Your Hormones Are Quietly Changing Your Gut and It’s Affecting Your Longevity

If you've ever had a gut issue, anything, gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and specifically if it happens regularly, this is your episode. We've talked about the gut before, but really not like this. We simplified it. We redefined microbiome in a very easy-to-understand way and gave you some goals for this week. So if you are going to the grocery store, Listen to this first before you go. This is your episode if you are dealing with bloating and no matter what you do, it doesn't really go away. If you have gas from foods that never previously gave you gas, or you deal with it and, you know, talk about it because this is not really one of the things that you speak of with your family or even with your friends. Openly and talk about what do you do for this. It's just not, this is for you. We talk about that. We define the microbiome and we talk about not just the gut microbiome, but the all-inclusive microbiome throughout the human body. We even tap into at different ages. So you can listen for yourself and you will benefit, but you'll also listen if you have adult daughters or young adult daughters, and particularly if they are in sports, and learn what different habits, the impact that they have on your microbiome. And I have none other than a true expert in the field with me. My guest today is Alicia Galvin. She's a registered dietitian, an integrative and functional nutrition practitioner, and head of science affairs at Microbiome Lab. She's practiced as a clinician for over 15 years in her private practice, focusing on GI health, women's health, and immune health. She's also co-founded an online training platform for health practitioners in an effort to educate on the principles of GI health from an integrative and functional lens, and has mentored hundreds of practitioners. So I know we have a number of health and fitness professional coaches listening here as well. Some of you are Flipping 50 Menopause Fitness Specialists, and this is a huge part of success in working with our collective listeners today and menopause fitness clients. So I think no matter what lens you're here listening to this from, your own or for supporting and helping clients, this is one podcast that you don't want to miss. Alicia Galvin, thank you so much for being in the house.

Yes, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Well, actually, this is very exciting because this is the inaugural podcast episode in the new office in the new state. So literally she had to do the check, check, am I working okay? So, so we had a little heat going on here today, but you are a registered dietitian Integrative— integrative, spit those words out— and functional nutrition practitioner, and you're head of scientific affairs at Microbiome Labs, which is kind of a big deal. You're kind of a big deal. How did you land where you are? Because certainly not all registered dietitians go in the path or the track that you've been on. How'd you land where you are today?

Yeah, it's, uh, it's a funny kind of a funny turn of events of how I landed here. So when I first was in, um, I was an athlete actually in high school. And so I just always knew that I wanted to be, um, a dietitian stemming from that because I was exposed to how nutrition and how taking care of your body, uh, affects your physical performance. And so starting in high school was when I decided I decided, oh, I, I want to become a dietitian because I see the link between nutrition and performance. Um, and then when I went through my training as a dietitian and, and all the clinicals and the rotations and all of the training that goes into becoming a dietitian, I worked in a clinical setting and, uh, with a focus on patients who couldn't eat normally. I worked in a home infusion center, um, and that was where I realized the importance of the gut and gut health and what can go wrong if you take care of your gut and just the end product of people who are on tube feeds and IV nutrition. And so that was a real intensive way of learning more about gut and gut function and anatomy and physiology and, and all those different things. And but I always knew I wanted to work with individuals and I wanted to be more on the outpatient side. And so that led me to private practice where I actually focused my practice on gut health and the microbiome and GI health.

Health.

And I had used Megaspor and Microbiome Labs products for years in my clinical practice and just saw amazing results with my patients. And so when the opportunity came for me to join Microbiome Labs as part of their education and clinical scientific affairs team, which was 3— about 3 years ago now, um, I jumped at the opportunity to, to be part of a company that really puts a lot of effort into researching products using quality high-source ingredients, but also very niche in trailblazing the microbiome and choosing to formulate products that are really geared towards gut health and microbiome health, because that was what I had practiced and preached for, you know, about at the time was 10 years prior to that. And, and then I'm here I am. I've worked my way up to being where I am as head of the clinical department, which is really exciting and fun. But along the way, it was just really eye-opening, you know, working with my patients seeing the impact on gut health and just how much of our overall stomach health stems from our gut and just seeing what can happen and how many things change when you just focus on optimizing GI health and the microbiome.

So very important. And I think to every woman who's listening here, it's— I don't know a woman I can't think of a woman in midlife who hasn't had a change in, in her gut, whether it's gas or bloating or constipation or diarrhea. And it's only now for some women that we start thinking about it or realizing, oh, I can't just pass this off as that's my normal, because so many women have for a very long time like not pooped regularly but thought well, that's just how I am, and, and not realize to think there's a better way. And, and that might be hinting at something else going on. So I love that, but I really want to back up. Let's go to square one for a listener. And we've used this word, and I bet even somebody listening has used this word themselves but might not be able to turn to a best friend and define it. So would you do us the honor and define what is the microbiome?

Yes. So your microbiome refers to the many, many, many different types of organisms that live in and on your body. So you're basically covered head to toe, inside and out with microbes. You've got yeast, you've got bacteria, you have in some cases our gut has different viruses that we tend to think of viruses as being problematic, but actually there's some viruses that can live just perfectly happily in our gut and our gut can manage them normally. So they're all of these little living creatures that are super teeny tiny, but they have such an influence on our health. You have different types depending on the part of your body. So your skin has its own unique set of organisms and microbiome. Your mouth has its own set of little organisms that do different things. Your gut is the largest area and where we have the highest concentration of these organisms in our colon, which is our large intestine, which is part of your GI tract. But what the microbiome does and what we're learning is, if you think of it like a soccer team or your favorite sports team, every player on the team has its own unique position. And that position that those organisms or that particular person on the team plays serves a specific function. So if you're thinking about, you know, a soccer team or a football team, the different positions are going to have a unique role to play as part of the team, but they all have to work together in order for the team to perform optimally. And that's, that's kind of like what your microbiome is. Each organism is going to have its own unique role to play in terms of helping with maybe it's immune function or communicating with your brain or supporting your, your, your vaginal microenvironment, you know, and supporting health. And so each of these players play a role. And when those players are not performing optimally, the team suffers. And so that's where if we have, you know, disruptions in our gut microbiome or disruptions in our skin microbiome or our vaginal microbiome, if certain players aren't present or if certain players aren't aren't playing the way that they should, the team will suffer. And so that's, in a way, kind of how to describe the function and what the microbiome is.

So good. Such a great description. Okay, so now I'm dying to ask this. I should have asked this earlier. So was your sport soccer, or what was it?

I actually ran track and field and cross-country. So, okay, yeah, I was a triple jumper, long jumper. I did some sprints, and then I did— I actually did distance. As well.

Wow. Okay. Which, you know, I would say to a distance runner— um, also a distance runner, and I'm sure I was way slower than you— but for a distance runner, gut health is so important because it usually gets destroyed just in— yeah, it doesn't take a lot. Okay, so that said, what are the factors that influence microbiome health? So you've talked about they need to be all functioning and working together, but what causes it to go wrong? I mean, I am guessing someone up above put us down here and we had everything set up just great, and somehow along the way we've screwed it up. What did we do wrong? Real quick, I want to answer a question I get asked so often: what supplements do I invest in? What's worth it? Well, here's something I've been doing for years. I keep these next to my coffee as a part of my morning routine. And let me tell you, nobody messes with my coffee. 2 longevity gummies, I think, is far easier than another pill. These longevity gummies are powered by Mitopure, the only clinically proven form of urolithin A shown in human studies to help renew mitochondrial function, a key driver in healthy aging. Look, midlife changes are not only hormonal. Cellular energy decline is a big part of how we feel as we age, and it plays a major part in gaining strength in our ability to have muscular function. In fact, Mitopure has been clinically shown to support muscle strength and function. In fact, it targets a key hallmark of aging, again, that mitochondrial decline. It helps you stay active, capable, and vibrant. And Mitopure is the number one doctor-recommended urolithin A supplement. Are you a prove-it-to-me girl like me? Well, I love the fact that it's backed by more than 15 years of research in mitochondrial health. It's been studied in multiple human clinical trials, including on older adults, and it delivers a precise standardized dose, the one used in research. Timeline is a science-first longevity company. I like that. Support yourselves in how you age with MitoPure gummies from Timeline. Visit timeline.com/Flipping50Show and save up to 39% off your MitoPure gummies. That's timeline.com/Flipping50Show. As a brand new homeowner of an old home, this is one of my favorite sponsors. Did you know that 3 out of 4 US homes have toxic chemicals in their tap water? Even though contaminated water water looks clear, it could put you at risk for devastating health concerns including fatigue, hormone disruption, cognitive decline, even cancer. Surprisingly, standard fridge and pitcher filters do little to remove contaminants, and bottled water contains microplastics. So what's the solution? Introducing AquaTru. It's the countertop water purifier tested and certified to remove 84 contaminants including chlorine, lead, forever chemicals, and microplastics. Plastics. Its patented 4-stage reverse osmosis system goes way beyond ordinary filters for pure, healthy water you can trust. No plumbing, no installation. AquaTru has been featured in Business Insider, Popular Science, and named best countertop water filter by Good Housekeeping. Join 98% of customers who say their drinking water is cleaner, safer and healthier. Go to aquatru.com now for 20% off your purifier using promo code FLIPPING50. AquaTru even comes with a 30-day best-tasting water guarantee. That's aquatru.com, A-Q-U-A-T-R-U dot com, promo code FLIPPING50.

Yeah, there are factors that we have control over, and then there are factors that we don't have control over. So the, the factors that we have control over that, you know, we can do every single day that's going to either, you know, promote optimal balance or it might detract from that optimal balance would be things like your diet, obviously. So, you know, one of the things that your bacteria love to eat is fiber. So making sure that you're consuming lots of different types of plants, you You know, your, your goal is to get about 30 different types of plants each week. So, um, I would challenge your listeners to count how many plants you're eating in a week. Um, and they have to be different plants. So it doesn't count if you eat broccoli every day or carrots every day, it has to be 30 different plants. So that can be beans, it can be nuts, it could be vegetables, it could be fruits, grains, seeds like hemp and chia seeds. You know, those types of things that— but count, your goal is 30. And the more diversity of the types of fibers and different plants that you eat, that's actually going to encourage your diversity of your gut microbiome, which we want. We want lots of diversity in the gut microbiome. If you think about like a rainforest or, you know, one of those really strong ecosystems where you've got lots of different types of plants species, you have a really nice, robust, lush, you know, rainforest versus if you think about something like a desert where you have, you know, cactus and maybe a few other little scraggly plants, you don't have a lot of diversity there. Not as robust and healthy of an environment either. So we want lots of diversity in our gut and you achieve that by eating lots of different types of fiber. So I'd say diet's really important. Stress management. Which again is technically a controllable factor, although I know sometimes it might feel like it's not, but stress plays a big role in our microbiome. So higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol can influence our gut health. So, you know, using techniques like box breathing, which is where you inhale for 4 to 7 seconds, you hold for 4 to 7 seconds, you exhale for 4 to 7 seconds, and then you hold. So that real slow inhale and exhale is a way that I would tell people, you know, do that for 2 minutes a couple times a day. You can set your phone timer, you can do it anywhere, it doesn't require any equipment, it doesn't take a lot of time, but it just is a way to sort of reset the breath because your breathwork— there are certain receptors in your lungs that when you do those deep inhale and exhale, they actually send signals to your gut that help to sort of calm, calm the system.

Cool.

Yeah, so stress management, and I'd say also sleep, you know.

And I want to ask you something. So on that, because I think inevitably there's somebody here who, just to play devil's advocate, who might be listening who would say, well, that doesn't work for me. But it would potentially, in spite of them believing it, right? Because their lungs are having that function regardless of whether they're buying into it mentally, am I right?

Yeah, yeah, it's really— it's a receptor that's in your lung. It's our baroreceptors that when you do that real deep inhale and then the exhale, it automatically shifts your body into a kind of a rest and digest state, which is what we call our parasympathetic nervous system. So when you're in that rest and digest, that's when things are moving the way they should. It's when you're— you know, it helps with the gut-brain signals that go along a nerve that connects our gut and our brain. So even if you're thinking, oh, this is not going to work, just, just try it. Just try it for a few days. Try, you know, a couple of times a day. Yeah. To see if there's a difference.

I love it. And I always like to say, you know, go ahead and try it. You have nothing to lose because you can always go back to what's not working now.

Right?

Yeah. So, so good. Okay, so stress, the diet, and I want to back up tap a little bit on diet too, because right now, I mean, not, not different than any other time in history, but we hear so much more about the carnivore diet. Like, you don't need carbs. Talk a little bit about that, because someone on a carnivore diet, is that ever beneficial? That's like eliminating fiber from your life. And some of those people seem to be thriving. So it makes those of us who bought into, okay, we need lots of fiber, makes us wonder, wait a minute, yeah, how does this fit in?

Yep. So we don't know really what the long-term impact on the carnivore diet is as it relates to the microbiome. And, you know, there can be long-term because The fiber is a fuel source. I mean, yes, you have certain bacteria that they can ferment and use protein once it's digested, but that's not their, that's not their preferential fuel source. And actually there's, there's different types of byproducts that bacteria make depending on what food they're eating. Um, so which kind of like us, depending on your diet, your stools might change. So depending on what you put in, What you put out is different. Bacteria are basically the same. When bacteria eat and ferment carbohydrates and fibers, they give off really beneficial byproducts called short-chain fatty acids, which are basically just these little molecules that are released from bacteria as a result of fermenting fiber. But these short-chain fatty acids are so critically important for our gut health, for our immune health. Brain health, there's a whole— insulin and glucose metabolism. So these short-chain fatty acids that are released when bacteria eat fiber and carbs, super beneficial. Bacteria also release certain byproducts when they eat protein, but those are not as beneficial. And if we have an overabundance of those types of byproducts, those actually can become more inflammatory for our gut. So So, you know, in the short term, if somebody has microbial and maybe some bacterial imbalances in their gut where maybe they have an overgrowth of certain ones that shouldn't be there, or maybe they have too many bacteria, especially in their small intestine, carbohydrates and fiber might not feel good. And so they might feel better on a carnivore diet. Um, but that doesn't mean that that's the best long-term solution for people because we also know that, especially if you look at like blue zones which are these centenarians who live, you know, 100 years plus, um, their diets are very rich in lots of fiber sources. So I mean, there's many other variables that make them very healthy, but you know, when you look at their diet specifically, it's, it's rich in these different types of fibers.

Love it. Thank you for addressing that. Okay. So I've got a question, just given, let's say a 20-year-old woman versus a woman who might be 45 and in the midst of perimenopause versus a woman who's 60, who's postmenopausal. How does, how does just that, like punching your ticket at different stages, hormonal stages specifically in life, change a female's gut? And is this different, I'm guessing, for a female versus for a male?

Yes, yes, there are different hormones, estrogen and progesterone, and make a world of difference depending on the levels when women go through their different stages of life and hormonal shifts. And those also differ from male. So studies have been done looking at twin studies where it's, you know, male-female twins, so boy-girl twins, and the gut microbiome is very similar in infancy and young childhood, but then once puberty hits, you actually start to see a divergence, um, in the male and the female gut when those hormones start to kick in. Um, and then when a woman goes through puberty and then her reproductive years and then through that perimenopause and then postmenopause, there are further shifts, not only in our gut microbiome, but also in other microbiomes. So our vaginal microbiome will start to change, our urinary microbiome changes, our oral microbiome changes, a lot of it being related to the fluctuations in estrogen because estrogen actually encourages your— especially like your vaginal tract to release a certain sugar, it's called glycogen, it's a glucose molecule, sugar that is a really nice fuel source for our beneficial bacteria that live in our vaginal tract. When estrogen levels start to drop, you lose that fuel source. And so those bacteria start to lose the food. And so you start to get a drop in these really beneficial species. And that can lead to some of the, some of the effects that in the symptoms that women start to experience as they start to go through perimenopause and then postmenopausally. But also things like UTIs. You know, your urinary tract changes, so you might see UTIs, yeast infections, bacterial infections, that type of thing. So yes, you will have a different microbiome depending on the stage of life that you're in.

So for a woman, a younger woman who is still in those reproductive years and having a cycle, does the gut microbiome change distinctly from the week she's at in those 4 weeks? Of her cycle?

They can— it won't change super drastically, but you will see some fluctuations. The vaginal tract can change a little bit more drastically depending on the composition and how healthy her vaginal microbiome is, which a lot of the same factors that are going to influence your gut microbiome health are going to be the same types of factors that will influence your vaginal microbiome health. Health, so the diet, the stress levels, you know, certain medications like antibiotics. So those will all play a role also in the vaginal cavity. And so yes, so depending on how robust and how healthy her vaginal microbiome environment is, those could lead to some fluctuations throughout her cycle depending on the time of the month and how heavy her menstrual cycle is.

Got it. I'm going to go down a real side path here. So no, nobody probably listening to this unless they're listening as a coach or for their mother is probably in this arena, but babies. So at birth, a baby going through the vaginal tube, and I know enough to be dangerous here, so I'm going to ask for your guidance. But there is something very health and immune system oriented when a baby goes through the vaginal tunnel as opposed to a C-section. What is that exactly and how does it— how is it protective of the baby? Is it also beneficial for the mother or just primarily for the baby? Real quick, I want to answer a question I get so often. What supplements do I invest in? What's worth it? Well, here's something I've been doing for years. I keep these next to my coffee as a part of my morning routine. And let me tell you, Nobody messes with my coffee. 2 longevity gummies, I think, is far easier than another pill. These longevity gummies are powered by Mitopure, the only clinically proven form of urolithin A shown in human studies to help renew mitochondrial function, a key driver in healthy aging. Look, midlife changes are not only hormonal. Cellular energy decline is a big part of how we feel as we age, and it plays a major part in gaining strength in our ability to have muscular function. In fact, Mitopure has been clinically shown to support muscle strength and function. In fact, it targets a key hallmark of aging, again, that mitochondrial decline. It helps you stay active, capable, and vibrant. And Mitopure is the number one doctor-recommended Urolethin-A supplement. Are you a prove-it-to-me girl like me? Well, I love the fact that it's backed by more than 15 years of research in mitochondrial health. It's been studied in multiple human clinical trials, including on older adults, and it delivers a precise standardized dose, the one used in research. Timeline is a science-first longevity company. I like that. Support yourselves and how you age with Mitopure gummies from Timeline. Visit timeline.com/Flipping50Show and save up to 39% off your Mitopure gummies. That's timeline.com/Flipping50Show. As a brand new homeowner of an old home, this is one of my favorite sponsors. Did you know that 3 out of 4 US homes have toxic chemicals in their tap water? Even though contaminated water looks clear, it could put you at risk for devastating health concerns, including fatigue, hormone disruption, cognitive decline, even cancer. Surprisingly, standard fridge and pitcher filters do little to remove contaminants, and bottled water contains microplastics. So what's the solution? Introducing AquaTru. It's the countertop water purifier tested and certified to remove 84 contaminants, including chlorine, lead, forever chemicals and microplastics. Its patented 4-stage reverse osmosis system goes way beyond ordinary filters for pure, healthy water you can trust. No plumbing, no installation. AquaTru's been featured in Business Insider, Popular Science, and named best countertop water filter by Good Housekeeping. Join 98% of customers who say their drinking water is cleaner, safer, and healthier. Go to aquatru.com now for 20% off your purifier using promo code FLIPPING50. AquaTru even comes with a 30-day best-tasting water guarantee. That's aquatru.com, A-Q-U-A-T-R-U.com, promo code FLIPPING50.

Yeah, definitely. Um, so when a baby is born through the vaginal tract, they tend to be coated with more of like the fecal and the vaginal microbiome of the mom. Whereas when a baby is born through a C-section, they tend to be colonized by the skin microbiome, the mom's skin microbiome. Um, you know, research, and again, you know, this is, I know, a very sensitive topic for many women. And, you know, there are cases where you know, you have to have a C-section for safety of the mom, safety of the baby. But right, there are differences in, um, the gut microbiome of a baby and also some of the clinical— there's correlations with some of the clinical conditions that can show up in an offspring in babies who were born C-section versus vaginal. So very much a, um, you know, a really important element to consider when, you know, if you've been born vaginal versus C-section, or if you've had a vaginal versus C-section delivery, just knowing that there will be differences in the gut microbiome of the babies. And it's, you know, from an immune standpoint, there seems to be lots of great benefit to a vaginal delivery because of the fecal and the vaginal microbiome colonization.

Is there something that can be done for a C-section baby to bolster that immune system?

Yeah, so there's, um, and again, this would be something you'd have to talk with your doctor about, but You know, there's the vaginal swabbing. So some, some practitioners will swab the vaginal tract of the mom and we'll just swab it all over the baby if born via C-section so that you can have, you know, that. But breastfeeding, you know, there's also a lot of benefit to breastfeeding. There's so many wonderful components, you know, talking about prebiotics and fiber. There's very specific prebiotics in breast milk called HMOs, which are these long-chain sugars that have a plethora of benefit to the baby and the baby's immune system and, you know, the health and growth of the baby's gut and the gut microbiome. So, you know, even if you've had a C-section or, you know, or need to have a C-section, if you're pregnant now, you need to have a C-section, I mean, breastfeeding is a great way to do that. But then there are also some probiotics that, you know, if the mom is taking them or, you know, there's certain probiotics now that are available to— for infants that you can provide. But I'd say breastfeeding is going to be probably— if you can, and again, again, that's a sensitive— you know, some women can and some have a harder time, but that's a great way to circumvent if, if you've had a C-section.

So speak a little into how do these changes that women go through, how do they influence a woman's overall health? And, and really, I think we're looking at You know, we're not just looking at fitness for today, but we— you get to a point and you are now suddenly thinking about, huh, like I just moved to Iowa, y'all. It snowed and there's ice under that snow. And I am now thinking twice about a dog on the other end of the leash pulling on me. And I'm thinking, wait a minute here, even I could go down. Doesn't matter how fit I am, you know, but I'm thinking that could be detrimental to like the rest of my life. So, so could this— how, how, how do these changes really influence us? If so, that we can look at it more, I think, than say an irritation, or, you know, I've got bloating. How do we look at this as, you know what, that's a symptom that your longevity might be a little more limited than you'd like it to be so we can wake up to what can I do.

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, yeah, I think the longevity conversation is a big topic right now. And when we say longevity, it's, it's really, it's about your muscular health, it's about your brain health, your cognitive health, your heart health, your metabolic health. It's, you know, it's really all of the systems that have to come together to continue to work optimally. Um, and that's where the gut microbiome microbiome plays a big role because literally our gut microbiome touches every single one of those elements. It touches our gut-brain axis, our gut-skin axis. There's actually, you know, things like short-chain fatty acids can play a role in muscle health and helping with, you know, our gut membrane integrity and our immune system to help us from, you know, getting, you know, ill or chronic conditions. Also metabolic health, our gut microbiome and the short-chain fatty acids that I was talking about, those different byproducts, have a huge influence on our metabolic health. So, you know, when we're going through these different stages and we have our hormones that are fluctuating and, you know, estrogen levels are dropping, and we know that there are these shifts that are coming to our microbiome. Yes, like you said, there's irritations of, you know, the inconvenient UTI or the, you know, the vaginal itching or the odor. There's those inconveniences, but then there's the bigger picture of, you know, am I going to be able to see my grandchildren grow up? Am I going to be able to be healthy enough and active enough to be able to run around with them and pick them up and carry them up the stairs? And, you know, I think that's, that's, you know, that's longevity. That's, you know, how do we healthy, you know, enter that healthy aging? Um, and our gut microbiome, especially when it comes to our brain health, um, because I think that's a big piece. You know, people are worried about things like Alzheimer's and dementia and making sure that they're keeping their minds sharp. There's a huge correlation between our gut health and some of these shifts that can happen when we have a loss of some of our beneficial bacteria and an increase of some of the more inflammatory bacteria. That inflammation actually can influence our brain and our brain health, and it can actually affect our cognitive function and our cognitive abilities. And that's just one example. There's many other examples that, you know, we could go into, but Ways to mitigate it would be just trying to be on top of your sleep, your diet, stress management, taking probiotics and supplements, taking prebiotic fibers if you're feeling like you're not quite getting to those 30 plants a week. You can take certain types of fibers that are able to fuel and help encourage some of those beneficial species that you might lose when you're going through these these stages of life and to help to encourage the production of those short-chain fatty acids as well.

I love it. Yeah, so, so great, you know. And I would have to say that from Microbiome Labs, I stumbled across this like so accidentally, but you've got some great products. So I'm going to— this is totally listeners, this is not meant to be an ad for tutorial or an advertisement, but I'm sharing— this is something that I use, and I— it's been a while because it actually helped. I haven't had to come back to it, but it was like a suite of things that I used. If you were gonna recommend something for someone without them doing any testing, and I'm, I'm gonna ask you to tap into that because I would guess that you'd prefer somebody does some testing to look maybe at their microbiome and see what do they need to feed and what maybe do they need to starve so that we get the balance right. Because it's not just a— we don't want to just go to Vegas and gamble, we, you know, throwing the dice. We want to know we're throwing the dart at the exact target. But speak into that testing, and then speak into what have you got and how does it help.

Yeah, yeah, you know, testing is, um It's not always accessible to everybody. And so I definitely appreciate that, you know, there might be listeners who they don't have an option for getting advanced testing or maybe, you know, financially or from an access standpoint, maybe they don't have a provider. So I would say one of our, you know, our flagship product, Megaspor, is a probiotic. It was what basically what we started with at the very beginning with Microbiome Labs. It has 10 clinical research trials on the finished product itself, which is different from a lot of companies. A lot of companies just research the ingredients and then they put them together in a formula. We actually test the finished product to see how it performs. We have a variety of human clinical trials as well as some animal and some in vitro trials on it. But it's, it's a great, just basic probiotic. It works differently from other probiotics. Probiotics. It doesn't— most people think about just replacing the bacteria, so just taking probiotics to reseed. But what Megaspor does with the types of probiotics that are in there is it actually changes and shifts the gut ecology. So it helps to really encourage your good beneficial species, your keystone species, which keystone species are— it's this— it's a small group of bacteria that have a disproportionately large influence on our overall health and wellness. We're talking about anti-aging and longevity. There's a certain— there's a couple of keystone species called Akkermansia muciniphila, which sounds like Greek, probably because it's Latin, but it's a keystone species that's really important to our metabolic health, glucose control. It's been associated in— it's higher in people who live longer. So people who age well tend to have higher levels of Akkermansia. As well as there's another one called Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, which is another keystone. Basically, these are two of your, like, all-stars. You talk about, like, going back to the sports analogy, these are your, like, MVP all-stars who you want them on your team and you want to have a lot of them on your team because it's going to really help the team perform well and it's going to help you to age more gracefully. So Megaspor has been shown to help increase those two MVPs. Um, through the research that we've done with it. So it's, it's a great all-around probiotic that can really support overall digestive wellness and overall health.

Amazing. Yeah, and I, I really had just great results and, um, felt better almost immediately. Just a huge difference maker. And, uh, so can't say enough about it, but always love to like toot the horn of something that I've used and it worked for me and And knowing, trusting, all makes such great sense. Where can a listener learn more? And we have a number of health coaches and fitness pros as well as practitioners who listen to the podcast. Where could they go to get more education? If you want to share the website or anything else that you've got.

Sure. So we're on social media, so you can always learn more there if you follow us at Microbiome Microbiome Labs. We regularly have different, you know, consumer-friendly information that gets posted on our social media platform like Instagram, and, you know, we're mostly on Instagram, I would say. And then our website is microbiomelabs.com. So if you're a health coach or if you're looking to gather more information about the products and the science behind them, feel free to go to microbiome-labs.com. You can create an account. It's for free. And you actually get a lot of information, educational information, webinars, that type of thing once you have an account. And so that's a way that you can also learn more. There's lots of resources for you there. And then we are on Amazon, so we do have an Amazon store as well.

Awesome and amazing. And thank you so much for your time today. So as a woman and I I believe— I could be wrong on this— you have twins.

I do have twins.

You have twins. Okay, so as a mother of young twins, I mean, if there was one thing that you do religiously for your gut health, your own personal gut health, given— I don't know, are you getting lots of really great quality sleep? What would that be? What, what, what would you like never never give up on? This has got to always be there.

Yes. I would say for me, I always make sure that I get a good workout, not too intense, but exercise. We didn't touch on it, but exercise is another thing that actually is very beneficial for your gut health and your microbiome. Not overexercising, that can be detrimental. Not being sedentary, that's not great either. But when you're doing moderately levels of activity on a regular, you know, 4 or 5 days a week, you can actually really encourage— acromancia specifically can really increase when you do that. So I make sure that I get my workouts in, and I would say it's harder now with the twins, but I do really try to aim for that 30, that number of 30 plants per week, whether it's through making a big salad or a big, you know, soup where I just put a bunch of things. It doesn't have to be complicated. You can just throw a bunch of stuff into a one-pot meal. Um, I try to add chia seeds to everything. Um, you know, handfuls of mixed nuts. Now, I, I do try to make an effort to— if nothing else, I try to get my, my 30 different plants in a week.

Yeah, that is something. So those of you out there at the grocery store putting in the broccoli and the carrots and the cauliflower. I see you every week doing that, so quit that. Okay, Alicia, thank you again for being here.

Yeah, thank you so much. I had a lot of fun.