← The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast
The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast
5 Simple Health Changes That Could Transform Your Life with Celebrity Dr. Will Cole
00:53:21
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A
So good, so good, so good.
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C
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D
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E
Are we killing ourselves with what we're eating?
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C
We are. And yeah, we are. We are. And that's the truth of it. I mean, the United States is 3 to 4% of the world's population, yet we have the most chronic disease and the shortest lifespan of all industrialized nations. We spend more in health care than any industrialized nation, yet we're the sickest for it. People that go to labs predominantly aren't the healthiest bunch of people. So there's a lot of people, especially women, that know something's off here and they go to their doctor. The labs will largely come back, quote, unquote normal, even though they know that this isn't normal. But what you're unintentionally telling that person is you're a lot like the other people that aren't thriving that we're comparing you to. And that's no way for you to find out how you can feel your best. So we're looking at optimal, not average in functional medicine. That's the functional range. Where's your body functioning the best? The way that God designed.
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A
How do we even begin to unpack what's going on inside our body? Where do you start?
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E
What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Ginger and Jeremy podcast.
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A
That was good, babe.
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E
Did you like that? I like that today we're talking about something that I think every single one of you will be able to relate to if you have a phone, if you ever get caught scrolling on the Internet. And it's the Subject of. Well, we're gonna go a lot of subjects, but anxiety around your health. There's so much on the Internet, it seems like the experts are telling you one thing now is gonna kill you. Then the next week you find out, no, no, no, you need more eggs. You know, eggs cause cancer. Then you're supposed to eat more eggs.
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C
There's so much information.
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A
Actually. Yeah, I think this is something that we've been talking about a lot because we wanted to get into the whole subject, talking about healthy eating, clean eating, like, leaning into that, but then also not living in fear. And so we have an amazing guest for you guys. You've seen him before, and we're super excited to have him on our podcast.
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E
Yeah. We have with us Dr. Will Cole. You may have read his books, you may have seen him go viral on the Internet, talking about gut health and inflammation and functional holistic living. So, Will, thanks for coming on the podcast.
- [03:13]
C
Thanks for having me. I need you guys as my hype man every day. Make me feel good about myself. Thanks for having me.
- [03:20]
E
Yeah, we're glad you're here. And we've been following your stuff online, and it's cool that we got connected, especially because. And we've talked about this, Ginger and I have on the podcast before, trying to get our heads around what is healthy living, how do we lead a healthy lifestyle, especially with kids health and with all the demands. But why don't we have you give us an introduction to who you are, what you're doing, what kind of medicine you're practicing for our audience who might not know you.
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C
Yeah. So I'm in functional medicine. I started the first functional medicine telehealth clinic over 16 years ago at this point. So I. We didn't even have the language of telehealth back then. I called it a virtual functional medicine practice because that was the best I could up.
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E
That's a cool name, though. Virtual functional health.
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C
Yeah, exactly. Well, I just. See, I live in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania, and a lot of people aren't there. So I had to figure out logistically, how do you get labs where somebody is across the world? Right. Or the protocol, whatever. Whatever that they needed to. For us to move the needle for them. So what I've. All the things I've done, the books, the podcast, all the things are a ripple effect of my love for my telehealth patients. And it's a sacred responsibility for me to figure out what's keeping them back. How can they live the life that they were created For. Because I see so many people, whether they have faith or not, but you see that this person that has the talents, that have these passions, that have these things that they want to do in their life, but they're fatigued or they have nervous system dysregulation, they have inflammation or gut issues just keeping them back, they're living small, they're canceling plans, they're saying no, not saying yes, because they're not thriving. So it is such a beautiful, awesome thing to see somebody, okay, what's keeping them back from really living the life they were created for? So if people don't know what functional medicine is, if break it down. The first thing was reinterpret labs using a thinner reference range. So everybody that's watching this or listening to this, they'll know when they get their lab. There's that number that they're being their, their number on that lab, that biomarker. And this reference range, that reference range that they're being compared to, are they in the range or out of the range, is based on a average of people who. The statistical Bell curve average of people who go to labs. People that go to labs predominantly aren't the healthiest bunch of people. So there's a lot of people, especially women, that know something's up here, my anxiety, my gut issues, my hormonal problems, whatever, and they go to their doctor. The labs will largely come back quote, unquote normal, even though they know this isn't normal and they're told, you're just depressed. Take this antidepressant, you're a new mom, you're just getting older. All these well intentioned reasons. How could you have symptoms despite these labs? But what you're unintentionally telling that person is you're a lot like the other people that aren't thriving that we're comparing you to. And that's no way for you to find out how you can feel your best. So we're looking at optimal, not average and functional medicine. That's the functional range. Where's your body functioning the best, the way that God designed. So there's a spectrum between health and health problems. And we're just kind of looking at where are you thriving at? The second thing, we run more comprehensive labs, so we're faced with a lot of chronic health issues, mental health issues, autoimmune problems, fertility issues. In our world today, it's not because of a pharmaceutical deficiency, it's not a lack of medications in our lives. We're actually the most medicated country in the world, yet we're the sickest despite it. And on anti medication, we're just asking the question, okay, what's the most effective option that causes the least amount of side effects and why do I have this problem in the first place? So maybe the medications are needed in the short term to get someone's head above water to. Some people are alive because of medications, but for most people, when you're dealing with chronic health issues or not thriving, we want to look at these root issues, whether it's gut health or hormonal health or nutrient deficiencies or environmental toxins. Microplastics. We started talking about microplastics because Jeremy's a microplastic expert.
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E
A lot of people don't know this about me, but I know a lot about microplastics. And here's the short of it. They're not good for you.
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C
They're not good.
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E
Yeah. They're not good for you.
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C
Yeah. PASTOR AND MICROPLASTIC EXPERT and then we're looking at mental, emotional, spiritual factors like chronic stress and unresolved trauma and how that's impacting stored in the body, dysregulating the body. So it's, it's this both and not either or approach. So we're using food as medicine, we're using natural medicines, we're using peptides and medications when needed and mind body practices when needed. That's in short, what functional medicine is and what I do.
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A
I love it. I think that there's so much there that I want to unpack because as a mom, it's interesting, like you kind of look at life based on how you were raised. And so even the way that maybe, you know, our family functioned and growing up, I remember we were, you know, more careful about some things. Even when we go to our, you know, infant appointments and things like that, we were like, not going to go the regular route that everybody else did. And we made certain choices then, like my family did. And so then when we had our own kids, we're talking about what is healthiest for them. And, and there is a push. I want to talk about this too, because you're talking about like this feeling of like something's off. I feel like you have that certain inkling intuition that, oh, I'm not feeling my best. I remember feeling so much better, you know, even a couple years ago. And as a parent, I remember going so many times into the pediatrician and I would say something about my baby, like, we have one of our little ones who has eczema and so this has been an ongoing thing and we've been talking about gut health. I went to a normal pediatrician and they said, oh maybe, you know, it's fine, the baby's fine, he's going to grow out of it. And then I was just thinking there has to be an answer. There has to be an answer like what is the root cause of his eczema? And so how do you, as, like, how would you recommend as an individual going into your, like you're looking at life and you're saying, okay, I have all these problems, these health issues, or my little one has this health issue and not just giving into the regular routine of taking more meds, getting a steroid cream, just fixing the topical issue, but like, how do we even begin to unpack what's going on inside our body? Where do you start?
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C
Yeah, it starts on both sides. On the clinical side, it's, for me it's a health history. It's really what are these proverbial stones that most likely to have something underneath it? So health history tells us what labs are the most appropriate. How can we really figure out what's causing the problem as an individual? That's the beautiful double edged sword of the time that we live in. Because it is this, I mean, Dr. Google, Dr. Chatgpt is a little scary, it's a blessing, but also can be a really endless vortex of conflicting information. As you guys started out the conversation, the show with. So I think it's informing yourself, empowering yourself, but knowing and having discernment on when to put the phone down and realize it's maybe not the next thing or doing or the next thing to buy or the next article to read or the next whatever to consume. Maybe it's just staying consistent with the things you know, because it's easy to get caught up in paralysis, paralysis of analysis and the, the doing and the consistency that whether it's you or your baby, to just stay consistent with these things, whether it's gut health, what are some simple things you can do on a daily basis that you can be consistent with? Because that's how you're going to see changes with these type of things and not getting overwhelmed with all the things because you don't have to know all the things. And that's when it's like sometimes the best thing to do is just to keep it consistent, keep it simple, know the when to put the phone down because stressing about healthy things isn't good for your health.
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A
We want to take a break from this episode to Tell you about Function
- [11:37]
E
Health as parents with young kids, Sleep is a huge part of our day or a lack of sleep. And one of the very cool things about Function Health is it will tell you if you're getting enough rest by the levels of inflammation. When you take your lab tests and send them to Function Health, the report will actually show you if you're getting the rest you need, which is wild. I didn't think blood tests would tell me if I'm sleep deprived or not.
- [12:07]
A
Yeah. It gives you all those results to know like exactly what's happening in your body. So you can pinpoint what you need to work on and you can boost the things that are missing. And it's just a great way to be proactive about your health.
- [12:20]
E
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- [13:20]
A
Oh yeah. And for the ladies out there, I mean, I'm postpartum right now and Nutrafol has been a big game changer. It's awesome. Especially like when your your hair is shedding a lot postpartum just to support the healthy regrowth of your hair.
- [13:36]
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- [14:22]
A
Now back to the episode. And I think that's brilliant because there's so much of that I feel myself even as a parent, there's so much new information coming out online, sitting there scrolling. I'm like, okay, I need to not be doing this. I need to remove this. I thought like a couple, you know, even boxes of like holy crackers. They were the kind that were super good, healthy, clean. Well then it's bought out by another company the next week and I'm like, oh no, now I have to throw those out and get a new kind. And it's just constant. But I think I want you to talk to that. Like, how do we not live in fear but take those baby steps to move forward? And what would you see, like as a good first step for a family who's wanting to start that process of looking into whole health? What things are most important to clear out of your house? What would you say are like the top couple things that you recommend?
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C
I love that. So first thing I would say you have to be educated and empowered. But we all have our own different bio individuality is a big part of functional medicine. We're all created differently. That's bio individuality on a body level like our gut microbiome, our genetics, our hormones, nutrient deficiencies, environmental things that we're exposed to, stress and trauma, all different. And that's where health history, we can kind of understand that. But it's also bio individual ability to receive information because you have some personalities, like the biohacker stereotype. They can watch all the podcasts, they can read all the books. It doesn't stress them out, it doesn't cause them anxiety. But then some people, it really does create a lot of stress and anxiety. So back to that discernment part of just knowing when to like less is more. And if it's edifying you, if it's building you up, if it's encouraging you, if it's motivating you to take action, that's going to love you back, then keep on doing it. But if it's not and it's self sabotaging, it's Creating this paralysis of analysis and let it go. So the intent of how you receive information is, is important. Cause that is not that it's gonna be perfect, but it's gonna inform the way that you eat, the habits that you do, the culture of your home. You don't want it to be this frenetic, hypervigilant anxiety thing. Cause you're taking something that could be really nourishing and such a positive thing. Healthy food, taking care of our bodies, all of these things are good, but it's bringing it in with this sort of anxious fight or flight response. So that's the first thought I have there. The second thing is, okay, what could the average American west, anybody out there could do? It does start with food. It doesn't have to be perfect. So there has to be a grace about this. There has to be a lightness around this. And it's not a list of do's or don'ts. Like you can't have that. Where we're bringing in this toxic diet culture. It's really saying, look, continuing to eat things or do things that don't love you back, it's like staying in a toxic relationship and wondering why you still don't feel good. Like avoiding things that don't love you back is a form of self respect. And focusing on the things that do nourish you, that do love you back is a form of self respect too. So that's the paradigm shift I want people to have. Because I think when you talk about food, there can be this level of dieting and this restriction and this list of do's or don'ts is arduous. That's not where I want this to be. I want people to come into this for the sake of how can I eat things and do things that love
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E
me back in America? Are we killing ourselves with what we're eating?
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C
We are. And yeah, we are. We are. And that's the truth of it. I mean, the United States is a few percentage 3 to 4% of the world's population, yet we have the most chronic disease and the shortest lifespan of all industrialized nations. We spend more on healthcare than any industrialized nation, yet we're the sickest for it. 93% of the United States, the UNC report, 93% of the United States has a massive metabolic problem. They're somewhere on that insulin resistance spectrum, type 2 diabetes and things like that. PCOS. 50 million Americans have an autoimmune condition. Things like endometriosis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, autoimmune thyroid problems, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis. Something's got to change. And there's a reason for that. Our genetics haven't changed in a long time, but yet our world has changed dramatically in such a short period of time, just a few generations. So it's, it's the food's the big part of that. It's not just about the foods. It's environmental things that we're exposed to, environmental toxins. Which part of that's the food? But it's the air, it's the water that we drink. It's all of that stuff something that you said or asked about, like what are the basic things people can do. I would say looking at what I would call the inflammatory core, four are the four food and four food ingredients that are most likely to disrupt the body, to drive inflammation levels in the body. There's all this context and nuance to all of this stuff. So it's not this broad sweeping statements where it's black or white, but. And there's bio individuality to this topic too because some people can have some of the stuff I'm about to say and be completely fine, some people can't. And we're having less wiggle room in our world today because of the amount of stuff were exposed to. So kids were. I mean even type 2 diabetes, it used to be called adult onset diabetes. Now so many kids, it's like 38%, 38% of teenagers, preteens and teenagers are pre diabetic. It's wild, the statistics. That's a USDA report.
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E
That's crazy.
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C
38%. And many people don't even know it because they're not even getting tested. This is just based on statistical averages. But the core four is if people could just look at does this food or food ingredient love me back or not? And continuing to have things that don't love me back. We have to take account of that. Of is this really rational? So again, it's not this sort of moral judgment where we're becoming legalistic and obsessive about it. This is just about a form of self respect and discernment of that. But gluten containing grains would be on the list. This is in no particular order guys. So don't come at me in the comments where it's like that should have been number one.
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E
But gluten containing grains.
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C
See all of this, I see through the lens of the way that God made things and the way that we like to do things today. And when mankind pretends to be God, there's oftentimes unintended consequences and sometimes intended consequences. But gluten, God made gluten. Biblical times, lots of talk of bread. So it's not that gluten, which is the protein in wheat, rye, barley, spelt, it's stored, well for famine so people could survive. But now we're feasting on a famine food. And then we have what we've done to it. We've hybridized it, we've bleached it, we've sprayed it with herbicides and pesticides. It's not soaked or sprouted or fermented or, you know, it is a shell of what it once was. So it's this, what they call an epigenetic genetic mismatch that our world has changed so much. Our microbiome, our gut health, our body hasn't changed. So I would look at gluten containing grains, wheat, rye, barley, spell. It can really impact the gut and drive inflammation in many people. Some people can have these better for you versions of it. If it's like a soaked, sprouted sourdough bread, maybe it's fine for some people. But some people still have a problem with that.
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A
We want to take a break from this episode to tell you about COVID
- [21:57]
E
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- [22:21]
A
Oh, yeah. I remember once being at home and our neighbor's house got broken into next door and it freaked me out. And after that, we got a home security system immediately because it matters.
- [22:33]
E
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- [23:06]
A
We want to take a break from this episode to tell you about Pocket Hose.
- [23:09]
E
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A
Incredible.
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E
All my homeowners out there can give a little round of applause.
- [23:23]
A
Oh, yes.
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E
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A
It is. I think it's actually going to be your new best friend.
- [24:02]
C
Yeah.
- [24:03]
E
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A
Now back to the episode.
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C
The second thing would be industrial seed oils, which is a little bit more controversial, but things like canola oil, vegetable oil, soybean oil, it's in a lot of ultra processed foods. So is it the oil or is it the over the consumption of ultra processed foods? I think it's a bit of both. These oils are high in omega 6s which are pro inflammatory. So we want to do things that lower inflammation. We don't have enough long chain omega 3s from things like fish and we're over consuming these omega 6. So those polyunsaturated fatty acid ratios are important for inflammation. So looking at that seed oils. Third would be conventional dairy. Again, in old ancient times it was fine, but we've crossbred cows. Most cows are beta A1 casein, which is the dairy protein. And, and that's why you see a lot of a 2 milks and a 2 dairies cropping up. Because it's what, it's the OG casein. It's what God made. But we've done a lot in modern farming over the generations and it's our body, it's a mismatch. Our body's like, what the heck is this? And then fourth would be added sugar, which most people know that. But even the Nicer sounding euphemisms for sugar. Like look at the grams of added sugar you're consuming. People especially parents would be shocked if they look become label literate on the labels. I would say simple things would be just to decrease those and not just focus on things you can't have, but focusing on nutrient dense foods that love you back.
- [26:04]
E
Okay, I've got a couple questions but can you summarize that in like 30 seconds? Those four, four warnings, what do we need to stay away from so or
- [26:14]
C
find better versions of it? So gluten containing grains, find better versions of it or just go off of it. Number two would be industrial seed oils. Better versions or go off of it. Dairy would be better versions or go off of it. And I would say for most people, better versions is the answer there. You don't have to go off of it. And then fourth would be added sugar, not in its whole food form like fruit. It's wonderful. No one's become diabetic from fruit now. We've done a lot to the fruit as well to increase the sugar. But yeah, so if people decrease that the world would be a healthier place.
- [26:47]
E
So am I doing this right, Will, where I look at a can of kombucha or coconut water and I turn it around and it says 16 grams of sugar or 32 grams of sugar. I just don't touch it.
- [26:59]
C
Yeah.
- [27:00]
E
Is that realistic or am I being too harsh on the sugar?
- [27:04]
C
That's a good rule of thumb. There's. And look with things like kombucha, these fermented foods like the kefirs or the kefirs, the kombuchas, the, they need sugar to, for the bacteria to consume it. So the tartar the better would be my rule of thumb for something like kombucha or any fermented drink because that's going to be. Those bacteria are going to eat that sugar and it's going to be more tart, it's going to be more sour. It's going to be this sort of fermented drink that you're going to want. So yeah, that's a lot of added sugar. And a lot of times these kombucha kefir companies, they will add extra sugar on top of the fermentation because people like sweet stuff and it sells better. But yeah, we need to become label literate with ingredients as a whole. But specifically added sugar is a major one, especially for parents, but for all of us.
- [27:54]
A
Yeah, that's so helpful. Yeah. I have another question for you because you touched on this just for a second a minute ago, and you were talking about how we can often just want this. You don't stick with something long enough to figure out if it's working. That's been the case even for me, with one of my little ones who was upset when I even had dairy. And I was nursing. And the pediatrician, I went to a holistic pediatrician, and they told me, you need to actually be off of it for a longer period of time to see any effect. And I think I kind of want to hear your thoughts on that because I think we live in such a world where it's, like, really easy for us to just want a fix. So they're like, take an antibiotic right now. And like, one of my kids had an ear infection. And so I texted my friend who's into all the holistic stuff, and I was like, what do I do? Because I was not wanting to have to do an antibiotic. And she was like, oh, yeah, these ear drops, well, they worked like a charm. It was amazing. And we have been fine since then. And so I want to ask you about that, though. Like, what do you see is that problem? Like, there's a disconnect. We want this immediate gratification. And how long have you seen people continuing in the process of functional health when you've told them, like, hey, cut out dairy, cut out gluten, do you cut out everything at once? Are these elimination diets? Is that the answer? Do everything at once, slowly add stuff back in? Or do you say, like, just focus
- [29:22]
C
on one thing, the elimination diet. There's many ways to do an elimination diet. It's one way from a nutrition standpoint, when you're talking about food sensitivities, does this food or food ingredient love me back or not? Does it love my body back or not? That is a gold standard way still in nutrition to do it. But you're right, a few days isn't gonna be good enough to kind of calm things down. But the reintroduction, just as important as the elimination cause. You wanna see does it love me? Doesn't it? So at the very least, I wrote a book a few years ago called the Inflammation Spectrum that kind of walks through this. They can kind of. I adapted that book. I adapted a quiz that I adapted from questions that I ask telehealth patients on an initial consult. So you can kind of learn, okay, how's my body working? And what system should I focus on? So at the very least four weeks, we'd be in elimination diet, and Kids are so resilient generally. Right. So they can generally do less to then work on reintroduction. So I'd say four weeks is a good place to start for most people, especially kids, but it certainly can be longer. What I mean by that is at least four weeks of removing these things. And I would remove them all at the same time and then reintroduce them one at a time, space them out. You're mitigating variables as much as you can to be your own. And of one experiment, like, does this thing love me back or not? But yeah, consistency is key. And that's. You're right. Our culture is this quick fix, Amazon prime culture. It's mass consumption consumerism.
- [30:58]
E
But it's not only just quick fix, it's also what's getting us into the problem because we just need a quick meal. We just. Mel Gibson has been spending time in Italy and I saw a video of him talking about the food there and he said, man, I eat pasta all day. I'm not tired, I'm not bloated, I'm not gaining weight. The ingredients are more pure. And I think, would you say it's like the economy is driving companies to produce more food faster, quicker, easier access for cheaper. That's kind of burrowing us into this hole of like, I just need a meal. I'm not really thinking about what's in it. I just need to eat. I'm on the go. Our whole culture is kind of like that.
- [31:41]
C
We have allowed largely multinational corporations, really what it comes down to, to basically call the shots. I mean, they, they want as much freedom to mass produce these things as possible, whereas other countries have pushed back on things. And I'm conflicted in this. Right. Cause I, I'm all for personal responsibility. Like, the libertarian in me is like, well, I don't want to police everybody's personal decisions. But there's a certain point as, as a parent, as an average person, if you're not into health, it's like, how are you supposed to know what's right? Or it's not transparent on the label. Like, this has glyphosate and it may cause problems for you. So I do think we need to have common sense transparency, common sense regulations around these things. Which what's coming up to right now on the sort of legal shields are on glyphosate, which is the herbicide that's in Roundup, but it's in a lot of our seeds, it's in a lot of our soil, it's in our system. Already it's in the water consuming. I run environmental toxin tests. It is shocking to me how many people have trace amounts to higher levels of herbicides and pesticides and microplastics and forever chemicals coming out of their body. These things are linked to fertility issues and autoimmune problems and digestive problems and hormonal problems. So, yeah, it is. I forget your. Yeah. So why is it the fact that it's within our food system and other countries have said, hey, no, we're not gonna be able to. We're not gonna have these things in such high amounts now, sadly, it's changing. Like these sort of cultures that have historically not had these environmental toxins in there have gone the way of the United States over time. So that's becoming less and less of a stark difference. But still it's happening. I have many telepathians who go on vacation are fine in other parts of the world because it's just not as rampant there. It's not one thing I'm not saying it's just environmental toxins. We're also less stressed on vacation. So it could be that. Are you walking more? I think it's multifactorial, but it's. All of these things need to be looked at.
- [33:46]
E
Can I ask, and maybe this is overly simplistic. Maybe this is part of the problem of the Internet, right? Of trying to overly simplify things or paint with a broad brush. But what are some trusted places people can buy food and not feel like they've gotta read every label of everything? Because every shopping trip can't be four hours long. Like, are there places where you go, yeah, run to Whole Foods and stay away from this store? Like, can it be that simple? Or no?
- [34:16]
C
I think there's not one store per se, but I would say the Environmental Working Group, the ewg, is a good resource for produce, which I'm sure you've heard. They've. Every year they update the clean 15 and the dirty Dozen list, which are the produce that are most likely to have pesticides. It's the Dirty Dozen. So go for organic or wash it really well for that. And the Clean 15, you can buy conventional and not go organic and maybe save some money. From a budget standpoint, there's something like Whole Foods is bought out by Amazon. They've compromised in some ways. So it depends on how specific you want to be. We shop at Whole Foods and we are just. We have that label literacy, but we're more pragmatic and we're not as, like, strict. Everything has to be, as, you know, this maniacal energy, which, again, that stress around healthy foods isn't good for our health either. So you do have to do the best you can with what's within your budget and give the rest to God, because stressing about this stuff isn't good. So Whole Foods is decent. Better than the average Thrive Market. Online is a decent option, too. And Nick and the whole team there at Thrive Market have done a lot to vet things for you. I mean, there's. I mean, look, if you live in a big city, like you guys live out here in Los Angeles, you can go to the bougie places like Erewhon and. But most people.
- [35:40]
E
I'm not paying $30 for an ice cube wheel, so we saw 200.
- [35:44]
C
How much was it? 200.
- [35:47]
E
He's pointing to his wife.
- [35:47]
C
Yeah, Amber's off camera. My wife is off camera. Over $100 for strawberries. I mean, but it's like these rare Japanese strawberries. Who the heck buys those type of strawberries? I don't. But look, if you have the budget and you want to shop at those really fancy places, you can. It's not realistic for most Americans, but you can go to Aldi, you can go to Costco, you can go to even Walmart and really do the. There's so many options there. Some of the biggest sources of organic produce are Walmart and Aldi.
- [36:17]
A
So you.
- [36:17]
C
That's where most. You know, where I'm from, a small town, we would shop at, and you can do just fine.
- [36:23]
E
I thought Trader Joe's was the spot. It seems so organic. He's a Joe's, a trader. You walk in, there's flowers, and we have these like $5 meals like rice and chicken. You heat it up.
- [36:36]
A
Half of them have seed oils in it.
- [36:38]
C
No, but I thought we were doing so good.
- [36:39]
E
And then of course, we watched an Instagram reel, and it's like Trader Joe's is the most unhealthy place. And I was like, you gotta be kidding me.
- [36:45]
C
I wouldn't call it the most unhealthy, but you're right, they're good for branding. That's why you have to look past the branding, because it's tough to look past the branding, because the branding can be good. And they look. It looks crunchy. It's Trader Joe's. But yeah, they have good stuff there. You just have to have, again, clarity on, become label literate. Just because it's at Trader Joe's doesn't mean it's automatically healthy. Just because it's a whole foods doesn't mean it's automatically healthy. So you want to just be savvy from a consumer standpoint. But I have many friends, people we go to church with that shop exclusively at Aldi and Costco and eat just fine. So you don't have to be wealthy to be healthy.
- [37:20]
A
And I do have a couple questions about that because our kiddos, we've had a couple different kinds of kids. Some come out and they only want veggies. Some gravitate towards, I want to just eat fruit all the time. And it's harder because we're like, no, you're going to eat what you're served. So we're all eating together, you know, for. Especially for dinner. Sometimes breakfast and lunch is hit or miss with who's eating when. But is that something you see that's kind of lost is the culture of like eating together and teaching kids what to eat by eating family meals?
- [37:54]
C
100%. I mean, I think that that's that culture. And as a dad of two kids, as teenagers, and this is what I do for a living, it's like I wish I could have done a lot differently. So as a parent, it's easy to beat yourself up. And I want people to give themselves grace around this because people live bus. But you have to be intentional. If I could go back and do it again, I would be more intentional with that because it does, it does. And it's like the cliche, the days are long but the years are short, you know, and we're just doing the best we can as parents. But the best of your ability to be intentional with sitting around and educating, not just for dinner time or mealtime, but in the kitchen and food prep. I saw one telehealth patient years ago and I still remember it. He thought that French fries came from McDonald's, not potatoes. He had no idea it was a whole food. At one point he thought, he thought it was just came up as fries. Like it was some man made thing.
- [38:54]
E
That's really funny.
- [38:55]
C
It's a little sad, but we don't know where our food comes from. Yeah, so like garden and take them to the grocery store, get them in the kitchen, get them involved.
- [39:04]
E
Doc, is it frustrating for you? Can I call you Doc?
- [39:06]
A
Oh, he just, he's waiting for that moment.
- [39:09]
E
So Doc names. So this is okay. Try to follow me here. I don't want to get too theological on this puppy, but one of my favorite preachers, Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones, he was at the turn of the century in England Welsh, but went to England, studied at Arts. I did. On the phone.
- [39:27]
C
Yes.
- [39:28]
E
And what he realized was he was dealing with maladies in people's bodies that were caused by their souls. Like, it was like decisions in life. And so he was trying to prescribe them medicines and trying to get them healthy and realizing they need a heart change, not like a heart transplant, like a physical one. They need to change their life. And he became a preacher because he said the root issue is the gospel. Has it been frustrating for you at times where you have thousands of patients and they're coming to you for help and you're seeing the root issue here in your life is so much deeper than shopping at Erewhon, Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. And then how have you addressed that as a doctor? Because like you said, the issue with our healthcare system is here's a pill. But you're getting deeper and you're leading the way. I mean, you're the OG of functional health leading the way in holistic life transformation. How do you help a person see that? I can't just slap a band aid on this problem.
- [40:41]
C
Yeah, I'm glad you asked that. I'm glad we're going there. We start every morning, every day for the past 16 years. We start our day off going over the patient cases for the day. Just logistically of the labs are coming in and a team's on the same page. So that's. That's important. So we're all. We're not like, we're all united as a team. But then we pray over the schedule. And we know that these people are coming to us for oftentimes pretty heavy things, even if they don't know it, but oftentimes they know it, and we want to be of service for them. And it's. We know this is a spiritual thing for people, whether they realize it or not, there's a spiritual component. If not, it's the entire component. Because actually, people's worthiness informs the foods that they eat. If they know who they are. If they know who they are, it informs a lot of things about their life. So it's a massive part of it. We have every telehealth patient, when initial intake, fill out what's called an ACE score. It stands for adverse childhood experiences or events. And it's looking at very heavy things like physical abuse, growing up, sexual abuse, growing up, neglect, growing up, substance abuse in the home, growing up. An ace score of 4 has about 15 times the chance of being diagnosed with an autoimmune problem. Hormonal problem, metabolic issue, obviously, mental health issue. So that an ACE to get four is not that much. And that's just childhood, let alone what they went through in their relationships as an adult or whatever seasons of life they were going through. So these are hard, complex, not easy conversations to have. But I just, it's just part of my. I've been doing it for so long. We just need to go there. And honestly, like I. Before we even implement protocols, oftentimes there's crying on that initial telehealth consult because it is this kind of cathartic release they didn't even know of, connecting the dots of, oh, when I went through that in my life, that's when these symptoms started happening right after that. And they didn't really realize it until we started having this bigger conversation around it. So it absolutely, we have to look like you can, like you said, eat the best foods under the sun, but what are we feeding our head and our heart on a daily basis? That's a lot more nebulous and nonlinear and complex. But we need to have clarity on this because what we're consuming on social media, or is it ruminating thoughts from our past that's living in our body, that's dysregulating our health? But these are. It's more prescriptive and linear for me to say don't eat these foods, take these supplements, do these peptides. It's more straightforward. It's a lot more complex to say, like, and impossible to say. Don't have those. Don't have that trauma. Just stop it. Don't have those. Don't have that stress. Then they stress about not stressing. It's like, but these are big things that we need to implement. So look, it could be as simple as asking the person on that telehealth consult, say, can we pray for you? Can we pray together? And we'll do that if they're open to it. Or it could be, and. Or it's going to be, let's get into emdr, like an eye movement type of therapy. Maybe it's a somatic practice, maybe it's breath work. It's going to be something that is going to metabolize the stored trauma in the body. Just like you would help support detox pathways for an environmental toxin. So a both and not either or approach is how we will heal as a culture and not separating spiritual health from physical health. Spiritual health is physical health. It's one and the same. Because it is. We're all one being and one Informs the other.
- [44:27]
E
A question I had about blood work because you begin with blood work like that's the ground floor. Right. Why is blood work so important to understanding how genuinely healthy or unhealthy you are?
- [44:41]
C
Yeah, look, because there's people that do know intuitively, like we talked about earlier, something's off and they need to get clarity. And blood work will be especially if you look at the functional range or the optimal, not average of. And we're talking about conventional labs here. It's the conventional labs. Blood tests can tell us a lot, but we have to look at the that optimal, not average. Where is the body functioning the best? So that's going to be that tighter interval within that larger reference range. So that tells us a lot of where the body's at. And it's not just the interpretation of the labs, but it's running comprehensive enough biomarkers not being excessive, but being comprehensive with looking at the appropriate biomarkers. So a health history would inform what biomarkers would be the most appropriate for the person. But it's hugely insightful and. But then you look especially for. And this is a lot of actually guys, especially as we all age, I think it's statistic are like the majority of guys that have cardiovascular issues. Their first symptom, quote unquote is death. Which is like it's. My dad was one of them. I mean he had was quote unquote fine. You hear so many people talk about their dads like this or someone they knew. He was fine. He was the picture of health and then he dropped over dead. Well, was he really the picture of health or was he not looking at these biomarkers? Was he not getting appropriate tests to be proactive? And he just thought, well, because I could go to work because I could do my life, I was quote unquote fine. But this again, not to put fear into people, but just to be empowered because you have to know what you're dealing with to do something about it. And this is about being proactive, not obsessive. And basic labs can help you be preventative and proactive. Say, yeah, this thing isn't good, let's do something about it now and not wait for that quote unquote symptom because it may be too late at that point. Now that's a dramatic example from a cardiovascular standpoint. A lot of men, it is an issue and we need to empower guys to not stick their head in the sand and go get labs and. But for everybody to just run appropriate tests and be proactive and that's the blessing of the time that we do live in, where there's more democratization, I think of good information, which again can be a double edged sword. We know when maybe it's not running more labs, maybe it's just doing something about it. But because I do see people like hoarding labs, basically they have a pile of labs, but they're not like action, they're not doing something about it. So labs are important, but doing something about it is actually more important. And there's a time and place for labs and the time and place for just being consistent.
- [47:23]
A
I like that. Putting down your phone sometimes. Stop saving the reels. Go get your labs done now. Then get with a functional health doctor, figure out what to do about it. I like that. And I think especially, I mean, I can, I can fall into that, save all the reels. I probably have like, you know, 300 of your reels saved waiting to act on something. So.
- [47:43]
E
So how do they act on it? How do they, what do they do? If you're looking at our listeners right now and saying, you know, they've heard what you're saying, it resonates with them. What do they do?
- [47:54]
C
Well, they could reach out to us. I mean, we help people all around the world. They can go to drwillcool.com there's lots of free resources. And that's the thing too. It's like, yeah, we're there for them if they want at labs, we're there for them if they want that clinical expertise. But actually most of the stuff I put out in the world is free or low cost. So they can actually just do it on their own. And that's the blessing with things like books, podcasts, or articles where it's like, I hear people. We just came back from a Disney cruise. I need to get you guys on the Disney cruise.
- [48:26]
E
Tip.
- [48:27]
C
I saw you guys went to Disneyland recently.
- [48:28]
E
Yeah, we did.
- [48:29]
A
It was so fun.
- [48:30]
C
Okay, we need to share notes.
- [48:31]
A
I gotta hear all about it.
- [48:33]
C
But came back and this lady came up to me on this ship. She said, I was going to bring one of your books with me on the ship, but she said, it's a Disney cruise and I have four kids. And she's like, when is a mom going to read on a Disney cruise? So she's like, I didn't bring it, but I'm kicking myself because I wanted you to sign it. She said, but I listened to one of your podcast episodes about benzos, antidepressants and weaning off and working with her doctor to wean off and the side effects of these medications. And she said it transformed her life as a clinician. First, it's still weird for me because with my patients, I know them, I care for them, I see their labs. I'm like part of the conversation in the process. It's a different phenomenon for me to just have a conversation like we're having right now and for somebody to do it on their own, which that's what I actually really like because it kind of removes any sort of excuse aspect of it. It's like, well, I can't afford the labs, I can't afford to eat better, I can't afford the doctor. Okay. There's a lot of pretty simple low cost or free things that people can do to start empower themselves. So I would say even just lean into the. I've written articles past 16 years, like thousands of articles I've written. Just do something like learn, learn. You know, it's like my Angelou quote, like, when you know better, you do better. So now people are going to hear this and not be able to go back to like a different way, at least I hope to that when they know better, they can do better.
- [50:01]
A
I like that. That's so, so helpful. Yeah, those little baby steps. Sometimes we don't even realize how big of a difference it makes. And even in our house, I feel like for so long I would buy scented stuff like candles and all that. And even if we're gifted a candle now, tell my friends I'm sorry, but I have a hard time hanging on to those. And so I'm like, oh no, what do I do? Because I'm torn. There's so much out there. There's so much that you're given, like cleaning products. We've switched to all healthier things. So we're taking all these baby steps and it feels insignificant sometimes because you don't know what the initial repercussion is going to be of that. If I keep those chemicals in my house, you don't see the effects immediately, always. But then making those little steps. I think what you're saying, just do something that's helpful because often we get overwhelmed by the amount of things that we should do and we can do. So I love your advice. I think that's so practical.
- [51:04]
C
Yeah, absolutely. I want everybody to just start small, be consistent with the small thing. If something's causing you too much anxiety and dread, then just scale back and be consistent with where you're at. And then as you feel better or as you become more confident in whether it starting with food or starting with swapping your cleaning products, then it'll be like second nature and intuitive and then you can move on to something else. People need to lean in, but taking it slow is actually the smart way to do it. Versus feel like I have to overhaul everything in my life overnight. It's not helpful. So yeah, starts with food, but you brought up a good point like starting to look at the cleaning products you're using in your home. It's a great way to start. It's easy and there's a lot of lower cost affordable things for people to do. It's not necessarily spending more money, it's just swapping instead of this sort of conventional cleaning product. So go through each one of your room of your home and then say, what am I using? What am I buying anyways? And then can I just swap it for something else?
- [52:08]
A
Love it.
- [52:09]
E
That's awesome. Dr. Will Cole, thank you for hanging out with us today.
- [52:12]
C
Thanks guys for having me.
- [52:13]
E
It is so, so insightful, so helpful. As we're on this journey wanting to be healthier, your resources have proven so helpful for us and it's great just to connect with you, connect with Amber and have you in the studio and I know our audience will be thankful for that. So thanks for hanging out.
- [52:29]
C
Thanks for having me, guys.
- [52:31]
E
Guys, thanks for sticking around. We will see you next week for another episode and you know, leave us a comment. Subscribe like it wherever you're listening and we will see you next week.
- [52:50]
D
Spring just slid into your DMs. Grab that boho. Look for that rooftop dinner, those sandals that can keep up with you and hang some string lights to give your patio a glow up. Spring's calling. Ross, work your magic.