In August 1993, I was among 100 medical students who poured into an auditorium to hear our first lecture of our medical careers. The professor was a crusty old surgeon who announced the following...."Hippocrates famously said 'no manner of brains was worth a good set of bowels' ....who amoung you is eager to become a surgeon?" A few scattered hands went up. "Good. Now how are the rest of you going to justify to your parents the price of medical school and yet never become a true physician?"

I did not realize how impactful those words were going to be to my approach to medicine. As a research microbiologist I thought understood GI tract bacteria -they were the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. They helped digest food, they provided nutrient co-factors, and yet they could kill if given the opportunity. As a Surgeon, however, I began to realize what Hippocrates was saying. The gut is the central aspect of the human body and all thoughts and functions proceed from there. Over the last 28 years a series of studies have shown the importance of the Microbiome in controlling inflammatory pathways, endocrine responses, and even cognition.

The key to normalizing weight, minimizing automimmune responses, improving skin and hair texture, and even preventing Alzheimers disease lies in the GI tract. Here are a few steps you can take to improve the gut ecosystem to help improve your health, appearance, and mental sharpness.

1. Consider taking probiotics. There are foods that contain these healthy bacteria, but you can also consume them in pill form. If you take a pill- find one with Lactobacillus, Bifdobacterium, and Saccharomyces boulardii.

2. Chew your food thoroughly. The more you chew your food, the easier it is to digest. When you chew your food thoroughly, you increase the amount of surface area your digestive juices are able to attack. This creates far less stress for your digestive system to deal with.

3. Eat a healthy clean diet. Processed foods and artifical sweetenders actually kill the microbiome allowing pathogenic bacteria to overgrow.

4. Eat your fiber. The recommendation from the medical community is 25-35 grams per day. Take a supplement if needed. Soluble fiber from clean food sources acts as a "prebiotic" or food for the microbiome to promote healthy equilibrium among bacterial species.

5. Relax! Stress is hard on every part of your body, and that includes your gut. Minimizing the amount of stress in your life can do wonders for your overall health. Either remove the sources of your stress or learn how to relax in spite of the stress in your life.

6. Sleep. Your overall health, including your gut health, improves when you get enough sleep. If you’re not getting at least seven hours each night, you need more sleep.

7. Reduce sugar intake. Sugar is considered by many scientists to be a toxin. It can be damaging to all the cells of your body. As mentioned earlier, artificial sweeteners allow certain types of bad bacteria in your gut to become too prevalent in your body.

8. Eat fermented foods. Fermented foods are essentially probiotics in food form. Yogurt and sauerkraut are two of the most common examples. Miso, kefir, tempeh, pickles, and kimchi are other options. Eat more fermented foods, and your gut will thank you.

9. Try a plant-based diet. Many people struggle with meat and dairy products. You might find that your digestive system feels and behaves better when you focus on plant-based foods.

10. Consume bone broth. You can purchase bone broth in the store, but the best broth is made at home. There are plenty of recipes available online.

If you crave sweets, have difficulty concentrating, have gained weight, suffer from fatigue but have difficulties sleeping, have GI distress, or have poor skin complexion, you very likely have a failing Microbiome!

We support a whole food supplement company called Standard Process that has a Microbiome test kit and an entire line of products available online to help you get back on track. Click here and use my Physician code 8SYH34 in the Patient Direct Registration Form. I have to approve your access to these medical grade food supplements.

Standard Process is known for their use of food sources to help combat illness and promote health. For the Gut ReBoot process however consider