Health Series 3: Dr Alison Levitt

0:01 Welcome to another episode of come together the phone speaker when we're live doctor live hello there we go we're live welcome thank you so much for doing this thanks for having me in your beautiful home I appreciate it having. You I'm excited so. Tell me a little bit about yourself. Tell me who you are, where you mentioned that you're from Montreal originally and what do you, what do you do? It sounds. Yeah, I have a lot in my little tool. My little toolbox is quite full. So I'm a medical doctor and I'm trained in family medicine. But before I went to Med school, I actually went to India. And I think that set the stage of my career path because when I went to India, I got exposed to meditation and yoga and food is medicine things at the time.

0:58 I mean, now it's popularized, everybody's talking about it, everybody knows about it. But 30 years ago, 35 years ago, it was sort of the unknown. You know, a guru was something weird. And I got exposed to all that. And then I went to medical school. So I had that already implanted in me that, you know, meditation is really important. Lifestyle is really important. What you eat is going to affect how you feel. And it can also be medicinal. So that changed the course of my career. I went into family medicine and I did a residency and I was actually looking for an opportunity after that to do something innovative. And I ended up being the first MD to work at a functional medicine lab. What is that?

1:43 What is? What is the functional medicine? Abdu, would you like a minute? Good. OK, yeah. But if you want be there, yeah, so functional. Medicine. So functional medicine, which is now, you know, a really big field in medicine at the time it was sort of unknown and really it's root cause medicine. So in regular medicine, what I learned in all of my training was people came to you sick and you treated them and in with a probably a medication is more like, most likely the outcome is you're going to be put on a medication. Yeah. And in functional medicine is like, how did you get here? What led to this? What in your lifestyle, in your gut, in your microbiome? Yeah, in your environment? Yeah. Led to getting a disease.

2:23 And can we reverse that? And how do we do that? And that's fascinating. So that's you were the first. And D to work at this company used to be called Great Smokies Diagnostic Labs, and now it's Genova. And I was basically going out and educating other physicians and chiropractors about this kind of medicine, like why essential fatty acids are relevant to your health. And they're not learning that in Med school. So at that time, no, I mean, even today, they're not really learning. So it's kind of ironic. It's great. So so OK, OK, this is an amazing place to start 'cause I'm gonna go back. This is a perfectly. I just got started. I love it. I.

3:03 Know I'm so. Excited. No, I haven't even gotten. To so I know, but I I I this is considered as a combination of like a class and a personal personal bio, right? How'd you get to India? What were you doing in India All? Right. Well, so I kind of felt a little lost in my life. Like internally, yeah, I mean, everything was going fine on the outside, but internally I felt like something is happening that I'm not aware of. Like I need to, I need to tell you. Interested. So I was 19. OK, Gotcha. Cool. And I read this book. It was called The Snow Leopard, and I think it was by Matthiessen. And he went to Nepal to look for the snow leopard. And he went trekking in the mountains and Apurna and he never found the snow leopard. But he found himself like he discovered more about himself. He.

3:50 You know, and I thought, that's for me. I need to find out who I am, what this is What what is this life thing all about? On a really deep level. Yeah. And so I decided to take a year off. I'd been to McGill. I did my undergrad. So I had AI was applying into Med school. Actually, I was trying to decide do I go to Yeah, Well, I made an in between. There usually is no in between. You know, you just go from school to school to school to school and then you become a doctor or whatever. I needed an in between. And so I took AI took a time off and I said he's going to go to India. Of course, my my parents were just crazed. I mean, there's a with your life. You're wasting your life.

4:30 Oh man, sure, sure. And, you know, I was 19 and at 19, you don't care. You could do anything, right? You're really powerful. It's funny how you're you feel so strong even though you're so you don't know anything, which makes you. But it didn't matter. I didn't know that at the time. I'm like, I'm just going to go to India. Yeah. And before I left, it was really interesting because I kept meeting these people who guided me towards this ashram in India. They I kept meeting these people who are like, yeah, I've been to this place and you got to go there. So in my back pocket I had, you know, a name of somebody that I was a place I was going to go in India. So I left. I was going to go for a year. I was going to travel the world. I was going. To was it like, what was it when you got there and you were like, was it a whole, were you just like when you got there?

5:13 Was it, Oh my God, can I handle this? And this is so exciting. Or like, what was your initial reaction? To that, you know, I had already been to Africa. I went a year before I went to Africa and had like a wild experience there where, you know, I was 17 and thrown into like an adult position where I was actually working in a safari, like just crazy kind of stuff. So I had already even. Already the culture. Shocks, Third world country, Yeah. But India is unique. I mean, it is, you know, you land in Delhi at the time it was it was like just hundreds of people on the streets and incense burning and odd smells and people grabbing at you and there's a lot of beggars on the street. It was it was really overwhelming. But I was so excited, yeah. Because I was going to find myself, right? Like, I was going to find out who I was. And, and actually, before I left, I applied to medical school, OK, which gave my parents a little sense of peace. Like, hey, at least he's got, you know, some brain cells that are still working.

6:10 And then I jumped in and went to India. And then I, you know, went to visit where the Dalai Lama lived. And I started learning about meditation and Buddhism. And I'm like, wow, this is really cool. And then I ended up going to the place that everyone told me I needed to go. And I literally showed up there and I saw all these, I mean, I'm going to say white people, like Americans walking down the street with these shawls, like these typical Indian shawls. And I thought I must be at the right place, but I couldn't find the ashram because it was hidden. And I was there for three days. I was staying in AI mean I was living on $5 a day. So I was staying in a really nasty place. And I after the third day of bed bugs, I'm like, I'm out of here. I don't know what people are talking about. And I was walking down the street and coming out of the car was this man with a beard.

6:59 And he was he smelled beautiful. He looked beautiful. And he's like, come with me. And that was the beginning of my stay in this Austria in India. So you're about to leave. I was about to leave. I gave up. I'm like, this is not happening. Yeah. Yeah. And you know. So what do you learn? What do you teach? How to start? Was it formal classes? Was it one-on-one? No, it was so organic. I mean, literally the reason I couldn't find the place is because it there's no signage or anything. It was just a whole bunch of people sitting around meditating, talking about spirituality. And that's how it was every day. There was like two or three meditation sense sessions per day.

7:41 And then with the, with the guru, they could be anywhere from 20 minutes to like 5 hours it depending on what the guru wanted to do in that moment. And it was completely unpredictable. And I, I really think the reason that happened that way was because to teach us about, you know, life is not predictable. Yeah, it doesn't come in a slot. And when you're meditating, you think, oh, it's supposed to go this way. And one of the things I learned is meditation goes the way it goes. You don't judge it. You know, that's what prevents a lot of people from meditating is they think I can't because my mind is racing. And then what I learned is that, yes, your mind is racing. Everybody's mind is racing.

8:24 You just sit. You just sit through it and you watch. You just watch. You just. Do you try to shift yourself to the mindset of like, almost like observing your own mind, you know, like? It's exactly what it is. You're basically sitting. There, you're still watching. You're thinking, Yeah. Yeah, well, you're not curious in, in, in this type of meditation. There's no, it's just observing and knowing that the thoughts are like the wave of the ocean. They come and they go. And where are you in all of this? Yeah, you're just, you're the witness. You're just watching. When I started carrying a little notebook around, a tiny little notebook, it's in the car actually. And it's literally just for when these little sparks of thoughts that like I don't want to lose become like flashing forward. Like when they come forward, I'm like, OK, just quickly get that, get that down.

9:10 And like, yeah. And it's caused me to spend more time aware of my thoughts. And then the more you're aware of them, I feel like the more I've been able to follow them, you know, like, you know, I, I feel like, almost like imagine if it's a movie set, right? And it's all, it's all dark and it's Seattle. So it's all, you know, it's all misty and you see a shape in the back and you're like, you can either. And like you kind of tell the outside of it what it looks like. You like you want to kind of go like see where, what it looks like in the light. And you start like walking with it past and you, and you find, oh, right, that's what it is. So like, I think a lot of people have a lot of thoughts or experiences that they vaguely recognize and they kind of just come and go and we don't give them a lot of attention.

9:57 But like, if you just follow those thoughts down a little bit, then like they become a lot more clear and then you start to know yourself more, you know yourself a little better. It sounds like you're talking a little bit about intuition too. OK. Right. Like you, you have, you know, there's, there's a fine line between intuition, like you're feeling something and that, I mean, thoughts are coming and going all the time. Yeah. And some are positive, some are negative, Right. You know. And so I think that the idea of meditation is to understand, you know, I am not those thoughts. Oh, you're not. No. OK. I'm just the witness of those thoughts. Incident. What are you? Well, your space, you're like you're, you're connecting to the energy of your being rather than the thoughts.

10:44 And So what happens is, for example, if you're a kind of person who has a lot of negativity in their life, it's very powerful because you realize, wait, I don't have to identify with every single thought that comes into my head. That is not truth. That is not fact. They're just thoughts. Oh, interesting, gotcha. We think we're our thoughts, but we're not. We identify with every single thought and it makes us crazy because it's just come. It's the incoming is constant. So for not everybody is like this. Not everybody has a wild crazy mind, but they call it the monkey mind because it's always working. It's trying to attach, it's trying to do. It's like all these thoughts coming in, if you paid attention to all these thoughts, you would be running your back and forth circles. But if you took a step back and said, wait, I'm not these thoughts, who am I?

11:34 And that's the point of meditation. Like who are you really? So are you your experiences are you your actions? Are you your relationships? Are you your? According to Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm in my life, Yeah, yeah, no, you're none of that. So what then? What are so you're? You're trying to attack, you're trying to recognize that beam of light, that essence that came into, you know, some people would call it your soul. Yeah, right. This ethereal essence, if you are not the body. So they would describe it like you're this, you're this essence, you're this light. And then you land in this body and you become Ephron, you become Allison.

12:15 And the minute you do that, you become identified as that. And then your whole life you build on that identity. But for some people, that doesn't lead them into a very positive place or it just you're not finding that sense of peace that you want in your life because if you're always seeking from the outside, if you're seeking your happiness from the outside, from your spots, Yeah. Good luck. Yeah. Right. I guess your thoughts are you're processing what's going on around you as opposed to coming from within? Listen, if you know who you are, like there are certain people that you meet and they're just standing, they're standing in their essence, like they, they know who they are.

13:04 They don't need a degree. They don't need to be told that they're that they're doing wonderful things that, that, that they're amazing. They just know. Yes. And it's not from an ego standpoint. They just know they have a confidence, they have a sense of peace, a sense of calm, right? I think most people are looking for a sense of calm, a sense of peace in their life. And this meditation was a way to find that. So eloquently and I think we need I think so many people look at that. Oh, I've so many and you know, it's fun. I think people I think you had when you were younger and I think as you like learn to, I think as you learn like the dance that is relationships in the world and like life and teachers and like, you know, boyfriends, girlfriends, everything. Like you have to adjust to so many external forces that you kind of lose track of yourself.

13:51 And I think a lot of people and then it becomes either scary to try to like be alone to, to realize that you don't know who you are. And that's what scares a lot of people. And then there's the experience of if I find out, if I find out who I am and I can't be myself homeless, like, you know, I would say hypothetically for myself and not hypothetically, but you know, for example, with myself, I don't, I don't feel like I'm a salesman. I'm not a salesman. It's not like my essence, you know, my essence, I said to all I'm thinking about is like a sharer is like someone that like relationships and sharing like that's, that's I never feel more, I never feel more authentic and like I'm fulfilling my potential and my purpose than when I'm doing those type of things.

14:40 And then it rejuvenates me and it enhances every aspect of my life, you know, and actually brings everything else that I do makes it better and more fun and more meaningful and more deep and a more pleasant to be around when I'm engaging those kind of activities. And when I, if I don't do a podcast or I don't do any writing or I don't do anything for a week or two or a month, I become like a shell of myself. I feel it. And I actually get down and I start to recognize that downness in me. And I'm like, oh, I need that. I need a fresh dose of writing. I need a fresh dose of an open mic to play some guitar. I need to do a podcast or two. And I do it, you know, And so, but it took, it took me 27, 2020, 627 years to figure that out. I'm still figuring it out so good. I'm so happy that it.

15:22 I could be wrong, maybe I maybe I'm not getting it, you know, I feel it. I feel it. If you feel it, you're, you're getting it, you know, 100%. It's all about how you feel in your life on a daily basis. I mean, that's exactly what I do in, in medicine too. It's about making people feel look beautiful and feel good from the inside out, you know? But there's a lot of elements that go into play. And for you, it's doing stuff right that's really important for you. For other people, it's managing, you know, their diet or their lifestyle or their relationships. Everyone has different elements of their life that contribute to how they feel and their health right there.

16:04 It's all related, really 100% related. But if you can feel good despite whatever's happening on the outside, that is a miraculous feeling. And that's not an easy place to get to. And I'm not talking about physical health. That comes. I mean, just knowing who you are and feeling good within yourself, whether you're doing a podcast or whether you're married or single, have kids, none of that. If you can just feel good and know who you are and feel calm and at peace and move through life and be giving, like you said, helping people and being like the Buddhist, that's a beautiful thing. If you're, if you're there at 27, three days, two years. 2929 yeah, it took me. I started a couple years ago.

16:46 Did you? So when you came, I want to, I want to talk about that for a little bit, But when you came back, did medical school feel like a cold, like totally different universe than like where you came from? It's funny because in fact, I think I was, you know, it felt pretty culty in India, but at the time I didn't feel like, no, you know, it helped me get through Med school. I don't think I would have gone through Med school without about meditation. I really feel like it helped me. Really. Yeah. First of all, it helps you focus. Like it helped me study. It helped me be like 1 pointed in my in my intention. Like I knew, okay, I'm going to get through this, I'm going to do this. But it gave me a mode of concentration that I don't know I necessarily would have had without meditation.

17:27 I was meditating every day and also I wasn't, you know, at the time you could be working 100 a 120 hours a week. And so if I could get a 5 minute meditation break, it gave me energy like it allowed me. So I was really grateful for that. And I also had a bigger purpose in life and that, you know, when you have a purpose in life, it changes everything. Right, right. Gives you energy. Just knowing, OK, I'm here to do this. That really helps. Yeah. That's interesting too, because I have a friend. I have a very good friend of mine that's actually in Med school now and he's a relatively uncommon case, I believe, I don't know, but from my, from the people, from the friends that I know in the world that I'm from, he's, he's in, he's, he started Med school when he was married with two kids and, and you know, and then I have my single friends that are in Med school and for some reason he seems better at managing his time and making his way from Med school. I'm like, how do you do that?

18:23 And he's like, well, I'm not going to let my wife and kids go ignore it for 10 years, you know, while I'm trying to get, you know, I'm going to medical and residency. Like so like I almost have to make it work. But I guess it's almost similar to what you're saying. Like when you have that thing that's grounding you and you have like that purpose that, you know, like this is what I'm in school for and this what I'm trying to accomplish. This is the purpose of it. Then then you you learn to balance everything and not let that slip aside I guess, right? Oh, it's a it's a huge driving force, especially, you know, family. Yeah, you need to support your family. You want. If you want to maintain that, Yeah, you have to be 1 pointed. Yeah, yeah, so interesting. So that really helped you in Med school. I think and residency, I kept going back and forth to India as well. Oh, really? Yeah.

19:03 It was really pivotal in guiding me. And then I kept learning when I was in India, I kept learning about nutrition and Ayurvedic medicine. And I realized, wow, like, here I am in medical school learning about this kind of medicine, and then there's other kind of medicines. Like was it formal learning or how did you learn about that in India? There were, Yeah, well, not, no, it was not formal. There were Ayurvedic physicians that I worked with when I was there. And of course, you know, learning meditation and yoga was all part of what I did every day. And that really changed the course of my career because I realized, wow, there's so much more here than just dispensing medication.

19:44 And I want to be part of that. Yeah, get you out of that box. Yeah, it was for sure. Yeah, it was. It was innovative at the time and it I didn't know how it would manifest, but I just loved it. And I loved, you know, thinking that our ancestors have been doing this for so many years, even though there's no clinical trial on this, there's got to be something behind this, right? Like why are they doing this? And, you know, Med school is all which is it's warranted. Everything you learn has had a clinical trial study. It's FDA approved. And then here I was exposed to a whole other world of tradition. Yeah. That, you know, my grandmother did it and they did it and it and it worked.

20:24 And so I'm going to do it too. And I my goal was to men meld The Chew and practice medicine that. Way so amazing, so unique it's so cool. I I, I feel yeah the more I the more I hear about about, you know stories like yours and stories like this I feel like we should have for medicine at least like these international programs where like, you know we exchange of them great you know what we know and like you at least just for a little bit of exposure you know and if a student chooses you know says it's not my it's not my speed, but like it's good to know that it exists and it's out there then great. And if some, if it really speaks to you, then that you could really implement that into your life and we could have more of that, you know. That would be a great idea.

21:05 I mean, my schools, there's so much you have to learn. Like I, in retrospect, I mean, for many, many years I thought, I mean, I loved what I learned and I appreciated it and I condemned it. Like, well, we didn't learn nutrition, we didn't learn this, we didn't learn that. And I realized there's a lot to pack in. Learning the human body is a tremendous task, you know, and you've got four years to learn it in school and then, you know, X amount of years in residency. I almost wish that part of the Med school curriculum included a more like a more unique perspective because a lot of what I learned in Med school is foundational. And yet I feel like I don't know if I ever used that ever on my, you know, And I think couldn't we learn a little bit more like nutrition and food is medicine, And you're, like you said, be exposed to how other cultures dealt with different diseases and ailments.

22:00 That would have been fascinating. Yeah. I would have loved. Especially especially if they're as rich of history and tradition as something like India, you know, like, I mean, America's young, you know, like, yeah, like it's a little arrogant of us to say, oh, we've been here for 300 years, you got it all worked out. We're not going to talk to anyone else, you know, like. Medicine is just a few years behind. I will say like even to like, I remember I was going out and talking to physicians about taking fish oils and this was you. Know somebody else mentioned me yesterday, actually. Fish oils. Yeah, something he recommends for everyone's. Day and you know, the cardiologist would laugh me off the stage. This is when I was working for that functional medicine company and it was really hard because I really believed in it.

22:42 There were studies that showed, you know, not a lot, but there was some scant studies that showed it could be beneficial to lower inflammation. And they just laughed. In the meantime, 25 years later, they are prescribing it. So medicine does catch up. It takes time, Yeah. And it needs people to say it though. It needs, it needs a so nice to be done these to be pushed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's happening like the world right now of medicine is exploding with this, these other types. What are you excited about? Tell me what you're all excited about now, because I know there's so much to be excited about. You know, it's so amazing because now this whole world of longevity medicine. Exploding. It's so great. It's so great, you know, and the, the funny part is like, if you look at the basis of longevity medicine, a lot of it is sleep, lifestyle, exposure to time stands like, so it's, it's, these are basic elements that most functional medicine doctors or alternative physicians or naturopaths have been talking about for years.

23:43 Oh, that microbiome all of a sudden is important. So I love how it seems to all be coming together now with the inclusion of like technology. It's going to be groundbreaking. I mean, I feel like things are going to dramatically change and it's going to, it's going to happen really fast because of AI technology. So I think the and you know, medicine is going to be medicine. I mean, the way I see it is medicine, like allopathic medicine that I trained in is always going to exist. It's necessary, but it's for the masses. Healing. Healing somebody is individual, like it's personalized. It's very different than healing the masses. And I appreciate the need for that. But then if you want longevity, if you want real health, you're going to get really personalized medicine. And that's the only way to know what you need as an individual to be healthy.

24:40 We should have, you should have the option to be a doctor of medicine or a doctor of health. And that way, you know, you can have a specialist that specializes in particular Medicare. Because I feel like medicine, like the more that you people talk about it and the more that we think about it and the more that we notice its application and it's used, it's responsive, you know, like it's just like medicine is like no one pre prescribes you, you know, steroids in case, you know, you have inflammation. They you wait for somebody to get inflammation, you come in and you do it. But you can pre prescribe someone sunlight. You could pre prescribe someone a healthy diet. You could pre prescribe someone. Hey, you know what? Yeah, I noticed, you know, I mean, I'm trying to tell my dad now, my grandpa, you know, or maybe you can tell me if you know, a lot of the recent research in terms of Alzheimer's being some kind of, I've heard it being described as type 3 diabetes.

25:31 A Yeah. And do you want to explain kind of how that works a little bit? OK, sure. If you don't mind, if you're familiar. With it for meditation for brain disorders, yeah. Yes, because my, my so, my grandfather was always afraid of it. He goes, it runs in our family, but my grandfather was never healthy until probably his late 50s, early 60s when he had a heart problem. He had a double bypass surgery and then he started working out after that. But now, you know, within a couple of years, his memory is kind of gone. And my dad does not really exercise. He moves around, He doesn't really exercise and he doesn't like do a line, doesn't take care. He doesn't take care to eat healthy things. And I'm like, Pop, you got six kids, you got 6 grand for kids.

26:14 You're 55, you have the entire world. Why would you not be preparing yourself for when you're his age that you get to appreciate all of that, you know, get to live like that. So what do you, what do you? So do you want to explain to me with some what we're learning recently? So I just want to just take a step back for a second. And then, you know, in medicine, ultimately what happens is, you know, you go and you see a brain doctor or you go and you see a heart doctor or you go and you see an endocrinologist. Yeah, it's very well. It's very like in a different boxes for different organs, but you know, we're all connected, like everything is connected. So if you have diabetes or if you have a metabolic disorder, meaning if you have trouble like insulin resistance or elevated glucose or elevated hemoglobin A1C, high lipids, it's not just about your heart, it's not just about diabetes, but it affects everything it affects, You know, we have 60,000 miles of vessels in our body, 60. 1000 miles miles of different kinds of vessels. OK.

27:18 OK. So you can imagine there's a lot of maintenance that has to go on to keep those vessels flowing really well. We know that every single organ needs oxygen, right? The brain needs oxygen, the heart needs oxygen. And you? Know breathing so important. It's like what it's. Like breathing is so important. I mean, it's it's why. Breathing. Is so important. Essential and then, you know, thinking of the things that could damage these arteries and but the point is it's a highway of connections, right. So what affects one thing affects the other thing. If you have diabetes, it's not just a problem with insulin and glucose. It affects the vessels, like the micro vessels.

28:00 And you know what is the number one nutrition, nutritional component that the brain needs? It's oxygen. Like 20% of the body's oxygen goes to the brain. If you can't get oxygen to the brain, it's going to suffer, right? If you have inflammation in your brain because you have insulin resistance or elevated sugars, it's going to create inflammation in the brain and that when the brain tries to repair itself, right, it's going to damage itself in that process. Because it's inflamed. Because it's inflamed. OK. And inflammation comes from how does what does inflammation occur as a result? Well. I mean inflammation can come from many different sources. OK diet is one of the most common initiating factors is not having a healthy diet.

28:47 So I'm eating hamburgers every day, right. I'm eating hamburgers every day, three meals a day or pizza and hamburgers every day, Right. So I look like I'm a balloon, right. Like. Yeah. Yeah. Like a swell. You could see like swelling. Oh, I don't actually. Let's say hypothetically I were too. Yeah. And like you can kind of almost like see when people look a little swollen from like processed food that they're that they're eating or breads primarily, I guess, but. So again like so. How does that? How does that convert to inflammation? Well, if you think about it, so first there's a gut issue, right? Like let's start from the beginning. So you're putting a processed foods and there's hundreds of chemicals in that food that alone, you know, that hamburger from wherever you're getting it from, unless you're getting it, you know, it's 100%.

29:34 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we're assuming. Not we're going. We're going to eat at a fast food place. Yeah. That thing is filled with chemicals. Yeah. OK. That's your starting point. It hasn't even gotten into your mouth. And you just imagine you've got this hamburger filled with chemicals. Now you're going to bite into it and you're going to put that in your gut. Yeah. And that all these chemicals, some of them are going to be absorbed. Yeah. And they're going to start creating. They have to be filtered out through the liver and the kidney. So they're going to hit your bloodstream, OK. These are chemicals that are hazardous to your health. We don't even know what these chemicals do. Actually, a lot of chemicals that are in our food are even they're banned in Europe and we still put them in our food. Well, hopefully I'll be changing. Yeah, hopefully I'll be changing. But so now you've got you're eating these chemicals, it's going to affect your microbiome.

30:19 Yeah, which really has a huge impact if you don't have a healthy GI system. Yeah, that's going to be a first point where inflammation can start, OK. And then now you have these chemicals floating through your body. That's another point. We don't know what those chemicals are with. By the way, I was scared the heck out of me. Someone asked me the difference recently between a chemical and a drug. I was like, I don't know. They're like a drug. A drug is intended for human use and a chemical is not. Well, I mean, that's, well, it's almost like the word organic, you know, What does organic mean? Like in the food industry, it has it. It means like the animal or, you know, the produce has no pesticides or chemicals. Yeah. But there's a lot of organic, I'm quoting chemicals, right, that are used in chemistry labs.

31:08 And so it's really it's kind of like what yours. What so it says organic on it doesn't? No, no, no, I'm not saying that, OK. No, no. Like hopefully the foods that we buy that are organic are organic. Organic, right? You know, hopefully that means something that would be awful if it didn't. I mean, there are people who speculate that it may not all the time, but you know, we can only do our best, like. We could only do our best. We're, we're on this planet, there's a tremendous amount of chemicals. There's plastics everywhere. We're finding microparticles in the brain by the way, you know, so your productive. Organs all over the. Place it's affecting all your hormones, it's affecting your gut, it's affecting people's longevity for the most part. And then you, you know, you add on things like like. My plastic water bottle.

31:52 You never drink out of plastic water bottle. I know, I know. One of my biggest clips. Yeah, I'm sorry. You know, I'm I pick up plastic all day long on the beach. Like I'm out there with a bag and I'm picking up plastic and I'm thinking why that this is devastating. It's devastating to your body and and it. Yeah, because they can't pass up the four for the 40. The 40 pack of water bottles in Costco for $4.00 Pass it up. Pass. It up, get a water filter, get a get a canister, fill it up with water could. A cooler be better or no because it cools with one giant plastic container as opposed to like a bunch of little bottles. It has plastic. It's no. Good.

32:33 OK, unless you're putting your metal container into a plastic cooler. I got. You, I would and you know, you've got kids like you. So what I tell my patients is, you know, we may not have control of what's going on out there, but you have control of what's going on in your life and what you put in your body. You certainly have a little bit of control of that, right? So you got it. At least initiate, like, say, OK, in my house, I'm not going to use any chemicals, OK. I'm going to, you know, my cleaning products are going to be healthy. My I'm not going to drink. I'm going to get rid of all my plastic, all my plastic containers. I'm just going to use glass. Easy. Costco has glassware, you know. Yeah, I'm going to get a nice water filter system.

33:16 And I'm going to fill up my bottles before I leave my house. Like simple things that you can do to change the course of your family's health. You mean you have a baby? Yeah, OK. Right, like even the. It feels better hearing that from you than my wife. I. Love her, she. Was like, I want, she was like, you know, she goes, I don't want to pressure you. I know that, you know, there's a lot of bills in life. She's like, I'd really, really like like a water filter. You know how much money you calculate. I would love to know how much money you spend a year on on water. Bottles, I can tell you right now, probably I'd probably spend 15, probably spend $12.00 a week on water bottles. OK, so I probably finished that 340 packs a week, so it's 120 water bottles. Yeah.

33:59 I don't want to think about the amount of plastic that is. Let's not even talk about plastic. Let's talk. About water, yeah, yeah, so. Don't care about plastic, they care about money. 12/24/12 but not really today it's about $36 a month time so I'm spending 100. I'm spending 120 bucks a year 100. Dollars. Now that's you. You're one person. How many people are, you know, let's say your wife doesn't do that. Yeah. OK. So and then now you have the years. OK. So how many years are you going to, you know you're going to do it for the next 20 years you've done? It. Yeah, I've done it. I've done it forever. Yeah, OK. And now you're going to do it for the next 20. So now we're up to a lot of. OK. Yeah. So and what's the water filter?

34:40 What's the water filter cost typically? Couple thousand to us, Yeah. Couple grand, I mean, you can get a whole house water filtration system that's pretty decent, you know, for way less than what? And OK, so now we're going to add in the chemical, the the toxic component. So you didn't just save money, but now you're saving your cells from a disastrous ending. We don't even know what that ending is actually, because these chemicals, this, the idea that we were exposed to these PFAS, these long term organic chemicals that sit in your cells for years and years, we are. You know what the consequence is not. Really. But we do know that, like, cancer is rising, heart disease is rising, yeah. Yeah, but we know rising.

35:23 We know that whatever we've been doing is not right. That's what we. Know, I keep saying to people like, OK, when I went to Med school, the number one leading cause of death was cardiovascular disease. You know, then it was cancer. Still, we have cardiologists up the wazoo. We have medications, we have all these things in play. And what's still the number one leading cause of death? Cardiovascular disease worldwide, 18 million people. And it's like nothing has changed in a way in so many years. Yeah. So we're not. What other direction can we look in to change those statistics? Because I don't want to become a statistic. No, you want to be a bit statistic. You want. To be a bit and you're young, like you're in a great, you're in a great position because there's so much new, there's so much information.

36:08 Like, I know I'm always, always. I'm so excited. It's it's such an exciting time. Really so exciting you know you have so many tools available to you stay healthy I'm. Not like more people aren't getting, you know, I think a lot of people are excited, but like hearing all this stuff is just hopeful. Like to me, like it's something that like people don't want to hear. I imagine we've had, like, bad news travels really fast. And like, when you have an opportunity for good news and they give an opportunity for something exciting to hear, like, Oh my God, we're making great research. All you got to do is just spend some time outside to go for a walk with your friends for 20 minutes, you know. Yeah, a couple of times. You know, a couple of times a week, like just do that. Like your life will already be better. Like you're getting community, you're getting exercise, you're getting out there, you're getting sunlight. Like I used to get these headaches from sitting just at my desk all day.

36:55 And then, you know, and I, I spend probably 2-3 hours a day outside now, maybe more. You know, I love it. And it just, even if I'm in front of my screen the whole time, just the sunlight in general, just being outside really, really effects my stamina when it comes to work in a positive way, effects how I'm able to concentrate. It stops those headaches from happening and I am able to just like just keep on going. It's just we're meant to do that, you know? You know, yeah, that's where that those, our ancestors, you know, they were actually forced to do it. I'm not sure they were happy about it. You know, getting up early in the morning and watching the sunrise. They were out working, right? A lot of our farmers are out there working. So, you know, looking at the sun early in the morning, going out at noon.

37:37 So it registers, OK, it's noon, your body can actually register that. Then going out again when the sun's going down. OK, now you know, we're going to start, you know, calming the body down, secreting hormones that are. So it's going to be 3 Jewish prayers around the same time too. It's early morning as soon as the sun comes up, noon and at night after as the sun's going down. Imagine if you prayed outside. Yeah, a lot of people do. I know I do sometimes. I do sometimes, but I never even associated that with that. But that could be part of the value of a routine schedule where every day it's a combination of meditation and actual, I mean, like, you know, different points. You're sure to get outside between the point of waking up and getting to synagogue or praying. Wherever you're praying or whatever you're doing, you're sure to be outside.

38:22 And your circadian rhythm will be, I guess, consistent. Oh, I mean, you can definitely reset your circuit. Like we have so many issues this in our lives right now with stress and sleep affecting our health that, you know, if you, if your circadian rhythm is off, if you're not secreting the right hormones, like you need more cortisol, when you need the cortisol, when you need that energy and less at night when you're going to bed, you want that melatonin to kick in. But you know, it's fascinating because we like, I'm thinking about you saying you go and you pray three times a day, like you're committed. Yeah, something in, yeah, there was a trigger, a switch went off and said this is what I'm going to do. Like I believe in this, right?

39:03 Yeah, I don't did it like it may have. No, it came from the value of I have a tendency to be lazy. I think a lot of people do, and laziness is my least favorite trait in the world. Because it takes every other good trait that you have and throws into the garbage. Because doesn't make a difference how smart you are. Doesn't make a difference how? Talking to the art doesn't make a difference how naturally fit you are. It doesn't make any of that, none of that makes a difference because if you're lazy, you're lazy, you're not going to do it. So I part, I started implementing that as a way to fight my laziness. And then I mean, you know, obviously there is the religious value, the spiritual, emotional, religious value to it as well. But one of the real reasons I really started working hard is because I did not want like its regiment in the face of laziness.

39:47 And then hopefully, and once I'm already getting myself out of the out of the just sitting around zone, then that affects everything else I do, you know, and my wife asked me to do something. I'm much quicker to get up and jump up and show her that I care to do it. If my kid is crying, you know, my kid calls me or falls down, I pop up. I'm like, oh, it's not like, you know, go, you know, do your own thing. I'm on the couch. I don't want to get up right now. And hopefully it creates that kind of environment, but it affects everything in a positive way, so. It's kind of like that's your form of meditation. I guess so. Meditation actually comes from Yeah, I want to work on meditation. I don't really know quite where that is, but yes, we're gonna, we're gonna circle. Back yes, you can. You can meditate while you pray.

40:29 Like meditation doesn't necessarily mean sitting in cross legged. It can mean a lot of different things. You could be sort of active in your meditation. The Buddhists do a lot of walking meditation. But Oh yeah, I love that you can pair. Like if you were my patient, I would say, OK, if I you, you go three times a day, you pray. Why don't you attach that to going outside? So now you're praying and you're looking up at the sky, you know, morning, noon and evening. So now you're, you're also resetting your circadian rhythm at the same time that you're doing something that you're 100% committed to. So you know you're going to do it. And that's how you create a new habit, right? Like and then now we have 2 lifestyle things that are dramatically going to impact your health because praying is really calming. I'm sure like unless you're rushing to get there but. Well yeah, it depends on the day. I try to make it calming.

41:20 Yeah. So if you can, I mean, if you're rushing through a prayer and you're not feeling it, you know, I think it's important to like feel what you're saying or praying for. Yeah, I it's a, it's a struggle every single time. Is it? It is it is because you're plopping yourself out of goes go mode. And by the way, meditation would probably help with my prayer being more present because I'm going I'm I'm shifting without any transition. I'm shifting gears without putting my foot, without putting my foot on the clutch. And so I so it's very easy if I do it the wrong way to stall out, you know?

42:01 Here's the thing. So maybe what you can do. So just give me a synopsis. Where are you praying? In a synagogue. OK, so you have to go to. Yeah, so I drive 15 minutes to the synagogue, 1015 minutes. Is that stressful? No, it's very pleasant. OK, so while you're in the car driving, if it's pleasant, why don't you start taking some deep breaths? Yeah, that's what I got to do. You know, you got to take some deep breaths. You know, I'm breathing in, I'm breathing out. You can, you can say something if it calms you down or just focus on your breath while you're driving. And that'll immediately get you into the present moment so that when you get to the synagogue, you don't feel rushed or afraid. And the transition to prayer is a natural one because you've already been meditating, correct? And focusing on your breath for 15 minutes. I'll be shifting from 1st to 2nd to 3rd to 4th gear. And this way you're not shifting, you get in the car and it's not easy like you to to focus on your breath for those 15 minutes.

42:53 Try it. It's not an easy fast. I do 5 minutes at a time. Typically when I'm overwhelmed, I'll do in and out. I'll breathe in for five seconds, out for five seconds, for 5 minutes. And I'll just, sometimes I'll just focus on where, sorry, just like the time like 123-451-2345. And sometimes, you know, like that voice of 12345, the counting voice kind of starts to slip off to the side and then other, other things start coming in. Like what? Thoughts. Yeah, the. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And but it's, again, it's like a current being pulled back, you know, very, very slowly. And it's a little scary, honestly, to see what's going to come because like, you're like, oh, this is like, I don't know, I've never been here before. You know, I went to, I went to a Grateful Dead cover band in Port Chester and there's something about this particular band. They're awesome.

43:47 They're called Dark Star Orchestra. And I may have taken an edible beforehand. And I'm sitting there and there are lights and use the music and I'm a little high and I and it's, you know, this would be and like the music was just magnificent. And I was like, and the lights, the way they were playing into the lights of the concert was matching the tone of the music. And I was like, I'm going to try to do some breath work now while I'm here. And, like, I almost kind of like slipped into like some kind of like, like psychedelic state. Yeah. You know, that I was like, whoa, like, I'm not ready to, like, go quite there yet. And I kind of, like, stopped to pull myself out of it. But I'd be curious to see what happens if, like, you kind of follow those, follow those paths all the way down.

44:28 It's just a little scary to. There's nothing. I mean, actually, those places are magnificent. I mean, it's hard to do if you're on a if you're high, then you don't know where you're going to land. But if you're not, that's a different, that's a different thing. And it is kind of scary to let yourself go. But those are good places to go. I. Know, I know, I know. It's. I've never had an experience where I was scared to do it and I regretted doing what I was scared about. Oh yeah? Well, you know. Yeah, but plenty of times I haven't done something I'm scared about, and I've regretted it, Right, You know? So full story. Are you ready for this? Yeah, I've been keeping track of the whole conversation. So you have plastics, microplastics that are in your gut because you're eating this cheeseburger and you got inflammation.

45:14 And so now you're getting inflammation. Well, now let's say, for example, a lot of people are sensitive to wheat. They have gluten sensitivities, not necessary allergies. It's not like you're going to go into an anaphylaxis where you need an EpiPen, but sensitivity to wheat. So now you've got wheat going into your system, you've got these toxins. Chemicals that are in these burgers. So, but you know, right there, yeah, we haven't even really gotten into the body and we're filled with the potential for inflammation. So that's. So that means that inflamed just means upset. It means hurt, damage. What does inflammation mean? Inflammation in the traditional sense means like you cut yourself. If you cut yourself, your body's way of healing is it creates an inflammatory response and then cells get into that area that actually heal.

46:00 OK. You know, everyone, people talk about inflammation like a fire, you know, and you're putting the fire out. OK, But then there are little fires happening in your body all the time because of this chronic inflammation that are stirring things up that are creating damage there to the cells, to your the lining of your vessels, creating a potential for a plaque or to your organs, creating inflammation in in particular organs and, or you know, if you have. Because there's all these little fires popping up around your body. Correct. And so that's where chronic inflammation. And what and. And if there's too many fires, your cells can't keep up to put them out. So it's activating your immune system, right? So your immune system is no longer reacting to a virus or bacteria, but it's chronically being activated and it's creating damage.

46:50 It's actually creating oxidative stress and it's creating damage. And that that ages people. Right. It creates the IT creates. It's a setup for Alzheimer's. It's a setup for a cardiovascular event because the lining of the artery can get inflamed and the plaque could break off. So it causes damage in many areas. Connections in our body, it's almost like the the streets are getting damaged for our like, is that, is that like a good metaphor? Like if like the like, yeah, like you're chipping away at the road and then it becomes bumpy to drive down and you're like, OK, I'm not going to take this road. Rd. But you know, if you don't take that road then the connections in your brain aren't going to be as stable or secure. I mean pretty much if you think, I mean, I like to use the example of fire because it actually makes a lot of sense. So you can have an acute inflammation where something happens, you cut yourself, your body sends things in there and it puts the hose and takes the fire up. But if you have this chronic inflammation from so many different things and even stress can impede your immune system. So it's not working as well to put out these fires like these cascade of events that are happening are not. It's not as simple as it's like that whole element we're talking about.

48:07 Everything is connected. So if you're eating wheat, for example, and you're sensitive to wheat, and now that wheat enters into your stomach, it should just be processed in a normal person and then your GI tract would work. It would that wheat protein would never be seen by your blood. It would never cause an antibody to be formed. It would never cause a reaction. But now we have these chemicals disrupting the lining of the guts, and now the lining of the gut can potentially leak things that shouldn't be leaked into the bloodstream. And now the bloodstream is seeing. So you're weakening your butt, your your your, your gut, and then think and things that your gut supposed to naturally protect and prevent from getting into your bloodstream are able to get through. Yeah.

48:48 So your body and your body sees them is foreign. Right. And I bet a lot of it is foreign. I bet like the stuff that's if you I mean I've heard. Some of it is. Some of it's not like an allergy to, you know, we shouldn't be allergic to our environment in theory. Why are we allergic to grass? Yeah, I mean, but we are because people's immune systems are different, right? But there's some I, we're just talking about 1 area where you can get a potential inflammation because you brought up the hamburger, right? But it sets off a cascade of many events. If you're only eating this and it's, and it's filled with chemicals and it's filled with something that your body is sensitive to.

49:29 Now your body is more inflamed, whether it's your brain or your heart. And now you're set up for chronic disease. And that's, you know, in the world of longevity medicine, it's like you try to figure out, OK, first of all, what's causing that inflammation? How do I bring that person back into balance? And there's so many elements that you need to look at, whether it's, you know, the stress in their life, what they're putting in their bodies. Do they have problems with the lining of their gut? Are they over inflamed? Is their immune system overreactive? Are they creating fires all over their body, which is basically like your car is rusting, right? So if you have a car, I used to use this metaphor all the time when I was giving lectures, like everyone takes their car in religiously, right to be serviced. People don't do that for themselves, unfortunately, until a lot of people, I shouldn't say everybody. Some people are very proactive with their health, but most people don't react until something has happened and then they get active.

50:31 Sure. And then it's a very slippery slope, by the way, because then once you start realizing one thing, then you start realizing, Oh my God, it's all like you said, because it's all connected it. But I feel like that actually scares some people off because that causes it requires massive overhaul. Well, it requires a massive overhaul if you already have a disease and not not always, but so that's why in the that's why it's good to get Someone Like You in. So if we can get people taking care of themselves, learning about this when you're younger, how do I prevent this? How amazing would that be if you knew what you were genetically predisposed to, if you knew, you know, that, you know, drinking water out of plastic was bad and you stopped doing if you learned that, OK, if I take, if I do this, if I look at the sun in the morning and at noon and at night, I'm going to reset my circadian rhythm. If I start meditating, I'm going to calm my nervous system down so I'm not always in the fight or flight mode. I'm going to, you know, take toxic chemicals out of my house. There's so many interventions that we can do before you get sick that would help.

51:35 You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, I think, I think it could be wrong. I think Peter Attia calls in Medicine 3.0 like the whole idea of like it's not just treating, it's like everything leading up to that to make sure it doesn't happen. But then when it if it does happen, we have the ability to handle it. But don't wait for that to be the case. Yeah. I mean, once you're in that, once you have a disease, it's much harder to reverse and prevent. You know it's a it's. Yeah, yeah. So that's what I find. So that's so go back to my dad. That's why. That's why I'm trying to get him now to do these kind of things. I'm like, you don't want that. You don't want to start fighting this, It's too late. You want to do this in advance. You never have to know about. It yeah, and you know, a lot of people, they don't want to change their lives.

52:16 They're really comfortable in not doing what they should be doing. You know, it's really hard to change habits so that's why some people need a shock. They need to. Oh, you, now you go and you get blood work and Oh my God, my cholesterol is. The shock, what it could do to people is crazy. It can change people. You get diagnosed with something and that's going to motivate you. But the question is, how do you get motivated before that happens? Right? Like for some people, it's family. Yeah, well, I've got a kid who's 2 and you know how? Many weeks old, one week OK legit. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to be there when my kids, you know, get married and have. Grandkids. That's my good friends just now. By the way, he lost like I think like 115 lbs in like a year because he went to his doctor.

53:03 His doctor was like, if you want, he had his four kids under 6. I think at that point he had two and his wife was expecting right sick. If you want to go to your kids wedding this you got to cut the shit out. And he and he and he started exercising and he started he he got a good amount of sunlight, but he started exercising and being healthy. Like he just, you know, like, I think emotion, I think like eating people become like people turn eating into activity, you know, not into, not into something that's just required. Like it's not like putting in gas in your car. It's like how can we get the purple bubble gum flavored gas? You know, like you try to dig into more fun experience. Yeah, and you don't want to take that away from somebody.

53:45 So like I try to always find a compromise for people because you don't want to take away their pleasures or all of their pleasures. And at the same time, you know, you want to let them know if you continue doing the if you continue behaving this way, you're a setup for. And then and then what? Then you're in the medical system. God, don't. If you can avoid being in the medical system, you know, if you can avoid medications and it's, it saves you so much time, so much money. That's I think the cause of people. The lead cause of bankruptcy among individual families or family people being broke in America is medical pills. Yeah, that's.

54:25 Really. Medical expenses, It's terrible. It's really, that's really terrible. I just like there's so many things that we can do. And The thing is that people, it's really hard to tell somebody that if you exercise, you're going to feel good. Especially if you have an exercise and the first time you do it, it's really hard and you don't feel good. The next day, you hurt and whatever. But at some point, that switch goes off and it starts feeling good. Yeah. And you have to get that. It's really hard to get the person to that point. But if you can, like, with your dad, like, do it with him or like, just sometimes you just got to force yourself. I tell people, hire a trainer if you can afford it. Or go to a gym, commit, you know, pay for something. And usually people are get committed when they pay for a gym membership.

55:08 I'm going to go and start small. Yeah. You know, it's, it can be overwhelming taking care of your health and this body. And then, you know, you've got your your home and your kids and it's a lot. Yeah. It's a lot to take in. So small steps. Yeah. Start small. Yeah. You know, And then little by little it grows like, like an investment. It's snowballs. Yeah, it's snowballs. I don't recognize my house now from two years ago. I don't recognize the food in it. I don't recognize the cleaning material that we use. Oh. You like she saved everything. Oh yeah, me too. I do. I like to shop. Actually shopping for me is like therapeutic. Even when I was in college and I'd be like stressed out over anything, I'd be like, can't go to my mates, I'm running to the supermarket. Like I'd run out and just walk me down the aisles, you know. And so I do a lot of shopping now and I'm looking and today actually, I was just going back from Trader Joe's this morning. I'm looking at my card.

56:01 I'm like, when did I turn into this person? You know, like when did I turn into the guy that, you know, was, you know, the in college, all I'm putting in my cart was beer and like hot dogs. And now I'm putting in like, you know, cottage cheese and like kidwa pasta for like my wife. And like, what is this? Like this is the this is a trip. This is weird, you know, but yeah. But I think, I think that the point is that I think it's scary for a lot of people to start, but I think it does snowball. I think people do find to have an easier time with it eventually. And I think we do, you know, it's so funny because we, we're, we're, you know, we commit to going to work every day, but we can't like it's hard for us to commit to doing exercise. I know that work brings money.

56:41 And I'm not saying that that should be ignored, but it's interesting what we choose to commit to like 100% of our time. And so it's really important to understand, especially when you're young and it's easy to think, I'm so resilient. Nothing ever going to happen to me because you feel good. So like, why do you have to change anything but even small changes and then setting up those habits, Like my mom, I remember she started, my mom is 89 and she's in amazing shape. Amazing. Ridiculous, really. Yeah. She's so happy. She just stay in healthy shape for a long time. She walks every day, like twice a day. She's committed to that. She just eats. She's not even that interested in organic, but she's very wholesome. She cooks all her food.

57:25 She doesn't eat out a lot. My grandfather's the same way. And he was so healthy, right? Like simple. He he, he, yeah, he ended up he had, he was 91. He got a stroke, unfortunately, and he wasn't, he wasn't the same after that. But till he was 91, living alone, yeah, You know, walk 3-4, two between two and five miles a day, you know, into, into his 90s cooked by himself, you know, granted simple food, you know, you get you go to the farmer's market, you get some, you get some eggs, you get some meat, you get some yogurt, you get some whatever. And. Where was he? In New Jersey, Fairlawn, New Jersey, yeah, yeah, yeah, You just stop at local Fairlawn and we just. And and. And he and he was sharp as a tack and he was smart and he was healthy and he took care of the home and he cleaned every day and.

58:12 And he and like people would meet him be like, you look better than my 6 year old dad. You, you know, you look better than my 65 year old uncle. Like it's crazy, you know? I I know that like my mom, she's you're so. You, you, you came up. You grew up in a healthy family. I really, I actually really did. My mom is from Europe and so and she grew up on a Hungary. Yes, so and she grew up like part of her, she also went through the Holocaust. So she, but she grew up on a farm and so she's very back to the earth, organic in living, like she believed, like when we were sick, she'd put us in a stroller. You got to get fresh air. You got to get fresh air, you know, like you got. It so it's really so I'm going to like grandfather. Such a European attitude.

58:55 But it's she's stoic. I mean, she's and she loves to clean, I think because she likes movement. She knows that, you know, we don't, we don't do a lot of these things. You know, we are eating packaged foods. We're not cleaning. We're not. Cleaning. Cleaning is such a simple thing and it feels so good. I. Know I mean I hate to say it, I I loved having someone clean my house, but the same time now I when I clean I put weights on. Doesn't need to be deep clean by the way, like, you know, like I couldn't like my wife like maybe once every couple of months we'll hire just like someone to do a clean like a deep clean. Yeah, but I do just wipe down counters vacuum fault laundry and like he just like again just to move it. You feel great. You feel a lot. You feel like you're like.

59:37 Right, but try, I mean try to convince people that cleaning is. I think you. Could. Yeah, I think you got to, you know, you got to get the right people to do it. I think I know you do. You got to get people that people look up to. And it's like, because I think it's all associations, right? It's all like people like associate wiping down counters and vacuuming with like a grumpy old woman in ATV in a, in a movie or Cinderella or something like that, you know? You know what I like about cleaning it? There's a beginning, there's a middle, and there's an end. Not I'm not talking about cleaning out your closets. I'm like the floor. Like if I take on the task of a floor, it's so pleasurable to like, you know, literally have an ending. Like a lot of life doesn't have an ending. And that's what makes it stressful is you don't know where it's falling. It's such a great, it's such, I never noticed it, but you're correct.

1:00:23 Because when you're done and you look around and it's like you feel like you're in a different. Room you did it you clean the floor I mean a basic task and then I told you I started wearing weights when I clean and bands on my legs because I my. Mom does that. And I'm like, this is, this is great. Like I'm sweating, I'm exercising now. My cleaning has like many purposes. Yeah, Yeah. I actually really, I look forward to it because I know I'm getting a lot, but I, you know, I understand people are busy and. I don't know. I think it's good for you. I think that. I don't think it's a bad thing to say that. I think it's part of the. I think responsibility and meaning and happiness all go hand in hand.

1:01:03 And I think that choosing to take on even simple things adds to your sense of responsibility, which adds to your sense of meaning and happiness, which ultimately helps you know, And it might be a little thing and you're like, OK, poo poo. But like, you do it. You feel like a better human being. You know, you know, it's also like we've gotten away from that organic type of living because we, a lot of us do, you know, we work so much. We're in offices, we're in closed spaces. Some people are really isolated, very different than what our ancestors did, you know? And I think, like my, I always think, how do I get back to the basics? Like, really like finding pleasure in the smallest of things because if you don't look for them, you don't find them.

1:01:46 Yeah. And then your life, you know, you have to think what, you know, everyone's saying, what are you grateful for? Like some people have nothing on their list, so you got to find the littlest of things, right? Like to start, you have to start somewhere. Like whether it's your diet or your gratitude journal or your meditation or your prayer like or your breathing like just start. And The thing is you're never going to be ready. You cannot wait until you're ready, because if you wait till you're ready, I'm. So happy it's coming from you and not me. But that's how. I agree with. You, I mean, these are your thoughts, I have to say every day like you have to know, get up and just do it because you're not going to be ready to start that project ever because you're I'm, I'm I, I would say I'm kind of type A, you have to be kind of to get through Med school. And so unless it's perfect, I don't proceed. And so I'm trying to retrain my brain. Actually, I'm doing I'm learning a lot about neuroplasticity, which is amazing.

1:02:43 I love it because up until now I've been in that, you know, in my personal life, working on my spirituality and I put that in quotation marks. And now I'm, I'm also using my neuroplastic brain to help me. So it's not just about spirituality. It's like I want to change those pathways that, you know, I've been doing this for a long time and I don't like this habit. So how do I change? It yeah. So what do you so so I what are some things that you do to do that? So. So first of all, you. What is actually first, define neuroplasticity in case sorry just yeah, because I'm familiar with it. I want to make sure that. Well, so the brain has the ability to constantly create new neural pathways.

1:03:26 So like who you are today, if you don't like a certain element of how you think or how you are, you can actually change that. And I actually remind all my patients, like, just remember the body wants to heal. Like whatever it's doing, whether it's inflammation or, or even other things that chronic diseases, a lot of it, your body really doesn't want to be sick. Your body is moving towards healing. Your brain is not just this organ that's sitting there and it's not changing. It's changing all the time. So you have the ability to change the way you, you think in your daily life. If you've been doing, if you've been taking the same path to work every single day, that path is ingrained, right? And it gets deeper and deeper and deeper. Imagine that.

1:04:12 And then over time you could put planks because it's so deep, it's muddy. You put planks and you make it even more solid, right? And that's where, you know, chemicals start to get secreted in your brain. And that path is really well defined. OK, I want to go on a different path. So now how do you do that? How do I create new neural pathway? So I want to change. So first of all you have to try something different, you have to think differently and you have to try something different. So when I say like, you don't. Do a big thing or could be a little. No, really small. They can watch for example. So let's say saves. Me let's. Afternoon, let's say. Wait, let's think about, you know, let's say you you think poorly about yourself, for example, OK, I'm not good enough. I'm not good enough.

1:04:58 OK, you were born, your parents would say you're not good enough. You grew up thinking I'm not good enough. Now that pathway is pretty set in the brain. So everything that hits you in life says I'm not good enough. I can't do this, right. OK, so now I want to change that. So there have been studies that show that the first thing, one of the first things that you can do is like, you can cheer yourself on like a coach and say, no, you can do this. I started doing it when I jog. Do you I? Did it when I jog Yeah, that's even more, especially when I was my parents if you. Have movement and a thought that's even more powerful and creating neuroplastics like changes in your brain. One of the, when I, I, I used to, I grew up in upstate New York in Rockland County and, and it's very hilly there. And I, you know, I started, I started jogging just after college and, and I was, you know, I'd take on these huge hills and then I would say to myself while I'm doing it, like you have you got this?

1:05:53 You got, I'd say it out loud. I'd hear it over my music on my headphones while I'm driving up. Like you got this. The only thing stopping you is you. The only thing stopping you is you. You got this, you got this, you got this. And I would get, I'd even feel like a little pick me up. Like I feel like my almost like my legs are like almost like a little like pick up and didn't magically change my performance, you know, 100%. But it takes time. Yeah, but it definitely, Yeah, overtime for sure, for sure, for sure. And even saying the like, what did you say the only? The only thing stopping me is me. Right. So even that has a little negative connotation. So if you made that more positive, like, listen, you, you've done this before in your life, you've overcome other situations, like think about something that you've overcome, then you go, you can do this. I did that just now, actually with my I had a fall on panic attack before my son was born.

1:06:43 I wasn't ready to be a dad. Yeah. I don't know what I don't know. I'm ready. I don't know what it means to you already. I don't know. Oh, my God. And like, I'm afraid, you know, the doctor goes, OK, it's time. I'm like, I'm not ready to like, we're not asking you like. And then this time I was about to, you know, I felt that a similar sensation. And I said to myself, what are you nervous? You're not going to be ready. But you've already done this with a kid. Like I'm not going to. I know. OK. So like, think about what? I'm nervous. I'm nervous about the fact that it's going to be uncomfortable with my wife is. I'm nervous because I don't want to look anywhere near that while it's happening. I'm nervous because, you know, I'm not going to sleep for the first couple of months. You did that already. What are you so nervous about? You did that already. You know, I actually had to write that down to myself. And when it came time, it was the calmest I've ever It was such a calm birth.

1:07:29 It was such a calm experience. Because you could have gone down the path of. Being I felt starting, I really felt the starting and my wife and I talked about it. I was like, I'm getting nervous. I'm getting. You created new neural pathways. That's neuroplasticity. That's neuroplasticity. Yeah, because you could have easily just stayed in that panic mode and up until the birth been in panic mode and after the birth been in panic mode and you're not. So something changed. Yeah. So you took a you took a thought, you took a process in your body that says I'm not going to be ready. I, you know, whatever negativity you had and you made it something different, that's a different part of your brain when you take that. Right thought. I mean unexplored territories. It's positive. It's part of.

1:08:12 Your brain that's you've accessed a different part of your brain. Now you have to nourish that path, right? Because that path is new. So it's not just enough to have it, I have to make sure that I'm tending. To now you have to nourish it. Yeah. And you have to make it hard wired, Right. Right. Because it's still fresh, right? Like a path. If you walk through grass and it's like the first time you walk, you may not look back and see there's a path. But if you walk it 100 times, now all of a sudden, oh, I see that path is worn. So now you work on that thought process. The next time you have a panic attack, hopefully you won't. But if you do, you go. No, I've been here. I know what this is.

1:08:54 I know what to do. I've got this. I don't need to go here. I've got this. I know exactly what this is. And actually you can ask yourself, like, you know, did it serve me? That's a great question too. Did it serve me? Right, because a lot of times your body, the reason you went into that panic mode is because you had an experience it usually you know, something brought you to that, you think you've had it before. So you have to think, did that, Did it serve me to have that? And usually it's did it. Yeah. Did it help you? No, right? Never. Never. Well, actually the only time that I think it might have is when it comes to being able to relate to other people. Having a panic attack.

1:09:38 Meaning to be able to say, I know that you've been like, I know what you're going through empathy, empathy. It helps my it helps enormously with empathy. Yeah. Well, that's good. That's I, I, you know, I understand where you're going through right? And I, I also, you know, I too have had these concerns, these fears, these insecurities and I'm, I, I've been where, you know, I have stood in the same pair of shoes already. You know, you're going to be fine and like, or, or, you know, or whatever. I know it doesn't feel like it, but you're going to, you're not going to not figure it out, you know, so. Yeah, that's true. I mean, I actually, I, I so relate to that because so many times things happen in my life and I'm like, wait a second, I didn't sign up for this. Why isn't that this, this doesn't really fit.

1:10:19 And then I'll have a patient come in. Oh, no way. Yeah, or it may not be right away. Yeah, maybe a while later and I go, oh, I know what you're going through and I can, I can help you move through this. So there's always value if you can see the value in it, it changes your perspective. And once you change your perspective, you create a new neural pathway that's part of neural. So you're. So you're working actively on your neuroplasticity now or you're you're OK? Gotcha. So what is the reason what you're working? On so right now I'm I'm doing this experiment with normally I used to myself talk was I OK OK like I am what whatever I'm capable, I am powerful whatever that's a lot of the self talk and I realized there's been some studies that show that the more powerful way to do it is like coaching yourself as if. You as opposed to I.

1:11:15 You interesting as a powerful game changer when it comes to neuroplasticity is kind of coaching yourself. So I, I now I put myself in it because a lot of times, even when I'm talking to sometimes you know, you have friends, you're going through something and they can't hear what you're saying. Even when I'm going through something, sometimes you just can't hear. So I say, what would you say to a friend, your bestie, if your bestie was going through this? What would you tell them? Now do that to yourself. It's the hardest thing to do. It's really hard. I had to do that for a breakup one time when I was in college. More than one, believe me, more than once. But I've been in college with a really long relationship with 2 1/2, two years, two years plus my entire college experience while I was there because I transferred it. And I was in this relationship.

1:11:59 I remember thinking to myself, like, if my friend came up to me and told me this whole story and asked me what I would do, what would you do? Yeah. And I was like, I don't want to, I don't want, I don't want to tell them that, you know, but it comes to you, you know. Then how would you coach them? How would you coach them out of it, right? Like you really have to set yourself aside. Like you're going through a breakup and you'd say, hey, dude, you got this. Like there's going to be other women. You're going to be fine like. That studies observed that the I versus you because I, I, I, I did notice that I, I refer to myself as you. That's. Good. Yeah, but I don't know why. It just kind of felt better. Maybe you watched a Seinfeld episode? Probably. I love, I love Seinfeld. Timmy.

1:12:43 Here's a Timmy, right? Timmy fell. Timmy's in vain. Yeah. Don't do this in public. This is all about your head. Everyone is going to do this vodka inside your head, not in pelvic. You do not refer to yourself in 3rd. First, yes, correct. Correct. Unless you're in Seinfeld and then you're OK, then yeah. That's there's a camera on here Yeah, hilarious. But yeah, they show. So I'm experimenting with that because a lot of teachers in the self help world are, are focusing on the eye and you know, I'm so I'm experimenting with that. And I know with neuroplasticity, it's also in when you do exercise, when you have so movement allows more blood flow to to the brain anyway. So you know, before you want to study or before you give a talk or something where you need full blown brain capacity, it's good to do some exercise because it gets the blood flowing to the brain.

1:13:36 Those 60,000 miles get active, right? But if you pair it with exercise, so you change, you have to change the way you think, which is not easy, but it's practice like anything else. And now we're going to talk in third person and we're going to coach ourselves. You know, we're going to say you can, you got this girl, you got this, you've done this. So it's important. To do this, why? But it's it's extra, extra reinforcement if you're doing it while you're exercising or while you're moving. I'm taking two studies in neuroplasticity where, you know, they say when you exercise, if you crossover like you, if you're doing that, you're thinking at the same time. And what that does is it creates a lot of neuronal response in your brain. So it's good.

1:14:18 I teach my patients with dementia or Alzheimer's, like when they're sorry or when they feel you have memory loss. One of the exercises that I tell them to do is crossover when while you're exercising across your body, like across the midline. Interesting. Why are you doing any kind of exercise? Well, just at least some of your exercise should incorporate cross interesting. Why that if you're because it it, it enhances brain activity. So now you've added a different element. Oh, interesting. So if you're just doing up and down, it doesn't have as much brain activity as now if you're going across Oh, it's so interesting. You add a conversation. So if you're out with your girlfriends or your guy friends and you're walking and you're talking and you're thinking that's that's adding more brain activity.

1:15:04 Yeah. So I'm combining all of these on my own thinking. Well, I don't think there's a study. I'm thinking it up on my. I love it, I love it. I'm going to exercise and I'm going to crossover. I'm going to make sure I do cross the midline on my body and I'm going to do this type of thinking. I'm going to coach myself, yeah, and I'll let you know what happened. I want to know. I want to know, You know, Steve Jobs used to do all his business meetings on walks. He wouldn't do them in office great idea. You know you know your most intense conversation, big corporate merger or whatever it is love that go for a walk. That's what he would say every single time. Let's go for a walk and they take a 45 minute hour long walk while they were. I love it. Yeah. I think fun of me at work because I'm always ex moving. Yeah, I wouldn't say exercising, but I always have a stand up desk.

1:15:49 I have a bouncing ball. Amazing desk. And yeah, it looks weird. I mean, people make fun of God. It shows life, it shows enthusiasm, it shows life. It shows. It shows that you're vital. It keeps vitality. It's better than sitting at a desk all day, you know what I mean? If I'm going to have to stare at a computer, I want to be moving at the same time. I want I want something productive to come physically health. Wise, Yeah, yeah, definitely I have to run this. I'm so sad that I have to run too because I feel like we didn't. I feel like we're just, I feel like we're 5 minutes in. So I hope we'll do Part 2. You can do it soon or hopefully in many parts, as you know, as the podcast keeps on going and as you keep on learning and growing. But this is so much fun.

1:16:32 We barely, you barely skim the, you know, we barely skim the big, the the bucket. Yeah, exactly. So I hope we can do another, another podcast soon. But this is so much fun. Thank you so much for taking the time. Thank. You so much. I'll talk to you. Thank you so much.