Layered Insights into Digestion and Healing

More than A Sandwich: A Sitewide Allegory

Best friends head to opposite ends of the earth. X and Y part ways and go to different nations, where they each become schooled in ways of thought diametrically opposed to the other. Amidst scientific arguments and mistaken identities, friends X and Y must navigate their experiences and loyalties, discovering the true meaning of love and of healing.

Get new essays in your inbox

I work with patients navigating complex digestive illness. These essays reflect how I think about chronic cases.


  • How I Healed

    Mochi rice, hijiki with garbanzo beans, lightly steamed snow peas, miso soup, and a whole mackerel. I sat down to this meal and felt for the first time, in almost two years, that I was well. My friend from school […]

    How I Healed
  • Evidence of Lack

    Modern gastroenterology presents itself as a rigorously evidence-based discipline. In reality, only 13% of its treatment recommendations are supported by what medicine itself classifies as “high quality evidence,” meaning randomized controlled trials (RCTs). In other words, 87% of gastroenterology operates on lower tiers […]

    Evidence of Lack
  • The Purity of Medicine

    In an age of distrust, personal experience becomes king. No one can try everything, so we have to rely on reports from others, often turning to Reddit and other platforms to discuss as much as we can. A loose screening […]

    The Purity of Medicine
  • IBS and the McDonald’s of Healthcare

    In 2006, Cochrane Reviews put out a systematic analysis of herbal treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). I was finishing chinese Medicine school and had entered into an apprenticeship at the time, and that Cochrane review made my future seem […]

    IBS and the McDonald’s of Healthcare
  • Stopping By Going

    I cannot forget a patient from 2008 who I almost refused to help. What would you think, if a patient came to you explaining that he has terrible, uncontrollable diarrhea, but only when he crosses the threshold of his front […]

    Stopping By Going
  • War between paragraphs and words

    Through obscure communications, Paragraphs formed a partnership with Symbols. This was for the purpose of mobilization. Within weeks, Paragraphs declared war on Words. Being Symbols themselves, this placed Letters under great strain. They refused the battlefield and held to neutrality, […]

    War between paragraphs and words

More than A Sandwich: A Sitewide Allegory

Best friends head to opposite ends of the earth. X and Y part ways and go to different nations, where they each become schooled in ways of thought diametrically opposed to the other. Amidst scientific arguments and mistaken identities, friends X and Y must navigate their experiences and loyalties, discovering the true meanings of love and of healing.