Dr. Michael Ruscio, DC

Dr. Michael Ruscio, DC Get Healthy - and Get Back to Your Life! Dr. Michael Ruscio, DC is a clinician & researcher Serving patients in the U.S. via Zoom.

With his clinical and research teams, Dr. Ruscio, DC scours existing studies to inform his ongoing clinical research, patient care, and guidance for health seekers and fellow clinicians around the world. His primary focus is digestive health and its impact on other facets of health, including energy, sleep, mood, and thyroid function and optimization. Dr. Ruscio’s, DC research has been published i

n peer-reviewed medical journals, and he speaks at integrative medical conferences across the globe. While actively seeing patients in his clinic, he also runs an influential blog and podcast, as well as a newsletter for functional medicine practitioners. For more information on how to become a patient, please contact our office.

Evidence-based gut care follows a logical sequence:1. Identify what's wrong (with validated testing, not guesswork)2. Re...
05/19/2026

Evidence-based gut care follows a logical sequence:

1. Identify what's wrong (with validated testing, not guesswork)

2. Remove the problem (infections, overgrowths, triggers)

3. Restore balance (microbiome, motility, mucosal integrity)

4. Support the system (diet, sleep, stress regulation — in that order)

That's it. Four steps. The industry complicates it because complexity sells.

Most of the supplements you've been told you need haven't been tested in well-designed clinical trials. Most of the protocols you've followed were built around products, not outcomes.

I'm not saying supplements are useless - some are genuinely effective. But the foundation of gut healing isn't found in a supplement stack. It's found in an accurate diagnosis and a protocol built around it.

If I woke up tomorrow with the gut symptoms my patients describe:Bloating, fatigue, brain fog, inconsistent digestion - ...
05/17/2026

If I woke up tomorrow with the gut symptoms my patients describe:

Bloating, fatigue, brain fog, inconsistent digestion - I wouldn't automatically start with a restrictive diet or a long supplement list built off intuition.

I'd start with a simple, structured process.

Because one of the biggest misconceptions in gut health is that there’s a single fix.

There isn’t.

In fact, as we outline clinically:

👉 “There’s no magic bullet to fix your gut.”

What actually works is a sequence:

1. Establish a baseline
Track symptoms, timelines, and triggers so you can measure progress.

2. Build the foundation
Diet + targeted support (like probiotics when appropriate)—not random guessing.

3. Fix the lifestyle drivers

Sleep, stress, and exercise all directly influence the gut microbiome and digestion.

This is where most people get stuck—

They look for a shortcut instead of building the system.

But when you focus on the right sequence, improvements are not only possible—they’re sustainable.

If you feel lost with your gut health—
Don’t do more.
Do this in the right order.

Gut-associated lymphoid tissue - GALT - is the largest immune organ in your body.When the gut is inflamed, permeable, or...
05/16/2026

Gut-associated lymphoid tissue - GALT - is the largest immune organ in your body.

When the gut is inflamed, permeable, or chronically infected, that immune system activates. Systemically. Which is why patients with unresolved gut issues often also deal with joint pain, skin conditions, brain fog, and autoimmune flares.

This isn't a coincidence.

Treating the gut addresses the immune system by extension. We see this in patients who come in primarily for joint pain or fatigue - and improve dramatically once their underlying gut issues are resolved.

If you have chronic, systemic symptoms that don't respond to treatment - the gut is always worth investigating. Often, it's the center of it all.

05/16/2026

Modern life places an enormous amount of stress on the nervous system.

For many people, the constant input never really stops, and your nervous system wasn't designed for this much input.

Work. Notifications. Noise. Decisions. Health struggles. Poor sleep. Mental overload.

Stress has even been called the modern-day equivalent to smoking because of how deeply it can affect overall health.
That’s why supporting the nervous system matters.

Practices like meditation, walking outside, and slowing down can absolutely help regulate stress physiology.

But when someone is already struggling with chronic fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, or burnout, adding more to their plate can sometimes feel overwhelming.

The goal shouldn’t be to create a perfect healing routine overnight.

The goal is progress with minimal friction.

That’s where tools like vagal nerve stimulation may offer additional support by helping calm and regulate the nervous system in a way that feels more accessible for some people.

Sustainable healing often starts with small interventions that your body and lifestyle can realistically support.

Our full video on this topic is available now on YouTube.

05/16/2026

Your thyroid naturally creates oxidative stress when making thyroid hormone.

That’s why selenium matters.

The thyroid contains more selenium per gram than almost any tissue in the body because selenium helps power protective antioxidant enzymes like glutathione peroxidase.

Without enough support, that inflammatory stress may become harder to buffer against.

Research has shown that just two Brazil nuts daily can significantly raise selenium levels.
Eating just TWO Brazil nuts daily increased blood selenium levels by 64%.

Even more interesting? Brazil nuts performed slightly better than selenium supplements for improving selenium status and glutathione peroxidase activity.

That said, both food and supplements can be effective depending on the person and context.

If you struggle with thyroid symptoms, nutrient status is one important piece of the bigger picture.

The number of patients I see who've been told "your tests are normal" — while still dealing with daily bloating, pain, a...
05/15/2026

The number of patients I see who've been told "your tests are normal" — while still dealing with daily bloating, pain, and dysfunction — is something I find genuinely troubling.

Normal on a standard panel doesn't mean nothing is wrong. It means you haven't found it yet.

Functional gut conditions, SIBO, dysbiosis, low stomach acid, motility disorders - none of these show up on a standard blood panel. They require specific testing, clinical pattern recognition, and a provider willing to investigate rather than dismiss.

If you've been told everything looks fine but you still feel terrible: keep asking. The problem is real. The testing has just been incomplete.

I've had patients come in after years of restriction. No gluten. No dairy. No FODMAPs. No social life.And they still fel...
05/14/2026

I've had patients come in after years of restriction. No gluten. No dairy. No FODMAPs. No social life.

And they still felt terrible.

If the root issue is SIBO, a parasitic infection, dysbiosis, or low stomach acid - no amount of elimination is going to resolve it. You'll feel slightly better, slightly worse, depending on what you ate that week. But the underlying problem stays.

Healing the gut requires identifying what's broken. Then fixing it - systematically, not aggressively.

The goal isn't to eat as few foods as possible. The goal is to get to a point where you can eat without fear of your gut revolting. That's what resolution looks like.

If you feel like your metabolism is “slow”…Most advice pushes you toward restriction.But that’s often the wrong directio...
05/14/2026

If you feel like your metabolism is “slow”…

Most advice pushes you toward restriction.

But that’s often the wrong direction.

Instead, we see better outcomes when patients focus on supporting metabolic function, not suppressing it.

Here’s what that looks like:

1. Gut support

Healthy digestion helps you absorb the nutrients required for metabolic processes.

2. Adequate nutrition

Undereating can signal the body to conserve energy—slowing metabolic output.

3. Protein + whole foods

These help support muscle, satiety, and energy balance.

4. Foundational habits

Sleep, stress, and movement all directly influence metabolic hormones.

Research on metabolism-supporting foods also highlights the role of balanced, whole-food nutrition—not extreme restriction—as a sustainable approach.

A “faster metabolism” isn’t built through punishment - It’s built through support.

05/12/2026

Looking for a simple way to support your gut while traveling — or while working on SIBO recovery?

New clinical research highlights the therapeutic potential of butyrate supplementation:

• In patients with IBS and type 2 diabetes, 3 months of butyrate supplementation led to a 54% SIBO eradication rate — compared to just 5% in the placebo group.

• In another study, butyrate significantly reduced traveler’s diarrhea risk. Incidence dropped from 40% in the placebo group to just 4.5% in the butyrate group.

Butyrate helps support the gut lining, microbiome balance, and healthy inflammation levels — which may explain why it can be so helpful for both gut recovery and travel support.

If you’re traveling soon, adding butyrate to your gut health toolkit may be a simple preventative strategy worth considering.

I've seen patients clear SIBO multiple times — and then relapse.That's not bad luck. That's an incomplete protocol.SIBO ...
05/12/2026

I've seen patients clear SIBO multiple times — and then relapse.

That's not bad luck. That's an incomplete protocol.

SIBO needs a hospitable environment to develop: slowed motility, low stomach acid, structural abnormalities, immune suppression.

If you treat the overgrowth without addressing what allowed it to take hold, you're cleaning a wound without stopping the bleeding.

The most common drivers we identify in the clinic:

→ Motility dysfunction (the migrating motor complex isn't clearing bacteria between meals)

→ Hypothyroidism (slows the entire GI tract)

→ Post-infectious changes following food poisoning

→ Adhesions from prior surgery or endometriosis

→ Chronic stress dysregulating gut immunity

Treating SIBO is step two. Step one is understanding why it happened. We don't skip step one.

These are the most commonly misattributed symptoms I see in patients who've been "treated" for years without resolution:...
05/11/2026

These are the most commonly misattributed symptoms I see in patients who've been "treated" for years without resolution:

1. Bloating after meals — often blamed on food sensitivity, frequently caused by SIBO

2. Alternating constipation and diarrhea — often labeled IBS, often driven by small intestinal bacterial overgrowth

3. Brain fog and fatigue — often attributed to lifestyle, frequently connected to gut-derived inflammation

4. Chronic abdominal discomfort — often classified as functional, often treatable once the underlying infection is identified

SIBO - small intestinal bacterial overgrowth - is one of the most under-diagnosed gut conditions in conventional practice. It's not rare. It's just not tested for routinely.

If this list sounds familiar, ask for a breath test. It's non-invasive, well-validated, and changes the treatment path entirely.

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