Blog
News and ideas worth your attention.
Four decades of writing on living long and living well, with 1,000+ posts on functional and longevity medicine.
39 in Gut Health
Clear ✕
Jun 12, 2026 · Gut HealthThe Surprising Link Between Your Gut Microbiome and Hormonal Health
Learn how gut health influences hormonal balance and overall well-being.
May 11, 2026 · Gut HealthGive Your Gut a Break: The Science of Fasting and the Microbiome
Your gut is home to trillions of microbes that shape everything from digestion to metabolism and even mood. And here’s the surprising part: it’s not just what you eat that matters. It’s when you eat. Emerging research suggests that well-timed breaks between meals, like intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating, can help boost microbial diversity, strengthen your gut barrier, and cool inflammation. But before you skip dinner and call it a day, the science is more nuanced than the hype. So what can fasting do for your microbiome? Potentially, a world of good.
May 1, 2026 · Gut HealthThe Surprising Link Between Your Gut Microbiome and Respiratory Health
Learn how gut health affects your respiratory wellness.
Nov 3, 2025 · Gut HealthGut Health’s Key Role in Longevity: What Hippocrates Knew and Modern Science Confirms
Hippocrates (460–370 BCE), the Greek physician often hailed as the “father of Western medicine,” is best known for his declaration primum non nocere, or, “First, do no harm”. Whether he uttered those exact words is uncertain, but their spirit has anchored medical ethics through the centuries. Also attributed to him, ‘All disease begins in the gut,’ feels especially pertinent today. Again, the exact phrase may be apocryphal, but the underlying insight lives in his teachings. As modern science expands our understanding of how trillions of microbes in our intestines influence our immunity, metabolism, mood, and aging, I see Hippocrates’ intuition in a new and more profound light. Revisiting that ancient medical tradition helps us think about health and longevity in a more integrative and holistic way, ideally helping us to enhance both.
Nov 8, 2024 · Gut HealthHow Does Drinking Alcohol Affect My Gut Microbiome?
Heavy drinking may lead to gut dysbiosis, according to several studies, but the health effects are less clear when it comes to drinking in moderation.
Sep 30, 2024 · Gut HealthDitch Your PPIs: 5 Secrets of Making Peace with Stomach Acid
In the right amounts, stomach acid is great stuff: it helps to break down the food you each, and also helps the body extract essential nutrients, like vitamin B12 and the mineral magnesium. As well, it’s responsible for maintaining the proper acidic environment in the stomach that helps stop most bacteria, viruses and fungi in their tracks. So making it all disappear (to an extent) with PPIs is to my mind counterproductive to good health in both younger folks and particularly older ones.
Sep 13, 2024 · Gut HealthYour Guide to Gut Resilience: Why It’s Essential for Health and How To Harness It
Have you ever wondered why you seem to get sick more often than your friends or why it takes you longer to recover from a cold than others? The key lies in the concept of resilience, gut resilience in particular! Learn all about it here.
Dec 11, 2023 · Gut Health15 Everyday Ways to Keep Constipation At Bay
Constipation. It’s a punchline of a word that can set off giggles, but when you’re experiencing it, it’s anything but funny. Uncomfortable and unpleasant, constipation gets in the way of normal life, leaving you wanting to eliminate the problem as quickly as possible. And while occasional constipation isn’t that unusual, frequent bouts are. They’re also your body’s way of letting you know it’s time to pay more attention to how you’re treating it, what you’re putting in it and what may be missing. Think of constipation as a message, and if you choose to ignore it, chronic gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea, IBS, leaky gut and inflammation are very likely to follow.
Oct 16, 2023 · Gut HealthHow to Manage The Six Microbiomes That Keep You Well
What researchers and the wellness community are increasingly coming to appreciate is that the human body is not just made up of human cells and a bunch of bacteria in the gut. We are a collection of microbiomes. Humans and the bacteria that live inside us co-evolved over the millennia, one giant quid pro quo – our bodies provided the bugs with a moist, warm home, complete with a steady food source, and they sustain us in a variety of ways, most numerously and elaborately in the gut. But there are 5 more less talked about but fundamental microbiomes in your body to also pay attention to if you wish to stay well.
Sep 25, 2023 · Gut Health5 Things You Need to Know About Leaky Brain – and How to Prevent It
Here’s a new one for you: leaky brain and it’s a syndrome that everyone who has a brain needs to be aware of. Integrative doctors call it “leaky brain” and it’s remarkably similar to leaky gut but, just like the name says, at the level of the brain. The two conditions often feed off each other. Taken together, leaky brain and gut give us a much fuller picture of how a bad diet and too much stress conspire to make us feel and look less than our best, pushing us away from optimal health and towards chronic disease.
Apr 10, 2023 · Gut HealthStep Away from Sweeteners To Keep Your Gut Happy and Healthy
As people have become conscious of the dangers of sugar, many are making an effort to purge it from their lives – and that’s a big step in the right direction. If you’re in the process of kicking sugar, keep up the good work, and give yourself a pat on the back. But I’ve got some news for you that you may not want to hear, even though you need to. If you’re relying on non-sugar, ‘non-nutritive’ artificial sweeteners (NNS) to ease the transition, you’ve got to kick them too. The problem is, sweeteners of any stripe are as crappy for your body as sugar, but in different ways.
Mar 20, 2023 · Gut Health9 Ways Your Microbiome Impacts Your Metabolism
Your gut bugs have more to do with your metabolism than you may realize –research shines a lot more light on how intertwined they may be.
Dec 23, 2022 · Gut Health8 Foods to Repair Your Gut
There are plenty of gut-repairing foods that you can incorporate into your diet in fun and delicious ways.
Aug 1, 2022 · Gut Health7 Ways to Improve Your Skin through Your Gut
You know the old saying, the eyes are the windows to the soul. Maybe that’s true. But what researchers know for sure is that the skin is the window to what’s going on inside the body. What’s going on inside the gut, especially with the trillions of the bacteria that live there, often directly affects the skin. When the gut microbiome is out of synch with the rest of the body – a case of too few microbial strains or an overabundance of unfriendly strains – it often makes itself known in the form of common skin rashes, irritations and/or eruptions.
Jul 18, 2022 · Gut Health6 Smart Strategies to Combat Small Intestinal Fungal Overgrowth
Your belly is misbehaving. A lot. So what’s causing the trouble? There are any number of possible culprits, but one of the biggies that’s often overlooked is SIFO, or small intestinal fungal overgrowth, which, left unattended can make you unwell for quite a long time. So, instead of letting SIFO get the better of you, now’s the time get it on your radar – and learn what to do about it.
Apr 18, 2022 · Gut HealthMeet Your Good Gut Health-Making Trifecta: Pre, Pro and Postbiotics
Mealtime can be a force for good, provided you feed your gut – the bacteria inside your gut or the gut microbiome – with pre, pro and postbiotics.
Mar 28, 2022 · Gut Health17 Ways to Help Your Microbiome and Brain, Boost Mood, Reduce Anxiety and Support Mental Wellness
Recently, self-care has taken center stage as people look for ways to steady themselves and soothe their psyches. While movement, meditation and relaxation are essential for maintaining an even keel, if you’re eating poorly – think sugar, starchy foods, processed and junk foods – you’ll likely still wind up with slipping and dipping moods, in part because the trillions of multi-species bacteria that make up your gut microbiome aren’t getting enough of the nourishment they need to do their best work – and your brain suffers too. Simply put, food can make or break a big chunk of your mental health and have a powerful impact on mood.
Feb 25, 2022 · Gut HealthHow Gut Health Impacts Weight Loss
Hopefully you got the memo that gut health is a key component to overall health. The trillions of microorganisms living in your gut play a major role in everything from digestion to immunity to cognition — and can even impact your emotions. But did you know that certain strains of bacteria can actually influence your ability to shed unhealthy — unwanted — pounds?
Dec 6, 2021 · Gut HealthMake More Butyrate to Protect Gut and Brain Health Today!
Your gut microbiome houses certain types of bacteria which, when properly fed, produce powerful, health-supportive compounds like short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). One of the most well-studied SCFAs is butyrate – and it’s one you won’t want to leave home without. If you want your body to run well from head to toe, here’s the 411 on this essential compound that everyone can use a little more of – and how to get yours.
Nov 22, 2021 · Gut Health5 Things to Know About Cultivating Your Gut Diversity to Upgrade Your Health
When feeling well is the goal, it pays to focus on your gut microbiome, the trillions-strong community of bacteria whose job it is to keep you healthy. By now, you may be aware of your microbiome and the need to protect it. But, you may not know that microbial diversity – having lots of different, health-supportive strains of bacteria inside you – is another key element of a healthy gut, and a healthy body. What does microbial diversity do for you? How to protect it and how to enhance yours every day? Here are a few ways to do it.
Oct 15, 2021 · Gut HealthThe Unique Health Reasons You Should Look at Your Poop
Poop frequency, consistency, and appearance are important in determining overall health.
Oct 8, 2021 · Gut HealthWhat Is Leaky Gut?
Some of your most common questions about leaky gut syndrome, answered.
Oct 4, 2021 · Gut HealthIf IBS Has Got You Down – an Imbalanced Microbiome May Be the (Very Fixable) Culprit
When it comes to gut troubles that make you feel especially lousy, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) ranks pretty high on the list. IBS is basically a vague catchall phrase that offers no insight into what’s actually causing the symptoms. The struggle, however, is very real – think abdominal pain, cramps, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, etc. So, what lies beneath all this gut misery, that afflicts roughly 25 - 45 million people in the US alone? In my three-plus decades of experience, I’ve found that one of the most common culprits is an imbalanced microbiome.
May 10, 2021 · Gut Health8 Ways Prebiotics Make Your Gut Health Soar
Probiotic foods help ‘seed’ the gut, adding beneficial bacteria, which helps keep ‘bad bacteria’ in check, aids digestion and keeps nutrient absorption humming. But, probiotics are only part of the story. There’s another ‘biotic’ in the gut-supportive mix, namely the less talked about prebiotics. These are plant fibers that feed the beneficial bacteria (like, for example, the lactobacilli and bifidobacteria) in the gut – and they are essential to your gut health.