"Calamity is the test of integrity." Samuel Richardson
Housekeeping
I hope your Thursday morning (or evening for the New Zealanders) is going well.You know what they say, skip more than one day of anything and calamity usually follows. Last Thursday morning I think I had multiple versions of the same newsletter opened on multiple devices and something refreshed to a blank page.And being the technology train wreck that I am, I had nothing for broadcast Thursday AM which meant the encore version usually blasted on Friday AM didn't happen either.And you have my sincerest apologies. I will endeavor to do better. Endeavor being the key word there.
Read of the Week
Despite going underground last week, my reading never stopped. I stumbled onto a really cool study that also happened to hammer home one of my gut microbiome commandments:Thou shall not spend a single penny on microbiome testing, probiotic supplements, or colon cleanses until you first commit to a regular and consistent diet that includes fermented foods and fiber. Full stop.(OK, I threw in colon cleanses at the end there to be emphatic....but those are pure snake oil and I wouldn't recommend those to my worst enemy. The only "cleanse" should be during colonoscopy prep.)Dr. Chris Damman tweeted about a post that covered the first study of its kind that was able to test the microbiome in the small intestine.
To date, virtually all microbiome testing is done in the colon for accessibility of stool samples. This can be misleading in many cases because it only captures information from the end of the digestive tract.Much has been studied about the differences in microbial composition along different sections of the GI tract. So trying to read the landscape of the small intestine from bacteria sampled in the large intestine has its limitations...until now.Technology has emerged where capsule-type cameras and sensors can give scores of information as they pass through different parts of the GI tract. And this particular study was able to measure and observe different bacteria characteristics in the small intestine.Specifically lacto-bacillus bacteria behaved and represented different activity in the small intestine compared to what has historically been known to occur in the large intestine.So Jeff, what's the point?Why spend a bunch of money on crap that provides a bunch of information that even microbiome scientists don't know what to do with.Eat to bolster, seed, and feed your gut bacteria, and let the awesome abilities of the human gut microbiome do the rest.Get the hell out of your own way and quit wasting money.In closing, my standard admonition applies here more than ever. If you have an intolerance to fiber, histamine, or any other GI-related trigger, then of course a supplement is better than nothing.But let a GI Doc make that call, not a social media influencer. Testing has come a long way to help identify GI issues.So have a medical professional order and read it as opposed to responding to some gratuitous solicitation.I promise this will save you time and money....not necessarily in that order either.
Tip of the WeekThe Tip of the Week comes from a tweet from a couple of physical therapist brothers, Brett and Chris Boettcher.Plain and simple, they talk about the best recipe for sustaining weight loss- WALKING.They go on to talk about how and why walking as an activity can be worked into your day, damn near anywhere. This is coming from a couple of guys, one that has competed in multiple Iron Man competitions and the other who is a former professional athlete.
Walking.
Here's a quick story about one of their tweets I took a little issue with, and took some viral-level heat from many of their 100k plus followers by the way.But it was worth every reply. This is something I feel pretty strongly about.
The conversation started with one of them saying and I'm paraphrasing that fat (or husky ) doctors should not be doctors. Professionals talking the talk and not walking the walk in essence.I believe my reply was something to the effect of "I relied on my Dr.'s brains and skills using a scalpel when he severed, resected, then reattached my colon and I cared nary a bit about how many push-ups he or she could do".10,000 to 12,000 Twitter impressions later, I moved on. There are plenty of examples where you can have incredible knowledge or skills and not execute said knowledge or skills in your own life.
Discipline, drive, or even genetics might get in the way of execution but should we really discount their knowledge and skill anyway?
This is a hill I will die on.All in all, the Boettcher brothers are pretty balanced on their health posts and worth a follow.
Large Word of the WeekIn another seemingly trivial yet mind-blowing read this week: (courtesy of Dr. John Damianos) "The Appendix" is more than just a vestigial organ.
Hold up, no need to Google "vestigial" because I already did. "Vestigial" basically means an afterthought- a useless piece of equipment.Think wings on a bird that can't fly. Or the Alanis Morrisette lyrics for Ironic for that matter..."it's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife".
But the appendix has actually been shown to house bacteria in a marshalling-type area, for dispatch after a course of antibiotics, which are known to wreak havoc on gut bacteria.We've learned that bacteria aren't totally wiped out during antibiotic usage but this research speaks to the appendix specifically as a player in this process.
Fascinating stuff!So the next time someone tells you "the appendix is useless", tell them it is anything BUT "vestigial".
Parting ShotsNext week's newsletter will have a slightly different look. After the calamity last week, I'll be switching up my newsletter platform to hopefully avoid that technology stack of coat hangers from happening again in the future.Plus, I'll be adding the ability to listen to the newsletter and I have hopes of starting a podcast. This can ALL be done from the same platform.And some of you out in Gut Pilot country better get ready...you will be asked to do my podcast. I assure you there are some people in this following that have some very interesting stories to tell.P.S., we can always change the names and disguise voices if you need to remain anonymous.So, I'll be showing up in your email or Twitter DM's, or at some of your houses like Morley Safer used to do on 60 Minutes..."Morley Safer from 60 Minutes here, I just have a few questions for you".Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week....or sooner!Jeff
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