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 in 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.

04/04/2026

If you can’t stick to a diet, it’s probably not a discipline problem.

In research on the SSRD (low sucrose, low starch) diet, participants saw a significant drop in sugar cravings in just 4 weeks.

Why this matters:

Most diets fail because of cravings—not because you don’t know what to eat.

When cravings are high:

• You “cheat” more often

• Compliance drops

• Results stall

But when cravings go down:

• Diets feel easier

• Less willpower is required

• Results become sustainable

Cravings aren’t just mental—they’re often driven by how your gut processes and responds to certain carbs.

The best diet isn’t the strictest one—it’s the one you can actually stick to.

04/03/2026

What if improving your gut symptoms was this predictable?

In a clinical trial, ~80% of people improved on both of these diets:

• Low FODMAP

• Low sucrose, low starch (SSRD)

Even more surprising?

1 in 4 people had complete symptom resolution.

What improved:

• Bloating + abdominal pain

• Diarrhea or constipation

• Gas, reflux, nausea

• Food intolerances

But it didn’t stop at the gut…

Systemic improvements included:

• Better mood

• Less fatigue

• Reduced joint + muscle pain

• Fewer headaches

When you improve gut function, you often improve whole-body symptoms.

And while both diets worked—there’s a reason many patients prefer SSRD (we’ll break that down next).

04/03/2026

Bloating, loose stools, reflux, or food sensitivities that don’t make sense?

It may not be the food—it could be how you’re digesting it.

A lesser-known enzyme issue (sucrase-isomaltase deficiency) may affect up to 1 in 4 people with chronic gut symptoms.

When you can’t properly break down certain carbs (like sucrose and starch), they become fuel for gut microbes → leading to:

• Gas + bloating

• Diarrhea or loose stools

• Reflux

• Even systemic symptoms like joint pain or skin issues

A diet called the SSRD (low sucrose, low starch) has been shown to perform as well as—if not better than—low FODMAP for improving symptoms.

And importantly:

✔ Easier to follow

✔ Helps reduce cravings

✔ Supports gut balance beyond just this enzyme issue

If foods keep triggering symptoms, the problem may not be what you’re eating—but how your body is breaking it down.

Bloating isn’t random — it’s often driven by what’s happening in your gut.When certain bacteria overgrow, they ferment s...
04/02/2026

Bloating isn’t random — it’s often driven by what’s happening in your gut.

When certain bacteria overgrow, they ferment specific carbs and produce gas. This is one of the most common drivers of persistent bloating.

A low FODMAP diet helps reduce that fermentation by lowering the foods that feed those bacteria.

And research shows this can improve symptoms quickly — sometimes within just a few weeks.

This is why it’s often one of the first strategies used for symptoms like:

• Bloating

• Gas

• Abdominal discomfort

If you’re constantly bloated, this is worth exploring.

03/31/2026

Fixing my gut health helped improve my depression, brain fog, and fatigue.

And I didn’t realize at the time they were connected.

What many people don’t realize:

Mood symptoms like:

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Brain fog

• Low motivation

are commonly seen in people with gut dysfunction (including IBS and SIBO).

Even more surprising - you don’t always need obvious digestive symptoms for this to happen.

Gut-targeted treatments - including probiotics and gut-friendly diets - have been shown in clinical trials to improve mood symptoms.

📌 Save this if you’ve struggled with brain fog or low mood

📤 Share this with someone dealing with depression or anxiety that feels unexplained

03/29/2026

Fatigue. Brain fog. Constipation. Bloating.

These are some of the most common symptoms seen in both hypothyroidism and SIBO.

Research has found that hypothyroidism is strongly linked to SIBO.

In a study of 1,800+ patients, hypothyroidism was one of the most tightly associated conditions with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth—more than other expected risk factors like medication use or prior surgery.

Clinical studies suggest that when SIBO and gut health are addressed (including with targeted therapies + probiotics), patients may see:

• Lower TSH levels

• Reduced need for thyroid medication in some cases

• Improved fatigue severity

Healthy foods aren’t supposed to cause bloating.But if you feel worse after vegetables, fruits, or “clean eating”… there...
03/28/2026

Healthy foods aren’t supposed to cause bloating.

But if you feel worse after vegetables, fruits, or “clean eating”… there’s usually a reason.

👉 Research shows 60–80% of people with gut symptoms react to high FODMAP foods—not because the foods are bad, but because of underlying gut imbalances like:

• SIBO

• Dysbiosis

This can lead to bloating, gas, abdominal pain, and fatigue.

It’s often not the food—it’s the gut.

And when the gut improves, food tolerance often improves too.

📌 Save this if you’ve ever felt worse after healthy foods

03/26/2026

IBS bloating isn’t always about “too much gas.”

In many cases, it’s about how sensitive the gut becomes to that pressure.

👉 One key player? Histamine

Histamine is part of the immune and inflammatory response - and research shows it’s strongly involved in IBS symptoms.

Inflammation and histamine can make the gut more sensitive to normal levels of gas.

So you may not be producing more gas -

you may just be feeling it more intensely.

📌 Save this if bloating feels out of proportion to what you eat

03/26/2026

Most people think bloating from “healthy foods” means something is wrong with them.

It doesn’t.

👉 Up to 60–80% of people with gut issues have symptoms triggered by:

Raw vegetables

High FODMAP foods (high prebiotics)

Here’s the missing piece 👇

These foods feed gut bacteria.

And if you have:

Bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)

Dysbiosis (imbalanced gut bacteria)

You’re not feeding your body…

You’re feeding the source of the problem.

That’s why you feel:

→ More bloating

→ More gas

→ More abdominal pain

→ Even fatigue

✔️ Following a Low FODMAP diet can

→ Reduce SIBO

→ Improve IBS symptoms

→ Reduce inflammation + leaky gut

→ Lower histamine levels

💬 Comment LOW and we'll send you our LOWFOD Map Guide.

Menopause doesn’t have to mean feeling out of control. Hormone shifts - declines in estrogen, progesterone, and testoste...
03/25/2026

Menopause doesn’t have to mean feeling out of control. Hormone shifts - declines in estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone - are natural, but they don’t have to dominate your life.

Targeted lifestyle strategies can make a measurable difference: eating nutrient-dense meals, exercising strategically, prioritizing sleep, managing stress, and supporting gut and liver health all help your body process and balance hormones more effectively.

By addressing these factors, you can reduce hot flashes, fatigue, mood swings, and other common symptoms, turning menopause from a time of struggle into a transition you navigate with clarity and energy. Your hormones can work for you, not against you.

03/24/2026

Most “complex” gut cases aren’t random. There’s a pattern.

When a patient comes in with:
✔️ IBS
✔️ Chronic nausea
✔️ “Every symptom checked”

That’s a signal—not a mystery.

One overlooked root cause? Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS).

Here’s how clinicians may start connecting the dots:
→ Symptom patterns across multiple systems
→ Targeted lab testing (blood + urine)
→ Trial of mast cell support (response = key clue)
→ Simple in-office checks (heart rate changes, joint flexibility)

But here’s where it gets even more interesting…

Patients who have struggled with long-term anxiety, mood issues, or other psychological symptoms may actually have an underlying physiological driver.

Emerging evidence shows:
When MCAS is addressed → psychological symptoms can significantly improve.

If your symptoms feel widespread, inconsistent, or “hard to explain”… there may be a unifying root cause worth exploring.

Follow our Instagram for root-cause gut health content.

03/22/2026

Adequate protein intake supports both brain and muscle health.

A 2022 observational study following more than 77,000 people over 20 years found that higher protein intake was associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline.

The optimal intake in this study was roughly 20% of total calories from protein.

For many people, that translates to roughly:

• ~100g protein per day on a 2,000 calorie diet

• ~150g protein per day on a 3,000 calorie diet

A practical way to reach this target is aiming for 30–50 grams of protein per meal.

This becomes even more important with aging.

As we get older, the body becomes more anabolically resistant, meaning it becomes harder to build and maintain muscle. Maintaining muscle mass is strongly associated with overall health and longevity.

Prioritizing adequate protein intake is a simple strategy that can support both brain function and healthy aging.

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