#274: He Overcame Chronic Back Pain w/ Dr. Josh Axe

Jun 24, 2024 | The Gabby Reece Show, TRAUMA - INJURY - GRIEF

Listen: Apple | iHeart | Spotify

There is so much that goes into being healthy and performing your best. I mean, you’ve got nutrition and exercise mindset, and it can be difficult to know what areas you need to work on and how you can find improvement. And my guest today takes a holistic approach to health,
which is so important because we aren’t just one thing, we’re this whole being. And Dr. Josh Axe, he’s really tried it all.
I mean, he’s had stem cell treatments, cutting edge diets, alternative and regenerative medicine, because not only with his patients, but he had his own health scare, which he shares in this conversation. And also in our conversation, we talk about what he has found that works from everything he’s tried and what doesn’t work.

Resources Mentioned:

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Time Stamps:

[00:00:00 – 00:10:00] Introduction and Personal Journey
[00:10:01 – 00:20:00] The Role of Mindset in Healing
[00:20:01 – 00:30:00] Exploring Regenerative Medicine
[00:30:01 – 00:40:00] Nutritional Insights
[00:40:01 – 00:50:00] Spiritual and Mental Wellness
[00:50:01 – End] Building a Strong Identity

Show Transcript:

[00:00:00] Dr. Josh Axe: There’s a lot of doctors breaking the Hippocratic oath today. First, do no harm to me. The whole system today is so messed up. It should be what people consider alternative or secondary care should be the primary. You go into your doctor, change your diet, change your lifestyle, get all that. And then if you’ve totally exhausted that completely.

The people that obsess about their condition oftentimes stay sick. And I saw this a lot with Lyme disease. I saw it a lot with my patients with fibromyalgia with certain autoimmune diseases. They were so fixated on the condition constantly that they were living in this sort of fighter, this stressed out state almost constantly.

If you believe something is going to be healthy for you, I’m not saying you can go to McDonald’s and eat French fries. And it’s actually going to be healthy for you. But if you believe you eating those French fries is destroying your body, it will be more destructive. The number of patients I had come in who had seen previous doctors and were told, you have to take this drug the rest of your life, or this condition is irreversible.

I mean, even things like type two diabetes, constantly, most doctors would say, you can’t reverse that. I was sitting down with a doctor about a year and nine months ago, and I was told that I could die or I’d likely be permanently disabled. Yeah. 

[00:01:10] Gabby: Hi, everyone. There is so much that goes into being healthy and performing your best.

I mean, you’ve got nutrition and exercise mindset, and it can be difficult to know what areas you need to work on and how you can find improvement. And my guest today takes a holistic approach to health, which is so important because we aren’t just one thing, we’re this whole being. And Dr. Josh Axe, He’s really tried it all.

I mean, he’s had stem cell treatments, cutting edge diets, alternative and regenerative medicine, because not only with his patients, but he had his own health scare, which he shares in this conversation. And also in our conversation, we talk about what he has found that works from everything he’s tried and what doesn’t work.

It’s really a fascinating conversation. One I learned a lot and I think you will too. Welcome to the Gabby Reese show. Let’s go.

Dr. Axe, welcome to the show. It’s nice to see you again. 

[00:02:05] Dr. Josh Axe: Well, Gabby. Hey, thanks for having me. It’s uh, yeah. So 

[00:02:09] Gabby: since the last time I saw you, um, a lot has happened. Uh, and it’s interesting for me because I, it’s not that I didn’t have an idea, but I don’t think that you were overtly sort of public with that.

You were really, you were navigating your own health issue. Um, and out of that, is it safe to say that think this, not that the new, your latest book out, uh, is born from, uh, This experience, did you have the plan to write this book or kind of tell me and, and, and maybe share with the audience just what you’ve gone through?

[00:02:46] Dr. Josh Axe: Yeah, so, you know, I, I, I started, I set out to write a book really about mindset medicine. And, um, and what was crazy is, is that I, I decided I was gonna start writing the book, but the book really radically changed because of a health issue I had and not just any health issue. I mean, I, I was sitting down with a doctor.

But a year and nine months ago and I was told that, um, I could die or I’d likely be permanently disabled. And so what happened was, is I, I’d injured my back lifting weights. This is, you know, not that long ago. And I went in and, um, I tried a lot of things, you know, I tried, I did everything from physical therapy to eating really healthy, to chiropractic, to functional movement training.

all kinds of stuff and it got somewhat better, but not 100 percent better. And so then I’d heard about stem cell. Um, and I went and got stem cell done and it helped dramatically. So this was a few years ago and it helped dramatically. So much so that I, again, I felt like, okay, I’m back probably 85 percent now or even 90.

And so I was back swimming, cycling, deadlifting, squatting, doing everything. I was still in my two year old daughter up there in the pool, but I had a little bit of a nagging issue still. Um, and I thought, well, if I go and get it done one more time, I will probably get back to a hundred percent. You know, I’m very, I like you, I know you and Lord, you guys are working out active every day.

So I went in and got stem cell done again. And this, it was in my desk. And afterwards, I just didn’t feel great. Um, and I kept feeling worse and worse and worse. Finally, it got so bad. I had to start wearing a back brace and I thought, gosh, something, I just, maybe I re injured myself. Even despite getting the stem cell.

And then finally, like one morning I woke up and I literally, I just couldn’t walk. The pain was so excruciating, had to have an, and we had moved to Puerto Rico at the time we were living between Puerto Rico and Nashville, Tennessee. And I had to call an ambulance, come pick me up, bring me to get an MRI.

And it was, I mean, if the scene was a little bit, you know, very, uh, Disheartening. My two year old’s crying. Why is daddy, you know, being brought in on the ambulance? So I got the MRI and then I read the report myself and it said I had a spinal infection and osteomyelitis. And so I then was like, okay, wow, this is really serious.

And so then I took a medical flight from Puerto Rico to Florida. Um, and then I, I, I, I, I went and saw an infectious disease specialist. And during this time I couldn’t even sit, I couldn’t be in a wheelchair. I tried to be on a. On a, um, on an ambulance bed, you kind of brought in and out of places and, um, he, he sat there by me.

He said, listen, Josh, he said, um, this is really, really serious. He said, your best case scenario is. Well, and then he, he, and then he told me, told me a little bit more about, and I’m, I’m decent at reading MRIs. He’s very good. And so he said, you know, he said the infection isn’t only in your desk, it’s now in your bone, it’s in your L5 vertebra, it’s spread throughout.

And also, you also have an abscess that’s now in your spinal cord. So it’s getting in your spinal canal. with your spinal cord. And so he said, listen, your best case scenario is you’re going to have chronic pain the rest of your life because of all this infection and all the damage it’s done and doing.

And he said, and he said, you know, you’ll be the first person to know when bad weather comes through because you just have, it’s, there’s gonna be so much arthritic pain. And he said, the worst case scenario is you could die. And he said, there’s a really good likelihood you’re going to be permanently disabled.

And either have to have rods put in your spine or, or walk with a walker cane. And so Gabby, can you imagine like, I’m, I’m in this situation, this was a year, nine months ago, I was just, you know, months before, as I said, squatting, going out on, you know, cycling out, you know, paddle boarding, doing all these things.

And to think that I might be permanently disabled now. And so I, I said, okay, you know, so I got the diagnosis and for 48 hours, I felt just so emotionally just wrecked. I mean, there are emotions I’d never experienced before that experience. Like, I didn’t really know what. despair felt like or hopelessness that you just, there’s nothing that could be done to actually create a good outcome.

And so I experienced that for about 48 hours and then I’m a person of faith and I just really, then after that, I just had to sit and say, you know what? I’m focused on the wrong things. Cause even after that I went home and I thought, well, I’m going to do my own research about people with spinal infections that are this severe and what their outcome is.

And honestly, I didn’t feel better afterwards. I almost felt worse because it was confirming a lot of the things he was saying. So, so, so then I spent time and I just prayed and I just felt like I just felt like from God, I just felt like it was, um, the thing that really came to me was God is bigger than this diagnosis.

And that’s really what I embraced. And I realized, you know what? All I can do is do the very best I can do. This doesn’t have to be a death sentence for my life. And I need to go and Do it. Do what I can do. And his recommendation for treatment was three months straight of antibiotics. It was six weeks of IV antibiotics and another six weeks of oral antibiotics.

Um, and I did some research on, on, on ways to lower antibiotic time and accelerate healing in that cellular regeneration. And one of the things I came across was hyperbaric chambers. And I read a study on heart chambers. And if you get in there for that entire antibiotic time period, it cut down the antibiotic time period to four weeks from, from 12 weeks.

And so I put together a whole plan. So by the way, I’m not stupid. Like, I believe there’s a time and place for, for conventional medicine. I went and I did the IV antibiotic. While doing hyperbaric chamber, I did five days a week for 40 days and I did IVs for like a few hours a day. I did this called methylene blue.

I did this type of silver, similar to coil silver. It’s called Jensen silver. I did a lot of nutrients. I only ate pretty much meat and vegetables. Did prayer every day. I started visualizing myself healing. I did everything I could possibly think of or imagine. Getting acupuncture in my back around the area and um, I And after two, I didn’t feel any better for two weeks.

I felt just as bad. The pain was so bad. I couldn’t even roll over. And, um, and then finally it felt like 1 percent better after two weeks and then a little bit better and a little bit better. And then, um, and now, now, now the time in total before I could walk again was 10 months. And even then I was on the walker for two months.

And so like this time last year that we were talking, I was on a walker and, and just starting to kind of learn, like walk again. It’s kind of crazy. I don’t know if I had to relearn how to walk, but just, it took a long time to be able to really. Walk on my own or almost a couple of months. And so, and then, um, now let me kind of fast forward and then I’ll come back to this for a minute right now.

I’m about a year out from being able to walk and I’m probably about 85 percent better. I’m better than the best he said I would be. I’ll be a hundred percent by the end of this year. I mean, I was just, um, I’m, I’m weightlifting, I’m swimming, you know, laps like I was before, like just, uh, you know, at a hundred percent, as hard as I can, I’m carrying around my, my now four year old daughter, um, you know, And so I am, you know, I’ve seen an amazing, amazing healing and it’s really been a combination of things.

It’s been sort of my diet. It’s been, I believe my mindset has been a really key part of me healing. It’s been, I actually didn’t go and get stem cell again. I did some ozone treatments, um, I was going 

[00:10:03] Gabby: to ask you that because I think with, uh, you know, stem cell and, and PRP and just kind of all types of treatments and.

I know it’s a fluke. How did, what’s your opinion now about those kinds of treatments, uh, modalities for injury, do they scare you? Like, like, where are you at with that? Because I know people consider that all the time. 

[00:10:31] Dr. Josh Axe: So, so, so here’s where I’m at. And first off, like I went and looked at the chances of this happening and it’s close to probably one in a million.

I mean, it is not likely for this to happen, but it happened and listen, they cleaned me off well. So, so somehow the bacteria got in my disc. Whether somehow it got on the needle or it was inside my body somehow. And then it kind of opened the door to it. But, but the reality, let me compare it to this. If anyone has ever had a knee replacement or hip replacement, or even a, even a labral tear, like a shoulder surgery.

You have a chance of infection. Now it’s about one in, I don’t, I don’t want to say the exact number cause I don’t know, it might be one in 10, 000. Mine was one in 250, 000. That’s the likelihood. So it’s very, very unlikely, but, um, but it can happen. And I was one of one of the one in 250, 000 people, the, where that can happen.

And so do I think relatively it’s, I mean, you have a much greater chance of. You probably have a greater chance of dying in a car accident. I mean, I mean, there’s a very, you know, for one out of every 250, 000 car trips. So again, or it’s, or it’s very close maybe. So all that being said, I knew the numbers, I knew the research and I knew it could also help me heal.

And so I went and saw actually a different practitioner I thought was the best in the world. And, uh, and I got stem cell again and it absolutely helped accelerate my healing. Um, but, um, yeah. It was one of those fluke things like, like any surgery you get, there is a risk. Now, now this was a bigger risk though.

The only reason I’d say it was mine was more severe is it’s in the disc. The disc gets, has almost zero blood supply. And so it’ll take almost, you know, in some cases can take twice as long to five times as long to heal. So it takes a lot longer to heal. That’s also why you have to be on antibiotics longer because you, and this is where the hyperbaric chamber worked is that it, it, it’s hard for those antibiotics, even when you do them an IV to get into the disc hyperbaric chamber.

What it does is you have oxygen and then it drives that deeper into the cells and in the disc, allowing it to. Um, heal and fight the infection.

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If you could, if you Would go back now and let’s say you have stem cell in your spine, what would you, would you add immediately after something different and new to support the treatment or protect you? Or is it just one of those things? 

[00:17:09] Dr. Josh Axe: Well, one, And you know, I, I think that, so, so here’s what I know one doc, what you can do.

You can actually sometimes get ozone done before or after in your desk. Um, there’s a doc I saw he, he runs, there’s a, there’s a group and I think they’re the, and I, with this happening, I did, if you can imagine years, you know, a year of research of who are the best practitioners calling every regenerative medicine, cellular medicine person I knew.

And I came across a doc, his name is Dr. Rafael Gonzalez. He’s out of UC Irvine in California. And does amazing work with STEM cells. I know he’s treated not only myself, but I know Gary Breka, Dan Pampa, a lot of professional athletes. around the world. And so the company is called re health. People could check out their site.

It’s re health. com. But, but I went there because they, like before I was using my own bone marrow cells, which then they culture. These are umbilical cord cells, which are even safer and stronger. And they culture them. The clinic’s out of Cancun, but it’s nicer than any clinic I’ve been in in the United States.

It’s all white marble. It’s very nice. Uh, very good. So I went and got that done. But I think now knowing more about STEM cells, I think it’s the best way to go. Um, um, So I think one, yeah, I took a few extra precaution. This company does extensive testing on everything. I mean, they go above and beyond. Now here’s the crazy part.

The clinic that I had this happen in is I think maybe one of the two largest in the United States and maybe one of the two most reputable. So it wasn’t like I was going in some bad guy. I was going to a very reputable place when this happened and I don’t, you know, I don’t blame them. What happened? I think it was really just sort of a fluke thing. That one in 250, 000 sort of chance. 

[00:18:46] Gabby: But Josh, knowing that you, you are a person of faith, uh, I mean, listen, I think it’s interesting when, and, and this is where I also think faith is so supportive is when somehow we, we. Um, get the message. We find the meaning in the situation. Are you at a place now in your recovery?

Um, that this has become obviously compassion and things like that. But is there a part that it’s really been a gift to you and in some kind of life changing way? 

[00:19:21] Dr. Josh Axe: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, so, so let me, let me just give you just a example of this. I, the hardest moment I had in this whole thing was because I had to fly, you know, I had to take this private flight, go to Florida, get, you know, treatment.

My, my, my daughter was, um, In school and she was also scheduled to have something done with her eyes. And so I wasn’t able to see her for like four, like a month, like four weeks. And she, again, she’s, she, she was kind of like two years old, uh, close to turning three and, and she, she, you know, came in the room and saw her for a month.

And I remember just, I mean, just. After she left the room just sobbing because I mean it’s crazy when you have two, two, you know, kids that are two years old, then how fast they grow in that just one month time period, how much their words change everything else. And I just had really felt like I just had something just taken from me, just robbed, you know, just being able to, cause it’s like weeks before I was, or months before I was like running around playing with her every day.

So that was, I think that was really hard. And I think the moment I had was I told Chelsea, this is my wife. I said, you know, I said, I don’t care if we don’t have, like I said, my priorities are not like if we had no money and we lived in a shack, you know, together, that’s enough. Like for me, it really was, I think, reprioritizing my family more than anything and just saying, I just want to cherish the moments.

I want to spend more time with my, with my now girls. We have a five month old now and just be able to really, um, yeah, just, just spend that time together. So I think, I think absolutely. I think there’s sort of a, when you’re. When I was faced with that, there was a reprioritization of everything in life.

And so I, the things now that would bother me, a lot of other things just seem much smaller. Uh, I think in, in, in overall, and, and I, I prayed. While I was going through this and I was very aware to like I didn’t want to be. I knew my two year old and she turned three while this was going on to was watching me.

And so I also tried to bear my suffering nobly and also not complain at all. I mean, I don’t. I did almost everything I could not to complain ever. I mean, no, you know, there was a couple of times with Chelsea. I’m like, I just need to vent to you, you know, and, and, and share. So I definitely had that, but overall I tried to, you know, infer for my parents, my in laws and my friends stopping over, it was.

One, even when I didn’t feel like it, I did my best to, uh, have joy, have gratitude and live in that state, even though I didn’t know what the outcome would be. And I prayed during that time. I said, God, would you not only help me get back to 100 percent of where I was, but would you help me grow far beyond that spiritually?

And I really feel that. I feel like I’ve grown spiritually. I feel like I’ve grown mentally. I feel like I’ve grown in my character through the process. I did my very best to take lemons and turn it into, you know, turn it into lemonade and not waste. I mean, I think a lot of times when people are suffering, they may not think of it like this, but you want to use it.

You know, like I look back with my mom when she had cancer. And I look at how God used it to like my mom will tell you today when she had she would diagnose with breast cancer at 40 Diagnosed again with cancer in her 50s and she will tell you she is much great more grateful for life She is much more focused on the things that matter most my mom will like make You know You know, other breast cancer survival.

She’ll teach them how to make green smoothies and, you know, fight cancer with food. I wouldn’t like, this is what led me into the career. My mom having cancer of me wanting to go and help people with these things. And so I was able to experience that with my mom. And I really was aware of that now of like, if when you’re going through a hard time in life, a hard season, it gives you more of a chance to be a leader, to grow in character, to become better. And so I tried to do my best throughout that process. But yeah, I think there’s a real, there’s a real. Uh, awareness and focus on, you know, spending time with, with people I love sewing into those people. 

[00:23:19] Gabby: And besides the reminder of, uh, you know, how great and important and healing a hyperbaric chamber, was there anything that’s new for you?

And obviously we’re going to get into, you know, mindset being the most powerful medicine, but is there anything else that you learned actually as a healthcare, um, And a health professional because, you know, we, we, you’re into healthcare where you’re not into sick care. So is there anything that also you’ve like, Oh, and now I’ve also added this as somebody who is disseminating information, did have a medical practice.

You have, you know, an ancient nutrition you’re looked to as an expert. Um, is there anything new? Well, a few things. One, it definitely, 

[00:24:08] Dr. Josh Axe: well, I really started studying a lot about longevity and regenerative medicine. And, um, I spent so many hours just because again, it was like, how do I heal myself? And now how do I live longer and, and, and have more and stay younger longer?

Like how do I fully regenerate this tissue? You know, one of the things I came across is, um, You know, our body is constantly regenerating. I mean, we’ve, some of us have heard this, but maybe not all of this is that, you know, we have new skin cells every four to 14 days. Our gut is, our lining is almost completely new every, you know, about 14 days.

Our red blood cells, most of our cells are in, in our blood are new every four months. Our liver is new every 150 to 500 days. And so really once a year on average, most of your glands and organs are new. your liver, your pancreas, your thyroid, your reproductive organs. These are new. One of the issues is that I really identified is there’s really three main reasons why those organs and tissues aren’t healing or creating the right type of tissue.

That’s the thing. Your body’s creating new cells. It’s just, it’s creating unhealthy cells that don’t function optimally. And so, and again, three main things I discovered. One is, If you don’t have the proper cellular energy. And so if you think about your body is like a battery has so much of a battery that’s tied to your adrenal glands.

And then also something in ourselves really tied to our mitochondria, how well those are creating ATP and energy. But if you don’t have that, your body doesn’t have the necessary energy to repair itself. That’s tied to certain things. Uh, B B2, B3, B6, B9, which is folate and. So, so you cannot regenerate tissue without those or create cellular energy and some people don’t have the really sort of the are have more of a genetic impairment than others.

We’ve all heard of this with M. T. H. F. R. and methylation, but that that really can be important for healing. I do think methylated B vitamin supplements or methylated multis can be great. I also think that organ meats are the single greatest thing from a food standpoint for methylation. Really, really incredible if you’re talking about liver and that sort of thing.

So, But anyways, looking at that, I learned, I started studying tissue regeneration. Zinc, magnesium, potassium are also really critical for cellular regeneration. So making sure that those nutrients are there. Um, a few others to, you know, adaptogens. I mean, these are keeping our stress levels. It’s stress and sleep.

If you can keep stress levels at a more ideal rate, especially that cortisol melatonin when those were going up and down. And if we can, Get sleep like I wear something called an aura ring. There’s great. There’s aura ring. I know there’s other brands I love this because like I try and get at least a b, you know At least an 80 or above every single night for sleep Ideally, I try to get in the 90s And it’s a great way to kind of look at things and say did I get a b today a c that I can nay on My sleep, but I really prioritize sleep because that’s really when your body can regenerate is while you’re sleeping So that’s one of those three sort of core things that I started You Really discovering as I studied regenerative and cellular medicine, the other thing is, of course, toxicity or cellular poison, everything from forever, forever chemicals to, um, you know, um, glyphosate, there’s, parabens, you know, BPAs. I mean, you know, all these chemicals were exposed to. So really eliminating those, helping your body cleanse those. And the third thing is making sure you have the right building blocks. Um, you know, I think that there’s a lot of people that are deficient in fatty acids and peptides and certain nutrients.

I mentioned a lot of the nutrients earlier, like the B vitamins. Um, but in addition, fatty acids, omega threes, um, are really important. Um, Omega nines, the saturated fats, that’s what makes up actually your cell membrane. So finding things like coconut. And so that’s really important as well. So I really made sure my nutrition’s on point, made sure my vitamins and nutrients were really on point.

And then there are some really incredible. Uh, things as well that I did as a protocol, I started doing a lot of contrast therapy, which is alternating cold plunge with hot tub because I tried just doing a little cold plunge and honestly, I didn’t feel, I didn’t feel better afterwards. Um, and part of it is, you know, I want to increase my blood supply, whereas cold might increase testosterone in a short term, possibly just a little bit, but also I needed to really bring more heat to my body because that’s going to bring, remember, part of my disc issue or an area not healing is there’s not enough blood flow, oxygen and nutrients.

So when you go back and forth between like a hot tub and cold plunge back and forth, I would notice, like even today when I do it, I’m like, wow, my joints feel younger Transcribed After doing about, you know, I would do about, let’s say two minutes in a, in a, in a cold plunge, about three minutes in a hot tub, do that three times sort of back and forth.

And I would really notice a difference with that. I mentioned the hyperbaric, um, by the way, hyperbaric, I mean, the more I studied it, the more I found it to be really amazing for any type of infection, mold, lime. Epstein Barr, any of those issues. It’s very, very effective. And you can also do ozone. So you can do an ozone IV for mold.

That’s a really, really incredible therapy. So I did some ozone as well, like ozone, methylene blue and silver work as sort of a natural antibiotic, antiviral, anti mold, and, and that’s a really, really powerful combo. And so I looked at those, um, and started doing some of that too. Um, and then infrared light, you know, I started doing a light bed.

You know, that light really supports mitochondrial function and regeneration as well. So I did that. I mean, it sounds like I did a lot and I did, but I learned it just a tremendous amount, a tremendous amount.

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So let’s all stop feeling stuck and become, you know, unstoppable versions of ourselves and the best version of who we are. We can do it.

And I, and I always feel like, and I say this often, we’re And you’re just reminding us there are so many things, tools, and sometimes it’s confusing, but there are so many tools available to support your, your overall health, whether it’s your, your microbiome, your mitochondrial function, all these things, because we’re, we can’t really, uh, help be exposed to all this stuff.

So rather than freak out, it’s like, how do we fortify? That’s how I look at it. I’m not, I’m not. running around trying to avoid everything because I think that that creates a stress unto itself versus, okay, how do I fortify myself, my immune system? So I have a fighting chance to manage this. Um, I also want to bring up, you said something really important about the heat.

Where, because as somebody I know, and I, I remember this perfectly, you talk a lot about Chinese medicine and even the way you eat seasonally with certain spices and herbs during certain seasons, which is inspired by your, uh, you know, your background in Chinese medicine, but that in Chinese medicine, they’re always talking about heat.

Like, you know, heat is, you know, the most healing I get, I guess is really well, 

[00:36:17] Dr. Josh Axe: well, yes, you’re right. And so, and now here’s, I do want to say this. I do think cord plunging can be great. 

[00:36:22] Gabby: Yeah. Oh, me too. At mood elevation, testosterone. And also, as long as people, You don’t want to bang iron. I always say to people, you don’t want to bang iron and go straight into the cold.

That’s the one time to isolate it away. 

[00:36:38] Dr. Josh Axe: A hundred percent. Exactly. And so the thing is, is that I’ve always, and this is because of my Chinese medicine background, I’ve always been very, it needs to be personalized. I think most people now, listen, if you’re a man, let’s say a man or woman, and you’re a CrossFitter or an Olympic, like or a professional cyclist, like you’re doing extreme workouts and you’re younger, you could cold plunge every day.

And you can get away with it and it can help recovery. If I have a patient come in though, let’s say it’s a female and she’s got hypothyroidism and her body temperature is cool to cold already. Everyone with hypothyroid for the most part is that, um, having her cold plunge every day isn’t ideal. Now once we get certain markers where I want them to be, I might have her cold plunge.

One day a week or two days a week, but I typically am not going to do it every day. I’d actually ever do more infrared sauna cause we do need to get the temperature up. And so that’s right. Heat brings blood. It brings nutrients. It helps heal and regenerate where cold can help recovery, but it’s typically not regenerative in the same way to the tissue.

And so, um, if you’re going to cold plunge, I think for most people, You’re great cold plunging, but I think the average person is better off doing it one to two days a week Not daily 

[00:37:54] Gabby: great. So in your book Think this not that I mean, what what number book is this doc? You’ve written quite a few books already. How many? 

[00:38:02] Dr. Josh Axe: Yeah, probably i’m guessing seven. I mean if it’s my non publisher, it might be 10, uh or non traditional publisher, but probably Yeah, 

[00:38:10] Gabby: I love I love that. Um You know, you, you said when you were younger, you weren’t great in the sciences, but actually very good in writing. So it’s sort of ironic that you got the background, but now you’re using it.

Um, you know, also in this way and you said that you feel like this is your best book, uh, so far. Why is that? 

[00:38:31] Dr. Josh Axe: Well, a few things. One, and let me, let me mention this. I actually was, I was, I was good at, well, later on in life and became good at English and pretty good at science. 

[00:38:39] Dr. Josh Axe: was terrible at math.

There’s probably no, there was probably nobody worse than math and me in high school. Hardly. I mean, it was pretty bad. So, you know, what, what really, um, you know, it’s sort of a crazy story when I was in high school. I was a terrible student and I think this is true with a lot of entrepreneurs and, but I, um, yeah, so, so when I, when I was in high school, I had a teacher, my English teacher, in fact, in freshman year, she said, she, she asked me to stay after class and she said, she asked me, she said, Hey Josh, what do you want to do after high school?

And I said, I want to be a doctor. And the reason it was Gabby’s the year before is when my mom went through chemotherapy and I remember thinking to myself, I remember going in the room by myself. being like 13 years old and just crying and thinking about like, I want to help people like my mom and there’s gotta be a better way.

And um, and also I remember praying and saying, God, like, why, why are you letting this happen to my mom? And then, you know, now years later looking at how it’s actually blessed our life. It’s pretty amazing. But I, um, but I, so I told her I want to be a doctor. She laughed out loud. I still remember her laughing out loud.

And she said, Josh, listen, with your GPA, you’d never get into med school. She said, my own daughter has a 3. 8 GPA and barely got into med school. She said, you’re getting a D minus in my class right now. She said, you got enough on this paper. She said, you need to try harder. And I walked out of there and Gabby is like a 13 year old.

I thought to myself. Oh, I guess I can’t be a doctor cause I couldn’t get in. And then two weeks later, my mom brings me to see a doctor who diagnoses me with ADHD, talks about me like I’m not in the room. And I remember very specifically him saying, your son has a learning disability. And so then I thought, well, gosh, not only am I not, I can’t be a doctor.

I’m also not smarter. There’s like, Yeah, there’s something wrong with me. I have a disability, a learning disability. And then I got a prescription for Ritalin and my mom never put me on it, but I got that prescription. And then finally, so I barely graduate, like I graduated high school, but barely by the skin of my teeth.

I graduated with a C minus GPA. The only reason I graduated was I just knew my dad would be so mad if I didn’t graduate. And, and I applied to colleges cause I didn’t want to go to college. And I got letters back, got denied by most of the schools. I did get one letter back though from a college I really wanted to go to.

It was actually university of Kentucky and they sent me a letter back and the gist of it was this. You’re not in, but if you come and take summer school and you average above a 3. 0 will then let you in. And I thought, okay, I’m going to go and I’m really going to try. And so I went and took the first class I had to take was English 101.

First big assignment was a paper, got the paper, tried hard, you know, turned it in. And a few days later, the teacher, her name was Mrs. Williams. She said, Josh, can you stay after class? And I thought, Oh no, my stomach sunk. I thought this is deja vu and she said, Hey, what is your major? And I said, um, I haven’t chosen a major.

And she said, well, I want to let you know that I think you should consider being an English major journalism major because you’ve got the highest grade in the class. And you’re really gifted at this. Great job. And it totally changed my entire mindset. I mean, having somebody tell me that I was actually good at something.

Eventually a year later I changed it to pre med went on to eventually much, much later, but graduate Johns Hopkins with a 3. 9 GPA. And then, you know, become a doctor, write books. I don’t say that to boast. Here’s the thing I do want to mention for everybody is so important is, is that If I would have held onto that one single limiting belief, none of that would have happened.

I mean, there are so many people now that have one false belief about themself or about others or about God or about something. And that single belief is destroying their life and or keeping them from growing into doing the thing that God’s called them to do. Maybe it’s writing a book themselves or starting a podcast or a career change or whatever it is.

And I saw this in practice constantly. Let me give you an example. The number of patients I had come in who had seen previous doctors and were told You have to take this drug the rest of your life or This condition is irreversible. I mean even things like type 2 diabetes Constantly most doctors would say you can’t reverse that and so you just have to be on this drug the rest of your life So I I really encourage people go and identify What is what are your top three limiting beliefs?

When did they start? Because it typically started when we were a kid. Like maybe you had a coach or a teacher or a parent or somebody says something to you and then you just believed it. And still today you believe it. And it could be a lie that’s, you know, keeping you, you know, you know, keeping you from being who you’re called to be.

[00:43:12] Gabby: To me, this part about mindset and limiting beliefs is so crazy because it’s as real as anything. So we think, right. And yet it’s in almost like the wipe of a hand, or if you could, you know, meet the right mentor or have somebody who can help you navigate out of it, how quickly you can vanish that. And, um, and sort of, I mean, for me, that’s part of where there’s often conversations about hope and.

Okay. Maybe not, you know, hope, but maybe the idea of faith really, you know, kind of reapplying. It doesn’t mean I think I’m going to be a rocket scientist, but having the faith, like I can always be better than I am. I, I, it’s interesting how we, how we need others though, oftentimes to get us out of it, to help us.

[00:44:02] Dr. Josh Axe: I don’t know. Well, by the way, by the way, I agree with that. And, and I think that, cause here’s an example too. So I read this paper. by this researcher. And he said, you can amplify the placebo effect. So going back to placebo effect, just real quickly, I think it was world war one and there was a practicing physician there and he was taking care of the soldiers that had lost limbs.

I mean, we’re talking about really, really, um, excruciating. Injuries and they would give all these patients morphine. Well, they ran out of morphine and He’s like, well, i’ve got to give them something and so we started giving these soldiers sugar pills Think about how crazy this is 30 to 40 percent of these patients given sugar pills Had the same level of pain relief as if they were taking morphine the fact that our brains and our our bodies can create Neurochemicals that are as pain relieving as morphine that is extraordinary So he said in this paper, he said you can you can amplify The placebo effect by number one, knowing exactly what it is, what you want.

And so like for myself, I started visualizing throwing my two year old daughter in the pool again, lifting weights, going on like runs, like doing those things. And it’s just very, very specific. He said, the other thing too, is You want to experience the emotion you’re going to experience in the future right now.

And so like I, when I did that, I would laugh, I would be joyful. I was like, I was feeling those emotions in that, in that present. And then he said, here’s another really important part. You need to lay out a strategy, a plan, and how that’s going to become your reality. So what are you going to eat? What are you going to do?

What are you going to like, what are all the things necessary? Cause he said, sometimes your nervous system doesn’t believe you. It’s like toxic positivity. You could say everything’s wonderful. Everything’s perfect. Etc. And now like, what was that? Uh, I think it was Stuart Smiley. Like I’m good enough. I’m smart enough.

And gosh, darn people like me. It’s like, the thing is is that when you have someone else tell, so one, you can do that yourself. What I just shared the plan, the visualization, the emotions experiencing those, but you do want to try and get around people that are going to speak life into you. Not, not lies.

But life, because we are wired to be in community, to be in relationship. And so if you have a mentor say something to you or a parent or a pastor or a teacher, somebody that you admire, it will be very impactful for you. And this is why your inner circle is probably, I mean, there’s a Harvard study that found that the number one.

Way to improve your longevity is having a supportive community, having great friends, having a great family, like having those people around you. And it’s a very similar thing. Like I was interviewing Dave Ramsey and he told me that they did a study at his organization that your wealth is the average of the 10 people that you spend the most time with in their net worth.

So, so this principle applies to fitness. It applies to physical health. It applies to your relationship, your spiritual growth. If you’re hanging out with people that are very spiritually on fire and growing, you’re likely to be more spiritually on fire and growing. And so I think that’s something that people need to really be ultra conscious of.

Here’s what I have people do. I’ll have people write down, who are the five people you spend the most time with? Now I want you to rank them on a scale of one to 10 on how much they are iron sharpens iron for you helping you grow, become better. I’m not saying they’re positive or perfect, but just rank them on a scale of one to 10.

Now I want you to think about, Hey, if there are three of those people that are just twos and ones and zeros that are sucking life out of you, leeching your life, holding you back, let’s go find now three new people that write down that are that. Eight out of tens, nine out of tens, those people that can really sharpen you, make you better, you know, speak life into you and, and change up your framework.

I’ve done this a couple of times in life. And you maybe have done this at some point too, where it’s like, I’m hanging out with this group. This is not, this is not making me better. And I need to, I need to make a change. 

[00:48:02] Gabby: I think that correlation, sometimes people think that is harsh or selfish, but I actually think there’s something really healthy about being able to be that honest with yourself.

And it might be uncomfortable and people might not always love it, but I. I think that that’s not how we get to our greatest selves by appeasing everybody. Um, I’m just curious if, um, well, first of all, I think rituals when, when I hear, you know, when we talk about placebo, I, I sometimes think in a way what that’s half of what our rituals are.

Like we do that because we go through the process and, and, and that’s why I think they’re also important. too. It’s, it’s almost making space for that active ritual, prayer, direction, intention to have space to it throughout our days. I think that that is something that’s so important and it brings to mind when you, when you talk about placebo.

I’m curious if When things are hard for you and you’re having a challenge, has your prayer language changed after what you’ve gone through is it is it’s, you know, is there something that you’ve added because when we talk about limiting beliefs, a lot of times people don’t say they don’t know how to visualize that feeling or to get what they want. They’re just we’re, we’re rooted in like what we don’t want. 

[00:49:28] Dr. Josh Axe: Yeah. 

[00:49:28] Gabby: And I’m just curious as somebody who was already doing a lot of this before you, you, you got this injury, if your prayer language has even changed from this. So 

[00:49:41] Dr. Josh Axe: I have a lot to share here. So the first thing, let me just go back real quick to the, your inner circle, just this real quick thought.

Um, here’s how to know if you should be hanging out with somebody for the most part. Is it the ideal people that you’d want your kids hanging out with? Would you be like, this is the exact group, the exact person I would, I’d really trust and would love to sharpen my kids and make them better. Why would you treat yourself any different than you would treat your kids?

I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s the same thing. So that’s, that’s one thing of I think how people should really know that’s the gauge that they should use. Um, the next thing in terms of the prayer language, you know, I think that Has it changed maybe slightly but I do think my wife and I in family We’ve been through hard things in life.

You know, we’ve been through again. My mom having cancer twice. We’ve been through Losing people we love and really care about. We’ve, we’ve been through some things. And so I think that I have always been a person that turns to God very quickly. You know, there’s a, there’s a quote by, I’ve tried to embrace this the much that I can, and I’m so imperfect at this, but CS Lewis said, um, the people that do the most in this life are the people that think the most about the next life.

And so I try and have more of an eternal mindset and frame in terms of things. So even when I was going through this thing, I thought, well, what if I, What if I do end up permanently disabled? Does that mean that I can’t still add value and contribute in a meaningful way and enjoy? No, it doesn’t. And so I just need to do the best I, with the time I’ve been given and really, you know, just, just do the best there.

So, But, but I will share this. I haven’t shared this on many. I don’t even know if that I’ve shared this yet on, on any podcast I’ve done, but, um, I had injured my back once before quite a few years earlier and I couldn’t walk for like a week because it was bad. That was only a week. Okay. So this was a, you know, a year, but I remember laying there.

And I felt God really sort of speak to me and again, no audible voice, but this Mike, like a conscience. And I felt like there was this thing and it was like, just peace, be still. I know that I’m God, just be still. Cause I was always trying to do, it was like, you know, I think I was 34 or something like that and always just nonstop moving, working all the time.

And I had sort of back painted on and off for the rest of the year. And I ended up doing a lot less that year, but what was crazy is. Even though I was working probably closer to 30 hours a week when before it was like 60, my business grew way more and my relationships thrive more. I love life more all by working less.

And so I remember that experience of like God saying, peace be still. Well, this time I remember praying in a very similar way and just say, Lord, like how do I need to go through this process? Like how can I get through this? And the thing that really came to mind was, um, I felt like God said, walk with me.

And at first I’m like, okay, what does that mean? It took me like a day. And I remember the next day I was praying and I felt like God was like, no, you’re not doing this right. Like you’re trying to like bear a cross. You’re trying to carry all this burden and like heal yourself. And he said, you know, I really felt it was like, okay, well what’s the word?

Okay. So walk with you. So what went through my mind again, this is, I know highly spiritual and so I’m just, you know, but you’d ask some sharing. I felt like in my mind I went back and thought about, okay, well, where there’s this Bible verse in Genesis where God is walking without him. So I went back there and thought about, okay, God walking.

And so it was okay. So, so I looked at and I just thought about almost the Bible as a whole and what do I know of it? And it’s sort of God is walking with Adam. He’s walking with the Israelites and rescuing them. And then there’s, you know, Jesus. And then I leap forward and just even think about, um, My own life, like in, and in all the times that God has just come through in a big way, saving my mom from cancer.

And you know, when we were in financial trouble, like God helping out with that, when Chelsea and I had no, nothing to our name and those sorts of things. And so the thing that just came to mind is God is faithful. He’s faithful. And so I just really embraced that imaging. I really embraced that conversation with God of walk with me.

If I’m not going to like, unless I’m gonna do everything in my power, but I’m not going to worry about it or ever think about it at all. Um, I saw this with patients and I, maybe this was helpful for me. The people that obsess about their condition, Oftentimes stay sick. And I saw this a lot with Lyme disease.

I saw it a lot with my patients with fibromyalgia with certain autoimmune diseases. It was like, they were so fixated on the condition constantly that they were living in this sort of fighter, the stressed out state almost constantly. And I noticed a pattern that they would typically, even when they were starting doing some right things, it was like they would not be able to move forward.

So, so I realized part of that advice that the sort of, I felt like that God had downloaded to me was Don’t do that. Don’t fixate on your condition. Don’t obsess about it. And so it was like, you know what? I’m like, I’m going to focus on my family. I’m going to focus on my faith. I’m going to write this book.

I’m going to do it. Like, like, so like I couldn’t throw my daughter up in the air, but she would crawl in bed with me and we’d watch paw patrol and veggie tales, you know, her favorite show. So like, I didn’t focus on my condition. It was crazy cause I was bedridden for, and didn’t walk that whole time. I mean the only thing I could do was after two months I was able to crawl to a pool.

So I could crawl out there, get in and get out. So that was, that was great being able to do that. But, um, my point was, is I, people would probably be surprised how little I thought about having the issue. While I was going through it. 

[00:55:14] Gabby: Yeah. And I, I really believe that you can say that about everything in life, right?

Like when we, you know, they talk about it, the easiest analogy is in driving, right? Don’t look where you don’t want to go. And I, I feel like sometimes it’s so hard to do, but to really move towards the things you want and be very clear and have that practice and, and reinforcement is, um, I don’t, I’ve just, we don’t give it enough.

credit. And yet I do think that that can shift the physiology. It can shift, you know, all these things like you’re talking about. So I re I really appreciate that. And, and, you know, this book is really geared first and foremost, you know, mindset. So, and you get into it, I’ll, I’ll just share a couple things.

Um, you address fear and how to build virtue and how to create community. Um, you’re talking about. In your book, Purpose, Mission, Identity, Community, Becoming Great, like this book covers a lot of things, um, really are supportive of kind of how to build this, this mindset. Um, I, I did want to ask you about the milkshake.

I know we’re jumping way over. That’s great. But I love the milkshake study and I just thought it was worth bringing up. 

[00:56:32] Dr. Josh Axe: Yeah. So, so there’s first off the woman who did this study is an amazing researcher. Her name is Aaliyah crumb. She’s out of Stanford university and she doesn’t, this is one of the studies, but she’s got a load of them that are all fantastic.

So here’s what they did. They, uh, the study was done on how your belief about food actually impacts your actual physiology. And so they gave people A milkshake two groups of people one group. They told them it’s a low calorie shake another group They said this is a really high calorie like filling shake And in all reality, the shake was just the same shake.

It was right in the middle of the two and the group that we’re told it was a low calorie shake, you know, throughout the day later on, they were like, I’m so hungry. Like I’m having these cravings. Like they felt like they were given like, you know, like drinking water, like very little. And then the group that said, Hey, this shake is really filling.

It’s got a lot of calories, you know, and like, they were good. They didn’t, you know, they probably got to lunch and were like, Hey, I could skip lunch and go right to dinner. It was the same shake. And so it’s crazy when you look at the study that you, what you believe about the food you’re eating. And by the way, there’s other studies that show if you believe something is going to be healthy for you.

Not to say, by the way, I want to be clear here. I’m not saying you can go to McDonald’s and eat French fries and it’s actually going to be healthy for you. But if you believe that you eating those French fries is destroying your body and you think about that, it will be more destructive versus if you believe, Hey, these are healthy.

It’ll be a little healthier. Now, again, you can own like emotionally, you’re only changing it so much, but it does impact it. So let me give you a better example of one. Or just another example, I had to do antibiotics conventional and Gabby, I hadn’t taken a medication since high school. Maybe one time I had a procedure and I took like a little, but like almost not, but like pretty much nothing since high school.

So I was 40 and I was like 18. So I remember the last time actually, I think I was got my wisdom teeth removed. It was like I was 18 or 19 years old. That was the last time. So. But I could have gone in there saying, Oh no, these antibiotics are going to destroy my body. I didn’t. I said, you know what? I have an amazingly strong and healthy body.

God created this amazing temple and I’m just going to cleanse these out. I’m going to, I’m going to, these are going to do very little, have very little harm on my system. Now I do want to share what I did. By the way, most people that would be on antibiotics for a month, their digestive system would be wrecked for a long time.

I did everything I could to keep that from happening. I did 500 billion. I use a probiotics a day during and afterwards for months and months. Now that might seem high. I think, I mean, there were days I took a trillion probiotics. Now, most of the time people think, well, that seems like a lot of probiotics.

Not if you’ve taken antibiotics. I mean, those, so I did that. I also knew that actually really depletes your body of B vitamins. And so I take it, took a, you know, a lot of B vitamins. I took glutathione and N acetylcysteine to support that too. Because part of what happens in an IV, it hits your gut some, but it also hits your cells. So I did really high doses, probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics. Um, Yeah, and you can do 

[00:59:54] Gabby: that simultaneously. It doesn’t impact the effect you’re trying to get from the antibiotics, right? 

[01:00:00] Dr. Josh Axe: No, ideally you don’t want to here’s here’s what you don’t want to do. You don’t want to take them simultaneously But you if for instance, I would do this and if I did the antibiotic in the morning Right before bed or at night then I would do the the probiotic So I would typically do them about 8 to 12 hours apart.

[01:00:20] Gabby: in in in wrapping this up I uh, you know, you have a very big following I think you have like 2 million subscribers and and you have the opportunity like other people um, you know in the medical field to to just give out disseminate translate And offer people ways to support their health and to be healthier How do you I think it, for me, I liked, I can use it as a tool.

I can decipher. I kind of, you know, I don’t take everything at face value, but if somebody, how do you think, you know, if somebody’s sort of on this quest, like, Hey, I am trying to be healthy. I am trying to make better decisions. I don’t know. I just, from the principles, what are the, what do you think are the best ways that.

You know people like you and your position could help Um kind of the general population looking to to just be as healthy as they can 

[01:01:16] Dr. Josh Axe: Well, one of the things I focus on I focus this a lot of my podcasts as well the dr Josh ax show but it’s focusing not just on this one little I guess most doctors today, I’m trying to think of how I want to answer this cause there’s a lot of ways I kind of could, but let me just, I’ll, I’ll keep it fairly short.

But one is there’s a lot of doctors breaking the Hippocratic oath today. First, you know, harm prescribing medication, but like to me, the whole system today is so messed up. It should be what people consider alternative or secondary care should be the primary. You go into your doctor. change your diet, change your lifestyle, get all that.

And then if you’ve totally exhausted that completely, then get on a medication for a short period of time. I was working with somebody today who is, there’s a very well known celebrity and her sister and she, she said, Hey, can you talk to my sister? I said, yeah, I got on the phone with her. And she, her doctor told her she was having some ovarian cysts.

She was in her thirties and her doctor said, well, You know, I think we should probably just remove these all. You’d be more comfortable. They got a full hysterectomy and she said, okay. And then afterwards she, she diagnosed her with, um, she, she didn’t diagnose with anything. She said, well, Hey, now that this has happened, you know, I’m going to prescribe for you to be on effects or because, you know, it’s antidepressant because, um, you’ll probably cry a lot if you don’t.

And I said, well, when was it? That was this year. She goes, no, that was seven years ago. And I just, my, my, my point there is, is that that, that is conventional medical, not really seven years, you know, all the nutrient depletions you have by being on that medication, you’re depleted now and B vitamins and magnesium and other nutrients that you’ve never replenished.

All that being said, my mindset is very much aware of like, I believe that we really need to focus on health and body. Mind and spirit are spiritual and mental health affects our physical health more than food. I actually believe because I’ve known some people that haven’t eaten that well, but because they’ve got a really good strong spirit and mind, they end up being pretty healthy for a pretty long time.

Yeah. Um, you know, when I first opened my practice, Gabby, the number of people I saw coming in, like it was mostly, it was a lot of women with hypothyroidism, autoimmune disease, and then the, the conditions that were increasing rapidly were autoimmune disease, childhood obesity. Um, over the past seven years, the condition that’s grown the most has been mental health disorders, identity issues, depression, anxiety.

I mean, they’re just continuing to rise. So my point there is, is that one thing I’m very conscious of teaching people is one again, I’m continuing to teach people cellular regenerative medicine. A lot of the stuff we talked about earlier in the show, but I also really believe you got to take care of your spiritual health and mental health.

One of the things I do for that for myself personally, as I do in the morning, I do what I call my spiritual triathlon. I’ll get outside first thing and just go for a walk and just say everything I’m grateful for. I’ll put on some sort of music, worshiping God. I’ll just say thank you for my amazing wife, my family, for a roof over my head.

When I start my day like that’s part of it. So I do a gratitude walk, go inside, make myself like a superfood smoothie, sit down, read my Bible or a spiritual growth book for, Sometimes it’s five minutes, you know, but just for a little bit and then I’ll spend just a few minutes just thinking about what I read, sort of meditating and thinking on it and then just sort of, you know, praying and connecting with God.

And what I do is I make my requests known to God. Um, Hey God, I could use your help with this. This is going on. Just like a conversation. That’s actually what prayer means is conversation. And so, and the other thing is then I kind of listen to say, okay, Lord, how can I apply, apply this thing I’ve learned?

How can I love Chelsea better? How can I be a better dad? How can I be a better leader today at work? And just see what is imprinted upon me. And then I will live that out. But I think for a lot of people, we maybe make it feel complex, but I’d say if you want to grow spiritually, do that fit. It can be 15 minutes.

I do that spiritual triathlon in the morning. I think actually getting. Physically going to a church or a synagogue or some place of worship going in person. It’s, you know, since Covid very little people are doing things in person, going back one day a week for one hour somewhere, and just going out meeting that sort of growth minded community, spiritually driven community, getting connected in that way.

And then I think for people’s mental health. You’ve got to build a solid identity. I really feel like the chapter in the book where I go through how to build an identity is a good one because, and by the way, this is very much tied to purpose, but I think people need to,

you know, so just giving, giving example of this, I think most people today Don’t have a real solid identity and don’t have a high purpose. In fact, the studies show only 25 percent of people know their purpose. So it is really, really lacking. So if you know, and this is chapter seven of the book, but no, this is how to build your identity, which is tied to, do you believe your life is meaningful?

Like, for instance, as a dad, there are dads out there today that. I should say or fathers that have fathered kids and then just leave the family. And because they don’t believe that there, that has a, that’s, that’s meaningful, a meaningful role versus like, I believe that it’s the most meaningful role I have is as a parent, moms and dads, it’s the most, most, most important job in the entire world.

So like I’m trying to find my gift, my kid’s gifts and their skills and their talents and help them grow in character and do everything I can to help maximize them as individuals. And so I think that’s important as well. But if you’re just going to do a, let me, let me just kind of. Wrap this up. I think for your physical health, just, you know, focus on eating real food.

You know, that’s one thing I would do. And a lot of the stuff I know that Gabby interviews, people teaches, I know Lard, you guys got some great products, but again, I think just, you know, getting, you know, getting good nutrition, walking, getting outside daily, I think doing something like a spiritual triathlon, working on that growth and just, you know, building a strong identity, which is based on your unique gifts and skills in this world, at least part of it would be very, very helpful.

[01:07:13] Gabby: Yeah. So Dr. X, you, you say in your book too, by becoming not accomplishing. And I thought this was something really important. We’re always told we’re sort of supposed to arrive at this place and all of this, whether it’s taking care of yourself or loving your friends and family, it’s all about that becoming and not accomplishing.within the accomplishing. I think it’s, uh, that isn’t the answer. So, so the book is think this, not that you have the Dr. Axe podcast. Um, if people are want to explore your products, ancient nutrition is a, is a beautiful brand. Um, what else am I missing? 

[01:07:51] Dr. Josh Axe: Yeah. So yeah, the, the show’s the Dr. Josh Axe show. And I would say if people want to they could also search my name on a place like youtube and probably find a lot of videos I’ve done.

So you could search, yeah, Dr. Axe hypothyroidism or Dr. Axe, you know, testosterone or whatever video you could search on there. And I’ve got, again, the podcast and then, uh, in my handles at drjoshaxe on social media. And I think people would love the book. It’s think this, not that. You can find it on the amazon.com and um, Yeah, but I appreciate the conversation, Gabby. This is always so fun and love what you guys are up to and doing and so well thanks, Dr. Axe.

[01:08:25] Gabby: thank you so much. If you, if you, uh, in dropping it off, ’cause I know you have a strong opinion about it. Yeah. In for you, we’re not telling anyone how to do or how to live, but for you, what has really now shown up as a, as a partner, as a husband and a father that are. It is something you’re adding to your, your kind of your arsenal, your tool belt, because I’m sure you’ve had a lot of lessons in the last two years. 

[01:08:50] Dr. Josh Axe: Yeah, speaking life to people and being very intentional and doing it again. I mentioned this earlier. I had a teacher who told me I couldn’t be a doctor. 

[01:09:00] Gabby: Yeah.

[01:09:00] Dr. Josh Axe: And that essentially like I wasn’t very smart. She spoke that to me and it it really impacted me. So words are powerful. I had another teacher tell me You’re great at this. And it really impacted me. And so one thing that I do now is I’m very conscious of putting my hand on my daughter and saying, Arwin, you were strong.

You were beautiful. God loves you. You know, like, like speaking, Hey, you’re a great swimmer. You’re good at this. And, but more so it’s not telling her she’s perfect. It’s calling out what I see the gifts God has given her and praying for her doing that for other people. This is something my grandfather did. And I think people would love this story in the book. It’s in shop. Grandpa 

[01:09:38] Gabby: Howard. 

[01:09:39] Dr. Josh Axe: Yeah. Grandpa Howard. He always did this. And so, and imagine even he was 96. So he did this, he, when he was 96 years old and he was, you know, by the time he’d shrunk down to probably, I think probably five, four, but he would put his hand on your shoulder, look you in the eyes and just say, How can I pray for you today?

How can I help you? What are you struggling with? What are you dealing with? How can I support you? So I think doing that, I mean, that’s something I think that has meant so much to me and I had so many people serve me. I had my father and father in law and my parents and my wife as I was going through this, like I’d have every meal brought to me.

I couldn’t make food. Like everything. And so the fact that people were willing to serve me like that, I want to, you know, like, I think that that’s, um, that’s meaningful. That was meaningful to my life. And so I want to be able to speak life and, and, and contribute to others in the, in the same way. 

[01:10:25] Gabby: Well, Dr. Josh Axe, thank you. And I really, I’m glad to see you, you know, getting healthier and healthier. And I look forward to hearing how your journey continues and, um, just thanks for your time and thanks to everyone for listening. Thanks. Awesome. Thanks so much. Thank you for listening to this week’s episode. If you want to learn more, there is a ton of valuable information on my website.

All you have to do is go to Gabrielle Reese. com or head to the episode show notes to find a full breakdown with helpful links to studies, research books, podcasts, and so much more. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out and send them to at Gabby Reese on Instagram. And if you feel inspired, please subscribe.

 


 

About Dr. Josh Axe

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS, is a doctor of chiropractic, certified doctor of natural medicine and clinical nutritionist with a passion to help people eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle. In 2008, he started a functional medicine center in Nashville, which grew to become one of the most renowned clinics in the world.