Dr. Rangan Chatterjee

chronic stress that we've spent a lot of time talking about.

A lot of people don't appreciate that chronic stress affects the way your digestive system functions, right?

So even if you are eating the right food, if you're constantly stressed, you ain't absorbing the nutrients as well.

And then of course you've got

soil quality and how we know compared to 50 years ago, soil quality is different.

So maybe in broccoli, for example, we don't have the same level of nutrients as we had 50 years ago.

So I think there's scientific research, which helps inform us.

And then there's the actual

practical applications of it you know who are you are you someone who is low stress who eats really good food three times a day and is nutrient replete yeah or are you someone who perhaps is trying your best yeah in very challenging situations but is a bit deficient and therefore maybe might benefit from revolting myths in a mineral do you know what i mean exactly yeah that nuance

I think often gets lost online where people say it's either good or it's bad.

It's like, well, it kind of depends in what context.

Are you a fan of increasing plant diversity as a way of nourishing a healthy gut microbiome?

Yeah.

One of my favorite sections in the book was the section on midlife gut health.

And what was really interesting about it and very thought provoking was this idea that

Midlife gut health serves as both a mirror for our past and a compass for our future.

I've never heard it put like that before.

Can you talk a little bit about midlife gut health, why it's so important, why you wrote those beautiful words and also how it interacts with our immune system?

Yeah, I think there's gonna be many people listening, Jenna, who totally resonate with that.

And I think the point you're trying to make, I think is that you might have got away with certain things in your twenties and maybe your thirties, but you're probably not gonna be getting away with them in your forties.