Berks Health Initiative

Berks Health Initiative—Eight Years Getting Gutsy

Aparna Mele, MD gutsyandmini

Every year, Guts and Glory Digestive and Wellness Expo is held here in Berks County in late September. The Expo was created and hosted by nonprofit My Gut Instinct and is sponsored by Penn State Health St Joseph. Guts and Glory is a free, large scale, non-profit community-wide celebration of health for all ages and showcases a farmer’s market, educational booths, community outreach, fresh locally sourced food made by local chefs, fitness zones, yoga, massage meditation, and wellness experts, to name a few features. This free admission, interactive, annual event for all ages is designed to educate the health curious, elevate the understanding of the health conscious, and raise community awareness of the importance of digestive health and overall wellness through the free exchange of information and resources.

The Guts and Glory event aims to provide people with health knowledge and empower them to take action to live healthier lives and become beautiful from the inside, out, because “We aim to provide people with health knowledge and empower them to take action to live healthier lives and become beautiful from the inside, out, because we believe beauty starts on the inside,” said founder Aparna Mele, MD. “We also want to show the community that eating and living healthy is not only easy to do, but it can also be fun and delicious too!”

Aparna Mele, MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist with Digestive Disease Associates since 2007 is the founder and president of My Gut Instinct, and the organizer of this event. She came to the field of medicine with extensive experience in international relief work overseas and is actively involved in local philanthropic work directed towards patient education and promotion of societal health. She created her nonprofit to celebrate a united community spirit of health, wellness, positivity, and empowerment and to encourage community members to find inspiration to take an active role in their own well-being all year long. The mission at My Gut Instinct, a non-profit organization, is to collaboratively inspire and empower the Greater Reading community to embrace health and eat and live better for longevity. The organization aims to increase awareness of preventable diseases that impact community health. The organization focuses on preventing these avoidable diseases through motivating the community to make healthy choices, promoting cancer screenings, and raising awareness for various health concerns.

Guts and Glory Digestive and Wellness Expo is the result of her endeavors and has been running for the past seven years, welcoming hundreds of visitors each year! It is a far-reaching, educationally inspiring, community giving, and feel-good event held annually, now celebrating their 8th year. The event has enjoyed extensive media coverage and public accolades for their health movement in the community. Their clever mascot, a 6’1’ mannequin named GUTSY GIRL or her “minime”, tabletop version named MINI GUTSY, can be found throughout town, spreading the word about Guts and Glory every fall. To stay engaged with the community, the My Gut Instinct team also runs a monthly blog year-round, featuring wellness articles to continue the conversation about getting and staying healthy in body, mind, and soul. Numerous community sponsors and volunteers make the event possible, and the organization welcomes health-minded businesses committed to community health to join and participate. Highlighting the work of this forward-thinking gastroenterologist in Berks County at PA Society of Gastroenterology can bring attention to her important work and draw more visitors to help this amazing event grow!

This year’s 8th annual event will be held at Willow Glen Park, home of Shocktoberfest on the last Saturday of Sept 2021. For more information about My Gut Instinct, their free wellness blog, and the Guts and Glory event, visit www.mygutinstinct. org. Stay up to date with volunteer, sponsor and vendor opportunities as well as enjoy healthy recipes and inspirational motivation on Facebook and Instagram.