Episode 156
Bradley Shepherd:
How Your Diet Affects Chronic Pain and Inflammation
In this episode, I speak with Dr. Bradley Shepherd about the intricate connections between nutrition, hormones, and chronic pain. We explore how dietary choices and nutrient deficiencies impact hormone balance and overall health. Dr. Shepherd shares his top foods for hormone health and explains the importance of dietary variety. We also discuss the role of gut health in nutrient absorption and how addressing hormone imbalances can be crucial in managing chronic pain conditions.
First Aired on: Sep 9, 2024
Episode 156
Bradley Shepherd:
How Your Diet Affects Chronic Pain and Inflammation
In this episode, I speak with Dr. Bradley Shepherd about the intricate connections between nutrition, hormones, and chronic pain. We explore how dietary choices and nutrient deficiencies impact hormone balance and overall health. Dr. Shepherd shares his top foods for hormone health and explains the importance of dietary variety. We also discuss the role of gut health in nutrient absorption and how addressing hormone imbalances can be crucial in managing chronic pain conditions.
First Aired on: Sep 9, 2024
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Bradley Shepherd, a chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner, to discuss the intricate connections between nutrition, hormones, and chronic pain. We explore how dietary choices and nutrient deficiencies can impact hormone balance and overall health.
Introduction
Dr. Bradley Shepherd is a chiropractor who transitioned into functional medicine to address the root causes of health issues. His journey from aspiring math teacher to holistic health practitioner highlights his passion for helping people achieve optimal wellness through a comprehensive approach.
Episode Highlights
The Connection Between Nutrition and Hormones
We discuss how certain nutrients are essential for hormone production, metabolism, and detoxification.
- Nutrients like glutathione, vitamin D, B vitamins, and lignans play crucial roles in hormone balance
- Gut health is fundamental for nutrient absorption and hormone regulation
- Soil quality impacts the nutrient density of our food
Hormone Imbalance and Chronic Pain
Dr. Shepherd explains the relationship between hormone imbalances and inflammation, which can lead to chronic pain.
- Estrogen deficiencies can exacerbate conditions like disc degeneration
- Hormonal imbalances can contribute to inflammation throughout the body
- Addressing hormone balance can be crucial in managing chronic pain conditions
Top Foods for Hormone Balance
Dr. Shepherd shares his top three foods for supporting hormone health:
- Wild-caught Alaskan tuna (and other SMASH fish: salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, herring)
- Grass-fed, organic beef
- Broccoli - packed with nutrients that support hormone balance and detoxification
The Importance of Dietary Variety
We discuss the benefits of eating a varied diet rich in different colors and nutrients.
- Humans are natural omnivores and benefit from a diverse diet
- Eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables provides a wide range of nutrients
- Caution against staying in prolonged elimination diets unless necessary
Practical Tips for Improving Health
Dr. Shepherd offers actionable advice for listeners looking to improve their health immediately.
- Eliminate sugary drinks, including diet sodas
- Increase water intake
- Focus on whole, nutrient-dense foods
Notable Quotes
If you're deficient in one of, in a certain nutrient, like B6 for example, you're not going to be able to convert back and forth. And so you're going to have a buildup of one and a deficiency of the other.
Dr. Bradley Shepherd
Humans are omnivores.
Dr. Bradley Shepherd
Other Resources:
Connect with Bradley Shepherd
Watch this interview:
Episode Transcript
Bradley Shepherd:[00:00:00] It's all about, hormone imbalances that cause inflammation, and inflammation is a guaranteed source of pain. Now, we make inflammation a bad guy, and I don't want to do that, because it's really important. Without inflammation, we wouldn't survive. But we need to keep it in balance and keeping the hormones balanced keeps the inflammation balanced and There are studies.
Julie Michelson: Welcome back to the inspired living with autoimmunity [00:01:00] podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michaelson. And today we're joined by Bradley Shepard. Bradley is a doctor of chiropractic with over 15 years of experience. And he's also a certified functional medicine practitioner. His main focus is on identifying hormone and nutritional imbalances that cause and Amplify or perpetuate pain.
Julie Michelson: He uses whole food nutrition to help others get their life back naturally. In today's conversation, we're talking about this connection between nutrition, hormones, and pain, and Bradley gives us his top foods to incorporate to help balance hormones and reduce pain. And they are probably not what you might expect.
Julie Michelson: Bradley, welcome to the podcast.
Bradley Shepherd: Thanks, Julie. It's great to be here. I'm really excited to be here and I'm looking forward to a great conversation today.
Julie Michelson: I am as well. And I, I love, I, I know audiences are going to get so much value out of wherever [00:02:00] this conversation leads. Cause I never really know ahead of time.
Julie Michelson: Um, I hope so, but, but just, I know our topic alone is, is really, um, important for listeners to understand and, and to hear. So I look forward to it. I was cheating. I was asking you a little bit ahead of time, but I would love for you to share a little bit with listeners, um, about, you know, whether it's what took you into to drive you to become a doctor of chiropractic or, and, or, especially because this is my Personal favorite part is okay.
Julie Michelson: And then how to functional medicine. So how does a gentleman, um, become this expert on nutrition and hormones? And, um, cause I I'm always fascinated about that.
Bradley Shepherd: A gentleman. Wow. I might be assuming. No, [00:03:00] it's, it's a, it's a great, um, it's, it's a journey, like you said, and, you know, believe it or not, I was set out to be a math teacher.
Bradley Shepherd: And yeah, I've always enjoyed teaching. And so and that's why I love these podcasts, you know, because I feel like I can enjoy that passion without all of the legal, right, you know, hoops and yeah, or C and everything like that. And that's what turned me off to teaching is I can't teach the way I wanted to teach, but I've always liked to help people.
Bradley Shepherd: And so, okay, what can I do to help people? The medical profession is great, except I don't like the idea of, okay, you've got this symptom, take this pill. Right. That's, that's, that's, That didn't make a lot of sense to me. I know I can, I can help in the short term and long term, but what about, you know, what about, you know, identifying, you know, why you're having these problems in the first place?
Bradley Shepherd: Yes,
Julie Michelson: it's every, every child's favorite question is the most important [00:04:00] question in medicine, right? Why? Why? That doesn't typically get asked in that standard Western model.
Bradley Shepherd: Exactly. That's, that's what I found. And so when I discovered chiropractic, that's kind of what they, what they talked about is get to the, you know, get to the underlying root of the problem, get to the cause of the problem.
Bradley Shepherd: And that really resonated with me. So after I decided, okay, this math teacher, not going to do it. Chiropractic, this sounds great. Um, I, you know, I had been to a chiropractor once for low back pain when I was 23 and it one treatment and I was better. I was good to go. Obviously I know now that that's not really typical, but it worked for me.
Bradley Shepherd: It was great. And so I knew it had helped me, but I didn't realize at the time that they were actually doctors. And so I thought, well, okay, let's do this. Let's be a doctor and get to the underlying root of the [00:05:00] problem, which was great. Now, once I got into chiropractic school and started learning the stuff, we took a lot of nutrition, which was always kind of interesting to me.
Bradley Shepherd: But with chiropractic, and I, I don't want to, you know, diss on my, my chiropractic colleagues or the schools or anything like that. But they taught that the spine and the nervous system is the cause of all of the problems. And to be honest with you, for a long time I bought into it. I thought that all of the world's problems could be fixed with a great chiropractic adjustment.
Bradley Shepherd: And if everyone got chiropractic, there would be world peace.
Julie Michelson: If only. Right.
Bradley Shepherd: Uh, but, but as I learned, you know, there was, it wasn't helping everybody, like I thought it could, like I was taught that it should. And so I'm, so I, I learned that, you know what, chiropractic is great for a lot of things. But there's more to it.
Bradley Shepherd: And when I discovered functional medicine, I thought, okay, this sounds more like what I was looking [00:06:00] for the whole time. Right. Because we're looking at the spine and the nervous system, but we're looking at the blood, we're looking at the hormones, we're looking at lifestyle, we're looking at mental, emotional aspects, we're looking at toxicity, we're looking at gut health, and all of this stuff.
Bradley Shepherd: And I'm like, yes! The whole person. Yay. So it's not, you know, and I, and I, people weren't just a spine,
Julie Michelson: right? Yeah. A box. I mean, the, the lens is, we always have the favorite saying, um, and I, I have fractured my spine. I have, I'm very grateful for orthopedic surgeons, but whenever somebody is having an issue that they, think they may need an orthopedic surgeon for a non emergency, non broken bone.
Julie Michelson: It's like, let's do some other things first because, you know, if your only tool is a hammer, everything's a nail, right? Like, so I love that, you know, the, I knew we [00:07:00] were going to have a great conversation. I love the idea of it's, and it's not this narrow focus. Here's my body part. I focus on the spine, right?
Julie Michelson: Like when I was sick, I don't even know I should count that how many specialists I had, right? For each system or body part that was having a problem. When, if I had just had somebody years ago say, Why let's go after that. You know, I wouldn't have needed all those compartmentalized treatments, so yay.
Julie Michelson: Kudos to you,
Bradley Shepherd: and you know, I'll be honest with you, it's not for everybody. Not everybody needs it, but for those of us that do, it's, it's a lifesaver. And I can't tell you how many patients have said, you know, you've saved my life. Sure. Not in some dramatic way, but just.
Julie Michelson: But yes, I mean, when, when, for those of anybody listening who either [00:08:00] is chronically ill right now or has been or is afraid they're on that path.
Julie Michelson: I mean, did that and that's what you do. You see what's ahead of you. Right. I didn't think I would live to see 50. Because that was the trajectory I was on until I changed course. So it is really life changing, whatever that means to the person whose life is changing, you know, it's huge for, for so many of us, it means I get to enjoy my family, right?
Julie Michelson: Life can get bigger again, or at the very least stop getting smaller. And that is life changing. That's how, that's how we create world peace. Right. When then we can make a contribution and be part of community and heal it societally. So I love the, yes, you're very modest, but, but, you know, every there's a ripple effect with every impact.
Julie Michelson: So, um, yeah, I don't think you're, I don't think your patients are exaggerating.
Bradley Shepherd: Thank [00:09:00] you.
Julie Michelson: I don't,
Bradley Shepherd: it's, it's, it's not one of those, you know, life and death situations, emergency situations, but it is, but it, but I have seen the changes. Yeah. It's, it's a beautiful thing. And that's, that's really why I like doing what I do too, is to see those changes and sure.
Bradley Shepherd: I'm trying to make the world a little bit better.
Julie Michelson: I love it. I love it. So I would love to and always feel free to redirect me because I know you have so much to share. Um, but I want to talk about, you know, the audience knows that I, I will scream it from the rooftops this connection between. Hormones and autoimmunity and all of the things you just mentioned, the, you know, the lifestyle, the toxins, the gut health, that there's so many things and they're all intertwined and integrated, right?
Julie Michelson: There, we can't separate stress, toxins, lifestyle from gut health and all of those [00:10:00] things from hormones. And, you know, it's this chicken and egg, it's all connected. Um, but this. Impact, and I've personally experienced this, um, of hormones on pain, even if you have a diagnosis that explains your pain, right?
Julie Michelson: Hormones really can impact the experience of pain and inflammation and therefore an autoimmunity, um, And nutrition can impact those hormones and pain as well. And so I want to, I want to talk about that because we've done a lot of episodes on different ways of supporting hormones and listeners. Now, I am a huge fan of bioidentical hormone replacement when appropriate, um, as somebody who doesn't have ovaries or uterus anymore.
Julie Michelson: You know, the reason why I am well and vibrant and all the [00:11:00] things is because I have wonderful care in that department. Um, but there's this range also of, I was going to start with perimenopause, but really I see so many, even young women who don't have balanced hormones. They have rough cycles. They have PCOS, they have mood, you know, anxiety, depression, mood, stuff, all these things.
Julie Michelson: And again, we can't separate the layers out, but I want to dig in a little bit with that impact of nutrition. I know you have, um, I'm going to throwing it all at you right now. And then you, you, you drive. Um, I do want to, I know you have like. 10 foods, um, that everybody, you know, can be incorporating, should be incorporating to help balance hormones and help with pain.
Julie Michelson: Um, but let's start, start me in the beginning of what is this connection between [00:12:00] nutrition and hormone wellness?
Bradley Shepherd: You know, I love that question, um, because it's not one that we always ask because we, you know, why do we have a hormone imbalance in the first place? Right. And, and again, we're asking that question, why?
Bradley Shepherd: And a lot of times, it's not all of the case, but I mean, in your case, you don't have the, you know, you don't have your ovary. So that's why, you know, that's, that's a really easy, but before that, I,
Julie Michelson: well, and I lost, honestly, I was already Well, by the time I, I got rid of my ovaries. Um, so before that I was that the, which I, I think is probably almost more common these days than somebody with beautifully balanced hormones.
Julie Michelson: I mean, I was estrogen dominant, of course, had never heard those words and didn't know what that was. But my experience of my hormones was definitely, you know, at least. In my [00:13:00] adult life, I was estrogen dominant. And so even back then, balancing hormones when I had my parts was a game changer. Totally a game changer.
Julie Michelson: Right? So, sorry, I interrupted, but I, you know, there because it's, it's this big range of Yeah, you're right. It's,
Bradley Shepherd: it's not, it's, it's complicated. It can be complicated. Yeah. We want to try to simplify it as much as possible. But, you know, we're, you know, since we're talking about estrogen and progesterone, which are, you know, the primary female hormones of the ovaries, you actually need certain nutrients in order to detoxify or to, you know, help with the metabolism of estrogens and progesterone.
Bradley Shepherd: So you need You know, a glutathione, for example, I don't know how technical your audience is going to get, but you know, vitamin D, uh, vitamin B, um, uh, lignans, if you know what lignans are. [00:14:00] What are lignans for the audience? So, so lignans are, um, they are chemicals that it's, it's a whole webinar in itself. I know.
Bradley Shepherd: They're chemicals that help, yeah, they're chemicals that help produce hormones. And
Julie Michelson: where do we, where would we find them? Like, so
Bradley Shepherd: A lot of things they work really well with a lot of the antioxidants, actually, and so you're going to find them in like things like, you know, blueberries and and flaxseed and broccoli and and and things like that.
Bradley Shepherd: So, uh, those are. Um, where was I? I got off track. But anyway, both, I'm sorry. We need these
Julie Michelson: essential nutrients for metabolizing these and detoxing to
Bradley Shepherd: make
Julie Michelson: them
Bradley Shepherd: and
Julie Michelson: to make them, yeah. To make
Bradley Shepherd: them to detox. And, and we need, you know, we need the antioxidants for any metabolic activity, right. Which the making and regulating of hormones is hugely, you know, that, that's a lot of chemistry going on and those are a lot of chemical reactions.
Bradley Shepherd: And so we need those antioxidants to help as well. Yeah. Well, and [00:15:00]
Julie Michelson: just even. Those things, as you're listing off, like these are things that are essential. I'm thinking, wow, I've always been glutathione deficient. I have, you know, MTHFR SNPs. So I don't methylate my Bs well. My D, which I see in most, uh, most of my people who haven't tested and aren't supplementing their Ds are In the toilet, um, you know, like, like, um, you know, the, the, it's all the, so no wonder so many of us have this struggle like biologically have the struggle of regulating hormones, keeping them balanced.
Julie Michelson: Um, I want to ask you, and then I'm going to set you free again, because use the word use metabolize and detox. And I think this is a really important piece that I certainly didn't know as a woman who had all those hormones naturally occurring, right? I never knew that you had to, you [00:16:00] know, detox estrogen, right?
Julie Michelson: Like it, no, it's not a toxin, but we need to be able to excrete it. And therefore, if you're like me and you're a collector of every environmental toxin, mold, heavy metal that you've met, of course, you want to also keep your estrogen recycling. And, and so talk to us a little bit about that. And because this is one little area where I'm like, Ooh, I know, I'm, I know, I know one.
Julie Michelson: Correct thing that Bradley is going to talk about, um, because you already mentioned, you know, the veggies and the broccoli and I'm thinking dim or, you know, um, so how is it that somebody could have what's considered normal estrogen, you know, but maybe they're recycling and that's driving inflammation or causing an imbalance.
Bradley Shepherd: Okay, so it's really, really complicated [00:17:00] because so, for example, testosterone and estrogen can be converted back and forth, right? There's not just one estrogen, there's three to make things a little bit more complicated, right? Estrone, estradiol, and estreon, you know, and they all kind of play into a pattern.
Bradley Shepherd: And your nutrition, if you're deficient in one of, in a certain nutrient, like B6 for example, you're not going to be able to convert back and forth. Okay. And so you're going to have a buildup of one and a deficiency of the other. Did that help?
Julie Michelson: Yes, it does. Well, and I think even just, yeah, absolutely does.
Julie Michelson: Um, so I, sorry, I know I shifted you off track. We'll let you go back on track with, we need, so we need nutrients to build these hormones. We need certain nutrients. To metabolize them and convert them back and forth. And then we need certain nutrients to [00:18:00] be able to detox and excrete.
Bradley Shepherd: And metabolism, I know I kind of got stuck on that word, but maybe some of your audience doesn't really, you know, we heard the word, we hear the word metabolism.
Bradley Shepherd: What is that? Thank you. Yeah. Good question. And so metabolism really is just the word that we use to take the, and there's two types of, of bolisms if you want, there's animalism and catabolism. And it basically, what it is, is when we take your food, we have to break that food down and then we have to use those little parts to build other things.
Bradley Shepherd: That's metabolism. Right. It's like, it's like Legos. Yes.
Julie Michelson: Ideally.
Bradley Shepherd: We take in a nice, you know, steak or whatever, whatever chicken sandwich, I don't know. All that stuff has to be broken down in your gut, you know, and then it all has to be on all those little proteins have to be reassembled so that our bodies can do what it does. And then part of that is making hormones.
Bradley Shepherd: So that's basically what metabolism is. So now we know. Okay.
Julie Michelson: Well, and I love that because [00:19:00] now you just answered the, you know, when I said that interconnection between gut health and all the things that impact gut health and metabolism, hormones, all the things. If your gut
Bradley Shepherd: isn't healthy, it can't do what it do, what it does.
Bradley Shepherd: It can't break everything down. So,
Julie Michelson: yeah, I know. I, I think like, Maybe seven years ago, I was like, Oh, I'm so tired of hearing about gut health. I feel like it's like the new fad. And now I'm like, Oh, yep. It's the thing. It really is.
Bradley Shepherd: And when I was studying medicine, it all goes back to the gut. Everything's like, okay, depression.
Bradley Shepherd: Okay. That's a good issue. Yes. Hormone imbalances. Okay. That's a good issue. Um, and so, you know, and I do want to make this, you know, um, it, it really is important once you get that gut health. taking care of. And then we can work on the hormone balancing. So, so that's what I do. So I'm kind of like, okay, you know, if someone doesn't have a [00:20:00] really good gut health, I kind of have to start with that.
Bradley Shepherd: And ideally someone's already kind of. Gone through that. And there's other people that work on just digestion and gut health. Right. There. And then when we're ready to go, That's where I step in,
Julie Michelson: what is the connection between hormone imbalance and pain? Like if we know, okay, foundationally, we're gut health, that's, we got to address that, or we can't balance everything, you know, long term.
Julie Michelson: Anyway, you can feel better for a little while, but eventually you're going to have to address your gut. Um, but, but why can you talk a little bit about, about the connection? Because you'll speak, I can only speak to it from experience and you'll speak about it intelligently, I'm guessing.
Bradley Shepherd: Well, we're gonna, we're gonna try.
Bradley Shepherd: Um, but it's, it's all about, there's, there's a lot of, [00:21:00] uh, hormone imbalances that cause inflammation, and inflammation is a guaranteed pain, source of pain. Now, we, we make inflammation a bad guy, and I don't want to do that, because it's really important. Without inflammation, we wouldn't survive. But we need to keep it in balance and keeping the hormones balanced keeps the inflammation balanced and There are studies.
Bradley Shepherd: This is this is an interesting study It's just kind of coming to mind is there was a study done in rats. It wasn't on humans, but it was done in rats We're estrogen deficiencies made exacerbated or made worse Disc degeneration, which I thought was interesting as a chiropractor and so If you know our hormones keep our tissues healthy, too.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah. And so if you don't have
Julie Michelson: everything.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, we have this imbalance and we have this tissue breakdown which leads to inflammation which [00:22:00] if there's inflammation somewhere. There's inflammation somewhere else, right?
Julie Michelson: Right. And I always tell people like, again, there's not ever just one thing.
Julie Michelson: So if, if you know, if you have auto immunity or you have chronic pain, you know, any kind of chronic illness is, is chronic inflammation driven. Hormones might not be the only thing, right? But every piece that we can get back in balance, that's no longer contributing to that. chronic inflammation. And I love that you did highlight.
Julie Michelson: We do need info. We also need stress. Stress causes growth, right? But chronic stress causes inflammation. So I love that you like just tied that in a nice little bow for everybody. Cause I always, I do, I think of it as, as layers and, and every piece. That, that [00:23:00] we're, we're, we're reducing the inflammation.
Julie Michelson: Eventually we get to below that point of, Oh my gosh, the pain's gone.
Bradley Shepherd: And there's a big question in the research. Does the, does the inflammation cause the disease or does the disease cause the inflammation?
Julie Michelson: Yeah. I personally, the first
Bradley Shepherd: one. I think it's
Julie Michelson: ball. Well, sure. I think it's a cycle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: But I, we know that if you address the inflammation, the disease expression may resolve. Yes. That's the, that's why we have these conversations, right? Not to be like, well, too bad. Um, no, we're changing the conversation because we, we can heal that. Um, are there certain pain conditions that you think of that are specifically like you immediately you're like, Ooh, hormones.
Bradley Shepherd: Um, believe it or not, um, unresolved back pain that doesn't, That's [00:24:00] not affected by the chiropractic adjustments. Interesting. And, um, maybe that's not necessarily as much hormone as it is B vitamins. Okay.
Julie Michelson: Okay.
Bradley Shepherd: But there's, but there's that.
Julie Michelson: But if there's a B vitamin deficiency, there's going to be a hormone challenge at least.
Julie Michelson: Right. Right. And
Bradley Shepherd: another condition that I see a lot is frozen shoulder. I don't know if you've ever heard of frozen shoulder, but there's primary frozen shoulder, which is actually a musculoskeletal condition, but there's secondary, uh, secondary, uh, frozen shoulder, which is actually caused by thyroid problems.
Julie Michelson: Interesting.
Bradley Shepherd: Or diabetes and thyroid problems and diabetes are both independent risk factors for frozen shoulder.
Julie Michelson: Interesting.
Bradley Shepherd: So that's just another example there.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: Of things. Wow. You wouldn't think that those were related at all.
Julie Michelson: Right. I know. Now I want to ask, which isn't fair, cause I'm guessing there's not a clear answer yet.
Julie Michelson: Why?
Bradley Shepherd: And you're [00:25:00] right. Yeah. I mean, sometimes we don't know why we just see these real life.
Julie Michelson: Interesting. Expressions and correlations and, and, you know, that's life
Bradley Shepherd: can be messy.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Interesting. I love the, I say this to people all the time. You mentioned chronic back pain, right? I already just said, you know, I've fractured my back in the past.
Julie Michelson: Um, I have At least two, well, the two of my offspring that have had scans of their back, both as children had degeneration of the certain, you know, they had compressions at the same disc, um, genetic. I don't know. Was that where their back pain, you know, it's one of those things, like if you take somebody, I tell, I tell clients this all the time.
Julie Michelson: Um, you know, it's almost like, yeah, we want data, but [00:26:00] also be careful because, you know, you can, you know, you can get films on a hundred people with and without back pain. And you can find reasons for back pain on almost everybody's. scan, right? Like, so even if there's a thing people can point to that they've been told, well, this is what's causing your back pain and, you know, deal with it.
Julie Michelson: Um, you're saying if there's chronic back pain, that's not responding to chiropractic that you would be looking at.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Amen. Really? Like, yeah. Thank you.
Bradley Shepherd: Thank you. And I see so many things on him. You know, I see some MRIs on, on patients. I'm like, how are you even walking?
Julie Michelson: Exactly. And those people may not even have back pain.
Julie Michelson: Like that's the, that's exactly what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. But once people see that, or they're told, you know, [00:27:00] by an orthopedist or by somebody like, Oh, well look here, here's the thing. That's why you're in pain. Well, not, not necessarily. Maybe. Yeah. Could be.
Bradley Shepherd: And that's what I, that's what I always, that's, that's always in the back of my mind.
Bradley Shepherd: Maybe.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. I love that. Yeah. That's the, to me, the sign of, of somebody good. If you think you know too much, you know, if you're certain all the time, I am not going to trust you.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah, the Dunning Kruger effect, if you've ever heard of that, yes. It's a real thing, and I've learned, but the opposite of that is also true.
Bradley Shepherd: The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. Right.
Julie Michelson: Well, because then the more we ask why, and then there's more to investigate and figure out. That's the beautiful, that's, that's life. It's, it's good stuff. I don't know. So, so I want to dig into specifically a little bit diet [00:28:00] because I know you, you gave us some of the nutrients that, that are essential that a lot of us, I, I feel like in today's world.
Julie Michelson: world are deficient in, whether it's because of genetic predisposition or toxins or gut health or all the things, right? Because that's one, another thing that I want to highlight. We, because we're not going to go deep into gut health, but you mentioned it with the Also, even if you're supplementing, if you're, you know, listening and taking notes, like I'm going to supplement with those things.
Julie Michelson: Um, if you're not absorbing, you're not absorbing, right? So if you're taking all these wonderful supplements and you haven't worked on your gut health, you just have expensive urine. That's all. I mean, you may feel a little better. It may help. You may be absorbing more than, than, you know, cause if you're not absorbing the nutrients from the food either.
Julie Michelson: Um, but, but what, so that being said, what are, [00:29:00] you don't have to list out your top 10, but like even your top three, like what are some things listeners Should be definitely including in their diet, assuming they're not allergic or sensitive in the moment.
Bradley Shepherd: Well let's go with the top three then. Yeah. Number three would be tuna.
Bradley Shepherd: What?! It's a fatty fish. That's my number three. But
Julie Michelson: what about mercury?
Bradley Shepherd: Yes, that is a legitimate concern. Uh, let me clarify this. If you can get wild caught. Alaska tuna. Not the factory farmed stuff. Right. Right. Okay. And I should probably not assume this, but you should always source your food if you can.
Bradley Shepherd: Right. Uh, no, thank you for
Julie Michelson: saying it and not assuming.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Especially well, not even, but yes, like protein quality and sourcing is it's makes it the, you know, [00:30:00] you can take, I'll use, and it's the same with tuna, but, but I know a little more about the stats with beef, right? Factory farm beef, industrial beef is not the same as grass fed and finished beef.
Julie Michelson: It's not. Grass fed and finish is high in omega 3s. The other is high in omega 6s. Like, they're just, literally, when we're breaking apart the legos, we've got different legos, even though it may be two steaks, right, or two burgers.
Bradley Shepherd: And I will even go one step further and say, even the crops, Yes, eating or that we're feeding.
Bradley Shepherd: Yes, because if they're not grown in in good soil, right, where are the nutrients coming from? And so, right, even even the vegetables and the fruits that we eat, if they're factory farmed, you know, or right on a cash farm or whatever, I'm not, I'm not an organic farm that does all those good things.[00:31:00]
Bradley Shepherd: principles, you're not going to get those nutrients. Even, uh, I'm going to go even further as to the supplements that we take in. If they're not good, high quality supplements, you know, I, I like food supplements, like standard process, um, because they are grown on an organic farm and it's food. That's where we should be getting our nutrition in the first place.
Bradley Shepherd: Um, But I've been to their farm and I've looked at their stats and their soil is actually getting better from year to year.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: So I trust that stuff. You know, if you can source all of your food, that's, that's the way to go.
Julie Michelson: And, and soil qual, I mean, that that's a whole nother podcast. Maybe we'll have another conversation about that because I do hear there are people who are eating what should be a nutrient dense diet.
Julie Michelson: But it's not, and, and I really do believe in, yeah, some of it is, you know, are you absorbing well and all of that, but a lot of it is just in [00:32:00] general, unless where your food is grown, which is, I would say, even where I am, hard to find across the board, you know, like the soil needs to be amended, we need regenerative farming, we need So across the board, I feel like, correct me if you disagree, the nutrient density available in our food for the most part is not what it was, you know.
Julie Michelson: Long time ago, even,
Bradley Shepherd: even 50 years
Julie Michelson: ago,
Bradley Shepherd: which I don't think that's 50 years is an awful long time. I'm 55. So, you know, it's, it's not. Um, but, but yeah, you're right. And that's, that's, I think that's why we're seeing such a surge in the supplement industry is because we're not getting it from our food and we need to supplement.
Julie Michelson: Well, and I hear people saying all the time, you know, no, you know, don't supplement, you should be getting it from your food. And it's like, well, that's. That's not always possible. Um, and I know as somebody who tries to [00:33:00] do both, I feel better when I take my supplements and my body works better when I take myself, mine are targeted for me, you know, it's not an across the board thing, although it is all really
Bradley Shepherd: key to, I do want to interject with that.
Bradley Shepherd: It's got to be personalized. You can't be like, Oh, my friend tried this. I'm going to.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: I'll be personalized. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: I know. I see that all the time. Especially I think people that are into functional medicine, biohacking, um, listening to podcasts, we tend to, I I've had clients say, you know, while I'm on, on, you know, I feel like I'm taking too many supplements and then, and these are the targeted ones that, that, you know, have been prescribed.
Julie Michelson: intentionally, specifically, personally, um, and then come to find out, well, they're taking 20 other things that they read about, heard about, listened to, you know, and it's like, okay, how, how about we take the things we know your body [00:34:00] needs. We just slow the, you know, like sometimes if you're taking too many things, it's because you've added
Bradley Shepherd: your money.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah. Yeah. Like you're taking all this stuff that I'm not saying don't
Julie Michelson: play right. Cause I'm experimental and I love, you know, I love playing. We had a rep come yesterday to the clinic, um, from a company I actually have always been a big fan of and happens to be local here, Quicksilver Scientific, and they, they, their whole thing is, um, you know, the liposomal delivery of things we need, some of the things we've just mentioned even, and I, I just, you know, she brought a bunch of stuff I hadn't tried before.
Julie Michelson: I, I kind of have had my head down and haven't been as like, Oh, what's new out there, what's going on? You know, and I, I'm that person I was there. I mean, I, everything she, she did. I, I took a swing. I'll try that. I'll try that. You know, that's [00:35:00] fine, but also like you have to start with what does your body and realize.
Julie Michelson: That may change over time.
Bradley Shepherd: Yes. So, yeah. Yes.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: Um, and I'll do that too. When I recommend supplements, you know, I'll, you know, I do a lot of blood work, you know, so I, I like to look at that and monitor, make sure that we're making those changes. Right. Yeah. And then if someone, okay, we don't need this anymore, let's switch it up for something else, you know, start fine tuning.
Bradley Shepherd: That's, that's where the fun comes in.
Julie Michelson: Question. This may be too personal. Um, Yeah. Why tuna and not salmon when you say fatty fish?
Bradley Shepherd: Salmon's number four actually.
Julie Michelson: Ah, okay. Thank you. I was just so curious. So what, how does tuna beat out salmon?
Bradley Shepherd: Well, it just provides a couple of different nuanced ingredients.
Bradley Shepherd: Okay. The nutrients. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so, [00:36:00] you know, we need both. I love salmon. I like all of the. If you know what smash fish are, I do not. You told me I was going to learn. Yes. Yeah. It's, it's an acronym. S M A S H. So it stands for salmon, anchovies. Oh, sorry. Salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, herring. And then I just throw on the tuna.
Bradley Shepherd: Gotcha. Okay. Those are the best fatty fish that you can get. So all of those, any of those will be really, really beneficial for you. They just didn't interesting.
Julie Michelson: Well, and I'm thinking of like the only person I know are people I'm my brother to my older brother, but my dad loved herring. You know that I am thinking of the, the way we used to eat.
Julie Michelson: Right. So, you know, I never took to it as a kid, but my dad used to eat. Pickled herring all the time. Um, because [00:37:00] probably at some point they realized that was a healthy thing to be including, right. Um, and I will say too, if you're like me, um, one of my toxicities is, has been mercury and it's something that, you know, compared to other people, I would still probably be considered mercury toxic, but it's, it's better.
Julie Michelson: It's always better. Um, And we do sometimes tend to, I didn't eat tuna for years because of that. Um, and even if that's an issue, like there, you can have some chlorella when you eat your tuna or like there, there are ways if you're concerned about that, um, it doesn't always mean we have to avoid a void.
Julie Michelson: And so I just wanted to throw that out there because I'm sure there are other listeners like me who are like, wait, what? Tina. Um,
Bradley Shepherd: yeah. Yeah. And if there is a concern, you know, there are, um, [00:38:00] um, supplements out there that are adsorbent. Right. And, and, you know, yeah, take, take those too. You know,
Julie Michelson: I love it if
Bradley Shepherd: you have that problem.
Bradley Shepherd: Okay. So number
Julie Michelson: two,
Bradley Shepherd: number two, I'm going to get a lot of flack for this one.
Julie Michelson: Oh, but number two
Bradley Shepherd: is actually beef.
Julie Michelson: Yes. Not factory farm beef, though.
Bradley Shepherd: No, no. Organic beef. Yes.
Julie Michelson: Grass fed. Like a cow's supposed to live. It's bad that we even have to say that, isn't it? Right. Well, but I know. But I need to clarify.
Julie Michelson: Grass fed. Yes. Organic. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Bradley Shepherd: Yes.
Julie Michelson: I knew I was going to like you.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah. Because, you know, they're grain fed. It's just Where are your nutrients coming from? Yeah. Well, and
Julie Michelson: I mean, growing up, my family was in the dairy business. So I know a little bit about the biology of a cow and I [00:39:00] know that they are not supposed to eat corn.
Julie Michelson: They don't eat corn in nature. They cannot digest corn. It will make them sick. If you feed them corn, which is why they then give them antibiotic, like there's just so many, anyway, if you eat an animal, that's been eating what it's supposed to eat, then you're doing it right. Yeah. And it's the same, even with the fish.
Julie Michelson: I couldn't believe it when I found out that. Farm fish is fed corn. Where in nature is a fish going to encounter corn? Where? It
Bradley Shepherd: just doesn't ever make
Julie Michelson: sense. And
Bradley Shepherd: it goes, it goes with, you know, turkey, chicken. Yeah. Everything. All of this, all of, any factory farmed animal. Yeah, or I'm going to say any factory farm plant, right?
Bradley Shepherd: Because again, it goes back to the soil, you know, right. All the, the good bacteria in your, it's funny. I know this is really off topic, but [00:40:00] the, all of the, the microbiome of your gut and the microbiome of the soil should be pretty similar to be healthy. Right. Yeah. A lot of diversity in our soil. We need a lot of diversity in our gut.
Julie Michelson: We do. It just, it made, what popped into my head was gotta eat a pound of dirt before you die, which I, yeah, I grew up as an equestrian. So I still am. Um, but I, I am like patting myself on the back. So we have outside my window over here, we've got 15 chickens. Um, who are new to us this year, we're probably about two weeks away from eggs.
Julie Michelson: We built their coop by hand on top of a flatbed trailer and it moves around the pastures behind the horses because that's the only way I wanted to do it. And we, so we put it off for a couple of years and then we figured out how to do [00:41:00] it. And I'm like, Oh, you know, I, I was really, my number one thing was egg quality, quality of life for the chickens and egg quality.
Julie Michelson: Um, these are eggers. These are not meat chickens. I, I'm not that hardcore. Um, but. Also, I'm, we're trying to amend the soil on the property as well. And, and so we need animals for that process. We, you don't have to have animals on your land, like you could, you know, there are other ways to amend your soil to be clear.
Julie Michelson: Um, but animals are integral to that process, even the horses, even cows. Um, and so I love that you, you know, yes, there is this connection and, and we know that when. You know, we stopped touching soil. Our, our microbiome depletes, you know, let your kids play in the dirt. Like, you know, please, maybe you go play in the dirt, you know, too.
Julie Michelson: So, okay. [00:42:00] Number one. Number
Bradley Shepherd: one. Oh, number one is broccoli. Yes. I love broccoli. I think I've always thought that broccoli was just a superfood. And the more I learn about broccoli, the more I realize it really is. A superfood. It is. So broccoli's number one.
Julie Michelson: I love it. Tell us, I'm nodding and cheering because I know, and it ties to things we've already touched on, but how, why is broccoli a superfood?
Bradley Shepherd: Well, because of all the nutrients. For example, it's got vitamin C, which is an antioxidant, but it also helps, um, uh, it's an antioxidant for cortisol, which is your stress hormone. Right. It's got ALA, if you know what alpha lipoic acid is. That helps improve insulin sensitivity. You've got chromium in there, which is a mineral that you need for blood sugar metabolism.
Bradley Shepherd: You've got vitamin B complexes, which help with estrogen and, uh, testosterone. It's [00:43:00] got lignans like, um, phytoestrogens that help, it can help reduce menopause symptoms, for example. And also, The lignans help lower the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, and breast cancer. It's got something called, um, sulforaphane, which is
Julie Michelson: coming.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: Helps detox the hormones. It's got glutathione, which is an antioxidant and a, and a hormone detox. I mean, it's packed. And
Julie Michelson: this is just regular broccoli. It doesn't, it doesn't like what, let's talk about some of the differences. Forms, we would get just a regular
Bradley Shepherd: American. Regular
Julie Michelson: broccoli, broccoli.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: Broccoli
Julie Michelson: sprouts.
Bradley Shepherd: Sure.
Julie Michelson: Okay. Okay.
Bradley Shepherd: Any, any form of broccoli, form of
Julie Michelson: broccoli? Yeah. Do you, is it something, you know, this and I'm trying to not trying to throw you under the bus. I'm genuinely curious. Are you like, we should all eat broccoli every day. [00:44:00] Like it should just always be, you know, included in your diet?
Julie Michelson: Like what's What do you think? Do you eat broccoli every day? Well, you're not a woman either. I
Bradley Shepherd: don't, I don't, I'm a huge, I'm a huge, you know, everything in moderation. Don't do
Julie Michelson: anything
Bradley Shepherd: every day. Yeah. Right. Um, and in fact, and this is a good rule of thumb is just to make sure that you're, you're eating a lot of different colors in your diet.
Bradley Shepherd: Yes. You've got to have all of the, I hate that Skittles have taken the eat the rainbow. I know. Skittles. But if we apply that to our food. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. I love it. I love it. So it sounds, uh, what I, what my favorite thing about your list, this is definitely bias. I said already, my favorite thing is the beef. I love that your list, cause we do, we need the rainbow, not the Skittles or the M& Ms.
Julie Michelson: We need the actual genuine rainbow. So [00:45:00] I think we need. The biggest variety, especially, you know, focusing with the autoimmune audience, you know, so many of us and I do it and with my clients we do an elimination and combined with blood work and all the things while we're healing. And I always say to people, the goal is, ideal is you're eating the most varied diet that supports you.
Julie Michelson: So people tend to, as they're, you know, identifying food triggers, It's really common for people to stay stuck in what I would consider what should be considered an elimination phase because they're, you know, afraid, they feel good and they don't want to rock the boat. And it's like, no, we need to be including, I mean, I still, I'm nightshade sensitive.
Julie Michelson: You better believe that every year that we grow tomatoes, I'm trying, I'm saying like, is this year, you know, the year I'm going to bring tomatoes [00:46:00] back in. Um, Because they're nutrient dense and they're delicious. I grew up in New Jersey, but you know, I joke like processed sugar never needs to come back in.
Julie Michelson: That's not a food group, but we, we don't want to be excluding nutrient dense foods just because we read they could be inflammatory or, but I love the often when we have this eat the rainbow to when we talk about nutrient density. Most people aren't including your really healthy and important protein sources on the list.
Julie Michelson: So like major applause to you because we are whole humans and we were created to be consuming a variety of foods. So
Bradley Shepherd: humans are omnivores.
Julie Michelson: Yes.
Bradley Shepherd: Tell people
Julie Michelson: what, you know, I just realized. I'm sorry vegetarians, I'm sorry
Bradley Shepherd: vegans, I'm sorry those that follow the carnivore diet. You know, maybe they are beneficial, [00:47:00] maybe those diets are beneficial for the short term.
Julie Michelson: They can be. I think any major real whole food switch can cause some relief of inflammation and a shift and, and that's why people are like, Oh, I feel so good. You know, I went vegan and I found sorry begins. I went vegan and I felt great and then five years later they're hiring me because they've got five autoimmune diagnoses because they're still vegan.
Julie Michelson: I'm like, okay. And it's like, and same with car, I have used carnivore with particular clients, um, as a reset as a reset, but we, I love it. We are omnivores. We are.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: We're supposed to be.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah. That's, that's how, you know, that's how our ancestors
Julie Michelson: lived. You know, they ate what they could
Bradley Shepherd: find.
Julie Michelson: Right. Right.
Julie Michelson: And they weren't in one place. They weren't farming. They weren't, you know, so, um, [00:48:00] yeah, they, that's a whole nother, you know, That's another another episode. Yes. Yes. I love it.
Bradley Shepherd: And I'd be interested in your, uh, to be on, just to throw this out there, your, your, your process for the, for your farming. That sounded really interesting.
Bradley Shepherd: I think,
Julie Michelson: yeah,
Bradley Shepherd: we'll chat about it when
Julie Michelson: we're done. I'll, I'll shift the laptop and I'll show you, I'll show you who's outside. We'll, we'll see. And of course eat the rainbow. And I, and no, there is no difference in nutrient density. Um, but we, if all goes well. Um, we're going to have blue eggs and green eggs and brown eggs and orange eggs and chocolate color.
Julie Michelson: And just because it's fun, why not, you know, lots of, lots of fun. So I'm learning, you know, as I, as I grow, I grew up in suburbia, but now I, I'm like, you know, we're living on this farm. We might as well really embrace it. And, and I [00:49:00] am so. interested and focused on nutrient density and quality. Um, the, that was the whole thing until we figured out how to build the coop ourselves.
Julie Michelson: Um, I only wanted to do it if they'd be pastured and, oh my gosh, if you go online and try to find a mobile coop, they're a fortune. So now I know I can build stuff. I can amend my soil. I can eat a healthy breakfast. Um, and I can have some fun. So it's, it's good stuff. So
Bradley Shepherd: I am going to break your heart on the eggs though.
Bradley Shepherd: I recently read a study that it could be linked to diabetes. If you're eating too many eggs with that. With the caveat, though, I don't know what type of eggs they used in that study. And what else were they eating? That they weren't organic.
Julie Michelson: Well, I bet you they were not pastured for sure. Right. So if you're eating, I mean, that was [00:50:00] the, um, these chickens, I've had them since they were three days old.
Julie Michelson: Um, they have been on a soy free, corn free feed and then nature, right? Bugs and the things they're finding and are. Um, and so it's going to be another one of those, like, what were those chickens eating and what else are the people eating too?
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: So talk to me again when we've got like 10 studies and we'll see in the meantime, I'm going to eat my healthy eggs.
Julie Michelson: Enjoy those healthy eggs.
Bradley Shepherd: I
Julie Michelson: will.
Bradley Shepherd: That's actually number nine on my list, too. Is it? Awesome. Eggs is also what I consider a superfood.
Julie Michelson: Awesome. I agree. I absolutely, it's another one of those, you know, it was demonized. Oh, when people say to me, you know, what do you, what do you eat? Oh, egg white. Whatever. I'm like, no, stop it.
Bradley Shepherd: Stop
Julie Michelson: it.
Bradley Shepherd: Eat the whole egg organic if you can.
Julie Michelson: Yes. [00:51:00] Yes. Love it. Bradley, this is the point in the podcast where I ask you a trick question. You're not going to have a problem with it. Um, but listeners are leaning in cause they know this is coming. What you already gave us so many, um, and it, this could be something totally different, or you can repeat what's one step listeners can take today to start to improve their health.
Bradley Shepherd: I know. That's a great question. And, and I, I should have known this was coming because I looked at some of your past podcasts. One person said increase their water intake, which I think is very, very important. So do that. But I'm going to say if you are drinking any sort of sugary drink, you know, whether it's a juice, whether it's a soda, even the diet sodas, Stop it.
Bradley Shepherd: Especially. Especially the diet sodas. Yeah. Yeah. I know. It's just, it's pretty, pretty interesting [00:52:00] that people think that, Oh, it's a diet soda. Yeah. I'm okay to drink it. Uh, they don't realize that it's, it's fake chemical sugar and that, that people that do drink diet sodas actually tend to gain weight and not in a healthy way.
Bradley Shepherd: Right. Yeah. Not muscle. Yeah. I would say cut down on the sugary drinks. I love
Julie Michelson: it. Cause that's going to lead to more and more and more goodness. So yay. Good job.
Bradley Shepherd: Decrease that inflammation because the sugar, those simple sugars create so much inflammation
Julie Michelson: as do the chemicals in the, in the diet drinks. Yup.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. So that's, that's
Bradley Shepherd: the one thing that I would recommend.
Julie Michelson: Amazing. I so, so appreciate you taking the time to, to join me and give us so much value.
Bradley Shepherd: Julie, it's been my pleasure. It's been, this has been really fun.
Julie Michelson: Yay. It's supposed to be. Thank you so much for everyone listening. Remember, you can get those [00:53:00] transcripts and show notes by visiting inspiredliving.
Julie Michelson: show. Hope you had a great time and enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I'll see you next week.
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Julie Michelson: Welcome back to the inspired living with autoimmunity [00:01:00] podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michaelson. And today we're joined by Bradley Shepard. Bradley is a doctor of chiropractic with over 15 years of experience. And he's also a certified functional medicine practitioner. His main focus is on identifying hormone and nutritional imbalances that cause and Amplify or perpetuate pain.
Julie Michelson: He uses whole food nutrition to help others get their life back naturally. In today's conversation, we're talking about this connection between nutrition, hormones, and pain, and Bradley gives us his top foods to incorporate to help balance hormones and reduce pain. And they are probably not what you might expect.
Julie Michelson: Bradley, welcome to the podcast.
Bradley Shepherd: Thanks, Julie. It's great to be here. I'm really excited to be here and I'm looking forward to a great conversation today.
Julie Michelson: I am as well. And I, I love, I, I know audiences are going to get so much value out of wherever [00:02:00] this conversation leads. Cause I never really know ahead of time.
Julie Michelson: Um, I hope so, but, but just, I know our topic alone is, is really, um, important for listeners to understand and, and to hear. So I look forward to it. I was cheating. I was asking you a little bit ahead of time, but I would love for you to share a little bit with listeners, um, about, you know, whether it's what took you into to drive you to become a doctor of chiropractic or, and, or, especially because this is my Personal favorite part is okay.
Julie Michelson: And then how to functional medicine. So how does a gentleman, um, become this expert on nutrition and hormones? And, um, cause I I'm always fascinated about that.
Bradley Shepherd: A gentleman. Wow. I might be assuming. No, [00:03:00] it's, it's a, it's a great, um, it's, it's a journey, like you said, and, you know, believe it or not, I was set out to be a math teacher.
Bradley Shepherd: And yeah, I've always enjoyed teaching. And so and that's why I love these podcasts, you know, because I feel like I can enjoy that passion without all of the legal, right, you know, hoops and yeah, or C and everything like that. And that's what turned me off to teaching is I can't teach the way I wanted to teach, but I've always liked to help people.
Bradley Shepherd: And so, okay, what can I do to help people? The medical profession is great, except I don't like the idea of, okay, you've got this symptom, take this pill. Right. That's, that's, that's, That didn't make a lot of sense to me. I know I can, I can help in the short term and long term, but what about, you know, what about, you know, identifying, you know, why you're having these problems in the first place?
Bradley Shepherd: Yes,
Julie Michelson: it's every, every child's favorite question is the most important [00:04:00] question in medicine, right? Why? Why? That doesn't typically get asked in that standard Western model.
Bradley Shepherd: Exactly. That's, that's what I found. And so when I discovered chiropractic, that's kind of what they, what they talked about is get to the, you know, get to the underlying root of the problem, get to the cause of the problem.
Bradley Shepherd: And that really resonated with me. So after I decided, okay, this math teacher, not going to do it. Chiropractic, this sounds great. Um, I, you know, I had been to a chiropractor once for low back pain when I was 23 and it one treatment and I was better. I was good to go. Obviously I know now that that's not really typical, but it worked for me.
Bradley Shepherd: It was great. And so I knew it had helped me, but I didn't realize at the time that they were actually doctors. And so I thought, well, okay, let's do this. Let's be a doctor and get to the underlying root of the [00:05:00] problem, which was great. Now, once I got into chiropractic school and started learning the stuff, we took a lot of nutrition, which was always kind of interesting to me.
Bradley Shepherd: But with chiropractic, and I, I don't want to, you know, diss on my, my chiropractic colleagues or the schools or anything like that. But they taught that the spine and the nervous system is the cause of all of the problems. And to be honest with you, for a long time I bought into it. I thought that all of the world's problems could be fixed with a great chiropractic adjustment.
Bradley Shepherd: And if everyone got chiropractic, there would be world peace.
Julie Michelson: If only. Right.
Bradley Shepherd: Uh, but, but as I learned, you know, there was, it wasn't helping everybody, like I thought it could, like I was taught that it should. And so I'm, so I, I learned that, you know what, chiropractic is great for a lot of things. But there's more to it.
Bradley Shepherd: And when I discovered functional medicine, I thought, okay, this sounds more like what I was looking [00:06:00] for the whole time. Right. Because we're looking at the spine and the nervous system, but we're looking at the blood, we're looking at the hormones, we're looking at lifestyle, we're looking at mental, emotional aspects, we're looking at toxicity, we're looking at gut health, and all of this stuff.
Bradley Shepherd: And I'm like, yes! The whole person. Yay. So it's not, you know, and I, and I, people weren't just a spine,
Julie Michelson: right? Yeah. A box. I mean, the, the lens is, we always have the favorite saying, um, and I, I have fractured my spine. I have, I'm very grateful for orthopedic surgeons, but whenever somebody is having an issue that they, think they may need an orthopedic surgeon for a non emergency, non broken bone.
Julie Michelson: It's like, let's do some other things first because, you know, if your only tool is a hammer, everything's a nail, right? Like, so I love that, you know, the, I knew we [00:07:00] were going to have a great conversation. I love the idea of it's, and it's not this narrow focus. Here's my body part. I focus on the spine, right?
Julie Michelson: Like when I was sick, I don't even know I should count that how many specialists I had, right? For each system or body part that was having a problem. When, if I had just had somebody years ago say, Why let's go after that. You know, I wouldn't have needed all those compartmentalized treatments, so yay.
Julie Michelson: Kudos to you,
Bradley Shepherd: and you know, I'll be honest with you, it's not for everybody. Not everybody needs it, but for those of us that do, it's, it's a lifesaver. And I can't tell you how many patients have said, you know, you've saved my life. Sure. Not in some dramatic way, but just.
Julie Michelson: But yes, I mean, when, when, for those of anybody listening who either [00:08:00] is chronically ill right now or has been or is afraid they're on that path.
Julie Michelson: I mean, did that and that's what you do. You see what's ahead of you. Right. I didn't think I would live to see 50. Because that was the trajectory I was on until I changed course. So it is really life changing, whatever that means to the person whose life is changing, you know, it's huge for, for so many of us, it means I get to enjoy my family, right?
Julie Michelson: Life can get bigger again, or at the very least stop getting smaller. And that is life changing. That's how, that's how we create world peace. Right. When then we can make a contribution and be part of community and heal it societally. So I love the, yes, you're very modest, but, but, you know, every there's a ripple effect with every impact.
Julie Michelson: So, um, yeah, I don't think you're, I don't think your patients are exaggerating.
Bradley Shepherd: Thank [00:09:00] you.
Julie Michelson: I don't,
Bradley Shepherd: it's, it's, it's not one of those, you know, life and death situations, emergency situations, but it is, but it, but I have seen the changes. Yeah. It's, it's a beautiful thing. And that's, that's really why I like doing what I do too, is to see those changes and sure.
Bradley Shepherd: I'm trying to make the world a little bit better.
Julie Michelson: I love it. I love it. So I would love to and always feel free to redirect me because I know you have so much to share. Um, but I want to talk about, you know, the audience knows that I, I will scream it from the rooftops this connection between. Hormones and autoimmunity and all of the things you just mentioned, the, you know, the lifestyle, the toxins, the gut health, that there's so many things and they're all intertwined and integrated, right?
Julie Michelson: There, we can't separate stress, toxins, lifestyle from gut health and all of those [00:10:00] things from hormones. And, you know, it's this chicken and egg, it's all connected. Um, but this. Impact, and I've personally experienced this, um, of hormones on pain, even if you have a diagnosis that explains your pain, right?
Julie Michelson: Hormones really can impact the experience of pain and inflammation and therefore an autoimmunity, um, And nutrition can impact those hormones and pain as well. And so I want to, I want to talk about that because we've done a lot of episodes on different ways of supporting hormones and listeners. Now, I am a huge fan of bioidentical hormone replacement when appropriate, um, as somebody who doesn't have ovaries or uterus anymore.
Julie Michelson: You know, the reason why I am well and vibrant and all the [00:11:00] things is because I have wonderful care in that department. Um, but there's this range also of, I was going to start with perimenopause, but really I see so many, even young women who don't have balanced hormones. They have rough cycles. They have PCOS, they have mood, you know, anxiety, depression, mood, stuff, all these things.
Julie Michelson: And again, we can't separate the layers out, but I want to dig in a little bit with that impact of nutrition. I know you have, um, I'm going to throwing it all at you right now. And then you, you, you drive. Um, I do want to, I know you have like. 10 foods, um, that everybody, you know, can be incorporating, should be incorporating to help balance hormones and help with pain.
Julie Michelson: Um, but let's start, start me in the beginning of what is this connection between [00:12:00] nutrition and hormone wellness?
Bradley Shepherd: You know, I love that question, um, because it's not one that we always ask because we, you know, why do we have a hormone imbalance in the first place? Right. And, and again, we're asking that question, why?
Bradley Shepherd: And a lot of times, it's not all of the case, but I mean, in your case, you don't have the, you know, you don't have your ovary. So that's why, you know, that's, that's a really easy, but before that, I,
Julie Michelson: well, and I lost, honestly, I was already Well, by the time I, I got rid of my ovaries. Um, so before that I was that the, which I, I think is probably almost more common these days than somebody with beautifully balanced hormones.
Julie Michelson: I mean, I was estrogen dominant, of course, had never heard those words and didn't know what that was. But my experience of my hormones was definitely, you know, at least. In my [00:13:00] adult life, I was estrogen dominant. And so even back then, balancing hormones when I had my parts was a game changer. Totally a game changer.
Julie Michelson: Right? So, sorry, I interrupted, but I, you know, there because it's, it's this big range of Yeah, you're right. It's,
Bradley Shepherd: it's not, it's, it's complicated. It can be complicated. Yeah. We want to try to simplify it as much as possible. But, you know, we're, you know, since we're talking about estrogen and progesterone, which are, you know, the primary female hormones of the ovaries, you actually need certain nutrients in order to detoxify or to, you know, help with the metabolism of estrogens and progesterone.
Bradley Shepherd: So you need You know, a glutathione, for example, I don't know how technical your audience is going to get, but you know, vitamin D, uh, vitamin B, um, uh, lignans, if you know what lignans are. [00:14:00] What are lignans for the audience? So, so lignans are, um, they are chemicals that it's, it's a whole webinar in itself. I know.
Bradley Shepherd: They're chemicals that help, yeah, they're chemicals that help produce hormones. And
Julie Michelson: where do we, where would we find them? Like, so
Bradley Shepherd: A lot of things they work really well with a lot of the antioxidants, actually, and so you're going to find them in like things like, you know, blueberries and and flaxseed and broccoli and and and things like that.
Bradley Shepherd: So, uh, those are. Um, where was I? I got off track. But anyway, both, I'm sorry. We need these
Julie Michelson: essential nutrients for metabolizing these and detoxing to
Bradley Shepherd: make
Julie Michelson: them
Bradley Shepherd: and
Julie Michelson: to make them, yeah. To make
Bradley Shepherd: them to detox. And, and we need, you know, we need the antioxidants for any metabolic activity, right. Which the making and regulating of hormones is hugely, you know, that, that's a lot of chemistry going on and those are a lot of chemical reactions.
Bradley Shepherd: And so we need those antioxidants to help as well. Yeah. Well, and [00:15:00]
Julie Michelson: just even. Those things, as you're listing off, like these are things that are essential. I'm thinking, wow, I've always been glutathione deficient. I have, you know, MTHFR SNPs. So I don't methylate my Bs well. My D, which I see in most, uh, most of my people who haven't tested and aren't supplementing their Ds are In the toilet, um, you know, like, like, um, you know, the, the, it's all the, so no wonder so many of us have this struggle like biologically have the struggle of regulating hormones, keeping them balanced.
Julie Michelson: Um, I want to ask you, and then I'm going to set you free again, because use the word use metabolize and detox. And I think this is a really important piece that I certainly didn't know as a woman who had all those hormones naturally occurring, right? I never knew that you had to, you [00:16:00] know, detox estrogen, right?
Julie Michelson: Like it, no, it's not a toxin, but we need to be able to excrete it. And therefore, if you're like me and you're a collector of every environmental toxin, mold, heavy metal that you've met, of course, you want to also keep your estrogen recycling. And, and so talk to us a little bit about that. And because this is one little area where I'm like, Ooh, I know, I'm, I know, I know one.
Julie Michelson: Correct thing that Bradley is going to talk about, um, because you already mentioned, you know, the veggies and the broccoli and I'm thinking dim or, you know, um, so how is it that somebody could have what's considered normal estrogen, you know, but maybe they're recycling and that's driving inflammation or causing an imbalance.
Bradley Shepherd: Okay, so it's really, really complicated [00:17:00] because so, for example, testosterone and estrogen can be converted back and forth, right? There's not just one estrogen, there's three to make things a little bit more complicated, right? Estrone, estradiol, and estreon, you know, and they all kind of play into a pattern.
Bradley Shepherd: And your nutrition, if you're deficient in one of, in a certain nutrient, like B6 for example, you're not going to be able to convert back and forth. Okay. And so you're going to have a buildup of one and a deficiency of the other. Did that help?
Julie Michelson: Yes, it does. Well, and I think even just, yeah, absolutely does.
Julie Michelson: Um, so I, sorry, I know I shifted you off track. We'll let you go back on track with, we need, so we need nutrients to build these hormones. We need certain nutrients. To metabolize them and convert them back and forth. And then we need certain nutrients to [00:18:00] be able to detox and excrete.
Bradley Shepherd: And metabolism, I know I kind of got stuck on that word, but maybe some of your audience doesn't really, you know, we heard the word, we hear the word metabolism.
Bradley Shepherd: What is that? Thank you. Yeah. Good question. And so metabolism really is just the word that we use to take the, and there's two types of, of bolisms if you want, there's animalism and catabolism. And it basically, what it is, is when we take your food, we have to break that food down and then we have to use those little parts to build other things.
Bradley Shepherd: That's metabolism. Right. It's like, it's like Legos. Yes.
Julie Michelson: Ideally.
Bradley Shepherd: We take in a nice, you know, steak or whatever, whatever chicken sandwich, I don't know. All that stuff has to be broken down in your gut, you know, and then it all has to be on all those little proteins have to be reassembled so that our bodies can do what it does. And then part of that is making hormones.
Bradley Shepherd: So that's basically what metabolism is. So now we know. Okay.
Julie Michelson: Well, and I love that because [00:19:00] now you just answered the, you know, when I said that interconnection between gut health and all the things that impact gut health and metabolism, hormones, all the things. If your gut
Bradley Shepherd: isn't healthy, it can't do what it do, what it does.
Bradley Shepherd: It can't break everything down. So,
Julie Michelson: yeah, I know. I, I think like, Maybe seven years ago, I was like, Oh, I'm so tired of hearing about gut health. I feel like it's like the new fad. And now I'm like, Oh, yep. It's the thing. It really is.
Bradley Shepherd: And when I was studying medicine, it all goes back to the gut. Everything's like, okay, depression.
Bradley Shepherd: Okay. That's a good issue. Yes. Hormone imbalances. Okay. That's a good issue. Um, and so, you know, and I do want to make this, you know, um, it, it really is important once you get that gut health. taking care of. And then we can work on the hormone balancing. So, so that's what I do. So I'm kind of like, okay, you know, if someone doesn't have a [00:20:00] really good gut health, I kind of have to start with that.
Bradley Shepherd: And ideally someone's already kind of. Gone through that. And there's other people that work on just digestion and gut health. Right. There. And then when we're ready to go, That's where I step in,
Julie Michelson: what is the connection between hormone imbalance and pain? Like if we know, okay, foundationally, we're gut health, that's, we got to address that, or we can't balance everything, you know, long term.
Julie Michelson: Anyway, you can feel better for a little while, but eventually you're going to have to address your gut. Um, but, but why can you talk a little bit about, about the connection? Because you'll speak, I can only speak to it from experience and you'll speak about it intelligently, I'm guessing.
Bradley Shepherd: Well, we're gonna, we're gonna try.
Bradley Shepherd: Um, but it's, it's all about, there's, there's a lot of, [00:21:00] uh, hormone imbalances that cause inflammation, and inflammation is a guaranteed pain, source of pain. Now, we, we make inflammation a bad guy, and I don't want to do that, because it's really important. Without inflammation, we wouldn't survive. But we need to keep it in balance and keeping the hormones balanced keeps the inflammation balanced and There are studies.
Bradley Shepherd: This is this is an interesting study It's just kind of coming to mind is there was a study done in rats. It wasn't on humans, but it was done in rats We're estrogen deficiencies made exacerbated or made worse Disc degeneration, which I thought was interesting as a chiropractor and so If you know our hormones keep our tissues healthy, too.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah. And so if you don't have
Julie Michelson: everything.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, we have this imbalance and we have this tissue breakdown which leads to inflammation which [00:22:00] if there's inflammation somewhere. There's inflammation somewhere else, right?
Julie Michelson: Right. And I always tell people like, again, there's not ever just one thing.
Julie Michelson: So if, if you know, if you have auto immunity or you have chronic pain, you know, any kind of chronic illness is, is chronic inflammation driven. Hormones might not be the only thing, right? But every piece that we can get back in balance, that's no longer contributing to that. chronic inflammation. And I love that you did highlight.
Julie Michelson: We do need info. We also need stress. Stress causes growth, right? But chronic stress causes inflammation. So I love that you like just tied that in a nice little bow for everybody. Cause I always, I do, I think of it as, as layers and, and every piece. That, that [00:23:00] we're, we're, we're reducing the inflammation.
Julie Michelson: Eventually we get to below that point of, Oh my gosh, the pain's gone.
Bradley Shepherd: And there's a big question in the research. Does the, does the inflammation cause the disease or does the disease cause the inflammation?
Julie Michelson: Yeah. I personally, the first
Bradley Shepherd: one. I think it's
Julie Michelson: ball. Well, sure. I think it's a cycle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: But I, we know that if you address the inflammation, the disease expression may resolve. Yes. That's the, that's why we have these conversations, right? Not to be like, well, too bad. Um, no, we're changing the conversation because we, we can heal that. Um, are there certain pain conditions that you think of that are specifically like you immediately you're like, Ooh, hormones.
Bradley Shepherd: Um, believe it or not, um, unresolved back pain that doesn't, That's [00:24:00] not affected by the chiropractic adjustments. Interesting. And, um, maybe that's not necessarily as much hormone as it is B vitamins. Okay.
Julie Michelson: Okay.
Bradley Shepherd: But there's, but there's that.
Julie Michelson: But if there's a B vitamin deficiency, there's going to be a hormone challenge at least.
Julie Michelson: Right. Right. And
Bradley Shepherd: another condition that I see a lot is frozen shoulder. I don't know if you've ever heard of frozen shoulder, but there's primary frozen shoulder, which is actually a musculoskeletal condition, but there's secondary, uh, secondary, uh, frozen shoulder, which is actually caused by thyroid problems.
Julie Michelson: Interesting.
Bradley Shepherd: Or diabetes and thyroid problems and diabetes are both independent risk factors for frozen shoulder.
Julie Michelson: Interesting.
Bradley Shepherd: So that's just another example there.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: Of things. Wow. You wouldn't think that those were related at all.
Julie Michelson: Right. I know. Now I want to ask, which isn't fair, cause I'm guessing there's not a clear answer yet.
Julie Michelson: Why?
Bradley Shepherd: And you're [00:25:00] right. Yeah. I mean, sometimes we don't know why we just see these real life.
Julie Michelson: Interesting. Expressions and correlations and, and, you know, that's life
Bradley Shepherd: can be messy.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Interesting. I love the, I say this to people all the time. You mentioned chronic back pain, right? I already just said, you know, I've fractured my back in the past.
Julie Michelson: Um, I have At least two, well, the two of my offspring that have had scans of their back, both as children had degeneration of the certain, you know, they had compressions at the same disc, um, genetic. I don't know. Was that where their back pain, you know, it's one of those things, like if you take somebody, I tell, I tell clients this all the time.
Julie Michelson: Um, you know, it's almost like, yeah, we want data, but [00:26:00] also be careful because, you know, you can, you know, you can get films on a hundred people with and without back pain. And you can find reasons for back pain on almost everybody's. scan, right? Like, so even if there's a thing people can point to that they've been told, well, this is what's causing your back pain and, you know, deal with it.
Julie Michelson: Um, you're saying if there's chronic back pain, that's not responding to chiropractic that you would be looking at.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Amen. Really? Like, yeah. Thank you.
Bradley Shepherd: Thank you. And I see so many things on him. You know, I see some MRIs on, on patients. I'm like, how are you even walking?
Julie Michelson: Exactly. And those people may not even have back pain.
Julie Michelson: Like that's the, that's exactly what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. But once people see that, or they're told, you know, [00:27:00] by an orthopedist or by somebody like, Oh, well look here, here's the thing. That's why you're in pain. Well, not, not necessarily. Maybe. Yeah. Could be.
Bradley Shepherd: And that's what I, that's what I always, that's, that's always in the back of my mind.
Bradley Shepherd: Maybe.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. I love that. Yeah. That's the, to me, the sign of, of somebody good. If you think you know too much, you know, if you're certain all the time, I am not going to trust you.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah, the Dunning Kruger effect, if you've ever heard of that, yes. It's a real thing, and I've learned, but the opposite of that is also true.
Bradley Shepherd: The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. Right.
Julie Michelson: Well, because then the more we ask why, and then there's more to investigate and figure out. That's the beautiful, that's, that's life. It's, it's good stuff. I don't know. So, so I want to dig into specifically a little bit diet [00:28:00] because I know you, you gave us some of the nutrients that, that are essential that a lot of us, I, I feel like in today's world.
Julie Michelson: world are deficient in, whether it's because of genetic predisposition or toxins or gut health or all the things, right? Because that's one, another thing that I want to highlight. We, because we're not going to go deep into gut health, but you mentioned it with the Also, even if you're supplementing, if you're, you know, listening and taking notes, like I'm going to supplement with those things.
Julie Michelson: Um, if you're not absorbing, you're not absorbing, right? So if you're taking all these wonderful supplements and you haven't worked on your gut health, you just have expensive urine. That's all. I mean, you may feel a little better. It may help. You may be absorbing more than, than, you know, cause if you're not absorbing the nutrients from the food either.
Julie Michelson: Um, but, but what, so that being said, what are, [00:29:00] you don't have to list out your top 10, but like even your top three, like what are some things listeners Should be definitely including in their diet, assuming they're not allergic or sensitive in the moment.
Bradley Shepherd: Well let's go with the top three then. Yeah. Number three would be tuna.
Bradley Shepherd: What?! It's a fatty fish. That's my number three. But
Julie Michelson: what about mercury?
Bradley Shepherd: Yes, that is a legitimate concern. Uh, let me clarify this. If you can get wild caught. Alaska tuna. Not the factory farmed stuff. Right. Right. Okay. And I should probably not assume this, but you should always source your food if you can.
Bradley Shepherd: Right. Uh, no, thank you for
Julie Michelson: saying it and not assuming.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Especially well, not even, but yes, like protein quality and sourcing is it's makes it the, you know, [00:30:00] you can take, I'll use, and it's the same with tuna, but, but I know a little more about the stats with beef, right? Factory farm beef, industrial beef is not the same as grass fed and finished beef.
Julie Michelson: It's not. Grass fed and finish is high in omega 3s. The other is high in omega 6s. Like, they're just, literally, when we're breaking apart the legos, we've got different legos, even though it may be two steaks, right, or two burgers.
Bradley Shepherd: And I will even go one step further and say, even the crops, Yes, eating or that we're feeding.
Bradley Shepherd: Yes, because if they're not grown in in good soil, right, where are the nutrients coming from? And so, right, even even the vegetables and the fruits that we eat, if they're factory farmed, you know, or right on a cash farm or whatever, I'm not, I'm not an organic farm that does all those good things.[00:31:00]
Bradley Shepherd: principles, you're not going to get those nutrients. Even, uh, I'm going to go even further as to the supplements that we take in. If they're not good, high quality supplements, you know, I, I like food supplements, like standard process, um, because they are grown on an organic farm and it's food. That's where we should be getting our nutrition in the first place.
Bradley Shepherd: Um, But I've been to their farm and I've looked at their stats and their soil is actually getting better from year to year.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: So I trust that stuff. You know, if you can source all of your food, that's, that's the way to go.
Julie Michelson: And, and soil qual, I mean, that that's a whole nother podcast. Maybe we'll have another conversation about that because I do hear there are people who are eating what should be a nutrient dense diet.
Julie Michelson: But it's not, and, and I really do believe in, yeah, some of it is, you know, are you absorbing well and all of that, but a lot of it is just in [00:32:00] general, unless where your food is grown, which is, I would say, even where I am, hard to find across the board, you know, like the soil needs to be amended, we need regenerative farming, we need So across the board, I feel like, correct me if you disagree, the nutrient density available in our food for the most part is not what it was, you know.
Julie Michelson: Long time ago, even,
Bradley Shepherd: even 50 years
Julie Michelson: ago,
Bradley Shepherd: which I don't think that's 50 years is an awful long time. I'm 55. So, you know, it's, it's not. Um, but, but yeah, you're right. And that's, that's, I think that's why we're seeing such a surge in the supplement industry is because we're not getting it from our food and we need to supplement.
Julie Michelson: Well, and I hear people saying all the time, you know, no, you know, don't supplement, you should be getting it from your food. And it's like, well, that's. That's not always possible. Um, and I know as somebody who tries to [00:33:00] do both, I feel better when I take my supplements and my body works better when I take myself, mine are targeted for me, you know, it's not an across the board thing, although it is all really
Bradley Shepherd: key to, I do want to interject with that.
Bradley Shepherd: It's got to be personalized. You can't be like, Oh, my friend tried this. I'm going to.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: I'll be personalized. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: I know. I see that all the time. Especially I think people that are into functional medicine, biohacking, um, listening to podcasts, we tend to, I I've had clients say, you know, while I'm on, on, you know, I feel like I'm taking too many supplements and then, and these are the targeted ones that, that, you know, have been prescribed.
Julie Michelson: intentionally, specifically, personally, um, and then come to find out, well, they're taking 20 other things that they read about, heard about, listened to, you know, and it's like, okay, how, how about we take the things we know your body [00:34:00] needs. We just slow the, you know, like sometimes if you're taking too many things, it's because you've added
Bradley Shepherd: your money.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah. Yeah. Like you're taking all this stuff that I'm not saying don't
Julie Michelson: play right. Cause I'm experimental and I love, you know, I love playing. We had a rep come yesterday to the clinic, um, from a company I actually have always been a big fan of and happens to be local here, Quicksilver Scientific, and they, they, their whole thing is, um, you know, the liposomal delivery of things we need, some of the things we've just mentioned even, and I, I just, you know, she brought a bunch of stuff I hadn't tried before.
Julie Michelson: I, I kind of have had my head down and haven't been as like, Oh, what's new out there, what's going on? You know, and I, I'm that person I was there. I mean, I, everything she, she did. I, I took a swing. I'll try that. I'll try that. You know, that's [00:35:00] fine, but also like you have to start with what does your body and realize.
Julie Michelson: That may change over time.
Bradley Shepherd: Yes. So, yeah. Yes.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: Um, and I'll do that too. When I recommend supplements, you know, I'll, you know, I do a lot of blood work, you know, so I, I like to look at that and monitor, make sure that we're making those changes. Right. Yeah. And then if someone, okay, we don't need this anymore, let's switch it up for something else, you know, start fine tuning.
Bradley Shepherd: That's, that's where the fun comes in.
Julie Michelson: Question. This may be too personal. Um, Yeah. Why tuna and not salmon when you say fatty fish?
Bradley Shepherd: Salmon's number four actually.
Julie Michelson: Ah, okay. Thank you. I was just so curious. So what, how does tuna beat out salmon?
Bradley Shepherd: Well, it just provides a couple of different nuanced ingredients.
Bradley Shepherd: Okay. The nutrients. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so, [00:36:00] you know, we need both. I love salmon. I like all of the. If you know what smash fish are, I do not. You told me I was going to learn. Yes. Yeah. It's, it's an acronym. S M A S H. So it stands for salmon, anchovies. Oh, sorry. Salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, herring. And then I just throw on the tuna.
Bradley Shepherd: Gotcha. Okay. Those are the best fatty fish that you can get. So all of those, any of those will be really, really beneficial for you. They just didn't interesting.
Julie Michelson: Well, and I'm thinking of like the only person I know are people I'm my brother to my older brother, but my dad loved herring. You know that I am thinking of the, the way we used to eat.
Julie Michelson: Right. So, you know, I never took to it as a kid, but my dad used to eat. Pickled herring all the time. Um, because [00:37:00] probably at some point they realized that was a healthy thing to be including, right. Um, and I will say too, if you're like me, um, one of my toxicities is, has been mercury and it's something that, you know, compared to other people, I would still probably be considered mercury toxic, but it's, it's better.
Julie Michelson: It's always better. Um, And we do sometimes tend to, I didn't eat tuna for years because of that. Um, and even if that's an issue, like there, you can have some chlorella when you eat your tuna or like there, there are ways if you're concerned about that, um, it doesn't always mean we have to avoid a void.
Julie Michelson: And so I just wanted to throw that out there because I'm sure there are other listeners like me who are like, wait, what? Tina. Um,
Bradley Shepherd: yeah. Yeah. And if there is a concern, you know, there are, um, [00:38:00] um, supplements out there that are adsorbent. Right. And, and, you know, yeah, take, take those too. You know,
Julie Michelson: I love it if
Bradley Shepherd: you have that problem.
Bradley Shepherd: Okay. So number
Julie Michelson: two,
Bradley Shepherd: number two, I'm going to get a lot of flack for this one.
Julie Michelson: Oh, but number two
Bradley Shepherd: is actually beef.
Julie Michelson: Yes. Not factory farm beef, though.
Bradley Shepherd: No, no. Organic beef. Yes.
Julie Michelson: Grass fed. Like a cow's supposed to live. It's bad that we even have to say that, isn't it? Right. Well, but I know. But I need to clarify.
Julie Michelson: Grass fed. Yes. Organic. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Bradley Shepherd: Yes.
Julie Michelson: I knew I was going to like you.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah. Because, you know, they're grain fed. It's just Where are your nutrients coming from? Yeah. Well, and
Julie Michelson: I mean, growing up, my family was in the dairy business. So I know a little bit about the biology of a cow and I [00:39:00] know that they are not supposed to eat corn.
Julie Michelson: They don't eat corn in nature. They cannot digest corn. It will make them sick. If you feed them corn, which is why they then give them antibiotic, like there's just so many, anyway, if you eat an animal, that's been eating what it's supposed to eat, then you're doing it right. Yeah. And it's the same, even with the fish.
Julie Michelson: I couldn't believe it when I found out that. Farm fish is fed corn. Where in nature is a fish going to encounter corn? Where? It
Bradley Shepherd: just doesn't ever make
Julie Michelson: sense. And
Bradley Shepherd: it goes, it goes with, you know, turkey, chicken. Yeah. Everything. All of this, all of, any factory farmed animal. Yeah, or I'm going to say any factory farm plant, right?
Bradley Shepherd: Because again, it goes back to the soil, you know, right. All the, the good bacteria in your, it's funny. I know this is really off topic, but [00:40:00] the, all of the, the microbiome of your gut and the microbiome of the soil should be pretty similar to be healthy. Right. Yeah. A lot of diversity in our soil. We need a lot of diversity in our gut.
Julie Michelson: We do. It just, it made, what popped into my head was gotta eat a pound of dirt before you die, which I, yeah, I grew up as an equestrian. So I still am. Um, but I, I am like patting myself on the back. So we have outside my window over here, we've got 15 chickens. Um, who are new to us this year, we're probably about two weeks away from eggs.
Julie Michelson: We built their coop by hand on top of a flatbed trailer and it moves around the pastures behind the horses because that's the only way I wanted to do it. And we, so we put it off for a couple of years and then we figured out how to do [00:41:00] it. And I'm like, Oh, you know, I, I was really, my number one thing was egg quality, quality of life for the chickens and egg quality.
Julie Michelson: Um, these are eggers. These are not meat chickens. I, I'm not that hardcore. Um, but. Also, I'm, we're trying to amend the soil on the property as well. And, and so we need animals for that process. We, you don't have to have animals on your land, like you could, you know, there are other ways to amend your soil to be clear.
Julie Michelson: Um, but animals are integral to that process, even the horses, even cows. Um, and so I love that you, you know, yes, there is this connection and, and we know that when. You know, we stopped touching soil. Our, our microbiome depletes, you know, let your kids play in the dirt. Like, you know, please, maybe you go play in the dirt, you know, too.
Julie Michelson: So, okay. [00:42:00] Number one. Number
Bradley Shepherd: one. Oh, number one is broccoli. Yes. I love broccoli. I think I've always thought that broccoli was just a superfood. And the more I learn about broccoli, the more I realize it really is. A superfood. It is. So broccoli's number one.
Julie Michelson: I love it. Tell us, I'm nodding and cheering because I know, and it ties to things we've already touched on, but how, why is broccoli a superfood?
Bradley Shepherd: Well, because of all the nutrients. For example, it's got vitamin C, which is an antioxidant, but it also helps, um, uh, it's an antioxidant for cortisol, which is your stress hormone. Right. It's got ALA, if you know what alpha lipoic acid is. That helps improve insulin sensitivity. You've got chromium in there, which is a mineral that you need for blood sugar metabolism.
Bradley Shepherd: You've got vitamin B complexes, which help with estrogen and, uh, testosterone. It's [00:43:00] got lignans like, um, phytoestrogens that help, it can help reduce menopause symptoms, for example. And also, The lignans help lower the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, and breast cancer. It's got something called, um, sulforaphane, which is
Julie Michelson: coming.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: Helps detox the hormones. It's got glutathione, which is an antioxidant and a, and a hormone detox. I mean, it's packed. And
Julie Michelson: this is just regular broccoli. It doesn't, it doesn't like what, let's talk about some of the differences. Forms, we would get just a regular
Bradley Shepherd: American. Regular
Julie Michelson: broccoli, broccoli.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Bradley Shepherd: Broccoli
Julie Michelson: sprouts.
Bradley Shepherd: Sure.
Julie Michelson: Okay. Okay.
Bradley Shepherd: Any, any form of broccoli, form of
Julie Michelson: broccoli? Yeah. Do you, is it something, you know, this and I'm trying to not trying to throw you under the bus. I'm genuinely curious. Are you like, we should all eat broccoli every day. [00:44:00] Like it should just always be, you know, included in your diet?
Julie Michelson: Like what's What do you think? Do you eat broccoli every day? Well, you're not a woman either. I
Bradley Shepherd: don't, I don't, I'm a huge, I'm a huge, you know, everything in moderation. Don't do
Julie Michelson: anything
Bradley Shepherd: every day. Yeah. Right. Um, and in fact, and this is a good rule of thumb is just to make sure that you're, you're eating a lot of different colors in your diet.
Bradley Shepherd: Yes. You've got to have all of the, I hate that Skittles have taken the eat the rainbow. I know. Skittles. But if we apply that to our food. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. I love it. I love it. So it sounds, uh, what I, what my favorite thing about your list, this is definitely bias. I said already, my favorite thing is the beef. I love that your list, cause we do, we need the rainbow, not the Skittles or the M& Ms.
Julie Michelson: We need the actual genuine rainbow. So [00:45:00] I think we need. The biggest variety, especially, you know, focusing with the autoimmune audience, you know, so many of us and I do it and with my clients we do an elimination and combined with blood work and all the things while we're healing. And I always say to people, the goal is, ideal is you're eating the most varied diet that supports you.
Julie Michelson: So people tend to, as they're, you know, identifying food triggers, It's really common for people to stay stuck in what I would consider what should be considered an elimination phase because they're, you know, afraid, they feel good and they don't want to rock the boat. And it's like, no, we need to be including, I mean, I still, I'm nightshade sensitive.
Julie Michelson: You better believe that every year that we grow tomatoes, I'm trying, I'm saying like, is this year, you know, the year I'm going to bring tomatoes [00:46:00] back in. Um, Because they're nutrient dense and they're delicious. I grew up in New Jersey, but you know, I joke like processed sugar never needs to come back in.
Julie Michelson: That's not a food group, but we, we don't want to be excluding nutrient dense foods just because we read they could be inflammatory or, but I love the often when we have this eat the rainbow to when we talk about nutrient density. Most people aren't including your really healthy and important protein sources on the list.
Julie Michelson: So like major applause to you because we are whole humans and we were created to be consuming a variety of foods. So
Bradley Shepherd: humans are omnivores.
Julie Michelson: Yes.
Bradley Shepherd: Tell people
Julie Michelson: what, you know, I just realized. I'm sorry vegetarians, I'm sorry
Bradley Shepherd: vegans, I'm sorry those that follow the carnivore diet. You know, maybe they are beneficial, [00:47:00] maybe those diets are beneficial for the short term.
Julie Michelson: They can be. I think any major real whole food switch can cause some relief of inflammation and a shift and, and that's why people are like, Oh, I feel so good. You know, I went vegan and I found sorry begins. I went vegan and I felt great and then five years later they're hiring me because they've got five autoimmune diagnoses because they're still vegan.
Julie Michelson: I'm like, okay. And it's like, and same with car, I have used carnivore with particular clients, um, as a reset as a reset, but we, I love it. We are omnivores. We are.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: We're supposed to be.
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah. That's, that's how, you know, that's how our ancestors
Julie Michelson: lived. You know, they ate what they could
Bradley Shepherd: find.
Julie Michelson: Right. Right.
Julie Michelson: And they weren't in one place. They weren't farming. They weren't, you know, so, um, [00:48:00] yeah, they, that's a whole nother, you know, That's another another episode. Yes. Yes. I love it.
Bradley Shepherd: And I'd be interested in your, uh, to be on, just to throw this out there, your, your, your process for the, for your farming. That sounded really interesting.
Bradley Shepherd: I think,
Julie Michelson: yeah,
Bradley Shepherd: we'll chat about it when
Julie Michelson: we're done. I'll, I'll shift the laptop and I'll show you, I'll show you who's outside. We'll, we'll see. And of course eat the rainbow. And I, and no, there is no difference in nutrient density. Um, but we, if all goes well. Um, we're going to have blue eggs and green eggs and brown eggs and orange eggs and chocolate color.
Julie Michelson: And just because it's fun, why not, you know, lots of, lots of fun. So I'm learning, you know, as I, as I grow, I grew up in suburbia, but now I, I'm like, you know, we're living on this farm. We might as well really embrace it. And, and I [00:49:00] am so. interested and focused on nutrient density and quality. Um, the, that was the whole thing until we figured out how to build the coop ourselves.
Julie Michelson: Um, I only wanted to do it if they'd be pastured and, oh my gosh, if you go online and try to find a mobile coop, they're a fortune. So now I know I can build stuff. I can amend my soil. I can eat a healthy breakfast. Um, and I can have some fun. So it's, it's good stuff. So
Bradley Shepherd: I am going to break your heart on the eggs though.
Bradley Shepherd: I recently read a study that it could be linked to diabetes. If you're eating too many eggs with that. With the caveat, though, I don't know what type of eggs they used in that study. And what else were they eating? That they weren't organic.
Julie Michelson: Well, I bet you they were not pastured for sure. Right. So if you're eating, I mean, that was [00:50:00] the, um, these chickens, I've had them since they were three days old.
Julie Michelson: Um, they have been on a soy free, corn free feed and then nature, right? Bugs and the things they're finding and are. Um, and so it's going to be another one of those, like, what were those chickens eating and what else are the people eating too?
Bradley Shepherd: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: So talk to me again when we've got like 10 studies and we'll see in the meantime, I'm going to eat my healthy eggs.
Julie Michelson: Enjoy those healthy eggs.
Bradley Shepherd: I
Julie Michelson: will.
Bradley Shepherd: That's actually number nine on my list, too. Is it? Awesome. Eggs is also what I consider a superfood.
Julie Michelson: Awesome. I agree. I absolutely, it's another one of those, you know, it was demonized. Oh, when people say to me, you know, what do you, what do you eat? Oh, egg white. Whatever. I'm like, no, stop it.
Bradley Shepherd: Stop
Julie Michelson: it.
Bradley Shepherd: Eat the whole egg organic if you can.
Julie Michelson: Yes. [00:51:00] Yes. Love it. Bradley, this is the point in the podcast where I ask you a trick question. You're not going to have a problem with it. Um, but listeners are leaning in cause they know this is coming. What you already gave us so many, um, and it, this could be something totally different, or you can repeat what's one step listeners can take today to start to improve their health.
Bradley Shepherd: I know. That's a great question. And, and I, I should have known this was coming because I looked at some of your past podcasts. One person said increase their water intake, which I think is very, very important. So do that. But I'm going to say if you are drinking any sort of sugary drink, you know, whether it's a juice, whether it's a soda, even the diet sodas, Stop it.
Bradley Shepherd: Especially. Especially the diet sodas. Yeah. Yeah. I know. It's just, it's pretty, pretty interesting [00:52:00] that people think that, Oh, it's a diet soda. Yeah. I'm okay to drink it. Uh, they don't realize that it's, it's fake chemical sugar and that, that people that do drink diet sodas actually tend to gain weight and not in a healthy way.
Bradley Shepherd: Right. Yeah. Not muscle. Yeah. I would say cut down on the sugary drinks. I love
Julie Michelson: it. Cause that's going to lead to more and more and more goodness. So yay. Good job.
Bradley Shepherd: Decrease that inflammation because the sugar, those simple sugars create so much inflammation
Julie Michelson: as do the chemicals in the, in the diet drinks. Yup.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. So that's, that's
Bradley Shepherd: the one thing that I would recommend.
Julie Michelson: Amazing. I so, so appreciate you taking the time to, to join me and give us so much value.
Bradley Shepherd: Julie, it's been my pleasure. It's been, this has been really fun.
Julie Michelson: Yay. It's supposed to be. Thank you so much for everyone listening. Remember, you can get those [00:53:00] transcripts and show notes by visiting inspiredliving.
Julie Michelson: show. Hope you had a great time and enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I'll see you next week.
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Bradley Shepherd
Bradley Shepherd is a doctor of chiropractic with over 15 years experience. He is also a certified functional medicine practitioner (CFMP) since 2021. His main focus is on identifying hormone and nutrtional imbalances that cause, amplify or perpetuate pain. He uses whole food nutrition to help others get their life back naturally.
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