"The gut-brain connection is bidirectional, which means the gut affects the brain and the brain affects the gut."
Dr. Mary Pardee, ND
EFR 467: The Link Between Your Gut and Brain and the Mental-Emotional Component to Chronic Disease with Dr. Mary Pardee, ND
Dr. Mary Pardee is a naturopathic and functional medicine doctor specializing in mental health and gut health and, by extension, the gut-brain connection. She has a special interest in trauma and how it affects physical health.
She is the founder of Modrn Med, a wellness consulting company that aims to enhance clients' cognitive function, gut health, and energy levels. Through Modrn Med, Dr. Pardee offers at-home lab testing and virtual consults to clients around the world.
Dr. Pardee is also the co-founder of Authentic Self, “a method, program, and experience to create your most desirable life.” Her approach to cultivating health and wellness is in maximizing the “distribution of your most finite psychic resources; time, energy and attention” with the aim of achieving congruence “with all aspects of the ‘self’—biological, psychological, and energetic or spiritual”.
Listen in as Dr. Pardee shares what drew her to study the gut microbiome and explains the crucial link between gut health and mental health, also known as the gut-brain axis (GBA). She gives some key factors to pay attention to when doing a mental or gut health “scan” on yourself and how to fill in your gaps via lifestyle and nutrition tweaks.
Finally, she explains what she is most looking forward to in the realm of holistic health and wellness in the new normal and her suggestions for how other naturopathic specialists can reach more people at a time when they are most needed.
Follow Mary @dr.marypardee
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Key Highlights
Dr. Pardee shares what she finds so appealing about the study of the gut microbiome.
What are some key areas to focus on when doing a mental health or gut health “scan” on yourself?
Do adaptogens and functional mushrooms aid in our gut health in addition to brain health?
What is Dr. Pardee most excited about right now in terms of holistic health and wellness?
Powerful Quotes by Dr. Mary Pardee
A lot of what we do as doctors is rapport building. You can tell how much better a patient is going to get based on the rapport the doctor has with the patient.
How much joy do you have in your life? If you don’t feel like there’s a reason you’re waking up in the morning—you don’t have a purpose or strong relationships—then your gut is not going to function because you’re going to be in a place of fight or flight.
99% of chronic issues have some sort of mental-emotional component to them.