About Eat Dirt
• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper Wave (March 29, 2016)
In recent decades, modern “improvements” to our lifestyle and food supply have come with a cost: our health. From pesticides in our soil to the refrigeration and pasteurization of our food to an overreliance on antibiotics and a preoccupation with sanitizing everything in sight, our desire to be clean is actually putting us at risk for a host of chronic illnesses.
That’s because as we’ve shifted our focus to living a germ-free life, our bodies—specifically, our digestive systems—have taken a hit. Starved of actual nutrition, fed toxic levels of processed foods, and overtaxed by chemicals, stress, and excessive antimicrobial use, we’ve developed microscopic tears in our intestinal walls, leading to the widespread inflammation and weakened immunity that characterize a condition known as “leaky gut syndrome.”
In Eat Dirt, functional medicine practitioner Dr. Josh Axe explains the hidden causes and widespread effects of leaky gut syndrome, a condition that is thought to be ground zero for many of the country’s most confounding health crises—including allergies, asthma, food sensitivities, diabetes, digestive diseases, arthritis, thyroid conditions, and even frustratingly difficult-to-treat conditions such as chronic fatigue and autism.
Dr. Axe explains that 70 percent of our immune system is located in the gut—when it’s under attack, our health suffers. In leaky gut syndrome, a number of factors—including insufficient exposure to“dirt”—leads to the breakdown of the intestinal wall, allowing food, bacteria, and toxins to seep into the bloodstream. In Eat Dirt, Dr. Axe reveals that the solution, while counterintuitive, is almost effortless: we just need to welcome a little more “dirt” back into our lives.
From ditching hand sanitizers, using essential oils for personal products, reducing antibiotic use, and consuming local honey to spending more time outside, eating seasonally, managing stress, and incorporating probiotic-rich foods into our diets, Dr. Axe provides specific guidance to help everyone get a little “dirty.”
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About Dr. Josh Axe
Dr. Josh Axe is a doctor of natural medicine and a clinical nutritionist with a passion to help people get healthy by using food as medicine. He founded one of the largest functional medicine clinics in the United States and runs the popular health website www.draxe.com, where you can find recipes, natural remedies, videos, nutrition advice, and fitness tips. Dr. Axe is a board-certified doctor of natural medicine (DNM), earned his doctorate in chiropractic at Palmer College (DC), and is a certified nutrition specialist (CNS) from the American College of Nutrition. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Chelsea.
Find out more about Dr. Axe at his website, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Tour Stops
Thursday, March 31st: Becklist
Tuesday, April 5th: Books and Things
April 5, 2016: Delish Knowledge
Thursday, April 7th: I’m Shelf-ish
Thursday, April 7th: Lavish Bookshelf
Monday, April 11th: Just Commonly
Thursday, April 14th: Helen’s Book Blog
Monday, April 18th: Good Girl Gone Redneck
Monday, April 18th: Evelyn Parham
Tuesday, April 19th: Clean’s the New Black
Wednesday, April 20th: Luxury Reading
Friday, April 22nd: Create With Joy