As the coronavirus death toll continues to climb, many are searching for answers as to why some people who get the virus only have light symptoms while others die. In this week’s series of the podcast, Dr. Daniel and Tana Amen are joined by “Ancient Remedies” author Dr. Josh Axe for a discussion on the tried and true wellness techniques that have been practiced throughout history, and why these strategies could now be more important than ever.
For more info on Dr. Axe’s new book, “Ancient Remedies”, visit https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Remedies-Essential-Powerful-Medicine/dp/0316496456
Daniel Amen, MD:
Welcome to The Brain Warrior’s Way podcast. I’m Dr. Daniel Amen.
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
And I’m Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body.
Daniel Amen, MD:
The Brain Warrior’s Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain SPECT imaging to personalize treatment to your brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com.
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
The Brain Warrior’s Way podcast is also brought to you by Brain MD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to brainmd.com.
Daniel Amen, MD:
Welcome, everyone. We are very excited to have Dr. Josh Axe back with us.
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
Yes.
Daniel Amen, MD:
This is his second time on The Brain Warrior’s Way podcast. He’s the founder of Ancient Nutrition and draxe.com, a certified doctor of natural medicine. He’s a chiropractor, a clinical nutritionist, and he has a passion to help people get healthy by empowering them to use nutrition to fuel their health, which we absolutely agree with.
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
Yes, hue fans.
Daniel Amen, MD:
He’s the best-selling author of Keto Diet, Eat Dirt, and Collagen Diet, and the author of the upcoming book Ancient Remedies out February 2nd. Josh, so good to see you.
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
Yeah, welcome.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Hey, thanks. Hey, it’s great to be here. I wanted to mention, too, recently my mom sent me a text message. She was watching I think one of your, Dr. Daniel, one of your PBS specials. And she was like, “This guy is brilliant.” I said, “He definitely is.”
So anyways. I know I’ve had you guys on my podcasts over the years, and I just always enjoy talking about food as medicine and all of the things. So-
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
It’s medicine or it’s poison.
Dr. Josh Axe:
That’s right.
Daniel Amen, MD:
And during the pandemic, people initially just reach for anything they can get.
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
Yeah, the shelves were not… We couldn’t get the same things, even I noticed it. Fortunately, I am a prepper, but still. I had food, but when I went to the grocery store, the normal fresh vegetables and foods were not quite as available. Right? We were doing the best we could.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Yeah.
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
And we were more permissible with ourselves and with their children because they were just tired of being stuck in the house.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Yep.
Daniel Amen, MD:
So talk to us about Ancient Remedies, and why this book and why now.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Yeah. So I think when you look at, obviously, where the world is at today, it’s more important than ever that we take care of our immune systems.
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
Yes.
Dr. Josh Axe:
What’s interesting, Dr. Daniel and Tana, this probably, Oh, almost a year ago. Right when COVID and all this stuff, people were talking about it. And I did a podcast talking about ancient remedies for our immune system. And I talked about things like bone broth. I talked about garlic and ginger, all these foods. And then I talked about vitamin D and zinc, and I got a few comments from people in the medical profession who said, “How can you say that? Are you saying you can treat this with this? That won’t help.” And it was interesting.
Now, research is coming out showing vitamin D, just how critical it is, and zinc and these nutrients. And so anyways, my perspective is always looking at I think modern science, it’s important for us to look at. But also, I really believe that these ancient remedies that physicians have used in Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, and other forms of medicine that have been used throughout history are very effective. And here’s the other thing. They’re very safe for the body.
And so, for me, I always try and step back and look at things that have big picture. And that’s what both of, I know, you guys do when you guys are practicing. Because you guys practice more of that forms of natural and functional medicine as you care for patients. And so I always try and look at this big picture approaches. What are the side effects of doing this or this? And all that being said, one of the things we’re seeing with people that have any form of COVID is they typically have immunodeficiency or another condition that puts them at risk. And we all know that if we improve our diets, we’re going to naturally have a lesser rate of getting these other conditions.
All that being said, I really believe if we start using food as medicine and using ancient remedies, that’s going to help strengthen our immune systems. For instance, the ancient remedies for a cold and flu were, if you went to a practitioner, they would say, “Drink chicken soup and have ginger herbal tea.” Okay. When I was growing up, my mom gave me something similar. And unfortunately, my mom bought me canned chicken soup that had MSG and white flour noodles and all this stuff. And then she gave me a ginger ale. But she gave me, actually, if they didn’t have ginger ale, she thought 7up was a good replacement. So I always drank that. But where did she get that idea?
Those are ancient prescriptions that our great-grandmother learned, and it was used in Greek medicine and Jewish medicine, actually called Jewish penicillin, chicken soup, and then also ancient Chinese medicine. And we know based on even colors, according to Chinese medicine, foods that are light yellow are the ones that are most supportive for the lungs and colon or your immune system. So think about chicken broth. Nobody says beef broth when you’re sick, they say chicken broth. Chicken broth contains really unique nutrients that are supportive of your immune system. Onions and garlic and ginger, that light yellow color, miso soup. So all these foods support our immune system. So all that being said, I really think, “Hey, if we’re looking to support our immune systems, eating a diet that’s rich in vegetables, fruit, wild organic meat is ideal.” And then getting nutrients, I mentioned earlier, the zinc, the vitamin D three, and vitamin C, and vitamin A to a degree as well.
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
I love what you’re saying. And I completely agree. And it always bothers me when those of us who are in this camp get pushed back on, “Oh, diet doesn’t really matter,” from the medical community. It’s really irritating. Or it doesn’t matter. That’s not going to build your immune system. The only thing that builds your immune system is medications or vaccines. We’re not anti-medication. Let me make it clear. We’re not anti-vaccine. But let’s be honest, your diet matters. It matters a lot because. It’s about the inflammation. So when foods that increase inflammation trash your immunity, right? So all the foods you’re discussing right now, what you’re saying is that’s going to decrease inflammation a lot.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Yeah. It’s important. I think anytime we can decrease inflammation, and give our body more nutrients… And here’s the other thing I’ve shared with my patients in the past, and people I work with today, is that here’s the thing that’s important to know is you want to strengthen the body. A lot of times I see practitioners saying, “Hey, take this natural antibiotic,” which I think it’d be good, whether it’s an oil of oregano or some of these herbals. But I think the thing that we want to have in mind is the body heals itself. And it’s your body that can fight off the virus. Your body produces actually certain compounds, like interferon, that actually kills the virus. And so your body can kill off the virus if it’s strong enough. That’s the big difference, is when somebody is more at risk, they tend to be immunodeficient, have a pre-existing condition, or be over the age of 70, according to the CDC and World Health Organization.
And again, I think the big thing we can do to combat that is, again, use these foods as medicine, get more nutrients in our diet, and just generally have our bodies just be healthier.
Daniel Amen, MD:
Well, one of the things Tana always says is you can’t show up on fight day and expect to do well.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Wow, that’s good.
Daniel Amen, MD:
So we are-
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
You have to train every day.
Daniel Amen, MD:
… We are in fight day right now with this pandemic that seems to be accelerating. And so what are the things, Josh, you think are most important for our listeners to do to strengthen their immune system? And what I always say, if it’s strengthens your immune system, it’s probably strengthening your brain.
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
Right.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Yeah.
Daniel Amen, MD:
Because everything works together.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Yeah. So I would say this. Number one tip, and this may not be what people expect is, but start off every day by fostering positive emotions. I do this with what I call a spiritual triathlon. I spend five minutes getting grateful. I spend five minutes reading something like a personal growth book or a Bible or something spiritual. And I spend about five minutes in prayer meditation. So I spend at least 15 minutes to an hour every morning, first thing, doing that. And studies are showing-
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
Spiritual triathlon. I love that.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Yeah. And I used to be a triathlete years ago. So anyways, all that being said, I do that in the mornings. I can just tell you, it makes such a difference in my day. I go through the day more grateful, more loving, more kind. And so I really focus on it because we’re living in a state of fear. And different emotions affect different organ systems. We know the emotion of fear really affects your adrenal glands and reproductive organs. We know worry affects your stomach and your upper GI. Grief, or not letting go of things in the past, those sorts of fears actually affect your immune system.
So all that being said, foster those positive emotions in the morning is one of the first things we can do to help heal our bodies and our immune systems. After that, I would just say really focus on a diet that is going to be rich in vegetables, some fruit, especially things like berries, and then wild, organic meat, like wild-caught salmon, grass-fed beef. And then get lots of healthy fats. Get the coconut oil in coconut. Do olives in extra virgin olive oil, and things like avocados, even tahini, things like that. I think those are the things we want to be getting to support our immune system.
The other big one is bone broth. I really love bone broth. It’s rich in collagen. That’s going to also help. Really, 70% of your intestinal lining tissue is made up of collagen. And so getting bone broth or collagen is going to help with that. And then I think probiotics are really important as well. Sauerkraut is an incredible super food that’s going to support your body in that way as well.
So that’s really what started. One other category of foods, I think, that’s especially important to remember when we’re caring for our immune systems, and that is mushrooms, especially medicinal mushrooms.
Daniel Amen, MD:
Hold that thought.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Go ahead.
Daniel Amen, MD:
Hold that thought because I want to talk about mushrooms. We have mushrooms every day, but we have to get to the next podcast.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Let’s do it.
Daniel Amen, MD:
Ancient Remedies. Josh asks, what’s the best way for people to connect with you, and learn more about your work.
Dr. Josh Axe:
Number one, I would check out the new book, Ancient Remedies. You can go to amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com or your local bookstore, and your search. Dr. Axe Ancient Remedies. Check it out there. You can also find me on my website, draxe.com.
Daniel Amen, MD:
Awesome. What’d you learn during this podcast? Write it down. Take a picture of it. Post it on any of your social media sites. #DrAxe #BrainWarriorsWayPodcast. Share because what we’ve learned is you have to get this information, and then you have to give it away because it is in the act of giving that you keep it. It’s clearly part of spiritual fitness, is giving away what you know. And creating your own support. Stay with us.
Tana Amen, BSN RN:
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Daniel Amen, MD:
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