Love Your Gut

Ep. 76: How to make your gut not "SIBO friendly" & add foods back in without symptoms [SIBO mini series part 3]

• Heather Finley

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You finished your SIBO treatment, so why are you still bloated, reactive, and stuck eating five foods?

In this episode of Love Your Gut, Dr. Heather shares what no one talks about after the “kill phase” of SIBO recovery ends. If you’ve tried antibiotics or antimicrobials, followed a low-FODMAP diet, and still don’t feel like yourself, it’s not because you failed. It’s because true healing happens in Phase 2: the rebuilding phase.

You’ll learn how to make your gut resilient again through food, lifestyle, digestion support, and terrain repair.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Why symptoms often return post-SIBO treatment (and why that’s not a failure)
  • How to repair your gut lining to reduce food reactivity
  • Step-by-step guidance for reintroducing foods safely and strategically
  • The truth about North-to-South digestion and what it means for motility
  • How simple lifestyle shifts like sunlight, walking, and breathwork change the gut terrain
  • The difference between healing and just treating

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📌 Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss Part 4, where Dr. Heather shares real client recovery stories and what finally made the difference when nothing else had.














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Dr. Heather Finley:

Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Heather Finley, registered dietitian and gut health specialist. I understand the frustration of dealing with GI issues because I've been there and I spent over two decades searching for answers for my own gut issues of constipation, bloating, and stomach pain. I've dedicated my life to understanding and solving my own gut issues. And now I'm here to guide you. On this podcast, I'll help you identify the true root causes of your discomfort. So you can finally ditch your symptoms for good. My goal is to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need so that you can love your gut and it will love you right back. So if you're ready to learn a lot, gain a deeper understanding of your gut and find lasting relief. You are in the right place. Welcome to the love your gut podcast. Welcome back to the next episode of the Love Your Gut podcast. We are diving into part three of our SIBO and miniseries, and if you've made it this far, thank you. I hope you're already seeing how much more there is to SIBO than just bad bacteria in the wrong place. So just to quickly recap, if you haven't listened to episode one or two in this series, so that would be episode 74 and 75. In episode one of this series, we talked about what SIBO actually is, and more importantly, what it actually isn't. It's not just random overgrowth, it is symptoms of a deeper imbalance. And then in episode two, we unpacked SIBO testing the good, the bad, what breath test can miss. We also talked about how tools like the GI MAP and HTMA can offer much more of a complete picture when it comes to your gut terrain. Especially when your symptoms don't line up with your test results. So if you haven't listened to those, I would highly recommend pausing this, going back, listening to those two episodes, because today we're diving into really probably the most important piece of a plan, which is often the most missed. I'm actually recording this episode for a second time. I recorded it a couple days ago, and to be honest, I just. Maybe it's the perfectionist in me, but I just, I couldn't stop thinking about it for like three days. I'm like, oh, I wanted to talk about that. Oh, I should have said that. So I just decided to scrap it and start over. So I hope you love today's episode. Hopefully this is just take two, outta two. But that's what we're gonna talk about today is what do you do once the SIBO protocol is actually done? Because. If you've been handed antimicrobial herbs, maybe you're on Candibactin, Biocidin, oregano oil. Nano scrub, et cetera, There's so many or antibiotics. Maybe you took Xifaxan Flagyl. So many choices there as well. Maybe you also followed a super strict diet, but you might still feel bloated, you might still feel really restricted, and you might still feel most importantly, really frustrated. So that's what I want to dig into today. Because maybe you're terrified to add foods back in. Maybe you finished your last protocol and thought, wait, why do I still feel this way? Or maybe you've been told that your SIBO is gone. Maybe you did a repeat test and it was gone, but your gut still hasn't caught up yet. I have been there. I remember years ago when I saw my first more functional doctor. I did a GI map or I think I was actually a GI FX, I did a GI FX with her. I was doing the protocols that she was recommending. I honestly was really unfamiliar with the process and I actually, the other day was cleaning out some files and I found all my old lab work from like 20 14, 20 15, and it was so interesting looking at it from the lens that I have now. And of course I had the mindset of oh, I wish I would've known this, or I wish I would've known that. But it was honestly so interesting to me because we get so many clients and I just see so much of myself in them, and then I'm looking at my test results going, oh, that's why, that client reminds me of me because our tests actually had some similar things, or this piece reminds me of that. So anyways, that's a tangent, but. I remember years ago she had put me on this protocol. It was pretty rough. I had a lot of die off. I was so focused on killing this overgrowth. At one point I was also taking antifungals. I was doing like back-to-back protocols. I did herbals, like I said, antifungals, you name it. And I thought that if I just kept doing that or if I hit it harder, it would finally go away. And to be honest, she kind of instilled that in me as well. And now looking back, I realize that. Where I went wrong because when I ran another test, another stool test, I don't even know what the timeline is here, like a couple months later, maybe a year later, I found that my beneficial bacteria were completely wiped out. In case this is maybe new information, you have two to five pounds of bacteria in your gut, which is pretty wild and trillions of them. And not all of them are bad. Bacteria are a normal part of our body. You have more bacteria than you do have human cells, so we could say that you're more bacteria than you are human episode for another time. But what I found was that I had no bifidobacteria. My lactobacillus was low. My akkermansia, which is a keystone strain of bacteria, was low. My per nzi was low. And that's what we commonly see in our clients that have done repeated SIBO protocols is. Their beneficial flora is really depleted. So I had basically just bombed my entire garden. Like nothing in my garden was blooming. I hadn't just killed the weeds, I had killed the flowers as well. So no wonder I was reacting to foods. I was still constipated. I was still bloated. I was still more exhausted than before. So that was the wake up call for me, that killing SIBO is not just the first step or killing SIBO is the first step. What really matters is actually how you rebuild your gut after, so that the overgrowth doesn't come back and your body actually feels safe again. So that's what this episode is all about is phase two of recovery, how to rebuild a gut that is resilient. How to eat more than five foods again, and how to stop feeling like you're always just one bite away from another flare. So you did the thing, you finished the SIBO protocol, you took the herbs, the antibiotics, the antimicrobials, whatever. You cut out all the FODMAPs. Maybe you even went full elemental. We get our handful of clients that have done multiple rounds of elemental as well, and maybe are still bloated or worse. Now you're reacting to foods you never reacted to before. We see this a lot as well. This is the part that no one warns you about is killing overgrowth doesn't automatically restore function to your gut. In fact, many SIBO treatments, especially when they're paired with restrictive diets, can actually leave their own damage behind. If you think about it, anti antimicrobials are like broad spectrum weed spray. They don't just knock out the bad bugs. They hit everything, especially if you do it for too long. So a long-term low FODMAP diet, it starves the good guys like bifidobacteria and akkermansia. These are keystone strains of bacteria for the mucus layer of your gut and for the overall health of your gut. These bacteria specifically. Thrive on prebiotic fibers. So now you've cleared some overgrowth, but your beneficial microbes are depleted. Your gut lining is thin and irritated, and your motility is still sluggish. So you might feel less bad, but you don't feel well, and that's because your gut is still healing from everything that it's been through, and you might even feel worse in some cases. And we tend to get clients like that where they're like, okay, I've treated SIBO six times, three times, whatever, with my doctor. This feels like a merry-go-round that I can't get off. So let's talk about what's left behind. Number one is a leaky gut lining. You've probably heard the term leaky gut. It's all over the internet. I'm actually in this Facebook group for dieticians and someone the other day posted about do we actually believe that leaky gut is a thing? And I'm like, I can't believe we're still here. The clinical term for this is intestinal permeability. You wanna think of your intestinal lining, like a coffee filter. It's supposed to let nutrients through and keep everything else out, right? Like you don't want a bunch of chunky grounds in your coffee. Same thing with your gut lining. Inflammation, food restriction, stress, lack of sunlight, poor mineral status, and even bacterial imbalances in your gut can punch holes in that filter. You can also use the analogy of like a cheese cloth. So when that happens. Things like LPS lipopolysaccharides, which are a bacterial toxin, leak through into your bloodstream and trigger immune reactions. So you may not see that on a test, but you'll feel it. More bloating, brain fog, fatigue, sensitivity to foods. And so yes, leaky gut is real if you wanna have the clinical term for it. It's intestinal permeability, and it's incredibly common in the post SIBO healing phase, especially if your digestion higher up. So your stomach acid, your bile, your enzymes, all the things we've talked about on the previous episodes were never addressed. The second thing that is left behind often is stalled motility. So the mal, the migrating motor complex doesn't just switch back on after you take antibiotics. This whole system has to be turned back online and you're migrating. Motor complex is kind of like your intestinal cleanup crew. They come in after office hours, they sweep the floors, they take out the trash. That's what happens in between meals. If your minerals are depleted, your vagus nerve is underactive, you're under a lot of stress. Your motility will stay slow and slow. Motility is Sibos best friend. The last thing that I'll mention here, and there's many more, but these are the top three that I wanted to mention here on this episode, is a depleted microbiome, which I've talked about a little bit. But after multiple rounds of killing, it's like you drained the swamp. You did not build back the ecosystem. You don't have diverse amounts of bacteria. You don't have short chain fatty acid production, which is what happens when your beneficial bacteria eat prebiotic fibers. They produce short chain fatty acids, which are anti-inflammatory to the gut, to the brain. Therefore, your gut has no resilience. So when your next stressor hits, maybe you eat something new, you try to add a food back in, God forbid you get exposed to some kind of pathogen. You go, you're traveling, your life gets really stressful, whatever, your gut just isn't ready. So if you're still bloated after treatment, it doesn't mean your SIBO always came back. It could have, it might just mean that your healing was never finished. So your gut was cleared, but it wasn't rebuilt, and rebuilding is exactly what you have to do. So that you're no longer leaky, fragile, and reactive. So once the overgrowth is gone, the gut lining is like a house that just went through a storm. The roof can be patched, but the drywall's soaked, the wiring's off. The floorboards are squeaky. You need more than just no leaks. You need to fully rebuild, and that's what this phase is all about, is restoring the structure. And the function of your gut lining so you can actually absorb nutrients. I think we often forget that we think of our gut as like how we have a bowel movement, but it's also where absorption happens. So of course if you have GI issues, you, you might have fatigue or skin issues or thyroid issues or other autoimmune conditions because it affects your immune system and you're overreacting to every bite of food. So let's dig into leaky gut a little bit more. Like I mentioned, it's kind of like a coffee filter, a fine, my strainer. A cheesecloth, whatever you want to, whatever is gonna be helpful. It's supposed to let digested nutrients through while keeping bacteria, toxins, food particles out of your bloodstream when your gut is inflamed. Maybe from stress, food sensitivities, medications, even like birth control can actually create a leaky gut. There's lots of other ones or antibiotics that mesh starts to tear the holes, get bigger, junk gets through. Your immune system is then saying what is going on here? And sounds the alarm. And this is what leads to food reactions, which is why you think that food is actually the problem. But food is just another symptom of the problem. But it's not just annoying, right? It truly keeps you from healing because you're scared to eat and it becomes a really vicious cycle. So here are a couple tools that you wanna consider to rebuild your gut lining, and this is going to be very individual. I'm just gonna list off a couple things that we use. It's not a completely comprehensive list, so please don't use this to create your own treatment plan and hope for the best. I would really encourage you to work with someone so that you can actually figure out what's gonna be best for you. Okay. But number one thing that we want to do is obviously repair the damage. So different amino acids and nutrients can feed gut cells. L-Glutamine is a really popular one. This can be really helpful for your gut lining. It can help patch up these holes. Collagen, it's full of glycine and proline. You can even get collagen through foods. It doesn't always mean taking another supplement butyrate. Sometimes you may need a posto. Sometimes we will use this to kind of bypass that process that happens if you truly can't tolerate a lot of fibers and you're never getting any short chain fatty acid production, Allah, butyrate, we might need to supplement with that or use butyrate rich foods like grass fed butter and gh. This is a short chain fatty acid that nourishes the colon, supports the tight junctions. It's also great for post antibiotic damage. Another one that's really popular, which I have an entire episode on, actually maybe two episodes on, is immunoglobulins. These bind to leftover bacterial toxins like LPS, so your immune system doesn't go crazy. So it's, it not only helps repair your gut lining, but it also is like a gentle binder to help remove things that don't belong. Spore based probiotics can be great. They support microbial diversity without overwhelming your gut. You may be pretty reactive to these, so you might have to go slow. Sometimes when we've used spores with people, we have literally had them open the capsules and like lick a tiny piece, not even get to a half a capsule. As we're slowly introducing these Omega-3 fatty acids are great. They reduce inflammation, they can calm the immune response, and then brush broer enzymes. Think of these as like your gut finishing tools. They live on the microvilli. Of your gut and they help break down the last bits of food. So if your small intestine is damaged you get fermentation, you get poor absorption, you get bloating, poor nutrient absorption. So you can imagine your gut lining as like tiny carpet fibers. Those are the microvilli that help absorb nutrients. So when it's inflamed, it's like someone just took off the top of the carpet. Ran a lawnmower over it and everything is just completely flattened. So brush border enzymes help kind of re fluff and restore those so you can absorb what you eat. That's where also reducing inflammation is really helpful. Just to mention a couple minerals that matter here, minerals in general always are gonna matter, but you probably see a lot of chitchat about zinc carnasine. This is a specific form of zinc that is shown to protect the gut lining and support healing. My personal experience and opinion with this is that zinc carnasine can be really helpful, but it's not necessarily something that you wanna take forever because zinc does impact copper. Many of our clients have low zinc on HTMA after chronic stress, or just years of digestive dysfunction, and so that can be a big player there. Interrupting this episode really quick to tell you about the training that I am doing in mid-August. If you are a health practitioner or a registered dietician, I would absolutely love to have you at my two day training, the gut fix that sticks. This is a two hour training for two days in a row where we are gonna be diving even more into this process of. How to actually heal and fix people's digestive symptoms. So we are still in early bird pricing until August 1st. So you can save 20 bucks. And if you are a registered dietician, I am also submitting it to count for CEUs. So be sure to check out the link in the show notes and save your spot and look forward to seeing you there. And then the last piece of course, and probably the most important is nourishing and gentle foods. So bone broth, aloe vera, slippery mt. Steamed zucchini, steamed squash. Things are gonna be really soothing and easy for your gut to digest. These are your gut's, comfort foods. We want anti-inflammatory, soothing, easy to digest, start low, go slow. Your gut is rebuilding, so you have to treat it that way. It doesn't mean that you need to start adding in all these foods. On the first day, you can do this really systematically. So when your gut lining is restored, you will absorb your nutrients better, you'll react less to food, you will feel less bloated and foggy. You will have the foundation to bring back more foods without fear. So speaking of food, next I wanna talk about how to actually reintroduce foods without sending yourself into a flare. Let's try to not just continue on these restrictive diets that are only making things worse and no one prepares you for this part. Is eating again, actually bringing food back in. Isn't that the whole point? So that you're not on a restrictive diet for the rest of your life, so that you're not the person that's like, oh, I can't eat that, or always the person that they're having to make accommodations for. I spent way too many years having people always ask me. Oh, can Heather eat that? And I'm so glad that I don't have to be that person anymore. So here's the truth. Long term food restriction may help symptoms in the short term, but it causes more issues in the long term from a nutrient perspective, from a bacterial diversity perspective, and even from a mental health perspective. When you avoid foods for too long, you're not just starving your beneficial microbes. You are also creating more stress with potentially what you think you can and can't eat. And without those beneficial bacteria, your gut terrain becomes weak and more reactive and fragile. So here's where to start. If the food reintroduction process is confusing, obviously this is gonna be different for everybody. This is why food logging and symptom tracking is such a huge part of our VIP program because so many of our clients. Need help actually adding foods back in. We don't calorie count, we don't any of that. Our clients have the ability to give us an idea of what they're eating, and every week we give them feedback on, here's what you should add, here's how you can do it. Hey, I'm noticing this. Let's make this little change. And so they never have to wonder, and they know that we're working on adding those things back in because ultimately we know that the greatest predictor of a healthy gut. Is the variety of food that you can eat. It's not a probiotic, it's not anything else. It's the variety of food that you can eat. So here's where to start. Number one is begin with low fermentable training wheels, if you will. So cooked foods. Don't be eating a ton of raw salads if you can't tolerate them. Cooked zucchini, cooked carrots, cooked spinach, kiwi is great. It's also really helpful for motility. There's studies that show that two kiwis a day help with constipation. You can do sprouted oats, sprouted flowers, things that are easy to digest, and they're gonna be less likely to trigger a flare. Then you can progress to maybe moderate fermentors or polyphenol rich foods, blueberries, pomegranate seeds, cocoa powder, olives, small amounts of cooked onions, asparagus tips. sprouted grains like sourdough if tolerated, those can help refeed the beneficial strains like bifidobacteria or a akkermansia that got wiped out or that weren't even there. We have done kind of our own internal research, so this is not a clinically like validated research study, but we have done this or seen this on testing for many of our clients. So Akkermansia is one of the. Keystone strains of bacteria that I mentioned that we often see low. And what we started to notice is you've probably seen that there is an AKKERMANSIA probiotic on the market, and I have nothing against that probiotic, but we had several clients that came to us having taken Akkermansia, the probiotic, and then we would do a GI map on them and it was not even detectable. And they're like, how is that possible? I've been taking this for 30, 60, 90 days. How is it not even detectable? So what we did is we really pushed polyphenol rich foods with those clients. So really deep, dark purple, like I said, blueberries, pomegranate seeds, green tea, cocoa powder, and retested. And guess what? The Akkerman Sea was there, which shows that food is just such an important piece. You can take Akkermansia, but if it doesn't have its fuel source, of course it's not gonna take up residence in your gut. The next. Thing that you wanna think about is adding in resistant starch when you're ready. So this can be cooked in cooled potatoes, cooked in cooled rice, lentils, in small amounts. These will build butyrate levels. They that will soothe inflammation. It will tighten the gut lining. Typically, resistant starch is pretty well tolerated, especially if you're like, I cannot tolerate a lot of fiber. Try a cooked and cooled potato, even if you reheat it. It still remains, it still maintains its resistant starch properties, so they are not prebiotic, but they act like one, so that can be a great thing. The most important thing to keep in mind when introducing foods is the 48 hour roll. You can introduce a new food every 48 hours, keep everything else consistent. Definitely don't introduce foods on a day that you have like a huge work deadline or other stress in your life. Mild gas or mild bloating is not a failure. It's like muscle soreness after a new workout, it means your microbiome is adapting. So if you feel pressure, a little rumble, an increase in bloating, that's actually normal and that's not necessarily a bad thing. So having support as you walk through some of those changes can be really helpful. If it's painful, it lasts more than 24 hours. It impacts your bowels drastically. Then it can be worth slowing down. But some symptoms are not always a bad thing. It might just mean that you're really depleted and your gut needs to get used to tolerating these things again. And that is a super important mindset shift that we have to work on with almost all of our clients is not all symptoms are necessarily bad. So that's where a nervous system regulation can play a big role. Eat in a relaxed state, do a couple 4, 7, 8 breaths before meals. Hum or gargle hum. Happy birthday twice. That's my favorite tool to give people because it will make you laugh. It's really easy to remember, and if you have kids, they'll love it too. Go on a 10 minute walk post meal to help stimulate motility. But the calmer your body is, the less reactive your gut will be because digestion starts before your first bite. So some optional tools that you could consider while reintroducing. Again, not medical advice. Always work with a practitioner. Digestive enzymes. They can be helpful for harder to break down foods like legumes or proteins. You can, there's so many enzymes you can work with someone to help you figure out what would work. Bitters, or even just a little apple cider vinegar before meals if you don't have histamine issues to stimulate the stomach acid and bile flow binders or immunoglobulins if there's lingering reactivity. I love taking immunoglobulins, especially during cold and flu season. It's just a great kind of. I don't know, insurance policy, a little bit against just stuff that you're exposed to. So the bottom line is reintroduction is a phase, not a single day. It's a practice in patience, curiosity, communication with your body. So you have to give patience and give yourself grace and work with the process and know that not all symptoms are necessarily bad. If you've been here for a while, you've probably heard me say this. That digestion happens north to south. So from your brain to your stomach, to your bile and enzymes all the way to your colon, it is a chain reaction. And if one part of that chain breaks, everything suffers. So this is especially important after SIBO protocol because most people finish the kill phase and go straight back to habits that stall digestion. And that's where creating sustainable lifestyle habits to support your gut long term are really helpful. Maybe you go back to eating too fast, grazing all day, skipping protein, working through lunch. Suddenly your symptoms come back, not because your SIBO relapsed, but because digestion never really got rebooted from the top down. So let's walk through just a quick refresher on what optimal digestion looks like and where support is often missing post-treatment. So step one is brain and anticipation, right? Your digestive system starts before you even eat. You sit down, you smell your food, you breathe for a moment. This signals your body to switch from stress mode to digest mode. Next is stomach acid. So stomach acid is going to sterilize your food. It's going to break down protein, trigger bile and enzyme release. Post antimicrobial protocols, acid is often low, especially if you are stressed low in zinc, not eating enough protein. So you can use bitters, you can chew thoroughly. Support your minerals whatever you need to do there. Next is bile flow. So bile is your natural antimicrobial and fat digester. On the last episode, you heard me talk about my daughter calling your gallbladder a water gun. And it's such a good analogy because it's true. Every time you eat a meal, especially one with fat, your gallbladder shoots bile out. And even if you don't have a gallbladder, you still have vial flow. It's even more important. So if your bile is sluggish, food will sit, it will ferment. It will feed these upper gut bugs as well as the small intestinal issues that you might have. So again, support tools, bitters, touring, phosphatidylcholine, oxil. In some cases you don't wanna skip fats entirely. You can just space them out, make sure you're chewing them well et cetera. Step four is enzyme output. So your pancreas releases enzymes to break down proteins, carbs, fats, but it relies on all the previous steps to get the signal. So no acid, no bile, no bile, no enzymes, no enzymes. Hello, bloating and undigested food. All of these things go together, so make sure you're eating enough protein. Ginger can be really helpful. Digestive enzymes, especially in the temporary, especially if you are testing shows that you have lower elastase. And then step five. Really the last piece is motility. So when food is broken down, well, it easily moves through the gut. When it's not, it sits, it ferments, it starts this whole cycle again. So you can use pro kinetics. Ginger's a easy cheap one. There's lots of other medications and supplements that support motility that you can work with your provider on. But. Just a quick analogy to kind of tie all of this together. Digestion is like a luggage check at the airport, right? If you don't tag your bag at the counter, it won't make it to the plane, it won't get unloaded, and it ends up spinning around lost and fermenting and baggage claim, right? So your bag at the counters, your brain and your stomach, your plane is your bile. It won't get unloaded. Your enzymes, and then it's spinning around. That's your bloating and your symptoms that you're having. The takeaway here is supporting digestion from the top down because all the SIBO killing in the world will not matter if your digestive chain is still broken. So the next step, I wanna just chat through a couple lifestyle shifts that will actually help your gut to stay strong, because it's not just about taking supplements. Food is a big piece as you heard, and lifestyle is a big piece as well. Let's chat through something that surprises people is your daily habits, your light exposure, your sleep, your rhythms, your breath. Number one is morning light. This is like a metabolic reset if you get outside within 30 minutes of waking even for five to 10 minutes. This will help set your circadian rhythm. It supports your thyroid health. So if you have thyroid issues, this is a non-negotiable. It regulates your hormones and cortisol. If you struggle with sleep, go outside in the morning. I promise you it will help. It will also improve your gut motility by sinking your body clock. This sounds so elementary, but sometimes the tools we have at our disposal like sunlight are very, very undervalued. So if you're someone who wakes up constipated, you can't sleep, you're always cold. This is one habit that you don't wanna skip. Take your coffee outside, whatever you wanna do. Try to get outside. Okay, next step is walking after meals. This is like built-in digestive support, a short walk. It does not have to be a power walk. It could literally be a leisurely stroll can activate the vagus nerve. I saw this trend like, oh, I don't know, a while ago it was on TikTok. I think people were calling'em like fart walks, which is like kind of funny and crazy. But it's true. Like people will go walk after meals to help with digestion. So if you wanna go do that, great. It activates your vagus nerve, it stimulates bile flow. It'll help support your migrating motor complex, and it'll just give you some fresh air, which is great. So bonus points if you can do it without some headphones. The next thing is nervous system tone. This is the ultimate digestive trigger and the one where people often shut down. So please don't turn this episode off right now. If your body doesn't feel safe, you won't digest. You cannot digest if you're stuck in fight or flight. So some simple, simple tools. Humming, gargling, singing 4, 7, 8, breathing. Joyful movement. Have a dance party with your kids. My kids love dancing to Shania Twain. I know. So funny. But they love it, so we do it. Celine Dion, also a fan favorite at my house. So whatever you like, turn it on. And then connection, whether that's with a friend, a pet, your journal, whoever your spouse, have connection. You don't need a 90 minute meditation, you just need a moment of calm or a laugh or something joyful built into your day. And then lastly, blood sugar, balance and sleep. These are silent game changers. Poor sleep and blood sugar crashes are huge drivers of inflammation and gut dysfunction. So. Eat protein when you wake up, try to get 20 to 30 grams to anchor in your blood sugar for the day. This is honestly, if I'm being fully transparent, this is one of the habits that's the hardest for me as a mom, is actually prioritizing this within a decent amount of time of waking up. And so I've had to get creative, especially with a baby that I'm still nursing. Don't skip meals. Your gut needs fuel to heal. And then create a simple wind down routine at night. Also, something I struggle with is turning screens off. I recently found a red light that clips to my bed. I love it. I'll link it in the show notes in case you're interested. Bon charge is the brand, but it just like plugs in and is a little red light. So if I wanna read at night that is a great option without having the lights on. Magnesium bath, a calm body digests way better than any supplement ever can. So. If you are obsessing about what supplements to take, try to zoom out and ask yourself, am I resting? Am I nourishing? Am I letting my body feel safe? That's really what creates lasting gut resilience. So let's wrap it up just with some closing thoughts and just next steps. If you have made it through multiple SIBO protocols, but you still feel bloated, reactive, stuck eating the same five foods, please hear this. It doesn't mean your treatment failed. It means your healing isn't done or it wasn't complete because what comes after the killing phase is just as important, if not more. So let's recap what we covered. Number one, your gut lining needs to be repaired. Your food reintroductions have to happen. They are necessary. If we want to build diversity, you have to support digestion from north to south and then your lifestyle. This is not fluff. Things like rest, walking, breath work. These are a way to make your gut a very unwelcoming place for overgrowth, which is what we want. So you drain the swamp. Now we need to rebuild the ecosystem. In part four of this series, I'm gonna be sharing a couple case studies, especially some interesting ones about clients that had been told they had sibo, didn't actually have sibo, as well as people who had treated it multiple times. So stay tuned for that. It is one of the most inspiring episodes, I think, especially if you are in a situation where even if you don't have sibo, if you just have recurrent bloating and constipation and other GI issues. So make sure that you are subscribed to the show. If you are not subscribed, you won't get notified about episodes. But also being subscribed to the show also helps other people to find the show. Same thing with a rating or review. So. I am going to bump up the, inspiration for a rating and review because my podcast, to be honest, is probably the favorite, my favorite thing that I do, we have tons of free resources. We have blogs, we have Instagram posts, we have email newsletters, we have TikTok. Sometimes we have all the things, but I absolutely love doing this podcast, and so if you would help me out and leave a rating and review. That is a great way for Apple Podcasts to see, oh, other people like the show. So I'm gonna share it with more people. So if you leave a rating and review and you screenshot it, you can email it to our support email, which I'll put in the show notes. It's just Happy gut@drheatherfinley.co not com Co. And put in the subject line podcast rating You will be entered to win a free HTMA package. You have lots of chances to win, but go ahead and do that, and I will be picking a winner. So that will include you getting your own HTMA test as well as a one-on-one consult with our team to review the results and action steps and what you can do. So thank you so much for being here and learning something new today. I will see you back next week on part four of this series.

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Dr. Heather Finley

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