The Ideal Anti-Inflammatory Diet with Stephen Cabral

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like Content is Profit. Today, we'll be breaking down the ideal anti-inflammatory diet. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Stephen Cabral into EO Fire Studios. Stephen is a board-certified doctor of naturopathy and specializes in helping people with chronic health conditions heal their bodies and go on to live the life they were destined for. And Fire Nation, today we'll be talking about what foods are inflammatory, what the ideal anti-inflammatory diet is.

0:37We'll talk about testing for inflammation and then we'll talk about how to optimize inflammation in our body and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to our sponsors. Business Made Simple, hosted by Donald Miller, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Business Made Simple takes the mystery out of growing your business with episodes like how to get out of your day-to-day operations without crashing your business. Listen to Business Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts. Dr. Stephen Cabral, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming healthy that most people disagree with.

1:19I appreciate you having me on. And one thing that I always say is that there is literally a different diet, exercise routine, sleep regimen, et cetera, for every individual. and that's why we must find out our own bio-individuality as to what works for us. I love this. And Fire Nation, just like I am a student of Dr. Cabral when it comes to all things health and wellness, Dr. Cabral's one I have most pride probably of all of my podcasting students and people who have learned from me because this is an individual that bucked the odds just like me and said, you know what? A daily show can be done.

1:59So if you have any desire to improve your health and wellness, to learn from who I consider the genius of our time in this area, The Cabral Concept is a daily podcast, and it is just so valuable. How many episodes are you up to now about? 2 ,600. Oh, I love that. I mean, you'll never catch me because I'm at 3 ,800, and I'm doing one a day. But I don't know. I guess maybe depending on longevity, you just might. Well, there was a moment in time when I think that you weren't doing daily, and I was like, oh, I might get John. And no, it didn't happen. Back at it. I'm back at it. I love it. Well, Fire Nation, as you heard in the introduction, we're talking about the ideal anti-inflammatory diet.

2:41And there's nobody better to talk about this with than Dr. Stephen Cabral, because the reality is we eat food every day. Of course, unless there's that rare time when you're fasting, we can talk about that a little bit too. But let's talk about what foods are inflammatory. Yes, when we're looking at inflammatory foods, we have to understand is that is probably on a daily basis where we get the majority of our inflammation from. And so before I give you that, if it's okay, I want to preface that with what inflammation is so just know where that might be coming from. Because we hear the word thrown around a lot.

3:15And it's not that it's not significant. It is. I mean, inflammation is literally one of the body's defense mechanisms. So it turns on because it's seen something foreign in the body, like a bacteria or virus. We'll talk about those in a moment. Or it turns on as some type of repair and recovery for damaged tissue, et cetera, from an injury, et cetera. And it ends up with a lot of the things that we kind of dismiss as just getting older, like brain fog or low energy, muscle weakness, poor sleep, poor digestion, low libido, low mood, anxiety, depression. And then one day we end up with a disease diagnosis that we blame on inflammation.

3:53But we want to understand that there's always an underlying root cause to inflammation because we know now that inflammation comes about as a defense mechanism in the body to protect us. I mean, that's really what it does. So if it's not an acute injury, is it over exercise, like just overdoing it? Is it environmental toxins like flame returns, pesticides, heavy metals, cleaning products, all sorts of those different artificial scents? Or it could be something like herpes virus or Epstein-Barr virus or Lyme disease or mold or gut issues like H. pylori and parasites and SIBO. Or we have our food sensitivities and our inflammatory foods that we really want to focus on today.

4:34because the truth is that those are things you're doing to your body every day that can either benefit you or drag you backwards in terms of health. Fire Nation, I hope you're as enthusiastic about this topic as I am because I can tell you, as somebody who experienced chronic inflammation, specifically chronic back pain for my entire 20s, I mean, basically a decade plus, this is so critical to leading a happier, healthier life because I didn't know what was going on and I didn't educate myself the correct way. I didn't know about Dr. Cabral and I am so sad about that. And so when I finally was given a diagnosis by a rheumatologist and started taking Humira, it literally was a wonder drug for me.

5:17I couldn't believe after 10 years of just daily pain, it essentially went away and it was like a wonder drug. But at the end of the day, there's so many negatives about that as well, about using something like Humira, whereas we can let our body heal naturally in the right way. And if I had just gone down that path from day one, like I never would have had the longevity of chronic pain that I had. I would have been able to identify what was causing inflammation, was keeping the inflammation around. And my 20s would have been a lot happier and frankly more successful in a lot of different ways.

5:52So let's talk about those foods that are inflammatory. Like what are the common culprits? I always like to make things as simple and straightforward as possible because sometimes when you give people 50 different things to worry about, they just get overwhelmed and then they don't take action. And the biggest thing that you can do are remove the most common food items that are causing a lot of those dis-ease states of the body or all the symptoms that I talked about, which again, for most people is just the wearing down of the body and life. You lack the driving, the ambition. You know what you're supposed to do, but you have the brain fog and you just need caffeine in order to get your body going.

6:31So what we do is we immediately try to remove the biggest culprits, which are the fried foods. And I'll just give you kind of a little bit of a background on these. So even though you could say, well, I'm frying them in healthy fats, I'm doing this, they are really heavy on the body. And for the most part, if you're eating fried foods, they're being fried in a higher omega 6 fat oil, like a vegetable-based oil or even things like peanut oils, et cetera. And they can be really damaging the body, creating a lot of oxidation and tissue breakdown, tissue destruction, which then turns on the inflammation from the immune system.

7:06Another big one is sugary beverages. So even if it's a sugar-free, artificially sweetened energy drink, whatever it might be, it's going to be inflammatory. The only ones that won't be are your teas, certain coffees that are more organic with no pesticides, no molds, things like that, and then just your plain water. Of course, your smoothies, things like that we'll talk about in a bit. Those are anti-inflammatory, but we really want to stay away and be careful of any of these beverages that are bright in color, like bright yellow. That just doesn't exist in nature in that way. Another is processed meats like bacon and salami.

7:43For the most part, those have always been some of the highest inflammatory and cancer-causing foods that we know of. Now, you can make an argument for grass-fed or pastured bacon and items like that. You can, but you're not going to find those out at your typical restaurant or out at a different place that you might be getting food. So I like to put that on the list as well. And then the last one I would say is, yes, your candies, your snacks like that, but also your refined flours. So what I share with private clients is that anything that comes in a box or a bag is suspect. If you can take out that item like crackers or cookies or chips and you can crush it in your hand and it turns to dust, it's basically an inflammatory food.

8:29It is something that's been enriched, most likely fried in some type of oil and very harmful for the body. Okay, like you said, you don't want to overwhelm people with just a ton of things. So we just talked about the main ones or the most common culprits, Fire Nation. So this is something that you can start going down that path to say, hey, is this making a difference in the way that I feel, in the way that I'm acting, in my mood, in my energy, et cetera. But let's also go to the other end of the spectrum, which is the anti-inflammatory foods. So the nice thing is that it's always about creating balance within the body.

9:06And so we're going to be able to enable you. So I always like people to do just a 21-day elimination. They will see remarkable results. And what we then have to do is we have to substitute then in some of these healthier anti-inflammatory foods, which then reduces the total body burden and squelches the inflammation, so thereby reducing it. So some of those foods, and the best way to think of it like this, again, because we're trying to keep it as straightforward as possible so that you don't need to walk around with a list, brightly colored fruits and vegetables. So anything brightly colored.

9:39So think of your oranges, your yellows, your reds, blues, purples, your greens as well. So it could be fruit. It could be vegetables. I know a lot of people on a lower carb diet, they're doing more vegetables. That's totally fine. They're all, they contain these plant pigments that are antioxidants. They reduce oxidation and therefore inflammation in the body. So we have beta carotenes in your oranges. We've got astaxanthins in your reds. We've got anthocyanins in your blues and purples. Now, you don't need to know what all of those mean, but that is actually how we help to squelch inflammation.

10:13Then we have something called omega-3 fats. fats that's what balances the inflammatory omega-6 fats now we need omega-6s but too much the standard american is an 18 to 1 ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s you should be a three to one so that is why in the west western-based cultures we have so much inflammation a couple more we want to add nuts and seeds they don't work for everybody digestive wise but if you can eat nuts and seeds they're anti-inflammatory olive oil and avocados there's a lot of healthy fats out there but there is nothing better than the oleic acid and olive oil, and avocados are very beneficial as well.

10:50And the last one, and probably the most anti-inflammatory for the body, is wild-caught fish. That's wild salmon, wild trout, sardines, mackerel, anchovies. That's what enables you to get higher levels of omega-3s into the body, and that will balance a lot of those omega-6s. Now, there's one more. There's a neutral category, and that is grass-fed meat, pastured chicken, pastured eggs. That means that it's not the conventional farm-raised, adding all the corn and the soy, all the things those animals shouldn't be eating. And then there's beans and legumes that digestibility-wise work for some people, but not for others.

11:29So the goal is add those neutral ones to the anti-inflammatory ones I just said at a meal, and you're going to create a nice anti-inflammatory meal. What I love about this Fire Nation is this isn't restrictive. These are real foods, and frankly, these are foods that I salivate over. And if you're not there yet, if you're kind of like, oh, but I mean, those are just so boring, those foods, you're just not doing a good job cooking. Like there are so many ways to prepare these meals in such incredible ways. And we're gonna talk a lot more around this topic when we get back from thanking our sponsors.

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13:58That's elitesingles.com slash fire. So Dr. Cabral, we're back. And amongst the many things I love about you, You give great specific guidance. And you always say, listen, it's going to be different based on people's individuality, and that's a great thing because we're all individuals, we're all unique. But let's give an ideal anti-inflammatory diet. What does that look like? So for us, it is taking the foods that you digest the best. So for some people, they don't do well with the nuts and seeds or the beans and legumes. And that's okay. And what we can say is for them, they might want to do some more fish over meat, which if you look at overall inflammation and health of the body, it's going to be a better choice.

14:44And what I don't like to do is give someone a specific eat this on Monday, eat this on Tuesday, eat this on Wednesday. But instead, say you have all of these vegetables to choose from. If you don't do well with nightshades like peppers and tomatoes and eggplant, that's OK. Choose the vegetables that work for you. Ideally, you're getting two to three cups of vegetables at a meal. Now, if that sounds like a lot to you, then you might only be eating one cup right now. That's okay. You don't need to jump to three. Just add another half a cup. Work your digestibility up on those. So two to three cups of vegetables at a meal.

15:17Choose your favorite protein. And then what I would say is add olive oil as your healthy fat. Now, if you're someone that is a little bit leaner or you're looking to gain weight, you need a little bit of starch in your diet, add some sweet potatoes, add some of my favorite, which are purple potatoes or Okinawan potatoes that are amazing, high in antioxidants, and then you get a little bit more carbs at that meal. Now, from that template, you can build hundreds of different meals. Choose your favorite vegetables, starch if you need it, olive oil, your favorite protein. It's good for kids, it's good for adults, and it's one of the most powerful ways that you can feed your body.

15:52So one of the things that I love about you having been my functional medicine doctor for years and years and years now is every six months to a year, I'm doing what's called the big five, these at-home tests. We're getting the results and we're able to see exactly where I'm at in the moment, what I need to improve upon, what I need to add, what I need to supplement, et cetera. And we can see how I've been improving over the years that have gone by. And if any cases I've dropped off in this or that area, then we just kind of tune things up a little bit. That's such an amazing way to live life, Fire Nation, because you're literally seeing your body heal before your very eyes?

16:29So I know the answer to this question, but I want to talk about it for Fire Nation, which is the tests that are available for inflammation. So inflammation is, it's an interesting one to look at because you can go to your PCP and you could say, I'd like to run my interleukins and prostaglandins and cytokines and eococinoids. And your doctor will just look at you like you have three heads and they'll say, what are you talking about? Why do you want to run those? And they're not going to run them for you because they don't have a reason to. And if they do, then they'd have to figure out how am I going to explain these?

17:01So what I always like to share with people is you should go to your PCP. You should have your annual blood work done. But what you want to do is really start to take back control of your health, not sick care, which is managing disease, because you know if you go to your doctor and they run your blood work, if everything is normal or borderline, they're just going to say, OK, well, we're just going to keep an eye on it. What we want to do is what you do, and that stay proactive. We tell people, you're going to find out sometime anyway, right? So like, let's catch it early. Let's see what your deficiencies are in terms of vitamins, minerals, omega-3s, whatever it might be.

17:34And let's see what you have too much of toxicity-wise, gut issues, et cetera. And let's begin to reduce those. So the inflammation one is just simply the easiest way because it's omega-6s that create a lot of these interleukins, prostaglandins, cytokines, all the things that lead to the brain fog, the low energy, the allergies, the joint pain, et cetera, the muscle pain and the rheumatoid arthritis. So what we want to do is actually look at your specific level and tell you what your inflammation score is. Average American is an 18 to 1. I'm willing to bet that the listeners of your show are better than that.

18:07And typically in our community, we see people come in between the 7 and 10 to 1 ratio. It's not bad, but it's not ideal. There's still a good amount of inflammation in that body. We want people at a three to one ratio of omega sixes to omega threes. And if you come to that ratio, you know that you've dramatically reduced your symptoms and you feel it. You don't even need to be told that you feel a difference in your life. So the goal is to get you to a three to one inflammation score. And anybody can run this lab right at home. It's a simple finger stick. Just a couple drops of blood gets mailed into the lab.

18:42All your privacy is obviously secure. It's not shared with anybody. And just a couple of weeks later, you know your inflammation score. And if it's above a three to one, okay, what food should you be adding more of? What should you be subtracting? Do you need anything else to help balance those omega threes? Fire Nation, these at-home tests are easy. Myself and Kate have been doing them for years. And when Dr. Cabral says that you will feel the difference when you get down to that three to one, when you actually get to that ideal range, he's so right. I mean, your energy, your just lack of lethargy, you look better.

19:17I mean, you feel better. It's just everything about you. There becomes like this new glow because your body is now acting optimal. It's doing what it needs to be doing and focusing on what it needs to be focusing on. And so I feel like we have this great grasp now on inflammation and what we can do about it. Let's talk about optimizing inflammation in our body. What does that look like? So optimizing inflammation overall is deciding what are the true underlying root causes that are creating the symptoms that you feel. So we go back to that rain barrel effect. After you filled up that barrel and it overflows, you get symptoms and then disease diagnosis.

19:58But there's always something that filled up the rain barrel. So we have to look at, is it gut issues? Is it injuries? Is it Lyme? Is it mold? What is it? begin to work on those underlying root cause imbalances. But the truth is that for the majority of the people, they are not eating a diet that is adequate in order to keep their body balanced as they age. It might have been fine in their 20s and early 30s. But then we start to feel the accumulation over the years. So if we can, we always find the underlying root cause. And if not, we begin with removing the most toxic foods to the body, the highest inflammatory ones, adding more of the anti-inflammatory, and then say, okay, that was my first step.

20:43I'm feeling 60%, 70%, 80 % better, but I want that last step. And of course, we can always help people with that as well through optimizing sleep and exercise and all sorts of different things that kind of calm the stress in the body. So Fire Nation, what is this going to result in? What are these actions going to result in? We're talking about reducing disease, dis-ease. We're talking about living longer, but not just living longer, but living longer in a way that you want to live, happy, healthy, able to move around, do your thing, not in pain. And you might have heard Dr. Cabral mention the rain barrel effect in passing.

21:24But I want to be very clear to you, Fire Nation, if you're resonating with some of the words that we're hearing today, and you better be, by the way, you need to pick up his book, The Rain Barrel Effect. just go over to Amazon. That book is an amazing place for you to get all the intel you need to get plugged in to this fantastic knowledge. And if you have a loved one, I mean, this could be an amazing gift that you're giving them is health, is wellness, is happiness. I love the quote that a healthy person wants a thousand things. And that's so true. Like when you're healthy, you're healthy, man.

22:00You feel great. You're bopping around. You want a thousand things. You want this, you want that. And good, go get it. You're healthy. Go get those things. When you're unhealthy, you want one thing. You want one thing, and that's to become healthy. So don't be that unhealthy person that can only want one thing in life. You want to be that healthy person that can and should and does want a thousand things. Then choose what it is you want to go conquer. So give us a key takeaway from our conversation here today that you really want to make sure our listeners get, Dr. Cabral. And then give us a call to action because I know a lot of my listeners, beyond reading your book, The Rain Barrel Effect, they want to connect with you.

22:39They want to learn from you. They want to get this process going. And then we'll say goodbye. Excellent. So, yeah, again, I appreciate you allowing me to get my message out to people. And the biggest thing is, and this is what I try to teach, it's like how can I help people in the best way possible, and that is to put an end to the debate. There's a lot of like arguing back and forth on social media about what diet is best and what supplement is best, what sleep protocol. But you can figure out what's best for you. And that's with at-home lab testing. So it just it puts an end to that debate. I don't need to argue with people about how much fat they should have or what's the best for them is that we can run a lab like the inflammation score test.

23:17And we can actually say, if your diet is providing you with enough of the anti-inflammatory foods that you need versus inflammatory. So the best motto, and this isn't a word or phrase that I came up with, but it's just don't guess, test. And that enables the whole debate to be ended and say that might work for you, but this is what works best for me. So what we wanted to do is provide your audience with this lab test and a special offer for your community. and people can find that at my website, which is stephencabral.com. That's where my podcast and book that you mentioned are at and the special will be at stephencabral.com forward slash fire and that's just for your community and again, once again, I appreciate you.

23:59I thank you so much for having me on and letting me share this message. Truly our pleasure. I mean, I couldn't be happier to have Dr. Cabral in my life and in Kate's life because I know what it's done for us and our family and I want to be very clear, Fire Nation. You have a couple calls to action here. You listen to audio. I know you do. You listen to my voice right now. Just get his audio book, The Rain Barrel Effect. You can get it in audio books. It's in Audible. It's right there. It can be, it is a great listen. It can be a great way for you to spend your time listening to some great content.

24:32His podcast is daily, The Cabral Concepts. Not every episode is going to be for you. Some are going to be specific to pregnant women. Some are going to be specific to other people. but the titles are very clear, very specific, and you can pick and choose every episode in the over 2 ,600 that makes sense for you. But the direct call to action to really take this next step right now, and this is a limited time off for Fire Nation, so don't even wait, just get going on this to get your healthiest version of yourself as soon as possible, stephencabral.com slash fire. Is there anything else you want to add before we say goodbye?