March 30, 2025 • 25 mins
What's the wildest thing you've done in the name of gut health? Join FIT(ish) host Phoebe Parsons as she chats with biochemist and founder of STMNA Bioactive, Holly Williamson, about the gut health gimmicks that actually work and those that totally betray your stomach! From activated charcoal to colonics, they dive into what’s worth your time—and what you can leave behind. Whether you're a wellness newbie or a gut health guru, this conversation is packed with real talk, science-backed insights, and a whole lot of laughs.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Apodjay Production. Welcome to fit Ish.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm Phoebe Parsons and this is the podcast that proves
that you don't have to choose between staying fit.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
And having fun.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome to the podcast, Halleen Williamson, the founder of Stamina Bioactive. Now,
I've never had a biochemist on the show before, so
this is very exciting for me and only mildly intimidating.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Amazing, so nice to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Now, I want to chat to you today about gut health,
which is something that unfortunately so many women can relate to.
And this seems to be a conversation that I'm having
with my friends. Twenty four goddamn seven hot girls just
have saw tummies, and I feel like we have all
been on such a journey trying every gimmick, lotion, potion,
pill available on the market to try and cure our tummies.
(00:56):
And I know that you've been on your own journey
and that's kind of what led you down the path
to eventually start Stammina Bioactives. So I kind of want
to just rattle off a couple of the things that
both you and I have done. You can weigh in
your expertise onto whether or not there is any actual
truth to any of it. And I just this is
kind of in the hope that it will save anyone
listening the time, money, and sometimes even pain associated with
(01:19):
trying some of these gimmicky things.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, oh, my gosh, my gut health and me as
just a constant battle my whole life. I don't know
whether I was born with a bad gut or something
like that, but I get gut issues quite often, and yeah,
it is the bane of my existence because it affects
my day to day and it affects chinning up and
(01:42):
feeling good on the day to day basis.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
And I find I don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
About you, but I get worse gut symptoms if I
am really stressed or anxious. Absolutely so, like physical stress
manifests into my gut, which is then ironic because the
stress of having a saw tummy is then in turn
even more stressful.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
So it's like, well, yes, when does this end? When
does this cycle end? So I remember when I first
started doing things seriously for my gut. One of the
first things I tried was dosing up on silium husk.
But I swear I must have been taking it in
the highest quantities that it was actually causing me severe.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Oh my gosh. Yes, silium husk is a good source
of fiber. So another version of it I think is
meta musial. Maybe a lot of people have heard of that,
but cilium husk is like the more natural version. But
if you have too much silium husk all in one go,
it can actually do more harm than good.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
They need to put that on the bottle.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I know.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
There's a huge thing about fiber at the moment, increasing
your fiber to reduce your risk of colon cancer, but
if you don't introduce it slowly, it can actually cause
diarrhea or more bloating and more gas because fiber is
basically the food for your gut bacteria, and one of
the side reactions of gut back to it is fermentation
(03:08):
and that's methane, and so it can cause more bloating,
more gas. And also if women struggle with constipation, it
can actually put fuel on the fire because it's just
kind of causing more bulkiness to move through the slow
digestive tract. So the biggest thing I would suggest here
(03:30):
if you want to try and increase your fiber intake
is start slow.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Also have some.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Digestive enzymes with it, so it helps break down the
food and increase your water intake so that it's not,
you know, blocking you up one hundred percent, because I
feel like you just feel so stodgy after And the
first way someone explains silium hust to me, I was
actually working with a nutritionist at the time, and she
told me that selium husk is essentially like a broom
(03:55):
for your insides and it kind of sticks to everything
in your digestive tract and kind of sweeps it all out.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
But it's not a quick process, and that's what I
was assumed that it was, that it was not fast.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Yeah, it once you mix it with water, it becomes
really gluggy, like it's kind of like goo. So if
you don't increase your water intake with it, it can Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
The horror from traumatic clashbacks.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
I take this fiber supplement that's like Kiwi extract, I think,
and it's really good. Has digestive enzymes in it as
well with fiber, it's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, to put that on the list.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
My next one is a little bit more extreme, and
my mom was furious at me when I told her
that I did this and that was getting a colonic,
and I just must have been in a really desperate
frame of mind at this point in my life. I
only had one.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
But firstly, it didn't really do anything.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Secondly, I went straight to an engagement party afterwards, which
is a huge.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Number as well.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
But my mom was like, my mom's a nurse, so
she's in like the health space as well, and she
was like, you know, that's so disruptive to your gut microbiome.
Blah blah blah. It's like a quick people think it's
a quick fix.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Yes, I can see the enticement because you watch those
videos and you go, oh my god, all that stuff
is inside of me and I need to get rid of.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It and you see it coming out. It's putrid.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yes it is.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I actually haven't had a colonic, but I can understand
it's so enticing, like, oh what would it feel like.
But from a science perspective, it does flush out your
gut microbiome, and so if you have a healthy gut microbiome,
it can be like getting rid of the bacteria that
you do need, the good bacteria. But it could be
(05:44):
beneficial for people who potentially have a dysbiosis of bad bacteria.
So if you've gone to get a gut mapping test
or something and you see like a huge increase in
there of bad bacteria, it might actually be a good
idea to just like start fresh, get rid of all
of your gut microbi and then start to replenish slowly.
(06:07):
So that's where I could see it being beneficial. Also
with people with constipation. I reckon it would be good
to just you know, get all the hard stuff, but
you do have to be very careful afterwards. You need
to make sure you're replenishing all the bacteria, so you
can either replenish it with you know, certain foods, fermented foods, probiotics,
(06:29):
stuff like that, to make sure that you replace what
you've lost.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah. Nice. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
The next one is bone broth, which I know is
huge at the moment, particularly amongst a lot of influencers.
And it's always the influences I found in my experience
who have cut out coffee and caffeine who are now
talking about drinking bone broth instead of their morning coffee,
And like, good for you if you don't need the caffeine.
Nothing to write home about. Don't judge those of us
who do. But is there any truth to bone broth
(06:57):
helping with gut health?
Speaker 4 (06:59):
So drinking bone broth, in my opinion, is just like
drinking I guess, like protein. When you ingest it, it'll
break down in your gut all of the good protein
things from whether you're drinking like chicken, bone broth or
anything like that. It'll break down in your gut into
the individual amino acids, and then your body or your
(07:23):
biochemical pathways will determine where those individual amino acids go.
So it might not necessarily be going directly to your
skin for collagen purposes or directly to making you look
and feel good. It could be going to like as
simply as re finishing your bones or you know, repairing
(07:44):
your muscles or stuff like that. So you don't really
have too much control over where the proteins and the
amino acids go. But good for them if they like it.
It's probably a tasty it's a tasty drink.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It's nice and warming, especially in winter. Then while we're
on that same vein, let's talk about the people who
go full celery juice cult mode. Okay, bucket, I have.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
A small issue with juice cleansers. I guess from a
biochemistry perspective, if you remove the fiber from fruit, it
becomes literally just sugar, fructose and also the compounds found
(08:28):
in you know, your fruit and veggies. And basically, if
you're removing a certain food group completely, your your gut
microbiome doesn't have that food to feed on. And people
do say like, oh, there's really good compounds and stuff
in the fruit and veggies, but it's actually not at
(08:49):
a therapeutic dose. You need to concentrate those compounds up
to a therapeutic dose to actually have that medicinal effect.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
So they say it's.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
Good for detoxes, it's good for you know, getting the
good stuff, but it's actually doing more harm than good
because you're removing that that food. For the gut microbiomes,
it's the fiber that they feed on and need.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So it's not the actual juice itself that's doing anything.
So then what about in the same vein then greens powders,
because I know that that is rife, especially with people
talking about greens powders getting rid of their bloating, which
to me is so counterintuitive because they're often the people
who are like, oh, I don't eat anything process but
(09:34):
then the first thing they'll put on their what I
eat in a day is a glass of greens powder,
and I'm like, they are processed.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Yeah, yeah, So greens powders I find a very interesting
In Australia specifically, they're not actually regulated by the TGA.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
No, I'm not even.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Kidding, are you serious?
Speaker 4 (09:55):
So any powdered supplement, so whether it be protein powder,
greens powders, glow drinks, whatever you might be taking, they're
not regulated by TGA.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
They're actually considered like a food supplement.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I'm sure the dosages of the ingredients in there, in
my eyes, not therapeutic. There's not enough of the individual
compounds to have any medicinal properties.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
It's so then the only saying, for example, one glass
of greens powder is equivalent to three serves of veggies?
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Is that just marketing?
Speaker 4 (10:29):
It is like, I guess the only place will be
good if you're deficient in certain vitamins and minerals, then
it could be a good replacement if you want a
more natural way to do it. But I don't think
you should be taking multi vitamins every day anyway, Like
it's good to get a blood test and check your
baseline and see if you need that incorporation of more
(10:51):
vitamins and nutrients in your diet. So I guess as well,
if you don't get enough veggies in your diet, it's all.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Right to have.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
But I wouldn't be claiming that it's healing your you know, issues,
or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
It's just kind of like a good addition.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Another one that's similar, and I guess this is also
a powder is charcoal activated charcoal, and that had a
massive moment a couple of years ago. I remember there
was even there's a smoothie chain that used to do
an activated charcoal smoothie and everyone was like dosing up
on it, and there was the warning on the menu saying,
if you are taking medications, don't drink this within one
(11:32):
hour of taking those medications. But I feel like people
went crazy on the activated charcoal for a while.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
So I have a really.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Funny story about activated charcoal. So last year or a
couple of years ago, I went to Bali and because
I'm a super anxious girlie with my gut issues, I'm like,
oh my god, I'm going to get food poisoning and
I'm going to get really sick.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
You're gonna get a bari belly.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
So of course I looked up on TikTok and probably
not the best place to look.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
What can you do to prevent barlei belly?
Speaker 4 (12:04):
And the people on there were saying you need to
take activated charcoal. Bovine colostrum. The colostrum from cow's colostrum
is the first kind of milk that cows produce when
they first make a baby, and it has really good
like immunity compounds in it, but it's a cow cow cowjuice, cowjuice,
(12:28):
and then probiotics. So I was like taking all these
things trying to prevent it, and I was going, this
is quite extreme, quite ridiculous. I didn't get barley belly though,
that's a good sign. But from my biochemistry background, charcoal
can be quite dangerous and you shouldn't take it every
day purely because it does bind to everything. So it
(12:53):
binds to the toxins, it binds to your good bacteria,
it binds to your medications, and eliminates basically everything. So
you're right in saying that you shouldn't take it when
you're taking your medications, because it can reduce their efficacy
and then also will kill your good microbiome, your gut microbiome.
(13:15):
So definitely don't take it every day. But I think
if you're, you know, feeling like a food poisoning about
coming on, maybe that's swear you could try it.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, use your wits about you. Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
And then the last one I want to talk about
because I've seen it a lot at the moment on TikTok,
and that is people drinking straight up olive oil shots,
which I think is also in a similar realm to
the coconut oil pulling that I know a lot of
people also swear by doing first thing in the morning.
To I suppose the logic here or the thinking here
is that it provides a nice thick coat on your
(13:50):
gut lining.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I know you've got no words do.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I think what I have seen online is apparently it's
really good for their anti inflammatory compounds in oi oil,
because olives themselves have really good anti inflammatory compounds. That's
where I could see if you're having a benefit. But
to think that the olive oil goes into your gut
and just lines the stomach and stays there is not true,
(14:20):
because what happens is you actually have stomach acid in
your gut and the oil will like combine with that
and make it almost an emulsion. So it'll combine with
water and acid and oil in kind of this reaction
in your gut to break down the oil.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
So it's not going to be lining anything. It's not
going to just sit there in your gut and line it.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
If only with that simple and no one will ever
get hangovers.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
So.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Actually, the last one I also want to talk to
you about in an oil that just peaud my memory
is cast to oil parks. Why is everyone putting cast
on oil in their belly buttons and saying it helps
reduce their bloating.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
I genuinely like I've seen that everywhere, and I don't
know how it's possible to have any effect purely because
you're putting it on your skin. They say it's supposed
to absorb through your skin straight into your gut, but
I think it's just like good for the skin. I
don't know if it genuinely has any benefit like past that,
(15:21):
and again it's oil, so I don't know if it's
quite medicinal.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Sorry, no, that's so fun.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And so then with your background and your knowledge into
this area, were you also at desperate points in your
own journey when you were trying things like this as well.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Yes, So on my own journey back when I didn't
know anything about natural bioactives or anything like that, I
would actually be popping an antacit a day, do you know,
like Tom.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Yes, like gave Ascon and Toms and Gason Toms. At
any sign where my land well, I would just pop
an antacip And at the time, I thought it was
helping because I was like having.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Heartburn, I was feeling nause I was having really bad
food insensitivities. My food insensitivities were onion and garlic, Like
as soon as I would eat those, especially raw, I
would have a full body like reaction to it.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
It was awful.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
So that used toem my go to And then my
doctor also prescribed me with this thing called a proton
pump inhibita.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
I don't know if you ever heard of that.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, isn't that what they give people who are like.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
It's like your chemo, It's next, it's the brandyxium.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
We had different realms yes, yes, yes, Nextium. Oh my god, babe,
I used to be like Nexium's best customer.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
And the way nexium works is actually it reduces your
stomach acid. And so at the time, I thought, you know,
I have really bad heartburn every day, and.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I have too much stomach acid and it's like affecting things.
In reality, my problem with my guy was I had
low stomach acid, so these things were making it worse intentionally.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And everyone thought they were just helping you.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Yes, I thought they were helping me, but it was
making things worse because when you reduce your stomach acid,
even on a day to day basis, it can't digest
your food properly, and so you're having like whole bits
of food going into your small intest sine and then
going into your large intestine and fermenting, and that's what
causes bloating in gas and all the things.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
And so that was one thing.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
So once I stopped taking antacts, that severely improved my
gut health. And then the other thing I realized is
I had this thing called leaky gut, which basically is
where you have really bad gut inflammation and it can
cause inflammation in your Basically, you have tight junctions in
(18:00):
your small intestine and if these get inflamed or injured,
they come apart. And basically whole food molecules are going
into your blood stream and causing an immune response. So god,
that's where things can go bad for you. And so
I kind of got down to the point of like, Okay,
(18:22):
I have gut inflammation and I have low stomach acids,
So what can I do to improve my gut inflammation?
And that's kind of like a short version of why
I started my business. But basically I was looking at
bioactive compounds, so compounds found from plants or nature that
(18:45):
naturally have anti inflammatory properties. So things like Kirkman and Bosuelia.
They're both things that can reduce inflammation, but you need
to take them in the right dosage and the right bioavailability.
So Kirkman from turmeric.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
You might have heard, yes, I've heard tumeric is amazing
for anti us lamaty properties.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Yes, but tumeric itself is really poorly absorbed in the gut,
so you need to concentrate it up to a therapeutic
dose out of the turmeric powder and then improve the bioavailability,
which we combine it with black pepper, which actually prevents
the breakdown of the Kirkman so it can stay in
(19:27):
your system for longer and have more of those anti
inflammatory properties. So that was one thing when making my
health span formula, I really wanted to have some compounds
in there that suit the gut lining, suit the inflammation,
and that way, now I can reintroduce onion and garlic, like,
(19:50):
because my gut is healed, I can have all the
things that were setting me off in past times. And
that's why I think there's certain people. There's siliacs, obviously,
but people who have gluten free diets. I find it's
quite sad because maybe a doctor has told them you're
gluten intolerant and you can't have gluten ever again in
(20:12):
your life. But I go, well, if you heal your
gut first and reduce that inflammation, that gluten won't be
kind of triggering you the same as it did before
when your gut was inflamed. So if you heal your gut,
you could reintroduce gluten.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
But some people don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
That, so people have probably the wrong thought pattern about it.
It's not necessarily the food that's causing the upset. It's
the damaged gut lining that anything that could be passing
through you is causing upset. So then at what point
were you, like, did you just start to create this
for yourself just as kind of an answer for yourself.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
I guess I was really frustrated with my own health issues.
I was getting to a point where I didn't want
any band aid fixes.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I wanted to heal the root cause.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
And I also had COVID here to at that point
my life. And I originally was going to go either
into medicine or had been approved to study a PhD
on cancer drug discovery, and so I had those two options,
but I just was not coping with my life with
the stress and the gut issues and not sleeping, and
(21:24):
so I dropped everything and said I'm going to start
a supplement business. And before I started, I obviously looked
out there at the other products, and a lot of
products on the market just again they target your pain point.
So there's one product for gut help, there's one product
for sleep, there's one product for stress and anxiety, and
(21:45):
then you end up taking handfuls of supplements, but it
might not be getting to the root of the issue,
which is inflammation, stress, and oxidative stress from the environment.
So that's where I kind of started. And I'd been
super passionate about bioactive compounds because not a lot of
people knew about them and it has amazing benefits if
(22:07):
taken in the right way. And then I also had
plenty of people around me. I feel like I'm a
very empathetic person, and I had so many people around
me just complaining constantly about their chronic health issues. My
sister has endometriosis, my grandma has had chronic migraines her
whole life. You know, people with joint pain, people with
(22:30):
gut isshoes as well.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
And I kind of went.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
There's just people out there struggling and not knowing what
to do about it all. And so I guess that
was my mission to start a company that really does
help people and educate people and find good solutions for them.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
And I feel like that's the most successful way.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
And I think that's the most authentic and genuine way
is when you find I love that saying, turn your
mess into your message like you had at your own
lived experience with it plus all of your insane knowledge.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
YEA, that's wrong.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I know it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I'm just grateful every day that anyone who's taking the supplement,
you know, gets that benefit and feels better. Like, if
I can just help one person every day, that's what
keeps me going and what keeps me motivated.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
So, then what is one lasting piece of advice or
one key takeaway you would give to everybody listening to
this episode about gut health.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
About gut health, I think that it is simple to
improve your gut It's not all these complicated out there
quick fixes that you see on the internet.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
You do just need to remove the triggers.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Heal your gut lining by reducing inflammation or including anti
inflammatory molecules or anti inflammatory diet, heal your gut and
then yeah, you'll be good to go.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
And then can you lastly just finish by telling everybody
where they can find a little bit more about you
and a little bit more about stamina bioactive.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
So if you want to read more about health span
and how it can reduce your information and your gut health,
you can go to our website.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
It's st MNA dot com, dot you.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
It's abbreviators, so it might be confusing for some people
or you can just Google us.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
We should pop up on your Google soans.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
You amazing and I'll pop all of those links in
the show notes if people can easily access it, even
if you are a terrible speller. Thank you so much, Holly.
I've loved chatting to you today.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Thank you, Phoebe. It's been amazing, so nice.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Guys, I really hope you enjoyed the episode, and don't
forget to help a sister out by following the podcast
on Apple, on Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Rate it, write me a review.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
And if you want more Finish, we do have a
private Facebook group. There is going to be exclusive Q
and A is happening with my guests in that group.
That's going to be events going live first, so much
fun stuff happening. Just look up fit Ish in brackets
on Facebook and you can be part of the Finnish
online community.
Apodjay Production. Welcome to fit Ish.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm Phoebe Parsons and this is the podcast that proves
that you don't have to choose between staying fit.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
And having fun.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome to the podcast, Halleen Williamson, the founder of Stamina Bioactive. Now,
I've never had a biochemist on the show before, so
this is very exciting for me and only mildly intimidating.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Amazing, so nice to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Now, I want to chat to you today about gut health,
which is something that unfortunately so many women can relate to.
And this seems to be a conversation that I'm having
with my friends. Twenty four goddamn seven hot girls just
have saw tummies, and I feel like we have all
been on such a journey trying every gimmick, lotion, potion,
pill available on the market to try and cure our tummies.
(00:56):
And I know that you've been on your own journey
and that's kind of what led you down the path
to eventually start Stammina Bioactives. So I kind of want
to just rattle off a couple of the things that
both you and I have done. You can weigh in
your expertise onto whether or not there is any actual
truth to any of it. And I just this is
kind of in the hope that it will save anyone
listening the time, money, and sometimes even pain associated with
(01:19):
trying some of these gimmicky things.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, oh, my gosh, my gut health and me as
just a constant battle my whole life. I don't know
whether I was born with a bad gut or something
like that, but I get gut issues quite often, and yeah,
it is the bane of my existence because it affects
my day to day and it affects chinning up and
(01:42):
feeling good on the day to day basis.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
And I find I don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
About you, but I get worse gut symptoms if I
am really stressed or anxious. Absolutely so, like physical stress
manifests into my gut, which is then ironic because the
stress of having a saw tummy is then in turn
even more stressful.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
So it's like, well, yes, when does this end? When
does this cycle end? So I remember when I first
started doing things seriously for my gut. One of the
first things I tried was dosing up on silium husk.
But I swear I must have been taking it in
the highest quantities that it was actually causing me severe.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Oh my gosh. Yes, silium husk is a good source
of fiber. So another version of it I think is
meta musial. Maybe a lot of people have heard of that,
but cilium husk is like the more natural version. But
if you have too much silium husk all in one go,
it can actually do more harm than good.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
They need to put that on the bottle.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I know.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
There's a huge thing about fiber at the moment, increasing
your fiber to reduce your risk of colon cancer, but
if you don't introduce it slowly, it can actually cause
diarrhea or more bloating and more gas because fiber is
basically the food for your gut bacteria, and one of
the side reactions of gut back to it is fermentation
(03:08):
and that's methane, and so it can cause more bloating,
more gas. And also if women struggle with constipation, it
can actually put fuel on the fire because it's just
kind of causing more bulkiness to move through the slow
digestive tract. So the biggest thing I would suggest here
(03:30):
if you want to try and increase your fiber intake
is start slow.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Also have some.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Digestive enzymes with it, so it helps break down the
food and increase your water intake so that it's not,
you know, blocking you up one hundred percent, because I
feel like you just feel so stodgy after And the
first way someone explains silium hust to me, I was
actually working with a nutritionist at the time, and she
told me that selium husk is essentially like a broom
(03:55):
for your insides and it kind of sticks to everything
in your digestive tract and kind of sweeps it all out.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
But it's not a quick process, and that's what I
was assumed that it was, that it was not fast.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Yeah, it once you mix it with water, it becomes
really gluggy, like it's kind of like goo. So if
you don't increase your water intake with it, it can Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
The horror from traumatic clashbacks.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
I take this fiber supplement that's like Kiwi extract, I think,
and it's really good. Has digestive enzymes in it as
well with fiber, it's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, to put that on the list.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
My next one is a little bit more extreme, and
my mom was furious at me when I told her
that I did this and that was getting a colonic,
and I just must have been in a really desperate
frame of mind at this point in my life. I
only had one.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
But firstly, it didn't really do anything.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Secondly, I went straight to an engagement party afterwards, which
is a huge.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Number as well.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
But my mom was like, my mom's a nurse, so
she's in like the health space as well, and she
was like, you know, that's so disruptive to your gut microbiome.
Blah blah blah. It's like a quick people think it's
a quick fix.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Yes, I can see the enticement because you watch those
videos and you go, oh my god, all that stuff
is inside of me and I need to get rid of.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It and you see it coming out. It's putrid.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yes it is.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I actually haven't had a colonic, but I can understand
it's so enticing, like, oh what would it feel like.
But from a science perspective, it does flush out your
gut microbiome, and so if you have a healthy gut microbiome,
it can be like getting rid of the bacteria that
you do need, the good bacteria. But it could be
(05:44):
beneficial for people who potentially have a dysbiosis of bad bacteria.
So if you've gone to get a gut mapping test
or something and you see like a huge increase in
there of bad bacteria, it might actually be a good
idea to just like start fresh, get rid of all
of your gut microbi and then start to replenish slowly.
(06:07):
So that's where I could see it being beneficial. Also
with people with constipation. I reckon it would be good
to just you know, get all the hard stuff, but
you do have to be very careful afterwards. You need
to make sure you're replenishing all the bacteria, so you
can either replenish it with you know, certain foods, fermented foods, probiotics,
(06:29):
stuff like that, to make sure that you replace what
you've lost.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah. Nice. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
The next one is bone broth, which I know is
huge at the moment, particularly amongst a lot of influencers.
And it's always the influences I found in my experience
who have cut out coffee and caffeine who are now
talking about drinking bone broth instead of their morning coffee,
And like, good for you if you don't need the caffeine.
Nothing to write home about. Don't judge those of us
who do. But is there any truth to bone broth
(06:57):
helping with gut health?
Speaker 4 (06:59):
So drinking bone broth, in my opinion, is just like
drinking I guess, like protein. When you ingest it, it'll
break down in your gut all of the good protein
things from whether you're drinking like chicken, bone broth or
anything like that. It'll break down in your gut into
the individual amino acids, and then your body or your
(07:23):
biochemical pathways will determine where those individual amino acids go.
So it might not necessarily be going directly to your
skin for collagen purposes or directly to making you look
and feel good. It could be going to like as
simply as re finishing your bones or you know, repairing
(07:44):
your muscles or stuff like that. So you don't really
have too much control over where the proteins and the
amino acids go. But good for them if they like it.
It's probably a tasty it's a tasty drink.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It's nice and warming, especially in winter. Then while we're
on that same vein, let's talk about the people who
go full celery juice cult mode. Okay, bucket, I have.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
A small issue with juice cleansers. I guess from a
biochemistry perspective, if you remove the fiber from fruit, it
becomes literally just sugar, fructose and also the compounds found
(08:28):
in you know, your fruit and veggies. And basically, if
you're removing a certain food group completely, your your gut
microbiome doesn't have that food to feed on. And people
do say like, oh, there's really good compounds and stuff
in the fruit and veggies, but it's actually not at
(08:49):
a therapeutic dose. You need to concentrate those compounds up
to a therapeutic dose to actually have that medicinal effect.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
So they say it's.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
Good for detoxes, it's good for you know, getting the
good stuff, but it's actually doing more harm than good
because you're removing that that food. For the gut microbiomes,
it's the fiber that they feed on and need.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So it's not the actual juice itself that's doing anything.
So then what about in the same vein then greens powders,
because I know that that is rife, especially with people
talking about greens powders getting rid of their bloating, which
to me is so counterintuitive because they're often the people
who are like, oh, I don't eat anything process but
(09:34):
then the first thing they'll put on their what I
eat in a day is a glass of greens powder,
and I'm like, they are processed.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Yeah, yeah, So greens powders I find a very interesting
In Australia specifically, they're not actually regulated by the TGA.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
No, I'm not even.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Kidding, are you serious?
Speaker 4 (09:55):
So any powdered supplement, so whether it be protein powder,
greens powders, glow drinks, whatever you might be taking, they're
not regulated by TGA.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
They're actually considered like a food supplement.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I'm sure the dosages of the ingredients in there, in
my eyes, not therapeutic. There's not enough of the individual
compounds to have any medicinal properties.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
It's so then the only saying, for example, one glass
of greens powder is equivalent to three serves of veggies?
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Is that just marketing?
Speaker 4 (10:29):
It is like, I guess the only place will be
good if you're deficient in certain vitamins and minerals, then
it could be a good replacement if you want a
more natural way to do it. But I don't think
you should be taking multi vitamins every day anyway, Like
it's good to get a blood test and check your
baseline and see if you need that incorporation of more
(10:51):
vitamins and nutrients in your diet. So I guess as well,
if you don't get enough veggies in your diet, it's all.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Right to have.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
But I wouldn't be claiming that it's healing your you know, issues,
or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
It's just kind of like a good addition.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Another one that's similar, and I guess this is also
a powder is charcoal activated charcoal, and that had a
massive moment a couple of years ago. I remember there
was even there's a smoothie chain that used to do
an activated charcoal smoothie and everyone was like dosing up
on it, and there was the warning on the menu saying,
if you are taking medications, don't drink this within one
(11:32):
hour of taking those medications. But I feel like people
went crazy on the activated charcoal for a while.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
So I have a really.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Funny story about activated charcoal. So last year or a
couple of years ago, I went to Bali and because
I'm a super anxious girlie with my gut issues, I'm like,
oh my god, I'm going to get food poisoning and
I'm going to get really sick.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
You're gonna get a bari belly.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
So of course I looked up on TikTok and probably
not the best place to look.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
What can you do to prevent barlei belly?
Speaker 4 (12:04):
And the people on there were saying you need to
take activated charcoal. Bovine colostrum. The colostrum from cow's colostrum
is the first kind of milk that cows produce when
they first make a baby, and it has really good
like immunity compounds in it, but it's a cow cow cowjuice, cowjuice,
(12:28):
and then probiotics. So I was like taking all these
things trying to prevent it, and I was going, this
is quite extreme, quite ridiculous. I didn't get barley belly though,
that's a good sign. But from my biochemistry background, charcoal
can be quite dangerous and you shouldn't take it every
day purely because it does bind to everything. So it
(12:53):
binds to the toxins, it binds to your good bacteria,
it binds to your medications, and eliminates basically everything. So
you're right in saying that you shouldn't take it when
you're taking your medications, because it can reduce their efficacy
and then also will kill your good microbiome, your gut microbiome.
(13:15):
So definitely don't take it every day. But I think
if you're, you know, feeling like a food poisoning about
coming on, maybe that's swear you could try it.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, use your wits about you. Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
And then the last one I want to talk about
because I've seen it a lot at the moment on TikTok,
and that is people drinking straight up olive oil shots,
which I think is also in a similar realm to
the coconut oil pulling that I know a lot of
people also swear by doing first thing in the morning.
To I suppose the logic here or the thinking here
is that it provides a nice thick coat on your
(13:50):
gut lining.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I know you've got no words do.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I think what I have seen online is apparently it's
really good for their anti inflammatory compounds in oi oil,
because olives themselves have really good anti inflammatory compounds. That's
where I could see if you're having a benefit. But
to think that the olive oil goes into your gut
and just lines the stomach and stays there is not true,
(14:20):
because what happens is you actually have stomach acid in
your gut and the oil will like combine with that
and make it almost an emulsion. So it'll combine with
water and acid and oil in kind of this reaction
in your gut to break down the oil.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
So it's not going to be lining anything. It's not
going to just sit there in your gut and line it.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
If only with that simple and no one will ever
get hangovers.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
So.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Actually, the last one I also want to talk to
you about in an oil that just peaud my memory
is cast to oil parks. Why is everyone putting cast
on oil in their belly buttons and saying it helps
reduce their bloating.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
I genuinely like I've seen that everywhere, and I don't
know how it's possible to have any effect purely because
you're putting it on your skin. They say it's supposed
to absorb through your skin straight into your gut, but
I think it's just like good for the skin. I
don't know if it genuinely has any benefit like past that,
(15:21):
and again it's oil, so I don't know if it's
quite medicinal.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Sorry, no, that's so fun.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And so then with your background and your knowledge into
this area, were you also at desperate points in your
own journey when you were trying things like this as well.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Yes, So on my own journey back when I didn't
know anything about natural bioactives or anything like that, I
would actually be popping an antacit a day, do you know,
like Tom.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Yes, like gave Ascon and Toms and Gason Toms. At
any sign where my land well, I would just pop
an antacip And at the time, I thought it was
helping because I was like having.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Heartburn, I was feeling nause I was having really bad
food insensitivities. My food insensitivities were onion and garlic, Like
as soon as I would eat those, especially raw, I
would have a full body like reaction to it.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
It was awful.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
So that used toem my go to And then my
doctor also prescribed me with this thing called a proton
pump inhibita.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
I don't know if you ever heard of that.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, isn't that what they give people who are like.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
It's like your chemo, It's next, it's the brandyxium.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
We had different realms yes, yes, yes, Nextium. Oh my god, babe,
I used to be like Nexium's best customer.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
And the way nexium works is actually it reduces your
stomach acid. And so at the time, I thought, you know,
I have really bad heartburn every day, and.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I have too much stomach acid and it's like affecting things.
In reality, my problem with my guy was I had
low stomach acid, so these things were making it worse intentionally.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And everyone thought they were just helping you.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Yes, I thought they were helping me, but it was
making things worse because when you reduce your stomach acid,
even on a day to day basis, it can't digest
your food properly, and so you're having like whole bits
of food going into your small intest sine and then
going into your large intestine and fermenting, and that's what
causes bloating in gas and all the things.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
And so that was one thing.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
So once I stopped taking antacts, that severely improved my
gut health. And then the other thing I realized is
I had this thing called leaky gut, which basically is
where you have really bad gut inflammation and it can
cause inflammation in your Basically, you have tight junctions in
(18:00):
your small intestine and if these get inflamed or injured,
they come apart. And basically whole food molecules are going
into your blood stream and causing an immune response. So god,
that's where things can go bad for you. And so
I kind of got down to the point of like, Okay,
(18:22):
I have gut inflammation and I have low stomach acids,
So what can I do to improve my gut inflammation?
And that's kind of like a short version of why
I started my business. But basically I was looking at
bioactive compounds, so compounds found from plants or nature that
(18:45):
naturally have anti inflammatory properties. So things like Kirkman and Bosuelia.
They're both things that can reduce inflammation, but you need
to take them in the right dosage and the right bioavailability.
So Kirkman from turmeric.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
You might have heard, yes, I've heard tumeric is amazing
for anti us lamaty properties.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Yes, but tumeric itself is really poorly absorbed in the gut,
so you need to concentrate it up to a therapeutic
dose out of the turmeric powder and then improve the bioavailability,
which we combine it with black pepper, which actually prevents
the breakdown of the Kirkman so it can stay in
(19:27):
your system for longer and have more of those anti
inflammatory properties. So that was one thing when making my
health span formula, I really wanted to have some compounds
in there that suit the gut lining, suit the inflammation,
and that way, now I can reintroduce onion and garlic, like,
(19:50):
because my gut is healed, I can have all the
things that were setting me off in past times. And
that's why I think there's certain people. There's siliacs, obviously,
but people who have gluten free diets. I find it's
quite sad because maybe a doctor has told them you're
gluten intolerant and you can't have gluten ever again in
(20:12):
your life. But I go, well, if you heal your
gut first and reduce that inflammation, that gluten won't be
kind of triggering you the same as it did before
when your gut was inflamed. So if you heal your gut,
you could reintroduce gluten.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
But some people don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
That, so people have probably the wrong thought pattern about it.
It's not necessarily the food that's causing the upset. It's
the damaged gut lining that anything that could be passing
through you is causing upset. So then at what point
were you, like, did you just start to create this
for yourself just as kind of an answer for yourself.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
I guess I was really frustrated with my own health issues.
I was getting to a point where I didn't want
any band aid fixes.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I wanted to heal the root cause.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
And I also had COVID here to at that point
my life. And I originally was going to go either
into medicine or had been approved to study a PhD
on cancer drug discovery, and so I had those two options,
but I just was not coping with my life with
the stress and the gut issues and not sleeping, and
(21:24):
so I dropped everything and said I'm going to start
a supplement business. And before I started, I obviously looked
out there at the other products, and a lot of
products on the market just again they target your pain point.
So there's one product for gut help, there's one product
for sleep, there's one product for stress and anxiety, and
(21:45):
then you end up taking handfuls of supplements, but it
might not be getting to the root of the issue,
which is inflammation, stress, and oxidative stress from the environment.
So that's where I kind of started. And I'd been
super passionate about bioactive compounds because not a lot of
people knew about them and it has amazing benefits if
(22:07):
taken in the right way. And then I also had
plenty of people around me. I feel like I'm a
very empathetic person, and I had so many people around
me just complaining constantly about their chronic health issues. My
sister has endometriosis, my grandma has had chronic migraines her
whole life. You know, people with joint pain, people with
(22:30):
gut isshoes as well.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
And I kind of went.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
There's just people out there struggling and not knowing what
to do about it all. And so I guess that
was my mission to start a company that really does
help people and educate people and find good solutions for them.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
And I feel like that's the most successful way.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
And I think that's the most authentic and genuine way
is when you find I love that saying, turn your
mess into your message like you had at your own
lived experience with it plus all of your insane knowledge.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
YEA, that's wrong.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I know it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I'm just grateful every day that anyone who's taking the supplement,
you know, gets that benefit and feels better. Like, if
I can just help one person every day, that's what
keeps me going and what keeps me motivated.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
So, then what is one lasting piece of advice or
one key takeaway you would give to everybody listening to
this episode about gut health.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
About gut health, I think that it is simple to
improve your gut It's not all these complicated out there
quick fixes that you see on the internet.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
You do just need to remove the triggers.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Heal your gut lining by reducing inflammation or including anti
inflammatory molecules or anti inflammatory diet, heal your gut and
then yeah, you'll be good to go.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
And then can you lastly just finish by telling everybody
where they can find a little bit more about you
and a little bit more about stamina bioactive.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
So if you want to read more about health span
and how it can reduce your information and your gut health,
you can go to our website.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
It's st MNA dot com, dot you.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
It's abbreviators, so it might be confusing for some people
or you can just Google us.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
We should pop up on your Google soans.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
You amazing and I'll pop all of those links in
the show notes if people can easily access it, even
if you are a terrible speller. Thank you so much, Holly.
I've loved chatting to you today.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Thank you, Phoebe. It's been amazing, so nice.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Guys, I really hope you enjoyed the episode, and don't
forget to help a sister out by following the podcast
on Apple, on Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Rate it, write me a review.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
And if you want more Finish, we do have a
private Facebook group. There is going to be exclusive Q
and A is happening with my guests in that group.
That's going to be events going live first, so much
fun stuff happening. Just look up fit Ish in brackets
on Facebook and you can be part of the Finnish
online community.
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