EP 99: Importance of Gut Health for Lyme with Registered Dietician Robin Berlin

Gut health is paramount to the healing process if you have Chronic Lyme. Robin Berlin is an LA-based registered dietician and cookbook author who teaches gut health and how to optimize it for wellness and health. As someone with a history of SIBO, Robin has focused on microbiome and gut health for years. SIBO is a common symptom of Lyme from chronic use of antibiotics.

With her personal passion and professional commitment, she instills a sense of hope in those affected by GI disorders and teaches them how to cook and eat so they can enjoy food without fear. She works with clients on healing their gut microbiome and advocates for collaboration between the doctors her clients see outside of her practice.

Tune in to hear about how Robin’s gut health expertise can help your Lyme, her personal journey with SIBO, and all about her new book, The Good LFE.

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Transcript

 Mimi:
Welcome to the Lyme 360 podcast for all things related to Lyme disease and other chronic illnesses. I'm Mimi MacClean, mom of five, founder of Lyme 360 and a fellow Lyme Warrior. Tune in each week, to hear from doctors, health, practitioners, and experts. To learn about their treatments, struggles and triumphs to help you on your healing journey. I'm here to heal with you.

Mimi:
This week's podcast is brought to you by Air Oasis. As a Lyme warrior I know how important it is to have clean air in the home. I've been using a room air purifier, but recently had to purchase an all home unit to combat mold issues throughout our house. I did some research and found a great company called Air Oasis. Their air purifiers help fight bacteria, viruses and mold. So if you have not put in an air purifier into your home, go to Lyme360.com/airoasis. They carry room units as well as entire home units.

Mimi:
Hi, welcome back to Lyme 360 podcast this is your host Mimi MacLean and today I have on Robin Berlin and she's a registered dietician who has worked in Los Angeles area for over 20 years. Her focus is on a diet, wellness lifestyle and movement. Robin works with clients from around the globe and collaborates with leading physicians with expertise in GI, cardiology, oncology and other specialties. She lectures locally and nationally, and her goal is to develop a customized plan for each client, allowing them to achieve lasting, meaningful and positive change. As someone with history of SIBO. Robin has studied and focused on microbiome and the gut health for years with her personal passion and professional commitment, she's instills a sense of hope in those affected by GI disorders and teaches them how to cook and eat so they can enjoy food without fear. And as we all know, with Lyme and chronic illnesses, SIBO and other gut health issues are a mainstay. So today's episode is a great way to talk about her new book, The Good LFE and how this can help you in your healing journey.

Mimi:
To get my detox for Lyme checklist, go to Lyme360.com/detoxchecklist. Robin, thank you so much for coming on today I really appreciate it. I think the gut is one of the most important aspects of healing your body from a chronic illness, such as Lyme. And I've heard a lot of people, including my daughter getting SIBO because of all the antibiotics and all the other treatments that they do, that disrupts the flora and the microbiome of your gut. So this is your specialty, and I'm thankful to have you on today and to learn more about something that is as important as your gut as you're healing for chronic Lyme. So thank you so much for coming on.

Robin:
Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure.

Mimi:
Yeah. And so I guess let's start off by just talking, and I know you have a cookbook, The Good LFE. Can you tell us about that cookbook and what makes your cookbook different than others and how it's helpful for people with chronic illness?

Robin:
Absolutely. First and foremost, I couldn't agree with you more that our gut is sometimes, I refer to it as, sort of the machine of our body. And when it's working efficiently, our body can then be strong and heal and work the way it's meant to be. And when it's not working efficiently, it can really cause havoc in all different ways. My passion in why this cookbook is so important to me is, there's so much information out there that I'm sure you can understand that when you either just Google something, you get conflicting information. And so this book is collaboration of both science and nutrition and then food in a way that's super easily prepared. Whether you're a mom or a dad or whatever your workspace might be. And it's really based on 20 years of science and patient response and how they feel by eating low fermentation foods.

Mimi:
That's great. And so I know you also work with clients to help them. So typically when you start with a client, I would assume they're coming to you because they have some kind of an ailment or chronic illness.

Robin:
Correct. So I do specialize in gut health and I would say about 80% of my patients have some form of gut health, IBS, or SIBO or some other irritable bowel disease. So the first thing I do is I find out what they're diagnosed with, and then I do a comprehensive medical, nutritional intake to find out exactly why they're coming to see me. But I also want to make sure I don't have tunnel vision, right? Cause no patient is exactly the same. So even though they might have some gut issues, it's almost always that there are other things going on in their bodies, or if there's any familial history that I should be aware of, so that I make sure as I'm giving them recommendations, how to eat to heal their gut in any particular way, that I'm also not leading any stone unturned, if there's family history of other diseases. And so that they get a comprehensive plan for how to eat both for the gut health, as well as, to be quite honest, just to be healthy and balanced nutrition.

Mimi:
Is there an initial, like testing that you do to determine what's going on if they have SIBO or...

Robin:
Great question. So typically I don't do the testing, but ideally they have been to a gastroenterologist who has had them take what's called a lactulose breath test, which is a definitive test that determines if they are positive or negative for the small intestinal bacteria of overgrowth, which is the acronym of SIBO. Once they get that diagnosis, then they're usually referred to me and they say, "Hey, I've been diagnosed with SIBO," and there's three different kinds of gas that can be produced, hydrogen, methane, and more recently hydrogen sulfide. And then they're typically on a regimen of antibiotics, which you brought up earlier, which we could talk about a little later. And when they finish their regime of antibiotics is when the diet is the most important. So that hopefully the antibiotics has eradicated bacteria overgrowth, in the small intestine, and then they eat in a specific way to help keep the bacteria at bay.

Mimi:
Now I know diet is so specific. Every person's different, like you said. Is there a general diet that you would say... Okay, this is anybody who's listening right now. If you're dealing with chronic illness, most likely you have some gut issues going on. This is what you should be doing, right off the bat. I mean, I know what I did and what I've seen a lot of people who get better from Lyme do, but you know, no gluten, no dairy, cut out alcohol. Is there anything that you would suggest right off the bat? Kind of everyone who's dealing with something, should be the basic diet.

Robin:
Yes, I typically, and I've been doing this for years, recommend the Mediterranean diet and the Mediterranean diet lifestyle. In fact, I believe it was just five years in a row got rated the top way to eat, to help prevent disease. But what I like most about it and what I'm a huge fan of is, anti-inflammatory foods, antioxidant foods, and less packaged, just fresh more of the farm to table, European style way of eating or Mediterranean. That sounds a bit redundant. And in terms of gluten, I think that sometimes that's been labeled as an inflammatory food or people should stay away with it. And I think that gets a little complicated with a lot of the clients I work with, many of them are able to tolerate it, but there's various types of gluten.

Robin:
For example, with SIBO patients, we found that many can tolerate, for example, sourdough or a french baguette, and it's very simple ingredients, but then you also have to pay attention to quantity. So maybe I'm very careful not to just eliminate a food group, but maybe somebody can have some gluten, but not have, bread in the morning and bread with lunch and like a big bowl of pasta at night, but they can have some, because I'm super careful not to eliminate a food group if we don't have to.

Mimi:
And also I found that with gluten, making sure it's organic and doesn't have the GMO wheat a lot of times, it's the GMOs not necessarily actual the wheat.

Robin:
Yes. I agree with you wholeheartedly. I also tell my clients that bread wasn't meant to have a week shelf life. You know, when you go to restaurants and they make fresh bread, they're not serving that the next day. And so it doesn't have a lot of ingredients to keep it on their counter 5, 6, 7 days later.

Mimi:
It's definitely true. And then what would you say, as far as... I've heard a lot about Leaky Gut. If you could talk a little bit about what that is and, other nutritionist have told me, you should be doing bone broth and stuff like that. I just wanted to see what your opinion is on that.

Robin:
So I'm not a big educator or expert on Leaky Gut. What I am really focus on is irritable bowel syndrome, and I know Leaky Guts sort of fall under that. And then SIBO, and I think that sometimes they're synonymous. And so as a dietician, especially in gut health, I focus more on what foods can people eat that are easily to digest in the small intestine, because when that works efficiently, all digestion takes place in our small intestine. And so for IBS, SIBO, microbiome balance, and we've talked a lot about microbiome, then we want to eat in a way for diversity, because the more diverse our microbiome, the healthier people are in regards to bone broth. It's funny. I think that it's absolutely fine. I think that when I have clients that are having a flare or a bad day, I tell them to get chicken soup and I've been saying that for years. So I think that there is a lot of protein and protein we have found is really important for people with the gut health.

Mimi:
Do you ever recommend or subscribe to intermittent fasting?

Robin:
So intermittent fasting is a great question because what we have found is in terms of SIBO, that it's important what you eat, as the spacing of meals. And so there's some overlap. So I'm careful about intermittent fasting because I really want to get to know my patient, if there's any history of disordered eating or the mere fact that they're having these gut issues and their food has been so restricted, by feeling so poorly, it can cause it to look like disordered eating. So I'm careful to first get to know my patient. We have found that the longer time period that is between meals, so it could some form of intermittent fasting, these housekeeper waves actually really help the gut, those housekeepers waves, which is, you have a long time in the night time, and then at least four to five hours between meals. And so the intermittent fasting component, I would subscribe to, I have many patients that are doing it that are finding that it's helping their gut. I just want to make sure it doesn't add to any disordered eating.

Mimi:
Yep. But I find that with my Lyme, especially with my joint pain, the longer I can wait to eat. It alleviates sometimes some of the symptoms.

Robin:
I personally, being somebody who has had SIBO for over 20 years, agree personally, I find that the intermittent fasting works for me and many of my patients. And I think similar to diet it's personalized. I think it can work for some and maybe not for others, depending on also any medical issues. We need to make sure what their blood glucose levels are. We want to make sure that somebody that doesn't do that, that they have spikes or drops in their blood glucose levels. So again, I think we got to personalize it.

Mimi:
Now, do you subscribe to like eating for your blood type or some kind of testing to see if it's causing some kind of specific... For example, for myself, I found out that almost everything I was eating was causing inflammation, like all the good stuff, like avocados, coconut oil, almonds was actually causing my inflammation. So do you test at all, your clients? And if so, what test should somebody be asking for?

Robin:
I personally don't test. I have looked into the blood type diet. I think that we're always learning and that we're learning each year about what tests give us accurate information. I'm careful on certain tests that could give false positives. So that doesn't cause more restrictions. For example, I have a lot of patients that come, that have been tested for food intolerances or if they're food allergies and there are certain labs that are more accurate than others. So in terms of testing, I don't order testing.

Mimi:
Okay. So is there anything that we haven't covered specifically either for Lyme or anybody dealing with... Because Lyme is not, as we know, just Lyme. Usually there's other chronic illnesses going on.

Robin:
Correct.

Mimi:
Is there anything that you would recommend or talk about as far as a low fermentation...

Robin:
Low fermentation? Yeah, it's not quite clear if Lyme can cause SIBO or we do know from, I'm not an expert in it, but I've had some patients with [inaudible 00:13:48] that obviously there can be digestive issues being that SIBO is way more common now and people are getting diagnosed. It could contribute to factors that are causing bloating or diarrhea or constipation. And then it might be a little complicated to weed out which came first. In terms of the low fermentation diet I think what's very important for listeners to know is the importance that we believe in why we develop the cookbook, is to give people a sense of hope that when you don't feel like you have hope, or you're scared, that you have a plan or a framework, how to eat in a way that your gut can digest foods easily.

Robin:
And if I were to focus on what I try to encourage my patients or anybody I can reach, is that, it doesn't have to be scary. So many people are so afraid what to eat and that if we can switch that around, we have to eat numerous times a day. And depending on what somebody's been diagnosed with, how to give them a plan, because I find when everybody has a plan they feel better, to give them a sense of hope. The low fermentation diet is much less restrictive than many of the other diets out there for gut health. And I think that's one of the reasons we're so excited about the cookbook and the other things that are going to be coming with The Good LFE.

Robin:
I also wanted to just emphasize that one of the quotes I know I refer to a lot is by Hippocrates in terms of "Let food be thy medicine and let medicine be thy food." And so I really try to get people to get what they need through food as much as possible. And so another aspect of the cookbook is we were really focused on creating balanced meals to protect the gut while also giving our bodies balanced nutritious meals.

Mimi:
Have you found with your clients, at least for myself, my personal experience, that's what I'm asking, is a lot of times people are lacking digestive enzymes. That they're not able to digest actually the food that they are eating, or they're not able to take the nutrients in, that they're eating. Have you found that to be the case? And if so, is there some kind of supplement that you would recommend for people?

Robin:
So some of my clients absolutely have difficulties and need digestive enzymes, but the first step is to back up and find out why is it happening? You know? And so before I just go to supplements, I try to, I'm all about a team approach and communicating with their doctor or gastroenterologist or whoever their doctor might be. Why are they not digesting the foods? Similar to what you're saying about Lyme is some of the gut issues for example, SIBO, isn't the primary condition, it's secondary to something else. So before I just go to a supplement, I first want to try to find out, is there a reason why? Do they have bacteria in the small intestine where it shouldn't be? Our body is homes to trillions of bacteria and I'm not sure if I completely answered that question, it's just, I personally tend to do less supplements and to see what we can do as to understanding the cause and effect.

Mimi:
[inaudible 00:17:13] And I also noticed on your website, you have another book that one of your partners wrote about the microbiome connection. I don't know if you want to speak about that at all.

Robin:
Sure. But it's a very exciting time. Krystyna Houser and I, my business partner have been working with two of the leading doctors in LA and probably the United States and globally on the microbiome. And so they have written a book on the microbiome connection and its all on IBS, SIBO and the microbiome. And that book is also being released the same day as ours, April 12th. And they're meant to be intertwined. It's been four years in the making and so I feel incredibly blessed to have the relationship. So as the doctors learn and study microbiome and study gut health SIBO and IBS is... And we know so much more about gut health, microbiome now than we did five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago that as they learn, we can learn. And as I learn, I can teach my clients how to eat and we're learning so much. And so the microbiome connection is the doctor's book based on science studies that they've done in laboratories. It's going to be really fascinating.

Robin:
Our cookbook complements that, its based on both the ingredients, what foods is based from their scientific knowledge that we can wholeheartedly say are safe for our readers to eat. It's definitely directed towards SIBO, but also anybody who just wants to cook and eat for microbiome balance, it's going to... They're going to love it.

Mimi:
Well, also, because I think it's starting to get more publicity or press that the microbiome is really known as what, the second brain?

Robin:
Yeah.

Mimi:
You know, and a lot of the mental health issues that are happening today are because of the standard diet, that we have in America that's all processed junk.

Robin:
Yeah.

Mimi:
You know, french fries, pizza, burgers, nothing that's really alive and healthy and that's, what's causing our microbiome to get off. And then that's, what's causing our brain... So they talk to each other. Right. There's a direct correlation.

Robin:
Uh-huh. Definitely. Yes. And I've been going to microbiome conferences for over six years. It's bit of the geek side of me and I'm fascinated by it. You're spot on. And I think that it's basically saying that the typical American diet is really problematic and that when it's based on all of these processed and packaged foods and we're giving it to our children and we're learning, I think we're just on the tip of the iceberg about what we're going to learn about the microbiome and the doctors I work with, they're have a lab and they're seeing how it's related to disease states and its fascinating. And I think what we do know for sure is the more diverse our microbiome, the healthier people are. Which means, sort of gets back to something that's about earlier. We have to have a diverse diet, but you're right. I think that we're going to learn so much and it's a very exciting time, both in science and then how do we help people? How are we going to learn how it can help people with Lyme or other inflammatory diseases or cancer or Parkinson's by studying the microbiome.

Mimi:
And just like you said, getting people to acknowledge that what you're eating is directly correlated to how you feel.

Robin:
Oh, for sure.

Mimi:
So I've been trying to teach my kids that like, okay, you don't feel well, you're acting like this, or you're tired. You want to take a nap? Well, what did you just eat? What did you just do that's making you tired or not feel well? A lot of people don't realize there's a correlation to what you eat and how you feel.

Robin:
Absolutely, I'm trained in behavior modification, mindful eating. And so when I work with my clients, when I have them sort of keep track of not only what they eat, did they exercise that day? Because there's a strong correlation between, and study show that on the days you exercise, you make different choices on the food you eat. And exercise is one of the least expensive antidepressants. And so when it also correlates to the chemicals [inaudible 00:21:22] in our brain, it also affects our mood. It affects our food choice. And so there's a direct relationship in my opinion, between mood and what you eat and lifestyle. In fact, if you see on my website, I never incorporate just one aspect. It can't be just nutrition. It's got to be nutrition, it's got to be movement, it's got to be lifestyle. And how does that work inside each person's body to be their best self.

Mimi:
Yeah. It's so true. And I wish you the best of luck with your book. Just so anybody who's listening, it's not life like L-I-F-E it's L-F-E like Low Fermented Eating. So it's The Good Life Cookbook, but without the I.

Robin:
Yes. How cool is that? We can sort of say that, but it's The Good LFE and it's on Amazon right now for pre-order it's being released April 12th, the pictures are beautiful and it can be for anybody.

Mimi:
And also the website. You can go to find out more information or to work with and have a one-on-one is The Good Life. But without again, the I, so it's thegoodLFE.com.

Robin:
Correct.

Mimi:
Thank you so much, Robin I really appreciate this.

Robin:
My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited that you share so much health and wellness to get people to live healthier, happier, lives.

Mimi:
I know, it's heartbreaking what everyone goes through. And sometimes some simple tweaks can make you at least feel better.

Robin:
Exactly and anything to give people a framework and accurate information and hope is always what I'm looking to hopefully help my patients or anybody.

Mimi:
Thank you so much and best of luck.

Robin:
Thanks for having me.

Mimi:
Each week I will bring you different voices from their wellness community so that they can share how they help their clients heal. You will come away with tips and strategies to help you get your life back. Thank you so much for coming on and I am so happy you are here. Subscribe now and tune in next week. If you want to learn how I detox and you want to check out my detox for Lyme checklist, go to Lyme360.com/detoxchecklist. You can also join our community at Lyme 360 Warriors on Facebook and let's heal together. Thank you.