The road to health is paved with good intestines —is a pun that often gets a laugh. Like many good jokes, however, there’s truth behind it. In recent years, health experts have uncovered fascinating connections between gut health and overall well-being. What you eat, how you manage stress, the quality of your sleep and your level of physical activity all influence the state of your gut. Understanding and nurturing yourself is a powerful step toward a healthier body and mind. Luckily for us, the Sarasota region has no shortage of health professionals — from medical doctors to nutrition experts to acupuncturists—all offering guidance on how to get and stay healthy.
Dr. Chippy Ajithan, known by most as “Dr. Chippy”, is a board-certified cardiologist who transitioned out of clinical cardiology after nearly 23 years to launch her own wellness practice. Her new focus centers on using lifestyle as a powerful tool to prevent, heal and even reverse disease. “I saw that people were stuck on a hamster wheel, not making real, lasting changes in their lives, so after more than two decades in cardiology, I decided it was time for a new approach, so I opened this wellness practice,” she explains.
Dr. Chippy now works alongside Jordan Colbert, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with expertise in plant-based nutrition and gut health. Together, they take a comprehensive approach to evaluating clients, focusing on cardiometabolic health, optimizing nutrition and gut function and addressing key areas such as physical activity, stress management, sleep, emotional well-being, love, forgiveness and the importance of community.
“On a physical level, if you optimize your gut, then everything follows,” explains Dr. Chippy. “It mediates your heart health, it can improve your immune function, reduce blood sugar and improve cholesterol. It’s also important in maintaining your brain health and has a huge impact on anxiety and depression and can provide a reduction in the risk of cancer. Your whole gut functions like an organ because it is so metabolically involved in regulating our cellular processes.” For a patient who comes to the practice specifically for gut-related issues, Colbert will typically start by asking about nutrition history and have them describe what their average day of eating looks like. She’ll inquire about supplements and prior medical appointments. “A lot of people with chronic GI issues have been to multiple doctors and they feel like they haven’t gotten any answers that are satisfying or that are actually alleviating their symptoms. But it’s important for me as a dietitian to know what testing has been done, because especially for conditions like IBS, it’s a diagnosis of exclusion. If there haven’t been routine investigations, then that would be something we want to make sure we do pull in a gastroenterologist for,” she explains.
Dr. Chippy and Colbert highlight fiber as a critical component of gut health and advocate for its gradual, incremental increase to prevent digestive discomfort. They recommend consuming 30 different plants per week to maximize gut diversity, emphasizing that variety, even within types of fruit—for instance, eating a variety of apple types, not just Honey Crisp—is key to enhancing beneficial microbiota. While they do advocate for a 90% whole food plant-based diet, they acknowledge the cultural challenges of dietary change and suggest a flexible approach where animal protein—like chicken and beef—becomes a condiment to legumes, for instance, rather than the main dish, meeting individuals where they are while still guiding them toward plant-based eating. To learn more, visit drchippy.com
Julie Bender, owner of JBS Nutrition & Wellness, LLC, has been working as a dietitian/nutritionist for over 30 years, which she describes as being both a gift and an evolution. “Early in my career, I often sensed something was missing. My conventional training didn’t equip me to uncover the why behind so many persistent gut and health issues. Then, about 10 years ago, my own health took a major turn. Despite eating clean and living “healthy,” I developed severe gastritis, IBS, brain fog, rashes and thyroid imbalances. Conventional medicine offered only medications, not answers. That experience became a pivotal turning point in my life and career. What once felt like a setback became a blessing in disguise,” she explains.Through advanced training and certification in functional nutrition, Bender uncovered the root causes of her health challenges and learned how to heal from the inside out. It completely transformed not only her health but also how she practices.
“Today, my approach seeks to find root cause solutions as I partner with those struggling to restore hope and guide them through a personalized journey of healing to reclaim the peaceful gut and health they deserve.” Rather than masking symptoms related to bloating, fatigue, constipation or pain, Bender helps clients uncover why they’re happening by taking a deep dive into each person’s story, health history and lifestyle, supported by advanced functional labs such as stool or organic acid testing. These help identify key drivers like dysbiosis, gut permeability, inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, stress or toxin exposure. From there, a personalized, monitored plan is created, combining targeted foods, supplements and lifestyle strategies to restore balance, optimize digestion and heal the gut from the inside out. Bender explains that conventional medicine often stops at diagnosis and medication, but if no diagnosis is made, clients are left without answers or support.
“As a functional and integrative dietitian/nutritionist, I look at the whole person and systems in the body to identify what’s driving imbalance–whether inflammation, gut dysfunction, nutrient depletion, hormone imbalance or toxin exposure,” she says. “Through advanced testing and personalized nutrition and lifestyle plans, my goal is to help clients feel heard, understand their bodies and create a clear path toward lasting healing and wellness. I teach clients to slow down, tune in and notice how food, stress, sleep, environment and movement impact their energy, digestion, mood and focus. Many people tend to ignore symptoms. Together, we use tools like food and symptom tracking, at-home testing, and simple experiments to uncover connections between daily choices and how they feel. Through education and awareness, clients become more intuitive and empowered—able to interpret their body’s messages and make choices that support healing. They learn to trust their body again and work with it, not against it.”
For someone who’s just starting to suspect gut issues, Bender advises keeping a food and symptom journal to track what you eat, how you feel before and after (energy, mood, digestion) and your daily bowel habits. This helps reveal food sensitivities, triggers and lifestyle patterns affecting your gut. From there, focus on simple foundational principles: eat slowly and mindfully, stay hydrated with filtered water, choose organic, unprocessed, whole foods, focus on prebiotic foods (like oats, asparagus, chicory, dandelion, artichoke, leeks, garlic, onions, beans and lentils) and avoid seed oils like canola, corn and cottonseed. She also suggests allowing a 12–14-hour overnight fast and implementing practices to manage stress. Awareness is always the first step toward restoring gut balance and true healthy eating. To learn more and sign up for a complimentary consultation, visit JBSnourishwell.com.
For years, Bonni London, a local dietitian and nutritionist, battled with her own health and weight issues. She followed every piece of mainstream diet and exercise advice, but despite her efforts, nothing seemed to work. Frustration set in as she realized that simply counting calories or exercising more wasn’t the answer. Determined to find a better way, Bonni immersed herself in research. What she uncovered transformed not only her health but her entire approach to wellness. Today, through her practice at London Wellness, she shares those life-changing insights with clients facing similar challenges.
London’s journey led her to understand the powerful connection between gut health, inflammation and brain function. She now follows the Five Rs Framework, focusing on removing irritants, repairing the gut lining, replacing stomach acid, reinoculating with good bacteria and rebalancing the body. The first step—removing irritants—is often the hardest, she explains, because hidden food sensitivities can take days to show symptoms. To identify problems like this, she uses advanced stool testing to identify imbalances and digestive issues. “Hippocrates was right,” she says. “All disease begins in the gut.”
Though many clients seek her help for weight loss, Bonni often finds that their real struggle lies deeper—in gut dysfunction. She encourages simple, impactful changes: cutting out sugar and high-glycemic carbs, avoiding inflammatory seed oils and adding fermented foods, such as kefir, kimchi and sauerkraut. She reminds clients that we’re not just feeding ourselves—we’re feeding the bacteria in our gut. Supporting beneficial bacteria helps curb cravings and strengthen immunity.
For issues like bloating, Bonni recommends diluted apple cider vinegar. She also suggests the natural sweetener allulose, which mimics sugar’s taste but helps stabilize insulin levels. To learn more visit londonwellness.net
In her Sarasota-based practice, Dr. Christina Captain, a doctor of acupuncture and Eastern medicine, integrates functional medicine, Eastern principles and extensive diagnostic testing to address a wide range of gut-related issues. She treats everything from acid reflux to chronic constipation by supporting digestive organs, mitigating pain and rebalancing the body’s systems. “My approach is integrative,” she says. “I combine acupuncture with functional medicine and advanced stool testing like the GI-MAP to identify pathogens, assess microbiome balance and address issues like dysbiosis, SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth) and leaky gut. I also evaluate how the digestive organs are functioning and support them accordingly.”
Acupuncture, Dr. Captain explains, is used to reduce inflammation, alleviate pain during pathogen eradication, restore balance and support emotional and spiritual well-being. Her practice offers a one-stop approach: stool testing, supplementation, pathogen treatment and nutritional guidance—so clients don’t need to see multiple providers.
One of the biggest barriers to gut healing, Dr. Captain believes, is the widespread use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), medications that reduce stomach acid. “These medications are absolutely detrimental to nutrient absorption and can even lead to osteopenia and osteoporosis in both men and women,” she says.
“If someone comes to me with gut issues, I start with a stool test and acupuncture. Acupuncture helps relieve the pain, constipation or diarrhea while we work on identifying the root cause. Eastern medicine principles can reveal patterns of dysfunction, and when combined with stool testing, we often find underlying infections—maybe parasites, maybe another pathogen.” Instead of immediately using antibiotics, which can create further imbalance, Dr. Captain may use a targeted, high-potency probiotic to help stop diarrhea and ease stomach pain while awaiting test results.
Dr. Captain cautions against extreme dietary restrictions—especially those influenced by social media—which can backfire during gut healing. “Eastern medicine incorporates lifestyle changes, mindful food choices and understanding how the temperature and energy of food affect the body. But ultimately,” she says, “if you can’t properly absorb your food, then even the best acupuncture or herbal strategy won’t be effective. You need to be able to create energy from what you eat.” She adds, “I love the most complicated cases because they give me a real challenge and an opportunity to make a dramatic impact.”
To learn more visit sarasotacenterforacupunctureandnutrition.com
Karen Reynolds isn’t your typical dietitian. As a functional and integrative nutritionist, she blends the roles of scientist, detective and coach to uncover the root causes behind her clients’ health challenges. Her mission: help people feel better, prevent future issues and live with vitality at every stage of life. Her process begins with a complimentary discovery call, followed by detailed intake forms and a thorough review of each client’s medical and family history. From there, she creates a personalized plan, often using functional medicine tests like stool analyses, food sensitivity panels and cognitive assessments. Her goal is to reduce inflammation, support detoxification and address brain and gut health—key components of long-term wellness.
Reynolds is often the last stop for those who haven’t found answers through conventional medicine. She helps many achieve 80–90% improvement, even those with long-standing conditions. “If I see a lot of symptoms in the nasal area, I’m definitely going to be looking at food sensitivities. If I get a lot in the GI area, I’m going to run a stool test. If I get more that’s more in the brain area, then I might look more into some kind of cognitive testing,” she explains.
Stress, she notes, is a major factor. “For ninety-five percent of my clients, stress is their biggest inflammatory agent,” she says, explaining how it contributes to dysbiosis—an imbalance in gut bacteria. “Once you get your adrenals calmed down, then we can look further to find the inflammation and discover how we can start to settle that down.”
She aims to shift clients from a constant “fight or flight” state into “rest and digest” mode, which supports digestion and healing.
Reynolds uses advanced testing to uncover causes of gut issues like constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating—often tied to food sensitivities and bacterial imbalances such as SIBO. Her gut healing protocol involves removing triggers, repairing the gut lining and re-inoculating with beneficial bacteria. “We all have good and bad bacteria in our gut. I always think of the bully in the playground. All the kids are playing nicely and then the bully comes along and disrupts things. C.diff is the mother of all bad guys. He overtakes the bad bacteria and then there’s nothing left. It’s so profoundly opportunistic that it can take over the whole gut.”
Reynolds encourages clients to adopt anti-inflammatory habits: cut processed foods, sugar and inflammatory oils, eat whole foods, such as oatmeal, rice, asparagus, nuts and seeds; exercise, get sunlight and sleep at least 7 hours each night. And when it comes to constipation, she urges her clients to find the cause, rather than simply take laxatives. “People think that constipation is normal because they’ve been living with it for so long. It’s not normal. You need to eliminate every single day.”
On average, clients usually find relief of symptoms within six months of seeing Reynolds, with some getting better in as little as four. Others who have had chronic disease for a long time, may take a year or longer. “I don’t put a measurement on the time,” she says. “We have a goal and a journey and our destination is going to be optimal health.” To learn more visit resiliencenutrition.com.
Dr. Jasmine Dukandar has been serving the Sarasota community since 2020, focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of digestive and liver conditions. From irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease to routine colon cancer screenings, her approach is rooted in both clinical expertise and patient-centered care. When discussing diet—a key component of digestive health—Dr. Dukandar often recommends the Mediterranean diet for overall wellness. For patients managing IBS, she suggests a low FODMAP diet, commonly used as an elimination method to help identify personal food triggers.
“I’ve recently noticed there’s been a very large emphasis placed on protein, which is important for being the building blocks of muscle, but I think one thing we shouldn’t forget about if we’re focusing on gut health is dietary fiber intake,” she says. She recommends aiming for a daily fiber intake of approximately 25 grams. To meet this goal, consider incorporating high-fiber fruits such as apples, berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries), bananas, pears and oranges. High-fiber vegetables like broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, sweet and white potatoes and asparagus are also beneficial. Additionally, legumes, including kidney, black and pinto beans, lentils, peas and chickpeas, are excellent sources. If meeting this goal through food alone proves challenging, fiber supplements can be a helpful alternative.
On the topic of supplements, Dr. Dukandar says “For most people following a Western diet, supplementation isn’t usually necessary. The body generally absorbs necessary nutrients from food,” she adds. For those exploring probiotics, Dr. Dukandar advises starting with food-based sources—fermented dairy like yogurt and kefir, or fermented vegetables such as kimchi and sauerkraut—before turning to probiotic supplements.
One of the most vital parts of her practice is colon cancer screening. In recent years, she’s seen an alarming trend: more young adults being diagnosed. While genetics do play a role, Dr. Dukandar highlights environmental factors as a growing concern. “We’re exposed to different pollutants than we were in the past, even from household items,” she notes. “We’re still learning a lot more about that, but what we do know is that the rates are not going down even with an increased amount of screening and if anything, we’re having to screen earlier.”
As important as nutrition is, Dr. Dukandar places just as much emphasis on the connection between the gut and the brain. Stress and poor sleep, she explains, can significantly disrupt digestive health.
“Stress and poor sleep have a profound impact on the gut. By treating the underlying stress, anxiety and insomnia in some patients, we will often resolve gastrointestinal symptoms. Concurrently, if you address the gastrointestinal symptoms head-on, sometimes those other symptoms like your stress, anxiety and sleep get better, so it’s important to have a good care team in place, meaning good primary care doctor, good GI doctor, etc, so that all of those issues can be addressed because one can definitely impact the other,” she says, advising that readers play close attention to their changes in their bodies—especially when it comes to digestive symptoms—and don’t delay seeking help. She notes that women, in particular, often put off getting care, trying to mask symptoms or overanalyze their experiences. To learn more visit fdhs.com
