Nourished Living

25 - Exploring Heartburn, Stress, & The Gut-Brain Connection with Dr. Carolina Arreola, Licensed Naturopathic Doctor

• Courtney Podany

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In this episode of the Nourished Living Podcast, Courtney sits down with Dr. Carolina Arreola, a Licensed Naturopathic Doctor specializing in gut health, hormones, and digestive care. Together, they dive into one of the most misunderstood issues: heartburn.

You’ll learn:

  • How a root-cause approach differs from conventional care
  • Why antacids may worsen digestive issues over time
  • Signs and symptoms of low stomach acid you may not recognize
  • Lifestyle and stress factors that play a major role in gut health
  • Simple daily habits to support digestion and prevent heartburn naturally

Whether you deal with reflux, bloating, or just want to support your digestion in a natural way, this episode is packed with insights and practical tips to help you find relief.

Explore More From Dr. Arreola:

Follow Dr. Arreola on Social for Gut Health Tips that Actually Make Sense:

Connect with Courtney:

Welcome to the Nourished Living Podcast, where I'll be diving deep into nutrition, holistic wellness, and practical tips to help you live your healthiest, most vibrant life. I am Courtney Podany, a nutritional therapist, certified personal trainer, type one diabetic and mom. And I'm here to help you take charge of your health with ease and confidence. Together we'll explore how to nourish your body, mind, and soul in a way that feels good and sustainable. So grab your favorite beverage. Take a deep breath, and let's get into the episode. I. Welcome back to the Nourished Living Podcast. I am your host Courtney Podany, and today we are building off of what I spoke about last week on the episode, talking about heartburn and stomach acid. But we are joined by one of my good friends who is. Expert, expert in this area, so please welcome Dr. Carolina Arreola. She is a licensed naturopathic doctor who specializes in gut health hormones and natural digestive care. She's the founder of Arreola Naturopathic, where she helps patients get to the root of chronic issues like reflux, bloating, and IBS through functional lab testing, nutrition and holistic protocols. Her educational content on TikTok and Instagram has reached millions of viewers, and she's especially passionate about making complex health topics Easy to understand. Today she's here to unpack some of the. Biggest misconceptions around heartburn and how to start healing from the inside out naturally. Hello and welcome. Hello. Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here. Yeah, I'm so excited. So let's just kick it off. Can you tell us how you got into everything? What drew you to this industry and what are you doing now Yeah, definitely. So I started in the conventional track for medicine. I was pre-med, um, majoring in biology in college, and it was always my plan to go to conventional allopathic medical school. And, um, the things that I was seeing while I was in college, I was working at clinics, I was doing a lot of volunteer work, was just that there were so many people not getting any better. There were so many people that were coming in sick. I would just see them over and over. I was just assisting obviously at that time, and I didn't understand why people weren't getting better and why no one really seemed concerned about it either. Um, but you know, it just kind of kept my head down and kept studying and just thought, this is the goal. This is the plan. This is what I'm doing. Then when I finally graduated, um, it came time for me to actually apply to medical school. I had already taken the mcat. I was ready to go. Something just felt so wrong. It didn't, it wasn't aligning with what I wanted. I had waited for this moment, like for so many years, and I thought that I would be like bursting with excitement and joy and I wasn't. I was kind of filled with a little bit of dread and I remember sitting at my computer researching different schools and looking at their mission statements and just nothing was pulling to me. Something just felt like this isn't what I'm supposed to do. And that was scary for me, obviously, because I had worked so hard to get to that point and that very same week I reconnected with a friend of mine that she had graduated a year before me from college and just checked in to see what she was doing and she was actually attending naturopathic medical school. I like so many people had never heard of it. Like that was not something I grew up learning about. Most people had not heard of it. So when she was starting to tell me about what it is and what it does, that excitement came back, that spark lit back up where I was like, oh, this is, this is it. This is exactly what I wanna do. I didn't even know it was a thing. I couldn't even put my finger on it, put a name to it. So I started to research schools and there's only a few in, on the west coast and there's only one in California, and that one is in my hometown in San Diego. So it really just kind of felt like the stars aligned. So I, I applied, I had already had all the prerequisites'cause I was planning for conventional medical school and everything just fell into place and the rest was history and it definitely was once I got there and started learning more about this. Root cause type of medicine, I realized, okay, this is what I've been wanting all these years that I didn't realize was a thing I could go after. Um, so that's definitely how I got into the field. And, and then as far as like focusing on gut health, because like you said, that's definitely my area of expertise is gut health. That has to do with. A few different experiences. The first one being like struggling with my own gut health issues all throughout college and, and even medical school and not realizing that it was a problem. I thought it was normal. I thought what I was experiencing was what everyone experienced. Yeah. Um, so when I started to learn more about it. I realized it wasn't normal and was able to learn to treat and heal myself. And then I think it was about my second year of medical school where my mother actually got really sick, really, really sick, um, with a chronic digestive issue to the point where she, it forced her to retire early. And she had been a nurse for about 40 years and, uh, she wasn't ready to retire, but she was just having multiple trips to the er. Things were just getting so bad that she could not continue to work. So. Um, no doctor could help her. We saw so many different doctors. We went to so many different clinics, hospitals, ERs, and finally I said, okay, we're gonna take you to see an nd'cause I was in school at that time, right? So I knew that it was available, but I obviously didn't know enough to. Fully treat her myself. So we saved up money because seeing a naturopathic doctor isn't, isn't covered by insurance in California. So it can be costly. And I got her to see an nd. And that was the only person that could help her, that we helped create like this massive shift. And then after that, you know, it definitely took time. It wasn't like something that happened overnight. But my passion definitely got ignited because I was so invested in this very like, hands-on case. So combining that with my own experiences, I was like, there's so many people that I know must be dealing with the same thing and are feeling like there's nothing that they can do about it.'Cause when my mother had actually gone to maybe the last doctor she had saw, the only thing they were able to offer was telling her to. Cut out her colon and saying that, you know, we can get rid of it. She was struggling with chronic diverticulitis and they said, this is all we can do for you. We can cut it out and, and you won't be in pain anymore. And I, I didn't know a lot then, but I knew that that wasn't the answer. And I think the thing that grabbed me the most was. When I asked would it be for sure that she would be completely fine after that, and they said no. They said probably not. It could come back in a different part of the colon. Uh, but my mom was so desperate'cause she was in so much pain. She was so uncomfortable that she was very much contemplating it and wanting to do it.'cause she just, she wanted relief. And that's kind of when I really. Was like, no, no, no. Double down. We need to find like another solution. Let's try everything before we get there. And thankfully, she agreed and we did. And just to cut to the chase, she still has her colon and she's thriving now. She's doing great. But that was all definitely formative of how I got into this field and to this specialty. Mm-hmm. Wow. Yeah, so actually, I've known you now for a few years and I didn't know that story, so that was really cool to learn that. But yeah, it's wild. You know, of course when I start working with patients, I have them fill out paperwork and'cause you really need like. Deep look into their lives and whatnot. Mm-hmm. And I started noticing a trend that literally 85% of the people that were coming to me experienced heartburn weekly. And I had never experienced heartburn myself. And I was like, wait, what? This many people experience heartburn on a regular basis. I was like completely floored because. I had just gone through my nutritional therapy program and I was like, wait, there's options to solve this. Right. You know? Yeah. Like, why is everyone struggling so much? And that's actually how I then created my, first course that I ever made, which was gut rescue, because people need to know how to take care of this, right? Yeah, yeah. No, definitely. It's surprising how little people are made aware of all the different options that they have, just because it's not talked about a lot. Uh, and they, and they think, we think it is because in our circles that we run in and the people that we follow on social media, it's very obvious. It's common knowledge. But we forget that we're kind of within this bubble that so many people. Outside of the bubble, still have no idea what's going on. Uh, and we're like, how do, how do you not know that there's other options? Why do you think this is your only option? Um, but it's definitely satisfying when you finally get someone to the other side using your methods and, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So for those that are unfamiliar, how would you say a naturopathic doctor differs from a conventional primary care physician? That's a really great question. So. Naturopathic doctors, licensed naturopathic doctors are trained as primary care providers, so we go much deeper into prevention and root causes and natural therapies versus your conventional medical doctor or allopathic doctor MDs. Those usually are more focused on diagnosing and prescribing. So not to say that that's bad. All of those things are necessary and I definitely feel like there is a place for both of us in. The whole medical field because we need both of these kinds of doctors. Um, the thing is, is that for so many chronic underlying conditions, the diagnosing and the prescribing just isn't enough. It's barely scraping the top of. The iceberg. And I feel like that's where so many people get frustrated, right? Because if you have a very clear problem that can be fixed with medication, then maybe you know that's all you need. But for majority of the people, it's not enough. Um, I. So us as naturopathic doctors, we use labs, we use more functional medicine testing. A lot of nutrition comes into our therapy. And then of course, things like herbal medicine, lifestyle medicine, and supplement protocols. These are all things that we really value when it comes to treating our patients, and we spend a lot more time with our patients too. That's probably one of the biggest differences between seeing an ND versus an md. Uh, NDs. Typically for a first visit, you're seeing you're sitting down one-to-one with them for at least 60 to 90 minutes for them to really just sit there and get all the information they could possibly get so we can create a plan that's completely tailored to you versus, again, seeing a conventional doctor. They're a lot more limited on their time with you, and so much of that has to do with kind of the. Politics of medicine with insurance and all of it. A lot of it is out of their control. So there's no, not that blame needs to be issued, but that limited time really does lead to limited care. So people aren't getting that deep approach because certain questions just aren't being asked. It's very algorithmic, you know, do you have this symptom? You give this medication? And that's essentially it. Um, versus what we learned through school is that. One symptom can have so many different possible causes. And yes, we can give you something to help with the symptoms, whether it be natural or pharmaceutical. There's always something that can help with the symptoms. But if we don't actually get to that root cause, then it's just gonna continue to come back and eventually you're gonna get frustrated or just become chronically ill. So we are trained as primary care providers, but our approach is just different. Mm-hmm. More comprehensive. Yes, yes. Definitely more comprehensive, more root cause focused. And I do wanna add a note in terms of like training. The training between an MD and ND are very similar. They're not exactly the same. They're not parallel. But for example, we both do need to go to medical school. It's a four year doctoral degree. You need prerequisites to get in, you need to do testing. We do, um, licensing exams once we graduate, once we're all halfway through medical school. Then again, once you graduate to actually apply for your license, then we do have to do continuing education and all of that on a regular basis to maintain a license. So it's very different than. What people used to refer to as a traditional naturopath, which is technically an unprotected term. So many people can call themselves a naturopath with no formal training versus a licensed naturopathic doctor implies formal education and licensure. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. And so I think that with conventional medicine, if you just went to your primary care physician and you said, Hey, I'm experiencing heartburn. Their first reaction is to prescribe some type of ant acid, right? Mm-hmm. But, that can come with its own concerns, taking antacids long term and. Sometimes that does not help with the root cause, right? Mm-hmm. So, what are some of the concerns with using antacids long term if it doesn't, solve the problem. Yeah, yeah, definitely. That's a great question, and I do wanna preface this by saying I'm not a hundred percent against the use of antacids or proton pump inhibitors. I think that they can be very helpful in certain situations, but like you said, it's the long-term use that's concerning to me. So if you were to pick up a bottle of it, whether you have it at home or at this. Store. You'll see on there that even on the bottle it says not to use beyond 14 days. But many, many, many, many doctors are prescribing it with no end in sight. They prescribe it. They never let the person know that they should stop after a certain amount of time. Um, or even worse, they'll return telling them that their symptoms are still there and they'll continue to up the dose. Now, the reason that this is a problem is because antacids block acid production in the stomach, right? Which in theory sounds good if you're. Dealing with acid reflux, you think, okay, I have this acid that's coming into my throat, it's causing a lot of discomfort. I wanna stop that from happening. Uh, but nothing in our body is happening by mistake. Nothing is on accident. So that acid has a very important purpose. And one of the most important purposes of stomach acid is it helps you absorb certain nutrients that you need, that your body needs to function. So things like iron, B12, calcium. So when you are stopping that acid, you are. Inadvertently gonna be stopping yourself from absorbing these key nutrients. Now, doing it for a week or two, even a month may not be very concerning, but when you have people that are on these medications for years on end, and I'll tell you, so many people come to me after being on A PPI or some sort of antacid for 5, 10, 15, even 20 years, um, and they're dealing with. So many other health issues as a consequence of it that they didn't even realize. So whether it be nerve issues, general fatigue, chronic fatigue, other autoimmune conditions, that everything is just kind of piling on top of each other. And on top of that acid not only helps you to absorb certain nutrients, but it also helps to prevent certain infections and overgrowth, right? So many foods that we eat, um. Not everything is as sanitary as we'd like it to believe, right? So unfortunately, especially if you're going out to eat right, you never know exactly who's handling your food, what sanitary measures they're taking, even the quality of the food, right? Is it, has it been left out too long? We, we just never really know. We always hope for the best, but we don't know typically. We are being exposed to more microbes and bugs than we think we are. But the thing is, we have these defenses in place, and one of those defenses is your stomach acid. So there's very few things that should be able to survive your stomach acid. So if you were introduced to a certain bug or microbe, it should be stopped there. It should be killed off in the stomach before it actually makes its way down to your small intestine, colon where it can then colonize and grow and replicate and cause even bigger issues. But. If you're blocking your stomach acid, you've brought your defenses way down. So typically a microbe that shouldn't have been able to make it past that barrier has, and they can get into those deeper parts of your colon start to colonize and outgrow, replicate. Then you're dealing with things like small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, dysbiosis os, just other infections that you typically wouldn't have to worry about if you had adequate stomach acid. Um, so these are all definitely. Very common consequences of people taking antacids for too long. Mm-hmm. So based off of symptoms that I see, I typically will have someone try to take water with apple cider vinegar in it, or water with some lemon juice or something and drink that before meals to actually stimulate. The production of stomach acid because a lot of times it seems like they're running on low stomach acid. Right. And based on that, I've had so many people report back that they no longer have heartburn when they actually increase the stomach acid. Right. So then, if you. Are unsure that you have low stomach acid and then you're prescribed an ant acid, which depletes it even more. You know, it's just, kind of scary. Yeah, definitely. And it's a really common issue that people don't realize they're dealing with. Um, again,'cause it's, it's kind of counterintuitive, right? You don't think that you're having low stomach acid if you're dealing with acidic issues. And then to think that you're adding more acid, it just sounds, you know, sitting or thinking about it, it's like, that doesn't sound right. Why would I wanna add more acid to something that already burns? But yeah, it's definitely, um. Very, very, very common and especially when people are taking antacids and they're seeing little to no improvement with their acid reflux or they're feeling much worse, that's a pretty clear sign that they're dealing with stomach acid now, with things like taking apple cider vinegar, mixing water, lemons, and water, those are all great ways to gently stimulate stomach acid and it can definitely help. In certain scenarios, I have seen people that do that when they're already really inflamed. So for example, if they're dealing with a lot of acid reflux and they have been dealing with it for a long time, there have a lot of inflamed tissue, especially in the esophagus or the stomach. Now, in that case, taking things like acid can be a little bit too much at that time and it can make things worse, and it's just a little too harsh for the lining of their gut at that time. So if anyone listening is dealing with it, if they've dealt with acid for many years and it's just always been an issue, that may not be the best option for them, only because it could potentially cause more irritation and more pain rather than bring them relief versus someone that's been temporarily dealing with it on and off, that could actually be just enough to kind of help them nip it in the bud. So what I would actually recommend first for people that are dealing with it more long term is that we need to. Soothe that inflammation before we work on rebuilding the stomach acid. And that's again, people will hop to the last thing. Right? We'll hear about low stomach acid. Let me boost it up and they'll end up feeling worse. And that's typically why, because they already have such inflamed systems that need to be brought down and cooled off before we're, we're building that acid back up. Mm-hmm. So what are some. Environmental or lifestyle causes that can lead us to low stomach acid? Yeah. Well, one of the biggest ones is gonna be taking antacid, so that's probably gonna be one of. The most important ones that that's preventable, right? Because you can just not take them long term and it won't lead to that. Typically, your body is really good at maintaining balance, so it's not just gonna stop making stomach acid on its own. In other cases where I've seen that maybe they haven't taken anta, they haven't been taking antacids, but they're still dealing with lower stomach acid is someone that is dealing with chronic stress. So chronic stress can definitely contribute to so many different gut issues, just because there's such a close connection between the mind and the gut and the way that these things can actually tell our body to either increase acid or lower acid secretions. That's probably the other biggest common cause I see outside of. Taking those medications. So those are the ones that I would focus on most. Outside of that, there's not a ton that's actually causing people to lower their stomach acid, at least not in a significant sense, not something that I see often. And other than experiencing the heartburn, the burning sensation, are there other, signs or symptoms of low stomach or, yeah, definitely. So there's definitely more signs and symptoms of low stomach acid to look for. One of the biggest ones is feeling really bloated after a meal, especially if it's right after a meal like you've just eaten and you feel like your body became a balloon. Um. Another one is feeling full pretty quickly. So some people will say, oh my God, I'm so hungry. They'll sit down to eat, they'll take a few bites, and suddenly they're stuffed and they're like, I don't understand. Even if they're mentally more hungry, they can't eat anymore, and that's typically because the food that they're consuming is just sitting in the stomach. Stomach acid, of course, outside of, helping you absorb nutrients and fight off bugs. Another major thing, which I can't believe I didn't say before. It helps you break down food. That's like the biggest, the biggest function, right? Um, so when you don't have enough stomach acid, the food is just gonna sit in your stomach much longer than it should. And when it's sitting there, it starts to feel like a stone. It feels heavy, it doesn't feel comfortable, and it can lead to a lot of fermentation. It'll start to actually bubble up, start producing gas. And that gas can lead to, again, the bloating. It can lead to things like burping, nausea. And then also just that sensation of like, oh my goodness,, I feel sick. Like I need to get this moving through. So those are all things that are really, really obvious signs of lower stomach acid. Ones that are a little bit more, I don't wanna say farfetched, but they more like long-term consequences if you've been dealing it for a while, like chronic fatigue. Can also be a sign of low stomach acid just because again, you're not absorbing the nutrients that you need, in order to maintain energy levels. And then other thing, so things like iron B12, things that actually give you energy are not being absorbed, so you're just gonna feel tired most of the time. And then another thing is just signs of those nutrient deficiencies. So if you're dealing with like a B12 deficiency, let's say, that actually affects your nerve tissue. So people can start to feel things like tingling in the feet or weird sensations in their extremities, and that's actually a long-term consequence of their nerves being affected because they don't have enough B12 in their system. So that's a little bit harder to connect right away, but definitely seen it over and over again with patients that have been on it long term. Mm-hmm. Are there some tips you could share for ways to prevent that happening in the future. Yeah. So tips to help prevent heartburn, yeah. Okay. Yeah, definitely. And a lot of it just has to do with how they're eating it. It comes down to basics. So one of the biggest issues I see with. Our society nowadays when it comes to eating is that we rush through meals, right? Eating is always like a secondary task, right? You're eating on the go while you're doing drop off, while you're working through lunch. You're grabbing something before dinner as you're on your way out. So, so much of that seems relatively harmless when you're actually doing it. But the thing is that when we're doing that, we're not able to shift our nervous system from this like. Let's go, let's go. Let's go see to the rest and digest state. We're also known as our parasympathetic state, so our digestion automatically gets skewed. And so when that happens, that's again gonna slow down digestion or not allow you to digest properly, causing the food to sit in the stomach longer, which is gonna cause all of those symptoms that I mentioned before. So that food that's sitting in the stomach when it produces gas, it's gonna cause the sphincter that's at the bottom of your esophagus to open up, which is gonna increase the likelihood of the reflux and everything happening. Because the food is not moving down as it should. So that's a big one, is just actually being able to sit down and enjoy a meal. Obviously, it's not gonna be super doable for every single meal, for every single person, but I think just being a little bit more mindful about it, right. Really trying, can I sit here even if it's just for five minutes and focus on my food? Mm-hmm. Another thing is just chewing thoroughly. I know that seems so simple, but again, people are just like chew, chew, swallow, chew, chew, swallow. And the less that you're chewing, the more work you're putting on your digestive system, which shouldn't be a problem if you have a healthy digestive system. But the thing is. Most people are dealing with a little bit of sluggish digestion. Again, if we're doing this multitasking, we're stressed. We we're living the lives that we're living. Not everyone has that ideal system that that we want, so just the more chewing that you're doing with your food, the less work that you're burdening your system with, so it's able to move through a little quicker, a little easier. And reducing the chance for heartburn. And then lastly, of course, it's gonna be the types of foods that you're eating. Now, many people, when they think of heartburn, they think of acidic foods, right? So they think of like tomato sauce and spicy food and that sort of thing. Those are what I like to call heart. Burn triggers, but they're not necessarily causes of heartburn. So there are plenty of people that can eat all those foods and not deal with any heartburn at all. So those foods in themselves are not bad. They're not bad for you. They're not heartburn causes. The thing is, if you've already dealing with heartburn, you already have some inflamed tissue, the. Acidic nature of those foods is very triggering, and then it's not gonna feel good to consume them. But avoiding those foods doesn't necessarily mean that you're avoiding heartburn unless you've already been dealing with it Again, you're avoiding a trigger. But what I like to say is the more. Whole foods that you're eating is actually going to increase the alkalinity in your body, and that's gonna really, really help just keep all the acidic levels balanced and where they should be not depleted, right? We don't wanna get rid of stomach acid, we just want everything to be where it should be. We want the levels to be where they should be because we need the stomach acid. So eating foods that are. As close to their whole form as possible. I don't like to, again, demonize food. I don't think that that's a healthy way to approach someone's life. I think that you should always just try to do your best. And I very strongly believe in the 80 20 rules. 80% of the time you eat things that are gonna be actually contributing to your health and helping you. And the other 20 of the time I say is for joy and for fun, and yeah, maybe it has no nutritional value. But it brings you joy in some form, whether it be with social connection, maybe eating in cultural food, something your grandmother made, anything like that. It doesn't always have to be about the food that is contributing to your health, but we do want that to be going on a majority of the time. So if you're focused on your diet, at least that large percentage, that really can help to reduce any sort of reflux from happening because you're supporting healthy digestion. Yes. So that's a big one that I like to share as well, is taking time for your meals again. Even if that means you have to wake up five minutes earlier, devote those extra five minutes to being seated at a table distraction free. Mm-hmm. So you can actually just focus on your food. Right. And if I cooked a meal myself rather than going out to a restaurant if I put time and energy into it, I wanna enjoy it, you know, if you're distracted or eating on the go, you're not getting the smells, the taste, the texture. You're just kind of inhaling the food. But I will say. It has changed since having kids, right? I really, really still try to. Take time. So sometimes that means I don't eat with my kids, I have to eat, after they're in bed But I still want to prioritize that for myself as well. And when you choose slower, that means you need more time for the meal. And with kids you get interrupted a lot Yeah. Stressed state still. So for any parents out there, I totally get it. So if that means that you do have to get up earlier to eat your breakfast. By yourself it really will just have. A lot of benefit on your health and probably your sanity. Yeah, definitely. And that's such a good point because I agree with the recommendations that I give to parents versus people that don't have children. It's very different because, I have to be worried of what's realistic, right? I can't tell a mom of three, oh, hey, just make sure you sit down for 20 minutes and have your meal by yourself with no distractions. Right? I would laughed out of the room. So definitely it's about coming up with like those little tips that can make it doable. Maybe not for every single meal, but I think a good goal is to try for at least one meal a day to have, a mindful eating meal. And I'll often give my patients like a handout. Of like a mindful eating checklist of what they should do. Because sometimes, especially in the chaos of it all, it's hard to remember what that even means. What am I supposed to be doing to be mindful? So that usually means, you know, putting the food down. A really good tip I like to give everyone, to help them shift into that rest and digest day is that as soon as they sit down to eat before picking up the fork or the spoon or whatever they're using, is to just take. Three slow deep breaths in through the nose, out through the mouth. Four seconds each, because it doesn't take very long and it's very effective at switching you over to that rest and digest state, which is gonna help support digestion. So. Maybe there's just one meal a day where they can actually do that or remember to do that. That's okay, let's just start there. Start doing that and you'll notice the difference and then you'll eventually wanna incorporate it in your other meals or even teach your children to do that. Mm-hmm. That alone can be a really good habit of like, Hey, before we start eating, this is what we do. And that way it's not necessarily something you have to do on your own in private, but when they're old enough anyways to actually take that direction, that could be a good thing to instill in them from a young age. Yeah. I love that you brought up, realistic, ways to help our patients, right? Because I feel like, a big misconception. Well, at least for me, it started when I was personal training. People say like, oh, you're not like a drill sergeant. I thought you were gonna be, like, get down and give me 20, or whatever. And then, but with nutrition and health as well, it's like, oh, you're just gonna. Make me follow this diet, or you're gonna make me do this or that, but, no. We have to meet people where they are. Mm-hmm. Right. What they're ready to do. Otherwise, their plan is not gonna be sustainable. And really it's just a disservice for everyone. Exactly, exactly. You wanna just what you said, meet them where they're at, because that's the only way to make any sort of progress. If I'm telling you to do something that's unrealistic, you're not even gonna begin to try and then nobody wins. So I think definitely little bits at a time is it all adds up in the end, right? So I think those smaller changes that you can be a little bit more consistent with is a lot better than following any sort of strict protocol for a week and then being done with it. Right. Yeah, exactly. And that's why with New Year's resolutions, right, it's like 90% of people are done by the time February rolls around or something. Yes, it do. It doesn't even start out as realistic. Right? Right, exactly. People just wanna get it over with or be done with it, and that's kind of where the issue starts. It's like, no, this isn't something to be done with. This is a new habit that you're forming. And it takes time and there's no. End date. It's not like once I get to this point, I'll be done. Right. And that's when people realize that. They're like, oh yeah, I don't wanna do this anymore. It's, it's just not worth it. And it's'cause yeah, like you said, it wasn't sustainable to begin with. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We want these to just become second nature where it's just part of who you are and not looked at as just like something else that has to be done off the checklist. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Earlier you talked about how stress can really wreak havoc on our gut. And then you were talking about being mindful so, are there any other, like emotional or mindset tips that you give your clients to a, reduce stress, but also b, to prevent gut issues? Yeah, definitely. Especially because I mentioned the mind and the gut. They're so closely connected. I think a lot of people think it's coincidental that they're dealing with both anxiety and IBS when it's like pretty, pretty common and pretty standard just because of that tight connection between the mind and the gut. So. I always say, you can't really fix one without the other. There's always gonna be that connection. Um, so we wanna look at it that way and we wanna come from it from that standpoint. So some of the suggestions that I gave already with the taking the deep breaths and shifting to the parasympathetic doing those things before eating are very easy, simple tips that you can implement that are taking both matters into account, right? Both your mental health and your digestive health and helping them work together. But another thing is just. Chronic stress in general is probably gonna be such a big root cause that so many people wanna overlook or they just wanna say, either I'm not stressed or this isn't something I have time to deal with, or, what am I supposed to do about it? This is just how my life is. Um, but all I can say is that the more that you are going to bury your stress and not address it, it will come back. It's not going anywhere. And your body really is keeping score of all of it. You may feel like, oh, as long as I ignore it, it'll go away. But it doesn't, those tend to be the sickest people that I see are the ones that have just kind of shoved it down, down, down. And whether that stress come from their day-to-day life, that they're just living in a very stressful situation, whether they're being, uh, toxic relationships, um, toxic work environments, like there's so many different things that could contribute to that stress, or even things like financial stress. Or it can be things that happened many years ago, like stored trauma. Trauma is another big issue that I see when I have someone that's doing everything right, we're, we're doing all the right diets, they're doing the supplements, they're doing everything they're supposed to be doing. There always tends to be that piece that comes up of like, there's this one thing, that they've not addressed since they were a child and they don't think it's related. And somehow it comes up. And once they start to get treatment and talking through that, then a lot of their symptoms begin to shift for the first time. And. Many people might think that, Hey, that's woo woo. That doesn't, that doesn't make any sense. But there's just so much of our body and our mind and our sphere are so interconnected. Healing isn't just physical, right? It's, it's very much having to do with your mindset and nervous system regulation and everything. Okay. Sorry, I feel like I got a little bit deep there, but, that's totally important, right? It's just addressing all these things as far as tips, one of them is gonna be that I don't want you to ignore your stress, right? So if you don't think you're stress. Check yourself because you probably are. I don't see how we're living in the world we live in right now. And you're not stressed, right? There's just so much going on that just because you're not necessarily feeling it doesn't mean it's not happening. So what I like to tell people to do is that on a daily basis, daily basis, they have some sort of activity or therapy that is helping them relieve stress. Let some steam out of the pot, right? Whether that means that you're doing something just for fun. It could be something a little bit more, um, intentional, like talk therapy, or it can be something of like connecting with a close friend, things that are nourishing to yourself and your soul. Though doing something like that on a regular basis is really gonna help to keep you grounded versus. I'm just gonna distract myself with work. I'm gonna distract myself with school. I'm gonna distract myself with my kids, whatever it is. But I'm not really gonna focus on the root of the issue as long as I'm busy. And that's probably one of the worst things that I think someone can do. Another more practical tip is when it comes to sitting down to eat outside of like, oh, taking the 3 deep breaths and being distraction free. Another thing I like to tell people is never eat when you're upset or if you're having an argument with someone. So this is common with my patients that are in a relationship with someone, and sometimes that's the first time that they're able to sit down and talk during the day is at dinner time, right? One of them comes home, or both of them come home, they sit down and share a meal and they kind of air their grievances at that time, and they're eating their food while they're fighting, and then they wonder why food isn't settling. Well, yeah. You're having an argument. If you're doing something that is distressing to you, pause and do not continue to eat. Either finish the conversation or finish the meal, but don't do both at the same time because you're not gonna be absorbing any of that. Food. It's really just kind of wasted. Yeah, you're gonna take it in, it's gonna nauseate you. Your body's gonna be like, Nope, let's just get rid of this. It's not doing anything for us. So that's probably another big one. Another one is just to not do anything that would upset you in terms of like watching the news, scrolling through social media. All of those things are like things that are so common, right? To scroll on our phone while we're eating or to watch, the headlines. And even if we don't register that it's stressing us out. It a hundred percent is, it very much is there's always gonna be some sort of narrative going on that's gonna be affecting your nervous system, and your brain can't tell reality from what you're reading. You know, it thinks that it's happening to you. So yeah, that's the whole idea of being distraction free, happy environment, all of that while you're eating, as well as doing daily stress relieving activities. Those are ways that you can help to support digestion while also supporting your mental health. Yes, we need to not take life so seriously and do things that we enjoy, not like, oh, I have to wait for the weekend to look forward to something and go do something for myself. It needs to be, every single day. And what's great is that. It's like a double whammy. You're doing something you enjoy, but it's also more of like an investment in your health because you're relieving stress or being more grounded, getting sunlight if you go outside or something like that. So That's amazing. Yeah. And so doable, right? If you just remember. Yeah, yeah. No, exactly. It's, it's all just about like intentionality, right? Being intentional with it. None of the things that I. Have my patients there. I try not to make anything hard or like really out of touch or that would take a lot of time, but it's just more about, being intentional. Yeah. So Not necessarily doing anything that's like a big change to your day or, or inserting like a complicated routine. It's really just about like thinking about it and doing something, even if it's small and doing it consistently, consistency over everything. You can just do one thing, but if you do it consistently, yes, it will make a difference. Like I said, way more than doing everything for a few days. Just that one thing, focus on it. That's where you're gonna see the biggest change. I love everything you said and you have given us so much to work with so many. Easy, actionable things to really invest in ourselves and our health. So I want to thank you so much for joining us today, and can you please tell everyone where they can find you and how they can work with you? Well, thank you again for having me. You can find me on social media. So on TikTok is where I'm the most active, so my handle on TikTok is at Doctor.arreola and on Instagram my handle is a little bit different. It's my practice name. It's at arreola_ Naturopathic. And if you're interested in working with me one-on-one, you are welcome to book a free discovery call. I'll. Share my link. so you should be able to find that in the show notes and that way we can chat and talk about working together and see if we're a good fit. Then you'll also be able to access my website if you'd like to see any client testimonials or just see what I am about and what it is that I do. And then last but not least, if you're struggling with chronic heartburn and you've tried many different things and you're looking for help, I also have a self. Paced heart and healing program that you are welcome to use as long as we talk and chat and see if it's a good fit for you. It's definitely a accessible option in comparison to working with me one-to-one, and a lot of people have seen great success with it. So hope to see you in there. Great. Yeah, so a couple different options if anyone is interested in pursuing that further. And again, thank you so much for being here. It was such a treat Thank you so much for having me, Courtney. I appreciate it. Thanks for hanging out with me today and tuning into the Nourished Living Podcast. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and found something you can start implementing right away to kickstart your nourished transformation. If you loved this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from these insights. You can also connect with me over on Instagram at Nourished Living for more resources and support. Until next time, stay nourished.