing it okay if you're taking
flour and an egg and you're making home
made pasta you're processing it I'm
talking about Ultra process you know
there's a term called Extrusion have you
heard of this yes okay so basically
you've got these diecut machines that
like this goop gets thrown into and like
the big oil like crazy oils get thrown
in there and then it just like pushes
out uh like Play-Doh chunks of food that
get cut and dried that's what I'm
talking about like that's the ultra
processing it takes I guess maybe the
definition it takes food and trans forms
it into a form you don't recognize got
it okay the you don't recognize that
food yeah you don't want that I'm
curious Dr Lee what do you think has
been the the biggest aha for you in your
Decades of work through from medical
school to your research to your practice
to these things what is what was the
biggest aha when you learned this thing
it it changed everything for
you you know there have been so many
instances of that like a scientist I'm
seeing new things uh literally on a
weekly basis things are like my jaw
drops virtually you know like last week
uh leis I read about a new discovery
that we just discovered a new type of
human cell in our
heart last week like you know like that
that's like I hit my head like oh my god
really we uh a couple years ago we
discovered a new uh brain cell called
the rose hip neuron okay and it seems to
be linked to depression so I I'm always
amazed I mean as a scientist I'm Amazed
by the um uh by the marvelousness of the
body and how much we don't know about it
and still so we have to respect it did
you know by the way that we had it also
um this is just this past year 2021
there was a landmark discovery that
changed everything we knew about our
metabolism M what is that well so
everybody says that you know like um
when you're uh uh a teenager you're
growing tall you got a high metabolism
you're just burn calories right okay
totally wrong metabolism going down when
you're team okay and then people say
when you're um in your 20s or 30s you
know and you're starting to gain weight
and getting out of shape and they're
like man my metabolism is slowing down
and then some people basically say that
uh you know I was unlucky because I was
born with a bad metabolism look at my
sister or look at my cousin she's rail
thin she's so lucky she's got a fast
metabolism right all that has been turn
upended completely it turns out that all
humans go through only four phases of
metabolism in their whole life tell me
okay I'm actually I'm G to show you this
because it's actually right here in my
desk you got a chart you got a you got a
graph got a chart no no I got I got a
paper this baby right here it's in a
journal science okay this is how
researchers do it like I I all around my
office man like I am reading this stuff
and this paper uh I tell you I gotta
look at this it it studyed like 8,000
people from like 30 countries and it
studied people from eight days
old to 90 years old across 20 different
countries all right this is the largest
study of human metabolism ever
undertaken and here's what they found
that if you subtracted out body fat and
which is different for everybody okay
and you were to just go right down to
the core of real metabolism energy usage
energy generation are here's here are
the four phases when we're born we got
the same metabolism as our mother makes
sense synchronized okay from zero or
from from from the day you're born to
Oney old your metabolism
skyrockets in fact it's twice High when
you're Oney old as when you're 20 years
old wow okay so from one year old down
to throughout your teenagers in puberty
that time you think that you're eating a
lot and your metabolism is going skyh
high it's actually coming down from its
peak interesting why does it seem like
you're burning so many calories well you
you just you you um well you're more
active and you're growing yeah uh uh so
you may burning more calories but your
your metabolism hasn't changing this is
the key thing we are hardwired to go
through these phases now it's going down
to 20 years old from 20 years old to 60
years
old okay from college to retirement it
doesn't change it is Rock stable huh all
right so it's our and then after 60 it
starts to diminish but not as fast as
you think it's a slow deep it's a slow
grade down okay four phases of human
metabolism we never knew this before
this year all right this is how it new
it is so here's the key thing what makes
all the difference between people like
how why is your metabolism different
than mine and why is somebody why is a
sumo wrestler metabolism different than
you know somebody who's on a runway in
mil okay and it has to do with the fact
that our metabolisms are all the same
but the lifestyle choices that we make
can actually push our metabolism one way
or the other so it our metabolism
doesn't cause us to be fat our fat slows
down our metabolism it's the other way
around interesting completely way around
so what so how do we burn more fat then
to beat up my metabolism that's what I'm
working on right now and that's that's
that is the topic of my next book by the
way which I'm writing right now yeah so
so stay tuned for that answer because I
I'm on to something really hot on that
um and I I will give you a little bit of
a of a sneak peek what's s yes well you
can eat certain foods to burn your fat
down so so while while a caloric
restriction and fasting uh uh can
actually also do it it turns out there
are certain foods that you can actually
eat that will trigger it one of those
give me some of those I I don't I don't
want to give you a too much I don't want
to give your viewers a spoiler because
I'll have you come I'll have you invite
me back on the show we'll talk we'll
back on for sure we'll have you back on
for sure you can give us the whole
debrief but what what would you see a
couple of these Foods at least that you
think that are are now research and
proven to be powerful fat burning well
I'll give you I'll give you I'll give
you one that's actually just a surprise
is seafood actually Seafood yeah helps
burn fat yep is it help burn fat or it
starts to trigger and activate the fat
burning process it's it it triggers so
there are there are certain elements in
food that are newly discovered in
research like I just told you I just
told you some new stuff out that's
coming out of the hot off the presses
but I can tell you like this is where
this is what I do the research that if I
told you about research about biotech
developments it may not actually mean
anything to you for 10 years
maybe ever never okay but when there's
when there's research about food or
about your health a lot of times there's
stuff that you that has immediacy you
can put it to use right
away so cancer starving Foods
regenerative Foods gut health foods that
can also help your brain foods that slow
down cellular aging foods that lower
inflammation and boost your immune
system at the same time you know that's
what I'm talking about because the power
of healing
rests inside our body and Health Care is
not something that we need to rely on
when we go to the doctor's office right
every year you go once healthc care is
everything in between that we do for
ourselves and food is a medicine that we
take absolutely uh I've talked about
this many times on on my show before
that I grew up uh in a specific religion
called Christian Science where it was
more the practice of spiritual awareness
and that were spiritual ideas and and
less on using medicine to heal but more
using the mind and awareness to heal you
know thought which would then heal the
physical body um so medicine was never
really a thing I studied or really took
growing up uh it was just kind of like
when we got sick or when something
happened we we used thought prayer
spiritual prayer to kind of remind
ourselves of who we are but the uh I'm
curious do you think that people could
live without modern medicine if they eat
properly like all the things that you
talk about in your book eat to be
diseased do you think we
could live longer lives healthier lives
without the need of certain medicines um
or are you saying we should be using and
eating food when we need them well we
should be eating to enrich our lives
from the time we're young all the way
until our last breath and and that
should actually be able to tackle about
2third of all the chronic diseases and
by the way about a third of all cancers
are thought to be due to diet and
lifestyle onethird of cancers all right
we ought to be able to dodge but you got
to start early right I mean this is not
one of these things where I've been
smoking my whole life and now I'm gonna
actually turn over a new Leaf it's never
too late to quit by the way however the
fact of the matter is that H you know
like so you grew up you know know is in
Christ in the Christian Science um
framework which you're in you're in the
Boston area so you yeah that's where the
Hub is the mother church is in is in
Boston yes it's it's amaz it's an
amazing place a a really spectacular uh
place to visit and and a in a very
special place actually um but I I will
tell you that the idea of of
um uh having formative years uh uh
groomed in a healthy mindset yes which
is I think what you're talking about yes
uh is so important so that if you've got
kids and if you're um involved with
teaching and if you're involved with a
business where you can actually impact
on kids think about the impact that you
have now could actually influence their
health 30 40 50 60 years from now and
that to me is a big responsibility it's
a giant opportunity to make a better
Society that's beautiful
I'm curious we got a few more minutes
left um what do you think you're telling
me that every week you're essentially
finding these aha moments based on the
research papers you're finding and
things that you're discovering yourself
and what do you think in your mind if
you could predict the future 10 years
out 5 10 years out what are going to be
the brown groundbreaking things that we
as humans discover in the next 5 to 10
years that is going to transform our
health wow um based on what you've seen
in the last five to 10 years and we like
these are unbelievable every month new
findings what do you think is on the
horizon for
us well one thing that I think is most
uh one of the big aha jaw-droppers for
me in the kind of the journey that I've
actually had in my career is the fact
that we can regenerate ourselves okay
and I never thought that was even
possible I had been working in stem cell
therapy and regenerative medicine and
you know it's a real struggle it's an
uphill climb to really try to show that
we can actually regenerate the heart or
the brain or nerves and yet the body
does it every single day and when I
discovered that you know you could
regenerate um uh tissue by uh uh barley
you know eating barley which is beta D
glucan or with uh uh chocolate as I
mentioned to you cacao poly phenols or
even olive oil the there's something
called hydroxy tyrosol it's a natural
chemical and extra virgin olive oil it
helps to kind of make that distinctive
Olive oily taste um uh that that can
actually help to protect your stem cell
or if you are not a vegan but you eat
seafood um uh and and you and you're
really adventurous you know that black
pasta Squid Ink uh that they have
sometimes in menus I happen to I you
know I like to explore different kinds
of food Squid Ink actually protects your
stem cells it's like a shield okay and
so the fact that you we can actually eat
to regenerate so I'm very excited by
this idea that we can um uh eat foods
and we're still discovering what foods
can help our Propel our body's
regenerative capacity I think that's
going to actually be um a uh
groundbreaking and then something that
I'm actually working on that is really
you know future forward right so you're
asking like what what's going to be
mind-blowing in the future yes all right
well look um I'm a I'm kind of like a
pretty downto earth guy like I believe
that we should be protecting our planet
doing everything we can we can to um
take care of nurture this ball that we
live on uh and we should be doing better
for our community um but I also I think
from the time I was a kid I appreciated
and I was excited by this idea of space
travel which is now happening more often
right all right so here's something I
think is going to happen over the next
decade um as humans become
extraterrestrial we're going to be the
first extraterrestrials we're ever going
to meet is ourselves and we get Beyond
near Earth orbit we're going to be our
bodies are going to be bombarded by
Galactic radiation and and and have the
effects of negative gravity um changing
our body we got to find out what kinds
of foods huh for supplements so we got
to eat to protect ourselves that's crazy
so I'm working on that that's cool so I
I I've been meeting with astronauts I've
been talking to people in the space
program flight surgeons and what I'm
figuring is that if we can figure out
what we're going to need in the
future to that we could probably bring
that right down to earth right now to
actually do something good for us so
that's you know so I'm excited by that
that's cool that's really cool how do we
optimize our metabolism like what are
some foods that you think we can eat how
should we eat what types of activities
should we be doing every single day that
you found to be useful in like
optimizing the metabolism well you know
the first thing I sort of want to share
is an explanation uh of what is
metabolism because I think this is a
term that everyone thinks they know
something about but I'm telling you
there's a new science of the metabolism
that is changing the way that we
understand everything and and it's so
new that some of the information is less
than 2 years old the old textbooks are
still being ripped up and thrown out the
window the new ones haven't even been
written yet so we're talking about some
real Cutting Edge stuff the first point
is that our metabolism as a scientist I
could throw a lot of very very
complicated scientific terms at you but
I'm not going to do it your metabolism
is your body system to be able to use
fuel in your body to run your body's
engines just like if you have a car and
you have an engine that makes that makes
the car run you have to put fuel into
the car okay in order to be to be able
to run that engine so in a car when
you're driving and you look at the fuel
gauge and the the tank is running low
what do you do you turn pull over to the
gas station and you pull out and fill up
the tank when the tank is full the
nozzle clicks put it back and then you
drive off our body is the same way when
our engines are running it's our
metabolism how to use that energy and
fuel when our fuel tank runs low our
fuel gauge runs low it's in our brain
and it's hardwired in our muscles and
our organs when it runs low what do we
do we don't go to a station we pull over
to the dinner table we pull over to the
restaurant we pull over to the snack bar
to the refrigerator to The Pantry all
right and what are we doing we are
actually getting fuel hey there I've got
something important to share with you
and that is my guide to the three
healthy foods that you might want to
avoid if you're looking for
longevity many products that are
marketed as nutritious can actually
undermine your health and if you want to
find out more about these sneaky
ingredients and how to make better
choices then just click on the link
below the video for all the details it's
very important to know what's really in
your food and this resource that I'm
giving you gives you a head start get it
right now for free in the description
below or you can access the guy by
scanning the QR code on the screen with
your
smartphone now let's jump back into the
video so just like fueling up your car
so when we actually pick up fuel to put
into our body think about the analogy I
just gave you with a car and fuel good
quality fuel that you put into your car
or your gas tank is going to make your
engine run a lot longer your car could
take a crappy low quality gas once or
two twice you know when you're filling
that's all that's available right to get
you it back on the road but if you
actually continuously put low quality
fuel crappy quality Fuel and you start
to have contaminated gasoline into that
fuel whether it's contaminated with
chemicals or sugar or whatever else it
is you watch you destroy your engine
over time same deal when it comes to
food in our engine our food is our fuel
our our body our metabolism runs that
energy and the quality makes all the
difference in the world now I want to
talk about some specific foods that help
our metabolism run really really well
but in addition to one way to that I
want to say about how do we wreck our
metabolism okay is just using the same
analogy as the gas station now imagine
you go to the pull up to the filling
station with your car and you put the
nozzle in your gas tank the gas tank is
full and normally the nozzle clicks when
the gas tank is full and it's not going
to fill anymore no more gas comes out
and you pull it out and you're good to
go our body doesn't have a clicker so
when we sit down to put fuel in our body
and you say overeating all right that's
what we're doing where there's no
clicker we're just continuing to shove
food into our body now what happens when
you're actually at a filling station if
your gas tank were to overflow all right
it run down the side out of the tank
down the side of the car around the
wheels it would pull around your feet
and you'd be standing in this flammable
toxic dangerous mess right and you would
hope that the air you'd have to walk
away and the air would evaporate the
gasoline right now we don't have the
same luxury when we eat when we eat and
we ovat what we're doing is we are
overloading the tanks in our body and
our body has to put that extra fuel
somewhere it can't evaporate so what our
body does is it takes extra Fuel and it
stuffs it into our fat our fat cells our
fat cells are normal fuel tanks all
right so when we have when we eat we're
using the energy anything extra gets
stored into little fat cells fat cells
get bigger bigger bigger all right and
then if you're eating normal amounts
it'll store some extra energy then when
you're done eating it'll burn down that
fuel now if you actually continuously
actually overload the gas tank you're
going to fill up that fat fuel tank it's
going to be blisteringly big like a
water balloon and then guess what your
body says we still got more fuel you
overate now you got to make more fat
cells fuel tanks and it's going to fill
those up and that gets filled up now you
got to make another one and it's going
to fill up and now you kind of see why
over putting too much fuel in our body
causes us to actually gain extra body
fat that extra body fat is like a toxic
mess that are standing in that gasoline
that overflo gas tank is like it's
flammable it's inflammation which is
like flame inside our body that sets us
up for a big problem the good news about
that is we can actually eat less so
being mindful that that's how our body
works you eat less is really really
helpful so I always tell people eat stop
eating when you feel satisfied but
before you feel full and if you eat
slower you're stomach will signal text
message your brain to tell you like when
it's actually naturally full the other
thing you can do that would be
incredibly important to actually keep
your metabolism going well is not to eat
too close to bedtime and not to eat too
close to getting up in the
morning because when we are actually
eating food there's a a hormone called
insulin that our pancreas our body
produces and Insulin works to draw that
food fuel as energy into our cells
that's what insulin does all right and
when our insulin is up it's the signal
in our body is our metabolisms that
store the fuel baby don't burn it store
it we want to gobble it all up and pack
it away all right it's like ammo for
energy when our insulin is down which is
when we're not eating our metabolism
shifts gears and says all right time to
tap into the fuel so if you want to burn
that extra fuel that's stored in in your
tanks which is your fat cells you might
have extra fat from overeating yesterday
or overeating the last week or the last
month or from the holidays whatever it
is your celebration all right the fact
is that you could your body is actually
hardw to burn that down but it only
Burns it down when you are not eating
because the insulin goes down and your
metabolism shifts gears to actually be
in fat burning mode this happens when
we're sleeping Naturally by the way and
when we're sleeping we're not eating by
the way another name for that is fasting
which is why when we get up in the
morning and we have our coffee and our
eggs or whatever it's called breakfast
breakfast is breaking your overnight
fast break fast all right and so when
what you hear about uh intermittent
fasting isn't just a trend isn't kind of
like this crazy you know new way of
actually living your life it's what how
our body's hardw to do it every single
day when you're sleeping you're fasting
when you're fasting your insulin's down
when your insulin's down your metabolism
goes sh let's go ahead and start burning
down extra fuel all right so if you
don't eat too close to bedtime like when
you stop eating okay let's say you go to
bed at 11: and you get up at 700 in the
morning that's 8 hours of sleep I
strongly recommend that as a generally
good optimal amount of time of sleep to
get cleans your brain it gets rid of the
toxins it actually reset your immune
system all kinds of things calm stress
lowers inflammation good quality 8 hours
of sleep now let's say that you eat
dinner so you go to bed from 11:00 and
get up at 7:00 8 hours let's say that
you eat dinner at 7:00 in the evening
all right and for most people let's say
that you finish eating at around 8 an
hour later you put their dishes away in
the sink at 8:00 all right now how many
of us actually eat a little snack later
we go for some dessert we're before
bedtime I got to eat one more thing all
right don't want to do that because
every time you do that close to bedtime
you're spiking your insulin when the
insulin goes up your metabolism isn't
able to burn fat if you stop eating
when you put your dishes in the sink so
let's say that you eat dinner at 7 you
stop eating at 8: put your dishes in a
sink no more food that's it okay you'll
get used to it it'll be cool don't worry
all right you've G and you go to bed 11
from 8 to 11 you've given your body
three extra hours you've given your
metabolism the gift of three extra hours
to burn down that extra fuel that's
gotten stuck and trapped in your body
and if you get up at 700 in the morning
rather than roll out of bed and do what
you know our mommies told us to do when
we were kids hurry up and eat breakfast
so you can get on the school bus and go
to school in time all right if you get
up instead let's say it's 7 take a
shower get dressed check your emails
read a book read a newspaper whatever it
is you're going to do go for a walk an
hour later you sit and have a breakfast
you've given your body your metabolism
the gift of an extra hour in the morning
that you burn down fuel so let's do some
math 3 hours after after the dishes are
in the sink before bedtime Plus Plus 8
hours of sleeping time that's 11 hours
plus one extra hour before you actually
sit down and eat breakfast it's
reasonable to do anybody can actually do
that honestly but do the math 3+ 8+ 1
Now it's 12 hours you've given your body
50% of your life is spent towards
streamlining your metabolism by burning
down that extra body fat that's how you
allow your inner metabolism to start to
rise to the surface so without actually
having to even go on any kind of crazy
diet any fats any elimination you can
just kind of use that timing and of
course the amount to eat like always
leave some white space on your plate
don't go back for seconds and quit The
Clean Plate Club that's a way with
before we even talk about what are some
good choices to add that you can
actually use your body to fight on your
behalf I love that explanation and it
just seems like the the main thing
somebody can do to improve the function
of their metabolism is to lose excess
body fat and the best way to do that
without necessarily going on a specific
diet or focusing on specific Foods is to
just eat less than you are now and
finding creative ways to do that one of
them being almost like the Tim
restricted feeding window like you said
almost like you don't eat past a certain
time you eat like an hour after you get
up or something like that in my book Eat
to beat your diet I call it once you
realize what time you finish dinner and
what time you eat breakfast you can set
your own it's like an alarm on your
watch or your phone you can set the time
you're going to open your eating window
in the morning okay and you can set what
time you're going to close the eating
window so you're not going to eat
anymore right and you can even set an
alarm on your phone if you need a
reminder but actually you know if you
realize that the time that you're not
eating after you put the dishes away
your body is actually starting to shift
into gear to start to streamline your
metabolism that's kind of an awareness
you can't unlearn that like once you
hear that then next time you actually
reach for that brownie or that piece of
cake or whatever it is bag of chips like
some voice in your head is going to wait
a minute wait a minute I don't want to
be interfering with my body right now my
body actually wants to do something you
another part of your brain might be
saying go ahead and eat it right that's
the the Angel and the devil kind of on
both shoulders Waring with your brain
but again this is where I think you by
understanding what your goals are you
realize that your body wants to help you
it's trying to help you it's there for
you man like it's got your back and so
by putting that in your head it's is an
easy thing now you want to take that to
the next level and this is what I read
about my new book EB your diet what's
really cool is that during the time
you're eating it turns out that food
doesn't always grow fat in fact the
research has shown some foods actually
during the day even when your insulin is
up some foods will actually cause your
body to fight extra body fat and
streamline your metabolism while you're
eating so just now before I was telling
you when insulin is up when you're
eating your body metabolism is all about
storing the food and not burning it and
when you're not eating and your
insulin's down it'll actually start to
burn the fuel there's an exception to
that rule and that's if you choose and I
wrote about 150 different foods proven
by human studies research studies that
when you eat them in moderation these
foods and the natural chemicals
contained in them will fire your
metabolism so you can eat to lose and
burn down extra body fat so you can
streamline your metabolism that to me is
a really amazing thing because it's good
news you can choose foods I mean who
would have thought you can eat foods to
lose weight doesn't make sense right yes
it does the science teaches us and the
clinical studies show us it can be
actually done what are the top things
that you would say that people are doing
every day that actually create those
potholes when it comes to our vascular
health I know you like to focus on what
we can add but I'd also like to talk
about what's causing the most damage
when it comes to our vascular health and
our overall blood flow throughout the
body yeah okay so um that's really an
important thing to think about like I
spend most of my time developing
positive messages that people can lean
into but if you want to start from a
from a from a Level Playing Field you
got to think about all right how do you
unburden your how do you unload and
unburden your body's Health defenses so
you're not working against yourself
that's kind of like what we're talking
about what are the things that we that
people commonly do that work against
your health your health defenses so
you're you're sitting down and and and
suppressing your defenses well let's
let's let's walk through a couple of
them number one is physical inactivity
right like I mean think about during the
pandemic a lot of people were just not
doing as much not Outdoors as much not
exercising as much not socializing as
much not traveling as much and you know
and there's a lot of depression too and
so physical activity you know even 30
minutes of moderate physical activity
get your heart rate up walk out you know
like everybody feels a little bit better
after taking a walk no matter how
stressed out you are and even if you're
not stressed out you feel better it gets
your circulation going um it uh it
exercise like that lowers inflammation
um being physically inactive the couch
potato actually is is
incredibly being a c is incredibly
damaging by the way I I heard a um uh
like when you walk you rev up your
metabolism as well I saw the study that
I was just looking at for the next book
I'm WR writing that's really amazing it
turns out if you are going to be a couch
potato that sitting down a lot there was
a research studied on this even
fidgeting the knee going B up or you
know fidget with a you know like one of
those fidget toys even that starts to
burn calories uh compared to um just not
moving at all like just sitting and
staring at a screen and so again
movement physical activity really
important actually to kind of rev up
your metabolism get back to Better
Health
um uh uh and um uh and Unleash Your
Health offenses another thing is really
eating a lot of ultra processed foods um
you know all of us who go to the grocery
store um uh are tempted to go into the
middle aisle it's almost like a a siren
calls you into the middle a to look at
all the colorful packaged ultr processed
things you know calls you it's like the
the siren that calls the ship captain to
wind up on the rocks and then sink the
ship well this is the middle aisle of
the grocery store now there's a lot of
good stuff there too as well well but I
think most of us go for the things that
have been advertised to us since we were
a kid to go look for those sweets and
things in the middle aisle well it turns
out that if you take the time to go
around the perimeter first and go to the
produce section and that's where you
should spend most of your time when
you're grocery shopping looking for
what's fresh and plant-based and it
really kind of rev up your your dietary
fiber and your bioactives that's what's
really good but the middle a you know
it's hard to stay out of and so when
people eat boxed Foods Jarred Foods
canned foods that are laced with
chemical preservatives and and process
made with made up using Factory
processes that take whole food and turn
them into the sort of this weird um
machined food extruded food you know
thing food that your grandmother or
great grandmother would not recognize as
food and then you add these synthetic
chemicals to it man does that actually
work against your body's Health offenses
wow and you know there's been so much
conversation these days about being
mindful this goes into the category of
ultr processed foods but being mindful
about the overall sort of load of sugar
and highly refined carbohydrates uh you
know we've done multiple episodes about
continuous glucose monitors and just
being more aware about the order of food
so maybe you go to a restaurant and
instead of having the bread and the
butter which everybody likes to do here
and there especially if it's a nice
piece of sourdough or we're lucky here
in Los Angeles there's a few places that
will Import in wheat from Italy you were
talking about Italy and the quality of
ingredients there so instead of having
those at the beginning of your dinner
when you sit down at the restaurant
maybe saving that piece of bread for the
end after you have some Fiber some
healthy fats and protein inside of there
how important is sequencing to you and
do you think of it in the context of the
advice that you give folks when you're
talking about food is medicine very
important sequencing you know like first
of
all I believe that we should eat um food
not only for our Health but to bring us
joy okay and and and and so there's
nothing wrong with eating foods that you
really enjoy that are also healthy for
you and I think that's really the
alignment we're going to have and when
you when you have a spread of food in
front of you whether it's at a
restaurant and you get your bread and
butter and then you get your salad then
you get your Mane then you get your
dessert okay there's a there's kind of
like a ritual order that it goes in but
nobody said that you have to eat it in
the order that it's actually served to
you what I think when it comes to of
food is that you should eat the
healthiest things first and save other
bits really on the side take a little
nibble of them you the problem you know
that you talk about with bread okay even
good quality bread like you know
homemade sourdough bread with stuff from
midley the problem with that is that if
you sit down when you're really hungry
and that's the first thing that you're
served you're going to eat a lot of it I
try to tell people you know don't waste
your appetite you're going to have a
certain amount of appetite you don't
want to load up uh one on the stuff
that's not necessarily high quality
calories and bioactives you know I I
what I do when I actually sit at
restaurant I don't eat the bread right
away I look at the menu I look at the
whole menu and what I try to do is to
recognize ingredients that are healthy
and then see if they are actually listed
in offerings that I really am drawn
towards attracted towards something with
capers I know Capers have a lot of
chlorogenic acid do or cortin wow look
at that that's anting salad I don't I've
never had that before let me try that
you know and I I kind of then I I size
up the whole meal and um and then I and
then I will order but I'm not eating the
bread first before I even look at that
and I'm like yeah you know I'm kind of
full up I'm just going to eat I'm just
going to get like the the the family
style pasta for myself now you got bread
now you got pasta now you've kind of
like just distorted your whole kind of
thing so what I say is that look on the
menu for the things that are good for
you and and and and um by the way
sometimes you can order sometimes
there's really good stuff that's order
in smaller plates and you can just order
two of those or even three of those
without ordering entree you know and and
so there's no Rhyme or Reason you know I
I I I don't want to say that you you
should eat dessert first and you're main
last that's not what I'm saying but what
I'm saying is that eat the spend the
quality of your time doing eating the
things that are tasty and good for you
on the topic of things that are good for
you you know I love your Instagram and
by the way everybody who's listening if
you want more of this information little
preview uh Dr William Lee has so many
great resources that are out there this
is incredible free webinar that your
team is doing on a regular basis we'll
link to it inside of the show notes as
well as your Instagram is another great
resource because you will always make me
excited about an ingredient or food that
I thought I knew about but then maybe I
forgot to include on a regular basis and
this is one of those foods that was in
your GR
Grand Slam sorry a little tongue twister
Grand Slam PDF again we have the link to
where to download that inside of the
show notes and also I saw you do an
Instagram uh TV or an Instagram live
video on this recently and that's
sunflower seeds so hey there if you're
ready to take control of your health
using the power of food then I encourage
you to check out my eat to beat disease
online course more than 4,000 people
from 80 countries have taken it and now
they know know how to eat to beat
disease and you can too I personally
developed all the material in this
course drawing from my latest research
and my years of experience it's designed
to give you practical science-based
strategies that you can use to boost
your health every single day to learn
more click the link below why should we
be excited about sunflower seeds if you
can remember some of the key highlights
and talking points that you shared about
why you like to include this uh
ingredient in your diet on a regular
basis well one of the things that I love
about sunflower seeds is they they taste
really good they're nutty they have this
kind of really delicate kind of flavor
um it's not a it's not and and they're
and they're not very crunchy they're
they're kind of soft um uh and um uh and
and they're very commonly eaten in the
Mediterranean lightly roasted uh and so
it's just a it's a great uh treat it's
good source of dietary fiber and there's
also a bioactive in it called SG I'm not
even bother going into the chemical name
pronounce what the S and the D and the g
stands for but I can tell you that
actually it protects your stem cells and
yes sunflower seeds do belong to the
Grand Slammers but I will also tell you
that the fact that there's dietary fiber
to feed your gut microbiome which helps
your metabolism helps you heal better
makes you feel better and actually
activates your brain and improves your
mood sunflower seeds are a great way of
snacking and the protection against your
for your stem cells also means that um
it helps your body renew itself from the
inside out now sunflower seeds are
something I like to keep around like a
just a little bowlful um like if I'm for
a snack that's the other thing I like
about it you don't have to like you
don't have to eat up like a couple of
fistfuls of the stuff for to be good for
you you just you can just kind of like
Chew in them a little bit bit bit by bit
and you you feel totally satisfied and
it's a great source of fiber and other
bioactives does it matter if we eat them
raw or not or roasted should be worried
about how much uh sodium might come with
they are roasted just any kind of
considerations and I guess people could
think about this when they're thinking
about all sort of seeds and nuts that
they want to include in their diet so we
love to hear your take such an important
thing so you know like what I do is I
buy I like to buy just a bag of
sunflower seeds or cashews or walnuts
that isn't actually pre-seasoned I like
to do it myself honestly or sometimes
like sunflower seeds I don't mind them
they're not seasoned at all I kind of
like the fact that they're actually even
a little sweet you know um and they're
not clly sweet but they're they're
definitely not salty you can salt them
if you want but the but be very careful
about commercial brand seasoned nuts and
seeds because often times they are
loaded with salt also sometimes they're
loaded with unhealthy oils because to
roast them they'll coat them with really
unhealthy saturated fats and then they
roast them and they'll dump salt on them
and they'll Shake all the salt off and
that'll be a pretty tasty bag that I
guarantee you like it'll be kind of
addictive to go through them but man
your your sodium will go through the
roof and then if you get the the barbecu
flavors and then the pizza flavored and
all those other kinds of things that
might sound attractive on the label just
remember mostly those are seasonings
that some of which are synthetic and are
engineered to taste like something with
artif you know something synthetic like
that's not what you want and so I like
to go for the ele Al natural flavors if
I'm going to season it like cashews I
might season myself a little bit walnuts
I don't need seasoning pecans are
allness almonds I don't really need
seasoning but if you're going to use
seasoning um just take a little pinch of
sea salt okay um and and you can just
just um just sprinkle it on it mix it
around you'll get a little bit of salt
but you do not want to actually this is
not Shaker uh style you don't definitely
want don't want to do that yeah the
interesting thing about it is that the
level of sodium that comes in these
highly processed snacks that are already
prepared for us I was even using a spice
yesterday that is from a very healthy
company and known as a healthy company
the spice was organic it's a
pre-seasoning and I was looking at the
bag and the bag which had the spice
inside of it that I was using for these
uh chicken thighs that I was making to
add to my base salad my big fat salad
you know had avocado oil had olive oil
some avocado olives a bunch of really
just good and healthy things including
fermented beets that's usually my sort
of chosen way of having beets in my diet
and other great vegetables anyways I was
looking at the bag on the back and the
amount of sodium that was in there was
essentially almost 30% of the
recommended daily value for one serving
of that seasoning that's there now the
crazy thing is I was doing the math
online about what it would take for me
at my house to use salt right high
quality table salt or Himalayan salt or
sea salt to get close to that amount and
what most of us forget is that if we
wanted to Salt our food at the level
that it comes pre-seasoned by processed
food companies some which are still in
that quote unquote healthy category it
actually wouldn't taste that good if we
used salt ourselves to do that
equivalent amount of sodium you have to
engineer it and do all sorts of things
to make that amount of salt palatable so
I think for the most part if people are
just using uh a reasonable amount of sea
salt at home uh just to dust their meal
or add a little bit to their roast
veggies you're going to be fine overall
it's actually very hard to get to levels
of sodium that are coming in these
processed foods that we pick up in the
store so I think the moral of the story
and feel free to disagree or agree is
just overall cutting down the amount of
processed foods that we include in our
diet even being very wary of a lot of
the healthy processed foods that are now
being sold at Whole Foods in other
places because that's really where you
get these large quantities of sodium
from yeah I mean it's always buy or
beware and the the one sort of cheat
that every uh commercial food provider
restaurants included to to make their
food taste better is salt because salt
does make almost everything taste better
just like sugar makes everything tastes
better a little bit's okay the the
quantities that are often used are not
okay and I think that that's important
to remember too along those same lines
um you know your listener should
actually think about this when you go to
a restaurant if you were to actually um
uh go behind the scenes and see how the
chefs are actually salting the food
you'd be surprised they will grab like a
like a like a big mound of salt um and
just throw it into a dish sometimes and
it'll taste really great but you got way
more sodium in there than you ever
thought when I cook at home I'll tell
you although I um will uh be be very CAU
conscious cautious not to use too much
salt here's a little trick that um
people who cook at home can use so if
you're going to sauté something in a pan
okay I I I usually cook with olive oil
over medium heat not super high heat I
don't want to burn the the stuff in the
olive oil and I wanted to put a little
salt you know just a little bit of salt
what I what I don't do is cook the food
and then take the salt and throw it into
the food after it's done I will actually
sometimes just take a pinch of salt and
dust the olive oil while it's heating up
now you're guaranteed not to actually
put too much salt in because you can see
exactly how much salt you're putting in
if you were to put the like a spoonful
of salt in there you're like man I just
ruin the whole pan I can't use that pan
I got to clean it out and do start it
all over again so I think you know even
when even if you're cooking at home just
having that awareness that you know
whether it's at home or a restaurant or
at a uh process Ultra processed Factory
somebody's putting salt in there and
it's up to you to determine how much
you're going to allow into your body why
is it so controversial and why are you
so confident to be able to tell people
cut out these diet drinks from your
diet yeah well I think I I have the same
general Outlook as you and my own stance
and my advice is very similar which is
take a precautionary stance um and be be
informed look I mean life is wor the
living so we're all we all do things
that are that are maybe not so good for
us from time to time but you know every
time you you every time you commit
yourself to making a decision like that
just be aware it may not be so good for
you we we we may not be 100% certain and
of course everyone's a little bit
different but here's what I write about
in my book because I was deeply
researching this what's the role of
beverages people say well fruit juices
must be okay because they come from
fruits which are plant-based aren't you
talking about eating plant-based Foods
yes but again this is you know back to
this idea of new Nuance which is really
important I think that the science of
the body is
continuously changing and advancing so
that we understand more and more what
the impact is of something that we might
consume and how our body responds to it
10 years ago there were some inklings
that maybe diet soft drinks might not be
so good for our metabolism now that
we've dived deeper into gut health we're
beginning to see more concrete data that
suggest that there is an impact we also
do know more greatly than ever that our
gut health is so important for our
overall health and so when we start to
put together this hypothesis and start
to stitch together some of the
information the precautionary position
is you know be really careful about diet
sodas and be careful about sodas in
general and so for my book one of the
things that I wanted to do is just to
write about like where's the Safe Harbor
and all this right by the way I I take
people in my book through the as I was
writing the to my book on Foods I wrote
for the
reader imagining that they were sitting
in the grocery cart like we all did when
we were kids in our mom's grocery cart
and she was pushing us through the
grocery store and what I'm doing is kind
of whispering your ear telling you what
is healthy and good for your metabolism
to put in the grocery cart and when we
get to the beverage aisle okay there's a
whole chapter on beverages I really come
to this conclusion that um there are
three beverages that I call the Holy
Trinity for health it's water it's tea
and it's coffee in their Elemental forms
right not the stuff that's got the
syrups and things put in them not NE the
flavored Waters necessarily but in their
Elemental forms these three beverages
all have very very compelling uh and
deep evidence that they actually benefit
our physiology they help our body do its
things um in in a way everything else
that's a beverage when you consume it
there are ways of actually bringing joy
and great flavor and taste don't deny
that but they're actually introducing
things in your body that may or may not
be so good for you look everyone enjoys
a sweet drink of course you know the
remember when we were kids and you went
to a function and uh your your a parent
or an adult pours you a cup of punch you
know it's of a color that doesn't occur
in nature and you drink it and oh it's
so great look this is who we are we're
humans we enjoy sweet things our brain
is hardwired to enjoy sweet things but I
think that one of the things is if you
have the awareness that things that we
may enjoy may not be that good for us
and we're mindful about restricting
limiting consuming only modestly that's
a good first step I don't believe that
people should go
hardcore uh and just come off of
everything that they enjoy no nor do I
really believe in in um uh villainizing
Foods I think we should look at all the
data and and nothing speaks more to this
than even something that is beneficial
to you if you consume it in excess can
overwhelm our bodies we're just human
yeah I think there a couple of really
important points to pause upon there one
is you know as you were talking about
diet soft
drinks you said that look we're all
human we all like to have things now and
again that are probably not the best
thing for us and I think we need to
acknowledge that and go yeah that is who
we are we all probably have our little
Tendencies the things that we like to go
to you know maybe it's stress I know for
me if there's a lot of stress on in my
life and there is at the moments to do
with my mom and her health I tend to
seek certain foods out that I know are
probably not the best for me that that
that in that moment they feel as though
there's something I want to consume and
I think we need to be honest about that
what we're not looking for is Perfection
when you say diet drinks are probably
not that helpful you know if you're
having the odd one now and again it's
probably going to be fine but if you're
having three or four of them a day seven
days a week four weeks a month 12 months
a year you know there may be some
consequences and I think that Nuance is
really really important you mentioned
also about these three
beverages water tea and coffee now you
did didn't mention alcohol and there
wasn't a fourth beverage even though
certain communities around the world who
are written about the blue zones for
example to be long living most of those
blue zones not all of them I think I
don't think Loma Linda uh the fifth Blue
Zone I don't think they consume alcohol
but the other four I believe do consume
alcohol now I have some very clear views
about alcohol and where that fits in how
do you see alcohol in the context of our
overall health and I guess in relation
to your latest book around the context
of fat
loss yeah well you know I get asked this
question all the time Dr Lee what do you
think about red wine or what about
alcohol and in you know oftentimes the
reason that someone's asking is either
that they have heard that drinking red
wine or drinking wine in the blue zones
is is has been is touted as being
associated with vity or Better Health
and there are some clinical studies that
also show some of these overall
correlations of health benefit as well
um I oftentimes think that people who
are asking those questions are looking
for a justification or an excuse uh for
it so I I'm I'm always trying to
understand where the question is
actually coming from but I'm a scientist
and you know like you you and I are both
Physicians we have to answer very
honestly and the honest answer is is
that that alcohol ethanol which is a
chemical
it's a product of fermentation it's
actually what makes you feel boozy and
drunk okay there's no health benefits
from it's a toxin it's a toxin for
virtually every organ in our body it
kills your brain kills your liver and
you don't have to drink very much
frankly of pure ethanol the pure stuff
to knock yourself off uh it is actually
a poison that said wine and other
Spirits again are part of who we are as
humans part it's part of our Humanity
you know I I mentioned a little bit
earlier you know from the time of
earliest cultivation of Agriculture
people have actually been cultivating
grapes and fermenting them and not
making just processed grape juice
they've been making wine wine actually
uh has been a revered part of human
tradition uh religious ceremonies uh
celebrations wines are wine and and
Spirits are consumed at funerals at
holidays celebrating the New Year
cultures around the world but in no case
is the actual ethanol something that is
healthy for you it's that this is part
of our our human tradition it's not done
very frequently and like anything else
if done in moderation it it's probably
okay now what about the blue zones what
about these Sardinian goat herders who
actually do drink red wine uh every
night you know from the the great
Sardinian canono red wine which you know
actually is quite a nice wine here's the
issue they are doing almost everything
else right in their lives and the so the
alcohol that they're having is offset by
uh all the other physical activity low
stress social commitment sense of
purpose uh other healthy local Fresh
Foods that are actually grown and
prepared in healthy ways the absence of
ultra processed foods you're not
drinking a lot of diet sodas diet or
otherwise and so in that sense you know
everything is a check and balance our
body is like a gigantic calculator so
how much does if you do everything else
right how much does a glass or two of
red wine of Al of ethanol do for you
probably not much harm and by the way
the fermentation product of in red wine
if you remove the ethanol the toxic
stuff all the other polyphenols are
actually in the non-alcoholic part of
the liquid so you know I think this
Nuance part is actually really important
as you brought up yeah there's just so
much there um first of all thank you for
sharing your perspective I think a lot
about thresholds when I talk to my
patients there's also a course called
prescribing lifestyle medicine that is
accredited by the Royal College of GPS
that me and a colleague teach to healthc
Care Professionals and doctors all over
the world about how to use the
principles of Lifestyle medicine to
personalize care for the individual
patients and we've created all these
Frameworks to help uh people do that and
I talk about thresholds a lot on that
course and say look especially when
you're looking at our lifestyle
behaviors it's not always about the one
thing it's about the combination of
things you know what else is going on
and I completely agree to go to these
you know the theoretical mythical blue
zones in our head let's say that goats
herder in
Sardinia low levels of stress strong
Community ties local Whole Foods right
alcohol there is probably being used as
a way of bond in and connecting it's not
being used typically from what I
understand as a way of destressing from
The Chronic overload the chronic stress
and of course in the west you know we
know that stress now is thought to be
responsible for 80 to 90% of the
conditions that medical doctors see if
you're using alcohol as a way to
mitigate stress I'm not convinced it's
going to have the same impact than if
you're feeling really chilled and
relaxed you're using half a glass of
wine to bond with one of your best mates
who you've not seen in a while I really
do believe the impact on the body is
going to be somewhat different also
speaking to what you just said about uh
tea and coffee let's say tea and coffee
are really interesting because we can
epidemiologically look at populations
and I think last time you came on the
podcast we spoke a little bit about tea
and we'll definitely get to tea I know
you're a huge tea fan and how these long
living populations
are consuming high amounts of tea and
coffee but also to really get very
granular we can look in the lab and look
at the cell and look at the science and
reduce it right down and go yes tea and
coffee have certain compounds that are
going to be helping us we can't really
say the same for alcohol in the same way
yes epidemiologically these populations
are consuming but then as you said yes
there are compounds within the alcohol
but if you look at the pure ethanol I'm
not sure yet we've got any scientific
study showing that is good for ourselves
do you know what I mean so I think on
all these levels we have to take a bit
of balance and go what else is going on
in your life maybe the amount of alcohol
you're currently consuming is not the
best thing for you
perhaps no I I totally agree and and
this idea of bonding is really important
because if you're getting together to
celebrate an event or mark an event and
bringing people together that social
bonding actually is really important
your gut microbiome by the way also
responds uh to the bonding by helping to
text message your brain to release
social hormones as well so again I think
that we tend to oversimplify the impact
of foods Nuance again is really
important what happens in addition to
the food what's the context in which the
food is actually eaten it's healthier to
eat with people than to eat alone not
only you more likely to eat less but
you're also connecting uh with with
others as well and and oftentimes uh
people are interested in uh the the
others sense of purpose you know which
you then leave for yourself all of these
factors are there and by the way you
know maybe to give a another analogy
that I as we were talking I was thinking
about we all do things that may not be
the best for us occasionally and that's
okay and I think giving people that
acknowledgement of humanity and the
occasional going off the reservation is
is totally fine it's like when we drive
a car right I mean on the highway most
of us are abide with safety traffic
safety rules and we drive in safe ways
every now and then you got to go into
the fast lane and you speed and you go a
little bit faster than you should or
maybe a lot faster than you should but
but and that's okay you know for the
most part but if you got in the fast
lane every single day and you put the
pedal to the metal and went as fast as
you possibly could guarantee you that
that is unlikely to end up in a good way
for you as a driver and so I think that
if we think about our lives as sort of a
journey on a highway where the behaviors
that we actually take decisions that we
make are not the similar to you know the
decisions we make in in a car on the
road that might help us understand oh
every now and then you need to get go a
little bit faster maybe even above the
speed limit and that's okay as long as
you're not doing it all the time yeah
you your Ted Talk which of course has
been viewed by millions of people now
there was a really interesting slide
towards the end where I I I very much
resonate with this idea what's the root
cause of multiple diseases can we you
know address the root cause and then you
know we're we're automatically going to
take care of multiple different
Downstream
consequences and that was a very
powerful side showing that when
angiogenesis is working well or when
it's not working well what can happen in
the body
could you just talk us through um
through that lens and geog Genesis um
because I think that's really
interesting and then you also mentioned
cancer and blood supply and again could
you just talk to us about cancer and how
it can only grow to a certain uh size
unless it gets its own blood supply as
well
please yeah sure our
circulation is uh uh these blood vessels
Network and the blood is really the
vehicle that carries oxygen and
nutrients and everything else that our
cells need to survive so when we have
the right amount all of our health all
of our organs are functioning
properly um sometimes we need a few
extra blood vessels so if you're working
out and trying to build your muscles
when your muscles get bigger it requires
more blood vessels bigger blood supply
no problem your angiogenesis system can
actually Supply and help to grow more of
those blood vessels but they keep it in
proper volume so not too many not too
few blood vessels very important
principle of angiogenesis that's Health
we have good circulation now here's what
happens in disease when you don't have
enough blood vessels what are some of
the typical diseases that occur when you
don't have enough blood flow well one of
the things uh is um after a heart attack
if you cannot grow enough blood vessels
you parts of your heart will get weaker
you can get heart failure and and you
and a heart attack can actually be even
fatal if you don't have if you have
inadequate blood vessels to try to
bypass any temporary blockage same thing
as a stroke we know after there's a
stroke uh sometimes a clot gets sent to
the brain and results in that type of
stroke your uh angiogenesis defense
system uh is uh scrambled to be able to
immediately generate bypass tiny little
bypass vessels get around that blockage
to save the brain beyond the blockage if
you can't get enough blood vessels
growing in that situation parts of your
brain die and um and you wind up being
paralyzed or having deficits after a
stroke um in diabetes uh many people
with diabetes lose their legs they have
their legs amputated mostly because they
have problems healing wounds on their
feet now the reason is because they
their nerves actually become they go
numb their nerves die back diabetic
nephropath neuropathy and the reason
that the nerves die back is because
there's inadequate blood vessels feeding
those nerves so now in diabetes some of
those nerves and your feet and your even
your fingertips actually are don't have
enough a blood supply they die when the
nerves die you can't feel when you
stepped on a pebble and you create a
little hole that hole gets infected that
wound now also won't heal because
doesn't have enough blood vessels that's
an example of inadequate antien and
cause a problem and so now Medical
Treatments actually have been designed
to actually try to stimulate more blood
vessels to coax more vessels in where
they're needed but foods can also help
do it as well on the flip side when you
have too many blood vessels and this is
where cancer comes into play it turns
out that we all have cancer in our body
I mean cancer is We Fear everyone fears
cancer the the word actually you know
causes a shiver to run down most
people's spine everyone knows somebody
who's been touched by cancer and I would
say most people know somebody who's died
of cancer actually and so this is
actually one of the most fearsome
diseases but yet biologically we are
actually all forming cancers in our body
all the time because all it takes for
our 40 trillion cells to do is to make
those little mistakes I told you 10,000
mistakes are fixed every day few of
those going kind of getting stinking
through will turn into a microscopic
tumor microscopic cancer and this is
called cancer without disease because a
tiny little M nant cancer can grow up to
the sze the tip of a ballpoint pen and
then it's
frozen like a pimple can't go any bigger
because it doesn't have a blood supply
no oxygen no food nothing to feed it and
so those little microscopic cancers sit
there
until our until another one of our
defense systems our immune system Wings
by like a cop on a bee and sees this
abnormal cell sitting on that street
corner in a good neighborhood and then
says get in the car we're taking you
away and so our immune system destroys
these microscopic cancers but some
cancers are able to some microscopic
cancers are able to hijack our body's
regular androgenesis defense system and
selfishly grow blood vessels to feed
themselves now I worked in a lab
studying angiogenesis and we discovered
that once an avascular or bloodless
cancer is able to get vessels to touch
it the moment that that touches that the
cancer can grow 16,000 times in two
weeks so literally angiogenesis out of
control is a trigger uh an explosive
trigger for tumor growth and in fact we
know that if you can cut off the blood
supply or prevent tumors from growing
their blood supply you can actually keep
these cancers harmless for long periods
of time and so this is what foods are
able to do foods that inhibit
angiogenesis they won't they won't stop
the good blood vessels from growing
because good blood vessels are actually
solidly locked into your body your your
defense system ensures you're not going
to get rid of your good blood vessels um
um with food but those extra blood
vessels tend to be fragile and those are
the ones that that that the foods that
we eat and then if necessary drugs that
we can prescribe can really just kind of
Shear those extra vessels away yeah this
whole sort of field of angiogenesis and
blood vessels I think is going to be
fascinating for people because I think
many people you know everyone's aware
that they've got blood vessels inside
them I think a lot of people will think
yeah I I sort of learned this in biology
at school that there's a heart and it
you know the blood vessels it pumps
oxygen around the body that's how oxygen
gets to all my muscles and organs but
potentially it kind of ends there like
it doesn't go beyond that and what what
I love about that explanation is when
Angie Genesis is not working well we're
not able to make new blood vessels where
we need to it can cause a whole
multitude of different diseases but also
when it's kind of out of control or gets
to these cancer cells too much an you
Genesis can cause
problems and and therefore the question
for me Dr Lee is if angiogenesis sits at
the heart of multiple different
conditions so we can look at it as a
root
cause we also say similar things about
chronic unresolved inflammation don't we
we talk about inflammation being a root
cause of lots of these chronic diseases
so can you speak a little bit about the
relationship between inflammation and
angiogenesis because it strikes me that
they can't be separate they they
probably sit side by side together in
most cases yeah know it's such a great
question I actually worked on Research
exactly looking at that inter
relationship wow so we know well let's
let's take a look at just of something
everybody recognizes and to show how
inflammation and blood vessel growth are
go hand
inand uh if you um are in the kitchen
and you accidentally cut your you're
you're cutting a piece of fruit and you
accidentally cut your cut your finger or
cut your hand what's going to happen
it's going to bleed all right now so
you're going to stop the bleeding then a
few minutes later you look at the cut
what's going to happen it's swollen it's
puffy it's red because inflammation's
actually gotten there your immune
defenses have sent these inflammatory
cells these are kind of super soldiers
from our immune system that go there to
kind to clean up um and prevent any
bacteria from rushing into that site um
and then shortly
thereafter within a day or so um new
blood vessels start growing because in
the inflammatory cells the cells from
your immune system started to release
some signals to say hey you know what
we've cleaned up it's time to reset the
table and so now blood vessels actually
start to grow into it so in inflammation
sends the signals for wound healing for
healing
that for blood vessels to grow by the
same token inflammation then goes away
which is why our wounds don't stay puffy
the whole time the puffing redness goes
away the blood vessels grow you get a
scap and before long you're back to
normal and that's because both
inflammation is turned down turned off
like that's that car volume of the car
radio and also androgenesis once you get
enough it stops and so this is getting
back to that set point now now what
happens when you actually have chronic
anything usually it's not a good result
so inflammation being really good a
little bit is really good so you know I
think a lot of people misunderstand like
I want to get rid of all the
inflammation in my body no you don't
because you want the ability of your
body to be able to mount small amounts
of inflammation when needed for a short
period of time and then to go away all
right that's that's you want that that's
life saving but what you don't want is
for that inflammation to get there and
the volume to keep turning up up up up
up or that it never gets turned back
down that's chronic inflammation and
that's abnormal so your body this whole
idea of turning up and then turning down
um the volume for inflammation if you
don't can't turn it down the
inflammation continues to smolder in
your body example I've given is sort of
like for anybody who's listening who's
enjoyed going camping yeah you go to
Woods you set up a tent it gets cold at
night what do you do you build a
campfire and and that's like a little
bit of inflammation gives you warmth it
serves its purpose and you know when
it's time to go to bed um you know you
either let it burn down and you just you
know make sure that um it's all walled
off and you're fine but that fire if it
doesn't um burn down but actually spills
out and catches the forest and fire now
you actually got a problem because now
this thing is going out of control in
diseases with chronic inflammation like
lupus like rheumatoid arthritis um like
diabetes frankly uh you wind up actually
having this chronic inflammatory state
that starts to provoke all kinds of
other things and remember we talked
about tumors and angiogenesis well if a
tumor is kind of like a wound it can
hijack blood vessels and you got
inflammation and now the cancer itself
causes some inflammation you're just
making it a hell of a lot easier iier
for that tumor to get a blood supply
which means that the cancer is more
likely to grow and in fact we do see
this in patients patients who are
actually chronically inflamed we know
that inflammation is one of those
Hallmarks for people who develop cancer
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