Gut Health, Microbiome & Peak Performance with Elena Letyagina

Hello, dearest friends, and welcome to my very first episode of the Longevity and Lifestyle Podcast, where I invite pioneers and thought leaders in their respective fields to give us the strategies, tools, and practices to live better and help reach our human potential. Today's guest is Elena Letiagina. Elena is a registered nutritional therapist and the founder of Gut Philosophy, a data-driven personalized nutritional practice. Elena is on a mission to educate and empower people about the role of gut health in overall well-being. In her practice, Elena uses a range of functional and genetic testing, as well as wearable devices, to reinforce positive changes. Besides running Gut Philosophy, Elena is the principal nutritionist at a London-based medical clinic. She is currently completing advanced training with the Institute of Functional Medicine and holds a qualification in nutritional therapy from the Institute optimum nutrition. Elena is a member of the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine, BANT, and is accredited by the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council, CNHC. Longevity is the area of Elena's special interest. We cover everything from the microbiome and how to optimize it, data-driven health, to morning routines, wearables, and cool gadgets to to track and monitor sleep, brainwaves, and more. Please enjoy.

Elena, I'm so excited to welcome you to the podcast for so many reasons. I think gut health is such an important area that is only really coming to light. Some scientists call the gut our second brain. But first, let's start with a question on where you were born and grew up.

Hi, Claudia. Thank you for having me. I'm very excited. And yes, would love to share all the tips I know and I have. So I grew up in Russia. I was born in the very industrial area of Russia, in the Urals. Since early childhood, I was exposed to different pollution and environmental toxins, but obviously back then I wouldn't know about it, but it all played a role in my health and had an impact. I left Russia precisely for that reason, because I just couldn't stay in this ecologically poor area. At the age of 22, and I moved to London to study finance. And I was working in finance for many years before changing my career.

That sounds really exciting. The toxins, I think we're so much more aware of them now. So did you always have an interest in healthy eating and lifestyle? Was this something your parents role modeled for you?

So growing up in Russia, like sort of in the '80s, diets were quite important, and all the meals were home-cooked in general, not only in my family, but like in general population. We didn't have restaurants really, we didn't have any takeaways, so people were forced to eat at home. And in general, if you think about Russian food, it's quite healthy, lots of fermented foods. We had kombucha at the age of 5, it was always growing on my windowsill.

The superfood?

Exactly, we had the sauerkraut, but well, that's German name, but we had like our own sort of version of it. Pickled vegetables. So in general, the diet was relatively healthy. My parents are actually doctors, so I was always exposed to this side of the story where you medicate it, where you take antibiotics for every single cough and cold. So I was aware of the healthy eating. Yes, but I never thought that you can literally change your health by changing your lifestyle or diet until later in life. And actually, I did get sick in my 20s.

Oh, amazing. Thank you for sharing that. Can you tell us a little bit if you have any particular morning routine to start your day as a success?

Morning routine and evening routine, actually both of them are crucial. So when I work with my clients now, this is one of the things we always work really closely. So you do need to have a proper— you're right to say, like, what's your morning routine? A few things I've been doing now consistently. The first one, when I wake up, I never check my phone straight away because it puts you into the very stressful mode, right? It sort of activates your brain in an unhealthy way. You see hundreds of emails there. You feel like you need to reply to everyone. You have this WhatsApp chats popping up. So the first thing I do when I open my eyes, I meditate for 5 minutes. You don't need to meditate. You just can do a deep breathing exercise, but that sort of relaxes you and sort of sets you up properly for the day. Then I stand up, open the window, and get the exposure to the light. When the light hits your eyes, it goes, it travels into your brain, and it suppresses melatonin. So it really regulates your circadian rhythms and you get fresh air because during the night you accumulate a massive amount of different toxins and CO2. So this is something I do every morning. Hydration is another one, very important. I tend to recommend drinking at least half a liter if you can, especially if you're having coffee.

And just normal water or do you put something in the water?

I like just normal water. Some people don't like drinking water, then they can just put some lemon in it or some fresh mint or splash of orange juice, wherever, make them to drink this water. But generally, normal water, room temperature, filtered water, properly filtered, not in those sort of containers.

Bottles.

Yeah, exactly. Just the properly filtered water is a great idea.

Can you talk about your meditation practice? I think it's an area that more and more people are really looking into, but there's so much different information out there. And you said 5 minutes, and I think typically some people say you have to do longer, etc. How do you master those 5 minutes to make them really worthwhile?

5 minutes, that would be my recommendation to the clients. And obviously I work with different people. Some people, they don't even want to hear about meditation, and some people will be meditating 2 hours per day. So I do have like very wide spectrum. 5 minutes, this is just to get you ready. If you want to have a proper meditation practice, yeah, at least you need sort of 10-15 minutes to lay down and you obviously have a deep breathing and relaxing. I'm actually using a brain tech The BrainTap, the BrainTap headset. This is what I'm using for my own meditations. But what it does, it actually stimulates, it's a video and audio stimulation, and it sort of gets your brainwave into the right frequency to calm you down and to relax you, properly relax you. So that's the tool I'm using. But you can just do proper meditation and put any music. There are so many apps you can have. It's really a personal preference. So whether you prefer like a guided meditation where they tell you, focus on your feet, relax, or like Headspace or Calm. Yes. Or just the music or maybe just the sound of nature, like raindrops. Really, really your preference, like a client's preference. Right. The important idea is that you just need to be able to completely relax and get any thoughts out of your busy brain. And this is hard. And if you can master it for 5 minutes every day, it will be easier to get into this state when you do it regularly. Like doing it for 1 week, 2 weeks, it's not really worth it. It has to be at least 3 weeks of practice. And then you start understanding, actually, if I'm stressed out and I just close my eyes and have a deep, deep breath, you'll see how it starts coming down, like how your heart rate will drop and how calm and, you will become.

The physiology changes.

It comes with practice.

And for the people interested, the BrainTap, how do you spell that?

So like a BrainTap, like a T-A-P.

I'll put it in the show notes and I'll link to it.

It's quite an expensive investment. So it's really for people who are very serious about it. It's not something for people just to try because it may be a waste of money. But then if you're serious about it, if you do it regularly, this is just something, it's an extra step to try.

Because you mentioned about the brainwaves and the theta and things like that.

It's a little bit more advanced. And I do check it with my Oura Ring. So Oura Ring is another health wearable. Literally, I recommend it to every single client I see.

I have one myself. Yeah.

It's, you know what I'm talking about. It's probably one of the best wearables on the market to check your readiness scores, to check your stress markers, to check your sleep phases, which is absolutely crucial for your wellbeing. With the brain tapping, so there are different waves, frequencies of all your brains, right? So you have a beta, you have theta, and then you have a delta, which is a deep wave. So depending, like if I put the theta training on my brain tap headset, I can see in my aura that I wasn't even awake. I just go straight into the theta state. This is absolutely fascinating.

Yes. Oh, I love that stuff.

You feel your frequency changing to theta.

Super exciting space, the neurofeedback. So I'm definitely going to look into that. Thank you. And you talked about exposure to sunlight. Now being in London and winter, what is considered sunlight if the clouds are gray and over?

Is it still enough? Yes, it's not enough. No, it's not. I mean, it's still better than nothing. However, some people would be affected by it more than others. I'm sure you've heard about the seasonal affective disorder, right?

I haven't.

Yep. You know about it. So for those people, You do need to have a light in the morning, the light which will be simulating the daylight, and you need to have an exposure to this every morning. And I've seen clients for whom it made wonders for their sleep quality. For people who are struggling, in particular during the winter or darker months, they're struggling with their sleep quality. 5 minutes of exposure to those lamps make a big difference.

Thinking of the word successful, who is the first person that comes to mind and why?

Oh my God, this is a hard one because you know what, for me, definition of success has been changing over the last few years. The first person who comes to mind is me.

Oh, great, perfect, love it.

You know why? Because success is such a subjective definition, isn't it? So before, when I was in finance and I was surrounded by high achievers and people just driven by, by achievements, by getting certain amount of money, So that's how I measured success. But then at some point when I was becoming sicker and sicker, like month after month, I thought, what's the point? I can't really enjoy my life. And now, yes, maybe monetary-wise I'm not getting as much money as I used to be in banking, but the reward from working with clients, sharing my knowledge and spreading the health is so much worth it. And then I can spend time with my family and do something for myself. I'm really getting the balance. So to be honest, this is success. Amazing. If you wake up in the morning and you're grateful for many things and you feel healthy, this is success. That's what, that's what it is. It's happiness, right? Exactly. You can't really measure it.

Totally agree. And you mentioned gratitude there, and I think it's Tony Robbins who says that gratitude is actually the 180 of depression. So if you're feeling gratitude, you can't be depressed. It's really focusing and really feeling the gratitude as well. It's one of the health benefits almost, right?

You're absolutely right, Claudia von Boeselager. So like I would say, to anyone who's having problems with anxiety or depression or mood swings, literally practicing it. It's actually sometimes in my programs. So when I, when I write the programs for the clients, I would say 3 things you're grateful for when you wake up first thing in the morning and you open your eyes, whether you can meditate or have a deep breath or just list 3 things you're grateful for. They could be absolutely basic, like I'm grateful I have food today, or they could be huge and fundamental. I'm grateful for my health and my family. So it's all having love in my life. Especially now with COVID people are in general feeling a lot of anxiety. So literally just focusing on small, tiny things really make a big difference because gratefulness doesn't come naturally to us, to humans. I mean, it's like what fear comes natural and worrying and anxiety, but feeling grateful for small things, it's just, it's not very natural. It's important to cultivate it.

Oh, I totally agree. And I came across this fabulous journal. It's called The Five Minute Journal. They have an app as well. Downside of the app is obviously that you're on your phone, but it's setting up your day for those 3 things you're grateful for and what would make today great. And then you do 5 minutes in the evening as well.

I'll link it in the show notes as well, but I find it a great tool.

Yeah, it's really great. I should use it every day, but we'll get to it. What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love. So for instance, I have one of these Japanese acupressure mats that my family nicknamed the torture mat, but it allows me to sleep amazingly. So I absolutely adore this thing that everyone else just can't imagine that.

I bought it yesterday. You did?

There you go.

I used to have it as a child. We called it the—

Really?

It's a scientist applicator by Kuznetsov. It has a different name, but that's I completely forgot about it and I just got it on Amazon the other day. No way. Yeah. So it's such a coincidence. One of my ridiculous habits, I'm taking cold showers every day.

Tell us about that. Is it Wim Hof, Iceman philosophy?

It's a little bit Wim Hof's, obviously. I mean, cold showers or cold exposure, it's a controlled stressor. Any controlled stressors are great for us. If it's chronic stress, then it's not great for us. But if it's a controlled one, like a little bit of fasting, a little bit of certain phytonutrients found in vegetables, a little bit of high-intensity training, a little bit of cold, it's actually quite great for us and it's great for longevity, right? So cold showers, I started to take it, I think, last summer, and it's a great season to start. So if you want to start, start in the summer. Starting in winter will be hard. And I cannot give it up because I just feel amazing afterwards. And I'm not doing it like Wim Hof. Wim Hof was doing it like for what, for 3 minutes, up to 3 minutes, right? Yeah. There is no way I'll stay for 3 minutes, but I'm doing it for 20 seconds. But it's just like the high you're getting, the natural high is great.

It's really amazing. I mean, I tried to, and I'm such a softie in this. I like my warm showers or hot showers even, but after coming across Wim Hof as well, at the end of the shower to put it cold, and it's literally one arm in, the other arm in, and then out again. But what Wim Hof teaches is it's the breathing, and you breathe through it. So if you take deep breaths, you feel the cold, but it doesn't affect you as much.

You do the breathwork before, right? So you, while in a hot shower, you prepare yourself, you do the breathwork, and then you do the cold one. You're not supposed to breathe under the cold one because you can, you can just pass out.

Oh really? Okay, clearly I'm not doing it right.

No, you said correctly. So like, you have to breathe through it, but just Not over-breathing because you can get lightheaded. Yeah, lightheaded.

Exactly. What is the physiological benefit actually of cold exposure?

It stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system. So we have two types of nervous system you can think of. So sympathetic one, it's fight or flight. So this is something a lot of people constantly found, like when you're getting angry, anxious, mood swings. It's actually good to have it a little bit, like, because it makes you really productive. But then you have parasympathetic. This is rest and digest. When you can relax, when you can digest your meals properly. It has to be a balance between those two states. And unfortunately in the modern world, actually a lot of it is shifted towards sympathetic drive. So you're constantly in this fight or flight mode, which is not healthy for anything because it affects all the hormones in our body. So when you have a cold exposure, because it's only short, if you take it for too long, you'll get hypothermia, which you want to avoid. But if you take it for a short time, it actually provides a stressor to your system and it calms you down afterwards. So your parasympathetic system stimulated, your vagus nerve, which is the main part of the parasympathetic system, gets stimulated and it's, you have these benefits. So I would definitely recommend it to everyone, at least to try, or maybe like you just do like one hand and then one leg. It's still something, right?

Yeah. I think there's so many benefits. I have a friend actually who lives in Dublin, a medical doctor, and she swims in the Irish Sea every day in this temperature. Temperatures. And I think in Russia and places like that, people go on New Year's Day dipping in the cold freezing waters, right?

Absolutely. And the other way, when you go to saunas, it's also controlled stress, right? So if you go to something very hot, it's also quite good for you. It's good for your mitochondria, for energy production. So, and if you can combine both, you go from hot sauna into the snow or into the ice cold swimming pool. This is the best. This actually, I love doing this, but now everything is closed.

Dreaming of the time after COVID. Yeah. In the last 5 years, Elena, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?

I would say, because actually a lot of my changes were happening in the last 5 years, so I would say 2 things actually. Your diet is absolutely fundamental, just making sure that you're having a proper nutrition which supports all the different functions in your body, but also drives you towards the optimal health and performance. And the second one is self-care and being able to find time for yourself and the relaxation. So I started to do much more meditation, relaxation, and I'm working with the nervous system much more in the last 5 years.

Incredible. Let's talk about your journey to forming your company, Gut Philosophy. When did your interest in nutrition come up?

I came to nutrition completely, I wouldn't say by coincidence. I'm sure it was my part of my journey. But as I mentioned, I was working in the financial sector and really busy, stressed out lives. Then I got pregnant and while I was on maternity leave, I thought, I'm feeling a little bit bored. Maybe I should just study something just for myself, just to learn something. And I thought it was literally between yoga and nutrition back then.. And then I thought, I'll just learn a little bit more about nutrition. What I thought nutrition was about is literally which vitamins and minerals are in different foods and how they impact our diet. Obviously nutrition has nothing to do with that, or a little bit to do with that, but there is so much more to that. So I started the online course initially. I needed to do science foundational course before being able to enroll to a proper qualification. So while I was doing the chemistry and anatomy and biochemistry courses, I thought, actually, this is something I really love. And do you know what, when I was 10 at school, not 10, like maybe 15, they do a profiling at school. They tell you what's your brain, how, what are you predisposed to? And do you know what came out? Microbiologist. And I was like, microbiologist? I'm not going to be a microbiologist. I'm going to work in finance. Anyway, but now I'm thinking it's actually interesting how your predisposition towards signs was quite clearly there. So I got back after the first pregnancy, I got back to the bank I used to work. I was tired, exhausted, small baby, feeling guilty all the time. You know the drill, how all moms feeling. And then I got pregnant with my second baby, and this is the point when I thought, I don't think I'm coming back because I'm not happy there. And this is why your question about happiness and success, yeah, so relevant. And I started to study this course and I thought maybe I can make a career out of it. And when I finished it and I realized that I completely changed my health and my family's health and my parents who are doctors and they're scientists, and I was sending them different research. And actually, even now, because my mom is a gynecologist, I'm sending her different research pieces on the microbiome, on the PMS, on all these things. And She's in a way now a functional medicine practitioner herself.

Oh, amazing.

You've converted her as well. Definitely. And this is how I thought I'm going to make a career out of it. And once I finished, I started practicing literally from day one. I started seeing clients from day one. Yeah. And it's never looked back, really.

Sounds amazing. Can you tell me about the time when the specialist doctor thought that putting you on long-term antibiotics was the answer?

Yes, so that's probably the darkest side of time of my life. When I was working in the bank, my health started to deteriorate. Now I'm not surprised because obviously it was all-nighters. I was finishing at midnight every single day. It was sleep deprivation. Even though I was in my mid-20s, you could sort of power through a little bit because you are still very young. Yeah, but all the health effects were accumulating and I was suffering with chronic sinus conditions. I developed asthma. I've developed respiratory infections. So I was having, I don't know, maybe 10 colds per winter, every single one with complications. And the doctor, the specialist I saw back then, who actually had a surgery, he did the surgery for me. So I'm very grateful to him. However, he did say there is no way of managing something like that because you got this condition quite young. So the only way to manage it would be having antibiotics for 3 or 4 months. 3 times a year, like low dosages, and maybe steroid drops for all the time. And I thought, this is not right. And actually, to be honest, he did say, well, maybe you should investigate and see someone. And there is some research suggesting that dairy sensitivity could be the cause. And he referred me to a professor who actually a scientist. But the only thing that came out of this consultation was like, oh, maybe you should try eliminating dairy and see what's happening.

But back then—

and take long-term medication and take medication. Nothing happened. Dairy didn't help me. Well, now I know that I was intolerant to gluten, but then my own approach to my health, it was very multifunctional. I'm not saying that you should go off gluten. I'm just saying certain people would be intolerant to other things. And yes, I did have intolerance because my gut microbiome was completely destroyed, really, with all the multiple antibiotics I was taking, 6 courses of antibiotics per year. And over multiple years, it's not fun.

Could you maybe talk a bit about the effect of antibiotics on the gut and the intestine? And obviously there are cases where antibiotics are completely necessary. And what are ways to repair the gut after taking antibiotics if it's really needed?

You're absolutely right saying that antibiotics are life-saving, and when you have to take them, you have to take them. However, In our modern world, we are taking antibiotics for any small reasons as a prevention towards something, or if you're not sure whether you have a viral or bacterial infection, very often they would be prescribed. And there are some stats showing that actually, I think it's 30% of all antibiotics prescriptions are not necessary. So it's actually quite a scary number because we also get antibiotics through the meat and animal protein we're eating through the food.

If it's not organic.

Yeah. Exactly. Now we also wiping out all these bacterial species with the constant sanitizing and washing our homes with the bacterial sprays, antibacterial sprays. So just for people to understand, the gut microbiome, it's a new organ now. It is a new endocrine organ. So it's an organ producing hormones and vitamins and energy for us. It has a far-reaching effect on our health. It's linked to anxiety, depression. Any issues with your microbiome would be linked to obesity, certain cancers, anxiety, depression, a lot of different unpleasant diseases. So having a diverse microbiome is very important. By diverse, I mean as many different species as possible. I love comparing to the Amazon forest. So if you have an Amazon forest, you want to have a bit of spiders, a bit of snakes, little butterflies and tigers. Single pill of antibiotics It's a nuclear bomb in your Amazon forest. It wipes out everything. Obviously, everything will regrow again, right? And species will come back, but not all of the species coming back. There are some studies showing that certain antibiotics are worse than other antibiotics. So some of them, they will be quite mild, so like a small bomb, so part of it will regrow quite quickly. But some of them, it's absolute nuclear bomb, will completely wipe out. After 2, 3, 4 years, people do not have the same composition as they had before antibiotics. It's actually quite scary because we keep losing it, but we're also passing it down to the next generations. So we are passing down this impoverished microbiome to our children who would have all these issues with allergies, asthma, atopic dermatitis, and all these things just because their microbes are not as diverse as they should be. So I'm not saying don't take antibiotics, but I'm just saying think about next time, like when the doctor prescribes the antibiotics, Are they really necessary? And if they are, are they sure that these particular antibiotics will be targeting this particular pathogen? Because a lot of people don't take the test. They don't check that your particular bacteria, wherever you have it, whether it's the UTI or it's your chest infection or ear infection, they don't check for it, right? They just give you the wide spectrum antibiotics, which wipe out the wide spectrum of good bugs.

Yeah. And I find that really scary because even just recently we were at a pediatrician with one of my daughters and the doctor was very keen on filling and giving her already the course of antibiotics before we got the test results back for the UTI, the urinary tract infection. And I was at a loss to understand why you would start taking antibiotics before actually having the test results. And I was semi-pressurized into being a responsible parent and giving the antibiotics straight away. And lo and behold, 2 days later, the test results came back and it was negative. So I think it's so important. And while I agree that sometimes antibiotics are a must and they can be life-saving, I had H. pylori and that is the only way to treat it. With a course of antibiotics for a week. However, the importance of rebuilding the healthy gut microbiome is so essential.

Could you, could you talk a bit about that?

Yes.

So if you've taken antibiotics, well, first of all, you have to take probiotics while you're taking antibiotics, not at the same time, at least 2 hours apart, but also making sure that your diet is rich in the plants because plants, they have fiber and phytonutrients. And this is what will be feeding our microbes. You have to repopulate them, but we are capable of repopulating ourselves. But it's also important to feed the right ones with the right fiber. I'm sure you know that very often people after antibiotics, they'll be like, oh, I just want to eat. I'm just craving sweets all the time. I just want to have bread and cakes. It's precisely for that reason, because dysbiosis is just a loss of balance in the good and not so good bugs in our gut. So the not so good bugs, they would be sending chemicals which come to our brain and asking us to eat something sweet. It's actually very clever. So ensuring that your diet is rich in plants and fiber is very important, that you're having healthy fats is very crucial because omegas are very important for microbiome and also taking probiotics for at least 2 months after you stopped antibiotics. This would be an important measure.

Healthy fats, can you define that for people not familiar?

The whole fat dilemma— we've been scared in the '70s when these studies showed that, oh, high-fat diet will cause heart diseases and everything. Now obviously we all know that it's not the fat, but it's more processed carbohydrates and sugar were causing the issue. So healthy fats, these are things like fatty fish, like salmon, anchovies, and mackerel, sardines. It's olives and extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil at some extent, maybe not every day, nuts and seeds. That would be your healthy fats. And I wouldn't say that there are unhealthy fats, all fats are fine, but certain fats are slightly better and more beneficial. So fats from animal protein, maybe not so good in high quantities. However, you still can eat them.

And also about saturated fats, right? And trans fats, how dangerous they are.

With trans fats, it's not even a real fat, right? The structure of the fat was changed by heating it, right? So trans fats are found in anything which comes in the box, really, like ready meals, cakes. Now there's less trans fats, but they still exist. Certain fats like refined vegetable oils prone to oxidation, those could be a little bit more inflammatory. So Sunflower oil. Yeah, something everyone cooks with, right?

What do you recommend to cook with?

I would recommend definitely cooking with olive oil. Some people say, like, oh, but olive oil has a very low smoking point. This is the point where after heating, the oil starts converting into not great chemicals. However, the smoking point for olive oil is 180 degrees. So as long as you cook on the stove or you bake something not above 180 degrees, it's absolutely fine to use olive oil. I would definitely recommend with anyone with inflammatory conditions, autoimmune conditions, do not use vegetable oils.

We talked about ways to improve gut health in general, and I'd love to even just take a deep dive into the health risks and issues that come from a non-healthy gut. Maybe you can talk in a little bit more detail about some of the health issues that you see in your clients or see in people who have an unhealthy or not perfectly healthy gut microbiome?

It's a great question, and the majority of the modern diseases will be linked to microbiome in one way or another. So there are two ways to look at it. So you have something which is linked to digestion. So if you feel bloated, if you have reflux, if you have constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain, you would sort of think, oh, actually, maybe there is something wrong in my gut and you definitely would have some sort of imbalance in your gut microbiome. However, there are some diseases which have nothing to do with the gut, or it looks like they have nothing to do with the gut, like things like eczema, allergies, migraines, headaches, skin issues, psoriasis, autoimmune conditions. It feels like, why would it have anything to do with the gut? But actually, yes, it does. And it's a direct link to these diseases as well. So if you have Any of what I've just mentioned, anything to do with the skin very often has implications in the gut. So things like chronic frequent infections, whether it's UTIs or whether it's chest infections or colds, that would have a replication. Joint pains, all of the autoimmune conditions have the links to the gut.

Could you explain that a little bit more, how that link is? So it's because of a missing bacteria or it's causing inflammation in the body that then is targeted in the joint, or how does that really look like?

Yeah, you just hit the two main ones. If you think about the immune system, where do you think the immune system is? Well, people think about our lymph nodes, right? But we now know that more than 70% of it is resided in the gut, like the lymphoid tissue in the gut. When we eat, we obviously get some pathogens coming through the gut and they need to be dealt with by our own bacteria and by our barrier, which is the lining of our gut. And the immune cells just underneath this barrier is there to protect us as well. So the moment this barrier gets disrupted by toxins or diets high in carbohydrates, in chemicals, in alcohol, in stress, antibiotics, medication— so many issues can affect this barrier. The barrier gets affected, the microbes, the toxins, the undigested food particles leak into the bloodstream. Upstream and they overactivate the immune system. And when the immune system overactivates, it starts attacking or it may start attacking some other tissues. So if it attacks thyroid tissue, you'll get autoimmune thyroiditis. If it attacks your pancreas cells, you get type 1 diabetes. If it attacks your intestinal cells, you will get Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. So depending on what tissues it attacked, you're getting the autoimmunity, right? If it attacks your brain, you're getting the autoimmunity in the brain. So it's really coming to having this healthy microbiome and healthy, intact gut barrier to prevent from developing these conditions.

I wonder if you have one of these conditions and you are able to greatly improve your gut microbiome, are some of these conditions reversible? Have you seen cases of this or is there research?

So unfortunately, the autoimmune condition is not reversible. It is a chronic condition, but what you can do, you can manage the symptoms really effectively. It can go into remission for a longer period of time. So you cannot say that you can fix your autoimmunity. That would be just wrong. It's a wrong claim, but you can support the systems of autoimmune conditions and some people can reduce the medications. Let's say like Hashimoto's hypothyroidism. This is the ultimate condition for thyroid, right? Yeah. So people on the medications who look after their diet, changing, taking certain nutrients, they can reduce the medication. So they reduce the reliance on it. And you cannot say that you can completely get off them. But I know that some people do. So they go completely off medication after certain interventions. So it's not because it gets into the remission. It doesn't say they don't have it anymore because antibodies will still be there. But the reliance on medication and the symptoms are not there.

And they suffer a lot less, which leads to a better quality of life.

Correct. The quality of life will be absolutely improved.

And longevity as well. Yes. I'd like to talk about testing and the testing process. So what do you recommend or what are the most effective tests in finding a baseline or current condition of your guts? What does the testing process look like?

I would always start with a blood test. I think blood test is absolutely basic and fundamental test to have. So you need to see whether you're deficient in certain minerals because the blood test tells you which organ is dysfunctional. So it will tell you also whether you have issues with the gut. There are some certain markers or patterns to show that something is happening in your gut. So you would start from that. And then if you want to look a little bit deeper into your microbiome, Or if you have specific digestive symptoms we want to investigate, then we can look at the stool test, at the functional stool test. The stool test would look at how well you digest and absorb things, how diverse your microbiome is, do you have any parasites, do you have any pathogens, do you have any inflammation present. So it's actually quite a comprehensive test to look at.

Are these tests that are generally found, are most medical professionals aware of this, or is this more specialist areas like It's more alternative medicine area.

Unfortunately, it's not that widespread in the US. Maybe it's a little bit known here in the UK. People just don't know about it. I mean, you can go to gastroenterologist and do a stool test and it will test some of these markers. But the functional tests, they just also include the microbiome and they look how diverse it is. They're not very accurate yet because we just don't know who lives there. So we're still very far from actually knowing the complete picture, but they still, given the science obviously develops really fast. And every year these tests are changing and still gives you a very good idea whether you have a dysbiosis and how severe it is.

Sounds really useful. Let's talk about supplements. Do you recommend them? Do we really need them? Is this a long-term strategy?

How do you view supplements? That's another great question because at the moment I think a lot of people just buying whatever is marketed to them. The amount of clients I see who would be taking 15 pills per day, it's actually quite scary. Supplements definitely have a role in the overall strategy. However, the two important questions to ask: why are you taking the supplements? What are you trying to correct? And if you're correcting an imbalance or deficiency, the second question is, why do you have this deficiency? Let's say if you are deficient in iron, where the deficiency is coming from. Is it because you are vegan and not eating enough iron-rich food? Is it because your absorption of iron is impaired? Is it because you have a parasite who's eating this iron? Or is it because you have internal bleeding, which is quite sinister, and you're losing your blood this way? So it's just very important to understand why you're taking— like, see, if you're deficient in certain things, why are you deficient? Now with genetic testing, we would know that we are predisposed to certain deficiencies just based on your genetics. Then you can justify, well, actually, I do need higher amount I need higher amounts of vitamin D than other persons because I have this particular variant in my gene, or I do need more vitamin B because my methylation cycle is suboptimal. You ask yourself, why are you taking it? Is it because someone else told you that's a great idea, or are you trying to actually address something? So when I'm developing the supplements program for the clients, it always comes to the objectives. What are we trying to correct here? You have to review your supplements after maximum 12 weeks. Normally, 8 to 10 weeks you need to review it. And people would just be taking the same supplements for years. It's actually quite scary. There is not enough, unfortunately, education and a lot of marketing from the nutraceutical companies pushing the supplements. I consider supplements like crutches. When you have an injury and you can't walk, so while we're correcting, while your leg is healing, you're using the supplements until You're correcting your deficiencies quickly, but then your diet and your lifestyle, you should be taking the majority of them from your diet. However, in some cases, people do need to take supplements. But then again, it's very individual.

Yeah. And I think you hit on a great point about getting to the root cause of what is actually the reason for it. And I think in Western culture, it's very much I have a headache, I take a pill. But I think in Eastern medicine, Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, it's much more, well, what is actually the reason behind it? Let's get to the root and actually cure that. But I understand from your work that that's very much your philosophy, right?

Really digging in. Definitely. Well, this functional medicine— my qualification was based on the functional medicine approach, and I'm studying functional medicine now, and I'm applying functional medicine in work with my clients. That's it. You have to understand why is it happening. The most classic example, when you have a reflux and you come to see a GP and they just gave you antacids saying like, oh, you have too much stomach acid. Here's your antacids. And people say you shouldn't take them more than 2 weeks. The number of clients that I've seen who've been on the antacids for 4, 5, 6 years is insane.

Wow.

Yeah. Wow. And they're suppressing their stomach acid. So what it's leading to, it's leading to overgrowth of pathogens in their intestines. They cannot break down their proteins because we do need our stomach acids for all of that.

And I think it's unfortunately the way society has developed in underestimating the power of the human body body to actually heal itself and to have the right nutrients and microbiome, amongst other things, to just fix itself. I mean, if you think back hundreds of years, we didn't have access to all this medication and nutrients that are available now. So I think it's just changing the philosophy around improving longevity and around letting your actual body do what it's made to do and what it's able to do. And not in all cases, of course, but yeah. I'd love to talk about— you call yourself a data-driven or data-driven nutritional practice. So what does that actually mean? Data, you think a lot about numbers.

Can you talk a little bit about that? Yes, definitely. So why do I love data? Because it allows you to motivate your clients in the right way. So by data, I mean anything, whether it's your blood test result, your stool result, your urine test, or it's your health wearables. So things like Oura Ring, or if you have any glucose monitoring wearables or any other Fitbit, Apple Watch, anything you wear which is allowing you to measure biomarkers. So why it's important? It's a motivational tool, really. It's just to show how well you're doing. Because when you come to see me and you struggle with the symptoms and then you go on the program, you address your dietary changes, you change your lifestyle a little bit. How do you know how well you've done or how do you know, right? How do you measure? You can measure subjectively by saying like, oh, I feel 5 out of 10 and now I'm feeling 9 out of 10. But you also can look at the blood test results where you were and where you now, right? And this is an objective measure, right? And same with the Oura Ring. Like, I'm working a lot on the sleep optimization for myself and for my clients. But how do you measure it? Because if you don't know how well you sleep, how long you deep sleep, how are you going to measure it? Just by, oh, I'm feeling great today? No, not really. So you need to see the data. And then when you see the data, like, actually, my deep sleep improved from 40 minutes to 2 hours and a half. This is a proper achievement. This has had a massive impact on your health, right?

I'd love to deep dive into sleep for a minute. I used to have the philosophy in my 20s, you can sleep when you're dead, which is clearly like everyone else. I'll be dead. I'll be dead pretty fast, I think, if I kept that up. And obviously I had a huge amount of energy and things change along the line. But I think more and more realization is coming around the importance of sleep. But, you know, it's very different. I have a friend, if she doesn't get her 8 hours a night, she won't manage. That's her holy ritual, where some other people are okay on, say, 6 hours. And you were talking about deep sleep versus maybe light sleep or REM sleep. Could, could you talk a bit about the different types of sleep and ways to improve it and what people should be looking out for?

Yeah. So sleep is probably one of the most underestimated therapies, unfortunately. And because we live in this world where we're all driven by the results, by achieving, by productivity, we literally don't have time to relax or sleep, unfortunately. So people who think they can get away with their 4, 5, 6 hours of sleep, they're wrong. Genetically, it's only a very small proportion of people can do that. The majority, they're driving the inflammation, they're driving the destruction of their brain in the long term. So you need to sleep at least 7 hours, ideally 8. So your friend is absolutely right. There are 5 phases of sleep, but if you think about it on a more sort of general level, it's 3 phases. So you have deep sleep, deep sleep, which is between 13 to 23% of total sleep. It's also depending on the age. So if you are, let's say, 40-something person and you're sleeping 1.5 hours of deep sleep per night, that's actually not bad, but it could be improved. Then you have light sleep, which is around 50% of your total sleep. And then you have rapid eye movement, which is REM phase of sleep, which is between 20 to 25% It's really individual. And what I see, people tend to suffer with one phase or another. So like, let's say if your deep sleep is really great, you may struggle with REM. And then if your REM is optimal, your deep sleep probably is not great. You need to have a balance, but it has to be your optimal composition. So it's really dependent on the person. So this is how I work. I look where we stand, we start improving the morning routine, evening routine. We may introduce some supplementation for the sleep. A lot of things to help with the circadian rhythms, and then we see whether your sleep has been optimized or not.

Yeah, because I see from my Oura Ring tracking that my REM sleep is always in the red. It's between sort of 1, 2, and 7%. And just for people not familiar, what is REM sleep versus deep sleep versus light sleep, and why do we actually need all those different phases of sleep for the body?

So during the deep sleep, this is the phase where you pretty much paralyze. In a way, you are paralyzed. So in the deep sleep, a lot of hormonal balancing is happening. This is your regeneration. If you care about longevity and anti-aging, this is where your human growth hormone is getting released. And when you really rejuvenate yourself and your cells, the cellular regeneration is happening. The rapid eye movement, it is how it sounds, when your eyes like move rapidly when you're dreaming. So the dream is also important for the cognition, for for the brain health, both of these phases are important.

With light sleep, is that also an important factor?

It is. I mean, people tend to have a lot of light sleep. Light sleep, it is very important as well. So light sleep is more transition between your deep sleep and your REM sleep. So you can't just transition straight away. So you go to the light, then you go to REM, then you go down like a cyclical curve. You go light, then deep, then light again, then REM, then light, then deep. And you go through these cycles like 5, 6 times per night, and they need to be optimal for us to be healthy.

How do you get to optimal? Like, what hacks do you generally recommend to your clients? Obviously, everybody's a bit different, but is there kind of a general approach you recommend to optimizing sleep?

There is a general approach, but then there are a lot of different things you can do. So the general approach is really optimizing and nailing down your bedtime routine. You need to have a routine. Anything which is interrupting your circadian rhythms, also very important to sort out. So things like not watching any screens 2 hours before bed, and if you do, then wearing blue light blocking glasses. Making sure that your room temperature is quite low when you sleep, that you have some fresh air ideally if you can. Then not using any stimulants— exercise would be one of them— like not having any caffeine after 2 PM, not having alcohol ideally for 4 hours before bed, not exercising intensively 3 hours before bed. So you just need to have this 1-2 hours before bed where you can really relax. So whether you spend this time reading or relaxing or taking a bath or meditating, whatever it is, this is important. If this is not working, then you need to dig deeper and see why you're not sleeping. Do you have hormonal imbalances?. And those are very common. So if you have any hormonal imbalances, whether it's blood sugar and insulin, or it's cortisol, your stress hormone, or it's your sex hormones around PMS and around female cycles, you need to regulate them together with addressing your sleep. Those need to be fixed as well. Bedtime routine and just completely like putting this in place and following it and going to bed at the same time, waking up ideally at the same time. Maybe wearing a sleep mask if you have to, having blinds in your room. So all of these things, there are so many of them. I would be working like with all of them just to get to this optimal sleep.

Yeah. I saw a TED Talk once about what happens with blue lights to your brain before sleep and the activity. And I love with neuroscience, they do the scans of the brain and you just see the tremendous amount of activity by having that blue light exposure. What wearable devices do you most recommend?

I think blue light blocking glasses for people who work on the computers at night. It's absolutely a must. So there's Blublox, L-U-B-L-O-X, Blublox, and the TrueDark. Those two brands I love, and I know that technologically they're quite advanced. You cannot really get really good blue light blocking glasses in the opticians on the high street, unfortunately. There won't be as effective technologically. Oura Ring would be my absolute must. So if you have to choose 3 things, I would go for blue light blocking glasses, Oura Ring, and something for meditation, whether it's an app, whether it's a headset, whether it's something stimulating your vagus nerve, something to calm you down. It's up to people to decide. Really important.

From a longevity perspective, what gut factors would you say play a role and what would you recommend to do about them?

What is longevity? So it's a different definition for different people, right? So there are certain cellular mechanisms which are happening as we age, but also we are quite sick people. Like in general, we have different imbalances and different diseases. So those needs to be addressed. And then you can also support your different cellular mechanisms with different things. From the gut perspective, I would say fasting. Would be a great idea for longevity. There are some studies, you know, Valter Longo, right? Yes, the longevity diet. Yeah, the longevity diet, the fast-mimicking diet. It's one of the most researched longevity diets. It's recommended that you do it like once a month, or if you're quite healthy, then maybe once every 3 months. But you only have to do it if you don't have any imbalances, like if your hormones are great, if your digestion is spot on. And a lot of people jump on this wagon without actually addressing some, you know, mineral deficiencies. People are deficient in vitamin D or their levels are not optimal. You can't really talk about longevity until you address all of that.

And I definitely fall in that category because I am a big fan also for fasting. Dr. Jason Fung has some— an excellent book, The Complete Guide to Fasting. And I'll put all these books and recommendations in the show notes. And just the longevity effect or the positive effect on repairing your DNA. And I think it's either Dr. Peter Attia, who is also very much an expert in this space, that recommends doing a 3-day fast once a month. And I think, you know, people hear fasting, they think you're starving yourself. Maybe you could define or clarify what is the difference between fasting and starving yourself.

So fasting is literally going without the food. Just on water for a certain period of time. So intermittent fasting has been really popular and there are different ways of doing it. So you can do one day of eating whatever you want. Next day you're cutting calories down to 500 calories per day, or, and it's called like alternate day fasting method, right? Then you have intermittent fasting where you have eating windows where you can eat 6 hours or 8 hours or 10 hours. It's really, again, it's very individual, and you can do it once a week or every day or twice a week depending what you can do. So like having some sort of fasting from time to time is quite beneficial. However, for people with any imbalances in thyroid issues, if you have autoimmunity, you shouldn't be doing it. People with eating disorders or history of eating disorders, people with the adrenal issues people with, like, females with the cycle irregularities. If you're pregnant or if you're struggling with fertility or if you're lactating, you cannot do it. Anyone who's above 65 is not recommended, and obviously not for children. So actually, a lot of people are excluded from this recommendation. My recommendation would be just sort yourself out, sort your health out, make sure that you don't have any hormonal imbalances, that your blood's absolutely great, and then you can go and optimize and strive for longevity. But just don't start doing something which actually may harm you.

It's so important. What I hear you saying is really understanding in what condition you are now, if there's deficiencies. Absolutely. Do you have any sort of good metaphor for thinking about— people do fasting for weight loss and other reasons as well.

I love metaphors, actually. So I usually compare our bodies either to cars or to houses. If you think about the gut health as a foundation of everything, this is why I called my company Gut Philosophy, because it's absolutely fundamental to your health, because this is where the absorption and assimilation of nutrients is happening and where your diverse microbiome resides. So if your gut health is the foundation of your house and you're building this beautiful house, but you actually decided that, oh, actually, I want to decorate it and maybe buy a new sofa, but your foundation is completely rotten, maybe you have some mold growing in it, and maybe some cockroach is living there, but you only care about the curtains and paint on your walls and the new sofa. This would be your intermittent fasting and longevity. You can't really do it. You need to have a really strong foundation, and the gut health will be your foundation for that. And then you can do all sorts of dieting and fast-mimicking diet and intermittent fasting, but only if everything else is working properly.

That makes complete sense. And I think that's where a lot of people who try these different benefits and realize it's making them tired or it's not working. I've had also phases with myself included, feeling very lethargic. Looking back, that if there's deficiencies there, you really need to get that foundation in place first and working with someone like you to figure that out. So that's really great. I want to change gears a little bit and do some rapid fire questions. So what are some bad recommendations that you hear in your profession? In your area of expertise?

Do you know what? I'm still struggling with the calorie counting. Like every time I hear calorie counting, I'm having a nervous tic. Until now, people still talk about it, even the practitioners.

Can you talk about that? Because I think what is so interesting and it's coming out more and more with functional medicine is that medical training— and I have a lot of doctor friends— but does not include nutritional training. But actually the food is the medicine you give your body every day. So there is a huge gap in knowledge about that medicine. So can you talk about the change in philosophy around calories away from the calorie in, calorie out?

Yeah. So this calorie counting, it obviously comes from all the dieting and different diets and the weight loss marketing companies. Calories for me, it's literally just one characteristic of things. It doesn't tell you, does it have phytonutrients? Does it have enough fiber to support your gut microbiome? Does it have enough healthy proteins? Does it have enough minerals? It doesn't tell you all of that. This is just some random number, which is not even representative of the real value of this food. And then when people obsessively focusing and saying like, oh, I've eaten this yogurt and it's 120 calories, but I'd rather having this protein bar, which is 200 calories. They're really not thinking right, I think. So every time I have a client talking about the calories, I'm literally spending 10 good minutes just getting this idea out of their head. But then they come back again and they again talking about calories. And I was like, oh my God, this is like a concept which really dies really hard, especially when you're in the weight, when the people who are trying to lose weight. And very often you see clients saying like, well, I would like to lose weight. And then if you have a weight gain and you cannot shift weight, it means you have imbalances and let's sort them out. And it's again, going back to this foundation of your house, let's sort out your foundation. And then your weight loss would be just the positive side effect of this.

That sounds incredible. And I think that some people who've successfully done the ketogenic diet or keto diets where they actually are eating healthy fats but calorie dense are so surprised how much weight they actually lose. So it's really changing that mental model around the calories and the calorie and how the body absorbs different types of foods. So thank you for expanding on that. What are some of the learnings or insights that your clients you work with have found the most valuable? So you just talked on thinking around calories. What are some other areas?

You can explain all the complex science behind things really well and for clients to get it. But I think what really changes the behavior of people is the data. So seeing the results and seeing like, oh, actually I'm sleeping so much better and like practical things, practicalities, how to actually implement it. Because any doctor can tell you, oh, you have this, this, and this, and this is what you should do. But then if you don't know how to do it, you're never going to get to your final destination, right? You just sort of get stuck thinking like, okay, so I know all my data, but what do I do about it? It's actually literally teaching people how to get more veggies in their diet or how to optimize their sleep or how to be able to relax. It's actually— I think this is what's most valuable.

You really go that extra mile with your clients and not just do the analysis and get the data, but actually come up with a very clear action plan to achieve results.

Is that right? Absolutely. This is the whole idea of therapy, right? Because this is a plan. This is the plan developed with the client because I cannot prescribe someone to eat certain things and this person is not on board if they are not willing to change. So you really need to get a client on the same page with you, just get them really motivated about the change. And then you create this plan because to be honest, it's not me doing the hard work. It's all the clients because it's them who needs to change their diets, change their attitudes, change their beliefs and their behaviors. And this is the hard part. It's really hard. So to be honest, every time people come back and say, like, oh, I've done everything on the program, I'm actually amazed every time. I'm thinking like, this is tremendous.

Well done, guys. Amazing.

Because for me, it's easy. You just ask analyzing things, and this is what I love to do, and just advising them, but they do all the hard work.

But you're able to point to, and you have the information and the data as well, to encourage success.

Absolutely, I would go to the details as well. Like, let's say you're going for gluten-free brands, so I would advise on which gluten-free brands which are better. If it's plant-based milk, I'll tell you which one will be better. So it's literally just getting this knowledge, because it will take them hours of research just to get to the point, right? And for me, it's because I know that, right?

So it's easy and I love sharing that. And that's amazing because I think that's where a lot of people trip up as well. They're like, I know I should do this, but there's just so many brands or it's so overwhelming. So to have that clarity and that direction is so helpful as well. How has a failure or an apparent failure set you up for later success? Do you have a favorite failure of yours?

Favorite failure? You're really getting into tricky questions, my friend. Favorite failure. I wouldn't consider it as a failure, like me quitting a career in finance. And this is the career I always liked, mathematics, right? So that was something I was passionate about. Yeah, it sounds strange, but yes, I was enjoying it. So I have a mathematical and economical degree and degree in finance as well. So I've been working so hard for that, and I've been working in this great, incredible bank with great, incredible people. And then I decided to change my career in my 30s, which is quite late, and this is the time where a lot of people are already established in their career paths, and I changed it quite late. In a way, I wouldn't say it's a failure, like now I'm absolutely sure that I've made the right choice, but when I was making this choice, I felt like a failure a little bit. I had two young kids, I was writing my assignments at night, and researching things, And I thought, okay, this feels like a failure because all my colleagues, all my friends, they're like, now have great titles and I'm a student really. But I mean, as I said, like, I wouldn't call it a failure. It just felt like a failure, but it was a necessary step.

And it's brought you to where you are today. And what you said earlier in the conversation, how much you love helping people and making such an impact, right? There's actually a great speech by Steve Jobs. I don't know if you've seen it, the Stanford commemoration speech from 2005. You can watch it on YouTube. It's about 15 minutes, and he talks about 3 experiences in his life. But one of the phrases he uses is connecting the dots. So it's only when you look back and then you realize through those difficult times or those changes was the only way to get me to where I am today. So it's really a case of connecting the dots.

Yeah.

In the last 5 years, what have you become better at saying no to? So distractions, invitations— we talked about self-care and taking time for yourself.

This is a brilliant, Brilliant question, because like boundaries and establishing healthy boundaries is so important. And when you're younger, you just feel you can't say no to your boss, or you can't say no to your friends. And when you become older and you start prioritizing things, you just don't have time for everything. So sometimes, yes, you do need to say, sorry, I'm not joining you for this social occasion, or I'm sorry, I'm not going to work on this project with these deadlines just because it's going to push me too much. So it's actually recognizing your own capacity and whether you can, your mental and physical as well. It's so important. And being able to say, if I'm going to do that, it probably will trigger me and get me into this unhealthy state, mental or physical. So it's hard to learn to say no, but it's definitely possible. And like now, especially when I'm trying to optimize my sleep during this COVID, when we're out and when the social occasions will be happening again, like every day, I'm I'm pretty sure I would be very selective because, to be honest, I don't want to compromise my sleep. I worked so hard to get to the stage where my sleep is optimal now, and I want to improve it even further. I don't want to disrupt it, or like having alcohol, like for example, that's something I gave up after the first lockdown. First lockdown I couldn't give it up, but after the first lockdown I gave it up. And yeah, this is something I feel so much better.

I think it's such an amazing space, the art of saying no gracefully or saying it well. And I think it was an interview I heard with Derek Sivers. He said that if it's not something— you know what your schedule is like in the moment, but if you get an invitation for, say, 6 months out and you're like, oh sure, I'll accept all these invitations, but if it's not something that if it was for next week Tuesday where you would say yes, hell yeah, he says, to it, because you know how busy you are right now, it should be a no. And it's also, I guess, valuing your own time. And this is, as you said yourself, something that I have also really worked on in the last years as well. Before, the FOMO, I have to do everything, and I embarrass I distinctly remember nights of going to 3 different parties and, you know, what was I thinking? Didn't enjoy anything. Everyone was annoyed at me because I was coming and going and whatever. And for whatever reason, I thought it was a good idea. And I think it's what you said around self-care and actually having that time to sit and not be too much input, but actually have time to think. It's just so fundamental for well-being.

And also choosing people who you feel positive to be about. If someone invited you to a party, but you know you're not going to enjoy too much, just, just say no, right? It's absolutely right. It's like you have to be around people who are your tribe, who share, that energize you, who energize you, who support you, who believe in your growth, and not those who drag you down and criticize you.

Absolutely.

Like choosing, protecting yourself, very important.

I like that. Yeah, I've forgotten who said it, but, uh, that you're the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. I don't know if you've heard that quote.

No, I haven't.

It's a good one. Yeah. So think about who those 5 people might be. Choose carefully. Do you have a favorite quote or piece of advice received that was a real game changer for you?

There were so many. I used to have like in my notes, I have these different quotes, which I love, and I put them in one place. There's one which I put on my necklace, and this is something I did after my first child. And this is by Amar Kalyan. It's one of his poems. And it says, be happy for this moment. This moment is your life. Somehow, like after giving birth, you have this profound epiphany. And I thought, this is it. You really need to treasure this present moment. And this is just something to remind me, do not live in the future. Don't sort of have anxiety and fear about the future. Don't overthink your past. What's done is done. Just really focus on today. Appreciate your day. This is something I've been working quite a bit. So I'm trying to sort of schedule like daily walks, which is really hard when I'm working like full-time and homeschooling, but I'm finding, trying to find this time when I'm just by myself in the park, just appreciating the nature, whatever the weather is, and just like really living in the present.

The power of now. Yeah, there's some work out there that is really fascinating and something I'm working on myself, but it's amazing how much calmer and focused and happier you feel if you just actually stop focusing on worrying about the future and worrying about the past and just actually be. They should teach you this at school. Really. So before we close, and thank you so much, this has been so fun. For people who want to dig into gut health and nutrition for longevity further, or for general lifestyle, what resources or books should they start with?

If you're really into sort of science, like reading the research articles would be a little bit hard, I think, for general public. Just some books which are written by scientists would be a good idea. So the most recent ones, I like the Fiber Fueled.

It's a good book explaining—

Fiber Fueled. Fiber Fueled. The author is an American author. He's a gastroenterologist. And then Tim Spector, who is our UK scientist based in King's College. So his book is just recently out. I actually haven't read it, but I have a great respect for him. So I think it's called Spoonfed. So everything about the diets and why they are wrong, something like that. So this would be a good one. So really anything which is written by the medical practitioners would be my advice. Please don't read the books written by influencers, bloggers, It has to be written from the people who actually know what they're talking about.

That's good advice. Yeah, and it goes without saying, any advice and tips we give, it's always after speaking with your physician and medical professional before you stop any medication or change exercise and diet. Where can people— and of course I'll link all of these in the show notes for everyone— but where can people learn more about what you're up to? What would you like to share with people?

Maybe Twitter, Instagram, your website? Instagram. I don't have much time for Instagram anymore, but I do post stories @gutphilosophy. @gutphilosophy is my Instagram account, and I have a website where I do put some of the new recipes because I think it's actually really helpful for people to see how you can do things easy and quick. Yeah. And I'd love to have more focus on my Instagram account, but I just, yeah, not much time.

Not enough hours in the day. Exactly. Do you have a final ask or recommendation or next step suggestion, whatever it might be, for my audience? Any parting thoughts or message?

In general, we really can change health and symptoms to better by addressing your diet and lifestyle. It's important to get tested. So I could not underestimate the importance of getting your blood tests done, just a regular blood test with the GP. Always get the copy of the results. Don't just rely on the receptionist saying like, your results are fine. They probably would be suboptimal in some respect. But then it's also finding someone who will be able to interpret those results for you, or maybe just dig in and do it yourself, looking at the functional medicine optimal ranges. And so this would be important. But I think what's important, we are in charge of our own health. Health, not the NHS. So we really need to take care, especially now with COVID The people in the risk groups are those with lifestyle diseases, really, right? So metabolic problems, this is largely driven by lifestyle diseases. So those things are preventable. And this is why I'm so passionate about— we can prevent these things. Just get tested, see where imbalances are, correct the imbalances, read the books from the scientists, read the health blogs.

And yeah, just take control of your health. Amazing, Elena. Thank you so much. So many wonderful and inspiring pieces of information in here. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for having me, Claudia.

Thank you. Hi everyone, this is Claudia again. Before you take off, thank you so much for listening to the podcast today. I hope you learned as many valuable insights on living better for longevity as I did. I'd love you to join our longevity tribe so we can learn and grow together, as well as hear your feedback. So please subscribe to the podcast and leave a review to let me know what you Thanks so much and take care.