today we're going to talk about how gut

problems affect our energy our mental

focus our productivity and our success.

And why taking a probiotic may

be a complete waste of time.

Now I see a lot of busy women

who, businesswomen, CEOs, who

can handle a lot of stress.

But when it comes to their gut

symptoms, it creates stress.

and causes a lot of concern

and a lot of anxiety for them.

So gut symptoms are quite common when

I see women who are overstressed,

exhausted, burnt out, and commonly a lot

of this leads to what's called leaky gut.

So a lot of our gut

problems can be leaky gut.

Now leaky gut is when the, The lining

of the gut becomes compromised and

we have 70 to 80 percent of our

immune system just outside our gut.

And so things pass through, which

shouldn't get through because

the lining should be quite

strong and they get through and

they trigger the immune system.

And that then creates the immune system,

creates inflammation that becomes whole

body inflammation, including the brain.

And so it also impacts

our nutrient absorption.

So a lot of our nutrition

is absorbed in our gut.

And if we have compromised gut

function, then we are going to become

deficient, even if we eat well,

or perhaps even take supplements.

So that's going to make us more

tired and not have the Focus or the

brain power or even create brain fog.

It also affects our mental health.

So we know, or you may have heard

the connection between the gut

and the brain by gut brain axis.

And we produce a lot of happy hormones

in our guts, such as serotonin.

Serotonin is a feel good hormone

and helps us to feel like

everything's going to be okay, no

matter what we have on our plate.

And so.

When our gut is compromised, we're

not getting that level of production.

And that's why gut health or poor

gut health is linked to anxiety,

depression and mood imbalances.

So as I said, it does interact

with our immune system.

We have 70 to 80 percent of our

immune system around our gut.

So once it's triggered, it's

linked with our gut health.

Autoimmune conditions.

It's linked with allergies.

Also it lowers immune surveillance.

So we're more prone to

getting sick and so much more.

And the other part that

leaky gut effects is that.

We are going to have compromised

liver detoxification.

So the gut works with the liver

to break down and detoxify.

And so when there's been a period of

time, if you have had poor gut health

or symptoms, gut symptoms, it will

break down the liver detox pathways.

And what that means is that we start

to build up more toxicity in the body.

So we can feel more

tired, more irritable.

We get aches and pains and it can

cause weight gain and more cravings.

as I said earlier, probiotics could

be a waste of time because there are

many different layers to repairing the

gut that a probiotic just can't fix

in those when it's more in the upper

levels, which I'm going to talk about.

So probiotics are helpful

down the line, but they're not

the first line of treatment.

So how do you know if you

need to repair your gut?

So number one, I see this with women.

Or people who have, uh, long

term chronic stress, because

it does break down the gut.

If you've had a history of high alcohol,

high caffeine in your diet, or even

medication, Also processed foods, but

the symptoms that you may experience

and not everyone experiences symptoms,

but most people do the symptoms such

as bloating, where it feels like

your belly's distended, like you're

about five or six months pregnant.

And it's so annoying.

And by the end of the day, you

can just feel like everything's

really tight around your waist.

You can get a lot of

gas, a lot of flatulence.

So whether it's reflux or heartburn

or, you know, passing wind, you

can have constipation or diarrhea.

You can get abdominal pain.

You can get discomfort in there

because it feels so tight.

And like I said, indigestion.

So those are some of the symptoms or most

of the symptoms of poor gut function.

But again, you may not have

those, but still have leaky gut.

So I want to.

I'm going to talk about the four

steps that you need to repair the gut.

Step one is not even going to sound like

a gut repair protocol, but it's the most

important first step, which is to reduce

stress hormones, to reduce cortisol.

Now, cortisol has an affinity

for the gut and it breaks down

the gut and creates leaky gut.

So You may find yourself thinking,

well, my lifestyle is pretty busy.

I can't reduce stress.

Now I talked about this in another

episode called turn cortisol into

your ally, and I talked about how

we can do simple things in our day

to day routine to reduce cortisol,

even though our life is stressful.

But a couple of things I want to add

here for digestive health when it

comes to cortisol is that mostly

we're used to eating rather quickly.

And.

We are used to being

distracted with our phones.

Maybe we're in a meeting, maybe we're

eating at our desk, but we're not

really in a peaceful environment.

So we want to prep the

digestive system for food.

And that means if cortisol is

flooding the body, it's just

not a good time to eat, right?

Because we're just not going

to get the digestive capacity.

One of the The reason for cortisol

is to divert its energy away from

digestive function because your body

thinks you're in mortal danger when

stress hormones are released, right?

And it doesn't deem digestion to

be important in that moment, right?

So you want to make sure

that you're relaxed.

So that means don't eat at your desk.

Don't eat in a meeting.

Don't be rushing.

Like really give yourself time to slowly

eat your meal and don't be on your phone.

Don't be working.

Don't be anything that's going

to trigger any kind of stress.

So your phone, you could get

messages, you could get emails,

you can get something on

social media that triggers you.

So be away from all of that.

So you're eating in a peaceful,

quiet, calm environment.

Step number two is to

remove the trigger foods.

Now, one of the biggest trigger

foods for the gut is gluten.

Gluten is found in, in wheat products, so

bread, uh, pastas, pastries, condiments.

There's so many areas that

gluten is found and gluten

is an irritant to the gut.

And particularly because we have.

GMO gluten, which is, you know, bathed

in pesticides, which kill the microbiome,

and the gluten itself is an irritant to

the gut wall and is linked to leaky gut.

And that means it's going to create

more inflammation in there, more

irritation, more breakdown, and

prevent the repair of the gut.

So, gluten can trigger inflammation in

the body, and so you might only have

gluten once or twice a week, right?

But gluten takes, uh, causes inflammation

for about three to four days, right,

once you've had a gluten exposure.

So if you're only having it

twice a week, that will keep

you inflamed for the whole week.

So definitely cut that one out.

The other one is processed

foods and sugary foods, right?

They're not offering us any nutrition.

They're just inflammatory foods,

which are going to create more

inflammation and disruption inside

of our gut and prevent healing.

Alcohol and caffeine, unfortunately,

also irritate the gut and prevent

healing of the gut lining.

So if you've had a history of high

dose of caffeine, if you've been

relying on your coffee and maybe

a wine at the end of the night to

relax, you definitely need to look at.

How to reduce and then remove.

If you find that making these

changes to your diet overwhelming,

particularly gluten and maybe caffeine

or alcohol, try and just start with one.

So start with the gluten, remove the

gluten, you know, maybe do that for

a couple of weeks before you start

to reduce and remove the others.

Because the most important thing

is that you take the steps.

It's not that you do a

hundred percent overnight.

Okay.

It's about really kind of

bringing in these changes slowly.

So it's not so overwhelming.

So you can stick to it

and get the results.

So start with gluten for a week

or two, then start to minimize

caffeine and minimize alcohol

until you can remove them.

Step number three is to rebalance

the pH inside of the gut.

So when there's gut disturbances,

quite often the main symptom

is bloating and wind, right?

And so what that means is that You're not

breaking down and digesting your food.

So the food is sitting

too long in the gut.

It's fermenting It's producing

gases and that gas is either

coming up or it's coming down.

But the bloating in itself you may not

have that coming up or down but the

bloating itself and the Fermentation

means that it's creating an environment

inside your gut Which is allowing gut

bugs to breed and then when we get too

many gut bugs It disrupts the microbiome

and we get More problems from there.

So having a really balanced pH

inside of the gut is really, really

important to one, digest your

nutrients two reduce, fermentation

and three, make sure that there's no

overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut.

Okay, now we can get into

supplements in step number four.

So just a rehash, step number one

was reducing cortisol, really a

crucial step in repairing the gut.

So I've had women who have come

through my programs who have just

done this step their gut bloating

has reduced significantly that

they've even taken photos of it.

So I don't want you to think that

this is not a big part of the process.

It really, really is.

Step two was to remove the trigger foods.

Start with the gluten, then removing

the processed foods or the sugar, and

then look at caffeine and alcohol.

Step number three was

to rebalance your pH.

So you want to make sure, so here

you can use digestive enzymes, right?

Digestive enzymes help to replace some

of the enzymes that you may be lacking.

And helping to bolster up that

pH and make it sure that it's,

you know, breaking things down

and everything's correct in there

until your body is accustomed to

rebalancing your pH on its own.

And step number four is

bringing in supplements to heal

the digestive lining, right?

So it's important that we remove all

the factors that are breaking down

the lining before we come in with

the nutrients, which help to heal it.

Okay.

You can do all of those together,

but really in that order.

So the supplements that you're

looking at are glutamine.

Okay.

Glutamine, our cells in our

gut lining are dependent on

glutamine to, to replenish.

And so glutamine, you're looking at

three to five grams daily will help

to restore the gut lining, remove the

leaky gut or repair the leaky gut.

So you have a full functioning,

healthy gut function and nothing's

triggering the immune system and

therefore you have more energy.

You have no bloating.

You feel like you've got

mental focus and clarity.

Your moods are more stable.

Now I've seen women whose moods and

almost personality has changed by doing

a gut repair protocol because they

found themselves before feeling very

kind of highs and lows with their mood.

They're all over the place.

Whereas after they've done the gut

repair, they feel much more emotionally

balanced and more stable and more like

they can handle whatever comes their way.

So that's the power of a gut repair.

So the next step from there is

yes, you can add probiotics.

At this point, it is a

good idea to add probiotics.

You can even look at repairing

the liver detox pathways.

Because as I said, after a period of

time when there's been a breakdown

in the gut function, it will impact

our liver detox pathways, right?

Because it's just so much fermentation

and gases and disruption in there.

That is being handed over to the

liver to take over and then the liver

eventually becomes overburdened and then

the detox pathway start to break down.

So that can be a next step to look at

in order to get a really, you know,

really healthy system, good vitality,

really good productivity and feel like

you're kind of at the top of your game.