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Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark
What To Do After a Tick Bite + Can You Reverse Alpha-Gal? | Dr. Will Cole
01:07:20
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- [00:00]
A
You go on a hike, you get bit by a tick and then suddenly you can't eat steak anymore.
- [00:04]
B
How is that even possible with Alpha Gal syndrome? Specifically, it's from a bite from the Lone Star tick. Our gut, our immune system. We're exposed to all this stuff, microplastics and forever chemicals and EMFs. The Lone Star tick or the deer tick. The straw that broke the camel's back. Mainstream medicine has spent decades making it their job to medically gaslight people with these what they would call mystery illnesses, right, These stealth infections like chronic Lyme disease and Alpha Gal and mold toxicity. It's this fear machine that's coming out to say keep your kids inside or spray yourself with toxic insect repellent. They should do neither. One of these.
- [00:58]
A
Foreign. Can change what you eat for the rest of your life. A glass of wine can trigger what feels like a panic attack, chronic fatigue, brain fog, autoimmune disease, even anxiety might have more in common than we've been led to believe. Today we're connecting the dots between Alpha Gal syndrome, Lyme disease, histamine intolerance, immune dysfunction and the bigger question, why are so many people immune system suddenly turning against them? And we also tackle one of the hottest debates in medicine right now. GLP1 drugs. You know who they're actually for and what happens when you come off of them. Joining me is Dr. Will Cole, friend of the show, a leading functional medicine practitioner, host of the Art of Being well podcast with Dear Media and co author alongside Dr. Josh Axe of Heal youl Cells, Reversing the Irreversible, a book exploring how to reclaim energy, improve health and support longevity. Watch this one on the real Alex Clark YouTube or culture Apothecary on sp by and then look for Dr. Will's interview of me on his show this week. Make sure before we start that you pause leave a five star review for us. Tell me your favorite guest that I've ever had on. Please welcome Dr. Will Cole to culture apothecary for a second time. Are we seeing an entirely new food allergy epidemic because of ticks?
- [02:24]
B
Sadly yeah, it's, it's growing by leaps and bounds. What was completely rare we never heard of as a human race. It doesn't mean it wasn't going on, but it was just unknown in the early 2000s has now a hundred fold increase I think is the latest statistics of Alpha Gal syndrome. It's a allergy to a sugar molecule that's in mammalian products in meat and dairy, many meat and dairy.
- [02:52]
A
Everybody's talking About Alpha Gal, it's all I see on social media. So basically the concept is you go on a hike, you get bit by a tick and then suddenly you can't eat steak anymore. I mean what, how is that even possible?
- [03:03]
B
There's lots of different variables that are at play here of why we're seeing these rises, the rise of these stealth infections and biotoxins as a whole. When you look at bacteria, virus, even mold and parasites, it's a lot of things. I see it through an ancestral health perspective or the way that humans do things, in the way that God does things. And the more that humans pretend to be God, there's unintended consequences and sometimes intended consequences.
- [03:33]
A
Is there some kind of common denominator with people who are getting Alpha Gal? Like they all have mold exposure or anything like that.
- [03:39]
B
With Alpha Gal syndrome specifically, it's from a bite from the Lone Star tick, which it's not just in Texas with the Lone Star tick, it's from the southwest all the way up to the northeast of New England. It's a lot of people and again we're seeing a hundred fold increase. That's the CDC statistic, I venture to say. Normally when you look at statistics like that, it's widely under reported, undiagnosed. And what, why are we seeing this rise of tick borne illnesses like Lyme disease and co infections to Lyme and Alpha Gal syndrome? It's multifaceted, it's not just one thing, it's a perfect storm of different variables as far as I'm concerned. And what I'm seeing on the proverbial ground, helping telehealth patients with it, but it's, they get bit by the tick and they have an allergy to the molecule, the sugar molecule that's in meat and dairy and it's delayed, it can have, they'll have digestive problems, they'll have inflammatory problems, other inflammatory type symptoms which can be far reaching for people and it really can be debilitating. I mean you're talking about meat and dairy, two of the most nutrient dense foods in the planet. Now these people are not able to eat it. And it's our job in functional medicine to start to recalibrate the immune system, recalibrate the nervous system, to let the body know that it's safe once we deal with these chronic infections that's causing this hypervigilance. So you're asking why, what's the common denominator? Well, first of all, the hundredfold increase, why we're seeing so many cases, part of it. We have to be fair. We're testing for it more now than before. There's more awareness, there's more, you know, the conversations on social media. People are becoming aware they may have had symptoms before. This may have been going on to some degree in decades past, but it just was this random allergy that showed up and they didn't know was caused by a tick because most people don't even see the tick when they get bitten. But the lone star tick can cause a lot of different bacterial and other pathogen infections. One of it's called Ehrlichia. It's a specific type of bacteria like Borrelia burgdorferi with Lyme disease in the deer tick. Even though we know it's not just about the deer tick, there's other vectors, too, other insects, but specifically, classically, the deer tick for Lyme disease, the lone star tick for alpha gal syndrome, interlechiosis, these other infections. So why is it happening? It is at the very surface level. It's because of habitat like suburban sprawl, if you will. The deer are in our backyards more as humans are going into. The deer are forced to hang out with us, basically, and we're being exposed to these ticks, whereas maybe before the deer were able to go into the forest and they weren't able. They weren't around us as much. That's part of it. Climate shifts are another one where maybe the winters are not killing off the ticks like they used to. And that's cyclical. It happens throughout human history. We see climate shifts. So that's another possibility of why it's been so bad the past few decades. With alpha gal specifically, there's no evidence of this. But for Lyme disease, I am interested in the potential. And it's highly likely that there at least one piece of the puzzle, not the entirety of it, was gain of function research. It was bioweapons research done in the mid 20th century with Lyme disease. With the United States government and other interests tinkering with nature to make pathogens more virulent, there's no evidence, again, for alpha gal syndrome that this is happening. But the way that this is, well,
- [07:04]
A
we know they did gain a function stuff. For Covid, Yes.
- [07:07]
B
This is the same concept for people that don't know the road to hell is paved with good intentions. These people think they know better than God. They think they know better than nature. And there's unintended, or you could say intended consequences. But a lot of these accidental lab leaks or actually accidental Lab leaks that happen. The tick bacteria have been around for eons. It's found in fossilized wood. So to be clear, humans didn't create these bacteria. But just like they did, supposedly, allegedly with COVID how can we make it more spread faster, more severe in humans? And specifically the research with ticks and Lyme diseases, how can we use ticks as a vector for pathogens for different bacteria? So is that a possibility? It's been talked about in Congress, have been books written about it. Willier, Willie Burgdorfer, who's the scientist that was the tick bacteria, Lyme bacteria was named after, allegedly said before he died that he was doing research, gain of function research. So it's a lot of different variables that have to do with the climate. We're around deer more. We're getting bit by these pathogens. And overall, look, it's not just the pathogen. It's the human resilience. Our gut, our immune system isn't. We're exposed to all this stuff, microplastics and forever chemicals and EMFs. Where it's. Is the. The Lone star ticket, the deer tick, the straw that broke the camel's back? Is it this pathogen?
- [08:28]
A
Everything in moderation is killing us.
- [08:30]
B
Yeah, it's. It's the perfect storm of variables. And it's creating, like you said, this fear to get out in nature, to get out in God's creation.
- [08:40]
A
So that was my next question. Because of the threat of alpha gal, do you think that parents should be keeping their kids indoors all summer?
- [08:46]
B
No, absolutely not. And I think that's the messaging, whether unintended or intended, sometimes with sort of the mainstream look, mainstream medicine has spent decades making it their job to medically gaslight people with these, what they would call mystery illnesses, right? These stealth infections like chronic Lyme disease and alpha gal and mold toxicity, long covet as well. Like, oh, you can't have it, right? It's just an acute infection. Just takes. Doc, just take doxycycline, you're fine. They spent years gaslighting these people. Then all of a sudden it's this fear machine that's coming out to say keep your kids inside or spray yourself with toxic insect repellent. They should do neither one of these. Get it out in God's creation. Sunlight's one of the best healers. Nature is one of the best healers. Just if you look at the research of Shinran Yoku and using nature as a medicine and meditation, it's profoundly healing to get into God's creation. But be smart about it. Because we live in a crazy world that's broken, that's fallen, that's, that's not the way that God designed it. There's a, for whatever reason these pathogens are there, use non toxic spray, do a tick check when you come inside. There's a lot of practical common sense things that you can do to still get outside and get all the benefits of moving your body and being in nature. And do not live in fear because stressing about these things is sometimes worse than the potential. Because even if somebody is bit by a tick, does that tick even have the bacteria or not? And then even if they do have it, it's a small percentage of bacteria. Well even it doesn't mean you're going to have the transmission and have symptoms anyways. So my practical advice here is be if you want to, if you find the tick, not everybody sees the tick when they get bit, how it sent in. There's a lot of labs around the United States where they're actually doing research on this to see if the tick that bit you or someone that you love, does it carry the pathogen or not. And then if so, get yourself tested as well simultaneously to kind of see. Because I see many people that will come back positive for these pathogens and they're completely asymptomatic. So again it's, it's this convergence of epigenetics and genetics. Some people I think are just more prone to these hyper inflammatory symptoms because of what's going on in their health. If they don't have good metabolic health, if they don't have good gut health, there's certain gene variants that are called HLA gene variants, human leukocyte antigens, it's, it's how the body regulates inflammation. There's so much bio individuality. So some people can be bit by tickets. Even if it has a pathogen and they're completely fine, their body will create antibodies the way that God designed them to. That's these defense mechanisms. But the person feels fine and then the next person that ticks in for just a little bit, but they have this gene variant, they have an unhealthy gut. It's this perfect storm of epigenetic and genetic components and it triggers inflammatory symptoms that wrecks their life. So the point is it's not cut and dried. Don't live in fear. Live your life. Do the best you can to give the rest to God.
- [11:40]
A
I know you just touched on this, but could you more in depth explain why our immune systems are becoming so easily hijacked by Something like a tick bite.
- [11:50]
B
It starts with the food that we eat. If we really want to break down, what's the science say of why our body, our genome, is living in a brave new world that our genetics, they don't change? I mean, it's been. Been the same for thousands and thousands of years, but our world has changed dramatically in a finite period of time. So what researchers call an epigenetic genetic mismatch. This chasm between our world, our DNA, our microbiome, and our DNA and the microbiome's DNA, all the trillions of bacteria in our gut have. Are unchanged, but yet the world around us is so different. So it's the foods we're eating or the foods we're not eating. It's environmental toxins, the things we're exposed to in our air and water. It's chronic stress. It's unresolved trauma. I think part of that's a spirit spiritual connect disconnection that people have. And we know that from the research. I mean, people that have a spiritual practice in their life tend to live longer, happier lives. They're more resilient from a nervous system standpoint. There's less oxidative stress and inflammation on average.
- [12:51]
A
Plus they feel like they have a purpose.
- [12:53]
B
Right.
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A
Because it. I mean, whether. No matter what religion you believe in, you believe there's a purpose of you being here and something you're supposed to accomplish and do.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And so I think that also gives people motivation to. To live.
- [13:05]
B
Absolutely. So it's a. It's a combination of mental. Mental components, physiological components, spiritual components that we have this great mismatch. Something's got to give. So is it the foods, it's the environmental toxins. Is it stress or trauma? Is it spiritual disconnection? It's all of it. And what's the straw that broke the camel's back? What's the proverbial tipping point? To quote Malcolm Gladwell, and for. For many people, it's this. It could be a traumatic time in their life. It could be, you know, a loss of a loved one, that their symptoms flared up after that.
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A
People.
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B
It could be a virus, right? It could be Covid. It triggered a histamine intolerance or mast cell activation. For some people. For some people, it's an unhealthy gut or exposure to environmental toxin. Or for some people, it's a tick bite.
- [13:53]
A
Let's say I find a tick on me this afternoon. Should we save it? Do we call a doctor? What's the biggest mistake people make?
- [13:59]
B
Ideally, I would recommend sending it in, sending in and having it tested. And now you could, you don't. I'm not saying you have to. And for many people, they don't save it. And then there's a lot of regret and stress about it. I should have sent it in a lot of unknowns. Ideally I would want to send the tick in and there's depending on the state that you're in, there's different labs that you can send it in and have it tested. And at that point you can. The labs will actually tell you how long it was in you. They'll tell you does it have the pathogen or not, what type of co infection, Babesia, bartonella, borrelia. And at that point you can get a little bit more data on the context of it. And a lot of times these tick tests that you send the tick in, they're completely free. So I, I would say the first thing is try to get the tick if you see it and send it in. And then what I would do, and it's happened to me before when I've been bitten, is to get to start some proactive things you can do in the meantime. So some people choose to go get a round of doxycycline and antibiotic just to play it safe. I don't think you have to go that far unless you have a, a history of chronic Lyme symptoms. And maybe some people that would be logical. But I would want to wait to for a test even though the tests are not perfect. You can make that decision for yourself if you want to be putting yourself on a pharmaceutical antibiotic more casually. But what I would do is at the very least taking some herbal antimicrobials. And that's what I do. What I recommend to our telehealth patients if they're bitten, if we're waiting on labs, if they have a history of different inflammatory symptoms and they just want to play it safe, play conservatively.
- [15:36]
A
So what are the herbal things?
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B
I like a lot of South American antimicrobial. So the things that people haven't heard of oftentimes, but I find them to be very effective. When we retest on labs, this pathogen load and the inflammatory markers respond really well to it. It kills off these pathogens very effectively. One's called waka piranha, Cat's club, which people would know that cemento is what it's caused indigenously. Petunia is another herbal antimicrobial. Cecropia is an anti inflammatory that I like. Atoba is another one That I like. And then oregano is effective as well. Pau d'. Arco. Yeah. Those are some of the most common herbal antimicrobials. This is what I recommend to people to cycle them because depending on the pathogen, they're each. They work synergistically. So I like blends and I like cycling so that at that point you're supporting the immune system in a more. More holistic way.
- [16:32]
A
What does that mean? To cycle cycles?
- [16:34]
B
You're doing a few of the antimicrobials for one week, and then you can cycle it on the next one for the second round for the second week. Or you can do a few weeks on one, three to four weeks on one round, and then the other three to four weeks you're cycling on the other. We play around with. There's a lot of sort of the art and science of this, but we have to track how do you feel on these antimicrobials?
- [16:56]
A
So one herb per week?
- [16:58]
B
Well, I would do a combination.
- [17:00]
A
Okay.
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B
So basically half of those.
- [17:01]
A
Okay.
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B
A round of half of those and then another round of the other half.
- [17:06]
A
Okay. Thanks for being good.
- [17:08]
B
Yeah.
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A
Super descriptive, because I know the audience appreciates that. So at what point, like, do you call a doctor versus just keep an eye on it?
- [17:16]
B
It depends on you and your situation. Are you somebody that has a history of being more sensitive? You have a history of autoimmune problems? You may want to be a little bit more vigilant, not hyper vigilant, not stressing and obsessing about this. Keep in mind the mental health component about this is really. But you're gonna make. You may take a little bit more steps that maybe some people will think you're. It's overkill, but you know your body, so don't let other people gaslight you and don't gaslight yourself. So what I mean by that is you're gonna maybe want to get tested to see are these things reactivated. You're gonna want to send the tick in to see what is the context of it so you can have peace of mind. You're gonna maybe not wait for those labs to get back. So you start these herbal antimicrobials. And for all of this, let me just say this, is that these pathogens are one thing, but then some people, because these genetic variants, the immune system inflammation is a product of the immune system and the larger, what's called the neuroimmuno endocrine axis, which is the intersection between the nervous system, the immune system, and the endocrine system. The body doesn't know that it's safe. So the pathogen may have been the tipping point that caused that hypervigilant inflammatory response. But we need to let the body know that it's safe. So that's where it's not just the antimicrobials. It's not just about the, that protocol. Right. It's important to deal with the pathogen, but then we get to let the body know that it's safe and to support that parasympathetic, that resting, digesting. So I have every person in this category, if they have symptoms, to be doing things like vagal nerve stimulation and. No, but just basically, it's the largest cranial nerve in the body. It's responsible for that resting, digesting, because that person, they're stuck in that sympathetic fight or flight stress state. So we have to find ways to support the nervous system, which is very important because in theory you can deal with the pathogen, you can deal with the whatever or lychia or borrelia. It looks great on the lab, but the person still has symptoms.
- [19:20]
A
So what are your favorite ways to support your nervous system?
- [19:23]
B
I would pick something active and something passive is typically what I recommend. So something active is something that you do. You have to show up and do the protocol. So it could be breath work, it could be meditation, it could be EMDR therapy, it could be journaling. Something as simple as journaling, what we call ugly journaling, a journal speak, if you've heard of that Nicole Sachs work. It's, it's writing things that you would never tell anybody. But you're writing pen to paper, pencil to paper in a journal, not typing on your phone. Because even writing versus typing works different parts of the brain that's healing in and of itself and even the conversation of, you know, cursive in schools and just like maybe practice penmanship, practice cursive as a meditation in and of itself, but beyond the writing style itself, that's, that's calming to the nervous system. But it's prompts that I'll give people, like, what does it feel like to be me today? Which is heavy. When you don't feel good, when you. This is for people that have the Lyme symptoms, that have the alpha GAL symptoms, that have the mold toxicity symptoms, whatever we're talking about. But you're writing for 20 minutes a day. We prescribe that. It's like showing up at the gym. You're doing that 20 minute, somatic, cathartic. You're metabolizing stored stress and trauma in the Body, you can burn it afterwards if you want. So it could be something like that could be emdr, it could be some. I mentioned vagal nerve stimulation. Those type of things are more passive. Those are things, devices, wearables that you wear on the background. But it's stimulating weak parts of the nervous system. The vagus nerve is weak in a lot of people. And that's part of this lack of resilience, this bioterrain, if you will, that is weak.
- [21:02]
A
How do you stimulate it?
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B
It's almost like for lack of. This is how I describe it. It's kind of like E stem on the skin, specifically on the ear or the neck, that is stimulating branches of the vagus nerve.
- [21:15]
A
Okay.
- [21:16]
B
V A G U S that it's the largest cranial nerve in the body that we need to tone because it's weak. Because if you think of the autonomic nervous system like a seesaw, the sympathetic fight or flight is overactive. We don't need to train that so much. For most of us, the parasympathetic, the resting digesting hormone balance, the grounded safe state of the nervous system is weak. So yes, healing your gut, eating nutrient dense foods is supporting nervous system regulation. But we also need to get a little bit more specific on the mental, emotional, sometimes even spiritual components of how do we tell the body and let the body know that it's safe? Because there's 30 trillion cells that believe it's not for many people.
- [21:59]
A
I need to say something because I see this in my DMs every single day. Alex. I want to get my health together, but I just don't know where to start. Or I'll do it later when I have more money. You know, I've heard every version of this and I get it. The system is confusing on purpose. You go to a doctor, they check like five things, they tell you you're fine, they send you home. Meanwhile, you're still feeling exhausted, inflamed, just off. So then you do nothing. You wait. And waiting becomes your health plan. This is why I'm really excited about what Jevot did. They launched a completely free tier, not a trial free. You go to go.com, upload blood work that you already have from any lab, and they give you a personalized longevity blueprint that analyzes over 90 biomarkers and actually shows you what's going on. When I saw my blueprint, I didn't just want to know. I mean, I saw all that info and I wanted to fix it. And if that's you, after finding out about what's going on with you. You can do the JEV plus membership. You get an actual functional clinician who walks through your results and builds a plan around you. Not a template. They build you a plan and they don't stop at just testing. You get access to supplements, peptides, hormone optimization, nutrition help, real protocols based on your labs. They test over 90 biomarkers, retest every six months, adjust your plan and you have a care team you can actually message. Go to gojevity.com use code Alex. Again, go to gojevity.com Use code Alex. Foreign let's talk about breakfast in America, which is essentially dessert marketed to children. You wake up, you pour a bowl of something that's been engineered in a lab by a man named Greg who hasn't seen sunlight since 2004. And you're like, this is a great way to start the day. Meanwhile, it's loaded with pesticides, refined sugar, artificial dyes, basically a chemistry set with a cartoon bird on the front so you don't ask questions. And even the healthy cereals, oh, don't even get me started. It's like now with ancient grains. Okay, great. Still poison. You walk into the store, you're like, I'm not buying junk cereal. I'm getting Cheerios. I'm a good person. Let's talk about cheerios. You're eating 729 parts per billion of glyphosate. Oh, and if you really want to treat yourself, how about honey Nut? Cheerios? Over 800 parts per billion. This is why Lovebird exists. Lovebird is a cereal brand that was invented by a dad who worked in big food. And he was like, I'm not feeding this garbage to my kid anymore. Which is the most radical thing you can do in this country. Care. Lovebird took out all the fake stuff, no synthetic pesticides, no refined sugar, no weird lab ingredients, and replaced it with actual food. We're talking organic cassava, prebiotic fiber, lightly sweetened with honey. Things your body recognizes instead of rejects. And now they've gone even further with their new protein cereal. 11 grams of protein made with grass fed whey sweetened with organic coconut sugar, gluten free, non gmo, third party tested, and it tastes phenomenal, which is rare because most healthy protein cereals taste disgusting. I'm not going to lie to you, I love the cinnamon one. And if you're trying to get your kids off ultra processed junk, this is the move. You swap in something familiar, right? You're not totally changing their life. They're used to cereal in the morning. But now you're going to start with something non toxic. Also, Lovebird donates 20% of profits to fight childhood cancer. They're family owned, independent and they even have a program to swap junk cereal in schools for real food at the same price. So you can email them, find their info on their website and tell them about your kids school and they'll send cereal for free, which is insane because they're basically losing money just to fix the system. These are the types of companies that I sponsor on my show. Okay, so now do you understand I am so picky. I want the game changers, I want the real parents making a difference. You can grab Lovebird at a grocery store near you. But if you want 20% off, go to lovebirdfoods.com use code alex20. That's code alex20 for 20% off at lovebirdfoods.com code alex20 lovebird foods.com what symptoms after a tick bite should never go ignored?
- [25:42]
B
Well, I mean you know your body, so sometimes it's for alpha gal, it's going to be digestive problems after you have the meat or the dairy. It could be beef, it could be the pork, it could be lamb, it could be any sort of meat basically. I mean they can have fish, they can have chicken, they can have some meat. But most of these meats that from mammalians they are not going to respond well to and then dairy products. So it's if you have symptoms after you have these foods, digestive problems and you think oh I can't have that dairy or I can't have that meat and it came on all of a sudden, right? It may be alpha gal. I would not normalize that digestive problems after having these, these foods. Now there's obviously lots of different reasons of why someone could have a dairy insensitivity. I'm not saying all dairy sensitivity is alpha gal, but just you know, your body, if this came on all of a sudden, do not normalize it.
- [26:30]
A
Right?
- [26:31]
B
And then the, the classic for Lyme disease specifically the brain fog, the fatigue, the histamine intolerance, the migraines, the inflammatory symptoms, the migrating pain around the body, these classic acute and chronic L symptoms never normalize that. But it exists on a spectrum. For some people it's mild and that's where the gaslighting can come in or it's not always there because it's relapsing and remitting. Do not normalize this stuff. I would really advocate for yourself or advocate for your kids or Someone that you love. Because there is, there's, there's not a lot of information out there when it comes to conventional medicine. They'll run the basic Lyme test and the basic western blot test, a basic Lyme screening and a lot of, there's a lot of false negatives that you will show up negative on a seat by the CDC standards. But then you have to run more comprehensive Lyme literate tests to look at these co infections and the other aspects of the immune system and how it's responding to pathogens like these.
- [27:29]
A
What is your anti tick routine like? I mean, do these natural bug sprays actually work or natural tick repellents?
- [27:34]
B
They're not perfect.
- [27:35]
A
What do you use?
- [27:36]
B
They're not perfect. I use specifically myself, I use a brand called Wondercide, which is just essential oils. You can make your own. You could get natural essential oils like lavender and wormwood and sage. These can be effective. They're not perfect. You still do a tick check. There's no replacement for a tick check. You can do the best as a repellent. But those little nymphs, those little larvae are very small, very small, microscopic. So I would not again live in fear, but do a basic common sense tick check. When you or your, your kids are outside after you come in, and it's in all 50 states, this is another big myth. People think, I don't live in the Northeast, I don't live in Connecticut, I don't live in New York, Pennsylvania, I live in Arizona or I live in Texas. I don't have to worry about this. Lyme disease Is in all 50 states. Yes, it's more common. And if you live in the woods in the Northeast, absolutely. But, but it's, it's way more prevalent than people realize.
- [28:40]
A
Is there some sort of reliable test to know for sure if you have alpha gal?
- [28:44]
B
Yeah, it's conventional labs will test for this. You measure the immune system response to alpha gal, the actual sugar itself. But there's no perfect test, so you cannot rely on one snapshot in time. So we do the best we can with the data we have. But then at a certain point there's, even with the best testing there, these are still snapshots in time. So you run the test and then you have to correlate it with how you feel. Even if you have a negative test and you have symptoms, sometimes we retest it's test multiple times. So you have to do the best you can with the lab access we have. And then at that point, sometimes we just treat being Proactive, because it's like, okay, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, even if a lab is negative, you want this person that's having inflammatory symptoms to start to address the pathogens.
- [29:31]
A
So what do you tell them? If somebody that your patient says, I have alpha Gal now, what do you say that they have to throw out
- [29:37]
B
of their pantry right away, the alpha Gal specifically? The symptoms exist on a continuum. So it depends because I can get some reintroduction pretty quickly of meat, mammalian products, and they see online, I can't have that. And yeah, that may be true for someone else, but let's see what resilience your body has. So it's not this black and white. You can't have it. Cut it out. Yes, we want to be smart about it. Yes, we want to be conservative, titrate low and slow. But let's see what your body can do to start to build resilience over time. So you're cutting out meat and dairy as a surface baseline for alpha Gal specifically, and then you're working on building resilience over time. There's a. In addition to dealing with antimicrobials, dealing with the nervous system regulation, there's a specific type of acupuncture technique called the Solomon Auricular allergy technique, and it's ear acupuncture. And have you ever had acupuncture before?
- [30:37]
A
I have, yeah, many times. I love it.
- [30:39]
B
Yeah. So this is a tiny micro needle that goes on a specific zone in the ear that people wear for three to four weeks. The studies that show that upwards of over 90% remission in alpha Gal symptoms with this specific type of acupuncture. So that combined effect of different tools within the toolbox, people can bring reintroduction in that they don't have to live in fear of saying, I can't have this in perpetuity. I can never have meat and dairy. That's not necessarily true.
- [31:09]
A
How many people do you think are being treated for anxiety and chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, autoimmune disease, even depression, when the missing piece is actually just undiagnosed Lyme?
- [31:20]
B
It's a problem. And we've knew this in the autoimmune space for a long time of specifically chronic fatigue syndrome and ms? Are you looking at fatigue and neurological autoimmune symptoms? We've seen it a lot over the years. People that they are told it's idiopathic, people just get it, it's genetic, there's autoimmunity in your family. Yes. We know these genes. There's a genetic component to all of these problems as I talked about earlier with HLA and this methylation and other gene variants that code for how the body's immune system responds. Yes, but as the saying goes, genetics loads the gun, epigenetics pulls the trigger. There's something environmental. Even if it is ms, even if it is chronic fix, chronic fatigue syndrome. Think about that. I mean being labeled as chronic, having cfs, having chronic fatigue syndrome. Okay, Anybody that has CFS already knows they're chronically tired. But why is the CFS happening in the first place? So from a differential diagnosis standpoint, that's just a description of symptoms. It's not telling you why you have the problem. It's just a label for conventional medicine and ICD10 code. But we want to look underneath a proverbial hood and what's causing that dysfunction. So for some people it's a biotoxin, like a tick borne illness. For some people it's mold. For some people it's an man made environmental toxins. For some people it's a spiritual, mental, emotional trauma. Things like unresolved trauma and chronic stress. For a lot of people it's a confluence of factors. So yeah, there's a lot of people that are just labeled with these inflammatory symptoms or nervous system dysregulation. You mentioned anxiety and depression. Okay, but why? I mean there's a whole field of research looking at this. It's for, specifically for anxiety and depression. It's called the, the cytokine model of CAUS cognitive function. Cytokines are pro inflammatory cells. It's researchers looking at how does inflammation impact how the brain works.
- [33:13]
A
Right.
- [33:13]
B
Well what are things that cause inflammation? God made inflammation. Inflammation is not inherently bad. Something's causing an imbalance of the inflammation. So we have to look at what's going there. That's why health history is so important. Right. If somebody is outside, a lot is getting sees ticks on them frequently. All right, let's start to see if, if these tick borne issues are a factor. I don't want to make it the boogeyman and for people to think think it's the cause of all the world's woes. It's not. But it is certainly undiagnosed under diagnosed and people can't address it if they don't know what they're dealing with.
- [33:49]
A
Why are we seeing such a massive increase with histamine issues?
- [33:52]
B
It's part of the that larger the body is feeling unsafe and it's like histamines are a normal part of the human immune system. God made histamines. They're meant to be these chemical mediators, the mast cells. Part of our immune system releases these histam, histamines as an allergic response. That's an appropriate homeo. When the body's in homeostasis. You want histamines to come up and you want it to calm down. When there's an allergen, there's something irritating the immune system. But because of this genetic epigenetic mismatch, this chasm, more people than ever are their histamines don't know how to calm down. So it's part of the inflammatory inflammation spectrum storm that many people are struggling with. And, and it's not just one thing. Lime's part of the conversation, mold's part of the conversation. But then think about this like Lyme, tick, bacteria, mold even have been around since the dawn of time. And the Bible talks about it with mold and Leviticus says to burn the house down instead of. I mean luckily we have remediators now we don't have to burn the house down. But it's nothing new is what I'm trying to say. But why are we seeing this up up this rise of these biotoxin issues? I gain a function possibility the way that we're doing life decreasing human resilience with the tick borne issues. But with mold and even for the the bacteria and viral issues is EMF's role on this. We know that EMFs when people were in an electric room, right now most of us are inside all day long in surrounded by EMFs from our phones and wi fi etc. I believe this is a missing piece for many people is that it's con. At the very least, conservatively a contributing factor for what's keeping their nervous system immune system in hyper vigilance. Because the same people that have gene variants that code for a hyper inflammatory response to mold and tick borne issues also have gene variants that make them sensitive to EMFs. Oftentimes they the body doesn't know that it's safe. So is it the mold, is it the tick borne issue or is it the fact that they're in or surrounded by EMFs? Man made EMFs all day long.
- [36:07]
A
So one thing I noticed with me is every single time I have alcohol, even just one glass of wine, I am so congested almost within like minutes. Is that a histamine thing?
- [36:18]
B
Yeah, that's a, that sounds like a histamine. So histamines don't know how to calm down. So what I would do is I would measure two tests I would do. I would measure serum histamine. You can measure histamine in the blood to see if there's excess histamines in the body. And you can also measure the enzyme that breaks down histamines called diamine oxidase or dao. So to see if they're on that sort of mast cell activation syndrome, histamine intolerance spectrum. It seems obviously you're not always having these symptoms. So it's not severe. For some people, it's. They could drink water and they're having symptoms. It's their immune system nervous system's constantly in that state of mast cell activation. But these sort of more mild to moderate is when they have foods that are higher in hist. That are. Or histamine liberators, which a lot of healthy foods. I wouldn't put alcohol on that list of healthy foods. But even things like avocados, citrus, strawberries, things that are healthy, fruits and vegetables, many of them can be either high in histamines themselves or histamine liberators. Fermented foods, obviously it's a classic example like sauerkraut, kimchi, fermented foods. I love recommending them in histamine.
- [37:26]
A
See, I don't know what foods are high in histamine. I don't even. No.
- [37:29]
B
Yeah.
- [37:30]
A
Everything you just named I have every day.
- [37:31]
B
Yes. They're all either higher histamine or histamine liberators. Does that mean everybody with histamine intolerance can't have them? No. There's a lot of bio individuality to that too. What's your cup? If you think of this sort of cup analogy, that's your bio individual tolerance for stressors. Some people have big cups, some people have smaller buckets. And the more you're doing in life, it could be how you slept the night before, it could be your stress levels. I mean, and it's these contributing factors to how much wiggle room, how much resilience, to use that term that I mentioned earlier, how much resilience do we have for that day? So for some people, they could have fermented foods and be fine one day and then the next day because they didn't sleep well, they're going through a stressful time in their life. Or maybe they said more of the food. Their body's having a harder time breaking down the fermented foods, which all fermented foods are higher in histamines.
- [38:24]
A
Is it true that people who have histamine intolerance issues should be avoiding eating left leftovers.
- [38:30]
B
Yes, in theory. Now, how much wiggle room, how much resilience does that person have? So for a true clinical nutrition, low histamine food protocol. Yeah, if fresh is best, the more that food is staying in the fridge, even more so staying at room temperature, that's leftover. It's going to be breaking down and building histamines over time. Back to sort of the why fermented foods are like the end stage example of that. The more fermented, the more histamines are going to be. Bone broth is an another example. I mean I love bone broth, but bone broth is typically higher in histamines. So that just shows you there's. You can't make broad sweeping statements when you're talking about bio individuality with these inflammatory symptoms.
- [39:13]
A
Well, is histamine intolerant something that you have it and you have it forever, something you can get rid of or manage or what?
- [39:19]
B
No, back to the the point. Like the histamine intolerance is that. Check engine light.
- [39:24]
A
Okay, that.
- [39:24]
B
Let's go over the top symptoms like migraines, brain fog, fog, skin issues, itchiness, digestive problems, sinus drainage. Those are some common histamine intolerant symptoms. We know that's happening. So maybe it's triggered by walking into a moldy home. Maybe it's triggered by the wine or the sauerkraut or the yogurt. Right. But it's not, it's really not for the overwhelming level of cases that I see. It's not the food's fun fault.
- [39:54]
A
Right.
- [39:54]
B
We have to figure out why the body's reacting so viscerally to the high histamine foods. So no, my goal is to build resilience to yes, limit the histamine releasing foods or high histamine foods in the short term, but then work on building resilience. The same with Alpha Gal and chronic lime. Like these things that if you have a dairy allergy or a meat allergy from Alpha Gal, how can we build resilience and tolerance over time that applies for all of these food sensitivities drivers.
- [40:25]
A
We have somehow accepted that every kid needs braces. Like it's just part of childhood. Oh yeah, little Tommy seven, time for soccer, multiplication tables and 20 grand worth of orthodontics. Nobody ever stops and asks why are all of these kids jaws too small in the first place? You know, we act like mouth breathing and snoring and bedwetting, grinding teeth, ADHD symptoms, chronic congestion and crowded teeth are just Quirky little personality traits or something that they grow out of. They're common. Okay? Okay. Yes. But that does not mean it's normal. One of the coolest companies that I found is Tooth Pillow because they're focused on helping kids while they're actually growing between ages 3 and 12, when jaw development can still be guided. The program is designed to support natural jaw growth, proper tongue posture and healthy nasal breathing. Instead of waiting until everything's already developed and then you try to fix it later. As somebody who has spent years talking about why we need to ask better questions about kids health, health, this just made so much sense to me. And also finding out that so many of my best friends who are moms have used this and swear by it was just the icing on the cake. If your child mouth breathes, snores, grinds their teeth, wets the bed, has crowded teeth or constantly sounds congested, has hearing issues, that's another big one. Don't just assume they'll grow out of it. Or maybe that it's some crazy genetic thing, right? It could literally be mouth breathing. Go get them evaluated. Start with a free virtual assessment. A tooth Pillow airway dentist will review how your child is developing and help you understand understand what comes next. Visit toothpillow.com and get your child assessed free using code alex clark. That's toothpillow.com and get your child assessed free using code Alex Clark. Back to school season is almost here. I know. Horrible news. When I was growing up, I loved back to school because I got to reinvent myself every August. You know, this is the year I'm going to be emo. This is the year I'm going to be athletic. That didn't pan out. Emo panned out more than than athletic. I think that would surprise a lot of people. This is the year that people are going to realize I'm just effortlessly cool. Still waiting on that. You know, hasn't happened by Labor Day. Usually when I was still in school, you know, I was the exact same person eating goldfish during study hall. Nothing changed. I was still not athletic. I was a wannabe emo. And I still wasn't effortlessly cool. This was pre Maha Alex, obviously, But maybe this is your reinvention era. Not by becoming somebody else, but by finally getting rid of the expensive makeup products that are full of ingredients that you don't fully feel good about and they break you out or they just sit in a drawer collecting dust. Anyway, what if instead you invested in products that you're actually using from Adele Natural Cosmetics. They are a Christian conservative owned company that makes thoughtfully formulated makeup and skincare designed to work together that is non toxic. I love their lip tints because they give a beautiful natural color without feeling like you're wearing heavy lipstick that's drying. It is perfect for every day, especially during the summer. Beauty doesn't have to be complicated. You know, I like products that make me feel polished and healthy and confident and that's Adele Natural Cosmetics. Go to Adele natural cosmetics.com use code Alex for 25% off your first order. That's Adele natural cosmetics cosmetics.com code Alex for 25 off your first order. Okay, kind of an unrelated topic but I want to touch on with you because you're one of those people that, I mean I could talk to you about 800 different things. It's so fun to get your take. Before we wrap, I wanted to ask you about GLP1s. We've had some time like, I mean in 2024 I feel like the wellness community was very like no, like anti, anti, anti. Absolutely avoided all costs. I wanted to see if your mind has changed if you've always been pro. I don't know is, you know, is anybody that you think should consider taking Ozempic?
- [43:55]
B
Yeah, I've always stayed the same on the topic. So the United States doesn't have a Ozempic deficiency. We have a massive metabolic problem. I mean Some upwards of 93% of the United States has a massive metabolic issue and there's somewhere on this insulin resistant spectrum. And I find it interesting, right as a, as a culture, I don't want to digress but you know, out of 2020, the amount of like the, the body positivity movement that was happening online, that there was no such thing as a bad food health at any size. I find it interesting that the minute that Ozempic and wegovy came on the market, it kind of changed a bit. Of course you see the people losing weight left and right. Apparently that was, was just in fact virtue signal.
- [44:40]
A
The big food companies actually love Ozempic. They love GLP ones because they're like great. Because this is the whole, their whole problem is like we have to. Which is why they came out with all the body positivity talking points which by the way way it was big food companies were sending massive paychecks to tik tok influencers to spout those types of talking points saying, you know, body, your health is at any size and all this garbage which is just absolutely abhorrent. So they love this because they're like, great, we can give people skinny and they can still eat our crap.
- [45:12]
B
Yeah.
- [45:12]
A
Which is what a lot of people are doing is they're getting on things like Wovi and OIC or whatever, GLP1 and then they're still eating the same. So for first of all, is there anybody that you recommend? Okay, you should maybe take it even if for a short time. And then once they're on, what are the big mistakes people are making on?
- [45:31]
B
Yeah, well, I think the way the United states is using GLP1s is completely antithetical to sustainable health. It's, it's the American cliched American way. If a little is good, more is better. And we want a quick fix. We want, we want something, a get out of jail free card.
- [45:51]
A
So what if we're talking about somebody who is morbidly obese as a, as a jump start?
- [45:55]
B
I, the way that I recommend peptides for people is a both and not either or approach. Like, let's work on metabolic health. Let's teach them what if they don't know about it? Teach them about nutrient dense food like where's their protein, where are they getting their fats, how, what, what are the, where are the carbs, how carbon tolerant are, are they Introduce them to some good old intermittent fasting. Right. Support their gut health. All these things that are why they have the problem in the first place. Why is 38 of these, the American preteens, pre diabetic, it's not an ozempic deficiency. And now you see all these parents wanting to put their kids on this stuff too. So we need some sound foundational things. But I think peptides can be a great tool within the toolbox when paired with that. And guess what? When you actually pair with why you have the problem in the first place, dealing with these lifestyle epigenetic factors, you don't actually need to be on for most people, you don't have to be on high doses of them. You can do microdosing of GLP with ones you can be on them cyclically and temporarily and pulsed as needed. So I think as long as they're clean, pure. And that's why obviously having this sort of proper, like allowing oxygen within the peptide space and just not treating them like illicit drugs. So not just GLP1s, but these other growth hormones like the CJC and the epamorellins and the Tessa Morellins, these other types of peptides that are also good for metabolic health outside of the GLP1 class, I think they all should Be a part of the conversation. Some of them need more research than others to confirm. But specifically with the GLP1s, I think a microdose cyclical approach is where it's at. The problem that I see and every time I talk about this phenomenon. Are you hearing about, like, the Ozempic zombie personality? You know that.
- [47:40]
A
Well, there's a look a lot of people have. It's really grotesque looking, like skeletor sunken faces. I mean, I think. I think a lot of people look really ugly on GLP1s. This is. That's just besides the point. I know what you're getting to, but yeah, physically, I think there is a look. How do you avoid the look before we get into the emotional part?
- [47:59]
B
Yeah, they're overdoing. They're overdoing something that could be a great tool within the toolbox, but overdoing it.
- [48:04]
A
And so they're like taking GLP ones, but like, not weightlifting, for example, or something.
- [48:07]
B
Shutting down their hunger. Yeah, I mean, they're just hypocaloric in perpetuity. Yes. You do not need an atomic bomb shutting down your hunger. Cues. Signaling cues for ad infinitum. Forever and ever. Amen. It's like you're supposed to eat food. And I think they forgot that and they're just. It's this sort of disordered eating backdoor in another way. It's like, oh, I love never feeling like I need to eat and nourish my body. I mean, that's sort of the disordered mental component that a lot of people. Someone sent me this reality show. It was Secret Lives Mormon. The Mormon Wives show this girl, which I'm thankful for, sharing her story and, like, normalizing these conversations. She's. She said she was addicted to GLP1s, one of the girls on the show because she was afraid that she'd gain it back. And. And it's. That's just. That's a disordered eating.
- [48:58]
A
So if somebody wants to come off oic, how do they avoid g gaining everything back?
- [49:02]
B
That's why having both and not either approach, like, let's focus on lifestyle. It's making sure you're focusing on where's your protein? Are you at at least 100 grams of protein a day? Most people don't know because we're not using grams. Like, I don't. I don't even know. This is what I do for a living. I can ballpark it, but we all should be checking in at least periodically. Not to become obsessive, but checking in. What does My meals as medicine, what's my breakfast, lunch and dinner constitute as far as like, am I eating enough foods, especially on this GLP1, am I at a consistent significant caloric deficit, which isn't going to be good if you're not eating enough food and nourishing your body. A slight caloric deficit is one thing, but we're talking about starvation mode for many of these people that look a gaunt like skeletor. And are we focusing on phytonutrients and all the vitamins, minerals that we need to get from our food? You're going to look emaciated, you're going to look so sickly if you're doing this months, years on end. So I think that, and an interesting phenomenon that I see people reaching out to me about is how these GLP1s are not just decreasing food noise, but decreasing the craving for love and relationship. Like it's, they're saying to me it's wrecking their marriage.
- [50:17]
A
It's flattening emotions.
- [50:18]
B
Flattening emotions? Yeah, it's like, and I'm not saying it's causing all these problems in people's romantic relationships and marriages, but I'm saying there may have been cracks before, but then when you don't have dopamine signaling the way they used to, you don't have these reward centers. What's the long term effect of shutting down these pathways too aggressively? So that's, it's not the way that, that we're meant to be where it's about balance. Again, homeostasis. We're just overdoing something that could be a great tool.
- [50:45]
A
When somebody is morbidly obese and they're curious and wanting to talk to you about GLP1s, but they're also concerned, you know, stomach paralysis and blindness, all these really crazy, disturbing side effects that are coming out about GLP1s. How do you navigate that? Like, because there's obviously super serious risks also of being morbidly obese. So how do you like pick and choose your risk factors here and like which route to go?
- [51:06]
B
I would say what's the most effective option that causes the least amount of side effects? So many people aren't going to even need to go down the GLP1 route. If they're really focusing on food and weightlifting and moving your body and picking up heavy stuff with good form and sweating and getting out in nature. It's like, that's what America needs. It's actually the medicine cabinet I would like America to be leaning into. But there's a lot of people because of the mad fallen world that we live in. They are doing all the things but they are stuck at a plateau. And those are the people where I feel like the peptides can really come in and take them past that they're spinning their wheels because we have to look at what modernity crazy things like microplastics and forever chemicals and herbicides and pesticides. What have they done done to the human gut? What have they done to the human microbiome? So the idea pragmatically, because of this crazy world we live in that some people make, because where's the body make GLP1? It's in the, in the gut if your gut's healthy. And that's why supporting gut health so profoundly important so your body can naturally endogenously make the GLP one that God wants it, you know, that God created in the first place. That's where we want to go get gold. But what if you've been working on your gut health for years and years and years and is there a good argument to say because of the world we live in, their gut's never going to be 100%. So the idea that a microdosed, pragmatic, judicious, conservative dose of GLP1 could be a tool within their toolbox. I think we should not be shaming these people that are having discernment for how to use these peptides appropriately.
- [52:49]
A
I love when people say I don't take creatine because I'm not trying to look like the rock. Really, neither am I. By that logic, I shouldn't drink water because I'm not trying to become a whale. People hear the word creatine and then they start picturing some guy named Blade screaming at a squat rack while dry scooping pre workout and punching drywall. Meanwhile, there's actually a ton of research looking at creatine not just for physical performance, but for cognitive function and mood too. At this point, I'm interested in anything that helps me remember why I walked into the kitchen. That's why I started taking pure creatine. Creatine plus. What caught my attention is that they combine 5 grams of creatine monohydrate with 400 milligrams of taurine in every serving. Both support energy during high intensity workouts. And there's exciting research looking at their role in supporting cognitive performance and mental clarity too. But honestly, the biggest reason I trust them is that Pury for Creatine publishes the third party testing results for every single batch looking for heavy metals or anything else weird that you want to avoid. Just scan the QR code on the back and you can see exactly what's in your product. They're also the only supplement brand with the Clean Label Project Transparency certificate, meaning every batch is independently tested and the results are published online. Use code alex@pury.com that's P O R I pury.com code alex to get 32% off your first order. When you start a subscription, that's more than $23 in savings. That's Pury P O R I.com use code ALEX at checkout for this exclusive offer, I have to tell you something that I wish I didn't know. Apparently, your socks can be toxic. I'm sorry. And I'm not talking about stinky feet patrol. That's also toxic. I'm talking about materials that your socks are made out of. I already have trust issues with airports, seed oils, and people who clap when the plane lands. Now I have to interrogate my socks. But seriously, when Melita, the founder of Q for Quinn, was trying to find socks for her son who had eczema, she discovered that a lot of socks and underwear can contain things like BPAs, phthalates, and other chemicals that you do not want hanging around your most absorbent body parts. You know, we absorb baton through our feet. How is this real life? You're thinking they're socks. They're just supposed to sock, right? Well, that's what happened. Melita started Q for Quinn. She made socks and undergarments from organic cotton and marino wool that are GOTS certified. This is the cleanest, highest standard of organic textiles. They're clean, they're ridiculously comfortable, and they're even a favorite for kids with sensitive skin or sensory issues. Back to school. Shopping is already financially and emotionally violent enough. Don't buy mystery chemical socks. Right now. Q for Quinn is having their biggest kids back to basic sale. You can get up to 30% off and an extra 10% off with code ALEX. Just go to qforquin.com use code ALEX. Your kids deserve better than radioactive ankle socks and underwear. What is the biggest mistake that we're making that's creating the next generation of chronic illness.
- [55:39]
B
Look, I think we could go macro or micro with this. I think that the larger hubris of humanity, which is as a tale as old as time. I mean, going back to the Tower of Babel and the Garden of Eden itself, it's when humans pretend to be God, there's consequences. I think that that is. Think about that's happening on a governmental multinational corporation level so arrogant that we can tinker with pathogens, gain a function labs around the world, we don't even know the pathogens. That's a massive recipe for a disaster, for another pandemic, God forbid. So I think that's a ticking time bomb of even the people that are, you know, they're saying a matter of, not a matter of if, but when something like that happens, that, that kind of keeps me up at night again, not living in fear, but just thinking we haven't fixed this, we haven't fixed this larger gain of function problem, but we can't control all that as individuals. So how can we take back our sovereignty on a micro level as an individual citizen of saying, you know, I can't control what these crazy world leaders, these crazy people in other countries do, but how can I can have agency on my breakfast, lunch and dinner. I can have agency on the products that I'm supporting and that I'm bringing into my, my life and how can I build resilience for my fam myself and my family? So if the things do hit the fan, we're going to be okay. So I would say having not relying and outsourcing your sovereignty to the government and multinational corporations, I, I think it's one of the biggest.
- [57:12]
A
I just heard an eagle screech because
- [57:16]
B
many people even like we talked about on my pod, like even the well meaning freedom loving American, they still have this indoctrination of thinking well yeah this outside of you, they're going to have my best interest. That's not necessarily the case.
- [57:34]
A
Right.
- [57:35]
B
I forget what we were talking about specifically in that circumstance. Oh it was the podcast with the pastors of saying that like people, Christians shouldn't even be looking at food. Right. And we should just be like we should just be focusing on faith. We're lying to ourselves and that this isn't about being obsessive. This is about just what can we do today to love my body back and be a good steward?
- [57:57]
A
What is one thing that every family could start doing tomorrow that costs nothing and will dramatically improve their health?
- [58:03]
B
Take your shoes, shoes off and get out in nature. Put your feet in some GR in the ground. Even if you live in an urban touch grass, baby, literally get out. Even if you have like at my telehealth clinic I have one little measly's patch of grass. It's kind of an urban area and we have one little sad tree. Put your feet on that in that one little patch of grass. If you live in an urban area, find that. And if you live in a woods wood area, you can spray yourself with some natural tick repellent, put some something on, do a tick check afterwards like we've been talking about. But I would say that's something we're so divorced from nature medicine. It's one of the most healing things we can have. I posted the other day and it got people thinking, is that even just hearing birds chirping, bird song outside that birds chirp not like attack chirping, but you know what I mean, the defense chirping, but a happy bird bird chirp. Birds only do that when they feel safe. So there's something somatic that tells us that we're safe too. And the frequency of medicine not to sound too woo woo, but there's a lot of research coming out of Japan and South Korea. When you look at Shinmin Yoku, which translates from Japanese to English as forest bathing, literally taking in nature with all of your senses.
- [59:20]
A
Oh yeah. Vance is so big on forest bathing, he's like, let's go for a walk in forest bathing.
- [59:26]
B
It's the birds, the frequency medicine, the birds. And this is all God's medicine cabinet for us. From the plants that are grown in the soil to the phytosanides, these essential oil compounds that researchers are looking at has a modulating effect on our own microbiome breathing in the biome of God's creation. Actually there's studies that show that actually shifts our gut microbiome by breathing in and putting our hands in and playing in the dirt, getting out in nature. We're a part of this.
- [59:53]
A
What is the name of your podcast?
- [59:55]
B
It's called the Art of Being well
- [59:56]
A
because you interviewed me on there. And we get into Charlie Kirk's assassination, the recent hearings on that case, my engagement, as well as just like all of the drama in the past year of all the pesticide stuff I've been speaking out about. So it's a really good episode you guys need to check out. Plus you just have a great podcast in general. One of my favorite health and wellness podcasts. So listen to that. How can people work with you as their doctor?
- [60:21]
B
Thank you all. I recently merged. Everything's@drwillcole.com by the way. Dr. Willcole.com but I merged my telehealth with the Health Institute, which is helping people worldwide. A mutual friend of ours, Dr. Josh Axe, and actually Dr. Austin Lake is a part of the team now too.
- [60:40]
A
Oh, cool.
- [60:41]
B
And Dr. Chris Motley, so good friends of mine, colleagues of mine that are kind of coming together like functional medicine avengers to help people. So everything's@drwillcole.com or just Google the Health Institute. Dr. Josh Axe and I have a book called Heal youl Cells. It's based off of this Stanford study. Out of 20 recent one actually just a few weeks ago in 2026, one in five adults have one organ aging significantly faster than other organs. And if you're interested in health span and longevity, but done in a. In a way that's accessible and filled with grace and compassion, not the sort of sterile biohacker energy. But just how can we take back and take care of this temple that God gave us? So it's work. So we know from the recent research research that Americans are aging faster than ever. We. There's another 2026 study, it was in nature medicine, I think found that people in born in the 90s are aging significantly faster than people that born in the 60s at the same age. We know this intuitively. We know there's something off. It's we're living again in this brave new world. But it's not just one thing. But in the book, Dr. Axe and I really show how. How you can find out what. There's different longevity tests, but even just we adapted some of the data into assessments that people can take for themselves in the book to kind of see how are my organs aging? Maybe it's the brain for one person and they have brain fog or fatigue. These are check engine lights. Your bodies do not normalize this stuff. For maybe for some people it's the digestive problem, maybe their digestion that the digestive system is aging faster than the rest of their body. But how do we start to. To arrest that comment? Reverse it. Reversing biological age. It could be something as vain as the skin. Like is the skin the check engine light for some people I'm like, I'm aging too fast. Well, maybe that's that system that's aging faster than it should. So I'm really excited about it. It's called heal your cells. It's reversing the irreversible. All the chronic illness things that we talked about. Lyme Alpha, Gal, autoimmune issues. We talk about it in the book.
- [62:50]
A
Okay. And it's out now.
- [62:51]
B
It comes out September 8th. Yeah, pre order now. We have lots of. Dr. Axe and I are having teaching classes for everybody pre orders. So just go to drwilco.com go to books, heal yourselves, go to Amazon, support local booksellers.
- [63:07]
A
If you could offer one remedy to heal a sick culture, physically, emotionally or spiritually, what would it be?
- [63:12]
B
We need to recalibrate our why. We need to recalibrate our why back to humans pretending to be God. I really just keep coming back to that. I think a lot of our problems with be fixed if we just remembered our place in the universe. So I oftentimes will take pictures of sunsets or when I'm traveling like a pretty sort of nature, something from God's creation and I call it God art. I think we need to just take in the majesty of our surroundings a lot more. And I think that recalibrates something on a somatic primal level of just remembering. It's not all about us. Let's keep the small things small. Remember who we are and whose we are. These are important things, certain things. There's something divine and sacred that recalibrates and heals a sick culture. And then I would say not just getting out in nature, but actually getting your relationship with God. Right. And I think that's not just going to church. We know there's lots of people that do that, that they're eating like junk and living like the world. But I'm saying to truly remember, like get a practice to. To connect with God and allow the Holy Spirit to really teach. Teach you all the. Because I see so many people kept back from living the life that God was create. That God created them for I know they. They are. When you're fatigued, dysregulated and inflamed, you are not able to do the things that God has called that God. God has called you to.
- [64:32]
A
So whether this is my dad, this. My dad was a Christian, but he did not. I mean just letting his health go and all the problems he had and everything which I believe was totally diet and lifestyle induced. Like know. Was he believer? Yes. Do I believe I'll see him in heaven? Yes. But I also don't think that he was living out his life in the best way that I think God would have wanted him to because he was so sick and ill and tired and overweight and all the pro. All the problems he had.
- [64:59]
B
Yeah, like you said, this isn't like a eternity thing for people. But I would say yeah, it's what look I. With Heal Yourselves the book. I want people to. To enhance their health span and their lifespan to live a long healthy life that they can do the things that God's put on their heart. So this is an important thing. But life is so short even for the longest living Even if we improve someone's biological age and I get their labs looking amazing and they do all the longevity stuff that I'm talking about. What a blessing.
- [65:33]
A
102 years is nothing compared to eternity.
- [65:36]
B
My grandma just passed away and she said that. She said, I feel like I'm 40 in my body. And it went by like the Bible says, like vapor.
- [65:47]
A
Yep.
- [65:47]
B
It is here and gone before we know it. So this is about. Are we adding life to our years and not just years to our life?
- [65:56]
A
So good. So good. Always so great to have you, Dr. Wilco. I really recommend anybody go listen to our first episode that we did. I believe it was January of 2025 maybe.
- [66:07]
B
I think you're right.
- [66:08]
A
Yeah. That your first episod came out with us and it was excellent and everybody loved it. So if you loved this, you're like, wait, I don't want it to end. Go back and listen to that one too. Thanks for coming on Culture Apothecary.
- [66:16]
B
Thanks for having me.
- [66:20]
A
I've gotten so many messages from different people, you know, that are parents that are like, I don't know what to do about ticks. I'm nervous to let my kids play outside. I hope that you have some peace now about ticks and that. Yes. Is it something to take seriously? Of course do your tick checks like he said. But also, you can't just stop living life. Right? We've got to send our kids outside. There's more Ben benefits to playing outside than keeping them in. Even if we are afraid of Alpha Gal. So don't do that. New episodes come out every Monday and Thursday at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern, anywhere you get your podcast. Please leave us a five star review on Apple or Spotify to support the show. Let me know what year you started listening. This episode is crucial to share to every group chat that you're in and your Instagram story. This content is for informational purposes only and it's not intended to be taken as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional regarding any questions or decisions related to your health or medical care. I'm Alex Clark and this is Culture Apothecary.