Gut Health: The Truth About Low-Carb Diets | Dr. Will Bulsiewicz

The Exam Room by the Physicians Committee

Physicians Committee

Carroll, Health & Fitness, Diabetes, Science, Nutrition, Vegan, Pcrm, Barnard, Weightloss, Food, Health, Recipes, Medicine, Diet

4.9 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are low-carb diets good or bad for your gut health? In this episode of The Exam Room Podcast, Chuck Carroll is joined by gastroenterologist and gut health expert Dr. Will Bulsiewicz to explore how cutting carbs affects your microbiome, digestion, and long-term wellness.

Discover what happens to your gut bacteria when fiber is reduced, whether low-carb eating disrupts short-chain fatty acid production, and how these changes could impact your risk for chronic diseases. Dr. Bulsiewicz also shares practical tips for protecting your microbiome while eating fewer carbs, and compares low-carb diets to Mediterranean and plant-based eating patterns.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

- How low-carb diets influence the diversity of gut bacteria

- The impact of reduced carbs on digestion and fiber intake

- Why short-chain fatty acids like butyrate matter for colon health

- Links between low-carb diets, inflammation, and chronic disease

- Ways to support your microbiome even while cutting carbs

- How plant-based and Mediterranean diets compare for gut health

🔗 Dr. B’s Gut Health Collective and courses: https://theguthealthmd.com/collective

📘 Pre-order Dr. B’s new book: https://amzn.to/42vFhKz

👟 Exercise snacks article: https://nbcnews.to/3IZ9Lhv

If you feel like you’ve raised your health IQ, please leave a 5-star rating and nice review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today on the exam room.
0:04.0	The issue here, Chuck, is that if you take this concept of low carb, there's parts of it that I agree with, right?
0:12.0	We should be limiting our sugar intake. I agree with that part. But the problem is you say, okay, so I'm going to like restrict all carbs and I'm going to prioritize fat and I'm going to prioritize
0:21.7	protein and if you don't have guard rails on those rules you can get yourself into trouble.
0:30.2	Welcome to the exam room podcast brought to you by the physicians committee.
0:34.0	Hello, I'm Chuck Carroll.
0:35.3	Thank you so very much for raising your health IQ with us
0:37.5	coast to coast and around the world. Hi to the exam roomies listening in San Diego, California,
0:43.2	Boston, Massachusetts, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Wherever you are, we appreciate you helping to make
0:48.5	the world a healthier place. This is episode 80 of season 8, number 679 overall.
0:55.7	And today is all about gut health.
0:59.3	And the question is, are low-carb diets good for gut health?
1:03.8	Well, we're going to find out in a really fun episode with Dr. Will Bulsaw, which, you know, Mr.
1:09.3	Fibre-Fueled and Mr. Plant Powered Plus.
1:11.5	Well, he's back on the show and literally right around the 35 minute mark of this interview
1:16.2	today, I lost it laughing. We were talking about ways to keep things moving on the throne
1:23.4	and somebody who was watching live wrote in with the suggestion and we absolutely got carried
1:29.1	away like we do.
1:31.4	Have a good giggle with us.
1:32.7	But on the learning front, here's how you're going to raise your health IQ today.
1:36.3	We're going to be talking about the way low carb diets influence diversity of gut bacteria,
1:41.8	very important for overall gut health.
	...

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