You may have heard the quote from Hippocrates that states "All disease begins in the gut". While it might not be 100% accurate that disease starts in the gut, the gut almost always is impacted in any disease state.
But what is more interesting is when the issues in the gut cause issues in the brain.
While this episode all about how to test and fix "leaky gut, leaky brain" issues, I'll give you a brief overview of some reasons the gut and brain can be connected.
More...
What Are a Couple Ways Gut Issues Can Cause Brain Issues
Here are 2 scenarios where the gut can have big impacts on the brain.
The first issue happens when the gut lining becomes "leaky" and particles that aren't supposed to be in the blood stream leaks from the gut and into the blood. This causes an immune response in the body, which can lead to blood brain barrier issues.
The second issue has to do with development of some neurotransmitters. For instance, 93% of serotonin is created in the gut. If the gut is disrupted, there is no wonder why people have issues with depression and other serotonin-related disorders.
Dr. Robert Silverman and I will talk more about how to test the gut and the brain, and what to do to improve their functioning.
What To Expect From This Episode
- How important is the gut to our overall health
- What happens when the immune system responds to molecules that are passing through the gut lining that aren't supposed to be in the blood
- Different lab tests to check for intestinal permeability
- Ways to fix your brain function so you feel your best
Shownotes
- [2:00] Dr. Robert Silverman was fascinated with movement quality, which opened him up to Functional Medicine
- [3:15] The body is all interconnected, and it is interconnected by systems
- [4:15] Your gut is extremely important to your health. Over 80% of your immune system lives in your gut
- [5:30] What are some indications your gut isn't in the best condition
- [6:45] The food you eat can have huge impacts on your energy levels
- [8:00] It is often thought that the tryptophan from turkey causes you to crash on Thanksgiving, but it is actually the carbohydrates
- [8:30] Some Thanksgiving food options Dr. Robert Silverman makes
- [9:30] How is the gut lining supposed to work, and why would it become "leaky"
- [11:00] When food passes through the gut lining and into our system, what does the immune system do
- [12:30] If you do an IgG food sensitivity test and a bunch of foods come back as positive, is this a good indication of a leaky gut
- [15:00] If bacteria is leaking through the gut into the bloodstream, where is this bacteria coming from
- [18:15] People are switching from low fat to high fat, what happens to our abilities to produce bile to emulsify the bile
- [20:15] What are ways to test the blood brain barrier to see if it is "leaky" as well
- [22:00] Are these tests expensive
- [22:45] Can you assume that if someone tests positive for intestinal permeability, then they also have a leaky blood brain barrier
- [25:00] If you get a concussion, what does it do to your gut
- [27:00] Young athletes playing sports might not admit they hit their head. How can we tell them that not reporting a head injury can have long lasting impacts on their body
- [28:30] Concussion protocols should be at least 21 days, but most school protocols are only 7 days
- [29:00] What happens to the neurotransmitters when there are gut issues
- [30:15] 93% of serotonin is formed in your gut
- [31:45] The microbiome is extremely important, but is still fairly new. Kiran Krishnan talked about it in this episode.
- [33:00] Dr. Robert Silverman's final thoughts on how to keep the gut healthy
Resources From This Episode
Some of these resources may contain affiliate links, which provides a small commission to me (at no extra expense to you).
- Learn More About the Microbiome with Kiran Krishnan- Listen Here
- Watch Dr. Robert Silverman's Youtube Videos- Watch Here
- Fill Out Our Podcast Survey to Be Entered to Win $100 Gift Card- Take Survey
Transcript For Episode (Transcripts aren't even close to 100% Accurate)
Bryan:00:15How often do you experience brain fog where you struggle to concentrate or you have a hard time remembering things? Brain fog can be a symptom of systemic inflammation in the body. Most people have suffered from it for so long, they forget what normal brain function even feels like. What's up everyone? I'm Bryan Carroll and I'm here to help people who have an injury or illness that holds them back from enjoying the outdoors. And today's goal is to help you figure out the root causes to your brain issues, specifically how the function of the gut can influence the function of your brain. We have dr Robert Silverman joining us today, who is well known in the functional medicine space. So we go pretty deep into testing symptoms and the connection between the gut lining and the blood brain barrier. So let's get started with interview. Dr Robert Silverman is a chiropractic doctor, clinical nutritionist, national and international speaker, author, a bestseller inside out health 2015 sports chiropractor of the year as seasoned health and wellness expert on both the speaking circuits and within mainstream media. And he spoke at talks at Google and maintains a busy private practice in white Plains, New York. Thank you for coming onto the show, dr Rob.
Dr. Rob:01:28Oh, it's my pleasure. I'm excited to be here. Dr Bryan. I can't wait to share some insights and get a little give and take with you.
Bryan:01:35Yeah. And I would love to dive into your background cause it's, there's a lot that you have done. You've done a lot with media, you've and a ton of different webinars and videos and all that type of stuff. So I would love to just dive into your background as a chiropractor and what got you so interested in looking at the whole body, other than just, I don't know, Matt or movement in general.
Dr. Rob:01:55Yeah. You know it's a great question because we, you know, we were talking before we went on and we were talking about how important movement is and how important proper movement is. And I, I know if we just talked about that P people would be imbued with enthusiasm to be more conscious of it. So the reason I got into movement was I have what they call congenital torticollis. I know, you know what that is. That's a lateral flection movement of my neck. It was at birth. So I've always had this asymmetry. So my movement has always been a problem. So people always say, well, we need to get good posture and I can never have perfect posture because the shortening of my SCM and my neck, but I can have strong posture. I may not have perfect movement, but I can have good movement. So one, we want to move well, and two, we want to move well for the individual. So that congenital issue has led me into a space of being a chiropractor. And because I think chiropractors and physical therapies are movement and they all are pointed at fixing and combining different pathways of the body from the inside out.
Bryan:03:06And at what point did you start realizing that everything is connected and that you should be looking a lot deeper than just the movement aspect?
Dr. Rob:03:16You know, it's great point. And let's re, let's reiterate exactly what you said. The body's all interconnected and the body is interconnected through systems. So when we talk movement movement is a composite of multiple systems. So I always w you know, initially our medical model in Americas is it has some faults and some of the faults are that it's a SIF symptom-based where you and I are looking at systems. When you can look at different mechanisms that analyze systems and the combination of systems, you're ultimately able to get to what we call root cause. Resolution. Movement is a great view of externally how the body works, but truly what's possibly affecting inside the body. Remember, posture. Posture is a shadow of movement.
Bryan:04:06I like that. And today we're going to be diving into the gut and the brain access. And how those are connected through the rest of the entire system. So can you talk about how important is a gut to our overall health?
Dr. Rob:04:18Well, got 80% of your immune cells are in your gut. It's where your macro and micro nutrients are absorbed, which means your foods and your vitamins and minerals. So for me, I always ask my patients, what have you done for your guts lately? Do you have the guts to be healthy? We all know that if we cut our skin, we put a bandaid to protect it. We know if we really rip our skin open or somebody cuts us, we use stitches when we do things that damage our gut lining. How come we don't have band-aids? How can we don't stitch it up cause we take it for granted cause we can't see it. So the gut again is 80% of our immune cells. But what's most interesting about the garden where the field is going is the communication of the gut to your brain. Your gut and your brain are actually what we call by directional. It goes up from you got to your brain and it comes down from your brain to gut. So whatever you do to your gut, you do need brain, whatever you do, your brain, you do do you got a, so for me, gut health is at a premium and everybody should consider taking some form of symptomology, tests or tests to see if your gut is in pristine condition.
Bryan:05:27And what would be some indicators that someone's got might not be in precinct?
Dr. Rob:05:32Great question. So I would ask my patients, do you get gas and bloating after you eat? And they'll say, yes. Well, gas and bloating after you eat, we're not supposed to have, we take that for granted. If we have gas and bloating, it implies that we have a digestion problem. It also implies that our gut may not be in that pristine condition because the gut has no pain fibers in it, the intestines. So the only way it can tell you through symptomology that your GI tract is damaged is through gas and bloating. And the next question I always ask my patients, do you get brain fog about 45 minutes after you eat? And if they say yes, brain fog is a sign that the gut is communicating to the brain and the neurological impulses to your brain are slowed from damage to your gut. You should be, I just ate before I came on and you, you saw, I just came on and I, I feel full of enthusiasm and full of energy. A lot of people would start to lag about 15 to 30 minutes after they eat. You just put fuel in your tank. The fuel shouldn't slow you. Your fuel should, if you will fuel you.
Bryan:06:36Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So kind of like similar to a Thanksgiving dinner whenever one just loads up on all these different types of foods and then they just go and sit on the couch and watch, watch football the rest of the night. Part of that speakers of the types of foods that they're eating and it's having impact on the system. Is that correct?
Dr. Rob:06:56Absolutely. Great analogy. We all, we all love our Thanksgiving. And yes, football is the thing that most people watch. And when you look at Thanksgiving, although we can make it a healthy meal, most people eat a lot of carbohydrates. So carbohydrates, I call them the culprits of health. So you want to limit your carbohydrates. Just remember there's always essential fats there. So fats are good [inaudible] not trans fats. There's essential proteins because of amino acids, but there is no essential carbohydrates. So we have to be careful in the type of carbohydrates, these processed foods and sugars. To get back to segway back to Thanksgiving, what do most people eat? Apple pie stuffing lots of potatoes and the likes. So they're eating a lot of calories and a lot of carbohydrate calories, therefore unsettling their gut, you know, sugar and ultimately getting that lethargic that we just talked about or if you will, brain fog.
Bryan:07:55So a lot of people think that it's a trip to fan from the Turkey that causes that. Is it actually the trip of fan or are you getting enough tryptofan from the Turkey that would actually make any type of impact? Like that.
Dr. Rob:08:09Yeah. I mean it's, it's a great comment about the trip to fan. And I know you posed it as a question, but it's really not the trip to fan. It's really the carbohydrates. So when you think about a, probably in a standard Thanksgiving meal and, and let's, let's talk about that. That was a great example. I would've never thought to use that. You know, a Turkey would be the best thing. So come come to Rob's house where my wife is a fabulous cook and there's no question that my wife could be Bobby Flay. But with that being said, well you have your meats, you have your white meats and your dark meats. So you have Turkey that's really healthy. You can make a non carbohydrate-based stuffing, maybe like a cauliflower rice type of stuffing. And clearly if you're going to use Apple pie, there's specific, you know, you want to take the gluten and the added sugar out of the Apple pie. So people go, Oh, it's a health pie. Must not taste good. It tastes good. Believe me when I tell you. So when you take those little subtleties out and limit your portion size and you don't have to gouge, you should feel great. You should be able to enjoy your football game. As a matter of fact, most people I see that eat healthy, don't watch the football, they go outside in the backyard and play the football game.
Bryan:09:15I like it. I like it. So now going back to the intestinal intestinal permeability that you were talking about can you talk about how the gut lining as opposed to react within the body and then what different things cause the [inaudible] gut lining to start to expand and allow molecules to go through it?
Dr. Rob:09:37Yeah, the breaks. So we'll, we'll call it [inaudible] just so you know where I'm button lining is some, what we call semipermeable. So the gut lining refers to the large and the small intestine. Now the small intestine is really been improperly named. This small intestine is actually 90 to 95% of the length of our intestinal tract. What it's supposed to occur in our small intestine is it's supposed to be able to absorb digested food, water and nutrients and digest it and pull it from our God into our broad stream. So we get water, nutrients and energy. Unfortunately when it becomes too permeable or the term we like to use is leaky. So now we have leaky gut. Some specific things pass through the lining that shouldn't like a large on digested food particle. Some bacteria, viruses, yeast, those things pass and when they pass and go into our bloodstream, they stimulate our immune system to attack it. And that starts the cascade of inflammation. Our large intestine, which is quite small, is supposed to kill bacteria. Any problems in the large intestine are usually like ulcerative colitis, IBD, IBS, celiac.
Bryan:10:51And so when food is passing through the gut lining and into the system, what happens with the immune system when that happens?
Dr. Rob:10:59Well, interesting. When you, you know, you asked about the immune system getting turned on. So our immune system in our body is interesting in that it has two switches. Switch number one says on switch number two says off off is it won't turn on if it thinks that what just past the gut itself, meaning it's supposed to be there and it seen it before. Like I [inaudible] like a digested food particle, but when something passes the gut that the immune system detects and says shouldn't be there, like certain bacterias, the immune system gets turned on, it attacks it, it sends what we call B and T cells not trying to get too technical and when it attacks it, it causes a allergic or a localized systemic inflammatory reaction. If it continues, it then flows through your bloodstream and you get systemic inflammation and then highest level of 35,000 of you. Kind of like what I'm looking at at the mountain, you know, you should definitely show everybody that picture of that mountain before there, especially for like me, a guy afraid of Heights, that mountain, his view is when it attacks your immune system attacks, it's this antigen and then goes on and possibly starts attacking joints. We call that autoimmunity.
Bryan:12:15So a lot of people are talking about food sensitivities and they're getting these IgG tests done that show all of these different indications of foods that it might have issues with. When someone has a, a gut lining issues and all these different foods are showing up on a test, is that a pretty good indicator that there's an issue with the gut lining? Or what would be the best way to test for that?
Dr. Rob:12:39Well, I, IgG is a great term. Immunoglobulins. Igg is the most common immunoglobulin. 75% of your immunoglobulins are IgG. And they do imply chronic inflammation. As an FYI, IgG is the only one that passes the placenta. Now. Yeah, it's crazy, right? 75% of IgGs are, you know, 75% of Munich globins are IgG. So we're made for chronic inflammation. So just looking at that from a musculoskeletal approach, that poses an issue. And that's why you and I want to combine that mechanical and biochemical because we're never going to get the mechanical body outcomes that we want if we don't address the biochemical, segwaying back in once again to the IgG, there are tests that I like to use, so I'll use a Cyrex test for one. So D array two is the one that I usually ask the one that I hang my hat on a lot.
Dr. Rob:13:32So it'll test for different markers like LPs, which is an endotoxin, which implies Oh, leaky gut. I've clued in and zonalin will apply, but the tight junctions are open and act on myosin. We'll talk about damage at the true gut lining, but they mix it with antibodies. So testing these antibodies are a critical element. You don't have to take that one at the gut or the brain lining. You can just ask for regular blood tests. Again, a great question. Igg, chronic IgM wow. Early activation and IGA reactivation. So there are ways to determine what these antibodies, there are also some others. If I can throw them out to you since we're, you know, I know you're a PT and we do all musculoskeletal interleukins, interleukin one, interleukin six and interleukin eight are early signs that we can test for cytokines and biochemical tests to see if people have susceptibility to lower back pain.
Bryan:14:29Interesting. Okay. So there's lots of different tests that you can do to kind of check on what's going on at the gut. Now you did mention that if those tight junctions are open, that there area and viruses and whatnot can get through as well. Yeah. So my question for you is where are these bacteria? Is it coming up from the large intestine, I'm of the small intestine or is it coming through the food? And if it's coming from food, why isn't not getting broken down via stomach acid or through the digestive processes that way?
Dr. Rob:15:03I'm a back, I'm going to start from the back and go stomach acid. Great question. A lack of stomach acid, inability of stomach acid, pancreatic acid and believe it or not, here, here's again the 50,000 foot view bile and bile acid. So lack of stomach acid is a lot of protein pump inhibitors. Many patients take that. Our patients take that decrease the amount of stomach acid. In addition, which is really my area of expertise, which pertains to my book next year, Vegas nerve, so your vagus nerve is your largest cranial nerve. It runs from your head or your brainstem and doula album [inaudible] down through to your transverse colon. When vagus nerve tone is decreased because your sympathetic nervous system is increased, you get a decrease in stomach acids, pancreatic acids, and even bio assets. Now, during the functional medicine functional nutrition with all my patients, the new 2020 jam will be, everybody will be talking about bio because bile emulsifies fat in the small intestine and bile allows contractions of the small intestine.
Dr. Rob:16:12So why do you get leaky gut? Well, they asked me for my upcoming book to give a list of 50 things and we surpassed that. So we pulled it back to 25. Some of the things that people will talk about are certain foods are the environment, certain chemicals, gluten, the chemical of Roundup, which has glyphosate extraordinarily deleterious, the overall God health, too much sugar, stress break and movements that increase cytokines. It can also cause an inflammatory reaction in your gut. [inaudible] Chewing gum. Oops. So think of, and when I say gluten, people say they're on a gluten free diet and I'm like, did you change your toothpaste? Triclosan is in most people's toothpastes, 75% of people who use a toothpaste with triclosan have IBS.
Bryan:17:05Interesting.
Dr. Rob:17:06Yeah. I mean, we are chemically, we our 4.4% of the world's population. We use 80% of the worlds. Herbicides.
Bryan:17:17Hmm.
Dr. Rob:17:19You may not where you are in Washington state, but you know where I am right outside New York city, you know, there you know where I live, the, the only animals I see are pets. You know, dogs getting walked, you know, so there's no fields really where I have, I've got to go to supermarket to get my food.
Bryan:17:35Yeah. We definitely use a lot of herbicides and pesticides here. We have all the a lot of alfalfa, but we also have all the Apple orchards. We provide most of the apples to the rest of the country. So they spray those all the time. Mmm. Going back to the bile cause now we're interested with that people are coming from the low-fat craze and going into the high fat craze. You need bile to break down fat, but being low fat for so long, what does that do to the bile in your system, especially in the gallbladder and are they going to be less efficient at producing bile to break down the fat when they do a drastic switch like that?
Dr. Rob:18:17I'm it's, it's such a good question. You've, you've asked great questions, you know, so when you switch them from low to high, fat is critical because of the emulsifier. So we also, maybe we won't touch upon the people who don't have a gallbladder. And is that high fat, popular Tito genic diet the right thing. So clearly not remember you do have bile in your liver also union by the way, if your brain is your first brain and your gut is your second brain, your liver as your third brain. Mmm. So I always liked to do things in, I don't like to flick switches on patients. I like to do it in transition. So if they are at 20% fat, I'd like them to be at 60% fat in a month. So they're able to flick the switch to get the bile. There's also bio supplements in there.
Dr. Rob:19:04Things that enable you to produce bile on your own. Your body has its own ability to produce it again in your gallbladder and again in your liver. And one of the best things I've ever seen to help with Biles bile ox that works like champ. So I do supplement with most of my gastrointestinal patients bile. So we were just talking about the gut to the brain and permeability. I know you're getting into this in three years. It'll be bio and gallbladder to the gut, to the brain and all that out, that that's, that's the guy that's missing from the equation. But it's calming. It's there, it's going to, it's invisible right now.
Bryan:19:40Well it definitely has to come because the ability to break down fats in order to create brain cells is going to be a really big topic for people. Especially cholesterol and all that good stuff. So people have leaky guts, they have intestinal permeability, their immune systems are going haywire. You mentioned earlier that if you have brain fog within 45 minutes of eating, then that's a pretty good indication. You got some good got stuff going on. So just to double check, what are some good ways to test the brain to see if there is some issues going on with wet lining connected to the brain?
Dr. Rob:20:21So in reference to the blood brain barrier. Yup. Yeah. Why don't we talk the blood brain barrier. So the blood brain barrier is a balanced it to the brain. So I used to work in the New York city club as a bartender and a bounce was the guy who had try and keep the bad guy out. So he was our blood brain barrier. The blood brain barrier actually filters 400 miles of arteries in the body for blood. So it's to protect her between the blood and the brain. Once you damage the blood brain barrier, you open the door to the brain. So maybe the most important test you'll ever take is the condition of your blood brain barrier. So you do and can have specific tests that indicate the integrity of the blood brain barrier. So again, Cyrex has test 20 which tests for these proteins.
Dr. Rob:21:06There's also something called neurofilament light. Neurofilament light is now being used very commonly with concussions to see a compromise, their brain or a protein enzyme that's inside the brain. If they came out, obviously one of the barriers are or damaged, some other things that may indicate damage within the brain is C reactive protein, interleukin six, interleukin eight, cert two. So these are new tests coming down the line. They're there, it's just not mainstream. And my concern is that Oh, a strong portion of a lot of the associated fields in medical field are not early adapters. They don't want to make that change. And right now brain and brain damage and neurodegeneration is definitely at the top of all our consciousness. Right. and when we're talking about these ads, are they pretty expensive? Cause I know for a lot of people expense comes into it too.
Dr. Rob:22:02Yeah. And for [inaudible] and that is the problem and that is sort of like, it's funny you brought that up because that is sort of the discussion slash argument with the editor of the book. I'm giving you a lot of these options, many of which are not, are covered by insurance just yet. And that's unfortunate. But some of them are not, are nominal. So there are strongly suggested in, you know, those interleukins and C reactive proteins, they are in your normal lab quest and lab Corp blood work. So you can least have indicators of inflammation. The actual blood brain barrier tests is it fee for service test. Now, if you ran tests on someone's got an I came back that they most likely have intestinal permeability, would it be all right to just assume that they have a blood brain barrier issues or would you want to test for sure with that too?
Dr. Rob:22:54Well, whatever happens to the gut happens to the brain. So I would say that you probably do have a compromise and certainly tend to in an act as if you do. Usually the standard tests, if I'm doing fee for service, will be that those two, because I'm all about detecting barrier breaks and removing triggers that break the barriers. So that's my thing. I'm a big believer. As long as I have a strong barrier system, I have a possibility in a patients of getting great clinical outcome. If we don't, I mean just think of, you know, ripping your skin off and having these gaping hall, I mean infection will probably ensue to same thing. The problem is, again, people don't see the barrier opening in their brain cause can't see it and you don't see the barrier. Oprah, you're in your gut. But if people can just become a little evocative and understand that what I'm putting my over my gut on a podcast, whatever's in your gut is not coming out and floating in your bloodstream. People go, wow. And whatever is floating in your body now has direct access, not through a filter to get in your brain. So I think everybody can get the idea that you want to keep everything floating around in your body and keep your batteries in place as critical to overall health,
Bryan:24:09Which is a really good point too, because if I'm bacteria and viruses are leaking through the gut and now enter bloodstream, that could potentially end up in the brain as well. Is that correct?
Dr. Rob:24:21That that is correct. So whatever passes your gut has an immune system to possibly forte. Unfortunately, whatever passes your blood brain barrier has nothing but brain tissue to work and eat on.
Bryan:24:32Awesome. Yeah, that is, that is not good.
Dr. Rob:24:38That's a no brainer where we're from.
Bryan:24:40Oh, not I. And you mentioned concussion. So let's talk a little bit about that. I had a whole podcast episode with Dr. Brandon Brock talking about concussions. But I'd love to hear a little bit about your take. If someone gets a hit, you know, they're doing a sport or I mean, honestly you get a concussion anywhere. If they have any type of brain damage, does that shut off their digestive system and their gut or what's going on there?
Dr. Rob:25:05Oh, another leading question, dr Brock's definitely leading experts. So when you hit your head, you damage your gut and that, and that is something that people have to understand. So again, most people think they hit their head in a concussion is just from the eyebrows to the head. Some people now have looked from the chin to the head and some chiropractors have already incorporated the neck. It is from the top of your head to your waistline because your gut communicates with your brain and your brain communicates with your gut. When you hit your brain, Brown university, you have a concussion. Brown university has shown that it takes six hours for brain cells to die. Okay? People may understand that number two, six hours later, studies have shown that you have a tight junction damage in your gut. Three hours after a concussion, you have the release of something called lipopolysaccharide.
Dr. Rob:25:58We talked about a little before LPs and endotoxin, which shows that you have leaky gut, not a problem. When you have leaky gut, it decreases your ability to produce a protein enzyme called brain derived neurotrophic factors, brain derived neurotrophic factors when they're released and hit the front party brain in the hippocampus. Allow for brain neurogenesis allows for brain and nerves to grow back. So if you hit your head and you don't fix your, your gut also, you're never going to get outcome in your brain. So it has got to brain and brain to done by directional.
Bryan:26:33And then I'm thinking of like a lot of young athletes typically in high school because they don't want to not play in a sport. They might not talk about their head unless they obviously get knocked out or something, but they can get hit in a way that they come off see and stars or whatnot. But then they go back out a couple plays later or people at that age, how do we get across some more information to them that this could potentially be damaging longterm if they continue to do that and that the immediate wired to play continue playing the rest of that day might not be the back option for them?
Dr. Rob:27:09Well, two fold answer number one, I think it's outstanding point. We need to educate them and let them know that if we tend to this now it won't be a problem later and they're also performed better later. So it originally, the studies show that 92% of people in the NFL years ago went back to playing football within six days. Makes sense. You get hit on Sunday, six days later on Saturday. Oh, okay. Go on a football game. New studies have shown that the myelin sheath myelin incorporates nerves. The myelin sheath can loosen two weeks after a concussion. So clearly if you went back and your myelin sheath later loosens you much more susceptible to a recurrence and another second concussion. However, the study now shows it was done at a, I think there's a Betty Ford hospital. I can get you the citation on that, that they waited 19 days and there were no deleterious effects of the concussion. They did a large study with wide receivers and running back. So there is a timeframe in which you need, and the problem was that it concussions were not being diagnosed and concussions were not given the proper time and they still not given the proper treatment.
Bryan:28:22Right. Yeah. I know at least here in Washington, a lot of the concussion protocols are only seven days long or four sports in high school in the school system. So that's not very much time.
Dr. Rob:28:33No, it isn't an, unfortunately, they're not going to benefit from that. It's been born out that 21 days is a much better choice and proper treatment. Now we, we can go all through that. But the bottom line is we have to protect our young athletes heads. You know, the number one athlete that gets a concussion as a female soccer player. Mmm.
Bryan:28:57Yup. Super interesting. And then so let's talk a little bit about neuro-transmitters. So if you have gut issues going on, what's going on with your neuro-transmitters?
Dr. Rob:29:06Well, you know, the gut community, it's, it's typically the communication and bring to got access to the gut, to brain access. It's really the gut to brain because it's more of a bottoms up, a conversation. And the reason it's a bottoms up conversation is that when you consider what's communicating, which is the bulk of the communication, not all of it is the Vegas nerve. So the three things that are communicated to the Vegas nerve, bloodstreams hormones and neurotransmitters. So your Vegas nerve is 90% a ferret. So that means it's basically going up. Scientific America did a study two years ago when it was published, 2017, July and August, that spoke to the idea that most of the signals between the gut and the brain, we're from the gut up to the brain. Over 90% of your neurotransmitters are in your gut, your Gabba, your serotonin, and the like. So if you have damage in communication between your gut and your brain, you're not going to be producing that many newer transmitters. Hence lies the rub, if you will.
Bryan:30:04And I think that's a really good point to make because so many people are trying to figure out the whole depression issue. And people are talking about serotonin, but no one's talking about where is there a Tonin is actually being created at, and you mentioned that it's in the gut. So that's a really important topic to discuss.
Dr. Rob:30:21Yeah, absolutely. 93% of serotonin is in the gut. An interesting with depression, it's the bacteria in your gut. So now, now, now we have definitive studies that we've read in the last two years that talks about this bacteria in the house. So it's, there's a term called dysbiosis and unleveling of good and bad bacteria. We need as humans, approximately 85% good to bad bacteria. Now you're, the bacteria you may need may be different than the bacteria I need. So it's very host specific. So getting into the microbiome and being able to test that. There are tests that are starting to come, what you would need verse I would deed [inaudible] is getting very interesting, but it's become very personalized and individualized and that's ultimately where medicine's going to go.
Bryan:31:11Yeah, we had Karen Krishna and on earlier this year or last year, I can't remember, but he was talking a lot about the microbiome and how right now he would say where we've figured out maybe 10% of what's going on in there. So I'm curious are you taking a deep dive into the microbiome? Kind of you're out, what's going on there or are you just utilizing that information and then it just seeing what you can do to help support a healthier bacterial ecosystem within the gut person?
Dr. Rob:31:43I'm always helping the bacterial ecosystem as much as I can, but just so you know, in my book I use this term which is coming up. We talk about it three-way calling, it's the microbiota gut, brain axis. However, I expanded that to at the end where we called the conference, calling microbiota, gut, heart to brain axis because people that have leaky gut have three times the incidence of heart issues.
Bryan:32:10All right, so it is important that we are looking at the microbiome and there is a lot more of that we're going to be learning about in the next few years when it comes to the microbiome. Is that correct?
Dr. Rob:32:21Oh yeah. The growth of the papers and the microbiome will be increasing exponentially, literally monthly.
Bryan:32:30Do you, I think that the microbiome is going to be kind of the next big a health thing that we're going to be looking into and about here in
Bryan:32:40The next couple of years.
Dr. Rob:32:41Yeah, I think the microbiome is going to be what we're talking about. I think we're talking about it now a lot and I think it's going to continue with CEO to state without question. It's indisputable. It's not a fad.
Bryan:32:51Okay. Dr Rob I want to open up the floor to you. Is there any final things that you want to make sure that my audience knows about the gut and the brain access?
Dr. Rob:33:01Absolutely. Just everybody needs to start considering the gut. The brain acts as a couple of quick tidbits on how to keep it healthy. Adhere to my GPS. My GPS of health is no gluten, no processed food, no added sugar, and always take care of your DNA, no dairy, no nicotine, no artificial sweeteners. Get someone to check your movement, enjoy life and remember, take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.
Bryan:33:27Awesome. I love those acronyms. That's so simple to remember. And then my final question for you is do you have a morning routine and if so, what is it?
Dr. Rob:33:36I'm going to tell everybody my morning routine. I'm quite proud of it. I get up before my wife. It's nice and quiet. I gather myself. I take my type, triple a personality and do everything I can to quiet it down and calm it down. I then brew the coffee for the morning. I sit with my organic coffee and Quito mix and start mapping out my goals of the day. And then my wife wakes up, we have breakfast and eight o'clock I'm in the office and it's an eight to 12 day and I don't mean eight to 12:00 PM it's 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM day.
Bryan:34:13People can find [email protected]. You're also on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and you have your own podcast called the proven health alternatives podcasts. Can you talk a little bit about what's going on on that podcast?
Dr. Rob:34:26Well in our podcast we try and get many different guest speakers on and, and you know, you've already just got an invitation during this one. We, we sent the email out so that people really to share alternative ideas versus mainstream medicine, if you will. And nobody, it's all scientifically based. There's no a well this will be the jam in like 150 years if this is what we're doing right now as alternatives.
Bryan:34:53Awesome. Dr Rob, well thank you so much for coming on. There's a lot of great information that you provided them this episode and I'm excited to share it with everyone. So thank you again.
Dr. Rob:35:03Thanks for having me. I hope we can come back on. I appreciate it.
Bryan:35:06Dr. Rob is a fantastic resource to learn from. If you have complicated health issues you want to learn more about, he has quite a few videos and resources to check out on a site. So if you go to SummitforWellness.com/93 you can find the links to all of his platforms right there. And if you are ready to get support for your health, then the I am here for you. I can work remotely with anyone anywhere and we will dig deep to find the root causes to your issues. The body is a very complicated system and you don't have to figure it out all alone. So if you are ready to make a change then go to SummitforWellness.com/ready it's that time of year again when I start collecting data on what you as a listener wants to hear more of. I have a quick and simple survey to fill out that will help to create the show for next year and for filling it out, you will automatically be entered to win $100 gift card to any place of your choice.
Bryan:35:59That way if you have a local shops or restaurants or whatever that you want to support, you will be able to if you win. So if you go to SummitforWellness.com/survey that's how you can enter next week we are going to focus on some sustainability practices and how we can swap some everyday items for reusable options instead, since there are some massive cleanup efforts currently going on to clean up trash that doesn't degrade very quickly, I figured it would be a great topic to discuss so we can start to make some changes. So let's go learn a little bit about Stephanie Lecovn. I am here with Stephanie Lecovin. Hey Stephanie. What is one unique thing about you that most people don't know?
Stephanie:36:44I am a salsa dancer, a water skier, and I speak Spanish fluently.
Bryan:36:52When did you start doing salsa dancing?
Stephanie:36:55Oh, I would say very casually in about 1995 at the, at the end of college. But that was really casually and and now I kind of own, I don't go out that often, but I love Cuban style, specifically a Cuban style of salsa dancing.
Bryan:37:17Salsa dancing was the first official date that my wife and I had. So,
Stephanie:37:22Oh my gosh. Well you must be very good at that.
Bryan:37:29She'd catch me off guard, but I hadn't been doing also for a year leading up to that. Right.
Stephanie:37:33Awesome. Excellent.
Bryan:37:38You're learning about an hour.
Stephanie:37:42We will be talking about small changes that people can make in their daily lives to help to decrease their impact on the environment and also for those people who are wanting to make changes in their schools or their school districts, I'm off also offering some tips around that.
Bryan:38:06And are there any foods or nutrients that you think everyone should get more of in their diet?
Stephanie:38:13So I, I don't really work that way. I'm not counseling and nutrition anymore. And I've really, I've shifted the way I think where I subscribe more to the Michael Pollan approach to food and nutrition. So what he says is eat food, not too much, mostly plants. I believe in eating high quality, sort of the highest quality food you can afford. You know, focusing on organics when possible, but just well raised food that you can picture growing.
Bryan:38:48And what are your top three health tips for anyone who wants to improve their overall wellness?
Stephanie:38:54All right, so we are meant to eat and enjoy food and not chemicals. So I recommend that people train their bodies and teach their minds to recognize the difference between those two. And the second would be to move, move often and to challenge yourself physically. And the third one is that everyone can be an advocate for change and to speak up if you see something that should be different. And that could be speaking up to yourself if you think that something should be different in your own house or your own body. And then also in your community
Bryan:39:35Next week will be all about sustainability. So until then, keep climbing to the peak of your health.
Learn More About Dr. Robert Silverman
Website: https://www.drrobertsilverman.com/
