These days I’m obsessed with biodynamic farming. Conceptualized by Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s, it considers soil fertility, plant growth, and livestock care as ecologically connected tasks, emphasizing the use of manure and compost from the farm cycle, and excluding artificial chemicals. Instead of conventional test and replace algorithms that check levels of calcium, nitrogen, […]
I spend a lot of time in my medical practice trying to reverse the effects of pharmaceutical misadventure – digestive tracts that have been ravaged by antibiotics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), steroids and the like. The Western diet high in sugar and fat only compounds the problem, and the end-result can be dysbiosis, leaky gut, […]
Ensuring that the probiotic you’ve chosen contains strains that confer a health benefit for the condition you’re trying to treat (not whether it helped your neighbor or your yoga instructor, who may have had a completely different problem than you do), is important when considering which probiotic to buy. Here are some common strains and […]
Important factors to consider when choosing a probiotic include whether it contains sufficient numbers of live bacteria, as well as the right strains to confer a health benefit for the condition you’re trying to treat (not whether it helped your neighbor or your yoga instructor, who may have had a completely different problem than you […]
Supplementing with psyllium husk powder is a great way to increase your fiber intake, relieve bloating and constipation, feed your healthy gut bugs, and curb your appetite in between meals. Yet too large a dose of psyllium at one time can clog up the bowels and worsen symptoms. Choosing the correct dosage and drinking […]
Almost 1 in 5 Americans use laxatives regularly, but not all laxatives (or laxative users!) are the same. Stimulant laxatives – the most popular kind– may be associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), while fiber laxatives may reduce the risk. A study from Washington State recently validated this concept when they found […]
The question I get asked most frequently from my gastroenterology colleagues is “does that stuff work?” referring to the junk-free, plant-based diet I recommend for my patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC) – the two forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The idea that what you put in your gut might affect what’s […]