Welcome to episode 44 of Behind the Shield podcast.
My name is James Gearing, and I am recording
this a little bit early because we have a very
angry young lady bearing down towards Florida
named Irma, and I'm gonna have to go to the station
in a moment and be the crew that rides it out.
So this week, I really wanted to delve into the
world of eye health and vision. This is an area
that we really don't discuss very much anywhere.
In the fire service specifically, in the military,
we touch on hearing a lot because of the noise
of the sirens and the weapons and all those things.
But eye health, vision as an obstacle getting
into the career, how to change your vision, how
to protect your eyes themselves. This is an area
that... Aside from you need to wear safety glasses,
we just don't touch on at all. So this week's
guest is Dr. Michael Lang. He's an optometrist
here in Central Florida, very well respected
nationally and internationally, also a nutritionist
and a psychology major. So a very interesting
perspective on overall health rather than focusing
just on the eyeballs themselves. So we delve
into my story, which is basically I was told
as a young man in England, you can never be a
firefighter because you're colorblind. Absolute
BS. So we'll talk about that story. And we're
going to come up with some solutions for people
that have things like that, the trip hazards
as far as entering the profession. We're going
to talk about how to maintain your eye health,
not just with corrective lenses and those kind
of things, but also nutrition, hydration areas
there. So that's going to tie into the overall
health. We're going to talk about how to protect
your eyes and what kind of products are out there,
what to look for if you're in certain fields.
And then we delve into a number of other things
from A2 milk to nutrition, obesity in the US.
So this was a great conversation I had face to
face with Dr. Lang in his office. So I'm going
to keep this intro short. I'm going to go pack
my bag and drive south when everyone's driving
north. And just before I leave, don't forget,
rate us on iTunes, share an episode, be part
of the solution of spreading each and one of
these incredible episodes around the planet.
So without further ado, I introduce to you Dr.
Michael Lang. Enjoy. Welcome to Behind the Shield.
Dr. Lang, how are you doing? It's great to be
here. Thanks for having me. Thank you very much.
We are sitting here about two or three days from
Hurricane Irma showing up, so I think the whole
state of Florida is wondering what the hell is
going to go on. All right, so I want to kind
of paint the picture before we delve into eyes
and nutrition and all the other things that we're
going to talk about. Can you give me a background,
where you were born, what your family unit was
like? right absolutely so i was born in new orleans
louisiana uh gee september 15th 1961 i'm 55 years
old now uh my dad's a rheumatologist so i came
from a medical background and um i actually I
was racing motocross at a competitive age, started
out about 10 years of age. I rode the minibike
nationals and I went up and started riding 125
expert and very competitive. I ended up in the
Grand National Championship, broke my leg in
my back, broke my leg in five places, broke my
back, ended my motocross career at 19 years of
age. And so then I started thinking, well, I
got to go to college. And I actually. I was going
to be an orthopedic surgeon. And my dad, being
a rheumatologist, said, well, you know, that's
a lot of school. And, I mean, we were going to
think about 15 years more of school, you know,
of college or even more fellowship training residency.
I just don't know if I want to do that. So then
I started thinking about optometry. And my dad
said, that's a good profession. So I ended up
going to optometry school. And that's how I ended
up going to optometry. I wanted to do something
to help people. I wanted to be in the health
profession, but I didn't want to go 16 years
of school. So, you know, I went four years of
college, got a degree in psychology. Then I got
another degree in physiological optics. Then
I went away to optometry school for four years.
And then I also became a certified nutritional
specialist after the fact at the American College
of Nutrition. And I did that because I was tired
of seeing my patients really age right before
my eye. age very rapidly, macular degeneration,
cataracts, glaucoma. And so I started working
with nutrition and started seeing how we adjusted
their diet and adjusted the supplements they
were taking that we could actually slow down
the aging process in the eye and thus the entire
body. And then I started my own vitamin company
called Fortify Vitamins, and we'll talk about
that in a little bit more. But that's how I kind
of got interested in the field. The motocross
accident triggered me to go to college because,
heck, I wasn't going to go to college. I was
going to be the next world champion, Bob Hurricane
Hanna. And that went by the wayside. But now
I'm racing cars. Brilliant. A little safer than
a motorbike, though. Yep. Four wheels on the
ground and a roll cage. So you said the first
area you went into was psychology. Why did you
choose that on the way to optometry school? Well,
that's a good question. You have to pick something
in the sciences. that are going to enable you
to get all your prerequisites. Your prerequisites
are very hard. I mean, they're physics and chemistry,
organic chemistry, calculus, trigonometry, all
sorts of biologies, and psychology. And so I
didn't love biology. I didn't love chemistry,
but I really liked psychology. I really liked
understanding why people react the way they do,
why people act the way they do. And so that's
why I got my degree in psychology. Now, for people
that are listening out there, Don't go into psychology
if you think you're going to make a lot of money
because with a degree at a BS level in psychology,
you cannot get a job and make anything. You have
to go into the master's program or your PhD and
become a clinical psychologist. So that was just
a stepping ground to get my prerequisites done
and to get a degree so I could get into optometry
school. Okay. Now, just to kind of educate the
listeners, I'm aware of how optometry schools
are in the U .S. because my wife is an optician
and she's on her route. And she used to work
with you and she's on her route to optometry
school. A, the prereqs are insane. The high -level
math that they need, the Rain Man stuff to go
in there. But secondly, it's kind of unique.
And if you could tell us a little bit more about
it. There's only a certain number of schools
in the whole of the U .S., aren't there? Roughly
how many are there? Optometry school is very
competitive. I mean, it's tougher to get into
optometry school, really, than medical school.
Because you think about medical school, there's,
you know, five or six, seven, or even more, depending
on the state, medical schools per state. And
optometry school, I mean, I think there's 17
or 18 optometry schools in the entire country.
And so there's a lot of people that want to become
optometrists because it's a four -year program
after college. You know, you can make a lot of
money. It's good money. You're helping people.
And depending on the state, you can do eye surgery.
You can prescribe any medication, orals or topicals
now. Optometry has really gone into that next
realm and expanded their scope. I really think
an optometric physician or an optometrist is
your gatekeeper, your primary eye care physician.
And they'll see you for... everything from glaucoma
treatment and pink eye and corneal lacerations
to sty removal, even laser procedures. And then
when you need, you know, major surgery, you would
go to the ophthalmologist that is fellowship
trained in that arena. So a retina specialist
for retinal surgery, a corneal specialist for
corneal surgery, oculoplastics for, you know,
plastic procedures. So ophthalmology has become
very specialized. It's very rare you see a general
ophthalmologist anymore because the optometrist
has really taken over that whole realm of eye
care and are trained very well at doing it. Right.
Now, we only have one here in Florida, and that's
Nova down in Fort Lauderdale. Right. Do you see,
and this is for Becky as well, do you see another
one opening up in the state of Florida anytime
soon? You know, I've had rumors. rumors about
uh you know opening Tallahassee opening Gainesville
uh Orlando Tampa uh but as far as I know they're
rumors okay because it'll be a long drive when
she gets into school but that's that's a whole
separate thing all right so you weren't able
to do motocross so while you were you know transitioning
through school did you take up any other sports
instead Yeah, I actually got into road biking
and mountain biking, triathlons. You know, I
competed in a lot of that. But, you know, mountain
biking is really one of my passions and road
biking. And now I'm doing recumbent biking as
well. Because now at 55, I'm starting to develop
a little degenerative arthritis, especially in
my back, my neck, and my knee. And, you know,
the triathlon bikes, you're bent over, you know,
almost in a question mark position. And if you're
going for a 50 -mile bike ride, I got some lower
back pain. neck pain after being in that position
that long period of time. So I went to a carbon
fiber recumbent bicycle and, you know, you sit
back, it's almost like in Lazy Boy and you really,
it hits different muscle groups and hits your
glutes, your calves, your thighs. even better
than road biking does. It's pretty amazing. And
now it's interesting when we think about this
because, you know, being a male, we got to be
concerned at 55 years of age about prostate issues.
Okay. And so when I'm right, I made some YouTube
videos all about. you know, biking on a recumbent
bike and I'm preserving my prostate is what I'm
telling people. Because when you're on a road
bike, even a mountain bike, but more on a road
bike, you have that pointy little seat and it
goes up there and it hits that nerve right near
your prostate and it can cause prolonged inflammation
of the prostate. There is some potential evidence,
let's just put it that way, that people that
bike long periods of time with those little race
seats can aggravate their prostate, maybe even
cause impotence. Nobody wants that. Heck, I have
four kids, though, and I'm 55. I don't need any
more kids. Sterility and impotence can occur
from people doing road bike for long, long periods
of time. So I think the recumbent bike, a lot
more people are going to start riding these recumbent
bikes. And even the trikes, the cat trikes, they're
carbon fiber now, so they're very light. Actually,
I go about one mile an hour faster than I did
on my triathlon bike on the recumbent bike because
it's so low and aerodynamic and sleek. Now, you
just prompted me to bring up an episode I had,
episode 11, which is Dr. Eric Goodman. He has
a thing called foundation training. And some
of his top clients are Lance Armstrong. the u
.s or british cycling team and it's a lot of
the same problem they have they have back problems
from being in that that hunch position and the
whole posterior chain getting very weak so that's
something me passing to you the foundation training
it was so good i healed my back with it i actually
went out to california and got certified so amazing
amazing thing especially for cyclists because
they get the short hamstrings and and that that
uh almost fetal position that they're in for
so long And I think it's a good idea to mix it
up a little bit, you know, and that's why I still
ride my road bike. I do the mountain bike. I
do the recumbent bike. I also have a trike. And
so you can mix it up a little bit. And then I
just got into a sport now since we live on the
bay. I'm doing a lot of sculling. So it's a row
and you go out and skull and that amazing the
amount of workout you get for your legs, cardio,
upper body. I mean, I think for overall exercise,
rowing in a skull is probably one of the best
forms of exercise. But, you know. In order to
slow down the aging in our body and thus our
eyes, you have to be cardiovascularly fit. You
got to exercise. I always tell my patients, my
listeners on my talk show, I tell them, you know,
20 minutes minimum, five days a week of cardiovascular
exercise, preferably more, but 20 minutes minimum.
30 minutes in the gym pumping iron, preferably
more than that as well. But that's an absolute
minimum. 30 minutes of weight -bearing exercise,
20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise. A lot
of my patients will come into the office and
say, well, I walk five miles a day. That sounds
impressive, right? But then I tell them, get
up, show me how you walk. And they just a little
stroll. Their pulse isn't going over resting.
So it's not doing much for cardiovascular. So
I tell them to power walk. They don't have to
go five miles. They can power walk for a half
a mile. But, you know, interval training is great,
but we got to do cardio. We got to do weight
-bearing exercise. That combined with the proper
sleep, the proper diet. The right amount of sunshine.
Sunshine is very important. We've been brainwashed
to stay out of the sun because it causes skin
cancer. There's actually studies that indicate
people that are out of the sun are more prone
to get skin cancer, horrendous skin cancers,
than people that are in it a moderate amount.
So you don't want to get sunburned, but you want
to be out there in the sun. And the combination
of all that is anti -aging. Absolutely. Known
for just wearing shorts when I work out and,
you know, shoes hardly ever as well. But I noticed
that myself. You know, I mean, I'm from England
and I'm able to tolerate the sun here in Florida
fine as long as you're not out there for too
long. And the more I read, the more they seem
to be linking a lot of the cancers to the sun
blocks and sunscreens than they are in the actual
sun itself. I haven't used a sunscreen in probably
20 years. You know, maybe more than that when
my mom made me use a sunscreen. Because I think
there's a lot of chemicals in those sunscreens.
And who knows if those chemicals aren't some
of the culprits for the basal cell and squamous
cell carcinomas that we see. It's interesting.
My dad has never used a sunscreen. Grew up as
a farm boy in South Dakota. Never used sunscreen.
Never had any skin cancer. My mom, on the other
hand, has used sunscreen all of her life. Montgomery,
Alabama. So there's a different genetic there.
But she's had some horrendous skin cancers. So
there could be a point there. Remember, everything
in moderation. You don't want to be out there
and get totally burned. You just want to get
a little bit of sun. And most studies indicate
20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size, your
weight, and the color of your skin. So I'm blonde
hair, green eyes, about 195 pounds. So 20 minutes
to 30 minutes a day is plenty for me. And I've
tested my 25 -hydroxy. That's a blood test. And
my blood levels of vitamin D range between 80
and 90. And that's where I tell people try to
get theirs between 80 and 90. But if you're darkly
pigmented and you're overweight, then you've
got to be out in the sun longer than that, probably
45 minutes to an hour, and you won't get burned.
But that vitamin D deficiency is linked with
macular degeneration, linked with dry eye, linked
with diabetes, many forms of cancers, rheumatoid
arthritis. Remember... Vitamin D is a potent
steroid hormone. So it's an anti, not only is
an antioxidant, but it's anti -inflammatory.
So we got to get our vitamin D. then people say,
well, I take vitamin D. My doctor prescribed
vitamin D. It's different. People don't have
the digestive enzymes, the probiotics, the intrinsic
factors in their stomach to actually absorb the
vitamin D orally the way they do when they go
out in the sun. And some people are taking way
too much. If you take too much vitamin D3 orally,
it can actually increase your risk of atrial
fibrillation, a heart problem we don't want.
But you won't get that from the sun itself. Now,
another little tidbit of information that people
don't realize, when you're out in the sun, sun,
don't go get in the soapy shower right afterwards
because the soaps are going to wash off the oils
that are allowing the vitamin D to absorb. So
most studies indicate six to eight hours after
being in the sun before you're using the soap
on your body. Now, let's say you're out for 30
minutes in between, you know, your lunch break
and you got to take a quick shower so you don't
stink. Well, get in and wash under your arms,
all right, with soap, but just use regular water
on the rest of your body so the vitamin D will
actually absorb. Okay. Brilliant. Yeah, I know
that the percentage you absorb through sunlight
is just a huge amount more than you can orally
as well. So, I mean, it's a no -brainer and it's
free. And vitamin A will block the absorption
of vitamin D. And so vitamins that I've developed
have no vitamin A and no beta carotene in it.
Vitamin A actually blocks the absorption of D3.
So if you have a multivitamin out there that
has vitamin A in it, it's blocking the absorption
of the vitamin D3. And if it has beta carotene
in it, it's blocking the absorption of the xanthophylls,
lutein, zeaxanthin, and astaxanthin that are
incredible for the skin and the retina, thus
your vision. So beta carotene and vitamin A,
I don't like those in multivitamins. Copper and
zinc. I don't like in multivitamins either. Right.
Okay, well, we're talking about vision. So let's
kind of bring in the whole first responder thing.
So I'm going to start with a very, very brief
story of why I wasn't a fireman in England. So
I grew up, had basically very poor vision in
my right eye. And then when I did the... the
color vision tests the the ink block tests whatever
the official name is i can see some of the numbers
not others so in the british medical system they
said james you're colorblind you can never be
a fighter pilot a fireman or all in this other
list of cool jobs here's the crap ones left for
you to do so i literally went years i trained
some one of my friends to become a fireman on
the fitness side and it wasn't until i came to
the us i don't even know what clicked in me but
one day i realized i can see these different
colors. I can differentiate the traffic lights.
And really, it was just a kind of leap of faith.
I went through fire school everywhere I did the
medical, and they just showed me the little pegs
they have outside the doctor's office, and they
asked me just to read those colors. I read them
off perfectly, and they went, all right, they
checked the box. So with color vision specifically,
I realized, and correct me if I'm wrong, that
it was like vision, that you weren't either completely
gray, blind. or perfect color vision that there
was a spectrum in between. And I was not too
far off normal. I just would never be a fashion
designer probably. So let's talk about color
vision first. So A, how valid is that color vision
test today in 2017? Well, it is a very valid
test, but it's almost a useless test. And the
reason for this is you have a color deficiency.
nobody's really truly colorblind. It is very
rare. Colorblind means you only see in black
and white. And that's a very, very rare. I've
never seen it in my life. Color deficiency is
very common. And you probably have a red -green
deficiency. We have red -green deficiencies and
blue -yellow deficiencies. And so that means,
yes, a job like a fashion coordinator. All right.
Probably wouldn't be ideal because you have trouble
differentiating between different hues of reds
and different hues of green. But if I hold a
cap that's red and one green, you can definitely
say it's red and green. It will not affect your
life in anything you do unless you're having
to match colors that are very similar. So you
could be a jet fire pilot. You could be a policeman.
You could be a military. It's not going to affect
you at all. But. For some reason, if you want
to go into the military, even the Coast Guard
or anything like that, you know, you have to
pass these color plates. Ishihara color plate
test. And then we have Farnsworth lantern test,
which is even more difficult. It's interesting
because a lot of people don't get the job they
want because they're, quote, colorblind, and
all they have is a very mild color deficiency
that won't affect them. I've gotten many people
able to fly helicopters and become jet fighter
pilots, commercial airline pilots, by simply
writing a letter. The eye doctor writes a letter,
and they're able to get that job. If they require
you to pass an Ishihara color plate, well, we
do have contact lenses. Not many doctors know
about this. They don't know how to fit them.
They don't even know they exist. It's called
X -Chrome. X -Chrome is a contact lens, soft
lens you wear on your non -dominant eye, and
you could pass every single plate on the color
plate test. So that's something that's available,
X -Chrome for color vision anomalies. So anybody
listening, if they want to go and pass those
color plates, ask your local optometrist to fit
you in. We'll call around first because 90 %
of them have no clue what you're talking about
in an X -Chrome contact lens, and you'll pass.
That's fantastic. Because like I said, that was
the only stumbling block. I'm not saying that
I was maybe physically ready. When I was 18,
I was very small and everything. And life unfolds
the way it's supposed to. So I was obviously
meant to become here and become a fireman and
also be a medic at the same time. But that literally
was the only stumbling block and was totally
discounted. possibility of doing it because there
was none of that conversation so i'm hoping that
someone out listening now that might be the only
thing that's in their way and there you go you
have a solution so um with the vision itself
my left eye to this day is amazing did all the
work for my right my right was crap um and uh
i went and had lasik done which i mean i could
pass the test with with the glasses on But can
you tell me something about LASIK? I have to
say LASIK to me worked phenomenally well. The
recovery wasn't even close to as quick as they
said it was going to be. I had dry eye and itchiness
for months. I've still got 2015 on the test these
days. So can you give us a little history about
that? And then, you know, is the current one
the best one or is there even better stuff coming?
Absolutely. LASIK surgery has come a long way.
I was actually with Stephen Brent, Dr. Stephen
Brent at the Eye Surgery Center of Louisiana
in New Orleans in 1991 when he did the first
LASIK procedure in America. And then I opened
three LASIK centers here in Florida. And LASIK
is really in the hands of a competent LASIK surgeon
with new generation technology. It's an amazing
procedure, right? Remember what your mama said,
you get what you pay for. It sounds too good
to be true. It usually is. Be very leery or weary
of these bait and switch organizations that are
claiming $199 per eye for LASIK surgery. Nobody's
doing LASIK surgery for $199. You're going to
go there and then you're going to say, oh, Mr.
Smith, your parameters aren't correct. Now you've
got to go up to $1 ,500 per eye if you want to
have LASIK surgery. So, you know, the going rate
right now is about $1 ,500 now, about $3 ,000
to have LASIK. I always recommend asking how
many procedures the LASIK surgeon has done. You
want that LASIK surgeon to have done over 10
,000 procedures. Simple as that. I mean, many
of my colleagues have done over 100 ,000 procedures
now. So you want at least 10 ,000 because you
don't want to be the first on the block or the
first 10. You want to have somebody that's very
seasoned, a veteran at this. You want to use
new generation. technology, not old technology
from 20 years ago, 15 years ago. So ask how old
is their laser. You want an all laser procedure
where they create the flap with the laser, an
all laser procedure. I like the Allegretto. It's
one of the best lasers out there, but many of
the companies make great lasers now. So remember,
good technology. and a great surgeon with a lot
of experience. But also, you have to go two consecutive
years with no change in your vision. So go see
your local optometrist. If you're a minus two
myo, that's a number, and then next year you're
minus 250, you progressively get a little worse,
you should not have LASIK surgery. Go two years
with no change, then you can have LASIK surgery.
It's great for people that are athletes. It's
great for firemen, police officers that are in
a potential situation where where if their glasses
fog up or their contacts come out, life could
be in jeopardy. You know, racing cars, racing
motorcycles, things like that is great for those
people. On the other side of the coin, there's
an old saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
And if you can wear contact lenses successfully
or you like wearing glasses and you have no problems
at all, why do surgery, all right? Because surgery
is not without. potential complications. Remember,
we minimize the complications with good surgeons,
a lot of experience, good technology, but even
with the best and most competent hands, the best
technology, something can go wrong. You know,
it's obviously not purpose, purposely, but something
can go wrong. Everybody's eye reacts differently
to surgery. So once again, if you have no problems,
you know, why do surgery? But if you're a fireman,
you know, law enforcement, military. you know,
a big athlete, extremely nearsighted, where when
you take your glasses off, you can't see at night.
So you jump up, you don't know if it's your wife
or a burglar in the house, then certainly these
people are great candidates for LASIK surgery.
Yeah. See, the area where I found I had a problem
was not so much in a fire because you can't see
anything anyway, pretty much, but it was driving
to and from, especially at dusk. You know, you've
got your sunglasses and... I think it's changed
a little bit more now, but at the time it seemed
like you could just get the serial killer looking
prescription sunglasses and then you'd have to
switch to the clear ones as it got towards night.
And then having these two pairs, you know, it
would always fall over and then land on the diamond
plate and get scratched or I'd lose them or I'd
step on them. So that for me was a huge thing.
And then obviously then when I was on a scene,
I could see a little bit more detail. I could
see if someone was, you know. hanging out of
a window even if it was several stories up versus
that slight blurriness i had before so for me
it worked very well i only have one eye done
that's all i needed to have done it was about
exactly like you said about 1500 um but i would
say that investment was well well worth it right
once again it's your livelihood the job that
you're you're doing it perfect for you yeah absolutely
all right so um the next was kind of transitions
quite well I want to talk after this about some
of the common problems that you see with vision.
But the one thing that LASIK doesn't fix is the
aging of the eye, isn't it? So can you tell us
the difference between... what LASIK does fix,
and then what happens as we age. Right. So when
we hit the age 40, that's called presbyopia.
That's when the human crystalline lens in the
eye loses elasticity, and we lose that ability
to focus up close. LASIK will not fix that. So
if you have LASIK at 21 years of age, you're
going to have great vision. When you hit 40,
45 years of age, your arms aren't long enough
anymore. You'll find you're holding things out
further and further to see clearly, and that's
when you have to wear reading glasses or bifocals
or progressive. lenses or a multifocal contact
lens. However, there is some evidence now, and
I've been leading this whole field, this arena
in research, there is some evidence if we consume
certain foods, more of certain foods. we can
actually improve the focusing ability in our
eye. And the big food, one food that's a power
food is wild Alaskan salmon. Oh, really? So wild
Alaskan salmon, not only very high in omega -3,
but high in a super carotenoid called astaxanthin.
This is what gives the wild Alaskan salmon its
orange color. The algae, something called hematococcus,
that the little fish eat, and then the salmon
eat the little fish, and they get this astaxanthin
into their body. It improves muscle endurance
and muscle recovery in the body. It improves
night vision, reaction time. Great for a firefighter,
all right? It also helps impregnate into the
macula zone, helping to filter out some of the
harmful blue light that can be very damaging.
It actually impregnates into the skin so you
don't have to use a sunscreen, but it will not.
block the vitamin D3 absorption. So wild Alaskan
salmon, if you eat that frequently, then your
focusing ability will be better. Now you have
to eat it almost every day. Now most people aren't
going to do that. It's got to be wild salmon,
not farm -raised salmon. So I actually developed
a supplement called Fortify Focus. And this is
about eight years ago now. I've gone into the
fourth revision of it. And we've taken carotenoids,
lutein, zeaxanthin isomers, and six milligrams
of astaxanthin that was in all the studies. And
I'm 55 years of age. I've been on it six years
now. When I was 49, I had to wear reading glasses
for anything up close. Now at 55, if I'm going
to sit down and read a small print book, I will
put reading glasses on if I'm going to sit down
and read it late at night for a long period of
time. But for my job purposes, I can read anything
I need, my cell phone. I can see anything I need
up close ever since I've been taking this one
little pill, Fortify Focus, once a day. So remember,
aging is oxidation and inflammation. And so astaxanthin
is the most potent natural anti -inflammatory
known to man. And then the lutein and zeaxanthin
in it add more oxidative stress. combating against
free radicals. So lutein, zeaxanthin, and astaxanthin,
those three combined help to combat against free
radical damage, which is oxidation or the rusting
of our body. So I call it a little anti -aging
pill, combating against oxidation and inflammation
in the entire body, but targeting the eye. It
actually crosses the blood retinal barrier getting
into the eye. And now you've got to think about
this. Everybody is on a digital apparatus these
days. We're all on an iPhone, an iPad, a laptop,
a computer. We're watching TV on LED screens.
We have LED lighting now. So all of this emits
blue light. And I've done a lot of research in
this area. Blue light is very damaging to our
eye. We're seeing children now at very young
ages developing a form of degeneration in their
macula that they shouldn't be getting until they're
75 years of age. And we're just about 100 % known
now it's related to all this blue light exposure.
And so you can wear lenses now that actually
guard against blue light. Blue light defense
is a great lens. And you can take a little pill
that has the carotenoids. Remember, lutein and
zeaxanthin isomers and astaxanthin act like an
internal blue light filter. And so my 11 -year
-old daughter, Mackenzie, I make her when she's
doing her work at night wear blue light defense
lenses. and take one little pill a day of the
Fortify Focus. I take it. My 89 -year -old parents
take it. I think I've had 250 ,000 people throughout
the world that are taking it now. So remember,
if you eat the foods, you don't need to take
the supplement. But realistically... Are we all
eating wild Alaskan salmon, organic kale, organic
orange bell peppers, and goji berries on a daily
basis? Probably not. Okay, well, a couple of
things I want to touch on from what you were
talking about. The very first thing was you were
talking about elasticity. A few years ago, it
seemed like one of the optical buzzes were exercises
that you could do for your eyes. Was there any
validity in that? The see clearly method. Yes.
Yeah, it was like, I don't know, $89 .99 or something
like that, three easy payments. You know, that
one, there was a class action suit against them,
and they had to give all their money back. It
was the last I heard. They did a lot of marketing,
a lot of advertising for this. I had people that
brought this into my office, the whole packet,
the book. everything and say it didn't work it
didn't work it didn't work and they were actually
targeting uh talk shows all right there was on
talk radio uh where people that are you know
between 25 and 55 65 listen the people they were
going after were the lasik markets And it does
not work for that. You can do eye exercises all
day long. I don't care if you're a minus four
mile. That means you cannot see in the distance
at all. You got to put your glasses on, your
contacts in. You can do these exercises all day
long. It's not going to change that. Now, that
see clearly method did have some validity to
it. I mean, a behavioral optometrist, a vision
therapist can use that. I mean, that is tried
and true for helping children. In the developmental
stages, children that have a lazy eye, an eye
that turns in or out, children that have accommodative
and focusing problems, they over -focus, they
under -focus. Absolutely, that system is probably
really great for that. But to target people that
are wanting LASIK surgery, it wasn't a good thing.
Right. Okay. So there's some validity, but it's
more of a narrower field than they let us believe.
I think at the age from birth to about probably
14 or 15 years of age, certainly the right forms
of eye exercises can help the eye. And even as
you get older, I mean, it can help improve circulation
to the muscles in the eye. So I even tell my
elderly patients just to gaze left and right
on the wall, up and down, you know, just to get
some extreme gazes in. You know, it can help
probably strengthen the muscles a little bit.
It helps improve circulation. Right. So we'll
just go outside and be in nature where you'll
naturally look around anyway instead of at a
screen like we all do these days. Okay. So one
of the big things that I harp on in these podcasts
is the ill effects of many of our jobs on us.
And some are out of our control. Some I think
we can take more of a control. But one area is
sleep deprivation. Is there a specific effect
on the optical side as far as sleep deprivation
is concerned? Sleep deprivation is huge in this
country. I was probably the biggest sleep -deprived
person you've ever met, you know, and I was developing
six companies over the last 25 years. And I sleep
like a baby now. And one of the reasons for sleep
deprivation in today's society is the blue light,
right? It's everywhere. So what happens is that
blue light goes into the eye. It tells the pineal
gland and the brain, do not secrete melatonin.
Melatonin levels do not go up. Then you go to
bed at night. You don't sleep. You turn and flip
over, and you don't get a good night's sleep.
You're not dreaming. When you dream, that means
you're going through REM phase of sleep, and
that means you're sleeping. You're sleeping in
the right phase of sleep that is restful, that
lowers cortisol levels, which is a stress hormone
in your body. If you sleep deprived, cortisol
levels go way up. Inflammation goes way up. People
get anxiety disorders, panic attacks, arthritis,
all sorts of problems just from being sleep deprived.
Remember when we're talking about anti -aging,
one of the biggest things is getting a good night's
sleep. So as a rule of thumb, I mean, One time
I actually went, took the kids up to the mountains
up in Tennessee, and we got there, and it's up
on the top of this big hill. We were going mountain
biking and kayaking, whitewater rafting, and
the actual cabin had no electricity. It had electricity,
but the guy had not paid the bill. Oh. And so
our cell phones didn't work up there either.
I got to tell you, we did not. It was around
Halloween, so it was kind of cool. It wasn't
hot, so it wasn't that bad. We actually did.
We were there for five days. read everything
by candlelight. At night when it got dark, we
actually went to bed. It's the best sleep I've
gotten probably in my entire life. We felt so
rejuvenated after that five, six days because
we were sleeping. I mean, it gets eight o 'clock
at night. We got in the bed and we went to bed.
And it's because our melatonin levels were going
up. We didn't have all this artificial lighting
that's simulating the sun telling the brain don't
secrete melatonin. So as a rule of thumb, to
sleep better at night, You make your room as
dark as you can. You don't want any LED lights
from anything. LED lights, take some electrical
tape, put it over the smoke detector, the carbon
dioxide detector on your TV. Unplug the clock
radio. Unplug anything within 15 feet of your
bed. You don't want any electrical current within
15 feet of your bed. Put your cell phone in the
bathroom. Put it on high so you can hear it's
an emergency if you're on call, but don't put
it by your bed. So everything away from you,
make your room as dark as you can. and turn the
air conditioning down as low as you can tolerate
it. Dark and cool, and you'll sleep a lot better.
As a rule of thumb, you don't want any visual
stimuli three hours before bed. Now, that's hard
because people want to watch TV. They want to
watch the news. But if you really want to sleep
well and practice anti -aging, no computer work,
iPhone, iPad, television, but three hours before
bed. Well, we had two episodes now on sleep.
One was Kurt Parsley, who was a Navy SEAL turned
MD. And then just about two episodes ago, I had
Nick Littlehales, who is sleep coach to some
of the top sports teams in the world. And he
was saying that recently he's done exactly that
for his own home, where he's just trying an experiment
where he does candlelight. as soon as it gets
dark. And I think he reported pretty much the
same thing. So it's amazing when I start having
these podcasts overlap with each other. And blue
light is a massive one. And he was explaining
that the light from a fire, light from a candle,
light from the stars, because it doesn't have
the blue light, you don't get that stimulus of
it's daytime now. And they had the technology
of when you do work some wonky hours, you need
to... kind of break that cycle and simulate the
daylight, then you deliberately put the blue
light into your life. Right. And you can go to
a website I created called bluelightdefense .com,
and people can go to that, bluelightdefense .com,
and you can see links to some studies from Harvard,
some really legitimate studies. You can see some
of the stuff that I've written on there about
blocking and filtering the blue light. I mean,
it's a problem. And the optometry and ophthalmology
is seeing that now we're trying to address what
can we do. So right now, the best is to take
the supplement that I talk about, the Fortify
Focus, to block it with the correct type of lenses.
A lot of lens companies are now coming out with
lenses similar to blue light defense lenses that
are filtering the blue light. The thing about
blue light defense, it blocks 99 .9 % of the
most detrimental to your retina. Blue light,
which is 411 nanometers, blocks 99 % of that.
Right now, most companies are blocking 20 % to
30%. So that's why I like the blue light defense.
There's a few other lenses on the market that
do that, but they're... few and far between.
But I predict in the next year, and I know this
for a fact, that some of the big lens manufacturers
are going to the same monomer that's used in
the blue light defense lens. So it's going to
become mainstream in just about all glasses soon.
Right. My wife just got it and she hates going
in any stores that have the artificial light.
It gives her headaches and all that kind of thing.
And why wouldn't it? I mean, it's not light.
It's not something that we're used to looking
at. Okay, so... Specifically then, we talked
about sleep deprivation and the inflammation.
Are there any other eye problems that you tend
to see a lot in police officers or firefighters
or paramedics or military even? Well, you know,
I see a lot of cataracts, okay? And that's because
a lot of these people are around toxic chemicals,
they're around a lot of heat, trauma, all right?
You can get trauma as a fireman or a policeman.
And then a lot of times... their primary care
physician is putting them on steroids for the
inflammation they have in their body, all right?
Things like prednisone and delta zone. And that
creates cataracts as well, a type of cataract
called posterior subcapsular cataract. The good
news is cataract surgery is relatively simple.
It's a 10 -minute procedure. It's painless, no
needles anymore. It's almost an all -laser procedure
and a little ultrasound. But I do see a lot of
cataracts. I see a lot of dry eye in this area.
So using some good lubricating eye drops periodically.
Believe it or not, taking a good omega -3 fish
oil is a good idea. Omega -3 has been shown to
help. quell the dry eye, help reduce dry eye
symptomology. Hydration is very important. Most
of us do not drink enough water. If we're drinking
water, we're drinking this purified water, not
to mention any names for legal ramifications,
but there's a lot of bottled water. Quite frankly,
the majority of bottled water people drink, it's
purified. So it's either reverse osmosis or distilled.
You want to buy something, a bottled water that
says spring water because it's... alkaline and
has minerals in it so the minerals don't leach
out of your body when you're drinking something
due to the laws of osmosis. So hydration is important.
Using artificial tears, taking omega -3, that'll
help the dry eye. Dry eyes, sandy, gritty, burny,
teary, itchy eyes. And you know, you guys are
on call all the time and it might be a long day
and then you have to wake up in the middle of
the night to go to a fire. Well, your eyes could
be dehydrated. They dehydrate when you sleep
at night. By the end of the day, they're starting
to dehydrate. And if you're having to drive relatively
fast to a dark, you know, dark area. Your vision
has to be good. That's why you had LASIK surgery.
Well, if your eyes are dry, the optics of the
eye can drop as much as 75 % at night. So that's
why it's a good idea. to have some artificial
tears handy at the firehouse. And right before
you get out in that rig to go drive to the fire,
you know, put some lubricating eye drops in the
eye, especially if it's in the evening because
it's going to improve optics dramatically. Race
car drivers do it. If you're 12 hours of Le Mans,
24 hours of Daytona, you know, race car drivers
will put artificial tears in their eyes because
the optics of their eyes are going to work a
lot better while they're driving. Okay. Now,
I know it's very simplified, but is the eye repairing
itself? when it's closed during sleep? Absolutely.
The cornea is one part of your body that regenerates.
And so when you sleep, let's say you scratch
your eye, all right, you get a corneal abrasion.
It's a lot of pain because the cornea has more
nerve endings than any part of your body. But
close your eyes. When you go to bed at night,
that epithelium starts to heal and grow back.
And so I can see people with horrendous corneal
abrasions. pieces of steel in the eye, and we
have to remove the rust. So we have to use a
drill in the cornea to remove the rust. And,
you know, we've iatrogenically created a massive
abrasion on their cornea. They're in severe pain.
Well, 24 hours, it's healed 80%. 48 hours, it's
usually healed almost 100%. So the cornea does
heal very rapidly. And most... healthy, non -immune
compromised people. But as you get older, all
right, and you become immune compromised with
different diseases, then the cornea doesn't heal.
And that's one of the biggest avenues that I
see that patients come in with severe dry eyes.
But the Langeye Institute, my average age patient
is 75. So I see patients over 100. And so these
people, just simply using artificial tears isn't
enough for them. Right. Yeah. Because that's
another thing about every third day us being
awake. I mean, some departments awake. pretty
much all night. That's one day in three that
they're not able to repair their eyes. So I'm
sure that has a long -term effect too. Absolutely.
Okay. All right. So I was just going to transition
to something. I've forgotten what it was now.
Oh, that's right. So you were talking about foreign
objects in the eyes. So that's a real bone of
contention for us on the EMS side. We'll, you
know, we'll get called for a 911 call and it
will be a foreign body corneal scratch. And,
you know, these patients are expected to be taken
to the ER. Let me put it very bluntly. Who is
the best kind of professional to treat that kind
of injury? Not like a knife sticking out of the
eye, but something a little more minor. I mean,
the emergency room isn't the best place to go
because they're not prepared for that. Go to
your local optometrist or local ophthalmologist
because they have the slit lamp, the biomicroscope.
They have the technology. They have the training.
We have certain types of algebra brushes, spuds,
things that we can get foreign bodies, microscopic.
I mean, we can magnify things a thousand times
or more if we have to. And so we can get the
smallest little particulate matter out. A lot
of times you'll go. to the emergency room, not
to put down the emergency room, great place,
but you know, you have a red irritated eye and
they think you have pink eye. They put you on
an antibiotic drop, okay? When it wasn't pink
eye, it wasn't, it was something that was in
the eye that they didn't know you had that was
creating this problem or it was a virus and an
antibiotic does absolutely nothing. So the gist
of this story, if you learn anything from this
podcast, if you have a red irritated eye. go
to the eye doctor, whether it's the optometrist
or the ophthalmologist. It doesn't matter. Both
of them are capable and trained to treat it medically
and even surgically if necessary. Okay. So then,
this is kind of a general question, but at what
point would you go to the ER? Are there any specific
anatomical signs for the eye where you're like,
okay, this is out of our non -emergent state?
Yeah, I mean... It depends on the emergency room,
right? So here, luckily enough, we have, you
know, University of Florida, Shands, University
of South Florida, Tampa General. So these emergency
rooms do have ophthalmologists that are on call,
residents that are on call. So if you have a
sudden loss of vision, you know, a whole curtain
comes over your vision and it's, you know, it's
midnight, you can't go to your local eye doc.
Well, you could go to an emergency room that
has ophthalmology on call. If they don't, if
it's a hospital and it doesn't, then it's a waste
of time. You can't go. They can't do anything.
And you're going to sit in the emergency room
for seven hours, and they're going to charge
you $1 ,500, and they weren't able to do anything.
So usually a university -based emergency room,
if it's 30 minutes more to drive, that's where
you need to go if you're having some kind of
significant eye problem. Now, obviously, if you
get an acid in your eye or something like that,
you can go to the local emergency room. But the
key for something like that, a chemical gets
in your eye of some sort, whether it's a base
or an acid. acid, you got to irrigate your eye
out and the faster you irrigate out, the better.
So here's an example. Let's say you're drinking
a Coca -Cola, believe it or not, and somehow
acid just gets in your eye immediately. Don't
go upstairs and go in the shower. Throw that
Coca -Cola in your eye, believe it or not. If
you can drink it, you can put it in your eye
immediately. The faster you neutralize the chemical
in your eye, the better. And then get to the
sink and lavage your eye for, you know, 10, 15
minutes. Then you can go to the emergency room
because they can help with the pain and they
can help with it. So that's an emergency. A true
ocular emergency is any type of chemical, acid,
or base in your eye. That's an emergency. Has
to be treated immediately. A central retinal
artery occlusion is an emergency. Most emergency
rooms aren't going to handle that. That's when
an artery gets occluded. They have to give you
a clot buster, and usually it's a retina specialist
that would do this, or they got to do central
paracentesis where they puncture the eye, lower
the pressure immediately. And so very rarely
would the emergency room even know what's going
on there. An acute angle glaucoma attack is also
something that's when you get severe pain in
the eye, blurred vision, and you're actually
throwing up. You throw up severe pain and blurred
vision. That's usually an acute angle glaucoma
attack. The pressure's going up to 70, 80, or
even 90 in your eye. And I guess you definitely
could go to the emergency room for that. They
probably won't know what to do, but they could
call a doctor on call, and they could start an
IV. They could give you a Diamox. They could
put some drops in their eyes. And many emergency
rooms should be aware of what that is also. Now
emergency rooms are starting to check the pressure
in the eye, and that is a true emergency. that's
another one you could go to the emergency room
for as well. Okay, because two things. Firstly,
what you just described from the paramedics'
point of view, we would think that was probably
a bleed, cerebral bleed with the blurred vision,
the vomiting, but it would be obviously intracranial
pressure that was going up. And then what you
said about the ophthalmologist being on call,
the two hospitals that you named were what we
call in our field level one trauma centers. So
that's kind of a good correlation as well. If
we do have something where... where there is
more trauma to the eye, knowing that those kind
of doctors are on staff there too, I think is
very helpful for me as a medic to know that's
part of the chain of care. All right, so one
last one with optometry before we transition
into the supplement size. What are some of the
biggest myths in optometry? Or, you know, known
by the general public. Right. Well, you know,
they're thinking, oh, an optometrist isn't an
eye doctor, okay? An optometrist isn't trained,
you know? If you're not an ophthalmologist, you
know, you're not a doctor, which that's crazy
because you have to go to four years of college
and then four years of optometry school at a
minimum. And now many optometrists are doing
a one -year in a residency or two -year residency
and another year to two in fellowship. And they're
trained every bit as good as an ophthalmologist
in disease management, in treatment of diseases
like glaucoma, conjunctivitis, you know, lacerated
corneas, and now surgical intervention as well.
So depending on the state, many optometrists
are doing laser procedures, photorefractive keratectomy,
which is a form of LASIK surgery, you know, glaucoma
laser procedures and things like this. So it's
changed dramatically. I mean, I think 80 years
ago, optometry was a two -year program. But now
an optometrist is, like I said, your primary
eye care physician that would do everything except
major internal surgery. Then they'll refer you
to the ophthalmologist that's fellowship trained
in that particular area. So it's just like if
you got a little ache in your knee, you don't
go straight to the orthopedic surgeon and have
knee surgery. All right. You go to your primary
care physician. You got a little arthritis. You
go to the rheumatologist. But you don't go straight
to the orthopedic surgeon. You can think of it
like that. The optometrist is kind of like the
primary care physician of the eye. And the ophthalmologist
is kind of like the orthopedic surgeon. It's
the surgeon of the eye. Okay. Now, one more optical
question I just realized I missed. You are developing
a form of eye protection for extreme sports,
and I'm assuming it would probably be very pertinent
to tactical athletes as well. Could you tell
us about that? Right. I've been working on it
for many years, and I've got some really cool
prototypes. I'm testing one right now, driving
at 200 miles an hour. I've done things like we've
gone kayaking with them and flipped over in rafts
and mountain biking and, you know, put all the
elements on the lenses to see how they react.
So what I wanted to do is develop a lens that
is almost impervious to scratching, that's impact
resistant to a .22 caliber bullet. that increases
your contrast. So depending on the particular
sport, it can benefit you whether you're golf
or baseball or, you know, driving a race car.
Whatever you're doing, it's going to increase
visual performance. A lot of sunglasses have
terrible optics. A lot of the lenses are made
in China and the optics are terrible. You put
them on and you actually see worse than when
they're off. And so polarization isn't always
ideal. Polarized lenses are great for If you're
on the water, if you're a fisherman and you're
on the water at the pool, it blocks the glare.
But polarization blocks one whole meridian of
a light. And so if you're mountain biking, you're
going down a jagged downhill under the canopy
of oak trees, it can be very dangerous wearing
polarized lenses because you can't see the detail
of that jagged. And you're going to hit one of
the rocks and you're going to endo and potentially
break your neck. Also, if you're riding a motorcycle.
a street bike, we call them crotch rockets, or
even just a cruiser, you never want polarized
lenses because when you're coming into a turn
relatively fast and it has an oil slick in that
turn or a water slick, you don't see it because
you don't see the glare because the polarization
blocks the glare. So the only time I recommend...
non -polarized lenses are for people that fish
or on the water. Or, you know, if you just want
driving glasses and you're not an aggressive
driver, then absolutely polarized is good. So
I'm trying to develop lenses that have extreme
optics. They're non -polarized with different
tents, totally impact resistant, but that are
very comfortable. And we're trying to work in
ergonomic design. That if you're playing a sport
where you bend over or you look to different
extreme angles, you're not going to see the frame.
It's not going to interfere with your vision.
So we try to take all that into consideration.
And I'm still in the process of... working on
it in my free time okay because yeah i mean the
way you describe it that would definitely be
something that we want because i know just the
the scratch um i know my wife's not going to
listen to this so i'm going to say it she bought
me some oakley's with her discount voucher she
gets at her place and uh i took my shirt off
the damn things fell off my head and then timed
a little scratch already in them so the scratch
resistant in in our profession is huge um because
you know we're not we're not walking around just
getting them to put put them neatly back in the
case and, you know, clean the lenses. Sometimes
we get a few seconds to put them down when we're
getting toned out for a fire or something like
that. Yeah, there is technology out there that
can make the lenses almost impervious to be scratching
in a plastic type of monomer, not a glass lens.
Okay. It's just that it's relatively expensive,
and I want to make these sunglasses cost -affordable.
I don't want them to be $300, and I want them
to be at an affordable price for most people.
Brilliant. Okay, so the other area that you are
very entrenched in is nutrition. So I'm going
to start with a very blanket statement, and then
we can kind of hone in and talk about some of
the things that we were talking about before
we started recording. What are some of the biggest
nutritional errors that we're making as a nation
that are causing so much disease that we're seeing
at the moment? It's our diet. The typical American
diet is pro -inflammatory. It's very high in
omega -6, very high in sugar, carbohydrates,
and it's pro -inflammatory. And so that's why
our country, everybody's obese. They're overweight
and they have inflammation that's on fire in
their body. And remember, aging, oxidation, and
inflammation. So the number one thing, and I
preach this to my patients, to my radio listeners
when I lecture, is you've got to adjust your
diet. I like the paleo diet the best. You know,
the paleo diet. You don't have to be on a low
-carb diet. You don't have to be on the Atkins
diet. I mean, some of these diets are very bad
for you because there's no nourishment. There's
no vitamins. A lot of people lose weight very
quickly on them, but they become immune compromised
because there's no nutritional value. There's
no vitamins and minerals, but they do lose weight,
and that's important. But you can lose weight
and be healthy at the same time. Actually, I
created a diet. You can Google it, the Lange
diet, Lange diet plan, and it's a modified version
of the paleo diet. And the paleo diet uses what
God put on this planet. No processed, no overly
processed foods. There's no pasta. There's no
bread. Really, there's no rice. Nothing that
doesn't grow from the tree or that's natural.
You can eat beef. You can eat chicken. You can
eat turkey. You've got to prepare it. Fish. You
can eat fruits and vegetables. Milk is not really
in the paleo diet, but that's where I disagree
with it. We use goat milk and A2 cow's milk.
in the Lange diet because I think it's actually
very good for you. So we got to get rid of the
typical pro -inflammatory diet. I mean, you ask
people, what do they have for breakfast? And
most of my patients had a piece of toast, had
a bagel and a cup of coffee. I had some cereal
and orange juice, sugar and more sugar, all right?
You know, I had a donut, you know? I had a Pop
-Tart. You know, nobody's eating. The most important
time to eat protein is breakfast and supper,
all right? And it should be protein and vegetables.
So an egg omelet, free -range organic eggs, and
sauteed in coconut oil, and put some kale and
spinach and maybe mushrooms and bell peppers,
sauteed in there, and a big glass of spring water
or green tea. That should be your breakfast.
Or you can make a smoothie with a good whey protein
we'll talk about in a minute. But stay away from
those carbs. Remember, your blood sugar is as
high as it gets first thing in the morning. And
then you're putting sugar on top of it. And you
wonder why your kids aren't making good grades.
the colorful, sugary cereal that they love, a
glass of chocolate milk, and then they can't
pay attention in class because their pancreas
oversecretes insulin, and then they drop. They
start to go down, and their mind can't think.
They can't concentrate. So they get labeled as
attention deficit disorder, learning disabled,
hyperactive, and it's the breakfast. Breakfast
is the most important meal. So start using protein
and vegetables. I don't even like fruit for breakfast.
Fruit is for snacks or for lunch. No fruit for
supper. Supper should be like boiled chicken
and some boiled broccoli or some tuna fish and
a tuna salad or something. You know, a salad
and a lean piece of grass -fed organic beef and
some vegetables. Fruit is... for lunchtime or
for snacks. You can have a little slice of pineapple
and a handful of nuts as a snack in between meals.
We should eat five meals a day, three regular
meals and then two small meals or two snacks
in between. That keeps our metabolism going,
keeps our blood sugar from yo -yoing up and down,
up and down. But yeah, the diet is the number
one thing we need to adjust and we need to go
to an anti -inflammatory diet. And it's hard
for people to do because a lot of people aren't
liking fish and they're not eating the fish that
helps give them the omega -3 that they so urgently
need. So taking a good omega -3 fish oil is a
good way. of even if you're eating that Burger
King Whopper every now and then, let me remember
everything in moderation, taking a good omega
-3 fish oil between 1 ,500 and 2 ,000 milligrams
of a fish oil in the triglyceride form, I created
one called Fortify Super Omega, will help lower
inflammation in your body related to that nasty
diet. So that's a good way, because a lot of
people aren't going to change their diet that
much, but they can certainly take two fish oils
a day. Now, when we talk about omega -3, over
-the -counter omega -3, people can test their
omega -3 and find out if it's good or not. Simply
bite your omega -3 in two, squeeze it in a styrofoam
cup, and see what happens. If within 10 minutes
it rots a hole through that cup, you've got to
think twice about putting it in your system.
95 % of all fish oil you buy over -the -counter
is an ethyl ester molecule. That means it has
ethanol attached to the backbone. They use that
in the distillation and purification process.
They don't take it out because it's expensive
to remove. We do a process like that, but then
we remove the ethanol and replace the triglyceride
backbone the way fish naturally have it in the
sea. It makes it absorb much quicker. It doesn't
go rancid. You don't get the fishy burp back
either, but it lowers inflammatory markers in
your body. So C -reactive protein, tumor necrosis
factor, arachidonic acid, things like this. go
down if you're taking the proper omega -3 fish
oil. So I always preach that to patients. If
you're going to take anything, if you only took
one pill, not a multivitamin, it'd be a good
omega -3 fish oil. Not krill oil. I think krill
is a nutritional scam personally because there's
no omega -3 in krill. The small little pills
they're giving you in these omega reds has less
than 100 milligrams of omega -3. So you'd have
to take a whole bottle to get enough. So take
a good triglyceride form omega -3 fish oil and
you'll find, that next time you go to get your
blood chemistries done at your primary care physician,
they're starting to normalize. Okay. Yeah, I
think one of the best catchphrases I guess you
could say is, I think it just hits it right on
the head about where we're at at the moment,
is that we're overfed and malnourished. And those
two don't make sense initially, but as you were
saying, if you're not having that spectrum of
color on your plate, you can be completely stuffed.
put nothing but bad stuff in your body versus,
as you're saying, smoothies and salads and vegetables
that will still be delicious and fill you up,
but now you're nourishing instead of harming
your body. Absolutely. Colorful. especially vegetables.
So you get kale and spinach, orange, red and
yellow bell peppers, put some onions and some
broccoli and some radishes and, you know, put
a little salad dressing on it or gently steam
it, gently saute it in a wild piece of Alaskan
salmon or some chicken or some beef or pork or
whatever. That's a meal. You know, you don't
have to have any. No, I love spaghetti and meatballs.
Let me tell you. And every now and then you got
to have some lasagna, some spaghetti. But for
the most part, you don't because most of these
are filled with gluten. And a lot of people have
gluten sensitivities. They have celiac disease.
But the thing I don't like is most of this is
genetically modified. So there's a lot of pesticide.
And that's why we see so many people with irritable
bowel syndrome and acid reflux. It's from the
foods they're eating, all the gluten, the FODMAP
vegetables. These are fruits and vegetables that
cause fermentation in your gut. A lot of people
have reactions to these type of fruits and vegetables,
not everybody. So I can actually listen to my
patients, and I'm their eye doctor, but I'm also
their nutritional guru, and I can find out based
on their history and their diet. you know, what's
causing their bloating and what's causing their
lack of energy. And we can simply totally adjust
their diet, take the foods out without even doing
any blood tests and anything to look for sensitivities.
Just based on the case history and looking at
their stomach, if it's bloated and tender, we
can adjust their diet and their lifestyle a little
bit and help them dramatically. But they go to
their primary care physician oftentimes and they
prescribe an antacid. And that's just masking
the problems. And actually, it's creating problems
down the road because these antacids actually
block the absorption of many nutrients, causing
a malnourished environment. I think, correct
me if I'm wrong, don't a lot of these antacids
actually cause more pyruvic acid as well? Right,
they secrete because it's an antacid, so your
body overcomes by secreting more acid. And so
it can actually in the short term, it can be
beneficial. But if you use them chronically long
term, it can be a horrendous problem for people.
Right. Brilliant. All right. So we were talking
about dairy and I told you that, you know, my
story and I think anyone's listened to all the
podcasts probably heard this. I had IBS. I had
stomach issues my whole life. Grew up on a farm,
drank milk by the pint like it was water. And
then four years ago, stopped dairy and almost
overnight. realize that that was the underlying
cause of a lot of my stomach issues. But we talked
about A2 milk and I literally, I think it was
either today or yesterday, saw a commercial for
the first time, never even heard of it. So could
you tell us what A2 milk is and why you do use
that in the goat's milk? Right. I started promoting
A2 milk about two and a half, three years ago
now. And now it's becoming very vogue and maybe
it's due to my radio program. But so Thousands
of years ago, the typical cow went through a
genetic mutation. And the beta -casein protein
actually went through this mutation. And it's
an A1 beta -casein protein. It's linked to irritable
bowel, leaky gut, cancer, diabetes, and autism
in children. And we all know people that have
all these things. And they've been drinking milk
all their life. So goat milk has never gone through
that genetic mutation. It hasn't. beta -casein,
A2 beta -casein protein does not cause any of
those things, all right? People don't like the
wild taste of goat milk for some reason. You
acquire the taste, all right? But now the A2
cow company from New Zealand is now in the United
States, and they actually genetically test every
cow to make sure that they haven't gone through
the genetic mutation producing A1 beta -casein.
So I have many patients, many colleagues, many
friends that were in the same situation with
you. And they thought they were lactose intolerant.
That was the problem. And they can drink A2 cow's
milk and have no problem at all. So you're getting
the benefits. And I like the whole milk because
that fat in that milk is actually good for you.
This is a grass -fed A2 cow. So try drinking
A2 cow's. Promised Land is another one you can
buy that's from A2 cow's or goat's milk. And
it's great because... Milk has eight grams of
protein in one cup. So if you're making a protein
drink, a lot of people are using almond milk
or coconut milk or soy milk. God forbid. Stay
away from soy. All right? It screws up your hormones.
But there's no protein, once again. But milk
does have protein. Two cups of milk is going
to have 16 grams of protein. So that and some
eggs in the morning for breakfast with some vegetables,
and you're in good shape. So adding to that,
you were telling me about your recovery shake
that you developed or come across. Well, interesting.
During some blood studies that I've done, I've
done thousands of blood analysis on my patients
with macular degeneration over the last 15 years.
And one of the biggest nutritional deficiencies
macular degeneration patients have, and then
people over 50 in general, is glutathione. And
so I tried using L -glutathione, inocerol cysteine,
different things. To stimulate glutathione, nothing
really worked. But whey protein does. Whey protein
concentrate much better than an isolate because
it has the good fats, which has the immunoglobulins
in it. And so I actually... was using some whey
proteins that you can only get prescription -wise.
They were very expensive because the whey proteins
you buy over the counter are kind of like the
fish oil you buy over the counter. Most of them
are coming from China. Not to knock China, but
I wouldn't consume anything in my body that came
from China right now. And most of them, the protein
has been bleached. Most have been filled with
growth hormones to produce more milk. antibiotics,
steroids, and then the grass, if they are dewy
grass, has pesticide on it, but the most of them
are fed grains. And so the grains are genetically
modified grains, skewing the whole omega -3 profile
in the milk. So I started researching because
I wanted the best of the best for myself, my
family, and my patients, and came to the conclusion
New Zealand's the best place to get these cows.
So we went and started a company, well, years
ago. four to five vitamins, but we use this to
be able to buy bulk direct from New Zealand.
And we're using A2 cows, and it's not necessary
for whey protein, but we're using, because the
whey protein removes all the casein protein,
but we're still using that herd. And we're using
a concentrate, non -bleached whey protein concentrate.
This is non -denatured because New Zealand does
not heat the protein to denature it the way America
does over 300 degrees. So the protein molecule
is much more bioavailable. All the immune globulins
remain intact. Something called covalent bonded
cysteine is in it. that converts to glutathione.
Remember, glutathione is this big deficiency
in most people over 50 and most patients with
macular degeneration. So I developed Fortify
Super Protein. We have it vanilla, chocolate,
and now one called Naked, Fortify Naked Super
Protein. And I think it's the ultimate protein
in the United States right now. And so what happens
is I also developed for my patients so they're
not having the bagel and orange juice for breakfast.
They're having a protein smoothie. They take
a scoop of this. They can take some white A2
milk or goat's milk, put a little kale, maybe
a banana and some blueberries, peanut butter
or almond butter, blend it all together, and
they got a protein -packed smoothie with antioxidants,
anti -inflammatory for breakfast. Keeps them
going until lunch. Post -recovery is something
that's really great. And I did a lot of research
on this. You can type in Google the ultimate
post -recovery workout drink. I come up number
one in the world. And so after a lot of research,
it's very simple. It's chocolate milk, watermelon,
and Fortify Super Protein, one scoop. So one
scoop of Fortify Super Protein has 21 grams of
the fastest acting whey protein. Two cups. of
chocolate milk, not the organic chocolate milk,
A2 chocolate milk or promised land chocolate
milk or goat's milk if they make a chocolate
milk. And that's giving you another 16 grams
on top of the 21 grams of protein. and then a
big giant wedge of watermelon. And you blend
it together. You drink it one minute to 30 minutes
after working out, whatever your workout is,
bike ride, a triathlon, swimming, hitting the
gym, you know, the weights, you know, boxing,
whatever it is, rowing. And it's the best post
-recovery workout drink because right after working
out, you want to have high glycemic index. Chocolate
is high glycemic index. Watermelon is the highest
glycemic index fruit known to man. So you have
that. Watermelon is high in L -citrulline that
converts to L -arginine, vasodilating the blood
vessels, bringing the combination of whey protein
and long -acting casein protein from the good
milk to your muscles. It's an amazing post -recovery
workout drink. It works. I've got literally thousands
of patients taking it now. Bodybuilders, powerlifters,
professional athletes, all doing amazingly well.
Okay. I might have to try that because I'm working
towards... Kind of like the hell week of the
fire service that we get to volunteer for and
pay for in the fire school here. So I'm doing
a lot of training and gear and all that kind
of thing. So it would be a good time to try that
and see if I can tolerate the A2 as well. So
I think I'll give it a shot. Remember, that's
post -workout. Yes. Pre -workout, you don't use
chocolate milk. Pre -workout, and you don't use
watermelon. You lose low glycemic index. So blueberries,
strawberries, a scoop of the protein. white A2
cow's milk or goat's milk. And you can put a
little manuka honey. Manuka honey also gives
you some prolonged energy, very good for digestion
as well. Okay, fantastic. Now I'm going to wrap
up in just a moment, but I want to touch on one
thing that we just glossed over. So from my understanding,
soy in the Japanese original form where it's...
I'm forgetting the word now, but fermented is
a very good source of protein and in the healthy
version. But what is it that we do here that
makes soy bad and what is it doing to the human
body? Yeah, the only soy that's any good is organic
fermented soy. And then again, in moderation,
I wouldn't do it every day. The fermentation
process. you know, really releases probiotics
and enzymes that are incredible for the digestive
system. So I have a little miso soup and a little
tempeh, and that's in the Lange diet. That's
once or twice a week on the Lange diet plan.
The problem with the soy here, 99 .9 % of it
is all genetically modified. And, you know, that's
a whole nother talk show. And I personally would
stay away from GMOs, no matter what anybody tells
you, right? And there's a lot of evidence why.
So genetically modified products you just don't
want to ingest. But soy, even edamame, you know,
most of that's genetically modified. If you can
find, you know, organically grown soy and they
can guarantee it's non -GMO, which I think is
almost impossible these days, then in moderation
it's okay. But soy is a phytoestrogen, just like
red wine is. So men out there especially. You
don't want to eat a lot of soy. You don't want
to drink a lot of red wine. Women maybe, but
not men, because it's going to lower your testosterone
and raise your estrogen levels. And you don't
want that. Men don't want that. Right. I've seen
a lot of men doing the wine tasting. That explains
a lot. Yeah. Remember, everything in moderation.
A little Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir has the highest
amount of resveratrol, which is very good for
the retina, all right? But these are patients
with macular degeneration that are 85 years old,
and they're probably not ravaging a 30 -year
-old woman. They're probably not having a lot
of sex, and they're certainly not going to have
any more children. So if you're going to have
something that... Raise your estrogen, lowers
your testosterone. If you don't want to go blind,
that's a different story. But for most men, virile
men. You know, a little wine in moderation is
okay. If you're going to drink it, drink a Pinot
Noir from the northern region of either New York
or Oregon. That has the highest amount of resveratrol.
Remember, everything in moderation. A good beer
is probably better for you than wine. They add
a lot of sulfites to the wines these days too.
If you get them from Europe, it's different.
They're not adding additional sulfites. Sulfites
occur naturally in the wine. We don't have to
add more. The FDA makes us add way too much.
That's one reason you get headaches. You know,
you have... five or six glasses of wine, and
you're feeling no pain, and then you wake up
in the morning, you have one of the worst headaches.
It's the sulfites preserving your brain. Ah,
yeah. See, I get migraines, so that was one of
my triggers. And when I go home in Portugal and
France, where my mom and dad live, I never have
an issue with that at all. But here, I mean,
there's certain wines now, it's obviously getting
more progressive in the stores, but yeah. I find
a good organic wine that says no added sulfites
on it. Very difficult to find. All right. So
I'm going to wrap up with some questions. You've
been very, very generous with your time. And
we need to get out there and do some preparations
for this hurricane. So very first question, is
there a book that you recommend to people? It
can be about this or it can be about something
completely different or a fiction. Wow. A book.
Somebody asked me that and I was being interviewed
before. I just, you know, I don't have a lot
of time to read. I haven't read a lot of books.
I mean, because I've been working literally since,
you know, college started. And since I work,
I'm 18, 19 hours a day, sleep deprived. I read
a lot of journals, right, that are directly related
to the businesses that I'm in. I think people
that have the time and the ability to sit down
and read a book by candlelight, very relaxing.
You know, if you want to fall asleep. War and
Peace, right? Sit down and try to read War and
Peace, Candlelight. I guarantee you'll get tired
and you'll fall asleep. Yeah, or any college
textbook. All right, so what about a movie and
or documentary? Wow. My favorite movie. I tell
you, one of my favorite movies that was a long
time ago was The Champ. You know, and the reason
for that is, you know, I people say I'm not that
sensitive, but I actually nobody knows this,
but I actually cried in that movie. It's the
only movie ever in my life that I shed a few
tears. And the champ was a long time ago. You
can probably rent it and look at it, but it really.
got to my sensitive side it's the only movie
ever oh really um i like gladiator too gladiator
is a great movie that was yeah i cry like a little
girl in a lot of movies so i guess i don't have
the same problem um all right so what do you
do i mean like you said it yourself you you work
very hard you pour yourself into not just this
business but multiple businesses so what do you
do to decompress well i try to i try to get to
the gym every day if I can, every night at least.
And usually it's working out later in the evening
or early, early in the morning. And then try
to get some cardiovascular exercise, usually
on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I try
to bike 50 miles on each of those days or row.
So I'm either biking, doing some form of, you
know, fairly extreme cardiovascular exercise,
hit the gym. And then every other weekend I'm
racing cars now. So I'm actually SCCA, full competition
license. I'm driving a 2017 Viper ACR Extreme
Voodoo 2. There's only 31 of them in the world.
I put Michelin slicks and some headers and did
a little engine work. And, you know, racing in
the advanced class and doing quite well. Just
won the class at Sebring last Saturday and heading
to New Orleans to race. I got to tell you. There
is one thing about releasing adrenaline. When
you release adrenaline, you also release beta
endorphins. Beta endorphins are natural pain
relievers, natural antidepressants. And I tell
you, I have a need for speed. That's why I did
the whole motocross thing. And until racing cars,
I couldn't find a sport that really released
the adrenaline, made me feel young, and made
me feel good. I mean, golf doesn't do it for
me. Fishing doesn't do it for me. Mountain biking
does a little bit. Road biking definitely doesn't
do it for me. Triathlons don't do it for me.
But I noticed when I was driving my car on the
streets too fast on the interstate, on the verge
when you're waiting for the blue lights behind
you, that did it. And so you can't really do
that on the streets. So I went to one of the
track days at Sebring and got really interested
into it. And then I took the Bondurant race school
courses over in Arizona and did Formula One race
cars. And I got addicted to it about four or
five months ago. And so that need for speed's
coming out. But, I mean, after I'm in a race,
I get out of the car. I don't feel 55. I don't
have knee aches and neck pains. I literally feel
21, 22 years of age. And I think everybody needs
to find a way to help release their beta endorphins.
You know, it's like when you're running and you
hit that wall, okay? When you hit that wall and
you run a little bit more, then boom, you start
feeling good again. Most people don't get to
the wall, but people that do marathons, they
understand this, and triathletes and Ironman
competitors, because that's the release of beta
endorphins, and everybody needs to figure out
a way, especially as you get older, how can they
release the beta endorphins safely? Yeah. Well,
we've narrowed our field so much as far as safety
as well. We're in this comfortable little box,
and I think a lot of people that I've interviewed
that have broken out of that have had, you know,
success and happiness and all these other areas
because you think about original man we weren't
sitting in a climate control box watching electrical
devices all day we were out you know running
for our lives and hunting and fishing and swimming
and running and all these other things you're
enduring storms yeah so i think that i mean it
makes perfect sense martial arts is mine and
having someone trying to knock me out is kind
of adrenaline rush too yeah absolutely so all
right so my next question is kind of a new one
i started asking um Can you think of a person
who would be an invaluable guest on this podcast
to talk to first responders of the world? I tell
you, if my dad wasn't 89 years old, my dad would
have been great. He's been a guest on my radio
show many times. I got to tell you, my success
is directly related to my dad. He taught me the...
value of hard work all right um you know you
don't get anything for free no matter what you
do he didn't push me into medicine you know he
said whatever you do you know do the best job
if you dig in a ditch be the best ditch digger
and you're going to own the company and i think
my dad instilled moral values in me and and work
ethics that quite frankly i don't see these days
in employees So, yeah, but he's living in Mississippi,
half in New Orleans. It'd be difficult to get
him here. But if I had to pick somebody, it'd
be, you know, my mentor is my dad. And he's probably
one of the reasons I'm where I'm at today is
because of the values that he instilled in me.
Brilliant. OK, I love that answer. All right.
So to wrap it up then. So people listening now,
where can they find you? Where can they find
the Fortify products? Everything we talked about
today. Right, so the Lang Eye Institute is based
in the center of Florida in the villages. You
can learn a lot more about what we do at drmichaellang
.com. Don't spell doctor, just dr, drmichaellang
.com. That actually will link up to a section
of social media. You can follow me on Twitter.
Facebook, Pinterest, Google +, LinkedIn, Instagram
from drmichaellang .com. And that will also link
you up to my other companies, Fortify Vitamins,
which is fortify .com, F -O -R -T -I -F -E -Y
-E. You can learn about the research behind the
products that we've developed, a whole line of
whole body supplements, not just eye vitamins.
Paleo Simplified is a company of mine where we
make paleo bars, paleo granola. from the website,
Blue Light Defense, and a few other companies,
all linked from drmichaellang .com. So pretty
much that website will also give you some videos
of me racing, or you can go to two YouTube channels,
which I think are also on that website, either
Dr. Michael Lang YouTube or... ocular health
channel youtube and that got a lot of videos
of my radio shows um and also me recumbent biking
or car racing even some motocross videos okay
what's the radio show called uh ask the doctor
i've been hosting ask the doctor uh since march
of 1993 non -stop wow a little bit longer than
me i'm hitting 10 months right now all right
well thank you so much i think we've really delved
into some things that And I love podcasts and
I delve into a lot of fitness and health. We
just don't discuss a lot of things that we talked
about today. I haven't heard anything talked
about with the A2 milk and, you know, many of
the areas. So it's definitely going to be another
goldmine, I think, for people. So I really appreciate
you giving me the time, especially at the end
of your workday here. We're sitting here and
it's dark outside now. So thank you so much.
Fantastic. I enjoyed it. Anytime you want to
do it again, just let me know. I'll always be
available for you. Brilliant. Well, thank you.
Thank you.