Transforming Health Through Mindset: The Power of Stress Management for Gut Health with Brooke Herbert

Welcome to The Perfect Stool: Understanding and Healing the Gut Microbiome. This is your host, Lindsey Parsons, and today I'll be talking with Brooke Hebert, who is a board-certified health and wellness coach, entrepreneur, co-founder of Gold Ivy Health Company, podcast host, and fitness instructor. After spending 5 years as a medical mystery, Brooke now takes what she's learned to empower women to never stop advocating for their health and to reclaim their power by healing from within. But before our conversation, if you haven't yet followed or subscribed to the show, be sure to do so. And if you want to get transcripts of the podcast, pop over to my website, HighDesertHealthCoaching.com, and sign up for my newsletter. You'll also get my free ebooklet, Finding Your Root Cause Through Stool and Organic Acids Testing, when you sign up. And if you haven't yet done my quiz on which stool test would help you get to your root cause, you can find a link in the show notes and take that. Now onto the show. Welcome to the podcast, Brooke.

Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to chat with you today.

Yeah, me too. So why don't we start with your health story that led you into the work that you currently do?

Yeah. Oh, well, let's go back. Feels like years ago now, and it was, it was back in 2017. I was a junior in college at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and I had landed my dream internship down in Florida. I was working at an agency and I started developing all of these health issues. So we're talking a lot of gut health symptoms with fatigue, acne. I was severely constipated and really came on all of a sudden. And so I thought, what is going on? I was in Florida, so I didn't have a primary care doctor, so I went into a Planned Parenthood. They decided I had an infection, gave me some medication, sent me on my way. I was like, okay, great. Weeks passed and had finished my internship, moved back to Minnesota to finish college, and these symptoms just kept going. Um, severe bloating and constipation, feeling like I wasn't absorbing anything I was eating. I was super tired. I mean, I could go on and on with symptoms, and I'm sure a lot of people listening can relate with all of these gut health symptoms. And I just couldn't figure it out. It took me 5 years, over 50 different doctors to really nail down really what the root cause was. And throughout those 5 years, I explored many different types of medicine. I have tried many, many different things, and now I'm really here to share what I've learned in hopes that other people suffering don't have to go through what I went through.

Yeah. And so when you say 50 doctors, are these like Western medical doctors or are these also alternative practitioners?

Yeah, great question. All of the above. So I saw a lot of Western starting off in my journey. I saw a lot of OBs, gastroenterologists. I had the colonoscopy, endoscopy, right? All of the workup done and then really continuing to search because they couldn't help me, couldn't really find the answers. Then I went the alternative route. From chiropractic care to acupuncture, looking into Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Indian medicine, finding, okay, if I can't get the help I need, I have to take matters into my own hands and do the research. And through podcasts like yours and all of these awesome naturopathic doctors that were sharing things that regular doctors, quote unquote, regular doctors weren't telling me, I'm like, hmm, there is more to this. The body is brilliant, and when something's off, it's gonna present itself as symptoms, those signs that, hey, listen, something's going on.

Yeah. And so what was your diagnosis ultimately?

Yeah, so through starting my own podcast, I had on a nutritionist. She was a functional nutritionist, and she was connected to another woman who I'd worked with, and we did a GI map test. So for anyone listening who isn't familiar with that, it's a stool test that tests your colon and your large intestines to really see what's what went on in there. And through doing that, I, it had come back. I had Giardia and H. pylori, high levels of staph and strep, and then doing more digging, I had mold toxicity. So a lot, a lot of havoc was, was had. And through doing this one simple stool test years later, it came back of, oh, you're not crazy. You were really just infested with a lot of bad bugs.

Yeah. And so after working with these people, did you get a sense of why that might've happened for you?

Yeah, good question. So I believe I had picked up something in Florida, whether it was from the water, who knows, right? Where it really started. But the symptoms started when I was living in Florida, and I believe that during that time it was going into my senior of college. I wasn't eating the best. I was drinking alcohol. I was running on E with studying and working multiple jobs. That my toxic overload, which I now know about, was to the max. So when I finally got to Florida and maybe my body felt safe enough to relax and say, hey, these symptoms came on, maybe I picked up something in the water. I'm really not sure, but that's what led me down the path of, hey, let's, let's learn way more about your health than you ever thought you'd have to.

Yeah. When I see people with those sort of overgrowth, like something like Giardia, normally I would think your body should clear that naturally over time. But when it's not clearing, typically I also see low secretory IgA. So was that the case with you?

Absolutely. Yeah. Yep.

And stress can bring that on. Exactly.

Yeah. So through that, I really learned about the link between our mind and our body of what does stress do. And even when we don't necessarily feel stress, or I felt like I was high on top of the world, I nailed my dream internship, but really my body was traveling. I was out of a routine. I wasn't taking care of myself the way that I really should have been.

Mm-hmm. And so was your experience with the Western medical doctors negative or were they just unable to help you?

I would say a little bit of both. I really made the switch to alternative medicine and what I believe really took matters into my own hands of, okay, let's try a different route. When I had seen an OB and presented all my symptoms and, you know, for anyone listening who's gone down a similar path, there's a lot of anxiety when you go into the doctor's office. Doctor after doctor and you're reciting your story again and you don't wanna be gaslit and you're nervous. And she had looked at me and said, I think you need to go to a pain management clinic. And I thought, hmm, okay, well thank you, but no thank you. I'm gonna try something else. And from there I had seen an acupuncturist and she taught me all about the meridians and Chinese medicine and really talked to me about stress. A lot of the Western medicine doctors had said, you know, I think it's just stress. I think it's just you're a woman, your hormones, you've been traveling a lot, you're in college. And when someone tells you, I think it's just stress when you're sick, it is like the worst thing you could possibly say. But now looking back, yes, stress was a huge piece of that. But no one sat me down and said, this is why. It's because of the role our nervous system plays in healing and all the things I now know about, oh, okay, so maybe I shouldn't be go, go, go, go, go, go, go and expect my body to feel safe enough to heal like it's meant to be.

Yeah. We talked a bit in our pre-interview about the nervous system and the gut and childhood trauma. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Yeah, absolutely. So one of the many routes I went down was therapy. I hired a therapist cuz if stress was really something that was blocking my ability to heal, it's like, I'm, I'm gonna do it.. And I learned that The Body Keeps the Score. It's an awesome book. Definitely recommend it.

I've read it.

Yes.

Right.

So trauma is stored in our fascia, in, in our body. And even though consciously we know we're okay, we're doing okay, but if something happened way back in our childhood, the body remembers that. The nervous system remembers that. It says, I'm not safe. I, I can't. And what had happened to me when I was, I was younger was that my dad left and I didn't have a relationship with him. And that is trauma in itself. So going throughout college, working my butt off, paying my way through school, I'll figure this out on my own. I'll do it all on my own. I don't need anyone else. That attitude really ramped up my nervous system. And when we're in that sympathetic nervous system, that state of fight or flight that many of you listening, I'm sure have heard of. The body, it can't heal. It's pumping oxygen and blood to our muscles to run faster. It's this part of our brain that's activated, this million-year-old brain that doesn't know the difference between running away from a saber-toothed tiger or we're getting constantly buzzed on our phone, right? That nervous system. So it's gotta find a way to relax, to feel safe. And for me, that's what therapy started to do, was started to process all of this unprocessed emotion that I had stored deep in me and gave me an outlet of what do I I need to feel safe, to feel calm. I got into meditation and breathwork, and these are things that I'm sure everyone has heard of, but until you actually start to practice it on your own, don't really know how, how powerful it is of simply walking around barefoot in the grass. Grounding is an awesome technique to help calm your nervous system. All these little tools we can use that I learned if doctors can't help me, can't gimme the magic pill I was so hoping for. There are things within our control that can help calm the nervous system that are very unique to us, right? What calms my nervous system, Lindsey, isn't gonna be what calms your nervous system. There are similarities like breathwork, yes, meditation, but really you as an individual, what makes you feel relaxed and calm, full of joy? And those are things that I wasn't thinking of when I was trying to get answers and I was searching and, you know, go, go, go, trying to find those answers from doctor to doctor.

Yeah. I mean, I have at various points in my life meditated and I really love the feeling, but I have to say it's one of those things that, you know, I might get in a habit of doing it. Maybe it lasts for a few months and then I always fall out and I'm not sure why. I mean, I think perhaps because it is something that takes, like for me, a good 30 minutes to get, you know, and I mean, while I'm in it, I'm just like, oh, I know I got other things I gotta be doing, but I am loving this and I am so happy right now and I could just sit here for another hour. But again, it always falls away. How do you maintain that? Do you maintain the meditation?

Yeah, great question. I'm like you, I'm human, right? We go in and out of waves and I find, and, and with my clients too, as a health coach, that you realize how powerful it is when you don't do it. When you take a break and you're like, oh, I miss that. That's how you know it works for you is when you miss something. I'll go, you know, weeks without doing yoga and I'll be like, I need to get my butt back in the studio cuz that feels so good for me. So leaning into that curiosity of why can't I stick with it and swapping that to maybe I need to make some more time for that because life is gonna happen. Summer's here, it's busy, we're on vacation, your kid gets sick, you get sick, right? To have this structure of I meditate every single day, 20 minutes a day, first thing in the morning. For me, I've learned that, that, that just doesn't work. It's gotta be a gentle approach. And that's still something that I'm working on because I'm very regimented. I wanna know exactly what works. I wanna know when best, right? Is it morning? Is it night? When do I do this? But really it's when is it gonna work for you that you can stick to it? And then setting those reminders, right? If this is something you're really, really passionate— I don't wanna say passionate about, but something that you know works for you and you wanna make time for it, let's set some time aside in that schedule. Let's be proactive about it.

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Yeah, I do. I, I have it a part of really my yoga routine, I would say. And I have dabbled in and out of specific times, but echoing what you just said, I am so structured and that's just the way my brain works. I'm type A and I have found that when I'm too structured, it does the opposite. I can have everything planned out to a T, but having to be so structured and if I don't stick to it or I miss one thing, then it's the end of the world. And then it's having the opposite effect, right? I have all these things in my schedule to make me healthy, but because it's so regimented and I'm stressed about how am I gonna find time to do it, or oh gosh, this went over and now I don't have I don't have the time to do it this way. It's gonna have the, the opposite effect, or at least it has for me. So that meditation, 30 minutes might be ideal because of a book you read, but for me personally, I just need 5 minutes.

Oh, really? Okay.

Or I'm just saying, for example, right? This is where I can get it in. I can listen to a guided meditation. There's a, a great 5-minute energy reset that I love. It's 5 minutes and I can get it in and it doesn't make me stressed thinking about how am I gonna fit this in. And maybe I do that for a bit and then I realize, okay, I want to dedicate a little more time and now I have the 10 minutes.

And is that energy reset something other people could access or is it within a paid app?

Yeah, no, it's, it's from my dear friend Christina Dearing. She is amazing. She's a shaman healer. And so I can definitely share that with you and we can get everyone access to her. She's amazing. Just 5 minutes.

Yeah, no, that's awesome. In fact, that's sort of one of the things I've been thinking the most about recently. Not how do you in the course of a day get into parasympathetic mode, but how do you in the heat of the stressful moment snap out of it? I know the physiological sighs are a good tool that are pretty quick. The breath in, more breath in, and then long exhale outta the mouth, right? Yeah. What else, what else do you use for that kind of thing?

Great question. What's most important, I believe, in that situation is the awareness that it's happening, right? And that I have the control to let it go, to get in a different state. So for me, a really great cue is I put one hand on my heart, one hand on my stomach. I take a deep breath and I say, what do I need? What do I need right here? I think about my feet underneath the ground. Because really what you need is you need to come back in your body. You come back in this present moment. Because when we're in this present moment, the nervous system is calm. We're not worried about our next move. We're not ruminating on the past, right? We're in the here and the now. And that's when the magic happens. And so whatever you need to snap out of it, to bring you back in your body. And for some people it is you snap your fingers or you make a fist, some sort of physical cue that can trigger to your brain, hey, don't go there. I'm safe. Come back in your body. And for me, it's a hand on the heart. It's a hand on the stomach. It's how can I be gentle with myself in this moment? Not have any shame, any guilt around why am I feeling this way? Acknowledging I am feeling this way and getting to a neutral spot is huge.

Were there healing modalities you used through therapy that were different than the usual cognitive brain training type of therapy?

Yeah, not for therapy specifically. I will say right now I'm embarking on a new adventure of EMDR. So maybe down the road, if we wanna revisit this, I can let you know. I'm very, very excited. I haven't started that yet. The other therapy I did was really just cognitive therapy and it was talking through my truth because seeing so many different doctors, anyone listening, if you can relate, you begin to lose, what is my truth? I'm fighting to tell you how I feel and I'm being gaslit. No one's believing me and I have to keep voicing how I feel and it just kept getting shut down and shut down and shut down. And so over time, so did my voice. So therapy really helped me regain my voice and my truth and find specifically for me what brought me peace, what brought me happiness. Being sick really became my identity and I didn't want that to be my identity, but I kept ruminating on that. That was my story that I was sharing. And so retraining the brain, and this is really where working with a coach, uh, who's trained in neuro-linguistics programming was extremely beneficial for me because it was Let's speak into existence what you do want. So for journaling, for example, I would journal all my feelings. They were very depressing. And I made the switch of what if I started journaling of what I do want to happen? This is the practice of best case scenario journaling, putting out in the universe of how I do want to feel, making that my truth. Because what we speak, that's where we're giving energy. That's what our brain believes. That's what's telling the nervous system, hey, this is This is my reality. This is what I want. Speaking that into existence instead of just the story of I'm sick, I'm sick, I'm sick. And that's a lot of retraining the brain.

Yeah, no, I have, I have a client who was intolerant to almost all foods in every kind of category. There's the histamine foods, there's the oxalate foods. Then for the actual condition that she had, it was meat and fat and such that were problematic. So it kind of limited most foods entirely. And at some point I said, I think we need to do some brain retraining here. Like I referred her to the Gupta program. And she has since been doing some meditations and started the program and has said, yeah, I realized I was coming into every meal in sympathetic mode, afraid of what I was about to eat, expecting a reaction. And of course you're going to get it because I mean, you think about how strong the placebo effect is. That's essentially what you're doing. You're placeboing your food and basically predicting is you're going to have a terrible reaction, especially if it's a new one or one you haven't done well with in the past.

Yeah. What you said was so powerful is it's not only what you're eating, it's how you're eating. That's what I learned. Rushing to quick eat in between meetings instead of, okay, I'm gonna take a few deep breaths. I'm gonna actually sit down. I'm not gonna multitask. And in today's day and age, that's not easy to do.

No.

Right. Habit we've built of, I'm gonna quick scroll my phone. I'm gonna multitask when I'm eating. I'm eating on the run. And so something I really like to teach people and to talk about is going back to how people used to do things, right? Mealtime. It's really now a luxury to be able to sit with our families, to to slow down, to have time carved out to nourish your bodies and to eat with people you love. Or if you are just with yourself, right? Even the simple act of like reading a book and eating, I would say is a lot better than scrolling social media and eating. Now, something that puts you in that calm state, and if that is a luxury and you know, one you can't afford right now because of the season of life you're in, well, we all can take 3 deep breaths before we eat to make sure we're actually digesting our food so we're not bloated after we eat. Are all these little tools and tricks that I learned and I picked up that I, I didn't need a doctor to tell me it was okay. I realized that when I am stressed and eating, it doesn't make me feel good. And that was tapping into how do I feel, what is my personal experience within my day-to-day, within my healing journey, right? Listening and collecting step by step, following the breadcrumbs, will you say, of What does make me feel good? And honoring that. Yeah.

A couple thoughts come to mind, stories come to mind. One was that I worked for this organization. It was actually a human trafficking organization. I was just doing temp work. You know, it was a bunch of young people in Washington, DC. I thought, you know, it would be a real fun place to work and everybody'd probably hang out at lunch in the kitchen or whatever. Then they had just like this terrible little table pushed against the wall so you couldn't even go around it. And Nobody ate in there. Like one person maybe who sat there with earphones on ate in the kitchen and nobody hung out together. And I was so disappointed. I'm like, "Milly, you're doing this great work. You all seem like interesting people, but there's nothing. Everybody's just sitting at their desk, shoving food down." And so sort of disappointed in that. And then the contrasting experience was when I was on vacation in France with my friend. She's a social worker. She goes to an office. It's probably, I don't know, 15 minutes away, but she gets like 2 hours at lunch. She comes home. Sets a table outside with a tablecloth on the lawn, makes an extensive meal, and we all sit down and enjoy it together with her husband. And I mean, it was such a difference, such a different mindset about what a meal should look like, especially lunch.

And I bet, I would put money on it, that she's a lot happier and healthier than your coworkers were eating lunch on the go or fast and quick compared to actually having the time to do it. It's such a culture thing, but it's also something that we do have control over and we can voice those needs, seek companies that do support that or set that out for ourselves of, hey, this is something that's important. I see the value in it.

Yeah. So we've talked about a bunch of different modalities for managing stress. Were there any that we didn't mention that you like?

Yeah, so many. You know, the, the biggest one I will say is who's in your corner? What does your support team look like? Noticing the people you're around who make you feel calm, you know, investing in people and places that are nourishing to your soul and soothing for your soul. That's, that's everything. Whether that's your job, right? And you have the ability to eat in a cafeteria with your friends, with your coworkers, or if it's a yoga studio, if it's your gym, scheduling time out with your partner for a walk. What is that for you? Those are things that are specific to me, but I, I just wanna go back on what is that for you, right? The listener, whoever's listening right now, something came to your mind as I was speaking when I said what soothes your soul and making time and carving out time for that. When I was really sick and trying to figure out what's going on and I was trying all different things, coffee enemas were a massive thing for me and anyone who's familiar with them, you know. You're my people. But for those, for those people who aren't, you're still my people. Uh, but what it does is it, it really just helps detoxify your body. And I'm not saying that everyone should do this. Definitely consult your practitioner, your healthcare provider. But when I look back and I think like, what really was it about it? You have to sit, or you're supposed to sit with a coffee in your cold for 15 minutes. And in that 15 minutes, you really can't do anything else because it might come out, to put it bluntly. So during that time is when I would meditate, when I would focus on my breath, and I would just have all of these downloads, these ideas that you really get when you meditate, because you get out of your own way. You're fully in the present moment. You're allowed to receive, whether you believe in God, the universe, a higher power. You can hear your intuition. So that was a big one for me and what comes to mind when you ask that question. I know probably people were not expecting me to say coffee enemas, putting coffee up your butt, but there is something to it if you haven't.

I looked into it once, but I never, never went through with it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I really struggled with energy and constipation and when I was working really closely with a naturopathic doctor, so definitely don't do these without under doctor supervision, but I felt safe enough to do it and it was something that really helped. And again, I think it did help mostly because I was still and I calmed my nervous system, which you can get in a lot of, a lot of other—

and then take some NAC for your liver. Right. Hey, this is Lindsey here. Just letting you know that if you're tired of dealing with digestive issues like bloating, indigestion, soft stool, diarrhea, constipation, reflux, IBS, IBD, or the numerous health conditions that come about when your gut is off, like brain fog, weight gain, UTIs, fatigue, mental health issues, or complex conditions like fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, that's my specialty. With my 3 or 5 session gut health coaching packages, we'll discuss different stool and functional medicine tests to find out the root cause of your symptoms. I'll interpret the results and provide clear explanations, empowering you to make informed choices for your gut and overall health. And together we'll develop a customized action plan based on your test results so you can find relief and regain your health and vitality. I come from a functional medicine perspective, trying to incorporate the latest peer-reviewed research and educating you on protocols used by functional medicine practitioners, but devoting lots of time and support to my clients the way a doctor simply can't. If you're interested in a 3 or 5 session coaching package, you can sign up for complimentary 30-minute breakthrough session. Or if you can only afford one appointment at a time, you can book an initial 60-minute consultation. Links for those are in the show notes. Now back to the show. So we may have already sort of hit this, but are there other lifestyle changes that you recommend to clients to help eliminate the overwhelm of the chronic stress of their daily lives?

Yeah, great question. So when I think about lifestyle changes and I think about coaching my clients, I really like to focus on the 4 categories of health and wellness. And this is something me and my business partner with our own company, what we do is break it down into 4 categories because that helps the brain with overwhelm right there. When you're thinking about all of these things and let's bring it back to what I can control, it's these 4 categories. So exercise, sleep, stress management, and nutrition. And you can read any book, you can read all of the books, they'll give you a million tips, but pick what works for you, what you can commit to, what you have evidence with that works for you, what maybe you wanna experiment with. It feels like expansive. It doesn't feel constrictive. You think about what you said earlier, Lindsey Parsons, with trying to fit everything in the day and what can I let up, right? That doesn't necessarily feel expansive. It feels like, oh gosh, that feels overwhelming. So for example, with sleep, okay, I know sleep is really important. We all know we feel better when we get more and quality sleep. So what do I have control over? Okay, can I buy some blackout sheets? Can I limit my phone usage for an hour before bed? I'm not looking at screens. Can I try and stick to the same time of getting in bed, going to bed, and waking up? That's Awesome for our sleep schedule, for our circadian rhythm. I think about nutrition. What foods work well for you? For me and my digestion, it was warm foods versus cold foods. And I learned that cuz I would have shakes all the time. Like, why, why doesn't this feel good? I'm like, huh? And I do some research. Okay, so warm foods, easier to digest. That makes me feel better. Warm water in the morning makes me feel good.

Right?

So starting to get curious with what works for you. In these 4 categories of wellness, and then honoring that and scheduling the time in. For stress management, we listed a handful of things. Can you walk outside? Can you schedule time with your partner? Maybe you look into therapy, maybe you look into a coach, maybe you do need more one-on-one support. And then the last piece is exercise. The link between exercise and our mental health is huge, right? But too much can be overwhelming on the body. When I was very, very sick, HIIT workouts were too much. And honestly, right now they are still very stressful on my body. So I lean more towards feel-good movement. I'm talking yoga, walking, stretching. When I was really depressed, I would say, okay, movement makes me feel better, but what type of movement doesn't feel overwhelming right now? And it was just laying in bed stretching and that felt good. So meeting yourself where you're at. Thinking about what you can control. And sometimes the best thing we can do is nothing, is rest. I had to retrain my brain that, hey, rest is actually productive. It's actually helping me heal. Doesn't mean I'm lazy, doesn't mean I'm not trying to feel better, but hey, maybe Sundays, you know, it's my rotting, recharging day, and that is productive. That allows me to be fueled so that I can have a productive week.

Yeah. So do you see a lot of clients who, you know, despite supplements or exercise or diet changes, they're still not getting better and you kind of think, mm, it must be the unresolved trauma or the stress or mental health things that are underneath it.

Yeah. And I like to look at that first.

Oh, okay.

Because when you think about it, when we are in that chronic state of fight or flight, like we said, the body can't heal, so you're spending time and energy and money on not cheap supplements if you want good supplements, right? So let's make sure the supplements that you're taking, they're working. So let's start with how is your mental health right now? How is your stress load right now? Do you have the capacity to take on more healing modalities, to schedule more things in your schedule? Going back to what I said earlier, if thinking about 15 minutes to meditate is gonna stress you out, We can't do that.

Yeah.

And so let's get in the practice of what is it like for 5 minutes, for 1 minute for you to start developing that practice of tuning into your body, taking deep breaths. So when I think about a step-by-step approach to healing, let's look at stress management first. Let's look at the nervous system first and create that safe space for you to heal.

That makes a lot of sense. Cause it's not necessarily true for everybody I work with. Some people, they're less than a year into their gut health problems. They're not deeply stressed about it. They want it to end, but they're not, you know, people who are 20 years into the increasing effects of gut health issues that have now turned into autoimmune or chronic fatigue or mental health or all those issues, those folks probably do need to address the stress component at the beginning. So that's a smart way to go about it. So after you address the stress, what is your next gut health client step?

Yeah, I would go resort back to the 4 categories. Of wellness. So I'm not a doctor, I'm not a therapist. My niche and what I love is helping you become your own best doctor. So what can you control? I'm not gonna prescribe you supplements cuz that's not in my wheelhouse, but are you moving your body in a way that feels good for you? What does your diet look like? Right? The food we eat, it's everything, but it's not only what we consume food-wise, it's what are you consuming in the media? What are you consuming? What are you reading? All of that. And so taking an inventory on the decisions you're making day to day, how is it making you feel and what do you need to tweak? Because what I realized, what I missed and what really helped me once I had it was a coach, was someone in my corner that wasn't throwing all of these things at me, but was allowing me to discover it on my own. Because that's when the real healing comes into place. Because I can tell you, hey, do all of these things, but unless you're doing it in a way that works for you, it's not going to help. So I talk about these 4 categories and a step-by-step healing, right? Making sure the nervous system feels safe to heal. Yes, it's a huge piece, but in each call I have with clients, it's what do you need in this moment? Where are you at right now? What do you have the capacity to take on? Because maybe your mother-in-law just passed, maybe you just got a job promotion, you're feeling really expansive and you're pumped, or your energy is going to shift and what you have the capacity for is going to shift. And it's about coming back home to yourself and knowing yourself. And that's a relationship that I want to help you build is in this season when it comes to all those 4 categories and stress and sleep and exercise, what's going to work well for you and make you feel good in this moment.

So do you use gut health tests at all or other tests?

Yeah, I have physicians that I can refer to and the people that I've used, the naturopathic doctors, the functional doctors that I loved and and that I would recommend. But as far as me getting those tests, I, I can't. What I have found is that 80, 90% of the real progress comes from not those tests.

Mm-hmm. And so how long do you normally work with a client and how often do you see them?

Yeah, I like to do monthly. I think that's what I have found in my journey and with my clients helps the best is those monthly calls, touch bases in between, knowing I'm there for you, I got you. Reaching out, providing resources to help them find the answers on their own with my help, of course. And then that can look like 3 months, can look like 6 months, a year. Really depends what do you have the capacity for? What are you interested in? What would help?

Mm-hmm. So do you work with people one-on-one or is these, are these group sessions?

Yeah, so my business partner and I have our own company, Gold Ivy Health Co, and we have a virtual wellness platform that similar to a Facebook group, but it's its own platform where everyone's in there where community can ask questions. So that's really the group aspect. And then the one-on-one calls are where the individualism comes into play.

Okay. So that sort of functions like a Facebook group might.

Yeah.

Yep.

And then all of our resources are packed in there, so.

Oh, I see. Okay.

The biggest piece for me has been exercise, has been movement, moving my body. My business partner is a personal trainer. I'm a group fitness instructor. And so we have all different virtual workouts. That people can access anytime, anywhere. That's really our, our groove is let's help you make it as easy as possible to take care of yourself. So having all of the resources that you need, whether it is the workouts or a lot of mental health resources, gut health resources we've got in, in our, in our vault or health hub that people can access. An awesome resource for people, whether they want to coach one-on-one or just kind of want a little dip their toes in and see what it is all about. And if this could be helpful. Because some people, they don't need the coaching, right? They just, I wanna figure it out, but I want the resources and I want a course and I wanna go through it. So really meeting people where they're at and how do you learn best? Maybe it's not one-on-one, but you still want some resources. We have that too.

Oh, okay. So you also have a course of some sort?

Yeah, we have a metabolism reset course, which takes into account the 4 categories of wellness and a habit tracker that you follow. So workouts for each day. It's a 31-day challenging course all in one where you learn all about metabolism. And gut health is sprinkled in there as well. So that's a really fun course. And then I have a Gut Health Starter Kit. That's really what I wish I'd known way back in the day that goes through these categories. It also goes through different supplements and different resources, different types of doctors to look into. Kind of takes everything I've learned in a little bow here. When you're ready, take a look when you feel like you have the capacity for it.

Okay. And so tell me about your podcast, because I know I'm supposed to be on it at some point.

Yes, yes. We want to hear all about your stories. Well, our audience would love it. So my business partner and I, Andrea, we started our podcast back in 2020, the pandemic. We're both health coaches, and I was really in the midst of my journey, and I thought the world needs the light. We can help people. We need to share what I'm going through, knowing that what I was going through was gonna help someone else. And, and it did. And it also helped myself by me saying, hey, I wanna serve others. It allowed me to get connected with someone that really helped me, which I'm really grateful for. And on our podcast, we release episodes where we interview experts just like you, all different type of experts as far as therapists and coaches and healers and doctors, people that have been through insane things where you're like, how did you get through that? Losing a husband, losing a loved one, suicide, you name it. And so getting to know the tenacity of people and resiliency of how do you get through what you got through. And then also Andrew and I, uh, our own little fun touch of here's what we're exploring. I just completed 75 Hard, which is an insane challenge, I'll say that. So if anyone wants to learn more about that or knows what it is and wants to hear how it went from me, definitely recommend that. So a lot of fun episodes, taking a lighthearted approach to healing, talking about some really deep, raw, dark things, but knowing, hey, we're all in this together and we wanna help you find the light.

And what's it called?

It's called Ivy Unleashed.

Great. And where can people find you?

Yeah, so we're most active, I would say, on Instagram. Like most people, our Instagram handle is @goldivhealthco. We are constantly posting inspiration and things that are working for us. Andrea, she's a marathoner. She's running a marathon in all 50 states, so she's got a lot of awesome running content for anyone who likes to run, or if that's your outlet when it comes to mental health. I post a lot about gut health and yoga, and so a real holistic approach to healing is what we're all about.

Great. Well, I will put the links in the show notes to your social and your website.

Awesome. Thank you.

Any parting words?

I would just say listen to your gut as best as you can. Find your truth. Listen, you are your own best doctor. It really comes to, are you willing to listen to what your body is trying to tell you?

Great. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Sometimes I can get lost in the supplements and special diets and more higher-tech interventions and forget about the stress management and lifestyle side of it. So this was a great reminder. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy supplements at a discount from my Fullscript dispensary or tests at a discount from my Rupa Health Lab Store, or use my affiliate links to iHerb, which is available worldwide, or Amazon. If you'd like to connect with me online, you can follow my High Desert Health Facebook page, join my Gut Healing Facebook group, or join my newsletter list at highdeserthealthcoaching.com, as well as follow me on X, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. Links for those are in the show notes. Thanks for joining me today, and here's wishing you all the perfect stool.