Michael McEvoy, a nutrition consultant and functional diagnostician, traces his career to a parasite infection he caught in India. He argues that diet, not germs alone, determines whether pathogens take hold, and that high-quality nutrition is essential for travelers to at-risk regions.
This podcast is brought to you by www.maximusmark.com. Hi folks, it's Maximus Mark, and welcome to the show that punches you right in the face with information, but in a good way. It's Maximus Mark Radio, and today I'll be speaking with Michael McVoy from Metabolic Healing about a number of health issues including gut and digestion health, adrenal health, the myth of acid and alkaline nutrition, and a whole bunch of other stuff that you probably never thought of when it comes to getting sick. We're also going to look at the steps that you can take today today towards diagnosing, healing, and supporting those functions. Michael is a certified nutrition consultant through the American Association of Nutritional Consultants. Michael is a certified metabolic typing advisor through the William Walcott's Metabolic Typing Institute. He's also a functional diagnostic nutritionist through Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Institute. I am super psyched about sharing today's show with you. So Michael, Welcome to the show.
Thank you, Mark, for having me. It's great to be here.
You're most welcome. Most welcome. So I guess the first and most obvious question is, tell me how you got started as a healthcare practitioner.
Well, I've been involved in the healing arts all of my adult life. Back in 2000, about year 2000, 2001, I was introduced to— I was, you know, I was very actively involved in fitness and in strength and cardio and weight training. And then I got really turned on to yoga and I began began to study yoga, yoga and meditation and spirituality in depth. And it culminated with a trip of me going to, to the East to go and study in India. And as many people go to India, they get very sick with parasites and digestive illnesses and exposed to a whole variety of different problems. And so this was the case for me. And so when I went to India, I had an amazing experience. I learned so much. And I intensified my yoga practice, but at the same time I got very violently ill. I came back to the States and I was 125 pounds. I was jaundiced. My digestive system was a wreck. I was in a very sad state of health and I was very scared. And at the time I did not trust— there was a certain degree of mistrust for conventional medicine and I didn't want to go that route. And having been— having known very little of health At that time, compared to what I know now, I knew enough to take the— all of the available advice that I was given in my hometown of Chicago by some friends who had recommended that I go see some alternative healthcare practitioners in my area. And so I did that, and within a very short period of time, within a few months, my health was able to recover. But I was so amazed at how quickly my efforts had been— with how quickly my efforts had been applied, how quickly my health had improved. At that point in time, I made a vow to myself to try to learn as much as I possibly could about health and nutrition and fitness that I possibly could learn. And so over the next several years, I began pursuing radical dietary changes in my, my own body, radical detoxification protocols, I began reading as many books and articles and websites on nutrition that I could find anywhere. And at a certain point, I got to a point where I realized that I wanted to do this professionally. I wanted to start teaching other people about ways to improve their health. And my intense curiosity had kind of led me— has kind of led me down this path of having studied with and had worked with— and having worked with a number of the world's and the nation, the United States' top nutritionists and alternative healthcare practitioners that I've been able to find. So, uh, it's now, it's now my profession to help other people and into trying to achieve a higher state of health.
Excellent, excellent. So is there any advice you could give someone who's going to India?
Yes, well, there's a lot of advice. Is first of all, you should always be prepared. And, and, you know, a lot of people attribute getting sick in foreign countries and third world countries to parasites and things like that. And certainly, you know, pathogens and bacteria and viruses all can have the have definitely complications inside the body. But I think that it's important to realize that germs are not the cause of disease. And there's actually been a lot that has been written about this over the past 150 years. Um, you know, third world countries certainly can have a lot of, um, you know, foreign bacteria that we're not exposed to in the first world that certainly can be a problem if we go and visit. But I think that One of the first things to consider is what you're actually eating when you're going to a third world country. You know, when you go to India, for example, or if you go to another third world country, I mean, what most people are consuming is white rice, sugar, and foods that basically create the breeding ground for illness and for disease and create the environment for which how pathogens and bacteria and parasites can thrive. So the first thing I would tell a person is to always make sure that they're really, really— that their nutritional practice, that the practice of eating high-quality food is readily available, or at least is more available than it wouldn't be.
Do you think it's a problem sourcing quality food in India?
I think it certainly is. Absolutely. It's hard sourcing quality food everywhere in the world.
