Gavin's Health Blog

I was not a particularly healthy child growing up. I came down with lots of ear infections and colds, and missed quite a lot of school.  This involved taking many courses of antibiotics.  Then, as a teenager, I developed severe acne and was again put on antibiotics - this time, on a continuous basis.

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My health reached a crisis point in my early 20s, when I developed the severe digestive disease ulcerative colitis (an Inflammatory Bowel Disease).  Initially, the anti-inflammatory drugs I was prescribed kept the condition in check, but in my mid 20s I was taking the maximum dose yet was experiencing intense symptoms, including constant trips to the bathroom and massive internal bleeding in the gut.  I faced the real possibility that I would lead a severely limited rest of my life, and indeed that seemed to be the likely outcome as per the traditional Western medical community.

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It was at this point that I made a decision that would change my life forever.  I dove head first into the alternative health world, which at that time was predominantly the domain of online health forums. I discovered a perspective on health that focused on diet, sleep, stress management, and above all: 1) discovering and addressing the root causes of disease rather than simply seeking to mask their symptoms, and 2) adopting a holistic approach to health that considers the interplay between various aspects of the body (e.g., gut, brain, liver), rather than examining them in isolation.

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Over the course of the next few years, I tried innumerable diets, supplements, and other remedies and slowly but surely brought myself back to health.  I ultimately achieved levels of health, energy, performance, and well-being that I certainly did not think were possible a few years prior.  One particularly memorable moment occurred in April 2010, when two close friends and I hiked with 35 lb. backpacks to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, spent the night, and came back up again.  I could only have dreamed of doing such an activity a couple of years before, and I was tearing up for significant sections of the hike.

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Experiencing this remarkable recovery from a disease largely considered incurable by Western medicine had a profound effect on me.  The impossible now seemed possible.  My fascination and drive to learn about, experiment with, and improve my health and fitness continued to grow.  Concurrently, the worlds of 'biohacking' and 'functional medicine' were exploding, and more and more information was becoming available.  Over the past couple of years, I have found myself increasingly sharing what I have learned with my friends, family, and colleagues, with many success stories.  It has been wonderful to see this information reach and benefit others.

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This website is the logical next step in this journey.  It is intended to help me share the lessons I have learned over these many years with others, and in doing so, try to do my part to make the world healthier, happier, and more productive.