The Dr. Hyman Show - The Pegan Diet: Leverage Personalized Nutrition For Optimal Health

Episode Date: February 26, 2021

Food is not just calories or energy; food is information, instructions that upgrade or downgrade your biology with every bite. Think of it like code that programs your software. Your hardware is your genes. Your software is how those genes are turned on or off. Food regulates not only your genes but also your hormones, like insulin, testosterone, estrogen, and thyroid. It alters your brain chemistry, producing happy chemicals, and it can even trigger addictive patterns. So how can you personalize your diet (and nutritional needs) to optimize your health? In this mini-episode, Dr. Hyman discusses how to leverage personalized nutrition for optimal health, the twelfth principle in his new book, “The Pegan Diet: 21 Practical Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World” available now at pegandiet.com The Pegan Diet is Dr. Hyman’s definitive guide to using food as medicine and understanding how food impacts every system of our body. It has 21 easy to follow principles for anyone, regardless of where they are on their health journey. It also contains 30 delicious Pegan-approved recipes. Get your copy today!

Coming up on this episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy. Genes are not your destiny. They are important, but genes load the gun. It's your environment, namely your diet, lifestyle, and exposures that pulls the trigger. Welcome to The Doctor's Pharmacy. I'm Dr. Mark Hyman. That's pharmacy with an F, F-A-R-M-A-C-Y, a place for conversations that matter. And if you're confused about what to eat, this is a special episode on my new book, The Pegan Diet, 21 Practical Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World. Out February 2021.

You can go to pegandiet.com to get a copy right now. Okay, well, the Pegan Diet started off as a funny joke because two guys were arguing on stage with me, both doctors, one paleo, one vegan. They were fighting. I'm like, hey, you're paleo, you're vegan. I must be peagand. And I started to think about it and it just made sense. These simple principles that are in my book, The Pegand Diet, go through what nutritional science we know, combines it with common sense, and gives us some basic guidelines for how to eat that stop us fighting with each other and get us on the same page. Because the truth is there's far more in common between a paleo and a vegan eater than with the traditional or standard American diet, otherwise known as the sad diet. So check out my book, Pegan Diet, coming out February 2021. Go

to pegandiet.com. Now this week's episode is on principle 12 in the book called Leverage Personalized Nutrition for Optimal Health. There is no one-size-fits-all diet that works for everybody. And if anybody tells you that, they haven't been seeing patients for 30 years because it's a pretty humbling experience when you're trying to present people dogma like be vegan or low fat or be paleo or keto and they try it and their biology doesn't quite cooperate. So we are all different. We are all unique. And the future will allow us to personalize nutrition even more than we can now.

And we're going to go through how we can do that. It's pretty exciting. Now, imagine a future, a not too distant one, where you collect a cheek swab, a few drops of blood, even a little poop, which are then analyzed. Then you're given a map of the unique genetic, biochemical, metabolic, and even microbial creature that is you. That information is then driven through massive databases. It's interpreted by artificial intelligence. It's complemented by real-time wearables that measure your vital signs, your blood sugar, and lots more. And it will give you a personalized precision map of what you should be eating, what supplements you should

be taking, and even how you handle stress and what type of exercise you should do and so much more. What foods will optimize your metabolism? What foods will turn on your healing genes and turn off disease-causing genes? What's your unique need for nutrients? Some person might need 1,000 units of vitamin D. Another person might need 10,000. Somebody might need 400 micrograms of folate. Another might need 4,000 micrograms. How do you know? How do you feed your particular microbiome to get the best out of it?

Which one of the tens of thousands of phytochemicals in food will benefit you the most? Now, we're not there yet. That day will come. But today, there's a lot you can do to discover the right diet and nutrient intake for you. Now, I've been doing this for 30 years with my patients. And today's tools are pretty good. And while better ones are coming, blood tests, hormones, nutrient levels, genetic tests, microbiome analysis, food sensitivity testing, all things that I do in my practice, they can get you pretty close to precision nutrition.

All right. Now, if eating were just about calories, life would be pretty simple. Doesn't matter what you eat, just eat enough. But food is not just calories or energy. Food is information. It's instructions that upgrade or downgrade your biology with every bite. Think of it like code that programs your software. Your hardware is your genes.

Your software is how those genes are turned on or off. And food regulates not only your genes, but regulates your hormones like insulin, testosterone, estrogen, and thyroid. It alters your brain chemistry, producing happy chemicals, or it can even trigger addictive patterns. You feed with every bite the hundred trillion bacteria living inside you, and you can grow good bugs or bad bugs depending on what you eat. Food can stop inflammation or make it worse. It can enhance or hurt your immune system. It also provides the raw materials for your muscles, bones, brain, and every other part of your body.

So the question is, how can you personalize your diet and your nutritional needs? Well, there are six ways that I do it in my practice. And there are ways we're going to discuss about how to do it on your own. The first thing I do is take a very detailed personal history and a family history. Now, if you struggle with belly fat or you have trouble losing weight, or maybe you have a family history of obesity, diabetes, dementia, heart disease, autoimmune disease, allergies, for example, I know where the pitfalls are. For example, you may be carbohydrate intolerant. You just look at a bagel and you gain weight. Or maybe you need to avoid saturated fats, or maybe you could be at risk for gluten sensitivity.

The next thing we do is do hormonal and metabolic testing. We measure lipids, insulin, blood sugar, and they help guide recommendations. Maybe you're more likely to pile on the pounds because you're producing lots of insulin if you eat a carbohydrate-rich diet, and maybe you should be avoiding saturated fat because you get more lipid particles. So we can know that from your regular tests. Next, I do something that most doctors don't do, which is nutritional testing. I don't guess, I test. Now, 90% of Americans are deficient in one or more nutrients at the minimum level that you need to prevent deficiency diseases. That's why testing is such a good idea. And most doctors don't usually test nutrient levels. The most common deficiencies are omega-3 fats, vitamin D,

magnesium, folate, B12, zinc, and iron. They're easy to fix and yet they often get missed. Nutrients regulate every single chemical reaction in your body. How many is that? 37 billion billion chemical reactions every single second. When you have less than optimal levels of these nutrients, your metabolic machinery just slows down. And the result, you feel like crap or worse, chronic disease. The next test we do to look at how to personalize nutrition include food allergy and sensitivity testing. Now, there is a lot of controversy about allergy and food sensitivity tests, but it can be pretty useful when interpreted properly. The most common foods that cause problems are gluten and dairy.

Others include eggs and corn, soy, grains and beans, and sometimes nightshades, which are tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and eggplant, and for some, nuts. Lots of sensitivities can indicate a leaky gut with all these proteins, these food proteins leaking into your bloodstream causing inflammation. And when you fix the gut, you often fix the sensitivity so you don't have these reactions anymore. They're not true allergies. So we look very carefully at that. Also, I look at your poop.

Stool testing. Now, I know that sounds like fun. But stool testing can tell you a lot about the state of your gut health. The microbiome plays a huge role in your health and your metabolism. Now, when you find low levels, for example, of short-chain fatty acids, which are beneficial fuels for the gut, then you can increase those by having pre- and probiotic foods. Or maybe you have low levels of an important bug that regulates immunity,

and they like to eat cranberry, pomegranate, and cream tea. And we can know this from your testing. Next, we look at some genetic testing, not the entire genome, which is tons of information, too much and overwhelming, but we know there are certain genes that regulate your metabolism and how you handle fat and carbs, genes that are linked to appetite and taste preference and predisposition to food addiction, and even how food and nutrients can optimize your gene expression. Maybe you're like me, and you're a poor detoxifier, so you need to eat a lot of cruciferous veggies like kale and broccoli. Or maybe you have genes that predispose you to inflammation, and so you should focus on things like fish oil and turmeric or curcumin, which is

the Indian spice. Or maybe you have genes that make you need higher levels of vitamin D or folate or B12. You see, genes are not your destiny. They are important, but genes load the gun. It's your environment, namely your diet, lifestyle, and exposures that pulls the trigger. So genes load the gun, the environment pulls the trigger. Now, some of these tests that we just talked about are not common in conventional medicine, and I know that. And I know not everybody has access to a functional medicine doctor, but there are ways to personalize your diet at home and then work with your doctor to get the tests you need to modify your diet. The Pekin diet principles are the foundation for everyone. But if you're still experiencing symptoms and want to dial in your personal

needs, start with these steps. Now, these are things you can just do on your own. And this is the most important, powerful tool I'm going to give you right now that I've learned in 30 years of practicing functional medicine. And it sounds simple, but it's so powerful. It's called an elimination diet. I mean, I like to call it the addition diet because it's about what you add in, not just what you take out, but getting rid of inflammatory foods,

getting rid of processed foods, getting rid of foods that you might be sensitive to. This is a powerful strategy for resetting your biology. Now, certain foods can create a whole array of symptoms, what I call FLC syndrome. That's when you feel like crap. Bloating, eczema, allergies, fatigue, brain fog, headaches, autoimmune disease, and inflammation in your whole body. And the most common culprits, gluten, dairy, obviously wheat, soy, grains, beans, nightshades, eggs, which can be great, but for some people are a problem, sugar, and caffeine. Now, these are not a problem for everybody, but the key is to identify if they are a trigger for you. Eliminate these foods for 21 days. On day 22, start by introducing one food at a time. For example, if you suspect that gluten is an issue,

try eating a piece of bread or some pasta on days 22 and 23 while sticking with the rest of the elimination diet. Wait a day and see how you feel. Now, it's going to take a while to do this, but it's the gold standard to personalize your diet. If you know that other foods bother you, stop those too. Now, if you're unsure where to start, just start with gluten, wheat, dairy, and sugar first.

That is enough for most people. The next thing you have to do is become the CEO of your own health. Or as my friend Chris Carr says, the CEO of Save My Ass Technologies. I love that. So how do you do that? Well, you have to work with your doctor to get what you need. And there's some tests that you can ask for that your doctor can do and that are really important. The first is to assess your metabolic health. And the test you need to do to find that out is called an NMR lipid test. Essentially, it's putting your cholesterol

in an MRI machine that helps you look at the kind of cholesterol you have, tells you so much about your metabolism, insulin resistance, and more. You also need a fasting insulin, which most doctors don't do, but it's easy to order, and your glucose. And of course, your six-week average blood sugar, which is called hemoglobin A1c. Now, all this is in the book, Peak and Die, so you can get that and find out. It's all in there, but I'm just giving it to you now. Now, if your blood sugar insulin comes back high, it's time to rethink your diet. See, high insulin and blood sugar are clues that you're eating too many starches and sugars, maybe you have too much stress, and not enough exercise.

And this phenomena of high insulin and glucose is the single biggest driver of all age-related disease, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, you name it. phenomena of high insulin and glucose is the single biggest driver of all age-related disease. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, you name it, even depression are related to too much insulin and sugar. Of course, if your cholesterol or lipids are abnormal and you're on a high-fat diet, maybe saturated fats or a large amount of fat doesn't work for your body. So you ease up on that. Maybe eat whole food carbohydrates from plant foods like veggies, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. The tests don't lie. They're an easy way to get feedback about how your diet is affecting you, not some dogma or

theory or dietary philosophy, but find out what works for you. Also, it's important to have your doctor check your nutrient levels. Like I said, 90% of Americans are deficient in one or more of these nutrients at the minimum level necessary to prevent deficiency diseases, things like scurvy. So what do you need to check? Omega-3 levels. There's something called omega check. Vitamin D, plasma zinc, red cell magnesium. It's a better form of assessing magnesium. Iron and check ferritin levels, which is a storage iron, and homocysteine and methylmalonic acid, which are better tests for folate and B12. These are simple tests your doctor can order. Another thing you can do is check for delayed food sensitivities and allergies, but most of the doctors who are traditional doctors will not do this. You have

to find a functional medicine doctor, or you can just do the elimination that we talked about. Next, you can explore genetic testing. Things like 23andMe are great, and you can run your results through a program that gives you very specific information on nutritional changes that will impact you. The raw data is not so helpful sometimes, but if you upload your 23andMe to Genetic Genie, go to geneticgenie.org, you can find out what your particular genetic needs are for different nutrients. For example, you might need more certain B vitamins or B6, or maybe you need to have more cruciferous vegetables and boost glutathione or take different supplements. So you can actually change all these things.

So understanding your risks, you can modify how those genes are expressed by controlling what we call the exposome, which is the sum total of everything that washes over your genes. What is it? It's your diet, your lifestyle, stress, sleep, exercise. It's microbes, allergens, toxins. Turns out the exposome, not your genes, determines 90% of all chronic disease. So what are the principle 12 takeaways from the

Pegan diet? First, the Pegan diet principles are the foundation for everybody. Eat whole nutrient-dense food, low glycemic food, plant-rich food, good fats, and high quality protein. Often this alone will dramatically improve your health. And if you're still off and not feeling great, follow the next steps. The next thing you should do is a 21-day elimination diet. If you're just getting started on your health journey, maybe just try wheat, gluten, and dairy and sugar. If you've already taken these out of your diet, try removing soy, grains, beans, nightshades, eggs, and caffeinated beverages, and of course alcohol, and then reintroduce one food at a time to see if anything comes up in terms of symptoms. And maybe you need to temporarily remove that from your diet. If you fix your gut over a period

of time, you may be able to introduce that again. You might need food sensitivity testing if you're still confused. Next, make sure you get the right tests. Ask your doctor to run an NMR lipid test, a fasting glucose and insulin, hemoglobin A1C. Ask them to run tests for nutrients to make sure you're not deficient. Also, you can try genetic testing like 23andMe. Sometimes to fit into your genes, you have to fit into your genes. And lastly, find a functional medicine doctor. If you feel like you've tried everything and you're not getting better or not all the way better, it might be time to work with a functional medicine doctor.

My clinic is taking virtual appointments. You can go to ultrawellnesscenter.com for more information on how to become a patient over Zoom. So the future is here. We can personalize nutrition. We can leverage what we know about the science of personalized nutrition to get you healthy. So that's it for today's episode on the Pegan Diet. My new book, 21 Practical Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World.

Make sure you check it out. Go to PeganDiet.com, order it now, and lots more is coming. And I hope you enjoyed this little mini episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy, and we'll see you next time on The Doctor's Pharmacy. Hey everybody, it's Dr. Hyman. Thanks for tuning into The Doctor's Pharmacy. I hope you're loving this podcast. It's one of my favorite things to do and introducing you all the experts that I know and I love and that I've learned so much from. And I want to tell you about something else I'm doing, which is called Mark's Picks. It's my weekly newsletter. And in it, I share my favorite

stuff from foods to supplements, to gadgets, to tools to enhance your health. It's all the cool stuff that I use and that my team uses to optimize and enhance your health. It's all the cool stuff that I use and that my team uses to optimize and enhance our health. And I'd love you to sign up for the weekly newsletter. I'll only send it to you once a week on Fridays, nothing else, I promise. And all you do is go to drhyman.com forward slash pics to sign up. That's drhyman.com forward slash pics, P-I-C-K-S, and sign up for the newsletter and I'll share with you my favorite stuff that I use to enhance my health

and get healthier and better and live younger longer. Hi, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Just a reminder that this podcast is for educational purposes only. This podcast is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional.

This podcast is provided on the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. If you're looking for help in your journey, seek out a qualified medical practitioner. If you're looking for a functional medicine practitioner, you can visit ifm.org and search their find a practitioner database. It's important that you have someone in your corner who's trained, who's a licensed healthcare practitioner, and can help you make changes, especially when it comes to your health.