I was excited to get an early read of Fire Your Doctor by Dr. Dani Lockwood. It’s a refreshing, practical guide to ditching reactive healthcare and taking charge with root-cause, holistic strategies. The advice is especially timely for anyone who feels like their body has started behaving like it installed the latest “aging” update without asking!
If you’re like most women I know (myself included), your health tends to fall to the bottom of your looong to-do list. But juggling a demanding career gets a lot harder when you’re running on empty or not feeling as well as you think you should. I was fortunate to be introduced to functional medicine a few years back and it’s been so helpful for myself and my family.
Early on when I launched this blog, I featured a guest post from Dr. Danielle Lockwood called Unraveling the Mystery: the Link Between Toxins, Weight Gain, Fatigue and Brain Fog. Dr. Dani is a primary care physician and acupuncturist, uniquely trained in both Western medicine and classical Chinese medicine. Her approach blends personalized, one-on-one care with neurological, genetic, and emotional insights, treating not just symptoms but the underlying stress patterns that make us more vulnerable to chronic illness.
So when I had an opportunity to get an advanced copy of Dr. Dani’s new book, I jumped at the chance to read it. Fire Your Doctor: Escape the Sick-Care System and Reclaim Your Health is a straight-talking guide to stepping out of a reactive, symptom-focused healthcare model: the one where you’re rushed through appointments, handed a prescription, and told “you’re fine” when you know something still isn’t right.
A Wake-Up Call for Anyone Who’s Tired of Not Feeling Heard
What I love most about this book is how clearly Dr. Lockwood lays out the bigger picture: our mainstream healthcare system is built to treat symptoms, not root causes. And more often than not, the system doesn’t leave much room for nuanced, long-term healing, especially when it comes to complex issues like digestive disorders, chronic fatigue, auto-immune disorders and hormone imbalance.
The book reframes gut health as the foundation of overall wellness: not just digestion, but how it affects our stress, mood, and immune system. She challenges the mainstream American mindset that sees germs as the enemy, pointing instead to the importance of microbial diversity and balance. This cultural obsession with antibacterial everything (especially post-COVID), combined with the inflammatory effects of the Standard American Diet (SAD), has disrupted our microbiomes and left us more vulnerable to chronic conditions.
What Makes This Book Different
What sets Fire Your Doctor apart is the balance it strikes between being deeply informative and genuinely approachable. You don’t need a medical background to understand it. Dr. Lockwood explains complex topics like gut health in a way that’s both digestible (pun intended!) and enlightening. Right away, you feel motivated to make changes.
Dr. Dani shares her own experiences as a doctor, a patient, and a woman navigating a flawed healthcare system. She includes real stories and case studies, plus plenty of practical advice.
Some standout topics include:
- Why gut health is foundational (yes, even for mental clarity and mood!)
- How to spot the red flags of a “sick-care” mindset
- What tests and data actually matter – and how to interpret them
- How to build a care team that listens to you
- What healing really looks like (spoiler: it’s rarely linear)
It’s the kind of book you can underline, dog-ear, and return to again and again. I especially love the “Too Long, Didn’t Read” (TLDR) summaries at the end of each chapter, which review the topics covered and are helpful for overall understanding and recall.
A Better Way Forward
For me, Fire Your Doctor reinforced that true healing comes from listening to your body, honoring its signals, and working with practitioners who treat you as a whole person.
On a personal level, I’ve experienced a positive difference that functional, naturopathic, and root-cause medicine can make, not just in how you feel physically, but in your relationship to your own body and well-being.
You can grab your copy of Fire Your Doctor on Amazon, and if you’re based in the Pacific Northwest, I highly recommend connecting with Dr. Lockwood’s practice, Terrain Wellness. She’s the real deal.
Here’s to taking your health into your own hands!
Thanks for reading and sharing! xx
