[00:00:38] Vesna: Welcome to the Peak Revival Podcast. My name is Vesna. Today I'm gonna talk about the gut fix that help my client feel happy and confident again.
Normally when we think of being an emotional rollercoaster or sad, happy, angry, irritable, frustrated, whatever it is, moody, right? We look to the things around us that are going on, but there is a big possibility. [00:01:00] Often than it is of what's happening inside the body. And so this is kind of where I try to point everyone in that direction because while we can't change what's happening in our world all the time, we can make significant changes to the way that we handle those stresses.
And one of the things that we look at is gut health because our gut and our brain are connected by the vagus nerve, Which is this two-way information superhighway. So information is going from the gut to the brain and vice versa. And you would've noticed this connection, right?
If you've ever been nervous before an exam or nervous before doing public speaking, or had butterflies in your tummy, right? That nervous tummy butterflies, that is that connection, in action.
research has also shown a lot of evidence to point to the microbes in our gut influence, our happy brain chemistry and their ability to soothe our anxiety help with our concentration. And so there's this link that what's happening in the gut is also happening in the brain. So if you've ever heard the term brain on fire, if the [00:02:00] gut's inflamed, the brain will be as well and quite often.
I would have to be honest and say a lot of my clients don't realise that they have gut problems because it can be asymptomatic. Some of them come in with bloating and distension and all sorts of discomfort, but then some have nothing yet. They still have gut issues. I. So this client of mine before she started the gut repair, so, and I'm gonna go through the process.
So a lot of what we do is first of all, reduce stress hormones. But anyway, before she came in, she said she didn't really notice that her moods were so up and down like she did, but not to the. Stent that they were. But what she really noticed was afterwards when she felt really kind of level and happy and confident, and emotionally regulated and stable, right?
And what she said was, I've no longer gone from this place of feeling, you know, happy, sad, irritable, angry, calm, annoyed. up and down through all these emotions all day long, which is exhausting. And she found by doing the [00:03:00] gut repair,
she couldn't believe how much her moods were stable. And that's not really a surprise with what I've just mentioned, right?
The gut and brain are connected. The microbes in our gut influence our brain chemistry. In fact, they say most of our serotonin is produced in our gut. That's our happy brain hormone or chemistry, biochemical, and that's produced in our gut. So When we are looking at anxiety or we are looking at, depression or low moods or a DD or brain fog, anything that that's affecting the head and concentration and mood, we also have to look at the gut because it is such a mood disruptor because of our microbiome can be altered, which will start to affect our mood.
So what disrupts the gut? What is disrupting the microbiome? So like a lot of my work, women are stressed, right? And so they're stressed, they're exhausted. And normally when you are stressed and anxious, you're going for the things that will give you the immediate kind of hit for energy.
Or to chill out, to make you feel better. Right? [00:04:00] And so it can be poor food choices, fast food, fried foods, takeaway food. It can be alcohol, it can be caffeine, it can be sugary things, processed foods. So the poor diet is going to disrupt the microbes in the gut, the good microbiome, but also the stress and the stress hormones will start to change the environment inside the gut.
So when we're looking at dietary changes, we're looking at, the research has found like high fat and high protein diets, sorry to anyone doing keto or carnivore. But, um, those diets have been shown to really alter the, the microbiome quite quickly as well. So really lowering the good bacteria. And then we get chemicals from our food.
We get pesticides, we get GMO, we even get it in our cleaning products and in our beauty products. All of that disrupts the microbiome. And then we have medication, antibiotics, probably the. Worst one to assault the microbiome. Okay. Really creates significant changes. Sometimes some species can become extinct altogether.[00:05:00]
So really be cautious of how often you're having antibiotics. But you're looking at nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories. You're looking at proton pump inhibitors, like people with stomach issues, metformin and statins. Okay? So they will also alter the microbiome. Okay. So like I said, any kind of mental health stuff, feeling emotional dysregulation, a d, D, brain fog, depression, low moods, anxiety. You want to address the gut
because there can be an imbalance, microbiome, there could be dysbiosis, there could be sibo, there could be candida, there could be a bunch of stuff going on.
So I really wanna walk through what did my client do and what can you do? If you are hearing this and you think. This is probably something I've not tried before. This is probably something I've not looked at. I've tried all this behavioral stuff and positive thinking and not getting so caught up, but actually I haven't looked at my gut health.
So this one's an important one. So, like I said, I include this in all of my programs. So even if a client is not showing gut symptoms, if they've had a period of stress over three months and they're starting to feel tired and [00:06:00] anxious, I will always do a gut repair. I mean, I recommend to do a gut repair once or twice a year.
And the reason being. Because we have all these factors that disrupt the gut, the chemicals, the stress, the foods, right. They start to break down the microbiome. So it's really good to keep that in check by making sure that you do a gut repair. So regardless of where they're at, I will take them through this process.
So the first thing that we do is reduce. Or rebalance the cortisol because cortisol has this affinity for the gut and the stress hormones. Noradrenaline has an effect on the gut, and if we don't lower those or balance those, it's going to create more damage to the gut and more inflammation while we're trying to do the repair.
So we're not, we're not really getting anywhere. Okay. So that's the first thing. Then we move on to gut repair, and we're really looking at number one, stomach health. So we're looking at the gastric juices. Is there enough acids? Is there enough enzymes in there to digest the food? So it's not sitting in the gut too long.
Fermenting, okay, putting pressure on the esophageal sphincter. [00:07:00] Uh, we should get good. Okay? So just get esophageal reflux, but it also means that you're not breaking down your food correctly and it's going to start disrupting That delicate balance further down, right? So then we wanna look at gut wall integrity.
So if we balance the pH and the enzymes and the pancreatic enzymes and the gastric juices, we wanna start to look at wall integrity because. If you've heard the term, leaky gut. Leaky gut, when that happens is these tight junctions in our gut become loose and things are passing through, which shouldn't get through.
And just around our gut, we have our immune system, right? And that. Recognize that things are getting through, which shouldn't start an immune response attack. It start inflammation. That inflammation becomes systemic inflammation, including the brain. Okay? And so we wanna make sure that the gut health is good, and you can look at things like, glutamine and zinc are important for improving gut wall health and healing, leaky gut as well.
The other thing that [00:08:00] you could do if you wanted to do further analysis is do CDSA, which is a comprehensive digestive stool analysis, because what that will help to do is have a look at digestive enzymes or digestive absorption, any kind of pathogens or bad bacteria in there, and your gut flora balance.
The dietary changes that you want to make is keeping your diet as clean and whole food as possible, organic where you can, because you wanna remove those chemicals which are also harsh on the gut. You wanna make sure that your macros are balanced, protein, fats and carbs, and you want to even look at adding some prebiotic foods into your diet.
Things that produce, a substance called butyrate, which actually feeds the good bacteria and things like resistant starch will do that.
The other thing that I also add is liver support after I do a gut repair. And the reason being is that it's kind of like this domino effect when the gut is compromised, it creates a lot more, toxicity and byproducts and fermentation inflammation, a lot [00:09:00] more toxicity that goes then to the liver. And then after a time, if that's been going on for a while.
The liver is under strain. Okay? And so it's really important to that you do the gut repair and then the liver detox, the liver repair, following that, okay? To make sure that everything is in sync and working well. And then finally the last thing I would add is probiotics. So you, you could do probiotics through food, but in my program, because I don't recommend dairy during this phase, we wanna remove all the inflammatory foods.
What I do recommend is a probiotic supplement. Now there is so many different. Species out there of probiotics. you basically have just as many different types of probiotics as you do herbal medicines. And so depending on where you're at and what you need becomes that dictates which one that you need.
Okay. But a good baseline probiotic in a supplement would be a great way to start, know, restoring that microbiome and reinoculating your gut with some of that microbiome.
Okay, so while that seems kind of [00:10:00] like multi-step, we do it in seven to 10 days in my program. We keep it really simple and we do encourage people to repeat the process every year, once a year, twice a year, following up with the liver repair as well. Okay, so this is not something that you looked at.
Just know that there is so much you can do by improving gut health. I've seen people's personalities change through long-term gut support, and I'm not exaggerating. Okay? So the gut is really important. I remember when I first started studying naturopathy, they said, you know, it was always taught the gut, is where all disease begins.
Okay? And through my work I've seen it's more than just the gut, okay? But we know that the gut is truly. One of the foundations of health, so leave me a comment below and let me know what stood out for you.
