How Fixing Your Gut Balances Hormones & Makes Fat Loss Easier w/ Ashley Shields EP 198

How Fixing Your Gut Balances Hormones & Makes Fat Loss Easier w/ Ashley Shields EP 198 

Is your body feeling stuck, stressed, or resistant to fat loss—despite your best efforts? 

Functional health practitioner Ashley Shields reveals why the gut often holds the key to balanced hormones, easier fat loss, and better energy.

Ashley shares how gut inflammation, low stomach acid, stress, and blood sugar swings can create a cascade that affects thyroid function, estrogen clearance, progesterone levels, cravings, mood, and metabolism. She breaks down the gut–hormone connection in simple terms and explains why your body doesn’t stall because it’s stubborn—it stalls because it doesn’t feel safe.

Inside this episode:
• Gut health’s hidden impact on fat loss and hormones
• Why estrogen dominance and thyroid issues often start in the gut
• Functional blood sugar targets that support metabolism
• How stress and nervous system overload disrupt digestion
• The complete 5R gut-healing roadmap
• Practical tools to calm the body and support sustainable results
• What women in perimenopause should know
• How to protect metabolism while using GLP-1 meds

This episode gives you science-backed clarity and simple steps to reduce inflammation, restore balance, and reconnect with your body. If you’ve felt stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure why your symptoms aren’t shifting, this conversation offers the guidance and root-cause insight you’ve been missing.

Website: www.tbvitality.com
5 R's To Rock Your Gut Health guide
https://api.getkaboodle.com/widget/form/EFGK6jeB2fay6d9qU97d
GLP-1 Info Guide
https://api.getkaboodle.com/widget/form/JLsMd6oz3CDfpEKficIT
Start Healing Your Reflux From the Root — Naturally
https://go.tbvitality.com/acid-reflux-optin
Instagram @ashleyjshieldsfit
TikTok @ashleyjshields
https://www.tiktok.com/@ashleyjshields?_r=1&_t=ZT-91hgTUJxlAE

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I look forward to connecting with you Anita Mattu https://linktr.ee/AnitaMattu

Transcript

Meet Ashley And The 5R Gut Framework

Ashley Shields 2:13

It's remove, it's rebalance, reinoculate, repair, and rebalance. So there's just a particular process that we have to follow when it comes to optimizing your gut health. And maybe the remove might be just like because it's it's different for everyone, right?

Anita Mattu 2:28

So maybe it's worth removing today's guest is Ashley Shields, a functional health coach practitioner, and the creator of the Total Body Vitality. After working through her own journey with gut tissues, hormone imbalance, and burnout. She now helps women and men heal the right way, addressing stubborn digestive tissues, hormonal imbalances, and chronic fatigue by addressing the root cause by understanding what their body is trying to tell them, using functional labs, personalized protocols, and real life support to help you feel like yourself again. Welcome, Ashley.

Ashley Shields 3:16

Thank you for having me today.

From EMT Burnout To Functional Health

Anita Mattu 3:18

So what is one of the most courageous things you have done after reading that out about your health? Wow.

Ashley Shields 3:25

Yeah, so one of the courageous things I would probably say taking the big step, quitting my original job job to to take the risk and start my own business. You know, because I didn't know if it was going to be successful, I didn't know if I was going to fail. And I just remember messaging my husband and said, I I don't think I can do this anymore. I think I need to try to see if I can go full-time in my business. Because I was so I was getting like busy and overwhelmed from being a full-time EMT and doing having clients on the side. I was like, I need I said I need to see if this is actually gonna work. And it's been history since then. I've been I I have been full-time for over five years now.

Anita Mattu 4:06

And that's absolutely fantastic and well done. It's a courageous step making any change, what a business change really is, because it's the uncertainty of will it work out or not, and what happens if it doesn't? So you took that step. So what took you on your journey of being a functional health practitioner? Was it your health?

The Gut–Hormone Connection Explained

Ashley Shields 4:29

Yes, it's it was my health that led me to this journey. Um, I was already like when I was in EMT, I was already like a personal trainer. So I trained people and I did like macro coaching, like just nutrition plans, nothing like fancy or anything. And I was dealing with some health issues myself, like like no cycle for two years. I would look like I was pregnant by the end of the evening, wasn't going to the bathroom like I should be on a daily basis. I was fatigued, gaining weight out of out of nowhere, even though I worked out, ate clean, just didn't make sense to me. Went doctor to doctor, and all they were suggesting is anxiety meds, birth control, we relax. And I knew there was more to it. And so I found a functional health company, and that's where it was history for me. It opened up my eyes, like, okay, this is the connection. This is what's going on. It's not just about working out nutrition, it's about internal health, your gut health, your immune health, inflammation. And once I corrected all those things, like I finally felt like myself again, and you know, and that's why I that's where I made the big shift of being more of a functional health versus a personal trainer.

Anita Mattu 5:42

Yes, I can understand that. And it does all stem from the complete body, and like it's not just uh outside what we physically personal trainer look like, but it's on the inside, and that's what it stems from. So absolutely. So you talk a lot about the gut hormone connection. Why do most women miss this piece when trying to balance their hormones? Because let's face it, we as women, we all want to know what's going on and why we feel the way we do, and what's going on for us. So, yeah, really love to know more about that.

Ashley Shields 6:17

Yeah, so when your gut's inflamed or imbalanced, meaning back to overgrowth, everything else is gonna be essentially, I want to say, like out of whack, because there's a few things. 80% of our immune system is in our gut, you know, 70% of our seroton levels in our gut, which is like happy hormones. 20% of our thyroid conversion happens in the gut. Um, we also process estrogen through our gut. So if we're not eliminating like we should, we will eliminate that estrogen out. What happens? Your body like wraps it in a nice pretty package with a bow and resends it out throughout the body to recycle. And that's more toxic to us. Can cause the water retention, the mood disorders, feeling puffy, you know. And when we have estrogen dominance too, it will also flare the immune system. And, you know, and when our guts imbalance, that obviously it causes cortisol imbalances, blood sugar imbalances, and therefore, um, one thing that happens, they call it the progesterone steel, meaning when our cortisol is imbalanced, we won't produce as much progesterone in the body. So a lot of us women can have that imbalance of estrogen progesterone, and more ladies are more estrogen dominant more than anything due to that. So the so you can see like the gut just throws everything off, and it can stress out the liver, the liver can stress out the gallbladder. It's like they're all the little best friends in there. So if the gut's off, it's gonna affect everything. It can even affect your brain because there's a brain-gut connection, too. Um, I notice a lot of people have like memory issues when their gut's off, and you know, when it's inflamed, they'll have memory issues that can worsen Alzheimer's disease as well. Yeah, a lot of connections.

Anita Mattu 8:01

Yeah, definitely, and I can understand. Yeah, they do say the gut is um the second brain, if not the first brain. Absolutely, yes. So why is it fat loss so hard for women, especially those dealing with stress, gut issues, or hormonal issues? Because here's the thing, you know, when you're hormonal, you go through the menopause, whatever it is. The thing is, we're all trying to lose weight, looking fit, having you know, want to be healthy is what I mean by fit. And no matter what we've tried or we are trying, it's just not working. So, yeah, tell me more about that.

Why Fat Loss Stalls Under Stress

Ashley Shields 8:42

Yeah, so that's kind of like my story. I didn't realize my gut impacted my weight as as much as it would, because like I said, um I know like a like a broken record, but if it's inflamed, you got overgrowth, it's gonna affect your metabolism. You're not gonna burn your calories like you should. Everything's gonna be slowed down because your body doesn't feel safe. It's essentially everything's just a hot mess. Everybody's like, nope, we ain't doing this. And then there's another um side of the spectrum, like for menopause ladies. The biggest thing why everything starts to shift in that stage of life is because of the drop in hormones, and hormones are very vital to us females, and this is where we do need the balance of estrogen and progesterone, because believe it or not, that also impacts our gut bacteria. Estrogen does, it also can impact our insulin and our blood sugars. So, you know, if that impacts insulin and blood sugars, that's going to cause us to be more sensitive to carbs, as people say, but more sensitive just to the food in general because we're not able to process it like we should it should. And um, it can cause blood sugar spice, so therefore we're in a sugar burning state versus a fat burning state. And a lot of people don't realize on the blood sugar range of things, too, we need those numbers to be optimal. And from a functional perspective, fast and blood sugars should be anywhere from 70 to 85, and then two hours post-meals should be anywhere from 80 to 95. That is optimal for fat burning, not 100. You want 80 to 95, somewhere in there. So, you know, a lot of people miss that link to not checking their blood sugars and they're only looking at the fast. The facet only shows us so much, you know. So people are like, Well, my blood sugar was great in the morning. I'm like, Yeah, what are you what are you doing throughout the day? You know, that's and then I have them check it, and they're like hundred, 120. I'm like, yep, here's your problem. So we got to fix the dysfunction so the blood sugars can be corrected. So there's as you see, there's multiple things: blood sugar, cortisol, hormones, all playing a role in your metabolism health.

Anita Mattu 10:44

Yes, absolutely. And then what is one of the causes that causes overgrowth?

Ashley Shields 10:50

So many things from stress, believe it or not, medications on a lot of antibiotics, food poisoning, believe it or not, genetics. Um, you know, people have a lot of blocks in their external inflammatory inflammatory genes, um, that can cause you to be more susceptible to overgrowth in general. Um, you know, food, meaning like is there parasites in it, bacteria in the food, contaminated water? You don't you just don't know anymore, you know? So it's multiple things that can cause the overgrowth.

Anita Mattu 11:27

Yes, and what are some early red flags of hormone imbalances you see in your clients even before it's confirmed in like bloods or labs?

Overgrowth Triggers And Early Hormone Flags

Ashley Shields 11:38

Yeah, so that's for us for us females, we need to look at our cycle. That can be the earliest clue. Irregular cycles, you know, very short cycles, long cycles, heavy cycles, extreme cramping, passing a lot of clots, sore tender, swollen boobs prior to your cycle. Those are already some red flags without even doing blood work to know that your hormones are not correct. Loot thinning hair, that's a big nerve for females, right? You know, um, you know, could be hormones. I mean, that'd be more like thyroid, but like brittle nails, you know, hair you're losing your hair, dry skin, you know. So that would be just a few of the signs without just not doing blood work.

Anita Mattu 12:24

Okay. And there are so many different things as well with the autoimmune. I mean, you mentioned the thyroid, I mean, there's placebo, candibia symptoms. They're everywhere right now. Why are there so many women struggling with these issues?

Ashley Shields 12:41

Stress toxins, our environments get more toxic and toxic. Stress is a big one because when your your stress is out of control, your nerve system's out of control, so therefore it affects digestion. You know, so it's important that you try to practice some things that calm your body, whether it be journaling, breathing, somatic therapy, walking is good for the mind. So a lot of people now these days are just go, go, go, go, busy, busy, busy. You know, I'm guilty of it too. You know, owning a business, you know, that's a lot of responsibility, you know, and stress along there. So I have to always keep myself in check and k make sure my health is, you know, I keep checking like my blood work, my gut health, and make sure I'm in line because I'm more prone to it.

Anita Mattu 13:26

Yes. And like you say, we do live in a fast-paced world and stress is a killer, let's face it. It is. You really have to be known how to stress can impact blood sugars.

Ashley Shields 13:38

I've seen it in people, I'd be like, What happened here? Why'd you spike so? Well, I had a stressful day. I'm like, Well, now you know how stress can impact your body. Something to be more aware of, and you you're gonna have to put more effort into parasympathetic exercises.

Anita Mattu 13:52

So, what are some examples of health conditions you work with?

Ashley Shields 13:56

Oh, we work with so many things from gut dysfunction, autoimmune diseases, weight loss resistance, POTS, PCOS, Barrett, esophagus, GERD. So, you know, many different many different things, wide range.

Anita Mattu 14:14

So you are the creator of Total Body Vitality. Tell me more about your work and what that involves.

Ashley Shields 14:21

Yeah, so like I said, I've been in business over five years. Originally it was to call Total Body by Ashley, and then I just revamped it at the beginning of this year to Total Body Vitality, and the main reason was because I have three coaches that also work for me. So, you know, I want to be more considered as a team and obviously maybe look more professional in a way too, because of having a team. So um, but I am obviously the CEO and the head coach here at Total Body Vitality. But all my coaches are great. We all went to the same schooling, we went to Metabolic Mentor University, so we all have our certified health practitioner certification. That's just a little bit about the background there.

Stress, Blood Sugar And Autoimmunity

Anita Mattu 15:00

That's good, yes, absolutely. And it's great to have a team as well. And you're not gonna help each other's coaching, and absolutely, it works. You've said mindset is just as important as lab and supplements. What kind of mindset shifts do your clients need to actually heal?

Ashley Shields 15:16

Yeah, they just need to be have a more positive mindset. So many come in with such a negative mindset. I think it's just because just failure after failure, you know, getting let down from doctors, or they've tried multiple things on their set their self and they had no success. So a big thing for them is, you know, just working on a positive mindset, you know, and speaking to themselves positively. Because a lot of them will talk down on themselves. And that's sometimes it's hard because we are worse critics. So we're there to kind of like, no, let's rephrase it in a more positive way. Look, you know, look at these little wins that's been happening. Well, that's why we're here to point those out to them, because they got their blinders on, right? Because they're gonna, you know, be negative about every little thing and not see these all these little wins that lead up to big wins. So that would be some of the things, or we might give them little goals, you know, to work on the mindset as well.

Anita Mattu 16:10

Yeah, absolutely. And it starts with the mind as well, like you said, yeah. You know, it is a whole body experience, mind, body, and soul. Absolutely. I can totally understand that. And if you're you can do everything you can, and if you're negative, you're not gonna shift anything. Nothing's gonna work. Absolutely. And it is it what goes on in our heads as well. So you have the five odds to rock your gut health guides. Tell me more about that.

Who They Help And The TBV Team

Ashley Shields 16:41

So the first step is always to remove, um, so it's remove, it's rebalance, reinoculate, repair, and rebalance. So there's this particular process that we have to follow when it comes to optimizing your gut health. And maybe the remove might be just like because it's it's different for everyone, right? So maybe it's for removing, you know, inflammatory foods, gluten, dairy for just a little bit what just for a little bit, just to calm down the system, right? Um, because it's not too happy right now. And then we want to replace it with good anti-inflammatory foods. Maybe we're adding some supplements to support your body during that time, you know, you know, address the bacterial imbalances, but you know, the biofilms. And then, you know, once we go through that portion of things, then we want to start to reinoculate and repair. So, what we want to do there is start to add things into heal and ecosal lining to prevent a relapse, um, like leaky gut. That's a that's a term used. So you don't want leaky gut to happen because that leads to overgrowth. Um, and then once we work on that, we add in probiotics to repopulate the gut after we essentially went in and rebalanced everything out, killed out the bad bacteria. Um, and then rebalance is just more show, so you know, keeping those healthy habits long term, you know, keeping up with the anti-inflammatory foods as much as you can, you know, taking your probiotics, it's working on stress, it's all the lifestyle factors, you know, like when it comes to the rebalance part, it's just continue with all those the habits that you built moving forward.

Anita Mattu 18:19

That's brilliant because you have actually given the listeners three of your guides and they're free. So the so all the links will be in the show notes. Listeners, please do go ahead and find out your optimal health here. Because one of your other guides is GLP1 info guide. What what is that?

Ashley Shields 18:39

So GLPs are that big weight loss drug that everybody has been going on, like semi-glutide, trzepatide, Mongioro. So it's just general information about like you know, you know, side effects, how it can be helpful, you know, what you can do to help support your body while being on a GLP. So it's just kind of a general informational um packet so you can understand more the you know the behind the GLPs and how it can support and not support your body in a way. Because it's present cause everything, right?

Anita Mattu 19:13

Yeah, absolutely. And it's great to have additional information on all topics. So yes, absolutely. And your third one is start healing your reflux from the root naturally. I mean, that some people really have problems with that, and it really can affect them. And they're taking all sorts of pop in all sorts of pills. So yeah. Yeah. Tell me more about that.

Mindset Shifts That Speed Healing

Ashley Shields 19:37

Yeah, so reflux is very common in many, many people. And there it's I would say 90% individuals, it's low stomach acid. And you know what can happen to some individuals that don't have enough stomach acid is essentially they're eating food, it's sitting in your their gut, it's not it's not breaking down, they're not absorbing the nutrients. Then the foam comes back up and irritates your esophagus, and that's what can happen. It can cause irritation, the redness, the mucus, people clearing the throat, and they think they have high acid due to that, and it's it's not the case. And then when you throw a PPI in, yeah, it'll help that foam part and the esophagus part, but it's gonna lower your stomach acid overall in the actual gut, and you know, and so and also a lot of people have bacterial imbalances from having GERD acid reflux because again, you need stomach acid to keep bacteria balanced as well. So you don't have that, it's overgrowth is going to come happen, and then that creates inflammation, you know, and makes everything irritated more in there, and could cause stomach burning. So, yeah, that's what the main cause of like acid reflux can happen. Even H. pylori that can cause acid that can cause acid swings high and low. Um, a lot of people that have acid reflux, pretty much a lot of them have H. pylori. Um, and that's very, very common. It's a bacteria that burrows into the testinal lining. Um, it's something that can be treated herbally. Um, I tell people try to avoid antibiotics. So doctors always recommend antibiotics because they always do medicine with symptom. Um, and when you do antibiotics, you have a more chance of having a relapse for meaning for it to come back full force. How ask me how? Because I done it, because I didn't know when I was young. Um, I didn't know if about functional um functional medicine. My parents didn't know. I did the whole antibiotic for my H. pylori. It came back with a vengeance later on in my life and led to sea belt. So that's why I talk about this stuff because I experienced a lot of it myself. Um, so but everything can be treated naturally, just getting to the root issue, addressing gut health, the inflammation, you're you know, supporting digestion. You know, it can take a little bit of time, yes, you know, it's not gonna happen evernight because your symptoms didn't happen every night, right? So yeah.

The 5Rs In Action For Gut Repair

Anita Mattu 21:50

Yeah, absolutely. And I like the fact you did mention antibiotics. I mean, they play their part in life, but the thing is it is the damage they do to the guts as well. And that's what you gotta consider. But obviously, we're not saying don't take antibiotics, we're just saying just have a look at what's going on for you. Absolutely. Well, actually, what is one of the most important lessons you've learnt over your life? So far?

Ashley Shields 22:14

I would have to say, you know, doing hard things even when I'm scared or unsure, choosing grow growth over comfort. You know, it's just always a lesson.

Anita Mattu 22:24

Yeah. So if there was one key takeaway you want every listener to walk away with today, what would that be?

Ashley Shields 22:31

Be your own advocate and don't ignore your check engine signs that your body's giving to giving you. And treat your gut, you know, like gut health is very important, so don't dismiss it.

Anita Mattu 22:45

Yes, absolutely. And that's not just for women, it's for men as well. Yes, oh my gosh.

Ashley Shields 22:52

I'm seeing more men with issues more than anything now. A lot of men have actually the biggest common for them is acid reflux. I get a lot of men clients that have that.

Anita Mattu 23:02

So it could be, you know, we think we're having just rich food at times. I know that plays a big part in my life. Because I'm gluten-free and if I have anything too rich, I'm I'd like to think I have a clean diet. Yeah. And I look after myself. But at times, yeah, you gotta think about if I I uh my body will know instantly if I've had something that is a bit too rich. So where can the listeners find you online and your links? What's your website, Ashley?

Ashley Shields 23:35

Yeah, so it's T B T T as in Tom, B as in Boy, Vitality.com. That's my website. You can also find me on Instagram, Ashley J Shieldsfit. And I am also on um TikTok as well, and that is Ashley J Shields.

Anita Mattu 23:57

Thank you for sharing your insightful wisdom and knowledge with us today. And by doing so, you have helped so many others to make a difference. I'd really like to acknowledge you for that, Ashley Shields.

Ashley Shields 24:09

Well, thank you. I appreciate you having me here.

Anita Mattu 24:11

My pleasure. So we are all about create the courage to be fearless podcast here. What is your definition of courage?

Ashley Shields 24:18

Doing things that make you scared to do. You know, don't let fear here hold you back. So because you don't know until you try.