Strong on Health

06/03/2026

This story deserves a place in the news.

Adding six months of life for someone facing advanced pancreatic cancer is meaningful. It matters. Those six months may mean more birthdays, more conversations, more memories, and more time with the people they love.

The researchers behind this work should be celebrated.

But we can't help but wonder if the larger story is still being overlooked.

For more than 40 years, researchers have been trying to silence a single genetic signal known as KRAS. Now, they may finally have a tool that can do it.

That's remarkable.

But what if the most important question isn't simply:

"How do we turn off KRAS?"

What if we also asked:

"What created an environment where KRAS became a problem in the first place?"

Nutrition.
Metabolic health.
Inflammation.
Environmental exposures.
Sleep.
Stress.
Social connection.
Purpose.

These variables rarely make headlines because they don't fit neatly into a single pill or a single target.

Yet they influence every cell in the body.

This is one of the reasons we have become so interested in longevity.

Over the years, we have noticed that most people don't have a health problem as much as they have a timing problem.

They're discovering important truths too late.

By the time pancreatic cancer is diagnosed, more than half of patients already have advanced disease.

Imagine if we invested the same passion, funding, and media attention into helping people create resilient, healthy internal environments decades before disease appears.

The future of healthcare is not choosing between breakthrough drugs and whole-person healing.

We need both.

The headlines will celebrate the pill.

But the bigger story may be learning how to create a body that is less hospitable to disease in the first place.

That's a conversation that deserves a much larger platform.

A clinical trial of 500 patients found daraxonrasib doubled average survival time in advanced pancreatic cancer, with fewer side effects than chemotherapy.

06/02/2026

🌿 Hormones Must Flow 🌿

One of the biggest mistakes I see in conversations about women's hormones is focusing only on hormone levels while overlooking the entire cycle.

Hormones are not simply produced.

They must be:
✔ Produced
✔ Used
✔ Metabolized
✔ Eliminated

Think of hormones like a river.

When the river flows freely, balance is possible.

But when elimination becomes impaired, the water backs up upstream.

The same principle may apply to hormone health.

This is one reason I pay close attention to:
• digestion
• bowel habits
• nutrient status
• stress levels
• liver support
• mineral balance

Because symptoms are often messengers, not mistakes.

For years, one of my favorite tools for supporting women through various hormonal transitions has been FemCo by MediHerb.

Containing Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus) along with complementary botanicals, it has become one of my most trusted options when I am looking to support the body's natural ability to adapt and find balance.

What excites me even more is that modern research is beginning to validate what traditional practitioners have observed for centuries: Shatavari appears to support hormonal balance across multiple stages of life, from menstrual irregularities and PCOS to perimenopause and menopause.

At the same time, I rarely view hormones in isolation.

This is why I often begin with the General Female Endocrine Packets as a foundational strategy.

Why?

Because many hormonal symptoms may be signals that the body is asking for:
• better nutrition
• better mineral status
• improved resilience to stress
• endocrine support
• and support for the systems that help maintain balance over time

The goal is not simply to change a symptom.

The goal is to support the whole woman.

🌊 Support the whole cycle.
🌿 Support the whole woman.

Because when every step flows, balance becomes possible.

05/26/2026

Most people think of fiber as a “digestive” conversation.

But what if fiber was also part of a sleep conversation?

We are beginning to see more and more research connecting higher fiber intake with:
✔ deeper sleep
✔ falling asleep faster
✔ more stable blood sugar overnight
✔ improved gut-brain communication
✔ reduced inflammation

One recent study found that individuals consuming more fiber experienced more deep sleep and less light sleep.

This is important because many people are chasing sleep with:

melatonin
gummies
sedatives
alcohol
“sleepy time” hacks

…while overlooking foundational physiology.

Your body does not just “turn sleep on.”
It creates sleep through chemistry, rhythm, blood sugar stability, nervous system balance, mineral status, and yes, the health of the microbiome.

Fiber helps feed beneficial gut bacteria, which produce compounds that influence inflammation, stress response, neurotransmitters, and even the nervous system itself.

In many ways, the modern low-fiber diet may be creating a nervous system that struggles to fully settle.

The encouraging news?

Small daily choices matter.

More:
🥦 vegetables
🫐 berries
🥑 avocados
🌰 nuts & seeds
🫘 beans
🍠 root vegetables

…may not only support digestion and longevity
they may help create the biological environment for better sleep.

Sometimes the body is not “broken.”

Sometimes it is underfed in the very things that help it feel safe enough to rest.

Excellent article here from The Optimist Daily:
“5 Nutrition Tips to Fall Asleep Faster and Sleep Soundly.”

https://www.optimistdaily.com/2025/01/5-nutrition-tips-to-fall-asleep-faster-and-sleep-soundly/

And remember:
The slippery slope works both ways.

Small healing choices compound too. 🌙

The link between nutrition and restful sleep: small changes to your diet can lead to big improvements in your sleep quality.

05/19/2026

One of our favorite things lately has been Dustin Strong, Holistic Nutritionist & Wellness Specialist making short videos examining the health topics everyone is suddenly talking about online.

TikTok, Instagram, podcasts, YouTube…

Every day someone asks us about something new.

This week alone:
• Bee Sting Therapy
• Plasmalogens
• Sea Sq**rts (yes… Sea Sq**rts 😂)

And because someone asked about Sea Sq**rts, we ended up diving deep into the research and made a video breaking down the clinical perspective behind the conversation.

Honestly, we genuinely enjoy this process.

The videos push us to investigate, learn more, think critically, and hopefully provide a calmer, more thorough perspective in a world of fast headlines and viral claims.

Dustin is getting very close to a personal goal of 1,000 YouTube subscribers - currently sitting at 970 - and every share, comment, and subscription truly helps more than you know.

One important thing:

If there’s a topic you’d like him to investigate or make a video about, leave it in the comments on one of the videos. That engagement genuinely helps the channel grow and also gives him great ideas for what people are actually curious about.

So keep the questions coming.

Apparently… even Sea Sq**rts can turn into an interesting conversation about brain health and longevity.

What does a sea creature have to do with brain health and cognitive aging?In this video, Dustin Strong explores the fascinating connection between sea sq**rt...

05/14/2026

VERY IMPORTANT PSA

Turns out… that afternoon nap may not be laziness after all. 😄

A new study found that older adults who took short afternoon naps showed better cognitive performance, memory, language function, and orientation compared to non-nappers.

Translation:

Grandpa wasn’t sleeping through the baseball game…
he was protecting his brain. 🧠

The important detail:
These people were STILL sleeping about 6.5 hours at night.

So the nap wasn’t compensating for exhaustion…
it was adding restorative support.

The researchers did warn that naps over 2 hours may start working against you.

So:
20–45 minute “strategic neurological intervention” = probably wise.

3-hour accidental coma on the recliner after lunch = maybe less ideal. 😄

Happy napping.

05/12/2026

What if headaches were not random…
but meaningful messages from the body?

One of the things I appreciate most about Dr. Scott Vrzal’s work is that he consistently encourages people to stop viewing symptoms as isolated “mistakes” and instead begin asking:

👉 “What is the body trying to communicate?”

That philosophy is at the heart of this upcoming 8-week intensive:

🧠 Turn Pain into a Clinical Roadmap
with Dr. Scott Vrzal
& a final integrative class with Dr. Michael Gaeta

📅 May 5, 12, 19, 26, June 2, 9, 16 & 23

This course explores how specific headache patterns may act as diagnostic clues pointing toward deeper systemic imbalance.

Topics include:

Liver/Gallbladder patterns
Digestive pH imbalance
Pituitary stress patterns
Colon and detoxification burden
Thyroid & adrenal involvement
Hormonal clearance patterns
Metabolic weakness and chronic headaches

Instead of simply suppressing symptoms, this course explores how to:
✔ uncover root causes
✔ understand the body’s “language”
✔ build more intelligent clinical strategies
✔ and create greater long-term resilience

What makes this especially valuable is that it is not just theory.

Dr. Vrzal is one of the most clinically observant practitioners I know, and Dr. Michael Gaeta brings an incredibly thoughtful functional medicine perspective to the final integration week.

Whether you are:

a healthcare practitioner
someone struggling with chronic headaches
or simply fascinated by the body’s interconnected systems…

…I think this will challenge and expand the way you think about health.

One of my favorite ideas from this course:

🧠 “The body doesn’t make random mistakes.”

And honestly, I believe there is tremendous wisdom in learning how to listen more carefully to what it may be trying to tell us.

PLUS:
There is a FREE downloadable “Clinical Pattern Headache Map” available to help begin decoding these patterns immediately.

This is the kind of education that changes the way you see symptoms forever.

Turn Pain into a Clinical Roadmap An Interactive Eight Week Course with Dr Scott Vrzal and a final class with Dr Michael Gaeta May 5, 12, 19, 26, June 2,…

05/07/2026

One of the things we talk about constantly at Strong On Health is this:

The landscape of health and healing is changing incredibly fast.

Which means we should be very careful before accepting permanent limitations on what the body may one day be capable of restoring or regenerating.

A fascinating example is emerging research connected to MIT and Frequency Therapeutics exploring regenerative approaches to hearing loss by stimulating the regrowth of tiny hair cells inside the cochlea.

For decades, the assumption was often:
“Once hearing cells are damaged, they are gone.”

Now researchers are asking:
“What if that assumption is incomplete?”

That shift matters.

Not because we should overpromise outcomes…
but because it reminds us that the future of healthcare is still being written.

This is especially important for people who have quietly accepted hearing decline as an unavoidable part of aging simply because they were never shown that research, regenerative medicine, nutrition, inflammation science, mitochondrial health, nervous system support, and biotechnology are all evolving rapidly.

This is why I believe curiosity is one of the most important qualities in healthcare.

The future may not belong to rigid thinking.

It may belong to practitioners and patients willing to continue exploring possibilities responsibly and intelligently.

Dr. Vrzal and I recently discussed this broader topic in our podcast:

“Can Nutrition Really Save Your Hearing? Truth or Trend?”

Because while regenerative medicine advances, we should still continue asking foundational questions:

What nutrients support healthy nerve function?
What role does inflammation play?
How much does circulation matter?
Could lifestyle and metabolic health influence hearing more than we once realized?

The future of healing may look very different than the past.

And that should give people hope.

Article:

The MIT spinout Frequency Therapeutics uses a new kind of druggable regenerative therapy that targets progenitor cells to create hair cells of the inner ear and reverse hearing loss.

05/06/2026

One of the things we talk about often is that health is all about balance — not just “more” or “less” of a hormone.

Testosterone is important for energy, strength, mood, metabolism, and vitality… but we also have to pay attention to how much testosterone is being converted into DHT through the 5-alpha reductase enzyme. Excess DHT can contribute to hair thinning and other issues in some people.

That’s why we appreciate seeing more conversations about REAL FOOD strategies that may help support healthier hormone balance naturally.

This article from The Optimist Daily highlights several foods connected to supporting healthy hair and helping reduce excess DHT activity, including:

🌱 Green tea
🎃 Pumpkin seeds
🧅 Onions
🌿 Turmeric
🫛 Edamame

Many of these are things we already recommend regularly because they support much more than hair health — they also provide antioxidants, minerals, anti-inflammatory compounds, and overall metabolic support.

We especially love seeing pumpkin seeds and green tea getting more attention because they are simple, affordable, and realistic additions for most people.

Natural health isn’t usually about one magic solution. It’s about consistently giving the body the nutrients and support it needs to function the way it was designed to.

More options = more ways for people to find what works for them. 💚

Here’s the article if you’d like to read it:

Discover foods that can help prevent hair loss by naturally bringing DHT levels down.

05/06/2026

Please join us in the clinic next week ~ along with our friends and neighbors Rooted Wellness Chiropractic ~ for meaningful discussion and nutritious, delicious foods. 💚