I would be remiss if I didn’t make a post, a series really, on liver health. After suffering from 10 years of chronically high liver enzymes like bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase, identifying liver dysfunction was a major component of my healing.

After “managing” the pain of Crohn’s with 6 Tylenol a day, being prescribed countless rounds of antibiotics, corticosteroids, every drug under the sun, and just the sheer damage from severe Crohn’s, my liver took quite a beating over the years.

After I lost my colon, my skin began breaking out with a horrible autoimmune condition called Hidradenitis Suppurativa. It took me a lot of trial and error before I really started focusing on healing my liver in order to heal my skin and health as a whole.

Healing my liver moved the needle like nothing else had. One person who changed my healing journey was the legend Dr. Chris Shade of Quicksilver Scientific, who helped me understand what was driving my skin, gut, and inflammatory issues in the first place.

The Liver Is the Missing Piece

The body is a beautiful and incomprehensible creation. Despite modern science, there is so much we can’t understand and never will.

Modern practitioners have boiled the body down to pharmaceutical drugs. Got autoimmune? Take immunosuppressants. Got gut problems? Take antibiotics. Got inflammation? Take corticosteroids.

The focus is rarely on what really matters: the terrain.

The signals we give our body: the light environment that controls our internal clock, the air we breathe (however contaminated or clean), the food and water we consume, and the electrical signals we are exposed to.

Depending on these signals, the body will react favorably or just flat out freak out to the signals it receives. The terrain of the body is what a vast majority of people are missing in their health journeys.

It’s no different from maintaining a garden. The type of soil, light, water, and fertilizers matter. No matter how good your seeds are, if those things aren’t aligned, your crop isn’t going to grow all that well.

This is what root cause health is all about, and toxins play a big role in it.

Curious how your own liver is holding up?

Visit Littlewaycoach.com and take the free root cause quiz with my free AI assistant, ask it anything about bile flow, liver detox, or hidden triggers behind your symptoms.

Modern Life Is an Assault on the Liver

According to the World Health Organization, more than 160 million chemicals are known to humans. Roughly 40,000 to 60,000 of them are in active commerce, and the chemical industry is now the second-largest manufacturing industry on the planet.1

Chemicals that our parents and grandparents were never exposed to.

Irrespective of whether these chemicals are all bad or not, the truth is: our bodies have never been exposed to such an unnatural terrain, and many of us live and breathe with these chemicals daily.

Subscribe now

Over time, the liver, which acts as a blood filtration system, among many things, becomes bogged down with these chemicals. Whether they enter through the gut, skin, or lungs, the liver eventually has to process them in one way or another.

A healthy liver processes toxins in three distinct steps:

Phase I — Activation: Through the CYP450 enzymes, toxins are oxidized into a more reactive compound.

Phase II — Conjugation: The highly reactive toxin is attached to a molecule like glutathione, making it water-soluble (most toxins are fat-soluble before this) and transportable out of the cell.

Phase III — Filtration and Excretion: Bile “pushes” the conjugated toxins out of the liver into the gut, where they’re excreted in the stool.

Through these three phases, the body is well equipped to handle toxins, yet paradoxically, an overload of these toxins can actually impair this detoxification process.

Even from birth, some of our livers are taxed, inheriting heavy metals from our mothers, then drinking baby formulas that have tested positive for arsenic and other heavy metals!!2 3

It is like our liver never gets a break from its job, working overtime on a 24/7 basis. This is what I call LIVER BURNOUT.

Heavy Metals: The Detox Saboteurs

Much of my own experience with heavy metals has shaped how I view them in the context of health. Whether it be autoimmune, cancer, gut health, or cognitive health, heavy metals seem to be a major root cause for a lot of these issues. 4

The Cleveland Clinic notes that mercury, lead, arsenic, and cadmium can seriously damage organs like the liver, and signs of exposure can show up through elevated liver markers: bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), ALT, and AST.5

What’s funny is that those were exactly the markers that were off the charts in my own bloodwork for a decade. Years of bloodwork screaming liver damage, but it wasn’t until deeper testing revealed heavy metal toxicity that I connected the two.

For the two autoimmune conditions I dealt with, Crohn’s and Hidradenitis Suppurativa, high liver enzymes are a common occurrence. Could that be from the accumulation of heavy metals?6 7

I would bet so, and I would bet a decent portion of folks with autoimmune carry a larger heavy metal burden than someone without autoimmune. After all, metals have been linked to these diseases.8

And it’s not that uncommon to accumulate metals; we really accumulate them daily:

• Mercury — dental amalgams (”silver” fillings), large fish (tuna, swordfish, king mackerel), some vaccines, broken CFL bulbs

• Lead — old paint, old plumbing, contaminated soil, some imported spices, cosmetics, and unfiltered drinking water

• Cadmium — cigarette smoke, conventional chocolate, refined grains grown on contaminated soil, and industrial exposure

• Arsenic — rice and rice products, well water, conventional poultry, pesticide residues

And when it comes to metals and autoimmunity, glutathione sits pretty high on the totem pole.9

Your liver depends on it for Phase II detox, as it binds to metals, making them water-soluble, and helps control inflammation by scavenging free radicals. Recall, toxin excretion requires the toxin to become MORE reactive in Phase I detox.

Metals like mercury, cadmium, lead, and arsenic love sulfur-containing thiol molecules (like glutathione). Eventually, these vital molecules get overwhelmed with the metal load and can no longer carry out their functions like Phase II detoxification.10 11

Then something called the Fenton reaction takes place, where metals react with hydrogen peroxide in your cells to produce hydroxyl radicals. These are some of the most destructive free radicals: they shred DNA, rip apart cell membranes, and damage proteins in the cell.

Sounds kinda like an epigenetic cascade taking place, i.e., your environment shapes what genes you express (cancers, autoimmunity, or chronic health issues).

An easier way to picture this might be:

• Phase I detox makes toxins more unstable and reactive

• Reactive metals bind and overwhelm sulfur-based compounds used in Phase II detox

• Phase II detox stalls, reactive metals from Phase I have nothing to bind to, and create free radicals

• The circle goes round and round, inflaming and damaging the liver every round

A really cool Chinese study looked at heavy metals in 322 participants over three years, with a total of 958 blood draws. They measured chromium, cadmium, vanadium, manganese, and lead, five markers of liver function, and hsCRP (a common inflammatory molecule).12

The conclusion?

Cadmium drove ALT (a liver enzyme that leaks out when liver cells die) up every year, while tanking albumin (a key protein the liver produces).

Manganese pushed globulin up, a sign of chronic immune activation.

Vanadium worsened the albumin-to-globulin ratio, meaning the liver was making less of its “healthy” protein (albumin) while the immune system was pumping out more of its “inflammatory” protein (globulin) at the same time.

hsCRP, the most sensitive marker of systemic inflammation, accounted for nearly 28% of cadmium’s damage to liver enzymes.

In plain English: liver enzymes climbed, liver damage set in, inflammation spiked, and the inflammation then drove even more damage. A truly nasty feedback loop.

Sounds very much like my own autoimmune issues: progressively more intense and more severe inflammation.

How Heavy Metals Block Bile Flow

Bile flow is vitality. If you follow me on X or Substack, a good bit of my posting is talking about bile.

What is bile? It’s a green fluid produced in your liver, which is delivered to the small bowel through bile ducts. Bile ducts connect the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and small bowel together.

Many are starting to pick up on how important bile is, particularly in the gut health space. People recognize that bile is essential for digesting fats and keeping bacteria in the small bowel at bay.

What most people brush over is the fact that bile is the primary route for “pushing” toxins out of the liver and into the gut to be excreted through stool. This is Phase III detox.

Without adequate bile flow, toxins clog the liver and create issues like fibrosis (scarring), fatty liver, and, more severely, cirrhosis and liver failure.

Regarding heavy metals, bile is one of the main ways the body excretes heavy metals, and bile samples in humans have been shown to contain heavy metals.13

Yet because the body respects the laws of thermodynamics and tries to be as energy efficient as possible, bile is usually recycled after dumping into the gut — and 90-95% of heavy metals are reabsorbed via enterohepatic circulation, while only 5-10% makes it out through stool.

This is also why a multi-spectrum binder is CRITICAL in detox — but more on that in Part Two.

This creates yet another oxidative stress loop in the liver. The more damaged the liver becomes, the less efficient it is at all three phases of detox, which slows bile flow even further. A truly vicious cycle.

This is also why gut protocols can often be short-lived if you don’t address the root cause, like heavy metals, as metals have been shown to cause gut dysbiosis.14

Interestingly enough, I knew my bile flow was stagnant from looking at years of high bilirubin. Bilirubin, the breakdown product of hemoglobin from old red blood cells, is processed through bile.

When bile flow is insufficient, bilirubin doesn’t get cleared efficiently and shows up high on labs. It took a heavy metals test to reveal a high mercury load.

Considering this was an issue from day one in my Crohn’s journey, and I really took note of it when my HS flared, my guess would be metal toxicity was a MAJOR root cause of my autoimmune issues.

Stress was also a major contributor to my autoimmune disease, especially when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s. Turns out stress blocks bile flow, as bile is inherently parasympathetic (rest, digest, relax) in nature.

I also had heavy use of pharmaceuticals and Tylenol (6 a day for a year straight), which are known liver stressors.

Point being: my liver was always under stress, and it sure didn’t help my autoimmune situation. This is why I teach clients the importance of liver health in the “hidden triggers” section of my programs.

If the liver is impaired, detox will suffer, inflammation jumps, and gut dysfunction increases, among many other things.

Conclusion

Liver health is vitality. And not enough emphasis has been put on how foundational it is for everything else: gut, skin, hormones, energy, and inflammation.

Something as simple as a comprehensive metabolic panel with liver enzymes can tell you a massive amount about your hidden triggers. Most people walk around with elevated ALT, ALP, GGT, or bilirubin for years without knowing. I did, for a decade.

So I’m doing my first-ever giveaway as part of this Liver & Hidden Triggers series.

Subscribe now

The Giveaway

One winner gets a complete liver + heavy metals lab panel (~$320 value from Quest Diagnostics) through Fullscript, plus a free 35-minute consult with me for general health education and guidance.

Included Tests through Quest Diagnostics:

• Heavy Metals Blood Panel (arsenic, lead, mercury)

• Comprehensive Metabolic Panel: liver enzymes, kidney, electrolytes, immune

• GGT: the most sensitive early marker of bile flow dysfunction

• Iron, TIBC & Ferritin Panel: iron stores + oxidative stress indicator

• hs-CRP: gold-standard inflammation marker

To enter:

1. Restack this post

2. Like and comment

3. Join my free Fullscript: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/sklein1767385193

And even if you don’t win, everyone who joins my Fullscript gets 25% off all supplements, access to discounted lab testing, and the ability to request labs directly through me.

Winner announced in Part 2.

Hearing Joel talk about the modern, factory-farmed, industrial food sludge complex disgusted me. Yet, his explanation of regenerative farming drew me in and excited me.

The simple, highly synergistic systems of farm animals working together made total sense. It made sense for cattle to be on pasture, foraging for natural, wild grasses, exposed to sunlight and the elements.

Pigs running around in the forest, effectively clearing land, rummaging for acorns, grubs, or whatever they could find, and chickens following right behind searching for maggots in the larger animals’ dung.

COVID woke most people up to the medical/food establishment: the lies, the corruption, the greed, etc. COVID made me tired of the fake garbage, tired of eating junk made in a factory; I wanted the real stuff.

I soon started buying meat from Polyface Farms (Joel Salatin’s farm) at a local organic butcher. Soon after tasting nutrient-dense meat for the first time in my life, and listening to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, the founder of the GAPS diet and a major proponent of raw milk, I started searching for some real milk, specifically raw grass-fed A2 milk.

I had always loved milk growing up, but had stopped drinking it after becoming ‘lactose intolerant’ from my Crohn’s.

Book your free 20-minute consultation at Little Way Coaching and get personalized guidance from someone who’s been through severe health challenges and knows what it takes to get unstuck!

Visit littlewaycoach.com to learn more

Yet, the GAPS diet explained that as a function of ‘dead,’ highly processed, pasteurized, homogenized, factory-farmed milk, and that raw milk, cultivated with farming practices akin to Joel Salatin’s, was well tolerated and beneficial for people with autoimmune conditions like Crohn’s.

Soon enough, after finding my supplier, I was drinking 4 gallons a week of whole raw milk. I had never tasted something so nutrient-dense in my life.

Side note: I still drink 4 gallons a week!

You can imagine the shock and awe coming from someone who grew up on Pop-Tarts, Doritos, Oreos, and outright garbage, to then eating meat and drinking milk as God intended.

Dead Milk?

Your run-of-the-mill grocery store milk is dead. It’s stripped of its beneficial nutrients, denatured from high-temperature pasteurization, and its natural bacterial profile has been destroyed.

Chances are, unless you intentionally bought quality, proper grass-fed milk, it comes from a factory-farmed cow. The living conditions for these cattle are subpar: living in crowded indoor pens on slabs of concrete, under fluorescent blue light.

Their crowded, unsanitary living conditions require them to use frequent antibiotics. Growth hormones are given to increase output. Rather than grasses and natural foraging, these cattle are fed abhorrent amounts of soy, corn, and grains (most of which are also factory farmed, glyphosate-rich!).

Under no circumstances are these cows healthy; in fact, their quality of life is rather crap, with a far higher chance of complications than pasture-raised cattle.

Complications such as reduced rumen movement (gut motility—think SIBO for cows!), dehydration, diarrhea, liver abscesses, endotoxemia from bacterial overgrowth, and laminitis (degradation of the cow’s hoof).1

Let’s call a spade a spade: these cows are not healthy, they are not treated properly, and the food we get from this is far from their natural state.

I am not some PETA advocate, but man, when did it become normal to abuse our food? How does this serve us in any way? The consequence is a disturbingly low-quality, undernourishing food. It’s total garbage!

To add insult to injury, the factory farmed milk is pasteurized, homogenized, and denatured, reducing its naturally nourishing benefits even more, rendering it DEAD.

Seek real milk!

Here is what I look for in my raw milk: their cows naturally contain the A2 milk protein, they are pastured and grass-fed, ruminate outdoors, and are not given antibiotics or growth hormones. Basically, they are how cows are supposed to exist...

A2/A2 protein is the same protein that your mother’s milk was made of; it’s naturally easier for humans to digest, as it lacks the A1 protein. The A1 protein has been linked to digestive issues such as slow gut motility and gut inflammation resulting from the breakdown of a peptide called BCM-7. Many also attribute A1 protein to their acne breakouts. Not all raw milk is A2, so make sure to find one that is. 2 3

Lactoferrin is a heat-sensitive molecule naturally found in raw milk. It is an effective antimicrobial, warding off microbes like E. coli, Salmonella, and Clostridium. It helps boost beneficial bacteria like Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli. It’s anti-inflammatory and reduces excessive iron in the body.

Overall, it’s a powerful protein and is not found in conventional dairy due to pasteurization, one I find to be the most important in raw milk. On average, a liter of raw milk contains 182.4 mg/L. 4

If you’re tired of guessing and want help getting to the root cause of your issue, try my Root Cause AI found on my website: littlewaycoach.com. It pairs great with the root cause quiz!

Immunoglobulins are immune-supporting compounds in raw milk. IgG, the most prevalent, can help prevent detrimental microbes within the GI system from attaching to the gut lining and spreading.

Raw milk contains beneficial probiotic bacteria and enzymes that support the digestion of lactose, enhance the diversity of the microbiome, and have even been shown to help with asthma and allergies! Anecdotally, many people with lactose intolerance have no issues drinking raw milk compared to pasteurized milk; this definitely was the case with me.

Altogether, raw milk is amazing; it is truly a living food. Pasteurization destroys many of the beneficial compounds, like probiotic bacteria, lactoferrin, immunoglobulins, and enzymes.

There are some great websites to find a local farmer who sells raw milk, like getrawmilk.com or rawmilkinstitute.org.

Look for a farmer who takes care of his animals, prioritizes grass-fed A2/A2 cows, doesn’t continually use antibiotics, and is absolutely hormone-free. Visit your farm and get to know your farmer: few things are as rewarding as knowing where your food comes from!

Subscribe now

Lastly, If you can’t find raw milk, but still want some of the benefits, I like Vital Whey a lot. I recently found it on Fullscript while looking for lactoferrin supplements. Even though it’s not raw milk, it’s processed extremely gently and without heat, so compounds like lactoferrin, immunoglobulins, and natural enzymes are preserved.

Not only are they preserved, but a scoop of this whey protein has 800mg of lactoferrin!!! Thats like a megadose of lactoferrin, and almost 8x more than a liter of raw milk. I usually recommend this dose to clients with immune, or gut issues.

It’s also grass-fed and pasture-raised year-round. I actually take it daily along with my raw milk and kefir.

As someone who loves raw milk, but realizes most cant get it, this was something I was very excited to share.

Pick it up on my Fullscript, the leading GMP/Practitioner recommended supplement seller in America, for 25% off!

Use this link or click any of the above to bring you directly to the product: https://us.fullscript.com/plans/sklein1767385193-raw-milk-alternative

Till next time,

Scott

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. All opinions expressed are my own and not intended to replace professional medical guidance.

I’ve heard from clients, friends, family, and folk off the street about parasite cleanses, probiotics, and raw milk.

Coming from someone who is missing his colon from Crohn’s disease, has battled deadly gut bacterial infections on multiple occasions (Cdiff), and done loads of antibiotics, I feel fairly qualified to speak on gut health.

This is why I am especially excited to write this post. A healthy gut is an essential step in achieving optimal health.

Before I fully addressed my gut health and other root cause issues, then After!

SIBO

The management of Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is crucial for gut health. SIBO is one of the most common issues associated with poor gut health, and controlling and eradicating it is key to a healthy gut.

Take IBS, for example, which allopathic medicine has lazily mistaken for SIBO. Irritable Bowel Syndrome essentially means they don’t know what it is or how to fix it; a rather ambiguous diagnosis that provides zero helpful information, yet is thrown at anyone with gut discomfort.

If someone tells me they have IBS, I reframe that to “Oh, you have SIBO, you mean?” IBS and SIBO share the same symptoms.

Symptoms like: Excessive burping after eating, bloated stomach in the morning, overly gassy, indigestion, poor nutrient absorption, irregular bowel movements, brain Fog, excessive fatigue post-meal.

In reality, most Americans would likely check the box for almost all of these symptoms, even among the most health-conscious people.

Subscribe now

Whether it’s disguised as an IBS label or not, SIBO is prevalent in a vast majority of the population.

SIBO occurs when an overgrowth of microbes, typically belonging to the large intestine (colon), colonize in the small intestine.

This can happen in several ways: harmful bacteria surviving the stomach’s acid and poor bile function , slow gut motility, antibiotics , glyphosate, heavy metals, and poor immune function (gut contains 80% of the immune system).

The primary function of the small intestine is to break down food and absorb nutrients. For this reason, it has a single mucosal layer, rather than the colon’s double layer, which naturally makes it more permeable, but less robust to bacterial infiltration.

SIBO erodes this mucosal layer, leaving the gut lining susceptible to food particles, dead bacterial cell components (LPS/endotoxins), and toxins, all of which leak into the body through the exposed gut wall.

This is essentially leaky gut. When the mucosal layer of the gut is broken down, leaving the epithelial cells and tight junctions binding them together vulnerable, which are later damaged, creating “leakage” into the tissue and vasculature.

LPS

LPS (lipopolysaccharide/endotoxin) is a toxic molecule that forms part of the outer wall of gram-negative bacteria, such as E. coli and Salmonella. These gram-negative bacteria are amongst the most common in SIBO infections. These bacteria are so toxic that 1-2mg of LPS injected intravenously can be lethal!

Picture this: you develop SIBO after something like antibiotics, heavy metal exposure, or having poor stomach acid. Your mucosal layer breaks down due to the overgrowth of bacteria, and your epithelial cells and tight junctions are damaged.

Right beneath the epithelial cells sits the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). The GALT layer makes up roughly 70% of your body’s immune system. The GALT layer is programmed and well-suited for interactions with LPS. When LPS is detected, an immediate and aggressive response is triggered.

The immune cells launch a rapid inflammatory cytokine storm, attempting to neutralize the LPS molecules.

Normally, the body is well prepared for LPS leakage and has layers of tissues that prevent large amounts of LPS from entering the bloodstream.

Yet, with SIBO, this becomes a continual fight. The SIBO bacteria are constantly eroding the small intestine’s protective layers, dying off, and leaking LPS into gut tissues. Chronic inflammation begins to develop as the immune system is perpetually under pressure.

The Downstream Effects

With almost 5% of Americans being diagnosed with autoimmune diseases, they have become rampant amongst the general public here in the West. Could endotoxemia be a major trigger for the irregular immune function involved in autoimmune?

A 2022 study found associations between autoimmune, digestive disorders, heart issues, blood clotting, and more with SIBO.

Some of those included:

Gut & Digestive Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative colitis, Celiac disease, Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), Cirrhosis, Chronic pancreatitis, Gallstone disease

Heart & Circulation Heart failure, Atherosclerosis, Deep vein thrombosis

Hormonal & Metabolic Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes, Hypothyroidism, Hyperthyroidism (Graves’ and Hashimoto’s)

Brain & Nervous System Parkinson’s disease, Brain fog, Autism spectrum disorder

Immune & Autoimmune Systemic sclerosis, Rosacea, Chronic kidney disease

So why would SIBO be linked to autoimmune, and where does LPS fit into this picture? It’s called molecular mimicry. It is where Gram-negative bacteria closely resemble the molecular structure of your own cells.

When the GALT layer raises its attack against LPS, antibodies are produced.

Eventually, under the constant burden of SIBO, those antibodies start confusing the LPS structure with the body’s structure. What serves as a protective mechanism for the bacteria leads to the immune system malfunctioning, causing it to confuse friend from foe.

It’s almost like D-Day for your immune system; the sheer overwhelm causes it to fire on anything that moves.

Personally, this theory has resonated with me, given my history of Crohn’s, two deep vein thrombosis blood clots, Hidradenitis suppurativa, and several intense bouts with CDiff infections.

A common thread to SIBO and when I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s was that horrific C. diff infection. CDiff creates terrible gut dysbiosis (more harmful bacteria & less microbial diversity) and SIBO, inviting in all the bad guys like Clostridium perfringens, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella oxytoca, Candida spp., and Salmonella spp.

Subscribe now

Basically, one bad dude gets in there, beats up the good guys, destroys the gut lining, and invites all the other opportunistic bad guys. You couldn’t ask for better conditions if you were a SIBO bacterium.

What’s even more intriguing is that a fecal microbiome transplant, for my CDiff infection, is what put me into remission for several years; it was almost instantaneous as well.

It was like reseeding my lawn. My overgrown, messy, weed-filled lawn was aerated and reseeded with a healthy new seed. The new seed started crowding out the weeds, almost like a yin-yang relationship.

If you’re tired of guessing and want help getting to the root cause of your issue, try my Root Cause AI found on my website: littlewaycoach.com. It pairs great with the root cause quiz!

Another anecdote of mine that surprised me was that Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) has been linked to SIBO. Looking back now it makes sense, but whenever I would have a bad Crohns flare up, I would get a DVT. To no ones surprise, the allopathic doctors NEVER had an answer as to the root cause.

Well, turns out, LPS has been shown to interfere with an anticoagulant pathway in the body, specifically, the protein C anticoagulant.

Given my chronic Cdiff infections, it would make a lot of sense that immune dysfunction, caused by large LPS burdens, confused my immune system, creating an autoimmune disease and blood clotting.

Considering the amount of research on these connections, it wouldn’t surprise me. It was most certainly a major factor, amongst other things like blue light, mold, heavy metals, which, oddly enough, create a flywheel with SIBO and gut dysfunction, but that’s for another day ;).

Studies: Study 1, Study 2, Study 3, Study 4

What to do about it?

My philosophy around SIBO has come from a lot of trial and error on myself and others plus countless hours of research from some of the top experts.

One of those experts is Dr. William Davis, the author of Super Gut. Dr Davis describes how to combat SIBO utilizing a 36-hour fermented yoghurt made with three key microbes.

This strategy has worked really well for almost everyone I have recommended it to. While it can take a few tries to get the recipe and process down, it is well worth it.

Essentially, Dr. Davis found three key microbes that produce potent bacteriocins: peptides made by bacteria that have an antibiotic-like effect on other bacterial species.

Bacteriocins inhibit the growth or kill other bacteria, usually those of the same or closely related species. Bacteriocins from good bacteria like L. reuteri, L. gasseri, and B. subtilis, which are used in the SIBO yoghurt, target Gram-negative bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella.

For example, L. reuteri has been shown to “convert glycerol into a potent broad-spectrum antimicrobial compound, reuterin, which inhibits the growth of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.”

It’s an intelligent way to target harmful bacteria without harming the good guys.

Compared to other bacteria, these bacterial strains favor the small intestine, directly attacking the heart of the problem; an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine.

The reason it is better to consume the yogurt made by these piobiotics versus just consuming the probiotics themselves is upon fermenting them, they go from hundreds of billions to reaching around a trillion CFU per serving (half a cup); roughly a 1,000-fold increase!

These strains also exhibit unique characteristics to survive the stomach acid and bile, especially with the high counts coming from the 36-hour fermentation process.

It is still up for debate whether they take residence full-time in the gut; regardless, they still exert their function whether full-time or part-time!

This yogurt has been the cornerstone of any SIBO protocol I recommend, simply because it works so well. Usually, people see results in 4-6 weeks with daily consumption.

Find the L Gasseri and B Subtilis on my Fullscript store, linked directly to the products!

Anecdotal evidence has shown a more diverse microbiome post consumption of this yoghurt, as these strains bring in fellow good guys, not unlike how something like Cdiff brings in more bad guys.

While this yogurt sits at the top of the chain, I utilize some other incredible strategies as well. This next section will be an overview of these strategies.

Studies: Study 1, Study 2, Study 3, Study 4

Herbal killers

Herbs like oregano, thyme, artemisinin, clove, lemon balm, and garlic are all powerful natural means of destroying SIBO bacteria, viruses, and parasites! In fact, herbal antibiotic therapy is just as effective as antibiotics like rifiaxmin, which is commonly used for SIBO to inhibit the growth of bacteria in the small intestine.

Many of these plant compounds have been studied for treating infections, gut issues, or taking advantage of their antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties.

For example, artemisinin has been known for its management of malaria since the 1970s, while it has recently been proposed as a covid therapy. It is also non-toxic and exerts a suppression of pro‑inflammatory mediators.

Personally, I am a big fan of herbal antibiotics for SIBO and have had great success with them.

Studies used for this section: Study 1, Study 2, Study 3, Study 4

My Favorite Product found on my Fullscript store for 25% off!:

Sunlight

Ideally, sunlight should be #1 in your health protocols — the benefits go way beyond the microbiome. I wrote a whole post on it. But specifically for SIBO, sunlight has a fascinating and under-appreciated effect on gut bacteria.

Hunter-gatherer tribes living near the equator, under year-round UV exposure, consistently show some of the most diverse and robust microbiomes ever studied. The Yanomami of the Amazon are a prime example: no sunscreen, no sun-protective clothing, yet their beneficial bacteria levels are unrecognizable compared to Westerners.

You might assume diet is the explanation. But when control groups were simply exposed to UV light, they began developing bacterial profiles resembling hunter-gatherers.

The Hazda tribe of Africa showed microbiome changes that tracked directly with the seasons — rising and falling with UV availability throughout the year.

The sun isn’t just food for your skin. The data suggests it’s foundational to a healthy gut too.

Studies used for this section: Study 1, Study 2

Subscribe now

Fermented Foods

Foods like kefir, saurkraut, kimchi, and kombucha are all solid options for building a diverse microbiome. These foods contain beneficial microbes in high counts, which survive stomach acid, can help reduce inflammation, and even work against harmful bacteria like H. pylori.

A study looking at Kefir and its health benefits found that “kefir may work against obesity, diabetes, liver disease, cardiovascular disorders, immunity, and neurological disorders. Peptides, bioactive compounds, and strains occurring in kefir can modulate gut microbiota composition, low-grade inflammation, and intestinal permeability, which consequently may generate health benefits.”

Overall, kefir will bring in supportive microbes into the gut, ones that compete with SIBO strains. My primary fermented food is kefir, which I prepare using kefir grains and raw milk, allowing it to ferment for 1-2 days.

Studies used for this section: Study 1, Study 2, Study 3, Study 4

Bile and Liver support

The gut should always be talked about in tandem with the liver. First off, SIBO can cause liver dysfunction in the form of fatty liver, probably from its antagonistic effect on bile.

Bile produced by the liver acts as a digestive aid, a detoxifier, and an antimicrobial fluid. With SIBO, the bacteria have enzymes that “deconjugate” bile acids, essentially reducing their ability to perform these functions.

With the bile being reduced, fat digestion is impaired, deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins can occur, and antimicrobial activity is diminished.

My LabCorp account showed 10 years of high liver enzymes. Once I addressed bile flow and SIBO, my liver has never looked better. It is also fundamental for detoxifying from mold, heavy metals, glyphosate, and other environmental toxins.

A few of my favorite bile flow enhancers to use for gut health: Phosphatidylcholine, Swedish bitters, Taurine, Eating cholesterol-rich foods like egg yolks.

One of my hall of fame products, from QuickSilver Scientific, is called Liver Sauce, it’s a nutracutacal blend designed for maximizing bile flow. Bitters #9 is also similar for more everyday use!

Phosphatidylcholine (PC), my favorite supplement of all time, has also been shown to rebuild the mucosal layer in the gut, accounting for more than 90% of the phospholipids in mucus, and help Ulcerative colitis achieve remission (6G per day).

My Favorite Products for bile support found on my Fullscript store for 25% off, linked directly to the products!!

Studies used for this section: Study 1, Study 2, Study 3

Butyrate

Butyrate is a postbiotic made from good gut bacteria after fermenting resistant starches like cooked and cooled potatoes or rice. It is a short-chain fatty acid that provides 70% of the energy to your colonic cells, stimulates the mucosal layer, and accelerates the assembly of tight junctions in intestinal epithelial cells.

If you have ever had raw butter, you would notice the smell is a little off; that is actually butyrate, and it’s prevalent in butter, cream, cheese, and milk. You can also supplement it directly with sodium butyrate.

My Favorite Butyrate found on my Fullscript store for 25% off!

Studies used for this section: Study 1, Study 2

Zinc carnosine

Compared to other zinc supplements, zinc carnosine has a much more pronounced effect on the gut mucosal layer and wound healing in the gut & stomach lining (epithelial cell growth), eradicating H. pylori and healing stomach ulcers.

It is a powerful supplement for sealing a leaky gut and restoring tight junctions. In a study examining intestinal permeability after intense exercise, patients who underwent a 14-day zinc L-carnosine treatment showed a 71% reduction in intestinal permeability compared to the control group.

In the same vein, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drugs are notoriously bad for the gut, so much so that indomethacin (a NSAID) induced a 3-fold increase in intestinal permeability in human controls but not in subjects taking zinc L-carnosine.

Overall, it’s a fantastic supplement for gut health, especially for building and protecting the gut lining against LPS leakage from SIBO.

Linked directly to my Favorite Zinc Carnosine through my Fullscript store for 25% off!

Studies used for this section: Study 1, Study 2, Study 3

Lactoferrin + Colostrum

Lactoferrin is a powerful molecule inherent in the body found in the saliva, tears, mother’s breast milk, and mucosal lining of the gut. It’s a strong antimicrobial and antiviral, biofilm disruptor, and it brings the innate and adaptive immune responses into equilibrium.

Lactoferrin supports the growth of beneficial bacteria like Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli while inhibiting pathogens like E. coli, Salmonella, and Clostridium.

Moreover, lactoferrin protects epithelial cells from death caused by LPS, actively up-regulates the tight junction proteins that hold the gut lining together, and enhances overall gut barrier function, further preventing LPS from reaching the GALT layer and beyond.

Lactoferrin in Fullscript store for 25% off!

Studies used for this section: Study 1, Study 2, Study 3, Study 4

BPC-157

A peptide is a short chain of amino acids. BPC-157 (Body Protection Compound 157) is a peptide that is naturally derived from a protective protein found in human gastric juice.

It’s highly effective at healing the epithelial cells, bringing blood flow to damaged sites for enhanced healing, and sealing the tight junctions. I have an article on it here!

BPC in Fullscript store for 25% off!

Saccharomyces Boulardi

Saccharomyces boulardii is a probiotic yeast. It’s unique in that it is particularly resistant to stomach acid, bile salts, and antibiotics. It survives the digestive tract and is out of the GI system within 3 days.

It fights off harmful bacteria and fungi like C. diff and Candida and prevents their overgrowth, while exerting a protective effect over healthy microbes; for this reason, it’s also a powerful adjunct to antibiotic therapy.

Saccharomyces boulardii is also an effective means to prevent damage from LPS and the subsequent inflammation, while eradicating SIBO with an 80% sucess rate in cirrhosis of the liver patients, drastically reducing LPS from crossing the gut barrier.

It produces proteins that degrade toxins created by harmful bacteria that cause diarrhea. It also aids in the production of short-chain fatty acids like Butyrate. S Boulardi also increases the amount of immunoglobulins, essential for fighting off harmful invaders, while lowering inflammatory cytokines like IL-8, IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, and IFN-γ.

I am a huge fan of S Boulardi and rank it very high on the gut health list. If you have SIBO or some gut infection, SB should be close to #1 on your list. Personally, I make SB juice! I take one cap of SB probiotic and crack it into an organic juice. It’s a similar ROI to the yoghurt in terms of its huge return on overall count.

SB in Fullscript store for 25% off!

Studies used for this section: Study 1, Study 2, Study 3, Study 4, Study 5

Vitamin B1 Thiamin, TTFD version

Thiamine deficiency is increasingly recognized as a hidden driver of gut dysfunction. Thiamine supports energy production, nerve signaling, and gut motility, so low levels can contribute to bloating, constipation, nausea, reflux, and sluggish digestion.

Studies used for this section: Study 1

Activated Charcoal

Charcoal is a must for any gut protocol attempting to clear SIBO. Why? It binds to the LPS molecules as the SIBO bacteria begin to die off. This is what is referred to as “die off” and can cause herxeimer reactions from an increase in LPS as a result of killing the bacteria.

Of the mice given direct LPS injections, mimicking a sepsis occurrence, 13/13 mice given charcoal survived after 12 hours, compared to 0/13 not given charcoal.

Charcoal is one of the most effective means of binding LPS in the gut and preventing it from causing issues. When I first started addressing SIBO, I was not using charcoal and getting horrible die-off symptoms. When I added charcoal, I felt about 10x better. Always take ~2 hours away from medications and supplements!

Studies used for this section: Study 1

Conclusion

This stuff took me years of suffering, research, and personal experimentation to piece together. Crohn’s, C. diff, DVTs, hidradenitis — I’ve been through it, and gut health has been central to every single one of those battles.

This is why I offer health coaching: to help people who are suffering. If you’re tired of endless trial-and-error and want personalized guidance from someone who’s actually walked this path, book your free 20-minute consultation.

Let’s see if I can help you write your own transformation story.

Visit my website littlewaycoach.com! You can take a root cause quiz hooked into my custom AI chatbot for answers regrading your health concerns.

For anyone looking to get started on the supplement side, I put together a Fullscript plan with everything mentioned in this post — already curated, already dosed right, and you get 25% off through my link. No hunting around Amazon hoping you’re buying the right thing. It’s all there.

Till next time,

Scott

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. All opinions expressed are my own and not intended to replace professional medical guidance.

A somewhat ambiguous term that has become mainstream over the years.

Everyone and their mother has heard of seed oils, but not many really know what they are.

They are not produced by squeezing seeds or plants, as a quality olive oil would be.

Instead, they are produced through an industrial process involving chemical solvents and extremely high temperatures.

Cheap, industrial farm byproducts that needed to be packaged and sold to the masses.

Canola oil, soybean oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, grapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, and rice bran oil are amongst the most common.

I hate to tell you, but if you squeeze a grain of rice really hard, I don’t think much oil is coming out.

Cottonseed? Must be white and fluffy, like my shirt!

And I know you can’t even visualize a canola plant.

But, I do want you to visualize this: you are behind the McDonald’s, Arby’s, Burger King, or some random Asian restaurant, and there is a big ole container of oil slop.

It smells disgusting, looks disgusting, and tastes disgusting.

That, my friend, is seed oils; the pungent-smelling oils that almost every restaurant fries their garbage in.

Don’t let the cute names deceive you.

When I was younger, after looking at a Crisco vegetable oil container, I remember thinking to myself: how do lettuce and tomatoes turn into vegetable oil?

They don’t, that’s how. Vegetable oil is a made-up term, and you’re a dumb kid.

‘But if it’s made from vegetables, it must be healthy!’

I hate to tell you, but if you have been guzzling seed oils, you might wanna cut that out.

The Origins Of Seed Oil

Cottonseeds, before the industrial revolution, were just another waste product. Good for nothing, but, you guessed it, growing cotton plants.

At the end of the 1800s, America was undergoing heavy industrialization. Electricity, industrial plants, heavy machinery, and automobiles were all the rage.

Efficiency was the name of the game.

The newly created machinery opened the door to effectively process cottonseeds like never before, separating the hulls from seeds in record time and quantity.

An arduous process done by hand was now easily done by machines.

Cottonseed was a dirt-cheap input, perfect for an industrial age filled with machinery that needed inexpensive materials to keep the cogs turning.

The oil was dark, smelly, and initially used for lamps, lubricants, and soap. Nobody ever thought of putting this in their salad dressing.

Then comes David Wesson, the Godfather of seed oil (what a title). Wesson figured out how to stabilize the oil: removing the color, smell, and taste.

Soon, soap and candle companies began putting this ‘cleaned’ oil in their products; effectively, the first step in introducing seed oils into our everyday lives.

Affected by the high prices and monopoly over tallow and lard, the main fats for soaps, cottonseed became quite an attractive option for soap makers who were looking to reduce their costs.

One such company, Procter & Gamble, would make a massive gamble attempting to save its dying soap and candle business, buying up seed oil manufacturing plants hand over fist.

Procter & Gamble

With this new control over the market, they had all the seed oils a man could ever want. They were the candle, soap, and seed oil mafia!

They reduced their exposure to a cornered market, which had effectively handicapped their business, then took control over a whole other market.

Then electricity destroyed their candle business.

Time for a pivot, again.

Their business was a remnant of an archaic world, one without machines.

Soap and candles? That was the equivalent of owning a print shop at the start of the dotcom era.

Or having any job in the late 2020s, due to AI... ;)

Like good businessmen, they started asking themselves what was next.

They made the right move initially: get as far away from the tallow and lard business, use this new cheap, highly refined oil in their products, and buy up as many cottonseed plants as possible.

But now that their candle business was dying to the light bulb, what were they to do with all this extra seed oil?

Sell it as cooking oil, now that it has been refined, deodorized, and made colorless?

Nope, Americans were still too conditioned to seeing cottonseed oil as a machine lubricant (because that’s what it was). Nobody would put that in their body!

Imagine if WD-40 were made colorless, tasteless, and odorless. Would you eat it?

Now that I say that, I would imagine some would. People were just eating Tide Pods a couple of years ago.

Anyway, what if they could harden the purified oil and make it look like tallow or lard through some new technology called hydrogenation that some German scientist just invented?

What if they could market it as a hip “new alternative to tallow and lard”?

What if they told Americans it was healthier than tallow and lard?

What if they made it cheaper than tallow and lard?

What if they came up with a really effective marketing strategy, because if they didn’t, their company would go under because they blew through wads of cash making themselves the Don of seed oils.

“Adding hydrogen atoms to the fatty acid chain, [the] industrial process transformed liquid cottonseed oil into a solid that resembled lard.”1

“What’s the difference, after all!! Lard and tallow are so last year; it’s not like we ate them for thousands of years! We made a new tallow, it’s SOOO MUCH BETTER and cheaper!”

Now that you have an idea of where seed oils came from, how are they made?

So, What Is A Seed Oil?

The process of making industrial seed oils is pretty disgusting.

Firstly, most seed oil-producing plants are subsidized by the government, are of GMO origin, and are sprayed with colossal amounts of pesticides and glyphosate.

Second, plants like corn, cottonseed, canola, and rice bran inherently contain a negligible amount of fat.

To expand on this point, let’s examine an ear of corn vs. an avocado to see how much fat is inherent in corn.

Avocado (per ~100 g, raw)

• Calories: ~160 kcal

• Total Fat: ~14.6 g

• Protein: ~2 g

• Carbohydrates: ~8.5 g

• Fiber: ~6.7 g

🌽 Corn (per ~100 g, cooked or raw sweet corn)

• Calories: ~86–96 kcal

• Total Fat: ~1.2–1.5 g

• Protein: ~3–3.4 g

• Carbohydrates: ~19–21 g

• Fiber: ~2–3 g

How can they extract so much oil from corn, which has roughly 1 gram of fat per 100 grams?

Step 1: Apply thousands of pounds of pressure to the seeds via an expeller press. The pressure is so intense that it naturally produces 200-250 degrees of heat.

Step 2: Following the expeller press, two items remain: crude, unrefined oil and leftover “seed cake”. The cake still contains some residual oil.

Step 3: Seed oil cakes are washed with a petroleum-derived solvent, hexane, to extract the remaining oil.

Step 4: The final bit of oil will be bleached and treated at temperatures of 400-500 degrees, which removes smell, color, and remaining impurities.

Step 5: Pour the cleaned, finished product into bottles.

This is how the seed oil industry turns 40-50 ears of corn into 7 tbsp of oil.

The whole process involves such an unworldly amount of mechanical intervention.

The oils inevitably become rancid and oxidized during this process, which is why they are treated with hexane, bleached, and deodorized to avoid the horrific smell and color.

Remember how its made? Well they did an episode on canola oil:

What To Do About It

Seed oils damage the most important part of the cell: the cell membrane.

When you consume dietary fat, it’s broken down into fatty acids.

Those fatty acids can be burned for fuel, stored, or rebuilt into phospholipids, the structural building blocks of your cell membrane.

When you consume seed oils, you are breaking down rancid, oxidized fats and using them to build your cell membranes.

Seed oils are what are called Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs for short). Unlike saturated fat, PUFAs contain multiple double bonds within their fatty acid chain.

These bonds, or kinks, make PUFAs more chemically reactive and more prone to oxidative damage. PUFAs, however, are not inherently bad by nature, contrary to what people may tell you.

These kinks in the fatty acid chain help your cell membrane with flexibility. Membrane flexibility plays a major role in effective intra- and extracellular communication.

Think of membrane flexibility as how “soft” and moldable the cell’s phospholipid bilayer is, compared to a rigid one.

Flexibility allows membranes to bend, curve, and reshape without tearing. Many important compounds, like fat-soluble vitamins, steroid hormones, and signaling molecules, are fat-soluble. Your cell membranes are made of fat.

The membrane must be able to shuttle these nutrients efficiently without breaking. The more flexible it is, the better it is at this; the more rigid, the worse it is.2

Membranes regulate signaling, nutrient exchange, and provide an overall assessment of the cellular environment around them.

This, in turn, influences signaling pathways that regulate how mitochondrial and nuclear DNA are expressed.

Flexibility also allows the cell to better withstand damage and reorganize itself faster.

So, flexibility is important. There is a perfect harmony between rigidity and flexibility for a membrane.

Think 100% saturated fat cell membrane: a handful of pencils, too stiff.

100% polyunsaturated fats: a handful of straws, too flexible.

Back to seed oils.

Because of the industrial processing, these fats are treated in such a harsh manner, causing damage to the fatty acid chain before ever even entering your body.

Once they are integrated into your cell membranes, they begin drawing reactive oxygen species to that site.

This is what is referred to as lipid peroxidation, where unstable electrons are taken from the cell membrane or given away to unstable oxygen molecules.

To understand oxidation, think of rusting metal. Oxygen molecules react with the metal, causing it to deteriorate over time.

The same process occurs in our cell membranes. The fats found in seed oils are highly reactive, similar to rusting metal, and attract reactive oxygen species (unstable oxygen molecules) to your cell membranes.

When this oxidative reaction occurs, it can damage the phospholipid bilayer that makes up your cell membrane.

Imagine these seed oil fats having a little magnet on them, attracting ferocious little molecules ready to rip anything and everything they encounter apart.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve concluded that all major health issues are related to your cell membrane function.

Seed oils are a major problem for cell membranes, yet there are steps you can take to shield your cells from this horrible damage.

It can take several years to fully rid the body of toxic PUFA seed oils.

Over the past year, I have put a lot of work into my cell membranes. After struggling with autoimmune issues my whole life, I feel I have finally cracked the code.

So I will just tell you what I did.

Step 1: Stop eating seed oils. I stopped this around 2019 or so.

Step 2: Consume high-quality saturated fats and cholesterol: Raw egg yolks (high in cholesterol and phosphatidylcholine), high-quality beef or lamb, butter, full-fat raw dairy, and raw milk cheeses. Basically, an animal-based diet.

Step 3: Consume very high-quality fish, preferably raw: This one is very important and nuanced. Consuming damaged, low-quality fish or fish oil is a bad idea. Keep in mind that Omega-3 fatty acids are PUFAs and extremely fragile to oxidation. I consume raw oysters, smoked oysters, premium flash frozen fish, and a non-oxidized cod liver oil, NOT FISH OIL. The cod liver oil I consume is flash frozen on the boat and pressed in an oxygen-deprived room. Cod liver oil = olive oil, pressed and squeezed for its oil, and has been an ancient medicine since the Vikings. Fish oil pills = seed oils: factory-made oxidized oils stuffed in a capsule. So if you don’t like seed oils, certainly don’t take Fish oil.

Subscribe now

Step 4: I attribute much of my skin healing work to the following cell membrane stack: Vitamin E tocotrienols, high-dose phosphatidylcholine, and high-quality cod liver oil + omega-3 rich foods. PC replaces damaged phospholipids in the cell membrane. Vitamin E tocotrienols, 50x more potent than regular vitamin E, and derived from the annato plant, are a fat-soluble vitamin that embeds in the cell membrane, preventing lipid peroxidation. Omega-3 (DHA) helps the cell membrane be more flexible and ‘smart’, as the DHA organizes in the cell membrane uniquely compared to any other fat.

I am making this infographic for an event, so I thought I would share it here first!

This protocol has really helped me, especially the more I push it. Had I tried this from the start, alongside everything else I was doing, like detoxing from mercury and mold, fasting, keto, etc. I probably would have healed even faster.

But God had a different plan. Now I can share this with people who need help.

This is why I offer health coaching: to help people who are suffering. If you’re tired of endless trial-and-error and want personalized guidance from someone who’s actually walked this path, book your free 20-minute consultation.

Let’s see if I can help you write your own transformation story.

https://littlewaycoach.com/apply

Feel free to check out my Fullscript, the leading supplement supplier for practitioner-grade supplements in the US and Canada! Or visit my website littlewaycoach.com/store!

Till next time,

Scott

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. All opinions expressed are my own and not intended to replace professional medical guidance.

“You’re ridin’ high in

April, shot down in May,

But I know I’m gonna change that tune

When I’m back on top in June.

That’s life! That’s life.”

— Frank Sinatra

At the time, I worked out daily and ran a physically demanding landscaping business. I was a man of routine, no deviations, and no messing around. My days were as predictable as could be: work hard, train hard, repeat.

After years of colonoscopies to monitor my Crohn’s disease, I was rushed to the hospital following a routine procedure that went horribly wrong. I woke up in excruciating pain like nothing I had ever experienced.

“We have discovered that you have a perforated colon, and for your safety, we need to remove it. We do not want to take out the perforated section of your colon and reconnect it due to your Crohn’s disease.”

The surgeons wanted to take my colon out and give me a colectomy. Then they told me 8–12 weeks of my life would be spent sitting in bed healing.

Make way for deviation.

Amidst all the pain and anger, I couldn’t shake the thought, “How in the world am I going to get back to my routine if I can’t do anything for 8-12 weeks?“

“Shoot, will my life ever go back to what it once was with my colectomy?”

In a way, it was like being told I had to have my leg amputated. In that moment, you grasp onto the remnants of your fleeting life.

Enter peptides

Before my colon was perforated, I had already started working with a functional medicine doctor.

At my first appointment back from surgery, she didn’t hesitate and immediately put me on peptides.

Compounded oral BPC-157 was the first peptide I tried.

I didn’t really care what they were or what they did; I wanted my life back.

Removing one’s colon is no simple surgery; in fact, it is arguably one of the most extreme surgeries one can undertake.

Yet, by week 4 of recovery, I was working out again. By week 8, I had regained all my muscle.

Heavy labor and lifting weights was back on my daily routine; just in half the time.

Kinda crazy, right?

Subscribe now

What even is a peptide?

A peptide is a short chain of amino acids — think of it as a small building block of proteins.

Peptides orchestrate a wide range of functions in the body, including signaling, healing, growth, hormone regulation, immune modulation, and antimicrobial activity.

The wolverine peptide

Body Protection Compound 157 has been investigated for its role in angiogenesis, the process by which new blood vessels form from existing ones.

BPC accomplishes this by stimulating Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF).

VEGF is a signaling molecule tied to the growth and repair of new blood vessels. It tells our cardiovascular endothelial cells, the barrier wall of cells that line our blood vessels, to grow and repair.

Increased blood vessel formation enhances blood flow, resulting in improved delivery of nutrients and oxygen, critical for wound healing, tissue growth, and organ regeneration.

Having adequate blood flow is one of the most integral factors for healing. The more stagnant the body is, the less likely you are to heal effectively and vice versa.

When BPC triggers angiogenesis, nitric oxide production is at its best, and we get better:

• Blood pressure regulation

• Circulation and oxygen delivery

• Vascular flexibility and resilience

• Better, faster wound healing

BPC and Gut Health

BPC is most commonly known for its gut-healing properties; in fact, it’s naturally found in gastric juices.

BPC is readily available within the GI tract, supporting areas of damaged or impaired tissue.

A couple of studies showcase the power of BPC in the GI tract:

BPC’s role in IBD1

• Stable in both the upper and lower GI tract

• Heals and protects endothelial cells: Promotes repair of the intestinal lining

• Boosts nitric oxide: Protects gut blood vessel integrity and nutrient delivery even in cases of severely damaged conditions

• Supports regenerative signaling: Enhances extracellular matrix formation for stronger tissue structure

• Exceptional safety profile

BPC Post-Intestinal Surgery2

• High doses of BPC-157 improved all key measures of anastomotic wound healing (the fusion of the gut after surgery)

• Healed the intestinal connection without any leakage

• By days 4–5, collagen formation increased dramatically, leading to strong epithelization (when epithelial cells join together to seal a wound)

• Early inflammation was reduced — less swelling and fewer immune cells at the site

• Blood vessels stayed healthy and were well perfused (blood vessels were effectively carrying oxygen, nutrient-dense blood to wound areas)

That study is especially interesting to me. When my colon was perforated, they said it would be unwise to remove the damaged tissue from the colon and join it back together (anastomotic surgery).

However, with the use of BPC directly after surgery, it’s possible that it could have saved my colon.

Had I known all I know now, I would have advocated for the removal of the damaged tissue and taken my chances with BPC.

But surgeons love to cut… And rarely does an allopathic doctor explore remedies like BPC!

Yet, BPC’s role extends beyond the gut.

Subscribe now

BPC beyond the gut

What I find most interesting about BPC is its effect on the cardiovascular system. As someone who had a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) clot, BPC would have been great to know about.

One study3 points to BPC’s protective effect on multiple cardiovascular injury models, including heart attack, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, arrhythmias, and thrombosis.

By protecting endothelial cells and modulating nitric oxide signaling, BPC-157 has been shown to reduce abnormal clot formation and promote collateral circulation. This helps maintain blood flow when major vessels are blocked.

Beyond the cardiovascular system itself, there are numerous studies out there showing the protective and healing effects BPC has on the body, “[improving] functional, structural, and biomechanical outcomes in muscle, tendon, ligament, and bony injuries.” 4

The research paints a picture: BPC can support the body in healing its injuries. Its multi-modal effect can range from the gut to the cardiovascular system.

“Great, BPC shows some pretty promising results on healing, but where can I get clean peptides?”

So, where do I source peptides?

One of the most common questions I get is about peptide sourcing.

Peptides have come a long way since I entered the game 6 years ago.

When I first started peptides, I was getting them from a compounded pharmacy, basically the cleanest option available at the time, but they were very expensive.

Then I started exploring online retailers, which, at the time, was like the wild west.

Last year, I got a text from my brother with a link to an article about Paradigm Peptides, which was the first place I bought peptides, whom later got busted by the DOJ for sneaking testosterone into some of their products.

Thankfully, none of the products we were taking contained testosterone.

Turns out, I wasn’t quite as thorough in my research as I thought I was... whoops.

Around the same time, I came across a Belgian study5 that ordered peptides from multiple online retailers and ran purity testing on them.

The findings:

• Every single product was contaminated

• Some vials were only about 5–10% of the advertised peptide

• Several contained toxic heavy metals like arsenic and lead at levels up to roughly 10 times above accepted limits

On top of being contaminated with heavy metals, you were getting ripped off, as you may have only got 5% of what you paid for!

Thankfully, my favorite GMP supplement company of all time started making peptides!

Quicksilver Scientific

One of my favorite companies of all time, Quicksilver Scientific, has recently started making nano-sized liposomal oral peptides. Normally, oral peptides are kinda a dice roll; some get absorbed, some degrade in the Gi tract.

Quicksilver’s nanoparticles are smaller than the wavelegnth of light! Find another company doing this, please!

Quicksilver, thankfully, has the most advanced delivery system on the planet. Their nano-sized liposomal particles are on par with an IV or injection.

No injections and a far superior absorption compared to standard oral BPC.

Unlike most scam liposomals, which are supplements mixed with lecithin, Quicksilver’s products don’t break down when you take them. In fact, they peak in your bloodstream within 15 minutes with unparalleled absorption.

My wife calls me a Quicksilver fanboy. It’s true, one day I plan on taking a trip to the facility and leaving with a duffel bag filled with supplements.

The fact that they are making peptides like BPC, GHKCU, TB500, and KPV is very exciting to me.

They don’t skimp on the quality. Dare I say Quicksilver quality is akin to a compounding pharmacy?

Suppco, the purity supplement app, backed by the top holistic doctors in this space, rates Quicksilver BPC a 9/10.

What’s more, Quicksilver is a GMP guaranteed manufacturer; they make all their supplements in Louisville, Colorado, right here in the USA.

I even gave my postpartum wife their GHKCU for quick healing (they were not making BPC at that point).

What’s not to love: no needles, extremely high GMP guaranteed quality, and unsurpassed absorption, count me in.

Best of all, they just added Quicksilver BPC to Fullscript, where you can get 25% off your first order!

Sign up through the link below and go straight to my BPC protocol — no detours, no guesswork.

https://us.fullscript.com/plans/sklein1767385193-the-wolverine-peptide

PS. Visit my website to learn more about BPC using my AI chatbot!

Till next time,

Scott

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. All opinions expressed are my own and not intended to replace professional medical guidance.

As you know, I love supplements. My latest haul from Fullscript was like Christmas in January:

Experimenting is my MO. I don’t care about watches, cars, mansions, or whatever other material items. I care about optimal health.

One of the ways I express that interest is by researching and buying the best supplements money can offer. I view this as a longterm investment in my health.

If you don’t have your health, you have nothing. If the richest man in the world has a terminal diagnosis of 6 months, he would give every last penny to be healthy again.

One thing that drives me insane when trying to help people with their health is when they say, “That’s too expensive; I don’t want to spend money on that”.

All while spending money on Starbucks coffee or fast food or shoes they never wear…

Also think about the cost of chronic disease, I can tell you it ain’t cheap.

The average annual healthcare cost for someone with a chronic disease is ~$6,032, nearly 5× higher than someone without one1 .

(( If your a savvy supplement shopper, like using fullscript and getting 25% off supplements :), you can save quite a bit of money.))

Getting to the point, one such supplement I like is AHCC.

What is AHCC

AHCC is a unique cultured extract primarily derived from the mycelium (root system) of hybridized shiitake species.

The mycelium is essentially the “immune system of the mushroom”. It acts as a natural defense mechanism within its ecosystem. It detects and destroys pathogens, competing microbes, and harmful invaders.

This makes it fundamentally different from the fruiting body, that we know as a mushroom.

Through a proprietary fermentation process, AHCC becomes rich in alpha-glucans and other favorable immune compounds.

Unlike standard beta glucans found in most mushrooms, AHCC’s alpha-glucans have smaller molecular weights, making them more bioavailable and absorbable; causing them to be significantly more potent.

Furthermore, AHCC modulates the immune system, rather than boosting it like traditional mushrooms.

AHCC: The Immune Master Regulator

Proven to shrink tumors, aid autoimmune disease, fix acne, crush chronic infections and overall modulate your immune system, is AHCC.

AHCC is not like your average “immune booster”, its not like zinc, quercetin, vitamin C, etc.

It actually makes your immune system more intelligent.

AHCC functions as an immune regulator and normalizer rather than simply boosting immunity.

If we think about the immune system, we could say it has two branches: an innate system and adaptive system.

The innate immune system targets immediate threats like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and cancer cells through rapid, non-specific responses via NK cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells that act as first responders.

The adaptive immune system targets specific pathogens and creates long-term immunity by producing targeted antibodies (B-cells) and coordinated cellular responses (T-cells) that remember threats for future protection against the same invaders.

AHCC supports both systems and their intricate parts. It acts almost like a guide, pushing it to the place it is needed most.

Effectiveness of AHCC

AHCC may be one of the most powerful immune-modulating supplements ever studied.

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial2 on women with persistent high risk HPV, the results were pretty wild:

• After just 6 months, 63.6% of women taking AHCC tested negative for HPV

• Even more impressive: among those who cleared the virus, 64.3% remained HPV-negative six months after stopping the supplement

• Meanwhile, only 10.5% of the placebo group cleared HPV on their own

Woman who test positive for HPV, have an extremely hard time treating it successfully, so the fact that AHCC cleared the infection and kept it away, is astonishing…

Similar to HPV, Lyme disease is a chronic infection, most commonly treated with intense antibiotics (which have horrible downstream affects on the microbiome), sometimes with little success.

A pilot study3 with 12 Lyme participants (ages 20-80) took 3 grams AHCC daily for 8 weeks. Researchers measured joint pain, eye health, cardiovascular health, fatigue, and overall quality of life.

Results: 100% of participants found benefit with AHCC - either partially (”I feel a lot better”) or completely (”I feel normal”).

Another study examined AHCC for liver cancer patients. Of the 269 patients, AHCC was associated with a 36% lower risk of cancer recurrence after surgery and a 58% lower risk of death compared to the control4.

Lastly, AHCC has even been shown in a multitude of cancer studies for having beneficial outcomes for patients.

A 2011 study5 with 25 head and neck cancer patients receiving 3g AHCC showed:

• 80% reported significantly improved quality of life

• 6 hours less bed rest per day on average

• Appetite improvement in nearly all patients (critical for preventing muscle wasting)

• Blood transfusion needs dropped dramatically: 16 patients needed transfusions before AHCC, only 3 needed them after

• 88% experienced definite reduction in chemo side effects including digestive issues, hair loss, nausea, and vomiting

• Shortened hospital stays due to patients feeling significantly better

There are over 30 human clinical trials on AHCC, for things like cancer, liver disease (great for overall liver health!), autoimmune, and chronic infections.

Almost always, AHCC shows beneficial outcomes. From tumor regression, clearing woman of HPV, or showing promising outcomes with autoimmune conditions like Chrohns & Sjogrens6

When I started researching AHCC, I saw a woman who had used AHCC successfully for Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS)7, she “saw [her] skin calm down. By month two [she] was seeing Cysts in the rearview mirror [and] flare-ups were gone.”

HS is an extremely painful and debilitating disease. Imagine chronic extremely painful inflamed ‘cystic acne’ on various places on your body. Unlike acne it doesn’t just go away, it tunnels under your skin, creating tracts and lesions.

This is what I dealt with, and the reason I will continue taking AHCC indefinitely.

I can tell you there is almost NOTHING on treating HS. AHCC was one of the only things I saw that could fix it. And there is no chance I ever want that to come back.

HS is no joke. It was one of the most painful and mentally challenging things I have ever gone through. If only I had found AHCC then.

For more of my pictures: https://littlewaycoach.com/

Subscribe now

Summer 2022(left), Fall 2024(right): Thanks be to God

Thinking about AHCC?

The AHCC Fullscript plan link for 25% off: https://us.fullscript.com/plans/sklein1767385193-ahcc-the-best-immune-supplement-you-ve-never-heard-of

Conclusion

AHCC is something everyone should consider taking, especially for those with health issues. I wish I had only known about it while I was in the thick of it with my ailments.

Currently, I am taking AHCC, knowing it will keep my immune system STRONG, my liver in tip top shape, and ward away any autoimmune flares that could one day return.

AHCC has easily earned a top spot in my supplement cabinet; one I will always be taking.

Don’t forget to check out my AI and ask it questions pertaining to AHCC!

Lastly, if you want 25% off GMP grade supplements, need health coaching, or try out my AI, please visit my website at littlewaycoach.com!

I recently completed my certification as a Primal Health Coach through the Primal Health Coach Institute, founded by Mark Sisson—the “godfather” of the primal/paleo movement and creator of Primal Kitchen.

If you’ve followed my journey here, you know I’m obsessed with optimal health. After dealing with poor health for the past 10 years, I’ve refined protocols that truly work.

Protocols I hope to share with the many people dealing with serious health issues…

By the grace of God, those issues are now behind me.

When I first started the blog, a couple months after, I thought I was going to start my business.

Life happened, I met my wife and my mom passed.

But here I am in 2026, pumped to help as many people as I can!

My business is named The Little Way Health Coach, an homage to St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Catholic saint who practiced small daily acts of love and penance rather than grand gestures.

This is how I can guide clients to success: one step at a time.

You might notice my business has a strong Christian foundation. My goal is to primarily serve Christians, but I’m happy to work with anyone who needs support.

Take a look at: https://littlewaycoach.com/

Anyways, lets get into it!

Little Way AI Coach

One of the most rewarding developments has been merging my background in software and artificial intelligence with my health coaching expertise.

For context, my brother and I helped build one of the first AI systems in the health space.

It captured the full essence of Robert Sikes ethos (A popular keto body builder, founder of keto bricks), similar to encapsulating an entire book into an AI.

Fast forward, I’ve done the same for my coaching practice: I’ve created an AI Coach loaded with all the powerful health protocols I’ve developed and refined over the years.

This gives clients instant, personalized access to my accumulated knowledge on healing, biohacking, and thriving!

Its built in with protocols, supplement brands, and lifestyle hacks; trained on some of the best information out there. Shoot, its even been helpful for me when I need some assistance.

AI can be a fantastic educator, learn from it, dont let it be a crutch…

Even better, within the next month, I’m planning to open it up so anyone can access the Little Way AI for just $20/month, no full coaching package required!

If you’re curious, head over to my website and try it out for free—just click the “Chat” button in the navigation bar!

Here are a few examples of what the AI Coach can do:

Lyme Protocol

Heavy metals and autoimmune

These are just some of the many things you can try out. You can even put your labs in it and have it look at them and formulate an opinion!

Access 25% Off Top-Quality Supplements

Tired of paying full price for supplements or buying junk fakes from places like Amazon? I’ve got you covered!

Before becoming a coach, I was a huge fan of Fullscript, I got access through my brother’s doctor over four years ago. Since then, I haven’t bought supplements from anywhere else.

Fullscript is a total game-changer: it provides practitioner-grade, GMP-certified supplements from trusted brands (like quicksilver scientific), plus the ability to request labs.

Getting labs was always a struggle, but now you can get something like a basic metabolic panel for around $3 bucks!

Please try and find labs that affordable…

Check it out via my Fullscript portal on the website, or try this link: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/sklein1767385193

Thanks everyone,

I am hoping to pump out a blog on AHCC, one of my new favorite supplements for immune modulation, skin health, liver health, etc (something you could ask my AI about ;)

Scott

I am a supplement junky. I love experimenting, trying new things, building protocols, and finding the correct tool for the problem.

After several years of doing exactly that, I’ve landed on my favorite supplement of all time: phosphatidylcholine (PC).

PC isn’t just another supplement. It’s the literal building block of one of the most important parts of the cell: the cell membrane.

I’ve written about cell membranes before in my heavy metal piece, but over the past year I’ve become obsessed with them, especially after formulating my own cell membrane protocol and having great success with it.

So today, let’s talk membranes and PC!

I put my money where my mouth is!!

Why Your Membranes Are Under Attack

We are living in the most toxic environment in human history. Glyphosate. Heavy metals. Mold. Car exhaust fumes. Plastics. Endocrine disruptors. Chemicals that didn’t exist 100 years ago are now part of our daily exposure.

And almost all of these toxins share one thing in common: they end up wrecking our cell membranes and consequently, our cellular health.

Cell membranes are made of fats, and toxins are lipophilic, meaning they love fat. This is why so many obese people have loads of toxins1.

Since our membranes are composed of fat, toxins seek them out and weasel their way in.

Over time, this disrupts membrane structure and creates what’s referred to as “leaky membranes.”

When membranes are compromised:

• Hormone receptors malfunction (they live on the membrane)

• Mitochondria leak electrons and ATP → energy crashes

• Cellular inflammation skyrockets

• Detox pathways slow or shut down

• Toxins accumulate instead of being eliminated

• DNA and RNA damage increases

And this is where most people completely miss the plot with health.

As Dr. Daniel Pompa says, “The health of the cell starts at the membrane.”

What Do Cell Membranes Actually Do?

They are not just walls.

A healthy cell membrane is the interface between your internal cellular components and the external world you live in.

How the membrane reads the outside environment drastically affects which genes are turned on or off inside the cell.

The membrane is constantly asking:

• Are there nutrients available?

• Is this a safe environment?

• Are there toxins present?

This is epigenetics in a nutshell.

When the membrane senses a clean environment and abundant nutrients:

• Growth genes turn on

• Repair pathways activate

• Detoxification ramps up

• Hormones signal properly

When the membrane senses toxicity and danger:

• The cell shifts into survival mode

• Growth and repair shut down

• Detox pathways stall

• Inflammation increases

• Gene expression becomes defensive, not regenerative

This makes sense intuitively. If the membrane decides what comes in and out of the cell, don’t you think that’s going to have a profound effect on gene expression?

Crude analogy, but imagine a crappy doggy door. Half the time it lets the dog in, half the time it doesn’t.

A good door lets the dog in, but keeps out burglars, raccoons, and whatever else you don’t want inside.

Membranes on membranes?

If you have read any of my content, you know how important I think mitochondria are for optimal health.

Whats crazy, is even the mitochondria has its own specialized membranes, which create a proton gradient used to generate ATP (the energy of our cells).

The mitochondria itself is essentially a highly folded membrane system, designed to output energy.

These little organelles run the show, and even they need healthy phospholipids to create energy!

How Phosphatidylcholine Repairs and Protects

Getting to the point, this is why I really LIKE phosphatidylcholine.

When membranes are contaminated with damaged, oxidized fats and toxins, PC supplies the body with clean, functional phospholipids.

Its the building block needed for a healthy membrane.

The repair process looks like this:

• PC integrates directly into existing cell membranes

• Damaged phospholipids are gradually replaced

• Membrane fluidity, integrity, and signaling improve

• Detox signaling turns back on

This can take a while though…

True membrane repair takes 6–9 months of consistent use, after all, we have trillions of cells.

Summary

Discovering phosphatidylcholine has been a game-changer for me. With our bodies constantly exposed to toxins, it’s no wonder that supporting cell membranes can have such a dramatic effect on cellular health.

This article barely scratches the surface of what cell membranes do, or what PC can do for them, but it’s a starting point. If you want to support your cells at the most fundamental level, membrane health is where it begins.

Then Crohn’s disease struck while I was away at a hockey tournament…

At just 12 years old, already skinny as a rail, I lost 20 pounds, slept only 3 to 4 hours a night, threw up any food I ate, and had 20 bloody bowel movements a day.

What crushed me most was that I couldn’t even skate; I was simply too weak. That was the beginning of a very painful journey, one that left a mark on my soul.

Living With CD

I see a lot of blogs and Twitter posts about people with IBD who claim that cutting out sugar made their Crohn’s or UC disappear. That wasn’t me.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, made my Crohn’s better. By the time I was 13, I had tried every allopathic drug you can think of.

These weren’t mild meds. No, these were the ones you see on TV, listing all those wild side effects and how you could drop dead just taking them.

To top it off, I got a horrible case of C. diff, a deadly bacterial infection that lasted for years.

Daily life was terrible, not going to lie. The only relief from all the pain was when I was asleep.

I was taking the maximum allowed dose of painkillers per day, which wrecked my liver.

Going to the bathroom 10 to 20 times a day became normal. Throwing up became expected. It felt like I had swallowed razor blades for every meal.

I was bleeding every day and constantly anemic. I was extraordinarily weak and looked as if I hadn’t eaten in months, because honestly, I barely did.

If you’re not familiar with IBD, the worst cases are truly awful. Basically, your intestine attacks itself (I don’t know if I buy that theory), as if it were a virus or bacteria.

Your body tries to neutralize this “threat” and what results is an inflamed and bleeding digestive tract.

Think back to falling off your bike at age 10 and scraping your knees badly. Now imagine that same kind of mess happening inside your intestines, for years. I can’t explain just how severe the pain of a bad IBD flare really is.

You don’t live a normal life. Your whole day revolves around the bathroom and your bed. You can forget about hanging out or enjoying food, or doing anything normal.

The pain gets so bad your mental state starts to break down. All you think about is getting better.

It’s like a flesh eating bacteria took up residence in your gut, thats kinda how you can imagine Crohn’s.

When it wasn’t Crohn’s, I had blood clots that made normal life even harder. Walking made my left leg swell up like a balloon, and the needle marks from the twice-daily blood thinner shots covered my legs.

By the time I was 13, I was losing hair from the medication, and my face was swollen from all the steroids.

Kids in my school were brutal little a‑holes about that - shocker…

Life was honestly horrific. The only thing keeping me going was my faith and the idea of redemptive suffering.

Losing health means losing everything. You can’t understand this until you are desperate to survive.

You get tired of fighting, doing it all day, every day, and sooner or later you just burn out.

It’s like training for boxing: the first ten minutes are okay, but by the end, all you want is for it to be over; you’re ready to give up.

Pain and suffering teach lessons that nothing else can. Relating to people gets harder, because, as they say, the worst thing you’ve gone through is the worst thing you’ve gone through.

Final Straw

My second flare at around eighteen wasn’t much different from the first. Same pain level, lost 20 pounds, endless medications, you get the idea.

But this time really made me lose faith in allopathic medicine.

St. Augustine said, “It was pride that turned angels into demons.” Pride doesn’t belong anywhere in life, especially medicine.

Most practitioners haven’t suffered as their patients have. It’s rare to find a cancer doc who has had cancer, or a gastroenterologist with IBD.

At a fundamental level, they can’t truly relate. That isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just is what it is.

During the second flare, talk of cutting out my colon started. They never mentioned diet, sunlight, supplements, or environmental toxins; they never once covered possible causes.

Their hubris would not let them consider anything a ‘mere peasant’ without a medical degree might suggest.

A year later, I took matters into my own hands. I researched health, ate more meat, cut out seed oils, and saw a holistic doc. Still, I was on heavy duty medicine, running two immunosuppressants at once, dangerous stuff, but at least I was eating cleaner.

Eventually, I checked my progress with a colonoscopy because I wanted to see how things were moving.

How They Almost Killed Me

Neglect of basic health concepts had already done plenty of harm, but it was their carelessness that nearly killed me.

They let a student perform a colonoscopy despite knowing I had significant scar tissue within my colon. I wasn’t some case you just throw a student on and wish em luck.

I had years of serious scar tissue that had built up, and they knew this because it had caused trouble in prior colonoscopies!

Sure enough, she ripped a nice big hole in my colon.

That’s like letting a student mechanic work on a Ferrari. He can watch, but let him practice on a Honda Civic for goodness sake.

Colonoscopy wake ups are usually mellow thanks to the drugs; that was not my experience. I woke up screaming bloody murder.

Nobody had any idea what was wrong.

Why? Because the doctor couldn’t wait 15 minutes for me to wake naturally. She had other things to do, than to tend to someone who’s colon was just ruptured.

There’s no way to perforate someone’s colon without realizing it, like come on.

Between my dad and the nurses, no one could tell why I was screaming. After fifteen minutes, I was asked if I wanted to go to the hospital.

No chance, I hate hospitals after all the many bad experiences. So we went home.

Imagine getting stabbed in the stomach and deciding to just “sit this one out.” My pain tolerance is serious after years of this, but this time it was just stupid.

The car ride home was pretty bad, you can bet your ass I felt every single bump.

At home, I screamed in agony for three hours before finally throwing in the towel and heading to the hospital.

The Hospital

All my life, I tried to avoid losing my colon. I didn’t want to go through that. But that day, despite having actually been improving, it happened.

When the surgeons came in, I knew it was over.

“Yeah, there’s a massive hole in your colon. You’re lucky you came in today. We need to remove it because of your IBD.”

Uh what? I was shocked. I never expected to lose my colon that morning. How can you ever be ready for news like that?

A day later, I was alive—but without my colon. Had I stayed home that day, I probably would have been rushed to the hospital next morning with sepsis or internal bleeding, about to croak.

Waking up and seeing a stoma, my small intestine coming through my abdominal wall into a collection bag, was messed up.

The doctor even called while I sat in the ER before going to surgery, rest assured she got a mouthful.

Four years have passed, and it still feels unreal. Losing what I fought so hard to keep, only to get smacked in the face cause some negligent doctor.

The anger, despair, resentment—all hit me a week later. I felt so wronged, I was so, so angry.

Moral of the story

Do I wish I could have sued that doctor and her practice into oblivion? Absolutely. Do I think she should ever care for another patient? No chance.

Do I believe she deserves mercy? Yes.

As a Christian, I can put myself in her shoes and feel compassion for her choices.

Would you have acted differently? Would you have abandoned a patient out of fear? Maybe, maybe not.

But at the same time, there isn’t any place for this when people’s lives are at stake.

I am grateful despite all the suffering I have gone through. It truly has been the biggest blessing for my character development .

I feel I have a very unique view on health most people don’t, simply because I have lived experiences and fought for my life.

I have had other autoimmune conditions (severe skin issues) that have inflicted serious pain on my body and psyche.

I will admit it: I think most people in the health space have no skin in the game.

It’s ridden with greed, narcissism, and a lack of compassion.

While I am not free of these sins, I do have a genuine desire to help those who are suffering like I have.

This is why I started the blog and also why I will be starting my health coaching business soon.

I want to put into action all I have learned, or, as Dr. Pompa says, ‘What is your pain‑to‑purpose story?’

If you are interested in becoming a client, drop me a comment and we can connect

Even if you just need some advice!

Till next time,

Scott

Air quality has become my latest obsession… Last week in my home, I spent hours trying to figure out how to install a bipolar ionzer in my hvac unit. Turns out, you might want a voltage meter before sticking a 24v line onto a 240v line… Whoops…

My wife knows I’m an addict; an addict for clean air. I hate mold. I hate dust. I hate s**t in my air; I’m sorry.

I have 4 air purifiers, 3 carbon merv filters in my hvac’s return vents, a UV light on my hvac coils and I am putting in a whole house ionzier. Shoot, I even bought a HEPA vacuum (the EUROCLEAN GD930, best vacuum ever).

Whatever, I’m OCD. At least I have some clean ass air in my house.

Some get excited buying shoes, watches, cars; I get excited about buying air purifiers.

My first experience with air purification was with the Air Doctor. I bought three because I was terrified my house was infested with mold after finding out our cellar was squishy as a swamp.

Turns out, we had a open hole funneling water into the cellar which we patched up and put in a french drain. A damp, dark environment is a feasting place for mold.

So, when I got my purifiers, I threw one in the main room, one in my office and one in my bedroom. I did this with hopes that they would catch any possible airborne mold that percolated from the cellar (which really didn’t have much thankfully).

Looking at how much dust they would collect was astonishing. It is nasty to look at what those things collect.

Fast forward, this year we bought our own townhome and I went all out on clean air.

The Jaspr

My favorite air purifier has to be the Jaspr. First off, the thing is super aesthetic. Its a giant steel tube that barely makes a noise. Because its my favorite, I stuck it in our bedroom.

I found Jaspr after listening to a podcast with Luke Storey this past April. Its been one of my favorite purchases yet!

I often joke with my wife that we should name our next baby ‘Jaspr’ (not even joking lol).

One statistic that stood out to me on that podcast: household air is 4-6x dirtier than outside air…

Thats wild. It’s almost as if you don’t have some purifiers in your home, you might as well be sucking down some cigarettes.

They also talked about how putting air purifiers in schools even reduced sick days by about 30% - 50%. The air purifiers used in that study weren’t even that impressive compared to something like a Jaspr.

Personally, Ive noticed how clean our bedroom air is, it just feels fresh and light. I don’t usually wake up wicked stuffy blowing my noise like I used to every night.

I can’t live without one after sleeping with one for 6+ months now. Shoot, next time we stay in a hotel I am 100% going to bring it with us.

What does it filter?

What it Detects:

• PM2.5: Tiny particles like dust, smoke, pollen, and mold spores (<2.5μm).

• VOCs: Chemical pollutants from paints, cleaning agents, and household products.

Filtration:
Uses HEPA and activated carbon filters to remove:

• Dust, pollen, and allergens

• Smoke (wildfire, cigarette, cooking)

• Mold spores

• Pet dander

• Odors and VOCs

If you hate mold like me, check this out from their website:

Unlike most air purifiers, its filter is effective enough to circulate ample air, while capturing the vast majority of particulates.

Before they were sold to consumers, they were sold to doctors and medical offices. They were made to blend the real deal, heavy duty commercial purifiers with the all too common, weak, and wimpy home purifiers.

Out came Jaspr - super duty yet sleek home air scrubber!

Proof from their website below:

To wrap up, look into Jaspr! They really are impressive machines. I admire those in the health space that take the time on quality. I’m tired of low quality, low effort products.

I spend hours researching health products and supplements before I buy, because frankly, there is so much BS out there and I’m tired of it.

You gotta run a business, duh, but man, maybe focus a bit more on a good product rather than maximizing your profit margins….

When my Jaspr was broken, they sent me a new one within a couple days and then had FedEx pick up my broken one off my doorstep.

They actually care about their products, and don’t just want to make money off willing customers.

Its not made of cheap ugly plastic. Its filters are robust and its built to last. They take care of you when you need it; what more could you ask!

Till next time,

Scott

EMF-shielded bedrooms, Ethernet-only Wi-Fi, reverse osmosis water, biohacked beds, air purifiers—there’s an endless list of gadgets and modalities for one’s home. As someone who has slowly acquired these gadgets over the years, my bedroom has become my favorite place for upgrades.

The most expensive item in my bedroom is, of course, our bed. I’ve always heard how toxic mattresses are, especially cheap ones…

Laden with VOCs (volatile organic compounds), flame retardants, polyurethane, and phthalates, traditional mattresses are straight-up death traps.

Anyone who cares about health realizes these toxins are no bueno (to say the least).

We spend most of our lives sleeping on our beds, yet most mattresses off-gas more toxins than nearly anywhere else in our homes.

The most precious asset we have is our time—and a function of our time is our health. How you get to use your time is really based on how well you feel.

Trust me, as someone who has almost died from health complications, I can assure you: health is wealth.

So what better item to invest in than a mattress? That’s why we decided to get an Essentia mattress.

Subscribe now

Why is Essentia unique?

The manufacturing process for these beds is amazing. Unlike most bed manufacturers, they’re made right here in North America (Canada and the U.S.) with only organic materials.

They’re the pioneers of organic latex foam and have been producing these bad boys since the early 2000s.

Take a look at this process and tell me if you’ve ever seen anything like it!

Whenever someone asks us about our bed, I sum it up by saying, “You know how maple trees can be ‘milked’ for syrup? Well, Essentia pretty much does that, but with a rubber tree—then bakes the rubber milk into a bed.”

In all seriousness, these beds are badass. I’ve always loved a memory foam feel, but memory foam, as I’ve learned, is pretty much poisonous.

The bed doesn’t get hot like a memory foam bed would, despite having that similar texture. Comfort wise, I would describe it as firm but soft. It’s supportive, yet not hard, but not so soft you melt into it.

Truly, I don’t think you can find a bed with such a unique feel. You can’t understand the feel until you lay on one.

It did take us a little while to get used to, and even break in, but after several months I can’t imagine sleeping without it. It’s a fundamentally different feel—it’s not a spring bed, and it’s not a memory foam bed. It really just is its own thing.

Share

The pillows are also fantastic. I was having severe, raging headaches with my old pillows every single stinkin day. Then I switched to their Harvest pillow and have since broken that doom loop.

The harvest pillow takes their foam and shred it into small pieces, while stuffing it into a GOTS organic cotton casing.

It’s like sleeping on the bed, but in pillow form. It actually supports my neck enough so I don’t strain from the gap between my head and neck.

Price

Price-wise, the Essentia might take a little while to save up for. They usually run big sale, up to 25% off, while including free pillows or sheets with the purchase of a bed.

Despite having a 25% sale, our bed cost us 5K! Yeah, I know, it was a lot. But think about it: you spend 30–40% (or whatever) of your life sleeping on a bed.

Subscribe now

If you have the bed for 10–20 years (as a matter of fact, they have a 20-year warranty for their beds), that’s a pretty small investment to make, annualized over those years. Nonetheless, it’s still a huge investment and something that most just can’t afford.

Hopefully, as true competitors come onto the market and the technology gets better, these prices come down over the years.

In the meantime, if your looking for a pillow, sheets, or a bed, and want to support the blog, you can use my link here for $200 off!

Till Next Time,

Scott signing off

With the exception of natural leaning midwives and OBs, it’s surprising how little most care providers know about prenatal health.

They tell moms to take a basic, low quality, prenatal from CVS, they give poor nutritional advice, and give zero guidance on the importance of light exposure whilst pregnant.

If they mention DHA, the topic of this article, they tell you to stay far away from fish and instead recommend taking a rancid fish oil supplement. You would think DHA would be a high priority point of discussion, given its invaluable place within a developing babies body!

Finding a doctor who can take the time to stay up to date on research is rare. This is why I endorse self research and being the CEO of your health. Today, we will talk about being the CEO of your little baby’s health. Although, you don’t need to be a parent to find this article intriguing, most could benefit from a fundamental understanding of DHA. So lets get into that fishy molecule!

So what is DHA?

DHA, in the proper sn-2 position (the usable form of DHA), is most commonly found in fatty fishes, oysters, shellfish, and, in smaller amounts, lamb. Our bodies don’t make DHA, so the only way we can get it is through food sources.

Despite being a single fatty acid, DHA makes up to 20-25% of the brains lipid content. Your brain craves it more than any other nutrient!

When you realize the brain consumes roughly 20% of the body’s energy, you’d be correct in assuming DHA is a form of rocket fuel.

During the third trimester, babies need roughly 50-70mg a day of DHA from mom. There is no more important nutrient than DHA for a developing little baby. Inadequate DHA levels result in a 10 fold increase in premature birth, uh, hello? That should sound off the alarm bells.

Why is it so vital?

DHA is an essential component of developing myelin. Just like electronic cables need a rubber sheathing around them, so too does the brain and nervous system. Instead of rubber, our bodies use myelin to serve that function, shielding and insulating our precious electrical charge.

Myelination begins during the third trimester of pregnancy and continues through infancy, adolescence, and early adulthood. It correlates with developmental milestones like walking, speech acquisition, and complex cognitive abilities. For example, when your toddler draws pictures on your freshly painted wall with a orange crayon!

You don’t have to understand anatomy to understand the importance of myelin. Imagine a robot who had poor insulation for its electrical system; it would misfire and fail at basic functions. That’s what inadequate myelin would do to the nervous system.

If our bodies are essentially a massive power plant, with power lines, transformers, generators, how could we build out that infrastructure without copper and rubber?

We need a way to channel our energy and make sure the DC current flows congruently and effectively. In effect, that’s myelin and DHA. With that in mind, lets transition to DHA’s role in the cell membranes.

DHA and Cell Membranes

Cell membranes make up a massive portion of the cells overall health. Why? Well, if you didn’t have locks on your doors, a security system for your home, or simply even a door for your home, how safe would everyone and everything inside of it be?

This is how cell membranes can be viewed; they regulate what comes in, they communicate via electrical signals to other cells, and manage the cells resources. Its almost like membranes have a brain of their own.

So how does DHA play into this? Well DHA makes sure those membranes stay flexible and lubricated. A rigid cell membrane is not going to perform those tasks very well, just think of what happens when your car’s engine runs out of oil.

Think of how a developing baby/infant’s brain might need and crave DHA? Babies brains are highly moldable (think of myelination once more), and neurons especially need to be flexible as they are constantly changing, also known as neuroplasticity.

Your brain is constantly changing and adapting to its latest stimuli. I will give an example; numerous studies have shown how detrimental addiction can be for the brain. It quite literally changes one’s brain and their neural pathways and can be quantified using a brain scan.

Since the brain is moldable, whether for good or bad, we know should realize the importance of providing the proper nutrients so children can learn and function with the utmost advantage.

Summary

Moral of the story, if you want your Childs development to be exceptional, make sure they receive adequate DHA throughout their growing years.

I recommend smoked oysters, toxin free fatty fish (more raw/rare side if possible), or a extremely high quality Cod liver oil (I like jigsaw health, their Cod Livers are harvested under non oxidative conditions). I would strongly advise against most fish oil or low quality fish, as DHA can easily oxidize, so choosing a high quality source is beyond important.

Oysters I like: Crown prince smoked oysters, or sprotts smoked oysters

Cod Liver Oil: Jigsaw health

Fish: Seatopia, Bakkafrost salmon

Fish eggs: Wild caught fish eggs from wholefoods

Till next time,

Scott

We had been following and learning the approach of Robert Sikes, also known as “Keto Savage” and found his philosophies on bodybuilding in conjunction with the ketogenic diet to be incredibly insightful. After reading his book, I wanted to leverage his methods, but they were very precise and meticulous, and it was difficult to reference the book quickly. We took his book and embedded it into a special database for AI to quickly retrieve the relevant information and answer our questions.

We were successful in our attempt and reached out to Robert who agreed to partner with us. We have also started a business with the goal of bringing AI to health providers and influencers. Check us out at Exodus Intelligence!

Keto Intelligence will launch for beta testing on March 10th and going live at scale April 1st. Stay tuned for more!

If you were to ask a bodybuilder at your local gym, they'd likely respond with something like, "It's all about calories in versus calories out, bro—can't defy the laws of thermodynamics!" While Calories In, Calories Out (CICO) is one factor of a complex equation, it's influenced by other factors as well, including some physiological responses that we may not fully understand yet. Ironically, many bodybuilders champion CICO as the ultimate solution, yet they still resort to taking asthma medications like clenbuterol as a fat burner. If CICO is the ultimate answer, why the need for such extreme measures?

Furthermore, most of these individuals rely heavily on carbohydrates as their primary fuel source while depriving themselves of adequate fats, which are crucial for maintaining healthy brain function. I do believe that carbohydrates have a place in one's diet, but not necessarily year-round. I'm convinced that the circadian rhythm plays a significant role in metabolism, and we should pay close attention to it. In nature, carbohydrates are typically only available during the harvest months of summer and fat and protein are typically only what is available in the winter months (depending on where you live obviously). During the winter months, our bodies are naturally inclined toward a "scarcity" mindset, not "harvest."

Consuming carbohydrates during the winter will stimulate the mTor pathways, signaling growth, creating a circadian mismatch and causing downstream issues. Putting aside circadian rhythms, carbohydrates are more effective at stimulating the mTor pathways, which promote cell growth, compared to the AMPK pathways that trigger autophagy. So, why would I choose a food source that promotes cellular growth as my primary energy source during a cut where I am trying to effectively shrink my body?

The ketogenic diet serves as a much better starting point for fat loss, because it promotes autophagy and signals scarcity to the body. It is my recommendation to leverage the ketogenic diet during the winter months, but this outcome can still be achieved during the summer months as well.

All of the variables I am going to describe below should be approached with a “progressive overload” mindset - constantly adjusting so that the body never fully adapts to the stimulus.

What variables can I manipulate to reach my goals?

1. Calories: The first and most fundamental variable is your caloric intake. In a ketogenic approach, it's crucial to maintain a caloric deficit to promote fat loss while preserving muscle mass. This requires careful monitoring and adjustment of your daily caloric intake, ensuring you're consuming enough to fuel your workouts and recovery but not so much that you hinder fat loss.

Yes, CICO does matter, but it is only part of the equation. Gradual reductions such as 50-100 calories per week over a longer period of time will yield more sustainable results and won’t be as drastic to your life. These reductions should come strategically from certain macronutrients.

2. Macronutrients1: The distribution of macronutrients is another key factor. In a ketogenic diet, the majority of your calories should come from fats, with moderate protein and minimal carbohydrates. This macronutrient ratio promotes ketosis, a metabolic state where your body burns fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates.

Natural Pro Bodybuilder Robert Sikes will start his cut around 75% fats, 20% protein, and 5% carbs (carbs coming in bits and pieces from foods like avocado). He will then reduce fat by 5g and add 5g of protein week-over-week. This effectively reduces calories by ~50 calories each week. Once he reaches his “protein threshold” he will start reducing calories from protein. Ketones are highly anti-catabolic, so he emphasizes keeping fat high to maintain a good state of ketosis.

3. Training Intensity and Weight (Progressive Overload): Progressive overload is a cornerstone of effective resistance training. By gradually increasing the intensity of your workouts, either through heavier weights or more repetitions, you can stimulate muscle growth and strength gains. Even during a cut, it's important to maintain, if not increase, your training intensity to preserve muscle mass.

It will be difficult to maintain these variables in a cut as you are depriving yourself of the necessary nutrients to sustain prolonged intense exercise, but the mind must prevail here and at the very least sustain intense training, never sliding backwards.

4. Cardio: Cardiovascular exercise is a valuable tool for increasing your caloric deficit and enhancing cardiovascular health. However, it's important not to overdo it, as excessive cardio can lead to muscle loss. Incorporating a mix of low-intensity steady-state (LISS) and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can optimize fat loss while minimizing muscle catabolism.

Slowly increasing intensity and duration over a long period of time keeps your body stay in a state of “shock” and the gradual changes never allow it to adapt to the stimulus, thus allowing the fat loss to continue.

5. NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis): This refers to the calories you burn through daily activities outside of formal exercise. By increasing your NEAT, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or walking more, you can burn more calories throughout the day, further supporting your fat loss goals.

Start tracking step counts - this is going to be crucial at the end of a cut because this is one of the easiest variables to manipulate. An extra lap around the neighborhood each day is easy and will add to that overall caloric burn.

6. Cold Thermogenesis via Cold Water Immersion (CWI): CWI can aid in recovery and potentially boost fat loss. By immersing yourself in cold water, you can reduce inflammation and muscle soreness, promoting faster recovery. The cold exposure may also increase your metabolic rate, further supporting fat loss.

This is a powerful tool that few are aware of in the context of fat loss. CWI stimulates the production of brown fat. Unlike white fat, which stores calories, brown fat burns energy and produces heat. It's often referred to as the “good” fat because of its potential to help burn calories and combat obesity. This is beneficial because brown fat can help increase your metabolic rate, which in turn can aid in weight loss and overall body composition.

Shivering is key and is indicative of cold-thermogenesis - the process in which the body is forced to heat itself up due to the extreme cold external stimulus. This results in a surprising caloric expenditure.

Cold exposure has been shown to increase leptin sensitivity, which can help regulate hunger cues and potentially aid in weight management.

7. Contrast Therapy with Sauna and Cold Plunge2: Contrast therapy, alternating between heat (sauna) and cold (cold plunge), can enhance recovery, muscle growth and fat loss. The heat promotes blood flow and nutrient delivery to your muscles, while the cold reduces inflammation and muscle soreness. This combination can optimize your recovery and performance.

The science behind this method is rooted in the body's physiological responses to different temperatures. When you expose your body to cold temperatures, as described above, it induces a process called cold-thermogenesis. This is your body's way of generating heat to maintain a stable internal temperature.

On the other hand, exposure to heat increases your heart rate and circulation, which can help deliver nutrients to your muscles more efficiently. This can aid in recovery after intense workouts. Heat also induces sweat production and thermogenesis, which can help rid the body of toxins and promote a higher caloric expenditure.

By alternating between hot and cold, you're essentially giving your body a workout without the physical exertion. This can boost your metabolism*, aid in weight loss, and enhance your overall recovery.

*I often find myself starving after a few rounds of contrast therapy. I also lost 5lbs of fat in 6 weeks of doing contrast therapy 2x/week when I first started, without changing anything in my training or diet.

8. Pharmacological Intervention: While I don't advocate for the use of performance-enhancing drugs, there are legal supplements that can support your goals such as Rouwolscine, CLA, caffeine and peptides. Exogenous ketones can be a nice addition to help mitigate appetite as well.

Another factor that will influence this process is, as you burn fat, the toxins and pathogens that lived inside your cells get released into the blood stream and dumped into the gut. This can create gut dysbiosis which can lead to digestive problems and wild cravings - specifically sugar cravings. The bacterial invaders live on glucose and will literally steer your appetite towards sugar and carbohydrates so they can continue to survive*. Taking some herbal tinctures or supplements may be a nice addition to prevent this phenomenon. This is my go-to now: ParaX.

*I have experienced this every single time I go on a cut.

• Sucralose is poisonous.

• There are some awesome natural supplements you can leverage in place of antibiotics for SIBO.

• Prioritizing good gut health will have a huge impact on overall well-being.

• The GI-Map is a great test to examine the microbiome.

Battling SIBO

Recently, I've been dealing with a challenging SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) infection. About a month after discovering it, I started feeling much better, but due to some poor dietary choices, it came back strong. I have been super behind on putting this out there because the landscape keeps changing. It has been a roller coaster, but I am finally starting to get this under control.

It's incredible how crucial the microbiome is for overall health. I've noticed a direct correlation between my gut health and neurological issues, something I've been trying to understand for the past year and a half. During the peak of the infection, my nerve pain was excruciating, almost as bad as ever. Thankfully, it is back to what I would consider normal, but unfortunately, I am not back to my post water-fast results.

SIBO Supplement Stack

Initially, I tried a combination of supplements that yielded strong results:

- IS-BAB - A potent herbal "antibiotic" containing Japanese Knotweed Root, Wormwood, Black Walnut Hulls, and Milk Thistle.

- IS-BORR - A similar herbal tincture targeting Borella bacteria, stronger and with more ingredients than IS-BAB.

- IS-BART - Targeting Bartonella with a few additional ingredients.

I took them for about two weeks alongside activated charcoal as a binder. This worked well for stopping it in its tracks, but I ran out and added the following:

- P73 Oregano Oil

- Ozonated Oil

- Psyllium Husk

- L-Glutamine

- Bentonite Clay

- Activated Charcoal

- Black Seed oil

- LL-37 Peptide

- Glutathione (suppository form)

- High-dose Melatonin (suppository form)

- CandiBactin-AR

- Cat’s Claw

- Clove

- Tudca

- NAC

- Zinc Carnosine

- Tributyrin-X

- Dr. Davis’s SIBO Yogurt

Though I'm not a fan of the suppository delivery method for glutathione and melatonin, I recognize its effectiveness in delivering a high dose over an extended period. Dr. John Lueirance of Mitozen Scientific developed these supplements during his fight against Lyme, and they have shown great results. The high-dose melatonin does have some side effects, like making me feel lethargic and exhausted on certain days, but on others, it helps me sleep like a baby and wake up refreshed and sharp.

Glutathione is amazing; it leaves me feeling refreshed and somewhat "healed" after taking it. Its potent anti-inflammatory and detoxifying properties make perfect sense.

My GI-Map Test Results

I just received my GI-Map Test results after a long wait and was surprised by the findings. I initially thought I had a Candida infection or a small intestinal fungal overgrowth, but it turns out I have SIBO. Interestingly, SIBO and SIFO produce similar symptoms. The GI-Map is an awesome test and gives you a fantastic overview of your biome.

Not shown above, but I also was extremely low on Akkermansia, which is healthy bacteria, so I have been making SIBO yogurt with that in there as well.

H. pylori is a type of bacteria that infects the stomach lining and is known to cause various gastrointestinal issues, including peptic ulcers and gastritis. There is evidence suggesting that H. pylori infection may contribute to the development of leaky gut, which I believe is causing many of my symptoms.

Leaky gut is a condition where the lining of the intestines becomes more porous, allowing larger particles like toxins, bacteria, and undigested food molecules to enter the bloodstream. This can trigger immune responses and inflammation, leading to various health problems.

Studies have indicated that H. pylori infection might disrupt the gut lining's integrity, weakening the tight junctions between cells and increasing permeability. This can result in harmful substances entering the bloodstream and causing inflammation and other health issues.

My focus now is to address the overgrowth of bad bacteria in my gut, and fortunately, the supplements I am taking are effective against a broad spectrum of harmful gut bacteria.

Next Steps

I am eagerly awaiting my order of Cymbiotika's ParaX, renowned as the ultimate anti-microbial gut formula. It's been in high demand, so I was persistent in checking for its availability. I believe this supplement, along with Tributyrin-X, which aids in gut lining repair and prevents bacteria leakage, will be the final touch in eliminating the bacteria.

After about halfway through the ParaX cycle, I plan to attempt another 3-5 day fast and incorporate oral BPC-157 and other repair agents to kickstart the healing process.

I am relieved to finally have a better idea of what the hell is going on and where I need to go from here. I can't stress enough the importance of prioritizing gut health; this has been one of the most challenging illnesses I've dealt with. Although I'm managing well at work and in the gym, ongoing brain fog and fatigue have slightly affected my performance. Thankfully, with a new round of Microcurrent Neurofeedback treatments, my cognitive performance has improved, and the brain fog is starting to subside.

Important Takeaways from this Experience

• Intermittent fasting or time-restricted feeding is an excellent tool to keep your gut biome healthy and your body detoxed. I have always been a late night snacker and I have learned how much your gut does not like that. Going to sleep with food in your stomach causes inflammation, disrupts your sleep and circadian rhythm and as a result your body is not going to detoxify and repair itself as effectively.

• Sunlight is also a potent anti-inflammatory and assists in maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm.

• Lastly the most important thing I learned: STAY AWAY FROM SUCROLOSE! Also known as Splenda, this artificial sweetener is what I believe exasperated my symptoms substantially. Not only does it feed bad bacteria, but a recent study by North Carolina State University found that Sucralose may literally damage your DNA.

  They also found that it causes leaky gut. Which makes perfect sense in my case because, looking back, I was drinking sucralose-loaded Celsius energy drinks for a while, and it made the SIBO substantially worse. Lesson learned.

If you ever want to see a truly horrifying epidemic, a visit to an American children's hospital would be nothing short but depressing. Unfortunately, you will find an alarming number of sickly children, their plight united by a common thread: the betrayal of their own immune systems.

Autoimmune disorders, cancer, type one diabetes, obesity, and a host of other afflictions are not only proliferating among the adult populace, but also reaching bewildering numbers in children. These children are really the canary in the coal mine of society, a true reflection of our society's well-being.

In an ideal world, children ought to exude a strong, resilient, and robust sense of health—not suffer from severe cases of metabolic dysfunction. That is, unless, the environment they were thrown into was setting them up for failure from the start.

Subscribe now

The environment in which we reside wields massive influence over our health outcomes. When the healthiest demographic of our society begins facing immense health challenges, it becomes important to delve into the upstream issues, looking deeper than just "treatments" and "sick care."

Toxins From… Birth?

A few years ago, an article from Harvard Health1 gained significant popularity as it elucidated a report from the US House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The report uncovered something ridiculous in relation to popular baby food formulas—the presence of perilous levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury.

For a developing infants brain, heavy metals are precisely the last thing it needs! The incontrovertible truth about heavy metals and children is that they point to bad conclusions.

What Heavy Metals Do to Children

For example, arsenic, a heavy metal commonly found in rice or poor drinking water, has been linked to lower IQ scores in children between 3rd and 5th grade2.

What were once unheard of disabilities like autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, have now had an exponential surge in prevalence. Some researchers are now pointing to environmental toxins as a likely contributor3, due to the intrinsically neurotoxic affects these pollutants induce, particularly in developing brains.

On the same vein, heavy metals have been shown to cause respiratory problems, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases in children4.

Subscribe now

While many children are being exposed to these metals growing up day to day, some unfortunate ones are being exposed to heavy metals from the womb! During pregnancy, a mother passes on essential nutrients, minerals, fatty acids (like omega 3, essential for brain development), and just about anything else a child needs to grow.

Yet, mothers also pass on non essential toxic compounds like heavy metals5 . Depending on what a child receives in the womb, can predetermine certain health predictors, like potential autoimmune ailments.

A really fascinating study wanted to examine this exact concept, specifically in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and the contributing factors. Over a 16 year period 15,740 children’s health status’ were followed. Of those who developed JIA, a positive correlation to high “concentrations of Al, Cd, Hg and Li in cord blood”6 was identified.

Meaning, when they examined the placental blood from which these children were born with, high concentrations of toxic metals were found.

Final Note

The crucial point to grasp is that toxins have the potential to shape an individual's future well-being right from the moment of conception. No doubt, this news can be a bit overwhelming and disconcerting. However, the fact remains that exposure to toxins is an inevitable aspect of being a modern human.

Nonetheless, it is essential to recognize that there are some amazing tools available to address this issue. As alluded to in my previous article, I will be further embarking on a series of articles dedicated to heavy metals, offering a complete picture of the issue at hand.

After coming across the work of Doctors Chris Shade, Daniel Pompa, and John Lieurance, I felt like I had finally found the missing pieces of the puzzle. These doctors, through their hefty experience with heavy metal toxicity, especially mercury, emphasized the role heavy metals played in chronic diseases.

Although, it doesn’t take a doctor to explain this issue. We have all heard stories about the “Mad Hatters” who went insane from Mercury poisoning, coal miners falling ill from the mercury content in coal (amongst many things), or AC-130 gunners developing cancer from repeated exposure to metals like lead.

Just a straightforward internet search for “Heavy metal exposure and autoimmune/cancer” yields numerous studies proving the dangers these toxins have on the body.

Intuitively, this phenomenon makes perfect sense, how could high levels of heavy metals ever produce a good outcome? Yet, it took me years before considering this to be an issue.

Subscribe now

Why Heavy Metals are so toxic

Inflammation is a prevalent issue for modern man, almost every modern ailment involves some degree of out of control inflammation. Reactive oxygen species lies at the heart of the inflammatory process, capable of damaging your cells and their components from the inside out.

The NIH defines ROS in the following manner:

Your mitochondria naturally produce ROS as a byproduct of the electron chain transport system (where you generate energy), however, the excess ROS is typically neutralized by endogenous antioxidants such as melatonin and glutathione.

Nonetheless, heavy metal toxicity can massively disrupt this normal process, as these metals overwhelm the antioxidant capacity of the cell. Metals put the cell into a state of oxidative stress, where the oxidant to antioxidant ratio becomes skewed in favor of oxidixation2 .

The Diagram below paints this picture

Cell Membranes

Another factor that contributes to cell degradation is a development called “lipid peroxidation”. Lipid peroxidation occurs when ROS molecules steal electrons from the lipid membranes that make up the cell walls.

The health and integrity of cell membranes are crucial for various cellular processes. Membranes are vital role in communication between cells, as well as within the cell itself. They coordinate the exchange of nutrients, support detoxification and contribute to the integrity of the cell as a whole.

Subscribe now

Let’s take a moment to revisit high school biology for a second and recall how your teacher explained the concepts of Exocytosis (something leaving the cell) and Endocytosis (something entering the cell).

These processes are responsible for brining in nutrients like minerals, macro nutrients, vitamins, or expelling waste products like heavy metals and general toxins (if they are not broken down inside the cell).

Membranes are quite intelligent when it comes to governing the health of the cell and can distinguish what it wants and what it doesn’t want. When in contact with heavy metals, membranes decide what happens to these foreign toxins. A study3 examined this principle, explaining:

The innate intelligence of the cell membranes protects our mitochondria, DNA, rNA and other organelles from being damaged from toxins. This double phospholipid “wall” does a lot more than we think from a first glance.

Final Thoughts

Because heavy metal exposure is such a fascinating topic, I want to break it up into a series. In the meantime, I hope your enjoyed this brief review of heavy metal toxicity! Stay tuned!

-Scott

When I discovered the carnivore diet, I was filled with excitement. Having previously experimented with veganism, which turned out to be a detrimental mistake, I understood the significance of a proper diet.

Veganism had taught me the importance of quality food. I realized that factory-farmed products had no place in my life, and I completely eliminated processed junk from my diet.

Carnivore got me excited about eating a wholesome diet rich in grass fed meats, pastured eggs, raw milk & cheeses. Foods God made, not man!

I vividly remember visiting Whole Foods and just completely geeking out in the butcher section, I would happily leave the store with a hefty 30 pounds of grass-fed meat.

Meat became a staple in my daily nutrition, and I became resolute in my belief that nothing could sway me from this course.

I changed my mind - Kinda

If you knew me in real life, you would know how often my protocols are ever changing. What might be the devil one week, could very well be a powerful tool used in regeneration the following week. I have an ever evolving mindset when it comes to health.

While I still think carnivore is an amazing diet, I acknowledge that there are certain health considerations that carnivore enthusiasts need to take into account.

Subscribe now

Addressing root cause

While diet guru’s love to pinpoint diet as the #1 cause of illness, I would say that is outright false.

• Have you addressed metal or mold toxicity?

• What is your light environment like? Are you exposed to excessive blue light, and do you get enough sunlight?

• What is your EMF exposure like? Have you thought about how it might affect your health?

• What is your gut health like? Do you have SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth), SIFO (Small Intestinal Fungal Overgrowth), or leaky gut?

• Do you prioritize sleep hygiene and get proper sleep?

The list of factors goes on and on. The point is, while diet certainly has an impact on our health, and can be used as a tool of healing, 90% of the time, it does not address the root cause.

Eating toxic food all day unquestionably contributes to poor health, but we should avoid being tunnel-visioned and dogmatic when it comes to our overall well-being.

Diet Variability

While it's true that there are certain foods, such as kale, that should be avoided, wouldn't a healthy individual be capable of tolerating a wide variety of foods?

The gut microbiome of a resilient and thriving individual should possess the ability to ferment and digest a diverse range of nutrients. I'm not referring to consuming processed and artificial products like pop tarts and soy-based glop.

Instead, I'm advocating for the consumption of foods created by God that can be cultivated in one's own backyard, which is precisely what I do on my regenerative farm.

As with most things, this concept ties back to the principles of circadian biology, particularly the practice of eating seasonally. Our entire planet revolves around the sun, and without it, life as we know it would cease to exist on Earth.

Certain seasons like summer and early fall would imply a higher intake of carbohydrates compared to late fall, winter, and early spring when a more ketogenic diet would be more common.

Subscribe now

Food is more than Macros

Our bodies are capable of handling different foods at different times, based solely on the influence of the sun. If we consider food as an electromagnetic barcode of sunlight, where captured photons are converted into carbohydrates, wouldn't aligning the captured photonic energy of our food with the sun enable our bodies to process it more efficiently?

See, food isn’t just carbohydrates, fat, or protein, rather its captured sunlight. The only reason you are eating that ribeye is because the grass that cow ate was capturing photons, turning it into nutrients.

The base input to ATP is electrons and oxygen, meaning addressing the root cause comes down to correcting things from a subatomic level. We are walking talking human batteries with an electrical charge strong enough to maintain a body temperature of 98F for 24/365.

Nuance

Like any multifaceted subject, there is always nuance to consider. If you find yourself facing health challenges and have exhausted all options except for a carnivore diet, it may feel like the ultimate discovery!

Utilize the diet as a valuable tool, but also delve deeper into the underlying root causes of your health issues, otherwise you are not acutely fixing the likely contributor.

While this perspective may provoke some frustration, permanently restricting an entire category of foods is not the key to achieving optimal health. Granted, certain foods should generally be avoided, but there remains a vast array of other options to explore.

Throughout my own health struggles, I have personally experienced the benefits of a ketogenic/carnivore diet in reducing inflammation. However, I recognize that relying on a state of ketosis indefinitely won't resolve all of my problems. Instead, I view it as a temporary strategy, a tool in my arsenal rather than a lifelong commitment.

Subscribe now

Dogma!!!!

Consider the case of Mikhaila Peterson, a fervent advocate of the carnivore diet. Often parroting the narrative that carbs will kill you and they should never be eaten!

Recently she discovered she had severe mold toxicity.

Could the mold have been the primary cause of her issues? Did she investigate other potential factors such as heavy metal exposure or conditions like SIBO or SIFO? What about her light environment? Was she suffering from toxic blue light exposure and a lack of outdoor activity?

You see, the point is not to approach health with a one-dimensional answer, because it's far from that. We were created as complex creatures living in a complex universe. Dogmatic beliefs have no place in matters of health, especially considering the history of allopathic medicine.

Your allopathic doctor might dismissively shrug off your claim that your diet has improved your health, but likewise, you might find yourself rolling your eyes at someone who suggests that health is solely determined by diet alone.

Recognize that true health encompasses a comprehensive approach that accounts for the intricacies and interplay of various factors.

Subscribe now

My Pillars of health

Finally, I will leave you with a simple list, that I will expand upon in coming newsletters, giving you an idea of how to address your health level from level.

1. Sunlight

2. EMF - grounding into natural good EMF, while protecting from man made EMF

3. Optimizing mitochondrial water with light and temp

4. Movement

5. Supplementation & Diet

- Hope this helped, Scott

Questions about the bioavailability of a particular supplement in its specific form, the optimal sources to obtain it from, and the appropriate dosage can often seem overwhelming, particularly when it comes to more specialized and less commonly known options.

Fear not!! In this post, I will illuminate the fundamental aspects of utilizing methylene blue, so that you are not alarmed when your urine is blue!

Sourcing

Sourcing methylene blue is a relatively straightforward process, with one crucial prerequisite: it must be USP grade! Ensuring that your methylene blue is of USP grade is essential to avoid some nasty heavy metals or other toxins that we ideally don’t want to ingest.

Subscribe now

When purchasing methylene blue, you can pretty easily identify if it is USP grade by examining product pictures on the site your buying from, or reading from product overviews. Look for labels or descriptions indicating USP grade, similar to the label below:

Dosage

Now, let's delve into the realm of dosing, a topic that can produce multiple answers. However, for the purposes of this discussion, I will defer to the expertise of the eminent researcher I referenced in my previous article: Francis Gonzales. According to Gonzales, the recommended dosage of methylene blue falls within the range of approximately 0.5 mg/kg to 4-5 mg/kg.

For example, I weigh 155lbs, using Dr. Gonzales' recommendations, this would translate to a range of approximately 35.15 mg (at the lower end of 0.5 mg/kg) to 281.2 mg (at the upper end of 4 mg/kg).

Subscribe now

For reference, I attached a clip of Dr. Gonzales’ dosing recommendations below.

Synergistic Combinations

While utilizing methylene blue on its own is undeniably beneficial for enhancing mitochondrial health, its effects can be significantly amplified when combined with other synergistic elements such as sunlight exposure, an infrared sauna, or a red light therapy device.

The synergy created by these combinations takes the remarkable properties of methylene blue to a whole new level, resulting in even more substantial benefits.

As part of my personal routine, I find it ideal to consume methylene blue in the morning. This timing allows me to incorporate it seamlessly with either my morning red light session or take advantage of the naturally occurring red wavelengths during sunrise.

Using MB in the morning also kickstarts your day off, as you float around with a boat load of more ATP!

Subscribe now

Final Tips

Overall, MB is a relatively easy supplement to incorporate into your routine. One of the most common complaints associated with its usage is its staining abilities. Considering it is a literal dye, MB will stain anything it comes in contact with, including your tongue!

But, dont worry, as the temporary "smurf mouth" is a normal occurrence and will eventually return to normal. Its best practice to squirt the liquid into the back of the throat, followed by a chaser, to avoid this.

If you want some UV protection and skin benefits, combine 2 drops of MB with your favorite skincare product. Because it is such a negligible amount, it will not turn your skin blue, causing a passersby to mistake you for a Kentucky blue person.

Your urine SHOULD turn blue/green after consuming, this is a good thing and means it was taken properly.

MB is really well absorbed in the stomach acid, yet it can also be delivered as a suppository or IV. If given the option, it is generally recommended to opt for these forms of delivery over something like a trochee.

I hope that was helpful hope you enjoy MB as much as I do!

- Scott

Thanks be to God, as this arduous and painful journey propelled me towards embracing alternative medicine. It was during the early stages of my recovery, a few months after the operation, that I fortuitously stumbled upon a remarkable individual named Dr. Jack Kruse, whose teachings have become a frequent point of reference in my discussions.

Though Jack's demeanor may be brusque, and I now find myself at odds with some of his views, particularly regarding the efficacy of supplements, his expertise on the subject of light is unparalleled.

Upon delving into his body of work, I became wholeheartedly dedicated to optimizing my circadian health. This involved diligently utilizing blue blockers at night, minimizing exposure to blue light whenever possible, and ensuring I absorbed ample amounts of the rejuvenating rays of the morning sun and the calming hues of sunset. Astonishingly, I experienced significant improvements in my well-being, surpassing any previous milestones.

Since then, my health journey has traversed a considerable distance, with many more milestones awaiting me on the horizon. However, when it comes to the topic of light, I can confidently share my insights. So, let us now plunge into the realm of biohacking your light environment.

Subscribe now

Escape the Clutches of Blue Light!

The inaugural piece I penned for this blog delved into the pernicious effects of blue light. The majority of your screens and ghastly fluorescent bulbs are deceiving your body into believing it's a radiant, midday sun at noon.

In reality, you find yourself nestled in bed, fixated on your phone, wondering why slumber eludes you. As an individual who wrestled with debilitating insomnia, I experienced this firsthand. What felt like teetering on the precipice of insanity could have been remedied by a simple lifestyle adjustment.

Upon discovering the wonders of circadian biology, my sleep issues were almost miraculously resolved. And how did I achieve this fix? It was as straightforward as obtaining a pair of blue-blocking glasses and donning them as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Here are some nifty tricks for mitigating the impact of blue light:

1. Employ amber bulbs during the nighttime hours (I use these)

2. Invest in a pair of blue-blocking glasses (I love RA optics - always discounts available, great resource is a guy on twitter called Blue Light Diet)

3. Consider utilizing Iris software, which allows you to customize the color temperature of your computer screen to your liking.

4. Turn on light mode for android or turn iPhone screen red (think this video works for iPhone)

5. Open the windows and invite natural light to infiltrate your surroundings, thereby harmonizing the light spectrum in your office or bedroom (bear in mind that red light, impeded by glass, enters the equation).

   Subscribe now

Embrace the Radiance of Morning Light!

The significance of basking in the morning sun has gained considerable traction, with individuals like Andrew Huberman, PhD, tirelessly emphasizing its importance to their audiences.

AM sunlight plays a pivotal role in kickstarting our circadian rhythm. But why is it so crucial? It's because we need a surge in cortisol levels and a gentle suppression of melatonin.

Furthermore, the near-infrared (NIR) light emitted by the morning sun acts as the conductor of our body's internal clock, signaling the time for melatonin release and initiating the nightly reparative processes (to find out more about this, read my article on melatonin). NIR light also aids in the synthesis of melatonin, making it indispensable for optimizing melatonin production.

Here are some strategies to harness the power of AM light:

1. Rise with the sun, synchronizing your awakening with the dawn.

2. Resist the temptation to immediately reach for your phone upon waking.

3. Strive to spend at least 10 minutes absorbing the rejuvenating morning light.

4. If you find yourself awake in the early hours, shield your eyes with blue blockers until the sun has fully ascended, ensuring minimal exposure to potentially disruptive blue light.

Capture the Beauty of the Setting Sun!

In parallel with sunrise, sunset also plays a significant role in promoting health. The gentle glow of low-intensity red light during this time signals the body to initiate the release of melatonin, consequently suppressing cortisol.

Instinctively, witnessing a serene sunset proves to be one of the most soothing experiences. It's challenging to feel anxious when you're immersed in the captivating hues of a blood-red or orange ball of fire.

Here are some tips to make the most of this magical time:

1. Allocate an ample amount of time around sunset, allowing yourself to unwind and prepare for a restful evening.

2. Once the sun has fully set, put on a pair of blue-blocking glasses as you ease into your nighttime routine.

3. Cultivate a habit of prioritizing this sunset ritual, ensuring you can consistently partake in this serene experience.

4. Find additional ways to enhance your sunset experience, such as enjoying a leisurely walk, practicing mindfulness, or engaging in calming activities that align with your personal preferences.

Remember, cherishing the beauty of a sunset can serve as a tranquil transition into a peaceful night's sleep.

Subscribe now

Embrace the Power of Red-Light Therapy!

One of my personal favorite bio-hacks revolves around the utilization of red-light therapy. Each morning, 90% of my routine involves sitting in front of my trusty red-light device. It stands as one of the most valuable investments I have made for my overall health.

For those residing in the United States, it's not uncommon to encounter stretches of cloud cover throughout the year, limiting exposure to bright natural light. In such cases, incorporating a red-light therapy device can prove to be an effective solution to combat this light deficiency.

Moreover, these devices work wonders as ambient lighting before bedtime, whether you're engrossed in a captivating book or engaging in moments of prayer and reflection. The gentle red light emitted creates a serene and calming atmosphere.

By incorporating red light therapy into your daily routine, you can harness its benefits for promoting cellular rejuvenation, optimizing circadian rhythm, and potentially enhancing overall well-being.

Hacks:

1. Stack red light therapy with other modalities: use methylene blue to feel as if you just absorbed the whole sun.

2. Timing for optimal circadian rhythm alignment: Use red light therapy strategically to align with your circadian rhythm. Using red light therapy in the morning to support cortisol awakening response and melatonin regulation, or in the evening to facilitate relaxation and preparation for sleep.

3. Use in conjunction with a UV light setup during low UV index months (this is what I do in winter)

Well, that’s it for this week! If you have any questions drop em below and I would be happy to answer them and provide any needed resources. Remember that many of these bio-hacks are accessible and require minimal effort, making them easy to integrate into our daily routines.

Let's prioritize our light environment and cultivate optimal health. Here's to embracing the power of light for a brighter, healthier future!

- Scott

Subscribe now