Building Your Foundation: A Functional Podcast

Join us today as we take a deeper dive into the Gut-Brain interaction and role of GI Psychology in optimizing management for gut-related health issues.  We are learning more everyday about the  bidirectional interactions between our brain and our gastrointestinal system and microbiome.    We welcome a special guest to the Thrive Healthcare podcast as we further educate our listeners on building a healthy foundation. Dr. Elyse Thakur is a clinical health psychologist, who specializes in treating gastrointestinal disorders. She has developed a GI psychology program in the Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at Atrium Health in Charlotte, NC. She is involved in clinical care, teaching and research. Her areas of interest include integrative medicine, implementation science, and novel approaches to care. She graduated with her PhD from Wayne State University, where she completed a randomized trial for her dissertation focused on “The Effects of Emotional Awareness and Expression Training and Relaxation Training for People with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.” She went on to complete her predoctoral internship at Baylor College of Medicine and then a fellowship at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, where she was grant funded to develop a “Referral Toolkit for the Behavioral Health Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome” – this toolkit was designed to help GI providers refer patients with IBS to behavioral health services . Dr. Thakur is passionate about treating patients with GI conditions and thinking creatively how to provide the best care possible.

GI issues account for 10% of doctors visits and digestive issues have reached epidemic levels in the US.    Our gut health has really changed with all the changes in the environment.  The health of our gut is related the health of our gut barrier and the health of our microbiome.  A disruption in either of these can lead to not only gastrointestinal problems but also systemic problems throughout the body.  In fact, it is safe to say that you are only as healthy as your gut.  Join us in this month's episode as we take a deeper look at the top triggers that are disrupting our  gut health.

One tool we can use to look deeply into a patient's health and to personalize our recommendations are the labs and tests we check. Often patients get a basic biometric panel which can be limited, especially if there are health concerns or issues. These basic biometric tests are really designed to diagnose disease- not look for underlying causes which may be leading to symptoms. When we rely on the basic tests, we could be missing early signs which lie underneath the surface. We routinely run what we call functional labs which are more in-depth and look into the functioning of the body. 

Today we will be diving into Insulin!  Join us with our special guests from Thrive to take a deeper look at the role of insulin with your overall health.  Learn tips on diet and lifestyle measures to directly impact and optimize your insulin levels.  You won't want to miss this episode! 

We get it. We're all a little sick hearing about COVID. However, it's top of mind with many of our patients. We feel it's our obligation to provide you with unbiased information on the pandemic, including new strains (Delta), treatments, and what's on the horizon as well as answer some of the more persistent questions we hear in the office.We also want to share what you can be doing Foundationally to boost your immune system to keep you safe during the pandemic. 

Sleep, there's so much to talk about. Sleep is a foundational issue for everyone but 1 in 3 people have issues with it. The numbers are there, we need more good sleep.Join Dr. Nancy Palermo and Dr. Amy Fletcher as they talk about the quality of and efficiency of your sleep and how to improve both in our first ever Foundational Podcast!