WEBVTT - Is cold therapy good for gut health? 

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<v Speaker 1>Oh hey there, thanks for joining us on the body

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<v Speaker 1>and soul podcast called Healthy Ish. I hope you are

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<v Speaker 1>feeling healthy today, or perhaps you're feeling the ish bit

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<v Speaker 1>or both together. Anyway, thank you for tuning in to

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<v Speaker 1>our chat with doctor will Bolschwitz. I am Felicity Harley.

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<v Speaker 1>Let me tell you more about doctor b as he

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<v Speaker 1>is better known. He is a gastro entologist New York

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<v Speaker 1>Times best selling author. He is founder of a supplement company,

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<v Speaker 1>thirty eight Terror, and he's going to well give his

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<v Speaker 1>verdict on the claims on social media about cold therapy

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<v Speaker 1>for better gut health. Plus, he will remind you of

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<v Speaker 1>the importance of a diverse plant based diet. Now make

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<v Speaker 1>sure you listen in to our sister pod, Extra Healthy Ish,

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<v Speaker 1>where well he talks more about supplements. Of course he

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<v Speaker 1>does own a company full disclosure, but we do have

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<v Speaker 1>an interesting chat around whether they do help gut health,

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<v Speaker 1>and he also talks about the impact of the gut

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<v Speaker 1>on women's hormone health. You can search for Extra Healthy

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<v Speaker 1>Ish where you get your podcasts. Doctor b Welcome to

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<v Speaker 1>Healthy Ish. How are you.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, I'm grateful city. Thank you for having me. It's

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<v Speaker 2>great to see you.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's actually nice to have you on the pod.

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<v Speaker 1>I've had your book on my bookshelf for many years,

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<v Speaker 1>so I'm looking forward to chatting all things gut health.

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<v Speaker 2>Got to dust it off, No, well, maybe.

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<v Speaker 1>Anyway, I want to talk about something that you put

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<v Speaker 1>on your social media that caught my eye. Influencers claiming

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<v Speaker 1>cold plunges. Well, it's kind of like a godsend for

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<v Speaker 1>all aspects of health. But what about specifically for the microbiome?

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<v Speaker 1>Can they help gut health?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so, actually we don't have complete clarity on this, okay,

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<v Speaker 2>but I think that the answer is probably yes. And

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<v Speaker 2>before I dive into that, let me just start by

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<v Speaker 2>saying that I think that there's more powerful tools that exist. Right,

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<v Speaker 2>this is just a tool. It's one of the things

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<v Speaker 2>that you can do. But certainly, if you want to

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<v Speaker 2>be healthy, there's much more that we should talk about,

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<v Speaker 2>and that includes eating a healthy diet with a wide

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<v Speaker 2>variety of different plants. Okay, when it comes to the

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<v Speaker 2>cold plunge, the key with the cold plunge is that

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<v Speaker 2>when you first get in, actually your heart rate will

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<v Speaker 2>go up, all right, and it'll be a shock to

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<v Speaker 2>the system. It activates the sympathetic nervous system. But then

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<v Speaker 2>there's this response when we submerge ourselves in cold water.

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<v Speaker 2>And by the way, it doesn't have to be like

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<v Speaker 2>a total body submersion. It could actually just be your hands.

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<v Speaker 2>Believe it or not. Oh no way, yeah, So you

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<v Speaker 2>can get a similar effect, Like it's going to be

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<v Speaker 2>a more pronounced effect if you submerge your body, but

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<v Speaker 2>you can get a similar effect just by submerging your

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<v Speaker 2>hands or even by using a cold wet towel on

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<v Speaker 2>your face. And what ends up happening as a result

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<v Speaker 2>of this, they call it the diver's response. And what

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<v Speaker 2>you get is actually activation of the parasympathetic nervous system

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<v Speaker 2>through the vegus nerve. So the vagus nerve is what

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<v Speaker 2>connects our brain. It's one of our cranial nerves. There's

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<v Speaker 2>these twelve cranial nerves. This is the only cranial nerve

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<v Speaker 2>that connects directly from our brain, Like it literally is

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<v Speaker 2>connected straight to the brain, and it weaves the skull

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<v Speaker 2>and passes down into the body and it connects to

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<v Speaker 2>all of these other parts of our body, including our lungs,

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<v Speaker 2>our heart, and our gut, and it's collecting information sensing

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<v Speaker 2>and it's speaking between the gut and the brain. So

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<v Speaker 2>when we talk about the gut brain connection, the most

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<v Speaker 2>clear representation of this is the vegus nerve, And in

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<v Speaker 2>this case, by doing cold plunge, we are activating the

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<v Speaker 2>vegus nerve, and activation of the vegus nerve gets the

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<v Speaker 2>body into a relaxed state. It's good for digestion, and

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<v Speaker 2>the evidence would suggest that it's beneficial to our gut

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<v Speaker 2>microbile and so it would seem to me that that

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<v Speaker 2>cold plunch can in fact be good for the gut microbes.

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<v Speaker 2>There we go.

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<v Speaker 1>We look forward to seeing more research about that. But

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<v Speaker 1>you did say there that there are obviously otherwise that

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<v Speaker 1>you can improve the health of your microbime. And actually

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<v Speaker 1>I pulled out a quote from your book and in

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<v Speaker 1>it you're write, the single greatest predictor of a healthy

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<v Speaker 1>gut microvime is the diversity of plants in one's diet. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>talk to us about this.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well, okay, so you know we're we're taught to

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<v Speaker 2>identify like singular foods, super foods. Hey, or here's this

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<v Speaker 2>weird thing that we found in the Amazon rainforest, and

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<v Speaker 2>like this is the thing that's going to fix all

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<v Speaker 2>your problems, when in fact, actually the way that our

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<v Speaker 2>body works is you know, in some ways it's simple,

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<v Speaker 2>but in other ways, I'm like, wow, this is just

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<v Speaker 2>it makes so much sense. There was a study that

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<v Speaker 2>was done. It was called the American Gut Project. And

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<v Speaker 2>by the way, it was done by Rob Knight, who's

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<v Speaker 2>from New Zealand, and it was and it wasn't just Americans. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>and it wasn't just Americans either, Like they literally had

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<v Speaker 2>people from across the world. But they called it the

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<v Speaker 2>American Gut Project because it's based out of the United States.

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<v Speaker 2>And in the study, they they basically were making connections

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<v Speaker 2>between the health of the gut microbiome and diet and

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<v Speaker 2>lifestyle choices. And what they discovered was a surprise. The

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<v Speaker 2>number one factor out of everything that they looked at,

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<v Speaker 2>the number one factor that was predictive of having a

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<v Speaker 2>healthy gut microbiome was the diversity of plants in a

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<v Speaker 2>person's diet. Specifically, the people who were consuming more than

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<v Speaker 2>thirty different varieties of plants per week were the people

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<v Speaker 2>with the healthiest guts. Now, plants is many different things.

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<v Speaker 2>It's not just fresh produce it's not just salads, it's fruits,

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<v Speaker 2>it's vegetables, it's whole grains, seeds, nuts, legomes, spices, herbs.

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<v Speaker 2>They count two. Frozen food counts two. So we have

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of different choices. But my message to the

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<v Speaker 2>listeners is, don't count grams of fiber, don't count calories,

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<v Speaker 2>don't count macros. Have fun and count the varieties of

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<v Speaker 2>plants in your diet. You can gamify this. I like it,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, and real quick flicity on the topic. The

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<v Speaker 2>reason that this works the way that it does is

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<v Speaker 2>that every single plant is unique. Every single plant has

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<v Speaker 2>a different mix of different fiber and polyphenols and vitamins

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<v Speaker 2>and minerals and also these things that we call phytochemicals,

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<v Speaker 2>and all of them make an impact and help to

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<v Speaker 2>shape the microbiome and make it healthier. So when you

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<v Speaker 2>eat a wide variety of different plants, in essence, what's

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<v Speaker 2>happening on the inside is that you're feeding a wide

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<v Speaker 2>variety of different microbes. And when you feed a wide

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<v Speaker 2>variety of different microbes, basically you're lifting up the whole system.

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<v Speaker 2>You're rising the tide.

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<v Speaker 1>How do you you know? I mean, you're known as

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<v Speaker 1>the Gut Health MD on socials. Do you keepe a

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<v Speaker 1>account of you know, like a mental tally of how

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<v Speaker 1>many plants you ate every week, or there are specific

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<v Speaker 1>ones you make sure you include in your diet.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, so when you put this way, I want to

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<v Speaker 2>I want to like keep itally and then when I

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<v Speaker 2>hit thirty, I take my foot off the gap. From

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<v Speaker 2>my perspective, I'm going to live my life. I'm going

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<v Speaker 2>to enjoy the food that I eat, but I am

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<v Speaker 2>going to incorporate this concept. So when I'm in the supermarket,

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<v Speaker 2>when I'm in the kitchen, and when I'm at the

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<v Speaker 2>at the dinner table, these are all opportunities for me

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<v Speaker 2>to just quite simply look for opportunities to add more.

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<v Speaker 2>So a quick example of this felicity is like, look,

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<v Speaker 2>as a family, we regardless of what recipes I may

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<v Speaker 2>have in my book and my cookbook, right, we don't

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<v Speaker 2>make a different recipe every night. We have like the

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<v Speaker 2>same rotation of recipes every week. Because that's the way

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<v Speaker 2>the families are. We have like we we like what

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<v Speaker 2>we like, and we just keep going back to the

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<v Speaker 2>well am making.

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<v Speaker 1>Us all feel sane.

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<v Speaker 2>That's the way we all are, right and it's okay

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<v Speaker 2>to like it's it's cool to explore and try something

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<v Speaker 2>new once in a while, and if you really love it,

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<v Speaker 2>then keep it. Right. So when we make uh, we

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<v Speaker 2>make pasta, right, most people they just put do pasta

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<v Speaker 2>pasta sauce and maybe they add meatballs or whatever it is,

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<v Speaker 2>or sausage or whatever they want to add to that. Right,

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<v Speaker 2>But to me, the pasta sauce is a vehicle for plants.

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<v Speaker 2>At a minimum, we are dropping bagomes, oftentimes lentils, sometimes chickpeas. Like,

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<v Speaker 2>at a minimum, we are dropping some lagoons in there,

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<v Speaker 2>and then I'm gonna definitely get some onions and some garlic,

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<v Speaker 2>some fresh basil. Right, And to the listeners at home, like,

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<v Speaker 2>what would you if you opened up your fridge, what

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<v Speaker 2>would you find in there that you could throw into

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<v Speaker 2>this pasta sauce? Because the thing about pasta sauce is

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<v Speaker 2>if you wet it, if you wet it stew, everything

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<v Speaker 2>sauce softens up and it tastes delicious. Right, I mean

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<v Speaker 2>you could throw carrots in there, They're gonna taste amazing.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Doctor Bay delicious recipe. Thank you for coming on, healthies, Oh,

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<v Speaker 1>thank you well, friends, another reminder that we should all

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<v Speaker 1>be consuming thirty plants or forty plants or somewhere in between.

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<v Speaker 1>Eight week anyway, thank you for tuning in to this

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<v Speaker 1>episode with doctor Will. We'll make sure listening to him

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<v Speaker 1>on extra healthy issue where we have well. I found

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<v Speaker 1>it a very intriguing chat about gun health. If you

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<v Speaker 1>did enjoy this one, tell us you can rate this podcast,

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<v Speaker 1>also review it anything else hed to Body and Soul

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<v Speaker 1>dot com dot you follows on socials. Grab ourprint edition

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<v Speaker 1>which is out in your local Sunday paper, and until

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<v Speaker 1>tomorrow stay healthy ish