Start Counting Colors Instead of Counting Calories w/ Dr. Dan Gubler

12:04Dr. Dan Gubler:Interesting. Okay, so I'm assuming then that there are phytonutrients that help with immunity, phytonutrients that help with energy, phytonutrients that help with mood. Is that correct?

12:16Just Ingredients Host:Exactly. And so do we know like these certain phytonutrients

12:20Dr. Dan Gubler:do these certain things?

12:21Just Ingredients Host:We know a lot of them. Yeah. So for instance, if we take our apple example, some of the most important phytonutrients in apples are two molecules called floritin and floridzin. And these molecules are really, really great for skin health. They're great for heart health. They're great for brain health. They're actually good for libido, especially in women. And so that's an example of these are two really powerful molecules that are beneficial for the body. So an apple a day doesn't keep the doctor away. Really, it does. My answer is yes. And when you ask a layperson, why is an apple so good for you?

12:55Just Ingredients Host:What will they say?

12:57Dr. Dan Gubler:Well, I know about the pectin and it being a prebiotic and feeding the gut bacteria. So that's usually the route I go. Exactly.

13:05Just Ingredients Host:They say pectin or they're not as specialized as you. They're not an expert in health like you are. So they might say, well, fiber, right? I know an apple contains fiber and it's good for you.

13:13Dr. Dan Gubler:Or they'll say vitamins and minerals. Yeah, vitamins and minerals.

13:15Just Ingredients Host:So again, they're going back to this macronutrient or this micronutrient viewpoint. What I'm passionate about and what I'm trying to do and help educate people on social media is that it's not really about those. Those are important. So back to our fuel analogy, right? Those are fuel, but these phytonutrients, they're the spark plug. They're actually the engine that the fuel feeds into. And so you can have a car and if the gas tank is full, that's great. But if the engine is thrown out of the car, if the spark plugs are missing, if the alternator is gone, then that car is not going to move. Or at least it's not going to move very well or efficiently.

13:53Dr. Dan Gubler:So is it the phytonutrients keeping people healthy?

13:56Just Ingredients Host:It is. I contest that phytonutrients, these medicinal molecules, are the most important thing that we need in our diet today. We need to be eating more of them. And we can go and talk about, you know, the modern processed diet. But really, the modern processed diet, what it is, is we've taken these phytonutrients and they're gone from the food. When you think about white flour, white flour, and actually if you go back to wheat, wheat has really cool phytonutrients called benzoxazenoids. They have anti-cancer properties. They're great for glucose control. They help with diabetes. Interesting because wheat gets a bad rap.

14:33Just Ingredients Host:It does. And in the processing of wheat, what happens is we take all these beautiful medicinal molecules in wheat and they're drained out. They're thrown to the side. And what we're left with is white flour. Now, as food scientists...

14:46Dr. Dan Gubler:Sprayed with glyphosate, possibly.

14:48Just Ingredients Host:Exactly. Right. And as food scientists, we're like, okay, well, vitamins and minerals have been taken out of the flour. And so what we're going to do, because we're great scientists and we're good citizens, is we're going to fortify, we're going to put vitamins and minerals back into the flour. Voila, we're great, right? So now it has the same health benefits. Well, no, it doesn't. Because number one, these medicinal phytonutrients are gone. Are gone. And then number two, these vitamins and minerals that we add back into them, they're synthetic. And so synthetic isn't bad per se, but synthetic, they're not absorbed in the body.

15:23Just Ingredients Host:The beautiful thing about natural foods, like this apple that we're talking about, is it has vitamins and minerals, it has macronutrients, it has phytonutrients, and they're in the right ratios so that these phytonutrients and the vitamins and minerals are actually absorbed into the body at high amounts because of the fiber and the pectin and other nutrients that are in that apple.

15:44Dr. Dan Gubler:So interesting because food is miraculous. It is. Okay, so I'm curious why not many people are talking about phytonutrients because even when I will mention it, people are like, what? What is that word?

15:56Just Ingredients Host:I think it's a fewfold. I think that people just don't understand it. They're not trained in it. And there's not a lot of people that talk about it. You're an anomaly talking about phytonutrients. In the health space, like I said earlier, people are just so focused on macronutrients and micronutrients. And they think that they're the most important thing where people talking about all these macronutrient ratios, right? You have to be 60 % protein and 20 % this, 20 % that and whatnot. And they really miss the big picture. And one hallmark that really resonates with me that we're just missing the boat here is when people talk about calories in calories out.

16:33Just Ingredients Host:It drives me crazy when influencers say, well, It doesn't matter if you eat 100 grams of an apple or 100 grams of donuts. It's the same thing. Drives me crazy, too. The macros are the same. Well, no, it's not. The medicinal molecules, the life-sustaining molecules for the body are gone. So it's completely different. Ultra-processed foods are designed for palatability. They're designed for addictability. They're designed for just to fill the belly. But there's nothing medicinal in them.

17:03Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay. I love that. I agree 1000%. So back to the immunity, mood and energy I had asked you about. Are there certain molecules or certain foods that have these phytonutrients in it that you love for like immunity and love for energy and love for mood?

17:23Just Ingredients Host:Yeah, when it comes to immunity, some of my favorite molecules are actually in artichoke. Artichoke has really powerful immune-boosting properties. If you want to look outside colostrum, really powerful immune-boosting properties. And then we talked about pectin, fiber, these oligosaccharides, inulin, really good for supporting immune health because they're prebiotic. One of my favorite foods that nobody really eats are called sunchokes, or they're also called Jerusalem artichokes. But sunchokes, they're packed with inulin. And they're packed with other molecules that are actually prebiotic as well.

18:04Just Ingredients Host:So when we think of prebiotic, we think of fiber. But there's actually small molecules, phytonutrients that are prebiotic in nature.

18:11Dr. Dan Gubler:Oh, interesting.

18:12Just Ingredients Host:Because for good bacteria to grow, they not only need fuel, just like we do, macronutrients and fiber, but they also need these small molecules.

18:21Dr. Dan Gubler:Interesting. Okay, I thought you would have said like ginger, garlic, onion. I wasn't expecting artichoke.

18:29Just Ingredients Host:Ginger, garlic, and onion are great as well. You know, allicin is a phytonutrient.

18:34Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay, that is a phytonutrient. I was going to ask you.

18:37Just Ingredients Host:A lot of people know that one. Yeah, allicin is beautiful, a powerful phytonutrient that frankly we're not getting enough of in our diet. And a lot of people are thinking, well, if I use garlic powder and onion powder in my cooking, that's enough. Well, actually, it's not. Garlic and onion powder, there's no medicinal molecules in it. Basically, what clever food scientists have done is they've taken the aroma flavor of garlic and onion, and it usually, not the medicinal molecules, mind you, but just the flavor of it, and then they spray dry it onto a carrier like maltodextrin. and that's your onion and your garlic seasoning.

19:17Just Ingredients Host:And so when you season it up like that, you're getting nothing medicinal in the body, no allicin.

19:21Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay, good to know. Before we go to mood and energy, I want to talk about allicin. So a lot of people say like, you've got to smash open that garlic or cut the onion or whatever and let it sit for like 10 minutes or so before you cook with it or use it to really get the allicin active and potent. Is that correct?

19:40Just Ingredients Host:It is a good thing to do. I wouldn't say it's imperative, but it is a good thing to do because when you open it up, this allicin molecule, which has two sulfurs bound together, you actually want that to be oxidized. That makes it easier for the body to break down. Not impossible. So when you let it sit open for a couple of minutes, you're oxidizing, meaning oxygen is attached to those sulfur molecules. So when it goes into the body, it's easier for the body to more immediately break it down. But the body has oxidation processes. So it's not like you have to, you know, be really worried about letting it sit there, But it is a little more beneficial.

20:13Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay. Actually, let's talk about cooking and steaming and all this. And then we'll get back to the mood and energy. I promise, listeners. Because sometimes when I'm cooking at night, I'll be like, oh my gosh, was I supposed to be steaming that one? Was I supposed to be chopping that and letting it sit? Oh my gosh, can I cook this one? It gets confusing. Yeah. So is it really that complex? Or are the phytonutrients always in there? Are there benefits to certain things? Help me out here.

20:39Just Ingredients Host:I would say the number one principle is let's just make sure that we're eating fruits and vegetables.

20:45Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay.

20:45Just Ingredients Host:Let's make sure that we're going back to Mother Nature and tapping into her secrets, these medicinal phytonutrients, which have been around with humans for thousands of years. That's point number one. So if you're doing that, you're already successful. If you really want to hack into it a little bit more, biohack your food, you know, to use the popular term, then yeah, there are different things that we can do. For instance, setting mushrooms out in the sun convert a molecule called ergosterol into vitamin D3. But again, that conversion is going to happen already to a large degree. So we're talking small amounts.

21:20Just Ingredients Host:And so if you want to do these small hacks, then that's good. And that will make your food a little more healthy, but it's not going to break the bank or anything. So I wouldn't fret about it or have anxiety over it. Oh, my gosh, I forgot to do X, Y, Z. Okay. Going a little bit more when it comes to cooking, a few core tenets exist. When it comes to vegetables, the best way to do it, in most cases, it's best to eat your vegetables raw if you can. If that doesn't work, then lightly steaming is usually the best.

21:51Dr. Dan Gubler:Am I ruining all the phytonutrients if I'm cooking them into a sauce?

21:56Just Ingredients Host:Not necessarily. The more you cook it, the more phytonutrients are being leached out. They can be degrading, but they can actually be migrating from the food to the liquid. To the sauce. So if you're making a sauce, that's great. I would say one general tenant is you shouldn't ever boil your vegetables. Okay. Because when you boil vegetables at high heat in liquid, a lot of these molecules are water soluble. And so they go into the water. And we easily see that, right? If you take some vegetables and you boil it up and after you drain out that liquid.

22:30Dr. Dan Gubler:The water's green or whatever.

22:31Just Ingredients Host:I mean, it's yellow, whatever it is. And color means molecules. I know.

22:37Dr. Dan Gubler:And I want to get to the color part. So we're going to get to that. But one last question about cooking. So I'm like cooking my asparagus at 350 in the oven. Am I killing everything then?

22:47Just Ingredients Host:Roasting it at 350 is just fine. Most phytonutrients, they're stable at about 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Okay. And so if you're roasting at 350, 375, even 400 for 15, 20 minutes, that's just fine. One other really cool thing about cooking food is there's a reaction called the mallard reaction. And when we have our food and we have this nice like asparagus, when we roast it and it gets this nice, beautiful caramelization to it, that's called the mallard reaction. Now, we don't want to go cook it so much that it becomes crispy and black because that can actually have carcinogens, right? when people talk about, you know, burnt toast and that's bad for you.

23:27Just Ingredients Host:Well, it is. Now, is it going to kill you? No, but there are molecules in that black toast that aren't good. So a brown caramelization color is called the Mallard reaction. And that's the process by which sugars are converted to other molecules. And those actually have anti-cancer properties. So roasting vegetables is also a good thing. Taking it to just kind of a light caramel color, not only retains the phytonutrients, but it adds some more medicinal molecules to it.

23:55Dr. Dan Gubler:Interesting. I actually didn't know that. Learn something new every day. Okay, so now back to the mood and the energy. Do you have favorite molecules or favorite food for energy?

24:04Just Ingredients Host:For energy, when it comes to medicinal herbs and whatnot, I love an herb called Yerba Santa. Yerba Santa has these cool triterpene saponins, which give energy, but without caffeine.

24:17Dr. Dan Gubler:Interesting. Like a Yerba Mate?

24:19Just Ingredients Host:Yeah. Same plant? Or totally different? Totally different species. Yerba Santa is from Mexico. So I guess they use yerba, which is plant, right? You know, and santa, which is holy. Okay. So the holy plant is what they call it. And it grows in the Baja California Peninsula. And I've been down there many times studying the plant and isolating the molecules and whatnot. So that's a really good plant for energy.

24:44Dr. Dan Gubler:And can people find this in an herb form?

24:47Just Ingredients Host:Yeah, there's herb forms that you could find, you could buy. It's starting to be used in supplements. It's more of a new herb, but you can start to find it.

24:56Dr. Dan Gubler:Interesting.

24:56Just Ingredients Host:Yeah.

24:57Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay, is there a phytonutrient in just regular fruit or veggie that people could grab at the store for energy?

25:03Just Ingredients Host:Yeah, so when it comes to energy, asparagus is really good. Oh, interesting.

25:08Dr. Dan Gubler:We just had that last night.

25:09Just Ingredients Host:Yeah, asparagus is really good. It has some really cool molecules, sulfur-containing molecules that are really powerful for the electron transport chain. We don't want to get too geeky, but they actually help to support the energy systems of the body that can be bogged down because of these lifestyle factors we talked about earlier.

25:27Dr. Dan Gubler:Interesting. Okay. What about, is there a favorite phytonutrient for just mood boosting?

25:33Just Ingredients Host:Yeah. One of my favorite is tomatillo when it comes to food. And tomatillo is cool because the phytonutrients in tomatillo are withanthalites. And you might know of withanthalites. Withanthalites are actually the active molecules in ashwagandha, the popular adaptogen. Ashwagandha is great. And the active molecules in ashwagandha that help with mood and cognition, adaptogenic function are withanthalites. And so tomatillos contain withanthalites.

26:05Dr. Dan Gubler:Interesting. Yeah. Okay, so you keep mentioning color, and we hear all the time, eat the rainbow. And my kids have gotten to the point of like, yeah, eat the rainbow. Like, they just think it's some dumb saying. But there's some true science behind this, correct?

26:19Just Ingredients Host:There is. Yep. So if a food or a plant is colored, that means it contains different molecules. So the bright red and the oranges and the yellows contain molecules called carotenoids. And these are phytonutrients. We might have heard of those, lutein, zeaxanthin, astaxanthin especially. Astaxanthin is what gives salmon its bright pink color. And you'll notice if you look at wild-caught salmon, it's more pink, a lot more pink than farm-reased salmon. And why is that? Well, because the fish are eating microalgae in the open ocean that are rich in astaxanthin. And so it bioaccumulates in the flesh, in the filet.

27:02Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay.

27:03Just Ingredients Host:And so why is it less pink in farm-raised salmon? Well, they add astaxanthin in the feed that they give farm-raised salmon, but it comes back to absorption, which is really cool. They put the same amount of astaxanthin in the feed. They try to calculate, okay, how much microalgae are these salmon eating? How much astaxanthin is in the salmon? And they really try to do a good job. They try to back-calculate how much we need. But the thing is, synthetic astaxanthin in fish feed is not as absorbed, and it doesn't bioaccumulate to the same degree in the flesh of the salmon as astaxanthin and microalgae in wild salmon.

27:43Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay, I've got some questions for you about absorption and digestion, things like that. But before I ask you those, let's finish color.

27:50Just Ingredients Host:Yes.

27:50Dr. Dan Gubler:So the darker things, greens, purples, then those have different phytonutrients than the yellows and oranges.

27:57Just Ingredients Host:That's right. So purple contains molecules, phytonutrients called anthocyanins. And these anthocyanins give kind of the dark blue, dark purple color. Green contains other phytonutrients that are more of the lignin class or some flavonoids that aren't conjugated. We don't want to get too much into organic chemistry, but there's something called conjugation. There's double bonds in the molecule that can kind of flow throughout what we call resonance forms. that actually reacts more with light and gives these bright colors. So like curcumin, the reason why it's this screaming yellow color or berberine in the herb botanical space, it's because these bonds are conjugated in the molecule.

28:40Dr. Dan Gubler:Interesting. Okay, so I'm assuming all these phytonutrients in these different colors all have different health benefits.

28:47Just Ingredients Host:They do. They react with the genes, with different genes in the body. So we have 25 ,000 genes. That's a lot of genes to choose from. obviously. And the beautiful thing is these different phytonutrients in plants react with different genes in the body. And I find that point fascinating. How did plants create these molecules that work seamlessly with the body? Is it serendipity? Is it evolution over the course of thousands of years? A lot of different religions talk about divine intervention, a supreme being place these molecules and plants for benefiting human health. Obviously, we don't know that answer, But I'm just always fascinated.

29:26Just Ingredients Host:Every time I discover a new molecule and I pull it out of a plant and I find out what it does, it's just beautiful how it works together. And one thing that I love, I do a lot of work with traditional medicine healers. And it's really interesting, you know, going to like Kerala, India, and you talk with an Ayurvedic medicine healer. And they say that they use this plant for health condition XYZ. and then I dive in and I isolate the actual molecules. And sure enough, most of the time I do find that there's a molecule that does help with the health condition that they're talking about. So again, like how did they know that?

30:02Just Ingredients Host:It's just a beautiful thing.

30:04Dr. Dan Gubler:Fascinating. So interesting. I remember the first time reading about spinach and all the things that it does from the point of putting it in your mouth to chewing it till you digest it. And the different things that were going on, I was like, food is incredible. It literally is like a miracle with all the thousands of things that it does for your body. And I think we take it for granted as most people. We just eat our food. Okay, but back to these colors really quick, then I'll go to the absorption. Give me maybe just an example of something a yellow veggie or fruit is doing versus like a dark, I don't know, blue or green.

30:38Just Ingredients Host:So let's take a yellow bell pepper, for instance. And those are amazing. You can eat them raw. A lot of times we think about yellow bell peppers and fajitas, and those are great. When you cook your fajitas, make sure that you don't overcook the bell peppers. Again, make sure that they're crispy a little bit. I guess, I don't know, el dente from the pasta terminology. But that yellow bell pepper contains a molecule called lutein. And lutein is really good for heart health. It's really good for eye health. Great for vision. Has some good brain health properties as well.

31:14Just Ingredients Host:vegetable like eggplant. The reason why it's this dark purple color is because of anthocyanins and also because of a molecule called delphinidin. And delphinidin regulates the genes related to heart health. And not only that, delphinidin is actually a master regulator for the good bacteria in our gut. So one of the really cool things, I don't want to go on too many tangents, but one of the really cool things is when we talk about food as medicine, we think about our genes and rightfully so. And that's important, but we need to realize that the human body has 25 ,000 genes, the gut microbiome, the good bacteria living in our gut, which if you were to collect them all together, it weighs the same amount as the brain.

31:57Just Ingredients Host:And sometimes we call the gut microbiome, the second brain. There's 300 ,000 genes in the gut microbiome.

32:05Dr. Dan Gubler:Interesting.

32:05Just Ingredients Host:And so when we eat good food, we're not only nourishing our genes, we're also nourishing the genes of our gut microbiome.

32:14Dr. Dan Gubler:Let's take a quick break to hear from our show sponsor. You guys know I'm really intentional about ingredients, not just in food, but in skincare too. Because what you put on your skin matters. That's why I've been loving 100 % Pure Makeup and Beauty Products. Their formulations follow strict purity standards and avoid harsh, toxic ingredients. When you flip over the label, you can recognize what you're putting on your skin, and that's important. They're also naturally pigmented. They use pigments from fruit, vegetables, tea, and even cocoa. It's beauty powered by plants, the way it should be.

32:50Dr. Dan Gubler:Some of their top sellers and beauty award winners include fruit pigmented foundation, concealer, mascara, and lipsticks. I love that they uphold their 100 % pure promise. If you're looking to clean up your beauty routine, this is a great place to start. Go to 100percentpure.com and use code JIPURE15 because ingredients matter inside and out. Now back to the show. Okay, so talking about the gut, I'm curious because right now it's been trendy to talk about vitamins and if we're absorbing these vitamins, right? and leaky gut, what a lot of people know it as. It's hard to absorb these vitamins. Or if you've got other issues, it's hard to absorb the vitamins for people.

33:37Dr. Dan Gubler:Is it the same way with phytonutrients that some phytonutrients can be hard to absorb?

33:42Just Ingredients Host:It is. That's exactly right. Because they have different molecular structures, based on their molecular structures, some of them are harder to absorb than others. And a lot of it comes back to water solubility. The body, as we know, is at least 60 % water, and it's higher in water concentration in different parts of the body. And organic molecules are hydrophobic in general, meaning they don't like water. And that makes sense, right? Because when it's raining, you don't see plants dissolving or anything like that. They are afraid of water, and so they hold their structure. And so these medicinal molecules from plants, especially if you're eating the whole food, it's a little bit different.

34:21Just Ingredients Host:But if we're going into supplements and we're using just resveratrol or just delphinidin or other molecules like that, just NMN, then there can be some solubility challenges. So we do need to use absorption technologies to make sure that these phytonutrients are absorbed in the body.

34:41Dr. Dan Gubler:I want to talk supplements in just a second. But when we're eating them as a food, we still may have absorption problems with these phytonutrients if we've got leaky gut, if we've got digestive issues.

34:53Just Ingredients Host:That's right. Especially now that people, GLP-1, these agonists that people are taking, they're the big craze right now. And GLP-1, one of the things that's happening, I mean, people are losing weight and they do so many great things, you know, controlling blood sugar, blood insulin levels, et cetera, helping with brain health. But one of the things that we're starting to see in the scientific literature is that because the food sits in the stomach for so long and it's not being absorbed up into the body, we're not getting as many vitamins and minerals, especially the phytonutrients. We're not getting medicinal molecules as much as we need because again, it's being trapped in the stomach and it's not being transferred through the gut into the bloodstream.

35:36Dr. Dan Gubler:Interesting.

35:36Just Ingredients Host:And so absorption is severely needed. And when we talk about absorption technologies, there's things that we can do. We've talked about when I say we, in general, we talk about fat-soluble vitamins and minerals and water-soluble vitamins and minerals. It's important when we eat our food that we eat a wide variety. We eat oily foods like sardines. We eat other vegetables and whatnot just to make sure that we're getting a wide variety of not only the phytonutrients, but the absorption technologies that are in those whole foods.

36:06Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay. So I'm curious. We have over 30 ,000 phytonutrients. I know from formulating supplements that we do take some of those phytonutrients and put them in pills. Can we not take all of them? Are some of them not possible to put in supplements?

36:22Just Ingredients Host:Some of them are harder than others. Some of them, based on the science that we've done, some of them are master regulators for the body. So some are more important than others. And so what we've done in the supplement space is we can pick and choose some of these master regulators. And the important thing that we're finding in studying these molecules is that a lot of these are synergistic. And we talk about synergy. And I think synergy is an overused word. You know, one plus one equals three. And we talk about how synergy is great. But there's also, there can be negative synergy. So what we're finding in studying some phytonutrients, they don't play well together.

37:00Just Ingredients Host:And what's fascinating is when we find phytonutrients that don't play well together, and we look at the foods that they're naturally in, or the plants that they're in in nature, you'll notice that without exception, they're never together. So it's really cool that Mother Nature, she knows what she's doing as far as, you know, let's put these medicinal molecules over here and let's put these others that don't play as nicely over here. And a lot of times they don't cross paths and whatnot. And so one of the things about nutritional supplements I'm really excited about is the ability that we have to pick and choose certain phytonutrients that work well together, that are powerful together, that address a need state that's important for human health.

37:41Just Ingredients Host:And then we couple in some absorption technologies to make sure that these phytonutrients can get into the cell. It's a beautiful, powerful thing.

37:49Dr. Dan Gubler:I'm curious, with these phytonutrients, are they as good in a supplement as they are in the food? Or is the food giving the vitamins and minerals and the fiber and all the other things needed help your body absorb them better?

38:03Just Ingredients Host:I would say that they're both needed. We need to make sure that we're eating foods, whole foods that are rich in phytonutrients. And we could talk about the phytonutrient content of foods can differ. And so that's another topic for another day. But the thing about supplementation is we have the ability to put phytonutrients in supplements that are not normally found in food. And we need both. For instance, in ginkgo, there's really cool phytonutrients called ginkgo lides, which, as you know, are great for brain health and cognitive function and whatnot. And it's great to bring these in. I talked about Yerba Santa earlier for energy, and these triterpene saponins are not found in food.

38:44Just Ingredients Host:And so I love the ability to bring those in. A lot of people say, well, supplements aren't needed. You know, they're a waste of money. All you need to do is eat well and exercise. Well, obviously, we need to eat well and exercise. But the last 20 years, we've discovered some pretty cool new molecules that can really take our health to the next level. And so if we're really serious about being as healthy as we can, science-based supplementation is a good, powerful thing because we're bringing in these new medicinal molecules that you can't get as readily from your diet.

39:18Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay, and then I like to always say, though, you can't out-supplement a bad diet.

39:22Just Ingredients Host:That's right.

39:23Dr. Dan Gubler:Because you can't be eating your Frosted Flakes and Oreos and ice cream every day and then just take supplements and think you're magically going to be healthy.

39:30Just Ingredients Host:That's exactly right. And when we look at these phytonutrients, these medicinal molecules and plants and herbs and botanicals that we bring in from the supplement side, they're powerful and they're important. But phytonutrients that are in the foods that we should be eating every single day, most of them are master regulators. So they're essential for health. A lot of the other ones in botanicals, they're very, very good for health, but we need to make sure that we're eating whole foods to make sure that we're getting these essential medicinal gene-regulating molecules.

40:04Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay, so I'm curious, when you make these supplements and you're bringing in these phytonutrients from plants, fruits, vegetables, are you bringing them actually from the fruit, the plant, the vegetable, or are you synthetically making them?

40:19Just Ingredients Host:We're bringing them in naturally. I'm a big proponent of natural. Now, synthetic, again, there's nothing wrong with synthetic per se, but again, synthetic is not absorbed to the degree. So what I like to do is I like to do a natural extraction where I'm not only pulling out the one molecule of interest, but I'm pulling out the friends of that molecule, that we're pulling it together. And when you do that, you have some absorption technology. so that now when you pull a subset of molecules, it's easier for that medicinal molecule to be absorbed. You know, it's like that famous person that is performing at a concert, right?

41:00Just Ingredients Host:If you're trying to get that person onto the stage and that person is walking by him or herself up to the stage through 60 ,000 people, they're never going to get to the stage because everybody's going to want to talk and have a picture and share their experience with how much I love your music, blah, blah, blah. But if you have a group of people surrounding that person, like a group of ushers or bodyguards, they're able to move that person very quickly from the back of the stadium through the crowds and onto the stage. And the same thing is true. When you pull out the subset of molecules, you a lot of times bring absorption technology with you.

41:36Just Ingredients Host:And it's something called polyphenol complexation. That's a really powerful technique that I use when I formulate.

41:43Dr. Dan Gubler:Interesting. Okay, so you're truly extracting that phytonutrient with molecules surrounding it to help it be absorbed into the body.

41:51Just Ingredients Host:That's right.

41:52Dr. Dan Gubler:That's really tricky, though, for people to know when they're buying supplements at the store. Is this naturally extracted? Is this synthetic? So how do they even know what to look for?

42:01Just Ingredients Host:It is. That's a hard thing. People should look for when it says extract, so curcumin extract or ginkgo biloba extract. And then a lot of times after that, it says what it's extracted to, right? Polyphenols, flavonoids, gyncholic acids, and whatnot. And you want to look for an extraction on the supplement facts panel that says both, that it says, number one, it's an extract, and it says what molecules it's extracted to. And a lot of times you want to see if it's extracted to two or more different molecules. And that's what we call standardization. And standardization is so important in supplements because you can have an extract of a plant that is basically sawdust.

42:44Just Ingredients Host:Plants are cellulose, right? The bioactive, the phytonutrients, the medicinal molecules have been baked out of that material. Or you could have a material that's been gently extracted, processed with care that has a large amount of medicinal molecules.

42:59Dr. Dan Gubler:And then that's another problem in supplements because no one regulates that. So making supplements myself, I've seen turmeric come in from around the world and some of them are very bioavailable and great and others are like rice powdered colored yellow, I feel like.

43:16Just Ingredients Host:That's right.

43:16Dr. Dan Gubler:And so again, you just have to find a brand you trust?

43:20Just Ingredients Host:Find a brand you trust. A lot of brands will show you their standardization. They'll show you third-party testing saying, hey, we say we have 200 milligrams of resveratrol in here. And then here's a third-party testing from a lab that has nothing to do with our company. And they confirm, yeah, you have 204 milligrams in this lot. And so people can look it up and see a third party has validated. But also, yeah, it's important to look for a supplement company that you trust, that has a good track record, that uses good science, uses good data, shares scientific information, has third-party testing behind it.

43:58Dr. Dan Gubler:So I'm curious, is there one phytonutrient that is your favorite?

44:03Just Ingredients Host:Oh.

44:04Dr. Dan Gubler:That's hard if there's over 30 ,000 phytonutrients.

44:07Just Ingredients Host:I know. Well, and I love a lot of them, ones that I've worked with and helped discover in the past. It's kind of like choosing your favorite child. Which of your child is your favorite? You like them for different things. I really like delphinidin. I really like another molecule called apigenin.

44:24Dr. Dan Gubler:Where are we going to find both of those?

44:26Just Ingredients Host:Delphinidin and eggplant. Oh, that's right.

44:27Dr. Dan Gubler:You told us eggplant.

44:28Just Ingredients Host:And delphinidin is actually in blueberries as well. Apigenin, parsley contains large amounts of apigenin. So I love to cook with parsley.

44:37Dr. Dan Gubler:And what does that molecule do?

44:39Just Ingredients Host:That's a master regulator when it comes to sleep

44:42Dr. Dan Gubler:and also brain health. So if people struggle with sleep, they can cook with parsley at night.

44:49Just Ingredients Host:They can. Yeah. And not just at night, but during the day, right? Circadian rhythm ebbs and flows throughout the day. And so when you bring that rhythm into flow earlier in the day, it's going to extend into the nighttime and improve your sleep.

45:02Dr. Dan Gubler:Makes sense. Okay. As we wrap up here, I have a question for you. So whenever I state on Instagram that I think food is medicine, or I say food is healing, I get slammed. I can say food is nourishing, but the second I start saying it's healing or it's medicine, oh my goodness, the haters, the whoever comes out. Do you believe it's healing and that food is medicine or scientists don't believe that?

45:32Just Ingredients Host:I believe that a thousand percent. I think that part of why we're getting slammed when we talk about that, again, is because people don't understand. They don't understand phytonutrients. They don't understand this third class of medicinal molecules that Mother Nature has carefully embedded in all of our food. But when it comes to food is medicine, I would actually say that that phrase is incomplete. I would say that good molecules from food is medicine.

46:01Dr. Dan Gubler:Ooh, interesting. I like that because ultra-processed food is not medicine. So there you go. Food is not medicine there, but the good molecules or the phytonutrients. So could I say phytonutrients from food are medicine?

46:14Just Ingredients Host:I would say that.

46:15Dr. Dan Gubler:Because what's crazy to me is those phytonutrients are in supplements. Phytonutrients are in certain medicines. Therefore, they are healing.

46:23Just Ingredients Host:They are. And when you look at it, when someone changes to a healthy diet or when they take a science-based supplement, they see health benefits. It's that simple. And why is it? Well, you could trace it down to these medicinal molecules, these phytonutrients from plants. And we're in a phytonutrient dearth right now. We're just not eating enough phytonutrients. You look at what we eat, right? We wake up in the morning and we go to some fast food place and we grab a coffee and we grab a breakfast sandwich, right? Well, how many phytonutrients? If you're

46:55Dr. Dan Gubler:lucky, some are a muffin or a bagel or a donut.

46:58Just Ingredients Host:A muffin, a bagel, or our kids go out to school and they woke up late and, you know, we just have time to throw them a granola bar. Well, how many medicinal molecules are in that granola bar, right? And then you look at school lunch that our kids eat and, or you look at working lunches, right? We go out to eat and we go to a restaurant. You know, how many medicinal molecules are really in that food that we eat?

47:22Dr. Dan Gubler:Yeah, so true. Okay. So to simplify this for people, every single fruit, every vegetable, every plant out there has phytonutrients.

47:31Just Ingredients Host:It does.

47:32Dr. Dan Gubler:And all of those phytonutrients are beneficial to the body.

47:36Just Ingredients Host:They are. Yes.

47:38Dr. Dan Gubler:And beneficial to the cells and the genes.

47:40Just Ingredients Host:That's right.

47:41Dr. Dan Gubler:Depending on which phytonutrient.

47:42Just Ingredients Host:That's right. Now we can, this is a whole new area and this is what I study and this is what I share on Instagram because there's different phytonutrients in different foods that are good for certain health conditions. And so if you're interested to know, you know, let's say, I don't know, brain health is really important to me, specifically maintaining a healthy brain and protecting from dementia and Alzheimer's. Well, if that's important to you, there's a whole set of foods that can help with that. Let's say that, you know, perimenopause is an issue for me. There's a whole set of foods that help with that.

48:13Just Ingredients Host:Let's say that spore performance is really important to me. Well, there's a whole set of foods that are important for that.

48:18Dr. Dan Gubler:We could have you on talking just about all those different health issues, because I'm sure there's a whole class of phytonutrients for cancer.

48:25Just Ingredients Host:That's right.

48:26Dr. Dan Gubler:And depression.

48:27Just Ingredients Host:Exactly.

48:28Dr. Dan Gubler:Wow. Okay. Now I'm like, we need another hour. Okay. I have a lot of women who listen to this podcast. So I better ask you, could you give me a phytonutrient that's amazing for hormones and one that's amazing for perimenopause?

48:44Just Ingredients Host:So when it comes to hormones, there's a molecule called caftaric acid, and it's actually the same food for perimenopause is a molecule called anathol, which is rich in fennel, the fennel bulb. So if you haven't cooked with fennel, fennel's fantastic. You get the fennel bulb. You can find it at most grocery stores. You take it, you chop it up into small size pieces. You put it over your salad. It's really crispy. It's raw. It has a little bit of a licorice taste to it because of anathol, not overpowering, or you can gently saute it.

49:17Dr. Dan Gubler:What's this molecule doing?

49:18Just Ingredients Host:So this molecule is regulating genes and signaling pathways related to hormone health, estrogen production, progesterone production. And it's helping to make sure that the cycle is balanced properly. These should ebb and flow like sine and cosine waves. And what can happen is that due to lifestyle factors that we mentioned earlier, these can get out of balance and whatnot. And that causes chaos. Anathol regulates genes, which brings them back into harmony.

49:46Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay, I'm going to ask you one more health topic, only because I talk about depression all the time, just because that was a health issue that I dealt with years ago. So is there a phytonutrient that you love for depression? Yeah, so delphinidine, as I talked about again, is a really good one,

50:03Just Ingredients Host:and that's in blueberries. But in general, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries contain a whole host of polyphenols, which are really good for brain function, especially depression.

50:14Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay, so good to know. One last question, because I think people might ask me this. Do herbs have more phytonutrients than the fruits and veggies?

50:23Just Ingredients Host:They can, depending on how they're processed. And the reason why they can is herbs, especially dried herbs, are in their concentrated form. And so herbs and spices can contain a little more phytonutrients, yes. All right.

50:36Dr. Dan Gubler:I love something that you do on Instagram. You stop me every time I see one of these reels. You'll find a food and ask questions about the food and you'll give a quick yes or no. So I'm curious if I can do that with you with apple cider vinegar.

50:50Just Ingredients Host:Absolutely.

50:51Dr. Dan Gubler:Because apple cider vinegar is a trendy one out there. And so I'm going to ask you some of the trendy questions that I hear about it.

50:58Just Ingredients Host:Okay.

50:58Dr. Dan Gubler:Can it help with losing weight?

51:00Just Ingredients Host:Yes.

51:01Dr. Dan Gubler:Can it help with losing belly fat?

51:04Just Ingredients Host:Yes.

51:04Dr. Dan Gubler:Can it help with digestion?

51:06Just Ingredients Host:Yes.

51:07Dr. Dan Gubler:Can it help with blood glucose control?

51:09Just Ingredients Host:Yes.

51:10Dr. Dan Gubler:Are all apple cider vinegars the same?

51:13Just Ingredients Host:No.

51:13Dr. Dan Gubler:And how come?

51:15Just Ingredients Host:Because you want to make sure that the apple cider vinegar has naturally been fermented. And so when you look at apple cider vinegar, you want to make sure it has that cloudy residue in the bottom. That means that it was actually fermented. The mother in it? The mother, exactly. It's called the mother. You want to make sure that that's in there. A lot of apple cider vinegars at the store actually cheat because they take white distilled vinegar and they add apple flavoring and color. Oh my goodness. That's ridiculous.

51:42Dr. Dan Gubler:Yeah. Okay, I'm going to have to look for that.

51:44Just Ingredients Host:So if it smells exactly like vinegar and it doesn't kind of have that tangy apple look to it, or when you look at it, it's absolutely 100 % clear. And if the price is a lot cheaper than some of the other apple cider vinegars, you could be pretty sure that that's what they've done.

51:59Dr. Dan Gubler:Can it help with inflammation?

52:01Just Ingredients Host:Yes.

52:01Dr. Dan Gubler:Can it help with migraines?

52:03Just Ingredients Host:It depends. It depends on the person, and it depends on their gene expression and where they're at. But for some people, it can. Migraines, there's different...

52:11Dr. Dan Gubler:They're complicated migraines.

52:12Just Ingredients Host:They're complicated, and sometimes they're idiopathic, meaning we don't exactly know all the mechanisms of action. But for some mechanisms of action, it can.

52:21Dr. Dan Gubler:Man, I would love every fruit and veggie give that to you, just a bunch of questions like that. On your Instagram, do spinach next.

52:28Just Ingredients Host:Okay. I think I have. I'll have to go back and look. If I haven't, I'll do it.

52:32Dr. Dan Gubler:Spinach and kale. Okay. They get a bad rap, both of them, and I love spinach.

52:36Just Ingredients Host:They do, and unrightfully so. There's a group of people that talk about, in the health space, that talk about oxalates and how terrible they are for you and whatnot. For me, I'm all about the scientific literature. And when you look at the scientific literature, including the research that I've done, there's no good evidence that oxalates found in kale and spinach cause these terrible health conditions. Now, some people can be more sensitive. I was going to say, if they're very sensitive, if you're very sensitive and you work with your doctor and you've been tested and, you know, you have your own experience, then sure.

53:11Just Ingredients Host:But to just in general say kale is terrible for you and spinach is terrible for you, the scientific literature does not support that at all.

53:19Dr. Dan Gubler:Man, I really do have a lot of more questions that I could ask you because as I'm sitting here, I'm like, oh my gosh, we didn't even talk grains because grains are plants.

53:28Just Ingredients Host:They are.

53:29Dr. Dan Gubler:And they get a bad rap.

53:30Just Ingredients Host:They do.

53:31Dr. Dan Gubler:But they've got a lot of phytonutrients then, obviously.

53:33Just Ingredients Host:They do. If we had more time, we'd talk about farro and freka and, you know, buckwheat.

53:39Dr. Dan Gubler:Do the ancient grains have higher concentration of phytonutrients or not necessarily?

53:43Just Ingredients Host:In general, they do.

53:44Dr. Dan Gubler:Wow, we could do a whole show on grains. We could. We might have to have you back. I'd love it. Well, thank you so much for being here. Tell my listeners where they can find you?

53:54Just Ingredients Host:So I share on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok and my handle is drdangoobler. So if you go to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, type in that user handle, you can find me. And I share a new video, a new yes, no video, six days a week.

54:09Dr. Dan Gubler:Oh, that is a lot. You are on there a lot. You guys, I'm telling you, you're one of my favorite to watch those reels with because they're just so simple. And I love hearing what you say about all the fruits and veggies and different things. So make sure you go follow him. And I always end my podcast by asking five quick questions. And so do you mind answering these?

54:29Just Ingredients Host:I love it.

54:30Dr. Dan Gubler:All right. Here's number one. What emerging health topic excites you most?

54:35Just Ingredients Host:Discovering new molecules. There's so many left to be discovered like we've talked about. That fires me up.

54:40Dr. Dan Gubler:I was going to say, is there one that you're really researching right now?

54:44Just Ingredients Host:So there's a class of molecules called alkaloids, And alkaloids mean that there's a nitrogen in there. And some of the research that I'm doing on different plants, I'm looking at new alkaloids in those plants. Alkaloids, I've just always been fascinated with them. When you incorporate nitrogen in an organic molecule, it does some really cool, fascinating things.

55:04Dr. Dan Gubler:Number two, what is a piece of advice you give to your younger self?

55:08Just Ingredients Host:Find what you're passionate about and do it, regardless of what people say. Find a way to do it. And like they said, if you do something that you're passionate about, you never work a day in your life.

55:17Dr. Dan Gubler:Oh, I love that. That is true. Okay, three, what's the one health practice you'll never compromise on no matter how busy life gets?

55:24Just Ingredients Host:Eating medicinal molecules from plants. Exercise can go, meditation. Now, obviously, you want to do all these things, but a non-negotiable for me is to make sure that I'm getting something medicinal from a plant, a fruit, a vegetable every single day.

55:38Dr. Dan Gubler:Okay, I better ask this because I know people ask me after every podcast, I get a lot of DMs. Are you an advocate for a certain amount of fruits and veggies per day?

55:48Just Ingredients Host:I'm more of an advocate of getting a diversity of molecules in a single day. So rather than I'm going to eat five servings of blueberries or nine servings of watermelon, diversity is key. So I would get three to five servings a day.

56:02Dr. Dan Gubler:Of either fruits or veggies.

56:03Just Ingredients Host:fruits or vegetables. I think that that should be a standard non-negotiable. And then I would make sure that I incorporate diversity. Because again, the more diverse we are, the more medicinal molecules we're getting, the more biological pathways we're hitting, and the better our overall health is going to be.

56:20Dr. Dan Gubler:I would love your brain while you're eating. Do you just, every scoop, know what you're feeding into your body and the chemistry that's happening, or you don't think about that?

56:29Just Ingredients Host:No, I do. And I think about it a lot. And my 17-year-old daughter makes fun of me when she's making things in the kitchen. She's like, hey, dad, what does this do? Or why are you putting this in? Or that's our dinner time conversation.

56:40Dr. Dan Gubler:Oh, I love that. Well, last question. What is the best ingredient you've found to life?

56:45Just Ingredients Host:Passion.

56:46Dr. Dan Gubler:I love that. Not very many people claim that one. But like you said, if you have passion for something, at least for me, I have passion for health and wellness and wanting to educate others. So because it's a passion, And I want to keep doing it, even when times are hard.

57:00Just Ingredients Host:Yeah, and that brings joy. It brings joy to me when I follow my passion. And then if you do it with an eye of sharing to other people, you can help them find a little bit of that passion and joy as well. Because there's a lot of people that have the same passion. Like you and I, we love health and wellness. And so when we share that and the work that we do, we develop something, we can bring that same passion and joy to other people, which improves their life. And it fuels their passion. Not only when you do something you're passionate about and you find that it helps someone, that gives them joy, but it's this virtuous cycle.

57:33Just Ingredients Host:So true. It just causes us joy. And it helps me to keep going. Even when times get hard, you dig down, you dig deep, and you find that passion that you've had, and it helps you move forward.

57:46Dr. Dan Gubler:So true. I love that. Well, again, thank you for being here. I know you're so busy, and I appreciate you taking the time to come educate all of us.

57:53Just Ingredients Host:My pleasure. I'm so grateful that you'd have me on. I'm grateful for all that you do to improve human health and wellness. Appreciate you.

57:59Dr. Dan Gubler:Thank you. Thank you for being here and being part of this community. Don't forget to subscribe to the Just Ingredients podcast. We've got so much more to share with you. And if you're not already, come join us daily on all social media platforms at Just.Ingredients. Until next time, keep choosing what nourishes you.

58:24you