Episode 180
Vincent Pedre:The Untold Connection Between Your Coffee Habits and Gut Inflammation
Vincent Pedre:
The Untold Connection Between Your Coffee Habits and Gut Inflammation
If you're like me, coffee is non-negotiable - but what if your daily coffee ritual is secretly working against your health?
I'm joined by Dr. Vincent Pedre, who shares some eye-opening truths about how our coffee habits might be triggering gut inflammation. We dive into the hidden toxins in most coffee products, why your brewing method matters more than you think, and how to make your daily cup actually support your gut health.
Dr. Pedre breaks down the science of coffee's impact on our bodies and shares practical tips to transform your morning routine. Whether you're dealing with acid reflux or just want to make healthier choices, you'll want to hear this before your next cup of coffee.
I'm joined by Dr. Vincent Pedre, who shares some eye-opening truths about how our coffee habits might be triggering gut inflammation. We dive into the hidden toxins in most coffee products, why your brewing method matters more than you think, and how to make your daily cup actually support your gut health.
Dr. Pedre breaks down the science of coffee's impact on our bodies and shares practical tips to transform your morning routine. Whether you're dealing with acid reflux or just want to make healthier choices, you'll want to hear this before your next cup of coffee.
First Aired on: Feb 24, 2025
Episode 180
Vincent Pedre:The Untold Connection Between Your Coffee Habits and Gut Inflammation
Vincent Pedre:
The Untold Connection Between Your Coffee Habits and Gut Inflammation
If you're like me, coffee is non-negotiable - but what if your daily coffee ritual is secretly working against your health?
I'm joined by Dr. Vincent Pedre, who shares some eye-opening truths about how our coffee habits might be triggering gut inflammation. We dive into the hidden toxins in most coffee products, why your brewing method matters more than you think, and how to make your daily cup actually support your gut health.
Dr. Pedre breaks down the science of coffee's impact on our bodies and shares practical tips to transform your morning routine. Whether you're dealing with acid reflux or just want to make healthier choices, you'll want to hear this before your next cup of coffee.
I'm joined by Dr. Vincent Pedre, who shares some eye-opening truths about how our coffee habits might be triggering gut inflammation. We dive into the hidden toxins in most coffee products, why your brewing method matters more than you think, and how to make your daily cup actually support your gut health.
Dr. Pedre breaks down the science of coffee's impact on our bodies and shares practical tips to transform your morning routine. Whether you're dealing with acid reflux or just want to make healthier choices, you'll want to hear this before your next cup of coffee.
First Aired on: Feb 24, 2025
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
In this episode:
Dr. Vincent Pedre, a functional medicine practitioner and gut health expert, reveals how our daily coffee habits might be contributing to gut inflammation and overall health issues. From hidden toxins in coffee beans to the surprising impact of common brewing methods, we explore how to make your daily coffee ritual work for your gut health rather than against it.
Introduction
Dr. Vincent Pedre, author of the GutSMART Protocol and creator of Happy Gut Coffee, joins me to discuss the intricate relationship between our daily coffee habits and gut health. As a physician who has dedicated his career to understanding gut health, Dr. Pedre shares his insights on how to make coffee consumption healthier and more gut-friendly.
Episode Highlights
The Hidden Dangers in Your Daily Coffee
Coffee crops are among the top 10 most pesticide-sprayed crops globally, potentially disrupting our gut microbiome and leading to various health issues.
- Non-organic coffee often contains harmful pesticides that can damage gut health
- Pesticide exposure can lead to dysbiosis and leaky gut
- Quality of coffee beans significantly impacts potential mold contamination
- Low-cost organic coffee might indicate corners being cut in production
The Impact of Coffee Brewing Methods on Health
Common coffee preparation methods might be exposing us to harmful microplastics and other toxins.
- K-cups and plastic-lined paper cups release microplastics when exposed to hot water
- Microplastics can destroy the gut's protective mucus layer
- Traditional brewing methods like pour-over and steel/ceramic French press are safer options
- The importance of using steel or ceramic containers for brewing
Understanding Coffee Roasts and Gut Health
The roasting process significantly affects coffee's impact on our digestive system.
- Dark roast coffee has less caffeine than light roast
- Dark roasting reduces coffee's acidity, making it easier on sensitive stomachs
- About 50% of coffee drinkers are slow metabolizers of caffeine
- The roasting process can enhance beneficial compounds in coffee
The Health Benefits of Quality Coffee
Coffee, when properly sourced and prepared, can offer significant health benefits.
- Coffee contains polyphenols that feed beneficial gut bacteria
- These compounds can help regulate appetite through GLP-1 signaling
- Daily coffee consumption may benefit brain health
- The importance of moderation and listening to your body's response
Creating Healthier Coffee Habits
Small changes in daily coffee routines can have significant impacts on overall health.
- The importance of using personal reusable containers
- Being mindful of timing coffee consumption for better sleep
- Understanding personal caffeine sensitivity
- The value of choosing quality over convenience
Notable Quotes
"I think it's the micro habits that create the macro effects in our life. And one of those is drinking a cup of coffee every day."
Dr. Vincent Pedre
"If you're not drinking organic coffee, you're very potentially getting exposed to pesticides that are going to disrupt your gut microbiome."
Dr. Vincent Pedre
"Sometimes convenience is not necessarily better for our health."
Dr. Vincent Pedre
Other Resources:
Other Resources:
Connect with Vincent Pedre
Connect with Vincent Pedre
Watch this interview:
Watch this interview:
Episode Transcript
Vincent Pedre:[00:00:00] Coffee has benefits beyond just the caffeine. That actually having positive benefits for the gut microbiome, supporting a healthy gut microbiome, the postbiotic products, the gut brain connection. A cup of coffee per day is actually good for their brain.
Vincent Pedre: There's a lot that people don't realize when they're drinking coffee that could be hidden contaminants, starting with pesticides. If you're not drinking organic coffee, you're potentially exposed to pesticides that disrupt your gut microbiome. And causes something called dysbiosis, which then leads to leaky gut, inflammation, weight gain and scrambles your insulin signal.
Julie Michelson:[00:01:00] Welcome back to the inspired living with autoimmunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michaelson, and I'm excited to welcome Dr. Vincent Pedre back to the podcast. If you missed it, tune into episode 79 to hear our first interview. Dr. Pedre is the medical director of Pedre integrative health and founder of Dr.
Julie Michelson: Pedre wellness. He's the CEO and founder of Happy Gut Life, LLC, and has had a concierge functional medicine practice in New York City since 2004. Dr. Pedre believes that the gut is the gateway to excellent wellness. Through his best selling books, he's helped thousands around the world resolve their gut related health issues.
Julie Michelson: In today's conversation, we're discussing Dr. Pedre's newest [00:02:00] contribution to gut health, happy gut coffee. We're talking about what to consider when choosing your coffee, as well as the importance of how you prepare it in order to support your health. Listen in to find out if happy gut coffee may just be the low acid health promoting coffee you've been hoping to find.
Julie Michelson: Dr. Pedre, welcome back to the podcast.
Vincent Pedre: So great to see you again and be back here with you to talk about something new and exciting that I'm working on. But also any, I know you're going to have some really great questions for me.
Julie Michelson: Yep. I don't even, fully know where, what direction we're going to go. I always enjoy speaking with you so much.
Julie Michelson: Um, and I was, I had to make myself hit record cause I just wanted to jump in and talk about your new project, Happy Gut Coffee. So for listeners that aren't going to go back, let's do a really brief, You know, I cannot encourage listeners enough to check out episode 79, [00:03:00] um, and you'll, you'll learn a lot about Dr.
Julie Michelson: Pedre's journey and how he just has become this gut guru. Um, and, and you'll check out the book, all the good things, but, but for those that aren't going to believe me, and they need to go back and listen to that, you know, we're going to get to how the coffee. But let's, let's just talk a little bit about your journey, um, and because not all physicians end up taking the direction you did.
Vincent Pedre: No, um, and I consider myself lucky that, that I did. And actually the, the direction I took was always based on listening to my gut intuition. Haha, I
Julie Michelson: see what you did there.
Vincent Pedre: But you know how, you know how sometimes you do things and there's like a little voice inside of you that's saying, no, this path isn't right for me, but you're doing it because on paper it looks [00:04:00] good, but deep down inside you actually feel that it's discordant with where it is that you want to be in life.
Vincent Pedre: And I think we, we all struggle with that, right? We, we all sometimes override our own gut intuition and, and do things that we know to the, to, that, that very wise, intuitive voice within us is against what we believe. Um, and yet we do it because we're pleasing somebody else, we're, you know, and, and in some ways, like, I, I went and became a doctor Partly to please my, my mom and like,
Julie Michelson: like so many men,
Vincent Pedre: you know, I hear the
Julie Michelson: word should write the, when you're shitting on yourself is, is what you're talking about there.
Vincent Pedre: So it's so interesting cause, um, I'm reading this book by Louise Hayes. Um, it's called how to heal your life. And um, she talks about the [00:05:00] word should. And she talks about how should is always connected to a feeling of wrongness, like I should be dieting, I should be going to the gym, but the implied other piece of it is that you're being wrong with yourself, that you're not doing what you should be doing, you know, instead, um, she says, change it to could.
Julie Michelson: Yes. You know. Opportunity. Yeah.
Vincent Pedre: Yeah. And then take ownership over, like, why is it that you're, you're not doing it? Um, for me it was like, I, you know, I, I knew I was going to become a doctor and I knew that I was going to enter into a world that was geared in one direction, right? And that direction is pharmaceutical driven medicine.
Vincent Pedre: And I don't know that a lot of [00:06:00] doctors have reached that level of meta analysis or self awareness that they've actually been brainwashed, air quotes, by the pharmaceutical industry, which has bought into the medical schools in, in the country, to think that the solution for disease is medication. Now, that said, I don't want to say that all medications are bad.
Vincent Pedre: Medications can be life saving. Medications are tools. that sometimes are required. You know, you, sometimes you do need prednisone for a patient. Right. Because there's no other way that you're going to shut off the inflammatory pathway. But a lot of times, we're, we're substituting medication for another option that could be better.
Vincent Pedre: And for me, before I went into medical school, I actually discovered meditation, breathwork, and yoga. Uh, this was about eight months before medical school. I had finished college. One semester [00:07:00] early, so I went back home. I was very lucky to have done that because I don't think I could have gone from, you know, from finishing college in May to starting medical school three months later in August.
Vincent Pedre: I needed that time period and during that, during that time, I had to deal with a really big elephant in the room for me. I wanted to become a doctor. I wanted to help people. I really wanted to aspire to that ideal. But I was afraid of needles and I passed out every time I had my blood drawn, an injection, and I started doubting how am I going to become a doctor if I can't be in the room with needles and the smell of alcohol makes me queasy.
Vincent Pedre: So, how are these two things that I love science, I love helping people, but I don't like needles and I don't like the smell of alcohol. It makes me feel like sick to my stomach. [00:08:00] How can I do this? And that's where I discovered meditation, breathwork, and yoga. And instead of thinking like, how can I medicate myself out of that reaction, which is what is happening throughout our entire society, people medicate themselves to be able to function.
Vincent Pedre: I thought, what is happening internally inside of me that needs to shift so that I can be in a room with needles so I can then pursue my dream of becoming a doctor and helping people better their lives. And so I discovered meditation, breathwork, and yoga and started doing it, I'm going to say almost religiously, like I really, really dove in and dedicated myself to this.
Vincent Pedre: And you have to understand, I mean, I think we're contemporaries. This is going back to 95. Right. In 1995. The internet is barely existent, [00:09:00] yoga studios do not exist yet, like, this is not the trend where society was. So I was actually exploring something that there wasn't really a, a known pathway. And the only thing I had in my life was my outlier godfather, who was a meditator, practiced yoga.
Vincent Pedre: And was a pescatarian. And he had always been kind of like, every time he visited the family, talking about what he did. But everybody thought he was kind of like this weird outlier, like nobody does yoga, nobody does meditation. And here I find myself finding it, but from a very different angle, from the angle of how can this provide some sort of healing potential for me?
Vincent Pedre: Because I am this type A wound up person who can go into an anxious panic [00:10:00] so easily. Right. And how can I rewire this because I'm tired of this. I don't want to be this anymore, but I'm not going to take a medication for this. I'm going to completely rewire my brain. And that's what I did for the eight months before medical school started.
Vincent Pedre: I was meditating, doing breath work on a daily basis. And as a result, by the time I got into medical school, I was a changed person. I had also, like, used that. I always like to, I don't like free space. So even though I had finished college and you know, I could have been partying and just having a good time.
Vincent Pedre: I like to learn. Sure. So I started reading books by Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra and, and look, both of them are MDs, respected MDs who had the courage. To go beyond their education and look at what [00:11:00] else is out there because everything we've learned doesn't fully explain how some people are capable of healing.
Vincent Pedre: Right. And so, by the time I got to medical school, my, my mind had been open to the possibility that there is something else out there. And regardless of what they're going to teach me or they're going to try to indoctrinate me with, I experienced it for myself because I was able to rewire my brain. I was able to rewire the way I react to stressors, to needles.
Vincent Pedre: And because of that, I conquered my fear of needles and I was empowered to see that there is another pathway. Yes. Another pathway that empowers people, that allows you to heal in a way that does not require medication. Didn't even require therapy. Like, I didn't go to a therapist thinking [00:12:00] like, Hey, I'm afraid of needles.
Vincent Pedre: Like, how do I conquer my fear of needles? No, I conquered my fear of needles not by thinking about it, But by doing meditation breathwork to completely rewire the way my autonomic nervous system responds to a stress response.
Julie Michelson: That's amazing.
Vincent Pedre: It served me really well in medical school because You know, when you do certain rotations like ER and trauma, like you can't lose your head when the other person's losing theirs.
Vincent Pedre: Right. Right.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Vincent Pedre: I mean, I wish that,
Julie Michelson: could you imagine if, if your gap was everybody's, you know, first semester of medical school, like how different medicine would be here?
Vincent Pedre: It would be. So different and I know they're like the medical schools now are incorporating some of them are bringing in [00:13:00] nutrition and other things that weren't available when I went to medical school.
Vincent Pedre: Um, but even, you know, there's a gap in education too, like we're, we're teaching our kids about history, but we're not teaching them how to be successful in life. Right.
Julie Michelson: Right. Right.
Vincent Pedre: You know, so I like
Julie Michelson: you, like you teach a doctor in medical school, how to be a doctor, but not how to run a practice,
Vincent Pedre: right?
Vincent Pedre: Exactly. Or, or even just. Or balance a
Julie Michelson: checkbook. The kids don't learn that anymore.
Vincent Pedre: No, and that's really, we should be teaching basic life skills.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Vincent Pedre: And I think everybody should be taught how to regulate their nervous system because I think that is the single unifying factor, not to simplify everything, but I think if If the majority of people could learn how to regulate their internal nervous system, they would be walking around feeling a very different way.
Julie Michelson: Yes. Well, and, and [00:14:00] that ripple effect, you know, just energetically, if, if everybody that you came into contact with throughout the day, knew how to regulate their nervous system. I mean, wow. Yeah, that would be incredible. Amazing.
Vincent Pedre: We would be a happier society.
Julie Michelson: Oh, that's an understatement. We would, you would heal the world.
Julie Michelson: Come on. It would be amazing. Let's
Vincent Pedre: do it. Let's do it. I think that's great.
Julie Michelson: I mean, that's
Vincent Pedre: what, that's what Louise Hayes wanted to do. Um, but you know, it, it really takes an ongoing effort and a lot of awareness. Um, but I think we're, we're in a place where information is, is so easily shared.
Julie Michelson: Yes.
Vincent Pedre: Um, but I think I, I would hate to be a patient now.
Vincent Pedre: I would really hate to be a patient now. And the reason is that we've gone from like lack of information where you had to [00:15:00] go to bookstores and you had to read a book to learn about something and go to the encyclopedia to like this explosion that there is so much information out there that what do you do?
Vincent Pedre: Like who do you follow? What, what path do you go? Because there's like. Fasting, keto, paleo, like do this, don't do that. No, yes, do this. All right, it's It's confusing. It is. It's information
Julie Michelson: overload. I actually had this conversation yesterday with a client who had all these questions about her labs. And instead of reaching out, but you know, it was before the lab review, she got her labs.
Julie Michelson: was in the rabbit hole, you know, well, you know, I was looking up, what does this mean? And what does that mean? I'm like, if only you had somebody you could reach out to, like, don't do that. She's like, I wasn't sure if I was dying. And by the way, her labs are beautiful, too, you know, [00:16:00] um, yeah.
Vincent Pedre: And, and, and I, and, and that's been like one of those points of, It's an internal debate for me because sometimes, you know, patients want to see their labs before, and a lot of times I've been old school traditional where I say, no, you're not going to get your labs until you and I meet and we discuss what they mean.
Vincent Pedre: The funny thing is, is that sometimes we'll do that. And then, you know, you know how a lab is going to have like one result that might be off in the CVC or,
Julie Michelson: yeah.
Vincent Pedre: They'll reach back after the appointment and ask me, well, what was this?
Julie Michelson: Why didn't you talk about that? I didn't
Vincent Pedre: do talk about it. And like, I missed something.
Vincent Pedre: I mean, I'm pretty, I'm a, I'm a very detail oriented. Like I, I missed something. No, I didn't miss it. I just didn't mention it because I'm trying to keep the information as streamlined, as simple.
Julie Michelson: Right.
Vincent Pedre: Because I think, I think what people don't realize is they want to know the hundred details, but after they know the [00:17:00] hundred details, they are so overwhelmed that then they, they're lost again.
Julie Michelson: They forgot the big picture. Absolutely. Absolutely. No, I get it. Amazing. I don't know if you
Vincent Pedre: agree with me, but I think our job as practitioners is to simplify and make things easy for people, uh, especially now in this information overload. World. Um, yeah,
Julie Michelson: it goes back to you use the word empowerment, which is one of my favorite, you know, this is what we're all about is empowerment.
Julie Michelson: I'm sure that has something to do with also why you wrote the book and and right. It's about allowing us to. That's to have the tools to heal ourselves, not talking about, you know, God forbid you need emergency surgery, you go to a Western hospital, please. You know, but, but there's so many things that we can do day to day to, to take charge of our health.
Julie Michelson: And that's, it's the same with when we're sitting down, you know, [00:18:00] and go going through labs. If you're giving every little detail, you might as well have said nothing. Really?
Vincent Pedre: No, you're setting the house on fire. Yeah. It's, it's almost better to choose that one thing. Right. And then focus on that one thing, but become really good at it, and then you go and add the next thing.
Vincent Pedre: Right. I think when you try to do everything at once, It can become too much. Well,
Julie Michelson: that's, you know, the, the coach approach, right? As, as a coach, it's fine. Let's find this, you know, let's build on success. What, where can we create change either? That's going to have the biggest impact or that takes the least effort to be consistent with so that then you can build on it.
Julie Michelson: There's no way we could, you know, if we could, If we were wired that way, we could do things like read a book and have it all figured out, right? If then we didn't read another book that contradicted the first book.
Vincent Pedre: So throw that into [00:19:00] the ADD, social media, dopamine hit world, where everybody wants their, their results like this.
Vincent Pedre: But true results take building a foundation, then stacking layers on that foundation as, as you go down that healing journey.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Well, I can keep you talking for hours, so. I want to talk about stacking because in my morning stack, coffee is important. So I want you to tell us about happy gut coffee and, and, you know, how is it different and why?
Julie Michelson: And does that mean we don't have to give up our coffee if we want to be healthy?
Vincent Pedre: Isn't that great? Ah, so excited! Like, if you could not give up your coffee and still be healthy.
Julie Michelson: Yes!
Vincent Pedre: It is the number one most drinked beverage worldwide. Two billion cups of coffee are served every single day. A hundred and fifty million Americans drink coffee every day.
Vincent Pedre: And [00:20:00] so I wanted to come out with a coffee that was gonna be healthy and then also from the perspective of gut health where it would be easy on the stomach, easy for people with sensitive stomachs, with heartburn, acid reflux, and, and so I'll give a visual here so people can see. Oh, I love
Julie Michelson: it. Look at that.
Julie Michelson: It's got a
Vincent Pedre: beautiful sunrise image, kind of like makes you want to
Julie Michelson: wake up.
Vincent Pedre: The branding is reminiscent of the 70s, but I'm a child of the 70s, so I wanted something that kind of reminded
Julie Michelson: me
Vincent Pedre: of when I grew up because my, in my culture, which is Cuban. Uh, coffee is a very central part of our culture, it's what brings us together, it creates community.
Vincent Pedre: Cubans and, and I know this is worldwide with many different cultures, that they gather around and have coffee.
Julie Michelson: Yes. Um,
Vincent Pedre: in Cuban [00:21:00] culture, we would even, like, if someone visited the house in the afternoon, Mm hmm. The first question you ask somebody is, Would you like some coffee?
Julie Michelson: Right?
Vincent Pedre: Yeah. This is like 4 or 5 p.
Vincent Pedre: m. now. I later learned I'm, I'm actually quite sensitive. I'm a, I'm a what you call slow metabolizer. Yes. 50 percent of people are slow metabolizers. And thus you have to be careful about how much coffee you drink because, uh, it's going to win.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. And
Vincent Pedre: when, uh, cause it's going to affect the quality of your, your sleep.
Julie Michelson: I, I am a firm, which is, so I, I lived in Miami there in the Miami area for 13 years. Um, and where I
Vincent Pedre: grew up
Julie Michelson: and, uh, so I am familiar with the Cuban coffee.
Vincent Pedre: Yeah. We used to joke that Cuban coffee can revive. A dead person.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. I mean, in the, in the, in the hospital where my kids were born, there was a amazing [00:22:00] coffee cart that had genuine Cuban coffee.
Julie Michelson: Um, my, my, who was also a good friend, OBGYN happened to also be Cuban. So, um, you know, I was the like clean, clean pregnancy until my doctor handed me a Cuban coffee, kind of. Um, but I, I still, I have a firm 2 p. m. cutoff. Yeah, for sure. And, and I will throw out, you did say sleep quality, even for people who say, no, I still sleep really well.
Julie Michelson: It can really impact your quality, even if it's not keeping you awake. Cause I,
Vincent Pedre: I would challenge people who think that it's not impacting their sleep quality to wear some sort of biometric, uh, device like an oral ring or, or a whoop band or a Fitbit, you know, to
Julie Michelson: eight sleep mattress pad, something.
Vincent Pedre: Yeah, yeah, so document what your sleep cycle looks like and see how much deep sleep you're getting at least 90 minutes for adults, um, cause it can affect you and, [00:23:00] and what I learned from actually one of the lecturers at the, or the Institute for Functional Medicine who is a fast metabolizer, he noticed that any coffee even later after 2 p.
Vincent Pedre: m. was affecting his sleep architecture. Even as a fast metabolizer, because think of those people who go out to dinner and then 9, 10pm they're having an espresso right after dinner because their body's going to metabolize fast and they'll go to sleep. But really what's happening to their sleep architecture?
Julie Michelson: Yes, absolutely. So yeah, I love the challenge. If you think, if you think it's not affecting your sleep, play with it and track because what we can learn by doing that is again back to empowerment. I don't know. So I love it. So you, you write this amazing, again, talk about empowerment, the gut smart protocol.
Julie Michelson: So of course your coffee has to be gut friendly, but not just, it's [00:24:00] not
Vincent Pedre: just,
Julie Michelson: um, easier on the gut. Like what, you know, tell us a little bit more about the coffee. How is it so special? I love it.
Vincent Pedre: There's a lot that people don't realize when they're drinking coffee that could be hidden contaminants in the coffee. You know, starting with pesticides being the biggest one because coffee crops are among the top 10 most pesticide sprayed crops on the planet.
Vincent Pedre: So if you're not drinking organic coffee, you're very potentially getting exposed to pesticides that are going to disrupt your gut microbiome. And when they disrupt your gut microbiome causes something called dysbiosis, which then leads to leaky gut, which then leads to inflammation, which then leads to weight gain and scrambles your insulin signal and scrambles your blood sugar.
Vincent Pedre: And next thing you know, uh, you can't lose weight and you're wondering why. So, pesticides is one big hidden danger. [00:25:00] Um, potential problem in coffee that a lot of people are not thinking about. The other thing is, is just the potential for mold contamination. And that's a, that's one that's a bit harder to track, like how much coffee is actually contaminated by mold.
Vincent Pedre: It really varies by manufacturer and how many corners they're cutting, and what is the quality of the beans that they're getting.
Julie Michelson: Okay. Is it true that, that in North America is, is the only place where we don't have these standards for molds and coffee? Or is that not true? I always feel like I, I had heard years ago, um, Basically, we get the moldy coffee here.
Vincent Pedre: That's not
Julie Michelson: acceptable. I don't know if it's true. I feel like I would have
Vincent Pedre: to, I would have to research that. Uh, cause I can't imagine. I feel like you
Julie Michelson: would [00:26:00] know at this point. It might not
Vincent Pedre: be a problem in other parts of the world. Um, but I think, I think America is probably likely, you know, it's still profit driven that they're going to be.
Vincent Pedre: You said cutting corners that are cutting corners. You know, if you're buying an organic ba uh, bag of organic coffee and it's costing $14 for the bag on Amazon. Mm-hmm . I can tell you that those beans are not of the highest quality.
Julie Michelson: So they may technically be organic, but then there's other places where they were able to shave that price down.
Vincent Pedre: Yeah. Yeah, exactly There there there's something going on there, but definitely when when looking at coffee, you want to make sure that it's organic Ideally you want to work with a brand that has Third party tested their coffee beans to make sure that they are free of pesticides. Um, I had our beans tested also for glyphosate.
Vincent Pedre: They are, uh, free of glyphosate. Um, make sure that they've been tested [00:27:00] for mold. And I also went a step further because of my concerns, especially with, uh, cacao beans and how they found that a lot of the, um, chocolate brands have. Um, cacao that's been contaminated with lead and cadmium, which are, by the way, super important.
Vincent Pedre: These are not things to be taken lightly because, for example, cadmium causes, um, prostate cancer that is resistant to chemo or to any treatment. So it's important to know, you know, it's funny cause I told my son these things and he's like, well, we can't eat anything. What do you eat? Cause everything, something's contaminated with this.
Vincent Pedre: Another thing has glyphosate, you know, you have to be a savvy consumer. And, and because of that, and because this is something that people don't want to give up and I wanted to create a. a coffee bean product that would be healthy for the gut, but also healthy for the body [00:28:00] and good for the brain. And that's what inspired me to create Happy Gut Coffee as our first version is a dark roast.
Vincent Pedre: And the reason for that is that the dark roast
Julie Michelson: is the
Vincent Pedre: best. It's the best. Well, the thing about the roasting process, it's so it's really fascinating because people often think that a dark roast is going to have more caffeine, right? But it's actually the opposite. The lighter the roast, the more caffeine it has, and the darker roast, it actually drops the caffeine.
Vincent Pedre: So for somebody like me, like in the 50 percent of people out there, of the 150 million Americans who drink coffee every day, maybe about 50 percent of them are slow metabolizers.
Julie Michelson: Sure.
Vincent Pedre: The dark roast lowers the caffeine content. a bit because of the the roasting process, but also it, it brings out the flavor notes in the coffee, which are not always brought out with the, the lighter roast.
Vincent Pedre: You get more of [00:29:00] that very complex flavor. The other thing that it does is it lowers, it really drops the acidity of the bean. And that's something that was super important for me. If I'm going to Come out with a coffee. It had to be low in acidity because so many people suffer from acid reflux from heartburn.
Vincent Pedre: They're taking back to the medications. They're taking over the counter medications that just keep them there. But then they're drinking their coffee even though it hurts their stomach because they want their caffeine, right? But they keep doing the same thing. And so, I wanted to come out with a coffee that was gut friendly, low acid, but also good for your body, free of all the different toxins, the hidden toxins that can be found in coffee.
Vincent Pedre: And also, put out a lot of education around it's not just the coffee, it's the, it's the habits, it's the way the coffee is made. [00:30:00] You know, the The K Cups that people love are lined with plastic. I'm guessing
Julie Michelson: you're not going to sell those.
Vincent Pedre: No, if we, if we actually, if we did anything, we would actually sell a K Cup replacement as a steel filter that you can use.
Vincent Pedre: in a K cup machine, because K cups, but still, you know, you're going through all the, you're still going through the plastic in the machine.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Vincent Pedre: So we have to think about the microplastics is what I've been talking about around. And when you go out and pick up a coffee and get it in a to go cup, that to go cup is lined with plastic.
Vincent Pedre: And when that hot water hits that plastic, it's going to release some little microscopic shards of plastic that you're going to drink. Now, why is this? important. One, um, studies are now showing that microplastics lead to dysbiosis. They actually destroy the mucus layer of the gut, which is [00:31:00] kind of like our little neutral zone that helps protect us from the bad bugs in the gut.
Vincent Pedre: And it, when that you wear away at the mucus layer, then the next thing you're going to get is the leaky gut. Once you have leaky gut. You've just opened up the pathway for every chronic disease out there. Inflammation, autoimmunity, cardiovascular inflammation, you know, blood brain barrier issues. So, not only did I want to come out with a coffee, but also really educate people around the habits of their daily coffee.
Vincent Pedre: And, and you know, I'm one that, Before, you know, I just, I want to just raise my hand and admit that I'm the one who would go to the local coffee shop and get my, my coffee in their cup.
Julie Michelson: Until you think about it, you know, like we all have this aha moment or hopefully that's why we're having the conversation.
Julie Michelson: Um, and then you can't on, I, I re I [00:32:00] literally was thought, you know, this is, this is how I live what I do. I am in the rabbit hole and I was literally creating slides for a presentation on limiting toxins. And I looked up, this was Many years ago, but I looked up and it was in that moment that I saw my old school drip coffee pot, you know, it had this stainless crab, but like in that moment it hit me, Oh my gosh, that hot water is traveling through plastic to get to my stainless steel coffee pot.
Julie Michelson: Um, and, and, you know, we're always finding the up levels. I am that person that, you know, I, I like to support local businesses, um, and I will do my best to get my coffee in a mug or, um, but, you know, [00:33:00] once I again thought through the whole, to go coffee cup and then, you know, how could we possibly make it worse?
Julie Michelson: Well, let's put a plastic lid on top so that, you know, just the steam can just condense and drip back down into the coffee.
Vincent Pedre: I mean, look, if, if you do one thing, take the lid off, drink your coffee. But if you can do something else, which is what I've started doing is I, I carry my steel line coffee tumbler.
Julie Michelson: Just bring it with you.
Vincent Pedre: I bring it to the shop and actually they charge you one dollar less when you bring your own cup, which is great. Uh, but, but most of the time I'm making my own coffee at home because I've got a better coffee than the one that they make out there. So I do it as a pour over.
Julie Michelson: Thank you.
Julie Michelson: That was going to be my question. Okay. Yeah.
Vincent Pedre: Uh, pour over or French press, but even a French press, like you have to make sure [00:34:00] that it's a steel or like made from ceramic, because if it's plastic, then you're getting, you know, again, you're putting hot water and plastic.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. And you can find the, the glass French press with, with the stainless, or what are your thoughts on old, this is old school, um, stainless percolator.
Julie Michelson: That's just all stainless on the inside.
Vincent Pedre: Yeah, exactly. Like a mocha pot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's how Cuban, that's how Cuban coffee is traditionally made with a, with a mocha pot. And that's
Julie Michelson: medicine, you know, going back to how things have been done for generations, it seems to work out better.
Vincent Pedre: There is a price to pay for convenience.
Vincent Pedre: Sometimes convenience is not necessarily better for our health.
Julie Michelson: Right.
Vincent Pedre: Yeah. And there's a time
Julie Michelson: and a place, you know, for the exception. This is again, back to you. You mentioned the word foundation and kind of back to what your son said. My [00:35:00] daughter is going through a phase, um, right now where she's like, I think I'm worse than you with, You know, she's cleaning up her pride.
Julie Michelson: She already has used clean products, but she's going further. Um,
Vincent Pedre: so much to think about there, you know, especially women with makeup and cream and all that. Cause there's so many toxins hidden in those things.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. And it's, it's all really important, but that's the whole point is. So that you, you know, then we can take the hit out and about if our foundation is good.
Julie Michelson: And to me, like you say coffee, that's foundational. Yeah. Um, I don't know. So tell me. And it's what
Vincent Pedre: I call it's the, it's the micro habits.
Julie Michelson: Yes. Because we
Vincent Pedre: sometimes, sometimes we write off things because they feel like there's such a small piece of our, you know, our entire day. But I think it's the micro habits that create the macro effects in our life.
Vincent Pedre: And one of those is drinking a cup of [00:36:00] coffee every day. And if you can just switch that and make that a bit healthier for you. Then you've just made a change that is going to have a powerful macro effect on your life when you add up the number of days in a year that you drink coffee and all the microplastics.
Vincent Pedre: If you're drinking through those plastic cups or using K cups, it's like you're eating a credit card a week. Do you want to be putting that into your body?
Julie Michelson: Right. So let's talk about, I want you to, to educate listeners, because again, I do have a very passionate relationship with coffee, um, that not, so not only is your coffee, not bad for you, right?
Julie Michelson: Like it's not hurting your gut. It's, it doesn't contain these things that we really need to be avoiding in order to minimize. But, I mean, you're a doctor, why not just tell people not to drink coffee? Tell us about, I know there are [00:37:00] health benefits, so share.
Vincent Pedre: There, yeah, I mean, and look, if you're doing like a major detoxification protocol, you might take coffee out, and, and temporarily.
Vincent Pedre: But the truth is that anytime I've done that, and you know that too, they're asking us, okay, when can I bring the coffee back?
Julie Michelson: Right. Okay. Okay. Yeah,
Vincent Pedre: and and that's coming from someone who didn't drink coffee for seven years.
Julie Michelson: Wow actually gave up for two I thought that I thought I was that was a lot
Vincent Pedre: Seven years.
Vincent Pedre: I did not drink coffee for seven years. And when I had it again, I Realized oh, wow. I missed this
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Joy is good for the health, right? Yeah. Yeah. You
Vincent Pedre: want, there's something about that, that, that ritual, but also the smell of coffee and don't knock it because I love matcha and I've been to Japan and had some really great matcha.
Julie Michelson: That's what I drank when I didn't drink coffee.
Vincent Pedre: That's, that's what I did for seven years. I was drinking [00:38:00] matcha instead. But I, I really love coffee, but there's other benefits to it. There's the polyphenols and those polyphenols feed the gut microbiome. And as a result, your gut microbiome then is producing these postbiotic products.
Vincent Pedre: Some of which help to. Even control your, your appetite signaling through GLP 1. So, we know that coffee has benefits beyond just the caffeine. That actually having positive benefits for the gut microbiome, supporting a healthy gut microbiome, the postbiotic products, the gut brain connection. We know that people with neurological diseases like Parkinson's, early dementia that a cup of coffee per day is actually good for their brain.
Julie Michelson: And I love that you clarify, I mean nobody's saying drink gallons of of coffee and we've already said don't drink it all day long. Um, it's like, it's like anything good. There is a too much [00:39:00] limit. Um,
Vincent Pedre: yeah, especially if you suffer from anxiety, you have to be careful with not crossing that threshold because you might not realize that your anxiety is amped up because you had too much coffee.
Vincent Pedre: You might not make that connection and, and I've tested it out even with my coffee being a slow metabolizer and sensitive as I am. I'm great with one cup. Yeah, I don't crash and it's a large, you know, it's not like a 12 ounce. I do a, I do a decent size cup and then I add like my different powders. I'll put collagen in it.
Vincent Pedre: And I, I love putting SBI in there. Um, but But I saw that if I have a second cup, even of my dark roast, low, low acid, lower caffeine coffee, that I do start getting amped up. So it's super [00:40:00] important. Listen to your body, because if you tend to be a person who suffers from anxiety or you drink that extra coffee, and then you find that your, your patient's fuse is running slow, and yeah, You, you then don't have the patience, uh, with your employees, your workmates.
Vincent Pedre: You have to think, like, there are internal processes that might be playing a role in that, and a lot of times it's related to our habits or things that we are ingesting, like sugar, caffeine, uh, things like that.
Julie Michelson: Yeah, and I love that you point that out. I've, I have had so many people with specific symptoms that they literally just either weren't willing or just because coffee is just that part of their routine.
Julie Michelson: Um, they never considered that it could be contributing. Um, and so, and I actually, I have one that I can't wait to introduce. your coffee too, because I think it'll [00:41:00] really change her, her happiness level. Um, tell us a little bit about, is the coffee available now? How can people find it?
Vincent Pedre: Uh, it's available through our website.
Vincent Pedre: If you go to happygutcoffee. com, it'll take you there. And we've got, uh, different types of ways to, to buy. You can get whole bean. You can also get ground. If you're buying ground because we're still such a small operation, it's actually getting ground right before it gets put in the bag and, and sent out to you.
Vincent Pedre: So. Because we know like the fresher it's gonna be to have the whole bean coffee and then grind it yourself But not everybody wants to grind coffee, but if you're ordering, just know that you're getting it freshly ground right before it's shipped off to you. So you're going to have like really fresh grounds versus grounds that have been sitting around at the grocery store.
Vincent Pedre: You can't even
Julie Michelson: smell it when you open the [00:42:00] bag. Nobody wants that. Yeah, that's amazing.
Vincent Pedre: So right now we deliver that direct to consumer. Our, our hope and goal for 2025 is to also make it available on Amazon. So that's one, one big goal. And people can save money by buying more than one bag or by joining and doing a subscription for the coffee.
Vincent Pedre: When they get a subscription, we give them a pretty significant discount on, on the cost of the bag.
Julie Michelson: Which is great. And I mean, let's face it. If you're a coffee drinker, why wouldn't you do a subscription? I wouldn't want to be without it. Exactly. Exactly. Well, I am so excited. This is my favorite project of yours so far.
Vincent Pedre: Thank you so much.
Julie Michelson: Um, and, and I can't wait to, to help spread the word.
Vincent Pedre: Coffee brings a smile to people's face. Like. [00:43:00] It's another reason that it's been what also one of my favorite things that I've done because I just, and especially when I've sampled and had people taste test the coffee, I was in LA for this pre Emmy Awards gifting lounge where I got to sample the coffee for celebrities and just seeing everybody's surprise when they had the coffee black with no sugar, nothing, yum.
Vincent Pedre: at how smooth and low acidity it was and and how easy it was on their stomach. A lot of them said they don't drink coffee because of acid reflux or because it hurts. Yeah,
Julie Michelson: well
Vincent Pedre: now they can enjoy happy gut coffee.
Julie Michelson: Yeah, amazing. See, it's just another gift to the world. I'm so grateful for, um, I'm trying to remember exactly how you put it, but you don't like, like that void, right?
Julie Michelson: That blank space. I'm so glad that you are that person that's always [00:44:00] just bringing us the next project. Um, and I'm excited for listeners. to try happy gut coffee, especially those who have given up coffee thinking it doesn't serve them. Um, because of, like you said, the acid reflux or, or just, you know, digestive fragility.
Julie Michelson: Um, I say it's, it's go out and, and go to happy coffee. com and get yourself a bag.
Vincent Pedre: Happy gut coffee. com.
Julie Michelson: Happy gut coffee. com. Amazing. Thank you so much for joining us again and, and sharing your wisdom and, and spreading the joy through coffee this time.
Vincent Pedre: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me back
Julie Michelson: for everyone listening.
Julie Michelson: Remember you can get the show notes and transcripts by visiting inspired living. show and all the links are in there for you as well. Hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I'll see you next week.
​[00:45:00]
settings
Divider Text
My Guest For This Episode
My Guest For This Episode
Connect with Vincent Pedre
Vincent Pedre
Dr. Vincent Pedre is the Medical Director of Pedre Integrative Health and Founder of Dr. Pedre Wellness, CEO/Founder of Happy Gut Life LLC, has worked as a nutraceutical consultant and spokesperson for NatureMD, and is a Functional Medicine-Certified Practitioner with a concierge practice in New York City since 2004. He believes the gut is the gateway to excellent wellness. His newest book, The GutSMART Protocol — featuring a 14-day personalized gut-healing plan based on the GutSMART Quiz — is the culmination of years of research and clinical experience as a functional gut health expert.
Popular Episodes
Popular Episodes
Episode [Block//Episode Number]
Aired on: [Block//Air Date %F j, Y%+0]
Aired on: [Block//Air Date %F j, Y%+0]