Episode 13: Transforming Health with Food: Jonathan Carp on Gut Health, Autoimmune Healing, and Miracle Noodles
This episode not only enlightens us about the benefits of Miracle Noodles but also offers a deep dive into holistic health, the importance of a diverse diet, and the power of fasting-mimicking diets. Jonathan's expertise in dermatology, combined with his passion for nutrition and lifestyle medicine, provides a unique perspective on achieving overall wellness.
Show Notes
Miracle Noodles: Uncover the story behind Miracle Noodles and their role in a health-conscious diet.
Lifestyle Medicine: Explore Jonathan’s transition from dermatology to focusing on lifestyle medicine and nutritional interventions for autoimmune diseases.
Trip to Japan and Discovery: Learn about Jonathan’s inspirational trip to Japan that led to the discovery of Miracle Noodles.
The Science Behind Miracle Noodles: Delve into the health benefits and gut-friendly aspects of these unique noodles.
Personal Health and Diet: Jonathan shares insights on his personal health journey, dietary choices, and the importance of diverse plant fibers for a healthy gut microbiome.
Debating Nutrition Topics: Engage in discussions about lectins, autoimmune diets, and the evolving understanding of food’s impact on our health.
Miracle Noodles and Weight Loss: Understand how Miracle Noodles can be a game-changer for weight management and gut health.
Ketosis and Fasting: Insights into ketosis, fasting-mimicking diets, and their effects on the body and mind.
The Role of Protein: Discussion about the importance of protein in our diet, especially in the context of new weight loss drugs.
Skin Care Routines and Tips: As a dermatologist, Jonathan shares simple yet effective skincare routines.
Transcript
Miracle noodles
00:00 - Well, welcome to another episode of the Biohacker Blondie podcast. I'm with the amazing Jonathan Karp.
00:09 - who is the founder of Miracle Noodles, which I'm a little obsessed with because these Miracle Noodles are one of my favorite things to eat. I eat them almost every day. I'm completely addicted. And they are a great biohack because they have five calories and no carbs, organic. They're just amazing. You can add them.
00:36 - to any dish and you are filling your stomach. It's a great way, especially if you just maybe just wanna lose some weight and you need to, you know.
00:47 - stay full, it's a great way to have this on the side. So I'm so curious, and you're also a doctor, which is interesting because you're a doctor dermatologist and then now you have a miracle noodle company. Yes. How do you feel about that? Yeah, I mean... I don't know if you want to give a little background of your story and how you got to miracle noodles. Sounds good.
01:14 - So it goes back to 2004 actually. So I had a patient that came in, her name was Karen, and she had just awful lupus. And I had her on all kinds of medications that were serious like organ transplant meds to try to calm her immune system down. And nothing was working, and she disappeared for around four months. And she came back and she had cured herself of lupus. And...
01:42 - She came in and she brought a whole stack of journals and books and resources for me. Because I didn't know anything of the sort was even possible at that point. I certainly didn't learn about that in medical school. And yeah, so believe it or not, it took me a few months to go through her. I sort of put it aside. It's one of those sort of things that, you know, doctors often do when somebody comes in with just this incredible transformation.
02:10 - And I jumped into it, into it eventually. And at that point in time, I basically changed my practice to learn about lifestyle medicine and interventions, the nutrition, lifestyle, et cetera, to reverse lupus, psoriasis, eczema, these sorts of things. Did you get into autoimmune disease? Lupus is an autoimmune disease, yeah. And psoriasis can be felt that way as well. So.
02:36 - Yeah, it was mainly, that was what I became really passionate about. And in 2006, I took a trip to Japan and saw this product. My friends took me to this Buddhist vegetarian restaurant outside the city of Kyoto and it was, they served me these noodles and they told me about the properties of them. They were invented by Buddhist monks like, you know, 1400 years ago and used more than 2000 years in China. And they always knew it was good for the gut.
03:04 - And amazingly, the noodles are 97% water. So they have no starch. It's just 97% water and this amazing prebiotic fiber called glucomanin. And again, I was getting into lifestyle medicine at this point, and I thought that this would be an incredible food for people who are having trouble giving up flour and rice and these sorts of things. So I brought it back and initially, I had started several businesses before that, sort of always been interested in that.
03:33 - So I set up a website and actually was mainly focused on people who had diabetes or were trying to lose weight. And it sort of struck a chord and then, you know, it slowly grew over time. Wow, okay. Yeah. Yeah, I actually was just looking into the gut and someone mentioned a fiber and I looked at the supplement and then.
03:57 - reference back to the ingredient of your noodles. Yeah. That was really cool. Yeah. Yeah, so it's basically helping the gut microbiome as well. Yeah, it's one of the most potent prebiotic fibers, so it's. Which we need more of because.
04:17 - super gut. Sure. Yeah. Because no one's getting enough fiber now.
04:22 - eating more processed food than 70% is processed food, which takes out the fiber. Right. And then you don't stay full because you don't have the fiber. So it's like this horrible cycle. You're eating more processed, more sugar, less fiber, and then you're going to get more hungry, you know, and so it's like this vicious cycle. And that's why we have so many people overweight or obese, which is scary because that's all like the effects.
04:52 - body or immune system, disease. Everything. Everything, so. It's true. I mean, in order to have a really diverse microbiome, you need to feed the microbiome with a diversity of different plant fibers. This one happens to be really good, but of course, it's part of just overall having different types of fiber in your diet. And instead of having to eat to make like a metamucil shake or something like that, why not have a big bowl of noodles?
05:21 - I know it's totally easy. It's just a nice like lunch or dinner because it just feels like you're having something like fulfilling, you know. Totally. Yeah. So yes, and this your noodles are sold everywhere, which is great. But I kind of wanted to go down like.
05:39 - you know, as a doctor, so you went to, you kind of went down the path on your own. Yes. So you did a lot of research, especially back then, it seems like there was less, like, you know, before, I think they even said, you know, food doesn't affect your, you know, your body, and then there's no gut-brain connection, and all these things that, this kind of the old school way of thinking, and now we're realizing how much food and all this is impacting our mental state.
06:09 - in our physical state. Yeah. So, yeah, so what did you start researching yourself? Did you take classes or did you just read a ton of books and you just went down that and then did your health change dramatically as well? Yeah, so I started out, well, Karen had given me a ton of research that she had done. So what she was on was basically what's called a Nutritarian diet, which was...
06:34 - a diet that is still around that was created by Dr. Joel Furman, who is again, still around. It's basically a beans and greens diet, nuts and seeds, mostly vegetarian. What do you think about like lectins? Lectins you're just jumping right into. Yeah, lectins. Well, I'm, you know, I'm friendly with Dr. Gundry. He's a friend of mine. And
07:00 - So you guys have a debate? No, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, I think there's something to that. I think for autoimmune disease patients, if I'm not getting anywhere, for sure, I have them eliminate lectins. Oh, okay. For a certain period of time, I was eliminating lectins right off the bat. And I don't do that anymore, but I do reserve that as an intervention later on if we're not getting anywhere. Oh, okay, good to know. Yeah, I...
07:27 - I actually did take out lectins for the most part. And you know, probably, and this wasn't in my healthiest phase, so that's probably why I saw a drastic change when I took out lectins. Definitely, if you're gonna eat beans, for sure, you should pressure cook your beans. There's no question about it. Or you can buy, you know, there are these, what's called retort bags. These are these flexible bags that have beans in them. There's a brand called Filo's that's quite good.
07:54 - The reason I mentioned this type of packaging is because it's essentially pressure cooked. The retort process is high heat, high pressure. So if you get beans that are in these flexible pouches, they're almost certainly retorted and then you don't have to worry about the lectins.
08:17 - I haven't really done beans in a while. It's a great little side. I think a lot of people can do, but now everyone has some gut issues or whatever, so now it affects a lot of people. Yeah, I mean, I'm a big fan of beans, but again, not everyone can eat them. And generally, people have to, if they're gonna start eating beans, because there's a lot of, I mean, if you look at all the...
08:46 - you know studies I mean if in terms of epidemiological studies like blue zones too they'll eat beans yeah yeah it's probably the most associated with longevity of any food beans but you know who knows I try not to make those but epidemiologically speaking for sure so I think you know it's it's a healthy food but most people if you know you they need to add a tablespoon
09:14 - Some people, you know, one tablespoon a day just to build up. Not even that, just to, yeah, when they first start eating beans because if you go, you know, it's, yeah. Yeah, I think with any fiber, they always say slowly add in fiber. Exactly. You can just go eat a ton of, you know, powdered fiber or anything. You have to be very careful. Yeah, exactly.
09:37 - So when you started going down this path of realizing food is medicine, basically, how did your body change? Did you do blood work before, blood work after? Are you vegan now? No, no. You're not vegan, you don't need. You're very diverse, right? I feel like right now there's a lot of full-on carnivore, full-on plants have oxidative.
10:06 - like that affect your kidneys, you know? Oh, oxalates. Okay, oxalates, yeah. So there's just like this whole, you know, I just eat meat, I just eat fruit, I just like, and I really think it's just, we all need to have like a diverse diet. I think most, when you see like these blue zones, longevity, they have a diverse diet, you know? Yeah. And I think right now, we're just, so many people are going in like the complete opposite direction instead of saying like, hey, maybe I should just have a little bit of this fruit, a little bit of this,
10:36 - Do you ever test your gut for like all the bacteria? I do. You do? Yeah. So I run what's called the Gut Zoomer test, which is from a lab called Vibrant Labs. And it's a really good test. Do they test acromansia? Yeah. True. How's your acromansia? Yeah, it's been a couple years, but I don't, I, it was pretty good. I mean, the balance, I mean, it's more like you're looking more at the overall microbiome. I know acromansia is, you know.
11:06 - Supposedly, a lot of the blue, they have a good amount of acrimansia. Okay, is that right? I'm not familiar with that. Here, I guess, the US is really low. So, if you have pretty good levels, it's rare, I think. Yeah, that test is really valuable, you know. So, what did you learn from this test? Not too much from mine, to be honest, because I've always eaten a lot of plants, you know. So, I didn't really have... mine was fine, but when you...
11:33 - test my patients and such, you see just all kinds of just abnormal ratios of different gut bacteria. So it's valuable. Does that mean a stool test? Yeah, a stool test. Okay, okay. So you haven't done it in a while? No, I haven't done it in years to be honest. But it's probably worth me doing again. But Have you changed your diet or anything? Since then? No.
12:00 - No, pretty much the same. Okay, so you have a very just mixed diet. You eat fish, you eat... Do you ever test your omegas by any chance? I test... Of course I... Yeah, of course. I don't know about these blood tests. A lot of the times people are not thinking of this, you know? I just ask my dad if he's checked his liver and he's like, no. Yeah. You know, and it's a very simple test. I know the omegas is a little different. That's not as easy. Yeah, most of the time it's a finger stick and... Okay.
12:29 - But the Omega index, it's important. I mean, there's no question about it.
12:36 - Yeah, right. Yeah, under four, the risk of dementia is increased dramatically and so it's worth checking for sure. Yeah. Okay. So then you also have your miracle noodles. Do you eat this daily into your diet as well? I wouldn't say daily, almost every day, but I'm sure there are days that go by that I don't, but most every day. Yeah. I'm like, can I over do these noodles? Maybe in one sitting.
13:05 - But I do like half a packet. Yeah. But I just I can add it with my eggs or like totally. I don't know. You can soup whatever. I love it in soup. Yeah. I don't know why a lot of I always tell my friends about them. They're shocked because they don't know about them at all. And I think you see there's like different packages, but my favorite is the orange one. I don't know. OK.
13:31 - Yeah, yeah, I like the rice, the miracle rice, because it's so versatile. Because you can pretty much add that to anything. I think I've had the rice before. Oh, OK. Yeah, I'll give you a bag. So, yeah, so you're doing so you have this company expanding as well. So you're also developing. Is this like a fast that you're going to come out with? Yeah. So I you know, every Wednesday, I have a class for people who are on our newsletter. And so it's I call it the body mastery method. It's sort of how I
14:01 - teach my patients about nutrition. So you have this company, you're a dermatologist, but you also have patients and you're working with their health all around? More virtual. So my lifestyle medicine patients, it's mostly virtual. Lifestyle medicine? Yeah. Oh, okay. I do have people occasionally. I only see patients once a week because the noodles are so busy right now. Yeah. And I do occasionally have people who come in for that, but mostly I'm doing just plain
14:31 - run-of-the-mill dermatology when I see patients. And then through my class, I have people who reach out who wanna work with me deeper, and then it's more of a virtual type of practice. And then you have them do lab work wherever they're located. Yeah, I like vibrant labs for certain lab tests, like I mentioned, like the Gutsumer. Yeah. But then- You check them out, because I know there's like Rupa Health, and there's these other walk-in labs. Yeah.
14:59 - They all can give you a variant of that. There's another test that Vibrant Labs has, which is a micronutrient panel, which is really, also really incredible because it's amazing, people can have really good diets, but their gut can be so messed up that they're not absorbing. So that test can really be good. And it's a mixture. It's not just like vitamins and minerals, but.
15:27 - I believe they have the Omega actually on that particular, I could be wrong about that, but there may be, they have, it's a really good panel. So yeah, yeah. I'm just going to start my own health coaching. Yeah, that's for sure. Yeah, I signed up for Roopa and I have, you know, there's different ways you can go about it. You can do it. I'm going to start my own health coaching. Yeah, that's for sure. Yeah, I signed up for Roopa and I have, you know, there's different ways you can go about it. You can do it.
15:49 - insurance and then also there's so many options to get your lab work. So no excuses. Go get your blood drawn. It takes like five minutes. Totally still test. You know, it's a little like yeah, it doesn't take that long. No, right. Totally. And it's gonna be life changing and it's like, you know, do you wanna be on medication the rest of your life or figure out the root cause and you know, fix it. Feel good after once you
16:19 - good the rest of your life and also you know extend your life spans totally I don't know why people are like oh this is expensive this is you know and I'm like
16:32 - Don't you wanna feel energized, feel good mentally, feel good physically, and live a great life? And it's worth that money, it's worth the investment to do these tests, these simple tests that can be life-changing for someone. Yeah, I'm a really big advocate of people going and getting their own blood work. I can tell you that, as an example, like an insulin level, a fasting insulin level, which I think is a really important test for everyone,
17:02 - that your doctor, most doctors aren't actually ordering and only costs like $25 and people don't people you know there's a big it triggers too like once you see that result yeah oh i'm high you do something you know that's right yeah like when it's in your face it's like oh but there is a big leap for for people to go from a person who is used to having someone you know tell them what labs to get their doctor
17:29 - and just stopping there to going out and walking into a lab and ordering your own test. There's a big leap for a lot of people. Not for you, because you're already doing this, but for the majority of people. And on my class, almost every class, I talk about going and getting your own labs. And I can't tell you how often, like the next week, someone will comment in the chat to the effect that, you know, my doctor won't order.
17:59 - They went to ask their doctor to order just something simple like a like a No, just even like a fasting insulin test and I said I often say it's I'm glad you have that experience because You realize that you have to become your own everyone has to become their own authorities in in their own health It doesn't mean you can't go you can't have resources and doctors that you use But you have to be the one to to make to take that leap
18:25 - And once someone does take that leap, and I know for you it doesn't sound like a leap at all, but once people do take that leap, then everything changes because they really become, they go from being a recipient of healthcare to being proactive and taking control over their health. And it's really an amazing thing to watch, it really is. Yeah, I do like that because I think people just rely so much on the system.
18:52 - and think like, okay, these little bit of tests, I'm in the range, I'm good. And it's like, no, you're not. You're lethargic, you have brain fog, you have pain, you have bloating. No, it's not normal. Your tests, and they do the bare minimum. I even just asked my doctor to order selenium and iodine, and she's like, I don't ever really order these tests, but I'll order them for you. I'm like, okay.
19:22 - I had low iodine, which is affecting my T3, I had low T3. And I'm like, okay, so this is a game changer because it affects your metabolism, it affects your energy, it affects your hormones, you know. And I'm like, okay, that one simple blood work test can be like life changing, you know? And even my friend just had a baby and then she was very lethargic, finally took a test and then had really low iron.
19:49 - Well, hemoglobin, of course she's tired, you know. Yeah, right. So even though the doctors said to take a Flintstone vitamin and eat Cheerios. Cheerios, OK. I know. She showed me the email and I was like, what? Yeah, I think you'd like that micronutrient test. Oh, I would love that. Yeah. And I also, I don't know, have you ever used biome?
20:13 - That's the gut, that's a similar type of, it's a gut check, right? Yeah, so they're sending me that to work with and see how that goes. Yeah, I think I heard an interview with one of the founders or something like that. The founders, Naveen. Oh yeah, oh right, yeah.
20:33 - Yeah, I'm sure that's going to be interesting. Yeah, I'll see what that one goes. Yeah, that's good. Because they all come out with a little bit different results or something, but I'll have to check that one out as well. Yeah. And that's why I'm writing this little...
20:46 - Protocol book because I feel like the space is so confusing of like what test to take You know and I have another friend or someone that I just met up with she has autoimmune And she's never looked into her gut. She has to take you know go get the IV drips for the auto
21:03 - immune disease, and she has Crohn's, and I'm like, you know, checking your gut, checking your gut permeability, you know, seeing... Also diet plays a big role. And you can only do so much until someone takes control of their diet because it's like, this is why this whole protocol, I want people to like stay away from toxins because it's like you can only put in so many supplements or whatever, and you also need to make sure you're not, you know, keep putting...
21:33 - toxins in your body with all the processed food and chemicals and stuff, you know? It's true. It's a whole process to stay healthy these days. Yeah, unfortunately so. I know, you know, they say broccoli doesn't have as many nutrients, you know, as it did 30, 50 years ago, like half. So we're not getting as many nutrients from our vegetables and we also have a lot of pesticides and everything on our food. And then you also have the processing, taking up the fiber.
22:03 - So it's just like this downward spiral of why we're unhealthy. It's scary. Yeah. It is, you know. And I think I'm surrounded by a lot of healthy individuals, you know, you and...
22:18 - because I'm in this space, but you kind of go out of LA or some healthy cities and a lot of people are overweight, they're obese. It's true, I mean, because of course I travel for the noodles and such and it's true, you go to some cities and it's shocking really. Yeah, and in other countries as well? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not just America anymore, it's happening all over. It is, yeah, it's terrifying.
22:46 - So what do you think, have you looked into Ozempic or Wigoby, any of these weight loss drugs? I mean everyone's on them. Is that what you think, everyone's on it? Yeah, I mean it's going to be, it's going to continue probably exponentially. What do I think about them? Yeah, yeah, what is your opinion? The problem, I mean people are losing weight and so that's a good thing.
23:15 - The problem is they're not necessarily, the type of food that they're eating is pretty much the same, it's just sort of less, which means that there are potential nutrient deficiencies that are gonna be amplified because now they're not eating as much food. So there's, for people who are getting older, you know, you need more protein as time goes, as you age. So if those people are, you know, eating their toast in the morning and they're,
23:44 - you know, whatever they're eating during the day, and now they're eating less, as they get older, then they're probably gonna have some issues with getting enough protein. So that's going to be a problem. Now, if someone is on that and they start to increase the nutrient density of their diet, then, you know, assuming that we don't find some terrible, terrible side effect years later, then they may be okay.
24:12 - My policy with, of course, I'm not prescribing Ozempic or anything like that in my practice, but because that's not my specialty, but when I, my policy whenever I prescribe a new medication is that I always tell people that, you know, when they're doing the studies, they only look at a certain number of people and then that might be fine. There might not be any side effects, but then when you release it to the overall population,
24:41 - then because you've given to so many more people, then that's when the side effects start to happen. So while I prescribe new medications, I always talk to my patients about that. And I've had circumstances in just in my specialty where everything looked fine and then it got released and that's when we started to see the side effects and then it eventually got pulled from the market. So I'm not saying that's gonna happen with these, but it's not clear just yet.
25:10 - what the long-term effects are gonna be. So you have to be cautious. But for people who have not been able to lose weight and now they're losing weight, I mean, overall they're probably healthier for that. Yeah, I think, you know, someone who's over...
25:28 - probably the pros way out the cons. And then I don't know what these side effects, because I have heard people have to go to the hospital, go to an emergency or something for this, but who knows the percentage, and maybe that small percentage makes it worth, and that could be something underlying as well. Yeah, we'll see. I know. We're getting more data. More data, more people take it. But in the food business, since I'm in both,
25:58 - medicine. There have been some published reports that, you know, like Walmart came out with a report that showed that their food sales are actually down because of, like, they're able to measure the decrease in food sales as a result of these medicines. Oh my gosh. Are they going to fight with the Zephyc? What they're saying is that it's going to have an overall...
26:26 - economic impact on food on just the food business itself. Isn't that crazy? That is so crazy. Yeah, I guess the money is going from the, you know, the big food companies now to the drug companies. Yeah, it's all getting shuffled around on the board. Yeah. But I do think that protein enriched foods are gonna be are gonna sort of come back or not come back just there's
26:56 - on protein and generally I don't think that that's overall like a completely necessary thing but with these people again if they're not increasing the nutrient density of their diet and they're just shrinking the calories then I think we're going to see some issues and I think protein is going to become more important. Yeah, I think we are realizing right now how important protein is for muscle strength because we don't want to be skinny, skinny fat.
27:26 - muscle for longevity.
27:27 - Especially as you get older, how important muscle is for your overall longevity. Definitely, yeah. Because if you don't have that muscle, you can easily get fractured, injured, or you know. Yeah. And it helps with your metabolism as well. So it's really important to keep that muscle. Do you, I know this is kind of a miracle podcast. Yeah, it's anything. What do you think of protein powders? Protein powders.
27:57 - If your overall nutrient density of your diet is okay and you're young, I don't think it's all that needed. Like in other words, if you're not eating, if you're eating no processed foods and you're eating greens and nuts and seeds and you know. I'm not a big fan of chicken, but I mean if you're eating fish, chicken, and you're not eating a lot of, again, flour and.
28:26 - those sorts of things, then I don't think, unless you're incredibly active, like super active, you don't necessarily need protein powders. That being said, people have different health goals and different body goals, and in those cases, protein powders can be good. So you don't have any protein powders? I do sometimes, yeah, no, I have some Goat Way at home that I sometimes use, but I don't use it that often. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a smoothie after a workout, and so I'll use Goat Way.
28:55 - Yeah. So I haven't done dairy in so long. Yeah, I can't tolerate regular dairy, so. You've done raw dairy? I tried raw dairy once. Because I bought the raw. I tried it once. I bought the raw dairy thanks to Paul Saladino, the carnivore. Oh, okay. I see. And I have another friend who was like, I did it after, you know, she was on this fruit diet, she's been all over now, she's more carnivore.
29:20 - and she did dairy and she's like, I didn't have a reaction. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna buy the raw dairy that's been in my fridge and I'm like, I don't know how this is gonna go. I tried it once. When I lived in Santa Monica, I was in the Santa Monica co-op and I was standing by the, I was looking at it and there was a guy there and I remember he said, he introduced himself as, hi, my name is Sunbeam. He said, that was his name.
29:48 - and he said, you must try, you must try, yeah. The raw dairy. You must try the raw dairy. And I was like, ah. Anyway, I ended up trying it. And, but I mean. How did you feel? I digested it okay. I mean, it tasted good, but I wouldn't say, you know, my father was a doctor and whenever anyone, this is going back, you know, 60 years, when people had issues with dairy, he just, we're talking about kids and.
30:17 - kids with eczema and babies, you just switch them to goat. That was always what was done, because goat is always is less allergenic, the protein, the A2 protein and such. Does goat always A2? Yeah, I think so. But beyond that, it's always been known to be tolerated better. So again, going back 60 years, if a baby couldn't tolerate cow dairy, then they just switched them to goat.
30:45 - And there's no reason why we can't do that anymore. And so it's not uncommon, like for babies that come to see me with eczema, for me to tell the parents to switch to, they say, should we go on a dairy-free diet? He might be, allergy, the allergist said maybe we should switch to a non-dairy formula. And you can just go to goat. And so that's how I, that's why I use the goat way.
31:14 - I've never Googled Go away. I don't even think they have Whole Foods or anything. I buy it on Amazon.
31:25 - Yeah, I don't know why it's something I should try. It's worth a try. I try. Yeah. Because yeah, I don't know about the dairy. I'm like, oh, that's really good. You know, a lot of people love it for, you know, satiety, like muscles. I'm kind of using different vegan protein powders. And I do think protein from animal sources is like kind of the best for muscle gaining and strength. So. Yeah. But I'm not a big meat eater. No, meat eater.
31:55 - decent amount of fish but yeah stick to the low mercury stuff. Well you should check you should check your mercury you know. I think I don't know if that was one of the functions. I did it with Mark Hyman's test. They checked for two heavy metals but they didn't check I don't know if it's like they didn't check that. Arginine?
32:25 - I forget the other. Oh, arsenic maybe. Yeah, that and there was another heavy metal. But they did test for two and I know.
32:34 - So yeah, that was great. If you fish though, it's totally totally worth it to check Yeah, it's worth checking because this I know Doctor to is kind of being in the back packing space. He had heavy metals and he's very Conscious like he tests everything, you know, yeah clean But yeah, he had heavy metals because he will he had low testosterone
33:04 - and find out how you got an email.
33:05 - So we used the Cellcore protocol. I don't know if you've heard of that, but a lot of people love it. So we did like their four month detox system and then tested again and it's all good. Amazing. Yeah, and it's just like, I don't think people are realizing how heavy metals are affecting them. Like testosterone, I also interviewed the founder of Natural Stacks. He's like, every time he had this back pain, he would go test his heavy metals and they would be high.
33:35 - Wow. Where was he getting the heavy metals from? I don't know. I was asking my friend Holland about the heavy metals. He's like, I eat fish and rice.
33:54 - Yeah, well rice, you can get arsenic from rice, right? Rice, chicken and rice, there's high in arsenic. Yeah, and these just affect, you know, things that you're probably not thinking are associated with it. Yeah. So it's like, a huge part of my biohacking protocol is detoxing, because I really think a lot of people have either mold, some, you know, too many parasites, and heavy metals. It's really common. Yeah.
34:24 - I mean, even the founder of Super Bloom, she's very healthy. She wanted to, she's like, why am I breaking out? Didn't attach, she had mold, Candida, like all these things, and she was shocked. And it's like, I know so many people that have mold and they would not think so until they were tested. Yeah.
34:45 - Yeah, it's the modern world when you it For all of your patients. Do you have them do most of these tasks? Like how does that work because these are expensive to right? Yeah, so you have to kind of like picking shoes Yeah, so I stick with some basic just ones that you can get at any lab like fasting insulin like lipoprotein a like like a again, the Omega index the
35:10 - Just general chemistries, all these are very easy to get, hemoglobin A1C. So I start there. And then we move on to, then we look at their diet and then we go a little bit deeper in terms of the micronutrient panel.
35:26 - If still something is going on and it's like we need to go deeper. Usually we get a micronutrient panel. I usually I don't necessarily do a gut zoom on every on every patient. Because generally you can you can through diet and such things. Things improve, can improve pretty quickly for people. Yeah, it depends on what their goal is, honestly. Yeah, I think, you know, that's why a lot of these tests can be expensive. Yeah. Just like if you stick to maybe, you know, not having carbs for a while. Yeah. Feeding the candy.
35:56 - You don't really need to do these tests, you just need to kind of detox, eat healthy, and then your body can function the way it's supposed to. Yeah, and again, some of these tests, like the FASTA insulin, it's like $25, so just that alone can spur someone to understand that metabolically they're headed for trouble, and that in and of itself is enough to get their diet moving in the right direction. So we'll go back to...
36:24 - Miracle noodles. Okay, yeah. I love to get into the science of the microbiome and everything. So what is this? Is it going to be a seven day fasting? Yeah, so it's going to, it's based on, you know, I don't know. Miracle noodles involved? Miracle noodles are involved. Am I able to make miracle noodles for the fast? Yes. Best fast ever. Totally.
36:50 - Yeah, I mean, it's based on Dr. Longo's work where he came up with a fasting-mimicking diet, which is basically a five-day reduced calorie vegan diet. So it's vegan because you don't want it to activate these nutrient-sensing pathways, which would not give you the effect of a fast. So in other words, it's mimicking the effects of a fast, but without having to worry about the actually starving yourself. So it's around 1,100 calories for the first day. And then...
37:19 - seven to 800 calories days two through day five. People go into ketosis usually the end of day two or mid day three depending on how they are. And then the advantage here is, goes back to a lot of things that we spoke about. One is when you're eating food, you don't lose nearly as much muscle mass, if hardly any, but with a regular fast, that's gonna be an issue. Your body's just gonna go for your muscle right away.
37:47 - The second thing is that when you water fast, and that's a form of detox, and the toxins start to go into your gut and then are just absorbed back into your bloodstream. And that can make you actually pretty sick. If you're super toxic, when you haven't eaten for a while and there's nothing to pull the toxins through your gut, you can get very, very sick because, again, your body is mobilizing the fat and it's...
38:16 - it's the toxins are, you know, your body's going into a detox mode. If those get put into your gut and immediately reabsorbed, you, people can feel really, really ill. That's part of the illness, the part of, part of what people feel when they, when sometimes when they start to fast, if you're doing a fasting, mimicking diet type of thing, then they're, you're getting, you're getting fiber and such that's pulling some of these toxins out. And they've done enough studies to show that you get all the, you get, you know, in other words.
38:46 - Day three, four, or five, you get super autophagy. There are a lot of people out there saying that one or two days you can get a lot of autophagy. It's not true. You really need to get into that three, four, and five day period for you to really get a good amount of autophagy going. Are there studies for this? Are you guys doing any research? Yeah, not me, but at the USC Department of Longevity.
39:16 - I guess it's gerontology, Department of Gerontology at USC. So that's who's done the majority of the studies. So they notice that around three or four, that's when the ontology really starts to come in. Exactly. Yeah. And also you get stem cell release also. So it has to be... Oh, that's great. Yeah. Exactly. We like stem cells. Yeah. It's amazing. So I'm taking their formula essentially, and then I created a kit.
39:44 - basically, which is mimicking, in other words, the calorie counts and the macro divisions that happen on those days that are based on the original studies. And then people come into the program, they do five days a month for three months, and then there's education, potentially labs and such that are ordered throughout the three months. And it's like a full program. Well, if I can convince people to be part of that, initially.
40:13 - The initial part of it is going to be mostly just education plus the kit. And then I'd like to incorporate labs. I haven't done that yet, but it's sort of a new program. What's really amazing about this type of thing is that when people are, essentially you're restoring your metabolic flexibility, your ability to burn fat.
40:42 - just by doing the fast. And what they've shown is that people continue to lose weight even if they go back to, they keep the weight off, even if they go back to their regular diet, which in this program, I hope that they don't do that. I'm gonna lead people through education and such. But even if you just, the original studies were just, people did it once a month for three months, and then they only needed to do it like once a quarter thereafter. Wow. And you, basically the metabolic flexibility persisted.
41:12 - for a decent amount of time. So it's... When is this coming out? It's very soon, very soon. Probably in a month I would say. Oh, okay. Wow, okay. This is great. So then people will know that this is out. And this is a great solution for people. It is. Yeah. And the noodles make it easy. Because to be honest, if you're eating only 700 calories in a day over three or four days, that... if it's not a filling food...
41:40 - it can be difficult. And it's, you know, a lot of people do these liquid fats as well, but it's like you just want to chew on something. Right, exactly. That's what I've heard people say, they're like, I miss chewing. Yeah. Yeah, the thing with the liquid fats, again, it's the same thing. You really need to have fiber to pull those toxins out. So would you suggest also adding them by-
42:07 - I don't think that's necessary, although that would be an interesting idea though, but it would be an interesting idea. I haven't thought of that. Good idea. I'll have to do some research on that. And part of the miracle do too. Yeah. No, I think binders are great. It just helps get things out. Yeah. Yeah, there was an amazing, not exactly a binder, but talking about activated charcoal. I don't know if you saw that there was this study. It was...
42:36 - It was an animal study, but they just gave like a pretty big dose of activated charcoal to I don't know what kind of animal it was, but that's all they did and they only did it like once a month or something like that and the animal, the lifespan increased dramatically just with like one like loaded activated charcoal. Really? Yeah, it was, I wish I could remember the details of that. I love activated charcoal.
43:04 - I use the Quicksilver. Yeah. And because Alan, I use the Bulletproof one. And it kind of upset, you know, this is years ago when I kind of was going down my health journey.
43:15 - That one kind of upsets my stomach. I mean, it's nice to have like a little aloe vera. This one has, you know, because it can kind of make you constipated or some little stomach. So it's always great to like have a few. How often do you do that? If I ever, so this was like my little hack for going out drinking. Okay, uh-huh. Would be a binder. I take it before, it works like magic. And then, yeah, I'll sometimes just add it in at night. Uh-huh.
43:45 - I use this as a parahect sometimes, especially like, if I feel like something's coming on, I'll just, I don't know, just I randomly take it. Okay, interesting. And then there's also, I don't know if you've heard of pectals, pectal soul C, or? No. That's like a pectin, but yeah, that also caps on as well. Yeah. Grapevine, and then you have the clades and stuff, but. Yeah. Yeah, these are great. I think most people should be adding a bind.
44:11 - because you need to get, that helps like the heavy metal toxicity and stuff. So you're gonna add that into the protocol. Sounds good, I'm making notes. So have you done this protocol then yourself? Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, many times. Were you starving? Were you good? No, no. Okay, you felt satisfied? Yeah, I mean it's not easy, but it's not difficult either. Yeah, other than like a...
44:37 - Oh, for sure, yeah, for sure. And we have our ready-to-eat meals in there, so people have lots of different options. They have a bar for breakfast. They have snacks in the afternoon, so they're eating. It's just a lower calorie load. And people feel like a real sense of accomplishment for themselves. So in addition to what we were speaking about before, where people, when they are more proactive about their labs.
45:06 - that sense of, you know, I'm doing something for myself and I'm capable of doing something for myself. The same thing happens here. When you get through this, and everyone's gonna go through it in a cohort, so you're gonna be in a group setting with people online, people really feel a sense of accomplishment, that they did something difficult, even though it's not the most difficult thing in the world. Again, it does require a commitment where you're gonna feel hungry and...
45:33 - before you get into ketosis, you're gonna feel a little weak and tired, but people get through it again. It's not easy, but it's not difficult, as I like to say. And then at the end of it, you feel amazing. You really do. Your skin tightens up. They've actually done the company that, there's a company called Prolon that has a similar type of kit. And that company, they've done studies, going back to the USC group, where there is some...
46:02 - some cosmetic improvements. For all women. For everyone. This is like motivating me. You feel really good after you do it. You say skin to women, I'll do it. Believe me, I know. And you have great skin. Thank you. And you're a dermatologist. Yeah. So what is your skincare routine? Yeah, you know, I always say skincare routines are not, shouldn't be that complicated.
46:30 - So, you know, an alpha hydroxy acid of some sort in the morning, alternating with like a vitamin C serum. And then in the evening, you need to use a retinoid, like a prescription retinoid. That's what I recommend. You use a retinal embryo every night? Prescription retinoid, yeah.
46:47 - That's it. Very simple. Yeah, that's really it. That's all you do. You have never done lasers or anything? No. But I'm not against laser or anything like that.
46:56 - But yeah, it seems like you have great skin, so... Thank you. I guess that comes from being a dermatologist. You have to have good skin if you're a dermatologist. Or you're seven day, is it seven days? Five days, five, yeah. So five days, and then you're going to come out. Can people order this on medical noodles? Yeah. So it'll be on there. Exactly. So that's where they can go. Yeah, under the underbody mastery method. Has Nick done this? He hasn't done it yet. No, no, but you know, we've, we, we, we really...
47:26 - Oh yeah, my entire team and we've had customers do it too. We had the kit for sale for quite a while. It's not on the website right now because we're reformulating it. But we've had people go through this in a group support system. So we know it's really, what we're doing now is adding the education and then potentially, you know, yeah, exactly. Wow, yeah, I know. It's not easy to do.
47:55 - It's almost like this habit. You're used to your coffee, your practice. And you can't have caffeine either during these five days. I don't know. Is that what skits that make you skit-worth? Coffee? You know, I mean, you can... Decaf?
48:15 - Well, it's the caffeine that potentially interferes with some of the nutrient sensing, but if people get a really bad headache or something, they can have a little cough. It's not going to totally upset things. Okay, okay. Okay, I'll try. I mean, I should, you know, get out of my comfort zone. Yeah, I think it's good for everyone to be off of caffeine for a good week because... Do you think it's also like the acidity maybe affects and then like absorbing nutrients or something?
48:45 - Perhaps. I mean, I think overall caffeine, I mean coffee, overall, of course, you know, there's more data to show that it's a good thing for you. But at the same time, you know, a lot of people don't appreciate the impact on sleep until they've been, until like you've been off of caffeine for like a week. Like if you go solid off caffeine a week, almost everyone realizes in a deeply impactful way, even though they didn't think it affected their sleep.
49:15 - Oftentimes, somewhere along that fourth or fifth, sixth, seventh day, they wake up in the morning, they're like, whoa, that was some sleep. You don't necessarily appreciate it until you've done sort of that free of caffeine kind of thing. I do, I just have my coffee in the morning.
49:35 - And I think that works for me. Yeah. Because when I was doing caffeine throughout the day, it was like, you could tell, you're asleep, you're more awake, you're not sleeping well, and it's just this like vicious cycle. Yeah. And then you're gonna keep drinking more coffee, you wake up and then at three o'clock, you know, and then you don't sleep. Agreed, agreed. People do that all the time and then they drink more. I know. And more. It's a vicious, vicious cycle. Yeah. But I do love the taste, I actually just.
50:04 - Yeah, yeah. Oh, you okay in the morning or oh in the afternoon Yeah, people love people love it I'm not saying anything about that I would never tell people to get rid of coffee but but it is interesting like just to scent to be able to Detect like the that incremental improvement in your sleep when you when you go off caffeine, but honestly
50:34 - it's almost impossible to convince people to do that. But you know, this is a good example or a good, you know, a good exercise to be off of it for five days just to see, you know, and not only that your sleep improved. Oftentimes when people go through this, you know, your sleep generally also improves, you know, because your blood sugar is not going up and down and that can affect your sleep as well. So and, you know, people are in ketosis. And anyway, you get it.
51:04 - What you realize also, another benefit to this is that when you get into the third, fourth and fifth day, you realize why religious traditions around the world have recommended fasting because your mind just gets into this incredibly even tone. You're not up and down emotionally and then you start to understand how our blood sugar and just whatever.
51:33 - you know, overeating and everything else has is directly linked to our yeah, our emotional ability and such. So when you get into like the third, fourth and fifth day, you know, a lot of people are like, I don't want to stop, you know, because at some point, you know, you're adapted and you're like, you know, let me keep going. You don't want to keep going. You don't have to keep going. You know, you don't want to damage your metabolism with a lengthy fast. So but you realize like, wow.
52:02 - Okay, like, my food is affecting my emotional state. And so this is another one of those realizations you get when you do these sorts of things. That's what I tell people all the time. It's like, you know, people think, oh, my physical, oh, my kids are skinny, or, you know.
52:23 - but you're feeding them toxins. Yeah. And the toxins are affecting their mental state so much. And that's why I'm like, it's not just the physical body.
52:33 - I want to feel good mentally because it's like if you stay away from those toxins and maybe do a fast or whatever, you're mental and like it's so much more, I don't know, uplifting, clear, just happy. You know, I definitely think like my whole health journey I'm the happiest I've been and I think that's because I stay away from toxins and I eat clean food and it just, that's why I want people to be healthy because I want them to feel good. Of course. And a lot of people don't.
53:03 - I don't know, like the whole mental thing is like, you're on anxiety, depression, depression medication, like all these things. And I'm like, it's our food. Like it's a huge impact on our mental state. And I think we need to stop looking at diets and like, and looking at less calories and look at more as feeding my body, feeding my cells, feeding my brain. Yeah. So even I, when I did this podcast with the founder of NaturalStacks, it was like, yeah, like why are we not?
53:33 - You know bio hacking our brain as well to like have more energy to be focused to like work better So I kind of started to get into that too. That's great. He also making sure like Yeah I'm a really big fan. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's an organization called the Heart Math Institute And so they they're they pioneered really I believe sort of heart rate variability
54:02 - but they have a heart-brain coherence device that you clip to your ear. With practice and breathing and relaxation, you can see the coherence between the heart and the brain increase on the monitor. When you get to those sort of higher states, it's like an open heart energy that is with clear thinking and they have all these tools and techniques. They've been around for like...
54:32 - 30, 40 years at this. And now of course, and their publications are really incredible. And now of course we have the sensors that you can just connect to your phone and such that allow you to sort of not only measure your heart rate variability in a much finer way than say, you know, the aura ring and the whoop thing. It's as much more sensitive, but also you get this, you can get this.
54:59 - connection between you know your heart sends almost more signals to your brain than your brain to your heart believe it or not. So there's a lot of wisdom in the heart that pretty much affects how you feel about everything believe it or not like scientifically and you can access that through technology now and you know it's really amazing. That's so interesting. So it's...
55:28 - I had some thought but I can't remember. I guess we'll just go back to miracle noodles again. So you have all your products, you have other products as well with miracle noodles. You have the noodles, you have different stir fry. Yeah, we have some ready meals. And then you also have some other products on your website like the sugars or something? We have some low carb baked items. Okay.
55:57 - We'll be coming out with a cookie and like a higher protein cookie lower lower carb We have some high protein noodles coming out as well Probably will be out when this gets potentially be I'm not sure when you're gonna put this online We're gonna have a higher protein version of our noodles, yeah The end of February actually, yeah
56:24 - Coming up. Okay. And your products are sold everywhere, all around the world? Not all over the world. We're in a lot of stores in the US for sure, probably 20-something thousand stores nationwide. We have a decent amount in Canada, a little bit in Italy, a little bit in the UK, but mostly the US. And then is it difficult to get into other countries? Yeah, it is. I mean, it's a question of do you want to put the resources into that?
56:54 - in the Gulf region now as well. So the diabetes in the Gulf region is just, I think it's one of the highest in the world. Really? Yeah, they have a huge obesity rate. What are they eating? Wheat, you know, a lot of wheat. So do you eat wheat when talking about gandhi? And... Not often, but I mean, I'm not like, I'm not strict. I stay away from it. I think it's one of the highest, you know.
57:24 - um, grains with pesticides and so you're dealing with that and then also yeah, the protein in bread is like kind of similar. It's got issues for sure. Yeah, I just stay away. It's not worth it for me. Yeah. Once you stop eating it, you realize like I don't have any craving for it. Yeah. It's just, it's always shocking when people grab.
57:45 - all these, the bread and all this, and I'm like, I have no craving for it whatsoever now. Yeah, yeah, I eat it very, very rarely. I mean, getting rid of bread, for people who eat a decent amount of bread, I mean, it's a predictable five pound weight loss just getting rid of bread. I know.
58:01 - It's so predictable that, you know, it's incredible how rapidly people will lose weight if they just get rid of bread. Yeah. So I remember I was going to ask you, have you done a glucose monitor with this 5-day fast? No. Okay. No. That would be interesting though. That would be interesting to see if there's like, you know, you're doing glucose. Yeah. But I've checked, I checked my blood just because I was curious when, what day I was going into ketosis. So.
58:30 - And you checked it every day to see? Yeah, yeah. And it was the third day? Third day was when I was getting to like a higher number, like a two or two and a half or something like that. I'm usually in ketosis in the morning. I'm pretty good with being at.5 or.6 in the morning, but again, the higher level of ketosis, it's usually day three for me. Can you order these tests online?
58:59 - Just on Amazon? The, oh the, oh the, yeah I recommend Keto Mojo, the company Keto Mojo. And they're probably the best. And it, it's interesting, it really is interesting. It's one of those things, like, it's one of those things that, it's just good to, it's just interesting to know if you're in ketosis or not. Yeah. Because you're supposed to be able, as we said, you know, everyone, everyone is, you're born with the, it's like your birthright to be able to.
59:28 - switch between burning sugar and burning fat and the data shows that literally over 90% of the population is incapable of that. So it would be interesting, it's just interesting to know if you're capable of going into ketosis because if you're not, that makes it hard for you to lose weight. Because essentially higher insulin levels prevent your lipate.
59:57 - the enzyme that breaks down fat is inhibited by high levels of insulin. And your blood sugar can be completely normal while your insulin level can be high, and that's preventing you from breaking down fat. That's why the fasting insulin level is such an important test for people. So if you're unable to go into ketosis, you're not breaking down fat essentially. That's oversimplifying it, but that's basically what's happening.
01:00:23 - That's pretty, I mean, I guess straightforward for me. So do you typically fast at night? Do you stop eating at five and then? I do. I recommend and I do just 12 hours. I mean, it's not, some women can't, hormonally, it's not great for them to do extended fasting and such. But.
01:00:49 - So I recommend for everyone just a minimum of 12 hours. Okay. Yeah, I think once you get used to not eating for, it seems very easy. Yeah, definitely, yeah. You're sleeping for eight, you know, you shouldn't be eating at night right before bed and just work out and then eat. Yeah, and your sleep is better when you... 12 hours seriously. Ideally you'd have like a good four hours before you go to sleep because... Yeah, I know. I'm all...
01:01:17 - shut down people eat so much at night. Yeah that affects my sleep for sure. Yeah it's like it's your sleep too. And of course your metabolism, you shouldn't be eating and then just not moving. Right, that's true. Why? But this is like a very popular thing to go out to dinner late. That's true. It's tough to balance you know those lifestyle issues. I mean it really is. Yeah, it's definitely you know.
01:01:46 - Social it's hard. It's like with Brian Johnson. He's very strict. He stopped eating anything at 11 a.m. Or something and the whole Social aspect is kind of like, you know, and it's a give-and-take you have to realize. Yeah I don't know but now I kind of just go out and I'm like just have my sparkling water
01:02:05 - Yeah. But then I... Can you still be social? Sure. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Sometimes, you know. You don't have to eat just because they're all so big. No, no. That's for sure. Yeah, yeah. So anyways, well this is great. I think we talked about everything and noodles. Yeah, it was awesome. So since this is the Biohacker Blondie podcast, I have to ask you three of your favorite biohacks. Okay. Yeah, so what are your three favorites? Three biohacks. The three top that you've... I have to ask you three of your favorite biohacks. Okay. Yeah, so what are your three favorites? Three biohacks. The three top that you've... Three favorite biohacks. Okay.
01:02:35 - love. Okay. Like technology wise or just just any behavior type of thing? Yeah. Okay. Well, I'd say the four so for definitely the four hours before going to sleep, try not to eat. Yeah, because I that impacts my sleep dramatically. So well, I'll go with that. And then I need two more. So I recommend heart math people looking into the heart math Institute.
01:03:03 - for the heart rate variability.
01:03:05 - And yeah, and probably everyone should look into doing like a fasting mimicking type of thing. Yeah, I really like the mimicking, the fasting mimicking because I think it's very intimidating when you say go on a 36 hour fast, a 48 hour, you know, three day fast. Yeah, and I don't think it's not safe. I mean, these extended fasts. I know there's been a lot of, I don't know, like reducing your calorie intake has also been shown to just be very beneficial.
01:03:35 - and I have listened to some other things about when you're doing a full water
01:03:41 - fast it can kind of change your gut microbiome. I imagine it would. And kind of like disturb and not maybe beneficial in the long run. So I don't know. So yeah I'm really interested I know like look into this fast. I want tight in skin. That's my motivation. Anyway but this was so great. Thank you. Yeah a pleasure. So much for coming on my podcast taking the time out of your day. My pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Great. This is so great.
Comments