William Davis, MD, cardiologist and author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Wheat Belly books, as well as Undoctored and, most recently, Super Gut, brings the unvarnished truth about many health conditions. So much information in health is crafted by industry, bent to the benefit of healthcare systems, delivered by willfully ignorant physicians. Yet a critical mass of truly useful, safe, effective health information has been reached--but someone has to deliver it to you. That is Dr. Davi ...
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I’ve spent some time reflecting back on all my years practicing in hospitals, often not sleeping for extended periods, sometimes days, covering hospitals floors and ICUs, resuscitating people who experienced cardiac arrests, taking them to the cath lab to open arteries, but also witnessing people with all sorts of other health conditions: cancers, …
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Those of you who follow my discussions that started with the Wheat Belly series of books already know that there is a long list of reasons why humans made an enormous blunder when we first resorted to the consumption of the seeds of grasses, meaning wheat and related grains. We know this from the anthropological record of human disease, we know thi…
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Over 30 years ago, I help set up the first CT heart scan device in Wisconsin, one of the first in the entire midwest. This was so long ago that it was really an electron beam tomogrraphy, or EBT, device that predated the more recently developed CT devices. The point is that these devices acquired images quickly, about 1/10th of a second. This is im…
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“Everyone coming in the door were sick and had already been to 8 or 10 healthcare practitioners and weren’t better yet. This is all wrong.” “It’s not just what you eat. It’s the air you breathe and the water you drink, the personal care products you use, household cleaning products. . .” Here is a conversation I had recently with with Reed Davis, a…
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Over the last 30 years, the question over whether omega-3 fatty acids from fish has been the subject of controversy, swinging from exuberance over its potential benefits to skepticism over whether they provide any benefit at all. It seems that one day we hear that fish oil reduces risk for heart attack, while the next day we hear that there is no s…
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Atrial fibrillation, or A fib for short, is the most common heart rhythm issue that plagues people. About 30% of people will experience this rhythm disorder at some time in their lives, an issue that becomes more and more likely as we age. The rhythm is typically experienced as the sudden onset of breathlessness and lightheadedness, and sometimes c…
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Sleep issues represent a major struggle for millions of people: too little sleep, trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep, early morning awakenings followed by difficulty falling back asleep. Some people complain that, despite having a full night of sleep, they awake feeling like they didn’t sleep at all, struggling with sleepiness, fog, and…
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You’ve likely heard the headlines gushing about the weight loss effects of the GLP-1 agonist class of drugs, agents that go by names like Wegovy, Mounjaro, Rebelsus and others. Doctors are declaring these drugs as breakthroughs or even magical, witnessing the rapid and dramatic weight loss they can achieve. People appear willing to accept the side-…
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The oral microbiome is second only to the colon in the density of microbes living there. The mouth is really a collection of varied ecosystems that differ in composition. For instance, the microbiome of the teeth is different from that of the tongue that is, in turn, different from the microbiome of the gumline. The oral cavity is therefore teeming…
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Despite having written 7 books in the Wheat Belly series pointing out the harms that this “food” has inflicted on people, harms that doctors nearly always misdiagnose as an opportunity to “treat” with pharmaceuticals and procedures, questions and ideas to the contrary continue to crop up. Some of these ideas are simply due to the barrage of adverti…
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Achieving an optimal level of vitamin D provides numerous health advantages, from relief from winter blues to reduction in cardiovascular risk to reduced risk for several forms of cancer. It’s one of the most important nutrients to get right, i.e., achieve an ideal blood level of the primary blood marker for vitamin D, 25-OH vitamin D. But, even af…
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In this episode of the Defiant Health podcast, I bring together a number of strategies I’ve discussed piecemeal in past that have enormous potential to improve skin: reduce wrinkle depth, increase dermal collagen, increase dermal moisture, accelerate healing, reduce existing sun damage and prevent future sun damage. Recall that we don’t achieve thi…
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In this episode of the Defiant Health podcast, I interview Joyce Laszloffy who personally struggled with a crippling sugar addiction and overweight for many years. She experienced extreme ups and downs, trying to overcome the powerful pull that sugary foods can have on us. She shares how, for years, she managed to hide her addiction from her family…
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In this episode of the Defiant Health podcast, I interview life coach, Molly Zemek. Molly comes from the unique background of having worked as a Le Cordon Bleu formally-trained French chef for 10 years. She is also a certified sommelier. But, with this intensive background in food and wine, she found herself falling victim to uncontrolled eating an…
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You have likely heard the headlines: cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are on the rise. Part of the increase is due to an aging population. But there are reasons that are adding to the increase beyond this. The epidemics of insulin resistance (recall that dementia is often labeled “type 3 diabetes,” meaning that the b…
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In this episode of the Defiant Health podcast, I have a special guest: microbiologist Kiran Krishnan, PhD. In addition to conducting research on microbiome and health issues, Dr. Krishnan also built a successful company called Microbiome Labs, a major provider of unique probiotic products. Dr. Krishnan has gained an international reputation for inn…
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Cancer is, of course, something we all fear, a collection of diseases that strike us down unexpectedly and often put us at the mercy of a deeply flawed and exploitative medical system. So it can help to identify the factors that leads us down this path and take action to minimize such risks. We don’t smoke cigarettes, we try to consume organic food…
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There are a great many emerging ideas to discuss, but sometimes these topics are just not big enough to fill out an entire podcast episode. So I decided to start something I call “Potpourri,” a collection of unconnected but interesting topics that may be helpful in guiding you in your health journey. I’d like to say “Ask your doctor about these iss…
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I recently had an experience in which I had to take an antibiotic. Those of you who have been following my Defiant Health podcast discussions, or have been reading my thousands of blog posts on DrDavisInfiniteHealth.com, or my books, especially my latest Super Gut book, know that I advocate for absolutely minimizing our reliance on antibiotics, as …
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It’s a concept that many people struggle to embrace or understand. But once you ‘get” it, a lot of issues in health will become clearer and you can save yourself a considerable amount of time, effort, and money. The idea is to get away from the idea of “treating” health conditions. This is the approach used in pharmaceuticals and employed by most d…
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A conversation with JJ Flizanes: Identifying your obstacles to success in weight loss, health, money, career, and relationships
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A former actress and long-time personal fitness coach, JJ Flizanes has focused these last few years on helping people identify the reasons that they often fall short of their goals, goals such as weight loss, enjoying successful relationships, success at work, or just finding happiness. Through her several popular podcasts that include Fit 2 Love a…
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Infertility, miscarriages, brain fog and environmental toxins: My conversation with Dr. Tom O’Bryan
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In this episode of Defiant Health, Dr. Tom O’Bryan discusses his unique approach to managing environmental toxins that now flood our lives, toxins that increase our risk for numerous health struggles including cognitive impairment, autoimmune diseases, and cancers. Dr. O’Bryan brings his considerable experience in educating and investigating the ef…
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You likely know people who engage in strenuous exercise—a marathon, triathlon, long-distance biking, even just day-to-day exercise—or perhaps you do so yourself. In anticipation of the need for a great deal of energy to engage in such an effort and to increase endurance and performance, many people follow a practice called carb loading. While there…
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Personally, I take no prescription medications. I do not take a statin drug to reduce cholesterol, nor baby aspirin. I take nothing for high blood pressure, acid reflux, or irritable bowel syndrome. I take nothing for headaches, pain, or sleep—not a single prescription medication. Yet my blood pressure is typically around 108/72. My triglycerides a…
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If you have been following my discussions in this Defiant Health podcast or in my blog, DrDavisInfiniteHealth.com, or my Super Gut book, you know that I have been arguing that there is an epidemic of SIBO going on in the U.S., an epidemic involving every 1 in 2 people. It is an epidemic responsible for an astounding amount of health struggles. The …
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There are a handful of strategies that you can engage that slow the phenomena of aging, i.e., slow or stop the development of skin thinning and development of wrinkles, deterioration of joint health, so-called hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis, reduction in hormonal status, loss of muscle, loss of bone density, etc. One issue that is rar…
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Promising radiant skin and a healthier life, I'm thrilled to welcome aesthetician Rachel Varga, founder of the School of Radiance, to share her holistic approach to skin health and wellness. Rachel is ready to debunk some skincare myths, pointing out that effective skincare isn't just about what you put on your skin. It's about understanding the ro…
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There are a variety of ways to lose weight: reduce calories, pharmaceuticals, bariatric procedures. But these are successful only in the beginning: You lose, say, 40 pounds over a year only to gain it all back. Of that 40 pounds, 10 pounds is muscle. And, when you gain it back, it is nearly all fat, very little muscle. You are now less healthy than…
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Ready to unlock the secret to your health buried deep within your gut? In today's illuminating episode, we reveal the unsuspected ways in which small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and lipopolysaccharide endotoxins (LPS endotoxins) can drastically alter your health. We delve into the underworld of fecal microbes and their dangerous ability …
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Cholesterol testing is among the most common blood tests run in conventional healthcare, yet it is a perennial source of confusion and, to be honest, abuse by doctors who don’t appreciate the full implications of the values. It may surprise you to know that doctors focus on the least helpful values such as total or LDL cholesterol while often ignor…
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What if a simple diet change could drastically improve your skin health? Get ready for an enlightening discussion on the gut-skin axis as we explore the amazing benefits of boosting gastrointestinal and thereby skin butyrate or butyric acid. The secret to healthier skin might be a pH shift away. We delve into the importance of maintaining an acidic…
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Prepare yourself for a fascinating exploration into the depths of body fat and its varying health implications. We promise you'll walk away with a new comprehension of fat distribution and how it can impact your life. Not all fat is equal; differences abound between abdominal visceral, ectopic, and subcutaneous fat. We navigate these variations and…
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My Conversation with BiotiQuest's Martha Carlin: Parkinson's Disease, Eradicating Endotoxemia, Hazards of Extreme Exercise
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Ready to uncover the intriguing connection between Parkinson's disease and the gastrointestinal microbiome? Join us as we explore this fascinating subject with data analytics specialist turned microbiome researcher, Martha Carlin. Martha brings us up to speed on her research endeavors, one of which includes the Bio Collective, a project that collec…
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Has your dinner ever declared war on your stomach? Imagine if you could decipher the secrets of your gut and take back control. Today, we're embarking on a fascinating journey through the complex world of food intolerances, exploring how changes in our diets and lifestyles may be contributing to this modern malady. From synthetic sweeteners to shif…
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The blood glucose “No change rule” to accelerate weight loss and achieve other health benefits
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Monitoring blood glucose, or blood sugar, can be a useful tool in achieving a number of important health effects. You can apply it to accelerate weight loss, for instance, or accelerate the reversal of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, triglyceride blood levels, fatty liver, slow many of the phenomena of aging, and other effects. And you can ac…
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Our great grandmothers were usually knowledgeable and adept at fermenting foods, i.e., allowing microbes to grow on food, thereby keeping foods, such as vegetables, fruits, and meats, from spoiling while increasing the nutritional value of the food and providing you with beneficial probiotic microbes. They may not have appreciated these benefits, b…
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Ever wonder why some people seem to age more gracefully, retaining a youthful glow and vitality while others show the rapid signs of aging and deterioration? It’s happening over and over again: Participants in my program look, act, and feel younger and younger, the longer they engage in all the strategies of my programs. Just the other day, for ins…
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Ready for a heart-to-heart talk about the real culprits behind heart disease? Get ready to challenge everything you thought you knew about cholesterol and heart health. Our journey begins with debunking the age-old myth that cholesterol is the primary cause of heart disease—an erroneous belief rooted in misinterpreted studies from the mid-20th cent…
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Prepare to be astonished as we unravel the enigma of diet advice that has left us entangled in numerous contradictions and confusions. We're taking you on a journey, tracing back the pivotal events that have led us to our current state of dietary disarray. In the spotlight are none other than the controversial figures of Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Cal…
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Anthropologists will tell you that, of all body parts preserved in the fossil record, going back thousand or even millions of years, teeth are the best preserved, even better than bone. And teeth are, of course, the entryway into the gastrointestinal tract, the first exposure to whatever food you are ingesting or chewing. We often think of teeth as…
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Collagen is a protein, the most abundant protein in the human body. It is the protein that provides tensile and flexible strength to tendons and ligaments, is a major component of the dermal layer of skin, the cartilage in joints, an important structural protein in all the body’s organs. But, if you are like most of us, you have been living a colla…
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Long regarded as a passive phenomenon, you have likely heard that sleep is an active process complete with various phases, roles in maintaining metabolic and mental health, but often shortchanged in modern life yielding widespread sleep deprivation. But a phenomenon not widely appreciated or explored is the role of the gastrointestinal microbiome o…
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Why has the 50-year-old recommendation to reduce dietary fat failed to make a dent in heart disease, death, or heart procedures? Could it be that the entire premise of this advice is based on flawed evidence and misleading conclusions about LDL cholesterol? In this eye-opening episode, we uncover the shocking truth about the ineffectiveness of cutt…
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Dietary guidelines advise us that a diet low in fat and rich in “healthy whole grains” helps maintain healthy weight. Is this true? It absolutely is NOT true. This belief is based on flawed evidence, questionnaires, for instance, that asked people questions about their diet. What did you eat for breakfast on Monday? You scratch your head and search…
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It’s happening with alarming frequency: Someone has routine blood work done and an increase in liver markers, AST, ALT, and sometimes GGT, are noted. The doctor sometimes then orders a liver ultrasound, CT, or MRI and infiltration of the liver with fat is identified, the situation called fatty liver. If caught in later stages, fibrous tissue can be…
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You’ve likely heard the headlines: the new class of GLP-1 agonist drugs with silly names such as Wegovy, Ozempic, Saxenda, Rybelsus, and Mounjaro are flying off the shelves so fast that pharmacies are running out. Originally intended to reduce blood glucose in people with type 2 diabetes, it was observed that people taking these drugs lost weight, …
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Ask most doctors, “Can arthritis be prevented or reversed?” Most will say no, or say that it’s genetic and therefore unstoppable. The better informed will say “Lose 10 pounds.” But that’s about as far as it goes and they tell you that, when the pain starts, take ibuprofen or naproxen, submit to steroid or hyaluronic acid injections, then undergo jo…
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Do you have the sense that people are acting more selfishly, less considerately, less empathetically, less affectionately as time passes? How often can we blame incidents such as someone cutting you off in traffic, or the break up of a relationship, or the abandonment or neglect of children on narcissistic tendencies? Narcissistic behavior has been…
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The science supporting our ability to shape our bodies, to control how much muscle we have, where fat is deposited, which fat stores are mobilized when you lose weight, in other words what we call “body composition” has recently made some important leaps forward. This becomes especially important during any effort to lose weight. If you have been f…
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For over 50 years, people in conventional healthcare have urged Americans to reduce their intake of saturated fat, eat more “healthy whole “grains,” and take statin cholesterol drugs to further reduce cholesterol. Has it worked? No, it absolutely has not worked. As I’ve discussed previously, both in my Defiant Health podcast as well as my DrDavisIn…
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