How to Reset & Heal Your Gut

Transcript:

BRITNI: Hello and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. Thanks for tuning in today while we discuss a very important topic of how to heal your gut. You've probably seen the term gut health around in the media, especially on social media.

And it's common to see that term gut health in regard to dietary supplements like weight loss programs. And really any health or wellness products, you might see that term tagged along, but if you have been a longtime listener of Dishing Up Nutrition or a follower of Nutritional Weight & Wellness, you know, we have been talking about the importance of gut health for over 30 years. So this is not new to us, and we know every aspect of your health can actually be tied back to your gut health.

BRANDY: Yes.

BRITNI: Which is kind of crazy to think about. Not everybody realizes that. And we are going to dive into what does gut health mean? How do you improve gut health? How do you know if you have poor gut health? We'll be talking about all of that.

But first, let's introduce ourselves. My name is Britni Vincent. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. With me today is Brandy Buro, who is also a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, and it's really nice to be here with you today.

BRANDY: It's good to be here with you. I love this topic. I get really revved up about gut health.

BRITNI: Same, same.

BRANDY: So I'm happy that it's getting some attention in the media. But there can, as with anything in social media, there can be a lot of misinformation. So we're just going to try to explain things really simply, you know, cover some basics, but you are right, like gut health ties into just about every aspect of your overall health.

BRITNI: Yep.

BRANDY: And as dietitians, it is something that we talk about with pretty much every client that we have. No matter what your concern is, even if you don't really think gut health is an issue for you, we're going to talk about it.

BRITNI: Yeah, that is so true.

BRANDY: Yeah. So because it is difficult to make a lot of progress with other health goals if something is in disarray with your gut health. So in order to make a lot of progress with like weight loss or pain or energy, gut health is usually part of the conversation.

What does having good gut health mean?

BRITNI: For sure. And so what does gut health mean? I think some listeners are probably wondering that. well, I'm going to talk about the gut microbiome, and you can think of that as like a garden in your body. There's weeds which are not so great. There's also lots of flowers and maybe some vegetables, really beneficial plants. And there are a hundred trillion different microbes in our microbiome.

BRANDY: Wow. Trillion.

BRITNI: Trillion. That is more than the number of human cells in our body.

BRANDY: That's amazing.

BRITNI: Yeah. So we are really just walking around microbes basically.

BRANDY: Yep.

BRITNI: And microbes, that includes bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea, protists, and a large majority of the microbes in our gut are really bacteria, and there's about a thousand different species of bacteria. And in our microbiome, it is completely normal to have the good microbes and the unhealthy microbes.

It's just a matter of keeping the balance of the two. We obviously want a lot more of the good guys than the bad guys. And while we're talking about bacteria, we're specifically, you can think of like the weed killer that you're spraying all over your garden or antibiotics. That's going to kill not only the weeds but everything.

BRANDY: Right. So in that case then you have to basically replant your garden. Focus on growing back those flowers. And there are tons of different functions of our microbiome, but to list some of them, we need them to digest our food, absorb nutrients, produce essential nutrients, synthesize B vitamins, vitamin K, our microbiome is crucial for our immune system support. And then there's a huge gut brain connection.

BRANDY: Right.

BRITNI: We produce the majority of our neurotransmitters in our gut.

BRANDY: That's major.

BRITNI: Yeah, it is. It is major.

BRANDY: Yeah. So anything that happens in the gut impacts the brain and vice versa.

BRITNI: Yep.

BRANDY: The second brain. Right?

BRITNI: Exactly. Yeah. That gut feeling that, you know, you've heard probably since you were a kid, there is total truth to that.

BRANDY: Yeah. Amazing.

BRITNI: Yeah.

How do you know if your gut is healthy?

BRANDY: And you know, maybe you're wondering if it's so important that I have a healthy gut, how do I know if my gut is unhealthy? And you know, like I mentioned earlier, there are some people that I work with that don't necessarily think they have any problems with their gut health.

They just don't really understand what maybe a healthy gut looks like. There are some symptoms that you might experience to clue you in if you have some imbalances in that gut microbiome. Some of the obvious ones might be digestive issues like bloating and gas, constipation, or on the other end of the spectrum, diarrhea, really loose stools. Acid reflux is another clue. So these are all really clear digestion issues that can tell us if your gut is unhappy.

But other than digestion issues, you could have other health issues crop up that maybe aren't even obviously connected to your gut health. But it can also clue us in if something is amiss with your gut because your gut is involved in so many other aspects of your health.

Skin issues is one thing that I think of. Something like acne or hives or eczema or psoriasis can all be linked back to an imbalance in your gut. Like you mentioned with mental health or brain health, anxiety or depression could be connected to gut health and cravings. You know, cravings for sugar, cravings for carbs are often related to an imbalance in that bacterial balance of the gut microbiome.

Pain and inflammation. Maybe you wake up just feeling really stiff and achy. That could all be connected to your gut health. One other thing I want to mention is the connection with autoimmune conditions. You know, they are much more common these days and anytime I'm working with somebody with an autoimmune condition, I always pay very close attention to what is going on in the gut because there's a very strong relationship there as well. So all of these symptoms are basically your gut trying to tell you something.

BRITNI: Yeah. So you could have an unhealthy gut but not necessarily have any digestive symptoms.

BRANDY: Exactly.

BRITNI: Yeah. Which surprises a lot of people. You talked about skin issues. That reminded me of a client that came to see me last year with psoriasis and eczema. A lot of it was on her face. So she definitely was willing to do whatever needed to get that to clear up. And we focused on her gut health and even in a matter of a few months, it totally cleared up.

BRANDY: Amazing.

BRITNI: Yeah, it was amazing.

BRANDY: And I'm sure that wasn't the first thing she tried.

BRITNI: No.

BRANDY: …with all the different medications available.

BRITNI: Definitely not. She had creams and ointments and all that good stuff that was not, you know, it maybe helped, but it was really just kind of masking what was going on.

BRANDY: Right. Yeah.

BRITNI: And I, you know, I find with a lot of clients, once we start focusing on the gut healing, there were symptoms that improved that, that surprised clients. Like joint pain. You know, I can think, think of a client that we really focused on healing her gut and eliminating some food sensitivities and her joint pain completely went away. She had arthritis and, and she still does. She just doesn't experience daily pain.

BRANDY: So that was managing it.

How can your gut health become compromised?

BRITNI: Yeah, life changing for her and you're probably wondering okay, so I probably have an unhealthy gut, but how does that even happen in the first place? Like how does your gut become compromised, and yes, food is definitely a piece of that puzzle. But it is a lot more complex than that. And goes back to when we were born.

BRANDY: Yes.

BRITNI: Which, obviously we have zero control over, but whether or not you're born vaginally or C-section actually makes a huge difference in your microbiome. When you're going, if you're born vaginally, you're going through your mother's birth canal, being coated with that good bacteria versus being born c-section.

You're lacking that first exposure of that good bacteria. So individuals that were born C-section actually have a higher risk of developing obesity, type two diabetes, allergies, asthma. And I will say obviously C-sections are necessary sometimes.

BRANDY: Yeah.

BRITNI: And there are ways, if you're listening and you were born a C-section, there are ways to turn that microbiome around and we're going to be talking about that later. And then the second piece after how you were born is, were you breastfed or not? So breast milk contains very high amounts of bifidobacteria, which we'll talk about a little later as well. But that is a super important probiotic or good bacteria.

And then as we get older, other factors that impact our microbiome, what we eat, of course, sugar, processed food is going to negatively impact our microbiome. Artificial sweeteners, stress, lack of sleep, alcohol. Antibiotics are huge. I talked about that as kind of the weed killer. Even chemicals we're exposed to. So for instance, glyphosate, that's the main chemical in Roundup, that negatively impacts our good bacteria, but doesn't have much of an impact on our bad bacteria, which is interesting.

BRANDY: It's unfortunate.

BRITNI: It is. Right? So you, even if we're doing lots of wonderful things, there are even factors that are out of our control that negatively impact our gut health.

BRANDY: Lots of opportunity for things to get off balance through life.

BRITNI: For sure. Yeah.

BRANDY: And to your point about, you know, how it all sort of begins at birth. You know, sometimes when I'm working with a client that has some pretty gnarly digestive issues and allergies, that might be a question that I ask. You know how, what was your birth story? Were you breastfed? It might sound like a left field question, like, why do you want to know?

BRITNI: Yeah.

BRANDY: But a lot of these issues can start there and then set you up for kind of a lifetime of issues on top of all the other environmental exposures that you talked about. But there are solutions here. There are ways to get back on track and it might take some commitment and time to really turn things around until you feel better and until some of these symptoms start to improve. But I'd say it's certainly worth the effort.

BRITNI: Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

What are the best foods to support gut health?

BRANDY: Especially when you think about all the other areas of your health that can improve when your gut health improves. The foundation of all of this is starting with real food. There are some key therapeutic supplements and other lifestyle practices that can get you on the right path. But maybe we can just start talking about like, what are the foods, what are the best foods to support gut health? You know, just to kind of give you that foundation. Well, I always like to start with looking at where you're, where you're beginning. You know, what's your, what are your current food choices like? Processed foods are not doing you any favors. We'll just start with that. And like you mentioned, you know, some of the pesticides, like glyphosate that are used with some of the grains that are used to make processed foods.

If you focus more on just real natural whole foods, real animal-based proteins, meat, eggs, fish; vegetables, you know, high fiber vegetables, fruits, beans and legumes, natural fats like olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds. So these are all the types of foods that we want to include more of in our daily food choices to support a healthy gut.

One other thing for bonus points you can try to sneak in there are probiotic rich foods. So foods that are naturally rich in those beneficial bacteria so we can start replanting the good stuff. Some of my favorite ways to get those probiotic rich foods are, well, naturally fermented foods. Sauerkraut and kimchi are like my top two.

BRITNI: I love those too.

BRANDY: But there's a few other sources. If you're somebody that tolerates dairy, like yogurt would be an easy way to get some of those probiotic rich foods in. Pickled vegetables, another one of my favorites; a low sugar kombucha could work.

BRITNI: Mm-hmm. And a note about pickles, like looking for some without vinegar.

BRANDY: Yes.

BRITNI: Which is hard to find. But that vinegar would kill off the good bacteria.

BRANDY: Right.

BRITNI: So be on the lookout for that. If you do not tolerate dairy, there are some minimal ingredient coconut milk yogurts out there where it is basically just coconut milk and, and that bacteria on the ingredient list.

BRANDY: Good point.

And with any yogurt, just peeking because sugar is very sneaky in yogurt. Kefir would be an option again if you tolerate dairy. Yeah. And what are, how do you incorporate them? What are some of your favorite ways?

BRANDY: I always have sauerkraut in the fridge. I honestly will just take a few spoonfuls and eat it plain like that; Put it in salads. If I have like a brat or a sausage, that's an easy side. And kimchi, I just, I, I eat a lot of Asian themed dishes. And that's just a very nice compliment to most things of that nature.

BRITNI: Yeah. I love it. Yeah. And now it's kind of fun. Like you can find sauerkraut that have some added flavors out there. So I don't know if you've seen that.

BRANDY: Yeah I have.

BRITNI: Like caraway sauerkraut or dill pickles sauerkraut. So if you're not a huge fan of sauerkraut, that maybe might be a little gateway into it.

BRANDY: I like it.

BRITNI: Yeah. So great point, Brandy just kind of focusing on real food first. And it is amazing working with clients just focusing on that first, how much their gut symptoms may just improve doing that. And then on the other hand, you mentioned that sugar and those processed foods, those processed carbohydrates specifically, those can actually feed the bad bugs right in their gut, and that can be a source of those cravings.

And any food that is far from its natural form is really just not going to help your microbiome. And instead is likely going to cause damage. And just feed and increase the population of that bad bacteria. And then there's gluten.

BRANDY: There's gluten.

BRITNI: And so for a lot of people, this can be a big cause of damaging their gut health. Gluten's a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt and kamut. And what it does is it can cause leaky gut in our body. And we've talked about leaky gut before, but basically you can think of it as like little microscopic holes that develop in the lining of our gut, which allows things to go out of our intestinal tract and into our bloodstream where they're not supposed to be.

So that creates a lot of inflammation and a very large immune response. And a lot of people don't even know that they're gluten sensitive. When you eat something on a regular basis, you're not necessarily going to be able to connect that that is problematic.

BRANDY: Right.

BRITNI: And sometimes the reaction could be hours later or the next day.

BRANDY: Sometimes it’s four days later.

BRITNI: Four days later. Yeah. So how would you ever, ever know that until you just eliminate it. So for a lot of individuals that were working on gut health, I often recommend do an experiment. Eliminate gluten a hundred percent for three weeks at the minimum.

BRANDY: Yep.

BRITNI: And let's see what happens. So I just talked to a client yesterday who is in the middle of this little experiment. And she has a lot of constipation and was having stomach aches on a daily basis. Like basically after every time she ate.

BRANDY: Oh gosh.

BRITNI: So after a week of being gluten-free, her stomach aches are cut in half, but she's not as constipated and I am imagining that's just going to continue to improve the longer she gets away from eating it.

BRANDY: It's amazing.

BRITNI: Well, let's take a quick break and then when we get back we'll talk more about how to experiment with, with going gluten-free. We'll be right back. 

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Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. We are talking about how to heal your gut and before break we were talking about experimenting with going gluten free and, there's tons of resources on our website, weightandwellness.com. We did a podcast episode, I think, just a few months ago on the topic of gluten-free that you could refer to. And there's a great class too.

Check Out Going Gluten Free the Healthy Way Class – Online!

But I do want to mention, you know, some things that you might notice going gluten-free: skin improvements, more energy, better mood, less joint pain, less general inflammation. And then an improvement in digestive symptoms.

BRANDY: Right. Yeah. Yeah, good to point out that there are a lot of other symptoms beyond digestion that can improve. I did just recently meet with a new client for the first time last week. You know, she's wanting to reduce pain, work on migraines. And as we were kind of going through her health history, she said that she did sort of accidentally go gluten-free for six months because her husband had been working on gluten-free for his own health reasons. And she kind of made that connection there like come to think of it during that time I was not really dealing with as many migraines.

BRITNI: Wow.

BRANDY: So that's another thing that maybe could improve.

BRITNI: For sure.

BRANDY: And digestion was a lot better at that time Coincidentally.

BRITNI: Yeah. So, so she's probably going gluten free again.

BRANDY: We are strongly considering it.

First steps to take to heal gut health (#1: eat real food in its natural form)

BRITNI: Yeah. So, you know, now that we've talked about some of the most common ways that your gut health could be thrown off balance, I want to talk next about what are some first steps that you can take to turn things around and heal your gut. So we already mentioned that focusing on real food will be a really important part of this process.

So real food means foods in their natural form. So real animal-based proteins, eggs, meat, fish, lots of vegetables, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, berries and natural fats. So avocados, olive oil, even butter would all be good options.

Vegetables & fruit feed beneficial gut bacteria

And I do want to emphasize how important those plants are.

BRITNI: Yes.

BRANDY: Plants, you know, vegetables, fruits, that is what's going to feed the beneficial bacteria in your gut. When you eat fruits and vegetables, you're feeding those bugs first before you're feeding the rest of your body. It's so important to eat those vegetables. And really when I'm working with clients, I try to get them up to about five cups of vegetables a day because they're so important for your gut health.

But if you are maybe not up to five, maybe you're not eating any vegetables right now, it might cause some disruption in your gut health if you go from zero to a hundred. I wouldn't be surprised if you maybe experience more gas or bloating if you're incorporating more vegetables into your diet for the first time in a while.

So if you are feeling uncomfortable as you're increasing the amount of vegetables in your diet, maybe start small. Start with maybe half of a cup with each meal and kind of gradually increase and, you know, soft cooked vegetables might be easier to digest versus like a big salad when you first get started.

Really chew well. That can be another little strategy to make things go a little easier for you. So chewing well, well-cooked vegetables, maybe something in a soup or roasted vegetables or like a crockpot with some roast beef and some carrots and potatoes. Those kinds of meals might be tolerated a little easier at the beginning.

BRITNI: Yeah. Or, and if you are already experiencing a lot of digestive symptoms, that is a really helpful way to eat. Just kind of give your gut a little break while it's healing. And you talked about all those fibers are so important to feeding that bacteria; prebiotics, they're called.

So that's also a big buzzword out in the media. So really if you're eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, you are most likely getting quite a bit of prebiotics. But I have a short list, like ground flaxseed. That is a super easy thing to incorporate into the mix. Onions, asparagus, jicama, avocados, seaweed, like seaweed snacks have become super popular. Those are a mainstay in our house. And who knew? They're a great prebiotic too.

BRANDY: Nice.

Key supplements to support & heal gut health

BRITNI: And so this real food diet is by far the most important piece. But like Brandy mentioned earlier, there are some key supplements that I think of it as like speeding the healing process along like you're going to see results faster. And you might have a hard time digesting and absorbing certain foods if your gut is damaged, like, like you were talking about.

And if you're not digesting your food that could be an issue, because then you might not be actually absorbing your nutrients. So we sometimes recommend Key Digestive Enzymes and some signs would be seeing food in your stool, feeling like particularly heavy or bloated after eating a large piece of meat. That can be a sign that you just don't, don't have enough stomach acid to break that down; reflux, heartburn. That is most commonly a low stomach acid issue as well.

I did an “Ask a Nutritionist” episode entirely on digestive enzymes, so you could check that one out. But if you're resonating with what we're talking about, you could give it a try. Basically it's providing you with bile. So if you've had your gallbladder removed, you would absolutely benefit; hydrochloric acid, which is stomach acid, and then it's providing you some enzymes as well. And I would just start with one before a meal. And then some people benefit by adding two, but for some one does the trick.

BRANDY: I find it really helpful for some of my clients. I do want to remind everyone, if you want to try it, take it close to your food, because it is working on the food that you eat. So it's not going to do you a lot of good if you just take it in the morning and go along with your day.

BRITNI: Yes, for sure.

BRANDY: Well, I want to talk about another supplement that I love to use when I'm working on a gut healing protocol. So again, we are working on replanting the good bacteria or repopulating Our digestive tract with the beneficial bugs. And the most common beneficial bacteria in our digestive system is a bifidobacteria strain.

So I think that's a really good probiotic to start with. You know, we call these beneficial bacteria probiotics when they come in supplement form. And if you're new to probiotics, the bifidobacteria is a nice one to try first because it does make up a large percentage, like 80% of the good bacteria in our digestive system.

If you are starting out with a probiotic, I always recommend going low and slow. So starting with kind of a small dose just to test the waters, see how your body responds. It's pretty normal to experience a little bloating when you first start a probiotic. But that should resolve within a few days, and then we can sort of gradually taper up your dose until you're at a more therapeutic dose. So if you want to try that bifido probiotic, I recommend starting with maybe a quarter teaspoon of the powder or two capsules to start.

BRITNI: Yeah, that's a great recommendation.

BRANDY: Yeah. And along with that bifidobacteria, another supplement I love for gut healing is L-Glutamine. So the bifido and l-glutamine are really great companions. They work really well together. L-Glutamine is basically an amino acid, which you can naturally get from the protein that you eat, but in supplement form, you're just getting more of a therapeutic dose.

And L-glutamine is something that is basically fueling your intestinal cells and it's helping repair any damage to those intestinal cells. So over time, what's happening is those intestinal cells are repairing themselves. They're repairing the connections between each other. So in effect, it's helping to heal leaky gut.

BRITNI: Yeah.

BRANDY: So we're kind of, I like to think of it as a heal and seal with the L-glutamine. Dosing wise, that therapeutic dose, I try to get my clients up to that 5,000 milligrams a day. Some clients might do a little more than that, but if we can get at least 5,000, I think that's the therapeutic dose for healing. It does come in a powdered form, which I love just to mix in a glass of water right away in the morning. Or some clients like the capsules where they take a couple before each meal. Which can be really helpful for cravings along with like the gut healing piece.

BRITNI: Yeah. That's an extra benefit of L-glutamine.

BRANDY: Definitely.

BRITNI: Well, another key probiotic is called Acidophilus. And that one I, I feel like people have heard of more frequently. We carry both capsule and powder form. It is more prevalent in our intestinal tract, but also we're going to find it in our stomach, vaginal tract, and even our bladder.

So it is super helpful for individuals struggling with reflux heartburn, chronic UTIs, vaginal yeast infections. And I recommend the powder. It does need to be refrigerated, but it is definitely more bang for your buck there. You might start with, like Brandy said, with the bifido, maybe a quarter teaspoon, but I would get up to a half a teaspoon can be super effective just taking it at night.

And you can mix it in a little water or even put the powder directly in your mouth and then just take a drink of water. It doesn't taste bad. It's kind of sweet a little bit, but it is so helpful for these conditions. It works amazing. And then if you have really bad heartburn, you can actually just kind of put a little bit in your water and drink it throughout the day.

And that could be very soothing and, and reduce that reflux. And we carry a probiotic called Biotic Duo, which is basically half bifidobacteria and half acidophilus. So that sometimes can be a great option to start out with as well. I recently had a new client but she was experiencing a lot of heartburn.

So we decided to go with that one to start. So she got the benefit of the acidophilus as well eventually. You know, into the healing process, it can be beneficial to switch to more of a multi-strain probiotic just to get some diversity. That would be, we have a few different ones, but like our Biotic 7 would be an example of that. And generally that is just one capsule a day, which is nice.

BRANDY: Yeah. It's easy to take. A few different strains. That's a really good kind of maintenance once things are on track, I think.

BRITNI: Yep.

BRANDY: Yeah. So. Yeah. One other, supplement that I may sometimes suggest for gut health and the healing is a good fiber supplement. There's a lot of them out there. You know, some of them with some undesirable ingredients.

BRITNI: For sure.

BRANDY: But like ground flaxseed, you can consider a fiber supplement. Hemp seed, chia seeds. Some real food options there. Something else that I will use with clients is something called Sun Fiber. So it's really great for sensitive digestive symptoms. There's no weird additives. There's no artificial sweeteners or colors or anything that is not real. So that's a good option as well.

BRITNI: Yeah. And you kind of, you mentioned this before in regard to fiber and vegetables, but starting slow, I would definitely recommend that with these too. And, you were telling me about a client story, that, that was super helpful to getting rid of her diarrhea, right?

BRANDY: Right. Yes. So I started working with this client sometime last fall, and the reason she came to visit me was diarrhea, you know, very unpredictable all times of the day, and she was in her nineties and had been dealing with this for a while, but was kind of managing it with antidiarrheals for a long time.

But the medication wasn't really doing its job anymore. So needing to find some new solutions. A fiber supplement, that Sun Fiber was part of the plan. But we also of course looked at her meal plan and made some adjustments, starting with gluten-free and dairy free. She was eating a lot of dairy, a lot of cheese sandwiches.

BRANDY: So we tried to, take a break from that and see if that didn't make a difference. After a few weeks doing some Sun Fiber and gluten-free, we paused the dairy she had, it was transformative.

BRITNI: Wow.

BRANDY: She was able to leave the house. And her goal was to get things under control so she could go back to the gym. That was her social, that was getting out of the house and living life. That along with some bifido and L-glutamine eventually, kind of in the later stages. And she was feeling so much better. You know, got to a place that she could kind of get back to the way things were.

BRITNI: That is a great story. And it's amazing for some people how quickly things really do turn around.

BRANDY: Yeah.

BRITNI: And that fiber can go both ways, so it can help kind of bulk up stool, but on the flip side, if you're constipated, it can help actually, reduce that constipation and soften your stool.

BRANDY: Just drink plenty of water.

BRITNI: Yes.

BRANDY: Anytime you do any kind of fiber supplement.

BRITNI: For sure. Otherwise, it's going to create worse constipation. And you know, I think that your story is proof that there is help out there if you are struggling, if you're listening or have a family member just by utilizing real food, maybe some key supplements and you don't have to keep suffering.

BRANDY: Mm-hmm.

BRITNI: But it is important to note that each person, you know, obviously we're all individuals and everybody has their own unique microbiome. So the answer to some of these digestive problems can take careful thought and problem solving with a registered dietitian. And that's our job. That's what we do every day, and we figure out that plan that's going to work best for you. And we're here to support you throughout your journey.

BRANDY: And it is a journey.

Gut health influences many aspects of health

BRITNI: It is, absolutely. It's, it's not something overnight everything will correct itself. You know, it is a healing process. It takes time, and some people move through that process at different phases, and as we've talked about, your gut health affects so many aspects of your health head to toe, your mood, your skin pain, and inflammation.

If you have an autoimmune condition, your gut health is really critical to managing that. Even your weight, your weight status is part of your gut health, and we're learning so much about that now, that might be a new thought for some of you. But this is kind of the new frontier of weight management is gut health.

BRITNI: Yeah. It is.

BRANDY: And the bacteria in your gut, it can influence your ability to lose weight. It influences whether you're prone to gaining weight easily. There are several factors that contribute to weight gain that aren't just that calories in, calories out model that we've followed for so long in the past.

There was a really interesting study that found people who struggle with obesity tend to have less diversity of bacteria in their gut. So that's just means they have fewer types of beneficial bacteria in their gut. So just going back to that idea that you were mentioning, Britni, how important it is to establish some diversity in your gut microbiome. There have been studies of identical twins that found that the microbiome can be drastically different between the two because of the different lives they each individually have lead. One may have a healthy weight, one might be obese, and that can be tied back to the balance of bacteria in their gut.

BRITNI: Yeah, that's so interesting. And that brings up another probiotic we haven't talked about. The strain is called Akkermansia. The one that we have is called Akkermansia GLP-1 Probiotic. And this is a new probiotic that we just started curing this year. And I would say just a new probiotic on the market in general.

Studies have shown that individuals that are overweight and obese actually have less akkermansia in their microbiome. And the benefits of this, it can improve insulin sensitivity. Studies have shown reduction of fat mass and a reduction in body weight as the, the name of the probiotic, it does increase GLP-1, which can benefit metabolism and weight and cravings and all of that.

Studies have shown it improves markers of lipid metabolism, reducing triglycerides and cholesterol, can reduce inflammation. And this strain is a little unique. It actually strengthens the lining of our gut.

BRANDY: Yes.

BRITNI: Improving and healing, helping to heal that leaky gut. So there's tons of benefits. And the dosage on this one is just one, taken before bed. And it's shelf stable and we have, you know, starting to use this with clients. We've seen some weight loss. There was a client that saw improvement in her colitis just switching to this bacteria. And so that is worth giving a try as well.

BRANDY: Yeah, yeah. And one of my clients who I've been working with for years, specifically for weight management, she has such a great diet. She eats real food. She does really well trying to limit processed foods, tries to live an active life. She added this probiotic. Within the first six weeks she lost eight pounds.

BRITNI: Wow. That's amazing.

BRANDY: You know, and did nothing differently. You know, she was doing amazing with her food and her movement, and it was just this one change that finally broke that plateau. It was amazing.

BRITNI: That's awesome. Yeah. And there is, in this probiotic that we are carrying, there's also bifidobacteria in it as well. So you get those benefits too. And then we've heard too, it kind of cuts down on food noise. So if you have a lot of cravings or you experience a lot of food noise during the day, this could also benefit you.

How soon can you expect to see results after implementing a gut healing protocol?

BRANDY: Certainly worth a try. So now that we've covered a lot of the bases of where to start with healing your gut, now you might be wondering, okay, I've done all these things. When am I going to see results? How do I know if all of this effort is paying off? So what are some signs that you can look for to know your gut is healing?

So you know, if you began with some clear digestive issues, we would hope to see improvements within those issues. So if you are experiencing diarrhea or constipation, we will hopefully notice that that's happening less and less. Heartburn is not as severe, it's not occurring as often. Bloating is less severe, not happening as often.

Some other things that you can watch for is, you know, more energy, clear thinking. Hopefully reduced inflammation, you know, less aches and pains, your skin is going to improve; less acne. Less redness. You probably also see it in your hair, in your nails; fewer cravings.

And another benefit, you know, with time is your immune system is going to be so much stronger. You'll probably have the benefit of getting sick less often throughout the year. So many things can be impacted by better gut health, but it will take time to realize some of those benefits.

BRITNI: Yeah, many, many benefits.

Recap: simple steps to getting gut health on track

BRANDY: Right, so if you are out there and you're wondering where do I start? I'm motivated to get on track with my gut health. I just want to recap some simple steps that you can take to get on track with this journey of gut health. First start with real food: real animal-based proteins, lots and lots of prebiotic rich vegetables and healthy natural fats.

And of course, we want to drink plenty of water. This is going to set you up for success. Meanwhile, we're phasing out ultra processed foods that feed the bad bacteria and damage our gut.

And when you're ready, you can think about incorporating some therapeutic supplements. A good probiotic like Bifido or acidophilus would be a good place to start and consider L-Glutamine to repair the intestinal lining. I think those few things, we will really make a difference.

BRITNI: Yeah, absolutely. Just like you said, starting with the basics and if you're really resonating with our discussion today, but overwhelmed with how to start and how to put it into action, I encourage you to meet with one of us here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness.

Schedule Nutrition Counseling

And we all understand the complexity of digestive problems. I would say on probably a daily basis, we are meeting with people for gut health. And it is just an area that we specialize in. We believe that all health really can stem from the gut. And healing your gut is a process and can take time, but we're here to guide you along the way.

And clients have most success meeting with us every two to three weeks to start with. So give us a call, speak with one of our super helpful office staff to talk about your options and see if your insurance might also cover these appointments, which is an extra perk. Our number is 651-699-3438. Have a great day and thank you so much for listening.

BRANDY: Thank you.