How Good Expectations Improve Health with Dr. Brindusa Vanta

 

 

Listen to the podcast here:

 

Highlights:

01:19 Building Personal Integrity From High Expectations
07:25 Expectations Improve Health
11:50 How to Improve Your Psychoneuro Immunology 
16:27 Supplements and Therapies For Mental Health
27:13 Why You Shouldn’t Buy Supplements From the Internet 
31:17 Why Sugar Is Not Always “Sweet”
36:38 How to Improve Your Gut Health 
44:49 Do You Have Faith-Based Expectations?

 

Resources:

Book
Expectation Therapy: Mastering Your Expectations by Art Costello

 

Good expectations can improve health from scientific perspectives. Join @myexpectation and Dr. Brindusa Vanta in an episode that will definitely make your brain healthy. #expectationtherapy #psychoneuroimmunology #exercise #supplements… Click To Tweet

Quotes:

“High expectations build character in some form of … personal integrity. So when you expect good things, and you achieve them, you feel a lot better about yourself.” -Dr. Brindusa Vanta

“Anybody can add value to other people’s life. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing.” -Dr. Brindusa Vanta

“Expectation plays what you expect.” -Dr. Brindusa Vanta

“You can read a hundred books on nutrition… But the most important thing is to listen to your body.”  -Dr. Brindusa Vanta

“You have to take responsibility for your health and you have to start taking control of your health if you want to get better.” -Dr. Brindusa Vanta

 

Meet Brindusa:

Dr. Brindusa Vanta specializes in clinical nutrition and natural medicine focusing on brain and digestive health. She is a medical researcher who makes use of the latest and scientific studies on brain health and provides one-on-one consultations to clients from around the world.  For the last two decades, she’s dedicated her life to combined conventional and alternative medicine. She’s also written over 2000 articles as a medical writer. Dr. Brindusa believes that taking great care of your health is a basic prerequisite to reach your full potential and live life on your terms. Her mission is to help people transform their health and vitality using the power of nutrition and natural medicine. 

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Transcription:

Art Costello: Welcome to Shower Epiphanies Podcast. Today I am excited from Toronto, Canada. I have Brin Vanta. Actually it’s Dr. Brin Vanta, but she doesn’t want me to call her doctor, but it’s Dr. Brin Vanta. Brin believes in taking care, great care of your health, and a basic prerequisite to reach your full potential and live life on your terms. Her mission is to help people transform their health and vitality using the power of nutrition and natural medicine. She is a medical researcher who makes use of the latest and scientific studies on brain health and provides one on one consultations to clients from around the world. Welcome to the show, Brin, it’s a pleasure having you here.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Thank you so much., Art Costello. Thank you so much for having me here. It’s a pleasure to talk to you about, yeah, ask me anything you want, Art Costello.

Art Costello: I want to know how was it growing up where you were, and stuff. I mean, what’s your story and your history?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Okay. So I grew up, I spent pretty much most of my time, 25 years of my life growing up in Eastern Europe, Romania. Pretty spoiled kid, I must say. I think somehow we choose the family and the place where we live. And I chose the best parents really, talking about expectations because I read your book and I think it’s wonderful. I have to tell you that that I got kind of mixed resolved. It makes thoughts, because my mother was very much like, don’t expect too much. Don’t aim too high because you’re going to get hurt. And on the other hand, my dad gave me the freedom to believe that I can get and I can do whatever I want. And then I had my grandma, was totally on the same page, so of course, I decided to have high expectations. And I think high expectations, I say they build character in some form of integrity because, and I’m not just talking about integrity, like keeping your promises to others, I’m talking about personal integrity. So when you expect good things and you achieve them, you feel a lot better about yourself, right?

“High expectations build character in some form of … personal integrity. So when you expect good things, and you achieve them, you feel a lot better about yourself.” -Dr. Brindusa Vanta Click To Tweet

Art Costello: Well, how does that relate to you in your school years? Because you’re highly educated, you become a doctor. Did those high expectations always drive you to be the best that you could be?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: I would say, yes. When I have high expectations, I got what I wanted. And when I didn’t have high expectation, again, I got what I was expected, right?. So yes, for example, I have the first aha moment was in kindergarten when there was the only kid there what you call them bullied, but I was the only one who stood up and I taught him to be nice. So at that moment in kindergarten I realized that people have to be nice with me, I expect this. And I see this drew my whole life. I come across people who are nice to me, and I’m nice with them too. So talking about expectations? Yes, there are some expectations that I got them like, since I was very young.

Art Costello: I think it’s really important that we do that. But most of the time, young people don’t do that. They listen to the expectations of others.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yes. That’s very true. But then my dad told me, expect people to be nice to you, and you be nice with them, right? So I had this mindset talking about your expectation to deal with people. So talking about your book, where you’re saying to stay away from toxic people so that you don’t drain your energy, I rarely get around those kinds of people because I grew up from a different expectation, right? To be them being nice, and to treat other people nicely. And other things that I expected was to be a doctor, because this runs in my family. So my mother, and my grandfather, and my uncle, and two cousins, I’m telling you, it’s totally genetic. I grew up with single white coats, and stethoscopes at home, and hearing my mother and my uncle talking about different cases and saving lives.

Art Costello: Yeah, I think that when we’re surrounded by people, but actually, I mean, my dad’s family were all printers, so everybody wasn’t going to be a printer. It was funny because my dad wanted me to be a printer, but I didn’t want to be a printer. So I’m the one that broke away from all of it and change the mold where you decided, and I mean, that is a great profession. Being a doctor is a really, really, I think rewarding profession because you can have a great deal of effect on people’s lives, their health, their mental state and all that. So it’s really good. I guess it could be argued printers do too by what they print.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: I think anybody can add value to other people’s life, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing.

“Anybody can add value to other people’s life. It doesn't matter what you're doing.” -Dr. Brindusa Vanta Click To Tweet

Art Costello: That’s true. And that is very true. We all can add value. It doesn’t really matter what we are, as long as we’re good people, and we have good values, and we do good things, good deeds.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: That’s very true.

Art Costello: Let’s talk about the relationship, you and I were talking before we started the podcast about Expectations Therapy and its relation to health.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Oh, my God. It’s huge. It’s huge, I loved your book. And I think, you know, my mom passed away, but I think if she should have been alive, should have enjoyed it because expectation is such a huge role in your health. And my number one recommendation for everybody who’s listening to this podcast is to never lose hope. If you ever get a disease, and it can be a very, very serious one, right? Let’s say cancer, never lose hope, right? This is the most important thing. Keep your hopes and find a good doctor to treat you, okay? And if you don’t have this serious condition, consider yourself lucky because it’s not that serious, and you have more time to treat and deal with that problem. I remember, I was a medical student and doing rotation in oncology. So I see a lot of people with cancer, right? And I remember one lady, she was eight years old, she was in a really, really bad shape, and she was waiting to get surgery. And one of the doctors came and said: “Look at her eyes. She’s full of life. She is going to make it.” Talking about expectations. And sure enough she did it. And then there are other cases, other patients that I’ve seen that they came back. I would go the next day and I’d see the hospital empty. So expectation plays, what do you expect is more important than what your doctor is telling you. If your doctor is telling you it’s serious, you have six months to live, and that’s it. You have to set up your own expectations because those are just statistics, and if you have the right mindset, you can beat them.

“Expectation plays what you expect.” -Dr. Brindusa Vanta Click To Tweet

Art Costello: Yeah. I always believe that your own expectations are more important than others.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Totally, and now we have this new field of, I mean, it’s not so new, it’s for the last few decades, but not too many people talk about it. It’s the field of Psychoneuroimmunology where connects the mind. So cycle and your emotions was narrow, was your nervous system, and you lose your immune system. And scientists found that your feelings and emotions are basically telling your immune system what to do. And if you’re really sick, and depressed, and with a lot of anxiety, you’re going to health your immune system to shut down. And when it shuts down, you are more likely to allow cancer cells to grow, and also get more infections, for example. You can also make your immune system attack your own body tissue, like it happens in all diseases. So there is a crosstalk between your feelings and your immune system, does the takeaway, right? And it’s very important, and I realized someone may have depression and say, how can I have hope if I’m depressed? So it’s more important to manage and treat that depression than any other physical problem if you want to go through, and reverse the disease,

Art Costello: it’s almost like mind over matter.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Absolutely. Yes. It’s the mind body connection, they’re so connected.

Art Costello: So we’re actually willing ourselves to be better.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Absolutely.

Art Costello: Yeah. You know, most people wouldn’t believe that they can do that, but I would venture to say most people haven’t tried doing it

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Adds the point, yes. Because you’ve put a lot of energy. What are you seeing, positive or negative? You’re going to put some energy into those thoughts. So think positive, right?

Art Costello: Yeah. Is there anything, any techniques that we can use that would bring our mindfulness to a greater heightened state of susceptibility to our neural system and our immunology?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: We can go back to genetic level, right? They have certain genes, and we have good genes and not so good genes, we all have some weak genetics. So if you look from that point of view, for example, there are two of them, COMT and MAO-A gene that play a key role because they’re connected with the levels of dopamine and serotonin in your brain. So those weak genes may give you a predisposition to being, for example, to have more depression, or anxiety, or even aggression. So you can work on the genetic level. I use psychometry genomics, where I based my diet and my supplements based on your genes, so I can support those weak genes that make you more likely to develop depression or anxiety. I also used a lot of supplements that have been shown in research studies that work just as well as antidepressant drugs, like prescription drugs, ashwagandha or Indian ginseng it’s one of them. There are also special extracts from curcumin, they work just as well as the prescription drugs without the side effects. So there are a lot of supplements that can help. There is also exercise, one of the best antidepressant things, okay. If somebody could put all the benefits of exercise in a pill, we joke in the scientific word saying that person is going to be a billionaire overnight. This is how important is exercise, and how it’s changing your brain chemistry. So that is also important because proteins, the puddings that you’re eating, the amino acids from those proteins, they help make neurotransmitters in the rate. So for example, when you eat meat, you can have tryptophan, and Tyrosine that convert into dopamine and serotonin. So you’re going to have more of those feel good chemicals in the brain, so that is important. Supplements, exercise, mindfulness meditation is huge. I was just doing some research for my Zen master. I attend every Saturday, mindfulness meditation, a group, and I did some research for him. So mindfulness meditation can help relieve anxiety, and depression, and stress, and it can help rewire your brain. And prayers like you’re mentioning in the book, prayers are huge.

Art Costello: Yeah, well, I think there’s a correlation between meditation, prayer, and yoga, and stuff like that. I think there’s a real correlation on how it affects our neurology, how our brain works. And I’m not a doctor, and I figured that one out.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: It’s connecting your mind and the body, this is how it’s supposed to be. And this is something that modern medicine is not really acknowledging the connection between mind and body, but ancient forms of medicine like aloe vera and Chinese medicine, they knew for 5,000 years that the mind and body are connected, and you can use herbs and supplements to even improve that connection.

Art Costello: So what supplements do you think are really important for our mental health?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: For the mental health, first of all, you need a lot of B vitamins, so they’re crucial for your brain health. And what’s the problem here, there is a lot of deficiency in this nutrient. First of all, because of the stress factor, our modern work is very stressful, and when you’re stressed, your B vitamins are getting even lower and lower, same goes with vitamin C. So you need the B vitamins, especially B12, B6, B2, the best idea is just to take all of them together in a big complex supplement because they work in synergy. So even if you need more B12, you need the other ones to make it, to activate it. You need vitamin C, you need D, D for example, vitamin D deficiency is very common. And in North America it can be like 60% or even more of the population is deficient. So what studies are saying is that, it’s increasing 50% the chance of suicide. If it is severe vitamin D deficiency, depression is linked with vitamin D deficiency. And if it’s severe, you have 50% increase chances to actually kill yourself. And you have more sun, more exposure to the sun than we do here. But this is very serious, vitamin D deficiency can save many lives.

Art Costello: Yeah. They say now that if you’re not exposed to the sun like we are here in the South, that you should sit in front of a special lamp. They have a special lamp that you can–

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: You know it, yes, it’s very important. And first of all, you have to be exposed to the sun, but it depends. If you put on sunscreen, you’re not going to get vitamin D. If you are covered, most of your body has to be uncovered if you want to get vitamin D. And then it depends on the color of your skin too. The darker it is, the more you block the sun rays. So if you never have more of a darker skin, you need to stay in the sun to give the same amount of vitamin D. But as a general rule, let’s say for fair skin, you need about 20 minutes a day in the sun, mostly uncovered to get 10,000 units of vitamin D in your skin because the diet is very poor. You cannot get enough vitamin D from that.

Art Costello: I was going to tell you that when I was a young man, and there was a young lady that lived in the apartments when I was going to college, and there was this young lady that lived up above me, and one day, her and I were just sitting at her kitchen table talking, and I noticed, and I worked in mental health then so I had some knowledge because I was studying in school and I worked in a mental health, what I noticed on her kitchen table, just vial after vial of vitamin B, B2, B12, B6, I mean, just all the B vitamins. So I asked her, I said: “Why are you taking so many B vitamins?” And she said to me: “I’m schizophrenia, and I have schizophrenia, and they’re doing an experimental treatment on me where I take these massive high potency B vitamins. It has worked wonders for me.”

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yes, they’re super important for brain health, totally.

Art Costello: Yeah. And I kind of watched her for a while, for months. And what I noticed was, when she was taking those vitamins, she was okay. And a lot of people that take a lot of medicines don’t want to take them because it’s a pain in the behind. So she would say: “Okay, I’m well now, I don’t want to take them.” And the minute she stopped taking them, within days, she would go into schizophrenia episodes, and the doctors would get her back onto those vitamins. So to me, that was a testament to the power of the B vitamin in the brain.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yes.

Art Costello: It’s always intrigued me how it worked with the brains.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yeah, healthy fats are also important. Like fish oil,, it’s huge. And especially the DHA portion, fish oil has two key components, active ingredients or fatty acids. One is DHA, and one is EPA. And usually the fish oil high DHA is marketed for pregnant women because that helps the baby’s brain to develop better. So that one is also very good for depression.

Art Costello: I take a lot, I take 9,000 units of DHA fish oil a day.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: How do you feel?

Art Costello: I feel great.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: You don’t get sick, right?

Art Costello: Yeah. I don’t get sick, and well, rarely, I mean, I shouldn’t say that I’ve never. Most of my stuff is joint stuff, I get joint pain, but I played sports so my knees give me problems. But that’s the only thing, I mean, other than trying to keep my weight down as I get older because I’m not as active as I was.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yes. Yes, that’s true. For joints, I would say, yes, there are a lot of supplements. Fish oil would help, but if it is high EPA it would be more helpful. [inaudible] I mean, the B vitamins also help. And what I recommend because I have been very active in my whole life and I’ve got a lot of injuries as a result, infrared light therapy, so that one is probably one of the best that you can have for joints.

Art Costello: Have you done any studies about Cryotherapy where they freeze you, where they drop–

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Oh, I went there. I can show you a picture. I tell you the only reason why I lived there, the first of all, I had some sports injuries and it helped like overnight. But the reason why I went there, I went with my sister, and when I saw that — I can’t let my sister get there because if something happens, I want to try it first. That was my idea, so I’m going to do it. So what happened is the body is going on a lot of stress, right? The body doesn’t know if you’re going to leave or die because it’s a huge difference between your regular body temperature. So the body’s getting into it, we all shock, right? And in that process, you are releasing a lot of feel good chemicals like endorphins and especially norepinephrine, which is the stress hormone, and you’re going to feel awesome after. And what happened is, because the body’s going to try to protect the most important organs, like the heart, and the liver, and the kidney. The blood flow is going to go from the skin to the main organs, and then it’s going to go back when you’re getting out, so you feel amazing. And my shoulder went well, really like overnight after the Cryotherapy. But what’s really important is to keep it short and sweet. Because four minutes you get Frostbites, and at six–

Art Costello: Yeah, here in the States they have it regulated. I went to, I’ve done it about three or four times, and it really does make you feel amazing.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yeah. I’d be very careful in cases if somebody has cancer, I think you shouldn’t go because the level of this norepinephrine levels are going really, really high, and sometimes this can be detrimental for somebody who has cancer. Somebody who’s got heart diseases, again, I’d be super cautious to not get some abnormal heart rate, and yes, I highly recommend to see a doctor before trying it.

Art Costello: Yeah, it’s amazing. What I always tell people, check with your doctor before you–

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yeah, But the problem with that is usually, like, conventionally trained doctors don’t know about this stuff. Because this is more in the research world, and I’m doing a lot of medical research, so it’s usually about 20 to 50 years gap from what you see, what we’ve learned in research studies versus what’s in a medical textbook. And all the studies on cryotherapy, they have been done only in the last couple of decades. Japanese discovered this, and they used it initially to treat rheumatoid arthritis. There is also research for multiple sclerosis, showing that you can benefit from cryotherapy, I wouldn’t overdo it.

Art Costello: No.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: I know it’s recommended for sport injuries for a few times a week, for a few weeks, I wouldn’t go that often. I do it once every two weeks or so.

Art Costello: Yeah, that’s good advice. Being that we’re talking about research, I have another thing I want to talk to you about.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Sure.

Art Costello: CBD’s.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Oh, my God, I love it. I just [inaudible] an article about how CBD oil can save lives because the internet is full of stories. Okay, I take CBD oil and I sleep better, and my joints, I don’t feel so much pain, and my mood is a little bit better. But the truth is, it’s very powerful. So there’s studies showing that it works when antibiotics do not work. So there are a lot of infections that was superbugs, they’re resistant to antibiotics. And there are many people who are dying because those infections are not, they don’t respond to antibiotics. And CBD oil is showing a lot of potential to treat those superbugs. Another saying is it works for people who develop, or should I say partaking opioid drugs and they become dependent on that. CBD oil helps them withdraw effects and all this dependence to opiate drugs.

Art Costello: Wow.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: And it’s also helpful for depression, and anxiety, and stress. So yes, considering all of this, it has a lot of potential to save lives.

Art Costello: One of the things that I’ve heard through a friend of mine who’s involved in the industry is that, when you buy the CBD oils over the internet, they are sometimes compromised because they are shipped in trucks that the temperature is so high that it actually ruins the product. It actually dilutes it and makes it ineffective. And so many people, particularly here in the South, because if you go inside of a UPS truck,and we’re talking 180 degrees on a hot day.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: This active ingredients are sensitive to temperature, for sure. What I recommend usually is to buy from a local source, right?

Art Costello: But the trouble is most of our local sources, because I’ve asked here: “Where do you get your product from?” “Well, we get it from somewhere else and ship it in.” And I’ll ask: “How do you ship it?” And they’ll say: “Well, it comes UPS.”

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yeah, I get it. For example, I tried to get first time for CBD oil for my sister’s dog who’s got seizures, and there are also studies showing that it helps with seizures in dogs and also in humans. So I tried to get from the best source that same university that ran that study. I said: “I’m going to go straight to those people who use exactly this product in this study.” And I couldn’t, they told me in Canada, I cannot buy CBD oil from US. So I have to buy from a Canadian company. It cannot cross the border, but this was years ago. Ran into this problem here because we have certain of the few companies that are local here, and there is no need for transportation.

Art Costello: So they actually grow process it and everything right there?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yes.

Art Costello: Well, that’s cool. That’s cool.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: You’ll have to look at the closest that you can get. And another thing is to take the chance, if it’s not working, if you feel any benefits, it’s probably okay.

Art Costello: I think that maybe the manufacturers need to start looking at, shipping it in, actually, maybe some temperature regulated thing because–

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: There is no regulation for natural supplement. They are not evaluated by FDA.

Art Costello: Yeah, I know they’re not.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: So you can have, talking about vitamins, I would say about 80% of the vitamins on the market, they aren’t good friends, and you don’t get the real benefit. Talking about genetics because I told you I go down to the genetic level, about half of us, we have a genetic mutation called MTHFR, and we don’t really benefit from the regular vitamins that we find in the store, we need to get the highly bioavailable form to actually be able to process it.

Art Costello: Is that considered pharmaceutical grade vitamins?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Well, now you have a lot of natural products saying pharmaceutical grade, but just look for a highly available bioavailable B vitamins.

Art Costello: Where do you find them?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Well, in usually nutrition stores. So for example, for B9 vitamin, which is important for the brain. Foliage, Folic acid can actually be more harmful than [inaudible]. You need to take it in the folate form, or folinic acid. So if you go to a supplement store that carries a lot of brands, just ask for a highly bioavailable B complex formula, and then they’re going to tell you it’s a little bit more expensive, but if you take the regular one, you won’t see too much benefit.

Art Costello: Well, I mean, expense when it comes to your health. I mean, what can be too expensive when it’s your health, and your wellbeing, and your family’s well being. What about sugar?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Oh, sugar. What about sugar? If you eat right, you are okay even if you have more sugar, like you develop some sort of your metabolism, it’s somehow becoming more flexible and you can eat either less sugar or more sugar, and this is not gonna cause diseases. But most people do not have this ability, so we need to lower the sugar.

Art Costello: Yes, I noticed that when I stopped eating sugar, and I try, I get real radical because I try to eliminate all of it. The sugar, even the natural, I stopped eating a lot of the natural fruits that are high in sugar. My brain function, I mean, I felt so clear mentally, and all that.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yes, that’s very true. Yes, sugar creates inflammation. And excess sugar is toxic for yourselves. And this is obvious in cases of diabetes, right? When too much sugar in the body tissue is creating a lot of damage to the eyes, to the kidneys, to the pancreas, so too much sugar is toxic. If you cannot go on a very low carb diet, then at least go on a little glycemic diet. There are certain foods that even if they have some sugar, they do not spike your glucose level. So for example, it’s a big difference between a watermelon and the other Mellon, right? So watermelon can spike your, even if you say, okay, it’s mostly water, it’s got some sugar, that one can spike your glucose level up to the roof because it’s high glycemic index. So yes, I always recommend the low carb diets. When it comes at high fat, ketogenic diet that is very popular now, it depends, it’s not for everybody. You can do well on it, and some people don’t.

Art Costello: I’ve done the keto diet, and the first time I did it was years ago before it ever got popular when Dr. Atkins first started the keto diet. But I didn’t do his, I did it myself. I just wanted to eat foods that were green, but his particular diet, I lost 40 pounds in a month. In one month, I’ve been doing it. But now, if I go on the keto diet, I don’t lose as much, and I don’t have the same feeling as I did before. And I don’t know if it’s because I’ve gotten — that ugly word, older, older.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: I can’t hear you. I also adjust my diet based on the season, because we followed the seasons.

Art Costello: Can you tell me about that?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yes. So for example, ketogenic diet, we have a higher demand for fats in the winter because we have to keep our body temperature, we have to keep ourselves warm when the temperature is going low, lower, right? Actually it takes about four weeks to adjust to the cold temperature versus adapting to warm weather. So during the cold seasons, I recommend more fats in the diet. And during the summer, I recommend a little bit more sugar. But again, in the form of glycemic, that kind of thing, not high sugar fruits.

Art Costello: What about dairy?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Dairy, I’m a big fan of Buffalo goat, and sheep, and cow dairy only when I travel to Europe. Because cow suffered a mutation awhile ago, and some of them are mutated. And what happened is that causing in milk, in cows milk can trigger an autoimmune reaction in a similar way like gluten is doing for many people. So for example, about half of the people who have sensitivity to gluten, they will be sensitive to cows dairy as well. So I’m staying away from cows dairy when I’m in Canada. Buffalo milk is my first choice, and I enjoy it, especially the fermented yogurt or kefir.

Art Costello: What is that stuff Kombucha?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Kombucha is a fermented tea. Well, it’s good because this is the hottest trends, okay. Our health depends on the health of our gut flora, right? We have those $100 trillion bugs in our gut that are pretty much controlling everything, your personality, your thoughts, how you break down the foods and convert the food to energy, so it’s huge. This gut microbiome thing part is [inaudible] the gut microbiome. And fermented foods like kombucha, what they do, they feed those good bacteria in the gut. So technically, it’s a healthy food. However, I don’t recommend it too much in the summer. I recommend it more in the winter.

Art Costello: I wish they could make kombucha that tastes good.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Well, just add something, and then you need prebiotics, right? So fermented foods are a source of probiotic where fibers from food bring prebiotics, which are feeding the probiotics. So you need this combination of prebiotic and probiotic. People who have issues with [inaudible] or histamine intolerance, they shouldn’t use kombucha, they shouldn’t drink because they can get worse. So whatever is good for one person can be poisonous for somebody else. That’s why I like to look at the whole body and all the health conditions before I recommended the diet.

Art Costello: How do we know these things though? How do we know, I mean, does our body actually tell us?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Yeah. If you have a lot of food sensitivities for example, and a lot of allergies, and you get all kinds of rashes, you’re more likely to have allergies. Then either food allergies, environmental allergies, then you probably will have react to this fermented foods which are rich in histamine. Though, you know, histamine is the same problem in allergic reactions, and the same goes with pickled vegetables, all fermented foods can cause trouble. So somebody was a lot of allergies, was a lot of digestive complaints, I checked to make sure they don’t have access to histamine. Strawberries for example, which is considered a healthy food, for somebody who has high levels of histamine in the body, their symptoms are going to get worse.

Art Costello: Yeah, I guess it goes back to some things are always good for you, and some things are bad for you.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: That’s a very good point. So at the end of the day, you can read a hundred books on nutrition, and you can call me or somebody else for a consultation. But the most important thing is to listen to your body in how you react after you have a meal. Do you feel that you have brain fog? You feel bloated? Do you feel tired all of a sudden? Then you probably react to some of those foods, and it’s good to keep track. If you don’t do a food sensitivity test, which is not always accurate, but you can listen to your body and see how you feel. How do you feel? Do you feel more energy? Do you feel less energy? You shouldn’t feel anything after a meal, you should feel that you’re not hungry anymore.

“You can read a hundred books on nutrition… But the most important thing is to listen to your body.” -Dr. Brindusa Vanta Click To Tweet

Art Costello: I don’t ever have those kinds of problems. I’m not allergic to anything. Well, the only thing I’ve only been allergic to that I know in my life was when I was 16, they gave me sulfa drugs for something that they thought I had, you know? And I had a severe reaction to sulfa drugs. I mean, I thought people were taking pins and needles, and putting them all over my body. So I’ve never done sulfa drugs ever since. Of course, I don’t do very many, I don’t do any drugs now, I mean, pharmaceutical drugs,

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: I think they’re overused in North America, they’re definitely more used than in Europe. This is what I like about Europe. In many cases, doctors would combine supplements with prescriptions.

Art Costello: Yeah, we’re not very big on supplements in the United States.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: I noticed, I notice. But you know, at the same time you see new stores opening, and there is a lot of research, like, 30 years ago, we didn’t know too much about how many benefits can you get from one supplement. I was talking about that ashwagandha or Indian ginseng for brain health, they use artificial intelligence and tested 800 herpes, and see which one performs better even to boost longevity, and the other markers, and inflammation, and other metabolic markers. And ashwagandha, you know, the top one.

Art Costello: How did you get involved in research as a research doctor?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Because I’ve learned a little bit, I took nutrition courses, I went to college in Toronto but I didn’t feel like enough what I learned there. And honestly, I use about 5% of what I’ve learned in school because it’s so much new research, I’ve done that in 2006. So in the last 13 years, I’ve learned so much from the research world of that, you know, is going to take another 10 years until you see it in a book. So if you want to keep up with what is new and what is working, then you have to get involved in research, you have no other choice. And it’s fascinating, we can reverse a lot of diseases now. Even talking about diabetes, it’s a common problem, there’s studies showing that and exercise alone, and you may not need to take medications.

Art Costello: Yeah, I mean, that’s true. I mean, I know.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Like 10% of people, they didn’t need to continue taking their prescription drugs just by using for one year a combination of diet and exercise, you know, add some supplements on top and you can get a lot of benefits from natural medicine.

Art Costello: Hmm. Well, we’re nearing our time to end.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Oh, my God.

Art Costello: Yeah, it’s almost an hour.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Okay, so what I want you to talk, I think I told you about Expectations Therapy because I think it’s very, very important what you’re doing, and people can use it to improve their health, okay. And their studies on this topic, you have to take responsibility of your health, and you have to start taking control of your health if you want to get better, and here is where you can add the expectation, to have positive expectations.

“You have to take responsibility for your health and you have to start taking control of your health if you want to get better.” -Dr. Brindusa Vanta Click To Tweet

Art Costello: Well, I think that anytime you think positively that you’re really on the right track, you know, because, I mean, just think about it, negative gets negative, and positive always gets positive.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: This is my question for you, do you think you’re born with it?

Art Costello: That was something that I wanted to talk to you about, and maybe we’ll just–

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: I think part of it, I get it from the environment, but I think I was born with it too.

Art Costello: One of my theories is, I believe that there is a genetic code to how we expect, and that would be a great research project for–

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: I told you a COMT look for COMT genes, and MAO-A, MAO-A genes.

Art Costello: Well, maybe should do some research.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: We can talk about it.

Art Costello: Absolutely. Because I believe that there is a genetic component. I have a friend at Tulane University in Louisiana that they think they just identified a gene for personality.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: They play a key role like dopamine. When we’re talking about somebody who’s got a lot of drive and motivation, the type A personality, that’s the dopamine in the brain. And then there is a genetic component, some people will use it more than others. And interestingly, talking about expectations, sometimes they can turn bad and you can get diseases if you don’t have like faith-based expectation, like you said, there’s fear based. So if you go, go, go, and you burn out, that dopamine that is giving you motivation can also give you diabetes, and heart disease, and high blood pressure because that very same chemical is doing many things in the body. So they’re all connected, the mind and the body. And if people follow your book to expect things the right way, then you shouldn’t get sick. And I think it’s very powerful.

Art Costello: That is powerful. And with that, where can people that listen to this show get ahold of you?

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Okay, so my website is drvanta.com, so it’s very simple, D-R-V-A-N-T-A.C-O-M. I’m on LinkedIn, I can share an email address if you want.

Art Costello: Sure. And we’ll put all this in the show notes so people can just look at the show notes and know where to find you and all that.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Absolutely, yes. So my area of expertise is brain health. I also deal with digestive problems because the gut and the brain are very much connected, and yes, any questions, or if you have researchers in your audience who would like to connect with me, I’m totally into that too.

Art Costello: Well it’s been a real pleasure having you on the show, and I’m just honored, you and I met in San Diego, and I knew, I just knew that we had a connection, and I really, really–

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: And they’re what, 150, over 150 people, and the conversation with you about Expectations Therapy was the most interesting one.

Art Costello: Oh, well, thank you. I appreciate that. And you are quite interesting yourself, and I’m going to encourage the audience to reach out to you and do some one on one consulting about their health. And I think that we can change the world.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: I think so, it’s going to be a better place if it was less negative feelings and emotions, it’s going to be a better place, yes.

Art Costello: Better health, it all works together. Well, with that being said, let’s call this a show and we’ll save some more for later, we’ll do another one with Dr. Vanta, it would be great.

Dr. Brindusa Vanta: Thank you.

Art Costello: And it’s just been an honor. And with that being said, everybody knows where they can get ahold of me, expectationtherapy.com, and I thank you all for listening today. Heather White, take us out of here.

 

 

 

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