Dr. Roshini Raj - Gut Renovation: Unlock the Age-Defying Power of the Microbiome to Remodel Your Health From the Inside Out

To my Dadyou are with me every step that I take.

And to my Mom, Kiren, Dilan, and Manish. Your love gave me the energy to bring this book to life.

Contents

A question I get asked all the time is Why did you decide to become a gastroenterologist? Strange as it may sound, I love looking inside my patients bodies, seeing problems, and fixing them on the spot. This is especially meaningful when Im dealing with a serious issue, like a cancerous colon polyp or a bleeding stomach ulcer. But even in situations that arent life-threatening, I find it fascinating to explore the inner workings of the human body and see how our amazing natural machinery functions.

In my practice, I treat both men and women, but because many women seek out a female gastroenterologist, the majority of my patients happen to be women. As a woman who has gone through puberty, pregnancy, and childbirth, and who hears menopause knocking on the door, I can personally relate to many of the symptoms my patients experience. I too have eaten something iffy and then spent the evening running to the bathroom. Like most women, I know what it feels like to be bloated, nauseated, constipated, and crampy. And thanks to giving birth to my two kids, I understand what its like to have painful hemorrhoids. (To be clear, Im not calling my children hemorrhoidsat least not to their faces.)

As a gastroenterologist and internist at NYU Langone Medical Center, I examine people literally from head to toe. I can see how theyre aging all over, including from the inside when I perform endoscopies or colonoscopies. Its not uncommon for me to see a fifty-year-old patient with the medical issues of a seventy-year-old, or vice versa. And appearances can vary greatly. I often have to do a double take as I reconcile the age of the person I read in their chart and the age they appear when I see them standing before me. Im always curious to find the reasons and behaviors that may be accelerating or slowing their aging process. I want to help those who are aging too fast, and learn from those who maintain youthful vigor and good health as they age. And lets face it, I have another motive. As a woman who just celebrated her fiftieth birthday you better believe Im very interested in gleaning the secrets to aging well, both internally and externally.

Every day, I see firsthand the struggles people face as the result of poor diet and lifestyle choices. Many people think the way they age or how long theyll live is out of their hands, but thats just not true. Genetic factors are responsible for only 25 to 30 percent of your expected longevity, which means you have a lot more control over how well or how poorly you age than you may think. This may sound intimidating, but it is good news! The key is managing your gut health.

Your gut health matters in ways you may not expect. The changes I recommend in Gut Renovation can lead to real improvements in digestive health, chronic health problems, cancer prevention, and mental outlook. A balanced microbiome is also the foundation for enhancing your immunity and protecting against the age-related chronic diseases that could lead to premature aging, years of poor health, and a shortened life span. In other words, with the right approach to your digestive health, you can age in slo-mo!

As much as Ive always loved being a gastroenterologist, the best part of the job has emerged in the last few years. An explosion of research has shown us the staggering power of the gut microbiomethat teeming community of bacteria, viruses, and yeasts residing in your gut and extending its influence throughout your body.

But how exactly does your microbiome function within your body? How can changing your microbiome help slow the aging process? What role does it play in your immunity? More importantly, how can you optimize your microbiome to promote your healthiest, most youthful self? Thats where this book comes into help you take this amazing science, apply it to your daily life, and achieve its maximum benefits to age well, look great, and live better.

In Gut Renovation, I present my game-changing program for improving your microbiome and boosting your digestion, your immunity, your mood, and your vitality. I combine my practical clinical experience with the latest microbiome research to provide clear, easy-to-grasp advice that will allow you to understandand make!the necessary changes to reset your biological clock. The key? Giving your microbiome a room-by-room makeover.

I know, it sounds wildbut hear me out. I often tell my patients to think of their bodies as a house. To stay safe and comfortable, a house needs constant maintenance and basic repairs. But to turn your house into the home of your dreams, it needs a full renovation. Youll tear out old, outdated fixtures, restore some rooms, expand others, and redecorate. The process might be a bit messy and take some investment of time and energy, but in the end, when your house has become a pleasurable place to inhabit for a long time, its worth it.

In Gut Renovation I distill everything Ive learned during my many years as a gastroenterologist and condense the strategies Ive developed for my patients to look and feel their best. I personally practice all of these approaches in my own life and have seen the beneficial changes that occur. With the right tool kit, we all can feel great, look forward to a dynamic future, and literally get better with age. Its never too late to correct your course and reset the biological aging processand the sooner you do it, the better. Thats why starting with this literal Gut Renovation now positions you for the best, brightest future.

The plan I lay out in Gut Renovation will help you take good care of your inner ecosystem, protect your cells from damage, and kick-start the cellular repair process. I explain the pivotal role your microbiome plays in every aspect of your health and how our modern diet and lifestyle is putting our gut balance in jeopardy.

As a physician, I must tell you that while most of the strategies you read here will be beneficial for everybody, its best to consult your doctor before making any major changes in your diet, exercise routines, or lifestyle.

In many ways, the timing of your renovation couldnt be better. One of the main effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic is that we all had to reckon with our health and mortality in new ways. Its made us aware of changes that needed to be made in our diets, our exercise routines, and stress management tactics. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that we make our health a priority. This is the time to build our resilience to disease and aging. We also need to deal with pandemic pounds, skyrocketing mental health issues, long-haul post-COVID symptoms, and the other unhealthy sequelae of time spent in quarantine conditions, all issues that doctors like myself are now seeing in our offices. Now really is the perfect time to reinvent, reinvigorate, and reset your aging clock.

But you wont be alone on this journey! Im here to guide you room by room through the remodel of your gut and your health. Well put you on the path toward a more vibrant future by changing the way you age on a cellular and microbiological level. The end result of your Gut Renovation will make you healthier and more youthful, and set you up to live a longer, happier life. Thats a pretty ambitious scope of work, I know, but Im confident we can get it done. Lets get to it!