The Gut–Heart Connection Your Doctor Missed
Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine
Release Date: 10/01/2025
You’re Not Lazy—Your Body Is Missing These Five Things with Matthew Campbell
Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine
You know what would make you feel better—so why is it still so difficult to do? When exhaustion, brain fog, low mood, and overwhelm become your normal, it’s easy to blame yourself for lacking motivation or discipline. Psychologist Dr. Matthew Campbell sits down with Dr. Rob to offer a more compassionate—and actionable—explanation: you may be depleted of five primal needs your body was built to receive. He reveals why sunlight, sleep, movement, genuine connection, and intentional consumption can influence how you feel more profoundly than another complicated health protocol—and how to...
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Why Financial Stress Starts Deeper Than Your Bank Account with Tanner Link
Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine
What if the way you manage your money isn’t all that different from the way you manage your health? In this episode of Field Notes, host Heather Moon sits down with financial planner Tanner Link for a fascinating conversation about the surprising parallels between financial wellness and functional medicine. Just like chronic health issues rarely start with symptoms alone, financial stress often stems from deeper patterns hiding beneath the surface — impulse behaviors, lack of awareness, misaligned priorities, and operating on autopilot. Together, Heather and Tanner unpack how budgeting,...
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Success Without Sacrifice: The Burnout Lie That's Costing You Everything
Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine
What if burnout isn't the price of success—but proof you're doing success wrong? In this powerful conversation, Garrett Wood shares the heartbreaking story that transformed his understanding of achievement, stress, and identity. Drawing from his work in hypnotherapy, nervous system regulation, and executive well-being coaching, Garrett explains why grit, hustle, and pushing harder eventually fail—even for the most driven people. He reveals the hidden drivers of burnout, from misaligned values and sensory overload to subconscious beliefs and emotional labor, and offers a radically different...
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The Hidden Side of Performance: What Most Athletes Never Practice
Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine
Most athletes spend countless hours training their bodies, but what if the biggest factor holding them back is something they rarely train at all? In this insightful episode of Field Notes, sports psychologist and former Olympic ski coach Andy Liebner reveals why mental performance may be just as important as physical preparation. Drawing from his own journey as an elite athlete, coach, and PhD candidate in sports psychology, Andy shares practical strategies for building confidence, overcoming self-doubt, mastering visualization, and staying focused under pressure. Whether you're a competitive...
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Eating Disorders Are Not About Willpower — They’re About Survival
Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine
In this powerful episode of Field Notes, Heather Moon sits down with Jenny Loudon, co-founder of the Alaska Eating Disorders Alliance, for a compassionate and eye-opening conversation about the reality of eating disorders. Jenny explains why these illnesses are so often misunderstood, overlooked, or minimized — especially when someone does not “look sick.” The discussion explores how eating disorders impact the mind, body, relationships, and identity, while challenging many common assumptions around food, weight, and health. From social media pressure and perfectionism to atypical...
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Why Most Fitness Advice Fails Women Over 40 with Heidi Cox
Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine
Season 5 of the Field Notes podcast continues with a thoughtful conversation hosted by Heather Moon, who is stepping into a larger hosting role this season with her signature warmth, curiosity, and whole-person approach to health. In this episode, Heather sits down with returning guest and Alaska-based personal trainer Heidi Cox to explore what fitness really looks like when it’s aligned with real life, changing hormones, injury recovery, mental health, and sustainable wellness. Together, they unpack the importance of individualized care, behavior change, movement as medicine, and why true...
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Your Home Might Be Making You Sick (And You’d Never Know It) with Dr. Rob Downey
Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine
What if the headaches, fatigue, brain fog, poor sleep, allergies, or “mysterious symptoms” you’ve been chasing for years aren’t just about food, supplements, or stress… but the environment inside your own home? In this fascinating episode of the Field Notes podcast, Dr. Rob Downey and Joe Rignola dive into the emerging concept of “functional medicine for the home” — exploring how air quality, lighting, EMFs, water, cleaning products, and even the items in your pantry may be silently taxing your body every single day. Dr. Rob shares why he partnered with Clean Elements and...
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Your Gut May Be Shaping Your Mood, Stress, Sleep, and Focus More Than You Realize with Dr. Shawn Talbott
Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine
In this fascinating episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Dr. Shawn Talbott to unpack the powerful connection between the gut and the brain—and why your microbiome may have far more influence over your mental fitness than most people realize. Together, they explore how gut bacteria can affect stress resilience, mood, sleep, motivation, and even cognitive clarity through pathways involving neurotransmitters, inflammation, and the immune system. What makes this conversation especially compelling is that it stays grounded in both science and practicality: yes, there...
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NASA Meets Ancient Healing: The Chronic Illness Breakthroughs You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine
In this fascinating episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Greg Lee—a former NASA systems engineer turned acupuncturist and chronic illness specialist—to explore a radically integrative approach to complex health conditions. Drawing from decades of clinical experience, Greg explains how hidden drivers like mold toxicity, stealth infections, nervous system dysregulation, inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction can keep people sick even when their labs look “normal.” He walks through the tools he uses to uncover and address these deeper patterns, including advanced...
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You Can’t Supplement Your Way Out of This: What most people miss when they’re “doing everything right” with Christine Ruch
Field Notes: An Exploration of Functional Medicine
In this powerful episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob sits down with Christine Ruch to explore one of the most overlooked pieces of true healing: the nervous system. Christine shares her own journey from being diagnosed with MS and doing everything “right” in the world of diet, supplements, and holistic health—yet still getting sicker—until she discovered that deeper healing required more than a perfect protocol. Together, she and Dr. Rob unpack how unresolved stress, trauma, hypervigilance, and emotional suppression can quietly block recovery, and why embodiment, surrender, and nervous...
info_outlineIn this episode, Dr. Rob Downey speaks with Angie Gallagher—an exercise physiologist and integrative health coach with over 25 years of experience in cardiac rehab—about why conventional heart care is missing the mark. Angie shares how her frustration with recurring cardiac events in patients led her to explore functional medicine approaches, integrating gut health, nervous system regulation, and metabolic markers into her practice. The conversation dives into overlooked lab tests, the gut–heart axis, HeartMath for nervous system balance, and why managing stress and blood sugar may be more important than cholesterol. Angie’s holistic approach redefines what it means to truly protect the heart.
Timestamps:
01:15 – Angie’s shift from conventional care
05:40 – Key labs doctors often miss
10:20 – Gut inflammation linked to heart disease
13:30 – HeartMath improves nervous system balance
18:45 – Blood sugar more critical than cholesterol
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Key Takeaways:
Gut health directly impacts heart health
Blood sugar drives endothelial damage
HeartMath balances stress and HRV
Standard tests miss root cause markers
Nature and breathwork support heart healing