The Bite Size Podcast with Lorayne Michaels
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This is the podcast for high-achieving women ready to renew their minds, optimize their health, and confidently walk in their God-given calling.
Here, we talk about faith, mindset, and holistic health—helping you break through self-doubt, overcome limiting beliefs, and step fully into the life you were created for. Through real conversations, expert insights, and transformational stories, you’ll learn how to heal from the inside out—mentally, physically, and spiritually.
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👩⚕️ Functional Nutrition | Wellness Coaching | Faith-Based Mindset | Speaking & Teaching
The Bite Size Podcast with Lorayne Michaels
Healing the Gut: A Journey to Radiant Health
Your body is constantly communicating with you—but are you listening to what it's trying to tell you? When persistent bloating, constipation, brain fog, or unexplained fatigue disrupts your life, conventional medicine often offers little more than "it's normal" or "it's just stress." As registered dietitian and doctor of physical therapy Dr. Kate reveals in this eye-opening conversation, these symptoms frequently signal underlying gut inflammation that standard medical testing misses entirely.
Drawing from her own fifteen-year struggle with digestive issues and the transformative healing journey that followed, Dr. Kate shares how the conventional medical system failed both her and countless clients seeking answers. "I spent literally years—I don't even know how much money—on all the things, trying all of it," she confesses. This personal experience fuels her passion for helping others escape the cycle of symptom management to find true healing.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Dr. Kate challenges our assumptions about "healthy" eating. Through her work with specialized inflammatory testing, she's discovered that even nutrient-dense foods like turmeric, dark leafy greens, or bone broth can trigger inflammatory responses in certain individuals. One client's debilitating joint pain disappeared completely after discovering her daily turmeric supplement—taken specifically for inflammation—was actually causing a severe inflammatory reaction in her body.
Beyond food sensitivities, Dr. Kate outlines her comprehensive approach to gut healing, addressing everything from gut lining repair and microbiome balance to sleep quality and stress management. Her perspective on bedtime routines as a cornerstone of gut health offers a practical starting point for listeners seeking immediate improvements. "Our sleeping hours are our absolutely most important hours," she explains, detailing how overnight detoxification and cellular repair directly impact digestive function.
Whether you're battling IBS, autoimmune issues, persistent fatigue, or simply feel that something's "off" with your health, this conversation offers hope that answers exist beyond the standard medical paradigm. Ready to discover what your body has been trying to tell you? This episode might just be the breakthrough you've been searching for.
Get in touch with Kate here:
Website: digestionbydesign.com
The Constipation Clinic Priority List sign up: 3keys.digestionbydesign.com/constipationclinic
Instagram: @digestionbydesign
Facebook: @digestionbydesign
Where you can find me:
LinkedIn
Instagram
YouTube
Email Me: LorayneMichaels22@gmail.com
Welcome to the Bite Size Podcast. I'm your host, Lorraine Michaels, former EMT and nursing assistant, now business owner and wild entrepreneur. I walked away from over 15 years in medicine to pursue my passion and my God-given talents. Now I get the honor of helping other women discover their passions and purpose. If you're feeling stuck in life, unsure where to go or what to do, welcome. If you're exactly where you want to be great, you're welcome here too. If you have faced any kind of hardship or setback, you have found a safe place here. In other words, no matter who you are or what you've been through or what you're going through, this is the space for you. On the Bite Size podcast, we'll discuss life, business and faith. There's something for everyone. So grab a cup of coffee and something to take notes with, because there will definitely be things you won't want to forget, will definitely be things you won't want to forget.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to the Bite Size Podcast. I'm your host, Lorraine Michaels, and today I have a very special guest. I'm so excited to dive into this conversation. I have with me Kate Dr Kate. She is a licensed registered dietitian, nutritionist and a doctor of physical therapy. She specializes in gut health and functional nutrition through a personalized root cause approach, and you know that isines, acne, reflux, brain fog, exhaustion only to discover the gut inflammation, skin and digestive connection something that we are not taught in Western medicine. And, lo and behold, she found it out, figured it out and now is an expert in it, and she is helping tons of people all over get to the root cause of their ailments as well.
Speaker 1:Welcome, Kate, I'm so excited you're here, Thank you, Thank you for having me. I'm excited too, Absolutely, so I would love to dive into a little bit about your personal journey. I kind of just touched on it how you were battling your own issues and you weren't able to get answers from the doctors that you went to, and how you figured it out. How did you come across this?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I mean I feel like I can remember as far back as like 12, having, just, you know, belly issues, like I had stomach pain, all that kind of stuff. So from that time going to the doctor, maybe you're lactose intolerant, so just try not eating dairy.
Speaker 2:It's like well, I'm a kid, I like ice cream, like that's going to be really hard Sandwiches, cheese, all that kind of stuff. So that was tricky. And then it was okay, you're still experiencing this Now, you're in college, so you're stressed. It's probably just IBS, like no big deal. It's like all right, like I'm a teenager, I'm going to trust that this is just what it is and I have to accept it. And then maybe I think I was given like lactate pills or something and it was just kind of that bandage approach, like maybe we can tamp things down a little bit. And then I was kind of okay for a little bit, but like the whole time, really like 15, I can remember my skin absolutely just being awful and I had all the antibiotics for that. So now, when I think about it, I back up to when I was really little and I had ear infections, I had strep throat all the time, like I swear amoxicillin just like lived in my fridge and it was just like a part of my daily routine.
Speaker 2:So now when I think about it it's like man, my gut was probably just absolutely destroyed knowing what I know. Now Like wow, and it explains like so much. So I started when I was in my twenties really thinking about like the dairy connection, just really doing research, because even hey, it's Lorraine.
Speaker 1:As you know, it's my joy and passion to teach and encourage others through this podcast, but my heart is actually at live events. Currently, I'm available for booking, so if you're organizing a live event, I'd love to share my story. Your audience will walk away with tangible tools on how to overcome limiting beliefs, break down obstacles and discover their gifts, talents and abilities in order to live a life that God created them to live. It's not the size of the audience that's important. It's the connection and impact that I will bring.
Speaker 2:Being in school like, okay, here I'm in college for nutrition. It was really more the like diet for diagnosis kind of mentality. Conventional medicine just hey, if you have this diagnosis like diabetes, everyone gets an 1800 calorie diet. Like that's, everyone who has high blood pressure change their sodium intake, and it was just like we're all cookie cutter factory products and that was it. And then so I started really just down my own research and starting to ask that question of why, and with all the gut stuff, it was here's the CT, here's the MRI, here's the ultrasound. We're doing your labs and everything Surprisingly, unsurprisingly, came back normal and it's like there has to be something else.
Speaker 2:And when I got to the point because even in the continuing education stuff that I was doing it was not brought up it was kind of that like, oh, if you want to do things with like herbs and stuff, that's just a little woo woo and maybe there's that category of alternative medicine out there, but it doesn't really work. You know, like that's just kind of the way that was presented to me and so still being impressionable in my twenties, it's like all right, this is my training, this is what I know. So okay, this is the medical way of things and starting to ask that why that was just. This is not okay. And really I think the moment for me was when I was told here take an anti-anxiety pill for my gut stuff, and I was like, but I'm not an anxious person, like I feel calm. Well, no, no, no, it's not for that, it's just to help your gut. I'm like, okay, how long do I have to take this for? Probably forever. That just doesn't sit right with me.
Speaker 2:Like in the rest of my life I was always let me try to do things without chemicals. Like I was so sensitive to what anything like that would go on my face. It's like I don't want to put you know chemicals. Like that was just kind of my other area of being crunchy, basically. So it took a little longer to figure all this stuff out, but I stumbled upon. It's like I think things happen for a reason and I came across this training for dietitians to get this certification really looking at the inflammatory effects of food, and that unfortunately didn't come until I was in my early thirties.
Speaker 2:I had two kids and after my second it oh my gosh, my gut was just an absolute mess. It was a mess. So like this seems to be just like at the right time for me. You know, hormones, all that kind of stuff, and that was finally the thing that turned everything around. It's like, okay, we really have to look at this differently.
Speaker 2:My mind was then like really opened to so many other ways of doing things, and then one thing just led to another and it's like, oh my gosh, I actually feel better. I need to do this, because if I'm feeling this way, there have to be plenty of other women who are as well, that are just kind of going through the system. You're normal, or this is what it's like when you hit a certain age, or your labs look normal, so it's common, deal with it. It's like that's just absolutely not okay. And now it's like let's stop wasting time, because I spent literally years I don't even know how much money on all the things trying all of it, and so now it's just such a different place when you can actually pinpoint from food the inflammatory effect and then really take that holistic approach like the whole digestive system, not just the gut. There's so many pieces to it. So that's my story of how I got from there to here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it and it's so, unfortunately, so, so common. I mean, I'm sure men get it too, but I feel like it's a lot of women, the majority of the women, that have these symptoms and they get told the same thing. And the the really awesome part about it now is I feel like it's such a movement now of you know the gut brain connection and and how much I mean more and more people are talking about it, which I absolutely love and the whole movement you know, with Maha and making the food healthy again and moving the dyes.
Speaker 1:I know that has a huge effect on it as well. Um, but talk to me a little bit more about your approach. So you have the root to radiant method and you walk your clients through this three month journey, basically of healing and rewiring. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So really, for the woman who's ready to stop doing things the same way, right, it's like doing the same thing over and over again, get the same results. Let's do something different. So we start with this inflammatory test that I use, where we're actually looking at what the immune cells are doing, how much of those chemical mediators are being released, so that we can get a really good handle on what foods are the inflammatory triggers, but also what do the rest of the foods look like. So we know that there's going to be some sort of stimulation of the immune system when we're eating, right, and that's where those food sensitivity tests come in. And I've had a lot of people say you know, I've been told I have all these things that I cannot eat, but I'm not sure what to eat. So that's one part of it, but it's not getting deep enough as far as. Is this an inflammatory response? Is it just the exposure to it? So looking at it from a different angle is, I've found, way more insightful and effective for people to actually get the changes that they're looking for. So that's the first part of it. But while we're even waiting for the results, because we know there's such an emotional connection to food, like it's used for so many things, it's just ingrained in our culture. Our celebrations, emotional eating, you know all the things. So we work on mindset, getting ready to change things, because relationships it comes up a lot with coffee. It comes up a lot with alcohol. Like what do you mean? Like I should not have my red wine, or whatever. And it's like, well, I mean you can have a variety of conversations and alcohol, but from the perspective of what it does to the gut, you know, looking at the gut lining, okay, if we're trying to improve how you're feeling and we're working on your gut, we have to address that as well. Additives, all the different things. So, taking that mindset perspective piece of it first and talking about you know a lot of different things. But you know, how is this benefiting me? Like coffee, oh, I have to have coffee in the morning. I can't give it up. Well, why not? Well, I never really thought about that. Well, I guess I could, if it's going to help me feel better. And it's like, yeah, just sometimes we need.
Speaker 2:I feel like with dietitians there's just this conception that hey, you help me cut calories, lose weight and that's about it, but it's like there's so much more to it. I want you to be the best version of yourself, right? Optimal health, all that kind of stuff. So that mindset is huge, so that we can really lay that good foundation and then move forward with the changes. So we don't get that, you know, like the new year's resolution. Oh, I went to the gym for two weeks and then I stopped right.
Speaker 2:Well, the subconscious identity says, well, this isn't something we really do, so we were good for a few days, but now let's go back to our old habits. And so when we're wanting to change, there's a big conversation that happens with that. And then we set up what we're doing through food. What does that look like? And sometimes even we discover other patterns, like a histamine intolerance, something like that can come up. Or maybe we need to take a deeper dive into what's going on in the microbiome. Are we going to do something to rebalance that?
Speaker 2:And then we start talking about the gut lining, probiotics, prebiotics, all those kinds of things, and then just general lifestyle stuff, which I think also has to be addressed your sleep, your stress again coming back to that mindset, what kinds of other toxins are going on in your world that you're exposed to, when we think about women and hormones and I feel like that is another really beneficial piece of the conversation when we're thinking about what phase of the menstrual cycle are you in, because that's going to affect how foods are, your energy, your brain fog, your focus, your quality of sleep. So it's really a very whole W-H-O-L-E, holistic point of view to really capture. You know, all those pieces of things that make you you and can be affected in your gut, you know, is a huge piece of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love the mindset piece of it because even with my coaching and the approach, people don't really realize or clients when they come to you how heavily your mindset affects your outcome.
Speaker 1:You can like the new year's resolution is a great example you can start anything and have good intentions, but your subconscious, your mindset, you know the, your patterns that has a huge out like. It has a huge effect on your outcome, whether you're going to make it or not. And if your mind isn't right, I mean you're not going to. You could be going through the motions, but if you're not thinking that it's going, I mean you're not going to. You could be going through the motions, but if you're not thinking that it's going to work and you're not thinking that you're going to be successful, ultimately you're not. You're setting yourself up. So I think that is a great piece that you incorporate in this program and in your coaching is the mindset, because that has such a huge pull on you know everything in life. Really, the testing that you had mentioned is this something that your clients can do they have to go through their primary care doctor or is this something that they can get on their own or they order with you through you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so dieticians are trained specifically. In this protocol there's a certification. There used to be continuing education for it, but now it's pretty much dieticians that have the certification and the protocol, training and all of that kind of stuff. So through me, yep, that's how it goes. So it can't be done at a physician's office. They pretty much just stick to like the regular labs that you get on your physical. I've even seen that with just you know, asking hey, do you think that we can get your vitamin D level checked? We don't really do that. So it's interesting. So, yeah, definitely like the specialty labs and more functional medicine side of things where we're looking for more of those root causes, definitely through the provider.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Something that I had read about that you had mentioned was about not all healthy food is good for you. Can you talk to me a little bit more about that, Because I know that's going to be a hot button for some people, some listeners and they think that they're eating healthy and all this green and roughage and the carnivorous foods and you know they think they're doing great but really they are wrecking their gut.
Speaker 2:So I take that from the approach right, like all the things, they're nutrient dense, the whole real foods. They're not processed Like those are great, they have a lot of great qualities to them. You're looking at them on paper, yes, there's nothing wrong with those. So my line of thinking with that is any of those things could be inflammatory to the person themselves. So when you're thinking about symptoms, you're trying to look for changes like let me get inflammation under control, because that's a huge part of chronic illness, right?
Speaker 2:So I had a client one time who came to me hey, I have arthritis, my knees are really bad, I'm taking turmeric. I'm taking really high doses of turmeric every day. I've been doing it for a long time but I'm still feeling so achy I don't want to take any of the over the counter pain relievers because of the effects on my liver. I don't know what else to do. So we did the testing and we found out super reactive to turmeric. Oh, wow, yes. So there's like my one big example, like I could not believe it, almost to the end of the graph as far as just how reactive. And so I see that let's pull it. What else can we do? Like we did some castor oil topically, things like that, and then just going through the protocol as far as calming down inflammation with that person's specific foods and the joint pain went away.
Speaker 2:So, that's where it's like. Just because it's you know, I always say it's quote unquote good for you, like hey, it has fiber and it has vitamin C and great vitamin A, whatever it is, but if your body has an inflammatory response to it, is it really the most beneficial thing for you? So it's a different way of looking at it, to really get that personalized piece of your wellness figured out.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Do you do an elimination diet with your clients? Or, after they have the test, do you basically know okay, this is your green here. You're good to go here. Avoid these ones. Or do we just start from scratch?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's the beauty of the testing, because we don't have to go through, which can take a really long time. The elimination diet Okay, let's try to eliminate this category or that we know. Okay, these are the ones that have been tested, this is where your reaction is. And so, yes, we pull the inflammatory reactive foods, but then looking at a protocol specific for them, depending on what else is going on. So it can vary. Hey, if I'm pretty healthy, no other diagnoses. We have a little bit more flexibility.
Speaker 2:But we're really focused for about four weeks on the things that are tested to just help calm inflammation down and then move into other things that are untested. So we don't have to do the elimination diet. It's just a very specific protocol way of eating. I don't even like saying the word protocol because I feel like that's it feels too clinical and just like boring and restrictive. But it's really just. You know, this is your, your personalized plan, this is where we're at. So you go to the grocery store. You know what you're getting, the things that you can create from those foods, like almond, almond milk, almond butter, stuff like that. So it's really going to be well-rounded. And then we're not guessing anymore, we're not wasting time, that just the mental and emotional energy alone of what goes into it is really just taken away because we have that clarity and that time saver and time is our most and our health, you know, our most valuable assets. So really really important there.
Speaker 1:I love that piece of it because I know so many clients that they're hesitant because of that. They don't want to have to go through the guessing game of let's take everything away and I'm going to be miserable because I don't have the things that I love and miserable because I haven't gotten the answers, Whereas when they work with you, you know that you know exactly what you're dealing with, what is reactionary and not um.
Speaker 1:I bet that is comforting for your clients and and a quick win, you know, and um, they start to feel better faster. Yep, um, what are your the most common? Um, common illnesses, if you will, I don't like saying that, but I guess, the ailments that they're coming to you with. What is your, the top three that you're seeing?
Speaker 2:Tied for number one, I would say those are the biggest ones. And then low energy from just a symptom standpoint. And then, like diagnoses wise would be IBS, crohn's colitis, sibo, because there's a divide there as far as like doing the antibiotics or doing more natural route and all of the other pieces that can go into that autoimmune conditions for more of that diagnosis side. But just the hey, you know, I feel like I can't focus. I'm really tired. I just had a great night's sleep but yet I just feel like I have no energy, I'm bloated, I'm constipated. Those are are the frequent flyers for sure.
Speaker 1:Um, the bloating and constipation is, you know, pretty obvious of how that's tied into your gut. But as far as the energy and the brain fog, what do you see? What are the common causes of that as it relates to your gut?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so really looking at it from that inflammatory point of view, we get these chemical mediators. So like when we have a leaky gut right, An inflamed gut, those junctions that we have there in the intestines they start to spread apart. We can start to get all the stuff into the bloodstream, into the body that we don't want to have there. So that can make a big influence there. And it's just, it can be really, really impactful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And then so after we go through you go through that with your clients do you start the whole rebuilding of the gut and um, not necessarily reintroducing, but repairing it. How?
Speaker 2:do you walk?
Speaker 1:your clients through that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that gut lining is that next step right? So like the functional medicine five-hour protocol where we're removing, replacing right and then repairing the gut lining. So talking about all those kinds of things Some people like to do. Glutamine I'm not a huge fan of that. There's some research that has come out that makes me kind of question it a little bit, depending on the dose. But there's a whole bunch of just natural herbs that can be done there to help soothe that lining. Bone broth, hydrolyzed collagen, peptides, so that they're small enough to actually get absorbed, make a difference there.
Speaker 2:And then we start to talk about probiotics and that always throws people to where it's like wait, shouldn't I just be taking a probiotic like right from the jump? It's like if there's other things going on, whether it's overgrowth in the microbiome or inflammation, those are going to be way more important to tackle first before we get to the probiotics. Because I've definitely seen it where people taking them too early or, oh, you know, I'm having like diarrhea and constipation. So here's my probiotic and then, oh, it made me feel worse. It didn't, you know, relieve my constipation, it didn't relieve my bloating, I just felt more bloated. That's definitely something that I've heard and had to work through with people. So that's a part of the conversation. Definitely there's a stepwise fashion to go about doing it to actually get results that are really lasting for people so that they're not just perpetually on that merry go round.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, that shocked me. I didn't even know that either. I was like, well, yeah, everyone should be doing a probiotic. I didn't know that you needed to do something beforehand to make sure that that's even right for you. I love that. Yeah, tell us about another big win, a big client win that you have helped someone come through.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about. I had a lady who had a couple of kids three and she said I was fine with my first bounced back, everything was fine. I had my second. I started noticing I was a little bit more bloated. My body didn't bounce back right Like that kind of unreasonable expectation that you should just snap back after growing a whole other human right. It takes like 18 months for your body just to recover from that in and of itself. Because it's amazing. So she said after her third, like everything just went absolutely downhill. My energy was gone, Hair was falling out, like so thyroid, all that kind of stuff is going on.
Speaker 2:It said that after your second child your liver can really be affected. Hormones can be at play there and she was at the point where she needed to hire a nanny to help take care of her kids and she really had a vision for herself that she was going to be like the mom of all moms, doing all the things and having, you know, like all the meals from scratch and the crafting and the outings, and like she just had that vision for herself and she couldn't do it and she's like. I basically was in bed. I couldn't leave my house because I needed to be close to a bathroom. When she did go out, she had the travel potty that her kids were using. She's like it was for me, if not more than them, and that was hard even for her to admit. But like I I've heard it before Like it's not uncommon, it's definitely like a taboo thing People don't want to talk about. But you know, no adult wants to feel like, hey, I'm having bowel incontinence, like that's just really embarrassing. I don't want to tell people that it's like I get it Right, like it's okay. It just there's signals that our body is telling us something needs to change.
Speaker 2:And so going through everything, starting with the testing and then really working on her liver specifically, and then doing micronutrient testing to see where she was at, to then help the thyroid all of those things together made her back to the person that she was having the energy and you know she was happier in her body again, like having the confidence of, like okay, I clearly I'm not going to look the same, I don't have the time to get to the gym and do all the things, but she did a complete 180, just finally saying you know what I'm letting go of the mom guilt of doing all the things for my kids because I can't do the things for them, and so, like that was also a big struggle and it took her a while to come around to, actually, from the time we had our first phone call to working with me, because it was just I need to do everything for them, but then, well, I can't do everything for them if I can't take care of myself.
Speaker 2:I'm not being the best version of myself, and so I feel like that was just a huge. You know, like it's always great when you can affect someone's quality of life. You know the physical therapist also in me it's just, that's so ingrained. If we don't have that quality of life or independence, confidence, that mindset, all of that, you know, makes such a difference in our day to day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Wow, that's that's powerful right there, that she was able to, um, put aside the mom guilt and and really, you can't pour from an empty cup, that's right. And, um, it takes sometimes, uh, a rock bottom if you will shake it up and realize, like I, I can't even show up how I want to show up. Let alone for myself or my family, you know.
Speaker 2:Right yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh man, what is if you had to choose one daily practice that supports gut healing and that radiant energy? What would you? What would you tell listeners? Ooh.
Speaker 2:So if I had to just pick one, I think I would say the bedtime routine. Okay.
Speaker 2:So, I feel like our sleeping hours are are absolutely most important hours, right? Like you know the difference if you've had a busy day or you have a lot going on, if you sleep well or not, and you know how you then feel the next day because of that. And so when we think about what the body needs to do overnight the liver, the gallbladder, like Chinese medicine. They say that 11 PM to 3 AM is the gallbladder and liver time. So detoxing, repairing, restoring all of that kind of stuff, getting into that deep sleep super important. So, from the energetic perspective, how we can calm things down, inflammation, all of that just on a daily basis.
Speaker 2:If we're in that go, go, go all the time, right, there's the fight or flight response which we hear all the time.
Speaker 2:It's like our digestion is slowing, our energy is out in our muscles, so we can get away from the thing that used to be like the saber tooth tiger, but now that's become the mental load and navigating schedules and all that kind of stuff, but it doesn't allow us to get into that rest and digest phase.
Speaker 2:So taking that time in the evening to calm things down, clear your mind like legs up the wall as a yoga pose. That has some benefits to getting into that rest and digest phase. How can you just take time for yourself then to decompress for the day, journaling to get things out of your mind so you're not having that mental running list going when you should be falling asleep and you're thinking about do I have enough toilet paper, or who needs toothpaste, or who has to go to the dentist? You know, like getting all that kind of stuff out and setting yourself up for success. Because if we don't have a good sleep, that affects our next day and then if that keeps going on an ongoing cycle, you know that's going to affect things down the road digestion, absorption of nutrients and that can just feed more, you know, affecting the mitochondria, how our energy is actually made and produced, and all that kind of stuff. So maybe a little unconventional, but our sleep, it's super important.
Speaker 1:So setting yourself up for that.
Speaker 2:I think is is really important there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. I just recently got um a whoop and I I'm lightweight obsessed with it because for so long you know, I, I know the things, I do the things and I've I have the results. But now I'm like really into knowing the data behind it and seeing.
Speaker 1:you know how I'm feeling and and it tracks my sleep and my sleep, stress and my stress throughout the day and and all the things and like when I'm feeling, and it tracks my sleep and my sleep, stress and my stress throughout the day, and all the things. And when I'm in a recovery mode or when my strain is high, and when's a good time to, I literally geek out on it. Now, one of the things I'm super obsessed with is my sleep, because I've always thought I have such horrible sleep.
Speaker 1:No matter if I go to bed early or go to bed late. I really don't feel like I'm ever getting into the REM and the WHOOP. It allows me to see how long I slept, if I slept enough or not enough, how much was REM light, how many times I woke up, and I also have discovered that I have spikes in my stress when I sleep. Interesting, Interesting, yeah, and so I'm trying to figure out. Like what is it?
Speaker 2:Is it?
Speaker 1:stuff that I do beforehand. So I've been playing with times or if I read before bed or if I do my red light before bed or if I have on, like my Alexa doing the sleep sounds Okay and I have no stress if I have the sleep sounds playing and I never even realized that it was helping me. It was incredible.
Speaker 2:I really love.
Speaker 1:I love the data and figuring all that out. I, yeah for sure, awesome. Um, what would you? What would you tell the woman who keeps hearing? You know what we hear? Everything looks fine. It's just, it's just your age. Everything looks fine. What, what would you? What would you tell her?
Speaker 2:Number one trust your gut. Nobody knows your body better than you do. And if you are not getting the answers that you want, like it is okay to go look somewhere else, right? And I think the other thing, too, that's interesting is there's not I don't want to say, a block, but it's just this belief. This way things are set up Like, okay, like my insurance, I have to just go here, this is all I'm allowed to have.
Speaker 2:I actually just had this conversation yesterday with someone. We were dealing with SIBO and oh hey, my insurance benefits came back and I can't see you anymore because my insurance won't cover it. I was like well, we can like there is an option to work, you know, cash pay. Like you can do that. Like, if you don't have the benefits, because not all insurance plans cover nutrition, they definitely don't cover like functional testing and all that kind of stuff to really get the results that you're looking for. So that's an option that people really don't realize. She's like oh, I had no idea. And there's definitely, like the HSA, the FSA, super bills, there are ways that you can still try to get some of that money back.
Speaker 2:But insurance isn't like the end all be all for like what I do. So that would be something like what I do, yeah, so that would be something. But also really just finding that provider that gets it right. Like you know, I get it on a very personal level what it's like to live with IBS and my own gut issues and the unpredictability, right Like I resonated with that lady, that story that I told you, like I know what it's like to be, you know, just okay, I'm not sure if I can go travel or whatever. You know, it's just it's, it's a different way that your mind then works. So that's a piece of it too. And just knowing that there are things that can be done, there are more than one way you know to accomplish things. It's not just this is the same thing for everybody.
Speaker 2:Like not everybody should be taking ashwagandha right. Like we see these things, especially on social media, and you know, it kind of bugs me in a way that that's kind of how the world has gone, that we have to turn to social media to try to get health advice right. I have to turn to the internet, all that kind of stuff. But there's a lot of great information out there, but I find that I think we have to take everything with a grain of salt, because not everything is good for everybody. And so I mentioned Ashwagandha because, okay, you're stressed, like I said, I have two kids running a business, life is busy, right, like it's really busy all the places and things you're expected to be and do, and all that.
Speaker 2:And the first time I took it I kid you not my legs went numb from my ankles to my knees and I freaked out. I was sitting just like right over there. I was like what is happening? I had no idea. I was like I wasn't sitting in a weird posture that you know, like sometimes your legs go numb if you're sitting all crouched up and stuff, and it wasn't going away. I was like this is just absolutely bizarre. So it finally did. I was drinking more water. I was just trying to really like do nothing and it went away, but it was like that really threw me for a loop and so I was trying to go back, like everything that I ate, like what's new, and I finally and it took me a little while to even come around to the herbs because I had been reading about, you know, adaptogens and helping your cortisol and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:So I took ashwagandha and it did not work for me, so I backed off and then I felt fine, right, like I stopped taking it, and then it was about maybe two years later and it was earlier earlier this year actually there was some other like protein powder that I taking and it had just a tiny little bit in it. Everything else seemed fine, because I do that test that we talked about earlier. I'll do that on myself regularly just to stay ahead of things. My legs I can just see the water in there. And I gained six pounds. Oh my gosh, my eating has not changed. They didn't go numb again, but I clearly was having an inflammatory response to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's like this is just not for me. So not everything is for everybody, yeah.
Speaker 1:Tell me the name of the test again that you do for your clients. It's called the mediator release test. Okay, and then that goes over all foods, or foods and supplements.
Speaker 2:So that'll actually it. Foods, or foods and supplements so that'll actually it looks at foods. And then there's a category that looks at some food chemicals. So you'll actually see how your body responds to things like MSG or food dyes or ibuprofen, acetaminophen, nitrates, nitrites, things like that, some naturally occurring chemicals. Like the first time I took the test after I got certified and everything, phenylethylamine is something that came back for me, which is just a component that's in things like red wine, dark chocolate or chocolate in general, like cacao, and it's like, okay, I never would have come around to that, trying to figure things out on my own, and so it's interesting to see how that you know little category of things can affect things, or like salicylic acid. So then we're looking at some fruits that could have it in it and pulling those so they can be really detailed. And then on the supplement side of things, that's just something that I'll talk to people about, but there's nothing tested for that.
Speaker 1:Okay, um, is there anything coming up that you are doing, creating about to release collaborations?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:What's happening in your world.
Speaker 2:Amazing that you asked that question. So I'm working on right now. I did a gut health workshop up at a pelvic floor collaborative in Charlotte and we were talking a lot about constipation, and so the PT and me you know I'm not practicing as a PT right now, but still that knowledge is there the pelvic floor physical therapists who are doing this day in and day out. The conversation came back time and time again to constipation, so I've decided to do an online program, basically calling it the constipation clinic, where we're going to talk about all of the different factors that can be going into that, because so often we hear oh, you're constipated, just drink more water, take more fiber. However, if you're constipated and you add more fiber to it, that can just be adding more pressure to the problem. So that's not always the answer. We have to figure out more about the why, and so we're taking a very, again, holistic look from various points of views as far as what can be going on.
Speaker 2:My goal is always I love to teach people so that they can be their own best advocate and really give them the tools that they need to figure things out. Because, again, quality of life right. So that's going to be opening soon. So right now I have actually a private podcast that's available if anybody wants to sign up for the priority list for that to get some details as to what goes into that and hear my two cents on that kind of stuff. So that's going to be coming very soon, in the next few weeks, awesome.
Speaker 2:And I have a collaboration that's actually going to be coming next Wednesday night with a myofunctional therapist. We're going to be talking about the gut mouth connection and all of that, because that's a very interesting take on breathing and chewing and how that affects our bloating and constipation. And then a little bit later in September, with a pelvic floor PT group, we're going to do an interactive workshop. And then a little bit later in September, with a pelvic floor PT group, we're going to do an interactive workshop and getting a couple of other things like that scheduled. So wonderful.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, all of that that you want the listeners to have access to, we'll have in the show notes, as well as how you would like people to connect with you. What would be the best way? Social media, your website how would you love people to reach out to you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, social media definitely works. My email works. My website's kind of going through a little bit of a redesign right now but there is going to be a link up as far as the private podcast goes to have access to that to get the details for the constipation clinic. So, website is digestion by design and then same thing on social media. And, yeah, those are the, I think, the best places.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, thank you so much, kate. I've enjoyed having you and uh learning more about all the things that you're doing. It is so needed. I definitely have clients that are experiencing the things that you are talking about. So thank you so much for being on and, as always, guys, if you have liked this episode or you know someone who needs to hear it, please share it. Tag us on social media. We'd love to connect with you as well, and we will have all the information in the show notes for you. Just remember you were divinely created for a divine purpose and there was no mistake in you. Thanks, guys.