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Knowledge is power, and if you are a health-conscious person then you must be aware of the fact that there are many natural cures for common digestive issues. The idea of food sensitivities has grown in popularity over the last decade as more people discover they react differently to different foods. Even if you don’t suffer from allergies per se, there can be many other symptoms like bloating and constant indigestion which can make life miserable.
Today is a very special episode because we get to share this one with Stacey and Macy. Stacey and Macy are registered dieticians and nutrition specialists. They’re not only experts in the field, but they’ve also been where you are right now. Stacey and Macy share how stress can definitely destroy your digestive symptoms when left unaddressed, and stress of all kinds, not just emotional stress. They’ll also talk about over exercising and under eating, as well as a lack of sleep. If you’re feeling stuck, don’t miss this episode!
In Today’s Episode We Discuss:
- The definition/meaning of “root cause of your digestive symptoms” [03:57]
- Clients’ most common root causes of their digestive symptoms [07:39]
- Why over exercising and under eating are stressors and how they impact gut health [15:29]
- How under eating affects digestion [17:52]
- Why joy, happiness, are super important, as a part of the gut picture [23:12]
- Things you may do to make the eating process more comfortable, especially if you have food phobia/fear[24:44]
- Sleep as a root cause and a good sleep routine [28:38]
- Macy’s favorite way to love her gut [34:25]
- Stacy’s favorite way to love her gut [35:43]
Quotes:
“A lot of our lifestyle factors can contribute to our gut symptoms. And some of these root causes are things like stress.” [04:37]
“Stress is going to be stress on the body, wherever that’s coming from, your body’s going to have the same physiological response to stress.” [12:13]
“When you don’t sleep, you’re not resting and digesting. And you need to rest and digest to have proper digestion you need to rest and digest to be able to repair your body especially if you are working out if you’re not resting and digesting your muscles in your body do not have time to glue themselves back together.” (29:28]
“When you’re rested, your brain functions better and so do your gut.”[32:46]
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TRANSCRIPTION:
SPEAKERS
Heather Finley
Macy Essman
Stacey Chimel
Heather Finley 00:01
Hey, welcome to the love your gut podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Heather Finley, I know what you’re thinking, how am I supposed to love my gut when all it does is hold me back. I thought the same thing before I found relief from my own gut health issues. I dedicated my life to getting into the bottom of my own gut issues. So I can help women just like you transform theirs. Now, I’m here to guide you through your own gut health journey. We do this through identifying your root causes and making sustainable and transformative changes. As a result, you can unleash your true potential. My goal is to empower you with the information and tools you need to love your gut so it loves you back, right here on this podcast. All right, welcome back to the next episode of the love your gut Podcast. Today is a very special episode because I get to share this episode with two of my most favorite people, Stacy and Macy. They’re both registered dieticians on my team. And I brought them on here to talk to you all about why you might be stuck with your digestive symptoms. So I’d love it Stacey, if you would first just tell us a little bit about yourself so everyone can get to know you. Tell us where you’re from and how long you’ve been on the team.
Stacey Chimel 01:22
Thanks, Heather. As Heather mentioned, I am a registered dietician, I can’t believe it but this is year number eight and the nutrition fields for me. I have received my Masters and undergraduate nutrition degrees in the Dallas Fort Worth area at Texas Woman’s University, and actually met Heather during my dietetic internship almost eight years ago, which is crazy to think about. I came on board about three years ago now, right when the gutTogether program was getting started. It’s been quite an incredible journey to see how the group program has transformed over the years and continues to transform. We’re always bringing new ideas to the table.
Heather Finley 02:07
Thanks so much, Stacy, I think like you said, you really are kind of the OG you’ve been here really since the beginning. And you have really seen this program transform. And a lot of the transformation is because of you and your brilliant mind. I am so grateful to have you on my team. You are the expert at putting all the puzzle pieces together. And it’s so cool just to see how you work and how you really walk alongside and support our clients. I’m so glad to have you on my team. And really just all of the amazing ideas that you bring. So I’m excited for everyone here to learn from you today. So Macy, I would also love if you would introduce yourself to our podcast listeners and tell us a bit about you and where you’re from.
Macy Essman 02:55
Sure. Thanks, Heather. It’s great to be here. So I’m glad everyone’s tuning in. And I am also a registered dietitian from Midland, Texas. I completed my master’s program and dietetic internship at the University of Kansas Medical Center. And ironically, actually met Heather as one of her patients. So while back, which is pretty ironic how that all worked out. But I’ve been working for Heather for about six months or so. And on her team working with clients in the Get Together program.
Heather Finley 03:28
Thanks, Macy. Like Macy said she was a former client and I was so impressed by her brilliant mind as well. And it’s really cool to have seen her gut health completely transform also was instantly connected to her because she went to my alma mater, Texas Christian University Go Frogs. And so that’s how we originally connected but really glad to have her on our team. She is so thorough and so detail oriented, that we don’t miss a beat between the three of us. So thanks so much for introducing yourself. It’s very common that we get clients that show up to our program. They feel like they have tried everything. They’re hopeless, they feel stuck. And they really don’t know if they’re ever going to feel better because they’ve tried all the elimination diets. They’ve tried all the protocols, all the supplements, all the detoxes, everything that you can think of, and they’re starting to wonder, will I actually ever feel better? And these are actually our favorite clients to work with. Because sometimes the missing piece is maybe not as complicated as you might think it would be. So we will have multiple parts of this series. The Why are you stuck series. So this is part one. We’re gonna go into a couple reasons why you feel stuck with your digestive symptoms, and potentially what’s holding you back from feeling better. And then also I’d love it if you would Just tell us what is actually a root cause, oftentimes we’re talking about, get to the root cause of your digestive symptoms. And I think sometimes we don’t even really know what that means. So if you could just define that for us, I think that would be a helpful way to start this.
Stacey Chimel 05:15
Yeah, so root causes, I think this is a new, maybe a new term for a lot of our clients. You know, as we get going, in this series, you’ll hear about various root causes, I think it’s really common to hear something called like a kill Protocol, or, you know, focusing on bacteria as the end all be all. And we’ll, we’ll provide some episodes that get more into the science of that. But we get these clients who come to us and they feel like they’ve taken all of these products to kill bacteria. And yet, they still have symptoms, because they’ve never heard this term root cause, you know, a lot of our lifestyle factors can contribute to our gut symptoms. And some of these root causes are things like stress, which Macy will go into more detail about and the various types of stresses because as Macy will talk about, I think, sometimes we think about stress, kind of in a you know, in one, one line, stress being maybe more emotional, you know, how we exercise, how we eat, maybe what we eat, what we restrict our mindset around food, our sleep patterns, you know, what, how is our body perceiving the stress around us? How are our digestive secretions? What variety do we eat day to day, week to week, those are just some of the root causes. You know, as we get going and more into the science, you could even start talking about, maybe hormones, things like estrogen, progesterone, but cortisol as well. So there are many root causes. And I think that’s why this no, that got together program is so helpful, because we use a team walk alongside our clients in identifying, and many times more than one of those root causes, and then set goals around how we can move forward in what we’ve identified.
Heather Finley 07:12
Awesome, thanks for that breakdown. And so if you’re new to this concept of root cause, I also like to describe it like a tree, I think everyone has probably had a tree, maybe that has had a dead branch, or maybe you have a garden and like some of it is flourishing, and some of it is not. So instead of just cutting off the tree branch, or, you know, pulling out the the plants that aren’t flourishing, the concept here is let’s get to the root of the problem, let’s figure out why this tree branch is dead, or why the garden isn’t flourishing. And let’s give it what it needs. So the right amount of water, the right amount of sunlight, the right amount of fertilizer, if needed. So when you’re thinking about the root cause, I think it’s a completely different mindset shift. Because you’re no longer thinking, I just want to get rid of symptoms, you’re thinking, I just want to get rid of symptoms, and I want to be empowered to keep the symptoms away. So although getting to the root cause might actually take longer for you to see relief, it’s going to be a lot more sustainable. So if you’re someone who’s just gone through all these protocols, all these antibiotics, all these elimination diets, and you feel like you’re just riding this rollercoaster, or this merry go round that you cannot get off of finding the root cause is what will allow you to get off that roller coaster and stop buying tickets to the proverbial fair that you no longer want to attend and share with us one of the top root causes stress that we see in our clients.
Macy Essman 08:57
So as Heather and Stacy were kind of talking about those root causes, one of the main things we see with a lot of our clients actually is stress. And I think the word or you know, when someone’s like maybe stress is at the root of your problems, that’s kind of this like, you know, thing that you can’t really physically see. And that can often lead to clients kind of being a bit shut off and not really wanting to take in, okay, maybe stress is actually at play here. But it’s really kind of important to think about all the different types of stress. So stress can for sure be emotional, that kind of emotional stress. Maybe that’s you know, a death in the family a divorce, or maybe just like a high stress job, you then causing more of that like emotional stress. But stress can also be you know, physical stress. Maybe that’s like an injury or surgery can also be inflammatory stress. So, you know, those can often be some like hidden sources of stress in the body. So maybe that’s something like an actual gut infection or even if it’s just, you know, general dysbiosis, which would be, you know, an imbalance Send that you know that good and bad bacteria within the gut. Also something like excessive exercise, and even like under eating, which Stacy will get into a bit as well can be a form of stress on the body. So it’s really kind of important to think about, you know, all of these different forms of stress where, you know, kind of thinking about it as a bucket. So you know, you have a bucket and kind of adding into that bucket, little stresses at a time until your bucket essentially overflows. So it’s, you know, not trying to eliminate all stress in your life, because that’s pretty much impossible, but trying to think about, okay, where are some of these sources of stress coming from? What can I modify, to help kind of lower that overall stress bucket, and kind of get your body back into that like balanced state. So you know, stress has a big impact on overall digestion. And so we see a lot of our clients with this really, really high stress state, being at you know, one of the main drivers of their kind of digestive dysfunction. Because really, if you think about it, your body needs to be in that rest and digest nervous system state, for your body to essentially signal digestive juices for your stomach, stomach acid, and, you know, overall, like digestive enzymes and gallbladder flow, contraction of your intestines, all of that, you know, happens in that rest and digest state. So if you’re in that fight or flight, acute stress state, essentially, your body’s going to, you know, shut blood away from the digestive tract, all of those digestive processes are going to slow down and be inhibited. So you’re not going to be properly digesting and absorbing your food, you’re probably going to have to or start to have some issues with motility. Sluggish motility, over time with chronic chronic stress is a really common thing we see with a lot of our clients. So it’s really trying to think about, okay, you know, what are all these areas of stress in my life, and how can I start to reduce that, and that can be, you know, something that can be a slow process over time, but they can greatly improve your overall digestive function and your ability to really digest and absorb your food properly, we find that you know, a lot of our clients are eating on the go, they’re eating in this really high stress state. But if you think about it, you really need to think about your digestive function, you know, from a top down approach. So really, the start of your, your, your digestion is going to be, you know, adequately chewing and really kind of relaxing at meals, so you’re able to better digest and absorb your food. Because if your foods kind of going in, you know, partially digested, you’re not able to properly break down your food that’s just going to set you up, you know, for downstream digestive dysfunction. So kind of really starting to think about all those different areas that we can get into that Stacy will chat more about as well.
Heather Finley 12:53
Awesome. So basically, what you’re saying is, you can still be stressed, even if you don’t feel stressed. Yes, exactly. And I think that’s a big kind of, like lightbulb moment for a lot of our clients is there can be lots of internal stressors. So you know, maybe you’re pretty, pretty calm person and or you don’t have a high stress job. And you know, all of those things are kind of going well for you. And you’re like, No, there’s no way stress is at the root of my issues. But kind of like I was mentioning with more of those like physical or like inflammatory stressors on the body, essentially, stress is going to be stress on the body, wherever that’s coming from, your body’s going to have the same physiological response to stress. So again, you could feel like stress isn’t really at play, but maybe you have a hidden gut infection, or maybe you’re excessively over or over exercising or under eating, and your body’s just in a really kind of high stress state, you don’t have enough nutrition coming in, to kind of help with, you know, overall rest and repair of the body. So yeah, Heather, like, you know, a lot of our clients, maybe they don’t feel that stress, but there’s definitely a lot of stress going going on which we start to kind of uncover as we start to see kind of all these hidden, HIDDEN stressors that are at play. Yeah, it’s so amazing, I think the way that our bodies are designed really, to protect us. So the body is interpreting any stress as the same type of stress. So like Macy said, whether you have a stressful job, whether you are under eating, whether you are sitting in traffic and you’re stressed, the body is interpreting that stress the same, but it really is doing that to protect you. Because any sort of threat. Your body is thinking I need to get ready to run away from this proverbial tiger or bear whatever you want to think about. And I need to make sure that I’m saying If so, we can’t be too upset about this because really our body is doing what it’s designed to do. But it’s our job to really tap into that nervous system piece, showing our body that it can be safe, and showing our body that even like food can be safe again, which Stacy will definitely talk about as well. So, Stacy, why don’t you take us to number two, which the another reason why we find our clients are stuck is over exercising and under eating. So tell us more about that.
Stacey Chimel 15:37
Yeah, over exercising and under eating are definitely two root causes that we see in many of our clients. And I feel like this is an area that I can definitely empathize in, I shared with many of our clients. And they got together program that when my gut symptoms were kind of, at their worst, about 11 years ago, I was stuck in this vicious cycle of over exercising under eating, I had all of these gut symptoms that were just roaring every day. And so I would restrict and it created this cycle of food fear under eating low variety. And it was this vicious cycle that I was thankfully able to break through and move past and I’m very, I’m very, I guess compassionate in this area, empathetic because it’s something that I struggled with. And so I get very excited when we help clients kind of break through some of their food fears, and encourage them to add variety. So I’ll go into a little bit more detail over why these are stressors and how they impact our gut health. So over exercising, I feel like that’s something a lot of our women can resonate with. And it’s interesting, because Heather’s you were saying that stress response is very protective for us and our body tries to communicate with us. And sometimes, we don’t either don’t listen or don’t realize that it’s trying to talk to us. You know, as Macy was unpacking the different types of stress, I’ll paint a picture, you know, say we have this gut infection that we just never know about, and we have these alarms going off in the body. And, you know, maybe five years ago, we used to go to, you know, be able to go to the gym for 3040 45 minutes, and we felt energized and so we tell ourselves, we should be able to do that now. But because of that underlying stress those alarms going off, you know, now we leave over depleted and we’re confused what’s going on, and we maybe don’t know, to kind of lean into our body’s communication with us. And so, you know, as a team, when we step alongside our clients and you know, have them start asking themselves, you know, what type of movement makes you feel rejuvenated, you know, what type of movement calms your nervous system, what leaves you feeling kind of replenished, it might not look the same as it once did, especially if you are in this cycle of under eating and just don’t have those same reserves, right, that that that energy to put forth currently. And so a lot of our clients actually see that once they kind of take a step back and start asking themselves like what movement makes me feel kind of rejuvenated and that might be walking outside in the sunlight. Maybe that’s you know, gentle yoga or pilates you know, still moving their body but in a way where they’re not essentially you know, over depleting themselves and then they’re down for the count for the rest of the day. And so, you know, I think being okay and having compassion for yourself that movement may look different during different seasons of our lives depending on all the different stressors inside of us and around us. And along that you know, under eating and, and food fear that restrictive diet pattern we see a lot with our clients. I like to talk about you know how and your eating affects digestion in a couple of different ways. A lot of our clients battle not emptying their bowels efficiently day to day or maybe this resonates with you just you know that feeling like foods just sitting there and it doesn’t want to move. And when we get to the science of what that what’s going on there that you know could be slow motility and when we under eat our body is so smart and wants to keep us alive and surviving. And so it has to start prioritizing what is most important. You know in our bodies want to keep our brain functioning our lungs, our heart, and motility or digestion is just not going to keep us alive running away from that bear that tiger right that those alarms are going off and so motility has to slow down I want to protect us. And so with a lot of our clients, you know, one of the priorities is working with how you eat and making sure that your body is getting what it needs. So we get some of those alarms, you know, turning off, so your body is like, okay, I can survive, I am surviving, and now we can start functioning like I was made to function. And that, you know, I understand that I make it sound so easy, and it’s not. And that’s why it’s so important to have a team walking alongside you. I think overcoming food fear is really empowering. And we see a lot of our clients succeed in that area, we work on different ways to do that different ways to approach it, you know, celebrating big wins in your gut healing journey that reminds you that your body is capable, maybe foods, you’ve been able to add back journaling about it, really journaling about adding new feedback, and the most possibly the most positive outcome before it happens. I’m trying to, you know, recognize that when we are anxious and have kind of stuck in that food, fear mindset, if we have a symptom, a lot of times, it’s actually not the food, it’s the anxiety or the fear that’s causing the symptom, and then it’s so easy to demonize the food when it really wasn’t the food at all. And so, you know, we really want to work on, you know, when you add the food back, what does your environment feel like, how’s your mood that day, and those are things we work on with our clients. You know, and with that restriction, I think food fear and restriction plays a role in so many different areas, you know, not only do our clients start restricting, and they get down to, you know, barely any variety, and yet, their symptoms are still there. And then we’re like, you know, maybe it’s actually not the food, you know, you’ve you’re eating, you know, foods that I can count on one hand, and you’re still having symptoms, let’s think outside the box here. And so once you kind of have that lightbulb moment, it’s easier to add foods back, and then you know, start changing that mindset of, okay, instead of what can I take out, what can I add back, I think that’s really fun. You know, having fun with cooking again, and realizing that the more variety you add, the more justice you’re doing for digestion, you know, all of our different gut bugs, like different foods different, you know, prebiotic fibers, it’s, you know, I Heather’s painted this picture before, and I it’s so true. Like, I have very different favorite foods and my husband, we have very different preferences. And so if I was to only purchase the foods I like, you know, maybe he wouldn’t flourish as much. And that’s like our gut bugs, right? Like not one gut bug eats the same as another. And so when we restrict our diet, we’re restricting kind of the grocery shopping for all the different gut bugs to flourish. And, you know, one of the greatest predictors of gut health is the variety in our diet, specifically plant foods. And so the more restrict, we restrict, the more or get bugs, I guess, essentially don’t get that variety and don’t flourish as well. And the last point that I’ll make is with restriction comes isolation. And one of the root causes that we, you know, that I forgot to mention earlier, is just how important relationships are in the gut healing process. And when we isolate, we hyper focus on their symptoms and get stuck in this vicious cycle. So the more variety, the more flourish you never get bugs. And honestly, what I’ve seen in my life, the healthier my relationships, because I’m, you know, enjoying time spent with others, specifically around meal times. Hey, I know you’re absolutely loving this episode, I have to interrupt real quick to ask you a huge favor. My mission is to empower as many women as possible to find relief from their digestive symptoms, and you are a part of that missions. The best way that you can help me to pursue this mention is by going over to iTunes, and giving us a five star rating and review so that more people can find this podcast. Now back to the episode. Yeah, that’s so good. And I’m glad that you brought up the point about isolation because joy, happiness, pleasure, all of those things are super important as a part of the gut picture. And like you said, when you’re isolating yourself because you’re the girl that’s only eating five foods, and oh, I can’t go to that restaurant, like how is that then affecting your relationships and then as a result, just continuing this vicious cycle of symptoms so Stacy really quick I think the like under eating Oh,
Heather Finley 25:00
over exercising is a really common thing. And sometimes people don’t even know that they’re doing it, they just don’t feel good. They feel like food is sitting in their stomach, like a brick, like you mentioned earlier, they feel physically uncomfortable, they might have a lot of food fear, they might not even know what to eat. Or maybe they’ve been to multiple practitioners and one practitioner told them to be gluten and dairy free. And then one practitioner told them to do a low FODMAP. And then the other practitioner told them to do low histamine. And now they’re looking at their list of foods that they can eat, and there’s barely anything on it. So where does someone start? What are some, like? What’s a good starting place for someone even looking to add in food or thinking about how do I increase food? If I’m physically uncomfortable? And if I just have a lot of food fear? Are there things that you can do to make the actual eating process more comfortable? Is there a mindset thing? Where Where does one start with this?
Stacey Chimel 26:02
Yeah, that’s a great question. So a couple suggestions here, I’m going to go back to Macy’s explanation of stress and how stress impacts digestion. As I was saying earlier, when if we have a bad day, let’s say we read an email, a work email, and there was some, you know, some surprising information in there or receive a text from a close friend, and emotions are high. You know, watch the news, whatever that may be, again, get into a fight with a spouse. In that moment, it actually might not be the best time to add in that new food, because your nervous system is kind of in that fight or flight, right, it’s ready to flee from that bear that tiger that you were talking about. So, you know, I actually recommend starting with kind of getting our body’s perception of stress, helping our body’s perception of stress, before we add a new food back, one that could start with journaling about a food that you’d like to add back a couple of days before you plan to do that, if we can visualize our body tolerating that food, it maybe we start journaling about the aroma, the appearance, you know, eating the food, you know, that was an enjoyable experience with with others, you leave the meals symptom free, and you start to picture that in your head. As that meal approaches, you’ll feel more confident that there is another option outside of having, you know, X y&z symptoms that you’re assuming will happen. So I think visualization type techniques like journaling, about the experience is helpful. And I’ve had clients do that prior to Thanksgiving meal or holiday gatherings, and they’ve had a lot of success. And that I know, it sounds kind of, you know, thinking outside the box a little bit. But it really does help like calm your nervous system before the event takes place. And even right around the mealtime, the more you can enter the meal confident and relaxed, the better your body is going to handle. That new food, something we talk about in our group is meal hygiene. And that is really focused on how your eating the food, how you eat, the food will impact how you digest it, and a lot of times how you feel afterwards. So you know, maybe that’s doing some deep breathing through your diaphragm for 60 seconds before you start eating, you know, really relax your nervous system. So now you’re entering the meal. You know, with this visible visualization of succeeding, you’re taking some time to relax your shoulders, to breathe through your diaphragm, to diaphragm to calm your nervous system before you start eating that meal. And I think it’s important to get excited about adding new foods. So something we’ll often do with our clients is have them write a list of foods that they’re excited to add back, or that would make their life easier, you know, easier and that, you know, everyone in the family eats x and I would love to be able to just cook one meal for my family. And this would make you know meal prep a lot easier. And start there start with something that you’re excited about. If you can get excited leading into the meal that will also support I’m sure we’ll do an episode on the gut brain access but support that gut brain access and how you know and how you tolerate that food. Awesome. I love that. I think that mindset piece is so so important. And you’ve given some really, really practical good tips for how to approach the food fear piece, how to make sure you’re eating enough and make sure you start to incorporate some of that variety. So the last root cause that we will talk about today there’s many more so stay tuned for the rest of this series is sleep. So if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably
Heather Finley 30:00
Leave at some point in your life use the mentality or the phrase, I’ll sleep when I’m dead. If you knew me in college, you probably knew that I didn’t sleep very much, I would always wake up early to exercise and was just running on adrenaline all the time. And to be honest, I was super proud of that I was like, I can get more done than anyone else before eight o’clock in the morning, and I can totally function in my life. Well, one of the reasons I think that I was so stuck with my digestive symptoms was because of this, not only because I wasn’t sleeping, but also because of the stress that that was putting on my body. So we’ve talked a lot about stress today tying stress into all the different root causes. When you don’t sleep, you’re not resting and digesting. And you need to rest and digest to have proper digestion, you need to rest and digest to be able to repair your body, especially if you are working out. If you’re not resting and digesting your muscles and your body do not have time to glue themselves back together, let alone digest the food that’s sitting in your digestive tract. So one of the top things that I think keeps people stuck is just our gogogo culture, where we’re not prioritizing sleep, we’re scrolling on screens late at night, trust me, all three of us are guilty of this, we’re not perfect either. But prioritizing sleep is one of the best things that you can do to start to improve your digestive symptoms, because it’s going to have an effect on both of the things that Stacy and Macy just talked about, it’s going to actually help you to be able to tolerate more variety of foods, because you’re going to be resting and digesting is going to decrease that stress load on your body. So you’re no longer going to be operating from a state of adrenaline and cortisol all day long. So one of the things that you can do is get into a really good sleep routine. And I think a lot of times people are focused on their morning routine, but you cannot have a good morning routine without a good evening routine. So maybe it’s overwhelming to think about sleeping, or you’re thinking I don’t have time to sleep. And if you don’t have time to sleep, I would really challenge you to think, what am I doing? Or what what am i Life is causing me to have such little time? So what can I say no to because if you think about it this way, every time you say no to sleep, you’re in, you’re saying yes to something else, you’re saying no to your health. So are there things that you can cut out temporarily, so that you can maybe even just go to bed 15 minutes earlier, 15 minutes earlier and night over a week is several extra hours of sleep if you add it up. So that alone can make a huge difference. We’re not saying that you need to go to bed TWO HOURS EARLIER every night. Although that would be awesome if you have the ability to do that. But even 15 minutes over a week can make a huge difference. So think about maybe how you could turn off the TV 15 minutes earlier or put your phone in the kitchen instead of in your room so you’re not stuck scrolling at night, or you know, shut down your the lights in your house so that it’s a little bit darker so that you’re queued to sleep earlier, drink some warm chamomile tea, something that will relax you and cue you to sleep so that your body can actually rest and digest. You’ll wake up you’ll feel refreshed. And one of the things that we hear from our clients when they start to improve their sleep is man I didn’t realize how much more productive I would be if I was rested. So although you might feel like you don’t have time in your day, when you’re rested, your brain functions better and so does your gut. So you will actually be able to get more done in less time. And then the other thing that you want to think about and if you’re a shift worker or you work odd hours, then there’s probably a whole nother podcast episode that we could do on this but if you work a regular job, you your gut wants to be asleep when it’s dark, and your gut wants to work when it’s light outside. So the more that you can prioritize rest, sleeping when it’s dark outside or waking up when it’s light outside, getting that morning sun in your eyes for 10 minutes to then improve your circadian rhythm. It will actually also improve your gut motility. It will tell an alert your gut Hey, it’s light outside it’s time to work. And when it’s dark outside, you’ll go into that rest and digest state which can overall improve your digestive symptoms. So just to kind of wrap it up the three things that we talked about today, we talked about how stress can definitely destroy your digestive symptoms when left unaddressed, and stress of all kinds, not just emotional stress, we also talked about over exercising and under eating, and how those things can affect your digestive symptoms, and then a lack of sleep. So just to wrap it up, Stacy and Macy, I would love for each of you to share what you do to love your gut.
Macy Essman 35:42
Sure, thanks, Heather, I would love to go first, kind of what you were mentioning, about prioritizing rest, one of the things I really love to do is really just that prioritizing rest and nourishment. Just because in my kind of my journey with my own digestive health issues under eating, and over exercising was really a big part of my journey. So you know, just kind of really prioritizing that listening to my body. Whereas, you know, in the past, if I was tired or feeling rundown, I would, you know, still kind of be grinding it out, wake up at 5:30am to go to the gym. And really, now I kind of tune into that, and maybe I get a few extra hours of sleep. And that day, I really just go on a quick 2030 minute walk or even shorter outside, just take kind of get, you know, some natural sunlight and just some gentle movement. So that’s really kind of the main thing I like to do is just kind of tuning into my body and seeing how I feel and what what I should do that day as far as exercise and, and nourishment goes to really kind of give my body what it needs, for, you know, for it to function properly, and ultimately, just kind of continue healing and everything. Awesome. Thank you may see, Stacy, what about you?
Stacey Chimel 37:01
For me, I’m gonna cheat here and kind of put two together. I think for me kind of going back to what I spoke on earlier with variety, I kind of joke and call myself the like a lazy cooking dietitian, because I’m terrible at following following recipes. So for me, knowing that a large variety of plant foods be tweaks important, I tried to simplify meal prep and have colorful produce on hand at all times. So what I mean by that I’ve gotten into the swing of maybe roasting, you know, two sheet pans of veggies on Sunday. And I’ll use four types, maybe it’s, you know, bell pepper, onion, carrots, and green beans. And then on Wednesday, I will rotate in for new veggies, you know, maybe it’s sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts. And I just threw those out there that having those on hand has been super helpful for me to just, you know, maybe throw together with eggs in the morning or with different types of grains and proteins for lunches and dinners. So I just tried to keep a similar, maybe structure and rotate what I put into help ease some of the stress around cooking for me personally and, and then the second part of that is once those foods are prepared, I tried to eat them away from the computer. I am super guilty of that, as Heather said none of us are perfect. But if I can eat outside or away from distractions, that is something that’s made a huge impact on my digestive symptoms personally, the more relaxed I am, the more I taste my food and enjoy my food, and feel honestly better after eating. I love that. And I don’t even think it’s lazy. I think it’s smart. Stacy actually did an amazing training for our clients on meal prep. And that’s kind of part of what she shared was just cooking a lot of things at once. And if you saw my Instagram reel a couple of days ago about resistant starch, if you’re cooking potatoes or starchy foods, and you’re meal, prepping them and letting them cool after you cook them, you’re also getting the benefit of resistant starch there too. So I don’t know if it’s lazy or if it’s smart Stacy, but I think you know, there’s definitely some beauty there. So for me, I think right now the way that I’m loving my gut the most is getting some walks just like Macy. I’ve really scaled back on exercise recently because I have a newborn I guess he’s not necessarily a newborn anymore. He’s a baby, but I am trying to just be gentle with myself. So trying to get some walks outside in the Texas heat before it gets too hot in the morning loving that. And that is my favorite way that I’m loving my gut right now. So you guys, thank you so much for joining me today. This was so
Heather Finley 40:00
Fun. We are gonna do another round of this going into more of the nitty gritty science reasons why you might be stuck with your digestive symptoms. Think things like gallbladder and low stomach acid and digestive insufficiencies. So part two, definitely coming your way. But thank you, Stacey and Macy for joining me today. And join us for the next episode of the love your podcast. I’m giving your gut a thumbs up because you just finished another episode of the love your gut podcast. Thanks so much for listening in to this episode. I hope it was helpful. I know you feel like you’ve tried absolutely everything to get to the root cause of your gut symptoms. And if you ask me, I think it’s about time we find a long term solution. My gut Together program is a life changing program that will help you finally understand what’s going on in your gut and the steps you need to take to find relief. Visit Dr. Heather finley.co backslash gut together for more information so that you can start transforming your gut today. And as always, remember to love your gut so it will love you back
Heather Finley 00:01
Hey, welcome to the love your gut podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Heather Finley, I know what you’re thinking, how am I supposed to love my gut when all it does is hold me back. I thought the same thing before I found relief from my own gut health issues. I dedicated my life to getting into the bottom of my own gut issues. So I can help women just like you transform theirs. Now, I’m here to guide you through your own gut health journey. We do this through identifying your root causes and making sustainable and transformative changes. As a result, you can unleash your true potential. My goal is to empower you with the information and tools you need to love your gut so it loves you back, right here on this podcast. All right, welcome back to the next episode of the love your gut Podcast. Today is a very special episode because I get to share this episode with two of my most favorite people, Stacy and Macy. They’re both registered dieticians on my team. And I brought them on here to talk to you all about why you might be stuck with your digestive symptoms. So I’d love it Stacey, if you would first just tell us a little bit about yourself so everyone can get to know you. Tell us where you’re from and how long you’ve been on the team.
Stacey Chimel 01:22
Thanks, Heather. As Heather mentioned, I am a registered dietician, I can’t believe it but this is year number eight and the nutrition fields for me. I have received my Masters and undergraduate nutrition degrees in the Dallas Fort Worth area at Texas Woman’s University, and actually met Heather during my dietetic internship almost eight years ago, which is crazy to think about. I came on board about three years ago now, right when the gutTogether program was getting started. It’s been quite an incredible journey to see how the group program has transformed over the years and continues to transform. We’re always bringing new ideas to the table.
Heather Finley 02:07
Thanks so much, Stacy, I think like you said, you really are kind of the OG you’ve been here really since the beginning. And you have really seen this program transform. And a lot of the transformation is because of you and your brilliant mind. I am so grateful to have you on my team. You are the expert at putting all the puzzle pieces together. And it’s so cool just to see how you work and how you really walk alongside and support our clients. I’m so glad to have you on my team. And really just all of the amazing ideas that you bring. So I’m excited for everyone here to learn from you today. So Macy, I would also love if you would introduce yourself to our podcast listeners and tell us a bit about you and where you’re from.
Macy Essman 02:55
Sure. Thanks, Heather. It’s great to be here. So I’m glad everyone’s tuning in. And I am also a registered dietitian from Midland, Texas. I completed my master’s program and dietetic internship at the University of Kansas Medical Center. And ironically, actually met Heather as one of her patients. So while back, which is pretty ironic how that all worked out. But I’ve been working for Heather for about six months or so. And on her team working with clients in the Get Together program.
Heather Finley 03:28
Thanks, Macy. Like Macy said she was a former client and I was so impressed by her brilliant mind as well. And it’s really cool to have seen her gut health completely transform also was instantly connected to her because she went to my alma mater, Texas Christian University Go Frogs. And so that’s how we originally connected but really glad to have her on our team. She is so thorough and so detail oriented, that we don’t miss a beat between the three of us. So thanks so much for introducing yourself. It’s very common that we get clients that show up to our program. They feel like they have tried everything. They’re hopeless, they feel stuck. And they really don’t know if they’re ever going to feel better because they’ve tried all the elimination diets. They’ve tried all the protocols, all the supplements, all the detoxes, everything that you can think of, and they’re starting to wonder, will I actually ever feel better? And these are actually our favorite clients to work with. Because sometimes the missing piece is maybe not as complicated as you might think it would be. So we will have multiple parts of this series. The Why are you stuck series. So this is part one. We’re gonna go into a couple reasons why you feel stuck with your digestive symptoms, and potentially what’s holding you back from feeling better. And then also I’d love it if you would Just tell us what is actually a root cause, oftentimes we’re talking about, get to the root cause of your digestive symptoms. And I think sometimes we don’t even really know what that means. So if you could just define that for us, I think that would be a helpful way to start this.
Stacey Chimel 05:15
Yeah, so root causes, I think this is a new, maybe a new term for a lot of our clients. You know, as we get going, in this series, you’ll hear about various root causes, I think it’s really common to hear something called like a kill Protocol, or, you know, focusing on bacteria as the end all be all. And we’ll, we’ll provide some episodes that get more into the science of that. But we get these clients who come to us and they feel like they’ve taken all of these products to kill bacteria. And yet, they still have symptoms, because they’ve never heard this term root cause, you know, a lot of our lifestyle factors can contribute to our gut symptoms. And some of these root causes are things like stress, which Macy will go into more detail about and the various types of stresses because as Macy will talk about, I think, sometimes we think about stress, kind of in a you know, in one, one line, stress being maybe more emotional, you know, how we exercise, how we eat, maybe what we eat, what we restrict our mindset around food, our sleep patterns, you know, what, how is our body perceiving the stress around us? How are our digestive secretions? What variety do we eat day to day, week to week, those are just some of the root causes. You know, as we get going and more into the science, you could even start talking about, maybe hormones, things like estrogen, progesterone, but cortisol as well. So there are many root causes. And I think that’s why this no, that got together program is so helpful, because we use a team walk alongside our clients in identifying, and many times more than one of those root causes, and then set goals around how we can move forward in what we’ve identified.
Heather Finley 07:12
Awesome, thanks for that breakdown. And so if you’re new to this concept of root cause, I also like to describe it like a tree, I think everyone has probably had a tree, maybe that has had a dead branch, or maybe you have a garden and like some of it is flourishing, and some of it is not. So instead of just cutting off the tree branch, or, you know, pulling out the the plants that aren’t flourishing, the concept here is let’s get to the root of the problem, let’s figure out why this tree branch is dead, or why the garden isn’t flourishing. And let’s give it what it needs. So the right amount of water, the right amount of sunlight, the right amount of fertilizer, if needed. So when you’re thinking about the root cause, I think it’s a completely different mindset shift. Because you’re no longer thinking, I just want to get rid of symptoms, you’re thinking, I just want to get rid of symptoms, and I want to be empowered to keep the symptoms away. So although getting to the root cause might actually take longer for you to see relief, it’s going to be a lot more sustainable. So if you’re someone who’s just gone through all these protocols, all these antibiotics, all these elimination diets, and you feel like you’re just riding this rollercoaster, or this merry go round that you cannot get off of finding the root cause is what will allow you to get off that roller coaster and stop buying tickets to the proverbial fair that you no longer want to attend and share with us one of the top root causes stress that we see in our clients.
Macy Essman 08:57
So as Heather and Stacy were kind of talking about those root causes, one of the main things we see with a lot of our clients actually is stress. And I think the word or you know, when someone’s like maybe stress is at the root of your problems, that’s kind of this like, you know, thing that you can’t really physically see. And that can often lead to clients kind of being a bit shut off and not really wanting to take in, okay, maybe stress is actually at play here. But it’s really kind of important to think about all the different types of stress. So stress can for sure be emotional, that kind of emotional stress. Maybe that’s you know, a death in the family a divorce, or maybe just like a high stress job, you then causing more of that like emotional stress. But stress can also be you know, physical stress. Maybe that’s like an injury or surgery can also be inflammatory stress. So, you know, those can often be some like hidden sources of stress in the body. So maybe that’s something like an actual gut infection or even if it’s just, you know, general dysbiosis, which would be, you know, an imbalance Send that you know that good and bad bacteria within the gut. Also something like excessive exercise, and even like under eating, which Stacy will get into a bit as well can be a form of stress on the body. So it’s really kind of important to think about, you know, all of these different forms of stress where, you know, kind of thinking about it as a bucket. So you know, you have a bucket and kind of adding into that bucket, little stresses at a time until your bucket essentially overflows. So it’s, you know, not trying to eliminate all stress in your life, because that’s pretty much impossible, but trying to think about, okay, where are some of these sources of stress coming from? What can I modify, to help kind of lower that overall stress bucket, and kind of get your body back into that like balanced state. So you know, stress has a big impact on overall digestion. And so we see a lot of our clients with this really, really high stress state, being at you know, one of the main drivers of their kind of digestive dysfunction. Because really, if you think about it, your body needs to be in that rest and digest nervous system state, for your body to essentially signal digestive juices for your stomach, stomach acid, and, you know, overall, like digestive enzymes and gallbladder flow, contraction of your intestines, all of that, you know, happens in that rest and digest state. So if you’re in that fight or flight, acute stress state, essentially, your body’s going to, you know, shut blood away from the digestive tract, all of those digestive processes are going to slow down and be inhibited. So you’re not going to be properly digesting and absorbing your food, you’re probably going to have to or start to have some issues with motility. Sluggish motility, over time with chronic chronic stress is a really common thing we see with a lot of our clients. So it’s really trying to think about, okay, you know, what are all these areas of stress in my life, and how can I start to reduce that, and that can be, you know, something that can be a slow process over time, but they can greatly improve your overall digestive function and your ability to really digest and absorb your food properly, we find that you know, a lot of our clients are eating on the go, they’re eating in this really high stress state. But if you think about it, you really need to think about your digestive function, you know, from a top down approach. So really, the start of your, your, your digestion is going to be, you know, adequately chewing and really kind of relaxing at meals, so you’re able to better digest and absorb your food. Because if your foods kind of going in, you know, partially digested, you’re not able to properly break down your food that’s just going to set you up, you know, for downstream digestive dysfunction. So kind of really starting to think about all those different areas that we can get into that Stacy will chat more about as well.
Heather Finley 12:53
Awesome. So basically, what you’re saying is, you can still be stressed, even if you don’t feel stressed. Yes, exactly. And I think that’s a big kind of, like lightbulb moment for a lot of our clients is there can be lots of internal stressors. So you know, maybe you’re pretty, pretty calm person and or you don’t have a high stress job. And you know, all of those things are kind of going well for you. And you’re like, No, there’s no way stress is at the root of my issues. But kind of like I was mentioning with more of those like physical or like inflammatory stressors on the body, essentially, stress is going to be stress on the body, wherever that’s coming from, your body’s going to have the same physiological response to stress. So again, you could feel like stress isn’t really at play, but maybe you have a hidden gut infection, or maybe you’re excessively over or over exercising or under eating, and your body’s just in a really kind of high stress state, you don’t have enough nutrition coming in, to kind of help with, you know, overall rest and repair of the body. So yeah, Heather, like, you know, a lot of our clients, maybe they don’t feel that stress, but there’s definitely a lot of stress going going on which we start to kind of uncover as we start to see kind of all these hidden, HIDDEN stressors that are at play. Yeah, it’s so amazing, I think the way that our bodies are designed really, to protect us. So the body is interpreting any stress as the same type of stress. So like Macy said, whether you have a stressful job, whether you are under eating, whether you are sitting in traffic and you’re stressed, the body is interpreting that stress the same, but it really is doing that to protect you. Because any sort of threat. Your body is thinking I need to get ready to run away from this proverbial tiger or bear whatever you want to think about. And I need to make sure that I’m saying If so, we can’t be too upset about this because really our body is doing what it’s designed to do. But it’s our job to really tap into that nervous system piece, showing our body that it can be safe, and showing our body that even like food can be safe again, which Stacy will definitely talk about as well. So, Stacy, why don’t you take us to number two, which the another reason why we find our clients are stuck is over exercising and under eating. So tell us more about that.
Stacey Chimel 15:37
Yeah, over exercising and under eating are definitely two root causes that we see in many of our clients. And I feel like this is an area that I can definitely empathize in, I shared with many of our clients. And they got together program that when my gut symptoms were kind of, at their worst, about 11 years ago, I was stuck in this vicious cycle of over exercising under eating, I had all of these gut symptoms that were just roaring every day. And so I would restrict and it created this cycle of food fear under eating low variety. And it was this vicious cycle that I was thankfully able to break through and move past and I’m very, I’m very, I guess compassionate in this area, empathetic because it’s something that I struggled with. And so I get very excited when we help clients kind of break through some of their food fears, and encourage them to add variety. So I’ll go into a little bit more detail over why these are stressors and how they impact our gut health. So over exercising, I feel like that’s something a lot of our women can resonate with. And it’s interesting, because Heather’s you were saying that stress response is very protective for us and our body tries to communicate with us. And sometimes, we don’t either don’t listen or don’t realize that it’s trying to talk to us. You know, as Macy was unpacking the different types of stress, I’ll paint a picture, you know, say we have this gut infection that we just never know about, and we have these alarms going off in the body. And, you know, maybe five years ago, we used to go to, you know, be able to go to the gym for 3040 45 minutes, and we felt energized and so we tell ourselves, we should be able to do that now. But because of that underlying stress those alarms going off, you know, now we leave over depleted and we’re confused what’s going on, and we maybe don’t know, to kind of lean into our body’s communication with us. And so, you know, as a team, when we step alongside our clients and you know, have them start asking themselves, you know, what type of movement makes you feel rejuvenated, you know, what type of movement calms your nervous system, what leaves you feeling kind of replenished, it might not look the same as it once did, especially if you are in this cycle of under eating and just don’t have those same reserves, right, that that that energy to put forth currently. And so a lot of our clients actually see that once they kind of take a step back and start asking themselves like what movement makes me feel kind of rejuvenated and that might be walking outside in the sunlight. Maybe that’s you know, gentle yoga or pilates you know, still moving their body but in a way where they’re not essentially you know, over depleting themselves and then they’re down for the count for the rest of the day. And so, you know, I think being okay and having compassion for yourself that movement may look different during different seasons of our lives depending on all the different stressors inside of us and around us. And along that you know, under eating and, and food fear that restrictive diet pattern we see a lot with our clients. I like to talk about you know how and your eating affects digestion in a couple of different ways. A lot of our clients battle not emptying their bowels efficiently day to day or maybe this resonates with you just you know that feeling like foods just sitting there and it doesn’t want to move. And when we get to the science of what that what’s going on there that you know could be slow motility and when we under eat our body is so smart and wants to keep us alive and surviving. And so it has to start prioritizing what is most important. You know in our bodies want to keep our brain functioning our lungs, our heart, and motility or digestion is just not going to keep us alive running away from that bear that tiger right that those alarms are going off and so motility has to slow down I want to protect us. And so with a lot of our clients, you know, one of the priorities is working with how you eat and making sure that your body is getting what it needs. So we get some of those alarms, you know, turning off, so your body is like, okay, I can survive, I am surviving, and now we can start functioning like I was made to function. And that, you know, I understand that I make it sound so easy, and it’s not. And that’s why it’s so important to have a team walking alongside you. I think overcoming food fear is really empowering. And we see a lot of our clients succeed in that area, we work on different ways to do that different ways to approach it, you know, celebrating big wins in your gut healing journey that reminds you that your body is capable, maybe foods, you’ve been able to add back journaling about it, really journaling about adding new feedback, and the most possibly the most positive outcome before it happens. I’m trying to, you know, recognize that when we are anxious and have kind of stuck in that food, fear mindset, if we have a symptom, a lot of times, it’s actually not the food, it’s the anxiety or the fear that’s causing the symptom, and then it’s so easy to demonize the food when it really wasn’t the food at all. And so, you know, we really want to work on, you know, when you add the food back, what does your environment feel like, how’s your mood that day, and those are things we work on with our clients. You know, and with that restriction, I think food fear and restriction plays a role in so many different areas, you know, not only do our clients start restricting, and they get down to, you know, barely any variety, and yet, their symptoms are still there. And then we’re like, you know, maybe it’s actually not the food, you know, you’ve you’re eating, you know, foods that I can count on one hand, and you’re still having symptoms, let’s think outside the box here. And so once you kind of have that lightbulb moment, it’s easier to add foods back, and then you know, start changing that mindset of, okay, instead of what can I take out, what can I add back, I think that’s really fun. You know, having fun with cooking again, and realizing that the more variety you add, the more justice you’re doing for digestion, you know, all of our different gut bugs, like different foods different, you know, prebiotic fibers, it’s, you know, I Heather’s painted this picture before, and I it’s so true. Like, I have very different favorite foods and my husband, we have very different preferences. And so if I was to only purchase the foods I like, you know, maybe he wouldn’t flourish as much. And that’s like our gut bugs, right? Like not one gut bug eats the same as another. And so when we restrict our diet, we’re restricting kind of the grocery shopping for all the different gut bugs to flourish. And, you know, one of the greatest predictors of gut health is the variety in our diet, specifically plant foods. And so the more restrict, we restrict, the more or get bugs, I guess, essentially don’t get that variety and don’t flourish as well. And the last point that I’ll make is with restriction comes isolation. And one of the root causes that we, you know, that I forgot to mention earlier, is just how important relationships are in the gut healing process. And when we isolate, we hyper focus on their symptoms and get stuck in this vicious cycle. So the more variety, the more flourish you never get bugs. And honestly, what I’ve seen in my life, the healthier my relationships, because I’m, you know, enjoying time spent with others, specifically around meal times. Hey, I know you’re absolutely loving this episode, I have to interrupt real quick to ask you a huge favor. My mission is to empower as many women as possible to find relief from their digestive symptoms, and you are a part of that missions. The best way that you can help me to pursue this mention is by going over to iTunes, and giving us a five star rating and review so that more people can find this podcast. Now back to the episode. Yeah, that’s so good. And I’m glad that you brought up the point about isolation because joy, happiness, pleasure, all of those things are super important as a part of the gut picture. And like you said, when you’re isolating yourself because you’re the girl that’s only eating five foods, and oh, I can’t go to that restaurant, like how is that then affecting your relationships and then as a result, just continuing this vicious cycle of symptoms so Stacy really quick I think the like under eating Oh,
Heather Finley 25:00
over exercising is a really common thing. And sometimes people don’t even know that they’re doing it, they just don’t feel good. They feel like food is sitting in their stomach, like a brick, like you mentioned earlier, they feel physically uncomfortable, they might have a lot of food fear, they might not even know what to eat. Or maybe they’ve been to multiple practitioners and one practitioner told them to be gluten and dairy free. And then one practitioner told them to do a low FODMAP. And then the other practitioner told them to do low histamine. And now they’re looking at their list of foods that they can eat, and there’s barely anything on it. So where does someone start? What are some, like? What’s a good starting place for someone even looking to add in food or thinking about how do I increase food? If I’m physically uncomfortable? And if I just have a lot of food fear? Are there things that you can do to make the actual eating process more comfortable? Is there a mindset thing? Where Where does one start with this?
Stacey Chimel 26:02
Yeah, that’s a great question. So a couple suggestions here, I’m going to go back to Macy’s explanation of stress and how stress impacts digestion. As I was saying earlier, when if we have a bad day, let’s say we read an email, a work email, and there was some, you know, some surprising information in there or receive a text from a close friend, and emotions are high. You know, watch the news, whatever that may be, again, get into a fight with a spouse. In that moment, it actually might not be the best time to add in that new food, because your nervous system is kind of in that fight or flight, right, it’s ready to flee from that bear that tiger that you were talking about. So, you know, I actually recommend starting with kind of getting our body’s perception of stress, helping our body’s perception of stress, before we add a new food back, one that could start with journaling about a food that you’d like to add back a couple of days before you plan to do that, if we can visualize our body tolerating that food, it maybe we start journaling about the aroma, the appearance, you know, eating the food, you know, that was an enjoyable experience with with others, you leave the meals symptom free, and you start to picture that in your head. As that meal approaches, you’ll feel more confident that there is another option outside of having, you know, X y&z symptoms that you’re assuming will happen. So I think visualization type techniques like journaling, about the experience is helpful. And I’ve had clients do that prior to Thanksgiving meal or holiday gatherings, and they’ve had a lot of success. And that I know, it sounds kind of, you know, thinking outside the box a little bit. But it really does help like calm your nervous system before the event takes place. And even right around the mealtime, the more you can enter the meal confident and relaxed, the better your body is going to handle. That new food, something we talk about in our group is meal hygiene. And that is really focused on how your eating the food, how you eat, the food will impact how you digest it, and a lot of times how you feel afterwards. So you know, maybe that’s doing some deep breathing through your diaphragm for 60 seconds before you start eating, you know, really relax your nervous system. So now you’re entering the meal. You know, with this visible visualization of succeeding, you’re taking some time to relax your shoulders, to breathe through your diaphragm, to diaphragm to calm your nervous system before you start eating that meal. And I think it’s important to get excited about adding new foods. So something we’ll often do with our clients is have them write a list of foods that they’re excited to add back, or that would make their life easier, you know, easier and that, you know, everyone in the family eats x and I would love to be able to just cook one meal for my family. And this would make you know meal prep a lot easier. And start there start with something that you’re excited about. If you can get excited leading into the meal that will also support I’m sure we’ll do an episode on the gut brain access but support that gut brain access and how you know and how you tolerate that food. Awesome. I love that. I think that mindset piece is so so important. And you’ve given some really, really practical good tips for how to approach the food fear piece, how to make sure you’re eating enough and make sure you start to incorporate some of that variety. So the last root cause that we will talk about today there’s many more so stay tuned for the rest of this series is sleep. So if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably
Heather Finley 30:00
Leave at some point in your life use the mentality or the phrase, I’ll sleep when I’m dead. If you knew me in college, you probably knew that I didn’t sleep very much, I would always wake up early to exercise and was just running on adrenaline all the time. And to be honest, I was super proud of that I was like, I can get more done than anyone else before eight o’clock in the morning, and I can totally function in my life. Well, one of the reasons I think that I was so stuck with my digestive symptoms was because of this, not only because I wasn’t sleeping, but also because of the stress that that was putting on my body. So we’ve talked a lot about stress today tying stress into all the different root causes. When you don’t sleep, you’re not resting and digesting. And you need to rest and digest to have proper digestion, you need to rest and digest to be able to repair your body, especially if you are working out. If you’re not resting and digesting your muscles and your body do not have time to glue themselves back together, let alone digest the food that’s sitting in your digestive tract. So one of the top things that I think keeps people stuck is just our gogogo culture, where we’re not prioritizing sleep, we’re scrolling on screens late at night, trust me, all three of us are guilty of this, we’re not perfect either. But prioritizing sleep is one of the best things that you can do to start to improve your digestive symptoms, because it’s going to have an effect on both of the things that Stacy and Macy just talked about, it’s going to actually help you to be able to tolerate more variety of foods, because you’re going to be resting and digesting is going to decrease that stress load on your body. So you’re no longer going to be operating from a state of adrenaline and cortisol all day long. So one of the things that you can do is get into a really good sleep routine. And I think a lot of times people are focused on their morning routine, but you cannot have a good morning routine without a good evening routine. So maybe it’s overwhelming to think about sleeping, or you’re thinking I don’t have time to sleep. And if you don’t have time to sleep, I would really challenge you to think, what am I doing? Or what what am i Life is causing me to have such little time? So what can I say no to because if you think about it this way, every time you say no to sleep, you’re in, you’re saying yes to something else, you’re saying no to your health. So are there things that you can cut out temporarily, so that you can maybe even just go to bed 15 minutes earlier, 15 minutes earlier and night over a week is several extra hours of sleep if you add it up. So that alone can make a huge difference. We’re not saying that you need to go to bed TWO HOURS EARLIER every night. Although that would be awesome if you have the ability to do that. But even 15 minutes over a week can make a huge difference. So think about maybe how you could turn off the TV 15 minutes earlier or put your phone in the kitchen instead of in your room so you’re not stuck scrolling at night, or you know, shut down your the lights in your house so that it’s a little bit darker so that you’re queued to sleep earlier, drink some warm chamomile tea, something that will relax you and cue you to sleep so that your body can actually rest and digest. You’ll wake up you’ll feel refreshed. And one of the things that we hear from our clients when they start to improve their sleep is man I didn’t realize how much more productive I would be if I was rested. So although you might feel like you don’t have time in your day, when you’re rested, your brain functions better and so does your gut. So you will actually be able to get more done in less time. And then the other thing that you want to think about and if you’re a shift worker or you work odd hours, then there’s probably a whole nother podcast episode that we could do on this but if you work a regular job, you your gut wants to be asleep when it’s dark, and your gut wants to work when it’s light outside. So the more that you can prioritize rest, sleeping when it’s dark outside or waking up when it’s light outside, getting that morning sun in your eyes for 10 minutes to then improve your circadian rhythm. It will actually also improve your gut motility. It will tell an alert your gut Hey, it’s light outside it’s time to work. And when it’s dark outside, you’ll go into that rest and digest state which can overall improve your digestive symptoms. So just to kind of wrap it up the three things that we talked about today, we talked about how stress can definitely destroy your digestive symptoms when left unaddressed, and stress of all kinds, not just emotional stress, we also talked about over exercising and under eating, and how those things can affect your digestive symptoms, and then a lack of sleep. So just to wrap it up, Stacy and Macy, I would love for each of you to share what you do to love your gut.
Macy Essman 35:42
Sure, thanks, Heather, I would love to go first, kind of what you were mentioning, about prioritizing rest, one of the things I really love to do is really just that prioritizing rest and nourishment. Just because in my kind of my journey with my own digestive health issues under eating, and over exercising was really a big part of my journey. So you know, just kind of really prioritizing that listening to my body. Whereas, you know, in the past, if I was tired or feeling rundown, I would, you know, still kind of be grinding it out, wake up at 5:30am to go to the gym. And really, now I kind of tune into that, and maybe I get a few extra hours of sleep. And that day, I really just go on a quick 2030 minute walk or even shorter outside, just take kind of get, you know, some natural sunlight and just some gentle movement. So that’s really kind of the main thing I like to do is just kind of tuning into my body and seeing how I feel and what what I should do that day as far as exercise and, and nourishment goes to really kind of give my body what it needs, for, you know, for it to function properly, and ultimately, just kind of continue healing and everything. Awesome. Thank you may see, Stacy, what about you?
Stacey Chimel 37:01
For me, I’m gonna cheat here and kind of put two together. I think for me kind of going back to what I spoke on earlier with variety, I kind of joke and call myself the like a lazy cooking dietitian, because I’m terrible at following following recipes. So for me, knowing that a large variety of plant foods be tweaks important, I tried to simplify meal prep and have colorful produce on hand at all times. So what I mean by that I’ve gotten into the swing of maybe roasting, you know, two sheet pans of veggies on Sunday. And I’ll use four types, maybe it’s, you know, bell pepper, onion, carrots, and green beans. And then on Wednesday, I will rotate in for new veggies, you know, maybe it’s sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts. And I just threw those out there that having those on hand has been super helpful for me to just, you know, maybe throw together with eggs in the morning or with different types of grains and proteins for lunches and dinners. So I just tried to keep a similar, maybe structure and rotate what I put into help ease some of the stress around cooking for me personally and, and then the second part of that is once those foods are prepared, I tried to eat them away from the computer. I am super guilty of that, as Heather said none of us are perfect. But if I can eat outside or away from distractions, that is something that’s made a huge impact on my digestive symptoms personally, the more relaxed I am, the more I taste my food and enjoy my food, and feel honestly better after eating. I love that. And I don’t even think it’s lazy. I think it’s smart. Stacy actually did an amazing training for our clients on meal prep. And that’s kind of part of what she shared was just cooking a lot of things at once. And if you saw my Instagram reel a couple of days ago about resistant starch, if you’re cooking potatoes or starchy foods, and you’re meal, prepping them and letting them cool after you cook them, you’re also getting the benefit of resistant starch there too. So I don’t know if it’s lazy or if it’s smart Stacy, but I think you know, there’s definitely some beauty there. So for me, I think right now the way that I’m loving my gut the most is getting some walks just like Macy. I’ve really scaled back on exercise recently because I have a newborn I guess he’s not necessarily a newborn anymore. He’s a baby, but I am trying to just be gentle with myself. So trying to get some walks outside in the Texas heat before it gets too hot in the morning loving that. And that is my favorite way that I’m loving my gut right now. So you guys, thank you so much for joining me today. This was so
Heather Finley 40:00
Fun. We are gonna do another round of this going into more of the nitty gritty science reasons why you might be stuck with your digestive symptoms. Think things like gallbladder and low stomach acid and digestive insufficiencies. So part two, definitely coming your way. But thank you, Stacey and Macy for joining me today. And join us for the next episode of the love your podcast. I’m giving your gut a thumbs up because you just finished another episode of the love your gut podcast. Thanks so much for listening in to this episode. I hope it was helpful. I know you feel like you’ve tried absolutely everything to get to the root cause of your gut symptoms. And if you ask me, I think it’s about time we find a long term solution. My gut Together program is a life changing program that will help you finally understand what’s going on in your gut and the steps you need to take to find relief. Visit Dr. Heather finley.co backslash gut together for more information so that you can start transforming your gut today. And as always, remember to love your gut so it will love you back
Please note that this episode is not a substitute for medical advice. And you should always consult your healthcare provider prior to making any changes.
I’m giving your gut a thumbs up because you just finished another episode of the love your gut podcast. Thanks so much for listening in to this episode. I hope it was helpful. I know you feel like you’ve tried absolutely everything to get to the root cause of your gut symptoms. And if you ask me, I think it’s about time we find a long term solution. My gutTogether program is a life changing program that will help you finally understand what’s going on in your gut and the steps you need to take to find relief. Visit DrHeatherfinley.co/guttogether for more information so that you can start transforming your gut today. And as always, remember to love your gut so it will love you back.
