Over the past two weeks we’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about communication. First, we explored the remarkable conversation taking place between the gut and the brain, and then we looked at the language that allows billions of neurons to exchange information every second of every day. We followed electrical impulses as they […]
Last week we introduced the idea that your gut and brain are in constant conversation, and we spent quite a bit of time talking about the gut-brain axis, the vagus nerve, the microbiome, and the many different pathways that allow organs sitting on opposite ends of the body to exchange information all day long. If […]
If you followed along with us through August, you probably noticed that I kept bringing up the brain, even though we were supposedly talking about the gut. At the time, I may have seemed a little distracted, like someone who keeps wandering off topic halfway through a story. I promise there was a reason for […]
Over the past month, we’ve taken a journey through one of the most remarkable systems in the human body. We began by exploring the digestive tract as the place where the outside world meets the inside of the body. Every meal, every sip of water, every medication, and every microorganism first encounters the lining of […]
“I think I have SIBO.” Or… “I read online that I probably have low stomach acid.” Sometimes it’s parasites. Sometimes candida. Sometimes “leaky gut.” Often, someone has spent hours reading articles or scrolling through social media trying to match their symptoms to a diagnosis. I completely understand why. Digestive symptoms can be frustrating. They often […]
Have you ever been so nervous before giving a presentation that your stomach seemed to tie itself into knots? Or noticed that during a particularly stressful week, you suddenly weren’t hungry? Maybe you’ve experienced the opposite. Some people reach for comfort foods when life becomes overwhelming, while others feel nauseated at the thought of eating. […]
The Gut: Where Your Body Meets the Outside World If I asked you to picture your digestive system, what comes to mind? For most people, it’s probably something fairly straightforward. You eat breakfast, food travels to your stomach, nutrients are absorbed somewhere along the way, and whatever isn’t needed eventually leaves the body. It seems […]
We Live in a Culture That Celebrates Stress One of the most interesting things I’ve noticed over the years is that almost everyone understands the importance of exercise. Most people understand that muscles become stronger after they’re challenged. They know that a workout creates microscopic damage within muscle fibers, and that over the next day […]
Why Extraordinary Health Is Built Between Appointments If you’ve been following along with this month’s series, you may be expecting me to finally tell you which supplements I recommend for supporting the immune system. We’re almost there. But before we talk about what we can add, we have to talk about what the body needs […]
The Missing Half of the Story One of the things I spend the most time doing as a doctor has very little to do with laboratory testing, prescriptions, or treatment plans. I spend a surprising amount of time helping people trust their bodies again. Somewhere along the way, many of us were taught that symptoms […]