In this week's webinar, Dr. Klaper, Dr. Miller, and Dr. Marbas, and special guest Julieanna Hever, The Plant-Based Dietician, discuss and answer audience questions about getting started on a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet.
Questions Answered
- (02:11) – Adding vegetables and fruits to your diet
- (03:41) – Start by eliminating dairy and wheat products
- (06:30) – Celebrate every step along the way
- (08:07) – Eliminate oil and reduce high fat plant foods
- (08:31) – Add one vegetable a day
- (09:45) – What blood tests should someone have done?
- (12:05) – What about Iodine needs, testing, etc.?
- (15:03) – What about Iron levels, needs, testing, etc.?
- (23:40) – What are some good indoor exercises to do?
- (29:27) – How to boost potassium levels?
- (31:01) – What can athletes do to avoid fatigue?
- (35:07) – Can dental health / bacteria influence gut health?
- (37:55) – Are there benefits to adding beets to smoothies?
- (39:59) – Will diet help minstrel cycles to return consistently?
- (42:32) – My diabetes and heart disease complicate each other, what can I do?
- (47:08) – Do grains cause bloating, or wheat belly?
- (53:24) – How do antibiotics impact the microbiome?
Complete Transcript
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(00:03)
So, thanks everybody. Welcome again to our Thursday Q&A's with the Plant Based docs and our Plant Based dietician. And Julieanna is joining us, we can't see or hear you yet but… There she is. So today what we want to do is we're just… Anthony had the great idea of just kind of sharing a small thing that you can get started into a whole food plant-based diet, or just improvement of your lifestyle.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(00:30)
So we're all about just do everything, get it all done, but often the reality is just taking small steps or these little tiny steps is really, really important to get the snowball running. And so that's kind of what we're going to do for today. I'm going to go ahead and let Chris go ahead and start us off with her tidbit and we'll just go down the line and we'll go from there.
Dr. Chris Miller
(00:56)
Great. Thank you. Hi, everybody. Welcome to Thursday. It's so awesome to see you all here. This is a fun topic and I'm excited that we get to talk about it. So I get to start it off. And one thing that I've noticed in working with patients for all these years is that everybody is different. I know that's pretty profound, right? It took me all these years to come up with that, but it's really true.
Dr. Chris Miller
(01:18)
And so what works for one person, one person may be able to jump in both feet and do awesome job that is going to be so overwhelming and intimidating for the next person. And there's no way that'll work and right there, they're already feeling the overwhelm and so they're going to get nowhere, right? So I think we've all kind of seen some level of that or felt it with different things in our lives.
Dr. Chris Miller
(01:39)
And so I have started working with my patients, first of all, assess kind of who the person is in front of me. And so you can kind of look at, how do you approach new things? And is this something that seems huge, unsurmountable, or do you feel like you have the tools, you have the time, you have the energy, you have the resources to do it? So depending on where you are, if you're already eating relatively healthy, you can step it up one thing, maybe one meal at a day, maybe step it up by one fruit or vegetable a day, kind of really fine tune it.
Dr. Chris Miller
(02:11)
But if you don't need anything right now, and you're all about standard American diet and this is all brand new for you and this is very… It can be very intimidating. So one trick that I've worked on for people like that, who are kind of starting out, is I have started out by adding… Starting with breakfast and starting often with a small green smoothie.
Dr. Chris Miller
(02:30)
And I say small, because I've started people on big ones, because that's what I love to drink in the morning, but it would disrupt their stomachs. So maybe just two cups of greens. And I say, the way to build a green smoothie is it's about 75% greens and 25% fruit of choice. So it's not a fruit smoothie, that's really important that people understand that. But getting the greens in people right away is something that actually can cause energy.
Dr. Chris Miller
(02:56)
And usually in my patients within three days. So when they started the green smoothie every morning, within three days, people start reporting increased energy. And so the smoothie is 75% greens, 25% fruit and a tablespoon or two of flax seeds or chia seeds and water. The rest is water and that's it. It's real simple. There's no protein powder, nothing else to it and just that.
Dr. Chris Miller
(03:18)
And just adding that in. So I'm not even talking about cutting anything out. We're not talking about eliminating. That's my first tip, is just adding that in and having people report back to me, I usually want them to send me a message or something in a week or on a follow-up visit. And most people start to feel better with that alone. And then from there, hopefully we can start snowballing it. So that's my tip of the day.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(03:40)
Excellent. And Dr. Klaper?
Dr. Michael Klaper
(03:41)
Oh my. Lots of places to start. One thing to do is to… And people are surprised if they're having adverse issues, whether anything from postnasal drips to skin rashes, to sore joints, to eliminate dairy products from your diet for starters. Just that one move alone often makes such a difference to get relief from the proteins and the fats and the low grade allergens that come with that and the hormone effects, et cetera.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(04:19)
And nowadays it's easier and easier to do that, because there are just so many great products available now to take the place. So everything that used to pour on your cereal for cow's milk and the cheeses and the spreads and the dips there's wonderful non-dairy variations that they have now. No one's saying they're the world's healthiest foods. They're novelty, they're treat foods, but at least that helps you, so people don't make that two in the morning trip to the refrigerator to get the cheese out of there.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(04:48)
If you have a knife, if you already have successful substitutes in your experience for that. So start by eliminating the dairy products and if you can, dairy products and wheat products, give your body a break from wheat for about a month. And there's non-wheat breads and non-wheat pastas that you can use. I don't eat much bread at all anymore.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(05:15)
We do a lot of lettuce wraps. We'll take a leaf of romaine lettuce or colors and put a glop of hummus in there. And some carrot sticks and avocado slices and wrap it up and do a lettuce wrap. And you'd be surprised how little wheat you really need to eat. Just get rid of the dairy and the wheat for a month and see if you don't feel lighter and better and the weight starts coming off and a few medical symptoms you might've had, magically disappear as well.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(05:39)
So I'll throw that into the answer table there. Give yourself a break from the wheat and dairy for a month, see if that doesn't get you off on the right foot.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(05:48)
I think that's excellent. I think if anything, if you had to choose between meat and dairy, dairy by far will make you feel better, a 100%.
Dr. Chris Miller
(05:55)
Sure.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(05:55)
All right, Ms. Julieanna, what's your thoughts?
Julieanna Hever
(05:58)
I absolutely agree with Dr. Klaper. I tell everyone the first thing to do is to drop the dairy and I can't believe what I've seen happen just from that one thing alone. I would say also, I would add that every bite matters. And if you think about it in the opposite direction and what you choose not to eat once in a while, whenever that… Every opportunity when food is being presented to you, you have an opportunity to make a choice and that choice is going to serve you, to help you reach your goals or it's going to not.
Julieanna Hever
(06:30)
And so, instead of thinking of all those wonderful things that you all said so far, what about those decisions where you say no. And I work with my clients, I say to them, “Whenever we celebrate those victories,” because let's see, I wrote it yesterday. I said yesterday that success is basically a series of little mini victories. And if you just say no to eating the ice cream or the burger, or whatever's not going to serve you reach your goals, that's a victory.
Julieanna Hever
(07:00)
That's a victory. Choosing something else instead of whatever that was that you said no to, that itself is something to celebrate. And I think you can empower yourself every time we make that decision. And every empowered decision builds on one another until you reach your goals. And so I would say on the both sides of it, every choice matters and every bite matters.
Julieanna Hever
(07:20)
So taking care of yourself and only you get to decide what you put in your mouth. Nobody can tell you what to eat, or how to eat, or why to eat. You have to do it for yourself and you have to want it, because transitioning to a healthy diet is a journey. And you may not be ready. A lot of people just aren't ready. And it's like, “Okay. So when you're ready, that's when you make the decision,” because it is a decision and it's a transformation and everything will change when you start in that path.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(07:48)
That's excellent. So I think that's wonderful when you have those small victories, because you're also… Whatever it is you could even do a physical like, “Yes, I did it.” That actually releases some of that, a little bit of the dopamine, it makes you more likely to do it again. So I think that's great advice. Mine would be, I just would like to kind of maybe more specific to diabetics.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(08:07)
And diabetics I think it's really interesting, where is I get a lot of patients that are diabetic. Just that sometimes just getting started is the hardest part. So there's two things I would suggest, where you actually start seeing some changes in numbers. Is one pulling out the oil and lowering your fat content as much as possible, so that even includes avocados and nuts, you'd be amazed, you can even see some changes there.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(08:31)
But then also just adding in a vegetable, add in a vegetable wherever you can through the day. So kind of like you're saying no, but what are you also saying yes to? And I think before you know the good stuff crowds out the bad stuff. And so that right there is worth celebrating because you're making those small changes and every single day counts.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(08:50)
So for example I've been working towards… I'll be 50 next month and I've been working towards on my birthday, I'll be able to run five miles a day, every single day. So that's what I've been really working on. And so now I'm at almost three miles a day and I give myself a little sticker on my calendar. It's the coolest thing. It's like when you're a kid, you get those star stickers like, “Yay.” I know it's silly, but I even ordered special like smiley face stickers. That totally works for me and I don't care if it's goofy but it works, and every day I just look forward to like, “Yep. Did it again.”
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(09:21)
So try and see if that might work, anything to celebrate, lets all agreed to that. So I'll just remind you guys, if you have any questions, if you are on the Plant Based TeleHealth Facebook page, that's where I will be monitoring there. And if you're at our webinar, if you could please post them to the Q&A box, if you already have a few, so we'll get started there and we'll see which one of you guys want to answer this.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(09:45)
Keisha says, “What blood type would you do when I go to get my physical in January next year, besides checking my iron, TSA, to vitamin D, cholesterol and glucose? Also, should I supplement on iodine? I don't like sea vegetables and don't add salt to my food.” So who would like to take that?
Dr. Chris Miller
(10:04)
I can just answer that in general. Kesha I don't know you. So just kind of in general, I don't know how often you're getting your blood tests done, but it's just… We've been talking about this. So tests that I can do maybe yearly, maybe every other year, maybe a little bit more depending on the person and what's going on. But kind of general tests are things like regular blood counts, CBC, chemistry's, looking at your liver and your kidney function, your electrolytes, cholesterol panels.
Dr. Chris Miller
(10:34)
And depending on your risk factor we may look for some things like oxidized LDL to take it to the next step. I find that to be very helpful and thyroid function, vitamin D, vitamin B-12, those are kind of my basic standard. Am I forgetting anything? I definitely have more specific things per person. So if there's anything that we've talked about or that you're worried about, or any medical concerns or anything, your family, or… Yeah, so there's certainly more, but I feel like that's sort of the routine screening stuff that's actually helpful.
Dr. Chris Miller
(11:09)
And then the question of iodine I have is… So we've been delving into thyroid quite a bit lately, and there's so much evidence that if you're low iodine or if you have high iodine levels that that can lead to hypothyroidism, or even hyperthyroidic if it's too high. And so most Americans get their iodine from iodized salt, but if we're not eating high amounts of processed foods and we're taking out that iodized salt, maybe you're just doing a little bit of sea salt, but that's really it. So we do need a good regulated source of iodine.
Dr. Chris Miller
(11:43)
And so if you're not liking your sea vegetables, then it's probably best to take a supplement. So usually it's about 150 micrograms a day is what I recommend. So that's kinda something that I would keep an eye on, because you want to make sure you have a source.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(11:59)
Excellent. Dr. K or Julieanna any of you have any thoughts on this?
Dr. Michael Klaper
(12:05)
No, it covered the basis. Those are the basic tests and the iodine thing is not trivial. Because we're plant eaters, we don't need fish. And if you don't each see a sea vegetables… The iodine used to be in the soils, but we've taken a lot of the iodine out. It used to be taken up in the vegetables and that's where most people get it, but it depends on how much iodine is in the soil, that that carrot was really grown yet.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(12:34)
And people haven't been putting iodine back in the soil and the soil is depleted of it, then you can wind up bereft, and I think at least some of the fatigue and low energy, that long-term plan eaters complain of, at least some of them are really reporting a low grade hypothyroidism from right iodine deficiency. So it's difficult to… It can be tricky to assess sometimes. A one time blood test doesn't really tell you about your iodine balance.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(13:05)
The best test for iodine is a 24-hour urine collection, and you want to be passing out about a 100 micrograms, firing every 24 hours, iodine every 24 hours. If you're less than that, then you're holding on to iodine because you're short of it. So if there's any question, have your doc order a 24-hour urine for iodine but otherwise yes, if no sea vegetables, then no iodine salt, then yes, you should take an iodine source of some sort, about 150 micrograms a day as Dr. Miller said.
Julieanna Hever
(13:40)
Yeah, what's interesting is that we're used to… The reason we enriched or fortified salt was because of iodine deficiency. It became a problem and so we put iodine into the salt, but what's happened? Many people are avoiding salt because of hypertension. Many people are buying fancy salts, like the black lava salt and the Himalayan salt and truffle salt, and they're not getting iodized salt. So they're not getting iodine.
Julieanna Hever
(14:06)
And for the first time in my career, like I talk about how deficiencies are not the biggest problem anymore, because we have more problems with over-nutrition. However that said, I'm having people come to me with goiters, never thought I would see that again. Because it was kind of something that was gone and people are getting goiters and having thyroid issues and you must take iodine, so I'm a big believer.
Julieanna Hever
(14:28)
And the problem with sea vegetables is it's not very accurate. You don't know exactly what's in there. It fluctuates so much depending on the source and all sorts of different things. Some of them have toxic levels of iodine. So I don't like to rely on sea vegetables. I mean, I'm a little biased because I fell in love with the supplement finally, and just supporting this company and I'm going to be part of it because love it so much and it has iodine. It has all of the notable nutrients. So I absolutely suggest supplementing. It's a 150 micrograms a day for an adult. But definitely important.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(15:03)
Absolutely. I think that's very key actually. So being hypothyroid myself for 24 years, the thyroid is fascinating, but absolutely I agree with everybody what everyone said. So hopefully that'll help answer your question. So we have another question here, which is fairly common, it's just this is a more specific, but it gets to a low iron, low ferritin and some plant eaters.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(15:26)
So Trinity asks, “I've donated plasma for a year in support of a family member with a child born with hemophilia. Since going whole for plant-based I have not been able to donate due to my hematocrit level being too low for donating requirements, that runs between 32 and 35 versus 41 and 43 pre-whole food plant-based. I eat 24 ounces of greens a day, mix a spinach, peregrines, kale, collards, two cups of beans a day and tofu, in addition to all the other present veggies, I don't want to eat any processed foods. How can I get my level back up so I can continue to do something that's very important to my core beliefs?”
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(16:00)
First of all, I think that's awesome that you're actually donating to a family member, but do any of you have any thoughts or suggestions on getting those iron levels back up? I don't know if she's within menstruation age or not, but any thoughts?
Dr. Chris Miller
(16:17)
I would say just kind of in general. Yeah. How old are you? If you're menstruating it's common that people can have lower iron. So that's one thing and two is you can get higher sources. You can get more iron from things like whole grains, which I'm not sure if you said you were eating that. Your greens sound amazing, way to get all your greens and that's awesome.
Dr. Chris Miller
(16:41)
But stepping up maybe a little whole grains, maybe a little beans, I don't know, kind of nuts and seeds you're doing, just a small amount, but that might have a little bit. You can do things like… I think and correct me if I'm wrong, but drinking tea that can interfere with iron absorption, I believe. So if you're drinking green tea or something like that with breakfast that can interfere with your iron absorption.
Dr. Chris Miller
(17:03)
So you want to keep your tea consumption either lowered or separated from your meals and then something else that's important is that I don't know if you're anemic or if… I mean, your whole blood counts look like, but I don't know if you're iron deficient, so if they're smaller blood cells. There's other things that depend. Lower hematocrit could be other things than just iron deficiency, so I would want to know kind of what your blood counts look like and know about you and what's your energy like that also matters.
Dr. Chris Miller
(17:38)
And then lastly, whole food plant-based eaters can have a little bit lower numbers. So if your energy is good and everything else looks great and you're feeling amazing, I may not want to worry too much about that. So it takes more of a big picture then for me to just answer that question. I think similarly so, I don't know if that's very helpful, but…
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(17:57)
Yeah, I think so.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(17:57)
Yes, very much so. That was an excellent answer for a number of reasons. One, you were assuming that there's no medical issues regarding blood loss or heavy periods here from a leftover fibroid or anything like that. So if that's the case, if you are losing blood, get that checked out. But the question, you might want next time to get a blood test, get a serum ferritin check and see that your actual iron stores.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(18:26)
Because as Dr. Miller said, us plant eaters, our blood flow is less viscous. We have better oxygen delivery and in many long-term plant eaters, the body dials down how much hemoglobin, how many red cells are floating around, because they're more efficient. And should be a set of vegan normals for plant eaters, because the folks who are eating the standard Western diet, their blood is thicker, they're eating more iron, et cetera.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(18:56)
And just mathematically they've shifted the range of normals upward that leads the plant eaters in the deficiency category. But the truth is it's perfectly good physiology for a late lean plant eating person. Who's got good oxygen delivery. That said, one thing though is if you do get a ferritin level checked it, and is low then you really do need more iron. The issue depends on increasing iron absorption.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(19:26)
You're not what you eat, you are what you absorb and you can increase the iron absorption with the presence of vitamin C. So if you've got a big helping of kale or broccoli in front of you squeeze some lemon juice over it. If you're going to be making a spinach salad, throw some Mandarin orange slices in there, get that citrus and greens combination going to your food up really well.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(19:51)
And you'll actually absorb more of the iron that you're taking in there. So find ways to get vitamin C or sea bell peppers, throw them in a salad, find ways to get vitamin C in with your iron containing foods. But get your ferritin check, you might not be iron deficient at all.
Julieanna Hever
(20:11)
Question, Dr. Klaper. This is becoming so fascinating. I have a client today who's been vegan for many years. I was just looking in the lab stage, gorgeous labs, like stellar, everything livid panel, of course, of course, low ferritin again. So at what point… And I don't like to recommend iron supplements for so many reasons. I think I'm not sure if this is true and I would love your thoughts on this, that low levels of ferritin may be one of the advantages of a plant-based diet, long-term.
Julieanna Hever
(20:41)
So I agree. I love that idea that we need to do like vegan normal. That's so brilliant, because it's different when you look at vegan labs versus anyone eating a standard diet. So at what point would you consider ferritin too low? Or at what point would you supplement with iron?
Dr. Michael Klaper
(20:59)
Right. Certainly if it starts showing up in the blood count clinically, if they are starting showing signs of a microcytic anemia and they really do have a hemoglobin of 9.8 and their red cells are small, then they clearly have a clinical iron deficiency and that needs to be corrected. But if all their parameters are just absolutely fine, they've got a hemoglobin of 14 grams, but their ferritin is lower, okay that's just that way that machine runs and I wouldn't chase that unless it shows up.
Dr. Chris Miller
(21:29)
Actually there's one more thing that we didn't really touch on yet and that is gut issues. You often don't absorb the iron, like you were saying, it's what you absorb as well Dr. Klaper. And that's so true, because if people with celiac disease, or if you don't know, maybe you have a gluten sensitivity and you don't even know it yet, people don't tend to absorb as much iron.
Dr. Chris Miller
(21:46)
And that's one thing that tips me off oftentimes if they're iron deficient. I will start to think about what's your gut health? Are you absorbing? Do you have gas, bloating, indigestion, diarrhea, constipation, anything like that? And then I will ask family history and maybe we'll do a little bit of testing for that as well. Because gut issues can also impede your absorption of iron, so I would want to pursue that.
Dr. Chris Miller
(22:09)
And for me an answer to that question to them is one is symptomatic, so if someone's really fatigued, I would look at their numbers and I would look at… Oh, you've switched. I would look at their numbers and how they're feeling and that might tip me off that I might want to add a little bit of iron onto them, because I have patients who it really does help them feel better if we correct that. So that's-
Julieanna Hever
(22:32)
Temporarily, do you put them on a… Like what's-
Dr. Chris Miller
(22:35)
Yeah, everything I do is always temporarily. I'm always trying to correct it with diet and lifestyle. So as we keep stepping it up, we keep stepping up and then my goal is always for short-term, but it really has helped people with energy. They'll be feeling really fatigued and sluggish, and it just perks them right up, when that's appropriate for that person.
Dr. Chris Miller
(22:51)
Right? Not just anyone on iron, because iron is pro-oxidant, so we don't want people on iron unless they actually have to have it. But when they do have to have it, it is definitely helpful.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(23:01)
Yeah, for sure. I would agree. And Julieanna, just to make sure that there's not something else going on, if they're microcytic, make sure that they have had a colonoscopy and some other things just to roll out, we don't want to just assume because they're vegan, that it's slow. So that would be-
Julieanna Hever
(23:16)
But yeah. But every time I've seen this now, hemoglobin hematocrit are normal. Completely is totally normal. Except ferret, just fascinating. Right?
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(23:25)
It is. Absolutely.
Dr. Chris Miller
(23:26)
I'm pretty sure that's a normal thing too. I think we're going to have to establish as we see more and more plant-based patients and all of our people or us and everyone else, we're all plant-based, we'll have to start establishing new normals for this type of lifestyle.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(23:40)
Yeah. I think that'd be fascinating, for sure. Here's a good question. Julieanna it might… Because I know it's your history of working out, “What exercise routines do you recommend when the air is too smoky for normal outdoor activities?” And he says “Indoor burpees.” “Because I mean, just literally a couple of days ago, it was raining ash here. So I know what I was doing was weighted jump ropes, I do love that. It's just a lot of fun and its great resistance and cardio, but what would you suggest for your clients?”
Julieanna Hever
(24:07)
Yeah, we've got crazy fires today too. It's just ashes everywhere right now. It's so scary. It's so scary. Yeah. So I was an in home personal trainer for 12 years while I was in graduate school. And for many years I would go to people's homes and it was like, we would use everything. So I would have people bench pressing their kids and stepping off of their little step and doing… I would carry with me like whatever the tool [inaudible 00:24:31] was.
Julieanna Hever
(24:32)
I would get excited, the resistance too being, but then I would get like a bosu or I'll get like a ball and you could do so many things at home. You don't need to go anywhere or do anything outside. I mean, of course it's nice when we can, when the air is clean, but just get creative. So body weight, calisthenic, you don't need anything. You could do pushups and pull up or maybe not be able to do pull ups once you have a bar, but you could get a bar really easily, they're online really easy to get, to do pull ups.
Julieanna Hever
(24:58)
You can do crunches, all kinds of abdominal work squats, lunges, plies, calf raises. I do walking lunges around my house when I'm on phone calls still. I do plies while I'm on the phone. Obviously Zoom has changed that a little bit, because I can't really be doing that on the phone right now, like while I'm talking to you. But there are so many things to do. If you have like one set of hand weights, you could do everything in hand weight, tubing.
Julieanna Hever
(25:23)
There's so many fun things available. It's like you could have a total party and what's really cool now, because when I was a personal trainer, there was no internet. That's how old I am. Now they have limitless libraries of workouts that you could just look on YouTube and get some ideas. If you want to do abs today and you want to do a 30-minute whatever, like there's so many great, amazing videos out there, so you can get all sorts of ideas.
Julieanna Hever
(25:48)
But you just have to get a little creative and just make up… You don't even need a big space. Like I've got a tiny space where I live now and I'm still like… I take a little carpet or a little yoga mat and you can do yoga. Yoga you could do anywhere. Pilates you could do anywhere. You just need that little mat. And the more you have, the more options you have, but you don't need anything.
Julieanna Hever
(26:09)
I used to work out with nothing with my clients or use whatever you had at your fingertips. It's really fun. And it makes it exciting. I think the only hard part for a lot of people, especially now is the getting motivated to actually do it. So in that case, although you sound motivated, because you asked the question. If you need the motivation, then I would go to a video and go to just find someone you love it, just look it up. There's so many great options now, it's whole new world.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(26:35)
Oh, I just subscribed to Bali dancing. Yes I did.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(26:39)
Bali all right.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(26:42)
If you see me in Bali, you guys, there'll be some videos you may want to not watch. But be ready. So here's another question.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(26:52)
Well, hold on.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(26:54)
Yes, sir.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(26:54)
That was a superb answer. I hope everybody caught all the pearls that came out of the Julieanna's lips there. Especially money's hard up to get these days and be like going to gyms, et cetera. There's so much around you. If you just look and if you're a little creativity, a little motivation and you can get a good workout doing lots of simple things. I'm all for them.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(27:21)
That said, knowing that since my back surgery I can't run and cycling can be a little stressful with trucks and drivers around, in my living room for less than 200 bucks off Amazon, I got a nice stationary recumbent bike where I sit up and not hunched over on a bike and I'm sitting up and I hop on, crank up the resistance and start pedaling and then I get two, 10-pound dumbbells here and while I'm peddling, I do an upper body workout and I hold them up and hold them behind me.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(27:59)
And 40 minutes of pedaling with holding the dumbbells out, works up for pretty good sweat. And it's me. So a stationary bike and some dumbbells will keep your muscles strong and keep your cardio going. And once you make the initial investment and no charges.
Dr. Chris Miller
(28:21)
[crosstalk 00:28:21]. I love that you have it in your office and you just grab your weights.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(28:29)
That's why I turned the camera off to go get them in my living room there, but they're really used. Can you see all the miles on them?
Julieanna Hever
(28:35)
Yeah, exactly.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(28:35)
They're really used.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(28:38)
Absolutely. We're going to have to have you show your guns next time.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(28:41)
All right.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(28:45)
So actually I have some kettle bells and actually if you even just do a simple kettle bell swing or there's some things called the Turkish get ups, let me tell you, you do a few of those and you're going to get some serious workout. It's strength and it's rather incredible. So you guys just checkout even the simple movements where you're doing compound movements with multiple parts of your body.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(29:07)
And when you mentioned benching the kids, I used to do that when they were little, not anymore obviously, they can pick me up literally now with all sorts of fun things you can do with them, throw them around, I'm just kidding. But yeah, there's lots of good stuff. That's excellent. So we're going to move on to this next question. Which I think is kind of interesting and I know Wayne actually convinced me to go vegan a couple of years ago.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(29:27)
We've known him for… Gosh, I think I've known him before my youngest was born. I think I was pregnant with Gabe when I met him. So it was like 20 somewhat years ago. But he said I had a great physical with only potassium levels needing a boost. What do you recommend? So first of all, I would suggest, are you on any medications that might be reducing the potassium? Because most plant foods are rich in potassium.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(29:48)
But I know Julieanna can answer most of this, of course your greens and your broccoli and your sweet potatoes and dried fruits. Is there anything particular, Julieanna, that you might mention about as far as really increasing the potassium? It's so good for you.
Julieanna Hever
(30:01)
Fruits and veggies, fruits and veggies, fruits and veggies. Fruits and beans, vegetables, fruits, whole grains like mushrooms, nut seeds, herbs and spices and infinite tasty combinations. It's always the answer. It's always the answer. And then a supplement just to make sure. That is my answer for everything. Nobody needs to hire me for anything, because that's all I'm going to [inaudible 00:30:21] because that's the answer. I would wonder about medications like if you're a diabetic, I'm like that would be concerned about that. And you want to make sure your heart and everything's okay. But generally speaking, all plant-based diet.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(30:33)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I think he's doing most supplements that well, it's a double check. Wayne feel free to message me, but I am going to have some memes made. So it's going to be Dr. Klaper with guns and saying the fleas navel. And it'll be Julieanna, you guys need to talk to me, this things stick with me.
Julieanna Hever
(30:52)
[crosstalk 00:30:52] without saying because I keep saying it all the time. So I just finally made a meme.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(30:55)
I need the meme. I need the moon so I can share it.
Julieanna Hever
(30:59)
I'm going to send it to you right now.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(31:01)
Oh my gosh. Oh my, Chris I'm working on yours. There's a few rumbling around in my mind for that. So here's another one that just kind of goes to a younger athletes as well. My daughter is a competitive gymnast. She works out 12 hours a week. We have been plant-based for a few years… So congratulations, the best thing you could do for your kiddos.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(31:22)
She tends to be tired all the time, not recovering as fast as I feel she should. As an athlete, does she need to have more something, any pre or post workout ideas? Julieanna, any thoughts on your athletes that you're working with? I know for me, I think it may be just a calorie issue. All of my kids played athletics. They were either cross country runners, baseball, basketball, soccer. We did volleyball. We did swimming, competitive swimming for years. So I think the really important thing is making sure they're getting enough calories.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(31:51)
So kids can be a little bit picky, they can think that you're sending their lunch and they may not be eating it. So would be number one. Number two, to make sure that she… Maybe her thyroids are good and that's okay. I mean, just a good physical with blood work would probably not be a bad idea, especially if, I don't know how old she is.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(32:12)
But certainly you definitely want to make sure she's getting enough calories. And that's typically what I've seen with the least of my kids with activity is in, they're just not eating enough food. So, but any of you guys have any thoughts or ideas?
Dr. Michael Klaper
(32:24)
Oh yes, Dr. Klaper here, I had some interesting points and some studies corroborating that berries… 12 ounces of raspberries or strawberries really cut down the recovery time for athletes. It really seems to help the muscle metabolism. And so does beet juice. And so, I would consider adding beets and berries to the athlete's diet there and see if that doesn't help their recovery. But I want to get those onboard about an hour or so before for the workout I imagine two hours somewhere around there.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(32:58)
Yeah. Beet juice we used to do, I dove into the science when I was cross country running. It's about a two hours beforehand, I only had two hours. And it does increase your endurance with less oxygen use. So, actually beet juice in my refrigerator just for that. So one of my kids is trying, Jonathan is trying to do the… He's aiming to break the pull-up world record. Right now he's doing 280 pull ups a day, on a plant-based diet.
Julieanna Hever
(33:24)
What?
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(33:25)
The dude is ripped man. I'm just like, “All right.” How can I, I would just be like to be able to do like do consistently a few.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(33:33)
That's great. That's great.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(33:34)
Yeah, it's pretty cool. But anyway, I think that it's really fascinating, all the science related to recovery and the plant-based diet and just how far you can keep going. Anyone else have any thoughts on our athletes and-
Dr. Michael Klaper
(33:53)
There's many websites now run by vegan athletes. And so, I go to Robert Cheeks website, Scott Jurek website, Retros, and you'll probably pick up lots of tips as you delve into that whole world of vegan athletics.
Julieanna Hever
(34:09)
Absolutely, no lead athlete is awesome.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(34:13)
Absolutely.
Dr. Chris Miller
(34:14)
Now, also to make sure that she's getting enough protein, because I know we don't talk about that a lot as vegans. And I though we get enough protein, but I think actually do need more protein. So making sure that she's eating beans for food and whole grains, things like that. So sometimes stepping it up and really fine tuning. So maybe isn't a bad idea to work with someone who knows maybe a dietician like Julieanna or a doctor, someone who can help you with something just to make sure that there's not anything that you can tweak.
Dr. Chris Miller
(34:42)
But I love that idea for the websites because there are so many good resources out there right now for athletes that are trying to intrude and who have made it work.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(34:48)
Yeah. But I'd say definitely she's symptomatic at fatigue. Definitely seeing someone who knows what to expect on plant-based, that would be really important. It be lab work, but also is she having periods or her periods stop it tell you a little bit of something if she's imbalanced here, especially as a gymnast. So there's a lot of receptors as females and athletes that they might be under a lot of pressure for certain weight category.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(35:07)
So there's a lot there to be can unpack. But again, we're all at plant-basedtelehealth.com and you see myself, Dr. Miller and Dr. Clapper, we'd be happy to help to. Here's an interesting question from my friend, Chloe Stein. Who's awesome. You guys should check out her website. It's Chloe's Clean Cuisine, really yummy recipes there. She says, “I have a client who's been hopefully plant-based diet for a few years. He's still experiencing many gut issues and discomfort. He had a tooth knocked out many years ago and the dentist put a crumb and over it and left the root. I recently learned that the tooth is still underneath, completely black and rotted. And is it possible that this might influence his gut health via the bacteria during his body through dental health?”
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(35:49)
Oh, there's so much there. Any you like to talk about dental health and your overall health? There's some weird stuff I've seen happen with that.
Dr. Chris Miller
(35:57)
Yeah. I have delved into that too actually because I've had some really bad teeth as a kid. And so when I became an adult and I started taking care of myself, I had to deal with all that. And there is some evidence that a rotten out tooth can definitely, it can definitely transmit bacteria. And your oral health absolutely is related to overall health and chronic inflammation. And so someone like me with an autoimmune disease, I had to deal with all my teeth and it was thousands of dollars later. I'm not going to lie, and it was not fun.
Dr. Chris Miller
(36:31)
And now it's the reason I take such good care of my teeth and see the dentist like every three months to get the flack off. But the short answer to that is yes, that can absolutely be a contributing factor. I changed out all mine like that sort of, so that person will probably want to get those that maybe an implant, if that's an option or something or look into different options. But yeah. Another thing that really helps with dental health for me was going plant-based of course, and being mindful of what I'm eating, rinse my mouth with water, because actually people eat more raw food, get more cavities.
Dr. Chris Miller
(37:07)
Because I think from the acid of the vinegars and the lemons and the citrus can soften your gum a little bit. And then if you brush your teeth too soon and that's sorta what happened to me, I started getting all those cavities and I was eating super clean. And so can I had to learn how to take care of my teeth even better. And Waterpik and then there's a whole lots of dental health. I should write this up dental health of plant-based eaters. But I'm fixing your microbiome too. So if it's someone that's sick, so someone that has like autoimmune issues or gut health issues or inflammatory issues, the probiotic council be helpful for that as well.
Dr. Chris Miller
(37:42)
I always say for a short time, not for a long time, but that can be helpful for a little bit as well. And kind of correct the whole microbiome because it starts in your mouth and it goes to your gut. So that is another idea.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(37:55)
Absolutely excellent. All right. Trudy's asking, “Do you get the same benefits if you add a beet to your smoothie? I'll go for a stand alone, if not mornings won't be the same. So, when someone else say beets taste like dirt. I think it depends on the beet. I mean, I've had beets that weren't that great, but then other beets like you get from like your CSA or locally grown. Oh my goodness. They're delicious.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(38:19)
But the studies I saw were on beet juice, not the beet powder and not the whole, I'm assuming you get the same effect. But you could probably concentrate in the beet juice a little bit more, but any way you can get it in, it's going to be great. But it's just a little easier if you're also going to be running to not consume a beet beforehand. But anyway, any other thoughts? Are you guys aware of that?
Dr. Chris Miller
(38:43)
I'm with them that the beets taste like dirt, so I'll second that. The trick is how to get it in and fix this right there… So that's the next challenge.
Julieanna Hever
(38:52)
And also [crosstalk 00:38:53] because it could scare you.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(38:57)
There's about what, 10, 15% of people will have either some red stool or red urine. Two of my five family members do that. And it was really entertaining when the 14 year old's like, “Mom, mom, I think I'm dying.” I'm like, “You're not dying. You're okay.”
Dr. Michael Klaper
(39:14)
It also helps to wash the beets too. It decreases their dirt feeling there.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(39:24)
Absolutely. Oh, someone else said golden beets are a good substitute for those who don't like their earthier red. And you know, you might want to wear gloves because they will, if you're chopping a blood to beets they will stain your fingers. If you need to go somewhere, not that we're going anywhere too many, but anyway-
Dr. Chris Miller
(39:40)
And for the record there are some studies that beet powder increases nitric oxide.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(39:42)
There were some? Excellent.
Dr. Chris Miller
(39:49)
I don't know if that translates into the athletes though, but I'm assuming it would if it increased the nitric oxide. So, that's a thought.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(39:59)
Roasting beets makes them a little sweeter too. So that might be the other thing you could do. You could roast a whole bunch of beats and just put them in the fridge and warm them up as you want to or eat them cold on a salad, there're all sorts of ways to do it. So Christie had an interesting one. She said after four years of not having a menstrual cycle being diagnosed with PCLS and type two diabetes, I finally got a period this week. Excellent. Do you recommend going on birth control or should I depend on my diet to get my minstrel to return consistently?
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(40:26)
Also, will I finally be able to conceive for conceive? For Chris, first of all, I'm very excited because that tells us that your body is breaking to be back in balance. As far as your fertility, there's a lot of things that go into that, many, many things that go into that. So I would certainly speak to a fertility specialist or we could even run some basic panels or your regular doc can. I certainly wouldn't recommend someone who wants to conceive and who just got their period back to go on any type of hormones at the moment, just see what happens personally.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(41:04)
So that would be my original suggestion, just kind of let the body do its thing before you start throwing in hormones on top of everything else that's just finally coming into balance, but any thoughts or suggestions there with anyone?
Dr. Michael Klaper
(41:19)
Because he's clearly doing something right. And if you really improve your diet, a really clean plant-based one. And now you're starting to cycle is such a great positive, excuse me, positive sign. And as Dr. Marbas said, right now I would just go full speed ahead for racking up a good six, eight cycles let six or eight months go by until your body gets convinced that it's now locked into a new normal cycling period.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(41:51)
And then it's better if you haven't gotten pregnant on your own by them, then go see a fertility specialist. But this first period's a great sign, but they keep the machine going for a few months. So the whole body can come into sync with this new rhythm.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(42:10)
Absolutely. I agree. Anybody else thoughts with that? So, in the hormone cascades that go with the menses is really fascinating and there can be so many things there. So, it's just something to consider, but just let your body do its thing. You're doing the right thing. I think you're fabulous for going plant-based diet. It sounds like you probably reversed your diabetes too so. That's awesome.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(42:32)
So we did have another question regarding, it was a little bit earlier. Let me get to it. I think Billy is sharing the question from someone else. He says, “My question was, my brittle diabetes and severe heart walk it is congestive heart failure, complicate each other and spiral out of control quickly. Can you advise me?” Though I don't know where that question came from. I don't think it's you, but it looks like you're sharing a question. Honestly, that is such a difficult and very complicated situation with many things that need to be balanced and looked at.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(43:09)
I would highly suggest that he make an appointment with either a plant-based cardiologist or a plant-based physician, such as ourselves, just at least give him an overview and some guidance where to get started. Because honestly, there's going to be multiple medications, there's going to be certain foods that might be better than others, but any other just thoughts on if you have someone with multiple complicated comorbidities?
Dr. Chris Miller
(43:35)
That's the trick you and I agree with you completely, you have to regulate with the medications and you may get lower potassium because of certain medications, which you have to take. So, it's going to take some balancing and regulating and you really want to pay attention to your electrolytes, like magnesium, and salt intake, so that is something that I agree 100% with your advice there.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(43:59)
A really squeaky clean whole food plant-based diet get a low in fat. There's one fellow you want to keep those insulin receptors wide open. This is not the time to be using olive oil and peanut butter here. But if you're eating low-glycemic whole plant foods, meal after meal, after meal, both those conditions should get better. Your blood sugar should start evening out and your artery should start to heal.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(44:30)
And meal after meal, salad after vegetable soup, after plate of steamed veggie, each one of those heals your artery walls, it's not a matter of chasing numbers. It's a matter of getting your whole body healthier. And the whole grains or legumes, the whole vegetables, they don't raise your blood sugar. They don't ask much insulin to metabolize them. And they're so full of phytonutrients that heal those artery walls.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(44:58)
That's really what you want to do it with your meals. The numbers will take care of themselves. Yes. Get the right insulin dose and all that stuff. But it's more than just, how has my A1C, it's what is this meal? What did yesterday eating do for my arteries, and my healing myself with my food stream, instead of truly healing when your arteries are never not looking there, they know everything. So to [inaudible 00:45:23] be true and make sure every meal that goes through sues them and reduces the inflammation. And then you just start getting better.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(45:32)
Yeah. He says he's a 100% assistance. So he's definitely following your [crosstalk 00:45:38]. Yeah, absolutely.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(45:40)
That's great.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(45:42)
Exactly. And you know, and sometimes I think people just need to understand, you'll have patients who will make appointments and like, I want to get off all my medications, that made their heart failure or some other really serious chronic diseases that they've had for a very long time. I think it's a very noble thought to get off medications, but sometimes you can't. And so, I think you need to go into this. There's the realistic understanding that plant-based diet is not a panacea for everything it's works for many, many things.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(46:14)
And there's many places where we can reverse disease, but at the same time, there shouldn't be a stigma with being on medications if you require them. And don't be disappointed if someone tells you what you need to stay on a little bit of this to stay in balance. Because if you're getting someone who's 70 years old, and beat their body up for those 70 years, there's only going to be so much you can do. And many times you can reverse, but not always.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(46:37)
I just want to put that out there so everyone can understand that there is certainly not… There's a stigma I think with some people on a plant-based diet that, “I can't be on any medications or I failed or whatever, I'm not doing something right.” But that's not always the case. So, I don't know if any of you guys have any of those experiences, but I certainly have, and I feel bad for the patient because I feel like they're going to always feel disappointed even though they're doing everything right. Any thoughts on that? It's just something that came up with recently in the last few weeks.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(47:08)
So, the other question was, there's a lot of iron questions, which is interesting. Let's see here, Julieanna, I had a question for you because some… We get a lot of questions on specific plant types, like the grains or the vegetables or the fruits, but often times we'll like with the grain specifically. And one question here, someone is asking, she's reading things that grains can cause issues probably like wheat belly or something like that. Can you just kinda go over maybe what grains are actually good for us and what they actually do and how they benefit us? Because there's so much good research there.
Julieanna Hever
(47:48)
So, there's so much nonsense out there. The evidence is overwhelming that whole grains are absolutely health promoting and staple foods that have been around since the beginning of recorded history. There's nothing harmful about eating a whole grain. I just think it's so insane how people have latched onto that idea. Because the evidence is so strong. And that said, whole grains, I have a video on this.
Julieanna Hever
(48:11)
Whole grains are not a part of my six daily threes. Why? Because there's nothing nutritionally unique about whole grains that you can't find in the other 6 Daily 3s. So, it's an interesting kind of paradox. So what I love about whole grains is the culinary diversity that it adds to our menu and to our repertoire of deliciousness that we're going to be eating. There's nothing better than having I don't know a chili with rice or Quinoa and beans together with whatever.
Julieanna Hever
(48:39)
Like it's always so nice and it's so comforting and satiating. And the other thing is satiation. It's not only the diversity that it provides, but it is so satiating. Like whole grains are very unsatisfying. So, I always say focused on the 6 Daily 3s. And then on top of that, you could have more vegetables and more… Those are just like the minimum to prioritize and then enjoy whole grains. The other thing about whole grains is I would say, “Go for the whole, the whole are the better.” So, you start with the original grain and every time you take off a little refined, refined, refined, if you crack it if you puff it, if you grade it, as you start to take it away, and ship away at the original format, you're losing fiber, you're losing nutrients.
Julieanna Hever
(49:22)
It's like just stripping away the nutrients. So you end up with like white flour. So get as close to the whole intact as you can. I'd rather you have a bowl of… Wheat berries or a bowl of barley than have white flour. But there's a place for whole grains and a healthy diet. Absolutely. And there's nothing dangerous. I mean literally, I can't imagine. I mean, if you have a gluten problem and people do, and I write a whole book about this, a complete it has got to gluten free vegan cooking was all gluten free because there are certain populations that need to be mindful of gluten.
Julieanna Hever
(49:53)
There's the people that have celiac disease of course, there's the people that have an allergy to gluten or wheat or any of those things. And there's people that have intolerances and you have to kind of figure that out. It's not easy because a lot of people go, “Oh, I cut out gluten and no I'm healthy. And I feel great.” Well, yeah, because you cut out your cookies and cakes and candies and stuff, that was all gluten free because it was gluten-free, it's not the gluten free per se, that has the health halo.
Julieanna Hever
(50:16)
So if you're avoiding gluten, there are so many grains. That's why the book is about, first of all, we've made everything. You can make everything gluten free now. Honestly, it's so much harder. I was gluten free for a while because I had an allergy. I still have to be careful. It's so much harder to go gluten free than it is to go vegan by a million times. Because it's everywhere, but nowadays there's a lot of products that was way back when. So I would say, if you're avoiding gluten, there's so many other amazing grains. There's Amaranth, Kiwa and Teff.
Julieanna Hever
(50:43)
No, yes. Teff. And I have a whole list. I don't have it memorized exactly, but there's so many delicious whole grains that you could enjoy that are gluten free if you need to be gluten free. If you don't need to be gluten free because you don't have celiac and allergy or an intolerance, then by all means, you now have the whole wheat sprout… I love sprouted wheat bagels. Like those are delicious or sprouted wheat pastas if you want.
Julieanna Hever
(51:06)
But again, the closer to the original, the better. And it's not a problem to eat whole grains. There's not, all that stuff is. I just think what's the word, it's just contrived and there's so much evidence to support how health protein whole grains are in a diet.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(51:26)
Absolutely. I agree 100%.
Dr. Chris Miller
(51:28)
It's interesting actually, because now there's becoming more and more data about how the foods we eat affect our microbiome. Right? And we know that a more diverse microbiome is essential to longevity, to disease protection, to aging well and be healthy. And so, I sometimes test microbiomes and stool on people. And there's some saying that, “Oh, I don't meet people who had narrow microbiomes. And sure enough when I tested my own, it was narrow.
Dr. Chris Miller
(51:57)
And I was like, “Oh my God, I was already a plant-based eater.” But I was on these elimination bags. Right? So, I start broadening it. I'm getting the legumes back in. I'm trying to diversify my vegetables still somewhat narrow. And so there's evidence that there are so many… The microbiomes have different function for metabolizing different types of carbohydrate that there's hundreds of them actually. And so, I actually think now that there might actually be an advantage to adding those whole grains and that they might be something to it because it's going to diversify or microbiomes that we can't necessarily do.
Dr. Chris Miller
(52:30)
And I've been playing with myself kind of, that I keep rechecking it and it's finally diversifying a little bit as a bat in the grains back in. So, and I'm trying to diversify my grades and I have to be gluten free for CVS jeans. So, it's just interesting. I think we're going to assume, get a little more data that maybe we actually do need whole grains. And there is evidence that people who eat gluten for people who can just like Julieanna said, certain people can't, but for people who can eat gluten that eating whole wheat actually causes a certain type of bacteria that it diversifies the microbiome in a certain way.
Dr. Chris Miller
(53:05)
And those people are showing decreased heart disease and other inflammatory factors that are going down. And so, there really is some, I think there's really something more to whole grains than we may have realized in the beginning. So, I'm actually exploring that and reading the data, but I think we're going to learn more about that soon.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(53:24)
That's excellent. Yeah, I agree 100%. And kind of getting to the microbiome question, this is the one that kind of comes up often regarding antibiotics. And so, Steven asked, “My son just had a tooth extraction and had an infection or I guess had an infection in his Jawbone. He was prescribed antibiotics for seven days. What's the advice during and after, as far as probiotics, fermented foods or pills, he is healthy plant-based. And SOS free, just got back from two North in big vans. So any thoughts on probiotics or fermented foods during and after [inaudible 00:54:02]?
Dr. Chris Miller
(54:05)
So, a new study came out recently. I personally used to recommend it all the time afterwards. And recently, I think in the past two years, I can't remember the exact date, but a study came out showing that people who were taking probiotics were actually delaying the recovery of a diverse microbiome. And one of the reasons I think is because you're giving yourself, say, you give yourself 30 billion of bacteria, but it's how many species?
Dr. Chris Miller
(54:30)
Maybe it's 10, maybe it's 12 different species, but in your gut you have trillions, right? So that little bit is really nothing. And so you are going to give yourself more and more and more of just this very narrow species and it's actually preventing a diverse microbiome. So, I have actually stopped that advice after that article came out because it looked like pretty good data and I no longer recommend probiotics after antibiotics.
Dr. Chris Miller
(54:55)
I still use them for certain cases. I think it can be helpful. And I use only certain species now. I'm much more targeted with my probiotic usage than I used to be, but I don't really recommend it anymore. Now, again I don't know you or your specific case or what's going on, but I do recommend a whole food plant-based diet, as diverse as you can make it.
Dr. Chris Miller
(55:15)
If you can eat legumes, if you can eat a bit of whole different whole grains, definitely your vegetables, your fruit, which also, especially if you eat them raw, you're going to get microbiome on those. So a nice diverse diet, and if you can tolerate a little bit of fermented foods, some people can't, but if you can, that's great too. So, to really fine tune your diet is kind of where I started out with most people.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(55:38)
I think it's a good idea too because if you think about, if you're feeding yourself probiotics, you're also now competing with your natural microbiome for nutrients. So those little microbiome products are going to want them as well. We don't know too how much of the probiotics is actually incorporated into the microbiome because there's some interesting research on the microbiomes that are protective like a tribe, they're kind of going to be particular about who they let in the tribe. So, I would think that would be something to think about. But in cases as you know C. diff or some other things that might be more warranted for sure.
Dr. Chris Miller
(56:11)
Right. Then it's very different, there's specific ones for that.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(56:14)
Yeah. Absolutely. And there's been a lot of questions about iron and anemia, and I don't know if people joined late, but we went through quite a bit. So, if you guys want to watch the replay, that would be very helpful. We answered a lot of the questions that are asked again. So, I just wanted to throw that out there and we're closing in on our hour.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(56:31)
And I'm sorry if we didn't get to your question, but we'd be back next week, and I'd like to thank Julieanna for joining us. And of course you can always find her at plantbaseddietician.com and find Dr. Klaper, Dr. Miller and myself at plantbasedtelehealth.com like a swag guys and we'd be happy to help you any way we can. And thank you for joining us, and we always appreciate your time. So have a great day.
Dr. Michael Klaper
(56:57)
Bye.
Dr. Chris Miller
(56:58)
Bye, thank you.
*Recorded on 9.10.20