Welcome back to The Inspired
Living with Autoimmunity podcast.
I'm your host, Julie Michaelson, and
today we are joined once again by Dr.
Anshul Gupta, MD.
Dr.
Gupta is a best-selling author,
speaker, researcher, and world
expert in Hashimoto's Disease.
He educates people worldwide
on reversing Hashimoto's.
If you missed our previous conversation,
I encourage you to check out episode nine.
In today's conversation, we're
discussing the common root causes for
Hashimotos and all autoimmune conditions.
Dr.
Gupta shares his ex expertise and
gives us action steps that we can take
immediately to start improving our health.
Dr.
Gupta, welcome to the podcast.
Welcome back to the podcast.
Thank you so much, Julie.
Uh, it's a pleasure being over here.
Last time we had a lot of fun, you
know, sharing a lot of information
about Hashimotos and definitely
honored to be back over here to
talk about more than other things.
I'm so excited to continue
this conversation, and dig
in even a little bit deeper.
I know you already shared your story
with us, but I, I'd love for you to share
a little bit with listeners because I,
it's always so fascinating, I think, for
people to hear that doctors get sick too.
I know what drew you into the
world of, of functional medicine?
Absolutely.
Yes.
You know, you correctly said, you know,
unless you know, uh, we as physicians
or any practitioners go through our
own health struggles, nobody kind of
join this bag of functional medicine.
Right.
Because conventionally we are
kind of so much hardwired that,
okay, well conventional medicine
is the only way of moving forward.
It is scientific research base.
We don't know that there is
the whole world out there.
Whole world of.
Research out there, which
supports functional medicine
or integrative medicine.
So I was, again, a hardwired, conventional
medicine doctor, a family physician,
seeing a lot of patients on a daily basis.
Couple of years into my practice,
my health started struggling
and I started gaining weight.
You know, or even though did
not change anything with my
diet or with my lifestyle.
I was having this
horrible, horrible stomach.
The pain will hit me randomly.
You know, like doesn't matter what I eat.
Sometimes some food will react.
The other times the other food
will be bad for me, I had no idea
what was causing the stomach pain.
I was feeling so much tired that
during the day I had to take a nap
or just feel like very drowsy, just
to kind of complete the whole day.
And if I struggle through the
whole day, at the end of the
day, I felt so brain foggy.
Like, you know, I was not able
to concentrate on things, you
know, like just not able to pay
attention to each and everyth.
Uh, so, so many things were going on
and I had no idea what was causing it.
I was very young, 32 years
of age, right at the time.
But I thought, oh, I'm a smart doctor.
Let me fix this.
You know, like my stomach problem,
that might be helpful for me, right?
Started taking medications.
One medications, two
medications, three medications.
Nothing changed, you know, I took
them for a couple of months, nothing
was changing, so I thought, well,
maybe I'm not a smart doctor.
Let me go to these specialists.
Maybe they're smarter than me.
So then I approached specialists after
specialist, went to the GS specialist, did
endoscopies, colonoscopies, ultrasounds,
blood work, nothing was there.
He added more medications even
though he did not find anything.
He said, well, let's add
more medications to see.
That would be helpful.
Nothing changed.
So an allergy specialist, you know,
saw other bunch of specialists
and did tons of testing.
And literally nothing
showed up over there.
And no, nobody had any
idea what was going on.
They all had this statement that
maybe it's in your mind, maybe
you're just too stressed out.
And I were like, well, I have been
stressed out seeing patients, but you
know, I have been doing this for a
while, so I don't think that's an issue.
But I was 32 years of age,
no way moving forward.
I was taking more than five medications.
Nothing was getting better.
So that's the time I
found functional medicine.
Well, okay, like functional medicine has
stories about these, you know, like crazy
patients, you know, like who were refuted
by their doctors that just being in
their head and suddenly they got better.
So I got trained in myself
into functional medicine.
You know, I kind of found the root
cause of my issues and then made
a step-wise plan to address them.
Simple plan, some lifestyle
changes, some basic supple.
And then boom, the results were awesome.
Within one month, my
complete pain was gone.
Within six, six months.
Yeah, within six months, I was able
to get off all the medications.
I lost 40 pounds.
You know, my brain fog was gone.
I had so much energy in my life that I
even competed for a 5K rugged maniac,
Wow.
I was never an athletic person.
So for me to do that was a big.
Wow.
Amazing.
And, and your, your story and that's
why I wanted you to share it again.
It is it, Unfortunately still so common.
That's the path for people, you know,
specialists after specialist medication,
after medication test, after test, and
then out of, you know, sheer desperation.
They somehow, hopefully find functional
medicine or integrative medicine
and get real answers to root cause.
And, and so what I love about
your story is how quickly.
Just by addressing your route drivers,
you were able to, you know, at first
get rid of the pain and then get
off the medications and, and like
you said, lose weight, be energetic.
Um, and this is why we do what we
do and why we have the conversation
so that people know that there
is, there is a way to get help.
Um, and I was curious as you were
sharing your story, If anybody was
gonna say, suggest, perhaps it was
in your head because I, I find it
so common, especially with women as
patients, that they're, they're told,
you know, of course you're tired, you
have kids or, you know, which is very
different than fatigue, as we all know.
Um, so interesting that, that
you heard that same story
that, that most of us have.
And exactly.
That was the reason I became
specialist to Hashimotos.
You know, because when I started
working at the Cleveland Clinic
Functional Medicine Department with Dr.
Mark Hyman, so I was seeing all these
females, you know, who were coming to see
me with very similar symptoms and spine.
They were all struggling
with weight issues.
They all had gut problems.
They were all tired.
They had like, you know, brain
fog symptoms, gut problems.
And the, the biggest thing was that
they were going to these doctors
who were giving them medicines.
They were trying to do whatever
the doctors were telling, still
not getting better, and they
were giving different labels.
Oh, you just became a mom.
Oh, you are a busy professional.
Oh, you're taking care of your.
Old parents, oh, you are taking care of
like, you know, your work and your house.
And so they were being told again,
time and again that it's your fault.
It's basically in your head or you
are causing all of these symptoms.
There is nothing real about your symptoms.
So I felt so bad about these
Hashimotos patients that are decided.
I need to dig deeper, figure out what
is wrong with them, why they are feeling
the way and made a path forward for them.
So that's where I made this.
Call to kind of dig into the root cause
of the problems of Hashimotos and then
apply the protocol into my patients
and saw, again, phenomenal results.
Everybody got better, not only with
their symptoms, but with their antibody
numbers, thyroid numbers, so it's so,
so fascinating to see, as you said, in
a short amount of time, you can actually
reverse or improve a disease, which
people have been told that they will
have to live for the rest of their.
Abso.
Amen.
Absolutely.
Let's, let's start at the beginning
and, and for those, you know, that,
that a, the few listening that, that
don't have Hashimotos or some kind
of autoimmune thyroid condition, um,
what is, what is Hashimotos exactly?
So Hashimotos is the most common
autoimmune disease world over, you
know, uh, we have several autoimmune
conditions, several autoimmune
diseases which are happening, and
Hashimotos being the most common one.
We have, obviously, rheumatoid arthritis,
lupus, s l e ms, that comes after that.
Uh, Hashimotos is an autoimmune
condition of the thyroid gland.
The interesting piece of it is that
each and every autoimmune condition,
the pathology is exactly the.
It's basically an interplay
between your genetic makeup and the
environment triggers around you.
And when those environment triggers,
you know, like, you know, mix along
with your genetic makeup leads to
antibody productions in your body.
And these antibodies, depending
on the weak points of your body,
start destroying different areas.
So in Hashimotos, they
destroy the thyroid gland.
In rheumatoid arthritis, they
destroy the joints in ms.
They destroy the brain in the nerve.
On and on and on.
But the pathology is the same.
So in Hashimotos, again, what people
don't know is that there are antibodies
which are leading to the destruction of
the thyroid gland, and eventually they
reach a point where the thyroid is not
able to produce enough thyroid hormone.
And that's where the conventional
medicine wants to put all these
Hashimotos patients with thyroid medicine.
But in reality, people don't know that
these thyroid medicines are not doing
anything at all to address the underlying
problem of inflammation or autoimmunity.
That destruction of the thyroid gland
keeps on happening each and every day.
It's so frustrating for me.
I am one of those people that
for years, you know, I think
I have a thyroid condition.
This was well into my rheumatoid arthritis
journey, and if, if we would test
antibodies, I mean, we, to do, you do.
But if, if these markers would be included
in, you know, lab work that your primary
care doctor was running, instead of having
to beg and demand, you know, educate
yourself and then ask for the tests.
We, I mean, the amount of people you
could prevent from ever even having
expressed thyroid, you know, issues.
It would be remarkable cuz as you
mentioned, you know, Hashimoto's is the
most prevalent autoimmune condition.
Um, for me, I was told this is how
backwards my rheumatologist had it, I was
told that when they finally were like,
oh yeah, you, you know, when my ta when
I was finally symptomatic enough, my t
s H was now, you know, showing something
cuz that's all they were looking at.
She said, and of course then they
put me on the wrong medications and
still weren't addressing root cause.
But she said at the time, well, uh, yeah,
because of your ra it just has worn down.
Your thyroid still not looking
for autoimmune thyroid at all.
And, and this is a rheumatologist, this
is what she treats is autoimmunity.
You know, so it's just fascinating
and we just have it so backwards.
You know, the, when we understand.
What we're doing in this world of
functional medicine and root cause.
You can also take it as prevention.
It's the same, you know, we, we
can just avoid ever getting there.
Um, and, and so thank you for
simplifying and, but really explaining,
you know, kind of how that happens.
Um, I'd love to touch on triggers,
and specifically today, you already
know the one that I, I really wanna
dig into because I feel like it, it's
just, it's such a common driver of
all autoimmunity, not just, you know,
Hashimoto's and, and thyroid conditions.
Um, but what are, what are
the, these common environmental
triggers that you see?
Yeah, so the most common
environment triggers have divided
them into five major categories.
The first categories of food sensories
food is medicine, but the wrong foods
can also lead to triggering our disease.
So foods like gluten, dairy, soy, corn,
processed meats, processed fugo foods.
Sugars.
All of these foods, you know, are not
good for our body, and we know time
and again that they have been linked
to triggering autoimmune conditions.
Hashimotos, rheumatoid
arthritis, whatever it is, right?
So that's the first trigger.
The second is nutritional deficient.
Our body needs nutrition specific vitamins
and minerals to function properly.
And now we know that our food currently
is low in vitamins and minerals as
compared to 20 years ago there was a
recess study done, which compared to the
nutrition analysis of the food, which we
have currently from 1980s, and clearly it
shows that we are deficient into specific
minerals which are needed by the thy.
Like selenium, like magnesium,
like, you know, uh, B vitamins.
All of those things are
lower as compared to before.
So even though we think we are eating the
healthiest diet, but if our food itself
is deficient into vitamins and minerals,
then we are not getting them enough.
The third thing is stress.
So are, we are going through a lot of
stressful situations, you know, whether
it is a pandemic stress or whether it is
a work stress or personal stress, just
the world has become more stressful.
These.
We are always in that go, go,
go mode, which basically puts
too much pressure on our body.
And again, that leads to triggering
of Hashimotos, especially in females.
You know, like unfortunately
they go through these hormonal
cascade of changes, whether it is
pregnancy, you know, post delivery
or menopause, all of these things.
Hormonal changes definitely
leads to figuring of Hashimotos.
We know.
Then fourth is the infections.
You know, there are certain
infections which have been
associated viral infections like
Epstein bar virus or infections.
Monolo is what it is called about, has
been associated with several studies.
You know, with Hashimotos, there are
certain parasites in the gut, like
blastocystis, which has been associated
with, again, Hashimotos, and then
candida infections or Lyme infections.
Those are again, chronic infections.
Can, again, trigger Hashimoto disease.
And the last category is the toxin.
The toxins are majorly
divided to three categories.
One is heavy metals that we have known
that they definitely cause a lot of
destruction to our body, like mercury,
like lead, arsenic, you know, they
are definitely toxic to our body.
Then we have environmental
toxins each and every day we are
producing more and more chemicals.
And these chemicals, what they are
doing, they're doing, they lead
destruction of our body, whether it is
the pesticides or the organic phosphate,
you know that we are spraying our food.
Or that, that is like chemicals
that we are putting into our like
cleaning supplies or like, you
know, household things, right?
Or even skin product, right?
All of those things are toxic.
And the last one is
the mole toxins, right?
Those are the mole toxins.
So we knew about mold toxins for a
long time, but interestingly we knew
about mold toxins as a potential
problem in animals, especially in live.
Because you know, like the livestock,
you know, they were exposed to mold
toxins mainly through food, like,
you know, the grains and things
which were not stored properly.
They will grow mold and then that
moldy food when they will consume,
they will have mold toxins and
they'll have a host of health issues.
And nobody actually, I was very
surprised and nobody actually put two
and two together, that if animals are
getting more toxins, humans can get it.
And we're eating those animals and some
people are consuming those animals milk.
So it would make sense that, that,
right.
um, and, and that is,
smart doctors.
Yeah.
And that's such a common exposure.
You know, people tend to think mold
and they only think moldy building.
Um, and, and they really
are thinking mildew, right?
Not necessarily the mold and
mycotoxins that, that can really
trigger what we're talking about.
Um, so do you see this as, as.
I, I, I know they're all so common and
prevalent and, and um, then I used to
say, when I was first figuring out how
to get well, you know, I was looking for
my root cause like in the singular, and
then I realized there's no such thing.
It's always more than one thing.
And there could be a main
driver, you know, that thing
that tips us over the edge.
Um, but do you see mold and mycotoxin?
You know, as a, as a contributor,
more and more common.
And then is it because we're testing for
it more or is it just more prevalent?
So definitely it is very common.
You know, like almost each and every
of my client, I would say every second
client of mine do have some kind of toxins
and very frequently it's a more toxins.
So yes, you know, you are correct that,
you know, we don't know the exact, uh,
like statistics because previously there
was no test to check for more toxins.
And obviously now we have this.
So that's the reason we are testing more.
So we are being more aware of.
But I think it's a total toxin burden.
That's what it's causing the
problem, because we just have one
detox system in our body and that
can only handle so many toxins.
And I think so that's where
the heavy metals are there.
The environmental toxins are increasing,
but the mold toxins, they're so toxic
that even at small levels, they can
completely hijack the immune system and
turn your body against your own body.
And that's the worst part about it.
I think the other toxins slow.
Slowly build up and then start a
very slow destruction while mold,
toxins can eat up, you know, like
inflammatory response in your body.
And then suddenly, like, you know,
we see a big surge, you know, of
uh, inflammatory chemicals which
are produced in the body and that
leads to in autoimmune conditions.
So I think definitely mold
is a bigger, biggest trigger.
Of majority of the autoimmune patients.
As you said, there are def other
contributors too, so just working on
mold is not going to fix the problem.
But definitely that's the biggest
piece that will make the huge
shift for most of my clients.
And I, I so love and I, I wanna lead into
giving a little more information about
testing, but I love that you highlighted.
You know, we're, we're so used to
this model of, you know, through
Western medicine of like, here
are your lab results, and if
you're in this range, you're fine.
And, and especially with mold and
mycotoxins, somebody doesn't need
to be off the charts if they have
autoimmunity and they're showing exposure.
You know, the, the, there's no
exact, you know, you what your body
can tolerate and what my body can
tolerate may not be the same thing.
And again, we've got all these
other factors are we accounting for.
Um, and, and so I think that's so
important to highlight that somebody
doesn't need to have a really scary
looking re mo results on their
mycotoxin panel for that to really be
a major player in their autoimmunity.
Absolutely.
Look, most people will
say, well, I don't think.
Exposed to mold, you know, because
what people having in mind is that
their walls should be covered with
black mold or like, you know, they
will have this black mold everywhere
in, around their sink or anything.
No, actually the, the mold we are talking
about doesn't even have to be black mold.
It can be just simple white mold.
It, it is gently hidden.
In your insulation walls or behind the
walls a lot of times, or in your floors.
So you might not even know about it.
It might not even be in your house.
It might be at the workplace,
or it might be an Ar b Airbnb
or a hotel or a place that you
visited and you got exposed to it.
Right?
So, you know, they're different
exposure sometimes, you know, like,
you know, food as we said, can be
an exposure too, especially coffee.
You know, there's certain coffee beans,
you know, can have mold in them, right?
Nothing against coffee.
I love coffee myself.
There's a little plug for purity coffee.
Everybody.
Make sure you're, if you're, if you're a
coffee, if you're a coffee lover, which I
am, you know, you, you can get beans that
have been tested and are as clean as, as
we can source, you know, in this country.
Um, so, so how do you, because so
many people don't know that they've
been exposed, and I love that.
You know, again, you went back
to the, it's not necessarily
you're living in this dam.
You know, environment
covered in black mold.
What do you, I, I'm guessing
you, you're a, a fan of testing.
What, what kind of testing
should people be looking for?
So absolutely before the testing,
you know, like obviously, because
testing as you know, is expensive.
Not everybody kind of, you know,
can afford it and not each and
every person should get the testing.
So there are certain.
Symptoms that can kind of tell
people that whether they might
be exposed to mold or not.
So people who have become very, very
sensitive to things like, you know,
they're reacting to random foods or
random smells or random things, they're
breaking down to hives or their skin
rashes that, you know, like that is
happening to them, um, that is causing.
Problems if they're runny nose, if
they have itchy eyes or burning eyes.
Those are, are they in symptoms?
If their mood is changing very quickly,
like sometime they're feeling anxious,
the other time they're feeling depressed.
So that mood swings, which is happening
if they're feeling brain foggy, you know,
like, especially like if they are not
able to concentrate, they feel that the
memory is not as good as it was before.
Uh, all of these symptoms,
inflammation in the body.
That is another big thing.
Like people come to me saying that
I have inflammation in the body.
I feel my joints are swollen,
or my body's swollen, or I
feel pain general in my body.
So these are all symptoms or
signs that you might be going
through the mold toxicity.
So if you have any of those things, then
definitely there is a high suspicion that
you could be checking for mold toxins.
Now, how do you check for more toxins?
Unfortunately, the regular labs do not
have any tests to check for more toxins,
so there are only a couple of labs which
will actually check for more toxins.
The other piece, what people don't
understand is that as soon as we talk
about mold testing, they will go to their
allergy doctor and get an allergy test for
the mold, and they say, well, I don't have
more toxins because he tested me for it.
Well, mold allergy is
different, completely different
thing from mold toxin.
Mold allergies.
Just saying that if you do get exposed to
mold spores, whether your body is going to
react, you know, in an allergic fashion.
While what we are talking about is
mycotoxins, is that those mold spores
have already entered your body, you
got exposed to it, and then this start
this production of toxins in your
body, which we call as Microtoxin.
And we want to know the levels of
those microtoxins in your body, because
those microtoxins are the one which are
driving this whole autoimmune process.
So a couple of labs are there, like Great
Plains Lab, you know, in real time labs.
They have been there
for several years now.
It's a urine test.
They basically check and remember they're
at least seven to eight microtoxins.
They check four and tell you the levels
of those microtoxins in your body.
Because we just don't want to know
whether they're present or not.
We also want to know their levels so that,
you know, once you start working on them,
you can see those levels coming down.
So that's the way we do the testing.
You know, through this, you
know, these specialized labs.
And I love that you'd, you know, let
people know the, the urine test is, is
the, you know, the way to go for sure.
Um, you mentioned fo kind of
following, how, how o you know
long do you wait once somebody is.
Doing it their whatever detox protocol
you have them on to retest, to make sure
things are moving in the right direction.
Four to six months.
You know, like more toxins are
very difficult to get out, you
know, like from a person's body.
So I think before four months
it doesn't make any sense.
So four to six months is average amount
of time that we retest our clients.
And, and when we're talking about,
especially people with autoimmunity
and Hashimotos, you know how.
How can they, and I think the
key to detox is, is safe, right?
How can they safely
detox from old toxicity?
Absolutely.
So before, kind of, you
know, like talking about the.
Aspect, and that's what you know, I
want to also let people know, is that
they don't that just mold toxins are
just not about the toxins, it's about
the damage they're doing to your body.
So we not only have to detoxify or remove
the mold toxins, we also have to work
on the damage which has been done, uh,
so that you know, like you feel better.
So the mold toxins actually cause damage
in various different mechanisms or.
So first of all, the mold toxins cause
something serves, which is C I R S, which
is chronic inflammatory response syndrome.
What has been seen in these microtoxins
can directly hijack your immune
system, and by hijacking your immune
system, they actually turn them on, you
know, continuously they're turned on.
So they're producing these inflammatory
markers all the time in your.
These inflammatory markers are the
ones which are triggering those
antibodies and, and triggering
the destruction of your own body.
So very, very important to know, like, you
know, this destruction through mold toxins
is by causing this inflammatory response.
And second of all, the mold
toxins actually also affect your
gut causing leaky gut issues.
You know, like, and we know that the
leaky gut is basically the way the process
of starting the autoimmune process.
So the mold toxins directly goes
to your gut and then directly
causes leaky gut problems.
And the research kind of shows
that the mold toxins can do that.
And the third way is they also is
that they are actually directly
attacking the cells also.
So not only they're kind of causing an
indirect damage by cause of increasing
inflammation, but they can cause
something called cellular apoptosis.
So apoptosis in like, you know, medical
terminology is basically cell death.
And you know, because we need old
cells to die and the new cells to form.
But what mold does is that it also
causes the death of the newer cells also.
So our body is lacking, you know, like the
appropriate cells, especially in thyroid,
if they don't have cells, they do not
produce enough thyroid hormone, right?
So these are all the mechanisms through
which the mold toxins are destroying
the, you know, whether it's thyroid,
whether it is the joints or anything else.
We not only had to remove the mold
toxins, we have to fix the damage
which was done so people can feel.
Now the most common, like, you know,
mistakes that people do is that, okay,
well let me just go on a detox protocol
Now, detox protocol is not so easy, right?
You know, there has to be an understanding
of what we are doing because there
are different phases of the detox,
phase one, phase two, and phase three.
And what most people do is that, oh, let
me just take a binder, or let me just
take this, you know, kind of supplement
like glutathione or something, which is
going to help get removed my mold toxins.
Well, what it does is that these mold
toxins are hiding in your system.
Whether it is your fatty tissues, whether
it's your thyroid, or whether it other,
you know, in your bone areas, right?
Once you start taking these detox
supplements like glutathione, they
start coming out in your blood and
start circulating in your blood.
And if you do not take the next step of
removing these toxins from your blood
to the outside of your body, then they
start actually doing a lot of damage.
That's the, that's the reason people
will see a lot of die of reactions
and they'll feel horrible symptoms of
feeling tired, diarrhea, you know, being
on the bed, you know, uh, throwing up
episodes and they'll say, oh, well,
you know, these are just normal die
of reactions and this will get better.
You know, like, but it
gets to get worse first.
And, uh, I tell them, no, that's not true.
It doesn't have to get worse.
This is where people land up in
the hospital or emergency room.
By doing these improper detoxes,
we have seen so many cases of
people damaging their liver just by
trying to do this detox protocol.
You know, like, which they kind of
bought on internet or just thought,
you know, that'll be useful.
So I tell people that detox, detox is
something that is the only thing that
you should not be trying on your own.
Uh, you have to work with a qualified
professional who knows what they're doing.
Could say that again, please.
It's, it's just scary to me, you
know, because I was saying before we
hit record, I just had somebody ask
me, well, just tell me how to detox.
And I'm like, this is already
someone who's too sick to
work right now, and I'm no.
Um, I, I quote often the doctor I
work with here locally, and he always
says, detox should be slow and boring.
Like, you should not notice
there's no push through.
Um, and, and that's, uh, so important
and what you highlighted for people,
you know, the body is clever.
Even, even though the toxins are
still doing damage, it's, it's.
Kind of tucks these toxins away, even
if it's places like thyroid that we
don't, you know, bones that we, we don't
want the, the, the toxins in our body
at all, but people don't realize how
much sicker they can make themselves by
reci, recirculating and recirculating.
So thank you for really.
Educating us on that.
If, if you, listeners, if you take
one thing away from this, it is
do not go look up a detox protocol
online and, and get started.
Um, and what are, what about, you know,
if, say somebody does do testing and
they, they have, you know, clear mycotoxin
issues contributing to their autoimmunity.
How important is it for them to
find out, you know, whether their
mold exposure is current or past?
You know, can somebody, cuz
that's expensive too, right?
I, I have people push back, um, with
testing cuz again, you may not know that
you're being exposed to mold at home.
Um, how do you kind of balance that?
So that's the most trickiest piece
because unfortunately we do not have
a perfect test to actually, you know,
like, first of all, know whether the mo
toxins are present in a particular house.
Old or not.
So what people don't know is that,
you know, sometimes definitely old
exposures can still show up on the test.
More toxins can live in your body for
like five years or even longer than that.
So just based on the symptoms is very
difficult or even based on the test, it
is very difficult to know whether that's
a current exposure or a past exposure.
Now in the current exposure, It's very
important that if you do have current
exposure or more toxins, let's say
in your house, if you're going to be
exposed to it each and every day, then
even though you're doing the more detox,
you might not get the best results.
So that way, again, having a higher
index of suspicion and looking
at it, you know, to see whether
your house might have it or not.
Now there are two ways of checking,
you know, any particular house
or a building for mold toxins.
One is like getting a contractor who can
do a visual inspection of looking at mold,
you know, in different places and kind of,
you know, or giving an idea to the people.
Obviously the downside to that
is that, you know, it's user
dependent that you know how good.
Contractor you are getting, or you
know, like what he feels about right.
You know, they don't do much
testing, so you cannot rely on that.
And obviously they can
be very expensive to get.
The other option is that there are
Army Test, E R M I ORME test, which are
basically kind of surfer tests where
you collect, you know, the dust and the
air and you know, like, uh, some samples
from your house and different rooms and
you send it to this company where they
analyze the sample and give you a score.
And that can be helpful.
REM reminding whether you
have high mold scores or.
Again, it's not a perfect test.
A lot of people have done the test and
they have missed the mold because again,
how you collect the sample and how
they've run it can be a challenge, but
definitely it's a cheaper option than
getting a contractor into your house.
So if you are really concerned and
you just want to get checked, then
certainly that you can do that.
But both of the options, you
know, have their own issues.
The bigger issue is that let's
say you find mold in your
house, what are you gonna do?
Right?
Again, getting a contractor and
fixing it is expensive option.
Unfortunately, there is
no easy way out of it.
Yeah.
And for those that are listening that
think, well, I'm handy, I'll do it myself.
Just know it's, it's kind of the
same as in the body when you're.
Doing any kind of construction
or re remediation to remove
mold, you are releasing more
into the air and disrupting.
Um, just like doing an improper detox
protocol will release more into your
body and, and make you feel worse.
Um, this is not something I ever recommend
that people take on themselves because
you need, you need proper training and
areas really need to be sealed off.
Um, and, and so it's a, it's a just
a very tricky, expensive issue,
and it's such a common issue.
Um, the, the, I I say do your research
and, and have at least, you know, if
you find mold in your home and you
know it's there and you, you need to
get it remediated, hire somebody who
is, is a mold specialist to do it.
If you can,
Yes.
You know, mold is very, very hardy.
Right.
You know, it's very difficult to treat.
So there was a research study done.
They tried to see like, you know, Like
what kind of chemicals actually can
get, get rid of the mold completely.
So to my heart, even bleach, even
bleaching the surface, you know,
like, uh, with mold, they could not
a hundred percent remove the mold
from that surface, even with bleach.
So then I would say, okay, well
if they cannot remove a breach,
then suddenly I'm not equipped
enough to deal with mold on my own.
And as you said, I'm just making
the exposure worse, right?
Because it can be like, you know,
hidden insulation walls or other
places and you know, you are removing
them so you do get exposed to it.
So definitely getting a contractor
who is trained in doing these things
is a way of forward, as you said.
Um, that will be the best.
Yeah.
Appreciate that.
It's a, it is.
It's so important for people to handle.
Their, their, you know, exposure and, and
reduce those, those, their toxic burden.
Um, but we, we need to, this is
where we really need the support.
As you mentioned, you need
that trained professional to
support you through the detox.
Um, it, it's, it's kind of that same idea.
It's not just like, let's get this stuff
out, but we need to repair the damage
that's been done and support the body
so that you really can detox properly.
And reducing your exposures across
the board and, and all of the
toxin areas is, is just essential.
I know, you
people can certainly do a few.
oh, sorry.
Go ahead.
Yeah, I was just going to share that
people certainly can do a few things, you
know, like just to optimize if they are,
if they cannot do anything at all, right?
And they wanna do something just
to improve their detox, there are
a few things they can do, right?
Like improving their kidney
function by drinking water, right?
It's simple, you know?
Just drink in a water in a day
that will flush your kidneys out.
Right?
So that is a good way of detoxifying,
doesn't hurt anybody, right?
Body movement in terms of exercising
or yoga or cardio strength training.
Each and every body movement
releases toxins out from your
body, either by sweating or
through your lymphatic channel.
Eating a healthy, high fiber
diet, which is going to keep
your bowel movements regular.
And again, that is going to
help your body to detoxify.
So these are such simple things
that you know, people can do.
You know, obviously they're not
going to completely eliminate mold
from your body, but at least they
will help you to lower the burden.
You know, like if you cannot
do anything else, start doing
with these things, this will be.
I, I so love that you brought that
up and, and honestly, even if you
are about to work with a professional
to support, you know, if you're.
Peeing pooping and moving.
No professional's gonna start
you on any kind of a protocol.
Those are the, the foundational
detox pathways that we
really need to be hitting.
People ask me that all the time,
you know, well, what about sauna?
Or what about, and I'm like, you
know, are, do you drink enough water?
Let's start there.
Uh, so I, I love, we always are
looking for that like fancy fix
and we were just talking about how
expensive remediating can be, but, um,
drinking, uh, you know, a significant
amount of clean water and making sure
that you're going to the bathroom
regularly and moving, like you said.
And no matter for listeners, you know,
moving, you know, we mentioned sweat, but.
The, the lymph system as well.
This, this lymphatic
drainage is important.
I have clients that, you know, if
they're really, really sick, just
gentle rebounding, like just wherever
you are, just meet yourself where
you are as far as movement and,
and just notch it up a little bit,
I so agree with that.
You know, like.
Doesn't mean that, you know, people are
just running marathons tomorrow or just
going and rushing in the gym with doing
those high intensity training By no
means, you know, should not be doing it.
Body movement, as you clearly
mentioned, Julie is all about
where you are currently with you.
You know, walking 10 steps is
that's what you can do right now.
That's great.
You know, that's what your
body's allowing you to do.
That's okay.
Like, you know, just try to improve
or improvise on it slowly and slow.
So wherever you are,
just start doing that.
If you're doing a workout that
is going to completely draining
you and making you feel awful,
that is too much for your body.
Your body's already crying for help.
So just be friends with your body.
You don't have to be
enemies with your body.
Love that.
So that's, there's more gold right there
and, and I'm giggling on the inside
cuz I was about to ask you for that.
One step listeners can take.
And you just gave us four
really important ones.
Um, I don't know if you
wanna sum them up, pick one.
Those are all essential I think.
I think those are all
essentials and easy things.
You know, like I say, like
start from the basics.
I'm a person that, you know,
basics can do a lot of things and.
Basics are fixed.
You know, like, you know, doing advanced
protocols are not a good choice.
So until my patients have done the
basics, I don't move them forward.
So, as you mentioned, drinking water,
eating a clean, healthy high, five.
You know, like plant-based diet and
some body movement, wherever you can,
these are all basic things you can
do today that will help you to lower
not only the mold toxin burden, but
any toxins you have, whether heavy
metals or environmental toxins.
So, and it doesn't even matter
that you need to feel awful
before you do these things.
Do these things right now so that you
don't get to that point where you need
my help or Julie's help or anybody.
I love that.
Yeah.
These are, it's not rocket science.
These are things that, that we're
designed to be doing on a daily basis.
Um, and, and again, that whole, yes, we
can tree root cause or we can use that
same knowledge and prevent illness.
So I love that you circled that right
back around to where we started with this.
Dr.
Gupta, where?
Where can listener?
Where's the best place
for listeners to find you?
So I'm almost everywhere.
So like you know, we have a website
called un unsure gupta md.com.
I have a very active blog.
I write research based
articles over there.
So if you are avid reader, that will
be a good place for you to find us.
I'm on YouTube now.
Again, my handle is unsure, Gupta
MD and again, sharing short videos
over there so you can follow along.
And again, these tips that we discussed
over here, so that way if you are a
visual person, you know, you can find
us over there Also, um, if you wanna
know your root cause, you know, I
actually made this root cause analysis
quiz, which is present on my website,
which is mainly focused on Hashimoto's.
And with just few questions that you
can answer, it is going to give you
a score that is going to potentially
lead you into that, all these different
categories of root causes so that
maybe you can start working on those.
So all of those places
we, people can find us.
We even offer online consultations.
So people who are interested in working
one, one to one with me, they can
now work with me from anywhere in the
country, um, through online consultations.
Again, go on our website and
all the information is over.
Dr.
Gupta.
Thank you so much.
You have shared amazing, amazing
information with us today.
Thank you so much.
It's my pleasure coming over
here and I really, really
appreciate the work you are doing.
You know, the podcast you have, getting
all these speakers, sharing all their
knowledge that you have, I'm sure it
is changing so many lives already.
So being, it's my honor to be here.
Thank you and so excited that
you're now working virtually, you
know, literally anybody can work
with you now, which is is amazing.
So for everyone listening you remember,
you can get the show notes and transcripts
by Visiting Inspired Living Show.
We will have all those
links where you can find Dr.
Gupta, where you can take
that quiz, all the things.
I hope you had a great time and
enjoyed this episode as much as I did.
I'll see you next week.
