Digestive Health

If you have an autoimmune disease that attacks the GI tract, these procedures are important for diagnosis and monitoring your health. They’re also used as screening tools for certain types of cancer and have become an important part of medical care. One of the goals of this podcast is to empower us as patients, helping us better understand the medical care we receive. In this episode, we discuss what these procedures are, how to prepare ourselves mentally and physically beforehand, and how best to recover afterward. My guest today is Dr. Marvin Singh. He’s an MD who is board certified in internal medicine, gastroenterology, and integrative medicine. In addition to performing conventional medical procedures like the ones we’ll be discussing today, he’s also a strong believer in the power of diet and lifestyle to optimize health.

Stool testing is one of the first tests run by functional medicine practitioners, because gut health and autoimmune health are intimately connected. However, not all tests are the same. What are the different types? Which are the most accurate? What can and can’t they tell us? What are some stool testing myths? And how can they help us on our health journeys? We answer these questions in today’s podcast. My guest is Dr. Lucy Mailing, a research scientist specializing in gut health, the microbiome, and nutrition science.

In this podcast episode, we learn about some food sensitivities beyond the paleo autoimmune protocol: oxalates, sulfur, and salicylates. How common are these sensitivities? How do you know if you have them? And how are they treated? This is a tricky conversation, because orthorexia and food fear are common in our community. I don’t want to encourage anyone to restrict their diet unnecessarily. However, for some people, one of these sensitivities might be a missing puzzle piece to their health. My guest is Heidi Turner, an integrative dietitian trained in both western and naturopathic nutrition. She has 15 years experience working with people with autoimmune disease. She excels at helping people identify food sensitivities, treat root causes, and expand their diets again.

How do we lay the foundation for a healthy gut, and therefore a healthy body? When diet alone isn’t enough, what’s the next step? Do you have to work with a healthcare practitioner, or are there things you can try at home? In this podcast, Dr. Michael Ruscio answers these questions and many more. He is a functional medicine clinician, educator and researcher, specializing in digestive and autoimmune health. He’s also the author of a new book: Healthy Gut Healthy You.

If you’ve been doing the paleo diet and lifestyle perfectly and aren’t seeing results, infections can sometimes be a roadblock to healing. In this podcast, Dr. Michael Ruscio talks about which infections are common, which are rare, and how he diagnoses and treats them in his clinical practice. We talk about SIBO, h. pylori, parasites, candida, Epstein-Barr and other intracellular infections. We also talk about overtreatment and how to differentiate a healing crisis from an allergic reaction to the treatment itself.

How does our microbiome affect our health? Is it possible that a “poop transplant” could reverse autoimmune disease? While that sounds a little crazy, if you listen to this podcast, it might start to make sense. Right now, FMTs are being used in the United States to cure life-threatening C. difficile infections, where medication has failed. Internationally, clinics are doing research into FMTs in the treatment of autoimmune disease. In this episode, I interview Glenn Taylor, director of the Taymount Clinic in the UK. He describes the science behind the transplants. Then, we hear from two patients who have received the procedure: one for C. difficile and one for multiple sclerosis.