Category: - Holistic Living: Your Pathway to a Balanced Life

The Effects of Stress on Your Gut Health: Symptoms, Signs & Solutions

4/13/2025

Impacts of stress on gut health

We're back this week with a new post in our Gut Health series, and this time, we're talking about the impact of stress on gut health.

As you probably already know, chronic stress can impact numerous areas of our health in negative ways, and the gut microbiome is no exception. In fact, there is some indication that, due to the gut-brain connection, stress may especially affect the health of your gut.

Let's take a closer look at this aspect of gut health, and what you can do to keep chronic stress (which is highly common in modern life) from wreaking havoc on the health of your gut.

[Podcast] How to Hack Your Biology for a Longer, Healthier Life

3/16/2025

Biohacking for a healthier life

What if your life expectancy wasn’t a mystery—but something that could be predicted with startling precision?

That's the topic of today's podcast episode with Dr. Mark Hyman and Gary Brecka, a human biologist and former mortality expert.

I found this one of the most fascinating episodes I've seen in a long time - partly because I work in the financial world, so I have a lot of knowledge with how life insurance companies work (as well as several of my own policies) - and it was so interesting to hear how much detailed data goes into determining life expectancy.

Having gone through the testing myself, I am familiar with how detailed these reports are, and it's discouraging to realize that doctors don't typically collect anywhere near this much information before making a patient recommendation. As Brecka implies, if they did, the entire field of medicine would be completely different, and I'm willing to bet our health as a nation would be as well...

Check it out below to learn how your mortality is determined, and what you can do (easily and cheaply) to increase your longevity - even without all the special "gadgets" they discuss.

How to Improve Gut Health with Prebiotics

3/9/2025

Prebiotics and gut health

I'm back today with another episode in our gut health series! Last month, we discussed probiotics and their role in gut health. Today, I want to talk about a lesser-known aspect of gut health support: Prebiotics.

Prebiotics are non-digestible fibers that feed beneficial gut bacteria, supporting a balanced microbiome. They work best when combined with probiotics, creating a "synbiotic" effect for optimal gut health.

While you can buy probiotic supplements as well as enjoy a variety of probiotic foods, prebiotics are really best when consumed as a whole food. Fortunately, there are lots of tasty and inexpensive options out there! (You're probably already eating many of them.)

Below, we will discuss some of the best prebiotic foods, as well as some tips for incorporating more prebiotics into your diet for a healthier gut.

Let's dive in and explore how prebiotics can play an important role in enhancing your gut health.

[Podcast] Unveiling the Truth About Heart Health & Statin Drugs

2/16/2025

Truth about cholesterol podcast

As we just celebrated Valentines' Day, I thought this would be a good time to share some game-changing information about heart health!

We've talked at length before about statin drugs here on this blog, but don't take my word for it - many of today's leading health experts and Functional Medicine doctors are saying the same thing...

When it comes to heart health and longevity, not only are statin drugs not all that useful, they may even cause more harm than they do good.

In this episode of The Doctor's Farmacy, Dr. Mark Hyman interviews a renowned cardiologist about the truth about heart health and statin drugs. This is a very eye-opening interview, so be sure to check it out below - especially if your doctor has prescribed a statin, or someone you love is taking one.

What Does Gut Health Have to Do With Weight Loss?

1/19/2025

Gut health and weight loss

Welcome back to our Gut Health series! In this installment, we'll be discussing how gut health impacts weight management.

Wait - what does gut health have to do with weight loss?

Actually, a lot...

As we will explore, the health of your gut microbiome has a direct effect on achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. If you've struggled to lose weight in the past, despite trying all of the "tried and true" weight loss methods, it's possible that your gut health could be the culprit.

While there are many factors that affect weight gain and loss, gut health is an often-overlooked cause that deserves a closer look. Let's dive into how and why your gut health can impact your weight, and what you can do about it.

The Role of Probiotics in Maintaining a Healthy Gut

12/15/2024

Probiotics for gut health

Welcome to the next installment in our ongoing gut health series, where we'll be exploring the role of probiotics in maintaining a healthy gut.

Probiotics have become sort of a buzzword in recent years, and hundreds of companies have jumped on the bandwagon, producing thousands of variations of probiotic supplements for purchase. However, as with most aspects of health, probiotics don't need to come from a pill - and the ones that do aren't necessarily the most potent or helpful.

Let's take a closer look at these beneficial microbes and learn what they do for us, and how we can better support them to improve our own gut health.

Understanding the Impact of Antibiotics on Gut Health

11/10/2024

Impact of antibiotics on gut health

I'm back this week with another installment in our Gut Health series. If you've missed our other posts on this topic, you can find them in the archives - be sure to check them out! As we head into cold and flu season, I thought it would be timely to address the impact of antibiotics on gut health.

While antibiotics can be helpful for dealing with a serious infection, due to their harmful effects on your gut health (and, consequently, your immune system and other bodily systems), it is wise to avoid them unless absolutely necessary, and instead, take steps to support your natural immunity. You can check out our previous posts and these on our sister site for more tips on this.

Remember that antibiotics are powerful drugs that indiscriminately tackle bacteria (NOT viruses - which is an important distinction), and they can have a devastating impact on your microbiome. Let's take a closer look at the ways that antibiotics can impact our gut health.

Gut Health & Immune System Connection: How Gut Health Boosts Immunity

9/29/2024

Gut health & the immune system

Welcome back to our series on gut health! This week, we're exploring the intricate connections between gut health and the immune system.

While most of us never think of the two as being related, in fact, in recent decades, research has found that indeed, a majority of our immune system functions rely on our gut health! As we head into the annual cold and flu season, this is something to keep in mind.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this connection means that improving your gut health may be key to staying healthy year-round.

It's important to remember that maintaining good health isn't as simple as popping a few pills here and there; it's an ongoing lifestyle that yields benefits over time. So don't expect to start taking probiotics today and avoid getting next month's cold virus. Making a daily commitment to support your gut health is the first step. Continuing these healthy habits over the months and years to come is what will truly make a difference to your gut and to your overall health and immunity.

With that in mind, let's dive into the details and find out how and why gut health impacts your immune system, and what you can do to improve both.

The Surprising Connection Between Gut Health & Mental Health

9/8/2024

Gut health and mental health connection

We're back this week with the next installment in our gut health series, and this week, we're exploring what I find to be one of the most interesting aspects of gut health: the gut-brain connection, and how gut health impacts our mental health.

While discoveries were made over a century ago regarding how diet affects mood and mental health disorders, it hasn't been until the past decade or so that modern medicine has actually devoted much attention to this topic. These days, a quick Google search will yield hundreds of articles on the gut-brain connection, but I've summarized some of the most important research on this topic below for you to save you some time! :-)

Check it out to learn more about the fascinating topic of how your gut health affects your mental health, and some simple steps you can take right now to start improving both!

[Podcast] Holistic Strategies for Dealing with Our Mental Health Crisis

8/18/2024

Holistic mental health

Obviously, we talk a lot about health on this blog, but our mental health is inextricably linked to our physical health. In fact, it's impossible to address one without looking at the other.

In this week's post, I'm sharing a eye-opening episode of The Doctor's Farmacy, where Functional Medicine doctor, Mark Hyman, sits down with Dr. Jaquel Patterson, a naturopathic physician and expert in integrative psychiatry, to discuss the hidden root causes of brain inflammation that can lead to poor mental health. Many of these causes start in the gut or other bodily systems, and over time, they can begin to impact our brain health in negative ways.

This is just one more reason why we need to be addressing our health as a holistic system, rather than just managing symptoms on a piecemeal basis! Tune in to this fascinating episode below to learn how your health impacts your brain, and how to manage our mental and physical health in a more holistic way in order to achieve better overall long-term health.

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