1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Prepare to have your health questions answered here on Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,440 with Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center in downtown Ventura. 3 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:14,680 Now, here's Dr. Todd. 4 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:15,680 Good afternoon. 5 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:20,360 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley, board certified doctor of non-force chiropractic and practitioner 6 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:22,400 of functional medicine. 7 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:23,920 What is functional medicine? 8 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:29,080 Functional medicine means restoring normal function in your body in every living cell, 9 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:32,320 tissue, organ, and system. 10 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:38,080 The practice of regular medicine, while important and necessary, of course, doesn't work for 11 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:39,080 everybody. 12 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:43,520 Maybe you don't want to wait until your disease is bad enough that your insurance will pay 13 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:48,680 for it because the only things that your insurance company will typically pay for are pharmaceuticals 14 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:50,620 and surgery. 15 00:00:50,620 --> 00:00:53,900 If you're looking for something that gives your body a fighting chance to deal with a 16 00:00:53,900 --> 00:00:59,480 situation on its own, using your own immune system, your own physiology, your own inner 17 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,080 resources, to heal yourself, that's what functional medicine is for. 18 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:08,560 It usually involves doing more tests than you get when you go in for a standard medical 19 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:10,160 office visit. 20 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:15,080 It's much easier to diagnose obvious kidney disease or obvious liver disease or obvious 21 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:20,280 heart condition than it is to get a full picture of your overall health. 22 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:25,520 It requires more tests to really see how your entire system is functioning and because everything 23 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,760 affects everything else, you want to know that. 24 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:33,480 So when somebody comes to me, I'm going to typically do a 55-point blood panel, 80% of 25 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:41,040 the time at least, sometimes additional tests, tests for hormones or neurotransmitters or 26 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,400 chemical toxins or heavy metals. 27 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:49,160 Sometimes a stool test is necessary for a severe or inflammatory gut condition. 28 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:51,760 You know what the most important test is? 29 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:54,240 A case history, a good case history. 30 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:59,120 I take the time to do a good case history, to answer all your questions and then to truly 31 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:01,400 understand what's going on with you. 32 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:07,520 That's the best way to identify what other tests might be necessary to identify whatever 33 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:08,780 is ailing you. 34 00:02:08,780 --> 00:02:14,240 Sometimes I have to order scans, MRIs or CTs or x-rays or ultrasounds. 35 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:18,520 But whatever it is, we get to the bottom of the condition of your body, figure out what's 36 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:22,600 necessary for your body to better heal itself. 37 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:28,020 And then we do that, we do the healing and repairing with better food, exercise and supplements. 38 00:02:28,020 --> 00:02:32,520 So some people are already eating an excellent diet and they've got that covered. 39 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:34,800 Sometimes their diet needs a whole overhaul. 40 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,120 Oftentimes it's something in between, maybe you just need to stop eating a few things 41 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:40,800 and add in a little bit more of this or that. 42 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:45,840 A lot of people are aware that that might be a good idea for them already. 43 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:47,980 And exercise is different for everyone. 44 00:02:47,980 --> 00:02:52,480 Some people can't do certain exercises or any exercise sometimes because of pain. 45 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:57,360 And so I can often help people get out of pain that is preventing them from doing proper 46 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:03,360 exercise by identifying what's causing their physical ailments and using non-force chiropractic 47 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,600 and stretching, some other techniques to get rid of your pain. 48 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:08,960 So that's important. 49 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:14,320 But mainly with exercise, the most important exercise is the one that you'll do and enjoy. 50 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,260 Because if you really hate it, you're probably not going to do it for very long. 51 00:03:17,260 --> 00:03:19,480 So you have to find something that you'll enjoy. 52 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:25,120 And the easiest exercise for anyone, almost anyone to do, is just simply walking. 53 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,760 So better food, exercise and supplements. 54 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:33,120 Most people, when I do the tests and do the case history, identify what's going on with 55 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:34,120 you. 56 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:35,560 I always find nutrient deficiencies. 57 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:37,160 I'm just going to say always. 58 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,440 I've never seen anyone who's getting all, very rarely see anyone who's getting all the 59 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:43,240 nutrients they need. 60 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,400 That doesn't mean no one is, but people who are getting all the nutrients they need to 61 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:52,560 heal and repair themselves and exercising and eating good food usually don't come see 62 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:56,660 me because they're not having any problems that they need any help with. 63 00:03:56,660 --> 00:04:01,260 So yeah, almost every time someone comes in, I'm going to be recommending some supplements. 64 00:04:01,260 --> 00:04:07,200 And so I'm going to talk, the subject of today's talk is going to be why you shouldn't buy 65 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,600 cheap supplements from Costco. 66 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:14,400 And how to identify quality supplements that actually work, that'll do the job, that'll 67 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:16,280 do what you expect them to do. 68 00:04:16,280 --> 00:04:17,280 How do you tell the difference? 69 00:04:17,280 --> 00:04:19,560 That's what we're going to talk about today. 70 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:23,680 But before we do, for those of you who don't know, if you like what you hear on the show 71 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:27,680 and you want to hear more, or maybe you've only just heard a tiny portion, maybe you've 72 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:32,800 heard the whole show several times, but I just want you to remind everyone that either 73 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:37,480 way you can always listen to all of the past episodes anytime you like. 74 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:45,600 On demand, just click and play on my website, binkleyhealingcenter.com, as well as on Apple 75 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:49,360 podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. 76 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:51,040 So you can go and listen to them. 77 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:54,600 I think there's some 60 episodes I've done now, a little over 60. 78 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,880 I think this is number 63. 79 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:03,000 So yeah, check those out and you're welcome to contact me at any time. 80 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:04,840 Email is best. 81 00:05:04,840 --> 00:05:12,160 Sometimes people need to send documents, so drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter.com. 82 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:16,720 So I guess before we dive into the difference between good supplements and bad supplements, 83 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:18,800 maybe I'll talk a little bit about who can I help? 84 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,040 What are the conditions that I treat? 85 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:22,920 What is functional medicine for? 86 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,600 So technically, I don't treat anything. 87 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:29,560 I'm not here to cure any medical condition. 88 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:34,720 I identify conditions that other doctors miss by doing more detailed testing, but then recommend 89 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:40,040 better fit exercise and supplement to maximize your body's ability to heal itself. 90 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:42,240 And then your body does the healing. 91 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:49,240 So conditions I've helped, I routinely help people with osteoporosis, arthritis, the effects 92 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:55,680 of mold toxins and heavy metals and chemical toxins, hormone imbalances, hypothyroidism, 93 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:56,680 anemia. 94 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,180 Anemia is something that I see all the time. 95 00:05:59,180 --> 00:06:00,220 People don't even know they have it. 96 00:06:00,220 --> 00:06:02,040 Most people never know when they have anemia. 97 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:04,440 It's identified on routine blood testing. 98 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:10,080 Anybody who has fatigue, for example, most people who have fatigue, I find often have 99 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,360 a slight anemia that they don't know about. 100 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:17,600 So they can go to their MD and get a CBC, a complete blood count as part of their blood 101 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:19,440 work up. 102 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:21,160 And they'll say, your blood work's fine. 103 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:24,840 If your hemoglobin is above a certain level, if your hermitocrite, your blood cell count 104 00:06:24,840 --> 00:06:30,400 is within the broad medical range, then your, insert air quotes, fine. 105 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:36,960 But that doesn't necessarily mean that you're healthy and that you're getting enough iron 106 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:42,120 as, but that your bone marrow is getting the nutrients it needs to make adequate new red 107 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:43,120 blood cells. 108 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:48,920 And the most common causes of a deficiency are iron, iron deficiency anemia, and B vitamins, 109 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:54,720 especially folate, B12, and sometimes vitamin B6. 110 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:59,160 And those are all identifiable on a complete blood count, a very inexpensive test. 111 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:03,720 The entire complete blood count with all of the different versions of testing the red 112 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:08,400 blood cells and white blood cells is like $15. 113 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:13,600 So in my experience, when people bring in their blood work, a lot of times that's not 114 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:15,920 done as part of a routine blood work up. 115 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:22,940 They'll do it if they suspect an infection or anything else that requires doing a complete 116 00:07:22,940 --> 00:07:23,940 blood count. 117 00:07:23,940 --> 00:07:28,800 But it's often not included on just a quote, routine panel for say an annual physical, 118 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:33,440 which just mystifies me because I find so many things that otherwise get overlooked 119 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:36,520 without a CBC. 120 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,760 Fatigue is one of the most common things that people come for, helped many, many people, 121 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:44,440 thousands of people with fatigue, unexplained fatigue especially, which almost never has 122 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:45,440 one cause. 123 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,840 It's usually several little things that are adding up and really to get a good result, 124 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:54,440 you need to identify all of them and address all of them to have the energy that you deserve 125 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,400 to have and be able to maintain it. 126 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,560 Chronic infections, I see that a lot again on the CBC. 127 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,920 People don't know that their body has a bacteria or a virus or some other kind of bug that 128 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,520 your immune system just never completely fought off. 129 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:08,920 How do we identify that? 130 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:13,040 Your white blood cell count goes low when you have a chronic infection. 131 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:17,360 Most of the time, most doctors are just looking to see if you have an acute infection. 132 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,040 Everyone has experienced an acute infection. 133 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:25,740 That's when you have a cold or the flu and you get a fever and a runny nose or cough. 134 00:08:25,740 --> 00:08:28,480 You know when you have an acute infection because you can feel it. 135 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,880 When you have a chronic infection, chronic like chronology, chronos means it's just been 136 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:33,880 there for a long time. 137 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:37,600 It doesn't say anything about how good or how bad it is. 138 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,440 Obviously, it wouldn't be good. 139 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:42,560 Chronic doesn't necessarily mean bad or severe. 140 00:08:42,560 --> 00:08:45,840 Chronic just means has been there for a long time. 141 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:50,240 When you have a bug that your immune system is never able to completely fight off for 142 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:56,320 months or even years, then your white blood cell count goes down, you have a low white 143 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,400 blood cell count. 144 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:04,120 And not off the charts though, like if you have a really severe condition, which would 145 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:06,840 be caught by any standard medical exam. 146 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:11,200 But just slightly low white cell count for no apparent reason. 147 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,520 The reason is your immune system is still struggling to fight something off and it's 148 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,280 never been able to completely finish the job. 149 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:19,360 And so you need support. 150 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:24,440 Oftentimes just getting your vitamin D level up to the proper healthy range, which is between 151 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:26,440 50 and 90. 152 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:31,960 The blood level of everyone's vitamin D should be between 50 and 90. 153 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,160 Most doctors will tell you it's fine if it's above 30. 154 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,700 It really needs to be between 50 and 90. 155 00:09:36,700 --> 00:09:44,520 To achieve that, most adults need to take 5,000 IU of vitamin D per day. 156 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:47,480 Some of this is review, but it's important to go over some of this stuff. 157 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,440 The most important things that people can sometimes forget, even people that know that 158 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:56,320 they should be taking that much vitamin D, forget sometimes or drop off and need to, 159 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:59,480 maybe they think they're fine because they've taken it for a long time, but you don't know 160 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:01,280 for sure unless you test. 161 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:05,840 That's the best way to know if you're getting adequate vitamin D and insufficient vitamin 162 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:11,920 D is probably the most common overlooked cause of a slightly weak immune system that would 163 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:16,200 cause a chronic infection that would result in you having a chronic infection or your 164 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:18,560 white cell count to go down. 165 00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:23,040 So the things that show up, protein deficiency shows up very frequently. 166 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:26,840 People don't realize that they're not, they may be eating plenty of protein, but they're 167 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:33,960 not getting enough to maintain a healthy level in their bloodstream, which is so, so important 168 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,000 for healing and repairing every single part of your body. 169 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,840 Every cell in your body is made mostly of protein and fat. 170 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:45,220 So if you lack sufficient protein, you're going to lack, it's going to be difficult 171 00:10:45,220 --> 00:10:50,920 for your body to heal and repair almost anything that needs it. 172 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,280 Vitamin and mineral deficiencies show up all the time. 173 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:58,280 I test for dysbiosis in the gut if necessary. 174 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:04,080 Sometimes it's obvious just based on your case history, if you're having indigestion, 175 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:09,280 gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, all of the above, or cycling between different 176 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:10,280 symptoms like that. 177 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:16,800 That is often the result of dysbiosis, which means too many bad bacteria and not enough 178 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,320 good bacteria in your gut microbiome. 179 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,920 So test for that, a lot, really important if necessary. 180 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:30,000 Sometimes it requires doing a stool test to fully identify all the bad bugs and the good 181 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:35,840 bugs and see if you have not too many of the bad ones and enough of the good ones. 182 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:37,800 Both are equally important. 183 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:39,240 I'm Dr. Todd Benkley. 184 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:43,520 We're listening to safe, effective, natural solutions to almost any health challenge. 185 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:49,140 Today's topic is why you shouldn't buy cheap supplements from Costco and how to identify 186 00:11:49,140 --> 00:11:53,120 quality supplements that will do the job, that will do what you want. 187 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,160 So how do you tell which supplements are best? 188 00:11:56,160 --> 00:12:02,320 Well, there are good companies that you can develop a certain amount of experience with. 189 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:05,400 I'm going to list some of those here in a minute. 190 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:08,920 If you've got a good company that's made several products that you've taken, then it's a pretty 191 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:13,480 good chance that almost anything you buy from a really good company is going to work out 192 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:14,480 well. 193 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:18,920 But there's many companies that make good products, I guess is what I was trying to 194 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:20,680 say. 195 00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:22,600 There are unfortunately many more. 196 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:28,440 The vast majority of supplements in stores especially are not so great. 197 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:33,200 Some of them are completely useless and even some of them can even be harmful, especially 198 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:41,480 energy boosters or some of these cleanses that people take, liver cleanses, gut cleanses. 199 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:46,680 I really encourage people to get seen by a professional before they do those things because 200 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:52,200 they can cause a lot of problems with your liver and can make you sick, can stir up toxins 201 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,480 that your body can't flush out fast enough. 202 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:59,080 Muscle building products, these things, they're just designed to load you up with protein 203 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:04,240 and inferior other things along with that. 204 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:07,080 The protein isn't necessarily the problem but some of the other stuff they put in, their 205 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:11,240 stimulants and lousy crappy vitamins and herbs. 206 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:17,880 Imported herbal remedies, Chinese herbal products with strange labels. 207 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,760 If they're cheap, anything that's, you get what you pay for. 208 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:24,440 Buying cheap supplements is usually a bad idea. 209 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:26,120 There are some exceptions. 210 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:27,760 Vitamin C is a major exception. 211 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:29,360 Vitamin C is very inexpensive. 212 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:33,560 Ascorbic acid is the same wherever you get it. 213 00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:37,760 There are some other forms that are important for certain conditions but if you tolerate 214 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:43,040 regular old vitamin C, buy it at Costco, Trader Joe's, any store, it doesn't really matter. 215 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:47,560 I stock other forms of vitamin C for people who need special forms. 216 00:13:47,560 --> 00:13:52,840 For example, buffered vitamin C. If you can't take the acidity of ascorbic acid of vitamin 217 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:58,320 C, then you can get buffered vitamin C so that it doesn't have any problem, doesn't 218 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:05,680 cause any exacerbation of maybe gastroesophageal reflux, heartburn, ulcers. 219 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:09,880 People that have sensitive stomach for any reason sometimes can't take regular vitamin 220 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:15,840 C. For people with severe conditions, people with cancer, people with advanced or severe 221 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:22,000 autoimmune conditions often benefit from very high dose vitamin C therapy. 222 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:28,600 If they can't take high doses of regular ascorbic acid, then taking liposomal or powdered 223 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:32,760 forms of vitamin C make that easier to get large amounts. 224 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:33,760 That's one example. 225 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:35,040 Yeah, most things you get with cheap. 226 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:38,600 Some things that you should never buy cheap, fish oil. 227 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:46,240 Cheap fish oil, it costs money to buy the proper equipment to filter fish oil properly 228 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,280 so no one should buy cheap fish oil. 229 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:53,680 I only recommend getting fish oil from companies that I've seen the testing data on because 230 00:14:53,680 --> 00:15:01,400 the equipment to test to make sure that any pollutants that might end up in the fish oil 231 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:06,160 is properly filtered out without heat to maintain the integrity of the nutrients in the fish 232 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:07,160 oil. 233 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:15,120 Most good fish oil is caught off the Arctic waters, the cold waters of Northern and Southern, 234 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:20,280 Norway, the one end of the other of the earth. 235 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:25,800 Small and little tiny anchovies and sardines and fish that haven't been in the ocean enough 236 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:29,320 to accumulate many toxins because they haven't been alive that long. 237 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:30,920 The ocean's full of toxins. 238 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,760 The bigger the fish, the more toxins it's going to have in it, which is why the most 239 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:41,000 toxic fish, the fish highest in mercury, for example, are large fish like tuna and swordfish 240 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:42,760 and shark. 241 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,280 What's the best way to tell if a supplement is good? 242 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:50,600 Give it to a hundred thousand people and test them before and after they take it to see 243 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:52,120 what effect it has. 244 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:57,760 Obviously, I can't do that, but in conjunction with colleagues that I speak to at conferences 245 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:02,800 around the country every year, that is how I get my impressions of many of the supplements 246 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,600 that I recommend. 247 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:12,400 Various companies do testing on their products and cite references in their educational materials. 248 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:16,760 The conferences themselves that functional medicine practitioners go to don't mention 249 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:24,280 products by name, but the ingredients and the research behind them that shows certain 250 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:28,080 nutrients effects on various organs and systems and conditions. 251 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:34,960 From that, practitioners share knowledge and information, experience with various patients, 252 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:39,760 and collectively, the thousands of functional medicine practitioners around the country 253 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:46,640 are using similar protocols of nutrients on common conditions, and we share that information. 254 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:52,680 That's one of the main ways we find out how products work by just clinical experience. 255 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:59,360 Every time I give a list of products to you, if I test your blood beforehand, give some 256 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:03,760 products to you, test your blood after, there's a case study of one person. 257 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:08,720 People say, oh, well, how do you know if you're giving me six supplements or four supplements 258 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,600 or nine supplements or whatever, how do you know which one did the job? 259 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:15,320 Well, it's not medicine. 260 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:17,480 Supplements are nutrients, are not drugs. 261 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:21,360 Drugs, that's one of the biggest, kind of sad, really. 262 00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:22,520 I used to be frustrating. 263 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:30,640 It's not, it's just, this is what it is, but medical, pharmaceutical companies test drugs 264 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:31,640 singly, right? 265 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,400 If you test a single drug to see what effect it has, then you're going to know the effect 266 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:36,400 of that drug. 267 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:41,880 It makes perfect sense because drugs have a very specific effect on cell receptors, 268 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:46,800 on physiological processes, enzyme pathways. 269 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:48,160 Nutrients don't work like that. 270 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:50,760 Nutrients work in combination. 271 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:56,320 So taking a collection of nutrients to give your body everything it needs to heal and 272 00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:59,520 repair itself works better than trying to take one thing. 273 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:05,440 So I might recommend that you take vitamin D and a multivitamin and some fish oil. 274 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,120 I will, I recommend those three things for everybody. 275 00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:12,200 And maybe something for high cholesterol and something for low thyroid. 276 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:13,200 Test you before and after. 277 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:17,600 I'm going to see if your, I didn't test one thing at a time to see which one works, but 278 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:22,440 I'm going to see if your thyroid improved and your cholesterol went down. 279 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,200 And you're going to tell me if you feel better overall. 280 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:26,920 And I can also measure your vitamin D levels. 281 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,320 So there are some things we can measure directly on blood tests. 282 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:34,680 There are some things that we can measure indirectly, some things that we have to use 283 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:38,920 the tests in combination with how you feel. 284 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:40,760 That's the reason we do follow up case history. 285 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:45,080 So you know, it's not as simple as just testing one drug for one effect, but you know, that's 286 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:51,880 an oversimplification as well too, because human physiology doesn't really work the way 287 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:56,040 some pharmaceutical companies want you to think it does. 288 00:18:56,040 --> 00:19:02,800 My favorite metaphor is think of your bloodstream as a river of life. 289 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:07,260 So your bloodstream is a river of life with construction crews waiting on both river banks 290 00:19:07,260 --> 00:19:09,880 for all the materials needed to heal and repair. 291 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:14,640 They're waiting, they've got a list of projects that need, that need, that have been put off 292 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,600 for a while, maybe on hold for a long time because you didn't have the nutrients you 293 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:20,160 needed to heal and repair. 294 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:23,880 Something's waiting and those construction crews require the necessary materials to do 295 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:24,880 the job. 296 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:30,640 So if they don't get what they need when they need it, then that project gets put on hold 297 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:36,680 for weeks, months, sometimes even years, and that's how chronic diseases develop. 298 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:41,360 So you want to test yourself and then flood your river of life with all the nutrients 299 00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:45,480 every part of your body needs so that it can heal and repair itself. 300 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,840 And then you take things away one or two at a time. 301 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:53,920 You start out with everything you need, identify everything that you might need to get you, 302 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,960 give your body a fighting chance, get you as healthy as you can be, and then you slowly 303 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:03,880 remove things from the list and just get back to a core of only taking the supplements that 304 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,320 you need because you're not getting enough of them from your food. 305 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,680 And typically those three things are a good multivitamin or mineral for the minerals, 306 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:16,440 fish oil for omega-3 fatty acids if you're not eating salmon every day, and vitamin D. 307 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:20,660 Most no one gets enough vitamin D from food or from the sun. 308 00:20:20,660 --> 00:20:26,200 So drugs are essential when you need to intervene and get a quick, specific, controlled, reliable, 309 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:27,860 predictable response. 310 00:20:27,860 --> 00:20:32,380 And they alter and manipulate cell receptors and biochemical pathways. 311 00:20:32,380 --> 00:20:38,440 But they're also all toxic to the body because precisely because they interfere with normal 312 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:39,600 physiology. 313 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:43,560 The normal control mechanisms in your body are overridden. 314 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:47,600 And consuming too much or too many drugs can easily kill you. 315 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:54,480 Over 100,000 people in America die every year from properly, correctly prescribed medications, 316 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:55,920 not medical errors. 317 00:20:55,920 --> 00:21:00,720 Normally, properly prescribed medicine kills 100,000 people a year. 318 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:03,360 So nutrients versus drugs. 319 00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:11,200 Nutrients unlike drugs are foods that our bodies have evolved the ability to assimilate 320 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,240 and utilize for sustaining life. 321 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:15,920 I'm going to say that again. 322 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:22,340 Nutrients are foods that our bodies have evolved the ability to assimilate and utilize for 323 00:21:22,340 --> 00:21:23,680 sustaining life. 324 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:30,160 Nutrients provide the raw materials for building and maintaining living cells. 325 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,840 So they're non-toxic precisely because they support normal physiology. 326 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:39,320 The innate control mechanisms in your body remain intact. 327 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:40,720 Your body's still in control. 328 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:45,000 If you take too much of a nutrient, your body will just excrete it. 329 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:49,640 It will be flushed out through the kidneys and the colon and end up in the sewer. 330 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:50,640 It's possible, obviously. 331 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,480 It's possible to take too much of some vitamins. 332 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,720 It's possible to take too much vitamin D. It almost never happens. 333 00:21:57,720 --> 00:21:59,600 It's very rare, actually. 334 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:01,240 It's possible to take too much iron. 335 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:05,840 That's why men, that's why they make separate men and women's multivitamins because if you're 336 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,880 not bleeding, you usually don't need to supplement iron at all. 337 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:15,160 That's why women always, menstruating women always need it and men who don't have hemorrhoids 338 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:16,920 or an ulcer usually don't. 339 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:17,920 There are exceptions. 340 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:19,440 That's why we got to test. 341 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:21,160 There's some things. 342 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:22,800 It's possible to drink too much water. 343 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:27,200 You can get hyponatremia from drinking too much water too fast. 344 00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:28,360 Hyponatremia just means low sodium. 345 00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:32,520 You can screw up your electrolytes so bad that you can die. 346 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:37,160 Your heart and your brain will shut down after consuming too much water too fast. 347 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,520 It very rarely happens, but Google hyponatremia. 348 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:41,520 It's a thing. 349 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:43,200 You can literally drink too much water. 350 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:50,520 You can get too much of anything, but it is rare to get too much of commonly utilized supplement 351 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:55,120 products that functional medicine practitioners use because we're buying quality products. 352 00:22:55,120 --> 00:23:00,000 It's another reason to not use cheap inferior products because sometimes they might have 353 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,080 things in there that are harmful. 354 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,760 More importantly, the easiest way to tell, the main reasons to not buy cheap supplements 355 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:11,280 are they often have inferior source materials that are just stale or inert, have no effect 356 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:12,280 at all. 357 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:18,560 The poor processing that cheaper supplements undergo can deplete the potency of them. 358 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:24,760 The cheap capsule fillers and tablet binding agents very commonly prevent proper absorption. 359 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:26,840 So what's on the label is tested. 360 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:30,000 The government requires proper testing of these things to print it on a bottle. 361 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,240 It has to be in the tablet or the capsule. 362 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:36,360 That doesn't necessarily mean it's going to end up in your bloodstream. 363 00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:42,240 And the amounts of many important ingredients are insufficient to achieve the desired effect. 364 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:48,720 So what's on the label and what enters your bloodstream are not necessarily the same thing. 365 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:53,720 High quality products, some of the brands that I trust are Orthomolecular Products, 366 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:54,720 Designs for Health. 367 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:57,400 Orthomolecular Products and Designs for Health are actually my two favorite brands. 368 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:00,400 You'll hear me talk about some of their products on some of the past episodes if you listen 369 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:01,400 to those. 370 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:05,160 But there are some other, many other great companies, Doctors Research, Standard Process, 371 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:11,200 Douglas Labs, Pure Encapsulations, Thorn Research, Gaia Pro. 372 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:12,320 There are lots of good products. 373 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,320 There's just so many, many more that aren't so great. 374 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:17,640 It looks like we're about ready to run out of time, so I will continue talking about 375 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:22,520 how to identify good supplements and what the difference that they make for various 376 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:23,640 conditions. 377 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:27,600 Have a very Merry Christmas. 378 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:33,120 You've been listening to Safe, Effective Natural Solutions with Dr. Todd Binkley. 379 00:24:33,120 --> 00:24:37,640 If you have a health question you want discussed on the show, email your health questions to 380 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:42,200 Dr. Binkley at BinkleyHealingCenter.com. 381 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:46,880 Take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions for yourself and for your loved 382 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,840 ones because our health matters. 383 00:24:49,840 --> 00:25:12,440 Join him next Friday at 2pm for Safe, Effective Natural Solutions here on 98.3 FM, The Word.