Almost everybody who comes to me with Crohn’s has already changed their diet. Usually more than once. Gluten gone, dairy gone, a food diary kept faithfully for months, whole categories eliminated and slowly reintroduced.
And they are still sitting in front of me. Which tells me something the food diary was never going to.
There is a second question, and hardly anyone gets asked it. Not what is going into your digestive tract, but what is reaching it from your brain. That is the Crohn’s gut brain connection, and in my experience it is the piece that has been missing.
The Digestive Tract Brain Connection Is Bigger Than You Think
I have come to think of the body as having three brains. The first is the one in your head. The second is your heart. And the third is your gut — which is not a figure of speech, but a comment on how much of it there is and how completely it is wired in.
Think about what happens every time you eat. You smell the food. You chew it. You swallow. And then, without a single conscious instruction from you, your body liquefies it, pulls out what it needs, and turns the rest back into something it can move along and be rid of.
That is an enormous piece of work, running continuously, for your entire life. We take it completely for granted right up until the moment it stops going smoothly.
And the system doing it is vast. Your esophagus, salivary glands, parotid glands, stomach, small intestine, gallbladder, pancreas, large intestine — every microscopic cell across all of it is wired back to your brain. That digestive tract brain connection is a remarkable thing to see laid out.
Crohn’s Is Not Just Diet: The Crohn’s Nerve Connection
Crohn’s is inflammation in the gut, and plenty of things feed into it. Chemicals and artificial additives in food. Gluten. MSG. Modified starches. There is a lot in the modern food supply that the body finds hard to process, and diet is a real part of this conversation.
But here is what I think gets missed. When a group of cells in your digestive tract comes under that kind of load, they need good communication with your brain in order to recover. Where the connection is strong, those cells have what they need to settle down and repair themselves. Where it could be stronger, restoring it gives them a great deal more to work with.
So I am asking a different question from the one most people have been asked. Not only what is going into the system, but what is reaching those cells from the other direction. That is the Crohn’s nerve connection, and it is where gut inflammation nerve function becomes the useful thing to measure.
Why I Aim for 85 Percent
I will be straight with you about the target, because I think honesty here matters more than a good-sounding number.
One hundred per cent connection is not realistic. Not for you, not for me, not for anybody living in the modern world — there is simply too much interference, internal and external, for a body to run at full power all the time.
Eighty-five per cent is what I work towards. It is achievable, it makes a genuine difference to how a body functions, and I would rather tell you that than promise you something neither of us can reach.
What I Am Actually Measuring
I do not treat symptoms. I look at the circuit, and when it comes to the Crohn’s gut brain connection I want a number rather than an impression.
There are 88 primary nerves branching off the brain and spinal cord — the main power lines. Because I know the route and the job of every one of them, I can test EnergyFlow along each pathway and tell you what percentage of full power you are currently running at.
Before that, I spend real time on your history — the emotional, physical and environmental stresses you have been through. With digestive conditions the environmental side is especially worth mapping, because it covers years of what has actually been going into the system. Most people have never been asked to lay all of that out in one sitting, and patterns tend to surface when they do.
The OWL Method and Gut Health: Oxygen, Water, Light
Everything I do centres on OWL — oxygen, water and light, the three ingredients cells depend on most. The OWL method and gut health go together closely, because digestive cells are working constantly and need those ingredients more than most. The order is deliberate.
Oxygen. The most abundant ingredient in the human body, and the one most people could use more of. I support it directly with hyperbaric oxygen, LiveO2 and exercise with oxygen therapy.
Water. The second most abundant. Cells work properly when they are properly hydrated, and quality matters as much as quantity.
Light. The third. Red light and infrared work brings light energy back into the nerves and sparks cells to do their own repair.
Alongside those I use frequency and grounding devices. Every cell has its own tune, like a guitar string, and stress pulls cells out of tune. Bioresonance and PEMF help them find it again, and I recommend devices for home so that work carries on between visits.
I also work on strengthening the nervous system’s response to particular foods and drinks. That matters, because nobody maintains a perfect diet — and building resilience is a far more realistic goal than avoiding everything forever.
🎥 Watch: My Conversation on Crohn’s
I talk through all of this in more detail here — the third brain, the connection into the digestive tract, and how I structure the work.
Where I Stand on Your Medical Care
I want to be clear about this, because I say the same to every patient who walks through my door.
Crohn’s needs proper medical management. Your gastroenterologist stays exactly where they are, your prescribed medication stays with them, and your monitoring and scopes carry on as scheduled. What I do sits alongside all of that.
Keep your medical team informed as you go, so they can respond at the right moment. Their side handles the treatment. My side works on the connection and the ingredients.
What I Will and Will Not Tell You
I am Dr. Chris Cormier, DC, I have been in practice 27 years, with more than 50,000 clinical hours behind me, and you deserve straight answers from anyone you are thinking of working with. So here are mine.
I will not tell you in advance what your result will be. Every person who comes to me has a different set of nerves with a different combination of stresses acting on them, and I do not know yours until I have examined you. What I will tell you is exactly what I find, what I honestly believe is achievable in your case, and whether I think I am the right person to help you.
Every patient teaches me something. A new pattern, a different combination, something I have not seen in quite that form before — and often what I learn helping one person goes on to help a hundred others with a similar picture. That is why we call it an Institute rather than a clinic. We are always learning.
What Becomes Possible
This is the part I would want you to hold on to, and it is why I keep coming back to the Crohn’s gut brain connection.
When the connection improves and cells have their ingredients again, the repair side of the system comes back into play — and the body is remarkably capable once it has the resources.
Your body is designed to repair itself. Think about an ordinary cut: where the cells are healthy it closes over without you doing a thing, and we all take that entirely for granted. That capacity is built into you. My work is about restoring the conditions that let it operate.
Questions People Ask Me
Why do you call the gut the third brain?
Because of how much of it there is and how completely it is wired in. Brain to heart is the second. Brain to gut is the third — and the gut third brain idea is exactly why the Crohn’s gut brain connection is the first thing I examine.
If Crohn’s is not just diet, does food still matter?
Very much. Food is a real factor in gut inflammation. But Crohn’s is not just diet — I also work on strengthening your nervous system’s response to particular foods, because nobody eats perfectly and resilience is the more realistic goal.
Why 85 per cent rather than 100?
Because full connection is not achievable in the modern world, and I would rather give you an honest target than a flattering one. Eighty-five makes a real difference.
Is this instead of my current treatment?
No. Crohn’s needs proper medical management and your gastroenterologist stays in charge of it. What I do works alongside your existing care.
How do I know whether you are the right person for me?
Come and find out. The assessment gives us both something concrete, and if I do not think I can help you I will say so rather than start a plan.
Can I start from home?
Yes. Bodychargers is my at-home programme — daily coaching with frequency-based technology, guided by coaches I have trained myself. Plenty of people start there and come to the clinic later.
If This Way of Thinking Makes Sense to You
Then the next step is an assessment of your Crohn’s gut brain connection rather than only your symptoms, and an honest conversation about whether I am the right fit for your situation.
Nerve Health Institute — Lafayette, Louisiana
108 Republic Ave, Ste. B · Lafayette, LA 70508
+1 (337) 456-6555
Spark your cells to optimal longevity.
— Dr. Chris Cormier, DC
