Dr. Alex Jimenez Podcast: Advanced Metabolic Syndrome Discussion

PODCAST: Dr Alex Jimenez, chiropractor in El Paso, TX, Kenna Vaughn, health coach, Truide Torres, Alexander Jimenez, and Astrid Ornelas discuss metabolic syndrome. The following podcast will focus on a deeper look at understanding metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a collection of conditions which can increase the risk of developing a variety of health issues, including diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. Moreover, risk factors such as excess waist fat, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and low HDL levels. Diet and lifestyle modifications can ultimately help promote weight loss which can help improve metabolic syndrome and its associated health issues. Several different types of nutraceuticals, including Niacin or vitamin B3, vitamin D, DHEA, Nrf2, and green tea, among others. Weight loss is important to help improve metabolic syndrome. – Podcast Insight

[00:00:15] It is a special day, guys. Today we’re going to be talking about metabolic syndrome. We’re going to be focusing on the sciences and the understanding of what metabolic syndrome is. Today, we’re going to be bringing out some specialists and people from all over the globe in different directions to discuss the topics of metabolic disorders and how it affects people in our local communities. The particular topic that we’re going to be talking about today is metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome affects a whole lot of people. Now, in terms of it, to be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, we have to have a couple of disorders, situations that present them, things such as blood sugar issues, high blood pressure, the ability to have triglycerides off, high-density lipoproteins and also the measurements of belly fat in our diet. So today, one of the special things that we’re gonna be doing is bringing a panel to you guys to see exactly what metabolic syndrome is. Now, today is a special day because we’re actually going live on Facebook live, and we’re actually presenting the information for the very first time. So this is our first go at it, guys. So give us a thumbs up if you feel we do good. If not, tell us too also, because we’re learning and we’re going through a process to try to get to our communities and to teach you about what’s actually going on in terms of metabolic disorders. We have present today Astrid Ornelas who’s going to be talking about metabolic syndrome and certain dietary nutritional dynamics that we can actually help improve it. We also have Kenna Vaughn, which is our coach, that’s going to be discussing how we actually interact with patients. We also have our patient here, who is Truide, who is actually a live individual, who actually has had metabolic syndrome. And in the distance, we also have Alexander Jimenez, who’s actually out at the National University Health Science in medical school to discuss the biochemistries that are associated and are linked to metabolic disorders. To give us detailed information, detailed insights, sorry, as to what metabolic syndrome is and how it affects our communities. Now, what to be important about it is, is this is a very serious subject matter. It seems kind of that we chose this particular topic because that it’s affecting so many people. So many of my patients that we see today, even though I have a musculoskeletal practice, are directly related to inflammatory disorders. And when we’re dealing with inflammatory issues, we’re gonna be dealing with insulin and how it affects the body. Now, as insulin goes in this process, every one of these particular dynamics that we’re gonna be discussing and on our future podcast when we deal with metabolic syndrome, are directly related to insulin and its effect on the body. So as we kind of go through these dynamics, what we want to do is we want to bring out each individual point. I have the ability to present today Kenna Vaughn who’s going to be talking about what happens when we present the patient, what we do when a patient has metabolic disorders. So we’re gonna present it to Kenna. Kenna, can you tell us a little bit about what happens when we have a patient who presents with metabolic syndrome, what they look for? What we look for and how we assess it? How we kind of treat the issues?

[00:03:12] Yes, I’d love to. So when the patient first comes in and we kind of see those signs of metabolic syndrome. The patient is always aware because, on their own, these symptoms that make up metabolic syndrome are not necessarily a red flag. However, when we start to see them getting combined, that’s when we start to realize that this is something we can take control of right now. So when that patient first comes in and they’re telling us about the symptoms that they’re having, we definitely start tracking it and we do a detailed history on them to see if it’s something that has been going on for a long time. If it’s something that’s more recent, things like that, and then we’re gonna take it from there and we do more detailed lab work. And then we look at even their genetics. Genetics is a huge part of it and we see what diet would best work for them and just make those realistic goals. But we also really want to make sure we give them the education that they need to be successful. Education is huge, especially when it comes to something that can be as confusing as metabolic syndrome.

[00:04:19] One of the things that we discuss is how can we give our…

[00:04:24] Patients really take home dynamics and things of value that they can change the metabolic syndrome once we determine that someone has metabolic issues. Now the whole idea is to create a direct path from the kitchen to the genetics. And somehow some way we have to bring the science all the way to the kitchen to understand what can we eat and what we can do and how we can avoid certain foods in order to change the dynamics that are being expressed at our genetic code level. So we’re going to try to kind of give a little bit of broad, you know, expansive understanding as to the processes that can take on each one of these five particular issues, one at a time. So in terms of, let’s say, the kitchen, how do we actually help people help themselves in the kitchen?

[00:05:12] Kenna. One thing that we love to do in the kitchen is smoothies. Smoothies are so beneficial because not only are you feeding your body the right nutrients you need. You’re also having that ability to feed your cells, which is what’s going to actually make the difference inside your body. And you’ll still feel satisfied and full. Not going to be something that’s, you know, you’re left hungry like you just ate a little bit of birdseed. So it’s definitely something that I recommend everybody starts with. One great thing to add to those smoothies is going to be flax seeds. So flax seeds are very high in fiber, good fiber. So if you put those flax seeds into the blender first and you blend them up, kind of opening them up, and then you start adding in your healthy fats like avocados to make your smoothie nice and smooth. And the almond milk, low calorie, and low carb fruits, things like that. It’s really going to just unleash a powerhouse inside that gut. So one main thing that it’s going to do is the fiber is really going to stick around. So it’s going to feed your prebiotics and your probiotics. Every single bug in that gut. And it’s also going to help take things out of your body system that usually get reabsorbed, such as salts and really let it be able to get excreted the way that it should be rather than sticking around. Like I said, getting reabsorbed and just causing these underlying issues.

[00:06:40] So these dynamics and particularly when we deal with flaxseeds, I know Alexander knows a little bit about the flax seed dynamics in terms of how it works with cholesterol. And that’s one of the issues, the HDL component. Tell me a little bit about what you’ve seen in terms of the flaxseed, Alex, in terms of our experiences with flaxseed and diminishment of cholesterol and helping out with metabolic syndrome.

[00:07:05] So flaxseeds are really good. Not only in nutrients but like Kenna said, they’re really good in dietary fiber. So we have to ask ourselves, why is dietary fiber essential? We can’t digest it, but it combines with other things that are within our gut. And one of the main things that it does to lower cholesterol is it binds to bile. Now, bile from our gallbladder is around ninety-five percent. Cholesterol. And I’m sorry, 80 percent cholesterol and 95 percent of it, most of the time, gets recycled and reused. So by having a large amount of fiber within the gut. The fiber binds to the cholesterol and the body’s mechanism to compensate from that is to pull cholesterol from other parts of the body, specifically from the serum of the blood and pull it back in to rejuvenate those levels of bile. So not only are you forcing your gut to work in the proper manner that it’s meant to, but you’re also lowering your cholesterol within the internal side of the body.

[00:08:03] So the component of cholesterol can be assisted by fiber. Now, I know that Astrid’s got some ideas in terms of how to lower the blood pressure and also be able to kind of bring a little bit of control in terms of the nutraceuticals. And in that respect, she’s been going over some particular topics. And she’s our resident scientist that helps us see what actually the NCBI, which is the national research centers that provide information on a daily basis of what’s happening with metabolic syndrome out there. So she’s going to be presenting a little bit of kind of some nutraceutical topics that we can touch upon at this present time. Astrid. Hello.

[00:08:40] Hello. So, first of all, for those people who are barely coming into the podcast, who are barely coming in to listen to us, I just want to, I guess, bring up again what metabolic syndrome is.

[00:08:54] So metabolic syndrome, as many of you might know, it’s not a condition or disease in itself. It’s more so a cluster of, a collection of other health issues that can increase the risk of things like heart disease and stroke and even diabetes.

[00:09:14] So with that being said, metabolic syndrome doesn’t have any obvious symptoms, but probably one of the most visible, health issues that are obvious in people with metabolic syndrome is waist fat.

[00:09:31] So with that being said, some of the nutraceuticals I want to talk about today, as you can see, I’ve listed several nutraceuticals that I discussed last time. These nutraceuticals can help metabolic syndrome in a variety of ways. But I actually added several on here that specifically target weight loss since, as I mentioned. One of the obvious signs of metabolic syndrome is that excess waist fat.

[00:10:03] So I want to bring in one of the nutraceuticals that several research studies and I’ve written articles on it as well that can help promote weight loss in people who have metabolic syndrome is niacin.

[00:10:17] Now, niacin, it’s vitamin B3 and you can usually find it as a part of when you buy those supplements that have a kind of like B complex that has a collection of various of the, you know, the different B vitamins. And so niacin, several research studies have found that it can help reduce inflammation associated with obesity. People that have excess weight, of course. Usually, these people have increased blood sugar levels and that can also, in turn, lead to inflammation. So taking B vitamins, taking specifically vitamin B3 or as it’s well-known for niacin, it can help reduce inflammation. It can also help promote metabolism, which is the capacity that our body has to convert carbohydrates and proteins and fats into energy. So when we take vitamin Bs and when we take specifically niacin, vitamin B3, I want to emphasize that one, research studies have found that it can help burn calories much more efficiently.

[00:11:25] When we’re dealing with niacin and the nutraceuticals that we’re going I know that Alexander’s got some issues. Are you still with us, Alexander? Yeah, I’m here. OK. It’s OK. It’s all good. What I can see is we deal with and we’re learning about our technical issues as we go through them. I’m gonna go back to Astrid specifically about belly fat. Now, she had mentioned about the belly fat. Let’s be very specific. When we’re dealing with belly fat, we’re dealing with issues where a male has a greater than a 40-inch waist. And for females, they have a greater than 35. Is that correct? Yes. So when we do the measurements, that’s one of the components. So as we discuss these particular issues, we want to make sure that when we’re talking about the belly fat and the weight gains in the BMI issues and the BIA issues, it’s the basal metabolic rates and the Bio Impedance assessments that we do. We were looking for those particular aspect. So she’s mentioning in the niacin. And in terms of niacin, what’s your experience with niacin, Alex, with your dynamics that you have put in place?

[00:12:25] So niacin or otherwise known as vitamin B3 is a really good vitamin B in terms that it is a pre-product. It is the reaction to a certain reaction.

[00:12:36] Specifically where it takes hold is during glycolysis as well as the citric acid cycle. Now the reason why it plays such a big role in the citric acid cycle is because it is used as the pre-product to synthesized NADH. Now if someone’s having metabolic syndrome, this can up-regulate that citric acid cycle.

[00:12:57] So if they’re trying to burn fat or use their carbohydrates on a more efficient rate, it will help regulate that cycle and allow them to use their mitochondrial metabolism a lot better.

[00:13:08] That’s awesome. Now going back to Astrid. Tell me a little bit about what you, whether the supplements we have here. We may not get through all of them, but we’re little by little. We’ll break this thing down. So we’ll give you guys tidbits of that useful information so that we can take on metabolic syndrome and change people’s lives. Go ahead.

[00:13:24] Okay. So the next nutraceuticals I’m going to talk about I’m actually going to talk about these two together, vitamin D and calcium, specifically vitamin D3.

[00:13:33] I want to emphasize that. But both of these nutraceuticals, they can also help promote fat mass loss. And several research studies have also found that this one just like B vitamins, just like niacin, vitamin B3, it could also help improve metabolism to basically make the body more efficiently burn calories.

[00:13:56] And then the next nutraceutical that I want to talk about is DHEA.

[00:14:02] Now I want to I guess one of the things that I want to highlight about the DHEA is that, first of all, this is a hormone. This is a hormone that’s naturally produced in the body. But then, of course, you know, some people can supplement it. You know, if you talk to your healthcare professional, I’m sorry. And they determine that you need more DHEA in your body because your body’s not naturally producing enough of it. Then they can supplement that as well. So specifically about the DHEA, according to the Washington University School of Medicine, DHEA can also help metabolize fat much more efficiently by basically so. I guess one of the things that I wanted to discuss that goes together with DHEA. So when we consume excess calories, you know, the daily caloric intake on average, according to researchers, we need to take 2000 calories. But so what happens to the body when we eat excess calories? Now, these calories actually get stored in the body as fat. So when the body naturally produces, I guess, sufficient amounts of DHEA. Our body is able to metabolize fat much more efficiently so that our body gets rid of excess fat rather than storing it.

[00:15:35] Got it. So let me ask you, DHEA is a hormone and one of the things that I noticed is that it being a hormone, this is found over the counter. And one of the unique things with some passages of recent laws is that DHEA actually made it through the FDA to be able to be used over-the-counter. So you’ll see the product being dispersed through all the stores and depending on the quality, you can actually see it more common. And the reason you see it more common over the last couple of years is because the FDA found it and in through a loophole, it was allowed to remain in the market. Go ahead. Kenna wants to mention something regarding this particular component in the assessment of those particular issues.

[00:16:12] I was going to add something when it comes to we’re talking about the body fat and how Astrid was saying that body fat gets stored. So what happens is when you have those excess calories, you create these things in your body called triglycerides. And triglycerides are composed of glycerol and fatty acids. However, those in general triglycerides are too big to enter in that cell membrane. So what happens is there’s another hormone that controls almost everything and that’s called insulin and the insulin gets called in. And from here, we have the lipoprotein lipase and it’s a tongue twister. So that gets called in and then kind of breaks those apart from here. Now the insulin is coming in again and activating something called the glute 4 transporter, which is going to open up that cell membrane. And now we’re going to see that fat cell gets stored full of the glucose and triglycerides and fat. So that’s how those fat cells go from not having anything to then having those excess calories. Now they’re being converted through this process. Now they’re getting nice and full and they’re hanging around your belly.

[00:17:26] I’ve noticed that certain people have more efficient LPLs, which is lipoprotein lipase. Some people may say that, you know what, I gain weight by just looking at food. It may happen more as you get older. This particular issue is controlled by a whole different control system. What kind of control systems are the ones that control lipoprotein lipase and the glute 4 along with hormone-sensitive lipase that you have there?

[00:17:49] Insulin definitely controls everything. It’s like I said, it’s that hormone and it’s going to come in. And also on top of that, we have PH that affects enzymes and temperature and things along that line.

[00:18:03] You know, a lot of things that when we look at enzymes, we realize that the thing that determines enzyme activity or sensitivity or ability to function is encoded in the genetics in terms of lipoprotein lipase and the breakdown of the fatty acids. I know, Alex, you have some some points there in terms of the fat breakdown information there. What do you have there that you can help the public understand a bit more with?

[00:18:29] So without going too much into the biochemical pathways.

[00:18:32] This is kind of just showing the inner mitochondrial matrix of the mitochondria. So after I guess you’ve been well-fed and all your cells are satisfied with energy production through ATP synthesis, if you have overconsumption of caloric intake, specifically the glucose, you end up having a large amount of Acetyl CoA being produced or kind of hanging around in the end here.

[00:18:56] So what the body does is by high levels of insulin. This enzyme called citrate synthase is induced. So what citrate synthase does is it uses oxalate acetate and it uses Acetyl CoA to make citrate. Now citrate can then exit the mitochondrial matrix and then large accumulations of citrate will start accumulating in the side, dissolve the cell. As that happens, AC, ATP, citrate, liase will actually break them apart again and bring Acetyl CoA and Oxaloacetate. Oxaloacetate and Acetyl CoA don’t have specific membrane transporters, so they can’t cross that mitochondrial membrane, only specific ones like citrate does. So as Acetyl CoA gets taken out into the cell, kind of taking a look over here, we have Acetyl CoA which gets turned into Malonyl CoA and it’s actually this enzyme Acetyl CoA carboxylase is induced by insulin. So normally Acetyl CoA carboxylase has a phosphate group on it which inhibits its activity. But when it interacts with insulin, insulin turns on a protein phosphatase. So phosphatases are enzymes that take phosphates off and then it becomes Acetyl CoA carboxylase. So now Acetyl CoA carboxylase is active to make Malonyl CoA. Now, why is this important? So Malonyl CoA is a very, it’s like putting the boulder on top of the hill, you’re gonna start a different chemical process. So Malonyl CoA actually inhibits fatty acid breakdown and begins fatty acid synthesis. So when you start making Malonyl CoA, you’re gonna, without going too much into fatty acid synthesis. The end goal is palmitate, which is a type of fatty acid. Now palmitate chains will combine together with glucose to form a triasyl glycerol. So here we can see how a large dietary intake of carbohydrates, glucose swells proteins and insulin activate the formation of triasyl glycerol. And in the event that you are diabetic, you pretty much get halted in certain pathways. And that’s why you end up with too much Acetyl CoA and you have too many ketone bodies floating around in the blood. So as you kind of, going through without…

[00:21:02] Going too much in-depth, we can see that having a large number of dietary triglycerides, large amounts of glucose will actually force more triglycerides or triasil glycerols within these kilo microns within the lumen of the blood vessels. And this is going to force a chain of reactions. So. Without breaking down too much here, we’re kind of showing where it’s all going, so we have Acetyl CoA going to Malonyl CoA going to palmitate and then we have palmitate forming these triacylglycerols. So like Kenna said, these triacylglycerols can’t really enter the adipocyte. The adipocytes are the fats oils without lipoprotein lipase. So with a combination of lipoprotein lipase allowing these cells to get in there, you allow for the storage of the fat. So the cool part to notice is that by doing so, the first one is going to use fatty acids is going to be your heart. The heart relies around 80 percent of its energy from fatty acids. Then it’s going to be your muscle cells. But this is in conjunction if you’re exercising on a regular basis. If you’re not doing that, then the adipose cells are going to favor the store. The triglycerides. And then you’re also going to use more LDL, which means you have the potential to have more oxidized LDL causing a higher event of Atherosclerosis formation.

[00:22:24] You know, as you as you go through this process, for you it seems kind of a natural. But for a lot of us, it’s a deep, deep story. And it’s far and it’s dynamic. And what I want to do is I want to bring the people back to Kenna as to the diets. OK. In terms of bringing this basic understanding, how is it that we assess an individual with these particular issues. I can assure you that when we first assess a metabolic syndrome patient, we do a lot of blood work, a lot of blood assessment, a lot of enzyme testing. We can even do DNA testing. So we got to be able to go back to a patient and describe exactly how we can better improve their lives by the assessments that we do. So Kenna. You got some cool stuff there for us. What do you have in front of you?

[00:23:10] Yes, in front of me. I have a sample report from one of our patients who we ran the DNA blood test on. And one of those things that we can see is that there’s a gene pulled up right here and it’s called TA S1 R2. And what this gene does is it’s actually a tissue that can be found in the gastrointestinal tract, the hypothalamus, and the pancreas. And it’s known for regulating your metabolism and energy and homeostasis. Also, it affects food intake beyond the detection of your sweet taste on the tongue. What does that mean? So what that means is it’s basically nicknamed the sweet gene. So somebody who has this gene is more likely to be drawn to sweet foods because it’s almost like their sweetness is enhanced. So when they taste ice cream, it’s a 10 out of 10. No matter the flavor versus someone who doesn’t have this gene, maybe it’s more of a seven out of 10. They’re just, it hits them differently.

[00:24:13] That makes perfect sense, there are some people that just, you know, they love that ice cream and their dynamics. I know that I wanted to take a little bit of a detour because a lot of patients wonder, well, what are we gonna do to get in to be assessed and what kind of things we can? How does someone get? Where do they go?

[00:24:29] And for that, we have our clinical liaison here, Truide, who basically walks patients in and first determines that the patient is qualified because we do have questionnaires that assess the determination of if someone is a qualified individual or does have presentations that are predisposing of metabolic syndrome that require further assessment. And once we do in the situation that a person does have it, they want to understand what to do. So Truide you help people and guide them through the process. What is it we do in our office to help guide an individual through the beginnings of a metabolic assessment?

[00:25:02] Okay. Well, basically, you know, when people call in, we go ahead and e-mail them a questionnaire. It does take about 45 minutes because it is a very in-depth questionnaire. We definitely want to pinpoint and get to the bottom of their main concerns. The main issues that we’re going to target in order for the process to be successful, once we get that questionnaire back, then we go ahead and set up an appointment with Dr. Jimenez and our health coach Kenna, and then we’ll go in-depth as far as what are the target areas that we need to address in order for the process to be successful. And that’s one of the things that I wanted to ask Kenna because I know it can be a little bit overwhelming as far as what is it that they get? And as far as what is the next process. So once we get the questionnaire, I know that that’s when they’re going to go ahead and do the different types of lab work to determine what is going to be successful in the kitchen.

[00:25:53] I know you see the patients when they walk in. How do they feel in terms of that Truide when they, what is it that they typically will tell you, prior to being further assessed. Well, they’re tired of, you know, all the different changes that you go through as…

[00:26:07] Unfortunately, as we age, you know, some of the DNA genes that we have that they’re dormant, you know, they become active. And that’s when you start to experience a different type of syndromes, you know, like the metabolic syndrome. And that’s one of the things that we address, you know, that we go ahead and do your DNA testing and see what different genes are dormant that are not dormant anymore.

[00:26:32] I think that also, you know, whether you’ve noticed, too, and you’ve mentioned this to me, they’re just tired of feeling bad. They’re just tired feeling like, I guess crap is a good word. Right. So they’re tired of just, they don’t recover. They don’t sleep well. They feel stress. They feel like they’re being choked with high blood pressure. They’re, it’s not, their lives are different. They’re in distress. They don’t sleep. So these are issues that the patients when they present to you and I know you help them guide them. And then, Kenna, tell me a little bit about the assessments that you do in order to really qualify an individual to be on the metabolic syndrome programs that we have.

[00:27:06] So like we were saying before we go through that detailed history to look at that family history. And then we also decide, like Mrs. Truide was saying, the lab work, the lab work is really what gives us a lot of these underlying answers, because the lab work we do is more detailed than the basic. So we get more numbers, we get more genetic codes, we get more of all of these things. And from there we’re able to take it and see what’s going to be the most successful path for this patient. What supplements are they going to be able to intake better? What diet is best for them, whether it be the ketogenic diet or the Mediterranean diet? Everybody’s body is different because everybody’s insulin sensitivity is different and everyone’s hormones are different, changing especially for females. It’s different than male patients. And we really create that individualized package for them because we want them to leave at the end of everything, not just that first visit, but we want them to leave feeling empowered and healthy and strong. And not just they’re alive, but that they’re living. And that makes a huge difference to their families and their friends. And just everything gets impacted all from the start of these questionnaires.

[00:28:19] You touched on a subject matter there about being left alone. We go through a process and we do keep connectivity with our patients. With today’s technology, there’s no reason why we can’t have a person or an individual connected to our office and being able to give us information such as BMI, BIA information, which is basal metabolic stuff, the scale weight, the fat densities. We can have this information today. We have Fitbits that connect to us and we can really understand that that data is now floatable in a private way. And someone on the other side is reading that. Tell us what you do with individuals in terms of the coaching that we offer people for specific metabolic syndrome. Of course, for coaching.

[00:28:58] We have a scale. And like Dr. Jimenez was saying, this scale not only tells you your weight, but it also sends your weight, your water intake, how much of your weight is water weight, how much of your weight is lean muscle. And it also tells us it can track it and see the percentages of where you’re changing. So we can track that maybe the number on the scale hasn’t moved and some people might start to feel discouraged. But when we look at the numbers of what that scale actually tells us, we can see that you are losing body fat and it’s being replaced by muscle. So even though that number is the same, your body inside is chemically changing. You’re making those differences you need to make to keep up with it and not to quit because that can like I said, it can be discouraging for certain people.

[00:29:46] So there’s a mind-body connection here. There’s a mental component, a teamwork dynamics that is really important when we’re working through metabolic syndrome. We just can’t leave people here, here, just take the football and run 80 plays. No, you know, have huddles each time to discuss and change the adaptive processes. You know, in terms of the other areas with fat analysis, I know Alex has got some additional areas and Astrid is going to be discussing in a few minutes. But I’m going to focus on Alex right now in terms of telling a little bit about what people can do with exercise or fitness that could stimulate or dynamically change their metabolic processes at the biochemical level.

[00:30:28] Well, I would first, in all honesty, is being honest with yourself. You are probably going to be the best observer of your own situation.

[00:30:39] We all know what foods we do well with. We all know what foods we don’t do well with. And we’ve always kind of had some sort of intuition as we’ve grown into the people we are today, knowing what foods work best for us and what foods don’t work well for us.

[00:30:53] For example, myself, I know that if I have a large consumption of carbohydrates, I tend to put on weight pretty easily, but I am pretty active. So the days that I do have strenuous activity, I make sure that I do have a balanced meal with proteins, fats and a decent amount of carbohydrates. But the days that I’m not very active here or I haven’t gone to the gym. I make sure that most of my caloric intake comes from good fats or proteins. And that’s gonna be the best thing is just be honest with yourself. See how you’re doing. Find your BMI, find your basal metabolic rate and then start putting numbers to paper because if you keep track of things. Odds are you’re gonna do better and be able to control the way that your body’s responding. The next thing is I would find a health coach like Kenna that can help you stay on track and find any recommendations. The good part is that we have the Internet out there and sources like yourself, Dr. Jimenez, that are able to provide information to the public on a new level and be able to understand and grasp the concept from a different perspective and give people more information that they didn’t know that they had at their fingertips.

[00:31:54] I’m going to take it back to Astrid. Thank you, Alex. But one of the things is I want people to understand we’re going to assault. We’re going to do an assault on metabolic syndrome because this is a big problem and it’s affecting so many in all communities around the United States. And we have to have an open forum to be able to open up. And sometimes we just don’t have 10 seconds. This is not a 10 second, two minute thing. We have to really understand that there needs to be a teamwork integrative medicine approach that really helps the patients. So I know she’s gonna, we’re gonna go with a couple. I don’t think we can make it through all of them, but we’re gonna get through as best as we can because for dynamic and time purposes, this is all recording can be used later. Tell us a little bit about the omega, berberine, and all the other supplements that you had planned on talking about.

[00:32:38] Okay. Well, first of all, for those of you who are barely jumping into the podcast right now, the nutraceuticals that are currently listed up there, they can all help improve metabolic syndrome in one way or another. The majority of these specifically helped lower the risk factors that can increase the risk of developing issues like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. But as of right now, I want to emphasize several of these because they’re more efficient at promoting weight loss. If you want to improve metabolic syndrome, you want to promote weight loss. So the last nutraceutical we talked about that’s up there was DHEA.

[00:33:33] The next nutraceutical I want to talk about is NRF2. So just like DHEA, DHEA is a naturally produced hormone in our body, Nrf2 is also found in our body naturally. But unlike DHEA, which is a hormone, Nrf2, the full name of it is the NRF2 pathway. It’s what’s known as a transcription factor or it’s basically an element that regulates several cell processes, if you will. And so I’ve done quite a few articles on this myself. And there are several research studies out there, quite a few to be to be exact, that Nrf2 can also help improve metabolism.

[00:34:25] So if you improve your metabolism, especially in people who have metabolic syndrome, your metabolism can make it much more efficient for you to burn calories and therefore burn fat more efficiently.

[00:34:39] The Omega’s and Nrf2 when we’re dealing with here as along with berberine is inflammatory issues. OK. So what we want to deal with is, when someone has metabolic syndrome, we suffer from inflammation and inflammation is rampant. And that’s what’s causing the discomfort, the joint pain, the overall swelling, the bloating. Those are the kind of things that help in the effect of the blood pressure and insulin does have. We haven’t talked about that yet, but we’re gonna be discussing that. I know Alex has got some ideas in terms of NRF2 factors and omegas, and berberine. And tell me a bit about what you’ve seen in terms of nutraceuticals and you read in terms of its effect on metabolic syndrome.

[00:35:22] So the way that we need to look at the different types of fatty acids is that…

[00:35:28] Most of the surface of each cell is composed of a fatty acid, and it depends on what type gets incorporated based on the consumption or dietary intake that you have on a daily basis. So the main two components that your body is going to use is cholesterol. That’s why we still need cholesterol and healthy fats that we get. But at the same time, if you’re taking in a lot of red meats, you’re also going to use arachidonic acid, which makes different types of fatty acids. And it also makes a transcription factor called PG2, which is known for its very inflammatory process or aspects.

[00:36:07] So what fish oils do specifically?

[00:36:10] EPA.

[00:36:11] EPA and DHA, by incorporating these into the cell membrane. You actually up-regulate NRF2 and downregulate NFkb, which is the inflammatory response. And not only by doing that, but as we talked about before with green tea extract as well as turmeric or otherwise known as curcumin.

[00:36:32] These also inhibit the pathways for inflammation. Now there could be the argument well do these pathways inhibit the inflammation. So let’s say I get sick or something, right? Well, the cool part is that they’re two different pathways stimulating the same response by doing the dietary regimen of the curcumin, fish oils, or even green tea. You’re inhibiting it from the body overexpressing these genes. Now, if you still get sick in the sense. Right, you could still allow these cells to proliferate specifically your macrophages to do their job correctly. So you’re not inhibiting them by overstimulating them. You’re actually allowing them to be more proficient in their job. And in the event that you are virally infected or with some unknown pathogen or let’s say a cell decides to go rogue and start producing cancer cells, you allow the body to be more proficient in its terms of extraction of these pathogens.

[00:37:26] In essence, what we’ve learned is that if we try to suppress inflammation, we really create a huge problem. The question is let’s stop inflammation from progressing to be too extreme. So in essence, to keep it at a workable dynamics. And that’s what these curcumins and the green tea do. I know Astrid’s got something to mentioned in terms of this particular concept. Tell me a bit about what you’re thinking about.

[00:37:49] Yes. So as Alex mentioned, green tea is actually a fantastic drink. It’s actually in my nutraceutical list that’s up there. And I really wanted to talk about green tea because it’s a very easily accessible drink. You know, for those of you that like tea, green tea is delicious as well. And there’s a variety of research studies that have actually been demonstrated to be super beneficial for people with metabolic syndrome.

[00:38:20] So as many of you know, green tea actually contains caffeine. Of course, it has much less caffeine than a cup of coffee, for example. But it still does have caffeine and green tea itself is a powerful antioxidant. That’s another of the things that it’s very well-known for. But just like Nrf2, green tea has actually been demonstrated to help improve metabolism tremendously. You know, like it promotes the body’s ability to to burn calories, to burn fat. And because of its caffeine, I guess, amounts because even though it is less than a cup of coffee, but it’s just enough, it can actually help improve exercise performance. And, you know, for those people who are looking to lose weight because of the, you know, the issues that they have associated with metabolic syndrome, drinking green tea can actually help promote and improve their exercise performance so that they’re more able to pretty much engage and participate much, much more efficiently in their exercise and physical activity to, therefore, burn fat.

[00:39:35] So Astrid basically, you’re indicating that as a good option instead of a let’s say a whatever kind of drink or a juicy drink, it’s wise to keep kind of in the background green tea throughout the day, is that correct or to how much the water is good. The green tea is good. A little bit of coffee and a little bit of this fluid is important to keep our bodies hydrated through the process since it’s already available. Green tea is a great option not only for metabolic processes to stop inflammation, but also to actually help with the burning of the fat too.

[00:40:07] Yeah, yeah, definitely. Green tea is a great drink. You can pretty much have it throughout your day.

[00:40:14] You know, it has less caffeine than, say, coffee, as I mentioned. And it will, for those people that have green tea, I personally love green tea and I will have it. And you do get that extra amount of energy, you feel it when you have green tea. But definitely, yeah, you can have it throughout your day and you know, it’s important to stay hydrated, drink plenty of water and you just want to make sure that if you do exercise enough, you don’t want to lose your electrolytes. So, you know, drink plenty of water and just stay hydrated.

[00:40:49] Kenna wants to speak something. And we want you to go in that direction right now because Kenna wants to talk about specific dietary changes and also things that we can do from a health coach point of view.

[00:41:00] I just wanted to say that green tea is super beneficial going off of Astrid’s point, but I personally don’t like drinking green tea and that doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. They do have green tea in capsules as well. So you can still get all of those great benefits without actually drinking it, because for some people it’s, you know, their coffee over tea. So you don’t have to drink tea. You can still get all those great benefits that Astrid was talking about but through capsules.

[00:41:30] Now we got a really interesting, sneaky ways that we can help people in order to help people understand and to come into our office. What can they do? Truide, in terms of being able to be facilitated in the office, if they want to make, if they want to, if they have questions, or for any doctor that they have out wherever they may be because this is reaching far right here.

[00:41:48] And I know this can be very overwhelming to just the regular population. You know, we went in too deep, you know, as far as all the physiology behind it and everything else. One of the things that I can tell you rest assured that when you do call our office, we’re going to walk you step by step. You’re not going to be alone. You’re going to walk out with a lot of information and knowing specifically what works for you. Like Kenna was saying, everybody’s different. This is not a cookie-cutter program. We definitely take the time and we talk one on one with everybody that walks in and make sure that when they walk out and they have a lot of information with them, they also walk out with not just that lab work, they will walk out with recipes. Kenna is going to be constantly following up with you. It’s an extremely successful approach when you have accountability from a health coach. So you’re not going to be by yourself.

[00:42:40] You know, again, our goal is to take the kitchen all the way to the genes and from the genes all the way to the kitchen. We got to give the understanding, maybe not of the deep biochemistry, as Alex has taken us into, or the nutraceutical dynamics. Just know that there are ways that we can monitor, we can assess. We can periodically evaluate. We have diagnostic tools to do it, to determine blood assessments that are way beyond what was done 10 years ago. We have metabolic dynamic testing that we do in our office to determine real critical aspects of the weight density, the limb way to the body, how much water you have, we use things like phase angle to determine the health of the cells and how they’re functioning. So there’s a lot that goes on in this process. So I want to take the opportunity to thank my guests today because from Alexander, all the way far on the north side of the United States to Astrid who actually assesses things at the NCBI because we need to have our finger right on the research that has been done to our clinical liaison, which is Truide, and our dynamic health coaches. I can be a health coach, but sometimes I’m with a patient. But she’s really with you all all the time and she can connect with you via email, which is Kenna. So together we have come with an intention and our intention is very clear to understand the processes of metabolic syndrome, to break it down to deep levels. Also, we’ll get down to the, as you can see, to the genes all the way to the kitchen. And that’s what our goal is so that we educate people on how to feed our children. We intuitively know how to feed our families. Moms know exactly what to do. However, the technology and the research of today. Offers us the ability to break it down and to be very, very specific into the sciences. And sometimes when we get a little older, we realize that our bodies change and our genetics change and that’s preordained based on our past, our peoples, our ontogeny, which is the past of the generations in the past. But we got to realize that we can make a change or we can stimulate, we can activate genetic codes. We can suppress genes that want to get going to get active. If you improperly diet or actually do an improper diet. So our goal today is to bring this awareness. And I want to thank you guys all for giving us the opportunity to listen in. We look forward to bring in different subjects, maybe not as intense but or dynamic. But this was our first run in the process. And we’re going to learn and please ask questions so that we can kind of make it better for you and to give you the information you need. So we thank you very much. And I want to tell you from all of us now here in El Paso, we look forward to being able to offer the world information into metabolic syndrome that affects so many people. So thank you, guys. Thank you for everything.

Neurotransmitter Assessment Form (NTAF)

The Neurotransmitter Assessment Form (NTAF) shown above can be filled out and presented to Dr. Alex Jimenez. The next symptoms that are listed on this form are not intended to be utilized as a diagnosis of any type of condition, disease, or syndrome, as well as any other type of health issue and complication.