Sasha

“Fibermaxxing” — the social media trend around intentionally increasing your fiber intake — is gaining traction as people begin to pay more attention to gut health, blood sugar, cholesterol, and longevity. Unlike plenty of other wellness trends, this one has a strong foundation—with a couple of important caveats.

While tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease often get the most attention, they're not the only concern. In Missouri, diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, and ehrlichiosis are also important risks to be aware of. Luckily, a few simple habits can go a long way toward protecting your health while you enjoy spending time in nature.

Much like the smallest parts of an ecosystem can affect what happens at the broadest level, your gut bacteria’s influence extends to your immune system, your brain and mental health, your skin, your general inflammation levels, and more. A big part of maintaining this balance is prioritizing the three “biotics”: probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics.

Neuroplasticity is your brain's ability to form new neural connections, learn, and adapt throughout life. The more you challenge your brain in new ways, the more opportunities it has to build and strengthen those pathways. Here are five ways to do this without adding extra time to your day.

When you hear “burnout,” what do you think of? Do you imagine total exhaustion? Emotional collapse? A nervous breakdown? Burnout can certainly look like any of those things. But the reality, especially nowadays, is that burnout can present more quietly and more subtly—and we often ignore the signs.

In the twenty-first century, we are living with physical and mental toxins that did not exist centuries or even decades ago—from our food to our environment to the products we use every day to the ever-present news and media. Our natural detox pathways are flooded and can’t keep up. But juice cleanses aren't enough—here's how to actually detox your life effectively and sustainably.

Many women are familiar with the experience of chasing symptoms that never seem fully explained. Increasingly, clinicians are recognizing that Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) may be an overlooked contributor to complex patterns of symptoms, particularly in women. At the center of this conversation is a molecule most people associate only with allergies: histamine.

Energy is not just a matter of getting enough sleep or regulating caffeine levels. Those things are very important — but let's go a step deeper and talk about what energy is at its core. According to Dr. Henri Roca, Concierge Primary Care Physician and Functional Medicine Specialist at PALM Health, “Low energy and fatigue are signals. And very often, those signals can lead us to investigate the health and function of your mitochondria.”

We’ve been told for years that metabolism slows with age, or that midlife weight gain and energy decline is inevitable. But that's not totally true: if you're feeling those effects, it's likely that your metabolism isn’t actually bad or broken. It’s just under-muscled.