#182 Heal Your Gut with Dr Will Bulsiewicz
1st Feb 2023
I’ve spoken to 1000s of people about nutritional medicine in clinic. In most part, people who optimise their plates to contain more fibre, mostly plants and variety tend to thrive.
They feel better, lighter, happier and in many cases it sparks a new zest for life. The trick is helping people maintain a habit of eating well consistently (which by the way is why I developed my app).
But for the minority, the opposite is true. Whatever healthy items they include in their diet … their body reacts negatively. And it can set them up for a life of restriction, anxiety around eating a diverse collection of ingredients and a digestive system that is intolerant to many foods.
If this is you. You’re not alone. And there are solutions. It doesn’t require a barrage of investigations, intolerance tests and supplements but it does require motivation and persistence.
My guest today is Dr. Will Bulsiewicz (or “Dr. B”) a gastroenterologist and the New York Times-bestselling author of Fiber Fueled and The Fiber Fueled Cookbook. He sits on the Scientific Advisory Board of ZOE, has authored more than twenty articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and you’ll find him on social media as the @theguthealthmd and his website theplantfedgut.com.
This is a long episode so for those of you who want the TLDR here it is.
Fibre is super important
It has connections with immune health, mental health, cognition, heart health and inflammation.
Everyone’s gut is unique and a diverse diet with mostly plants is a great starting point.
However … many people have gut microbe imbalances that prevent them from eating a diversity of foods and particularly foods with high amounts of fibre that are paradoxically great for the gut.
If this happens to be you, a strategy for improving your guts adaptability and ultimately creating a flexible eating method that allows you to eat tons of food is to:
- Keep a food diary
- Rule out other causes such as gallbladder dysfunction or constipation
- Restrict, Observe and Reintroduce
- Consider the wider impacts of lifestyle on your gut
Episode guests
Dr. Will Bulsiewicz (or "Dr. B") is an award winning gastroenterologist, internationally recognized gut health expert and the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and Indie Bound-bestselling author of Fiber Fueled and The Fiber Fueled Cookbook.
With a passion for plants and helping people, he sits on the Scientific Advisory Board and is the U.S. Medical Director of ZOE, has authored more than twenty articles published in
peer-reviewed scientific journals, has given more than forty presentations at national meetings, presented to Congress and the USDA, and has taught over 10,000 students how to heal and optimize their gut health.
He completed a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University, a medical degree from
Georgetown University, and a master's in clinical investigation from Northwestern University. Dr.B was the chief medical resident at Northwestern and the chief gastroenterology fellow at TheUniversity of North Carolina, and received the highest award given by both his residency andfellowship. He completed an epidemiology fellowship on a grant from the National Institutes ofHealth at UNC's prestigious Gillings School of Global Public Health.
He lives in Charleston, South Carolina with his wife and children. You’ll find him on Instagram as@theguthealthmd , on Facebook as @theguthealthmd , and at his website theplantfedgut.com.
References/sources
- Access over 800 research backed recipes
- Personalise food for your unique health needs
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