Chris Kresser Interview on Unconventional Medicine

In this episode of The Dr. Hedberg Show, I interview Chris Kresser about his new book "Unconventional Medicine" as well as "The Paleo Cure."  We discussed many topics including how to reform our healthcare system, functional medicine, gut health, SIBO, social isolation, diet, psychoneuroimmunolgy, social media, ancestral diets, and eating seasonally.  I think you'll find many excellent takeaways from this interview whether you're a healthcare practitioner or someone interested in health. Dr. Hedberg: Well, welcome, everyone, to the "Dr. Hedberg Show." This is Dr. Hedberg, and I'm really excited today to have Chris Kresser on the show, been following his work for a long time. And Chris is the CEO of the Kresser Institute, he is a licensed acupuncturist and he's also the co-director of the California Center for Functional Medicine. And chriskresser.com most of you who do any kind of reading on the internet have most assuredly come across Chris's website for some excellent health information there. And he recently published a book called "Unconventional Medicine" as well as "The Paleo Cure" and this was a New York Times best-selling book. And Chris was also named one of the 100 Most Influential people in Health and Fitness by greatist.com. So Chris, welcome to the show.   Dr. Kresser: Thanks, Nick. It's a pleasure to be here. Dr. Hedberg: Great. So why don't we jump in and just talk a little bit about conventional health care because obviously there are some big issues there with conventional medicine. And so what are the areas that you see in conventional medicine that really need to really be changed and really worked on to get people in this country you know, much healthier. Dr. Kresser: Yeah, I think the biggest issue with our current system is that it's not set up to address chronic disease. It was...the conventional medical system really came out of a time and a place where acute challenges were the biggest issues that we face. So if you look at the turn of the 20th century top three causes of death were all acute infectious diseases: typhoid, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. And you know, conventional medicine today is remarkably effective for those kinds of problems. If you...I always say if I get hit by a bus, I definitely wanna be taken to the hospital. You know, we have pretty amazing medical technologies and interventions that allow us to even reattach severed limbs. You know, we're starting to maybe be able to restore sight to the blind. And you know, if I get an infection, I'm grateful that I can, if necessary, take antibiotics that might save my life. So there have been some incredible developments in conventional medicine that have extended our lifespan and, you know, basically eliminated certain causes of death that were the scourge of humanity for many years. Unfortunately, that's not the biggest problem today. Today we are suffering from an epidemic of chronic disease, in fact, seven of 10 deaths are caused by chronic diseases. Things like cardiovascular disease and lung disease and cancer and now Alzheimer's and dementia at a growing rate. And our conventional medical system was really never set out to deal with those conditions because they weren't as big of an issue at the time when the medical system developed. So now we have this huge burden of chronic disease and the conventional health care system really, its main approach is to prescribe medication. And these medications though they might be somewhat helpful in addressing the s...