Liz Graves, DC

The Hidden Connection Between
Your Gut,Brain, and Metabolism

If you’ve ever felt like your body just isn’t responding the way it used to — you’re not imagining it. You might be eating well, trying to make better choices, even putting in more effort than ever before. And yet …

• The weight doesn’t move the way it used to
• Your energy feels inconsistent or low
• Your mind feels foggy or slower than it should

At some point, many people start to wonder, “What am I missing?” For Dr. Liz, that question is where real healing begins.

A Different Way to Look at the Body

Dr. Liz didn’t set out to follow a conventional path in healthcare. What drew her in was a philosophy that has quietly stood the test of time. The body is designed to heal — when it’s given the right conditions. “My chiropractic background shaped how I see health,” she explains. “It’s not about forcing the body to change. It’s about removing what’s interfering with it functioning the way it was designed to.” Instead of asking, “What do we add to fix this?” she asks, “What’s getting in the way of healing?” That shift changes everything.

Why So Many People Feel Stuck

Over time, Dr. Liz began to notice a pattern. People weren’t just struggling with weight. They were dealing with:

• Persistent fatigue
• Brain fog
• Hormonal shifts
• Digestive issues
• A body that no longer responded to effort

Many of them were doing what they believed were the “right” things and still not getting results. One of the biggest issues, she explains, is that our food system and environment have changed dramatically in the last 100 years — but our bodies haven’t. What looks like healthy eating on the surface isn’t always supporting what the body actually needs at a deeper level.

Like many of her patients, Dr. Liz spent over 15 years trying to lose weight through diets and over-the-counter solutions — with little to no lasting success. Nothing seemed to work long-term. It wasn’t until she addressed how her metabolism was actually functioning that things began to change. Today, she is healthier, fitter, and leaner than she was decades ago.

When the Body Adapts in the Wrong Direction

Instead of efficient metabolism and steady energy, people begin to experience:

• Slower fat loss (or unexpected weight gain)
• Increased cravings
• Poor focus and mental fatigue
• Disrupted hormone balance

This isn’t because their body is broken, but rather it’s trying to function with what it’s been given. “Food can either support healing or quietly work against it,” Dr. Liz said. “Most people have never been taught how to truly fuel their body for healing.”

The Missing Link: Gut and Brain Function

Recently, Dr. Liz has seen a significant increase in patients coming in with one primary concern: They don’t feel like themselves. Even when weight isn’t the main issue,  they’re experiencing:

• Low energy
• Difficulty concentrating
• Mood changes
• Lack of mental clarity

This is where the gut-brain connection becomes critical. “Your body uses nutrients from your food to build neurotransmitters,” she said. “If your diet isn’t supporting that process, your brain doesn’t have what it needs to function well.”

Over time, feel-good hormones like serotonin and dopamine can become depleted — leading to increased stress, anxiousness, or simply not feeling as happy and peaceful as you once did. And when the gut is compromised, everything downstream is affected. “As your microbiome shifts, so does your energy, your mood, and your ability to think clearly.”

A Growing Concern: GLP-1 Weight-Loss Medications

Another trend Dr. Liz is seeing more frequently is patients who are either on — or considering — GLP-1 medications for weight loss. While these medications can lead to weight loss, they come with a tradeoff many people don’t fully understand. “On average, about one-third of the weight lost can come from muscle,” she explains. “In some cases, it’s even higher.”

That matters more than most people realize. Muscle isn’t just about appearance — it supports metabolism and long-term health. “When the weight comes back — and often it does — it doesn’t come back as muscle.” For many, this creates a cycle that feels even harder to break.

Because of this, Dr. Liz has spent significant time developing a structured approach to help patients transition off GLP-1 medications in a way that supports their metabolism — without simply regaining the weight they worked so hard to lose. The goal isn’t just weight loss — it’s helping the body function well enough to sustain it.

A More Sustainable Approach

Most approaches focus on eating less, trying harder, or relying on medication. Dr. Liz takes a different approach—one that focuses on restoring how the body actually functions. Her work centers on understanding:

• How the body is processing and using nutrients
• How metabolism is functioning and adapting
• Hormonal signaling and balance
• Stress and nervous system response

From there, she builds a plan that supports the body in functioning properly again. Through her work, patients experience less mental pull toward food, improved energy, more stable moods, and weight loss that comes from supporting the body rather than fighting it. No extremes. No guessing. No one-size-fits-all plan.

Why This Matters —Especially Right Now

Many people reach a point where what used to work … stops working. That’s often the signal — not to try harder — but to look deeper. Whether it shows up as:

• Menopause-related weight gain
• Chronic fatigue
• Brain fog
• Or simply feeling “off”

These aren’t random issues. They’re signals.

Working with Dr. Liz looks like this. Every patient starts with a deeper evaluation — looking beyond surface symptoms to understand what’s really happening internally. From there, care is tailored to the individual. Because no two bodies — and no two solutions — are exactly the same.

Where to Start

If this feels familiar — if you’ve been doing the right things but still feel stuck — it’s likely not a matter of trying harder. It’s a matter of understanding what your body is actually doing beneath the surface. That’s where the next step begins.