UpLIFT You: Strong Body, Strong Mind
Join host Leanne Knox for an in-depth look at the stories behind the barbell, lifting and life. We give you the tools and resources and chat with the leading experts to help you build physical and mental fortitude for whatever stage of life you're at. Tune in every Saturday at 7 AM AEST and prepare to be Up Lifted.
UpLIFT You: Strong Body, Strong Mind
22 | Unlocking Health Through Nutrition: Insights with Beth Paton on Gut Health and Hormone Balance
What if you could unlock the secrets of nutritional medicine to address chronic conditions that traditional systems often miss? This episode of "Uplift You" features Bethany Paton, the innovative mind behind Telluric Health and Healthy Haven. Once a student in my high school class, Bethany has blossomed into a leading clinical nutritionist. She shares her compelling journey and unique problem-solving approach, spotlighting fascinating case studies like undiagnosed parasites and thyroid issues worsened by overmedication.
Discover the transformative power of hormone testing, specifically the Dutch Plus test, as Bethany and I explore its role in managing perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. We dive into a real-life case study of a woman grappling with hormone imbalances, and provide actionable strategies for treatment, including how to time your coffee consumption to avoid cortisol spikes. This episode is packed with crucial insights on maintaining energy levels and reducing stress through mindful dietary choices.
In our discussion on gut health, we reveal why it’s central to overall well-being. Bethany sheds light on how modern stressors and dietary habits, including the impact of children eating in front of screens, can wreak havoc on digestion and mental health. Learn practical tips for incorporating fiber-rich foods, slow-cooked meals, and nutrient-dense options like beef liver into your diet. Plus, Bethany shares her inspiring experiences in the triathlon world, encouraging listeners to seek out resources that align with their personal health journeys. Don’t miss this episode filled with expert advice and real-world solutions for taking charge of your health!
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Welcome to Uplift you creating strong bodies and mind. Get ready to power up your day with practical strength training tools, inspiring stories and build resilience of body and mind.
Speaker 2:It's time to Uplift you, together with your host, leanne Knox.
Speaker 1:Hello there and welcome to the next episode of Uplift you, the podcast that helps you create a stronger body and a strong mind. Today we welcome owner of Telerik Health and Healthy Haven, Bethany Payton. Bethany's store is a natural health clinic and cafe, and Bethany is mum to Finn, who is two and a half years old, who will also be making some guest appearances in this episode. So keep an ear out for some two-year-old gems of wisdom. Bethany studied a Bachelor in Health Science at university and has a degree in Clinical Nutrition Medicine. She loves helping people after the medical system has either failed them or has nothing else to offer. She loves treating all sorts of conditions, gut health being her number one passion. So welcome to Uplift you, Bethany, and I'd like you to start with a fun fact for our audience today. Can you tell our audience how we met?
Speaker 2:I can indeed so. Leanne was actually my school teacher in grade 11 at the Whitsunday Christian College. She was pregnant with Ben, her youngest son, son and I think I just clicked, I drugged that. Um, you got, I'm your longest friend in the whitsunday heads. I don't know if I am, but anyway I joke about that. But yeah, you were my high school teacher. Um, you had benny halfway through the year and I got to babysit him during classes and stuff and that was probably my favorite year of high school there you go, fantastic.
Speaker 1:so the reason bethany is so successful today is because of me 100%. So, Bethany, you're my actual third guest in the space of two weeks talking about nutrition. My first two guests were particularly focused in on sports diet and both of them were dietitians or one was a nutritionist, but a sports nutritionist and their approach is quite different to what you do. However, all of you are focused on overall health and wellness. Your approach is a little bit different to focusing on what this show has already highlighted, if you go back a couple of episodes on macros, understanding carbs, proteins and fats and how they contribute to someone's performance and body composition. So can you tell us what is different about what you've studied at university?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so macros and carbs and fats straight out of my head. That's not what I do. So I really like to help people if they've got chronic diseases, misdiagnosed conditions from the doctor thyroid issues, gut health, all that sort of stuff. If you need to see a GP but you don't want to see a GP, come see me, because I like that sort of stuff. If you need to see a GP but you don't want to see a GP, come see me, because I like that sort of stuff. If you get banged up from the medical system and they've not helped you or they're not helping you and you need some help from a different avenue, come see me, because I like to treat people with poor health, with chronic conditions, with acute conditions and just to get better, feel better all those sorts of things from more of like a doctor point of view.
Speaker 1:Okay, so can you give us some like recent, examples of how you've helped people with their health where the doctors or the general GP hasn't been able to?
Speaker 2:I really like this because this is I don't want to bag out GPs because they do a wonderful job with what they have. So they get educated a lot differently than I do and I get educated a lot differently than they do, so we have a completely different take on health and all that sort of stuff. So I have had a couple of patients in the last sort of couple of months. I had one lady who had chronic kind of diarrhoea, gut health, constipation and a lot of issues there, who had some stool testing done and there were two parasites present on the stool test that the GP never mentioned and she had this issue since she was a child, so they could have been there for a long time.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure if she had all of the developmental goals when she was growing up. She was a little bit behind and I wonder if that parasite had been taking her nutrients and caused those developmental issues. And then just yesterday I had a lady give me her blood test results and her thyroid was not okay, hasn't been okay for a long time and it very is likely that the GP has had on too much thyroxine for the last five years and that's caused the thyroid issues. So there's little things that I can pick up on, because we're educated in that space and I have done further training in that space and I really liked the TV show House when I was young, so I really like to try and diagnose people and figure out really complicated issues.
Speaker 1:So yeah, well, that's really interesting. Like that. You like to like a bit of a detective, aren't you? More complicated cases, the better. Yeah, so so the audience understands and so I understand what is, what is your actual qualification? What does it qualify you to do, and what were your main focuses in your study?
Speaker 2:yeah, so I graduated university with a bachelor of health science in clinical nutritional medicine or nutritional and dietetic Medicine actually, but I like to call myself a clinical nutritionist because it sounds a bit more fancy.
Speaker 1:What are the main things that you learn under that qualification, compared to some like a sports dietitian, for example?
Speaker 2:So I studied. I originally wanted to study nutritional medicine or naturopathy. I didn't know which way I wanted to go, so I actually spoke to Keira Henshaw nutritional medicine or naturopathy? I didn't know which way I wanted to go, so I actually spoke to Kira Henshaw, one of the naturopaths in the area, and she said she would have recommended doing nutrition first because it solves a lot of the underlying issues. And so I studied that because I wanted to get rid of cancer. I believe that cancer is curable, manageable, preventable, all those things, and that was the original reason why I studied nutritional medicine and so that my kids don't have that issue when they get older. And then what do you say?
Speaker 1:So so my question is like if a person is trying to, it has a problem with their health, how do they navigate who to go and see, Because there are so many different types of there's a naturopath and then there's a doctor, and then there's a nutritionist. So what sets you apart as in how can you help people? That is different to how other people can help someone with a health issue.
Speaker 2:So I guess the difference between a nutritionist and a GP and a naturopath and all those sorts of things is a nutritionist will help you get your food right, and I believe that all food is the basis of health. If you get eating right, everything falls into place. The difference between myself and a naturopath is I didn't study herbs at uni. I did all nutrition, food, minerals, supplements and lifestyle not herbs. And then obviously a GP does a lot of medicine and pharmacology and pharmaceuticals, which is not me at all, but yeah, so if you wanted to come and see me, you would get things like a diet plan specifically tailored for you and your health concerns or health goals, supplementation if they're warranted, lifestyle things and the further investigations.
Speaker 1:That's a gem of wisdom. That's what you do when you get a little bit bored you hold something up to your lips and make some fun noises.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do like testing as well. I like to use a lot of testing if the patient wants to go that way, because instead of doing a lot of guessing work, it takes that guessing work out and we can get some testing done. I really like doing gut testing, I really like doing DNA testing, hormone testing and that sort of thing. I think it gives us a lot of answers and I mean I've come around. I never used to like testing because I was like you know what, we can figure it out and it doesn't have to cost you so much money.
Speaker 1:Um, but now it just takes a guess workout in some more complicated cases and um yeah, okay, so so that's, um, that testing is quite interesting and for the, for the audience that don't understand, uh, what of tests are available to actually look into your health? Because we know that a lot of cutting edge nutrition and understanding people on a real cellular level is something that's quite new in the health industry and that type of monitoring and testing has come a long way. So what sort of tests do you use regularly to really delve into where someone is at with their overall health.
Speaker 2:So I really like working in the area of gut health. It is my kind of favourite area to work in because in my brain it just is easy, makes sense. So I do a lot of testing with the company CoBiome microbiome testing and they will take a stool. You give them a stool sample to analyze and they will be able to tell you how many different strains of bacteria and what those bacteria do. And are the bacteria in your microbiome leaning more towards inflammation, can you, and they're leaning more towards chronic cardiovascular disease and all those sorts of things. So you can actually tell by your microbiome how your health is going and what weight it's tracking in, what foods you need to put in to help it grow in a better way.
Speaker 1:And so is that like? Did you say that was stool testing? Yes, stool testing. So you can tell all of those things from a stool test. Yep.
Speaker 2:So I did one a little while ago for a man who is a bit older, more elderly, has type 2 diabetes, and we had a look at his microbiome and he was eating a lot of red meat and in the microbiome there was a lot of bacteria that were churning towards a lot of more inflammatory diseases and inflammatory states because of the red meat he was eating. And they, off the back of the testing, they give you recommendations and stuff. So we've actually changed his diet, brought down his blood sugars a bit better increases, improved his bowel regularity include, proved his blood pressure a little bit and overall improved his energy and vitality from just changing the diet off the back of the microbiome testing.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's amazing, and is that a very popular that's Finn is actually telling us that he would really like to see some cars, I'm assuming. So we're just going to go find some cars for Finn in the middle of this stool testing conversation. It's cars, stool testing, same thing, right, yeah.
Speaker 2:So one thing goes into the other and you forget what you're talking about and have to ask what was that question again.
Speaker 1:So that actually leads me into another really big demand that I've had from our audience, in particular the women who are at that point in their lives where you know 35 years and older, where they're wondering where their hormones are at. So I know that's something else that you like to delve into.
Speaker 2:So I do like to do hormone stuff. Can we talk about what we do for you a little bit? Yes, for sure. So, yes, um, there is a test called the dutch plus and it monitor it. We, you can do that. It's a saliva and urine, is it? Yes, yeah, um. So saliva and urine tests and and especially if you're going through um hormonal changes that you know, perimenopause, menopause and postmenopause I like using it in that field more so than fertility.
Speaker 2:That's not really my forte. Like helping people get the fertility space isn't my forte at this point in time. I really like helping people get through the menopause and feel good going through that and getting rid of the hot sweats and sleeplessness and the irritability and stuff like that. So there is a test called the Dutch Plus that we do and it can measure your hormones for your age and where you are in that line of hormones and the whole cycle, stopping and starting and that sort of stuff. And then it also measures your adrenals, because when you go through menopause, your adrenals start making your hormones, not your ovaries, so it switches and if your adrenals are not nourished and working well, then people going through menopause can have a bit more of a hard time with the change of life and the hormones and all those sorts of things.
Speaker 1:Okay, so can you tell our audience what are some of these strategies or what are some of the things that you look for in the test? Yeah, and what are some of the common findings and how would you treat those?
Speaker 2:okay, so, we look for, um levels of estrogen, testosterone and progesterone. Um, progesterone is one of like the beer hall is. Most of the hormones trickle down from progesterone. So you have that as a key hormone. You come testosterone and estrogen from there, um, and we like to measure the levels, or the test measures the levels, and off the back of that we can implement a treatment plan.
Speaker 2:So, um, a lady I did recently had lower levels of testosterone, quite high estrogen, for she was going through menopause. She was having periods, missing periods and then having some more periods, so it was a bit of a schmozol at the point in time. So her testosterone was quite low, estrogen was quite high and progesterone was quite low. Her adrenals were okay. It looked like she had been in quite a fight-flight sort of setup for a while, so the adrenals were a little bit tired. And it also measures your cortisol response throughout the day. So when you wake up 60 minutes after waking in a couple of times throughout the day and hers was quite off the chart, it was just not what we were expecting to see. And what would you expect to see? A nice in the morning, a little peak, and then another peak 60 minutes after waking, and then it comes down during the day and then kind of trickles out to nothing at night time.
Speaker 1:So then you don't have that, let's go feeling Okay and, in saying that very quickly before you continue, what you what, what you would expect to see or things that you find and how you treat them. How does caffeine affect that 60 minutes, that period in the morning that you're talking about, how does that affect the cortisol and what recommendations do you have for drinking caffeine in the mornings?
Speaker 2:yeah, so I. There is a lot of studies and a lot of studies say that caffeine doesn't have anything to do with anything. And I call bullshit on that because I know that people I see, um, people who are dreamily fatigued, myself included and other people in my circle don't. Some people don't coffee.
Speaker 2:So if people, if someone's going to have a cup of coffee in the morning, I like to tell them to wait until 10 AM, because usually you've been up for a few hours, your cortisol spiked and then it's coming on the way back down.
Speaker 2:So when you have your coffee at 10, it doesn't disturb your cortisol levels as much and it gives you more oomph throughout the day. So you don't get that crash around two o'clock. You get a little bit later and it's a nicer way to do it. So if you have your cup of coffee at 10 am one cup of coffee a day is all I really allow at 10 am in the morning, then you don't have such a spike in the morning. So if you're waking up at six o'clock and smashing your coffee straight away, it's going to give you a bigger spike of cortisol which puts your body into more stress and it causes more inflammation and that sort of thing. So if you taper off the caffeine intake to one coffee a day at 10 o'clock, it's a more gentle way of doing that for your body.
Speaker 1:Okay. What if someone is? What about the wake times? What if someone's awake at four o'clock? Do they still have to wait until 10 o'clock? I wake up at 4 o'clock. I don't want to wait until 10 o'clock.
Speaker 2:I would wait four hours after waking up. I'd say 8 o'clock, you crazy people that wake up that early. I just find that, yeah, if you get up and get going, get your day started and then, after you've had brekkie, after you've done your two hours, three hours in the morning, have a cup of coffee in that sort of mid-morning time where you might find you're getting a bit tired because you've already been up for a few hours, do that there.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, that's good recommendation, because I know that people really love coffee and it's part of our culture, and for someone to say you can't have coffee is unacceptable for many people, including myself.
Speaker 2:And I tried to do that. It didn't work for me. So now I have 20 mil of caffeine in the morning and that gets me through, and sometimes, like this morning, it's something a little bit crazy. So I had to go get the energy out and have some exercise and it makes me feel better.
Speaker 1:Well, that's good, get the energy out, get the energy out. So, going back to what you found with this lady, can we continue on from there? So we were doing the Dutch Plus test and you were talking about high estrogen, high estrogen low testosterone high testosterone Okay.
Speaker 2:So what I would have done for this lady is put her on a diet rich in cruciferous vegetables, so broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, et cetera. Those cruciferous vegetables contain some compounds called indole-3-carbinol and calcium d-glucrate and they help to bind to excess estrogen in the bowels and then take it out. So it helps and then stops the estrogen recirculating through the body. So that's one way I would do that. Another way is supporting liver detoxification of hormones. There are three pathways of liver detoxification of hormones. There are three pathways of liver detoxification and hormones go through a lot of those. So we need to support the liver detoxification pathways.
Speaker 2:Then I would make sure that the lady had good quality fats, enough zinc, magnesium, b6 in her diet. Low levels of stress to help progesterone raise, because you need progesterone to make you feel good. If you don't have progesterone, you get the whole PMS issues and funny brain and stuff like that. And then testosterone after you go through menopause a lot of women don't actually know that you need more testosterone than before because that takes the place of a lot of the hormones. It keeps your muscles strong, keeps your bones strong. It keeps you feeling good, feeling alive and vital good vitality.
Speaker 1:So I'm pretty sure our audience are very interested in that, because the majority of people who listen to this are into fitness and strength in some respect. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, with the low testosterone, what I would do for this person is tell her to start doing things that would build testosterone, like physically, like lifting some heavy weights, going and doing things outdoors and that sort of stuff. There is a herb that I like to use, because I didn't study herbs, but I am allowed to use them if I know my knowledge about it. There's one herb I like it's called ashwagandha. It can help to raise testosterone a little bit and it helps to um balance out cortisol, and this lady had cortisol issues. So I there's a product I like to use and it has a component of magnesium, zinc, b6, taurine, vitamin c and ashwagandha, and so I prescribed that one. And with the dietary changes and lifestyle changes we were I mean, this was only about a month ago so I hadn't seen her again yet but we expect to see, you know, less hot flushes, improved sleep, better stress management, more energy and vitality throughout the day from those lifestyle and dietary changes.
Speaker 1:Well, that sounds like something that everyone listening would like to have. Who doesn't want to be? Yeah, I do know also, Bethany, that you also work with men, so I know this. I often go to women. You know women and their nutrition and their energy levels and their testosterone, but I do work with a lot of men and there's obviously a lot of men in the strength world. Yeah, so do you? What do you? What's the differences between a man and a woman and how you would treat a man who came to you, for example, with low energy inability to you know, to get through the day, basically, Like most men are still working full time, Then they want to try and go to the gym at nighttime, so what would you do with a man in that case?
Speaker 2:So, what I would first of all do is have an hour with a client and get as much information as possible. I would make sure that the foundation nutrients magnesium, zinc, vitamin C, all those foundation nutrients Diet is good as can be and then you can do Dutch testing for men. I haven't done one yet, but I would encourage a male who has low energy, poor testosterone levels and just not feeling great to one prioritize sleep. If you're not sleeping, things aren't going to work properly. And working out at nighttime for some people cannot be the best because it will raise that cortisol up and then you are wide awake for hours. I know that happens to me, um, but for men, so things like it sounds silly. Chopping wood hunting, um, doing outdoor sports, doing manly stuff like going and hunting for your food, actually boosts testosterone and helps to raise testosterone. Weightlifting helps to raise testosterone. Being that male figure in someone's life actually helps your hormones to build testosterone.
Speaker 1:That's interesting that you say that, because I've heard a recent statistic that men in particular, like no other time in human history, are finding themselves on their own, without a partner, without a family even men working out in the mines that are out there for weeks at a time. So they're very much solo and they have often find themselves in a place where they've lost purpose as that man, as that masculine father figure or that masculine leader.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think society has really changed the role of what men and women are assigned to do and I do believe that traditionally, the man was meant to be the household or was meant to be the head figure of the house, and that gave them the right fulfilment in the energetic level to be that man. And I think that this wasn't obviously for every person, but in general a man was the figure of the house and the woman was the housekeeper and together that made a family and that, in traditional ways, made a man a man and gave them the testosterone they needed, gave them the role that they needed to play and gave them the purpose and the fulfilment that they needed. And just whilst we're talking about nutrition stuff and testosterone, if you are having testosterone issues and that sort of stuff, cut out grains completely. I've read a few things over the last couple of months saying that grains were introduced into the male's diet to make them more agreeable back in the war eras.
Speaker 2:More agreeable Takes out testosterone eras. More agreeable Takes out testosterone. Makes it more agreeable to the government or to authority figures. Yeah, authority figures. You sit down, you do what we tell you to do.
Speaker 1:Right, okay, more agreeable. Well, there you go. That's an interesting piece of information for people listening a little bit of a different take on, yeah, not just nutrition, but also culture and roles that we play, and it also brings into play the interplay of mind and body, so emotions, you know, mindset and body and how all of those components of a human can actually affect their whole health and wellness. Yeah, so going back to your passion, which is gut health, yeah, can you please explain to us how gut health affects our whole health?
Speaker 2:Oh, it's like the centre of it all. So what goes in your mouth has to go travel through your stomach and the barrier of your inside. So say, you've got your gut like this this is the inside of your gut and the outside is your blood. So everything that goes through your gut gets absorbed into your gut lining and then the nutrient little grabby-grabbies are in your gut lining and it goes and filters into your blood If your gut barrier is leaky. So it's meant to have tight gap junctions like this.
Speaker 2:If we eat gluten and have a poor diet medication, the gut lining actually separates and you can get bad bacteria from the gut going into your blood and creating a toxic effect. And if our blood isn't clean and good and healthy that is the underpinning of all health Like, if your blood isn't good, you're not going to be good, how do we know our blood's not good? You'll have, you know, poor energy issues. Women will have altered menstrual cycles, brain fog, all those sorts of things. So if you, some people might notice this happens to them. If you have gluten and dairy, say a donut or a burger and some hot chips and that sort of stuff, you might feel incredibly sleepy and sluggish an hour afterwards. That is kind of a poisoning effect from our gut.
Speaker 2:So if you have poor gut health, bad bacteria in your gut line, the bacteria will go into your blood. It crosses a blood vein barrier and can make you feel real lousy and that's kind of an exaggerated approach. But that's what I like to think of is, if you're putting food in and the barrier between your gut and your blood's not strong, we need to strengthen that because there is so much foundation in that lining. Your serotonin is made in your gut. 70% of your immune system is found in your gut. Your digestion is there and if you're not breaking down your food, you're not getting your nutrition out of your food properly. And if you don't have the right stomach acid, you can have halicobacter pylori and SIBO and all these issues in your gut lining. And then if your gut's not working well, you're not pooing properly and a poo stays in there for too long, it re-intoxicates throughout your body causing more toxicity, so it's really, really important to be having a really good gut health.
Speaker 1:That all sounds very scary, to be honest. So what can we do then? Like, none of us want all of those side effects or we want to limit them as much as we can. So what's a good approach for the people listening and a good general approach where maybe some people don't have the money to come and see someone like you, yeah.
Speaker 2:So the best approach I would recommend for someone with any gut health issues or who wants to improve their gut health is start off with having slow cooked foods, because they are easy to digest, they are often nutrient rich and they are absorbable highly absorbable by your gut. You don't need as much stomach acid to break them down.
Speaker 2:If you don't have good stomach acid, you think of stomach acid to be like a little acid pool and that's going to dissolve everything and then the microbes then get the nutrition that's been from your food dissolved and then they spread that out and they do what they do with that. If your gut health isn't good, the first thing that really affects gut and this is the hardest thing is stress. So stress management, because when you are stressed your stomach acid reduces and you can't break down your food as much. And if you're not breaking down your food as much, then you're having poor absorption, poor nutrient availability. So stress management is the hardest one to treat, but the most important one.
Speaker 1:So, before you go on there, how would you if you said that to someone, if someone came to you and you said to them how stressed are you? And they said extremely like off the charts. How do you approach that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, neuro calm. There's a really great health supplement called neuro calm, which is one of my favorite things, um, because it's like a panel for anxiety and stress. Um, no, but really what I would do is exercise to manage stress and try and get your sleep right, because those two things if you're sleeping well, your brain's got a break from all the stress and if you're exercising, it gets you out of your brain and into your body so that you don't have to worry about your stress for a while. So, um, magnesium a major one because it helps to manage stress. Um, your b vitamins help stress. When you are stressed, you actually use up more b vitamins and magnesium, so replacing them is really important. Um, but around surrounding meal times and stress. If you can just take half an hour and sit down and eat your food with no distractions and actually be present, that is one of the best ways to manage your stress around mealtimes, I think.
Speaker 1:And on that and this is diverging just a little bit, how do you see modern parenting with children eating? Because what I see a lot of now is children who are eating in front of screens. And can you, can you see, um? Can you tell us what you think that is going to do for their digestion, their overall health and their mental health?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's not gonna be good in the long haul. Um, I think that it's the same thing. If you're not present your food, then your brain's like on autopilot and it's just oh okay, we're eating, cool, instead of being present with your food, there's food there. The first thing your brain does is seize your food and then it's like okay, we've got food there, and then it smells it, and then it tastes it and then you start digesting it. So if you're not present with your food and you're watching TV or you're out doing stuff, it will reduce your stomach acid and therefore reduce your nutrient availability. And then the part of mental health.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and in particular, a trend that I see in society now is children who are very nearly never present with their food because of screens.
Speaker 2:I think that's a really hard one because everyone's so different, Like I'm not perfect. We put it in front of me. I remember this time he didn't eat probably three days. He hardly ate anything for three days. We put the tractors on the iPad in front of him and he sat down and ate a whole meal and I was like, oh my God, he's eaten. So I find that really hard because I was really like he's never going to watch TV, he's never going to do this, he's never going to do that. But you've got to do what you've got to do, right, and I think that if I never, I wish we didn't have a TV in our house. I think it would be easier. But if you show them how to be present with their food, that is another major thing yeah, exactly so.
Speaker 1:you can't be um telling your, your three or four or five year old to get rid of the ipad if they have one, or turn the tv off if you're sitting there on your phone eating your dinner.
Speaker 2:So bring back the old dinner table, yeah and we except the last two weeks because we've had a lot of sickness in our house we were dinner on the table every single night and that's something I would bring back as of Monday. Yeah, because it makes dinner time easier. He sits down and eats his food. I sit there, we have a conversation, my partner food. I sit there, we have a conversation, my partner sits there and it's. We grew up like that and that's something that I I like and I cherish, yeah times are a thing in our house.
Speaker 1:Meals and being present with your food also means that you can celebrate what you're eating.
Speaker 2:Because I don't know about you, bethany, but food is the highlight of my life, if you have more appreciation if you have time to sit there with it instead of scoff it down because you've got to keep doing it.
Speaker 1:and the next thing yeah, so viewing food as not just food is not just nutrition to keep us going. So we've got energy for life. Food is like a privilege of the Western world when you think about it. It is a privilege and it should be, I believe, celebrated, enjoyed, and it brings people together. Food brings people together.
Speaker 2:So food can be the slowest form of medicine, I'm sorry, the slowest form of poison or the best form of medicine. There's a quote. There's a quote. People remember that.
Speaker 1:Just put it right the first time okay, so we we're back to our, our points for our audience, like our, the strategies that you're talking about for a good gut health. So one is being present with your food. Yeah um.
Speaker 2:Two is the your quality of food. Um so like fast food grains, highly processed grains and cheap grains not so bad. Highly processed grains, sugar, um, and fake food. Just try like it's easier said than done I, because we don't have all these things available to us. But if you can just eat real food that looks like real food, don't buy any garbage that's been processed. Do a circle outside the supermarket and don't go down the Middle Isles Like, just eat food. That's real food. If you have to read the packet to say what's in it, maybe don't eat it.
Speaker 1:You know, if you can't grow it, you can't kill it, don't eat it. Yeah, that's a great, that's actually a really great piece of advice. I was recently listening to another podcast and the podcast host said his advice for people who wanted to lose weight was meat, vegetables and fruit and nothing else. And when people limit themselves to meat or fish, fruit and vegetables and nothing else I like to add in nuts and seeds and nuts and seeds Then that is nutrient-dense food that is very filling. Therefore, you're not going to go and look for the biscuits and the cake and all the processed packaged foods. That's right, so it's pretty simple. It and all the processed packaged foods that's right, so it's pretty simple.
Speaker 2:It's not rocket science, right? That's right, it's not. And if you take away all the new fancy marketing and the hey, everyone buy this and eat this and eat this, and go back to basics, you'll feel better, you'll be better, your health will be better, your energy will be better and your sleep will be better because you're not going to have vegetable and seed oils, you're not going to have sugar, you're not going to have additives, you're not going to have artificial sweeteners, artificial flavours and all those sorts of things are directly toxic to your gut bacteria and cause inflammation all throughout the body.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we've talked about being present with your food and we've talked about good quality food. Is there another strategy that you can give people for good gut health?
Speaker 2:Stress management again. Oh, that's right, stress management. Stress management is really hard. I've worked with a couple of triathletes, like Ironman people, and with both of them we've had to do a bit of gut work because when you are exercising in a very intense high level it actually creates a little leaky gut, the same way stress can. So if you stress manage and you know, do the right exercise and that sort of stuff, your gut health is going to be better. But then if you are, you know, a high level athlete or you can't really manage your stress because you're in the pits. For right now there are a lot of things we can do. So having like collagen and bone broths and soups and stews and that sort of thing are really good because they've got a lot of nutrients in there to heal your gut lining and then taking specific probiotics, prebiotics and supplements.
Speaker 1:Probiotics and prebiotics are a real thing now. Foods, probiotics and prebiotics are a real thing now. They're out there in the social media and in the spotlight. Can you briefly explain the difference between the two?
Speaker 2:I have a great analogy and all my farmer men love this one. Okay, so probiotics are like lawn seed you throw out on the lawn to grow, and then prebiotics are like the fertilizer you feed it, because lawn seeds are not going to grow without. And then prebiotics are like the fertilizer you feed it, because lawn seeds are not going to grow without fertilizer or watering. The same way, probiotics are not going to grow without the prebiotics. So the prebiotic is like a fiber and the bacteria, which is a probiotic, come and eat that fiber and grow and inoculate and be healthy.
Speaker 1:So how does that translate into food that we eat?
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, so prebiotic food are things that are fermented, like miso, kimchi, tempeh, sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha and those sorts of things, and then your prebiotics are mainly plant fibres. So nuts, seeds, vegetables, legumes, beans and fruits, and also meats can actually feed good bacteria, depending on the type of meat and fruits and also meats can actually feed good bacteria, depending on the type of meat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, and can you also explain the the importance of is? Does fiber come into that?
Speaker 2:yeah. So fiber you have, um, you have fiber which can feed the good bugs. You have soluble and insoluble fiber. There are two types. Don Don't ask me to distinguish them today. But fiber is really important because it helps to take out a lot of toxins from the bowels. It helps to feed the good bugs, it helps to form a good poo, so then your bowel gets cleaned out. But fiber really helps because it feeds the good bacteria. It doesn't really contribute a lot to calories, so it's really good for getting those muscles of the gut wall working and feeding those good bacteria okay, so can you give us some examples of fiber?
Speaker 2:jerusalem artichokes, one of the best things you can. Yes, don't know how to cook them or eat them, but I've had. I tried once. They didn't turn out well, so it's going to scar me for a while. Um, can you get them canned or no? Okay, you can. Yeah, um jerusalem artichokes are fantastic. Um, yeah, broccoli, cauliflower, cruciferous vegetables or those sorts of things. Um cognac I don't know if anyone's got a drink cognac is like a um, a bamboo.
Speaker 2:I think it's a bamboo fiber, which is really good because you can get like cognac rice and that feeds a specific type of bug in your gut that helps to reduce inflammation Other foods. So you've got your plums and your good stone fruits, so a different type of fiber and they're going to help feed different types of bugs. They also help you go to the toilet. Kiwi fruits are an amazing fiber for your bowels, very, very good to feed the probiotics, and two kiwi fruits at nighttime can actually help you improve your sleep as well. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:I've heard some amazing things about kiwi fruit. Yeah, kiwi fruit is awesome. I don't want to go into a lot of detail with the audience, but I recently had a colonoscopy and when the whole thing was over, the surgeon said to me he said to me just do the kiwi fruit diet. That's what you should do. And I said what do you mean? He said just eat one or two kiwi fruit every single day. That was his solution for any type of like slow digestion bowel issue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's a lot. I think there's a lot more research now about kiwi fruits, because in a lot of new and emerging gut health supplements they've got kiwi fruit powder in it as a prebiotic fiber.
Speaker 1:So people listening, we've got some gems here, yeah, we have go drink Cognac. Only kidding, don't do that. That's a type of rice or something. So we have kiwi fruit, yeah. We have Jerusalem artichokes, yeah, and what's another? Like high nutritional, high value food that people can regularly put into their diet If you game.
Speaker 2:Beef liver is one of the most nutrient, dense foods on the face of the earth and the best way to get around that face is to take it in capsule form, which Healthy Haven sells. Or you can get a frozen beef liver and I find this a little bit less yuck. I made a lot of these for Finn when he was young and they tasted surprisingly good. I was actually really, really surprised. Get a frozen beef liver and grate it, when it's frozen, into your meat meals, so into lasagna, into bolognese, into burgers, into all that stuff. I was absolutely surprised with the flavour it added to the food and I just had to turn my brain off when I was eating it. I think that we're eating, but, yes, grate the frozen liver into your meat meals. Or just get some capsules and do six capsules a day and it's just highly nutritious um, highly mineral, dense. It's going to help iron absorption and utilization better than an iron um supplement as well.
Speaker 1:well, that's some amazing information and so much information. So what I'm going to do is in the, in the notes, we will put in some of the suggestions from today. And here's a very important part Bethany, how can people who are listening work with you? Because I know that you do Zoom, you do online consultations, I do online and face-to-face, yeah, yeah. So can you please tell everyone, like how they can work with you and follow you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have a facebook account and a instagram account. Um, just have a google for, or have a search for, telluric health. Um t-e-l-l-u-r-i-c health. Um. I will have a booking link on both of those socials website coming soon. Otherwise, um, I'll leave in the show notes a phone number you guys can get in touch with and the link the booking link to book. If you need More Than Hackers, offer a free 15-minute consult so people can get understanding of what I do and how I can help. And, yeah, hopefully I get to help someone out.
Speaker 1:Just by speaking here, I'm sure you've already helped everyone who's listened, because I've learned some new stuff myself, so that's fantastic. And, bethany, what is? This is a question I like to ask all my guests at the end of the podcast what is one way that you uplift yourself?
Speaker 2:Do you know what really helps me feel good? Helping other people, and I've, I've. I had this question asked me a long time ago and I thought what is the one thing that genuinely makes me feel good is seeing other people genuinely happy or genuinely improved, and I'm a bit of a what's the word? I feel like I get imposter syndrome sometimes because I'm like, oh my gosh, is this actually going to work, what we're doing? People come back and be like I'm sleeping better, I feel better, I'm amazing now, you know, I had one lady a few years ago.
Speaker 2:We worked together for a long time. She was a shell of a human being. When I first met her she couldn't get out of bed. Now she's 24 weeks pregnant with a baby, and this is one of the cases that makes me just so excited, because she was not okay when she first came to see me. I've treated her mainly out of the goodness of my own heart, because they're not very well off, but now they're, you know, repaying the favors, because the fruits of my efforts are showing in their life and that genuinely makes me happy and that I like uplifting myself and that sort of thing by uplifting others. That stuff actually makes me happy, and then exercise on top of that.
Speaker 1:And Bethany loves my uplifting exercise that she does with me, I'm sure. Yes, actually she's just started back on her on your um. Tell the audience what you're doing.
Speaker 2:I wanted to get fit again, so my friend and I decided three weeks out that we're going to do the early beach triathlon. It was a very short one, um, but it's given me the kick I needed to get back into health and fitness. Because not health so much, but fitness, because I just got a bit stagnant after having my son and I started the new world triathlons and it's come full circle. I've always stuck with liane come and go, um, but her training at this point in time is incredibly valuable for me to get my hips right and strong and my shoulder on my back, she's taking care of my strength and I'm just going to get back into the world of triathlons because it's hard and it's a challenge.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll all be watching. I'm sure, bethany, we're waiting for the next big triathlon to come along. Yeah, and you can come back and tell us how you went. Yeah, all right. Well, thanks for being here. And everyone go and give Bethany a follow. Yeah, everyone go and give Bethany a follow and hit her up if you really want someone that can help change the narrative of the general you know, the general medical world. If that's not working for you, all right, stay strong. Thanks guys. Bye.