Boundless Life A World Famous Chef Reveals How The Wrong Foods And A Broken Medical System Nearly Killed Him - And Easy, Delicious Ways Change Your Body With the Right Foods.
Meet chef Seamus Mullen. A recent Men's Journal article described Seamus as follows:
"Few people have subjected their bodies to as much wear and tear as Manhattan chef and restaurateur Seamus Mullen. The mastermind behind the red-hot Manhattan restaurant Tertulia and a regular on the Food Network, Mullen has seen it all. He contracted dengue fever on a mountain-bike trip across Costa Rica. He was bitten by a vampire bat while cooking at an eco-lodge in the jungles of Venezuela, an injury that required an emergency helicopter trip to the closest hospital. He spent five months on a punishing 11,000-mile dirt-bike trek from San Francisco to Panama and back. There have been bike races, cyclocross challenges, and mountain-bike half-centuries – not to mention years of brutal 90-hour workweeks in high-end restaurant kitchens all over the world."
And it doesn't end there. Click here to read the rest of that article. In today's podcast, I interview Seamus about his remarkable journey from hellness to wellness, fighting back from rheumatoid arthritis and chronic pain and inflammation to being well on his way to peak fitness at nearly 40 years old. Seamus is a chef and restaurateur in New York City, he's found food to be the single most important factor in his journey to getting better, and he just published the book "Hero Food, How Cooking with Delicious Things Can Make Us Feel Better". In the past year, through work with Dr. Frank Lipman, he has managed to turn his health around significantly to the point of having zero signs of rheumatoid arthritis in any of his blood markers - and as of the fall of 2013, he has been off all medication for the first time in 11 years. All of his inflammatory markers have gone from extremely high to normal, his white blood cell count has gone from a constantly elevated state to an extremely healthy 9%, his cholesterol is terrific, he has lost a pounds of fat, gained pounds muscle and most importantly, for the first time in over ten years, he feels like a different person.
-------------------------------------------
During our call, Seamus and I discuss how our medical industry is very focused on symptomatic treatment rather than addressing the root cause of the symptoms - and how this often leads to protracted, ineffective palliative care that leaves patients with even more complex medical problems than they started out with. In the case of Seamus, a severe auto-immune issue (in all likelihood caused by undiagnosed parasitic and bacterial infections, along with imbalanced micro-biota) led to a seizure caused by medications he was taking, and infections that spread to his brain and spinal cord as a result of immuno-suppressants, blood clots and pulmonary embolisms that nearly killed him. This also led to an immune system that made him vulnerable to every bug that came myhisway and finally - the icing on the cake - a chemical dependency on so-called "safe" synthetic pain medication. For years, Seamus followed the advice of "experts" in the field and any time he suggested anything as radical as a "gluten-free diet" or perhaps acupuncture, he was told "...if you feel as though it helps, I don't have a problem with it, but there's no clinical data to support any claims around diet and rheumatoid arthritis." After doing a systemic cleanse, a gut biome reboot, following 6 months of a gut-healing protocol with regular acupuncture, a primarily ketogenic diet and regular exercise, Seamus started to see major improvements in his health. And he noticed this differnece not only in how he felt, but also had the empirical results of his bloodwork to back it up. Fast forward another 9 months and he is stronger and fitter than he's been in years. In his twenties I was was a semi-pro mountain biker, racing 40-50 races a year and while I'm not quite back at that fitness level, it's in my crosshairs to get there this year. You'll learn about lessons Seamus has learned along the way, including:
-How Seamus was saved at the last minute from a botched diagnosis and attempt to do massive pelvic surgery...
-A crazy but correct diagnosis that uncovered the true reason behind Seamus's auto-immune issues and extreme joint pain...
-How Seamus completely destroyed intestinal parasite issues, eliminated his gut inflammation and healed his digestive system...
-The alternative medical procedure Seamus used once a week to address both gut and joints at the same time...
-How Seamus reversed the damage caused by prednisone and chemo drugs...
-What exercises he does now that Seamus would have done differently 10 years ago to avoid getting two spinal surgeries later in life...
-Easy and delicious recipes you can use that are completely non-inflammatory and help to heal your gut...
-Biohacks that Seamus is using to prepare for La Ruta de los Conquistadores in October and the Absa Cape Epic in South Africa next year...
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
-Powerlung (use code BGF025 for 25% discount)
-Seamus's Manhattan Tertulia restaurant and El Colmado
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this podcast with Chef Seamus Mullen? Leave your thoughts at BenGreenfieldFitness.com, and be sure to check out his excellent book: Hero Food, How Cooking with Delicious Things Can Make Us Feel Better!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.