 Hello, everyone and welcome. This is Dr. Michael Greger Coming to you live from my treadmill Answering any questions you might have about nutrition just as I do every month Both here on Facebook live, which I just finished up and here on YouTube For those of you unfamiliar with my work every year I read through every issue of every language English language nutrition journal in the world Is you folks like you don't have to I think about the most interesting most groundbreaking most practical findings new videos and articles that upload every day to my non-profit site nutrition facts.org everything on the website is Free there are no ads no corporate sponsors strictly not commission not selling anything just put up as a public service as a labor of love as a tribute To my grandmother new videos and articles every day on the latest in evidence-based nutrition What a concept Alright, all right the questions are flooding in I will start at the top and see I'll Matt J. H. J. H 33 s. What is my take on orthorexia? Fantastic question. I just did a series when I say did a meaning I scripted out a series the videos aren't done yet But I did all the research script out the videos for three videos on orthorexia You are going to find them hilarious It's one of my favorite series just in terms of adding lots of humor So I went into this whole orthorexia and very open-minded and came away Questioning the validity of the diagnosis and it's just really fascinating to see how they How they diagnose people With this disorder, which is not really an accepted disorder But someone some guy just made it up in some yoga journal But it's kind of taken off and kind of mainstream media and so science that they looked it actually looked into it And so the camera for something called the ortho 15 Which is kind of this test to see if you have this disease the questions are so crazy like one is When you walk into a grocery store How often are you confused and one question and then then there's like a light-card scale where it's like always confused Or sometimes confused or never confused or what anyway the the healthiest answer the one that says you're least likely Have a disease is always confused. I am always confused. I'm walking to a grocery store. That's supposed to be the normal response That's crazy. Anyway, it's a fascinating series I hope you'll check it out. It won't be up for a while now But it is definitely something that I've been wanting to do videos on in a long time and I go deep into basically every articles have been written on it and Then you can make up your own mind Neals ask what's the process behind losing? What's the process plan losing weight fat slash fat when on cow to fish a calorie deficit instead of ketosis? Do you then always burn fat as fuel or do you burn protein slash muscles? So There's this Typically you're only but you're burning kind of one of two fuels your preferred fuel in your body's carbohydrate And so you burn, you know kind of sugars and starches first. That's where your body would prefer to burn but if you're not eating Anything or you know the any carbs your body then goes To burning fat the problem is and so you say well, then that's great. Isn't that what we want our bodies burn fat I mean, so if you eat, you know, carbohydrates, you're a fat Oxidation that you're a fat burning drops dramatically in the next few hours Why because your body has all these carbohydrates and would rather use those to fuel your muscles And so you're well, isn't that exactly what we want? We want to burn fat. The problem is ketogenic diets have Guess lots of what fat and so you're all you care about is your fat balance If you're actually taking in more fat than you're burning then you're at it then you're gonna add fat to your body And so it doesn't matter how much fat you're burning if you're eating if you're more fats being deposited than being burned but But but I've got lots of I've in fact not do a whole webinar probably end up being four or five hours on Fasting and ketogenic diet and admission fasting etc. It's at them I'll have a chapter in the new book on it So stay tuned and I will go into all the ketogenic diet stuff not only for for weight but for all sorts of disease interventions Such as a pediatric epilepsy, etc. Okay Niels ass 23 immediate a test showed that predisposed to weigh on to weigh about average Okay, then on we actually the the the so-called polymorphisms the the the genetic variety That we can count for differences in fat is teeny just Forget some on order of 10% so the really like there isn't a fat gene or even a constellation of genes that really kind of determines more but But anyway, I'm been on daily dozen and says really hasn't lost fat Still bent BMI of 25 Which is kind of a borderline overweight should I try intermittent fasting? I Try intermittent fasting so I'm still working through the fasting work and Finding more benefits and more risks than I had initially come across and so that's why I want to finish Looking through it all before I make any kind of pronounce pronouncements But that's what the whole new book is about and so I will go into all the various Tweaks they're set up to kind of accelerate weight loss. So it's just basically like, you know blood pressure or cholesterol people Doing strictly plant-based diet the average blood pressure perfect about one one ten over sixty five the average cholesterol perfect about 145 147 And same thing the average of BMI like 23.7 or something perfect, right? And it's but look these are all bell curves and so some people On great diets still can be on either side of that and so that's why you know and how not to die I go through oh your blood pressure. This is what you do going on a plant-based diet and that should do it If not, okay, then there's flax seeds of viscous tea all these other things right same thing with cholesterol Okay, that it should do it, but if it doesn't and so that's what this book will be about Okay, this is what the healthiest diet can do But if that doesn't work enough for you, here's all the other things that can accelerate weight loss and so you can Have a whole menu to choose from the book should be out in December either December 2019 or January 2020 depending on how Quickly I can go through the manuscript. There's like 80,000 new articles on obesity every year So every day I write I'm like, you know dozens behind So it's been it's been more difficult than I'd expect. Anyway, we're working on it. Okay after how not in Emuna Asks After how not to die how about and how not to diet how about how not to stress? Ah So actually after how not to that and then do how not to age talk about all the new longevity research I'm gonna I'm gonna have a chapter on stress management in the obesity book because I can play a role in kind of stress-related eating So that yeah, no, so and I am planning to do a mental health book And so maybe that's where stress maybe and kind of talking about anxiety. I'll do it there so that's possibility But I appreciate your interest and there are things we can do about diet to affect mental health I'm always surprised when I find those articles, but I have a whole bunch of videos on nutrition facts about that Okay How Niels asks how does water fasting affect metabolism after you stop fasting? Will you yo-yo back up and above? Well, I mean if So if you you know water fast drop your weight No, I mean no one that Proponents of water fasting do not aren't proponents of water fasting for weight loss by because it's by definition The very it's a very definition of unsustainability obviously, right? And so once you go back to your regular diet Then you'll get back to your regular weight and your regular disease risk factors but the hope is that water only fasting can kind of jump give you a Psychological jump start if nothing else to radically change your diet and the hope is that you know once you kind of recalibrate your taste buds I mean after you fasting then anything should taste good, right? It doesn't have to be a crispy cream anymore to give you the same kind of pleasure. I mean eating, right? Isn't there's some saying like hunger is the best sauce or something like that anyway And so the hope is then you kind of recalibrate your taste buds and that you can then switch over to healthy diet Like so there's been these really exciting water only fasting trials with bring down blood pressure remarkably effective bring down blood pressure but By definition it's only gonna last for a few weeks unless you then use that to change over to Healthy diet hopeful plant-based diet to maintain whatever benefits you got from that a little kickstart You got from the water only fasting And I would not encourage people to do water only fasting more than a few days without professional supervision All right Neil Can't oh when is the fasting series gonna come out it is not gonna come out before March, which is when the When the manuscript is due so I have videos buffered out into March a scripted on to March Because I had to because I can't write videos and write a book at the same time So that's why I had to put my life on a hold to do a bevy of videos And now I can hone in and submerge myself in the obesity research And then we'll get back to writing videos and fasting will be part of that Okay GRC VGC as best when someone's for dissolving kidney stones But it's only one type of stone that you can get rid of just through diet I'm that's your cast of stones if you do have a your cast of stone by drinking lots of water And a plant-based diet you can actually get rid And particularly with lots of greens Low oxalate leafy greens which can alkaline and urine and you should be able to dissolve that stone away if however, it's an oxalate stone or a more common type then It's not then it will not dissolve through diet alone But you have with healthy enough diet meaning low Animal foods low sodium You should be able to prevent the next one and depending on and some other recommend is to bring out exactly what type it is Boss dado as to test of coffee causes dry eyes researchers Research fairly shows that caffeine capsules actually help with your production But coffee contains more than just caffeine I didn't realize coffee causes dry eyes. That's not one of them Um, I I'm not doubting it. I it's possible. I just never come across that literature So, uh, yeah, no, I'd have to I'd have to look I mean there's certainly hydrate. I do have some videos on dry eye syndrome And basically it's mostly about hydration and coffee would seem to be a good way to hydrate But I'm just not familiar with the dry eye coffee literature Um, Tanya asked are there any food slash spice restrictions for gut inflammation? um No, healer no HP bacteria Presumably healer back to pylori and died is mostly plant based Um doctors said no tomatoes chocolate or coffee Wonder what your doctor's thinking there Um, and so the the answer is treat the cause as always So what is the gut inflammation being caused by? So there's lots of different types of gut inflammation. Um, there's actually inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's and I end inflammatory bowel disease and then there's other kind of chronic colitis And so the answer you just got I mean ideally you'd find out what's causing it And I don't know of any condition for which tomatoes coffee and chocolate Um, those sound like things that you'd get like give you a heartburn sometimes tomatoes can do that for people Uh, certainly, uh coffee can do it for people I'm not so what I would do is I'd ask your physician. Why like what is it about? What do you think I have first of all? That's the most important question Um, because then you can look it up. Maybe I have videos about whatever type of inflammation you have Um, and then ask could you show me could you share with me the data of why I'm avoiding tomatoes chocolate and coffee would help me I mean and ideally your doctor should be Overjoyed that they have such a patient interested in their health Um, too many patients seem to be less interested than optimal Um, and look the doctor wasn't born with this information. They learned it somewhere So they should just share with you that information so you can Make your own mind up Um, unfortunately, too many physicians learn about nutrition and die at the same way that Many people do and the you know supermarket checkout line Looking at trashy magazines Um, unfortunately, um rather than any formal training in nutrition And much of that formal nutrition training is you know paid for by you know, coca-cola So you really just got to get to the science. Which is why I started nutrition facts.org. Okay Where are we? Um Um, oh, this is bastardo again saying had dry and dry eyes from sun exposure Um, oh, maybe an infection drink lots of water Uh, could it be the dehydrating effects of coffee or tea? Well, tea is actually not coffeine. She's not dehydrating. So there's no net water loss Um, and so I actually have a I think I have a video Uh, something about tea and dehydration actually goes through like there are some out club beverages For example where you do actually lose more water than you take in can be actively dehydrating But coffeine tea are not two of them even though caffeine Does have a diuretic effect. Um, but not enough to balance all the water and coffee and tea Um, my realtor Audrey asks If we dramatically If we drastically up our blueberry and purple carrot consumption, I've never heard this question before I like where it's going. Is it possible to stop taking? Um glaucoma prevention medications Um, does blueberry to blueberries and purple carrots help with glaucoma? Um I don't remember Uh I don't remember coming out. I'm trying to think but but my glaucoma. I do have videos on glaucoma. I check them out I don't think there's a berry connection on the berry connections more with the Uh, macular degeneration, which is a different kind of eye disease We're dealing with a retina kind of layer in the back of your eye rather than Rather than glaucoma um Which deals more with kind of the pressure inside your eyeball um, so Not that I know of Um, but if there's research that you know that I don't Please let me know and if blueberries and purple carrots help people. I'll do a video about it Olivia asks, um Oh Uh Saying that apologizing for messages I would I take 20 seconds to read your hypothesis? Sure. Send it my way Okay Um g r c v g c ask what foods lowers blood pressure fastest Um, so, uh, it's a combination of avoiding foods at razor cluster. I like, um studying rich foods And I talk about the power of ground flaxseeds and hibiscus tea to lower your cholesterol Um, although nitrate rich vegetables will also help So we're talking about arugula all dark green leafies and as well as beets Beat greens and beet juice will probably be the top choices Okay, here it looks like is Olivier's hypothesis Micro biome is key. I agree with that so far um, and so um Maybe plaque on our teeth is good um the the So saying, you know why paleolithic people don't have cavities paleolithic people don't have cavities because they didn't have these They weren't eating all this added sugar, which is what bosses growth of bacteria that eat your teeth um and so um So continue to brush your teeth That would be my suggestion. Well more importantly treat the cause and cut down your consumption of added sugars All right Fvc fvc k your comfort zone at exclamation point asks do I know of Uh, king and water. What's my take on it? I think believe that's the uh, the the um Uh, I have a video about that if I'm correct. It's the that's the they call it. Um What would you even uh, here? Let me do a quick search um on nutrition facts Uh to see Well, that would be an old video. I did that a long time ago You see if that pops up boy. I've done a lot of videos that have to do with water um Wow, I'm on my 13th page of videos. I still don't see it. But um Let me let me look for that particular brand um Yeah, no, but basically I did a video on alkaline water I think that's what this is talking about. There's a machine that you can make alkaline water I'm not surprised you could buy the water itself. Um, and basically, um Uh, I think the the video says basically these are all just a scam Though there were benefits I think to a certain amount of baking soda added to water if I remember correctly I would check out. You know, I just type in alkaline or alkaline water into nutrition facts and the video should pop right up Okay, uh, imuna as um Oh a healthy environment friends family love affection loving kindness compassion doing good for those volunteering living a truthful life a really Full life A really full life or healthy eating which would be better for the body. I think the question is Is it better to be happy or to eat healthy? And the nice thing is is our It's a false dichotomy We can have the best of both worlds. In fact, eating healthier will make us feel happier as well Um, so I have videos talking about the improvement of mood not just in kind of a mood disorder Um, uh standpoint but in terms of just positive moods throughout the day Um, you can correlate how many like food and vegetable consumption with how how well you feel the next day Um, there's actually interventional trials where you can improve mood Um by uh switching people to plant-based diet So you can have the best of both worlds A uh full happy life and healthy eating you don't have to choose so If you did have to choose that's really what the question is I don't want to avoid the question if you really did have to choose Then um, I think healthy eating would trump it and the reason I say that Is you know, if you look at studies, um Like you look what happened during world war two in nazi occupied europe So nazi occupied europe basically the nazis took all the cattle took all the livestock and people were You know digging for turnips in the backyard gardens um, and so all of a sudden inadvertently started eating a lot more plant-based Uh, uh What happened to their disease rates now if you think well stress is the most important thing It's not really diet. It's stress or some of these things you talked about Um, you know having a nice, um happy healthy life Um, if that's what what what matters then nazi occupied europe, I mean Disease rates with skyrocket, but if diet was what mattered and trumped stress completely Um, uh, the disease rates would plummet and that's indeed what happened, right? So that's some hard disease diabetes plummeted and then nazi occupied europe Which just goes through you can't think of imagine a more stressful time than living under the nazi. So um, absolutely diet Um, diet and lifestyle are more important not saying the stress Uh, uh, having a lot of stress in life is good. I'm just saying that if you eat healthy enough Um, that's what makes most difference in terms of our health All right. Zalatol. So bas data las zalatol is uh, it's a laxative in high amounts not even that high so something like sorbetol even like, um Five grams a day can cause symptoms 10 grams a day causes symptoms in the majority of I think that Forget what I think five grams a day causes um, uh abdominal discomfort bloating gas in the majority of patients and then 10 grams a day causes actually cramping and diarrhea Um, and so that's not a lot and so you can get that I forgot me I think every stick of gum like a stick of sugar-free gum Sorbetol-sweetened sugar-free gum I think it was like a like 0.7 grams sorbetol. I'm sure it's it's different for each one But I mean so you can easily um get you know diarrhea eating a whole pack of gum um Anyway, so yeah, so I'd be worried about I'd be cautious about that um, and then uh, well why um But the question is so if you just have a little bit, what's the problem? um, oh, well, I mean if you have a little bit, um, there's not a problem with osmotic diarrhea, um, but um I don't know. I mean so The question specifically wise Zolotol not a green light food because a green light food by definition Is an unprocessed uh, plant food meaning no nothing bad added nothing good taken away zolotol has everything taken away except zolotol I think they get it Forget what they make it out of I think sugar came um, but Yeah, no, it's not a whole plant food at all and offers very little In terms of nutrition by definition because it's not even absorbing to the body. That's why it causes diarrhea All right, so bust out. What about acupuncture? um Uh, that's uh, that's one of my have a whole Um Folder filled with non top non nutrition um related topics and that's where I have vex vaccinations and um, uh, that's where I had mammograms and that's where I had um cell phones and Acupuncture is a whole big folder on all the most important papers ever published on acupuncture Um, and I do hope one day to get back to that. Um, because you know, anytime You know, just to find out what the science is I'm as interested as anybody um, and uh, and so sometimes I delve into non nutrition topics Anytime, there's kind of like a controversy or anytime. There's uh, there's vested interests on either side trying to skew the science but um, I but I've tried to Uh, I know those are kind of low priority. Um, so subjects for me just because there's so much nutrition information out there So ideally what you should start is uh Medicine facts or lifestyle facts or exercise facts or science facts dot org or whatever and do your own research And acupuncture put up your own videos and I'll watch your videos There needs to be 10 more nutrition facts Sites just that on the nutrition stuff But maybe I'll get around to it one day. I certainly do have all the science is something that I've collected the research on I just haven't had time to read it and analyze it All right g r c v g c s. What are the best foods or supplements for insomnia? um I do have uh, if you type in sleeping nutrition facts that are a few videos will pop up I talk about uh, for example, um Tart cherries kiwi fruits. I forget you'd have to go look through the list. I do have a video coming up about Um, my the use of melatonin something I caution against in supplement form There's actually a food that basically is Is Way is more potent in terms of melatonin than any other food even comes close. That's actually pistachio nuts. So it's good I think it's like two past pistachio nuts have as much melatonin Uh gave you as much melatonin in your bloodstream as your physiological does as your brain does um every night Um and a whole and so in a handful would give you like one of these potent You know unphysiological supplement forms Um, but I have a whole bunch of videos on chronobiology on circadian rhythm Medicine and I'm treating jet lag and all sorts of things. So you may be interested in all that unfortunately, my time is up um And uh, I'm sorry. I didn't get to everyone else's questions But next month we'll do this again. Hopefully get to your questions I just go from the top on down so the earlier you get on the call the more chance I'll get to your question The next uh q&a day is july 26th for both facebook and youtube. I will see everybody then Until then I am back to the book back to writing the book