Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. BG Mancini.
Hi Dr. Mancini, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Firstly, yes! My first name is BG on my birth certificate. My parents couldn’t decide on a name, and the hospital released me with the name they had written on my bracelet, which was… Baby Girl, abbreviated to BG. It was the 70s, and my parents thought it was cool, so it was kept. My patients call me Dr. B or Dr. BG, so naturally, it was a perfect tie-in to creating (BGI) The Brain & Gut Institute.
I have been interested in healthy food, supplements, and neurological development since childhood. I was only 6 when my dad introduced me to what we now call “super-foods,” like bee pollen, blue-green algae, how to grow sprouts, juicing, and the power of breathwork. He was my first teacher. (I still have his working juicer 35 years later!)
By the time I got to college, I was studying Nutrition, launched right into working with chronically ill patients with whole foods nutrition, and started to see the incredible healing capabilities of the body. I was hooked! Knowing these things didn’t help me avoid several health issues and traumas that came along; however, they did help me navigate back to balance.
Sharing this with as many people as willing to listen brings me joy. Every cell in our body is designed to find homeostasis and help us survive! Then we move from survival to thrive, where the real fun begins. Today, I share with my husband and two kids about nutrition, growing foods and eating in season, how to use supplementation to support our bodies in an unbalanced world, and most importantly, how to be kind humans!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The challenge of patient education is also what I love about it! Health and wellness collaboration is completely new to most people. In the past, most people have had something not feel right, they would go to a doctor, receive medication and be on their way. Showing adults and also children that they are active participants in feeling well or their recovery is a new paradigm!
This can be a little unnatural to some at first, but it’s also very empowering. It allows them to feel more connected to the cause and effect in their lives and that they can guide their ship wherever they choose. This also sets children up for a lifetime of awareness about how foods, environments, or experiences are affecting them physically, emotionally, and neurologically.
It’s really beautiful when I ask a child who, for example, reacts poorly to sugar, how they felt when they ate it and they tell me, “crazily brained!” What a gift that they are becoming aware of the fact that it’s all connected.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have been specializing in advancing neurological development in healthy children and neurological recovery in children with challenges. As a licensed Oriental Medicine and Acupuncturist Physician, Functional Medicine Practitioner, and Neurodevelopmental Specialist, I have more than 25 years of hands-on research and experience. I also practice as a primary care provider for children and families
My focus is functional medicine and nervous system resilience working with children, adults, families, and practitioners to identify the root causes of physical, emotional, and neurological challenges. Some techniques to help my patients include Hemispheric integration exercises, Retained reflex integration, Developmental vision, Polyvagal/ Vagus nerve/SSP, and strengthening family connections.
It’s a joy to have worked with thousands of individuals and hundreds of families worldwide to improve the quality of neurological connections in their children’s brains through mobility, nutritional changes, and creating awareness of available techniques to deepen the connection between children and parents. Connecting with each patient and giving them the care they deserve is most important to me. The patients who reach out and are willing to make changes to improve their health deserve my best.
At The Brain & Gut Institute, we combine our research, hands-on experience, and tools to integrate neurological and emotional support that lasts a lifetime. Combining my clinical experience with the Polyvagal Theory of healing and connection to help children and families integrate many tools deeply. My driving purpose is to maximize outcomes for adults, families with healthy children, and those with children experiencing challenges to reach milestones and full potential.
Twenty-five years ago, I recognized the connections between dairy, gluten, sugar, and processed foods in neurologically and physically challenged children and adults. I am happy to see that many people are starting to understand the changes they can make in their own homes to help rebalance the epidemic of delays and illnesses facing our children today.
For more information, follow us on IG @braingutinstitute or visit www.braingutinsitute.com.
“Helping children and adults find balance in an unbalanced world.” BG Mancini
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting.
My advice for others in the health field is to keep an open mind. The “radical ideas” of yesterday often become the benchmark for clinical treatment tomorrow. A great example is this: In the 1970s, the American Cancer Association strongly disputed the idea that diet was affecting cancer development. It was scary to people when they first heard it, but those who heard it tested it for themselves with patients and found that they could support their patients through whatever therapy they chose much more effectively and with better outcomes.
This is now common knowledge that sugar and other specific foods feed cancer growth. Medicine should be an ongoing investigation; we should not get stuck in what worked yesterday. Those of us who chose this career path all get into this profession to help others, and by staying open and continuing to learn, question, and research on our own, we can be most effective for the families we work with.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.braingutinstitute.com
- Instagram: @braingutinstitute
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/braingutinstitute
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bg-mancini-2b1291257/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-EID_LgOxsAWhK_FF9400Q
