S9 Ep28: Belly and Brains: How Our Thoughts Shape Our Gut Health with Dr. Edison de Mello Part 3
“Your body will tell you what it needs. Be curious about what your body's telling you, you will make the right decision.” —Dr. Edison de Mello
Gut, Food, & Health series
The health of our gut is intricately tied to the health of our mind. Emerging research reveals just how profoundly our thought patterns can influence digestive function and overall well-being. Hence, mastering the mind-gut connection may be the key to unlocking optimal vitality.
Dr. Edison de Mello is a pioneering integrative medicine expert and clinical psychotherapist. As the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of the Akasha Center for Integrative Medicine, he blends cutting-edge science with holistic wisdom to help patients achieve transformative results.
Tune in as Dr. de Mello shares eye-opening insights on the surprising link between our thoughts, gut function, and mental resilience.
Connect with Dr. Edison:
Dr. Edison de Mello, MD, PhD is the founder and Chief Medical Officer of the Akasha Center for Integrative Medicine. He is a board-certified integrative physician and a licensed psychotherapist. Dr. de Mello completed his residency at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, where he trained in a biopsychosocial model and integrated complementary medicine into Family Medicine.
Inspired by his grandmother, Nana, who practiced natural healing, Dr. de Mello's approach combines Western and Eastern medicine, focusing on treating the mind, body, and spirit. He has written several articles and contributed to Dr. Andrew Weil's upcoming book on the microbiome and food addiction. Dr. de Mello is also on the advisory board of several organizations and a member of various professional associations.
Episode Highlights:
01:51 Gut and Mental Health Connection
07:08 Practical Tips for Improving Gut Health
11:06 Processed Foods and Mental Health
14:53 Changing Eating Habits
21:06 Understanding the Role of Hormones
Tweets:
Your gut feelings are trying to tell you something - are you listening? Tune in to unlock the surprising science behind the mind-belly bond with @jreichman and @AkashaCenter Founder, Dr. Edison de Mello. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #Season9 #GutHealth #DigestionTips #HolisticWellness #IntegrativeMedicine #NutritionAndMindset #ThoughtPatterns #GutFeelings #OptimalDigestion #HappyGutHealthyMind
Inspirational Quotes:
00:59 “What we eat can give us more anxiety; what we eat can attribute different ways that we respond to things.” —Justine Reichman
04:34 “There are a lot of a lot of services that you can find online… The only question is, they're not tailored to you.” —Dr. Edison de Mello
07:13 “We are adaptable. If you don't eat sugar for three weeks, the next time you ingest sugar, it's gonna be too sweet… Go against everything that you believe you cannot do. Do it and see what happens.” —Dr. Edison de Mello
08:35 “Watch your thoughts when you're eating… because you're releasing hormones when you think. Sometimes you're stressed out and release cortisol, which is anti-insulin.” —Dr. Edison de Mello
15:17 “Your body will tell you what it needs. Be curious about what your body's telling you, you will make the right decision.” —Dr. Edison de Mello
19:51 “Watch your thoughts… because that's going to influence your decision-making process in everything that you do.” —Dr. Edison de Mello
21:07 “If we consider what we're eating and how it makes us feel and think anti-inflammatory, we have a chance to live the best possible life.” —Justine Reichman
Transcription:
Justine Reichman: Hello, and welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm your host, Justine Reichman. With me today is Dr. Edison de Mello for our 3rd part in our 3 Part Series of Gut, Food And Health. Today, we're going to talk about mindset, food and gut.
Welcome, Dr. de Mello.
Edison de Mello: Thank you. It's nice to see you again.
“What we eat can give us more anxiety; what we eat can attribute different ways that we respond to things.” —Justine Reichman
Justine Reichman: Nice to see you again. We're still here. I got my IV today, and I want to discuss that too, and how that affects my mindset. The mindset of getting the IV, and what we can do so that we can give ourselves the best possible life, and not let fear take it over. Now, I know that's a little bit of a detour from talking about food, but I think what we eat can give us more anxiety. What we eat can be attributed to different ways that we respond to things. I'd love to start off with just asking you again to just introduce yourself, what you do and your title, for those that are maybe tuning in for the first time.
Edison de Mello: So I'm Edison de Mello. I'm an MD and the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of the Akasha Center for Integrative Medicine. And I'm also trained as a clinical psychotherapist.
Justine Reichman: Quite a great combination. Body, mind, health, it's all in one. I do love it. And I don't find it very common.
Edison de Mello: And for me, I could not see myself being a doctor without that particular training before medicine.
Justine Reichman: I know in our last conversation, we started to talk about statistics and the impact of food on the gut, so I'd love to just resurface that question and see what staggering statistics you might have on the impact of our gut on mental health.
Edison de Mello: Great question. I think we said it before, and I think it was in the first segment, that up to 10 to 15% of the global population have been diagnosed or suffer with IBS inflammatory bowel disease. In the name inflammation, inflammatory says it all. That's a staggering number. What that comes up to is 800 million people in the world, and those are people who have been diagnosed. What about the ones who have not been diagnosed? The ones who have no access to medical care, the ones who are afraid of the diagnosis itself? This is all my personal opinion, I would at least double that number. So that alone is a second number. In the United States, we have shown cases who have been diagnosed, they amount to about 3 million cases. But this is only IBS. It doesn't cover all the other symptoms within the gut.
Justine Reichman: How many other symptoms, roughly, are there?
Edison de Mello: You can have leaky gut syndrome. You can have SIBO, a small intestine bacteria overgrowth. You can have candidiasis in your stool that shows that it's in your gut. So it is a slew of other symptoms and diagnosis that you can have out there. But because IBS is the one that is most prominent, which has been significantly studied, that's the one that people tend to research and to put numbers to it. The other staggering statistics is that of all people with mental health issues, including depression and other forms of emotional instability, it's been proven scientifically that up to 20% of those individuals have a bad diet. And so the idea is 20%, again, it's a staggering number. If we were to look at those 20% and help them eat differently, I can assure that those statistically would decrease.
Justine Reichman: Are there any programs out there that help support individuals to work on their guts so that they can have better results, and not have the challenging mindset, the challenging it can declutter what's happening maybe in the head?
Edison de Mello: There are a lot of services that you can find online, a lot of resources, a lot of incredible nutritionists and naturopathic doctors and MDs, and many, many people, either integrative medicine experts, naturopathic experts. As I said, functional doctors who have been talking about this for the last three decades. The only question is that they are not tailored to you individually.
Justine Reichman: That you need to see somebody personally.
Edison de Mello: And if you can see somebody personally, if you have the ability to invest a little bit on your health, and sadly, not all of us can do it, then it becomes more tailored to your needs. The way I explain this is very simple when I do my lectures. There's 8 billion people on the planet, and there's 8 billion different fingerprints. So we are not all the same. We may look the same, talk the same, sometimes the difference, the same symptoms, but there's an individuality to all of our symptoms. And that's why, if you have an infection and the person actually has the same infection, one antibiotic may work for you and not for that person because it's very tailored to your DNA, to your genetics, to what you eat. So all of this leads me to really recommend that for those who can sit with a professional person and let her or him develop together with you a very personalized eating plan.
Justine Reichman: What can they hope to achieve in the short and long term by doing that?
Edison de Mello: The relief of the symptoms, and that's the thing that I said the most here. I think in the last segment, I explained that we have a program called The Reset Program. So 21 days reset, somehow, somewhere, somebody decided through observation, it's not scientific, but observational study that takes any system. 21 days to change, to adapt, to change. I haven't been able to find research validating that, but it's out there. We have a 20 day detox, 21 days. So we use it as an incentive to get people started. And in those 21 days, most people will have their symptoms decreased. And then we tell them, can you push for another week? Can you double it for 42 days? So symptom relief is an incredible incentive. And I tell you what, you adjust. We are adaptable beings. If you don't eat sugar for three weeks, the next time you ingest sugar, it's gonna be too sweet because we are adaptable. So give it a try. Try to eliminate one of those foods. Go against everything that you believe you cannot do. You can do it and see what happens.
“We are adaptable. If you don't eat sugar for three weeks, the next time you ingest sugar, it's gonna be too sweet… Go against everything that you believe you cannot do. Do it and see what happens.” —Dr. Edison de Mello
Justine Reichman: I'm curious, because for me, it seems like this is natural. I want to do this. I would want to sit down. Let's put it together. Let's figure it out. I'm into it, and I recognize that not everybody has the same resources, or the same time, or the same ability, whether it's to cook the food. There's a lot of different resources one has to do. So I'm wondering, is there something we can offer that makes it accessible for them to do baby steps? Maybe it's not perfect, but it's a little bit better than not doing it.
Edison de Mello: A great question. Again, I believe all of us can do it, and some of us are afraid of change. Change is scary. Yeah. And also, I'll ask you before I answer or give you tips. I will ask your listeners to consider the question, what am I getting from eating the way I eat? What am I getting from being resistant to change? It's called the secondary gain, the baby step that you can take. The first one that I think is empirical, is to watch your thoughts when you're eating. Are you really dedicating time? Even if it's 15 minutes for you to start and eat. Or you're on your cell phone, are you driving? Are you thinking about the next meeting? Because you are releasing hormones when you think about those things. Sometimes, you're stressed out because you release cortisol, which is anti insulin. So be aware of your eating habits. Where do you eat? And do you dedicate time to nurture your body? Or do you eat on the fly just because you have to? The second thing that I would say is that anybody can do it. Don't eat 100% of the food that you think you need. Stop at 75%. If you think you need a whole plate of food, stop at 75% and wait 20 minutes. Why is that? Because there's a delayed response from the gut. Your brain tells your gut to be prepped for landing. I'm hungry.
“Watch your thoughts… because that's going to influence your decision-making process in everything that you do.” —Dr. Edison de Mello
Justine Reichman: It's so true. Because when I eat, I'm always like, do I want dessert? I might be full in 20 minutes. And you know what? I am, unless it's Chinese food, then I tend to get hungry after 20 minutes. I'm not sure what that's all about. That's a different conversation, but I know what you mean so I try to do that too. I was out to dinner last night with my dad, and he's like, I could really eat some more. I'm like, give it a few minutes.
Edison de Mello: Exactly. Give it a few minutes. And this research actually is showing this, if people wait 20 minutes, 75, 20% of the time that you will not have seconds because that's how long it takes for the feedback loop to reach your brain. So try to do that and see how your body responds. And the other thing is how much water you're drinking. You're drinking water with your food. Are you drinking sodas with your food? Are you drinking sugary foods with your food? Can you only sip water during a meal if you need to? I usually tell people to drink before or after because you're gonna bloat.
Justine Reichman: Is that the reason? Because I've heard that before. Don't drink during the meal because you'll bloat.
Edison de Mello: But why do you bloat? Because the water will be indirect or very direct, actually, I was going to say indirectly, but it's directly going to affect your digestion. Remember, you have to have all the salivary enzymes doing their job when you eat, and water will disrupt the system.
Justine Reichman: So I'm curious, many times if you're in a hospital or wherever, you have a nutritionist and they're like, okay, they give you some mashed potatoes, they give you some vegetables, and they give you a piece of protein, right? They call it a balanced meal, and it has the fruits, the vegetables, the leans, all that kind of stuff. Do you look at that and say, this is positive, and this can promote positive mental well being and a resilient mindset.
Edison de Mello: I looked at how it was cooked. I looked at the quality of the food. You may be in a hospital setting, for example. You may have all the needed food elements on that plate, but how is it cooked? If you're over cooking a vegetable, you have no vitamins. And if you drain the water after you're cooking, that's very rich water, rich in elements, rich in vitamins for the vegetable itself. It's not useless, but it's not as potent as it could be. What meat are you eating? What kind of meat are you eating? I believe that for those of you, those of your listeners who can eat vegetarian at least two to three times a week, I'm not saying don't eat meat. Some people need meat. But to give the body a break, it takes a lot for us to digest meat, and that's why when we eat meat, full amount of meat, especially red meat, you're tired because your body is expending a lot of energy to digest.
Justine Reichman: So do you spend the same amount of energy eating fish and chicken?
Edison de Mello: No, you don't.
Justine Reichman: I'm curious, and this is a personal question because I love vegetables, but I find a lot of them are very hard to digest on my stomach. No matter what I do, I always get a little gas from it.Gotta be honest. I'm actually good at eating a piece of steak in the morning, just a slice or two and a little salad. And to me, I feel fine with that. Much better than eating breakfast, I don't eat eggs because I'm intolerant. And if I just eat the vegetables, I have a problem.
Edison de Mello: I urge you to try the Japanese breakfast. It's vegetables, brown rice, and miso soup. And not red meat, but fish.
Justine Reichman: Okay, so it's still having that, so I can do the fish.
Edison de Mello: I would recommend that you don't eat meat right after you wake up or in the morning because your body is still trying to wake up to the fact that you're been fasting for the last 8 or 10 hours. However hours you sleep. So to go in and add a big piece of red meat, it may be too much for the system. The same is true for people who eat a lot of bread, cheese, and bacon. The American breakfast.
Justine Reichman: Or the English breakfast, or the French breakfast.
Edison de Mello: Here's a story. I know we don't know how much time we have, but in medical school, I would go to lactose on cardiovascular medicine. They were sponsored by the drug companies. And guess what? They were serving bacon, eggs, and bagels.
Justine Reichman: They want you to buy their medication.
Edison de Mello: I would look at this going, wait? Is any counter intuitive? Is anybody looking at what's being served? And we're talking about cardiovascular medicine, right? So I say to you, listen to your body. If your body says, I need some more protein in the morning. Any more protein? Good. Listen to it now that your decision needs to be congruent with what's best for health. Not for your taste buds, but for health. And certainly, fish is much easier to digest than red meat.
Justine Reichman: Let's talk about the mindset of this because it can be very intimidating for people. And as we eat different foods, they make us tired, they make us angry. They do all these different things. So how do we bridge the gap to eat the right foods to have the right mindset, to make it more accessible and less confrontational, less scary?
Edison de Mello: I think I alluded to this before, and I'm happy to go back there because I think it's very powerful. Your body will tell you what it needs. So if you take a moment to listen without judgment. Without, no, I'm not gonna do that. But to be curious, be curious about what your body's telling you. You will make the right decision. So that's the first step. Don't make the decision based on what your brain is saying to you. Like you said before that you get a little hungry when you don't eat, right? What do you say? You get a little angry? So here's a step. Why wait for so long to eat? Sometimes, I forget to. So I put a little alarm on my phone, on my iWatch, and it beeps like, okay, I have to eat. So come here with your body. It's a partnership. I'm going to be a little corny here, if I may. There's a time in your life that you become the mother to your body, because who puts your body to sleep? Who feeds your body? Who protects your body from being hit by a car? So ask your question, would I be feeding my children, if I had a child, what I'm feeding my body?
Justine Reichman: I think that's a really great way to look at it. And my last question is about processed foods and the impact they have on our brain health. Because we talked before, I think it was in another segment about the supermarkets. And one comment that I've often heard is, buy the outside. The fruits, the vegetables, it's the things that are fresh. And then in the middle is all the processed stuff. But people do include processed foods. I prefer to make my own. But why do we see processed foods and refined sugars in terms of, how does that negatively impact the brain function and mental health?
Edison de Mello: Read the label.
Justine Reichman: Read the label, because in my mind, they're creating inflammation. You know? They create stress, deregulation, all these different things. Yeah,
Edison de Mello: Read the label by law in our country, you have to list the ingredients of all foods, even for foods that are imported. Take the time to read the label. If there's food coloring there, if there's food preservatives more than once or two, sometimes they have to ask if there is added sugar, ask yourself, would I feed my child this?
Justine Reichman: I won't eat it.
Edison de Mello: The analogy, you become the mother. So ask yourself that. Read the label. It's impossible in the 21st century for me to say to your listeners, don't ever eat processed food. Remember, we talked about, I think it was in segment one, that we need to be realistic. The message that we give into the patient, who is a patient, where is she? Or is he at that moment? So be realistic so that you're not going to lead her or him feeling like they failed. Don't say that you don't eat processed food, but tell them with the label.
Justine Reichman: Basically, the top three things you want to tell them.
Edison de Mello: The amount of sugar. How many different preservatives are in there? And how much processed wheat is in it? Now, wheat is everywhere. The problem is how long the process takes. In this country, farm to table is three years for weed, in most cases. In Europe, it's three months.
Justine Reichman: I don't know if I mentioned to you that when I was in Europe, I ate a croissant. I didn't feel bad. I ate all sorts of things that I didn't eat here, and I felt fine.
Edison de Mello: Most people who have gluten sensitive intolerance, celiac disease? Forget it. But if you have gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity, most of them do better with a zero. I think it's called 00 flour, something which is the flour/process that it's in the ones that they use in Europe.
Justine Reichman: So if there's one thing you wish your patients knew that they could do that would make a really big change for them, and that was easy, what would it be?
Edison de Mello: Great question. I think I've been saying that in this segment also, but I will say it again. Listen to what your body needs, it's gonna tell you. Know your brain, know your taste buds, number one. Number two, as a doctor, as a previously trained therapist, watch your thoughts. What is the first thing that you think when you wake up in the morning? Because that's going to influence your decision making, processing, everything that you do. How are you going to arrive at your job? What kind of breakfast are you going to have? What kind of day are you going to have? What are the first things that you have in the morning? And what's the last thought that you have when you go to bed? Those things influence your decision. Then listen. Listen with curiosity. Don't be judgmental, but be curious about, oh, I wonder what it would be like for me not to eat steak in the morning anymore. Or maybe just once in a while, and switch a little bit to salmon, to sea food. And for some, what is it like for me to really crack this up, and not drink any sugar, eat any other sugar for the next three weeks? I can do this and then say where your body's gonna tell you. In other words, be curious.
Justine Reichman: I like that. Be curious. I think that's so important because you're being curious about what you're putting in your body that you have control over. You're having control over the choices you make around the processed food, having an education and knowing what to look for. They've given people tips. I'm so appreciative. I think that if we consider what we're eating, how it makes us feel and think anti inflammatory, we have a chance to live the best possible life, right?
“If we consider what we're eating and how it makes us feel and think anti-inflammatory, we have a chance to live the best possible life.” —Justine Reichman
Edison de Mello: And then you understand that we are hormonal beings. Everything about what we do is hormones. Your sleep hormone, your hunger hormone, you feel happy hormone, it's all influenced by what we eat.
Justine Reichman: So we're finishing off this drip that I had here, and you gave me the phosphatidylcholine to help with my brain. And what else did you put in here?
Edison de Mello: A combination of all the essential vitamins that you need to be able to have a really strong immune system. So you got vitamin C, you got calcium, magnesium, you got a little bit of zinc, you got B complex in there, and you have something called glutathione, which is the most amazing antioxidant that there is. All of this is geared towards decreasing the inflammatory burden in your body.
Justine Reichman: A group effort. It's your food, and it's your supplements. And understanding how they work together, because when they work on their own, they may have helped you in some way. But putting it together really is the power.
Edison de Mello: Exactly. I would add two more things to the beautiful summary that you created. It's your food, it's your mindset, it's your mind. I would say it's also, who do you go to when the rough gets going? Your support system. Who is your support system? What do you turn to? What is your belief system? And do you believe you are somebody who can make changes?
Justine Reichman: Thank you, Dr. de Mello. Thank you so much for joining us in this series about food, gut health and mind. I think it's really been eye opening for myself. I will continue to come back and get more of these so that I can see how they impact my mental health. And in particular, my memory. It will be a pleasure to have you back. And for those that want to tune in and want to hear more from Dr. de Mello, or learn more about what he does, check out his center.
Edison de Mello: akashacenter.com. And also the book that I've been talking about, it's called Bloated?.
Justine Reichman: Bloated?. We're going to add a link for the book Bloated?. You'll be able to get it. It's a great read, and it's really cute. I want to hear what you guys think. Tell me what you think on the cover. Thank you, Dr. de Mello. I'll see you again soon.
Edison de Mello: Thank you for having me.
