Episode Details

This is StRest! Kerstin Lindquist welcomes integrative and functional medicine expert Dr. David Brady to discuss the root-cause approach to complex, chronic health conditions.

With over 30 years of experience, Dr. Brady explains why the conventional medical system often fails people with chronic illness, offering only symptom management instead of real solutions. Together, they discuss why so many women are struggling with fatigue, gut issues, joint pain, brain fog, and anxiety—and what functional medicine can do differently.

They discuss childhood trauma, functional practitioners, tests worth your money, "stress" as a buzzword, and lifestyle changes that make supplements work better.

Dr. Brady also shares his top supplements, daily practices that keep him grounded, and more.

Major Themes & Concepts 

✅ Why functional medicine is different—and how it works

✅ The problem with hyper-specialization and symptom-chasing

✅ How early-life trauma shapes adult health and stress response

✅ Root cause vs. symptom masking: what your body is trying to say

✅ The most common chronic conditions (fatigue, IBS, brain fog, pain)

✅ Why most lab work is misleading—and what to test instead

✅ How AI, metabolomics, and functional labs are changing diagnostics

✅ Supplements that matter: B12, vitamin D, magnesium, GG, tocotrienols

✅ What real healing takes: rest, presence, and a daily practice

✅ Gratitude, aging, and how to stay healthy in a toxic world

Chapter Breakdown

00:00 – Symptom management vs. root cause medicine

01:06 – When your whole body hurts (and your doctor can’t help)

02:30 – Who is Dr. David Brady? 30 years in functional medicine

04:33 – How functional & integrative medicine differ from conventional care

06:39 – Systems biology: treating people, not parts

09:19 – Upstream, not downstream: root cause frameworks

12:28 – The fragmentation of care in the U.S. system

15:28 – The specialist trap and polypharmacy nightmare

20:28 – Chronic pain, anxiety, IBS, and brain fog: what’s causing it all?

22:38 – Food, toxins, plastics, stress: the real reasons we’re sick

26:17 – Childhood trauma, the nervous system, and lifelong disease

30:51 – The critical role of sleep and stress regulation

36:30 – Daily practices that retrain the brain

40:43 – Which functional lab tests are worth the money?

44:15 – Why standard bloodwork misses the big picture

48:04 – Functional testing 101: methylation, B12, and metabolomics

54:05 – Dr. Brady’s daily supplement stack

59:15 – His non-negotiables for energy, health, and aging

1:03:30 – The power of nature, movement, and gratitude

Work with Kerstin

📅 Workshops & Events – Join upcoming events & retreats.

💡 Health Coaching with Kerstin – 1:1 coaching for stress reduction & wellness.

Resources & Recommendations

🧬 Designs for Health – Clinical-grade supplements & practitioner-supported testing

💩 GI Spotlight Test (DSF) – Gut testing Dr. Brady recommends

📘 The Fibro Fix – Dr. Brady’s book on fibromyalgia and chronic illness

🧠 Diagnostics Solutions Lab – Functional lab testing site

🌐 Dr. David Brady’s Website – More info, articles, and patient resources

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