Anti-Inflammatory Diet Secrets

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Hey, it's JJ Virgin and welcome to the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show where I talk nutrition, exercise, mindset and lifestyle with some of the coolest people in the world and I give you tips that you can put into fast action to up level your health so you can go out there and live the big life you're meant to live. Now A little known fact about me I taught tap dancing in Japan. I actually went to Japan when I was a senior at UCLA and helped bring aerobics to Japan and I lived in some small island towns and also in Tokyo and taught aerobics and also taught tap and I taught tap on dance on national tv. And when I was there I got introduced to something that I thought was super cool at the time because I could eat as much as I wanted of it. It helped me feel fuller, longer and made me feel great and have great energy. And those were called Shirataki Noodles. You may have heard about them, you may know them in the States that they are miracle Noodles because a very smart doctor, Dr. Jonathan Karp, found them and brought them here and named them Miracle Noodles. I'm going to let him tell you the story, but let me tell you a little bit about him first. Dr. Jonathan Karp is a graduate of Rutgers Medical School and he actually graduated with a BA and an MDA from there. An md? Mda, not md. He completed his dermatology residence at State University of New York at Buffalo and and he has been practicing general medical dermatology since 2000 in Southern Cal. He is very into autoimmune disease and especially psoriasis and lupus. And he's also an entrepreneur and I'll let him explain how he became an entrepreneur because of a trip to Japan. But we're very much in alignment because like me, he really wants to help people become an authority on their health to take charge of their own Health. And he has done that with his company, Miracle Noodle. He's got two great books, Miracle Noodle Cookbook and Diet Plan and Putting out the Living an Anti Inflammatory Life. I am super excited to share Jonathan Karp with you. Dr. Jonathan Karp. When I heard about him and got the opportunity to meet him, he shared a couple secrets on what you can do with noodles, which I'm going to share with you in a moment. But I was like, oh, my gosh, you have got to come on my show. So Today's guest is. Dr. Jonathan Karp. Okay, so let's. Dr. Jonathan Karp, welcome to the show. I am so glad you're here with me today.

Thank you so much. I'm excited.

I know this is a very exciting, interesting topic because it's something that I've been putting into my cookbooks and something I've been using. And so when I heard about you, I was obviously super intrigued and excited, I mean, especially with your background. So I'd love to just jump in and say and share with everyone, how did these miracle noodles come to be?

Well, they're a traditional Japanese product. Japanese have been eating it for actually over a thousand years and pretty much keeping it to themselves. And I was on a trip to Japan and was introduced to it by a friend in Japan who said, here's a big bowl of noodles. It's totally healthy and virtually has no calories. And I was pretty much floored by that and thought about all the patients that I have who struggle with giving up things like pasta and rice and. And pretty much the idea for the business was born, and I started the business the day I got back from Japan.

I love that because I lived in Japan. I didn't tell you this, but I actually lived in Japan. I helped bring aerobics to Japan many years ago. And I remember eating these things. Yes. But it didn't dawn on me back then to, you know, create a company and bring them back. So I'm glad someone did. So you brought back these noodles. You gave them a great name. I love the name Miracle Noodles. And let's talk a little bit about what's so great about them. Besides the fact they basically have no calories. What else is it about miracle noodles that makes them beneficial?

Well, it's made from a fiber called glucomannan, which comes from a plant called the konjac plant. And this is a fiber that is. It's a soluble fiber that acts as a prebiotic. But on another level, it's been studied pretty Much in universities all over the world as something that is given as a supplement in a lot of cases to help people with weight loss with high cholesterol and a whole host of other things. So it's been studied quite a bit. And so the fiber is such that it holds onto an enormous amount of water, so it provides a sense of fullness when you're eating these noodles, especially when it's been rehydrated in a noodle, when you eat it, it just makes you feel full. So even though you're virtually getting no calories, you still feel the fullness. It slows digestion down a little bit. And you're getting a prebiotic fiber as well.

And explain prebiotics for everybody so they'll understand what that is. Everybody's familiar with probiotics, but what's a prebiotic?

So a prebiotic allows the beneficial bacteria to grow in your GI tract. It gives it kind of a substrate, something to grow on, so the beneficial bacteria that you have can kind of flourish.

Yes. Super important in having a healthy gut microbiome. Now, you're a doc, and you brought this back, and you've been using them with your patients. How have you been using them with your patients?

Well, I have an interest in treating autoimmune disease, specifically psoriasis and lupus. And so for those particular patients, first of all, just to take an example, psoriasis, people who have psoriasis, and that's a couple percentages, couple percent of the population that has that weight loss has been shown to improve, in addition to the fact that there's a whole autoimmune diet that I give patients. But the first thing is really to get people on a weight loss plan. And I use it as what I call a transitional food, which is. Which I define essentially as a food that allows people to have something to eat that prevents them from feeling hunger while they're learning how to change their diet so they don't go through those periods of time where they just feel like they're depriving themselves and they have something to eat that's healthy, and they use that along the process of learning how to heal themselves through diet.

And what about. I mean, so for everybody listening, you can understand why you called the miracle noodles. You get to eat something, it helps you not be hungry. It helps feed the good bacteria in your gut so that you have a healthy gut microbiome, you know, can help with cholesterol. I mean, it's just. It sounds a little bit too good to be true.

Yeah. And It's. And it's been around for forever and.

It'S been a secret. That's so crazy. So give us. You kind of said, okay, so I put them on a diet and I do these other things. So. Well, what are some of the things that you do? What are some simple things that you have your patients do that you see them get great results with?

Well, just getting rid of wheat in general is a huge step for people because a lot of people are getting a lot of nutrient poor calories from wheat. So basically the first, the first step is to get people off of wheat and sugar. Now, as far as the wheat goes, obviously these make an incredible substitute for any kind of noodle, stir fry or Italian dishes as well. Also, it works well in desserts.

Oh, tell us about those. Give us a few dessert examples.

Well, we have, whenever we do demonstrations at stores and trade shows, et cetera, we make a rice pudding, which is basically, you know, we have miracle rice. So we've taken the noodles and we put it into the shape of rice so you can have kind of this as a noodle, as a rice substitute as well. And we mix it with applesauce, raisins, some nuts, and a little bit of shredded coconut. And that provides just a, you know, it satisfies your sweet tooth. And it's just filled with beneficial ingredients. And so you can kind of wean yourself also off of. Off of desserts, you know, in the interim while you're learning how to, how to take care of yourself nutritionally.

I love that. Well, my whole nutritional philosophy is built on the idea of tapering and trading. So doing these simple swaps. One of the swaps I've been using to help people get gluten out and lower their sugar impact was to trade their pasta for miracle noodles. So, I mean, this to me was like, oh, okay. And then you shared with me when we met that you use them in smoothies. And I, you know, I, I about lost it with that. You put me over the top with that, Jonathan.

And, you know, that was something that we weren't even doing. We learned about that through people who were posting on Instagram that they were blending them to get a different texture, added fiber. And then we tried it and yeah, it really works. Well, it works great.

You can't taste it. I mean, at first I looked at it, I go, really? You're putting that in a smoothie? It's the greatest idea because again, it helps you feel fuller, longer. It's amazing. Am. I mean, that's, to me, like why wouldn't you do this? These are an incredible thing. I've got my pantry loaded with one of my shelves is dedicated to miracle noodles and miracle rice.

That's great.

Yeah.

You know, some of the best ideas come from people, you know, customers who are just experimenting.

I bet that's where we get a lot of our great shake recipes too. So you've been doing this now. When did you bring these noodles into the States?

2006. Of course, at the time I was of, you know, full time physician and then, you know, we got mentioned on Dr. Oz and Rachel Ray and then I, I still practice, of course, but at a, you know, at a reduced rate. So 2006 is when we, is when I came back from the trip and you know, that's, that's when we started. It's been around for a while now.

I guess. So and so what are the big lessons learned from bringing these noodles in and seeing people incorporate them into their life, into their diet?

Definitely listening to, you know, to what, to what they do, to do with the noodles is probably the biggest lesson. You know, a lot of times when you have an idea for anything really, you know, you have your own preconceived ideas about what's going to work, what kind of suggestions you make. But really giving it to people and letting them experiment is really the best way to go about it.

So your three favorite ways to use miracle noodles or miracle rice.

Personally speaking, the best way to start using the noodles and the way I still use them is in soups. That's the best way to start because you can have, you know, a nutrient dense soup that's just much more filling if you add either the noodles or the rice. Works really well. The rice is almost like a pastini that you can use in soups. And then second step is making a, making a stir fry with the noodles. That's really an easy, an easy start. And then the third step is making western, like Italian type dishes with them. And when you have all three of those soups, noodle stir fries and Italian dishes, pretty much you can see that that covers an enormous amount of variety in someone's diet that they can have these to, you know, to feel full.

What's your recommendation? So someone's starting out and they want to, I mean, you know, I'm thinking about everybody I know would like to lose a little weight. They don't want to be hungry while they're, they want to feel fuller, they want to help with cravings, they want to feel satiated and they're like they're sitting down, they're eating something. So how would you. What's your big recommendation for, you know, incorporating this into your daily life? Do they replace, say, their rice or pasta in one of their meals a day? Is that how you basically have them.

Do it or what?

Yes, for our customers, definitely. We recommend that they pick one meal per day where they subtract the carbohydrate from that meal and add in the noodles. That's kind of the initial start that we recommend. And just with that we get a lot of. You get a lot of results, essentially because you're subtracting easily, subtracting a couple hundred calories, but yet you feel full. And you feel full for a good amount of time. So those cravings don't really return like you would normally. If you were having, let's say you picked a lunch and you were. You substituted the carbs there. You know, it also stabilizes your blood sugar so you're not getting any blood sugar spikes. And as a result of that, you're not getting any abnormal cravings as well. So it works well, again, just to start out to just pick one meal per day and add that in as the carb replacement.

Well, you're subtracting crappy calories because someone eating a plate of pasta, that's not doing anything good for you. There's nothing good from. It's like I still remember when the whole fat free, low fat craze came out and we were eating pasta with marinara sauce with no added fat and we thought we were doing great. And I remember being hungry all the time. So what's great is you're doing a really good swap because you're adding in. And I always like to add before I take away. So I mean, you could literally just start with adding these things in. You could do cold noodles and add them onto a salad. I look at it and I was like, totally. There's so many things you can do now. This is so simple and it's such an easy thing because again, it's really about adding something in or making a simple swap. It's not like you're telling someone, hey, you've been having a donut, let's have an app.

Apple, right?

You know, swaps. I'm like, yeah, that's kind of hard. You know, it's literally a very similar thing. So what's. I'd love to hear a success story. I'm sure in 10 years you've got some amazing ones. But let's. What's one that just stands out for you.

Okay, one. Well, probably the one that just popped into my head is a guy who was scheduled for a gastric bypass. He was. He was well over £300 and Italian, and he obviously, you know, missed his pasta and his daughter bought him miracle noodles. He started swapping them for. For his pasta, and he lost. I think initially he lost 15, 20 pounds, postponed the surgery. You know, obviously at this time, he was also starting to incorporate. Once he started losing weight, he was able to incorporate some more movement and exercise and such. Continued eating the noodles, kept on losing, losing the weight, not feeling full. Postponed the second gastric bypass surgery and lost well over £100. And he's doing really, really well. That's the one that just sort of popped into my head. We've got tons of them, of course.

I bet you do. I love it. And anyone listening, if you're ready for your success story, grab that cookbook. You've got the Miracle noodle cookbook and diet plan. I started looking at all the recipes because I got the big box you sent me, that goodie box, which I just loved. I'm looking at all these recipes going, these are just fantastic. I know in my Sugar impact diet, I used these because they're so. I was like, this is the easiest swap I've ever found for these things. But again, just throwing them into your morning smoothie could be a great way to get started, too. So where does one find these noodles, Jonathan?

Well, you can get them, of course, on our website. We're in most of the whole foods in the country. Sprouts as well, Amazon. But probably the easiest way is just our website.

All right, let's share that website. It's miraclenoodle.com and I think you've got a bunch of other stuff I went and popped on there. I'm like, man, you generate a lot of content. What all can they find at your website?

We have, of course, a recipe book. We have a lot of success stories. The success stories are educational in the sense that people explain how they use the noodles to get where they got. Of course, we have a blog with a lot of health content that. That I've written over the years.

Yeah, you're pretty prolific. So what I love there is you've got lots of great stuff and it's free. And this is an easy thing because all you're doing is swapping one thing that's crappy for you for another thing that's great for you and has all of the good and none of the bad. You're going to end up saving money, losing weight, having better energy, better focus and better blood sugar control. I mean, what is not to love here?

It's true. And you know, you can have a bigger portion because, yes, you can eat. You don't worry about the portion size.

Exactly. So, Jonathan, thank you so much for joining me today. Now, everyone listening, go to miraclenoodle.com he's got loads of great stuff there. And slip some noodles into your smoothie and let me know what you think. I immediately tried it after Jonathan told me about it. You'll be amazed. And again, it helps you feel fuller for hours because we should be going four to six hours before we need to eat again. Now, after the break, I'm going to be answering the listeners questions, so stick with me.

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Welcome back. Now this is the time where I answer a listener's question. And today's question is perfect for being with a dermatologist. And it's about skin and it Tara.

Hi jj, my name is Tara. I just want to say how much I love your books. I've read the Sugar Impact diet and the Virgin Diet. I think it's really helped me. I've been slimming down just a couple one or two pounds a month, but consistently for like five or six months now. So I think everything is going great. The only question I have is that my skin has not cleared up. And so I wonder a couple things. My first thought was maybe as I've been losing a couple pounds a month, it's kind of like a detoxification process in my body and it's causing me to break out. But maybe more likely it's still something I'm eating. And I kind of realized, well, I haven't completely given up dairy. When I do reintroduce dairy here and there, I don't notice any symptoms, but I do realize I've been having butter. So I've given up everything, yogurt and milk and everything. Else, but there's still butter. I cook with butter occasionally, but I do put butter just a little, maybe teaspoon or half teaspoon in my bulletproof coffee every morning. I'm wondering if I'm not that sensitive to dairy, which I believe I'm not, could I still have acne associated with dairy, even though I'm not really seeing any other symptoms associated with dairy? So could that butter in my morning coffee be causing me to break out?

Okay, Tara, there's a couple different places to go here. Now, of course, you just heard from Dr. Jonathan Karp, who is a dermatologist specializing in autoimmune disease, and his whole thing is to fix your diet first. So you've done a great thing here in going on the virgin diet and then lowering sugar impact. Those are two things you want to do is make sure you've really lowered your sugar impact. You've done the elimination diet. Dairy and gluten can really wreak havoc, as can eggs. Now, next thing I would tell you is one of the things I stress on the virgin diet is you have to pull out the foods 100%. You can't have just a little bit. So if dairy is your issue, even a little butter can create a problem. But thankfully, this is an easy solution because ghee is actually allowed because it's the protein that causes the problem. And ghee, since it's clear purified butter has no protein. So just flip that butter over to ghee and that will solve that part of it. Now, a couple more things to look at here. And I'm not sure when you said your skin's still an issue, exactly what the issue is. If you've got any issues with, say, more rosacea. Alcohol and coffee can both present problems there. So that might be an issue. It might be the coffee itself creating problems if it's rosacea. But another really key fact in rosacea is digestion. And I find for a lot of people just adding in a good digestive enzyme, and I have my digestive enzymes, I've named them digestive enzymes with some betaine HCL can help tremendously. So I would definitely do a trial of that. The only thing is, if you've ever had any kind of ulcers, then that wouldn't be something you would do. But if you are ulcer free, never had an issue with that. Give yourself a trial of digestive enzymes with some betaine hcl. I would do two with each meal and see if that helps. The other thing I would look at is look at gla. And GLA is a fatty acid that is found in borage oil or evening primrose oil and it can be amazing for reducing skin inflammation and skin problems. 500 milligrams of GLA usually comes in like 240 to 250 milligram capsules. Try 500 milligrams a day and give that a try. And then one other thing, if you do think that you still have some kind of a food sensitivity, you can go do an IGG test through one of the diagnostic labs through a functional medicine doctor to see if there's any other foods that are causing outlier problems. And generally that's due to something called leaky gut. And leaky gut happens for a variety of reasons. I've got other podcasts on this specifically and blogs on this specifically if you go to my site and type that into the search. But again, what I would look at first is making sure the Dairy is out 100% so switch from butter to gain. Do a little evaluation if rosacea is the issue. If so, do a trial of pulling out the coffee, I'm so sorry and adding in digestive enzymes. You could do digestive enzymes first and see if that solves the problem. I know it did for me. And then GLA is also fantastic here. And then again, if you still have issues, look at doing a food sensitivity test for things that are outside of the normal food sensitivity issues of the top seven that I talk about in the Virgin diet. Alrighty, if you'd like to submit a question then just go to jjvirgin.com ask and you can leave a voice fill for me. I can't wait to hear from you. And by the way, one more way, I'd love to hear from you. I would so appreciate it if you could jump on Stitcher or itunes and leave a review for me. It helps a bunch and be sure to subscribe and share the show with your friends. This is JJ Virgin signing off off and reminding you that you are worthy. Dare to live a life that matters. Toyota Thon is on. So stop by your local Toyota dealer and test drive a spacious Grand Highlander.

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