Ask of Anything: Your Gut & Hormone Questions Answered

[00:00:00] Hi, I'm Abby, a functional dietitian and gut health expert. Hi, I'm Jillian, a

[00:00:05] functional dietitian that specializes in women's health and hormones. And this is

[00:00:10] Your Body Has Your Back, Podcast. Together we have over 20 years of experience

[00:00:16] supporting clients in healing their gut and hormone symptoms and guiding them

[00:00:20] from overwhelmed to ease in their body. We help clients reconnect with their body

[00:00:24] and transform their lives using targeted nutrition, lifestyle and supplement

[00:00:28] therapies. Finding optimal health in our modern chaotic world is more challenging

[00:00:32] than ever and now it's our mission to provide you with the tools you need to

[00:00:37] strengthen your relationship with your body, to resolve your gut and hormone

[00:00:40] symptoms and become your greatest health advocate. Join us for honest, inspiring

[00:00:44] and offbeat conversations on health that will lead you feeling empowered to take

[00:00:48] action so that you can trust your body has your back.

[00:00:58] Hello everyone and welcome to our Ask Us Anything episode where we sourced our

[00:01:11] questions directly from you all and we are going to answer them. So we are so

[00:01:15] excited, we've got some great ones from you all and Jillian's gonna kick us

[00:01:19] off with our first question. So many great questions. We I can't believe we

[00:01:25] haven't done one of these yet this season. I feel like we did a couple of them in

[00:01:29] season two because we had so many questions but excited to round out season three

[00:01:35] with an Ask Us Anything. So the first question we're going to answer today is

[00:01:41] from someone that was asking for tips for clearing body acne that goes beyond

[00:01:46] the basics. It's the one thing that this individual can't shake entirely. I

[00:01:52] love this question. So and I'm sure this is relevant for other people out there.

[00:01:56] So I feel like we've both been asked this by clients, by friends. So in terms of

[00:02:02] what this individual is asking so it sounds like they are covering the basics.

[00:02:08] So when we talk about the basics if you're new here this refers to everything

[00:02:12] that we covered in season one balancing blood sugar supporting the nervous

[00:02:16] system, supporting sleep and circadian rhythms, incorporating functional foods

[00:02:20] and eating predominantly a whole foods diet supporting detoxification and

[00:02:24] drainage. So if you feel like you are really supporting the fundamentals well but

[00:02:29] you're still experiencing body acne, there's a couple things that come to mind

[00:02:33] here. I will sometimes see a body acne related to issues with

[00:02:38] Androgen hormones, but more often than not I would say that I see body acne

[00:02:44] related to gut imbalances. So this is where it's important to remember and

[00:02:50] this kind of speaks to honestly like every one-on-one client that enters

[00:02:54] both of our practices. If you are doing all the things but you are still

[00:02:58] experiencing persistent symptoms, this is an SOS that there are likely deeper

[00:03:04] things going on under the hood. So we need to dive some layers deeper to

[00:03:08] understand what imbalances are really creating symptoms and driving

[00:03:12] dysfunction. So gut imbalances specifically this is where I see a body acne

[00:03:17] often so like back acne, chest acne, even acne other places in the body. So when

[00:03:23] I say gut imbalances, I'm referring to gut microbial imbalances. So this could

[00:03:28] be you know the overgrowth of bad dysbiotic bacteria or even pathogens in

[00:03:34] the gut that are not supposed to be there or they're not supposed to be

[00:03:37] overgrown. Something that I actually see even more than that is insufficiency

[00:03:42] dynamics or a lot of depletion with healthy beneficial gut bacteria that can

[00:03:47] drive acne in general, but definitely body acne. Another gut imbalance that

[00:03:53] can drive a body acne is intestinal permeability or gut barrier issues. So for

[00:04:00] this individual it sounds like you're doing all the things we might need to dive

[00:04:03] a little bit deeper. I would probably say you know the next kind of thing to

[00:04:07] explore would be maybe doing some gut testing and getting some deeper data

[00:04:10] there to understand what's going on. And it's interesting that this question came

[00:04:15] up because I actually have just like a quick little client story that pertains

[00:04:20] to this question that I think will be helpful. So I have a client, a wonderful

[00:04:25] client that I worked with several years ago that has been doing really

[00:04:29] really well in terms of PCOS and remission, gut hormone symptoms and remission.

[00:04:34] She recently reached out to me this year because she had to go on two rounds

[00:04:38] of antibiotics kind of towards the end of last year in the fall. And she

[00:04:43] reached out early this year because she was you know struggling with some

[00:04:46] ongoing digestive wonkiness, some period symptoms are popping up. And one of

[00:04:50] her biggest symptoms was body acne. So a lot of back acne in particular.

[00:04:55] Again, despite doing all the things that she's been doing to really support

[00:04:59] you know a tremendous amount of stability in her body the last several years.

[00:05:03] So we checked in, decided to run a stool test to get some updated data

[00:05:08] and you know low and behold after the two rounds of antibiotics, her

[00:05:12] healthy commensal gut bacteria was wiped out. Everything was low. All of her key

[00:05:18] species were low both bacterial phyloar low. Her gut immune system was shot.

[00:05:23] So her SIGA was very, very low and suppressed. So we saw a lot of you know kind

[00:05:28] of repercussions of the antibiotics which makes sense given that you know

[00:05:32] the antibiotics you know wipe out the good and the bad. But in this case and

[00:05:37] a big insufficiency dynamic and likely damage to the gut lining were

[00:05:40] driving the acne. So we've been you know kind of focusing on

[00:05:45] replicion rebuilding that healthy gut ecosystem, restraint thinning that gut

[00:05:49] barrier and we need to give things a little bit of time but that correlated very you

[00:05:54] know kind of clearly with the newer symptoms that popped up and having to go on

[00:05:58] the two courses of antibiotics. I think that picture shows up in so much

[00:06:04] of just the skin gut connection for body acne, for eczema, for any like

[00:06:11] rashes or things of you know I often see a lot of that like low depletion

[00:06:16] beneficials being low, the short-chain fatty acids, producers being low who are producing all

[00:06:20] these like really nice anti-inflammatories soothing. They're helping to protect also against some

[00:06:26] of these like opportunistic bullies coming out on the playground of the gut and so we want to

[00:06:30] think about you know nourishing those. We actually got a good question on kind of post

[00:06:34] antibiotics too that kind of builds on this because this is such a big you know our microbiome

[00:06:40] and the the vibrancy while the diversity and the abundance those are like the key two terms

[00:06:45] that we want to think about with that microbiome are so important to not only the gut but then also

[00:06:51] you know what happens in the gut does not stay in the gut and in the presence of low beneficials

[00:06:56] and impact to that gut barrier and that low immune system. We've got ourselves you know a recipe

[00:07:02] for disrupting like Julie was kind of saying from that client story a perfect example of like

[00:07:06] disrupting the hormones, disrupting the skin disrupting you know probably her like energy

[00:07:12] and brain and focused didn't feel so great too then maybe sleep was disrupted in like minor but

[00:07:17] her bigger symptoms were in these other areas. We can see a lot of like the snowball effect

[00:07:22] happening in so many other areas of the body. 100 percent and I'm glad that you pointed out the

[00:07:27] exema piece and just skin issues in general and how we often often forget how interconnected

[00:07:34] everything is in the body but you know in particular with the insufficiency dynamic and how that

[00:07:39] manifests often as inflammatory skin conditions and just has this you know snowball effect to Abbey's

[00:07:45] point. Anything else you want to add to that in terms of body acne or do you feel like that's kind

[00:07:51] of what what you typically see with some of the stubborn body acne when everything else is in place

[00:07:56] foundationally? Yeah I mean I definitely think I feel like this one I think kind of all over skin

[00:08:03] is like the temptation to just like bombard the body with being like I'm going to want to clear out

[00:08:08] like any I feel like some clients come with the belief that there like there must be some like

[00:08:13] parasite in my gut. There must be something that I need to like kill and get out of there and like

[00:08:18] just like bring in like maybe I need an antibiotic or maybe I need like a herbal protocol because

[00:08:23] they've done some research like on their own and just this like the idea of like actually know we

[00:08:28] need like deep nourishment of this of the gut very we need like TLC is what like I like to call it

[00:08:34] like we're going to like TLC it up like 10 or 11 care on your gut. We're going to like nourish

[00:08:38] your gut bacteria and like yes there might be like a bully on a playground in there that maybe we

[00:08:42] do eventually need to take care of but we cannot take care of that bully on the playground like an

[00:08:47] HPI Lori that can be present with you know eczema or acne or things like that until we do

[00:08:53] the support for the gut immune system and we start like healing up that gut barrier and we start

[00:08:58] nourishing the bacteria like there's a very specific order of operations that we must do

[00:09:04] in order to really get the results that we're looking for as opposed to just kind of like

[00:09:11] getting overexcited about the potential for a parasite being like the biggest bully of all because

[00:09:19] that's you know what everyone's talking about these days but there's so much more nuances to it

[00:09:23] and yes there might be an infection like wrapped up in that dynamic of that low immune system you know

[00:09:28] was it there to begin with or did it come in because of the low immune system but to just really

[00:09:33] think about like most often we just need more like support and more nourishment and more like

[00:09:40] gentle like TLC is the best way to say it and the foundations fall into that you know and again

[00:09:46] like in the unsexy of unsexy answers that you're going to get from us always there's a lot of like

[00:09:51] very once we understand exactly what's going on from testing then it's like a yellow brick road

[00:09:56] to be able to slow and steady take us to the result that we want and that's why

[00:10:01] testing is like the most helpful when you feel like I'm doing all the things from foundations that

[00:10:06] you know we've talked about and it's kind of like I'm still running up against these frustrating

[00:10:10] symptoms like what you know what to do next that's where testing's the best. Completely agree

[00:10:15] and to just kind of build on what you're saying a little bit Abby without going like too far off

[00:10:20] on a tangent here if maybe you're someone that has had gut testing done and you know there are you

[00:10:27] know parasites or pathogens or you know overgrowth things identified what Abby's describing here is

[00:10:32] still incredibly relevant in that one oftentimes when we really bolster and support and you know rebuild

[00:10:39] that healthy gut ecosystem really nourish the gut you know build up you know the immune defenses

[00:10:44] that often can actually negate the need for you know more aggressive protocols in terms of antimicrobials

[00:10:50] and things like that and that's where we always have to ask the question and this is like a little

[00:10:54] tidbit for anyone that you know might be working with a functional practitioner and feels like

[00:10:58] man I'm just continually trying to eradicate the same things over and over or I'm not you know

[00:11:02] not seeing results we have to ask ourselves the question why what set the stage for the overgrowth

[00:11:09] what set this the stage for the parasite to make a home and that often boils down to the fundamentals

[00:11:14] of eating you know eating hygiene in appropriate digestion nervous system support circadian rhythms

[00:11:21] you know blood sugar balance you know fiber diversity all those pieces so you're kind of

[00:11:28] friendly reminder not to overlook those things but there are cases and it sounds like this

[00:11:32] individual who had submitted the question where they are doing all the things and we need to kind

[00:11:37] of understand what needs more love what really needs targeted support at at this point in time

[00:11:44] it's funny my like last piece on this too is I in the back of my brain I was literally having

[00:11:49] that same like thought of like I was having a conversation with someone actually in a retail store

[00:11:54] the other day I was like shopping and like kind I knew this shop owner I was kind of like

[00:11:58] overhearing their conversation talking about this like very intense protocol that she got put on by

[00:12:03] another functional dietitian and I was like trying not to interject and then the store the woman

[00:12:07] who owned it noticed me and was like wait this is what you do right I was like yes do you want

[00:12:11] to hear my thoughts like and I was like that's a really big protocol that you're on and it sounds

[00:12:18] like you've been on a for a long time and it sounds like you're gotten a little bit better but not

[00:12:21] a lot better and then like kind of just even bringing up like you know hearing a little bit more

[00:12:25] about her she's got a crazy travel schedule I'm like what about circadian rhythm is anyone

[00:12:28] talked to you about this like nope and I'm like what about like minerals and support for like the

[00:12:32] stress of the travel and all of these things and just a lot of like low hanging fruit that seem

[00:12:39] to be not being addressed and the only solution was like we're gonna keep treating it it was Candida

[00:12:44] and I'm like Candida's that's not a root cause most of the time that's like an opportunist who's

[00:12:50] there because there's other holes that aren't being met and it was like you know very much like

[00:12:54] eyes wide of you know this woman that was like I feel like I'm being beaten down by this I was

[00:12:59] like cuz you cuz you might be and there's so many instances in july and I talk about this all

[00:13:03] the time I feel like the longer we practice the less like treating of bacteria and overgrowth and

[00:13:11] parasites and things that we do because we can see that like with all of like the eating hygiene

[00:13:17] and with the environment support and with the minerals and with the like deep nutrition and all

[00:13:22] of that like a lot of those things just like clear on their own and we just let the body do what

[00:13:28] the body's amazing at because our body loves to heal so big soap box there but I think important is

[00:13:35] yeah yeah like very important and only becomes more relevant the more I think like this space is

[00:13:42] filling with like excited new practitioners who learn cool stuff and relevant stuff but like not

[00:13:49] always necessary to take it to like the biggest baddest protocol you've ever seen in your entire

[00:13:56] life like we really just need like consistency and time and like deep practice of the foundations

[00:14:01] and then like some real specificity in there to the individual and like sometimes we've got ourselves

[00:14:06] like the most beautiful slow and steady kind of improvement of symptoms and on all the things

[00:14:12] we're looking for it just and it's way better that way for everyone 100 percent yeah

[00:14:21] so I feel like jumping into the question to realize we got a question on how to

[00:14:26] realign your gut after antibiotics I feel like this is a nice interlude into that because we kind

[00:14:32] of hit on some of the points and I think anytime after antibiotics we want to think about being

[00:14:38] kind of like gentle on the gut sometimes antibiotics are very disruptive to the gut environment from

[00:14:44] like can certainly trigger like loose tools and some individuals or just like sensitivity in the

[00:14:48] gut and as Julie said you know antibiotics aren't just killing off any opportunistic bacteria or

[00:14:53] fungal or things like that but they also can disrupt and reduce our beneficial bacteria so

[00:14:58] the greatest focus in a post antibiotic kind of protocol is to like nourish your beneficial bacteria

[00:15:06] and to support your gut barrier so that's going to create that environment where our beneficial

[00:15:10] bacteria are essentially allowed to like nourish and thrive so I really like to start off with just

[00:15:16] emphasizing cooked foods versus raw foods so we want to kind of make an easier time of digestion

[00:15:22] and the kind of process of the gut because it just had a little bit of a disruption to it so

[00:15:27] cooked foods versus raw foods if you're looking for raw foods like smoothies or juices would be

[00:15:33] great ways to bring those in and almost like this is a weird way to describe it like a pre-digested

[00:15:38] way that we've helped to kind of outsource chewing so we want to kind of really think about that

[00:15:43] eating hygiene so that we are actually breaking down foods as effectively as possible so when they

[00:15:48] get to the lower gut they're actually in their like kind of most simplistic form and we're not

[00:15:55] creating like mal digestion we're not kind of feeding any opportunists in there we're not creating

[00:16:00] disruption we're not creating this we're allowing for the gut to be this acidic environment that we

[00:16:04] want it to be and for digestion to happen kind of optimally feeding our kind of beneficial bacteria

[00:16:11] we want to think about starchy plant foods so these are where are like potatoes and our sweet potatoes

[00:16:17] and our carrots and our beets our parsnips squashes the whole kind of family of like starchy

[00:16:23] whole foods in a cooked form really nice and gentle thinking about soluble fiber foods so these

[00:16:29] are going to be more of your gentle fibers not like those insoluble scratchy scales of the world

[00:16:35] but these are where things like chia seeds and ground flax seeds cooked veggies soaked beans those

[00:16:41] can be really helpful to feed those beneficials ramping up on our fermented foods we know that

[00:16:46] fibers and fermented foods are two of the best ways to feed our beneficial bacteria fermented foods

[00:16:53] so we can think of our sour crouts yogurt, kimchi's about like two tablespoons or two forkfuls a day

[00:17:00] about like two or three times a day if that feels good to kind of bring them in if it's you know

[00:17:03] start with two forkfuls see how it feels and maybe you slowly ramp up over a couple of days or a

[00:17:09] week if those are like new foods to you this is we're bringing in a probiotic can be helpful even

[00:17:15] taking antibiotics and bringing in a probiotic at the same time can help to certainly decrease the

[00:17:21] amount of disruptive digestive symptoms that some people can feel you do want to separate your

[00:17:27] probiotic from your antibiotic by at least like an hour or two so that we're not killing the

[00:17:32] probiotic with the antibiotic and then continuing to take that for a period of time after can be

[00:17:38] really helpful to just kind of support that microbiome but we definitely want to bring in those kind of like

[00:17:44] key foods and then really emphasizing foods that are going to help to rebuild and strengthen

[00:17:50] that gut barrier so our gut barrier we've got a cellular barrier and then we've got a kind of a

[00:17:56] mucus membrane and both of those are kind of two key foods we want protein foods and then we

[00:18:01] want foods that are rich in this musulage and so this kind of slippery supportive some great foods

[00:18:07] for that are bone broth this is you know kind of really talked about in the gut health world

[00:18:11] for a purpose so bone broth is great in those musulagements kind of gelatin like consistencies that

[00:18:18] like jigglyness on top of bone broth that's really helpful for that musulagements barrier and then

[00:18:22] we've got some great proteins in there to help to support that cellular barrier gelatin like gelatin

[00:18:28] gummies really easy to make and you can make them with some great like anti-inflammatory juices so

[00:18:33] bring your cranberry juice or tart cherry juice and we're getting some like kind of more nice just

[00:18:38] cooling there's any inflammation that got disrupted in the GI system this also are where like our

[00:18:43] chia and our flax seeds when you soak them in water you get that like gelatinous kind of gooey

[00:18:48] consistency it's a little bit of the healthy fats but also really going to help with that kind of

[00:18:53] musulagements barrier these are where we can bring in some like targeted supplement pieces to

[00:18:58] typically like gut powders that are rich in glutamine and musulagements herbs can be really helpful

[00:19:03] to help to kind of more strategically build that gut barrier we can use some functional fibers

[00:19:09] to like a cacia fiber or sun fiber are great ways to feed in a more targeted way your gut barrier

[00:19:15] just start nice and low and slow with those we'd still want to bring those in in addition to those

[00:19:20] kind of like food foundations anything that you would add to that laundry list of things no that

[00:19:26] was a great great comprehensive list i think the the one thing that jumps into my mind which is

[00:19:32] you know kind of covered or you know in some of these other categories but would be

[00:19:36] aloe vera juice just another you know kind of functional food that i love using with clients

[00:19:41] that's going to help to support that really beneficial mucus layer as well as it just contains

[00:19:46] you know enzymes minerals a lot of antsy inflammatory for you know supporting the gut lining and

[00:19:52] lowering intestinal inflammation and that's an easy one typically you know the recommendation is

[00:19:58] anywhere from like fourth of a cut fourth of a cup to half a cup once or twice a day on an empty

[00:20:03] stomach so kind of away from food gonna be best absorbed and kind of interact with the gut lining

[00:20:07] that way typically we recommend the outer leaf aloe vera juice has more of a laxative effect many

[00:20:14] people that take antibiotics often end up with some bowel movement wonkiness some looser stool so

[00:20:19] just making sure you're choosing the inner leaf aloe vera juice form and that can be really really

[00:20:24] supportive as well you know we are serious about high quality supplements and that includes probiotics

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[00:20:44] overall health every day probiotics are especially a great everyday tool during cold and flu season

[00:20:50] as our gut house about 80% of our immune system so it nourishes the gut nourishes our immune system

[00:20:56] make sure to use code ybh yb20 to enjoy 20% off the bio cult every day probiotic

[00:21:07] I love aloe vera the Georgia's aloe is my like personal favorite it also has like no flavor and no

[00:21:13] texture which is nice sometimes the flavor of some of those aloe vera's are like real rough to get down

[00:21:18] rice Georgia's aloe is like you can mix it with water and it doesn't taste any different but it's

[00:21:22] going to get you all that like nice anti inflammatory supportive the mucus membrane all that like good

[00:21:27] stuff that that july was talking about also helpful strategy for our burn to different conversation but

[00:21:33] nice little plug for aloe so our next question is is dim okay to take while pregnant to help metabolize

[00:21:43] estrogen so interestingly I have now received this exact question this is the third time I've

[00:21:50] gotten this question recently so for the person that submitted this we are curious

[00:21:57] is this coming from you know just sort of your own curiosity did you read something see something

[00:22:02] online just very interesting I had you know someone DM me this question and then I had someone

[00:22:08] submit it to the monthly q and a in our PCS group program so just curious if there's like

[00:22:14] something something out there that stimulating interest in dim in in pregnancy but

[00:22:20] to talk a little bit about you know our thoughts on dim in pregnancy I do want to give a little

[00:22:26] bit of background in terms of just what dim is why it might be used so that this this answer actually

[00:22:33] makes sense but dim or which stands for dye and dull methane is a popular ingredient that is added

[00:22:41] to supplements that helps to support estrogen detoxification dim is something that I think both

[00:22:48] Abby and I have used in appropriate cases in practice for years but I have noticed it pop up in

[00:22:55] supplements like hormone balancing supplements acne supplements more recently I feel like I've just

[00:23:00] been asked about it more and more in general seems to be everywhere now yes yes some very popular

[00:23:07] like acne supplements I think have stimulated that which is just very very interesting but to give you

[00:23:13] a little bit of background information on dim what it is why people are using it so dim comes from

[00:23:18] the cruciferous vegetable family and it is very very specific for supporting phase one detoxification

[00:23:25] in deliver the estrogens that we produce in the body have to go through a multi step detoxification

[00:23:34] process and the purpose of this process is to break down estrogens into byproducts or metabolites

[00:23:42] that are neutral or water soluble which is going to make it easier for your body to eliminate them

[00:23:48] safely so the estrogens we produce in the body the body has to break these down and eliminate them

[00:23:54] from the body safely in terms of detoxification as a whole if you want to do a deep dive on detoxification

[00:24:02] tune into season one to check out episode four of the podcast we cover detoxification and drainage

[00:24:09] extensively and talk about a lot of this in a lot of depth even you know outside of estrogen and

[00:24:15] hormones so definitely check that out but in order for me to answer this question fully I do want to

[00:24:22] give you just like a little bit of a background here in terms of what's happening with estrogen detox

[00:24:28] so we have like three phases of general detoxification phase one and phase two detoxification take place

[00:24:35] in the liver and phase three detoxification is essentially going to be the elimination phase where

[00:24:42] we're eliminating toxins and waste products from the body predominantly via stool with phase one

[00:24:48] estrogen detox your estrogens are going through something called hydroxylation which means

[00:24:56] enzymes are going to direct your estrogens when I say estrogens remember we don't have one type we

[00:25:01] have multiple types of estrogens so the estrogens that we produce different enzymes are going to

[00:25:06] direct these estrogens down three different pathways in the liver that lead to the formation

[00:25:12] of three different estrogen metabolites or byproducts not all of these metabolites and not all

[00:25:19] of these pathways are considered good or healthy some pathways and some metabolites are going to be

[00:25:27] more preferred and safer while other metabolites and pathways have the potential to be more harmful

[00:25:35] or to be more problematic so these metabolites then enter phase two detoxification in the liver

[00:25:43] known as methylation or conjugation this is where the metabolites that I just mentioned from phase one

[00:25:50] are essentially going to get neutralized and packaged up so we can eliminate them safely via stool

[00:25:56] and then phase three estrogen detox is where we're going to you know eliminate these estrogen

[00:26:02] waste products that got all packaged up and you know broken down and packaged up nicely you know

[00:26:07] via bowel movements so to get back to dim specifically in what it does dim is essentially going

[00:26:14] to up-regulate specific enzymes that influence phase one estrogen metabolism so dim is going to

[00:26:23] direct estrogen down the healthier more preferred pathway and away from some of those pathways

[00:26:29] that I mentioned that can be more problematic or are associated with more estrogenic symptoms unpleasant

[00:26:36] symptoms that sounds pretty great right we can take supplement we're gonna you know promote healthy

[00:26:40] estrogen metabolism but what people are often overlooking here is that in order for detoxification to

[00:26:47] happen properly and safely and before introducing any supplements anything really that has the ability to

[00:26:54] like up-regulate or alter how these detoxification pathways are working we need to make sure that every

[00:27:01] phase phase one phase two phase three of detoxification all of these things have to be

[00:27:06] functioning and operating really well and this is where we like to think about Dr. Keri Jones

[00:27:13] and the estrogen detox analogy that she is famous for forgiving so what I want you to do is think

[00:27:21] about estrogen detox like a cloth that back the phase one is going to represent water filling up

[00:27:28] the tub is the right water filling up the tub how fast or how slow is you know water filling up in

[00:27:35] the tub that's phase one phase two represents the drain in the tub so is the drain open is the drain

[00:27:42] closed is the drain clogged phase three represents the sewer line and you know the sewer line out of

[00:27:50] you know where the water goes through the drain enters the sewer and I don't know where it goes from

[00:27:54] there but toilet so is the sewer line you know functioning properly or is there an issue as there

[00:28:03] some type of dysfunction here if you start supplementing with dim you are essentially cranking up

[00:28:10] the faucet on the bathtub you are increasing you know the amount of water going into that bathtub

[00:28:17] if the drain in the bathtub is clogged or there's dysfunction in the sewer line the bathtub is going

[00:28:24] to overflow and that is clearly not a good thing right so supplementing with dim without making

[00:28:31] sure that phase two and phase three are working properly has the potential to actually do much more

[00:28:37] harm than good and to create more symptoms for people so if we have that massive clog in the

[00:28:44] drain where sluggish methylators you know pore phase two detox we start taking dim you know we could

[00:28:50] start to experience a lot of unpleasant estrogen estrogenic symptoms that could be you know

[00:28:54] more breast pain and tenderness heavier periods you know more skin issues mood related issues

[00:28:59] it could contribute to all sorts of kind of you know high estrogen symptoms related to the fact that

[00:29:07] we're like creating a bigger bigger back log and more overflow with the bathtub so we love you using

[00:29:14] dim again I'm like probably scaring you now here we love using dim in the right cases in the right

[00:29:19] cases when you've supported you know you really want to work backwards with detoxification so when

[00:29:24] you've supported phase three you've supported phase two these things are working optimally in the

[00:29:29] right right appropriate case dim can be fabulous alongside nutrition and lifestyle strategies for

[00:29:35] really moving the needle with these internal dynamics driving symptoms for women and we do use it

[00:29:40] you know frequently but we would never ever ever supplement with dim without having de-plormone

[00:29:46] data via Dutch testing to confirm that it was appropriate Dutch testing we've mentioned before

[00:29:52] it's you know our preferred method of hormone testing in both of our practices because it actually

[00:29:57] gives us the ability to assess not only hormone production but hormone metabolism you know and

[00:30:02] to look at various types of estrogen and how they're kind of moving through the detoxification process

[00:30:08] so really we would never use dim outside of that and you know because dim also has the ability

[00:30:15] to alter overall estrogen levels and estrogen metabolism so so another case where we would not use

[00:30:22] dim if someone has low estrogen levels or maybe even you know low normal dim really it has the

[00:30:28] ability to lower total circulating estrogen so you know that again could create more more problems

[00:30:33] for someone if they're actually not producing enough estrogen so because of the fact that dim has

[00:30:39] the ability to alter total estrogen levels it also has the ability to significantly alter estrogen

[00:30:44] metabolism you know I would definitely not recommend using it in pregnancy and outside of that

[00:30:49] would not recommend using it blindly without you know the guidance of a practitioner that's you know

[00:30:54] has has data to you know kind of make that recommendation specifically will I say so you know

[00:31:01] ultimately I really can't think of a reason that I would feel comfortable and confident using dim

[00:31:10] with a client that was pregnant pregnant if a client that was pregnant had some significant

[00:31:15] estrogen clearance issues I would probably double down on the strategies for supporting healthier

[00:31:23] estrogen metabolism that I felt confident were absolutely safe in pregnancy so like using a lot of

[00:31:29] therapeutic food interventions there's so many ways that we can move the needle with phase one

[00:31:34] phase two phase three via nutrition and lifestyle so that would be my emphasis you know certainly

[00:31:41] if someone has another opinion out there in those cases where they feel it's warranted like I'm open

[00:31:46] to a discussion but I've never used it in pregnancy with a client and I don't feel it would be

[00:31:52] appropriate or warranted and I think this is another just big example of that like there's an order

[00:31:59] of operations that has to be followed in order to like get the results that we're looking for and

[00:32:06] in this like endless era of information that you know all people are getting access to who aren't

[00:32:13] you know providers who have spent like 10 15 years like studying you know all of these pieces

[00:32:19] and it's like oh my gosh dim this sounds so great like it sounds like it's literally the solution

[00:32:22] to like all of my prayers because like I sound like I have estrogen issues let me put myself on this

[00:32:28] to take care of my skin or my breast tenderness or my you know estrogen dominance that I just

[00:32:32] read about from an article and like these are pretty powerful supplements and they can make a lot more

[00:32:41] disruption than you know good when taken out of order when taken you know for the wrong

[00:32:50] situation and this is again where we come back to like testing to be like the ultimate way

[00:32:57] for us to use these like pretty high powered supplements it's like food is kind of our first

[00:33:02] intervention and that's where we talk on the podcast so much about because it's like everyone can

[00:33:06] use that very comfy very safe very effective too when you know wealded in like those therapeutic

[00:33:13] levels and everything that we've talked about especially in those functional food episodes in our

[00:33:16] kind of season one like definitely tune back for those but when it comes to supplements like we want

[00:33:21] to know what we're doing why we're doing it and when we need to do it because in those cases too

[00:33:26] like if someone's you know in pregnancy and they're just like really constipated and then they start

[00:33:31] to struggle with maybe like more estrogen you know dominant symptoms it's like oh well we got to get

[00:33:36] you go into the bathroom because maybe that's where things are coming from because you're not

[00:33:40] actually taking the trash all the way out into the toilet and it's kind of like oh maybe if we get

[00:33:44] that phase three of detox moving then everything else is going to start to like clear out and we're

[00:33:49] you know looking at a whole different thing but it's like to jilly's point if you start filling up

[00:33:52] the bathtub from the top and that poor person still constipated you're gonna create a whole host of

[00:33:58] issues that that probably didn't even exist in the first place when we're just like now taking

[00:34:02] these very therapeutic supplements that are kind of like kinking up the the processes so you

[00:34:08] know there is a very specific order of operations that um that we always want to abide by

[00:34:14] yeah absolutely and it's hard as a consumer I just want to empathize with that because there are

[00:34:20] so many supplements out there and a lot of information and misinformation again a lot of popular

[00:34:26] like acne contain you know acne targeted hormone balancing supplements we've seen that contain

[00:34:31] dim and it's you know again it's for for the right individual these things can be great but for

[00:34:36] the wrong individual can definitely do more harm than good so always just want to make sure you

[00:34:40] really understand what you're taking if you are not familiar with something ask your provider

[00:34:46] you know really just make sure you feel like confident in what you're taking and why and that

[00:34:50] it's actually appropriate for you all right so we got a question on how can someone prevent

[00:34:58] a recurrence of candida so candida is an opportunistic kind of fungal overgrowth in the body now

[00:35:07] what we want to remember is candida is pretty much always present in every person's body

[00:35:14] and when it's overgrown we then want to think about you know what is actually allowing for this

[00:35:22] overgrowth to occur because both Jillian I feel very confident with saying like candida on

[00:35:29] its own is not a root cause so we can certainly experience overgrowth of candida and into

[00:35:36] that experience symptoms that like fungal burden symptoms that kind of come along with that but

[00:35:42] there is a deeper reason for why that overgrowth is happening and that's what we want to be kind

[00:35:47] of supporting to clear the candida overgrowth and that's something that the body will help to

[00:35:52] naturally do when we kind of again put the right pieces in the right order at the right time and all

[00:35:57] that good stuff but that's the same kind of fundamentals that we want to be practicing if we've

[00:36:02] experienced candida overgrowth and we want to kind of help to prevent it so when you know definitely

[00:36:08] when someone kind of comes into into our practice and they're like oh yeah well I worked with someone

[00:36:12] because I had like massive candida overgrowth and we just like killed all the fungus it's kind of like

[00:36:16] oh there are some big foundations that we probably didn't have in place and that's what we want

[00:36:21] to be focusing on so when we think about kind of preventing recurrence we want to be thinking about

[00:36:26] the steps for optimal digestion we want to be thinking about the steps for really helping to

[00:36:31] nourish a healthy microbiome so our balance and that kind of robust microbiome is typically what helps

[00:36:38] to strengthen the immune system to strengthen the gut to keep any overgrowth of these opportunistic

[00:36:44] fungal kind of at bay I always like to say like the saying like when the cats away the mice will play

[00:36:49] like that's what candida that's how candida kind of thrives in the body it's like oh like the

[00:36:53] immune systems weekend or the beneficial bacteria aren't there like it's my time I'm gonna come out

[00:36:57] and then as we get like a toe fungus when there's someone who has like an autoimmune dynamic or you

[00:37:02] know because the there's distractions and overwhelms like in the body and we want to be thinking about a

[00:37:07] nice like strong immune system from those key immune nutrients and all of that are really deep

[00:37:13] practices through like consistent foundations so starting with eating hygiene so we want to think

[00:37:20] about you know really preventing mal digestion in the gut so starting with chewing your foods

[00:37:26] that is our you know number one only way to break down physical foods into the smaller building blocks

[00:37:32] as they go lower down in the gut and if we miss that step what we lead to is larger undigested food

[00:37:39] particles going down lower into the gut causing kind of immune challenges causing mal digestion feeding

[00:37:45] some of these opportune tunis and creating disruption to the pH of the gut we can also experience

[00:37:52] you know we want to kind of eat in a like non-distracted environment so that we're allowing the brain

[00:37:58] to really kick off that digestive process so that can look like three deep breaths before meals that

[00:38:03] can look like turning off computers and phones and kind of visual distractions sitting down so that

[00:38:10] we're not physically moving around looking at our foods smelling our food cooking our food is part

[00:38:16] of that process so we're starting to get the actual digestive secretions our saliva or stomach acid

[00:38:21] or bile our digestive enzymes all of those are key parts of not only what help to break down the

[00:38:27] physical structures of foods that we get them into those smaller building blocks but they also create

[00:38:33] the acidity in the lower GI system that's going to prevent the kind of growth of fungal which

[00:38:40] typically are growing at a kind of more basic pH so the gut actually really thrives in an acidic

[00:38:46] environment and all the acid people out there we want an acidic gut starting with a very acidic

[00:38:53] stomach so all of that is really kind of like how we eat and that's why something that we stress

[00:38:59] often in terms of the environment of the gut the eating hygiene so thinking too of keeping

[00:39:08] blood sugar stable so so many of those foundations that we talked in kind of episode one about

[00:39:13] blood sugar so that we're really keeping kind of the inflammation stress roller coaster at bay

[00:39:18] so we're not creating elevated blood sugars that then can disrupt lots of different dynamics in

[00:39:25] the body including microbiome dynamics and kind of fungal does feed off of more elevations in

[00:39:32] kind of carbohydrates simple carbohydrate sugars and things like that but it's not about starving

[00:39:37] those microbes it's more about keeping that kind of consistency and balance and working with

[00:39:42] the body through those foundations but blood sugar is definitely something we want to be thinking about

[00:39:46] feeding the gut microbiome as we talked about in the kind of antibiotics question so all of those

[00:39:50] kind of soluble fiber foods those starchic carbohydrates we want to nourish those those

[00:39:54] beneficials I won't go back through that list again thinking about kind of key immune nutrients too

[00:40:00] part of that is are we actually digesting absorbing those key a lot of those are fat soluble

[00:40:05] nutrients so we're thinking about our kind of detoxification pathways in our bile production

[00:40:10] and then are those kind of working so bitter foods can help to kind of move those pathways get kind

[00:40:16] of bile flowing and help us to actually digest and absorb those fat soluble nutrients and are

[00:40:22] those fat soluble nutrients actually present in our diet so we want to be kind of emphasizing

[00:40:27] those fat soluble nutrients are vitamins A D E and K we can get them through kind of animal

[00:40:32] products certainly beef liver is a great source of those we can even take that in a supplemental

[00:40:36] form if we're not down for the eating of the liver cold water fatty fish pastures dairy products whole

[00:40:42] eggs we're going to be getting a lot of those kind of more immune nutrient rich foods also I think

[00:40:49] a lot about kind of mineral support to keep the any kind of stress dynamics that can be kind of

[00:40:55] driving of this low immune system so those are emphasizing our kind of potassium our sodium our

[00:41:00] magnesium we can get those through key foods so mineral rich foods a lot of those mineral rich foods

[00:41:07] are a lot of the kind of animal proteins are going to be mineral rich dairy products are mineral

[00:41:13] things like our cold water fish things like shrimp and oysters will come back to our starchy

[00:41:20] carbs there too so our starchy plants are great potassium sources lots of fruits and vegetables

[00:41:25] are great potassium sources so really emphasizing those as key foods we like to use some of mineral

[00:41:31] beverages too so adrenal cocktails that are kind of the partnering of potassium and sodium

[00:41:35] typically with a vitamin C source in there can be a great way to get some extra boost in there so

[00:41:40] all of those are really helping to support the very foundations of kind of our optimal digestion

[00:41:47] and the creating of those digestive secretions beneficial bacteria and kind of our key immune nutrients

[00:41:52] and the way the digestive system helps us to actually digest and absorb those key immune nutrients

[00:41:57] so it really comes back to those kind of big rock foundations but those are some of the more like

[00:42:03] detailed reasons for why we would be emphasizing those

[00:42:11] when it comes to supporting gut health in hormones balancing blood sugar is step number one

[00:42:16] the foundations for supporting blood sugar balance that we discuss extensively on the podcast

[00:42:21] are an amazing place to start but everyone is unique and really responds differently to nutrition

[00:42:26] and lifestyle changes to get a clear sense of what's going on with your blood sugar

[00:42:30] and for understanding your unique response to nutrition lifestyle strategies we really love

[00:42:35] using varies continuous glucose monitor very pairs a CGM with an easy to use app that gives you the

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[00:43:12] anything we would add to that no I think it was a great list and yeah ultimately I think it's

[00:43:19] you know again it kind of determining the why here determining you know why why are we experiencing

[00:43:25] overgrowth you know Candida is a pathobiontid is not normally problematic in a healthy gut environment

[00:43:31] so what's going on in the gut environment and I think you hit on like all the really big ones

[00:43:36] did you mention you know kind of stress outlets in general that was the one thing

[00:43:40] I would maybe add just in terms of nervous system support which I think is an ongoing you know

[00:43:45] challenge for most of us or an ongoing practice to kind of continue working on

[00:43:50] ultimately you know if we're operating in a state of chronic fighter flight that's going to be

[00:43:56] suppressive to the immune system in a big way and Abby touched on kind of the importance of

[00:44:01] you know healthy robust immune function in relation to you know Candida also in terms of

[00:44:08] you know supporting gut acidity you know definitely if we're operating in a state of chronic

[00:44:13] fighter flight that's going to impact you know digestion in a variety of ways in terms of

[00:44:18] you know blood flow but it's definitely going to suppress digestive secretions like stomach acid

[00:44:23] so you know no one's no one's perfect here but you know definitely just something to always have

[00:44:28] on the the radar as another foundation the one other thing that kind of came to mind for me was

[00:44:34] an estrogen and just like the relationship between Candida and estrogen and you know how they can

[00:44:40] really you know encourage you know high estrogen can you know drive elevations with Candida and

[00:44:45] vice versa this can be relevant for women on estrogen containing birth control pills as well as

[00:44:51] for women that have some actual true issues with estrogen and you know maybe excess estrogen

[00:44:56] production or issues with estrogen you know detoxification and you know that's kind of a whole

[00:45:03] other topic to get into but something like outward you could consider in terms of something overtly

[00:45:09] maybe contributing to excess estrogen would be like your endocrine disruptors in terms of you know

[00:45:14] plastics and toxins and chemicals in the environment you know if there's a high estrogen load

[00:45:20] possibly you know driving some issues with Candida as well or amplifying issues rather yeah

[00:45:25] and I think actually on that point even to chat on like someone that's experienced like more

[00:45:29] like chronic recurrence of Candida and things like that thinking of like is there a like fungal

[00:45:35] exposure from an environment that is kind of persistent in so this would be like mold from an

[00:45:41] environment so it's kind of like you're you're doing all these things that you're saying you're like

[00:45:44] no I'm doing that I'm doing that I'm doing that too like these are all things I'm you know focused on

[00:45:48] or aware of so practicing the foundations yet finding yourself in these in these dynamics kind of

[00:45:54] repetitively thinking of like these the deeper pieces so yet that kind of estrogen piece

[00:45:59] am I living in you know a water damaged home is there some mold exposure and where I'm living or

[00:46:03] working or spending time that might be kind of exposing me to kind of be colonized by some of these

[00:46:10] kind of fungal Candida like species and triggering you know some of more of these like fungal like

[00:46:15] symptoms so that's where you know typically once we start to practice the foundations

[00:46:20] and we find we're kind of hitting our heads against like a glass ceiling of I can't get over

[00:46:25] these symptoms or I can only get so far then this is again where we start to go a little bit deeper

[00:46:30] and we would want to look to you know maybe deeper hormone testing deeper fungal testing deeper gut

[00:46:35] testing to say like is there some of this this going on and then we can hope to get kind of the

[00:46:41] root of that because we ideally shouldn't be kind of experiencing chronic recurrence of Candida

[00:46:48] just because you're like you're prone to Candida it's like no there's something there's

[00:46:52] something going on that can be you know unearthed and we can kind of get you out of this this chronic

[00:46:58] recurrence and that goes for anything like chronic recurrence of SIBO chronic recurrence of Candida

[00:47:02] chronic recurrence of like any type of symptom it's really under like helping to get support to to

[00:47:08] work with someone to say like what's the driving piece for you uniquely and that investment is so

[00:47:14] worth it because then it gets you out of this the knowledge in your own body and the knowledge of

[00:47:18] how to support yourself kind of gets you out of that consistent dynamic and some of the fear that

[00:47:23] can come along with that if like I never know from doing the right thing because then we you know

[00:47:27] we get to understand and educate you on your unique body all right we have time for a couple more

[00:47:32] questions here next up someone asked can acid reflux be linked to your menstrual cycle this individual

[00:47:39] says I swear I get it the same few days every month I love love love that you are paying attention

[00:47:44] to this and this is definitely not not you know something that you are making up or something that's

[00:47:49] all in your head the premise of this podcast we must point out is based on gut and hormones together

[00:47:56] the gut hormone connection you cannot look at the gut without looking at the hormones and vice versa

[00:48:02] and this is kind of like a side note for anyone if you experience particularly for women I will say

[00:48:07] if you experience digestive symptoms pay attention to the patterns not just day to day but throughout

[00:48:13] the entire cycle this is one of the most important things that we are doing in an initial assessment

[00:48:19] and on an ongoing basis with our clients and it is amazing how many gut symptoms are often

[00:48:26] tied to the menstrual cycle in terms of big flares or amplification with you know digestive

[00:48:32] symptoms at certain parts in the cycle and that can just give us so much information about what

[00:48:38] what might be going on internally so this is just a great thing that you picked up on

[00:48:43] and in terms of what you know is likely happening here specifically and there are some other

[00:48:50] things that could be going on I will mention but the most sort of like overt obvious you know

[00:48:54] thing going on here is you know kind of what's happening with estrogen and progesterone I would

[00:48:59] imagine and feel free to let us know if you know I'm off here but I would imagine you're probably

[00:49:04] experiencing the acid reflux sometime in your luteal phase so sometime during that time period after

[00:49:12] ovulation and before you get your period oftentimes women are more symptomatic during this time in

[00:49:17] their cycle based on what is going on hormonally there's more inflammation in the body higher hormone

[00:49:22] burden you know bigger burden on detoxification you know we're more more immunosuppressed

[00:49:28] but in general in the luteal phase this is where we're producing large amounts of the hormone

[00:49:34] progesterone which is going to relax smooth muscle including relaxing the lower esophageal

[00:49:42] sphincter which can be a driver of you know gird and acid reflux increases in estrogen

[00:49:48] also increase nitric oxide synthesis which induces smooth muscle relaxation throughout the digestive

[00:49:56] track but specifically in the esophagus and you know with the lower esophageal sphincter as well

[00:50:02] so in the luteal phase there are points where both estrogen and progesterone are really ramped up

[00:50:08] so I wouldn't be surprised if we were experiencing you know girder acid reflux at this time again let

[00:50:14] let us know if you're experiencing it at a different time in your cycle and I would love to

[00:50:19] troubleshoot that there's like nothing that brings me more joy than troubleshooting like cyclical

[00:50:23] symptoms and figuring out what's going on hormonally but this also speaks to kind of what a lot of

[00:50:28] women experience in pregnancy with overall hormone production with both estrogen and progesterone

[00:50:33] like really ramping up and being super high in the relaxation of this mood muscle in the lower esophageal

[00:50:38] sphincter yeah I've definitely had clients with that like cyclical kind of experience of heartburn

[00:50:45] and there there is another side to it all right so our last question here how to support adrenals

[00:50:51] through nutrition so we want to be thinking about really consistency in our supportive practices

[00:50:59] and those are supportive certainly through nutrition but certainly through the way that we are

[00:51:04] supporting our body so we want to think about kind of our lifestyle as a big part of that too so

[00:51:09] not only just what we're eating but you know how we're eating it and how we're kind of moving through

[00:51:14] our day because that's going to have a lot to do with the as we're you know support not only

[00:51:21] aiming to maintain healthy adrenals but if you're working from a maybe a kind of a burnout or

[00:51:27] like a low adrenal output low cortisol production something maybe you have more just a feeling of

[00:51:33] from a symptom experience or you have some more data for maybe like a dutch test where you have

[00:51:37] actually cortisol information we want to really be thinking about like that kind of gentleness

[00:51:42] practices on the body and consistency in those so first big picture like consistent meal timing

[00:51:49] so we want to be kind of feeding the body around the same time every day avoiding like long

[00:51:54] spans of time so about every three to four hours we want to be kind of refueling with a robust meal

[00:52:00] so we actually have satiety for three to four hours we're not just like eating and then being

[00:52:04] like hungry for three to four hours and then being like I guess it's time to eat again so those

[00:52:08] consistent meal timings really eating within an hour or two of waking we want to ensure that we're

[00:52:13] eating enough to and that's not only enough calories enough protein but enough carbohydrates also

[00:52:20] so that's where you know sometimes doing some like food tracking not to see that like you're

[00:52:26] you know really just to to avoid under eating is kind of the practice of that maybe just a couple

[00:52:30] of days really don't need more than like five days just kind of get a gauge of like where are you

[00:52:34] where do you want to be helping to move to move through making sure that you're kind of

[00:52:39] getting in optimal amounts of foods so that we're not creating stress in the body from an

[00:52:44] under eating perspective because then we're going to see our stress organs certainly experiencing

[00:52:49] stress as a result of that emphasizing mineral rich food so we want to be supporting the minerals

[00:52:55] that are helping be kind of our adrenal organs and our stress organs and our kind of stress dynamic

[00:53:01] in the body and the nervous system to kind of function more optimally so again that's potassium

[00:53:06] sodium magnesium are going to kind of be the three biggies I would say so mineral rich foods

[00:53:12] where again we kind of went over that list but we're thinking you know animal protein foods we're

[00:53:16] thinking kind of foods from the oceans so we're going to get more shrimps and oysters and cold water

[00:53:22] fish we want to be thinking about starchy carbs we can do mineral beverages too like those adrenal

[00:53:28] cocktails emphasizing vitamin C rich foods so this could be our citrus category even things like

[00:53:33] cauliflower bell peppers are high in vitamin C so some surprising foods and maybe don't we don't

[00:53:39] commonly you know hear about as vitamin C rich foods really making sure that we're having

[00:53:44] consistency and weak cycles are going to be helpful because our kind of master hormones that cortisol

[00:53:50] is really helps to kind of govern our circadian rhythm in the body and so when we go to sleep and

[00:53:56] when we wake and light exposure are really key areas of communication to the body to help to strengthen

[00:54:03] the patterns of our kind of cortisol throughout the day that diurnal pattern so consistent sleep

[00:54:09] in awake cycles as much as we can and then really optimizing kind of morning light and protection from

[00:54:14] light at night so that we can kind of optimize our like melatonin so really a lot of those practices

[00:54:20] bringing in some nervous system support going again a lot of these foundations that we're kind of

[00:54:25] touching on I know I'm running through this list like pretty quick here are through our like season

[00:54:30] one those are you know re-listening to those really kind of even writing down like what are the ones

[00:54:36] that you're really kind of prioritizing what are some areas they're like oh okay wait actually I'm not

[00:54:41] I haven't been you know emphasizing these particular foods or these particular practices and just

[00:54:46] kind of looking as like a bird's eye view you know where are maybe some holes in my practices

[00:54:51] I find personally and with a lot of clients that building in like productive rest moments throughout

[00:54:57] the day be it three to five minutes of like deep breathing or meditation or if you've got a 15 to

[00:55:04] 30 minute window where you can actually like create stillness maybe lie down do an actual like kind

[00:55:11] like yoga needra which is kind of a guided meditation that helps to actually be a little even more

[00:55:16] restorative than like a nap those can be really helpful to just kind of allow your nervous system to

[00:55:21] take like a nice like big breath during the day and instead of living in this kind of go go go

[00:55:26] so really practicing some of those purposeful rest moments I like to call them productive rest moments

[00:55:33] so I think you you covered all the big things from nutrition perspective with supporting the

[00:55:39] like adrenals and lowering stress I think my big rocks would be consistent eating you know number

[00:55:45] number one way eating enough eating consistently truly the number one way to reduce stress on the

[00:55:50] body a lot of other strategies aren't going to do much if we're under eating or you know um

[00:55:55] eating and meal frequency is erratic so I think if you're in like a real stressful period of time

[00:56:00] and you're like oh my gosh you know the adrenals are taxed um even just like starting there can produce

[00:56:05] a lot of safety in the body and then you know love all of the other you know recommendations and ideas

[00:56:10] that you mentioned as well yeah I think this is definitely a topic that is talked about a lot on

[00:56:17] like social media now and there's a lot of like here's the herbs that'll do it here's the

[00:56:21] adaptogens that'll help to do it here's like all of these pieces that can be really supportive but

[00:56:27] they are not going to actually carry you to you know really helping to get from a low cortisol

[00:56:35] place to an optimal cortisol place or wherever your adrenals are without these big rock foundations

[00:56:40] and that is you know we can't out supplement a lack of kind of the lifestyle and nutrition pieces

[00:56:46] particularly for the adrenals and the adrenals are you know powerful enough to kind of throw

[00:56:49] everything off in the body so those are very much um to just to you know jilly's point kind of

[00:56:54] what we're talking about of like those are the things that we want to be focusing on and that's

[00:56:59] kind of you know the big picture of everything supplements are when they're wielded well they can

[00:57:04] be really helpful but they're not going to take us to the finish line if we're not doing the big

[00:57:08] rock foundation so we hope that's what you garnered from our ask us anything that's always our point

[00:57:15] we hope that these were helpful kind of nuggets of wisdom some soap boxes that we stood on but you

[00:57:22] know always for a purpose um and really just to remind all of you that like the foundations are so

[00:57:28] powerful and we're just trying to slowly but surely make them sexy again slowly slowly but surely

[00:57:35] and that's officially a wrap on season three we hope this was helpful like Abby mentioned

[00:57:42] definitely you know follow up with thoughts additional questions on instagram we always

[00:57:46] love to hear from you guys we will be taking a little break a little bit of a breather and doing some

[00:57:53] you know deep planning for the next season so definitely would love to stay in touch here how

[00:57:58] you guys are doing what questions are coming up and we will see you in season four

[00:58:12] thank you for listening to the your body has your back podcast if you enjoyed today's podcast

[00:58:16] episode please take a minute to leave us a five star review and make sure to share the podcast

[00:58:20] with a friend or family member that you think might benefit from listening make sure to follow

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[00:58:30] as you start to live out the your body has your back lifestyle we can't wait to see it if you're

[00:58:34] looking for more support on your gut and hormone healing journey connect with Abby and I over on

[00:58:39] Instagram you can follow Abby at above health and yet you can follow me Jillian at Jillian greaves Rd

[00:58:46] thank you and see you in the next episode