Why Am I Always So Tired? Is It What I’m Eating?

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Why am I always so tired? Is it what I'm eating? This is JJ Virgin, New York Times best selling author, celebrity nutrition expert and Fitness hall of Famer. I've been on a lifelong quest for answers to the toughest health questions and now I'm sharing what I found with you. Welcome to Ask the Health Expert. Austin on Instagram asks why am I always so tired? Is it what I'm eating? Hey, it's JJ and today I have Dr. Steven Gundry with me to answer this question. Now you may know him from his New York Times best selling books the Plant Paradox and the Longevity Paradox. And next up, the Energy Paradox. He's a cardiothoracic surgeon who retired to focus on helping patients not need him by using nutrition and lifestyle strategies. Plus, he loves dogs. A man after my own heart, and swears that owning a dog and walking a dog is one of the key aspects to longevity. We'll be right back with the answer, so stay with me.

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That's actually a great question. One of the things I learned from my patients over the last 20 years, that initially about 50% of my patients complained of fatigue and malaise. It's actually a diagnostic code. And when I looked at these patients blood work, almost universally, they had markers of inflammation, sometimes easily obtained markers of inflammation, sometimes much more complex. And a large number of them had an underlying autoimmune disease that they may not have even been aware of. So I actually took their complaints of fatigue seriously. And I found through the last 20 years that fatigue actually has its root in chronic inflammation. And that chronic inflammation is actually a fire that's consuming a great deal of our energy production by our immune system going after an enemy that is coming from leaky gut. And if you had asked me 15 years ago what I thought about leaky gut, I would have told you it was pseudoscience. But now, thanks to the work of Dr. Fazano and certainly coming out of my clinic, many people have now shown that chronic inflammation is from leaky gut. And the reason we're so tired is that our immune system is actually consuming much of the energy that would normally be available to us. So in answer to your question, a lot of this is what we're eating. And it comes down, I think, to two ways of looking at it. Number one, we're eating food that never even existed in our grandparents ages. We're eating what I call Frankenfoods, which are processed and ultra processed foods, where we are now inundated with simple sugars, simple broken down proteins into amino acids, and simple fats that actually are absorbed ultra quickly into our bloodstream and jam into our mitochondria, the energy producing organelles in all of our cells and literally produce rush hour in mitochondria. And mitochondria, quite frankly, are jammed up in producing energy. And I go into this extensively in the energy paradox. The other problem is that our diet over the last 50 years has been highly concentrated into lectin containing foods. And as I showed in the Plant Paradox, lectins are those plant proteins that actually produce leaky gut quite dramatically. And they're in whole grains, they're in the nightshade family, they're in improperly cooked beans and legumes, and they're in peanuts and even healthy foods like popcorn or chia seeds. So yes, eating has a large effect on our lack of energy and our fatigue, primarily because of eating eating fast foods, ultra processed foods, and eating lectin containing foods.

This is JJ with Ask the Health Expert. I do this five times a week, so make sure you never miss a show by going to subscribetojay.com.

Foreigners this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger, and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week I check all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading Next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years, and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change, or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader, and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website whatshould I read next podcast.com to find out more.