A Conversation With Max Kushner on Hot Shotzz

Ryan Fernando
May 16
4 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

Now, we in India don’t really focus on gut health until our doctors point out an inflammation in our body, but it is extremely important as it helps keep our immune system get strong and tackle any flu or virus our body faces–and you don’t even have to take any antibiotics.

Below I have listed a few moments and discussions that I want my readers to know of:

How to improve gut health

So there are certain everyday habits people can bring into their lives to naturally improve their gut health, and since I was sitting with an expert like Max Kushner, I asked if he had any tips he could share for our viewers and listeners.

His response was broken down into two major parts; one would be the 'don’ts, and the other being the do’s:

First and foremost, he stated the things that we should not do; in India, he noticed we abuse antibiotics a lot. People are able to get antibiotics without a prescription from the pharmacist, or the doctor would prescribe antibiotics for things that don't necessarily require any intervention. He adds that antibiotics are also an indiscriminate killer for the gut, being a total disaster.

To put it in similar terms, the reason why so many people in India face gut issues is mainly due to the abuse or incorrect usage of antibiotics most commonly used for regular sickness. What you should do is actually just allow your immune system to help you along the way and only get it in a prescription from a doctor rather than a pharmacist.

What is a gut microbiome test

I have this in my lab, and I’ve been urging many of my clients that face issues with their guts to take part in this test to get the results they truly need. Now let's hear from Max Kushner what exactly the gut microbiome test does and what results we should be expecting.

When a gut microbiome test occurs, we would take a stool sample. That is quite a tidy process, all due to the collection kits these days, which make the process seamless. After which we would extract the DNA that is the basic material of life that stores information of any type of life form. We would later sequence the DNA–a process that is quite easy to understand; we would take the DNA and turn it into text.

These texts are like fingerprints, where we can actually determine who this specific DNA belongs to. In this day and age, we have very powerful tests that can check for 31,000 different types of organisms in just a single sample. Thanks to the information we get now through the gut microbiome test, we get a clear picture of what could be affecting the gut.

Through this information, we also get a deeper understanding of antibiotic resistance for the individual's gut.

What is Antibiotic Resistance

We learn a very fun fact here: most antibiotics come from nature, and we didn’t invent them. They actually come from fungi.

So what happens is fungi compete in nature with bacteria over the same food source, which is sugar; however, bacteria have a significant advantage over fungi since they multiply quicker. So as nature has it, fungus had to adapt, and it did by making antibiotics, poisoning the entire environment around the bacteria so the sugar could be consumed for itself. But bacteria also evolved and started making different proteins to neutralise and control the antibiotics from spreading. This would allow the bacteria to disintegrate the antibiotics or even store them away so they can still consume the sugar–and this happens in our guts.

Now when antibiotics are consumed, there is a chance that bacteria will pick up on this trait and put it into its DNA, being able for us to pick it up through the gut microbiome test. That's how we learn that someone is resistant to a certain antibiotic, helping the doctor prescribe you the right medicine.

The true definition of gut

Most of us believe the gut is just a stomach, but we couldn’t be more wrong. Let's hear Max Kushner out.

Humans, as well as other mammals, have a digestive tract: anything from the mouth all the way to the rectum. This entire pathway consists of various organs that are meant to digest and process the food we put into our bodies.

Once food is digested, it continues going into the small intestine–where most of the nutrients from the food will actually be absorbed – and after this, it’ll follow through to the large intestine/colon, which is normally referred to as the gut.

To clarify, the stomach is not a part of the gut. By colon we normally mean the large intestine or parts of it, which is a very important organ as well as the largest in the digestive system. This is where some of the nutrients that weren’t absorbed get absorbed, being the home to 13-10 trillion microorganisms that we call the gut microbiome.

I'm learning a lot from Max Kushner, and together he’s helping me better understand the gut. I believe he’s going to do the same for you, so head on out and watch the entire podcast that is on my YouTube channel, or if you want to give it a listen, head to my Spotify and understand what the human body needs and doesn’t need.