Methylation has been a popular topic in the alternative health world for quite some time. The ease of access to genetic testing and the ability to look at things like the MTHFR gene have led many people to be concerned about their methylation status, or their body’s ability to detoxify. However—as with many things in functional medicine—genes don’t tell the full story. Today I talk with methylation expert Dr. Kara Fitzgerald about the impact of diet and lifestyle on methylation and why supplementation can sometimes be harmful.

The message that “cholesterol is bad” is out of date and doesn’t match the most recent scientific evidence. Today I discuss the six underlying causes of high cholesterol and how to address them.

One of the questions I get most frequently is how someone can become a functional medicine practitioner. There is an incredibly wide range of roles that lend themselves to this career.

Pneumonia is a difficult illness at best—and it’s a frightening one when it strikes an elderly family member. This hit close to home with me recently after my father developed pneumonia during a hospital stay. In today’s podcast, I discuss the botanical treatments I used to get him back to health quickly.

When discussing health and healing, it’s easy to focus on things like diet and exercise. But we aren’t just physical beings—we are spiritual and emotional beings as well. In today’s podcast, I discuss how our emotions can affect our health and why focusing on emotional well-being may be a key part of the healing process.

Everyone knows that exercise plays an important role in health. However, fatigue is a common symptom of those recovering from “adrenal fatigue,” also known as HPA axis dysfunction. So how do you exercise when you feel exhausted? Read on to learn about the concept of metabolic reserve and how it can help you to build back up to your previous energy levels.

Anxiety can significantly impact quality of life. While the conventional medicine approach focuses on balancing neurotransmitters in the brain, the functional medicine approach is to look for the root cause. Today I’ll discuss the top three pathologies that can contribute to anxiety, as well as steps you can take to correct these issues.

Bipolar disorder affects over 5 million Americans. While conventional medical treatment usually focuses on neurotransmitters in the brain, the functional medicine focus is on the underlying causes. Today I’ll explore the link between bipolar disorder and chronic inflammation, as well as the most common causes of inflammation, and how it can be treated.

It seems like almost every week there is a new article published documenting the negative environmental or ethical implications of consuming animal foods. But there are a lot of inaccuracies and misconceptions on this topic that get repeated by the mainstream media. So this week I spoke with Diana Rogers, a dietician and organic farmer who regularly writes about animal welfare and environmental issues in the food system, to set the record straight.

As you know, I treat a lot of patients with gastrointestinal issues. Two of the most challenging conditions to treat are methane-predominant SIBO and constipation-predominant IBS. Join me as I talk with Dr. Kenneth Brown, a practicing physician and clinical researcher who has been specializing in treating these conditions for the past 15 years. We discuss the drawbacks of existing treatments and a new product that Dr. Brown has developed, called Atrantil.