What if your ability to heal depends on how well your cells produce energy?

Your mitochondria play important roles in immune function, inflammation, cellular repair, and brain and heart health. Research is uncovering connections between mitochondrial dysfunction and chronic diseases including cancer, ALS, MS, Parkinson's, and heart disease.

In this episode, you'll discover how mitochondria influence disease and recovery and fascinating research showing that even aging mitochondria can improve their function in response to lifestyle changes, like movement, sleep, blood sugar regulation, and nutrition.

Listen to learn practical ways to strengthen your mitochondrial health and create better conditions for your body to heal.

Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes:

https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical advice. Research on mitochondrial function and chronic disease is evolving, and supporting mitochondrial health is not a substitute for appropriate medical treatment. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, exercise, supplements, medications, or health regimen, especially if you have a serious illness. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk.

This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, Alzheimer's, MS, Parkinson's, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, mitochondrial health, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular energy, metabolism, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.

What if improving your gut health could change the way your immune system responds to disease?

Your gut does far more than digest food. Research is revealing powerful connections between the gut microbiome, inflammation, immune regulation, and chronic diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's, and multiple sclerosis. In one remarkable study, changing patients' gut bacteria even helped some people with advanced cancer respond to immunotherapy.

In this episode, you'll discover how gut bacteria influence immune function and why supporting a healthy microbiome may matter for your body's healing environment.

You'll also learn the Five R's of Gut Restoration and how to use food and simple lifestyle changes to improve your gut health and support your body's ability to heal.

Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes:

https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical advice. Research on the gut microbiome and chronic disease is evolving, and improving gut health is not a substitute for appropriate medical treatment. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, supplements, medications, or health regimen, particularly if you have a serious illness or are undergoing cancer treatment. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk.

This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, gut health, the gut microbiome, leaky gut, immune function, inflammation, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.

Does an Alzheimer's diagnosis really mean that memory loss and cognitive decline are inevitable?

Research is challenging long-held assumptions about Alzheimer's disease. Recent studies have documented improvements in memory and cognitive function among some people with early Alzheimer's using personalized and multifaceted lifestyle interventions.

In this episode, we'll examine what these studies actually found, why addressing factors beyond the brain itself may matter, and how to identify potential contributors to cognitive decline.

You'll learn which areas I'd investigate first after an Alzheimer's diagnosis and what practical changes may help support brain function and recovery.

Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes:

https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical advice. Improvements in cognitive function reported in clinical studies do not establish a cure for Alzheimer's disease, and results may vary depending on the individual and stage of disease. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before making changes to treatment, medications, or your health regimen. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk.

This podcast explores stories and science around Alzheimer's disease, dementia, cognitive decline, memory loss, brain health, neuroplasticity, insulin resistance, cancer, ALS, MS, Parkinson's, heart disease, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal illness, holistic health, lifestyle medicine, natural healing, remission, and quality of life, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.

Could your blood sugar be affecting your ability to heal—even if your bloodwork looks normal?

If you're facing cancer, Alzheimer's, dementia, MS, Parkinson's, heart disease, or another chronic illness, blood sugar and insulin resistance may matter more than you realize. Research is revealing connections between metabolic dysfunction, inflammation, immune function, brain health, and even cancer outcomes. And surprisingly, insulin resistance can develop long before blood sugar levels become abnormal.

In this episode, you'll discover why blood sugar and insulin are important to healing, which blood tests to review—including fasting glucose, A1C, and fasting insulin—and how to recognize metabolic problems that standard bloodwork may miss.

You'll also learn practical ways to improve blood sugar regulation through simple dietary changes, meal order, movement, sleep, and stress management.

Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes:

https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical advice. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet, medications, treatment, or health regimen, particularly if you have a serious illness or take blood sugar-lowering medications. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk.

This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, Alzheimer's, MS, Parkinson's, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, blood sugar, insulin resistance, metabolic health, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.

What if something that happened years—or even decades—ago is still creating a physiological response in your body today?

Trauma can trigger a threat response that can affect the nervous system, stress physiology, inflammation, and immune signaling years after the event occured, and research suggests that addressing stressful experiences can sometimes produce measurable changes in physical health. In this episode, we explore the connection between trauma and the body, including fascinating research on PTSD, adverse childhood experiences, inflammation, and chronic disease.

You’ll learn how to recognize experiences that may still carry an emotional or physical “charge,” what processing trauma actually means, and several approaches that can help—from journaling and trauma-focused therapy to EMDR, mindfulness, breathwork, and body-based techniques.

Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes:

https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical or mental health advice. Trauma is not presented as the sole cause of serious or chronic illness, and emotional healing is not a substitute for appropriate medical care. If you have significant trauma or PTSD, consider working with a qualified trauma-informed mental health professional. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before making changes to your treatment or health regimen.

This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, MS, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, trauma, emotional healing, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.

What if exercise does more than keep you strong during illness—what if it actually changes your body's ability to heal?

In this episode, we look at remarkable research showing what can happen when movement becomes part of a healing plan. You’ll learn what happens inside your body when you move, from changes in glucose metabolism and immune signaling to BDNF, neuroplasticity, cardiovascular function, and the chemical messengers released by working muscles.

And if traditional exercise feels impossible right now, this episode is still for you. We’ll talk about how to find the right dose of movement for the body you have today—whether that means resistance training, a 10-minute walk, five minutes at a time, physical therapy, or chair-based movement—and gradually give your body opportunities to adapt.

Listen to discover why movement may be one of the most powerful healing signals you can give your body—and how to start wherever you are.

Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes:

https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical advice. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before beginning or changing an exercise program, particularly if you have a serious illness, cardiovascular disease, bone involvement, neurological limitations, or significant deconditioning. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk.

This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, MS, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.

If you’ve been treating symptoms but want to understand what may actually be driving your illness, your health history and bloodwork can contain important clues.

In this episode, we’re going beyond the idea of one single “root cause” and building a practical investigation map for chronic illness. You’ll learn how to look for patterns involving nutrition and metabolism, infections, gut health, environmental exposures, medications, hormones, stress, and more.

Then we’ll get extremely practical: I’ll walk you through the bloodwork I’d want to see when investigating chronic illness, including CBC, CMP, glucose, A1C, insulin, iron, vitamin D, thyroid and inflammation markers—and explain what those results can tell you.

You’ll also learn why “normal” doesn’t always tell the whole story, how to spot trends and patterns in your existing labs, and what to bring to your doctor or practitioner so you can ask better questions.

Start by pulling up your latest bloodwork, and listen along as we begin looking for the clues your body may already be giving you.

Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes:

https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Blood tests should be interpreted in the context of your medical history, symptoms, medications, and individual circumstances. Always work with a qualified healthcare professional when investigating chronic illness or making changes to your treatment or health regimen.

This podcast explores science and stories related to cancer, MS, ALS, dementia, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal diagnoses, root causes, bloodwork, functional medicine, integrative medicine, holistic health, lifestyle medicine, mind-body healing, and remission, offering grounded hope and practical tools for resilience and renewal.

If you’ve been sick for years and are afraid you waited too long to start trying to heal, this episode is for you.

Chronic illness can leave you looking backward—wishing you had changed your nutrition sooner, managed stress differently, found another treatment, or known then what you know now. But having a disease for a long time does not necessarily mean your biology has stopped responding to change.

In this episode, we explore what happened when one man dramatically changed course after 13 years of severe heart disease, along with extraordinary recovery stories involving advanced cancer, organ failure, and hospice. We’ll also look at research showing that meaningful biological and functional change can occur even after disease has been established for years.

Most importantly, you’ll learn how to stop measuring your possibilities by what you didn't do five years ago and begin asking a much more useful question: What can I change now?

Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes:

https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not offer medical advice. Individual outcomes vary, and the extraordinary recovery stories discussed in this episode should not be interpreted as evidence that similar outcomes can be expected. Consult your licensed healthcare provider before making changes to your treatment or health regimen. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk.

This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, MS, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.