Vibing Well with Dr. Stacy (A Foundational Approach to Healing the LIFESTYLE)
Dr. Stacy, a traditional Naturopath who specializes in Functional (Foundational/Lifestlye) Medicine, is answering your questions in regards to health and healing. From hormones to gut healing and everything in between - listen in as she shares stories of her own healing journey, what she sees clinically, and what she has researched to give you the most up to date answers when it comes to healing holistically.
*This information is not meant to be taken as medical advice, or to replace the advice of your practitioner or primary care. It is also not meant to diagnose, treat, or cure diseases.
Vibing Well with Dr. Stacy (A Foundational Approach to Healing the LIFESTYLE)
#070 When Your Healing Protocol Isn't Working: The Metabolism-Gut Connection and When To Rethink Your Routine (But Still Stay Consistent)
Ever feel like you're going through the motions with your health routines, but seeing diminishing returns? This episode dives deep into two game-changing concepts that might revolutionize your healing journey.
First, Dr. Stacy tackles the evolution of routines—how to recognize when habits that once served you have become burdens instead of blessings. She reveals the subtle signs that your daily rituals have lost their meaning and explains why being consistent in showing up for yourself while remaining fluid in what that looks like can be transformative. Rather than rigidly following someone else's protocol or morning routine, learn to attune to what your body needs in different seasons of life and how to create meaningful consistency without the all-or-nothing mentality that keeps so many of us stuck.
The second half of the episode unveils a powerful paradigm shift in understanding gut health that's rarely discussed in wellness circles: the critical connection between metabolic dysfunction and gut issues. Dr. Stacey explains how insulin resistance, blood sugar instability, and mitochondrial dysfunction can directly drive gut inflammation, disrupt barrier integrity, and impair digestive function—often making gut protocols ineffective until the metabolic piece is addressed.
You'll discover why systemic inflammation from metabolic dysfunction is enough to cause leaky gut on its own, how high insulin affects bile flow and nutrient absorption, and why addressing metabolic flexibility might be the missing link in your healing journey. If you've tried multiple gut protocols without lasting success, this episode offers a fresh perspective that could finally connect the dots.
Ready to stop chasing symptoms and start addressing root causes? This episode provides the framework to evolve both your daily practices and your understanding of how metabolism and gut health work together. Your persistent health issues might not be about finding that one perfect protocol you haven't tried yet—but about creating the right metabolic environment where healing can actually happen!
Blood Sugar and Ketone Testing Masterclass:
https://stacy-baker.mykajabi.com/offers/oFFzhFSz
Coming SOON:
Join Dr. Stacy's Master Your Metabolism class this fall to discover your personal metabolic formula and receive a one-on-one consultation to optimize your metabolism for sustainable results. (get notified FIRST!)
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For everything else, check out the links below:
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This information is just that; information only - not to be taken as medical advice. Please contact your primary care before changing anything to your routine. This information is not mean to diagnose, treat, or cure disease.
Welcome back to the show everybody. This is Dr Stacey, and this is Vibing Well with Dr Stacey as I help you uncouple all of the things lifestyle modifications that help us truly regain our health. The power is always found in what we repeat every single day, so today is no different from that. We're gonna talk about routine how to know when to shift, when it becomes a burden or just a bunch of steps that we're going through, how to know if it's serving us or not serving us any longer, and also what came first the gut dysfunction or the metabolic dysfunction, how those two are so intrinsically connected and often why gut protocols fail to work if we're not addressing both pieces. So hang tight and we'll dive in to both of these concepts and so much more. Okay, so I really wanted to dive into this last week, but the episode was running over way too long, and so I wanted to make sure that I came back to this, because it's something that I see all too often is that we have a routine or something that has helped us in one season of our life and we don't really know if it is still helping. It maybe has lost its meaning, which, in that, in and of itself is going to lose its effect, right? Or maybe we've lost the why behind it, which is a whole other thing. That just puts us in this going through the motions mentality and we are always constantly like adding, we're constantly building. It keeps us in that very black or white mentality, like if I don't do all of these steps, I might as well do zero of them. So let's start to kind of look at is this routine and this ritual in this habit formation, still serving us and how do we know that? Right? So I think when we start to look at our routine as a chore or a burden, or going through the motions or, like I said, if it's coming to that like all or nothing mentality, that really keeps us stuck, because then we do nothing at all, where it's like all we do everything right or we do nothing right, Right. That's a really hard place to land because it's really what we do everything right or we do nothing right, right, that's a really hard place to land because it's really what we do consistently. That is what kind of paints the picture of where we exist right now. Right, and so those both can inhibit our ability to even get any benefit out of that routine and that habit and, like I said, the other part of it where that has completely lost its meaning.
Speaker 1:So it's important to think about what a routine is right, a series of habits that is a physical manifestation, our practice, of the goals we're working towards. So it is actually kind of bridging the gap from that mind and body connection where we are physically repeating something that is supposed to be in alignment with what we're working towards, right. So they're coming together with a common goal and that's wonderful and that's great right. And so we have to remember we have to have a strong why behind that, a strong intention behind that. We have to understand what we're actually supporting as well, which is one thing that I always am trying to impress upon my clients, and even here on the podcast, is the more we understand the what we're supporting and the why, it makes that how so much more important and also it gives it more meaning. So when I kind of said it's that physical manifestation where we are going, we're literally going through the motions trying to create a different outcome right, going through the motions trying to create a different outcome right. So, with that being said, is the motions that we are repeating right now? Is our goal still the same as it was when we started that routine or that collection of habits, right? Because that's the other thing I want to impress is that our rituals and our routines and our habits and all of those things should be evolving and should be changing as our goals are changing and also evolving.
Speaker 1:So what served you in one season of your life, um, may not necessarily need to be what is resonating with you right now, especially if you are feeling that, where you feel like you're all or nothing, you're black or white, you're going through these motions of a routine that no longer serve its purpose or have meaning, and then you look at it as more of a burden, like I have to do this 10 step process before I do anything in the day, and it, just, like I said, it becomes more of an impediment, um, and it feels like something that you have to do versus something that you enjoy doing. You feel empowered doing and you remember why you're doing it and what you're supporting, right? It is a completely different feeling. So if you are feeling with that, like I'm going through the motions, I feel burdened by everything I have to do and it feels like a chore more than a blessing to do. It may be time to kind of re-evaluate and so, like I said, what served you in one season may not serve you now, because your goals have changed and you have evolved, so you want to always make sure that you are maintaining progression and momentum. Part of that looks like actually setting a goal and kind of visualizing what it is that you were are working to achieve.
Speaker 1:Otherwise, your habits are just kind of creating more of the same. And the other part of that is thinking about what there's always some power in, like what resonates with you in this season. Right, and I I love uncoupling this with my clients as we talk through things where people are like, yes, I'm really loving sauna right now. It feels so grounding, it helps me sleep, it's xyz or you know, whatever it may be. There's always something that they are magnetically drawn to and that is what is is something that's serving them the most in this particular season. Right, so that, like I said, it can be coffee enema, it can can be getting the morning sun, it could be grounding.
Speaker 1:There's always this it's a little different for everybody, but those are the things that they feel working right and they are, they're matching their current goals. They know it's supportive because they feel that when they do it and they feel it when they don't do it they feel that lack of you know. Maybe that was the one thing that was missing right In their day-to-day, because they didn't do that one thing. And they know how good they feel when they do it and there lies the meaning right, because they feel it working. They remember what they're supporting and that is something that they need to be doing at this season in their life, right, because they're drawn to it, it feels good.
Speaker 1:And then I think we get to the other extreme of that, where we, you know, we see one person says, does that, does this? Or we're kind of modeling someone's behavior and we're doing what they're doing, um, or maybe we are tracking every little thing and it's becoming a little overwhelming because we're trying to perfect all of these biofeedback markers but we're we're losing our kind of conversation with our own needs and our own intuition along that process, cause now we're just overwhelmed with data that can also be a thing, a thing right, like too much of a good thing. Too much data that we're intaking where we're losing that internal voice. That's not what we want either. We want to use those tools for important biofeedback to learn to curate and, you know, adjust as we go, promote some balance into the body and those things.
Speaker 1:But the end goal is always to learn as we integrate this data in is learn with the wisdom of like. How do our symptoms synchronize with this data and how do we feel? That's always the goal is to get to that place of feeling and knowing, and then those become optional, right? So it's kind of using them for their purpose, collecting, but not being on them indefinitely, where you feel like, oh my gosh, if I don't get the perfect sleep score every single day, if I don't get my 10,000 steps every day, gosh, if I don't get the perfect sleep score every single day, if I don't get my 10,000 steps every day. Um, it really promotes that sense of black and white thinking, right, which is pretty impossible, right. But it's those bits and pieces of that routine that serves us, that we do consistently, that really counts. And so I want you to know if you had a good night of sleep. I don't need your tracker to tell you that. I want you to know if you had a good night of sleep. I don't need your tracker to tell you that. I want you to know if you've moved your body enough, right? I don't need your tracker to tell you that.
Speaker 1:Um, like I said, maybe initially to shed light on where we can promote and bring some balance in is always great, and just to kind of give us that visual what does that look like as far as activity, as far as food goes, as far as blood sugar stability or sleep or whatever? But then take that and integrate that wisdom in, remember what habits you repeated to get you into that place of balance, right, and so those can be really helpful if we need help. Connecting back to the why, I see it often with blood sugar data, things like that, where people really master it, their symptoms go away and then maybe they get really loose on some of the things. Maybe it's meal timing, maybe it's the actual food itself, whatever it may be. And so every once in a while they need that accountability and that remembering and that. Why bring it back in, reconnect back, get that visual, remember how good you feel when you're checking off these boxes and then gain that wisdom and that experience and then be more intuitive. That's always the goal, right, to kind of release it, and so, with that being said, those can also be um, that can always be important too when it comes to this healing protocol, this healing potential.
Speaker 1:So, while you may have been drawn to one thing at a particular time, doesn't mean if you stop doing that one thing, or if it's lost its meaning or if it feels like a burden or a chore for you now, that doesn't mean you're going all the way back to square one. That just means your health has evolved and now it needs something different. It needs a new stimulus, right? Because maybe now you're working to optimize a little bit more, a little bit more. We've gotten there with these tools. Now your goal has changed and evolved, so what other things could you be bringing in to give the body a new stimulus? Remember, that's how we create a new outcome, and so, if we are perfectly consistent and fine with what we're doing now, your routine matches where you exist right now and everything's good and great, that's perfect. That is your sign. That is serving you. No-transcript.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, taking a break can give us a little bit of feedback. In and of itself is like is this truly serving me? What was I supporting and how do I feel if I remove it, because sometimes nothing changes and then, if anything, you freed up space and created more time to do something that is inspiring and is creating something different or something that resonates a little bit more with you in this moment. So what I like to encourage into this process is really taking a break, and sometimes that happens naturally, right, like somebody takes a trip, or we're in a season where life just gets really busy and we disconnect from what we were doing. And that can be really important biofeedback because, like I said, if your symptoms were so good when you were focused on whatever your you know routine or ritual habits was and you are forced to take a break from it, or life just gets busy or something and you disconnect from it, that can be your why, to pull you back in and help you reconnect. But if you're just like you're feeling overwhelmed, like you're doing too many things and you want to start editing, sometimes taking a break back and letting those things come to the surface that you need to focus back on might be where you land. And remembering that change does require a new stimulus and remembering that change does require a new stimulus. So, like I said, if you're to the place of maintenance and you feel really good and you feel inspired, you're excited to wake up in the day and do your ritual and your routine.
Speaker 1:I will say those things for me change quite seasonally. The thing that's consistent is that I show up for myself every single day, right, and so that and what I do for that will change. Sometimes it's seasonally, sometimes it's based on my goals, sometimes it can be cyclically with my hormonal cycle. Those things change. But the consistency is with me showing up and being intentional with whatever I'm doing every single day, making sure that I have time every single morning to ground into the day to work on myself in some way and and that is the consistent part of it right, and remember that it is what you do consistently that counts and the most right, and so can you have some fluidity in that routine that is serving your current goals Absolutely so sometimes for me it looks like waking up and doing a workout and having some intensity and things like that.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it looks like waking up and doing a sauna. Sometimes it just looks like reading or meditating or journaling. You know, sometimes I'm going to sunrise, um, to actually go, you know, view it and enjoy it and witness it. And sometimes I'm going to sunrise yoga and it's okay because it's all just kind of like what resonates with me in that moment, and remembering that my goal in this season of my life right now, is to make sure that I have time to connect to the day, that I'm getting sun signals, I'm connecting to nature, I'm grounding the nervous system in and I'm trying to better myself in some way, right. So there's always should be some evolution in that and some fluidity in that and what that looks like for you.
Speaker 1:And I think we get so black and white in our thinking that we, we end up going through these. You know, oh, I have to cold plunge, then I sauna, then I work out, then I do this, then I do that, and it loses its meaning overall because we just it's no longer serving us and we're not we're not kind of like waxing and waning with the ebbs and flows of life, right. And so sometimes our nervous system doesn't want to cold plunge first thing in the morning, right. Sometimes we forget why we're doing that. Why are we cold plunging? Why are we doing it all year round? And I'm not saying cold plunge, I'm just saying in general, um, but we have to really remember what we're actually supporting and, like I said, maintaining the consistency and just showing up for yourself and whatever you need in that moment.
Speaker 1:So yeah, hormonally there are there are times during my hormonal rhythm where I am more intense with things like workouts and movement and things like that, and then times where I know I need to slow down. So that should be constantly reflected in what I'm repeating through my routine and my habits and, like I said, different seasons of life. There are seasons where I'm doing some, you know, maybe taking some extra courses or continuing education and things like that, and I'm doing those in the morning before my family wakes up. So there's times where I'm a little bit more, um, academic in the morning versus physical, and that's totally fine. It's just a season and it's something that I'm not bound to. But, once again, I'm I'm consistently showing up for my mind, my body in some way every single morning to better myself. That is my consistent theme across the board.
Speaker 1:So those, those um, the fluctuations of that ritual and that routine are going to just reflect more of that. You know, that immediate goal that you're working towards. So I think, like I said there, the truth will always be found in creating a little bit of distance and creating a new stimulus, right? So if you are doing these motions and they're no longer doing anything they're not changing an outcome anymore and you feel uninspired from them it sounds like it might be time for a new stimulus, a new routine, but you can still be consistent in showing up for yourself.
Speaker 1:So, like I said, sometimes just taking a break from what you're doing at this moment, maybe you're replacing some things, maybe you feel called to do something different. You know the answer and you know what you need, right? It's not going to be an influence like following verbatim what another influencer is doing, like oh, I want to be like them, so I'm going to do their morning routine right. It's has to be serving you. And so, taking a break from what you're doing, maybe looking back at what is my immediate goal, what is my goal at hand, right? What am I supporting this in this season of my life? And are my rituals and routines and habits reflective of that right? And what could I work in that actually is exciting for me?
Speaker 1:To wake up and do right, something that inspires me. Maybe it's a new great book that I just picked up or that I heard about, right, or, like I said, maybe I just want to wake up and sweat, maybe I want to wake up and journal and just kind of take in the sunrise, right? Um, whatever makes you excited about taking on that day, but it's still something that is contributing to that future version of yourself You're working to create is going to be the most powerful ritual and routine. Right, and remember that going through the motions of something that has lost its meaning is not going to give you any impact at all. You're not going to get any. You're definitely not going to get any change, but you're not going to get any momentum from that.
Speaker 1:So it's time to maybe look and recalibrate and kind of look at what you're supporting and also edit, right, like you can edit your 20 step routine to the things that mean the most to you and have even more meaning in that way. Maybe there's some editing that needs to happen, but we don't really know until we take a break from that pattern. Right, we're breaking the pattern, we're taking a step back and we're reflecting on what those habits are replicating in this moment and is that something that we want to further evolve and progress into? And remember that the consistency comes in, just showing up, so you can still be consistent in your efforts but fluid in your routine and have massive impact. And so I just wanted to talk about that, because I think a lot of people are like I see a lot of people getting burnout of what they're repeating, and myself included. That's why I'm always changing it, I'm always restructuring it and um, because I want to be excited, to take in the day and I want to have something that is inspiring to wake up to and also something that's supporting my goals at hand. And so when I see a lot of people and I work with a lot of people, right and I see a lot of people just repeating things and they don't even remember why they're doing them and, like I said, their goals have evolved since then, so why would we be wanting to create more of the same when we've moved past that stage? So, anyways, just something that I witness a lot. I've experienced a lot constantly evolving and changing, something that I witness a lot. I've experienced a lot constantly evolving and changing, and I just felt like it was pertinent to bring up um, because it is is. We are in a world in a sea of over information. Um, we are seeing what other people do and we're replicating and we're modeling behavior, which is there's always a time and place for that, right, but make sure that it's serving you specifically and what you're trying to create as far as the future version of yourself.
Speaker 1:So let's change gears here and start to talk about what came first. Was it the gut inflammation or the metabolic dysfunction? Right, and I think I think I know because, like I said, I work with a lot of people. I think all too often we see this kind of replicating story of oh, all disease begins in the gut and we're forcing our guts to heal, just like we're forcing our livers to detox, right Like, where there's a lot of force happening and not a lot of change happening because there's a lot of foundational things that are not being met. And so, while the gut and the metabolism are definitely bi-directionally integrated, they will affect each other, right Like.
Speaker 1:It's important to know that our metabolism has a direct correlation with what's happening in our gut, and it's not talked about often enough. And so, if you are somebody who's like been trying to quote, unquote heal their gut, just like I've been trying to like unstick my liver for years and years and years, and we haven't addressed the metabolic piece. This is the same thing, just different. You know motions that need to be supported and why maybe your gut protocol isn't working? Because if you haven't fixed the metabolic environment driving that gut condition, it will never work. You will chase protocol after protocol I see it all the time and so there is a component of metabolic dysfunction that will initiate gut conditions, and we'll talk about the ways that that happens, but it will also exacerbate one.
Speaker 1:That is there, um, and, like I said, yes, the dysbiosis can also affect the metabolism. We're not going to go there because we want to talk about kind of like this precursor to set the stage for the gut imbalances at this moment. But I just want you to start thinking in a different perspective. Um, as always, right, we want to. Should we keep pushing these gut protocols until we actually address what's driving them? And that is all due to what's happening metabolically.
Speaker 1:So let's go into this a little bit. Um, like I said, it's a concept that's not talked about often enough, and so I want you to think about how metabolism influences our gut. So it directly influences our gut environment. We'll talk about specifics in just a moment. It also directly influences our gut function things like motility, those kinds of things and then also directly impacts the gut microbiome, right? So, like I said, we functionally were trained and I and it's it's very important that we are trained to dress address gut inflammation, absolutely. But if, what? If?
Speaker 1:We've been singling out gut inflammation for years and years and years and then somebody feels like, oh, my gut is just destroyed, I'll never get beyond this, it's just this recurring candida or whatever it may be, and it's because they're missing this foundational piece, right? So let's talk about systemic inflammation from metabolic syndrome, right, we always say inflammation, right, and then we try to kind of pinpoint like, oh, it's just these specific foods that are creating inflammation and all of this stuff. But I want you to go deeper than that. I want you to think about low grade, consistent state of cellular inflammation that is caused by metabolic dysfunction, right? So if we want to get into the nitty gritty of that, what's happening is we're elevating inflammatory cytokines, right? So TNF alpha you guys have heard of that. What's happening is we're elevating inflammatory cytokines, right so TNF-alpha you guys have heard of that. Interleukin-6, those kinds of things.
Speaker 1:What that constant state of inflammation is doing is it's disrupting the gut barrier integrity. So what that means is the inflammation from our biochemical stress, of our metabolic dysfunction, is enough to cause leaky gut in and of itself, right, or intestinal permeability, whatever we're calling it even malabsorption, right. That is enough to disrupt that gut barrier integrity. So that is going to be the alteration in tight junction proteins. It is also going to promote mucosal immune activation, which leads to things like bloating, pain, altered gut habits, right, these things that we notice and we're like, oh my gosh, it's got to be a gut imbalance, it's got to be a pathogen, it's got to be XYZ. But we have to remember that the metabolic inflammation is predisposing us to the gut disorders. It's worsening our inflammatory response. It's worsening inflammatory gut disorders that have already been there and that are more chronic because of what it does to the immune system. Right, it's altering the immune system. It's throwing out more inflammatory cytokines, things like that, but also physically disrupting the tight junction proteins to be able to hold together and bind together.
Speaker 1:So it's really important to know that the metabolic piece has to be met before or in conjunction with any kind of gut protocol you'll be adding in. So let's talk about insulin resistance or metabolic dysfunction. You know they're pretty interchangeable. About insulin resistance or metabolic dysfunction, you know they're pretty interchangeable and it's fun how it also interacts with our gut function overall. So very much when we are insulin resistant or we are in a place of metabolic dysfunction, we are going to have altered gut motility and gut secretion. So it also is going to affect our enteric nervous system, or our this is what we call our second brain, right? Or how?
Speaker 1:The part of the nervous system that is housed in our actual gut, and it's physically going to affect things like our gastric emptying, our small intestine transit time, which is where we're absorbing minerals and nutrients, and all of those things as well, and it promotes a state of dismobility. So this is another thing that leads to those symptoms like bloating, constipation, diarrhea, acid reflux and then, once again, malabsorption. That is non-pathogen related, right. This is completely separate. This is just the metabolic dysfunction, just the inflammation caused by that chronic systemic metabolic dysfunction that is altering the gut's ability to even do its thing when it comes to mobility and secretion of gastric juices and enzymes and all of these things, right. And then we couple that with an inability to keep those tight junctions close together, like we just talked about.
Speaker 1:And then we think about kind of building onto this concept of the altered gut microbiome from the diet and the metabolic state, so diet-induced metabolic shifts. So we have different microbiomes attached to different extremes, right, let's say, like high fat versus high sugar versus low fiber. All of those are reshaping the microbiome in a different way. And also, if we think of a dysbiotic microbiome, is increasing intestinal permeability and endotoxemia, right. We are also going to be forming more lipopolysaccharides, so that is, inflammatory byproducts, right, which just lead to more systemic inflammation, more metabolic endotoxemia, right. Those are just kind of keeping that cytokine storm alive and altering our immune system ability to find balance, but also, on the back end, promoting more dysfunctional byproducts that promote even more acidity in the gut and more inflammation in the gut. And so that it's not always just looking at dysbiosis as good bacteria to bad bacteria, it's thinking of the byproducts of the diet and the metabolism that we are actually consuming.
Speaker 1:Our microbiome is highly responsive to our metabolic state and our status, right, and of course, what we are eating. So let's just talk about a few of these different changes that would elicit different responses. So when we have a nice high fiber diet, we have diversity, we have beneficial bacteria. We're producing short chain fatty acids, which are essentially things that will promote things like butyrate, which is supporting healthy metabolic function. Right, it's supporting gut health, it's supporting insulin, it's supporting inflammation right, versus, let's say, a low fiber, high fat or high sugar diet, where we have less diversity equals more inflammation, more of those inflammatory byproducts, like we said with the LPSs and that sort of thing. And then even fermented foods right, they're going to help with our insulin balance. They are going to selectively, selectively feed bacteria. That is beneficial, once again, boosting that short-chain fatty acid production, which is going to help repair and replenish and make our microbiome and our mitochondria really strong and resilient. Right, we're essentially healing that whole energy process.
Speaker 1:And so when we have something like, let's just say, a low calorie diet or, like we said, a high fat, low fiber diet, things like that, we're causing a shift in the microbiome. We are essentially creating more. And that can be when, especially when people are changing diet really extremely and really dramatically, like overnight. That is not something we want to do, um, because it's going to cause such a microbiome shift and that can lead to some of those symptoms that we experience, like, let's say we go from from a really high carb diet to like keto, overnight we're gonna be low energy, we're gonna have trouble sleeping. That's because of the shift in our microbiome, but also the shift in our mineral placement, because that's an extreme right overnight. So, thinking about really low calorie things like that those are, we're gonna start to induce lower energy pathways when the body shifts. That stress right. So we're contributing more to inflammation and this is more diet-induced dysbiosis at this point, which is putting us at more of a risk for that endotoxemia or that systemic inflammation. Remembering that as we are changing the microbiome status in more of a negative form, where we're producing more inflammatory byproducts because we don't have that diversity, then we can get into that diet-induced sort of gut dysbiosis that's happening. But also remembering that the metabolic disturbances right. So if we're creating things like butyrate versus creating things like lipopolysaccharides is largely determined on our metabolic state, right, and so that metabolic disturbance is driving microbial changes that manifest as gut symptoms and may contribute to further metabolic dysfunction, like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity, metabolic-related gut symptoms, ibs-like presentations, all the above right Reflux, bile flow obstruction, which we'll talk about in just a minute.
Speaker 1:Lots of pieces right. Low in digestive enzymes, low in stomach acid. These things are all interconnected with what's happening metabolically. Now let's also talk about some signaling pathways that are also stemming from the gut, but also the metabolism alongside each other too. So think about the hormonal and endocrine influences that are happening with our food and our metabolism. So when we talk about leptin and ghrelin, and even GLP-1 and PYY, which is another hormone that is reflective of the appetite and satiety and things like that, these are all regulating appetite. They're regulating gut motility and also secretion, right. So when we have disrupted signaling, this is going to alter our satiety and feeding patterns. It will also cause changes in bowel habits and visceral sensitivity. And also now we're moving into how the liver is connected in this whole metabolic piece.
Speaker 1:Right Now, we have sluggish bile, which is going to impact things like liver clearance, fat soluble absorption, b vitamins, right, all of those things. When our bile gets nice and toxic and sluggish, toxins do that as well. But we're talking about how the metabolism alone can make our bile flow very sluggish, and so this may look like that gallbladder liver pain. Right, it may look like an inability to break fats down properly, but once again, is it the fats in the diet or is it what our metabolism is doing that's causing the bile to be so sluggish and causing our liver to be so stagnant? And just a little side note to that, that these hormonal and endocrine you know, signaling molecules and hormones are something that needs to bind at night. And this needs to be when we're done digesting our food, so that's when these hormones have a conversation with the hypothalamus right, with the rest of our system, to support that balance and regulation. And that will not happen if we are digesting our foods, if we're managing our blood sugar or filling the liver with everything it can't process at night. So there's a huge you know, um huge correlation with that.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk a little bit more about the bile acid and the hepatic metabolism. And this is like I said. I talk about this all day long. When it comes to, like that, liver stagnation, we just blame the toxins and we're not really looking at what the liver's doing for our metabolism. So metabolic disorders, things like non-alcoholic, fatty liver, metabolic syndrome, those all are affecting bile acid synthesis and circulation. So we have altered bile acid pools, which will disrupt, like I said, fat digestion and absorption, which includes fat soluble vitamins, influences our gut motility influences our inflammation or ability to combat that inflammation, our microbiome composition right, it will increase bile acid malabsorption. So you'll have some of those symptoms, possibly maybe the diarrhea, the floating stool, the fat-soluble vitamin deficiency, the bloating, the nausea, even the inability to support stable blood sugar, right, gallstones, maybe even estrogen dominance, that right-sided pain, possibly low B vitamin status, those kinds of things, and you'll even notice a decrease in detox efforts, right, an ability to really, like I say, unstick, quote, unquote the liver fat absorption-like symptoms. Those kinds of things will really shed light on that sluggish bile pathway and that is due to yes, it can be due to toxins, but it is also directly connected with what's happening metabolically, and so if we have blood sugar issues, it is very likely that we're also going to have bile liver flow-like issues as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's talk about how intestinal permeability and metabolic endotoxemia, how those kind of, create that situation once again of just systemic inflammation. Inflammation is such a broad term, right, and yes, it could be caused by so many things, but what I think about is what is our body responding to the most? And most of that is what's happening biochemically, right. Could we be causing biochemical cellular inflammation all day long if we are not addressing the metabolism that could be keeping us from being able to lay down a new microbiome, right, or heal our gut or unstick the liver, like we just talked about. Absolutely, and it happens all the time and we're just not talking about it enough. So when we have metabolic issues, we are releasing free fatty acids right into the bloodstream. We're also in a situation where that metabolic endotoxemia is compromising the tight junctions in the gut lining, like we talked about. It's also translocating bacterial products like we talked about the lipopolysaccharides into circulation. So now those leaky gut you know we have the intestinal permeability, we have those tight junctions open and now we're leaking not just food and proteins and things like that, but now we're leaking these byproducts like LPSs into circulation. And that's what's triggering the systemic inflammation. Right, it's worsening metabolic health and the gut symptoms, both because it's that constant state of chronic inflammation that we're creating.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk about the role of mitochondrial dysfunction and energy deficit when it comes to the actual gut tissue. So metabolic disease and mitochondrial dysfunction are pretty interchangeable, right, they go hand in hand. Our enterocytes, or colon cells, rely strongly on proper mitochondrial energy production for things like nutrient absorption and even, once again that barrier maintenance that needs to happen. And so energy deficits in the gut lining due to mitochondrial dysfunction from our metabolic dysfunction remember those are not separate from each other. The energy production happens in the mitochondria, and so if we have metabolic dysfunction we also have mitochondrial dysfunction. It means that our mitochondria is not processing, creating and distributing energy properly, and when that happens, then we have inflammation, which looks like so many different symptoms, but it all comes back from the same foundational things that are not being addressed. And so those energy deficits or that depletion of mitochondria in the gut lining cells can impair barrier function, absorption capacity, and then once again contribute to a lot of those GI symptoms that we only associate with pathogens and dysbiosis and all of those things. And remember that those may be, and usually are, a by-product of the metabolic condition that was there to start.
Speaker 1:Now, what about oxidative stress? So, thinking about hyperglycemia, which is high glucose for a long amount of time, right. Lipid overload, so those free fatty acids that are contributing to more constant systemic inflammation, and then insulin resistance in and of itself is increasing oxidative stress or reactive oxygen species, right. And what those do is they are affecting not just the mitochondria, but, in regards to what it's doing with the gut, will damage the gut mucosal lining, it will alter the microbial ecology right and will also affect the mucosal immune responses as well. So another thing I want to note about just absorption across the board is that when we are in an energy deficit when it comes to our mucosal or epithelial lining, we have to have optimally functioning mitochondria for nutrient digestion and nutrient transportation, on top of maintaining that mucosal layer right, that barrier integrity that we talked about, those proper spacing along the intestinal lining right.
Speaker 1:So very much saying that the metabolism is also driving our ability to receive, distribute and transport nutrients throughout the body. So when we have these, let's just say we're testing our nutrients and we have all these deficiencies and things like that and we're thinking, oh, it's just because our gut isn't absorbing them. So let's take the digestive enzymes and make ourselves absorb more. Remembering, if we're in a metabolically dysfunctional state and we're struggling with proper functioning mitochondria, we're still going to have an absorption issue. So you could do the gut work and a lot of us have done all of the gut work in the world and still having malabsorption. Well, it's because a lot of this has been missed and, like I said, that will also contribute to when we have insulin resistance.
Speaker 1:Um, let's talk about some of the actual, like physical things that is being affected in the gut. So, thinking about high insulin and high cortisol, um, remembering that the body's always going to prioritize survival over things like digestion, right, but also remembering that insulin damages the blood vessels over time, right, and so that's going to limit the nutrient delivery right Of those blood vessels, limit the oxygen potential, things like that. And once again, contributing more, we have that blood vessel damage of high glucose, high insulin, for a long amount of time. We're going to have impaired absorption of macro and micronutrients on that end as well. Now, the pancreas is also involved, right, because if we're constantly pumping out insulin, because we are trying to balance out a high glycemic state constantly, which most of us are, whether we realize it or not, pancreatic insufficiency and metabolic disease, so then we also have a risk of production and delivery of pancreatic enzymes. So when someone is testing these on conventional lab work and they see that they're deficient, there is almost always a metabolic condition there.
Speaker 1:Because what are we relying on the pancreas to do? Well, if it's making a ton of insulin, guess what it's not going to have much reserve for lipase, amylase, proteases, things like that, all of the pancreatic enzymes we need to once again help with fat absorption. Just digestive efforts overall, but once again, when that is impaired, we're going to see signs of digestive symptoms, fat-soluble vitamin deficiencies, those kind of things. And then once again, the bile acid impairment is very essential for emulsifying fats, and so if this is being challenged by our metabolic environment, you're going to have, um, once again, fat malabsorption, hormone clearance issues, hormone synthesis issues. We need fat to make hormones right, but we also need the bile to help clear them properly.
Speaker 1:We're going to have altered transit time, we're going to have mucosal inflammation, like we were talking about, and then we're going to have a lot of nutrients that are constantly getting lost, and so it's just really important that we understand that there is a such a thing as metabolic induced dysbiosis. This will alter the fermentation or nutrient processing of minerals, vitamins, micro and macronutrients in the colon. It's going to increase the production of metabolites where we inflammatory metabolites, where we are going to be in a dysbiotic state once again, impairing absorption of positive nutrients that we need and also causing damage mucosal lining in the meantime, and then we get what's called secondary malabsorption right, because now we are, we're dependent on some of the interactions with the gut microbiome to truly be able to break down and utilize those nutrients as well. So we have lots of malabsorption happening across the board. I just want to kind of make sure that I was touching on that as well, because we're constantly looking at our nutrients and just trying to replace them. And will that really help in the long run if we aren't fixing what is actually processing those nutrients and what's transporting them right and even make breaking them down in the?
Speaker 1:In the regards to fat, we need fat in our diet for lots of things, right, but if we can't absorb it, we can't break it down, then that's a metabolic piece that's missing and being overlooked. Um, because I think all the while we're always trying to force and hack the gut to do what we want it to do, and this is why we're visiting one gut protocol after one gut protocol. Um, there's just so much more to the story. So let's kind of talk this through about how we kind of piece this all together. So if we, it all comes back to changing the environment, right, and if we haven't changed and I know we think like if we're manipulating the gut with a protocol and we're changing, we're hacking the environment, then that should work. But we got to think about the cellular environment as well, right? And so now that's impacting the metabolism. It's impacting the mitochondria, right? Just even thinking about the nutrients that we absorb or aren't able to absorb, those are cofactors for all of those processes as well. Absorb or aren't able to absorb, those are cofactors for all of those processes as well. And that cycle will continue until we learn to address both the gut issue and the metabolism issue synergistically.
Speaker 1:And remember too that that acidic environment, um, coupled with something like high glucose, makes our gut even more of a hospitable place for overgrowth, right? So it's just that cycle that will endlessly perpetuate itself, just like I know I touched on candida last time. Candida is, I want you to think of it as a bioremediation that's happening to damaged tissue caused by inflammation. And so, when we aren't thinking about what's contributing to that acidic environment or that inflammation, which a lot of times a high glucose environment is most of the story, and we're just always killing the candida, well, we're killing the healing process. Right? That's the healing that's trying to come in and help. You know, that's the healing that's trying to come in and help, you know, compensate for this overgrowth, this overly acidic environment, right, and so like the same, as if we're in a high cortisol or high insulin state.
Speaker 1:Another thing that we're doing is also blocking melatonin, which is going to help us. Not just it's an antioxidant, it's an anti-inflammatory, it runs apoptosis in our, in our, in our mitochondria, right, and so that's where we we kind of break down and repair our cellular function. But also it is going to be what runs those heal and repair programs which helps us lay down new gut lining. So if our insulin is really high and our cortisol is really high, not only do we have the mitochondrial issues that are coming from that, but we're also affecting other hormones that should be running heal and repair programs. So the gut lining can't even lay itself down if we're constantly suppressing melatonin because we have high cortisol, high insulin, and then we also have other environmental things which suppress, like blue light, that suppress melatonin as well. So that is going to be a problem right, not just for the gut lining but also the mitochondria itself, because that is what helps modulate inflammation within the cell and it also is going to help with gut motility, right, and all of those things and the ability to lay down new gut lining.
Speaker 1:So there's other things we have to be thinking about and get it. You know, kind of get out of that mindset of just run the gut test, eradicate and and force the the gut to balance, when there's obviously more to the story than that. If we're trying to force the gut to heal without fixing the metabolic or in hormonal environments right, we'll find ourselves revisiting gut healing after gut healing, even detox protocols, right. If you don't understand the metabolic impact of the bile flow, how that impacts the liver pathway and its ability to heal right, causes the bile to be sluggish and toxic and unable to flow, so that in and of itself, the inflammation, the metabolic dysfunction, costs us more B vitamins, we have more toxin circulation happening, we have less soluble fat-soluble vitamins right, which contributes to even more inflammation. That cycle will perpetuate itself until we fix the metabolic effect that is driving all of these pathways and, honestly, there is no supplement that can do that for you and there's clearly no gut protocol that can fix all that for you either, right?
Speaker 1:So we have to really look at is it really just the gut, just like I like you to take a step back and say is it really just the liver? What else is the gut responding to? Just like the liver, right the liver. If it's constantly focused on the metabolic piece of its job and its role, then it can't do the detox part that it needs to do, right. And so the same with the gut. If the gut dysbiosis is there because the metabolism was dysfunctional to start that's what created that environment and then the dysbiosis was more of a metabolic induction then we can't force or hack or manipulate our way out of that unless we are also addressing the metabolism, right?
Speaker 1:So another thing that I want to bring in, because we're kind of talking about well, how do we get out of this? Right? Well, we've got to always be focused on metabolic flexibility, right? Because if we are always in this sugar burner state that is creating more inflammation, right, it is very unstable energy. It is really leads the body metabolically eventually into an energy deficient state, because it becomes very inflammatory over time.
Speaker 1:Because we are designed to flip energy states between sugar and fat burner, and when we burn it, when you tap into that fat burning mechanism, we're able to make ketones, which is essentially like rocket fuel and repair for the mitochondria right. It's going to help sequester inflammation and help balance it out. So if we are not metabolically flexible and we're also suppressing melatonin, which is that heal and repair hormone, those are the things we need to start working in first right, and also remembering that when it comes to like we obsess over the food sensitivities because we're looking at the gut reaction to those food sensitivities, but remember, if we heal the metabolism and we got those tight junctions to function appropriately and we worked up the mitochondrial energy to absorb nutrients and things like that first, would we be so reactive to all these foods, right? Um, so it's not necessarily just the food, it's more so diving into the metabolic and hormonal function of that food to promote that sense of balance that we need to truly heal the, this overall foundation, right, and that's what I always want you to think about.
Speaker 1:And part of that has to be recentering back to how we are designed to be metabolically flexible. That is one reason why we're supposed to be fat adapted at night, so that we produce ketones to run these repair programs right, so that melatonin can come in and heal the cells and heal the gut lining and all of these things and everything we do right now is really working against all of those processes. So it's no wonder we're at this like epidemic of gut problems, right, and liver problems, because we're just so out of balance with all of these systems. But even if you think of it from a very like obvious place, our digestion needs a break, like it needs to be having a pause to even promote an area where that gut lining can lay down. Another place where we can promote some balance into the microbiome is with a fast, because when you fast, then you are creating an environment where the microbiome can reestablish right. You are creating an environment where the microbiome can reestablish right, and so these things can all be done, first to help support the metabolic piece of this that's driving the gut inflammation, but also how we bring that balance back in right.
Speaker 1:And so if we are having this high cortisol, high insulin state that is extremely inflammatory to start, we have to balance that out before we expect the body to do anything different, anything other than survival that has been keeping us in for such a long time, and that includes the gut inflammation part of things. So I just wanted you to kind of round this all out together to understand that our constitution is metabolically flexible. Our constitution is that our mitochondria have to be functioning properly. For everything to be functioning properly and even to thinking about balancing out the inflammation right, even the nutrient absorption, we need our mitochondria to be functioning properly. And if we are at a metabolic disadvantage, that is not happening and so this is very much a like.
Speaker 1:We need to get out of the myopic look at just the gut imbalance and zoom out and look at what is causing and creating that environment for the gut to be dysbiotic and inflamed. Um, especially if we've done all the things right We've done the anti-inflammatory diet, um you, if we've done all the things right, we've done the anti-inflammatory diet, um, you know, we've eliminated the toxins, which so many people have done. And so this is saying if you still have all the gut issues and you've been on autoimmune paleo and you've done the whole 30 and all these things and you never saw any relief, or you were okay for a little bit of time and the problem came back, it's really a sign that this foundational piece of things has not been met. And so now you're at the disadvantage of digestive enzymes, bioflow consistency, the junction proteins in your intestines, things like that. Those are all being affected if the metabolic piece is not being corrected.
Speaker 1:Okay, so my biggest thing is, like I said, I want you to zoom out and see what is universally true for everybody. Everyone needs to have metabolic flexibility, healthy, optimal functioning mitochondria for so many reasons. But I wanted to connect the dots here with how that applies to gut health overall, because it's so important and it's so overlooked. So I really appreciate you guys listening to this and I hope that this changes your perspective a little bit, especially if you've been on that healing journey, um, for your gut for a really long time and not really getting to be where you want to be. There's always just something that's being overlooked. I promise it's not this gut killing protocol that you haven't tried yet. So I hope this helps and, um, thank you guys so much for being here and I will be back on in a few weeks with a whole other range of new topics. Otherwise, for more for me in the meantime, head to Instagram at drstaceyindy and I will see you guys there and thank you so much. Have a beautiful rest of your day.