The Gut-Brain Connection with Dr. Will Cole
‘Sometimes getting better looks like letting go of what’s hurting us, even if its hurting us to let go’
We had the chance to speak with Dr. Will Cole, he’s a leading functional medicine expert who’s been featured in Elle, Goop, The Wall Street Journal. He believes that we can become healthy in a natural way, in order to live the life we were meant to live. Dr. Will discusses autoimmune diseases, inflammation, the gut-brain connection and the connection between physical, mental and spiritual health. Dr. Cole explains how through the gut brain axis (GBA) which consists of bidirectional communication between the central and enteric nervous system, the peripheral intestinal function creates a link to emotional and cognitive centers of the brain.
Dr. Will differentiates himself from traditional medical practices by interpreting labs using a thinner reference range, whereas traditional medicine uses a bell curve average of all of the people who visit labs. His method of testing for a diagnosis for symptoms such as brain fog, anxiety, and depression is more tuned to his individual patients. Prioritizing optimal over average in functional medicine.
He believes in functional medicine, which is a form of alternative medicine which is patient centered, and focuses on addressing the root cause and understanding the complexity of disease, rather than just focusing on the symptoms. Dr. Will believes that this form of alternative medicine is necessary in order to change the medical industry for the better, which currently operates as an ‘one size fits all’ approach to health and wellness. The results that functional medicine can provide are undeniably positive and effective, using methods that are outside the scope of big institution medicine. Stating how the data speak for itself, sharing his experiences with traditional doctors encouraging their patients to listen to functional practitioners as the results are consistently positive. Dr. Will is a huge advocate for functional medicine as he believes it demonstrates higher clinical effectiveness, encourages people to live well and supports them in maintaining a lifestyle helps patients avoid harmful chemicals in products and food, sedentary lifestyles and chronic stress- which are all common factors living in todays world.
His belief is that functional medicine can work to support traditional medicine, and is helpful for cases in which patients are not seeing the results they want through medication. Looking at patients more on a case by case basis, and also upstream, looking at the root of why patients have the problem in the first place. Dr. Will discusses how considering simple life changes like introducing supplements to help heal gut health can have very positive effects.
Our guest this week gave a very insightful explanation of the benefits of exploring different health care options, tune into the podcast to hear more!
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