Never Diet Again with Max Lowery

The Dark Side of Ozempic: IBS, Gut Damage & What No One's Telling You – with Brooke Kane

• Max Lowery

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Is IBS just a blanket diagnosis for symptoms doctors can’t explain? In this episode, I’m joined by functional medicine practitioner Brooke Kane to uncover what’s really going on with your gut—and why so many women are suffering in silence.

We dive into:

  • Why IBS is often a misdiagnosis (and what you might actually be dealing with)
  • The root causes of digestive issues: low stomach acid, toxins, hormonal shifts & more
  • How GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic can cause long-term gut damage
  • Why gut health is the key to weight loss, hormone balance, and sustainable healing
  • Real talk on the food industry, functional medicine, and how to take back control of your health

If you’ve been dismissed, misdiagnosed, or feel like you’ve “tried everything”... this episode will give you a new perspective—and a path forward.

Learn more about Brooke at www.therootedrn.com

Follow her on Instagram @theibssolution

Watch my The Cravings & Fat-Burning Masterclass:   https://www.neverdietagain.uk/register-podcast

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/max.lowery/

Book a Food Freedom Breakthrough Call: https://calendly.com/maxlowerycoaching/food-freedom-breakthrough-call

Max Lowery:

If you're a woman over 40 and you're constantly bloated, running to the toilet or afraid to leave the house because of your gut, if you've tried every diet, detox or medication and nothing works, then this episode is for you. Today, I'm joined by Brooke Kane, a registered nurse and functional medicine practitioner, who helps women heal chronic digestive issues like IBS by getting to the root cause. We're talking about the stuff your doctor won't tell you why IBS is just a lazy diagnosis, why gut issues are on the rise and how new weight loss drugs like Ozempic might actually be wrecking your gut and metabolism long term. This isn't about managing symptoms. This is about healing your gut for good. So if you want to feel confident, energetic and in control of your body again, make sure you listen to this episode. How do you create a life that allows you to lose weight, eat the foods that you love and sustain the results? Over the last 10 years, I've helped thousands of people do exactly that.

Max Lowery:

I'm Max Lowery. I'm an author, personal trainer and weight loss coach. In this podcast, I'm going to share my top tips and tricks from within my one-on-one coaching program. It's my goal to give you the tools and understanding so that you never diet again. Hello, welcome to another episode of the Never Diet Again podcast. Today I'm joined by Brooke Kane, who is a functional medicine practitioner who specializes in helping women with IBS. So welcome to the podcast I wanted to invite you on because there's a few things I want to discuss, osempit being one of them. But before we go there, how about you share who you are, how you got into working with women with IBS and also what is IBS?

Brooke Kane:

Sure, perfect. Well, thank you for having me, max. So I'm Brooke Kane. I'm a registered nurse and a functional medicine practitioner. I help women with IBS issues like urgent diarrhea, cramping, bloating find the root cause and get rid of it. Heal it for good. Ibs is basically kind of a fake diagnosis that's given to people who are having severe digestive issues. When the doctors really have no idea what's going on, they say oh, you have IBS, irritable bowel syndrome. The reality is that there is something wrong, usually a bacterial imbalance or some inflammation. It can be toxins long list of root causes that causes issues like the urgent diarrhea, cramping, bloating, things like that. So I help these women find that root cause and get rid of it.

Max Lowery:

Interesting, and this was my kind of understanding with it, because I have worked with some clients with IBS and it did seem, as you say, it's a bit of a cop-out. It's a label that doctors use to describe loads of different symptoms and they don't really know what it is. It's like, oh IBS, live with it, deal with it, kind of thing. Is that right?

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Max Lowery:

And how did you get into that then?

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, so I actually had my own gut issues, digestive issues years ago, and I was working as a nurse in the ICU in the hospital, and when I went to a specialist, a gastroenterologist, to find out why I couldn't get rid of these issues, they told me I had IBS and that I can just take some pills to try to manage it.

Brooke Kane:

That was dumbfounding to me. That didn't make any sense, that there was no reason for this and that a few months prior I was fine. Now I'm not, but there's nothing I can do. And so it sent me down a rabbit hole and I just started studying the gut and food and ways to heal it and eventually actually ended up leaving traditional health care, because my eyes were opened and I saw that this is not a root cause system. They just throw pills and drugs at people. And so I wanted to share the truth with other people going through digestive issues that it is false that you can't get rid of it, that you just have to live with it. It's absolutely possible to find the root cause and heal completely.

Max Lowery:

Yeah, I can completely resonate with this, and let's give some context to the listeners. The reason we know each other is because we're both on a mentorship with other coaches who are doing similar things, and what is great is that, although we all help people in slightly different ways with different problems, everyone comes at it with the same philosophy, which is addressing the root cause of the problem instead of, in my case, dieting and quick fixes, in your case, pills and God knows what else. So, yeah, I think that's really powerful. Before we go into kind of the root causes I know you gave a list of a few symptoms there what are the typical symptoms that someone with who's been labeled as IBS? What are the typical symptoms?

Brooke Kane:

So most of what I see is very urgent diarrhea, Like it doesn't matter what they eat. A lot of these women are actually eating very clean and the symptoms still won't go away. So lots of pain, cramping, bloating and unpredictability. They just never know when these things are going to hit.

Max Lowery:

Yeah, that must really impact your clients' lives.

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, absolutely. A lot of the clients I see are actually homebound. Because of it, they're not able to travel, they can't eat out, sometimes they can't even go to the store.

Max Lowery:

They're homebound stuck to the bathroom. I have the rare occasions where I get an upset stomach. It really impacts your energy and your mood and I remember thinking like, wow, is this what it feels like to have IBS? I feel like I just can't do anything right now. I can't work. I've got no motivation, no energy, and it sounds like that's exactly what it's like. That's awful. How long did you say you've been doing this?

Brooke Kane:

I've been doing this in the online space for about seven years.

Max Lowery:

Would you say that there's an increase in these problems?

Brooke Kane:

There is yeah, yeah, as far as I can see, there does seem to be an increase. I think one of the reasons for that is our food supply toxins environmental toxins in our food, inflammatory processed foods, things like that.

Max Lowery:

Yeah, so let's talk about the root causes of people's IBS symptoms then. So obviously you just listed one, so I guess you're alluding to ultra processed foods, maybe microplastics as well. Is that what you're alluding to as well, with toxins in the system?

Brooke Kane:

Absolutely, that can be one. Probably some of the biggest root causes, I see, is not enough stomach acid not digesting very well. When we're not digesting our food or we don't have enough acid, it leaves this giant open door for bacteria, yeast, fungus, worms, parasites, all these things to start overgrowing and they start wreaking havoc. Doctors prescribing acid blocking pills is a really big, frequent root cause that I see. Gallbladder removal is another one. Those are probably some of my biggest root causes.

Max Lowery:

And why would someone have issues with their stomach acid versus someone? What's the difference between one person who has normal stomach acid levels and another who doesn't? What's the difference?

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, really good question. So probably I think what I see the most is taking pills for acid reflux. When people get acid reflux they're told oh, you have too much stomach acid, they're given a pill to make that acid stop, when actually most of the time that acid reflux is caused by not enough stomach acid. And so what happens is we eat and the little amount of acid we do have starts bubbling up into the esophagus and that's where you get that reflux. Some reasons people wouldn't have enough stomach acid can be some dysbiosis or an imbalance in the bacteria in their gut. Maybe they don't have enough beneficial bacteria in their inflammation. Maybe they don't have enough beneficial bacteria in their inflammation. Again, environmental toxins in our food, things like that Lots of outside sources that can contribute to not enough stomach acid.

Max Lowery:

And let's say you had a client who signed up to work with you. What's the process that you go through to help them diagnose and understand exactly what their root cause is?

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, so I actually start with a very advanced and comprehensive stool test that shows me everything under the sun that's going on inside of their digestive system how they're digesting how many enzymes, pancreatic enzymes, their gut lining, fatty acids and things that make up the gut lining. And, most importantly, it shows me everything that's living and growing so good bacteria, bad bacteria, yeast, fungus, parasites, worms, anything that's living in there. It's going to show me. So we start with that and then we address what we find in there holistically with supplements, natural things. Food is medicine versus using toxic medications and prescriptions.

Max Lowery:

What kind of foods would you be recommending without kind of giving away all your secrets? Yeah, yeah, what's the kind of blanket advice?

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, I would say the blanket advice is whole foods, real food, no more processed stuff. A really big one that a lot of people don't know about it is avoiding grains. So that's one piece of advice I like to give people is to avoid grains. They can be very inflammatory, especially to someone who already has gut issues. They're hard to digest. So basic, whole foods, cut out processed stuff, refined sugars.

Max Lowery:

How about incorporating fermented foods?

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, yeah, there's a delicate balance. I love fermented foods. I'm a huge fan of them. Our ancestors ate a lot of fermented foods and we've really gotten away from that throughout the years. Someone who is having active diarrhea or active pain cramping things like that sometimes fermented foods are very hard for their digestive system, so it doesn't mean they're bad for them, but they can be a little hard on them pain cramping things like that Sometimes fermented foods are very hard for their digestive system, so it doesn't mean they're bad for them, but they can be a little hard on them at that point. So we have a delicate balance there about on the timing of when these people are ready to eat fermented foods. But I think they're amazing and I think most of the general public should be eating fermented foods frequently.

Max Lowery:

Yeah, so you're saying it might be the goal for most of your clients to eat fermented foods, but obviously there's a step-by-step kind of process they need to do before that. The reason I ask is because I love fermented foods. I drink water, kefir every morning and I make sauerkraut and kimchi. I absolutely love it. And I've been reading more, I'm getting more. It's a slightly different topic but I'm getting more and more concerned.

Max Lowery:

Maybe it's the same topic you tell me, but by the drastic increase in colon cancer and digestive cancer in young people, especially in the last kind of 20, 30 years. I think it's tripled and you read about it in the paper but no one's really acknowledging or noticing it. But I think that's really quite shocking. Because digestive and colon cancers before was unheard of in anyone under the age of 50, 55, I believe, and now it is 20-year-olds, 30-year-olds who are fit and active getting colon cancer and I think it's got to be, as you say, the modern environment, toxic toxins in the environment. I think microplastics are particularly detrimental, ultra-processed foods gut health and from my understanding there is emerging research to suggest that actually fermented foods can help break down microplastics and toxins. But I think have you heard something similar. I believe that's early, early doors.

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, yeah, I love that. I have heard that. Yeah, they produce metabolites that protect our gut lining. 80% of our immune system is in our gut, so I think that's a big contributing factor to all of these cancers is lack of proper immune function. That starts in our gut. These fermented foods aren't just about building up good bacteria. I think that's the obvious, that a lot of people know that it's feeding your body good bacteria. But what do these good bacteria really do? They're in charge of so many different things fighting off pathogens, building up a strong immune system, protecting the gut lining and the mucosa in there.

Max Lowery:

I think we're only just beginning to realize how important the gut and the gut microbiome is, and they call it the second brain, don't they?

Brooke Kane:

They do yeah.

Max Lowery:

So obviously you're helping your clients with what they eat. That seems like a fairly obvious thing that needs to be addressed. What else do you address, and are there maybe things that people might not expect have an impact on gut health and inflammation and all that kind of stuff?

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, so hormones are a big one. A lot of people don't realize how much your gut health affects your hormones, so naturally, hormones start to balance a little bit when we work on what we're eating and we start fixing our gut health. The reverse is also true, though. Sometimes hormones are contributing to gut issues. So that's another thing that we look at. When we're looking for the root cause is any possible hormone imbalances, weight loss, of course. When you're addressing gut health and removing a root cause of any health issue, oftentimes weight loss happens naturally and organically as part of that process.

Max Lowery:

Yeah, makes sense. How about because we work specifically with women over the age of 40, are there sometimes increases in digestive issues for women over the age of 40? And you alluded to hormones there Do you see an influx of women over the age of 40 going through the perimenopause and menopause with issues?

Brooke Kane:

I do, yeah, yeah. So those hormonal things can. Those levels can cause constipation or the reverse. They can cause loose stools and slow digestion, slow down metabolism. They can affect the liver. There's sometimes liver congestion comes along with too much estrogen not getting excreted or eliminated. Everything's really just intertwined and interconnected. It's pretty fascinating.

Max Lowery:

No, it is, and this is especially with the way that we help our clients and weight loss people take a very reductionist approach. It's oh, I just need to cut out carbs. Oh, I just need to not drink alcohol. Or it's oh, it's just my hormones, it's just the menopause, and really, as you just alluded to, it's never just one thing, it's always a variety of things. And ultimately, working with experts who truly understand how to help you and your struggles is the only way you're going to be able to address all those things, I believe. Otherwise, you're just Googling Dr Google and trying to work it out through trial and error, which causes more harm than good sometimes.

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, absolutely. I've had a lot of clients refer to it as throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. I think that's a good term.

Max Lowery:

Yeah, and really the longer that all sounds fine, but really the longer that goes on, the more likely you are to give up, the more likely it is to become a part of your identity. In our case it's I am just someone that can't lose weight, and I'm sure in your case it's like I'm someone that has stomach issues and IBS and I. That can't change and that's part of who I am. Do you see any of that at all?

Brooke Kane:

I do. I see that pretty frequently, actually women who believe they they're starting to believe that they can't heal. So it's something that I always ask people before I work with them do you believe that you really can heal? And get better If they don't believe that they can. That's a big roadblock.

Max Lowery:

Exactly the same with me. So, unfortunately, the type of person that we work with has tried lots of different diets. They've lost weight, they put it back on. They've lost weight, put it back on, and they eventually meet us and everything within their gut excuse the pun feels right. They feel like, yeah, this is it. But there's something in their head which is like, but I've tried and failed so many times, what if I can't do it? And then it becomes part of their identity and same with you. If they fundamentally don't believe it's possible, even with the right support and accountability, then no one can help.

Max Lowery:

Ultimately, really quick one for me. Guys, I don't run ads on this podcast and I do aim to give you as many high value tips and tricks as I can for free. All I ask in return is that you help me spread the word. That way I can help as many people as I can to never diet again. The way to do that is to rate, review and share this podcast. A review will only take 30 seconds, but it would mean the world to me but, more importantly, it could help change the life of someone else. On the topic of weight loss, am I right in saying that you have worked with people who have been on GLP-1 medications and you've had to help them with the side effects. Is that right?

Brooke Kane:

That is correct. I see it a lot, unfortunately.

Max Lowery:

So I imagine this is have you actually had an increase in clients because of this problem?

Brooke Kane:

I have Very severe cases.

Max Lowery:

Yeah, could you expand?

Brooke Kane:

Yeah. So I've seen firsthand, especially over the last maybe year, some very serious long-term damage that those drugs like Ozempic and Wagovi are causing, and it goes pretty far beyond just like mild nausea that the pharmaceutical companies like to downplay. Oh, you might have some nausea. A lot of women come to me after taking these injections with very severe constipation, painful bloating, extreme stomach pain, cases of gastroparesis, which is where the stomach becomes so sluggish that food just sits there and that causes nausea, vomiting, malnutrition. I've seen people who had been hospitalized because their digestive system has just completely shut down. Some of the more severe cases I've seen is a few cases of ulcerative colitis, pancreatitis, gallbladder disease. Some of these women have had to have their gallbladder removed because the medication slowed their digestion so much that the bile flow is now impaired and it leads to organ dysfunction and gallstones.

Max Lowery:

So very serious yeah. What is it specifically about the medication that causes issues with stomach health?

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, the reason they're so damaging is because they artificially manipulate digestion by drastically slowing down your gastric emptying, so this might suppress your appetite in the short term, which is what the drugs are. What we're going for when they put people on these is to suppress the appetite, but over time it disrupts your normal gut function, alters your gut microbiome and it impairs your nutrient absorption, which leads to very severe motility issues, which leads to very severe motility issues, sometimes irreversible. Our gut isn't meant to function that way, and when we force it into a state of dysfunction with drugs like this, the effects can be permanent or very difficult to reverse.

Max Lowery:

That's really, really interesting, because I hadn't actually heard of it working in that way, and I think most people just think, oh, it makes you feel less hungry, so what's the harm in that? But actually, what you've just described and especially with the context of what we've already spoken about, of how important the gut is for your immune system, potentially for your mental health, for every aspect of your overall health and you're taking this drug which fundamentally changes the way that it works, that's playing with fire if you ask me yeah, yeah, very much so.

Max Lowery:

I think what's interesting is obviously on social media. There are two camps on this on Ozempic, and you've got the camps who are, I would say, mostly medically trained like Western medically trained who are this is a magic pill, it's incredible, it's going to save lives. And then you've got the flip side of people who are this is a magic pill, it's incredible, it's going to save lives. And then you've got the flip side of people who are saying under no circumstances should this drug be taken. And I think I try to be somewhere in the middle.

Max Lowery:

I think clearly there are use cases for it. If you are literally about to die from obesity, then take it. But I think the issue is and this is what some of these kind of influencer doctors are saying is everyone should take it ultimately, and for me that just seems like a massive irrespective of what we're talking about and the nasty side effects. For me, if you're, if you've got weight to lose, it's because it's a symptom of something that isn't right in your life, whether it's your emotional regulation, whether it's your mindset relationship with food and and just going and taking a drug isn't going to fix any of those things necessarily. And then you do have the side effects and consequences. So it's refreshing to hear a medical professional like yourself, who works in this field, to be really connected with the potential harm. In your opinion, would you say, the risks are worth the benefits.

Brooke Kane:

I would absolutely not, and I think my clients I've seen who dealt with these issues after using these drugs. They would agree that the risks are not worth the benefits. They deeply regret using those drugs. A couple of these ladies their bodies will never be the same again. Some of them have completely reversed the damage, and that's great. That's what we hope for. But some of them especially if you've had an organ removed, if it led to removing your gallbladder you're never going to be the same again.

Brooke Kane:

And the really scary part is that many of these women most of them, I think are never warned about these risks when they start these medications. What they like to tell people is that you might get some mild nausea. If you do end up throwing up, you can get some IV hydration. They think they're signing up for this effortless weight loss, but instead they end up with gut issues that take years to heal, if they ever get rid of it at all. That's why I'm so passionate about educating women on the real risks of these drugs and people like you offering a better, long-term, healthier approach to weight loss that's just not so risky.

Max Lowery:

It's great to connect and have this conversation because I think the more we are able to join forces and spread the message and have conversations like these, at least we can give people a real perspective of actually what's going on, and I think I don't know what it's like in the States. I've got a vague idea. I think it's just easier for doctors to prescribe a drug than it is to offer lifestyle advice, and I think it's a two-way thing. I think it's partly the patients have expect a pill, expect a drug and don't want to change their lifestyles, and doctors don't have the time, don't sometimes have the knowledge or understanding on how to help with the lifestyle changes. And that's, I imagine, exactly what you do as a functional medicine practitioner. You're bridging the gap between lifestyle and medicine. Could you go into a bit more detail about specifically how a functional medicine practitioner works, which to me sounds like a much better way of doing things?

Max Lowery:

I saw a reel which was describing this and it was like the reality when you go to a doctor and I'm going to butcher this, probably, but it was along the lines of hey, I've got this really bad smell in my kitchen. I think it's coming from the bin. What can I do to this? And the doctor basically says well, we've got some really powerful sprays which will cover the smell of the spray, and maybe we can give you a bigger bin bag as well, all this kind of stuff. And obviously the patient goes back. It goes away, comes back and she's like it's now actually even worse than it was before. Is there anything you can do? And then the doctor again is like well, actually we've got these extra strong smell scent coverings which will cover the smell and you know that you'll be all fine and come back if there's any issues. And obviously it just keeps going and eventually the patient's like what if I just get rid of the bin, take the trash out? And yeah, it's what we're describing here.

Max Lowery:

Really, I think what I've also heard as well is western medicine isn't health care, it's sick care. So you're essentially managing symptoms and not really trying to address the root cause. Clearly there are loads of incredible traditional doctors around. It's just the system as a whole isn't doing anyone any favors. I don't think Cool. Just to kind of summarize what would you say to anyone listening? Now, what are some very basic tips and advice you could give to make sure that someone's digestive health is as good as it can be.

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, Focusing on eating real food, not boxed foods, not fake processed foods. Real foods, including, like meat, real meat, eggs, you know um, vegetables and fruits. This is what I mean by real food. Potato chips don't count as real food. Yes, they're potatoes, but they're cooked in oils and they're processed and stuff. So just real food in its natural form. I mean sure you can bake it, steam it, cook it, but just focusing on real foods and making sure we get some fermented foods in there. Like we talked about earlier, our ancestors ate a lot of fermented foods. It's one of the ways that they preserved a lot of their food for the wintertime, and so they didn't have these issues. They didn't have the gut issues that we have now because they were eating so many fermented foods. So, focusing on real, whole foods, cutting out all the processed stuff, cutting out refined sugars and making sure you're getting in some fermented foods, those things alone make a huge difference.

Max Lowery:

Yeah, not just to gut health, but that's exactly the same advice that we give our clients is that, ideally, 80-90% of the time, cooking from scratch from fresh ingredients, from real foods. Because when you do that more protein, more fiber guess what? You feel? Less hungry, you're giving your body what it needs, you're nourishing your body. And I think, what's interesting, if you look at very, very obese patients in the US, a lot of them are actually malnourished, even though they are grossly overweight and morbidly obese, because the food they're eating doesn't contain any nutrition.

Max Lowery:

We call them food-like products. It's like food, but not actually food, created by human beings and food engineers and food technicians, by big food to hijack your bliss point and make you want more and more and more. And it's very frustrating to again. There's kind of two sides on social media. You've got the traditional kind of influencer doctors who are like it doesn't matter, look at these studies, you can eat these foods, they're not a problem. But what's going on with increase in IBS, increase in obesity, increase in digestive cancer? Like you know, we've got to be real here.

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, yeah, I love that. I actually like to ask my clients a lot to look back at when this dietary advice started. You know from traditional healthcare the dietary advice they've been giving people for heart health, for weight loss, for managing diabetes advice. They've been giving people for heart health, for weight loss, for managing diabetes. How has that played out for us? Are we all thriving? Has everybody seen massive results from this advice, or has our healthcare declined drastically and people are sicker now than they have been forever?

Max Lowery:

Yeah, well, I think you know. The answer is quite obvious it's worse than it ever has been. I think this is true. You can tell me if this is true or not? But the life expectancy in the US is actually going down. It's not going up, and I think we're not quite there yet, but we've got almost more people dying of obesity-related diseases than starvation. So it's almost neck and neck, which just shows you there's something really quite wrong in the Western world. Cool. So, brooke, what's the quickest way for people to get hold of you if they want to find out more about what you do?

Brooke Kane:

Yeah, cool, they can find me on Instagram. The IBS solution is where I'm located on Instagram or Facebook. They can also visit my website, therootedrncom.

Max Lowery:

Excellent, and we can link all that in the show notes. Yeah, thank you very much for joining, brooke. That's been a really great conversation. It's taken my understanding to a new level and, yeah, look forward to hearing how you get on.

Brooke Kane:

This was a lot of fun. Thanks for having me, Max.