Reviewed by MD. Catarina Costa, Internal Medicine · Medical Advisor at Octo HealthWe have spent thousands of hours across gut health research, clinical literature, and microbiome science. This is the distilled version: the markers that actually matter, the context standard care never provides, and the evidence-backed changes that move the needle.
Start here: three free things you can do today
- Eat 30 or more different plant types a week. In the American Gut Project, people hitting 30 plants had measurably higher microbiome diversity than those under 10. Variety, not quantity.
- Add one fermented food a day. Kimchi, kefir, sauerkraut, kombucha, or plain yogurt. A 10-week trial linked a high-fermented-food diet to higher diversity and 19 reduced inflammatory proteins.
- Cut one ultra-processed item a day. Emulsifiers and artificial sweeteners are the clearest negative dietary association with microbiome diversity in the research.
Mostly free, mostly at the grocery store. The full 90-day plan below turns these into a routine you can keep.
Source: NIDDK and CDC
Why this matters
Here is the pattern this protocol exists for: your hs-CRP is elevated, you eat well, you exercise, you sleep, and no one can tell you why. The gut is almost always part of the explanation, and standard workups almost never look there. Calprotectin and comprehensive stool analysis are not part of routine clinical practice in most settings, so people are told their inflammatory markers are high without anyone looking for the source.
The gut houses most of the body's immune system, produces roughly 90% of the body's serotonin, and shapes metabolic function in ways that extend far beyond digestion. Research consistently associates gut microbiome composition with insulin sensitivity, systemic inflammation, hormonal metabolism, and cognitive function. A routine blood panel does not include calprotectin or microbiome analysis, so the context that would explain the numbers is simply missing.
The markers that matter
hs-CRPOptimal below 0.5 mg/L · Standard below 3.0 mg/L
In plain English. A high-sensitivity marker of low-grade inflammation in the body.
Chronic low-grade inflammation is the mechanism by which gut dysfunction reaches every other system, and hs-CRP is the most accessible proxy for it. The critical point: hs-CRP is systemic, not gut-specific. An elevated result does not confirm gut involvement, but in a person whose metabolic habits are otherwise clean, the gut is consistently one of the primary sources the research points to. A result of 1.8 mg/L is "normal" in standard care. In research on systemic inflammation and long-term metabolic outcomes, it is a signal worth investigating.
Elevated hs-CRP in a patient who eats well, exercises, and sleeps consistently is one of the most clinically instructive findings I encounter. The gut is almost always part of the explanation. What makes it difficult is that standard workups almost never look there. Patients are told their inflammatory markers are elevated without anyone looking for the source.
MD. Catarina Costa, Medical Advisor
Unlock the read
Enter your email and the rest is yours, free.
Your whole body, on one timeline.
Every lab, every wearable, every check-in, tracked over the years and read as a system.