Against the Grain

Episode 34: My Unbiased Breakdown of Zeposia (Ozanimod) for Ulcerative Colitis

February 27, 2022 00:00 - 51 minutes - 47.4 MB

This is my review of Zeposia (Ozanimod), a new once a day oral medication for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. I go over the True North Study (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2033617) in detail including efficacy and safety data. I have no conflicts of interest with any pharmaceutical companies. These are my opinions regarding Zeposia and other medications based on my personal/clinical experience and review of the literature.

Episode 33: What Do Your Biopsies Mean? The Pathology of Crohn's and Colitis - Shriram Jakate, MD

January 30, 2022 00:00 - 2 hours - 110 MB

Dr. Shriram Jakate is Professor Emeritus in pathology at Rush University Medical Center. He has a particular expertise in GI and liver pathology and has been interpreting slides from patients with Crohn's and colitis for over several decades. I consider him to be the best GI pathologist I have encountered in my career and during this podcast we have a wide ranging discussion about interpretation of IBD pathology. We discuss the pathologic features of Crohn's and ulcerative in detail...

Episode 32: It's Game Time! Management of Fistulizing Crohn's Disease

December 23, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 100 MB

This is a discussion with Dr. Assad Munis, third year gastroenterology fellow at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, about his recent presentation "Initial Approach to Fistulizing Crohn's Disease" at our grand rounds. We discuss pathophysiology, diagnosis, and primarily medical management. We also touch on topics of stem cell therapy, hyperbaric oxygen and exclusive enteral nutrition as potential treatments.

Episode 31: Start Here if you have Crohn's Disease or Ulcerative Colitis!

December 17, 2021 00:00 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MB

I made this podcast for those who are newly diagnosed with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. Dr. K’s Simplified Prescription to Treat IBD (it’s not that complicated to know what to do) 1.Start with appropriate and optimized medical therapy, preferably by an IBD specialist (like myself). 2.If this works, follow an IBD diet protocol that speaks to you and that you can realistically follow long term. Bottom line is to take out processed food and being plant based is probably h...

Episode 30: A Deep Dive into the DINE Study: The Specific Carbohydrate Diet vs Mediterranean Diet for Crohn's Disease

August 22, 2021 00:00 - 2 hours - 115 MB

This podcast is a deep dive into the recently published article "A Randomized Trial Comparing the Specific Carbohydrate Diet to a Mediterranean Diet in Adults With Crohn’s Disease." (also known as the Dine Study) published by Lewis, et al. Article link is here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34052278/ My guests are Dr. Meghana Doniparthi, gastroenterology fellow at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and Kim Beall, Pharm D. Kim received her Doctor of Pharmacy from the Medical Un...

Episode 29: The IBDCoach Update and Ksharustra (Ayurvedic Seton) for Fistulizing Crohn's Disease

August 14, 2021 00:00 - 2 hours - 115 MB

This is my second podcast with IBDCoach. We try to make sense of all the IBD diets, supplements and medications out there which can be so confusing! We also have a detailed discussion regarding Andrew's use of Ksharsutra (Ayurvedic Seton) to treat his fistula. I am not officially endorsing or recommending this service or Ksharsutra. You must discuss using any adjunctive therapies with your gastroenterologist. Andrew Kornfeld ([email protected]) holds degrees in Neuroscience and Ps...

Episode 28: Whole Food Plant Based Diet for Crohn's and Colitis: Shamiz and Shukul Kachwalla

November 23, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 80.8 MB

There are many reasons why a whole food plant based diet may be helpful for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Data suggest limiting omega-6 PUFAs (ie oils), saturated fats, animal protein, and food additives may be associated with a reduced risk of developing IBD. A whole food plant based diet seems to check all of those boxes. However, this doesn’t change the fact that there are some out there who respond to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (which is a monosaccharide diet) that ...

Against the Grain Theme Song (Version #2)

July 12, 2020 00:00 - 3 minutes - 7.09 MB

For all the mega Against the Grain fans out there, here is the full theme song, version #2 in all its glory. Produced and Written by Samir Kakodkar Circa 2003 at Northwestern University, Foster Walker Complex, on a microKorg and Garage Band.

Against the Grain Theme Song (Version #1)

July 12, 2020 00:00 - 5 minutes - 9.78 MB

For all the mega Against the Grain fans out there, here is the full theme song, version #1 in all its glory. The part you are familiar with is in the middle of the track. Produced and Written by Samir Kakodkar. Borrowed some parts from theme from the ABC reality TV show The Mole (that nobody watched). Circa 2003 at Northwestern University, Foster Walker Complex, on a microKorg and Garage Band.

Does Mycobacterium Avium Paratuberculosis (MAP) Cause Crohn's Disease?

June 14, 2020 02:40 - 2 hours - 148 MB

There are many theories out there regarding what causes Crohn’s disease. Though ultimately most physicians and scientists acknowledge that we don’t know the cause, there is a small subgroup that believe Crohn’s disease is caused by a specific bacteria called mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis which we will abbreviate as MAP. MAP mainly comes from infected cattle but is now ubiquitous in our environment and all of us are likely exposed to it on a regular basis. The treatment paradi...

How Does Stress Affect Crohn's and Colitis? A Review of the Literature and Case Study of a Healed Colon

April 05, 2020 21:27 - 1 hour - 78 MB

This show will focus on the effect of stress on Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. I will define stress as the feeling of being challenged by a threatening event or evolving situation. Everyone experiences some degree of stress in life, but when it becomes chronic and perceived as severe, it can have adverse health effects. Many patients attribute their initial diagnosis and subsequent flares to stressful life events. But does stress actually make the inflammation of inflammator...

Coronavirus in Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

April 03, 2020 03:47 - 1 hour - 101 MB

Today we are going to tackle Coronavirus, specifically SARS-CoV-2 which causes the disease COVID 19 in relation to gastrointestinal symptoms and disease. I will be interviewing Dr Kaushal Majmudar who is one of our great GI fellows at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. He recently did a Grand Rounds for our GI department on this very topic and went over all the recent data regarding pathogenesis, treatment and also recommendations from various GI societies for specific clinical scen...

Plant Based Diet for Crohn's and Colitis: Mitsuro Chiba, MD PhD

January 27, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 87.8 MB

Dr. Mitsuro Chiba is an MD, PhD is a gastroenterologist and researcher at Akita City Hospital, Kawamoto, Akita City, Japan. He believes that inflammatory bowel disease is a lifestyle disease mediated mainly by a westernized diet, and has had many subsequent publications detailing his use of a plant based, semi-vegetarian diet. He began to provide a plant-based diet for patients with inflammatory bowel disease at Nakadori General Hospital (Akita City, Japan) in 2003, and then continu...

Over 50 years on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for Ulcerative Colitis: Judy Herod, Daughter of Elaine Gottschall

January 19, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 103 MB

This is my much anticipated interview with Judy Herod who has been on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (which we will often abbreviate as SCD) for over 50 years for ulcerative colitis with rapid clinical response and sustained drug-free remission. Her mother is the late Elaine Gottschall, biochemist and author of Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet which is the book that describes the SCD protocol in detail and started the food/ibd movement several decades ago. J...

The IBD-AID: Anti-inflammatory Diet for Crohn's and Colitis

October 05, 2019 22:47 - 1 hour - 103 MB

Barbara Olendzki RD, MPH, LDN is Associate Professor of Medicine and the Nutrition Program Director of the Center for Applied Nutrition at the University of Massachusetts. She is passionate about research and clinical care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), cardiac concerns, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and other inflammatory diseases. She has 20 years of experience in the nutrition field. She created the IBD-anti inflammatory diet (IBD-AID) which is based on the Spec...

Patient Empowerment, Precision Medicine and Next Generation Approaches in Crohn's and Colitis

August 30, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 85.1 MB

Two guests for you today! The first is Andrew Kornfeld ([email protected] | https://www.facebook.com/andrew.kornfeld.18) who holds degrees in neuroscience and psychology from UCSC and has won awards for his work in science education. He has Crohn’s disease and has been able to achieve clinical drug free remission through a protocol he developed after doing his own extensive research with a lot of trial and error. Andrew is the founder of IBD Coach (http://www.ibd.coach) which offers ...

Understanding the Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, and moving towards a "Functional Cure": Michael Briggs, PhD

August 04, 2019 04:39 - 2 hours - 112 MB

Dr. Michael Briggs is a physicist who had ulcerative colitis which he claims to have "functionally cured" using a system he developed called The Briggs Protocol. He read every article on IBD he could get his hands on and wrote a document called "Understanding the Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, and moving towards a 'Functional Cure'" which has been circulating on internet forums. You will learn about his approach to inducing remission, healing the epithelial barrier to s...

Blue Light, EMF, Circadian Rhythm, Mitochondria and Quantum Biology for IBD: Jack Kruse, MD

June 20, 2019 19:33 - 1 hour - 74.1 MB

Dr. Jack Kruse is a practicing neurosurgeon and also a "theoretical quantum biologist." He specifically has an interest in our light environment, circadian rhythm and mitochondria in relation to health and disease. In my opinion, these are topics that require more attention and research in the context of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. This is one of the most high level podcasts I have ever recorded as Dr. Kruse’s knowledge base regarding these topics is unparalleled. You wi...

Ayurveda for Crohn's and Colitis: Dr. Vikram Chauhan

June 02, 2019 15:01 - 1 hour - 107 MB

Although my training is in evidence based medicine (or what other alternative fields refer to as “allopathic medicine”), I am fascinated by other disciplines that operate on a completely different understanding of the human body and disease. There is much mystery surrounding Ayurveda in the US, which is the most ancient form of medicine developed in India and still practiced today. There is an inherent paradox here - how can an ancient Indian system of medicine be used to treat Crohn...

Jini Patel Thompson: Listening to Your Gut and Natural Treatments for Crohn's and Colitis

April 27, 2019 22:01 - 1 hour - 101 MB

Jini Patel Thompson is an internationally recognized expert on “natural healing” for digestive diseases. She says she has healed herself from widespread Crohn's Disease and has remained in drug and surgery-free remission for over 20 years. Jini has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows throughout the U.S. Her books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold worldwide in over 80 countries. We had an epic almost 2 hour long conversation about her methods to treat Crohn’s an...

Cannabis/Medical Marijuana for Crohn's and Colitis: Arun Swaminath, MD

February 26, 2019 00:00 - 59 minutes - 54.9 MB

If you have Crohn’s or colitis, I bet you have encountered someone either in person or on the internet who claims to be able to control his or her disease with the use of cannabis. Or maybe you are using medical marijuana already. This may seem appealing as an alternative to medications that can have a frightening side effect profile. The regulatory climate in the US makes marijuana difficult to study so we don’t have good, high quality information about it regarding its effect on I...

IBD, Diet and Medical Therapy -- The Middle Path: Samir Kakodkar, MD

February 17, 2019 18:32 - 1 hour - 83.9 MB

After 10 years of researching the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) and implementing it along with other dietary therapies clinically, I wanted to share some of the insights I've gained along the way. I present the major findings of my research studies including brand new, exciting results from the SCD microbiome analysis. I also discuss my approach to co-managing diet along with medical therapy for Crohn's and colitis. For too long there have been two warring factions: 1) those that ...

Saffron Cassaday, Director of Designer Shit (Fecal Transplant for IBD)

December 17, 2018 00:00 - 48 minutes - 44.6 MB

Fecal microbiota transplantation, otherwise known as FMT, is putting the stool from one person into the GI tract of another. This is an accepted treatment for recurrent clostridium dificil colitis which is a type of bacterial infection. Because we know that people with Crohn’s and colitis have a less biodiverse microbiome, some have hypothesized that a fecal transplant could theoretically be helpful for inflammatory bowel disease. I interviewed Saffron Cassaday who is a documentar...

Raman Prasad - Specific Carbohydrate Diet for 20 years

December 01, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 87.5 MB

I spoke with Raman Prasad who has been following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for 20 years with sustained drug free remission of his colitis. He had a severe case of inflammatory bowel disease with possible primary sclerosing cholangitis and was facing surgery before discovering the SCD. He has published his experience in the book Colitis and Me: A Story of Recovery which I found personally inspiring and I highly recommend. He has also published two SCD cook books - Recipes for the...

Rapid Response to Diet for Colitis: Stephanie Colo Manning

November 11, 2018 16:23 - 1 hour - 62.2 MB

Today I spoke with Stephanie Colo Manning who is chef and owner of Colo Kitchen which offers consulting and cooking lessons for people who want to transition to a nutrient dense, whole foods diet. She also had colitis and is someone who had a relatively rapid response to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) and was able to maintain her remission without the use of medications with confirmed healing by colonoscopy. We also have a very detailed discussion about implementing the SCD whi...

Healing Crohn's with Biohacking: Joshua Bradley

November 11, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 101 MB

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Joshua Bradley who overcame a severe case of fistulizing Crohn’s disease using a combination of conventional methods, ketogenic diet, endurance exercise and supplements which were guided by a biohacking -- that is he used objective data from testing to help determine what was working for him. I found our discussion regarding how foods affected his microbiome analysis to be particularly interesting. As a disclaimer, this is not an endorsement o...

Can Baking Soda Treat Crohn's and Colitis?

October 18, 2018 21:22 - 41 minutes - 38.2 MB

The answer is we don’t know yet but there may be a mechanism to explain how it theoretically could be anti-inflammatory and possibly helpful for autoimmune disease. Today I spoke with Dr. Paul O’Connor who recently published some very interesting work on anti-inflammatory effects of baking soda -- something that you probably have in your fridge right now. However, as a disclaimer, this is not an endorsement or recommendation to use baking soda for IBD as it has not been FDA approved ...

The Man Who Treated His Crohn's By Fasting For 38 days

October 18, 2018 21:02 - 1 hour - 56.3 MB

Fasting is becoming more and more popular nowadays and is being promoted for everything from obesity, diabetes, cancer and now diseases of immune dysregulation. There are many forms including prolonged water fasts, fasting mimicking diets, intermittent fasting and time restricted eating. There is no strong research I know of supporting the use of fasting as a treatment modality for IBD and can in fact be dangerous in someone who is malnourished and underweight. By chance I discovered...

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for IBD: Dr. Scott Sherr

August 02, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 55.5 MB

Today we are talking about hyperbaric oxygen therapy for inflammatory bowel disease. This is a hot topic with some studies suggesting efficacy in both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Recently there has been interest in using it for hospitalized patients with severe ulcerative colitis. We speak with Dr. Scott Sherr who is a physician with training in internal medicine and also practices health optimization medicine. He has a subspecialization in utilizing hyperbaric oxygen for...

Garin Aglietti: Gut Ecology, Worm Therapy and Fecal Microbiota Transplants for IBD

June 10, 2018 19:10 - 1 hour - 99.5 MB

Garin Aglietti is a worm farmer and gut ecology expert who offers worm therapy and fecal transplants for patients with autoimmune diseases including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. These treatments are not currently offered as standard of care options for the vast majority of IBD patients in the US with exception of some clinical trials. Garin shares his experience utilizing his protocols which include using fecal transplants from a rural tribe in Mexico! Disclaimer: This is ...

Wanted: Crohn's End

April 29, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 99.5 MB

We venture into the realm of complementary and alternative medicine(AKA CAM) for Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. These include various diets, supplements, and other lifestyle interventions that are not part of the standard of care. Today we speak to Reid Kimball who has made a documentary called Wanted: Crohn’s End which is one of the most comprehensive investigations into complementary and alternative treatments for IBD that I have seen. His documentary can be found at http://croh...

When Nothing Works, Surgery Can (Part 2)

March 16, 2018 01:28 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MB

We catch up with a patient who recently had surgery for severe ulcerative colitis. We talk about his experience and his decision regarding if he should get a J pouch. We also address prior criticisms about how we discussed the Specific Carbohydrate Diet on the prior podcast.

When Nothing Works

January 02, 2018 00:00 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MB

A conversation with a friend with ulcerative colitis (possibly Crohn's colitis) who is now facing surgery. He tried his best to avoid it including implementing some very unconventional things - diet, fecal transplant, a medication called Xeljanz (prior to FDA approval) and even hyperbaric oxygen therapy. He shares his insights and we will follow-up with him post surgery. #AgainstTheGrain

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