3 Keys To Healthy Digestion with Dr. Michael Murray

Meet Dr. Michael Murray

A Naturopathic Doctor, Dr. Murray is one of the world’s leading authorities on natural medicine. He has published over 30 books featuring natural approaches to health. He is a graduate, former faculty member, and serves on the Board of Regents of Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Murray is the Chief Science Officer of Enzymedica.

He's on the OPP today to talk about all things digestive health, including: why you should avoid common OTC/Prescription heartburn and acid reflux medications known as proton pump inhibitors, natural support for digestion (licorice and ginger), enzymes vs. probiotics, and more.

3 Keys to Healthy Digestion From Dr. Michael Murray

"All you can do is all you can do, so do all that you can."

In all domains of life, this is a tremendous rule to live by. As it applies to health - gut health specifically - let us leave no stone unturned in our quest to optimize.

Test certain foods and dietary protocol for personal results, and look for potential food intolerances that might disrupt normal digestive function. Take digestive aids in the form of food (ginger and licorice) as well as digestive enzymes, probiotics, and prebiotics.

All we can ask from ourselves is that we gave it our all. 100% total human effort. 

"All health begins in the gut."

Dr. Murray borrows this quote from Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine who also said "let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food". Hippocrates was also one of the original proponents of fasting for health benefits, all of which put him way ahead of his time.

If we're not digesting food properly, we're not absorbing and assimilating the nutrients we require for metabolic and cellular function. We're also likely to experience pain, bloating, or other GI discomfort. This localized inflammation can lead to systemic inflammation or disrupt neurotransmitter production (serotonin, for example) creating a nasty downward spiral of events.

If you have energy, weight, mood, or any other dis-ease of normal human conditions, look to optimize your gut health first.

"Never take a drug with more side effects than you have symptoms."

This might sound intuitive, but if we actually applied this rule, there would be very few people taking even fewer prescription medicines.

Somehow, that doesn't sound like it would upset Dr. Murray - or Hippocrates.

Bonus: Use ginger and (DGL) licorice 

Tune in to the show to find out why Dr. Murray recommends these natural digestive aids.

Links and Resources  

• Dr. Murray's Website
• Popular Cold Medicines Are Pulled From Market 
• Popular heartburn drugs linked to higher early death risk -- ScienceDaily  
• How Proton Pump Inhibitors May Impair Cardiovascular Health 
• Enzymedica - Digestive Enzymes  
• Probiotics as modulators of the gut flora (study) - 
• The Role of Maternal Dietary Restriction, Breastfeeding, Timing of Introduction of Complementary Foods, and Hydrolyzed Formulas 
• Pinner Test (code OPP saves you $60)
• Pinner Test on the OPP: Food Intolerances
• Various effects of different probiotic strains in allergic disorders
• In Praise of Gratitude - Harvard Health
• Dr. Bill Sears    

Show Notes

• Michael talks about what he does 
• Use nature to improve their health
• Give us an example of a natural remedy that is backed by science?
• Ginger root
• Using the correct dosage - should we get from food or supplement?
• All you can do, is all you can do
• Dr. Murray talks about the Digestive Health Summit 
• Never take a drug that has more side effects than you have symptoms
• There will be many drugs that are very popular right now, that medical historians will look back at and will say what the heck where those doctor’s thinking
• Need acid to start digestive process
• If someone hears this information and wants help, how would they address the symptoms of taking protein pump inhibitors? 
• Highly quality digestive enzyme
• All health begins in the gut
• How do digestive enzymes compare to probiotics? 
• Enzymes break down food particles
• Probiotics are used for the microbiome
• Food intolerances
• How do drugs get approved in the first place? What does that say about the approval process? 
• Conflict of interest
• Sometimes we don’t know the long term side effects, until they are out in the market for quite sometime
• How does the gut impact brain functions? 
• Mediated or controlled by the microbiome
• What would be some of your favorite herbs? 
• DGL - Deglycyrrhizinated Licorice
• Peppermint tea or oil
• Are there other approaches to improve digestive health naturally? 
• How is diabetes linked to gut health? 
• Focus on how to improve blood sugar control
• If people could only focus on 2 or 3 things to improve their digestive health, what should they direct or energy or focus on? 
• Be mindful
• Focus on quality of food
• Top 3 tips to live optimal? 
• We are only given this one body and one life, so why not go for it and really take care of it