Repair, Clear, and Thrive Challenge https://alessifunctionalhealth.com/pages/challenge
(0:00) Introduction to functional medicine (0:23) Welcome to Health Decoded (0:32) Repair, clear, and thrive challenge (1:39) Understanding gut health (2:40) Episode segments overview (2:52) Gut microbiome complexity (3:48) Microbiome functions (6:27) Impact of modern life on gut health (9:14) Symptoms of gut dysfunction (14:46) Functional medicine testing (15:19) Sponsor: Authentic Nutrition (16:14) Tests for gut dysfunction (23:47) Five R gut healing protocol (29:19) Gut healing as a process (30:09) Foundation for overall health (31:20) Closing remarks00:00:00
You wouldn't go watch the first five minutes of a movie, and then claim to you know know
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whether or not you like that movie, you need more information you need a bigger picture,
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right.
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And so that's what functional medicine does is it gives us a bigger picture, and a broader
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look at not just the symptoms, but the things at a microscopic level that could be
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dysfunctional or going wrong.
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Welcome back to another episode of Health Decoded.
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I am your host, doctor Alessi.
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And today, we are going to dive deep, literally deep into your gut and, you know, the truth
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about gut health and ultimately that, you know, your gut is not just about digestion.
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It is the control center for your immune system, your hormones, and even your brain.
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If your gut's not right or is dysfunctional, then nothing else is.
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And yet most people think that fixing gut health is as simple as taking a probiotic.
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That's been obviously marketed to us lately is is probiotics are gonna fix all your problems.
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But today we're going to go far beyond that and really cover why your microbiome controls
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everything the signs your gut is broken the advanced testing that you're not getting at
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your doctor's office and most importantly what it takes to heal.
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So let's get right into it.
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This is going to be broken up into the four segments like we always do with every episode.
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What is it?
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Why is it important?
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What symptoms might you be experiencing?
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How to test for dysfunction, and then how to heal.
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And so let's just get started and really talk about what the gut is, right?
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It's not just a digestive tube.
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It's one of the most complex ecosystems on the planet.
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And it houses over 100 microbes, bacteria, fungi, viruses, and
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archaea, which are different small types of bacteria that are meant to thrive and kind of
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live in this symbiotic relationship.
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And the the kicker is there's actually more bacterial DNA sequences in your body than human
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DNA.
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And so we're more of a walking petri dish.
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We're walking around with more microbial, cells than we have human cells.
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And that's not just a metaphor, that's actually biology.
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And so, let's talk about what does the microbiome do?
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So, number one is digestion and nutrient absorption.
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So, specific bacterial colonies or types of bacteria within the gut do certain jobs, right?
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They each have kind of a function.
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And so without the right gut bugs, you're not breaking down certain things like fibers,
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carbohydrates, starches into short chain fatty acids like butyrate, which really is fuel for
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our colon cells, which can also keep inflammation down.
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And so this is often the underlying trigger for a lot of people with things like IBS or Crohn's
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or ulcerative colitis, those high inflammatory diseases.
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Hormone balance, so certain bacteria are going to regulate metabolism of hormones, and they
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will influence the thyroid hormone conversion from T4 to T3.
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And so if your gut is off, the hormones will subsequently be off as well.
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The immune system 70 to 80% of your immune cells sit right along the gut lining.
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And that's the base of your immune systems training ground.
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The first line of defense for anything that comes into your body, your immune system has to
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be prepared.
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And so when the microbiome is in balance, your immune system is able to determine the
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difference between what is friend and what is foe.
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Now, there's disruption, you can get things like autoimmunity, where now your immune system
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is confused, and your body will begin to attack its own cells, because it's not sure what's
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good, what's bad, and it's just overly hyperactive your immune system.
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And then the gut also controls mood and cognition.
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So, there's a term called the gut brain axis, which is basically this two way messaging
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system between your gut and your brain.
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And it, you know, controls secretion of things like neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine,
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and GABA, which are produced in the large part of the gut.
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That's why leaky gut or dysbiosis often shows up first as things like brain fog, anxiety,
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depression, mood issues, maybe loss of energy and that kind of vitality is because there's
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something dysfunctional within our gut ecosystem.
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Now, was a journal, Nature Reviews Immunology 2020 that was quoted saying disruptions in gut
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microbiota are directly linked to autoimmune disease and chronic inflammation.
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Now, is done, this is researched and published.
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And so, you know, why is this happening?
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Why are people so frequently having gut issues in today's age?
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And it's because modern life is very much toxic to the environment of our gut.
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Things like antibiotics, which are overly prescribed, right?
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Whether it's prescriptions or things that are being on our in our food, right?
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Hidden in antibiotics in the food.
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These are going to wipe out good bacteria.
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Think of it like this, right?
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You have a war going on and there's a village that has a bunch of bad guys in it and they're
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there.
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But there's also some civilians and people there that are not the bad guys.
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If you just pour napalm over that village, it kills everything, right?
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And that's basically what antibiotics do.
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They go in and they just destroy everything within the gut to fight the infection, but they
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kill the bad guys, or the good guys too.
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And so, basically, overuse of antibiotics, especially as a child, basically sets the stage
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for people to have gut dysfunction, and things like autoimmunity later in life.
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And so that's one of the first questions we often ask when we are treating patients or
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working with patients with gut issues is, did you have a history of antibiotic use as a
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child?
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And most often we did right that was just if you grew up in the 70s 80s 90s when these
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things started coming out it was kind of like oh just take this just take this just take this
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in.
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It was prescribed as kind of like this magic pill without the thought of like what's coming
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later on.
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And so other things like glyphosate and pesticides, which are basically antimicrobials,
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they can damage the gut as well and these are all over food and within food that we're
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consuming on a daily basis.
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Processed food and seed oils feed the bad bacteria.
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So they actually are like fuel for those pathogenic bacteria if those are present.
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And then chronic stress, which can reduce our vagal tone from the vagus nerve.
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If you don't know what the vagus nerve is, go back and listen to the episode a few weeks back
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where we talked all about vagal tone and how that can influence health and our body's
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ability to recover.
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And so, chronic stress reduces that vagal tone, which can slow the motility of our gut and
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basically shift the bacterial balance towards more of a negative than a positive.
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And so, there was a 2017 study done in frontiers in microbiology that showed stress
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alone can shift your microbiome composition within twenty four hours.
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So, they also show that a one poor night's sleep can really over, overstress the gut and
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lead to this kind of dysfunction within twenty four hours or within the next day.
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And so your gut is really like think of it like ground zero for your health.
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If you ignore it, you're setting yourself up for things like IBS, depression, thyroid
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disease, autoimmunity, even like dementia later in life.
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Because it is again, the first line of defense for your immune system, your body's healing.
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And so let's get into a little bit of like what to expect or what to look for.
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Now, obviously, the major things like we are I already discussed IBS, major gut issues and
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sensitivities.
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But let's talk a little bit also about some of the ones that are a little less known.
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And so now I've kind of laid for you the foundation of why why your gut matters, why
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it's important.
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Let's talk about what happens like when it breaks down, and what you should look for.
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Because you could be having normal bowel movements, oh, everything's fine, but you could
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still have an out of balance microbiome.
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And so the more classic symptoms are going to be things like digestive stuff, bloating, gas,
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constipation, diarrhea, acid reflux.
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Very common ones that we see are things like eczema, acne, psoriasis or chronic rashes that
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won't go away.
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Brain fog, headaches, poor concentration, mood swings that we discussed.
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And then, your immune system, right?
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If we're constantly having frequent colds, or we have allergies, or these autoimmune flares
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like psoriasis.
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And then, in the metabolic range, fatigue, weight gain, blood sugar swings, all of these
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can be related to an imbalance in the microbiome.
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And so, there was a study in the clinical reviews in allergy and immunology in 2019 that
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said increased intestinal permeability, or what we call leaky gut is directly associated with
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autoimmune conditions, IBS, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
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And so a lot of these things if you're going to just a, you know conventional medicine doctor
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with those types of issues, they're rarely addressing the gut and they're just going to
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prescribe some type of medication to help manage the symptoms when at the root cause it
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really is a dysfunction in the gut And then those prescription medications end up making
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the problem worse over time.
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And so, you know, some of the hidden things we see, right?
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And so, those are more of the common ones.
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Some of the hidden things we're going to see is things like leaky gut, right?
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This one's hard for people to get their mind around and really be able to nail down like,
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okay, like, is that what I'm experiencing?
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Is it not?
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And so we use specific tests for this.
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But basically, what leaky gut is, is think of your gut lining as like having this layer
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that's closed.
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And over time, the gaps can get wider and get weakened by inflammation, which can allow
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toxins, food particles and bacteria to get into the bloodstream, which triggers your immune
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system and inflammation.
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We also see things like SIBO, which is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
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Basically, having bacteria that migrate into the small intestine from the large intestine,
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which can lead to things like bloating, your body not absorbing food malabsorption, IBS like
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symptoms, where we just have like irritability all the time.
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We also see things like candida and fungus overgrowth, which is basically candida is an
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opportunistic yeast that can develop.
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It can lead to things like craving is of sugar, fatigue, it can lead to brain fog.
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And overall just that feeling of you know, you're not feeling a 100%.
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And then, something that we're seeing a lot more of these days are things like parasites.
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And it's not just a third world problem.
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You know, travel yes is a is a large way people get that they go to other countries they
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consume things they can develop parasites but undercooked food people who consume a lot of
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sushi contaminated water.
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I actually just read a study that was saying people who live with pets in the home, if the
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pets are not clean, then that can lead to obviously us being exposed to things like that
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as well.
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And having parasites.
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And so there was a study in gut microbes 2021 that that was quoted saying dysbiosis of the
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gut microbiota contributes to systemic inflammation and plays a causal role in
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development of obesity, insulin resistance, and depression.
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So again, if we're seeing any of these diagnosed conditions, diabetes, obesity, people
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having like anxiety and high stress, I'm looking to the gut 10 out of 10 times because
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again, ground zero, this is the first line of defense.
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And so, some of the red flags you you will want to look for right if you're experiencing any of
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these things you need to check your gut.
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Do you react to more and more foods over time like as oh as I've gotten older, I'm more
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sensitive to certain foods.
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Do you feel inflamed like your whole body hurts or your whole body is is stiffness and achy and
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sore.
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But you can't really like pinpoint why.
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And then do you struggle with fatigue right every day you crash, no matter how much
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caffeine you drink you drink three four cups of coffee, but you still just can't get that
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energy back.
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These are hallmark signs that your gut is not functioning properly, and your immune and
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metabolic gatekeeper is basically working overtime.
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And so, you know, if your symptoms feel like they're everywhere, right?
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Their brain, skin, hormones, it all comes back to the gut.
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And so we need to calm the storm to get to the root cause of that problem.
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So now let's get to, we talked about what it is, you know, kind of what you can experience
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or what you might be looking for red flags.
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Now let's talk about how we test for dysfunction or dysbiosis.
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But first, I want to take a quick word from one of our sponsors.
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Now back to the episode.
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Alright, welcome back.
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Let's get into how functional medicine tests for gut dysfunction and some of the things that
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we use on a daily basis within our clinics.
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So here's where functional medicine takes a completely different path than the conventional
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care approach.
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So, know, you were to walk into your primary care office with gut complaints, they're
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probably going to number one want to do a colonoscopy or maybe they're going to test for
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H pylori because those are the main big ones that they know what to do with.
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And so if those come back clear, then they're going to just tell you you're fine.
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But the truth is, you can have massive dysfunction at the microbiome immune or even
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that leaky gut level and standard tests will miss it every time.
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So it all goes back to what we always talk about.
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You wouldn't go watch the first five minutes of a movie and then claim to you know know whether
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or not you like that movie.
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You need more information you need a bigger picture, right?
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And so, that's what functional medicine does is it gives us a bigger picture and a broader look
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at not just the symptoms, but the things at a microscopic level that could be dysfunctional
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or going wrong.
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And so, let's talk about basically the the main tests we will use to analyze the gut, decipher
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what's going on, obviously, and then that will guide us on how we can heal and fix it.
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And so, number one is is usually going to be a zonulin or intestinal permeability test.
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And I will tell you right now that ninety nine percent of the time if I'm testing someone for
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this, I'm getting a positive leaky gut diagnosis.
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And it's because the symptoms of leaky gut are often so accurate that if somebody comes in and
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they're saying all these things, we run this test.
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It's really a confirmation, but it's going to obviously number one confirm it for us, but
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then allow us to make the right steps.
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And so we'll get into that here in a sec.
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But basically, what that is is zonulin is a protein that regulates those tight junctions in
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the gut and how close the cells are to each other, which again, prevents that leakiness of
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things getting into the bloodstream.
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And so, this test, it confirms whether or not someone has leaky gut.
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And so, the next one we would look into, right?
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And often we're going to run together.
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The intestinal permeability test is a serum test looking for those antibodies.
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But the next one is a stool analysis, a comprehensive stool analysis.
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This can measure bacterial balance.
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It can measure pathogenic organisms, parasites, yeast, and even viruses that could be in the
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stool or in the gut, right?
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And so, it reports on short chain fatty acids as well.
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These are SCFAs, which are critical for gut and immune health.
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And so you probably heard of those before but not really sure what they are.
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Basically, these are what are broken down by when your when your gut breaks down fiber it
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produces these, and those are important for healing.
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Now, it also is going to screen for IGA markers, which are markers of gut inflammation.
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And so, these two tests are going to be pretty much an every single time somebody comes in
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with these types of issues.
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And then the next one which is called an organic acids test, we're running this one a
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lot as well.
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And so this measures the metabolites that are kicked off when your body if your body has
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yeast, fungi or bacteria tells us if there's any type of hidden overgrowth that we need to
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look into as well.
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It also tests for your mitochondrial function, as well as if your body is detoxing or having
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limited detoxification production.
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And so it's actually a really great test because it gives us a pretty broad picture and
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paint and goes a little bit deeper than the others.
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The next one will be a food sensitivity panel very often we're going to run this with a leaky
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gut test because it's like, okay, yeah, you have leaky gut.
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Now, why is that?
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Well, your body has sensitivities to gluten, dairy, eggs, meat, whatever it might be that
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are triggering that inflammation causing the leaky gut.
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And so again, when we get into what we're going to talk about with the corrective protocol of
00:20:32
like our five hours, number one is always removing and so you have to remove the things
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that are causing damage.
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And so we would run that test along with the leaky gut test.
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And then some other add ons that we would want to see is maybe like, you know, you can do a
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SIBO breath test, but the stool test is going to tell us if there's SIBO.
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A comprehensive nutrient panel is great.
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Is your body absorbing, you know, any of the vitamins that you should be so that will tell
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us as well.
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And then a mycotoxin test is awesome as well to see if there's any mold exposure, or you know,
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because toxins, they can impair the gut lining as well as the microbiome and create that
00:21:08
imbalance.
00:21:10
And so, as always, you know, we're looking for more than just a diagnosis, right?
00:21:16
Like more than just, you have this.
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We want to know why we want to know at a very, very myopic level, like, what is the cause of
00:21:24
it?
00:21:24
Because then we know what we can do to fix it.
00:21:27
If I just have a piece of the picture, then I'm guessing and we're really just taking shots in
00:21:31
the dark.
00:21:32
People end up wasting a lot of time, a lot of money, and they end up very frustrated because
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they still didn't fix the problem that they came in with.
00:21:39
And so, you know, with the data, we can build precision protocols that aren't just focused on
00:21:45
your symptoms, they're going to rebuild gut resilience from the inside out.
00:21:49
There was an awesome study in the Integrative Medicine Clinic Journal 2019.
00:21:54
Functional lab testing identifies subclinical gut dysfunction that standard GI tests miss,
00:22:01
leading to earlier interventions and thus better outcomes.
00:22:05
And so that's awesome because, you know, if bloated, you're fatigued, you're inflamed, but
00:22:11
your doctor told you that everything was normal because you had a basic test done, It's not
00:22:15
because nothing's wrong, you're not crazy.
00:22:17
It's because you didn't look deep enough or in the right place.
00:22:20
And so you have to get the full picture.
00:22:22
And honestly, this is exactly why we created the Alessi Total Care Program, because testing
00:22:27
without a plan doesn't fix anything either.
00:22:30
So, you can have all the data in the world, but if you don't know what to do with it, you're
00:22:34
still in the same boat.
00:22:35
And so, with Total Care, we go beyond standard labs.
00:22:39
We combine advanced functional medicine lab testing with personalized nutrition, doctor
00:22:44
grade nutraceuticals, lifestyle coaching as well as follow-up care.
00:22:48
So you're not just guessing but your body is actually healing.
00:22:51
And then the best part is you're not doing it alone.
00:22:54
We have a whole team that's going to guide you step by step through the results of your labs,
00:22:58
prescribing protocols and then giving you lifestyle and habit techniques that you can do
00:23:05
for life to then proactively stay ahead of problems in the future.
00:23:09
And so, if you're ready to stop, you know, just treating symptoms, and you actually want to
00:23:14
start fixing the root cause, I would encourage you to go visit alessifunctionalhealth.com
00:23:19
slash TotalCare, and you can learn more about this program and see if it's a good fit for
00:23:23
you.
00:23:24
Now, let's get into the final piece here, which is what we call the five R gut healing
00:23:30
protocol.
00:23:31
And so we've discussed this before on previous episodes, but I just want to get in a little
00:23:37
bit more detail here.
00:23:39
And this should paint a really good picture for you as to the ideal way to correct some of
00:23:44
these imbalances that we just discussed.
00:23:47
And so we discussed, you know, the gut, what it is, what are the warning signs to look for, and
00:23:51
then how you test for dysfunction.
00:23:53
Now let's get into solutions.
00:23:55
So this is what we call the five R protocol.
00:23:58
And it's really a framework, you know, everybody's going to have a different ish
00:24:01
variation of this depending on if they have different food sensitivities, what might be
00:24:05
going on within the gut microbiome.
00:24:07
But ultimately, this is going to be the framework we follow.
00:24:12
And so, step one is the first R remove.
00:24:15
So, need to remove inflammatory foods, gluten, dairy, refined sugar, alcohol, highly processed
00:24:22
seed oils.
00:24:23
We're going to remove any infections or overgrowths like parasites, candida, SIBO.
00:24:29
We target these with specific herbs, things like oregano oil and berberine, and any anti
00:24:34
parasitics if needed.
00:24:36
And then we want to remove environmental toxins.
00:24:39
So reducing exposure to pesticides, or things within our personal care products that we might
00:24:44
be putting on our body that are leading to toxicity, and thus inflammation.
00:24:49
And so there was a great quote out of clinical reviews in allergy and immunology in 2019, That
00:24:55
said removing dietary triggers significantly reduced intestinal permeability and
00:25:01
inflammation.
00:25:02
So again, before we can do anything else, we need to remove what's causing damage in the
00:25:07
first place.
00:25:08
And so, step two, replace.
00:25:11
So we need to support what's missing in digestion.
00:25:14
And so, we use digestive enzymes which are going to help your body to break down carbs,
00:25:19
proteins, fats, things like betaine HCL, which is hydrochloric acid, which can improve stomach
00:25:25
acid to further support protein breakdown.
00:25:29
We use things like bile salts, bitters, which are going to help your body to absorb things
00:25:33
like the fatty acids that you're taking in, and ultimately improve the ability for your body to
00:25:40
function before we start now pushing things like probiotics.
00:25:44
And so then that takes us into step three, which is the third R, reinoculate.
00:25:50
And so now we want to basically rebuild a very healthy and diverse microbiome.
00:25:55
So we use probiotics that contain multiple strains that have, you know, we can fill in the
00:26:00
gaps of where you're deficient.
00:26:02
So what we've specifically tested, you're lacking in these markers, we can build those
00:26:07
back up.
00:26:08
We use things like prebiotics, fibers from foods like asparagus, onions, and then certain
00:26:14
supplements as well, as well as using fermented foods.
00:26:19
You know, food is medicine.
00:26:20
And so if we can use things like sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir is a great one to provide some
00:26:27
healthy probiotic bacteria to the gut to rebuild those colonies.
00:26:32
And so there was a quote out of the gut microbes journal 2022, targeted probiotic
00:26:37
therapy reduced markers of leaky gut and systemic inflammation in four weeks.
00:26:43
And so people think this is going to be some lifelong journey.
00:26:46
You know, we see great turnaround within the first few months of symptoms.
00:26:51
Obviously, the full remission and healing takes a little bit of time, right, often six to
00:26:56
twelve months.
00:26:56
But as far as symptomatology based, people usually start to feel better pretty soon.
00:27:01
And so step four is now the fourth R repair.
00:27:05
And so we've got some more beneficial bacteria within the gut.
00:27:09
Now we want to heal that gut lining, right?
00:27:12
If we had the leaky gut and it was damaged, we use specific nutrients, things like L
00:27:16
glutamine, which is basically fuel for the cells in your intestines.
00:27:20
Zinc carnosine, which tightens those junctions and can repair, as well as collagen peptides,
00:27:26
bone broth, and things like omega-three fatty acids to reduce the inflammation.
00:27:31
And so peptides are becoming a lot more used for these types of things.
00:27:35
Specifically, the BPC-one 157 is basically gut acid peptide.
00:27:41
And so if we take it orally instead of an injection, the oral dose goes to the gut and it
00:27:46
can actually start to heal that gut tissue as well.
00:27:49
It's pretty awesome.
00:27:51
And then the fifth R is going to be the rebalancing.
00:27:54
And so this is where we focus on more of the long term lifestyle approach.
00:28:00
But also given you kind of like, here's the keys to the city, right?
00:28:03
You have the tools now that it takes to keep this healthy.
00:28:07
Now, you just need to maintain that lifestyle.
00:28:10
And so, we focus on things like stress management, breath work, meditation, right?
00:28:17
Because we talked about how stress can wreck the gut.
00:28:19
So, you don't want to do all this work to correct your problem and fix your gut, and then
00:28:24
go back to the stressful lifestyle that you were in that wrecked it in the first place.
00:28:27
We focus on sleep, right?
00:28:29
Because sleep is very important for a balanced circadian rhythm, which directly impacts the
00:28:34
diversity of flora in your gut.
00:28:36
And then movement, exercise, as well as, you know, maintaining a healthy diet are going to
00:28:42
be paramount as well for maintaining that microbiome diversity long term.
00:28:47
And people can take things like probiotics long term.
00:28:50
It's there's no negatives to that if you need to, but ultimately you don't have to either if
00:28:55
you're eating diverse and maintaining a level of, you know, diversity within your diet and
00:29:02
exercise as well.
00:29:04
And so, know, the biggest takeaway here for everybody is that gut healing isn't a pill.
00:29:09
It's not something you're going to go get from your primary care doc and it's going to fix
00:29:14
your problem like that.
00:29:15
Unfortunately, I do wish it worked that way.
00:29:17
But it is a process.
00:29:19
And so, we have found a way or created a way to make that process, you know, easier for people
00:29:26
to incorporate into their daily life.
00:29:28
Because that's often the hardest part is people want to fix their problem, but the amount of
00:29:34
effort and work and consistency it takes, We just we don't have time for that right?
00:29:39
We don't have a time in our busy schedule in our life to do something like that.
00:29:43
But we take that into account because we're busy.
00:29:46
I'm busy.
00:29:47
I have kids.
00:29:48
Have I have life, you know, a business, all of that.
00:29:50
And so we want to be able to find a way that makes it work for you.
00:29:54
And so, everything is personalized.
00:29:56
We build lifestyle plans, and we get really great results because we're able to focus on
00:30:01
the person as a whole, including everything, Their lifestyle, their family, all of that, and
00:30:06
not just focus on their symptoms and their issue.
00:30:09
And so, you know, you're building really a foundation for your immune system, your
00:30:13
hormones, your mood, and then longevity, whatever that looks like for you.
00:30:18
So, you would like to learn more about how we help to diagnose, reverse, and heal gut
00:30:23
dysfunction within our functional medicine programs, go to a lesseefunctionalhealth.com
00:30:27
schedule a consultation with me or one of our other providers.
00:30:31
Let's create a personalized plan for lifelong health.
00:30:34
Listeners of the show, you're always going to get exclusive discounts and reductions on
00:30:39
price, on any protocols, lab tests, or anything else.
00:30:43
And so just be sure to mention to us where you heard about us.
00:30:46
And as always, if you found value in this show, please like, subscribe to our channels, and
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00:30:54
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00:30:58
If you'd like to get in touch with us, or if you have a story you'd like to share on an
00:31:02
episode, email it to us, askalessiefxhealth dot com.
00:31:07
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00:31:16
edge therapy.
00:31:17
Thank you again for tuning in to Health Decoded.
00:31:20
I'm Doctor.
00:31:20
Alessi, and I'll see you on the next one.
00:31:25
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00:31:30
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00:31:33
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00:31:54
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00:31:59
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00:32:01
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