Importance of Vitamin C and the Difference Between Whole Food-Based and Synthetic Sources

Food is an integral part of our existence as human beings. In our daily lives, food plays an important role in our rituals, traditions, and celebrations. It also makes up the cells in our body and is a powerful influence over our health, lifespan, and risk for disease.

On this episode of The Model Health Show, you’re going to hear a deep dive on nutrition and how it impacts every single facet of our lives. This episode is my interview from the Ed Mylett Show, where I shared insights about how food impacts our biology, our relationships, and overall health. You’re going to learn about the transformative power of a shared family meal, what to look for in supplements, and how ultra-processed foods and oils can harm your health.

You’re also going to hear my personal story of overcoming health struggles, how I came to love science, and my personal food philosophy. This episode is packed with powerful information you can use to upgrade your kitchen, improve your nutrient intake, and bring an awareness and intentionality to the way you eat. Enjoy! 

In this episode you’ll discover:

• How eating with your family can protect you from disease.
• The magic number of shared meals you should eat in a week.
• How oxytocin and cortisol work.
• The fascinating link between healthy social connections and risk for death.
• Why the microbiome is an important facet of your health.
• What nutrigenomics are.
• My personal experience with transforming my health.
• The lifechanging power of simply deciding to get well.
• How synthetic and natural nutrients differ.
• The truth about most vitamin C supplements on the market.
• How whole food based vitamin C can reduce inflammatory markers.
• What you need to know about vegetable oils.
• The definition of ultra-processed foods.
• Which fat sources are optimal for cooking.
• How the composition of human fat cells has evolved.
• The spectrum of sweeteners.
• Why non-stick pans can harm your health (plus better alternatives).
• The importance of not giving food morality.
• What percentage of the average American’s diet is ultra-processed food.

Items mentioned in this episode include:

• Foursigmatic.com/model -- Get an exclusive discount on your daily health elixirs!
• PaleoValley.com/model -- Use code MODEL for 15% off!
• EatSmarterCookbook.com 
• The Ed Mylett Show

Join TMHS Facebook community - Model Nation 

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Thanks to our Sponsors.

This episode is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. t's a really good time right now to be aware of supporting our immune system. In particular, looking at nutritive inputs known as immunomodulators. So these are nutrients and nutrient sources that can help our immune system to adapt. Not going too high or too low, but being able to adapt and mount an appropriate response to any pathogen we might be faced with. Now research published in the Journal of Pharmacological Sciences found that the polysaccharides in reishi, this renowned medicinal mushroom, have extensive immunomodulating effects, including supporting the function of humoral immunity and cellular immunity as well. Another study published in the journal, Mediators of Inflammation showed that these polysaccharides in reishi were found to enhance the proliferation of our B-cells and T-cells. Alright, so directly improving the function of our immune system. This is really special. But also an important ingredient for supporting our immune system is our sleep quality. That's one of the things that if that is disturbed, especially consistently disturbed, it can suppress our immune system and make us more susceptible to things like colds and flus. But this is another powerful place for reishi because a study published in the Journal of Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior found that the renowned medicinal mushroom reishi was able to significantly decrease sleep latency. Meaning that it helped study participants to fall asleep faster, it increased overall sleep time and increased non-REM deep sleep time and REM sleep time as well. That's really, really special. It is a whole body supportive source of nutrition. But the quality, this is the key, the quality matters so very much. I don't want you to run out and just get any random reishi because this is a recent study reported this, the majority of medicinal mushroom products on the market have a little, if any, medicinal mushroom, the viable parts of the medicinal mushroom in it. One company that you can trust that goes above and beyond that does a dual extraction of these medicinal mushrooms to give you the real nutrition that you're looking for is Four Sigmatic. Go to foursigmatic.com/model. That's foursigmatic.com/model. You're going to get 10% off their incredible reishi elixir. And they also have a delicious reishi hot cocoa as well that I actually just made for my son today. This is one of his favorite things to sip on. And so these are really cool ways that we can get these powerful nutrients into our bodies. And they've got incredible, again, this is all organic. They've got the reishi hot cocoa, the reishi elixir, and also lion's mane. They've got organic mushroom coffee blends as well. So many different ways to get these incredible inputs. Go to foursigmatic.com/model. You're gonna get 10% off store wide.

This episode is brought to you by PaleoValey. As I'm sharing with Ed in this conversation, vitamin C isn't just crucial for your immune system, it's also critical in helping our bodies to manage stress. According to data published in the Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences, both emotional and physical stress can affect a person's vitamin C status. It can actually increase the requirement for vitamin C to maintain normal blood levels, and when stress depletes vitamin C levels in the body, it reduces the person's resistance to infections and disease and increases the likelihood of further stress. When vitamin C intake is increased, according to these researchers, the negative effects of excessive stress hormones are reduced and the body's ability to cope with stress improves. Being able to manage stress is a key to staying healthy and resilient. And as I shared with Ed, one of my favorite sources for high quality food-based vitamin C is from camu camu berry. For years I've been utilizing a concentrate of camu camu berry, amla berry and acerola cherry. These are all vitamin C dense super fruits with no synthetic ingredients, no binders, no fillers. And I'm talking about the Essential C Complex from Paleovalley. Go to paleovalley.com/model and you're going to get 15% off their incredible Essential C Complex. This is all organic plus it has a 60-day, 100% money back guarantee. So if you're not absolutely thrilled about it, you can receive a full refund, no questions asked. They're really standing behind their product because it is that good. And again, it is the Essential C Complex from Paleovalley. Go to paleovalley.com/model right now. And again, you're going to get 15% off from your order automatically at check out plus 15% off store wide. Go to paleovalley.com/model.