YOU: The Owner's Manual

Meltem Ece Kars, MD, PhD is a postdoctoral researcher at the Personalized Medicine Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. Her research at the Itan Lab focuses on identifying the genetic underpinnings of complex disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease and congenital heart disease using genetic and phenotype data from individuals with diverse ancestral origins.

Patrick K. Porter, PhD is an award-winning author, educator, consultant, entrepreneur, and speaker. With 20 years of experience operating the largest self-help franchise in the world, he has become a highly sought-after expert within the personal improvement industry, having sold over 3 million of his self-help products worldwide. Dr. Porter has been on the cutting edge of brainwave entrainment technology for 32 years. He was a co-developer of the MC2, the first personal light & sound brain training machine, voted “Best New Gadget of the Year” at the 1989 Consumer Electronics Show. And his team was voted the “Best New Health APP” at 2019 Consumer Electronic Show.

His newest brain-training platform, BrainTap is distinctively designed to activate the brain’s neuroplasticity. The BrainTap headset uses light & sound technology in combination with Dr. Porter’s proprietary guided visualization audio-sessions to help people achieve brain fitness, overcome stress, lose weight, stop smoking, manage pain, accelerate learning, enjoy superb sleep and make any number of lifestyle improvements. Additionally, he offers personal improvement providers a turnkey system for helping their clients achieve these same goals, and more. Dr. Porter also is dean of mind-based studies at the International Quantum University of Integrative Medicine (IQUIM).

https://braintap.com/

A deadly secret lurks within our spice racks, medicine cabinets, backyard gardens, and private stashes. Scratch beneath the surface of a red pepper flake, a poppy seed, a magic mushroom cap, or an apple seed, and we find a bevy of strange chemicals. We use these to greet our days (caffeine), cure our infections (penicillin), calm our nerves (CBD), and even kill our enemies (cyanide). But why do plants and fungi produce such chemicals? And how did we come to use and abuse some of them? Based on cutting-edge research, MOST DELICIOUS POISON: The Story of Nature's Toxins—From Spices to Vices by Noah Whiteman (October 24, 2023; Hardcover) reveals the origins of toxins produced by plants, mushrooms, microbes, and even some animals, the mechanisms that animals evolved to overcome them, and how a co-evolutionary arms race made its way into the human experience, forever changing the trajectory of humanity. This perpetual chemical war not only drove the diversification of life on Earth but is also intimately tied to our own successes and failures as individuals and as a species. You will never look at a houseplant, mushroom, fruit, vegetable, or even human history, the same way again. Among other topics, the following surprising phenomena are discussed:

 • Pain – caused by toxins – activates a circuit deep in our brains, subsequently creating feelings of pleasure and generating a feedback loop associated with addiction.

• Endorphins are opioids made in the brains of all animals, including our own. These opioids evolved to alleviate pain and are triggered by spices like black pepper and wasabi.

• Many toxins mimic our own hormones and neurotransmitters. These include caffeine, cardiac glycosides, opioids, psilocybin, and THC, which bind to receptors needed to run our brains and hearts, twisting a molecular logic born into our animal ancestors 500 million years ago.

• Nature’s toxins did not evolve with us in mind at all – plants, fungi, and microbes compete to evolve the next best defense, which their animal enemies eventually overcome and may co-opt as weapons.

As deadly fungi make national headlines, our current reality eerily resembles a sci-fi movie in which evolutionary biologists like Noah Whiteman are essential in demystifying the unknown and revealing the origins, mechanisms, and nature of toxins. Furthermore, the sensational reaction to The Last of Us and books like Entangled Life, I Contain Multitudes, and Wicked Plants demonstrate a strong curiosity and appetite for tales about hidden (and sometimes gruesome) aspects of the natural world, and how they shape the human condition.

Previously featured in The New York Times, Nature, Science, Scientific American, and Popular Science, Noah Whiteman received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2020 to write this book. In his own words, “In my mind, I am scientist, colleague, brother, son, uncle, husband, and friend first. But I am also a gay, first-generation college student with rural, rust-belt roots. To my knowledge, I was the first out LGBTQIA+ tenured faculty member in my department at the University of Arizona and the same is true now at the University of California, Berkeley, in Integrative Biology.”

https://www.mostdeliciouspoison.com/

Today we sit down with gastroenterologist Dr. Haleh Pazwash as she shares tips on topics such as: how to maintain a healthy gut and avoid tummy upset during a heat wave; summer safety tips to keep your gut health in check; and food safety tips from outdoor entertaining to advice on travel. She will also cover:

How to ID food poisoning – signs, symptoms, treatment and prevention plus the 101 on mayo and summer sun
Dehydration & heat stroke – best beverages to keep you from wilting in the summer heat plus signs, symptoms, treatment and prevention
Travel & your tummy – from jet lag to Montezuma’s revenge, how to enjoy your summer vacation while maintaining “regularity”

Long COVID Awareness Day was on March 15. The day highlighted the far-reaching effects of this disabling, chronic, and sometimes lethal disease worldwide, and sound the alarm for governments to accelerate the search for effective treatment. Long COVID means that post-infection symptoms persist for at least three months after contracting COVID-19—and may significantly impair one’s ability to perform day-to-day activities.

Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, co-author of the new book called You Can Heal From Long COVID (DEVA Publishing June 2024), is here today to discuss his new book and how you can get back to your life after long COVID.

Dr. Roizen talks about the latest health headlines that YOU need to know.

The Source: Judith Orloff, MD, is author of the new book, The Genius of Empathy: Practical Skills to Heal Your Sensitive Self, Your Relationships, and the World with Foreword by the Dalai Lama (Sounds True, April 9, 2024). Dr. Orloff is a member of the UCLA Psychiatric Clinical Faculty and a New York Times bestselling author. She’s a leading voice in the fields of medicine, psychiatry, empathy, and intuitive development. Her work has been featured on CNN, NPR, Talks at Google, TEDx, and the American Psychiatric Association. She has also appeared in USA Today; O, The Oprah Magazine; Scientific American; and The New England Journal of Medicine. She specializes in treating highly sensitive people in her private practice. Learn more at drjudithorloff.com.

Dr. Roizen talks about the latest health headlines that YOU need to know.

Marijuana and medical research: what may happen in medical research if marijuana is rescheduled, and why our understanding of marijuana's impact is now limited. The Biden administration recently proposed reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule I controlled substance to a Schedule III controlled substance, a change that acknowledges the medical benefits of the drug and would get rid of a lot of research red tape. While we currently have a basic understanding of how marijuana impacts the body and the brain, rescheduling the substance will bring more researchers to the table and make it easier to study the THC products people are currently using today.

Easy to learn and fun to play, pickleball is also a surprisingly athletic sport. In this user-friendly book, fitness superstars, the Brungardt brothers, focus their expertise on the needs of pickleball players of all levels, applying the same innovative training methods they’ve used with NBA MVPs, Cy Young Award-winners, and Olympic and tennis champions, to make picklers more athletic and injury-resistant.

To safely reach your pickleball potential, health and fitness professionals agree that the sport should not be your only form of exercise. To fill this critical gap, the Brungardts have created PB-150, a comprehensive program that delivers all the components of an elite pro training center experience—with the fun and flexibility of the pickleball spirit.

The Complete Book of Pickleball brings together a dream team of experts in the fields of strength and conditioning, sports movement, sports vision, physical therapy, sports psychology, athletic training, performance nutrition, and sports medicine. Along with the Brungardts, these experts will coach you through an interactive, easy-to-follow, holistic workout. Combining your passion for the game with the PB-150 training program gives you a portal into all the transformative benefits of exercise, while allowing you to enjoy the game you love, for a lifetime.