Drranamd

Drranamd Integrative and Functional Medicine Physician & Wellness Website. Working to educate people on best practices to optimize health.

Learn how to optimize your lifestyle, and supplements, and when to seek care from a functional medicine doctor like myself.

06/02/2026

“My guacamole recipe ALWAYS gets people asking:

Can I have your recipe?? ❤️

3 SECRETS to making the perfect guac:
✨ Use enough LIMES....this is where you can fall short
✨ Use a hint of fresh CRUSHED garlic - just enough so it’s in the background
✨ Use finely chopped cilantro...my secret ingredient

RECIPE:
3 large avocados
2 large or 3 small limes squeezed
1 medium clove garlic CRUSHED
10-15 sprigs finely chopped cilantro
Salt to taste
Optional cayenne pepper to taste

Save this next time you want to WOW your guests!

High impact with fiber, vitamin C, anti-inflammatory garlic and the goodness of greens

Serve with fresh cut veggies 🥕

If you’re going for a crunchy chip - swap out those corn chips for cassava chips 😉

”

06/01/2026

“Did you know that fish are one of the highest sources of MERCURY exposure?? 🤢

Sadly, our waters are so polluted now....so it’s best to stick with SMALLER fish with smaller mouths.

Stick with the SMASH fish 🐠:

Salmon (only WILD)
Mackerel
Anchoves
Sarcines
Herring

And when you have fish....try this HACK:

Sprinkle a few crushed Brazil nuts on top! 🌰

Why??? Brazil nuts are one of the highest sources of SELENIUM, and selenium can help bind or chelate any mercury you might be exposed to while eating fish. 😉

And not to mention.....it’s a tasty little cruchy addition to your fish 😋

And try to limit fish to only 1-2 times per week....more frequent intake of even wild salmon can increase heavy metal exposure.

“

05/29/2026

“Welcome back to my week long series called Top 5 Dirty Foods to Avoid Like the Plague. ❌❌

We’ve made it to my number one dirty food that I avoid like the plague! Drum roll please...

It’s STRAWBERRIES. Similar to salmon, I pretty much never eat this food. If it’s on a salad or in a dish at a restaurant, I ask for a swap or just pick something else.

Year after year, strawberries rank at or near the top of the DIRTY DOZEN list. ❌

Strawberries grow low to the ground, have a soft, porous surface, and are extremely vulnerable to pests and mold. 🤢

So farmers often have to spray them more frequently, compared to fruits like blueberries that have a natural protective skin. In some cases, they’re treated multiple times throughout the growing process. ❌

It’s nearly impossible to wash off the pesticides.

And it’s not like we eat them once in a while...People eat strawberries regularly—especially kids. 🧒

Personally, I love a truly ripe strawberry, but when organic ones are out of season, I simply avoid them 100% of the time.

So there you have it! My Top 5 Dirty Food to Avoid Like the Plague!

Don’t get me wrong - there are definitely others. I tell my patients to have a copy of the ewg.org Dirty Dozen list on hand for shopping.

Save these posts and share them with anyone you know who eats these foods in conventional form regularly. 👍

Remember - you are protecting your gut to protect your brain, your immune system and so much more! 👍



“

05/28/2026

“Welcome back to my week long series called Top 5 Dirty Foods to Avoid Like the Plague. ❌❌

Counting down...number 2 on my list is.....FARMED SALMON. 🍣

This food I reallly do like the. I generally have an 85/15 rule....I try to eat super clean at home, but when eating out, I allow for some micro exposures of foods I listed earlier this week.

But when it comes to farmed salmon...I pretty much never eat it and here’s why.

Not only due pesticides show up but salmon bred in farms are treated with antibiotics and antiparasitics as well. ❌

They are fed a diet that sadly is laiden with what are known as persistent organic pollutants or POPS. These are things like dioxin, PCBs, and flame retardants that are known to disrupt your hormones, immune system and long term health. 🤢

Since farmed salmon don’t eat the same diet as wild salmon, they are given color additives which gives them the pink/orange color consumers expect.

And farmed salmon contains only a fraction of anti-inflammatory omega 3 fats compared to wild salmon.

Wild salmon tends to have lower POPs, is free from antibiotics and pesticides and is not treated with color additives. 👍

I order my salmon from Vital Choice and order one of my favorite types of wild salmon which happens to be Coho salmon. I find that Coho has a taste and texture similar to the farmed salmon people are used to. 🍣

And it comes flash frozen on dry ice - similar to how the grocery stores receive fish, and it comes out fresh tasting every time!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my number 1 food to avoid! 💪



“

05/27/2026

“Welcome back to my week long series called Top 5 Dirty Foods to Avoid Like the Plague. ❌❌

Counting down...number 3 on my list is....SPINACH 🥬

Spinach is one of the healthiest greens you can eat, but vonventional spinach is often one of the highest in pesticide residues. 🤢

The environmental working group ranks it near the top pretty consistently.

Spinach has a large surface area and is often heavily treated—which means residues can stick to the leaves.

And it is not typically a food people eat only every once in a while.

People put spinach in smoothies, salads, eggs—sometimes every single day.

Remember pesticides are desinged to disrupt insects and microbes. 🦠

And your gut is made of trillions microbes that function for you like a separate organ system. 💪

If spinach is a staple for you, this is one of the top foods to prioritize organic. 👍

Stay tuned tomorrow for my number 2 food to avoid! 👍

”

05/26/2026

“Welcome back to my week long series called Top 5 Dirty Foods to Avoid Like the Plague! ❌❌

Counting down...number 4 on my list is....coffee. ☕️

People are surprised to hear that.

But Coffee is one of the most heavily chemically treated crops in the world—with pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides used during growing and processing. 🤢

And here’s the key:...most people drink coffee every single day - which is why I think this one is so important to highlight.

Many of us love our little daily pitstop to the local Starbucks, but a cup of Starbucks coffee is a great way to send insults to your microbiome starting from the getgo after waking up!

These chemicals are designed to affect biological systems—and your gut microbiome is a biological system. 🦠

Small exposures add up over time...This isn’t about fear—it’s about where small changes create the biggest impact. 👍

If you’re going to upgrade one thing in your diet—coffee is a smart place to start. 👍

And another pro tip....coffee is one of highest MOLD laden foods which can also be toxic to your gut, immune and nervous systems. I buy organic coffee that is also mold free.

PURITY coffee is my favorite brand and the what I use to start my day!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my number 3 food to avoid! 👍

”

05/25/2026

“Welcome to my week long series called Top 5 Dirty Foods to Avoid Like the Plague! ❌❌

Counting down...number 5 on my list is KALE. It almost always ranks in the top 3 on the dirty dozen list from the Environmental Working Group. 🥬

They put out their Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 list every year, and consistently kale is typically in the top 3. 🤢

These chemicals are desinged to disrupt insects and microbes. 🦠

But remember...your gut is made of trillions (with a T) microbes that function for you like a separate organ system. 💪

So regular exposure—especially from foods you eat often like kale—can potentially shift your microbiome in the wrong direction. ❌

So source really matters. If you’re eating kale regularly, this is one of the top foods to prioritize organic. 👍

Kale truly is a superfood since it is in the cruciferous family of veggies that are so crucial for boosting your detox pathways, lowering inflammation, protecting you from cancer and so much more. 👍

Use organic kale in salads and smoothies or saute it as a side dish.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my number 4 food to avoid. 👍

”

05/22/2026

“Most people think eating healthy is just about carbs, fats, and protein.

But most people fail to recognize some of the TOXINS hiding in your food that are affecting your gut. ❌

Pesticides are one of the top toxins that can be introduced by your food, and they are actually designed to target bacterial pathways—not human cells. ❌

Think about it - they are designed to kill bugs.

And let’s not ignore the fact that pesticides are considered neurotoxins, are toxic to metabolic pathways, hormones and your immune system, and have been definitively linked to things like Parkinson’s Disease. 😮

When you’re exposed to these chemicals, they don’t just pass through you.

They can shift your microbiome—reducing beneficial bacteria and allowing less favorable ones to grow. 🦠

That imbalance—what we call DYSBIOSIS—can affect the gut lining, immune signaling, and inflammation.....and in turn affect your brain of course. 🧠

So you can be eating a ‘perfect’ diet on paper…and still be disrupting your microbiome and gut-brain signaling every single day.

Next week, I’m going to focus on a series called my Top 5 Dirty Foods to Avoid Like the Plague.

Stay tuned for more insights! 👍

”

05/20/2026

“So what are the things that are well known to induce gut permeability? 🤔

#1 ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS takes the number one spot. These foods are riddled with gluten, refined starches and sugar which all damage the gut lining. ❌

#2 ALCOHOL is also well know to induce gut permeability. Alcohol is a toxin and it’s just not good for you unfortunately. ❌

#3 STRESS is very well known to induce gut permeability. When cortisol goes up, the tight junctions break down. ❌

#4 POOR SLEEP is also well known to induce more gut permeability. ❌
During sleep so many vital things are happening in the body...maintaining a health gut lining is one of them.

Other known causes include :

❌ Use of some medications like ibuprofen and similar medications as well as acid blocking drugs

❌ Infections and dysbiosis

So how do you know if you have intestinal permeability? 🤔

There are no well validated tests. There are some things done in a research setting.

Some commercially available tests are sometimes done by integrative and functional medicine docs, but truthfully leaky gut is usually just assumed if you seem to check many of the boxes ✅

It’s pretty much assumed in:
🔥 Autoimmune Diseases
🔥 Neurodegenerative Diseases
🔥 Cancer

Stay tuned tomorrow - I’ll review what to actually do to keep you gut lining less permeable.

intestinalpermeability functionalmedicine
“

05/19/2026

“Harvard researcher Dr. Alessio Fasano has been a pioneer in the research on intestinal permeability. 😊

And he established over a decade ago that gluten has been shown to induce permeability by opening the tight junctions in EVERYONE! 😮🌾

Humans lack the enzymes to break gluten down, but some people are more resilient than others and can take the hit and repair their intestinal lining.

These cells are the fastest cells to turnover in the body - typically in 3-7 days. ✅

For this reason, I typically advise all my patients on the AUTOIMMUNE SPECTRUM as well as those with CHRONIC NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES to maintain a gluten free diet. ❌🌾

Gluten is known as the great masquerador and more often than not, when one is sensitive to it, the symptoms are NOT gastrointestinal surprisingly! 😮

Fatigue, migraines, psychiatric illness, neuropathy, joint pain, skin rashes and chronic illnesses like MS, Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease are not infrequently made worse by gluten. 👎🏻

In fact, of all body systems it affects, it seems to have a particular affinity for the NERVOUS SYSTEM. 😟

So - if you have a neurological condition, chronic fatigue or autoimmune illness, I would suggest kicking gluten to the curb. ❌

Stay tuned tomorrow - I’ll fill you in on what other things can cause gut permeabiltity! ✅

”

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