Episode 136
· 20:13
Welcome back to another episode of the Real Health Podcast. Today, we're gonna be talking specifically on debunking risky viral health trends. We got a message and a patient was asking, what is Dr. Barrett's thought on this, Right? And so it was interesting.
Dr. Barrett:So I looked at it and processed it and realized, man, there's a major issue in our industry where I think we've grown so much in wellness and understanding health and in the information age is blown up, but to what cost? Right? So I'm sure if you've scrolled on Instagram, TikTok, you've probably seen like a, you know, cold plunge, sauna, detox tea, or someone just dry scooping pre workout and nailing it down. And maybe you've wondered, hey, is that is that is that healthy? Should I do that?
Dr. Barrett:Should I cold plunge every day? Should I sauna every day? Should I buy that tea? What about that supplement? Is that really worth it?
Dr. Barrett:And so today, we're gonna unpack that. We're gonna unpack some of the biggest viral health trends right now and what's fact, what's fiction, and how you can approach wellness without failing for, in essence, clickbait, right? And so as a chiropractor and someone who's passionate about functional wellness, I love that people are curious about more information about their health and health for them and their families. But viral doesn't always mean safe and effective, right? And so today we're gonna talk about just balanced health information that's truthful.
Dr. Barrett:And the first principle that we have to understand is health is created over time. Health is not generated in a day. It's not generated from a bottle. It doesn't come from just a quick supplement. That does not create health.
Dr. Barrett:Health is rhythms and disciplines over a period of time. And so what social media wants to do is just is obviously just it thrives on quick fixes. It provides a big shock value, right? Like, hey, ice baths cure depression, Right? And so that's like this instant clickbait.
Dr. Barrett:Oh, let me learn more about that. We've all gone through seasons of depression. So that I I need ice bath every day. Well well, do you? And is it good for you?
Dr. Barrett:Then we're gonna unpack that. But that's what social media pushes. It's right quick fix, shock value, and really it's influencers with charisma. They're charismatic. And so just it just feels right.
Dr. Barrett:And then we jump on it, we click it, we buy it, and we start to do it. Right? Even concepts like big, we're gonna talk about today. Like ketogenic or carnivore diet or vegan diet. Should I do that?
Dr. Barrett:We're gonna pack some viral health trends today and help you get some clarity. So I'm gonna pull up a viral health trend that came out that a patient asked me about. But wellness sells because it promotes control. Functional medicine really teaches us that healing is holistic, it's personal. Not everyone can do the same thing and expect the same results.
Dr. Barrett:It's unique to your body. So let's look at some of these health trends. Let's start with the first one. So this is the one the patient sent. So Chandler said, hey, the the post was stress could be silently destroying your hips.
Dr. Barrett:That was the post. And it was that most people blame posture age type muscles for hip pain, but rarely think about stress hormones. Here's the truth. Cortisol, if stayed elevated, can be harmful. And what does it do?
Dr. Barrett:It breaks down muscle tissue for quick energy in the hips and core. Well, let's just talk about that for a second. Cortisol is a non is nonspecific. It's not gonna attack your hip muscles. K?
Dr. Barrett:It's gonna attack all muscles. Yes. Elevated cortisol can be something that is muscle degradation. We call it gluconeogenesis, which means your body is creating glucose or energy from protein, but that's contingent upon starving yourself. I mean, you have to be in a caloric deficit for that to really happen.
Dr. Barrett:And so when you look at that, hey, you know, what's the clickbait? Well, the clickbait is if you look at your body and say, hey, my hips are flabby and I'm losing muscle. It must be cortisol. So then I'm gonna, I'm gonna, you know, sign up for whatever program this is and do it. Well, that's not the case.
Dr. Barrett:Cortisol is nonspecific. That hormone is systemic. It travels throughout the whole body. And if you are in a protein deficiency state, caloric deficiency state, yeah, you're gonna get muscle breakdown. But that's true.
Dr. Barrett:That's not true of cortisol alone. And and people think that, like, you know, caffeine excessively spikes your cortisol. It doesn't. It doesn't produce this big cortisol spike. Actually, the best way to get cortisol elevation is through sunlight exposure.
Dr. Barrett:And let me tell you this truth. Just be you know, cortisol elevation is not a bad thing. Cortisol is an essential hormone to the body, and we make the most of it in the morning. It's actually what wakes woke you up this morning. Cortisol.
Dr. Barrett:Cortisol is not bad. Cortisol is very good, and, and we need it in balance. We need it in rhythm. So circadian rhythm is the most important and the circadian rhythm of cortisol is dependent upon light exposure in the morning and no light exposure at night. If you want the best way to heal your circadian rhythm and promote cortisol balance, See light in the morning and don't see it at the evening.
Dr. Barrett:In essence, shut the devices off at night and get first light exposure in the morning. That is the best way to promote a healthy circadian rhythm. So no, cortisol is not gonna eat your hips away. Okay. That is a kind of a debunked health conversation that was posted there on on Instagram.
Dr. Barrett:So let's keep going. Let's move down. So what are some other ones? How about there's a big kind of trend on these detox teas or the this rapid cleanse kind of program. Let's be very clear.
Dr. Barrett:Detoxification is not something you mess with. K? We had a clinical meeting today in the office, and I was talking to the team about how vital, how important it is to go through the necessary steps of detoxification. And you don't go to step B without accomplishing step A. And step A is reduction of inflammation.
Dr. Barrett:It's getting the gut healthy. It's getting the liver set up properly for future detoxification. But most of our patients, we don't even get into quote unquote detoxification till month five, six, or beyond. Why? Because the body's not positioned for it.
Dr. Barrett:It's not ready for it. And if you just jump into a quote unquote detox program off the shelf, it is not going to usually support your health journey and detox just doesn't happen that way. Every day your body is going through detoxification. Right? The liver, that's what it's supposed to do.
Dr. Barrett:So true detoxification is just getting your liver to do what it was meant to do and making it just work better. So when we look at these extreme detox teas or rapid cleanse programs, they are not set up for long term success and actually can harm you in the short term. So herbal laxatives and diuretics marketed as fat burners can lead to dehydration electrolyte imbalance and major GI disruption. Instead a functional medicine perspective is detox is real but it's about supporting the liver, the gut, and the lymphatic system, and that takes time. What about cold plunging every day?
Dr. Barrett:Now, I'm gonna tell you, I cold plunge every day, but does that mean you should cold plunge every day? Well, maybe, But you have to work with a practitioner to figure out if that's even good for you. Ice baths are great for recovery and fat burning and stress reduction, stress resiliency and mood elevation, dopamine production, norepinephrine, some really good things, right? It can help stimulate the vagus nerve. It reduces inflammation.
Dr. Barrett:It can improve resilience, but the risks are that like thyroid imbalances and hormone imbalances, cold plunging can actually exacerbate those root issues. It can it can exacerbate exacerbate adrenal dysfunction. It can exacerbate and increase cardiovascular risk depending upon your current stress load and where your cardiovascular system's at. So it is not for everyone. Is to be used intentionally and not necessarily something that everyone should do every day.
Dr. Barrett:Make sure when you go into hot or extreme environments, you know, hot or cold that you work with a practitioner to know that if your body is set up to handle that fasting is the same way. Not everyone should be fasting. A body has to be positioned and postured for fasting. And so cold exposure and high exposure, the exact same. Just because I do it doesn't mean you should.
Dr. Barrett:And cold plunging every day is a prime example of that. Maybe you've heard of like sleep maxing or maxing out your sleep, sleep maxing, recovery maxing, fiber maxing. These are things that the word you're gonna see more and it's called maxing or maxing out. So when it comes to slight sleep maxing, right, you know, hacking your sleep. Listen, if you saw my sleep world, it's probably excessive maybe to the average person, cold environment, no noise, sound machine, right?
Dr. Barrett:Right. We're cutting off electronics before bed, but to like to what extent? Okay. So the trend is like blue light glasses and mouth taping and all these gadgets and wearables. And here's the here's the problem that I have.
Dr. Barrett:The problem is not that those things are wrong or bad because they're not It's what is it doing to your mental state? So an Oura Ring, a Whoop device, it can create OCD tendencies anxiety about what number you're hitting in. And so I think it loses the intuitive value of looking at your body and scoring it based on how you felt like your body slept through the night and rest of the night. Now, I'm not against wearables. I have an Oura Ring.
Dr. Barrett:I've worn Whoop or Oura Ring for years, but I've also built my sleep program over the course of twenty years. Right? So half of my life has been dedicated to intentional, you know, health journeys. So when you look at the way the what I do today, it's not what I did ten years ago or even twenty years ago. So to just jump into this position of I'm gonna mouth say program blue like last time it becomes so excessive and obsessive that it actually can drive anxiety OCD tendencies that are not healthy that are not mentally healthy for you be mindful that too much too soon is not necessarily a good thing and it can bite you in the end.
Dr. Barrett:About extreme elimination diets? Right? So this would be like carnivore or vegan or whatever maybe maybe keto. So you've heard me talk about carnivore. You've heard me talk about keto.
Dr. Barrett:And again, these things can be good in the right setting, but you gotta understand if you live in carnivore, most people are going to have major nutritional deficiencies. They're not gonna do what Saladino's doing and they're eating a bunch of heart and liver and kidney and brain. You're not doing that. He's doing that but you're not and if you don't do that most people when they look at keto they're just slamming down a bunch of cheese and it's creating actually more inflammation problems in their body because they're not really in ketosis. They're flirting with it and they're eating a bunch of junk food.
Dr. Barrett:So when I look at most people that do keto most people that do carnivore, they're eating a bunch of just bacon and pork or even vegetarians. They're not doing it in a way that it's designed of what it's designed for and they're not being supported by a practitioner. It's helping them understand the intent behind why they're doing it. Why get into ketosis a true state of ketosis in a balanced way in a healthy way. Well, I'm trying to heal the brain.
Dr. Barrett:Okay, that makes sense. How long thirty days for sixty days ninety days. We're not doing it for ten years two years one year even rarely do I take patients past three months. And so paleo diet's kind of my foundational tool right anti inflammatory diet. You can go to realhealthco.com and download our anti inflammatory food plan, which would be perfect for virtually everyone.
Dr. Barrett:But when you go to the extreme, you know, most people aren't doing it well unsupervised and it's leading to poor gut microbiome. When you specialize your diet, you starve certain bacteria from thriving. It can create in major rebound cravings. When you go without a food for a certain period of time and you add that back in that rebound effect is so significant that it actually drives a state of health that's worse than it was before the nutrition change. So be mindful of these extreme diets, these extreme elimination diets and work with the practitioner.
Dr. Barrett:So how do we spot misinformation? Right? How do we how how do you look? What's the framework of looking at a post and saying, hey, this is good, or this is just clickbait. We've got to be mindful of what we're listening to hearing so that we can make sure that we're adopting, adapting health changes that are promoting health, not just selling a product.
Dr. Barrett:So the first thing is check the source. Is it an influencer or is it a clinician with training? Check the source. If they're not a clinician who's trained and specialized in the area, move on. Number two, who benefits?
Dr. Barrett:Everyone's selling something. To who what's the benefit to them? What are they selling? Are they selling a product, a supplement, or a program? Okay?
Dr. Barrett:If they are, then they really aren't there in an unbiased way just trying to help and add value to your life. Right? So if you're seeing this like, hey, click on this link and buy this little tag you put on your body. Okay. Or buy this supplement or buy this or sign up for this program.
Dr. Barrett:They're just selling you. They're selling you. Right? And you're in is I think it's time to move on. Like, okay.
Dr. Barrett:One of my favorites, and I don't agree with everything, but Huberman, you know, he's not selling anything. He's not selling anything. You know, listen to his podcast. Right? That's how he's growing, but he's adding value to people without having to sell people.
Dr. Barrett:Look for balance. Science is rarely black and white. Rarely is it so black and white. There's gray. Are they communicating from a balanced perspective at a patient today?
Dr. Barrett:Ask about vaccines. Hey doctor. What's your recommendation? Well, here's my first conversation. Informed consent.
Dr. Barrett:It's informed consent. I'm not gonna tell you I'm pro or anti vaccine or even in the middle. I'm pro informed consent. Do you know what you're getting into if you vaccinate? Do you know what you're getting into if you don't vaccinate?
Dr. Barrett:And why would you vaccinate and why would you not vaccinate? You have to know that. You have to own that and then you come to the table and have a clinician who's willing to work with you have an understanding of if you do or you don't vaccinate. Here's here's how you support that part of the body that's called unbiased true like practitioner care. That's not a hey dogmatic you have to do this.
Dr. Barrett:To me look for balance. And the last thing your body your body's context matters. What works for one may not work for another. So they say, hey, everyone's gonna benefit. Everyone's gonna yeah, this is for everyone.
Dr. Barrett:Everyone needs to do carnivore. That's not true. Just not true. So if you get that language, right? Then you're buying into a influencer who's trying to sell you something.
Dr. Barrett:So check the source who benefits look for balance and your body's context matters. It's not for everyone. When we look at social media, it's amazing for sparking curiosity have conversation but your health deserves more than clickbait. Don't don't trade short term hacks for long term health. Don't trade short term hacks for long term health.
Dr. Barrett:Long term health is disciplines over time done consistently will reap the greatest rewards and health is simple. Move your body every day. Eat an anti inflammatory diet. Have a healthy spiritual emotional life. Go to sleep.
Dr. Barrett:Maximize your sleep. Right? Go to sleep consistently at same time every day. Move your body every day. Get adjusted.
Dr. Barrett:That's gonna cover ninety percent of health problems. The other 10% work with a functional medicine practitioner, dive a little bit deeper and explore where the roadblocks are in that journey. Be aware. Okay. Don't buy into everything you read.
Dr. Barrett:That is more important now than ever. I love the wellness industry. I love the information being communicated but you are better than just clicking on something and buying something today. Be wise. Be smart. Be diligent. Thanks for listening to another episode of the Real Health Podcast.
Dr. Barrett:Our passion is to add value to your healthcare journey. Anything that we do we want to do it within a community to help as many people as possible. Thanks for listening to episodes of Real Health Podcast. If you could like, if you could subscribe and you can share, it would help our mission to reach as many people with real health that produces real results for real people.
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