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The Dr. Josh Axe Show

Heavy Metals, Sugar Cravings, & Natural Flavors | Q&A

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Josh

Hey, everyone. Welcome to Dr. Josh Axe Show. I am your host, Dr. Axe, and each and every week on this show, I explore the science and principles behind how to grow in body, mind, spirit, and take your health and your life to the next level. On today's episode, I'll be answering your questions such as, what are natural flavors? Should you stay away from them?

Josh

I'll talk about how to get young sleep with children. I'll be answering how to naturally boost your energy. I'll share my opinion on hormone replacement therapy and natural ways to induce sleep. We're going to talk about the future of the labor market, reduced labor, and so much more on today's episode.

Josh

But hey, don't forget to subscribe to the show and hit the notification bell so you don't miss a single thing. And listen, if you're not subscribed, you're not going to see a lot of the great content we're putting out here. So subscribe. And thank you, all of you who are on mission with me and have shared so much of this show and podcast across social media. Thanks everybody for being a part.

Josh

Also, remember, you could submit your questions to me on Instagram. I answer your questions regularly on my story. So follow me on Instagram @DrJoshAxe, and you can also send me a voice message and actually be featured on the show. Just click the link right here that we have posted here, and you can be part of the show, submit a question, and excited to answer your questions. All right.

Josh

First question here is an audio message from Selah. Hi, Dr. Axe.

Josh

I'm a young mom. I just had my baby 4 months ago and I've got a 3-year-old son. So, in the height of young littles and motherhood. And, I'm really struggling right now with my sleep with my baby. And, I'm seeing whenever you're talking about de-stressing, one of the biggest things you're talking about is sleep.

Josh

And, it feels near impossible to make that happen with the 4-month sleep regression and just— I literally haven't slept well in 4 months. So, what do you do if you're a mom and you're not sleeping? But you're also really stressed and you're trying to de-stress, but sleep is not a solution that you can solve. I have been able to find nothing online to help me figure this out.

Josh

So curious your thoughts. Thanks so much.

Josh

Well, first of all, I can share with you that my wife and I have been in a similar situation. We have a 6-month-old right now and a 4-year-old. So, so, so very close. And also, I am curious to know if you are married, if you have somebody who is living with you, or if you are doing all of this solo. So my first The first thing I would say is, listen, you can't be perfect in this situation.

Josh

Listen, when you've got little kids, it can be hard to get sleep, but there are some things you can do to improve the quality of sleep when you are sleeping and to help keep your stress hormones down, which will also allow you to live off of a little bit less sleep, generally speaking. So the first thing I would do is say, get help anywhere you can get it.

Josh

You know, if you are married, get more support from your spouse, if you're not from your partner, if you have a parent, if you have friends that, again, at a local church you connect with, or just friends in general. But whatever you can do, do not be afraid to ask for help. If you're surrounded by the right people, they're going to want to help you.

Josh

And there are people out there that would love to support you. So oftentimes get plugged into a place of praise and worship. A religious community that can often support you.

Josh

So that'd be my first piece of advice for you is try and get some time for yourself where maybe, maybe, uh, you know, it's, it's more difficult with a 4-month-old, but with your 3-year-old, have someone to be able to watch your child for, even it's for an hour or two, a couple days a week. So, so I would try and do that.

Josh

Um, the other thing I would say is go to bed earlier, you know, trying to get to bed as early as possible when you are sleeping. Try and get more deep and REM sleep by taking a few supplements. Probably the supplements long-term that are going to be the most beneficial for you, number one would be magnesium. I'd recommend about 300 to 600 milligrams a day.

Josh

You can get magnesium citrate or a chelate or a glycinate, but those sort of magnesiums are calming and relaxing to the body. Threonate's another good version. But basically, buy a magnesium supplement, take that. Also, you could take ashwagandha. It's an herb that helps lower cortisol levels, reducing stress on the body.

Josh

Now, in general, you can also eat more magnesium-rich foods, foods that are calming, eating more healthy fats, getting some more wild organic meat. But healthy fat, healthy meat, not over-consuming the carbohydrates will also help you get better sleep. And not eating too late at night, trying to eat an earlier dinner.

Josh

If you can eat dinner around 5 or 6 o'clock and go to bed around 9 or 10, that's going to be a much better option. Again, the earlier you can get to bed, even Even if you go to bed at 8, actually, that's the best. Eating dinner around 5 would be the ideal scenario. And so, but those are the biggest things you can do.

Josh

Again, I really think that getting support to where you can get some time yourself, I think eating a diet that's high in protein, fat, and lower in carbs. And then, I think doing— and not no carb, you don't want to go keto, you just want to do some berries, some sweet potatoes, some rice.

Josh

Those as your source of carbs and a lot of meat, vegetables, and healthy fats like avocado, coconut, and extra virgin olive oil. And then again, magnesium and ashwagandha. And I think that will help you the most. Again, I just want to say, listen, that's a difficult situation raising young kids. It's hard to get as much sleep as you want.

Josh

But I do think if you're able to follow some of the advice I just shared, you will get better sleep at night. But again, here's the thing. Do not be afraid to ask somebody for some help and for some support. There are a lot of people out there I know that want to help serve you, love you, support you. And so make sure to lean on those people during this difficult season.

Josh

Second question here, how can I minimize my sugar cravings? Well, if you are craving sugar, one of the best things you can do is embrace what I call the power of sour. You know, oftentimes we crave sugar and then secondarily people crave salt. When Really, some of the foods you want to be getting in your diet are bitter and sour and umami.

Josh

If you consume more sour foods, it will eliminate some of the sugar cravings. So using apple cider vinegar in your foods, doing things like Granny Smith apples, drinking kombucha, you know, eating foods that are just— tend to be more tart and sour, adding lemon and lime to your beverages. So I think those are good options. I also would recommend probiotics.

Josh

Oftentimes, those sugar cravings are due to an imbalance of good bacteria in your gut. And oftentimes you have an overgrowth of Candida and yeast and Candida, that bad bacteria in your system will crave sugar. And so in order to eliminate that, certain types of probiotics, especially soil-based organisms, help clear out some of the Candida.

Josh

In that case, taking a probiotic supplement would be very beneficial. Also using natural herbs to eliminate sweet sugar cravings like using Pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, cinnamon. Those herbs will help lower the amount of sugar you need, and adding those into smoothies or applesauce or yogurt, whatever you're eating, would be beneficial.

Josh

You know, another big part of eliminating sugar cravings, along with the sour foods and the probiotic-rich foods, is just generally getting more protein, fiber, and water. Do about 30 grams to 50 grams of protein per meal, 3 times a day. Try and get about 30 to 40 grams of fiber per day.

Josh

You're going to get that by eating— again, eat more meat that's organic, eat more vegetables, eat more berries, you know, get fiber that way. Eat more beans or sprouted grains to get more fiber. And then drink a lot of water. Drink at least your body weight or half of your body weight in water up to your full body weight in ounces of water a day. These will all help reduce sugar cravings.

Josh

Also, sugar cravings can be connected to B vitamin deficiencies, so you might consider taking a B complex vitamin. And then here are some natural sugar alternatives. The reality is you're going to want something sweet, but you can always replace the added sugar with natural forms of sugar or, uh, things that are naturally sweet even with no calories.

Josh

So the first thing I'd recommend is get high-quality fruit in your diet, especially berries— blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. So get more fruit. The second thing I I would say is do monk fruit. So if number one is fruit, the next thing is monk fruit. That's a very low-calorie natural sweetener from fruit. The other option is stevia. I, I'm a fan of stevia.

Josh

It's been used as an herbal medicine to sweeten teas for thousands of years in Asia and South America. So I think stevia is a good option. Allulose is another good option that comes from things like figs and raisins and jackfruit. So that's another very low-calorie natural sweetener, and then a little bit of raw honey.

Josh

Even though those things are sweet and have sugar, they will satisfy your cravings without doing harm to your body if you do them in moderation. So again, fruit, monk fruit, stevia, allulose, honey, also doing some of the sweet herbs like cinnamon are good options.

Josh

And then also one other thing that may be helpful in order to keep your blood sugar balanced, taking an herbal supplement like Berberine, which comes from bayberry leaf, would be another good option for you in how to naturally reduce those sugar cravings. All right, we got a question here from Chelsea. Let's listen.

Josh

I'm curious what your thoughts are on natural flavors and if they're harmful or beneficial for our bodies.

Josh

Hey, great question, Chelsea. Thanks. And I know you've asked questions before and this is a great one. So here's the thing with natural flavors. If you go and flip over a pack of protein powder or a natural product you'd buy at a local health food store, you're going to sometimes see on the label made with natural flavors. Now, here's the reality.

Josh

Those could be good and very healthy, or they could be bad for you. It's a really hard thing to answer.

Josh

I can share with you, I own a supplement company and we do a protein powder and a collagen powder, and our natural flavors are made of things like cocoa, cacao, and sea salt, and basically other just natural flavorings, like a cinnamon derivative, and they're very small amounts, but they're all part of one formula. And I know that ours are truly just natural herbs and flavorings.

Josh

However, some companies might put in flavorings that are natural, but that maybe might not be that healthy. Now, I think generally the natural flavors are fine. I know that there's a company, a few companies over the years, When you, when you go and find out their natural flavors, they tend to be maybe made with something that's a, a type of a gum or a, you know, a very processed form of sugar.

Josh

I mean, there's all kinds of things there, maybe dairy, maybe even MSG. I mean, there's a lot of things it could be. Well, of course, MSG couldn't be because it's a natural flavor, maybe a yeast extract or something, but But I would say, generally speaking, I think natural flavors are fine.

Josh

I think there's a lot of Instagram or social media influencers that say all natural flavors bad, they're evil. And, but that's not true. Those people are just trying to get hype with their videos. So again, natural flavors, the majority of the time are fine. However, sometimes they can also hide ingredients that you don't want in there.

Josh

Basically, I think the moral of the story is buy from a brand you really feel like you can trust. That tends to be very open about what they're putting in their products. But, but when somebody is using that on an ingredient label, it can be, it can be hard to know. But generally, natural flavors are just what they say. They're, they're natural flavors. Next question here.

Josh

How can I protect my health with bad air pollution in my area? Well, the best thing you can do is, let's say you're spending 70% of your time indoors. Well, make sure your indoor air is clean and get a high-quality indoor air filter.

Josh

There are brands like like Intellipure, Air Doctor, and others that are great home filters that you may consider using that just, again, that will keep your indoor air clean because you can't change your outdoor air. You can't change that. Okay? You have no control over that.

Josh

However, you do have control over your indoor air and keeping one in your bedroom where you're spending probably half of your time in your home. And then the other half in your main living area. I would get 2 air filters. You can also get whole home filters that actually connect to your ventilation system.

Josh

But I would at the very least get air filters for where you're sleeping in the room, typically the living room or kitchen where you're spending a majority of your time, and that will help keep your air clean.

Josh

So even if you go outdoors for a couple hours a day, you know, at least when you're indoors for probably, you know, sleeping 8 hours and probably maybe even another 5 or so, the majority of your day you are, you are breathing in clean air. Because your lungs are created to deal with some toxicity. I mean, they They can deal with it.

Josh

You just don't want that all the time, because if your outdoor air is toxic and your indoor air, then you've got even bigger problems. Here's the reality. Most people's indoor air is far worse than their outdoor air. I know people oftentimes say, well, my outdoor air, there's air pollution in the air today.

Josh

Well, if you've been using VOC paint and you've got carpet in your home and you have lots of other things, cleaning products, I mean, you're breathing in way worse air than outside. So, So the best thing you could do is buy an air filter for your home.

Josh

Again, the 2 brands that I know I've used in the past, right now we've got IntelliPure and we have Air Doctor, uh, both in our home that we're using to, to cleanse the air. Also, there are some herbs you can take that are good for, for your lungs. Echinacea is one of those primary herbs that's very, very good for lung health. So I would put that at the top of the list. You could take echinacea.

Josh

Cordyceps mushrooms also tend to be pretty good. Rhodiola rosea, but echinacea I would put at the top of the list for lung energy. And then foods that are white and yellow in Chinese medicine are known for being good for lung health. Horseradish, miso, chicken bone broth, garlic, and onions tend to be very, very good for lung and respiratory health.

Josh

So again, like horseradish, garlic, onions especially are gonna be very good for sort of cleansing and strengthening your lungs. But those are the things I would do to help combat the air pollution in your area. Keep your indoor air clean. Here's another question. How can I reduce or avoid heavy metals? Well, the biggest way is to eat and drink out of primarily stainless steel and glass.

Josh

So I would do that in your home, stainless steel and glass. You know, in the, in the past, a lot of our heavy metal exposure was due to Uh, lead-based paints, that was a major issue. Amalgam fillings, those had mercury, that was another major issue. If you stay away from the lead-based paints and the, and the silver fillings, that alone will help tremendously.

Josh

You know, we also have heavy metals like, like arsenic and cadmium in a lot of our food supply. Rice, if it's non-organic, tends to be very high in arsenic, but so do apples. Really, a lot of the foods that come out of China, if you are buying foods from China that are non-organic especially, they tend to contain heavy metals, especially arsenic.

Josh

So I would say buying foods that are certified organic will also help reduce your heavy metal toxicity. And those are the big things you could do. Again, eat organic, stay away from foods from China, and, uh, again, you know, be careful of the lead-based paints, never get silver fillings.

Josh

And to naturally support your body detoxifying, doing greens, uh, like a lot of vegetables, steamed vegetables on a regular basis will be helpful. Doing spirulina, chlorella is also beneficial. Probiotics support the detoxification of heavy metals. Chlorophyll, I think, is good. Um, humate, which you can find in some probiotic supplements.

Josh

All of these will help bind and eliminate heavy metals from your body. And, um, and even herbs like milk thistle can also be helpful there. All right, next question. Are there any natural ways to induce labor That you recommend? Did your wife Chelsea use any? Yes.

Josh

Both of my wife's pregnancies with Arwen and with our daughter Aelin, Chelsea wanted to, you know, was ready to have the babies as soon as possible. Our daughter Arwen was 10 days past due date. Our daughter Aelin was about a week early for our second child. And so, but here's what she did. And she did the same thing for both. She did all of these things. The second one even more.

Josh

Okay.

Josh

When we had her a little early. So one, we walked a lot. We walked and we walked and we walked, especially even before, but really the, the, you know, the, the couple weeks before the due date, we just, we walked a lot. Um, walking is beneficial because it really supports lymphatic flow.

Josh

That's a big part of, of prepping the body for pregnancy is making sure the body's— you've got a lot of blood flow, a lot of lymphatic flow, that the liver is being supported. So walking outdoors in nature especially. Yeah. Is very good for supporting labor. Eating foods that are more warming and spicy, that's, that's very, very good for, for, for the body. That helps with prepping for labor.

Josh

I like ginger and garlic especially for this. So ginger, a lot of ginger, a lot of garlic in foods can be beneficial. Acupuncture. My wife was getting acupuncture weekly the last month prior up to her giving birth, and before that she was doing acupuncture probably at least every month. Herbs like black cohosh and blue cohosh tend to be very good for this.

Josh

Evening primrose oil, my wife took that her entire third trimester. And then things like raspberry leaf tea. And then my wife did dates. I want to say she did 3 dates a day. She would do 3 dates, just dates, just eat those. A day. She would tend to do this around her workouts to also deal with the sugar. But, um, but yeah, she would do dates. I mean, that's a lot of things.

Josh

So we walked a lot, spicy foods, acupuncture, black cohosh, evening primrose oil, raspberry leaf tea, 3 dates, um, all support, um, inducing labor, uh, naturally. You know, one other thing I do want to mention too is, uh, sometimes if you know that your baby is breech Um, you can see an acupuncturist and a chiropractor.

Josh

Chiropractors, some of them do a technique called Webster's technique, and they can sort of prepare the body and the pelvis for birth. So another thing you may consider along with the acupuncture is doing chiropractic. I think those 2 things together can also help prepare the body for, uh, for labor. All right, question here from Trina.

Josh

Hi, Dr. Axe. I have a question. I recently went and got a blood test. I was having some issues with digestion. The blood test came back as probable celiac, so positive. My family doctor suggested I get a biopsy, but I understand that there is risk with biopsy. Also, it terrifies me to have a tube in my colon, so I decided to not get that done. And I've just gone gluten-free.

Josh

A lot of gluten-free food is not that healthy. It is— processed food, as you know. So I'm just wondering if I should continue gluten-free, seeing as it was not confirmed that I have celiac. And how important is it to get a biopsy done after testing positive for celiac? Thank you.

Josh

Yeah, great question, Trina. So I would say, uh, one, I'm not your current physician, so for me to tell you to not or to get a biopsy— I'd say if it was my wife or family, or let me say if it was me, Personally, I would just do everything right, and I wouldn't feel like I personally needed to get a biopsy. And, and that's not what my wife would probably get done either.

Josh

We would just say, okay, let's eat as healthy as possible. As you mentioned, a lot of packaged foods that are gluten-free aren't healthy. So my advice for you would be don't eat packaged foods. Um, I would say eat food, just eat real food that's been unprocessed. So an ideal diet for you is gonna look like do a lot of meat, or specifically organic grass-fed beef and bison, chicken and turkey.

Josh

Wild-caught fish, you know, venison, do eggs. All of that is fantastic. Do bone broth. So get a lot of protein. Do some healthy protein powders like a bone broth protein and a collagen. So get a lot of protein that way. Get a lot of healthy fat. I'd recommend avocados, olive oil, and coconut oil or coconut-based products like coconut yogurt. Those are gonna be great for your gut health.

Josh

So get those healthy fats and maybe even walnuts, uh, would be good as well. So I would really focus on those. And then in terms of your carbohydrates, do more fruit. Do pears, do applesauce, do blueberries, do blackberries, do raspberries, but eat a lot of fruit. Okay. And then in addition, for your carbohydrates, I'd recommend sweet potatoes, rice, and oatmeal. Those are all gluten-free.

Josh

Those are all great sources of carbohydrates. Again, rice, oats, and sweet potatoes or regular potatoes are fine too. And make that in terms of your carbs and starches. And then you can also do beans and legumes.

Josh

Okay.

Josh

Uh, as well. So just eat real food. Um, if you feel like you have to have bread, then do a 24-hour fermented sourdough bread you make yourself, or you buy at your farmer's market or from a local baker where you know this is true sourdough, it's been made a long time. Because even people with celiac can tend to do sourdough bread.

Josh

But if the bulk of your diet is what I, what I first told you should be, You're going to do well. Now, you can go to a health food store and often buy rice-based breads and products. For instance, there's a— I want to say a rice and corn-based English muffin that my wife Chelsea and I have bought before.

Josh

But right now, Chelsea makes all our bread at home via sourdough process, so we don't really buy bread out ever. But if you feel like you had to have it, then buy that gluten-free. But I'd say just stay away from the packaged foods. If you just eat real Yeah. Real food like I shared with you, you're going to be golden.

Josh

Also, I would say there are some things that'd be great for you to take gut-wise. Number one is going to be a probiotic supplement. I'd recommend taking 100 billion CFU daily of a high-quality probiotic. So if you can only afford one or to take one supplement, take a probiotic. The second best supplement for you to take would be a bone broth protein powder.

Josh

Doing that as part of a smoothie in the morning with some coconut milk and berries would be wonderful for you as well. Um, and those are probably the top 2 I would recommend you consume on a regular basis, is a probiotic, a bone broth protein powder. Drinking herbal teas like ginger herbal tea is also great for the— for your gut, or a gas and bloating tea is really good for your gut health.

Josh

That's probably going to be a blend of something like ginger and peppermint and cardamom and caraway and, uh, and fennel. You know, those sort of herbs that are very good for that, for your digestive health. But I think if you just share what I just if you do what I just shared with you, you're going to see, um, you're going to see tremendous results.

Josh

And, and not only is that going to help celiac, uh, it's also going to help you just heal and be, be your absolute best in terms of your health. One other thing, if you want to see a practitioner, acupuncturists tend to do a great job with treating, um, in, in gut inflammation. So I think that would help you as well. All right, question here from John. He said, I am constantly tired.

Josh

What are some ways I can naturally increase my energy without caffeine? Well, the best way to boost your energy without caffeine, there's several things. Number one, get better sleep. Go to bed earlier. Before bed, 1 hour before, no light whatsoever. Listen to an audiobook or read a book with just more of a yellow light. You could get a light bulb that doesn't have that blue light.

Josh

So read or listen to an audiobook before bed. Once you get to sleep, have a weighted blanket, make sure your room is pitch black, make sure it's cold as well. And that's, that's big for boosting energy is sleep. The second thing is diet-wise, don't overconsume carbs and don't eat a big meal late at night. Eat a big breakfast, eat a big lunch, eat a moderate dinner.

Josh

And the earlier you eat dinner, the better. If you ate dinner at 4 o'clock, perfect. 5, You know, but try and eat dinner, try and give yourself about 3 hours before you go to bed. So try and eat an earlier dinner around 5, the latest ideally 6. So if you can eat dinner earlier, that's better. And don't overeat.

Josh

You want to consume mostly protein, some fat for dinner, not overconsume the carbohydrates. Um, that would also be helpful. And then, then there are natural energy boosters that they don't necessarily work like caffeine automatically and that strongly. But they will help over time.

Josh

My favorite natural energy boosters herbally that aren't caffeinated are going to be— number one would be ashwagandha. Then I would say Panax ginseng. Now, Panax ginseng, you don't want to do like for years every single day, but for short periods it's fine. Now, ashwagandha, you could take pretty much every day. But again, ashwagandha for men, ginseng for women, dong quai.

Josh

Okay.

Josh

Dong quai is great for energy. I would also recommend rhodiola rosea and cordyceps mushrooms. If you just have to pick 3 for men, I would recommend ashwagandha, rhodiola, and cordyceps. For women, I would recommend ashwagandha, dong quai, and rhodiola. And then, I also like reishi mushroom.

Josh

But, if you could do an adaptogenic blend like that that supports adrenal health, I think that's long-term one of the best things you can do for energy. And walking just around your meals before and after also is a great way to naturally boost your energy levels. Question here from Melissa: what are your thoughts on HRT? That stands for hormone replacement therapy.

Josh

I, I'm generally not a big fan of hormone replacement therapy. Here's what I would say: I like it better than some things if you're doing like a compounding pharmacy. I, I, I like it better than, uh, maybe taking— I like it better than taking a drug or a medication.

Josh

But I would much rather if you are— let's say for instance you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're postmenopausal or going through menopause and you need support with estrogen, progesterone.

Josh

I would rather you first take a food approach, lifestyle approach, and an herbal So from a lifestyle approach, walking outside more and getting more sunshine, spending time in a garden, that can be wonderful for supporting your health. And reducing stress, spending time with praise and worship, having a closer friend group, all those things are good. And getting better sleep.

Josh

From a food standpoint, you want to eat more protein and more healthy fat and reduce excess carbohydrates. Now, the one carbohydrate The carbohydrates that are the most beneficial will be sweet potatoes or yams, um, along with some berries like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, goji berries. Those are also good, but those should be your primary sources of carbohydrates.

Josh

And then doing avocado— by the way, avocados look like a uterus. Oh, uh, olives look like, uh, ovaries. So eat a lot of extra virgin olive oil and olives. And do a lot of avocado and a little bit of coconut oil. So do a lot of those fats. Also some walnuts, chia, and flax. Actually, chia— flax seeds in particular, in terms of a nut or seed, is the best for menopause.

Josh

So doing some flax meal in a smoothie would be good for you. And then, um, yeah, wild-caught fish, you know, grass-fed beef, those sort of things, those are all going to be beneficial. And then from a From an herbal standpoint, I would recommend black cohosh is better than hormone replacement therapy, ideally.

Josh

So black cohosh, uh, wild yam, and dong quai— those 3 in particular I really like in place of hormone replacement therapy. Now, another thing I like better than hormone replacement therapy is peptide therapy. There are peptides that help balance hormones, um, BPC-157, TB-500.

Josh

Now, those tend to be for regeneration if you need to heal and reverse Certain injuries and conditions, but there are peptides that are great for women's hormones. One other, if you also have thyroid condition, ashwagandha tends to be wonderful as well.

Josh

But I would say, listen, if you exhaust what I just shared with you, you change your diet, you walk a lot, you reduce stress, you get better sleep, and you take those herbs I mentioned, along with probably a probiotic supplement and a B complex, and your hormones are still off, Then consider hormone replacement therapy.

Josh

Okay, that's— so again, there's a time and a place, but it's not the first thing I would jump to. I would jump to these other things. I'd start off with what I just mentioned before you jump into the hormone replacement therapy. Uh, next question here: what are the top 5 things I can do to protect my health in this difficult economy?

Josh

If you are trying to optimize your health on a very, very low budget, My first piece of advice to you would be buy in bulk. Buy organic meat and your food in bulk, uh, and at places like Costco. Um, I would go to— again, I like Chelsea and I did this when we were first married. We bought like half a cow and we had a freezer.

Josh

And so we, you know, we bought a really high-quality organic animal and that's what we used for almost all of our meat products. So we bought that in bulk. That was really great. We bought, you know, we bought Costco, so we bought organic vegetables there in bulk. And a lot of our snack, basically all our foods in bulk, um, at the biggest discount possible. So that's the first piece of advice.

Josh

The next thing I would say, have a, have a garden, an herb garden you have at home where you're growing all of your own herbs, or start gardening in your own yard. I mean, the soil costs money and takes some time to do that. But if you can grow some of your own food, you're going to save a tremendous amount of money over time.

Josh

I mean, there's some homesteaders that live on half an acre or quarter-acre land and just have— and, and basically it supplies 80% of their food. Their husbands maybe go out and hunt, and that, you know, provides most their meat for the year. So there are ways, if you want to be healthy, to really save big time on your meat, on your vegetables, buying in bulk.

Josh

Those are things that are going to tremendously help, uh, help your The other thing is walking. You don't need a gym membership. Just walk a lot. Maybe order a couple dumbbells or bands to have at home. Just exercise. There's so many YouTube videos. You don't need to sign up for a gym membership or fitness class. Just follow the YouTuber doing all the free videos at home for your fitness classes.

Josh

And then I would say connect to a good community. Okay? Be part of a community of praise and worship. Build strong relationships. There was a study done at Harvard that found the number one factor for health and longevity is your community. If you have a— if you have great friends and family around you, that's the number one thing that will make you healthy. And then after that, it's walking.

Josh

And after that, it's eating healthy organic food that you make at home. Those 3 things I just mentioned will radically improve your health more than any supplement, any therapy, Any medication, anything else you can take, those things will move the needle the most. And so you can be healthy even in the most difficult economies with what I just shared with you.

Josh

Again, buying your meat, getting those in bulk, doing a home garden, having great community. And again, I mentioned walking there as well would, would bring you tremendous health. I wanna say, hey, thanks so much for asking these incredible questions. Hey, if you're watching on YouTube, let me know if you have any additional questions.

Josh

And your thoughts, and we'll try and make it part of a future episode. Also, don't forget, you could submit your questions and make sure to follow me on Instagram @DrJoshAxe. On a regular basis on my stories, I will post things where you can ask your questions there, and I love answering your questions. Sometimes I'll answer them right there, and sometimes we'll make them a part of the show.

Josh

And also, thanks so much. I just want to say thanks to all of you are sharing this show. You know, I see many of you on your Instagram feeds. And by the way, if you share on Instagram or Facebook, we'll try and reshare anytime you share anything that I— that anytime you share anything that we post, we will try and repost for you as well.

Josh

So thank you, all of you who have been sharing this content on your social media feed. Also, thank all of you that are subscribing. We've got We've got thousands and thousands of people subscribing every single week to the show. I mean, it's growing in popularity like crazy. And by the way, when you subscribe and share, it allows us to bring on even more high-profile guests.

Josh

Because you subscribed and shared, I was able to bring on incredible guests like Carrie Underwood and Vani Hari and Dave Ramsey and some amazing medical physicians. I mean, having them on the show here, we got coming up, I know I've got John and Lisa Bevere here in the future, these amazing spiritual leaders. We had, again, Craig Groeschel.

Josh

We've got, you know, we've had Shawn Johnson East, the Olympian. We got Mark Hyman coming up, Tim Tebow here in the future. I mean, we've got some amazing, amazing guests coming up in the future, all because you continue to share and you've subscribed and you've been part of this community.

Josh

So again, I love having you part of this community and I love being able to change the world and lives together with you. Thanks so much. And remember, each and every week on this show, We're diving deep into how to truly be healthy. Remember, health is body, mind, and spirit, which is why we cover all those topics on the show and more. Hey, thanks so much for tuning in here to the show.

Josh

I'll see you on the next episode.

The Dr. Axe Show is educational and not a substitute for care from your clinician. Disclaimer

Reviewed by specialists in endocrinology, functional medicine, cardiology, nutrition and longevity.Our protocols and source library are reviewed against current clinical evidence by our medical advisory board. Dr. Axe AI grounds its answers in that reviewed library and shows the sources behind every response.
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