What’s Really Wrecking Your Digestion & Cycle: Gut Health with Dr. Ashley de Luna

Have you tried elimination diets, cut out countless foods, and done random internet cleanses, only to find yourself still dealing with uncomfortable bloating, irregular periods and gut issues? In this episode, we sit down with licensed naturopathic doctor, yoga instructor, and women's health expert, Dr. Ashley de Luna. Dr. de Luna shares her personal journey navigating severe gut issues from her earlier days as a vegetarian to medical school, and reveals why the secret to her healing wasn't a restrictive vegan diet—it was regulating her nervous system.  

We pull back the curtain on how the gut acts as our "second brain" and why true digestive wellness must start with a safe, grounded nervous system. Dr. de Luna breaks down the physiology of the vagus nerve and explains why eating while stressed prevents your body from properly releasing digestive enzymes. You will learn direct, actionable strategies to shift your body out of "fight or flight" and into a "rest and digest" state. We also touch on parasites, mold, leaky gut, and hormones, for a holistic conversation on gut health for women.

RESOURCES

EWG Tap Water Database - https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/
Aqua True Water Filter - https://aquatru.com

Additional resources from this episode can be found at: https://www.fuelwitherin.com/podcast/v/9s7xy3j7x7sz638y7scjlwwpfw85j6 

CONNECT WITH DR. ASHLEY DE LUNA

Instagram: @doctordeluna

Website: https://drdaluna.com

Dr. de Luna’s Drop It Like It's Doc Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/drop-it-like-its-duck/id1541234567 

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast and its show notes is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as medical advice or as a substitute for the advice of a physician or other healthcare professional. Using this information does not create a doctor-patient relationship.

Do not use this information to diagnose or treat any health problem or to prescribe any medication or treatment. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, exercise routine, or medications, or before starting any herbal or nutritional supplements. Statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The use of any information provided is solely at your own risk. This disclaimer also applies to any of the guests on the podcast.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Vagal nerve exercises are going to be key, especially if someone has that nervous system piece and the gut piece. And vagal nerve exercises are things that strengthen that nerve and tell that nerve to fire so that everything downstream receives the benefit. So that would be things like humming, singing, gargling, stimulating the gag reflex, usually with like a toothbrush. You're not throwing up. We do not want you to throw up. We just want, you know, when you brush your teeth too far back and you go, uh, and then your eyes water. That's truly your parasympathetic nervous system.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Find Your Fuel, the podcast where we bring you stories from women who've overcome different physical, mental, and emotional struggles and found the fuel to live their best lives. I'm your host, Erin Martin. And if you've ever felt like you're constantly bloated and stressed, and that your gut could be the culprit, then today's conversation is for you. Our guest, Dr. Ashley DeLuna, knows this struggle well, having overcome a protein deficiency, irregular and painful periods, alongside dealing with hidden parasite infections and mold. Her journey ultimately led to achieving a regulated nervous system and healthy gut. So we dive into leaky gut, IBS, why intermittent fasting and skipping breakfast is doing more harm than good, the side effects of GLP1s on the gut, and what lifestyle changes you can do for a healthier gut. Dr. Ashley Deluna is a licensed naturopathic doctor, yoga instructor, and educator. She's also the host of the Drop It Like It's Doc podcast. Her passion is to share what she's learned along her health journey. And I'm so excited to share some of that as your fuel for today.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

You've probably heard, as have your listeners, that the root of all health is in the gut. And I do believe that that to be true on some level. However, I would almost take a step back and say that the root of all health comes from the nervous system, because the nervous system is in direct communication with the gut. And I think that this is gonna resonate with a lot of your listeners because so often we do all the things, right? And we want to do this cleanse or do this diet or do this to work on the gut. But ultimately, if your nervous system is not in a space where it feels safe, your digestive system is just gonna throw out a whole bunch of symptoms at you, which I'm happy to share a little bit about my gut story because that is truly what was going on. Absolutely. So I, you know, your listeners, if they're watching, maybe not, I'm a I'm a pretty small human and I am a yoga instructor as well, on top of the many other hats that I wear. And I used to have to time when I would eat based on when I was going to teach a class because I would be bloated and embarrassed, just embarrassed because in a yoga class, you know, you're in tight little clothes, or even even going back, you know, further, I was a ballerina. So, you know, you're always in a little leotard and your body's just on display. And I was so bloated all the time. And, you know, for me, it wasn't really until I went into medical school that I started to understand why this is happening, how it's happening. And at first, ultimately, I thought that it was because of foods I was eating. And I was a vegan at the time, which is comical to me now for a few reasons. Um, it was not medicinal for my body. In fact, I had never been more out of balance when I was vegan. Just want to throw that out there. But it wasn't until I started to understand how the gut worked that I actually fully healed my gut and I don't experience those symptoms at all. So I thought it was foods, and you know, I did an elimination diet. I did all the fancy, fun, functional tests to see what foods I was reactive to. And all these different foods came up. And what happened is that I became so restrictive and I avoided all of those foods, and I was already vegan, and I was just feeling really isolated and confused and angry and you know, overwhelmed. What am I supposed to eat? Why is my body reacting this way? And it wasn't until I started working on the nervous system and nervous system regulation and how to get myself into the parasympathetic nervous system, on top of eating protein, way more protein, like meat, that my gut completely healed itself. And I don't have any symptoms of bloating anymore. I didn't wear belly. Is that your only symptom? You know, I had a lot of bloating, but I also there's many layers to my gut, but I would say bloating was the most concerning one, the one that would occupy my mind all the time, the one that I was most self-conscious about. Other things that would happen, you know, were related to I was lactose intolerant, but I grew up on pizza. So, you know, I have the typical lactose intolerant belly that any of your listeners that are lactose intolerant probably know you get really stinky, clear out of room quite quickly. Um, but I also would get pain, abdominal pain. And it turns out that in my journey, I realized that I was gluten intolerant. And once I took the gluten out, I've never had that pain again, unless I get glutened. So I like to say when I'm out.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

And so, what cue do you in in medical school school then to investigate the nervous system? What research or information did you stumble upon that pointed you in that direction?

SPEAKER_02 5:26

It was more so just understanding the anatomy and the physiology of the gut. And the physiology of the gut is, you know, it's our second brain. There are so many nerves that are weaving through it. And first year, first quarter, we took neurology. And that really just blew my mind because I was blessed in that the teacher that was teaching us, he was a neurologist, but he wasn't a typical neurologist. He was a functional neurologist. So he really liked to talk about kind of like functional medicine, but in the window, all nervous system. And he just started showing us these unbelievable stories and these unbelievable transformations just on working on the nervous system. And a lot of it was vagal nerve. And the vagus nerve is a cranial nerve, and the cranial nerves are starting in the head, but they, you know, brainstem actually, but then they are touching so much of your body and cranial nerve 10, the vagus nerve, truly comes from your brainstem and touches almost your entire gut. And that is what is in control of the parasympathetic nervous system. So if that is not functioning optimally, your gut is not receiving the signals to release digestive enzymes, to have motility. So that could cause every symptom under the sun alone.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

So what type of things did you do then? I mean, my brain immediately goes to shake plates, but I'm pretty sure there's probably other things involved. And it wasn't that.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

It was not a shake plate, nothing against them, but that was not it. Um, and you know, it's actually interesting to me that I did so much nervous system regulation while in one of the most stressful times of my life, which is medical. Yeah. So I describe it as being shot out of a cannon. That's what I would describe to people that asked me what it felt like. But as far as nervous system regulation, I'm a yogi at heart. So I just took my yoga practice really seriously. And there, I would go to yoga every single day. Whether that was me waking up before my classes started and going to a 6 a.m. class, even though I was tired and wanted to sleep, I knew it would set my day up for success. Or, you know, doing other types of mindfulness and meditation things. And I also love herbs for this. There's a lot of herbs that can help your nervous system switch into the parasympathetic state.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

And how could you tell that it was working or you were on the right path? Because I think so often it's like we are all super busy, different levels of stress. And so some stress feels normal, some we know it's not a good level of normal. So, how do we know if we need to work on our nervous system or know if we're improving it? It's one of those subjective, squishy things that it's hard to know. How could you tune into that or know when you were making progress or when you needed help?

SPEAKER_02 7:59

Good question. And I would argue to say that almost everyone has to work on their stress at this point of our lives, just given, you know, the rhythms of our day and how often this is something I talk to a lot of my patients about. Just the that feeling that you get when you wake up in the morning. If you wake up with ease and you're just rolling into your day and you know, you're you're lounging and you're making your breakfast and you're feeling embodied and you're present. But that's not how most people wake up. They wake up, you know, late, they are rushing, they barely have time to eat breakfast. And that is actually something that is really, really, really important is that so many people don't even slow down around mealtime. So then they think, oh, it's this food, or oh, I have SIBO, or oh, I have X, Y, or Z, but really it's just that your body, you didn't even chew your food. So it's going to ferment. So I guess, you know, like going back to your original question that almost everyone, if you experience stress, just ask yourself, what would I rate my stress on a scale of one to 10? And if it's above a three, you probably want to work on your stress, especially if gut health is a concern for you. And for me, I knew I was getting better because I started feeling better. I started feeling more present. I didn't feel like I was going to jump out of my skin. I also felt like I was able to focus better because when we're stressed, we're not able to be grounded and focused. And also, I mean, my gut healed and I wasn't bloated and uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Yeah, there's so often where I'll hear people say, like, oh, I've like gained three pounds or four pounds after this meal. And it's like, okay, you don't literally gain four pounds of muscle or fat in two days. Like that is either inflammation, food in your belly, water weight, but so much of it is the bloating and inflammation piece of it. And I like that you mentioned the just chew your freaking food thing, because I think oftentimes too, we'll have protein smoothies or something that's quick and it's liquid. But actually, chewing does so much for your body. So, like chew and relax when you chew. Don't be like scarfing it down in the car, which I mean, I'm guilty of many times too.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

We gotta do what we gotta do sometimes. You know, if it's like a situational thing, you'll be fine. But in general, food is such a beautiful thing. I love food. I really do. It's it's a source of joy in my life, and food should be a source of pleasure. And so often in our day-to-day, we devoid ourselves of things that bring us joy and things that bring us pleasure because we think that our job is more important, or answering this email is more important, or you know, checking Instagram while you're eating is more important and none of those things are real. And if your nervous system is not in the present state to eat, and the way that you will know this is are you looking at your food and salivating? Because if you're not salivating, that means that your nervous system is not in the parasympathetic rest and digest state, because the parasympathetic nervous system primes the whole gut. So you'll feel calm, but you'll also feel your mouth salivate, you might feel your tummy growl, you are fully there. So that's already set up. And then chewing your food is creating this signal to your brain, hey, I'm eating. Can you release more digestive enzymes? And if we are digesting these huge pieces of food, not chewing them at all, your body was not designed to break down these large food molecules. It was designed to break down small food molecules into their building blocks. So amino acids or simple sugars and things like that. But if we are not chewing, your gut cannot break them down. But what can is the bacteria in your body. So then your bacteria eat them, they ferment your food, you get bloated and gassy and uncomfortable. And that is the starting point of leaky gut, which causes a whole slew of other things as well.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Yeah. So for you, yoga was a big tool. If someone doesn't like yoga or doesn't do yoga, is there any other tips that you would have for them on ways to regulate their nervous system? Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

There's so many. So any type of mindfulness activity, mindfulness could be anything that you're fully present in. You could be mindful while you do the dishes. You could be mindful while you go on a walk. But I would say vagal nerve exercises are going to be key, especially if someone has that nervous system piece and the gut piece. And vagal nerve exercises are things that strengthen that nerve and tell that nerve to fire so that everything downstream receives the benefit. So that would be things like humming, singing, gargling, stimulating the gag reflex. Usually with like a toothbrush, you're not throwing up. We do not want you to throw up. We just want, you know, when you brush your teeth too far back and you go, uh, and then your eyes water. That's truly your parasympathetic nervous system. Cold showers. I would not say cold plunging, cold showers, um, some other vagal nerve things, different breathing exercises, deep diaphragmatic breathing, and truly anything that just makes you feel present. So for some of my patients, I tell them to just sit in the sun with your eyes closed for five minutes and just focus on how good the sun feels on your skin.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Which I guarantee there are so many people who don't even just like take five seconds to just sit.

unknown 13:00

I know.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

I know. It's it's it's kind of crazy how we show up as humans and how disconnected we are just from our lives and our purpose and our joy. And I think that that's something that we could all work on.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Until some type of health crisis, you know, dramatically shoves us into better understanding our bodies to try to figure things out. So it sounds like for you, nutrition was a good piece of the other piece of the puzzle. Can you share more about what your diet was like versus what you switched and how that helped?

SPEAKER_02 13:34

Yeah, absolutely. So I was living in California for medical school, and you know, California is a health hub, and there's juice bars everywhere, and you have smoothies and acai bowls and things like that. And I moved there and I became vegan, and I was severely protein deficient. And it wasn't until, you know, we were in nutrition and breaking down what we were eating in a day, and I could see the numbers, and it was shocking to me how little protein I was getting every day. You were looking at actual macros? Yes, I was. It was very low. And, you know, I was surviving on like hummus and sweet potatoes, and I would have like quinoa and lentils and things. I thought I was getting enough protein, but absolutely not. And it's actually really interesting to me once I was reflecting on this this week, actually, that once I started adding in meat, my body changed. Nothing else changed. My exercise, you know, but when I started eating more protein, literally my my whole body transformed. And I just look very different now from having those building blocks. But for me, a big part of it was I was just eating a lot of raw vegetables. I was eating a lot of, I'd wake up every single morning and have a cold smoothie. For lunch, I would have a cold salad. And for dinner, you know, I'd probably have some cooked veggies and things, but that was a big part of bloating. Absolutely, because a gut, you know, we're all different. And many digestive fires are very strong and they can break down raw vegetables, and it's fine. However, a lot of people don't, especially if they're working on gut health. Your digestive fire is something that you want to work on. And warm cooked foods will be way easier to digest. And also just in smoothies and things like that, you're getting so many, oftentimes, fruits. You're getting an unbelievable amount of sugar, and you're just feeding bacteria that like to ferment them.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

And when they ferment them, you bloat and and you don't lose nutrients with uh softening of the vegetables.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

No, I mean, there's different ways to cook it, and of course, it will impact nutritional profile, that is without a doubt. But is it going to be a concern for nutritional deficiency? No, I would say honestly, more of a concern is the quality of vegetables that you're getting over anything. Yeah, in terms of trying to buy organic or any of that kind of yeah, and in this country, you know, who knows what goes on with our labeling and our food system? It's atrocious. That sounds like yes, it is. So I would say the best option is growing it yourself, if possible, or knowing where your food comes from, like truly knowing the farmer and going to farmers markets or shopping local in those small little markets, and you'll taste the difference.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Yeah. And I love actually just visited now that farmers markets are open in Colorado. Yeah, yeah. They're probably open year-round in other places, but they had a great seasonal chart as well of the vegetables and fruits of when they are in season and basically when you should be eating different things, which I think is super fun if you can get into just eating with that 365 degree kind of swap out. Like you don't always, I'm so boring. I have one go-to, eat it on repeat every day, which maybe isn't necessarily bad, but there's ways to get variety in there and eat with the seasons that I think is very beneficial to just how we are built and our way of life. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

And you you brought up something that I think is really important in that our gut, our gut is filled with bacteria, viruses, yeast. We want them there. We want an ecosystem, we want it to be diverse because they're all doing something different. They're some of them are helping us break down our food, some are helping to create vitamins, some are helping to, you know, ward off pathogens. And we want as much a variety as possible. And the way that we create that variety is by feeding different species, and different species eat different, different plant fibers. So the more diversity that you could have in your diet, the better. And that's all plants. So that's fruits, veggies, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, all of it.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Oh, I love it. And yeah, your experience reminds me of something similar for me in that I started tracking macros. I, because of the protein craze, was hitting protein just fine, but I was wildly under carbs. Minor detail, especially because I was running an ultra, like I did my first 50K. So I needed some true fuel. And I thought, oh, I was having gels during runs. I'm fueling myself enough. And so literally when I incorporated some more carbohydrates upped my calorie intake, I gained like four pounds of muscle in a longer time span, but literally by no doing nothing else. My training was the same. The only thing I changed was nutrition because I was, you know, just under the carbs or bad mindset that we grew up with, which is like, ugh, ugh.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

I know. I know. And you know, then keto was such a craze and paleo and all these things. And, you know, I'm I'm a huge fan of listening to your body. I don't think that everyone should be eating the same thing. I think that everyone has a unique physiology. But I think that what has also happened is that so many individuals are so, so, so low carb that that's then implementing their menstrual cycles. Because if we don't have enough carbs, you won't ovulate, or you can have really irregular periods. And it's it's just a stressor on your body because your body prefers glucose. It will be able to convert, you know, some protein and some fat to glucose that's called gluconeogenesis, but your body really does love carbs, especially healthy carbs. We need them.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Yeah. And on the hormone front, there's so much there. I mean, oh my gosh. And I know you're also an expert in women's hormones. So I'm curious when you went through your gut issue, did you have any impact on your cycle or your hormones specifically or no? Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

I had terribly irregular periods. And I thought it was just the stress from medical school. And at this point, you know, I was concerned though. I was concerned that I was gonna have issues getting pregnant when I wanted to. And I remember going to the doctor and asking to test my hormones and seeing what was wrong because, you know, I was on birth control forever, then went off. And I feel like so many women are so focused on not getting pregnant that then when it gets to that point, it just opens up this whole box of questions. And yes, my period were very irregular. And then when I did get them, holy moly were they painful.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

No more though. They're perfect, regular.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Wow, that's incredible. And knowing too, I'm curious what your take is on understanding what is best for your body. Like, are there tests out there? Is it just experimenting with food and doing elimination diets to see what doesn't sit well versus what does? Like, what would you recommend for women to better understand their body and what they need?

SPEAKER_02 20:33

That's a really good question. And I think that it really just starts with being present with your body because I work so often with women that say, you know, I have symptoms with X, Y, and Z, but they may be in that stress state the entire time that they're eating. So of course their body is not going to respond well to anything that's put in. And I will also say that when you're when you're doing this investigation, you want to be mindful that you're eating real food, right? Because of course your body's not going to react well to many foods that you eat out because they have seed oils and they're really inflammatory. So being really clear on if this is something that you want to do, focusing first maybe on a month or so of just eating really clean, eating real foods, foods that come from the earth, letting some of that inflammation go down. And also during that time, focusing on your nervous system. So focusing on am I present when I eat? Am I looking at my phone when I eat? Am I even chewing? And also something else really important, and then I'll continue down this road, but I don't want to forget to mention this is that you do not want to drink water when you're eating. Because if you are drinking water when you're eating, you're going to dilute your digestive enzymes and you will think you're reacting to a food because you'll be bloated and uncomfortable after that meal, but it's not the food. And honestly, most of the time it's not the food. Most of the time it is the gut. It's, it's, you know, it's the state of the gut based on inflammation, or it's the state of the nervous system when you're eating, which is also, you know, chicken or the egg. They they both talk to one another. So I would say getting your foundations in check, eating amazing food. And then at that point, you'll have a much clearer path of communication from your gut to your brain so that you can actually assess hey, I actually felt a little weird after I ate that. And I think that most of your listeners will actually be shocked that they find that their body responds well to everything when their nervous system is in a happy state. I mean, for me, I'm just genetically sensitive to gluten. That's not something that I'm going to change. I can't regulate myself to do that. I'm also lactose intolerant. I can't regulate myself to make that enzyme. It's just not going to happen. So those are two just obvious things for me.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Yeah. And I've also found that for me, I've become a little bit more intolerant of things as I age. So like egg whites or eggs, I never used to have a problem with. And then recently I was like, oh yeah, like I've tested enough over the past year after getting the foundations, like you said, down. And I'm like, my body doesn't sit well with eggs. Like, no, they're my favorite. But it can also, it seems like evolve as you get older.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

And I think that sometimes our bodies might, this is something that can happen too. If we eat something every single day, every single day, which we all do on some level, if we do that, your body will become tolerant to it. So your body will almost start to quiet symptoms because it knows that it's going to consume them the next day. So it kind of silences the signal. But say that you take a little bit of a break and then you come back to that food. And if your body still is in that same physiological space of not liking that food, it might be louder. And this actually happens a lot for a lot of my patients when I have them go off of gluten. And, you know, they'll they'll give it some time and they'll be eating gluten every day prior. And they say, you know, it's fine. I don't really have any gut symptoms that happen, blah, blah, blah. But then they come off of gluten and then they retry it and they're like, holy moly, I had got a migraine. I got a rash. I was so bloated. I had this abdominal pain, whatever it is. But speaking to you, how you're saying that, you know, it showed up later in life as well, that could be just related to, you know, your gut. It could just be related to maybe, you know, even though you've done work on your gut, perhaps your gut is a little irritated by eggs. But also maybe that is just a true intolerance that now you're able to recognize because some of that background inflammation went down and you could just see it much more clearly.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Yeah, that's so good. And I love that you talk about the foundations too, because it is wild to me how many people have an issue or a symptom and then go to a doctor and it just jumps to some other conversation that is not immediately asking, how is your diet? How is nutrition? How is movement? How is getting outside? I mean, there are some very simple, crazy things that it blows my mind that that is not even a question when trying to figure out what the problem is.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

Couldn't agree more, my friend. Couldn't agree more. And you know, I I love gut testing. I love food testing. I love all the tests, I love imaging, but I never, ever, ever start there with my patients because also if you have a leaky gut, which I would say many people have, it's really easy. Which can you define what a leaky gut is? Yes, thank you. So your gut is from truly from your mouth to your anus, is a single layer of cells. And that single layer of cells right underneath it is your blood, is your lymph, are your nerves. So this single layer of cells, all of them are intertwined on some level and they're holding hands with proteins. So there shouldn't be able, so say that this where my thumbs are is the gut lumen, and where my pinkies are is the blood. So food particles should not be able to get through. Simple molecules should. So amino acids, simple sugars, you know, things like that, fatty acid, they should be able to get through. They have transporters, and your gut was designed to do that. However, if there's inflammation in your gut, which can happen from antibiotics, from NSAIDs or pain medications, from most medications, honestly, from alcohol. Alcohol can immediately do this. Um, I think I already said stress, but I'll say stress again, birth control, eating foods that your body doesn't like, having an infection, getting, you know, food poisoning. I could go on and on and on and list all the things that could cause that. But when that single layer of cells open, now things can just travel on through. They can travel on through to get to the blood. And your blood and your immune system, you have immune cells all underneath as well. They go, why is there a massive piece of corn? That should not be here. That should not be here. So then your immune system mounts an immune response. That's what it's supposed to do, because your immune system is supposed to go around and say, Should this be here? Because if not, let's clear it out. And it does that with inflammation. So now you have all of these things, not only just food, you have microbes now in your blood that shouldn't be there because your gut has microbes in it. You have inflammatory cytokines, you have all sorts of things now that are in your blood, and your blood doesn't just stay in your gut, it travels everywhere. So now this message is going throughout your entire body that there is something foreign in you that needs to be cleared out. So for some people, they've got migraines, they'll get rashes, you could get joint pain, you could have symptoms that are far outside of your gut, and that is truly just because of that leaky gut picture. And when you have leaky gut, which almost all of the patients that come to see me to work on their gut, that's something that we have to work on first, sealing off the gut lining, you know, making sure that the microbiome is happy, all of that. But if you do some type of um like food testing in particular during that time, it's not going to be accurate because you will have immune responses to foods that you don't have a true sensitivity to. It's just that your immune system is seeing these foods because they're entering your blood. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_00 27:54

Yes, absolutely. So, what else do your patients, can your patients do, or do you coach or work with them on to help with that outside of the foundations that you already talked about? Is there anything else?

SPEAKER_02 28:06

There's so many things, and everything is really tailored to the person in front of me. So everyone has their own unique physiology and own unique plan that they'll get when they work with someone like me. And I hope that that's the case for, you know, anyone that's listening to this. If you're working with someone one-on-one, if they're like, this is your gut health plan that I give to all of my people, that's not great because you have your own history, you have your own body, you have your own everything that needs to be considered. So I usually do the foundations, of course. We do a lot of nervous system stuff. We um work on just eating real food because a lot of people don't eat real food, honestly. Um, we talk about food quality, we talk a lot about water too, whether it's eating, the eating piece that I was sharing earlier about how eating and hydrating are two separate things. You don't want to dilute your stomach acid and your digestive enzymes, but we also talk about water quality because that is a huge impact on leaky gut as well. So we are doing all these things simultaneously, and I do use different herbs and botanicals, and they're all related to the person in front of me. So sometimes people need more help with motility. So I would get them some herbs for motility. Sometimes people have significant inflammation. I would do herbs to calm the inflammation. Different supplements like L-glutamine are really helpful that maybe your listeners have heard about. You know, probiotics I also love, but sometimes I wait a little bit later to layer in the probiotics. So everyone's a little bit of a different recipe.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Yeah, which is why just knowing yourself is so important because I think people do think, oh, like gut health matters. I'm gonna take a probiotic. It's like, hold up. Like, maybe not that's the, you know, you want to be healthy. Um, but just taking some random probiotic that you get at the store that looks good is not the route to that. Like, unfortunately, it is a deeper understanding of knowing yourself and your body, and then helping your doctor and other medical professionals who can customize a one-on-one solution, help them help you because you are knowledge enough or just at least know how to ask the right questions and have the right conversation because you have that vested interest in yourself. So I think there's a huge piece of, I mean, kind of us being lazy, and I've done that too. I've like, I just will randomly take things to see if it helps. That's not good. Like I need to do the hard work first and the basics, and then, you know, go into exploring other options.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

Yes, beautifully said. And, you know, in the defense of conventional doctors, they're not trained in this stuff. They're just not. They they are not, unless they took additional coursework. They are trained in someone comes to me with IBS, I give them this medication. Someone comes to me with this, I give them that. I order this test, and it's very cut and dry, it's very black and white, but the gut is not black and white, it's very complex, which is why there's so many functional gut disorders, because you might not even have a diagnosis. You might not have an issue at all. And I mean, speaking to something like GERD, which is, you know, um acid reflux, so often you go to your doctor, you say, Hey, I'm having burning, whatever it is, and they immediately put you on a proton pump inhibitor, which is going to cause you to be severely deficient and many vitamins and minerals. So now you're gonna have all these other issues going down. And then what? You're just supposed to be on that for the rest of your life when really the issue is that you are not slowing down when you're eating. And if your parasympathetic nervous system isn't telling your lower esophageal sphincter, which is the bottom of your esophagus and where it attaches to your stomach, if your nervous system isn't telling that to close, of course food is gonna come up. So so many things are a nervous system issue. And again, unfortunately, it's just not in their in their curriculum to learn.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

Yeah. Is there any other examples like that that are super common with the nervous system that's impacting the GI?

SPEAKER_02 31:58

I would honestly say that almost all of IBS is related to the nervous system. Yes. And you know, for IBS, so many people have had all the tests done. They've had imaging done. There's nothing in there, there's nothing wrong at all. But they might have constipation or diarrhea. And honestly, overall, I would say that constipation and motility issues are very, very, very much related to the nervous system because your nervous system, it tells the gut to contract. So if your nervous system is not telling your gut to contract, you're not going to have motility and things will get stuck. But I also see that constipation is very much related to hydration and diet too and things like that. But so many of them, truly so many of them, are related to the nervous system.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Yeah, and on the hydration front, you mentioned uh what you drank matters. So are you saying like filtered water? Is that your go-to? And is there a specific type of filtered water or like a void tap? Like what's uh what's behind that? I would say always test your water that you have at home.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

So if you have a well, you might be good. Like here in this beautiful house that I'm in, I have a well and I had it tested. I still have a house filter though. I still have a filter on my drinking water. Um, but you can go to the environmental working group's website and look up what's in your tap water. You could truly just look it up online, ewg.org tap water database. You type in your zip code and it will tell you exactly what is coming out of your tap. And it is unbelievable. It is unbelievable what is in your tap, and it will show you how high it is and what the associated health risks are. And when I was living in California, there was about, I don't know, maybe 20 that were above guidelines, and almost all of them are cancer-causing. So I would want to know that. And I would definitely not want to drink that water, which I do not, um, and did not. So I would say, you know, some water might be okay coming out of a tap, but you want to test it, whether that is, you know, private testing or seeing what data is available online. I would almost promise that 95% of your listeners' water is not going to be up to par. So then I would recommend drinking filtered water. I would not recommend drinking bottled water because then you're just getting the plastics. And honestly, most of the bottled water is just owned by the big corporations of America, like Coca-Cola. So you're just getting tap water from another town, putting it in a fancy bottle, having it taste like plastic and being told that it's filtered. Um, I would recommend either going and to like a water store, which I never knew what a water store was because here where I am right now in New York, they don't have them because the water's really good. I had never heard of this either. But in Colorado, I was actually curious because you probably have pretty decent water there. Um, who knows? But depending where I guess. But I'm I'm gonna check after this for sure. You should. And, you know, there's water stores where you could truly go in and refill jugs and get them, you know, or even delivered. Or I definitely recommend reverse osmosis water. And I'm happy to share um my favorite water with you and that you can share with your listeners. It's aqua true.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Yeah, because what does reverse osmosis water even mean?

SPEAKER_02 35:02

So it's related to the the processing of the water in which it's using different filters to pull all the contaminants out. So at the end, you get very, very, very, very, very clean water. And however, then you need to add minerals back in because we need minerals in our water. So sometimes people, when they switch to reverse osmosis water, they're like, wait, I'm thirsty all the time. I feel like I'm peeing all the time. And it's because you don't have the water to maintain that hydration to your cells. But I always recommend that and I always recommend minerals. Yeah. What's your take on mineral water then? Mineral water, I think if it's if it's from a good source, a good spring, that's phenomenal. That's ideal, right? Like if we have minerals from the earth in our water. However, I would say that a lot of mineral waters are not clean. It's just, you know, marketing. So almost all bottled water, I would say, is trash. Even the really fancy ones. They're they're still not great.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

Oh, even like Pellegrino in the glass bottle. That's my toxic trait. I drink a lot of those.

SPEAKER_02 36:00

Yeah. Yeah. Pellegrino, I'm not sure where it falls on kind of the scale of what's in there, but I I don't think it's great. Or like Topo Chico, for example, like so many people love Topo Chico, it is ridiculously contaminated.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

Oh, yeah. I just had a microplastics expert on the podcast last week. He was talking about the micro, I mean, microplastics are everywhere, including your water. And I started Googling the water thing. And Topo Chico, yeah, it's like the amount of microplastics in a Topo Chico bottle is like four or five times higher than any other bottle as well. So it's like, wow, not all waters are the same at all. So then what else do you do? I'm curious, just on the nutrition front as well. Like, what do your type of meals look like these days?

SPEAKER_02 36:51

Yeah, I I eat simply, I eat, you know, for breakfast. It's usually eggs and avocado, gluten-free toast with butter and some fruit. For lunch is almost always leftover dinner, which is usually, I eat a lot of steak and I eat a lot of beef. And I get it right from the farm and I love it. Um, so it's usually some type of leftovers with vegetables. And, you know, my my um carbs are usually either potatoes or rice. And then dinner is almost the exact same thing as lunch, except switch it out for something different. We eat a lot of vegetables in this house. Now that it's nice and warm out, I love salads. So I always always have like a salad with a cooked vegetable with my meat.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

And that sounds heavenly.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

Yeah, lots of potatoes. I I know I already said that, but we love potatoes, and I definitely fell into the the realm of too low carb for a while there as well. So feels good to have carbs, and I'm also breastfeeding, so we need carbs. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Yes, that's a whole nother wild ride right right there. But yeah, your your meal planning or meals kind of sound a lot like mine. We like to do a lot of bulk cooking of meats so that then we can just use them in bowls or whatever for lunch and dinners throughout the week. And it doesn't feel like a huge stretch for meal planning or anything crazy. It's just really easy to just bulk make it and throw stuff together and just use the basics. It's like, okay, yeah, what do you want to throw together with chicken? You've got some rice, you could put some spinach in there, you could do other vegetables. I love a lot of sweet potatoes and just mix them into different ways with nuts and voila. Like you can do something different every day.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Exactly. And I love that you said bowls because bowls are so underrated. And you could switch up the flavor profile, and you could have a taco bowl. You can have like um, we make this, I call it sugar beef, which is so funny because it's definitely not sugar beef, but like my my man caramelizes it in such a good way with this like gluten-free teriyaki sauce. We make that with broccoli, with rice, you know, and it's the same beef. It's just we switch up the way that it the sauce on it and the veggie, and then you know, maybe make a little sauce to put on top of it. And it's I think that we overcomplicate things, and it's yeah, eating healthy can be pretty straightforward. Just did this food come from the earth? Perfect, cook it and eat it.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

Yeah. I'm in a fitness program right now, and one of their big things is just always checking in on the basics, and one of those basics being how many times are you eating out every day? Yes. Like eat whole foods and try to minimize the amount that you're eating out. Not in that there's are a lot of options, I think, for great food out these days as compared to, you know, maybe back in the day, but still, you never really know what seeds, oils, all the extras that are going into meals actually are. So, how can you have most of your meals at home and all whole whole food and you're gonna be doing awesome? Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 39:50

And I think that if a lot of your listeners started there, and also just recognizing, and I used to be this person, so I hope that no one feels judged by any means, but saying, I don't have time to cook, I don't like to cook. Well, honey, you you gotta make time for it because that's how you nourish yourself, and that is you infusing love into your body. So if you don't have time, maybe you're blessed with a partner that does have the time, that loves to feed you, but many of us are not. So, you know, prioritizing that will be a significant determinant of health for your entire life. You should not be too busy to eat, you should not be in a rush and that you can't sit down and eat your meal. You should never eat your meal on the go, and you should never skip meals either.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

Hmm. Yeah. And are there any supplements that you personally take? Oh, yes, I take many supplements in regards to which part? Yeah, nutrients or anything, I guess, specific to your body where you're like, I know I need this, and you know, in your specific case you do, or if there's things specific to the gut that you you take because you know it's beneficial.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

Yes, I'm happy to talk through what I put inside my beautiful body every day. So, like I said, I am breastfeeding, so I do take a prenatal vitamin still as well because my baby's getting my nutrients and I can try to eat as good as I can, but she's stealing them. Yeah, she's taking them. So I do that. I take extra minerals and I actually put them in my water because I have reverse osmosis water. I take fish oil for I'm growing a brain, a little baby brain. I take magnesium at night before I go to sleep because it helps me relax. I take herbs for my nervous system. They're called adaptogens, just because this last year has thrown me a lot of really fun curveballs. So I'm just trying to support my nervous system the best that I can. And I also take nothing specific for my gut right now, honestly, because my gut is thriving and she doesn't need anything, I would say, outside of my, you know, nervous system stuff that I work on daily. But something else that I do use that has honestly been a game changer for me are these phototherapy patches that I don't know if you or your listeners have look have heard about, but they're these phototherapy patches that you put on your body. And I actually have one right here, which I wasn't planning on talking about these, but since you asked. Um this is the pack that they come in, and there are these little patches. And basically there's nothing on this patch other than a grid that is stimulated. This is gonna sound like I'm making this up, but this grid that is stimulated by your body's own light. We produce light. We are literally light beings. This is a scientific fact. So we have light that is emitted from our bodies, and when that light is emitted, it activates this grid to then stimulate different healing pathways in the body. So I use this one for just overall healing. It actually stimulates stem cell production. And I take another one for nervous system regulation. So it actually is very much in alignment with what we're talking about today. But those have been really fun to layer in.

SPEAKER_00 42:52

What had have you felt an actual difference with them? Or was it just kind of another piece layered into the puzzle where overall you feel a little bit better as opposed to a hard-feeling difference?

SPEAKER_02 43:03

So, you know, when if you've taken magnesium before, you do just feel you feel it. You can feel a little lighter, but it's not so much as taking, you know, something to knock you out. It's not gonna, you know, make you feel cognitively altered. Yeah. But it does, you know, it kind of takes the buzz away in the background and it makes you feel like your body's taking an exhale. That's how I feel with the patch. That's for nervous system regulation. I just feel like everything flows easier. The day is less chaotic. I have less internal tension. I can absolutely feel a shift with that. With this one, it's called X39. This one, I just notice really steady energy throughout the day. And I notice that my brain just functions a bit better. I don't have one on right now. Who knows how good this podcast would be if I had one on right now? Um, but I also just feel as if my body heals faster when I am using them, and it is noticeable for. Me because I carry around a heavy baby all day and I just feel like my muscles bounce back faster.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

I have never heard of those. That's cool. And another one that I just started to learn about too is adaptogens. Can you explain a little bit more about those? Of course.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

So the world of botanical medicine is incredible. And adaptogens are a group of herbs that help your body adapt. So they all work in a very different way. And different herbs target different pathways in the body. But as a family, they help your body digest stress and help it have less of an impact, a negative impact on your body. It's not going to change your life, of course, as far as what you are experiencing stress over, but it just makes it easier to digest on a cellular level so that it's not causing your body to go into overdrive. And it does, you can feel it.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

Yeah. And one thing I also wanted to pick your brain on, um, since it's just all the rage, we see it everywhere. GLP ones, I'm curious what like what impact does that have on the gut? And then what else is just your hot take on it right now? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

So GLP1s were actually, you know, they're a drug that's been around for a while. They've been used in diabetes, and they actually mimic different hormones that we naturally produce called incretant hormones. And these hormones actually, I'm really happy that you asked this because GLP ones, you know, they have a space in which they are medicinal, and that is for diabetics. Outside of that, they can wreak havoc on the body. So they actually really slow down gastric emptying. So there's a lot of gut side effects with these drugs, in which, you know, it can cause what we call gastroparesis, in which your stomach does not function and does not digest your food well, and motility just completely slows down. So outside of that, as well, it does have direct impacts on muscle mass, including the muscle mass of your heart. There are a lot of things that have also not been really seen yet because they haven't been used on this level in this many individuals before. So I think that you can probably gather that I am not a fan. I think for that select population, it is very helpful. However, if that is not the population that you are in, I think that we as a society, we like easy fixes and a lot of people are not happy with what they look like physically. And most of the time, it's not because they're diabetic. Most of the time, it's because, you know, their diet, their lifestyle, their stress, their self-care. And if those things are not in check, and then you take something like a GLP one, it's just going to be a band-aid that you're going to be dependent on, and then you'll have other things that are going to present as a side effect, which aren't even a side effect, I would say. They're just a drug impact. They they're they're what the drug is designed to do. That's what it does. It slows down the gut tremendously.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

Yeah. And I think for me, whenever I think about this topic too, it's about the informed consent and the knowledge of what you're actually putting in your body. I wonder how many people who have taken a GLP1 that don't fall in the diabetic category that actually know that food sits in your stomach longer. I mean, that's just wild. Like, what, like, are you gonna make that trade-off of, you know, taking this if you know that food is just sitting in your stomach? I mean, that's what it sounds like because if it's slowing down digestion, it's just sitting in there longer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:31

That doesn't seem good. It's not good. And it's quite uncomfortable and it could cause a whole lot of other symptoms. So, you know, just a common thread through everything that we've talked about is the foundations and how those are impacting things and how, you know, getting your stress in control and your diet and all of that, I think that that is way more significant than taking a GLP.

SPEAKER_00 47:52

Yeah. Yes. Oh man. Well, I know uh you are such an expert in so many other things when it comes to women's health. Is there anything else that you just see super common in your patients, whether it's not in the gut world, but hormones, health, other foundations that you see is just a big thing that women face with yeah, your patient set? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 48:12

I think there's actually two things that come to mind that I want to share, if that's okay with you. Yes. And one is literally going to open up a can of worms. So we'll see where that takes us, literally and figuratively. Let's go. Parasites in my practice. I see a lot of them. At first, I thought it wasn't real because I actually had a patient come to me saying, you know, I have parasites, I have this, I have that. And I was like, okay, sure, sure. And turns out she did. And turns out I did, and turns out a lot of people in my practice did. And parasites are something that I think that we're told we just don't have in this country, as if parasites know borders and that they can't travel. But in many, many, many countries in the world and many communities in the world, they just have parasite cleansing as a part of their annual cycle, you know, in which they do it once or twice a year, whether that's through foods or, you know, herbs or even medications. And it's because of how robust they are. And something that can happen is that parasites can cause so many symptoms. So many symptoms from not only gut, but mental health symptoms. They can cause PMS, they can cause different changes in your cycle because they can be in your womb. They can cause urinary symptoms as well. They can go into your sinuses and cause chronic sinus issues. And really, for your listeners, the main piece there will be do your symptoms get worse around the full moon? And oftentimes they do, right? How many of us turn into werewolves around the full moon? And some of that is just based on hormonal shifts. But if, you know, your butt is itchy and you're bloated and your skin is freaking out, and X, Y, and Z are happening and they're worse around the full moon, it's probably a parasite. And I am a huge fan of parasite cleansing, and I am happy to give you that info too, just so that you can share it with your listeners.

SPEAKER_00 49:59

Yes, definitely a million questions. But first, what's the correlation between the parasite and the full moon then? Ooh, I love this question.

SPEAKER_02 50:06

So basically, our eyes are always assessing how much light is coming in, and that is helping us produce hormones. And around the full moon, there is a lot of light, or way more light, I will say, coming in at night. So that will change the processing of our brain to make less melatonin and more serotonin, which is usually why some people around the full moon they say that they don't sleep well. And that is because of that piece. And it could truly just be because of that, not parasites, right? I'm not saying everything that gets worse around the full moon is a parasite. But when your body is making more serotonin, serotonin actually enhances the motility of parasites. So they kind of come out of their hiding places around full moons, and that's when you will have the most symptoms because they're reproducing and having a party under that moonlight.

SPEAKER_00 50:50

Oh, wow. And so then I am illiterate in this whole arena. So is is are all parasites bad? Or is it like bacteria where there's good and bad parasites? That's a great question.

SPEAKER_02 51:05

I would say most parasites are parasitic, meaning that they are stealing from us versus some bacteria they could be commensal, meaning that, you know, they're not really doing anything. They're just living in symbiosis with us, or some that are probiotics, beneficial, they're helping us. Um, but all parasites, I would argue to say we don't want them in our bodies. So, how did you identify that you had some in your body? I am just a competitive, cynical person, I suppose. And when my patient, who is now one of my good friends, told me all these things, I'm like, there's no way. There's just no way. She's like, I guarantee you have them. Try this cleanse, see what comes out of your body. And I tried this cleanse, and I was shocked, shocked, shocked, shocked because I saw them. It was undeniable. All shapes and sizes. It was, it was unbelievable. So I physically saw them and then I continued to cleanse for honestly a year because I had such a high burden of them. And then they started coming out of my urine. They came out of my period blood. I have pictures, I sent them into labs. I was so deep in the wormhole, and it was undeniable at that point. But then also now from a clinical standpoint, I can test, I test for them, and I also see different signs on blood work that would guide me there as well.

SPEAKER_00 52:26

Hmm. So yeah, for you, was it taking a sample that you sent somewhere that they would send you pictures back? Or were you literally taking your own sample and like looking under a microscope?

SPEAKER_02 52:37

I would send it out, but also, I mean, I'm I mean, I'm a doctor, nothing grosses me out, right? But I would break apart, I would look at everything that came out of my body. Period blood, what is in there? Urine, what is in the toilet bowl, stool? Like I would literally break it up around the full moon when I was cleansing, of course, not like all my poop. And I would break it up with a chopstick. That's why I'm doing this motion, and I would see what was in there. And it was just undeniable, literally undeniable, that that's what was in there. What would they look like? All sorts of shapes and sizes. So some of them were really long, like how you would imagine a tapeworm. Um, some look like tomato skins, and those are actually called liver flukes, and they just look like a dried up tomato skin. Some were really thin and long, they're hair worms. Um, I love how graphic I'm getting. Like I just literally give it to us. This is health though. So this is in my body. So, what was the cleanse? Yes, so I love, and there's so many cleanses out there. I have only I only recommend things that I've tried and things that work for me and my patients. So I use the ParaCleanse, and it's from a company called Cellcore. I can give you that information as well because you need a practitioner to order it. And hello, I'm here. So it comes with four different supplements that you time around the full moon because, again, that's when they're the most active. And you take these supplements and they're designed to kill the parasites. So when you pass them, it's not like, you know, there's nothing, it's not Halloween-style horror movie in which things are crawling in the toilet. You know, it's they're not alive. They are immobilized. So you take these different herbal supplements that then kill them, clear them, and then there's also a binder because sometimes when you are cleansing, you release a lot of toxic metabolites. So the binder comes around, binds them so that you pass them rather than feeling sick.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

So that's why when you said you did a cleanse for about a year, it was taking those supplements for about a year to get it completely out, type thing.

SPEAKER_02 54:34

Yes, and kind of weird caveat there is that I was upset at this point because you only take them around the full moon, and I thought at some point they would stop. I just thought that they would stop, and they never stopped. They just would not stop. And then I reached out to a practitioner to say, like, hey, this is what's going on with me. Can you give me some clinical insight? Because I'm new to this parasite world and like what's happening here. And she said to me, I typically see this in only two conditions. One, if someone is living in mold, or two, if someone has breast implants, because it's just a consistent source of these toxins. And I do not have breast implants. So the option one was what I was concerned about. And then we ended up finding mold in my home, a lot of mold. So once I moved out of the mold and detoxed that out, because parasites are also, yes, they're parasitic, right? They're stealing from us, but they also really like toxic environments. So they like to eat heavy metals, they like to eat mold and they kind of keep them sequestered in your body. So in that way, you know, we can be grateful for them because they're making it so that those aren't in circulation. But if you're living in a really toxic environment or if you have breast implants, it's hard to clear them.

SPEAKER_00 55:48

Yeah. Wow. So you so then that sent you down the mold rat hole.

SPEAKER_01 55:53

I mean, well, you'll see.

SPEAKER_00 55:56

So then how did you test or identify that as well? Oh, I I found the mold.

SPEAKER_02 56:00

I don't know. We've got something going on. And right when this was happening, I was like, there's no mold in my house. There's no way. Literally, next day I'm in the bathroom, a piece of the wall falls off, and behind it is just black.

SPEAKER_00 56:15

Oh boy. So real bad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:18

It was quite bad. Yes, yes. But otherwise, you obviously can test your home for mold. And I would also recommend having a mold literate inspector come in because contractors aren't going to find it. It has to be someone that is professionally trained in finding mold, and it usually involves going behind walls, looking under the floor. It's not as simple as going in and all the BS that contractors do to say that there's no mold. And I am in a relationship with the contractor, so I've nothing against contractors. It's just you have to be mold literate.

SPEAKER_00 56:50

Yeah. And so was it that there is so many parasites in your body or that they were just reproducing? Like, do they reproduce? Is that why they were still around in there with the mold? Yeah, they had lots to eat on.

SPEAKER_02 57:02

Yep. Okay. Yes, they were just reproducing. So, you know, I was killing them and clearing them with the full moon, but they were just having a heyday. They had a heyday. Oh, yes, they did.

SPEAKER_00 57:12

Do you know of any stats or research of how many people actually have parasites then? Or is this like a new emerging field where people are realizing it and there's not that much research done around it?

SPEAKER_02 57:24

To be honest, I don't know. And I wish I knew the statistic because it's probably alarming, but I would argue to say that if you have never cleansed parasites, you have parasites.

SPEAKER_00 57:33

Yeah, I mean, that is wild. Because it is something that I have heard, but not talked about very much.

SPEAKER_02 57:40

Mm-hmm. People don't like talking about taboo things, but I like talking about everything. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:46

I mean, you don't have to necessarily maybe dig around in your toilet, but you for sure should be checking out what's coming out of your body. Like, what does your pea look like? What does your poop look like? Those are huge indicators of health.

SPEAKER_02 57:58

And women, what does your period blood look like? Like the color, the texture, the consistency, are there clots? You know, all of it matters. And I asked all these questions to my patients because it's just data.

SPEAKER_00 58:10

Yeah. And you can learn more about that on your own. You don't need to all, you know, like that's one of those simple things where again, if you can be a little bit more educated and understanding, and then as women, be able to understand these things and pass some of these key learnings to our daughters. I think it's so important that, you know, in life, there's just it's wild being a woman. So if you can give them some foundations of the craziness that's about to ensue on the health front for them, how many amazing tools are you giving them to be able to navigate their own health and understanding of their bodies in life?

SPEAKER_02 58:46

Well, I love that. And as a mama of a daughter that just pulled them the heartstrings. So yes, I couldn't agree with that more. We and also, you know, just even going back to the word that I used earlier, taboo, you know, talking about your body is not taboo, especially with your children. Who else are they going to learn it from in health class and high school where you can learn absolutely nothing? I mean, my daughter, you know, anyone that has children listening to this podcast, no, your children are with you everywhere. I go in the shower, she pops her little head in. I'm on the toilet staring at what's coming out of me. Like, she is there. She will like take toilet paper and pass it to me. And she's like, When is that? And I'm like, this is my vulva, this is my vagina, this is my butt. You know, like it's you don't have to make up these little names for your body either. Like, that's my little whatever, you know, like teach your children, yeah, their bodies so that they feel comfortable with them and not uncomfortable with very normal, healthy, physiological things.

SPEAKER_00 59:38

Yes, so good. Well, I know you said that that parasites was one thing out of another one that you might have had for things that you see with women often. Was there another one that came to mind, or was parasites the biggest, the biggest one?

SPEAKER_02 59:51

Parasite was big, but I was going to say, just in general, the amount of women that do not eat breakfast and just put collagen in their coffee and think of their eating a meal and then get thrown into a stress response all day. Their blood sugar is a wreck, they are eliminating because they want to lose weight, or because their trainer told them that intermittent fasting is good for them and now their periods are irregular. So I would say that I would also argue to say that every single woman needs to eat breakfast within an hour of waking up before coffee every day. And then what why is that for your system specifically? Because if not, your body is going to go into the stress response because if it does not have fuel, it is going to make cortisol to release fuel from your liver, from your muscles, to break down glycogen stores so that you have fuel going to your brain. And then that sets your nervous system up to be in that rhythm the entire day. And now think about what's going to happen to your gut, you know, going full circle here in this conversation.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:52

Which a lot of people that I talk to that do intermittent fasting, they'll do the stop after dinner and then delay when they start. So they'll have their first meal at noon and then last meal at like six. So it's like you are skipping a big breakfast right there.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:09

Yes. Yes, yes. And again, no judgment to anyone. I did that for a while. My hormones were a mess, my gut was a mess. I was stressed all the time. It was not, it was not pretty. It was not pretty. And I can almost promise you that anyone that is doing that doesn't feel great. They're just doing it because they're hoping to feel great or because they think something good is gonna happen. But also, you know, when cortisol is so upregulated like that in that stress state, cortisol tells your body to actually hold on to fuel and it tells your body to hold on to fat, specifically in your belly and lower belly. So I see that a lot. People saying, I just can't get rid of this. I'm I cut back my calories. I'm not doing this, I'm not doing that. And then I tell them to eat more, and I usually get this panic look over my face. But yeah, when I gain weight and I go, no, you'll probably lose weight.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:56

Yeah, which is a wild mental trip. I'm actually in that same fitness program. It's technically a body recomp program, um, but it's very focused. Right now, my goal is to build muscle and just make sure that I'm fueling correctly. Since hello, I was way under eating carbs at one point. And it is wild because it's all counterintuitive. It's like you need your body to feel safe, you need a good metabolism, like you need your body revved and feeling healthy and safe to ever be able to lose fat. Because if you're not, you're putting it in a survival-like state where it's saying, Oh, hell no, we're not getting rid of fat. Like, that's not happening. You're not safe, you're not in a good place, that's not gonna happen. So it is really hard to let go of control and make sense of eating more or you know, doing more relaxing things. So almost like doing less, eating more can get you better results, and people are too scared to take that leap or understand it. So it's kind of wild. It is.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:00

And I loved the words that you use, just helping your body feel safe, because that is ultimately the the number one rule of healing. If your body does not feel safe, I don't care what comes next in the conversation, your gut, your hormones, your weight, your headaches, your autoimmune disease, your chronic whatever, nothing will heal if your body does not feel safe. And one of the main ways that we communicate safety to our body is through stable blood sugar. And the way that we get stable blood sugar is by eating consistently and eating, you know, at regular intervals and balanced meals and all of that.

unknown 1:03:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:35

And on the flip side, is there something to letting our digestion relax and clear out cells? Like I hear that on the flip side of the benefits of fasting. But at the same time, it seems like 12-hour fast, you know, just not doing anything crazy, but eating dinner a little early and then not eating after dinner, and then eating when you wake up, seems like should be enough time to let your gut rest and cells rejuvenate. So did you have any insight or tips on that flip side of it? And that that is, I think, mostly what people are also thinking about when they do intermittent fasting is giving your gut a break.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:13

Yeah. And I think your spot on there is that, you know, we sleep. When we sleep, our body is going into healing mode. So that is plenty of time. I do think that there are some benefits for certain physiological patterns, you know, say that you're insulin resistant, say that you're working on, you know, diabetic physiology, say that you have, you know, chronic inflammation from X, Y, or Z. You might benefit from doing a water fast once a month, one day, um, in which nothing goes in your body. Or better yet, I think that most people benefit from doing soup cleanses where they just have a couple of days of soup with some good broth, some good minerals in there, you know, made from the bones of animals. It's just so easy to digest. You're getting collagen, you're getting so many molecules in there that are healing to your gut lining, and it's just giving your gut a break because it doesn't have to break down all these really hard proteins and plant fibers and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:12

Ooh, I love that. Oh, well, Dr. Deluna, thank you so much for coming on. I could pick your brain on so many things. I know you're an expert in so many realms of women's health as well. So appreciate your time. Might have to have you on later on as well. Pick your brain some more. I would love to.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:29

I so appreciate you having me on. Thank you for this wonderful conversation and truly always happy to chat with you. And if our audience would like to learn more about you, where can they go? Yeah. So my website is drdayluna.com. You can find me on Instagram, Dr Day Luna, the word Dr. Dayluna. And I have a whole bunch of courses and guides and things that talk a lot about what we chatted about today. And how could I forget? I also have a podcast. It's called Drop It Like It's Dub. And I talk about all of these topics in great detail, including parasites, mold, gut, hormones, all of it. So dive into there and always reach out if you have any questions. I love talking and I love connecting with people.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:13

I love it. We'll put those in the show notes and thank you again for coming on. You're so welcome. Thank you. Thanks for listening to another episode of Find Your Fuel. If you enjoyed the show and want to support us, please leave a comment or review. And before we go, I have to give you the obligatory medical and legal disclaimer. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. The advice and recommendations we discuss are not intended as medical advice and do not replace the treatment or care of a physician or any other primary health care provider. Using the information shared today does not create a doctor-patient relationship and it should not be used to diagnose or treat any health problem. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, exercise routine, or medications. The use of any information provided is solely at your own risk. So, in a nutshell, let's be smart and remember these stories and conversations are for educational purposes only. Help other women find the fuel to live their best lives. We'll see you in the next episode.