In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why do certain foods present issues for us at certain times but not others?

Alex Martinez is a father, husband, CEO, chairman, and co-founder of Intrinsic Medicine. He is “an entrepreneur inspired to make a public health impact informed by his own patient journey.” He grew up in the Bronx with an incredibly hard-working Puerto Rican and Dominican family. However, things changed for their family when Alex’s father made it into medical school. Alex was born ill and spent time in the NICU, but despite the odds, his parents never lost hope. Alex’s family followed his father's career around the country, and they landed on a farm where he grew up, learned the value of hard work, and immersed himself in the beauty of nature.

Before founding Intrinsic Medicine, Alex was “putting out fires” at a biotechnology company in California, where he was dealing with potentially fatal side effects in late-stage clinical studies. He decided that the job didn’t align with his values. It began to take a toll on him, so he left to start a different kind of biotech founded upon the ancient “first, do no harm” principles by finding safe, natural compounds that would address the two largest issues at the core of the health issues most people are facing today: immune systems and microbiomes being dysregulated. 

Alex started Intrince Medicine because he needed it first. He had decades-long GI issues, and soon after he founded Intrinsic Medicine in July of 2018, he started having pain every time he ate, leading to the rapid loss of 40 pounds. After some scans and tests, his doctors told him he had a mass in his abdomen attached to his GI system. What started as searching for an ulcer became a potential cancer evaluation. They tried various diagnostic approaches but eventually had to do surgery that resulted in about 2 feet of his bowel being cut out. Weeks after the surgery, Alex was rehospitalized for five days with a bowel impaction that could have been fatal. At the hospital, he was flushed with antibiotics, discharged five days later, and shocked to find that there was no long-term support. He knew then he would have to rebuild his microbiome alone using the very science underlying his new therapeutics. He got some supplement versions of the compounds he intended to develop as drugs and became Patient Zero for Intrinsic Medicine. Alex has been on the compounds ever since and says it has been transformative for him and his IBS. 

Like Alex and many of us, Mathew has also struggled with GI issues throughout his life and shares his experience. He asks why certain foods present issues for certain people but not others and how stress impacts our guts. 70% of the immune system is in the gut, and the gut is connected to the brain, so sometimes what feels good for you one day may not be good the next day, depending on dozens of other factors. Thankfully, Alex gives us some action items we can all start today. Keep a food journal to see where you are, be mindful of your fiber intake, and use the Bristol stool scale to monitor what is happening with your body. Alex wraps up with his take on pre-and probiotics, the research about human milk sugars, and what formula we should use for babies if we cannot breastfeed.

“Know thy poops.”

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why do certain foods present issues for us at certain times but not others?

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Follow the podcast: 

• Listen on Apple Podcasts (link: https://apple.co/3s1YH7h) 

Resources:

• IntrinsicMedicine.com 

Connect with Mathew Blades: 

• Twitter - twitter.com/MathewBlades

Additional Credits:

• LFPWLI is managed by Sam Robertson