Full Transcript Summit Introduction and Speaker Intros 0:00 Welcome everyone to the Gut Health and Longevity Summit. 0:03 I am a so glad you're here, 0:05 and I want you to take a moment right now to just pause, 0:08 because today's conversation is going to take you somewhere. 0:12 Most doctors don't really take you, which is 0:16 the remarkable connection between your gut and your eye. 0:20 We spend so much time thinking about our gut 0:23 as the foundation of our immunity, our metabolism, our mood. 0:27 And yes, all of this is true, but today we're adding 0:30 another dimension to this that will genuinely surprise you. 0:34 Your vision and the science connecting your microbiome, your nervous system, 0:39 and your health of your eyes has never been more clear. 0:43 And two of the most original thinkers in this space are here to walk 0:46 you through it. 0:48 In this session, we're going to cover the gut excess. 0:51 What it is, why? 0:52 Declining vision is a whole body signal, how plant based nutrition protects 0:58 your site at the cellular level, and what you can do today 1:01 to start preserving your vision for decades to come. 1:05 My first guest here has spent her career 1:08 asking the question that most optometrists never ask. 1:12 What is blurry vision actually telling us about the rest of the body? 1:16 Please meet Claudia muhlenberg, known as a holistic vision coach and the founder 1:21 of the Naturally Clear Vision Institute and creator of a coaching certification 1:26 program training the next generation of root cause vision practitioners. 1:30 She has helped thousands of people 1:33 reduce their dependance on glasses by addressing whole body terrain, 1:38 nervous system regulation, anti-inflammatory nutrition, 1:41 and the stress of vision connection most practitioners completely overlook. 1:47 Then we have also my second guest, and we're doing double duty here 1:51 because there's just this is such an amazing topic. 1:54 My second guest is pioneering a field that barely had a name five years ago, 1:58 and it may be the most important frontier in eye care of the next decade. 2:03 Doctor Radka 2:04 Toms is a medical doctor, ophthalmologist, and functional medicine practitioner. 2:08 She is a pioneer in nutritional ophthalmology and the gut. 2:12 I access the emerging science of how you eat shapes 2:16 what you see in her clinical practice. 2:18 She integrates conventional ophthalmology with evidence based nutrition 2:22 and lifestyle medicine to address macular degeneration, 2:26 glaucoma, dry eye disease, and diabetic retinopathy. 2:29 At the root, not just the symptoms. 2:32 And she brings a rare depth to this conversation as she has 2:35 healed her own advanced rosacea through nutrition and lifestyle, 2:39 and that transformation became the foundation of her mission. 2:43 Welcome, Claudia and a Doctor Tom's Radka. 2:47 I'm so excited to have you here. 2:49 And we've got a lot of questions to get through. 2:51 So first, I'm going to start with you, Claudia. 2:53 The premise that stopped me in my tracks when I first heard 2:57 it was that your declining vision is not just an eye problem. 3:02 It's a symptom. A symptom of what exactly? 3:06 And why has conventional eye care missed that entirely? 3:09 Can you walk us through what you mean by that? 3:12 Thank you for having me. 3:14 So the thing is that you just touched on this a little bit. 3:17 Stress and stress sounds like this big word like trauma. 3:21 But when we are stressed, we have so many responses in the body, 3:24 in the nervous system that affects our God, 3:27 our sleep, our emotional level, how we show up, right. 3:31 It shows up our physical tension in the body. 3:34 A lot of tension and the myofascial tissues really affect our posture. 3:38 So that we have 3:39 we had posture and when our vision gets worse, 3:41 we might be doing other things with our head. 3:44 So we really have to look at this on this 3:46 big level versus not just the eyes and also the brain. 3:50 Obviously, most people know this, that the eyes are not where we see 3:54 what we see in the brain, and the retina is actually part of the brain. 3:58 And that's 3:59 why an ophthalmologist like Doctor Raqqah, she can actually look into the brain 4:03 by looking in a dilated pupil exam, looking into the retina. 4:07 So that's really what we have to look at. 4:10 Like even how we stand, right, how we tilt our body, how we tilt our head.
Vision as a Whole-Body Signal 4:14 All these things affect our vision. 4:16 And that's really what we need to look at. 4:17 But stress is the underlying level on the physical, 4:21 emotional, mental level that really affects your vision. 4:24 Good or bad. Okay. 4:27 Well I'm going to add a little story in here. 4:29 And we're going to work 4:30 through my vision scenario as we kind of go through these questions. 4:33 Because as you some of you may know, if you've been following me 4:37 for a while that are watching, I suffered a traumatic brain injury. 4:40 And with that traumatic brain injury came vision problems. 4:43 Okay. 4:44 And as somebody whose career 4:48 is dependent on the status of their vision, 4:51 when I'm looking through a microscope and diagnosing disease 4:55 under a microscope, you can imagine how disruptive that is. 4:59 So we'll get into that in a little bit. 5:01 But I wanted to follow up with you, Claudia, on one thing. 5:04 So for someone who's been wearing glasses for 20 years, 5:09 what might those glasses actually be masking about their health underneath? 5:15 So we often 5:16 think of the eye muscles being too weak, right? 5:19 That's the people might think, oh, it's eye exercises 5:22 that the muscles are actually too tense. 5:25 And they keep that eyeball almost in a frozen state. 5:28 And we see that especially with myopia. 5:31 That's the staring, that's this tension, that's this effort. 5:34 And that causes that blurry vision that the cascade of negative 5:38 effects down the road. 5:40 So that's what I would say to that is really the number one thing that 5:44 the muscles need to be released relaxed so that they can function properly. 5:49 It's kind of similar to the pelvic floor, right. 5:51 Everything else in our body, if it's not if it's stress and strain intense, 5:55 it cannot function properly. 5:57 So would you say that our eyes, 6:00 with all this technology and work we're doing on 6:04 the computers, is stuck in a sympathetic state? 6:09 How did. Yes. 6:12 Well, that's another way to think of it. 6:13 I honestly haven't thought about my eyeballs 6:15 being stuck in a sympathetic state, but now it's making more sense. 6:19 All right. 6:19 Perfect. 6:20 Let's ask you, Doctor Radka, your work with a concept called 6:24 the gut I access before we go too deep. 6:27 What is it? 6:28 And why should every person in our gut 6:30 health community be paying close attention to their eyes? 6:34 Thank you, Monisha, as well. 6:35 Very happy to be here. 6:36 So me, as often as I think that the axis 6:40 is one of the most important emerging concepts 6:43 that we have in medicine, because it challenges the idea 6:47 that I diseases begin and end in the eye, 6:51 and the axis basically describes 6:54 as a continuous communication between the gut microbiome, 6:57 the intestinal barrier, the immune system, nervous system, and the eye. 7:02 And so we have to realize that the eye is not isolated organ. 7:06 It's really connected with blood vessels, with immune cells, 7:10 with inflammatory mediators, hormones stress. 7:14 And so when it comes to health, it's 7:17 really important to look at this and connect the dots between these two. 7:20 Because we are now 7:22 some emerging evidence that few conditions can be related to Peru gut health. 7:28 Now, is it true that 7:31 the embryological origin, like when we are a fetus, 7:36 when we are created, that the gut and retina are like 7:40 part of that same kind of development pathway? 7:44 That's a great question. 7:46 A very important one. 7:47 I think the not I would not say retina because it's 7:50 more like a nervous tissue, especially 7:54 the ganglion cells, which we know that there is now a connection between. 7:57 Not sure yet, but there is. 7:59 I see patients that we see in the retina early signs 8:03 of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's and all these new devices. 8:07 The scanner can help us with AI, help us to understand 8:10 in really detail level if there is connection 8:13 and if there is causality or what's going on. 8:16 We don't know yet, 8:17 but there is definitely a connection, but I'm not sure if that is a thing. 8:22 Is more a narrow tissue, the retina? 8:24 Yeah, well, it makes me think. 8:26 I mean, between the muscular layers of the GI tract we have ganglion. 8:30 So if we have that same ganglion pathway in the retina 8:34 that you're mentioning, I would suspect that there is something there. 8:37 So at what point when it comes to gut dysfunction, does it 8:42 show up in the eye before somebody even notices a vision change? 8:46 Is there a subclinical window here where we can possibly intervene? 8:51 So this is a very fascinating observation of yours. 8:55 And this is what I love to do. 8:57 That's why I'm trying to nutritional as a field, 9:01 because many patients may present with a dry eye disease 9:05 with a visualization, with bluff rights with this UI is inflammation in the eye. 9:10 But it can be actually the prodromal symptom something that 9:14 they not aware of yet. 9:16 So for example celiac disease IBD out immune condition. 9:21 And sometimes I can see it in the eye before people have a proper symptoms. 9:26 So that's why we have to look at both. 9:28 We have to look at the gut health and optimize that, 9:31 but also look at the eye and connecting the dots to the gut. 9:34 Give us some hint and 9:37 of the 9:37 conditions that people are not aware of yet, if that makes sense. 9:41 Yes okay. All right. 9:43 So we're just touching on the gut eye axis here. 9:46 I'm excited. 9:47 I don't want to divert too much from my questions, but I'm like, 9:50 I have a thousand questions coming up in my mind that I want to ask you. 9:54 Okay. 9:54 So, Claudia, let me ask you, you let's jump 9:58 back to stress for a moment, because I think pretty much anybody I talk 10:02 to says they are at some point experiencing stress, 10:07 whether it's daily stress, weekly stress, a lot of people, now that I'm talking 10:12 to have elderly parents or they have, 10:16 you know, they're taking care of somebody. 10:19 They've they've just got a lot going on in their lives
The Gut-Eye Axis Explained 10:22 that it's like, okay, we have this constant underlying stress. 10:27 So if you have identified chronic stress and nervous 10:32 system dysregulation as a root driver of deteriorating eyesight, 10:37 walk us through the mechanism that's happening. 10:41 How does this 10:43 nervous system create 10:45 that physical tension in the visual system? 10:48 How does it get our eyeballs stuck, like you said? 10:51 And how does that loop back into the gut health? 10:55 All right. 10:56 That was a big question. Let me try to dissect this. 10:58 So when we are stressed on the very foundational level 11:02 on the sympathetic nervous system, our pupils dilate. 11:06 So when and not like the big way they do in a dilated pupil exam 11:10 that Rathke will do, but they dilate a little bit. 11:13 And then people say, they're so light sensitive, right. 11:15 Because now we have natural light. 11:17 And yes, the the biology is so smart because the pupils get very small 11:22 when it's bright and when it's dark they open up. Right. 11:24 It's a perfect system. 11:26 But now we are stressed, extremely stressed. 11:29 And I'm not talking about 11:30 like a little bit of stress that's we all stress is good also. 11:33 Otherwise we are both in our little arousal state right now being focused. 11:37 But that's not the same as being out of control stress in this chronic level. 11:42 And then people get migraines, so they get this cascade 11:46 of other problems and also tunnel vision. 11:49 And that's a big problem nowadays. 11:51 So tunnel vision is this like you focus overly 11:55 focus on the sharp central vision which is measured like 11:58 and then the visual acuity, like it's always performing right. 12:02 It's visual mental performing, which by the way goes 12:04 connects to each other, the mental and the visual performance. 12:07 But we kind of ignore the peripheral field, right? 12:10 We're like especially when we have my little dummy glasses here. 12:13 When I put my glasses on now I'm like everything behind the glasses shop. 12:17 And I completely ignore the world around it, 12:21 which is part of good vision as both the central sharp vision. 12:24 But it's also the wide peripheral field that we have, right? 12:28 And now a days with computer use, with glasses, with stress. 12:32 We are really just drilling into the central vision. 12:36 And it's just too much. It's too much. 12:39 That's not our how our biology was designed. 12:42 We are supposed to look near and far and look around right in our biology 12:46 and not like stare at one point at a close up point all day 12:49 long, which is, by the way, also a little bit more engaging. 12:53 It's like that mental focus creates a little bit of a sympathetic arousal, 12:57 which again, is not bad, but we shouldn't do that for hours and hours at a time. 13:01 So would you say that? 13:03 So if we were kind of going to summarize that a little bit, 13:06 that chronic sympathetic activation causes this tension in the ciliary muscles 13:12 that hold the eyeball, potentially reducing blood flow to the retina 13:18 and then impairing basically a number of things, 13:21 and then that vagus nerve that connects the gut. 13:25 And I also you have that connection. 13:28 And now, you know, the space that I work in, which is stress 13:32 induced gut permeability, is feedback 13:35 to that systemic inflammation that reaches the ocular tissue. 13:39 So calming the nervous system is not only good 13:42 for digestion, it's literally changing the physiology of the eye. 13:47 So what does it mean? 13:48 And I'm still in you, Claudia. 13:49 What does it mean practically, 13:51 if someone is already doing breathwork or meditation for their gut 13:55 health, are their eyes benefiting without them knowing it? 14:00 Definitely yes. 14:01 And actually you have a good friend 14:03 or colleague who is a psychologist, who also noticed when she helped people 14:07 traverse the traumatic events, that division improved. 14:10 So that's 14:11 actually one of my foundational levels that I call that strains and gains. 14:15 Noticing how your vision varies, which it does for everybody. 14:19 Right. 14:19 But we often don't notice because we might wear contacts or glasses 14:23 or we just simply don't pay attention. 14:25 So when you connect the dots 14:27 and I always say yes, computer use and yes, lighting, 14:29 but what about the tasks that you're doing? 14:31 What about the people that you're hanging out with? 14:33 I give you a quick example. 14:35 So I had a client. 14:36 She was a little older and I asked her like, what? 14:39 When does your vision divorce? 14:40 Like when are you the most stressed? 14:41 Like what she says, when I go into my garden, I'm like, really? 14:44 Most people would say the garden is again like, I feel good, I love nature, 14:48 she said. 14:48 All I see is the weeds and all the work I have to do. 14:51 So when you connect those things 14:53 a little bit more and like because we are all stressed at some point, 14:56 nobody is sitting there just like all day and being relaxed, right? 15:00 So but when we tune in but we notice these things, 15:04 we can also we have agency, we can make changes. 15:07 We can decide not to do a certain thing or change a job. 15:10 I know it's not that easy or maybe not hang out with certain people, 15:13 like for instance, bookkeeping. 15:14 For me, looking at spreadsheets, it's like I literally don't want to see it. 15:19 So the first thing as my little when I grew 15:21 my little business was hiring a bookkeeper because I don't want to. 15:23 I want to know the numbers, but I don't want to know. 15:26 I don't want to do all this stuff. 15:27 So hopefully that was helpful. 15:31 All right, so, 15:32 Doctor Radka, when we look at big eye disease 15:36 like macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy 15:42 conditions people assume are just about genetics or aging. 15:46 What is the microbiomes actual role? 15:49 And what does a research say about how gut dysbiosis 15:53 is driving these diseases at the cellular level? Yes. 15:56 So you actually mentioned all the conditions 15:58 that we have now, stronger evidence that there is a connection 16:02 between the gut and the eye. 16:04 So if I say, for example, the strongest evidence, 16:07 I think it's with diabetic retinopathy, the the gut microbiome influences 16:11 the Lucas metabolism insulin sensitivity and muscular health, 16:16 but also these unbalanced bacteria. 16:19 So we have more of the bad ones and, and the good and good ones. 16:22 And they creating metabolites 16:24 that can also influence and impact the retinal disease progression. 16:28 So that property is more and more clear that there is we don't know yet causality. 16:32 But there is a huge link. 16:34 The other one that you mentioned, glaucoma, it's 16:37 there is emerging evidence, but it's more it's also tuned into these biases 16:42 when we have too many of the bad ones and too little of the good microbes. 16:47 But this might contribute to different pathways, more like neuroinflammation
Stress, Nervous System, and Visual Tension 16:51 for the and the affecting the retinal ganglion 16:54 cells through the immune pathways and metabolic pathways. 16:58 So again, it's all emerging. 16:59 But it's fascinating because we have hints of of this axis 17:04 there in this condition, which is very, very I'm very hopeful 17:08 because these people, we have only the monitoring, the high 17:12 pressure and visual field and Oct and for so many years. 17:16 So now we have new hope for patients with this condition 17:20 that actually can work with it from the inside out. 17:23 AMD is a big one. 17:25 Research increasingly suggests that the gut microbiome 17:29 can influence the retinal inflammation 17:32 and the oxidative stress and the Druze information. 17:36 Druze are the compounds that basically create the diagnosis. 17:39 And so that pattern really are important, 17:43 especially when we want to grow the good that microbiome. 17:46 And so and we know that we can lower the risk if we having a low 17:52 glycemic diet and not the opposite, the high glycemic of the processed food. 17:56 Uveitis is another condition that was actually first to really 18:00 they publish the first condition, the link between the gut and I, 18:05 particularly with the auto immune is. 18:08 And several studies have shown that there are alterations in got got 18:12 microbiome and also the gut permeability leaky gut that you mentioned before. 18:17 And that's literally influencing the inflammation 18:21 and immune activation in the eye, 18:23 which we can see in the eyeball when we're looking at the examination. 18:26 And the area that I work with is the dry eye disease and rosacea. 18:31 And I see that was again published as well. 18:34 But for my experience also 18:36 these 18:37 patients, they demonstrate alterations in gut microbiome. 18:40 They have increased inflammatory activity. 18:43 They have leaky gut and stress is a huge factor there. 18:46 And, you know, it was we never talk about stress in a often setting. 18:51 No, no. 18:52 But stress is completely like it's so I'm so happy 18:56 that you are talking about this and it's your research 18:59 because that's something that we should be talking more because it's 19:02 I feel it's it's coming from the top and influence everything else. 19:06 And so those are the most, I think, common ones that coming now 19:10 and I see practice of Asia as well. 19:13 That's something that why I came into this and I see a lot of patients, 19:17 they have Sibo and see for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth 19:21 and the fungal overgrowth. 19:23 And also they have the emotional this balance 19:26 and the triggers from the brain influence everything else. 19:30 So it's like it's even more complicated. 19:32 But I would say that these conditions are now really scientifically supported. 19:37 So we can talk about it now and hopefully the future will bring 19:42 we will have a stamp and we will know exactly what bacteria we can predict. 19:46 We can predict the progression, we can predict the risk. 19:49 And so it's really fascinating. 19:51 But yeah, so it's many pathways. 19:54 So it's either through the gut microbiome, leaky 19:57 gut that the LP s go through even bacteria. 20:00 Or it can be 20:02 system. 20:02 It can be through different pathways inflammatory pathway. 20:05 So yeah it's complex. 20:07 As I said we don't know yet causality. 20:09 But definitely there is link and the eyes are communicating 20:12 with the gut and ongoing basis. 20:15 So it's fascinating. 20:17 And so it's it's really something that if patient 20:21 ask these questions we can really move forward. 20:24 But unfortunately often we don't ask this question in my job of cases. 20:30 But I'm hopeful it's coming. 20:32 Well, you know, we just expanded this from the gut I to nervous 20:38 system access because I feel like it's actually a triangle here. 20:41 And that's why I invited both of you to kind of discuss this. 20:44 You know, just just to summarize what you said, I think more and more 20:48 people are familiar with this imbalance in the gut microbiome, 20:52 also known as dysbiosis, which increases that intestinal and permeability. 20:58 What we in layman's terms say leaky gut. 21:01 As you mentioned, this leaky gut contributes to that LPs 21:05 that you mentioned these compounds entering the bloodstream, 21:08 which then are going to trigger that neuroinflammation 21:11 even in the retinal ganglion cells, the ones that you mentioned a lot earlier. 21:15 Right. 21:15 So it's going to do that. And then there's specific 21:17 bacteria that are linked to things like AMD and glaucoma. 21:21 That's the newer research that we're seeing. 21:24 And so we're going to get to nutrition because I know 21:27 people are like, well, just tell me what to eat. 21:29 Do I need to eat more carrots? We're going to get to it. 21:31 We're going to get to it. 21:33 But, Claudia, let me ask you from your angle, okay, 21:37 if our gut health audience is waiting for what are the dietary and lifestyle shifts 21:42 that you've seen make the biggest difference in gut 21:46 healing and vision improvement at the same time? 21:49 And where do those pathways converge? 21:52 Eat more plants, get more fiber and then the sugar. 21:56 And I think people, you know, and I my grandparents had a bakery okay. 22:00 So I grew up in Germany eating cake or pie every day. 22:04 And I have a sweet tooth. 22:06 And I didn't realize all these things. 22:07 But sugar is not just the sugar that we think of in cookies and pie. 22:11 It's also in the refined carbs and all these ultra processed foods 22:16 that you mentioned vodka. 22:17 So getting, you know, getting out of this, 22:20 like I got a blood glucose sensor, I, I learned about all this 22:25 like probably ten years ago, but I had no idea either. 22:28 My mom has diabetes. 22:29 We have high blood pressure in the family. 22:31 We have all like we have really bad genetics, right? 22:34 And a lot of people do. 22:35 And then you have to be even more. 22:37 It's even more important. 22:38 And obviously alcohol, we already know this alcohol is a poison and alcohol, 22:43 but the liver eye connection is just not good. 22:46 So reducing or eliminating sugar and alcohol, eating a rainbow diet. 22:50 It's like the stuff that the dark leafy greens full of lutein. 22:54 We need the exact thing we need, which is a micro algae. 22:59 I do supplement with that myself because sometimes it's really hard 23:02 to get all these compounds. 23:04 Same with omega three fatty acids. 23:06 So I do eat the sheer seeds in the flax seed and the walnuts 23:10 and the hemp seeds and all that good stuff, the basil seeds. 23:13 But, you know, I still supplement to kind of really get enough. 23:17 And then we need to eliminate some of those bad fats and some of those, 23:21 you know, it's I think it's a step by step process. 23:25 So instead of getting overwhelmed, where are little things 23:28 that you can stop doing? You know what I mean? 23:30 And the other thing that's biggie is intermittent fasting 23:33 or time restricted feeding or whatever you want to call it, but not eating. 23:37 And I had just discussing just this last week, I'm a fence. 23:40 Why don't you ever treat yourself? 23:41 Why can we go to dinner at 8 p.m.? 23:44 And I'm like, well, it affects my sleep. 23:46 And I know the fasting is important. 23:48 And David Sinclair from Harvard, you know, he wrote the book lifespan. 23:51 He also in his lab they found that and I think they did that in mice, 23:55 but that A and D was really responding to like longer 23:59 fasting windows of like 16 plus hours between meals. 24:03 Right. So those are things they're not as easy to do. 24:06 But I think if we start tracking and that was my own journey, 24:10 like I didn't do all this overnight, right? 24:12 I started with little baby steps and I've been plant 24:15 based since, oh gosh, like 14 years now. 24:18 And so that was it. 24:19 And that was doing my teacher training on vision. 24:21 And actually when I got when I became vegan. 24:25 So that was something that it's also really important 24:27 eat more plants and eat like a variety of colors. 24:31 Yeah. 24:31 So I think you're giving hope to the viewers here that all right. 24:36 We need to eat more plants. 24:37 It's never too late to start. 24:40 You only started 14 years ago after, you know, eating from a bakery, 24:44 kind of what you said 24:45 is, if I'm going to summarize it, anti-inflammatory whole foods plant based 24:50 will reduce both that gut permeability and ocular inflammation. 24:55 Right. Because overall they're reducing inflammation.
Gut Dysbiosis and Major Eye Diseases 24:58 You're also eliminating foods that are processed 25:02 foods, foods with a lot of sugar. 25:04 Your recommendation was leafy greens. 25:07 Eat the rainbow berries, which are going to support both 25:10 the microbiome and macular pigment density. 25:14 Right. 25:14 So stress reduction is not a separate from what you eat. 25:18 Sleep restoration. 25:20 So stress reduction and sleep restoration both address 25:23 that gut barrier integrity and that intraocular pressure. 25:27 I mean you're coming at it from here. 25:29 So I'm summarizing it. 25:30 So now if there is a specific food or habit 25:35 that is uniquely powerful for the eyes, something beyond what somebody 25:40 has already been doing for standard gut health, what would you say that is? 25:45 Well, I love carbon 60. 25:48 It's a very high level antioxidant that's also certain berries. 25:52 I think they're called berries that, you know, doctor, you gave me. 25:56 So I get the the powder, I put that in my pocket. 26:00 But yeah, I have that powder too. 26:01 And I got it from the UK. So 26:05 that's where I got it from. 26:06 And I'm like, this is really cool. 26:08 I like this powder. 26:10 Yeah I think and then also, you know, the orange, 26:13 you know, that's why we talk about carrots, the beta carotene 26:17 which gets transformed into by the mean a which gets friends on the road. 26:20 Dobson and or Dobson is what covers the rod cells. 26:24 So a lot of times coming back to vision really quick. 26:26 And the retina we have the two different types of photoreceptors. 26:29 And the cone cells are, 26:31 you know, centered in the phobia and the for sharp colorful vision. 26:34 Right. And we have them throughout the retina. 26:36 But the rod cells are the night vision cells. 26:39 And that's another big thing that I think I don't know if optometrists 26:43 usually check this, 26:43 but a lot of my clients come with like they've given up night driving. 26:47 And if you live in the United States, you really dependent on having a car. 26:51 And so that's why the orange, you know, vegetables. 26:54 But even kale, like the dark leafy greens, also have high levels of beta carotene. 26:58 So I think instead of trying to like these are the ten superfoods, 27:04 if you if you do that, if you eat colorful and if you try to eat like 30 different 27:08 plants a week, and if you really don't always eat the same stuff, 27:12 that will probably get you a long way to, you know, and whatever greens you like. 27:17 If you don't like, you know, cooked spinach has different benefits. 27:20 And raw spinach, 27:21 you know, maybe you put it in the smoothie and maybe once sometimes you cook it. 27:25 You know, in Germany 27:26 we love kale in the winter and it gets cooked, usually with meats. 27:29 Of course we don't do that, but it's like it's like really yummy. 27:32 I love it in the winter. 27:34 It's green cold in German, you know, so that's good. 27:36 That's also different from a cloud salad I eat here in Los Angeles. 27:39 You know, they're both whatever you can what you like. 27:42 Don't force yourself to eat foods that tastes horrible 27:46 because you're not going to continue doing that, you know. 27:49 So this is a perfect transition to my next question for Doctor Radka, 27:53 which is you practice food as medicine for the I. 27:57 So rather than like giving you a list of ten foods, 28:01 share with us what are the specific nutrients and plant compounds 28:06 and dietary patterns that have the strongest evidence 28:10 for protecting and preserving vision over time? 28:13 And how does this map to what you would call eye longevity? 28:17 So I think what Claudia mentioned, that the diet is really rich in plans 28:23 will be really moving the needle with with the people and their eye health. 28:27 So I believe that plan rich diets provides 28:31 thousands of bioactive compounds that work together. 28:35 So it's not like having one supplement. 28:37 They create this anti-inflammatory internal environment. 28:40 And so we know from science that they this benefits. 28:44 Benefits may include lower oxidative stress, better insulin sensitivity 28:49 as you mentioned before and better microbiome. 28:53 And these high amount of these short 28:56 chain fatty acids production and reduce inflammation. 29:00 So I would always so I always tell people to have 29:03 protein fat and fiber plus which is fermented foods. 29:07 That should be the plate always. 29:09 But if I focus more into the eye health I the 29:14 is one of the most important ones. 29:17 Nutrients for really for eHealth. 29:20 This is a really arguably 29:22 the most important carotenoids for retinol protection for many reasons. 29:25 Like again, the anti oxygen protection and the mitochondrial support, 29:31 because retina is so metabolically demanding tissue and a lot of various 29:37 lot of metabolic activity, it will be a lot of you know, Ross. 29:41 And that means that it needs a lot of antioxidants. 29:44 And so like like Claudia mentioned, kale, spinach, watercress, rocket, Swiss chard, 29:50 all these leafy greens are really, really good for you and also for your eyes. 29:54 Darker the color, the better the polyphenols for the eye and higher 29:58 lutin content. 29:59 That's why what we want the other group, I would say this is anti-science. 30:03 This is what we mentioned with the Haskell. 30:05 This is the pigment that gives berries their blue, 30:08 purple and red colors and has a different benefits. 30:12 Again, it's good for retinol. 30:13 Blood flow also reduce oxidative stress 30:17 as a good polyphenol and phytonutrients. 30:21 And the best sources are blueberries blackberries, bell berries. 30:25 This berries, cherries. 30:27 But I'm against eating berries at wintertime. 30:30 There are, you know, from far away. 30:32 So I always freeze them or buy during the winter time. 30:36 But I really want to make sure that I have this understanding every single day. 30:41 Another group I would mention will be flavonoids and sulforaphane. 30:45 So flavonoids are really very powerful compounds for long 30:50 because we know that it can reduce AMD risk for people 30:53 who are worried about this condition and because it influence 30:58 also support retinal blood vessels and can reduce the neuroinflammation. 31:04 And that can be flavonoids and also in berries, actually 31:07 it's in apples, it's onion, it's a cacao. 31:11 And partially it's a lot of good things. 31:14 And so far pen is very powerful because it's really 31:18 it influences the master and antioxidant pathway. 31:22 And so it to help us increase glutathione which is the master of oxygen. 31:27 And that's what mentioned Claudia as well. 31:29 The broccoli sprouts the broccoli kale brussel sprouts 31:33 I always, always make sure that people eating plants that are growing in the sun 31:39 and growing in the soil, and also they are cooked and raw. 31:44 So it's kind of they have the balance. 31:46 That's what really makes all the difference. 31:48 And then also I will mention omega three fatty acids. 31:51 It's especially the Da. 31:52 It's very important to have flax seeds hemp seeds walnuts 31:57 very important for for the eye and vitamin C. 32:01 That's another one. 32:02 E and in general polyphenols as such. 32:05 So that's why it's so important to really make a plan 32:09 and create habits that you fall in love with. 32:12 Because it's forever. 32:13 While we live, we have to enjoy the full eating. 32:16 So absolutely. I agree with you, Claudia. 32:18 I would not eat food that I don't like, but actually we can make the call 32:22 in the way that actually tastes delicious. 32:24 So that would be my go to foods. 32:27 But as I said, it's really the diversity of who that we eat that
Nutrition for Eye Longevity 32:32 we eventually see the increased microbial diversity and increase 32:37 the production, that when we actually see the results in the eye. 32:41 Sorry for such a long. 32:43 No, no. 32:43 The answer is perfect because me and you believe in the same thing. 32:46 So just I'm going to summarize it 32:49 and repeat it for the audience because there's a lot of big words. 32:53 I mean, these are common language for us to talk about all day long. 32:56 But so you started with mentioning lutein and Zia, 33:01 which is found in dark leafy green veggies. 33:04 Right. The concentration. 33:05 So this is these two compounds are really important for the macula right. 33:10 And act as an antioxidant shield. 33:12 You then went on to talk about short chain fatty acids. 33:17 Now short chain fatty acids are literally metabolites 33:20 which are going to be produced by your gut bacteria based off 33:24 of the plant foods you eat. So 33:28 the way 33:28 to make them is to eat more plants, more fiber. 33:31 Then you also mention scientists from berries. 33:35 So whatever berries 33:36 you can get access to, whether that's blueberries, blackberries, 33:40 all the berries should be eaten daily, according to Doctor Rod Cup. 33:44 Okay. 33:44 And I'm going to go eat my blueberries after this conversation. 33:48 So then you mentioned also the flavonoids which you're going to get in all the like 33:53 different plant foods, different colors, the sulfurous vein 33:56 which is going to be in your cruciferous vegetables. 33:59 And if you don't want to eat any broccoli today, get some broccoli sprouts. 34:02 And then you also mention omegas, right? 34:04 So omegas coming from nuts and seeds and this kind of stuff. 34:08 And then vitamin C, I want to go back to Amigas just for a second, 34:13 because I remember seeing that there's now these new drops 34:18 I drops out that contain omega threes in them. 34:22 I wanted to just get your thoughts on this, 34:24 because there might be a lot of people who have eye issues right now 34:28 watching and they're like, oh, well, my doctor told me to go 34:30 take these eyedrops for dry eyes and whatnot. 34:33 And I've seen recently ones with Omega. 34:36 So can you talk a little bit more about can we do this with just plant omegas. 34:41 Is that enough. 34:42 And and tell me a little bit more about the eyedrops. So 34:46 that's great question. 34:48 I, I know it wasn't on our list, but I want to know. 34:50 No no. 34:51 No it's great question because you know we know that it's so important 34:56 and not all of us we converting 34:59 enough from the plant based sources. 35:02 So some people need to supplement either from the, you know, supplement in a bottle 35:07 or which is should be at least two grams of EPA and DHA. 35:13 Because I see a lot of people taking wrong supplements, it's like 35:16 200mg of EPA and 100 of of Da. 35:21 And so they investing in something that doesn't make any sense. 35:25 So definitely if you have supplement, get it 35:28 in that level two grams day of EPA. 35:32 And so it's important because it's for never protection 35:37 is reduced inflammation and improved Tir quality from the inside out. 35:41 So I'm big fan of supplements but 35:44 I do diet first good first always. 35:48 And we can measure it now there are tests that we can measure 35:51 actually the omega three index. 35:52 And we can measure how we are with DJ and EPA. 35:56 So this is I think it's something that we can act on 35:59 and it can be easily supplemented. 36:03 And I love flaxseed. 36:04 I have actually blueberries and flaxseeds are my 36:08 if I ended up in Ireland, this will be my food. 36:11 I'm kind of depending on it because I feel if I don't take flax 36:15 seeds regularly every single day, I feel my hair on my skin. 36:19 So for sure. 36:21 Oh my god, I'm as well for the dry eye. 36:23 Every dry eye patient that comes to our clinic, 36:26 they will need to supplement omega threes and they usually low. 36:30 They have low levels of threes. 36:33 The eye drops that you mentioned. 36:36 These are fantastic for people who have evaporative dry eye condition. 36:41 So we have either dry eye that comes from a disease that we don't 36:46 produce enough of tears as Aquis like 36:50 or we have rights or from the eyelid issue. 36:54 I don't throw too many of the names out there. 36:57 We don't produce enough of the fat 37:00 to create the tears, because the tears consist from water amusing and fat. 37:05 And for the people especially, I found that omega three drops that out 37:10 there can be very beneficial for these type of patients that have, 37:15 you know, they have even the rosacea. 37:17 They basically not don't not producing enough of a fat 37:21 for the tears and the tears evaporating too soon. 37:25 And that's why they are having a sore eyes, red eyes, grittiness. 37:30 So it can be very beneficial. 37:32 But actually I always, you know, give people like here 37:36 you have to kind of drops try it and see which one you like more. 37:40 So yeah, definitely. 37:41 It's not always like to support that. 37:44 We are doing it both treating the eye as treating the body that benefit the eye. 37:50 So okay perfect. 37:52 All right. 37:52 So now I would love to hear a patient or client story from both of you 37:59 without breaking any privacy or anything where you found that 38:04 the gut vision nervous system 38:07 connection was a real turning point for them. 38:10 So, Claudia, why don't you start and then Doctor Radka, you can follow. 38:16 Yeah. 38:16 So I had a student signing up for my program. 38:20 She was just about to turn 70. 38:22 Just went through a divorce, major stress, financial issues, 38:26 and started a health coaching business. 38:30 But I couldn't see the screen. 38:31 So she had 325 reading glasses and she could not read 38:35 and got really stressed out. 38:37 Then she went to two different eye doctors cataracts. 38:40 Stage three, stage two and a half, and another macular issue too. 38:45 And she couldn't 38:46 actually had given up night driving because she couldn't see at night. 38:49 She was really scared. 38:50 Also dry ice, what you just touched on like 38:52 she was supposed to take these eyedrops. 38:55 So long story short. 38:56 So she did my program and now she's actually becoming a coach. 39:00 She is driving at night again. 39:01 She doesn't need the dry eye drops anymore. 39:03 She doesn't need any glasses to see the screen. 39:06 And because I told her 39:07 about the blood sugar and the a onesie because I asked her, what's your A1 see? 39:11 And she said like five nine. 39:13 And my doctor said, that's like pre-diabetic, but it's okay. 39:16 I'm like, no, no, no, no, this is not okay. 39:18 So she got it down to five two. 39:20 And I caught her at the most recent exam at one and a half 39:24 at most is what the ophthalmologist said. So. 39:27 And I have not seen like that level of cataract actually reduce. 39:32 I've seen many people that had already said cut out completely eliminate them. 39:36 But I so we know I think it's so important to know that this is possible. 39:40 And now she is kind of the poster child in a way for inspiring other people. 39:44 Because 70, right. 39:45 We think, oh, 70 that's like too late. 39:48 And no, it's amazing. 39:49 So things are possible. 39:52 Good. 39:53 All right. How about you doctor. Okay. 39:56 So one of my the most memorable 39:59 really about the patient in the 40:03 clinic was a lady in her 50s. 40:05 She came to see me with severe dry eye disease and, 40:09 and she has been multiple specialists all over the country. 40:12 She has been prescribed lubricants that mentioned steroid 40:16 drops, sheared IPL ashes, antibiotics, but nothing really helped. 40:21 Or maybe temporarily, but nothing seems to address the underlying problem. 40:25 And when I took a deeper history, which we do in factual medicine, 40:29 a different story really emerged. 40:31 She was suffering with bloating after meals long standing on. 40:36 She has reflex, she has put sensitivity. 40:39 She had fatigue, poor sleep. 40:41 And when we start 40:44 really looking to this, I realized that her eyes 40:46 were only one piece of much longer puzzle. 40:49 So we start working on this arias 40:52 restoring the gut health, which of course needed a little bit of time 40:57 reducing inflammatory triggers, supporting the nervous system.
Omega-3s, Dry Eye, and Patient Stories 41:00 Regulation, like Claudia mentioned, is so important. 41:03 And you it's so important. 41:04 And so she adopted by the time this a whole food and inflammatory diet 41:09 in vegetables and all the foods we mentioned omega three fatty acid. 41:13 And we work also on circadian rhythm, on meal timing and sleep 41:17 and stress reduction. 41:18 And by the time she not only improve her, you know, 41:23 the bloating and energy improved, but also the rosacea flare ups reduced. 41:27 And for me, that was something that was like turning point 41:31 because I was just helping her understand that I was not separate 41:36 from the rest of the body, is kind of like a messenger. 41:39 And once she understood that, she became more empowered 41:43 in a rather than frustrated before. 41:44 So it's completely changed her mindset and she was able 41:48 to heal completely within several months. 41:51 So yeah, that was that's why I wake up every morning historically. 41:56 Okay. 41:57 Well, these are both really inspiring stories. 41:59 So last question I want to ask you and let's be very concrete. 42:04 So for somebody watching or listening right now, and they may have just 42:09 been told that they need stronger glasses or that macular degeneration 42:14 runs in their family, or that there's nothing they can do. 42:18 What are the three most important things they should start doing this week? 42:23 To protect their vision and their gut health together? 42:26 And so I'm going to start with you, Claudia, 42:30 and then we'll go to Doctor Radka. 42:31 And I guess this audience 42:32 is actually going to get six things, because each of you get to give three. 42:38 It's so hard, as good as just little it down to three. 42:41 But what I would say I touched on this really earlier, the strains and gains. 42:44 So if you know, you know 42:46 something is stressing you out, just close your eyes for a moment. 42:49 Take a few deep breaths, a little bit longer. 42:51 Exhale. 42:52 That already comes you down right. 42:54 Like just taking a few. 42:55 We know that. 42:56 So that can be helpful. 42:57 You can also do something called palming where you come. 43:00 You close your eyes and you cover them with your hands. 43:04 It's just the darkness, the warmth. 43:06 Those are that's the simple thing that you can do. 43:09 And then reduce the use of glasses. 43:11 So everybody that starts with reading glasses knows this. 43:13 When they look up, they need to take the glasses off. 43:16 But we've gotten especially with myopia nearsightedness. 43:19 There's this tendency to work glasses all day long. 43:22 Right. So when do you not really need glasses. 43:24 So maybe you're near side. 43:25 You don't need glasses for reading your phone. 43:27 Or you know, if you have if you have contacts 43:30 then and you spend a lot of time with the computer, 43:32 get contacts or computer distance, and then you put a minus one or something 43:36 on top for driving. Obviously 43:38 work with your eye doctor for that, but really diopter is really quite. 43:42 Diopter is the measurement of the glass that's measured on the distance. 43:46 So that is no, nearsighted people should not wear the distance 43:49 glasses all day long when they're set up close. 43:51 That's really important. 43:52 And if you're farsighted, use the weakest drugstore, read as you can get, 43:56 and then don't use glasses for anything else because you will end up 43:59 losing your vision in the distance as well. 44:01 There's people don't know this. 44:02 And then the third thing I would say that's really important. 44:05 I mean, there's obviously a lot more about sunlight or natural light. 44:09 We now know from so many studies 44:11 with animals, with humans that sunlight is so unnatural. 44:15 Light, to be more correct, doesn't have to be sunny is a big factor 44:19 in or the lack of sunlight is a big factor in creating myopia in children. 44:23 So go outside. 44:25 Get some natural light again, it doesn't have to be sunny. 44:28 Move around your eyes. 44:29 Want to look far and near? 44:31 Like make it like really fun. 44:33 Make vision fun again. 44:35 What do you like to look at? Right? 44:36 Like what colors do you enjoy? 44:38 Take your glasses off. 44:39 Like what colors do I see? 44:41 I think it's really the awareness and the tuning in. 44:44 Does it bring me joy? 44:46 You know? 44:46 And a little bonus tip would probably be the idea of 44:49 don't say I'm blind like a bad people say this, I can't see anything. 44:53 And I look at that glass and they're like a minus two or something. 44:56 No. Like, I appreciate my eyes. 44:58 I love my eyes. Let me see. Whatever. But change. 45:01 We know from quantum physics how we talk our thoughts. 45:04 That all affects our physiology. 45:05 So where can you change? 45:07 We take our vision for granted and let's stop doing that and really be 45:10 appreciative and take care of our little. 45:13 I always call them our children, you know, let's take care of them. So. 45:18 All right. Perfect. How about you, doctor? 45:20 Yeah. 45:21 So this is my really favorite question because it shifts us from 45:25 the mindset of decline is inevitable to biology is adaptable. 45:30 We know that we cannot change our genetic completely. 45:33 We cannot stop the chronological aging, but we can absolutely influence 45:38 how our genes are expressed and how quickly our eyes H. 45:43 So my three would be eat one 45:47 large plate of colorful plants every day. 45:50 Not supplement, not powder, but real food and aim for 45:54 this would have been mentioned. 45:55 The darling, the greens, the 45:58 vegetables, the berries, spices and herbs which we didn't mention. 46:02 This would be the number one really. 46:04 One big plate. 46:05 Invest time to research food that you like 46:08 and just create this this beautiful plate. 46:12 Second one our iterate what Korea mentioned 46:15 I would say walk outside every single morning. 46:18 It sounds really too simple, but it isn't because the 20 minute walk 46:23 outdoors shortly after waking really can improve our rhythm. 46:28 Blood sugar control as well, mitochondrial function, sleep quality, our mood. 46:33 And so, you know, unfortunately we a lot of humans 46:37 living life
Three Practical Steps to Protect Vision 46:39 that we are too much indoor during the day and then we have 46:43 artificial light at night. 46:44 So we are kind of we as a result we have this circadian disruption. 46:49 And so I know that I don't know you as well. 46:51 You live California. 46:53 I feel like we are solar panel and we need to have this outdoor life. 46:57 But we are living in during the day. 46:59 So this would be one that definitely we both 47:03 this would be the double point to go outside. 47:05 And my third will be I feel like this is foundational work for all of us. 47:10 Establish the blood sugar. 47:12 This may be single, one of the most overlooked intervention in eHealth. 47:16 And it's not only with people with diabetes. 47:19 I'm talking about a large glucose spike that promotes 47:22 oxidative stress, retinal inflammation, vascular damage. 47:26 So it's not only for people who have doubled the particular party, 47:30 but this blood sugar spikes are influencing everything else, 47:34 like the dry eye, the UV it is, you know. 47:37 So that would be my three points. 47:38 And then one more will be sleep. 47:40 Really brought to sleep will be the addition one as a bonus 47:43 because sleep is not passive it's really biological maintenance. 47:48 So that will be my three. 47:50 It comes back to the lifestyle that we live right. 47:53 So Claudia Doctor Radka, this has been a genuinely eye opening conversation. 48:00 I learned things in this conversation that I'm going to carry with me 48:04 in my own practice and in my own life, and thank you for the work that you both 48:09 are doing to connect these dots that medicine has kept separate for so long. 48:15 If people want to find you and learn more about your work, 48:19 Claudia and Doctor Radka, where can they find you? 48:22 So my website is naturallyclearvision.com, and then I'm known as the holistic 48:28 Vision, not the but holistic vision coach on Instagram and YouTube. 48:32 Those are probably the three best places. 48:34 And I'm on dr.radka.toms and Instagram 48:37 and website is Gut-Eye Axis is the best one 48:41 or also rosacea_healing on Instagram and Facebook. 48:44 Perfect. Thank you so much. 48:47 And so the key takeaway today for the audience is your gut. 48:51 And your eyes are in a constant conversation 48:55 every time you choose a fiber rich, anti-inflammatory, plant based meal, 49:00 you are sending a message that reaches all the way to your retina. 49:05 That is the science and that is the power that you have. 49:08 So stay tuned 49:09 for another one of our episodes and I will see you in the next session.
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