Decoding Disease with Dr. Rue
Learn to see your body through a different lens.
There comes a point where you begin to sense that what you are experiencing cannot be fully explained by symptoms alone. Patterns repeat, progress feels incomplete, and something deeper is asking to be understood. I’m Dr. Rue, a naturopathic physician focused on chronic illness and integrative oncology, where the work is not about chasing conditions, but about observing the terrain in which they arise.
In this space, we explore how the body adapts, how systems communicate, and how environment, metabolism, and lived experience shape what you feel day to day. The body is not random, and it is not working against you. It responds in ways that reflect its internal and external worlds. As you begin to understand those responses, your relationship with your health begins to change.
These are quiet, intentional conversations designed to bring clarity without removing complexity. If you have ever felt that your experience does not fit into a simple explanation, you are not alone. This is a place to listen more closely, to reconnect, and to begin seeing what may have been there all along.
Episodes
120 episodes
The Boy Who Was Dying Until Insulin Arrived
In 1922, fourteen-year-old Leonard Thompson was dying of Type 1 diabetes. He was desperately thin, and the treatment keeping him alive was a diet so restrictive it amounted to controlled starvation.Then he received an injection of pancre...
Insulin Isnt Born As Insulin
You’ve probably heard that your pancreas makes insulin. But what does “makes insulin” actually mean?It starts with something called preproinsulin, a long chain of amino acids that isn’t ready to do the job yet. Inside a beta cell, that c...
The Moment Your Beta Cell Goes Electric | Ep. 118
Inside a tiny cell is an even tinier gate, opening and closing as conditions change. Something so small, yet what happens at that gate can influence a much larger response.In this episode, we explore why this microscopic gate matters and...
How Does a Beta Cell Know Glucose is Rising? | Ep. 117
Glucose begins to rise in your blood. But how does a single cell know that it’s happening? And how does that tiny cell know it’s time to respond?In this episode, we explore one of the body’s most remarkable sensing systems and what it re...
Meet the Tiny Cell Watching Your Blood Sugar | Ep. 116
Some of the smallest cells in the body carry some of the biggest responsibilities. A tiny population of cells helps determine how we respond to glucose, use energy, and maintain metabolic balance.In this episode, we explore why these cel...
Your Body Just Ate. How Does It Know | Ep. 115
Most people think of insulin as the hormone that regulates blood sugar. But that is only one part of a much bigger story. Its influence extends far beyond glucose, affecting how the body uses, stores, and responds to energy.In this episo...
The Scientist Who Found the Second Messenger | Ep. 114
A tiny signal reaches a cell, and what follows can be enormous. One message can trigger a cascade of activity, amplifying that original signal into a much larger cellular response.In this episode, we explore what this amplification means...
How Does a Message Get Inside Without Going Inside | Ep. 113
A message reaches a cell. But how does that message become action? That transition, from receiving a signal to creating a response, is known as signal transduction.In this episode, we explore what signal transduction means and why this c...
The Doorbell On The Cell | Ep. 112
Your cells are surrounded by messages. Hormones and other signaling molecules are constantly ringing the doorbell, but not every cell answers every signal. So how does a cell know when a message is meant for it?In this episode, we explor...
Why Doesn't Every Cell Respond to Every Hormone | Ep. 111
If hormones travel throughout the body, why doesn't every cell respond to every hormone? Why can the same signal matter deeply to one tissue and seemingly mean nothing to another? These are the kinds of questions that reveal just how intelligen...
How Does Your Body Know What to Do | Ep. 110
How does your body know what it needs to do? How does one organ know what another organ needs? How do trillions of cells coordinate, adapt, respond, and somehow keep the whole system moving together?These are the questions that have fasc...
Why I Fell in Love With Understanding the Human Body | Ep. 109
This is a more personal episode. I share a little about why I fell in love with learning about the human body as a whole, not as a collection of isolated systems, symptoms, or diagnoses. The more I learned, the more fascinated I became by how d...
Why Metabolic Health Is The Foundation Of Health | Ep. 108
Metabolic health influences far more than energy or weight. It touches nearly every system in the body, shaping how cells communicate, how the immune system responds, how hormones signal, and how the body adapts to stress, repair, and change.
Can You Be Thin and Metabolically Unhealthy? | Ep. 107
We often assume that body size tells us something meaningful about health. But weight is only one visible piece of a much larger physiological picture, and many of the most important metabolic patterns are happening where we cannot see them.
The Early Signs of Metabolic Dysfunction | Ep. 106
The body often whispers before it screams. Changes in energy, blood sugar stability, sleep, cravings, concentration, recovery, and how resilient you feel from one day to the next can all be part of a larger pattern taking shape long before a di...
Metabolism versus Metabolic Health | Ep. 105
Metabolism and metabolic health are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Metabolism describes the complex network of processes that keeps you alive, while metabolic health reflects how well those processes are functionin...
What Does a Healthy Metabolism Look Like? | Ep. 104
A healthy metabolism is not defined by a number on the scale or how quickly you burn through calories. It is reflected in metabolic resilience, in how well your body creates energy, adapts to stress, and maintains balance across an ever-changin...
Can You Change Your Metabolism? | Ep. 103
Metabolism is not necessarily a fixed trait you are born with and destined to carry for life. It is a dynamic reflection of your biological terrain and the many signals shaping how your body responds and adapts.So can metabolism actually...
Fast vs Slow Metabolism | Ep. 102
We tend to label metabolism as either fast or slow, but that language may be oversimplifying something far more complex. Metabolism reflects the state of your entire biological terrain and how effectively your body responds, adapts, and manages...
Where Does Metabolism Happen? | Ep. 101
Metabolism is happening everywhere. In every organ, every tissue, and every cell, it is part of the constant exchange that keeps the human system alive, responsive, and adaptable.It is not something happening in one organ or one pathway....
What Is Metabolism? | Ep. 099
What is metabolism? It is far more than calories, weight, or how quickly you burn energy. Metabolism is the sum of the life-sustaining activity taking place within you every moment. It is one of the most fundamental expressions of being alive.<...
Decoding Metabolism | Ep. 098
What truly keeps you alive? Beneath every heartbeat, every breath, and every thought is metabolism. It is far more than calories, weight, or energy. Metabolism is one of the fundamental processes that defines life itself.Every organ, eve...
The Fascinating World of Bioelectric Communication | Ep. 097
The body is not only chemical. It is profoundly bioelectric. Every cell participates in an ongoing exchange of electrical information, forming a vast communication network that exists from the smallest cellular interactions to the body as a who...
The Meridians and Ancient Wisdom | Ep. 096
Ancient medicine was not simply mystical thinking. Long before modern technology could measure physiology as we do today, Chinese medicine described patterns, meridians, organ relationships, and interconnected systems that reflected a remarkabl...