In this episode our crew of plant-based doctors discuss advice for surviving the hollidays, Osteoporosis, and Hypothyroidism.
Questions Answered
- (00:03) – Any general tips for surviving the holidays?
- (10:45) – Are there any plant-based doctors who speak Spanish in Illinois?
- (11:19) – What should one do if despite being on a whole food plant based
protocol, they are unable to bring total cholesterol below 200? - (13:48) – If I can get to 90 LDL with diet only, should I take meds to get below 70?
- (18:34) – What will help with LP(a)?
- (21:28) – Can you speak to how plant-based choices can impact someone who lives with autoimmune disease?
- (23:25) – Which foods are best to supply bones for density health. How does gluten and coffee affect bones?
- (27:08) – Can a weighted vest help with Osteoporosis?
- (28:13) – How does coffee and gluten affect Osteoporosis?
- (30:38) – Any advice for reversing hypothyroidism?
Complete Transcript
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(00:03)
What I was thinking here is that today we could talk about holidays that are coming up. And I know we just went through some holidays. If you have any questions about maybe what you dealt with, and if you'd like to focus on any specifics to surviving the holidays and doing some of those things. Any thoughts there as you guys like to get started and we can go from there?
Dr. Chris Miller
(00:27)
Well, I would say I love the holidays and I love it as a plant based eater, but I've been doing it for so long and I have it dialed in. But some of the big concerns that I see in some of my patients are one of them is if you're traveling to someone's house and you don't want to hurt their feelings, I feel like that's always a big thing. So we've talked… I've been talking about that lately a lot with a lot of my patients and some of my ideas are to you bring your own food with you, so you can either make a bunch and share it with everyone, or bring enough, at least that you have that way. You're not inconveniencing anyone.
Dr. Chris Miller
(01:01)
And you can still be low key. You can talk to whoever's hosting it in advance, let them know you're doing this for health purposes and that this is important to you. So they know as well what's going on. And if you're really worried about hurting someone's feelings, that grandma made your favorite cookies, just especially for you. So you feel really bad. So you take one even though you don't want to, I would say remember, it's your health ultimately. And grandma loves you, she doesn't want to hurt you. This is time to stand up for ourselves and I've had to do it too and it was hard for me as well.
Dr. Chris Miller
(01:34)
I'm not… I guess I'm not that good at it but it's important to stand up for ourselves and to let them know that, no, no, no, thank you this year and this is my goal and I'm going to reach it. And so to really go for it though, to not just give in just because it hurts someone's feelings, but what about hurting your feelings, right? You're just as important as them and they don't want to hurt you either. So those are the tips I've been sharing with some of my patients, if that helps anyone who's traveling and going to be in that situation. But what do you guys think?
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(02:03)
I Think it's so important, what you just said. I appreciate it. It's… When you think about it seems that it's not the way… The conception of the individual is not as difficult as it was when I started, but there's still some perception and values that people see and we have to be able to open up and tell people why we are doing that. Because by doing this, allowing them to learn and seems that people are a little bit more open than what it was. So I think that's a very, very strategic discussion and important. That doesn't mean that we're not talking about anything that you can eat.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(02:49)
I've always said that for me, it didn't make anything difference because then Jeff maybe can understand that as an obstetrician gynecologist, I was on call most of the holidays. So for me, it didn't make much difference. Of course, maybe at the hospital, they would have few little things, but I had a tendency just like you mentioned to bring my own food but it really didn't make much of a difference. It was not a big party. I had to be very… To recognize that I was on call. Let's be good so no glory there.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(03:22)
Yeah.
Dr. Chris Miller
(03:23)
If somebody else says… I'm sorry, Jeff, real quick to introduce ourselves. So before you speak, if you don't mind introducing yourself and for the newcomers here.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(03:31)
Yeah, sure. Yeah. So I'm Jeffrey Pierce I'm a family doc, practicing lifestyle medicine, some obstetrics, some other things. Based out on Northern California, originally from Texas. And do you guys… How about if you guys introduce yourselves too and then I'll chime in about my thoughts on Thanksgiving and stuff?
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(03:52)
Oh, I would think everybody knows Laurie and Chris. So I'll introduce myself. I feel you knew us a little bit by now, but that's okay. I'm Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine. I am in Vermont and I joined the group of Plant Based Telehealth about, I'd say about maybe eight months through a year ago. So I'm an obstetrician gynecologist practiced for 27 years. I'm also an exercise physiologist and master in obesity and also lifestyle medicine. It was such a pleasure to be able to join this amazing group, to be able to share knowledge and help people like you that are listening. So there you have it in a short little bit.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(04:31)
Awesome.
Dr. Chris Miller
(04:32)
Hi, I'm Chris Miller. I am based out of Colorado and I'm a plant-based doctor. And I have been one for 10 years and, or I guess only eight years, but I've been plant-based for 10 years now. And I've been on Plant Based Telehealth for a little over a year and I'm loving it. It's the best job I've ever had. And I'm loving all of you guys and all of our patients and all the people in this community. And so welcome to any newcomers. And so it looks like we have Paula and Daniel and Vicky, and so it's awesome. So welcome. We're so glad to have you here.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(05:06)
Hi, I'm Dr. Laurie Marbas. I am a co-founder with Anthony Masiello of Plant Based Telehealth. And we started working on this three years ago, launched in March of 2020 and we're almost two years old. And so we started these webinars, Chris and I were the original, I guess the original gangsters. And that's so bad.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(05:26)
Gangster?
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(05:28)
Original gangster. You know that OG, they always talk about the OG.
Dr. Chris Miller
(05:30)
Yeah, I can see that.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(05:39)
I'm trying to behave guys. I got kids and it's [inaudible 00:05:39].
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(05:39)
You're trying, Laurie. Good try.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(05:39)
Can't leave. Can't try to pull it up. Damn it. But basically we are all plant based docs. We have nine docs on staff right now. We're working again to increase the knowledge base of just our general audience. So that's why we're doing these webinars. We are increasing our webinars to one every week, starting in January. So the second and fourth week are still going to be Thursdays at this time. Then the first and third Fridays, we will be doing those at 11:30 AM Mountain time, which is 10:30 Pacific, 1:30 Eastern.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(06:10)
And so we're going to be trying to maybe host one of our docs who are going to be like, for example, Dr. Fontaine is OB Gyn. She's got some amazing expertise with women's health. We'll do that. And then we have Jeff who also delivers babies and all that good stuff, scary stuff. Chris is like autoimmune expert. And so I have a propensity for diabetes. That's what I love to work with. So lots of different things we can… We're going to highlight for you guys. And if you see things feel free to message us at info@pd Telehealth.com.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(06:40)
If you're on Facebook, if you see us on our Plan Based Telehealth page, please post your questions there. If we share this to another group, you'll need to go to the Plant Based Telehealth page to ask a question otherwise, I won't see it. I am going to be… I'm looking over this one, I'm monitoring. So these are also available on YouTube. And as we get… We're hiring staff. As we're moving along, when these will be edited and then put on the website, but you can see them on Facebook user page, I mean, YouTube pretty quick. And Facebook there are archives, you can go through and see all of the past ones that we've done. So there's that. And so great. If we're happy to answer any questions that you may have, and there is everything let's see here. Okay.
Dr. Chris Miller
(07:24)
Wait, we have [crosstalk 00:07:25] to go back to Dr. Pierce was going to tell-
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(07:27)
Oh yes. Dr. Pierce that was about-
Dr. Chris Miller
(07:28)
…holiday secrets.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(07:29)
Yes, please.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(07:31)
I don't know if I have any secrets other than just to acknowledge how difficult the holidays can be and somethings that I guess have worked for me in our family. Two years ago Thanksgiving, we had a small get together just with us and one of our plant-based friends and that was so simple. And we were… Everything was just how we wanted it food wise. And then in later this year, we had the pleasure of joining extended family at their place.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(08:02)
They're very aware of how we eat and so there was open communication about what they could make for us and what we could, and what we were going to bring. It's still a… It's always a bit of a interesting little dance when you're going to a function and you're the odd man out, perhaps. And what's that like when you don't. Is this okay? Or is this one vegan or not put the plates at the table and stuff like that. And so you just, I think, be communicating openly thinking about your own health and like Chris said the only one who's going to be on the table getting a procedure based on what you eat as you are based on what I eat is me. And so as much as somebody loves me and have made this great decadent dessert for me, it's okay to say no, thank you in a loving way and make sure that person knows that you care for them even if you're not eating what they made for you.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(09:14)
And it's been a tricky time and it's a trigger for a lot of people around the holidays, right? This is the time where people in general, in the United States, for example, just overindulge. And so for people who have been really struggling with weight issues and other things, it's a tricky time, but have your support staff, have your loved ones that you can talk to and find support within. You'll get through it.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(09:38)
Yep. I think community's a big one. Right? So connecting with people who are like-minded, even if it's only in line, I have multiple patients, I'm the only one that I know, my only family there is so reaching out, it's almost like it would be like plant based anonymous. Like we have your supporting link, you have your texts. I'm like, “I'm really tempted right now. What should I do.” Reach out to your signature, your advocates, your support there.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(10:07)
And that's where we're stepping into, that's why we're here. We're trying to let you feel like you're not alone. There are professionals who work with people everywhere or across this country, across the world to help people make better decisions. And it's just unfortunate that the easy, unhealthy decision is what's available to us most of the time.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(10:25)
But if you're mindful about the process, you're thinking what are your goals? Am I really hungry? Getting in touch with what true hunger is, and just understanding that again every decision that you make on the food under the fork really makes a difference in your long term health and it's additive. So even if you break down and you don't make it one day, you ball off the wagon, so to speak, it is not going to undo everything you've done. And don't feel guilty that you have ruined everything. I promise it'll be okay. The sun will come up tomorrow and you can start again. It's all good.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(10:58)
So we did ask some questions. And first of all, we do… Angelica asked, ” Is there any plant-based doctors who speak Spanish in Illinois?” Yes. Dr. Pierce speaks Spanish, but he is not in Illinois, but we have Dr. Kim Scheuer who is so book appointment with her. You'll love her. We get some amazing feedback for all of our doctors.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(11:19)
Another good question here. What would one… What should one do despite being on a whole food plant based protocol, no processed food, flours, sugar oils, etc is unable to bring total cholesterol below 200? I'm so excited about that question. What do you guys say? What do you think? I can do what I'm doing but-
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(11:39)
I mean, it's always difficult when you… Unless you have the chance to see for maybe a few days or a week of really what… Everything that they eat so we can make sure that the definition of whole plant-based is. It could be a little bit different from one individual to another. So being able to look at the…Are they eliminating it, oil? Are they having lots of nuts? Is there some of the element like avocado? There's this important thing that… So it's important for us to be able to look at these elements. I'm sure there's many other things that my friends will add.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(12:21)
I have been working on a protocol for like months now, and I've been seeing really good results. So I will tell you. All of my doctors have access to it. I'm seeing anywhere between a 15 to 30% drop in LDL. What's interesting in the last three or four patients, really interesting 10 point rise in HDL, even with an LDL drop, which is kind of cool.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(12:42)
So some things that are on there include amla powder, which is Indian gooseberry. You don't need much of that. Eat a bit teaspoon a couple times a day, we talk about soluble fiber. We talk about ground flex. There's berberine and some plant sterol and stanols and some other things. And certain timing of the meals, soy products. All of those things wrapped up together can make a difference. And even with patients, and really I'm really looking for the tough cases, the ones who haven't seen the cholesterol budge to where we'd like to see it especially that LDL under a 100 that really should be our first goal.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(13:17)
And so make appointment with any of our docs, they'll have a straight up access to that and they definitely can work. It's very straightforward to do. Like I said, we're happy to order labs for you. You can order all sorts of stuff for you. You can do maybe before and then after. And that's what I've been doing. I tested it on several, probably close to 30 patients first. And then I was like, “All right, no, these are good. I'm going to share with everybody.” And it's been revamped and I feel like it's pretty good one.
Dr. Chris Miller
(13:45)
And there's a question here actually from Jack from Nashville.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(13:48)
Yeah.
Dr. Chris Miller
(13:48)
And he says, “If I can get to 90 LDL with diet only, should I take meds to get below 70?” And I want to address that. Kind of take team and off of what already answered. And so that's a great question. And it… Jack, we can't give you an answer. One, we're not giving medical advice right now, but we're just talking in general. But number two is, it depends on you and your risks. So I would say if you were a patient of mine, I would want to re-stratify you further.
Dr. Chris Miller
(14:17)
So that means like a coronary artery CT scan, or Aortic intima-media thickness ultrasound depending on co factors, which one we choose. But to get that and to look if you already have calcifications. If you do, then yes, we want to be more aggressive with you and get that number down. And we can use things like some of the supplements and things that Laurie was talking about. There's a lot that we can do from a holistic standpoint to get it down further.
Dr. Chris Miller
(14:46)
If you don't have plaque at all, you may not be sticking plaque. You may not have inflammation and we won't be as worried about getting the number down as aggressively. And so then we might just keep you on your whole food plant-based diet. Plus like Elisabeth had said we want to really fine tune your diet and see if there's any tweaks we can make there. So there's a lot that goes into it and there's a… We're not all the same and it's not all just based on one number. So a lot of intricacies, which are actually kind of cool to figure each of us out. So if you get to work with one of us, if you do, we'd be happy to help you figure that out a little bit better.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(15:20)
No, I think that's great. Would either of you like to help add to that or go to the next question?
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(15:27)
Cholesterol's such a big deal, right? It's heart related, directly related to coronary artery disease. Heart disease which is a major killer, the number one killer as far as disease entity in the United States and around the world. And yes, trying to get your diet, trying to get the cholesterol down, particularly the total cholesterol and the LDL which is the bad cholesterol. The majority of people can drop those numbers down in a week or two with a radical change in diet, right.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(15:57)
And you see that in these 7:15, 30 day kick, starts time and time again. And it's a smaller percentage of people who are… Who don't respond so well to the diet changes that need extra stuff like trying out some amla powder and trying some plant stanols and stuff like that. It's not like we're not recommending people to eat a standard American diet and throw a shot of amla after it and everything's going to be good.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(16:28)
But for those people who are really are sticking and like, ” Gosh, I'm doing everything right, and why is my LDL cholesterol still 120?” And you know that's usually… If everything is really checking off on the diet, then it's familia there. It's the genetics that are working against you and then try these extra tips and tricks on Laurie's protocol can go a long way. Yeah.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(16:55)
So you really remember you're recycling, right? So even though you're not eating cholesterol, your body recycles cholesterol that you're making. And that some people are just a little bit better than others recycling.
Dr. Chris Miller
(17:06)
Yes, some people don't have a receptor text scripted actually. So they need help that as well. So and those are genetic things. It's not our always our fault. That truly is a genetic thing, so we can help that along.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(17:16)
Yeah, absolutely. And there's a lot too, like you said with the 90, or under 70, it really depends, like you said Chris, that's on family history, their personal history information, a lot of different things. Previous heart attack history themselves, the heart really, really got to focus in on your individual risk. And ideally we can get that. But remember the whole… The idea with your health is if I had a plant-based child and was eating this way and they can keep their LDL under a 100, lifelong they're probably going to be fine.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(17:43)
As you get stratified upward in the risk category, we need you under 70, we need you under 60, right? So that's because that's where it takes to really look at the plaque that you have and stabilize that and prevent either further, some type of adverse cardiac event. So just keeping those things in mind, we have some other-
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(18:04)
[inaudible 00:18:04].
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(18:04)
Right.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(18:04)
…kind of get through all the things. When you talk about the inflammation you got to think that it's not only diet and there's other component that could be part of it, like stress, like sleep. So they play into the inflammation which could potentially have an impact on these element of cholesterol. And exercise could be excellent to increase your ACL, which basically is a vacuum cleaner of LDL. You don't want to forget about… Oh, like we said it's a whole person, not just a number.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(18:34)
Yeah, no, exactly, exactly. Right. So there's a few other questions here I think someone brought up that's super helpful. Linda asked about the LP(a). Well, what will anything help with that? So that's an independent risk factor for heart disease. It's genetically driven, mom and dad either cursed you or blessed you. Y'all let you have that conversation with them? But as far as looking at the LP(a) medications, diet, exercise do not seem to budget, maybe diet a little bit, maybe 10% but it's not much. Stanols can actually increase it. It's just a mindful reminder that we have to… What you can control, we have to control. So we really want to focus on getting that overall total cholesterol, LDL down and inflammation down. Any other thoughts on that?
Dr. Chris Miller
(19:18)
I would add to that, Laurie. So I totally agree with everything you said. And one thing is, remember, it's just one risk factor. So high blood pressure is one risk factor. Elevated LP(a) is one risk factor. So what she's implying here is you control all the other risk factors. Those are super low. So all you have is this one thing elevated, and that puts you at much lower risk than… If everything's elevated, then you're really in trouble because you also have it so, control what you can control really well. And that seems to be helping people. I mean,
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(19:46)
Yeah. You want that level…Okay.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(19:49)
The question differently and maybe you can specify Laurie. If somebody has a, let's a little bit higher LDL, it's not everybody that will do the LP(a). So are you doing it to reassure somebody and say, “Hi, LDL is borderline, but the other one is low,” and therefore.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(20:10)
Yeah. So basically what I'm looking at, if I have someone who has a normal, healthy, lower cholesterol, no history of heart disease, any risk factors, I'm just doing a standard lipid panel. But if I have someone who has questions about family history, they've had elevated cholesterol in the past. They've diabetes, hypertension, other risk factors, I'll do a more advanced lipid panel. Which includes an LP(a) and will tell you, I had one patient who was in her seventies who had really good cholesterol, but she was also worried about her heart health.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(20:40)
So we did a coronary artery and calcium score. Hers was zero. Her total cholesterol, her LDL are nice and perfect, but her LP(a) was over 600, which was the highest we could measure. And she had no evidence. Her inflammatory markers are low. She had no evidence of any heart disease. So that speaks to, even though you have this genetic risk factor and you're seeing these high numbers, of extremely high numbers because you want to be under 75, ideally that I was actually turned.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(21:08)
For her at least that was not a big deal at all. And so she exercises, she's been plant-based for many years. And so take that for granted, its anecdotal. But it reassures me that everything you're doing in the diet is more important than worrying about something.
Dr. Chris Miller
(21:24)
That's a crazy example. I love that case. Yeah. Good for her
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(21:28)
600. I was like, “Oh my goodness.” But yeah, I do have… I think there's some interesting questions. Let me see here, Chris, this would probably be very good for you. Can you speak to how plant-based choices can impact someone who lives with autoimmune disease?
Dr. Chris Miller
(21:43)
I can actually speak to that. Yeah. That's a great question. Thank you for asking. So first of all, plant-based diet is an anti-inflammatory diet, right? And autoimmune diseases are all about inflammation. So we want to improve our inflammation. And so plant-based diet is sort of a given to me that we should all be on a whole food plant-based diet. Especially, if we have an autoimmune disease.
Dr. Chris Miller
(22:06)
It's filled with antioxidants from your fruits, your vegetables, it's filled with the phytonutrients that help keep us healthy and reverse disease. It's filled with fiber. So there's been a lot of really good data in the past few years about the importance of fiber affecting our microbiome, which is the starting place of our immune system and helping us develop immune tolerance. So eating a diet rich in fiber is important. And so that's number one.
Dr. Chris Miller
(22:31)
Number two is what you're removing. So you're removing all this pro-inflammatory food. Not only are you flooding yourself with anti-inflammatory goodness, but you're removing all the pro-inflammatory badness. So that is all the oils. This is animal meat. Oh my gosh. So much pro-inflammation there. Dairy, number one thing that has to go. A 100%, it's all dairy products and then all processed foods. So even plant-based processed foods can be inflammatory. So when you take all of that out and flood it with the good stuff, can't you just see your body starting to feel better?
Dr. Chris Miller
(23:01)
And so many autoimmune people will get better just with that alone. And then a lot… Some of them, many of them will still need higher anti-inflammation. We can work with you developing a program for you. If that's the case for you, where you need even more greens, even more omega 3s, things like this that we check and follow, make sure your nutrients status is okay. But yes, a plant based diet is great for autoimmune diseases.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(23:25)
Perfect. Does one of you guys like to speak to… Diane asked, “MRI says 29% bone loss, which foods are best to supply bones for density health I'm 67. How does gluten and coffee affect bones?”
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(23:42)
Well, in the bone, you always have to think that… Well, first of all, you build your bone until age 30 and we all have a tendency to decrease with time. So it's very important that we do prevention more importantly than anything. Prevention is to eat good diet, all plant-food based, but also doing some weight bearing exercise really. Those are very, very important. And in the bone we have a what we call the osteoblast, big name and osteoclast one is helping to build and the other one is kind of, not destroying, but helping to remove the old bone that need to be replaced.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(24:23)
And into this movement, it's important to be able to add important things like vitamin D, calcium and that all can come from your diet. This is actually well proven that what you eat and that contained vitamin D and Calcium in the whole plant-based diet is better than taking any supplement. So you will absorb it better if you take it into your diet. The vitamin D probably the best absorption is the sun. So obviously if you can go out and being exposed to the sun for about 15, 20 minutes, it's an amazing way to get the vitamin D, which is important for you to absorb the calcium.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(25:05)
But if you cannot, obviously the diet is, and the supplement if need to. Some of the element that are higher into, is the green vegetable in the… Some of the soy milk or even soy. Soy is a good study that just appeared in menopause with Dr. Burner that had shown that half the cup of soybeans cook, had demonstrated that it was significantly helping with menopause. So you would think that with the time it could eventually have an impact on two absorption and potentially Osteoporosis . Hopefully other Jeff, you want to add to this or Chris?
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(25:50)
I love that information, Elizabeth. You mentioned the weight bearing exercise and I think of just like we can't make strong muscles just by taking in protein powder, we can't make strong bone. Though a lot of us think that, well, I'm drinking two shakes of protein powder day, I'm sure I'm going to look like Louis Ferrigno at the end of the year. Right. But unfortunately I got… But we can't make strong bones just by adding more calcium to our bodies.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(26:21)
And I think the dairy, Big dairy would love us to think that's all that's necessary, but based on some commercials, but really it is having the right background of the right foods in your body, including calcium and the vitamin D hormone and all of these others inter playing while you are building your bone with your exercise and that is weightlifting and that is hiking and that is running and that's gardening, and that's doing all sorts of things where you're putting a stress on your bones. All those, eating all that great stuff with a whole food plant-based diet will give you all the right building blocks to build that bone.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(27:05)
Yep. Chris in here, are things done?
Dr. Chris Miller
(27:08)
I agree with them. And I just thought Clara's question and she said, “Can a weighted vest help.” And the answer is definitely, yes, it can help. If you already have Osteoporosis and you've had back fractures, then be careful because it can make it worse. But if you haven't yet, start real slow and low. And so what a weighted vest is, it comes with these little weights, usually like half a pound or so. And you put them in the front and in the back and they go up to like 10, 12, 15 pounds depending, but start real low and slow.
Dr. Chris Miller
(27:34)
So we are for like an hour with a small amount and so you build your muscles safely in addition to your resistance training and all the other stuff that you're doing that other two have just described. But yes, a weighted vest can definitely be helpful. And with your whole food plant-based diet, make sure you're getting enough things like the soy, like Elisabeth talked about beans, super good for you.
Dr. Chris Miller
(27:54)
Green leafy vegetables, they have all the vitamin K and Magnesium Phosphates, phosphorus that your body… Your bones need in addition to the calcium and they're also super high in calcium. You want to make sure you're not deficient in any of that, but you can get a lot of that from a diverse whole food plant-based diet. Hopefully that will help.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(28:13)
And I'll add one more thing. In the question it was about also, what about coffee and what about gluten? As far as gluten, definitely celiac disease is a risk factor for Osteoporosis . So that's the like 1% of the US population has celiac disease roughly. And there's a incomplete in… I mean, there's a complete intolerance to gluten and you should not have it in your diet.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(28:38)
I think in general, whole grains contain and gluten are lovely and just fine for bones. And unless I don't know about some of the small percentages of the particular gluten sensitivities that can affect the body in subtle ways, but certainly for celiac disease. But in general, if you don't have celiac disease, I recommend people to eat whole grain. And then the question about coffee, I've seen that excess, like more than four cups a day of coffee could potentially be a bone thieve can hurt with bones, but I've never… Personally never seen a study where a drinking one or two cups of coffee is going to make you OS product. I don't know what you guys think about that.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(29:27)
No, I think that's good. Other things are high sodium diets that can be harmful as well. We really want to look at the whole picture of you as a person. The key here is if your vitamin D, you want to keep your levels above 30, which is nanograms for deciliter on the labs. There's other measurements you'd be hit above 70. So it depends on which type of lab and what's the measurements. So it'll depend. 30 is equivalent to 70 based on the actual measurement.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(29:53)
The other thing is when just a quick adding to the calcium high rich diet, to make sure where you want to be aiming is ideally 1200 milligrams daily, right? So if you can do like a MyFitnessPal or Cronometer and log your food for a week or so, and just see where you're heading and then look for those opportunities to add more calcium rich foods, that will be helpful because that vitamin D does no good if there's no calcium in the diet to absorb it.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(30:15)
Just think about some of the things you can be some mindful decisions that are feeding your bones. And the other thing is if you hike…I wear a heavy backpack as like, “Hey, this is my osteo prevention, Osteo versus prevention activity.” Just things like that, doesn't have to be a weighted vest if you don't want to extend the money. A backpack with a couple of cans of beans will work. And then you can eat them afterwards, so there's that.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(30:38)
We do have a question about hypothyroidism. She says, “I'm in interested in reversing hypothyroidism.” I'm understanding gluten is a good start. I can feel like I can address this speaking from someone who has hypothyroidism. So I've been hypothyroid, Hashimoto's for 25 years since the birth of my second child, and I will tell you 15 years into the diagnosis, I went to of plant-based diet about 10 years ago and had significant improvement in my thyroid function. It did not completely reverse, but it certainly improved, which was really interesting.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(31:12)
And this year I also needed to lower my dose again. So I don't know what to tell you that diet hasn't changed a whole lot, but something is happening. So a probably plant-based diet's key. I think gluten can be an issue for some people with diet. I eat a low gluten diet, but I don't avoid it. So if there's something with wheat in and I don't go out of my way to avoid it, but it's not an everyday thing.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(31:35)
So I really think it just really depends on the situation. The other key factor that we seen here, we see trends. I do believe we are the one place in the world with the most data on plant-based eaters. Thousands of patients, we have labs and the experience. You will not find anyone with more experience than this group of doctors here. And iodine is a really key element. So we've had folks come in really strict you know sugar, oil, salt free. So they're not taking an iodide salt or a good form of iodide through the day and they're coming in iodine deficient, their thyroid had shown some disfunction.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(32:11)
We correct that deficiency and what do you know? They get better. So my thought to you would be to make an appointment and then one of our docs can discuss your specifics, order some labs which would be a 24 year in iodine collection. They can discuss that other things as well. There's some other minerals and stuff that are important and make sure that you're doing everything you can to address the thyroid. But do any of you guys have any additional thoughts on that?
Dr. Chris Miller
(32:39)
I agree with you on that. And remember stress also plays a big role. So stress causes hypothyroid. It actually suppresses the thyroids. It's part of the function of… So making sure that you control your stress with stress management activities daily and exercise also affects it. So those are two other lifestyle factors that I would bring up in addition to all the dietary, whole food plant-based diet is so good for it.
Dr. Chris Miller
(33:05)
And like Laurie said, gluten definitely affects some people. We can help some people, especially if they have Hashimoto's the autoimmune hypothyroid, but not everyone, not everybody is susceptible to it. So it's worth a try or checking or even doing labs and seeing if you have a susceptibility to it before you necessarily take it out.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(33:23)
Yeah.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(33:25)
Hypothyroidism is… I'm sorry, Jeff. I won't be too long. Hypothyroidism is very, very common too. Laurie said she had it, I have it. it's a family thing for us where I think in eight people. We're four, four of us in the family-
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(33:38)
Wow.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(33:39)
…with hypothyroidism. So do your best to eat well. And a little bit of meat when evaluates some zinc deficiencies. It does happen with hypothyroidism, you're going to see that. So we have to evaluate other element to make sure that everything is consistent.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(33:59)
And also I know that you probably are all fully aware the four of us, but you know the evaluation of hypothyroidism, we tend to evaluate what we consider being the TSH and then we realize that, oh, the normal values are a little bit… They're not as precise as they used to. We got to be careful with that. So hopefully when you come to see us, we'll be able to help you.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(34:27)
And you want to be careful too because you don't want to over take your medication because hypothyroidism can affect your bone health as well. She's mentioning, we really got to be mindful of where you are in that TSH for 24. Some people take thyroid supplements and they'll have like [inaudible 00:34:46] ground up thyroid and they become hyperthyroid. There's some… So just be very careful about supplements and stuff. That's where it's helpful to have someone who looks at a whole food plant-based diet or supplement thoughtful, I would say responsible.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(35:00)
Thoughtful.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(35:01)
Yeah. So we want to be… Supplements have their place, but only certain ones, not across the world. Oh, try this. We'll try this. I've had patients come in with [inaudible 00:35:09] spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars a month-
Dr. Chris Miller
(35:12)
Oh,
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(35:12)
…for share supplements.
Dr. Chris Miller
(35:13)
Oh my God that's-
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(35:13)
Nasty.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(35:15)
Yeah, go ahead Jeff.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(35:16)
One that ties in with that very nicely if you are going to… If you're thinking about a spice as a supplement, that's very inexpensive is this Nigel sativa sometimes called black cumin, but be careful with that because some people might give you a different kind of black cumin Nigel sativa. And it's on nutritionfax.org if you want to see Michael Greger talking about it. But it was a randomized control trial double blind with a half a teaspoon of Nigella per day, which is just pennies for eight weeks.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(35:50)
And it led to weight loss and it led to lowering your LDL and then they just sort of stumbled upon the fact that it also lowered your TSH, which was a sign of hypothyroid getting better. And it lowered anti-thyroid antibodies as well. And so that is something that could… In addition to all the other changes with stress and diet, something as simple as adding a half a teaspoon of black cumin
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(36:16)
How tasty is that?
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(36:18)
I love it.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(36:18)
Are they?
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(36:20)
It's a little strong.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(36:22)
We make a lot of Indian food and so it's a common spice in Indian cooking and so-
Dr. Chris Miller
(36:30)
It tastes like cumin if you like it. I think. I mean little-
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(36:33)
Yeah. But to do a straight up half teaspoon by itself.
Dr. Chris Miller
(36:36)
Oh yeah.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(36:37)
Probably was a little much, but I do have it. I grind it up and then just… Yeah.
Dr. Chris Miller
(36:40)
Well that's what you recommend. Dr. Greger grinds it up and puts it in like a pepper or salt, pepper shaker and so that's what I did. And it's so bad on food a little bit at a time.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(36:52)
Yeah.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(36:53)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's the point.
Dr. Chris Miller
(36:54)
And help to share the link. Thank you Kim for that so if anyone wants to see what Jeff is referring to, that's great
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(36:59)
Good boy. He's like our, he's like our person. He's like-
Dr. Chris Miller
(37:02)
I know.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(37:02)
…our support group. Always. Yeah. I'm just making sure we're getting close to being… Running out time. I just want to see if there's anything here that would be quick to answer. Yes. Resistance bands for strengthening. Absolutely. Calisthenics whatever you want to do. Kim did ask, “Does an initial appointment with one of you advise patients on supplements,” and she's new to the plant-based diet. Absolutely. 100%. We would discuss that with you, determine what you need and not need.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(37:37)
Many times I'm telling people, “We're stopping everything today, this is what you're going to do.” Like okay. But any other thing, final thoughts before we go and we'll be back in the new year with the… In the first, in the first week, it'll be a Friday but we'll have those links on the Facebook page. I'll be updating those shortly. Anybody else with final thoughts?
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(37:59)
No, I get it's amazing to see that there's newcomers. So people are starting to be… I feel that this there's this change. We've been at it for many years and I'm going to tell Jeff, it's like a labor curve. It's kind of flat and then eventually you take the active phase of labor. I think we're getting a little bit into this where people… So welcome everybody and please bring more people so we can have a bigger discussion. It's fine.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(38:29)
Absolutely.
Dr. Chris Miller
(38:29)
And I want to say thank you all for being here and have a great holiday. I hope everyone is plant-based and loving it for this holidays and comes back even healthier in 2022.
Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
(38:40)
Absolutely. Same.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(38:42)
All right. Excellent. And you guys have a great holiday season. We will see you in the new year. Like I said, we will be occurring weekly either Thursday or Friday. Just look for those links. You can also sign up for the webinars on our website, which is www.plant-basedtelehealth.com. That's where you can also schedule appointments.
Dr. Laurie Marbas
(39:02)
If you're international, we're happy to see you as well. Look under information, it talks to you about different things and what we can do for you and feel free to email or call us. We have support staff available to you at any time. So thanks guys and we will see you next time.
Dr. Jeff Pierce
(39:17)
Thank you. Bye. Bye. Happy holidays.
Dr. Chris Miller
(39:19)
Bye.
*Recorded on 12.9.21