Writer
Sasha Elizar, M.S.
Sasha Elizar, M.S. is the writer behind Brainforest Biosciences, covering the microbiome, gut-brain axis, detoxification, endocrinology, and aging. Every article starts from the mechanism and the research, then works toward what you can actually do.
37 articles
Detoxification Detoxification: Overview, Benefits, Considerations, and Risks
Explore this detoxification overview to understand its benefits and risks. Discover how detoxification can enhance your health and vitality.
Gut Microbiome Top 10 Causes of Leaky Gut (And How to Avoid Them): An Evidence-Based Guide
Uncover the dietary, biological, chemical, environmental, lifestyle, & iatrogenic root causes of leaky gut and learn how to avoid them in this evidence-based guide.
Aging and Lifespan Rejuvenating the microbiome: Fecal microbiota transplants, probiotics, and foods that maximize healthspan
Discover how FMT and leaky gut impact aging & health. Can a fecal microbiota transplant maximize healthspan? Learn how to slow down the aging process with foods, herbs, & nutrients.
Gut Microbiome Symptoms and Biomarkers of Leaky Gut and the Aging Microbiome
Discover the symptoms and biomarkers of leaky gut and its wide-ranging effects on health, from digestive issues to aging. Learn more in our in-depth blog post.
Aging and Lifespan Senescence and the search for anti-aging senolytics for Alzheimer’s disease
Developing effective senolytic therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease will require discerning cell and disease subtypes and how tau protein species impact disease.
Environment Biodegradable Bioplastics: Challenges, Greenwashing, and Opportunities
Biomaterials could solve many of the problems of traditional plastics, but they come with technical and logistical challenges.
Functional Nutrition Spirulina: Nutrition, Benefits, and Risks
Unearth ancient spirulina's vitality - a nutrient-packed superfood with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Fuel your energy and explore its detox, fitness, and cognitive benefits. Tap into spirulina's potential for diabetes, immunity, and cancer prevention. Embrace ancient wisdom for modern wellness.
Mental Health Synesthesia, hallucination, and schizophrenia in art
Analyzing common elements of synesthesia, hallucination, and schizophrenia in art.
Gut Microbiome Demystifying Leaky Gut: A Comprehensive Guide to Gut Layer Anatomy
To trace the causes, biomarkers, and therapeutics for leaky gut, it helps to understand in detail the anatomy of the gut barrier and what goes wrong during leaky gut. This guide serves as a detailed starter to generate targeted approaches for protecting the gut barrier.
Mental Health The #1 reason most people fail to fulfill their potential
The main reason that most people fail is not a lack of resources but a poor mindset. Learn the syntax of self-limiting beliefs as a first step to seeing possibility.
Neuroscience Psychedelics as Therapeutics
Psilocybin for Lyme disease and Alzheimer's. MDMA for PTSD. LSD for autism. Entheogens and entactogens are being reimagined as treatments for a wide range of mental illnesses and neurological conditions. In the near future, we may see their use become more widespread.
Environment Solo Traveling to Costa Rica: Lessons from the Earth Mother
A solo female traveler's journey through Costa Rica's rainforests, volcanoes, and wildlife -- hiking, waterfalls, and lessons in trust, presence, and reconnecting with the land during a pandemic.
Mental Health Bringing Joy into Business
Pleasure isn't the opposite of hard work -- it's the reset that sustains it. On weaving joy, rest, and embodiment into a business you're excited about, without burning out or sacrificing professionalism.
Immunity 22 Nutrients to Support Immunity Against SARS-CoV-2
This review highlights a variety of naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, and polyphenols that may reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 and/or reduce disease severity. Nutrients play irreplaceable physiological roles as hormones, antioxidants, enzyme cofactors, and more.
Environment 31 Day Plastic-Free July 2020 Challenge
Learn about the health and environmental effects of petroleum-based plastic ingredients, and get practical ideas and a step-by-step guide to going low-waste.
Functional Nutrition How to Personalize Your Diet: Quarantine Edition
There's no one-size-fits-all diet. Practical tips -- from health journaling to elimination diets and fecal microbiota testing -- for figuring out what actually works for your own body and physiology.
Environment 3 Best Water Purification Methods
Water makes up 55-60% of the human body and touches nearly every biological process, from temperature regulation to melatonin secretion. A look at hydration, water purification, and why what's in our water matters.
Functional Nutrition 11 Reasons Why There Is No One Diet
The gut's surface area is about 400 square meters, approximately the size of a basketball court. It requires 40% of the body's energy expenditure and is renewed about every 5 days. Nutrition is so central to our health, it's no wonder that dieting and weight loss is big business—it's a $72 billion dollar industry.
Aging and Lifespan 14 Signs the Body is Made to Heal and Grow
Genes are destiny, pills are the solution, and aging means you peaked--these beliefs are outdated and limiting. Make way for a deeper understanding of anti-aging in the human body through the emerging science of epigenetics, neuroplasticity, immunomodulation, autophagy, and the glymphatic system.
Mental Health Social Media Addiction and Biohacking Visual Perception with Digital Minimalism
Social media and smartphones are engineered to hijack our reward-seeking tendencies. A personal look at digital addiction and a practical challenge for reclaiming attention, presence, and mental health.
Mental Health How to Reprogram Your Brain with Neuroplasticity
Cognitive neuroscientists estimate we are only conscious of about 5% of our brain activity. The rest falls beneath our direct awareness. The subconscious mind, formed during your first 7 years of life, lays the framework for your self-perception and influences how you respond to new situations.
Aging and Lifespan Pineal Gland Calcification and Activation
Slowing calcification could delay numerous age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's and cancer. Learn how to activate the pineal gland.
Neuroscience How to Alleviate Back Pain (With Stretches and Exercises)
How to prevent and immediately relieve back pain.
Mental Health 13 Reasons Why I Write
Writing as medicine, connection, and a path to freedom.
Hormones Development of the Pineal Gland
How the human pineal gland forms in utero, develops through childhood, and responds to light, EMFs, and fertility -- plus why children's circadian rhythms may be more sensitive than adults'.
Environment Bioremediation, biomaterials, and plastic-free alternatives
Why you should go plastic-free, and some easily implemented solutions.
Hormones Science of the Pineal Gland
The pinecone-shaped pineal gland has been a subject of mystique for millennia. Now, scientists are taking interest.
Mental Health A letter to my college freshman self
Follow your gut, keep an open mind, and love yourself.
Mental Health What's your story? Journal prompt: Transform self-limiting beliefs in minutes
Identify and address common barriers to achieving goals through this journal prompt. Recognize the common excuses and ways to combat them.
Immunity Lyme disease and natural tick repellents
Lyme disease is a common tick-borne illness with 500,000 cases a year. Learn natural strategies and essential oils that can help prevent it.
Gut Microbiome Exercise effects on gut microbiome and brain health
How does exercise affect gut microbiome and brain health? What does an athlete's microbiome look like? Why am I less hungry when I work out? How can I increase butyrate? I'm lean, can I get away with being sedentary? Does weight lifting count? All these questions answered and more.
Functional Nutrition Ergothioneine: The mushroom-sourced antioxidant
This detailed report discusses applications of ergothioneine as an antioxidant therapeutic for detoxification, diseases, and aging. It includes a discussion of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and disease mechanisms.
Functional Nutrition Functional medicine, nutraceuticals, and multi-omics: Market trends of holistic healthcare
Reflecting on the current healthcare system and predicting areas of future growth, including AI, machine learning, genome, proteome, and microbiome sequencing, biologics, nanoparticles, nutraceuticals, minimally-invasive surgery, doctors trained in holistic medicine, and informative, user-friendly interfaces.
Functional Nutrition Curcumin: Health Benefits and Increasing Bioavailability
Curcumin, the active compound in turmeric, is a potent anti-inflammatory antioxidant with nearly 4,000 years of use in traditional medicine. Explore 9 evidence-backed benefits, from neuroprotection to liver, gut, and heart health.
Gut Microbiome You are an ecosystem: How gut microbiota impact human health
Healing begins in the gut. How gut microbiota shape immunity, mood, and the gut-brain axis, and what the research says about supporting a healthy microbiome.
Neuroscience Modulate your frequency: A quick guide to brain frequencies
Don't just elevate; modulate.
Mental Health How Leisure Rewires the Body for Healing
It seems there's this pressure to be “always on,” but leisure is critial for health and well-being. Taking breaks to focus on meditation, purpose, and hobbies remodels the brain, body, and spirit.