Dhru Purohit Show
6 Ways Your Diet is Making You Look Older + The Power of Sauna and Cold Therapy to Keep Your Body Young
Mon, 13 Jan 2025
This episode is brought to you by Ollie and Lumebox. We all know inflammation can influence our risk of developing diseases, but did you know it also plays a role in premature aging? Today’s guest reveals powerful strategies to reduce inflammation, helping us age gracefully while keeping longevity at the forefront. Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, Dhru sits down with Dr. Susanna Søberg to explore six key factors linked to premature aging. Dr. Søberg explains how inflammation affects the aging process and shares practical lifestyle practices to combat "inflammaging." She dives into the benefits of hot and cold therapies, emphasizing the importance of building tolerance to sauna heat therapy, especially as we age. Additionally, she debunks popular social media myths about cold therapy and offers actionable tips for incorporating it into your routine. Dr. Susanna Søberg is one of the world’s leading researchers and experts in cold and heat therapy and functional breathing. She is also the founder of the Soeberg Institute, an online research-backed curriculum designed to help anyone optimize their stress management and performance for a healthier and happier life. Dr. Søberg obtained her PhD in metabolism at the University of Copenhagen, and her research has contributed to a deeper understanding of brown fat metabolism in adults. In this episode, Dhru and Dr. Søberg dive into: The role of inflammation when it comes to aging (00:00:20) Sugar increases inflammaging (2:50) What shocks Dr. Søberg about the standard American diet (5:30) Trans fat hidden in foods and adequate protein intake (9:20) Alcohol consumption (21:00) The impact of hot, cold and contrast therapy on our health (29:45) Building your tolerance for sauna heat (45:45) Microplastic and toxin exposure (50:45) The importance of community and addressing loneliness (1:04:45) Why and how cold exposure can be beneficial (1:08:25) Myths and truths about when and how you should implement cold therapy (1:12:35) Trusting yourself and moderation (1:33:10) Also mentioned in this episode: Dr. Søberg's Newsletter Microplastics and Your Health-Huberman Lab Podcast Microplastics and Your Health-Dr. Rhonda Fitzpatrick Podcast For more on Dr. Søberg, follow her on Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, and her Website. This episode is brought to you by Ollie and Lumebox. Want to give your dog the best in clean eating? Take the online quiz and introduce Ollie to your pet. Right now, Ollie is offering 60% off your first box of meals when you subscribe today! Just head to Ollie.com, use the code DHRU and you’ll get 60% off your first box of meals in your subscription. Lumebox is offering my community $260 off their FDA-registered portable Red Light device! That's over 40% off! Go to thelumebox.com/dhru and get your Red Light device. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What role does inflammation play in aging?
So many people feel that their premature aging, this idea of them looking older than they feel like they should, is all related to bad genetics. But one of my favorite newsletters that you wrote was you talked about six things in particular that have strong evidence around them that are actually connected to premature aging and getting older.
Essentially, you found that your diet done the wrong way could make you look older than you need to look. Well, let's talk about one of the first things that you've talked about in your newsletter that can accelerate aging, which sometimes people and researchers called inflammation, right? So it's inflammation, it's aging you. in that process.
Chapter 2: How does sugar in our diet accelerate aging?
And this is the idea that is a big issue more in our country, United States, probably than your country, Denmark. And it's the role of a high sugar intake in the diet. What is the role with sugar when it comes to accelerating aging and making us look older than we really should be looking?
What happens is that you have this inflammatory response and there are certain foods that will increase the inflammatory response. And that will be high sugar diets, as you mentioned. So what happens is that it's kind of like sugary foods or sugary drinks will activate or lead to a process that is called glycation. So this process is when sugar molecules bond to our collagen and elastatin.
So that means that if we take too much sugar in, it would decrease this process of having a lot of collagen in our skin and also how elastic it is. So we can see actually from studies where they have looked, it's a new study that is published in the German network. It's a scientific journal. They looked into different kinds of diets.
Chapter 3: What are the shocking aspects of the American diet?
So they looked into the processed diet or a diet where they eat a lot of processed food and also a diet which is more raw food like Mediterranean diet. And they compared the epigenetics in these diets and looked at more than 300 people and compared these and looked at the epigenetic changes.
And what they could see was actually that those who had a healthier diet, which was more raw food and not... More minimally processed. Yes, exactly. They could see that they had more collagen in the skin and they also had less changes in their epigenetics. So it means that they had more elastic skin, more collagen in the skin, and they also looked younger.
So the thing is that when you do this on a regular basis, you eat a healthier food, which is not processed, then you have less inflammation, and then you will also have more collagen in the skin. So this is also a lot to do with protein and we will get to that one.
But if you eat these kinds of high fat diet, high sugary diet, you will increase this process, which I just mentioned called glycation. And glycation is not something that we want because we age too fast in that way.
You're in America right now with your husband. You guys are taking a little break, doing some podcasts and things like that. You've both been here many times before. What are the most shocking things when you come here and you're in the airport or you're visiting different parts of America or going to different restaurants?
What are some of the most shocking things to somebody from Denmark or European when it comes to the level of process and added sugar? We're not talking about fruits, right? We're talking about added sugar. What are some of the things that have just blown your mind that Americans have on a regular basis that are part of their diets? It is shocking.
When we come from Denmark, we eat a lot of raw food. We don't eat on a daily basis a lot of processed food. Just in general, I would say that Denmark is a country where we make our own food at home.
Yeah, you eat a lot of whole food diet.
Yes, exactly. But when we are here, I am surprised, I would say, and sometimes shocked that what you get is... A lot of like fatty foods, there's a lot of processed food here and it's definitely more than we see in Europe. You feel full very fast and everything is more sweet and it's more fatty, I would say. So the processed food here is definitely more obvious.
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Chapter 4: How do trans fats contribute to aging?
That was number four on your list. How is inadequate protein intake, not having enough protein in the diet, how does that play a role in making us look older than we should, quote unquote, be looking?
Proteins are our building blocks in the body. So we need proteins to build muscles. And muscles are important for keeping the inflammation in the body down. I mention that all the time. I want people, your listeners, to remember this, that the inflammation is the root cause of looking older, getting older. So if we can decrease the inflammation, that is the key.
And protein intake is important in that sense. So if you eat more protein, you will increase also your muscle mass. You have to exercise, of course. But the proteins directly also has an effect on our skin because we need protein to build collagen in our skin. So if we don't have enough protein intake, we cannot build collagen in our skin. So that is definitely also something that we need.
And as a rule of thumb, you can say that we need 0.8 grams per kilo per day. So you can calculate that depending on your weight, of course, and... how lean you are. But that is definitely an important thing that people need to look for. So proteins are our building blocks. And without that, we will also have an increase in inflammation because we have nothing to build on.
So the proteins for our muscles to increase that mitochondria. Mitochondria is also the key. These are the You can say the fabrics in our cells, which will increase our metabolism. And by increasing our metabolism, we will then increase our insulin sensitivity. And with that, we will lower the inflammation. So it always is a process in the body, which is all connected.
So from what you eat to how the body is taking that in and building you up healthier is so important. So it's all a cascade, you can say, in the body. So eating processed food, not enough proteins, then you have a combination which will increase your inflammation and that will show on your skin.
There's been this whole emphasis... in the last couple of years of a lot of incredible people talking about how men and especially women need more protein in their diet. You know, for a long time in the US, there was a sort of movement for a plant-based diet and people were talking about that and it was connected to the environment and they thought it was healthier and longevity.
And then more recently, there's been people talking about if you want to age well and be strong longer, you need healthy, lean mass. And I think the statistic is above the age of 40, you can lose, I think per year, you can lose like three to 4% of your lean muscle mass if you're not exercising, eating adequate amount of protein.
I'll fact check that I might've gotten the numbers wrong, but basically your lean muscle mass, which we want to protect, goes down and down and down and down. So some of the experts that are out there have even been recommending that a good target for people is a gram of protein per your ideal target lean mass. lean body weight that is there.
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Chapter 5: What is the impact of alcohol on skin health?
So we're not just talking about I'm as vain as anybody else. Sure, I want to look good. Everybody who's listening wants to look good too. But really, it's a reflection that you're healthy on the inside.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I think it's horrible to see that people actually have these huge latte and with a lot of syrup in it. And then people don't think about when you do this every day and you take this first thing in the morning, you are proning your body for a high spike in sugar in the body. And when we look at the metabolism, so this is about the inflammation again, right?
So you start off the day with a high sugar intake and you get that early spike in sugar. That's going to have a huge impact on the rest of your day, both energy wise, but also the demand on the sugar intake later on. You have the crash and the crash in sugar will then tell your body, oh, I want more sugar.
And that's where you have that crash later in the day and you want, oh, I need a new latte later. And with a lot of sugar again. And that's where you get into this bad habit, bad cycle. The body is just calling for this. It's addictive, actually.
So this sugar that you are telling your body, you're giving this every morning to your brain and your body is sort of like an addiction that you are feeding into. And we don't want that because the body needs slow carbs and not the refined carbs that's going to be taking up in the cells very fast. To avoid that spike in sugar, maybe just a normal coffee without all the sugar.
It seems so simple, but it's like, if you can get your body to almost detox or get less addicted to all this sugar in the morning, you will also be more stable, energized wise throughout the day and actually building a healthier habit. So you can start small, but just Not take the latte with all the syrup or whatever in it, but just take a regular coffee.
I actually, when I was younger, I loved to have sugar in my coffee. And I remember that as being, I could not drink my coffee without that. But as soon as I, I think I was like 20, 21 or something, and I started to just avoid the sugar, now I cannot drink a coffee with sugar in it. It's just like, it just feels so wrong and it's just too sweet.
So it's also about learning, teaching your body what's actually healthy for you and when it's enough. Because the more sugar you give your body, the more it also wants going forward. So it's an addiction.
Totally. And it kind of goes back to your point of like, primarily when you're making things at home, if you're going to make if you're going to make a pastry at home, which I know is not common, not a lot of people make pastries at home, you know, probably in a country like yours, you're getting high quality pastries with like good, you know, wheat or rye or whatever they're using to make.
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Chapter 6: How do hot and cold therapies benefit our health?
Chapter 7: What are the dangers of microplastics and toxins?
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Yes, definitely. I mean, especially if you exercise, you need even more protein. So I definitely think that's a good recommendation. And we cannot really get too much because it's like, and you can get your proteins from different things. It's not only from meat. There's also beans. I mean, there are so many places where you can also get that from a more plant-based diet if you prefer that.
But then you have to eat a lot of protein. proteins from your vegetables. It's definitely another place to go, I would say. So not that we have to go into that discussion because I think that people should do what they do. And it's definitely a thing, whether you want to be a vegetarian or you want to eat meat. It's a personal choice. It's a personal choice, I think.
But we need the proteins and I think we can go with that one gram. Yeah.
Let me ask you a question. You've talked about collagen a few times. Well, actually, people don't know. What are the best sources? And for you personally, do you use a collagen supplement, which seems to be popular these days? What are your thoughts on that?
I think that people can. I do sometimes. I wouldn't say that I'm very strict with it. So I do that sometimes. It's just a powder that you can just put in your drink and then drink that. But to be honest, it's about having a healthy diet. You can increase the collagen naturally. And that's easier, I would say, because it also helps on other things. But you can take a little supplement.
I don't think that will harm anything. But taking it as a substitute. And I think that's where the misconception often comes in that people are like, oh, I can just take this and then I don't have to do all the other things. But it's a misconception because that's not going to help you. It's not going to help you enough, at least, I would say.
Diet first.
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Chapter 8: Can sauna and cold therapy reverse aging effects?
mind-blowing that i come from europe and i get to the us and stay here for one two three weeks or whatever but i can feel that my body is changing when i eat the food here i can feel that my of course it's jet lag also but my sleep is not as good yeah but It's also how my body digests the food here. And I even go for the healthy food. I try to. But even that is different.
Even the oils they put on the salad. So I think that people should look into what do they actually expose their body to. And in that sense, they could change this epigenetics also. So the function of our genes. That the function of our genes is... determined for how fast we age.
And it's a reminder that for most of us, there's really only a few things that we have to pay attention to. It can feel overwhelming because every week some new headline comes out about the way that our toxic environment is making us more sick. But I've really boiled it down to in my life just a few things. You've already covered a few of them.
Number one is, of course, just minimizing your level of dependence on ultra-processed foods.
Yes.
Because the other thing that people don't realize is that separate from the ingredients that are in there, ultra processed foods are usually made in massive factories.
Yes, exactly.
Those factories have very complex machinery. Those machineries are sprayed down with different coating and other things that are quote unquote food safe, but have PFAs in them or have other sorts of chemicals, additives that don't even necessarily get labeled on the food that you're
getting just because they're part of the manufacturing process they're maybe going through multiple stages of being exposed to different plastics that are there it could be heat that's exposed to plastic so just having ultra processed foods be minimized in your diet is a huge step yes the next things that are fairly pretty easy
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