Dr Nirala Jacobi – The SIBO Doctor: Gut and SIBO specialist - Unstress with Dr Ron Ehrlich

Naturopath, Dr Nirala Jacobi joins me to discuss the gut. We go on a food journey through the body and take it back to basics as to why the gut is so important. Nirala is well known for being the SIBO Doctor, SIBO stands for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth. If you haven't heard about SIBO before then stay tuned, it's a condition that is linked to a range of disorders including IBS and thyroid issues.

Selected Links from the Episode

Dr Nirala Jacobi website
The SIBO Doctor website
Unstress episode with Dr Robert Rountree on gut health
Unstress episode with Dr Jason Hawrelak on probiotics
Unstress episode with Cliff Harvey on carbohydrate appropriate diets
Unstress episode with Prof Grant Schofield on fasting

Download the PDF transcription
Dr. Ron Ehrlich: Hello and welcome to “Unstress”. I'm Dr. Ron Ehrlich. The gut is important. You probably got that message but it's not just important around the time you heard about it, it's always important. We've done some great shows Dr. Robert Roundtree, Dr. Jason Hawrelak, Cliff Harvey, professor Grant Schofield to name but a few.

Well, my guest today is going to go back to basics and we'll take us on a food journey through our body. We take it for granted that we eat, and stuff just happens but if we're going to take control of our own health, I think it helps to know some basics. My guest today is naturopathic doctor Nirala Jacobi - The SIBO doctor.

Now SIBO – S I B O stands for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. What's that you ask? Well, listen and learn. I hope you enjoy this conversation I had with Nirala Jacobi.
Download the PDF transcription
Welcome to the show Nirala.

Nirala Jacobi: Thanks for having me.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: Nirala, we're going to be talking about SIBO, but I want if you might share with us with our listener a bit about your own journey to this point.

Nirala Jacobi: Well, how far back do you want to go?

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: Well, let's not go from the moment of birth but let's fast-forward to your professional journey.

Nirala Jacobi: Okay. Well, interestingly enough my moment of birth was quite influential in that. I actually had some sort of I wouldn't eat for a whole for a long, long time and about a year and so I was virtually written off by doctors and my mother was very anxious and worried and that sort of then I grew out of that and survived but I always had digestive issues in some form or another so that led me then into studying naturopathic medicine at Bastyr University in Seattle and becoming a naturopathic physician. And we really look at the gut or the digestive tract as the root of the tree.

So, we often focus on digestive symptoms and disorders and also looking at systemic issues whether that's rheumatoid arthritis or headaches we often start in the gut. So, I was very, very focused on the digestive tract already but I've never heard about SIBO until about 2010-2011 when two fellow naturopathic doctors talked about it at a conference and I was immediately intrigued because I'd never heard of this condition and it explained so much as to why some people didn't improve with some of the protocols, I put them through.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: I mean obviously we're going to talk about SIBO, but I'm just intrigued because you know I have two grandchildren and watching and so exposed also to a lot of infant’s young babies and this whole issue of from birth wouldn't eat. I mean wow, what was going on?

Nirala Jacobi: I know, it’s one of my most treasured pleasures now is eating. I don't have any obviously any memory or even cellular memory of that, but I remember very much the anxiety that my mother brought to this situation and so, I also know how much our nervous system and our fight-or-flight really influences our digestive tract.

Dr. Ron Ehrlich: Because like if somebody presented to you with a young child that wasn't eating, well, I mean before we go into SIBO or maybe that's a segue into i...