We are moving all episodes of The Health Bridge to the Urban Monk! If you're a fan of Pedram Shojai, you might already know he has another podcast titled The Urban Monk! If you're already subscribed to both shows, you don't have to do anything. But if you aren't subscribed to The Urban Monk, just search for the show in iTunes! It will be the same Health Bridge show, still released on Mondays, but with the added bonus of Urban Monk episodes on Thursdays!

We were having trouble trying to separate Pedram across two separate shows and decided to focus on just one feed so that we can just bring you the best content without trying to split it up across two feeds.

Just search "The Urban Monk" in iTunes!

You may have heard that a big part being in shape is the role of genetics. It might be easy enough for Chris Evans to be in shape, he's born with those good genes. For the rest of us, are we just stuck fighting our genetics to get that flat belly? Today's guest, Dr. Sharon Moalem, suggests that there's a way to work WITH our DNA even if we weren't born to get the biceps of Captain America. How can we get in touch with our genetics? How do we know what kind of genes we might have? Once we know what actions will help us work with our genes? What effects can result if we follow Dr. Moalem's model?

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We have heard of people having all sorts of various out-of-body experiences when having near-death experiences. Today Pedram welcomes a guest to The Health Bridge who has had an experience of his own, but is also a doctor with over thirty years of experience as a cardio anesthesiologist. How did his experience of leaving his body change him? What did he experience and see when his consciousness left his body? How did his background in the medical field frame his understanding of what his consciousness went through?

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Anyone with kids knows how hard it can be to get them to eat fruits and vegetables. It's an even harder battle when you have to fight the advertisements they may see for less nutritional choices. Today's guest on The Health Bridge is an assistant professor of Consumer Sciences at Ohio State University who has done a lot of research into food advertisements and how they affect children. Dr. Drew Hanks is a behavioral economist whose primary interests are in consumer food choices and the economic and psychological factors that influence these decisions. What role does advertisement play in the food choices we make? How does the branding we see in grocery stores affect what we eat at home? How does the food industry influence what food is available to children in their school lunch rooms?

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Today's guest on The Health Bridge is a man focused on solutions. Dr. Andrew Lustig volunteers his time, energy, and knowledge to people in need all over the globe. He is the founder and president of Global Outreach Doctors which gathers a team of dedicated medical professionals who volunteer their time and expertise. The difference though with Global Outreach Doctors is that they provide both western and eastern medical practitioners. Not only are there doctors, nurses, and paramedics, but also naturopaths, homeopaths, acupuncturists, and even psychologists. What does it mean to people to provide health services beyond the general medical care?

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With the rise of social media and all of its forms, between Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and Snapchat, it's hard to determine a post that seems like genuine sharing and one that is posted just to try to get as much attention as possible. How do we determine what is narcissistic behavior? To help Pedram with this issue, today's guest is a clinical psychologist and instructor of Psychology for Harvard Medical School, Dr. Craig Malkin. He has written articles providing advice and insight on relationships for publications such as Psychology Today, Time, Women's Health, Men's Health, and the Huffington Post. What makes a person a narcissist? Is narcissism more prevalent nowadays with the daily use of social media?

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For the past several years in health care, it seems like the "gut" has been on everyone's mind. Pedram has talked at length with various guests about the gut and its processes on this program, but in this episode, he welcomes Dr. Emeran Mayer, a professor of medicine at UCLA, to discuss how the gut isn't just a self-contained system doing its thing automatically. No, Dr. Mayer joins the program to discuss how the mind and its processes can also affect the gut. Dr. Mayer has been the go-to researcher on brain-gut interations for nearly 25 years. What is the mind-gut connection? What role does the mind play in gut health? In what ways can we improve mental and physical health when focusing on the mind-gut connection? 

Many of us who have struggled with our weight surely have tried a good variety of methods to reach our weight goals. There's the obvious "eat less, exercise more" that we start with before moving on to any variety of dieting plans. But what if there was a way to optimize our own hormones to help with the weight loss? Well today Pedram welcomes to the program Dr. Warren Willey. He's a board-certified osteopathic physician and the medical director of a hormone management and medical weight loss center. He believes the simple "eat less, exercise more" method doesn't cut it and weight loss is more about what you eat, how you eat, and when you eat. It's also a matter of using food to adjust and control your hormones. Why doesn't eating less and exercising more work for everyone? How can food be used to optimize our hormones? What hormones can even be regulated?

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Did you know that 70% of your immune system is located in your gut? So if your digestive system is off, it could possibly lead to some other serious health problems such as chronic inflammation, allergies, autoimmune disease, eczema, psoriasis, diabetes, and even arthritis. What does it mean to have an off system? What is leaky gut? Today's guest is an expert on diagnosing, treating, and preventing leaky gut. Dr. Josh Axe is a doctor of natural medicine and clinical nutritionist who specializes in teaching people how to use food as medicine. Leaky gut is a relatively new term, is it actually a new phenomenon or are we only recently beginning to understand the digestive system better? What is the cause of leaky gut? What are the symptoms and how common is it? Josh also talks about the importance of having a good relationship to dirt, but why? What will that do for our general health?

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Depression affects 14.8 million American adults and women experience it at twice the rate of men. According to the World Health Organization it is the leading cause of disability worldwide, but the National Institute of Health reports that 80% of those treated for depression show an improvement generally between 4 to 6 weeks. Today's guest joins the program to discuss another possible way to help lessen depression. Dr. Kelly Brogan, a holistic women's health psychiatrist, helps treat depression by not just focusing on the mind, but the whole body. For starters, what is the clinical definition of depression? What are the truths and misconceptions of depression? How does depression manifest itself in people? Dr. Brogan discusses the use of antidepressants and how she doesn't always think they're the best treatment. How do they work? What are the pros and cons of taking antidepressants? And what is the actual biology behind depression?

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Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death with an estimated 600,000 deaths annually in the U.S. alone. That means every 60 seconds someone in the U.S. dies from heart disease. To talk about these staggering numbers, Pedram Shojai welcomes Dr. Joel Fuhrman to The Health Bridge. Dr. Fuhrman is here to discuss the ways in which heart disease can actually be reversed and how it is not just a natural consequence of aging. Dr. Fuhrman is a board-certified family physician, a New York Times best-selling author, and an internationally recognized expert on nutrition and natural healing. What are ways to reverse heart disease? What are ways to prevent it in the first place? What role does food and diet play in affecting our chances of getting heart disease? In what ways has modern science and healthcare taken a handle on treating heart disease?