Addressing gut health issues with leading Gastroenterologist Dr Alan Desmond, MD

In Episode 56 I sit down with Gastroenterologist Dr Alan Desmond to talk about restoring and maintaining good digestive health with healthy eating habits. With digestive health issues like IBS, IBD, Coeliac and SIBO on the rise globally understanding how to take control of your own gut health is enormously important.

In this episode we specifically covered:

• How Alan ended up in the Medical world & what his training was like
• Why he has a passion for gut health and what fascinates him about this area of medical practice
• Lots and lots of scientific evidence to support health eating habits
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Chron's & Ulcerative colitis), colon cancer, IBS, SIBO
• Specific studies on IBD and a Whole Food Plant Based Diet
• What foods he recommends his patients and the general population eat more of and what he recommends people eat less of
• What the typical western diet looks like compared to optimal diet for gut health
• What he makes of various mainstream eating trends like paleo & keto and what scientific evidence supports these methods of eating from a gut health perspective or other
• Veganism and gut health issues
• Lectins and the 'Plant Paradox'
• Low fibre diets
• Artificial sweeteners and emulsifeiers
• Probiotics & prebiotics
• Tips for healthfully transitioning to a diet richer in plants and managing an increase in fibre
• Bowel movements & frequency: what is indicative of good health
• and loads more

It's a jam packed episode friends. I always say this but either bring a note pad to your first listening session or come back with a notepad when you listen to it for a second time. If you haven't already please connect with Alan on Instagram. He posts loads and loads of science and helpful tips every week that you will greatly benefit from (I know I do!).

If you enjoyed this episode and want further info on gut health I highly recommend Episode 17 that I recorded previously with my good friend Dr Will Bulciewisz.

Resources:

Here is a bunch of studies and other resources that Alan and I spoke about in this episode.

1 - EAT Lancet Report on eating for human health & planetary health
2 - Health Canada's 2019 food recommendations
3 - 2019 Lancet study on fibre and health outcomes
4 - Happy Gut course with Happy pear (Use the code PLANTPROOF20 which will give you 20% off their course)
5 - 2019 BMJ study on fat intake and gut microbiome diversity (spoken about in outro)

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Simon Hill
Creator of plantproof.com - your 100% free resource for Plant Based Information