Harris Whole Health

03/20/2026

A good read, and out this month: Current and emerging approaches to manage chronic inflammatory gut disorders

Chronic inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), remain challenging to manage due to complex etiologies, heterogeneous disease ...

03/12/2026

I get a huge amount of push back for any recommendations to limit coffee. So I was really happy to see this research showing that coffee probably isn't a problem for reflux or Barretts for *most* (but not all) people. So if coffee doesn't seem to bother you, don't worry about it, as long as it's not sweetened, and as long as you're getting your veggies and fruit.

Recent studies show that coffee consumption’s role in gastrointestinal disorders, from GERD to cancer, is nuanced, underscoring the need for individual assessment.

03/10/2026

went out to plant peas, found a few little cuties that overwintered. I would have thought the harsh frost would have ruined the texture, but they were tasty.

03/05/2026

Did you know that Medicare only covers renal disease (stage 4 and beyond) and diabetes? It's unfortunate. That means that people with Celiac, inflammatory disease, IBS, cancer, (and the list goes on...) can't get coverage, and many private plans follow Medicare guidelines. If you think this should change, there's currently a bill in Congress, and you can support it here:

Introduced in the Senate by Sens. Collins (ME) and Peters (MI) and U.S. House of Representatives by U.S. Reps. Robin Kelly (IL) and Jen Kiggans (VA), the Medical Nutrition Therapy Act (H.R.6199 and S. 3934) would expand coverage of medical nutrition...

02/28/2026

there's a lot of suspicion that dairy can raise the risk of inflammatory bowel disease. But does it really? The newest meta analysis of prospective data looking at almost 200,000 people suggests no, likely it's protective, especially yogurt, and especially for UC. Obviously the usual "more research needed" caveats...

02/27/2026

I do recommend GERD pillows a lot. Hey, no real side effects...but there are fewer studies on them, so it's nice to see a new one comparing them to PPIs and finding they're just as effective as an evening PPI, and they help with sleep quality.

The wedge pillow showed comparable efficacy to evening PPI in relieving nocturnal reflux symptoms, indicating its potential as an alternative management strategy.

02/15/2026

POTS, HRT & menopause? just out! we have more questions than answers, but it's nice to see the beginnings of data on the topic

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), characterized by a rise in heart rate of at least 30 beats per minute from supine to standing position without accompanying orthostatic hypotension, is one of the most common autonomic disorders with disabling cardiovascular and neurologic manifestat...

02/12/2026

choline doesn't get enough love, but it may be one of the reasons medications like mestinon (Pyridostigmine) works for POTS.

AbstractBackground. Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a common autonomic disorder of heterogeneous pathophysiology involving relative sym

02/05/2026

there are a lot of harms of weight stigma. it's also inflammatory. yep. not surprisingly, it increases emotional stress, but it also it increases IL-6, TNF alpha and other measures of inflammation. So it's difficult to separate out the impact of weight vs weight stigma. Keirns NG, Keirns BH, Tsotsoros CE, Layman HM, Stout ME, Sciarrillo CM, Emerson SR, Byrd-Craven J, Krems JA, Pearl RL, Tomiyama AJ, Hawkins MAW. The Acute Inflammatory Effects of Weight Stigma: An Experimental Pilot Study. Stigma Health. 2025 Aug;10(3):567-571. doi: 10.1037/sah0000487.

Weight stigma is a chronic stressor and may contribute to cardiometabolic health risk. This pilot study tests an experimental protocol exploring acute inflammation as a potential biological mechanism connecting weight stigma and disease risk. ...

02/03/2026

really great review on the fundamentals of POTS (not diet, but still; great overview)

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a complex disorder mainly of orthostatic intolerance, often accompanied by a spectrum of symptoms related to autonomic nervous system dysfunction. Although the diagnostic criteria require an orthostatic challenge test, the associated symptom burden...

02/01/2026

I've been getting some wonderful Qs about GLP1s in my EDS/HSD patients, so I put together a quick post:

Posted on February 1, 2026February 1, 2026 by Cheryl HarrisWhat I wish patients with bendy bodies heard before starting GLP-1s First, I’m not against GLP-1 meds. Tools are tools; they seem to have potential as anti-inflammatory medications, especially for people with MCAS, and that’s some really...

01/30/2026

out yesterday...https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1114634