http://Www.jodibarnett758.com/, http://www.jodibarnett.thegoodinside.com/

Harvested Health, LaPorte, IN (2026)

05/13/2026

Vitamin B12 Absorption Explained

Vitamin B12 absorption is a lot more complex than most people realize.

Your body absorbs B12 through TWO different pathways.

The first uses something called intrinsic factor, a protein made by the parietal cells in your stomach. Intrinsic factor binds to B12 and carries it into the distal ileum where it’s absorbed.

The problem? This system saturates quickly at around 1.5 mcg per dose. So once that pathway is full… it’s full.

BUT your body has a backup system.

A second pathway called passive diffusion allows about 1–2% of oral B12 to cross the intestinal lining without intrinsic factor at all. At food-level doses this barely matters. At supplement doses, it becomes extremely important.

Studies showed:
• 1 mcg dose → about 50% retained
• 5 mcg dose → about 20% retained
• 25 mcg dose → just over 5% retained

The percentage absorbed drops as doses increase… BUT the total amount absorbed continues to rise.

Example:
• 1 mcg dose absorbs ~0.5 mcg
• 1,000 mcg dose absorbs ~13 mcg total

The adult RDA is only 2.4 mcg daily.

This is why high-dose oral B12 can sometimes work even in people with low intrinsic factor or pernicious anemia.

But here’s the part most people never hear about…

Getting B12 INTO the bloodstream is only step one.

After absorption, B12 has to bind to a transport protein called transcobalamin to actually reach your cells. This biologically active form is called holotranscobalamin.

Only about 20–30% of the B12 circulating in your blood is attached to this active transporter.

That means someone can have a “normal” serum B12 level and STILL have poor cellular B12 function.

This is why functional markers like methylmalonic acid (MMA), mineral balance, digestive function, stomach acid status, and overall cellular metabolism matter so much.

I see this ALL the time in practice:
People taking supplements for years… yet still struggling with fatigue, neuropathy, brain fog, anxiety, poor detoxification, dizziness, sleep problems, and low energy.

Sometimes the issue is not what you’re taking…
It’s whether your body can actually absorb, transport, and UTILIZE it properly.

This is one reason I use HTMA (Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis) testing in my practice. Minerals like copper, iron, calcium, zinc, potassium, sodium, and magnesium all influence energy production, nervous system regulation, stomach acid production, methylation pathways, and nutrient transport.

You can’t fully understand cellular health by looking at one isolated lab marker.

If you’re exhausted, dealing with neurological symptoms, chronic stress patterns, burnout, poor recovery, or feel like “everything is normal” while your body says otherwise… it may be time to look deeper.

Dr. Jodi Barnett ND
HTMA Testing & Functional Wellness Support
219-713-4789

References:
• Adams et al. Scand J Gastroenterol. 1971
• NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, 2024
• Allen et al. J Nutr. 2018

05/13/2026

Artisan Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Enjoy my recipe. 👇👇👇
Dr. JODI 🫶

A rich bakery-style sourdough cookie recipe with soft centers, crisp edges, deep caramel flavor, and a subtle sourdough tang.
Ingredients
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup cane sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sourdough discard (unfed is fine)
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (or fresh milled flour)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
• Optional: flaky sea salt for topping
Instructions
Cream Butter & Sugars: Beat butter, brown sugar, and cane sugar together until fluffy and lighter in color.
Add Wet Ingredients: Mix in egg, vanilla extract, and sourdough discard until smooth.
Combine Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, and sea salt.
Mix Dough: Slowly add dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Chill Dough: Refrigerate dough at least 1 hour, preferably overnight for best flavor and texture.
Dont skip this step it makes a difference.

Bake: Bake at 350°F for 10–12 minutes on a parchment-lined baking sheet until edges are golden and centers are still slightly soft.

Cool: Allow cookies to cool 5–10 minutes before transferring. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt while warm if desired.

Optional Add-Ins
• Toasted pecans or walnuts
• Toffee bits
• Dried tart cherries
• Espresso powder
• Browned butter for deeper caramel flavor
Long-Fermented Version
For improved digestibility and richer flavor, cover the dough and refrigerate 24–48 hours before baking.👈

05/11/2026

Vitamin D and Brain Health: What the Research Actually Shows

Vitamin D isn’t really a vitamin in the traditional sense. It acts more like a steroid hormone, and your brain has vitamin D receptors all through it… including the exact areas where Alzheimer’s disease often starts.

A newer Framingham Heart Study analysis followed 793 adults over about 16 years. Researchers measured vitamin D levels in midlife, then later looked at brain PET scans for Alzheimer’s-related changes.

What They Found
People with higher vitamin D levels in their 30s and 40s tended to have less tau buildup later in life.
Tau is the “tangle” protein strongly linked to Alzheimer’s progression. The association showed up specifically in regions like:
Entorhinal cortex
Parahippocampal gyrus
Fusiform gyrus

These are some of the first brain areas affected in Alzheimer’s disease.

Interestingly, vitamin D was linked to lower tau, but not lower amyloid plaque buildup.
That matters because it suggests vitamin D may influence a very specific pathway rather than being some magical “Alzheimer’s prevention cure.”

Possible Mechanism
One proposed mechanism is that vitamin D may help regulate GSK-3β, an enzyme involved in tau phosphorylation.

Vitamin D also appears to help calm inflammatory activity in brain immune cells (microglia), both of which are more connected to tau damage than amyloid plaque formation.
Important Reality Check
Before the internet turns this into: “Vitamin D cures Alzheimer’s!”

Let’s keep this honest and grounded.
This was an observational study.
It shows an association, not proof of cause and effect.

The study also did not test vitamin D supplements directly. It simply measured naturally occurring blood levels.

Another important point:
The relationship was continuous. It wasn’t: “Under 30 bad, over 30 perfect.”
Higher vitamin D generally tracked with lower tau across the range studied.

And the effect size was measurable… but modest. This was not dramatic protection.
The Bigger Takeaway
Most Alzheimer’s research focuses on adults over 65, but tau buildup often begins decades earlier.

This study suggests that optimizing vitamin D status earlier in adulthood may matter more than waiting until retirement age to think about brain health.
So yes… vitamin D matters for bones.
But it also appears to matter for:
Immune signaling
Inflammation
Hormonal regulation
Potentially long-term brain aging as well
Reasonable? Yes.
Interesting? Absolutely.
Proven cure? Nope.
Dr Jodi 🫶
Citation
Mulligan et al. Neurology Open Access. 2026.
DOI: 10.1212/WN9.0000000000000057

05/10/2026

Happy Mother's day to all my peeps 💗

05/09/2026

Dr. Jodi’s STRAIGHT TALK 👇

In a healthy body, lymphatic flow moves like a river.
In a stressed, inflamed, sedentary, or chronically ill body… it can start acting more like a stagnant swamp.

And this is where so many people miss the bigger picture.

Everyone is chasing “immune boosters” while ignoring the actual MOVEMENT of the immune system itself.

Your lymphatic system is part of your body’s drainage and surveillance network. It helps transport immune cells, remove cellular waste, move proteins and fluid, and support inflammatory regulation. Unlike the cardiovascular system, the lymphatic system does not have a central pump like the heart.

It depends heavily on:
• muscle movement
• breathing
• circulation
• hydration
• tissue motion
• sleep and recovery

Translation?
If you sit all day, don’t move your body, shallow breathe, stay inflamed, and have poor circulation… your terrain changes.

Movement matters.

Now let’s talk castor oil packs because this is where people either overhype them OR dismiss them entirely.

Castor oil contains ricinoleic acid, a fatty acid studied for anti-inflammatory and skin-penetrating properties. Traditionally, castor oil packs have been used to support circulation, relaxation, tissue softness, and lymphatic movement.

Do we have massive human clinical trials proving castor oil packs “boost immunity”? No.

But we DO know:
• lymphatic flow responds to movement and tissue pressure
• manual lymphatic stimulation affects lymph transport
• castor oil demonstrates anti-inflammatory activity in experimental research
• warmth and compression can increase local circulation

Sometimes supporting the body is less about “forcing” chemistry… and more about restoring flow, movement, drainage, and balance.

That’s why I always tell patients:
The body was designed to protect itself… but stagnation changes physiology.

Move your body.
Breathe deeply.
Sweat.
Stretch.
Support drainage pathways.
Reduce inflammatory burden.

Your goal isn’t to “boost” the immune system into overdrive.
Your goal is to help the body function the way it was designed to.

References:
• Foldi M, Foldi E. Textbook of Lymphology. Elsevier.
• Olszewski WL. Lymph Stasis: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment. CRC Press.
• Vieira C, et al. Effect of ricinoleic acid in acute and subchronic experimental models of inflammation. Mediators of Inflammation. 2000.
• Schmid-Schönbein GW. Microlymphatics and lymph flow. Physiological Reviews. 1990.

📞 Dr. Jodi Barnett ND
219-713-4789

05/08/2026

# Dr. Jodi’s Health Tip 👇

Let’s talk probiotics and gut health… because there are some myths floating around out there that need busted wide open.

I can’t tell you how many of my peeps are convinced that because they’re taking a probiotic every single day, they’re “fixing” their gut.

Not exactly true.

1. Probiotics do NOT permanently move into your gut and live there forever.

That idea has gotten way overhyped.

Think about it this way:
If you eat a salad or a bowl of fruit, those foods pass through your digestive tract. They nourish you while they’re there… but they don’t set up permanent residence in your colon.

Probiotics work similarly. Most strains are transient, meaning they pass through the digestive tract temporarily. Research shows many probiotic organisms are only detectable in stool for days after stopping them, not forever.

2. Feeling better ON probiotics doesn’t necessarily mean your gut is “fixed.”

I’ve had
patients tell me:
“Dr. Jodi, I felt better while taking them… but once I stopped, my symptoms came right back.”

Exactly.

That tells me your body may have been depending on the supplement temporarily instead of rebuilding the terrain underneath the problem.

Gut healing isn’t just about throwing bugs at the issue.
It’s about:
• diet
• stomach acid
• mineral status
• inflammation
• stress
• bile flow
• nervous system balance
• feeding the beneficial bacteria already there

3. More probiotics are not always better.

Taking the SAME probiotic strain continuously for long periods can potentially contribute to microbial imbalance or overrepresentation of certain species in susceptible individuals.

The gut is supposed to be diverse and balanced.

You all hear me say this constantly:
“Too much of a good anything can become harmful.”

Balance matters.
Rotation matters.
Individualization matters.

4. It is NOT normal to need probiotics forever.

Can probiotics be helpful?
Absolutely.

Do I use them clinically?
Of course.

But the goal should be supporting the body so it can maintain better balance on its own — not creating lifetime dependence on supplements because marketing convinced everyone they “need” them daily forever.

There’s a time and place for supplementation.
But probiotics are not a magic fix-all.

And PLEASE stop choosing supplements based solely on advertising hype and social media trends.

We are not one-size-fits-all humans.
So why would we all need the exact same protocol?

If you’d like a customized Nutritional Battleplan tailored to YOUR body and YOUR health history, this is what I do folks.

📞 Dr. Jodi Barnett ND
219-713-4789

References:
• Zmora N, et al. Personalized Gut Mucosal Colonization Resistance to Empiric Probiotics Is Associated with Unique Host and Microbiome Features. Cell. 2018.
• Suez J, et al. Post-Antibiotic Gut Mucosal Microbiome Reconstitution Is Impaired by Probiotics and Improved by Autologous FMT. Cell. 2018.

05/07/2026

CoQ10 information 👇

Most people think CoQ10 is just an antioxidant.

It is an antioxidant… but that’s honestly not the most important thing it does.

CoQ10 is one of the actual molecules your mitochondria depend on to make energy.

Inside the mitochondria is something called the electron transport chain… basically your body’s microscopic power plant. Complex I and Complex II generate electrons from the food you eat, but they cannot pass those electrons forward on their own.

That’s where CoQ10 comes in.

CoQ10 physically carries electrons between complexes so your body can continue producing ATP… your actual cellular energy currency.

No CoQ10?
Electron flow slows.
ATP production drops.
Energy production becomes less efficient.

This is not just “antioxidant support.”
This is foundational mitochondrial physiology.

Now here’s the part most people are never told…

Your body makes CoQ10 through the SAME pathway it uses to make cholesterol: the mevalonate pathway.

Statin medications block HMG-CoA reductase to lower cholesterol… but that same pathway is also responsible for producing CoQ10.

Meaning:
when the pathway is suppressed, CoQ10 production can drop too.

A meta-analysis by Qu et al. (2018) found statins significantly reduced circulating CoQ10 levels regardless of statin type or dose.

And aging compounds the issue.

Kalén et al. (1989) found CoQ10 levels in heart tissue naturally decline with age, with levels dropping roughly 50% by age 80.

That matters because the heart is one of the highest energy-demanding organs in the body.

More recent research is also showing potential benefit for muscle symptoms associated with statin use. A 2025 meta-analysis by Kovacic et al. found CoQ10 supplementation significantly reduced statin-associated muscle pain intensity in pooled clinical trials.

Now to be scientifically fair:
the exact clinical significance is still being debated, and muscle tissue levels do not always mirror blood levels. But the underlying mechanism itself is well established.

The same pathway targeted to lower cholesterol also helps produce one of the key molecules involved in mitochondrial energy production.

That’s physiology… not conspiracy.

If you’re dealing with:
• fatigue
• muscle aches
• statin-related symptoms
• low resilience
• poor recovery
• aging-related energy decline

…it may be worth looking deeper into mitochondrial health, nutrient status, and the systems driving cellular energy production.

You can chase symptoms…
or you can start asking WHY the body is struggling in the first place.

If you’d like help looking at the bigger picture of your health, give my office a call to schedule an appointment.

Dr. Jodi Barnett ND
219-713-4789

References:
Kalén et al., Lipids, 1989
Qu et al., Eur J Med Res, 2018
Kovacic et al., J Nutr Sci, 2025

05/05/2026

If you've worked with me then....

You’ve heard me say before…
How you breathe actually matters.

I encourage my peeps to do nasal breathing exercises too!

And no—mouth breathing and nasal breathing are not the same thing.

When you breathe through your nose, your body is doing something incredibly smart behind the scenes. Your sinuses are constantly producing nitric oxide (NO)—a gas that gets pulled into your lungs with every nasal breath.

That nitric oxide has a very specific job:
It helps open up blood vessels in the parts of your lungs that are actually getting air.

That means better matching between airflow and blood flow (what we call V/Q matching)…
…and when that improves, more oxygen actually gets into your bloodstream.

Bottom line?
Nasal breathing can increase oxygen levels in your blood compared to mouth breathing.

This isn’t theory. It was demonstrated by researchers at the Karolinska Institute led by Jon O. Lundberg in the 1990s.

In their study:
- Most healthy subjects had about a 10% increase in oxygenation when breathing through their nose vs. their mouth
- Intubated patients showed improved oxygen levels when nasal nitric oxide was reintroduced

Same lungs. Same person. Different breathing route. Different outcome.
(Lundberg et al., Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 1996)

Now—let’s be real…

This doesn’t mean if you mouth breathe once, your oxygen tanks.
But chronic mouth breathing? That’s different.

If you’re:
- Sleeping with your mouth open
- Dealing with chronic congestion
- Breathing through your mouth out of habit

…you’re bypassing a system your body built to help you oxygenate more efficiently.

And the kicker?
Your body is still making that nitric oxide… it just never reaches your lungs.

What do you do with this?

Simple:
- Breathe through your nose whenever possible
- Fix chronic congestion👈
- Pay attention to how you breathe during sleep and exercise

Because this isn’t just about air…
It’s about how well your body actually uses that air.
Dr. Jodi 🫶
Reference:
Lundberg JO, et al. High nitric oxide production in human paranasal sinuses. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. 1996.

05/03/2026

Sourdough Biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

1/2 cup cold butter (1 stick), cubed

1 cup sourdough starter or discard

1/4 to 1/2 cup cold buttermilk or milk, as needed

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet or grease a cast iron skillet.

2. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.

3. Cut in cold butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

4. Stir in sourdough starter.

5. Add milk gradually until dough just comes together.

6. Turn onto floured surface. Pat into rectangle and fold in thirds 2–3 times for flaky layers.

7. Pat to 1-inch thickness and cut biscuits.

8. Bake 14–18 minutes until golden brown.

Notes

Keep butter cold for best texture.

Do not overmix.

Brush with melted butter after baking if desired.
Dr Jodi 🫶

05/02/2026

STRAIGHT TALK

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… many people don’t have a medication deficiency — they have a nutrient deficiency that gets overlooked.

Now let me be clear: I’m not saying stop your medications. I’m saying many prescriptions can increase demand for, interfere with absorption of, or gradually deplete key nutrients the body needs to function well.

That means while you’re trying to feel better, your body may also be running low on the very raw materials needed for energy, mood balance, nerve health, detoxification, immune strength, and recovery.

Examples can include depletion of:
• B vitamins
• Magnesium
• Zinc
• CoQ10
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D
• Calcium
• Potassium
• Essential fats

When nutrient reserves drop, symptoms often rise:
Fatigue, brain fog, poor sleep, anxiety, low resilience, slow healing, hormonal struggles, weak immunity, and mood changes.

Your body cannot run top notch results on empty nutrient tanks.

If you’re taking medications and wondering whether nutritional depletion may be part of the picture, I can help you build a personalized strategy.

Custom Nutritional Battle Plans Available
Call my office: 219-713-4789

Because surviving vs. Thriving are very different.
Dr. Jodi 🫶

Harvested Health

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