Episode 18 transcript: How to take control of your health with simple lifestyle changes

 Episode 18: How to take control of your health with simple lifestyle changes with Dr. Marcus Cirelli

Podcast Introduction

We often hear people wishing us a long, happy, and healthy life. But what if the length isn't what matters most? What if instead? It's the breath, depth, and purpose of each day that matters most. Welcome to the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My name is Aneta Ardelian kuzma. Join me weekly as I interview guests who make changes in their own lives to live more fully with intention, gratitude, and joy. Be prepared to be inspired by their stories of how they shifted their mindset, took courageous action, and designed the life that they always wanted to live.

Guest Bio

Hey, this is Aneta. I'm so excited about this week's episode with Dr. Marcus Cirelli. We talked about so many things that we could each be doing to improve our optimal health. Dr. Cirelli is a functional medicine doctor. He has extensive education training in clinical nutrition. He is a chiropractor. He's also a certified gluten expert, and he's someone who's employed all of these holistic medicines to improve his health, and he loves getting to the root cause of what's ailing his patients. We talk about everything from how to cure gut health. We talk about the common illnesses and ailments that we are starting to experience. Where we can find common toxins in our environment, and ways to illuminate them.

We also share, he shares a lot about things that we can do right now in terms of nutrition or other lifestyle changes that we can make to start to live healthier lives and also start to feel better if we are dealing. Any health issues or are you decided that you are ready to start making some changes? You won't want to miss today's episode. Take a listen.

[00:00:00]

Aneta: Dr. Cirelli, thank you so much for joining me today

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I appreciate being here, so I'm excited about this.

Aneta: Yeah, me too. I've wanted to have you on for a long time. I follow everything you do on Instagram. I love all the content that you provide, and I know that folks are going to get so much value from what we cover today. So maybe for those who don’t know you, share a little bit about your background.

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah. So my background is actually in chiropractic medicine. I went to school at Life University, which is down in Atlanta. It's probably the most holistic chiropractic school you can go to.

[00:01:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: So, I was exposed to a lot of different healing modalities and people walking barefoot around campus and all kinds of supplements, things like that. So, I'd always had a background and interest in those things. So, chiropractic school kind of opened up my mind a little bit more, and then when I graduated, I came back up to Cleveland, took a job in Brookville, I went to private practice and it started to help people and it was good because you're helping people for what they come into you for. But there are so many other things that I was realizing that people were missing, whether it was diet or lifestyle or stress in their lives, that a lot of these things were a lot of their problems were caused by this. So, I was looking for something a little bit different to add to my practice. I could help my patients a little bit further. That's when I found functional medicine. I went and saw a lecture given by Dr. Mark Hyman. A lot of people know that name nowadays. So, he lectured about functional medicine the first time I heard that. That kind of opened my eyes like, Hey, this is how I want to practice. I went and I got a couple of certifications in functional medicine. So, now I see people for both chiropractic and functional medicine, but more geared towards functional medicine and helping people, improve their lifestyles, improve their diet, and get to the root cause of what their problems are, to begin with.

Aneta: Yeah. Well, of course, Dr. Mark Hyman has sort of brought functional medicine to the mainstream for those that weren't necessarily that familiar. But for those that don't have a background, how would you help describe the difference between functional medicine and maybe western medicine?

[00:02:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, that's a good question. So I kind of like to use the analogy. So say you went to your medical doctor, right? If you have high blood pressure, 99% of the time your medical doctor is going to give you medication, to help lower that blood pressure. If somebody came to me for high blood pressure, I'd be looking at what your diet is like. What are you eating? What are you not eating? Are there nutritional deficiencies? How much stress is your body under? How is that impacting that? Are you sleeping correctly? Are you being exposed to a lot of toxins? So I always like to dive a little bit deeper. That's kind of how I describe functional medicine. We're looking for the root cause of why these problems happen to begin with. Not just, Hey, let's just give you medication. Let's put a bandaid on it. But find those mechanisms of why the body's breaking down and why these side effects are happening to begin.

Aneta: That's so good! Now, do you find that since you started practicing functional medicine, you feel like more people are coming to you before they see their doctors? Or do you find that they go to their doctors, don't necessarily get an answer, and then they're coming to you to figure out the root cause?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, most of the time people have been to three, or four other doctors before they come to my office. So they tried medication or maybe surgery or maybe some lifestyle changes, but not enough. So most of the time you can walk in, there's the people who've kind of exhausted all their options at this point, looking for something a little bit different that they haven't had before.

Aneta: Okay. And are there the top three or five things that people typically are coming to you? Like are there certain things that are just more common right now in our society?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah. Gut issues are the number one thing I see people for. So whether that's IBS, constipation, diarrhea acid reflux, bloating inability to handle certain foods, or food sensitivities. So, that's by far number one. What I see people for. Number two, I would say it would be autoimmune diseases, which are just kind of on the rise right now in America and they're growing, which is crazy. But yeah, autoimmune would be number two. So whether that's diabetes or lupus or there are hundreds of them. So the list is pretty huge. So, that'd be probably number two. And then there's a lot of people who do come in that are just looking for optimal health wellness. I saw a patient just before we hopped on this call here, who just felt pretty good. My Diet was pretty good, but just wanted to see, hey, do I, am I eating the right stuff? Can I add some stuff? Can I take away some supplements? I like those patients. Those are the fun ones that don't come in that are and have a million problems going on. But those are the fun ones too. The ones that do give you challenges and they're always fun to figure out. What is going on here? Why are these people having these problems, to begin with?

Aneta: Yeah, gut health is so common and I know myself when, if something is going on with my gut, I just don't feel right overall. Right? It impacts my ability to think. Sometimes I have a foggy brain and what would you say are some of the things you would do with someone who comes in and experiences maybe some gut issues? Like what are some of the things that you typically do? Either asking them questions or their tests that they can be.

[00:05:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, the first thing I always look at is their diet. What are you eating? Most of the time a lot of these gut issues are driven by processed foods, inflammatory foods, and things that didn't even exist, 10, 20, or 30 years ago. Those are man-made in the lab. So a lot of it comes down to food, what people are eating. Sometimes it's the history of antibiotic use, which destroys a lot of the good bacteria in the gut. That can cause major shifts. So that can affect the brain and thinking like you said, the fogginess or the brain fog, anxiety, and depression can be affected by that gut bacteria. So we're looking at. What kind of history do you have with antibiotics? also looking at just organ function. So are the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas working the right way? Is the stomach working the right way? Is there anything bad in there like parasites or pathogens? So any history of, foreign travel, maybe you picked something up when you went to Mexico and didn't realize it and brought it back.

[00:06:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: So, I use a comprehensive stool analysis, which is a test that looks at all those things. Looking at the balance of bacteria, all the organ functions look at anything weird like parasites, pathogens, and fungus disease. That kind of gives me a picture at least gives me a starting point to say, Hey, here's what's going on. Here's what we can do from a natural standpoint to help fix some of these things. So no drugs, no medications. We're using herbal products, supplements, and lifestyle changes. It kind of puts your body back into that healing state.

Aneta: Wow. And so when someone comes to you and says they do have maybe some gut issues and you work with them, like how long does it take before you can start to feel better? Is this like a long process or can you start to see some benefits right away by making some easy changes?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Sure. Most of the time, you'd be surprised, right? it depends on how long somebody's had issues. The gut is one of those areas in the body that can regenerate pretty quickly as long as you take away those stressors that are causing the damage, to begin with.

[00:07:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Most of the time people do notice a change, whether it's less bloating, less gas, or things like that within the first month. Now again, if somebody's had digestive issues, Four decades. It might take a little bit longer than that. But people do notice a change pretty quickly in terms of better bowel movements, less bloating, less gas, and being able to digest food a little bit better. So it comes down to a case-by-case basis because everybody is different, but I would say within the least a month you should notice some kind of change, in terms of symptoms.

Aneta: Yeah. Isn't that crazy? When you said, and I know you're kind of maybe half joking about four decades, but there are probably people who live the majority of their life just not feeling good, have we, do you think that as a society we forgot that it's not natural to not feel good in our body?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yes. Yes, absolutely. I think we almost make it to the point now where it's, we normalize not feeling good because so many people don't feel good. Yeah. It is not normal to have these things. It's not normal to have gas and bloating and brain fog and fatigue and skin issues and all that. That's not normal. So many people do have these things that it has become the norm, which is scary in a sense.

[00:08:00]

Aneta: Yeah, it's crazy. I think of it sometimes. I don't do well with cheese and I think 75% of the American population is lactose intolerant, or it probably has some symptoms when they eat dairy, but a good charcuterie board and it just tastes so good, right? So we put ourselves sometimes in these situations where we're not going to feel good. But I think the point is If you know something doesn't agree with you. How do you start to identify what might be the culprit? Like say, they don't come to you. But they're like maybe my stomach doesn't feel great after I eat. What should people start to look for in terms of making some adjustments just on their own?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, so an easy place to start would be removing the three top inflammatory foods. So that'd be gluten, so that's your wheat products. Dairy would be number two, and then sugar would be number three. So if you take out those three foods alone for 30 days, you're going to, you're going to feel better no matter who you are, no matter what you're suffering from, you're going to feel better. Those do create a ton of inflammation. So that's a good, easy place to start and when you take those foods away, some of the things look obvious from a digestive standpoint, less gas, less bloating, and better regular bowel habits. when you take the gluten out, you probably know more neurological stuff, so maybe better thinking, have less brain fog, fewer headaches. Maybe even some sinus issues might clear up. Sugar too, the sugar is a big one for sinus issues. Brain fog, neurological stuff. So when you take away those three foods, as I said, you're going to feel better no matter who you are, no matter what you're suffering from. That's an easy place to start. If you want to do it from a dietary standpoint, a lot of people are chronically dehydrated too. So I always say, Hey, how much water are you drinking? Coffee doesn't count as water. Tea doesn't count as water, so it doesn't count as water. So yeah, that's another, making sure you're getting the water daily. So two easy things. Remove your food and ask for some water.

Aneta: Yeah, yeah. You are going to upset a lot of people who are counting their coffee and their hydration? It's one of the things I noticed, and so we have a lot of gluten insensitivity in our family. My daughters and I, and especially in the States, but when I go to Europe, I just noticed that I can consume.

[00:10:00]

Aneta: Maybe a croissant or some bread or some crostini. I just don't feel the same when I consume wheat. Just wheat overall in foreign countries as compared to the state. So can you explain a little bit, maybe is it the way we're producing the wheat, or what is more gluten in our wheat content? Like, what's causing some of these challenges?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, so there are two, two big things. One is something called glyphosate or Roundup. So you've probably heard a roundup before, which is the chemical they spray on. Yep. So what they do in America and glyphosate is banned in Europe, so you're not allowed to use it. You can't spray it on any kind of produce or any kind of wheat product. Of course here in America, we allow that to happen. So what that does is they spray it on the wheat right before they harvest it, and it freaks out. Thinks it's dying so it releases more gluten. So we have more gluten here in our wheat products than you would have over somewhere in Europe. The other big difference is that the wheat we use here is different from the wheat we use or that's used over in Europe. So in Europe, they use some called old wheat. Here we use a hybridized version that's called new wheat which is harder for us to digest, harder for us to break down.

[00:11:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Our bodies aren't used to having that. So that's the other big kind of difference between them. , things here in America and things in Europe. I just got back from Italy and I couldn't eat pasta and pizza, and it did not bother me here. If I did that in America or it didn't bother me there, if I did that in America, it would just destroy my gut and I would not feel good. So there is a huge difference and a lot of people notice that when they go over to foreign countries, Hey, I can eat this, I can eat that here in America.

Aneta: It's so true, and I always feel like, I eat maybe a little bit more or I sample more foods that I wouldn't necessarily consume here regularly, and I always feel better and I lose weight. And people are like, you're walking a lot. No, I walk here and it's, what else happens when you have less inflammation from the food? How does that tie into things like weight loss or allowing your body to just function properly?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yep. So the more inflamed you are, the more weight you hold onto. Toxins are stored and then toxins are stored in your fat cells. So the more information you have, the more weight you hold onto, and the more toxins you have. The more toxins you have, the sicker you become. So again, going back to what's banned in other countries compared to here, a lot of those things, yeah. We're not allowed to have it here or, so we're now. That we're not allowed to have over there. So that does play a big role. So yeah, the walking helps, but it's a lot of those chemicals you're not being exposed to when you're on vacation.

Aneta: That's such a good point. So you were just in Italy and I'm sure you had a great time sampling all the delicious food. It's one of my favorite places to go. So what else did you notice about, just the lifestyle and Italy versus here, things that you wish that we were able to incorporate more of in the states?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Stress reduction. Absolutely. That was, there's. It's like time doesn't exist over there.

[00:13:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: It, nobody's in a hurry. Dinner’s a three-hour event. It's not like, Hey, I'm going to scarf something down and get back to work. Work takes the backseat. It's more about living life, which I think we need a lot more of here. It's just, yeah, the stress is probably the biggest thing. On top of that, people walk a lot more. They're not getting in their car to drive. Down to the grocery store, they're going to walk down the grocery store. Yeah, a lot of people were stopping at the market that day and buying their produce and their meat to cook it that night. So a lot of its fresher, but I think the biggest thing is this, yeah, stress. Nobody’s work is a priority, but it's not like how we make it here. We're not stressed out about it. And want to vent to the next. It's a much more relaxed, chilled lifestyle, which again, Americans need, especially nowadays.

Aneta: For sure. So what are some of the things that you're going to incorporate in your own life? You did come back. It's good to have you back in the States. You can't, we can't stay with you over there necessarily. But what are some of the things that you're going to try to do just to make sure that you hold onto that?

[00:14:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: I think so dinner to me, dinner to me has always been an important thing. It's something like growing up as a kid, we've always sat down as a family, but growing up too. You also had sporting events and I'm the youngest of five boys, so one brother had this, and another brother had this. So to me, it's just like slowing down, taking your time. Being around loved ones and friends and family. I got to see some friends when I was over there, which was nice too. The biggest thing I think is just slowing down, and appreciating your food. I already eat pretty clean and organic anyways but just making sure my food sources are good. I know exactly where things are coming from. I think the biggest thing is just slowing down, appreciating life a little bit more, and not being in a rush to go to the next thing or the next event. Feel pressure to do something when you don't want to.

Aneta: Right? Well, of course, stress is tied to so many chronic illnesses cause of us not necessarily feeling well, and a lot of mental health issues.

[00:15:00]

Aneta: But you mentioned something a couple of times about toxins. So, we know that toxins are around us and we know that pesticides are probably the most common. But what are some of the things that are maybe hidden that we're not necessarily aware of? What are we exposed to daily?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah. so from a female standpoint, definitely cosmetics. That's one of the worst industries. Now, the reason for that is similar. What we talked about earlier. A lot of those cosmetics are banned in other countries. We allow it here in America. I can't remember the exact number, but I think there are over a hundred, and I think it's 184 different chemicals that are banned in cosmetics in Europe that we allow herein, in America. So it's a huge number. Those cosmetics are linked from anything to messing with your hormones to increase your risk of cancer, and autoimmune diseases. So that's one big hidden source. People often miss and don't look at and I would even put just makeup in there too. We're talking about deodorants. Even some toothpaste can be pretty toxic. So, that's probably one of the hidden sources that people often don't look at the water is another one. We should be drinking plenty of water daily. If you look at studies out there through different major cities. They're finding anything from cocaine and heroin in the water system to birth control pills, and antibiotics, to all kinds of different drugs. So that's the thing I always tell people, getting a good water filter is a good place to start. that will help clean things up, especially if you're drinking plenty of water, which you should be.

[00:16:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: You want to make sure you're not being exposed to all those things.

Aneta: Well, I will be sure to include in the show notes some of these places where we can either purchase some of these things that you're talking about or if there are websites, are there websites that make it easy for us to determine if something as clean chemicals versus if it's banned somewhere else?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: The Environmental working group has a website, it's ewg.com/skindeep. So, it's cool because you can plug in any kind of cosmetic that you have. It'll show you exactly the ingredients that are in there. What do they lead to? How bad is it for you? They'll give you a safer recommendation.

[00:17:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: So, you can flip the find a cleaner product that'll help take some of those toxins out of your system. There's an app you can download on your phone too. It's called Think Dirty. Literally, you can scan a barcode on a product and it'll show you exactly what's in it and then how toxic it is for your body too. And then again, it'll give you an alternative recommendation that's a little bit cleaner. So those are two kinds of good sources that I recommend for any kind of cosmetics or beauty products, anything.

Aneta: There's so much to consider and to think about and there's also a little bit. It can feel overwhelming. So I'm sure that I'm thinking about my makeup bag, right? And I don't think about those things. I don't necessarily, I can't read the ingredients. You're assuming if you're purchasing it at a reputable store that. It's okay to be used, but they're probably things that say that they're clean and maybe they aren't. I try to make some of those purchases, but I'll be sure to take a look at that link. You guys have it a little bit easier.

[00:18:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah. We guys have yes. Heck of a lot easier. Yeah. And you can go down a rabbit hole with those things too. You could spend hours and hours looking at stuff. It always starts slow. Pick the product that you use the most, whether it's foundation or makeup or lipstick, or something like that. Enter those first and see, and then slowly start too. Make some swaps or some cleaning products. If you do too much too quickly, you're going to go crazy. So nobody wants that.

Aneta: Yeah, exactly. No. It'll be interesting. We talked about toxins and gut health. What, and so what about food? So, we often hear that sometimes there's a debate between organic, not organic, and you. What is, what are some tips that we can look at to make sure that we are buying the freshest best ingredients? Do you recommend going to farmer's markets? What are some of the things that people can do to make a difference in their food?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah. Shopping locally is one of the best things you can do. So, whether you have a local farmer or a local rancher, someone who raises your meat, that way you know at least where it's coming from. You can communicate with that person too. Hey, what did you spray on this? Is there any kind of toxins or chemicals? Herbicides, pesticides, how was his meat raised?

[00:19:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Did you use any kind of special antibiotics on that cow? Or whatever it is. So I think it's important to have somebody that you can know and trust. It comes down to, pesticides, and herbicides. There's something called the Clean 15 and the Dirty Dozen. So Clean 15 is the 15 fruits and vegetables that have the least amount of pesticides on them. And then the dirty dozen are the 15 most, wait, sorry, clean 15. I said that backward. Claim 15 is 15 fruit vegetables that have the least amount of pesticides, and then the dirty dozen are 12 different fruits and vegetables that have the most amount of pesticides on them, so, okay. You can pull that up. It changes year to year, but it's pretty similar from year to year. And I always tell people too, the thinner the skin on a fruit or vegetable. Usually means that it's going to absorb more toxins and pesticides. So like a blueberry or an apple or strawberry, something like that has this really thin skin. Yeah. Those are things that you want to try to buy organic, and there is more and more research coming out now showing that, hey, these herbicides, pesticides, they're not good for us.

[00:20:00]

Aneta: I'm sure. So that's good. Yeah, we'll take a look at that. I've looked at that before and it has helped inform how I shop. I try to buy organic as much as I can, and I feel like it's much more available right now at many places where we shop. So, I have to ask you because some of the things that you post on Instagram are about very interesting food prep/ so talk a little bit about organ meat. I know that there's this resurgence in organ meat consumption now. I grew up with it because we didn't waste anything. But, I see more functional medicine doctors and others in the industry talking about the liver and talking about the tongue, and talking about other organs. So what's the benefit of eating organ meat and how do you find organ meat that is good quality?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: So, organ meat is the richest source of any kind of vitamins, and minerals. It's going to be, out of all the meats.

[00:21:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Organ meat is the richest source there. So, when you talk about the liver, you can't get much more B vitamins than the liver. That's the best source of things like heart contain coq 10, which is hard to find other or any kind of food, especially meat. I call the liver the multivitamin because it contains pretty much everything you would need so if you're looking to get an awful multivitamin, you want to take something else or eat something else in the process, the liver is the perfect thing. The tongue's an interesting one. A lot of people don't like tongue just because of what it is. So if you cut it up and you don't know the

Aneta: texture, it's a little rough.

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You peel that outer membrane off. People get a little grossed out by that. But yeah, the tongue's another one that contains a ton of nutrients. Things that are hard to find in muscle meat and then other foods. So when it comes down to finding a clean source, you, with any kind of organ, you want to get that from a grass-fed especially when it comes down to like liver and the heart because those things do have some toxins in them. Not to a large extent, but the more pesticides, and herbicides that cow eats, the more antibiotics that cow gets, which can be stored in some of those organs.

[00:22:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: So, the less you can reduce that, the better it's going to be for overall health and that's kind of going back to like your question earlier, finding a local rancher or somebody who raises cows or, yeah. Even like lamb, anything like that, you'll know exactly what goes into there. They'll tell you what's on it. So long and then they should be honest about it. You're getting something nice and clean. Okay.

Aneta: What about local butchers? Are there some local butchers, do they have good content in terms of meat and grass-fed?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, you're seeing a lot more like local butchers coming up. I mean, at least I'm seeing that. In Cleveland here, there are a couple of good ones. Ohio City Provisions, that's where I like to go to. Farmer's Rails. Not a good one. They have a couple of locations. But yeah, you are seeing more and more of that. You get down to Amish country. It's how most of the meats raised are organic pasture-raised.

[00:23:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: So you're seeing more butchers down there and you can find those things. The crazy thing about it too is it's such a cheap cut of meat. Most people don't want it. So sometimes you can get these meats for one, $2 a pound which with meat prices the way they are now, it's super cheap compared to the actual muscle meat. It's super cheap, and nutritious for you. If you cook it, it tastes good.

Aneta: Yeah. I love liver. So, what size portion do you need to eat? Should be, you be eating this daily, like you. Liver and other organ mates daily or is it a couple of times a week?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, the liver can get, so there is a lot of vitamin A in the liver. If you do have too much vitamin A that can get a little toxic. So if you are going to eat liver regularly, I always recommend two or three times a week. That way there are no toxic issues that happen where you caused any kind of problems. The rest of those thoughts are like your heart and your tongue. There are no limitations when it comes to that. You could eat those days and not have any problems.

[00:24:00]

Aneta: Okay. Interesting. All right. Well, you hear it here first, I think everyone's going to go out and grab some stuff. We see all that. Like, I think that growing up, my family's from former Yugoslavia. We, every time they would get something from the farm or back home, they would always slaughter an animal and you just saved everything. And I remember eating all of that and everything was prepared so great. But I think that rather than coming to the states, it was. It's not something I necessarily talk to people about at school. Yeah, we had liver and gizzards and heart and but it's interesting to see that that's coming back now as a resurgence. It is good food.

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah. Yeah. And kind of going back to when we were in Italy. I had intestines. That was one of the things I ate. We had a heart one day and Cal Calton was on the menu. So it is a lot more common in other countries. I think we're just squeamish here. We don't like trying new things but yeah, it is something that you and other countries do. It's a primary calorie source for a lot of people,

Aneta: Right? Yeah. So, if someone wants to work with you and what is the best way that they would reach out to you? Or how would they learn more to even decide whether they should be considering a functional medicine doctor?

[00:25:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah. I have a, so I have a blog on my website, so I usually post about certain conditions, common ones that people have also. I'm pretty active on social media too. I try to put as much content out there as I can in terms of kind of the same things, certain conditions, things that look out for signs and symptoms that things are going wrong in the body. So my website, you can check me out there. It's WW dot tbh functional medicine.com. My name on social media is dr marcus.com or com. Is that at Dr. Marcus Elli? But that's also somewhere you can find me too. So I think that's, and there are so many different function medicine doctors out there now. It's becoming more mainstream that you can find a lot of people that are talking about these things and holistic health in general, just exploding. People don't want the band-aid solution anymore. They want, they don't want to be on medication, so they're looking for alternative sources of healing and modalities to kind of get them.

[00:26:00]

Aneta: That's so good. And we'll include all that in the show notes. So, one of the things that I love to talk to my clients about is the Blue zones, right? Because people want to live a really good quality life. They want longevity. They don't want to just be barely surviving. They want to be thriving in their life and live. Long active lives. So I know that we talked about a couple of things, the stress reduction, we talked a little bit about food, but let's talk about some of the other things that, in addition to that from a functional or optimal health perspective, the sense of purpose in life and a strong community. So, is that something that you talk to your clients about as well? Go beyond nutrition and talk about some of the other things they could be doing too. Maybe reduce their stress or just create a greater sense of purpose in their life.

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, I think everybody needs a community, like-minded people. People who make you laugh, people who pick you up. I think too many people stick around people for the wrong reasons, whether they're old friends and then they bring too much stress and drama to their lives. So yeah, I think finding the right people to be around is a huge component of health.

[00:27:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: And that even goes to the spouses too. If you have a bad spouse, I. With a lot of male and female clients, but, a lot more female clients. Guys don't like coming in until they're broken and they can't function anymore. But for the female client, it's sometimes challenging because they want to make these changes in their lives and their husband might not be on board, which makes it a lot more challenging. When it comes to making diet changes or working on stress. So, I think if you are going to try to go on any kind of healing journey, it is important to. Not only a practitioner supporting you but somebody else there too. Yeah, that's in your corner that you can rely on because sometimes healing's tough. You have to go through some stuff that you've been through in the past and it can be challenging. So having somebody there is good. Having people who've gone through something similar to that is huge too. Yeah, I think the community is something that's often missed in the world today. I think part of that's technology. We're so in our zone when it comes to technology. People don't pick up the phone anymore and call anybody. It's always a text message or, mag release, they don't just drop in to see people anymore. It's always a phone call, so why not go, you spend some time with them. Human connection is huge and again, it's, I think it's often missed when it comes to any kind of healing.

[00:28:00]

Aneta: Absolutely. So what is, what encourages you, so you work with clients, you get to see people, and you're helping them on their healing journey, but is there anything more at a macro level or globally that is encouraging you right now, in terms of people seeking healing or seeking to take control of their health?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, that's a good question. You walk around and see people that are just sick everywhere you go, right? Look at the numbers. One out of every three Americans is obese, and two out of every three Americans are overweight. So that right there is something that we have direct control over, and it comes down to your diet and your lifestyle and what you're doing daily. The medical bills are not getting any. We spend so much money on medicine compared to other countries. It's kind of insane. If we can reduce some of that burden by living healthier, and eating healthier that's part of what drives me. I want to inform people that, hey, you don't have to be sick.

[00:29:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: You don't have to feel this way. It is not normal to have these signs and symptoms. Something's going wrong in the body. So, I think especially here in America, we need to open up a little bit more, open our eyes and figure out what's going on. So that's one of the things that drives me. I think it, Just people being sick and there are solutions out there that a lot of doctors don't talk about because it doesn't make money. And if it doesn't make money, then they're not going to talk about it. A lot of times I talk about people, they're free. Stress reduction, breathing exercises, meditation, right? Hold showers, those are all free things. Getting outside in the sunshine, that's. Being around loved ones. Yeah, that's free. There's a lot of stuff that you can do that doesn't take much effort and time and money. But it has a huge impact on overall health. But again, I digress a little bit, but money does control everything here. So it does come back to that and big pharma controls a lot of the things that go into even the education that medical doctors are getting nowadays. So if we could get away from that and just focus on real healing the way it should be, that's going to have a huge impact on a lot of people.

[00:30:00]

Aneta: Yeah. Well, that's an interesting point that you bring up about education in the medical system. I know that in terms of nutrition and food as medicine, it's not. I don't think that, in medical school, that is a large part of education. I'm not sure what the number of hours is, but I remember reading something and I don't want to misquote it, but it was really low in terms I know that as a health coach, I. Much more education in terms of nutrition and food as medicine. Do you see that changing at all, or do you see any doctors, I don't know if you're talking to any doctors or over-collaborating with them where they are seeking to learn more.

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yes and no. The answer to going back four hours is what medical doctors get in terms of nutrition training. So four years of school and you get four hours. What can you tell a patient and that kind of thing? You don't get enough education to educate somebody on that. I think there is certain to be a little bit more of a shift. I think some of these younger doctors that are coming out now are more in tune.

[00:31:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Diet does play an impact on this. If you eat less inflammatory foods, you're going to recover from surgery better or you're going to have less chance of heart disease. So I think there is, you're starting to see a shift. I think it's just really slow. You ask some of these old-school doctors if diet has any kind of role in disease and they're still going to tell you no, which is insane to me. Right? But yeah, at slow shifts, but probably not fast enough. Not enough of what. Yeah,

Aneta: But it's interesting because I think you mentioned at the beginning that you were seeing patients and you wanted to be able to treat them holistically, and you started seeing things beyond what they were originally coming to you. And I know Dr. Mark Hyman started the same way, Dr. Andrew Wile. So many medical doctors then realized that they weren't able to treat their parents or their patients, or they weren't necessarily getting better, but. It's still a little bit slow because I don't, I know that the curriculum has not changed necessarily, uh, to keep up with maybe the demands there.

[00:32:00]

Aneta: Yeah. Yep. Yeah, unfortunately. So we talked about what you're, what drives you, and what you're optimistic about. Anything that concerns you in terms of things that people should take a look at right now and make some changes in their life. Well, you mentioned autoimmune, so I know that continues to increase with no real treatment, right? I mean, that's kind of the point of autoimmune is the definition is that the body is attacking itself. Correct? Is not

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Natural. No. No. What was the question again? Can you repeat that one more time?

Aneta: Make sure, yeah. Just if there's anything that have you concerned that you want to make sure that whoever is listening says, you know what, maybe I will take this a little bit more seriously and either look at the toxins in my makeup or get a water filtration system because of the water. If you had to pick maybe the top three things that people could do today? What would you recommend?

[00:33:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah. So top, one, I would say, eating a diet that's full of. Whole foods are things that aren't processed, and that comes out of a can or a box. I think that's one easy step to take. To go further with that. If you want to do it organically, yeah, that'd be even better. But at least starting with real Whole Foods, I think that's the most important thing. What's at the end of your fork going to impact your health the most? So what are you eating on a day-to-day basis? I think it's okay to have some cheap meals here and there. I'm not perfect. I don't think anybody should be perfect. I always like to use the 80-20 principles with people. But. I think food is the number one thing that people need to look at and figure out, Hey, what am I putting in my body? What is it doing to my body? Because food is information. Everything you eat is going to turn into information in your body. So if you give your body real whole ingredients, it's going to give you better health outcomes. If you feed it junk, you're going to feel like crap. There's science there to prove it. There's no arguing that Number two. I think, again, kind of going back to the whole water thing. I think 74% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. So, it's a huge number. It's insane. It's insane. Yeah.

[00:34:00]

Aneta: So, and I've heard various things, I think that the standard has always been, 64 ounces, but then I've also studied the half your body weight in ounces. So, what do you usually tell your clients? What's good?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: I tell people, so half your body weight has always been good. It kind of gauges. But I like my patients to have at least three clear urinations a day. So when you pee, you should see it nice and clear. You shouldn't have maybe a little bit of a yellow tint to it, but you shouldn't have that dark yellow color. You want to have one in the morning, one in the afternoon, one in the evening of nice, clear peas. If you're going a lot more than that and you're having six, seven. That means you're drinking too much and everybody's different. Some people can handle it. A hundred ounces. Some people can only handle 20 ounces of water. It just depends.

Aneta: I didn't know that. That's interesting.

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah. Yeah. I think water intake is huge and it's something that's often overlooked. And again, kind of going back to that, it doesn't cost anything. Water's so readily available to everybody. But it is a huge component that's often missed.

[00:35:00]

Aneta: Yeah. And one of the other things you mentioned was just getting outside and getting fresh sunlight because we haven't talked. We've talked a lot about nutrition. We've talked about toxins and water supply and some of those things, but we actually, most people think about health as tied to maybe a number on the scale or the way they fit in their clothes, and so they think about exercise and heavy exercise. So what would you say in terms of what you need to maintain proper health versus maybe what we're taught that we need in terms of exercise?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, I think you need, in terms of exercise, I think you need like a fine balance, right? You don't have to go to the gym five days a week and work out and lift heavy weights. In my opinion, walking is a form of exercise, yoga is a form of exercise. There are so many different things out there you can do. It doesn't have to be weightlifting. Now, weightlifting is one of the best things as we age. Especially maintaining muscle mass. We do lose muscle mass as we get older. But you don't have to go to the gym and work out. Like a meat head like most people thinks you have to do. But yeah, I think exercise comes in all different forms.

[00:36:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Biking, hiking, all those things. So I tell people, just try to do something daily. Move your body. Yeah. A lot of us sit at a desk for eight hours. We don't move enough. We go from work to home to sit on the couch and watch four hours of tv, then we go to bed.

Aneta: Right?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Something easy, just move your body daily. That's an easy place to start to make sure you're getting some kind of exercise in your life.

Aneta: Absolutely! And I always tell clients too, to do it out. If you can go outside, you're getting your sunshine at the same time you're getting some fresh air helps from a stress reduction perspective too. Let's talk a little bit about things that maybe as we start to age, things that start happening. And so I know you see a lot of female clients, so do you have female clients that come to you maybe with some hormone challenges as they're either entering perimenopause or menopause and what are some advice or things that we could do if we're in that stage of life?

[00:37:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah. So again, you guys have it a lot harder than us males. Yeah. Menopause, obviously that's, it's something you can't stop, right? As a female, it's going to happen. It's just a matter of when. So, there are a lot of things you can do to help support that. From a natural standpoint. There are a lot of good herbs out there. That can help with the night sweats is a big one. A lot of females tend to experience sometimes cramping is another big one. Certain herbal products are great. Black cohosh is good. There's something called cramp bark, which is another very good herb. So again, you can't stop these things, but you can at least support the systems as you're going through these changes. That way it makes it easier for you. Now in terms of, sexual desire, sometimes drop two as you stop producing estrogen when you go through the menopause cycle there. So, certain foods can increase that. yams are a great source of natural estrogen, so you can bump that backup. So sort, increase more yams in your life. A couple of times a week. When you get older too. This is male and female, I kind of mentioned you start to lose muscle mass. So that's where some weight-bearing exercise comes in there too to help out. Cognitively we start to decline a little bit too.

[00:38:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: So a lot of good protein in your diet getting older, especially with the age of 75 is extremely important. There are all kinds of stuff to do, but again, we often neglect these things. And I often find when people retire. They go from being so active and then they go to sit on a couch all day. So that'd be going back to making sure you're getting some kind of exercise or daily movement into your routine. Having that good community, getting out with friends and family, seeing loved ones so you're not in your house all day. Getting out in the sunshine, things like that.

Aneta: Yeah, the other thing that came to mind for me is just getting older. You talked about cognitive. Decline and I know we start to lose gray matter and that's where things like meditation are very helpful because you can reverse some of that loss. But are there foods that we should be aware of, either thing that we should add or maybe things we should remove from our diet? Dementia and Alzheimer's kind of keep us sharper longer and maybe slow down those illnesses.

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah. So from foods to add in your omegas. So omega three s, which is your fat, those are the good fat. So they come from salmon, avocados, nuts, and seeds. You can also take this in supplement form too.

[00:39:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: That's one of the biggest ones. Your brain was mostly fat. You want to make sure you're giving it plenty of fat, especially as you. Antioxidants are also very important. So blueberries, and strawberries, are really good sources of antioxidants that help fight off free radical damage in the brain from a what to take away. Calling dementia Alzheimer's. Now they're calling it type three diabetes. So sugar. Sugar's, one of the worst things for the brain. Directly decreases the gray matter that you mentioned. Stops those neurological inputs from firing the way that they should. So sugar is one thing you want to try to stay away from, or at least limit how much you're having on a weekly and monthly basis. That's the first food. Any community that comes to my office that has Alzheimer's dementia, and that's the first food we take out. You got to get off the sugar because it is just so inflammatory for the body and then the last kind of food to take away is just processed stuff. The stuff we shouldn't have.

[00:40:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: So the bad fats are there. The bad oils that are in there are mostly found in processed foods. Those are other things you want to stay away from cause they are very inflammatory.

Aneta: Yeah, I mean sugar, I think Dr. Mark Hyman, says sugar is like, treat it like a recreational drug. it's really bad for you. There are zero benefits. It's going to wreak havoc on your body. You're going to have a chemical response to it. So if you use it, just be aware of it and it's interesting because I think most people aren't aware. Of the added sugars in their everyday food. So if you look at I always tell people if you're drinking milk, look at the amount of sugar in just milk versus a little bit of cream, or Greek plain Greek yogurt versus the stuff with the fruit on the bottom that has all those sugars in it, or tomato sauces, like salad dressings. There are so many things where if you just learn to read the labels, you would realize you're eating so many grams of sugar a day that you're probably not even.

[00:41:00]

Aneta: Right? And the food industry is not dumb. They add sugar. So these foods are for a reason. Cause Right? Sugar is very addicting. You look at brain scans and it's more addicting than cocaine and heroin. Which is even scarier? Yeah. So, these food engineers design foods and food products. They know exactly what they're doing. They're putting in enough and they're because they want you to become addicted to the foods. So you keep eating them, and you keep buying. So yeah, sugar, it's sugar there. Sugars and foods that you would be surprised by. Sometimes you pick a bottle of water and there's sugar added to it, it's like, why is there sugar in a bottle of water? Shouldn't this just be water? It's scary, right? Yeah, it's one way to drink more, I suppose, right? I do think I like a square of 85% dark chocolate, and I do think that is medicinal. Okay. I hope you come. Do you agree with me on this one?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: I do. No, no, I do. I do. Yeah. When it comes to chocolate, dark and better. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Aneta: Yeah. Yeah, just a little bit. I just need a little bit to go a long way. So what about alcohol? So, alcohol, I think it's very acceptable. It's very social.

[00:42:00]

Aneta: I read something recently where they said that alcohol is the only drug and people question why. If you choose to abstain and you don't choose to consume alcohol, people are like, why? What's the reasoning versus any other drug? So, there is still a movement of people who are sober, curious, or maybe are starting to experiment with not consuming as much alcohol. Do you see that shifting and what is the tie to alcohol and maybe just optimal health?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, no, I, I think you're seeing a big movement with alcohol, I think a lot of people are trying to avoid it and stay away from it. There's no health benefit to alcohol. I don't care who's going to tell you otherwise. There isn't. Wine does have some antioxidants in them. But the inflammation that's created doesn't outweigh the benefits. So alcohol is very inflammatory, especially for them. It shuts down certain areas of the brain, which is why you get drunk and you make dumb decisions long-term that can lead to permanent damage, especially if you're a chronic user.

[00:43:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yeah, so yeah, I mean there's, and you're right. It is such a social thing that Friday night, Saturday night, even throughout the course of the week everywhere you go, every dinner, it's kind of like, You're the weirdo. If you don't have a drink. right? Yeah. I think there is a big movement now where you're seeing people drinking at least a lot less than they used to. It’s like here in Ohio, winter is coming and there's nothing else to do except go to the bar and hang out with friends. So I think you see, especially as the shift of the season around the holidays. You see alcohol consumption even more. But yeah, there is no health benefit to it. I'm not going to act like I don't consume it from time to time because I do. But, there is again, from a health standpoint. You're not getting any kind of benefit.

Aneta: Yeah, no judgment. I think it's something that I've been looking at for myself too, because I love red wine and it's interesting because you study the blue zones and you say, oh, they consume a lot of red wine, and people will drink it.

[00:44:00]

Aneta: But even the production of the wine, the way it's. Produced in other countries, definitely more organic, and doesn't have added sulfites, et cetera, so it's not the same thing having a glass of wine from Napa here versus even from an alcohol content perspective, percentage-wise as to maybe what you would get in Europe?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Yep. Yep. And too, if you look at it there are a lot of studies that come out. So you take California Wines, 90, 98, or 99% of those had hints of the glyph, the glyphosate in there, which is your Roundup. So on top of that, you're getting the alcohol and then you're getting the herbicides that come with it, and that's creating further damage in the body. So, yeah, and again, that spans other countries. So, there's kind of that twofold thing there as well.

Aneta: Okay. We have to make sure we do not end on a depressing note. We need to share some good news.

[00:45:00]

Aneta: I'm ready to go clean my cupboards out. I think that the good news is that we can make it. I think many choices that you said that we can look at are, looking at our food supply, looking at what we're consuming, eating healthier, making sure we're hydrated, going outside, and moving our body. These are things that if we started doing and created healthy habits, we'd start to feel better. If people don't, we're going to include in the show notes ways that they can follow you because of Such great content. You're so generous with the content that you provide. I have attended one of your group coaching classes, which I loved, and learned so much about all these topics, which is great. So I'm sure that anything that you offer will be available on your website. But I do ask everyone, every guest on the show it's tied to the title of the show. Which is Life the Width of Your Life. So what does it mean to you to live the width of your life?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: That's another great question. I think slowing down and looking at your life and appreciating what you do have is number one. It's kind of part of it.

[00:46:00]

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: I try to take it every day. I try not to take every day for granted because you never know when tomorrow will come. Your day's going to end, right? It could be anytime you go across the street and something could happen to you. So I think the biggest thing is realizing that we have it pretty good here in America. There are so many things we take for granted, whether it's just having a roof overhead or clothes on our body, or food to be able to eat. So I think a lot of people need to realize that there's so much out there to be grateful for. Yeah and I think, spending even two minutes in the morning and realizing, do some gratitude, whether it's writing it down or just saying, I'm thankful for these five things a day. I think that goes a long way and it would make people appreciate life on earth a lot more. Probably reduce a lot of stress and anxiety that we have. Yeah. But yeah, I think that's something that just really slows down, appreciating the small things. Appreciating the change in the seasons that are happening right now. Just not taking a day for granted. Again, you never know what tomorrow's going to look like for you. So being around loved ones, being around people you appreciate, I think that's a big thing too. spending time with them because life's not promised to anybody. It could be taken away really quickly. So, I think yeah, just slowing down, appreciating what you have, appreciating what's going on around you. Not taking things for granted.

[00:47:00]

Aneta: I love that. I love that, and you're right, gratitude is so important and it just changes perspective. It just ships everything. When you start your day and your end, end your day. And gratitude. I want to thank you. I'm grateful to you for coming on, and for sharing so much. Grateful for what you put out into the world. I know that this is a personal passion and mission for you and we'll include all the ways that we can support you. I will ask you, is there, what's the best way that we can support you?

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: A follow is always a great thing. I will try again, and try to put as much information out there. So on Instagram, follow me. I think you'll get a lot of good health tips, things that you can start incorporating into your life pretty quickly. You want to support me in the movement, eat healthier, eat cleaner, reduce your toxins, but no, I think a good follower again ‘cause I've tried to put as much information out there as I can. So, that's a good place to start.

[00:48:00]

Aneta: Absolutely. We'll make it easy for folks to be able to do it. Thank you Dr. Elli for joining me today and continuing. Good luck and I will update you on my progress regarding all the things that we talked about today. Awesome.

Dr. Marcus Cirelli: Sounds good. Sounds good. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Aneta: Of course, have a good one.