Podcast appearances and mentions of erica sonnenburg

If you want to improve your digestion, your immune system, and your overall health, one might begin with a focus on a healthy gut microbiome. Today we're talking with Stanford University professor of microbiology and immunology Dr. Justin Sonnenburg, co-author of the book entitled, "The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health." He and his wife, research scientists Dr. Erica Sonnenburg, argue that our typical modern diet has caused the microbial diversity or intestine to shrink substantially. Turns out that's a big problem. Interview Summary My impression is that this field of work on the microbiome is just exploding. It seems like every day something new comes out, something exciting, some kind of major breakthrough. It's wonderful to have a leading scientist like you to join us to help explain this. Let me begin with this question. I recently read something very interesting in the article that discussed your work, namely that you've hypothesized, and this is a quote from this article, "Humans may merely be elaborate vessels "designed for the propagation of bacterial colonies." Now that's pretty interesting. Tell us more if you would? Yes, absolutely. I should note that this is an idea that has been propagated, just as microbes are propagated over time. I did say that, but I'm now attributing it to the great scientists that came before me. I will say that the microbes in our gut have been for a long time a curiosity. For hundreds of years we've known that they live there. Over time we've learned that they're affected by what we eat. We know that they're involved in digestion and gut health. But what is really phenomenal is, as you alluded to in the introduction just the ability of these microbes to impact so many dimensions of our health. Everything from our immune system, to metabolism, to things like moods, behavior, and neurodegeneration. When you start to think about microbes getting passed from generation to generation - because as a new baby is born, their gut is sterile in the womb, and then they're rapidly colonized when they come to this world largely by microbes from their mother and other adults around them - you start to realize that these microbes may actually be the ones calling the shots and dictating aspects of our biology to promote their growth through evolutionary time. It does change the way you think about this relationship in some ways. One might jump to the conclusion that microbes are a bad thing, and you'd like to have fewer of them. That's in fact what antibiotics do, they get rid of them. But we need more rather than less, and it sounds like the shrinking diversity of the microbiome is really a problem. How do our diet and lifestyles damage the vitality of the human microbiome? I'm imagining this is a 'let me count the ways question,' but what are the leading concerns in your mind? Yes, completely. I think you're right in that it's very hard to single out one particular factor, because as populations become more industrialized and embrace all of the technologies and medical practices that go along with the industrialized lifestyle, we have so many factors that can impact our microbiome. Certainly, diet is a major factor, and we can come back to this. But we know that most of the microbes in our gut reside at the far reaches of our digestive tract - at the very end of the line down in our colon in our large intestine. That means that if we're eating simple nutrients, like most of the things in a western diet - sugars, starch, fat, protein - a lot of those things get digested and absorbed in our small intestine, which leaves nothing remaining for the microbiota. It's really complex carbohydrates and dietary fiber, that serve as the major fuel for the microbiota because we can't digest those complex carbohydrates. The western diet has greatly reduced dietary fiber content, which has left a lot of our gut microbes starving. But there are other aspects of diet, certainly artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, and probably the high fat content of the western diet are not great for our microbiome. Then beyond diet, antibiotics as you mentioned known to be great for fighting infectious diseases, but not so great for maintaining all of the friendly microbes that we harbor in our body. A variety of other factors like C-sections, baby formula, the incredible sanitation in our environment, again, a lot of these things are a trade-off because we have reaped a lot of benefits from a lot of the lifestyle medical practices technologies. But at the same time, we've implemented these in the absence of understanding the importance of our gut commensals, and the other commensals on our body for our health. Now we really need to start thinking about do we need to restore diversity to this community? Certainly, we need to start thinking about taking care of the community more diligently. You mentioned in some detail how diet affects the gut, but how does it happen in the reverse? Is there a reciprocal relationship going on? Yes, it's a great question, and there are some papers that have been published looking at how gut microbes can affect food choice in model organisms like fruit flies and other organisms that are studied in the lab. We know that microbes in the gut as they metabolize things are producing a lot of interesting chemicals, little metabolites that get absorbed into our bloodstream can circulate through our body. Certainly, some of them cross the blood-brain barrier and can interact with our central nervous system. Now, whether some of those molecules can actually impact our food choice, I think is an interesting topic, we don't know a lot about that. You can imagine a microbe that's really good at, for instance, degrading pectin and it might grow very well. We know there are many microbes that grow well when we, for instance, eat an apple. If that microbe happens to produce a molecule just by chance that then can go in and increase our craving for an apple, that microbe has hit the jackpot for proliferating, it can guide our actions to choose an apple and then it actually profits from the pectin that comes in when we eat the apple. While this would be a very rare quirky event to happen, when you think about the trillions of microbes that exist in every person and have existed in every person across the planet throughout time. It's possible that things like this have happened, and it's a matter of us as scientists trying to track down those stories. There's at least some optimism that there could be virtuous cycles that gets set up rather than these destructive cycles potentially. Help us place this in some sort of a context. You talked about a myriad of dietary things that could affect the microbiome, and probably other things out there in the world too. How serious is the impact? Yes, and this brings up kind of the question of what is a healthy microbiome? Has lifestyle impact that our microbiome? What would be ideal would be to have a time machine to go back, and actually survey what the microbiome looked like thousands of years ago before industrialization, and maybe even going back greater than 10,000 years to what our gut microbiome looked like when we were hunter-gatherers even before we started farming. Just to get a sense of what are the microbes that humans harbored over long periods of time during our evolution with the idea that perhaps our human genome was shaped over evolutionary time in some way by these microbes, that we have adapted our human biology to deal with the specific set of microbiome features or species. We don't have a time machine, but there have been groups that have surveyed paleo feces for instance - the fossilized stool from humans from 1 to 2000 years ago. These data indicate that the microbiome has changed drastically. As we have industrialized, we have totally departed from this more ancestral microbiome. The other way that we can gain insight into this is by looking at modern humans that live lifestyles similar to our ancestors. Hunter-gatherer populations and rural agriculturalists, and we've done a lot of work studying the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania looking at their gut microbiome. That exactly supports what the paleo feces have told us. That there were features in the microbiome from before industrialization that have changed drastically. We've lost species, they've gone extinct. Hunter-gatherers and many rural populations still harbor these microbes. We expect that there's probably around 500 to 1000 different species of bacteria in an individual's gut microbiome. We've lost hundreds of these species over the course of industrialization. Then, the flip side of that is hundreds of other species have come in and replaced them. We've actually had this kind of wholesale change in configuration in our gut microbiome, and what this means to our biology, we're trying to figure out right now, but it is a really marked change. I have to say I admire the breadth of your work all the way from basic laboratory studies to in the field studies with hunter-gatherers. I could see how your big picture view of this is really pretty unique. Let's talk about how the gut communicates with the brain, and does the health of the microbiome affect things like eating regulation? We've talked about that a little bit already, but also things like mental health. I just want to start by saying that this is a field of research that is in very early days still, we have a lot of work to do to really figure out the connections. You can imagine then the gut microbiome composed of hundreds of species, and then trillions of cells and changing over time within an individual, and different between individuals, and then secreting thousands of chemicals that go into the bloodstream. Then put on top of that the complexity of the central nervous system and brain, and then try to map the interactions between the microbiome and the central nervous system is exceedingly complex.  I think that one of the really important things to note here is that if you look at a lot of the anxiety, and depression, Alzheimer's disease, neurodegeneration in general at this center of a lot of these diseases much like other diseases of the industrialized world lies inflammation. The immune system actually becoming too inflammatory, and that leading to, you know, in some cases autoimmune diseases, but in other cases Alzheimer's disease, and/or anxiety and depression. One of the things that our lab is focused on is really trying to understand how when you change the gut microbiome, how does the immune system change? How does the inflammatory status change of the system? Because we really think that this is the key mediator of many of the things that have gone wrong including things like diabetes and metabolic syndrome.  We're now at the point of understanding that certainly if you go into an animal model and you change the gut microbiome in a major way like industrialization has changed the microbiome of people living in the United States, you completely change how the immune system functions. You can really change how an individual would react to a respiratory infection, how well they would respond to an immunotherapy if they were battling cancer, you can just completely change immune system functionality. In trying to understand this better we've started to do dietary interventions in people to see if we change the gut microbiome in beneficial ways with diet, can we make the immune system less inflammatory? We've done this so far in healthy adults, and now we're really interested in extending this into all sorts of populations that are suffering from different inflammatory diseases, including things like anxiety, and depression, and neurodegenerative diseases. We'll have more information about this. There's some beautiful fundamental research out there that shows unequivocally that the gut microbiome is regulating behaviors, and cognition, and fundamental aspects of what happens in our brain. But a lot of this has been done in animal models, and it's very hard to extend to humans in a detailed way. I can't wait to see these studies, they're just absolutely fascinating and so important. You know, something occurred to me as I was thinking about this, and this may be outside the area of work that you're focused on, but there's a lot of interest out there in the world and the impact of endocrine disrupting chemicals, or things that leach from plastics and things known as forever chemicals, and their impacts on a whole host of things like cancers, and obesity, diabetes and more. Is there any reason to worry about the microbiome in this context? Yes, completely. I think everything that we come in contact with, particularly things that we ingest, but even things that are absorbed through our skin or we inhale, the microbes that live in and on us are just incredibly sensitive detectors of everything going on in the environment. I mean, their survival depends upon it. One of the, in fact, key features of one of the first species from the gut microbiome to have its genome sequenced, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron this is a bacterial species that was sequenced in the lab of Jeffrey Gordon, it was published in 2003. One of the key interesting features of that genome was the expansion of environmental sensors that were encoded by that genome. It was very clear that this bacterium was living in a dynamic environment, and having to sense and respond to minute to minute variations in the chemical cues that were coming in. That means that when you start to change those chemical cues, you start to change the function of the microbiome because those sensors that those bacterial encode are wired into their function and how they behave. This is again, hypothesis, but I think your question is a a great one because there are these realms of inquiry where we are just right at the beginning of understanding that major things that are going on in our environment could be impacting this really essential component of our biology. And we really have no specific idea of how the perturbations may cascade through our microbiome and our biology. A lot to look at there, but I have no doubt that those chemicals are having an impact on this community filled with environmental sensors. It's going to be so interesting to see that work take shape. It would be great if community of people working on the microbiome could come together with the people in interested in the impact of these forever chemicals on health so that a full picture of their impact can get painted. So what do you think are the most pressing scientific questions that need to get addressed? I think that we're still really searching for the definition of a healthy microbiome. And this is something that dates back to a wonderful project that was started by the National Institutes of Health, the Human Microbiome Project. That was an effort from sequencing centers that had sequenced the human genome to turn these sequencing technologies to this uncharted aspect of our human biology, our microbiome. One of the goals of that sequencing project was to determine what a healthy gut microbiome is. And our assumption at the time was, well, we should sequence a bunch of healthy Americans, and kind of look at what's common between them. We now understand that the healthy American most likely harbors a microbiome that is not really optimal for health, it's actually probably a microbiome that's predisposing us to a number of inflammatory conditions.   Our human genome probably dictates whether you as a person will get an autoimmune disease, or cancer or you know, a different inflammatory disease. But it's really a microbiome that appears to be pro-inflammatory, and so that doesn't mean that it's terrible and that we need to scrap the whole thing. But it means that it probably can be improved. A big part of that improvement probably can come through feeding it better food and getting better functionality out of the microbes we have. But it also probably means that we need to bring back certain functions or certain species that we've lost over the course of industrialization, to bring back some of that biodiversity.  You know, I think of the microbiome as similar to this complex rainforest, just hundreds of species interacting in this really dynamic way, and as you start to degrade that ecosystem it's really hard to maintain its full functionality. You start to lose functions, and it starts to operate suboptimally. And so thinking about ways to bring back the health and biodiversity of this ecosystem, I think is super important. One of the key things that we have to do as a field, and I want to just reflect back on the work that we're doing with hunter-gatherers and implications for what might be a healthy microbiome. It is not at all clear that all of the microbes that we've lost are healthy and need to be reinstalled in our gut. I think that we've probably lost species that we, you know, just as soon not have. But mapping which ones are health-promoting, and in which context, because you know, what's health-promoting for one person may not necessarily be health promoting for someone else that's going through something very different in their life in a different life phase. So we need to understand all that complexity, and really crystallize how can we optimize a microbiome for an individual in a given context.  This sounds like a really complex problem, and it is, but I think that one of the really exciting things that's happening in the field right now is this combination of what we call omics data, the ability to measure so many different aspects of the microbiome at one time so we can get a really detailed picture. Then all the great computational approaches for bringing all that data together, using things like machine learning and artificial intelligence on big data sets to really distill out meaningful signals that give us a better idea of some of these complex questions. It is a complex thing to go after, but I think it's not out of reach and that's I think the big frontier for the gut microbiome. Well, speaking of the big frontier, let's end with a big picture question. What can be done to make things better? You mentioned improving diet would be one thing, but how do you look at those big picture questions? One of the incredible things about the gut microbiome and its relationship to its human host, is this like feedback system. For instance, if you are in a slightly inflammatory state, it can be hard to get out of that inflammatory state because the inflammation is reinforcing microbes that are then reinforcing the inflammation. You end up with these feedback loops that are very hard to break, so even if you were to do something like a fecal transplant in some instances of inflammation where you try to reinstall healthy microbes, those may not engraft and take up residence because the host inflammation will get rid of the good microbes and select in the microbes that feed the inflammation. There are these feedback loops that are very hard to break, and we know the gut microbiome is very resilient, so you can perturb it and it will by and large return to a starting state, not exactly what the starting state was, but there is this great resilience and recalcitrant to change over short time periods. This is why industrialization has been so powerful because it's happened over multiple generations across an entire population, and it's driven our microbiome in one direction.  I think if we want to bring back a more diverse healthy microbiome, it requires changes in our habits, changes in what we eat day after day for years on end to really change the species that are in our microbiome and what those species are doing. We got a little bit of insight into this, but I'll finish with one specific example. One of the dietary interventions that we did, we compared a high fiber diet, so this is eating things like legumes, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, thinking that that would be kind of optimal food for a healthy gut microbiome. We compared that diet with a high fermented food diet, so another cohort of individuals, we gave kombucha, kefir, yogurt, kimchi sauerkraut, food with living microbes in it that had been transformed by fermentation. Basically, so these were just healthy adults we let them eat those foods, they ramped up on the foods for four weeks, and then for six weeks they maintained high levels of those foods. We actually saw that the high fiber diet had very different effects on individuals depending upon their starting microbiome. If you had a very diverse microbiome to start with, you actually improved your inflammatory status, you got less inflammatory over the course of the intervention. But if you start with a low diversity microbiome, the high fiber diet doesn't do much for you. The fermented foods actually had a really amazing effect, they increased microbiome diversity and they also decreased over two dozen inflammatory markers that we were able to survey through these great technologies that give us comprehensive immune profiling. We really saw a signature of exactly what we'd want to see to counter the industrialized deterioration of the gut microbiome with the fermented food diet, increased microbiome diversity, decreased inflammation, and this was just over the course of a 6 to 10 week intervention. We're really curious to pursue these findings in more detail, and see if now we can go into diseases that are pro-inflammatory, and counter those diseases to actually treat them in some way with the fermented food diet.  If I were to tell people what to do to counter all the negative impact of industrialization on our microbiome, I would say consume some fermented foods every day, and then start to integrate dietary fiber. As you eat the fermented foods, you'll increase your microbiome diversity. And our hope is that will allow you to harness the benefit of the high fiber diet as your microbiome diversity increases. Bio Justin Sonnenburg is a professor of microbiology and immunology at Sanford University. His research focuses on the basic principles that govern interactions within the intestinal microbiota and between the microbiota and the host. He is the coauthor of The Good Gut: Taking Control of your Weight, Your mood, and Your Long-Term Health.  

Reading corner is back with more book recommendations from Natalie and Lenka (and our podcast guests). Our first book recommendation is Anatomy Of Spirit by Caroline Myss, all about holistic physical, emotional and spiritual healing.In her book, she looks in depth into the cause of diseases and illnesses. Often our problems are not caused directly by our biology, but the root cause can be something in our past or our suppressed emotions and memories. Caroline dives deep into chakras, what they are and how they impact us.Similarly to another book, we mentioned in the past, When the Body Says No by Gabor Mate, it's guiding us to connect our past, our thoughts and emotions to our bodies and physical experiences and symptoms. Lastly, we discuss the insightful book The Good Gut by Justin and Erica Sonnenburg which talks about taking control of your weight, your mood, and your long-term health by nourishing your microbiome. In this book, you'll learn all about the groundbreaking science behind the surprising source of good health - our gut microbes - and you'll get a simple new plan for health that focuses on how to nourish your microbiota. Caroline Myss - Anatomy Of Spirit Gabor Mate - When the Body Says No Justin and Erica Sonnenburg - The Good Gut

To bring in the new year I thought it would be good to take a moment and consolidate some of the memorable moments, and key takeaways, from 2022.  In Episode #241, part 1 of a 2 part year in review, we traverse how to think about nutrition, so we can better make sense of claims online, diet, and cardiometabolic health, how you can flip the switch on your microbiome so the trillions of gut bugs in your large intestine reward you with better health, and the benefits up for grabs through consuming our food over less hours - otherwise known as time restricted eating or fasting. Guests featured include Dr Gil Carvhalo, Dr Richard Johnson, Dr Alan Flanagan, Danny Lennon, Dr David Jenkins, Dr Justin Sonnenburg, Dr Erica Sonnenburg, Dr Christopher Gardner, Dr Tim Spector, Dr Don Layman, Dr Valter Longo, Dr Stuart Phillips, Dr Satchin Panda and Dr Courtney Peterson. Specifically, we cover: Intro (00:00) Circadian Disruption is a Problem with Dr. Satchin Panda (01:59) Fasting & weight loss with Dr. Courtney Peterson (08:26) Optimal fasting window with Dr. Satchin Panda (15:49) Nutrition science claims with Dr Gil Carvalho (36:49) Diet & metabolic health with Dr. Richard Johnson (51:32) Cholesterol & CVD with Dr Alan Flanagan and Danny Lennon (57:22) Lowering cholesterol with Dr. David Jenkins (1:14:06) Gut microbiome with Drs. Erica and Justin Sonnenburg (1:24:44) Fibre & inflammation with Dr. Sonnenburg and Dr. Gardner (1:32:43) Fermented foods (1:49:35) Building microbiome diversity with Drs. Erica and Justin Sonnenburg (1:50:26) Simple dietary advice with Dr Tim Spector (1:55:57) Muscle & metabolic health with Dr. Donald Layman (1:58:34) Aging pathways with Dr. Valter Longo (2:07:24) Muscle & aging with Drs. Stuart Phillips and Christopher Gardner (2:14:48) Outro (2:20:11) Episodes featured: Episode #221 with Dr Satchin Panda Episode #232 with Dr Courtney Peterson Episode #207 with Dr Gil Carvhalo Episode #233 with Dr Richard Johhson Episode #231 with Dr Alan Flanagan & Danny Lennon Episode #216 with Dr David Jenkins Episode #202 with Dr Erica Sonnenburg & Dr Justin Sonnenburg Episode #191 with Dr Justin Sonnenburg & Dr Christopher Gardner Episode #224 with Dr Tim Spector Episode #236 with Dr Don Layman Episode #237 with Dr Valter Longo Episode #228 with Dr Stuart Phillips & Dr Christopher Gardner I hope you find this episode helpful for consolidating some of the key learnings from 2022. Part 2 of the year in review will be released next week with a focus on exercise, planetary health and more. Happy new year. Enjoy, friends. Simon Want to support the show? The best way to support the show is to use the products and services offered by our sponsors. To check them out, and enjoy great savings, visit theproof.com/friends. You can also show your support by leaving a review on the Apple Podcast app and/or sharing your favourite episodes with your friends and family. Simon Hill, MSc, BSc (Hons) Creator of theproof.com and host of The Proof with Simon Hill Author of The Proof is in the Plants Watch the episodes on YouTube or listen on Apple/Spotify Connect with me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook Nourish your gut with my Plant-Based Ferments Guide Download my complimentary two-week meal plan and high protein Plant Performance recipe book

In Episode #202, I'm joined by Drs Erica and Justin Sonnenburg to learn more about microbes and the gut microbiome.This episode, we recap (or introduce for new listeners) what microbes are and what the microbiome is. Then we dive into a more in-depth conversation about evolution and the microbiome, the impacts of industrialisation on the gut, and what inflammation really means for human health. You'll learn about probiotics; microbiome diversity; the relationship between microbiota and disease; how low-fibre, animal-based diets effect the gut; and more.Specifically, we cover:Intro [0:00]Fasting & Gut Health [2:42]What the Microbiome is [7:06]Studying the Microbiome [14:47]Healthy vs Industrialized Microbiome [19:00]Inflammation [28:55]Food & Restoring Diversity [46:39]Animal-based elimination diets [1:04:25]Healing your own Microbiome [1:15:39]Gluten & Lectins [1:36:04]Lifestyle Changes [1:42:13]Conclusion [1:45:42]To learn more from the Drs Sonnenburg, you can access the Sonnenburg Lab website, read their book, The Good Gut, and connect with Justin on Twitter. You can also listen to Dr Justin in Episode #191, and see the full show notes for more resources.I'm thankful for Eimele Essential 8 for making this episode possible. Eimele Essential 8 is a multi-nutrient designed to cover all bases for plant-predominant eaters; it is a product I helped formulate and take every day. For 5% off, head to theproof.com/friends.Make sure to head to The Proof website for the full show notes.Enjoy, friends.SimonWant to support the show?If you are enjoying The Proof a great way to support the show is by leaving a review on the Apple Podcasts or a comment on YouTube . It only takes a few minutes and helps more people find the episodes.Simon Hill, Msc, Bsc (Hons)Creator of Theproof.com and host of The Proof with Simon HillAuthor of The Proof is in the PlantsWatch the episodes on YouTube, or Listen on Apple/SpotifyConnect with me on Instagram, Twitter and FacebookDownload my complimentary two week meal plan

Summary:  In this episode, I invite you to explore and understand with me neuropsychiatrist Dr. Dan Siegel's Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) and what IPNB can show us about psychological health.  We review the triangle of well-being, the nature of secure attachments, and the basis for mental health from an IPNB perspective.  We examine the characteristics of a healthy mind and how it functions, and the two signs that reliable indicate all psychological symptoms and mental dysfunction.  We discuss the nine domains of integration, mindsight, and the healthy mind platter, and I share my exchange with Dr. Siegel about whether and how IPNB can be integrated with Catholicism.   Lead in:  Today I want to share with you an approach to understanding ourselves and guiding ourselves toward health that I am really excited about, that I think has great potential to help us in our human formation as Catholics. We are together in this great adventure, this podcast, Interior Integration for Catholics, we are journeying together, and I am honored to be able to spend this time with you.   I am Dr. Peter Malinoski, clinical psychologist and passionate Catholic and together, we are taking on the tough topics that matter to you.   We bring the best of psychology and human formation and harmonize it with the perennial truths of the Catholic Faith.    Interior Integration for Catholics is part of our broader outreach, Souls and Hearts bringing the best of psychology and human formation grounded in a Catholic understanding of the human person to you and the rest of the world through our website soulsandhearts.com  We are continuing our series on how the best of secular psychological approaches define mental health, psychological well-being.  We started with Episode 89 on Polyvagal Theory and covered Positive Psychology, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Internal Family Systems in Episode 90.   Today's episode, number 92 is entitled "Understanding and Healing your Mind through IPNB"  and it's released on April 4, 2022.  We are going to unpack what IPNB is, what is says about our human condition and I will share with you an exchange I recently had with neuropsychiatrist Dr. Dan Siegel, who brought this whole integrative framework into being, about whether IPNB can be reconciled with Catholicism.   Stay with me for a really interesting deep dive into this fascinating way of understanding ourselves and others.   Interpersonal Neurobiology or IPNB Let's start by understanding what IPNB is.  Interpersonal neurobiology.   Breaking down the name interpersonal neurobiology Inter = between us, among us -- implies relationship.  Relational model.  Not just between you and me, but also between you and you -- inner relationships within you, inner relationships within me.   Personal -- very relational.   Inter-personal and intrapersonal IPNB is all about the way my deep inner experiences connect with your inner experiences  Neurobiology -- not just the field of neurobiology, but all the branches of scientifically studying how human development takes place and how we can promote well-being in our lives.  Neurobiology brings in all the embodied, physical dimension of our existence.  Our bodies, our brains, our whole nervous system and all of our embodied biology being, that what the neurobiology part refers to  Interpersonal neuro-biology or IPNB -- works to be a wholistic approach to the human person.   IPNB was developed in the 1990s by neuropsychiatrist Daniel J. Siegel who brought together more than 40 professionals, more than 40 experts from a wide range of scientific disciplines to discuss and demonstrate how the mind, brain, and relationships integrate to influence and change each other.   Questions that IPNB asks and addresses these questions, five questions standing out to me: What is the human mind?  How does the mind develop?  What does the human mind look like when it's doing really, really well, when it's functioning optimally?  How can we encourage, nurture and cultivate a healthy, strong mind?  How can we take what we've learned about the mind and find practical applications that make a real difference in our daily lives?  Guidance for how to live our lives Pointers for what may need to change in our thinking and behavior to help us live more fully.   Very practical -- not just academic ivory-tower, pie-in-the-sky speculation -- Daniel Siegel really wants IPNB to bring healing, growth and well-being to people.  I like that.  I'm into that.  What IPNB is Not Not a therapy.  Not a way of doing therapy.  Rather, a way of understanding that can inform different schools of therapy.  IPNB is not a discipline.  It's not a specific branch of knowledge.  Rather, IPNB is a framework that draws on all the different disciplines with a rigorous and structured approach to studying things – not just science – They all have a place in the framework. It's a consilient framework:  Consilience:  E. O. Wilson  Assessing the universal findings discovered and recognized as real or true across fields and disciplines The fields contributing to IPNB Anthropology  Art  Biology (developmental, evolution, genetics, zoology)  Chemistry  Cognitive Science  Computer Science  Contemplative Traditions  Developmental Psychopathology  Liberal Arts  Linguistics   Neuroscience Affective  Cognitive  Developmental  social   Mathematics  Medicine  Mental Health  Music  Physics  Poetry  Psychiatry   Psychology Cognitive  developmental  Volutionary  Experimental  of religion  Social  attachment theory  memory   Sociology  Systems Theory (chaos and complexity theory)   All of these disciplines, all of these fields of inquiriy contribute to IPNB findings   IPNB also seeks a common language for these disciplines to be able to share and discuss about these big topics: What is the human mind?  How does the mind develop?  How can we make a healthy, strong mind?  How can we take what we've learned about the mind and find practical applications that make a real difference in our daily lives.   Thus IPNB is a going for the big picture.   IPNB emphasizes a need for humility and openness in the work.   Definition:  Interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB): a consilient field that embraces all branches of science and now other disciplined ways of understanding reality, such as contemplative traditions and a liberal arts, as it seeks the common universal findings across independent ways of knowing in order to expand our understanding of the mind and well-being. p.506 The Human Mind If we want a strong ordered mind, it helps to know what the mind actually is.  If we want mental well-being, it's really valuable to slow down and ask the question -- what is the human mind.   A central question for IPNB is "what is the human mind." The mind is rarely defined -- you know how important definitions are to me.  And the mind is often discussed but rarely defined.   Insert quotes about the importance of definitions Insert quotes about the mind.   When the mind is defined, most often defined as the output of the brain.  Problem of Hippocrates:  Our mind comes only from our brain echoed by the famous psychologist William James in his highly influential 1890 book "Principles of Psychology"   The mind is essentially just the product of the brain.  The activity of the brain generates the activity of the mind.  So the mind's activity is solely the product of the brain's activity.  American neuropsychologist, neurobiologist and Nobel laureate Roger Sperry  -- Mental process cannot be reduced to brain mechanisms.  Even if they are dependent on them, it doesn't make them the same.   Although the mind may depend on the activity of brain cells, the firing of neurons in the brain, the mind is not the same the same thing as the firing of neurons.  The mind is not the brain, and it's not just the products of nervous system activity.  According to Daniel Siegel and IPNB, the mind is a term that at a minimum includes what we're familiar with when we think of mind.   mental activity that includes Consciousness  emotions  Mood  Thinking  information processing  problem-solving  decision making  Memory  Narrative  meaning-making  Intention  Belief  Hope  Attitudes  Assumptions  Desire  Longing  Dreams  Our subjective feeling of being alive.   all of these are mental activities which are beautiful, powerful descriptions of what people mean when they say mind.  The mind constructs its own experience of reality. Critical point:  the mind emanates from the interactions within the brain -- so there's the neurobiology -- the brain, the nervous system, the body -- but the mind is not just the product of neurobiology -- there's also the interpersonal aspect -- the mind also radiates from our internal relationships within ourselves and our relationships with other people.  There's the interpersonal part of interpersonal neurobiology. The mind encompasses both the embodied brain and our relationships.    Definition of Mind  from p. 507 The Developing Mind, 3rd Edition. :   The mind is a process that includes at least four fundamental aspects: (1) personal, subjective experience; (2) awareness; (3) information processing; and (4) a regulatory function that is an emergent, self-organizing, embodied, and relational process of the extended nervous system and relationships.  This facet of a core aspect of mind offers a working definition of "mind" as an embodied and relational process that regulates the flow of energy and information.  In this perspective, the brains activities an important part of mind, but mind is broader than the brain and bigger than the individual body. The mind is fully embodied and fully relational.   Let's break that down.  In IPNB, the mind is a process.  The mind is not so much a thing, as it is a process, the activity within us that regulates the flow of both energy and information through its neurocircuitry, which is then shared and regulated between people through engagement, connection, and communication. Facets of the Mind Personal, subjective Experience -- the felt texture of life  Awareness or consciousness   Information Processing -- and that information processing can be conscious or not The emergent, self-organizing, embodied and relational process that regulates the flow of energy and information – flow happens within (embodied) and between (relational).   If you don't understand all that in the first go-round, that's OK.  You don't need to understand it all, there's come complexity here.   The critical thing to remember about your mind for our purposes is that your mind can change your brain and be changed by your brain -- your mind can change your relationships and your mind can be changed by your relationships -- and your brain can also be changed by your relationships.     Our attachment relationships experiences shape the structures in the brain that correlate with key features of our inner and inter mind as we carry these neuroplastic changes forward in life – open to new growth and learning – as they continue to shape our internal world and our interpersonal lives across the lifespan. Secure, healthy relationships can heal your mind and your brain.  You can see this in the neuro-electrical firing xand neurochemical activity in the brain with neurotransmitters, and also in the anatomy of the brain. Raissa Miller in her 2016 Article titled Interpersonal Neurobiology: Applications for the Counseling Profession Finally, the mind can influence the brain and relationships. Consistent with characteristics of a complex system, the mind both emerges from and in turn influences the functioning of the brain and relationships. How one focuses attention affects neural structure and function. Furthermore, through processes not yet fully understood — perhaps through resonance circuitry or mirror neurons — the mental processes of one person can influence the mental processes of another person. The Triangle of Well-Being  -- Imagine a triangle with three vertices or corners.  One vertex is The Brain, a second vertex is the Mind, and the third vertex is Relationship.  So we have a triangle, and at the top, where the point is, we have relationship, and at another corner, we have brain and at the other corner we have mind.    The Mind -- we've been covering that: The Brain -- the embodied mechanism of energy and information flow  Definition:  Brain: here are viewed as the extended nervous system distributed throughout the entire body and intimately interwoven with the physiology of the body as a whole. It is the embodied neural mechanism that shapes the flow of energy and information. p. 502 Not just the grey matter inside our skull but our whole nervous system.    Justin Sonnenburg, Erica Sonnenburg on May 1, 2015 Scientific American Gut Feelings–the "Second Brain" in Our Gastrointestinal Systems .  The enteric nervous system is often referred to as our body's second brain. There are hundreds of million of neurons connecting the brain to the enteric nervous system, the part of the nervous system that is tasked with controlling the gastrointestinal system. This vast web of connections monitors the entire digestive tract from the esophagus to the anus. The enteric nervous system is so extensive that it can operate as an independent entity without input from our central nervous system, although they are in regular communication.   Energy and information flow is what the embodied brain is all about  Relationships -- the sharing of energy and information flow between people Energy and information flow between people  Energy and information are shared in relationships.   Integration – the differentiation and linkage of parts of a system – within the relationship is essential to understanding resonance, which is different from mirroring or giving up your individual needs and sense of differentiation  PART model of verbal and nonverbal relationships -- Presence, Attunement, Resonance, and Trust.   Presence:  Openness; awareness of present moment experience:   Presence is the portal to integration; an open, receptive awareness of the unfolding of moment-to-moment experience the opposite of presence is unintentional mind-wandering Attunement:  Focus of attention on the internal world of self or other Internal Attunement:  Focusing of attention on my internal world  Interpersonal Attunement:  Focusing of attention on the internal world of another  if a parent is attuned to the child's mind, much better outcome than if just reacting to the child's behavior.   Mirror neurons may be activated in attunement   Resonance:  Being shaped by another  Next step -- interpersonal attunement allows for two individuals to resonate with one another, A deeper sense of connection, of being with each other.   To feel felt by one another.   As the two are resonating, feeling felt by one another, joined in relationship they are still separate.  They are not fused, there is no loss of individual identity.  You are still you when you are in relationship with me, and I am still me.  This is really important, that the individual, differentiated nature of each person is not lost.  Two tuning forks, at the same frequency.   Trust:  A deep sense of openness and reliability States of safety vs. states of  threat  Trust creates a sense of receptivity  Social engagement system is turned on Integration allows us to differentiate streams of energy, freeing us from default-mode processing dominating our experience in the moment New ways of thinking, imagining, considering  Allows our faculty of imagination to develop.   Connection refers to a process of mutual resonance occurring between two individuals, leading to attunement and a sense of we  Ruptures are inevitable in relationships, and they can be thought of as opportunities for repair and the deepening of connection   Four critical concepts in IPNB:  Empathy, compassion, kindness and forgiveness  Empathy has many facets, including feeling the feelings of another, perspective-taking, and cognitive understanding Empathy: the capacity to make a map of another's mental state that includes at least the five functions of  emotional resonance perspective taking empathic understanding empathic joy, and  empathic concern.  For most individuals, empathy is a requirement for compassion. Integration enables empathic connection to be harnessed without losing differentiation and fusing with another's experience.  p.504   Compassion: The way in which we perceive the suffering of another, imagine how to help, and then take action to alleviate the suffering Compassion: the capacity to sense suffering, to imagine what might be done to reduce that suffering, and to take effective action for that purpose. Compassion can be directed towards one's inner experience – sometimes called "self-compassion" – as well as toward others in what is sometimes called "other-directed" compassion. These two directions in the flow of compassion can be called "inner compassion" and "inter compassion." p. 503   Kindness: Acting with no expectation of getting something in return; honoring and supporting one another's vulnerabilities -- sounds a lot like the Christian concept of charity; others may think of this as altruism  Forgiveness can be thought of as giving up all hope for a better past; acceptance of what was.   The brain, the mind, and relationships are all critical elements of the triangle of well-being.   Secure attachments  Siegel in "The Developing Mind," 3rd Ed.  p. 225:  Attachment at its core is based on parental sensitivity and responsivity to the child's signals, which allow for collaborative parents-child communication. Contingent communication gives rise to secure attachment and is characterized by a collaborative give-and-take of signals between the members of the pair. Contingent communication relies on the alignment of internal experiences, or states of mind, between the child and caregiver. This mutually sharing, mutually influencing set of interactions – this emotional attunement or mental state residents – is the essence of healthy, secure attachment.  Neural networks are activated and shaped by these relational experiences Our relational experiences reshape not only our minds but our brains.   The four Ss of building a secure attachment:  Feeling Seen, Safe, Soothed, and Secure Seen   I feel that my needs are being accurately perceived by the other My mind is seen beneath my behavior Safe I feel protected from harm, from danger  The other person is not a source of fear   Soothed I can be reliably comforted and calmed by the other in times of stress  Ruptures are readily repaired   Secure I am able to explore my environment  I can go back to the other as a safe base    What is the basis for health or mental well-being  -- the integration of the mind.   Daniel Siegel proposes that integration of the mind is the basis for health.   I made this argument way back in episode 15 of this podcast, long before I was all that familiar with IPNB.   Supported by more than 20 years of research now.  Raisa Miller helps us break this down.  Mental Well-Being Mental well-being, from an IPNB perspective, is defined in terms of integration.  Functionally distinct components within the complex mind system differentiate (i.e., specialize) Each component has a unique role in the system.    and then link with other components of the system to form a greater whole -- but you don't blend them.    The metaphor of a fruit salad versus a fruit smoothie is often used to illustrate integration.  Each ingredient in a fruit salad maintains its unique quality (differentiating)  while also combining (linking) to make a new, more complex dish (an “integrated” fruit salad). Optimal organization depends on linking differentiated parts of the system (integration) you do not have the differences among those parts disappear (not homogenization).  Coherence instead.  Integration is defined as the linkage of differentiated elements. The mind's process of linking differentiated parts (distinct modes of information processing) into a functional whole is postulated to be the fundamental mechanism of both. Without integration, chaos, rigidity, or both ensue. Integration is both a process and a structural dimension, and can be examined, for example, in the functional and anatomic studies of the nervous system. p. 506 Considerable evidence indicates that the mind is the self-organizing, emergent embodied relational process that utilizes the differentiation and linkage of aspects of the system the mind is in. When that goes well – health arises.  When it goes poorly, chaos or rigidity or both rise up.   When a system is not optimally self-organizing, it veers toward  Rigidity -- everything seems predictable  Dorsal vagal shutdown, the freezing and numbing out state like in dissociation we discussed this in Episode 89 on polyvagal theory  This leads to rigidity   Examples  Extreme example would be hysterical paralysis Another example --  a deep, major depression Chaos -- everything seems completely unpredictable  PTSD symptoms Flashbacks  Nightmares   Panic attacks   Or both -- e.g. bipolar disorder Depressive episode -- rigidity.   Manic episode -- chaos Daniel Siegel:  Every symptom of every disorder of the DSM-5 can be framed in terms of chaos or rigidity "Human suffering can be summed up in chaos and rigidity."   Health is found in the internal integration, where there is neither chaos nor rigidity.   When you improve self-organization within a system leading to harmony and integration, including the mind, you find five qualities.  Acronym FACES Optimal Self organization involves the integration of elements of the system leading to harmony described as a FACES flow  Individuals operating at greater levels of integration are more open to possibilities and flexible in response to their natural proclivities -- this is described as a FACES flow.   FACES flow your mind is: Flexible -- your mind can think outside the box, be innovative and come up with new and original ideas and solutions to problems, your mind can be imaginative, and creative.  Flexible  Adaptive -- your mind can adjust to new situations, change course as needed, roll with the punches and handle the various challenges and demands that life throws at you.   Coherent -- your mind stays clear, lucid, orderly inside, and you have the full use of your intellect and reason.  You can think logically and sensibly  Energized -- your mind is alert, active, dynamic, and animated, with stamina and vitality  Stable -- your mind is balanced, calm, steady and you have a sense of being solidly grounded and secure.   Nine domains of integration list them.   Consciousness – differentiating the knowing from the knowns of what we are aware of. Knowns and unknowns Awareness of the body, mental/emotional, relational, and outside world. Openness to things as they are    Bilateral – the differentiated functions of the left and right hemispheres.  Left hemisphere is logical and linear, very literal, verbal Right side is more creative, metaphoric, and symbolic, nonlinear, intuitive, nonverbal Vertical – linking the body's signals and the lower neural regions of the brainstem and limbic area to the higher cortical regions. Gut, heart, and lungs all have neural networks that seek to communicate with the brain. Too many people are disconnected from the awareness from our bodies.  Memory – linking the differentiated elements of implicit memory to the autobiographical and factual experience of explicit memory. Implicit and explicit memory integration.  When traumas become implicit memory, a schema, we are stuck in the past.  To integrate memory, we make implicit memories explicit and weave them into our narrative, the story of our lives in a coherent and meaningful way   Narrative – making sense of memory and experience such that one finds meaning in events that have occurred. State – respecting the differentiated states of mind that make up the wide array of clusters of memory, thought, behavior, and action that are the nature of our multi-layered selves. we are multiple selves sharing a body. Three parts: We need to learn to honor our states (intrastate), interstate, honor that we have different needs at the same time and we need to pay attention to that, and interpersonal states, maintaing my own states while in relation with others.    In IFS language, these states are somewhat analogous to parts.   Interpersonal – honoring one another's inner experience and linking in respectful communication. -- involves nurturing.  Not fusing, being separate but near, being with.    Temporal – the capacity to represent ‘time' or change in life and reflect on this ‘passage of time' (e.g. life versus death). Making maps of time. Connected to narrative - we seek certainty, but change is the only constant. We also become aware of our eventual death.  Identity – the sense of agency and coherence potentially associated with feelings of belonging. The identity of a bodily self expands beyond the boundary of the skin - we sense our interconnection time, place, and people. Integration of integration   Mindsight  Mindsight-the ability to see the internal world of self and others  p. 54 Mindsight is likely to be essential and healthy relationships of many kinds  Mindsight permits integrative communication in which individuals are honored for their differences and compassionate connections are cultivated that link one mind to another  Daniel Siegel proposes that interpersonal integration promotes the growth of integrative fibers in the brain. The neural circuits linking differentiating areas to one another are the regulatory and social circuits of the brain. 54   Three Components of Mindsight -- insight, empathy and integration.  Insight: Reflecting with awareness by focusing attention on the internal, subjective world of one's own interior mental experience, including feelings, thoughts, memories Empathy: Sensing the inner experience of another within one's own mind; forming a mental map of another; feeling felt by an empathic other is the foundation of a supportive relationship Integration: The differentiation or specialization, and, ultimately, linkage of systems including the brain and interpersonal relationships; without integration, chaos, rigidity, or both emerge, resulting in a state of mental dysfunction; with integration, harmony emerges with flexibility, adaptability, coherence, stability, and energy (a FACES flow) Mindsight:  the ability to see the internal world of self and others, not just to observe behavior. It is the way we not only sense but also shape energy and information flow within the triangle of mind, brain, and relationships and move that flow toward integration. Using mindsight, integration made visible is kindness and compassion. p.506 Integration made visible is kindness, compassion, and well-being How do we get there.  Lots of recommendations from IPNB.  Lots of models and acronym. Can check out Dr. Dan Siegel's website at https://drdansiegel.com/   Lots of resources there if IPNB resonates with you.  Books and courses and blogs and videos and all kinds of things, most of it free, and he's a very good speaker and teacher.  He's done a lot to help parents raise very young children, informed by the science of IPNB and to help parents and their adolescent children understand and connect with each other.   Wheel of awareness -- A reflective practice that integrates consciousness using the metaphor of a wheel in which the hub represents the knowing of being aware and the room contains the elements of the knowns, from the first five senses to mental activity such as emotions, thoughts, and memory. p.511 other resources  I'm going to focus on one resource today, one of many resources Healthy Mind Platter I'm going to focus on one particular element.  Healthy Mind Platter  In 2011, the USDA change from a food pyramid (nearly two decades) to a food plate.  Inspired David Rock and Daniel Siegel to design the "Healthy Mind Platter"   The Healthy Mind Platter has seven daily essential mental activities necessary for optimum mental health.  These seven daily activities make up the full set of “mental nutrients” that your brain and relationships need to function at their best.  By engaging every day in each of these servings, you promote integration in your life and enable your brain to coordinate and balance its activities. These essential mental activities strengthen your brain's internal connections and your connections with other people and the world around you. We're not suggesting specific amounts of time for this recipe for a healthy mind, as each individual is different, and our needs change over time too.  The point is to become aware of the full spectrum of essential mental activities, and as with essential nutrients, make sure that at least every day we are bringing the right ingredients into our mental diet, even if for just a bit of time.  List of the Health Mind Platter elements: Sleep Time  Physical Time  Downtime  Focused Time  Playtime  Time in  Connecting Time  (repeat)   Components of the Health Mind platter -- drawing from various sources by Dan Seigel and also a video by Marie Holowaychuk  Psychotherapy Networker article The Heathy Mind Platter May 2020  Sleep Time When we give the brain the rest it needs, we consolidate learning and recover from the experiences of the day.  This is important for lots of reasons, especially because sleep directly affects inflammation in the brain. It's also critical because when we get seven to nine hours of quality sleep, the toxins secreted by active neurons during our waking hours are cleaned up. Without enough sleep, we're likely to have increased brain inflammation and decreased ability to focus, remember, stabilize our mood, and even process calories  memory consolidation and processing, learning and task integration, emotional regulation and positivity, insight, creativity and problem-solving   Physical Time  When we move our bodies, aerobically if medically possible, we strengthen the brain in many ways. It's easy to become a couch potato when we're spending so much time in front of screens, so we need this time when we really focus on moving our body. Therapists can consider doing this in between sessions or even with clients. Helps to maintain brain health and plasticity increases learning and memory improves cognitive and executive functions enables us to focus in spite of distractions benefits of reducing stress, anxiety, and depression Downtime When we are non-focused, without any specific goal, and let our mind wander or simply relax, we help the brain recharge.  This is space to not do anything specific and just chill out. Our minds need this. As opposed to moments when we find ourselves unintentionally getting distracted, down time involves intentionally letting our minds wander. This might include watching a show or listening to music, drawing on a pad of paper, or simply playing with water in the sink as you do the dishes.  we let our mind simply wander or relax  downtime allows our brains to recharge permits integration of previous thoughts and experiences  we get a generation of new insights because it enables integration across the left and right hemispheres  struggle with a complex problem, but when you start feeling anxious or stressed or hit the wall, distract yourself from with from the problem by doing something completely unrelated  sudden insight often follows   Focus Time: When we closely focus on tasks in a goal-oriented way, we take on challenges that make deep connections in the brain.  This is time spent focusing on something external with discipline, like reading a book. Say to yourself, “For this half hour, I'm not going to be distracted by the news or anything else.” Research suggests that when we focus our attention like this, we release a number of substances, including BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), which enhance brain growth. When we have a singular focus of attention, we learn more, remember more, and enjoy the experience more.  Paying close attention to some project  you're not multitasking, instead you are focusing in a goal oriented way, thinking efficiently and effectively you're not getting distracted by all sorts of other things, phone and email alerts are off.   Really focusing attention on just one thing a time Can come with a feeling of success, of mastery because you were able to really accomplish something, to do something new.  Focus time gets the brain to secrete to chemicals to allow the neurons which are firing to strengthen their connections to one another. This helps your attention and concentration -- helps develop your prefrontal cortex and your sharpens and clarifies your mind.   Cal Newport's Book Deep Work taught me so much about this component of the healthy mind platter -- and others as well.  Highly recommended, with very practical tips that have helped me a lot in producing this podcast.    Playtime When we allow ourselves to be spontaneous or creative, playfully enjoying novel experiences, we help make new connections in the brain.  This doesn't refer to sports but to doing something that allows you to laugh and be spontaneous—without judgments or feeling that there's a right or wrong way to do it. The notion here is to engage in an activity, perhaps with others, in which the enjoyment and creative unfolding of the moment is the focus. Too often adults lose this sense of playfulness. To cope with this pandemic, we need to keep our humor and our vitality alive and well!  this can be thought of being playful of letting novelty failure experience that letting you be spontaneous often with a sense of humor and the light. Children do this naturally, adolescents less so, and in adulthood we get very serious so it's important to have playtime. Because when you allow the brain to make these new combinations and create a sense of safety and a willingness to expand which are used to doing to expand beyond the familiar. This is a playfulness actually keeps the brain young and keeps the connections in the brain growing. That's playtime.  Forget all about work and other commitments, and be social in an unstructured way flexible emotional responses to unexpected events.  Practicing spontaneous and novel motor and social skills, facilitates learning creativity and memory  stimulates dopamine release, which helps to establish new neuronal pathways in the brain  game night with friends or coworkers, going outside to build a snowman, adult coloring books   Time in When we quietly reflect internally, focusing on sensations, images, feelings and thoughts, we help to better integrate the brain.  This is time you may already spend engaged in a formal mindfulness practice, like yoga or meditation. Inward reflection can include the three pillars of focusing attention, opening awareness, and cultivating kind intention.  This is when we are able to quietly able to reflect internally  focusing on sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts in the present moment  focusing on acceptance of the process, rather than the content  balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems  improved attention and more flexible Prospectives about life  better control emotions and stress  improving compassion and empathy towards our self and others   Connecting Time When we connect with other people, ideally in person, and when we take time to appreciate our connection to the natural world around us, we activate and reinforce the brain's relational circuitry  This is time you put into intentionally connecting with people, even if you can't be in their immediate physical presence. This relational time involves communicating not only with other people, but also with nature. Finding time to connect with people and the planet can help with the sense of isolation we may feel these days.  When we are able to connect with other people, ideally in person  taking time to appreciate our connections to the world around us  improves relational circuitry in the brain, and benefits the cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems  a buffering effect in on stress by helping us to have a positive outlook, form secure attachments, and have efficient restorative behaviors in times of stress  make time to connect with others, especially your spouse, your partner, family, and friends  plan outings, date nights, or activities into your weekly routine, to make sure that your personal connections are maintained   Review of components Sleep Time  Physical Time  Downtime  Focused Time  Playtime  Time in  Connecting Time   How to connect Interpersonal Neurobiology with Catholicism?  Harmonizing. I'm in a six-month intensive course with Dan Siegel, it is his Comprehensive Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) Course and as part of that course, we have Q&A sessions.  I was really interested in how open the IPNB model might be to Catholicism -- I wanted his thoughts on that.   Remember that IPNB draws from so many disciplines, and not just scientific ones, but any discipline with a rigorous approach to learning, including the liberal arts, poetry, and even contemplative traditions.  And I like Dan Siegel -- he is very approachable, open, receptive, and I have a deep sense that he has a big heart, a lot of concern for our human condition, a genuine compassion for his neighbor.  Not just an academic sense.    So I asked Dr. Siegel.  I sent him this question:   Q. How does the integrative, multidisciplinary framework of IPNB, which draws from the findings of so many fields, consider the wisdom (based on divine revelation) that revealed religions (i.e., Judaism, Christianity, Islam) claim to offer about human well-being to their followers – or is that way of “knowing” considered “unscientific” or “not rigorous” and therefore not invited into the IPNB framework? Re-read it  And he responded --  A: Thank you for the question, Peter. Initially, IPNB was created through the weaving of western-based academic disciplines from math and physics to biology and psychology to sociology and anthropology. It began with an effort to ask, what is the mind and how are mind and brain related to one another? As the notion of consilience later became clear, the approach broadened to include any disciplined way of understanding the nature of reality. For that reason, systematic “disciplined” ways of exploring reality, questioning what emerges, and then re-considering what is found in an attempt to build a broad framework for understanding includes the ancient wisdom traditions of Indigenous knowledge and contemplative insights. In meeting with religious leaders from the faiths you have mentioned, the plane-of-possibility view as the “generator of diversity” seems to fit with the deepest aspects of their teachings, part of what Aldous Huxley and Huston Smith might have referred to as perennial wisdom. I have also met with some teachers, not leaders, but local teachers, in various faiths who say their view is the only true view, and that to try to find a consilience across ways of knowing, from various religions and from science, is an assault on their unique and privileged “knowing of what the truth is.” In this case, that mental stance of absolute belief in the veracity of their perspective is not a part of a consilient mindset, and so it is difficult to see how, though their views would be welcomed to be examined, not just accepted because the individual believes them to be true, people with such a viewpoint would xcollaborate in looking for common ground. I hope this response makes sense. Reread the bolded part.  I thought his response was gracious and I appreciate Dan Siegel's directness and honesty.  I was not surprised by the content.  The way I interpret this is that there's not room in IPNB from Dan Siegel's point of view for one to be Catholic and participate in the search for common ground.  No revealed religion's tenets could be included because they are not open to being challenged, questioned and discarded if they don't seem to line up with the findings of the other disciplines.  That's one of his non-negotiable principles for IPNB.  So his consilient framework doesn't draw from all available knowledge.  So Dan Siegel and I disagree about epistemology -- how you know things.   For him, divine revelation is not a valid source of knowing that can inform IPNB.  For me, it divine revelation is not only essential, it's the starting point.  It's the reference point, like the North Star.  And that's likely to lead to disagreements between Dan Seigel and me about metaphysics.  But I don't ignore the valuable work of DNA discoverers James Watson and Francis Crick who described the beauty of the double helix structure of DNA--  I don't ignore their work or discount it  because both Watson and Crick displayed intense anti-Catholic bigotry.  So I'm certainly not going to ignore the really valuable work of Dan Siegel in IPNB -- let's draw the good from it. And I've not seen anything that condemns or criticizes Catholicism from Dan Siegel.  He's not Catholic, I don't expect him to embrace the Church's teaching.  Let's not be afraid of the work of IPNB and other secular approaches, let's conform it to what we already know to be true by faith.   So the upshot of all this is, for those that really want to ground human formation and psychology in a Catholic understanding of the human person, for us Catholics to not only be Catholic with a capital C, but also with a small c.  "catholic" meaning universal.  We find the good in all these secular approaches and harmonize it with our faith.  Not the other way around.  And there is no tension between authentic science and the Faith. CCC Paragraph 159:  "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth." "Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are." That's what I am here to help you do.  To take the best of secular approaches to science, like IPNB and ground them in an authentic Catholic understanding of  the human person.  That's what I am all about, that is what this podcast Interior Integration for Catholics is all about that is what Souls and Hearts is all about. I accept the authority of the Catholic Church to teach definitively in the areas of faith and morals.  That's my starting point.  I hold those truths to be indeed true.  I am open to the possibility and the potential that I have for misunderstanding those truths.  I have misunderstood some of them before, and I may well be misunderstanding some of them now.  But one main reason for divine revelation is to show us those truths that we could never have figured out using the light of natural reason alone.  I really do believe that the reason our Lord came when he did in human history is because the Greeks had gotten about as far as natural reason would take them in philosophy and the Romans had gotten about as far as natural reason would take them in law.   So my mission, my calling is to bring you the best of psychological and human formation resources firmly rooted in a Catholic anthropology.   This is entirely consistent with the teaching of the Church as expressed in Vatican II, in paragraph 62 of The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: "in pastoral care, sufficient you should be made, not only of theological principles, but also of the findings of secular sciences, especially psychology and sociology; in this way the faithful will be brought to a purer and more mature living of the faith"   Closing Really excited about next month's episode -- Episode 93, coming out on May 1, 2022, where I will be offering you three experiential exercises that integrate what we've been learning in episode 89 on polyvagal theory, episode 90 on Positive Psychology, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Internal Family Systems and this current episode, 92 on Interpersonal Neurobiology -- all these secular approaches, I'm going to be drawing from them in these experiential exercises to really help you know yourself better, understand your needs, find where you may have internal disconnects, and also get some direction on what the next steps are.  So look for that on Monday, May 1, new episodes come out the first Monday of the month.   Weekly emails -- been doing a whole series on enemies, lots of surprising things on enemies.   Check out our Litanies of the Heart -- really excited to just have released these.  The last Episode 92 was all about the Litany of the Closed Heart, the Litany of the Fearful Heart and the Litany of the Wounded Heart.  So much great feedback.  Soulsandhearts.com/lit.   Conversation Hours You are a listener to this podcast, and in that sense, you are with me.  I am also with you!  Remember, can call me on my cell any Tuesday or Thursday from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM Eastern Time for our regular conversation hours.  I've set that time aside for you.  317.567.9594.  (repeat) or email me at crisis@soulsandhearts.com.  If you really like this podcast, if you are finding it to be of great benefit to you -- consider the Resilient Catholics Community.  Waiting list is open for The Resilient Catholics Community at Soulsandhearts.com/rcc for our June 2022  So much information there and videos.  I want to invite you to the Resilient Catholics Community The Why of the RCC --  It's all about loving with your whole heart -- all of your being.  Getting over all the natural level issues that hold you back from tolerating being loved and from loving God and others.   Who  Who is the Resilient Catholics Community for? It's for you. If you really are into this podcast, if these ways of conceptualizing the human person and integration and human formation and resilience are appealing to you, then the Resilient Catholics community, the RCC may be for you.   I am looking for listeners who want to be with other like-minded Catholics on the journey, on this adventure of human formation with me.   Who deeply desire a personal, intimate relationship with God and with Mary, a real human, close connection  And who recognize they have some natural-level impediments to that deep relating  and  who are willing to make sacrifices in time, effort, money, humility and courage to grow in human formation and overcome natural-level impediments to being loved and to loving  What want to shore up their natural foundation for the spiritual life, because grace perfects nature.   Who want to become saints.   Who are willing to be pioneers at the cutting edge in this adventure of human formation.  Really at the tip of the spear, the first explorers of this human formation ground for laymen and laywomen.   First of all the RCC is My Tribe, my people, bringing together two groups into one First, faithful, orthodox, serious Catholics who are wounded and suffering and know it  And Second, who are psychologically minded (or at least want to be psychologically minded), who believe in the unconscious and who embrace the unity and multiplicity of the human person  And who want to see through the lens of a core self and parts.  Unity and multiplicity make sense.   Go to Soulsandhearts.com/rcc and register for the June wait list.  I'd like to journey with you.    Patron and Patroness

Fermented foods are not only delicious but also gut-healthy. Dr. Christopher Gardner is here to share with us about some of his >25 years-research, examining what to eat and what to avoid for optimal health. He holds a PhD in Nutrition Science and is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford. Most recently his research interests have expanded to include studying the effects of diet on the gut microbiome and immune function. He published a landmark study on this topic in 2021 in the journal Cell with microbiologist colleagues Drs. Justin and Erica Sonnenburg from Stanford. Listen now and see what you can do to take care of your gut microbiome. --- Thank you for listening! Find us on Social: www.facebook.com/SpotOnDrJSB/ www.instagram.com/spot_on_podcast/ twitter.com/joansalgeblake

Whether you're talking kombucha or kimchi, fermented foods are all the rage. They're taking over grocery store aisles—and being featured in some important clinical trials. Recently, Stanford scientists Dr. Christopher Gardner and Dr. Justin Sonnenburg established that eating a diet high in fermented foods promotes a healthier, more diverse gut microbiome, and lowers inflammation. What does that mean? Why does it matter? In this episode, they chat with Medcan Director of Food and Nutrition Leslie Beck about their groundbreaking new study, the fermentation process, the microbial friends living in our digestive tracts, and how to make sure you're buying the right fermented foods. Episode 87 webpage LINKS Study published in Cell: Gut-microbiota-targeted diets modulate human immune status Article from Stanford Medicine about the study results  Justin Sonnenburg's bio and his Sonnenburg lab Christopher Gardner's bio  NYT article by Anahad O'Connor: “How Fermented Foods May Alter Your Microbiome and Improve Your Health” NYT article by Tara Parker-Pope: “The Dos and Don'ts of Fermented Foods” NYT article by Anahad O'Connor: “A Changing Gut Microbiome May Predict How Well You Age” Read Justin & Erica Sonnenburg's book: The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood and Your Long-Term Health Want to make your own fermented foods? It's easy! Check out this recipe packet by Justin and Erica Sonnenburg from the 2021 Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives conference    INSIGHTS   Food becomes fermented over time when controlled amounts of yeast and bacteria are added to it. “The live bacteria has to sit around long enough to enzymatically convert some of the carbohydrates in the food to alcohol or organic acids,” explains Dr. Christopher Gardner. Those alcohols or acids are what give fermented food its sour, tangy taste. They also promote a healthy gut microbiome, which is the community of microbial cells in our digestive tract. “We often think of humans as a single species. We actually are walking ecosystems. We have hundreds to 1000s of species that make up the human body. We harbour so many microbial cells that by cell number, we're actually more microbial than we are human,” says Dr. Justin Sonnenburg. [8:45][1:59]  Eating fermented foods leads to a healthier gut microbiome because the more diverse your microbiome is, the more anti-inflammatory compounds your gut produces. This makes your body less likely to develop inflammatory diseases. “The converse of that is, if you're not eating fermented foods, you may be depressing your microbiota diversity,” says Dr. Justin Sonnenburg. High fat diets, artificial sweeteners and the emulsifiers in processed foods contribute to a less diverse gut microbiome, making you more susceptible to inflammation. [10:43] During Dr. Christopher Gardner and Dr. Justin Sonnenburg's 10-week study, they fed one group of participants a high-fibre diet, and fed the other group of participants a high-fermented food diet. “What we saw with fermented foods was mind blowing,” says Dr. Sonnenburg. “We saw this increase in gut microbiota diversity across the entire cohort... as this was happening, many of their inflammatory markers were decreasing.” Participants ate six servings of fermented food a day, up from the zero to half a serving a day they were eating before the study. That might sound like a lot of fermented food, but “different combinations of six servings tended to be about 300 calories. It's not like you were eating fermented food all day long!” says Dr. Gardner. [25:33]  So how does our gut microbiota protect against inflammation? Dr. Justin Sonnenburg says there are many different pathways in the relationship between gut microbial diversity and inflammation. But a major one involves the byproducts that result from microbes interacting with the food in our gut. “We think the metabolites that the microbes are producing can help to degrade foods that we're eating,” says Dr. Justin Sonnenburg. “This is why diet is such an important component of determining how our microbiome connects to our health and our immune status.” He and Dr. Gardner hope that their research will lead to a deeper understanding of how we can feed our own communities of microbes in a way that enables them to produce molecules that are leading to a healthier immune system. [40:30] Not all fermented foods will increase the diversity of your gut microbiome. So how to make sure you're buying the right fermented foods? “You have to be careful,” warns Dr. Justin Sonnenburg. “Many things that claim to be fermented foods are just pickled with something like vinegar.” Look for fermented food products in the refrigerated section, with labels that read  “contains live microbes,” “contains probiotics” or “contains live cultures.” Look out for high sugar content as well. Since fermented food is naturally sour, many products have lots of added sugar to mask their taste. Finally, although wine and beer have been fermented, they won't promote a more diverse microbiome! They've gone through a heating process that kills all their bacteria. [44:53]

A fermented-food diet increases microbiome diversity and lowers inflammation, study finds Stanford University, July 13, 2021 A diet rich in fermented foods enhances the diversity of gut microbes and decreases molecular signs of inflammation, according to researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine.  In a clinical trial, 36 healthy adults were randomly assigned to a 10-week diet that included either fermented or high-fiber foods. The two diets resulted in different effects on the gut microbiome and the immune system. Eating foods such as yogurt, kefir, fermented cottage cheese, kimchi and other fermented vegetables, vegetable brine drinks, and kombucha tea led to an increase in overall microbial diversity, with stronger effects from larger servings. "This is a stunning finding," said Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology. "It provides one of the first examples of how a simple change in diet can reproducibly remodel the microbiota across a cohort of healthy adults." In addition, four types of immune cells showed less activation in the fermented-food group. The levels of 19 inflammatory proteins measured in blood samples also decreased. One of these proteins, interleukin 6, has been linked to conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Type 2 diabetes and chronic stress.  "Microbiota-targeted diets can change immune status, providing a promising avenue for decreasing inflammation in healthy adults," said Christopher Gardner, PhD, the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor and director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. "This finding was consistent across all participants in the study who were assigned to the higher fermented food group." Microbe diversity stable in fiber-rich diet By contrast, none of these 19 inflammatory proteins decreased in participants assigned to a high-fiber diet rich in legumes, seeds, whole grains, nuts, vegetables and fruits. On average, the diversity of their gut microbes also remained stable. "We expected high fiber to have a more universally beneficial effect and increase microbiota diversity," said Erica Sonnenburg, PhD, a senior research scientist in basic life sciences, microbiology and immunology. "The data suggest that increased fiber intake alone over a short time period is insufficient to increase microbiota diversity."  The study will be published online July 12 in Cell. Justin and Erica Sonnenburg and Christopher Gardner are co-senior authors. The lead authors are Hannah Wastyk, a PhD student in bioengineering, and former postdoctoral scholar Gabriela Fragiadakis, PhD, who is now an assistant professor of medicine at UC-San Francisco. A wide body of evidence has demonstrated that diet shapes the gut microbiome, which can affect the immune system and overall health. According to Gardner, low microbiome diversity has been linked to obesity and diabetes.  "We wanted to conduct a proof-of-concept study that could test whether microbiota-targeted food could be an avenue for combatting the overwhelming rise in chronic inflammatory diseases," Gardner said.  The researchers focused on fiber and fermented foods due to previous reports of their potential health benefits. While high-fiber diets have been associated with lower rates of mortality, the consumption of fermented foods can help with weight maintenance and may decrease the risk of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. The researchers analyzed blood and stool samples collected during a three-week pre-trial period, the 10 weeks of the diet, and a four-week period after the diet when the participants ate as they chose.  The findings paint a nuanced picture of the influence of diet on gut microbes and immune status. On one hand, those who increased their consumption of fermented foods showed similar effects on their microbiome diversity and inflammatory markers, consistent with prior research showing that short-term changes in diet can rapidly alter the gut microbiome. On the other hand, the limited change in the microbiome within the high-fiber group dovetails with the researchers' previous reports of a general resilience of the human microbiome over short time periods.  Designing a suite of dietary and microbial strategies The results also showed that greater fiber intake led to more carbohydrates in stool samples, pointing to incomplete fiber degradation by gut microbes. These findings are consistent with other research suggesting that the microbiome of people living in the industrialized world is depleted of fiber-degrading microbes.  "It is possible that a longer intervention would have allowed for the microbiota to adequately adapt to the increase in fiber consumption," Erica Sonnenburg said. "Alternatively, the deliberate introduction of fiber-consuming microbes may be required to increase the microbiota's capacity to break down the carbohydrates." In addition to exploring these possibilities, the researchers plan to conduct studies in mice to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which diets alter the microbiome and reduce inflammatory proteins. They also aim to test whether high-fiber and fermented foods synergize to influence the microbiome and immune system of humans. Another goal is to examine whether the consumption of fermented food decreases inflammation or improves other health markers in patients with immunological and metabolic diseases, and in pregnant women and older individuals.  "There are many more ways to target the microbiome with food and supplements, and we hope to continue to investigate how different diets, probiotics and prebiotics impact the microbiome and health in different groups," Justin Sonnenburg said.   Effect of resveratrol intervention on renal pathological injury in type 2 diabetes Capital Medical University (China), July 11, 2021 According to news reporting from Beijing, People's Republic of China, research stated, “Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a clinically common cardiovascular disease that can lead to kidney damage and adversely affect male fertility and sperm quality. Resveratrol (Res) is a natural product that has a wide range of effects in animals and cell models.” The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Capital Medical University, “This research is designed to observe the effect of resveratrol (Res) intervention on renal pathologic injury and spermatogenesis in mice with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Sixty healthy male SD mice without specific pathogens (SPF grade) were selected, and numbered by statistical software to randomize into control group (CG; n=20), model group (MG; n=20) and research group (RG; n=20). Mice in CG were given regular diet, while those in MG and RG were fed with high fat diet. Subsequently, RG was given Res intervention while MG received no treatment. Biochemical indexes [triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), fasting blood glucose (FBG), 24-hour urinary albumin excretion rate (24h-UAER)] of mice in the three groups before and after intervention were observed and recorded. The effect of Res on oxidative stress, kidney histopathological structure, spermatogenic function, sperm density and viability of mice, as well as spermatogenic cell cycle of testis were determined. Res reduced hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia in T2D mice. By reducing malondialdehyde (MDA) and increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), Res relieved oxidative stress and alleviated kidney tissue damage. In addition, Res improved the spermatogenic function of T2D mice by increasing the sperm density and survival rate and restoring the percentage of spermatogenic cells at all levels.” According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Res intervention in T2D mice can reduce kidney tissue damage, lower blood glucose (BG), and improve spermatogenic function by increasing sperm density and restoring the percentage of spermatogenic cells at all levels.” This research has been peer-reviewed.     Eating whole grains linked to smaller increases in waist size, blood pressure, blood sugar Study in middle- to older-aged adults suggests whole grains may protect against heart disease Tufts University, July 13, 2021 Middle- to older-aged adults who ate at least three servings of whole grains daily had smaller increases in waist size, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels over time compared to those who ate less than one-half serving per day, according to new research. Published July 13, 2021, in the Journal of Nutrition, the study by researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University examined how whole- and refined-grain intake over time impacted five risk factors of heart disease: Waist size, blood pressure, blood sugar, triglyceride, and HDL ("good") cholesterol. Using data from the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort, which began in the 1970s to assess long-term risk factors of heart disease, the new research examined health outcomes associated with whole- and refined-grain consumption over a median of 18 years. The 3,100 participants from the cohort were mostly white and, on average, in their mid-50s at the start of data collection. The research team compared changes in the five risk factors, over four-year intervals, across four categories of reported whole grain intake, ranging from less than a half serving per day to three or more servings per day. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025, the recommended amount of whole grains is three or more servings daily. An example of a serving is one slice of whole-grain bread, a half cup of rolled oats cereal, or a half cup of brown rice. The results showed that for each four-year interval:   Waist size increased by an average of over 1 inch in the low intake participants, versus about ½ inch in the high intake participants. Even after accounting for changes in waist size, average increases in blood sugar levels and systolic blood pressure were greater in low intake participants compared to high intake participants. The researchers also studied the five risk factors across four categories of refined-grain intake, ranging from less than two servings per day to more than four servings per day. Lower refined-grain intake led to a lower average increase in waist size and a greater mean decline in triglyceride levels for each four-year period. "Our findings suggest that eating whole-grain foods as part of a healthy diet delivers health benefits beyond just helping us lose or maintain weight as we age. In fact, these data suggest that people who eat more whole grains are better able to maintain their blood sugar and blood pressure over time. Managing these risk factors as we age may help to protect against heart disease," said Nicola McKeown, senior and corresponding author and a scientist on the Nutritional Epidemiology Team at the USDA HNRCA. "There are several reasons that whole grains may work to help people maintain waist size and reduce increases in the other risk factors. The presence of dietary fiber in whole grains can have a satiating effect, and the magnesium, potassium, and antioxidants may contribute to lowering blood pressure. Soluble fiber in particular may have a beneficial effect on post-meal blood sugar spikes," said Caleigh Sawicki. Sawicki did this work as part of her doctoral dissertation while a student at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and while working with the Nutritional Epidemiology Team at the USDA HNRCA. The greatest contributor to whole-grain intake among participants was whole-wheat breads and ready-to-eat whole-grain breakfast cereals. The refined grains came mostly from pasta and white bread. The difference in health benefits between whole and refined grains may stem from the fact that whole grains are less processed than refined grains. Whole grains have a fiber-rich outer layer and an inner germ layer packed with B vitamins, antioxidants, and small amounts of healthy fats. Milling whole grains removes these nutrient-dense components, leaving only the starch-packed refined grain behind. "The average American consumes about five servings of refined grains daily, much more than is recommended, so it's important to think about ways to replace refined grains with whole grains throughout your day. For example, you might consider a bowl of whole-grain cereal instead of a white flour bagel for breakfast and replacing refined-grain snacks, entrees, and side dishes with whole-grain options. Small incremental changes in your diet to increase whole-grain intake will make a difference over time," McKeown said. Methodology To measure daily grain intake, the researchers used diet questionnaires that participants completed every four years from 1991 to 2014, resulting in a median of 18 years of data. Dietary assessment data came from five study examinations, and observations were only included if participants attended at least two consecutive examinations with accurate dietary data. Participants with diabetes at baseline were excluded. The statistical analysis was adjusted for factors that might influence the results, including other aspects of a healthy diet. Limitations of the study include the fact that food consumption is self-reported, and participants may over- or under-estimate intake of certain foods based on perceived social desirability. Due to its observational design, the study does not reflect a causal relationship.   Antibiotics in early life could affect brain development Exposure to antibiotics in utero or after birth could lead to brain disorders in later childhood Rutgers University, July 14, 2021 Antibiotic exposure early in life could alter human brain development in areas responsible for cognitive and emotional functions, according to a Rutgers researcher. The laboratory study, published in the journal iScience, suggests that penicillin changes the microbiome - the trillions of beneficial microorganisms that live in and on our bodies - as well as gene expression, which allows cells to respond to its changing environment, in key areas of the developing brain. The findings suggest reducing widespread antibiotic use or using alternatives when possible to prevent neurodevelopment problems.  Penicillin and related medicines (like ampicillin and amoxicillin) are the most widely used antibiotics in children worldwide. In the United States, the average child receives nearly three courses of antibiotics before the age of 2. Similar or greater exposure rates occur in many other countries.  "Our previous work has shown that exposing young animals to antibiotics changes their metabolism and immunity. The third important development in early life involves the brain. This study is preliminary but shows a correlation between altering the microbiome and changes in the brain that should be further explored," said lead author Martin Blaser, director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at Rutgers. The study compared mice that were exposed to low-dose penicillin in utero or immediately after birth to those that were not exposed. They found that mice given penicillin experienced substantial changes in their intestinal microbiota and had altered gene expression in the frontal cortex and amygdala, two key areas in the brain responsible for the development of memory as well as fear and stress responses.  A growing body of evidence links phenomena in the intestinal tract with signaling to the brain, a field of study known as the "gut-brain-axis." If this pathway is disturbed, it can lead to permanent altering of the brain's structure and function and possibly lead to neuropsychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders in later childhood or adulthood. "Early life is a critical period for neurodevelopment," Blaser said. "In recent decades, there has been a rise in the incidence of childhood neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities. Although increased awareness and diagnosis are likely contributing factors, disruptions in cerebral gene expression early in development also could be responsible." Future studies are needed to determine whether antibiotics directly effect brain development or if molecules from the microbiome that travel to the brain disturb gene activity and cause cognitive deficits.  The study was conducted along with Zhan Gao at Rutgers and Blaser's former graduate student Anjelique Schulfer, as well as Angelina Volkova, Kelly Ruggles, and Stephen Ginsberg at New York University, who all played important roles in this joint Rutgers-New York University project.   Taking the brain out for a walk A recent study shows that spending time outdoors has a positive effect on our brains Max Planck Institute for Human Development, July 15, 2021 If you're regularly out in the fresh air, you're doing something good for both your brain and your well-being. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). The longitudinal study recently appeared in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry. During the Corona pandemic, walks became a popular and regular pastime. A neuroscientific study suggests that this habit has a good effect not only on our general well-being but also on our brain structure. It shows that the human brain benefits from even short stays outdoors. Until now, it was assumed that environments affect us only over longer periods of time. The researchers regularly examined six healthy, middle-aged city dwellers for six months. In total, more than 280 scans were taken of their brains using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The focus of the study was on self-reported behavior during the last 24 hours and in particular on the hours that participants spent outdoors prior to imaging. In addition, they were asked about their fluid intake, consumption of caffeinated beverages, the amount of time spent outside, and physical activity, in order to see if these factors altered the association between time spent outside and the brain. In order to be able to include seasonal differences, the duration of sunshine in the study period was also taken into account. Brain scans show that the time spent outdoors by the participants was positively related to gray matter in the right dorsolateral-prefrontal cortex, which is the superior (dorsal) and lateral part of the frontal lobe in the cerebral cortex. This part of the cortex is involved in the planning and regulation of actions as well as what is referred to as cognitive control. In addition, many psychiatric disorders are known to be associated with a reduction in gray matter in the prefrontal area of the brain. The results persisted even when the other factors that could also explain the relationship between time spent outdoors and brain structure were kept constant. The researchers performed statistical calculations in order to examine the influence of sunshine duration, number of hours of free time, physical activity, and fluid intake on the results. The calculations revealed that time spent outdoors had a positive effect on the brain regardless of the other influencing factors. "Our results show that our brain structure and mood improve when we spend time outdoors. This most likely also affects concentration, working memory, and the psyche as a whole. We are investigating this in an ongoing study. The subjects are asked to also solve cognitively challenging tasks and wear numerous sensors that measure the amount of light they are exposed to during the day, among other environmental indicators," says Simone Kühn, head of the Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and lead author of the study. The results therefore, support the previously assumed positive effects of walking on health and extend them by the concrete positive effects on the brain. Because most psychiatric disorders are associated with deficits in the prefrontal cortex, this is of particular importance to the field of psychiatry. "These findings provide neuroscientific support for the treatment of mental disorders. Doctors could prescribe a walk in the fresh air as part of the therapy - similar to what is customary for health cures," says Anna Mascherek, post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and co-author of the study. In the ongoing studies, the researchers also want to directly compare the effects of green environments vs urban spaces on the brain. In order to understand where exactly the study participants spend their time outdoors, the researchers plan to use GPS (Global Positioning System) data and include other factors that may play a role such as traffic noise and air pollution.     Vitamin C found to block growth of cancer stem cells, says peer reviewed study University of Salford (UK),  July 8, 2021   Increasingly, researchers are discovering the role played by cancer stem cells in the growth and spread of the disease. In groundbreaking new research, vitamin C showed its ability to target cancer stem cells and stop their growth – preventing the recurrence of tumors. Although mainstream medicine has been slow to accept the cancer-fighting properties of vitamin C, the exciting results of this study could help to change that. It's official: Vitamin C interferes with cancer stem cell metabolism In a newly-published study conducted at the University of Salford in Manchester, vitamin C demonstrated its power to stop tumors in their tracks by interfering with cancer stem cell metabolism – suppressing their ability to process energy for survival and growth. Cancer stem cells are responsible for triggering tumor recurrence, and promoting their growth and metastasis. Researchers believe that cancer stem cells give cancer its ability to resist chemotherapy and radiation – the reason for treatment failure in advanced cancer patients. The study, helmed by researchers Michael P. Lisanti and Gloria Bonucelli, was published last month in Oncotarget, a peer-reviewed journal. Peer-reviewed studies are considered the gold standard of scientific research. The study was the first to explore the effects of vitamin C on cancer stem cells – and provided the first evidence that vitamin C, in the form of ascorbic acid, can target and kill them. In a side-by-side comparison of seven different substances, vitamin C even outperformed an experimental cancer drug. Vitamin C works ten times better than the experimental cancer drug 2-DG The team investigated the impact on cancer stem cells of seven different substances. Three were natural substances, three were experimental drugs, and one was an FDA-approved clinical drug that is widely used. The natural products studied, along with vitamin C, were silibinin – derived from milk thistle seeds – and caffeic acid phenyl ester – or CAPE – derived from honeybee propolis. The experimental drugs were actinonin, FK866 and 2-DG, and the clinical drug was stiripentol. Researchers noted that vitamin C destroyed cancer stem cells by inducing oxidative stress. And, the vitamin performed this process ten times more effectively than 2-DG. Vitamin C used two different mechanisms of action to attack cancer stem cells. It worked as a pro-oxidant in cancer cells, depleting them of the antioxidant glutathione and causing oxidative stress and apoptosis – or cell death. It also inhibited glycolysis, which is the process that creates energy production in cell mitochondria. By inhibiting glycolysis, vitamin C inhibited mitrochondrial protein synthesis in cancer stem cells – while leaving healthy cells unaffected. Non-toxic vitamin C lacks the serious side effects of many pharmaceutical drugs Both experimental and approved cancer drugs can feature serious adverse effects, including thrombocytopenia – a deficiency of platelets in the blood that can cause bruising and slow blood clotting. They can also induce lymphopenia – a decrease in the body's infection-fighting white blood cells – and anemia, or low red blood cells. And the clinically-approved drug used in the study, stiripentol, can cause severe nausea, vomiting and fatigue. On the other hand, the National Cancer Center reports that high-dose vitamin C has caused very few side effects when used in clinical studies. Scientifically speaking, the future looks bright for vitamin C All seven of the substances tested inhibited the growth of cancer cells to varying degrees – including the non-toxic natural substances. But researchers said the most “exciting” results were with vitamin C. The research team concluded that vitamin C was a “promising new agent,” and called for more study to explore its use as an adjunct to conventional cancer therapies to prevent tumor recurrence and growth. “Vitamin C is cheap, natural, non-toxic and readily available, so to have it as a potential weapon in the fight against cancer would be a significant step,” observed Dr. Lisanti. As in most of the successful studies showing vitamin C's cancer-fighting properties, researchers used high doses of vitamin C, administered intravenously. IV vitamin C therapy is available in some alternative and holistic cancer treatment clinics worldwide. The real reason why vitamin C is ignored by conventional medicine and the mainstream media Again, vitamin C was 1,000 percent more effective than 2-DG, an experimental pharmaceutical drug – in targeting cancer stem cells. If vitamin C were developed by big pharma, these results would be shouted from the rooftops and featured in newspaper headlines. Yet, as always, “the powers that be” in mainstream medicine respond with…crickets. The reason; say natural health experts, is all too obvious. As a natural nutrient and vitamin, vitamin C can't be patented, and is inexpensive and easy to obtain. Therefore, there is no incentive for cancer clinics to promote it – when they can instead rake in the profits from chemotherapy. The indifference of conventional medicine to vitamin C is all the more frustrating because the nutrient has been shown to be an effective and non-toxic anti-cancer agent in previous studies, including many conducted by Nobel prize-winning scientist Linus Pauling. Vitamin C has been shown in a Japanese study to cut mortality in cancer patients by 25 percent. In addition, it has inhibited tumors in animal studies, and been shown to kill cancer cells in a wide variety of cancer cell lines. How much longer will the potential of this safe and powerful cancer-fighting nutrient be overlooked?     Mothers' high-fat diet affects clotting response in sons, mice study finds University of Reading (UK), July 13, 2021 Mothers who follow a high fat diet may be affecting the cardiovascular health of their sons, according to a new study in mice. In a paper published in Scientific Reports, a team of scientists found that the male children of mice mothers who were fed on a high fat diet during pregnancy had unhealthy platelets, which are responsible for clotting, when fed on a high fat diet themselves. Although both male and female children of the mothers fed on a high fat diet showed a variety of risks associated with cardiovascular disease, it was only the platelets of male mice which were considered hyperactive. These platelets were larger, more volatile and showed signs of stress compared to offspring fed on a normal diet. Dr. Dyan Sellayah, lecturer in cellular and organismal metabolism at the University of Reading said: "Heart disease is one of the UK's biggest killers and mounting evidence suggests that the risk of developing it may be increased during early development, particularly during the gestation period where mothers have a high-fat diet/are obese. The underlying mechanisms by which an unhealthy maternal diet may impact heart disease risk remains largely unknown. "This study used a mouse model of maternal obesity to understand how specialist blood cells known as platelets may be programmed during pregnancy. Platelets are important for blood clotting but are also the cause of heart attacks and strokes if they are activated at the wrong time and place." Children of the mothers fed on a high fat diet who followed a control diet however did not show the same concerning heart disease risks. The offspring from the group given a control diet had very similar levels of fat mass, cholesterol and other markets of cardiovascular health as the children of mothers fed a standard diet. In addition, where mothers had been fed a standard diet and their offspring fed a high fat diet, those children had higher levels of fat mass and other cardiovascular markers, but their platelets were statistically similar to the other groups apart from where both mum and child were fed high fat diet.  Dr. Craig Hughes, lecturer in cardiovascular biology at the University of Reading said: "This study revealed that maternal obesity during pregnancy causes offspring platelets to become hyperactive in response to a high-fat diet in adulthood. These results raise the possibility that the risk of unwanted blood clotting (aka thrombosis) in adulthood could be altered during pregnancy by diet of the mother. "The specific mechanisms for why high fat diets affect male offspring are still being investigated but we can see that there's likely to be a double-hit where both mums and sons diets together were required to see these bigger, more hyperactive platelets."

There’s more than one way to measure how fast you’re ageing. There’s chronological age - the number of years you’ve been alive - and then there’s biological age, which you can think of as the total damage your body has accumulated over the years. Your chronological age may differ from your biological age, in which case it’s interesting to understand why. The good news is you can reduce your biological age by improving your lifestyle, which in turn can lengthen lifespan and healthspan. The question is, then, how to quantify biological age? On this podcast, NBT Scientific Director Megan Hall talks about PhenoAge: a measure of biological age that can be determined by analyzing a shortlist of common blood markers. We talk about why PhenoAge is important and valid as a reliable measure of biological status, and how you can get your PhenoAge score. Megan also offers tips for improving your PhenoAge once you’ve got your baseline. This episode has a ton of information, so be sure to follow along with Megan’s outline. Here’s the outline of this interview with Megan Hall: [00:00:25] Arden Pope, PhD; Studies on the effects of air pollution on human health. [00:01:15] Puppy update. [00:05:54] Is ageing a disease? Article: Bulterijs, Sven, et al. "It is time to classify biological aging as a disease." Frontiers in genetics 6 (2015): 205.   [00:06:35] Primary vs secondary ageing. [00:08:02] Book: Lifespan: Why We Age - and Why We Don't Have To, by David A. Sinclair PhD. [00:08:16] Ken Ford; STEM-Talk Podcast. Ken Ford on the NBT Podcast: Optimal Diet and Movement for Healthspan, Amplified Intelligence and More. [00:09:19] Measuring ageing. [00:13:09] Theories of ageing - more than 300 theories; Articles: Tosato, Matteo, et al. "The aging process and potential interventions to extend life expectancy." Clinical interventions in aging 2.3 (2007): 401. 2. da Costa, Joao Pinto, et al. "A synopsis on aging—Theories, mechanisms and future prospects." Ageing research reviews 29 (2016): 90-112. 3. Jin, Kunlin. "Modern biological theories of aging." Aging and disease 1.2 (2010): 72.  [00:13:34] Grandmother hypothesis; Podcast: The Postmenopausal Longevity Paradox and the Evolutionary Advantage of Our Grandmothering Life History, with Kristen Hawkes, PhD. [00:14:48] Program Theories and Damage Theories. [00:17:45] Epigenetic clock theory of aging; Steven Horvath; Study: Horvath, Steve, and Kenneth Raj. "DNA methylation-based biomarkers and the epigenetic clock theory of ageing." Nature Reviews Genetics 19.6 (2018): 371.  [00:19:02] Steven Horvath's TEDx talk: Epigenetic Clocks Help to Find Anti-Aging Treatments. [00:20:47] Book: Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, by David Kushner. [00:21:43] DNA methylation; Article: Horvath, Steve. "DNA methylation age of human tissues and cell types." Genome biology 14.10 (2013): 3156. [00:23:13] Offspring of semi-supercentenarians have lower epigenetic age; Study: Horvath, Steve, et al. "Decreased epigenetic age of PBMCs from Italian semi-supercentenarians and their offspring." Aging (Albany NY) 7.12 (2015): 1159.  [00:23:36] Methylation based biological age associated with: 1.  breast cancer risk: Kresovich, Jacob K., et al. "Methylation-based biological age and breast cancer risk." JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute 111.10 (2019): 1051-1058. 2. Frailty: Breitling, Lutz Philipp, et al. "Frailty is associated with the epigenetic clock but not with telomere length in a German cohort." Clinical epigenetics 8.1 (2016): 21; 3. All-cause mortality: Marioni, Riccardo E., et al. "DNA methylation age of blood predicts all-cause mortality in later life." Genome biology 16.1 (2015): 1-12 and Christiansen, Lene, et al. "DNA methylation age is associated with mortality in a longitudinal Danish twin study." Aging cell 15.1 (2016): 149-154. [00:24:46] PhenoAge as a biomarker of ageing for lifespan and healthspan; Study: Levine, Morgan E., et al. "An epigenetic biomarker of aging for lifespan and healthspan." Aging (Albany NY) 10.4 (2018): 573. [00:29:06] Nine blood markers that make up PhenoAge. [00:29:57] PhenoAge related to COVID-19; Study: Kuo, Chia-Ling, et al. "COVID-19 severity is predicted by earlier evidence of accelerated aging." medRxiv (2020).  [00:30:34] Combining PhenoAge with DNA methylation data as a predictor of mortality. [00:33:28] Episode 59 of HumanOS podcast: Are You Biologically Older or Younger Than Your Chronological Age? [00:33:58] Dr. Josh Turkett’s 4-quadrant model. [00:34:00] Lifestyle factors that accelerate ageing: Sleep: Li, Xiaoyu, et al. "Association between sleep disordered breathing and epigenetic age acceleration: Evidence from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis." EBioMedicine 50 (2019): 387-394; Socioeconimic status, childhood and adult adversity: Liu, Zuyun, et al. "Associations of genetics, behaviors, and life course circumstances with a novel aging and healthspan measure: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study." PLoS medicine 16.6 (2019): e1002827; Education: Zhao, Wei, et al. "Education and lifestyle factors are associated with DNA methylation clocks in older African Americans." International journal of environmental research and public health 16.17 (2019): 3141. [00:35:59] Protein; Podcast: Why You’re Probably Not Eating Enough Protein (How to Know for Sure), with Megan Hall. [00:36:50] Book: The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-term Health, by Justin Sonnenburg and Erica Sonnenburg. [00:37:23] Bloodsmart.ai. [00:38:35] Patreon: nbt.link [00:39:33] Age reversal possible in humans? Study: Fahy, Gregory M., et al. "Reversal of epigenetic aging and immunosenescent trends in humans." Aging cell 18.6 (2019): e13028.  [00:40:15] Simon Marshall, PhD. [00:41:00] Interpreting your blood markers to understand PhenoAge. [00:46:11] PhenoAge vs Predicted Age.

These days, we hear a lot about gut health. And many people want to know about the effects of probiotics, antibiotics, gut inflammation, and modern digestive issues. You are a walking ecosystem home to a microbial community made up of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. You may be surprised to learn that you are more bacteria DNA than you are human DNA. Many of these inhabitants are found in your gut, and they also exist on your skin and in other parts of your body. Together these trillions of organisms form your microbiome. Today we ask our experts, what does this complex community do for us? On this episode, Victoria Maizes and Andrew Weil are joined by guests, Erica and Justin Sonnenburg, to discuss the human microbiome. Erica is a senior research scientist in the department of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine and Justin is an associate professor in the same department at Stanford. Together, they wrote, The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health. Erica says until recently the microbiome was a relatively understudied area, and that research is just beginning to uncover the major role it plays in our health. She discusses how the overuse of antibiotics, soaps, and chemical sanitizers may be destroying the crucial diversity of our microbiomes. We discuss how the Western diet may be starving the microbiome of essential food sources and damaging the intestines leading to inflammation. Dr. Weil shares a strategy that he finds more effective than probiotics supplements - and less expensive. Justin explains how precision medicine will use microbiome testing to harness one's unique microbiome population to treat diseases. We also discuss the research surrounding fecal transplants and how this novel treatment may be used to address illnesses like irritable bowel syndrome, allergies, and asthma in the future. Learn how you can take steps to benefit your microbiome and why the right bacteria is a good thing.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Erica Sonnenburg discuss the diverse and active microbiome that is in the human body. This microbiome in our gut varies from person to person and is largely environmentally based – those foods we eat, and what we choose to consume plays a factor on how healthy our gut biome is. They discuss the changes of the microbiome as infants as well as in adults, and ways that we can change or reset the microbiome, as well as what we each can do every day to keep our microbiomes healthy.      Key Takeaways:   Typical western diets now are very low in complex carbohydrates and it is affecting the microbiome in the large intestine.  Your environment is a big player in your microbiome – what you eat, lifestyle, medications, etc.  The first year of a baby’s life, their microbiome could make an impact on their immune system.       "Unlike our human genome, which we have almost no control over, our microbiome is something that we have a lot of control over based on our environment." —  Dr. Erica Sonnenburg      Connect with Dr. Erica Sonnenburg:   Website: SonnenburgLab.Stanford.edu  Book: The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health     Connect with Therese:   Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net  Twitter: @CritiSpeak   Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net         Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Erica Sonnenburg discuss the diverse and active microbiome that is in the human body. This microbiome in our gut varies from person to person and is largely environmentally based – those foods we eat, and what we choose to consume plays a factor on how healthy our gut biome is. They discuss the changes of the microbiome as infants as well as in adults, and ways that we can change or reset the microbiome, as well as what we each can do every day to keep our microbiomes healthy.      Key Takeaways:   Typical western diets now are very low in complex carbohydrates and it is affecting the microbiome in the large intestine.  Your environment is a big player in your microbiome – what you eat, lifestyle, medications, etc.  The first year of a baby’s life, their microbiome could make an impact on their immune system.       "Unlike our human genome, which we have almost no control over, our microbiome is something that we have a lot of control over based on our environment." —  Dr. Erica Sonnenburg      Connect with Dr. Erica Sonnenburg:   Website: SonnenburgLab.Stanford.edu  Book: The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health     Connect with Therese:   Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net  Twitter: @CritiSpeak   Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net         Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.    

Hipócrates, médico griego padre de la medicina moderna, dijo en el siglo 3 a. C. que “toda enfermedad comienza en el intestino”. Algunos lo llaman segundo cerebro, pero quizás deberíamos empezar a llamarlo primer cerebro, puesto que de su correcto funcionamiento dependen la salud de todo nuestro organismo.El tema de este episodio del podcast es la microbiota. Nuestro cuerpo alberga más vida microbiana que células. Se encuentran principalmente en la piel, las membranas, las mucosas y, sobre todo, en el tracto gastrointestinal. Y es precisamente ahí, en el interior del intestino, donde la microbiota es capaz de llegar a determinar la salud y la enfermedad de cada individuo. Unapoblación que puede llegar a pesar dos kilos, más que nuestro propio cerebro.Siempre se nos ha dicho que las bacterias son agentes mortíferos, pero ya es hora de reconocer el otro papel que desempeñan en nuestras vidas, ya que algunas de ellas no solo no son dañinas, sino que son fundamentales para el buen funcionamiento de nuestro organismo.Tal y como apuntan Justin Sonnenburg y su mujer Erica Sonnenburg, en su libro El intestino feliz, “a medida que los científicos tratan de desvelar las causas de enfermedades predominantemente occidentales, como el cáncer, la diabetes, las alergias, el asma, el autismo o las enfermedades intestinales inflamatorias, cada vez está más claro que la microbiota desempeña un papel relevante en la aparición de todas esas dolencias, así como en muchas otras facetas de nuestra salud”.Para desvelarnos algunos de los misterios de ese segundo cerebro que tanto afecta a todo lo que nos pasa, cuento con el Doctor José Vigaray, médico especialista en Alergología e Inmunología y Director de Inmunomet, nuevo servicio de inmunometabolismo, disbiosis intestinal, y enfermedad funcional e inflamatoria crónica del Hospital Beata María Ana, de Madrid. Notas de este episodio: https://janafernandez.es/todo-sobre-la-microbiota-nuestro-segundo-cerebro-episodio-12-del-podcast-de-jana-fernandez-con-el-doctor-jose-vigaray/

Jodie Campbell studied with the world's top nutrition experts like Doctors Neal Barnard and Andrew Weil. She's certified by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) as a Holistic Health Coach, and has taken Nutrition Advisory training at the Sanoviv Medical Institute in Mexico. She's a gut geek, mom, wife, and bookworm. She loves raw chocolate, green smoothies (even in winter), Amazon Prime, and helping women love their guts. When she not supporting clients, you'll find her playing in the Rocky Mountains with her husband, son, daughter, and their dog. Follow Jodie's story on Instagram: @jodieDcampbell Find out more about her work at: https://JodieCampbell.ca And check out her It Takes Guts program. Show notes Simplicity, tacos, nature and deep family values (1:43) Teaching kids that health is a super power (3:37) The pivot from a career in banking to health coaching (4:37) Sugar addiction and mistaking being slim for being healthy (6:28) Healthy for life by Ray Strand (8:30) Being stubborn and moving forward without looking back (9:25) Translating skills into a new career and why you're never "starting over" (10:42) Sifting through all the information and misinformation on health and wellness (15:42) An eye opening experience at the Sanoviv Medical Institute (18:19) Good books to start with for learning about the microbiome (20:38) The Good Gut by Justin and Erica Sonnenburg (21:05) Brain Maker by David Perlmutter and Kristin Loberg (21:12) The Well Fed Microbiome by Kristina Campbell (21:17) Why is gut health so important? (22:34) The sense of relief from beginning a journey to improve gut health (24:42) The benefits of improved ability to digest nutrients (30:34) What is gut health? (32:10) The vagus nerve and how your gut is your second brain (33:42) Gut health has a major impact on your mood... the gut is the primary producer of serotonin and dopamine (see this) (35:05) There's no magic pill, you just need to work in unison with how the body is designed to work (36:56) The five keys for healing the gut and maintaining gut health (39:17) The ideal diet (43:13) How to get started with making fermented foods (46:02) Peach Ginger Switchel recipe (48:27) The It Takes Guts program, a 28-day online program (includes one-on-one coaching) (52:11)

January is National Thyroid Awareness month and we’ve got a two part series to kick off our thyroid support for you and your practice. Tune-in to today’s episode with Jill Grunewald and episode #60 with Jill’s co-author to explore the impacts of low carb diets on thyroid function. January 11, 2019 > Click here to download the completed Matrix from this two part episode > You can find Jill Grunewald and Lisa Markley’s book ‘The Essential Thyroid Cookbook’ here > To hear Part 2 in this series click here Jill mentioned two other books in her interview: > Dr. Susan Blum’s book ‘The Immune System Recovery Plan’ (Dr. Blum’s 15-Minute Matrix episode will release May 2019) > Justin and Erica Sonnenburg’s book ‘The Good Gut’ > Click here to get my Thyroid Diagram with Thyroid Supportive Nutrients Handout   Get 15-Minute Matrix podcast notifications delivered to your inbox!

Women who are pregnant often talk how careful they are about what they eat and drink. They’re careful, points out Dr. Claire Fraser, because they’re feeding their baby. “Well, we should all think about diet in the same way that pregnant women do,” says Fraser. “Everything we put into our mouths, we’re either feeding or not feeding our gut microbes … And it’s important we keep our gut microbes happy.” Fraser is a pioneer and global leader in genomic medicine, a branch of molecular biology that focuses on the genome. In episode 32 of STEM-Talk, Fraser sits down with host Dawn Kernagis and IHMC founder Ken Ford to explain why we should all pay more attention to our guts, which is the home of more than 100 trillion bacteria. An endowed professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Fraser is a founder and director of Maryland’s Institute for Genome Sciences. From 1998 to 2007, she was the director of the Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, Maryland, and led teams that sequenced the genomes of several microbial organisms, including important human and animal pathogens. In 1995, she became the first person to map the complete genetic code of a free-living organism, Haemophilus Influenza, the bacterium that causes lower respiratory tract infections and meningitis in infants and young children. This discovery forever changed microbiology and launched a new field of study, microbial genomics. During this time, she and her team also sequenced the bacteria behind syphilis and Lyme disease, and eventually the first plant genome and the first human-pathogenic parasite. She even helped identify the source of a deadly 2001 anthrax attack in one of the biggest investigations conducted by U.S. law enforcement. Research into the benefits of gut bacteria has exploded around the world in the past decade.  In this STEM-Talk episode, Fraser explains the role these microbes play in improving health, preventing disease, and keeping us mentally sharp. She even shares how her diet has changed since she started studying the gut microbiome. Fraser also talks about working with the FBI during the 2001 antrhax attacks and her early work in microbiology that led to the first mapping of a free-living organism’s complete genetic code. Her recent lecture at IHMC, titled “The Human Gut Microbiome in Health and Disease,” can be viewed at ihmc.us/lectures. If you’re interested in learning more about the gut microbiome, Fraser in her lecture recommended “The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-term Health” by Stanford University scientists Justin and Erica Sonnenburg. 1:36: Dawn reads the five-star iTunes review titled “Intellectually Stimulating.” 2:28: Dawn and Ken provide a summary of Claire’s background and research, pointing out that she has authored more than 320 scientific publications, edited three books, and has served on committees of the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and National Institutes of Health. 4:13: Dawn welcomes Claire to STEM-Talk. 4:27: Claire talks about growing up in a suburb of Boston and taking her first biology course as a freshman in high school, which set her on a path toward a career in science. 5:37: Dawn asks Claire what led her to study microbiology. 6:53: Ken points out that there are more microbes on a person’s hand than there are people in the world. He asks Claire to give listeners a short intro into “Microbiome 101.” 9:34: Claire talks about the role of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG), a strain of bacteria that is part of many popular probiotic products and has a reputation as a helpful microbe. 12:00: Ken asks Claire to expand upon the potential of probiotics and their usage in human beings. 14:56: Dawn points out that Claire is internationally known for her role in genome sequencing and asks what led Claire to establish the Institute of Genomics at Maryland.

On the show today, we have Eric Pierce, Director of Strategy and Insights at New Hope Natural Media. We’re talking 2017 trends that are affecting natural products and CPG companies. While this interview may be more geared toward our CPG marketing nerds out there, the macro and cultural shifts Eric covers really apply to anyone with a business model that relies on selling what people eat or drink. Restaurant marketing nerds, there’s knowledge for you to be gained here too. Eric and his team are extremely tapped in to the industry, and having just released their 2017 Trends and Opportunities Forecast, it was the perfect time to have him on the show. You'll get to hear about the report in this episode. If you're interested in where the industry is headed, new categories of products that are starting to emerge, or are looking for potential areas of opportunity for your brand, you're going to take a lot away from our interview with Eric. In our conversation, Eric tackles the latest trends and how as a marketer you can make the most of what's going on. Here are just a few topics we touch on in the interview: What categories within natural products industry are most rife with opportunity in 2017 and beyond? (Eric and his team's ability to see and contextualize macro level data puts them in a unique position to catch trends ahead of the market. I think you'll enjoy hearing his answer to this question.) What are the biggest 2017 trends food and beverage companies should watch out for?  (With their 2017 Trends and Opportunities Forecast hot off the press, Eric shares findings from what he and his team have been working on.) What are some of the driving forces behind the shifts in consumer taste? (The food industry is changing, and Eric connects the dots between a few trends in technology that may have a correlation to why we demand different food than we did just a decade ago.) Links discussed in the episode: Books: Blue Ocean Strategy The Dorito Effect by Mike Schatzker The Third Plate by Dan Barber The End of Plenty by Joel K. Bourne Gaining Ground by Forrest Pritchard The Soil Will Save Usby Kristin Ohlson The Good Gut by Erica Sonnenburg and Justin L. Sonnenburg The Hidden Half of Nature by Anne Biklé and David Montgomery Life's Engines by Paul Falkowski Links: http://newhope.com/ http://nextforecast.com/ Food, Inc. (documentary) Fat Sick and Nearly Dead (documentary) http://foodmarketingnerds.com/beyond-traditional-food-marketing-will-schafer/ http://whatsnextinnatural.com/

Our Microbes, Ourselves, Dec. 31, 2015: Roughly one hundred trillion bacteria are living, and gorging, in our gut--all the more so during the indulgent holidays. Microbes influence our health and well-being, by affecting our gut directly, as well as the crops we eat and the soils in which we grow crops. These microbial communities  – called the gut microbiome -- have been linked to many disorders, including obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, cancer, immune disorders, and even mental illness. We are just at the dawn of a new era of microbial treatments for many illnesses. After a recent How On Earth show generated so much interest, we decided to bring our guest, Amy Sheflin, back for an hour-long call-in show on A Public Affair on KGNU. Amy is a doctoral student at Colorado State University in food science and human nutrition. She studies how the food we eat alters the microbial communities in our gut, and how those microbes in our bodies influence our overall health. For more info on the gut microbiome, check out Amy's favorite books on the topic: The Good Gut, by Justin and Erica Sonnenburg; and The Inside Tract, by Gerard Mullins. Also check out the American Gut Project. Host: Susan Moran Engineer: Maeve Conran Click here to listen to the show:

Dr. Justin Sonnenburg Dr. Justin Sonnenburg is an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford and Dr. Erica Sonnenburg is a senior research scientist in the Sonnenburg lab where they research many aspects the interaction between diet with the 100 trillion or so bacteria in the gut (specifically the colon) and how this impacts the health of the host (which in this case is a laboratory research mouse).   In this episode we discuss the pivotal role fiber plays in fueling good bacteria in the gut to produce compounds that regulate the immune system including increasing the number of T regulatory cells, which are specialized types of immune cells that keep the immune system in check and prevent autoimmune responses, and how these compounds also increase other types of blood cells in the body in a process known as hematopoiesis. We also talk about how the lack of fiber in the typical American diet actually starves these good bacteria of their food. This has an effect not only on the immune system and autoimmune diseases but also results in the breakdown of the gut barrier, which leads to widespread inflammation and inflammatory diseases. Lastly, in this podcast, Dr. Erica Sonnenburg talks about how C-sections, have a negative effect on the infant's gut due to the lack of exposure to bacteria present in the mother's vaginal canal, and how the use of formula deprives the infant not only from the good bacteria present in Mom's gut but also from special carbohydrates in breast milk that are good for the infant gut flora known as HMOs or human milk oligosaccharides.   If you're interested in learning more, you can read the full show notes here: https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/the-sonnenburgs Join over 300,000 people and get the latest distilled information straight to your inbox weekly: https://www.foundmyfitness.com/newsletter Become a FoundMyFitness premium member to get access to exclusive episodes, emails, live Q+A's with Rhonda and more: https://www.foundmyfitness.com/crowdsponsor