Healing with Dr Helena

Dr Helena Popovic
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Medicine
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to my podcast, Healing with Dr Helena, where I challenge the limiting way we currently view disease, and offer a new paradigm for vibrant health and true healing. If modern medicine isn’t providing you with enough answers, and you want to come alive and thrive, rather than merely survive, this podcast is for you. It’s also for people who want to: - boost their brain to perform at their peak - avoid Alzheimer’s and other dementias - grow bolder rather than older - and live longer, stronger, healthier and happier.

  1. 2d ago

    Your bacterial print is as unique as your fingerprint! (EP14 Part 2)

    Last week’s Brain Booster was Go with your gut — a deep dive into all things gut health. It was another very long segment so I ended it after the Health Headline. That means if you haven’t watched or listened to last week’s episode, I strongly recommend you do so before you listen to this one because last week I explained the rationale for what I’m talking about today. When it comes to gut health, What’s Missing from Modern Medicine is a nuanced, personalised approach. No two people have the same microorganisms living in their gut or on their bodies — not even identical twins. Everyone has a unique microbial identity, just as we have a unique fingerprint. This has led to crime scene investigators using not only fingerprints, but also bacterial prints — referred to as ‘touch microbial forensics’ — to track down criminals. Your bacterial inhabitants are uniquely yours, and when you touch something, you leave some of them behind.  Our unique microbial signature is also why manufactured probiotic supplements often fail to deliver the hoped-for benefits. The bacteria contained in the probiotic don’t establish colonisation in our gut, and we just poop them out. But before we go on, a few definitions.  Probiotics are live micro-organisms, believed to provide health benefits when we consume them.  The prefix pro means ‘in favour of’, and bio refers to ‘life’ or ‘living organisms’. Natural probiotics — also known as dynamic probiotics — are live bacteria and yeasts that develop naturally in food via fermentation. The most common natural probiotics are yoghurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, miso, tempeh and kombucha. There’s no argument that these foods provide broad health benefits because the micro-organisms they contain are alive and active. Manufactured probiotics, in contrast — also known as static probiotics — are isolated laboratory-cultured bacterial strains that are freeze-dried and packaged in precise amounts into daily supplements. But are they the ones you need for your specific condition?  Prebiotics, on the other hand, are non-digestible plant fibres that pass through your stomach and small intestine and act as fertiliser to stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria in your colon. Therefore, prebiotics are food for probiotics. Natural prebiotics occur in specific plant foods such as onions, garlic, leek, asparagus, fennel, artichokes and chia seeds. All prebiotics are fibres, but not all fibres are prebiotics. To be classified as a prebiotic, a fibre has to pass through your stomach undigested, and selectively feed only the beneficial bacteria in your gut. All whole fruits and vegetables contain fibre because it forms their structural framework, but not all fruits and vegetables contain prebiotics … * * * * * Today’s Whether Report addresses the question: I’d like to know whether I should take probiotics when I'm given a course of antibiotics? I’ve received conflicting advice and don’t know what to do. This situation is a common conundrum because the relationship between probiotics and antibiotics is one of the most debated topics in gut health. The short answer is: it depends on your primary goal. The confusion stems from a paradox in the scientific data. While probiotics are effective at preventing immediate side effects like diarrhoea, they can slow down the long-term recovery of your native unique microbiome. Tune in to hear the details.  * * * * * Please subscribe to my podcast so that you don’t miss an episode, and email your whether questions to: podcast@drhelenapopovic.com.   For resources and references visit: https://drhelenapopovic.com/podcast/

  2. Jul 26

    Go with your gut! (EP14)

    Today’s Brain Booster is: Go with your Gut. Is your gut sensitive, irritable, leaky or inflamed?  Are you into: PrebioticsProbiotics Postbiotics Synbiotics Psychobiotics PharmabioticsAntibioticsPenbiotics Or Panbiotics?! (I will explain all those terms over the next few episodes.) Why does it matter?  For most of modern medicine, the brain and gut were treated as separate organs, with separate problems. If you had indigestion, you saw a gastroenterologist. If you had memory loss, you saw a neurologist. Today, that division is fast disappearing: what happens in our gut, doesn’t stay in our gut.  Scientists now recognise that our gut and our brain are in constant communication through what’s known as the gut-brain-microbiome axis. Signals travel back and forth, every second, via nerves, hormones, immune pathways, and chemical messengers that are produced by the trillions of micro-organisms that live in our intestines. The estimated number of microbes in our gut is about 40 trillion, with a combined total weight of over 2 kg. That’s more than the weight of our brain, which is 1.4 kg! And our micro-organisms have evolved to play essential roles in maintaining our health. They help us digest food, neutralise toxins, and control how many calories we absorb, ie they influence our body weight and our risk of developing obesity. They produce vitamins, facilitate absorption of minerals, impact our mood, and train our immune system. And gut micro-organisms influence our likelihood of developing asthma, allergies, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, dementia, heart disease, cancer, and a whole lot more. Tune in for a whirlwind tour of your internal ecosystem, and find out how faecal transplants can save lives — holy crapsule!  * * * * * Today’s Health Headline is: What’s your Gut Reaction? In other words, what’s going on in your gut, and how does it impact every aspect of your health?  Let’s look at some extraordinary numbers.  The microbiome — which refers to the genes of all the micro-organisms in our body — accounts for more than 95% of the genes in our body. Let me rephrase that so you can get your head around it. Of all the genes in your body, less than 5% belong to you, and more than 95% belong to your microbes! It’s estimated there are more bacteria in our gut than stars in the Milky Way, and one gram of faeces contains more bacteria than there are people on earth. That’s right: a single gram of human faeces — about the weight of a paperclip — contains up to 100 billion to one trillion bacteria. By comparison, the entire global human population is about 8 billion people. One tiny gram of your stool has over 100 times more bacteria than the population of this planet. So think of your body as a planet. It’s inhabited by trillions of creatures adapted to the various environments provided by different parts of your anatomy. Most of our 40 trillion resident microbes are bacteria, but we also house viruses, fungi and archaea. So there’s no reason to ever feel lonely. The most densely populated region of our body is our colon or large intestine, but it isn’t just the gut that serves as potential real estate for microorganisms. Every surface of our body that’s exposed to the outside world — skin, nose, ears, mouth, teeth,  lungs, and vagina is real estate for micro-organisms. And they’re very specific about the environments they need for their survival. Like their human hosts, what matters to them is location, location, location … * * * * * This turned out to be another very long Brain Booster and Health Headline, so I’ve ended the episode here, and I’ll continue with What’s Missing from Modern Medicine? and the Whether Report in Part 2. * * * * * Please subscribe to my podcast so that you don’t miss an episode, and email your whether questions to: podcast@drhelenapopovic.com.   For resources and references visit: https://drhelenapopovic.com/podcast/

  3. Jul 19

    Turn down the pressure (EP13)

    Today’s podcast episode was prompted by a Whether question. So I’ll give you the question first, and then I’ll answer it in the context of a Brain Booster, Health Headline, and What’s Missing from Modern Medicine?  "Can you tell me WHETHER it’s better to tackle high blood pressure with western medicine or alternative medicine? I have never smoked, do not drink alcohol, I weigh 73kg at height of 1.78cm (so not obese) and I exercise six out of seven days a week, for a minimum of one hour per day with fit-cross, swimming, running and cycling. My blood pressure sometimes spikes to 160/85 with low pulse (ranging between 40-60). I appreciate you being genuine and open to everything." This question is relevant to everyone because chronically sustained high blood pressure — known as hypertension — acts as a constant, silent, physical strain on your entire circulatory system: heart, blood vessels and lymphatics. Over time, this excess force damages blood vessels and organs, including your brain, and becomes a primary driver of life-threatening cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes. Untreated blood pressure throughout midlife (between the ages 40 and 65) more than doubles the risk of developing dementia, but it rarely shows obvious symptoms until you’ve sustained significant damage. So unless you get your blood pressure checked regularly, you don’t know that you have hypertension. Tune in to find out how to measure it correctly, and why most doctors are not taking your blood pressure properly! * * * * * Today’s Health Headline is: sugar — NOT salt — is the biggest driver of high blood pressure. That doesn’t mean salt plays no role at all. But it means that if you cut out sugar and refined starches, you might not need to worry about salt. Let me explain, because this comes as a big surprise to most people.  In episode 6, Skip the sugary sip because every soft drink is a bullet to your brain, I discussed the biochemistry of sugar in relation to brain health. And you’ll recall that sugar (chemical name sucrose) is made up of two smaller sugar molecules: fructose and glucose. And just as fructose and glucose are involved in different biochemical pathways in our brain, they also follow different biochemical pathways in relation to their influence on blood pressure. But before we get into the biochemistry, it’s important to become aware of where the sugar in our diet is coming from. Even if you don’t have a sweet tooth, you don’t drink soft drinks, you don’t eat biscuits and pastries, and you don’t put sugar in your tea or coffee, you might still be eating a lot of sugar because it’s hidden in what you’d consider to be healthy or savoury foods. I’m talking about sugar that’s added to processed foods — not the sugar that occurs naturally in vegetables and fruits like carrots and berries.  So where might sugar be lurking in your diet that you don’t realise? Here’s one spoiler alert: a cup of sushi rice typically contains one to two tablespoons (3-6 teaspoons) of added sugar, depending on the chef or recipe.  * * * * * What’s missing from modern medicine is effective advice on how to lower blood pressure without using medications. Here are my top eight non-pharmaceutical ways to reduce your blood pressure, in addition to quitting sugar and managing stress: Reap the benefits of sleepAbstain from alcoholMove to improveRustle up some muscleStep into a sauna — which I covered in detail in episode 12 parts 1 and 2Breathe, don’t seethePay attention to potassium Stop using mouthwash!  * * * * * Please subscribe to my podcast so that you don’t miss an episode, and email your whether questions to: podcast@drhelenapopovic.com For resources and references visit: https://drhelenapopovic.com/podcast/

  4. Jul 12

    Turn up the heat! (EP12 - Part 2)

    Last week’s Brain Booster was Turn up the heat! — a deep dive into how using a sauna more than 4 times a week can reduce the risk of dementia by over 60%!  Given that this is a very bold claim, I spoke for longer than I’d anticipated, in order to explain the mechanisms by which heat exposure brings about health benefits.  So I decided to end the episode after the Health Headline because the feedback I’ve received from you is that you prefer my episodes to be under one hour long.  That means if you haven’t watched or listened to last week’s episode, I strongly recommend you do so before listening to this one because last week I explained the rationale for what I’m talking about today. Hence we’re launching straight into What’s Missing from Modern Medicine? What’s Missing from Modern Medicine is doctors prescribing heat therapy as part of standard medical care for: High blood pressureHeart failureDepressionInsomniaChronic painDementia-preventionRespiratory conditionsOverall better health  But how should heat therapy be prescribed? What’s the difference between: Dry saunasWet saunas or steam roomsInfrared saunasJapanese Waon therapyAnd hot baths?Do they confer similar benefits or is one modality better than another?  What dose do we need in terms of temperature, duration and frequency? If saunas are a medication, are there any contraindications? And most importantly, how can the average person — like you and me — incorporate heat therapy as part of a healthy lifestyle, without having to spend a lot of time and money? There are only so many hours in a day, and I don’t want to spend all day trying to get healthy and not leave time to actually live! Having said that, I enjoy saunas and hot baths, so it’s great to have a really good reason to indulge in them.   * * * * * Today’s Whether Report is from Colin: I would like to hear whether at my age — 85 years — it’s too late to avoid Alzheimer’s? No, it’s never too late! Listen to the end of the episode to find out why! * * * * * Please subscribe to my podcast so that you don’t miss an episode, and send your whether questions to: podcast@drhelenapopovic.com For resources and references visit: https://drhelenapopovic.com/podcast/

  5. Jul 5

    Turn up the heat! (EP12)

    Today’s Brain Booster is: Turn up the heat!  For thousands of years, humans have deliberately exposed themselves to heat: Roman baths, Turkish hammans, Finnish saunas, indigenous sweat lodges, and Japanese onsen (natural hot springs).  And it turns out that sweating it out in a sauna on a regular basis: Lowers blood pressureImproves overall heart health and blood vessel functionReduces the risk of a heart attack, stroke and dementiaHelps with blood sugar regulation Brings down inflammation Decreases depression and anxietyImproves moodInduces better sleepAnd prolongs your life!How could doing something so effortless and relaxing enhance your health to such an incredible extent? It sounded too good to be true, so I did a deep dive into the science of saunas. Tune in to find out what I uncovered. * * * * *  Today’s Health Headline is: Our decisions — determine our destiny. A remarkable study published in Nature Medicine in 2025 — challenges one of the most fatalistic assumptions in medicine: that our genes are our destiny. Researchers have been studying a man named Doug Whitney because he has a rare mutation in a gene called Presenilin 2. This gene is supposed to guarantee that a person gets early-onset Alzheimer’s (also known as younger-onset Alzheimer’s). That means they can get the disease as early as 40 years of age, but the average age of onset is about 54 years — still extraordinarily young.  However Doug is 76 years old and remains completely symptom-free and cognitively intact. So researchers started searching for what could be protecting Doug from getting Alzheimer’s. They found two potential explanations.  The first explanation — a speculative one — is that Doug possessed genetic variants not previously recognised as protective against Alzheimer’s, but which could potentially modify the disease. Scientists are looking into this. The second — more compelling — explanation is that Doug’s life may have inadvertently provided him with a form of long-term heat therapy similar to regular sauna use. From the age of 18, he spent two decades working as a mechanic, deep within the engine rooms of steam-powered naval ships, where temperatures could soar to around 50°C (122°F). Researchers speculate that repeated exposure to these intense conditions may have stimulated the production of unusually high levels of what are known as heat shock proteins in Doug Whitney’s cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). These specialised proteins: Help cells cope with stressRepair damaged proteinsAnd maintain cellular function under adverse conditions. And they’re one of the mechanisms by which sauna use dramatically reduces dementia risk.  * * * * * When I recorded this podcast episode, I spoke for over 40 minutes on just the Brain Booster and Health Headline so I’ve decided to split this episode into 2 parts because the feedback I’ve received from you is that you’d like me to keep my episodes to under one hour. I’ll continue with What’s Missing from Modern Medicine? and the Whether Report in Part 2. Thank you for your comments and questions — I'll respond to them all in due course. I really appreciate your engagement. * * * * * Please subscribe to my podcast so that you don’t miss an episode, and email your whether questions to: podcast@drhelenapopovic.com  For resources and references visit: https://drhelenapopovic.com/podcast/

  6. Jun 28

    Deep dive into dementia (EP11)

    For today’s episode, I’m sharing an interview I had with the dynamic and inspiring Sarah Rusbatch on her podcast Stronger Bolder Wiser. Sarah is an accredited Grey Area Drinking Coach and the author of the best-selling book Beyond Booze — How to create a life you love, alcohol-free. Sarah and I immediately clicked because her approach to alcohol is the same as my approach to healthy eating in my book NeuroSlimming. Sarah’s philosophy is that ‘the goal isn’t to be sober; the goal is to love yourself so much, you don’t need a drink.’ I feel exactly the same way about food: the goal isn’t to quit ultraprocessed food; the goal is to love yourself so much, you don’t need to numb your emotions with food.  Sarah is also a multi award-winning Health and Wellbeing Coach, a Menopause Accredited Coach, and a passionate ambassador for helping women live their best lives. Most importantly, Sarah lives everything she speaks, and she glows from the inside out.  So although the interview doesn’t technically follow my usual format of Brain Booster — Health Headline — What’s Missing from Modern Medicine? — and Whether Report, we definitely cover a lot of brain-boosters, health headlines, and things that are missing from modern medicine, especially in relation to women having twice the likelihood of Alzheimer’s dementia as men — and how to change this. Here are some of the topics we cover: What’s the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s disease?How common is Alzheimer’s disease?Why is Alzheimer’s twice as common in women as in men?Does hormone replacement at menopause support brain health and reduce dementia risk?How much do our genes influence our risk of developing Alzheimer’s? If you have a family member with Alzheimer’s does it mean you’re more likely to get the disease?Are sugar and alcohol risk factors for dementia? Which is worse?How can we start to improve our brain health and reverse dementia?Why is physical exercise — and especially strength training — so important for brain health?Are there any foods that are especially important when it comes to brain health?When should we start being seriously proactive about looking after our brain? * * * * * Please subscribe to my podcast so that you don’t miss an episode, and email your whether questions to: podcast@drhelenapopovic.com  For resources and references visit: https://drhelenapopovic.com/podcast/

  7. Jun 21

    Give thanks for your life — and you’ll live a longer life! (EP10)

    Today’s Brain Booster is: Appreciate to elevate your thinking, and recognise that gratitude is more than a platitude.  It’s really unfortunate that in today’s hashtag world, the notion of practising gratitude, and appreciating our blessings, has become hackneyed and superficial. Yet behind the cliches, appreciation and gratitude boost our brain in profound and distinct ways. So today’s episode will be a fascinating exploration of the difference between appreciation and gratitude, and how they can help us build a better brain.  We live in a world that constantly trains our attention toward what’s wrong. Turn on the news — conflict. Scroll social media — it’s easy to jump to negative comparisons. Check your inbox — problems to solve. Without realising it, our brain becomes exquisitely skilled at spotting flaws, threats and mistakes. From an evolutionary perspective, this is a survival feature. Our ancestors did not survive by admiring sunsets; they survived by spotting snakes. So our brain is wired to scan for problems. But what happens when that survival setting becomes our default way of seeing everything? We become mentally tired, less creative, more reactive, and ironically, less effective at solving the very problems we’re focused on. The good news is that there’s a really simple skill that can turn things around and improve how our brain functions. That skill is appreciation. Hence today’s Brain-Booster is appreciate to elevate your thinking. Today’s Health Headline is: Gratitude delays the grave! Literally. Gratitude — expressing thanks for someone or something — adds years to your life. How? A Harvard study published in 2024 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, followed almost 50 000 nurses (49 275 to be precise) with an average age of 79, for over 3 years. The researchers wanted to answer the question: Do people who notice and feel grateful for positive experiences more frequently, tend to live longer? What did they find? The nurses who felt the most grateful — those in the top third of participants — had a 9% lower risk of dying from any cause compared to those who scored in the lowest third of participants. Specifically in relation to heart disease, the more grateful they were, the less likely they were to die of a heart attack or stroke. Wow! What’s missing from modern medicine is incorporating gratitude into standard medical care. Gratitude improves the functioning of our immune system, and reduces chronic inflammation, hence it’s been found to improve depression, anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain, heart health and arthritis. Another wow! Today’s Whether Report is a common scenario: I’ve been listening to your podcast from the very start and I absolutely love it. However I’m feeling overwhelmed by all the things I need to do to get my health on track. Not only do I need to overhaul my diet, exercise more, and get better sleep, you’ve made me aware that I have a lot of conflicts in my life, and it’s definitely causing me ongoing stress. I’d like to know whether you can help me overcome my overwhelm, and tell me where to start. It feels impossible to tackle everything in the TRUE MEDICINES acronym. I’d be very grateful for any advice. Resources: https://drhelenapopovic.com/podcast/

  8. Jun 14

    Purge yourself of Plastic (EP9)

    Today’s Brain Booster is: Purge yourself of plastic!  Why? And what do I mean by that? Plastics have become ubiquitous in modern life. Over time, larger plastic items degrade into smaller particles — micro and nanoplastics (MNPs) — and these MNPs can infiltrate air, water, soil, food chains, and ultimately the human body. While the environmental impacts of microplastics are well-documented, human health consequences are only just beginning to be understood. A 2024 study at the University of New Mexico found triple the amount of MNPs in the brains of people with dementia compared to the brains of people without. At this stage, we don’t know if the plastics caused the dementia, or if a person with dementia has an impaired blood brain barrier, which makes their brain more likely to absorb plastics after they already have the disease. Either way, my suspicion is that plastics in the brain are not a good thing. We can’t escape plastics entering our bodies altogether, but we can try to minimise our exposure in various ways. Here’s an acronym I created to help you remember how you can purge yourself of plastic. And the acronym is PLASTIC! P stands for purify the tap water in your home. L stands for limit, if not eLiminate processed foods because so many of them are contaminated with high levels of plastics. A stands for Avoid cosmetics that contain micro-beads, and check the ingredients on personal care products for polystyrene, polyethylene and polypropylene. S stands for Swap plastic cutting boards, utensils and cutlery for wooden or bamboo chopping boards and stainless steel cutlery. T stands for Tyre pressure maintenance. Keep your car tyres at the right pressure so they don’t wear down as quickly because tyres are a big source of microplastics in the air and oceans. I stands for Invest in a HEPA air purifier for your home to capture microplastics from the air. C stands for Choose Clothes made from natural materials like cotton, linen, silk, or wool. Cotton and wool shed fewer micro-fibres than synthetic materials during washing. * * * * * Today’s Health Headline is: There’s a spoonful of plastic in your brain! According to a study published in Nature Medicine in December 2024, even in the absence of dementia, our brains contain a teaspoonful of plastic. Really? Let’s take a closer look at the study and the whole microplastics scene. * * * * * What’s missing from modern medicine is conclusive evidence for the specific harms of plastics, and definitive advice about what we can do once plastics have made their way into our body. It’s important to recognise what we don’t yet know because jumping to conclusions, and getting into a panic, could take us down an unhelpful path. * * * * * Today’s Whether Report tackles a tricky question: I’d like to know whether microplastics cause gut disorders like inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), and whether eating specific foods like blueberries, blocks the absorption of microplastics or helps clear them out of our bodies? Please subscribe to my podcast or YouTube channel so that you don’t miss an episode, and email your whether questions to: podcast@drhelenapopovic.com For references and resources visit: https://drhelenapopovic.com/podcast/

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out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Welcome to my podcast, Healing with Dr Helena, where I challenge the limiting way we currently view disease, and offer a new paradigm for vibrant health and true healing. If modern medicine isn’t providing you with enough answers, and you want to come alive and thrive, rather than merely survive, this podcast is for you. It’s also for people who want to: - boost their brain to perform at their peak - avoid Alzheimer’s and other dementias - grow bolder rather than older - and live longer, stronger, healthier and happier.

Information

  • Creator
    Dr Helena Popovic
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Dr Helena Popovic
  • Show Website
    Healing with Dr Helena

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