Judy Cho Podcast Transcript
Transcription
U1
0:00
Um, so I've got a question here. If we can get straight into it. That's okay. Um, is I'll read the whole thing out if I, if I can if there is a is there a way to heal from histamine reactions on the carnivore diet? I cannot tolerate ground beef, slow cooked meats, bone broth, mackerel, all dairy except soft cheese. And most eggs. I tolerate lamb mince, beef steaks and lean fish, including sockeye salmon. Very well. I eat about, um,
U2
0:31
I am just about 100% carnivore. I drink peppermint tea and sometimes use high quality olive oil on lean fish.
U1
0:40
So histamines are the simplest way to explain histamines. It's in an immune response. Right. So your body said it's not happy with something you ate. And so now you're manifesting either itchiness, fatigue, you know, just all the symptoms that are related to immune function. And it is true that a lot of carnivores do have sensitivities to, um, or I guess they're suffering from histamine. So the the root is always why? Why is that happening? So yes, I do think that you can heal and improve and then not have to struggle with all of those sensitivities that were just mentioned with those particular foods. But it'll the the goal is to get to the root. So I in our practice we will focus first on gut health. So maybe there's a little bit of leakiness in the gut or the the wall lining is not strong enough. And so therefore proteins are getting into the bloodstream which then have the immune system put out an alarm which then causes histamine receptors to release histamines. And then you how that histamine response. So I would first possibly focus on gut healing and doing carnivore. Maybe you do ruminants meats only. So beef, salt water type of thing. And you eat the freshest meaning that it's not really age. You get the meat from the freezer, cook it right away, eat it. You don't eat leftovers. Like I'm assuming that's what's happening with the ground beef with you. And you try it that way. And over time, with whether it's digestive enzymes, probiotics, time for the gut to finally start healing without a lot of the plant toxins, that should improve your histamine reaction. And if it doesn't, that's when I think people should look into food, environmental illness. A lot of people think that histamines are just reliefs from mast cell. So it's like a mast cell, um, issue. But it's not just mast cells. Histamines are on different receptors. So there is one with environmental illness. Like if you're suffering from mold illness, for example, your brain is releasing histamines every time there's just any type of immune flare. And so even when it comes to foods, you'll have a reaction because maybe there's more histidine, which histamine then converts to histamines in the body. But there's always a root cause. Why you're so sensitive. That's why on carnivore, when as people heal, um, as an example, there's a lot of people that have seasonal allergies, but then as they eat a carnivore diet, they eat less plant toxins, they're eating less processed foods, their gut heals, and over time they can go outside and they notice, oh, I don't need the Claritin anymore. I don't need these allergy or histamine receptor block receptors. And they can tolerate being outside because the bucket is less full. So I always give this example, but I really want to end this conversation with this. Think of your toxin bucket of everything that's going on in your body. So every time this overflows you feel unwell. So on carnivore it reduces a lot of this. And so you may feel less histamine reactions to some things, but maybe some things are still causing the bucket to overflow. So the goal is to figure out what is causing this bucket. And there are so many things like I wish I could say it's one thing, but it's not. Um, the gut part is a huge part, but if that's not moving the needle enough, especially if you've been carnivore six months to a year, you can consider environment. Some people it's trauma. Their body is just in a heightened stress response compared to the average person. So let's say you wake up, let's say you hear like a car backfire and somebody just in the group jumps up. That person probably has a more stress state or a stress response than the average person. And you probably need healing with that, because when your cortisol is higher, your stress response is high. Your immune system is less, um, functionally operating.
U2
4:17
Fabulous. Fabulous. Um, there's a brilliant question. Uh, a simple a simple prelude to it. So Roxanna is asking. She wants to contact you about a specific issue. So what's the best thing to do? But let me give you the question. Uh, what is the best way to test for what's happening? To give you a lower leg cramp. Is there a way to test what's causing that?
U1
4:44
Yes and no. So I always say to start with minerals. I think when you are eating a low carb diet, obviously you retain less water. Less water retention will then cause you to know and feel more of the electrolyte imbalances. So always start with maybe you can use some solar water that's just really salt water left in water overnight. And then you can use like get a teaspoon or tablespoon of that water and pour it into your water. The logic is that if you let water and salt just saturate the water, the minerals will be more unbound so that when you consume that salty water, it will there will just be more accessible minerals in your system. So if that doesn't work or the finagling with that, then you can try the other electrolytes that are on the market. And if that still doesn't work, I always recommend a little bit of magnesium spray. So topically, when your body has magnesium through the skin and it gets absorbed way quicker through the bloodstream versus going through your gut, and there are studies that show that people can supplement magnesium. It doesn't absorb as well compared to if you do it topically. So I would try some magnesium spray. Perfect magnesium oil, magnesium spray. Make sure there's not a lot of additional additives, but you could spray that on your leg. Let the IT support your muscles and then see how that works. Sometimes we ask our clientele to use a little bit of solar water right before bed. For some people, that helps some people, that gives them too much energy. So you can try those things. And then if that all doesn't work, you can always do a hair mineral test. The way it's different than just doing blood work is blood work is always just that snapshot of time that whatever is in your bloodstream. So for minerals, it's not the most ideal because a lot of times our minerals are in our cells and that is not being measured by blood. So our hair mineral is measuring, I think, an average of three months of what's been in your cells. And we find that people that are super stressed, their magnesium may be depleted, for example. And so you may just need to up the magnesium. But you have to also remember that sodium, magnesium, calcium and potassium are the major macro minerals. And so it's a little of four of those that um, that you would want to make sure and balance it is across the map. I know a lot of people focus on magnesium, but there's a very small subset that actually need a little bit of calcium, and then there's a little bit larger, but subset that actually needs potassium. So you can always try a little bit maybe 100mg of potassium in the morning. See if that helps. Do the magnesium at night because it's more calming. And then if all of that does not work, including the hair mineral, you can check your ADH. It's antidiuretic hormone or vasopressin. All of these are blood works. And if that marker is low, that means it's a hormonal imbalance. That is, the kidneys are not being told to retain water, which will then help you to reduce your leg cramps. And so we are seeing that in our practice. So all the people that have just gone through everything I just talked about, we test our ADH marker through, um, you can go to like a LabCorp quest and they will do the blood work. And we're seeing that their hormone is so low. So what's happening is they're constantly thirsty. They're constantly drinking water, but their bodies just peeing it out. And so they're not retaining that, including the minerals that will then help you to have less leg cramps.
U2
7:57
Tanya, um, just to give you some context, you still having coffee and monk fruit sweetener. But her problem is. 1s Pre carnivore. She had chronic diarrhea and now on carnivore for the past three months. She's still having diarrhea once a day. Suggestions questionmark all other symptoms of Sibo gone and feeling great otherwise.
U1
8:23
Okay, so if she should have suffered from Sibo and then the stools. 2s The two big levers I first start with is manage the minerals. So you might be consuming too much salt, too much magnesium, and that can always cause the peristalsis to occur too quickly. It could also be that you're not able to tolerate as much fat as you are, so your bowels to stimulating, and then it's causing you to have another quick bowel movement. I would use a food and mood journal here. That would be my best recommendation. And I would write down like what you're eating every day, which is then causing you to have a loose stool. So is it that you have a ribeye with some butter and then that's causing you within 30 minutes to an hour, have a loose stool or a bowel movement. Right? Then it's probably that you're eating too much fat in that meal. And then I would see what meals are you not having loose stools or having less loose stools? And maybe you focus on those foods or those specific meats and whatever fish or eggs you may be eating and you may be wanting, you may want to stick to that. And then I think it's the the important thing is to reduce the loose stools, because that is depleting you of your nutrients, your minerals. And so the goal is to get to less loose stools, see if maybe it's a meal timing thing, or maybe it's a certain type of cut that you have to eat for a while. And then as you heal, you can start to see, can you introduce something else? Maybe for higher fat, if you realize it's the fat that's bothering you, maybe you can use some digestive enzymes and use some light pace. Use some ox bile and see what is causing the imbalance because there's something there that's causing the loose stools. Try to regulate it that you don't have loose stools anymore. And then from there see what you can add back. And the best way to do that is no YouTube video, no podcasts. It's really your own body's biofeedback. And you'll know that by doing a food and mood journal. How did you discover these remedies? So I when I wrote my book, it was just in a perfect world. Here's like everything based on science, based on what you can do. But then you get the harder cases and they challenge you on every single thing that you believe. Right? And that's where I come out with all this nuanced content, because we work with some of the most challenging, and it's exciting, it's exhausting, but we have to keep doing research to refine the diet. And then if we fix all our support and heal all the people that are the most sick or nuanced or on the fringes, then we can help everybody that's in the main part of the carnivore diet. And that's that's why I have all these muon answers. And I know for some people that just listening to my channel, they're like, this is way too complicated. And you're right, I may not be the right first step for you, but there's all of this other great content that you can follow first. But when carnivore isn't working enough, that's where that's where we shine.
U2
11:06
Yeah. Your book is amazing. Uh, the carnival. Kiera. Um, I'm really, really so impressed. And I've mentioned it to other people that have come on, actually, because you you do go deep and, you know, talk about food dyes and colors and everything. And I think this is really underestimated because, uh, when people come to Carnival and they expect that magic wand do. Yeah, I'm really fit now and then maybe they're a little bit disappointed. There are so many other factors that are nothing to do with nutrition, you know? And it could be well, well, we talk about nutrition, food dyes, which I don't call nutrition additives. But then you took an epigenetics and the environment and you really go into it. And it's a it's a really fabulous book. Um, and I think you're right, the audiobook, I think it is actually you that does that. So it's pretty good, right? Judy, what vitamins and minerals besides magnesium might be best to absorb via, you know, via our skin rather
U1
12:03
or really. 2s That's a good question. I've never actually looked into that. I know that there are companies that sell patches for nutrients. So, for example, kids that can't swallow vitamins at a young age, they could stick a patch on for a certain type of illness. So let's say they have a virus and maybe they just need some extra nutrients. I have not done the research in terms of certain vitamins beyond magnesium that would be best absorbed through the skin. So they're what I would my logical brain just goes to there are upper limits of risk of certain vitamins and minerals being in excess, and there's risks with that. So I would I guess if you were to try topically, I would just make sure that some of the nutrients in those aren't don't have upper limits, because when it goes to your digestive tract, you can there might just be less absorption just because it goes through the digestive tract. Some of it gets killed off. If you cooked it, there might be some nutrients depleted that way, whereas if it's topical, I don't know if it just goes straight into the bloodstream as it does with magnesium. And so that would be my only concern. But to answer that specifically, I'm not sure. 1s But I'm going to look into that. Um, I never I never thought about that. Can I? Can I say one more thing about the question? Because I always wonder, like, where's the question coming from? So if it's a question of maybe this person is not absorbing their nutrients and they want an external source. Um, if that's the reason that I would just try it. So if they are taking supplements that in addition to their meat, for whatever reason, maybe because they have a poor digestive function, maybe they're not around enough quality meats. I mean, I don't know the reason, but um, if that's the case, then I would just try a patch if, um, because I know that there are medical grade patches that you can put on that have some of the nutrients, and if it seems to help you, like if it's supports more energy. This is where I'm still bad on biofeedback. If your body seems to enjoy the patches or whatever topical thing that is that's mostly natural, then I would say I. I'm okay with that. I'm. I will say though, that I also use tallow balm, but I don't think, oh, I could eat less fat in my meat because I'm putting tallow on my face and that's enough sufficient fat for my body. I never think that way. I just think, oh, it's an additional little bits of tallow, but I still make sure to consume enough fat.
U2
14:15
Excellent, excellent. Uh, another question here. And this is from Ali D. I think, uh, almost every night I wake up to go, we urinate, uh, sometimes twice. Is there anything I can do during the day or before bed to reduce this occurrence? Carnivore for five months. Meat, dairy, eggs, salt and water.
U1
14:35
Okay, so. Hi, Ali. Um, I so my first thoughts are a lot of times we wake up because of hypoglycemic effects, meaning that your blood sugar has been imbalanced. Insulin has not been doing the best job in trying to balance your blood sugar levels. And you know, it's five months, so that can be a good amount of time. But I don't know where your blood sugar was, where your, uh, your insulin markers have been, your fasting insulin, if you're fasting. And I know in the UK it's a little bit different. So I apologize for not knowing the conversion numbers, but if your blood glucose it is now around the 80s and your insulin's around five, it's probably not a hypoglycemic event. You can always try CGM overnight, which is the continuous glucose monitors, the ones you put on your arms or legs, and then see what is going on with your blood sugar. If your blood sugar dips in the middle of the night, and I see it a lot with my clients, where it goes down to the 50s, I think that's three point something I'm not entirely sure. So don't quote me on that. And then, uh, and then cortisol will kick in to make sure that your blood sugar doesn't drop much further. And a lot of times that cortisol kick or release will then give you energy. And then you're like wide awake. And then a lot of people will think, oh, it's because I just need to go to the bathroom. I have a small bladder, I've heard everything and anything. But oftentimes, if that's not the reason and if that okay, so if that is the reason, I would say try a small snack before night. Um, I used to recommend my clients maybe have a small piece of bacon with a little bit of fat, maybe tallow, maybe a little like a tablespoon of butter if that doesn't carry you over. And then the mineral balancing doesn't carry you over and you notice that the night it's not really like a blood sugar imbalance. I would test that marker again. If it's that ADH marker, that's probably the reason you're waking up. And then it can actually be an environmental issue and not a dietary issue. 2s This is a very interesting question. What are your go to sites for nutrition research? Because your, your your staff is where I go. Yeah. That's interesting. Uh, everything and anything. Uh, so. 1s I used to trust. I'm not going to name names in our space, but. Or like in the wellness space in general. But I used to go to the bigger accounts. Right. So like the perfect example would be Huberman. So I don't, I don't really listen to his content, but let's say I used to go to people like Huberman or these big, bigger institutes. And then when I started working with the most difficult cases, I was starting to see, like, it doesn't line up always. So I try to get information and resources from a lot of everything. I look at studies, we look at our cases, and when we're like, that didn't work, though, what that study was saying or what someone else was sharing. And so as we, um, I guess what we really do in my practice, as well as in my books and research, is I marry the science with our clinical practice, and we worked with over a thousand carnivore specific clients and patients. And so we see a lot that may not exactly fit in marry with carnivore. And then we dig. I can give you a fascinating recent thing that we've been researching. So a lot of people suffer with candida or fungal overgrowth. And we didn't understand how carnivores that are no longer eating carbohydrates are still suffering from jock itch, Candida, um, scalp itch. I'm trying to think of the other stuff, but oh, and chronic UTIs. And it didn't make sense because they swear our clientele are swearing they're not eating any more sugar, not even from fruit. And as we're doing more research, um, mold is one example that your Candida can persist from mold overgrowth. And then there's other nutrients. So like there's vitamin B1 gets affected and molybdenum and again that's like us going down these rabbit holes and then finding disparate information. And then we marry it all together. And that's some of the research we're doing now. And over time we will probably release the research. We have found another very fascinating, interesting thing. A tidbit with that fact is the way that Candida breaks down, um, the breakdown molecule is very similar to alcohol. So I don't know exactly how it all works yet, but our research is showing if you suffer from Candida, you probably do not want to be drinking any alcohol.
U2
18:47
Yeah. And that's a, that's a brilliant answer and I actually. I've got my science degree and I did a lot of research. But sometimes when you're reading stuff, it doesn't it doesn't work for me. And I'm just, uh, going to tell you something. About four years ago, I used to be a phlebotomist, and I. I'm a specialist practitioner in diabetes. And what was happening was the HBA one C was going up, but the average blood glucose was,
U1
19:15
you know, pretty good.
U2
19:17
So make no sense. And that's I researched that and I could not find the answer to that. So I had to think. Now one of the things you talk when you're a phlebotomist is if someone's hemolytic, that means every blood cells die too soon because the HbA one C is a calculation, not a direct measurement. Uh, you're told to ignore the HBO onesie because it's artificially low. So I just thought, well, hang on a minute. What if the red blood cells are lasting longer? Therefore, you get this artificially high HBO onesie. I'm not saying I'm a big, clever person and I'm amazing, but sometimes you have to do your own original thought. That's the point I'm making. And then two years later, I'm seeing my theory, which I did put out publicly on Steak and Butter Gang, and I did a video about it saying, I think red blood cells are lasting longer on carnivore. That's why a HBA one C goes up. And then we've got people like Ben Bateman saying, this is the reason. And I think sometimes you can be the original person that thinks it. I'm not saying, uh, he heard my video. I'm sure he came to that. He's pretty clever. I'm sure he came to that, that realization. So sometimes research is novel. Uh, not often. Um, but, um, I won't mention names, but certainly when I started many, many years ago, there were people I thought, yeah, they're the go to person. And then as you get more experience, you think, well, actually, that doesn't seem to be correct. So, um, you have to be constantly looking, don't you, for new sources of info?
U1
20:44
Yeah. I think from my amazing patients and clients, I have learned that you cannot take anything for fact. Um, we I used to think, you know, there are so many carnivore myths. Like, even when I first joined, I think it's like almost six years ago, you know? And you can never gain weight on carnivore. You can never. There's just so many things you never need supplements on carnivore. There's all these little nuances that people believed that I didn't it. So for me, it didn't hold true either. But I thought maybe my n equals one is broken. Maybe my eating disorder background is broken, and that's why I'm gaining weight. So I could rationalize and justify for me why the. If you want to call it dogmas or these rules didn't work for me. But once I have a thousand people that we work with and we work very, it's not just like we work with them for a second. It's like very deep. Uh, clients where we know their full medical history and once it doesn't work for them, or we see a lot of people that did end up eating disorders actually gain weight or stall. I started realizing a lot of what we are hearing. It's just people are repeating the same thing over and over, and I know it's great. It helps us to be a community, but we have to challenge things that may not always be true. And that's why I always bring up stuff of, you know, I was the first one to bring up that liver is not always good to eat all the time. And then I got so much, uh, flack for that. But then it's true. There's some people that shouldn't be eating a lot of organs, and we see it in our practice. And I only shared these nuances because I'm sure there's someone that's watching this or something else I've shared that maybe that one nuance is true for them, and maybe that is the one hindrance on carnivore that's not allowing them to heal. Maybe for somebody, they've been perfect carnivore and they're just self-sabotaging because they're like, I'm not good enough. Um, I'm eating too many herbs or, uh, or seasonings or it's because I had that one keto treat, that one thing, or I left in one supplement. And that's why I'm not healing. And what we find is it's not that small of a thing, but it's actually maybe something more root cause, like the environment or mold or or stress. Like if we don't deal with trauma, that can actually impact your ability to heal. And so I think it's. It is so ideal to challenge whatever status quo is, because that's why we're even in a carnivore diet. We question what standard care recommends, and we're we're saying we're going to eat as meat or fat that you're saying is going to kill me, a high cholesterol and heart disease. And now I'm finding that it doesn't do that. So then what else are we even in our little bubble, we can we need to always challenge because what we want is for people to do carnivore. And then we have every single answer for all the nuances so that people can thrive. And that means everyone can thrive. I hate that people leave our diet and say it didn't work for me. I would love to know what did not work for you, because let's find that and let's resolve that. So we could say, this works for everyone. And I think it requires nuance care. So when people are like, everyone just eat meat, just go strict or stricter. It's like, no, not for everybody. For some people it's something. Also there's a chronic infection or or it's trauma or you need more faith or it's the, the community that you don't have. There are so many reasons why people don't heal with just nutrition. Nutrition is absolutely the foundation. And I think we need to say I am my own and equals one. And regardless of what influencer practitioner doctor is saying, if it doesn't work for me, you have to trust that and you have to be honest that you have given it a full and honest go. But if it doesn't work for you, you trust that on your body because your body's biofeedback is the most powerful and equals one for you than it is for anybody else.