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Summary
On episode 413 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Dr. Will Cole, a leading functional medicine expert who consults patients around the world and locally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, specializing in thyroid issues, autoimmune conditions, hormonal dysfunction, digestive disorders, and brain problems. He was named one of the top 50 functional medicine and integrative doctors in the nation.
Dr. Cole returns to talk about his book The Inflammation Spectrum, arguing that inflammation isn't a single problem but a range, running from mild fatigue and background anxiety all the way to full autoimmune disease.
The conversation covers bio-individuality, his two-tier elimination protocols (Core Four and Eliminate), and the non-food habits, like stress and screen time, that can undo an otherwise clean diet.
Links
- https://drwillcole.com
- Episode 340 – Keto for vegetarians and vegans with Dr Will Cole
- Episode 484 – Intuitive fasting with Dr. Will Cole
Key Takeaways
- Inflammation exists on a spectrum, not as an on/off switch. One end has mild symptoms like fatigue or background anxiety; the other end is full autoimmune disease, with everything in between. Symptoms typically brew for four to ten years before a diagnosis actually lands.
- Chronic inflammation reaches far beyond joint pain. Dr. Cole ties it to autoimmune disease, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and brain fog, through what researchers call the cytokine model of cognitive function.
- Bio-individuality is the heart of functional medicine. There's no single right way to eat. The goal is finding what your own body tolerates through self-experimentation rather than following whatever food trend or tribe is popular.
- Inflammation in one system spills into others (polyinflammation). Dr. Cole organizes the body into eight areas, brain, gut, hormones, blood sugar, musculoskeletal, detoxification, autoimmune, and the interconnection between them, because a problem in one, like the gut, cascades into others, like the brain, through shared hormonal axes.
- The Core Four elimination removes grains, added sugar, high omega-6 oils, and dairy. This is the lighter protocol for people who score lower on his book's inflammation quiz.
- The Eliminate protocol adds four more categories for tougher cases. Nightshades, nuts and seeds, legumes, and eggs get removed too, then reintroduced one at a time to isolate which specific proteins, like lectins or particular casein types, actually cause a reaction for that person.
- Non-food inflamers can undo an otherwise perfect diet. Stress, screen addiction, social isolation, and negative self-talk raise inflammatory markers just as much as food does, which is why Dr. Cole built eight non-food protocols to run alongside the elimination diet.
- One bad night of sleep measurably spikes inflammation. Poor sleep alone raises high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, a lab marker used to gauge systemic inflammation, showing why sleep quality matters as much as diet.
- Dr. Cole's three strategies to get and stay well: decrease sugar intake, increase healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, and avocado oil, and bring an act of stillness into daily life through mindfulness, breathing, time in nature, or unplugging from technology.
“Ubiquity doesn't necessarily equate with normalcy.”
Dr. Will Cole
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