I follow your material a good bit Maria for a variety of reasons. As an aging athlete, and one who blogs on fitness, I appreciate having someone whose articles I can link to for others. I spent a good bit of time reading Grain Brain and other books by Dr. David Perlmutter, who was, I think, a bit ahead of his time with the fecal transplant piece. I have no squeamishness about it whatsoever. In fact, after a very bad doctor forced Keflex on me and I developed c.diff that damned near took my life I asked the VA for a transplant. Their response was that I needed to get c.diff again (now that’s thinking for you) before they would consider it. I had the right history, and I fit the profile perfectly. But this is our medical thinking. The way I see it the doctor needs a hero button for pulling someone back from the brink vs. using the procedure on the right candidate as prevention and life improvement. Call me stupid, but I’d already done all my research by that point. It’s crazy making, but then, allus well-educated, well-researched aging athletic women are hysterical idiots and clueless about our bodies. Balderdash. I am just now recovering from kidney stone procedures and am on levoflaxin. When you read the side effects it’s a laundry list of all the ills that cause people to assume all manner of new illnesses. The gut-brain connection as described by Perlmutter was so incredibly obvious when I read about it the first time I did a tap dance on my kitchen floor. I’d dumped grains and cereals back in the early 80s, and while I don’t suffer celiac, my body celebrated by dumping some 80+ pounds. That’s feedback.

I’d love to see an article of yours about kidney stone formation. As I sit here in a friend’s basement recovering, I read so very much conflicting material about what to eat and what not to eat. I just read an NIH study that said that caffeine is NOT contraindicated for stone formation, then a great deal of material that says it is. I lean towards NIH. I happen to love foods that have too much oxalate acid, all of which are otherwise terrific: almonds, spinach, the like. I’m trying my damnedest to create a healthy diet that doesn’t land me back in the ER. If you’ve got an article that addresses this I’d be grateful. I am well aware that our bodies are unique universes, but I’m searching for some good guidelines I can experiment with. Thanks kindly.