Gut Health

The Magic of LO’s

Dena presents us with a challenging client scenario which leads us through the anatomy and interior magic of our gut. You’ll get a big picture and super detailed geek session on gut health and living organisms (LO’s).  Theresa gets on her soap box about acid reflux and proton pump inhibitors, but hey, it’s for the benefit of listeners!  The friends agree:  for your gastrointestinal health, talk to an RD.

Edited by Jay Davis

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hello and welcome back to the Ben. This is Teresa. And this is Dina. What are we talking about today, Dina? Fill me in.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Today we are talking about gut health, intestinal health, tubby, belly health, however you want to say it. That's what we're talking about today.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Awesome. It's a big topic. Almost as big as our intestines, which are like, I don't know how many feet long. Miles. It's hard to imagine all that sitting in that area.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Yeah, lots of stuff happening. All the magic happens in our guts. It does. It is magical. The whole body's magical. It really is. I know. The more you learn about it, you're like, wow, it's so fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

So I'm in Florida right now. Um, got here yesterday and took a walk on the beach with my dad this morning. Uh, put shorts on for the first time in months. And uh my legs are really hairy. Amen. I was like, oh, I forgot to do that before I left town. But I, for the sake of Florida and all the people who I will come across, it's bad enough. I'm super pale.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Then I think I'm gonna shave my legs. Well, that paleness is like uh lovely though, because it means less wrinkles, right? I guess. I guess. I'm trying. I'm trying. You're welcome. You're welcome. You can take me later.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Thank you. Right, that's right. Thank you. I'm so much newer wrinkles.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

I do find as I get older though, like I don't have to shave as much. And then I forget about it, and then I am like, well, I'm gonna wear a skirt today, and my legs are hairy, and that's just gonna be how it is. Right. Do you put your little Birkin stocks or your earth shoes on then? No, but I do. I I mine are my Hoka sandals, my Hoka recovery sandals.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Oh, I don't know though. So that's like a modern version. And I'm only laughing because I have earth shoes and I've had Birkin stocks. None none in my closet right now, but they are very clear. Kids love Birken socks, they're very attractive, they have very fun styles now. They do. And I'm an earthy crunchy girl. I mean, definitely have my hippie look.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Yeah, so I'm into that. I just don't think find them comfortable for my feet, but my kids they each have a couple pairs of different types of birks, and that's all they wear with socks. It's so weird. When did that happen? Like the old man would wear the socks and the shoes in our day. Now the kids do, and they're like, Why are you not wearing socks with your Birk and socks? I'm like, because who does that?

SPEAKER_01 2:32

That is really funny. It's crazy. Oh, yeah, because I'm imagining that's I'm gonna see that this weekend while I'm here.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

You're like with you're like in southern old man, Florida, right? Yeah, well, they're very Trinity, they're like hipsters.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

I don't have to be embarrassed to walk next to him. I did that. I got some shamrock socks for him, so now I don't have to be at all, you know, embarrassed.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Nope, he's gonna fit right in. Oh, so what's been going on in your work week? Oh, my work week. Okay, so I actually had a client recently who kind of fits this profile we're talking about today. Okay. This client uh started having a lot of GI issues and a lot of like abdominal bloating and gas and and not feeling very well, and did a bunch of testing with with the doctor. We'll talk a little bit about testing later, different types of tests out there. But in any event, kind of everything came back inconclusive. She, you know, didn't have had an EGD, a colonoscopy, all the tests that look inside your intestines to see what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Oh wow, they went really into it.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Yeah, and everything came back fine, right? And so that's good.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, that is good. It's good, but also like, oh, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Well, what is going on? Yeah. So they did come and talk with me. And you know, really what we concluded is she's basically got the start of an eating disorder. And so, you know, one of the things that I find working with clients is our gut health is linked to so many things in our life, it can be linked to our uh mental health, our physical health, our energy levels, all the things. And you know, we talk about how miraculous our bodies are, our body compensates for things because our body always wants to be status quo. Right. And one of the things that can happen, especially with our gut health, is if we stop providing our guts with a diverse variety of food, it it interrupts other things. So to start off our topic today, what I think would make the most sense is if we kind of talk about gut health and what's kind of going on in there. First of all, tell me about digestion.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Okay, well, I would say as a blanket statement that most people are in the dark about digestion. Because we think it's all in our stomach. Right. But digestion is like from your nose to your anus. I mean, that's basically like I used that word a long time.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Who does? No one likes to use that word. I mean, now the 12-year-old boy is coming out in me and like, hey, you're an is okay. I gotta stop.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Let's let's reel that back. Anyhow, um, but no, so the digestion really begins the moment we are thinking about food, cooking food, preparing food, selecting food, smelling food. Yeah. Our brain starts to respond to that, those cues. And um, saliva in your mouth is the start of digestion. So the moment you put something in your mouth as well, it's um before it hits the stomach.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Just that start of saliva starts this whole system of like sugar, bone, all the things start.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Yeah, all the huge system, all sorts of um neurotransmitters, chemicals, enzymes in the body, which it does for us, like again, miraculously. But of course, those things can go awry as well. However, so then it continues, uh, you know, nose sniff sniffing, nose mouth, through the throat, through the stomach. And what I'd like to say here and now is that chewing does not happen in the stomach. Okay. Chewing only happens in your mouth. So the more thoroughly we chew our food, the more easy it is to actually digest and process and assimilate into the body.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

I want to say, I want to interrupt you here. Yeah. So oftentimes I'm talking to a patient and they've eaten corn and like, I don't digest corn because when I go to the bathroom, it's there. Right. Well, that isn't really a sign. It doesn't like come back together in your body. It's not that you're not digesting, it's that you're not chewing it enough, right? We just like especially corn, we're like throwing it in like this is so good, right? And we just swallow it. Especially when you have corn on the top in the sun. Yes, it's hot. And he's like, I think at some point I was having a dinner party and realized I was doing that with my corn because that's how I grew up eating it. And I was like, wait a minute, I don't have to do it this way. So yeah, chew your food, people.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

This is the bottom line, corn or whatever. Cheer moon. So, okay, and then it goes to our stomach. Lots of amazing things happen in the stomach, and then it goes into the small intestine. Uh, we get uh liver, pancreas, gallbladder, all sorts of other organs that are not connected to the tract specifically. Uh or I'd say um, yeah, maybe I'll say direct, they're directly connected, but they're not uh in the intestinal wall. You don't swallow them and it goes to your liver. Exactly. Thank you. Thank you. Uh small intestine, large intestine, and then out into the bottom of the colon and out of you. So um that is there's a whole path and process uh in assimilating nutrients in the body. So um all all steps are very important.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Right. And at each step, different systems fire too, right? Different hormones are released and you know, all the things. So it's it's a very complex system.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

It is. And so if a person is having like what you're talking about, any kind of what we would call GI symptom, bloating, gas, nausea, vomiting, constipation, any of those things could be something anywhere along that tract. Again, from nose to bum, where something could be awry. And you know, different symptoms might take us to a different part of the body to look at and assess. But what would you what did you what was your approach then? Sorry, with that, aside from the maybe eating disorder part. Yeah. What would your approach be?

SPEAKER_00 9:09

So when she comes to me, like I want to get an understanding for how she is eating and how the symptoms are perseverating and yeah, at what point they're happening and things like that. Um, and so, you know, when somebody like that comes and they're like, well, I eat yogurt and a salad with some protein on it, and that's all I eat all day, you know, and then we start talking about, you know, a little bit deeper about what the goals are, and you know, some body dysmorphia kind of comes in there where, you know, and all of those things. And uh and we talk about energy levels and and then we discuss, like, you know, specifically prebiotics and probiotics is one of the things we really talked about.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Can I ask, was this person already taking anything to try to affect the symptoms?

SPEAKER_00 9:58

No. Okay. So she, I think the symptoms had been worse at a different time in the year and then had kind of gotten better and were not necessarily coming back, but she was just maybe on realizing maybe I think it was a weight thing. Um, she was more at like a weight plateau. And so she's like, why am I not losing weight? And you know, I'm going to the gym and all of these things. And you know, sometimes that number on the scale can be misleading too, right? Because although the number might change, your body composition might be changing. So sure, you know, in her case, we talked a lot about how, you know, if you aren't getting enough energy, enough carbohydrates, our body will utilize our muscle and fats in order to do that. And so I think it was probably a part of what was happening. So she's not able to gain muscle because the body's using that protein and in order to make glucose in order for her brain to function, you know. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and then related to gut health, we talked a lot about prebiotics and probiotics. So she was eating a lot of probiotics, right? She's getting good yogurt and and things like that, but not as much fiber. That was prebiotics. So we talked a lot about that as well, just how our body needs all the things. Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

So let's talk about pre versus probiotics.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Yeah. So prebiotics are what provide food for the probiotics. That's how I'm gonna say it. Yeah. Uh so we all have a balance of we all have bugs in our body, in our gut, even on our skin, wherever else, right? We we are we have our own little colonies going on.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

We don't have to call them bugs. We can call them living organisms.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Bugs, living organisms, that's what we want to call them today. Living organisms. Lowe's. Lows. Well, that would make it easy to read, because now you're asking me to remember another thing. I know. Well, you know. No, okay. Anyhow, so we we have a natural balance to the living organisms in our intestinal tract, and uh, but they need nourishment in a sense. They need food to to maintain a stable population. They die off, they regrow, you know. So um, you could also have too much, too much of one strain or not enough of diversity. I should say like diversity is the key area. I mean, this is true diversity training. Your diet diversifies your your diet diversity, diversify diversifies your your gut diversity, your living organism diversity. Yeah. So yeah, prebiotics come from foods uh with soluble fiber. And once they are broken down through that whole process, those those different parts of the body we talked about, then the the bacteria can feed on them. And that helps with so many things. Our immune system, our brain function, our weights, hormones, all of the things are tied back in.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Yeah. Soluble fibers, listener, are gel-forming fibers, right? So we have insoluble fibers, we don't digest those. Those kind of help keep things moving in our gut. They help actually kind of pull cholesterol out of our blood as well. They don't ferment. Right, exactly. Limited to a limited extent, very limited. So then soluble fibers kind of help draw fluid into our gut and bulk up our stool. And so foods that are soluble fibers are gonna be things like oats, oatmeal, beans, barley. Think about like an apple, like this the pulp of the apple, that's the soluble fiber, the skin of the apple, that's the insoluble fiber. So the, you know, that's kind of one way to differentiate that.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

That's great. That's great. Um, perfect. And so that's basically where we get the prebiotic to feed the probiotics and keep our gut in balance.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Yeah. So if we eliminate some of those foods, so I think a lot of, you know, I think about this client in particular, you know, watching all the Instagram videos and wants that very lean muscular body. So she eliminates carbohydrates because that's what the world tells her to do. And now she's creating an environment in her gut that doesn't have those prebiotics. So, you know, it doesn't matter how many probiotics you have in there, there's nothing for them to live on if you're not getting enough of that in there. Right. Right. And so what ends up happening with so many clients when it comes to GI health, I see, is we ebb and flow so much, right? So think about diet culture. We eliminate food groups, we, you know, eliminate calories and certain types of calories. And so we create this environment in our gut that isn't conducive to growing that good bacteria. And then maybe we go back to our old way of eating, or maybe we have a meal that's higher in that kind of food and we're not used to it. What's gonna happen? We're gonna get bloating, we're gonna get gas. And gas is painful, it's not, you know, especially if we have excess of it. Right. So, so that is important to really be thoughtful of is you know, all food matters.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yeah, all food matters. The other thing I'll say is that well, if we're talking about let's switch a little bit to probiotic supplements, if if you're okay with that right now. Yeah. And that there is a difference, and I'm not anti-taking probiotic supplements, but there is a difference in taking a probiotic supplement versus eating foods that are probiotic rich. Totally. Because when you eat food, you get more than just the probiotic, you get other nutritional benefits. So um, you know, vitamins, phytochemicals, uh antioxidants, um, all of those things cannot be left out. And again, doesn't mean don't take a probiotic. Definitely not saying that. Just saying don't rely on the probiotic as your answer to the situation. I think that's the main thing I want to say right now.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

We are still learning so much about the microbiome and the the world living in our guts. And we are starting to really, you know, the more we uncover things, the more we realize, you know, we create linkages, right? So mental health can be linked to what's going on in our gut. Um, some disease conditions can show. So, as an example, like autism, autistic clients do show different bacteria in their gut than than somebody without autism. So we're starting to kind of learn more and more, and more will be coming because it's it's a huge part of research now.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Definitely. And I think that um it gives that information gives um treatment approaches, but it's not all like such a box, it's not in boxes, but it can say generally speaking, for this situation, this type of probiotic might be better, or this balance of probiotics. So that's just something to be aware of. But yeah, they're learning so much more about all of that. One little fact, because some people really like facts, I do, I like little trivia. Uh, there are 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells in the body, and most of that is in the intestines.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

So that's crazy. When I was thinking about uh this particular client, like, okay, how do I let them know how much insoluble fiber versus soluble fiber we should be having? So it's two to one. So for women, we generally want to have 25 grams of fiber in a day. Okay. So you know, and 20 grams of those should be come from that insoluble fiber, 10 grams from the soluble fiber. So soluble fibers are gonna be more like our grains, right? So coming from wheat crackers or wheat bread. Um, like I said, the skin on our fruits, vegetables are gonna contain a lot of those soluble fibers in there.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

So awesome. So another little thing, I'll let you guess ding ding ding. Uh, what percent of our body's serotonin is manufactured in the gut? And so serotonin is a neurotransmitter, it directly relates to our mental health. Okay, so here are your choices: 10%, 50%, 90%. I'm gonna go with 10%. You wanna rethink that? How much of serotonin is manufactured in the gut? 10, 50, 90. 90? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Whoa, that's a I would not have guessed that. Yeah, well, you didn't.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Lame. That was not a setup, folks. That was uh right. So it is a real significant, okay? So again, just for people who like statistics, uh, that is something to know. That again, the production of neurotransmitters is affected by our diet and by our digestion.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Yeah, this gut brain connection is real. It is right. And we we want to present that some, you know, at another time a little bit more about what that gut and brain connection is all about. Yeah. But that's a good segue for that. So we'll we'll revisit that statistic in the future.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Definitely, definitely, definitely. And uh, I just thought it was fun saying uh earlier that your poo can tell a lot about you. Oh, yeah, it sure can. Um, and now that we're gonna go into well, we could. Maybe not right now, but you know, the way our poo looks does again reflect our diet. And um it it does say it does give us symptoms. Even, you know, if someone has blood in their stool, that's a bad sign. It's a obviously it's blood. So people are like, well, no doubt. But actually, sometimes you can't see the blood in the stool. There's two different types of blood in the stool. And so basically, anywhere there's uh there are signs and for us to know if something's not right in the body. And I didn't mention this before, but I guess I'm talking about the two ends right now, and the other is uh oral health. Like actually, our dental hygiene does affect our microbiome because it exists even in the mouth as well. So like that's where things start. So I just want to put that out there too. If we're really gonna be talking about the ends for sure. So your dental health and the way you poo are important.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Okay. Yeah. And like all the things that we put in that body matter, the food we matter, as do medications. And I know there was something you kind of wanted to talk about with that, like like acid suppressors as well.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Okay, this is a big now. I don't have reflux on a regular basis, do I occasionally? Yes. But my body takes care of it. It, you know, might have to do a little magic on it to like help it go away. But when we have constant acid suppression, which is what happens when have okay, let me start start over. If someone has reflux disease and they get heartburn and they don't like that, they might take like a tums of Rolades or something like that. And you know, again, that's not gonna be a bad thing if you intermittently have to do something like that. But if you're constantly in that state, that is a sign of something being off. So a lot of people will go on proton pump inhibitors or other medication chronically to remedy that problem. But I just want to say there could be other remedies. And I'm not saying don't go on the medication, but when we're on those medications long term, that also causes a problem. So we are designed to have a bat a balance of acid and base in the body, and we need acid to digest our food in the stomach. So You cannot develop other problems because you're on an acid reducer, you're on a pill that is taking away that balance. So that's what I want to say about that. It's hard to get off of them if you're on them long term. And going off of them is best to be guided if you are. But what'll happen is usually unpleasant symptoms. More of the heartburn could even feel worse than the heartburn you had before. And that's really like a reflexive reaction. It's it's not that something's wrong with you going off of it. It's that you've got to get through that phase of discomfort until you can be your body can regulate itself again. It's a dependency, is what it ends up becoming a dependency to be on those medications. So that I and I've I've known clients and people I know personally who've been on them for decades. And um, I just I have an issue with that. Now, again, I admit I do not have chronic reflux, but there might also be some good reasons why I don't have chronic reflux, and that can be go back to diet diversity and and so forth.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

For sure. I do have reflux, but I know like we know the foods or I know the foods that are gonna make it worse, generally speaking. And if it's not, if I have had them or something else is going on, then I'll take something to kind of help me through that moment, but then I go off of it and go about my business, you know. So I do think sometimes the medical community could do a better job of first of all educating, like, okay, I'll have you go see the dietitian so they can help work with you to make sure that your diet looks good, right? And also, but if you need it, here's the medicine, but you don't have to take it all of the time, you know, kind of a thing. Or how is it going checking instead of like, are you on that medicine? Okay, let's move on. Are you on this medicine? Yeah. So again, we have to manage our own health, right? We have to be curious about those bodies. And if something isn't right, like, you know, doctors are great, but dietitians are better.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Well, we work well together. We work better with your guts than maybe someone else. Oh, anyway, that's funny. I love that. So yeah, that's my little soapbox. I do want to take my I did want to take that chance to to to talk about that because I think that it's gonna affect things downstream. It might feel good right at that level of where the stomach is. Um, but downstream it doesn't help because that right away you're it's messing with proper digestion. Absolutely. Okay, so do we get to talk about food already?

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Yeah, let's talk about food. Okay, so from a probiotic, prebiotic standpoint, what is your favorite prebiotic food? Hey, my favorite, so my favorite prebiotic food or probiotic food.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Okay. Uh my favorite probiotic foods in no particular order because it depends on the day, uh, is pickles or kimchi. Depends which I'm in the mood for. But love them both. And then of course, yogurt is a favorite. I I do happen to do uh vegan yogurts, non-dairy yogurts because that's like what my palate likes. I just found a brand that I really like. So they don't have protein like as much protein or any compared to a dairy yogurt. Um, but I don't usually consume them because I'm looking for the protein and consuming them because I want the uh the probiotic benefit. And I put all my other, I put like my background flax seed, my hemp seed, my nuts, and some berries or dried fruit. And that's really it's a it's a vehicle to eat all those other things. So those are my top ones personally.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

Nice. I am the opposite. I'm not a yogurt fan. I don't like yogurt. Oh. I use yogurt, like I use plain Greek yogurt as a condiment. Sure. To to kind of increase protein that way. And but my probiotic favorite would be cottage cheese. That's my jam. And then um, I do like pickles, particularly in the summer. I think I just need the sodium and it's just like I can't get enough of those. But really, my most favorite is sauerkraut. I love it so much. I can just eat it plain.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Yes, I've known I've been known to do that, to eat it just like as a little snack. Yeah. I don't know that I do traditional kraut. Like you're you're you had those ger good German foods, so yeah. I I get that that's part of your I buy like the modern day version of a uh there's one that's like a carrot that someone's like created, they call it like a kraut, but it's not traditional kraut. Got it. It's really just fermented carrots.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah. We used to make sauerkraut at my at my house. It was just like my mom had these huge vats in the in the basement, and the whole house would stink. You'd think I would hate this stuff, but it was so good. Oh, so good.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

So tell me, can you tell us a little bit about that? Because I love so this is a cultural thing, and actually a lot of traditional cultural foods are fermented and are good for us. You know, these old, this old school way of preserving food, maybe they didn't know it had that purpose, but we know now that it has that purpose in addition to just having food still available for us at different times. So tell me about what that picture was. Set the scene of the bath and sauerkraut.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

I don't know how big. So those big ceramic vats. Okay, like a plot, uh like a planter, pot planter kind of size. Yeah, but they're they're like that, they're popular at like um antique stores. I can't think of what the name is. Crocs. Crocs. Yeah, big crops.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Not people, not the sandals, not the crops sandals.

unknown 28:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

They're an old world thing. They're crocs, they're an old world thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Yeah. So they're probably 50, 50 gallons. We have three of them. And so I don't know. Somebody would get the cabbage from a farm, and then the family would come and we'd shred the cabbage and put it in the vats, and just dump my mom would put a bunch of salt on there, and we put plates on top, and they sat in the basement and they fermented for, I mean, much probably like three months or so. I mean, you can do smaller batches, and I should just do this. You can do smaller batches like in the in the glass jars, you know. But yeah, huge bats of it. And so she would just go down there and take the plate off and get the mold off and move it all together and add more salts and put the cover on, and then a a week later she'd go down and do the same thing. So wow, that's what happened, and it was delicious, and we'd bag it up and give it away, and it was the best sauerkraut.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

You can make yours now, it'd be called D. Kraut. I think it'd be D.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

Kraut.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

That's gonna be my license plate. Oh my gosh. Hilarious. Um, so I'm just gonna give a few other suggestions of foods with um probiotics. And some of these overlap in the different types of probiotics they provide. I'm not gonna list what those are because no one's gonna remember those or really care. They just want to know what to eat, right? Yeah, yeah. So sauerkraut pickles of brined olives, kin cheese. Uh, there's something called, I've never had it, Nigerian ogee or oji. Has anyone heard?

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Oh, I have a lot of clients that talk about that. Yeah. Really? Yeah. I'm so curious to try it. It's wheat that is kind of fermented. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

Uh, sourdough, fermented sausage, stock fish, and some cheeses. Uh, yogurt, kafir, miso, tempeh. I do like miso. I put miso in my smoothies. It actually for me gives a unique balance to the sweet of my smoothie when I make them, like in the summer. And I even I add miso to random things like that. Uh tempe. It's all about me. I gotta tell you what I do.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

You're so fancy.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

No, I'm just like, people will be like, what do you use that for? Well, that's one one example of what you might use it for.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

Let me just interrupt really quick. You mentioned sourdough, and sourdough is having a moment. And yes, sourdough, the benefit of sourdough is probiotics. It is not fiber. There's no fiber in sourdough. So, you know, not that it's bad for you, just understand what you're getting out of there. So if you're wanting to increase your fiber intake, sourdough is not the way, but it would give you some probiotic. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Very practical tip. Thank you, dietitian Dina. No problem. Um, a lot basically thing that's things that are pickled, okay, and haven't really been manufactured. So, like even the way that you describe it, fresh from the farm cabbage slice, you know, the fresher that you get that stuff into fermentation, the better. Um, and then some soy-based products. One thing I want to say about yogurt, some of them have that kind of watery stuff on the top when you peel off the plastic. Don't throw that out. I have known clients now, like obviously, I'm not doing nutrition work with them, but people don't, they think, oh, what is this water? And they drain it off. That's where some of the probiotic is. You have to mix that in. Don't drain that off. Don't strain that off. I had to say that because I've had more than one person tell me that they're like, this stuff's so watery.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

I'm like, no, no, no, don't mix it, just mix it. Good tip. I wouldn't have thought that, but I, as you're describing, I'm like, I bet people definitely do that. And I bet if you look under the microscope, this is such a dorky thing to say, but if you took that liquid out of the microscope, it would be beautiful and amazing and living organic to be in there. Yeah. You're right. And be like, here, please, Egos, Egos, let me go in your gut.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

Okay, so I want to just mention microbiome vesties. So we talked a lot about probiotics. We've talked about fermented foods and uh beverages. We didn't talk so much about, but kimchi is one, and then beer hops. Um, but of course, not getting all of your beverages from beer. That's not an excuse. That would not be advisable.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

It's not an excuse to drink beer. If you remember anything from today, remember no only beer.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Yeah, you can't just drink beer, especially everyone in Wisconsin. Okay, fresh, organic, non-GMO whole foods tend to provide us. You know, we know we can't all buy organic all the time, and that's okay. But if you can, that's a nice thing. Remove sugar, uh, removing or decreasing refined grains and processed foods.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

Yeah, I do want to say um on that topic that artificial sweeteners can really wreak havoc to our gut health.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Ah, uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

So try, you know, if you're gonna do anything that's sugar-free or any of those waters that have flavor but don't have calories, those are all artificially sweetened and not more than one a day. Otherwise, it really starts to interrupt that gut health for us.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

Awesome. And then diversity is the the other key thing to talk about, is or to reiterate that um diet diversity means gut diversity and you're gonna be better off. The only other thing I'll say is that and one caveat is that sometimes, depending on, you know, we think plant-based and high fiber for all this um microbiome balance, our our uh living organism balance, our lows. Yes. Thank you to that. It's yeah, like it's gonna just take me a while to change my language. Um, but it's not that's not easy for everyone. Some people do suffer from um like irritable bowel syndrome or um other types of things where you know things need to be a little bit more individualized. So it that is the general recommendation, but we do understand that there are some situations where that's not important. So talking to someone professionally about it, even just one time, if it can't be an ongoing thing, could really set you on a better path.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Yep, I totally agree with that. So if you're having some gut challenges, talk to a nitrition. Sometimes we can help figure things out, but get your team together. That's always my point. Get your team together of people that you can talk to, that you trust, and that you can run things by.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

Yeah, just start asking questions if you're having a problem and don't just run to the nearest um probiotic bottle for the answer.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

Yep, absolutely. All right, that's super fun. So fun to be with you again. You too. Enjoy your time in Florida. I'm super jealous that I'm happy for you.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

Well, uh, looks like you got sunshine there. Um so maybe today you get to have your little dose. I will, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

A little vitamin D today.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Bye, everyone. We'll see you soon. Bye.