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Chapter 1
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Our Saga Begins! Dave discovers he doesn’t know ANYTHING about how a body actually works! Dr. Val shares the results of Dave’s blood work, and they learn the truth about the challenges that face them in order to repair the physical damage inside of Dave. Let the saving commence!!
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Transcript
Introduction: Dave's Health Crisis
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the very beginning of Dr. Val Saves Dave. Who's saving who from what now? It's a good question. My name is Dave Hempstead, and I've been a standup comedian for almost 25 years, minus the pandemic, which took a bit of a toll on me physically. The old Rolling Stone gathered a bit of moss, if you know what I mean.
00:00:22
Speaker
In January of 24, it hit me that I'd be turning 50 this summer, which is a miracle in itself because my life as a comedian has not been a very healthy one. It's been lots of drinking, some poor sleep habits, terrible food choices, awful hours. Great fun, really. But I finally remember that when I was younger, I told myself I wanted to be in great shape when I turned 50. Have I ever procrastinated on that? I only have six months left, so I've got to make some changes immediately.
First Steps: Blood Work and Findings
00:00:51
Speaker
The only thing is, I don't know how to live a healthy lifestyle. Luckily, one of my close friends is a naturopathic doctor, Dr. Valerie Frank, or Dr. Val, as I refer to her, is not only a doctor of naturopathy, but she's incredibly healthy and willing to try and rescue my body from the terrible overlord of meat.
00:01:11
Speaker
So we sat down on January 14th, exactly six months until my 50th birthday to record this journey together. This is our first episode where we break down my blood work, find out how bad the self-inflicted damage is. I'm going to learn a lot. She's going to laugh at me a lot. And hopefully you'll either be learning or laughing along with us. It's a spoonful of laughter to help the medicine go down. Join us on this six month journey and let's find out if Dr. Val can save Dave.
00:01:45
Speaker
Hey everybody, have you heard the news? Dave's turning 50 and he's got the blues He's out of shape and this is true He needs help, he has no clue He grabs his phone and she can't quit Don't you bow, we'll do her trick She'll be tough, there's no free pass Come on Dave, get off your ass Don't you bow, can you save Dave?
The Personalized Health Journey
00:02:10
Speaker
He's called a lie
00:02:30
Speaker
Doc, I gotta believe people come to you in these desperate situations looking for hope. How do you help somebody like me? Where do we start? What do we do?
00:02:40
Speaker
Well, the first thing that I want to say is everybody has their own unique health journey and it's all individualized. So I think it's really important to know that as we move through this journey together, we're kind of going to go through the steps of what I would take my patients through on the regular visits and in the treatment, but this treatment is dialed in and directed to you.
00:03:01
Speaker
So do not try this at home. This medical advice that I'm giving Dave is for Dave. Do not do this yourself. And if you're thinking, hey, that sounds like a great idea, go see a qualified healthcare practitioner before you take anything.
00:03:18
Speaker
So right. Okay. So that's yes. So do not do what I'm going to do listeners. Luckily, you don't have the body. Yeah. Pass this through your doctor. I'm sure you're in much better shape than I am. Whoever's listening. If you're not, join me. This is terrifying.
00:03:35
Speaker
This is potentially humiliating and embarrassing, very difficult, but for somebody who's out there feeling like I am, I'm hoping that by sharing this journey, I'll inspire you that it's not too late to turn this. This feels like a big cruise ship that we're trying to turn around as it's really racing into the heartburn. I don't know. Or towards the iceberg. Yeah, I don't know that we can turn this thing quick enough, but let's find out together. That is my area of expertise and passion.
00:04:04
Speaker
So let's start at the beginning. Okay. So at the very beginning, so there were some forms I had to fill out now. Explain these forms. So there were a couple of different forms. One was just this whole big initial visit form and the initial visit form is like 15 pages and it goes over all of these different systems and tells us everything, you know, what medications you're on, you know, what health
00:04:27
Speaker
history you have, what's happened in the past.
Balanced Oxidizer: The Mediterranean Diet
00:04:30
Speaker
Cause what we're going to look at is not just, Hey, what are the health conditions that you have now? We're going to actually look at how do we reverse the aging process and get you actually to have the same health, vibrancy and fitness as when you were 20. But like, let's actually be realistic probably better because you were taking care of yourself when you were 20. I was pretty good at 20 better than I am now. Let me ask you this. How many years will it take to get me back to 20?
00:04:55
Speaker
Oh, if you follow the protocol that I set before you, we could actually get you there within six months to a year. No way. You're telling me we're going to be able to shave 20 some years off me in the next six months? Oh my gosh, why didn't I start a year ago?
00:05:14
Speaker
procrastination, ADD. All those things, yes, okay. If we could, I don't want to go all the way back to puberty, so let's go, let's stay in the 20s. Absolutely, 20s to 30s. These, if I could spend the rest of my life filling out intake forms, oh my god, would I be happy.
00:05:30
Speaker
Um, these are a nightmare. I don't know about you, but I can't stand filling out these kinds of forms. I find them maddening. Oh, I love them. They're like naturopathic Cosmo quizzes. Like this one is called a metabolic typing test. So this is one of the ones that we should talk about because this one I, you know, is one that, uh, I like to use and, um, it helps in terms of really looking at the percentage of carbohydrates, fats and proteins that someone needs.
00:05:58
Speaker
because one of the first mistakes that people make is they're like, oh, I had this friend who went vegan and they lost all this weight and they feel great and vegan is the way to go and everybody should be vegan. Yay, I'm gonna do that. And then other people will be like, no, keto. I had someone who did like all keto, like which is the when and don't eat butter diet,
Blood Test Revelations: High Iron Levels
00:06:16
Speaker
you know, like you just eat nothing but fat. And then other people are like carnivore. Here's what you can eat on the carnivore diet, meat. Here's what you can drink, water.
00:06:26
Speaker
Is it meat? Eat it. Is it not meat? Don't eat it. Is it water? Drink it. Is it not water? Don't drink it. It's that simple. But then there are other people who are like, you know, Mediterranean diet. So everybody's kind of like, I don't know what I should do because what's the Blue Zone diet, which is basically Mediterranean? What's plant based? It's the new way of saying vegan. So it's or pescatarian or flexatarian. There's so many different ways, but that helps to kind of tell us
00:06:54
Speaker
what you're actually going to do well with and what your body's asking for at this moment in time. There are genetic tests that can do that too, but I find this is really, really accurate when you don't have the genetic testing available to you. Okay, so not to be that guy, but just as an example, question three, your appetite at lunch is A,
00:07:16
Speaker
strong so let's be realistic that's I hate that question first of all what's normal there's no such thing as normal normal doesn't exist how would I know
00:07:27
Speaker
other people are at lunch and are even for myself. Also, every day is different. What did I have for breakfast? How much sleep did I get? You know, my appetite at lunch is different every day. I don't live a routine life. So a question like this drives me nuts, but let's go with normal on this one, okay? I'm an average Joe. I probably have an average appetite at lunch.
00:07:51
Speaker
Anyways, I'm not going to make you go through this to your listeners, but suffice it to say, when insects bite you, your reaction is discomfort.
00:08:06
Speaker
Your eyes tend to be dry or tear often or you don't notice one way or the other. I gotta go with don't notice a lot about my eyes. They're great for looking at them. That's fantastic. Can you still do that? Yeah, so far so good on that. Why? What have you heard?
00:08:23
Speaker
Only rumors. All right. So long story short, I filled out this whole thing, which was to get us a result right now. Uh, if you're taking a metabolic typing test at home, you will find out if you are a slow oxidizer, a balanced oxidizer or a fast oxidizer. Right. Now, before I reveal what I am, first of all, explain to me what the difference is and why anyone would care. Okay. Here's why you're going to care. So someone who is a slow oxidizer, that's, that's a,
00:08:53
Speaker
If you answer mostly A's, then your body actually wants to be more vegetarian, more plant-based. So you break down carbohydrates very slowly. The oxidizer part is saying how fast you break down carbohydrates, how fast it turns into glucose, how much of an issue you're going to have with blood sugar balance.
00:09:11
Speaker
So if you're someone who is a fast oxidizer, or in this case, we'll go with slow oxidizer. If you're a slow oxidizer, you've answered mostly A's, and your best friend does keto and loves it. Or let's say it's a man and a woman in a relationship, because I've seen this happen a lot, and men do really
Diet and Cholesterol: Avoiding Carbs
00:09:31
Speaker
well with keto. And so your guy does keto and starts sculpting and looking like a Greek god, and you do keto.
00:09:39
Speaker
that person is going to feel awful. They're going to gain weight, they're going to hate it the entire time and they're going to ruin their marriage or relationship because they're going to hate their partner. They're going to be like, how come you're losing all this weight and I can't? Because you're not doing what your body is designed and built for and what is comfortable for it. So that person should be plant-based.
00:10:00
Speaker
So what you're saying is if I go keto, I'll have the body of a Greek God. That's what I heard. We're going to depend. We're going to find out, right? It's going to depend. No exercise required, right? So Dave Asprey says, Dave Asprey says that through keto and the bulletproof, his bulletproof executive way of doing things, you can get down to 10% men can get down to 10% body fat.
00:10:22
Speaker
without exercise. So that's neither here nor there. If I were a slow oxidizer, and again, I'm not telling you what kind I am yet, because I love this kind of drama. If you were a slow oxidizer. But now if I was a fast oxidizer, then I would prefer what? You'd prefer keto. Because you'd burn through the carbohydrates really fast. So anything with sugar is going to be super addictive. It's going to spike and crash your blood sugar levels. You're going to have insulin resistance. You're going to have challenges in terms of leptin levels. You're going to have
00:10:52
Speaker
Basically, you're going to put on weight easily, you're going to get a lot of sugar cravings and carb cravings. Okay, so the slow oxidizers should do what kind of diet then? Plant-based. So vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian. And the fast oxidizers should do the heavy meats, the heavy proteins. Usually keto, actually. Usually the keto. The higher fat, higher protein.
00:11:13
Speaker
now the balanced oxidizer for example now just here comes the big reveal that's me i'm a balanced oxidizer so there we go we can tell your significant other that you are officially balanced i'm sure i can still tip the scales
00:11:32
Speaker
So actually good point because a balanced oxidizer can has a little bit of challenges with carbohydrates, but not as much as a fast oxidizer. And so they generally do well on a Mediterranean way of eating or what Barry Sears termed as the zone.
00:11:49
Speaker
So I don't know if you remember way, way back in the eighties and early nineties, Barry Sears was doing the zone. And so he was working with a lot of athletes and it's basically like for it. He says it's 40, 30, 30, 40% of your calories coming from carbohydrates, 30% from protein, 30% from fat. So it's a higher protein and higher and moderate amounts of fat. 30% is still within low fat.
00:12:14
Speaker
and then a lower amount of carbohydrates, more of the complex carbohydrates. So someone who's a balanced oxidizer can do plant-based for a little while and feel okay for a bit, or do keto for a little while and feel okay for a bit. Eventually they're going to want to come back midline. So what I'm hearing is I can eat whatever I want.
00:12:36
Speaker
No. That's what you're saying. That's a balanced oxidizer. You should be eating the Mediterranean way. You should go to Greece, go to Italy. Okay. What is a Mediterranean diet? Let's start with that. The Mediterranean way of eating is focusing more on fruits, vegetables, olives, olive oils, fish, chicken, poultry. They do some dairy products that are fermented like yogurts, maybe a little bit of cheese.
00:13:05
Speaker
very, very little meat. And they focus on foods found in the Mediterranean area, your olives, your olive oils, a lot of the fish and seafood, hummus, you know, that type of eating. Okay, so find out what kind of oxidizer you are first, right? Now, what else do I need to know about oxidizing? Can I change what kind of oxidizer I am? Am I born that way?
00:13:28
Speaker
Well, thank you for asking because your body will change as your needs change. And so I've seen people who were more of a fast oxidizer, who then ended up heading towards Mediterranean when they've done some healing. I've seen people who need to eat more plant-based, who are more of the slow oxidizers, but then when they get under a lot of stress, they need more protein.
00:13:54
Speaker
Is it possible that I changed how I oxidize or is it just that my metabolism has slowed as part of the natural aging process? And if we're reversing it, how, what, untangled is not for me? Absolutely. First of all, every, your body is always changing. Your surroundings are always changing. So the foods that you need to fuel your body will depend on hormone balance and will depend on your lifestyle. It's not about aging.
00:14:24
Speaker
Because at 70, 80, 50, 60, 70, you should have the same energy, the same weight, the same ability to put on muscle mass and feel as good as you did in your 20s and 30s.
00:14:36
Speaker
So if it's not that way, it's just because your body is asking for a way of healing or a way of being fed and nurturing and you're just not giving it to it. That's all. So that can always shift. North Americans age way too fast. And we buy into this, you know, aging BS. It's not true.
00:14:56
Speaker
I always liked the idea that you're one until you're not. I don't like that they keep throwing these numbers at us. There we go. But they do. It's hard not to measure yourself by your, your age, but it is something I'd like to get away from. Except for the fact that we have the six months to just really like it. I think if I was in shape at 50, I'd feel better about saying age is just a number or as if you're, you know, making a lot of noises every time you get out of a chair.
00:15:27
Speaker
but you shouldn't feel different than you did when you were in your twenties. So let's start that journey and let's get you back there. In fact, I could argue I haven't matured at all.
00:15:39
Speaker
So why should the rest of you? It's the same body that's given out on me. I feel like the same kid. Absolutely. And so let's reframe that. Because it's just your body trying to talk to you and say, OK, I don't like these aspects of how you're nurturing me and feeding me and how you're taking care of me. So it's just trying to give you feedback and say, this is what I like, this is what I don't like. So what you're saying is, I need to learn to speak body? Yes. Aha. You need to listen to your body. I don't speak body.
00:16:08
Speaker
That's right. Okay. Interesting. So I got to learn how to speak body. I don't speak body. It's like learning how to understand R2D2 and Star Wars.
00:16:26
Speaker
Okay. So I've been ignoring what my body's telling me because I find my body and my brain argue quite a bit. And I don't know if that's normal. Like, would you say your body and your brain are in perfect harmony as that? I don't think anybody's is. And truthfully, we're taught not to listen to our body. Like right from the time when we're little, like when you're sitting in that chair and your mom's like, eat your vegetables and like, you've got to finish everything on your plate. And if you don't, you're in trouble.
00:16:54
Speaker
you know, we start getting those signals. And then as we start getting into our teen years, you know,
00:17:00
Speaker
You want to put on some muscle mass or you want to lose weight. So you start like forcing your body into different things. Like I'm going to force down a couple of cheeseburgers or, you know, I'm going to starve myself. And all of these things disconnect us from our body and 90% of the nutrition advice that's out there is completely wrong.
Mind vs Body: Health and Fitness Goals
00:17:19
Speaker
So we're getting sent these messages all the time that just disconnect us from learning how to listen to ourselves.
00:17:26
Speaker
Here's something I do. I don't know if anybody else does this, but as I'm nearing the end of a meal and I'm starting to feel full, I will then speed eat in order to get it in before my body gets stopped. I'm pretty full. I don't know. Let's say chicken nuggets, even though it's not that. I was like, I probably could only eat one or two more. I'm like, well, let's get them in quick. I can feel the body is about to be like, that's too much.
00:17:54
Speaker
and you never know when you're going to get your next meal. You should always act like you can live each day as if it's your last. It's a philosophy that I've really, really adopted and probably misinterpreted. I've seen your blood work, it might be.
00:18:16
Speaker
When I honestly, there's a point where I get full and then I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna eat fast. And there's also times where I go, Hey, I'm going to go for a run. And my body goes, yeah, no, no, you're not. You're only on this couch. My brain will be like, yeah, well, come on, we gotta do stuff. And my body will be like, yeah, why don't you stare at one of those screens with the moving pictures for a while.
00:18:38
Speaker
I'll be playing the sport. Like I'm that kind of a dumb athlete where if you say go for a run, I'd be like, no, I can't, I'll tie or whatever. But if you threw a ball, I'd be like, oh, go get it. Go get the ball, which is why I need gays and stuff to exercise. So there have been times where I'm hurting, I don't feel good, but I have a hockey game that night. And I'm like, I don't care, buddy. I've hurt enough out of you. You're going. So that is going to be really important for setting goals and moving forward and helping to motivate yourself.
00:19:05
Speaker
So what I always tell- So who's in charge? The brain or the body in your opinion? Yes. I knew it.
00:19:18
Speaker
So now you know something about your brain and, you know, when you're thinking about running, for example, running, especially long distances, is a mental game. It's all about the mental game. So you've got to have that. So if you have some type of a goal that's going to motivate you, then your brain is always going to win out and you're just going to go and do it.
00:19:38
Speaker
Right. And so your body, you always want to be in tune with it because you don't want to push it too far. You don't want to have an injury, but you need those goals or you need to know how to stack your habits or how to motivate yourself. So for you, you know, A, if you gamify it, B, if you make it a competition, it's going to happen. So if you say, I'm going to take up long distance running marathon, running on my own,
00:20:04
Speaker
You're going to hate it. It's going to suck the entire time. I hate it hearing you say it. I was terrified that you were going to tell me I'm going to start doing it. Yes, that's why you say it. No. We're doing this together. What if I were to say, you know, like, you know, your, your competitor.
00:20:20
Speaker
someone that you absolutely always compete against, who's usually better than you, is gonna do it, and they're gonna do it better than you are. Oh, you're gonna get that done. No, I'm gonna devalue that and go, well, that's a stupid hobbit. I'm better at something else than that. Or if we gamify it. I said hobbit instead of habit by the way. That's a stupid hobbit. I didn't mean that. I'm hobbit with a stupid fur on its foot. I'm running as man, I'm running as man, I'm running as man, I'm running as man, I'm running as man, I'm running as man, I'm running as man, I'm running as man, I'm running as man, I'm running as man, I'm running as man,
00:20:55
Speaker
Right. There has to be a way to dangle my own carrot. Pretty much. No, don't dangle your carrots. No one wants to see that. But if you actually, like you have a group that you do whirl with and you do those competitions, like see who can get it, who can do this first. Sure. So if you gamified it and said, okay, I've got, you know, let's do this with a couple of good friends and let's see who can get to this goal first, like who can bench press the most.
00:21:24
Speaker
right, the fast or run the fastest or who can do, you know, the 90 day challenge, you know, and get exercise and meditation in every single day for 90 days, you know? Yeah. And obviously not to get into the semantics, but it should be gains, not
00:21:43
Speaker
as a bigger person than, you know, you shouldn't know. Listener, we're starting this journey with me at 220 pounds. 220, somewhat fit, still functional, pounds. We can talk about goals as we get into this, but I'm sorry 220 pounds, so I should be able to move more weight. You know, Doc, you weigh seven pounds.
00:22:08
Speaker
Doc Val here is much more fit than I am. Think of a Great Dane in a Chihuahua. Yeah, a Great Dane in a Chihuahua. We're fine. So obviously the Chihuahua is not bench pressing the same as the Great Dane, regardless of mental determination. But so from a gain standpoint, percentage of standpoint, you could measure and start a competition, right? Anybody out there could start a game with anybody out there and say, what do you live now for your bench press? And let's see how much you can increase that, et cetera.
00:22:36
Speaker
but I like your other point about just how many days in a row and the consistency and the 90 day challenge of whatever it's going to be.
00:22:44
Speaker
Or 75 hard, I don't know if you've heard all about that. 75 hard? Yes, it's called 75 hard. And so it's, you know, you have to do these certain things for 75 days in a row.
Water Intake: How Much is Enough?
00:22:54
Speaker
And you have to, it's part of it's drinking water, it has a certain amount of pushups, sit ups, you know, meditation. And you have to, if you miss a day, because you're supposed to build on it every single day for 75 days, but if you miss a day, you have to start back at the beginning. No. No. Yeah. I could probably drink water for 75 days.
00:23:13
Speaker
I mean, it'd be hard. Today, day one, let's see. Every day. I have to put a reminder in the phone. Every day. You just have to drink water every day? Yep. Ooh, can you mix it with vodka at least? No way.
00:23:27
Speaker
There is a simple water. That's what it sounds like. There we go. How much water? Here's a great one. I don't know. Let's work at the basics before we even talk about where we're going. Here's clear up some misconceptions for me. How much water is the right amount of water to drink? I've heard people tell you you should drink until you're
00:23:45
Speaker
urine is a certain color. That's your metric. I've got other people say, leaders a day. Some people say you can't drink enough water. And then I've read articles that say you can absolutely drink too much water and damage yourself. So you can drink too much water. You can. How do you know when you've drank too much water? You're dead. Because that can't happen if you drink too much water. Are you breathing? Just short of diet.
00:24:08
Speaker
I don't know, that's too much for today. So it goes back to Great Dane versus Shuel, right? Like what's your body size? So one of the things I've heard people say is if you take your body weight in pounds and divide it by half, that's the number of ounces you should be drinking in a day. This is Canada, we don't do ounces though, we do liters.
00:24:30
Speaker
Well, for cups, we do eight ounces in a cup. I knew there'd be math. Okay. Right. So yeah, so you got to drink half of it. So I get to drink 121, 110 ounces. That's half of 220. 110 ounces of water. Okay. How many shots? You should be able to do this math. That's a lot of shots. I mean, I prefer two ounce shots. Okay. 55 shots of water.
00:24:57
Speaker
Yes. We're gamifying it. It's just water. It's not vodka anymore. Let's gamify this. I'm going to do 55 shots of water. I love it. It's a moral. Film it for you. But you have to watch me drink 55 shots of water. I promise to watch the film. Won't that be exciting?
00:25:20
Speaker
You can't watch a guy do 55 shots of water? All right. Anyway, so there's a, what happens if you drink too much water? What's the downside of that? Well, you could do damage to your kidneys and you could actually lose electrolytes and lose a lot of different minerals from your system. But honestly, if you do drink too much water, you can, you can die from it. Okay. So, but you got to be trying really hard. Sure who's drinking too much of anything though? Yeah. Okay. So there's limits to that.
00:25:50
Speaker
So here we go. So those of you who are choosing to go on this journey with us, this is the part that's vulnerable. I don't know what I'm about to hear. Doc here in order to get started sent me to get some blood work done. They took 13 vials.
00:26:06
Speaker
of blood out of me. I think I lost a couple pounds actually. It wasn't so bad. Look at that starting already. So we decided to save it in the hopes that it would be an entertaining part of this chapter one of the Dr. Val and the Bad Bot Challenge. So this is the part I've been dreading. I'm hoping it's good news. It probably won't be because, you know, I love cheeseburgers and beers. So
00:26:34
Speaker
Here we go. The blood work, this is where we start the six months. Give me the bad news first. Well, and actually I would say there's great value in going over all of the testing that we did because a lot of the testing is what your medical doctor would be doing every single year on a physical exam or what they should be doing. But there's some extra stuff that we looked at as well. We went into some pretty great detail.
00:27:01
Speaker
So if you're actually looking to maximize health, if you're looking to optimize your performance, you need a bit of a deeper dive. And this is something anybody can get done, get their blood work. And so this is more than your standard blood test. This is you doing a deep dive inside. Careful what you wish for, I guess.
00:27:25
Speaker
Well, I've changed my mind. Give me the good news first. Is there any good news? There's a lot of good news. So the first thing that we looked at is your white blood cells, your red blood cells, and your platelets. And they're all in the normal range. So when a medical doctor looks at this test, you're going to see like there's reference ranges. So the ranges that are in the normal range, and then there's your results. So under your results, for example, for your white blood cells,
00:27:50
Speaker
They're up at 6.2. That's good, right? That sounds good. It's in the normal range because the reference range is between 4 and 11. So it's normal. 6.2, yeah. So it's a little low. No, actually. It's just in a range. It's healthy. Your medical doctor would go, this is healthy, this is fine, this is good. For me, I tend to see the white blood cell count being closer to 4 on an average level.
00:28:14
Speaker
unless you're fighting off an infection and then it starts to climb up. And so given that I know your health history and I know that you had an infection fairly close to when you had the blood work done, I'm thinking that, you know, I would assume that your white blood cell count is a little bit elevated in the normal range compared to what it otherwise would be because your body was fighting off an infection. All right. So good work, white blood cells. They're working great. Good stuff. Exactly.
00:28:42
Speaker
All right, how about my red blood cells? What are those guys up to? They're perfect. Perfect? Yeah, they're in a really good range of normal. Come on. I know. The way I treat myself? Yep. Outstanding work. Yay, red blood cells. You guys are getting on the staff party. Exactly. All right. How do I reward my red blood cells? What can I do? What could anyone do for their white blood cells or their red blood cells?
00:29:06
Speaker
Well, they're white blood cells. I mean, that's part of your immune system. So, you know, things that we think of for the immune system, like vitamin D, vitamin C, that's all good stuff. But we're going to really tailor it into what you need, because there were some things that were really important for you here. Typically, do you see people with higher white blood cell counts, lower blood? Like, what concerns you when you're looking at white blood cells? What's a warning sign if somebody does get this? When should they be like, oh, that's bad news?
00:29:33
Speaker
A low white cell count means that you can't fight off infection. And if it's, for me, if it's high, your medical doctor is going to flag it too. But for me, if it's high in the normal range, then I'm like, okay, there's an infection there that we need to take a look at and we need to make sure we're killing that off. Got it. And with red blood cells, high or low means?
00:29:56
Speaker
Well, it could mean a vitamin or mineral deficiency if it's low. Um, and we didn't, we won't want it low because if it's too low, what you'll have happening is you'll have low energy, poor focus, poor concentration. Okay. And so that's no good. Um, it could be, if it's low, it could be a bleed somewhere that we don't know about. So what you're saying is I cannot currently blame my lack and ability to concentrate and focus on my red blood cell. Nope, you can't. Okay, great.
00:30:25
Speaker
What do we look at? More good news. Well, we can look at some things for- There's a lot of scrolling that happened there. There is. No, she had to really scroll to find some more good news. We scooped a lot of stuff to go, oh yeah, no, I thought there was something else here. No, we're going to go down to your erythrocyte sedimentation rate, which is normal, which is great. Yeah, you got to slow down.
00:30:49
Speaker
My urethra? Urethra site sedimentation rate. They take your red blood cells and they spin them really, really fast. Okay. So one more time, a little slower. My urethra? A urethra site sedimentation rate. E-S-R. Okay. Aretha Franklin sedimentation rate. That's right. So what's the rate this thing in? So basically what we're seeing is that yours is in a very good range of normal.
00:31:17
Speaker
So if that becomes elevated, you could have an autoimmune condition or a lot of inflammation in the system and we're not seeing that. Okay. So, so far we're all systems go. Yeah. All right. And we measured your fibrinogen, which if you had a lot of inflammation in the system or if you were clotting too much, that would be high, but it's in a nice normal range. You're not clotting too much. You're not clotting too little. Okay. Great. Which is also good for taking a look at atherosclerosis and
00:31:45
Speaker
kind of saying, well, is that process going on in the body right now? And no, that's one of the markers that we kind of look at. So it doesn't look like that's happening. So my fibrogen is fantastic. All right. I got to change my Facebook profile. There we go. If I was dating, I would let people know. Great fibrogen right here. Exactly. Not a clotter.
00:32:09
Speaker
Oh, is that a bracelet I should wear when the evidence comes? Just heads up, not a clotter. I guess that's good. You're going to want to know about that one, because as you fly a lot, you can become prone to having like little blood clots happening, right? Okay, I'm not a clotter. You're looking good so far. You're looking pretty good.
Liver Health Concerns: Alcohol Impact
00:32:40
Speaker
our medical disclaimer. Welcome to Dr. Val Saves Dave, where a naturopathic doctor and a comedian team up together to tickle your funny bone and maybe even teach you a thing or two about health. But hey, before you go down the rabbit hole of kale smoothies and laughter yoga, a quick reminder, we're not your doctor. We might have the prescription for a good joke, but when it comes to your health, consult the pros. So laugh and learn, but keep that stethoscope handy, just in case.
00:33:10
Speaker
So is that it for the good news? Are we into the bad news? Let's start getting into the bad news. Here we go. Brace yourselves. Your folic acid and your B12 levels are good, but when we look at your ferritin levels, which are a marker of your iron stores, they are high. Okay, high iron. That's good, isn't it?
00:33:27
Speaker
high iron stores, not good. Why? Because if iron it develops too much and in the stores, it's stored in the liver and it can start to begin to do damage. So it can start to develop, you can start to be more susceptible to heart disease and it could cause liver damage. It can cause issues with increased oxidative damage. I don't know why I thought iron had really strong muscles. It's like he's got an iron fist.
00:33:56
Speaker
Yeah, well, again, but not when it's in your liver. Right. Oh no, I don't want it there. How do I get another there? Yeah. Well, we'll be, I'll be making some recommendations for things that you can do to get better. Oh, okay. So it's not like just handstands or something shifted from your liver. So it falls towards your shoulders. No, but you could give blood or you could get into a lot of bar fights. Like if you start losing blood, like I know you play hockey. I just gave 13 vials.
00:34:22
Speaker
Apparently we're going to need a little more. Yeah. All right. So we'll just keep doing more blood work. So if I just gave blood every couple of weeks to fix my liver, it would start getting those iron stores coming down. That's insane. All right. Yeah. There are other ways to do it. I could still eat cheeseburgers and drink beer. No.
00:34:41
Speaker
So the next one down from there is called homocysteine and your levels are in a good range. My homocysteine is good. It's protein in the blood, but if you're at risk for cardiovascular disease, it'll elevate. Okay. So the heart's working.
00:34:59
Speaker
You are looking so far to be very good in terms of your risk of cardiovascular disease, except for the high ferritin levels, because that'll put a stress on the heart. I do like how your eyebrows might be. You're explaining that. You do seem quite surprised. I don't know if you know any of your eyebrows. You look okay, which is a bit of a shock.
00:35:24
Speaker
I remember. We've known each other for what, 17 years now? Yeah. Kind of be close to 20. Yeah. So yeah. I know your lifestyle through that time frame. A doc and I met at a conference where I was the comedian and she was the doctor. And so we went back
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah, almost 20 years, I guess. So yes, she has been witness to me not looking after myself. And yet, I feel all right. So there you go. My point's valid. And shockingly, audience, his fasting glucose level is normal. And his hemoglobin A1C, which is a marker for damage that can be done because the sugar levels are going out of balance, totally fine. Take that life.
00:36:13
Speaker
Is this even possible? Right? This is what I've been screaming because I'm a drunk Viking. That's some really good Viking genetics. This is what this is. I'm just made for battle.
00:36:26
Speaker
Yes, you are. So, no risk of diabetes, which is pretty fantastic. Great news. Okay. Well, here's where things kind of go south a little bit. I thought that was the... Oh, okay. Yeah. Go ahead. So, what we're looking at next is your gallbladder and your liver. Okay. Now, first things first, what is a gallbladder for? What does it do? What do I need one for?
00:36:50
Speaker
You definitely need one. Okay. What's this do? Really important because, so the gallbladder sits under your liver. Your liver produces bile and bile is really important for breaking down fats and absorbing your essential fats and your fat, soluble vitamins and minerals. And so when you eat a fatty meal, the gallbladder, its job is to squirt. That's the medical term. So it'll contract. I need you to stop right there.
00:37:18
Speaker
full three count, a standing eight count before we move on. Honest to go, when I hear gallbladder, I assume that's the part that hangs up your turkey's neck. That's to attract all the ladies. Look at the gallbladder on that guy.
00:37:35
Speaker
That's right. Okay. So no, it's not. So it's a little sack you were saying that hides under the liver and it collects bile. Yep. That's where the bile drops into and the bile will just sit there until you've eaten a fatty meal. And then it squirts. Let's pick it up at the squirting. So it's when you eat a fatty meal, it contracts and when it contracts, it squeezes. And so all of the bile goes through what's called the common bile duct, this little tube that goes into the small intestine. So,
00:38:03
Speaker
it just gets in contact with the food that's digested, that's sitting there and it helps you to absorb your fats and your fat soluble vitamins and your fats. Okay. So this little volcano is sitting there filling up a pile and it erupts into the small intestine. Yep. Okay. It goes down there and now it's helping to absorb fat soluble vitamins and minerals. You can't absorb fat without it. Okay. And so then what happens to that fat it absorbs? Into your bloodstream so you can use it. So there are certain fats that are called essential.
00:38:33
Speaker
Okay. They're called essential fatty acids. I've heard that. Yeah. Yeah. And so if you want to absorb those, which are really important, hence the term essential, you need that. You need the bile. Yeah. And so if you're not digesting your fats properly, you're also not digesting the fat soluble vitamins, which are vitamin A, E, D and K. And those are really important critical nutrients for the body.
00:39:00
Speaker
And then there's fat soluble minerals. So if you don't have a gallbladder, which some people don't, they have to have it removed because they have gallstones. And so if that happens, you're going to become a little bit nutrient deficient. You're going to have trouble absorbing your, your minerals as well. Okay. So, but you can live without a gallbladder. Yes, but I don't advise it. Right. Okay.
00:39:21
Speaker
I mean, if you, if it's a medical emergency and you have to take it out, don't say, no, no, I keep it in. Cause the doc said, don't do that. That's not what I'm saying. Yeah. All right. So minds. So what's happening to mine? It's not ready to erupt, right? It's not holding by. All right. What is the blood rate telling you about my little volcano?
00:39:39
Speaker
Yeah, so we measure something called Billy Rubin, which... Billy Rubin. I used to play golf with him. Oh, did you? Yes. And so, well, he's elevated right now. If you measure him, he's 5'8", but he hits it a long way. Well, your Billy Rubin is actually elevated. Okay. That's good, right? Oh, yeah. Is your skin itchy? No. Eyes red? I don't know, are they?
00:40:06
Speaker
Are your eyes yellowing? How do you tell me? Well, they're going to start soon enough because... Would you look at yourself in the mirror every day? Well, it's helpful. Okay. I haven't stared at my eyes in a while, so I don't know. I assume they're a normal shade of eye colour. Well, they can tell us a little bit about the liver, right? Okay. So if they start going yellow, if the whites of the eyes start going yellow, then you could be having more of this Billy Rubin building up. And so that happens for people who have gallbladder issues.
00:40:36
Speaker
and it can be really uncomfortable. So if you have gallstones and one of them gets stuck, or if you have an issue with your ability to secrete the bile, you can get Billy Rubin elevating within the bloodstream and yours is starting to. Okay. So Billy Rubin needs to calm down.
00:40:55
Speaker
We need to really focus on that goal. When I go for the Billy, I know if he makes a couple of double bogeys, he goes through the roof. You're in trouble. Exactly. You're telling me that my internal Billy Rubin is not playing a great round of golf right now. Exactly. We've got to clean him out. An apologies listener. I prefer things in sports analogies. Makes it easier. It does for me. All right. So Billy Rubens is spiking a little bit. He's at a bad front nine, but we can, we can help Billy out. He can have a great back nine. Yeah.
00:41:22
Speaker
Now, are there things we do specifically for that? Or is that part of things we're doing for other things and Billy just gets a free place? No, we're going to target. Yeah, we can. We can specifically target the gallbladder. So we're going to do that crap out of Billy Reuben. Well, we're going to just love and nurture him. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That sounds like it's a bit longer. Okay, here's a practice. Let's beat the crap out of this.
00:41:53
Speaker
Your liver would be one of them. That's right. So, yeah. But, okay. Now, Billy Rubin, I'm assuming and the liver work together. They do. They're pals. They can. All right. So, all this is leading to the liver because let's face it, I've had quite a bit to drink over the last 20 some years. It's a life on the road. It's comedy. No excuses. I don't hide it. I drank quite a bit, but I'm a happy guy when I drink and I'm pretty good at it. So, it hasn't. And also, in my profession, in the comedy world, there's very little negative reinforcement.
00:42:22
Speaker
for drinking on the job. This is true. In fact, you know, people send you drinks on stage, people buy you drinks after. Alcohol is a big, big part of stand-up, at least my stand-up career has been. The newer kids, it seems, don't drink as much, and God bless, good luck as they should. And so I should probably, as I'm aging, tone it down a little bit, but let's talk about what damage I've done and what we're going to do about it. Well, and here's the thing that's really important to go through, because for many
00:42:53
Speaker
people that I see coming into my office when they go for their standard blood work with their medical doctor, their medical doctor will check their, will check their liver, but they'll check for a type of liver enzyme called AST or one called ALT or a little bit of both. And we checked your AST and your ALT and they're both in the normal range, but there's another liver enzyme that used to be tested more often that really a lot of medical doctors skip nowadays. And I find it's the most important one and it's called GGT.
00:43:22
Speaker
I know. So your GGT is actually mildly elevated. First of all, I think that stands for something. So hit me with some term I'll never remember. Gamma Glutamil Transferase. Uh-huh. GGT. Gamma. Glutamil. Glutamil. Transferase. All right. So gamma, so Gal Gadot. Yes, it's the Wonder Woman. There you go. This is my Wonder Woman. I love her. So Gal Gadot had to transfer. Yes. She took a bus to the subway. Take her any time.
00:43:51
Speaker
That woman is my hero. There you go. Perfect. So let's, let's call GGT our Gal Gadot transfer here. There we go. And again, this is not a medical show. You should not be taking medical advice from me. And here's why. Don't listen to anything I see. It should be evident, but if it's not. Okay. So, uh, my Gal Gadot is a little high. It is. Yeah. But at an alarming level or just like, okay, Gal, come on, calm down.
00:44:20
Speaker
It's actually, it's mildly elevated. So you should be less than 65 and you're at 71. Oh, that's not, that's like when Gal Gadot made everybody sing Imagine at the start of the pandemic. It's just a little annoying. I think I probably shouldn't be where it is, but it's fine. It's still wonderful. Yeah. Okay. So I need to get my Gal Gadot's just from 71 to 65. That doesn't seem like a lot. Well, here's the thing.
00:44:43
Speaker
the liver enzymes will begin to elevate when 75% or more of your liver is damaged. So you have had a lot of damage happening before the liver enzymes are going to start to elevate. Uh-huh. So what you're saying is the fact that we're above 65.
Liver Regeneration: Hope for Recovery
00:45:00
Speaker
It's an issue. Means we've damaged 75% of the liver. Yep. And what we're also going to be seeing here is that, okay, the,
00:45:11
Speaker
the GGT, the Gal Gadot. Thank you. The gamma glutamater? Yes. It's the Hulk. Gamma radiation. Hulk smash. Yes. That is one that raises first when alcohol is a problem on the liver. When the liver is struggling because of people drinking too much alcohol, that's the first enzyme to be elevated, liver enzyme to be elevated. Okay. We're coming out of the holidays. You typically see this in early January on people.
00:45:41
Speaker
on people who drink a lot. What I'm saying. People who drink more past 9.30. Let's say. There you go. All right. People who stay up a little later, drink a little more. Okay. So now if you just cut down on the drinking a little bit, will this correct itself?
00:46:01
Speaker
It can, but we're going to do some things to help in terms of cleaning your liver out faster. I like faster. This is good. Exactly. We're going to do a lot of liver support. We're going to do a liver cleanse and we're going to do some pretty specific supplements to help in terms of
00:46:17
Speaker
really dropping that number fast and doing healing for the liver. Because if you're going to damage any organ in your body, you want to damage the liver first because the liver is the only organ that regenerates itself. So if you're going to damage one organ. I knew it. That's the one to do it. I did it. Great natural instincts. I know exactly what to harm subconsciously. Good work, body. Yeah. All right.
00:46:43
Speaker
So we can regenerate the liver gonna have this bad boy looking good as rain by july or what we will it probably won't even take that long probably within another month to two months we could drop this down into normal range okay so we don't even have to start if you listen to me. This is great news.
00:47:06
Speaker
And to follow up with some other great news, we looked at your fib4 index and that is... Oh good, because I wanted to ask you about it. Yes, everyone should know about that. How's my fib4? Fabulous. Great. Yes, so you don't have cirrhosis of the liver or fibrosis of the liver. Fantastic. But your cholesterol levels are elevated. Okay, now what would cause that?
00:47:31
Speaker
alcohol, sugar, carbohydrates, coffee. Okay, but what about like meats? Does it come from like if I have a meat heavy diet? It doesn't. No, bacon, not an issue. No, thank you for asking that because we used to think that cholesterol because
00:47:50
Speaker
cholesterol only comes from animal products animals are the only like plants don't produce cholesterol only animals do so we used to think okay if you eat a whole bunch of cholesterol or cholesterol high foods if you eat a bunch of meat or egg yolks yeah exactly that because you're eating cholesterol that that would raise your cholesterol levels in the blood and it's not true what 90 percent of the cholesterol that's floating around from inside your blood
00:48:16
Speaker
comes from inside your body. Come on now. So the liver and the thyroid are what manage that. You're saying I could eat whatever I want and it wouldn't change my cholesterol.
00:48:24
Speaker
Nope. No, because alcohol, coffee, sugar, any type of starchy carbohydrate or like a simple carbohydrate. Well, the coffee and alcohol are things you drink. I'm just, I mean, food, like. You know, but anything that turns into sugar or any type of sugar. No, I don't have a sweet tooth. I don't eat a lot of sugar. So I don't put sugar in my coffee. Bread, pastas, crackers, cereals, breaded foods. Yeah. I love all that stuff. Everything you just said sounds great. French fries, potatoes. Bring it on. Yeah.
00:48:49
Speaker
All of those. OK, so hang on now. Those aren't animals. But I'm getting cholesterol from those. Isn't that going against what you just told me? No. OK, why? Because anything that turns into sugar really quickly, like a starchy carbohydrate or a simple carbohydrate or an actual sugar itself, will raise cholesterol levels. So those carbohydrates are raising my cholesterol. Here you want to blame booze. But in fact, it's the 7,000 French fries I ate last week.
00:49:17
Speaker
Your GGT, Gal Gadot says the booze is a contributing factor no matter what. Yeah, but Gal Gadot doesn't know how many French fries I mean. Like the French fries aren't raising your GGT. Okay. So the GGT is telling us that the cholesterol is probably being caused by something other than the French fries. I think it's both. Okay. Little from column A, little from column B. All right. So we're going to clean it all up. So I got to get a side salad instead of a side fries. Yep. Okay. All right.
00:49:45
Speaker
And the side salad can't have balsamic vinegar. What? I know. That's supposed to be the healthy one. No, it isn't. No, because you don't want to have all the big fatty dressings. No, it's pure sugar. See, here we go. All right, I don't know about the people listening. I know about myself. Honest to God, I've been going with the balsamic, so I thought that was the good choice.
00:50:06
Speaker
So here's the history of balsamic vinegar told to me by my good friend who you met, Andy Muto, wellness chef extraordinaire. And so he's also Italian. And so what the, of course balsamic vinegar, here's why it's so good because it comes from Italy. Everything good comes from Italy. And so when they actually started to make balsamic vinegar, they would take it and they would ferment it and they would keep distilling it and fermenting it down and down and down. It's a reduction.
00:50:34
Speaker
So it's actually a concentrated source of sugar. And it was originally meant to be served over ice cream, not on salad. It's a dessert. Mind blown. Okay. So what about olive oil?
00:50:46
Speaker
Is it okay? Fantastic. So that's great. Mediterranean diet. So I could have a salad with olive oil. Yes, you can. What other dressings? Are there any good dressings? Well, there's red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is going to be your best thing. Are you just offering me a red wine? Or maybe? Vinegar. I can put red wine on a salad.
00:51:07
Speaker
become a fruititarian. Doctors orders. I'm having fruit for dessert. It's grapes. Actually, it's red wine. Yeah, they've been stepped on. They're full.
00:51:18
Speaker
So, there's red wine vinaigrette, is that what you said? Red wine vinegar. Vinegar. Or white wine vinegar. Vinegar olive oil, but you know, French dressing, ranch dressing. No. Cesar dressing. Nope. Oh, those bad. I heard once that romaine lettuce is good for the liver. Is there any truth to that?
00:51:37
Speaker
Um, it's not bad, but what's even better would be anything that's bitter. So an endive, a radicchio, a dandelion leaf, lemon, squeeze lemon in water. No, I almost always get dandelion leaf with my burger. Where are you going that they offer dandelion?
00:52:04
Speaker
We'll add that to the menu. Yeah, sure. I'm going to get a big bag of dandelion leaves. Quebec. What's that? Quebec. What about? They would have dandelion leaves. I don't know. I get the poutine.
00:52:18
Speaker
And the Putin. Yeah. Putin. Not anymore. No one actually knows except people in Quebec. How do you say it? Yes. I give up. And because you're English speaking, they'll tell you you're wrong no matter how you pronounce it. Yeah. Yeah. That's fine. They're probably right that I'm wrong. Yeah. Okay. Good news. So we checked your fasting insulin levels and it should be between 20 and 180 and you're at 60.
00:52:42
Speaker
So you're not at risk for developing any type of insulin resistance. So if it was elevated, you'd be at risk for diabetes and insulin resistance. Why is it called insulin fasting? Fasting is when you donate, right? Yep. So we checked your insulin levels when you're fasting. Uh, cause I did eat going into it. My insulin was fine. All right. One last thing. So what we become concerned about is if the insulin levels, if the fasting insulin levels are too high,
00:53:10
Speaker
that's showing that you have what we call insulin resistance. Your body isn't utilizing insulin efficiently and effectively. So it's a kind of precursor for diabetes and it can contribute to weight gain. But here's what we do want to watch. And you know, right now you're at 60, which is in a normal range, but if you start dropping below 20, it increases your risk for Alzheimer's and dementia. Okay.
00:53:34
Speaker
So if you have a family history of Alzheimer's or, or senile dementia, this is one that you'd want to check on a regular basis to make sure that you don't see the fasting insulin levels continue to drop lower and lower. Good to know. But so far mine are fine, right? Yep. Well, I do a lot of crosswords. There we go. And a wordle and a crossword, and I believe that helps fight off a dementia. Does it not?
Thyroid and Testosterone: Areas for Improvement
00:53:56
Speaker
Yes, it does. Now does it impact your insulin levels? Nope. All right.
00:54:00
Speaker
Good talk. Just so you know. So we checked your thyroid. Great. And your thyroid is in a medically normal range. Why do I feel a butt coming? That's a true statement. So if your medical doctor looks at this, your medical doctor is going to say, yep, totally normal, which is great. From an ideal and optimal range, we have like a naturopathic range where we say, okay,
00:54:29
Speaker
This is where you're going to feel best and function optimally. And that range is between about 0.45 and 2. And you're at 2.16. So your thyroid isn't working as well as it could. So on our journey, we're going to start giving your thyroid some support. All right. What's my thyroid doing for me? What's this guy all about? Memory, focus, concentration, energy, weight,
00:54:58
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Let's get that. Those all sound like good stuff. They're all great stuff. Yeah. All right. So we're going to get the thyroid turned up. Yep. We measured your PSA levels. So, um, that's looking at your prostate health and that's really healthy. That's all in a normal good range. Okay. Good prostate. Good to know. We measured your testosterone levels and your testosterone levels. We measured the bioavailable testosterone.
00:55:26
Speaker
and it's in a medically normal range. So again, your medical doctor would say, yeah, you're fine, but it's not in an optimal range. What are you saying? A little low on the testosterone? For where you should be. Good to know. Watch a couple movies, I'll have that up. Watch some more charts. I can add this up by the weekend. Awesome. I don't think I've ever been accused of having low testosterone. So what would be causing that?
00:55:55
Speaker
So it could be the travel lifestyle. It could be just your adrenal function is dropping, something called DAGA, which is an anti-aging hormone, could be dropping. Usually right around the age of 52 to 55, when women are going through menopause, men go through what's called andropause, where their testosterone levels drop. And so what we're seeing is in women, we would call that
00:56:21
Speaker
where you are with your hormones being just not low, but not optimal. I would say like you're heading towards that andropause. Okay. So let's stop that. But we know how to fight that. Yeah, we can fix that and bring that back up.
00:56:36
Speaker
Because that's, you know, muscle mass, that's your drive, that's your focus, that's your desire to do things. So I go to the gym a couple times this week, we'll get that testosterone up, right? Yeah. Or how is that a myth? That's a bit of a myth. Okay. You want to do that anyway? Sure, but I mean, how would one... But you can't build muscle as well. How does one go about increasing their testosterone? There are certain supplements that we're going to use for you, and there are certain ways of eating that are going to help in terms of boosting those testosterone. So nothing to do with how much exercise?
00:57:06
Speaker
No, but yes and no, because... Can I assume if I just stand big, flex a lot, my testosterone will shoot up? You could just, you know, start lifting weights, which is good, but you're not going to get the muscle gain that you otherwise would have with your testosterone levels not being optimal. But you will gain more when you have good testosterone levels.
00:57:25
Speaker
But when testosterone levels are low, sometimes what can happen, and this can happen when we're under stress too. When we're under stress, our body can take testosterone and shunt it into estrogen. And for men, when they start developing more weight around the midsection, there's an enzyme that's in that fat called aromatase.
00:57:43
Speaker
and it can start to break down testosterone and turn it into more estrogen, which can cause more weight around the midsection. So it's really targeting the weight around the midsection and using different herbs to make sure that we're supporting good adrenal function and really supporting good testosterone levels. And then we'll use different types of ways of eating as well. So you can figure that out by how my aroma tastes? Yep. That's a bit personal, Doc.
00:58:12
Speaker
I'll ask Heather. So then let's take a look at, there's a few other markers that we did here to check for your immune system, anti-nuclear antibody, rheumatoid factors. Those are all normal. So you don't have an autoimmune condition, which is great. We did something called C-reactive protein, which is a marker for inflammation. And you just don't have any inflammation in your system, which is fantastic. Good news. Yeah. But look at your vitamin D levels.
00:58:40
Speaker
So they're technically in a normal range. Your vitamin D should be between 75 and 250, but the optimal range from a naturopathic perspective is over 120. Sure. That makes sense. And so you're sitting at 76. So that's not enough vitamin D and especially over the wintertime. Right. So that means I'm not getting enough sun or it means that my diet is causing that.
00:59:04
Speaker
Diet, lack of sunlight. Also, listen, you're in Canada and you're about to go to Whitehorse. That's why I'm asking, what are we going to do? We're going to supplement you with vitamin D. We're going to lock that sucker up. But remember, you need good bile. Right. From my little volcano guy. Exactly. In order to absorb it. So you could be technically taking a good amount of vitamin D, but if you're not absorbing it,
00:59:32
Speaker
Doesn't matter. Right. So it's like a lot of what you're saying today. Yeah. If I'm not absorbing it, it doesn't matter how healthy it is, right? Exactly. We used to say you are what you eat and now we say you are what you digest and absorb. Oh, that's a better way to put it. Okay. All right. You are what you digest and absorb. I like that. I can take that. All right. So I need to absorb more vitamin D. You do. And I'm going to help you out with that. Great.
00:59:58
Speaker
Yay. My man. Awesome. So that's a rundown of all the blood work. There's a couple of tests that we're still waiting back for, something called reverse T3, leptin levels that we looked at, tissue transglutamase. We're still waiting for those. But now we've got a good idea about what's happening in your system. Okay. And what we need to do in order to bring things back into balance and not only get you feeling good, but to optimize your health and performance. Okay. Well,
01:00:27
Speaker
uh you know i don't know how much of this i would normally believe because uh this all sounds like hokey pokey sunflower eat your dandelion leaves and take some pills and you'll be a different person nonsense but you can't wait for you to eat those words on the last episode exactly so i'm gonna team myself up here
01:00:47
Speaker
I'm setting myself up to look like the jackass I am because the numbers are telling us a story.
Commitment to Change: Six-Month Plan
01:00:54
Speaker
Here we go. Here's the commitment, folks. His body, her rules. That's the deal we've made here with Dr. Val and I. Over the next six months, I now have to adjust how I live, how I function, how I've been doing things for the last 25 years.
01:01:12
Speaker
and somehow change it. So I will definitely slip up. I will absolutely forget to take certain things. I will take things I shouldn't. That is going to happen. But I am committed. I commit here and now to giving this a good college try and seeing how young I can get in the next six months.
01:01:34
Speaker
So we will check the blood again in three months or in six months or what do we do? Some of it we may even do in a month. Okay, great. Cause that you said was a good way for me to improve my health was to get rid of some blood. Absolutely.
01:01:49
Speaker
All right, so join us every week here on Dr. Val and the Dad Bot Challenge. Here we go. Starting next week, we'll start to find out some of the things I'm taking, some of the things we're doing. We'll attack some of these other myths. Like I didn't know about the balsamic vinegar. That's a shocker. So as I started to go through this stuff, I'll be asking more dumb questions and hopefully getting a better understanding of all this smart stuff that Doc knows.
01:02:16
Speaker
Doc, any predictions on what we're going to be able to do over the course of six months? Yeah. So easily, what we want to do is really take a look at body fat percentage muscle mass. So we're going to try to find a way to get those measured for you. But we can easily lean you out, increase your muscle mass, decrease your body fat percentage, get you back to a good fighting weight
01:02:40
Speaker
you know, 40 pounds, definitely easy to do if that's what you want. 40 pounds, whoa, 20 would be great. Okay, let's do it. Like I'd like to, I haven't been under 200 pounds in about 20 some years, I think. So yeah, so if I could hit 199, that would be exciting. Awesome. To see, I don't know if I'll like it there. I mean, I kind of like 205, it's a comfortable weight for me. Okay, so let's do that. But I would love to see the number one before I'm 50. If you think that's doable.
01:03:08
Speaker
I'm going to have to throw in some yoga, some exercise, all that stuff, obviously. So you're working on the insides. I'm working on the outsides. Is that the deal? I've got some experts that are going to step in and help us with that program and get you in shape and get you fit. Okay. Well, I am starting at Joe Schmo beginner level.
01:03:26
Speaker
if not less than zero. I'm worse than zero as a starting point because we've got damage we're fixing on top of it. And let's get all of those numbers back into range. Let's get your cholesterol levels into range. Let's get your liver healed, your gallbladder healed. Let's make sure we just get your thyroid into optimal function and then get your right back where
01:03:48
Speaker
And then we can start partying again. Then you can have a life. Yeah, I guarantee you I'm not going to enjoy a lot of this. But hopefully it's all worth it. Okay. Thanks, Doc. Appreciate it. Here we go. Thanks for listening. And we will talk again soon. Dr. Val, can you save Dave? He's quite alive.
01:04:21
Speaker
Oh, do you think he will cave? Listen, and he's back in school. It's his funny, but it's Dr. Val's rules. It's his funny, but it's Dr. Val's rules.