Enjoying Life OTR

#66 Truckers Gut Health: Win the battle Against Heartburn, Gas & More with Alyssa Simpson

• Cindy Tunstall and Alyssa Simpson • Episode 66

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🚛💩 Let’s talk about the one thing every driver deals with but no one wants to discuss—your gut. Whether you’re dodging rest stop roulette, battling heartburn hotter than truck stop chili, or hoping gas isn’t louder than your stereo, gut health is serious business.

That’s why we brought in Alyssa Simpson, a Registered Dietitian and Certified Gastrointestinal Nutritionist, who has helped hundreds of people finally get relief after struggling with digestive issues for years. Specializing in IBS, SIBO, and gut dysfunction, Alyssa is an expert at uncovering the root causes of gut problems and offering practical, long-term solutions—without forcing you to survive on plain chicken and lettuce.

She’s been featured in Forbes, Medical News Today, and Everyday Health, and hosts The Gut Health Dialogues, where she shares the science behind digestion in a way that actually makes sense. In this episode, she’s breaking it all down just for drivers—so you can stop playing restroom roulette and start feeling better every day on the road.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✅ The gut-stress connection—why long hours, crazy schedules, and fast food are wrecking your digestion
✅ Easy, driver-friendly diet tweaks (that don’t involve turning into a rabbit)
âś… Hydration hacks and the right way to take fiber
✅ What your stool is actually telling you—yes, we’re going there

This episode is packed with simple, actionable strategies you can use today—because a happy gut makes for a happier, healthier driver.

🚨 Want to work with Alyssa?
👉 Book a free 15-minute consultation: NutritionResolution.com
👉 Download her FREE Healthy Gut Restoration Guide for a cheat sheet on everything we covered!
👉 Follow Alyssa on Instagram: @nutritionresolution

🎧 Hit play now—because no driver should be losing the battle against their own belly!

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Enjoying Life OTR—because LIVING WELL is worth the effort. We’re sparking curiosity, adventure, & resilience while honoring drivers and embracing a healthier trucking life. Discover creative life hacks & practical strategies to make the most of your time on the road. Join the movement!Explore, enjoy the food, snap the pic, and share tips on saving money along the way.

This podcast is for new and veteran drivers looking to stay mentally, physically, and financially strong while embracing the freedom of the road. We bring you real stories, expert advice, & practical tools to help you thrive, not just survive, in the trucking life.

Connect with Us: Join the Enjoying Life OTR Facebook Group – Share your journey, find trip recommendations, & connect with fellow drivers. Follow our Facebook page – Get the latest podcast episodes, trucking tips, & entertaining content. Visit our website – Explore our journey, see community highlights, and access resources for a healthier, more balanced OTR life.

For questions or to be a guest, email our host, Cindy Tunstall at EnjoyingLifeOTR@gmail.com #HealthierTruckers #EnjoyingLifeOTR #TruckerWellness #OTRLife #WorkLifeBalance



Brian Wilson:

All right, folks, let's just get it out there. Today we're going to be talking a lot of shit. Now I don't know if that last line is going to make the final cut, but we'll see what the boss lady says. But it's true, we all poop. Today we're talking about the top three gut health issues. Whether you're stressing about making it to the next rest stop on time. And then, of course, we've all done it the trucker's walk of shame on your way to the building, or that gas that you got to roll both windows down and have a bottle of Febreze in your hand, or fighting off heartburn that feels like a five alarm fire in your chest. I've been there. I know that it's not fun. Poor gut health is no joke. Welcome to Enjoying Life OTR.

Brian Wilson:

I'm Brian Wilson, your old hand with a new plan, and today we're diving into the dirty truth about gut health. Our guest, alyssa Simpson, is here with simple, driver-friendly strategies to help keep you regular without turning you into a rabbit. You know what I mean munching on lettuce all day long. You can still enjoy the foods you love and make some easy tweaks to make it feel better on the road. Let's face it, drivers gut health isn't just about comfort. It's about avoiding the chaos of rust. Stop roulette and that nasty walk of shame. House of rust. Stop roulette and that nasty walk of shame. Dodging fire, breathing heartburn and making sure gas isn't the loudest passenger in your cab when it drowns out your stereo. You know you got it bad, so stick around. This is one ride you won't want to miss welcome back to enjoying life.

Cindy Tunstall:

Otr. My name is name is Cindy Tunstall and I'm your host Drivers, we have a great show for you today. We're going to get right into it. You know we're going to be talking about some things that not everybody likes to talk about, but everybody deals with, and you know we've got places to be, We've got deadlines to meet and the last thing that we need is our gut throwing a wrench in our plans. So I'm super excited to welcome Melissa Simpson. She's our guest today. She's a registered dietitian, a functional nutritional therapist, and she's an expert in helping people take back control of their gut health. She's going to help us figure out why things might not be running so smoothly and how to know when there's real issues that need some intervention, and she's going to give us some practical strategies for ways that we, as long-haul truck drivers, can improve our gut health. So I've got a lot of questions for her and I'm so excited to welcome you to the show. Alyssa's Symptoms so glad that you're here.

Alyssa Simpson:

Hello and thank you for having me. I'm glad to be here today to talk about this very popular topic. It might not seem popular because we don't talk to our friends and family about our bathroom issues or our you know embarrassing gas, things like that, but it's actually quite common for people to have digestive issues.

Cindy Tunstall:

Yeah, I was thinking that too. I was like I think a lot of people are having these issues. But that's really why I wanted to do the show, cause I think a lot of us are struggling with our gut health and, you know, especially with our schedules as drivers. You know it's hard to um, you know, eat good food and get nutritional choices while we're on the road, and I think sometimes we kind of can resign. The fact that I don't know this is just part of the life I lead, because you know this is my situation. So, before we get into some practical strategies for us, would you mind just telling your audience a little bit about your background, your credentials and maybe how you got interested in gut health as a nutrition expert?

Alyssa Simpson:

Maybe how you got interested in gut health as a nutrition expert. Yeah, I'm a registered dietitian. I have been for 20 years and I originally got into dietetics because I was just interested in being healthy, and most dietitians are first interested in getting healthy for themselves, and then they, you know, like most dietitians, then I want to figure out how to help other people do it. So for the first 10 years of my practice I was more generally focused was with a group of digestive health issues, until I started my private practice and I quit my job. My stable income started a brand new business.

Alyssa Simpson:

At the same time I was learning a new specialty because I was going from a general focus to digestive health and the stress of all of that was just tremendous and I developed acid reflux, which was pretty bad. I mean, I remember my throat just burning all the time. My dentist noticed that my enamel was eroding, which is just crazy. I was like you can tell that just after, even just a few months. I was not sleeping well because it was causing me to have this cough, this persistent cough, and I couldn't fall asleep because I kept coughing. So it was pretty bad and that's when I really was in the shoes of my patients and it was kind of a journey from there, and so what that taught me was that it's not just about diet, it's about stress and our gut brain connection as well.

Cindy Tunstall:

Well, that just fascinates me because I'm sure you can imagine truck driving is a pretty stressful job, just for the long hours that we drive, the you know irregular sleep schedules, and then just the high stress of having to be so aware of so many safety issues on such a long, you know shift. Our hours are long that we're behind the wheel Sometimes, often 10 to 11 hour days, so it can be very stressful in dealing with traffic and scheduling and all of the things. So what role would you say that stress plays in the issues of digestive health? Is that a big concern? Typically it is.

Alyssa Simpson:

So in my field we talk a lot about root causes. It's almost a buzzword root causes because standard medicine which I'm part of that as well but standard medicine looks at okay, here are your symptoms, here's a medication for it or here's a procedure or surgery for it in general. And then when we look at functional nutrition and functional medicine, we want to get to the root cause. We want to say why are you having an issue, what's underlying, what's causing it? And let's address those things, not just mask or deal with your symptoms. And so some of the examples of root causes are things like at least if you look just kind of right below the surface, maybe diet, maybe you know activity, physical activity, um, or you know micro in the conversation of gut health, bacterial imbalance in the gut, um, enzyme production, things like that. But if we were to look at the root root, like what's at the basic root of so many of these issues, it's stress, and stress can be physical, emotional, mental. So it could be physical stress that you're under, it could be certainly chemical stress or things like that. But we're talking about emotional stress, mental stress right now, and that is by far at the root cause of so many people's digestive issues, and the reason for that is we have a big nerve, a giant nerve, connecting the brain and the gut, actually connecting the brain and the other internal organs as well. It goes down from our head through, you know, through the neck um, into the body. It's called the vagus nerve, and basically all the signaling for for nervous system, signaling from the brain to the gut and from the gut back to the brain, goes via that nerve, and stress to some extent pinches off that signaling, because when we are so, the signals we're talking about's bi-directional. So our brain sends our gut signals about uh, should we, you know? So think about when you smell food and you start to salivate. And actually, when you start to salivate in your mouth, your whole digestive tract is salivating, your stomach starting to produce acid, your pancreas is releasing, releasing enzymes, your gallbladder is releasing bile, and all of that is before any food is in your mouth. You just smell the food and now this is happening. So that's an example of the brain communicating with the gut. The brain also communicates with the gut about things like how fast or slow food and waste should move through. So in general, in acute stress we might have diarrhea. Chronic stress. We might have constipation, although it can vary.

Alyssa Simpson:

But the digestive tract sends signaling to the brain as well. So, for example, when you feel nervous or you feel you're under a lot of emotional distress and you have just knots in your stomach, that's emotions-based. When you feel butterflies in your stomach, 90 of our serotonin is produced in the gut, so that sends signals to our brain about our mood. Are we feeling happy, are we feeling anxious or depressed? So that signaling goes both ways and stress pinches it off.

Alyssa Simpson:

Because we're supposed to be in in long in the history, if go way, way back to how humans used to live, stress is very short term and it's very acute. So most of the time we're supposed to be in a pretty calm state and then occasionally there's a threat that we have to really and then stress serves a purpose that we need to sit up and take action fast to save ourselves. But then, once we get to safety, it calms down and our modern lifestyles are quite the opposite. We're actually in a state of alert or slash stress. In this conversation it's kind of the same thing. We're in that sympathetic fight or flight mode much more of the day than we're meant to be, and it pinches off that signaling.

Cindy Tunstall:

So when you're you're meeting with a client and they're having some digestive issues and you've realized that stress is the issue, what is the path of healing and regulating that? Especially like I think about somebody that does a high stress job like this. I mean, obviously there's some meditation and then we talked about this some on the show too, you know, doing some meditation and some things like that to help to, you know, calm our stress down throughout the day. But what are some other passive healing that you will look at for somebody like, say, a driver's coming in and they're having a lot of irregularity or, you know, maybe lose stool or having to urgency to get to the bathrooms or things like that? Where do you begin to diagnose what's happening in their specific situation and what steps are? What's the beginning steps in the process of getting regulated?

Alyssa Simpson:

Yeah, and I am to the point now, because I've just learned so much about this and had so many experiences with patients, that I talk about this with everybody, because none of us are immune to this being an issue, being part of the issue, and, of course, I see people with they're having enough gastrointestinal problems that they seek to me out for help. So this is, even if they don't come to me saying they're stressed, this is an issue, but we're talking about. You're asking what to do about it, and one of the first things well, the first thing is to acknowledge it, um, that it's important, and then one of the easiest things to start doing and even truck drivers can do this, because it doesn't take a lot of time and it is deep breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, um, this is something that's free. You can do it from anywhere, you can do it for just a couple of minutes here and there, and the key, though, is to build some consistency with it, because our brain, our gut brain connection, it can get used to the pathways that we usually send, so if our body's used to kind of having this stress mode, we just naturally get right into that mode every single day, and so we do need to train those neural pathways and the deep breathing is a really good way to do that.

Alyssa Simpson:

Now you do want to make sure you're breathing into the belly. I thought I was deep breathing for the longest time and then, if you put one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly while you're breathing, you need to look at which hand is going up and down, and I realized my chest was going up and down, so that's a good way to make sure you're breathing into your belly. So I would practice with your hands one hand over your chest, one hand over your belly and the other key is to have the out breath twicereath, twice as long as the in-breath. It's that slow breathing out. So you might breathe in for four and breathe out for eight seconds. That slow breathing out is what really starts to deactivate the fire flight mode, the sympathetic nervous system, and activate that rest, digest and recover mode, which is the parasympathetic nervous system.

Cindy Tunstall:

Okay, thank you for that. That's a very helpful graphic.

Alyssa Simpson:

And even putting the hand on the chest and on the belly to see which is moving that's a very helpful illustration, this stress response that we're calling it for lack of a better term, it's um, it actually serves a purpose. You know, if you are in a situation where you need to be alert, you need to be focused, because you're dealing with something really critical, it's actually not the worst idea to be alert, to feel that kind of rush of adrenaline and to be focused. It's just that we don't want to be there chronically. So, in the example you just gave, if you're really working on something that's pretty critical getting you know a situation on the road or parking a specific way, with a lot of different things you have to pay attention to I don't know if that would be the time to address it, unless you're getting so anxious that it's interfering with your. You know that it's becoming a problem and you're freaking out. You know then you might want to take some deep breaths. So you could do it.

Alyssa Simpson:

Then, um, I would say, certainly after something happens. So let's say, something scary happens on the road and you're, you're in a state of anxiety. You could do it anytime. You're in a state of anxiety and you need to calm down, um, but if you're starting out and you're and you're just thinking okay, I want to get healthier, I'm having maybe some digestive issues, then I would do it at night. I recommend doing it at bedtime because so many people have trouble sleeping anyway, and one of the main reasons for that is that we're not calming down. Another reason is that our mind is just. Our mind won't stop, just going and going and going. So you can kind of combine, you can take care of both of those issues by doing this breathing while you're laying in bed trying to go to sleep, and you just start doing the deep diaphragmatic breathing and if you at the same time focus on your breathing, that will help to quiet your mind and you'll be able to go to sleep faster too.

Cindy Tunstall:

Very helpful. Thank you so much for that. I also am concerned about the role of our nutrition that that's playing on, you know, because we're not maybe getting enough fruits and vegetables and fiber and even just an inconsistency in the way that we're eating, and some, you know, drivers are all levels of health out there. Some are doing really great and cooking their own food and eating whole foods and produce and, you know, getting being very mindful of their nutrition, and others are doing a lot of fast food. What's the role that our nutrition is playing in addition to the stress, and what tips could you give in case somebody's wanting to make some improvements? What are some good nutritional options to be mindful of?

Alyssa Simpson:

One of the problems out there, when we don't have a lot of options for food so say it's a gas station or a fast food place that we have to stop at One of them is not having enough fiber, because one of the most important nutritional cornerstones of health a healthy gut is fiber.

Alyssa Simpson:

Fiber is not only how we get enough bulk to our stool so that we're not constipated, Um, and it can also help to have enough fiber, um, that you have enough bulk that it's not just coming out kind of sloppy and diarrhea-like. And then also fiber is what feeds a diverse microbiome of many, many different beneficial bacteria that we're supposed to have. So when you're in a place and maybe the burger and fries is the option or just low foods like that, we don't have fiber. And then another issue is lots of unhealthy fats, and there are those. So that would be like, well, I guess the same example the burger and the fries, the fried foods. Those are a problem because they're inflammatory and inflammation is a problem for lots of different areas of our health and definitely for our gut as well.

Cindy Tunstall:

So like what types of food like we? We know, like the burger and the fries not ideal. Could you give us some choices? That would be good. You know when we are able to stop, and maybe you know people that have refrigerators and can do a little bit more meal planning on the truck. You know people that have refrigerators and can do a little bit more meal planning on the truck. You know, maybe once a week they could do a grocery run. What kinds of foods would you like to see us incorporate that would start to see some benefit? And then how would we introduce those? Is it okay just to jump right in, or this needs to be a gradual thing, or what would you suggest for somebody that's just really trying to make some better nutritional choices?

Alyssa Simpson:

yeah, well, a couple pieces of good news here. One is that when we're talking about fiber, so there's two top two topics with fiber there's amount and then there's diversity of different types of fiber. So the amount is more what we're talking about when we're talking about, you know, having just enough fiber to have a good bowel movement. A diversity of fibers meaning lots of different sources, plant sources of these fibers is how we feed a healthy microbiome, which is important for gut health, and then also so many other aspects of our health as well. So the good news, one of the pieces of good news, is you don't have to have a lot of any one food to get that diversity. And so when I'm talking about diversity of fiber, it's not just vegetables. It's vegetables, fruits, beans or legumes. So vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains Any food that comes from a plant that's not refined. So white rice or white flour wouldn't count, but brown rice and whole wheat flour does count. So, and you want a diversity. So what I tell my clients is we want ideally don't feel bad if you're not close to this but ideally 30 different plant foods in a week. Now, if you're at five, if you're at 10, you don't want to go up to 30 overnight, um. So you do want to build it up gradually, because, just like you wouldn't go into a gym untrained and start lifting really heavy weights, your microbiome has to adjust to fiber gradually too. So that's so. That's the.

Alyssa Simpson:

I guess the other piece of good news is it's not only is it okay to take it in steps, but you should. That will be better for you, it'll be easier for you and it'll be better for your microbiome, but you don't need very much. So even if you, if you're going to go in and get a grilled chicken sandwich, even that lettuce and tomato counts, and then if you can stop someplace where maybe you can get a burrito, well, the beans count. If you can get some salsa in there, the tomatoes, the onion count.

Alyssa Simpson:

Now, in this 30 per week you don't want to double count. So if you have tomato today and tomato tomorrow, you only count it once. But if you can get a burrito bowl that has, maybe then you can get brown rice beans, maybe some extra veggies in there. Those things can go a long way, and I think if you're on the road you could probably pack a few snacks that really give you a lot of bang for your buck in this respect, and then you do your best ordering when you a lot of bang for your buck in this respect, and then you do your best ordering when you're stopping at places for your main meals.

Cindy Tunstall:

This is helpful for me because I think for one of the snacks that I have on the truck that's a hand I'll do seeds and nuts and I think that I'm doing good. I'm getting that fiber, but because I'm eating that pretty regularly, I'm just needing more diversity. So that was helpful information for me. Thank you for that.

Alyssa Simpson:

That example is a great way to think about this, because you, if you're sitting there eating from a bag of almonds, you could easily mix in the same baggie walnuts, pecans, you know sunflower seeds and I don't know pistachios, and, and you can still eat the same portion. Maybe it's a small portion, just a few little fingerfuls or whatever, but instead of just one nut, you're getting five. You could even mix in a few different dried fruits into there, and now you're up to 10 plant foods in one little baggie and just a few bites of that. That'll really last you, energy wise, for a few hours. Um, and you get that. There's 10 right there, 10 out of your 30 for the week. So that's a great example. Like write down what you ate, cause, like I said, you um, and you can do it in an old fashioned planner. That actually works really well. But, like I said, you don't want to repeat a food, so if you're just keeping a tally, you're not going to remember what it was.

Cindy Tunstall:

Variety is important because I would think on a daily. I'm thinking did I get any fiber today? And I would. It's a yes or no thing, you know. Yeah, I got a few things, you know, so I would go. Yeah, I did good today, but I'm like almonds, almonds, almonds, almonds, almonds, yeah.

Alyssa Simpson:

Yeah, yeah. No, the diversity is important because we want diversity in our gut. Yeah, you know, we want diversity, and diversity of plant fibers leads to a diversity of bacteria, a little bit counts yeah.

Cindy Tunstall:

So great, that's so helpful. Anyway, I feel so encouraged okay.

Cindy Tunstall:

So let's talk about the pace of things, because I could. I'm kind of an all-in girl, so I kind of jump in and two more and then I end up regretting it. So talk to me like, say, somebody's been eating, you know a lot of fast food. Just say, well, just like worst case scenario. Like you know, maybe it might have a lettuce and tomato on their burger once in a while, but lots of burgers, fries, fried chicken, you know things like that, ribs, maybe a lot of barbecue, and so they're trying to work in some more fiber. And you're saying to go at a slow pace, like what you know, and ideally we're going to try to get up to 30 a week. But like what? What pace would we try to increase? Like our first couple weeks? Like what would be a good goal if we've had, you know maybe five or six different varieties during the week? Like how would you, how, how quickly would you increase? Like what's a good slow pace for this to transition?

Alyssa Simpson:

Yeah, I think the amount is is a big deal. So, like what I would do, to make it simple, I would probably just add one new thing per day. So maybe maybe you have a piece of fruit in the afternoon you could vary up what it is, but I would let your system kind of get used to that and then, after maybe a week, add a second thing into your day. In the example of the trail mix, I think you could do that. You could already put the diversity in there, but start with a small portion. If your system's used to. You know burgers and fries and you're going to introduce all that fiber, start with, you know, a very small handful per day and leave it at that.

Alyssa Simpson:

Don't, don't start snacking on that. You know, often throughout the day, every day, because that can add up fast and the the downside, downside. So you'll know you're going too fast if you're getting lots of gas, bloating and grumbling and kind of discomfort in your in your intestinal area. So it's not. I mean, then you would just back off, you would just kind of back off the fiber. But um, that that'll tell you kind of if you're going too fast. So I would say, try maybe one new thing per day, um, for the week and then the next week. So let's say, one week you're adding the fruit in the afternoon, then the next week maybe you'll add some nuts as a snack, and then the next week maybe you'll upgrade your hamburger to, uh, maybe a burrito bowl, but it just has brown rice. You don't have a lot of beans or other veggies in there, and kind of take it one step at a time.

Cindy Tunstall:

Okay, that's helpful. Thank you very much for that. Okay, I also I see sometimes that there's fiber supplements like powders and you mix them in water Like is that something that would be a good option for drivers that maybe are, you know, struggling to get some fresh produce in their diet or you know even just the variety? Would you recommend something like that? Or that's not as effective.

Alyssa Simpson:

I do. We just talked about the diversity. The other thing is the amount, and so that's. The fiber supplement can help you get to the amount, and the amount is a little tough to quantify without sitting down and counting up all the fiber you're getting in a day. But I do recommend having a fiber supplement in your day because especially when you're out on the road you don't have as much control and sometimes you're not going to have high fiber options. So a good general fiber supplement is going to be a psyllium-based one, and a brand example is Metamucil that you can find just about anywhere. So that's kind of good across the board.

Alyssa Simpson:

If you're sensitive, like, let's say, you have IBS or you have lots of diarrhea, I wouldn't go to psyllium. It might be a little bit strong for you. In that case I would recommend guar fiber, which is trademarked as sun fiber. I'd pick up some sun fiber. Sun fiber is nice and gentle. I use it even with my most sensitive patients, but it'll do the trick. It'll give you fiber, start to feed a healthy microbiome and it has kind of a nice benefit in that it helps to bulk the stool. So, let's say, you're constipated, you need some help moving the stool. It helps with that, but it also helps to gel the stool in people who are maybe more diarrhea prone. So it's good for just about anyone. If you're not sure and you think you might be sensitive.

Cindy Tunstall:

Okay, thank you for that. And then would you say that we would work if we started adding a fiber substitute. Would we start with a small dose of that and build up to the recommended dose? I don't know how this works, but if they recommend a teaspoon in a eight ounce glass of water, should we start with less than that and work up? Or is that the same kind of gradual need, or how does that work?

Alyssa Simpson:

Yeah, well, what I do with my patients and I guess we should throw this out there that definitely anytime you start taking any supplements, do check with your doctor, especially if you have medical conditions or you take any medications. Just because I'm not looking at your medical chart right now. We want to make sure that the supplements you decide to take are appropriate. But for educational purposes I'll tell you what I do with my clients In general. I'll start anybody on a third of the scoop. So whatever the scoop is in that container, do a third of the scoop. So whatever the scoop is in that container, do a third of the scoop that first week, as long as everything's going all right. Go up to two thirds of the scoop the second week and then finally up to the full scoop the third week.

Cindy Tunstall:

And then is there a certain time of day that it's ideal to take this fiber supplement, Like is it better in the morning or at night, or any does that matter?

Alyssa Simpson:

Whenever you can get it in, it doesn't really matter other than it's. It's common to have difficulty remembering it or having it with you at the right time, so that's what I would base it on, whenever you can get it in.

Cindy Tunstall:

Okay, Okay, Thank you. Okay, and so we talked about the um, how they get. What about probiotics? I hear a lot of buzz about that and that I mean I take a probiotic supplement and that's really helped me, and so is that something that we need to be taking as well, or is this fiber addressing the need for that? Is it the same type of thing or no?

Alyssa Simpson:

Is it the same type of thing or no? No, well, the fiber and the diversity of fibers helps to build a diverse microbiome. Probiotics, though, can also be beneficial, also because we're not always going to be perfect with the 30 plant foods per week I mean, that's our goal but probiotics serve as a nice bridge to help give you some beneficial strains. So I think both are helpful and, I would say, a good. You can either choose a probiotic based on your specific needs.

Alyssa Simpson:

We do have different strains that are researched for certain purposes. So, for example, lactobacillus rhamnosus has been studied and helpful for people with IBS. A common brand of that is culturel, and Saccharomyces boulardii is another common strain, and that's been especially helpful in the research for people with diarrhea. A name brand of that is Florastore. So you can base it on the specific, unique benefit you're looking for, or you can go for a diverse kind of broad spectrum. So there are lots of different probiotic supplements on the shelf that have multiple different lactobacillus strains and multiple different bifidobacterium strains, and so that's kind of nice to do too if you're not sure what strain you need.

Cindy Tunstall:

Okay, thank you for that. And then is this something that could change Like if I know I'm having a few days where I'm not getting in my normal nutrition, could I take a probiotic on that fourth day to kind of help um me out, or let so something that needs to be taken on the regular to be beneficial? Or how's the scheduling with the probiotic? Is it necessary for it to be, um, you know, super consistent, taking that every day, or how does that work?

Alyssa Simpson:

you. I don't think you have to be super consistent or anything like that. I haven't with just the ones we're talking about, where you're kind of just going with a general one. Um, I haven't seen too many people have issues like skipping days or anything like that. If you're taking a more powerful one, there are more powerful ones. So there are some spore-based ones I'll use with my patients that are powerful enough that, especially if someone has a really sensitive system, we have to start at maybe half of a capsule and then build up to a full capsule over time. And in that case, be if you had to build up your system to the full capsule, it might be challenging to go on and off of it. But, um, I think for just a general low dose probiotic, it would be okay to be to base it on your diet for the day. Um, so let's say you're having, uh, maybe some probiotic foods that day, maybe some sauerkraut or some yogurt or kefir or something like that. Then maybe you don't take your probiotics.

Cindy Tunstall:

OK, let me ask you a question about can we talk about the health of our stool? I kind of because it's a little weird I'm about to share something very personal, but I look at the consistency of my bowel movements. I'm pretty regular. I go every day. How does somebody know? I mean, other than just making the assumptions based on our diet, is there a way to tell the health of our gut based on the condition of our stool and the consistency? What would be an indicator that we've reached good gut health based on the consistency of our stool? Should we be going every day? What's normal, what's healthy? What are we looking for as a sign of we're on the right track? Well, did you know?

Alyssa Simpson:

there's actually a chart. No, there's a chart called the Bristol Stool Chart. That's B-R-I-S-T-O-L Bristol stool chart and it shows you different pictures not photographs, thankfully, but drawings of poop and what you're looking for and I think the chart goes from one to six here and you're looking somewhere in the middle, three to four. So that's just an FYI, but what we're basically, if you want to go Google that and look up the chart, what we're looking for is, as far as color, a healthy stool is typically medium to dark brown, should not be too light, should not be black. Um, those are indications of more serious problems. Um, and then it should be. It should be formed, that's the other thing. It should have a sausage-like or banana-like shape. It shouldn't be falling apart when it hits the water and then it also shouldn't be difficult to pass. You shouldn't be sitting there straining and straining to get it out.

Alyssa Simpson:

And there's a bit of nuance here. You know some people will ask me well, how do I know if I'm really constipated? Because I go every day, but it's just a little bit. So I consider that being not not whether or not it's meaning the actual definition of constipation. You're not fully evacuating and that's not healthy either. So if you feel like you're passing a little bit, but kind of like you still you're not fully evacuating, then that might be time. It might be time to do something about that as well. Either increase your fiber, increase your water. You can add a magnesium supplement. We haven't talked about that yet, but that can be helpful. But that's basically what you're looking for.

Cindy Tunstall:

Okay, I do want to talk about the magnesium supplements, but let's talk hydration too, because I'm assuming that, especially female drivers I think that you have to stop the truck and our male counterparts have a little bit more convenience to be able to take care of going to the restroom more frequently and with less interruption to their day. Honestly, if it could be too graphic there, but how much is hydration probably a role in this? Is that also a part of the solution that we need to be looking at and make sure we're in, and how do we know if we are properly hydrated?

Alyssa Simpson:

that is critical, because here we've talked all this about fiber, and if you are eating fiber but you're not hydrating enough, it actually can make you backed up even more, so, um. So you need, in general, I would say, at least 64 ounces of water a day. Um, if you want to get more specific, half half your body weight although if you're, the more overweight you are, the less that's accurate so, um. But if you're you know, so, so. But that gives us kind of an idea. And if you're nowhere close to that, you need to to bump it up, because if we have fiber in our system without enough water, the fiber actually the fiber is going to absorb water one way or another. So if it's absorbing, like all the liquid in our digestive tract, it can actually back us up more.

Cindy Tunstall:

Okay. So just simple math, just to make sure I'm getting this. So if somebody weighs 200 pounds, they should be having a hundred ounces of water. Is that what you're saying generally? Yes, okay, yes. Okay, let's talk about the magnesium supplements. Tell what. What role does that play in gut health?

Alyssa Simpson:

Yeah, so that can be especially helpful. Now, many of us are deficient in magnesium. It's not something that um that it would easily be tested for, because magnesium deficiency doesn't even show up on a standard blood test. Um, so but but we just we know that, that we just know that to be true from the research. So many of us are magnesium deficient.

Alyssa Simpson:

When I say magnesium for bowel movements, though, there are different forms of magnesium and the magnesium that's well absorbed into our bloodstream, which is what you would want to take if you're actually deficient. So that would be forms like magnesium glycinate, magnesium taurate, magnesium malate. It's different from what you would want to take for a bowel movement. Magnesium forms that are actually poorly absorbed, that would be like magnesium citrate or magnesium oxide. They actually stay in the intestine and, because they're such large molecules, it draws water into the intestine from the bloodstream and it softens our stool naturally. So I was thinking about it when we were talking about the people who maybe they go, but they just need a little extra oomph because they're just not getting it all out, they're not completely evacuating. That's when I'll usually recommend to my patients some magnesium citrate or oxide, because it'll give you that little extra softening that'll help you go more easily.

Alyssa Simpson:

Another thing to help with that is toilet positioning. Actually, the way that toilets are designed is not ideal for having a bowel movement, and ideally you want your knees slightly above your hips. Now there are stools for this, but it's not going to be something that's easy to carry around. You know they're not exactly portable. Well, they are, but I don't know that you want to carry a squat or squatty potty into every bathroom. So, um, one thing you can do is if there's no place to rest your feet Now, if you're in a hotel room, you could do it you can just find something to rest your feet on, um, like a box or something like that. But if there's no way to do that, you can also kind of gently lean your upper body forward with your elbows resting on your thighs, and that what it does is it opens up the the passageway. Um, that's more favorable to to passing stool okay, I've never heard that.

Cindy Tunstall:

Okay, that's helpful. Okay, listen, this has been very helpful. I think you've given us a lot of practical things that we can try. When do we reach the point with our gut health? What are some signs that? Maybe something you talked about the color of the stool but what are some signs? And you know, maybe we've tried some of the things and we're still struggling. When does someone need to speak to a professional like yourself? Or when is there an indication that there may be something more serious going on with the gut?

Alyssa Simpson:

Yeah. So I guess, since we touched on it, starting with the stool color, if the stool is really light, like clay colored, that can be an indication of fat malabsorption or potentially gallbladder dysfunction. Also, if it's black, dark brown is fine, normal, but if it's actually black, that can be blood, and blood that has been bleeding from an area that's kind of high up in the digestive tract, because it takes a while for it to turn black, and that's not a good thing. So you know. So, for an example would be you could have a bleeding ulcer and your stool would be black from that. So those would be two things that I would say go see, go see a doctor about it.

Alyssa Simpson:

Other things would be just persistent symptoms. You know, if you're having, if you're having occasional heartburn when you have a really big meal, that's not abnormal. But if it's persistent of, seemingly no matter what you do, if you're having severe bloating where your belly is, just, it's just, you know, rounded out. We see that. We see there's a condition that we're finding to be more and more common called SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth that will cause, like, a lot of bloating.

Alyssa Simpson:

Um, if you're chronically constipated and it's lasting more than a few weeks um constipation is less than I believe. It's less than three bowel movements per week, Um, and if that's happening for um more than a few weeks, certainly I would say if you, if you don't go, I definitely see patients who say, oh, I haven't gone to the bathroom. You know, I go once a week. I would say that's, that's a concern Um sudden changes. So sudden changes would be something you know um severe pain or discomfort. So if you're having pain after eating, symptoms that are interfering with your work, frequent nausea, or if you're losing weight and you're not unexplained, you're not trying to lose weight but you're losing weight.

Cindy Tunstall:

Okay, that's very helpful. Are there any other suggestions that you have, or maybe some tips or guidelines for us that maybe I haven't thought to ask you anything else that you would like to share? And then I would definitely want you to share a little bit about the practice that you do and if case somebody wants to reach you for a consultation, and how they can get in touch with you and your your practice.

Alyssa Simpson:

Well, I would say another thing is physical activity. So it can be hard when you're driving you're on the road to get enough physical activity. Driving you're on the road to get enough physical activity. But what I would say about that, it's relevant to this topic because physical activity improves blood flow and we need blood flow to the digestive tract for it to work properly. Walking a little bit can also help us kind of release gas if you're feeling really gassy or bloated, and what I would say is that it doesn't have to be a lot, even if you can take a few minutes every couple hours and move five to 10 minutes, um, just even gentle. Walking is is really beneficial. Again, it gets the blood flow going, uh, it gets things moving, and it can help you relax as well. You know it helps with calming, calming you down and kind of gets you out, so um, and you can even do different stretches and things depending on where you're at.

Cindy Tunstall:

So that would be the other thing we haven't touched on that I would recommend too, and I was also thinking, as you were sharing, that it's like does it matter when we're eating, like is like, is it important that we um, you know if we're going to bed regularly with a full stomach? Is that, is that a part of the issue, or that's not so important to worry about?

Alyssa Simpson:

If you can, I would. I would give it two hours. Not always possible, you know, but um and, and it depends too. If you're feeling fine, then it's working for you, but if you're having a lot of heartburn or acid reflux at night, or if you're waking up super bloated and uncomfortable, then it would be an issue. So what I would do in that case is I would try to make sure you're fueling yourself throughout the day so that you don't feel like you have to have a really big meal at night, and I would make your meal at night smaller if you have less time to digest before bed.

Cindy Tunstall:

Okay, that's helpful. Yeah, about your practice and how you work with clients and when it might be a good way for them to reach out to you if they're wanting to get a consultation about their specific nutritional needs yeah, I have a one-on-one practice in arizona.

Alyssa Simpson:

It's virtual since covid, meaning I don't go into the office and meet with people physically anymore, but, um, through telehealth and you can just go to my. If you'd like a 15 minute, I offer free 15 minute consultation where we can just jump on a phone call and I can learn about your issues and then I'll be able to specifically recommend, either make some quick suggestions or, if we feel like we want to work together one-on-one, I can recommend a plan of work based on what I think would be necessary to solve your problem, and you can schedule that by going to my website at nutritionresolutioncom. So it's nutrition and then resolution, like a new years resolutioncom.

Cindy Tunstall:

And I'll include that in the show notes so people can get in touch with you easily, so they'll have access to your website. They could just click on the show notes as well. Well, thank you so much for you share so much information. I feel like I'm going to need to listen to this several times and kind of adapt some of these things into my, my program. So I'm really grateful for the taking the time to invest in our community. And you know, like we said from the start, you know we're not always talking about this, but I think it's a very common issue for drivers, because the nutritional challenges and the scheduling and you know the high stress, so I didn't realize, I guess, how much stress was impacting our gut health as well. But that makes a lot of sense now. So I'm grateful to you know, be more mindful of that as well. Another motivation to help manage.

Alyssa Simpson:

Yeah it affects so many different aspects of our health. For sure, and I actually um, you mentioned absorbing all of this I do have a guide that kind of summarizes a lot of this information. That's called the healthy gut restoration guide. So I can send you the link to that as well for your listeners, um, if you like. If you're like hey, I was driving, I didn't take any notes. It kind of summarizes everything we talked about and you can just download it from my website.

Cindy Tunstall:

Oh, that's perfect. Thank you so much. It's very generous. I appreciate that. Well, thank you so much for this time. Any parting words you have before we close out?

Alyssa Simpson:

Just take things in steps. Um, that works better, not only for our for us being able to establish habits that we can maintain, because I mean you could make drastic changes, but can you stick with them? And the answer is usually no. Behavior change generally happens little by little, and then, even if you could make a really dramatic change, your body may not like it very much, especially when we're talking about digestive health. So just decide on one or two areas that you want to focus on for the week and get consistent with that, and once something's consistent, you don't have to focus on it anymore. That's what a habit is something you just naturally do, and then you have the bandwidth to focus on the next steps you want to take.

Cindy Tunstall:

You just naturally do, and then you have the bandwidth to focus on the next steps you want to take. I've just recently started working with the daily planner and I'm just not a daily planner kind of a girl, I'm just kind of a fly by the hip, which probably hasn't served me well but in some areas. But I think if I plan or I'm going to start writing down my um, the fiber foods that I get and kind of just being a little bit more mindful of those choices, cause even when you said about the like, even having lettuce and tomato on, you know, maybe a grilled chicken sandwich, that's still those are two fiber choices that I've incorporated. Or salsa, or beans, you know those are some things that I would be pretty easy for me to um incorporate into, you know, into my 30 during the week. So I think I might start just like a little journal just till I become a little bit more mindful of my fiber choices, cause, you know, honestly, I, I, you know I'm 58 years old, so I mean I always get a little bit cared about my gut health, but since I started driving about almost five years ago now, so I'd be just like when it's very inconvenient, when my gut health is, you know, when I'm irregular or I'm having you know when I'm irregular or I'm having you know issues while I'm on the road, because it's just definitely hard to stop quickly and, you know, get out and I can't.

Cindy Tunstall:

You know, I don't have as much flexibility in my schedule, so I've become very mindful of my gut health in recent years, so you've been giving me a lot of really helpful things and I know it will be a great blessing to our listeners as well. So thank you so much for taking the time and, like I said, we'll have your information in the show notes so people can reach out to you and ask more questions. So thank you so much.

Brian Wilson:

You're very welcome. All right, drivers, let's break this down. Alyssa gave us some game-changing tips today, starting with deep breathing to manage stress. Sneak in more fiber-rich foods, even if it's just adding beans or veggies to your meal, and don't forget to hydrate like it's part of your job. These are steps you can take right now. No fancy tools or massive life changes required. All right, here's the deal. If you found today's episode helpful, leave us a review and share it with your fellow drivers. Hell, they don't even have to be drivers, just friends that might enjoy this. I know my wife enjoys these once in a while. We all know someone out there who could use a little gut check. Hey, if you're not joining us in the Enjoying Life OTR Facebook group, what are you even doing? Get in there, your gut will thank you. Well, that about wraps it up for the day, guys. So until next time, I'm Brian Wilson with your old hand with a new plan on how to poop a little better. Stay regular out there and keep enjoying life OTR.

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