Gut Health Connection to Autoimmune Diseases
June 26, 2021
Are you currently struggling with an autoimmune disease or do you know someone close to you who is? Almost 24 million Americans live with an autoimmune disease and there are actually over 100 different autoimmune diseases out there! In this show, we’ll share how the health of your gut microbiome is connected to these diseases, how to nourish your intestinal health, and what to limit to improve how you feel.
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Transcript:
CASSIE: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. I'm going to start off right away with a question for all of you this morning. Are any of you listening currently struggling with an autoimmune disease? If you're shaking your head yes to that question, you're not alone. It's reported that almost 24 million Americans live with an autoimmune disease. So today my client and I, or my colleagues, excuse me, not my client, my colleague and I are going to be sharing some information about the gut health connection to autoimmune diseases. My name is Cassie Weness. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. And if you've been listening to Dishing Up Nutrition for any length of time, it's likely, you've heard that almost all of us in our family either have dealt with digestive issues in the past, or we're still working to heal some intestinal health issues. So because of my own personal experience and the fact that I have two teenagers who have celiac, which is an autoimmune condition, I know a lot about gut health; not necessarily by choice, but I certainly know a lot about gut health. And in studio with me this morning is someone else who knows a lot about gut health. And that is my colleague, Melanie Beasley. Melanie is also a Registered and Licensed Dietitian with more than 30 years of experience, working with clients in a variety of settings on her resume. And Mel, as a dietitian, I know you have worked with many, many clients who have some type of an autoimmune disease, and honestly, some people might just have one autoimmune disease, but there are a lot of people that have two or three autoimmune diseases.
MELANIE: You know, Cassie, that's so true and I'm seeing it on the rise in clinic. I have helped many people by helping them change their eating choices so that they can not only reduce inflammation in their body, but decrease their risk of developing maybe a third or fourth autoimmune disease.
What are autoimmune diseases?
So, but, but before we get started, maybe we should first explain what is an autoimmune disease for our listeners? Well, an autoimmune disease is a condition in which your immune system becomes confused and angry and begins attacking your own body. Autoimmune diseases are more common in women than men and certain ethnic groups seem to be more susceptible to certain autoimmune diseases as well.
CASSIE: Yes. So that's a really good just short and sweet definition. And if any of you are wondering what exactly are some of the autoimmune diseases, there's a lot of them, but I'll name a few of the more common ones: type one diabetes, Graves' disease, of course, the celiac disease I already mentioned, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, MS, psoriasis, scleroderma, inflammatory bowel disease. And if you have hypothyroid and it's been called Hashimoto's thyroiditis, that is an autoimmune form of hypothyroid. So those are a few of them, but there are actually about a hundred different autoimmune diseases that have been identified so far. And it's really a big ongoing area of research.
And we're not really sure what causes an autoimmune disease, but what most all researchers do agree on is that there likely are a number of contributing factors as to why somebody gets an autoimmune disease. And one area of growing research, kind of a new area of research right now is that one of those contributing factors looks to be your gut microbiome, or in other words, the bacteria in your gut seem to be connected to whether or not you will develop an autoimmune disease.
Balancing the Body's Good and Bad Bacteria
MELANIE: You know, Cassie, we're learning more and more about how that gut connection or your microbiome really affects every system in the body. So while we have bacteria in various parts of our body, such as your mouth, vagina, the placenta and our, our, even our skin, the majority of the bacteria is found in our stomach and intestinal track. For good health, we want to maintain a balance of good bacteria to bad bacteria. And an imbalance of good bacteria to bad bacteria is called dysbiosis. And that's been associated with a variety of autoimmune diseases, such as Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, lupus, and MS.
And as I mentioned earlier, women are affected by autoimmune diseases more often than men. Lucky us, right? Well, some studies have found the connection to autoimmune diseases is the estrogen women have, while the testosterone in men is believed to be more protective. Well, I think that bears repeating don't you Cassie? Estrogen in women is linked to a higher risk for autoimmune diseases. And the testosterone in men is more protective against these autoimmune diseases; so lucky guys.
CASSIE: Really come on. Not fair. It is an interesting connection though, isn't it? And let's remember what I said earlier, too. Pretty much all researchers in this area of study agree. There are a number of contributing factors when it comes to who is going to get an autoimmune disease. And then I just mentioned that a new and growing area of research is linking autoimmune diseases to the health of our gut bacteria or our gut microbiome. And I think it's always surprising when people learn or when people are reminded that 70 to 80% of our immune system is in our gut.
MELANIE: It's in our gut.
CASSIE: 70 to 80%. So if our intestinal tract is not healthy, and that sets us up to have an immune system that goes awry, this can be one of the links as to why an unhealthy intestinal tract can contribute to the development of an autoimmune disease.
MELANIE: Yeah, perfect explanation. To simplify it, I kind of have mentioned before is I think of the microbiome as a garden, gardening your gut. So the term dysbiosis: think of more weeds than flowers.
CASSIE: Great visual. Actually that sounds like my garden, my actual garden, well, maybe my gut too, who knows?
MELANIE: No, I don't believe it.
CASSIE: No.
MELANIE: So, this dysbiosis or imbalance of good bacteria to bad bacteria, it can be connected to such diseases as that type one diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease, which means, or even rheumatoid arthritis, which means it is more than just our genetics. And Cassie and I are going to explain to you this morning a little more about the microbiome or your garden and how to get a good balance in your gut so that you can decrease your risk of developing or developing more autoimmune diseases, or even the progression of the one that you have.
CASSIE: Exactly. Yes. Or maybe you have one and it could be put into remission. So, you know, if we touch just one person with this show today, it will all have been worth it. So I, I love what you just suggested. Mel, let's dive into that subject of explaining how the microbiome and that good balance of gut bacteria contributes or, or can protect you. You know, and I think in order to understand how to have and how to maintain a good balance of the right kind of bacteria, I think it's critical to understand what can create an imbalance of good bacteria to bad bacteria in the first place. And I, I really think my backstory is one of many scenarios that can create an imbalance of good bacteria to bad bacteria. And maybe your story is similar. So I just want to share my story quickly before we have to go to a commercial break.
First of all, I wasn't breastfed. It just wasn't the thing to do back then. I've had that conversation with my mom and, and, you know, she wasn't even asked if she was going to breastfeed. It was just kind of understood that women of a certain status didn't do that. So I didn't get this first source of good bacteria like breastfed babies get. And then as a young girl, I had multiple urinary tract infections. So that meant multiple rounds of antibiotics. And some of you probably are aware that antibiotics kill the good bacteria along with the bad bacteria. And then from the age of about 12 to about 29, I was on either low-dose antibiotics or Accutane or some other harsh drug for my acne. And all of these medications work to disrupt that balance of good to bad bacteria.
MELANIE: You know, Cassie, I think, I wonder if our listeners are thinking, “Hey, that that's me.”
CASSIE: Right. If, if you can relate, if your story is similar, boy, the dots connect so clearly. This is why I'm still working to heal my gut decades later. And we'll talk more about what else can create an imbalance in your gut when we come back from commercial. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition, brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. If you're just tuning in today, Mel and I are discussing how your gut health is connected to autoimmune diseases. You know, as dietitians and nutritionists, we work with a lot of clients who are struggling with an autoimmune disease, sometimes multiple autoimmune diseases. And I'm sure many of you listening have heard Tina's testimonial about how she put her autoimmune MS disease in remission by following a real food diet, getting the gluten grains out, eliminating bad fats and eliminating sugar. Tina's MS has been in remission for over 10 years now. If you're interested, you can check out Tina's absolutely amazing story on our website at weightandwellness.com. And stay with us. We'll be right back.
BREAK
MELANIE: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. If you want to have a healthy gut microbiome, limit inflammatory foods. And these would be gluten, dairy, sugar, processed man-made foods. Think of anything that comes in a package. And then to nourish your digestive system, fill up on vegetables, fruits, fermented foods, grass fed meat and natural fats. Currently about three fourth of three fourths of Americans are living with digestive problems of diarrhea, constipation, heartburn, gas, or bloating, and constant digestive problems should be addressed naturally. If you are one of the 75%, we can help you. So give us a call at 651-699-3438, and set up your nutrition appointment.
CASSIE: We can help you. And, you know, I think I find it so interesting that there is such a disconnect for a lot of people in this country between their digestive issues, whether it's constipation, gas, bloating, whatever, and the food they're putting in their mouth. But there is, that's key. What you're eating has everything to do with your digestion.
Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drugs That Can Damage Your Gut Health
MELANIE: You know, Cassie and we were also talking at break. We were talking about how so many people now are on proton pump inhibitors, like Prevacid.
CASSIE: Prilosec.
MELANIE: Because they're miserable and they're seeking that relief. And so asking what is the root of this problem?
CASSIE: What is the root is so important, especially when talk about those PPIs, like Prilosec, Prevacid, because if you read the package insert on those, I encourage you to go look at your package, insert if you have any of those medications, when this show’s over. Keep listening to us. But it says in there in bold do not take for more than I think it's two weeks. And people are on these for months, sometimes years. There's a reason why you're not supposed to take them long-term.
MELANIE: And stopping. You know, you don't want to stop immediately. You get that rebound.
CASSIE: You get that rebound effect. Yeah. You need to work with a nutritionist. Mel and I know a lot about how to wean off those PPI's. Okay. So that was a little bit of a side note, but a good one that certainly relates to digestive health. If you remember, before we went to commercial, I was kind of giving my backstory about how I over time, annoyingly wreaked havoc on my gut. Another scenario I want to mention that I think a lot of people can relate to that can really disrupt the good to bad bacteria in your intestinal tract is if you're taking anti-inflammatory medicine on a regular basis. So over the counter medicines like ibuprofen, Advil, Aleve.
MELANIE: Aspirin.
CASSIE: These can cause, even aspirin. Yes. If you're taking a daily, these can cause a lot of damage to the microbiome if you're taking them for months or maybe years on end. And okay, I know I'm dropping a lot of science on everybody right now, but if you listeners can stay with me, I want to talk about another bad side effect of chronic antibiotics or chronic use of anti-inflammatory drugs. And that is that over time, these medicines can contribute to inflammation in the lining of your intestinal tract. So they don't just work to kill off good bacteria, but they, they break down the lining. And if this goes unchecked, eventually you get small perforations or little holes in your intestinal lining that some clinicians call leaky gut. And in fact, Dr. Jeffrey Bland, who some of you know that name. He's the founder of functional medicine. We've had him on the, on our show as a guest in, oh I don't know, a few years back; maybe even a couple of times; great guest.
MELANIE: Great podcast.
CASSIE: Yeah. Dr. Bland has been lecturing on the dangers of leaky gut for almost 40 years now. So he was a little before his time. Because I know for some of our listeners leaky gut is probably a fairly new term.
Okay. Let's bring all of my rambling here full circle by asking the straightforward question of what can disrupt my microbiome and increase my risk of getting an autoimmune disease? Again, researchers say there are many factors, but the link I've just been talking about is that an overuse of antibiotics or other over the counter and prescription medicines can kill off too much good bacteria in our intestines. Over time, this can cause inflammation in the intestinal lining. And if this inflammation isn't resolved, it can lead to leaky gut. And then that can progress to an autoimmune disease.
Breaking Down the Microbiome
MELANIE: So let's dive in and kind of break it down a little bit. The microbiome is made up of many types of bacteria with the greatest diversity in the gut. And you may have heard us say again, it's like a garden of bugs. So it's made up of a thousand different species of bacteria. And we have good bacteria. We also have some bad bacteria. The microorganisms in your gut are usually the good guys, but if your diet, stress or other environmental factors, possibly medications that you need, you can start to have more bad bacteria. So that imbalance begins.
CASSIE: Yes. Yes. And I, I just want to pause for a second and say, if it sounds to any of you listening like we're speaking a foreign language when we're talking about microbiome and leaky gut, please don't feel bad because this whole idea that the microbiome plays an essential role in our health is a pretty new one, but it's really important to get the word out for more reasons than one. Actually now we've already established that the health of our microbiome influences our risk of developing an autoimmune disease, but it doesn't stop there. The health of our gut microbiome can also affect our brain health.
MELANIE: That's a really good point. Your, your food choices influence both your brain and your gut health. And when food is broken down by intestinal bacteria or the microbiome, the production of your neurotransmitters is affected. Neurotransmitters are those brain chemicals that help us feel calm, relaxed, capable, high self-esteem. And we know food has a profound effect on the brain through the breakdown of it by your gut bacteria. So some food promotes the growth of good bacteria while other foods are going to inhibit the growth of good bacteria.
Foods to Promote Good Bacteria Growth
Foods that promote growth are fermented veggies, such as sauerkraut or kimchi or full fat yogurt. And on the other hand, energy drinks or fast food or packaged foods are definitely going to inhibit the growth of good bacteria. So over time, this can inhibit your body's ability to make those brain chemicals.
CASSIE: Yes. Yes. And that is an important connection. And I have some more thoughts on that, but I'm hesitating because I think we better first take a quick commercial break. For any of you new to the program, you're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. Before we break, I just want to say, if you have digestive problems, you likely need to repopulate your gut microbiome with strains of good bacteria. Now, one of the many, many ways that poor digestive health can first show up is as sugar cravings. And we've seen it time and again in clinical practice. People struggling with sugar cravings gain control once they start healing their gut by taking two to three Bifido Balance capsules and two to three L-Glutamine capsules before each meal. And if you're interested, you can order these supplements online at weightandwellness.com. Once you get to that homepage, simply click on vitamins, or you can stop by any one of our six office locations. We are open for business. And I also want to say that if you have questions about which probiotic is right for you personally, please don't hesitate to call the Nutritional Weight and Wellness office at 651-699-3438. And we'll be back on the other side of this commercial.
BREAK
MELANIE: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. Join Britni, Elizabeth and Marianne next Saturday, July 3rd, as they discuss how to use farmer's market vegetables to support your health at affordable prices. Shopping the farmer's market is a good way to get the freshest of fresh locally grown organic vegetables, grass fed meat and pastured eggs with the bright orange yolk full of brain, healthy nutrition, nutrients. And this 4th of July celebrate the real food so you can experience real health. So that's what we want to have at our celebration is some real food.
CASSIE: You are making me hungry. And that is going to be such a fabulous show. Now I will admit, I may not be available to listen Saturday morning, but I bet a lot of people will; wake up at your cabin, or maybe you'll be driving up to the cabin; tune in. But also, I just want to remind people, you can listen to any of these past shows via podcast, and that's one I'm definitely going to be tuning in because I love to get new ideas on how to use those farmer's market vegetables. And I like to try new things.
MELANIE: I do too. Marianne's a wealth of information.
CASSIE: Love Marianne. Yes. Okay. So when we went to break, Mel, you were talking basically about the fact that our gut bacteria can have a huge effect on our mental health.
MELANIE: It's a big surprise. We always think mental health in the head; really begins in the gut.
CASSIE: It begins in the gut. And some of the top researchers in this area do call the gut the second brain in large part for this reason. So, you know, your gut bacteria, I'm going to give you the story in, in really short form here. Your gut bacteria is responsible for making many of your brain chemicals. So let's just stop and connect the dots. If you don't have enough good bacteria in your gut, maybe like me, you've taken too many antibiotics over the years, Accutane, what have you, or maybe you've taken a lot of anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen or aspirin. So you've killed off a lot of good bacteria.
Then you might not be making key brain chemicals or key neurotransmitters; things like dopamine, serotonin, glutamate, or GABA, just to name a few, because again, we know that the gut bacteria can influence the brain. But, there's always a but right? This is interesting. The reverse is true as well. And I find this really fascinating. And what I mean is the brain can also change the gut bacteria. So it works both ways. For example, maybe you're undergoing a lot of stress at work right now. Maybe your company is in the process of hiring a couple of new employees, but in the meantime, you're responsible for their job duties and your own. During a stressful time like this, your brain can call for more of the stress hormone, cortisol, to be made. And the chronically elevated cortisol increases gut permeability. In other words, stress can create leaky gut. So likely this is why chronic long-term stress seems to be a contributing factor when you read the research to an increased risk of developing an autoimmune disease.
MELANIE: You know, that is so important. I was thinking when you were talking about, you know, a lot of clients are on those mood elevating drugs for depression or anxiety. I mean, it's a stressful time. So what those drugs do is they hold the brain chemicals in the synapse so that you can experience that relaxation, low anxiety. You know, that's how they work. But if you're not making those brain chemicals in your gut for that medication to help you hold it in the synapse, this is why they need maybe another booster drug. Or they're saying it's not really working.
CASSIE: Right. Remember, like you're saying those drugs, the Prozac, the Zoloft, I don't know what all is out there these days, but they don't help you make more brain chemicals.
MELANIE: So that's the idea is it can be, you know, if you need those medications great, but let's help those medications work properly by making the brain chemicals.
CASSIE: That they need.
MELANIE: Absolutely.
CASSIE: Yeah, exactly.
Improve your gut health with personalized nutrition counseling!
MELANIE: There are a lot, many, many factors that can lead to autoimmune diseases, including viral infections. Well, a question I'd like you to think about is will we, as a nation find that there's an increase in autoimmune diseases from people who have had COVID-19? Numerous research studies are linking autoimmune diseases to the trillions of microbes in our digestive system. So the question to ask is if I have had a long-term digestive problem, am I more at risk to develop an autoimmune disease? Well, as dietitians and nutritionists, we believe it's really, really important to develop good bacteria in that gut so you have good gut health to avoid any other health problems.
CASSIE: Boy, truer words were never spoken, Mel. I want to repeat what you just said. You said it's important to develop good gut health to avoid health problems. And I also want to circle back to the question you posed a minute ago. You asked listeners, “If I've had a time digestive problem, am I more at risk for developing an autoimmune disease?” I found some research that really speaks to that question. And this comes from the research team at the University of California, San Francisco. They looked at the bacterial species in people with MS; people with multiple sclerosis, and they found that the species of bacteria that causes more inflammation was more abundant in people with MS, while the kind of bacteria that is anti-inflammatory, the good kind of bacteria that we want that sort of puts out the flames, was pretty scarce in people with MS. This is some fascinating research into the type of bacterial species and the diversity of the microbiome and how it's all connected to autoimmune diseases. And I want to continue to follow this area of research. It's really still in its infancy. So we're going to be seeing more and more research done on this topic. What I think what we should do right now is just stop and reflect, everybody listening, stop and reflect. From what you've learned so far today, from what Mel and I have talked about, let's ask the question, what do we know now? And how can we protect ourselves from developing an autoimmune condition in the future? Or maybe you already have an autoimmune condition. So then how can you protect yourself from developing another?
MELANIE: I think that is a really good question so that people feel like they're empowered that this, this is not a permanent situation. You can change it. We do know that pre and postnatal factors can influence the development of your microbiome, which we're now just beginning to understand how it shapes the risk of developing an autoimmune disease. So let's go back to the birth of babies. For example, during vaginal birth, a mother's birth canal microbiota is transferred to the baby, enriching the baby with good bacteria. That being said, it's only as good as your mother's microbiota herself that she has. However, children born via C-section do not receive these beneficial bacterias, which puts the C-section babies at greater risk of having an imbalance or dysbiosis. Actually, a study published in February, 2016, found that babies born via C-section have a greater rate of asthma, allergies, obesity, and autoimmune diseases. In addition, breastfed babies receive a variety of nutrients, including a very important beneficial bacteria called bifidobacteria, which has a positive effect on the microbiome and your immune health. So this is something we always ask in clinic. I always explain why I'm asking that, because it's a strange question, but it's important for me to know, did you start out with a full kit or did you start out with half a kit of good bacteria.
CASSIE: So that we know where to go from here. Yes. And on that note, let me say that no matter what your age, you know, three months old, 10 years old, or 75 years old, the key to having a more diverse microbiome in your gut and thus a healthy digestive system is to increase your good bugs or increase your probiotics. And at Nutritional Weight and Wellness, we always like to start with food first because what you eat matters.
Improve digestion and increase energy while eating real foods with our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss Program!
So when we talk about probiotic rich foods, it's those foods that have a lot of good bacteria, things like the full fat, plain yogurt. And, you know, I think it's interesting when you look back at traditional cultures, every culture has something, if you go back far enough, that they ate on a daily basis, that gave them the good bacteria, right?
MELANIE: Good point.
CASSIE: So if we look to Bulgaria, for example, it was the full fat, homemade fermented yogurt, plain yogurt. If we look at my heritage, which is German, it's the homemade sauerkraut that's made at that low and slow temp. A lot of Asian cultures eat a little bit of kimchi with their meals. The Japanese culture starts each meal with a little miso soup. So, you know, there's, there's a lot of wisdom there that we need to…
MELANIE: And we've fallen out of this process because we can have food delivered and preserved in other ways, rather than fermenting.
CASSIE: Yes. Yes. We've, we've come to be disconnected. We'll talk more about that, but we're going to take a quick break. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition, but before we go to our final break, I want to leave you with a little food for thought, as I often do. Dr. Alessio Fasano, you may have heard that name before. We've mentioned him on the radio show in the past He's a world renowned pediatric gastroenterologist and research scientist. He specializes in the area of celiac and gluten sensitivity. Dr. Fasano teaches that there is a gluten connection to autoimmune diseases. And in large part, this is because, this is what he talks about. This is because gluten over time can work to break down the intestinal lining. And then this increases intestinal permeability, or in other words, this creates leaky gut over time. Now, if you remember at the beginning of the show, I mentioned that my family, some of us have dealt with intestinal health issues over the years. Some of us are still dealing with some of those digestive issues. So in my house, all of us are 100% gluten free. And I tell you, we're not deprived. We eat well. There's a lot of great recipes out there that you can make that are naturally gluten-free. And if any of you listening want more information about the role that gluten plays in intestinal health, and if you want more ideas on how to cook gluten-free the healthy way, join me as I present the online class called Going Gluten-Free the Healthy Way. This online class is full of great information, and it's only $25. You really can't go wrong. If you're interested, you can go to our website at weightandwellness.com to sign up for this online class. Or maybe at this point in the program, some of you listening are thinking, wow, it's really time that I make an appointment with a dietitian or nutritionist at Nutritional Weight and Wellness to fix my digestive health, get me on the right track and to get a plan that's tailor made for me. If that's what you're thinking right now, please give us a call at the office today at 651-699-3438. We are there ready to listen, ready to help. And we'll be back shortly so don't go away.
BREAK
MELANIE: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. I want to give you a heads up about a cooking class coming up in August called Creating Healing Foods for Your Gut. Culinary expert and nutrition educator, Marianne, she's going to lead you down the path of how to ferment veggies, so you can make your own healthy probiotic foods. Marianne's cooking class is going to fill up fast. So if you're interested, call 651-699-3438 to sign up. It's really not that hard. And our virtual cooking classes, they're only $25 and will inspire you and definitely inspire you to cook and eat real food for real health.
Where to Find Good Fermented Foods in the Grocery Store
CASSIE: Yes, yes. And Marianne is a great teacher. So fermented vegetables; yeah, things like the kimchi I mentioned before we went to break. That's a sort of a condiment of a variety of fermented vegetables from the Asian culture. Sauerkraut is fermented cabbage. When things are fermented, they have good bugs in them.
MELANIE: So you're not talking about canned sauerkraut, right Cassie?
CASSIE: Yeah. You know what? Great minds think alike. That was right in the back of my head. I'm like, should I mention you cannot buy the stuff in the middle aisles of the grocery store, because what they've done is to heat that to a really high temp, to make a bunch of sauerkraut fast and that high temp kills the good bacteria.
MELANIE: When you're eating that sauerkraut just put, what I do is you can just take a fork full and put it on your plate, cold, use it as your salt or flavoring. And so, just a little bit is all you need, you know, a tablespoon or so.
CASSIE: But not canned.
MELANIE: Not canned and not heated.
CASSIE: We buy Bubbie’s, which I love. Bubbie’s is in the refrigerated section. You know, back when I was seeing clients, I had a client and this wasn't more than seven, eight years ago, she was still making her own homemade sauerkraut. So maybe there's some people out there listening that are making their own. And you know, you make it at a low temperature and heat it for a really long time and allow that bacteria to grow.
MELANIE: Marianne is going to break that down for you in class.
CASSIE: Yes. All of you; because I know you're all signing up. All right. So we were talking about those fermented foods and how they all contain the good bacteria. And that helps to increase the diversity of good bugs in your intestinal tract. In other words, it helps to keep that microbiome healthy. Now, sometimes you might be so far gone and have killed off so many good bugs over the years, probably unknowingly, that maybe you need to supplement. So that's always an option too; food first, but then we do have a supplement that we generally start with if people need to supplement with a good bacteria and that one is called bifidobacteria. I think Mel mentioned early on in the show, that's what we get through mother's breast milk. So that's probably part of why it does really seem to work really well as that first good bacteria, if you're going to supplement, but we certainly have a lot of other options that we could go with too, depending on your own health. There is no one cookie cutter probiotic or good bacteria that works for everybody.
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MELANIE: And I like that the Bifido because it's a gentler way to start my clients out versus, you know, buying a big dog multi-strain.
CASSIE: Your body might be like, whoa, what is all this?
Counteracting the Standard American Diet (SAD)
MELANIE: A lot of bloating; a lot of gas, so starting out gentle. That's why you, you really want to work with a dietitian or nutritionist. Well, with that being said, though, Cassie, you know, we always do talk about food first. So let's talk about foods to avoid because they have a negative effect on your microbiome. Sugar is definitely at the top of the list of foods to avoid. Number two on that list: high carb foods. Now these probably have some gluten, right? So, but high carb foods that are processed, even the gluten-free processed high carbs, like bread, pasta, pizza, cereal, crackers, cookies, muffins, pastries. I could go on and on.
CASSIE: And for the people that like the science, you know, the high carb foods you just mentioned turn to sugar in our body.
MELANIE: Yeah.
CASSIE: You also said sugar is at the top of the list for foods to avoid. Sugar feeds yeast in our gut, right? Just like when you bake bread, you add sugar to feed the yeast. Sugar feeds yeast in our gut. And we all have some. It's part of the natural flora, that yeast is. But if you're feeding it a lot every day, it's going to overgrow and it eventually starts to crowd out good bacteria.
MELANIE: So we're back to dysbiosis or imbalance. So they work together, right? The bacteria and the yeast, they keep each other in check. So we don't want to be always feeding the yeast because that can lead to the leaky gut that we were talking about.
CASSIE: Right.
MELANIE: Another piece there is fast food. Fast food contains bad fats and that, so that's third on the list. So here's something interesting. It used to be, if you, if you bought bread and you ate bread and you left bread out on the counter, it turned into a crouton. Well, now if you have a bun or something like that, it's full of these bad unhealthy fats. Interesting research I was reading last week is this unhealthy, bad fat does not feed bacteria. That's how these bread products are staying so soft. So they, once we eat them, it does not feed our good bacteria. It starves them. Once again, here we are back at starving the good guys.
CASSIE: Interesting.
MELANIE: Yeah; so these foods seem to be, they all seem to be part of the standard American diet. Now that is SAD, pun intended in there.
CASSIE: SAD.
MELANIE: SAD. Well, each year 62 million Americans are diagnosed with a digestive disorder. And 74% of Americans are living with digestive symptoms of diarrhea, gas, bloating, abdominal pain, and 24 to 50 million Americans, or one in six people live and struggle with an autoimmune disease.
CASSIE: That’s a lot, one in six.
MELANIE: It's terrible. It's terrible. I hate that Americans are suffering like this and it's on the rise. So could it be from eating the standard American diet, the SAD diet? So if you struggle with either a digestive problem or an autoimmune problem, I really encourage you, listeners, make several appointments with a Weight and Wellness dietitian or nutritionist. Maybe you just want to be proactive and present, prevent yourself from getting either a digestive problem or an autoimmune condition. And you want to learn how to start choosing an eating what we call real food for long-term health. So in addition to making individual appointments, you could even just sign up for one of our nutrition classes or cooking classes or both to start learning more and more about how to take care. We get one body. Let's take care of it.
CASSIE: Yes, we want a good quality of life.
MELANIE: Yes. You know, I always say peace is wonderful. You know, peace is great. Joy is wonderful. But if you're in pain, relief is everything.
CASSIE: Right. Right. And food matters. What is on the end of your fork makes such a difference. So on that note, let's talk about a plate that would really nourish.
MELANIE: Our gut.
CASSIE: Our gut.
MELANIE: Good idea. So, we were talking before break, now we're a little bit, you know, nutrition nerds here. So we eat things like sauerkraut on the side of a plate, but something as simple as starting your morning, this morning with a couple free range eggs, maybe some nitrate-free bacon or nitrate-free sausage patties. And then in that oil that you use to cook, that might be healthy oil, like avocado oil, coconut oil, and ghee or butter, then you can stir fry some vegetables. Maybe you have leftover broccoli. Maybe you've got half an onion nee to use up, some peppers, stir fry it. I have a client who's so exhausted. I said, buy the organic chopped peppers.
CASSIE: Yes. It's worth the extra dollar or two.
MELANIE: Yeah, it is. Or you can even buy them in the bag now; stir fry that up. That's going to be, and instead of that coffee, that tea, or that, you know, that drive through coffee, maybe heat up of a mug of bone broth. Healthy grass fed bone broth is another way to start healing the gut.
CASSIE: Yeah.
MELANIE: And then you have breakfast.
CASSIE: And you have a delicious breakfast. Yes. You know, and, and venture out. If you're at that point where you're ready to try a new food, you can find kimchi at every grocery store. You know, it used to be when I started at Nutritional Weight and Wellness over a decade ago, one, I had never heard of kimchi, two: I didn't know where to find it. Now I even see it at Super Target. It's everywhere.
MELANIE: Lots of fermented vegetables. Yeah. So you can try variety. Like I just saw, you know, fermented shredded purple cabbage.
CASSIE: Yeah. Well, I was thinking last year, I have to check again, but at our farmer's market, they had canned fermented green beans. I mean, you can ferment anything. So, you know, as our program draws to a close, I think we should just stop here and remind our listeners that our goal at Nutritional Weight and Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. Yes. It's a simple message, but it's a powerful message. Eating real food is life-changing. Thank you for joining us. And we hope you enjoy your weekend.
