From the Desk of Dr. Perlmutter

Well, hello everybody. Dr. David Perlmutter here. And, you know, one of the great things that I get to participate in because I have this online program is I get a lot of books and I get to do a lot of interviews. I get to meet a lot of people virtually and ultimately get to connect with them in real life. And I was going to clean up my desk. I'm going to tidy up, as it were. I'm just looking through some of the various books on my desk and I thought I would just look at them with you all before I put them away and just kind of recap where we've been and just extract some interesting ideas from each of them. Not going to start any particular place, but here is Feel Better Fast by my good friend Dr. Dan Amen. Terrific book that talks about what's going on in our brains in terms of our lifestyle choices, his incredible results that he has had in doing tens of thousands of functional types of brain scans that have demonstrated to him really important information as it relates to head trauma, degenerative conditions, and how lifestyle choices can affect the functionality of the brain. In fact, we just did a recent interview on that topic, on his book, and in fact, I just was on his podcast as well. Robb Wolf. Happen to have it right here. Rob, Rob is one of my heroes, an amazing guy. He was one of the pioneers in the paleo movement and remains very active in that paleo movement, and has done some deep exploration in terms of the ketogenic diet. But I think more importantly, has really helped us all understand that the one size fits all mentality doesn't really work for humans in terms of physiology. Yes, we have. Cultural differences. We have genetic differences. We have differences in terms of time of year and where we live. But getting back to genetic differences, we know, for example, that each of us probably should eat more specifically in terms of regarding our genome, our variations of our genome, these polymorphisms that we have. And again, Rob Wolf is really very. Eloquent about looking at fasting and cycling through times of perhaps consuming higher levels of carbohydrate. Ah, I know this guy. This is my new revision of Grain Brain. After, after 5 years, we revised the book that's on my desk. Dr. James D. Nicolantonio wrote a book called The Salt Fix, really calling into question this saltophobia. I don't know if that's a word. Maybe it would be a halophobia. But this idea that everyone should avoid salt, and he makes it very clear in the book that isn't true. And in fact, that there are some positive things that we should look at in terms of salt consumption, and he makes a very good case for that. And I think it's good to challenge our long-held ideas. Remember the time when we used to say we should avoid dietary fat? Ah, how that has changed. The Autoimmune Fix, one of a couple of books I found on my desk. Tom O'Brien, we've had on the program, is really out there making a big difference in terms of really leveraging his knowledge base, but bringing in a lot of knowledge, both in terms of the books that he writes, but also in these web forums that he has created that have been really very effective in getting out some really fundamental nutritional information. Dr. Steven Gundry. Dr. Gundry and The Plant Paradox, a very compelling, a very interesting book. I interviewed him soon after that book was published. He has some very fundamental ideas about the food we eat, specifically about certain types of proteins found in plants called lectins that may be threatening in terms of gut permeability, blood-brain barrier permeability. And is pretty strict with respect to his dietary recommendations. He is very judicious in his— in being circumspect to document science that supports what he talks about, and a very interesting author for sure. Recently on his program, we indicated that we don't agree 100% with each other, and he's very open-minded and accepting of that, as I was with respect to his ideas. which moving forward I think are actually very, very important to at least look at. The next book I want to talk about is Brain Food by Dr. Lisa Mosconi at NYU. A terrific book. It really talks about the role of food in really, as we've mentioned before, determining your brain's fate, your brain's risk for issues down the line, and even day-to-day functionality. A really interesting interview about, you know, what we can Think about in terms of our daily choice of eating when we and certainly what we eat. I wanted to mention it to her, call her out on call out this fact during the interview, but I forgot. And that is, I notice on her cover right there of these various foods that she's talking about. That's one of my favorite foods. That's dandelion greens, which I think are really great. The Diabetes Code. Frankly, I did this interview today. Dr. Jason Fung, a terrific interview. Again, talking about really some of the misunderstanding as it relates to type 2 diabetes, that this is not an insulin deficiency disease, and therefore treating it with insulin, which is a drug that increases body fat, may clearly not be the treatment of choice. That nutrition, pressing the reset button, is clearly something that should be much more implemented in terms of how we deal with this. expanding crisis. The Fibro Fix by Dr. David Brady. Dr. Brady, David Brady, is really one of the central figures in functional medicine these days, calling our attention to this epidemic of people having these kind of diverse soft tissue types of pain, more common in women than men. And interesting how we didn't really hear about fibromyalgia until drugs were approved to treat that disease. It's a very real issue. It's an issue that goes well beyond the soft tissues but may certainly have some cognitive involvement as well. He really does a great job in terms of letting us know how important lifestyle choices are with respect to fibromyalgia, where drug treatment is in fact somewhat limited. Dr. Susan Blum has written several very great books, this one especially talking about how our lifestyle choices and most importantly, our food choices play a huge role in terms of balancing our immune systems. She is really deeply involved in treating patients with immune issues, specifically autoimmunity, which are diseases that are certainly quite common these days. Autoimmune disorders, things like autoimmune thyroiditis, autoimmune problems involving the skin, involving the joints, involving the gut. are very common and certainly becoming more and more common. How to Be Well by my good friend Dr. Frank Lippmann. This was one of my favorite interviews. This is a great book. You know why it's a great book? Because it has a lot of pictures, which I always loved from childhood. I think pictures in a book, simple pictures to make a point, are really, really helpful. They tend to break up the text And it just makes you like and love Dr. Frank Lippmann even even a little bit more. So it's a terrific book. It really, in terms of understanding your lifestyle choices, one of my favorites. Deskbound by Dr. Kelly Starrett. Kelly, I always hope I pronounce your name right. We did a really great interview, and this is an interesting book that really calls to. Attention, the fact that we spend an awful lot of our time sitting on our rear ends and that there are health consequences associated with that, A, and B, what we can do to reduce the amount of time that we spend sitting or sedentarity. That there are ways even during your busy workday that you can change this. You can work standing up at a stand-up desk. You can sit on an exercise ball, for example. Lots of things that you can do. An interesting interview, a very interesting book. Eat Wheat, John Douillard. I've known John for, I think, 25 years. He is of the opinion that wheat is not such a threat when eaten in its very natural state, its whole grain state, and at a particular time of year. And we had a wonderful discussion. This is our second time. Actually, I just was on his podcast. We interviewed him as well. We had a wonderful discussion about that, and I think we ultimately came to a lot of agreement that there is a significant threat to our health with respect to the type of wheat— I mean, how it's been modified in terms of how it is milled, what it may contain, how it releases sugar very quickly into the bloodstream, versus the notion of whole grain, not just 51%, but actually whole grain. That would be certainly difficult to come by, but that said, may not be as threatening as perhaps we have indicated it might be in the past. Fat for Fuel, Dr. Joe Mercola, a book that talks about how we should eat more fat. Who knew? Joe Mercola is a super cool guy. I have great respect for him. He has no problems with challenging the mainstream and does so from a very good scientific platform. A very, very incredible book, Fat for Fuel. Aha, Your Baby's Microbiome. We did do this interview. Very interesting book by Tony Harman in England talking about the importance of doing everything you can that will allow your child to have the healthiest microbiome, setting him or her up for better health later in life. The Mind-Gut Connection by Dr. Emery Meyer at UCLA, talking about how the gut is playing a very important role in the brain, in brain function, how we observe the world. The Alzheimer's Antidote by Amy Berger, again talking about how a low-carb, higher-fat diet Seems to be a really good thing for your brain. I know you've all heard that many times. And finally, How Can I Get Better? This is a great book by Dr. Richard Horowitz. It focuses on chronic Lyme disease, which is a real thing and that we really need to recognize is affecting a lot of people. Dr. Horowitz has really been dedicated to making this information known. And has written a couple of really great books. Well, that's all I have time for right now. We went through quite a few books. Believe me, if you could see behind me, there are a lot more that I get, which is a great thing. So thanks for spending time with me today. Dr. David Perlmutter, bye for now.