Healthy Wealthy & Wise Dr. William T. Choctaw, MD, JD
The Healthy Wealthy and Wise Podcast, with Dr. William T. Choctaw, MD, JD is a monthly podcast that focuses on personal growth and development by exploring a range of topics related to mental and physical health, personal wealth, leadership, and interpersonal relationships. Dr. Choctaw draws on his 75yrs experience and 50 plus years of surgical practice since graduating from Yale University School of Medicine.
Each month, we strive to provide our listeners with mental, physical, and spiritual strength by giving actionable advice, tips, guidance, and information to help them achieve their own personal, professional, and spiritual goals. We consider the health of the mind, body, and spirit paramount as a single unit that provides a cumulative strength greater than the individual parts, to strengthen the whole person.
We appreciate the natural differences in need between men, women, adults, and children. We recognize that the power to be happy is within each of us and under our control. We embrace technology and identify how it is applicable to our daily success. We address the entire human experiences from generation z to the baby boomers.
We’re passionate about the total person, and helping our listeners build and lead a full, well-rounded and happy life. So, tune in every month for an inspiring, encouraging, and informative podcast!
Healthy Wealthy & Wise Dr. William T. Choctaw, MD, JD
Microscopic Allies: Dr. William Choctaw on Enhancing Health with the Power of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Balanced Microorganisms
Venturing further into the world of health-enhancing microorganisms, we delve into the realm of probiotics and prebiotics. Probiotics, the beneficial bacteria that thrive in our bodies, play an instrumental role in our health, from improving digestion to boosting our immune system. But did you know prebiotics, the foods that nourish these good bacteria, are equally crucial? Hear Dr. Choctaw elaborate on the sources of probiotics and prebiotic foods that can bolster their population. However, there's a catch! We need to strike a balance and not disrupt this harmony with an overuse of antibiotics and chemotherapy.
Zooming in on pre and probiotics, we discuss how these potent promoters of a healthy digestive system are found in everyday foods like yogurt, bananas, and garlic. Dr. Choctaw graciously shares his five basic principles for a healthy, fulfilling life. But before you make any significant lifestyle modifications, remember to consult a healthcare professional. As we journey together, unlocking the secrets of the complex microcosms within us, we inch closer to our goal of achieving better health, wealth, and wisdom. Tune in to this enlightening episode of the Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise podcast and set off on your journey to self-improvement.
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The Host, Dr. William Choctaw; MD, JD, is a healthcare leadership expert, possessing a Medical Doctorate from the Yale University School of Medicine, and a Jurist Doctorate from Western University. Over a span of 50 years practicing medicine, he has served as Chief of Staff, Chief of Surgery, and as a member of the medical executive committee at Citrus Valley Medical Center over a 10 year period. Also, while practicing at Citrus Valley Medical Center, he served as Chief Transformation Officer, (developed a Robust Process Improvement/Lean Six Sigma program). Dr. Choctaw lectures nationally and internationally on medical leadership issues for hospital staffs, executives, and managers. He served as a Physician Surveyor on the Joint Commission. He's the author of 2 books, "Medical Malpractice: A Physician's Guide to the Law" and "Transforming the Patient Experience: A New Paradigm for Hospital and Physician Leadership, published by the Springer Publishing Co. He’s the President of Choctaw Medical Group, Inc., a clinical practice and medical legal consulting firm for medical staff executives, physician leaders, and hospitals.
Welcome to the Healthy, wealthy and Wise podcast with Dr William T Choctaw, mdjd, where the doctor helps you unlock your full potential by equipping you with tools and knowledge in the areas of health, wealth and wisdom anchored in his experience as a business executive, a physician surveyor for the Joint Commission, a former mayor and over 50 years of experience as a general surgeon. You've got questions, he's got answers, so let's get started. Here's Dr William T Choctaw, mdjd.
Speaker 2:Good morning, I'm Dr William T Choctaw and welcome to our Healthy, wealthy and Wise podcast. This podcast is part of our Leadership Masterclass series and we invite you to join us on the journey today to learn some new and exciting things about healthcare that you may not have experienced in the past. Each month, we try to provide you, our listeners, with mental, physical, spiritual strength by giving actionable advice, tips, guidance and information to help you achieve your own personal, professional and spiritual goals. We consider the health of the mind, body and spirit paramount as a single unit that can provide cumulative strength greater than the individual parts to strengthen the whole person. So join with us as we travel this journey today. Today, we're going to talk about healthy eating that includes prebiotic and probiotics the world of microorganisms. Let me repeat that we're going to talk about healthy eating that includes prebiotics and probiotics the world of microorganisms. So sit back and go with us on this outstanding journey. As always, we like to go over our beliefs and I believe that life is about being of service to others. I believe knowledge is power. I believe leaders can change the world. As always, we like to put up an outline, and the purpose of the outline is to let you know what we're going to talk about. But, more importantly, the purpose of the outline is to let you know when we're just about done. We're going to talk about microorganisms, and you may be saying to yourself behind the world, does that involve eating? Well, stay tuned and we'll go over that. We're going to talk about good and bad microorganisms. We're going to talk about microorganisms that live in the body. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there are bacteria and various types of microorganisms that normally live within our bodies and we're going to touch on that today. We're going to review prebiotic and probiotics and talk about the specific benefits of each and, as always, we always like to refer you to use your search engine liberally, whichever system you have, and to review and evaluate information, particularly from the Mayo Clinic and other notable healthcare institutions, about this important topic. This topic, as always, as all of our podcasts, are part of our masterclass series in medicine. We believe that it's important that all of us have a certain basic understanding of healthcare on multiple levels and, again going back to our beliefs that knowledge is powered, this will empower us, I believe, to have better healthcare for ourselves and those around us.
Speaker 2:So go with me, if you will, to the world of microorganisms. Microorganisms, now, you may be saying well, what in the world is a microorganism? Well, a microorganism is an organism that can only be seen by the microscope. Let me say that again A microorganism is an organism that can only be seen by the microscope. Now you may be saying well, you know, I don't ever remember hearing anything about this, and what in the world are we talking about today? Well, I'm going to beg to differ. I'm going to say go with me back to your high school, and I will bet you that somewhere in your high school certainly in early college, but somewhere in your high school you had a class called biology, Biology, the study of life. Bio meaning life, ology mean the study of, and doing that biology class, I'm going to suggest that somewhere in that room, that was a microscope, a microscope, and it was that microscope, a multiple microscopes like it, that you use to begin to explore the world of microorganisms. Okay, so just just think about that. These are organisms that are with us daily, that we cannot see with the naked eye, that we need a microscope to see them and, more importantly, the organisms that I'm going to talk about are inside of us. It's normal. Do not freak out, do not get scared, do not worry about it. This is the way God intended it. Okay, so it's all good. It's all good.
Speaker 2:So, as we said, organisms that cannot be seen by the naked eye. There are different classes of microorganisms and you've heard of these. Some are called bacteria, which I'm sure you've heard of, fungii, a fungi, protozoan, but you may not have heard of that's a single cell organisms or virus. You've definitely heard about viruses. Viruses, like bacteria and fungi, are microorganisms. You can't see a virus except through the microscope. Okay, so, of the four or five different categories that we've mentioned, we're going to concentrate today on the bacteria. We'll only mention viruses and maybe some of the other microorganisms as a contrast to bacteria.
Speaker 2:Okay, so let's look at bacteria. Well, what's interesting to know about bacteria? Is that back normal bacteria, or I'm going to use the term good, bacteria lives within us, lives within us and indeed bacteria, if you, and there are billions of them that live within us, remember, you can't see them, you need a microscope to see them, but there are different parts of our bodies and I would argue, or basically, most of the science shows that we're talking about billions, with a beat of bacteria that live within our body. Now, normally, whenever we hear bacteria, we think of something bad, we think of something that we need to destroy or kill or get rid of, and certainly much of that is true. I'm going to talk about today, those bacteria that help us, that help us.
Speaker 2:I believe the world and the human body is extraordinarily complex, extraordinarily complex, and part of that complexity is that the creator, god, in my opinion put all of that together so that we all benefit, and I'm going to talk about it from the human perspective and how these billions of bacteria that are normally within our bodies help us to function properly. Bacteria, obviously, are very, very tiny that you can take 100,000 of them and put them in a period at the end of a sentence. Let me say that again you can take 100,000 bacteria and fit them in a period at the end of a sentence, and bacteria have been around for billions of years billions of years. So this is part of the complicated relationship, or the balanced relationship, if you will, the world that we live in, that we're taking things from the environment and we're giving things back to the environment. But, as we will learn and I will use this word a lot balance is what we want. Balance is what we want, and so one of the ways and we'll talk about this a bit more also to think about bacteria and their location is bacteria are very important, among other things, in facilitating digestion, or the gastrointestinal tract, or the stomach intestines tract.
Speaker 2:Or when we eat something, let's say we eat an apple and we put it in our mouth and we bite it, we chew it very, very fondly, we swallow it. The apple then goes through our esophagus, which is a tube that goes from our mouth to our stomach. The material from the apple then goes into the stomach. It's mixed with various types of enzymes to help to digest it, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It then goes into the intestines, the small intestines first the large intestines, until we ultimately eliminated. But as it travels through that, I'm going to call it the gastrointestinal tract, the stomach intestines tract it interacts with millions of different types of bacteria, normally, normally that reside in our intestinal tract, that help to facilitate normal digestion.
Speaker 2:So bacteria can either be good bacteria, that we're going to talk about mostly, or bad bacteria, that you're probably most familiar with, and bad bacteria we hear about with illnesses, various types of bacteria that cause illnesses or diseases or disabilities. Example ear infection is usually caused by bacteria, most commonly occurs in children. Pneumonia, which can occur in anybody, which is bacteria in the lung that can create information and multiple growth of other bacteria, bad bacteria that make it difficult for us to breathe or without coughing, or makes it difficult for us to exchange oxygen, which is the main function of the lungs to allow us to carry on our normal, regular body functioning. There's bacteria that can be a part of food poisoning. If you eat certain bad types of food it will spoil the types of food. That's usually because a certain type of bacteria may have overgrown in that food and the body does not like this particular type of bacteria and that can cause things like crampy pain, diarrhea, et cetera, et cetera. So there's bad bacteria and there's good bacteria.
Speaker 2:Now I would just momentarily contrast that with viruses. They're bad viruses. Some of the bad viruses are viruses that cause the common cold. Most of us have gotten colds, usually once a year or so. Those are rhino viruses. There are certain viruses that can cause bad viruses, that can cause influenza, the flu, and of course we know about the bad viruses that can cause COVID. So my point is that viruses are a type of microorganism, organisms that we cannot see, but they are unique and different from bacteria, which are also microorganisms that we cannot see. Okay, and I don't know. I must admit I don't know of any good viruses, but they are good bacteria. So let's get back to our topic good bacteria. Okay Now, bacteria in general are various types and you can tell the form of the bacteria or what it looks like.
Speaker 2:You have an idea of what it looks like by the name. If you say streptococcus pneumonia, that coccus means circle, so it's a strep type of pneumonia that's circular in form, so that when you look at it under the microscope you look for little circles to identify that strep to coccus. If you look at salmonella typhi, which is a type of bacteria that has a tail and that's a flagella we call that, it's a rod, it's not a circle, it's a rod. If you look at vibrio cholera, it has a little spiral tail associated with it. So these are some of the things, ways that you can identify the formation or the morphology, if you will, of bacteria when you see them under the microscope. Remember, you can't see bacteria with the naked eye, you can only see them under the microscope and, trust me, most of you not all of you did do this in school. I hope you have paying attention in biology, where the instructor brought out the microscope and you went by and you looked at different things under the microscope.
Speaker 2:Other characteristics of bacteria they're single cell. Now our bodies are made up of billions of cells with a B billions of cells. The bacteria, or a bacterium, is a single cell, just one again, which is why it's so small, just why we can't see it with the naked eye. The DNA is not compartmentalized in bacteria. That's sort of a technical term. You don't have to worry about it, but it's just another distinction. The DNA in bacteria are made up of one single chromosome. We have a number of chromosomes in our bodies, but that's different from a single cell bacteria. And the other thing about the single cell bacteria is that it reproduces asexually by what we call binary vision, so it does not need a partner to reproduce, probably one of the reasons why there's so many of them, one of the things to keep in mind.
Speaker 2:And again, I'm going to go back and compare with the virus. Now, both the microorganisms Bacteria can be killed with antibiotics. Bacteria can be killed with antibiotics. You cannot kill viruses with antibiotics. Okay, it's good to keep that in mind and that's why you need vaccines to come in and help to prepare the body's immune system to get rid of viruses. But bacteria, you can kill them with antibiotics and that clearly in the early stages of life, and mankind has helped to revolutionize healthcare being able to kill the bad bacteria.
Speaker 2:So we've talked about bad bacteria that can cause diseases and illnesses, et cetera, et cetera. The majority and the remainder of our discussion this morning is going to be about the good bacteria, the pre and the probiotic bacteria. Okay, so let's go to that. So again, bacteria normally live in our bodies, normally live in our bodies, and a way to remember that is that they are especially helpful in facilitating digestion eating. Okay, now, back when you were in high school, you had a little round dish called a Petra dish, and you took a little something, a little wire, something, double circle at the end, and you dipped it into a solution and then you put some streaks on that Petra dish, you put a top on that dish, you then put it in something called an incubator for overnight, and when you came back the next day, you saw that you now had multiple streaks, a multiple little entities on that same dish that were not there initially, and what you just did was that you grew bacteria in a Petra dish. You then took another little wire like material. You took a piece of that material, put it on a slide slide, put it under a microscope and you looked at it and this is where you could see the bacteria that you've just grown, so they are alive, they are present and you can reproduce them at will. So good bacteria, good bacteria, divided into two categories the probiotic bacteria and prebiotic bacteria, and it's not as complicated as it sounds. Alright.
Speaker 2:So the importance of bacteria in general and we're talking primarily about the pro and the prebiotic, and we'll break it up a bit later is that bacteria can be used in nature this is also the body to get rid of petroleum when there's a spill. Bacteria can also be used in engineering various types of engineering to remove waste and poisons from water. That help us. And obviously, bacteria can be used in synthesizing drugs, and this is particularly where various types of virus or vaccines may come in for viruses. So Two areas that good bacteria help us. We talked about one, which is facilitating digestion. The other is improving immunity, improving immunity. Immunity is the body's ability to fight infection of various types, be it bacterial, be it viral, be it protozoan, from some type, etc. Etc.
Speaker 2:And one category of good bacteria is called probiotic P-R-O-B-I-O-T-E-C probiotic. You can look that up again in your search engine and research about what that's involved. But that's a type of what we call good bacteria. These are living microorganisms that can benefit the body, and so you may say well, what are some sources of this good bacteria? How do I get them? Well, you can get them in certain types of foods, believe it or not, and you can also get them with supplements. I tend to like the natural approach, and so I would recommend the foods. Before you do supplements, I would certainly recommend that you talk to your healthcare professional, your primary care physician, and make sure that the supplements don't interfere with your other medication, if you're taking other medication, or that they are the right ones for you.
Speaker 2:But certain types of foods you are able to eat, and so the probiotics, one of the parts of the good bacteria, are present in foods like yogurt. In many of you eat yogurt, which is a good food to eat, and then you can also eat the sauerkraut, which is another type of food that you can find those probiotics in Other ways. That probiotics help the body. In addition to digestion, as we mentioned, is building up. They help the body to build up this immune system so that it can fight other types of infections. Now, other types of foods that these probiotic microorganisms can be found normally, in addition to yogurt, is foods like kimchi, which is using different parts of Asia apple vinegar, cider, pickles we're all like pickles, buttermilk, miso, soup and so these are just some of the types of foods that have that are rich in probiotic bacteria, that are normal, healthy types of foods that we can eat that then help to build up our probiotic material within our bodies.
Speaker 2:There's also another category of microorganisms in the body called prebiotic. Prebiotic foods tend to be foods that are typically high fiber and they also use as we eat to improve our ability to build up our prebiotic microorganisms in the body, and these foods have found our bananas, onions, oatmeal, asparagus again, healthy types of foods that we can eat that will help to build up our normal, healthy bacteria that live within our body that help to keep us even more healthy and fight infections. So I know it's a little counterintuitive because, again, usually when we hear bacteria, we think of bad things or germs and things we want to get rid of, and yes, they do exist. My point, very simple, is there is another side of that and that other side is that there are bacteria that are normally within our body that are beneficial to us and indeed, using that word balance, we want a good balance between the good bacteria, the pre-improbiotic bacteria, microorganisms that live in our bodies and the bad bacteria that we want to get rid of as much as possible. One of the things to keep in mind because bacteria can be killed that very strong antibiotics or some types of chemotherapy can destroy all bacteria in the body, good or bad, and obviously that's problematic because if you destroy all the good bacteria now, you're putting that patient even more at risk, depending on whatever his or her initial problem was. And so part of what the position has to balance is what the status of the patient is, do various tests to find out what's working, what's not working, what areas are problematic, and balance the risk-benefit ratio of antibiotics or any type of treatment that might affect or upset the normal functioning of the patient's body. But keep in mind that bacteria, again, they are susceptible to antibiotics and probably some chemotherapy, and so that can many times not be in the best interest of the patient, and this is why I think it's so important to always engage a healthcare professional when you're looking at treatment and you're dealing with perceived illnesses.
Speaker 2:So if we were to summarize then in terms of pre and probiotics by themselves, probiotics are microorganisms, healthy bacteria or bacteria that are within the body, that are good bacteria and they promote healthy digestive activity. They can be found in foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, kefir, pickles, kimchi, tempeh and obviously in some supplements and again, I caution against using the supplements, I'd recommend using just regular foods. And then we have the other what I just mentioned. With the probiotics, we also have the pre-biotics that help to promote the growth of healthy bacteria within the body, and they can be found in bananas, onions, artichokes, garlic, oatmeal, honey and asparagus. So a lot of these healthy foods that you know about, like bananas and yogurt and other types of things, benefit us not only because they're naturally healthy, but also because they help to stimulate the good bacteria in the body and help to maintain that good bacteria balance in the body that's necessary for us to survive and to thrive. So a good way to look at it is pre and probiotics.
Speaker 2:Again, the good bacteria in the body are microscopic custodians of our body's healthy functions. The pre and probiotics are microscopic custodians of our body's healthy function. These are the good antibiotics that we were born with or not born with, but eventually develop over time as part of a natural process of growth and development, and they are a requirement to good health. And again, a healthy body requires a good balance between the good bacteria and bad bacteria, and obviously you want more good bacteria than bad. So, in summary, microorganisms help us stay healthy.
Speaker 2:Let me say that again. Some microorganisms help us stay healthy and the category of these microorganisms are pre and probiotic that's the term that's used to describe them. Microorganisms are organisms that you cannot see with the naked eye, you can only see them under microscope. But good bacteria normally exist in the millions and billions in our bodies. We have to do anything. They're just there and they help to cause us to function normally. Challenges and difficulties develop when we do things to our bodies that disrupt that normal function and process and that's why it's important that we be aware of that and we be aware of the totality of what good health is. And again, remember that word balance. And before we do anything very dramatic with our bodies, always bring in a healthcare professional to discuss that with them. And healthy eating with good food is necessary for us to stay healthy.
Speaker 2:So as we end up, I like to start, end up with my basic principles. The first basic principle is that God is in charge. God is in charge of my life and indeed I have been blessed my 75 years. Because of that, I have no bad days. All my days are good days and great days, because I figured out that whether my day was good or bad it depended on what I decided, and so I decided I didn't want any more bad days, and I share that with you because you can do the same. Third principle is don't sweat the small stuff, and most stuff is small. Most things that you think are a problem usually are not a problem and so many times you don't have to worry about them.
Speaker 2:Fourth principle is forgiveness is therapy. When someone does something or a circumstance occurs that you perceive as being negative, or someone does something that you perceive as negative towards you, forgive them. Forgive them, don't worry about who's right or wrong, don't worry about the facts, just forgive them automatically, and you would be amazed at how therapeutic that is for you moving forward. And the fifth principle is that everything is a relationship. Everything in life with you is a relationship, and relationships are based on three things Mutual respect, mutual trust and good communication. If you have those three things, you have a very good relationship. If you do not have those three things, you have work to do and finally be the change you want to see in the world. Thank you, and have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Healthy, wealthy and Wise podcast with Dr William T Chalktalk, mdjd. Be sure to check out other great episodes covering areas of health, wealth and wisdom at THWPcom and, while you're there, be sure to check out the books, blogs and other literature in your preferred format. And don't forget to leave a review, subscribe, share and support the podcast that's at THWPcom. You've been listening to the Healthy, wealthy and Wise podcast with Dr William T Chalktalk, mdjd.
