The Empowering Neurologist Podcast

Rewiring Connection: How Friendship Shapes the Brain and Heals the Mind with Barnet Bain | E214

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). 3x4 Genetics - https://3x4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== Loneliness is no longer a private struggle, it’s a public-health issue that we’ve discussed quite a bit in my recent books. Research increasingly links social isolation to cognitive decline, depression, cardiovascular disease, and shortened lifespan. Yet despite these findings, we rarely explore how to build and sustain meaningful connection in a modern world designed for distraction. That’s why I invited Barnet Bain to join me on The Empowering Neurologist podcast. Barnet is a filmmaker, author, and educator whose work bridges psychology, spirituality, and lived human experience. You may recognize his work from films such as What Dreams May Come or Milton’s Secret, but his newest contribution may be his most relevant yet. His book, How to Be a Friend (In an Unfriendly World), is not about social performance or personality traits. It’s about safety, presence, listening, and emotional responsibility, qualities that directly influence nervous-system regulation and mental health. What makes this work especially important is that it reframes friendship as a skill set rather than a personality trait. Bain shows how fear, shame, unresolved trauma, and cultural conditioning quietly erode our relationships, and how conscious awareness can restore them. From a neurological perspective, this matters deeply. The brain is a social organ. Connection shapes stress responses, inflammation, cognition, and emotional regulation. Friendship isn’t a luxury, it’s foundational. This conversation isn’t about having more friends. It’s about being a better one. To others. And to yourself. In a world that feels increasingly fast, cold, and fragmented, this is a conversation worth having. ==== 00:00 Intro 02:58 Why Friendship Matters for Health and Resilience 06:24 From Columbia to the Practice of Presence 10:41 Friendship as Non-Transactional Love 14:20 The Childhood Stories That Shape the Self 21:39 Ad: Optoceutics 23:39 Projection, Parenting, and Conditional Love 30:08 Friendship as a Crucible for Self-Awareness 35:42 Why Connection Feels Harder in Modern Life 39:03 Safety, Self-Knowledge, and the Ground of Friendship 41:34 Ad: 3X4 Genetics 44:34 Boundaries, Values, and the Meaning of Honor 49:16 Friendship, Self-Forgiveness, and Inner Change 56:25 Presence as the Greatest Gift 58:34 Why Feeling Is Harder Than Doing ==== Barnet Bain is a Canadian filmmaker, author, and educator. His film credits include “Milton’s Secret” (director, writer), Oscar winner “What Dreams May Come” (producer), Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding TV Movie “Homeless to Harvard” (executive producer), “The Celestine Prophecy” (writer, producer), and “Jesus,” translated into more than 2,245 languages and often cited as the most widely seen film in history by The New York Times. ___________________________ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidperlmutter/ Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRl_UAXxbHyOOjklnA0dxQ/?sub_confirmation=1

You’ve Been Pooping All Wrong (And It’s Affecting Your Brain) with Dr. Trischa Pasricha | E213

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). 3x4 Genetics - https://3x4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== On this episode of The Empowering Neurologist, I spend time with Dr. Trisha Pasricha, gastroenterologist and author of the provocative and important new book, You’ve Been Pooping All Wrong. Yes, the title makes you smile, but the science inside should make all of us pay attention. Dr. Pasricha is part of a new generation of neurogastroenterologists exploring one of the most fascinating frontiers in medicine: the deep, bidirectional communication between the brain and the gut. Raised as the daughter of renowned gastroenterologist Dr. Pankaj “Jay” Pasricha and trained at Johns Hopkins, she brings both personal insight and rigorous science to a topic that too often lives in the shadows. What makes this book so important is that it dismantles myths we’ve carried since childhood. For example, at one point in the book she describes how students taking an oral exam nearly doubled their intestinal permeability, simply from psychological stress. That single experiment powerfully illustrates how the brain can alter gut biology in real time. And in another unforgettable section, she shares her early research showing that when subjects lied, their stomach’s electrical rhythm shifted into chaos, an arrhythmic pattern detectable on electrogastrogram. The stomach as a lie detector! That’s not just fascinating, it underscores how emotionally and neurologically integrated our digestive system truly is. ==== 00:00 Intro 03:05 Why We Need to Talk About Pooping 07:17 The Stigma Around Bowel Symptoms 09:31 Why Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer Is Rising 12:11 Should Screening Start Earlier? 14:59 Colonoscopy vs. Stool and Blood Tests 18:34 Ad: Optoceutics 20:35 Why Colonoscopy Still Matters Most 31:00 What “Leaky Gut” Really Means 34:42 What Worsens Intestinal Permeability 36:10 Ad: 3X4 Genetics 38:09 Gut Permeability, Inflammation, and Brain Disease 48:45 Could Fecal Transplants Help Parkinson’s? 56:52 The Different Causes of Constipation 1:02:23 The Myth of One Bowel Movement a Day 1:05:42 Final Takeaways on Gut and Brain Health ===== Trisha Pasricha, MD, MPH is an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the “Ask A Doctor” columnist for The Washington Post where she translates complex medical topics into must-read insights—with a touch of humor—for millions each week. A graduate of Harvard College, Dr. Pasricha earned her medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her training includes an internal medicine residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and gastroenterology and motility fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital. Currently, Dr. Pasricha serves as director of the Institute for Gut-Brain Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, leading an NIH-funded research laboratory at the forefront of gut-brain science. Her work has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Network Open, and Nature Reviews. ___________________________ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidperlmutter/ Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRl_UAXxbHyOOjklnA0dxQ/?sub_confirmation=1

Psychedelic Therapy and Trauma A New Frontier in Mental Health with Dr. Will Van Derveer | E212

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). 3x4 Genetics - https://3x4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== 00:00 Intro 01:06 The Promise of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy 05:16 Why Psychedelics Faced Decades of Pushback 09:40 Psychedelic Therapy Requires Guidance 11:27 The Failure of the “Pill Fixes Everything” Model 15:31 Risks of Unregulated Psychedelic Retreats 24:20 Psychedelics Within Integrative Medicine 25:30 Ad: Optoceutics 27:31 What “Integration” Really Means 30:08 Why Psychiatry Still Resists Psychedelics 38:52 Why Lifestyle Still Matters After Therapy 41:45 Psychedelics and Addiction Treatment 50:50 Microdosing vs Full Therapeutic Doses 53:52 Ad: 3X4 Genetics 57:28 The Rise of Ketamine Clinics 1:00:54 Ibogaine: Risks, Duration, and Safety 1:04:50 Final Thoughts on Psychedelic Responsibility ==== Will Van Derveer, MD is a psychiatrist and author of Psychedelic Therapy: Restore Your Mental Health and Reclaim Your Life which will be published by ShambhalaPublications in the Spring of 2026. He is co-founder of Integrative Psychiatry Institute, which has provided comprehensive training for 2500 mental health professionals in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy several thousand professionals in other continuing education programs. He is medical director of Integrative Psychiatry Center of Boulder, CO, providingintegrative psychiatry for a broad range of conditions and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression and PTSD. In addition to his clinical practice and teaching, he has staffed clinical trials sponsoredby MAPS, investigating MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD. Dr. Van Derveer is co-host of the Higher Practice Podcast, where he explores what it takes to achieve optimal mental health. ___________________________ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidperlmutter/ Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRl_UAXxbHyOOjklnA0dxQ/?sub_confirmation=1

Carbs For Exercise? Let’s Challenge This Idea with Dr. Andrew Koutnik | E211

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). Fresh Pressed Olive Oil - https://www.getfresh389.com For a complimentary bottle of one of the greatest olive oils I've ever discovered. 3x4 Genetics - http://3x4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== 00:00 Intro 04:49 Andrew Koutnik’s Story Obesity Type 1 Diabetes and Metabolism 09:44 Ketogenic Diets and Type 1 Diabetes 20:15 Sponsor Break - Optoceutics 21:28 Why This Goes Far Beyond Type 1 Diabetes 26:59 Why Low Carb Diabetes Care Was Abandoned 31:49 Ketosis vs Diabetic Ketoacidosis 35:10 Sponsor Break - Fresh Pressed Olive Oil 37:04 How to Measure Ketone Levels 39:13 Are Breath Ketone Tests Reliable 40:15 What Beta Hydroxybutyrate Actually Does 42:39 Exogenous Ketones and High Altitude Performance 45:49 Sponsor Break - 3X4 Genetics 48:33 MCT Oil and Ketone Production 52:52 The Carb Loading Myth in Sports Performance 1:00:06 Metabolic Flexibility and Keto Adaptation 1:03:17 Rethinking Hypoglycemia in Keto Adapted Athletes 1:07:19 How Carbohydrates Shut Down Fat Burning 1:09:58 Body Fat vs Glycogen as Fuel 1:14:34 What This Means for Endurance Athletes 1:16:17 Fat Metabolism as a Survival Mechanism 1:18:09 The New USDA Dietary Guidelines 1:20:46 Ultra Processed Food and Alzheimer’s Risk 1:22:40 Final Thoughts on Metabolic Flexibility ==== Dr. Andrew Koutnik is a research scientist focused on how nutrition, metabolism, and lifestyle can optimize human health, performance, and resilience. Living with type 1 diabetes for over 17 years, his work bridges personal experience with cutting-edge science across chronic disease and extreme environments. He earned his PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of South Florida and has led research funded by organizations including NASA, the Department of Defense, and the NIH, contributing to over 100 scientific publications and presentations. His work spans exercise physiology, cardiometabolic health, and therapeutic nutrition. At Florida State University, Dr. Koutnik studies dietary strategies for diabetes, obesity, and performance under metabolic stress, collaborating with leading institutions worldwide. His mission is to advance evidence-based approaches that empower individuals to improve metabolic health and performance. ___________________________ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidperlmutter/ Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRl_UAXxbHyOOjklnA0dxQ/?sub_confirmation=1

Why Exercise May Be More Powerful Than Any Alzheimer’s Drug with Dr. Majid Fotuhi | E210

🧠 Stay ahead with the latest in science, nutrition, and wellness by subscribing to Dr. Perlmutter’s newsletter at: www.drperlmutter.com. ✉️🌱 Thank you to our sponsors: EVY - https://www.optoceutics.com/perlmutter and the code perlmutter26 will be auto-applied to your order to get $200 off & free shipping (90 days risk-free). Fresh Pressed Olive Oil - https://www.getfresh389.com For a complimentary bottle of one of the greatest olive oils I've ever discovered. 3x4 Genetics - http://3x4genetics.com/DrPerlmutter for a special offer when you sign up to decode your genetics and get personalized, science-backed health recommendations. ==== Dr. Perlmutter’s groundbreaking new book, Brain Defenders, is now available for pre-order. Discover how to protect your brain and future health - reserve your copy today at https://www.braindefenders.com. ==== If you’ve followed my work for any length of time, you know that one of the central themes we return to on The Empowering Neurologist is this: your brain is far more adaptable, resilient, and improvable than conventional wisdom ever allowed us to believe. This week, I’m thrilled to share a conversation with someone who has spent more than three decades proving exactly that. Dr. Majid Fotuhi, neurologist, neuroscientist, Harvard- and Johns Hopkins-trained physician, and now author of the new book The Invincible Brain, has dedicated his career to helping people reclaim their cognitive potential. His message aligns powerfully with the philosophy behind my upcoming book, Brain Defenders: that the trajectory of your brain is not predetermined, and that meaningful change is possible at any age. In our interview, we explore the groundbreaking ideas that shaped The Invincible Brain. Dr. Fotuhi lays out why intelligence is not fixed, how memory can be strengthened through surprisingly simple practices, and why Alzheimer’s disease is not the single, linear condition we once imagined, but rather a complex “soup” of abnormalities with multiple entry points for intervention. ==== 00:00 Intro 01:44 Choices influencing brain trajectory and resilience 04:25 Redefining intelligence beyond IQ 08:20 Synergy of memory and habit change 13:09 Challenging genetic determinism with epigenetics 18:00 Ad Break: Optoceutics 20:23 Alzheimer's as a metabolic and inflammatory soup 29:45 Ad Break: Fresh Pressed Olive Oil 38:04 Exercise and metabolism in brain health 43:45 Ad Break: 3x4 Genetics 49:38 Brain training and five pillars of brain health 54:55 Mindset as key to becoming a superager ==== Dr. Majid Fotuhi earned his PhD in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University in 1992 and his Medical Degree from Harvard Medical School in 1997. Currently, he serves as an adjunct professor at the Mind/Brain Institute at Johns Hopkins University, while also teaching at George Washington University and Harvard Medical School. With 37 years of experience in teaching, clinical practice, and neuroscience research, Dr. Fotuhi has pioneered a multidisciplinary approach to enhancing brain vitality and cognitive performance at any age. His groundbreaking “Brain Fitness Program” combines a comprehensive baseline “Brain Portfolio” assessment with 12 bi-weekly brain training sessions. This program targets lifestyle optimization and cognitive stimulation to improve memory, focus, and overall brain health. Dr. Fotuhi’s program has delivered measurable success for patients dealing with memory loss due to aging, concussions, and ADHD, as documented in several peer-reviewed journals. ___________________________ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidperlmutter/ Website: https://www.drperlmutter.com/ Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRl_UAXxbHyOOjklnA0dxQ/?sub_confirmation=1