Optimize Your Gut Health with Dr. Deanna Elliott

You're listening to the PT Profit podcast, episode number 99. Today I'm sitting down with Dr. Deanna Elliott and we're talking all about how to optimize your gut health. Are you ready? Let's get started. Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance in movement package and their products and services and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast. What's up, coach? Thank you so much for pushing play on another episode of the PT Profit Podcast. I'm your host, Beverly Simpson, and if this is the first time you're hanging out with me today, thank you so much. So much. I'm so grateful that you're here and really excited to dive in to today's episode. Now, my team's probably laughing because they literally have been asking me for these intros for, oh my gosh, weeks now, probably at least four to five times. They're like, hey, can we get this intro, please? Can you give us the intro? And I'm laughing as I'm recording this because the reason why it's taken so long is because we are doubling down on the free training simple selling. So by the time I'm recording this, we have not started yet. We are preparing, we are planning, and honestly, I am getting so excited. By the time that you've heard this episode or by the time you are here, we have already done training one. And so if you haven't signed up for the training yet, please do so, because I'm willing to bet it is the most in depth free marketing training that is out there for health and wellness professionals. And I am so excited to just really get this training out to you for a lot of reasons. Number one is that I used to call myself the Rudy of Internet marketing. I had spent a lot of the marketing tactics, a lot of the, A lot of the skill and strategy that is required to start and grow a fitness business, or really any business, oftentimes is innate for a lot of people. Or they'll hear the training once and then just go and do it. Or they'll hear, they'll hear a couple of of points, or they'll hear a couple of tips and then just nail it out of the park. And that was not the case for me. I had to literally ask myself, what is it that they're doing that the successful people are doing and separates the people that are struggling. And so I really had to deconstruct the process of what was happening so that I could teach it to other people. And I'm so excited because we've nailed it. We've figured out the formula, which is hence why I call it PT Profit Formula. But we've nailed it down and I'm teaching it to you. So come join us inside of this training where you're going to get really in depth, sophisticated training that you're going to be able to use today to start growing your business. And in fact, today's guest is one of the PT Profit Formula members. And I'm so pumped to have you here and get to hear her expertise because what I've found in my experience is that the coaches that are the smartest, you, you are brilliant at what you do. And I hate it kills me that I see so many smart coaches struggling because chances are there is someone out there who is less qualified than you, making more money than you. And listen, hats off to them because that's just showing us what's possible for you. It's part of the reason why I'm so excited to bring simple selling to you. And so today's guest, Dr. Deanna Elliott, she is brilliant and she has a gift of helping people understand their own body. And we talk about that today inside of this podcast specifically for moms. So whether you are a mom or you work with moms, this is going to be a very powerful episode for you. She attained her doctorate degree in physical therapy from Western University of Health Sciences in 2011, received her Bachelor's degree in kinesiology at sonoma State in 2008. And it is so funny we did not talk about this. I actually went to Sonoma State. Oh my gosh, I love the universe. Okay, so Deanna has been utilizing a hands on approach to help clients heal since 2011. She worked in a variety of settings in physical therapy world both in Oregon and Wyoming, including neuro rehab, rehabilitation, acute care, skilled nursing home facilities, home health, orthopedics and school based programs. She started Centered Physical Therapy and wellness where physical therapy is integrated in a holistic manner to help heal the body at the root of its problem, which we, we go deep talking about it inside of this episode. This technique helps you repattern your nervous system and address pain globally in order to get down to the root cause of the issue. She also furthered her education in order to provide a functional medicine approach for her clients through a licensed program with the Institute for Functional Medicine. With this process, she has helped her clients identify and fine tune the issues with their gut. And she shares her story about how she got here inside of this episode, and I cannot wait to get it to you. So without further ado, let's go ahead and roll that interview. What's up, Deanna? I'm so excited to have you on the show today. How are you doing?

I'm doing good.

So today is going to be so awesome. I'm, like, kind of laughing because right before we hit record, we were both like, oh, my gosh, I'm nervous. And we have known each other for.

So long, so it makes me laugh. I am just calling it out so.

That we all can just be super excited and get comfortable. So for those of you who are listening and have not had the pleasure of meeting this incredible human, I would love for you to just share with us a little bit about who you are, who you serve, and how you got there. Yeah.

Well, thank you so much for having me on your podcast. I'm super excited. Yeah. So my name is Deanna Elliott. I'm a doctor of physical therapy, and I've been a physical therapist for close to 11 years now. About five years ago, actually going on six years ago, I kind of went a different direction and opened my own practice because I wanted to serve my clientele a little more wholeheartedly. Instead of, you know, you get a prescription for shoulder pain, I would just see the shoulder. I would always knew there was something else going on, so. And also, I was battling my own. My own body issues. So I was trying to treat my body kind of holistically, trying to figure out what that exactly meant. And then fast forward to today. I. I serve mostly women, women's health. I focus. I added another component of functional medicine to my practice, which is basically a fancy way to say lifestyle medicine. Everything matters, from what you eat to how you think to how you sleep, to how you breathe. That's one of my bigger passions. And I've optimized my body and my health habits through that kind of lens, and I'm just so obsessed with it that I want everyone to know all the things that I know. And I'm a lifelong learner, and I always am up for a challenge, to spread the knowledge and be around people to optimize their health. I focus primarily on the women's health only because women tend to make more of the decisions in the household, and they tend to be stretched a little further and put themselves last. And I. I was A victim of this for sure. But I've definitely modified myself over the last three, four years to make myself a priority. And my family has benefits, benefited from it. So I am just really passionate to combine kind of the body and the mind and the gut and all things women's health, because they are the most resourceful people in. On the planet.

I could not agree more.

As.

As a mom, you know, who is also running our own business, I totally can relate to that. So now I am curious because there, I just want to dive a little bit deeper into your. Into your story because you said that you were having some body stuff that was happening in your own body. So I'm curious, would you mind expanding on that? And is that ultimately what led you down this functional medicine path?

Yeah. What happened? Yeah. So I am a mom of three. My oldest, actually. First day of first grade today. All the feelings there. But it, like, with her, she was a. I. I'm not one of those people that loves pregnancy. I'm not one of those people that just, like, loves all the feelings. I had to literally give my body to another human. And that was mentally and physically challenging to me. And that's kind of when it all started.

I'm only laughing because I'm like, wait, are we the same? Because that's exactly how I felt. I was like, this is the worst thing ever.

I know, I know. And I was like, no way. I need to embrace this. But, you know, when you can no longer roll over in bed, when you can no longer have a normal poop, it gets frustrating. Or like, oh, hey, I can't enjoy my spicy Thai food because it upsets the baby. Like, I need to figure out what's going on. And I was always super active. So I'm a PT. PTs are known to be active, you know, and just go on all the adventures, go hiking, do all the heavy weightlifting, do the run. I've done marathons, CrossFit, I've done all the workouts you could possibly think of. After baby, it was like my body was crying for help, My joints hurt. I couldn't even pick her up and go for a normal hike because then. Because my. My pelvic floor felt like it was falling out. My hips just felt like I couldn't hold. I felt swollen, my skin was breaking out. All. All things that I thought was, you know, maybe like a teenage sensation with the acne and like, the. The poor. The poor choices with your diet. I. I was in the search of something, you know, something more. So as a pt, I Obviously went for the body stuff first. So that's where I found postural restoration. Most people on your podcast here know about that. So I dove in deep. I took my first class, and I was drinking the Kool Aid, got my body super. My body super good. But then I was still struggling with kind of the joint pains and the digestive stuff, and I was eating good food. Like, I eliminated a bunch of, you know, the pro inflammatory stuff, and I still couldn't figure out what was wrong. And it wasn't until Olivia. I actually remember this. I was nursing Olivia. I ended up taking, like, three months off, and my husband would always come home for lunch. And I said, I've been stalking this functional medicine PT for a really long time. And I booked a call with him, you know, like an onboarding call, to see what the course was like. And, you know, after talking to him, I had a great conversation. It was exactly what I wanted. He was talking about all of this, you know, all these testing, this DNA, this epigenetics, like it's a mentorship program. Like, I was like, this is what I need. I need some more information. Because I. I tried the doctor route, and they were like, oh, well, in. Until you, you know, actually have a diagnosis, I can't really help you. And I just thought that was a load of crap. So I, you know, this guy was really resonating with me, right? And I come home, and I'm like, my husband comes home, I'm nursing the baby, and he goes. He goes, what's up? I was like. So I did a thing, and he's like, okay. And I was like. So I bought this course, and it was. It was a pretty spendy course, but I was like, let me explain. And so I just told him all the things that it was going to help me with. Can I just tell you that has been. I think it's. I think I've gained at least 10 years of good, good years to my life. I was circling the drain. Not really, you know, like, I wasn't on a whole bunch of medications. I wasn't. I wasn't in and out of doctor's offices, but I couldn't do anything. Like, we would still go fishing, we would still go hiking. I couldn't do anything. My body was physically unhealthy for days after we went hiking. So I took this class, and it has literally opened my eyes to the fact that our body does have a natural ability to heal. But I needed more information. I didn't have all the information. So this is Where I got, you know, my stool test analyzed, I got my DNA analyzed. And not just like the 23andMe, but it, the genetics where it talks about it breaks it down to your nutrient deficiencies. Can you absorb vitamin D? Are you, what kind of exercise program are you prone to? Do you have an intolerance to caffeine or gluten? Or are you detoxing your estrogen out of your system or are you recycling it through your system? So I found out I was in a world of hurt at the level of my genetics. So once I started kind of systematically eliminating the toxins more so mental health and ridding the bacteria that I had inside of my body, my body started saying, okay, thank you. Like, oh, you're actually finally listening to me. And so it wasn't until three years, three and a half years ago that I really kind of made a hardcore deviation towards the functional medicine, lifestyle medicine portion of my on my journey. And today I can say honestly, so my third baby, easiest pregnancy, easiest birth, easiest recovery sometimes. Okay, so she's four months old. I, my old four month postpartum body. Oh my gosh. I was dreading the day of waking up. Like, you know, I hated all, all the things today. I'm like, okay, so I had a few different things that happened. My schedule and I'm, I'm, I'm just, you know, I'm better than I was before. There's no, there's no way that I could have been this resilient and this tolerant to my crazy lifestyle with three kids, a husband and my own practice and in a pandemic if I didn't do this. So I, three years ago, I would say is my main point of kind of when I, my made that deviation and I just uncovered things that I, I don't think that I would have ever found.

Oh my gosh. Okay, so can you dive into that? You don't have to dive in specifically about your story, but I'd love for you to expand about like, well, what were some of that, like, what are some of the biggest aha. Things that people really need to a pay attention to? Like, you mentioned a couple of the signs. I'd love for you to talk to us about the sign signs. And then also, you know what we should do.

Yes. Where do I start? I know it's a big question. It was a big question. Well, I like talking about the genetics only because that's something that I feel like people don't really know and it's almost like validation for them. You Know, and I don't necessarily like the phrase like, you know, it's not your fault, but it's really not your fault if you don't know. It's your fault if you don't want to know and you choose not to, like, uncover some other symptoms if you're still struggling. So with the genetics, I would say one of the bigger things is so I became a PT because I tore my ACL and I had the best experience with a physical therapist, right? And then I got back into playing basketball and volleyball. Like, that's what physical therapy is for, right? Get an injury, you recover and you go back to sport. I have a genetic dysfunction with my collagen. I have a high injury risk. When I tore my acl, I was menstruating, it was cold, we were running late, it was a winter practice and I tore my ACL going into another level of that. I have a problem with holding on to pregnancies, which is another reason I went down this road. So I've lost three in, in my life. So Olivia is my second born and she's my double rainbow. So I have Madison, miscarriage, miscarriage, Olivia, another miscarriage, Jordan. So come to find out, my genetics actually don't allow me to cycle through my, my estrogen through the 2OH pathway, which is the favorable pathway to get it out. And then I have problems with another genetic component called the comp gene. So it's like my liver doesn't know how to actually get it out. Meaning our body has the propensity to bring toxins in. Right. We either sweat them out, pee them out, or poop them out. So me being constipated, not cycling properly, not moving enough because my body hurt. I wasn't getting any toxins out of my body. I was only collecting them. So those pathways were essentially blocked. And then it just created this feed forward path, like poor cycle that just made things worse. I think that one was probably the bigger takeaway. One other thing is, you know, like the I just googled recommended dose for Vitamin D is 600. I use daily. Okay, cool. But how do you, how do you know if that's good enough for you? Come to find out, I don't absorb vitamin D very well. And so it's important for timing and the amount. And I actually did an experiment on this when I was pregnant where I. So I tested my vitamin D when I was eight weeks pregnant and then I just stayed on the thousand. I use daily for six weeks and my vitamin D level was like 86 micrograms and then after those six weeks, it dropped down to 45.

Oh, my gosh.

In six weeks. Yeah. And so then I. This is when I got my genetics back. And then I titrated it back up with, you know, a higher dose of vitamin D and K, and I timed it with food, and I bumped it back up within four weeks to where I needed to be in that 87 range. But it's just, you know, that's a blanket statement. So the other component of the genetic piece that I love is the genetic health. So it talks about, you know, are you absorbing vitamin D, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E? Are you sensitive to caffeine? Are you gluten intolerant? Most people can figure the food part out from experimenting. And, you know, elimination diets have been around for a while, and people can figure out, oh, like, hey, I'm sensitive to dairy. I'm gonna eliminate it. Oh, I had an ice cream cone. And then it's like, oh, my stomach hurts. Like, that's an easy kind of fix. But there's also ways to. We need to build your threshold to your nutrient deficiencies. So you. If you're nutrient deficient, that 1000ius of vitamin D, you're never gonna pay back your debt to your body. Right. You almost need to super dose so that you're actually at, quote, unquote, the recommended threshold. But you won't ever know that until you find out. And you test, and the testing is super easy. You just do a little cheek swab and throw it and put it in the mail. But it's so revealing because most people are doing the right things. They just may not be doing enough or too much of one thing versus the other. And to put it all together really takes all the information.

Okay, amazing.

So.

I'll tell you that when you first initially said, you know, get the genetics testing, my initial reaction was like, I don't want to know what's wrong with me. Like, just in the sense of, like, you know, is there a sense of meaning that Is there, You know, is there stuff that we should, you know, like, maybe it doesn't quite matter as much as some other things. You know what I mean? Like, does it all matter? Or is it gonna be like, I'm trying to think of an example, but it's not coming to me. It'll come to me, but, like, how important is here is knowing everything about your genetics?

Yeah. So it's funny that you say that, because right when I got it, I, like, it was in my inbox. For probably about like 10 days before I opened it, because I was like, I feel very vulner. This is all. This is all of my genetic makeup in one document. It's really like 500 pages, but still. So there are things that will. This is where it depends on what you want to do. Okay. So right now I have a client who I work with, and she's trying to get pregnant. Okay. So detoxing estrogen is a high priority. Right. You don't want to be recirculating estrogen while you're trying to conceive and hold onto a baby. That was my problem. That was my problem. I know how to help you with that. Vitamin D. Vitamin D is a hormone. Same thing, probably important. And you can actually. You don't even need to get the genetic testing done for that. You can just go through your pcp. You know, it also breaks down how much you should exercise, which I think is a huge thing. I am old. Deanna was a chronic over exerciser because. Right. You are overweight. Just had a baby. I want to fit into these jeans. I need to work out this much. Right. Is that true or are your inflammation markers genetically on all the time? So exercise is great, but too much exercise is not great and not enough exercise is not great. Right. So it's good to find that balance and the genetics will actually break down how much you actually need to do. So for me, I have to do 20 met hours a week, which really isn't that much. It's intentional. On to, you know, focused with weight resistance and quantifying MET hours, meaning, like you don't have to. It's not 24 hours a week. It's. And I know you have a lot of personal trainers here, so. Or just in general, I'll talk to you about it. But the met hours are, you know, you get an equivalent number for the number of mets. So for example, weight training is usually around like a 6 or an 8. And then if you do that for an hour. So you take your met hours score times the duration that you do it. So now you go eight times one is eight. Let's say you do it twice. So now you're up to 16 met hours. So right away you can work out for two hours with your weight resistance program and be almost. Or I can, because my genetics are 20 met hours. You can almost be to your 20 met hours required.

And trainers. Trainers will work out six hours. Six hours or six hours a week, maybe even more.

Exactly. Well, and not even. And I know I keep talking about trainers. But like moms, when are they ever taking a break or when are they ever intentionally, you know, doing a said workout? So that's where I like to really break down the why and the who. And I know your original question was, you know, is it important to get all these things done? I'm the short answer, yes. The long answer. It depends on what your lifestyle is. If you want to know, like, hey, I have a busy lifestyle with three kids. I now have to pick up Madison at a random time during the middle of the day. I still want to see clients. So like how many hours am I willing to give? Right? You know, I should, I go to the gym every morning at 6:00am you know, then you get into the whole skip sleep to exercise conversation.

Oh for sure.

But when you, when you break it down to 20 met hours, you know, it's like, oh, I can, I can do that. I can, you know, drop off the girls and I am just condensing my day now. I'm blocking, I drop off the girls, do my workout, get in my clients and I only have to do that 20 met hours a week.

Yeah, I say that all the time. You plan time to make time, right? Because at least when you know what you're doing, it's going, you're going to get more done, you'll get, you'll be more efficient in the same amount of time when you know what you're doing.

Exactly.

Now, something you said, you talked about, you know, keeping an eye open on for inflammatory markers. What are those.

Inflammatory markers? So there's a whole genetic component that talks about, so that, that's one of the breakdowns from the exercise component and the DNA health. So it gives you different snips of what your genetic variation is and if it's, you know, turned on or turned off essentially. So if you are turned on with all of your inflammation markers, you're going to have to combat those inflammation markers with something else. Right? You need to put out the fire. Inflammation really is just fueling the fire. So for me, I had to make a hardcore priority with my sleep, my stress level and I had to balance what I was eating and I also combat it with something that I take, something with a supplement wise. So you can be super inflamed and still be working out. But working out is also technically inflammation. Right. So this is where it depends on where you want to go. We can go down the rabbit hole as far as you want. And this is why it's not one, one size fits all. You need to Be able to identify what you want to do. And if you're pro. Inflammatory. Yes, you should cut out, you know, alcohol, caffeine, gluten, dairy. But then test it and see if it really is the gluten. I had a lady who we did the elimination diet for three weeks just to lower the threshold. While we're doing all the other things, she adds back in wine. I was like, hey, I want you to challenge wine this week. She's like, wait, you want me to drink wine? I was like, well, yeah. How do we know if that's. That's the culprit? You don't know until you challenge it. So we challenge. And she's like, I have no ill effects. So it was something else that she ate, and I think it was the. Going back through her history. It was. Her husband loves seafood. So it was the seafood combination and the, you know, the little bread, soup, hors d' oeuvre type thing that she ate before. But she was blaming it on the alcohol because, oh, alcohol is bad. How do you know? How do you know?

So I love that you're asking that, because that is something I'm. I'm curious about. Like, I feel like with a lot of extreme. And maybe this is wrong, so feel free to, you know, shift my perspective.

But what I mean is that I.

Feel like people have really intense experiences, like, when they know that they're bloated or they can't go to the bathroom or they're having, you know, or they're having sex. Skin irritation.

Right.

But I also feel like, and I'm curious, in your experience, that so many people are walking around in the I'm fine coma, not even realizing that they have the. That they. That life could be better, that it actually could be better. So I'm a little bit. I'm curious, like, is that something that's true? That's real? And, you know, for someone who might not even know it, what are some of the things that they could potentially be experiencing. Experiencing that would signal to them that they're inflamed, that they do. They just don't even know it.

So our body is really resilient. Really, really resilient. We're good at adapting, period. So your level of hard now compared to your level of hard before, baby, they are not the same. You are super good. So you can be walking around inflamed. One of the bigger things is I use a tool called the medical Symptom Questionnaire. You know, like, oh, hey, how often do you sneeze? During the day, you know, oh, I just wake up and I SNEEZE, you know, 15 times every morning. It's like that's your body's way of getting something out, right?

Wait, really? People do that?

Yeah. No way. That's crazy. And then pooping. I talk a lot about poop. You should poop. Like right now, I have an infant, she poops every time I feed her. Or shortly after when we eat something, we should be able to eliminate it out. You should ideally poop two to three times a day. And it should be long and shaped like a banana. No distress should be just quick in and out. I don't know that many people that do that.

That's what you say. I feel like most people poop once, once a day, if that.

Exactly, exactly. And then a lot of the skin things like, oh, hey, I have like eczema behind my ears that, oh, I've just had that my whole life. Oh, I'll outgrow it. Like my husband, he has eczema and he's been, you know, he's been through the crazy, like in and out of the doctors with topical stuff. And you know, there was a point where he outgrew it, but he also didn't have to have his feet in his cleats. He played baseball, so it's like he didn't have to have his sweaty feet in his cleats for four hours every day after school and then long weekends. So it was like these small little subtle things. We get good at it and then we add a band aid, you know, hydrocortisone, or we add a, we add a, not an antacid, but like a stool softener. Oh, oh, Neosporin. Yeah. Then it's. Then your body. Okay, I can use that for a while. Now you're good for a number of months or a number of years. The other thing is the dry skin. And most people are blaming it on their hand sanitizer, washing their hands. If you have dry skin, you are chronically inflamed. You are trying, your body's trying to tell you that you need more nourishment. I had a lady in here the other day and she just got started on my program and we tested her. I had this fancy little machine that tests her body composition, but not more. I'm not super interested in the like fat mass and muscle mass, but it gives me the information about the water. So intracellular water, extracellular water, total body water. She, as a, as a 47 year old female, she needs to be around the 50 to 55% total body water, meaning you're not dehydrated. Right? She was 34%. And she's like, I just cannot get enough water. So those also. That's like, these are mild symptoms. Like, I just drink a lot of water. I can never quench my thirst. These are things we don't think about. It's like, oh, I'm probably just not drinking enough water. Or are you not retaining it? Because your cells are not sealed completely, the integrity of the cell is not healthy enough to hold on to that water. And then you're leaking through your gut because your body doesn't know how to seal itself up. The same thing goes with heart palpitations. I get that one a lot. People are like, oh, I was sitting there watching TV and I got a heart palpitation. Now it's a little scarier, right? Like, I can drink as much water as I want, but if my heart stops or if my heart does something funky, you're like, okay. Seeing a specialist is definitely recommended. But it puts a lot of stress on your heart to be chronically inflamed because your body is trying to circulate all of this, these good cells through the rest of your body to detox out whatever is bothering you. And then it creates holes to make that an easy exit strategy if you don't have a good plugged up. I'm not pooping every day, so I'm going to. I'm going to open the gap junctions in my cell walls and I'm going to escape that pressure because it's going to be too much for your body to handle.

Okay. That's amazing because it's funny because I usually blame dry skin on, like, the weather. Oh, the weather is changing, so that's why my skin is dry. I'm also curious, though. I want to go back to the poop. And then I do want to talk about eczema. My gosh. Okay. We have plenty of time. Okay. So the thing that. It was interesting to me when you're like, we need to be pooping two to three times. I have had worked with people that felt like they were over pooping and then they would have ibs or they felt like they had ibs, like they can't put anything in their body without eliminating it. So how do you. What's that like? You know, we always know that there's extremes, right? You got people who's not pooping once a week, and then you've got people that, like, don't look at food and have to go to the bathroom. So.

Right.

How do you navigate that?

Yeah. So again, going back to the testing, I can't. I can't just guess because you're never going to be able to get down to the actual point of it unless you're testing. So this is funny because I also have a client that I'm working with, and she had IBS to the point where she's like. Her husband is like, do we need to stop at the bathroom before we do? Like, he's conditioned to ask her not to. Not that she's going to pee your pants, but she's going to actually poop her pants. And that's embarrassing. Right. She's tried a few diets. It's helped minimally, but in hindsight, it wasn't even the food. It was probably accelerating a little bit with caffeine, but it wasn't the food. She actually had a parasite inside of her gut and a bacterial imbalance. So she had more bad guys than good guys. So the. The bad guys cause inflammation, and the good guys are getting overrun by, you know, it's almost like an assault on our system. So going into that a little bit deeper, you know, we have secretory IGA is your first line of defense through your mouth and your kind of your orifices right here. Right. Hers was low, so she had no, like, hey, someone's coming down that we might want to look at. It was just like all the way in. Her stomach acid was low. So then now we have a second line of defense that was like, okay, I. I'm blindsided by this pathogen that's coming in because my two gatekeepers are sleeping, there's leaving. So we had to test all this. We found all of these out, and then we ended up, you know, there's. There's some herbs that you can take to kind of eradicate out the dysbiosis and like, the bad bugs in there.

And you.

You don't do it all at once because it gets overwhelming, you know, especially if your inflammatory response is super heightened and your body's, like, ready for battle at all times. So the. The pooping sensation is because the. Your body is thinking everything is a pathogen. Once, once you. Once you get inundated with not opportunistic bacteria inside of your gut, then your body's like, okay, everything is bad. I'm either going to store it in fat or I'm going to get it out. Since she didn't have a problem pooping, then she was, you know, let me just get it out. Let me just get it out. Let me just get it out, because I'm not sure what you are. I have no time because I'm battling these other fires. Let me just get it out. Now she is. She actually texted me, and she said, hey, so I happen to go to the fair. And then she. She said that she was bad because she had, like, some fair food. And I was like, good for you. How did it go? And she goes. We got in the car. My husband's like, hey, do you need to go to the bathroom?

And he.

She's like, no. And he's like, what?

What happened?

It was, like, mind blowing because she's been like that for, like, eight, eight, 10 years.

Oh, that's amazing. Yeah. I mean, she must have felt so free. I mean, I can't imagine what that. That must have felt like, because when you're. When you're, you know, trapped by your own body, which is what a lot of people will say. My husband has said it.

Right?

It's like, okay, I can't. I gotta go on this road trip. We've got to make sure I know where the rest stops are. I can't have snacks until. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Yes. Yes. Well. And that's. That's the thing. When people think, you know, the elimination diet. Whenever I have that conversation with people, it's like, honestly, it's. It's most the time, not the food. Yes, sure. If you're having too much sugar, it's probably the sugar, right? If you're having. If you're eating, like, pasta every night, it's probably the pasta. But, like, no one. Not a lot of people do that, right? So it's most of the time, not the food that's the problem. You need to know how it's getting passed down through your body. Are you alerting your secretory iga? First line of defense? Do you have enough stomach acid? You know, instead of popping that antacid pill? It's not like that's a signal your body likes. It's not going to blatantly say, like, hey, my knee hurts. Stop standing on it. It's gonna be like, hey, by the way, can you help me? Like, it's gonna be like, hey, I have extra gas and it really stinks. Like, you should be able to fart and it shouldn't really stink. Or like, you. Actually, that was one of the tmi. That was one of the things that I struggled with. I was like. Wade was like, dang, your gas is worse than mine, babe. What is happening? And now it's like, I don't have any. And it's not like I'm holding it in. It's just my body doesn't have to create an exit strategy to get toxic waste out of your body because it's functioning like it's supposed to.

Okay, great. So. Oh, I want. I do also want to talk about the eczema. And then we can finish up talking about, like, I'm curious about the resistance that. And how you help people come through those elimination diets like that. Some people, you know, would rather be in pain than cut out dairy. So I do want to talk about that, but I'm curious. The reason why I'm circling back to eczema is because my daughters have eczema and they've had eczema, like, from a young, young age. And I mean, so bad that I knew that hydrogen cortisone, neck knees, foreign thing, because I had to put that like. We were in the doctor's office with Gwenny, Gwendolyn's eczema since she was three months old. And I just could not get rid of it. And it was interesting to me because you're like, it's not the food. And Gwen, without going into too much, you know, taking too much of your time. But Gwen, you know, she had, didn't have like, what's that baby anti gas thing that they have? Like. No, that was Abby. She was terrible. But the other. No, but it is like anti. I can't. I can't think of it. Man, I can't believe I'm already out of that phase. But when Gwen got it late, they usually said that people would get. Would like, the baby would stop barfing. They would stop barfing essentially after they ate. By the time they started, were 12 months. Gwen started at one month. It was just one year. We just. She would randomly, for no reason, just start vomiting. And we couldn't figure it out. We were like, what's happening? We've got a. It's like the Exorcist. And it was not like cute baby puke. It was like a human, like, oh, my gosh, where is that being stored? And then she had eczema that was getting so infected. I mean, it was like a disaster. Abby's is not so bad, but similar.

So this is one of my. This is honestly where I want this to go is your microbiome as a mom is passed to your kids, period. I can attest to this. And I'm getting ready to test my own Gut microbiome. And then when Jordan is older, I'll test hers. But I've done it with Olivia and Madison. So the good bugs that you need to inoculate your own human body came from your mom. Okay. And I don't want to blame anyone. It's just. It's just how it is. That sounds really bad, right?

No, it doesn't really. But it doesn't really. We grew up. You're like Beverly. You broke your babies, girl. They're five and they're.

They're six.

And for. I know it, I'm doing.

Yeah, for sure. No, I hear you, because I. I just healed Madison's eczema as well.

Yeah.

And she's six. Okay. And I gave her. She had a very intense pregnancy, like, birth situation. And I was, you know, first. First mom, super stressed. Had to go back to work, you know, like, exercising, because I was overweight, but I was really inflamed. It wasn't even, like, you know, extra fat per se. It was just inflammation, which usually is water. So it all comes back to the mom's microbiome. Okay. So there are ways to identify this. You have to catch the stool sample to figure that out. And this is where I really want my focus to be. Like, if you're preparing to have a baby, you know, let's optimize your body. Like, how cool is it if you, you know, set up your stress to be optimal or minimal? You know, if you're. You're in a good physical body, you're in a good mental space, you're not pressured to do anything. You figured out, you know, your routine for what you're eating, and you're saying, you know what? You said Gwen was the one that has a really bad.

Yeah, she did.

So with kids, it's generally not the food. I wouldn't put a kid on an elimination diet. If they're having a lot of dairy, I would say, yes, cut out dairy. But you need to figure out what is inside their little ecosystem that's pro inflammatory because it is creating an exit strategy. They're sweating enough, usually they're peeing a lot. They're probably. She's probably not pooping very well. Right. So if those three places are not optimal, you just need to dive in and get a stool test.

And it's so interesting that you say that because, you know, when I saw the eczema, because, you know, I've been in the health and field, the health and fitness field now for years. Right. So I saw the eczema And I was like, we got it. You know, I got to look at her gut. But it was interesting because this is why testing, I mean, it's so good. This is why testing and working with someone who's dedicated their life is. Spent a whole bunch of years working on the science of this. Go to them. Because of course, I went to my Instagram trainer. Not really. But what I mean is that like the first level of information that the masses get to see, which is, oh, it's cut out your dairy, cut out your gluten, and I'm in there. Gwen had a severe allergy to both egg and dairy. So I was like, y', all, she's not eating any dairy.

Ok? So.

So I'm already having to boil and blend chicken with water to get protein in her. So it's not the dairy?

Yeah, yeah, 100%.

Yeah.

Well, with kiddos, I feel like it's challenging. But Madison, I've been working on her for a while. You know, she on a little pri side point, she has a cranial torsion. So she has a kind of a, like a late way of figuring out how to use her airway. She used to choke really bad on water and she was chronically dehydrated and she was pooping like every three days. So, like, that all matters with how the body's moving too, right? So as I'm working through a few of those things, she is now able to swallow pills. And I, because I've tried like the smoothies and they're smart. Like, their palate is really good. Like, there's no way you're gonna sneak in the stuff that actually needs to happen. And I'm not saying that this is a forever thing. You know, you, you identify what's inside. And we found that she, she needs an enzyme because she's not breaking down her fats, which she needs fats to absorb her vitamin D. She actually had my same dysbiosis that I had when I tested it. And it takes three years for those littles to grow their inoculate to full potential of their microbiome. So this is why, you know, it's. I would rather, and I'm pretty sure most people would say, hey, I would rather optimize my body to cut out the stress of my whatever stressors my kid is saying, you know, like every mom I know, they're going to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to come to their kids versus themselves because they're like, they don't want to watch their kids suffer, right? And if there's an easier way. We're going to, we're going to, we're going to cut corners on ourselves to make, make them better. When really let's, let's, you know, and this, this makes it sound bad for you and I because we're like, our babies are outside of our bodies, right? But it's really like, you're not, it's not too late. We just need to get more information. That's just it. And, and it all comes to, like, I can say, hey, try this and try that and try this. And then, you know, pretty soon Gwen's like 14 and you're like, okay, her eczema is, like, kind of better. But, you know, then she gets flared up, you know, when she goes in the pool. And then like, hey, sometimes, oh, she went to sleepover and they, you know, they got a new shirt and it like, flared up her armpits and her elbows. And your body should be able to take on a toxin and eliminate it out. That's like the bottom line. If they, if you don't have a good exit strategy and your, your inflammation and your gut, your bacteria is not balanced, your body doesn't know what to do. Slash. It's fighting all these other fires to try to figure out, oh, hey, by the way, there's something here. Let's just, let's just get it out. Oh, this is through the skin. Oh, here, let me have you pee it out. Oh, you're not pooping. Oh, this one we need to work on. How do we make her poop? Because it's not coming out. We're going to get it out of the body somehow. And the skin is the biggest organ on our body, so why not let it come out on the skin?

So good.

Now, is this something that out of.

Curiosity, and I'll ask in the context of my kids, for specificity reasons, but I'm curious, especially with your clients and with anyone listening, going like, oh, my gosh, I need to fix this. With eczema or other symptoms, they tend to go away for sometimes long periods of time. So people will say like, oh, my body just figured it out. My body just took care of it. I guess it's gone away. So my question is, does it ever really go away without guidance or without assistance, or will it keep flaring up?

That's a really good question. So, for example, on my oldest, she was constipated. Now she's not. Now she has a good exit strategy, so it's not coming out on her skin. She is six weeks into the protocol of the eight week protocol for her to balance her dysbiosis. There are certain bacteria that cause inflammatory situations. I don't treat diagnoses. So if you came to me like, hey, heal my eczema, I don't, like, I'm going to help battle X, Y and Z. Will it help your eczema? Yes. You know, like, that's not like I'm not here to pinpoint just one thing.

So we're not, we can't.

There are specific bacterias that cause ms, ra, osteoarthritis, eczema. But. And then the symptoms that we feel in our body are belly bloat, you know, poor like constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, migraines. It's just, how does your body have, does it have an exit strategy? How does it manage what's coming in? We cannot for the most part eliminate all the things that are coming in. Air, you know, what we're touching, what we're eating, we can't eliminate. That's all. Only the first step. Which is why the elimination diet for me is it's like, okay, well if you're eating dairy and gluten and your skin is breaking out that far, like, have you tried eliminating those? Okay, cool. But most of the time it's like your second, your first and second line of defense is off. And then you have bacteria that's like, hey, eat that sugar. Because I thrive on sugar. That yeast inside of your body is how I'm going to still survive. As we eradicate it now your cravings go down. Now you don't have to eat as much sugar now you don't have to ex, you don't have to kind of plug up your system and not poop and get it out through your skin. So it really only comes down to, you know, do you have a good exit strategy period. And most kids, I would say are more resilient because they're moving really well, you know, and, and they don't have the everyday stressors, you know. And like the, in general, most people don't have like a stressors of like, hey, I don't want, I don't have to fend for my next meal. Or you know, they don't have, they don't understand the, the woes of the pandemic really, you know what I mean? Like day to day life.

Sure. They don't have outside of, you know, extreme cases, like we understand that we're not, this is not everyone.

Right.

We've got lots of lots of stuff out there. But what. But what you mean is that they're not. They're not holding the burdens of external circumstances in the same ways that adults do.

Correct. Which wreak havoc on your. On your insides and your bacteria.

Oh, my gosh. There's so much. We could talk about this for, like, three hours. You said yeast, and I was like, oh, yeah, probably that's Candida, too. Like, that's showing up for moms a lot.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Okay, I want to circle back on this question because I am a little curious about, you know, to tie in, because I want to be respectful of your time. So this will be the last question, but I want to. I am curious. You know, you'll hear people say things like, oh, it's in my genetics to be. Or it's in my genes to be overweight. This is in my genes. This is in my genes. So how much. And I know this is. Is a nuanced conversation. And you're not going to be able to be like, well, 70%. Right. So in your opinion, how much of it is actually influenced by people's genes versus, you know, just their nurturing, their external circumstances?

So do you mean more like, hey, I have diabetes and my grandma had diabetes, but you guys eat the same casserole on Sunday, like, every Sunday. You have this high dairy, high gluten potato casserole every Sunday.

Yeah, exactly. Or like, moms will be like, oh, yeah, I have. You know, I have. Or I can't even think of it.

Or.

Or someone would be like, it's not possible for me to lose weight because it's just in my family. And then you look at the family, and then you look at the habits, and you look at the identity of what they're doing to, you know, for their metabolic flexibility. And you're like, that's not genes.

So you're talking more like epigenetics. So can you modify your genes to express differently? The answer is yes. The answer is yes.

Thank God. So thank God.

Yeah. No, you are Delta Hand Cool. Like, I'm Delta Dirty Hand. That's fine. I'm cool with it. But I've eliminated a few things, and I've made choices pro. Like, proactive, powerful choices on why we eat certain things, why I own my own business, why I choose to exercise, why I choose to, you know, go to bed earlier. Like, I can make these powerful choices not because I don't want to be groggy in the morning. It's because my body is already inflamed. So if I do chronically do not get enough sleep, it's going to keep those expressing in an inflammatory way. How does it show up on my body? GI gut stress, skin issues, my hair starts falling out, I get constipated, you know, so, like, your body gets into that state of sympathetic stress and you're not able to calm it down so you can be dealt a bad hand. You know what I mean? You just need to learn how to play. You don't know all the rules. You need to get all the information to play the actual game. So people who have, you know, oh, I have diabetes in my. In my life, or like, hey, my grandma has diabetes, it's like, okay. And then you look at their shopping cart, it's like, okay, I can see why. So it doesn't necessarily have to be on. It's. It's kind of like the same thing. Like, you're in remission of diabetes, right?

Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. And also, for the record, when I said, thank God, just in case my mom's listening, because she is my best, like, my number one supporter, I was referring more to my poor children and their eczema and vomiting habits. So that was what I was referring to. Not you, mom. You're great.

But, you know, it is interesting because.

You know, you go to the doctor and they ask you, like, what's all your health history? And I have a lot of family in Africa. And in fact, all of my family is in Africa. I have no family here. And so for a lot of the. For a lot of my own health, like, for my personal health records, I'll sometimes look at them and wonder, is this circumstance or is this, you know, in my genes that I really should be, you know, worried, concerned about cardiovascular health? Like, that's for me specifically. So that was also what caused me to ask that question.

Well, and that's where it comes down to, like, identifying your specific goals. You know, like, I can set up a plan for you, but if it has conflicting interests in what you want to do, that's why we, you know, we sit down and we go over, like, what do you. What do you want? Yeah, okay, you want to lose weight. You want to just. You want to clear up your skin. And I'm not trying to disregard those things at all because those are, you know, very important things. But also, like, I have an idea, but you need to be on board with what you want to do. So let's mold something together. Your plan is not going to be the same as anyone else's.

Yeah, for sure. Okay, great. This has been amazing. Thank you so much. You just gave. You just blew my mind. Lots of things to think about. I'm super excited. Thank you so much. So, yeah, for those of you who want to learn more about your. You and your work, where are the best places that I can send them?

The best place is my Instagram so centered PT and then also my. My website is centered physical therapy.com and those are. Those are. That has a lot of my information on there. Okay.

I love it. We'll make sure we link all of that up.

Thank you so much. This is fun. So fun. Thank you.

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