Janese Laster, MD

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Janese Laster, MD Gut Theory Total Digestive Care is a comprehensive nutrition, weight management, and minimally invasive bariatric endoscopy practice.

10/13/2026

Apparently eggs are controversial again.🥚

Nutrition discourse loves a villain.

Eggs.

Seed oils.

Carbs.

Fruit.

Dairy.

Whatever we’re mad at this week.

The problem?

Humans don’t eat nutrients in isolation. We eat diets.

And individual health matters.

The question generally isn’t:

“Is this food GOOD or BAD?”

A better question is:

“How does this food fit into the overall eating pattern of THIS person?”

Less dramatic, I know. Now what are the algorithms wants or people for that matter.

Much more useful.

👇🏾 Okay, let’s hear it:

EGGS: 🥚 YES or NO?

And tell me WHY.

↗️ SEND this to the person in your life who gets all of their nutrition news from social media.
💌 Follow along for more content

For my nutrition guidance, book your appointment today
www.guttheoryhealth.com
888-755-4881
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10/08/2026

Sometimes the best advice is the simplest: JUST POST IT! 😂

One of my favorite unexpected moments at NEXUS was running into someone who clearly has this whole social media thing figured out. Dr. Bayo Curry-Winchell, MD, MS

Meanwhile, I was telling her about my ongoing internal debate:

I have so many things I want to share, but sometimes I overthink what to post, how to say it, whether anyone will care… and other times, between being a physician, business owner, wife, and mom, I just don’t have the ENERGY. 😩

Her advice?

JUST DO IT!

And honestly, I needed that reminder.

Because sometimes we’re so busy trying to make everything polished, educational, meaningful, and perfectly timed that we forget people also want to see the HUMAN behind the credentials.

The random conversations. The laughs. The imperfect moments. The personality.

And sometimes the content you didn’t plan is the content people connect with most.

So here’s me taking the advice in real time. 😂

Shoutout to the women at NEXUS who reminded me that showing up doesn’t always have to be so complicated.

To my fellow overthinkers: What’s stopping you from just posting it? 👀

www.guttheoryhealth.com
888-755-4881

10/01/2026

I almost forgot Gut Theory’s birthday. 😂 (but also 🫠🥴)

Which, in retrospect, may be the most accurate representation of entrepreneurship possible.

Six years ago today, October 1, 2020, I opened Gut Theory Total Digestive Care.

I had a vision for a different kind of GI practice. I did not have a six-year blueprint for everything it would become.

And somehow this past year alone brought several things I’d wanted to build for YEARS:

💜 I launched OWN IT, my physician entrepreneurship program.
💜 We launched Group Reset to expand access to structured nutrition support.
💜 We added upper endoscopy and colonoscopy to Gut Theory Surgery Center
💜 We continued growing the procedural side of the practice.

And now I’m looking toward the next chapter: More physicians helping us expand procedural access. More nursing support. More automation so our people spend less time doing things technology should do. More collaborations with other practices so we can reach more patients.

But I’m intentionally stopping today before turning this into another to-do list.

Because six years of Gut Theory only happened because people trusted us.

With their symptoms. Their weight. Their procedures. Their frustration. Their health. And sometimes their stories they hadn’t felt comfortable telling anyone else.

To every patient who has trusted me and the Gut Theory team: Thank you.

To everyone who has referred someone, shared a post, encouraged me, worked beside me or simply watched this little idea grow: Thank you.

Year 7, here we come. 💜

👇🏾If you’ve been part of the Gut Theory journey - patient, colleague, friend, team member or someone who’s just been following along - tell me how long you’ve been here.
💌 And for all my OG’s please drop some jewels!
🙏🏾 Follow & share so more people find me

www.guttheoryhealth.com
888-755-4881

10/01/2026

Some conferences are about what you learn. Some are also about who you get to be in the room with.

This week I’m headed to New York for NEXUS, where I’ll be joining a panel. And this one is certainly personal.

I’m a gastroenterologist. I’m a Black woman. I’m an entrepreneur. I’m a wife. I’m raising a little human while simultaneously trying to build things I hope will outlive me.

There aren’t always a lot of spaces where all of those identities coexist without explanation. That’s part of why community matters to me.

Not because everyone has the same story. But because sometimes it’s nice to walk into a room and realize there are people who understand pieces of yours before you say a word.

I’m looking forward to learning, reconnecting, sharing some of what I’ve learned - and being poured into a little too.

👇🏾Who’s going to be at NEXUS? Tell me below so I can find you in NYC.

Can’t wait to connect with you all!
If you haven’t signed up yet, what are you waiting for??
Blackingastro.org/events/the-nexus-conference-2026/

www.guttheoryhealth.com
888-755-4881

#

09/28/2026

You know, for as far as we have come in obesity, management and treatment, there are many things that just takes us a few steps back.

I’m so happy there’s finally being real research completed in obesity, treatment and understanding the multifaceted causes.

I truly cannot wait for some of the precision medicine work with the micro biome and different genetics to be completed.

But, one thing that frustrates is watching a complicated disease get turned into a transaction.

Buy the medication. Buy the procedure. Download the meal plan. Follow the worksheet. Done…

And somehow we’ve decided that’s “obesity care.” It isn’t.

I prescribe anti-obesity medications. I perform endoscopic bariatric procedures. I revise surgical procedures. I believe strongly in every part of the treatment modality!

But none of these tells me why this particular person gained or regained weight, what is driving hunger, what barriers exist at home, whether they’re losing muscle, what foods are culturally meaningful to them, what happens when treatment changes, or what they can realistically sustain.

And please stop giving people “personalized nutrition plans” filled with foods they don’t eat. I joke with patients every day, that if they don’t like beets, they don’t have to eat beets. There are plenty other nutritional foods and I’m sure I can find a few that they would enjoy.

And, cultural competence isn’t an extra. It is part of good medical care.

Obesity treatment shouldn’t require patients to fit themselves into the treatment. The treatment should be built around the patient.

💬 What part of weight-loss care do you wish someone had actually explained to you?
📌 Save this if you’re navigating obesity treatment.
↗️ Send it to someone who thinks obesity care begins and ends with a prescription.

For more on our approach to comprehensive obesity and GI care: link in bio.
www.guttheoryhealth.com
888-755-4881

09/23/2026

Medicine sounds VERY different when you remove the medical terminology. 😂

On any given day I may ask someone how often they p**p, ask what their p**p looks like, talk about gas, talk about bloating, put a camera down someone’s throat, put another camera somewhere else, talk about food, talk about weight, and then explain why all of those things may actually be connected. And somehow I still love what I do.

📢Healthcare people: describe YOUR job badly in one sentence.
🥇Best answer wins absolutely nothing except my respect. 😂
💌 SEND this to your favorite healthcare worker.
🩷 FOLLOW if you like learning about your gut from someone who talks about p**p professionally.

www.guttheoryhealth.com
888-755-4881

09/20/2026

You ever catch yourself doing something and think me 15 years ago would never 🤣

Welp, that’s me! Here I am.

Hope y’all are having a fabulous Saturday. Oh and Roll Tide 🏈 🐘

www.guttheoryhealth.com
888-755-4881

09/16/2026

Every time someone finds out my daughter doesn’t eat meat:
“BUT WHERE DOES SHE GET HER PROTEIN?!😂

And while I was pregnant, it was: “well, you have to eat meat now”

Meanwhile, her mother has four board certifications, including nutrition, and I promise protein did make the agenda.
Greek yogurt, milk, pumpkin seeds, chia/hemp seeds, chickpeas, black beans, lentils, quinoa, farro, spelt, tofu...there are a lot of ways to build a nutritionally complete eating pattern.

I’m not saying everyone should eat the way we do, and I’m certainly not anti-meat.

I am saying we have somehow convinced ourselves that “protein” and “meat” are synonyms.

They aren’t.

My own lipid profile once prompted a doctor to ask whether I’d had plasmapheresis, which still makes me laugh. 😂

❓Did you grow up thinking PROTEIN = MEAT? YES or NO?
⬇️Comment your favorite non-meat protein source. 💌SEND this to the person who asks vegetarians where they get protein

www.guttheoryhealth.com
888-755-4881

09/15/2026

“But I p**p every day.” I hear this all the time.

Frequency is only one part of the story.

When I’m evaluating constipation, I also want to know what the stools look like, whether you’re straining, whether you feel completely empty. And what symptoms happen around the bowel movement.

Daily does not automatically mean normal.

And that is why “drink more water and eat more fiber“ is not always the answer. 😫

❓Yes or No? Before today, did you think going every day meant you couldn’t be constipated?
💾 Save for later
💌 Send to the friend who discussed his bowel movements with you anyway. 🤣

🫶🏾 Follow for GI things I wish more patience new before they got to my office

www.guttheoryhealth.com
888-755-4881

09/14/2026

Plot twist nobody asked for: China just rejected a shipment of Argentine beef over a banned antibiotic and around the same time, the U.S. confirmed it’s opening the door to over 300,000 tons of tariff-free beef from Brazil and Argentina. 👀

To be clear: this isn’t the good stuff. Reports describe it as lean trimmings — frozen, sometimes stored for years, ground together from tens of thousands of cattle across multiple countries — mostly destined for ground beef and fast food. The quintessence of “I have no idea where this actually came from.”

I’m not here to tell you to panic or boycott your burger. I’m here to tell you this is a good moment to let something else share the protein spotlight: beans, lentils, and whole grains. Same protein punch, way more fiber, a lot more transparency about what’s actually in your bowl and as a bonus, your microbiome loves them a lot more than it loves mystery meat.

Small swap, real upside: black beans in your tacos instead of ground beef once or twice a week, lentils in your soup, chickpeas in your salad. Your protein goals don’t care where the protein came from but your gut absolutely does.

🤞🏾Are you paying closer attention to where your meat comes from lately?
⬇️Tell me in the comments.
💌Share this with the person who still thinks “protein” only means meat.

www.guttheoryhealth.com
888-755-4881

Address

5225 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Suite 200B
Washington D.C., DC
20015

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Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

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