Relationship Between Your Skin & Your Gut {Microbiome}

Welcome to the Balanced Body Podcast, where Sherri Griggs, owner of Balanced Body Health and Wellness in Omaha, talks to us about health, wellness, and balancing hormones.

Hello and welcome to the Balanced Body Health and Wellness Podcast. Sherri Griggs, owner of Balanced Body Omaha, and today we're jumping from Gut health, SIBO, everything, you know, that gut health has to do with hormone health into what does gut health and skin connection— what's the skin connection between the two? So we have a specialist in today. We do.

So today we have Chrissa Patterson with Skin Sanctuary, and Chrissa is an esthetician She has a wealth of knowledge and years of experience. She started her business in New York, was there for several years, came back to Omaha about a year and a half ago. And Krissa has her own journey with gut health and autoimmunity. So she's very aware of that and notices things in her clients when they come in for their skincare treatments. Things that she sees.

Well, that's totally awesome. Could we dive into some of that history? I'm just curious where that kind of comes in.

Yes. Um, so my journey kind of started, um, I'm super prone to acne, um, and there is a genetic component that comes along with that, um, but it's also largely environmental and the things that you're putting into your body. Um, when the gut is out of balance or there's a dysbiosis and the bacteria in the gut It's not at the levels it's supposed to be, it can drive inflammation. Um, for some people it shows up as inflammation on the skin, whether it's eczema, psoriasis, acne, rosacea. Those are all inflammatory conditions that are showing up as symptoms of something deeper going on in the body. Acne just doesn't show up out of nowhere.

Right.

There's something driving that acne, whether it's the bacteria, the inflammation, That comes along with it. Um, so for myself, it was dealing with acne and kind of taking a deeper look because I'm an esthetician. I know what I can do topically, what products I can use, what treatments I can get. Um, but I had to take a deeper look myself, and that's kind of how I discovered and started learning more about the connection between the gut and the skin. It's not something we learned in school.

No.

Um, you know, you kind of learn the basics. So for me, it often happens when clients come in and they're expressing that they have concerns of acne, you know, they have redness in their skin, their barrier's compromised, and they're looking to do treatments to help with that. There are treatments that can help, of course, reduce the inflammation, do topical things that treat the acne. But I also talk to them largely about what they're putting into their body.

Mm-hmm.

What are you consuming? What are you eating? If they're eating a lot of high inflammatory foods, some of those high allergen foods, dairy is a huge culprit for acne, especially skim milk. But you think of dairy and all the hormones, everything that goes into the cows and throughout the processing of it, it's a huge trigger, probably the number one trigger for acne.

Yeah.

Gluten is also a culprit. Even if you're not celiac, you could still have a sensitivity to the gluten, and that's going to cause inflammation in the gut, right? Um, other foods— soy, corn.

I'm like, John, does this all sound familiar to you?

Sounds so familiar.

I don't know.

Yes, because when we did John's journey, and for those of who— those of you who've been following us, this should all sound So familiar to you. She is listing off the most inflammatory foods. And when we do that 31-day elimination, they eliminate all the foods that you are listing. I mean, you are talking our language.

Yes.

Yeah.

And that's, that's what I recommend to people because that's what I found is what works for me. If I eat ice cream, 2 days later I get cystic breakouts down here. And I know, I know it's gonna happen, but sometimes I want my ice cream.

Yes.

I just know what's going to happen after. Gluten is also a big culprit for me. Um, there's other high allergens. Peanuts.

Yeah.

Legumes.

Legumes.

It's a very high mold nut.

Oh my God. Yes.

Eggs can be inflammatory for some people, or people can have allergies to them driving that, um, inflammation in the gut. When you have inflammation in the gut, you're going to get inflammation, or you can, you have the potential to get inflammation in the skin.

Right.

Not everybody reacts the same way.

Right. Our largest organ.

Yes, our largest organ. Another large culprit is sugar.

Oh, the toxic sugar.

Sugar.

Yes.

We all know about that. Uh-huh.

The white foods drive inflammation. Sugar is also going to break down the collagen in the skin faster.

Wow.

That's right. That's why diabetics have such terrible skin.

Yes.

I was just listening to my TCOID. If any of you are diabetics, tcoid.org. 2 endocrinologists. They are amazing. Love them. Um, and they were just talking about diabetic skin and how diabetics have issues with collagen. Now I know why. Yes, because the blood sugar, the high sugars break it down.

Yes. So there's something called advanced glycation end products, AGEs, which you've maybe heard of.

Okay.

And it's when someone's consuming too much sugar in any form, really. Spiking that insulin, it allows for a sugar molecule to attach to the protein or the lipids.

Okay.

So here it changes the structure of the protein.

And collagen is a protein.

Correct. Collagen, elastin, keratin for our hair and nails. Yeah, it's made of protein. So if the sugar molecule is coming in and changing that structure, instead of getting that healthy buoyancy to the skin and the hydration, it's going to create rigid bonds. Stiff bonds that lead to wrinkles. Um, it can break capillaries, just cause dullness and dryness in the skin.

I know.

So sugar wreaks havoc in the gut as an inflammatory component, but also for anti-aging because it's breaking down the collagen.

Wow.

Okay, I did not know that.

Yes.

Oh my gosh, you guys, if you want to stay young, avoid sugar.

Yes, and prioritize your protein, right? Because that's Your collagen and elastin and the keratin, again, for the hair, is comprised of protein.

Wow.

So when you're talking about all these things, obviously, yes, Sherri, this is all kind of hitting home because we had talked about this a lot, not just in my own case, but in previous shows about leaky gut and how inflammatory foods will make it harder for your body to, you know, work through things. And I'm saying that all wrong right now, but, um, I mean, is the— is one of the first things that you do to start working on people's skin is to get them to do an elimination diet? Like, is that a similar thing that you start with, or do you have a focus of just like, these are the ones that are the main culprits?

So I myself talk to my clients about those inflammatory foods. I do recommend for them to look into— I'm, I'm not a nutritionist, I'm not a dietitian, I'm not a doctor, so I never give them strict instructions, but I encourage them to either seek a functional medicine practitioner or to Google and look into it themselves of an elimination diet, an anti-inflammatory diet protocol, antihistamine diet protocol. I know for myself, My histamine spikes.

Oh.

I can tell my one ear gets bright red. It gets really hot to the touch. So I can tell when my body's inflamed and when I'm not doing the things that I should be doing because life, right?

Life happens.

So yes, I do talk to them and encourage them to, you know, cut out certain foods, make sure you're getting enough fiber, make sure you're hydrating the skin. And prioritizing that protein and getting rid of the processed foods. Processed foods are really going to drive inflammation. It's also going to increase free radicals, which also increase aging of the skin.

It does. Yes.

Wow.

So like, you are a functional esthetician.

I've never thought of it that way, but you— yes, I do look at it as a whole body. I don't look at it like just the skin. Yes, there's things top of We can do to help decrease inflammation or help with your concerns, right? Hyperpigmentation, your wrinkles. But it's also about what you're putting in your body, right?

Mm-hmm.

It's when they say you are what you eat. You are what you eat. You need those healthy fats for healthy hormones, right?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. For the cell membranes. The healthy fats are what create those healthy cell membranes in our body. So those healthy fats, From, you know, avocados, coconut oil, your omega-3s, the wild fish, selenium. So sardines, oysters are very good for the skin.

Wow.

Yes. Selenium, zinc.

Oh my gosh. When I used to make my little dog her food, I had to have oysters in there for those minerals.

Yes. Brazil nuts are also good in selenium, but I don't care for them. They don't taste very good.

Yeah, I don't like them either. And you can actually overdose on them.

Yes. I think they said 1 to 2 a day.

Yeah, maximum. So what? Oh, are you serious?

Oh my gosh.

Yes.

Well, so, so you're, you're, you're telling people to check out a functional, uh, primary care or something? So Sherri obviously does, and people who are listening, I mean, Sherri gets into the nitty-gritty When it comes to what to cut, what to add, because that's the other thing is it's not just about getting rid of things that are terrible, but like, like you were talking about with the fats. In fact, for my 31-day challenge, or I guess start of my change, I should say, rather than a challenge, it was— we called it all about fun with fats. Because we were cutting so many things, but we were adding other things that we could eat. And it was like, okay, That, that kept me driving. Like, not just what can't I have, but what can I have?

What can you have? Yeah, exactly.

Because it's so easy for me to be overwhelmed when it comes to like cutting things. Like when you say cut sugar, it's like, oh my gosh. But then we found that monk fruit is a really great replacement for sugar.

It is. Yes, it does not mess with your glycemic index, does not touch your blood sugar. So Monk fruit is very good for that.

Yes, love monk fruit.

Yeah.

And I kind of like what you're talking about with, you know, making changes to the diet that will affect your gut and your skin, because then it's like you're getting at the root of the cause rather than just, you know, what can we add to your skincare routine to kind of fix what you're doing by eating all this sugar and Brazil nuts? Or I think you said Brazil nuts are actually good for you, so this is the wrong way.

But yes, I do look at it more as an inside-out approach. Of course, like I said, I can recommend the topicals, we can do the treatments. You are going to see results with getting treatments. But on that day-to-day, those things, you know, exposure to the sun, just exposure to different elements, right? The environment.

Just our environment and all the toxins in it.

The blue light from your screens, you know. That's affecting your skin too. It affects your skin very similarly as UV rays. Oh my gosh, really? So my clients that say, I don't go outside, I don't need to wear sunscreen, I work from home. Do you work from a computer? Yes. You're getting exposed to blue light all day long. If you're working from home and you sit by a window, if you can see the sun, the sun can see you. You're getting UV rays.

I wonder why I put that sunblock on all the time, even though I'm never in the sun. I'm glad I do that.

Yes.

Okay.

Reapply.

Yeah. Yes.

That's your number one thing when it comes to aging.

So does sunscreen help with blue rays from your screens?

Some of them can.

Yes.

More of the mineral sunscreens.

Interesting.

Which is what I prefer. It doesn't have chemical components to it.

I like the mineral too, because I also like the Reef Safe and mineral. Reef safe. So yeah.

So, okay, so this might be a random question, but like, say somebody I know like myself has multiple screens up, is that just compounding the interest from Blu-ray, like, exposure?

I'm not a Blu-ray expert. I would say you're definitely getting hit from all angles. Yeah. And I would get in the habit of putting on your sunscreen in the morning And if you're sitting next to the screens all day, I would reapply. Standardly every 2 hours is when you reapply your sunscreen.

Okay, well, that's a new thing I'll have to start up.

Yes.

Do you find that, um, when you start changing your diet to kind of help with skincare, that things become a little bit more or less sensitive? To changes from like, I guess maybe the topicals that you're giving people or like the routines that you're giving people. So say I start cutting all inflammation foods, is it easier for my skin to heal or does it like all of a sudden it becomes a little bit more sensitive because I've cut this and I've already done all that damage to my skin?

I've never seen where it's caused increased sensitivity. I'm also not prescribing Topicals. Um, what I'm using is professional-grade or medical-grade skincare, so I'm not prescribing things.

Mm-hmm.

Um, standardly, people that have these conditions, there is an inflammatory component, right, with eczema, any kind of dermatitis, any kind of rash you get on your body. So if you can bring that inflammation down, especially internally, but then also double it with skincare that's going to reduce the temperature of the skin. There's ingredients that can, you know, reduce the temperature of the skin and just help to soothe the skin. You want a healthy barrier of the skin because that's going to prevent foreign invaders getting into the skin, but it's also going to prevent transepidermal water loss, which is when the environment pulls moisture from the skin. So I've never seen where it has caused a bigger problem when they cut out the foods. They may break out a little bit initially because their body's maybe going into a little bit of a shock of, whoa, you cut all this stuff out all of a sudden. It may shift, but I've never seen where it's prolonged the treatment. If anything, it's considerably helped.

But I wonder if what John was asking, are you asking kind of like when we did the 31-day elimination and we took all those inflammatory foods out, giving the gut some time to heal? Then when we would put them back in one at a time, because the gut had healed so much, the reaction was even stronger. Is that what you were thinking about? Yeah. So like, if they've— if they've—

The end result.

End result. Well, like, so they do. Yeah. So they do so well. And then, for instance, like, you cut all your dairy out and you're like, okay, I eat my ice cream, I get this cystic acne. But, but that, that being maybe more of a reaction Because your gut has healed and you don't do it very often than what they had before. Like, their body would react more. Does their skin react? Well, it could come out in the skin, John, you know. Yeah. Depending on how they react. Right. If the gut is healed and you've taken the inflammation out and then all of a sudden you throw something in that's very inflammatory, there's going to be a bigger reaction.

Yeah, it could.

Definitely.

And then, and then I guess what I meant more is like, So now you have this reaction, like you were saying, you're sensitive to some foods or you, you get that hottier.

Yes.

But does then, you know, the topicals that you're giving people or the program that they're using, does it seem to do better for them faster because they're just able to react better to it? Their skin is healthier?

Yes, yes. I have one client that I'm speaking of specifically who has Grade 4 inflamed acne, mostly lower part of the face.

Mm-hmm.

And I've been working with her for about a year and we've done the treatments, we've done the topicals. Young, young woman, spoke with her many times about diet and we weren't really making headway, but she also wasn't changing things up. And once she did and started drinking more water, she cut out dairy and I believe she added in oat milk. Instead, um, which I did mention, you know, inflammatory oils and stuff like that in some of those oat milks and almond milks, which are all dried ingredients.

Yeah.

Um, but we're actually making progress now because she has cut down on those inflammatory things. She used to eat white rice every day.

Oh yeah.

I said, maybe let's add in maybe a black rice, or if you have to do rice, let's do something maybe different.

Right. You know, less, less glycemic index involved, more or less, because white rice is really hard on blood sugar. It can really, really raise it.

Yes, correct. And that can drive that inflammation.

Right. Because high blood sugar drives the inflammation.

And there's studies out there that show that people with eczema have less diversity in the gut. Oh, people with acne tend to have gut dysbiosis.

Okay.

So there are studies out there showing that connection between the gut microbiome and the skin.

That makes me think of this patient I have that seems to believe that it's her hormones that are causing this acne that she's having. And it's— and it— but it's interesting because her levels aren't high and she's never had this problem before. I wonder if it's how she's eating. Because it's cystic.

And it's all here on the jaw.

She said she got it on her back and her chest.

I usually, if clients are breaking out on the chest or the back, and this tends to be a hormonal marker, right, I do recommend for them to get their hormone levels checked.

Okay. Yeah, this is definitely—

but it's just interesting that for me, chest and back, chest and back, I generally think androgenic Hormones.

Okay.

Also here, this is where a man has facial hair.

Yeah, right.

Man has hair.

Yeah.

So if females are breaking out in those areas, sometimes it can be where the testosterone levels are off.

Okay.

Okay.

That makes sense for her.

Maybe not, but— right.

But no, that makes sense. That is one of the things, you know, we were looking at. We had also talked about products a little bit and That upset her a lot. But, you know, I do understand it. Even people that eat very, very well and eat very clean, if they don't take care of their skin, can have issues as well. Even if they do have a good gut and everything, they still need to be like you talked about protecting the barrier and—

Right.

Right. So we're—

Don't over-exfoliate.

Right.

You know, things like that can cause inflammation too. If you're using scrubs or using a retinol and your skin can't handle it, handle it and it's breaking that barrier, that's going to drive inflammation.

More isn't always better.

No.

Right.

And then you get foreign invaders and that's going to drive the inflammation even more.

Yeah.

So it's a matter of keeping that balance to the skin. Keep it hydrated, wear your sunscreen. Antioxidants are huge. Vitamin C is great for the skin. Those are my 3 big— vitamin C, something for exfoliation, and SPF.

Okay. Do you prefer, or is there something you think works better, like, for exfoliation, like mechanical or chemical?

So it depends on the person's skin. I tend to see, especially since I've been in Nebraska, a lot of people with a compromised barrier. You think of the cold winters here, the wind. If they're not protecting their skin or they're wearing something very light, On the skin, or just simply not washing their face at the end of the day. Nighttime is when your body's renewing, right, and regenerating itself. And if you're not doing anything for your skin before bed, you're doing yourself a disservice.

Because you're leaving all the chemicals and things and the toxins that we have in our air sitting on that skin all night.

Yes, yes, absolutely. Um, when it comes to exfoliation, I Recommend based on their skin.

Okay.

If someone has thick, good integrity to their skin and they're worried about wrinkles, retinol, amazing. I myself can't handle a retinol. My skin can't tolerate it. So I use enzymes. Enzymes are more gentle. You can use them more frequently on a consistent basis. And they're like little Pac-Man. They eat away at the bonds that hold that dead skin together. So it gently sloughs the skin off. Where retinol, you're often going through that cycle of where you might get dry and flaky. You just kind of have to work through that.

Okay.

I'm sorry, this is probably not the best question because I'm sure lots of people who are listening understand what you're talking about with like skin barriers. When you're talking about breaking the skin barrier, I'm almost thinking like a cut in the skin. So What am I— what's a way to kind of help me understand? Like, is like using the wrong kind of soap something that will break the barrier to how your skin heals better?

Like, what—

or is that even the wrong way to think about it?

No, you're thinking about it. That could be one way. Yes. I mean, a break in the skin is definitely a break in the barrier, a compromised barrier. So we have something that's called an acid mantle. Which is a barrier over our skin.

Oh.

So as I mentioned before, our skin is our largest organ and it's intended to keep our insides in and the outside out.

Right.

So if you over-exfoliate, think if you get an abrasion on your arm, right, you fall, you get a scrape and it just lightly takes off some of those top layers of skin. Or after a sunburn, how your skin just feels kind of compromised. Maybe dry, inflamed. It can happen due to simply inflammation in the body and you're not using the right products, or it can happen if you're over-exfoliating. So if you're using a scrub and you're just— some people just want to really feel clean and they can really just scrub at the skin.

Mm-hmm.

Like you said, more isn't better. Scrubbing harder isn't better. It's actually getting rid of that healthy microbiome that we have on our skin.

Skin.

So you're stripping the skin of its natural oils and its integrity. So when I say breaking the barrier, I mean stripping the barrier and it's compromised. So now it's allowing foreign invaders in.

Wow.

And it could allow for more transepidermal water loss, which just means that that barrier is compromised and it's allowing the environment to pull water from your skin because it can, because there's no barrier.

That makes a ton of sense because definitely here in Nebraska, like, like you were saying, like there's just wind and snow and the elements are just hitting you from every angle.

Yes. So a lot of my clients, I do have them on more gentle exfoliation because they don't need as much exfoliation. We need to work on building their skin, treating it with ceramides, niacinamide, you know, healthy skin oils. And kind of help to build that barrier back up because you won't get rid of the inflammation if the barrier is compromised. You never will.

Similar as the gut, right? So that's why I was saying, even if you heal your gut, you still need to take care of that skin.

Yes.

Properly.

Yes.

It's not just one or the other.

It's not just the gut. It's— the gut is huge when it comes to those inflammatory things. And I believe that people like myself that have an autoimmune condition are more predisposed Yes, we are. Or if genetically, um, you know, acne or eczema, rosacea runs in the family, you're more predisposed to it. But it's also about what you're doing on a daily basis, the food you're eating, your environment, what you're putting into your body, because food really is power. And it, I mean, it really helps to rebuild every cell in the body.

Yeah, food is medicine.

Yes.

Totally. And we've talked about that. And one of the questions that I had was, and I wasn't sure if this derails it a little bit, but, you know, the, the gut-skin connection, once you kind of have that figured out and you're eating the right things and you're doing topicals, do you also notice— because, and this is something that we talk about in the podcast with hormones—

do—

are there other stressors? Like, is stress one of the things that will make your skin do weird things or having an imbalance of some other, you know, one of the other hormones? Like, does— is that something that you focus on or try to help people with? Or, you know, is that where you lean into Sherri for that?

Yes.

So as I mentioned, if, um, someone comes in and they're complaining of acne, because that is a large part of what I treat, I do recommend if it's a certain pattern, right? Like if they're breaking out on their forehead To me, that's not hormones. But if they're breaking out along the jawline, on the neck, if they're getting it on the chest or the back, I do recommend for them to get the hormone levels tested for sure. Stress, as we know, affects cortisol. Cortisol drives those androgenic hormones, which for people that have acne, when those androgenic hormones go up, it increases the amount of Sebum or oil that they produce. And it's already a known fact that people who struggle with acne produce thicker sebum than the average person or someone who doesn't struggle with it.

That's why they get the clogged.

Correct. And they tend to produce more of it. So then if you throw stress on top of that and it's further driving up those hormones, you're even producing more stress. And more oils on the skin, right?

Yeah. So it's like a balance because I was always told that I had oilier skin, so that means my skin would stay looking younger longer. And I know that when we replace the estrogen for the ladies, when they've gone, they start to get oilier faces and oilier hair, but they don't break out, right? Their skin starts to look smoother. In fact, I even had a patient that said, well, I cut my estrogen back because my hair was getting oily. And I said, well, estrogen is an anti-inflammatory hormone and it is lubricating everything, including your joints. So yes, your hair will probably get oilier, but it's not oily like the oil you're talking about. It's like our good oil, right?

Yes.

So, so that can be— when we lose that and we start to dry, then does that allow then the skin to maybe get dry, maybe crack? And break the barrier down? Like, is that why ladies that don't replace their estrogen, their skin ends up starting to look so dry?

And that's absolutely why it looks dry. Um, I can't speak necessarily to the fact of causing it to crack.

Okay, causing like, you know, tears in this. Yeah, okay, right. Okay. Um, just a thought.

Yeah, it definitely could. Yeah, I myself haven't I've seen that. Okay. Where people's skin is very dry and I mean, you can see it looking at them like it just looks like their skin is pulled back. Yeah, the skin is so dry. And when I ask them, do you feel tight when you get out of the shower or right after you cleanse before adding anything else? If you feel really tight, that's a sign your skin's dehydrated.

Oh, or you've over—

Over-exfoliated.

Over-scrubbed it or cleansed. Yes. You've taken too much off. You've stripped it.

Correct. You've stripped it and you really need to work on nourishing and hydrating the skin to give that glow.

I know, because I always used to think, well, my skin has to feel really clean and, and tight.

Yes.

Then I know I've cleaned it right.

Yes, that's what a lot of people think.

But that's not true. We've learned since. Yeah, that's not true.

I believe when you were doing it, like back then, we were conditioned, right? Like the St. Ives scrub.

Yeah.

You know, that people are going—

Yes. If my skin felt soft or even slightly oily, I knew I hadn't cleaned it good.

Yes. But what happens is when you compromise that barrier and you break down the barrier— I don't know if you've ever heard this, but I get clients that say, I'm dry, but I'm oily.

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Because then you're so— because you're dry, then your face overcompensates by making a bunch of oil. Because I've had that. I've had people say to me, your skin is dry. I'm like, you got to be kidding. In the middle of the day, I'm patting it with a napkin. Yes, because it's so oily. I thought I had oily skin.

Yeah, our bodies are very smart. And when you compromise that barrier or you over-exfoliate, our body recognizes there's no oil. I need to produce oil to create that protective barrier. So your body starts producing oil like crazy. So you're dry, you're tight, you're maybe itchy and irritated, but at the same time you're producing all this oil.

Yes.

So it's really that you're dehydrated and your body's producing oil. You're not an oily skin type, right? You're just producing oil because of this.

It's overcompensating because of what you've done.

Correct.

And isn't this also true with people who have acne that think, well, if I lay in the sun or go to the tanning bed, my acne gets better? But the truth of the matter is, it's only— it's like only for maybe a short period it dries it out. And then makes it worse because it— then your body has to make all this extra oil. Yes.

And it's going to make it worse on so many levels. The UV rays are going to cause hyperpigmentation, right?

Yes. The scarring.

The scarring, the UV rays. So it may dry it down a little bit, but not enough to offset.

It's a temporary thing.

Correct. And you're not getting any benefit from going and laying in a tanning bed or going and laying by the pool to clear up your acne, you know. Look to your diet first. Always look to your diet first.

No, that makes sense. I've, I've— and if it means anything, I've never heard anybody say that going to a tanning bed is good in any way, like just in any way, shape, or form.

So businesses—

so no, which blows my mind. I still can't believe the tanning bed— the businesses are still out there.

I can't either. That's the young girls.

I mean, you know, or bodybuilder guys, like the testosterone guys that we've talked about in the past.

At least all the people are doing the spray tans now. So yes, that does help.

A lot of spray tans.

Yes.

I'm curious about— so we've talked about food and adding and taking away, and I think we've danced around the subject, and it's probably something you talk to everybody about, but How important is water to like the entire process? Because you keep talking about how you need to stay hydrated and be hydrated and add water. Like, is there a specific type of water that you're looking to add? I mean, I've seen in the store like pH+ waters and things. I mean, is that the kind of thing that you're talking about, or what do you, what do you focus on?

I think that some people could benefit from that. You might be able to speak Better to this with— I've heard different things. I don't drink out of plastic water bottles myself. I get water, um, that's in glass water bottles or through a filtered source. Um, I've heard different things on the— what's the big one right now? Oh my goodness.

I don't know much about water. I don't, you know, that like the pH water or the Vitaminwater or any of those. I don't You know, I don't. I feel like they're just kind of a.

Do you think it's a marketing ploy?

Like a marketing ploy. It's just yeah. That's not.

It's like a trend.

It's trend.

Yeah. Yeah.

That that it's really. I mean, obviously you you do want to have filtered water. You don't want to have the chemicals, the chlorine, the fluoride, all that in your water. But does it really matter if it's pH balanced? If it's you know alkaline water or whatever? I I don't know. I don't know much about that. That's not something that I've ever focused on for my patients. Sure. I feel it's trendy.

Yes. I myself am not doing the alkaline or the pH water. One, probably because pH waters are in a plastic water bottle. There you go.

That's true. They are.

Avoid that. So I think just making sure you're getting your electrolytes, which is big for keeping yourself hydrated.

Yeah.

I mean, we're largely water as humans. We're largely compromised— compromised— composed of water. We are. We need water on a consistent basis. It's going to keep your gut healthy, right? It's going to keep things moving in the gut. It's going to keep your skin healthy.

Everything. I'm just—

everything.

I am— I am getting a new InBody machine that's going to be able to tell the difference between intracellular fluid and extracellular fluid. So we'll be able to tell what is inflammation And what is actually fluid in your body. Now, the one at my gym has that, and I did it just today. So I was— my water weight was 70 pounds of water, and I weighed 127. So I was quite a bit water. And then I did the— they talk about a certain percentage. It should be like 0.36 to 0.39 of your extracellular water. And when you start to get up to 0.39 of extracellular, that's too much inflammation. So I was like 0.386. So I must have some inflammation in my body right now. Well, actually, I do. I know because I had some drinks on Saturday night.

Alcohol will do it.

It is an evil, evil poison.

Yeah.

Alcohol, caffeine.

Yeah, sugar, dairy.

Yes, the main culprits.

And so I can't wait to get the machine so that I can look at the difference to see, you know, I'm planning to start a new peptide. We know that people that are autoimmune have leaky guts, right? We're talking about our gut, we're talking about healing our gut and doing things good. So BPC-157 is a really good peptide for healing the gut, body protective. One of the main things that it does Um, my local compounding pharmacy is combining with hyaluronate or hyaluronic acid with the thought process of when the BPC gets into the gut, because when you take things as a capsule, it's more in outside of the stomach, it's more into the lower intestine that it starts to work. And that hyaluronic acid, it— that's something— it's not like an acid acid, but it's something that pulls fluid. And so the thought is then it's going to pull more fluid into the gut. Which will make sure you eliminate more often, because the more you eliminate, the fewer toxins get back into your bloodstream. That's the, you know, gotta poop every day. If you don't poop every day, then those toxins are sitting there getting reabsorbed back into your body.

Yep.

And that's her thought process on that. And autoimmunity and leaky gut tends to be— tends to lean more towards the constipation side. Then the diarrhea side. There's a diarrhea side, guys. There's something else going on, right? You've got maybe, um, a dysbiosis or a small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, some SIBO going on. Um, but I'm excited to try it, so I'm waiting to try it until I can see what my inflammation level is.

Yes.

And then after 90 days, see where my inflammation is again without changing anything else, right? Only way I compare if this one thing is making a difference is if I only change this one thing. So I'll still be having drinks on the weekend. Because if I change that, it's not a true experiment. But then, you know, maybe after the BPC gets me down so far, then I go where I don't have any more alcohol and see where my inflammation level goes from there. Because I don't know about you, and I do know John, but a lot of you out there, I need to see something, right?

Yes.

You can sit here Now you can, you can see somebody's skin barrier and see it's better and tell them it's better and tell them they're doing good. But if I'm going to do all that work and I'm going to do this BPC, which isn't inexpensive, it's a little bit costly, um, I want to know it's working.

Yes.

Right?

Absolutely.

I want to see that it's working somehow. Will I see it in my skin? I might. I mean, I'm diabetic. I don't have the greatest diabetic skin. So it will be interesting.

I'm excited.

Yeah. So you'll have to see my skin before, and then we'll have you look at it after the 90 days too.

And we'll discuss what you're using on your skin.

Yeah.

And all the fun stuff.

Is there something that somebody you wish would ask you when they first kind of come in to sit down and talk about their skin or their gut health? I mean, are there questions that you get that are like sort of all the time questions, but you always feel like, oh, they should be asking me this because this is an important part of skin health or gut health?

Um, I can't say that people necessarily talk to me about their gut health. I bring up to them if I see their, their skin is in a particular condition, right? So I'll talk to them about the bowel movements, which might be a weird question for an esthetician to ask, but as Sherri said, if you're not passing those, moving those bowels every day, Those toxins are just sitting there in your gut getting reabsorbed into the bloodstream, showing up on the skin. For someone with acne like myself, generally is acne or is something inflammatory, right?

Or rosacea, which is that redness, is inflammatory.

Yep.

People have that red skin.

And oftentimes people have heat to their skin. I mean, I just touch their skin and it's just hot. They flush most standardly.

You had talked about the heat on the skin thing and I occasionally get hot skin, but is that a— is that like a— is that like a— what do you know from that? Like, what does that tell you?

It's inflammation, unless you were just outside, you know, in the heat and you're— and your skin's still a little warm. Yes, oftentimes people get it, you know, on their cheeks a lot. It's usually people, as Sherri said, with rosacea that tend to kind of flush easily with spicy foods, or if they drink alcohol, they can get flushed really easy.

Oh, like the red nose.

I'm sorry?

Like a red nose.

Yes.

Okay.

And sometimes people have, you know, they already have that couperose, so those broken capillaries on the cheeks, and because they're so superficial to the skin, that increase in inflammation is causing that redness to present more on the face.

Okay.

Wow.

Good one today, huh?

I know. I mean, it's just, it just opens it up. It's so funny because, you know, it's all a balance and it seems like everybody should know that. I feel like I should know that it's a balance between what you put in is what you get out, but sometimes it's easy to just over— either overanalyze or underanalyze and just not think that there is a balancing equation to it, right?

So, so, Chris, if somebody wanted to come see you and have you evaluate their skin, you know, to look at what's going on, do they need to fix their barrier, just talk to you, how would they get ahold of you?

So you can go to my website, it's www.SkinSanctuaryOmaha.com. The best phone number for contact is 631-316- I'm also on social media. Instagram is SkinSanctuary_Omaha. Okay.

Okay. And if you wanna work on your gut health, my website, balancedbodymedical.com, and you can schedule a free discovery call. We can talk about it, or you're welcome to schedule a consultation to come on in. And my number's 402-807-5333.

And you're having a special this month all about gut health, which I think rolls perfectly into all of this. If you feel like you're having some of the issues with your skin outwardly, or you just feel like you're— something's not connecting with your health, you're just not getting where you want results, it could be. It seems like gut health is a very important I mean, shoot, that was half of our initial call, Sherri, was sitting down and talking about what's in there. So—

Well, this is a SIBO. This is looking for SIBO. So this is the SIBO breath test. Won't tell you if you have dysbiosis, which is an imbalance of your normal gut flora, but it will tell you if there's an opportunistic bacteria in there. So it's $350. It's the consultation, it's the SIBO breath test, and the follow-up to go over the results. Um, but then of course what happens if you're positive, then we have to do an actual stool test. There is the option of doing a blanket treatment, herbal, not antibiotics. But if you really want to know what's going on, if you have dysbiosis, because that can— is very frequently caused by the opportunistic bacteria, we need to know what your dysbiosis is because not everyone's the same. You might be short on Akkermansia and the other person doesn't need it. They need some more lactobacilli. So, um, so then you would want to go then and move forward with the gut test and just to see what's actually happening. But it is free, if you're interested, can be done telehealth.

And I was going to say that like one of the benefits, as much as it stinks to have to do a stool test, if you do end up going that route, what helps is that Sherri is so analytical with the data that you dive in and then she understands not only, and I know that you just said this, but I, I feel like I had to say it out loud, is you're able to go through and say, these are the probiotics that are going to help you because this is what you're lacking. And it is. It's, it's, it's not just one probiotic for all. It is the probiotic for your body, which I thought was helpful for me.

Yeah, well, that's the way to do it, you know. I mean, otherwise you're taking the probiotics, and my thought would be you could further disrupt the dysbiosis if you're not taking the one that your body needs. If eventually you're just throwing whatever at it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's why some people say, well, I took one, I didn't see a difference, or it gave me an issue. Well, it's so different. They're all different, different strains, different amounts of those strains. It's just not a one-size-fits-all, like John said.

What are your thoughts on, um, Fermented foods for gut health.

I think that, you know, fermented foods, that's just it. Our body can use those a little bit differently, um, and they're, they're— it's, it's naturally by food, right? Food is medicine. And if you've ever looked up Dr. Mark Hyman, he is amazing and talks all the time about food and how food can heal us because Frankly, it's food that's made us sick.

Yes.

Right.

It's all that food. So fermented foods, they actually can go either way too, because for some people they work really well and other people they give them a lot of gut issues. So you have to listen to your body. So if you eat fermented foods and your body doesn't react in a negative way, then you probably need it. It's a matter of listening to our bodies and a lot of people don't. I I was talking to another practitioner last night and she's like, oh my gosh, remember I had that stomach thing and I got real bloated and it was really painful and we thought it was coconut, but then it wasn't. And she's like, I guess I should just pay attention to find out what brings it on.

Probably.

Maybe, you know, but we're not always the best at taking care of ourselves. We would do that for somebody else. But, but you do have to be able to be aware of what your symptoms are and what your body's doing.

Yes. And did you do anything different before getting that symptom? Did you eat something that you don't normally eat? Did you consume something? Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and then one of the things that Sherri and I talked through for myself, and I'm sure it happens with everybody when she— when they sit down with Sherri, is she would point to one or two things like, hey, are you dealing with, you know, this issue? Or does— do you feel like this after, you know, a certain time of day, or where, where's your, like, hook of your cortisol and things? And I'm like, I have no idea what any of that is. And then when you take the test, then I know, and then I'm feeling it. I'm like, oh my God, my sleep schedule completely changed because I made myself calm down at night. And you would think that that's a no-brainer, but I lived my entire life hating sleep. So, you know, to each their own.

And now John sleeps more than he ever slept before, but he gets more done. So he is getting more done in fewer hours.

More productive.

More productive by changing his, some of his sleep habits. And like he said, oh, calming down and relaxing at night and getting to bed.

As an example, I was going to say, as an example, it was my, what we were talking about, and I was trying to frame exactly what this is. And Sherri, maybe you can help me, but my whatever system was being overloaded with caffeine, and so I was like tired but jumpy. And what is that?

Wired and tired.

Wired and tired. And like, you know, I didn't know that that was not how people lived their lives usually.

So that's the only way you've ever known. Yeah, you know, you, you don't know what you don't know. That's your norm. Yeah, yeah. But I do think that Having, um, good sleep hygiene and getting whatever the amount is. Some people function off of 6 hours, some need that 8 or 9, but when you're getting optimal sleep, that creates a healthier gut, right? It's less stress, it's just a calmer environment, yeah, for the body overall.

Definitely, it's all a balance.

It is, full balance.

Well, this was a great conversation, and I feel like we really did get into the Yeah, Kristen is a wealth of knowledge, and it's obvious that she knows what she's talking about and that you do go above and beyond. And that's why when you were talking about everything you did, I was saying you're a functional esthetician, and we need to find ways to, to, you know, how are we different than everyone else out there? And that's one of the ways that you are obviously different than other estheticians.

Absolutely. I think most estheticians refer a client to a dermatologist when they see inflammation or something they can't treat, because sometimes the conditions are bad enough that as an esthetician, it's too much for me to treat. But I would push someone to seek, seek a functional medicine provider to look at hormones, diet, everything before going to a dermatologist and getting thrown on an antibiotic. That's going to further wreak havoc on your gut, right? Or anything topical that can further compromise the skin.

Because that goes back to what traditional medicine does, and then they treat symptoms, right? So, and, and it always sounds like such a derogatory, but it's sick medicine, right? We're not going to treat you until you're sick, and then we're going to take care of your symptoms, not necessarily the root cause. Absolutely.

And then You go off the antibiotics and generally the condition comes back.

Yep. And other things are worse.

Correct. And then your gut's worse because now your microbiome's compromised and now your acne or eczema is coming back with a vengeance because the antibiotic calmed the storm and then you went off of it and then all the inflammation comes back.

Plus the dysbiosis, which increases the inflammation.

Correct. Yeah, absolutely.

That sounds right to me because you guys agreed. So, well, perfect. This has been a great conversation. So thank you both for spending time, and we'll catch everybody on the next one.

Sounds good. Thanks, John.

This has been the Balanced Body Medical Podcast with Sherri Griggs, owner of Balanced Body Health and Wellness. If you're looking to find Sherri, go ahead and look for the website balancedbodymedical.com. If you're looking for the business and you want to find Sherri at her office, you can find her at 10815 Elm Street in Rockbrook Plaza. Thank you.