Healing Lyme with Ayurveda

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah. Thank you, Tom. And I’m looking forward to talking with you and your life and community about what I know about how we can help these individuals who are suffering with this.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Yeah, you know, and one of the coolest parts is so many people here know part of my story is I started to heal through ashtanga yoga, through different parts of learning a little bit about are you later learning a hell of a lot about my body that I didn’t quite even understand. So before we kind of dove into everything like maybe you could tell us a little bit of your background and what brought you to nutrition and pathology in this really unique way. Because I think this is the part that got me so interested in having this conversation with you is I’d love for everyone to just know a little bit more about you and your journey.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Okay. Sounds great. So I am, as you already mentioned, a board certified pathologist, but I’m also a board certified integrative medicine physician and culinary medicine physician. So what brought me to pathology is that there’s so much vast number of diseases out there. And what a pathologist does for those who might not know is we are looking at the body on multiple levels, from the cells to the tissues to the organs of the blood, pretty much anything in the human body. We are examining and most of us, a majority of us are doing it on live patients. So there’s only a small number of pathologists that work in the forensics department, and the rest of us are all working on patients. So we really want to look at what is going on from both a clinical laboratory perspective. So there’s anatomical ethology, clinical pathology inside of pathology. Those are my three board certifications in pathology. 

So with that, what I have done is I’ve spent a number of years looking at individual tissue under the microscope. And yes, I have seen parakeets under a microscope. So I thought this would be a great conversation to have because, you know, it’s one thing to make a diagnosis, but then it’s another thing when how can you help the individual patient? So that’s where I incorporate my integrative lifestyle medicine and my culinary functional culinary medicine to really help people get to improve their cellular health. So that’s my focus, is really improving cellular health, whatever issue you have going on. And we know that in Lyme disease, it’s Lyme disease specifically affects dendritic cells in individuals. And these dendritic cells are found in our immune tissue and our immune cells. So I think that’s worth having a conversation about. How can we kind of protect these cells and what can we do as individuals to kind of take control?

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Yeah, I love it. It’s like it’s so funny. I talked to so many people and they don’t even know what’s going on. And I mean, one of the things you’re kind of, you know, in terms of like we talk about Spider Keating, we’re so well versed in them. But then when you talk to the pathologist, he’s actually worked really closely. One of the things you mentioned kind of as we about to turn the camera on was about the skin lesions and stuff. And I think that and how you’ve actually been able to biopsy these things and look at them. So a lot of us will talk about the erythema, migrant’s, rash and the data between when it’s there and when it’s not there. But just for because it’s cool and like I think it’s important for people, you know, knowledge is power as long as you know how to apply it. But what do we actually what’s causing it is like what are we seeing in these rashes that are either the bull’s eye or even just kind of like for me, I say like red pockmarks. You get this red, purple, splotchy, but now what’s going on in there?

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah, absolutely. Great questions. So I’m a little bit of a science geek, so I love looking at everything. So what will happen is if you get a skin rash and you happen to go to a dermatologist and they happen to biopsy it, many rashes can get biopsied. Sometimes they just get treated and they don’t go away. So that’s a great indication to really biopsy and see what’s going on because there could be so many underlying causes for rashes, especially if you didn’t know that you got bit by a tick. But when we’re looking specifically at the rash of an individual who has had Lyme disease, what we’re seeing is in the epidermis, which is the superficial layer of the skin. You have the epidermis and then the dermis. What we are seeing is both superficial and deep. So that means both in the epidermis and in the dermis infiltration of with inflammatory cells. So specifically they’ll be neutrophils, their lymphocytes, plasma cells, eosinophils and mast cells. 

So it’s just this span of inflammation around the like at the rash, okay, which the adjacent skin which would not be affected would not have that type of inflammation. In addition, depending on how long that rash has been there, we might see some of the skin being becoming necrotic. So it won’t. It’s what we call dermal necrosis. So that can also be present. And then the most fascinating thing for me would be, you know, we’ve seen it for different things to see. All right. Is there a yeast or fungus there? Is there a bacteria there? And specifically, we can see Spiro Keats with a silver stain. So they come up like these little squiggly things that will be identified in these inflammatory areas.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

That’s pretty awesome. It’s I mean, well, it’s not awesome if it happens to you, but having had it happen to me in the past, it would have been cool to I think I’d have been much cooler with the whole situation if someone had actually biopsied my mega rash and showed me what was going on. And I think it’s interesting to that. And we’re going to dove into this deeply because it’s like that inflammatory component is so critical and we talk about it a lot. But I don’t think that I’ve you know, to be honest, I don’t think many people sit there and think about the m rash is like having all this inflammation. So it’s like a microcosm of what’s going on throughout the body. And as you were talking, it something dawned on me. 

It’s really interesting that this whole I love how the whole summit come together because the message that I know you’re prepared to share today is right along the lines of the self healing process that we want to have for this summit. But as you’re talking, I’m like my wife originally was thinking about being a pathologist because she would nerd out on what you just said so badly. It’s so cool. But then she did this crazy thing, like go to osteopathic school and put her hands on people and start to work with the natural self-healing mechanisms, which is what we’re going to be talking about boosting up. 

And it’s just I just I feel so honored that, like, I can host a summit where all of these people come in at the right time with the right message. And so everyone, one of the things that I really want to dove in with, Dr. Monisha, is, you know, pathologies. Great. You know, we’ve all talked about the challenges in diagnosis and treatment, but really, there’s a p you’re you have the ability to really have such a strong impact on your foundational health. And that’s one of the places where all this comes together for me. So, Monisha, like what? Where do you go? Like, so you take your pathology and now you’re moving into I’ve got that inflammation, I’ve got this thing, we’ve made a diagnosis. But how do you do this with patients? I mean, you know, where do we start? What’s the most important organ systems or groups of things that we should start to look at so that people actually have control over?

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah, absolutely. So we want to look at kind of the big lifestyle aspects, right? So what you’re doing on a daily basis in your 24 hours of the day. So, you know, we look at how can we optimize your sleep because when you’re sleeping, your body is repairing itself and removing unnecessary proteins that might be damaging your body. We are looking at how you’re moving your body and you’re sweating and you’re exercising. And especially for individuals with Lyme, you know, they have joint pain and sometimes you’re thinking, all right, well, I’m in pain. Let me not move my joints because they hurt when I move them. But let me remind you that cartilage does not have a blood supply. I can tell you that as a pathologist. So were you able to get nutrients through your cartilage is through this. I know the fluid fluid and to move your body. So we’re looking at sleep. We’re looking at movement, we’re looking at toxins in your body. And when we’re looking at organ function, one of the biggest ones and I think the one that’s really worth diving into because we eat food is really our nutrition and how are we supplying our body with the appropriate nutrition to fight diseases?

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

That food is like something that comes up so much. So I hesitate to even pose the question this way, but I mean, gut health. I mean, this has got to be a core piece of what you’re talking about. I would assume, aside from, you know, sleep and movement, which is like I’m trying to get everybody to do, but it seems like sometimes it’s a little hard for some reason and gut health can be hard. But like having the conversations we’ve had since we’ve met and like hung out, it’s like so exciting to hear your take on these things, but so why don’t you tell me, like, what about the gut is so important from the pathology perspective and then maybe we can really dove into the unique aspects of your private practice that really help people ignite their own self healing mechanism.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah. So let’s just say that I think people, most people are beginning to understand that a lot of health and disease can start in the gut. Okay. So if we look at it from that perspective, if our gut is not optimally function, we’re kind of opening ourselves up to a host of health issues. And from that perspective I’m looking at and also I will say from an elevated perspective, which I have it as an ancient 5000 year old, ancient whole body system, which is really looking at how the body functions from a mind, body and spirit level and keeping an imbalance. And what we’re focusing on is the gut nirvana. That’s a big part of the focus. And so with that, when I’m seeing individual roles, I would say even if people are coming to me for other things, 99.9% of them all have gut issues. And let me just say bloating, constipation, diarrhea, indigestion, none of that is normal. And I don’t know when in society that started becoming acceptable that having, you know, these these things is normal. Right. And thinking about headaches, skin rashes, other things that are a reflection of what’s going on in the gut, that’s also not normal. So, I mean, I know sometimes patients wait to see the doctor until they’re in so much pain. But I’m one of those persons who really advocates for if you have anything going on, anything that is on your body, please don’t wait. Go have the doctor get it examined. You know, I’ve worked with individuals who have waited until some messes grow on their body until they were out of control. And I understand the fear might be of knowing what that is. But I will tell you the earlier you kind of check stuff, the earlier it can be treated accordingly. So I have just found that gut is one of the keys and really helping people heal. And we probably as a society have done a disservice in sharing information on how you can truly deliver that.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Yeah, I would agree. Like, I don’t understand, like, why it’s okay to just be like barely getting by. And I always say, like, I want people to be the world’s worst viral and bacterial host, right? Like, I want my fire kids to run away. I want ticks to run away. And actually, I’ll a little tidbit that I found really interesting prior to having Lyme disease and even after I first had it and I got into a chronic state but didn’t know it at the time, I would get bit by ticks all the time because I’m outside all the time. No matter what I did, I get bit. But then I started to get this guys move my body with the movement. All of a sudden my body started teaching me and it started rejecting the foods that I grew up eating, which was the standard American crap diet. And then all of a sudden I started doing this crazy thing called sleep. 

And when I did those three things you highlighted, all of a sudden I was like, I’m not getting bit by ticks. And it’s really interesting to do some research on pheromones and stuff, and I don’t know what it is, but the healthier I got, the more the ticks weren’t even coming on me. So I would agree 1,000%. So when you’re talking about, you know, because a lot of what we’re talking about is conventional medicine, right. Which is only a couple hundred years old at best. And really, the big pharma thing is even if probably about 100, not even 100 years old, you know, and it’s really taken off in the last 50, 60 years. Are you Veda? Can we dove into this a little bit more and maybe give us an overview? Because I think this is a way to look at your body and a system of healing that I think is maybe not as well known as it needs to be in the United States. So and I don’t hear a lot of people talking about it in the Lyme community. So I think that this is a really critical introduction for people because then not only can we talk about some of the things you could use through that tradition to help them get better, but man, you can make your teeth so good. But I’m a foodie so.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Your food will taste pretty good. So like I said, I read it as a whole body system. It’s been around over 5000 years. And in translation, either Urbina really means the science of life. So what we’re doing is we are looking at individuals from a perspective of what is there in our Constitution, like what were they born with as they’re in our Constitution, and how our lifestyle basically takes those constitutions. And there’s three constitutions. It’s a total carbon budget. And what our lifestyle, our American busy lifestyle does it creates an imbalance in these sociaux. And the ultimate goal is to bring it as much into balance as possible. Now, there’s plenty of quizzes you can take to figure out what your dosha is. I will say somebody who is really type A personality, very fiery on the go is a hitter individual. And those are usually the ones who are, you know, always doing something. And they can very easily get out of balance and they can get out of balance when they’re always on the go and burn out. 

Right? Then you can have the individuals who are coffa. And when I think of somebody who is a cop, the individual, there’s somebody who’s very grounded, maybe a little bit on the heavier side and it takes a little bit something to get them moving. So they’re coffa they can be a little too grounded right then you can have somebody who’s bottom and got a person is reminds me of like a buzzing bee, somebody who’s just always like very airy, can’t really focus, is kind of just here. They’re like just a free spirit. All right. And so we all have a little bit of these notions. And what we want to do is kind of bring them into balance. I mean, we might have a predominant type, but when we’re out of balance, we have too much of one. So since I saw you react to Pitta, I’m assuming you’re fit to type. So we could talk about do you feel like do you like spicy foods.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

To a decent degree, not psycho, but yeah.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah. Do spicy foods like you back?

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Oh, yeah, no problem.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

No problem. Okay, so maybe your pitta is not that imbalanced, but individuals who have a pitta really would benefit from having cooling foods, not spicy foods.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

It’s interesting, too, because I think in the past I think I was like, you know, I would be like, oh, vata with some pitta, but then it’s like, but then you look at the imbalances and whenever I hear the imbalances, I’m like, Yeah. Pitta all day like I could. So it’s like, I’m going, but it’s like it does and but I don’t. But it’s definitely I like the spice, but it’s not always be like, you know, over the top as and it so this is an interesting question that’s coming up for me. And and I think that what we learn from this is applicable to everything but there’s days of the week or weeks of the month or whatever where I’m like, bring on the heat. And other days I’m like, I had that last week. This is so freaking hot. I can’t handle it.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I think it’s kind of if you understand what your constitution is and kind of understand what are the things that bring your body into balance versus imbalance, that’s kind of like an important part to start. So when we’re looking at these three doses or so, but like I said, it’s kind of like that very part. So that is an energy that’s really associated with movement. So it’s interesting that you said when you started moving your body, right, so you were kind of moving some of that energy around. Pitta is a part of the energy system that with metabolism so metabolic system, right. So that’s why it’s fiery . It’s your digestive system and then copper is that body structure. So like I said, that grounding that kind of form. So I mean I would consider this in the spectrum of a complimentary system. 

Like I think, you know, you take the conventional, you take the complementary, you see how this is applied to me individually. And one of the things I want to emphasize is the more you understand your body and the more you can pay attention to these subtle signs, it’s going to get you closer to healing, because sometimes we’re not paying attention to what our body is saying. And I say any symptom is basically your cells are communicating to you, right? So think about that. Like your cells are sending they’re not only sending messages to each other in the body, but they’re sending you messages. And it’s really your choice to listen to. All right. What is this actually telling me? You know, did I have a good day? Did I you know, did I keep my inflammation down? Did I move my body? Did I have my optimal sleep? What are my cells telling me.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Is so good? Because one of the things that I love to talk about is and I’ve said it in, oh God, probably 70 or 80% of the interviews we’ve done is stop comparing yourself to other people. And I love what I’ve learned from your data because it allows me to be unique, individual with a unique blend of these. But there are kind of in my world, a couple of groups of people, right, like that. I see in the office certain types of people where they’re trying to always applied themselves to somebody else. Or if someone else doesn’t react like them, they’re trying to either make themselves feel worse and then feel worse and like, look, no, actually, 5000 plus years ago, people understood that there’s a different constitution for each person and we have them in different percentages at different times. 

And even just, you know, my brain, because I do this like I have to go, go, go. I’m thinking back to different times. Hey, there are times in the year and times in my healing versus my more well period where I was in these different modes. And I was just cool with it because I was like, Heck, when I got cool with my body, my body healed. So I think that what you’re saying is so full of wisdom. I mean, it’s just incredible.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah. And I talk a lot about this with my patients because I’m always talking about how do we go from these daily habits? And when I think of the word habits, I always has a negative connotation to me. Like, how do we go from these habits that maybe aren’t so good for us? Then we go to routines, which we kind of get bored with, like the routine of going to the gym, to the routine of, you know, whatever we’re doing to really becoming intentional with our life and creating rituals around it. And for me, that’s like it has the greatest amount of intention behind it and it has the greatest amount of self-awareness, right? The more self-aware and intentional you are on the spectrum of life, you can replace those rituals into how can you heal right? So when I’m thinking of individuals who have Lyme exposure and maybe they are suffering from some fatigue or some brain fog or something like that, right? So you want to balance your energy there, make sure you’re not kind of burning out at that candle because you know that it’s going to take time for you to recover. Right. So maybe putting in a ritual like a bedtime ritual or something that you can use to optimize your cellular care, your cellular health would be a lot more intentional and a lot more caring for your body.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

As I couldn’t agree more. It’s like, I mean, I have like the supplement I take to because I’m so active and I want to get a little inflamed just from, you know, muscle stuff. So I’ve got my systemic enzyme, but it’s light and I’ve got my water, I’ve got all these other supplements I take, I’ve got my self-care routine, but I, I use this word ritual all the time, honestly, because to me it is a sacred every thing you’re like. The more we are, I feel like we’re taught to, like, devalue the good things we do first as women and my I’m drink I have water during my interviews well oh it’s because my period gets dry right note I have this here because I love my self and I know that my body requires water. And yes, I would like to have a palate. 

That’s not all while I’m talking. But the reality is I make it a ritual and when I pick up the glass and, you know, I just think it’s so important that a lot of our people get pill fatigue and treatment fatigue. I’m like, well, it’s because you’re making yourself do something. Whereas I’m like, I make it a sacred event. And so then you can harness the placebo, you can harness the energetics, and it’s a lot easier when it’s at like that bedtime ritual. How cool does that sound compared to bedtime routine? I’m like, I brush my teeth and I took a league way, you know?

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Now do something good for yourself, right? I mean.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

And take credit for when you do something good for yourself, right?

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s yeah, it’s so necessary. And I think that that kind of brings me back to. All right, you’re taking these medications for some of your symptoms. And we know that individuals who have Lyme disease have probably been treated with antibiotics, which has not done very well on their gut because we know what antibiotic use does to the gut. Right. So that’s where we get back to. How can we use nutrition to manage what’s going on in our health? So I have like a few key points that I kind of want to consider, right? Because we want to focus on one reducing inflammation, right? Because we know that this spirit reduces inflammation and causes a cytokine release. Right? So we can think about nutrition from a supplement point, right? So things that are going to fight off. 

Right. And some of those supplements that individual might see or read about, you can also find them in foods. So I always say food first and then if needed, supplement. Right. So some of those ingredients that I’m thinking of is things like gluten trial and alpha lipoic acid, which alpha lipoic acid is really important for your energy production and your antioxidant activity, but you can get it from spinach and broccoli. So let me ask you or let me ask you guys listening. When was the last time you had spinach and broccoli? And I will tell you, most my patients are like, I think I had it last week, so I want you to eat a lot more of it or even thinking about who to buy on. Right. Because a lot of the iron is a master and detoxification pathway. Right. So as we are building up toxins in our body and medications are a form of toxins, right? So we want to optimize our glutathione iron pathway. 

So we might get this from eating nuts and seeds of variety. And when I’m thinking of food, I’m thinking a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. And I am thinking as many different variety of nuts and seeds, like not just one. Like there’s a lot more in the world than almonds, you know, experiment a little bit. And that’s where the culinary medicine comes in. It’s like, I really want you to as I kind of tell my patients when you’re eating mushrooms, right? And most people, when they tell me they eat mushrooms, they tell me about their portabella eyes and their baby Bellas. And I’m like, That’s great. Those are your orange, your Toyotas. I want you to upgrade to your Lamborghinis and your Maseratis and have your Asian mushrooms your should talk. You’re my okay. So really optimize what the earth has given us with those nutrients. Right? So I want you to kind of start thinking about food in that real way. That food can really heal the body because food at the end of the day has vitamins.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

You need.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Antioxidants. It has things. We don’t even have a name for yet. And the more different variety you eat, the more of those ingredients you can get in your body.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

You know, it’s so interesting. You bring it up, though, because a lot of a lot of the folks that are talking about some of the herbal research for antimicrobial herbs are like, well, the reason they’re so good is they’re pretty much nontoxic. Some could be used a certain way or in a unique individual. But for the most part, like our meds are like one or two things, and that’s all they do in our food, like our herbs. This, it’s better to do a whole herb than an extract and all this other stuff. And well, and the problem is like we extract whole herbs, so we’re at whole whole herb extract. Everyone is fine. We’re just talking about pulling out of constituent chemical, but it’s like, why would I put a chemical out of a food? And then, you know, it’s like kind of beta carotene versus a carrot, but there’s like 300 and some other nutrient nutrients in there besides beta carotene that you can’t get from beta carotene. So I love the point. You know?

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah. And I think on the spectrum of food, since you brought up like we’re trying to take these ingredients out when the really the synergistic effect of nutrients is from that variety and from eating whole foods. Right. As many plant foods as you can, Whole Foods plant plant, predominant diet is it was interesting because last week I was on a trip and we were getting these meals served to us and I was watching everybody how they would eat their meal and they get their meal. They take the little parsley sprig and put it off to the side, and then they get their dessert with a mint leaf and put it off to the side. And I’m like, I think you guys are going to want to eat that. So they’re like, But why? Because I want you to start thinking about food as nutrition and healing for your body, right? So explaining to them what the benefits of having mint is and how it helps with your digestion or cilantro and like, okay, I think it’s a foreign concept because we think of these things as garnishes and I’m like, No, give me give me a whole thing. A mint, put it in my tea, you know, give me all the cilantro.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

So, yeah, it was interesting because.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Right, well, that little r you Vedic dinner thing we went to where they served us the little this it was what is that kind of like a riff on that, like the golden milk or whatever. But it was like really interesting. It’s like there is the whole idea. They said Cinnamon is in it and then there’s a whole cinnamon stick in. Like half of us are eaten and there’s a slice of ginger root. And then there, you know, there’s all these different pieces of it. And separately when like, boy, that, that like golden milk tastes good. And it was really, I think, golden coconut milk to be exact. But the thing was, when you put them all together, oh, my God, it felt so good when you paid attention to it.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Well, there were some key ingredients in that golden milk that we had. Right. So and these are ones that I think any individual can kind of have. Right. So turmeric, I think everybody is familiar with of the anti-inflammatory properties. It is definitely in every Indian household we’ve been having that for many, many years, you know, probably in all of our meals. And it has very high besides antioxidant also anti-microbial effects. Right. So having your golden milk is a way to do it. But also I like to not only have it in a beverage, but put it in almost every dish like you can take rice and add turmeric to, you know, you can take, you know, and add to magic. All right. So you were saying some of those other things that were in there. I like generics because it has got healing benefits. Right. But then also adding things like coriander. 

Coriander seeds are a commonly used food in Indian cooking and they can be very helpful for individuals suffering with an upset stomach, individuals with an occasional heartburn, another favorite is fennel. Fennel has anti-inflammatory, so the little fennel seeds, plus they’re also high in magnesium, which can help you sleep. They’re a good source of iron and calcium, and they can even help with decreasing a little bit of bloating and gastric discomfort. Right. So we got coriander, we got fennel, we’ve got the two marik, we’ve got cumin. Human is another great spice in the anti-inflammatory spectrum. Cinnamon. 

You already mentioned there was a whole cinnamon stick in there. Not this little bit of cinnamon powder, but a full cinnamon stick that you could chew on afterwards. Right. So and then another one that recently I really had a lot of people start using is bay leaves. Now often we might see bay leaves and soups and stews and stuff like that and you pick out the leaf and you kind of throw it away and you don’t really eat it. Right. But individuals who are having gut issues, which, like I said, most individuals might not want to admit it, but I’m pretty sure they have it. All right, Bay leaves can ease irritable bowel and it can kind of ease the like, lowering the toxicity that’s going on with that constipation and that build up. So Boiling Bay leaves and drinking Bailey’s water quick and easy.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

That’s really interesting. You know, what I love about doing this is like I know about Bay leaves a little bit, but I didn’t know that. And so now I literally have like three patients. I’m going to send a message to. You know, that’s why we all work together and talk like this. I mean, all the other stuff is like came because I studied a lot of this Indian tradition of yoga. And then as I started feeling better, I’m like, if my body is doing the yoga and I like this and I like Indian food to begin with, I’m like, maybe I should find out what real healthy Indian food is rather than what you might just get doing the Americanized version and all these herbs and you know, foods, you’re talking about them like our in our diet all the time. I love it so much.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

You hungry?

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Here I am. I’m actually salivating quite a bit now. I don’t know.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

What I’m going to give you a good nighttime tea to have. Okay. And that is CCF tea. So it is really just a blend of spices. So cumin seeds, coriander seeds and fennel seeds. And you can just take this mixture like I’ll make a jar full so I don’t have to mix them all together at the same time. So maybe like six tablespoons each, you have a little mixture and then when you want to prepare it, you just boil one teaspoon with a cup of water. Right. And what you’re getting is you’re getting that combination, that human coriander and fennel to relieve any indigestion at the end of the day, to stimulate that digestive fire agony, as we call it, it can help absorb the nutrients from the day and smooth that inflammation that’s stomach lining. Each of the spices on their own have their own benefits that I’ve already mentioned. But really, that combination, you get to enjoy that multiple times throughout the day. It’s super easy to make no caffeine in it. So if you’re worried about caffeine, it’s really just these spices, the CCF tea. I would recommend that.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

That sounds incredible. We’re going to do that today because like our whole family is on this and it’s like one of the other things for our parents, like introduced most of the time when you’re telling me your kid want is like you won’t ask them to do it because you’re not willing to do it yourself. And all these things are like you have any most of the parents who talk to me when they should. Like they haven’t even asked their kid to do it, you know? I know. I understand. If your kid’s, like, super psychotic with pans or whatever, you know, I get all those things right. And I and I feel for you. That’s why we all do this and we work with you. But the thing is, like so many of the things we think our kids will and won’t do is for two reasons. One is we haven’t asked them to do it, and two is were unwilling to do it ourselves. 

So grab some coffee, do it yourself. Because like my daughter, I guarantee you both the golden milk we talked about and the coffee tea, she’ll go. I mean, she has golden milk once in a while, but I’ll even admit I’ve been so busy since we got back, I forgot to make it for them in this kind of new way that I learned that this experience. And I’m like, We need to do that. But the coffee she’ll be all about and I know she’ll be all about it for two reasons. One is because my wife and I will do it. And I know she’s into exploring things, but I know it’s going to be really good for her because I’ve already decided that it is, and so it isn’t. But she loves these things because we do it together and it does become that ritual.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

That becomes that ritual right. And so you just made me think like so my niece, she’s only three years old and she started her journey, this world and then kind of lockdown living with my parents so with her grandparents and my parents are both avid. I mean, they grow every fruit vegetable you can imagine. I mean, and in the Northeast, I mean, they had a 150% almonds on their tree this past year. Apples, pears, you know, they’re growing it all mint leaves holly basil leaves curry leaves like pretty much everything zucchini squash.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

When I go to live with them. Holly Moly, everybody does.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

But so anyway, this little girl, 33 year old, grew up in this environment. So she is used to going and picking leaves like mint leaves and curry leaves and chewing on these things and eating them as a child. So can you imagine, like having that experience, like, you know, we take our kids from where they are, enter them into school and what they’re feeding them in, even the best of schools isn’t very good, right? So it’s really like when you mention your kids, it’s parents who are going to introduce kids to what they really need to thrive in this world.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Yeah. And I mean, I know, you know, you’re so active on social media and then, you know, we were when we met, we were talking about like your branding, which is very appropriate as everyone can see for our topic in this summit. But, you know, it is about growth and life. And, you know, think about it. It’s like Lyme disease. And we’re playing on words a little bit because it’s Lyme, Connecticut, not Lyme. The color. But isn’t it kind of non coincidental that one of the most potent healing aspects for Lyme disease or any of the associated conditions and the autoimmunity and the inflammation and the sleep disruption, the brain disruption and the gut disruption that it causes is going back to things that grow from the planet. We’ve seen this with the herbs that treat it. We’ve seen it with the foods we’ve been talking about. 

I just got to. Interesting. So one of the other things really actually that when we were thinking about what we were going to talk about today, we talked, you know, one of the aspects that a lot of people run into is just the cost of a lot of stuff, the cost of the protocols, the doctors, the testing, which is a whole nother topic. But then they’re like, it’s hard to buy organic foods or maybe I want to start moving in this direction, but I’m concerned about toxicity and pesticides. A lot of people are talking about glyphosate, and you’re one of the few people I’ve ever talked to that within the first few moments of a conversation is teaching me about cleaning and prepping my food at home. So I really wanted to take a moment, you know, to just give you a chance to share some of that, those tips that you were sharing with me so that we can everybody can benefit from it because this is so critical.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah, absolutely. So, yes, the cost of food is going up, right? So trying to eat organic may not be available to everybody. And also, you might live in a part of the country where you don’t even have access like you’re driving an hour to go to a grocery store. I would say always check your freezer section, first of all, because you can get organic produce that’s frozen for a very comparable price and it won’t go bad. Like it can sit in your freezer and you’ll be like, Oh, I bought broccoli, but it went bad and now I feel bad for buying it. Right? So definitely check your freezer section when you buy produce. I recommend that especially individuals who buy herbs, you know, they decide, all right, I’m going to go eat all the cilantro to detoxify my body, but then it wilts in two days. So I recommend to individuals when they buy their cilantro, eat it fresh for the first couple of days, the next days, turn it into a green sauce with a little bit of garlic. Garlic is also anti-inflammatory, a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. 

And now you’ve got this marine sauce to drizzle. I mean, if you do it with a cilantro, it’s a genitori. If you do it with parsley, it’s a gremolata. If you do it with basil, it’s a pesto, right? Then the remainder of that green sauce put into ice cube trays. And then when you’re strapped for time, you pop out an ice cube tray, which then has herb, your garlic and your olive oil in a pan, and you can sauteed whatever you want with it. This is easy for the week, right? So those are just a few things. Then as for buying produce, even if you do buy organic, I want you to wash it, all right? And I don’t want you to just wash it with water. 

There’s a couple of different washes that I do. I generally do with salt water, soap. And what that is, is really taking a soaking whatever fruits or vegetables and a thing of water with salt and soaking it for 20 minutes. And this will get rid of most of the residue that you’re going to have. I think they say a 10% salt water solution will get rid of most of the residues from our common pesticides. All right. That’s what amazing said. So I will do that even in my organic greens, I will still do that. Another one you can do is a vinegar vinegar soap to remove pesticides right from your fruits and vegetables. So this would be a four parts to one part, right? So four parts order to one part vinegar. And you can soak this also for about 20 minutes. 

And this can help reduce many types of bacteria that are on it. So after you’ve soaked it, then you’re going to rinse it off, right? And then lastly, I would say a baking soda. So these are all ingredients we should have at home. Salt, vinegar, baking soda. Right. And research shows that this can help also reduce and you’re going to do one teaspoon of baking soda to two cups of water for about 20 minutes. And the chemicals will come off. You know, you see those I forget what they’re called, those sprays like those veggie sprays and stuff. Those actually have not been shown to be effective. So save your money and use the real soap, vinegar, salt, baking soda. All right. I think that’s where you can really make your money count. And if you can grow your own stuff, I’ve become a little bit of a hydroponic farmer. I have. I don’t like to get my hands too dirty. So I have a a standing hydroponic thing that I can grow all these different grains and I grow sprouts on my kitchen counter. So there’s a lot of things you can do to really source your food from yourself.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Yeah, I think that’s one of the most key things is like, you know, we’ve become so reliant on the store and yeah, you have to be. But you know, to some degree. But the more we can bring that at home and again, that’s to me like that ritual, you know, I’m actually eating food that I grew with the purpose of nourishing Body. It’s so good, so many things. This is amazing. I mean, we’ve got our golden milk, our coffee. We know three ways to clean our foods and. We also know about dendritic cells now and in our doses. 

So one of the things that I think is interesting, I’d love you to kind of bring us home and wrap up with anything you feel like we may have, you know, overlooked or not talked about yet. But one of the things it’s like your hashtag on Instagram and everywhere else in the world is self-care. And I just say, that’s such a cool little riff on self-care, but you know, what’s that all about? And you know, are there any, you know, kind of pieces that we may not have touched on that you think are super critical for people who are healing and going on to live an amazing life? Need to know.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I want to mention one more. I could probably speak about herbs forever, but I want to mention one more for gut healing and that one is triphala. If you have not heard of that, that is a because it’s triple I spelled t R.I.P. H HLA and it’s a combination of three herbs, right? And one of them being Amla. Amla is a very, very high source of vitamin C, which the body needs to detoxify. Right. It’s all it also got polyphenols, antibacterial, anti anti-inflammatory. Right. So when you’re dealing with any gut issues or any kind of infectious process in general, Amla can be really healing for healing your gut because it is allowed things to enter, right? So with I just wanted to mention that because it is something that I have seen people might not be familiar with and it can be really nourishing for the body and it’s, it’s used in iovate quite a bit. So I wanted to mention that. 

But as for the hashtag, self-care is self-care. So bringing it back to that and kind of rounding that out, the reason my focus is really on that is because at the end of the day, we are made up of our cells which make up our tissues, which make up our organs which we want them to function right? So if we’re not taking care of ourselves and really listening to our body, they kind of call them angry cells. When you have symptoms, your cells are angry you need to go listen to them. I know what they look like under the microscope. Don’t worry about looking at them under the microscope. But I will tell you, they look very abnormal and they’re angry. Right. So they need things to nourish them. The only person who can nourish their cells is you. You like you. Only you can do it. I can’t do it for you. I can guide you. You can guide somebody. But at the end of the day, it’s individuals responsibility. What does my body need? I need to listen to my body. What are my cells telling me? What are the nutrients that need? What is the movement it needs? Does it need sleep? Right. So coming back to that whole lifestyle basics, right? Let’s not make harder than it has to be. Let’s keep it simple.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Right now, I think it’s just so important to me because like what were you’re focusing on in the way you talk about it? It’s like that inner ecosystem, like, you know, the cells, the tissues, the organs, like the whole thing. And a lot of us we’ve been talking about of the external ecosystem as well and our interaction with each other. And it’s not like everything changes, just like when we hit skin and we call it like me. It’s like I mean, literally, these cells are unique, independent organisms that make up you and give them some love, you know? So I just think it’s so important.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah. And that’s one thing that we did I’m sure other people might have spent time talking about, but give yourselves love, talk nicely to them. Treat your body good, talk nicely to yourself because your cells are listening, right? So that goes back to your mindset and how you think about like everything that’s going on. The mind is very powerful and just like you might talk to your plants and you ever notice like there are studies that show when you talk to your plants which plants are made from their own cells, right? The plants are healthier. Talk to your own cells in your body.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Right. Well, and talk to them in a really nice way. You know, like I talk to people about, hey, think about I mean, just for the whole day, just write down the thoughts that you say the most yourself and take an inventory and you can do it for a whole day. But most people need about six or 8 minutes and they’ve already said all the nasty things that they’re going to repeat to themselves over and over and over and stop. Can yourself a moldy and a limey. You’re someone who is experiencing these symptoms that are from these pathogens, these toxins. But the one thing I really admonitions always try to tell people is like, look, your body is always in 100% perfect compensation. If not, you be dead. 

So thank your cells for doing the best they can and then say thank you by giving them all these beautiful serve, these healing rituals, this sleep and movement. And again, guys, I understand not everybody can go to the gym or run a marathon, but you can certainly you can move, right. If the only thing you can do is take a deeper breath than the previous one that, hey, you’re moving. Move your arms, move your legs laying in bed, get in the tub. You know, whatever it is, have someone help you move if you need it. We found this osteopath back in the. What is it, nine, 1918 or something? The Spanish flu epidemic osteopath did crazy shit manager. We opened windows and got fresh air and then we helped. When people were too sick to move their own body, we would move their body for them. We would get the lymphatics and all the cells. But yeah, the thought, the, the negative self-talk like when you notice it, cool, you can say, wow, I’m in that have it. Thank you for because to me when you’re bought like you said when your body hurts your cells are telling you something. When you notice, become a be aware of your negative thoughts. Great. Your body’s telling you something, say thank you and then redo it. Put better thoughts, input better food, and put a lot of love and.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

A lot of love. The body needs love, love your body yeah take care of your body. Yeah, and it’s your ecosystem. You’re absolutely right. And it’s, you know, the ecosystem needs, needs, support, just like you take your car for car wash and oil change. Our bodies need to be taken care of us. Don’t ignore your body.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

So good, so one of the things you mentioned a moment ago is a lot of, you know, sometimes you need a guide, but we can’t do it for you. And I know that a lot of people are going to resonate with the conversation we’ve had. I also know that not only do you talk about all the are you Vader and all this other stuff, but I know that you make really cool, gluten free vegan, you know, chocolate chip cookies and all these other things. So if people are interested in learning about like what the heck, functional culinary medicine really is, because for me, I’m a foodie. And one of the things I was so afraid about was when I had to heal, I was going to have to eat stuff that tasted like crap. And I found that that wasn’t true and that was killer. That was the part that allowed me to really get into this. And now my lot, I’m healthier than I was ever was because I love this stuff, because I feel the nourishment and I could see it heal me. So if someone wants to learn more about what you’re doing and all the cool stuff that you’re talking about, including I know your hydroponic system even is on your website, where can they reach out to you if they want to learn more and also if they want the guidance that you provide so. Well.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Yeah, absolutely. So on all platforms and social media, I’m at Dr. Bhanote, so that’s my name and my website is drbhanote.com. So I’m pretty easy to find. I’m the only one, so you could definitely.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Email and if you want to be sure, if there’s going to be a lot of green.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

There will be a lot of green because I find green is very healing and well, hey, lymes and like you already mentioned, lymes depending on which we sell them. Lyme or lime or green. Right. So we need to heal. Yeah. So yeah, find me at drbhanote.com, and whatever I can do to kind of help you explore your body from a cellular aspect. That’s what I’m here to do.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Awesome. And everyone, as per usual, I will make sure that we have all Dr. Information over on our Summit Resource page. So it’s nice and easy. But then, Monisha, thank you so much for sharing all your wisdom. And I mean, this is what’s so cool about being a doctor. I get to like travel around and meet cool people who are like, I’m a like a quadruple certified path out of five. Sorry because I have three pathologies and then I have FM and culinary medicine, man. It’s like it’s crazy, you know? But I get to have these conversations with people who are, like, on the forefront of healing, but it’s so funny. 

Like, the pathology people are like the put your head down in the microscope people, and they tend to be really conservative. But then here you go, you know all of those pieces, yet you’re doing this because you know how important the cell phones are. So I’m just so grateful for you to be here and I’m so honored. I mean, that everyone like send lots of love to Dr. Monisha because she literally like we talked about this like a week and a half ago and we’re recording this late on the weekend for both of us, especially for her. And that’s how dedicated she is to sharing this message with you guys so that you can heal even more so let’s send lots of love to Dr. Monisha Bhanote. Thanks so much for being here.

Monisha Bhanote, MD, ABOIM, FCAP

Thank you so much for having me. And thank you to the community for inviting me and I look forward to your healing journeys.

Thomas Moorcroft, DO

Nice, everyone. And again, also lots of gratitude and love to you guys. We’re doing this because we I’ve been there. So many of the other people in the summit have been there. And our goal for you is to know how wonderful and important and loving you are, how much deserve to receive healing. And the first step in receivership is to say to yourselves, like, Hey, like I love you, here’s some food. I’m going to I’m taking responsibility because that’s how much I love myself. And I know that you’re going to all heal to that next level and just have those dreams in those hopes and we’ll all together help you get there. So thanks for joining us for this episode of The Healing from Lyme Disease Summit, and we’ll see you in the next episode.