Eat These 5 Superfoods to Fix Your Gut Health | Dr William Li's Advice

and so we actually have to feed our healthy gut bacteria which we call you know the bacteria we call them probiotics of your they digest it and then they release these metabolites short chain fatty acids that get into our blood stream we can measure these things and that's where metabolism comes in because that is also perhaps you'll also resonate with me on this um and as a fellow healthcare provider is that great uh uh kind of gateway to walk through to talk about a lot of exciting things look microbiome is now um kind of a I wouldn't even say a buzzword it's part of the vocabulary of health and and it's a good thing too because as a scientist uh and as a physician you know I think that it's really important and exciting to see when new discoveries become part of the mainstream of thinking and of conversation and and it's really from that point of view I I want to just give a couple of example of how important the gut microbiome is so for example in 2017 I was I helped to organize a conference in Paris uh um about cancer and we wanted to bring together it was a cancer meeting in which we didn't allow you to talk about chemo and didn't allow you to talk about new Fango therapies and and so when you remove all that from a credible cancer conference what do you got you got mental health you've got um uh uh diet you've got exercise all the things that are important to patients well enter the microbiome and uh there was at the time a research uh uh study that was about to be published the next week and so was under embargo and embargo just means kind of like under wraps it was kind of a secret but we were able to share that information and it would and the thing the most stunning thing that I learned that day was the importance of your Healthy gut and whether you're going to respond to cancer treatment or die and I that to me as a researcher it like stunned me that the difference in 200 people who were being who are getting state-of-the-art Cancer Treatments of different cancer types that whether they actually made it or didn't make it whether they responded to treat treat where they didn't respond to treatment relied on in that research study one bacteria which everybody now talks about called acrania and this was published in the journal science which is one of the most credible journals out there came out a week later and I literally said OMG this is like proof of principle how important gut health is you know I don't really care if you've got irritable bowel if you've got all these other things with gut health and you want better body shape body body composition but when it comes down to the black and white of cancer which every affects everyone including myself my mom had cancer my my my two uncles di have cancer the reality is is that like you pay riveting attention to it now fast forward to just a couple of months ago another study came out that um again opened my mind yet again to the importance of the gut microbiome and I hope I'm getting I'm hoping I'm I'm getting people's attention talking about this as just the intro to dive into gut microbiome and Metabolism but here's a recent study that looked at a bacteria um uh that uh is called PS1 128 it's a kind of lactobacillus and um it was studied in Parkinson's disease now we don't really have good treatments for Parkinson's diseas um and the treats we do have actually either don't work very well or or they have side effects some bad ones some serious ones and you know everyone knows the work of Michael J fox and the tremendous effort that's been gone that's been invested to uh find better treatments well enter the gut microbiome this one bacteria which can come in as a probiotic ps-128 seems to be able to lower the symptoms of Parkinson's disease as an intervention and I looked at it again you know know published in a real Journal like a serious journal to go wow this is like confirmation that you know that that the health of our gut makes a huge difference in terms of our health so if I haven't gotten their attention yet I'm talking about the gut microbiome healthy bacteria I'm talking about life or death with cancer and I'm talking about a neurodegenerative treat disease that up until now we didn't think there was really much of a path forward and and and addressing our gut health makes a difference and so this is actually the reason why I'm passionate to talk about this subject with you as a you know to kind of get into the material what I found really interesting about this Keystone bacteria is that it is not just important for the muin lining so the lining of that small intestine but it's also implicated in things like our endogenous production of glp1 so but understanding that by supporting particular Keystone bacteria we can also then support these bacteria and have them work more effectively have you found that there are specific foods that are tied to the supporting the microbiome in a in much more profound and beneficial ways than others I would imagine things like fermented foods Etc would be of benefit polyphenol rich foods um uh now let's talk about foods that actually help the microbiome because you know the the measuring your microbiome is the first step to knowing what you need to do just like the blood test right doctor or nurse I'm feeling a little weak let's draw some blood let's see are you anemic is your blood count low if so what can we do with nutrition what do we do we need to give you a blood transfusion to tank you up you know these are this is part of the modern vocabulary with the microbiome is we have to measure first to know where we are and then we can actually make a decision about it so one thing I would actually just communicate about uh first so we're talking about the measurements first uh and and the diseases as well is before you just jump around and start buying probiotics because this is where people get confused I would say if you have a serious interest in your own gut health go ahead and get it measured check it out ask your doctor a gastroenterologist should be able to do it or do research online and find a place that is well reviewed and credible as I mentioned I use Sun genomics but there are many others and get it measured know where you stand all right that's the first thing if you're going to sell if you know if you're going to figure out what you need to do to sell your house right get it apprais take a look at what you need to do before you actually invest any money that's my recommendation and in order to be able to address problems and then also to know where you're good because you're probably going to be good in some areas get credit for the things you've already done before you start reaching for the Stars okay now having said that let's talk about food because the things that we can do every single day with or without a a microbiome test like you know I I I appreciate when people are biohackers and they want to know everything about themselves but many people myself included you know like I I don't need to know what's happening every second okay um but I do want to do things that are good for me on a regular basis and this is where food comes in so if you want good gut health and good metabolism uh with good gut health you want to eat foods that are um uh either giving you healthy bacteria and you get fermented foods so what are some fermented foods that are you can get in any grocery store these days yogurt okay and I want to come back to yogurt in a second um you can get kefir which is a kind of a fermented um uh uh dairy product you can uh uh get sauerkraut uh you can get which is fermented you can get kimchi in a lot of places now they'll have jars of kimchi um you can certainly go to an Asian market to get get kimchi um those are all really really good for because they contain natural bacteria now I know this might sound a little controversial but because I talked about yogurt which is a dairy product let me talk about cheese because what research archers are finding that is quite surprising is that um the uh epidemiological studies are showing that cheese isn't as heart harmful as we used to think it is in fact it's actually pretty good there have been studies that have shown eating cheese can actually lower the risk of cardiovascular disease well that on the surface didn't make sense until we're now beginning to rethink the fact that most cheeses are fermented dairy products and fermented with bacteria they are Probiotic foods in fact we know that camar we know that parmesano regano the Italian stuff the good stuff you know they're fermented with lactobacillus and other types of bacteria the mold in a cheese that goes in a cheese cave the blue the blue cheese the The Taste the wonderful taste if you like cheeses that's all because it's been fermented okay when you eat cheese you're seeding your own gut with healthy gut bacteria all right um and amazingly enough when cheese makers over thousands of years have figured out how to do this um they figured out how that the good bacteria in using the cheese making process out compete get rid of all the bad bacteria more good than bad there's no drug dealers in the neighborhood there's only good citizens in the neighborhood and yes you do want need to be careful about eating too much cheese I'm not endorsing or telling people to eat cheese I'm just telling you it's another product that's actually got probiotic properties to it okay um and for by the way just also bring it down to to reality like people go well you know like where is under my guts under my stomach is it my esophagus where is it our most of our healthy gut bacteria lives in our colon and if you're above 50 you should have had a colonoscopy and in a colonoscopy and so we actually have to feed our healthy gut bacteria which we call you know the bacteria we call them probiotics if you're ingesting them okay Probiotic foods like sauerkraut kimchi for your gut microbiome we give them prebiotics prebiotics are the food for our gut bacteria now how what are the prebiotics that we want to eat well listen almost everything you've heard about going to the produce section and eating the rainbow colorful Foods the barasa the green the broccoli the Brussels sprouts the the bok choy the redio the Bell yellow bell pepper the green bell pepper and the mushrooms and all these other things that you find in the produce section they all contain natural substances called bioactives yes they used to be famous because people tagged them as antioxidants now we're beginning to have a much more sophisticated view they do a lot of different things one of the things many of these bioactives natural chemicals in the foods in the produce section plant-based Foods they they are prebiotics they feed our gut bacteria so when we eat a salad or a Bean uh stew or um uh we uh uh uh create a a pesto all right when we're eating that stuff we're of course enjoying the taste and we're absorbing the micronutrients and of course those bioactiv are good for our health defenses and good for our metabolism but some of that gets tumbled on down below to your gut and before you poop it out okay um you're gut it feeds your gut bacteria and that gut bacteria takes their food and they metabolize the food that we ate for ourselves that they eat and they create from the food that we feed them wonderful healthful metabolites other other natural chemicals called short chain fatty acids and so that that neighborhood of healthy bacter in our gut they they they eat dinner time lunchtime they they they they nibble on the stuff they digest it and then they release these metabolites short chain fatty acids that get into our bloodstream we can measure these things and when they get into a bloodstream they go to our brain they go to our heart they go to our muscles they go to our body fat um they go to our kidneys and those short chain fatty acids improve our overall health and mental well-being that gut brain axis is real the gut metabolism axis is real so this is actually part of the new teaching that in the future if you're going to go to medical school nursing school nutrition school this is going to be part of the first year curriculum because it's the basics breakfast lunch dinner you're not deciding for one you know how pregnant moms say like I'm eating for two right well now you're eating actually for 39 trillion plus yourself and so we all carry a great responsibility when we make a a decision about what we're going to eat to make sure we're also feeding our gut bacteria properly so what are some of the things that damage our gut bacteria because I know everyone always that like what what do I need to stay away from so okay um uh let me tell you that um eating a lot of added sugar in your Foods damages your gut microbiome we don't know exactly how or why and many things that have a lot of added sugar also have a lot of other artificial uh chemicals preservatives colorings flavoring so maybe it's also not just the sugar but the other stuff in these Ultra processed foods so you want to cut down or cut out your Ultra processed foods you want to optimize your gut health try to eat whole natural foods that are fresh now when I say fresh and I say whole I don't mean that you have to just eat at the solid bar because as it turns out when you go to the grocery store some of the healthiest foods for our gut are actually found in the middle aisle so if you actually look for beans you know canned beans are also really good dried beans are also also really good whole grain um uh uh Foods also really good and so um and by the way dark chocolate 80% caca as well also good for the gut microbiome coffee tea things you would go into the middle aisle those have been shown to actually be beneficial for our gut microbiome tree nuts you know the bulk nuts you go to in the grocery store and you're like seeing these big plastic canisters with a shovel Bel below it and like you're like I don't know what I I don't know what the heck I would do with that if I got stuff well listen here's what you want to do that is got microbiome food and so what I tell people to do is take a little tub you know the smaller tub don't buy a lot this is you don't have to go to the big box stores buy enough um and a little plastic tub and get a mix of the nuts tree nuts you like Macadamia cashew pecan almonds walnuts you know um and mix them up buy it up and then bring it home and and like that's much better than buying the pre-seasoned nuclear colored stuff that you have to rip out of a bag that might taste great but it has a lot of chemicals in it buy the fresh stuff listen what did we all come out of around the world as humans you know like four years ago uh is the great pandemic thing um that made everybody realize how important our immune system is if nothing else okay we all immune system suddenly like became another part of our vocabulary look forget about the pendemic let's talk about the common cold let's talk about the flu all right uh nobody wants to get sick you want a good strong healthy immune system your gut microbiome healthy gut bacteria live inside the tube of the gut okay they're inside the garden hose of your of your gut our immune system 70% of our immune system is found inside the wall of our gut 70 all right that's not what they taught me in medical school but that's actually the case and so our gut bacteria talk directly to our immune system and and a good healthy bacteria system good microbiome means a good healthy immune system and so if you want to be just generally immune healthier uh uh make sure your gut is healthy as well again we're beginning to discover why the old adage of you know eating whole uh fresh plant-based Foods you know and some of the dried ones as well are good some of the canned ones are good um is actually better for our health it a lot of it has to do with our gut microbiome there's so many other reasons as well but because the microbiome has become part of the modern conversation the Lexicon I think it's important to point out that this is not difficult it's pretty easy because the foods that are good for our gut are all around us well you know as a fellow healthc care provider by backround one of the things that I I'm sure you can relate to is that we are trained in our education to really memorize certain aspects of science that get really applicable in um treatment of disease but not so much for prevention and yet you know as we go on we start to open our eyes to the fact that many of these diseases could be prevented in the first place so as a scientist as a doctor as somebody who's you know had a career as a communicator I my first book was really about unpacking the secrets of the body that protect our health that's something I spent you know 20 years helping to develop actually develop treatments to chase those diseases until I realize we should be preventing them in the first place when I finished my first book I really felt like there was a story that still was Untold and that untold story was not just about how do you protect your health but how do you optimize it from wherever you are and that's where metabolism comes in because that is also perhaps you'll also resonate with me on this um and as a fellow healthcare provider is that you know I think most doctors and nurses can talk about metabolism but not so differently than how the average person can talk about metabolism who doesn't have a medical background either we all make certain assumptions that seem like they should be true but may not actually be true so I decided to write a sequel and that sequel is called eat to be your diet which is a trick title because it's not a diet book it's an anti-diet book and what it really talks about is when I'm now really passionate about which is that if you really understand how your body works we are all hardwired with a metabolism that serves us our entire lives and what happens over the course of everyday existence for most of us is that we wind up actually crushing and derailing and actually injuring our hardwired metabolism and then people wind up throwing up their hands saying I don't know what to do now and this book is really about the um what is actually happening in your body how should it actually operate and how can we actually make steps to restore it back to its hardwired level

Channel: Eternal Health

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Keywords: Dr. William Li, gut health, superfoods for gut health, improve digestion, boost immunity, reduce inflammation, healthy microbiome, gut healing foods, dietary advice for gut health, Dr. Li's nutrition tips, top superfoods, heal your gut, gut health diet, digestive health, immune system support, anti-inflammatory foods, nutrition for wellness, best foods for gut health, gut repair diet, functional foods

Id: 3AyD4A6WqkE

Length: 20min 16sec (1216 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2024