Health Tips for Busy Business Executives, with Dr. Josh Axe – Episode 75 of The Action Catalyst Podcast

Entrepreneur, author, founder, and physician Dr. Josh Axe identifies a few of the health trends that are most dangerous for business people, talks about managing your stress the healthy way and some of the cultural and religious differences in health, and addresses one of the most pressing questions of our times… IS Caesar salad the enemy?

About Dr. Axe:

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS, is a doctor of chiropractic, certified doctor of natural medicine and clinical nutritionist with a passion to help people eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle. In 2008, he started a functional medicine center in Nashville, which grew to become one of the most renowned clinics in the world.

Dr. Axe founded the website DrAxe.com, which is one the top natural health websites in the world today. Its main topics include nutrition, natural medicine, fitness, healthy recipes, home DIY remedies and trending health news. His website includes a group of credentialed editors, writers and a Medical Review Board.

He has also been a resource for many professional athletes. In 2009, he began working with the Wellness Advisory Council and Professional Swim Teams. He worked with professional swimmers, providing nutritional advice and performing musculoskeletal work on the athletes to increase their performance. He also traveled to the 2012 Games in London to work with USA athletes.

Dr. Josh Axe has also authored several celebrated and bestselling books.

Millions of people have read his books and gone through his programs, including Healing Leaky Gut and Essential Oils Transformation. These books and programs combine the power of advanced nutrition with recipes, herbal remedies and lifestyle improvements to help people reach their health goals.

Dr. Axe has been a regular guest expert on The Dr. Oz Show, covering such topics as the gut microbiome, weight loss, digestive health (such as leaky gut and candida) and herbal medicine. Dr. Josh Axe has taught corporate wellness programs for companies such as Nissan, Whole Foods, Mercy Ministries, Lifeway and has been featured as a keynote speaker at conferences all over the country, including South by Southwest (SXSW), PaleoFX and the Autism Education Summit. He discusses how using food as natural remedies for ailments and conditions, and he will show the scientific evidence behind why eating foods like coconut, bone broth, wild-caught fish, fermented vegetables and leafy greens are essential to a healing diet.

He is co-founder of the BurstFIT interval training program along with his wife Dr. Chelsea Axe. Dr. Axe videos like BurstFIT and BurstFIT Fire have received rave reviews for being one of the most effective exercise programs ever created to support the body in getting toned, fit and burning fat with the Tabata method. Dr. Josh Axe and Dr. Chelsea Axe also appear on YouTube as well as Facebook to discuss and demonstrate smart nutrition, fitness and more.

In 2015 and 2016 his company, Axe Wellness ranked #1 in the state of Tennessee, #3 in the health industry and #35 nationwide on the Inc. 500 list for fastest-growing companies. In their Nashville office, they have kombucha on tap, vegetable juice and Paleo donuts for breakfast, daily exercise times to do planks and push-ups, and more!

Dr. Josh Axe and Jordan Rubin are the founders of Ancient Nutrition, where the mission is to restore health, strength and vitality by providing history’s healthiest whole food nutrients to the modern world. We are transforming the health of millions of consumers, through our pioneering lines of Bone Broth Protein™, Multi Collagen Protein, Essential Oils, Probiotics, Keto products, educational materials and more.

Dr. Josh Axe and his wife Dr. Chelsea live in Nashville, TN, where they enjoy making healthy gourmet meals like homemade gluten-free pizza, paddle boarding, doing ginger shots, Burst training and going hiking with their dogs Oakley and Flash.

Learn more at DrAxe.com or JoshAxe.com.

The Action Catalyst is presented by the Southwestern Family of Companies. With each episode, the podcast features some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Learn more at TheActionCatalyst.com, subscribe below or wherever you listen to podcasts, and be sure to leave a rating and review!

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(Transcribed using A.I. / May include errors):

Host
Doctor Josh Axe. He is on a mission to transform the health of millions all across America. And in 2008 he founded Exodus Health Center, and it very quickly grew to be one of the largest wellness clinics in the United States. And now he’s a syndicated radio host. He has one of the top natural health websites in the world. It’s DrAxe.com, all this his work kind of combines the power of advanced nutrition with recipes super foods and cleansing to sort of help reach people or help people reach their optimum level of health. So Dr. Josh Axe, welcome to the show. Thanks for being here.

Dr. Josh Axe
Excited to be here.

Host
What do you think are some of the the most dangerous trends that you’re seeing in health, particularly as business people, that we might have to be aware of?

Dr. Josh Axe
Sure, well, you know, there are a lot of a lot of both good trends and bad trends out there. I would say when it comes to sort of bad trends, you know, a lot of these things have happened for a long period of time, and that’s just sort of sitting at your desk all day long. And the other thing would be, obviously, just poor diet choices. And I would say one that one of the things that would goes along with that is a lot of these energy shots today. You know, I think a lot of times we think, okay, I want that quick fix. I want that little boost of energy. And so even things like five hour energy today, and there’s things much, much worse than that. But you know, whether you’re stopping in a gas station or a convenience store just going to your regular restaurant, they have these little things everywhere. And you know, doing these large amounts of especially, I know coffee too, over the past 20 years, has become the meeting place for so many business you know, small business meetings and things along those lines. But you know all of that excess caffeine and all of the stimulants over time, your body becomes dependent upon them, and it really isn’t, isn’t good for your body. So on the flip end of that, I think eating a diet that’s higher in especially vegetable juices. And so for me, I one of the things I’ve taught my patients for years is, hey, let’s not overdo the coffee. Not that a cup of coffee a day for most people in the morning isn’t going to be a big issue. In fact, I think it’s. It can be healthy and fine for some people, but, you know, I get the same buzz, and even a different type of buzz, and improved health benefits from doing vegetable juice. And the great thing about vegetable juices is they sell these Now oftentimes where they do a process called Cold pressurization instead of pasteurization, which is better. And so you can pick these up at Whole Foods. Even sometimes, Starbucks will have some of these juices. You know, I think that that’s actually a great option, is to do some veggie juice, because veggie juice is getting like a high, concentrated dose of fruits and vegetables. Actually. In fact, one glass of veggie juice can be the equivalent of eating five to six servings, at least, of vegetables. And so it is kind of like a day’s worth of vegetables in one single glass. A lot of these naked juices and odwalia juices. The problem is, is that it’s pure fruit juice, and sometimes they’re even putting fruit juice concentrates in there. And so the great thing about vegetable juice is that it’s going to be much lower in sugar, much higher in nutrients. And, you know, and not to say that a little bit of sugar, that there’s no issue with a little bit of sugar, if you’re getting some sugar from carrots and beets and a veggie juice, or even a little bit of grapefruit juice or lemons or things like that. A little bit of sugar isn’t that bad. But the problem with most of these, again, the naked juices, is they’re pretty much pure fruit juice and just really a lot of sugar.

Host
So talk to me about the five hour energy shots.

Dr. Josh Axe
Now, there are things worse than five hour energy, in fact, when we first all of these energy drinks got in the market, I’ve written several articles on especially things like Red Bull, and there were other ones out there that I think were even they were even pulled off the market because of it was causing heart issues in people. In fact, some people were having heart failure and heart issues from drinking all of these energy drinks, five hour energy came along. They’ve done a great job. The good thing about them is they do have better ingredients in theirs, which I think is a bonus. But still, a lot of these things are stimulants, and it depends on the person as well. For some people, if somebody is getting plenty of rest, somebody has a personality that’s very calm and that’s their natural state, they may actually do better with a five hour energy and not have as many long term issues. But again, even if it’s natural, doing stimulants, relying on a stimulant for your body all of the time typically isn’t the best. But I would say, if somebody has an issue, let’s say, like adrenal fatigue, caffeine and stimulants can actually really wear on your adrenal glands over time and again. This isn’t for everybody. That’s what’s kind of hard about answering questions sometimes, is five hour energy. For some people, their bodies might do fine with it, and for other people, long term, it’s really going to cause some potential issues. Use, especially with the adrenal glands, kidneys and those types of things.

Host
So veggie juice, though, that’s the that’s the safe play.

Dr. Josh Axe
It’s the safe play. You know, people use it. And you know, everything from Gershon therapy and the treatment of cancer to naturally boosting energy to cleansing to detox. In fact, if somebody is looking for an energy boost, the ultimate vegetable is beets beet juice. They’re actually studies now on triathletes and on athletes and increasing their endurance time, their stamina, their overall strength. It actually contains something in it called nitric oxide. I think this is interesting that many of us are aware of Lance Armstrong and being banned from cycling and and a lot of professional cyclists today, including what Lance Armstrong was busted for, is got busted for something called blood doping, and that’s where he’s actually oxygenating his red blood cells. And the amazing thing is, is if you’re consuming beet juice, you’re not doing it to the degree they were doing it, but you’re doing it in a completely natural and healthy way. In fact, beet juice increase nitric oxide naturally in your body. So it’s great for people for improving their heart health, but it is incredible for naturally increasing your stamina, energy and endurance. And so again, if you want a natural energy boost, beetroot juice or beet juice is is fantastic.

Host
So what do you think are some other misconceptions, like foods that people have where you go, Hey, I think I’m eating healthy, but really, as it turns out, it’s I’m not eating healthy at all.

Dr. Josh Axe
Yeah, well, I actually have an article on my on my health website, that really gets into the health foods that people think are healthy and that really aren’t healthy at all. And so all I can go ahead and walk everybody through what some of these, what some of these foods are. But for starters, you know, one of the biggest ones, and I kind of mentioned this earlier, but there’s no doubt, the fruit juice. So many people think it’s healthy. It’s it’s definitely not. It’s just it’s so much concentrated sugar. Now, eating fruit by itself, or eating fruit in a smoothie, fine, when you go to the grocery store, we’re buying pasteurized orange juice or or, you know, or the kids apple juice. Now, if you’re actually doing fresh pressed juice from fruits, some people are going to do great with that. Other people it may be too much sugar, but if that’s really the only extra sugar you’re getting during the day, it’s not going to be issues. If you just got done with a really hard workout, or you’re about to work out, it’s not going to be an issue either, because your body is going to burn up all of that sugar. So again, doing fruit juice around the workout, not as much of an issue, either. But let’s say somebody has sensitive blood sugar, of course, a diabetic, or just your average person today, who’s even just a few pounds overweight. In that case, no doing fruit juice, even fresh, fresh pressed juice. Now, again, it’s different. If it’s okay, you’ve got quite a few vegetables in there as well. And then you’re doing like you’re juicing one apple as part of your juice mixture. Again, not really much of an issue there as well. I think that’s completely fine for just about everybody, unless, again, somebody is in a semi diabetic or diabetic state. But yeah, again, it really, it really depends on the person. But just to give you an example, if you are doing a big, let’s say a 20 ounce, a big thing, and it’s almost mostly juice, you’re getting probably 60 to 70 grams of sugar in a 32 I think about that, a 16 ounce soda. You know, there’s typically 40 grams of sugar when fruit juice, it’s pretty close. I mean, you’re going to have 60 to probably almost 80 grams of sugar. Well, it just depends. But either way, it’s a lot of sugar in one sitting, without any fiber, and so it’s just something to be conscious of. And again, if you’re working out your your body will burn it up. And in that case, it’s probably not a concern.

Host
Wow.

Dr. Josh Axe
Yeah, well, I have a whole, a whole thing here, of several things, and we don’t have to spend a lot of times on these, but one of the things that surprises some people is there is a lot of farm fish today, and especially if anybody’s buying tilapia or just regular salmon, most a lot of it is farm now. Again, if it says wild caught, well, great. It’s wild caught. That fish is fantastic for fruit, for your health. But you know, a lot of these farm fish today, they contain what are called PCBs. They also contain dioxins and these are toxins that shouldn’t be in there. And also, you know, one of the things that salmon is touted for is it’s omega three fatty acids, and it’s a specific ratio of omega three to omega six fats. And omega three fats are anti inflammatory, and most, almost everybody, has heard of omega three fats at this point, and they’re great for your health. But if a if a fish has been farmed, it’s omega three fats are typically 10 times lower than in wild caught fish. And so you know, if somebody is buying fish, wild caught is 10 times superior nutrients oftentimes, or at least an Omega three fat ratio, and then oftentimes, and then also it’s completely free of toxin. So that’s a much better option as well. And I would say, just a few other foods to consider and keep out of your diet. Another big one is canola oil. Many people think canola oil is healthy. The problem is, 90% of canola oil today is either it’s genetically modified and it’s partially hydrogenated so in most cases. It’s just as bad as any other vegetable oil. And then I would say artificial sweeteners. This is something a lot of people are still using. It surprises me, even in the business world, and they think, Oh, I’m gonna do, you know, a Coke Zero, or some sort of diet soda. And you know, Splenda breaks down into chlorine in the body, and those high levels of chlorine basically suffocate your cells. They lead to other illnesses over time, and they actually one of the biggest problems is artificial sweeteners, whether it be aspartame or splendor, also known as sucralose, is they kill off probiotics in your gut. And that’s one of the big thing, and there’s actually several studies on this, is that they kill off that good gut flora, which 80% of your immune system is located in your gut. So if you’re consuming artificial sweeteners, it can decrease nutrient absorption. It can cause a condition called leaky gut over time, even increasing your risk of allergies, food sensitivities, other health issues and so again, artificial sweeteners is probably one of those other things I still see a lot of people doing, but it’s definitely pretty, pretty destructive to everyone’s health.

Host
You know, one of the other things that I always wonder about is Caesar salad. You know, it’s like…

Dr. Josh Axe
Well, it depends. You know, of course, romaine lettuce is a great bitter lettuce. It’s good for your good for your liver, your gallbladder and some of your other organs. But, yeah, the problem is, is some of these salads today have more dressing than they do lettuce and vegetables, and so, you know, if you’re doing, let’s say you’re doing a small amount, let’s say a tablespoon of a natural Caesar that’s made with, let’s say cashews or macadamia or something like that. Let’s say more of a natural substance, you know, a vegan based recipe. I think that’s okay, you know, to do a couple tablespoons of that. But yeah, traditional Caesar today is loaded with soybean oil. And we know soy is a major issue today in terms of increasing estrogen in men, increasing the risk of cancer in women. And so they have what are called phytoestrogens. So again, most of them have soybean oil and cotton seed oil, which are it’s a genetically modified oil, really high in calories as well. But again, the other, the bigger issue is that it’s a hydrogenated oil. And so yeah, I agree with you most. If you’re going to just go to a regular restaurant and buy a regular Caesar salad, it is not good for your health. It’s yeah, and I think, you know, a great replacement is doing, you know, olive oil and balsamic vinegar or something along those lines, or even buying a natural in fact, there, if you go to a place like Whole Foods, if that’s in your area, you can probably find a more natural Caesar. And you still want to use that in moderation, but that’s, that’s at least a better option.

Host
So I want to talk about some stress level stuff. What are some things we can do to kind of manage the stress level a little bit?

Dr. Josh Axe
You know, for stress, here’s what I think a lot of people don’t realize, is that, and I know that you do realize this, but stress is healthy if it’s taken in doses. You know, I my wife and I work out all the time, and but we always take at least one day a week off, and typically two. And the reason is, is when we work out, we work out hard, it’s when we don’t schedule in times of rest that you’re gonna have an issue. And so again, you can work as hard. I mean, in most cases, you can work really, really hard, be into things, and give it your all, but you have to take at least one day a week off, and you at least in you have to schedule things throughout your day that get your mind off things and allow your body to rest. And so you know your mind, in a way, is a muscle. It has to work if you never rest it. It’s just like, you know if you’re trying to work your you know your biceps over time, if you give it too much of a load, day after day after day, you’re left in these heavy dumbbells, eventually you’re going to tear it, you’re going to injure it. And the same thing can happen with our with our with our minds and our emotions if we overdo it. And so one of the things I’ve had my patients do over the years is get out a sheet of paper, have them write down on the left side everything that is stressing them out, and their work hours and kind of all, you know, we kind of brainstorm and write out all those things on the right shot side of the sheet of paper. I have them write down all of the things they love to do, things that bring them joy, things that help take their mind off, things and and whether that be going for a walk or going to the mall or watching a movie by themselves, whatever it is, we kind of write down all those things that they love to do. And so we go down the left side, and we start figuring out, okay, how do we better deal with this situation? What can you get out of your life? Because a lot of times we have too many things we’re doing, and what things that you can say no to? And then on the right side, we start scheduling those things in, because a lot of us have a work schedule. We have scheduled in to bring kids to soccer practice, or whatever it is. You really need to schedule in times of rest, times of joy, you know, in times to live life and and I see this in a lot of people, in business professionals, this is something where I understand, I’m type A, I will go out there and I, I’ll put in an 80 hour week. Week or I would if I didn’t have scheduled in times of rest. And understanding this, in fact, there’s a great book that really hits on this topic. It’s called the powerful engagement. It’s a it’s a great business book that everyone might enjoy. But they really talk about this, and they actually have done studies on business executives, and they found they were much more effective when they schedule it in times of rest, and that might look like you once a day, taking a 30 minute walk in the afternoon and kind of letting your brain recharge and get refreshed. Even something as simple as that makes a big difference. Even, you know, taking your time and working out in the middle of the day, even if it’s just 30 minutes that it allows to reset your brain. In fact, in the book, they really talk about it takes 20 minutes of not thinking about and concentrating on something for your brain to reset. And if you can take 20 to 30 minutes completely away from thinking and being engaged, it really allows your body to sort of reset there. So anyways, I think in terms of stress, you know, that’s an important thing to consider, and I talked about the business side, it’s a similar thing, though, with parents, whether you’re a business exec you’re not. I know a lot of moms out there, sure, they’re with kids all day, and they probably get zero alone time in an average week. And so one of the things I work with those moms are doing is getting three hours by themselves a week, and so they can walk through the mall or do lunch with the best friend or whatever it might be. But this is really, I think it’s important for everyone to try and do you know, I know everyone has a different spiritual beliefs, but this is a, this is something, you know, taking a Sabbath or a day off. Just gonna say that from from the beginning of time. And if you look in other cultures, both in Asian culture, European culture, there is a very long time in the middle of day where people are resting. So, you know, in Europe, lunch is definitely longer, typically an hour and a half to two hours, in some cases, in Asia, again, it’s, you know, there’s times for tea and those sort of things in the middle of the day. And so a lot of times, I know business execs in the US are working from 6am to 10pm I mean, that’s that can be common.

Host
Well there is a lot here, as you can tell my friends. We’re a fan of your mission, so you’re doing a good thing. So keep at it, my friend.

Dr. Josh Axe
Thanks for having me. I love your podcast. Love your mission, what you’re doing, and I just really appreciate you having me on your show.