Ben Root on Jews in the Lou (Full Episode)

Ben Root joins Alex Rich on this week's episode of Jews in the Lou.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I mean, you know, listen, if you've had a colonoscopy, so if you've if you've done the prep, right, you know, which is not fun, but it's just a lot of and it's not as dirty of a job as you think. Right, but uh if if people do their job, then I don't even see a back of poo.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Hey guys, Alex Rich. Ben Paremba. Hey, we are excited to let you know that we have episodes of our podcast, Jews in the Loo, dropping every other week, and you're not gonna want to miss. We have some great guests lined up.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Amazing. And while I have you, I want to thank the St. Louis Jewish Light for their incredible partnership and support of our podcast, uh, the St. Louis Jewish Light doing amazing work for our community, uh keeping us informed, uh uh with stories, with updates.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Um visit stljuwishlight.org, subscribe to their newsletter, they'll keep you up to date on everything going on.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Absolutely. Well, see you soon.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Oh, you're cool, dude. Honestly, if it rings and you gotta answer it, answer it. All good. You're a doctor?

SPEAKER_00 0:58

My wife's out of town. She's in Napa with my mom and my sister. Is that right? Um parenting.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Yeah, how'd you get suckered in?

SPEAKER_00 1:04

I don't know, man. My mom's turning 70 uh on Saturday. How about that? Yeah. That's are you from St. Louis? I am, yeah. Born and raised.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Ben Root. Ben Root. Okay, yeah. So you're born and raised. Where'd you go to high school? To Clayton. Went to Clayton High School. It's like you gotta obviously ask those questions.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

I know. Well, everybody says it's a St. Louis thing, but everybody asks that everywhere. Yeah, it's so funny. My wife's from New Jersey, and they uh, you know, anytime she meets somebody from New Jersey, I just wait for them to ask each other where they went to high school. And then I'm like, so you can't make fun of us for asking that.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

I mean you're asking that too. I know people say we are crazy, like you said, but how in I mean, I guess how do you not like if you're from the same city? Yeah, if you meet somebody from the same city, exactly, how are you not curious where they went to high school? And you learn a lot about somebody when you know where they where they grew up with the high school. And I know that St. Louis, like we say it's a St. Louis thing, but yeah, like you like it tells it's not like other cities like where a person lived doesn't tell a little bit about the person.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

I mean, so I see your I see your Indiana family. I want to I went to Michigan. Okay. Big chat guy.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

I'll take it. Congratulations if you're congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

I know. I'm just glad we got ours before you guys got yours, dude.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

It's still crazy though, right? Unbelievable. I uh I actually met a guy last week and uh we were chatting, and he was like a big Texas AM fan, and I'm like, oh, I'm an I went to Indiana or whatever, and he's like uh he's like, Congratulations. And I like for a second, it took it it took me a second to figure out like why he was congratulating me. And I'm like, oh my god, dude, we won the national championship.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Yes, because it's what a year. What a year, dude. I was there. Were you? I went down to it was awesome. I know. I regret not going to uh when Michigan won. Oh man, dude. It was one of those things where it's like I knew that like first of all, it's the first one, nobody expected it. I had to go. So like if I don't ever get to go to another one, like I've at least been to the first one and they won and it was awesome. Incredible. So, but you from here, did you go to Wash U or where I didn't?

SPEAKER_00 3:09

I left. Uh so I grew up in Clayton. Okay. Uh I went to Clayton schools, Clayton High School, and then I went to Michigan uh undergrad. Okay. Took a year off. Uh, then I went to Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. So I was in Philly for four years, and then I did my training in New York City.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Okay, cool. So yeah. So we thought obviously you and I chatted, we got some mutual friends. You're one of your new partners, is someone I went to high school with. Dr. Gosh. So it tells a lot, like there's just other ways, obviously, to connect with people here. But it's March, and we were talking a little bit. It's what colon cancer awareness. Colon cancer awareness month. And you are a GI doctor. I'm a gastroenterologist, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

GI doctor. Um, and colon cancer is uh currently the second leading uh killer in terms of cancer death. Um, and it it that's in the general population.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Is that is that uh second behind birth lung cancer?

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Yeah. Um because most and most of those are older people. Actually, a recent study came out showing that it is now the number one uh cause of cancer death in uh people younger than 50. Colon cancer.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

You're hearing more and more about is there, I guess I I guess I I I I mean you tell us, is there something in your opinion that ties more to that? Is it the things we're eating, the drinking?

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Like what Yeah, so we're seeing this generational increased risk. The uh incidence of colon cancer uh is increasing about three percent every year in people younger than 50. Okay. You know, and this is in contrast to uh the older population where where uh colon cancer incidence has been decreasing pretty precipitously since uh colonoscopy and colon cancer screening has been part of uh, you know, the guidelines. Uh we don't know exactly why, um, but there must be some exposure uh uh that uh this generation has had uh that is increasing our risk.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Do you think more people are just getting checked? Is that a part of it? Or is that is that not I mean, I guess you're still gonna have the same cases because at some point they're gonna end up going to a doctor anyway.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Well we're seeing so we're seeing uh you know mortality increase in younger patients too. So yeah, we are finding it more, but at the you know, our goal in in colon cancer screening is to find it uh either when it's early, or really when it comes to colonoscopies, finding polyps which are pre-cancerous growth so we can remove them long before they become anything of how um are there like symptoms or things that like start to show where either a you should get a colonoscopy whether you know I we were just talking about it, like honestly, had this pain in my side and it was just like one of those things to rule other things out, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

But you go in there and if they do find something, you're glad that they found it. Exactly, you know, and um it's not as bad as it's it's really not bad like people think it is. No, the worst part's drinking the stuff before. Yeah, that's what we always say. The preface.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

But uh, yeah, so you know, the the guidelines are are the recommendation now is everybody should get a colonoscopy or do some sort of colon cancer screening uh at age 45. Okay. That's the general population recommendation. Um, and that includes colonoscopy, which is gold standard, and the you know, I do them all day every day. And the reason why we believe that they are the best tests is again, we not only find uh if there are polyps uh which are precancerous growth, obviously cancer, but we're able to remove those polyps and it sort of almost resets everything. And then we that puts you on a uh whether it's seven years or five years, uh, or three years or a year, depending on the number of polyps, types of polyps, um, size of polyps, and then your family history. Okay. And then in terms of family history, uh, if you do have a family member, a first-degree family member with colon cancer, it's recommended to get screened at 10 years younger than they were when they were diagnosed, or at age 40. Okay. So and there are lots of other reasons for colonoscopy. Right. You devel develop any symptoms like changes in your bowel habits or persistent abdominal pain that won't go away, uh, unexplained weight loss, bleeding with with bowel movement. Um, these are just a few uh reasons that we really shouldn't ignore, regardless of your age, because of uh of of the incidence, uh increasing incidence of colon cancer.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Right. Yeah, it's crazy, man. Yeah, how how um have you did you always know you wanted to be at least a doctor? Or how did this like journey go for you?

SPEAKER_00 7:57

So I grew up in a family of doctors.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Because I always honestly wish, and I I don't mean to cut you off, like I always I always tell people like I still don't really know all the way what I want to do, but like yeah, I think that doctors and I think that like lawyers a lot of the times or like vets or whatever, like you guys have a passion for something, and like you that's what you do, like that's your thing. Like I just people ask me what I do. I don't really know, like I do a million different things, right? So I think that yeah, I think it's awesome, a that you're a doctor, but like you that you have that passion to to focus on that one field, and like that's becomes your career.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Yeah, I mean, and it is a lot of work that goes into it. Um, but I I was raised in a family of docs. Okay. Uh both my grandfathers were physicians, my both my parents are physicians, um, and now my brother is a physician. Me. And so I always said that I uh I I I was going to be pre-med or go down that road until I figured something else that I liked better. Right. And here I am. Um I can't remember what family family gatherings. Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of poop talk. Uh and I is everybody a GI? No. Okay. We're all over the place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, but uh yeah, it it it it's funny looking back on it, it feels inevitable, but you know, I really was I saw the life that my parents, you know, provided us, and I also saw that they were happy and they you know helped people and it it always seemed like a um like a really nice uh you know thing to do with your life. You never really wake up and say, you know, what you know, is what I'm doing worth it, worthwhile. There were times during training where I mean dude, I can't really hated it.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

So you joke like a lot of poop talk, but like that's part of the job. Like it's great. You're an ass doctor. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, and we can say that on this. Yeah, don't forget the mouth and everything in between. Everything in between. But does that ever like does that ever like come back to you where it's like you're you're dealing with that type of like thing all day? Not all day, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

It is funny. I mean, you know, listen, if you've had a colonoscopy, so if you've if you've done the prep, right, you know, which is not fun, but it's just a lot of fun. And it's not as dirty of a job as you think, right? But if if people do their job, then I don't even see a speck of poop. So so that's a PSA to the listener. Yeah, yeah. Do your prep, please. Prep's hard, though. I'm telling you, the prep is hard. I that it is, it's not fun. Um, yeah, dude, that's hilarious. But it's usually not as bad as people think. And then you come in, hard parts over, you get a nice nap. You get a nice nap you go home, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

You get a nice nap. I'm sure you hear some like you hear some stuff when people are waking up. People are some people are yeah, I've had some interesting, uh, yeah, interesting dreams. Yeah, yeah. Is that what you would call it? A dream if you're yeah, propofol.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Usually we use propofol. So it's a nice uh it's a nice sleep. You're breathing on your own, and and you know, you people dream. People do say they dream pretty pretty vividly.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Yeah, but it's so quick.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Yeah, but things like that. How long? But the whole process is what about colonoscopy usually takes about 15 minutes or so. That's it, 20 minutes. Yeah, depends. I mean, sometimes it can take longer. Uh if it's but that's why it feels like you only slept for like a few minutes.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

You really did only sleep for about I had no idea, honestly, but like I don't think that's not something I came out. Was like, how long were we were we doing this thing for?

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Not really that long.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Um family full of doctors. So um, and you're Jewish, you am Jewish, raised with a Jewish family, both parents Jewish.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Yeah, both parents were Jewish. My um dad was Jewish by name only, if you will. You know, he grew up in uh Forest Hills, Queens in New York. Okay. Um father was a psychoanalyst in Manhattan, uh, but he was never bar mitzvah. Okay. Uh my mom grew up in St. Louis. Okay. Uh she bar mitzvah really kind of took the reins on raising us Jewish. Um we yeah, grew up uh we went to BSKIs as kids, and you know, I was bar mitzvah along with my siblings. Um and um yeah, that's that's that was our Jewish journey. We're uh I have two uh year and a half old boys, uh twin boys, oh wow, who we are going to be raising Jewish. My wife's Catholic or you know, mine's yeah, see yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Mine Ben's too.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Yeah, so it's not like uh it's not I mean uncommon anymore, but we're kind of in the same boat. Like when we're trying to have kids, yeah. Like we want that Jewish tradition. Is that like she didn't fight you on that at all?

SPEAKER_00 12:43

No, she really didn't. I mean, neither of us are particularly religious. Uh-huh. Um uh but I you know, my when I think about my sort of identity, sure, you know, Judaism. Being Jewish is is, you know, right up there at the top. Yeah. So um and I think she really kind of took to that and has been great uh when you know with Passover coming up. She's always, you know, right there uh helping my mom and uh you know prepare for the Seder and and things like that. So she's gotten really into it. Um the only concession I had to make was Christmas. Christmas is fine. I I never like Christmas. I I do too. I love the tree. I I I'm not totally trying to. The tree is the really is nice in the house.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Honestly, if somebody could come set it up and take it down and deal with all that. We gotta take on. It's amazing. And you guys do the tree. Yeah, we do the tree. Uh the music's bad. The Christmas music. Yeah, it gets old. It's it's not great. It gets old. It's not great. Um there's a few classics that are like, yeah, but they start getting stuck in your head playing over and over again. Um so no, that's that's I mean, that's exactly kind of how my wife is too. Like, it's just something about like she totally gets into like all the holidays, she'll like help with the cooking of like Jewish recipes. She makes my wife makes a great matzo ball soup that she figured out. Um what more can you ask for? Totally. And Christmas, you know, it's like it actually works out great because my family's not my family doesn't need to see us on Christmas. Right, so right, right. You have nice. There's no fighting over it. And we get Thanksgiving, so uh, you know, I'll take that. It's perfect. Yeah. But um what was I gonna ask you? Oh, was there something like about was there something like when you how did you and your wife meet?

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Uh we were working at the same hospital in New York. Oh, that's right. She's a doctor. So she's a nurse practitioner. Okay. So she works in um, she's a women's health uh NP. She was in um GYN oncology. Sure. Uh at we were at Memorial Sloan Kettering uh in New York. Okay. And she was a nurse practitioner in the hospital, and I was a cranky first year fellow, and she was calling consults, and I was probably not the nicest on the phone. Yeah. So, you know, we uh and we were both working one Christmas together and kind of started hanging out. We became friends for a while. Um the rest is history. A real hospital. It really is.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

I know. It's like uh I watch the pit right now. Yeah, I'm watching the pit a lot, which like I say that to doctors, and they're all like kind of laugh. I can't, I can't do it. But is it because is it real? Is it realistic in your mind? Is it unrealistic? Like I know you're not an ER. I haven't watched a lot of it.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

I have a hard time watching any medical dramas just because I have I can't let myself enjoy it. I get it. I just pick it apart, yeah, whether that's fair or not. My wife gets mad at me. She likes it. It's understandable. Yeah, I also don't need any more medicine when I go home.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

I was gonna say I like to get kind of get away from it. Get away from it a little bit, but no, I've been watching it, but it's like it's funny. You guys meet in the hospital and you're married. That was real. The real the real love story. Was there um what I was gonna ask was was there something like that she saw through your time together that when you did have kids, it was like I want to raise our I'm good raising our kids Jewish. I know you said neither of you guys were like super religious, right? But was there something about like your family? Because I do feel like there's I do feel like there's a like something with Jewish family bond that look at the end of the day, it's like the Jewish boys and their mothers, like we get it. Like it's real, there is a bond, there is something there that you just can't really explain now, whether it's all the time like healthy or not, you know. Like we don't, yeah, we don't need that. We don't need to get into that, yeah. But but there's something there. Is there something that your wife like that stuck out?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Yeah, I mean, my family's super close. We um, you know, we we moved back to St. Louis about five years ago. My sister has since moved back to St. Louis. My brother's getting married in April. He him and his fiance are moving back in uh uh July. Um and so you know that we've have this draw uh to obviously St. Louis and with our family. And I think a lot of that you know stems from that sense of of of of family in the Jewish tradition. Uh and obviously we use our Jewish holidays and our you know Jewish foods and you know, to you know, just as an excuse to hang out uh and enjoy each other. Uh and so I think that you know she's seen that over the years and and it really, you know, it it was uh it was an easy decision uh to to come back here. I did I let her know very early on. I said, you know, when I'm done with training, I love New York, but uh I'm I'm moving back to City.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

A non-negotiable did you um I mean did you ever like did you personally ever consider that you would have like raised children that weren't Jewish?

SPEAKER_00 17:52

I don't think I I don't think I ever thought about it. Because for me it was like it's just no, it's I don't know I I just don't it's it's my and and again my wife gets upset with me, but I have this block even on Christmas. Yeah, you know, for my whole life, it was not for me. Right, you know, this was and and also part of my identity became well, Christmas isn't for me. Right. And so I'm the guy You're like the hater of the exactly, and I you know, yeah, and and and so I'm trying to break that for the sake of my marriage.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Oh, it's Christmas, like a little bit. I think I kind of do at times too, but then you like you do experience it and it is it's oh it's very it's lovely. It's a love, it really is it's yeah, it's yeah, it's cozy, everybody like whether people like hanging out with their family or not, you do there's something about it where like everybody else is doing it, everybody else is with their family that day, and like look, growing up and like going bowling or to a movie or like Chinese food in a movie, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Like that's all but also Chinese food in a movie, like that's an unbelievable night.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

It's an unbelievable night. And I think there's a lot of uh people that do just celebrate Christmas that aren't Jewish that yeah, that's part of like their family traditions anyway. It's incredible. Um, do you guys have like uh family traditions that stuck out to you that you grew up with that are important for like you to pass down to your kids and like now do with your family? Jewish or it doesn't even need to be a Jewish like uh tradition.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Yeah, um you know we we do holidays big. Um Thanksgiving's always been our biggest holiday. We've uh uh done Thanksgiving with our extended family and then um one of my best friends families that's in the state we were in when I was in sixth grade. Yeah. Usually about a 30 person, you know, Thanksgiving that starts around five and then you know has before children used to end at two, three in the morning. Uh and so, you know, it it really I I think our you know, I don't know if we have any other particular um uh I'm sure somebody's I'm sure I'm gonna I'm blanking on one, but I think it at the end of the day what we value is spending time with our family. Uh we do we do salmon Tuesday. So my parents my parents come over every since we've had kids, so you know, just to help with the kids and put help them put them to sleep and you know make us a meal. So we do salmon Tuesday every Tuesday. They come over to our house. Uh I don't know. It just just that's how that's what worked out. Who um salmon. Every Tuesday. Yeah, I was a little wary of it at first, but it's are you a big fish guy? Um, yeah. I mean, I'm just you know, big food guy in New York. Dan's favorite food group is fatty fish. I think I saw I I heard you say that on the last one. Fatty fish, dude. I'm like, that sounds disgusting. I it sounds amazing. So you know, you're like a like a fatty tuna, you know. You have that palette where that's like sounds great.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

I'll you know, yeah. That's how I mean salmon. No, I think I think I mean, look, it's who's making salmon? You're my dad. Your dad's my dad.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

My dad's out on the grill making salmon. Grilled salmon. Grilled salmon, different, you know, uh toppings.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

We'll do like a barbecue or a very variations of the salmon. Yeah. Might be the most interesting, like weekly family.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

It's our weekly family tradition.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

It's like you hear about people doing a weekly family meal where like they're getting together weekly, but you guys are doing like the same, and there's no like meaning to that. It's just like what if what if one Tuesday everybody's just like, I'm not feeling like does somebody speak up?

SPEAKER_00 21:25

It hasn't happened yet. Our kids are a year and a half, but uh I at some point we're gonna break the cycle, and I I don't want to be the guy to do it.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Yeah, so you like you guys are big locks people, like locks on the bagel, big locks, bagel locks, would that ever be something like dinner between bagels and locks?

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Uh oh.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

It's mostly a brunch thing, wouldn't you say? Oh, for sure. But I think you know, if like sometimes you're feeling breakfast for dinner. I didn't know if that ever slides into it.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Love a bre love a breakfast for dinner, but I I feel like that's you know, it has its space, you know, uh a a Saturday, Sunday morning. Yeah, yeah. Kind of thing. Um, yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

It's great. I think we try to go to like my parents' house or like we try to see parents. Well, would you say like your parents, you talk to one of them like every single day?

SPEAKER_00 22:16

We we tag, we have a family, we're very, a very active family. You tag the chat every yeah, every day. Oh, yeah, people are sending pictures of our kids and things like that. Yeah. Um, I mean, before kids, you know, I would probably talk to my mom a couple times a week. I'd probably talk to my my dad always would be like, I don't, I don't, I don't want to, I don't, I don't want to interrupt your life. I'm like, just call me.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

See, that's kind of how I am. My mom always seems to call me. I'm like, she's like, you're always busy. I'm like, well, you call me in the middle of like work days, right? Like, what like maybe try me at like yeah, I don't know, seven, seven, eight o'clock at night or something, or whatever. Shoot me a text, that's cool too, you know. For sure. But I do find that um I talk to my parents more than I hear that most of my non-Jewish friends I think it is uh yeah communicate with I think I think the Jewish son, Jewish mother uh connection is real. Yeah, and I know I might be outing myself a little bit, but it's definitely it's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

I mean, uh, we're so lucky to have others who we can confide in and and feel comfortable talking about talking to on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Do you uh do you watch the show uh Nobody Wants This? Uh I saw the first season. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

I would just the second season.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Um you're not a rabbi, you're a doctor. Um really, that's kind of where I'm thinking. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Um, but uh it was it was good. It was it was entertaining. I enjoyed it. Yeah. Uh a little bit of the of the uh you think the mom was outdone though? She was a little she was a little too mean. I would agree. A little, but I don't know, maybe that's the coastal, you know, maybe our Midwest mothers are.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Well you I mean you were you were in New York for some time, did you? How was that experience? Um how was like the Jewish experience in New York different for you than the Jewish experience here in St. Louis?

SPEAKER_00 24:10

I I think that I always love New York because of how out in the open Judaism is. It always like makes me feel sort of proud to be a Jew because it is so it is on every, you know, every block you'll see a uh a Jewish star. Uh and the the food and the culture is so out in the open. Right. And it's really, really heartwarming. I mean, it's funny. Every time I drive down Wideown and I see the star of David on the Pratzels uh deli sign, I'm always like, yeah, like we still we got it. It makes you proud. Yeah, it's great. And so I think that that's something that I I've always loved about New York City.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Yeah. I um I completely agree with you. There's something about like, look, especially we never like get political or anything like that, but I think it is important, and that's one reason we have these conversations and do this show is um to just let people know that obviously it is always good to be prideful about being Jewish. And it's um it's been interesting for me, like, especially with my wife not being Jewish, and this, you know, I don't know if you kind of have the same experience, but um it's kind of opened her eyes to like the inside of the actual amount of realistically, like the amount of shit that Jews are given, you know, in any certain circumstance, like throughout history, or maybe you're like you're the stray to a joke that somebody feels like making or whatever. And um, but it's it's crazy because I think that like it has opened my wife's eyes to seeing like, wow, there's a lot more that goes on. Because if you're not Jewish, you really like, you know, obviously we deal with a lot of mainstream news and things that people hear, but like that's only what's on the national news, like that's only what people hear. Like, you know, a lot of people don't have those personal experiences, but um how has that been in your like in in your case as well?

SPEAKER_00 26:10

You know, I will say, you know, whether or not it's just something that I don't internalize, I feel like I've been lucky to not be, you know, uh necessarily targeted um with anti-Semitic comments. For sure. Um, you know, I I have a I think I have a fairly uh good sense of humor about myself. And you know, that's one thing that Jews do better than anybody else is make fun of ourselves. And so part of that, you know, it is is our coping mechanism, uh, which I think I think is healthy. Um, but uh, but um at the end of the day, you know that anti-Semitism has been, you know, either bubbling under the surface or um or you know, unfortunately, as of late, even more out in the open. And and it is something that um, you know, we really need to be, you know, aware of and and and you know, make sure we take care of each other. And you know, it is something that I worry a little bit about uh with my kids growing up. I mean, we gave one of my kids a Hebrew name, his name's Zev. Um I love that. Yeah, uh means wolf. And do you guys have wolf? Oh yeah, dude. Yeah, hell yeah. Yeah. Um so you know, it's something we thought about, yeah, you know, in in in this day and age, but at the end of the day, we felt like it was more important to kind of you know follow our hearts and and and be proud.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Yeah. Do you have family that's is your either like your parents from Israel at all or no? Nope. No. That's cool. So how did you decide you like wanted to uh go with a Jewish name like that?

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Uh well, we were trying to name so you know, we've twin boys, and it's hard enough to name one. Yeah. So we had to name two at a time, and so we wanted to um name after, you know, our our our some family members who have passed. Yep. Uh so we wanted to name one B name. So we named our our our boy Bowen. Bowen. Bowen. Uh and then we wanted to name uh after one of my wife's great aunts, uh Zdenka, um, a nice Czech woman. Okay. I was gonna say where's that? Yeah. Uh how what was the name? Zdenka.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

Zdenka. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

So with a Z.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Like a Z D?

SPEAKER_00 28:23

I I think so. Zidanka. Yeah, we'll have to get back to you on that. Yeah. Um, but uh we were trying to figure out it was really hard finding Z names. Uh and actually we were at uh uh her her family lives in West Palm Beach, Florida. We were at a Cardinal Spring training game when she was pregnant. We were doing these there's like an app, like a Tinder for uh for baby names, and we were doing that and we were striking out, and then uh I think I I don't remember if it was me or or or my brother-in-law was was Googling Z names, uh Hebrew names, and uh then Zev came up and we were like, we love it. It's cool, it's great. It's cool for sure. And it's yeah, and uh, you know, it's supposed to be about loyalty and strength, and um you know, we'll we'll see. Is that so does he have a different Hebrew name then?

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Or uh No, that'll that'll be that translates. Yeah, yeah. Really? Yeah, but we we have So was the other one given a Hebrew name? Not yet.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

We have to we have to yeah. Or how old you said? They're a year and a half. So we they should.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

And you just have the just the tip. Okay, any more in your future? Absolutely not. Oh, you're done with two. Absolutely. Honestly, you hit the you kind of hit the jackpot. Yeah, twins is um it's a lot, but it's it's fun. Yeah, and you but you only do it once, like right.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

I mean, we we had we we're we're both a little bit older. Who doesn't like a two for one? Right, it was incredible, you know. Uh well what it wasn't that incredible when she told me. And she said, I have she's so she's in fertility medicine, so she was doing ultrasounds at her at her work. Uh, and uh so she called me and she said, she said, I have I have good news and I have other news. Uh and and then she told me there were two news. Not even not bad news. Not bad news. No. We were, you know, it was just other news. Took a minute to get oh, yeah. We we had gotten to the point where where we were okay with one and you know uh that that would be great. Yeah. And um, but I I always wanted to. I'm a you know, uh I I have two siblings.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

And yeah, do you have siblings? I do. I have an older brother. I always uh we talk about it. We do kind of we're six years apart. Yeah. So he's six years older. We do always kind of wish there was like one more that I'm like in between, yeah. Yeah, I think it that age gap, yeah, in between for sure, but it I think it would have uh it's just like one other person to just kind of hang out with to hang out with, you know. Um my wife is one of five. Oh wow. So, you know, Catholic family a bunch of siblings, but um, so she like would like maybe like four kids, and I'm like, I'm like, I don't know. But she has she thinks she's come back down to be like, all right, I'm cool with two or three. Okay, but yeah, I always thought three would be you said you have a brother and a sister, brother and a sister. And does your sister like your sister would have probably loved one of you to be a girl?

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Probably, probably, but she was the last one, so oh so she's the youngest, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

So it helps that they're kind of yeah, and my parents were happy they got a couple of each, and I was gonna say that's like she did all right for being the only girl. Yeah, yeah. You feel like she was treated differently than you guys for sure, and nah.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

Well, we all had a lot, we all had a lot of girls.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

The girl and the youngest is like the girl and the youngest is she was she was good, yeah. Yeah, we uh she's she's probably the best out of all of us, like as far as well behave, like cause the least all the above cause the least amount of trouble growing up. Oh, definitely. Would you say you guys did you hang were you like did you hang with your how far apart are you guys?

SPEAKER_00 31:55

We're two years, so I'm two years older than my brother.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

You were in high school together.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

We were in high school together.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Did you guys find yourself hanging in the same crew at all ever?

SPEAKER_00 32:02

A little bit peripherally. Um you know, uh we played hockey together, so so we we we kind of had that that group where we would hang out. So are you um how do you feel about the USA winning the gold? I you know, I was happy that they won. Um, you know, what happened afterwards was a little touch and go, but the partying? Yeah, well, yeah, you know, with with you know how they were interacting with uh or with the women's team. I was up to see the women's team win. Yeah. Um, you know, and um, you know, it was I I'm a big blues fan too, so it was you know, watching uh watching some of our guys on the Canadian team. I definitely like the Canadian team makeup, but yeah, was was happy that was happy that the US finally uh got that monkey off their back.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

It could have been yeah. I think I think it's a shame that politics has anything to do with it.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

I know like it's it's uh it's hard to get away from the city.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

No matter what side you're on, for sure. I think it's like it is unfortunate. It's like it is it is sports, and like sports are like something that's just supposed to bring everybody together. Exactly. I always we talk about like sports and music are things that bring everybody together, and I think sports even more so than music because certain music like can sometimes be political and divisive, and like and it it's you know it's a funky world, but yeah, man, I do agree that like I think that looking the guy, the one guy that said, you know, that he like even I think he like apologized for being American right now or whatever. It's like it's like okay, dude, like I thought that was fine, but it's like I think he had too much too many people cared. There's a lot of pressure, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:47

There's a lot of pressure on these young kids to you know to try to stay a well to or to answer questions about a political environment that they are playing hockey within. They just happen to be and right, and and at the same time, you want to be proud of your country, you want to be proud of these guys who you know played one of the greatest games of hockey that I've ever seen. It was awesome. It was awesome, yeah. Our fellow tribesmen, right? Which I didn't know, and and the Q's the Hughes family's uh Michigan family, too. Are they did he did they go? Did he play? Two of them went to Michigan and did Jack and it was Quinn and the younger one.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

The younger one's a stud hockey player, too.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Yeah. Is that right? And they play the yeah, they're on New Jersey together.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Were you a s an athlete at all growing up? What did you I played hockey growing up?

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Okay, uh hockey, yeah. That's what you said, all through high school. Through high school. I you know, a little men's leagues in college, but yeah, it was never gonna be. Had to hang up the ski. Yeah, it was never gonna be uh anything, anything beyond that.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Did you ever do um did you ever do the macabre games growing up?

SPEAKER_00 34:59

So we I never did the macabre games, but we housed some macabre athletes. Did you? Uh yeah, when we were yeah, it was uh it was a fun, fun week. It's great, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Yeah, it was so I played, I was it did macabre. I was like, when it was here, did you play when it was here? Yeah, I did. Yeah, that was the year that we it was like 2000 and uh well it's been here a couple times, like more recently. This was this was when like 2002.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Yeah, it's uh that's not okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Maybe that was my first year I did it, and we housed two guys from like Albany and New York. Yeah, I'm trying to remember where our and uh it was the coolest experience, but now I I'm now actually a Maccabi baseball coach. Really? So I coached the St. Louis Maccabi team. So it's fun, like still being a part of it, and like it's uh it's cool, but it's um it's fun to like you know they've added hockey into the mix of macabre and they didn't used to.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

So like I remember they had roller hockey, I think back yeah. I think some I think they asked if I wanted to play and I but it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

It's cool that these uh the Hughes brothers are representing so well, but um it's an experience, like the Maccabi stuff, it's like an experience, and you housing people, like it's cool to like just meet so much fun, yeah, meet people from different cities and stuff. Um but that's cool. So you got a lot of cool, like you had a lot of uh like fun, I think, background, unique background in the sense of like you have created your own, I would say the salmon weekly salmon.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

Salmon Tuesday, yeah. I everybody should do salmon Tuesday.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Is that like you advocate for the sure is is uh is salmon good for the colon?

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, when we yeah, the good good segue back to I was gonna say we'll get back to very good, yeah. No, I mean I think you know, a lot of people ask me, sort of what what can you do to you know mitigate your risk for colon cancer or really just be um you know proactive about your gut health? There's so much noise out there with all these substances and whatever, and all that is not founded for the most part.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

Like eat what you need to be eating.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

The best thing you can do for yourself is eat a well-balanced, uh, high fiber diet, whole foods, fruits, vegetables, you know, uh whole grains, lean meats, probably minimize red meat, you know, avoid smoking, you know, no smoking, avoid minimize alcohol, um and and and you'll be fine. There's no there's no magic. Right. You know, and and anybody who's trying to sell you on magic is just trying to make a bucket.

SPEAKER_01 37:37

You're not a you're not a believer in all of the different um supplements, like like you said, like all the different supplements. Like there's so many different things that people are coming out with these days or like saying that you need more of, but you're and you're not hearing it from any of the any of your doctors. Is that right? None of these none of the experts are telling you that any of those things are are they are they saying that they're not good for you or they're just not bad. It depends.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

A lot of them are not are not regulated. So they can claim whatever they want. Yeah. Um, but it doesn't mean that what you're getting is what they're saying is in there. Um and and for you know, for all intents and purposes, you don't need much else other than what you're getting in your in your diet.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Yeah. You do you try to say you like how how many times a week, if at all, do you would you say you eat red meat? Like as a colon, like yeah, as a doctor, right? It's like it's like you're if you're a lung doctor, you're probably not going outside after your shift smoking, right? So like how does that translate for you?

SPEAKER_00 38:42

That's a good question. I you know, I'm a big proponent of everything in moderation. Okay. You have to live your life. Okay. If if you, you know, Ben knows, you know, wherever he is. Totally. Uh, you know, when w I when I'm going out to to dinner, if I'm going to Esca and I want a steak, I'll eat a steak.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

Um, we don't typically make red meat at home. Not we just don't don't do it that much. I try to I try to limit it, but I I I don't really do it consciously. I just think that, you know, being being cognizant of uh of being able to to eat um eat as healthy as possible, eat as clean as possible.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Um you know, I just kind of take it one meal at a time and I I I I don't count, you know, macros or I mean hearing that from a doctor is reassuring as far as like your because you deal with a lot of what you do is like stomach health, obviously, right? So um like it's reassuring hearing that from you where it's like to a point live like there are people that I know that are like really strict regimented people where they won't they will never do this. Like, like look, I know like soda is bad for you, right? Yeah, I know it's I know it's not great for you, that's for sure. But like I love a Diet Coke every once in a while. So like I'm not gonna not live a little and drink a diet coke. You will be you're fine. You're not gonna die from drinking that, you know what I mean? So it's like you saying that doing the these things in kind of a like a limited you know, space, I guess, like a limited amount, not even limited, like it's just doing it to the amount that makes you happy, but not overdoing it.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

I mean, there's risk to everything we do all day. There's risk to get into a car, but you have to go places. You know, I can tell you the you know what some of the some of the exposures that may increase your risk for colon cancer, but you could also eat a steak a day and never get colon cancer, or you could never eat a steak a day and get colon cancer.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

It it all of these are just modifiable risk factors that we should keep in mind as we live our lives. Um, there's no hard and fast rules. Yeah um and you know, probably probably not not smoking may be one of them. But I don't know if it's good for any of the things. Right, right. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, when it comes to diet, I think it it is it is important to understand what some of these risk factors are. Sure. And then you make your own decision, yeah. Um based upon you know what how what your you know risk tolerance is. Yeah. And also you just a steak is good every once in a while.

SPEAKER_01 41:20

You have a favorite, you don't have to say you Ben won't be a favorite. Oh, a favorite in the city. In the city.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Oh, um uh, you know, I would probably say I really do love the steak break at the grocery. Shout out my neighborhood. Uh very good. It's really good. Just also anything with a big thing of fries next to it. No doubt. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 41:41

Uh yeah. I got um it's not steak fries, but my buddy, you should try it. My buddy owns a restaurant out in Chesterfield.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

And uh called Westchester, and he does eat crab fries. Ooh. And it's piled on with the crab and stuff. No, it's it's bomb, but you're right, fries. Not kosher, but that's okay. Not kosher, but fries makes everything better. Fries makes everything better. Um okay, so what you know, this is obviously um awareness month. We've talked a lot about the different things that you should do. Like, don't be afraid to go get a colonoscopy, but anything like anything else that you want to advocate for as far as like, hey, this is what people should know or what people should look for, what they can do.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Yeah, totally. No, I think I think the number one thing you can do. And plug your plug your practice, do everything. Sure, yeah. So our um uh our practice, you know, we're uh a private practice out in Creecor called Specialists in Gastroenterology. Uh we're right uh right off the golf course on Old Cabin Road, kind of uh ballast and olive in that little nook. Um we're uh a group of six docs. We've been uh you know, one way or another in practice for about 40 years. Um sort of uh we have our own endoscopy center on site. Um we have our own infusion for medications like uh for inflammatory bowel disease and things like that on site. Our offices are right there. Um and so um, you know, if you're concerned uh uh having symptoms that you can't explain, you want to know if you are in you know if there is an indication for you to have a colonoscopy, or we do upper endoscopies uh as well, uh, or want to just come and see us, we'd be happy to take care of you. Um I think you know the number one thing you can do is follow the guidelines. You know, if you're 45 and over, uh get screened for colon cancer. Um colonoscopy is the gold standard, but there are other tests. You know, every the the the saying is the best screening test is the one that the patient does.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

So if if you're you know if you're wary of a colonoscopy, come and talk to us. If you want to do a cola guard, um which is a stool-based test or a fit test, another stool-based test, those are options. Yeah, um, you know, in my opinion. a colonoscopy is uh is preferred sure um but all of those those are options and and and really i i I highly recommend getting screened talk to your family on your n salmon tuesday about about have a salmon tuesday have a salmon tuesday one yeah two talk to your family at salmon tuesday and ask about about your risk about about your your family's for sure your family history of colon cancer because that may change your risk and it may change when you're supposed to get screened. Right. Um and and then you know some of those symptoms like we talked about before you know persistent abdominal pain rectal bleeding is really the one yeah we just do not ignore that. I mean it's not good no matter and and and when you're young you know we we think probably hemorrhoids maybe it is but it it's worth evaluating because in the event that it's not better safe exact yeah exactly so so you know we're we're we're here for you um give us a call yeah anytime and and we we we look forward to and you're a cool dude too man I appreciate you having this conversation this was great and you're the first I believe the first doctor that we've had all right on the show which obviously in the Jewish world like that's a big yeah you're the first Jewish I mean the first doctor we've had on the show.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

Well I'm honored thank you for having me and uh and uh can't think of a better way to do it than um obviously a time that makes sense this month yeah with um colon cancer awareness month so yeah Dr. Ben Root dude we love you man we appreciate you hanging out thanks for spreading the word and uh thanks for letting me come in and chat yeah man a lot your outfit's great too I appreciate it I was like when you came in like you might be everybody dresses pretty good on this show I think we've had some like sharp people and yeah I I was looking sometime I'll sometimes I'll really like you know if I have a lot of time to prepare and get myself ready for it I have a broken I have a toe over here I had a toe surgery so dude arthritis in the toe it's get you bro were you a catcher I was a catcher yeah I was a catcher and all that pressure on my toes for years finally caught up to me man and it was hurting every step that I took and uh they had to take care of it so um yeah it's tough but I'm putting whatever like I've been in sweatpants for like it's tough pants I've been in Lululemons for the last two months you know I'm on the I'm on like the back the final week of it all right all right so I just got cleared to walk finally so I'm that's good congratulations yeah thank you so um but we appreciate you hanging out with us man and so much for having me and we uh and get screened for colon cancer and get screened for colon cancer no better time right no better time come on we appreciate you brother thank you