The Fiber Effect: How Gut Health Shapes the Way We Age

In this engaging and evidence-backed conversation, Dr. Angie Sadeghi, a board-certified gastroenterologist and plant-based physician, dives into the crucial role gut health plays in aging well. She explains how a fiber-rich, plant-based diet can transform your health, while also clarifying the role of medications like statins and GLP-1s in supporting wellness.

She discusses the role of protein, why most people are getting too much, and how much you really need. 

Dr. Sadeghi breaks down common misconceptions around nutrition and health, emphasizing that food alone isn’t medicine, but it’s a powerful tool when combined with science-based strategies and personalized care. She also addresses the challenges within the healthcare system and why preventive approaches are essential for long-term vitality.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How fiber and a plant-based diet impact gut and metabolic health
• When medications like statins and GLP-1s are necessary and effective
• How to spot digestive issues, like bloating, that can indicate deeper problems
• The role of hormones, exercise, and lifestyle in healthy aging
• Why preventive care and personalized medicine are the ultimate longevity tools

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https://wellelephant.com/ecookbook/

https://discover.wellelephant.com/ace-plant-based-eating-course-reg/

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Email: lauren@agelikeabadassmother.com

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#DrAngieSadeghi, #GutHealthMatters, #PlantBasedDoctor, #HealYourGut, #WholeFoodPlantBased, #InflammationHealing, #LifestyleMedicine, #PreventChronicDisease, #AgeLikeABadassMother, #FoodAsMedicine, #Podcast, 

Transcript

0:00

Hi friends! Most people are eating way too much protein and not nearly enough fiber, and it's wreaking havoc on their gut health and metabolism. Doctor Angie Sadeghi is a board certified gastroenterologist. Who's going to explain why and what you can do about it. Speaking of fiber, would you like to add more plant based meals to your life that are packed with fiber and nutrients? Download my free cookbook at, well, elephant.com. After the show, I've adapted some of your favorite foods like queso, spring rolls, and cupcakes to make them whole food plant based, oil free, and low fat. And if you're really ready to take control of your health and heal your body the way I did, check out my online class is plant based eating. While you're there, you'll get all of the strategies that I use to reverse my heart disease and lose 20 pounds. And of course, you know, I want to thank you for listening. It really does mean the world to me. I'm not just blowing smoke. You've helped age like a badass mother move into the top 5% of all podcasts in the world. I appreciate each and every one of you. So thank you. And now here's Doctor Sadeghi. Hi, friend. Are you looking to age healthfully, confidently and vibrantly? Then this podcast is for you. Smart, slightly salty, irreverent and thought provoking. I'm Lauren Bernick and this is age. Like a badass mother. Doctor Angie Sadeghi, M.D., is a board certified gastroenterologist and internist in Newport Beach, California, specializing in evidence based personalized medicine for digestive health, disease prevention, and age management. With advanced training from the University of Southern California. Doctor Sadeghi integrates her expertise in gastroenterology with plant based nutrition, fitness, and bioidentical hormone therapy to help patients manage and reverse chronic diseases, including obesity, metabolic syndrome, and liver disease. Please welcome Doctor Angie Sadeghi. I'm so glad to have you. Thank you so much for having me, Lauren. I'm so excited to talk to you. I'm excited to talk to you. So, you know, I guess let's just start. It seems like you've had your own health journey. Is that kind of what led you to eat plant based, or can you share a little bit about that? Yes, I definitely have had my own health journey, but my veganism was for the animals. I'm an ethical vegan and I actually went vegan for the animals. But what I experienced is amazing. Health. As a result of starting to eat plant based in May of 2014, I started eating a whole foods plant based diet and I started experiencing immense energy, great health. My cholesterol went down, like I said, my energy was boosted to unlimited levels where I could just do things that I could never imagine doing. My fitness level went higher and I was able to lift heavier weights. My body trimmed and I started looking better in the mirror, and, I was it was a shrink. My waistline. And, Yeah, I saw that on your Instagram. Yeah. Thank you. I was even able to compete in a fitness program. My eczema got better, my skin cleared. I mean, I can go on and on. I, I, you know, I did it for the animals, but look what happened. Yeah, that's I know that's something. It's really. It's very interesting. But you know, which brings me to like, why why is it or is it bad for us to eat meat and dairy? What does it do to our bodies? Well, I mean, you don't even have to be extreme where you avoid meat 100%, but the the more plants you eat, the more, colors of the rainbow, the more, more fiber rich foods you eat, the healthier your body will become. Most of the studies out there show that a mediterranean style diet, which is, plentiful in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains and legumes, which are fiber rich foods that are low in saturated fat, can improve your health. And there are many reasons that can happen. So I just want to emphasize that if you're not ready to be 100% vegan, that's okay. Even if you eat a more plant predominant diet and you try to limit the meat and dairy, that's that's actually great. So, but yeah, these fiber rich foods, starting from the GI tract, can, cause, health buy, improve the improving the gut microbiome health. So from mouth to anus, we have hundreds of trillions of gut microbiome that line our gut and these microbiota that consist of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, fungi, and etc., etc. these guys like and enjoy eating fiber rich foods. And as a result of metabolizing, these fiber rich foods produce something called short chain fatty acids. And these short chain fatty acids are important for, not only gut health but also health in the rest of the body. So, for example, a lot of people don't realize that if you want to grow your muscles, you need fiber to do that. And these short chain fatty acids improve, increase the number of mitochondria in your muscles to give you more boost, more strength. Right. And also, one of the things they can do is reverse, DNA mutations in the gut to prevent, colon cancer, for example. Oh, yeah. So that's very interesting and exciting news. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It's like it's from so these fiber rich foods are very, very important for our health. Yet there is such a huge emphasis on eating a lot of protein and not enough emphasis on eating fiber. So, you know, I always say to my patients, don't be a protein aholic. Focus on your fiber intake and the protein bowl. Just it'll be okay. It'll be fine. You're not going to starve of protein deficiencies. Almost impossible in this country to starve and, have protein deficiency. If you're eating a variety of plant foods which have a ton of protein in it already. Yeah, I I'm glad that you said a couple of things. One, that, you know, if this is not where you are today, it's okay. And I always say that I just, you know, I want to meet people where they are and I want them to listen, and I want them to keep listening until they're ready to all of us, to all the voices out there who tell you to keep, just keep at it. Just keep eating your plants and your fiber, your fruits and vegetables, legumes and whole grains. And cut back on the meat. Cut back on the dairy. Because you're right, the Mediterranean diet, I guess they they say like the meat is like the garnish, you know, like it's a a small, tiny piece, but they have it once in a while. So I think that that's really important. The other thing I want to touch on is, you know, you talked a lot about eating a fiber. I have heard a lot. I guess these are not people who are all up on the, maybe the new research like you, but I have known people with IBS, IBD, they have a hard time with insoluble fiber and their their doctors place them on a low Fodmap diet. But you have like a hard stance against that, right? Yes. So a low fiber diet is definitely not a healthy choice for the gut. So if you're in an acute flare up of your inflammatory bowel disease, like for example, if you have Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis and you're in an acute flare up, it's it's it's important that while you're in the hospital, you actually follow that advice, because when you're in an acute flare, you don't have the gut microbiome balance to break down fiber. And it's, it's it's important to, to do a low residue diet is called a low residue diet. And you basically, limit certain things. And a lot of times we put these patients on a clear liquid diet or we, put them on a low residue diet, for example, a patient. But it's low fiber, right? It's low fiber. You know what is also low for fiber? Okay. And low, low residue diet is also low fiber, but that's only in an acute flare. Like, for example, okay, if someone has Crohn's disease and they have a stricture, meaning the bowel is closed up, okay. And nothing gets through, what you would do is a low residue diet because you don't want to make a lot of stool. So it's not that it's the healthier choice to put people on a low residue diet is definitely the unhealthier choice. However, when someone has a blockage in the bowels, you don't want them to make a lot of stool and a low fiber, low residue diet helps decrease the stool production because fiber bulks still does not make it okay. Yes, but once they're out of that like critical situation and they're back home and they're, you know, kind of how do you know when you're back on track and ready for fiber? Yeah. So what we do in a lot of times in patients who have these acute flare ups of their IBD in the hospital, we load them up with medications to put the fire out. We we basically, try to eliminate the inflammation once to elimination. Once the information is eliminated and their disease is under control, then they can start reintroducing fiber. And they should, even if they get bloated. Because the most important thing is to get that microbiome balance back in, in their gut. And when they're, when they have acute inflammation, the microbiome balance is gone, it's diminished. And it's very, that inflammation just erodes the first lining. The mucosal layer of the gut. And there goes the microbiome with it. Right. So we need to get it back. We bring it back. And in order to do that you need to eat fiber okay. And what do you say to people who are like because I know a lot of people like this, I can't eat beans. It just bloats me. I can't eat a lot of fiber. Just bloats me so much. What do you say to that? Or how do they build up? You know, I, I hear that a lot. But when I see patients in clinic for bloating in particular and I do a deep dive in why they're having bloating, it's usually not the beans. It's something else. And so people like to when something becomes popular, they focus on it. And when you focus on it, then you have it. They have that problem and you keep focusing on being caused gas. It's not that the beans cause gas. People have an imbalance in their gut and that's how they get gas. And bloating foods are in gassy, people are gassy. And the thing is that if you're having excessive gas when you eat certain things, that means your gut is not processing it well and your body is is not. If you have excess gas, something's wrong. Right. And a lot of times people come in to see me and they say that it's the beans and it's this and it's that. And I actually find that it's not the beans is something else. And it's just food in general causes gas because they're something's going on with the digestive system. And you know what I mean? There are hundreds of reasons why people reasons why people could have it, but it's very individualized. Right. So that's where someone like me, a gastroenterologist, could help dive in and figure out why it is that they have that problem. Is there like, I have a friend. I mean, she she literally can't eat. Like when we go out to dinner, she has to wear a loose dress. She's a tiny, tiny girl. But when she eats, immediately her stomach blows up and she looks like she's pregnant. And this has been going on for years. She's tried everything. She, you know, she really has this severe bloating problem. Do you have you seen this or. Well, if no, I see this kind of a thing every single day. That's what I do for a living. Is gastrointestinal health. And so bloating is one of the most common reasons why patients come to see me. And I have to take a deep dive into their health blood tests, physical exam and different and questions and all of that put together. I can usually diagnose it. But it's different for everyone. And it's it's very hard to say. For example, your girlfriend may have acid indigestion because I don't know. I mean, based on the limited information I'm getting. Right, obviously. No, but, I usually when I meet people with gastrointestinal problems, I ask them a lot of questions. I do a detailed, history. I do a physical exam, I do blood tests, and then we go ahead and pursue treatment options. But when I see, if I see ten people with bloating, there are, there could be up to ten different reasons why those people are bloated. It's not cookie cutter. I mean, that makes sense, but it's just like. So it just blows my mind that how many people have problems. I'm sure, you know, like, you see it all day long, but it's like, what? You know what? What is going on? I feel like this. There's just so many new things, that we see all the time now that we didn't used to see. Am I wrong or new? Well, I mean, America is sicker for sure. We're more obese and we're sicker than ever, of course. And and I think that is because of, our lifestyle choices. A lot of alcohol, a lot of drugs. Very little physical activity and a lot of meat and dairy. Put it all together. We have a sick nation. Oh, definitely. I mean, I, I heard this alarming statistics the other day that it's three is 75% of Americans are obese or overweight now. And oh gosh, it's alarming. And obesity is one of the biggest root causes of all other diseases. You know, pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, heart disease, strokes and all of those other things. So, you know, it's it's it's a problem in our society that we have so much obesity, so much illness. People have a lot of information, for sure. You know, that it is a problem. And I'm so glad people like you are doing podcasts to get the word out. You know? And guess what? It's like the entire world is focused on, eating more protein and look what it has. Where has it taken us? Yeah, I think that the I think that that is one thing, you know, between the processed food, between the you have to get enough protein, you, between, you know, the sedentary lifestyle, all these things I think are you're right, are contributing and, what I, what I, what hurts me is that it is really not easily fixed because it's not easy to change your diet in your lifestyle, but it can be fixed. And what I like about you is that you're very evidence based. You know, you're you're, one of these doctors who's like you said, you said this to me before, there's a whole lot of talk out there that food is medicine, and I have a lot of that in me. I'm not going to lie. You know, I want to try and fix things with food before I go to medicine. But you're like, food is food, and medicine is medicine. So what do you want to say about that? Well, you know, I used to make the mistake of thinking food is medicine, but no, food is not medicine. Food is nutrition, nutrition, nutrients. Right? Like when you think of food, what do you think about broccoli? And, you know, rice and meat and dairy, whatever. Whatever it is that you're consuming, that's food to give your body, calories. Right. Medications are usually basically pharmaceuticals. These are chemicals that could be natural, right? They could be either chemicals synthesized in the laboratory or concentrated forms of plants, whatever it is, in a pill form. At higher doses to target disease. When you have a disease, like for example, here's an example of how food is, should be used as nutrition, right. But to prevent disease, if you eat a high fiber diet, right, that prevents colon cancer, not 100%. But if you're eating a high fiber diet, that's a preventative and it can prevent colon cancer. But once you have colon cancer, you don't want to eat a high fiber diet. And put your head in the sand. And use that food as medicine. Then you need medications, then you need chemotherapy. Otherwise you die of colon cancer. So you cannot say that food is medicine because food is not medicine. Medicine is used to combat disease, to reverse disease, to kill cancer cells, to reverse heart disease. All of those things it is not to be used as food is pretty much to prevent disease. Does that make sense? I'm probably not articulating it. The best. No way. I, I think, you know, especially what you said about cancer makes sense. Like, you can really hedge your bets by eating well. Yeah, but, you know, we're all people and we sometimes still get disease. Yeah. And then you really you might need medicine like I for me, like, I definitely try to do things with food with lifestyle before I do medicine. You know, I've been doing, a lot to lower my cholesterol. I have that very stubborn, high familial cholesterol in the high LP little. I have all that stuff. But recently I've been doing, more to lower my LDL, and it's been working, like, more, you know, things like sumac and amla and, you know, just adding a lot of things to my diet and trying to get it down that way. Will I ever take a medicine? Maybe, you know, if I if I really feel like I'm in trouble, I would certainly go that route. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to die, but I certainly want to try to do it the most natural way possible first. And I think maybe that's where people are coming from. But I understand what you're saying, because some people there are some doctors out there that are saying, like what? Don't get a colonoscopy, don't get a mammogram. Like, you don't need to do that. That's silly. It's so crazy. I mean, you're you're going to basically, not have you're first of all, to not go with the general recommendations. Just because you're eating healthy is very silly, because you still have genetic predispositions. You have to marry both, obviously plant based, eating a great lifestyle. Don't smoke, don't drink, don't use drugs, eat a lot of fiber. But even when you do that, it's still not enough. Sometimes. Sometimes you need to follow evidence based medicine because a lot of us have genetic diseases that cannot, we cannot combat naturally with just eating a healthy diet. You brought up the cholesterol issue. Well, I personally have that gene that will put little a which it puts you at a high risk for cardiovascular disease. And I cannot possibly get my LDL lower than 60. Naturally, there's no way I've tried. And so that's why I chose to go on a statin, because, I want to be a vegan. I don't want to be a stupid vegan and die of cardiovascular disease. Does that make sense? So, yeah, I don't care how much how high fiber you eat. I don't care how plant based you eat. You're not going to naturally bring down your LDL to a point where it's protective. We don't have a cure for this LDL. Little a elevated LP, little a, and so a lot of people are dying of, cardiovascular disease because of it. And your diet has I'm sure it's very limited control, of it. And so you could start in your 50s, like, I'm 52. Right. And I started on statin therapy at age 50 because I couldn't control it with diet anymore. And so now I'm hoping that I can prevent the disease once your brain arteries are clogged off, like, good, like you're going to have dementia because you're pretty much cutting off the oxygen supply to your brain. And these brain arteries are tiny, tiny. I'll have a heart attack over a stroke any day. I will have a heart attack over, dementia any day. And a lot of people think, well, I'm going to go and stand to prevent a heart attack. A heart attack doesn't even bother me because they have so much technology where they can put a stent in there. They can open up your chest and put new arteries, like they can take out veins from your legs and put it on your heart. You'll live. I see people live all the time after a heart attack. It's the dementia that I want to prevent when when these vessels clog up. Especially the vessels that fit the brain tissue are smaller than the coronaries in your in your heart, you know, the corners are actually rather large arteries. The ones that feed your brain are tiny. They're like then like a hair. And so when those things get clogged up, you start, developing dementia. And so a smart person, you know, takes those medications and prevents it, and not, you know, well, a highly intelligent person prevents a smart person treats it when they get to that point, they go to the doctor and say, oh, I can. I have some medications to reverse my dimension. Go. Sure. But these medications don't do a lot. Good luck. Or a very intelligent person prevents that. So you got to like kind of like look at your life as, okay, I'm 50, I want to be 100. But I don't just want to live, I want to thrive. Okay. So how do I prevent these diseases that I will develop at age 80, like stroke, heart attack, osteoporosis, dementia, all of those things. Does that make sense? So, you know. It does. Come from. It does. And I'm still, you know, I still haven't done the stats yet. And I you you and I have talked before and I, would really never entertain the idea until I talked to you. And I thought, you know, I'm thinking about it. I I'll be honest. You've you've turned my head a little to think about it is there, is there like, I've had my carotid arteries tested. There's no no plaques in those. But you said those are the big arteries. Is there a way to test your little arteries to see if not, those are getting walked? Not that I know of. I mean, you know, the way the way. It's like it's very even the corners, there are things like the calcium score that you can check to see if you have much calcification you have in your arteries, which is in stage coronary disease there. They can do some, studies to see if there's soft plaque in there, as opposed to the heart plaque that you pick up. This corner house. That big, calcium score. Well, you don't there are not that many. Even those tests are not perfect. But we know that LDL is an independent risk factor for a cardiovascular disease, right. So for me, I chose to just bring it down and like, you know, and and not worry about it because I know that it's I have nothing to lose. I take a little statin every day, which is so funny. Like, everyone's so scared of the statins. Now, I don't get it. I don't understand, it's like, what? So was so scary about these statins. People are so afraid of these stands and like, oh, the pharmaceutical industry is making so much money off of them. That's not even true. Stands close at five bucks. No one's making money off of off of it. You get a bunch of these like, alternative medicine people online scaring you, making you feel like, you know, there is some ulterior motive, and it's not true. Like, literally if you're not taking your stance even though your doctors told you so, it's purely stupid. You know? Stupid. Yeah. Okay. For signing up for cardiovascular disease. But what about a lot of people do have bad reactions, right? Like no, not really. So not a lot of people do. Are you talking about statins in general? Statins like muscle wasting or muscle groups? No, there's no such thing as muscle wasting on statins. There are there's so much. Muscle pain and weakness. There are. They've done studies. And it's like it seems like the placebo group did the same thing as the Sutton group when it comes to muscle, musculoskeletal pain. Okay, I don't know. I have not seen it in a single patient of mine. Most of my patients have done really well on sons. I've done very well on sons. The studies don't show that there's a huge, problem with it, but I'm not saying there are zero side effects. Everything has a side effect. Driving a car has the side effects. You know, having kids has a side effect. So that one has a really huge right. That's a missed. That's right. I'm just kidding I love myself. No I don't. Oh. You're you're not wrong. Every side effect. And it's like you know if getting on a plane has a side effect. But we choose to do that even because we don't want to walk to from here to Chicago, California to Chicago, we want to ride a plane because it's like, that's a smart thing to do. But the plane could go down and crash of course, everything else but the the point is that these medications, when your doctor recommends a medication, they've already calculated the risk and benefits, and they wouldn't even give it to you if they thought that the risk, with the benefits usually as a physician, as an MD, we are trained to not use medications until absolutely necessary and when absolutely necessary, we wouldn't even give it to you if the risks outweigh the benefits, because we our number one goal is to help you and protect you and cause no harm. So by the time the doctor says to you, you need this medicine, it's because they've already calculated all the risks and benefits in their brain, and they think that the best course of treatment would be to take the medication, if that makes any sense. I mean, it does make sense, and I think that you are just such a thorough and thoughtful doctor. I'm not I mean, not everybody is as thorough and as thoughtful as you. And I think that there are a number of doctors out there that are like, okay, you're over 50, your cholesterol is high. But, you know, whatever you're going on a statin, that's there's no wiggle room. Or I mean, maybe that's just it. Maybe if you are over 50 and you have elevated cholesterol, that's it. That's standard operating procedure. Is that. Well, you have bad news for people who are listening for over 50. That's when problems start. And so age is a huge risk factor for disease. And. Right. Yeah I mean age is an independent risk factor. So if I'm seeing a patient who has like who's over 50 and has high cholesterol, we're going to have that talk. You know, I mean they may say like, no, I'm not going to do it. I'm like, right. At least I, I don't feel bad. It's something that happens. You know, I don't feel bad that I didn't say anything. I will I will tell them I don't force anyone to do anything. Obviously. Sure. Recommendations. Right. We are right. At the end of the day, you cannot treat everyone in a cookie cutter way because everyone's different. People have. Like when I'm looking at a chart, I'm looking at the history of smoking. I'm looking at the weight. I'm looking at the blood pressure. I'm looking at the cholesterol. I'm looking at their mom's history, brothers history, LP, little labs. I mean, I'm looking at a thousand things, but. So when you come to see a doctor, all of that just computed within seconds, because we've done this for 20, 30 years. Right? I've done this for 20 years. So what seems to be to somebody like who's coming like, let's just say, Lauren, you come to see me, I walk in and within seconds I say, you need a statin. It's because all of that information gets computed. Like, literally, I need 10s before I walk into the room to realize you need a son or you don't need a son, you need a colonoscopy, or you don't need a colonoscopy. So to somebody who's a layperson, who's not medically oriented, who is coming to see me, they're like, whoa, she's pushing this so hard and like, she comes in and seconds later she's telling me, I need to do this. So what I've learned to do is the finesse of medicine. This is where I sit down and I talk to my patients. I literally know what I would have done at the very ten psych first 10s of the meeting. I already knew what to do. I sit there and I talk to people for 15, 20, 30 minutes and at the end I bring it up. And literally it could have been the same result in the first five seconds, but I have to play the game. Does that make sense? Because oh yeah, 100%. It comes across so insincere. What is the formula like? Literally like you put in your age in the formula and you put in your family history, you put in your blood pressure, you put in your weight till like two seconds later, you need a stent, but, you know, you just have to. It's a delivery that's important. And a lot of patients are thinking that is insanity, because we don't have a lot of time to talk to patients anymore. Literally like like look at what's happening with UnitedHealthCare. You guys have I'm sure everyone's heard what's happening with UnitedHealthCare. Like they literally deny everything. And they they. Yeah, I have UnitedHealthCare. Well, I mean, it's like all insurances are terrible. Everything is like all insurances. It's all it's all terrible. The worst ever because I'm constantly fighting with them to get things cleared. There's a famous Doctor Potter, who, who's always online talking about this like she can't get breast cancer surgeries approved for her patients. I mean, it's it's awful what's happening, but what I'm saying is we're given such love. The cost of practice has gone up tremendously because of this. Let me inform, inflation. Yet the reimbursements have gone down so we don't have time to talk to our patients. So a lot of times when we come into a room, spit something out too quickly, it comes out extremely insincere. And I can tell you that we, all of us doctors, we mean, well, we don't want to come across that way, but sometimes we have to. We have to move fast. And it is. This is why I have the concierge practice. And, I have this option of going in. Concierge is where I charge a fee, where I don't have to solely rely on an insurer insurance to pay my bills and to put food on my employees tables, like, I have to have 12 people on my payroll. Like, I got to make sure that I make enough money. And if I had to rely on insurance, I would come across like a jerk. Come in for five minutes. You need to stand and walk out. I can't do that, you know? So that's why I'm spending like 15, 30 minutes, 45 minutes with my patients. But I also have a group of patients who choose to pay a concierge fee so I can do that. Does that make sense? Yes, yes. And you're absolutely right. I'm like fighting with United right now. You should see how much they're trying to charge me for my colonoscopy. I'm like, I thought this was preventative. And, you know, I mean, it's outrageous. Thousands of dollars. It's outrageous. I mean, you know. It's horrible there. It's horrible here around you. They don't care about your health. And a lot of patients are like, well, shouldn't they care? Because if I'm keeping myself healthy, then it prevents disease. No, they still don't care because this it statistics show that people hop on and change jobs and they change insurances all the time. So if they delay your care, they save money. And then when your health crisis happens, that can be somebody else's problem. They can be the future insurance problem. So they really have zero incentive to keep you healthy. You're right. Okay. All right I'm going to I'm going to think about the state. And you've like I said you've nobody's ever really made me think about it before. So good for you I'm thinking about it. But let's we talked about obesity and that it's just such, a cause of inflammation and disease. And, you know, now we have all these, GLP ones. What what do you think of those? And also I'm seeing this trend of microdosing those. Do you, do you think that's good or what do you think about that. So thank you for bringing up that. I'm also an obesity practitioner. I've studied obesity and I've actually dealt with obesity myself. So I'm sorry I wasn't obese, I was overweight. But but anyways, I've had this problem my whole life and so I have I'm I consider myself an awesome weight loss doctor bariatric doctor because I experienced problems. I am definitely not one of those naturally skinny people. I work on it. I work really hard at it. I eat a whole food plant based diet. I work out with a trainer and you know, and I basically want to tell you these GLP one medicines. So GLP, and GIP, these are natural hormones that produced by the gut. Actually, by the way, when you eat a high fiber diet, it helps produce more of the grip. But studies have shown that, they also bring down your hemoglobin one C and D, improve diabetes. But also that's what they were for originally, right. That's right. So we've been using a lot for like, oh I don't want to go on them because because cancer that's not true. We have 25 years of data that these medications have never been linked to cancer. No one. There was a meta analysis that these GLP one have been like in 25 studies, 25 years of studies, hundreds of studies. Literally. There is no, there's no evidence that they cause cancer. But anyway, what they do is they're cardioprotective, they're kidney protective. They protect your liver, they reverse diabetes, they bring down your blood pressure, they bring down your cholesterol. They actually prevent, dementia. I mean, wow, I literally think that I would say that antibiotics were revolutionary at the time they got introduced, because they saved a lot of lives. I think that the GOP ones are the second biggest discoveries we've had. Oh, really? Yes. And I would say like, for example, stands would be number three. But, you know, these GOP ones are awesome, awesome medicines that I have. See, I have had patients lose up to 100 pounds of weight, you know, and it's not only that they're like, I have a patient who was like who lost 100 pounds and he's like on his dirt bikes, like, you know, riding on his motorcycle, playing the drums again. You know, he can walk again. He couldn't even walk. So, so much. And like this is the power of the medications. Now you can sit there and go, oh, just eat healthy. To somebody who is genetically who has the genetics to gain weight. I mean, nobody who chooses to gain 100 pounds, like, don't tell me that that's just normal. No, it's genetics. And like a lot of these people are now walking again. You know, and they, they they're telling me, Doctor Siddiqui, that food noise is gone. But I'm not constant. Like, food doesn't just control my whole life anymore, you know, that's powerful. And so to hold that back from someone and just tell them, oh, just just just eat a salad. Just go eat a salad. No, it just doesn't work in studies. It's showing them willpower. Willpower alone doesn't work in weight loss. So anyway, I, this is why I'm so pro medications. When used appropriately, it can save lives, right? It can save lives. But anyway. Yeah. What happens? Healthy for you. And so the microdosing, there's it hasn't been studied. I wanted to talk to you about that really quick. So when you use these medications are the doses indicated for diabetes and obesity. They work. They worked like a chart. But the question is the microdosing. What does that mean anyway. Right. So for when for example, when we use the pound for weight loss, when we use Munjal for diabetes, it's at 2.5mg. Okay. When we use Wego V for weight loss, it's it starts at .25 milligrams. Or some pick. Same thing at .25 milligrams. So some people are coming and talking about microdosing. I mean that it isn't really there's no standard definition to it. And I'm assuming they mean the lowest was possible just for, you know, health, just for maintenance. You know, if that's the case, I'm all for that. Okay. It I don't know I yeah that's a good good point. Like what is the definition of microdosing. That sounds like a microdose. What you just said 0.25 or 0 two. Would you just say 0.25. Just depends on what medication. If you're using recovery, it would be for example, it's 0.25, but if you're using one zero or Zyban is 2.5 and those are, the dose is possible. So when at least this microdosing is kind of like a trend that people talk about like, right. You know, it's it's a kind of cool sounds great. Like basically, I'm assuming they mean not a high dose for someone who doesn't really need to be on a very high dose just for health reasons and, to, for maintenance reasons. It makes a lot of sense to me, you know, like, for diabetes, a lot of, studies show that five milligrams of Banjara is perfect to keep their hemoglobin in one scene. Check. And for my patients who use the found to lose weight, what we do is I try not to completely get them off or I cycle them on and off because these people have genetics, right, to gain weight again. And so if you take them off completely, sometimes they gain the weight back. You have to be very careful to, to bring it. It's like bring the dose down slowly and then and sometimes just keep them on a small dose. Now if you want to call that a micro dose fine. You know. Yeah. So you're saying that some people are will really likely have to be on this forever. Is that kind of what I'm hearing or. Well, I mean, I think it's all individualized. Like when we look at the studies, it hasn't been properly studied for that to to use it forever. What we know is that people lose weight. So you go from 2.5 step down, and the dose escalated to five, then to 7.5, then to ten, then to 12.5, then to 15, whatever. What I'm saying is there are people who go all the way up, and then they lose 70, 80 to 100 pounds. And then if you get them off really quick, that could be a recipe for disaster. So you have to be very careful and teach them lifestyle modifications. This is when I marry evidence based medicines and the use of these powerful medications with lifestyle and integrating. I called my institute Institute of Plant Based Medicine because we focus heavily on nutrition, not as medicine, but as combination with evidence based medicine. We bridge the gap between Western medicine and a healthy lifestyle. And so I help my patients eat more a more plant based so they can still eat volumes of food. But it's plant based foods, right? You know, like I teach my patients, portion control doesn't work. If I give you a block of cheese this big, like tiny block of cheese that's like 500 calories, or you could eat like a huge meal of salad that's 500 calories. So, like portions the size of the portion doesn't matter how calorically rich something is, is matter. So I teach people how to eat, so hopefully I can either get them off of the medicine, however way possible, if possible at all. But if they can't, then there's no shame. Some people choose to steal on a small dose to prevent weight gain, and there's nothing wrong with that, honestly. Okay, I mean, yeah, you know, I wanted to have you on because I respect what you're saying. It is different than a lot of the guests that I have on, and I feel like it's good to explore all the options. I feel like you're, like I said, a very thoughtful, educated person. And, you know, it's just good to, to hear these different ideas. And then, you know, I like how you married the two. The evidence based and. For bringing this up, because I feel like a lot of us vegans are going too far and actually hurting ourselves. I mean, do you know how many vegans I see vs colon cancer and and osteoporosis and heart disease? I mean, we're going to start dying off doing worse, having worse outcomes than people who are into evidence based medicine. And why should we do that? I mean, that's where I went as a vegan, as an ethical vegan. Believe me, nothing would make me more happy than to sit here and say, like, as long as you're vegan, you're fine. You don't even need to go to the doctor. But the reality is that vegans are dying of diseases as well. And as a vegan, I want to make sure that my fellow vegans are healthier than everybody else. So medications are powerful and sometimes needed. Mammograms are important to prevent breast cancer, but not to prevent, but to detect. Detect breast cancer as early. So you can't prevent breast cancer by doing mammograms. But if you can detect a lesion as early as possible, colonoscopy can actually prevent colon cancer because you're removing these polyps that are not cancer. So there's a different some screening tests prevent cancer, some screening tests detect cancer early on. And in my opinion, it's stupid not to do that. Like why? Why not why not prevent things or detect things earlier? And of course we bridge the gap and we bring in Mary, this whole food plant based diet and exercise and, lifestyle medicine. Really, it's actually like some as was I also talk to my patients about not drinking and not smoking. You know, you could eat vegan all you want, but if you're smoking, you're you're going to screw something up. It's not good. No. Okay. What what's your best piece of advice for aging? Well. Good question, good question. But there's nothing really proven to be purely anti-aging. You know, like to reverse disease. There are some very limited studies that if you eat a high fiber diet, you can increase your telomere, size. Like, that's. The little that's the little things on the end of your, your DNA. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. So there is something called anti-aging and there's something called age management. Right. So you want to stay healthy and youthful and energetic and young as long as possible, right. Isn't that everybody's goal? Like that's my goal. I was looking for a long. And be healthy. And I want to, like, be able to hike at age 90, right? That's the goal. So what do you do? The older I've gone and the more research I've done, I've realized that there's nothing truly anti-aging to reverse your age. You can't. But what's what's more appropriate to say is age management meaning aging well and staying by a keeping your biological age younger while your actual, chronological age goes up. And there are some very limited studies that show that, eating a plant based diet, you can actually lengthen your telomeres. I don't know, I'm not 100% convinced yet. These are limited studies. I think this story has to develop even more before we can really talk about it. It's communication, but each management is key. So my advice eat a whole food plant based diet. Don't obsess over your protein. I personally eat only 30g of protein per day because certain amino acids are linked to aging, right? Like methionine. And this seems so if you're eating a whole if we can this diet and you don't obsess over your protein, by the way, let me calculate how much protein I actually need. I'm not an athlete. Right. So I have my calculator here. I'm 107 pounds. Divide that by 2.2. 48kg times 0.8. It's 38g. This is how much protein I need for health. And literally, actually that's a generous amount of protein I need. So how do you calculate that? Can you just tell me. Again through is you take your weight in pounds so I'm okay a pounds divided by two. You intend to divide the weight. Your weight divided by 2.2. Yeah. Your weight divided by one. Two tells you how many kilograms you are. Kilograms. Okay, well, I that 5.8. And so for me it's 38, grams of protein that I need to eat per day. And that's actually the maximum. The minimum would be even lower. And also this calculation is very generous. So if you have a high body, fat. So what you would do is subtract it. So for example, if you are, if you, if you're 300 pounds and if you go 300 divided by 2.2, that's 136g times point eight, that's 109g of protein. That's actually too much protein. So would you want to eat the the protein has to be, 8.8g per kilograms of lean body mass. Okay. So if I wanted to be a purist, what I would do is I would take 107. Times, 15% body fat. That's 16 pounds of body fat, right? So what I would do is I would go 107 -16. That's my lean body mass is 91, pounds divided by 2.2. That's 41kg times point eight. That's 33g. So I need 33g to about 40 whatever grams of protein. Any more than that, you're basically not eating enough fiber and you're eating too much protein, which can, lead to, aging unless you're eating a whole food plant based diet, which is a little bit different than eating animal protein, because the amino acid profile is different and the amino acid profile for the gut microbiome, it's very healthy to eat a predominant diet because there's a there is less sulfur producing amino acids. So if you want to stay hot and sexy and youthful as you age in your 50s, like I want to look like Jane Fonda when I'm maybe, you know, that's my. So then what? What you would do is don't obsess over your protein. Eat a whole food plant based diet high in fiber. Don't listen to the fitness industry. The fitness industry is dictated by bodybuilders. I don't want to look like a bodybuilder. Do you want to look like a bodybuilder? Lauren. No, not. No. We are not going on stage and lifting like we don't want to look shredded. Let's not like a bodybuilder. We want to look like beautiful, healthy women with muscle mass. Right? Skinny fit, but not bulky either. So all you need, trust me, is that much protein that we calculated. That's all you need. And then, you know, if you do more, if you go out of your way to eat more protein, then you cut down on the fiber and the fruits and vegetables, and that's not good. So eat a balanced diet. And that to me is my biggest advice as far as age management is concerned. So food this is where you could really, really get into this whole food as prevention and, you know, keeping healthy. Right. My other advice is don't drink. There is no safe levels of alcohol. You know that. I'll just drink one glass of wine a day. Terrible idea. I mean, I want to go for it, but it's not good for you. Just realize that one glass a day is terrible for you. Number three, do not smoke. I think that's the worst thing you could do to your body. One of the worst things you can do to your body. My fourth advice. So first is diet. Don't smoke, don't drink. I would say exercise. Exercise. And not just cardio. I'm talking about weight resistance exercises. That's very, very important. And my first advice is use hormones, bioidentical hormones for age management to prevent osteoporosis, to, to sleep well, because sleep is very, very important for our health. And without that estrogen, I don't know about you. I can't sleep well. So I think hormones are important for good sleep hygiene and, not just hygiene. So for good sleep and also keeping our bones, healthier, and I probably have more, but those are the top five. I mean, that sounds like good ones. I, do you do. You brought up hormones, and I'm. Yeah. This is crazy. I'm 57 years old. I'm still like, perimenopausal. Maybe just now, starting to have irregular periods and do you believe in, like, birth control for for going through perimenopause or menopause or straight to the bio? I use my I put my patients on bioidentical hormones. During these times of, you know, when they're having these irregular periods and they're having hot flashes and insomnia once they become symptomatic and everything, I use bioidentical hormones. They don't have to be fully in menopause. I think it's important to support the whole, hot flushes and the menopausal symptoms. Birth control pills, I don't think are a good idea for people, our age, because I think a lot of the women, and I what I did is I got an individual operation at age 50 to stop my periods, because I, you know, if you're not going to have kids. And, you know, the only regret I have is that I didn't do this sooner. Like, I should have taken an endometrial ablation ten years ago. Because if you're not going to have babies, why have periods like doesn't make sense. So they go and zap the individual lining of your, uterus. And you don't have periods anymore. So you don't have to have this dysfunctional, periods where, you know, during menopause, as you know, just becomes so erratic. And I don't have time for this. Okay. Well, I mean, I'm not having any symptoms or anything, so I don't know. I, you know, we might disagree on some of those things because I feel like that's getting a I don't know, for me, I feel like you're interfering with Mother Nature by doing that. But I get it, okay? And I'm here since. You bring a good point. But what do you trust? Nature 100%. Yeah. I mean, not, I mean, 100%. That's, you know, I guess it's hard to say because, you know, but I don't know. Is nature making mistakes? Feels like. Well, how many times? What is Pete, do you see cancer every day? I mean, yeah, you're right, you're right. Richard. Nature natural is not perfect. Nature is not perfect. Okay, you obviously you don't want to go, like, mess the things if it's if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Right, right. But when nature makes a mistake, you intervene. Like, God forbid, if you had breast cancer, would you be like, well, it was nature's way of killing me. Let it go. No, I. Mean, you're. Right. Yes. We'll look at that. Another thing is, like 200 years ago, you and I would not even have this conversation because both of us would be dead. Statistically speaking, that's nature for you. So why would you want to? Why would you not want to use technology to your advantage? Okay. I think we differ a little bit on on some things, but, well, I still love to. Yes, I'm willing to understand what you mean. I mean, You know what? I just, I think, I just interviewed these people. The episode has an air jet, but they were talking about the. They did a documentary, and it's on, the matriarchy and how women used to lead post-menopausal and that, you know, we medicalized menopause a lot now, whereas people used to go through menopause and that people weren't dying in the numbers that we think they were, because you know, anyway, so I just had this conversation. So I'm kind of that's still fresh in my mind. And, you know, I don't know, for me, I feel like it's a balance. I do want to treat the things that you're right that could probably kill me, or that are really bothersome to me. But I don't feel like I need to treat and medicalized every single thing. Maybe that's maybe where I'm coming. I mean, that's, you know, you may say, like, you know what? I'm going to take my clothes to the dry cleaner and let them dry clean my clothes. But I'm going to, wash my floors myself. I don't want to hire a maid to do that for me. So, like, you're picking and choosing what you want to do. That's. That's a personal decision. Of course, you don't have to medicalized everything. I, I totally respect that. But I have women who can't sleep at night without their like, right. Literally. And some people cruise through it. But I would be sitting in the room talking to a patient, and I would break into this cold sweat like literally visibly dripping sweat and I would go outside and, you know, my my medical systems are very young and like, why is it so hot in here? And I look at all of them, they're wearing jackets and coats of home. And I'm like, I'm embarrassed because I'm like, I don't want to live like that. And I, I was sure, you know, 3 or 4 times a night to use the restroom because, you know, I would key four times a night. And did I realize when I went on hormone therapy, I was like, oh my God, it wasn't that I had to pee. It's just that I would wake up and I'd go pee because I would wake up. It wasn't because I had to, because I would go pee and a little bit of urine would come out. But when I would wake up and with my poor sleep, I would get that sensation of peeing. So, you know, I believe me, everyone's happier since my sleep got better. Yeah. Yes. I don't think anybody should suffer needlessly. I also am there. So. Yes. Okay. That's why you can never be a cookie cutter decision like we should. Not women what to do with their bodies. We should not force. We shouldn't shame them. Like somebody shames me for using hormone therapy. I would have a problem with that. I would feel like especially a man, if they put like they told me, like, oh, you know, you know, you you 200 years ago didn't use hormones and oh, shut up. Like, don't talk to me. Right. You have no right to do. No, I. Agree, so. I agree. Personal decision. Every woman should make that decision themselves and we shouldn't shame anyone. And like you said, you may not want to wash dishes, but you want to wash your floors. That's up to you. You know, you may, you know, want to ride a bicycle and not have a car, but that doesn't mean if you want to travel to China, you want to ride a boat. Everything. Every day we wake up in the morning and we make decisions for ourselves. And you just have to like, like. But but as an expert, my job is to, to help patients understand their options. Does that make sense? It's not. Of course, if you want to use medications, it's not to force anyone to do a colonoscopy. Here's the statistics, here's the evidence. And I want you to make the most educated decision you can make. You know. Yes, I think that's wonderful. And I and I'm so glad that you you came on to talk to us about it. And, I really appreciate your knowledge and and your passion and, and all the things you. Thank you given us a lot to think about. Doctor. I want to tell you, you are brilliant. And this is one of the best interviews I've done, because I really like the other vegan interviewees. You know, you're so open minded and. Oh, yeah, you know. Thank you. I want to bring the information to the people and and let them think about it. I mean, like I said, I'm thinking about it. Am I jumping on a stand today? No, but I've definitely thought about it. And like I said, I'm trying some other things and, you know, I'll let you know. I'll let you know how I feel. Good for you. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate you my pleasure. Claire. Wonderful talking to you. YouTube. Bye bye. Bye. Thanks for listening, friend. From my heart to yours. Be well until we meet again.