There’s an Arabian proverb that goes, “He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.” The way we take care of our physical health today has a massive impact on what our lives look like tomorrow, and it turns out that the foods we eat determine how long we live.
But in today’s world, it feels like there are a million different diets to try. Some say it’s better to eat meat, and some say it’s better to be a vegetarian or vegan. Others say the key is to avoid sugar. Still, others say it all really comes down to the vitamins and supplements you take. How is anyone supposed to decide what diet to follow?
“Epocrates used to say that all of us have this green life force energy … Any creature has this innate desire to do well, to have perfect health, but Epocrates use to say … there are external forces that keep this green life force energy from blooming. And the doctor is supposed to be a detective and find out what are these external forces and … teach the patient how to remove them. And then the patient will take care of himself.” – Dr. Steven Gundry
Dr. Steven Gundry has dedicated his career to teaching patients how to remove the external factors that are damaging their health. He is a fan-favorite on this podcast because he has a unique perspective on nutrition that he claims leads to greater longevity and increased happiness.
Dr. Gundry’s research does buck a lot of conventional wisdom, and I’m not a doctor, so I can’t endorse any claims, but I know my mind is blown every time I have Dr. Gundry on the show. Let’s get started!
Who Is Dr. Steven Gundry?
Dr. Steven Gundry began his career as a cardiac surgeon. But eventually, he realized that surgery wasn’t enough to solve the problems underlying his patients’ health problems. So today, Dr. Gundry is dedicated to helping his patients avoid surgery. He has spent decades researching and developing a unique perspective on diet and nutrition, and he teaches his patients how to have a healthy microbiome and live a long and surgery-free life.
Dr. Gundry is a multi-time New York Times bestselling author. His most recent book, The Longevity Paradox, teaches readers to maximize health by maintaining a healthy microbiome. And his upcoming book, The Energy Paradox, expands on that research to show you how the foods you eat affect your energy level. I know you’re going to want to preorder it after listening to this episode!
Beyond being a clinical researcher and author, Dr. Gundry also has a podcast! The Dr. Gundry Podcast features various guests who join Dr. Gundry for candid conversations about all things health and nutrition. And of course, you can always check out Dr. Gundry’s other appearances right here on The School of Greatness on episodes 521, 772, 863, 935, and 960!
Dr. Steven Gundry is passionate about helping people live longer, healthier lives — and that includes you! Today, he’s here to talk with me about the reasons why we have so many major health conditions and what we can do about it. We also talk about the most important foods you need to get into your diet if you want to have a healthy microbiome and live a longer life. And finally, we talk about some things you can do right now to protect yourself during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guys, Dr. Steven Gundry has a wealth of fascinating information. He’s a brilliant man, and I’m so grateful for him to join me on the show again!
Why Are We So Tired?
You guys might remember from Dr. Gundry’s previous appearances on this podcast that the most critical factor in your health is your microbiome. By that, I mean that you have tons of little bacteria inside you, and those bacteria have a massive effect on your overall health and wellbeing.
“The vast majority of genes in our body — 99% of all the genetic material that exists in us and on is — is non-human genetic material, right? And our microbiome has the distinct advantage of rapidly reproducing and constantly changing and exchanging information from one bacteria to another. And so I happen to think that we’ve uploaded most of our decision making processes to our bacterial cloud to take the work off of our genes.” – Dr. Steven Gundry
If most of our genetic material isn’t actually ours and it belongs to what Dr. Gundry calls our “gut bugs,” those gut bugs are probably pretty important! But here’s the thing: we haven’t done a very excellent job of taking care of our gut bugs as a species. All our processed and sugary foods are terrible at supporting our microbiomes, and that creates a whole host of health problems.
Dr. Gundry explained to me that you have to have a wide diversity of gut bugs to have a really healthy microbiome. Apparently, the people we’ve been able to study who have the healthiest variety of gut bugs are people like hunter-gatherers who eat around 200 different types of plants every year. The problem for us is that we mostly eat the same few processed foods over and over again. So our microbiomes are filled mostly with bugs that are addicted to those sugary foods and nothing else. And when we lose that variety of healthy gut bugs, our bodies can’t produce energy as they should.
“I alluded to this in The Longevity Paradox … the microbiome talks to the mitochondria, and they basically tell the mitochondria, ‘If things are good down in the engine room, churn out the energy. And if things aren’t good down in the engine room, you guys probably ought to back off on producing energy.’ …. [So] you don’t create energy. That’s why we have this epidemic of tiredness.” – Dr. Steven Gundry
According to Dr. Gundry, lack of a healthy and diverse microbiome is really the cause of all the fatigue so many of us experience every day. So if you’re finding yourself reaching for your fifth cup of coffee for the day, read on to see what foods Dr. Gundry recommends to support a healthy gut microbiome!
