Realfoodology - Restore Balance to Your Body + What is Colostrum | Dr. Sarah Rahal

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

136: **REALFOODOLOGY PODCAST IS NOW ON YOUTUBE!** Today I sit down with Sarah Rahal, MD (Pediatric Neurologist, Expert in Functional and Environmental Medicine) the CEO and Founder of ARMRA Colostrum.  If you want to try Armra, use code REALFOODOLOGY for a discount! Topics Covered: What can you take away from your daily routine to improve your health? What is colostrum? Inflammation  What does colostrum do? Why do people have issues with dairy? Immune health  Colostrum vs collagen  Prebiotics and probiotics  Colostrum and breast milk Check Out Sarah Rahal: Armra Online Sponsored By: Yais Thai www.YaisThai.com Code REALFOODOLOGY gets you 20% off any product or bundle (Offer expires 4/15/23 at 11:59pm MT) KION Save 20% on monthly deliveries and 10% on one-time purchases by going to getkion.com/realfoodology Organifi www.organifi.com/realfoodology Code REALFOODOLOGY gets you 20% Off LMNT Get 8 FREE packs with any order at drinkLMNT.com/realfoodology Check Out Courtney: **REALFOODOLOGY PODCAST IS NOW ON YOUTUBE!** Courtney's Instagram: @realfoodology www.realfoodology.com My Immune Supplement by 2x4 Air Dr Air Purifier AquaTru Water Filter EWG Tap Water Database Further Listening: Red Meat is Not a Health Risk with The Meat Mafia

On today's episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. We don't need our immune systems boosted. We're already living in a state of immune overdrive with all of these exposures driving inflammation and our immune systems are like working all the time trying to combat this stuff. What we need is balance. What we need is immune intelligence. We need a restoration of balance and equilibrium to our bodies. Hi friends, welcome back to another episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. I'm your host, Courtney Swan, and I am so grateful that you guys are here today. With most of my intros, I just kind of get into it. I like to just introduce the guest and why we're here and then get into the episode.

But I am kind of curious if anyone has an opinion on this, feel free to DM me. Do you guys want me to talk more about my life a little bit in the intros? I don't love having a super long intro. As a podcast listener myself, I usually just want to get straight into all of it. But I'm always curious if maybe you guys want to hear a little bit more from me, or maybe you want me to do some solo episodes about different things. I've been really considering doing some solo episodes because I've been going through a lot lately. Your girl is really going through a personal and emotional growth

spurt right now. And I've been thinking about maybe talking more about that, some stuff that's going on in my personal life, and maybe just some tips and what I've learned through all this growth, because I feel like I have come out on the other side. Well, I think we're always going to be growing, right? I'm not like coming out on the other side and then it's done. But I do feel like lately I have been, I've learned so much from this growth that I'm considering maybe I should share some of it. But also if you guys don't really care, that's great too. Because we're really here to talk about health. And well, a lot of my growth is around my health and my mental health and my emotional health. And I would like to share it if you guys are interested. So DM me, let me know.

Let's get into today's guest so that we don't waste too much time in the intro. I sat down with Dr. Sarah Rahal. She is a double board certified pediatric neurologist and her expertise is in environmental and functional medicine. So it's right up my alley. I think you guys are going to love this episode. We are very aligned in our values. We talked a little bit about the importance of being an empowered patient and how it's really the key to getting well. And we talk about how she went from being an allopathically trained doctor to taking a more holistic approach. If you guys have been listening to this podcast for a while, you may be seeing a trend. There is a lot of allopathically trained doctors that are

realizing as they get into their practice that what they learned in school is not actually allowing them to really help their patients. So a lot of these doctors are going to more integrative and functional and holistic approaches, which I just love to see because I think it's the way that we are going to help people who are chronically sick in this country is taking a root cause approach to really help people. So this episode is all about colostrum. We talk about Armra, which is the company that she founded. We talk about what colostrum is, what it does to your immune system and how it impacts your overall health and the amazing side effects that she has been seeing not only in her own life, but her customers that reach out to her and tell her all the

benefits that they have been seeing from taking colostrum daily. And if you have no idea what colostrum is, listen to the episode. You guys are going to be pleasantly surprised and you're probably going to want to start using Arm Run a daily basis like I've been doing. I've been taking it every single morning now for about two months now. And I have not gotten sick once, even though we have been through like cold and flu season lately. And that's when I started taking it and I have not even had a sniffle or a scratch in my throat.

And I'm realizing right now that that's probably thanks to the Armoura. So with that, let's just dive into the episode. Okay. I know I do this all the time. I say, let's get into the episode. And then I'm like, wait, please leave a rating and review. But for real though, your ratings and reviews means so much to me. It really helps this show grow and helps to get it into more people's ears. So if you could take a moment to leave a rating and review, it means so, so much to me and it helps the show more than you could ever know. So thank you so much for your support guys. Thank you for listening. And I really hope that you enjoyed today's episode. so much to me and it helps the show more than you could ever know. So thank you so much for your support guys. Thank you for listening. And I really hope that you enjoyed today's episode. I really like Thai food a lot. I also really love food that's super simple,

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Sarah, thank you so much for coming on today. I'm so excited to have you on because you and I are very aligned in our approach to medicine. I know that you're a double board certified pediatric neurologist. And I listened to you speaking on another podcast and I was so aligned with what you were talking about, taking our health into our own hands. And I think this is such an important message for people to hear more than ever right now because of everything that we're dealing with, all the toxins that we're being exposed to, the pesticides that are being sprayed on our food. And also the doctors can't keep up with the amount of chronic diseases that we are facing right now. They were never trained to because we,

I feel like we've become sick so quickly as a society. And so it's more important than ever that we really take our health into our own hands and feel empowered to do that. And so I just, I love that that's also your message. And I'm so excited to talk to you about this today. So thank you for coming on. Thank you so much for having me. What you say is so true. I think we've entrusted our health for a very long time to what at one time may have been our guardians, the doctors who knew best and the industries who implemented regulations to keep us safe and protected and make sure that we weren't exposed to harmful things. And they have slowly withered away in the integrity with which they kind of uphold that

commitment to us. And we know that that motivation is not necessarily aligned with our health. It's aligned with some other motives. So we have a lot of exposures that were put into our environment that we are doing our very best to clean up. And there's so much effort and environmental initiatives going on right now to get regulation changed and to protect ourselves from these things. But many of them we will be exposed to forever. They're forever chemicals that will live in our water and soil indelibly. And we have to protect ourselves while we work to protect the planet. And it's so important that we understand that we don't have to entrust others to protect us. We have the power

and the tools and the information is available and accessible for us to take back control of our own health, put it in our hands and take those initiatives and those steps that can do the very best for our bodies, for our family. It's a sad reality of the modern times that we're living in is that we have so many corporate ties, people that are concerned about pissing off their, for example, like with media, they're scared to piss off their huge supporters, which happen to be big pharma and et cetera. And then you look at doctors as well, who I really believe that doctors are genuinely trying their best. And so this is not to vilify doctors, but a lot of their education comes from funding of big pharma and all of these

corporations that have vested interests. And it's just an unfortunate reality. And I hate that it sounds conspiratorial, but it's just the reality of what's happening. And the sooner that we are aware of that and we make peace with it and know that we need to do whatever we can to protect ourselves, the better that we are going to be off and the healthier that we're going to be. So I heard you say on a podcast, you were talking about the subtractive progress, which I really loved, where you were saying that understanding what to avoid versus like what we need to bring in was such a great point. Can you speak a little bit more about that? I think as so much of industry is, it's very much about, well, what else can I do? What else can I take? What can I add to my regimen to make myself healthier? And we all have our porn shelf of supplements and products that are kind of our biohacking arsenal of things that we're adding on to our lives to improve our health in various aspects. And I think it's so important as step one to take a step back and first look at, well, what can I take away?

And this idea of progress through doing less is actually sometimes the most crucial thing that we can do to actually make those meaningful, impactful changes and steps forward. So what can I not do versus what can I do is a good paradigm for how to think about that. I feel like it's a really great starting point for people too, because there are a lot of things that we can subtract immediately that we will see benefit in our health almost immediately. You know, like taking out soda, cleaning out your cleaning supply closet and your body care products and your makeup, et cetera, like just getting rid of a lot of these toxins and replacing them with better alternatives, that alone can make such a huge difference in your life and your health.

Yeah, there's very much an analogy in pharma, right? There's so many medications that people take that create side effects and then you have another medication to treat the side effect of the first medication produced, and so on and so on. And before you know it, you're taking three, four, five, six, seven different things. If you take a step back and really try to get to the away that first pin that's really causing and driving this cascade can sometimes make a meaningful difference. So to your point, finding cleaning alternatives instead of just adding to what you're already doing to clean your house, to extra sanitize is often the best strategy. Yeah. So I want to ask you, I'm always curious about how people get into coming from traditional medicine and into a more holistic approach. How did you go from this kind of traditional training

to this holistic approach? So my journey is kind of a winding one, but I'm allopathically trained. I went to a conventional medical school, trained through system, did a lot of residency and fellowships and training at Ivy League institutions and was here in the city at Columbia and Mount Sinai. And I was running a busy practice for kids out of Sinai, treating chronic pain and headache. And the model that we have for treating pain, it's not a great one. It's very much focused on pain medications. And it's just not the way that I thought was proper to address what could be very long-term chronic issues in sometimes three, four-year-old children. And the system is not set up to really step outside of that mold and really do what I thought was most appropriate, which is a holistic look at a patient comprehensively and understanding that

child's birth history and what their home situation is like, their nutrition, their schooling, all of these epigenetic factors that are really impacting on their genetic expression and how disease is manifesting, which requires food sensitivity testing and gut testing and all of these pieces. So I was arguing with my department on a regular basis about this because it's not why I went into medicine. I didn't feel like I was delivering good care. And everything I did was really just a band-aid. And I was frustrated. And so I expanded my scope and I came to train in functional medicine and environmental health and really tried to bring medical acupuncture into my practice.

And at the same time, I personally started struggling with some major gut issues that I'd had for a long time, but they weren't ever present, but really started to flare up and were becoming debilitating. So at a certain point, I reached my limit because I couldn't deliver good care. And all of the experts I was turning to, to deliver good care for myself, all my colleagues in GI and the smartest doctors that you could go to, they didn't have tools to help me either. And they said, there has to be a better way. So I left and I started doing research. And I first thought that I would be working on an infant formula because formula is a booming industry and um it's really garbage if you read

the label on any of the formula the top ingredients are like maltodextrin corn syrup solids they're not they're not it's not food it's not nourishing it's a formula that was grandfathered in by the fda in the 70s and hasn't ever been touched or really researched as to its safety at all. It's crazy. But it's the only one that's legally allowed to be made. Some other companies are working on that. So I was studying colostrum, which is the first milk all mammals produce. And I'm going through the research and there's over 5,000 studies on this stuff. What I'm most struck by is that there isn't just research saying, oh, this is really helpful for babies. There's research saying it's beneficial

at all ages, including two recent studies showing it's three times more effective than the flu vaccine at preventing flu. And I said, how can this be? How can this stuff for babies be so helpful at all other ages? What I learned is that colostrum is not just a food. It's almost like a blueprint for the body. It is chock full of all of these exclusive bioactive compounds, antibodies, antioxidants, peptides, whole food growth factors, prebiotics that can't be found in any other natural source. And they act like a template to inform and optimize development of all the different pathways very early in life. And it's one of the reasons why babies who don't get any colostrum have a higher risk of developing a lot of immune dysregulating issues later on, food allergies, eczema, allergies. And humans are the only species that can survive past infancy

without getting colostrum. And it turns out that the way that all these compounds work synergistically in the body is they seal up the immune barriers. And what that means is just like we have skin on the outside of the body, it's this barrier separates us from the outside world, that layer of protection. We're the same thing that lines the inside of the body. We don't really think about it, but there's a lining there. It lines our nose, our mouth, sinuses, lungs, gut, urinary, reproductive tract. It is our skin on the inside. it's the interface it's the barrier it's the first line of defense from everything we inhale and ingest from the outside world and all the modern exposures that we were referencing the pollutants the pesticides

these ultra processed ingredients these things cause damage to that barrier on a constant basis. And they make it more permeable than it's supposed to be. And so when we inhale and ingest, things are getting into our bloodstream that are supposed to be kept out by this barrier. And when they get in there, they trigger the immune system because the immune system is not supposed to see this stuff. And that's inflammation. And inflammation is what underpins almost every single modern chronic disease that we see. The big things like MS and cancers and inflammatory bowel disease and

Crohn's. But it's also what drives the day-to-day complaints that almost everyone you know struggles with. The bloating, the unwanted waking, the mental fog, the metabolic slowdown. All of these things can be tied to the health of this barrier. And so this is really interesting. This thing for babies, really helpful for the rest of us. And when we're being constantly bombarded on a daily basis, so this colostrum naturally can seal up the barriers. When babies are born, they have an immature barrier. It's just not formed yet.

So colostrum evolved 300 million years ago, specifically to be the first thing that goes into your body in life and seal your barriers like glue and protect you. And does the same thing no matter what age you take it. And that was my aha moment. And I looked at the market and I was like, where can I find this stuff? I'm sick. I need to try it. And I couldn't really find it. I found it kind of in these niche communities where it looks like a pharmaceutical products, like a pill, very confusing what it did, kind of woo-woo circles. And then I found out the bodybuilders have been trading this stuff on the black market for a decade. Yes, because all of those bioactive

compounds and growth factors and peptides are really potent at building lean muscle and accelerating tissue recovery and repair after intense exercise. And when I looked at the products that were available, I was like, we have a problem here. Almost everybody you know has some issue with dairy. It's rampant nowadays. Why is that? Does that make evolutionary sense? Here's the stuff I just told you about.

It's specifically evolved over 300 million years to be the first nutrition we all receive in life, to be the most nourishing food that we consume for the health of our bodies, a superfood. Why does everybody have a problem with dairy? Well, it turns out it's not the dairy that's the problem. It's the next step. It's the way that it's pasteurized and processed that causes the problem. Because in the US, based on FDA regulation, meant to protect us, but misguided. All dairy must undergo pasteurization and sterilization, which the conventional way to do it, the inexpensive way to do it is with very, very high temperatures for a short time. Well, the irony of it is that it kills off all the enzymes that make it digestible and bioavailable for the body, which is why everyone has issues with dairy.

Exactly. So you have this living food that I just talked about. It's literally communicating with your cells. These are living nutrients. They are communicating with your DNA and with your cells, these bioactive compounds. The way they work is they have a specific shape and the specific shape fits a specific receptor in your cells and that triggers a cascade of activity. Well, anytime you expose a living nutrient to high temperatures, to heat, it changes shape. It unfolds. It denatures. That's why cooked meat looks different than raw meat. And so when this thing goes into the body, it doesn't fit anymore. In fact, the body doesn't know what this is. This is not a food. We don't know what this is. Attack. And so you have an adulterated product. The body no longer recognizes as a food, triggering inflammation and intolerance in the body. And that's why so many people have

digestive issues and skin issues and problems consuming dairy. It's not the dairy, it's the processing. And I said, I can't put conventional dairy in my body. And so it was so important to me. I spent many years in R&D to develop a pasteurization process that didn't use high temperatures. So you could retain the integrity of the bioactive molecules. So it acts like a raw product, but ticks all the boxes for FDA regulation and sterilization. And once I had done that, and that was eventually became the genesis of my product later on, Armra. But once I had that technology and I was able to make prototype, I tried this myself and it saved my life for a while. And I was well enough to continue working and doing what I was doing. And eventually my gut issues progressed further. And I had several complications and needed some surgeries, but I wouldn't be here without the colostrum. I still take it every day.

That's incredible. So that's my personal journey with it but the colostrum is is really uh it's really an exceptional superfood true superfood it only exists to be consumed for its health benefits uh and so it's a powerful uh whole food well i found it interesting when i was doing a little bit of research on colostrum myself that ancient civilizations literally worshipped colostrum as i i believe i read that they considered it to be, they revered it as like liquid gold. Yeah. And the earliest I've seen is traced back to Ayurvedic medicine. So an Ayurvedic practice is considered sacred food, claustrum. And cows are sacred animals too. In

fact, it's a vegan culture. The Rishi, who are the ancient spiritual elders of the Ayurvedic practice, they consume colostrum. They encourage colostrum consumption for health in this vegan culture because they consider it such a sacred product that it's neither a plant nor an animal. It gets a whole category on its own. And I think this is remarkable. Did you guys know that over 70% of sodium in the US diet is consumed from packaged and processed foods? When you adopt a whole foods diet, you're eliminating or hopefully eliminating these processed foods and therefore sodium from your diet. Now, the solution is not to reintroduce processed foods

in your diet, but by not replacing that sodium, you can actually negatively impact your health and performance. If you guys listened to my episode, The Salt Fix with Dr. James Dinnick, we learned that sodium is actually a really imperative mineral for the body. Sodium helps maintain fluid balance. It's an electrolyte, so it helps keep us hydrated. It also aids in nerve impulses. It regulates blood flow and blood pressure. It's incredibly important. And if you're eating a whole real food diet, chances are you're probably not getting enough sodium. Also, this is probably going to be a shock to hear, but if you are just drinking water without adding minerals back into your water, you're not actually hydrating. My personal favorite way to stay hydrated throughout the day is through drinking Element every day. That's L-M-N-T. It's a delicious tasting electrolyte

drink mix that has everything you need and nothing you don't. So that means lots of salt. There's no sugar in there. It's formulated to help anyone with their electrolyte needs and is perfectly suited for people following keto, low carb and paleo diets. It has a science backed electrolyte ratio, a thousand milligrams of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium and 60 milligrams of magnesium. I drink one of these every single morning. They have a ton of amazing, super delicious flavors. I know a lot of us listening are avoiding natural flavors. So they also have an unflavored one, which is my personal favorite. I love to put it with lemon, but if you want the flavored ones, they have a great variety of different flavors.

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one packet of every flavor so that you can try all of them and see which one is your favorite. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do. Again, it's drinkelement.com slash realfoodology. That's drinkelement.com slash realfoodology. You know, one of my missions with Real Foodology has always been to make eating healthier, more convenient, and cost-effective. I know eating healthy and getting the right nutrients in can be annoying. It can also be time-consuming and expensive. Organic veggies

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you can get them as low as $1.98 per day per tub. So make sure you go to organifi.com slash realfoodology and use code realfoodology and you're going to save 20%. That's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com. So you talked a lot about dairy intolerances. Can someone who is struggling with a dairy intolerance take colostrum, like take your arm around, be okay and not have an effect? So with my product, because of the way that we process it, we have lots of dairy intolerant people who take it and do just fine with it. In fact, because it mimics the raw product, it's actually highly anti-inflammatory. So a lot of people with multiple food intolerances, gluten, soy, dairy, etc., find benefit for all of those things when taking the product.

Well, because we know that it helps with immune function. And so if you're having an issue with your immune system, obviously this is going to come in and help remedy it. And root cause. It's not a band-aid. It's addressing the integrity of that barrier in your body, which is really the root of health. And we talk a lot about health starts in the gut. And we talk a lot about the microbiome. And we're starting to move the conversation in this direction. But it's an incomplete conversation. Because the microbiome is only one part of this barrier. There's four parts of this barrier. And this barrier is not just in your gut. It's along the entire inside, your lung barrier, your sinus barrier. These are portals of entry that are so crucial to everything that we're

inhaling and being exposed to from a particulate matter. So the health of the barrier holistically is something that's so crucial and important to address. And that's why colostrum is such a marvelous food and really such an intelligent food that it addresses all four layers of the barrier throughout the entire body. I mean, that's incredible. And help me understand this a little bit more. So how does it do that? I talk a lot about collagen and the reason why I love collagen is because it helps to heal and seal the gut. Does colostrum act similar to that way with all these different barriers? Is it kind of like helping to seal it? What exactly is happening? Collagen is a good analogy because collagen is so important to bear it to the health

of the barriers and the health of cellular structure in your body. The problem with collagen supplements though, is that when you take collagen as a supplement, you don't absorb it as collagen. It gets digested. So what ends up happening is you get the amino acids from the collagen and then your body, just like it would with any other amino acids, any other protein source that you're taking, your body rebuilds the collagen on the inside. So a collagen supplement is helpful because you're giving your body more protein, more raw ingredient to build the collagen. But when you consume collagen, you're not actually, collagen's not coming into your body. You're getting just the broken down amino acids.

What's so intelligent about colostrum is it evolved to be a food, to be consumed. So it's particularly honed for the natural digestive processes. The compounds exist in colostrum in a bioavailable form such that their active form is unlocked as it passes through your digestion. Isn't that miraculous? So there are compounds that resist all digestion and you absorb just as they are, but there are also compounds that exist in a different structure and then they get digested and certain parts of them go away. And then the active part becomes active as it reaches a certain part of the digestive tract. So it's really just, it's so elegant. It's so elegant. It's nature, the natural wisdom of nature, far greater than anything we can artificially construct or reproduce or out technology in our

modern day. It's just hubris to think that we can do that. Honestly, we defer to the wisdom of nature and 300 million years of evolution they figured it out this this has been honed by the pressures of time and change and etc um so when you're taking colostrum you're getting all the active bioavailable stuff into the body now it works on all the layers because let's go through the layers. So we'll start with the barrier itself because this is where we want collagen to work, helping with the actual structure. So colostrum has all the peptides and growth factors that instruct how to regenerate that barrier architecture. So when you have any kind of injury to the structure, this is like sending in the architect with the blueprint for how to rebuild that castle wall and how to get the building erect. So it rebuilds all of that architecture for the wall of the barrier, that physical structure.

Then you have the microbiome, which we're all familiar with. People take probiotics, some problems with that. Those also get digested or they're dead by the time they reach their final destination. But cholesterol has something unique in it. It has something called milk oligosaccharides. Milk oligosaccharides can't be found in any other place. They don't exist. They're a whole food prebiotic. Any prebiotic supplement that you would take, it's a plant fiber. No, no. This is a milk oligosaccharide. What's unique about colostrum's prebiotics, the milk oligosaccharides, is that they preferentially feed the bifido species of the microbiome. That's the healthy bacteria. And so it uniquely,

unlike any other prebiotic, prebiotic is a food for the bacteria, it only feeds the good guys and it starves the bad guys. So you preferentially shift the population of your microbiome towards an optimized, healthy population. So it's very effective at optimizing the microbiome throughout the entire body, on the skin and on the inside. Another layer you have in the barrier is something called your mucus layer. Your mucus layer is supposed to be really thick. It's like a scaffolding. It's the stuff that your microbiome clings onto so that they can live at the barrier. And it acts as a kind of a thick syrupy stuff that bad guys, when they're coming in, it kind of blocks them. They get kind of stuck in there so that our body has time to get rid of them and attack them. Most people's mucus layer is very thin.

This is part of the disruption that happens with the barrier. Colostrum has all of the raw ingredients and instructions to rebuild that mucus layer, to get a nice, thick, healthy mucus layer to get a nice, thick, healthy mucus layer to support your microbiome and add that layer of defense. And then the last piece of your barrier are the immune cells. So 75% to 80% of your body's immune cells are not floating around in your bloodstream. Most of your immune system, 80% of those cells, they live at the barrier. Why? Because if you were guarding a castle, where would you put your soldiers? At the gates of entry. You'd make sure that you have strong wall that's protected to keep bad guys out. And that's exactly what our bodies do. They put all the defense guys at the barrier.

And colostrum has all of the specific immune cells and antibodies that live at the barrier. It has immunoglobulins like IgG. These things directly bind to pathogenic particles and pollutants and pesticides and viruses and bacteria, and they get rid of them before they can even get close to your body. And immunoglobulin A, which is a very, very interesting one. And most colostrum products don't have a lot of it. Armour has a lot of it. Armour has a lot of it. This antibody is very prevalent at the mucosal barriers, particularly in the lungs and the sinuses. And colostrum has the IgA in it. So you have all these immune cells that are fortifying your

soldiers, your protective guys at the layer of defense. So that's all four layers to holistically healing the barrier with colostrum. Wow, that was really fascinating. Thank you for walking us through the steps because I didn't know any of that. And so that's really fascinating. You mentioned that it helps build up that mucus layer, which is really important. And I was thinking as people are listening, they're probably wondering, okay, does that mean, one of the classic signs that you hear about a lot is when someone's consuming a lot of dairy, they get a lot of like mucus in their throat. Is that what something, okay. And I assumed that, but I wanted to clarify that because I can

imagine people being like, wait, am I going to be like hacking up a lot of mucus? Like, am I going to notice it? It's a bad word. It's a kind of a misnomer. They're both a kind of mucus, but this mucus is static. It's not something that moves around. But the mucus that gets produced, that's part of the inflammatory cascade. That's your body trying to push things out. So you're making a lot of mucus to try to push things out of your body cavities, your mouth and your nose, et cetera. So that's a different pathway. Yes, that is part of the intolerance cascade. Yeah. I just wanted to clarify that because I know a lot of people struggle with that, with their dairy. And so I was like, okay, we need to clarify this for

everyone listening. Can you talk a little bit about, because I know Armour comes from grass-fed, pasture-raised cows. Can you talk about the importance of that? Healthy animals make healthy food for people to consume. And I think, unfortunately, one of the reasons why the pasteurization regulation is as it is from the FDA, is it almost provides cover to use unhealthy animals because you just sterilize and expose to high heat and kill everything anyway. So it doesn't really matter how healthy animals are when you take their meat or their milk or their other products, but it matters because you need respect for all living creatures on this earth and every creature deserves a right to live up to its potential and thrive and be fulfilled. And so the health of the animals as a raw ingredient is so important.

So colostrum we take from cows and that's conventionally where it's taken from, from Ayurveda and et cetera, from other supplements. Because colostrum is not allowed to be sold into the dairy industry. It's very interesting based on regulation. And cows produce a lot more colostrum than the calves, the baby calves can consume. So there's this extra, this surplus, and it's considered a waste product in the dairy industry because the farmers can't sell it. And so this is the stock that Armra, that we buy from farmers and use to make Armra colostrum. So it's strictly made from surplus overflow colostrum after the calves are done feeding. And we make sure those calves and those cows, the moms,

are the healthiest animals that they can be. They are living on grass-fed pastures, on family-owned dairy farms here in the US with the highest standards of animal welfare and safety. And that's important because healthy animals make healthy food for us and healthy animals and animals deserve to be healthy. End of sentence. Yes. Amen. This is why I have a conversation about this all the time on my podcast, because if we are consuming conventional dairy, conventional meat, we are only helping to fund a terrible industry. And it's also affecting our health too. It's affecting our environment. It's affecting our health. And then the way that these animals are being treated is completely inhumane.

And I don't even want to put my money towards that, you know, like outside of the health effects. Like I don't want to be adding more money and funding this horrible inhumane practice. Yes. And there is a humane way to do it. And this is a part of regenerative agriculture and regenerative animal practices. And this is such a sustainable model for animal welfare, human health, and crop regeneration. But it is completely the antithesis of where the industry profit is at the moment and motivations. And so unfortunately, it's not readily available to the mainstream. You have to seek it out. You have to seek it out. Sourcing is crucial. Yeah. And I get asked this all the time from listeners, what can we do to support, how can we help change our food system? This is literally how all of us, everyone listening right now, this is how we affect change. Because the more that we're spending money on the farmers and the

people doing the right practices. So buying the products like ArmRef, for example, that's sourcing from these family farms that you guys are getting it from grass-fed, pasture-raised cows. Also support your farmers. Go to farmer's markets. Support companies like Force of Nature that are doing regenerative farming and they're taking care of the animals and of the land. It is so vital and incredibly important because this is how we create true change. You drive change with your purchase power. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So I have a question for you about colostrum in the sense of like probiotics. So you mentioned that one milk aglio saccharide, is that what it's called? Yes, I'll go saccharides. Yeah. Okay. So acts like a probiotic. So would colostrum be a substitute for probiotics,

or would you also take it along with your probiotics? The milk oligosaccharide is a prebiotic. It completely replaces the need for a probiotic. Completely. And there are a lot of head-to-head studies looking at probiotics versus prebiotics. Prebiotics are a much safer and more effective way to optimize microbiome health, period. In fact, I mean, there are studies saying after an antibiotic course, you know, we're always told by our doctor to take a probiotic. Probiotics were found to delay resolution of a normal healthy microbiome by guess how long? How long? Five months. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's crazy. So then, because I advise people often to take probiotics after

having to go on antibiotics, would Armra be something great to rebuild up your gut bacteria after taking probiotics or sorry, antibiotics? Yes. Amazing. That's really good to know. And it's safer. So the issue with probiotics depends on quality and strains and who you buy from. A lot of it's dead before it reaches your gut, even when done well, encapsulated, et cetera. The idea of introducing a living organism into what is in everybody, a very different living ecosystem. Everybody has a unique microbiome composition within their gut that's informed by their birth history and their lifestyle choices, et cetera. Sometimes they don't play well. Sometimes they don't play well. And we know some of the probiotics do get digested into fragments. So you have dead probiotic fragments

and you have sometimes interactions and gene transfer between probiotic bacteria and your resident bacteria. And it's not uncommon that I talk to folks who take probiotics and notice my gut symptoms are worse. I had worse bloating, I had worse pain, I had more cramping, et cetera, or I didn't notice any difference. It's not one size fits all. It's just not. And so especially if you have immune sensitivity, anyone with an autoimmune issue, proceed with caution with probiotics, with introducing living organisms into the body. Prebiotics are a food. Milk oligosaccharides specifically, it's a food. It's not alive.

It's safer and can be used one size fits all to optimize microbiome health. So I just in better, in good conscience, I feel good about recommending prebiotics generally over probiotics. And certainly the milk oligosaccharide composition is just more effective because of the way that it shifts towards bifido species. Wow, that's really fascinating. I've actually never heard that. And I think that's really important for people to hear because I feel often as though probiotics are being kind of shoved down our throats a little bit. Like everyone needs to be on a probiotic and all these drinks are adding probiotics. And, you know, it's just like a lot and what you just described is also a really great reminder for people to check in with their

bodies and listen you know if if everyone's saying take probiotics but then you're taking them and you're not feeling great and you're having a reaction or whatever then they're not good for you that that message is so important too uh i think so so often there's the next hot thing or the big thing that everybody's using, it's supposed to be great. And then your personal experience doesn't quite match up to the hype. Trust that. Yes. Yes. Always comes back to intuition. It's really important. So I wanted to talk a second about breast milk, if you're okay with that. I know it's kind of a touchy subject for people, but I know that colostrum is in breast milk and we've talked so much about how important colostrum is. And yeah, I kind of wanted to talk about breastfeeding if you're okay with going to that

subject. Sure. Okay. So let's say, well, let's say first and foremost, if someone wasn't breastfed or they're listening and their baby wasn't breastfed, would you recommend then supplementing colostrum so that it can help with their immune system since they didn't get it at birth? Oh, colostrum is an excellent and safe supplement for all ages from infancy to older age. Humans after birth, they produce colostrum for about 48 to 72 hours after delivery. And it looks different than milk. It is this thick, goopy yellow stuff like liquid gold. And even the doctors in the hospital will say, this is really important. We've got to make sure the baby gets some of this. Oh, they do. Okay, good. But it then shifts after that few-day period towards transitional milk and then the mature milk, which you produce for the rest of breastfeeding, which remains dynamic and changes. It's a two-way feedback with the baby

suckling and the mom and a lot of the interesting research on how intelligent milk is in that it evolves along with the baby to meet different needs. But that first recognizable 48 to 72 hours is when you see the colostrum produced. Okay. So I actually didn't know this. So when you first give birth within that like 48 hour windows when the colostrum comes and then that's it. And then after that, it's just like the traditional breast milk or traditional, whatever, breast milk. Okay. I didn't know that. So it's colostrum is really a stage of milk. And so the compounds in colostrum remain somewhat in mature milk, but much lower concentrations. Okay. So the colostrum is the baby's first exposure to building up its immune system,

essentially. Yeah. It's the first food, the first nutrition anybody gets into their body after they're born. All mammals. Wow. Amazing. Yeah. Okay. I mean, it's incredibly important. And like I said before, it's sensitive because I never want to and never, ever, ever want to make anyone feel bad about any of the choices they've made or what they had to do that was best for them and their bodies and their babies and whatever. So, but I also, I approach this podcast from a lens of I want everyone to be informed as they possibly can be.

And so I don't shy away from topics that may be a little bit sensitive just because I don't want to hurt someone's feelings. I want everyone to know the truth. And so my prerogative is not to make anyone feel bad. My prerogative is just to allow access for everyone to have all the information they need so that they can make the best decisions for their bodies, for their babies, et cetera. And so, yeah, I know the breastfeeding thing can be a little tricky to navigate, but I have a whole entire episode if people want to go in and listen to more about how supporting the women after they give birth and supporting your milk supply. It's a whole complicated, long conversation. So I'm wondering if there's anything else that's really important about colostrum that we haven't spoken about that you feel like the listeners really need to hear.

I think what's important to recognize is we've talked a lot about immune health. We've talked a lot about the gut. And we've talked somewhat about the barrier along the respiratory tract. So you can imagine it's very important for inflammatory issues there related to asthma or allergies, et cetera. But I think what's interesting to touch on is this is a foundational pathway in the body, which means the benefits are not just relegated to the immune system and gut health and respiratory health. When you address the health of that barrier and seal up your gate of entry from all of these particles in your everyday environment that are driving inflammation and sapping energy metabolism from all of your cells, the benefits are whole body. And some of the most noticeable and profound changes that I hear from people

relate to things like my bald spot started growing hair. I look 20 years younger than I did before. So skin rejuvenation, skin barrier as well. Skin rejuvenation, hair growth, thick, luscious, regrowth, metabolism acceleration. So people's unwanted weight disappearing, their metabolism suddenly back on track to where it was 30 years ago. When you get rid of all those toxins that are sapping your energy metabolism from cells, metabolism boosting back up. Again, issues with allergies, asthma, very profound. And energy levels, mental clarity, cognition. that you don't intuit would be related to the health of your barriers, but they are noticeable, meaningful changes that people sometimes... What I'm so blown away with is just how quickly people tell me they notice these things. Sometimes a few days, my energy is through the roof. I don't need a coffee anymore. I'm off of this. I've gotten rid of seven supplements. I only need this now.

Colostrum just fills the gaps in so many areas that we're all trying to piecemeal together with kind of these different, again, supplements that are addressing a symptom or a symptom, one for brain, one for your gut, one for your immune system, one for your hair, one for your hair growth. This is kind of like an all-in-one. When you address foundational health in the body and inflammation, the ramifications of that and the knock-on benefits of that are, I'm still humbled every day by the stories that people are willing to share with me about their experience. It's very impactful. And I had my own experience too. So it's personal to me because this is the stuff I put in my own body. This is the stuff I trust for myself.

My goal is to just be able to share it and expose people to this new information because colostrum has been around forever. I did not discover colostrum. I was reintroduced to it and Ayurvedic practice and ancient Chinese medicine and all throughout history, civilizations and cultures have recognized the power of this food. And I'm just so lucky to have stumbled upon this and now try to get the message out to as many people as possible, because I think we can all get so much benefit, especially at this juncture in the world from something like this to arm ourselves. Yeah. It sounded like you said Arm Rat, which I think is so cool. Is that where you got the name from? It's kind of like an armor? Yeah. It's a plant armor. Think of it as an inside suit of armor, but it's also a palindrome, Armra. And I think so much language out there is about immune boosting and we don't need our immune systems boosted. We're already living in a state of immune overdrive with all of these exposures driving

inflammation and our immune systems are like working all the time trying to combat this stuff. What we need is balance. What we need is immune intelligence. We need a restoration of balance and equilibrium to our bodies. And you can only do that by having a strong barrier so that everything can calm down and operate to its optimal potential like nature intended. Wow. Thank you for sharing all of that. And also thank you for creating a product that has helped a lot of people. I'm so grateful for

people like you in the world that are doing amazing things and supporting the practices of the farmers that need to be supported and creating a product that really is helping a lot of people. I mean, like you said, all these things that you listed off are real issues that people are dealing with. You know, we have chronic illnesses through the roof. And a lot of that is because our immune barrier is broken and we're being exposed to all these toxins. And modern living is hard. It's hard to be healthy. We've really got to work pretty hard at keeping ourselves healthy. And so thank you for being a part of that, helping others and maintaining their health. That's really awesome. Thank you so much. And thank you for having me and allowing me to share the information

and message with your audience. Yeah, of course. Before we go, I want to ask you what I ask all of my guests, which is, what is your personal health non-negotiable? So no matter how busy your day is, these are things that you prioritize for your own health. Colostrum. And I'll add to that hydration, not water, electrolytes and salt with my water. Non-negotiable. I actually have element in my water right now. Love element. Yeah, me too. It's so good. I love that. Well, for all the listeners,

please let them know where they can find you and where they can find Armra. You can find us at www.triarmra.com or on Instagram at Triarmra. We are here and available answering questions all the time. There's a lot to learn and talk about with colostrum. So hope to see many of you. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. Thanks guys. See you next week. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of the Real Foodology Podcast. If you liked the episode, please leave a review in your podcast app to let me know. This is a Resonant Media production produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Mike Fry. The theme song is called Heaven by the amazing singer Georgie. Georgie is spelled with a J. For more amazing podcasts produced by my team, go to resonantmediagroup.com. I love you guys so much.

See you next week. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider-patient relationship. I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first.

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