Inside of you lives a powerhouse of allies, trillions of little cells known as your microbiota, the more you know how to care for them, the better they can be at helping you unleash robust health.

Let me introduce myself!

Greetings from Dr. Holly Huffman, founder of The Merry Monk….all things fermentation and gut health.   I’m delighted to take you on a journey of discovering how to unlock the power of optimal health through nurturing a healthy gut, via the path of understanding the physiology of your GI track, the critical role of your microbiota, and the nutritional powerhouse of probiotics and fermented foods.   

In over 20 years of teaching biochemistry and related courses at the university level, I had the honor of engaging future doctors in understanding how the body is constructed and functions at the cellular level. Including how we power our bodies via metabolism and unraveling the informational superhighway of our DNA. Yet it wasn’t until I had a brush with cancer that I learned about the major role that our microbiota plays in edifying our immune system and even in sustaining a positive attitude.

Release the health-building power of your microbiome, feed them well!!

Would you like to discover the secrets of sustained good health?  I thought so.   You’ve heard from every health expert… ‘eat lots of fruits and vegetables, drink plenty of water, exercise daily, sleep well’….all of these are important.  And you’ve surely heard the axiomatic statement “you are what you eat’,  true, your diet provides the building blocks for all the biomaterials of in your body, so quality counts. But I’d like to teach you to think of an additional axiom “you are what they eat”.   Who are ‘they’?….your microbiota!

Say what?  Bacteria can be good for you? And they live inside me?

But wait, perhaps you aren’t aware that microbes associated with your body outnumber your human cells by about 10 to 1?    And that your gut microbes are largely responsible for modulating your immune function?    Or that with a proper diversity of microbial species in your gut the pathogenic, disease causing, microbes are recognized, and fought off!   And that our ‘second brain’ refers to the neurons in our gut and the communication between the microbes and our brain by the messages sent out by our friendly guests? Allow me to introduce you to these vital allies. 

How can the Merry Monk help you to optimize your health?

The more you are aware that you play host to trillions of microbes and how to care for these guests, the better they can fight battles for you!   Once you understand the beneficial and protective roles of your microbiota you can build better gut health.  It’s time to begin a new day of proactively protecting your gut, healing your gut, and feeding your allies better.        

Let me show you how.

A Sante ! (to your health)

Holly