447: Bloating, SIBO + Leaky Gut: What’s Actually Causing Your Symptoms (And How to Fix It) with Dr. Karan Rajan
Well with Arielle Lorre
Dear Media, Arielle Lorre
4.8 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2026
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dr. Karan Rajan is an NHS surgeon, gut health specialist, founder of LOAM, and host of the Dr. Karan Explores podcast. He joins the show to explain why so many people are constantly bloated, reacting to foods, and being told it’s “normal”—and what’s actually going on in your gut.
We break down the truth about “leaky gut,” the fiber deficiency epidemic, and how your microbiome is directly influencing your hormones, mood, and skin. Dr. Rajan also shares why many gut health trends are overcomplicated or misguided—from over-reliance on probiotics to restrictive protocols like low FODMAP—and what actually moves the needle when it comes to digestion.
You can find Dr. Karan Rajan on Instagram @drkaranrajan and on TikTok @dr.karanr and Loam on Instagram and their website https://loamscience.com/
We also get into:
- What healthy digestion actually looks like
- How often you should be going to the bathroom
- Common causes of bloating (including “healthy” foods)
- The gut–brain connection and anxiety
- How stress and hormones impact digestion
- Why fiber is one of the most overlooked tools in health
- The downside of probiotics for some people
- SIBO, elimination diets, and when they go too far
- Lemon water—does it actually help?
- Parasite cleanses, microbiome trends, and fecal transplants
- GLP-1 medications and gut health
If your gut feels off but you can’t figure out why—or you’ve tried everything and still feel stuck—this episode will give you clarity on what actually matters.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast is a dear media production. |
| 0:05.8 | This is Well, a podcast about wellness in all its forms. |
| 0:10.0 | I'm Ariel Laurie, and each week I'm sharing unfiltered conversations with people shaping how we feel, live, and look. |
| 0:17.2 | Come for the substance, stay for the honesty, and leave with the tools to be well, inside and out. |
| 0:25.3 | I have done many episodes on gut health in the seven years that I've had this podcast, but I have to say that I walked away from this conversation, both having learned things that I didn't know before and also having a deeper understanding of |
| 0:39.5 | things that I had a little bit of knowledge about, but that really clicked and made a lot of |
| 0:45.2 | sense after talking to today's guest. So I'm talking to Dr. Karen Rajan. He is an NHS surgeon |
| 0:51.6 | and gut health specialist. He's known for calling out wellness myths and explaining the science behind digestion, |
| 0:58.2 | the microbiome, and metabolic health in a way that is actually understandable and actionable. |
| 1:03.9 | Dr. Karen Rajan is an NHS surgeon and leading voice in gut health. |
| 1:08.3 | He's known for cutting through wellness misinformation with |
| 1:11.0 | science-backed insights to his over 10 million followers. He also hosts the Dr. Karen Explores |
| 1:17.4 | podcast, and he's the founder of Lome. So if you're constantly bloated, if you're reacting to foods, |
| 1:23.0 | if you're being told that you just have IBS, that you're just stressed and anxious, |
| 1:27.1 | this episode is going to |
| 1:28.8 | make a lot of things click, and it's going to change how you think about your gut. And let's be |
| 1:32.9 | honest, this is so many of us today. And we actually talk in this episode about why gut health |
| 1:38.5 | issues seem to be so much more prevalent now than they were before. So we break down why we are in the middle of a |
| 1:45.3 | fiber deficiency epidemic, why so many gut protocols are missing the mark and how your gut is |
| 1:50.2 | influencing everything from your hormones to your mental health and your skin. We also get |
| 1:55.2 | honest about what's actually normal when it comes to digestion, how often you should be going |
| 1:59.4 | to the bathroom, how much bloating is too |
... |
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