Jillian original recording
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Jillian: [00:00:00] it's not the food that's causing your symptoms, it's the environment that the food is going into, which is your gut. So if you're having all these imbalances in the gut, like something like sibo, or you're not producing enough enzymes to break down your foods, or you have some other dysbiosis inflammatory imbalances going on down in the gut.
No matter what the food that you're eating, you're going to be experiencing some symptoms, but it's not an issue with the food itself many times. And so we can start to get into these loops of trying to just find the food and doing all this food tracking and food and symptom tracking. And that's why it can feel very stressful.
And it's like, okay, I eat one food one day and I'm fine, and then I eat it the next day and I blow up like a balloon, like what's going on? And it's all because it's at the end of the day, not usually the food that's the problem. It's really the environment. Of your gut health.
Welcome to the Wild and Well Collective Podcast where we believe empowered health is your superpower. We have combined our expertise in medicine and nutrition to bring you the latest research expert insights and success stories of people on a mission to live a big life. So buckle up and get ready to learn how to live [00:01:00] wildly well.
Welcome back to another episode of the Wild and Wild Collective. Today we are joined by a very special guest, Jillian Smith, RDNA, registered dietician specializing in gut health.
Let's just say Poop Talk is her jam As a lead dietician of the clinical team at Gut Personal, a personalized supplement company and functional medicine practice, Jillian works with women all over the world to heal frustrating gut issues. Her personalized approach helps women restore vibrant health access deeper understanding.
What's going on in their body and get to the root cause of tummy troubles. Jillian shares all about her personal experience and her expertise in this space since she's gone through it firsthand and knows the frustration that comes with not feeling truly well. She's on a mission to help change that, and we cannot wait for you to hear this episode.
Sheree Beaumont: Today we are joined by a very special guest and we are talking about one of my absolute favorite topics, and I think we just dive [00:02:00] right in because this is something that. Affects every single person. And as I know you're about to share with us, affects every single element of our life.
And I am a huge believer in the fact that gut health really is the foundation. One of my favorite, favorite quotes is the old disease begins in the gut. So, Jillian, can you share with us a little bit about your journey into this space and also just what gut health really means to you and how it impacts your life?
Jillian: Absolutely. Yes. Thank you guys so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here talking about my favorite topic as well, which is gut health. So my name's Jillian and I am a functional medicine registered dietician. So what that means is I went to school and I became licensed to become a registered dietician.
And then I went back to school for additional training in functional medicine, which the whole aim of functional medicine is really to get down to the root causes of different imbalances and issues in the body. So my story really starts back when I was in high [00:03:00] school, I struggled with my own gut issues for so many years, and I was in high school, I did cheerleading in high school.
School, and I just remember having to miss the football games because I was struggling with so many gut issues. I was so uncomfortable, I wasn't confident in my skin, and I was struggling with a lot of bloating. I had severe constipation. I was only going poop like once a week, and I just thought this was normal.
I grew up, my mom had gut issues, my older sister had gut issues, so I just thought this was normal. I was like, well, girls just don't go poop every day. Guess this is how it is. But because of all of this constipation and bloating, I also started to get cystic acne all over my face, my chest, my back, and as you can imagine in high school, it was just a really, really difficult thing to be going through.
So fast forward, I was now in college and I thought my gut issues were bad in high school. Let's just layer in the stress of college and poor diet, all-nighters in the library. And college is really when my gut issues really hit their peak. And I was in school to become a dietician, so I was doing everything that the textbooks were telling me to [00:04:00] do.
I was doing every diet that existed out there. I started going to all these different specialists and gastroenterologists. I was going to dermatologists for my skin and I was having all this testing done, but everything just kept on coming back normal, which was really frustrating. And it was.
Making me feel like I was going crazy. I was just like, is this all in my head? Like, is this just how I'm supposed to feel? And so I was put on, Linzess and MiraLax to help me go to the bathroom every day, Accutane, to clear my skin birth control, to get control of my periods. And nothing was really healing me.
And I just had this, gut instinct or this gut feeling that there was something deeper going on and there was something that was causing all of these symptoms in the first place. So fast forward, I graduate college, I become a registered dietician, and I'm working in a hospital and I'm still struggling with all of these symptoms and I'm seeing the same story play out in the hospital setting that played out for me.
It was a pill for every ill. You're talking to your doctor for five minutes. Sometimes they would pull me in as the dietician and I would have five minutes with these patients, and I was just kind of like, we're not really [00:05:00] getting to the root cause. There's more going on here, and I wish I could dig deeper with these clients and these patients.
And so I then. Discovered what this functional medicine was, and this was a whole different branch of healthcare, really getting to that root cause. And this was so intriguing to me because I wanted to get to the root cause of my gut issues and my acne and my constipation. And so I went back to school for functional medicine and I discovered this gut testing, which is a stool test, very different from the tests that my doctors were running for me, where you could actually look at your microbiome and your digestive function to actually see what was going on the inside.
This was so intriguing to me. So I did the gut test. I found tons of bad bacteria. I saw that I wasn't digesting my foods well. Like no wonder I had so many gut issues and acne breakouts, and so I was able to put myself on a protocol to heal and rebalance my gut. I was able to completely heal my gut, clear my acne, balance, my hormones, and it was such a life changing thing that now I do this full time.
I've been in a. In private practice for about six years now with gut [00:06:00] personal, and we work with women and men all over the country, and we even have some international clients as well, doing this testing, getting to the root causes, and really healing from the inside out. So it's a little bit about my story and how I got to be where I am and why I'm such a cheerleader for good gut health.
Christa elza: Yes. I love it. As a functional medicine nurse practitioner, I totally agree. I feel like, a lot of people don't understand the interconnectedness of their autoimmune disease, their thyroid issues, their hormone imbalance, the connection to the gut, and oftentimes it does just take a lot of educating to my patients as well.
Like, this is why we're gonna focus on your gut health because this, and they don't really put the pieces together because it does seem strange, like, well, why would my. Pooping have anything to do with my hormones and my period, or my brain fog or my Hashimoto's that keeps, flaring up.
Like what, or the psoriasis that I have. So that part can be really, really interesting I [00:07:00] think, for people to understand. What have you found is the most helpful approach to, to really teach people that? And, and what do you use and how do you, you go through a test, I'm assuming I use the GI MAP test, I'm not sure.
Do you guys use the same test? Yeah. Yeah. The GI Map test, I like to, it is, it's very thorough. It tells us about digestion and all of that, which is amazing. You get the results. And so then how do you go for like teaching and then healing, then moving forward to the next level of that?
Jillian: Yeah, absolutely.
And I love that you brought up, it really does start with that education piece because I think when people struggle with having digestive issues, it's more obvious when you have those overt digestive symptoms like bloating, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, stomach ache. Gas, like those symptoms, people are kinda like, okay, yeah, like I, I have something going on in my digestive system.
But what a lot of people don't realize is just like you were saying, brain fog, acne, rosacea, psoriasis, autoimmunity, thyroid function, the list goes on and on. All of these can all be traced back down to [00:08:00] the gut as well. And I always tell my clients, the gut is the center of all health. So if you're just feeling off in your body, like if something's just not feeling right or you can't really put your finger on it, but you just know that things are different and you know that you used to feel better, I always recommend starting with the gut because our poor gut health, it gets beat up with modern lifestyle, modern diet.
I really believe everybody can benefit from a little extra gut support and just giving a little bit more TLC to their gut health because it is so important and it truly is running the show on. Everything in your body. So yes, with all of my clients, I always love to run a GI map. Now a lot of my clients who come to me are struggling with IBS or other digestive issues, but I also get a lot of clients who come to me with hormonal imbalances or skin issues or autoimmunity or anything in that realm as well.
And I always like to start. With the gut test because I wanna make sure, okay, do you have a healthy gut microbiome? This healthy, beneficial bacteria is what is going to be activating and turning [00:09:00] on your thyroid hormones. It's what's making up your gut lining. It's what's regulating your immune system.
Its fingers in so many different things, so I wanna make sure your microbiome is well supported. At the same time, I wanna make sure that you're not having an overgrowth of the inflammatory or quote unquote bad bacteria or some hidden. Pathogenic infection or candida or fungal overgrowths or parasites.
And so I wanna make sure that the actual ecosystem of your gut is well balanced. And then, like you mentioned, that GI map, it's great because you can actually look at the function of the gut and things like IBS or irritable bowel syndrome. This is what the doctors all told me that I had when I was.
Going through my IBS ringer, and it's just an umbrella term when they can rule out a lot of some other conditions, they'll kinda like, okay, well yeah, you just have IBS, you have this irritable bowel, and it can be really frustrating because you're like, okay, well how do I fix that? And there's no real treatment or cure for it.
But what's great about the GI Map is we can actually look at how the function of your gut is, and IBS, it's an issue with the function of your digestive system. And so it's a [00:10:00] functional disorder. With the gut test, we can actually see how well are you breaking down your foods, how well are you absorbing your nutrients?
How is your immune system, your inflammation? And so we get a lot more of those root cause answers to things like IBS by going a little bit deeper into these functional lab tests that you're just not getting offered at your conventional PCP or gastroenterologist.
Sheree Beaumont: I really love this because I think so many, and I actually say this all the time, excuse my French, but like IBS is such a BS diagnosis, like why is the gut irritated?
It's literally in the name. So I get really fired up and I love that we're having this conversation. I also remember. Reading, and there's been so much literature done on this in the functional medicine space that actually 84% of all IBS cases are really just undiagnosed sibo. And I know that that's something that you really specialize in.
And I would love if you can share, shed a little bit of light on. Not only what SIBO is, but some of, again, like the uncommon [00:11:00] symptoms that maybe people aren't aware of could be sibo, and then how we can navigate that after we've done the testing. What does a protocol normally look like? What does treatment normally look like?
Because it can seem really overwhelming, and I know a lot of the times, even the work protocol can be very restrictive for people too.
Jillian: Yeah, absolutely. I love that you bring this up and sibo, it is so, so common. Like you said, 84% of the IBS cases, it's really an issue with sibo. Sibo. It's small intestinal bacteria overgrowth.
So it's basically when you have this bacteria that we want down in your large intestine, we want this bacteria to be growing down in your colon. And SIBO is when this bacteria starts to translocate and makes its way up to the small intestine. Once bacteria starts to get into the small intestine, you're going to be seeing a lot of those traditional IBS symptoms, things like really uncomfortable bloating.
I have a clients who describe it as like the nine month pregnant belly bloating, a lot of excess gas, irregular bowel movements, whether that be loose stools or constipation. It could really go either way. And so [00:12:00] that's why a lot of people will have these IBS digestive symptoms, and it's really an issue with the sibo.
Now, the thing with SIBO is I always say it's a secondary condition. So something is going on that allowed this bacteria to start growing up into the small intestine in the first place. So it's not, you can almost think of it as, it's not really the root cause, like it definitely is the cause to your bloating and gas and all of that.
But I like to take it one step further and say, okay, but why did you get the SIBO in the first place? And so. Things that can cause a lot of that SIBO is most commonly what I see is things like low stomach acid, which can come from different, bacteria infections up in the stomach. It can come from slow motility.
If things just aren't moving through your system as they should be, then this can start to allow bacteria to fester, make its way up to the small intestine. So there's different things that are causing that SIBO in the first place, which I really like to. Educate about this because I think that's what a lot of people don't realize.
It's why sometimes people can go get an antibiotic for their sibo, they feel so great for a few months and they're just like, yes. Like I finally can eat foods again, and I'm not blowing up [00:13:00] like a balloon. I feel so much better. But then a few months later, it starts to come back and it's because that initial or that bottom layer, root cause was not addressed.
So I think that part's really, really important, which is why I love the GI map because it gives us some more insight of, to some possible root causes to that cbo. So not only are we addressing the overgrowths, but we're addressing. Why the overgrowths happened in the first place. I started ranting and I forgot your initial question.
What did you ask on that?
Sheree Beaumont: I was asking like, once you've and I love that you actually did explain that beautifully in the first part of the question. The second part was very much like once we've got those answers from the GI map and once we've identified that the root cause underneath the root cause kind of thing, like you're saying mm-hmm.
What's the next step? Because a lot of people, do have that low motility. They do have that low stomach acid and. Constipation is something that you've got people dealing with all the time that just think is normal. So where do they go from there?
Jillian: Yeah, absolutely. And like you were saying earlier, that word protocol can almost be intimidating sometimes because it is just like.
My goodness, am I gonna have to [00:14:00] totally turn my life over to, make this protocol work for me? And what I always tell my clients is, whenever you're put onto any sort of treatment protocol or treatment plan, it should really be fitting into your lifestyle, not the other way around. Because when you start to go on things that just don't make sense for your lifestyle and everybody is so different, then if you can't stay consistent with it, it's not going to work anyway.
So you really should be working with someone who can actually understand, like, okay. Are you somebody who you just want the bare minimum targeted supplements to really address these things and you just want, only the priorities? Or are you a wellness junkie who are like, give me all the things, like I really wanna go above and beyond with this, so it's really important to understand, I.
Where you're at and communicate that with your practitioner. So something that I see a lot of my clients coming in doing with specifically things like SIBO is the low FODMAP diet. See the low FODMAP diet a lot. I myself followed that diet for so, so, so long and I. On my social media, I feel like I always dish on restrictive diets.
I really never use them with [00:15:00] clients. I really never use the low FODMAP diet with clients just because I know from personal experience it's very restrictive. It's very stressful. I truly believe that that added stress is just making your gut issues worse. And at the end of the day, any sort of restrictive diet, especially something like low fodmap, it's really just a bandaid.
It's not going to be treating the root cause. The low FODMAP diet's not going to treat your sibo. So I'm more. Thinking about, okay, let's actually treat the Sibos that you can be eating all the foods and not have to go on these restrictive diets. So I do use targeted supplement plans for my clients based off of their unique test results.
And that's where, our company, it's called Gut Personal. The whole backbone of our company is personalization. And I think that's where social media can start to be a little bit of murky territory because you have people on. Instagram and TikTok saying, Hey, I took this supplement for my SIBO and it completely healed me.
I feel like a new person. So then you start seeing these things, you're like, oh, I need this supplement. So you add it in and maybe it makes you feel worse, or maybe it doesn't fix you, and you start to get in this [00:16:00] narrative of like, I'm broken, I'm never going to heal. And it's like, no, no, no, no. We just have to go about this in a very.
Personalized way because we are all unique individuals, and so working with somebody who can actually personalize the plan for you, that works for your lifestyle, that's really what I find at the end of the day is going to be the most effective treatment. It's that personalization piece.
Christa elza: Yes. I do think you brought up a good point with the overwhelm, with dietary restriction.
I used to do a food sensitivity test too, in combination and in theory you're like, cool. Then we know all the things that inflame you on top of what's going on in your microbiome. But it can be very overwhelming for the person receiving that news because all of a sudden you cannot eat 20 things that you might be eating frequently.
And you're right. Really the. If our gut is healed, we can eat significantly more things outside of an actual IgE, allergy. How do you manage, just the conversation, the protocol sometimes can itself be overwhelming with, the five R and maybe you can walk us through too, the five R [00:17:00] protocol.
If you guys use that kind of the removal, the replenishing. All of that. Sometimes that can feel overwhelming too. How do you manage that with patients? I'm curious because I know people probably listening to this are like, yeah, I looked up something and it's like I have to take eight supplements, and that sometimes is true for a minute.
Depending on what angles we're going to tackle the actual problem and eradicate it. Right. Yeah. How do you work through that with your patients? Are you able to minimize that or I think it would be helpful just to go over kind of your protocol, like the five R, like what does that actually mean, like removing and replenishing and that kind of thing.
The process. I know everything is different, but also the same in terms of like kind of the umbrella of like the steps, right. That we take somebody through to heal the gut permanently or, yeah.
Jillian: I'll be totally honest, I don't use the five R protocol. I used to when I first started, I did used to use that a lot, and I just phased out of it over the years.
And to be honest, I think it was just because working with, different people, for example, that first R it's like, remove, so we gotta go in, [00:18:00] gotta remove all the bad things in the gut. Well, sometimes I'll get a client who's ultra sensitive, maybe their detox pathways are super clogged up and going in with a big old kill protocol is actually, I find, makes them feel even worse.
And so, I also get a lot of clients who are like, I saw a practitioner, they put me on this protocol and I actually felt worse. And it's like, well, yeah, because your liver needs a lot of support. Your immune system is totally shot right now. Like it's not up for the task of going in and removing all these infections.
And so I got away from that like five r step by step just because I found that. Some people, depending on their liver function markers, depending on their immune function markers, we can go a little bit of a with a heavy hand and kind of go after those infections more aggressively. Sometimes I find that people we need to go really low and slow and work on the adrenals first, work on the immune system first, get them pooping regularly every day.
So there's like a lot of things that I find that many times we need to work on first before we even go about like a kill or remove. Protocol. So that's why I got away from the five R. And so I don't honestly use it very much [00:19:00] in practice and more so what I do is I am really conscious just to look at the client or the patient in front of me and meet them where they're at.
Because like I was saying, sometimes people are can, they are up to the task of being able to handle a more heavy handed protocol. Some people are not. So it depends where they're at. And also how much they're willing to add in. So what I find at the end of the day, low and slow is so key. I'd way rather go low and slow with the client.
Say, Hey, I want you to start with this one supplement. And personally for me, what I like to use when I'm going through like a remove protocol or a kill phase, I also like to call them. Protocol to go in and remove infections is sometimes, instead of doing a supplement that has a bunch of different antimicrobials in it, and it's like a large, broad spectrum blend of these antimicrobials.
I like to just start with one, like maybe we're just starting with garlic. Maybe we're just starting with. Ine because once we start adding in these big blends, and if someone's not feeling well, we don't know which herb they're reacting to. [00:20:00] So sometimes I'll take it really simple and say, we're just gonna add in this one single ingredient supplement, and we're going to do this for the next two weeks before we add anything else in.
I. Really believe that the magic happens in the follow up. So I really encourage all my clients of, Hey, I want you to start this and check in with me at the end of the week. Let me know how you're feeling. Because it depends on how that person reacts. Everybody is so different. So I find that when it comes to protocols, I always err more on the side of low and slow meeting the client where they're at and continuously checking in.
Forward adding on more. And I find that to give us the most successful results because it's building that confidence in the client of like, oh, okay, like I can do this. My body's handling this well. Like I can keep on going versus going too heavy handed, and then they're scared, like, oh, I'm out. This is, feels terrible in the body.
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah, I hear that. And I'm exactly the same. I used to have those intense protocols and it'd be like, everyone needs to start here and let's make sure that we're, like you say, killing it off. And now sometimes it's not even. About the gut. Like it may be getting someone to have a [00:21:00] bowel movement every day, but it also might be that their nervous system's in such overdrive, right?
We know the connection between the gut and the brain, the enteric nervous system, and that might be the reason that they're swinging from constipation to diarrhea on a daily basis and wondering what else is going on. And so chucking in a whole lot of supplements or kill agents. To try and regulate them can actually throw their nervous system even more into overdrive and that's why they're coming to yourself.
Or people like us where they need to be like calmed down and actually go low and slow. So I really love and honor that approach like you've said. And I know that at Gut Personal you have some really beautiful products that are really gentle as well. So. I wondering if you can share a little bit more on them.
I know it's, again, not a blanket approach, but there are some really, really powerful ones that I think can, if you're just starting out on your gut health journey, and maybe you're not even worried you have sibo, but you're just like, what could I be doing on a daily basis to nurture my gut and to support my microbiome?
[00:22:00] 'cause we know even if you're not trying to heal something, it's gonna be beneficial in every other area of your life. So where would people start from that perspective?
Jillian: Yeah, I love this. So, at Gut, personal, we are a functional medicine practice. I work with clients, we do tests, and we have that ongoing support, but we're also a personalized supplement company.
And the reason being is, so Bridget, she's the founder of the company, and then myself, I'm the lead registered dietician. We're both functional medicine dieticians, and we've been working with clients for years. And we only o. Opened up the supplement side of the company in 2021. And the reason being is because we were seeing so many clients.
We know that, these gut issues, they're just on the rise and more and more people are struggling. And when you're working with clients, you hit a cap. There's only so many people that you can work with at one time. And so Bridget came to me and was like, Hey, like we, we know how many people need this support.
We know that. That when it comes to supplements, personalization is so key and you can't just be taking random things that you're seeing on social media and expect to get the same results. So I have this crazy idea of let's open [00:23:00] up a supplement side of the company. So that just happened in 2021, and really the whole reason we did that is because we wanna help connect people with the right supplements for them and what's going on.
So one of the ways that we do that is we actually have a free quiz on our website and. People can go on and take this quiz totally free. It'll take you about three minutes to go through, and it was created by both myself and Bridget. After seeing clients for so many years, we know what sort of questions to be asking, to start nailing down some possible root causes of what could be going on on the inside.
So once we have these answers, we're able to curate a personalized supplement plan of, Hey, this is what you need to go in and start clearing out some of this bad bacteria that's likely contributing to a lot of the bloating that you're experiencing, or you feel really uncomfortable after you're eating meals.
Maybe you need some digestive enzyme support. Add these in, give it a try, let us know how it feels. And so we're taking this very personalized approach with our supplements as well. And what's great about the supplement side of the company is honestly, I feel very safe recommending really any of these supplements to really anybody, [00:24:00] because they're all very nourishing, healing immune system, supporting supplements just to help support your body, do the functions that it needs to do.
We have multiple different types of probiotics because when it comes to probiotics. It really, really matters what kinds you're taking. There's so many kinds of probiotics out there. Not all are created equal, but somebody like sibo, they could go and just grab a random probiotic off the shelf and make their symptoms 10 times worse.
So it's really, really important that you're taking the right kind of probiotic. And so that's why we have that. Quiz. We also do free consults with myself to make sure that you're getting on the right personalized plan for you. So that's a great place for people to start if maybe they're not wanting to invest with coaching support, they're not wanting to invest in the testing because I will be honest, these functional lab tests, they are an investor.
And not everybody is in the place to wanna do that right now. And so starting with the personalized supplements, just to make sure that you're taking things that are appropriate for your body can be such a game changer. And so we're really, really excited to be able to offer that as a service to people and just help people get the support that they [00:25:00] need to start supporting their bodies.
Christa elza: Yeah, I really think that a good probiotic and a good digestive enzyme go a long way. Agreed. And then, even back to what types of things we cut out. Part of that I'll say the five hour protocol, I don't do a lot of the removal like I used to either, because one of the conversations that we had with somebody else with Gut about a year ago with Microbiome Labs, brought up a really good point of like when we're eradicating even the antimicrobial herbs.
Are still eradicating some good bacteria, right? And I really do think that proliferating the gut bacteria with a good probiotic is almost just as beneficial as if not more, because now you're not disrupting so much. But then the removal, I think is the heavy hitters, right? The dairy, the alcohol, the sugar.
For most of us, even if you don't have gut problems, you'd probably benefit from it. From removing some of those things. But I love that you guys have figured out formulations and really cut down on the pill burden because that's always, there's a million [00:26:00] supplements that every single one of us can take.
But there's so much power in a good colorful diet for one thing can really populate our gut right. With really good nutrition. But then also that's just great that you guys have figured out formulations that don't require so much so much. Pill burden throughout the process because that could be overwhelming.
Jillian: Very much so. I really recommend keeping things. I strongly believe less is more. And we have a magnesium glycinate, which that's, as a dietician, one of my most frequently recommended supplements. I think everyone should be taking some magnesium glycinate. It's just helpful for so many different things, and adding that in can make the world of difference for somebody.
So, I always say get into magnesium. Get in a good probiotic that's right for your gut health and what your body needs. Maybe add in, some omegas if you struggle with a lot of inflammatory symptoms, maybe some vitamin D, especially if you don't get a lot of sunlight exposure. And it can really be that simple.
And I think it is very easy to overcomplicate things because like you said, there are a million different supplements you could be [00:27:00] taking, but you definitely do not need everything that's out there.
Christa elza: Yeah. The other thing that I think is important too, and do you guys address this in your programs, is.
Just the vagus nerve and reasons that maybe we have sluggish digestion. 'cause some people are like, I don't know, my whole life I've been like this. But it's really interesting, right? When you dive into some of the, like the unconscious beliefs or the mental health issues here. We all have mental health issues on some level, but their particular mental.
State oftentimes can contribute right to sluggish motility. Can you explain a little bit about that? Like explain a little bit about that process and then also what do you recommend to your patients to help that? Because that's an integrative approach to the whole mm-hmm.
The whole problem, right.
Jillian: 100%. That gut-brain connection, it is so powerful. And looking back at my journey of struggling with IBS and all kinds of gut issues, that was a piece I was really missing. I was so stressed and so anxious about my gut and I never really took a time to think about like, oh, is this just exacerbating my symptoms?
Which it absolutely is. [00:28:00] And you get into a hard place because I do work with a lot of clients who do struggle with a lot of stress, a lot of anxiety, and a lot of it has to do with the gut symptoms that. They're having, and you can get into this vicious cycle of like you're stressed and you're anxious because of your gut issues, but then you're having gut issues, which is making your stress and your anxiety worse.
And so it's like where do we intervene and like break that cycle. And I definitely do believe working on gut health is a really, really great first step because your gut. Is in charge of so many different things. As we were talking about in the beginning of this podcast, one of which is it helps to regulate that gut-brain connection.
And our gut is responsible for producing upwards of 90% of our serotonin, which is our happy hormone. Think, a lot of people have heard that by now, and if we're, if we have a deficient microbiome or if we have an overgrowth. This bad bacteria, we're not even able to produce these hormones to help regulate our mood.
On the flip side of that, maybe people have heard of the term inflammation in the gut equals inflammation in the brain, and then inflammation in the brain will really manifest as things like anxiety, depression. So [00:29:00] there is a massive connection there, and it's not all in your head. If you think that, there's a correlation.
So when I'm working with clients, I really do work a lot on the physical body. Of course, being a dietician, we're working on nutrition, we're working on blood sugar balance, we're working on rebalancing the microbiome, and I oftentimes do recommend that integrative approach of, Hey, are you talking to somebody about the emotional side of things?
Because these really, really work together. And if we could be working on the emotional side as well as the physical side. That's how your results are going to skyrocket and we're going to see such better and such faster results. And so I absolutely support that integrative approach and addressing both those bodies at the same time I think is really, really effective.
But at the same time, you mentioned that vagus nerve, the vagus nerve is the kind of the master highway, that nerve that's connecting our brain down to our gut. And it's how those two things are talking to each other and. That vagal nerve can start to lose its tone, which can then really disrupt motility, slowing things down in the gut.
So there's certain exercises that I have my clients do to start [00:30:00] strengthening that vagal turn tone, which is really effective for things like motility, sluggish digestion especially. And it's things that my clients are always, I feel so silly doing this, but it's things like humming. Gargling water taking cold showers, and it's these things that are gonna start to tone this nerve and they really, really are effective.
And so this is something I'm always keeping in the back of my head, especially for those clients who struggle with motility issues, sluggish digestion or recurrent gut issues.
Sheree Beaumont: It is such a beautiful piece and I love that we're diving into this more because, mental health's a huge passion of mine.
I know personally, and even with Krista because. I've had clients where you heal their gut, make sure you're able to come off anti-anxiety medication or antidepressants. Right. I'm sure you've experienced that too. And it just goes to show when we start to bring that connection back in, we calm that nervous system down.
We're supporting the adrenals, like we're taking the stress out. We're breaking that loop that you so beautifully described. We certainly feel a lot more in control too, like our capacity to hold more, the more resilience we build as well. And part of their vagal nerve [00:31:00] toning is really important in that respect.
And one of the things you mentioned that I wanna dive into, we've busted a few myths and I'd love to get your take on this one. You talked about the inflammation and the inflammation going back and forth between the gut and the brain. And so many people quite often. Start off their gut health journey, thinking they have a food intolerance of some sort.
And Chris, you mentioned this in relation to the food sensitivities. Can we dive into this a little more? Because, we know there's the leaky gut picture. We know that like, I'm not a huge believer in these food sensitivity tests. To be completely honest because it ends up people getting stuck in their brain.
I can never eat that food again. When really if we are healing the deeper root cause, you're gonna be able to incorporate so much more food. So can you talk to this a little bit more and bring some of the science in for us?
Christa elza: Hmm.
Jillian: I love this question. I actually just hosted a training yesterday on this exact topic, so I love that we're chatting about it here as well.
So, yes, and when I was going through my gut health healing journey, I was removing all [00:32:00] these foods because in my brain I was like, okay, I eat the food, I get bloated, I eat the food, I get the symptoms. So it's gotta be something with what I'm eating. And this is a pattern that a lot of people will start to do and in the brain, yeah, it totally makes sense.
But the problem is. I always tell my clients, it's not the food that's causing your symptoms, it's the environment that the food is going into, which is your gut. So if you're having all these imbalances in the gut, like something like sibo, or you're not producing enough enzymes to break down your foods, or you have some other dysbiosis inflammatory imbalances going on down in the gut.
No matter what the food that you're eating, you're going to be experiencing some symptoms, but it's not an issue with the food itself many times. And so we can start to get into these loops of trying to just find the food and doing all this food tracking and food and symptom tracking. And that's why it can feel very stressful.
And it's like, okay, I eat one food one day and I'm fine, and then I eat it the next day and I blow up like a balloon, like what's going on? And it's all because it's at the end of the day, not usually the food that's the problem. It's really the environment. Of your gut health. And so once we can go in and heal [00:33:00] the gut, restore your digestive function, rebalance your microbiome, get everything all happy inside of the gut, then the foods are going to become a non-issue.
And you can really be eating a wider diet, more variety, and not be experiencing those symptoms anymore. So yes, and I'll also agree with you, I don't really use any of those food sensitivity testing in my practice either. I used to, but as you what you were saying, it's. I find that clients can get locked into that of like, okay, I can never eat almonds again.
Like, almonds are not good for me. I can never eat 'em again. And it's like, hmm. It's a little bit more nuanced than that, and that's where the conversation of leaky gut comes in. So I think a lot of people have heard of this term by now, this leaky gut. It's this intestinal permeability. It's.
Basically when the cells that line your gut lining, it's a very thin layer of cells. It's only one cell thick, and they're all pushed together very, very tightly. And that's to protect things from getting outside of the GI tract that we don't want to be getting out from getting out. And what can happen is with, poor diet, modern lifestyle, high stress, hard cortisol, environmental toxins, all [00:34:00] these things that we're just constantly exposed to in our daily lives.
Over time, it can really start to break down this thin layer of our gut. Creating this leaky gut picture. Now we have these little like gaps in our gut lining where we can start to see things like food particles, bad bacteria, different toxins, escape out of the GI tract. Things that we don't want to get out that can now get out.
And right on the other side of of that lining is your immune system. So then you have these food particles that are getting out your immune system, seeing it and is like, whoa, red alert, this shouldn't be here. It's creating these antibodies against it, which then we're picking up on those food sensitivity tests.
But as you can see, it's not really an issue with the food. It's an issue with the leaky gut. So if we can go in and heal up the gut, then that will take away the immune system reactivity to those foods. So I really find, okay, let's focus in on the gut. Let's heal that, get that into a really great place so that the foods become a non-issue.
Christa elza: I have a question too for you. Really good explanation. I think it's important for people to understand that too, like what is leaking gut? 'cause people are going, well, my gut is leaking [00:35:00] into, but yeah, on a cellular level, you're. You are leaking, like things that really inflame your body, like your body really does not want your immune system is on high alert, which comes back to our conversation at the very beginning of how that kind of activates that autoimmune response, right?
So I know all of us know that, but just reiterating it, that's how we get those. Inflammatory responses. What about when people all of a sudden out of nowhere? 'cause I've had this a couple of times with patients and sometimes it can be difficult to treat, but they are okay. I wake up in the morning and I have terrible diarrhea the first half of the morning.
Then I can usually get through the rest of the day, but I can't go anywhere in the morning. What is your response to that? It's a more common than you'd like to admit, right? It's like, oh my gosh, there's quite a few people that struggle with the morning episode, but then the rest of the day is okay.
How do you how do you manage those kinds of patients? Or what do you suspect there?
Jillian: Yeah. First thing that's coming up for me is number one, I would wanna do a little bit more of investigative work into, okay, how are your [00:36:00] mornings? I find a lot of people struggle with like morning anxiety.
Like do you wake up in the morning and you're like immediately thinking about everything you have to do today? And this is leading that to this like. Morning anxiety, a little bit of a spiral going on because that of course is going to be impacting your motility and can definitely cause some urgency there.
So I dig a little bit deeper into like what are your mornings look like? What's your mindset like in the mornings? How do you feel in your body in the mornings? I would definitely then wanna dive into a little bit deeper into the physical, doing some gut testing. Are there some imbalances going on in there?
Things that are throwing off this motility function and then. For me personally, I would definitely want to add in some targeted supplemental support to calm down that inflammation because where my brain's going, especially with that like urgency first thing in the morning is I'm thinking there's probably an inflammatory component going on.
I. So how can we go in and calm things down, calm down the nervous system, and relax things in the body a little bit? Can we add in a little bit of nutrients, a little bit of food? I find that sometimes these clients are almost a little bit nervous to eat food 'cause they're like, I don't want this to go right on through me.
But I also find that, okay, can we add in just [00:37:00] something very small, something that's easy to digest? Because I do find that if we wait too long, that can also stimulate those gut issues. So I think in terms of that, and I agree, I. I've been seeing some of those clients as well, and I really think it takes back to, what do your mornings look like?
How do you feel in the mornings? Because I think we can uncover a lot of underlying root causes just through their lifestyle and their morning routine. I.
Sheree Beaumont: Yeah, the morning. I love to talk to my clients through that. It's a magical hour, especially first thing in the morning. Yeah. It doesn't mean you have to have an hour long morning routine, but when you first wake up, if the first thing you're doing is checking your phone and scrolling on Instagram, or you've got all your notifications there waiting for you that are stimulating you from the, that have come through overnight or your alarm, I used to be like this.
My alarm would go off and I'd literally sit upright in bed and you'd feel. The cortisol running through your system and you'd be on high alert from the moment you got up. And so taking the time to be slow, I quite often talk people through like my [00:38:00] three MS in the morning, which is mindfulness movement and a meal.
And so within that first hour you need to be eating something. It may not be your full on breakfast. For some people it's getting their metabolism back online and actually training that. Muscle, to be hungry again. Then it's making sure there's movement. And again, this doesn't need to be, your workout has to be in the morning, but are we doing even a gentle stretch, getting the blood flowing, encouraging that motility, right?
Like I do my lymphatic drainage in the morning. I've only just recently started training in the morning, but before that, you'd spend the afternoon. But I'd have something that got me moving. And then finally the mindfulness piece because. Everything that we are threading through is really tied to that vagal nerve and that enteric nervous system, and it doesn't have to look like meditation, right?
I think a lot of time people hear mindfulness and they're like, that's just not for me. But if we are doing gratitude, if we're just stopping and taking like five deep breaths to tune in, where am I feeling safe in my [00:39:00] body? How am I regulating my nervous system in this moment? Suddenly your morning goes from, oh my goodness, I'm rushing.
I'm hidden out the door, I'm flying off the handle. Now I'm stuck in traffic. And literally how you start your day tends to be how the rest of the day follows. And so giving yourself 5, 10, 15 minutes to sit that first part of your day up is gonna be absolutely transformative. And that is often when I see.
You know those clients that are having the diarrhea or the really loose bowels, when you explain to them, like, look at it this way, if you were running away from a tiger. You are not going to stop and pop a squat on the side of the road, so you're probably gonna be constipated for a while. Then the nervous system finally gets a break because you've been sleeping.
Your body's in hopefully a state of rest. When you wake up in the morning, it's like, we gotta go. We don't know when that tiger is coming back and the diarrhea hits, or the loose bowel movements hits. So that's where I think it can be really powerful for people to understand. Oh, this isn't a food problem.
Like I love that [00:40:00] you talked about more about how you're eating and the environment inside the gut than just what you're eating. And it could also be a nervous system problem that I need to deal with far more than just the food or my diet.
Jillian: Completely agree. I think you put that so perfectly and I love that analogy that you made.
I'm gonna have to steal that one because it's really, really good and it's so true. And I think when you can show people this, it's really helpful and it really loops back into what we were talking about in the beginning. A lot of people don't realize that the gut, it's talking to every other system in the body and that nervous system piece is.
So crucial when it comes to trying to regulate our gut health and get rid of some of those symptoms. And I think that it's something, it's that non-sexy work that people are like, Ugh, regulating my nervous system. But it is so important. So I love that you brought that up and I think it bears repeating.
Christa elza: Yeah, for sure. I think people underestimate just the interconnectedness, I think, of whatever issue they're having. But again, I think people underestimate the power of the gut because not all of us have. Constipation, bloating, [00:41:00] diarrhea, and yet joints hurt, brain fog, hormonal imbalance, and I think that's one other point I'd like to touch on the importance of for women, especially thirties, forties, like in that perimenopausal kind of time.
Especially in the forties where irregularity is so incredibly important to balance out the estrogen. I don't think most people realize that we have to use the hormone and we have to excrete the hormone, and that's primarily done. In bowel movements, right Through digestion. That's a huge thing. So I love this conversation because I think it's just, it's so important for everyone to hear whether or not you think you have gut issues.
You could absolutely could and not even know it. I think it's interesting too, certain intolerances that we have, DNA testing can be really, really cool because. Like for me personally, didn't know that I was lactose intolerant. Never had like, those friends that have lactose intolerance and then running to the bathroom after ice cream.
That was not ever [00:42:00] me. And then I saw it and I realized, oh my gosh, I'm doing myself a disservice because some other bacteria has to take over in there to compensate for the fact that I don't have good lactase, I don't have, I don't have bacteria that produces that. Right. So, interesting kind of combinations that this conversation is not just for people who are symptomatic per se, in the way that they think that they are.
Jillian: Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's why I get so lit up about gut health because I always call 'em, you get happy side effects when you start focusing on your gut health and you really take those necessary steps of, if testing is something that's interesting for you, I think everyone can benefit from it.
Like what's the harm? And just looking inside and. Seeing what's going on and balancing as needed. And you'll start to see so many of these happy side effects. Your energy improves your hair, skin and nails become stronger, your periods become more regulated. You're not so fatigued throughout the day.
You're not getting sick as often, and it's all these little things that maybe have been playing in the background that you weren't even really aware of until they go away that you're like. Wow. I didn't even realize that I was feeling as bad as I was, and [00:43:00] now that I don't feel that way anymore, it's really, really incredible and that's truly the power and the gifts that you get through balancing your gut health.
That's why I think gut health is so important. More and more people are talking about it, which I'm so glad it's getting its time in the spotlight because it's well deserved and it really is so, so important to pay attention to these things and not neglect it. I think a lot of people struggle with frustrating bloating, or maybe they're.
Constipated and they're just kinda like, ah, yeah, it's just a frustrating thing. And it's like, that's really your body telling you that there's something going on and these things can just fester and turn into bigger things down the road. So let's address it now because those frustrating symptoms, they're not just like little frustrating inconveniences, like that's your body's way of telling you something's off and we gotta take a look under the hood.
Sheree Beaumont: Oh, a hundred percent. And to Krista's point about talk about the estrogen recycling all the time, and you see this again as we get older or it's been something that women have dealt with their entirety of their life and they just think it's normal. It's the same with period problems.
They always say it's common. It's not normal, right? And so [00:44:00] the analogy I like to use or share if people are interested, like, okay, this actually might be me. Maybe this is why I can't shift weight, or maybe this is why my periods are so awful, or maybe why, this is why going through my menopause or perimenopause.
Everything feels like it's exacerbated to the nth degree. And if you think about the gut, like you know the intestine's like a road, right? And you've got this bus or the stool that's traveling along the road, what's inside of the bus? The bus is gonna have a whole lot of passengers. Those are your toxins.
Or if we use the example of estrogen, right? Estrogen is gonna be the passenger sitting in that bus. Now, if we're experiencing constipation. If the bus is stopping on the road, what happens? Right? The passengers can go walk about the estrogen, can get reabsorbed back into the bloodstream, has to go through the liver again.
The poor little liver is already under way too much load from our daily stresses and environmental toxins, and then we are back trying to eliminate that estrogen through the gut and it's not. Moving. And so that is why, again, fat doesn't [00:45:00] move. Hormones get stuck. Like we can end up feeling like we've got the brain fog.
All of this can be coming down to the fact that you aren't going every single day and to tie it into your story right at the beginning, like you were told, like that was normal. I had a client share the other day that it was. Normal, the gastroenterologist. So we're talking about people highly, highly specialized in this area, turning around and telling people on a daily basis, it's fine if their bowels aren't moving every day, they're going once a week and here's some laxatives.
Good luck. And I love that we're changing this narrative. I love that we're opening up this conversation because sweetie, if you're listening, that is not normal and there are so many solutions to this. Yeah. Yes.
Jillian: I love it so much and yeah, a lot of people struggle with it to the point of common equals normal, and that's definitely not the case.
Just because it's common does not mean it's normal, and I love that more and more people are talking about this because I think it all starts with education and now being equipped with this information, you can now be have that empowered insight of like, okay, now I know that [00:46:00] something's going on, and I have some next steps of what I could do to dig a little bit deeper into this.
Christa elza: Yeah, and I think also with just GI cancers on the rise becoming more common, even the fact that we have lowered our. Guidelines probably need to be even lower, but I know insurance runs the age. That's a scary thing, right? And so I think that this is not for colon cancer itself is so preventable.
If you are on top of your gut health, you're on top of your screenings, things like that. So it really is impactful and it's really such a preventable. Problem. But we have to be engaged in our own care, right? We've gotta be seeking out people like us, who understand the root cause of it and are gonna look a little bit deeper.
So I, yeah, I think, no pun intended. If your gut is telling you something, is. Wrong. Even though the first person you went to said it was fine, then keep pursuing someone who will meet you where you are, as you said, and work on these problems. This conversation has [00:47:00] been great. Where can people find you?
Can, do you guys work online or is it just in person, or how does this work? I know you mentioned the quiz but I'm sure there's some people that wanna go beyond that and they wanna work directly with you. How does that work?
Jillian: Yeah, absolutely. So best place to get in contact with me is my Instagram. I'm on there every single day, so I always tell people, send me a dm, reach out.
If you just need a listening ear, I'm always in there. It's just Jillian Smith dot rd. And then our website is gut personal.com. So on our website, that's where of course you can find the supplements. You can find the testing working with me. Take the quiz, book a consult with me. We have all the things on the website.
So say hey, on Instagram, go check out the website and set up a free session with me just so we can chat and see what would be the great next steps for you.
Sheree Beaumont: Amazing. We'll be putting all of that in the show notes as well, so they're very easy links and people can go and take that quiz. I think it's a fantastic quiz.
I've personally taken it as well, and I do highly recommend your supplements to my clients. They're beautiful and like I said, very, very like gentle and, [00:48:00] and the in the best way possible. So thank you so much, Jillian, for your time, for your expertise, for sharing your wisdom. It's been such an honor to have you here.
Jillian: Yes, thank you guys. This was so much fun and I'm so grateful for the invite to be on here. So thank you guys. Thank you.
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