The Crackin' Backs Podcast

Sugar, Supplements, and Sh*t You Should Know About Your Gut

• Dr. Terry Weyman and Dr. Spencer Baron

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In this enlightening episode of the Crackin' Backs Podcast, we welcome Dr. Robert Silverman—a renowned chiropractic doctor, clinical nutritionist, and functional medicine expert. With accolades such as the 2015 ACA Sports Chiropractor of the Year and author of Amazon bestsellers Inside-Out Health and Immune Reboot, Dr. Silverman brings a wealth of knowledge to our discussion.​

Key Takeaways:

  • Understanding Gut Health: Discover why approximately 70% of your immune system resides in your gut and how this impacts overall health.​
  • Debunking Myths: Learn about common misconceptions surrounding probiotics, the microbiome, and the concept of "leaky gut."​
  • Gut-Brain Connection: Explore how gut health influences mental well-being, affecting conditions like anxiety, depression, and brain fog.​
  • Actionable Strategies: Gain insights into practical steps for improving gut health, including dietary changes, reducing sugar intake, and effective supplement use.​
  • Navigating Nutrition: Understand how to interpret food labels, select quality supplements, and determine the value of functional lab tests.​

About Dr. Robert Silverman:

Dr. Silverman is the founder of Westchester Integrative Health Center in White Plains, NY, where he specializes in treating joint pain through functional nutrition and advanced, non-surgical methods. He serves on advisory boards for the Functional Medicine University and Metagenics and is a frequent contributor to major media outlets, including FOX News, NBC, CBS, and The Wall Street Journal.​

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Tune in to this episode to empower yourself with knowledge and practical tools to enhance your gut health and overall well-being.

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We are two sports chiropractors, seeking knowledge from some of the best resources in the world of health. From our perspective, health is more than just “Crackin Backs” but a deep dive into physical, mental, and nutritional well-being philosophies.

Join us as we talk to some of the greatest minds and discover some of the most incredible gems you can use to maintain a higher level of health. Crackin Backs Podcast

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Today on the cracking bags podcast, we're joined by Dr Robert Silverman, a renowned chiropractor, clinical nutritionist and author of the Amazon number one bestseller, Inside Out health, with over two decades of experience, Dr Silverman is at been at the forefront of functional medicine, emphasizing the pivotal role of gut health and overall well being. In this episode, we'll explore how the gut influences immunity, mental clarity and chronic inflammation, and discuss some practical strategies to optimize your health from inside out. Welcome Dr Robert Silverman to the cracking backs podcast. Man, I gotta tell you, you've been at probably every program presentation and symposium, and you are the master of lecturing on health and nutrition. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, gentlemen. I'm excited to be here, stoked to share some knowledge bombs with your community. Let's do it. Man, right on, right on. Chiropractic is exciting. Yeah, it sure is. Man, so let me ask you this for centuries. For centuries, we've heard about all diseases begin in the gut, you know. Let's fast forward to today, and we know roughly that 70% of our immune system is actually housed in the gut. So to kick things off, why is the gut become such a such a hot topic these days, and How crucial is it to our overall health and well being?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

The gut is the epicenter of your health. As you said, all disease begins in a gut, said 2500 years ago, by Hippocrates, now we like to say all disease begins in the leaky gut. Year 2000 Alessio Fauci, so he's taking it to the next step. 70 to 80% of our immune cells are in our gut. My God, it's where our macro and micronutrients are absorbed. For chiropractors out there, write this down, there's a gut to join axis, there's a gut to brain. Axis, there's a gut to disk axis. So I'm purporting to every chiropractor listening. When someone comes in with a musculoskeletal L, they also have to analyze and test for gut permeability and gut health.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Wait a minute. Back up a second. Cause, I gotta ask you, that's the first time ever heard gut to disc health, and that is such a I mean, listen just, not just for chiropractors, because we got a lot of regular folks out there listening. You know, athletes and old folks like myself are listening and want to know when we when we reach back and go off my aching back. Could that really be related to the gut?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Without question, 52% of disco removals had a bacterial infection. Where did that bacterial translocation come from? It probably came from the gut. Well, anatomically, if you look, here's the spine and here's the gut, they kind of close together. 2021 there was a study that spoke about the idea that chemical or bacterial infection could now be the leading cause or a main contributor to intervertebral disc damage. So with all that being said, and data indicating that we now have to progress. And I know you're both progressive chiropractors, you know tomorrow's going to be a better day for everybody who sees you than today is because you're going to be that much better. So within that, everybody's got to start looking at the gut. And for me, that's exciting, because contrast leads to persuasion. I mean, gentlemen, right? Why are they going to come to you? Me? Dr, Terry, etc. Well, because we're going to have that little nuance, that little notch, and looking at the gut in a musculoskeletal light is really going to give us that built in advantage over maybe physical therapists, maybe the orthopedists, etc.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

So okay, let's go a little back into your history. Now, you didn't start out as the gut guy, but you actually your career as a chiropractor. You also got it as a Nutritionist and Functional Medicine guy, and now, you know, you're a rock star in the world of gut health and nutrition. So what was that moment, that turning point in your life, that you went, you know what? There's something to this.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

I remember the dean of my school saying, and we, he and I had a lot of acrimony because it didn't agree with his philosophy. However, we had some really good, moving conversations, and he said that, you know, when you practice five years, you'll finally be able to, like, form an opinion, but at 10 years, you want to give money back to the people you saw in your first five years, and on and on and on. And it was getting some decent musculoskeletal outcomes, doing more traditional chiropractic. Then I started to add the idea of fixing the body from the inside out, and that was the name of my first book. Then at the idea of the inside out, in came the epicenter of your health, called gut and gut health. And once I applied that to my chiropractic practice, which I like to think was unique at the time, but more and more people are adopting that theme, really saw clinical outcomes increase exponentially, and that's what we want. We want something that enables us to exponentially increase our clinical outcomes with our patients. Because, you know, chiropractors should, at the very least specialize in musculoskeletal issues.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Yeah, so gut health, it's become this big buzzword these days, and there's a lot of confusion out there. So, you know, I always kind of find it entertaining that someone thinks that they can, you know, drop down a probiotic or eat some yogurt or magically fix all the problems in your in your experience. Dr Rob, what, what do folks get wrong about gut health and what does it really take to improve it.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Outstanding question, really? Setting the stage for me to like, hit the ball over the fence without any steroids, 450 feet with some arc. Love it. Oh, I'm sorry, did I use a sports metaphor? We allowed to do that better than a chiropractor, sports athlete, setting the stage for a repartee. Like I said,chiropractic is fun. You can't bring a New York guy. They bagels and locks every Sunday morning, not expect a joke.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

Oh, you better. I would be disappointed if you did.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

I hope I can remember the question now. Diatribe,

Dr. Spencer Baron:

good health things that people get wrong?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Yeah, you know, I think a lot of people get things wrong in gut health, in that it was interest requesting probiotics. Probiotics are, you know, to give life, and they're a great starting point. The data really indicates the next evolution is adding a pre to a probiotic. Because if you don't add the pre to probiotic, that probiotic, which has a transient life in the gut, needs to eat. And what would it may do? Well, if your gut environment isn't healthy, it's not going to have nutrients in your gut, and it may turn to your gut epithelial lining and start to eat it. So protecting the probiotic with a prebiotic and allowing it to populate is probably one of the newer takeaways. So if you're looking at the longevity concept or longevity theme, which I believe chiropractors are tremendously well suited to talk about longevity, a longevity hack would unquestionably be a prebiotic. So from now on, everybody remember Dr Rob said, If you order a probiotic and a prebiotic with the probiotic.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

or you're on a roll. Man, so what I'm ready. What else do folks get wrong about gut health? It makes them think that they can just take of this, and then they feel of that. You know, anything else in particular.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

one of the more low hanging fruit themes is the idea of gluten. So one in 10, excuse me, one in 100 people have celiac disease, which is autoimmune. So, you know, X no gluten. Four to 10 people are sensitive to gluten. So that leaves six out of 10 people that says I can eat it. Wrong answer. You do not win. Double Jeopardy. Gluten is bad for everybody. It's deleterious to one's overall gut health, and it is so because gluten means glue and it sticks to your intestinal tract. So that's one. Number two, the gluten in America, unfortunately, has been exposed to glyphosate, which the World Health Organization has called a cancer causing product, chemical, which is in Roundup. So organic gluten, again, not a really good choice, so I've come up with an acronym, and everybody should adhere to this acronym, GPS, no gluten, no Ultra processed food and no added sugar. 52 to 57% of the calories consumed by adults in America are in the form of ultra processed foods. So if you had to take one thing out to be healthy, to have to avoid joint pain or decrease joint pain, have a declivity in joint pain, you would want to remove or decrease your consumption of ultra processed food, and by the way, most things with gluten are ultra processed foods. Wow. GPS, all right. GPS, no gluten, no Ultra processed food, no added sugar. Sugar is the devil.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Great, great acronym. It doesn't just help you find your way back home, but it also helps your digestive system. GPS. I love it, along with the same ideas, you know, a buzzword that I keep hearing about more now than ever before is microbiome. Oh, how's your microbiome and what? What's really going on inside of the gut? With all these good and bad bacteria

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Another great setup. Now, I don't play golf, but it sounds like you teed it up. I mean, I'd rather watch grass grow. Oh, okay, the microbiome. The microbiome is sort of a delicate ecosystem in different parts of your body. The number one microbiome that we talk about is what we're talking about right now, the gut. The second most interesting, evolving conversational microbiome is the gum microbiome, and I will give you a salient point about it. Number one, those people who have gingivitis can have a bacteria called Ginger gingivalis. That gingivalis can make ginger pans. If you have that, you have a 90% increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. And the third microbiome is the skin microbiome. So again, your microbiome is a neighborhood of organisms both good and bad. It's kind of like the neighborhood that we all grew up in. If there's too many bad kids, it's a problem. If there's too many good kids, it's kind of boring. You need those middle class commensal bacteria and stuff to really rule the day, because they level the playing field. Same idea with your gut, your gum and your skin microbiome.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

You know, a lot of people ask what keeps us going during these long recording sessions. And the truth it's all about the coffee, Stark roast, to be exact. Seriously, this stuff is the perfect fuel to get us through every episode. And it's bold, it's smooth, and it's exactly what we need, whether we're cracking jokes or diving deep with a guest, Stark roast keeps me sharp, keeps me focused. It's the fuel behind every great conversation that we have here, whether it's early in the morning or late at night. Stark roast is there to keep us energized and ready to roll. So if you're a coffee lover like us, or just need that little extra boost to get you through the day, we highly recommend Stark roast. It's the good stuff. Thanks for Stark roast, for sponsoring this episode, and click on the link below in the description to buy some of your own. It's the real deal. Now let's get back into it. You need to be a comedian. You need to do stand up. I could feel it. I tried

Dr. Rob Silverman:

to stand up in every everybody laid down. So maybe comedy for yoga or something like that.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

There you go. I love it. Oh, that's good.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

Hey, you talked about prebiotic for, you know, for regular biotics and all this stuff. And people get confused with Lay's terms. Can you define what you mean by a prebiotic?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Sure, a prebiotic is food or fiber that feeds a probiotic. So it's an indigestible food, but only digestible by a probiotic. Interestingly enough, the stars of the probiotic world are fermented foods, kimchi, sauerkraut, coleslaw, dill pickles. Yum, yum, yum. My Spencer, when you visit me in New York, yeah, you got it? I know where to get the schmear with the dill pickle, half sour. Oh, my God, you guys. I love it at the deli. You gotta go to the deli. Carnegie Deli. Sally had her moment, absolutely but it was actually not for Carnegie Deli. It was taxes cats, right?

Dr. Terry Weyman:

So if you had somebody that didn't want to take a drink or like the quick pill, like Spencer was talking about, what diet is, a great pre and then a post for your gut, what would you besides the GPS? I

Dr. Rob Silverman:

actually didn't hear the whole thing because, believe it or not, so we just drove by my New York Street. So you said if I had to have a drink

Dr. Terry Weyman:

no, what's a good foods or good prebiotic foods?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

You know, kombucha, if they didn't add sugar, is great. Unfortunately, most of the kombucha, they have have a sugar. So that would be my go to I'm a big proponent of a green tea. You know, just be careful the amount of cups you have, because green tea is quite caffeinated, and some people have an aversion to a large number or a large amount of caffeine. So those would be the two that scream out to me to start the day.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

Got it. You mentioned earlier, leaky gut, you know, and when your intestine line becomes more permeable, we lead problems like chronic inflammation and inflammatory conditions. What's and conditions like diabetes, autoimmune what's? Some things that you know might not lead leak to the gut that, besides the disc that people are health goods and can can start to work with their gut to make it this leaky, stop leaking.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Well, there's a litany of things that can make it leaky. You know, the number one thing would be antibiotics. Now I'm not anti antibiotic. I hope that's not an oxymoron. I mean, I tell everybody, if I have meningitis, you know what, give me an antibiotic. If I've got a staph infection, you want to chop a big piece of my thigh off. Give me an antibiotic. When I had COVID and it was a viral infection, and they said, I'll give you an antibiotic. The emergency brake was put on because it just didn't make sense. You know, you have to evaluate it. So antibiotics have their place. That said they will blow up their nuclear weapons everything in your gut. So you're going to be on a six months pulsed antibiotic protocol, because 2z packs will damage your gut for about six months. So you've got to weigh that. That said, let's move on to something that I find even more egregious, which are PPIs proton pump inhibitors. They can be taken or should be taken for four to six weeks. They're typically taking in my patient base, unfortunately, for months, years and even decades, they will increase leaky gut dramatically and also damage what we like to refer to as the blood brain barrier concussion. You guys are sports oriented. Six out of 10 patients that have a concussion have something wrong with their gut, whether it be leaky or small intestinal bacteria overgrowth, cesarean. You know, the skin microbiome is vastly different than the vaginal flora. For me, one of the big takeaways would be food sensitivities. Good food, healthy food is a potentiator for health information. Bad food is a potentiator for inflammation. I believe that food sensitivities are one of the biggest reasons for chronic, hidden inflammation in our patient base today, you could also look at food additives, food emulsifiers, gluten, sugar, alcohol, dairy. I got an acronym with dairy. Everybody. DNA, no dairy. They love me in Wisconsin when I say this, ooh, cheese curds. Gala, no dairy. D, no nicotine, N, no artificial sweeteners. A DNA, very good. Spence is feeling my pain. Going to Wisconsin, they go, I kind of like this guy. It's okay. He's got torticollis, but if he says no dairy. One more time, I'm gonna throw some raw milk at him,

Dr. Spencer Baron:

some sour milk.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Great question during the

Dr. Terry Weyman:

call it the pandemic, we started hearing everybody talk about brain fog and and that became like this, another hot topic, and yet, a lot of people don't realize that our gut is our second brain. Can you? How do you, how do you work with them? When somebody comes and talks to you about brain fog, what's your go to about that

Dr. Rob Silverman:

outstanding inquiry? I love it. So just remember, the gut to brain axis is the super highway to health. By the way, you said, the brain is, you know, is your second your gut is your second brain. It actually has the largest nervous system in the body, called the enteric nervous system. Another reason why chiropractors, who are essentially nervous system oriented, need to start evaluating the gut. There's this nerve called the vagus nerve. You know, cranial nerve number 10, medulla oblongata, down through the transverse colon 80 to 90% afferent, afferent, meaning going from the gut to the brain. So therefore the gut, which has that largest nervous system, the body, also communicates with the brain, part of the central nervous system. How could we not say that the gut is not a health bullseye? So to get to your question about brain fog, brain fog is typically stimulated or affected by gut. You typically will get gas and bloating to start because there's no pain fibers in your gut, so the only symptom that that system is damaged is gas and bloating. Hi, it's great to meet you at synagogue and church today. Do you get gas and bloating after you eat? I mean, how many people are going to be forthright with that, but brain fog, they'll talk about. And brain fog is because there's a neural quelling of conduction between the gut and the brain, which refers to the idea of brain fog. There are no pain receptors in the brain. So again, the symptomology is brain fog, that that neural impulse has been compromised, and possibly the blood brain barrier, by the way, just to pile on as much as I talk about leaky gut, if you have a compromise in your blood brain barrier, that's probably worse. How could you get a compromise in the blood brain barrier? Well, you know, you can damage your blood you know, it's an excellent follow up. You can damage your blood brain barrier from a multitude of things, but typically it's going to be from a gut issue and or trauma or some autoimmune issue in your brain. And that autoimmune. Issues are typically neurodegenerative disease. So as an FYI, everybody, all these neurodegenerative diseases that we're talking about and arguing about, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, als ms, all have a gut origin. They're bi directional, they're autoimmune, and most of them are because there's a dysfunction in the immune system, typically the innate immune system, and not necessarily anything wrong with the particular structure I just had. Dale Bredesen. He has a best selling New York Times book talking about the ageless brain. And I mean, really, he moved my meter when we started to talk about that.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Oh, gosh. So people are going on, you know, medications for anxiety and depression all the time. I mean you I'm hoping that that we're gonna with this new, new approach to governing that. You know, things take a little bit of a turn here, but you know, before someone takes any of the anxiety or depression medications, what's an action step they can do first,

Dr. Rob Silverman:

it's great that you say that, because there's something called psychobiotics, so interesting that you take a probiotic, or take certain probiotics to positively affect the gut, which will signal and have a positive effect on the brain. But food you know, it's an interesting thing. There was an IRB study done with food sensitivities, and believe it or not, the second set of symptoms that abated when these foods that you were sensitive to were removed were gas and bloating and brain fog number one set, anxiety, depression, bipolar, the mental health stuff. So if you find the foods that are right for you, that are synergistic to allow a salubrious response,you're going to be on a health promoting pathway, which really goes back to that statement I made before, how important food sensitivity testing really is.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

You know, that's an important point, because now you can go online and you can get a food sensitivity test as a regular folk, what do you think about that, and how would you suggest them? Because I know there's listeners out there that are not doctors that would want to do a food sensitivity test yesterday. Any thoughts?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Yeah. So the things you want to look in a food sensitivity test, or I think the best test out there would be one that has a dual pathway test. So I'll break this down as simplistically as I can. Let me get a little granular, if you will. In that there's really three parts to the immune system, the digestive tract is the outside part of your body, but we're really not testing that. In the food sensitivity test. There's something called the innate and the adaptive immune system. The innate immune system is something that we're born with we have. It's innate, if you will. The adaptive or acquired immune system is something that we acquire over duration of time. So in theory, with this acquisition, our immune system should be better as we age. Unfortunately, we're finding out in America that is not the case. So most food sensitivities are based on an antibody, which is part of the adaptive immune system, which is called IgG. IgG is the most abundant antibody. It's the smallest antibody. It's about 75% of all the antibodies, and it's so small that passes the placenta and can actually get to the fetus. So we're looking for an antibody response. So IgG, believe it or not, has four different subtypes, 123, and four. So you want somebody, or a company, to test for IgG, one through four. So obviously, if you have an antibody, you're responding adversely in raising some inflammation to a food. But the secret sauce to it all is also to test for the innate immune system, and that innate immune system has an old pathway, which is called the complement cascade, complementary inflammatory issues. I never knew. I don't remember. Guys. Do you remember learning this in school, that when you produce too many antibodies, you produce inflammation. I I read Robin's book. We read Robin's book. I asked three of my Harvard friends, and they'll look at me and they go, Rob, are you taping me? I'm like, No, dude. They're like, you know, I think I heard about somebody like a whisper, like Rome is a whisper kind of dealing Gladiator. But it wasn't a definitive thing. So the point is, when you produce too many antibodies, ie via IgG, you need to produce inflammation to kill the pathogen, and you can stimulate that through the complement cascade. You need to test for a molecular, molecule called C, 3d which is the most stable. Molecular molecule. So you're looking for a food sensitivity test that tests for a dual pathway, so you'll have higher accuracy in which foods are raising your inflammation. That's why most tests should be called a food inflammation test.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Oh, what a great idea. Great thought.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Mazel Tov, wow.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

That's fantastic. Thanks. Thanks for that. So if a patient walks into your office and complains about, you know, whatever various conditions that they have, other than low back pain or whatever, what's the first thing that you would do? I guess it would depend on what questions you ask, but is there a protocol that you follow that you would suggest other people be aware of?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Sure, I'd love to share a little look behind the curtain, if you will. My left hand is my chiropractic hand. My right hand is my functional nutrition, functional health, functional medicine plan. So chiropractically, you know, we're going to look often,neurologically, orthopedically, functionally, we'll have them move. Palpation. Nobody palpates better than a chiropractor. I mean, the first thing I tell all these young chiropractors, they say, what skills should I have? Well, guess what? We have, the ability to touch. Get a little better at it, then get you got to communicate, because you're touching people. So you want to communicate appropriately while you touch them. So I take care of the chiropractic. But from the nutrition side, which I think you want me to emphasize, I take a 22 vial, I send them out for a 22 vial blood lab, which really is very much more lateral than what most medical doctors do, and a lot more vertical. We're looking at all different systems most medical doctors, and I love my medical doctor friends, I'm in a medical building, do a pretty bad job, because they only test for rudimentary numbers. They're not evolving. They're not really testing to allow no guessing. I like to test so I don't have to guess. And then I do a food sensitivity test and a leaky gut panel to show some blind spots that I may have had in some of the previous tests. So chiropractors, I'm a big believer. Obviously, if someone comes in with an ankle sprain or a lower back, acute lower back, you don't have the time for these tests. But if someone's coming in to be a patient, and they've got a week or two before they're coming in, these are the tests that I'm going to adhere to and really guide me to look inside the body. I can't tell you how many statuesque men and women I've had walk in, and they've had calcium scores that have been horrific. So again, and then, by the same token, I've had some guys that probably, you know, they're a little loose in the middle, and yet their blood labs and everything are great. So again, the old adage, don't judge a book by its cover. Look through it. That's great.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

So switching gears a little bit. There'sso much confusion with with nutrition labels,just the whole cryptic, you know food labeling, and even if you do know what it is, there's things that are hidden that you're not really sure, and they may disguise it as a different name of an ingredient that is not good for you. But do you have any suggestions on reading food labels or choosing high quality supplements or knowing when a functional lab test is actually worth doing.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Yeah, you know, reading a food label is critical. So I've got my 800 S A T Carpenter, and that's in the era where you got 1600 was a good score. 800 was one. He got an 800 combined. And he always makes the joke, I'm the 800 S A T guy. He said, You know, these food label things, they're a little involved. So I'm only going to pick foods that have one ingredient or two that are from low, you know, low number of ingredients, and that are from nature, like organic broccoli, grass fed beef. If they've got to list everything and I've got to decipher it, I'm not buying it. Makes it easy. So the takeaway there is low ingredients, low number of ingredients, single ingredients that are made from nature, Whole Foods. And again, Jacqueline, who was a chiropractor, once said, If man makes it, I won't eat it. So again, watch those ultra processed foods. As far as your supplements, there is a black box there that we have to watch. We're hopeful that certain things will change in our favor. But you're looking for ingredients that are grass, not the stuff that you smoke, G, R, A, S, generally recognized as safe. So you're looking for that. You're looking for third party, certified companies. My suggestion to everybody, if before they buy, you know what amazes me? We as chiropractors, and this really kind of, like, I don't, I don't want to say it perturbs me, but it amazes me is that, yeah, I buy from this company or that company. Did you ever inquire? Huh? Like, did you ever inquire? I mean, did you ever inquire where they got. The ingredients? Did they get an assay? Because now, with the advent of this thing called the internet, people have access to all our supplements, unfortunately, or most of our supplements. So how can they differentiate it? Well, again, contrast leads to persuasion, as we talked about before. You want to differentiate it by understanding that they're using good quality ingredients, ones that are showable on an assay and the like. So be careful, buyer beware.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Lab tests,

Dr. Rob Silverman:

those are my favorite lab tests. You know what? You can always get a good functional medicine test with LabCorp and quest. Full disclosure, my favorite food sensitivity test is kbmo diagnostics. They do a great job. They have the fit 176 test, and they use a gut barrier panel. There's some poop tests out there that are good. There's some hormone tests, the Dutch coming to mind. There's a brain span, if you want to test your quality of your brain, cognitivity. If you need to go past that, give me a call, because we've got to talk. You may have missed something

Dr. Spencer Baron:

very good, very good. Oh, thank you for sharing those, because there's a lot of people now taking action on their own. And you know, there's also the those that online that provide the not so credible tests, you know, but they're cheap and, you know, they'll give you an answer or two. So thank you for sharing that

Dr. Rob Silverman:

my pleasure. Yeah, this is fun, guys.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Oh, you make it fun.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

What sport is it? Is it? Is it basketball, football, that's your favorite sport? Dr Barron, what do you say

Dr. Spencer Baron:

you you'd be surprised. None of them. I never watch any of these professional sports. I just look I badminton. I actually got called on a carpet, bro, yeah, I just love the mechanics of or the biomechanics of sports and how to fix people that are high performing, just like Dr Terry, you know, weas far as I think my longevity in pro sports is because I have no idea who I'm working on Half the time, and they appreciate that. It's always doctor patient relationship. But thanks for asking.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

So do you have any sport you watch me?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

I'm a basketball guy. So right now it's basketball playoffs starting. I am in That's right, that's right. We right in New York City, point guard city. I love this team. I love that team. Knicks all the way. We need a bench. Sorry. I hope they not live.They got five, and then they got a couple after that. But it doesn't go too deep, as long as it's not the Celtics. Oh, I can't stand them right now. Oh, gosh.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

All right, you watch, you watch any sports, me or me? No,

Dr. Spencer Baron:

I do not interesting. No, I don't. I don't, unless a patient comes in, like even an obscure sport, like women's rowing, I know nothing about that, but when they when I saw a lot of women rowers, I started wanting to look at biomechanics to understand why they were having intercostal sprains, like several of them, and it was fascinating to see what A good rower is like, versus a ineffective rower. So rowing is a great sport. Yeah, it's pretty cool, is. But anyway, back to back to Dr Rob, back to the matter at hand, yeah, last but not least, you wear a lot of hats, man, clinician, researcher, educator, author, I think that's so fantastic, and that's, that's how I know you as a stellar speaker, but thank you given all that broad perspective. You know, new developments in gut health or nutrition science. You know, what are you most excited about now? What's going on now, and how are you bringing those cutting edge insights from research into your day to day stuff?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

The two things that I'm most excited about, it's and it's without question the incisive conversation over the last three years would be the concept of longevity. And as I said before, and I'm happy we could come back to this circle back take another bite at that apple. Is that I think chiropractors are best suited as longevity experts. I think that sometimes we're so ingrained in what we do, so well that central nervous system, that we forget the progression and the offshoots of that. So for instance, if I were to share some longevity hacks with everybody, both for chiropractors themselves and people. Who are non practitioners. Number one, food, Let food be your medicine. Let medicine be your food. To use another quote from your favorite guy, Hippocrates. Two, dramatically decrease your consumption of starch, sugar and ultra processed foods. Three, exercise, incorporate resistance training. Muscle mass is the currency of longevity, or as Dr Gabriel Lyons says, muscle mass is the longevity organ. But it's more than muscle mass. Everybody. Muscle mass is a great starting point. So let's say I'm 185 pounds and 12% body fat. I'm doing a good job. I come back next year and I'm same height, hopefully 205 pounds, same muscle mass, but 24% body fat. So the entry level, the step number one to the stairway to health, is muscle mass. Number two, higher step would be body composition, and the highest level would be a good vo two max for cardiovascular understanding or or performance, and then grip strength, hand grip strength, because Spencer and I may go to the gym, and I may have some built in advantages for a deadlift, and he may have some built in advantages for a bench press or whatever. So it's impossible to really determine strength, but if we have good grip strength, each one of us, we're ahead of the proverbial curve sleep, another great hack. It's where your body and brain detox. You know, your brain goes to 40% of its size when you go to sleep, getting rid of all the metabolic wastes. One hour improvement of sleep decreases dramatically the incidence of Alzheimer's and neurodegenerative disease. I suggest everybody, let me see your hands. Guys, I'm not looking to see if you use your nails. Okay, I don't see any aura rings, so I have my oura ring on. I'm big on health detectables. Oh, there you go. Sorry, I missed that. I got my little webcam right over your hand. I'm sorry I covered you. And I'm looking at Spencer.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

That's okay.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Health detectables so big on the oura ring. I don't have any stock in our ring, I'll tell you, the best thing that I ever did for a health detectable was a continuous glucose monitor. Wow. First of all, you know, you realize you're being watched, if you will. Number two, you find your uniqueness. If I said to you gentlemen, what would raise your blood glucose level, least what you thought would more brown rice versus coconut? I would say you, most people would say brown rice. Well, that sounds great, but for me, it was coconut coconut flakes, because my Eastern European background seems to use fat differently than many people do in carbohydrates, so therefore I can eat brown rice without raising my blood sugar. But if you coconut it does. It makes no sense, but it's that uniqueness to the individuality intermittent fasting we didn't even cover that. I am robust on intermittent fasting, but the right kind of intermittent fasting meaning 12 to 16 hours fast, eight to 10 hour window of eating and, of course, eating healthy food. Now what's most interesting is that men, we're push buttons, we can just press the button intermittent fast and get the benefit. Women from the ages of 12 to 50 menstruating years, they have four decades that they menstruate if they in a minute fast up to 16 hours. It just doesn't work well for them, because if they're in a progesterone phase, their final two weeks of their cycle, which means PMS guys, just nod your head and say, You understand what I'm talking about, right? You know, which is good, because if you don't understand what I'm talking about, you're going to get eviscerated. But on a serious note, it's an issue, and men and women do have to be treated differently because of the change in the hormones. Obviously, with testosterone based, they're estrogen and progesterone based. So women have to approach intermittent fasting differently. So if you're doing that, 14 to 16 hour window of fasting, the first two weeks are cool. The third week go from 16 to 14, if you're a female, and then the last go week go from 14 to 12, and then cycle back, you'll get all the benefits of vitamin fasting, which are autophagy, the breakdown of old cells and using that debris and making new cells. That autophagy is critical because it also helps with something called immune rejuvenation, because you're breaking down your old immune cells and putting back new immune cells. And something called mitophagy, which is a breakdown of mitochondria, old cells, making new cells, because mitochondria dysfunction. And I know I'm laying an extra layer here of frosting, mitochondria dysfunction is one of the biggest conversations that you and I could have, because mitochondria is the reason. One, you have fatigue. Two, mitochondria. Is bacteria coming from the gut and its origin and communicates with the gut in three your number one mitochondrial organ is your brain. And obviously mitochondrial dysfunction with brain dysfunction is neurodegenerative disease. Breath work is critical. We want to breathe through our nose and not our mouth, in addition to that hot and cold. Oh yeah, I love it. I People say, Do you sauna? Yes, well, do you go in the finish sauna? No, do you know you shouldn't say that? Why? And they're like, well, they're popular. And I'm like, Well, I am not running for president, so I don't need to be popular. I need to be correct. So essentially, if you want to get a cardiova respiratory effect, positive cardiovascular effect, you want to do at least two to three times of a sauna, 19 minutes or less. And you want the sauna to be about 146 degrees, if you're sauntering after you work out 170 to 174 if you sauna in a closed sauna of 200 degrees or more, you're damaging your blood brain barrier like a finish sauna. So get the ones which are more like a tent. Your head's out. You can even play with your phone because your hands can go through it now and modulate between 146 and 174 you don't have to jump into an ice bath like Mark Wahlberg does if you want to freeze your fortitude. God bless. It's simple that the rate, the temperature rate, should be between 50 and 59 degrees, so you can go from hot to cold. I know I'm wrapping it up. I know I'm on a little bit of a I'm in fuego right now. I got it. So what supplements a longevity base? Because I hear people ask me that all the time. So I'm going to save that for a separate question, because I want to go into more detail with that. And of course, if you want a real good longevity hack, make sure you have an intake gut barrier. Make sure you decrease your food sensitivities. And the device of longevity, low level laser, not red light therapy that heats my sauna, non thermal low level laser, which is based on photochemical responses and not photothermal responses. Now it's time for my Java juice.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Dr Rob I we've got, we've got a good amount of time. I would love for you to talk about the nutritional supplements that you were about to mention.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Sure, so I'll be happy to go over some my leading edge nutrients for longevity. The probiotic of choice is akkermansia. I'm sure you heard about it. Yes, akkan Mansi is great for blood glucose regulation. It's that sound. It's outstanding for immune health, and it matches with a great probiotic, prebiotic, excuse me, called EXO s, xylosaccharides, creatine. Now I am sure that both of you guys have worked out. I'm sure both of you guys remember when creatine became popular. When I graduated Chiro school, I went to Bridgeport. Bridgeport had a rule you could only graduate if you wrote a thesis. It was the first thesis based chiropractic school. So I wrote my thesis on creatine. So I'm imbued with enthusiasm now that everybody talks about creatine. Creatine is great for ATP. Creatine shown to be a great longevity hack. It's wonderful for cognition in the brain, even more positive for with women than men and post concussion. Creatine is a great choice because it helps with short and long term amnesia. Xos, I told you about that previously. It was a great prebiotic NAD. There's a storage center for NAD in every cell. By the way, we talk about longevity, how come we don't talk about omega three fatty acids and vitamin d3 Did you know there's a receptor site on every cell of your body for vitamin d3 and omega three fatty acids. Talking about omega three fatty acids, a family member of theirs is something called Pro resolving mediators. They're a conversion from an omega three fatty acid that doesn't happen very often or efficiently in people. Pro resolving medias allow for the resolution of inflammation. If I were to share with you that my mantra, my mission statement, is to manage and modulate inflammation, because most Americans are pre inflamed before they come into your office, his office and my office, pro resolving. Mediators are the switch. So I get asked a lot of questions, turmeric, great Boswellia, great ginger, great. They are rooms in the house that you can shut the lights of inflammation off. The lipid class switch for the whole house lights is pro resolving. Being mediators. In addition, probably the peptide of choice, which you can take in the oral form is BPC 157 BPC 157 is a peptide that's referred to as a Wolverine supplement, because, like Hugh Jackman, he gets shot and he heals right before your eyes. Has these amazing healing qualities. It speeds up tissue healing and recovery. It ain't aids in blood vessels being laid down. Angiogenesis helps in the regulation of blood pressure. It's great for gum disease, great for muscular skeletal healing, probably a precursor to allow you to grow muscle mass, because as a peptide, it is a bunch of amino acids, about 15 and 60 make actually a protein, and it also reduces the risk of oxidative stress and chiropractors, it provides joint and tendon health.

Dr. Terry Weyman:

You two questions, where you get your I was gonna, I was gonna actually ask you, to ask you about peptides, where you get your HB, 157, and where you'd like to get your creatine from?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

and he knew I was coming on, so he teed it up for me. Dr Rob is a code, and you get 15% off. How's that? He's a New Jersey guy, he's not a bagel and lox guy. He's more of a spaghetti and meatball guy, but it's okay we're all the same. Yeah, Italian. We're doing grass fed beef with gluten free pasta now. So let's dig in love it so health. Jeff.com, Dr Rob,

Dr. Spencer Baron:

let me ask you, this is a little controversial, but body protection compound, or PPC 157 is on the, unfortunately, on the banned substance list, and the only way you can seem to get it is through these online companies, as long as it's for research on animals. So how do you know? I mean, I trust you like you did your homework. How do you know what's good out there? Well, if you're gonna order online

Unknown:

I agree. Well, this guy's in business. It's an oral, oh, it's an oral. It's the compounds are the problem. Okay? And, you know, I think it's like creatine. Remember where creatine got banned for a while? Creatine was told it wasn't good. The reason guys in the gym who are 300 pounds in five nine were damaging their joints was because of creatine and androstein and everything else. It couldn't have been any other supplement. Yeah, it was that. And I think that BPC 157 is like the Shawshank Redemption. He's gonna come out on the other side clean as a whistle. Good. Yeah. And the orals have been shown to be virtually as effective as the injectables.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Very, good. Good to hear. You know, glad you mentioned that

Dr. Terry Weyman:

I love this conversation on longevity, because especially in Dutch Spencer's area, in my area, longevity has become I call in my my analogy is debt repair. You know, you have these beautiful cars, and they on the body work. They look fantastic, but they don't even start up and get out of the driveway. And so so many longevity clinic, shirt fillers and injectables and and, you know, neurotoxins that they're Botox and all that and that, to me, that's just, I don't care if you look like a china doll, if you can't get out of your chair, what's that's not longevity. So I'm so glad we're talking about from the inside out. Is true longevity?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

Yeah, the definition of longevity is lifespan versus healthspan, and I like to look at something else as a third lane called vitality. Now, interestingly enough, the lifespan in America is starting to decrease. So the average American lives to 77.5 years. Unfortunately, they get something called a chink in their health span, a chronic disease at an average of 66.1 years. So let's do the numbers. I was, I actually have an accounting degree before chiropractic, because, you know, very you know, everybody did something before they went into chiropractic. I was in accounting. So that said the last 18% of your life in America, you're housed with a chronic disease. 86% of our Medicare dollars are spent on chronic disease, and 98% of our Medicaid dollars are spent on chronic disease. So yeah, we're longevity docs. We want to be, but unfortunately, we got to get them out of the chronic disease issue to enhance their longevity, which is their lifespan and health span, trying to raise it and parallel it. But vitality, just like you guys, Spencer especially, we travel all the time. I mean, it's tough, you we got to go to the gym in the hotel. If we make it, they have 50 pound dumbbells. You know, I'm maxing at 55 so I'm paying. Is that they're not there. But more so than that, you want to be able to lift your luggage to put it in the overhead bin. Sometimes they make a connecting flight, and sometimes it's tight. And yeah, I feel like I'm OJ in the airport. I'm running. You know, you got to be able to run. You're pulling, you're holding and stuff like that. That's vitality. I want to come home at seven o'clock on a Sunday night. I don't want to have to go take a nap. I want to say, Hey honey, I'm happy to be home, as opposed to, Hey honey, I'm tired. I need a nap. I'll see you in 12 hours. So everybody wants to enjoy their life. They're not worried about necessarily how long they live. They're worried about how healthy they are, why they live. That's another guise under the Temple of longevity. Very nice. Dr, Rob, you mentioned something earlier that I just want to address before we get into our even more fun section of our program, but you said something about grip strength, and I don't want anyone to underestimate the power of grip strength, literally and figurative Dewey, is that, especially in South Florida, grip strength is has been directly related to your cardiovascular system and its effectiveness, but more importantly, how you know we talk about

Dr. Spencer Baron:

the elderly and falling. And in South Florida, for some reason, falling from a ladder is commonplace. You fracture a hip and you're you're definitely courting death shortly after. But being able to grip and and be accurate and quick about it is everything. So I think that it was, it's important to elaborate on something so simple that anyone could do at home. Is if you can hang on to a very heavy dumbbell for 90 seconds off with both hands, or something like that, then you are in a very good place, versus if you can only do it for 60 seconds, or even only 30 seconds. So it's something to look into. But I thought that was really

Unknown:

important to bring up for our longevity purposes. Piggybacking on that, you made a good point, balance, balance as all the balance, awesome. Yes, you know muscle mass enables you to have a better insight to balance, proprioception, balance and the like, so important. Thank you for mentioning that too. That's a big one. All right, we're going into our favorite part of our program. It's the rapid fire questions. We have five of them set up for you, and I would like to be quick answers, but we tend to get hung up in it. I have a funny feeling based on your your humor and creativity that you're going to come back with and wit you're going to come back with some good stuff. What we can do, are you ready for question number one, I'm ready. I love rapid fire. Love style. Let's go. Yeah, baby, here we go. You're you once posted quite some time ago. Life isn't a highlight reel, it's a messy, unpredictable and full of setbacks. So what's a recent personal blooper reel? If you were to come up with one moment in your life that taught you something? Oh, goodness gracious. You know, I suffer from congenital tarticulus, and I woke up one morning and it was worse than it was normally, and I had to deal with all the different questions on the idea of, like, what's wrong with your neck? And then, of course, I've got to deal with the chiropractors who wanted to adjust the congenital problem. But you know, on a grandiose scale, life is nothing but a setback. You know, anybody can win. It's when things take a step back, and you can utilize that and learn from it and project a positive attitude. That's a real winner. Nice, nice. Question number two, you've likened the body to the only place you could ever live and cautioned against neglecting it. What is one housekeeping health habit you absolutely never can skip in your daily routine, obviously, and one you admittedly should do more often.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

You should never miss some form of movement or exercise every day. And I always should do a better job of flossing and spending time with our gum microbiome, because it's going to be the hidden treasure of health in the future. Brilliant, brilliant question number three,

Dr. Spencer Baron:

you believe lasers are the most versatile healthcare tool we have today. If you had a magic laser to zap away one everyday pet peeve or annoyance in your life doesn't, doesn't have to do, doesn't have to be a medical what would you use it on first?

Dr. Rob Silverman:

That wall that patients build up that they're right when they come in? And as opposed to, let's come in and let's be an open book and open plate, and let's make changes. You're coming in because you need to make a change. You'll be willing to make the change. Don't say you're going to be the change. Make the change, because every day we talked about this before, every day is going to be a better day tomorrow. That's our goal, because we spend time today that we can't get back now I could have been a smart alec and just said some vocal chords on some people, but I want your ratings to be high. I think they're going to be real high from this good dog question number four, Mark Twain said the two most important days are days you're born and the day you find out why, a quote that resonates with your journey beyond your role Twain, wow, I use that one all the time. You did your homework, guys, right? Most important days of your life, or the day you're born, everybody knows that we lie about it sometimes, and your why. And I'll try and be as rapid fire as I can with the why. I believe that chiropractors in general, and then this is a moment of truth for all of us should share our why, because I think that many of us became chiropractors because somebody helped us. I don't think anybody decided to be a brain surgeon because they had brain surgery with all due respect. So my why is real simple. I say I wear my why not on my sleeve and my neck, because I have the torticollis. I mean, how many times do you see people walking around with congenital torticollis? So I went through a lot of interesting things growing up in New York City, in the Bronx, in a very, you know, tough area, people didn't understand it. So I found refuge in a chiropractor and him helping me, and he changed my life around. And I literally got off the table and said, what you just did I want to do for the rest of my life, for anybody that stands in front of me. So your why becomes your mission statement, and your why becomes like what your dad said. You never go to work as long as you enjoy what you do. This is a blast. I mean, sure I prepared, sure I've been preparing for years for podcasts and to talk to patients, but it's fun. If it was arduous, I would suck at it.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Ah, I love this guy. Question number five and the last one for today, you often emphasize that what you do for others lasts for immortality. Fast forward 50 years. What's the one thing you hope people will remember you for, besides your medical achievements that reflect who rob Silverman is at heart. You know, there's a little deja vu here, because yesterday, I was working with my coach, and he said, Write your eulogy.

Dr. Rob Silverman:

So, you know, I wrote two of them. The first one was comical. You know, here's a heli is Dr Rob. He nodded his head often and well, and he cured his torticollis by going like this. But on a serious note that I always told everybody, I may not be the smartest guy, but you're never going to outwork me. You're not going to out care me, and you're never going to out empathy me. So if anything, when they say that, here's a guy who brought it every day, and he raised the bar because he tried hard, I

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Oh, what a great way to end. Dr Rob,

Dr. Rob Silverman:

you are fantastic. Thank you so much for being on the show today. Thanks for the opportunity. Guys, continuous what you're doing. I mean, podcast, the journey is there. I know it's uneasy. You guys are busy. Your time is demanding. I really appreciate the opportunity. Appreciate what you're doing, moving the field forward and sharing both with the populace and the chiropractors alike. Don't stop. Thank you. Just remember, and I'm going to quote Maximus, because I love the name, what we do in life, echoes in eternity.

Unknown:

Love it.

Dr. Spencer Baron:

Thank you for listening to today's episode of The Kraken backs podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. Make sure you follow us on Instagram at Kraken backs podcast, catch new episodes every Monday. See you next time you.