#27 Gut Health for Women’s Health Issues with Functional Health Practitioner Alvin Danenberg, DDS

Clean Eating for Women with Carrie Forrest, MPH in Nutrition

Dr. Alvin Danenberg (Dr. Dan) is a periodontist and a certified functional health practitioner. He is here today to talk about everything that women need to know about dental health, hormones, diet, and more. In this episode of the Clean Eating for Women podcast, we talk about:

• Dr. Dan's amazing health recovery story
• How the gut is the center for everything
• Benefits of spore based microbiotics and vitamin K2

Some highlights of this episode on how to make veggies taste delicious:

1. Dr. Dan is almost 71 years old. When he was 59, he suddenly had a stroke. His doctors saved his life and put him on seven medicines for life. He was exercising regularly and eating foods that he thought were healthy. He started investigating what a healthy lifestyle and diet would actually be. [03:44]
2. When he was 66, he took a nutrition course at a yoga center. He heard terms that he had never heard before like ancestral health. He and his wife cleaned their pantry out of all processed foods. They started buying organic foods from farmers markets. He removed grains, sugars, legumes, and milk products from his diet. He ended up losing 35 pounds and becoming healthier than he had ever been. [05:57]
3. You are never too old to make a change in your life. Carrie shares how her health started to turn around when she became dairy-free and gluten-free. [08:47]
4. Removing foods that don't benefit your body and giving your body healthy foods completely changes your gut biome. The gut is the center for everything. Having a leaky gut makes other organ systems begin to break down. [11:57]
5. Dr. Dan explains how inflammatory bowel disease can actually create periodontal problems. He also explains how having a leaky gut leads to inflammation and other chronic disease including his stroke. [17:04]
6. Improving gut bacteria and the health of mitochondria can actually eliminate disease. The gut lining completely replaces itself every 3 to 5 days. Get the insult out of the gut and allowing it to repair itself is a head-start to treating disease. [19:59]
7. Some probiotics are destroyed by stomach acid. Spore based bacteria can actually get into the gut and enhance the diversity of friendly bacteria. [21:38]
8. How vitamin K2 can actually reinvigorate the mitochondria. In an animal model, it restored the health of the mitochondria and actually helped treat a disease. It even seems to help reduce gum disease. [28:04]
9. The things you should probably get rid of are processed sugar, grains, and dairy products. Get rid of things that aren't nutrient-dense and that cause inflammation in the body. Eat animal products and fresh caught fish. Eat raw honey. [38:50]

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Paleo f(x) Facebook Group
• Ancestral Health Symposium Discussion Group
• Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
• Chris Kresser Podcast
• Well Being Journal
• Oral spore-based probiotic supplementation was associated with reduced incidence of post-prandial dietary endotoxin, triglycerides, and disease risk biomarkers
• Dr. Danenberg
• Crazy-Good Living!: Healthy Gums, Healthy Gut, Healthy Life

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