You are not who you think you are. You are not yourself. You are merely a vessel for a bazillion, gadrillion bacteria who live in your gut, and who control your every move, action and thought. Those tiny guys call the shots, not you. About your health, your weight, your emotional well-being, your longevity, your voting choices, your internet provider. Everything. Really. And the more we learn about them, the more clearly we see that. But, if you are like literally everyone else ever, since the invention of Penicillin—the first antibiotic, your gut may not be itself either. Because rounds and rounds of antibiotics over a lifetime wipe out those tiny dictators, and once they’re dead, it’s hard to get them back up to their fighting numbers.

And losing those little critters can mean a lifetime of illness, especially autoimmune disorders, and even worse, obesity. Because when you wipe out the gut flora, the body reacts by gaining weight, and this may well be a contributing factor to the epidemic of obesity around the world. Well, that and all the Foodiness™, and all the soda, and the triple meat stuffed-crust pizza and the pillow-sized bags of cheezy puffs and the peanut butter-cup flavored cereal and the rainbow-flavored “go-gurt”. That stuff doesn’t help much, either.

The lunatic fringe (me) has been screaming about this stuff for years, and now the very un-fringe-like New York Times has taken up the call. Hard to believe, but it’s finally on, and the fringe is winning. An article in Sunday’s Times confirms it, along with another very odd and very BIG coincidence in my life that also confirms that my life is full of odd coincidences…and it’s all in tonight’s show. So tonight, on “Let’s Get Real, the cooking show about finding, preparing and eating FOOD”, we take a look at the situation. From celebrity sighting in the mountains of New Hampshire, to my newly Paleo-eating niece, to scab covered crazy ladies in Portland, it’s all here, and it’s all live tonight at 6:30 on www.heritageradionetwork.org, or later on www.letsgetrealshow.com