WEBVTT - Dr Ross Walker on six essential habits for a healthy gut

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<v Speaker 1>Well, hello there. Thank you for joining us today on

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<v Speaker 1>Healthy Ish. I hope you're having a really great day.

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<v Speaker 1>This is, of course the daily podcast and Body and Soul.

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<v Speaker 1>I am Felicity Harley. Renowned cardiologist doctor Ross Walker knows

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<v Speaker 1>his stuff. He's written seven books, is a keynote speaker.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, you've probably seen him across the media over

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<v Speaker 1>the years, and today he joins us in the studio

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<v Speaker 1>to discuss the most important things you should do to

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<v Speaker 1>maintain good at gut health and also what to keep

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<v Speaker 1>in mind next time you search hashtag gut talk. If

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<v Speaker 1>you do want to hear more from Ross, I know

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<v Speaker 1>you will after this episode listening to extra Healthy Ish,

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<v Speaker 1>where he helps us make sense of pre post and probiotics.

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<v Speaker 1>You can search for that where we get your podcasts.

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<v Speaker 1>Ross welcome to Healthy Ish.

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<v Speaker 2>Thank you very much for listen to be here.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm honored to interview. You've had amazing experience in the

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<v Speaker 1>field yield of well cardiology particularly and now you know

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<v Speaker 1>you're on a bit of a mission to share information

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<v Speaker 1>around the gut. Yep, why there should I say change

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<v Speaker 1>or movement or you know.

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<v Speaker 2>It's just natural progression.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, the gut is so important in all aspects

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<v Speaker 3>of health, including cardiology as well.

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<v Speaker 2>But to me, it's not.

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<v Speaker 3>About having a healthy heart or a healthy gut or

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<v Speaker 3>a healthy brain. It's about having a healthy body. And

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<v Speaker 3>it's all mixed in together.

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<v Speaker 1>So I came across something that you said which I

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<v Speaker 1>really liked, and I kind of want you to unpack.

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<v Speaker 2>It for us.

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<v Speaker 1>It's your body is its only pharmacy. Can you talk

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<v Speaker 1>to us about this?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, because the best healer is yourself, not going to

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<v Speaker 3>a doctor and swallowing a pill or a potion or whatever.

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<v Speaker 3>It's how you look after yourself. And I talk all

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<v Speaker 3>the time about what I call the five keys of

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<v Speaker 3>good health, and the five keys of good health from

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<v Speaker 3>the least important to the most important. And this is

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<v Speaker 3>not heart health, it's all health. Number one, having no addictions.

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<v Speaker 3>You cannot be healthy and smoke, drink too much grog,

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<v Speaker 3>or snort cocaine.

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<v Speaker 2>So anyone who's.

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<v Speaker 3>Addicted to anything is ill. Number one. Number two, and

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<v Speaker 3>we're getting more and more emphasis on this. Seven to

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<v Speaker 3>eight hours every night of good quality sleep.

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<v Speaker 2>Number three.

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<v Speaker 3>Nutrition and nutrition's easy to talk about, harder to do.

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<v Speaker 3>It's called eat less food, eat more natural food. And

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<v Speaker 3>the real tragedy felicity is that only less than ten

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<v Speaker 3>percent of people living in the modern world have two

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<v Speaker 3>or three pieces of fruit per day. Three to five

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<v Speaker 3>serving serving is about half a carrot, so it's not

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<v Speaker 3>a huge amount.

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<v Speaker 2>Three to five.

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<v Speaker 3>Servings of vegetables per day, and those people who do

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<v Speaker 3>that have the healthiest hearts, less cancer, better gut, health

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<v Speaker 3>less alzheimers, you name it. Just the fruit and vegetables

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<v Speaker 3>every day is so good for you. And then on

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<v Speaker 3>top of that, if you want to little bits of meat, eggs, dairy, chicken, fish, nuts,

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<v Speaker 3>and olive oil and avoid process package crap masquerade as

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<v Speaker 3>food and avoiding what I call white death, which is sugar,

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<v Speaker 3>white bread, pasta, potatoes, and rice goes straight to the

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<v Speaker 3>gut and causes abdominal obesity. That's nutrition, very simple, eat less,

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<v Speaker 3>eat more natural. Number four, second best drug in the

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<v Speaker 3>planet three to five hours every week of moderate exertion,

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<v Speaker 3>and tragically only twenty five percent of the population do that.

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<v Speaker 3>And easily the best drug in the planet is a

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<v Speaker 3>thing my second that called happiness.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh yes, I'm going to say exercise.

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<v Speaker 3>I said exercise is the second best, but happiness is

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<v Speaker 3>easily the best.

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<v Speaker 2>Drug in the planet.

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<v Speaker 3>Just to give you one example, there's this little known

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<v Speaker 3>university in America called Harvard.

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<v Speaker 2>On Harvard, what's that one again? Harvard and Harvard one

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<v Speaker 2>of the great learning institutions of the world.

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<v Speaker 3>And I'm carry on about, but Harvard have done for

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<v Speaker 3>the last eighty years a thing called the Grant Study.

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<v Speaker 3>The Grand Study showed the one key to health and

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<v Speaker 3>happiness is to have someone else in your life who

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<v Speaker 3>loves and cares for you, who you love and care for.

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<v Speaker 3>It's much more important than your damn cholesterol or your

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<v Speaker 3>blood pressure or anything else. Nurture your relationships. So those

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<v Speaker 3>five keys. Doing those on a regular basis, and tragically

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<v Speaker 3>less than ten percent of people do, that reduces your

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<v Speaker 3>risk for all diseases somewhere between seventy to eighty percent,

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<v Speaker 3>four times more powerful anything a doctor can.

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<v Speaker 2>Say for you.

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<v Speaker 3>So the key to gut health is just the fruit

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<v Speaker 3>and vegetables, and hardly anyone does it.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, we all struggle with this, don't we. We

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<v Speaker 1>all struggle with eating. I mean, we know it, but

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<v Speaker 1>I mean it's quite extraordinary when you say ninety percent

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<v Speaker 1>of us don't eat two or.

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<v Speaker 2>Three pieces of fruit, three to five.

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<v Speaker 1>Servings and that is just an easy way here your.

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<v Speaker 2>Gut absolutely how to do that. That's exactly what I do.

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<v Speaker 3>I do that every day because it keeps my gut healthy.

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<v Speaker 3>I also take a high quality probidic or actually take

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<v Speaker 3>a thing or to trybiotic which has got probiotics, probiotics

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<v Speaker 3>and post biotics in it. So I take that every day,

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<v Speaker 3>which helps, but that is not a replacement for the

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<v Speaker 3>fruits vegetables. A lot of people take vitamin supplements or

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<v Speaker 3>probiotics and they think that's going to keep them healthy.

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<v Speaker 3>They're called supplements. Supplements to what supplements to the healthy lifestyle.

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<v Speaker 3>That's the key is the healthy lifestyle.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, you know what you're talking about. You've had

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<v Speaker 1>years of decades experience, You've seen plenty of patients, and

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<v Speaker 1>how do you make sure you include those fruit and

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<v Speaker 1>veggies in your day?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, just breakfast every morning.

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<v Speaker 3>I have probably had what would be the equivalent of

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<v Speaker 3>two or three pieces of fruit every day for breakfast.

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<v Speaker 2>That's just what my typical breakfast. I make it myself.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't have commercial breakfast cereal, so ten to fifteen

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<v Speaker 3>natural nuts a day, and people who do that have

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<v Speaker 3>up to a fifty percent reduction in cardiovascular disease just

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<v Speaker 3>by the nuts, So ten to fifteen natural nuts a day.

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<v Speaker 3>I have blueberries, bananas, strawberry prunes every day with a

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<v Speaker 3>bit of lesser than and LSA in a mix. And

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<v Speaker 3>I have oat milk because my wife says I snore

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<v Speaker 3>more if I have normal dairy products and a bit

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<v Speaker 3>of yogurt and it tastes beautiful. And that's how I

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<v Speaker 3>start the day. And then for dinner, we'll my wife

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<v Speaker 3>makes these magnificent salads. And again I mentioned about the

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<v Speaker 3>best key to health is to have someone else in

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<v Speaker 3>your life who loves and cares for you. We're celebrating

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<v Speaker 3>our forty seventh year of marriage.

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<v Speaker 1>This year, congratulations. Or we could do a whole separate

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<v Speaker 1>podcast about the secrets to have you married.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm absolutely happy to do that as well. It's at

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<v Speaker 3>another stage then, So we'll have these beautiful salads for

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<v Speaker 3>dinner where we get at least i'd say five servings

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<v Speaker 3>of different vegetables and they're absolutely delicious. So people should

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<v Speaker 3>be really gearing their diet around fruits and vegetables. I'm

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<v Speaker 3>not not saying we need to be vegetarian. I quite

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<v Speaker 3>enjoying meat, but I'm saying the fruits and vegetables are

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<v Speaker 3>the key to good health. So it's not avoiding things,

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<v Speaker 3>it's what you're not getting.

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<v Speaker 2>In your diet.

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<v Speaker 1>Now, a lot of our listeners are avid social media users,

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<v Speaker 1>myself included. We're always on there looking at the latest trends.

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<v Speaker 1>Dare I say, in all sorts of you know, in

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<v Speaker 1>all areas of health, but particularly there is a hashtag

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<v Speaker 1>on social media, hashtag gut top. Now this has had

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<v Speaker 1>over four hundred million views, so basically it's a few yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and it basically sprooks things, lots of things and ideas

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<v Speaker 1>and tips on how you can improve your gut health.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, there's the one going around at the moment

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<v Speaker 1>that having a daily shot of olive oil will improve

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<v Speaker 1>your gut health. Now, what do you think about all

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<v Speaker 1>this and what's your general rule of thumb when we

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<v Speaker 1>see all this content around around health.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think you should always look at the where

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<v Speaker 3>it's coming from. So if you have really reputable websites,

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<v Speaker 3>and there's quite a few reputable ones that I would

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<v Speaker 3>look at, so Body and Soul, like Body and Body

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<v Speaker 3>and Soul, that's probably the most reputable one I've ever read,

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<v Speaker 3>but things like if you want to get good medical advice,

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<v Speaker 3>look at the New England Journal of Medicine, all the

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<v Speaker 3>National Institutes of Health in the US, or different websites

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<v Speaker 3>in the UK, but don't go to these crappy websites.

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<v Speaker 2>So just and look at the person who's giving the advice.

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<v Speaker 3>So for example, I'd prefer an expert in the area

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<v Speaker 3>to be giving advice and some celebrity or sports star

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<v Speaker 3>who only knows anything about the product they're spreaking by

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<v Speaker 3>how quickly the ink dries and the contract. But the

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<v Speaker 3>olive oil story. Olive oil is I think one of

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<v Speaker 3>the key benefits of the Mediterranean diet, which is the

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<v Speaker 3>only diet that has any long term evidence based by

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<v Speaker 3>the way, so if you follow a good Mediterranean diet,

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<v Speaker 3>which is just what I said before, you reduce your

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<v Speaker 3>risk for all chronic diseases somewhere between thirty to fifty percent,

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<v Speaker 3>with about a thirty percent reduction in death over the

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<v Speaker 3>studies that are being done. So huge evidence for the

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<v Speaker 3>Mediterranean diet, of which olive oil is a vital component.

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<v Speaker 2>So yes, that's one aspect.

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<v Speaker 3>Of improving gut health, but not the only one more

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<v Speaker 3>the fruits and vegetables.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Rols, thank you for coming on Healthy.

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<v Speaker 2>In my pleasure.

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<v Speaker 1>There we go. He makes it sound so simple, the

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<v Speaker 1>things that you can do today for better gut health.

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<v Speaker 1>If you did get something out of this, jump on

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<v Speaker 1>let us know, rate and review this podcast, and of

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<v Speaker 1>course you can subscribe, Share this at with a friend,

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<v Speaker 1>Share the gut health, love anything else. Head to Body

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<v Speaker 1>and soul dot com. Do you follows on socials? Grab

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