Gut Health 101

Welcome to The Perfect Stool: Understanding and Healing the Gut Microbiome. This is your host, Lindsey Parsons, and today's podcast is called Gut Health 101 because it's geared towards people who are interested in maintaining their gut health, learning how their gut health impacts their overall health, or who only have minor or occasional gut issues. This is not one of my advanced-level podcasts for people who've got longstanding gut issues or who make a minor career of studying gut health like myself and the gut microbiome. So for my longtime listeners, please be patient as I spell things out in detail. And for new folks, welcome. So if you're a person who has generally good gut health, and by that I mean good digestion, regular stool, and you only have indigestion or bloating or feel bad occasionally when you overeat or eat a lot of junk food or eat something that disagrees with you, then you may be interested in maintaining your good gut health or hearing about easy remedies for basic issues. Or maybe you're a person who seems to have good gut health but has other issues like autoimmune disease, mental health challenges, headaches, or skin issues. I'm going to talk a little bit about how this all relates to your gut. So the gut is host to both good or commensal and bad or pathogenic bacteria that generally stay in balance. And because the good ones or the general diversity of the good ones keep the bad ones in check, you don't have issues, or they don't— you don't appear to have issues. Now, since 70% of our immune system is housed in our gut, an overgrowth of bad bacteria can lead to an elevated immune response, which is what inflammation is. And then inflammation can cause fatigue, depression, brain fog, migraines, autoimmune disease, acne, and other skin issues, among other symptoms. And of course, long-term health issues like cancer and cardiovascular disease. And then the gut-brain connection goes both ways. Just as an unhealthy gut can affect the brain, mental stress can upset the gut, which I talk a lot more about in episode number 30, Food for Thought: Mental Health and the Gut, which I'll link to in the show notes. In fact, I'm gonna mention a lot of past episodes and I'll link to all those in the show notes. So given the food we eat, at least in the US and the standard American diet, not to mention our stress levels, the medical system we have today, more people are likely to have an imbalanced gut microbiome than not. And by gut microbiome, I mean the ensemble of all of the bacteria and fungi and viruses and archaea that live in your intestinal tract. So antibiotic overuse, the overuse of proton pump inhibitors— that is acid-reducing medications— higher intake of processed foods and added sugar, Not to mention stressful lives and jobs and a more sedentary lifestyle can all contribute to gut health issues. So most people associate bloating or acid reflux with the gut, but you might not necessarily be making the connection between your gut health and your fatigue or your depression. The reality is, is that the gut is absolutely central to our entire wellbeing with a connection both to the brain and the nervous system, so that if you're feeling off mentally, it may be time to be looking downwards, not upwards. So the first thing I wanted to emphasize is that diet is going to be your single most important factor in restoring or maintaining a healthy gut and healthy body overall. Nothing is gonna move the needle as much as what you're eating day in, day out. I had a client who came to me with what she thought was irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, as well as to lose some weight. And when we moved her to a low-carb anti-inflammatory diet, which essentially meant gluten-free and sugar-free in her case, and we got her blood sugar into balance, all of the IBS symptoms disappeared. So step 1, if you're just a little bit off, is to eliminate or starkly reduce processed food, sugar, and for a time, gluten. There are so many good gluten-free options now that many people find it quite doable and worth it to be mostly or completely gluten-free just so they feel better. You may not necessarily be someone who has to eliminate gluten for good, but it is good to give your gut a break for a month or so, as it can contribute to intestinal permeability, which I'll talk more about later. And then after you've been off of gluten for about a month, to retest eating it a couple days in a row, 2 to 3 times a day, before deciding whether it's something that works for you or not. I personally don't do well with gluten, and I'm kind of happy about that because most of the food with gluten in it really isn't healthy to begin with. So it gives me an excuse to opt out of all those empty carb calories. I did do a whole podcast episode on gluten. It's episode 21, so you can check that out from the show notes. In terms of sugar, your best bet is to find healthy sugar-free alternatives that you like, of which there are tons these days, like stevia, monk fruit extract, and if they don't bother your gut, sugar alcohols like erythritol, xylitol, or allulose. Use those for more regular consumption when you want something sweet and limit desserts with actual sugar to occasional, say maximum once or twice a week treats if absolutely necessary. Sugar causes inflammation and feeds yeast and unhealthy bacteria. So eating a daily dessert can ultimately lead to gut health issues, especially if that's on top of other processed carbs like bread, bagels, pancakes, tortillas, pasta, chips, et cetera. But if you like to bake like I do, the sugar alcohols substitute really well for regular sugar and they taste exactly like sugar with no bitter aftertaste. Xylitol substitutes one for one for sugar, but it does cause loose stool for some people. And then erythritol and allulose are less sweet than sugar. So about 1 cup of each is equal to 3/4 cup of sugar. And they tend to have fewer, no digestive issues for people. We don't digest them, neither does our gut bacteria, so they just pass through us harmlessly but provide that sweet taste that sugar does. And I found with both myself and my clients that you can lose weight and lower blood sugar even while consuming these safer alternatives, which is not the case for artificial sweeteners like aspartame and acesulfame potassium, which are found in diet sodas. In addition, if you sense that you have issues with the lactose and dairy, like maybe after you eat a lot of dairy or ice cream or milk or a lot of soft cheeses, you might have gas or bloating or soft stool, even if it's, uh, only some of the time, that may be pointing to a lactose intolerance issue. You can try lactose digestion tablets, which you can find at any drugstore, or dairy digestion tablets when you eat soft cheeses and milk or large quantities of any kind of dairy product or cheese. Some folks are also sensitive to casein, which is the protein in cheese. And I found personally that eliminating all dairy got rid of my acid reflux. So for some people, that may be a necessary step to have consistently good gut health. And one more word about processed food, because a lot of people fancy they don't eat a lot of it. If it comes in a box or bag or can, it is processed food. That being said, there are totally crappy, non-organic, additive-laden foods full of unpronounceable ingredients, and there are organic processed foods with few ingredients that independently might be considered healthy. So while those shouldn't, you know, be a large part of your diet, if you're going to be choosing bread and pasta and ice cream and chips and things like that, obviously there's better and worse choices and you don't really need to be a rocket scientist to figure out which those are. But if you do need help figuring it out, the Environmental Working Group's Food Scores database can help you determine if there are questionable ingredients in your food. And which are the most problematic ingredients in foods overall. Speaking of organic food, eating organic is important for many reasons related to gut health, including that organic foods contain fewer pesticides like glyphosate, which is designed to kill bacteria and can upset the balance of bacteria in your gut. They also contain fewer heavy metals and include more healthy fats, with organic meats and dairy containing 50% more anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids than conventionally produced products. Organic foods also come without an antibiotics, of course, and synthetic hormones and contain more antioxidants. And of course, while it's ideal for everybody to eat all organic, I know it can be expensive. So if you need to prioritize, at least for produce, you can check out Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen produce list, which includes strawberries, apples, and grapes, which have been found to contain the highest amount of pesticide residues, plus the rest of the dozen. And then their Clean 15 list, or the least polluted produce. And that's a good place to start in terms of your produce. It's also recommended to buy organic and even better pasture-raised eggs, dairy, and meat wherever possible, and wild seafood. So, you know, honestly, personally, if I had to prioritize anything, I think the top of the food chain, like your fats and your meats, is probably the most important thing to be buying organic. And the things that I think people tend to do the least buying of organic because they're harder to get at. I buy my meat from a farm, for example, in order to get that high-quality pasture-raised meat. It's not organic, but I know the practices they use. So, you know, when you think about eating farm fresh and organic foods, it's really starting from the bottom up, literally. Like for years, the chemical fertilizers, the pesticides, and the fungicides have destroyed the soil microbiota in which the conventional crops are grown. And those microbiota are essential to plant health and nutrient content. Fortunately, they're starting to add back microbial species to the soil to help repair that damage. But until our farming system changes, choosing organic and pastured or local where you know your farmer and how they're producing your food is the best place to buy chemical-free, healthy products. And for some people, switching to organic foods may be all you need to resolve not just your gut health, but your overall health issues. As I say to my husband when he complains about our grocery bills, I'd rather pay it in food than healthcare. In terms of overall eating patterns, my personal bias based on all that I've read and heard, is anything from a lower-carb Mediterranean diet, which tends to be higher in seafood and include complex carbs like beans and lentils and whole grains and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, to a paleo diet, which is grain-free and totally processed food-free. For the average person, I'm generally not in favor of vegetarian or vegan diets other than perhaps a vegetarian diet with some inclusion of seafood for people of blood type A who tend to do better with that type of diet.. But if for ethical reasons you need to follow a vegan diet, you'll likely need to supplement with L-carnitine and B12 at minimum. But in the long term, this kind of diet, unless it's carefully monitored, can lead to protein deficiencies that can ultimately break down the gut lining and lead to a host of other random bodily problems that occur when the body can't do everything that it does with amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. I've started using a new test called the ION Profile with 40 amino acids with some of my clients, and for my vegetarian clients, I've seen many specific amino acid deficiencies, each of which carries potential negative health consequences based on what that individual amino acid does in the body besides form proteins. Not to mention just the general protein deficiencies and how that can then impact your health. But if you're doing well on a vegetarian diet and you've been doing it long-term, just ignore me. There are plenty of advocates out there for plant-based diets, and I haven't read everything that's ever been written on this topic. In addition to food, caffeine and alcohol are common gut irritants. In general, coffee has actually been shown to have numerous health benefits, as my husband likes to point out all the time because he's a big coffee drinker. It's full of antioxidants and micronutrients, and studies have shown it promotes longevity, lower rates of heart disease, cancer, and a whole bunch of other benefits. Coffee has also been shown to boost energy, fight depression, lower risks of certain gastrointestinal diseases, and even prevent diabetes. However, like most things, coffee comes with its own sets of cons as well. Coffee's infamous for its laxative effect due to the release of gastrin, which stimulates movement in the digestive tract. And then the same adrenaline triggered by coffee that gives people energy can also lead to anxiety and nervousness. And studies have also shown that coffee can worsen GERD or gastroesophageal reflux disease, also known as acid reflux, and cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Pregnant women and children are also discouraged from consuming large amounts of coffee. Up to 400 milligrams a day is considered healthy for the average adult. And people with certain gut health issues like IBS, SIBO, or small intestine bacterial overgrowth, and IBD, or inflammatory bowel disease, should also be more careful. Quitting coffee can support better sleep, whiten teeth, improve your mood, increase your weight loss, because a lot of people add a lot of sugar to make their coffee palatable. So giving up coffee may be a good idea for you if you're struggling with any of those issues. If you're overwhelmed by the thought of giving up your daily coffee fix, you should be encouraged by knowing that once you heal up your gut, you could reintroduce it in moderation. In the meantime, good options for substitutes are caffeinated teas like green and black tea or yerba mate. Alcohol is another popular but problematic beverage for gut health. A review of the peer-reviewed literature on alcohol and the gut found that alcohol can both cause dysbiosis, or an imbalance in bacteria and fungi in the gut, as well as bacterial overgrowth, also known as SIBO, or small intestine bacterial overgrowth, which is the cause of 70 to 80% of IBS, or irritable bowel syndrome. This can lead to symptoms like bloating, soft stool or diarrhea, constipation, loss of appetite, uncomfortable fullness after eating, nausea, unintentional weight loss, and nutrient deficiencies. Alcohol-induced bacterial overgrowth also leads to inflammation and contributes to intestinal permeability. So intestinal permeability, also known as leaky gut, is when the tight junctions in the intestinal wall that allow nutrients out and keep toxins, microbes, and undigested food in open up too wide and allow some of those last three items out, which means that then you have undigested food particles entering the bloodstream and provoking an immune response, which can then cause food sensitivities as they attack those same types of food and then begin to attack them everywhere. And if left long enough, autoimmune disease. Many Americans might be surprised to discover that they are actually heavy drinkers when they think they're light or moderate drinkers. For men, that means consuming more than 4 drinks on any one day or more than 14 drinks per week. And for women, that means consuming more than 3 drinks on any day or more than 7 drinks per week. If you're concerned about your gut health or are beginning to notice symptoms, you should watch your alcohol consumption and the effect it might be having on your body. Like coffee, not all alcohol is toxic, or better said, alcohol can have some benefits. For one, red wine has been linked with health benefits because of the antioxidants called polyphenols in them. One of them, resveratrol, has been associated with lowering the risk of heart disease. However, the research is mixed and some other studies didn't find any significant relationship between resveratrol and lower chances of heart disease. So the key is really drink in moderation. Don't fancy that you're doing something for your health while you're drinking. For pregnant women, people on certain medications, and those with liver disease or a history of alcoholism. Not drinking at all is really the better choice. There are also ways to consume alcohol in a more responsible manner. It's unwise to drink alcohol on an empty stomach, and people should always make sure they're hydrating with water between drinks and drinking a glass of water alongside every drink. And then a good big glass of water before you go to bed too will help a lot, especially with the, the potential hangovers. Lifestyle and stress are also really important for your gut health. Digestion disorders often go hand in hand with mood disorders. So one study of 23 healthy undergraduate students in which they took their saliva and fecal samples at the beginning, beginning and end of a semester showed that as stress increased throughout the semester, certain healthy bacteria decreased. So they found that both depression and stress will weaken the immune system and that in turn weakens the gut barrier, which ultimately leads to leaky gut. Certain lifestyle changes like reducing work hours, taking regular vacations, and practices like meditation, yoga, tai chi, and other such modalities, and of course regular exercise can help combat stress levels, as can seeking therapy or life coaching to deal with bigger issues. Another lifestyle factor that can impact gut health is exercise. Studies link exercise with enriched gut microflora diversity, which is touted as the most important factor in all the recent studies on various aspects of health in the gut microbiome. Some of the specific preventive health benefits of exercise on the gut include its ability to lower chances of colon cancer and inflammatory bowel disease, which is Crohn's and colitis. Speaking of prevention, let me return to what I believe is one of the principal driving factors in poor gut health, which is antibiotics. Obviously, antibiotics are very effective modern medicine that can save lives, but these days doctors often overprescribe them for even the smallest issues. Common conditions for which you might be prescribed antibiotics include ear infections, urinary tract infections, throat infections, and sinus infections, many of which are in fact viral in nature, and antibiotics do not kill viruses. So if you have a cold or the flu, don't go to your doctor looking for a prescription. Antibiotics are also not beneficial in treating some ear infections and sinus infections, so be sure to ask your doctor to culture what's in your sinuses or ears before prescribing anything. The overuse of antibiotics is a problem because while antibiotics will kill off the bad bacteria, they also can kill off the good bacteria. And that weakens your body's ability to fight off infections and can lead to the overgrowth of more harmful bacteria like E. coli and C. difficile, which will cause, you know, explosive diarrhea and can even kill you. Or it can just lead to general dysbiosis, like an overgrowth of the phylum Proteobacteria, or certain species like Streptococcus or other Clostridia species beyond C. difficile. Antibiotics come with a whole host of side effects, including that diarrhea, yeast infections, vomiting, constipation and just 1 week of antibiotics can change the makeup of your gut microbiota for a whole year. So the first thing you can do is always to question your doctor before taking antibiotics. Are these absolutely necessary? Is this the narrowest spectrum antibiotic I can take for this issue? Could we wait and see a few days or run a culture before I start them? Or should I stop taking them if the culture comes back negative? And in general, I think you should, even if the doctor doesn't say you should. Could I take a shorter course of antibiotics? On a side note, I think that many of my personal health issues started after taking 2 10-day courses of Cipro in year for urinary tract infections. I later learned that the usual course of Cipro for UTIs is only 3 days. Now, if avoiding antibiotics is not an option, there's several measures you can take to promote a healthy gut. So of course, maintaining a healthy diet full of fermented foods, high fiber foods like nuts and berries, and prebiotic foods is important. Avoiding sugar, processed white carbs, and junk food while taking antibiotics is also important. And taking probiotics both during and after a dose of antibiotics While, you know, maybe something that you've thought you should do and has perhaps been touted even possibly by me on this podcast in the past, it is controversial since a study from 2018 showed that people's microbiomes took much longer to recover while using probiotics after taking antibiotics. One alternative you could consider is to take butyrate while on antibiotics to keep a bacterial phylum called the Proteobacteria, which I mentioned, from overgrowing. Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid that feeds the cells lining your colon and the best and most palatable formations are called ProButyrate, and I'll link to my full script dispensary where you can get that, or Tributrin. And then in terms of dosing, 1,200 to 1,500 milligrams all at once per day has worked well for me as I have a tendency towards proteobacteria overgrowth. You should reduce the quantity of butyrate, however, if you start to get constipated. But if you do experience antibiotic-associated diarrhea while you're on antibiotics, one probiotic that I do think is relatively safe then is called Saccharomyces boulardii, the most studied strain of which is Saccharomyces boulardii CNCMI 1745, which is sold everywhere as Florastor. And in studies, it has been shown to help alleviate antibiotic-associated diarrhea, and it's a beneficial yeast that also keeps Candida in check. So for women, it may help to prevent a post-antibiotic yeast infection, which is a common problem for many women. And you can take it while you're on the antibiotics too, because it's a yeast, not a bacteria, and it won't be killed by your antibiotics. But in terms of probiotics for people who have been having gut issues and are not trying to recover their previous gut microbiome post-antibiotics, but rather to change the current one, probiotics may be warranted as they can help alter your gut microbiome in a positive way, or just help maintain a healthy balance of bacteria in your digestive system in the face of inevitable insults like alcohol and coffee and stress. So, you know, and they also may help improve your mood and mental health. In one randomized double-blind study of patients with clinical depression, taking probiotics for 8 weeks significantly improved the mood of the patients compared to ones administered the placebo. I'll link to that study in the show notes and also my blog on which probiotic should I take for a given condition. One probiotic for good general health that I'm particularly impressed by lately is Seed Symbiotic, which I started taking about a month and a half ago to good effect. Seed's scientific advisory board includes some of the big names in microbiome science. Think Martin Blaser and Alessio Fasano. So I'll link to that one in the show notes. Of course, probiotics can also be found in fermented foods like kefir, yogurt, kimchi, and sauerkraut. And it's always best to get your nutrition from food if possible. However, probiotics will not work to their full effect if you're just taking them alongside a high simple carbohydrate diet. You need to include lots of healthy prebiotics like complex carbs, beans, legumes, fruits, and vegetables that are high in fiber. And aren't easily absorbed in the upper intestine and therefore will make their way down to their colon. And then that fiber will provide the food for your healthy bacteria, which will then produce the short-chain fatty acids like butyrate that nourish the gut lining and protect you. Some other good prebiotic foods include onions, garlic, spinach, oats, and you'll be excited to know, dark chocolate, just to name a few. I did a whole episode on fiber and prebiotics, which is episode 28, so you can check that out for more info. So speaking of pharmaceuticals, antibiotics are not the only common drugs to be more cautious about. NSAIDs, or NSAIDs as some people say it, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, are over-the-counter drugs like aspirin, ibuprofen, or Advil, or naproxen sodium, or Aleve. And when overused, NSAIDs can cause milder symptoms like nausea and dizziness, while more extreme symptoms such as ulcers and liver failure are rare but completely possible. So for elderly people and those on certain medications, NSAIDs will put them at a higher risk of developing potentially fatal reactions in the stomach, like a bleeding ulcer and, and in the intestines. When I was going through sciatica last year, I was in so much pain that I found myself taking as many ibuprofen as my doctor allowed me, which I think was 600 milligrams 3 times a day for several weeks. And I started having consistent pain in my stomach after taking them, and I knew I had to stop or I'd end up with an ulcer. So please do be careful, especially if you start having stomach pain or other symptoms of an ulcer like nausea, vomiting, bloating, feeling full easily, weight loss, burping, acid reflux, or heartburn while taking NSAIDs. And stop and see your doctor if you do experience these symptoms. On another topic, you may be surprised to hear that good sleep is essential to maintaining a happy gut. If you start losing out on sleep, this can increase your stress levels, which can unbalance your cortisol and then lead to a leaky gut and then all the problems that follow with that. Lack of sleep can also lead to GERD or gastroesophageal reflux disease. As the hormone our body produces to help us get to sleep, melatonin also reduces gastrointestinal mobility. If your melatonin levels are off, and by the way, serotonin is a precursor to melatonin, so you may also be experiencing anxiety along with your insomnia. You may end up with acid reflux. So be sure to get some full sunlight each day for 15 or 20 minutes without sunscreen to keep those melatonin levels up. And I hate to give this advice because I can't seem to follow it myself, but you really should avoid eating for 3 hours before bedtime. Eating closer to bedtime can disrupt your sleep and leave less time for your body to do essential detoxification and cleanup tasks in your brain and body while sleeping. This includes autophagy, or recycling of older cells, which only kicks in after 13 hours of fasting and is preventative for cancer and dementia, just to name a couple of conditions. So moving from prevention to diagnosis, it's important to recognize when you may be starting to have some gut health issues that could get worse if not addressed. So first, let me talk about the differences between healthy bowel movements and more serious gut issues. Signs of a healthy bowel include passing a well-formed, soft but not loose or mushy stool 1 to 3 times a day and finishing with a clean wipe. This would be a number 3 or 4 on the Bristol Stool Chart. You should be able to pass the bowel movement without pain or straining and hold on to a bowel movement for a short time once you feel the need to go. Constipation versus diarrhea and urgency sit at opposite ends of the stool spectrum, and it's normal to have occasional bouts of each extreme. But if you experience constipation or diarrhea for weeks or months on end and it's not resolving with diet changes or the addition of fiber like psyllium husk or SunFiber, you should start by seeking out a gastroenterologist to see if you have any physical gut problems. You should also seek out your doctor if you find blood in your stool, have foul-smelling stools, or you're experiencing incontinence. These could be signs that you might have inflammatory diarrhea caused by something like C. difficile, inflammatory bowel disease, or even colon cancer. When you meet with a gastroenterologist, they'll likely wanna conduct one or more exams to find the root of the issue. Colonoscopies are performed by inserting a tiny camera into the rectum so the doctor can see the inside of the colon wall and look for inflammation. And then endoscopies can give a doctor the sense of the rest of the GI tract by inserting an endoscope down the patient's throat. Throat in order to examine the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine. To detect for an autoimmune disease caused by a reaction to gluten, celiac testing might also be done, as well as something called a stool antigen test to determine whether someone is symptomatic for H. pylori, which is more accurate than a breath or an antibody test. H. pylori may be the issue if you experience GERD or upper GI symptoms like nausea or burping, as well as abdominal pain or burning, especially when your stomach's empty. And an ova and parasites exam, which is not likely to find anything as they rarely do when done from regular doctor's offices, may be done if you have ongoing diarrhea. Despite all these methods used to diagnose a patient's gut problems, I often find that GI doctors are unable to make a diagnosis, or they give you a diagnosis like IBS, which in my opinion isn't a diagnosis, it's just a name for a constellation of symptoms that allopathic doctors don't know how to resolve yet. If you have a GI doctor that follows current research and developments, you may be lucky enough to get a SIBO or small intestine bacterial overgrowth breath test, or even perhaps even the IBS-Smart test to see if you have autoimmune IBS and a prescription for Rifaximin or an antibiotic that helps resolve SIBO. But for many people that actually leaves them feeling worse and doesn't resolve their problems. In these cases, I think it's useful to look for alternatives to Western medicine, like a naturopath or someone like myself. I help my clients get functional gut health tests like the GI Map, which uses DNA testing to test for parasites and bacteria. As well as testing markers of gut organ function, or the organic acids test, which tests not just for bacterial and fungal overgrowth, but also looks at whole body functioning, including neurotransmitters, which can point to why you may be experiencing anxiety or depression, the functioning of your energy production from carbs, fats, and proteins, which can point to the cause of weight loss resistance, markers of high oxalates, which can cause not just kidney stones, but problems like urinary tract infections, interstitial cystitis, cardiovascular and brain issues. As well as many more. It also tests for levels of antioxidants and B vitamins, detoxification markers, which can signal incipient liver issues. So that's a great test for a lot of people. So if you're interested in getting your gut and whole body into great shape, or you have a more serious issue, don't hesitate to set up a free 30-minute breakthrough session with me to talk about what you've been going through and see if I can help. Or if you just wanna get started, you can set up an initial consultation, and links for both of those are in the show notes. So to conclude, just because you haven't received an official diagnosis doesn't mean your gut health issues are not worthy of being addressed, because if left alone, gut issues can get much worse. Often the difference between a good day and a bad day will boil down to simple lifestyle and diet choices, and each of us needs to find the unique combination of choices that works for us. And I know that it's tough to change routines and make new habits, but after the initial push, trust me, the healthier practices can become your new normal. That's all I've got for that. I hope that— I'm sure I didn't hit everything that I could have hit on this topic, but it's a big topic. Thank you for listening, and if you haven't shared the show with a friend, this would be a great episode to share as it's applicable to almost anyone. And that's the best way to help podcasts grow, through word of mouth. That's the number one way people find new podcasts. You can find me at highdeserthealthcoaching.com or by emailing Lindsey, L-I-N-D-S-E-Y, at highdeserthealthcoaching.com, or you can follow my my Ibiza Talk page on Facebook or join my Gut Healing Facebook group, all of which are linked in the show notes. That's all for today, and here's wishing you all the perfect stool.