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Ever Forward Radio with Chase Chewning

EFR 919: The Gut–Brain–Immune Connection: The New Science of Inflammation and Why You Can't Heal the Gut Without Healing the Mind with Will Bulsiewicz

Ever Forward Radio with Chase Chewning

Chase Chewning

Education, Health & Fitness, Self-improvement

5.0 • 947 Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2026

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode is brought to you by Joi & Blokes, Fatty15, and Strong Coffee Company.

In this powerful conversation, Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, MD joins Ever Forward Radio to explore why true healing goes far beyond food, supplements, and exercise—and into the nervous system, emotional health, and human connection. Drawing from his new book Plant Powered Plus, Will explains how inflammation is driven by an inseparable triad of gut microbiome imbalance, immune dysfunction, and a compromised gut barrier, while also revealing how chronic stress, unresolved trauma, loneliness, and circadian disruption can prevent the body from ever feeling safe enough to heal. This episode clearly explains the gut–brain–immune axis, the role of parasympathetic "safety" states, why PTSD and trauma leave measurable signatures in the gut, and how practices like sunlight exposure, breathwork, meaningful relationships, and spiritual purpose are not "woo"—but biology. 

Follow Will @theguthealthmd

Follow Chase @chase_chewning

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00:00 – Introduction: Why You're Not Healing (It's Not Just Food)

01:30 – Inflammation, Strength & the Core Thesis of Plant Powered Plus

02:25 – 70% of the Immune System Lives in the Gut

03:40 – The Inflammation Trifecta: Dysbiosis, Gut Barrier & Immunity

05:10 – How Fast the Gut Microbiome and Gut Lining Can Heal

06:00 – 450,000 New Gut Cells Every Second

09:00 – Why the Body Wants to Heal (If We Let It)

10:00 – Morning Sunlight, Circadian Rhythm & Energy

11:30 – Gut Microbes Follow a 24-Hour Schedule

12:45 – Why the Immune System Is Active at Night

14:00 – Serotonin, Melatonin & Gut Repair

16:00 – Cortisol: When Stress Helps vs. Harms

18:30 – The Sympathetic Nervous System & "Berserker Mode

21:45 – How Chronic Stress Damages the Gut Barrier

24:00 – Trauma, PTSD & Inflammatory Disease

26:00 – Why You Can't Out-Diet Trauma

29:00 – Science, Pattern Recognition & the Mind–Body Connection

32:00 – Parasympathetic Healing: Safety, Rest & Digestion

34:00 – Breathwork, Meditation & Nervous System Regulation

36:00 – Human Connection as Medicine

38:30 – Loneliness, Mortality & Modern Society

43:00 – Why Meaningful Relationships Are Essential for Health

46:00 – Can You Be Healthy Without Deep Connection?

49:00 – Measuring Stress: HRV, Wearables & Inflammation

55:30 – Trauma, PTSD & the Gut Microbiome

58:00 – Healing Trauma and Healing the Gut Together

1:03:30 – Dr. Bulsiewicz's Personal Healing Story

1:09:30 – Reconciliation, Grief & Spiritual Healing

1:18:00 – Purpose, Faith & the Limits of Science

1:22:00 – Ever Forward

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Episode resources:

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The following is an Operation Podcast production.

0:03.4

Hey, everyone. I'm Dr. Will Bolsowitz, gastroenterologist, gut health expert, and New York Times best-selling author of the brand new book, Plant Powered Plus.

0:11.6

I'm so glad that you're here today. We are going to have an incredible time together.

0:15.8

And this conversation that I had with Chase is one of the best podcasts that I've ever done in all of my years.

0:23.9

I hope you enjoy. Thanks for being here.

0:25.8

What if the reason you are not healing has nothing to do with what you're eating and everything

0:31.4

to do with what your nervous system is holding on to? Today's guest says inflammation isn't

0:36.4

just driven by food, toxins, or sleep,

0:39.3

but by loneliness, unresolved trauma, and a lack of purpose. He's one of the world's leading

0:45.4

gut health doctors, and in his new book, Plant Powered Plus, he makes a bold claim. You can't

0:52.2

heal the gut without healing the mind. This conversation goes beyond fiber,

0:57.2

probiotics, and supplements. We're talking about connection, breath work, forgiveness, and why your

1:03.2

body may not feel safe enough to heal yet. If you've ever done everything right and still feel

1:10.8

stuck, this episode might change how you see your health forever

1:15.0

I'm your host chase tuning welcome to ever Ford radio

1:22.4

The other thing too by the way going back to like how have I got myself into a position where at 45 I can be lifting the most weight I've ever lifted in my life?

1:32.2

I think part of it, too, is like, when you take away the inflammation, yeah, right?

1:37.4

So my new book is about inflammation and, like, the steps that you can follow.

1:42.4

And the cool part about it is, like, it actually took me three years to build this book. Part of it was, like, the research that you can follow. And the cool part about it is like it actually took me three

1:44.7

years to build this book. Part of it was like the research that I had to do to like figure complex stuff

1:50.5

out because ultimately like I want to take really complex things and I got to package them in a way

1:54.8

that a person is actually willing to enjoy reading it. Yeah. Right. Making it simple and

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