The Brain-Gut Connection Webinar Series:
How To Improve Your Sleep, Mood, Energy, Memory, and Focus With Functional Nutrition

The term "gut" in everyday language is a shortcut for the stomach, intestines, liver, and pancreas. Your gut determines how well you sleep, think, remember, and function because it's the gut, not the brain, that breaks down foods into nutrients, absorbs them into the blood, regulates energy metabolism via the liver and pancreas, and plays a key role in how sharp or sluggish your brain feels.

Your brain, however, decides what foods to buy, why to buy them, how to cook, and when to eat. If those choices are wrong, your gut gets hurt, and so does your sleep, mood, energy, memory, and focus. To return them to normal, you must first fix what, why, how, and when goes into your gut, and that's the subject of my webinar.

This webinar is based, in part, on the same foundational principles I described twenty-five years ago in my Russian-language book, Functional Nutrition: How to Prevent Nutritional Disorders and Premature Aging with Functional Nutrition, long before the "functional nutrition" term became trendy, watered-down, and overrun by marketing hype. I said "in part" because my level of expertise in this subject today is many folds greater than when I wrote it between 1999 and 2000.

Thanks to functional nutrition's impact on my health, I continue working full-time, don't plan to retire any time soon, and have more energy, stamina, mental clarity, and focus than most people half my age. My photo on the right was taken on November 3, 2024, a few days after celebrating my seventies birthday.

Who Is This Webinar For?

Considering my own health troubles in my forties — late-stage type 2 diabetes, clinical obesity, carpal tunnel syndrome, insomnia, chronic fatigue, irritability, and depression — if I was able to overcome them and could continue doing so well, then anyone from this list can do even better:

• Executives, professionals, athletes, and performers with successful careers whose futures and income are compromised by declining health.

• Health-conscious individuals who've done "everything right" but still feel something isn't.

• Parents of young children who don't want to become a burden to them in their late sixties and beyond.

• People in their 30th, 40s, and 50s who feel "too young to be this tired" and are starting to panic about what's ahead.

• Mid-career professionals who are burning out physically and mentally but still think they can plow through it.

• Caregivers who are overwhelmed by watching people in their care deteriorate and want to avoid the same fate.

• Medical professionals who realize that despite their expertise and best efforts, their own health is heading in the wrong direction.

• Corporate medical directors who wish to boost the health and productivity of people working for their companies.

• High-net-worth individuals who can afford anything but can't buy back their health from concierge doctors and longevity clinics.

• Recent retirees who are terrified of dementia, stroke, heart disease, incontinence, hip fractures, losing their independence, and ending up in the same slow, degrading decline they've watched happen to their parents and peers.

• And anyone else with enough awareness and foresight to see what’s really happening to the health of people around them and that it may be coming for them, too.

Speaking of strokes, heart disease, and hip fractures… I recently had a chance to 'stress-test' my heart, brain, and bone density in an unfortunate accident. On November 8, 2024, I fell off a ladder onto a concrete sidewalk while fixing roof shingles torn off the second-floor soffit by raccoons.

My waist was level with the height of the soffit, or approximately 10 feet (3 meters). I passed out for about a minute and, to my wife’s sheer terror, got up, picked up my eyeglasses from the ground, brushed off the dirt, and walked away with just a few bruises and scratches.

Imagine a typical seventy-year-old man walking away from a similar fall unhurt and back to work the next day. I sure got scared like hell, but that’s another story.

Here’s what you are going to learn from my webinar:

I. What Is Functional Nutrition?

Functional nutrition is an antidote to one-size-fits-all dysfunctional nutrition. It is a style of eating adapted to your body’s unique needs and adjusted for your life stage, gender, ethnicity, occupation, working hours, climate, state of health, personal preferences, and special circumstances, such as pregnancy or lactation.

For anyone needing a fix from the consequences of dysfunctional nutrition, a.k.a. "healthy diet," functional one seeks to restore and maintain optimal gut health by identifying what your body lacks, what it doesn't like, and what it needs to function well through all of life's stages.

In this segment, I'll answer the following questions:

• Why does digestion slow with age, and what does that mean for your sleep, mood, energy, memory, and focus?

• Why does aging make it harder to absorb key nutrients, what it means for your health and longevity, and how to ameliorate this inescapable situation?

• What can you do to prevent age-related changes from turning into a whole suite of chronic disorders?

• Why, despite eating less, are you gaining weight or can't lose any without resorting to prescription drugs?

• How to reverse while it's still possible or, at the very least, live with preexisting conditions without resorting to medication and surgeries.

Since the publication of Functional Nutrition in 2000, the principles it outlined have stood the test of time. Many of my contemporaries who dismissed it back then are now affected by the very issues they once ignored. I hope you won’t make the same mistake. 

II. The Impact of Meals on Your Mind & Body

At least four generations of Americans were raised on the iconic dogma: "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper." Popularized in the mid-1950s and ’60s by widely published nutritionist Adelle Davis, it was meant to encourage eating your largest meal in the morning and tapering off throughout the day.

Although many of Ms. Davis' ideas and pet peeves were spot-on, this one wasn’t. And it shows... In 2024, an estimated 33 million Americans were constipated, 45 million suffer from IBS, 140 million are obese, 245 million are overweight, and 37 million have diabetes. Back in her era, all of these conditions were in single digits.

Knowing this mind-boggling statistic should make you think: WTF is going on?

Nothing good, so let me explain:

2. Princes and princesses can take a nap after launch. Can you?

Lunch is notorious for sending people into a zombie state. It’s so common that it spawned its own slang: food coma, afternoon slump, post-lunch dip, the itis, and the 3 p.m. crash. Even doctors have their own term for it: postprandial (after eating) somnolence (sleepiness).

Pardon me, but don’t we eat lunch for energy? Apparently not.

In this segment, I’ll explain why eating lunch like a prince or princess is so problematic for so many people—and probably for you:

• Why does lunch often lead to brain fog instead of clarity?

• Why does it make some people crash while others feel sharper?

• How much of your afternoon fatigue is caused by digestion rather than workload?

• Why do some people get bloated after lunch, even if breakfast is fine?

• Can your lunch sabotage your willpower and productivity for the rest of the day?

• Are you really hungry at noon, or just conditioned to eat?

• Is skipping lunch better than eating the wrong one?

• Do I eat lunch? When and why? What's included?

Once you understand the causes, fixing them and others is, pardon the pun, a piece of cake. The rewards are worth it: more energy, better focus, less hunger, improved digestion, better weight control, fewer accidents, and a clear boost to your productivity and career.

3. Thank God you ain't a pauper... Enjoy your dinner!

I must give Ms. Davis her due — if, indeed, you ate a king's breakfast and a prince's lunch, there isn't much room left in your gut for dinner, and you are better off eating one like a pauper.

But that isn't what's happening. Dinner for Americans (or supper in some other countries) is considered the most important meal of the day. And why not? Your whole family is there, you’re relaxed, and you can take time to eat and rest afterward. This idyllic picture doesn’t apply to everyone, of course, but that’s another story. 

For those and many other reasons, dinner is a particularly perilous meal because all of the meals, snacks, and drinks consumed throughout the day are still lurking inside your stomach and intestines.

In this segment, I’ll focus on the following points.

• Why an early dinner can wake you up at 3 a.m.?

• What is the best dinner composition for stress-free, uninterrupted sleep?

• Why does dinner lead to indigestion, reflux, or restless sleep?

• Why do many people feel hungrier at night—even after eating all day?

• Is it true that eating late causes weight gain?

• What's the best way to structure dinner to extend sleep?

• How digestion at night affects melatonin and deep sleep.

• How late is too late to eat dinner?

• What role does alcohol play in digestion, weight regulation, and sleep quality?

• When do I eat my dinner? What's it like?

Answering these questions will help you understand why dinner done right is the most important meal of your day and why. You’ll also learn how to prepare for it, what to avoid, how to use it to heal gut-related disorders, how to improve your sleep, avoid weight gain, lose some, and wake up in a good mood, full of energy, and focused for the rest of the day.

III. Fixing Sleep, Mood, Energy, Memory and Focus

The content of this segment wouldn't make much sense to you or anyone else without what you've learned in the previous two segments. By now, we are ready to tackle the following points in a greater depth:

Let's be realistic. A two-hour webinar can only cover so much. My goal isn't to solve every problem you may be facing but to give you a guide, hope, and the motivation to explore my site, to read (or re-read) Fiber Menace, and to take part in future webinars. Each of these steps can be as transformational for your health and well-being as you're ready to make them. I'm just the messenger.

IV. Questions and Answers

I’ve sat through one too many webinars where the hosts get no questions from the audience because it has already left or doesn’t bother asking. Sometimes, the hosts are afraid of going off-script, don’t have the depth to handle challenging questions, or just want to rush through and wrap it up in 10-15 minutes.

My webinar won’t be one of those. I’ll answer as many questions as will fit into one hour and longer if needed.

Feel free to ask anything—from meal timing, cravings, bloating, supplements, intermittent fasting, and hydration to what works for travel, shift work, or stubborn weight gain. If something didn’t make sense, ask. If you want clarification, ask. If you're wondering whether a certain “rule” applies to your situation, definitely ask. The more specific, the better.

If, by chance, I don’t know the answer, I’ll look it up later and post the answer on the site.

End that's the end of the webinar. Love to see you there! 

If you can't make it to the webinar in time or need to skip any part, you'll receive a link to a full recording so you can watch it again and again.

Register Now

Date: Saturday, April 12, 2025

Time: 1:00 PM Eastern / 10:00 AM Pacific 

Duration: 2 hours with a 10-minute break halfway through, followed by up to 1 hour Q&A session.

Price: $69.00

Recording: A full-length replay will be available to all participants for 60 days after the event.

Access: You will receive a confirmation email and a personalized access link after registering. Please check your spam or promotions folder if you don't see it.

Cancelation and Refund: Use the access link above to cancel and receive a full refund up to 1 hour before the event

How to watch: I'll present the webinar on the Zoom Events platform. You do not need a Zoom subscription. You can join from any desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. No software download is required.

Tap to Complete Registration...

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Can I invite my friend to watch the webinar with me?

Q. Why did you write your first two books in Russian?

Q. Do you plan to translate Functional Nutrition and Disorders of Carbohydrate Metabolism into English?

Q. Is "functional nutrition" a diet?

Q. How difficult is switching to functional nutrition?

Q. Do you have a cookbook?

Q. Do I need to read your site?

Q. I'm almost eighty years old and in good shape. Will your webinar help me?

Q. Do I need to take notes during the webinar?

Q. Will you have the webinar's transcript?

Q. What if I miss the webinar?

Q. How long is the webinar?

Q. Will I be able to ask questions live?

Q. Is this webinar beginner-friendly?

Q. What if I've already tried every diet and supplement out there?

Q. Is this just another lecture about "gut health"?

Q. What if I'm not sick—just tired and curious?

Q. Will you try to sell me something at the end?

Q. What should I do after the webinar?

Answers

Q. Can I invite my friend to watch the webinar with me?
Yes, by all means, invite them. Whether it's your spouse, adult child, or a close friend, it's always good to have someone else on the same page.

Q. Why did you write Functional Nutrition and Disorders of Carbohydrate Metabolism in Russian?

In the early 2000s, I hosted the top-rated Russian-language wellness radio show in New York and Chicago and wrote a popular weekly column for the largest Russian-language daily in the U.S. Those columns became the foundation for both books. There was no master plan behind it; it just happened.

If you’re curious, I started learning English in 1978 (at 24) and mastered creative writing by the mid-1990s. I’m a native speaker of Russian and Ukrainian, and my English accent is Ukrainian.

Q. Do you plan to translate these books into English?

We tried translating them several times, but the original language was so idiomatic and the context so specific to the diet and lifestyle of Russian-Americans that it just didn’t work. I’ve been writing exclusively in English since 2005, starting with Fiber Menace. Since then, my focus has shifted primarily to functional colorectal disorders.

Q. Is "functional nutrition" a diet?
No, it isn't. Functional nutrition is about understanding how your body works and how to support it through timing, balance, and digestion, and it is adaptable to any reasonable diet. What's unreasonable, we'll discuss during the webinar.

Q. How difficult is switching to functional nutrition?
Once you understand the key rules and principles, it is relatively straightforward to phase into your daily routine because functional nutrition isn't a new diet per se but a different style of eating. Like with any other changes, the body takes time to readjust to a new pattern.

Q. Do you have a cookbook?
No. My goal is to teach principles, not hand out recipes. Once you understand what your body needs, you'll know what to eat without needing to follow instructions for every meal.

Q. Do I need to read your site?
You don't need to. But if you want to go deeper, learn more, or revisit something from the webinar, the site is there for you.

Q. I'm almost eighty years old and in good shape. Will your webinar help me?
If you're in good shape at eighty, you must be doing something right already. This webinar isn't about fixing what's broken but about protecting what still works. If you're curious and open to learning, you'll definitely get a lot out of it.

Q. Do I need to take notes during the webinar?
It isn't a good idea because while writing down notes, you may miss other important points. Since you'll have access to the full recording, you can play, pause, rewind, and play again, taking notes then.

Q. What if I miss the webinar?
If you're registered, you'll receive access to a replay, so you can watch it when it's more convenient for you.

Q. How long is the webinar?
About two hours for the first three parts and at least an hour for answering questions. If it goes a little over, it's because the questions deserve real answers.

Q. Will I be able to ask questions live?
Yes. I've set aside time at the end to answer your questions. If something doesn't make sense or you'd like clarification, please ask.

Q. Is this webinar beginner-friendly?
Yes. You don't need a background in medicine or nutrition to follow along. I explain things in plain language but without oversimplifying.

Q. What if I've already tried every diet and supplement out there?
That's actually a good place to start. It means you've seen what doesn't work, and you'll quickly recognize why my approach is different.

Q. Is this just another lecture about "gut health"?
No, it isn't. This webinar is about how digestion affects your sleep, energy, memory, mood, and focus nd what you can do to improve them.

Q. What if I'm not sick—just tired and curious?
Then you're in the right place. You don't need a diagnosis to want to feel better. Curiosity is a great place to begin.

Q. Will you try to sell me something at the end?
No, I will not. I may refer you from time to time to this site and Fiber Menace. The site is completely free, and so is the full text of Fiber Menace. If you prefer reading a paper book or Kindle, you can get them from Amazon. 

I do recommend taking basic supplements to compensate for age-related deficiencies. You can order them on this site or find similar formulas online.

Q. What should I do after the webinar?
I'll provide general guidelines during the webinar.

About the Presenter

If you haven't read my detailed bio [link], here is a brief information about my background: 

I am a medical writer, researcher, and counselor with nearly three decades of experience helping people reverse lifestyle-related gastrointestinal and endocrine disorders.

With a background in pharmaceutical sciences, forensic nutrition, and functional GI disorders, I cut through myths, misinformation, commercial propaganda, and outright fraud to get to the real causes of functional disorders.

I honed my presentation skills by hosting thousands of live radio talk shows on Russian-language stations in New York and Chicago between 2000 and 2021. As everything moved online, the audience shrank, and the format faded out.

I began my own recovery journey in my late forties. What took me years to learn, implement, refine, and validate, you can now absorb in just a few hours. I hope this experience will be as transformational for you as it was for me.