(gentle music) - All right, it's time
to ditch the carrots and try these foods
for eye health instead. And if you feed your gut
buddies what they want, you could actually improve
your eyesight, no joke. And we're gonna get into
the one food you absolutely need to avoid if you want
beautiful eyes that shine. First of all, nuts. Hazelnuts, pine nuts, walnuts will improve your eye health. Why? Because they contain vitamin E, the usable forms of vitamin E. A large study found that vitamin E, together with other nutrients, can help slow age-related
macular degeneration, AMD, from getting worse. The problem with most, not all, but most vitamin E
supplements in multivitamins or even alone, actually contain the wrong
artificial isomer of vitamin E. And what you really want is to get all the different
forms of vitamin E, which are tocopherols and tocotrienols. And you need to get that
from whole foods like nuts. Again, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and walnuts are a big three
for improving eye health. Dark leafy greens. Why? Because they contain carotenoids,
lutein, and zeaxanthin. And you'll see many commercials on TV advertising these
particular compounds to help eye health and to
improve macular degeneration or prevent macular degeneration
in the first point. These plant-based forms of vitamin A will lower your risk of
long-term eye diseases, including cataracts and AMD. Next up, small fish. Anchovies, mackerel, oysters, and wild-caught salmon. Why? They contain the long-chain
Omega-3 fats EPA and DHA. Now, retinas, the back of our eye that actually allows us to see things, need two types of Omega-3
fatty acids to work well, both DHA and EPA. You can find this in
fatty fish and seafood. Now, Omega-3 fats seem
to protect your eyes from AMD and from glaucoma. Low levels of these fatty acids have been linked to dry eyes. The important thing to remember is try to get wild-caught seafood. Not a day goes by that one
of my patients tells me they're eating healthy,
organic farm-raised seafood. Folks, the definition of farm-raised means that the fish were in a cage and they were fed organic
corn and soybeans. The fish weren't followed around to see what they were eating organically. So if you see the organic, even if it sounds wonderful, like organic salmon from Scotland, or organic Nordic salmon, or organic Canadian salmon, don't buy it. Look for wild-caught. The easiest way to look
for wild-caught salmon is, by law, Alaskan salmon
has to be wild-caught. That's not true of Canadian salmon, it's not true of Norway, not true of the Nordic countries. Just look for wild-caught Alaskan. Just the word Alaskan
salmon and you'll be fine. Yes, it's only available part of the year. That's okay. Stock up during the season, which, quite frankly, is
right now, and freeze it. It'll stay a long time in your freezer. To me, the easiest way
to get these small fish is to buy some sardines. If you don't like the skin and bones, get boneless, skinless. They're readily available, even at Trader Joe's. They're available at Costco, and it's an easy way to get these small Omega-3 fish into your diet. Next up, dark chocolate. Dark chocolate greater than 72% cacao has polyphenols that
will dramatically improve your eye health. Berries contain several compounds that have been shown
to improve eye health. This was first noted back in World War II when British fighter pilots were actually fed bilberry jam every day to improve their night vision. Why bilberries? Bilberries contain a lot of polyphenols. But you don't have to go eat bilberry jam, you can get your polyphenols from berries, from particularly
raspberries and blackberries. Try to eat them in season. Polyphenols in dark chocolate, polyphenols in coffee, polyphenols in tea will also
benefit your eye health. There was an exciting study
published a few years ago by an ophthalmologist who gave a polyphenol compound product, which I personally use, called Longevinex, to people with macular degeneration, and published results that
macular degeneration improved by taking this polyphenol product whose main base is resveratrol. So there is good science behind the idea that this will support
your eye health as well. Now a word of warning. Not a day goes by that
I don't see a commercial on TV or in social media
attesting to various ways to bring out the brightness
and whiteness of your eyes. Everybody is fixated on getting
rid of the redness in eyes. And there's a very popular
prescription medication that will do this, but it comes at a price. You'll see in my new book "Gut Check" that one of the biggest drivers of eye irritation and eye redness is a compound in healthy whole grains called wheat germ agglutinin. Now I've been telling you since "The Plant Paradox" how
dangerous wheat germ agglutinin, WGA, is for your blood vessels, for leaky gut, for heart health, and brain health. But suppose you're not worried about that. If you want red eyes, have yourself some whole wheat bread. You'll be loaded with
wheat germ agglutinin, you will make antibodies to it, and it turns out that wheat
germ agglutinin sticks to your eyeballs. You make an antibody against it, and you get red eyes. So save yourself a lot of money, save yourself some prescriptions, stop eating whole wheat bread. Easy way to get rid of the problem. Now there are other
great tips for eye health that I've talked about in the past. First of all, buy yourself a pair of
blue light blocking glasses to protect your eyes from junk blue light, which is everywhere. Wear them when you're
working on a computer, looking at your phone, and certainly while watching TV at night. Now make sure they're quality
blue light blocking glasses. There are many impostors out there that block little to no blue light. And look for my recommendations in my books or even online. Finally, exercise your eyes. There's great ways to do eye yoga. You can do palming, you can do eye rolling. You should exercise the
muscles of your eyeballs. There are important muscles that will help you avoid eye strain. And you'll notice that if
you're staring at something for a long time, you will definitely notice
your eyesight diminish. Take a break, roll your eyes, have somebody tell a bad joke and roll your eyes at the bad joke. Exercise your eyes. Could one spoonful of this
supports healthy blood sugar? All right, what is blood sugar really? Now it's not just a term for diabetics, although we hear it on TV all the time. Blood sugar is what's measured when you get a fasting glucose in your doctor's office, or now with the continuous
glucose monitors that are becoming all the rage. Glucose really is energy currency. That's what we use to make
ATP for the most part. Glucose is really important to keep within a very fine range. Why? Because elevated glucose
actually is very damaging to the inner lining of our blood vessels. And that lining has got a fascinating name called the glycocalyx. Glyco means sugar. And these are a very fine
web of sugar molecules that protect the lining
of our blood vessels. They protect the lining of
our blood-brain barrier. They actually protect the eye surface. And studies have shown
that if blood sugar, blood glucose, goes a little bit high for a little period of time, that glycocalyx becomes damaged. And that's becoming increasingly clear why blood sugar spikes
are probably really bad for heart health, for brain health, because of the damage to the glycocalyx. All right, so what are some great tricks to support healthy blood sugar levels? My number one trick is a relatively new
sweetener called allulose. Now, if you've read my most recent book, "Unlocking the Keto Code", you know that allulose is my
preferred sweetener of choice. Allulose is actually a true rare sugar. It was first discovered in figs. It is a true sugar, but unlike sugar, table sugar, which is sucrose, which is
half fructose and half glucose, by the way, this sugar has no
effect on blood sugar levels, it has no calories, and it's the first FDA-approved
prebiotic sugar replacement. That's really important. So why is allulose so cool, you might ask? Well, when it was being
developed in a study comparing the effects of consuming allulose, cellulose in a commercial diet in rats with insulin resistance, the allulose group had
improved insulin sensitivity after seven weeks. Insulin sensitivity means that it's easier to sell sugar to your cells, and that's what you want for
keeping your sugar levels low. In another study, 30 participants received a 50-gram dose of sucrose or table sugar, followed by either a placebo or allulose. The allulose group
experienced significantly lower blood sugar levels after 30 minutes than the placebo group. And study after study
shows that allulose blocks the effect of elevated blood sugar even after consuming a cup of coffee. Now, the great thing about allulose is that it gives you a sweet taste without spiking your blood sugar, and it does it while feeding your gut buddies with prebiotics. It's a win-win. In fact, there are some
very encouraging studies that supplementing with allulose, not to get things sweet, but just supplementing with allulose can have a dramatic effect on weight loss, particularly on losing abdominal fat. And as you know, fat in your gut, you are out of luck. The other thing that's
great about allulose is it tastes very much like pure sugar. There is nothing
artificial about allulose. So put a teaspoon or so
in your morning coffee, pour it over some goat's or sheep yogurt to get rid of that tangy taste that many of you complain about. Put it in your green smoothie. Bake with it. It's a great addition
to your armamentarium, particularly when we're looking at keeping blood sugars under control. Now, number two, cinnamon. Now, if you needed more
excuses to include cinnamon in your diet, this is it. Numerous human studies have confirmed that cinnamon can lower
fasting blood sugar levels from anywhere to 10 to 30%. Why? Well, it's loaded with polyphenols. Polyphenols are superb
mitochondrial uncouplers. And if you've read
"Unlocking the Keto Code", you know that when we
uncouple mitochondria, we actually waste calories, waste sugar, and that's part of the effect
of lowering your blood sugar. So it's a win-win. I mean, did you ever wonder
why there's a cinnamon shaker in almost every coffee shop? And there are actually very good examples of adding cinnamon as
you're brewing your coffee to reduce the blood sugar spike that coffee often causes. The Viennese are actually
famous for doing this. Viennese coffee has a considerable amount of cinnamon added to the coffee, and that's what makes it Viennese coffee. Now, you've been probably told that if you really wanna
lower your blood sugar, one of the best things you
can do is eat whole grains. Now, I'm here to tell you that that could not be further from the truth. Here's why. The problem is that most of the grains in whole grain foods have
been finely ground up. In fact, I'll ask my patients, "Go to the store, buy a
loaf of whole grain bread, and open it up and look at a slice. Do you see any whole grains in there?" Of course not, they've all been ground up. Now, the problem with starches, starches in general, if they're whole, are slowly digested, and that would, in fact, keep blood sugar low. But once you grind up these
starches into a fine powder, literally pulverize, they instantly turn into blood sugar faster
than actually sugar gets into your bloodstream, table sugar. That's why, for instance, bread has a glycemic index of 100, while white table sugar
has an index of 80. If you wanted to keep
your blood sugar low, the last thing you wanna
have is ground up grains, even if they're whole. Now, why do you hear this so much? Because the original research was done with rats who
were eating grains whole, and then that was extrapolated
to human populations that also ate their grains whole. And yes, these people, in general, had quite nice low blood sugars. And yes, the rats did too. But that doesn't mean
that when you grind up that whole grain, that you're
going to have the same result. This is marketing 101. Now, finally, things
could actually get worse. Once you grind up a whole grain, the fats in that whole grain
go rancid very quickly. They rust, they smell. So companies add antioxidants like BHT to prolong the shelf life. These antioxidants are some of the most profound endocrine
disruptors there are. So the fact that you're
taking a whole grain and now pulverizing it, you're now adding an endocrine disruptor, so you now have a double whammy from increased blood sugar,
endocrine disruptors, and let me add the final
nail to the coffin, whole grains contain lectins. And for years and years and years, since grains have been eaten, people have been trying and succeeding in getting the whole out of whole grains 'cause they've been
eliminating the lectins. And we should not be fooled. This is gonna be fun, and this is important information that I've been talking about now for my last three books, starting with "The Energy Paradox", "Unlocking the Keto Code",
and now "Gut Check". And that is the importance
of mitochondrion. Now, most of us who
had high school biology remember seeing a picture of a cell. And in that cell, there were these kinda
wiggly, squiggly things that almost looked like a radiator, that are mitochondria. And if you remember, we were taught that the mitochondria is the energy powerhouse of the cell. And that's absolutely true. If you've read any of my recent books, you know that mitochondria, we think, are ancient bacteria
that 2 billion years ago were engulfed by other
single-cell organisms and made an exchange that
instead of being eaten, that the mitochondria, that bacteria, would take the food that the cell ate and convert it into the energy currency
adenosine triphosphate, ATP, in exchange for not being eaten. And apparently, it was a very good deal because almost all advanced life forms, plants and animals, use mitochondria to make ATP, but they still retain some characteristics of being engulfed bacteria. One of the more fascinating things is that mitochondria have their own DNA, separate from the nucleus of the cell. Now, in what we're gonna learn today, that's exciting news
because normally a cell has to divide to split all
the DNA into two new cells, but a mitochondria can divide on its own to make two new mitochondria or, from that matter, replace
itself with a better, newer mitochondria without
the cell having to divide. And that's really exciting because once we know the stimuli to allow mitochondria to repair
themselves and to divide, that opens up all sorts of opportunities for improving our ability to make ATP regardless of the
state of the rest of the cell. Why is that important? Well, remember back in
high school biology, we maybe saw one of these guys in a cell or two of these guys in a cell. But in fact, cells can be
packed with mitochondria, thousands of mitochondria, even in a muscle cell, for instance. Thousands of mitochondria in an important neuron, for instance. So it's not just a couple
of these little guys, these guys are essential
for producing ATP. And quite frankly, the more ATP you produce
out of the food you eat, the better off your
muscles are, your brain is, your heart is, you name it, the better. Also, my research has shown that you really want the
mitochondria in the cells that make up the wall of your gut to be in tip-top shape because that's where the
rubber meets the road in terms of you surviving
well for a very long time. Okay, now if you've read
"The Energy Paradox", for that matter, if you've
read "Unlocking the Keto Code", you know that our modern lifestyle is really good at mucking up the works with our mitochondria. Our modern lifestyle and the foods we eat really damage our mitochondria. And our mitochondria, when they're damaged, one of two things is possible. First of all, if mitochondria is damaged beyond repair, normally it literally explodes, and it's called apoptosis. And that explosion of the mitochondria gets rid of the mitochondria, no doubt about it. But in the process of exploding, it actually produces cellular debris that causes, you guessed it, inflammation. So the more damaged
mitochondria that you have and the more that they undergo apoptosis, the more inflammation. There's a second way that mitochondria, which are damaged, can be taken care of. And that's called autophagy, better known as self-eat, eat itself. Now, when mitochondria undergo autophagy, it's got its own term called mitophagy, or eat your own mitochondria. What that literally means is the mitochondria undergoes recycling. Rather than exploding and spewing out all the various components
of a mitochondria, it literally recycles every last bit. So that autophagy or mitophagy
is really good for you because not only does it
not make inflammation, but it also recycles the components so that you get a fresh new mitochondria. So that's what you wanna do. And if you've actually
read about how we do that, there are numerous mechanisms
to improve mitophagy. Time-restricted eating is one
of the most famous methods of making mitophagy. Exercise is one of the other great ways of improving mitophagy. But as you'll learn in "Gut Check", having the right microbiome and having the right
nutrients for the microbiome may be another way that we really haven't
known about until recently. Let's talk about an exciting, new compound called Urolithin A. A little bit of history. We have known for a very long time that there is a polyphenol
that's present in raspberries, in pomegranates, in a few other compounds, walnuts for example, called ellagic acid. And ellagic acid has been a darling of us polyphenol experts because we've known from studies that pomegranate extract, raspberry extract with ellagic acid seems to have some pretty cool
health-promoting properties. And it's been a darling of polyphenol. Enter a company called Timeline Nutrition, which is a Swiss-based company. This Swiss-based company, a number of years ago, began investigating various
polyphenol compounds, including ellagic acid, and looked at the possibility
of lifespan extension in worms, for example, in mice, for example. And lo and behold, they found that ellagic
acid seemed to be really, really interesting in terms
of promoting longevity. So they doubled down on
how ellagic acid work, and lo and behold, they
found that it really wasn't ellagic acid that
was the miracle worker. They found that if you had
certain bacteria in your gut, that those bacteria would
convert ellagic acid into the active compound, a postbiotic, which is called Urolithin A. Now what's so exciting about Urolithin A is that when you look at animal studies, Urolithin A promotes mitophagy. that is, recycling damaged
mitochondria and making new ones. And the process of making new ones is called mitogenesis. All right, mitophagy, breaking down a damaged mitochondria. Mitogenesis, then making
it into a new one. So needless to say, breaking down damaged mitochondria without doing damage, great idea. Making new ones, an even better idea. And so what they found
was that Urolithin A was actually the magic ingredient. Now what's so cool about that is you gotta have the right gut bacteria to make Urolithin A. And unfortunately, research has now shown that only about 12% of us
have the right combination of gut bacteria that if they're exposed to let's say pomegranate
seeds or pomegranate juice, they then will make Urolithin A that will then have the
actions that we want. Only 12%. That doesn't sound very good. Why's that important? Well, the important thing is you could eat all the raspberries in the world, you could drink six glasses
of pomegranate juice, and unless you are one of the lucky 12%, you're probably not
gonna make the compound that you're looking for, Urolithin A. What's really fascinating, and I talk about in "Gut Check", if you look at super old people who are thriving in their
mid to late 90s, early 100, this group of people have the bacteria that make Urolithin A. Son of a gun. We're learning more and more that it may not be the
compound that we're eating, but it's the bacteria that
are eating that compound that make all the difference. And here's just another connection now, that these super old people have bacteria that make Urolithin A. And that's one of the
reasons they're super old, because they're constantly upgrading their mitochondria through
autophagy and mitogenesis. So what's really impressive
is that we now have science that shows that this in fact is true, not only in animals but in humans. So Mitopure is the name, the
trade name of Urolithin A that's made by the Swiss
scientists at Timeline Nutrition. And many of you may have heard that I'm so impressed with Urolithin A that I've had their chief
scientist on my podcast. It's that important. And quite frankly, I've been taking this compound
since it was introduced and I prescribe it to a
large number of my patients, particularly with issues
in muscle mass problems, in autoimmune problems,
and in neurologic problems. So let's get into the science a bit. All right, so in one study, there's a worm that we
use in longevity studies called C. elegans. It stood the test of time in that what we find in this worm study invariably translates into
higher animals, including humans. So that ground-breaking
research often starts with this little worm. So it boosted the lifespan. Urolithin A, Mitopure, boosted the lifespan of C. elegans worms by 45% over worms that
didn't get this compound. And it increased mouse
aerobic performance, in other words, how long they
could run on a treadmill, by 40% versus mice who didn't get it. Now it turns out that it
kickstarts mitophagy in humans. And human studies now show that you get a impressive boost in muscle strength just by taking Mitopure
Urolithin A regardless of changing a strength training program. So that's pretty doggone exciting news. Once again, yes, maybe
you're one of the lucky ones who could drink pomegranate juice or have a lot of raspberries and make your Urolithin A,
but you're probably not. In fact, there's some studies that suggest you would need six glasses
of pomegranate juice per day to even have detectable
levels of Urolithin A. And I can't tell you the sugar content of six glasses of pomegranate juice. So imagine how much easier
it is to get the benefits of mitophagy and mitogenesis
just from a supplement. So in humans, within six hours of taking Mitopure, Urolithin A is detected
in the bloodstream. And after a month of use, you can actually measure an uptick in mitochondrial activity. And these benefits can actually continue to accrue over the next four months. Now I've been taking this compound and I can attest that I see benefits for myself and my patients. One of the things that has
been remarkable for me is, you know, I am now in my 70s and as many of you know, I'm an avid hiker and think
nothing of going 10, 12 miles in hills on hikes. But I noticed over, oh, the last few years that my balance on steep, rocky slopes, both going up and maybe going down, was not as good as it was before. And I could say, eh, I'm just getting old and maybe I should get some hiking sticks. But I could actually, you know, feel that there was something going on. Imagine my delight that
since taking Mitopure, my balance and stability has returned to my levels were in my 50s and 60s. And the only thing I did differently, I didn't get a wobble board, I didn't increase my
Pilates, was add Mitopure. And so, I'm a big believer
from a personal standpoint, now anecdotes, but don't mean anything. But I can tell you that
a number of my patients who I have put on for multiple reasons have noticed a big difference. So it's kinda cool. You know, and that's why I'm
excited about this compound. There's recent evidence that this compound activates
natural killer cells, which are really important
in not only cancer prevention but cancer treatment. And that's actually one
of the reasons I started this last patient on it. So the sky is the limit. Many of us believe that cancer is actually because our mitochondria
have kind of fallen off the grid and are no longer
producing the way they should. And if you like this theory, which I do, getting
mitochondria back on the grid, back operating, back producing energy may be a very effective
way of preventing cancer and maybe even treating cancer. So again, when your
mitochondria go, you go. When your mitochondria in your brain goes, your brain goes. When your mitochondria in your muscles go, your heart is a muscle,
go, that's what goes. So any compound that
now has a proven ability to clean up damaged mitochondria and make new ones and actually improve muscle
mass and performance, that's something well worth
my interest and your interest. And that's why I personally
am such a fan of Urolithin A and the company Timeline Nutrition. And that's why I wanted to tell you more about why this compound is
worthy of your interest. Thanks so much for watching this episode. But don't go anywhere, I think you're gonna love this next one.
