The Gut Doctor: This Is Why People Are Getting Sick & NOT Staying Healthy

Key Takeaway

70% of your immune system lives in your gut lining. When this barrier weakens, unwanted substances cross over, triggering chronic inflammation that affects everything from energy to brain function. The solution? Start simple: add fiber-rich foods like beans daily. Your gut microbiome ferments this fiber into short-chain fatty acids—the most anti-inflammatory nutrients available. Build tolerance gradually, like training a muscle, and watch inflammation symptoms fade.

Episode Overview

Board-certified gastroenterologist Dr. Will Bulsiewicz explains how gut health and immune function are inseparable, with 70% of the immune system located in the gut lining. The episode explores how a weakened gut barrier leads to chronic low-grade inflammation affecting over 130 health conditions—from fatigue and brain fog to skin issues and hormonal imbalances. Dr. B reveals that the gut microbiome contains 38 trillion organisms (more than human cells) and provides 99.5% of our genetic code. He shares actionable strategies for healing the gut through specific foods that feed beneficial microbes, reduce inflammation, and restore the gut barrier.

Full Transcript

Transcript of The Gut Doctor: This Is Why People Are Getting Sick & NOT Staying Healthy from The School of Greatness. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

70% of your immune system is in your gut lining. That gut barrier, that single layer of cells, it protects the immune system, but if it's weak, things can sneak across that are not supposed to be there. there. there. Your immune system gets activated, and that's chronic low-grade inflammation. You can't have a war without total destruction. destruction. destruction. Right. Right. Right. Right. You're destroying everything around when you're activating your immune system. To fight an enemy, like if you just repaired the gut barrier, the enemy would have never got in in the first place.

Boardcertified gastroenterinologist, gastroenterinologist, gastroenterinologist, internationally recognized gut health expert, and best-selling author of many books. books. books. Dr. Will Volsawitz. There's absolutely 100% clear physiology that explains how our stress and our traumas ultimately will impact our gut. And when they impact our gut, they will impact our immune system and create inflammation. You could be eating all the right things and doing everything you can in your control to eat healthier, but if you haven't healed the trauma of the past, you still might have a weaker gut microbiome, a weaker immune system because of that.

You could sleep, you could meditate, you could try to do things, but if you don't feel the trauma, then you're not actually going to be well. A lot of people are sick. A lot of people are sick, and I think they're sick and tired of feeling sick. And the gut health is usually one of the main reasons why people are sick and they're not even aware of it. They might think there's some other symptoms that's causing them to be sick. But based on my conversation with you the last time, some of the stuff that you talked about in your book as well that a lot of the root causes of inflammation come from the gut from my understanding.

Is that correct? 100%. 100%. 100%. Really? Really? Really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We could fully unpack that. But um suffice it to say that in the 3 years that I spent like preparing this book and a big part of that was me diving into thousands of studies. The book has over 1400 citations that I will happily give to you. You just all you got to do is click and take a look and you'll see that I'm backing up my words. So but I reviewed thousands of papers to basically try to understand what I see as the biggest health related issue of our time which is in one word inflammation.

Right? Because the problem is, Louis, you could go to five different doctors for five different medical problems medical problems medical problems that you don't necessarily think they're connected. You see them as separate issues, right? And they give you a symptoms-based approach, which is basically like, here's five different medicines. And what they don't do is they don't take a moment to step step back and tell you like, hey, there's a story here. There's a story because it all of these issues are originating actually from the same place which is chronic low-grade inflammation.

So inflammation by itself I mean we can dig into this inflammation by itself it's I don't want to make it sound like inflammation is inherently bad. Inflammation is lifesaving when you actually need it. But what we don't need is a forever war inside of our body which is what's happening with chronic low-grade inflammation which is what's happening in America right now. So what is the difference between good inflammation and bad inflammation? Okay, so let me install some some specific terms. So acute versus chronic. So acute inflammation, you get sick, right?

You get exposed to some sort of bacteria or some virus. Guess what? Your immune system is going to step up to defend your body. That is the entire purpose of having an immune system, which is basically that's your little military. And they're going to take care of you and they're going to clear out that infection. It might take them a couple of days, but they'll get the job done and you move on with your life and you're nice and safe. That's acute inflammation. So, you get your fever, right?

You get your fever, you have extreme fatigue, you might have other symptoms. Sometimes people like you get the flu, you get joint issues, right? You get muscle aches, right? You're you're experiencing acute inflammation. Or alternatively, another example is like um you injure yourself. You're playing handball, right? You injure yourself. Well, guess what? the the repair process to restore function to your body is inflam inflammation. You sprain your ankle, it swells up or something, right? And that's acute inflammation to protect that area. Correct. Correct. Correct. Red, swollen, tender, right?

These are classic symptoms of inflammation. But it's acute inflammation. It's time limited. The immune system will get the job done and then it will go back to basically being at rest, being at ease, not fighting. Okay? Now, that is a totally different thing than basically an immune system that is being triggered 24 hours a day, and it's not actually fighting anything real. Like, it's not it's not fighting a virus. It's not helping you to repair your body. Instead, it's just feeling threatened. It's a little bit like a dude who's so hammered hammered hammered and he's just swinging and he doesn't even know who he's swinging at, right?

Yeah, like this is basically this is basically and then how does that manifest? So you manifest with these symptoms that you go to your doctor and you say these things and you don't necessarily get a clear answer or a clear response. So you're experiencing like number one is fatigue. Fatigue is clearly the number one symptom associated with inflammation. It always is there and and just to be clear I'm not saying that the only cause of fatigue is inflammation. I'm saying that when you are inflamed you will feel fatigue right?

So, but going top, you know, from like from your head to your toes could be a headache, could be migraines. When your nose gets congested, whether it's during a sickness or that's seasonal allergies or you go to bed at night and your nose gets clogged up, that's inflammation. inflammation. inflammation. It's pretty clear right now. That's good. good. good. Well, we could talk about why that would be because there's actually a circadian rhythm element to why we get congested at night and why it clears up in the morning.

morning. morning. Really? Why is that? Well, I don't want to fully divert the conversation into that, but basically it has to do it has to do with here's a quick little teaser. Your immune system is nocturnal. And then when you wake up in the morning and you get that glorious morning sunlight, right? You actually are triggering the release of cortisol. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Cortisol is your body's prennazone. It's an anti-inflammatory. M so you wake up in the morning this is why also you go and you get a good workout and you go to bed and you're not sore and you wake up and you are sore right you feel that why is that because your immune system is active at night night night so our body was actually very beautifully designed because if your immune system was like doing its doing its maintenance work during the day it would you would you would you like you wouldn't you it would affect your energy levels your focus your ability to think.

By the way, now I'm starting to like describe some of the symptoms that I was going to get at, right? It would affect those things and you wouldn't be able to really be optimally functioning as a human. M so the way that our biology was designed which is like you know to me like awe inspiring beautiful is that when we're asleep during that time where we're not really moving around that's when the immune system steps up to basically like take care of its maintenance work which includes like if you exercise it's helping to basically build the muscle mass and restore those muscles because exercise is actually like a form of micro injury micro injury micro injury right to build it and make it stronger and so when working out, you're causing acute inflammation as well.

So like not necessarily acute, you're not going to get a fever from your workout, right? So you're not necessarily causing that. But in a way, there is an inflammatory element to a lot of the aspects of our life that we totally sit here and we say they're healthy, healthy, healthy, right? So exercise is clearly healthy, but it's creating inflammation. It's creating a healthy inflammation. And that's like that's like hormmesis, right? So hormmesis is when you sort of like take the step of pain for the purpose of future strength gain.

Yeah. gain. Yeah. gain. Yeah. No pain, no gain. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. But the acute inflammation uh or the other what's the other inflammation? inflammation? inflammation? So the chronic the chronic lowrade inflammation. Yeah. Yeah. So you could have a headache, you could have a stuffy nose, you could have a sore throat, you get that cough at night, right? That's inflammation. Um it it could you could um have skin issues. So like you're breaking out uh acne, eczema, eczema, eczema, eczema, uh psoriasis, rosacea, right? All inflammatory it for women.

So hormones are important, right? So for women, female fertility, pmenopause, pmenopause, pmenopause, menopause, 100% there is inflammation there. there. there. Really? Really? Really? Yes. For men, hormonal issues. So like some of the statistics some of the statistics around men are wildly disturbing. The drop in testosterone levels over the last 40 years, the drop in sperm counts over the last 40 years. I mean, Viagraas, Yalis, like all these things wouldn't exist if there wasn't a market because of erectile dysfunction, right? right? right? Right. So, not to mention energy drinks, right?

So, I'm not bashing them. Sometimes I take them myself, but like I'm just saying that, you know, these things or like muscle soreness, um joint issues, joint discomfort, difficulty recovering from exercise, difficulty performing exercise, right? Okay. Like when you're more inflamed, go and eat a fast food meal and then go try to work out and tell me that you can have a good workout. workout. workout. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can't. You can't. You can't. Wow. Okay. So, there's acute and lowgrade chronic inflammation. Correct. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. The lowgrade chronic inflammation mostly comes from the foods we eat or is it also our environment, our sleep patterns, you know, and other and other things that we do? Okay. So one of the core um Okay. So one of the core um ideas that I present in this book and I I will defend this position is that your gut and your immune system are completely intertwined and inseparable. So just just to frame this our first episode if you if you haven't listened to it go back and take a listen but just to quickly frame we have a gut microbiome mostly in our large intestine our colon with 38 trillion microorganisms.

Okay. Microscopic, we can't see them, but they actually outnumber us. That's more than we have human cells. human cells. human cells. Wow. Wow. Wow. Yep. Um, Yep. Um, Yep. Um, there's more gut microbiome than we have human cells. human cells. human cells. 100%. You are less You're definitely less than 50% human. And if we were to line you up as your genetic code, like if we were to like basically have a football field. football field. football field. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Okay. And every single yard represented like where does your genetic code come from?

All right. One yard would be the genetic code that you inherited from your parents and 99 yards, actually 99 and a half yards would be the genetic code that you have from your microbiome. Really? Really? Really? Yes. 99.5% Yes. 99.5% Yes. 99.5% of your genetic code comes from these microbes. microbes. microbes. And where do these microbes come from? Our environment. So our environment and um and they're manipulated by our choices. So there's an entire story inside of you. We are getting to the point. We're getting to the point where we could take a snapshot of these microbes and start to basically say, "Hey, I know how Lewis has been living his life.

Here's the food choices. Here's the sleep. Here's the circadian rhythm. Here's the exercise, right? Here is his connection to his partner. partner. partner. Here is his trauma or history of things from the past that we discussed during the first episode. um that like basically your life is a story and that story is actually reflected it's told through your gut microbiome. So it's entirely unique to you. So how do we if we're feeling exhausted, if we're feeling inflamed, if we're feeling in fight or flight due to what's happened within our gut, how do we start to heal our gut to get rid of inflammation?

Okay, so the these two pieces, they're so interconnected and and I just want to add real quick that between the 38 trillion microbes and the fact that 70% of your immune system is in your gut lining. Wow. Wow. Wow. Okay. So like the bone marrow is like basic training. They get trained up there. there. there. Uhhuh. And then they get deployed and they go and take up and do their service in the lining of your intestines. intestines. intestines. Interesting. 70% of our immune system is in our gut lining.

Is in our gut lining. Wow. Wow. Wow. Yes. Yes. Yes. So if our gut is unhealthy, we are unhealthy. Because basically what happens is that there's a cascade where these microbes and that and those immune cells, they're right next to each other and the only thing that's separating them is a single layer of cells. Huh. Huh. Huh. Which we call the gut barrier. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Right. And if that starts to break down, which happens when the gut microbes are weak and not be not able to do their job.

So they are the stewards. The gut microbes are the stewards of the gut barrier. They build it for us. They repair it for us. That gut barrier, that single layer of cells, it protects the immune system. So when it's fortified, the immune cells are at ease because there's no one to fight. But if it's weak, weak, weak, but if it's weak, which I call increased intestinal permeability, but you will hear it referred to as leaky gut. And I have no problem with that terminology because it's actually correct.

When that happens, it's a weak gut barrier. Things can sneak across that are not supposed to be there. And so then your immune system is like, yo, the bloodstream is right behind me and I got my like literally age-old like like this villain that I have been fighting fighting fighting since before humans existed, right? The immune cells recognize their enemy that they've been fighting for literally a billion years. That's my estimate. And they go, "Okay, cool. You want to come over here? We're we're going to fight you." Really?

Really? Really? Yeah. So then they get activated. The immune system gets activated in response to something that got across the gut barrier that's not supposed to be there. And um there's there's a term for this, by the way, for the people who are nerdy like me. It's called a lipopolyaccharide. lipopolyaccharide. lipopolyaccharide. Lipopolyaccharide Lipopolyaccharide Lipopolyaccharide is the armor that surrounds like ecoli or salmonella or sheigela these nasty bacteria. This armor they developed to protect themselves and the armor became the way that your immune system identifies the enemy like oh you're wearing the armor.

Cool. I got to take you out. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. You're not allowed to be here. Wow. So, but that process of I got to take you out is the activation, not in a strong powerful you're having a fever way, right? Like that's not acute. This is the 24 hours a day battle on the inside where your immune system gets activated and that's chronic low-grade inflammation. And the problem is that, you know, I mean, like to be totally honest with you, I don't love the war analogy, but I feel like I have to do it because it's like it's the only thing that really makes so much sense, right?

Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. But like when we look at images of war in the modern world, you can't have a war without total destruction. Right. Right. Right. Right. You're destroying everything around. Right. So when you are activating your when you're activating your immune system to fight an enemy that just like if you just repaired the gut barrier, the enemy would have never got in in the first place, right? If you if you were to address that then we wouldn't need to like have these bodily basically the immune system is causing bodily injury right and so then this inflammation in the writing of my book there's a specific table that I tell the reader yo go to this page you got to check this out because I asked a a basic question how many health conditions are there that are associated with inflammation where I could come on your show and tell you this but I could also talk to a colleague who's a medical doctor and pulled the paper and I found over 130.

over 130. over 130. Wow. Wow. Wow. And then I turned to the secondary question Lewis which is okay so if I believe that the gut and the immune system are rising and falling together right then there should be 130 studies that also show that the gut is unwell within the context of these diseases and the answer is yes categorically. Wow. Wow. Wow. Categorically. So if someone is inflamed in their gut and they have a weakened immune system, what are the main symptoms that they will have or or they'll feel or they're experience on their body with this weakened immune system and leaky gut?

Yeah. Well, so it goes back to and you know again like what I'm describing are common symptoms and sometimes we take those common symptoms and we turn them into a diagnosis and that's completely appropriate. That's the way I practice medicine, right? medicine, right? medicine, right? But um but what I'm saying is like that the place that it's coming from is inflammation. inflammation. inflammation. Yes. Yes. Yes. And so it goes back to what we had discussed a moment ago where it's like it could be headaches, it could be brain fog, difficulty focusing, um lack of cognitive endurance, like you can't get a lot done.

Yeah. Right. Easily distracted like sort of ADD, right? Um it can affect your mood, right? So like with clarity, depression, major depression is inflammation in the brain. brain. brain. Wow. Wow. Wow. Total clarity, right? By the way, so is Alzheimer's, so is Parkinson's disease. Um, so these are ways in which the inflammation can affect your brain. But like we discussed, you could have you could have a congested nose, you could have sore throat, you could have a cough, you could have skin skin outbreaks, you could have joint issues, you could have muscle issues, you could have difficulty recovering.

But of course in the gut there's symptoms, right? So bloating was the number one gut symptom that you could experience. Could be abdominal discomfort, could be a change in your bowels, diarrhea, constipation, both. Right. The manifest manifestation of ir bowel syndrome. bowel syndrome. bowel syndrome. This is inflammation. Wow. Now I'm curious about like uh someone getting eczema or breakouts in their skin. their skin. their skin. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is there a way if you have a extremely healthy gut and a healthy immune system, can you get outbreaks?

like can you get eczema or these other kind of rashy outbreaks or is that all linked to a weakened immune system and a leaky gut? So I I don't want to go so far as to make it sound like the root the only cause cause cause sure sure sure of all of these health issues right is exclusively your gut being like basically impaired right what I'm saying is with clarity for all 130 health conditions this is a contributo factor contributo factor contributo factor right right right and I'm saying that we have an opportunity opportunity opportunity because what we're seeing is the gut is unwell unwell unwell and what I'm offering is that we can make it well.

And if we make the gut well, then the immune system falls in line with it. And then other symptoms start to fade away hopefully. away hopefully. away hopefully. So these these these skin issues, whether it's eczema or acne or psoriasis, they're all inflammatory. There's inflammation on the surface of the skin. the skin. the skin. Okay? Okay? Okay? And the skin has a microbiome, too. So it's not just the gut microbiome that's contributing. that's contributing. that's contributing. But there is this element where like basically in that specific area, right?

It's not necessarily your whole body in that specific area. Something is off and it's created inflammation that results in the manifestation of that specific skin issue. skin issue. skin issue. Eliminate inflammation and seems like you eliminate a lot of your issues. I mean, we can't totally eliminate inflammation, but what we can do is we can It's like uh having your sound system on and it's pounding so hard that it's giving you a splitting headache. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Right. And you're not really enjoying yourself in that moment.

and taking the dial and being like, "Yeah, we can turn this down to the point where even the same song actually you can start to enjoy it. Enjoy it." Ah, as I step into 2026, one of my big wellness goals is consistency. Showing up for my body, my mindset, my health every single day, even when life feels overwhelming. And that is why I love simple habits that support the bigger picture for my life. And starting off the new year strong with protein beverages at Starbucks is a big thing because Starbucks now offers a whole lineup of delicious protein beverages, including the brand new caramel protein latte, caramel protein matcha, and new protein drinks with no sugar added.

This is huge. You can even add protein cold foam or protein boosted milk to your favorite drink. So getting extra protein fits naturally into your routine. My go-to is the iced vanilla protein latte. It is so good at Starbucks. Oh, that first sip feeling is amazing. Bold signature espresso with protein boosted milk and sweet vanilla flavor. This is amazing. And what's so crazy is a grande has 29 g of protein. I mean, talk about staying consistent with your wellness goals. Now, my morning ice latte can make it feel effortless to hit my protein target.

For me, this is just one of those small moments every day that starts it off right, a little bit stronger, and knowing I've gotten protein in my drink as well. So, make sure to level up and add protein to your favorite drink at Starbucks. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apple Card members can earn unlimited daily cash back on everyday purchases wherever they shop. Now, this means you could be earning daily cash on just about anything like a slice of pizza from your local pizza place or a latte from the corner coffee shop.

Apply for Apple Card in the wallet app to see your credit limit offer in minutes. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs, Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch. Terms and more at applecard.com. What would you say then are the five foods that people should be eating on a daily basis to optimize their gut microbiome and their immune system? Okay. So, I'm going to give you the five foods and then I want to break down for you the specific levers that I'm I'm seeing behind the curtain.

Okay. like what are the things behind the curtain that make me choose these five foods? Okay, so um let me let me go with Okay, I have to start with my classic. It may be controversial, by the way. So, my apologies. I'm going I'm going straight to beans. Beans. Any type of beans. Basically, any type of beans. I will accept any of them, okay? Because to me, beans, these are microbiome foods. They're microbiome foods. The reason that people feel like they don't tolerate beans is not because there's something crazy that's happening inside of their body, what's happening is that their gut microbiome can't handle the beans.

beans. beans. Really? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Why can't they handle it? They can't handle the truth. Why can't they handle it? Yeah. Because Yeah. Because Yeah. Because if it's good for you, why can't your your gut handle it? Okay. So, this brings us to like a a basic concept within gut health. And it's like very slightly nuanced, not crazy, but it is a little nuanced. It's like exercise. All right. So think of your gut as being a muscle, right? That muscle can be trained. It can be made stronger, but it also has a quite specific capacity for work.

So you can't take a muscle, go to the gym, and just like, of course, I want to go and bench press 450 lbs and be literally the strongest person in the gym. But I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, can't handle it. I can't handle that. You haven't trained to get there. Yeah. No, I'm working on it. I'm actually quite I'm quite happy with where I am at 45 years old. Like I'm lifting the heaviest weight of my life. That's great, great, great, right? But to get to that level, it's going to take some time, right?

So, the same is true with your gut. If your gut is impaired because it's not doing so hot, right? If your gut is impaired, that's conceptually similar to going to the gym with some sort of injury, right? Like you hurt your shoulder. Okay? You're not going to go to the gym and lift the heaviest weight. You're going to go to the gym. And honestly, it might be the 2.5 lb dumbbell. dumbbell. dumbbell. Sure. Or it might be just body weight. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you're just trying to like basically restore function y to that shoulder.

And then once you restore function, you're back on track and now you're growing and building, right? So this is this this is what's happening in the gut is like you take basically microbiome food, right? So let me break that down real quick. So So beans, they have fiber, fiber, fiber, they have polyphenols, they have resistant starches. resistant starches. resistant starches. These three things, none of them are digested by the human body. They are the most clear evidence of a shared lifelong symbiotic relationship that we have with our microbiome.

We have third party sourced it. We have basically said, look, we as humans were not able to evolve fast enough to keep up with like an the food supply across the globe. the globe. the globe. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. Right? you move from one place to the other, your your uh evolution is not able to keep up with that. So, we basically said, well, if we could get the microbes from the environment that know how to break down the foods that are here locally, then we would actually be able to process and digest those foods.

those foods. those foods. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, what happens is the microbiome breaks down the fiber, the resistant starches, and the polyphenols for us. Interesting. So, our our body and our stomach can't break down the nutrients in beans. Is that correct? So beans are not just these three things, things, things, but what I'm saying is I'm calling them I'm calling beans microbiome foods because they're the most densely packed of these things. Like go look at the fiber content of beans, right? And you're going to be like, "Yo, there's a lot of fiber in there." Right.

Right. Well, so what I'm saying is that you are 100% dependent on your microbiome microbiome microbiome to digest that fiber. Interesting. So if the microbiome is not ready for that, that's conceptually similar to going to the gym and just like grabbing way more weight than your body body body and you hurt yourself. So have a few beans, not a whole plate of beans maybe to start. Work your way towards it. Like I am I'm in a place now today where I can smash beans as hard as I want to with no issues.

issues. issues. No gas. No farting like crazy. But that's Yeah. But no, but not in a bad way because basically basically basically uh in a in Okay, there are some benefits to farting. Really? Really? Really? Yep. 100%. What's the besides releasing gas and feeling better, what is the benefit to farting? The gas that is being produced when you when like for for that kind of fart a bean fart. bean fart. bean fart. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay. The gas that is being produced is the product of fermentation from these microbes.

So you have to understand that the reason why you get that gas is because they are simultaneously fermenting your fiber to produce short- chain fatty acids which are so we're here to talk about inflammation and short- chain fatty acids which are acetate propriate and butyrate are the hands down hands down hands down with total clarity the most anti-inflammatory nutrients that I've ever come across Louis like and those are in beans. Well you get that from fiber. Okay. Okay. Okay. You get that from fiber. So fiber is in beans.

And fiber is in beans. Yeah. Yeah. So, so, so beans are like so jam-packed. Wow. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you could only choose one bean, what would you choose? What type of bean? The chickpea. The chickpea. The chickpea. Chickpea. Chickpea. Chickpea. Chickpea. Chick. Here's why. The best bean for you is the one that you're actually going to eat. eat. eat. Oh, right. Right. Right. So, like I love chickpeas. Okay. Do you have a favorite bean? Pinto. I don't know if that's good there or not.

or not. or not. Right. Pinto. You live in LA, so it's like in the food supply here. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm like a But if you're doing chickpea, pinto, or black bean, all are fine. Oh, 100%. Go. Give me all three. Okay. I got you. What my wife does, for what it's worth, is uh cuz you're you're going to I'm going to have to teach you some of these tricks now that you're growing your family. Yeah. family. Yeah. family. Yeah. We get an Insta Pot.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And we will basically create a batch batch of chickpeas and then separately batch of black beans and create a big pot to start the week. Bean soup or just Well, no, like throw in garlic and onions, right? Tastes good. Like actually the flavors are great. Salt it, spice it. Um, and then you put it into the fridge. And here's the cool part. When you take these starchy foods like beans and you put them into the fridge and you cool them down, you create what's called retrograde starch.

Okay? Okay? Okay? Which is basically you have enhanced the quality of the food. Oh. Oh. Oh. So you have created more microbiome food. food. food. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. And that's incredibly healthy. So you get the same thing if you cool off your mashed potatoes. mashed potatoes. mashed potatoes. Cool. But then you can reheat it. You could reheat it, but there will be there will be new resistant starches that were formed, formed, formed, right? Or if you take your bread and you throw it into the fridge or throw it into the freezer also is a trick that you can increase the the value and and the glycemic index drops.

drops. drops. So, if you were to take the exact same loaf of bread from room temperature, throw it in your fridge, and then eat it, the glycemic index has improved. Why? Because some of the stuff that was like basically a simple carbohydrate, you turned into a a a resistant starch that's going to feed the microbiome. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. On on this topic of like great fiber uh sources and also a great source of polyphenols, which are the colors in our food. I love berries. Okay.

Okay. Okay. And so you choose like do you like blueberries? Do you like raspberries? I'm a raspberry guy. So if I if you could give me unlimited supply of organic raspberries for the rest of my life in life in life in I would take that over like many other opportunities for the you know just give me that I'll be very happy. Okay. Okay. Okay. So all righties uh number three I'm going I'm going with uh avocados. All right. So avocados I've met like I think one person maybe two in my whole life that don't actually like avocados.

I didn't like them until two years ago. You were the guy. I was the guy. I literally didn't eat them until two years ago. years ago. years ago. Are you scared of them or what's what's the deal? the deal? the deal? It's more of a texture thing for me. I don't know why. Yeah. I'm a I'm a weird eater. You don't like guac? I don't eat guac. No, it's the texture. I'll have an avocado now. If I put salt on it, it's like I can manage it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm actually enjoying it now. But guac, I don't know what it is. It's like I don't know. Too slimy or something. You know, I have a rule that you don't go into someone's house and insult them insult them. And I just did. So, I apologize. apologize. apologize. It's all good. Yeah. Okay. No, I'm a weird eater. Hope you apolog I'm a very picky eater, but someone once told me that if you're a picky eater, the pickier the eater you are, the more of a genius you are.

So, I try to just take that for what it is. That's an interesting I don't know. We kind of hear what we want to hear sometimes. sometimes. sometimes. Exactly. I'm like, I'll take that, you know. know. know. Yeah. Exactly. All right. So, but avocados, the key here, actually, the fiber content of avocados is wildly high. high. high. Okay. Okay. Okay. More than anyone would expect. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, like a nice medium sized avocado might have 8 to 10 grams of fiber. That's a lot. Yeah.

But it also has healthy fats. Mhm. So fat is good for us. We just want it to be good fat, right? So we can get that from an avocado. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. Uh number four, I would go with let's go with chia seeds. Um so chia seeds high super high in fiber, but they also have healthy fats because they have omega-3s. have omega-3s. have omega-3s. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Right. And most of us omega-3 fats are what we call essential, which means you have to get them from your diet.

And most of us are not getting enough. Okay? So this is why everyone's taking fish oil supplements, which is fine. I don't have a problem with that. But like you could also eat the food that is the native source of these these fats. fats. fats. And chia seeds are one of the ways one among among many. Okay. Okay. Okay. Right. To accomplish that goal. All right. All right. And last but not least, I'm going to go with kimchi. All right. So here's the deal. Um fermented food is uniquely beneficial.

Gosh, it's another thing I don't like, but okay. but okay. but okay. All of them. You don't like yogurt or caffir? I like yogurt, but what's the chem? What did you say it was? Kimchi. Kimchi. Kimchi. Kimchi. No, Kimchi. No, Kimchi. No, it's not for you. That's fine. So, for yogurt, I do. You gotta find what you like. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You gota find you like, but like yogurt, kefier, Greek yogurt is It's good. Super good. Okay, that's good to know. So, it's a fermented food and the fermentation process, it of course involves live bacteria.

Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. So, like I want the listeners to see this the way that I see it. They just hear probiotic. I get that. But I see like a living ecosystem, right? There's like this community that's there, a part of the food. They've transformed the food. And then you have your ecosystem inside of you. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And you're going to introduce them. introduce them. introduce them. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. And actually the there's now several studies to suggest that by regularly consuming fermented food, they can actually like uh integrate themselves into your gut microbiome.

Interesting. So that like actually last night I was at an event and someone very nice woman came up to me and she says to me, how can I add more microbes back? My my microbound count is low. My diversity is low. And I told her that one of the ways that you can do this is by adding increasing your fermented food intake. Okay. Okay. Okay. And we have clear research to show that out of Stanford. Oh wow. That's good. Yeah. So, if I do a a little thing of yogurt every day, if I have an avocado and I've had I have chia seeds in some almond milk for breakfast, is that a good thing?

If I do three of the five, but I don't do berries and I don't do um Why are you rejecting the berries? I'm a bit insulted bit insulted bit insulted again. I'm like a a palette of a seven-year-old, so I'm like I don't know the texture, the taste. I don't know what it is about it, dude. The Cuz the thing is mulberries I like, but I don't know. Mulleberries. Um, you're very specific. Yeah. I used to have a mulberry tree in Ohio growing up, so I would like I could find the right ones that weren't too juicy that were like okay for me.

Oh, that's interesting. And what about dried berries? Dried mulberries, dried things. Are those as good or no? Yeah. Like you like dried fruit in general. general. general. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. So, there is still some retained nutritional value there for sure. sure. sure. But also, they can there's some things that also are enhanced. So, for example, they're very high in histamine. Uhhuh. So if you start eating like dried out fruit, you might notice your nose gets congested gets congested gets congested and that can actually be the histamine content of your food.

Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. So I mean it's not it's not like a horribly bad thing, but there are some people out there who have histamine issues that are not just a once in a while thing. It's more of a chronic problem for them. Okay? Okay? Okay? And so for them they have to be careful. Okay? So yeah, I mean I look if if I had my way, I would I would figure out a way to get you to love adding berries to your yogurt, right?

I have to get over it. My mind somehow it's a mental thing for me. for me. for me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What would be an additional one then? We got beans, berries, we got avocados, we got yogurts, and what was the last one? one? one? Fermented food. Fermented food. Fermented food. Fermented foods. Fermented foods. Fermented foods. Yeah. And so for me, what would be one other if someone didn't like one of those things and there was an additional one? one? one? I'm going to try to throw you a wobb here.

Make it easy for you. Chia seeds was one of them. Yeah. I think you're kind of digging the chia seeds. I'm going to play off of that and we're going to I'm going to go with walnuts. with walnuts. with walnuts. All right. Okay. We can do that. It's actually kind of interesting. Like a walnut looks like a brain. Yes. Yes. Yes. And then it's like it's high in omega-3s. It's brain. God is playing a joke. joke. joke. It's great, right? It's kind of cool. I'm I'm down for all those.

I could do all those every day. So in the book I I basically discuss that because here's an important point I and I want everyone to hear this that um you can call diets different things right Mediterranean pescatarian flexitarian vegetarian vegan and what I actually wrote in the book is it doesn't matter which what what you call it what matters is the quality of your diet. So there's a lot of flexibility here. So, the diet that you're going to eat is not the same as the one that I'm going to eat.

But what I'm saying to you, Lewis, is that if you focus on four main nutrients, you will have an anti-inflammatory diet that will support your gut microbiome and make your immune system strong and healthy. And so, and the four nutrients, and we found those in the six foods that we just discussed, okay, what are those are fiber, are fiber, are fiber, polyphenols, polyphenols, polyphenols, healthy fats, and fermented food. And so if you focus on those four things, fiber, polyphenols, polyphenols are the colors. So like eat different colors.

They say eat the rainbow, right? Eat the rainbow is the same thing as saying what I'm saying right now. We're not talking about Skittles. I'm talking about talking about talking about Don't eat the rainbow of Skittles. Taste the rainbow. No, not that. That was a taste. Just That was a taste. Just a taste. a taste. a taste. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, but like the healthy fats, you know, like you could throw extra virgin olive oil into the mix, right? If you're going to do oil, let it be that.

Let it be extravirgin olive oil. Okay. So, if you do those four things, I mean, if you eat those four things on a daily basis and you or you add more of those to your your intake, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're doing a lot of good for your gut. 100%. And and and and the key from my perspective is that you should feel the difference. difference. difference. So, it's not this is not just like, hey, I trust that guy and so I'm going to do it. What I'm saying to you is take a chance.

chance. chance. Yeah. Do it for a week. Take a chance. Try something different and then see how you feel. Interesting. And if your energy levels pick up and your focus is better and you notice that your exercise is improving and like there's different different things for different people, right? But like you're you're going to experience the benefits and when you experience them then it reinforces oh my gosh, I'm on to something here. Yes. Yes. Yes. Then you want more. So those are the four pillars. Yeah.

I call them the four workh horses because I have this mental image of like imagine that that you are imagine that it's 1870, right? You and I are heading west. We're coming here. coming here. coming here. There's gold here. Yeah. We're going to get rich. And so, we got this wagon, right? But in order for us to get across the plains, you don't want just one horse. You don't want just two horses. At some point, you're going to have to climb a mountain. Climbing a mountain is like fighting a disease, right?

Fighting that battle against this chronic illness, right? So, you're going to climb that mountain. mountain. mountain. You want to have three or four workh horses powering you to your goal, right? Because one or two would not be enough. So, I call them the four workh horses because in my mind, I have this image of that wagon that you're trying to power up the hill for the person who's sick. Whereas, when you're healthy and you're feeling really well, I mean, you could say, "Hey, I only want one or two horses." But that would be kind of stupid because why why wouldn't you have all four Clydesales rocking?

Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And be a total beast. Exactly. Yeah. Go for eight. Give me eight of them, you know. Let's go. I have to come up with four war courses. Exactly. Double it up. I have to go back to the drawing board there. there. there. Stress seems to be like one of the biggest things, one of the biggest killers for a lot of people. It just holds them back from accomplishing what they truly want? And I'm curious, does bad gut health make us more reactive and cause more stress for high performers or high achievers?

If so, what's a sciencebacked way that we can start to calm our nervous system with food that you like? Okay, so first of all, stress 100% is connected to our gut microbiome like without a shadow of a doubt. And basically what you've led us into is a conversation around the gut brain connection. connection. connection. Ah, Ah, Ah, right. So they are basically best friends. This is by the way chapter eight of of my new book. And I have to tell you, Lewis, this is the chapter that um would resonate with a person like you, but I think it's going to resonate with the readers the most, too.

Like, this is literally the best chapter that I've ever written. So, out of all my three books. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And because there's a lot for us to unpack here, unpack here, unpack here, it's about the the brain gut connection. The brain gut connection, which is the nerdy way of actually getting into the concept of mind body. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Right. Um because like the mindbody concepts, alipathic medicine has rejected that as being woowoo. But there's absolutely 100% clear physiology that explains how our stress, our emotions, our connections to other people, our our life of spiritual purpose um and our traumas ultimately will impact our gut.

And when they impact our gut, they will impact our immune system and create inflammation. inflammation. inflammation. Really 100%. So to to lay this out because it kind of is a two-way street. I mean you asked me about the role of the gut in stress and I'm kind of starting with the role of stress in gut. Uhhuh. Okay. You know, imagine that you are are are uh in traffic and you have a near miss. You almost got into an accident. You barely missed it and like zing like your eyeballs bug out, your heart rate's pumping, your blood pressure is up, right?

There's a certain feeling that you get. Imagine that you uh are about to go on stage and while you are very comfortable with this cuz you've done it many times. Um for many people that's like extremely anxietyinducing. Yes. Yes. Yes. Right. And so so they get these this feeling of butterflies in the stomach, right? They might feel a little nausea. They might actually start to feel like bloated and then cramps and then waves of cramps and then it's intense and it's crippling and folding them over.

Right? These are all manifestations of very clear physiology connecting the brain to our gut. our gut. our gut. So what's happening is that our environmental experience environmental experience environmental experience basically um our brain was hardwired to react quickly to things that are happening around us. Right? That way we don't have to even process. We can just react. This is why you have a near miss in the car. Instantly boom you get that feeling. feeling. feeling. Right? You don't think about it before you even process that you almost gone to an accident.

Right. So that's your sympathetic nervous system. You know what's interesting when you say that? I used to when I was in high school before basketball games or football games, it's like I had to go to the bathroom, you know, almost like 10 20 minutes before right before I was like even though I was doing well and I was a good athlete and things like that and I was, you know, succeeding, it was almost like every time there was a game, I had to use the and I was like almost running late.

It's like warm-ups are happening and I got to go run to the bathroom. bathroom. bathroom. Yep. Yep. Yep. And how is that connected to the brain and the gut when you feel like, "Oh, I got to go to the bathroom." Well, so this is your sympathetic nervous system. Okay. So, this was this is what was happening with you and it's parallel. It's the same as when I was in medical school and you take, you know, basically 200 people that were at the top of their class in college.

You put them all into one class and half of them are are less than average. Wow. Wow. Wow. Right. At Georgetown, right? So there was a lot of stress. Sure. Sure. Sure. So there was a line out the bathroom door. 100%. door. 100%. door. 100%. 100%. You had to wait in line to get a stall, man. stall, man. stall, man. So what is the connection between stress and needing to go to the bathroom? Yeah. Um Okay. So So let's let's play this out. So uh within the context of stress which is basically leading to the activation of your sympathetic nervous system this is one of two uh like yin andyang parts of your autonomic nervous system which means that your body just reacts you don't necessarily get to choose it just happens right so when your sympathetic gets activated your brain will release a hormone called corticotropen releasing hormone or CR comes from the brain and basically enters the pituitary gland and then sets self an entire storm throughout the body.

Now, this was designed, if we go back to 99.99% of human history, which predates modern times, right? This was designed where if there was something that was going to attack you, if there was some sort of serious threat, right? You you instantly had the force that you need between your heart pumping, circulating blood, your breathing heavy, circulating oxygen, your blood pressure is clamped down, so you're getting the blood to your tissues, right? And you're ready to go. Right? And whether it's fighting another tribe or some animal that's attacking you or whatever it might be, that adrenaline saves your life potentially.

Right? So it's an evolved mechanism. But the problem is everything comes with a price. price. price. So you are accepting this all these benefits, but you're sacrificing your gut. gut. gut. That's what happens. You sacrifice your gut. And so so that that like uh surge of adrenaline that surge of cortisol that's out of out of synchrony out of context of you know I said that cortisol is good in the morning. All right. But what I'm saying is like cortisol is not good when it's some random time of day and you don't need it right.

It sacrifices your gut health. And then ultimately what that results in is when you sacrifice the gut health, the gut microbiome. Number one, you feel it here. So you might have to go to the bathroom or you might get the cramps or the bloating or whatever it might be, right? So you feel that that's your gut microbes. That's also your gut motility that has been adjusted by the surge of stress. But then it ultimately parlays into okay so if the gut microbes are weak then that affects the gut barrier.

When the gut barrier gets weak then that affects the immune system and now you've just created inflammation. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. Okay. So that's that's the way that it works with the sympathetic nervous system. All right. So, and then the gut gets weak and then that the gut actually sends signals back up to the brain, right? Through a number of different ways. But when the gut is unwell, our brain can't be fully well. Huh? Right? So, if you want to be sharp, if you're a high performer and you want to be sharp, focus, have intense cognitive endurance, you have to nurture your gut.

Right? That's a required step in order to get there. Now, you can try to power yourself through using modern tools like energy drinks, right? or or like rtoolin or something like this, but you're not actually you're you're treating the symptoms. You're not treating the source of your problem. Interesting. So, it sounds like your brain also influences your gut in these these times when you're feeling anxious or stressed or there's a pressure filled moment, whether it be a test or a sports game. It's almost like how you think about what's about to happen is influencing the gut or releasing these hormones or whatever to make you either want to go to the bathroom or have bloating or gas or whatever it is.

Right. Right. Right. Right. So these people that have chronic gut issues and it and it's important like so what we just described was the impact of stress which could be once in a while. a while. a while. Right? We all have that. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Right. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Your body will adapt and adjust. You're okay, You're okay, You're okay, right? But there's also the people that are having it 24 hours a day. That's a lot, right? And and in many cases, these are the people who have dealt with something that's trauma.

that's trauma. that's trauma. So where the trauma basically like creates a wound in the non-concious mind. So you are not thinking about these things, right? Because you're trying to push it to the side. Yes. Yes. Yes. Because it hurts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So you're that's the thing I don't want to deal with. Don't think about it. Yeah. Yeah. So but it still exists. You don't you don't get to escape that unfortunately. So that trauma exists in the non-concious mind and what what we have found is that basically this leads to number one your brain activity is different.

different. different. So people that have been um exposed to trauma they have hyperactivation of their amygdala their amygdala their amygdala which is the fear center of their brain. So this this like this life of perpetual fear. fear. fear. Yes. Yes. Yes. Right. And then this leads to, you know, if the sympathetic nervous system and what I just described as stress, right, is putting your foot on the gas, then what I'm saying is within the context of trauma, the foot never comes off the gas. You got a lead foot.

It's like, you know, uh Keano in speed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, just like blast in speed, blasting down the highway and you're trying to figure out like how are we going to going to going to stop this runaway bus, right? So, um the way that you stop it is by ultimately healing the trauma. This is fascinating. Now, this is something I'm curious about. If someone has experienced trauma in their life in their past and or they've interpreted an event as traumatic whether it actually was or wasn't but they've interpreted meaning that it was for them and it happened 10 20 30 years ago and in their subconscious mind subconscious mind subconscious mind they either try to stuff it or put it away or they haven't addressed that trauma that wound.

Yep. Yep. Yep. The mind is not in the body, right? The mind is like an energy around the brain, but it's not in the brain. Is that correct? I don't even know. But the brain is different than the mind. And if you're thinking something, then it's connecting to the brain signals and it's driving down into the gut. I'm trying to see where I'm going with this, but how much of trauma of the past that is interpreted as trauma that you have not healed, how much of that will impact your gut and really kind of consume your body?

We know with total clarity that people that have been exposed to trauma are more likely to have specific gut rellated issues, rellated issues, rellated issues, right? So, actually it's my mentor Dr. Douglas Dman at the University of North Carolina who's the one who discovered this. He was a professor of both medicine and psychiatry. It's unique unique intersection for being 1980s if you think about it, right? That's very progressive. progressive. progressive. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he studied, you know, where are these people with these gut issues?

What is like basically there from before and he found a disproportionate association association association with prior trauma including abuse but not exclusively abuse. Sure. So the one one one one point that I I kind of see as being a little bit important I hope you don't mind is that um so you you use the word interpret. I actually don't think that you get to interpret. interpret. interpret. It either is or it isn't. So to me trauma trauma trauma is something that has occurred in your life that overwhelms your ability to cope.

cope. cope. Yes. Yes. Yes. Right. So whether you think it's trauma or it's not trauma. Yeah. If there is something that has occurred in your life that overwhelms your ability to cope, you don't have the tools to cope with it. it. it. Right? So like in children, this is why children are much more vulnerable to these kinds of things because they just aren't yet developed in a sophisticated way in terms of their cognitive capacity, right? Their co cognitive abilities, their abilities to cope with stress, things like this, right?

So there's a there's a higher vulnerability there. vulnerability there. vulnerability there. So if you overwhelm the ability to cope, then you've created a trauma. And that trauma may be something that you know it happened happened happened you but you don't necessarily want to acknowledge it. In fact, the mind is quite powerful at repressing those ideas and thoughts. and thoughts. and thoughts. The other thing that I would argue, Lewis, is that there's some fascinating research. I would love to share a quick study with you to prove that the the book I don't mean to plug this book, but I like I can't help the fact that the title of this book is perfect.

The body keeps the score. score. score. Great. Yeah, I love It's the perfect title for a book. I don't know if it's I haven't even read it. I don't even know if it's a good book. Is it good? Yeah, it's good. I mean, it's it's more academic, but it's Yeah, it's like New York Times like it's crushing. Yeah. You know, for like 10 years, but um it's the perfect title. The body keeps the score is so true. So, there was a study that they did with children children children where they looked at kids who were adopted before age two.

Okay, they have no recollection of these events. None of us can remember before age two. Right. Right. So, I used to believe that if you can't remember it, it doesn't count. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Unless you've suppressed it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I've I've now learned both in my own life and in this particular study to prove it, I was wrong. Really? Really? Really? I was definitely wrong. The body keeps the score. So, they looked at children who were adopted before age two and they looked at um kids that came from like a normal family and uh and not n not adopted.

Not adopted. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And they and they tracked out, you know, years later years later years later and they took a look and the kids who were adopted before age two. And again, they're like in a comfortable home. Like there's not there's not there's not good families. Yeah. Yeah. Good families. Like there's not some other explanation for this. They look at the gut microbiome. Clear changes in the gut microbiome. Really? Yeah. More inflammatory bacteria, less protective bacteria, and a loss of gut diversity. diversity.

diversity. Really? Really? Really? Yeah. So the so these these kids again this is years later they have lost diversity in their gut. That's basically moving towards a unwell what we call disbiosis is what is occurring there and they were more likely to suffer with digestive symptoms. they were more likely to feel anxious. And they actually did a functional MRI to look at brain activity and they found that brain activity in these in these you know these people who like were adopted at B4H2 was different and their emotional processing and emotional regulation was out of whack.

Wow. Wow. Wow. So they have obvious like these are people they've done nothing wrong. They don't deserve what they've received. They don't remember it. They don't even remember it. Wow. Wow. Wow. Right. But here are these things that continue to sort of man echo into adulthood that they can't even remember. remember. remember. So it sounds to me like, correct me if I'm wrong, you could be eating all the right things and doing everything you can in your control to eat healthier, but if you haven't healed the trauma of the past, whether it was in your control or out of your control, you still might have a weaker gut microbiome, a weaker immune system because of that.

Is that correct? correct? correct? This is 100% correct. And I would even extend it beyond the food, beyond the plate, because there's other elements of our life that are really important to our health, to the health of our gut microbiome. Exercise, right? You and I both love exercise. I could I could break down for you why exercise is good for the gut microbiome, but the point is you could do that. You could sleep. You could meditate. You could try to do things, things, things, but if you don't heal the trauma, then you're not actually going to be well.

And I've seen this. Yeah. So this is and you know if you look too trauma is um disproportionately also associated with autoimmune disease. autoimmune disease. autoimmune disease. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Right. So because basically that chronic activation of the immune system that's what it is gets that immune system to the point that it's just like totally confused cuz I guess in the in your mind if you've experienced trauma you know and for me I experienced different parts of trauma growing up. If you experience some type of psychological, sexual, emotional trauma, physical trauma, and you don't learn how to heal that psychologically or emotionally or spiritually, there's some type of underlying like guilt, like resentment, anger, sadness, loss that you are just living with, that you haven't figured out how to process.

particularly if you're 5 7 12 and you don't have the tools on how to process whether it be some type of therapy or something else that allows you to grieve to rediscover your identity to mend that emotional wound. And so when you live with this feeling that you are not enough for decades of your life or that you're unworthy or that you're unlovable or that you're bad or that you're wrong or something's off with you, if that is your unconscious mind ruminating 24/7, that is building this, I guess, inflammation in your mind, in your body.

It's weakening you in some ways, which again is in weakening your gut is what I'm hearing you say. Yeah. And I so a few things number one I have seen this in many patients right that the like the greatest moments of my career as a medical doctor and I've I I was trying to figure out like how many patients have I taken care of and I landed on it's somewhere in the range of 75 to 100 thousand. Wow. Wow. Wow. Right. And in in all of that, the greatest moments were the moments where I took a person and discovered that there was this thing, right, like a trauma that they were trying to ignore because it hurts.

Of course it hurts. So you don't want to deal with it. You'd rather not talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And so you have to get to a trusting place trusting place trusting place where you open up and you have that conversation. But the other thing too, Lewis, is what part of what to me makes chapter 8 my greatest chapter that I've ever written is that it actually the chapter plays out and shares my personal journey of self-discovery where you know um I have shared in the past that I changed my diet and therefore I got my health back.

And the truth is I wasn't fully telling you everything that was going on in my life. Really, Really, Really, I wasn't ready. Wow. Wow. Wow. I there was too much shame. Mhm. I had a complex relationship with my dad my dad my dad that un unfolded from the time that I was 7 years old when my parents got divorced. divorced. divorced. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And unfortunately our the divorce of my parents was parents was parents was it it was not amicable. it it was not amicable.

It was traumatic. Well, I was the oldest of three boys. because I have two younger brothers and um uh basically I was in second grade and one day didn't know this was going to happen. My mom shows up and the car is packed fully and there's like a little spot basically earmarked for me. Wow. Wow. Wow. That I slide into and we drive seven hours away. hours away. hours away. With your younger brothers too or with my younger brothers and the only person that wasn't there was my dad.

Wow. You're seven. Oh, seven. And so we move seven hours away, but eventually the court system says you got to come back to right right right Syracuse, New York. So we go back and um the way this is in the 1980s. The way that the court system back then, I I don't know what they do now. I have no clue. But the way that they dealt with it back then was to basically say, "Well, um, the oldest son, you know, he's he he's old enough to be able to kind of like give us answers." Oh my gosh.

Seven. Seven. Seven. Oh, seven. And so then that what basically basically basically unfolded from there was like a series of like psychologists and courtappointed counselors. And I would like do these sessions where you're sitting there with a psychologist and they're like draw me a picture of this or and so and this was like an ongoing like this is not like a short-term thing. This was like an ongoing yeah like maybe year and a half of this kind of stuff. And during this period of time I know I know I know obviously that my parents are not together together together right and I know that that like they're not getting along and I also know that this is court related.

So basically like the words that I provide are ultimately going to dictate what happens with these parents. So within that context for me I like I um I think I mean I I may be wrong but I think that there's like this natural psychology that takes over or at least it did for me. There's this natural psychology that took over me of basically being like well you got to pick the winner. Wow. Wow. Wow. Right. Who's the good one and who's the bad one? Because one of them is good and the other is bad.

It's the way it has to be. So I chose my mom and my dad I turned to and I was the oldest boy. Right. So I think like you can appreciate this I think on some level um that like you're the defender. You're the one who stands up for the younger brothers. You're the one who protects. protects. protects. And so I I basically psychologically turned towards my dad. I never actually said this to him, but this is the a conversation that was in my mind as like seven, eight years old.

Is how did you allow this to happen, Dad? How could you allow this to happen? You were supposed to be the man of this house. You were supposed to be the one that takes care of us, that makes sure that everything is okay. Look at our family now. We were poor. We were poor, right? We were poor. All the money was going to the attorneys. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Look at look at what we're going through. Look at how horrible this is for us. You allowed this to happen.

Why didn't you fix it? Why didn't you take care of us? Right. I held him accountable for the whole thing. So, So, So, um, um, um, this led to a rift between me and my dad. dad. dad. I'm sure your whole life probably. Well, yeah. Basically, so I, uh, I was a, I was a good athlete, so I played three sports in high school. I was the captain of two teams and um for those of you who can't tell on camera, Lewis has me by one inch and he's very tall.

He's 6'5. All right. So anyway, I was a good athlete. And so the issue though is that because my parents were divorced and we lived two and a half hours away. Like on the weekend I had to go to see my dad. But like that was tearing me away from my sports teams. That was tearing me away from my friends. So like the level of resentment just escalates, right? Frustration. Yeah. Yeah. And you get to a point where um I I just cut it cut him off.

Like I was basically like I don't want to talk to that guy. Wow. Wow. Wow. And uh and we didn't talk from the time that I was in college until if it's okay, I'll share the story. Okay. Okay. Okay. That we didn't talk until I was in my early 30s. early 30s. early 30s. Wow. Wow. Wow. So So So like 10 years maybe. A little more than 10 years. Wow. I mean that'll cause some gut issues. So like what you described a moment ago of like shame, sadness, that's how I felt.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so then the way that I dealt with it, I think other people handled these things in different ways. So for me it was like I'm going to show you achieve achieve achieve I'm going to show you with such ridiculous achievements ridiculous achievements ridiculous achievements that you won't be able to deny. Wow. Wow. Wow. Right. So, I mean, anger fueled. anger fueled. anger fueled. Yeah, kind of. Yeah, I can relate. So, I I um I accomplished everything and more that I could have possibly accomplished.

I I went to the number one my number one choice for residency for internal medicine, Northwestern, I out of 60 brilliant doctors that I would beg to be my own doctor if I needed someone, I actually won the highest award out of all of them. And then I went on a grant with the NIH at the at like arguably the number one school of public health in the country at the University of North Carolina. So I was like working at the school of public health on this grant from the NIH.

Right. So all these things are happening. Well, you know what? While you're not talking to your dad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. While I'm not talking to my dad. But you know what? None of it made me happy. I was sad. I had extremely low self-esteem. Um, and then, uh, simultaneously the work of the hospital, it caught up to me. You know, I was working 80 to 100 hours a week, sometimes 30 hours in a row. And, uh, and when I when I did have free time, I ate junk food because it tasted good.

Quick. Yeah. Yeah. And it was quick and it was cheap and and I liked it. Mhm. And and when I had a day off, I got drunk drunk drunk and and it was just and I look back on it and I didn't even understand. It's like so obvious how sad I was. So anyway, what changed? So I I wasn't comfortable with sharing the story in Fiberfield, my first book, which came out in 2020. It was super easy for me to be like, "Yeah, I changed my diet.

Hey, everything's good. everything's good. everything's good. Everything's good." Right? like like this this change. Okay, don't get me wrong. Changing my diet was a lot. Helped a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. But there's still something that's underlying that you know that you haven't addressed. haven't addressed. haven't addressed. I had a lot that needed to be dealt with. with. with. Wow. Wow. Wow. And so And so And so when did you start dealing with it? Um not by my own choice. And if I did if I didn't if I wasn't blessed with a person that truly loved me, I don't know if it ever would have been dealt with.

dealt with. dealt with. Wow. So my wife now here we are you know um 12 years later later later and you got to get that right. You know my wife she comes into my life and she is an angel and she's exactly the person that I needed to come into my life at that moment. that moment. that moment. And she says to me, "You got to call your dad." When was this? This was like probably like early fall of 2013. of 2013. of 2013. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. So, it had been more than 10 years. years. years. Wow. Wow. Wow. Graduated college in 2002. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. She says to me, "You got to call your dad. You got to you got to reconnect with him." with him." with him." So, I pick up the phone and I call my dad dad dad and and and Lewis, he accepted me back instantly. Wow. Wow. Wow. He was so happy to hear from me. I'm sure. I'm sure. I'm sure. Totally caught off guard. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I hadn't heard his voice in more than 10 years. years. years. Holy cow. That's And so the first time that I saw him was actually at my wedding. Wow. The first time I saw him in 10 years. years. years. Holy. Holy. Holy. All right. So, we reconnect. we reconnect. we reconnect. Um, I I need to mention this. My dad was always a great dad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There are things that I didn't understand, understand, understand, of course, of course, of course, until I had children of my own.

Of course. Of course. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That like he would take I I had two younger brothers as I mentioned. He would take the three of us like every time there's a vacation from school, you get some sort of break. We're hopping in the car. We're either driving into Canada because I lived in Syracuse, New York, York, York, or we're driving down the eastern seabboard and we're going out. We're exploring the world. We're doing stuff together. Right. Three boys, just him. That's cool, That's cool, That's cool, right?

Weekends. We lived 45 minutes from the Aderondac Mountains. Okay. Friday, Friday evening, cars packed. Hop in the car into the mountains. enjoy the weekend camping together, doing all kinds of fun stuff with him. Yeah. Right. But by himself, right? No one to support him, no one to help him, help him, help him, right? right? right? Um, and the other thing that I never really picked up on until I started to go back and and and and revisit experiences from my childhood. The other thing I never picked up on is he never actually said anything bad about my mom.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Not even once. Not everything's so black and white, you know. know. know. And uh I remember one time that my grandmother, my dad's mom, she started to say something and he squashed it. Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow. He said, "You don't talk like that." Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow. And so so anyway, so you reconnect. I reconnect and we had a couple of great years together. So you have to understand like part of our connection is through sports. So I grew up in Syracuse, New York.

It's a sports town, Syracuse Orange. Um, so like we reconnected on that and like different things and uh in the summer of 2019 I I don't know if you've ever had this feeling. All I can say is is what I experienced which is that I felt compelled to go and see my dad. I had the same thing in 2019. Yeah. So in the summer of 2019, I can't understand why where why this came over me, but it did. It came over me in a like very powerful way where it's like your dad's getting old.

you just don't know how much longer he's going to be here. Why don't you go see him? And so in September of 2019, I hop on a plane, go up to Syracuse, and we had this uh really amazing weekend together. So we uh we first went to a Syracuse football game. They played the number one team in the country and they almost beat him. beat him. beat him. And then we hopped in the car and we drove up into the mountains and we went to all of our favorite places.

That's cool. That's cool. That's cool. Favorite places that we have been to. And then it's Sunday and we're coming back down from the mountains and he's supposed to take me to the airport and he diverts the car. And we go to Rome, New York, which is about an hour outside of Syracuse. And this is where my grandparents lived. And he takes me to this road and he shows me this 600 square foot house, right? He takes me around a couple blocks away. He shows me another 600 foot house.

And he tells me, "This is this is where your great-grandparents your great-grandparents your great-grandparents lived. This is where your grandparents were kids playing in the yard. This is where our family, Polish immigrants. This is where we started." Wow. Wow. Wow. He takes me to the airport. That's the last time I saw my dad. In January of of 2020, I get a phone call from the police department. department. department. He didn't show up to work and uh he had passed away over the weekend. M and so um um um the thing about it is and I share this uh partially for the people who are at home because I think that like coming out and discussing these things is important for other people to hear because I think for some of them it may impact them.

Mhm. But I also share this for you on a personal level. Uh because you're a new dad. dad. dad. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And I've uh been through the time that you and I have gotten to know each other, I've been pretty vocal about my love for being a dad and my children. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And there was a moment in my life when everything changed. everything changed. everything changed. And And And um it was the birth of my oldest daughter who is 11 now. M and there were a few things that happened in that moment for me.

So part of it was to feel the love that I had instantly that was unlike any love that I had ever experienced in my life. It was so natural. It was so authentic. And it I don't know that there's anything that she could do that would make me not love her. Wow. Wow. Wow. And you feel that instantly. It's a very special feeling. special feeling. special feeling. And that allowed me to realize that that was the way that my dad felt about me. Right. Right. Right.

And the other side to this is I think that there are aspects of our life that mature at a different pace. So like for nutrition it was like a super quick and easy for me. You know 2012 to like 2015 I was like a new man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Had like really drilled down and figured out what works for for me at least. Right. least. Right. least. Right. Um, but like being willing to realize my own mistakes is part of the personal development that was necessary necessary necessary to accept that maybe part of this issue here was actually me, right?

But also, I'm holding this child and like I don't know where she came from, but she came from somewhere. Mhm. There's a breath of life that came into this child that is completely undeniable undeniable undeniable and science will never actually be able to explain that. That's true. That's true. And so that sort of experience leads you into some bigger questions. Yes. of like understanding who I am within this broader story of everything that's unfolding and what is my purpose, why am I here, and what does it all mean and what will happen after I'm gone.

And so this led me on what was a very slow spiritual journey where I was like against it and closed off for a very long time. You're in your head, not in your heart. your heart. your heart. Yeah. And also, yes, that's actually a beautiful way to describe it, but also um I wasn't open to the possibility. No, you're based on science and facts and show me a paper on this and this is what you knew probably. Well, and I was raised Catholic raised I was raised Catholic and uh we went to church and it was just sort of the obligatory hour, of course.

of course. of course. And it was completely uninspired. Sure. Sure. Sure. And And And and also if your parents who took you there, they weren't able to figure things out and they kind of ruined your family dynamic. You're like, well, this didn't work for them, so why am I going to do this? Yeah. And I had a thing happen where because my parents were divorced, so we would we would um drive, you know, and this is upstate New York where like snow can drop hard and fast all at once.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And because you can get lake effect snow and things like this, like one foot in a couple hours. Exactly. It's like it can be next level. So um so my parents were two and a half hours apart. So on Sunday evening, I would come back, but if there was a bad snowstorm, instead of taking 2 and 1/2 hours, it might take 4 hours. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Right. to get home. And so I was going to be confirmed and there was a rehearsal for the confirmation for the ceremony ceremony ceremony and I showed up late because no one did anything wrong but like because my parents are divorced.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So I show up late and apparently the uh the priest I'm not going to name his name but he had given instructions of like this is what I need you to say when you come to the altar. And it was very explicitly said like, "You better know this." And you didn't know it because you got I didn't know it. I wasn't there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I go up to the altar and he says, "What do you have to say?" And you were like, "Oh, I have no clue." Whack.

Whack. Whack. No way. No way. No way. Oh man. Oh man. Oh man. I mean, honestly, that's rough. that's rough. that's rough. I've never had an adult hit me. Oh my gosh. This hard. This hard. This hard. How old were you? Probably 16, 15. Oh man, that's unfortunate. That's sad. Boom. Boom. Boom. That is unfortunate. So, so for me it was was was trauma there for sure. A huge trauma there. there. there. Well, I mean I don't I don't know if if if like if like if like there's an embarrassment, there's a there definitely was embarrassment wrong with me.

There's a shame. Yeah. All that stuff. stuff. stuff. I mean, but at a minimum at a minimum, it set me so far back spiritually because it was basically like, yo, I'm not like this. I'm good. I'm good. Right. So, where you at now? So, yeah. So for me I think like between the birth of my child between building this family and then these bigger questions and then having to process and resolve the the death of my father right so where did my daughter's soul come from but where did my dad's soul go where is he and why am I here right right right so um that actually has led me to actually a wonderful place and yes and I um I share this because in the chapter I do talk about trauma I do talk about human connection and our need for human connection which was really exemplified in the story of me and my dad, right?

Like there was it was a broken connection that I I in order to be healthy and happy and and my best version of myself, I needed to reestablish that. But the other but the other the other factor here is that I actually think that for me I'm just speaking for myself that I haven't really felt fully like myself until I started to lean in and open up my heart. And as I've done that and I'm not telling people what to believe because the truth is that like outward organized religion is not actually what I'm talking about right now.

Right. Right. What I'm talking about is an intimate conversation between you and something bigger that occurs during the quiet times by yourself. yourself. yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Wow. Wow. Wow. Because that's what really matters. That's what really matters. And then all the other stuff you can use to support that relationship. that relationship. that relationship. Of course. Of course. Of course. Right. So for me it has just been this beautiful healing beautiful healing beautiful healing wow wow wow season. And so for me, so like Lewis as a medical doctor, I mean, I I acknowledge that there's uh absolute barriers to some of these conversations, right?

Where it's like people see it as a big risk. Rich Roll was like, whoa. Like I did not expect that, right? You're taking a risk there. And but what I said to him and what I what I'm saying to you and the listeners is I am a medical doctor. I am here to heal. that is my mission. That is my purpose. I'm completely aligned on my purpose. It's a beautiful thing for me, right? right? right? But if I if I'm going to fulfill that purpose, then I have to follow through on these things even when it's hard to say say say 100%.

100%. 100%. And so so this honest conversation is really about helping people to heal and the acknowledgement that healing comes in many places and it can be the four workh horses. workh horses. workh horses. Sure. Sure. Sure. Right. Or it could be circadian rhythm or it could be supplement stacks. These are all chapters in the book, but what I'm saying is there's also healing that comes for your soul, from from your connections to other people, the ones you love, you love, you love, right? And to lean into that.

What is the chapter in the book called? Uh, so chapter eight. So it's it's chapter eight and and basically it's called mindbody healing. Mind body healing. Now, where's your relationship with the Catholic faith or your faith now? It's an amazing an amazing an amazing like you've healed that moment, that trauma from that priest that did that and you feel like you've reconnected to that faith or is it I've connected to it. I don't I don't consider myself Catholic and but I actually don't have any problem whatsoever with the Catholic Church.

Where I have come to is that organized religion, we have to be willing to see that on both a micro level like this getting slapped by a priest, priest, priest, right? Or on a macro level like cover-ups and things like this, right? or or there's history, right? There's tons of history of stuff in every religion. Yeah. religion. Yeah. religion. Yeah. Yes. Uh we have to be willing to see that these are the flaws of humans. Yes. Yes. Yes. Right. That humans that are trying they they may think that they're right or whatever, but whatever, but whatever, but they can make mistakes, right?

But that has nothing to do nor should you allow that to stand in the way of something that's so beautiful, special that you absolutely need in your life. And I'm I'm of the belief that people are starving for this which is a relationship with a higher power. You should not allow those outward things. So then once you cultivate that inside of you, there's going to be a natural desire to express it outwardly and that comes through these forms of like you know spiritual practice. practice. practice.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Right. So for me I don't I don't I don't consider myself Catholic but I do consider myself Christian. Yes. I do there's a whole different conversation that like is not really what I came to talk about of like my belief in the Bible, right? My belief in Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, right? So, I have my my right? So, I have my my feelings there. feelings there. feelings there. Do you feel like your your immune system and your gut microbiome are healthier because you have a strong belief in Jesus and God?

I know I know I know it's not I think I know and and it's completely backed by science 100%. Yeah. So, so let me be clear. I am not proposing a health hack where you find God for help. Not at all. Right. This is not a transactional thing. Right. This is so much more beautiful, special and powerful. But if you look at people who are more faithful, faithful, faithful, they are less depressed, they are more optimistic for the future, they have better emotional processing, they're able to deal, they're more resilient, they they live longer, and there's many different forms of disease that are associated with lower risk.

And and to bring it full circle and not to like turn this into a a science lesson because I I actually love where we went with this, but there still is like the the faith and the science. They're both there and that's okay. They because they can both exist. Yes. And and the science says that what's happening whether it's through our spiritual practices, reading the Bible, attending a service, singing in synchrony with other people, right? Spiritual music, dancing, dancing, dancing, chanting, things like that. All these things, they're activations of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the rest, digest, and I feel safe.

safe. safe. Yes. Yes. Yes. part that is the counterpoint to the sympathetic. So we talked about the sympathetic being activation. Now I'm saying safety exists, safety and healing exists in your parasympathetic. So those are examples. But then in our human connection, connection, connection, holding hands, hugging, right? Feeling bonded to your partner, intimacy with a partner that you actually love, not just do not just it's not sport, right? These things actually are also activations of our parasympathetic nervous system. So, and then like uh the question that you asked me that has taken me an hour.

This is the most divergent answer of all time. You asked me like what is the thing that you can do and you asked me about food, but I'm actually going to divert away from food. And what I'm going to say is like in the moment of stress where your sympathetic nervous system is firing, you can breathe. Mhm. So all of these different forms of breath work that you hear people talk about whether it's um whether it's Wimhof Wimhof Wimhof or you hear Andrew Hubman talk about techniques or it's in in my space as a gastronologist we use techniques called diaphragmatic breathing right which are basically meant to really force your diaphragm to pull air into your lungs with deep breaths in through the nose out through the lips.

Um, these breath by itself has the ability to activate our vagus nerve, which can take the foot off of the gas and put it on the brake and allow you to get into rest and digest and safety mode. mode. mode. To recap and acknowledge what I'm hearing you say is that we can apply all the strategies in your book, Plant Power Plus, to activate the power of your gut to tame inflammation and reclaim your health. There's lots of supplements, foods, and strategies that we can't implement.

But it sounds like if you're looking for ultimate health, ultimate freedom and healing, then revisiting and healing the traumas of the past and integrating them in a healthy way in your life so that you feel you've resolved them and they don't hurt you anymore. along with connecting to God or a higher power and having a beautiful relationship and faith in God or a higher power. Those two things are just as powerful if not more powerful than any type of food hack, sleep, sunlight that you can get in your life.

For a lot of people, that's the healing that they so desperately need. 100%. I know what your next book is about. It's about that whole chapter and going deeper on science and faith. I feel like that is what you said people are starving for. Obviously, they're starving to eat healthier foods because people are sick. But there is an underlying root cause of that sickness, that disease that I feel like which is a lack of faith, a lack of spiritual connection connection connection um and a lack of healing the emotional, psychological, sexual traumas that people have faced in their past.

And when we can heal the past and when we can find meaning of our faith and find a relationship with our faith, I feel like that's when true freedom comes in people's mind body connection. That's when the immune system relaxes. Like you said, that's when you aren't on fight orflight mode constantly. It doesn't mean everything's going to be perfect, but you can have more tools to address life's challenges. And so I hope that is the next book you talk about and research because that is the thing that people need the most.

So I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna count on you in three years to have Don't be mad at me if I don't. But no, it's funny because I had Andrew Hubman on my show a couple months ago and most of the conversation was around his spiritual practice and how it's actually helped him heal and feel better. better. better. I think it's a game changer. I think it's a game changer. I didn't expect it. I did not expect it, but it has changed my life and it allows me to be actually a far more resilient person.

Yes. Yes. Yes. And um and the best version of myself show up every day. I hope more medical practitioners listen to this and start applying this to their practice for themselves so that they can also just communicate better and see people differently and connect with people on a on a spiritual level even and also bring the science and the medicine to it as well. Hopefully hopefully people listen to this and watch it um and start doing that. Your book, Plantpowered Plus, is a powerful reminder on how to activate the power of your gut to tame inflammation and reclaim your health.

I hope everyone gets a copy of this book because a lot of people in the world are sick and uh we need people to get healthier and there's tools that they can do here that'll support them. All of the tools are laid out. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, they are evidence-based and they are available so that you get to choose, right? It's on the table. You pick and choose what are the things that you're gonna pick up off that table and introduce it to your life. Yes. Yes.

Yes. And if you do that, if you have the audacity audacity audacity to try something different and you do that, you will feel I promise you, you will feel the difference. And when you do, you will know you're on to something and you're going to want more. And there's there will be even more for you. you. you. You can keep doing it. Yes. They can get the book everywhere. Books are sold. your YouTube channel, the gutalth MD, also the gutalth MD on social media and the gutalthmd.com.

the gutalthmd.com. the gutalthmd.com. You've got a great newsletter. You have recommendations for you've got a great supplement company that supports people that can help them with their gut as well. Uh, and so much great content that you have online. What else can we uh where else can we follow or support you with this journey? Well, you've quite thoroughly laid it out, so I do appreciate that. Um, look, I to me this is about uh an opportunity to continue the conversation beyond this show, show, show, right?

So, I I would encourage people completely free tools, come to my website, sign up for my newsletter, grab the book. If you borrow it from the library, library, library, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and and you read it, trust me, I'm not upset at all because what I want is I want your time. I want your attention. I want the opportunity. I just want that chance that I could change your life, right? Because that's what like that's what I'm trying to do here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, and then once you do that, then just know like I'm here for you and I want to keep working and I got there's many years in front of me.

I'm 45 years old. There you go. So, let's keep rolling. I'm telling you that next book before you're 50, that's got to be on somewhere and your journey. I'm telling you, it's got to be. If you're saying that's what people are starving the most for, then you're perfectly positioned to serve people with that journey with your own personal experiences. Well, maybe it's a couple maybe it's a couple articles to start or something like that. But that. But that. But see what happens before. You know what's interesting is that all of the conversations that as I've been I've been I've been leading into this, right?

Because this is this is what ultimately like what are people want to talk about? That's what they need, man. It's what they need. Well, I asked you this the last time. I'm curious whether it is now uh after this book is out and after this conversation, but what would you say if you get to live as long as you want, but at the end of the day, you only get to share three lessons with the world and we don't have access to your books or your work or your newsletters anymore, but it's many years in the future, last day on earth for you, and you get to leave behind three truths.

What would those truths be for you? To me, number one, you need to figure out who you are and what your purpose is. And once you identify that, you should never stop. Never stop in the pursuit of that purpose. That's who you are. That's what you were meant to do. So that's number one. Number two, don't forget where you came from, came from, came from, right? The people who have supported you, right? The people who made you who you are today. There's an entire story there.

It's not just this moment. There's a build generations of people before you who led up to who you are. Never forget those connections. Never forget the importance of the other people in your life because honestly all the other bull. Sorry for the profanity. Hello. Hello. Hello. all that, the money, the fame, the power, he will never bring you the joy that you get from those people. Yes. Yes. Yes. That brought you to where you are today. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And last but not least, know with absolute clarity that you are a part of something bigger, better, and it is gorgeous.

It is beautiful. So even the idea Louis I mean I don't want we're at the end so I don't want to like introduce a new topic for debate or discussion but discussion but discussion but um even the idea of living forever I get it it it but at the same time where my dad is right now one day I'll be with him I'll be able to say the things that I need to say to him. Wow. Wow. Wow. And you know what else he'll meet his grandchildren.

grandchildren. grandchildren. Wow. That's beautiful. That's beautiful man. And I want to acknowledge you uh Will for opening up the way you have been. And I think again I hope you keep sharing like this because I think this is what people are starving for to hear these types of conversations and stories specifically from a medical professional like yourself at the highest level who is used to research and you know studies and data and science to hear spirituality come from you and how this is the ultimate level of healing based on what I'm hearing you say for you and the ultimate level of joy and fulfillment and love.

That's what we want. Sure, we want to be healthy and happy, but it's like the ultimate levels of joy come from what you just talked about because I think it's where we get ultimate peace, freedom, and healing from is that connection. So, I appreciate you. I'm grateful for you. And my final question will is what is your definition of greatness? I think I go back to this idea of living your life with purpose, right? If you are aligned with your purpose, anything that you do, anything is greatness.

is greatness. is greatness. There you go. Well, thank you, man. Appreciate it. Powerful. That's great. It's awesome. It's awesome. It's awesome. But I want people to understand that here we exist where 95% of Americans, 95% are deficient in fiber. This is our most prevalent nutritional deficiency. And fiber is what actually leads to the release of GLP-1. GLP1 is what exactly? GLP1 is glucon like peptide