Today on the podcast:
Dr. Kozlowski is an entrepreneurial Functional Medicine doctor who trained at the centers of Drs. Mark Hyman, Deepak Chopra, and Susan Blum.
He began applying Functional Medicine principles while working with under-served populations in Chicago during his family medicine residency.
Dr. Kozlowski uses a broad array of tools to find the source of the body’s dysfunction. He takes the time to listen to his patients and plots their history on a timeline, considering what makes them unique and co-creating with them an individualized care plan.
His recently published book Unfunc Your Gut encapsulates his collaborative, patient-first healthcare approach—in true research-based, conversational style, it offers a blend of medical insight and the experiential wisdom of his own healing journey through addiction recovery.
Episode Outline
- 04:37 Dr. Kozlowski’s journey and what exactly is “functional medicine”
- 09:50 Who Dr. Kozlowski wrote his book Unfunc Your Gut for
- 13:16 The most important lifestyle and diet changes you can make to heal your gut once and for all
- 15:34 How to do an food elimination diet correctly – the 21 day protocols and tracking journal
- 22:54 Food sensitivities and why they are so common
- 25:34 Leaky gut causes and how to fix it
- 32:25 How a mental, emotional, and spiritual connection to the food you eat influences your health
- 45:14 What Dr. Kozlowski knows now that he wishes he knew then
Key Points
- Healing your gut starts with food — specifically identifying whether or not you have food sensitivities. When your body reacts to food, there is either an allergy, celiac disease, or a sensitivity. Sensitivities are the most dangerous because we often don’t feel the negative effects of a certain food until much later when we start to exhibit chronic symptoms. The best way to deal with sensitivities is by doing a 21-day elimination diet where you gradually cut out offending foods and add them back in one-by-one using a tracking journal.
- To ensure your gut is healed for the long-term, once you’ve identified your food sensitivities, the next factor to work on is your digestion. Your stomach releases hydrochloric acid when food is dropped into it. This helps digest protein, extract vitamins and minerals from food, absorb nutrients, and kill bad bacteria. Check to see if you have adequate stomach acid by doing the baking soda test and seeing if you burp within five minutes. Supplement with capsules of hydrochloric acid (take before eating protein) then troubleshoot the cause for low stomach acid.
- Mental, emotional, and spiritual health is the key to gut health as the gut and the brain is connected. Today, many of us live every day like we’re running from bears. We’re constantly in sympathetic overdrive. No matter how great your diet and supplementation is, if your mental, emotional, and spiritual health is lacking, so too will your gut health. Whether through exercise, meditation, journaling, or therapy, find what works best for you as this is the biggest component to dial in if you want to maximize your gut health. Everything else is easy.
Powerful Quotes by Dr. Kozlowski
- “Functional medicine” is all about root cause and why someone’s sick — not treating the symptoms but treating the underlying cause.
- Our most important job as practitioners is education.
- The gut’s most important job is to decide what comes into the body and what stays out.
- Your mental, emotional, and spiritual health is the key to your gut health — and that is because your gut and your brain is connected.
- Trauma is anything less than nurturing.
Guest Info
