Simple But Effective Treatment of Mold Toxicity

Mold treatment and home assessment can get expensive and complicated really fast. In today’s podcast, Dr. Ami Kapadia shares her refreshingly simple approach to helping her mold patients recover. In this episode, we cover: Which tests to use to identify a mold health problem. How to assess your home for mold, and how to choose an appropriate professional to help. A straightforward mold treatment approach. If you or someone you love has been affected by mold or environmental illness, you won’t wa...

Nutritional Practitioners Use HGHY To Help Guide Their Clients

Tiffany, a Whole30 nutrition coach, read my book, Healthy Gut, Healthy You and found a lot to help her clients. She learned that: the gut matters, no matter what her clients present with. clients need individualized support, rather than trendy fads. the elemental diet may help some of her most stubborn cases. https://drruscio.com/nutritional-practitioners-use-hghy My book Healthy Gut, Healthy You is available at https://drruscio.com/getgutbook/ Looking for more? Check out https://drruscio.com/re...

The Community Cure & Finding a Functional Medicine Doctor

Our guest this week is James Maskell, author of "The Community Cure" and champion of making Functional Medicine affordable for all. One of the main discussion points that he brings to the table is that of community based treatment. When people come together in groups to work on their healing they are more successful, this model simultaneously solves a major symptom that is often overlooked, loneliness. He also discusses his findfunctional.com website offering, which I think is actually a fantast...

Best Probiotic For Constipation

Rachel had tried probiotics from time to time but didn’t see any meaningful result. When her functional medicine doctor wanted to put her on antimicrobials for her IBS C symptoms, not her preference, she decided to give it one last try and took all three categories of probiotics together, as recommended in Healthy Gut Healthy You. She finally improved after years of suffering. While category two probiotics are known for helping IBS D symptoms, that does not mean they don’t help with IBS C. https...

Dysbiosis or Adaptation: How Stable is the Gut Microbiome?

Dr. Tom Guilliams joins us to elaborate on his paper that was just published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine about “Dysbiosis or Adaptation: How Stable Is the Gut Microbiome?” In the interview, we discuss how the changes we see on a stool test may not be the cause of problems, but may instead be a symptom of a deeper underlying dysfunction. We agreed that what makes you feel best is likely the best approach for your gut, especially when it comes to bowel motility. Because the gut...

FMT for IBS, Does it Work? A Summary of the Science

Fecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT) means taking the stool from a healthy donor and transplanting it into the colon of the host (a sick individual). There is excellent evidence to support the use of FMT for clostridium difficile and emerging evidence for the treatment of IBD. The data for IBS is still unclear. It’s best to try other therapies first. https://drruscio.com/?p=56682 My book Healthy Gut, Healthy You is available at https://drruscio.com/getgutbook/ Looking for more? Check out https://dr...

Align Your Body & Life via The Align Method

Aaron Alexander and I have a fascinating discussion about what happens to your mind and overall sense of being when your body is physically aligned. We touch on a few of the 5 movement principles from his book The Align Method that help develop a stronger body and sharper mind. Aaron does a great job of providing simple things that you can do, and actually framed in a quite attractive manner that can improve, as I'll share in the episode, hip mobility, shoulder mobility, and just keep your body ...

Coronavirus & COVID-19 – Testing, Treatment and Natural Medicine’s Role

Dr. David Brady joins us to discuss some exciting developments in the way of testing for SARS CoV-2. Right now most testing for Coronavirus is occurring by way of major hospitals, Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory is changing that by offering serum testing to smaller institutions like general practitioners and alternative healthcare providers. In addition, at home stool testing kits will be made available for consumers. The more we know about who has the virus, who has had it, and who has develope...

Listener Questions – Bloating, Prokinetics, Low Sulfur Diet, Probiotics

The listener questions episodes have been really enjoyable and I hope you will continue to submit your questions. Chances are if you have the question, so do many more people in the audience. Keep them coming! In this episode, I discuss answers to your questions about: Sugar and the microbiota Why prokinetics are recommended only after antimicrobial treatment How long to try the Low Sulfur Diet before moving on to other therapies Feeling bloated from drinking water on an empty stomach Losing hop...

Environmental Toxins Have Become the Primary Drivers of Chronic Disease

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Joe Pizzorno, who is, in short, a founding father of the movement of natural medicine. We’ll be discussing environmental toxins. There are a few, very interesting hypotheses Dr. Pizzorno puts forth. Environmental toxins have not really abated the way that there has been an improvement in sugar and calorie consumption, and this could be what's ultimately driving increases in a litany of diseases. In this one example, obesity and diabetes, which, according to his...

How is the Elemental Diet Helpful?

Gene Testing Does More Harm Than Good, What You Need To Know

Dr. Tommy Woods brings some practical and pragmatic analysis to something otherwise confusing. The utility of gene testing (or lack there of). He helps to pick apart and debunk the case for gene testing in an evidenced-based way. We talk about risk, size, effect size, MTHFR, weight, and cardiovascular genetic testing. The overall message is that gene testing does more harm than good. It causes worry and fear. And this has a negative impact because when you're told you have a bad gene or a bad po...

Red Light Therapy (Can Heal Thyroid & More) Part II

I like to think of red light therapy, these devices that you can buy and use in your home, as a way of replacing the long-term exposure we should be having to natural sunlight (but don’t because of our predominantly indoor, sedentary lifestyle). Even when we were hunter-gatherers outside in the shade, we were getting this long-term exposure to natural light. And that actually has a hormetic effect on our mitochondria, making them better able to produce antioxidants. This might be one of the key ...

Probiotics Protect Against Cold, Flu, and Respiratory Tract Infection

This podcast episode reviews the research data that suggest that probiotics reduce the intensity and duration of upper respiratory infections. Because of this benefit, probiotics may support immune function during an illness. https://drruscio.com/?p=56754 My book Healthy Gut, Healthy You is available at https://drruscio.com/getgutbook/ Looking for more? Sign up for our newsletter: http://drruscio.com/subscribe...

Anti-fragility – How Lack Of Exposure to Risk Can Cripple a Child

In today's episode, we are joined by Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-range Kids and started a foundation called Let Grow. We discussed this very important concept of anti-fragility which essentially means if we don't expose children to risk it can actually cripple their development. She discusses the pros and cons of sheltering children and brings to our attention some resources that are thankfully now available for parents, teachers, and school districts, to start moving back to an older way of ...

Listener Questions – Probiotics, Anxiety, Libido, Protein Powders, SIBO, Reflux

Today we will cover listener questions, including … Should you eat high carb while treating SIBO? Is libido affected by high intensity training in a fasted state? Most protein powders cause gut symptoms, what should I do? Can you take Iberogast if you have ulcers and acid reflux? https://drruscio.com/?p=56091 My book Healthy Gut, Healthy You is available at https://drruscio.com/getgutbook/ Looking for more? Check out https://drruscio.com/resources...

Mold & Mycotoxins – What You Can’t Smell Could Be Harming You

In today's episode, I am joined by mold expert, Doctor Jill Crista. She discusses some fascinating theories regarding what happens in mycotoxicity or this syndrome in which your body is inundated with not actually mold itself but the toxins that are produced by mold or fungus. She describes symptoms that help you determine if there's an increased likelihood that you may have been, or currently are, being exposed to mycotoxins. Lastly, she outlines some helpful testing and treatment strategies. I...

The Only Fully Elemental Diet (Whey Free) Available Without a Dr’s Recommendation

Most elemental diet products have been out of reach for people with whey intolerance (or allergy), that’s why we created Elemental Heal Whey Free. The elemental diet is a unique pre-digested, hypoallergenic formula that helps heal the gut. Research shows that an elemental diet can lower inflammation in the gut and joints and starve overgrowth of bacteria and fungus (decreasing SIBO). There are a few different ways to use the elemental diet, contrary to popular belief, it does not have to be all ...

Sexual Health, Nitric Oxide & Fostering Intimacy

In today's episode, we are joined by Susan Bratton who is a sexual health specialist. We discuss the importance of nitric oxide production and how it is critical for optimal blood flow. She shares some opinions on citrulline versus arginine, two of the more popular supplements that can help to promote nitric oxide production. And made some very interesting tie-ins to how your oral health and your oral microbiome have a fairly sizable impact on nitric oxide and therefore your ability to experienc...

The First Ever Low Carb Elemental Diet

The elemental diet is a unique pre-digested, hypoallergenic formula that helps heal the gut. Research shows that an elemental diet can lower inflammation in the gut and joints and starve overgrowth of bacteria and fungus (decreasing SIBO). There are a few different ways to use the elemental diet, contrary to popular belief, it does not have to be all or nothing for two weeks in order to see benefit. Most elemental diets contain around 60 grams of carbs per serving. Our Low Carb Elemental Heal fo...

Your Water is Worse Than You Think

In this episode I spoke with Dr. Tina Beaudoin on the topic of water, and it was shocking to me to learn that there are actually far more toxins and pollutants in our water than I originally thought, and apparently it's fairly regular to have violations occur to the upper acceptable limit for water toxins. This is something that organizations are working to lobby to reform and improve. Dr. Beaudoin mentions a few websites that you can visit to get specific information about the water supply in y...

What is the Best SIBO Treatment Plan?

There is a desperate need for better training in the world of SIBO treatment. Allison Siebecker, a known SIBO expert, now offers a SIBO training course for practitioners. She supplies an algorithm that provides a roadmap through which to apply the available treatments (which is the difference between success and failure). Patients are often given too many things to try at once with no process to follow and end up feeling lost and more symptomatic than when they started. In this course, Dr. Siebe...

Fine Tuning Your Diet For Improved Body Composition

Dr. Eric Trexler and I discuss sleep and how to dial in your diet for optimal body composition. The aim is to help people realize eating behaviors that are thwarting their body composition and making sure we don't tell someone to just blindly cut calories or encumber them with tracking, which can seem difficult, and arduous, and painstaking. There's also a great answer to the question of age-associated weight gain, meaning is this just something that as you age, your metabolism slows and you gai...

New (Vegetarian Compliant) Version of Immunoglobulins

Immunoglobulins reside in the lining of your intestinal tract and help to bind, neutralize, and deactivate irritants and toxins in the gut. When your immune system and/or gut is compromised, it is helpful to supplement with immunoglobulins. This additional support helps to protect your immune system from getting triggered by these various irritants. Research tells us that immunoglobulin supplementation can help those who struggle with SIBO, IBS, leaky gut, Histamine issues, H. Pylori, inflammati...

Parasites, Pathogenic Bacteria, MCAS and Mold

What are the best testing methods and treatments for parasitic and gram-negative bacterial Infections in the GI? Dr. Anne Hill shares some of her go-to lab tests and we have a healthy debate about the absolute need for lab testing in general. In terms of treatment, we agree that addressing the gut first with diet, probiotics, and potentially antimicrobials are the best place to start. Dr. Hill also talks to us about MCAS and mold issues that she sees regularly in her clinic. One key takeaway is ...

Overlooked Autoimmunity Can Cause Chronic Illness – What You Can Do

There are two types of autoimmunity that may be responsible for patients who (to put it simply) don't respond to any therapies. Anti-phospholipid syndrome and/or autoimmune dysautonomia may be driving this. I talk with Dr. Schofield about some of the symptoms, history and findings that may indicate these conditions. We talk about testing (impart a few cautions with functional medicine tests) and we talk about treatment considerations. Some of these are things that we're familiar with - gluten-fr...

The Carnivore Diet for Gut Health & Autoimmunity

The Carnivore Diet advises one to only consume animal products. Anecdotal reports suggest this diet can be helpful for those with autoimmune conditions and sensitive guts. However, a degree of caution should be exercised with any new diet because people tend to flock to the new and novel. Today I speak with physician Paul Saladino, MD who has been using this diet in his practice for over a year. We discuss what to do, what to avoid and how you can experiment with this diet safely. https://drrusc...

Brain Wash – Inflammation Leads to Unhealthy Habits, Low Motivation & Poor Decision Making

If you are looking for more motivation to make healthy changes and find themselves struggling with compliance, Brain Wash by Dr. Perlmutter is a fantastic resource. In this episode, Dr. Perlmutter discusses how modern day unhealthy choices will create this over-reliance of the amygdala in the brain at the expense of the prefrontal cortex - the amygdala is more emotional based and the prefrontal cortex is more logic or reasoning based. For those of us who are stuck in this cycle of making bad cho...

Everything You Need to Know About Probiotics, Part 3

I’ve recently published a comprehensive, 43-page guide to getting the most out of your probiotic supplements on my website. I’ve also developed this podcast series to highlight some of the key takeaways that you need to know about probiotic therapy. This episode is part 3 in a 3-part podcast series. Imbalances of the gut microbiota are becoming increasingly common and can cause distressing digestive symptoms and an array of seemingly unrelated symptoms and conditions. These include mood, energy,...

How Mason Overcame Chronic Reflux and Skin Rash Naturally

Mason had been plagued by chronic reflux. He then saw his primary care and then later his gastroenterologist who prescribed acid lowering medication, which caused reactions included a rash and did not resolve his symptoms. Mason experienced a 30% improvement from a vegetarian low FOMDAP diet (from Healthy Gut, Healthy You). He then came into my office and saw 70% improvements via a combination of HCl and probiotic supplementation. He is a great example of how powerfully your gut can respond if y...