Radical Longevity with Ann Louise Gittleman

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Longevity…it can mean a lot of different things to different people, but something I think we can all agree on is that we don’t just want to live longer, we want to live longer and better. We want to be healthier as we age.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Today we’re joined by Ann Louise Gittleman, a top nutritionist and a leading voice in identifying ways to extend your life span.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: We’ll be talking to her about her new book, Radical Longevity: The Powerful Plan to Sharpen Your Brain, Strengthen Your Body, and Reverse the Symptoms of Aging.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: She’ll share some of her Seven Radical Rules to extend your youth span, and what radical longevity can really mean in your life.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: She’ll also help you understand how to grow older without growing old. All this and more on today’s Be HEALTHistic.

Narrator: Welcome to Be HEALTHistic, the podcast that’s more than just health and wellness information — it’s here to help you explore your options across traditional and natural medicine, so that you can make informed decisions for you and your family. This podcast illuminates the whole story about holistic health by providing access to the expertise of Drs. Steve and Drew Sinatra, who together have decades of integrative health experience. Be HEALTHistic is powered by our friends at Healthy Directions. Now, let’s join our hosts.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Hi folks…if you like what you hear today and you want to listen to future conversations on all things integrative and holistic health, subscribe to our podcast at BeHealthisticPodcast.com. Also, check out and subscribe to the Healthy Directions YouTube channel, which features video versions of our episodes, plus extra videos you won’t want to miss. And finally, we have more with me, Dr. Drew Sinatra, my dad, Dr. Steve Sinatra, and other health experts at HealthyDirections.com.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Be HEALTHistic. Today on the show, we’re welcoming Ann Louise Gittleman, a top nutritionist and a pioneer for dietary, longevity, environmental and women’s health issues. Called “the first lady of nutrition,” Ann Louise is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of over 35 books on health and nutrition — including Beyond Pritikin, Super Nutrition for Women, and the revolutionary Fat Flush Plan. She’s also very conscious of the impact that EMF and RF — which is electromagnetic fields and radio frequency — have on our health, which my dad and I talk about all the time, and which she also wrote a book on called, Zapped.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Today we’re going to focus on Ann Louise’s new project, a fascinating book that recently came out this spring called Radical Longevity: The Powerful Plan to Sharpen Your Brain, Strengthen Your Body, and Reverse the Symptoms of Aging. We’re going to ask her all about the book and how it aims to redefine the aging process.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Thanks for coming on the show today, Ann Louise.

Ann Louise Gittleman: My pleasure, Drew. It’s nice to see you and your dad. Hello, Steve.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: It’s great to be with you, Ann Louise. The last time I was there was at your 70th birthday party, and that was terrific, that was awesome.

Ann Louise Gittleman: And I want to thank you for donating your oils, they were magnificent. I love that olive oil.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: That was great. Yeah, we had all different olive oil varietals on the table, I remember that. And I’ve got to tell you, I really love this book. I mean, I’ve read your book, I’ve underlined it and everything else. And this is a great book, I mean, this says it all. This is like a summary of the 21st century. And you know what I like best about it? At the end, and maybe Drew and I can get in to this with you, at the end you give this little summary about everything from targeted supplements, to nutrition, to lifestyle, to other. And you talk about, basically, in a little chart, various chapters. I thought that was an ingenious way of summarizing what you said beforehand. And when I got to this I said, “Oh my gosh, this is like a knockout punch.” Honestly, all people have to do is read the end of the book, read your solutions, and they’ll get it — and then they can study it later on, and come back and look at it again, because it’s really superb. I’ve got to tell you, it’s an A++.

Ann Louise Gittleman: I’m glad. Do you agree with all those healthy nutrients, by the way, in the Mediterranean Diet that I focused on to a major extent in the book?

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Oh yeah. You know, Drew, you’re privy to this too, but I’ve been writing about the Mediterranean diet for years. And I have a textbook of cardiology coming out, Drew’s contributing to it, as well — it’s coming out in 2022. And I was going to write about the PAMM diet, about the Okinawa diet, and the Mediterranean diet. But, you know, the Bloomberg Series came out only like a year, year and a half ago, and Spain just surpassed Okinawa. So now the average lifespan in Spain is eight years or eight and a half years longer than the average American. Spain was number one, I think Portugal was number two, and Italy was number three. Okinawa went down to five.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Wow!

Dr. Steve Sinatra: So I think the common denominator, I mean, whether it’s a vegetarian diet, a vegan diet, a small diet with small amounts of animal protein, etc, I think the kingpin of that Mediterranean diet. Because what does all of those countries have in common, whether it’s Libya, Crete, Southern France, Italy, Spain — they use olive oil, it’s just amazing. If you look at the data on olive oil, it’s incredible because it tears down your pro-inflammatory genes. It makes them go back to a non-inflammatory state. And we’re all into genetics…and by the way, you did a great job on genetics in this book. I mean, you talked about that, you talked about resveratrol impacting DNA, and all that good stuff. So I should hand it off to you, because there’s a lot of good stuff in this book.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Well, okay, so actually…I want to start off with this, because Ann Louise, your first sentence, the lead-in sentence says this, and I want to discuss this. “I’m not a big fan of anti-aging. In fact, I’m pro-aging in the sense that I want to continue aging with power, grace, guts, and beauty.” And I just want to say that that’s amazing that you wrote that, because I’ve always had a little bit of an issue with the term and phrase, anti-aging. I mean, I go to these anti-aging conferences and you think to yourself, “Well, why are we against, why are we opposed to aging? We should be pro-aging.” So I really like really the outline that you’ve provided for this in terms of the radical longevity. Because you’re looking at more longevity, how to promote that — and not necessarily anti-aging.

Ann Louise Gittleman: No, Drew, I’m so happy you said that because I really feel that aging is a privilege. It’s a privilege that’s denied to far too many people. But, we have to approach aging with a whole new overview, so to speak. We’re involved with so many environmental assaults in this day and age, we’ve got to get to the root causes of our disease disorders, and then live a life to 120. My grandfather used to say, “ad me’ah v’esrim,” until 120. And I think it’s possible to expand your youth span, not expand the period of dying. So that’s what the title, Radical Longevity, is all about. Do you like that title by the way, gentlemen?

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Oh, absolutely.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: I love it. It’s brilliant.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Me too.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Much more appropriate than “anti-aging,” because like I said, I still have issues with that phrase. It bothers me.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Well, you know, Drew, Ann Louise uses the phrase, “aging gracefully.”

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Yes.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: I mean, that’s what it’s all about. It’s really aging...and she, like…I mean, I believe it as well, that 70 is the new 50. I mean, don’t you agree, Ann Louise?

Ann Louise Gittleman: 70 is the new 40.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: I mean that’s what it’s all about.

Ann Louise Gittleman: 70 is the new 40.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Oh, the new 40. Oh, okay. You down-notched it by a decade, that sounds great.

Ann Louise Gittleman: I love that. But I think we can all approach aging with a whole new overview. You know, you have to take a bold and new vision. The consequences here is that you’ll be more resilient, you’ll be more graceful. And we should approach aging as saging. I don’t even like the word aging, I think we all need to sage as we grow older, not age. So you can grow older without growing old. And of course, the maintenance may become higher, because of all of the toxins in the environment and the accumulation of toxicities over a lifetime. But if you take care of the deficiencies, your vitamins, your minerals, your resveratrol, your olive oil, your polyphenols, and you mind your minerals, then I think that’s the real key.

Ann Louise Gittleman: And Steve, I wanted to tell you something about the Mediterranean Diet. One of the reasons it’s so very healthy that I talk about in the book is because it’s low in iron. The use of red meat just occasionally, the use of olive oil occasionally, all lowers iron. All of the Mediterranean people have very low ferritin levels, and that’s because of the way they drink their wine. It lowers iron, so that’s a key that nobody talks about, but that you’ll find in Radical Longevity.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Well, you know, iron is a pro-oxidant, you’re absolutely right. And iron’s involved in a Fenton reaction, and Drew got an A in biochemistry in college. I didn’t, but you know…

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Oh geez, that’s a long time ago, Dad.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: I mean, you’re absolutely right, iron ages you. I mean, the only people that should take iron on the planet is, really, pre-menopausal women.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Yes.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: I mean, that’s it. When I see vitamins, especially for males, that have iron in it, or some of these prostrate supplements had iron, I couldn’t believe it. Why give a male iron? I just don’t get it.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Do you remember that study that came out, one of you probably remembers this, I think it was in circulation in the 1990s, where they showed that all of these men that had high ferritin levels over 300 had an enormous rate of heart disease risk, only second to homocysteine. I mean, it was like groundbreaking. So when everybody goes to see the doctor, you have to get a ferritin level. So Radical Longevity Rule Number One, get thee to a doctor and get a ferritin level, which they normally don’t order. So I think you have to be very proactive and order it. In my research that I’ve done in the book, and I think you gentlemen will agree, it has to be under at least 100.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Yeah, I agree. Absolutely. I have the Sinatra Smart Zone, where I have those levels. But I remember when I wrote my book, Reverse Heart Disease Now, with Dr. Jim Roberts, we had a whole chapter called “Toxic Blood Syndrome.” We included Lp(a) in there, and homocysteine, and high fibrinogen in women, especially postmenopausal women. But ferritin was in there as well, because again, I mean who needs all of these excessive pro-oxidants that’s only going to age you. I mean that’s...

Ann Louise Gittleman: Well, it ends up in your brain, it ends up in your liver, it ends up on your skin with those brown spots. So what I tell everybody to do, the most important thing you can do for radical longevity — and I bet you tell your patients this, Dr. Drew — is you go and you donate blood every year. And if you’ve got really high iron, it should be every two to three months.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Absolutely.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Yeah, absolutely.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: I would take that one to the bank.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: So Ann Louise, I’d love it if our listeners can get an understanding of these Seven Radical Rules that you talk about in your book. So can you, kind of, perhaps summarize some of those?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes, I’ve got my cue cards right here. You know, I re-wrote the book three times, Drew. The book just needed more information about resveratrol, and god only knows what. So the first one is Rule Number One — immunity is everything. Wouldn’t you agree, in light of the pandemic?

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Absolutely.

Ann Louise Gittleman: So the most important mineral has got to be zinc — but you’ve got to watch your zinc/copper ratio. So you don’t want to have too much zinc in relation to copper, too much copper in relation to zinc because they’re antagonistic. So zinc is a very important mineral. To really modify your zinc levels you need to take a red blood cell zinc, so to really know what your levels are you need to be able to take that. I personally need about 75 to 100 mg a day. I go through zinc like white on rice. So zinc is exceedingly important. I like to use a lot of pumpkin seeds in the diet, I like to use eggs in the diet, cage-free eggs, maybe a little bit of red meat here and there. That’s number one.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Number two is vitamin D. Isn’t that the big…

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Amen.

Ann Louise Gittleman: …anti-aging mineral, or actually it’s a vitamin, of the decade. I mean, there’s nothing that you can’t cure with vitamin D. But vitamin D, it’s important if it’s in an oil form. So if you’re taking it in a water-soluble form, get some fat with your vitamin D. Take it with a little olive oil…like Steve, your olive oil would be an excellent adjunct to the vitamin. A little melatonin at night, we’re finding that’s very helpful. And the other thing that I think people should really learn about is quercetin, which I’m seeing is exceedingly helpful in terms of getting rid of any of the cytokine inflammatory responses that people get when they get inflammation in the lungs, they’re very important for allergies, very important for any kind of prostrate or breast issues. So I talk about all of those in that chapter, which is very important in terms of immunity.

Ann Louise Gittleman: And then, of course, taking vitamin D levels and your ferritin levels — exceedingly important. And eating a proper diet, which is of whole foods, no glyphosates, no heavy metals. And making sure that you get rid of any of your iron cooking utensils, because iron, as Steve you mentioned, is a pro-oxidant and it will age your skin, it will age your brain, age your heart, and age your liver. So that’s rule number one. Any discussion about that, gentlemen?

Dr. Drew Sinatra: I’ve got a question for you, I’m not sure if you can answer or not. But it’s about vitamin D, and why are so many people deficient in vitamin D? Because I test everyone in California, these people are not lathering sunscreen all over themselves, they’re getting out in the sun during the summer months, they’re taking vitamin D — and their levels are still in the 20s. Why is that?

Ann Louise Gittleman: I think they need more…

Dr. Steve Sinatra: It’s San Diego, Drew. If you’re really low down in San Diego, you’re not...you’re testing people up around San Francisco, right, in that area?

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Yeah, but still, anywhere from April until October, you’re going to get the synthesis of vitamin D when the sun hits your skin. I’m just wondering because I’ve heard things of whether glyphosate is playing a role in this, in terms of the body’s ability to make vitamin D. But I know there’s got to be something out there that is either using up our vitamin D, or something…so I’m curious if you’ve heard anything about that Ann Louise?

Ann Louise Gittleman: I think they’re taking vitamin D in all of the wrong ways. I think many people are taking a water-soluble vitamin D. It’s an oil-soluble vitamin that needs to be taken in oil. I see a major difference when people take it in the emulsified forms that are out there these days. They’re in a little oil capsule, in a soft gel. And I’d also like to suggest that a lot of people are using, not just sunscreen that some people are still using, but they’re using any kind of cover-up on their skin, any kind of makeup that may have a sunscreen in it, a built-in sunscreen. So I think that’s important. And then last but not least, you’ve got to go out in the sun at least 20 minutes a day.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Yeah.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: And we should mention the best sunscreen to protect yourself is really zinc oxide. That’s what the lifeguards used to use years ago…

Ann Louise Gittleman: Years ago. And not the nanoparticle...

Dr. Steve Sinatra: But we’ve gotten away from it.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Not the nanoparticle zinc oxide. You’ve got to use the real stuff.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: The real zinc oxide, so you have a white face or white nose.

Ann Louise Gittleman: But you know what I’ve been using, I use an internal sunscreen. I don’t talk about it a lot in the book, it’s a sulforaphane product. It’s called Vitalica Sulforaphane, and it’s actually an activated sulforaphane — which is very important for the vitamin D receptors, as well, Dr. Drew.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Oh, good to know.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Interesting.

Ann Louise Gittleman: So that’s what I’ve been taking. It’s like a broccoli seed extract that was formulated with Johns Hopkins, I think the company has a patent for it. And I’m taking it on a daily basis, and I can go out in the sun without getting sunburned anymore. It’s the purest product on the planet, and it helps my estrogen, because I can tend to be a little estrogen dominant. Like so many of the women that I know that you see, Dr. Drew.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Just a point on that, I make a salad maybe six days out of seven, where I put 10 fruits and vegetables in the salad. Actually more, about a dozen…and one of the things I use is broccoli sprouts. What do you think about broccoli sprouts, Ann Louise?

Ann Louise Gittleman: I adore broccoli sprouts. Very high in glutathione.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Yeah.

Ann Louise Gittleman: So we love broccoli sprouts. But this particular broccoli seed has the highest amount of sulforaphane in the plant, and sulforaphane is so very important as a kind of antioxidant to protect against cancer and any other kind of deleterious condition. But as an internal sunscreen, it’s the best. I’m also going to write about broccoli seed oil to put on your face because it’s the most...

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Nice.

Ann Louise Gittleman: ...the most prominent anti-aging serum I’ve ever used. So there’s all kinds of ways that you can use broccoli. Broccoli sprouts, using your olive oil dressing would be lovely, and the broccoli seed extract in this form from Vitalica. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Internally and externally.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Fantastic.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Yeah, and Drew, I want to mention one more thing about what Ann Louise said about quercetin. I mean, we’ve mentioned this on this show maybe a half a dozen times. But Ann Louise, are you privy to the Zutphen Elderly Study that was done in Holland, looking at longevity in aging Dutchmen? It went on for 30 to 40 years.

Ann Louise Gittleman: No.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Have you heard of that? It’s an amazing study. I was a young cardiologist, I mean, I was in my like mid 30s and I came across this article about aging Dutchmen. And they looked at these Dutch males, it was only males, and the study went on as long as you lived. In other words, they didn’t care if you died of cancer, heart disease, stroke — it didn’t make a difference. They just wanted to know how long you lived. And what they did is they measured the blood quercetin level in these men.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Fascinating

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Yes, and they looked at…how many onions they ate, which onions, they’re loaded with quercetin. And that’s why, in the COVID epidemic, I mean, quercetin fights respiratory diseases. I mean, everybody should be eating onions right now.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Everybody.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: But they looked at green apples, which contain quercetin, onions, and black tea. So they looked at three substances, whether they drank black tea, ate green apples, took onions — and they measured the bioflavonoid level, the amount of quercetin in the blood stream. And, this is amazing, the higher the blood level of quercetin, the longer these Dutchmen lived. There was a linear relationship. It was amazing.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Wow!

Dr. Steve Sinatra: It was absolutely amazing.

Ann Louise Gittleman: It’s also a cancer-queller, and an anti-cancer, along with berberine and turmeric. So quercetin is really up there. And we’re not really getting enough of it in the diet. I think because of the pandemic people are much more conscious of this, don’t you agree? They’re much more knowledgeable.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Oh yeah.

Ann Louise Gittleman: But did you see in my book…did you see the tables that I have in the book, at the back of the book?

Dr. Steve Sinatra: I’m in the tables right now about the...the Seven Rules tables, like that. Yeah.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Do you see how quercetin is mentioned throughout the Seven Rules of Aging?

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Oh yeah, yeah. Listen, quercetin…you and I are on the same page with quercetin, we absolutely love it. In fact, Drew and I use quercetin in a respiratory supplement. Quercetin does everything right. It’s unbelievable.

Ann Louise Gittleman: It’s a natural antihistamine.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Yes.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: It’s great.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: That’s why we put it in lung and bronchial. You know, one of the reasons why I moved to Florida, Ann Louise, I don’t know if you know this but in April and May, I would get wrecked with pollen allergies.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Are you in Florida now, by the way?

Dr. Steve Sinatra: No, actually, I’m still in Connecticut. I’m going to get out of here in a couple of weeks. I had a cataract operation and I had a little complication in one eye, so I have to go back for a third. But, being in Connecticut was a deal breaker for me because of the pollen. Again, that’s why I moved to Florida. The amount of pollen in Florida in April and May is nil compared to what we get here in Connecticut.

Ann Louise Gittleman: I can imagine. That’s where quercetin comes in handy.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Absolutely. I mean, I live on lung and bronchial, I’ve got to tell you.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yay.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: You know, astragalus, quercetin, marshmallow root. I mean, you are the queen of NAC, N-acetyl cysteine. I mean, that’s awesome, because you’re a glutathione lady.

Ann Louise Gittleman: And I think, and it’s a wonderful mucous thinner. People don’t realize that but I think…

Dr. Steve Sinatra: People don’t realize that.

Ann Louise Gittleman: ...it’s really tough on mucous. I take more than 600 mg a day. I take 1,200 mg a day.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Yeah, that’s the right dose. For our listeners, NAC, N-acetyl cysteine, they’ve done research on this and it shortens the period of a respiratory virus. So in other words, if there’s a virus harboring in your body that can last maybe seven days to a week, if you’re taking NAC, like 1,200 mg, that can almost cut the time in half. So that’s amazing, what these nutrients do.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Amazing, amazing. And you’ll see it in my tables in Radical Longevity, you’ll quercetin, you’ll see NAC, you’ll see olive oil all over the place. We’re so on the same page.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: That’s right.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: What about Rule Number Two, take on the toxic overload? Talk about that for a moment.

Ann Louise Gittleman: So we’re being held hostage because of the environment. One of my friends once said, “We need three livers to detoxify all of the environmental assaults.” So you’ve got the EMFs that we’re living with, you’ve got the toxic overload from the heavy metals, you’ve got the glyphosates, you’ve got the nanoalumuninum. So we’re living in toxic soup, and you have to do a daily detox, something for your liver to get rid of all of these toxic overloads. Make sure that your bile is clean and thinned out, because that’s where all of the toxic overloads get sent. So I think it’s very important that we realize that these things are not just toxic but they’re cumulative. And the two that are the most toxic of everything in that chapter, what would you think of — in terms of heavy metals, Dr. Drew?

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Well, I mean, you talked about lead, you talked about mercury, I think you also talked about aluminum, as well.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Aluminum, and why aluminum? Because it can end up in the brain. So we know that aluminum is a problem. Years ago they used to say aluminum was very connected to dementia and all kinds of Alzheimer’s, and then they said there wasn’t any research. But in my book, I do some research with a Dr. Christopher Exley out of the UK, who’s known as “Mr. Aluminum.” He published 150 papers and found conclusively that people that has severe Alzheimer’s also had extraordinarily high, skyrocketing levels of aluminum. So the question is where’s it coming from? It’s coming from your antiperspirants, it’s coming from your pots and pans, it’s coming from some of your drugs, your medications, maybe some of the antacids — but you’ve got to really watch the aluminum. So no aluminum foil in the kitchen. My teacher used to say, “I’d rather have a deadly serpent than aluminum foil.”

Dr. Steve Sinatra: You know, Drew’s wife is a naturopath and she uses parchment paper.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes!

Dr. Drew Sinatra: For everything. We bake…everything.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: On glass…she puts the parchment paper on glass, so you have a clean pan to work with, and at the same time you’re protecting yourself from heavy metals.

Ann Louise Gittleman: That’s what we do. We put the parchment paper, and then the aluminum. Because aluminum foil is even more deleterious than aluminum, especially if you’re cooking something acidic with a little wine, a little lemon juice, a little tomato juice — you’ve got to be very, very careful about it. So aluminum has to go. Instead of aluminum, we use a stainless steel, we use maybe a little bit of glass. And also we use a clay that’s lined with a glaze that is a glass glaze, so that there’s no clay that comes forth into the food. You’ve got to be really very careful.

Ann Louise Gittleman: The one that I think is the most interesting in there is copper, because I make the connection between copper based on the research of Dr. George Brewer and Alzheimer’s. So that, to me, is the real kicker. Getting rid of copper, curbing your copper. The divalent copper, the copper that’s inorganic that can end up in your brain and really, is a precursor to all of the amyloid plaque that starts to aggregate in those people that have neuron death.

Ann Louise Gittleman: So getting rid of the copper, getting rid of the aluminum, getting rid of the mercury in your fillings, getting rid of the cadmium, which is so connected to cancer. You’ve got to be a nutritional detective — and you’ve got to get the book, because I’ll teach you how to detoxify, eliminate it, and neutralize it for life.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: You know, and another piece that you brought up in this chapter on the toxic overload, Ann Louise, was the parasite piece. Which I’m so happy you did, because parasites are so incredibly difficult to test for and diagnose but yet a lot of people have them. And a lot of people think that, well, I’m in the United States, there’s no parasites around here. But there certainly are, and I loved how you talked about how to make sure you wash your hands, and do this and that in terms of preventing parasites. But also you gave some treatment ideas for it, which I thought was fantastic.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Well, I was known as the worm lady years ago, because my original feature back in the...

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Guess who’s coming to dinner, right?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yeah, guess what came to dinner, the parasites in your house. But they’re still out there, I’d say seven out of 10 of us are carrying one or more uninvited guests. We’ve got the large ones, the small ones, the microscopic invaders, microscopic vampires, I like to say. You’ve got to do a parasite cleanse like the Europeans do, twice a year. They give all of these antiparasitics to their dogs and horses, you’ve got to take something yourself. Especially around the full moon when they like to really rear their ugly heads.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: They like to hatch.

Ann Louise Gittleman: So parasites…and if you have animals, and we love our animals. I mean, I’m a lover of animals, as well. You’ve got to make sure that you clean the animal and clean yourself, so that’s what’s very important. So this is what you do, twice a year, sometimes you can do it three to four times a year, in the summer and in the winter, right after you have a vacation. Parasites thrive on sweets, and sugar, and a lot of starches — so you need a lot of garlic in your diet, a lot of onions because of the quercetin and because of the sulfur. You need a lot of thyme, and you need a lot of mugwort tea, as well as pumpkin seeds. There’s nothing like pumpkin seeds to get parasites out of the system and say, “Adios, amigos.”

Dr. Drew Sinatra: And is there any difference between raw or roasted pumpkin seeds?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Not really. You want to lightly toast them, a little bit of salt, a little bit of Himalayan salt or Celtic salt, or a little bit of rock salt. And that’s the best way to really de-parasitize your system. It’s the greatest snack for kids on the planet, because it’ll keep them from having pinworms, which I think are really part and parcel of all of the hyperactivity that we see.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Oh, great point. Awesome.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Interesting.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Awesome point. Drew, I want to mention one more thing while we’re on toxicity.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Yep.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Ann Louise, what about arsenic? I mean arsenic is getting more and more pervasive in the environment. And I’m sort of privy to this, because I was trying to find a perfect risotto, in my business, Brovana. And I stumbled across this company in Piedmont, Italy where they test their rice for arsenic. People don’t realize...

Ann Louise Gittleman: Wow, wow!

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Yeah, people don’t realize that rice grown in America is loaded with arsenic, because it’s grown in water.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: And you know arsenic is in anchovies and things. It’s getting more and more pervasive in the environment. So when I stumbled across this risotto company, they had the lowest arsenic levels I’ve ever seen. So I had this risotto made up with artichoke, it has artichoke buds in it. Because artichoke, as you know, is good for the liver and stuff like that, and with the epidemic going on, I really thought that if you can get a perfect risotto without heavy metals, and especially chemicals like arsenic and have artichoke at the same time, it would be a big win. So…

Ann Louise Gittleman: Do you sell that...Steve, do you sell that now?

Dr. Steve Sinatra: I’ll send you some. It’s coming from Italy, I’m going to send you some. Right now it’s probably in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on a ship.

Ann Louise Gittleman: I love the concept of it. You’re right about the arsenic, it’s loaded in rice. You’ve got to really soak your rice. A lot of arsenic in California. Unfortunately, it’s loaded with arsenic…and the highest arsenic loaded product happens to be rice syrup. So make sure that you’re taking alternative sweetener, the rice syrup is like sky high. I don’t disagree with you one iota, and the way that you neutralize the arsenic is with selenium. Very similar to mercury.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Right, right. Good. Boy, this is great, Drew.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Good to know, yeah.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: I’ll tell you, our audience…

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Let’s see if we can cover a couple more of these rules. I mean, I’m learning a lot right now. What about Rule Number Three, the stop AGES — which is the advance glycation end products. Do you want to speak to that?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yeah, see, nobody knows about that. Maybe Steve knows about that, and you Dr. Drew, because you’re so involved with this on a daily basis. But that’s a toxic waste product that you get from foods, or from cooking foods in a certain cooking practice. So that’s where you cannot be roasting, grilling, broiling, or frying foods anymore unless you marinate with a little bit of olive oil, oregano, and thyme.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: And rosemary. Rosemary takes out the...

Ann Louise Gittleman: And rosemary. Yes, yes, yes, by 50 to 85 percent, according to the clinical studies. So I did a lot of work with a woman by the name of Helen Vlassara, who with a team of researchers did some research on AGES. She didn’t actually do research on AGES, she discovered AGES accidentally when she was doing research on diabetes, and found that diabetic complications were caused from the advanced glycation end products. She then discovered that the advanced glycation end products were probably the cause of diabetes, and every other degenerative diseases known to man. So you can stop it by eating foods on a daily basis that are extremely high in AGES, and bacon is one of them.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Ann Louise, I am all in on age glycation, what about alpha lipoic acid as a supplement? How do you feel about that?

Ann Louise Gittleman: I love it. I like R-Lipoic acid even better, Steve.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Right, right. And Drew, what’s your feeling about that, as well?

Dr. Drew Sinatra: I mean, I use it for many different conditions, including helping lower blood sugar. There’s a particular product out there I use combined with berberines that’s just a knock-out for lowering blood sugar for people.

Ann Louise Gittleman: And you know it works so well. I have low blood sugar, Dr. Drew, that I can’t even take it because it’s so effective.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Right, right.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Yes, when it comes to age glycation, certainly get away from the sugars. But you can also take supplements, and Ann Louise also mentioned benfotiamine as well, which I think is a really good supplement to take for lowering blood sugar.

Ann Louise Gittleman: The only ones that I know that really work for advanced glycation end products is the benfotiamine, which is a fat soluble B1. It’s also good for neuropathy.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Yes.

Ann Louise Gittleman: The other one is carnosine, I’m in love with L-carnosine. Very good for getting rid of the brown spots on your hands at 500 mg three times a day, and it will help the advanced glycation end products. So any kind of the antioxidants, lots of plant-based products, lots of herbs. That’s where the parsley comes in to play, that’s where the oregano, that’s where the rosemary that you were talking about, Steve, excellent, and even thyme. Very, very high in antioxidants.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Okay, let’s move to Rule Number Four, which is free up fascia for youthful movement.

Ann Louise Gittleman: So we have a connective tissue which is known as fascia, and if it gets stuck or frozen and then you think you have arthritis. So you’ve got to be moving on a daily basis. You know, we have a lot of repetitive movements that we’re using now that we’re at the computer. We’re bent over, so the neck is doing the “text neck” thing. You’ve got issues with your wrists, with your hands. You’ve got to be moving as much as possible, you need to be doing massage. You need to be doing grounding, which will help to get rid of inflammation. You need to be doing all kinds of things that’ll get your body moving with the proper rhythm, so that the neuromuscular system is really having the ability to release, relax, and become resilient once again.

Ann Louise Gittleman: I thought I was coming down with a rheumatoid arthritis issue, but it was really a case of adhesions. So adhesions and scar tissue have a lot to do with repetitive movements, and I’ve been at a computer for the past 40 years writing all of my books. So this is why free up fascia is so important to me. That’s where cupping comes in to play, that’s where all kinds of acupuncture treatments…this is where I’m a big believer in Eastern medicine, and I’m sure you both agree.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Yeah, I’ll comment that I’ve had a lot of back and neck pain my life, and I had a series of rolfing that I did — which is really intense massage, for those that are listening. I mean rolfing, it doesn’t get more intense than that, because you’re almost crying on the table, it’s so painful. But, the way that they work through the connective tissue and the fascia is incredible. For me, it was a game changer in terms of decreasing muscle pain and joint pain in my body.

Ann Louise Gittleman: And you know what I found for myself, personally, that if you work with the teeth, the teeth and the jaw have a lot to do with muscle pain and so on and so forth downstream. That if there’s issue with the TMJ, it’ll affect the shoulder, the elbow, and the wrist. So for those of us that have dental issues, and I have major dental karma would be the first to agree, it’s very important to make sure that your bite and that your teeth touch. I don’t talk about this in the book, but I’ve got to let you know that it’s very important for neuromuscular health that the molars are touching. The more teeth you start losing without replacing them, the more your body becomes a little depleted. So it’s very important for the whole system. Nobody looks at the mouth as kind of the entry point for the disease and the health of the whole body.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: You know, you’re so right. One of the psychotherapists I worked with was Dr. Alexander Lowen, and he always said that the jaw, the health of the jaw, was really the whole rudder for the pelvis, as well. Because if the jaw is out of line, it puts the pelvis and the hip out of line. So I agree with you, 100 percent.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes, and people don’t realize that as we get older, we get a little crooked, we get a little constricted — and that’s because we’re not moving freely, and a lot of it has to do with all of the dental work that we’ve had.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Right.

Ann Louise Gittleman: So look at the mouth, it’s the seed of all disease and health. I used to say it’s the colon…I think it starts, really, in the oral cavity.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: I agree. Drew, I want to mention one thing, because she mentions it in the book and it’s the lymphatics.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Yes.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: I just reviewed a book by a thoracic surgeon, Dr. Gerald Lemole. Great book on lymphatics.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Oh yes.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Oh, do you know Dr. Lemole?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes, yes, yes. He wrote a book on…

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Great book, I reviewed it, I really liked it, I did some editing for him. And I’ve got to tell you, you would getting to this, too…I mean, the lymphatics is sort of an unsung hero. People don’t really deal with it. But Drew, as a naturopath, he does the skin brushing, and he does a light brushing. And even the trampoline work, you mentioned the trampoline in your book, Ann Louise.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Rebounder.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: The Rebounder. Moving the lymphatics, because if the lymphatics get stuck, things get stuck, then it’s hard to detox and that’s really important.

Ann Louise Gittleman: It is. It’s a very important detoxing and processing system. Yes, I agree. I’ve written about the lymphatic system for all of my books. I first discussed it in Beyond Pritikin, but it’s exceedingly important when it comes to the health of the fascia, Drew. So I’m glad that you’re skin brushing. I skin brush and I jump every day. I jump ten times to get the lymphatics moving. If I don’t do anything else, I’m jumping up and down, up and down.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: There you go. The best thing that I’m doing these days is I’m actually combining the body work with cold immersion. So I jump in a very cold lake every single day for around a minute and a half, two minutes, and the research on cold immersion shows that it’s a terrific way to really improve circulation, but also work on the lymphatic system, as well.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Well, you let me know how that goes, my friend. God bless.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Like I said, like rolfing, I’ve done those two things this winter, and I’ve been in the least amount of pain than I’ve been in ever in my life, and I’m so grateful for those two therapies.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Wonderful.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: And I’ve got to tell you, Ann Louise, the son teaches the father many times. I have a far infrared sauna in my home, and I sweat like crazy in that, just trying to detox and everything else. But Drew taught me the hot-cold, so when I get out of the sauna, I take sort of a warm-tempered shower, because it’s right next to it — and then I get it cold. So I go cold, warm, cold, warm. And basically what Drew tells me is that when you’re doing those temperature variations, you’re cleansing the lymphatic system at the same time.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes, yes, it’s so very important. I do a massage…you’re a lot more brave than I am, brave and courageous gentlemen. I do a massage on a weekly basis, that’s my lymphatic cleanse. But I use special oils, I use cypress essential oil, which gets the lymphatics moving, and any kind of citrus. Cypress is my very favorite, there’s nothing like cypress because it removes cellulite.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Interesting, interesting. A lot of essential oils have the phytoncides in it, which are these organic compounds from nature that can actually improve your health, too. So that’s really neat to know that.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Well, Ann Louise, I’m going to name off these last rules and then I think our listeners just have to go out and buy your book and read it, because we could just discuss this all day. But Number Five is activate cellular rejuvenation, Number Six is mind your minerals, and Number Seven is optimize the gut-brain connection. So, we’re going to have to have the listeners just read your book to really learn more about those things.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Drew, I want to say one thing about...

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Sure.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: You know, Ann Louise mentions berberine in there, as far as the cellular regeneration. And remember on a previous show I mentioned how berberine stimulates AMPK activity.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Mmm-hmm.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Which is, sort of, the metabolic cleanup. And this is amazing, I mean, she’s recommending 500 to 1,000 mg a day. I think that’s music to everybody’s ears. I’m all in on berberine, I’ve been learning about it for the last 10 years and I think it’s just...you know, remember Ann Louise, the anti-aging movement, all the anti-aging doctors were taking Metformin?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes, yes.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: Now, they’re all switching to berberine, because berberine…

Ann Louise Gittleman: No toxic or neurogenic toxic symptoms.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: ...has much more clinical activity.

Ann Louise Gittleman: No toxic side effects. That’s why I love the berberine, the turmeric, and the third one is quercetin. You can’t go wrong with those three, and those three are listed in the book.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: The trifecta of health, you’re absolutely right.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Well, Ann Louise, as we wrap up our show today, as always, we’re going to share some Wellness Wisdom with our listeners. In your book, you talk about how you can manipulate your metabolism. What is one big thing that people can do to make their metabolism work better for them as they age?

Ann Louise Gittleman: One of the important things that I learned about was hemp seed oil, because it’s a good Omega-6. It’s high in gamma linolenic acid, which is a good Omega-6, not the toxic Omega-6s that you get in some many of the commercially processed vegetable oils. One to two tablespoons a day makes psoriasis and eczema go away. And it will also really help the structure of your cell membranes, and it’s very good for the mitochondria because it’s a source of DLA, which gets the mitochondria really burning up. So GLA saves the day, and it’s excellent for the skin, it’s excellent for any kind of skin condition, and very good for your metabolism. So GLA, you can find it in hemp seed oil. You will thank me, because the hair, skin, and nails will take on a new glow and people will never guess your true age.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: What about black currant oil, black currant seed oil?

Ann Louise Gittleman: I adore that, too. That’s a supplement, you can take that in supplemental form, maybe one to two grams a day. I do both, internally and externally.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: And does the hemp seed oil have to be refrigerated? Is that correct?

Ann Louise Gittleman: It should, because it’s Omega-6 so that means it’s a polyunsaturated fatty acid. Yes, but people that have had long-term eczema and psoriasis and have done everything under the sun, they’ve taken Omega-3s, Omega-7s, Omega-9s, god only knows…they take this Omega-6 and it goes away in three weeks.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Amazing, amazing. Well, Ann Louise, thank you so much for coming on the show. This was fantastic, we could just talk all day around the topics in your book.

Ann Louise Gittleman: I loved it.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: You know, Drew, we should probably do a Part Two, maybe three months from now, and really go over (Rules) Four, Five, and Six, because they’re really important.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Absolutely, absolutely.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Love to.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Thanks for coming on.

Ann Louise Gittleman: My pleasure…you have a beautiful rest of your week, gentlemen.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: You too.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: All right, bye-bye, Ann Louise.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: That’s our show for today, folks. If you have a question or an idea for a show topic, please send us an email or share a post with us on Facebook. And remember, if you like what you heard today and you want to be an active member of the Be HEALTHistic community, subscribe to our podcast at BeHealthisticPodcast.com, or an Apple podcasts, or wherever you download your favorites. You can also find more great content and information from us and the Healthy Direction team at HealthyDirections.com.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: I’m Dr. Drew Sinatra.

Dr. Steve Sinatra: And I’m Dr. Steve Sinatra.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: And this is Be HEALTHistic.

Narrator: Thanks for listening to Be HEALTHistic, powered by our friends at Healthy Directions, with Drs. Drew and Steve Sinatra. See you next time.