Diet and Lifestyle Approaches to Health and Wellness

Welcome to the Living to 100 Club Podcast. Here's our host, Dr. Joseph Casciani.

Welcome everyone to the Living to 100 Club Podcast, where we discuss strategies to live longer and stay positive about aging.. We hear about programs and services and personal stories about successful aging and making it over the hurdles. Our goal is to create a mindset about living to 100 and turn aging on its head. Thank you for joining us today. I'm your host, Joseph Casciani. Our guest for today is Dr. Leslie Kazanoff. We're talking with a health coach and consultant. Dr. Kazanoff and I will be discussing her work as a holistic family chiropractor. Among other subjects, we'll take a deep dive into those chronic health conditions that collectively affect the older adult population. Leslie has 30 years experience as a holistic family chiropractor, counseling her patients in nutrition and exercise and addressing spinal and full body health. For 10 years before that, she worked as a medical laboratory scientist She spent her whole life in healthcare, including 25 years as a holistic chiropractor on the Central Coast of California. She combines her knowledge of science with her holistic nutrition expertise. Dr. Kasanoff works with women who want to lose weight, address hormone issues, and resolve chronic health issues. Welcome to our program, Leslie.

Thanks for having me.

Great, glad to have you with us. I always like to begin by asking our guests to tell us a little bit about the journey that brought you to where you are today.

Well, it all goes back to, um, when I was training as a medical lab scientist. One of the very last things that I had to do after, um, after completing 4 years of schooling and a year internship, one of the very last things that I had to do was I had to assist at the bedside for a bone marrow biopsy. And my job was pretty simple. All I had to do was stand at the bedside and get the sample when it was handed to me and make the— make the microscope slides, bring them back to the lab, and all was done. But when I walked into the room, the little old lady that was laying on the bed looked to my 22-year-old eyes to be 110. And I didn't know how old she was, but, you know, um, and long story short, it was just a horrendous experience. You know, they basically— it's like a blunt, blunt-ended needle that they force into the bone, and they can't anesthetize because once you penetrate bone, there's no there's nothing you can do about it. There's no— you know, they just don't anesthetize for that. And it was just a horrible experience. And I, you know, they finally— he finally handed the samples to me. I made the smears, I brought them back to the lab. And what happened when I got back to the lab is what changed my life forever, because I looked at— because I relayed this story to the senior tech, and she looked at me with sad eyes and she said, "But Leslie, they don't even treat leukemia in patients that old." Wow.

Yeah.

And I was flabbergasted, to say the least. And it was like, what the hell am I doing here? And so it was in that moment that I realized that not only was I hopeless to do anything about, about that in that situation, but I was hopeless in any situation I could go into to have an effect on that paradigm. So that's when I decided I need to be on the other side of the fence, so to speak, and, and eventually moved into chiropractic.

Sure. Yeah. So it had such a powerful experience with you. Yeah, difficulty that the patient went through just to go through this specimen draw and how it affected you and seeing what you could do with a different hat on, with a different, with a different perspective. Yeah, different.

Exactly. Um, and you know, and so I dedicated my life from that point on to keeping as many people as possible from ever having to get into that hospital bed in the first place.

Sure.

And so, you know, became the chiropractor, did that for, you know, about 25, a little over 25 years. And then, and then with all that, the changes that I was going through personally as I started aging and, you know, things started happening to me going through the whole perimenopause thing, I had such a horrendous experience with that that when I finally got a handle on that stuff and started using some of those skills with some of the people that I was working still within chiropractic, it became a very easy thing to move from there into the health coaching and consulting, right?

Yes. As I read about your background, I see that you, you really shifted from a traditional healthcare, Western-based healthcare approach into this more holistic approach. This is what you're talking about then?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. So tell us about your, your, your practice. What do you do as a coach? What types of clients do you work with? And what types of problems do you help them with?

Well, I work predominantly with women 40 and over. And basically, the things that, that I end up addressing end up, end up being either there's— they're about the whole perimenopause, menopause thing and difficulty that they're having with you know, things like weight gain and forgetting why they walked into a room and all, you know, all the various and sundry problems that go along with that. Or I also do see mostly women for chronic health issues, high blood pressure, you know, type 2 diabetes, those kinds of things. So, and basically the overall approach that I take is that I look at kind of a multifactorial thing. So it's, It's diet, it's exercise, it's what's going on in your environment that's contributing to your hormone imbalance. It's looking at your gut microbiome and combining all that stuff together.

Wow, sure. So a collection of different presenting problems. And, you know, from my perspective, working with older adults in my whole career, I see that chronic health conditions are really very prominent with this, this population. It's such a serious risk factor for older adults, and it seems like once you get one chronic condition, maybe you're vulnerable to others too— COPD, diabetes, obesity, and whatever. So what do you, what do you think is going on? Is there one approach that can help us avoid managing all of them?

Well, you know, that's, that's the interesting thing is that when what I see more and more and what more and more evidence shows is that people who lead healthier lifestyles with their diet and with regular exercise and, and that those basic basics don't have the difficulty that those who are more enmeshed in the sad American diet, the standard American diet, and no exercise, couch potato, you know, that whole thing. You know, people make their choices about how they live. And if you spend your life sitting on the couch eating Doritos, you're going to pay for it. You know, I hate, you know, I hate to be, you know, it sounds like I'm being a little facetious about it, but, you know, the body was designed to eat certain food, mostly fruits, veggies, beans, and whole unprocessed grains. And the more we keep to that stuff and the more we use the over 600 muscles in our body to do something with them, you know, healthier we're going to be.

Right. Yeah, I've had other healthcare practitioners on the program who've touched on the same subject, and really, um, there's some line of thinking that says all of these are just different manifestations of the same problem, right? And whether it affects our heart or the weight or our breathing or, you know, the diabetes factor, it's, it's all variations, different manifestations of the same underlying problem. And as you say, it's the neglect of the, you know, the positive lifestyle factors that we need to spend more time with.

Yeah. And you know, it's interesting. You just got me thinking about something because one of the things is that, you know, you can notice in people like a couple who have been living together for 40 years, let's say, and now they're moving into their 60s and 70s and they're starting to come down with diseases. And she has a heart attack and he has cancer. Now, that's, that's where the genetics come in. You know, it's, it's not necessarily if you're going to get sick, but how you're going to get sick. That's the genetic factor. But, but the fact that you are going to get sick is much more the environment and what you've been doing, what you've been putting in your body, how you've been living your life for the past 20, 30, 40 years. With— within that, the other thing that I'll also say is that it's not over till it's over. You know, the body has an amazing ability to heal itself. You start putting healthy food into it. You know, I was just listening to a podcast the other day about a guy who was diagnosed in his late 50s with type 2 diabetes with an A1C of like 17. That's like 3 times normal. He changed his diet, went on a whole food plant-based diet, and within a month he was back down to normal range. Yeah.

Yeah.

Here's proof of that all the time.

The body does have that ability. And just like smoking, giving up smoking for 20 or 30 years, And over time you can recover and get back to not complete where you would be without smoking, but close to it. And I often cite the research from National Institute of Health as we talk about genetics and lifestyle. And, you know, they've shown that our longevity is due to, um, genetics by only 25%, and 75% of our longevity is, is based on lifestyle factors. It's exactly what you're saying. There are some things that we can't control, but there are majority of things that we do, we do have control over, sure.

And it's interesting about that too, because living long and living well are two totally different things.

Yes.

And, you know, so you may have genetics that contribute to living to 90 or older, But if you're not living healthfully, those last few years are not going to be pleasant.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's get into some specifics. I think this is very helpful information. And I wonder if you could share with our listeners some tips about diet. We know diet relates to our overall health so much, as you say. What are some of the, you know, just fundamental strategies that people could adopt to manage their diet?

I think the biggest ones— some people aren't going to like this, but it's just the way it is. I think one of the biggest things is getting dairy out of the diet. And the reason I say— there's a lot of reasons I say that. Just globally, if you look at people who live long and healthfully eat very little or no dairy. And when you really look at it, dairy was designed to turn a 40-pound baby calf into a 1,000-pound cow in a year. Not doing much good for a grown human body.

Sure. So you're talking about milk products, cheese, yogurt, anything dairy-related, right?

Yeah. It's highly inflammatory. It promotes cancer. I mean, I could give you slew of reasons, but that's, you know, that's one of the big things is, is working with getting that out of your diet and, and working with not eating, not eating animal foods every single, you know, multiple times a day. You look at the average American and, you know, they're eating eggs for breakfast, processed meats for lunch, and then some kind of meat for dinner. You know, they're eating, you know, and cheese in between. They're eating meat 20 times a week or more.

So you think a few times a week, 2 or 3 times a week for meat products? Or is—

you know, I, I, I tell people, you know, roughly what all the studies show. If you look at like the Blue Zone country, you know, Blue Zone regions, you know, they all, they all eat some meat, but they keep it— it's well under 10% of their diet, right?

Yeah, I was going to bring that up. 3 to 4 ounces per meal, 3 to 4 ounces of meat per meal. So a small portion of meat.

Yeah. And, you know, it depends. Basically, if you're doing 3 or 4 ounces, you know, if you do that 2 or 3 times a week, that's, that's probably gonna be pretty close to that.

Sure.

10-ish percent.

Okay. That's good advice. Good recommendations. Yeah. And is it controversial? People question dairy and, gee, why should I give up dairy? Milk is healthy? We've always been told to drink milk for the vitamins and nutrients.

I mean, you know, it's so interesting because people say drink milk for the calcium. Well, where does the calcium that is in the milk come from? It comes from the cows eating it in plants. So where does it ultimately come from? It comes from the plants.

Plants. Okay. Okay. So we could short circuit that by just going directly to the plants and avoiding milk. Sure. Yeah.

Not only that, it's going to absorb better too, because your body does not absorb the calcium from, from milk very readily.

Sure. Yeah. When I've heard that when we're low on calcium, drinking milk isn't the answer for that.

No. Yeah.

So how about exercise? Why is it so important? What should we be doing on a daily basis, or let's say a weekly basis? What do you recommend?

Here, I'll answer the why is it so important in my view first. I kind of go back to our hunter-gatherer cave dweller, cave dwelling ancestors. And, you know, there are I've read literature that suggests that they moved around so much that they, that they had to take in like 5,000 calories a day. So our bodies were designed to move. We have, you know, I mean, you know, like I mentioned earlier, we have over 600 muscles in our bodies. Our bodies were designed to move. And, you know, if you're not moving your body regularly, if you're not stretching, strengthening, and doing your aerobic workout and doing your balance, you know, you're sooner or later, it's going to wreak havoc on your system. And so as far as the what to do, basically there's 4 types. I divide it into 4 types of exercise. There's stretching, there's strengthening, there's balance, and there's endurance. And so you want to do something that's going to address all of those. Now, fortunately, you can do something like yoga that, that can actually address all of them. Doesn't address the aerobics so much, but it can address the strength and the flexibility and stretching and the balance, and then just add some aerobic exercise to that. And that's one real easy way to parse all that and put it together.

Okay, so stretching, balance, aerobics or endurance, and then the strengthening activities. Yeah, and well, yoga is certainly a prized approach to maintaining physical fitness. I have a colleague who's coming on my program in a few weeks, and he's looked at, you you know, physical fitness. And he said when he tries to understand what, what it means to be physically fit, there's not a certain definition for that. And, you know, basically what he's learned is that fitness is all about mobility. Exactly. Being fit means to be flexible and mobile and having our bodies move in all the different movements. And that, to me, that makes a lot of sense. Of course, there's balance and there's aerobics, but the strengthening, and, you know, it's all part of that mobility that makes a difference for us.

Yeah.

Have you heard that? Would you agree with that mobility as the kind of the elementary definition here? Physical?

Well, I would say so. Yeah. There is no one single definition for how would you define fitness. It varies person to person. I think how each person defines fitness is what's important to them. Sure. But from, you know, from my way of thinking, I think the key is to be able to do the things that you want to be able to do until the day you die. You know, if all you want to do is sit on the couch, well, it may end up that that's all you can do. Yeah. And that's where life gets difficult.

Sure.

Yeah.

And how about the relationship between diet and brain health and gut health? We talk about the microbiome, all of that gut health. How are they all tied together?

Well, you know, we are now starting to call, or we have actually been for a while calling, the gut our second brain. And when you really look at it, almost all of the— 80% of our hormones, maybe even more, are actually produced by our gut microbiome. The problem comes in that if we don't eat the right diet, then we're not feeding the right bugs. We're feeding the unhealthy bugs rather than feeding the healthy bugs. So when So when you eat your plant-based foods, that's basically feeding the healthy bugs that are going to be producing those hormones that your body is then going to absorb.

Okay, so the right foods will help those proper bugs, the positive. Yeah, and they produce in turn the hormones that we need to stay Healthy. Yeah. So when we don't take in those kind of plant-based foods and we take in the processed foods and the refined sugars and all that, what happens to our microbiome?

Well, you know, it starts out, you know, first of all, you're feeding the wrong bugs. And the bugs that you're feeding by eating a lot of fat and a lot of animal protein and a lot of processed food, the bugs that you're feeding are promoting inflammation. And so they're gonna promote inflammation, they're gonna promote leaky gut. And once you've got leaky gut, basically what you've got is you've got spaces in between your cells that are allowing larger molecules to get absorbed directly into your blood. And then you can start coming down with problems like autoimmune disorders because your body is absorbing things that it shouldn't be absorbing and it starts reacting to those. And those things start cross-reacting with your own body. Okay, so you can— yes, you can run into all kinds of problems with that, you know, um, and, you know, it leads to a whole slew of other illnesses.

Yeah, okay, that's good to know. So it's the poor, you know, the poor diet that contributes to feeding the wrong bugs, and in turn that creates the inflammation and leaky gut syndrome, which I've read a little bit about. So it all has its kind of domino effect. And it's not something that happens suddenly, right? It happens over a course of time.

It happens over the course of time. Yeah. And, and it takes a while to reverse it. Now you can, you know, to a large extent, it is very reversible if you, you know, if you get your diet in order.

And what are the problems with inflammation? How does that manifest itself?

So many ways. You know, inflammation is, is basically the beginning stages of every disease process we know. Is basically the long story short on that.

Wow. Okay.

Yeah.

So it contributes to the diabetes, to the respiratory problems, to arthritis, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. Joseph Casciani. Yeah. So you talk about helping people maintain the ability to do the things they love till the day they die. From a positive perspective, how do you translate that? What do we do to do the things we love until the day we die?

Translate that. For me, it's a combination of eating the right foods, getting out and moving your body regularly, and maintaining a healthy mindset. And as long as you keep that flexibility in there, you know, you should be able to continue doing the things that you want to do. You keep the flexibility, you keep the capacity to move in the ways that you want to.

Yeah, I think mindset is so important. As I've talked about many times, it's, it's what helps us get over those bumps that come along. And, you know, we're always going to have those, those detours, we're always going to have those setbacks. And how do we How do we deal with those setbacks? What's our outlook after we get hit with a, you know, the diagnosis or a fall or a stroke? How do we deal with that mindset? How do you value mindset? I mean, how do you recommend people to maintain this positive mindset? Any insights there?

It's all so individual, but a lot of it is just It's some, some of it goes back to get feeding your body right so that you're getting the right, you're making the right chemicals to have the healthy mindset. So that is a piece of it, but it's also, and getting out there and exercising regularly. Exercise really does help your brain function. It helps your mind function. It helps clear clear your mind. And then beyond that, I think it's just self-kindness and having, you know, not beating yourself up when— for, you know, for not doing the things that you said you're going to do. Yeah, whatever it is. I mean, we all go there sometimes, but, but being conscious of that stuff and, you know, correcting it as much as you can. And meditation is something that helps people just kind of center and clear their minds and You know, there's, there are many, many techniques. And for me, I think, you know, as we get older, continuing to have things that we're looking forward to doing, you know, continue to have those dreams and plans and evolve them as we age. You know, we, as long as we're still contributing to the world and we're still doing something positive, then we're going to want to continue giving and giving back.

And sure, yes, that's going to propel us forward. Yeah, I agree 100%. I mean, that whole sense of purpose and meaning, having goals and things that we're looking for and things we feel good about, plus the gratitude and, you know, expressing, you know, recognition of what we have and, you know, focusing on the good things. But I want to get back to just something you said a minute ago, and that, I mean, the mindset is often a psychological thing, but you also attribute a positive mindset to eating the right foods, that if we have the right chemicals coming into our system, it allows us to maintain that brain health. Is that what you're saying?

It's definitely a factor in there, yes.

Yeah, yeah, okay, that's good to know. You take an atypical approach to diabetes, um, I know I've read that about your background there. Tell us about that approach. How do you approach diabetics?

Well, you know, the thing is, is that more and more there's starting to be more and more evidence that high blood sugar is just a symptom, if you will, and the real underlying cause of diabetes is not high blood sugar. The underlying cause is having too much fat in our, in our system, that then we get all this fat basically congealed in our cells that doesn't allow the insulin to penetrate the system so that we can have that right balance. So you can actually reverse type 2 diabetes in a matter of sometimes as little as days by adopting a low-fat plant-based diet.

Sure, yeah, just like that example you gave at the outset, where the person was able to drop his level. Yes, it's the presence of too much fat that interferes with the insulin production, and that contributes to the rise in the blood sugar level.

Yeah, it doesn't interfere with the insulin production, it interferes with the insulin being able to work with the cells and allow the glucose into the cells.

Okay. All right. That's an important insight. I know we're moving through some very, very serious topics rather quickly, but I want to get to this one other question about obesity and the high incidence of obesity today in the US and in other countries around the world, as we're seeing. So why is the obese person, you know, sometimes they'll seem healthy and sometimes they're very unhealthy. How do we begin to tackle this? This is a serious problem.

Yeah, well, you know, I think the thing of it is, is that obesity— some people don't want, don't like to recognize this fact, but obesity in and of itself is a health issue, you know. So you can have people that seem to be healthy they're, you know, they're obese, maybe they're 30, 40, 50 years old and they seem to be— they seem to— they seem to be healthy for many years, but they've got that underlying inflammation going on because the fat cells produce inflammation. So that's, you know, so that's a big part of it. But, you know, I think the big thing is, is that, you know, it doesn't have to be that difficult to resolve because as soon as you start backing away from those high-fat foods, you know, the weight will start to come off.

Sure. Yeah, yeah, easier said than done for a lot of people, right? I mean, there's much more appeal in taking the, the new medication or the anti-obesity drugs or whatever than to change diet, to do the hard work, right? What do you say to those people?

Well, you know, it's all, it's all their choice. You know, the only thing I can say to those people is, is that it is their choice. And, and they may want to, you know, what do they— what kind of quality of life do they want to have in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years? I used to laugh. I used to almost laugh in people's faces when I was in chiropractic practice. Because every once in a while, I would talk to people about living to be 100, and they would look at me and they would say, "I don't want to live that long." Do you have a choice? You know, unless you're literally going to off yourself, you don't have a choice about when you go. All you have a choice about is about how you're going to live those last 5 to 10 years.

Right. Yeah.

And yeah, you could go in an accident and you never know what tomorrow brings or all that stuff. Believe me, I have an 89-year-old friend who every day is just misery for her because she has chronic pain and she's obese and she has all these other issues. And you don't want to go there. Yeah, people knew how bad it can be, you know.

But on the, on the positive side, we're seeing so many more opportunities now and strategies that we can take to stay healthy and to live longer. And so we're shifting away from the future as being a dark negative place to now the future is opportunity and something to celebrate and look forward to aging because there are so many good things about it. And that, that's what I'm seeing in recent years, that gee, we're actually taking all of this, this new scientific information, the medical information, and putting it to good use. We're living longer, we're living healthier. We're staying out of the hospitals. So, I mean, years ago, our 80s, 90s, they were dark periods. Who wants to, you know, grow old and become dependent and frail and needy? That's shifting. That ageist attitude is shifting. That's a wonderful thing.

It certainly is.

Yeah.

And, you know, as I mentioned, that one friend that I have, well, I also have other friends and relatives that are just the opposite end, that are in, you know, a couple of relatives that are still, that are well into their 90s and are still, you know, still moving around, still doing the things they want to be doing, and life is good.

And that's not such the exception anymore, is it? Yeah, it's becoming more of the rule than the exception. Yeah. So any thoughts on environmental changes, anything we can do and in our environment that will allow us to stay healthy?

You know, that's, that's another whole category in and to itself that I could spend an hour talking about. I think the big thing is, you know, watching the chemicals in your environment, keeping, you know, trying to do more organic in terms of the things that you put on your body in terms of shampoo and body washes and soaps and all that stuff. Stuff. If you keep with more the organic, organically derived things, you're going to be much better off because a lot of the commercial stuff that's more chem— that has more chemicals in it, many of those chemicals can act, behave as hormones. And then we get into the whole thing with all the hormone balance and how that upsets everything.

Sure. And the possible inflammation from that.

Yeah, inflammation from that.

Interesting. Well, yeah, well, this was great. A lot of very helpful information. I really appreciate it. Looks like we're out of time for today, Leslie. Um, before we wrap up, I just want to remind our listeners about a few items. I'm pleased to announce a new co-sponsor for our podcast, A Mighty Good Time. Are you looking for ways to engage and stay active? Check out amightygoodtime.com. It's a one-stop shop for events and activities for those 50 and over, and it's free to search and it's free to post. Amightygoodtime.com. Also, be sure to visit our website and see the option to work with Dr. Joe— that's me— for one-on-one conversations about managing setbacks, overcoming a negative outlook, and getting back to feeling engaged and motivated again. Visit the Work with Dr. Joe page on our website and see the options available. You can also pick up a copy of my book on Amazon, Living Longer Is the New Normal. I think that whatever age you're at, inspiration and a positive mindset can be put to good use. That's my message in the book. And be sure to sign up to our email list for announcements and newsletters with reliable information and resources about moving forward. And while you're there, you can download a free copy of my 9 Tips for Living Longer. It's loaded with practical and useful strategies for successful aging and staying positive. Go to livingto100.club. That's the website. Leslie, thanks so much for being a guest on our show today. For those who might want to contact you, how can they do that?

Um, well, my website is drlesliek.com, and, um, another thing that they can do is if they They text, they can text the word wellness to the number 41259, and they'll get— and, and go and follow the prompts on that. They'll do a little questionnaire thing, and, and they'll get 30, 30 free days of inspirational and inspirational and health-minded messages. So that's one, that's one thing that they can do to get started moving in the right direction. Like I said, the website is drlesliek.com. My Instagram, for anybody that may have that— I'm not sure if this is the right audience for that or not— is dr.lesliek. And I also have a Facebook group called Vibrant Health Over 40, and that's a public group, so they can find that and join it without any difficulty.

Oh, great.

Um, yeah, those are the main things.

A lot of vehicles, a lot of good ways to stay in touch. And I'd like the text— text the word wellness to 41259. Yeah, right. Great. Well, thanks again for being a guest on our program, and thanks to everyone for tuning in to our episode. Hope to see you next time. Thanks.

Hi everyone, this is Meredith from the Senior Fitness with Meredith podcast where I discuss all things for seniors, from fitness, your health and wellness journeys, how to be all over strong and beyond. I also have my mini podcast called Motivation with Meredith. It's a great quick motivational pick-me-up for your days. Join me, listen now.

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