MRP Q & A with Natalie Morse - Optimizing Gut Health and Digestion [MAY 16, 2025]

Hello everyone, happy Friday. Welcome to today's Q&A. I'll be filling in today. So my name is Natalie. I am, uh, I work with Living Proof. I work more mostly with the practitioners, um, but I'm a coach. I'm a similar to Deepa, I'm, I'm a now retired pharmacist and functional medicine practitioner as as well. So I get to spend some great time with you guys today on this Friday. So hello, Shelley. Hello, Rosemary. Nice to see you, ladies.

Thank you. Nice to see you.

Amazing. Well, we're waiting for a few more friends to join us. I invite you to type in the chat something you're grateful for. I love to start, start our time together with a moment of gratitude. And so let's take a moment and reflect on something we are grateful for. Got a great meeting planned for us today. Hmm, I bet, Shelley, grateful for your healing journey and learning so much about yourself. All the ins and outs, all the beautiful bits, whether sometimes they might not seem beautiful in the, in the moment.

Absolutely.

But those are the beautiful bits when we get to know those parts of us fully. Welcome, Anne. Welcome to our time today. Go ahead and share something you're grateful for into the chat. Uh, I'm in Canada, so I don't know. We'll see. I'm not sure where all you ladies are from, but I'm in Canada, so I am grateful for a long weekend. Coming up. And, uh, I'll try not to cry, but my oldest son has prom tonight, so it's been a big week for him, and the countdown is on to be finishing high school. So it's one of those kind of reflective, pivotal moments, seeing your kids grow up. So I'm grateful for the honor to do that. Rosemary— Rosemary is thankful for this beautiful day. Yes, I hope it's beautiful where everyone is. Welcome, Claudia. Welcome, Sherry. Alright. We'll just give it a few more minutes for some more friends to join us. And in the meantime, share something you're grateful for today. Anne is also thankful for the warmer weather and the Victoria Day long weekend. Yes, I'm looking forward to some unwind time where no one needs me for a little bit. Welcome, Jen. Those of you just joining, my name is Natalie. I work with Living Proof, and like Deepa, I'm a retired pharmacist and functional medicine practitioner. And so Deepa and I were actually classmates. So I've known Deepa for a very long time, for a very long time now. We actually just are celebrating our 20th pharmacy class reunion this year. So Thank you, Jen. Yes, I'll be hosting the open Q&A today. All right, so we're going to do a few things. I just wanted to give a few more minutes in case a few other people pop in, because the first thing we'll be doing is a 5-minute coherence breathing exercise. And then our main topic today is going to be about digestion. But as you'll see, the coherence breathing exercise is a perfect lead-in to a topic about digestion. So just want to give it another minute, see if I'm else joins us, so they, they pop in, they know what we're, what we're doing when they join and we're just sitting there quietly breathing. There we go. Welcome, Becca. Good to see you. Becca, go ahead and share in the chat something you're grateful for, and then we will get started on our breathing exercise today, whether it's morning, morning or afternoon, depending what time zone you're in. We will get going with that. Okay. All right. So we'll pause that track. So the first thing we're going to do today, because we often start with a meditation or some breathwork. So I'm going to, I'm going to share my screen, I'll be playing it from YouTube. So it's the It's from an Andrew Huberman podcast. So it's Ben Rubin and Andrew Huberman, and they'll explain a little bit of the what we're doing. But very simply, we're just going to breathe for 5 minutes and there'll be a chime going, playing. So that'll be your cue to breathe in nice and slow and breathe out nice and slow. And when we're doing that breathing, you want to have— be breathing in through your nose. You want to have your lips just nicely, comfortably sealed. Ideally tongue at the roof of the mouth. And this could be done, most of you I imagine are sitting comfortably, so it can be done just sitting comfortably. It could like, you could be doing it lying down. So wherever you're comfortable and they will explain it. So I'm just reading the final gratitude. Grateful, Becca's grateful to learn new dance even though it was challenging. Yeah, new challenges are how we learn and grow. Absolutely. All right, just give one more sec. Someone else is popping into the Zoom room. Grateful. Jen is also grateful for dancing. Taking hip-hop training. That's fun. It's fun to have fun. Yeah, doing something fun is so important. I'm actually assistant coaching my younger son's house league soccer team this year for the first time. I kind of felt I had the energy to volunteer. See, there's more people coming in. I knew we needed to wait another minute. And so then we had scrimmage. We had our first practice last night. It's a small team anyway, right? And a few people not there. So I got to, you know, basically scrimmage with them for half an hour. And it was just like, it was so like when I got home, I was like, whew, that was a workout. But it was so much fun. I was like, wow, I was just playing. Because I used to play soccer. I love playing soccer. And I was just playing, not thinking about anything else, not thinking about my phone, not thinking about what I need to do for work. I was just in the moment and it was so fun. So whether that's through dance, whether that's through nature, whether that's through sport. Finding something we can play is super, super important. Okay, so we're gonna get started on the breathing exercise. I just waited a few more minutes because some more people joined, so welcome, welcome. So we're just— go ahead, we're just— I'm going to play a clip from YouTube, so you're just going to follow along on the breathing, and you're basically just going to breathe in and out along with the chimes. And it's pretty easy, and we will do that. So I will share my screen. Yeah, I was shocked when I— my, my Oura ring told me how many steps I had after that. It was kind of crazy. I was like, what? There we go. Okay, this should work now. All right, and we will just let the video take it away.

When we were out in the lobby, you mentioned that you have a breathing exercise, a coherence breathing exercise, that you thought might be useful for us to do now and perhaps for some of the listeners to join in.

Yeah, let's do it, and then if you want to talk about it after, we can.

Sounds good.

The reason I started doing this is I have relatively low heart rate variability, and you want to have a higher one. So I looked at all the things that can raise your heart rate variability, and I started doing this breathing technique specifically for heart rate variability, and it went up.

Awesome.

So it's great.

Test it.

Great.

Let's do it together here, please. It'll say take a deep breath, and then when you'll hear the sound of a If you follow me for the first inhale and exhale, you'll know what sound means.

What? And you do this eyes closed?

Typically I do it eyes closed.

Okay, we'll close our eyes.

Thank you. That was 5 minutes.

I like that.

Feels nice, isn't it?

Yeah, I noticed I I don't spontaneously breathe at that cadence. I breathe quite a bit faster. So, especially on the exhale. So, once I got into a rhythm of it, yeah, the mind just goes pseudo-random for me. What about for you? Does your mind tend to go one place?

I do. Now I count. So, the reason I knew it was 5 minutes is because it's 6 breaths per minute. And I counted 5, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 1, 6, 2, 1. So I was occupied with a task.

How often do you do that?

At least once and sometimes twice a day. I aim for 10 minutes a day, but if I get to 20 minutes a day, it's noticeable in my heart rate variability results.

Do you do the coherence breathing at particular times of day or just whenever it occurs to you?

I think it depends on where I am and what else is going on in my life. So it— there was— I had a window of a very specific thing that I was doing. I would do coherent breathing and I would do squats, just air squats, and in one location where I didn't have any other equipment and And then I found a way, like where I was doing treading water, which you got to experience with me. I would tread water, and then after treading water, I would get out of the pool, sit in the sun, and do the coherent breathing.

There we go. So that's an example of coherent breathing. Does anyone want to share anything about their experience doing that? Whether you've done it before, felt anything, noticed anything. Does it seem like an interesting tool for yourselves? Yeah, go ahead, Anne.

Yeah, I was the same as the host with regard to not having the same rhythm, and I was thinking, well, I mean, the other thing is I'm a smaller person. Than him. But then on the other hand too, like, he's the person who was demonstrating. He's been doing it for a long time. So yeah, but I did do— I mean, I've done quite a bit of yoga instructor training, and I did similar types of things, a little bit different, 3-part breath with some work colleagues. I was doing that on a weekly basis, just Online as like a 15-minute break. So kind of aware of, you know, the idea, the concept.

Beautiful. So who has an Oura Ring here? Okay, Shelley has an Oura Ring. So it'll be interesting to see, again, does it do anything different than your average on your— or if on your HRV tomorrow morning with the Oura Ring? And especially if you, you know, maybe now you have another tool in your toolbox, maybe do another 5 minutes later. Yeah, Melissa's loving her Oura ring. Jeanette saying it was very relaxing. Sherry's done this before. And I like having timed things like this, especially for those of us who like work, because I always find like to do like a meditation or do something during the day is hard because my brain's always thinking of the next thing. I'm like, well, I got to be back for a Zoom. I got to do this and this. Where if I do something that's timed like that, I know I can relax. So I know I'll put on something 5 minutes or 15 minutes that, OK, I have 5 minutes right now. And I know it will stop. I know I'm not just going to fall asleep. I know I'm not just going to get into this great meditative space and be there and miss my thing. So like Anne was sharing, it's like, OK, we do this. We make the 15 minutes. And then I fit this in where I can. So one of the reasons why we incorporate it in our times in our meetings like this is as much for ourselves as the leaders and the facilitators is like, okay, I'm going to have my 5 minutes of meditation. I'm going to have my 5 minutes of breathing time today. And as Anne was sharing, if this is a new breathing pattern, it's going to feel weird, right? Just like the dancing. It's like if it's a new pattern, it's going to feel weird. And if we have a lot of tightness in our diaphragm or we're not used to breathing consciously in and out slowly, it's going to feel weird. So just going with the flow, letting yourself adapt to how you're feeling. For myself, I felt probably after about 5 breaths, I definitely felt a relaxation come after about 5 breaths. That was a 5-minute exercise. When you have these tools, you can do it sometimes even 5 breaths or 2 minutes based on what the time is allowed. I must have noticed your inhale isn't as big or long, like not getting enough air. Sometimes just slowing down, seeing that breath come in through the nose. Shelly's saying, yeah, your HRV is low. So yeah, great things to monitor and see progress on your overall health of how your, what's happening with your HRV over time. And there'll be days it'll be up, there'll be days that'll be down and you, it might not make any logical sense like, well, why is it up or why is it down? What we're looking for is that trend over time, right? Yes. Yeah, my stomach is gurgling is a great relaxed indicator for you. Perfect. So, and that's a perfect, segue into what we're gonna talk about next, which is digestion. So no coincidence why I chose that exercise to do. And let me get the screen situated properly here so you guys can see the slide. So we're gonna pivot or continue where we were talking about HR, HRV, heart rate variability. Well, how it's linked to digestion. So we're going to talk about optimizing gut health and digestion. And just for myself, who— can you guys give me an idea of, like, and you can, if you're off screen, maybe just type it in the chat— who's in release phase, who's in maintenance phase, or what I like to call just life? So are you in release phase? Are you in maintenance phase? Are you in life phase. So Sherry and Claudia in release, Jen is in life phase, release, life phase, release. Becca's in second round of maintenance, just got off release. Exciting. Okay, perfect. And when we're in life, and if you're, if you're still coming to these calls and you're on life phase, that tells me you are a lifelong learner and you truly care about the things we teach and educate here, and you realize it really is about learning and getting better. And if we look at, you know, the, the 7 areas of life, to really have mastery in all 7 areas of life really does take a lifetime, right? It's not a 6-week course. It's not some brilliant aha that we achieve mastery in one area. They all bleed together, and we really are on that quest of achieving mastery over, over time. And hasn't started yet, reading the first part of the manual this week. Well, that's exciting, and you're going to be getting ready soon. So here we go. You're going to jump into one of the many topics that's super, super important. So optimizing gut health and digestion. And again, that's my background as a community pharmacist. People coming in with acid reflux, indigestion, heartburn, super, super common. Constipation, diarrhea, super, super common. And the challenge, struggle is, is that because it becomes so quote unquote common amongst ourselves, members of our family, our peers, the other patients our doctors see. It's just like, oh well, that's normal. That's common, right? Like if you, if you used to see like the medication packs that we used to do for people with all of their medication, like every senior was on Senecot and docusate sodium. So a stool softener and a laxative, right? Because they were on a whole mitt full of pills. And probably didn't have the best digestive system for a whole host of reasons. So, so the fascinating fact is that your digestive system will process about 170,000 pounds of food over the course of your lifetime. So it's like, just give a little appreciation for how hard that system works. And usually we only give it attention when it is giving us symptoms, when it's it's causing us pain, when it's causing us discomfort, when it's saying, hey, something's not right, that's usually really only the time we're really, really thinking about it. But amazing, amazing system that really is key and foundational for your health. The old saying goes, and I don't— it's, it's definitely not 100% accurate, but it's a really great foundation of like all disease begins and ends in the gut, which is not true. But it is— that's how super, super important it is. Of anything hormonally, inflammation will influence the gut. And then likewise, the gut will influence everything else. It influences your skin, it influences your nutrient status, it influences if you have headaches. It all goes together. And we really like to focus as you're going through the Living Light Reset, whether you're just getting into maintenance, just getting into release phase or maintenance or beyond, is How do we fuel ourselves and how do we fuel our body? And as we're learning more about how we work and our own operating system, what are we putting in? And if we want this vehicle that we have, this physical body, to run like a premium luxury car, we want to be putting premium fuel in it. For anyone who's done maintenance or beyond, What happened the first time you ate? Maybe it was sugar, maybe it was gluten. What happened the first time you ate something that you hadn't been eating when you were on the release phase? I would love to hear any, and you can just unmute if it's quicker than typing.

I'll just say, first of all, I was apprehensive. Like before I started to eat something. And then I kind of— I felt gross, to be honest. And it was— and I felt like I overindulged, too. So the next day, I— yeah, I felt gross.

Very common. Becca is sharing she crashed. Shelley felt gross.

Yeah.

And so if we look at that premium car model, if you think of it, is for 6 weeks or longer, you were putting premium fuel, you were putting the best stuff in, you were feeding the body, you were making sure the oil had— the engine had the right type of oil, right? We talk a lot about healthy fats and oils, healthy fats too, you'd wanna consume and ones you don't. And so whether that thing you ate was ice cream or cheese or sugar or gluten or something with an oil that isn't the best for our internal machinery, most people feel it, right? Jen sharing, she felt dizzy and nauseous. I've definitely— some people feel it instantaneously. Their body's like, whoa. And that's the cool thing. So sometimes that's— some people will say, well, that kind of sucks. Like, what, I can't eat cheese ever again? Not necessarily, but your body very clearly gave you a sign like, okay, now you know how you felt when you were running 10 out of 10, when you were feeling amazing. And then now, because you've had this experience of how you feel with this food, Now you get to make a decision, right? How am I gonna feel if I eat this knowing this is typically how I feel? So we often, we will go from release phase, high energy, feeling great, all like literally firing on all cylinders, running on the best fuel, the best oil. Like we just had it, we literally just had an oil change and then we go, we put crappy oil in or we put sugar in the gas tank and instantly you notice the performance drop. So just keep that in mind as you wherever you are on, on your life journey. And in Canada, I said we have a long weekend this weekend. Our American friends have a long weekend next weekend. So sometimes it's the long weekend where some of those other things come in that maybe we're not— we wouldn't eat, right, every day. But those things sometimes present themselves. So we're talking about digestion. So if anyone's experiencing bloating, constipation, acid reflux, gas, diarrhea, stomach stomach pains, that tells me that your digestive system is not optimal, right? It's giving you signals that it is struggling. Sometimes it's working really, really hard for you based on the input. Sometimes it's based on the food, based on the stressors you're experiencing, based on your environment. Your body's always doing the best that it can based on what is going on. But if you're feeling something, again, that's a message and that's a That's a message and a signal from your body that I'm not functioning optimally and I need some help and support. And would you please pay attention to me? And so everyone who goes through the release phase and the maintenance phase, usually they will have some sort of shift in these symptoms. If they— if you come to the program with symptoms like this, there usually will be a big— sometimes it's quite drastic for people in a positive way, but usually there is going to be a shift. And that's part of the magic of the release phase. Is that it is a reset for the digestive system as well. Okay. For, for many, many reasons. So we talk, we do talk a lot about obviously what you eat, right? That's a big core of the program is what you're eating and sticking to the food plan. But when it comes to digestion, how we're eating and I would even add where we're eating is very important as well. So how we're eating— am I eating calmly and relaxed? Am I eating in front of the computer, checking my emails, trying to do 2 things or 10 things at the same time? Am I eating in my car driving? Am I relaxed? Am I stressed? Am I eating at a table where there's conflict, or am I eating in, in an area where maybe there's some relaxing music played and the meal was prepared in a calm, relaxed manner and we're having some amazing, an amazing time, whether you're by yourself or whether you're with other people. How we eat is very, very important because if we look at some of these, the symptoms that are common when we're struck, when our digestive system is struggling, It really comes down to what state is our nervous system in. So our nervous system has two main states. We'll call them fight and flight and rest and digest. And just as the names suggest, if we're eating, we wanna be in that rest and digest state or that parasympathetic state, which is why when we did that heart rate variability breathing, it was sure like, oh, I'm actually like, my stomach's rumbling now, right? Because during that 5 minutes, your body shifted over to parasympathetic. It shifted over to rest and digest. So now it's like, oh, I'm actually ready for some food now. If you gave me some food, I could actually digest it properly. I could actually like produce some stomach acid and I could produce some saliva and I could digest it as, as optimally as possible. So we know when we're stressed and again, stress can be from many, many different sources. If we're stressed, if we're in fight or flight, our digestive system will not work as optimally. Your body's still going to digest some of the food. Yes, it's still going to push it, get everything through the system as it's intended to, but it's not going to be as efficient as it should. So we want to pay attention to, yes, what we're eating, but also how we're eating, especially if we have those digestive issues coming into the program, right? Bloating, diarrhea, constipation, we want to pay attention to how we're eating and we're going to cover a few more things as well. So another, another great breathing tool is what we call box, box breathing. And so depending on how much time you have before you eat, just check in with yourself is, oh, okay, am I in rest and digest right now? If I'm, if I'm supposed to be eating right now, Is my nervous system, is my body in rest and digest? And maybe it is. Yes, maybe it is not. And if you know, like, okay, it's not. I was like rushing around and really I've only got like 20 minutes to eat and then I got to get back to work or we got to eat quick because my son has soccer practice. These are all very common. So a lot of times we're eating in a rushed state. So if you notice, you know what, I'm not fully rest and digest, One of the things we can do is do a few rounds of box breathing before we actually start to eat. So box breathing is we breathe in for a count of 4, we hold our breath for a count of 4, we breathe out for a count of 4, and we hold for a count of 4. You can do it eyes open or closed. If I do my eyes closed, I just visualize doing a box like in, hold, out, hold, and I just visualize that. And 3 rounds of that, you'll feel a real— usually feel a relaxation in your body a little bit. So you can do anywhere from 3 breaths, 5 breaths, 2 minutes. And it's nice because even if you're around other people, let's say you're at a restaurant or you're at a gathering with other people, you could do this very subtly and no one's going to know that you're, you're doing this to make sure that you're in rest, you're in rest and digest because you're ready to enjoy your food. So give yourself a check-in. Where's my nervous system as I go to eat my feel— eat my food? Digestion begins with stimulating all 5 senses. And really, this comes down to be— to presence. So if we're asking ourselves, am I in rest and digest? One, we're checking in with ourselves. And then are we checking in with our food? Are we checking in with our environment as we begin to eat? Are we smelling the food? Are we hearing it? If we're the one preparing the food, are we like engaged and paying attention how we're adding some flavoring and we're adding some, whether they're dried herbs or fresh herbs, or we're putting a little bit of love into that food, making sure that it's something we're going to enjoy. One of the things I love to do is when we've got our meal ready and you sit down is look at that meal. Right? Like, look at it in its entirety. Have gratitude for the meal. Right? Gratitude is another thing that will shift us into that rest and digest. And I find when you look at that meal, right? So let's say I've got my chicken, I've got my green beans, I've got my strawberries on the side. I'm going to start with a little starter salad of tomatoes and cucumbers. I'm looking at the different colors. I'm giving gratitude for everything that brought this meal to me. And a few things are brilliantly happening at the same time. One, we are— by looking at the food, by taking a moment to look at the food, our brain is registering what nutrition is coming in and the body will start to produce the right digestive enzymes based on what is coming in. So if we just, let's say, grab something at a drive-thru that's all wrapped up and we just start eating it, or we actually miss that really important cue visually to the brain of like what is coming in. And then if we slow down and chew our food very, very well, right, we can— the taste tells our brain and tells our body what's in this food. Like, is this a high protein food? Is this a high carbohydrate food? What type? Because our body needs different enzymes for the different types of food. So really being present with that food. And I love when you you know, whether it's release phase or beyond, and you do up your plate with like your free veggie starter and your main plate and your fruit after, when you look at it, it's like, I have everything I need. And I really love learning about words. And so when you think of the word satisfaction or satiated, right? So when we leave our meal, we want to be satiated, we want to be full, we want to be satisfied. And part of that is mental. Right? So if we take a moment before our, our meal and look like, wow, here's everything I need and it's colorful and it's fresh and I can't imagine what else I would need when I leave this meal. If you have that mindset while you're eating, when you leave your meal, you're like, I'm good. There's no room for cravings when you do that, right? If you go into your meal feeling like, oh, but I'm missing this. Right? Like maybe you're like, you know, someone who really always had cheese on your vegetables as an example, right? If you go to your meal and you're like, oh, but I'm really missing my cheese, what's going to happen an hour after you have that meal? You're still going to be looking for that cheese. That's how, that's how crazy our, how powerful our mind is. So if we, if you notice those things, like if I sit down, I'm like, oh, if, if you feel like you're missing something, Flip that switch, flip that switch to the gratitude and for everything that is here in, in, in front of you. One of our key digestive tips is to eat fiber first, right? So eat fresh fiber first. And especially on the release phase, I love having a free veggie starter. So for me, I, I live in Leamington. So, uh, if anyone, if you ever, wherever you live, if you go to the grocery store and you get like tomatoes or cucumbers, A lot of times they're grown in Leamington, Ontario. So we have— I'm in a very agricultural area. We have tons and tons of greenhouses. So tomatoes and cucumbers are readily abundant and very, very affordable, which is great. So I almost always have them. So my easy starter is just I cut up a tomato, I cut up a cucumber, I put some vinegar on and a little bit of salt, and I'm good to go. So starting your meal with some fresh fiber and it's Perfect. If you look at the freeze, if you look at that free veggie list, you're like, oh, I can have— I can make up a salad with the things that you like. Again, you never have to eat something you don't like, but surely there's enough things on that free list that you're like, oh yeah, I like this. So make yourself up a small salad or cut up some cucumbers or cut up some bell peppers, whatever you'd like. And when you start your meal with that and you chew and you focus on chewing, it stimulates your digestion. Right? So the more we chew sends the signal that, hey, it's— we're eating now, right? Versus if I was just drinking a smoothie, I'm missing that key digestive cue that it's time to digest something. So that's one of the reasons we'll start our meal with fiber first. Another reason, not so much of a reason in the release phase, but definitely maintenance and life phase, is that if we have fiber first, any carbohydrates we have will— it will slow the absorption of that down. So it's actually very beneficial for blood sugar control. Like, if I'm going to have rice at my meal when I'm on Life Phase, I definitely want to have some fiber first because that's going to slow the absorption of the rice down because I've got that fiber in the digestive tract. So my blood sugar is not going to have the same peak after that meal. So that's another reason to making sure that we're getting enough fiber. And then there's different types of fiber. So there's soluble fiber, there's insoluble fiber, which is one of the reasons why we encourage you to have a variety of fruits and vegetables, because it's— there's, you know, fiber, yes, but there's also different types, right? So soluble fiber that's abundant in oats and apples and broccoli and legumes and beans, these are great, great for cholesterol and they do get absorbed into the system. Insoluble fiber stays in the digestive tract and really helps move things through. So if you're struggling with constipation at all, or especially in the release phase, look at upping the insoluble fiber through your vegetable content because that helps keep bulk in the stool, which is one of the things that helps stool move through the digestive system, through the intestines. One of my clients in the past, celery was her thing, right? If she was a little bit slow or sluggish, she would have 2 sticks of celery and that was her magic fix, right? So no laxatives needed. She just needed to have some celery. So it gave her that, gave her that bulk. So love starting the meal with fresh fiber. And if you're— if you think of when you're— as you're stocking what's in your house on a regular basis, what's in your fridge, what's in your pantry, when you are— once you get into this habit and routine that if it's mealtime and like you're really hungry because sometimes like maybe it was just later, you're making dinner later than usual, or it's just a day you're really, really hungry. I'll have that little bit of like whatever it is I was gonna eat, like carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, whatever. Sorry, not carrots, but usually like cucumbers is like kind of my go-to or celery. I'll have that first while my, the rest of the meal is cooking and that just tides me over, right? Because it's in those moments that we're like, oh well, I'll grab a handful of nuts or I'll grab the, the kids' cookies, right? I'll grab something and just shove it in my face unconsciously. While I'm waiting for dinner to cook because you're hungry, right? So I am hungry. I'm listening to the cue, but I'm feeding myself what I will feel good about after the meal and the next day. So when you have those things readily available and you kind of come up with your shopping list and the things that you like and you start working this into a habit or routine, you look at meal prep differently. You look at how, how you eat on a regular basis. You just look at it differently. So I'm like, yeah, perfect. Let me have that. Little mini salad first, that'll just kind of calm down the what's going on in my stomach right now so that I can focus and I can wait 20 minutes until dinner is cooked before I have something else to eat. Yeah, Becca's sharing celery is her thing too. So these are the 5 C's of digestion. And actually, I was going to share— I'll share it in the Facebook group. Sachin and Deepa just recently did a podcast on digestion and the 5 C's. So if you haven't listened to that, I would definitely recommend. It's a great follow-up after this, and you could hear it explained from Sachin and Deepa. And Sachin is the one who taught me the 5 C's of digestion probably a decade— well, actually over a decade ago now. And so these are the things we want to keep in mind. We want to— we call it choose, chew, chill, cherish, check. So when we're coming to digestion, first we want to choose the foods that's going to be loving for our body, right? If there's something You know, for instance, I mentioned, you know, I eat tomatoes on a regular basis, right? If you don't like tomatoes or tomatoes don't agree with your system, then don't eat tomatoes, right? So you wanna choose food that is lovingly to your body, right? In the quantities that are, that are gonna help you feel good. Choose the best that's available to you. I love fro— frozen vegetables because generally they're more affordable than fresh. And I can just stock it up in my freezer. And I know there's always frozen vegetables in, in the, in the freezer that I can cook and have steamed in a few minutes. It doesn't take very long. So that's something that I always have prepped in my house. We want to choose the right food for us and we need to chew. We need to chew really well, especially that fiber, which is great when we can start with that fiber and know we have to chew really well. We, we only have teeth in our mouth, right? So if we don't take the time to break the food down, especially the vegetables, we don't have time to break that, those vegetable cell walls down. Once they hit the stomach, it has missed a very crucial digestive point. Amylase is an enzyme that helps to break down carbohydrates and it's present in our saliva. So if we, let's say, have, are having rice and we just almost swallow it and it doesn't have any time in our mouth, it misses a critical digestion step. So even if it's in our mouth for 20 seconds, it's starting to get digested, it's starting to get broken down. So for anyone who has a lot of bloating or reflux, the first thing I ask is like, how often do you chew your food? And start there. Might not have to do anything else with what you're eating. This is the how we're eating. Are we actually chewing the food? Chill. So this is, are we in rest and digest, right? Are we relaxed? Are we in the right state to digest this food? Just becoming aware of that. Cherish, right? This is like having a moment of gratitude, having a moment of gratitude for the food in front of us, cherishing that we get to eat this wonderful nourishing food, cherish the people we might be sharing a meal with, cherish the food itself, cherish the environment. And you can really, with few small simple tweaks, like really make that a thing, right? So like one of my, the flowers are, I'm sure many people in places, the flowers are blooming, right? So it's like I have lilacs picked from my bush on the back, right? So I have that on my kitchen counter where we eat, right? So just having something that's beautiful there adds to like, so when I sit down, I have something beautiful. If I'm going to do— I don't do it very often, but if I want to have kind of like a, like a date night to myself, which I'll sometimes do on a Friday night, I'll go buy myself flowers and I'll do like a sparkling water in a wine glass. Like, I don't drink alcohol at all, but I'll do a sparkling water in a wine glass. And it's just like, it's just so nice. It's just such a nice loving touch, right? So is your food plated? Are you cherishing? Are you setting— are you setting the right environment, right? Do you eat on a kitchen table that has a lot of clutter and stuff and maybe things you don't want to see. I often see people have like, you know, their basket of prescription medications and they're eating their meal right in front of their prescription, their basket of medications. So just becoming aware of the environment, you know, maybe I don't want to see that. Maybe I'll move that over somewhere else. Maybe I don't want to see that while I'm actually eating. And then check. This refers to checking your stool after checking. Do you see pieces of undigested food? Maybe that's a cue that you didn't chew enough? Is the stool— I don't have a picture in this presentation, but the Bristol stool chart, I know that's in, in the program, in the online program. You know, do you have diarrhea? Is the stool or is the stool really hard or lumpy or pellety or is it a nice, you know, is it a nice log? So what does it look like? So that gives you clues and gives you information Hey, am I shifting, right? So whether if someone's coming and starting the program either with diarrhea or constipation, how quickly that shifts for you will vary, right? Some people will notice changes very, very quickly. For some people, if you've experienced, some people have experienced constipation quote unquote their whole lives, it might take a little bit of time to kind of get that into a more optimal pattern or rhythm or outcome that, that we would like to see. But we have that visual that we can check every day. So go ahead and have a look. How am I doing today? How's my digestion doing? Right. We can also look at color. I'll save that for the podcast. Deepa explains the different colors as well. Here's some tips for constipation. Again, this is in your manual and this is in the online program. I love using a Squatty Potty. For whether you're constipated or not, a Squatty Potty is ideal. And so the reason we use a Squatty Potty is so that our feet are up and ideally we want our knees above our hips. So it changes the angle in our pelvis and it changes the angle of our rectum so that we can eliminate, we can void more fully, more completely with less straining. So Squatty Potties are amazing. You can use a stool. But if you get it, like if you get, go to Walmart or Canadian Tire and get a stool, you wanna make sure that your knees are above your hips. So that's the key critical angle to that. Vagal exercises are great. We did that with, you know, basically the, the breathing we did is a substitute for a vagal exercise. So humming, singing out loud, deep breathing, those are all vagal exercises. One of the top things if, if people are constipated is I know they work, need to work on their vagal tone. So our vagus nerve is what controls that back and forth between the rest and digest and the fight and flight. So if we want rest and digest, we need to give the vagus nerve some love. Check in, am I getting enough water? So starting the day with 16 ounces of warm water and lemon. So I'm always drinking out of a liter Mason jar, but my morning is I have a 500 mil, right? So 16 ounce. And I do my water. I do 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, a little pinch of salt. So that's how I start my morning, right? So we need not only fiber, but we need water to be moving things through the intestinal tract. So a lot of people just are dehydrated. Movement, right? So keeping everything moving. So jumping on a trampoline if you have access to one, or a rebounder if you don't, or, you know, your knees won't handle that. Even just bouncing up and down, just like going, bringing that gentle, gentle movement, right? Not forceful movement, but gentle movement is helpful as well. Abdominal massage, right? Give that area some love. Things like the Smooth Move tea, that's more, you know, if like, hey, if you haven't gone in a couple of days and you need to go, that'll help get things moving. Not something we want to rely on every day. So if it— are you— if you are having to rely on things like Smooth Move tea on a regular basis, then you're still in the working phase of getting things moving optimally. Magnesium citrate or vitamin C can be helpful as well. And then castor oil packs are amazing. I love me my castor oil pack, but only in the maintenance phase or in life, in life phase. So castor oil not in release phase because of the oil on that. So there's a few supplements if you have issues, ongoing issues with digestion. So as we mentioned, magnesium citrate. So there's lots of different types of magnesium and many of you might be taking magnesium for one thing or another. The one that's specific for bowels is magnesium citrate. So magnesium citrate at high doses causes diarrhea. So we don't want to cause that, but there, there'll be like a happy medium. So I always recommend people is like find the dose that works for you, that you're having a bowel movement once or twice a day, right? So that amount of magnesium citrate might— may vary from one person to the next. So if someone is— if someone grabs a magnesium citrate because they've heard, hey, magnesium is good, I should take it, and maybe they're already optimal, they might have some diarrhea because of that, because of that effect. So that's an option. So it can be either taken daily or can be taken as needed. And then So probiotics, right? So probiotics are good as you're again resetting your diet, that you're resetting the whole digestive system as you go through your 6-week release phase and you're feeding it lots of great fiber and you're giving it lots of great clean water. Some people will like to add on a probiotic, definitely not needed, but some people will do a probiotic there or in maintenance or beyond just as maintenance, right? Make sure that it's seeded with great, a great diverse, healthy microbiome. One supplement, LVGB, that we— is one of our favorites. So if anyone's ever had their gallbladder removed, so once a gallbladder is removed, most people— not again, not— it's never 100%, but most people will have some digestive challenges for the rest of their life. And it's because no one usually tells them you should have bile salts for the rest of your life, like you should have bile salts with each meal. So the LVGB is like a liver gallbladder support system. So if you or anyone you know has had a gallbladder out and has digestive challenges, a big reason is because of the, the bile. So your liver still makes bile, but the gallbladder holds on to the bile and it gets the signal like, hey, we just ate, we just had some meal with some fat in it. We need you to release. So rather than it— when you don't have a gallbladder, the liver is just putting bile into the small intestines all the time, right? So it's dripping in whether it's needed or not. But it also can't be like, oh hey, I just had something with a little more fat, I need a little more bile. It can't accommodate that. So that's where a supplement like LVGB would come into place. And then some people need digestive enzymes, right? Especially if, you know, someone's has a lot of bloating, has experienced a lot of bloating, they have a hard time digesting either vegetables or proteins. That's where a digestive enzyme might be, might be appropriate. So just something to definitely check in with on your coach based on your root cause assessment form that you filled in and seeing what areas were high priority for you or what. And I'm sure they've already made those, those recommendations, or if you're having your intake appointment shortly, your coach will go over if something like that would be helpful for you. Other things to consider for optimal digestion, again, especially for constipation, is exercise and hydration. Not even like exercise, but movement, right? So again, if someone says, hey, I'm constipated while I'm on the release phase, I was like, are you walking 20 minutes a day? It's like, yeah, we don't need— we're not exercising to like exercise or burn calories, but we want to keep the body moving, right? If we want to be evacuating once or twice a day, we need to tell the body, yeah, I wanna be moving. So depending where you are, meet yourself where you're at, right? Maybe it's a 5-minute walk, maybe it's 2 10-minute walks, but ideally I love people walking 20 minutes a day. And another thing that can be helpful is taking an Epsom salt bath because Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate. So magnesium, we know helps. So the, the bath does a few things, right? So one, usually it's relaxing, so it helps us relax, get into rest and digest, which will relax the bowel so it can like start to move. But then you also get the extra benefit of the magnesium. So magnesium is nice. Like let's say it's the middle of the winter and it's miserable. You don't want to go for a walk. Epsom salt bath is an option and staying hydrated continually throughout the day is super, super important. And the crush technique. So again, this is in your online, online program. So if you're struggling with hunger or cravings. Like, again, it's everyone's experience through the release phase and maintenance is going to be your own experience, right? So you, we don't wanna judge or compare our experience to someone else. And many people go through and they have zero cravings or hunger and they're like, good to go. Other people really struggle with hunger or cravings. And what we do know is a lot of times, and especially if you're, if you're following the plan, Right? Like, if you're not following the plan, okay, we check in. Are you following the plan? Are you getting enough food? But if you're following the plan and you're taking your spray and you're struggling with hunger or cravings, sometimes there's— not sometimes, often there's something in the subconscious or something underneath driving that hunger, driving that I need more, driving that I want that thing that's not on the approved food list. There's something driving that. And if that's often being held in the subconscious, so following this Crush technique can help bring that into awareness. And like Shelley was saying at the beginning, on her— when you're on a healing journey, sometimes— not sometimes, pretty much all the time— things get noticed or get brought up. You're like, oh, I did— I didn't know that was there. But as soon as we have that awareness, then as adults who love ourselves, it's like, okay, we can come at that from a different spot. And then, so I invite you, as you're going into— whether that's your long weekend or, or not— as we're going into the weekend, is what are we ready to let go of, right? So some of us, like, we're in the phase where we're releasing weight, we're releasing old patterns, we're releasing self-judgment, we're releasing being hard on ourselves. And what are you ready to let in? Are you ready to let in self-love? Are you ready to let in gratitude? Are you ready to let in fun, play? Are you ready to let in beauty? Are you ready to let in new experiences? What is that that you are ready to let in? So that was my presentation. It actually took longer than I anticipated, but, uh, because I wanted to make sure we had time for, for to— if you have any questions, that your questions are answered. So if you have any questions, you can just raise your hand or your digital hand or type it into the chat if you have any questions either about where you are in your journey, if you've got something specific, or anything that I presented today. Becca, what's going on?

Oh, I had a question about specific kinds of fibers. I guess, you know, I guess maybe because I came from raw vegan at one point, where something about lectins in grains. So I've always been confused about, like, are we supposed to be eating whole grain rice? I'm trying to actually eliminate all grains, most of the grains out of my life. But rice is kind of part of Asian cuisine. So I just always wondered. I know that it's more fiber with whole grain rice. But then there's this talk about lectins and how that causes inflammation. So I just haven't figured that all out. Like, what? What do I believe here? So I thought maybe you can bring some clarity there.

Yeah, lectins definitely, definitely are problematic, right? And so again, everyone's going to have a different experience with a different dose, and there's ways we can manage and mitigate that. So one of the things is doing the KBMO food inflammation test. So you'll know from that is like, okay, does this food cause a problem for me? 'cause it might, it might, it might not, right? It may or may not. Sometimes there's different ways we can, like if you're cooking, like, like if I'm cooking beans, right? If I'm making a chili in the winter, I'll take, I like using dried beans and I'll do my kidney beans and black beans. I'll do them in the Instant Pot first 'cause that will kind of break some of that down, make it more digestible, easier on the system. So there's ways that it'll make a difference in our cooking. Some of us, and again, depends on how strong your foundation is, right? So like if you have a leaky gut, so if you have a leaky gut and we know there's inflammation there and you're just super sensitive to it, you're like, yeah, if I eat that little bit, I'm gonna get inflamed, I'm gonna, my rash is gonna pop out or I'm gonna get really, really bloated. Okay, then just no. And yeah, you never need to eat grains, right? You never need to eat rice, you never need to eat a legume. It's, and that's the beauty of going through this is you get to ex, one, it's an experiment, right? It's finding like, okay, how, how do I feel with this food now? Right? And maybe let's for say, for example, someone did the food inflammation test and they realized, oh, I have a leaky gut, right? But they, you know, weren't, weren't eating gluten and weren't eating dairy for a period of time and they took some supplements and some probiotics and started eating some fermented foods and then a little while later tested, oh look, the leaky gut shows that it's cleared up. Maybe I, I, you will have a different experience with that food then depending on the state of your system. So it's something like for your, for, for yourself, Beck, it's like something like the raw vegan, right? It's like Maybe that's what your body needed now, right, as on your healing journey. And then again, you get to adapt, like, what do I want to be eating? What type of food do I want to be nourishing my body with? And what is best for my body right now based on everything else that's going on?

Okay.

Yeah, with the raw vegan, I was going to say, the thing about that whole frame of thinking was you soak all your nuts and seeds to get rid of the enzymatic properties that, that are problematic, I guess, in your digestive system. And I mean, we kind of soak our lentils. I mean, it's just part of the— I always thought that was part of the Asian tradition, just to soak your rice and lentils anyway. But it didn't come from that side. Maybe it came from a scientific point of view and they just didn't realize it. I don't know. But yeah, I'll try that. And actually, this is funny. I'm going to do the KBMO today. So will that just test for my current level of inflammation, or this is like I'm sensitive to these types of foods no matter what, whether I'm in the release phase where I'm so clean with my diet, or as I'm adding new foods in and I'm maybe exposing myself to something that might cause inflammation like rice, will that KBMO test pick up on that whether I'm in a clean diet phase or not so clean? Does that make sense?

Yes, it does. It does make sense. But, and to kind of answer that is like it can shift over time, right? Oh. So depending on like if I did, you know, if again, let's say I did a test 6 months ago, right? And then I went into a release phase and I started eating sauerkraut every day and like I could tell there was a difference in my digestive system. The results of like the food that are picked up at that point might be slightly different. And that's a, you know, it's a complex interplay, let's, let's say.

Okay.

Okay. So it might over time, which is why generally we recheck on like the leaky gut, but we don't necessarily check the foods per se, but they can be checked, you know, again in the future on a regular basis.

Okay. So I really should wait to do my KBMO, it sounds like, till I'm fully, you know, after the 10 weeks, not like, right after the release phase. That way, I would do it sooner rather than later because then—

yeah, because, like, if there's— like, we usually say, like, whatever the kind of the top 5 foods that come back flagged for you, like, if that's— and that's like the nature's— the universe's joke is that it's typically the foods you eat very frequently that come back, right? So let's say black pepper. Like, someone was a little frustrated because she's like, black pepper is one of the things. And One, it's in everything, right? So it'd be better to know that now than, than, than later, right? So the sooner you have that information, cuz you're doing it anyway. Okay. The better, right? So you can just like, okay, you know what, as I'm, and let's say something, it's like something like almonds for an example, right? Just like, okay, well I haven't reintroduced almonds. Well guess what? I'm just not gonna reintroduce almonds. I'll have macadamia nuts instead.

Oh, I see what you're saying. You just don't want to cause your body more havoc for a longer period of time. Okay. So, it's not like I need to expose myself to see what I am allergic to. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Shelley.

Thank you. I guess my question surrounds like the bloating and I have, um, I did well. I was able to kind of like just calm my, my belly. But again, you know, when I started to introduce grains again, then the, the bloating came back. And I, I have the castor oil packs, so I've, I've started using them. But, um, a couple of other things I just wanted to— like with the castor oil clarification on, and I'm only using a small amount because I did the first couple of of nights I did it, I felt all kinds of stuff going on and a little bit of, of pain. Um, so I've only been doing like a capful and for an hour. So I did it like maybe 2 times in the week. So just, you know, what's the consistency there? And then my other question is, I've tried bitters, digestive bitters, before in the past, you know, taking them before I eat, but I've never tried enzymes. And then the other thing, you know, I've worked with and work— working with Alice and we were going to go down the road of doing the parasite cleanse as well. So I'm just curious in all those areas.

Great, great question. So, yeah, so castor oil, paxillia. Yeah, because some people are like, it doesn't do anything. It does something. So, yeah, starting with— starting with even if someone's like super sensitive, we even have them start with 30 minutes. So like 30 minutes to an hour is great. You get the effect. It does its job. It starts moving things around. So overnight might be too, too much, right? So yes, there's people who, you know, self-reported wear it overnight every night, right? I don't just because I forget and I'll be in bed. Oh, I meant to put it on tonight. Oh, well, not doing it tonight. So if you're doing an hour a couple of times a week, you're getting the benefit from that castor oil pack, right? And so depending again what you're using it for, if is it more for bloating, just overall liver health, is it for the constipation support that it gives you, you again, you come up with like your own prescriptive lifestyle for the week. Digestive enzymes are a great thing to try. So when you were, did you notice a difference in the bloating when you were in release versus moving into maintenance?

You know what? It was kind of hit and miss. Like, I would go a couple of days and everything was wonderful, and then all of a sudden it wasn't. So, you know, trying to kind of be aware or track, you know, what was different, what foods and everything. I really didn't see the— and, you know, and that's what I'm trying to do again. Like, what's the pattern here? And it's just interesting about talking about smoothies because I brought them back in. But it's true, I'm not chewing. And then I'm getting gassy.

So, yeah, it's a big, it's a big one, right? And so, yeah, sometimes it's the, sometimes it's the type or quantity of protein. And then because usually we're putting protein powder in it. So one thing with smoothies, if you're going to do it again, a lot of times we're doing a smoothie while we're in front of the computer or while we're driving because it's quick. And so we're doing it where we're not focused. So one thing is when you take a sip, swish it around your mouth.

Okay.

Right. So one, it'll force you to slow down how, like, how it's going in, but then it'll get that time in the digestive enzymes and give your body that cue. So that's like literally just swish it around before you swallow it. Okay.

That's a good idea. Thank you.

My pleasure. Yeah. And then just check in. Am I chewing my food? Yeah. Right. Was I a little more stressed? Like, stress is— stress and emotions are huge for upset stomachs, digestion.

Well, I've noticed that with my Oura Ring because I had a— it was a big stressor the other day and I thought, what the hell? Like, I— there was nothing, you know, when I think of what stresses to me, I thought there was nothing. Then I thought, well, what did I eat that could have been causing my body all that stress?

So interesting. Yeah. And again, a lot of times the Oura Ring is picking up on things, like picks on things up before, before we do. What? It's in there. We're just busy living life, right? It's like, oh no, it's really in tune. So yeah, maybe it was those things. And if you notice an issue with the grains, then yeah, I would keep the grains inside. And there's ways we can get our sweet potatoes. I love, I love sweet potatoes. I love plantains. Finding the, if we're the carbs that work, work, work for your body, let's call it that way.

Okay. Plantains. I haven't eaten enough of those. I'm going to bring those in.

Oh, I love plantains. If you have an air fryer, plantains in the air fryer. Amazing. Super quick and delicious.

Thank you, Natalie.

My pleasure. Rosemary is asking about the KBOMS, KBMO test. So it's a food inflammation and leaky gut test. So reach out to your coach and they can have— so it can be— we have like 3 tiers of the program. So the legacy tier, it's included. So if you're on one of the other tiers, you can do it as an add-on. So some people will be like, Like once you start diving into, she's like, okay, yeah, I really want that information. Let me go ahead and get that test ordered. Some people will do it kind of at the end of their program. It's a great ongoing, again, evaluation of like where you're at now because you do so much work through the program of taking care of yourself and figuring stuff out and developing what's the lifestyle and the routines for yourself. It's great information. I've got mine upstairs I need to do too. I'm overdue for doing mine. So Maybe Becca will— I'm not doing it today. I would, I say I would like to do it today, but I'm not gonna— no, it's not gonna get done today. So yes, reach out to your coach. And does your body absorb castor oil? Yes, it does. It does get, get absorbed. Yeah, and that's why on the release phase we say no castor oil, just to, um, again, we're not asking you to eat any added oils, so no extra oil going on the skin other than the coconut oil if needed. Awesome. Well, thanks for your time and attention, everyone, today, and your great questions. I know we went over, so thank you, um, and appreciate each and every one of you. I wish you guys all a very amazing, great weekend. I am in the Facebook group, so if you have any follow-up questions— I know I usually just am a fill-in for the Friday call, uh, if everyone else is busy, so it's been a while since I've, uh, done the Friday call. So I know for most of you, it's your first time seeing me. But, uh, yeah, if you have any follow-up questions, you can tag me in the Facebook group and, uh, happy to chat. Thanks so much for being here, everyone. Have a great day. Take care.