The Root of the Matter

Discovering Holistic Health: Nutrition and Beyond with Dr. Rachaele Carver

• Dr. Rachaele Carver, D.M.D. Board-Certified, Biologic, Naturopathic Dentist • Season 3 • Episode 7

Share episode

Nutrition forms the bedrock of our health, yet misconceptions about what constitutes "healthy eating" continue to proliferate. In this illuminating deep dive, I unravel the complex world of nutrition beyond conventional wisdom, challenging long-held beliefs about what truly nourishes our bodies.

The most surprising revelation might be the stark contrast between perceived and actual nutrient density in foods. When comparing nutrient content scientifically, organ meats like beef liver consistently outperform fruits and vegetables across almost every vitamin and mineral category. This doesn't diminish the value of plant foods but offers a more nuanced understanding of optimal nutrition.

Your genetic makeup profoundly influences your nutritional requirements. Genetic variations like MTHFR affect how efficiently you process nutrients and detoxify toxins. Rather than viewing these variations as purely negative, I suggest they might serve as evolutionary early warning systems that signal when our bodies encounter toxic overload, prompting us to make changes before serious damage occurs.

The much-debated topic of cholesterol reveals another paradigm shift—elevated LDL cholesterol often functions as both a repair molecule for damaged blood vessel linings and a binding agent for toxins from infections. This suggests high cholesterol might indicate underlying infection or inflammation rather than being the primary cause of cardiovascular disease, offering a fresh perspective on cholesterol-lowering approaches.

Beyond biochemistry, I explore what might be the most overlooked aspect of nutrition—what I call "soul nutrition." The profound impact of human connection, purpose, and mindful eating often outweighs the importance of nutrient-perfect meals. A rushed, stress-filled meal of nutrient-dense foods won't serve your body as well as a relaxed, joyful meal that activates your parasympathetic nervous system, essential for proper digestion.

Ready to transform your relationship with food and discover what truly nourishes you at the cellular and spiritual levels? Join my six-week course where I'll teach you to address the root causes of health issues and become your own best doctor. Your journey toward comprehensive wellness starts here.

To learn more about holistic dentistry, check out Dr. Carver's website:

http://carverfamilydentistry.com

To contact Dr. Carver directly, email her at drcarver@carverfamilydentistry.com

Want to talk with someone at Dr. Carver's office?  Call her practice: 413-663-7372

Reverse Gum Disease In 6 Weeks! With Dr. Rachaele Carver Online Course!

Learn more about here: https://reversegumdiseaseinsixweeks.info/optinpage



Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. Information discussed is not intended for diagnosis, curing, or prevention of any disease and is not intended to replace advice given by a licensed healthcare practitioner. Before using any products mentioned or attempting methods discussed, please speak with a licensed healthcare provider. This podcast disclaims responsibility from any possible adverse reactions associated with products or methods discussed. Opinions from guests are their own, and this podcast does not condone or endorse opinions made by guests. We do not provide guarantees about the guests' qualifications or credibility. This podcast and its guests may have direct or indirect financial interests associated with products mentioned.

Speaker 1:

Hi everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Root of the Matter. I am your host, dr Rachel Carver, and on this podcast we talk a lot about how oral health is connected to systemic health, and one of the overall arching tenets of health in general is nutrition. So on this month's solo podcast with me, we are going to talk about all things nutrition. If you've been listening to the podcast for a while, I talk a ton about minerals, fat soluble vitamins, b vitamins, and I think those are the three main categories that are absolutely vital for overall health. So we'll dive into a little bit about that. We'll talk a little bit about different fats right, we need to talk about the macronutrients proteins, fats, carbohydrates. We'll talk a little bit about anti-nutrients. So what's the deal with oxalates and lectins? How does that throw a wrench into nutrition? And what about the different eating styles? Right? Low carb, bioenergetics. We've talked about carnivore, vegan, keto, all those different things and how they can impact us. And then we'll also talk a little bit about some of the powerhouse foods. But I want to finish today's podcast by talking about one part of nutrition that I think is even more maybe than what we're putting in our mouths, and that's what I call soul nutrition. So sometimes, even if we're eating the best diets, we're exercising and all this, if we don't have the human connection, if we don't feel that there is a purpose to our life here on this planet, then sometimes it doesn't matter exactly what you're eating or how much you know you're doing on a physical component. We really need to have that spiritual, emotional nutrition just as much as we need the actual food. So we'll dive into a little bit about that at the end. So let's just jump right in here.

Speaker 1:

As I mentioned, right, the minerals our calcium, our phosphorus, our magnesium, zinc, copper all of those minerals are absolutely vital for every cellular process. So when we're thinking about health, we've talked a lot about detox and drainage and all these things and toxins. It's coming down to that cellular level. How well are our mitochondria working? Right? Our mitochondria are really responsible for creating energy in the body. When we don't have energy in the body, none of our bodily processes will function properly. Right, and at end of life, what is happening? Basically, we're all out of energy, the energy flowing stops in our body and we go off to whatever the next realm is, whatever you believe in. So how do we keep having enough energy and how do we get that energy flowing? You have to make sure our mitochondria are working properly and we need all sorts of nutrients right in order to make our enzymes work properly, to be able to detox, be able to think properly, everything has to work well. So there's been so much talk about all these different diet styles and the really important thing to understand is that each of us is unique. We are unique from our spouse, unique from our children, our parents, so that sometimes can make it difficult when you're trying to feed a family right, because maybe all of us have a little bit different nutrient requirements.

Speaker 1:

When you really look deep down into it, I was recently listening to a podcast about genomics. The science in this area is just fascinating. It's really come leaps and bounds in the last decade. You know, years and years ago I ran the idea of families, dna and understood these little. You know, polymorphisms or SNPs. A lot of people have heard of MTHFR. It's probably the most popular SNP that we've heard of and people say, oh, I have MTHFR right, and they think, oh, that's so terrible. It means I can't really detox well, because methylation is a very important function of our enzyme to be able to metabolize things properly, to detox things properly. So if we have these genetic polymorphisms, or SNPs as they're called, and we have weakened ability to detox, for example, if you have one copy and again MTHFR is broken into A category C category.

Speaker 1:

But let's just be general for now. This is not a genetic discussion. The way I try to explain it is if you have one copy, then your enzymes that allow methylation work at 70% of optimal. If you have two copies, you're lucky. Like both of my daughters, you only function at 30% capacity. So the way I explain that to my girls is for every 10 toxins that are coming into your body, you can only get rid of three. Seven of those toxins are getting stored in your fat, in your bones, in your brain, in your nervous system. I'm trying to impress on them. That's why we don't have to be worried about that. But we know that we have to take extra precautions with our food and supplement to support our body's ability to methylate. And again, almost 50% of the population has one or both of these.

Speaker 1:

And I started thinking, trying to make myself feel better, that my kids got the crap that glottery here is. Well, why would that? Why would evolution select for that? If that's so terrible to have such poor detox, why why would both? That really beats genetic odds. And I started to think about like the canary in the cold, mine, because if we don't detox well, we are going to have symptoms much sooner. So you're going to have the skin rashes or upset stomach or who knows. It can manifest in so many different ways because we're all unique. But the sooner a symptom becomes noticeable, the sooner we're going to try to go after it, figure out what's going. So that's the way. There's no science behind that. This is just my way of thinking that I would evolution, allow that to happen. And so I feel like with my eczema I got that 16 years ago I was able to immediately go after it and try to figure out what was going on versus just trying to take steroids just to suppress it, right?

Speaker 1:

So all those of you with MTHFR think of it as actually maybe it's an evolutionarily good thing, because we're so surrounded by 80 plus thousand toxins today, the sooner we maybe develop some kind of symptom, the sooner we're able to really investigate what's going on and hopefully support our body to get rid of all these toxins. Should we dive into maybe some of the different eating styles. So low carb became very, very popular because as soon as you go on low carb, most people will lose weight initially and they feel better. And we have to think about what carbs are right. So many of the processed foods we're eating are carbs. So when you embark on a low-carb journey, most of the time you are removing a lot of toxic, processed, nutrient-deficient foods, and that can probably be almost every diet.

Speaker 1:

Anytime you change your eating style because you have a symptom, because you want to lose weight, tired, whatever it may be, have a symptom because you want to lose weight, tired, whatever it may be, you're automatically going to feel better initially because you are removing whatever that stimulus is for making you feel poorly. So it could be and I've tried one of my eczema. I tried every diet under the sun. The only thing that really helped me initially was doing a little bit of fasting and I think again, same reason, I was taking that burden of all the carbs that were causing inflammation the processed foods, whatever it was causing inflammation, causing an overgrowth of the bacteria, or my big thing was parasites, right, so causing an overgrowth of those bugs that were then leading to inflammation. So that really helped quite a bit, but long term, especially as a woman who was in her 30s, cycling carbohydrates are absolutely vital for health the brain and the liver. Their primary source of fuel is glucose, which comes from carbohydrates. So you guys have maybe heard me talk.

Speaker 1:

My brother-in-law embarked on the carnivore diet starting in 24, lost 160 pounds. His cardiologist has been floored because his blood work has never looked so good. He had a heart attack at 25. So he's been being followed by the same doctor for 25 years and the doctor is just amazed. And again, removing all of the tox processed foods, there's just a feeling and fear in the majority of the population that meat is so bad, that meat is carcinogenic and meat is going to cause you to have a heart attack. In fact one of his colleagues said that to him the other day. Oh my gosh, you're crazy. You know you're going to, you're going to die of a heart attack. But again, he's never been healthier, had more energy, any ailment he ever had, I said. On one podcast he said his gums stopped bleeding. He's. No matter what he ever tried to do brushing and flossing nothing ever mattered, changed, got rid of all the toxins. Now his gums heal and I was like, exactly.

Speaker 1:

I was like this is what I want everyone to understand when we remove the toxic ripens and we put back in the nutrients, the body can heal from almost anything. We just want to catch things in an early enough stage, before we have too much degeneration where it becomes more and more problematic. So this is where that's now a newer kind of trend. Call it a trend, but there's been more information about the biogenic theory of eating, which again is balancing those macronutrients. So that's your fats, your carbs and your protein. We know protein is absolutely essential to create health. Right, we need protein to build our muscles, to build other proteins in the body. So everything can work well.

Speaker 1:

And it's different for men and women. So this is the other tricky thing in nutrition. So much of nutrition research in the past has always been men and women are not small men. We are completely different and the fasting works amazing for men especially. Most, most men can lose weight. You know, 10 pounds in a week, if not more. But our women's bodies aren't like that right.

Speaker 1:

If we over-fast which is really common I was a victim of this myself under-eating, especially for women, that really throws our cycles off. We need those carbohydrates in order to make our progesterone and estro all those really important. Why do we crave right before our cycle? Why do we crave sugar? Because we need those carbohydrates in order to make our hormones. If we're eating low carb for too long, right, then all of our hormones over time, our body starts to break down. We start to break down more muscle. We can't lose the weight anymore, right, because your body's oh my gosh, you're starving. Let's go into storage mode. So this is the problem we over fast. And again, I was big on this and this really happened to me Once I started incorporating making sure I was eating my breakfast before 11 o'clock way, way more energy. I could get through the day much more easily. I didn't realize how much I was under eating, and so I was working with a practitioner and he had me doing chronometer. So that's just a great little. I think there are several out there, but chronometer is a very popular one.

Speaker 1:

You can plug in what you eat over the day. We'll give you an idea of how much fat, protein and carbohydrates and again, everybody's a little different, but and depending on your activity level, right, obviously, if you're very active, if you're an athlete, you're going to need more carbohydrates to supply that. After you work out, we deplete all of glycogen and glucose because our muscles use it really quickly. So this is why when we go for a walk after we eat or do any kind of physical activity excess of let's say you had breakfast with pancakes and syrup and maybe whipped cream, lots of sugar, right, and coffee with lots of sugar your blood glucose is going to be super high from that meal. But if you go on a walk immediately after, those muscles will uptake that glucose. It'll keep your blood glucose.

Speaker 1:

We can't all be perfect all the time, but that's a really simple strategy for trying to keep blood sugar stable, because unstable blood sugar is a leading problem with the disease today. Many of us it doesn't necessarily have to be somebody who's overweight. Even myself. Sometimes I struggle with that blood sugar instability and what I've learned with that blood sugar instability and what I've learned is that I need to eat a little bit of fat or fiber and protein before I have a carbohydrate. I was using a blood glucose monitor to try to understand. Because my HbA1c, which is a measure of blood glucose over three months, was ticking up a little bit.

Speaker 1:

I started eating carbohydrates again. My body hadn't stabilized right, and so, like no carbs and all of a sudden a lot of carbs. Right, my body. It takes a little bit of time to adapt, and so what I learned by watching my blood sugar and what I was eating is that if you have again something fatty so I might have a couple of nuts, or I might take a swig of my cod liver oil first in the morning, or have butter. I put the butter in and then the protein or fiber, right, so it can be vegetables. Sometimes I'll grab a thing of like pea pods, or I'll have a couple of raw carrots, just a little bit of fiber. That will slow down the breakdown of the glucose into the bloodstream. So you don't get this, because when you get a spike, then you release the insulin which brings it down, and that's why sometimes the really heavy sugary meal we get exhausted, right, because we have now crashed our blood sugar. We're very tired. So that's a really good strategy and that works for most people, right, keeping that that blood sugar roast. Always try to eat. You may always try to eat your veggies first and leave the carbs for the last part of the meal. So that should be a good tip there.

Speaker 1:

So why do people feel so good on the ketogenic diet? So this is a very high fat diet. It's used therapeutically for like people with dementia, people with high inflammatory and things. Again, what are we removing? Removing the highly toxic, highly processed you know, carbohydrates? Right, the chips and crackers and the granola bars and all of these kinds of things that are just laden with all sorts of pesticides and even some anti-nutrients we'll talk about in a minute. But again, a long-term is not also a great strategy, right? Initially, take away that processed foods. Right, let that inflammation come down, get back to a more stable point. And now we've got to go back to balancing all those macronutrients and a lot of times why we feel so good eating all those fats? At first it's actually creating a little bit of a stress to the body. So we're increasing our cortisol.

Speaker 1:

The more cortisol in our body we always think it's cortisol is a bad thing. But not having enough cortisol is also not good. So when our cortisol goes up, it decreases inflammation, right? So those of us who are dealing with chronic ailments have high inflammation. So you go on a keto diet, your cortisol levels shoot through the roof and for a little bit you're like I feel better, right, this cortisol is counteracting all that inflammation going around in my body. But we can use up that cortisol, right, and then we can dive down into that low cortisol, which is also a problem If you're waking up in the morning.

Speaker 1:

Morning is when our cortisol is low and it starts to rise as soon as we wake up and it levels off during the day and then gets really low at night. So why do people tend to have more pain, especially tooth pain? It's very much more common at night, and this was actually explained to me by my uncle, who's a physician. He said the reason that is because your cortisol is lower. So cortisol decreases inflammation. Why do we use hydrocortisone creeds? We're decreasing those rashes and getting that inflammation down. So at night, when their cortisol is lower, rashes and getting that inflammation down. So at night, when their cortisol is lower, if you wake up in the morning with aches and pains, you're in a low cortisol state, right. So are there other things that we have to do to balance that? And yes, that's a whole discussion of how do we get the adrenals and kidneys and all, but just again knowing that's why sometimes we feel really good right before that.

Speaker 1:

How about a vegan diet? It's common perception that vegetables are so good, so vegan, because you're not eating this animal protein that it should be healthiest diet on the planet. If you dive into the research, though, vegans are very deficient in the fat-soluble vitamins, as if you've been listening to me over and over again. The minerals, the fat-soluble vitamins, are the crucial building blocks for everything in the body, and although you can get vitamin A in vegetables, really people think, oh, eat your carrots for your vitamin A, but in a carrot is beta carotene. Beta carotene needs to be converted by enzymes in the body to vitamin A, and there are a lot of people the geneticists myself included who do not convert beta carotene very efficiently to vitamin A. So if you happen to be one of those people, you can eat carrots till you're literally orange in the skin and you may not be making enough vitamin A.

Speaker 1:

Vitamin A is absolutely just crucial for bone development, for eye development, it just goes on and on. It's really important, and I see a lot of my vegan clients have very poor dental health. They don't have enough of the vitamin D. You cannot get the type of fat-soluble vitamins that our body needs from plants. It's much more challenging. So you have to supplement and it's very hard to supplement vitamin A. Most supplements contain retinol palmitate, not retinol, so you have to have cod liver oil or pure liver to actually get that type of vitamin A. Most supplements do not have the right form, so again, very problematic. There have the right form, so again, very problematic there. Vitamin K, also right, comes from. The most highest amount comes from grass-fed dairy. And yes, there are vegetables that have the vitamin K green leafy vegetables but the levels are so much lower than what we find in animal products.

Speaker 1:

Interesting when I was researching a little for the podcast, I looked up the liver, the nutrient. So the most nutrient dense on the food is liver and back in the day our grandparents used to eat liver all the time. It was very common, even for me. I'm like the thought of it, even though I know it doesn't taste that when you cook it properly. It's just in my head, I think no-transcript. And beef liver, and we'll put a link in the show notes, but it was on Chris Kresser, chriscressercom nature's most nutritious superfood. So what are the nutrients on the list?

Speaker 1:

Calcium, very important for teeth and bones, right. Calcium is a really important mineral that controls a lot of intracellular health and the balance between calcium and potassium. These are all really important for good energy flows for our cells. These are all really important for a good energy flow through our cells. So an apple has three milligrams of calcium, carrots 100 grams, 3.3 milligrams. Red meat has 11, and beef liver also has 11. So almost three times or almost four times as much calcium in meat than in a fruit and a vegetable.

Speaker 1:

We tend to think that, again, the common perception is that fruits and vegetables are the best foods on the planet. Yes, they are healthy. Right, because they have fiber. They have some antioxidants. The brightly colored things have all these polyphenols that we know are really important for explaining cancer and inflammation. They're really important for mitochondria and produce energy. But interesting, okay, people think red meat is so bad for you. Again, this is from the media and all these misinformation, whatever you want to call it, but we have the data here. The data is very clear. How about phosphorus? Another important Apple has six milligrams, carrots have 31 milligrams, red meat 140. And beef liver has 476 milligrams of phosphorus in 100 grams. All of this is 100.

Speaker 1:

How about magnesium? We talk about magnesium all the time. Most of us are super deficient in magnesium. It's responsible for almost 600 different enzymatic reactions in the body and with all of the toxins flying around all the time, not to mention the stress and the Wi-Fi, all the things going on, we are depleting magnesium at a really impressive rate.

Speaker 1:

I see a lot of tartar buildup on people's teeth. That's telling me there's a calcium imbalance. See a lot of tartar buildup on people's teeth. That's telling me there's a calcium imbalance. We need magnesium, we need vitamin A, we need vitamin K and D. We need all of those to bring that calcium into the teeth and bones versus precipitating out on the teeth or in the arteries. Because when I see a lot of calculus and tartar on the teeth, I'm worried that there's buildup in the arteries. So magnesium, magnesium, magnesium.

Speaker 1:

So in an apple we've got 4.8 grams, carrots 6.2 milligrams, red meat 15, and beef liver 18. Okay, so almost five times the amount of magnesium in liver, versus iron, obviously, we know red meat has a lot of iron. But let's look at vitamin A. There's no vitamin A in apple. There's no vitamin A in carrots. Okay, I just said vitamin. Carrots have beta carotene, don't. So there's 40 international units in red meat and 53,000 in B-flour, because liver is really amazing for storing those fat soluble vitamins A, d, e and K. It has a lot of B12, folic acid, copper, iron. It's very nutrient-dense.

Speaker 1:

Let's look down here at folate, right, folate is a B vitamin really important, especially in pregnant women. We talk a lot about folic acid but we got to be careful because there are some people with genetic variations. Folic acid is actually very detrimental for you. People with MTHFR have to be careful with folic acid and folic acid is added to almost every kit, every cereal product, every granola product. So my children, who are homozygous for that folic acid is actually very detrimental. They need folate, this folic acid, which is a synthetic chemical to a lot of products here.

Speaker 1:

So in folate an apple we've got eight micrograms, in beef liver 145. And again, very interesting. So it lists, let's see. We've got calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, vitamin A, d, e, c, vitamin C this is really interesting 7 milligrams of vitamin C in an apple, 27 in beef liver. Would you even think there's vitamin C in liver? Most of us tend to think of liver having that, to think of liver having that. Then we have all the B vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothentic acid, vitamin B6, folate, biotin and B12. Liver has every single one of those nutrients. The apples and the carrots do not have every single one of those. So, again, when we're thinking about meat versus fruits and vegetables, you get much more nutrient density in quality meat.

Speaker 1:

And it's tricky, too right, because we know the best, highest quality meat is going to be grass-fed, organic meat, which is challenging sometimes to find and it can be more expensive. So we just got to think what are our priorities? Is our health a priority? Is the health of our children a priority? So maybe we're going to spend a little bit more money on the grass and beef and maybe not have the Starbucks every day. I don't know. It's tricky and there is zero judgment here.

Speaker 1:

It can be challenging because some of these things are and that's why we like to think you can't always buy organic for everything, but you don't always need to. That's why the environmental working group every single year comes out with the dirty dozen and the clean 15. So the typically berries, anything with a really thin right apples, peppers, berries. Typically the pesticides put on conventionally grown produce that will absorb through. So you're going to have more pesticides and those kinds of foods, but something like broccoli or banana. Banana has a nice thick skin, you don't need to buy banana. So really print those, look those up, print those sheets out and if you can only pick and choose, then go off of those lists. It's great and again, if you do some more of the meat, that can tend to be a little bit more expensive.

Speaker 1:

Eggs eggs always used to be so inexpensive, such a nutrient dense food, but now with the birds it's gotten a little crazy. So if you have the land, try raising a few chickens. It's pretty easy. Grant, we've got 71 incubating right now and my sister-in-law's next door, so that's pretty exciting. We eat a lot of eggs. My aunt and sister-in-law are both doing carnivore diet all the time. They eat meat, eggs and cheese and, again, healthier than they've ever been in their entire lives.

Speaker 1:

Other thing we want to talk about is seed oils. We've had a couple of episodes on the podcast about seed oils. You've heard me talk a lot about that. The omega-6 versus omega-3. They're called essential fatty acids because our bodies don't eat them. We need to eat these. The omega 3s, we know, are like the cod liver oil. The omega 6s are all of the seeds, right the sunflower, the safflower, the canola, corn oil, soybean oil, those are. They oxidize really quickly.

Speaker 1:

So mentioned before, which is really important, to never buy anything that's fatty or acidic in plastic, because anything that's acidic or fatty can leach the plastics into our food. That's another huge thing we're seeing in the world today. It's all of us are absolutely loaded with microplastics. That is absolutely detrimental to hormone health as well as lots of other cross-dimension issues. So always look for the glass bottle. If you buy it in bulk, pour it into your own. You can buy mason jars pretty cheap. Pour it into another bottle and keep it, and preferably you also want it in a dark colored glass bottle. Want it in a dark colored glass bottle because light even if it's in a glass bottle but it's a clear glass bottle any type of light, especially artificial light, is going to cause oxidation. So one of the problems with these seed oils is that it oxidizes before we even consume it. It oxidizes fat. That create a lot of havoc and a ton of inflammation in the body really problematic. The reason it's so prevalent now in foods is because it makes foods last longer, which again, necessarily if that food is never breaking down, what is it even made of. This is how we have shelf-stable things. But if you're really concerned about health and eating well, you really want to avoid that.

Speaker 1:

What should you be cooking with? Cook with ghee, cook with tallow, cook with butter? I wouldn't cook high heats with olive oil, but a good quality olive oil. That's the other thing. You have to really look Where's your olive oil coming from. A lot of times they're all dumped together, maybe pretty contaminated. So there are some really good ones out of California. But again, be discerning when you look at where those are coming from and again, make sure you buy a dark bottle glass. You'll prevent some of that oxidation beforehand.

Speaker 1:

Coconut oil is something I use a lot in my baking. That works really well. Coconut oil can be fungal. You don't want to overdo it Again fungal. You don't want to overdo it Again with anything. You don't want to overdo it. That's why I always have ghee, I always have tallow, I always have butter. I have a variety. Sometimes I'll put the coconut oil in my tea in the morning, so rotating to get the different kinds of saturated fats.

Speaker 1:

But saturated fats have been vilified for far too long. Again, I have some podcasts about this, so go back if you want to for far too long. Again, I have some podcasts about this, so go back if you want to learn a little bit more in depth about that. But that is what every cell in our body the lining is cholesterol right it is. So we need to have those really healthy fats in order for our nutrients to be brought into the cells and for the toxins to be pushed out. When we have too many omega-6s, the lining of our cells becomes rubbery. We can't absorb nutrients and we can't let the toxins out, so that really becomes a problem. Really interesting too.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk a little bit about fats, because we're always so worried we can't eat fats. We can't have high cholesterol, because that's going to cause us to have a heart attack. The science is very clear, although the media the majority of us don't really understand the science. We haven't even ever heard the science. It's unfortunate. Even our doctors haven't really looked at the research there.

Speaker 1:

We're always so worried when our LDL we call that the bad cholesterol. When that gets high, so many doctors are immediately wanting to put us on staff. We've got to lower that and I'm always thinking let's be smart about this. Why would the body be producing more LDL? And, as I've mentioned many times before, it's when we have little damages or tears, endothelial lining, the LDL acts as a band-aid. It's supposed to go over, heal that little tear or the damage and then the HDL right, this good cholesterol, comes by and then dissolves the rest of that clot and everything is hunky-dory. However, when we are constantly injuring our endothelial layer, because again, one cell layer thick, just like the gut, very easily can be damaged by all sorts of toxins, very easily can be damaged by all sorts of toxins, heavy protein, sticky, sticky blood, right. Then constantly having the high LDL. But again, as if you guys listened to my last solo podcast, we talked about that endothelial dysfunction, that the high LDL, high cholesterol, high blood pressure is a result of the endothelial dysfunction, not the cause. So really important.

Speaker 1:

So other thing to really understand about LDL another reason, one of the main reasons it's also very high, is when we have a lot of endotoxins. So many of us are walking around with parasitic infections, bacterial infections, fungal infections, and they're low grade. So we don't necessarily have a ton of symptoms or maybe we don't really relate them because we get so used to having digestive upset and so used to having a little bit of gas here and there, my eczema so many people. Every other commercial on TV now is for a skin rash drug. So it's just become so normal and we don't think about it as being bad because it's just so common. But all those are signs of infections, right, and so these infections?

Speaker 1:

I mentioned a lot about this in the last solo podcast, about these endotoxins and how they specifically damage areas in the body. But these endotoxins, it's the LDL which actually binds on to these endotoxins to try to get them out of the body. So if you are seeing on blood work an increase in free fatty acids, an increase in triglycerides, an increase in LDL, that we should be thinking about what kind of infection. And then we should be doing further work of maybe a stool test or an organic acid test, some kind of tox screen to look for. Is it mold toxins? Is it bacterial toxins? We need to know. Parasitic toxins, fungal, what is the infection that is causing these? So instead of just boom, let's put you on. So now, if we reduce that LDL, we do not have that carrier now to grab onto that toxin to get it out of the body. So now we have all these toxins and now no way to get rid of them, and this is a real problem.

Speaker 1:

This is why I talk about binders a lot. I think binders are absolutely vital in today's world. I take one, several, every single day. I give it to my kids every day because, again, we have to bind up these toxins and so if you're on a statin, you need to maybe be concerned. Is there still infection that could be causing for the problem? I'm not an MD. I'm not telling you to get off your statin. I just want people to be aware, think about these things If it resonates, with you maybe doing a little bit more research to really understand that thing. So, again, if you're somebody who suddenly has high LDL, think about what is the cause. Is it possible that I have some type of infection? So really important to understand? So that's big on all the fats here.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk a little bit about some other food things that come up sometimes for people. People talk about oxalates People talk about so these are what we typically classify as anti-nutrients. So people in the carnivore world and most you know they talk a lot about vegetables are not good for you. You don't need vegetables because they have all of these toxins associated with them and every plant does have these defense mechanisms. Right Because they want to survive, just like a human wants to survive. So they will give off certain toxins. Right to avoid being eaten by insects or animals or what have you. So that's why sometimes, when we eat too many things raw, in the raw form, some people who eat raw say, oh, it's great, because that's when you get the enzyme.

Speaker 1:

Enzymes are so crucial for health. But those enzymes can also be toxic in some people. Some people thrive eating raw diet. A lot of us do not. So again, there's total genetic variability. So I can't say one thing is always better than something else. It's really interesting to look at your own genetics and just in your own feeling when you try these different things, what feels the best. But you have to do it for probably a month at least to understand the long-term effect of this diet for me.

Speaker 1:

But oxalates if any of you have ever listened to Asprey, he just hates oxalates because he has a genetic disposition where he cannot process oxalates properly. People who get kidney stones. One form of kidney stones are calcium oxalate stone. So in those you have to be careful eating too many oxalates. Oxalates are very common in rhubarb, spinach, kale, raspberries, chocolate beet, so all these things that we're thinking, oh, but those are so good, right, they have all those good nutrients and there's good and bad in everything. So again, we have to weigh and think about how to. But oxalates bind calcium and they can bind other minerals.

Speaker 1:

As I was saying in the beginning, minerals are so vital to our overall well-being. If we're eating a lot of foods that are binding our minerals not to mention if we have a lot of infections also bind a lot of our minerals then we may not be getting those minerals in our cells where we need them for all the special reactions to create energy for us, right? So we have to consider that how well we eat, and that's why you should never eat anything. Every single day I have the same breakfast, I have the same lunch, I have the same food. We need to have a variety of nutrients. Just eating spinach here and there, raspberries here. But again, it affects more people who have that problem and there are certain tests where you can look. Organic acid tests will show how, if your oxalic acid is really high and you can do very affordable nowadays testing companies, you can see how well you deal with it and it may be like, wow gosh, I have been eating raspberry every single day in my smoothies. They're not getting better. Maybe I should change it up. If you're somebody who likes to have the convenience of a smoothie every day, make sure you're changing it up. Do not put the same things in every day because, again, we need that variety and, like I said, if you happen to be one of those people who are sensitive to oxalates and you're using them in your smoothie every single day, you could be creating more inflammation when you think you're doing a really good health thing.

Speaker 1:

Acidic acid this is another really important anti-nutrient Very commonly found in cereals, right, so any kind of grains, legumes, right, like beans, peanuts. They also can bind minerals and I see this a lot. I get concerned about this kind of thing with tooth decay. If we're binding up our minerals, then how are we going to produce healthy enamel? We can't. So that's some grains, which is such a mainstay of our kids' diets today that what's problematic. So I'm always giving my kids extra minerals because I can't keep them away from the cereals as much as I'd like to. I don't know what they eat at school and they always come home with snacks and who knows. I said, okay, I'm always putting binders on them and I'm always giving them minerals every single day, without fail. Minerals are hiding them somewhere, which I've found plenty of stashes over the years but trying to impress on them that this is really important, right? If you're going to go out and you're going to eat your Taco Bell, at least take your binder and please take your minerals, right? That's not a good vitamin. So that's what we have to be careful for, because if we're binding up too many minerals, we'll not be able to make the cells work the way they want to.

Speaker 1:

Another antineutrient that you may have heard of are lectins. These are also found in plants, mainly grains. You see this connection here grains, cereal. They have a lot of these anti-nutrients. The other problem is not only is it anti-nutrient, but a lot of times grains are brought in from the harvests and they're stored in these silos for a super long time.

Speaker 1:

Mold can grow in these silos and mold is just one of the nastiest infections we can have because it suppresses our immune system. So mold if you have constant, or you or your child grandchild has chronic strep infractions, it often can be related to mold. The mold is taking over, it's suppressing the body's ability to fight that strep, because we all have strep everywhere. In taking over, it's suppressing the body's ability to fight that, because we all have strep everywhere in our mouth, it's a common bacteria. So why are some people more prone to getting these constant infections? And then they constantly have antibiotics which then throw the whole microbiome off in the body, which leads to a whole host of other issues? And mold can be tricky to find. But it's on a simple organic acid test, on a simple urine tox screen that shows mold toxins. But again, if you're taking a binder every day, you're helping to bind those. So another thing to bear.

Speaker 1:

So those leptins, again, as I said, they're in grains or beans, nuts, some shellfish, sometimes potatoes and again, some people have genetic susceptibilities that they can't digest some of these foods. So again, just keep reiterating it, try to have a variety in your diet. I do think it's important that we have a little protein. Does it have to be every day? No, it doesn't have to be every day. Find some way because, as I said, and if you go on and look at that list, like the science is indisputable there's so much nutrient density in animal protein really important. So we've talked about a lot of things. I know I've gone here and there and all over the place, but I hope you can take.

Speaker 1:

Oh, there was one more thing I wanted to talk about, as I when I was talking about seed oils. Very interestingly, if you have the right amount of oils in your body, you can actually prevent sunburns. So when I learned this years later I was like, oh, no wonder my children when they were younger never, ever had sunburn. They did not lather them with sunscreen because I was so worried about all the toxic chemicals in sunscreen. If you've seen me, I'm very fair skinned, with strawberry, blonde hair, blue eye. My younger daughter, she has more of the Italian skin, but my old daughter looks very similar to me. I was always surprised. The first time they ever burned was when we went to the Caribbean. Sun is much hotter there, but I always gave them cod liver oil when they were little almost every day. I was like, oh my gosh, those omega-3s are really antioxidant capability of that actually protects the skin. Another nutrient is axostanthin, which you find is what causes the pink in shrimp. So that's another really important antioxidant that can prevent sunburn. Again, another little tidbit that I always found interesting. I didn't really realize that. I just thought, wow, they're lucky. So again, the more omega-3s that you have, you're going to be more resistant.

Speaker 1:

Same thing like a lot of people will come to my office and they don't want to have x-rays because there's so much radiation. Now we have digital so it's very minimal. But even now the 3D x-rays are becoming more common and they do have a little more radiation. So one we have a special homeopathic we give patients after that want it will help the body remove that excess radiation. But having antioxidants before any kind of x-ray whether it's a dental x-ray or a mammogram or a T-scan, whatever you have to have bulk up on the antioxidants. So maybe pomegranate juice, anything with the high polyphenols, berries, richly colored fruits and vegetables have a lot of antioxidants. Or you certainly can take a supplement with antioxidants that can help mitigate the effects of the radiation and allow that body to flush it out of the system more easily.

Speaker 1:

Lastly, to finish up our nutrition podcast, I mentioned that we want to talk about soul nutrition. So, as I mentioned at the very beginning, if we can be eating all of the best foods and doing all the exercise and the movement, but if we don't have a sense of connection, a sense of purpose. It doesn't really matter In my opinion. In my experience, it doesn't matter what we're eating, right. The other important thing to mention is how we're eating, and I talked to a lot of my patients about this too.

Speaker 1:

So we may have the healthiest smoothie or a great meal with all the nutrients that we need, if we're eating it on the go, while we're watching TV or sometimes I'm guilty of this I've got so much to do in the middle of the day. During lunch I'm trying to answer all my emails and I'm trying to wolf down my lunch. That's no good right. We really need to take the time to allow our nervous system to initiate the digestive system to allow us to absorb and assimilate all those nutrients. So please also think about how we eat, not just what we're eating. Okay. So that's why family dinner is so important, when we're all together and we can't necessarily do this seven days a week.

Speaker 1:

My kids are teenagers now. They've got all the sports all the time. So even if we just we sit down and again we're watching a show all together, we're having community. Is it the best? No, but it's better than everybody doing their own thing and and again eating standing up at the counter. We do the best we can in our modern life.

Speaker 1:

But that idea of community in Europe, right, that everything closes for lunch for hours. People have two, three hour lunches and they are sitting around with friends. And they do have less processed food in Europe. They don't allow the chemicals that we allow in this country. But there's a real culture around food and around eating.

Speaker 1:

I read a book once called French Kids Eat Everything. It was a fantastic book, just the whole sense that there's an entire committee that meets to think about what the children are going to be eating. These kids in elementary school have seven course meals. It's fabulous. So they really appreciate food, not for the just the taste, not the something that have to do three times a day, but the whole idea of enjoying our food, not for the just the taste, not the something that have to do three times a day, but the whole idea of enjoying our food. Allowing us to savor and feel. All have all those senses engaged is really important. That allows us to get that nutrition down to the cellular level. Another really important thing to think about and again other things for that soul nutrition is having those meals with friends, right, having that community.

Speaker 1:

I was so fortunate recently to see three of my best girlfriends all within the span of a week. One lives in Texas, the other one is a couple hours away from me in Massachusetts, one is about an hour from me and all in one week I got to see all three of them and man did that fill my joy bucket. It's just so amazing how much, how good you feel in the presence of others who can appreciate just sitting and talking and having a meal together. Being able to just talk about anything really increases energy levels in people. The whole idea of oxytocin, that hormone, that feel-good hormone when you are hugged or touched. And again, the more balanced our nervous system is, the better our digestive system works. The healthier our digestive system is, the better our immune system is. Everything works together. So I just want to shout out to my besties, candice and Heather and Casey, and thank you all for providing me with the soul nutrition. I love you guys, and thank you to my audience here for reaching out and letting me know that this is making an impact for you. It is something that gives me great joy is making an impact for you. It is something that gives me great joy and I hope to continue this for a long time.

Speaker 1:

A lot to unpack in this episode. I hope you guys learned something. Please know that I am available if any of you have any questions. Specifically, we put a link in the show notes to my email. I do consultations for patients who are looking for answers about just about anything. So I hope you enjoyed this episode and I will see you on the next one. Hello, I'm Dr Rachel Carver, a board-certified naturopathic biologic dentist and a certified health coach. Did you know that over 80% of the US population has some form of gum disease? Many of us don't even know that we have this source of chronic infection and inflammation in our mouth that's been linked to serious consequences like heart disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia, colon cancer, kidney disease, even pregnancy complications. Would you like to learn how to reverse and prevent these chronic debilitating conditions without spending a lot of time and money at the dentist? Join me for my six-week course, where I will teach you the root cause of disease. You'll learn how to be your own best doctor. Are you ready to get started? Let's go.