I got the chance to ask Kiran Krishnan, renowned microbiologist and gut health expert, one simple question:

What excites you most about new gut-brain research?

Check out his answer or click on the image below.

Tryptophan, that essential amino acid we all joke about at Thanksgiving, has three main metabolic pathways. When you’re stressed or your gut is out of balance, instead of producing serotonin (your “feel-good” neurotransmitter) and melatonin (your sleep hormone), tryptophan gets pushed into the kynurenine pathway. YIKES! That pathway cranks up immune activity and inflammation, and can even become neurotoxic.

Translation: as inflammation rises, serotonin and melatonin drop.

So it begs the question, how do we keep tryptophan moving in the right direction? The answer: balance your gut buddies, get the right nutrient cofactors, lower stress, and protect your circadian rhythm. Easier said than done, I know, so here are some practical ways to get started:

1. Test your genes and microbiome to discover which cofactors and nutrients your body specifically requires.

2. Lower stress and inflammation with anti-inflammatory foods, stabilizing blood sugar, detoxing, and fasting. 

3. Prioritize restorative sleep. I recommend magnesium for Deep Sleep/REM or BrainTap for sleep, brain support and nervous system support.

4. Ferment your own yogurt with Lactobacillus reuteri, a strain linked to better serotonin signaling. Feed those probiotics what they like to eat, like the prebiotic fibers from the shirataki noodles in my Sesame Noodle Salad.

Meet Monique. When she first came to me, she was taking melatonin to sleep, a prescription for mood stabilization, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, and weight-loss medication just to get by. Like many of my clients, she was doing “all the right things” but still struggling to feel like herself and wanted to optimize her health.

After completing my Tier 3 Back to Best program, everything shifted. Her hormone doctor had to lower her prescription dose (Yes!), she no longer relied on melatonin or mood-stabilizing medication, and she finally found a sustainable way to manage her weight. How? By addressing the true root causes, through genetics, food sensitivities, microbiome testing, toxin load, and fungal balance, rather than chasing symptoms.

For Monique, the key was removing high levels of Ochratoxin A mold, resolving candida overgrowth and parasites, reducing heavy metals, and repairing her gut barrier. The outcome speaks for itself: mold levels cleared, mood balanced, and her neurotransmitter panel now lights up in the green zone. (See the pre- and post results from her Organic Acids Test.) These are the kinds of results that happen when we treat the whole system, not just isolated symptoms. 

If you thrive with hands-on guidance or in a supportive group, Tier 2 and Tier 3 Nutritional Counseling Programs are designed to walk you through the same four-step process, so your gut-brain pathway starts working for you, not against you.

See Monique's and more client testimonials HERE.