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All About the Gut Microbiome and How to Strengthen Your Immune System Right Now!
Today, we are going to talk all about the gut microbiome and how to strengthen your immune system right now. Clearly, with everything going on with COVID-19, this episode couldn’t come at a better time. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to one of the best there is on this topic.
Today's guest is Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, commonly known as Dr. B. He is an award-winning gastroenterologist and the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Fiber Fueled.
Many might not know this, but our gut is connected to almost every part of our body including our brain. Did you know that 90% of our serotonin and 50 % of our dopamine is produced in our gut?
So sometimes when we feel stressed, anxious, and depressed, this all might be tied directly to having an unhealthy gut.
It’s incredibly fascinating as is the fact that 70% of our immune system is in our gut as well.
This is why we should really be paying attention to our gut health more than ever as COVID-19 impacts so many people with underlying health issues and weaker immune systems.
In this episode, Dr. B will explain everything you need to know about the gut microbiome, how our gut health impacts things such as COVID-19, our immune system, and mental health. He will also explain the secret to how you can discover how healthy your gut is in the comfort of your and his tip for this will cost you absolutely nothing other than some time.
Finally, he will also provide the blueprint of what you can do right now to optimize your gut health and strengthen your immune system plus so much more.
Dr. B’s Backstory:
Dr. B already knew when he was a teenager that he wanted to be a doctor. He’s always been an idealist, and what he really wanted to do was to help kids, particularly the adolescent and teenage kids, because he feels like they're overlooked and they deserve more attention in this transformative period in their life. So he initially set on a path to go to medical school so that he could become a child psychiatrist.
During Dr. B’s journey to become a doctor, he suddenly fell in love with gastroenterology. At the age of 30, everything went well for his career. He was the chief medical resident at Northwestern in Chicago, one of the top internal medicine residency in the country. He won the highest award in his residency class and published eight papers in gastroenterology journals.
Of all those achievements, he still felt miserable. He hated himself. And that’s when he realized that it’s all about the diet that he was raised, which was the very classic “1980s diet” -- hotdogs, Doritos, Kool Aid, bagel bites. He gained 50 pounds, had low energy, super low self-esteem and high blood pressure.
He did some exercise like what most guys do, but everything changed when he started dating his wife who’s on a very clean diet. Out of curiosity, he followed that thread and started making small changes.
He noticed that he instantly felt better. He didn't have the hangover after meals, he was energized, his skin started to change, and his hair got thicker. His weight also started falling of as well.
Those changes inspired him so much that he became obsessed with digging into the medical literature. He became a believer because of the way that it transformed his own life. He felt that his patients deserved it too. So he brought that into his clinic, and saw similar amazing and transformative results with them.
In 2016, he just felt compelled to share the story, but also felt that it wasn’t enough. That’s the reason why he created his Instagram account. He didn’t expect so much in the beginning, so when he reached 1,000 followers, Dr. B and his wife celebrated and popped a bottle of champagne.
Fast forward, his book called “Fiber Fueled” came out in May this year, and it's a New York Times bestseller. Today, they're closing in on 100,000 copies and it’s only a little over six months since the book came out.
Now that you already know Dr. B’s backstory, take a look at these very interesting topics and lessons we discussed:
- The meaning of the gut microbiome
- Why stress and the gut microbiome go hand in hand with each other
- The different ways our gut can communicate with our brain
- The antagonistic pleiotropy
- The connection between gut microbiome and COVID-19
- Things that people can do to strengthen their gut and immune system
- The special connection between our gut microbes and fiber
- Why do people need to pay attention to where they're getting the fiber from
- The importance of the diversity of plants in your diet
- Bonus: smoothie recipe of Dr. B’s wife
- The different types of bowel movement
- The effect on trauma in the gut
- How Dr. B and his team help the patients who were victims of trauma and abuse
Fiber Fueled by Dr. B:
“Fiber Fueled is so much more than a health book. It’s a step-by-step methodology to stop the misinformation madness caused by the diet industry, and show you the simple, science-backed process for a lifestyle that is effortless, sustainable, and above all else, it transforms your health by optimizing your gut microbiome.”
Takeaways:
Microbes are not just passively in the human body. They are there with a purpose. They have been there since the beginning of human history.
There's never been a sterile human, we've always had a relationship with these microbes.
The healthy microbiomes
- give us access to our nutrients.
- are connected to our immune system.
- are connected to our metabolism.
- are connected to our hormones.
- are connected to our brain.
A healthy gut is the path to a healthy brain, including our mood.
Our bowel movement is actually predominantly made up of your gut microbes.
Plant Diversity in your diet Is king when it comes to having a healthy gut. Simple ways are through smoothies and salads.
Connect with Dr. Will Bulsiewicz:
Website: https://theplantfedgut.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theguthealthmd/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theguthealthmd
Get Dr. B's book Fiber Fueled here:
https://amzn.to/37VHhi6
Sign up for Dr. B's Course here:
https://theplantfedgut.com/course/
Connect with Doug
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