369 | Identifying the Root Cause Issues of Gut Dysfunction with Rachel Scheer

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Welcome to the Optimal Body Podcast. I'm Dr. Jen.

[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm Dr. Dom, and we are doctors of physical therapy bringing you the body tips and physical

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_00]: therapy pearls of wisdom to help you begin to understand your body, relieve your pains

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_03]: and restrictions, and answer your questions. Along with expert guests, our goal of the

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Optimal Body Podcast is really to help you discover what optimal means within your

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_03]: own body. Let's dive in!

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Before we hop into this interview on nutrition and gut health, I thought it'd be fitting

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_00]: to talk about something Jen is doing to make sure she has optimal nutrition, especially

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: while pregnant. That is why she has been taking needed prenatal supplements as well as some

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[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: One thing that I think is crazy is that 95% of women in the perinatal stages have nutrient

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_00]: deficiency. So that just means they're growing baby and themselves, they're not getting

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[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: use code optimal for 20% off your first order. All right, let's check out this interview.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: For today's interview we have Rachel Shear who is a certified functional medicine

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: practitioner with a degree in nutrition science and dietetics from Baylor University.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: She is also the CEO and founder of Rachel Shear Nutrition, a leading functional medicine

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_00]: nutrition practice in the United States. Facing severe gut issues that nearly led to a

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_00]: surgery which would have removed her entire large intestine and when she was telling us

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: this part of the story you should have seen the look on Jen and my face.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Rachel transformed her gut health through functional medicine, nutrition,

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and lifestyle changes. She is passionate about helping others do the same.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: As an acclaimed speaker and author of Root Cause, the complete guide to functional

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_00]: nutrition for coaches, she is a visionary behind the RSN Functional Nutrition Institute

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: offering comprehensive certification programs for coaches and practitioners. She is also passionate

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: about helping other female entrepreneurs create their own success and abundance.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I just loved the information she gave us on her four pillars of gut health and can't wait

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_03]: for you to dive in. Rachel, thank you so much for taking the time to be here. You are

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_03]: a wealth of knowledge and I'm excited to dive in, especially with just how you lead and the

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_03]: example that you've put forth within your own life battling your own gut issues to where you are now

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_03]: and how you've helped people I think is really incredible. So thank you so much for being here.

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Jen and Dom, thank you so much for having me on your guys' podcast today. Of course,

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I always love talking about health and optimal health is a subject that I'm very,

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_01]: very passionate about. So I'm excited to nerd out with both of you guys.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Definitely. And we talked about this a little bit before you came on, but I found out that you're

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: also a native of Minnesotan. So it makes me that much more. We have the majority on this

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_00]: conversation now with two of us being from Minnesota. So. Interrupting really quickly

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_03]: because I think identifying the root cause of our energy depletion during the day,

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_03]: understanding what can cause headaches, cramping that we might feel, fatigue, brain fog, weakness.

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[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Not only did it help me go from drinking like 32 ounces barely a day to 80 to 100 ounces easily.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm not even kidding. I mean, I was would have to remind myself, grab that water, drink that water

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_03]: to all of a sudden that is what I'm carrying it around with me. I'm relying on my water.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm refilling my water like what? It was incredible the moment I made the switch over

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_03]: to element and maybe it's because they have delicious incredible flavors,

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_03]: but it also helped me to feel better throughout the day. And then I'm hydrating like I'm actually

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_03]: feeling better. And especially if you know that you're reaching for like that other cup of coffee

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_03]: or you're reaching for that soda every now and then, that's fine. But let's add in more water,

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_03]: right? We need to hydrate our body. So I'm telling you, element is a zero sugar electrolyte

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[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_03]: optimal health outcomes occur at sodium levels two to three times the government recommendations.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_03]: And this is especially true if you're starting to stay away from going out as much, stay away

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_03]: from highly processed food, you're cooking more in home, you got to get your electrolytes,

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_03]: you're going to feel the difference throughout the day. If you start to add this in more, especially

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_03]: as the weather is super hot and you're sweating more, you're working out more,

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[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_03]: and getting your electrolyte drink mix and that you're going to feel so much better. Just try it out.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_03]: You can also try the new element sparkling a bold 16 ounce can of sparkling electrolyte water

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_03]: that is really delicious, really bold in those electrolytes. But if you love those sparkling

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_03]: drinks or you're trying to cut back from soda, this is a great way to add it in. So again,

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_03]: that's drink l m n t dot com backslash optimal and check it out. I think we want to just start

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_00]: with understanding what made you so passionate about functional nutrition, functional medicine,

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_01]: and hearing a little bit about your own story. Every time I tell my story, it's always shared in

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_01]: different ways based off of what I end up talking about on different shows. But

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I love that. That the show is called optimal health podcast because one thing I would say

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_01]: is I really didn't know the meaning of health until I lost it myself. And I used to be a fitness

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_01]: model. I used to compete in bodybuilding. And if you were to ask me if I was healthy, then

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I'd be like, yes, of course, look at me. I was shredded. I had six pack abs. I was winning

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_01]: all of these competitions. But the truth was I wasn't I was cor counting every morsel of food

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01]: that I ate and was over training. And not only that, but my whole sense of worth that came from

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_01]: my physical body. And actually three years into competing, I started to get really sick.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And I started to battle severe gastrointestinal issues and my thyroid, my hormones plummeted.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't eat anything without being in massive pain and literally looking six months

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_01]: pregnant at the end of every single day because of how bloated I was and distended.

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And I did what most people would do, right? I went to the doctor because I'm like,

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_01]: what is happening on the epitome of health? You know, actually, at the time I went to

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Baylor for nutrition science and dietetics, I was studying to be a dietitian. So my whole

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_01]: life was nutrition and bodybuilding and fitness. And here I was struggling with all

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_01]: of these health issues. And you know, with the doctor they did every scan you can imagine,

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_01]: they did colonoscopy andoscopy CT scan, they ran all the basic blood work and

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_01]: everything really came back as normal, you know, quote unquote normal.

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was slapped with a label of IBS or Irrbo-Ball syndrome and I was sent on my way.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And this ended up evolving into an entire year of my life of me just being passed

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_01]: around from doctor to doctor, from specialist to specialist. You know, you go to the endocrinologist

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_01]: because of your hormone imbalances, right? And then you go to them because of your thyroid issues.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was put on around five plus medications, you know, now at this point to just manage

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_01]: all of my symptoms, I was put on thyroid medication because they did find out that

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I had hypothyroidism. I was on birth control already because I was put on that

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_01]: when I was 16 years old because, yay, it fixes all of your issues and your acne and everything

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_01]: goes away. And it's this magic pill and you don't have to worry about any kind of PMS. So then

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I was put on an antidepressant. So I was struggling a lot with depression. I was

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_01]: struggling with chronic fatigue. And then, you know, with my gut issues they became so severe

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01]: that I actually ended up having to get on prescription laxatives because the motility

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_01]: in my gut actually came to a complete halt. And this was really the solution for what are,

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_01]: were my chronic health issues, right? There was nothing severe that major would come back with

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_01]: any of these labs. So I was really given these trash kind diagnoses and somebody who's very

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_01]: disciplined and very determined. And I was very determined to get to the root of a lot

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_01]: of this to the point where I actually went to speaking of Minnesota all the way to the

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Mayo Clinic. You know, they ran all of their super extensive tests and they did a lot of

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_01]: weird tests even too. I can't even dive into but all of their tests, same thing came back

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_01]: is there's nothing really wrong. I think I found out one thing that was weird that I had

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_01]: a genetic defect called Ehlers-Donnell syndrome, physical therapy. I'm not sure if you

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_01]: guys have heard of that before. Oh, totally. Hyperimmobility, not the stretchy skin.

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_01]: I wish I had that. Just, that was a gymnast when I was younger. So hypermobile, which

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_01]: when I'll share a little bit about what some of my issues were that I ended up finding that did

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_01]: actually play a little bit of a role. But even the Mayo Clinic wasn't able to figure out what the

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_01]: core root was a lot of my health issues. And it was shortly after that I was even sent to

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_01]: a pole rectal surgeon who then told me that my solution because now is actually having to

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_01]: do an enema to just use the restroom because of the severity of my motility issues that they

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_01]: actually wanted to cut out my entire large intestine. And I always share this part of the story and

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_01]: everyone just like you guys are like shaking your head back and forth like no, I cannot even

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_01]: believe that was the solution. And you know, I hear these stories all the time. You know,

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I speak on stage and I podcast and I share this story but my story is actually not unique.

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, this is so many women and men and I say women though more so in particular because it is

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_01]: more so with women who struggle with a lot of these chronic health issues and are taught that

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_01]: they're there's crazy just almost being their head or they're just kind of brushed off or they're

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_01]: given these trash can diagnoses. And I know what it's like to be at that point where you

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_01]: are just struggling and you're just living in survival mode every single day. And

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_01]: as I was sitting there in the doctor's office actually with my boyfriend and my mom at the time,

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I was like cool, like schedule the surgery. Like let's just get it done with just cut out my

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_01]: large intestine. I want to move on with my life and I was I was that low and I was that desperate

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_01]: and part of what has turned me into a coach that helps now other people take a root cause

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_01]: approach is because of that exact reason I know what it's like to be at that point where

[00:12:30] [SPEAKER_01]: you just want to give up. I know what it's like to also be that person who wants the quick fix who

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_01]: just like all right, give me the pill, give me the medication. I just I want to get on with

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_01]: my life and I've been there before and I can speak to that so intimately when other people

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_01]: are really struggling and I'm not against taking medication by any means but I am 100%

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_01]: forward getting to the root cause. But you know, I had this small ounce of faith and I remember

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_01]: actually my mom saying to me at the time she's like Rachel just maybe just give it one more month

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_01]: that's just like wait because she's like you're being very impulsive here with trying to cut

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_01]: out your large intestine but again I was that desperate and I was like all right. And

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_01]: when I said I would give it a little bit longer, I just ended up becoming obsessed

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_01]: with getting to the root cause of all of my health issues and when I say obsessed, I mean literally

[00:13:25] [SPEAKER_01]: every single night like researching learning everything that I could about the gut and the gut

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_01]: microbiome and how the microbes in our gut control everything between our hormones or

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_01]: thyroid, our adrenals to our brain function. And I started to learn more about a different

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_01]: approach. I learned more about functional medicine. I started to order different testing on

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_01]: myself looking at things like my gut microbiome, looking at things like SIBO small intestinal

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_01]: bacteria overgrowth. I started to put the puzzle pieces together that everything is interconnected.

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_01]: We're not just a random collection of independent organs like what Western medicine looks at or

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_01]: with all of these specialists that we go to but everything is so interconnected which hindsight

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_01]: it's obvious but this isn't really what we're taught. We're not taught about how our body is

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_01]: really interconnected and also we're not taught to take more of this root cause approach. We're just

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_01]: taught to trust what Western medicine really offers us. And I started to implement a lot of these

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_01]: healing diets. I had to remove a lot. I had to end up doing a lot of gut microbiome repair,

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_01]: a leaky gut repair to my gut. I had to do a lot of deep inner work and I don't say that

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_01]: part lightly. It ended up being an entire healing journey that I didn't realize that I was

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_01]: really stepping into you but ultimately, I remember getting to the point work ago a few

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_01]: days, a few weeks and I just got to this point where I remember I was just out at a restaurant

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_01]: and not even thinking anymore about my gut issues and it just had that day where you

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_01]: don't even notice like you have issues anymore which is so funny because when you have symptoms

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_01]: and health issues that's literally all that you can think about. And then when you don't,

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_01]: you can actually shift your focus and talk and think about other things that you want in your

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_01]: life. It was in that moment I was like, hey, I think that my body is fully healed.

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And ultimately this obsession with taking a root cause approach and learning all about

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_01]: gut health inspired me enough to want to become certified in functional medicine

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_01]: with my background in nutrition and dietetics. And that led me to where I'm at today where

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_01]: now ultimately my why is to help other people and give them the approach that I really wish

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_01]: that I had when I was struggling with my health issues because one person would have actually

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_01]: just taken the time to get to know me, to actually look at my situation, to get to

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_01]: know Rachel and like, hey this girl who is 10% body fat, who's overtraining, who let's look at her

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_01]: nutrition. Let's look at all of these things if one person out of all of those physicians would

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_01]: have actually gotten to know me. In my opinion it was pretty obvious what was happening. My body

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_01]: was under a massive amount of metabolic stress. And as a byproduct metabolically, everything

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_01]: slows down. Thyroid slows down. Motility in the gut slows down. Cortisol is chronically

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_01]: elevated. When cortisol is chronically elevated, this also can lead to the breakdown of muscle

[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_01]: tissues, bodybuilders, right? We want to avoid this. But this also can lead to the gut completely

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_01]: shutting down, stopping the production of digestive enzymes. Over time this can lead to the train

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_01]: where bacteria overgrowth can occur. So this can lead to things like SIBO, dyspiosis. So now

[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_01]: it started to make sense, right? Thyroid issues, hormone issues, gut issues and everything was so

[00:16:56] [SPEAKER_01]: interconnected in it. And it makes sense now looking back but that really wasn't what

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Western medicine was looking at and it wasn't the approach that I was given.

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_03]: It's so disappointing to hear just like how

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_03]: passed over you were. And people probably looked at you being small fit, you know,

[00:17:16] [SPEAKER_03]: like, oh well we don't have any more answers for her because she looks healthy.

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_03]: All her tests are coming back fine. So all we can say is IBS. I mean, I've even been in that

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_03]: position where I was having severe issues and went in, got the diagnosis of IBS and was told not

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_03]: to eat dairy. And I was like, did you even ask if I ate dairy? It was crazy to just not have

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_03]: any kind of real answers or anyone who, like you said, took the time to actually get to know

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_03]: you and what you're doing within your body and what you're doing within your life that could

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_03]: really help to get to a root cause. And it's just very unfortunate that that is still happening

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_03]: within our Western medicine world. We hope that it starts to improve. But I think understanding

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_03]: this and, you know, what are some of the common root causes that you see disrupting a

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_03]: lot of gut issues that people are currently dealing with? Like where do you think that people

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_03]: should be kind of looking to go to root causes within themselves?

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, root causes in particular with gut issues.

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. Yeah. So in functional medicine, we actually break down most root causes stemming

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_01]: from four areas. And most common is of course going to be diet. But there's dietary stress,

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_01]: there's emotional stress, there can be physical stress and then there can be environmental stress.

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_01]: But for most people, the root causes come down to one of these four areas. So if we're looking at

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_01]: gut health and nutrition, right? So the standard American diet, the sad diet, eating a diet full

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_01]: of inflammatory foods, processed foods full of artificial sweeteners, a ton of sugar.

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_01]: We know that these inflammatory fats and sugars wreak havoc on our gut microbiome. So I'd say

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_01]: most people's diets are full of foods that are not very gut friendly, that are leading to chronic

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_01]: gut inflammation, that are leading to intestinal permeability, the breakdown of the gut lining.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And then it's also leading to the terrain for whether it's SIBO, bad bacteria to overgrow or

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_01]: just overall dysbiosis. So nutrition is of course one of the biggest ones, but sometimes these can be

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_01]: also food intolerances that somebody doesn't know that they have, right? So non-celiac gluten

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_01]: sensitivity is actually very, very common. Most of the population does not tolerate gluten

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_01]: or wheat very well. And this is often, I wouldn't say an argument about a conversation that I

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_01]: get in with a lot of my clients, right? Because a lot of the foods that we love

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_01]: have gluten in them. I'm not going to lie, you know, a lot of the breads and the yummy foods

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_01]: and all of that. But, you know, when we really end up looking at this on a microbiome level,

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_01]: I'd say most people where we even run testing on will come back with some kind of a reaction

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_01]: to gluten. But these can be other types of sensitivities. So it could be somebody

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_01]: who is maybe struggling even with maybe the breakdown of something like dairy. Now,

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_01]: not necessarily that can be very much unique to that person, but often these type of food intolerance

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_01]: and I would say the big triggers that will cause microbiome imbalances would be

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_01]: wheat and gluten. It would be grains. It would be then industrial seed oil, so inflammatory fats.

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_01]: It would be sugar and then it would be alcohol. It would be the last one, which we often don't

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_01]: think of alcohol, right? But definitely disrupts the gut microbiome and breaks down the gut lining.

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So diet is one of the biggest things. Even looking at my own diet at the time,

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_01]: my diet wasn't bad. It was very macronutrient, friendly, right? I was getting all my protein.

[00:21:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I was definitely in a caloric deficit based off of getting to 10% body fat. But I can look back

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_01]: and say that there was a lot of foods in it that necessarily weren't gut friendly. I was eating

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_01]: a lot of pre-workouts and post-workouts and I don't know if you guys are familiar with

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Walden Farms at all. I hope not. It's okay. It's not food. It's franken food. It's the

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_01]: foods that are just full of artificial sweeteners on bodybuilding. We're just so deprived

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_01]: of flavor and hungry. So we'll do all of these condiments and sauces that are just full of things

[00:21:49] [SPEAKER_01]: like xanthan gum and guar gum, which not bad but when the whole food is made out of xanthan gum

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_01]: and guar gum and artificial flavors, yeah, not so gut friendly. So I had a lot of that in my diet.

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_01]: So could you say maybe there was a little bit of some dietary stressors? Yes, there are some

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_01]: things that weren't necessarily gut friendly even though my diet wasn't terrible looking back.

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_01]: But I'd say the second biggest thing for people is emotional stress.

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's definitely where my next question was going to go. And I really love how you said

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_00]: your story is not unique. I think one of the more unique components is your history in this

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_00]: obsessive competitive field of bodybuilding, physique training. And I think it's very

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_00]: important that you speak out about some of the detrimental aspects of that because

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_00]: often the general public looks at that population as, oh man, they are the peak and pinnacle of health.

[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And when you look at statistics, the statistics of people who have disordered style eating or

[00:22:55] [SPEAKER_00]: issues with different mental health problems, it can be relatively high even compared to

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_00]: the general population. On the flip side, I think it was that obsessive nature that

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_00]: ended up helping get you into your own root cause. Oh, yeah, I have just a general obsessive nature.

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_00]: So it applied to the bodybuilding, physique training and then to what you're doing now.

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_00]: But I want to ask about the emotional component because we talk about these things like gluten,

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_00]: like wheat, the xanthum gums, the guava gums, the sugar. And it can be a fine line

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_00]: labeling them as bad things that we should never do, right? Because then that plays into the emotional

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_00]: side of things where it can dance the line between the disordered, oh, I can't ever have those things

[00:23:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and then people can abstain for a few days. And then they end up binging

[00:23:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and going into this cycle of trying to abstain and binging. So like,

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_00]: what is the level of sugar or things that have gums in them or things that have

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_00]: wheat or gluten in them that is okay for somebody without feeling like it turns into this

[00:24:05] [SPEAKER_00]: disordered mindset surrounding these good or bad foods for them?

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_01]: We don't want to definitely major in the micros, right? So what I mean by that is

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_01]: we have to look at the big picture and everybody has a stressor that's really apparent in their

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_01]: life that this is probably what's playing the biggest role in a lot of my health issues.

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I can say that it was my diet that was playing a huge role. But if I look back and I look at

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_01]: all of the stressors combined, that my body was really under a ton of the metabolic stressors and

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_01]: what was already happening with my gut as a byproduct of just being under so much stress

[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_01]: that I added in a lot of these foods where my gut microbiome or my gut health was already

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_01]: sort of being impaired from a lot of that stress. And then that led to the

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_01]: train for bacteria to overgrow that definitely exacerbated a lot of the issues at least for me.

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_01]: And even when we do gut healing protocols with my practice, right? People who struggle with

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_01]: gut issues, we do have to pull out the majority of those foods because they are big triggers

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_01]: for that person. But should the average person, I understand your question, completely avoid

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_01]: all of these foods and I don't think so actually, you know, xanthum gorgum, it's in a lot of

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_01]: foods, right? It's in almond milk. Most almond milk has that in it. It's going to be in a lot of

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_01]: salad dressings. You know, it's not bad for you. However, if we are doing anything in my opinion

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_01]: to like the extreme side like I was with the overuse of a lot of these foods, that's where

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I think that it and at the core, a lot of these gums are probiotic fibers led to a lot more

[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_01]: of that bacteria overgrowth at least for me. But I think it's not a problem to have these different

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_01]: things in our diet. Like I'll definitely have sugar and I don't sweat it when I go out to eat

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_01]: and I'm like, oh my gosh, this thing has a little bit of some vegetable oils or things like that

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_01]: in it. But I think it's what we do the majority of the time. You know, when I'm at home and

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I have more control over my nutrition, of course, I'm going to make sure that

[00:26:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not cooking with those things. If I have the option to choose between gum-free almond milk and

[00:26:22] [SPEAKER_01]: almond milk that doesn't have it, I'll usually make that choice. Also, I have a history of having

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_01]: more gut issues. So I think for the person who maybe is struggling already with gut issues, which

[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_01]: most of the population, I'd say struggles with gut issues. It's a lot more common. I think

[00:26:40] [SPEAKER_01]: weight issues are then gut issues that would be top up there with health issues outside of mental

[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_01]: health that people really struggle with. But I think if you are somebody who's struggling with

[00:26:52] [SPEAKER_01]: gut-related issues, these can be some things that you can pay a bit more attention to. But

[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_01]: if you're like, hey, my gut health feels fine, I have no problems at all. I don't think

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_01]: you need to get obsessive about all of those things. I agree.

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_03]: And where do supplements play a role in things? Because we see a lot of times nowadays, supplements

[00:27:14] [SPEAKER_03]: are really pushed and is in getting your prebiotics and your probiotics. And you're

[00:27:20] [SPEAKER_03]: a lot of things that we could be taking in, which at the end of the day, I think we should

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER_03]: always be testing to understand what you individually need. But when does that play a role

[00:27:34] [SPEAKER_03]: in your gut health journey and can taking supplements be the magic pill that you need

[00:27:41] [SPEAKER_03]: to really help your gut issues, or do you really have to overturn your lifestyle?

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Is the question what role does supplements play? Is it just supplements?

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Where do they fit into helping with the gut? Is it starting with supplementation? Is it

[00:28:01] [SPEAKER_03]: starting with your diet? How important? Because I think one of the questions people ask is,

[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_03]: well, what supplement should I take? And it's like, well, that's such a broad question.

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I know nothing about you. How can we tell you that?

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, all of the supplements we recommend are going to be very specific based off of

[00:28:24] [SPEAKER_01]: somebody's core health issues. Now, I could tell somebody like, hey, here's some general

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_01]: recommendation and supplements on what I think is good. I think you'll find that everybody

[00:28:34] [SPEAKER_01]: has a bit of a different answer on what they recommend. And like, these are just good

[00:28:38] [SPEAKER_01]: supplements that everybody should take. When we're doing a bit more of a healing protocol,

[00:28:43] [SPEAKER_01]: though, at my practice, we will utilize a good amount of supplementation. So if somebody who has,

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_01]: let's say, a large amount of bacteria overgrowth in their gut, and they do come back with

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_01]: SIBO. So we may use some herbal antimicrobials to help eradicate a lot of the bacteria overgrowth.

[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_01]: If someone does have leaky gut, we'll want to do some supplements to help repair that gut lining.

[00:29:07] [SPEAKER_01]: So we may utilize some things like aglutamine, aloe vera, licorice root, that can really help.

[00:29:13] [SPEAKER_01]: So we'll use a lot more supplements when we're focused on healing something

[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_01]: versus necessarily on the health side. And that's why I do like to make a distinction.

[00:29:22] [SPEAKER_01]: There is a big difference between gut healing and gut health. So gut healing is I have gut-related

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_01]: symptoms. And sometimes, to be fair, you can also have gut issues without having gut-related symptoms

[00:29:35] [SPEAKER_01]: because we know that the gut is connected to so many different things. So when looking at gut

[00:29:41] [SPEAKER_01]: health, I like to look at, of course, digestion. And if there's constipation diarrhea or bloating,

[00:29:46] [SPEAKER_01]: but we can also look at things like anxiety levels, we can also look at overall energy

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_01]: levels too. And through testing, we can identify, but I'd say to answer your question,

[00:29:57] [SPEAKER_01]: supplements are great. We may start with that, but it has to always be paired

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_01]: with some kind of a dietary change. If somebody is not willing to adjust or modify what they're

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_01]: putting into their body from a nutrition standpoint, these supplements can only do so much

[00:30:15] [SPEAKER_01]: overall and ultimately what the bacteria are going to be eating and feeding off of are

[00:30:20] [SPEAKER_01]: going to be the foods that we're putting in our body. So bacteria primarily break down fibers,

[00:30:25] [SPEAKER_01]: carbohydrates that we're eating. So when somebody who has a lot of overgrowth of bacteria in their

[00:30:31] [SPEAKER_01]: gut and has a lot of bloating or GI issues, we actually may pull out a lot of these

[00:30:35] [SPEAKER_01]: type of fermentable carbohydrates for a while. If they have a lot of inflammation in their

[00:30:40] [SPEAKER_01]: gut, we may want to make sure we're following some kind of an anti-inflammatory diet.

[00:30:45] [SPEAKER_01]: We're doing this paired with usually some type of supplementation, especially to

[00:30:50] [SPEAKER_01]: with somebody who has gut and balances, probiotics can be great. And the way probiotics can really

[00:30:57] [SPEAKER_01]: be beneficial is if someone has an overgrowth of a lot of, we could say pathogenic bacteria or maybe

[00:31:03] [SPEAKER_01]: parasites, things like that, we can support the gut microbiome with good bacteria,

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER_01]: which will actually help fight off a lot of these pathogens and a lot of these overgrowths. But

[00:31:14] [SPEAKER_01]: a common misconception actually is that these probiotics colonize to the gut,

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_01]: they do not. I actually used to believe that I would run microbiome tests and be like,

[00:31:24] [SPEAKER_01]: okay, you're low in these bacteria, so we can put you on these probiotics. And

[00:31:27] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, I learned that that's actually not how it works, but probiotics have these

[00:31:32] [SPEAKER_01]: transitory benefits so they can help with their immune system, they can help support the

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_01]: gut lining, they can fight off a lot of these bad pathogens so they can make a train where it's

[00:31:42] [SPEAKER_01]: difficult for these bad bacteria to overgrow but they don't actually colonize to the gut.

[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So should everybody ban a probiotic? I don't necessarily think it's necessary for everyone

[00:31:54] [SPEAKER_01]: when I was dealing with a lot of my gut issues. I utilize probiotics, they were very,

[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_01]: very helpful for me. You know, now I'm at a point where, you know, I have probiotics,

[00:32:05] [SPEAKER_01]: do I take them all the time? No, not necessarily. Yeah, I think that one of the main points,

[00:32:10] [SPEAKER_00]: and I've heard a lot of other people say this before, that I'm hearing from you is

[00:32:14] [SPEAKER_00]: you can't necessarily out-supplement a bad diet. And you can't out-supplement if you are out of

[00:32:21] [SPEAKER_00]: balance in multiple of those four areas that you talked about before. Like it usually has to

[00:32:26] [SPEAKER_00]: be a combination of making the lifestyle adjustments to regulate in the nutritional,

[00:32:32] [SPEAKER_00]: emotional, you know, physical areas along with potential supplementation that can

[00:32:37] [SPEAKER_00]: be very beneficial outside of that. You've been talking a lot about overgrowth and the microbiome

[00:32:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and how, you know, how that gets overgrown. I also know that you talk a bit about your

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_00]: four levels of gut dysregulation and how you mentioned many people out there probably

[00:32:57] [SPEAKER_00]: have gut dysregulation and don't even know it. And maybe they're in one of the

[00:33:01] [SPEAKER_00]: first levels because they don't have severe symptoms. Can you talk through a little bit of

[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_01]: what those four levels look like? Yeah, this is something that I talk a bit about in my book,

[00:33:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Root Cause. And there's four levels of gut imbalances. Tier one is the most common. This

[00:33:17] [SPEAKER_01]: is what most people have. And this is just a low diversity in the gut. Sometimes this can

[00:33:23] [SPEAKER_01]: also be a little bit of gut inflammation. And usually this is just triggered from nutrition.

[00:33:29] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, if we look at the food that we're eating, that's devoid in a lot of nutrients

[00:33:33] [SPEAKER_01]: based off of the soil and the way that food is just manufactured right now.

[00:33:39] [SPEAKER_01]: When we even do microbiome testing on a lot of people, I'd say 95% of people come back with

[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_01]: low diversity in the gut. And you can think of diversity as the individual strains of bacteria

[00:33:51] [SPEAKER_01]: in the gut. So the more diverse the microbiome, the better the health outcomes where they

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_01]: found associations with a low diversity of bacteria in the gut to correlate with a lot of

[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_01]: chronic health issues, type two diabetes, autoimmune conditions, neurodegenerative disorders

[00:34:07] [SPEAKER_01]: like Alzheimer's all can be traced back to having a low diversity in the gut. And then also gut

[00:34:15] [SPEAKER_01]: inflammation. Gut inflammation can be stemming from an inflammatory diet, can also be stemming

[00:34:20] [SPEAKER_01]: from chronic stress. Those are really the big two ones. But I'd say if we look at what the

[00:34:25] [SPEAKER_01]: average diet and stress levels look like, this is why I say most people are dealing with low

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_01]: diversity so they can definitely work on upping their diversity in the gut. Actually one of my

[00:34:37] [SPEAKER_01]: favorite ways to work on diversity is with polyphenols. Polyphenols are about give fruits,

[00:34:44] [SPEAKER_01]: vegetables, their bright colors. So we can get this through our diet, we can get this through

[00:34:48] [SPEAKER_01]: supplementation. So through diet, things like quercetin, well actually that's a supplement,

[00:34:54] [SPEAKER_01]: quercetin through a supplement but curcumin, turmeric can be really great. Macha green tea,

[00:35:00] [SPEAKER_01]: which I quit coffee actually this last year. And I started doing a matcha green tea instead.

[00:35:06] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's a great source of polyphenols. Blueberries, purple sweet potato, dark chocolate,

[00:35:14] [SPEAKER_01]: real dark chocolate, not like the sugary Hershey's milk chocolate but good dark chocolate is a great

[00:35:21] [SPEAKER_01]: source of polyphenols. So that's a great way to really work on diversity in the gut and then also

[00:35:27] [SPEAKER_01]: adding in more prebiotic fibers too. So prebiotics is going to be any kind of fibers that come

[00:35:34] [SPEAKER_01]: from fruits and vegetables, asparagus, brussel sprouts. So more fiber, more polyphenols can

[00:35:41] [SPEAKER_01]: be really beneficial for working on diversity in the gut. So that would be the first stage.

[00:35:47] [SPEAKER_01]: The second stage would be people who start to develop digestive insufficiency.

[00:35:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes they can have a deficiency with their pancreatic enzymes, sometimes we can see

[00:36:01] [SPEAKER_01]: a deficiency maybe with even bile and how they're breaking down fats in the body.

[00:36:08] [SPEAKER_01]: So some type of digestive insufficiency, usually for most people we identify this through lab testing

[00:36:16] [SPEAKER_01]: to see if they have any type of a digestive insufficiency. Also at this tier we put leaky gut

[00:36:23] [SPEAKER_01]: in this category. So most people I'd say also because we do this testing I feel like on

[00:36:30] [SPEAKER_01]: everybody but to be fair, we do get a lot of people who are already struggling with a lot

[00:36:35] [SPEAKER_01]: of their health issues that come to us but they develop leaky gut which is the breakdown

[00:36:39] [SPEAKER_01]: of the gut lining where we start to get bacteria, foods and toxins leaking into the bloodstream.

[00:36:45] [SPEAKER_01]: This is really what creates food sensitivities. So if you are somebody who feels like you're

[00:36:51] [SPEAKER_01]: sensitive to literally all the foods that you eat it's very unlikely that you actually have

[00:36:57] [SPEAKER_01]: a food allergy. You probably though do have some food sensitivities. Now I'm a big believer

[00:37:04] [SPEAKER_01]: that it's not the food that's the problem. So by pulling out all of these foods

[00:37:10] [SPEAKER_01]: it's not going to necessarily fix a lot of your issues. Now some of your symptoms may go away

[00:37:15] [SPEAKER_01]: but you've developed a lot of these food sensitivities over time as a byproduct of leaky gut

[00:37:21] [SPEAKER_01]: and sometimes even some digestive insufficiency we can see that that's where if someone were to

[00:37:26] [SPEAKER_01]: go order a food sensitivity test online that were to test their IgG or IgA levels

[00:37:31] [SPEAKER_01]: they'd come back with a laundry list of like 30 plus foods and they'd be like oh my gosh I can't

[00:37:37] [SPEAKER_01]: eat any of these foods what do I get to eat? They pull it out and they think that that's what

[00:37:42] [SPEAKER_01]: they have to stand forever and it's like no that's not actually the problem. The problem is

[00:37:47] [SPEAKER_01]: we need to work on healing and repairing the gut lining. So that would be tier two, tier three

[00:37:55] [SPEAKER_01]: is more overgrowth. So this is where I look for pathogens or SIBO. So you guys have heard me mention

[00:38:02] [SPEAKER_01]: SIBO a couple times but that's actually the core of what I had so small intestinal bacteria overgrowth.

[00:38:09] [SPEAKER_01]: So this is where we can get bacteria that move upstream from the large intestine which is where

[00:38:14] [SPEAKER_01]: most of our bacteria are housed supposed to be there right? That's where our body houses our

[00:38:20] [SPEAKER_01]: stool but when the bacteria can move upstream into the small intestine this is where we can get a lot

[00:38:28] [SPEAKER_01]: of digestive issues. So the bacteria then are fermenting on a lot of the foods that we're eating

[00:38:33] [SPEAKER_01]: producing a lot of gas and typically it's a hydrogen or a methane gas but this is what creates a lot

[00:38:39] [SPEAKER_01]: of the chronic bloating for a lot of people and then depending on the type of gas that their

[00:38:44] [SPEAKER_01]: bacteria is producing this can lead to constipation, diarrhea and a lot of the other symptoms and for

[00:38:51] [SPEAKER_01]: most people who have SIBO we usually see this hand in hand also with leaky gut. We see this hand in

[00:38:56] [SPEAKER_01]: hand with gut inflammation so it's not usually that they only have an overgrowth of bacteria.

[00:39:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Pathogens fall into that category too so someone who has a parasite, someone who has

[00:39:09] [SPEAKER_01]: maybe a yeast overgrowth like Candida and then the fourth tier is we're more so looking at

[00:39:15] [SPEAKER_01]: autoimmune conditions so things like Crohn's and all sort of colitis with people.

[00:39:20] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean that is so thorough it makes me want to go and dig in myself on just some extra testing

[00:39:26] [SPEAKER_03]: to find out about myself and just learn. I mean I think this can be very so beneficial to give

[00:39:32] [SPEAKER_03]: the tools to understand your body in such a deeper way to understand because I've talked to friends

[00:39:40] [SPEAKER_03]: who've gone to a functional medicine doctor and they're like oh my gosh my test came back with

[00:39:44] [SPEAKER_03]: all these things that I can't eat and so all of a sudden they're cutting a ton out and I'm looking

[00:39:49] [SPEAKER_03]: at them like this is crazy. This can't be your solution of what you have to do is cut out

[00:39:55] [SPEAKER_03]: all these foods and I have heard of other people who've had their large intestine even taken

[00:39:59] [SPEAKER_03]: out and getting rather than getting to what you're talking about which is the root cause.

[00:40:05] [SPEAKER_03]: And I think that's so I mean you go through so much detail and so much

[00:40:10] [SPEAKER_03]: you know to really look at it all I think that's huge and I want to touch on before we leave just

[00:40:17] [SPEAKER_03]: the aspect that we've kind of glossed over which I think is one of the most important factors

[00:40:22] [SPEAKER_03]: talking about stress not only with how we're eating and what we're putting in our body

[00:40:27] [SPEAKER_03]: but emotional stress as well and you said that you had a huge healing journey yourself

[00:40:33] [SPEAKER_03]: what does that mean and what does that really look like? Yeah I'd say outside of nutrition this is

[00:40:40] [SPEAKER_01]: really the other biggest stressor for most of us and it what we're talking about here too is

[00:40:48] [SPEAKER_01]: not just acute stress like I get stressed here and then but what we're talking about is chronic

[00:40:56] [SPEAKER_01]: stress and nervous system dysregulation so people who are operating the majority of the time

[00:41:06] [SPEAKER_01]: in a sympathetic state so that's going to be a fight or flight state and that was really where

[00:41:12] [SPEAKER_01]: my body was operating at for I didn't even realize it but for most of my life I was living in

[00:41:18] [SPEAKER_01]: a fight or flight state I was struggling with nervous system and balances

[00:41:24] [SPEAKER_01]: and that's where as I even started on this healing journey first on healing my gut and

[00:41:30] [SPEAKER_01]: making a lot of massive changes with my lifestyle and changing around my nutrition

[00:41:34] [SPEAKER_01]: and even discovering like the quote unquote root cause which for me I had SIBO and I had dysbiosis

[00:41:43] [SPEAKER_01]: but as we were talking about the root cause right I like to look at what is the root cause of the root

[00:41:49] [SPEAKER_01]: cause the root cause isn't just okay we found out you had SIBO or you have dysbiosis although a lot

[00:41:55] [SPEAKER_01]: of functional medicine practitioners would look at that and say okay we found the root cause this

[00:42:00] [SPEAKER_01]: is what's leading to all of your health issues the root cause is what led to that in the

[00:42:06] [SPEAKER_01]: first place and for me if I were to continue to peel back the onion and layer after layer after

[00:42:12] [SPEAKER_01]: layer I really have to ask myself what was the big reason that really led me to operate

[00:42:21] [SPEAKER_01]: in more of this sympathetic state to push my body to such an extreme level you know what was

[00:42:28] [SPEAKER_01]: really that root cause and as I started to really ask a lot of the why questions because

[00:42:33] [SPEAKER_01]: obviously I love to ask all the why questions you know that's where I really got down to

[00:42:39] [SPEAKER_01]: this wounded little girl there was a wounded eight year old little girl who felt like she

[00:42:46] [SPEAKER_01]: didn't have a sense of worth who felt like she never had a voice and was looking for her

[00:42:52] [SPEAKER_01]: sense of worth through all of these things outside of her you know my work at the time came from

[00:42:58] [SPEAKER_01]: my physical body and as I really started to understand that and look at like this is really

[00:43:06] [SPEAKER_01]: the true root cause this is what's really creating so many of my health issues which I believe it

[00:43:13] [SPEAKER_01]: all stems back to our relationship with ourselves so we think of relationship with self it's really

[00:43:18] [SPEAKER_01]: how we relate to our self which is our view of self so we're always relating to each other

[00:43:25] [SPEAKER_01]: so like I'm relating with you have a view of you you have a view of me and vice versa but where does

[00:43:32] [SPEAKER_01]: this view of self ultimately come from right and most of our view of self we can really trace that

[00:43:39] [SPEAKER_01]: back to when we were younger and we developed a sense of view of ourselves and for me I had

[00:43:47] [SPEAKER_01]: walked through a lot of different traumatic things when I was younger that ultimately led to a

[00:43:53] [SPEAKER_01]: lot of these things and I also think at the core you know we live in a world that has conditioned us

[00:43:59] [SPEAKER_01]: to believe that our our sense of worth comes from all of these things outside of us so it's

[00:44:05] [SPEAKER_01]: these core of these traumas that we walk through and you know the nervous system at the core

[00:44:12] [SPEAKER_01]: either feels safe or it doesn't there is really no in between so when we're operating in a

[00:44:18] [SPEAKER_01]: sympathetic dominant state what's really happening is we're saying I don't feel safe I don't feel safe

[00:44:25] [SPEAKER_01]: and often we may think of safety more as a physical type of safety which 100% our nervous system gets

[00:44:33] [SPEAKER_01]: up regulated when we don't feel physical safety but this is also emotional safety

[00:44:40] [SPEAKER_01]: and emotional safety is feeling like I can be authentically myself without fear of rejection

[00:44:49] [SPEAKER_01]: or judgment and if we think back to times in our life where we were younger

[00:44:56] [SPEAKER_01]: and we were rejected where we felt like we didn't have worth maybe we didn't get our needs

[00:45:02] [SPEAKER_01]: net in the way that we needed to right we put on this shell we start to build this armor around us

[00:45:10] [SPEAKER_01]: and then our society that conditions us right once you have the perfect body right just do this

[00:45:16] [SPEAKER_01]: diet just do all of these things just get the house just get the money all of these things and

[00:45:21] [SPEAKER_01]: everything is conditioning us to find our worth and all of these other things and I think

[00:45:29] [SPEAKER_01]: also it's not a coincidence that most type A personalities and most perfectionists

[00:45:35] [SPEAKER_01]: you know struggle with a lot of these health issues like I'm talking about right most

[00:45:40] [SPEAKER_01]: struggle with gut issues autoimmune conditions and this is why I think healing at the core

[00:45:47] [SPEAKER_01]: it's not just identifying the root cause physically of what's going on I believe it's

[00:45:54] [SPEAKER_01]: really a return back to self you know it's a return back to wholeness it's a return back to

[00:46:01] [SPEAKER_01]: authenticity your guys podcast is called the optimal health podcast but I believe health is not

[00:46:08] [SPEAKER_01]: just the absence of disease it's the presence of optimal feeling and function but true health is

[00:46:15] [SPEAKER_01]: also established in our very essence so it's a state of being grounded in our authentic self

[00:46:20] [SPEAKER_01]: it's it's a vitality that engages us to be present in all of life and to live life at its fullest

[00:46:29] [SPEAKER_01]: and it's also the ability to choose and what I mean by that the ability to choose is

[00:46:36] [SPEAKER_01]: it's the ability to choose our responses to choose our nervous system responses to

[00:46:45] [SPEAKER_01]: different things our state our reactions and it's also to feel safe in our bodies at the core and

[00:46:54] [SPEAKER_01]: a lot of my healing work ended up being this entire journey of really returning back to self and

[00:47:01] [SPEAKER_01]: having to ask myself some hard questions which we could do a whole another podcast on what that

[00:47:06] [SPEAKER_01]: healing journey looked like but I'll leave it there I think that's a perfect at least

[00:47:11] [SPEAKER_03]: gateway hopefully for people to start to identify of how am I really doing and how do I really view

[00:47:19] [SPEAKER_03]: myself because I also had to do a lot of work on myself and you know get to a lot of those root

[00:47:27] [SPEAKER_03]: causes and in my own self-worth journey and where that was coming from and and I used going into

[00:47:34] [SPEAKER_03]: a lot of the work it was like well I don't have huge traumas like I didn't go through a lot of

[00:47:38] [SPEAKER_03]: things that a lot of people went through so I'm fine like I don't need this stuff and I think we

[00:47:43] [SPEAKER_03]: compare traumas with other people sometimes and thinking like well I don't have what they have

[00:47:48] [SPEAKER_03]: so I must be fine instead of really trying to identify you know and and and go in a little

[00:47:54] [SPEAKER_03]: bit deeper and I I love that you talk about your journey and I think that's very vulnerable and

[00:48:00] [SPEAKER_03]: brave of you to do and I love that that's part of the healing journey within the gut

[00:48:06] [SPEAKER_03]: in your functional medicine practice because it goes way beyond the testing and the food and

[00:48:11] [SPEAKER_03]: it goes into the self and who that person really is so I just commend you for the work that you're

[00:48:18] [SPEAKER_03]: doing and how you're even helping not only people but other coaches start to identify this as well

[00:48:23] [SPEAKER_03]: and really so we can help more people I think it's incredible the work you're doing

[00:48:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and it reinforces what you brought up earlier that we're interconnected beings and

[00:48:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I have my whole soap boxes about how the western medicine system operates and how expensive it is

[00:48:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and how much needless money we spend in certain areas where when if we just focus on the person in

[00:48:45] [SPEAKER_00]: front of us and Jen and I would do this in the clinic and we'd have the person on the table

[00:48:50] [SPEAKER_00]: with us that has had pain for 30 years in their back and has never had any surgery or injection

[00:48:55] [SPEAKER_00]: or whatever touch how their pain felt and we just talk with them for 30 minutes and get them

[00:49:02] [SPEAKER_00]: breathing in a way that helps them flip out of that fight or flight and I get chills when I talk

[00:49:08] [SPEAKER_00]: about this because I have patients and experiences that are so meaningful to me that helped me

[00:49:12] [SPEAKER_00]: understand so much about the body and about health and about pain that it makes me start to

[00:49:18] [SPEAKER_00]: feel emotional because when I see other practitioners doing this regardless of the area of health

[00:49:23] [SPEAKER_00]: or wellness that you practice in when you're able to see somebody you're able to make

[00:49:29] [SPEAKER_00]: connections in their health journey that they probably have never had anybody even come close

[00:49:35] [SPEAKER_00]: to and it's so unfortunate to me that we don't admit or we don't dive in more into how someone's

[00:49:43] [SPEAKER_00]: emotional and mental health impacts every other area of their health especially when

[00:49:49] [SPEAKER_00]: it comes to the nervous system which is our almighty control center so without saying too much more

[00:49:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I very much so appreciate how much that is integrated in your practice and how much

[00:50:02] [SPEAKER_00]: how many people you're probably helping and seeing for the first time so on that note

[00:50:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I know we've mentioned your book root cause and there's a lot of other places people can go

[00:50:15] [SPEAKER_00]: to continue to learn from you where can they where can they go yeah thank you so much and I did

[00:50:21] [SPEAKER_01]: want to just say there I think that is really the work is to truly see people and I think what

[00:50:27] [SPEAKER_01]: makes a great health practitioner is somebody who can really see the people that they're working with

[00:50:33] [SPEAKER_01]: and I only can do the work that I do because I've walked the path myself not only on the

[00:50:38] [SPEAKER_01]: physical healing side but also on the emotional healing side and it's something that's completely

[00:50:43] [SPEAKER_01]: different when you've walked the path and then you can really connect with people and being like hey

[00:50:49] [SPEAKER_01]: like I think there's something more there of where a lot of this is really stemming from

[00:50:53] [SPEAKER_01]: that sometimes they can't even necessarily see themselves and not saying that you know I'm a

[00:50:59] [SPEAKER_01]: therapist and I necessarily go there however I am now a somatic breath work practitioner but

[00:51:05] [SPEAKER_01]: you know often it's it's really opening the door and giving somebody the awareness

[00:51:11] [SPEAKER_01]: for them to do a lot of this deeper healing work that they need to do and ultimately I think

[00:51:16] [SPEAKER_01]: we're always on this healing journey I don't know if it ever ends yeah it's healing but

[00:51:21] [SPEAKER_01]: you guys can check me out on Instagram my personal Instagram is at Rachel sheer my practice is at

[00:51:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Rachel sheer nutrition and then my website is Rachel sheer.com amazing well have that all

[00:51:33] [SPEAKER_03]: linked up of course along with your book and again thank you so much for taking the time

[00:51:38] [SPEAKER_03]: and I know that we can go into so many different topics to dive in more and maybe we will in the

[00:51:44] [SPEAKER_03]: future but thank you again so much for being here. Wow that was one of my favorite interviews with

[00:51:51] [SPEAKER_03]: Rachel she just dove into so much education and information on truly getting to identify the root

[00:51:57] [SPEAKER_03]: cause issues and I think we could have talked about a lot of those topics especially at the

[00:52:02] [SPEAKER_03]: end in a lot more detail so maybe we'll have her back on but if you heard anything that

[00:52:06] [SPEAKER_03]: you think could be supportive to anyone else please pass this episode along it's so crucial

[00:52:11] [SPEAKER_03]: that we understand how I identify our own root causes and how we can better serve and help find

[00:52:17] [SPEAKER_03]: our own optimal health our own optimal body and that's why we're here so thank you so much for

[00:52:22] [SPEAKER_03]: joining us and we hope to see you back on another podcast.