The Convergence of the Microbiome, Nature, and Health
I trace the origins of this book all the way back to my grandparents’ farm in northern Louisiana. My grandmother baked pie from blueberries we picked by hand in the yard. My grandfather prided himself on his vegetable gardens. He and I discussed organic gardening and how you could work with nature, not against it, to get healthier food. The dark, rich soil full of microbes, the insects, the plants, the sun, and the rain all seemed to work together in perfect harmony.
Not long into my premedical tract at the University of Georgia, I found myself drawn to natural treatments for disease. I was fascinated to learn that over 75 percent of our modern-day pharmaceuticals originally came from plants, animals, or microorganisms. Nature offers treatments to our most terrifying ailments, including cancer.
Intrigued, I set about studying medicinal plants with the hopes of preserving cultural knowledge, conserving ecosystems, and finding new treatments for disease. I earned my master of science in ethnopharmacology researching ancient rainforest remedies in the jungles of Panama with medicine men and women. I worked in laboratories trying to find the next new pharmaceutical drug from nature.
My background in plant medicine and pharmacy (and a friendship with the owners’ daughter) led me to Metametrix Clinical Laboratory, where I consulted with physicians about their patients’ laboratory tests. These cutting-edge assessments could tell if a person had healthy levels of vitamins, minerals, and hormones; whether they had food sensitivities; or if their gut microbiome was out of balance. With these tests we could identify root causes of disease that, once corrected, could change lives forever.
We were no longer bound to “prescription pad medicine,” as world-renown integrative and functional medicine leader
Dr. Sidney Baker calls it. This seeks primarily to label a disease with a diagnosis and treat the symptoms with a prescription. Instead, we were looking for and fixing the underlying causes of disease. I met physicians who were curing the incurable. They looked for systems in the body that were broken, removed the bad stuff, replaced the good stuff, and turned around serious health conditions.
I wasn’t the only one interested in a better kind of medicine. There was a movement happening in our country that is still happening to this day. People want better health and they want it without side effects. They don’t want to take a handful of prescription medications every day. Evidence of this movement is in the nutritional supplement industry. Driven solely by consumer demand, this industry was worth at least $6 billion in 1996 and has grown to over $18 billion. Power to the people.
The fuel for this movement is knowledge.
I like to think that the information in this book contributes in a small way to the growing demand for better health alternatives across the globe. This book will help you understand and address the microbiome, which can be a major underlying cause of illness. As you read this book you will get answers, understanding, action steps, a lot of scientific evidence, and, hopefully, a little entertainment. I want to ignite your wonder about the magnificent microbiome and give you treatment ideas to restore your microbial health without unwanted side effects.
It’s an exciting time for knowledge, technology, and a new standard for optimum wellness. Thank you for picking up this book and taking a deeper look.