Live Beyond the Norms

*Disclaimer*

The content shared in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice of any kind, nor does it include any specific claims or guarantees. The views expressed are based on personal experiences, research, and individual perspectives, and are meant to inspire and inform listeners on topics related to wellness, lifestyle, and personal development.

We strongly encourage all listeners to consult with a qualified professional or licensed expert before making any decisions related to health, finances, or other sensitive areas of life. Thank you for tuning in—and for taking proactive steps toward a more informed, intentional life.

How 140 Genes Can Tell You Everything About Your Health With Dr. Sam Shay Jun 19, 2026

Show notes

Most people think genetic testing is too complex, too expensive, or too tied to "you have the cancer gene." Dr. Sam Shay says you only need 140 genes out of your 20,000 to understand what's actually driving your health.

After nearly 200 episodes, Dr. Sam Shay is back on the show, picking up where we left off in our first conversation about how your genes shape the way your body handles food, stress, and inflammation. This time, we go deeper into the framework that took him from being chronically ill for over a decade to running a genetics lab himself.

Sam and I get into the seven drivers of chronic disease, and why his "perfect" Mediterranean diet was making him sick until his DNA told him to eat differently.

"Change your environment, not your willpower." ~ Dr. Sam Shay

Support the show and get 50% off MCT oil with free shipping—just leave us a review on iTunes and Spotify and let us know! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-beyond-the-norms/id1714886566

Resources Mentioned

Dr. Jensen's Guide to Better Bowel Care by Dr. Bernard Jensen: https://www.amazon.com/Jensens-Guide-Better-Bowel-Care/dp/0895295849

The DNA Decoded (use code GOLD100 for $100 off the Gold program): https://thednadecoded.com/

FitGenes USA: https://fitgenesusa.com/
Previous Episode with Dr. Sam Shay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tm1OdV5T7g

About Dr. Sam Shay

Dr. Sam Shay is a functional medicine practitioner specializing in genetics, longevity, and personalized health. He runs FitGenes USA, where he trains health coaches and clinicians to use genetic testing in their practices, and The DNA Decoded, a consumer program that turns genetic data into a personalized health roadmap. A chiropractor by training, he's spent over two decades designing functional tests and frameworks that simplify the complexity of biology into something patients can actually use. He's also a stand-up comedian whose show Neurospicy draws on his lived experience with Asperger's and ADHD.

Connect with Dr. Sam Shay

Website: https://drsamshay.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsamshay/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tenpointwellness

Connect with Chris Burres

https://www.amazon.com/Connected-Unseen-Forces-Chronic-Disease-ebook/dp/B0GX2Y7WDK?ref_=ast_author_dp&th=1&psc=1

*Disclaimer*

How an Auditor Rewrote the Science of Gut Health and Brain Disease With Martha Carlin Jun 16, 2026

Show notes

Martha Carlin wasn't a scientist. She was an auditor at one of the largest accounting firms in the world. Then her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson's at 44. She couldn't just sit back and watch him succumb to it. So she set out to find what caused it.

What followed was a 20-year-long second career. Within a month of throwing out the pantry and filtering the family's water, her husband's tremor was already retreating. He managed to stay off medication for years.

When she stumbled onto a book about the human microbiome a decade later, the pieces clicked into place. She quit her executive job at 50 to fund the research herself.

Martha and I get into the moment she connected her husband's childhood antibiotics to his Parkinson's, and the probiotic that took his Parkinson's score from a 35 down to a 20.

"We are more microbial than we are human." ~ Martha Carlin

Support the show and get 50% off MCT oil with free shipping—just leave us a review on iTunes and Spotify and let us know! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-beyond-the-norms/id1714886566

Resources Mentioned

My Search for the Perfect Poop by Martha Carlin: https://www.amazon.com/My-Search-Perfect-Poop-Medicine/dp/B0GR96GSBM

Connected: Love, Loss, and the Unseen Forces Behind Chronic Disease by Martha Carlin:

Missing Microbes by Dr. Martin J. Blaser: https://www.amazon.com/Missing-Microbes-Overuse-Antibiotics-Fueling/dp/0805098100

The BioCollective: https://thebiocollective.com/

Open Biome: https://www.openbiome.org/

About Martha Carlin

Martha Carlin is a citizen scientist, microbiome researcher, and systems thinker who turned a 20-year corporate career into one of the most distinctive voices in gut health today. The founder of BiotiQuest and The BioCollective, she has spoken at the White House Microbiome Initiative, given a TEDx talk, and collaborated with researchers at the University of Chicago, Caltech, and University College Cork. She is the author of My Search for the Perfect Poop and Connected: Love, Loss, and the Unseen Forces Behind Chronic Disease, and she writes regularly at her Substack, Martha's Quest.

Connect with Martha Carlin

Website: https://biotiquest.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marthacarlin/

Substack: https://www.marthasquest.com/

Connect with Chris Burres

*Disclaimer*

What 40 Days Without Food Reveals About the Human Body, With Casey Ruff Jun 15, 2026

Show notes

In the 1960s, researchers had people fast for 40 days straight. They expected some of them to die. Instead, their bodies adapted.

My guest this week, Casey Ruff, has spent nearly two decades helping people understand what's actually fueling their bodies, and most of what he's found runs against everything we've been taught.

A metabolic health coach who came up through lab testing before going all in on low-carb and carnivore approaches, Casey joins me to explain why the carbs you've been told you need for energy might be the very thing holding you back.

Casey and I talk about research that rewrote his thinking. Why nearly every diet eventually fails. And, most importantly, how your body is built to run on fat far better than you'd expect.

"Every diet fails. You do a diet and sure, you're going to lose weight, but after a while, your cravings get bigger, and your energy starts to go down." ~ Casey Ruff

Support the show and get 50% off MCT oil with free shipping—just leave us a review on iTunes and Spotify and let us know! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-beyond-the-norms/id1714886566

Resources Mentioned

The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung: https://www.amazon.com/Obesity-Code-Unlocking-Secrets-Weight/dp/1771641258

The Cholesterol Code: https://www.amazon.com/Cholesterol-Code-Jennifer-Isenhart/dp/B0GS8ZFCYN

Toxic Superfoods by Sally K. Norton: https://www.amazon.com/Toxic-Superfoods-Oxalate-Overload-Sick/dp/0593139585

About Casey Ruff

Casey Ruff is a metabolic health coach who has been a certified personal trainer since 2007 and has helped thousands of clients transform their health through movement, nutrition, and lifestyle. He came up running metabolic testing programs before specializing in low-carbohydrate, ketogenic, and carnivore approaches. After being laid off during the 2020 pandemic, he and his wife Bethany started Boundless Body, the coaching company they run together out of South Jordan, Utah, where he also hosts the Boundless Body Radio podcast.

Connect with Casey Ruff

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caseyboundlessbody/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/casey-ruff-38318a1b1/

Website: https://www.myboundlessbody.com/

Connect with Chris Burres

*Disclaimer*

The Woman Who Helped Jelly Roll Get Fit Without Ozempic With Danese Rexroad Jun 12, 2026

Show notes

About a quarter of adults in the United States now take at least four prescriptions a day. Most of them take more. Yet outside of antibiotics, almost nothing on the shelf is meant to cure you.

Closing that gap is what Danese Rexroad does. As Chief Clinical Officer at Ways2Well, she goes upstream of disease, asking why the body is breaking down rather than writing another script to cover it. Her belief is that the choices you make in your 30s and 40s decide whether you spend your 80s in the gym or in a nursing home.

We get into why perimenopause is hitting women in their 30s, and the bioidentical hormone study she says got it all wrong. She walks me through the trauma-room moment that flipped her thinking on the root cause. We also talk about her work with Jelly Roll, who walked in on 27 prescriptions and walked out on three.

"The average American is on at least four prescriptions. None of those are curative." ~ Danese Rexroad

Support the show and get 50% off olive oil with free shipping—just leave us a review on iTunes and Spotify and let us know! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-beyond-the-norms/id1714886566

Resources Mentioned

ReviveRx Pharmacy: https://reviverx.com/

About Danese Rexroad

Danese Rexroad, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, is a native Texan who earned her BSN from Lamar University and her MSN from Chamberlain University. She built her early career in emergency medicine, trauma, and reconstructive surgery before moving toward functional and preventive care. Functional medicine certified, she has spent the last decade focused on root-cause work in hormone optimization, peptide therapy, and regenerative medicine, and now leads the clinical team at Ways2Well.

Connect with Danese Rexroad

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saima_danese/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danese-rexroad-msn-fnp-c-08705b157/

Website: https://ways2well.com/

Connect with Chris Burres

*Disclaimer*

The Leading Cause of Disability in Women Under 50 With Dr. Amelia Scott Barrett Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

What do you think is the main cause of disability for women under 50? Is it cancer? Or maybe depression? Is it perhaps back pain? No. None of the above. The leading cause is migraine.

Dr. Amelia Scott Barrett has spent her career staring at that fact from the inside. Only one in twenty people who have migraine ever gets properly diagnosed, and the rest spend years calling it tension or stress or sinus pressure while their brains discreetly change in the background. Two headache days a week is all it takes to start the damage.

Amelia and I get into the four biological systems she's identified as the root causes of migraine, as well as why the standard "pop a pill and power through" approach has let millions of women around the world down.

"Migraine is the number one cause of disability in women under 50. That is a huge impact on women who are right in the prime of their lives." ~ Dr. Amelia Scott Barrett

Support the show and get 50% off MCT oil with free shipping—just leave us a review on iTunes and Spotify and let us know! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-beyond-the-norms/id1714886566

In This Episode:

00:00 Introduction

01:59 Dr. Barrett's early interest in medicine and the brain

05:28 Med school, learning to fly, and the road to neurology

09:42 How often does a migraine go undiagnosed?

12:22 What happens to the brain with frequent headaches

19:22 White matter lesions and what they signal

24:56 Where conventional migraine treatment falls short

30:25 How DNA points to the four systems behind migraine

34:46 The link between migraine and dementia

36:20 How mitochondria fit into migraine

41:30 Taking melatonin compared to a common migraine drug

45:30 Why trial and error doesn't work for migraine

53:53 Wrap-up questions and where to find Dr. Barrett

Resources Mentioned

The Headache Quiz: https://theheadachequiz.com/

Migraine Relief Code podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/migraine-relief-code-with-dr-amelia-scott-barrett-md/id1793802899

Decode Your Migraine by Dr. Amelia Scott Barrett ( coming summer 2026): https://migrainereliefcode.com/book

About Amelia Scott Barrett

Dr. Amelia Scott Barrett is a Stanford-trained, board-certified neurologist and the founder of Migraine Relief Code, a precision-medicine program that uses genetic testing and functional medicine to address the root causes of migraine. A TEDx speaker and the author of the forthcoming book Align, she has spent her career bridging conventional neurology with nutrition, supplements, lifestyle, and DNA-based protocols. Her work has been featured in Business Insider and Women's World. She lives and practices in Lone Tree, Colorado.

Connect with Amelia Scott Barrett

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ameliascottbarrettmd/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ameliascottbarrettmd

Website: https://ameliascottbarrettmd.com/

Connect with Chris Burres

Disclaimer

Why Millions of Lyme Cases Go Undiagnosed Every Year With Dr. Myriah Hinchey Jun 05, 2026

Show notes

You can test negative for Lyme over and over. Your bloodwork can look fine. Even your doctor can tell you it's just stress. Meanwhile, the infection keeps doing damage. An estimated 3.5 million Americans go through this every year.

Dr. Myriah Hinchey knows that better than most. She was bitten by a tick when she was around ten. Her Lyme test came back negative, and she was sent home. What followed were decades of strange anxiety and brain fog she couldn't explain, until everything finally crashed in her mid-thirties, and even her doctor brushed her off. She had to diagnose herself.

Myriah and I get into why the testing for so many of these conditions misses what's going on, and how chronic infections sit underneath everything from autoimmune disease to neurological symptoms that most doctors blame on something else.

"Your body doesn't turn on you for no reason. There's always something. Find it." ~ Dr. Myriah Hinchey

Support the show and get 50% off MCT oil with free shipping—just leave us a review on iTunes and Spotify and let us know! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-beyond-the-norms/id1714886566

*In This Episode:"*
00:00 Introduction
02:08 Dr. Hinchey's path to naturopathy
06:36 Growing up in Lebanon, Connecticut
11:47 How Dr. Hinchey ended up focusing on Lyme
15:40 Treating Lyme in the real world vs. school
17:15 Why one dose of doxycycline isn't enough
19:04 What the standard Lyme test misses
27:57 Why some people get chronic illness, and others don't
36:41 Dr. Hinchey's Lyme story
44:02 Stephen Buhner and the herbal protocol
46:33 Why antibiotics alone can't clear Lyme
49:56 The real cause behind most autoimmune diagnoses
56:11 How underdiagnosed Lyme really is
59:48 Why a quick herbal cleanse won't fix chronic illness
1:06:14 Wrap-up and where to find Dr. Hinchey

Resources Mentioned

Healing Lyme by Stephen Harrod Buhner: https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Lyme-Borreliosis-Coinfections-Rickettsiosis/dp/0970869649

IGeneX: https://igenex.com/

Galaxy Diagnostics: https://www.galaxydx.com/

International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS): https://www.ilads.org/

Tao Vitality: https://taovitality.com/

Lyme Core Botanicals: https://lymecore.com/

Lymebytes Podcast and Symposium: https://lymebytes.com/

About Dr. Myriah Hinchey

Dr. Myriah Hinchey is a naturopathic physician with more than 17 years of experience treating Lyme disease and chronic tick-borne illness. A graduate of the University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine, she is the medical director of Tao Vitality in Hebron, Connecticut, and the founder of LymeCore Botanicals, an herbal medicine company built around the protocols she developed treating her own Lyme. She is also the creator of Lymebytes, a podcast and annual symposium for patients and practitioners working through chronic and complex illness.

Connect with Dr. Myriah Hinchey

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drmyriahhinchey

YouTube: http://youtube.com/@DrMyriahHinchey

Website: https://drhinchey.com/

Connect with Chris Burres

*Disclaimer*

How the Way You Breathe Is Shortening Your Life With Dr. John Douillard Jun 04, 2026

Show notes

Whatever shows up in your bloodwork has usually been building for a long time. The problem with modern medicine is that it steps in at the end of that process, not the beginning.

Dr. John Douillard keeps coming back to one single question. Why do we wait so long? Forty years as a chiropractor and Ayurvedic practitioner have convinced him that the body starts dropping hints well before anything shows up on a test, and that most of us have been taught to wave those hints away until there's a real problem to deal with.

We dig into where the trouble usually starts, why so much of it traces back to your gut, and what a system that's been around for 5,000 years figured out about the body that our lab work still tends to miss.

"Change the environment, change the host, let the body fight its own battles." ~ Dr. John Douillard

Support the show and get 50% off MCT oil with free shipping—just leave us a review on iTunes and Spotify and let us know! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-beyond-the-norms/id1714886566

Resources Mentioned

Eat Wheat by Dr. John Douillard: https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Wheat-Scientific-Clinically-Proven-Approach/dp/1683500091

The 3-Season Diet by Dr. John Douillard: https://www.amazon.com/3-Season-Diet-Nature-Intended-Cravings/dp/0609805436

Grain Brain by David Perlmutter (referenced): https://www.amazon.com/Grain-Brain-Surprising-Sugar-Brains/dp/031623480X

LifeSpa Lymph Quiz: https://lifespa.com/health-topics/lymphatic-system/cleanse-lymphatic-system/

About John Douillard

Dr. John Douillard, DC, CAP, is a globally recognized leader in natural health, Ayurveda, and sports medicine, and the founder of LifeSpa.com, one of the largest Ayurvedic wellness resources online. A former ski racer and Ironman triathlete, he studied Vedic medicine in India and built his career pairing that tradition with modern science. He's written seven books, including the bestseller Eat Wheat and The 3-Season Diet, appeared repeatedly on the Dr. Oz Show, and served as Director of Player Development for the NBA's New Jersey Nets.

Connect with John Douillard

Website: https://lifespa.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifespa/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JohnDouillardsLifeSpa

Connect with Chris Burres

Disclaimer

The Scientist Trying To Upload The Human Brain, With Dr. Randal Koene May 26, 2026

Show notes

At 13, Randal read a science fiction novel and set out to upload a human brain. The surprising part is how far he's gotten.

Dr. Randal Koene is a computational neuroscientist and the founder of the Carbon Copies Foundation, a nonprofit working to preserve and one day emulate the human brain. Not long ago, the idea of keeping someone's memory and identity alive past death sat squarely in the realm of science fiction. Randal is one of the people trying to drag it into the lab.

Chris asks him how any of this would work, and Randal explains it in plain terms. Does who you are come down to the brain alone? What can split-brain studies tell us about consciousness being something we narrate to ourselves? And would an uploaded mind still need to sleep? Find out in this episode.

"What we experience as consciousness is to a large degree a narrative, a story that we tell ourselves." ~ Dr. Randal Koene

Support the show and get 50% off Olive oil with free shipping—just leave us a review on iTunes and Spotify and let us know! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-beyond-the-norms/id1714886566

In This Episode:

00:00 Introduction

02:21 Growing up between nuclear reactors and CERN

05:02 The Arthur C. Clarke novel that started it all

11:33 Why he studied physics and AI before neuroscience

14:04 Founding the Carbon Copies Foundation

17:22 How AI changed the conversation around brain emulation

22:34 Randal’s position on consciousness

27:17 What split-brain patients reveal about the self

32:58 Working with animals on brain emulation

39:57 Creating a virtual brain of a fruit fly

44:53 Would an uploaded brain still need sleep?

52:08 The Matrix problem with transferring memories

54:54 Parallels between Neuralink and Carbon Copies

1:00:48 Wrap up questions

Resources Mentioned

The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke: https://www.amazon.com/City-Stars-Millennium-SF-Masterworks/dp/1857987632

The Brain Emulation Challenge: https://carboncopies.org/Research/BrainGenix/Challenge/Overview/

About Randal Koene

Dr. Randal Koene earned his PhD in Computational Neuroscience from McGill University and later became a research professor at Boston University's Center for Memory and Brain. He proposed the term "whole brain emulation" back in 2000 and helped shape the first scientific roadmap toward it. He went on to found the Carbon Copies Foundation, where he leads the research effort to build tools and methods that could one day allow a mind to continue beyond the body it began in.

Connect with Randal Koene

Website: https://carboncopies.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randalkoene/

Connect with Chris Burres

Disclaimer

The Entire Male Population Could Be Infertile in 20 Years, Here's Why May 22, 2026

Show notes

Over the last couple of decades, testosterone levels in men have been declining by 1% every year. Twenty more years of that, and we could be looking at a fully infertile male population.

That's what Dr. Tracy Gapin has been sounding the alarm on for years. A board-certified urologist who spent 20+ years in traditional medicine before walking away in 2020, Dr. Gapin founded Peak Launch to address what most doctors won't: the root cause of the symptom.

Today's conversation digs into why standard testosterone reference ranges are basically worthless and why "normal" labs are lulling men into a false sense of security. Dr. Gapin also shares what most high performers get wrong about their hormones, their gut health, and the slow cortisol creep nobody warns them about.

"A 50-year-old man today has a testosterone level that's about half of what a 50-year-old man had 20 to 30 years ago, and it's declining by about 1% every year." ~ Dr. Tracy Gapin

Support the show and get 50% off MCT oil with free shipping—just leave us a review on iTunes and Spotify and let us know! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-beyond-the-norms/id1714886566

Resources Mentioned

Doctor 2.0 by Dr. Tracy Gapin (coming October 2026): https://drtracygapin.com/

High Performance Health Handbook (free guide): https://peaklaunch.com/guide

About Tracy Gapin

Dr. Tracy Gapin is a board-certified urologist and performance medicine expert with over 25 years of clinical experience. After two decades in traditional men's health, he left the system in 2020 to build something better. Today, he runs Peak Launch, where he uses precision data and lifestyle medicine to help high performers fix the hormones, gut health, and sleep issues most doctors miss. He's also the founder of Peak Launch Institute, training the next generation of physicians, and the author of Male 2.0, with his second book Doctor 2.0, set to release in October 2026.

Connect with Tracy Gapin

Website: https://peaklaunch.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtracygapin/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrTracyGapin

Connect with Chris Burres