Alter Life

This is a little follow up on the last episode, #357 - Why I'm No Longer Vegan. That episode was intended to share my perspective on Veganism and the reasons why I don't identify as part of the "vegan movement." Long story short, while most of the foods I eat and encourage others to as well are indeed vegan (with the exception of honey!), veganism is so much more than just a wa...

This may come as a big surprise for you... or maybe you saw it coming. There are still a bunch of vegan doctors in the world, but now one fewer. I've personally experienced more health than I knew was possible. I've had better endurance, physical performance, and recovery. I've optimized my digestion and created a level of superb resilience to disease and immunity to infection. I&ap...

This is about my experience with Tony Robins 7-Day Positivity Challenge. As I wrote about in a Substack article , I scrolled upon a video of Tony talking about this positivity challenge - going 7 days straight while just "being positive." I was resistant, apprehensive, and doubtful I could complete such a simple feat. Spoiler alert - I did complete the challenge, and am actually still go...

It's me, Dr. Ben this time. I'm struggling with some TMS symptoms. Dr. Susanna shared her journey and insight with it nearly a year ago back in Episode #267 . And for those totally new to the concept or idea of TMS, my conversation during Episode #76 with Michael Galinsky, the filmmaker of All The Rage: Saved by Sarno , is a great place to start. Or you can watch that awesome documentary...

Okay, Okay... I did NOT give birth to a beautiful baby girl. That was ALL Dr. Susanna's doing! However, I was indeed part of the process, and even though a human being didn't emerge from between my legs, it was an incredible transformative experience! One could say that things "didn't go as planned." We were all set up for a beautiful home birth with our amazing midwife. W...

We're complete with the Alter Your Health from Head to Toe Series ! Did you catch the last 44 episodes of the Podcast where we talked about nutritional and lifestyle keys to optimize each of your organs and systems? This is a pretty good little database of quick facts to support your healing and longevity. Now what's next...!? This week on the podcast we hit the " pause " butto...

The balance of reproductive hormones and health is reflected through the energy of the second chakra - divine creativity. What do these subtle energies of masculinity and femininity have to do with fertility, hormonal balance, and general reproductive health? Well... lots. The subtle nuances of hormonal health are not only influenced by nutritional deficiencies and environmental toxicities, but al...

We're talking about reproductive hormones and the endocrine system in this finale episode of our "Head to Toe" series on the podcast - a conversation relevant to men and women! This is another HUGE topic. We've covered a lot of huge topics on the podcast in hopes of distilling lots of complexity into some easy to digest simple concepts. When it comes to hormones and the endocri...

Rather than better managing stress, wouldn't you prefer to better understand the source of stress? It sure can feel like stress is all-encompassing and omnipresent - something that we could never escape from. However, when we understand the true source of stress we can instantly see how close we are to peace. Addressing Stress at its Source is far and away the best thing that you can do to su...

When suffering with low energy, sleep issues, or any sort of fatigue, it's common to look at the adrenal glands as being a source of the symptoms.   Yes - the adrenal glands are responsible for maintaining healthy energy levels day in and day out... but they do SO MUCH MORE. The adrenal glands are integral to general hormonal balance and also establishing your body's circadian rhythm. So...

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the kidneys are the powerhouse of vitality. Low "Kidney Xi" means that the body may be generally deficient, worn down, and lacking health. When we consider the physiologic role of the kidneys in filtering the blood, the body's life energy, the importance of kidney energetics becomes clear. In the psycho spiritual world, the kidneys represent stress a...

Your kidneys filter about 45 gallons of blood per day. About ~1-2% of that makes it's way into the toilet as urine. Maintaining the health and function of kidneys filtration and urinary excretion is essential for health! While it's common for kidney function to decline with age (just like it's common for blood pressure and/or cholesterol to rise) it is by no means HEALTHY. In today&...

The podcast took a brief hiatus as we welcomed our Baby Girl into the world! What a wild and wonderful week it's been. We are so in love... The podcast resumes with some pre-recorded episodes as we finish our "Head to Toe" series. While the gallbladder helps with digestion and detoxification with its storage and release of bile, we can pause and consider what else besides the fatty...

Most people don't consider the health and function of their gall bladder until there's a sharp pain in the upper-right abdomen! What generally happens is sludge and stones form in the gall bladder that can cause a blockage of the bile duct leading to inflammation and infection - cholecystitis. At this point, surgical removal of the gall bladder (cholecystectomy) may be medically necessar...

The liver does so much more than just clear the body of harmful toxins ... but it's the toxicity from food, air, and water that interferes with normal healthy liver function to create a "sluggish" or fatty liver. It's important to know that there are other sources of toxins in the environment beyond our food, air, and water... The toxins we are discussing today are those that a...

The liver has been named very appropriately - It lives you! Of course all vital organs are essential to keep you vital, but the liver has many, many central roles. Some of the 500+ liver functions include... immune function blood clotting storage of amino acids storage of glycogen balancing of hormones bile production (fat digestion) processing blood cells/clearance of bilirubin and of course DETO...

The Pancreas is your power center. It is mainly responsible for transforming food into energy in your body. In the energy body, its role is transforming soul purpose into physical world reality. The Pancreas is at the core of the body's 3rd Chakra - the energy center associated with confidence, self-esteem, purpose, and clear movement forward. Imbalance with these energetic themes can be the...

How often have you paused to consider how amazing your pancreas is? It's one of those organs that's just a work horse, showing up each and every day to do its job and keep your body in balance. The pancreas plays a central role in two essential functions - DIGESTION and METABOLISM. In fact, your pancreas is kind of like two organs in one. It has an EXOCRINE portion which is responsible f...

You already know that digestive issues are far too common. You also know that your HEALTH and body's balance is dependent on clean, efficient, and harmonious digestive processes. Many digestive issues can simply be due to eating unhealthy, processed, chemically-ladened junk foods. However, there are many who seem to consume loads of ultra-processed foods just fine without suffering from acute...

You've heard the notion, "You are what you eat." The more precise statement would be "You are what you digest, absorb, and assimilate to regenerate your cells and modulate your epi-genome!" Food isn't medicine. Food is life. What transforms food into life is the miraculous alchemical process of digestion, absorption, and assimilation taking place in your gut tube. Thi...

Have you ever experienced a pit in your stomach? The feeling of "butterflies?" How about the heaviness of dread carried like a weight inside? Of course the stomach plays a huge role in digestion of food stuff - or at least the important beginning stages of the long digestive process. We talked all about optimizing the upper digestive processes including balancing hydrochloric acid levels...

We're finally talking digestion - a critical component to health in so many ways! In reality, digestion starts before we even encounter food. The thought of food in a grounded state of mind triggers salivation and release of enzymes in stomach, pancreas, and intestines. Of course we then sit down to eat, chew, and swallow before a bolus of food moves through the esophagus and into the stomach...

The lungs represent our ability to take in life, to breathe life force energy, the essential energetic substance required to maintain vitality. In this human experience of life, we have the opportunity to also take in and feel the full rainbow of emotions. Joy, sorrow, peace, compassion, anger, love, greed, grief, envy, anxiety, and absolutely everything in between... We are designed to fully feel...

When suffering with chronic lung conditions, it's not so common to consider food choices and nutritional status as important factors in prevention and healing. Air quality/pollution, smoking, and environmental toxin exposure are the much more traditional risk factors for lung conditions like lung cancers, COPD, and asthma. BUT, nutritional status is SO huge for so many reasons. Today we overv...

There is so much to be said about the brain-heart & mind-heart connections! Ancient medicine has always seen and understood the heart as our energetic center. Today, modern scientific research helps us visualize and comprehend the toroidal nature of our human energy field emanating from and converging into the heart space. Organizations such as the HeartMath Institute (check out episode #138 )...