Men's Health: Helping Men Heal From The Inside Out With Dr. Forrest Sauer

Posted on June 05, 2023
Men's Health: Helping Men Heal From The Inside Out With Dr. Forrest Sauer

 

Watch the episode here

 

Statistics reveal that men are less likely to visit the doctor for regular checkups. Not only that, it has also been found that the second killer is suicide in young men. This calls for an overall health intervention, encouraging men to take care not only of their physical but also mental health. Diving deep into men’s health is Chiropractor and the Founder of Twin Oaks Health, Dr. Forrest Sauer. He sits down with Corinna Bellizzi to bring awareness to these alarming statistics and how we can overcome them. Dr. Sauer then shares how he is helping change the unhealthy American lifestyle and diet through his company, Sprout and Bloom. Learn how to heal from the inside out and live a long and healthy life by tuning in to this conversation.

 

Key takeaways from this episode:

  • Suicide is the second killer among young men
  • How to encourage men to have regular check-ups
  • The importance of taking responsibility for your health
  • The relationship between fats, cholesterol, and hormones
  • Sprout and Blossom’s healthy coffee

 

Guest Social Links:

Website: https://twinoakshealth.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drforrestsauer/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrForrestSauer

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drforrestsauer

Sprout And Blossom: https://sproutandblossom.co/

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Men's Health: Helping Men Heal From The Inside Out With Dr. Forrest Sauer

June is Men's Health Month and as part of our feature, we're going to bring on a few medical professionals to discuss health challenges that affect men. Here are a few statistics to kick us off. Did you know that men are 24% less likely to visit the doctor for regular checkups? While heart disease remains the number one killer of men, there's a perhaps second killer that is less known and less talked about and that is simply suicide. This means that now more than ever, we need to be looking out for them. We need to be looking out for not only their physical bodies but for their mental health as well. Thankfully, a good diet, physical activity and lifestyle changes can offer a world of difference for men of all ages.

This is something we've talked about before. Getting diet, nutrition and sleep right can positively affect mental outlook, reduce anxiety and help problems seem more manageable and less intense. Everything looks better after a good night's sleep after all. To talk about men's health and the things that we can all do to naturally support them, their physical and their mental health, I'm joined by a doctor of chiropractic and a friend of the show whom we have in a past episode and that's Dr. Forrest Sauer.

Dr. Sauer is a chiropractor and the Founder of Twin Oaks Health, an alternative medicine practice that specializes in helping people manage complex health challenges like diabetes, thyroid disease, fatigue and depression. They've assisted thousands of patients who have masked their symptoms for years with pills and surgeries to ultimately heal from the inside out and live a long and healthy life. I'm excited to invite him back and hear his insights on this important topic.

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Dr. Forrest Sauer, welcome back.

Thanks for having me back. I appreciate it. I don't think there's any probably more important topic in men's health than this one so I'm excited to dig into it.

I am so appreciative that you've joined us. I want to start first with a little bit of history about you. What made you first decide that you needed to become a chiropractor and help people pursue better health?

There are multiple reasons as with many things in life but I shared my story and why last time. I found my grandma brain-dead on the sidewalk when I was ten years old. It was from that moment on that I realized that I needed to start taking responsibility for my health. Both of my parents worked in the healthcare industry. My mom's a nurse. My dad's a nurse and Methodist. They put people to sleep for surgery. Hearing them come home at the end of the day and share stories about how they help people was empowering to me.

When I was first going to college, I decided I was going to become a medical doctor and I quickly found out that medical doctors’ responsibilities and job titles have changed in the past many years where doctors are told what to do and what labs to order. They're handcuffed. I didn't want to take that route or approach. That's why I decided to become a chiropractor because I wanted that freedom. I wanted to empower men and women how to regain their health.

I was in the process of getting my doctorate. There's a lot of stress going to college. I struggled with depression and anxiety pretty significantly for a long time. I wasn't shown any hope. Having the statistic where the number two killer of men is suicide resonates close to home for me because I used to struggle with a lot of those same symptoms and with the lack of awareness on where I could turn to get help.

This is more a problem and I'm not to say it's less a problem in older years either but when you look at young men, especially in the age of COVID when we had to go so insular for so long, at this moment in life, young men would be looking at, “What's next for me? How do I enter this world? I have these societal expectations of what I'm supposed to be able to do. I need to be able to pay rent, have a good job and pursue whatever my craft is going to be.” Feeling like you can't live up to any expectations in this era is something that many people suffer from.

Thankfully, something that seems to be coming to a bit of a close as we get more active, music shows are happening more and all of these things where we can engage and be together have improved. It’s a fact that men don't go to the doctor as often. That's one thing. Perhaps it's this stoic nature of the male culture of not wanting to talk about what's going wrong or, “I'm doing fine. I don't need to look at my health markers.” Let's talk about what you find when you see your male patients. How do you help them on their journey?

First of all, I grew up in that same male culture where we can chew down trees with our teeth like, “I don't need to go to some doctor to tell me that I need to start changing my lifestyle. I got it. I'm going to eat my pizza and drink my beer.” We're going to be satisfied and check out by the time we're 60. That's male culture. The tide is starting to shift because, at the end of the day, men have a responsibility. We have a responsibility for our job to do a good job and take care of our families and significant others.

What has been missing out on is taking responsibility for our health and steering the ship for our family saying, “I recognize that the standard American lifestyle only accelerates disease and creates more depression, anxiety and health challenges.” Therefore, that means that we do have to swim against the tide. We have to take ownership. It's okay if it's not perfect. It means that you're stepping up and taking action instead of simply succumbing to a statistic. That's something that is being missed in the male culture and it is turning because of the awareness.

People are feeling lost and confused. They don't trust medicine and doctors anymore. COVID has shown a light on that and people are having a wake-up call and are thirsty for where to go. They’re like, “What can I do for my body, nutrition and lifestyle so that way, I don't feel like checking out of life?” This is the very real consequence of not taking responsibility for ourselves.

If we keep pushing responsibility onto others and blaming others, we are not in control of our life. Jocko Willink in his book Extreme Ownership says, “There's only one person who's at fault and that is you.” That may sting a little bit but there's an incredible amount of freedom in there as well because that means that you have the power to change.

It’s what they say. You're in control of your reactions. Many people forget that. I've read that book too. Many people in leadership get assigned to that rating by their boss like, “You got to read this book.” It reminded me a bit of this much older work called A Message to Garcia, which is a little bit of the commitment to do the job, just get it done type of mentality. It's very interesting work because it is taking this moment to reflect and say, “What could I have done differently?” Taking ownership of that perspective is something that we all need to do. This is something we touched on when I spoke with Dr. Bill Harris about the Omega-3 Blood Spot test.

He said, “Too often, people get a test in front of them as a for example. They know they should take it but they want to improve things first.” They look at going to doctors that way too like, “I need to go to the doctor but I want to lose 10 pounds first because they're going to make me get on that scale and I'm going to hear all these diet and lifestyle things. I don't want to hear that. I'm going to put it off.” The 10 pounds don’t come off and then they don't go to the doctors. What do we do to get people to have that natural annual habit of seeing a physician so that they can address any minor complaints they might have had which could have been a marker for some other challenge that could be much bigger?

It starts with the culture and decision. Waiting to lose 10 pounds to go to the doctor is like waiting to have your life right until you go to church. That's not how things work. We're not supposed to live in isolation. We're supposed to live in a community so lean on others. This whole lone wolf mentality, “I am going to go ahead and fix all of my problems by myself without anybody's help,” is broken. That's been very popular among Americans. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger, the manliest man, said, “I am not a self-made man. I have stood on the shoulders of giants who have come before me and that is why I'm in the position that I'm at.”

How does that relate to your health? It means that even though you don't have perfect health, maybe you are 10 pounds overweight, maybe you know that your cholesterol's high and you don't want to have it checked because you're scared of going on medication, have it checked, get some coaching and stand on shoulders of giants who have come before you that can show you how to fix it. Using nutrition like what Orlo presents has been shown to improve those blood markers and rely on the support of others. This is my belief but the faster we can get away from this lone wolf mentality and as a band of brothers or sisters come together, the stronger our culture is going to be.

It is community and collaboration. If you're on this health journey on your own, you're not going to be able to make informed decisions. Let's talk about making more informed decisions. In our last connection, you talked a bit about the battery of tests that you might run for an individual coming to see you to help get a baseline. Let's talk about that.

First, the reason why we take labs is because it eliminates guessing games. It gives us a very clear direction on where we're going to go. It’s lovely if you've had tests taken beforehand. That's amazing. Insurance is only going to pay for labs that they can medicate for so that's a big challenge. When we take labs, we go nose to toe and test for everything because I don't want to miss anything. The life cycle of a man is maybe in their 20s and 30s, things aren't perfect and maybe we're feeling a little low. We get used to it and suck it up into our 40s and 50s.

We're dragged into our 60s and 70s. We spent the past 40 years selling our bodies to work and by the time we get those “golden years,” we have nothing left. When I'm talking about creating responsibility for your health, it’s so that you have that end in mind. By the time you hit 60, you could be able to retire, enjoy time with the grandkids and be able to start checking those things off the bucket list. You have life after work. Where do you go? Find someone who is an expert in nutrition and who you want to be like.

Don't go to your doctor if he's on a couple of medications for cholesterol and high blood pressure medication. Maybe he's the wrong guy to listen to. Don't ask your broke uncle for financial advice. The same thing goes for your health. Find someone who lives a lifestyle that you want to emulate, has their health and gets their advice. That's called a coach and a mentor.

How do you guide people to track their health progress over time? What are the key things that you have them look at so perhaps they can even monitor themselves in the day-to-day?

One excellent way to start monitoring themselves is first, the way that we do it in our office is we take tests before and then after. Test before so that way we have a baseline and we know where we're going. We make some lifestyle changes and then test afterward. Usually, it's 3 to 4 months after we start making some lifestyle changes to make certain we are headed in the right direction.

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It takes the body about that long to start turning around. Your body's telling you a lot of the symptoms. Learn how to live and listen to your body. You shouldn't feel like you got run over by a truck every single morning. That's called inflammation. You got some inflammation in your body and you need to start decreasing the sugar or processed oils or start moving the body. All those are signs and symptoms in your body that there is something wrong. Listening to your body is a big one. Are you strategically and slowly noticing improvements in your health?

Here's how you know if you're going in the right direction. In the first month, you should be able to notice some changes and improvements. Specifically, men who typically respond very quickly. They don't have a lot of the same hormonal challenges that women tend to have. Thirty days is a good marker to make certain. If a man is making lifestyle changes, they're eating less sugar, less processed oils, more meat, more protein and fewer carbs, that's going to give you a very telltale direction if this is moving forward. Orlo is also doing some before and after testing.

I've never seen any company do this. We highlighted this in our episode with Dr. Bill Harris as we kicked off this program on May 22nd, 2023. As it stands for a limited time, what we're doing is special. We're giving people with their subscription for Orlo’s Omega-3s, one OmegaQuant, Omega-3 Index Test so they can establish a baseline with their very first shipment. It includes our glass jar, which is beautiful. It's a reusable bottle and even the box is printed with algae. The company is so mindful of sustainability. They get their bottle and two refill pouches.

Each month is a pouch. You fill the empty jar with one of the pouches and then fill the next. At the second shipment, they ship you another set of powerful active Omega-3s. These are in the polar lipid form so they get into your system more quickly. Even with something like medical tests, I agree that it typically takes about 3 to 4 months to notice measurable differences that are going to count. There's a reason for that, especially with fat-soluble vitamins or nutrients like Omega-3s.

It takes time to give your oil change a thrust. After that first four months, your third shipment arrives and that's when we send you another Omega-3 Index Test along with your product. We spoke about briefly how people say, “I want to go ahead and get better before I take a test.” It's important to establish your baseline and continue taking the product every single day. If four months later you take that second test, you're going to see a pretty dramatic change.

I went through the episode with Bill Harris and I took the test on air so I don't need to do it again but I want to tell you what the experience was like. I opened the clamshell. There are a couple of little fingerpricks in there. It's quite painless. You register your kit number online. It asks you a couple of simple questions. You can choose to pay for additional tests if you want to. If you didn't have a vitamin D baseline and you wanted to, you could go ahead and add that one to your free order, pay a small fee and get that result as well.

You don't have to do that. You just go ahead and submit it. You send the blood in, this little blood spot on a card. There's a prepaid envelope inside. After you send it in and they receive it, within five days, you get the results emailed to you. The results show you on the graph where you fall in that 4% to 12% plus perspective. Before I took this, I haven't taken Omegas for a long time. This what's the baseline going to look like, the change I had made four months before as I stopped eating fish.

This is a new baseline for me. I continued taking the same Omega-3s every day that I take but I stopped consuming fish. I expected my test results to be below 8% and I wasn't sure by how much. They came back at 6.47%. It's solidly between what is a little suboptimal and optimal. I need to perhaps do a little bit more to get my saturation levels up to 8%. The reason that the 8% threshold is so important is that when people get that saturation in their cells and they get enough Omega-3 in their cells up to 8%, then as Bill Harris shared, all-cause mortality drops. I don't know about you but that's pretty important to me.

I'm going to do a little work to get back up to 8%. I have this knowledge in hand. I said, “I've been taking two a day. Now, I'm going to take three,” which is a dose and a half. That's reasonable to me because I'm not consuming fish. Something else I changed was I started adding walnuts to my smoothie in the morning so I get a little bit more dietary Omega-3 and a precursor to EPA and DHA but that will help. This combination of having a highly active bioactive Omega-3 in the polar lipid form, which absorbs up to three times better than fish oil, I'm primed for success. I'm seeing that I am maintaining my Omega-3 levels. I can make a few changes to improve it and get up to that 8%. That's my goal and journey.

I love what you're doing. Think of it. Let's treat it like your health is gamified. You're taking that test and that's your scoreboard. Let's go and say this is a sports game. You don't just simply check the scoreboard at the end of the game. You check it all the way through. That's exactly what that test is doing the same as where we at. We're checking and seeing where we are. Are we healthy or not? Are we winning or losing? I love what Bill Harris said, “All-cause mortality goes down.” Let's go ahead and think about what your body uses Omega-3s for. Yes, it's an antioxidant. It's going to decrease inflammation. It helps out with that. Specifically with men, your body uses healthy fats to create hormones. That's how it works.

It's the same with women. We had this conversation about women’s health.

You need that healthy fat. Healthy fat converts into cholesterol and cholesterol converts into hormones. Think of it. The most common or popular medication is statin medication which drives down your cholesterol. It's like you're stealing your body's ability to create hormones or testosterone. Testosterone helps with muscle mass and growth, motivation, sex drive, feelings of worth and happiness and a whole bunch of other stuff. Think about your average male once they hit their 60s. They start losing the muscle mass in their shoulders and start sitting more in their La-Z-Boy.

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When the kids come over with the grandkids, they're watching the football game instead of playing with the grandkids. I call it grumpy grandpa syndrome because what's happening in their testosterone is being depleted. They're probably on a statin medication and their body isn't allowed to create testosterone anymore. That's why they're always pissed. This is creating that hormonal imbalance.

We all can relate to this. I have a grumpy grandpa in my life too. I also think that that may contribute to what we see as this old man body type where you get a massive belly, skinny arms and legs. Is that a healthy body when you have to be on five and more medications to manage your health? I forget the exact statistics but for something over age 50, the percent of people that are taking 5 or more medications was alarmingly high.

40% of Americans are taking medication over 40 years old. 4 out of 10 Americans are already on some medication over 40. Think of it. Back when we were in high school, nobody thought that we were going to be 20 pounds overweight on 1 or 2 medications and sucking wind when we get to the top of the stairway. Nobody thought that, yet here we sit. If we don't want to be dragged into our 60s and 70s, this full circle comes back to creating that responsibility in treating our body with the amount of respect that it deserves and it does take discipline. It means that we can't continue living the lifestyle that the vast majority of Americans make because we don't want to end up like Grandpa or Grandma. That's the motivation.

I have a question and this relates to the health complaints that I've heard other doctors say often come up when they get behind closed doors with male patients. The health concern that they'll talk about is, “I don't feel as energetic as I used to. I am worried about my libido or virility.” What can we do to help men open themselves to these conversations and get through the drivers of what leads them to have low libido and low energy?

First off, it's very embarrassing for a man to go through something like that when they can't get it up or doesn’t have the sex drive that they want. They're feeling like less of a man. There's a tremendous amount of guilt and shame that comes along with that. That's why Viagra became such a popular drug because so many men do struggle with that daily but nobody's talking about it.

That comes down to the individual where they have to be willing to talk about it, open up and say, “I'm having some of these challenges.” What can you do naturally? It's everything that we have been talking about. High volumes of Omega-3 are going to decrease inflammation. How do erections occur? What occurs through something called nitrous oxide allows dilation of the vessels and it's not going to happen when you have massive amounts of inflammation in the body.

Circle back to what you said about the male body when they turn into the 60s. They got the pot belly. They lose muscle mass in their shoulders and they're grouchy. The reason why they have the pot belly is because their liver is diseased. It creates 80% of the cholesterol in your body. It's not the eggs that you eat. That's not it. It's liver. If your cholesterol's messed up, it means that your liver is messed up. What creates damage to your liver? Alcohol is the number one thing that most people think of. You didn't have to say it.

If your cholesterol is messed up, it means that your liver is messed up.

Usually, they think of alcohol but it's also overconsumption of fat.

Overconsumption of bad fats.

I'm not talking about Omega-3s. I always say omega3s are the exception. You could eat as much Omega-3 as you wanted and it would not damage you but it's overconsumption of things like trans fats, Omega-6s and a lot of fried food. The reason fried food is so bad is not necessarily because Omega-6s are bad by nature but it's because as you fry with them, you denature them. They get damaged and then those damaged fats get integrated into your body. We're good at absorbing fat because that's how our body was designed to extract energy from nature and this is a rich nutrition source. You take these damaged fats that might otherwise be healthy and they mess up your system.

You have these Omega-6s and when you cook them at that high of a temperature, your body no longer recognizes them but because of the fat, it still takes it in. Your body's going to use what you give it. Remember, hormones come from fat. If all you're eating is fried foods, chips and everything else that comes in boxes or cans, that's what your body's going to use. This is why the vast majority of Americans have hormonal imbalances. It's because of what you're giving your body in the first place.

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In the supplement industry, you do get what you pay for. I was talking with a client and she was asking about magnesium. She found this great deal at Costco and we had to stop and take a minute. The most expensive supplement that you can purchase is the one that you're going to pee out and not use. Invest in your health and get what is absorbed. The way yours is designed is a breakthrough in the fish oil industry, which is amazing.

We aren't in fish oil and that's one of the things that's different because we're in algae. This is one of the breakthroughs in technology. We've gotten to a point where we can grow algae in a super responsible way and retain its polar lipid structure because we can extract it so gently. By optimizing its growing conditions, we've essentially given it everything it needs to thrive. It's levels of Omega-3s that are naturally higher and because they're naturally higher so we don't have to do as much to it.

Whereas if you get fish oil, you have to process that oil. You have to first remove toxins and concentrate and winterize them. There are all these things that get done to fish oil before it ever makes it into a capsule. In some ways, that denatures it, even if it is reified as some companies have chosen to do, it's not the same as the oil that existed in that sardine in the first place. It's certainly not in its polar lipid form anymore. That's what we're working to do differently with Orlo. It's a huge breakthrough. I have seen people say things like, “I was always told that if I took Omega-3s in general, my dry eye complaints would go away but they never did until I took your product.”

There's something to be said about going to this next level and using the benefits of technology to help you get there and to understand that we can cut straight over, jump right over that fish and go to algae, which is where the fish even gets their EPA and DHA in the first place. My hope is that more people can take advantage of this. We're going to give them the baseline test at month zero and then again with their fifth month and help them see dramatic changes, not only in how they feel but the actual results of their paperwork. It's exciting.

The proof is in the pudding. I love that.

You'll have to join me in this endeavor. Take a test, take some Orlo and see how you do four months later.

I'll check my score. That sounds good.

I wanted to wrap this conversation up with any tips that you might have, specifically for men to lead a little bit healthier life and perhaps handle some of those mental health challenges that they might face as well.

It's simple advice but it's not exactly going to be easy. I'll tell you because I had struggled for a long time with my mental health challenges. I had tried every single supplement underneath the sun and nothing ever seemed to touch it. It wasn't until I did this that I noticed a big shift in my mental wellness. That was eliminating seed oils from my lifestyle. What are seed oils? It's soybean, peanut, vegetable and canola oil. It's what you're talking about. It’s those highly processed oils that are in 95% of the stuff that's in the grocery store. It is disgusting.

I'm laughing because I've gone through this journey too. It is very challenging. I love oat milk in my coffee. I've said goodbye to dairy. I still use oat milk from time to time. Guess what the fat is in that oat milk? It's seed oil. I sometimes make enough of it at home myself but then I run out. I'm at the store. I pick up the oat milk and I know every time I put it in my coffee, I have that moment of I'm putting seed oil in my coffee. This doesn't feel right. There are all these places where it gets hidden because you wouldn't think about it. It's milk and so in a way, your mind doesn't connect to the fact that it could be coming from a seed.

It's very sneaky so you have to read labels. It's simple but it's not easy. Your mind is going to be shaken when you realize and recognize how many seed oils you have been exposed to. Here's the connection. Your brain is 80% fat. If you are feeding it unhealthy fats, you're going to have an unhealthy brain. Switch away from it. You're going to notice a major shift in your overall mental health and wellness and most likely inflammation issues.

I recognize when I go over to the in-laws or my family, they don't live the same lifestyle that we do. We eat what they eat. We're gluten-free but they're not as strict as we are at our household. I can tell in the morning if I have been eating more seed oils because the inflammation cascaded. It does start because of the effects that it does have on my health. You can notice that quickly.

Sometimes if I'm not too careful, I'll start to get eczema or little bumps on my fingers. That's one of the first tells for me. Another one is that the balls on my feet will start to get a little sore. This is because of probably the innumerable road miles I've run running marathons. Repeat injury but I'm not going to stop. I love to get out there and explore. I do have to watch for those things. When I notice that, then I look at what I've been eating and I'm like, “Right. None of that.”

How I feel changes and it changes for the better. I also wanted to speak about something for a moment because we mentioned coffee. You happen to have founded a coffee company. I wanted to give you a moment to talk about why you chose to do that, Sprout and Blossom, and share with the world. I'm drinking a cup of your coffee. It's delicious. I did put some oat milk in it with a little bit of seed oil that I know is in there.

Thank you. I appreciate it. That's generous of you. We started Sprout and Blossom, number one because I'm crazy and I don't want to stop.

You're not busy enough.

The clinic wasn't keeping busy enough. We started Sprout and Blossom because honestly, the standard American lifestyle and diet only accelerates the disease. It pisses me off that that's the standard. We wanted to do our small part and change that. That's why we started Sprout and Blossom. We decided to go with coffee first because it was the easiest thing to start with. As things are growing and moving forward, we'll be rolling out healthy snacks and healthier foods that not only just simply are not bad for you but also accelerate healing and have ingredients that way.

The bean that you're drinking is from a part of Guatemala called Huehuetenango. It's in the high volcanic regions and that's where the soil is dense and has the most nutrition with high carbon. All of that flavor gets passed into the coffee bean. That's why we chose it because it has a high nutritional value but also a low mold. There are very few mycotoxins in there because of the low moisture.

You sound like you might be a fan of Dave Asprey there with a low-mold conversation. It is important. As I will nod to a prior episode here, when I interviewed Dr. William Li, he didn't take my coffee from me so I was very pleased with that. Coffee can be health-promoting. It's positively associated with maintaining brain health into old age and negatively associated with things like Alzheimer's and dementia. Drinking a lot of coffee even isn't necessarily a problem as long as you're getting plenty of water and you don't have other gastric issues. I've never had things like heartburn or anything like that from drinking a lot of coffee but some people I know have had that. It has a lot to do with the quality of the coffee you're drinking.

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Most of it has to do with the quality of the coffee that you're drinking. You shouldn't have the pit sweats and racing brain. Your coffee shouldn't taste like ash. It should taste good and that's why we roast it the way that we do so that way, it maximizes that flavor.

What other tools do you have in your tool shed as far as dietary concerns? We said to eliminate seed oils, which is harder than you initially think. It's not just saying I'm not going to buy corn oil to fry my food with. It's saying goodbye to a lot of packaged foods and most packaged foods and freezer foods. American cheeses for sure don't eat any of those.

A lot of people suffer from carbohydrate or sugar cravings. An easy way to shortcut that is to massively increase the amount of healthy fats that you are consuming. Your body has two main fuel sources, the number one is sugar and the other one is fat. If you're suffering from sugar cravings late at night, you turn into a zombie and you raid your pantry, increase the amount of calories that you're getting from healthy fats or low nutrition being a healthy fat to 50% of your daily calories, which is a lot. It's going to transition your body to metabolize that fat for energy and you're going to accelerate your hormone production because of that because you've given your body so many tools.

What people find is that their appetite shrinks. This is the winning point I want to share with everybody here about reducing your consumption of Omega-6s and eliminating seed oils, in particular. When you take the seed oils out, often the cravings disappear because you don't necessarily have that same stimulus to eat more. When you're reducing your sugar load, you're increasing your leptin sensitivity. The triggers that say, “I'm full,” start to work again. You already won't be eating a bag of chips because all of those bags of chips are full of seed oils. It'll be on your verboten list. It's a mindful way to go towards something new. Are you also advocating for not consuming whole grains and shifting away from those grains?

My opinions are a little bit biased because most of our clients end up being autoimmune and they have some challenges with that. The vast majority of them do have challenges with grains, specifically gluten. I don't advocate for people being 100% away from that because I want people to have variety and a nice quality of life. Oftentimes it does mean living a more gluten-free lifestyle. I recognize that most gluten-free foods are filled with corn, seed oils and rice. Be very aware of what is in there. Just because it's labeled gluten-free doesn't mean that it's healthy. Be aware of that package but that is something that we do still advocate for.

Just because it's labeled gluten-free doesn't mean that it's healthy; so be aware of that package.

Your point about corn oil, in particular, those with autoimmune conditions can be particularly sensitive to inflammatory cascades specifically from corn. That can be from both the sugars and corn and also from the oils in it. It's a complex issue. Health isn't a single solution for everybody. There's not a cookie-cutter approach that works for every single person because we're all unique packages in ourselves but there are some things that seem to work across the board.

What I notice is I'm not grain-free all the time and I'm certainly not grain-free now but when I go grain-free, I have less bloating and that also means no soy. I have no soy and grain. I then have less bloating. I have a slimmer waistline even if my weight remains the same. I feel more connected to my gut. That's my experience. I've heard similar stories from other people when they go grain free.

How our bodies were designed to operate is the number of grains that Americans consume is astounding. We were never designed to handle that many grains, whether they’d be processed or even whole grain. I'm not saying no entirely for the rest of your life. It's not that black and white. You can have it on occasion but having it to the amount that Americans have, that's honestly not feasible for the vast majority of Americans.

I can't think of a better note on which to end simply because not only have we covered a lot of territory but you've given them tools to work with. If we can start to eliminate seed oils, even step by step, give up one thing and find a healthier habit to replace it with, then we’ll be on a path towards wellness. Before we end, I want to offer you the opportunity to talk about how Twin Oaks Chiropractic could help people that might be interested in learning more from you.

With Twin Oaks Health, we practice functional medicine, which is getting at the root cause of the problem. If you don't want to mask things with medications or even 40 different vitamins and minerals every single day being shoved down your gullet, seek us out and we are able to help transition lifestyles so that way you can live a healthier lifestyle with a minimal amount of nutrition daily.

That's our approach. We deal with lifestyle. We educate you. I don't want to see someone for the rest of their life. That means they haven't learned anything. We help our clients. We transition their lifestyles so that way they can live a healthy lifestyle after us on their terms. If you have a thyroid problem, inflammation or exhaustion all of the time, those are the people that we love to help and we get consistent results with them.

I do maybe one adjustment still a month but that's about it. I got a couple of clients that are still on the books for that but primarily, it is educating people in health and wellness and addressing their issues through functional medicine. TwinOaksHealth.com, you can schedule a discovery call with me or my team and see what it looks like for you to get started.

Any other closing words?

I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Don't eat the elephant all at once. Focus on seed oils, master that, create that as a healthy habit and then come home back and learn to improve your health to the next level.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you.

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If this limited-time offer happens to have expired, you can always reach out to us via email at Hello@OrloNutrition.com. If you have questions about what we covered or topics that you'd like us to dive into, please reach out via our social channels, @OrloNutrition or send me an email note. As we close this episode, I hope that you'll raise a cup of your favorite beverage with me as I raise a cup of Sprout and Blossom Coffee and save my closing words to you and Dr. Forrest Sauer, here's to your health.

 

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About Forrest Sauer

NWC 59 | Men's HealthDr. Forrest Sauer is a chiropractor and the Founder of Twin Oaks Health, an alternative medicine practice that specializes in helping people manage complex health problems like diabetes, thyroid disease, fatigue, and depression. They've assisted thousands of patients who have masked their symptoms for years with pills and surgical treatments to recover from the inside out and live a long, healthy life. To treat them, they first determine the underlying cause (s) of the patient's illness, considering factors like poor nutrition, stress, toxins, allergens, genetics, and their microbiome (the bacteria living in and on their body), before developing a personalized holistic healthy living plan to treat the patient's condition.

 

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