http://www.augusta.edu/mcg/medicine/gastro/faculty SIBO And SIFO http://learntruehealth.com/sibo-and-sifo/ SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth) and SIFO (Small Intestinal Fungal Overgrowth) are two health conditions plaguing many people today. SIBO stands for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and SIFO stands for small intestinal fungal overgrowth. Respected expert Dr. Satish Rao is here with us today to explain what SIBO and SIFO are all about and how to treat it. This episode was hard for me to do since Dr. Satish Rao is an allopathic doctor. His way of treating SIBO and SIFO is different from experts in Natural Medicine, but his research about SIBO and SIFO is worth talking about. I have been recently tackling topics about gut health and the best treatment for gut issues. So, I highly recommend everyone to listen to episodes 245 and 247. Family of Physicians Dr. Satish Rao came from a family of physicians. His father was a Professor of Medicine and a University Dean. When he was young, Dr. Satish Rao recalls that his father used to carry around a Sheaffer pen with a white dot on it. He wanted the pen, but his father told him only doctors could have that pen. That apparently became Dr. Satish Rao’s motivation to become a doctor. Dr. Satish Rao pursued medical studies in India and took post-graduate studies in England. He, later on, discovered that deficiency of selenium causes cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. Dr. Satish Rao also learned about gastroenterology and focused on research as well as an essential area of the gut called Neurogastroenterology and motility. That branch of medicine was still in its infancy in the early 80s. Dr. Satish Rao was mentored by two outstanding professors and has helped many patients. “We have been able to understand some key disorders and dysfunctions in the gut and find a remedy to help them. That’s been my journey over the past 25 years,” said Dr. Satish Rao. Understanding Nutrition Medical doctors are not taught nutrition and how food plays a significant role in our gut health. We are just given drug after drug. Dr. Satish Rao, on the other hand, identified a new illness that is man-made because of drugs and over prescription. He’s a very conventional doctor but is treated as an outsider by the community. Dr. Satish Rao says he would love to implement diet and a healthy lifestyle as a solution for health problems. Having practiced in three different continents—India, U.K. and the United States, Dr. Satish Rao feels it is tough to teach people proper nutrition, especially in the United States. “One of the hardest things I found in America is to change people’s behavior, culture and eating habits. Every patient in India, asks me restrictions on their diet,” shares Dr. Satish Rao. “But in the United States, I never get that question. Even when I advise them, it is very hard for people to change.”  He adds,”I do believe there are tremendous things one can do to change their lifestyle and behavior and that can do along with healing. But it has to be done in tandem with other things that we can do as physicians and the prescription drugs. It cannot be done without it.”  Right Mindset Dr. Satish Rao also makes it clear that in the long-term, it is not the drugs that are going to help and conquer the problem. He says it is probably their lifestyle issues that will give the long-term remedy. Unfortunately, American and Canadian cultures are similar. Americans and Canadians are not raised to see that their lifestyle has an impact on their health. Countries like India, on the other hand, is more in touch with Holistic healing. “In the U.K., the patient I had were very willing to institute changes and take on recommendations. In the United States, I don’t think people like to change. They may, under some duress but it’s not going to come soon,” predicted Dr. Satish Rao. We have seen a difference in the last five years. I remember having a demographer on the show who said the millenni