All of the greatest thinkers, philosophers, artists, and revolutionaries of human history had one thing in common: they trusted their gut. The wealth of health isn’t as far away as we think it is! After all, health is an inside job. Everything changes when we turn inside, listen to the inner wisdom of bodies, and take care of our gut.

What you can expect from this show… [0:48]

The inspiration behind The Health Detective… [1:37]

The failure of conventional health treatments… [3:45]

How stress prevents our healing… [7:12]

A breathing experiment… [9:05]

What would life look like as a Health Detective… [10:56]

Uncovering health truths for body, mind, and soul… [13:18]

Get updates and new episodes at drlauryn.com

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Hello! Welcome to the Health Detective Podcast, a show dedicated to quieting the noise and the health, food, and wellness world. I'm your host, Dr. Lauryn, former TV news journalist-gone-functional medicine expert and health detective by way of my own health journey. 

I'm so excited to be kicking off the season with you. You know, this isn't my first rodeo. As mentioned, I've actually been a journalist for 20-something years. And I love nothing more than going to bat with the greatest health crimes of modern times in my virtual functional medicine practice, where I've been working with patients worldwide for almost a decade, doing the zoom thing long before the pandemic made yoga pants wearing a thing. 

This show is a manifesto to helping people just like you solve the confusing and often frustrating health mysteries and crimes of modern time plaguing humanity. You know, things like the low fat diet craze of the 90s. (I still get nauseous when I think of a SlimFast shake.) Or, to the complete opposite: the high fat keto diet craze over the past five years where we put butter and bacon on everything. Or, the “take a pill for every ill” mentality of both the supplement and pharmaceutical industry, when there is actually an herb or a food for that. Or, the mystery of maybe you just can't sleep, you have chronic bloating, or you're stuck in a mindset funk that you just can't shake. Yes, there's a lot of noise out there, but you've come to the right place. 

Before we dive into the show. I thought it would be good to give you a quick little background on the inspiration behind the Health Detective, what started it all. It all began over 30 years ago. For most of my life feeling good in my own skin was not a thing, definitely a health mystery I couldn’t solve. For as long as I can remember, I was constipated. I couldn't poop. At age six Fiber One cereal replaced my Lucky Charms for breakfast and I sipped prune juice for dessert every night after dinner. And do you remember your first most embarrassing moment? Mine happened during storytime. I let one rip, like Pumba, in front of my crush, totally embarrassed and ashamed of my body. My imbalanced gut and body dysfunction early on was the perfect storm for that day at fourth grade recess. The day I decided to declare war with my body as if it were a crime altogether. Imagine fourth grade recess. I was 10 years old, a pink scrunchie and my frizzy hair that my mom made me ware. All I wanted to do was fit in. The popular girls invited me to join their gossip circle, laughing at Melanie Sean's ugly sweater and gawking over Eric Arthur’s cute freckly face. Then the topic of weight came up. The queen bee said, “Oh my gosh, you guys, I weighed myself and I'm 69 pounds. So fat.” Immediately looking at each of you. “What do you weigh?” And one by one we all had to report to our drill sergeant. 

At a healthy 80 pounds, I was by no means a fat kid. But when the circle got to me, I gulped. And I lied. “I don't know.” Thinking, I just want to be good enough. I just want to be good enough. After school, I went home and stood in the pantry. Turning over my favorite dorito snack pack, I began learning a whole new language: fat grams and calories at age 10. My life path just took a sharp turn. 

Have you ever thought, “if only [blank] changed, then life will be better?” Like if I could just solve the mystery of my weight, just lose or gain those last 10 pounds, then life would be good. Or if I had more money, another degree and amazing relationship, then life would be good. I get it. 

You see that fateful day at fourth grade recess changed everything. A spark inside me died that day. And everything in my life changed moving forward. Little did I realize I’d spend the next 27 years on a roller coaster of extreme diets, treatment centers, seeking advice from hundreds of doctors and Dr. Google experts, all trying to solve the mysteries behind my greatest health challenges with little to no resolve. At age 10, I became immersed in diet culture, obsessed with counting calories and working them off twice as fast.

I was a trendsetter for this new diet, the fasting diet. Ever heard of it? Until the day I passed out in the shower. Who here has tried low fat vegetarian, South Beach Atkins? I tried them all. Whatever was popular at the time. I could have won the Gold at the Stairmaster Olympics, and my dog, Bentley, gained 10 pounds in spaghetti and meatball weight I sneakily dropped on the floor. Until my loving parents and doctors caught on. Then it was on to treatment, synonymous to conventional wisdom. You know, textbooks, white lab coats, doing what they say. I spent an accumulated four years of my life behind bars, living inside hospitals and treatment centers. During that time, I saw over 100 specialists, many whom prescribed the three P's to treat my symptoms: pop tarts, pizza and Prozac. 

Yes, way. 

Just like the classic symptom treatment advice for people who are overweight, move more and eat less, or “take a pill for an ill” prescriptions for lifestyle induced diseases, my symptoms were treated with what made sense for weight gain and food freedom. Processed foods, obviously. Healthy eating, at least according to the standards and expectations, had me well on my way to chronic disease. 

By age 29, I joined the 60% of all Americans that have at least one chronic illness. Both promises for better health during my dieting days and my treatment days destroyed my gut, linked to all sorts of issues. There was colitis, celiac disease, Hashimotos, diabetes, osteoporosis, lupus, mold, Lyme. One doctor told me straight up, “Lauren, there are times conventional medicine will fail you. This is one of them.” The solution according to Dr. Google: take tons of supplements and eat a gluten free low histamine, no carb diet, of course. 

However, did you know that long term restrictive diets can be just as bad for your health as processed foods? I lost 21 pounds in a matter of months. Not because I wanted to fit into a size negative five jeans, but because my gut could handle only 5 to 10 foods. Sweet potatoes gave me brain fog, spinach gave me IBS, almonds gave me shortness of breath. 

I felt stuck. Perhaps like many of you have felt in your health, mind, or life at one time or another, I was stuck until I decided to do something about it. I became a health detective. 

Let me ask you a question. Why is it that our great grandparents ate foods like steak and potatoes, smoked cigarettes, and never went to the gym a day in their life, yet they were three times less likely to be overweight or experienced the diseases many face today, like cancer, heart disease, diabetes? They were millionaires in health compared to our current landscape. 

Meanwhile, in our generation, more people have at least one chronic condition than do not, anxiety as an all time high. This, despite access to the best medicine, gyms on every corner, and gluten free everything. What's happening here? Research shows that the answer is greatly related to one word: stress. 

You see, your body is an amazingly powerful self-healing organism. When given the right tools your body innately wants to heal itself. Break a bone, slap a cast on it, and the body naturally regenerates itself in six to eight weeks. Catch a cold and a little chicken noodle soup and Gilmore Girls reruns does a body good. 

However, there's one small caveat: many people fail to realize our body's amazing self healing superpowers only fully work when our nervous system is relaxed, not stressed, not constantly striving. Unfortunately, if our nervous system is in fight or flight mode, it cannot tell the difference between “Mayday! I'm running from a bear!” versus, “oh my gosh, I'm 10 grams of carbs over my limit,” versus, “I'm not good enough.” 

Our body sees all sources of stress the same, physically and mentally releasing the same amount of inflammation throughout. 

Let's do an experiment. I'm going to time you for one minute. And I want you to count the number of breaths you take in that minute. It may feel a little awkward, so you can close your eyes if needed. Sounds good? Cool. On your mark, get set, Go! One minute, count the number of as you take in one minute…

Okay, time! What did you get? 

Want to know the ideal breath rate at rest for one minute? Four to seven breaths, at least if you want to be in the optimal rest-and-digest, less-stressed, healing mode. If you're like the average American, you clocked in 12 to 20 breaths, at least double the optimal state. I once had a patient who clocked 48 breaths, no joke. No wonder she couldn't lose those last 10 pounds or heal from her chronic gut infection. 

What do you think could happen in your life if you got curious, became a detective? To solve the root causes behind the greatest health mysteries you face too? 

You may be like my client, we will call her Vanessa–55, Hollywood hairdresser, couldn't lose those last 20 pounds for the life of her. She tried everything. Paleo, fasting, keto, carnivore, vegan… Nothing helped until she stopped the diet hopping and quit her high stress director position behind the scenes of the latest Batman movie. The pounds magically fell off and her bloating and sugar cravings went away. 

Or you may be like Jess–32, IBS, anxiety, and bloating her entire life. After receiving her latest food intolerance results before a trip of a lifetime to Italy with her fiance, she freaked out having no idea what she would eat. I gave her just two assignments: no email checking, and when in Rome, try some pasta. Which she did for the first time in 10 years. Surprisingly, no symptoms the entire trip. 

Or you may be like 23 year old Lauryn–me–79 pounds, sharp chest pain, shortness of breath, for the first time, scared for my life. And that moment, everything flashed back to that 10 year old girl, on my way to the gym at 5am. That morning I prayed, God help me make a change today. To me, change meant a tablespoon of almond butter more or 30 minutes less on my Stairmaster, to say the least. The big man upstairs had different plans. I didn't make it to my workout. Instead, eight individuals surrounded me, gym goers who I now call my YMCA angels stepped in and spoke up. They wanted to help. Within 48 hours, I was in the hospital with a heart rate in the low 30s and doctors saying I may not make it. 

But amidst the chaos, something inside me knew it was going to be okay. I was finally getting another chance, a new opportunity to try a different strategy. Finally stressing less, listening to my gut–not society's expectations–and becoming my own health detective. 

On this show, we focus on uncovering health truths for your body, mind and soul. Because life is too short to stay stuck or just deal with listening to noise that doesn't work. 

Let's get ready to rumble.