Episodes

Literature review this week: Plastics in the blood, dogs can sniff Covid, mental health and exercise, CT scans and brain cancer risk, aging and the microbiome. Also, a piece on mothers and the shaming from social media critics. Recipe is coconut curry fish. For example: Brain Cancer - a single CT can raise the risk of cancer of the brain in children if the exposure occurs before age 22 years. Enjoy, Dr. M

Section I - An Uncivilized Journey Part II (Being Vulnerable part II) I continued my wandering journey of self discovery this year. Finding myself back in rural Austin, Texas, there would be no preconceived idea for me what this stop on the path would uncover and offer me in witness and self emotional understanding. Not to disappoint, this journey was easily 5X more mind and heart opening than last April. The past year has been tumultuous for me as you all may remember. I am still coming off the...

This weeks guest is an expert in the prevention of maternal pregnancy related metabolic disease and the downstream risks of metabolic dysfunction if left unchecked. Her bio: Leslie P. Stone MD, IFMCP, board certified in Family Practice, with a fellowship in Surgical Obstetrics. She is an international lecturer on Developmental Programming of Health and Disease (DOHaD) and application of individualized functional medicine care during pregnancy. Her passion is helping parents capture the miraculou...

This week is a literature review where we look at the topics of school mental health struggles, safetyism, crispr therapy, immune skin cell programming and rapid weight gain in infants. Part II we discuss kitchen safety. We finish up with part III and estrogen, the microbiome and women's health. Enjoy, Dr. M

Last year, I wrote about an Uncivilized Journey that was very eye opening and transformative. This year, I went on a second journey deep in the fields of rural Austin, Texas where horses, turkeys and deer were living in peace. It was deeper and more moving than the first which is saying something. I am going to rerun last year's piece as it encapsulated the experiences well. Then I will tackle journey II in other weeks. Section II is more literature review. Enjoy, Dr. M

This weeks guest is Dr. terry Wahls. Who is she? From her website: Dr. Terry Wahls is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa where she conducts clinical multiple sclerosis trials . She is also a patient with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, which confined her to a tilt-recline wheelchair for four years. Dr. Wahls restored her health using a diet and lifestyle program she designed specifically for her brain and now pedals her bike to work each day. She is the author o...

Literature Review - this week we look at topics like: Autism is linked to heart disease!; Machine learning algorithms are going to help us diagnose autism spectrum disorders earlier; Long term gastrointestinal issues post Covid are real and problematical;Celiac disease screening for first degree relatives of a person with celiac disease is warranted;Watching violent video content in early childhood is associated with mental health struggles at age 12 and more... Part two discusses the length of ...

Cholesterol VII- Follow up It is imperative that all readers know that any time you go against conventional wisdom, you run the risk of negative reactions from providers of care that disagree or do not know about this depth of hypothetical disease etiology. This set of lipid and cardiology articles was meant to stimulate the reader to think beyond the simple answer that "statin medications" and cholesterol lowering are the primary or only answers to coronary artery heart disease. The treatment o...

This weeks guest is Jake Hastings. Who is he? He is a man who has been on the front lines of human health with a diverse background in firefighting, EMS Care, and incident management. His adventures and jobs have carried him to 27 countries around the world. He served in the United States Air Force as a medic and mental health technician where he worked in clinics and hospitals with various military branches. After the military, Jake worked as a ski patroller in Mt. Hood Oregon, and a search and...

High Density Lipoprotein - We are going to take a deep look at this very complex biological topic. Bear with me as in the end it will all make more sense as to why "good cholesterol" is not inherently good or bad as much as it just is. Our lifestyle decisions are in effect making a biological process good or bad. That is my scientific understanding at this time. We also look at COVID19 and the effects on the heart this week. Enjoy, Dr. M

Cholesterol Part V - What to do? I hope that over the last four weeks I have sufficiently laid the case for heart disease as a complex disorder that is far from just a cholesterol/lipoprotein issue. It is vastly more complex than this especially with the new emerging data on the actions of high density lipoproteins, HDL, in reverse cholesterol and other molecule removal from circulation. In the next weeks newsletter, we will look at HDL. Somewhere in the near future, I will synthesize further re...

Briana Pobiner PhD This weeks guest is super interesting. Briana Pobiner is a paleoanthropologist whose research centers on the evolution of human diet with a focus on meat-eating. Briana has a BA from Bryn Mawr College, where she created her own major called Evolutionary Studies. Then she completed a Masters degree followed by her PhD in Anthropology from Rutgers University. Briana is also an Associate Research Professor of Anthropology in the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology...

Cholesterol Lipid Hypothesis Part IV - Endothelial Dysfunction How does an artery clog? Let us recap a little at this time. 1) Cholesterol and lipoproteins are significant and necessary for pathology to develop but not the only player in heart disease and atherosclerosis. I believe that inflammation is the root cause of the problem driving the lipid imbalance and plaque formation. 2) Lipoproteins are produced and recycled every day in order to deliver energy to tissues around the body via trigly...

Cholesterol Lipid Hypothesis Part III So far, I have put forth some hypotheses that are controversial and raise questions about the American College of Cardiology guidelines. This is fine with me because this is about stimulating a conversation about disease etiology and treatment. Readers are never encouraged to go against their physician's recommendations. The choice to change a current therapeutic regimen is solely between the patient and their provider and frankly is likely predicated on how...

This weeks guest is special to me as he is my nephew and Godson. In his own words: "I am an active seeker, student of life, and on a mission of helping others remember who they are and their innate self worth. It has been my passion of walking alongside others in their own healing and transformation that has brought me to this work. I am a currently a nomadic Young Mens coach currently based in South America. I earned my BS in Psychology from The California Institute of Integrative Studies, and ...

This week it is: Cholesterol Lipid Hypothesis Part II The hypothesis: cholesterol and lipoproteins like LDL are inherently good and necessary unless they become unbalanced either through genetics and most definitely lifestyle choices. From last week: It turns out that the carrier lipoproteins like LDL and HDL cholesterol are an ancient part of our innate immune system that have an important function in fighting infection. We have always used these lipoproteins to clear infectious material before...

This weeks guest is Dr. Subinoy Das. Dr. Das is the chief executive officer and medical director at US institute for advanced Sinus Care and research. He is the former Director of The Ohio State University Sinus and Allergy Center, and an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University. He is widely recognized as one of the nation's best sinus surgeons and has received multiple awards as a U.S. board-certified otolaryngologist including a Presidential Citation in 2015 from the American Rhinolog...

This week begins the cholesterol/lipid discussion as it relates to cardiovascular disease. We look at alternative ideas for elevated lipid levels in humans and why this might be so. History and nature had a plan. Could we be the reason for the mismatch of our genes and our health outcomes? We also look at men's work and some new research on autism spectrum disorders. Enjoy, Dr. M

This weeks guest is Dr. Bill Harris. Dr. Harris is an internationally recognized expert on omega-3 fatty acids and how they can benefit patients with heart disease. He obtained his Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from the University of Minnesota and did post-doctoral fellowships in Clinical Nutrition and Lipid Metabolism at the Oregon Health Sciences University. His interest in omega-3 fatty acids began with his postdoctoral work when he published his first study on the effects of salmon oil on serum l...

Coronavirus Update 81 plus other stuff We continue to have a highly infectious Omicron endemic national state with new strain XBB.1.5 accounting for 75% of our cases now with absolutely no signs of worsening disease severity or morbidity. Having had a previous Omicron natural infection is beneficial towards preventing moderate to severe disease from current circulating Omicron strains, but not helping against getting mild infection at all. This week we look at the residual data that is of intere...

What is it about Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity that we see a disease needing a drug to mitigate the problem versus first looking at the other possible root causes? (Some children do have a genetic or epigenetic condition that is not based on the following discussion.) I asked Dr. Sandy Newmark this question, here is his response: "I read Scattered minds a long time ago and thought it was a fantastic book. I agree with much of what he, and you, say. I do think he has a more of a narrow appr...

This weeks guest is Dr. Pam Staples. She is a friend and as amazing therapist. Her Bio lists her as having received a master’s and a doctorate in the field of Psychology. For her entire 40 year career, she chose to work with a very special population—teenagers. Working with teens has been so incredibly rewarding for Dr. Pam. She could see the innate opportunities to help change the trajectory of a teenager’s life, which are so potent during this delicate developmental stage. She describes hersel...

This week we look at the quick hits related to Covid science. This information stream is fading, however, I am still finding some important science worth sharing in the literature. We also look at the disease underpinnings from the perspective of Marty Makary. Finally, we finish up with the micronutrient selenium. Enjoy, Dr. M

This week week look at a piece by David Katz: "I imagine -and in select cases know- that many of my colleagues were encouraged and gratified to hear that the NIH is allocating a sizable sum to the pursuit of precision nutrition. Some number of my colleagues will be directly involved in those research efforts, and others are simply pleased to see nutrition getting some small measure of the attention we agree it warrants. I can appreciate these reactions, but in my case, the response felt more lik...