LivingFuelTV: The Human Body's Food Intelligence
KC: Welcome to LivingFuelTV, I’m KC Craichy with special guest Leonard Smith M.D. Welcome, Leonard.
Dr. Smith: Thank you, glad to be here.
KC: Leonard is a dear friend and you’ve probably seen on the cover of some books and on TV and radio and maybe on the Internet. I don’t know, Leonard, you get around pretty well. You’re a wealth of information and it’s exciting to do this series where we’re talking about various subjects and bringing in science and concepts that most people anywhere have not heard of some of this stuff. It’s pretty cool. Today, we’ll talk about – you know we’re talking about going organic in foods and fresh, and you know how when we manufacture stuff we harvest it at the peak, when it’s ripe, and freeze dry it and put it in a can so it can deliver peak-level nutrients, but when people are buying organic foods it’s almost 14 days from the time when they pick it - and they pick it before it’s ripe - until it gets to the store, so there’s a degradation in the nutrient levels. Now, it’s really important, but the thing I really want to talk about is the intelligence of the body and food. You see all these people eating dead foods and packaged foods and things that are not freeze dried – they’re in the middle of the store in the boxes, in the packages?
Dr. Smith: Right, right.
KC: What I’m talking about is how resveratrol actually provokes a positive genetic expression.
Dr. Smith: Right.
KC: It’s not just an antioxidant. I’ve read recently that vitamin D has a similar function as does omega 3, EPA and DHA. So, we’re finding that there’s an intelligence between food. And another one I’ll bring up is hard-boiled eggs. You know CCKs, the enzyme or hormone, CCK, Cholecystokinin …
Dr. Smith: Right.
KC: When you eat a hard-boiled egg, you can eat only maybe two or three, unless something’s broken down in your body, because your body sends a signal to the brain via these CCKs, and Leptin even …
Dr. Smith: Right.
KC: Telling the body you can’t eat anymore and we’ll make you throw up if you continue trying to eat it. But if you scramble the eggs, you can eat a dozen of them. So, something is turned off in the coding mechanism. What are your thoughts on this?
Dr. Smith: I do know that fat – I can give you the physiology, at least part of the physiology – I don’t profess to know everything about anything frankly – but when fat hits the duodenum, the duodenal lining is what’s releasing the CCK, and when it gets in the blood it goes to the lateral thalamic nuclei of the brain and that’s the area of satiety. So, that’s why typically when people eat a meal with fat in it – and it is good to have some fat in a meal because it does help create satiety.
KC: And so does protein and fiber in the way, doesn’t it?
Dr. Smith: Yeah, to some degree, but I think fat may be the most in terms of that as opposed to just eating a salad, which I’m big on eating salads, but I usually put olive oil and I might put an egg on it or something. The whole idea of just eating plant food – you can do it, but you may still be hungry - although there is enough fiber in there to help you – but, yeah, fat is the connection to the CCK. Now, why scrambled eggs allow you to eat more, I really don’t know about that. You would think that there’s the same fat in there, but maybe it’s spread out in a different way – I don’t know.
KC: I find that fascinating. You make a hard-boiled egg, a soft-boiled egg, a poached egg, or an over-easy egg and you’re limited on how many you can eat, but once you scramble it or make quiche or whatever, you can eat it until the cows come home. Interestingly, carbohydrates, as you know, don’t have a signaling device like that.
Dr. Smith: Right.
KC: Protein does, fat does, but when you eat a carbohydrate your brain doesn’t know until you’ve digested, it’s in the portal vein of the bloodstream, and then goes to the brain, the brain goes ‘okay, that’s enough,’ and by that time you’ve overeaten. That’s why they say stop 20 minutes before, right?
Dr. Smith: And then the problem with the carbohydrate is if you eat too much and they’re too simple and they get absorbed too quickly, you put out more insulin and your insulin’s going to stay around for 4 or 5 hours, so 2 or 3 hours, maybe 4 hours after eating a predominantly carbohydrate meal you could actually have your insulin still circulating, so your blood sugar drops and for some people a drop in the blood pressure means ‘I’m going to kill to get some more carbohydrates.’
KC: Right.
Dr. Smith: I used to tell people that all the time, you need a balance of meals, not too much, but enough fat, enough protein, along with the carbohydrates, so as to not have bouncing, fluctuating blood sugars, because I think that’s what causes people to really get addicted to carbohydrates.
KC: You know, that essentially starts at breakfast, doesn’t it?
Dr. Smith: It does.
KC: People will have a grain-based breakfast with some juice or something like that, then they crash at 10 o’clock and have to have – insulin levels pushing it down – they’ve got to have more carbohydrates.
Dr. Smith: Exactly.
KC: People always think that breakfast foods have to be pancakes or waffles or cereal or something in that category, but the truth is that lunch foods and dinner foods – a salad with protein would be terrific for breakfast.
Dr. Smith: That’s what I eat usually.
KC: Or Living Fuel …
Dr. Smith: Oh, yea, exactly.
KC: … which is a salad, drinking a salad with protein.
Dr. Smith: Well, that’s what we do. We actually take a bunch of vegetables and blend them up and add the Fuel to it as a greens smoothie while I’m eating my salad. That’s exactly what I do.
KC: That sets you up for not being hungry until Noon or until lunchtime.
Dr. Smith: Everybody’s different. I don’t seem to get that hungry. I actually do well on just two meals a day. I may snack a little in between. There’s a lot of individual variation on that.
KC: It’s an interesting point that you brought up. I believe personally that snacking is what’s keeping a lot of people from losing weight. You talk about insulin being around for 3 hours?
Dr. Smith: It depends on what they’re snacking on, too! (laughs)
KC: True, true.
Dr. Smith: Is it a Snickers or a head of broccoli? (laughs)
KC: Good point.
Dr. Smith: With a little olive oil on it.
KC: 3 hours, let’s say 3 hours, that’s what I call the ‘fully fed state.’ You’re operating on what you ate, you’re feeling good, you’re getting blood sugar, all that sort of thing, but from the 3 hour to the next meal, that’s what I call the ‘maximum metabolic mode.’ Now your body is having to do what it was designed to do and fueling the body from ‘stores.’
Dr. Smith: Right.
KC: You know, releasing triglycerides. People have fatty livers because they eat all the time and never release anything to make the body work. What do you think about that?
Dr. Smith: Well, I think that basically if you - it’s not just what you eat, it’s also what you do. Let’s look back 50 to a hundred years ago on the farm. People eat a hearty breakfast, but then they’re out there at 8 in the morning toiling in the field or pulling the plow, doing something for 4, 5 or 6 hours. They’re entitled to a bigger lunch. If we’re just sitting around playing on the computer or reading a magazine or in a meeting or whatever, I really think – and science will back me on this – the single, number one, age-management technology is …
KC: Portion size.
Dr. Smith: Exactly. 30 percent less food than you think you need to eat.
KC: We talked about that – the Four Corners.
Dr. Smith: Of course, your Fuel and your whole concept works under that.
KC: Cut the calories, lower the sugar and glycemic response, increase the broad spectrum antioxidants and healthy fats.
Dr. Smith: Exactly.
KC: It’s a powerful concept. It’s really the thing the literature just doesn’t deny. There are about 3,000 studies around that subject that would say – but if you look back 10 years the caloric intake has increased 25 percent, but on average in America. So, if the literature says you cut back 30 percent or 20 percent or 40 percent and people are up 25 percent, it can spell nothing but bad.
Dr. Smith: I remember you at least 4 or 5 years ago, and in one of the books you wrote, too. I read so many articles where they put people on caloric restricted diets, but they miss the other half, optimum nutrition. That whole CRON, C-R-O-N, Caloric Restriction Optimum Nutrition, will give the best result. Caloric restriction without optimum nutrition is a disaster, and that will actually cause people to slow down their thyroid and metabolism. That’s how they get in the yo-yo diet thing. ‘I really cut my calories and did well for awhile and all of a sudden I gained all my weight back.’
KC: Fascinating stuff, fascinating stuff. Thank you again, Leonard.
Dr. Smith: You are very welcome.
KC: We hope you’ve enjoyed it. We wish you Super Health!