April 29, 2025 • 22 mins
Millions of Americans suffer from bloating, constipation, and brain fog without realizing their gut is the root cause of these widespread symptoms. Dr. Enrico Dolcecore dives deep into the science of digestive wellness, explaining why gut health influences everything from your immune function to mental clarity and even your emotional state.
The most shocking revelation? We should all be having daily bowel movements from infancy through adulthood. If you're not going every day, your body is telling you something's wrong. Dr. Dolcecore breaks down the four primary factors that sabotage gut motility: poor diet, dehydration, lack of fiber, and insufficient movement - then provides practical solutions for each.
Rather than just focusing on what to eat, this episode reveals how to structure your entire day for optimal gut health. Starting with warm lemon water and light morning movement sets your digestive system up for success, while avoiding the standard American breakfast of sugary cereals and carbs prevents the sluggishness that plagues so many. You'll learn which foods nourish beneficial gut bacteria (hint: fiber and fermented foods are your friends) and which common foods and medications actually damage your gut lining.
The practical advice continues with a complete daily meal plan that makes healthy eating accessible and delicious. From protein-rich breakfasts to fermented foods at lunch and dinner, you'll discover how simple changes can transform your digestive health and, by extension, your overall wellbeing. For those needing extra support, Dr. Dolcecore explains specific supplements that target common gut issues like poor enzyme production or damaged gut lining.
Whether you're struggling with chronic digestive problems or simply want to optimize your health from the inside out, this episode provides a comprehensive roadmap to better gut health. Share your gut health journey with us and leave a review to help others discover these life-changing insights.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
If you've ever dealt with bloating, constipation or
brain fog, you might not realizeyour gut is the root cause.
Today we're breaking it alldown, literally and figuratively
.
Welcome to another podcast ofLiving a Full Life.
I'm Dr Enrico Dolcecori andwe're going to continue on with
gut health.
The questions keep coming.
Apparently, this is a big topicfor many people.
(00:25):
Many people deal with a lot ofissues and side effects from
unhealthy guts and as we gothrough the science and we went
through the brain gut axis, thevagus nerve, the gut motility
microbiome we've had a lot ofgut podcasts recently and in the
past and we're going to go intoreally what is a good, healthy
(00:46):
diet for a good, healthy gut.
That's what today's topic isall about.
Having a healthy gut is crucialfor total wellness, mental
clarity, immunity and even yourmood, so it links to so many
other things in our overallhealth from day to day that gut
health is so important.
(01:07):
It really matters.
Your gut and your entiredigestive tract have trillions
of bacteria in them that make upthe gut microbiome, and we
talked about the link betweenimmune function and the gut.
70% of all the cells of yourimmune system are in your gut,
so your immune system are inyour gut.
So your immune system primarilyis your gut, and the brain-gut
(01:29):
axis is how we control mood,emotion, fatigue and behavior.
All go between the gut and thebrain as well.
Energy levels are directlycorrelated to gut health, like
your mood, and serotoninproduction is all done in the
gut.
It's a neurotransmitter thatstimulates the brain's activity
(01:53):
from the gut Amazing connectionthat we have there.
And then, of course, skinhealth, inflammation,
detoxification all these thingsare primarily made through the
gut and its health.
Poor gut health can have manysigns from obvious symptoms like
gas, bloating, irregular bowelmovements, but even things like
(02:15):
cravings, brain fog, fatigue andfood intolerances can all be
related to an improper gutdysbiosis or improper gut health
.
So one of the top things to lookat is gut motility.
You can actually measure thiswith medical procedures for this
(02:37):
, where you eat certain fibrousfoods and they measure how long
it takes for your body to digestthat food, to come out through
waste and during based on thattime, it can be either healthy
or unhealthy.
So gut motility tells us howwell things are moving through
your digestive tract and howimportant it is to have daily
complete bowel movements.
(02:58):
Now for some of you we're goingto hit the pause button.
Yes, every single day we shouldbe having a bowel movement from
infant all the way from beingbreastfed on your first couple
weeks of life.
We're trying to build the biomeand develop motility that's
healthy and should be sustainedfor the rest of our lives.
(03:18):
Infants will fill a diaper atleast once a day, not urine just
by waste products once a day,and if they're not, we consider
them constipated or colickyright from early aspects of life
.
So if it's a problem for aninfant, non-daily bowel
movements are a problem foradults as well.
(03:40):
So we need to have daily.
The highlight of that sentenceis daily bowel movements.
It's so common for people to becoming into our office, even as
functional medical doctors andchiropractors coming into our
office, saying I don't go to thebathroom for three, four or
five days, maybe once a week,and they live their life like
that and they wonder why.
(04:01):
It relates to a lot of stressbeing backed up, constipated,
fatigue, bloating, all thesethings lying back because of an
improper gut biosis or someother things that might be going
on.
So the things that slow downthe motility over time is poor
diet.
This is probably the mostcommon thing for children.
(04:23):
Why would their gut start toslow down?
It's usually because of poordiet.
This is probably the mostcommon thing for children.
Why would their gut start toslow down?
It's usually because of poordiet.
So a breastfed infant it's gotthe best diet on the planet, is
pretty much getting breast milkand all the proteins that come
from that, digesting it, andthen we start to introduce foods
and as we introduce foods,bowel movement should pick up
because now we're introducingfibers, carbohydrates and other
(04:45):
things and fats to the diet thatmay not have been there before.
So that should actuallyincrease motility.
If it decreases it or causesconstipation, then we can
pinpoint exactly what foods itis that's causing it and you'll
see it's usually processed foods.
Very rarely does a fruit or ameat back a child up.
(05:05):
It can, it absolutely can, butit's it's rare.
Dehydration is another reason.
We just don't drink enoughwater every day, probably the
second most common reason whypeople don't go to the bathroom
they just don't drink enoughwater.
They're not hydrated properly.
It's a low and then a low fiberdiet.
And number four is lack ofmovement.
(05:26):
Movement is key in motility,both for our gut system, our
cardiovascular system, ourlymphatic system, our venous
return system.
All these systems requiremovement in order to create that
flow.
Even cerebral spinal fluidrequires movement to move
properly and wash and cleanthrough the body and go back and
(05:46):
forth on the lymphatic systemand cerebral spinal fluid.
So movement is so importantwith all this.
So you think this podcast isall going to be about a high
fiber diet, but food is going tobe actually the least thing we
talk about here today, becauseit's the other things that are
leading to poor gut health.
But let's talk about the diet.
Let's talk about what an idealday looks like and how we should
(06:10):
base our diet around this.
It should come with habits,actually more than just the
foods that we focus on.
You need to start your day right, and starting your day right
may be priming yourself and yourgut for good health, and the
people that are listening tothis that may take this into
consideration are ones that aresuffering from poor gut health.
The rest of us are like, hey,whatever, I'm not going to
(06:30):
change my ways because I'm notsuffering, and typically it
takes pain to make change forpeople.
It takes some kind of symptomor something that go wrong.
We take our good health forgranted and we wait until things
go awry to make changes.
It's just normal human nature.
So for those of you suffering,I hope this podcast brings in
(06:51):
some tips and strategies to helpyou immediately.
So we'd start our day off withwarm lemon water or ginger tea
to stimulate digestion.
It's a great way.
So you pour some water not cold, lukewarm room temperature
squeeze some fresh lemon into it, drink that glass as your first
glass of water of the day.
The alkalinity creates anelectrolyte balance in the water
(07:16):
and increases hydration rightoff the bat, and your gut loves
absorbing that.
Then we need to start the daywith light movement.
We have to move around.
I have to go for a walk.
Take the dog out for a walkimmediately.
A five-minute walk, 10-minutewalk, whatever it takes.
Immediately during the morningwe don't.
We get up, we rush, we create astressful environment to get
things packed, to get out thedoor, to sit in the car for half
(07:39):
an hour in traffic to get towhere we need to get to, or an
hour, and then we go and sitdown and work and there's really
no movement to start our day.
So we're starting our day verystressful.
And then avoid heavycarbohydrates or sugars first
thing in the morning.
The standardized American diethas been whitewashed into
(07:59):
believing that cereals, muffins,pancakes, carbohydrates are the
way to start your day.
It's the exact opposite.
We should not be using heavysugar or heavy carbohydrate in
the morning.
Aside from a small portion offruit, we should be starting our
day with protein, high proteinand a little bit of fat, and
(08:21):
maybe having a little bit offruit.
If you want to grab a littlebit of fruit, some strawberries,
some blueberries, half a banana, whatever it is.
Just grab a little bit of fatand maybe having a little bit of
fruit.
If you want to grab a littlebit of fruit, some strawberries
and blueberries, a half a banana, whatever it is.
Just grab a little bit of fruit.
For some carbohydrates in themorning, that's fine, but it's
the high protein, maybemoderately high fat morning that
we want to start our gut with.
It takes a little bit longerfor it to digest it, there's
more nutrition in it and itpromotes gut motility right off
(08:45):
the bat.
There you go, that's how youstart your day A nutritious
breakfast that is low incarbohydrates and sugar and gets
some movement in to stimulategut motility First thing in the
morning.
That's the key here, not a threeo'clock in the afternoon,
workout at the gym on the stairstepper.
That's good too.
It has its benefits there too.
(09:05):
It's good for overall health,but it's not stimulating the.
There's reasons for the madnesshere.
Focus on these gut-loving foodsevery day as well.
Fiber Fiber comes from fruits,berries, apples, veggies like
broccoli, spinach, legumes, oats, chia seeds.
These are high-fibrous foodsthat you should be adding to
(09:28):
your diet.
Fiber is the feel.
It feeds good bacteria andpromotes motility.
That's how it actually works.
Fiber has no to littlenutrition value for us.
We consume it through thefibers in foods, usually plants
and vegetables and fruits.
That's where it comes through.
It's the fibers that make upthe plant or the fruit, like in
(09:49):
an apple, and when you eat that,it has not much going on for
you.
It shouldn't accumulate orcause constipation.
What it should do is feed thegood bacteria.
The good bacteria love fiber.
It's their primary food source,aside from simple sugars, and
they eat that, and the wasteproducts help create motility in
(10:11):
your gut.
It's a symbiotic relationshipwith these bacteria.
The good guys that we talkedabout primarily eat fiber.
Number two is adding somefermented foods to your diet.
This can be in any point of theday, with anything.
It helps replenish and supportthe microbiome.
We talked about this thoroughlythrough some previous podcasts.
Sauerkraut, kimchi, kefirpodcasts Sauerkraut, kimchi,
(10:35):
kefir, yogurt, dairy-free ifyou're intolerant miso, miso
soup, kombucha all of thesethings are fermented foods with
a high concentration ofprebiotics and probiotics.
They are great in replenishing,feeding the gut properly and
all the good guys.
We talked about the gut in myanalogy as the military system
(10:56):
in the body.
Right, there are this hugemilitary of good guys, but
sometimes some bad guys get inthere too.
We don't want to be feeding thebad guys because they will
proliferate.
Bacteria grow very fast, samewith viruses.
So that's why we want to beeating a healthy, fibrous, rich
diet to supplement the good guysand not feed the bad guys with
(11:16):
simple high fructose corn syrupsugars.
Any bacteria that eats sugarreally fast is usually pretty
bad.
Anyone that eats, you know,protein really fast is usually
pretty bad.
Those are the bad bacteria.
If they can break down humanflesh, they're bad, right.
They're the bad guys.
That's the issue between that.
So the good guys are typicallyfiber-based bacteria and biome
(11:41):
type organisms.
We want prebiotic rich foods aswell.
You know the food forprobiotics garlic, onions, leeks
, bananas that are slightlygreen, not super sweet.
Asparagus, chicory root theseare all prebiotic rich foods
that can be added at any time.
(12:02):
Maybe cook with some garlic andonions, maybe add some leeks
every now and then for some fun.
Banana is great, the greenbananas they love that sugar,
that type of fructose that comesfrom the banana and that feeds
the gut as well.
And then we want to add healthyfats.
We won't usually cook withhealthy fats.
Avocado oil, avocados, oliveoil, wild salmon, flaxseed,
(12:24):
adding a fish oil to your dietAll these things help with
nutrient absorption and motilityin the gut.
And then, lastly, hydration.
Back to this from where westarted, critical for keeping
things moving.
It's typically a dehydrationissue for most people, even
children, if they're not goingto the bathroom every day, at
least once a day, then and we'retalking about number two, not
(12:46):
urine Urine you should be goingand kids should be going to the
bathroom five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 times a day,
depending on how much water theydrink, but going with a proper
bowel movement, at least once aday Children maybe might be
going twice a day Make sense.
That's the recap.
For that we want to be focusingon fiber, fermented foods,
(13:08):
prebiotic rich foods like garlicand onions, healthy fats and
hydration.
That's the fundamental basisfor a good gut health.
What we want to limit is a fewthings like ultra-processed
foods Always lead to bad things.
When they're ultra-processedand in a box, they're just not
(13:29):
going to have any nutrition tothem, first of all, and second
of all, they have no realbenefit in the gut, the bacteria
don't know what to do with it.
Your gut doesn't know what todo with it.
Nobody knows what to do with it.
It's not real.
Then we have refined sugars,the ones that are highly
processed.
They're usually high sugarcontent.
Artificial sweeteners.
No one knows what that is.
Your bacteria don't know whatthat is.
(13:49):
Your gut doesn't know what thatis like.
Sucralose and aspartame Alcoholbody really doesn't know what
that is.
It's just a poison.
Drinking alcohol kills off somebacteria.
Seed oils and fried foods whenwe eat these types of foods,
nothing on the planet knows whatto do with them.
When you rancidly deep fry foodin rancid oil like canola oil,
(14:15):
and you coat the food in that,it's cooked in that and you eat
it whatever it is whether it'sfried potato, whether it's fried
calamari, whether it's friedwhatever and you put that into
the body, the gut and themicrobiome don't know what to do
with it.
It's not real.
It doesn't exist.
It doesn't exist in theuniverse to have deep fried
anything or rancid seed oils.
(14:36):
Alcohol Alcohol is fermentedfood gone too long.
That's where alcohol comes from.
So eating fermented food isgreat for there's so much great
bacteria in there.
You don't want to be eatingspoiled fermented fruits.
You know what I mean.
Have you ever seen a bananastart to rot or an apple start
to rot?
That's the fermentation process.
If you let that go for too long, you'll get an alcohol die off
(14:59):
from that as well Controlled.
When we do that, we actuallyget alcohol and ethanol.
But what we want to do is notget to that point.
When we eat our foods andtypically you won't it comes
with an odor, comes with a smell, tastes horrible because the
bacteria in it.
No one eats spoiled food, solimit those for good gut health.
Gluten and dairy you want totest these and remove them from
(15:23):
your diet to see if it helps.
That's where we start a lot offamilies off, especially
children and even adults.
We're like, hey, try to gogluten-free, dairy-free, and
just do it for 14 days.
See what happens.
Do you feel any better?
It takes about five to sevendays to kind of get it through
the system and then that secondweek you'll see if you notice
any differences in gut motility,bloating, discomfort, and we
(15:44):
can start from there.
Testing is easier allergytesting, blood testing to see
what the allergens are.
But allergy versus sensitivitycan be two different things.
You may show up with noallergies and have lots of
sensitivities that don't show upon the test.
So elimination diets are greatat trying to find the root cause
to diet issues and then eatmindfully.
(16:06):
You know, chew your foodthoroughly.
Some of these kids just swallowchunks of food and makes it
harder for the body to digest.
That can be a simple thing ofjust masticating the food more
to help take pressure off thegut and its digestion.
Don't eat on the go.
You want to take time to.
Don't eat food in your car whenyou're driving.
I mean it's hard to digest thatwhen you're in a stress
(16:28):
response, in a fight or flightresponse, you're not in a rest
or digest response.
And just try stop eating two tothree hours before bedtime
Gives that decline inperistalsis in the gut time to
get ready for nighttime and maygive you time to have a bowel
movement before bed.
If not, you go to sleep and youget all the benefits of sleep,
(16:48):
and when you wake up in themorning, maybe some coffee might
help you move and get themotility going there as well.
Now there's some things we cando on top of a healthy diet and
movement that can help with ourgut, and it comes with
supplementation.
If we need these thingsdigestive enzymes, magnesium,
citrate, probiotics that arestrain diversity, l-glutamine
(17:13):
for gut lining repair, bpc-157peptides there's a few
supplements we can look into.
We don't want to take all ofthem all at once.
We want to introduce them witha strategy.
So if we get heartburn,difficulty eating, bloating,
getting full fast, we may havean enzyme issue where digestive
enzymes can play a huge role.
(17:33):
Eating them right before a mealto help digest food, that's one
.
Magnesium citrate stimulatesperistalsis and movement of gut
motility.
Caffeine does as well.
Probiotics we talked about thisthoroughly over the last three
podcasts help sustain properbiome and L-glutamine helps heal
(17:54):
gut lining.
So there's a few differentthings that are going on there.
One are we able to digest foodthrough the enzymes that we
naturally produce through ourliver and bile?
Two, are we having a gutmotility issue or peristaltic
issue?
Are we having a biome issue andwe need probiotics?
Or do we have a damaged gutfrom years of eating poorly or
(18:15):
alcohol consumption?
Or even pharmaceuticalconsumption A lot of the
pharmaceutical things thatpeople take diabetics that are
on metformin and other drugs,cholesterol medication a lot of
different ones.
Nsaids.
Nsaids are the number one gutlining damaging drugs that are
most common in our societybecause they're over the counter
and each time you take one itcauses a little bit of gut
(18:37):
lining bleeding, even with asimple Advil.
Taking an Advil or a Tylenolwill cause stomach bleeding
immediately.
Not enough for you to seethrough your stool or to throw
up, but that's the damage thatit instantly creates on the
lining your body repairs.
But if you're taking thesethree times a day continuously,
this is where we can lead up toserious gut damage over time.
(18:59):
So there's many differentreasons for this Alcohol
consumption, poor diet, nsaids,pharmaceuticals a lot of reasons
why this stuff happens.
And the past is the past.
Now is now.
Now is where you can takecontrol and make some changes,
and that's the things that youcan do to try and help.
So a typical day of eating let'sgo through breakfast, lunch,
(19:19):
maybe a snack, some dinner andsome hydration.
For breakfast, scrambled eggswith spinach, some avocado maybe
throw some sauerkraut in thereor onions, or cook with some
garlic.
Or chia pudding with berriesand almond butter these are all
fantastic ways to start your day.
Whole grain toast with somealmond butter on it, that's a
great little start to the day aswell.
Lunch, a quinoa bowl or a brownrice bowl with grilled chicken,
(19:44):
roasted veggies, olive oil,drizzle kimchi on the side.
You're adding sour.
Some more fermented food thereDill, dill pickle.
You could add that that'sfermented food too.
That's good Not as good as therest of them, but that's a
fermented food that's great.
Snacks apple with almond butteror peanut butter on a green or
a green smoothie with flaxseedand greens and fruit in it.
(20:05):
You could do that as a snack.
Dinner, wild salmon, beef,steamed broccoli, sweet potato
with ghee Ghee is a type ofbutter.
And then for hydration, herbalteas, lemon water, filtered
water, electrolytes, lmnt.
Herbal teas, lemon water,filtered water, electrolytes,
lmnt, emergency liquid IV.
(20:25):
These types of things to keepyou hydrated once a day can help
in combination to promote ahealthy gut and motility.
So good health, good gut health, comes with good whole body
health.
I mean the things andstrategies that we talked about
today was mostly about motilityand movement.
So I invite you to add morefiber, fermented foods and
(20:49):
hydrate every day and see whathappens with your overall gut
health.
You know even journaling anddocumenting bowel movement.
I know it sounds funny, butkeeping notes somewhere in your
phone of the motility and howoften you go and making sure it
is every 24 hours can beeye-opening and show that that's
not normal to be going everythree days.
(21:13):
So review the gut-brainconnection that we talked about
on the last episode.
Maybe go back a couple episodesand listen to the probiotic one
that we talked about and themicrobiome and piece this all
together and what you'll noticeis we've strained together a
phenomenal gut health trilogy ormaybe it's four in a row of how
to really improve your overallgut health through this, and we
(21:34):
encourage you, if you have anyquestions, to reach out to us at
info at fulllifetampacom.
Our functional med doctor, drHafer, loves going through this
stuff, and a lot of it can bedone virtually and tests can be
done delivered straight to yourhome.
It's great to get a gutmotility test.
A stool sample, an allergy testwhatever it is, can bring
insights to finally conqueringpoor gut health.
(21:56):
So if you need help, we're herefor you.
Stay well, stay healthy.
Thanks for listening.
Share this with othersubscribers and leave a review.
Helps other people find ourpodcast.
Have a great week.
If you've ever dealt with bloating, constipation or
brain fog, you might not realizeyour gut is the root cause.
Today we're breaking it alldown, literally and figuratively
.
Welcome to another podcast ofLiving a Full Life.
I'm Dr Enrico Dolcecori andwe're going to continue on with
gut health.
The questions keep coming.
Apparently, this is a big topicfor many people.
(00:25):
Many people deal with a lot ofissues and side effects from
unhealthy guts and as we gothrough the science and we went
through the brain gut axis, thevagus nerve, the gut motility
microbiome we've had a lot ofgut podcasts recently and in the
past and we're going to go intoreally what is a good, healthy
(00:46):
diet for a good, healthy gut.
That's what today's topic isall about.
Having a healthy gut is crucialfor total wellness, mental
clarity, immunity and even yourmood, so it links to so many
other things in our overallhealth from day to day that gut
health is so important.
(01:07):
It really matters.
Your gut and your entiredigestive tract have trillions
of bacteria in them that make upthe gut microbiome, and we
talked about the link betweenimmune function and the gut.
70% of all the cells of yourimmune system are in your gut,
so your immune system are inyour gut.
So your immune system primarilyis your gut, and the brain-gut
(01:29):
axis is how we control mood,emotion, fatigue and behavior.
All go between the gut and thebrain as well.
Energy levels are directlycorrelated to gut health, like
your mood, and serotoninproduction is all done in the
gut.
It's a neurotransmitter thatstimulates the brain's activity
(01:53):
from the gut Amazing connectionthat we have there.
And then, of course, skinhealth, inflammation,
detoxification all these thingsare primarily made through the
gut and its health.
Poor gut health can have manysigns from obvious symptoms like
gas, bloating, irregular bowelmovements, but even things like
(02:15):
cravings, brain fog, fatigue andfood intolerances can all be
related to an improper gutdysbiosis or improper gut health
.
So one of the top things to lookat is gut motility.
You can actually measure thiswith medical procedures for this
(02:37):
, where you eat certain fibrousfoods and they measure how long
it takes for your body to digestthat food, to come out through
waste and during based on thattime, it can be either healthy
or unhealthy.
So gut motility tells us howwell things are moving through
your digestive tract and howimportant it is to have daily
complete bowel movements.
(02:58):
Now for some of you we're goingto hit the pause button.
Yes, every single day we shouldbe having a bowel movement from
infant all the way from beingbreastfed on your first couple
weeks of life.
We're trying to build the biomeand develop motility that's
healthy and should be sustainedfor the rest of our lives.
(03:18):
Infants will fill a diaper atleast once a day, not urine just
by waste products once a day,and if they're not, we consider
them constipated or colickyright from early aspects of life
.
So if it's a problem for aninfant, non-daily bowel
movements are a problem foradults as well.
(03:40):
So we need to have daily.
The highlight of that sentenceis daily bowel movements.
It's so common for people to becoming into our office, even as
functional medical doctors andchiropractors coming into our
office, saying I don't go to thebathroom for three, four or
five days, maybe once a week,and they live their life like
that and they wonder why.
(04:01):
It relates to a lot of stressbeing backed up, constipated,
fatigue, bloating, all thesethings lying back because of an
improper gut biosis or someother things that might be going
on.
So the things that slow downthe motility over time is poor
diet.
This is probably the mostcommon thing for children.
(04:23):
Why would their gut start toslow down?
It's usually because of poordiet.
This is probably the mostcommon thing for children.
Why would their gut start toslow down?
It's usually because of poordiet.
So a breastfed infant it's gotthe best diet on the planet, is
pretty much getting breast milkand all the proteins that come
from that, digesting it, andthen we start to introduce foods
and as we introduce foods,bowel movement should pick up
because now we're introducingfibers, carbohydrates and other
(04:45):
things and fats to the diet thatmay not have been there before.
So that should actuallyincrease motility.
If it decreases it or causesconstipation, then we can
pinpoint exactly what foods itis that's causing it and you'll
see it's usually processed foods.
Very rarely does a fruit or ameat back a child up.
(05:05):
It can, it absolutely can, butit's it's rare.
Dehydration is another reason.
We just don't drink enoughwater every day, probably the
second most common reason whypeople don't go to the bathroom
they just don't drink enoughwater.
They're not hydrated properly.
It's a low and then a low fiberdiet.
And number four is lack ofmovement.
(05:26):
Movement is key in motility,both for our gut system, our
cardiovascular system, ourlymphatic system, our venous
return system.
All these systems requiremovement in order to create that
flow.
Even cerebral spinal fluidrequires movement to move
properly and wash and cleanthrough the body and go back and
(05:46):
forth on the lymphatic systemand cerebral spinal fluid.
So movement is so importantwith all this.
So you think this podcast isall going to be about a high
fiber diet, but food is going tobe actually the least thing we
talk about here today, becauseit's the other things that are
leading to poor gut health.
But let's talk about the diet.
Let's talk about what an idealday looks like and how we should
(06:10):
base our diet around this.
It should come with habits,actually more than just the
foods that we focus on.
You need to start your day right, and starting your day right
may be priming yourself and yourgut for good health, and the
people that are listening tothis that may take this into
consideration are ones that aresuffering from poor gut health.
The rest of us are like, hey,whatever, I'm not going to
(06:30):
change my ways because I'm notsuffering, and typically it
takes pain to make change forpeople.
It takes some kind of symptomor something that go wrong.
We take our good health forgranted and we wait until things
go awry to make changes.
It's just normal human nature.
So for those of you suffering,I hope this podcast brings in
(06:51):
some tips and strategies to helpyou immediately.
So we'd start our day off withwarm lemon water or ginger tea
to stimulate digestion.
It's a great way.
So you pour some water not cold, lukewarm room temperature
squeeze some fresh lemon into it, drink that glass as your first
glass of water of the day.
The alkalinity creates anelectrolyte balance in the water
(07:16):
and increases hydration rightoff the bat, and your gut loves
absorbing that.
Then we need to start the daywith light movement.
We have to move around.
I have to go for a walk.
Take the dog out for a walkimmediately.
A five-minute walk, 10-minutewalk, whatever it takes.
Immediately during the morningwe don't.
We get up, we rush, we create astressful environment to get
things packed, to get out thedoor, to sit in the car for half
(07:39):
an hour in traffic to get towhere we need to get to, or an
hour, and then we go and sitdown and work and there's really
no movement to start our day.
So we're starting our day verystressful.
And then avoid heavycarbohydrates or sugars first
thing in the morning.
The standardized American diethas been whitewashed into
(07:59):
believing that cereals, muffins,pancakes, carbohydrates are the
way to start your day.
It's the exact opposite.
We should not be using heavysugar or heavy carbohydrate in
the morning.
Aside from a small portion offruit, we should be starting our
day with protein, high proteinand a little bit of fat, and
(08:21):
maybe having a little bit offruit.
If you want to grab a littlebit of fruit, some strawberries,
some blueberries, half a banana, whatever it is.
Just grab a little bit of fatand maybe having a little bit of
fruit.
If you want to grab a littlebit of fruit, some strawberries
and blueberries, a half a banana, whatever it is.
Just grab a little bit of fruit.
For some carbohydrates in themorning, that's fine, but it's
the high protein, maybemoderately high fat morning that
we want to start our gut with.
It takes a little bit longerfor it to digest it, there's
more nutrition in it and itpromotes gut motility right off
(08:45):
the bat.
There you go, that's how youstart your day A nutritious
breakfast that is low incarbohydrates and sugar and gets
some movement in to stimulategut motility First thing in the
morning.
That's the key here, not a threeo'clock in the afternoon,
workout at the gym on the stairstepper.
That's good too.
It has its benefits there too.
(09:05):
It's good for overall health,but it's not stimulating the.
There's reasons for the madnesshere.
Focus on these gut-loving foodsevery day as well.
Fiber Fiber comes from fruits,berries, apples, veggies like
broccoli, spinach, legumes, oats, chia seeds.
These are high-fibrous foodsthat you should be adding to
(09:28):
your diet.
Fiber is the feel.
It feeds good bacteria andpromotes motility.
That's how it actually works.
Fiber has no to littlenutrition value for us.
We consume it through thefibers in foods, usually plants
and vegetables and fruits.
That's where it comes through.
It's the fibers that make upthe plant or the fruit, like in
(09:49):
an apple, and when you eat that,it has not much going on for
you.
It shouldn't accumulate orcause constipation.
What it should do is feed thegood bacteria.
The good bacteria love fiber.
It's their primary food source,aside from simple sugars, and
they eat that, and the wasteproducts help create motility in
(10:11):
your gut.
It's a symbiotic relationshipwith these bacteria.
The good guys that we talkedabout primarily eat fiber.
Number two is adding somefermented foods to your diet.
This can be in any point of theday, with anything.
It helps replenish and supportthe microbiome.
We talked about this thoroughlythrough some previous podcasts.
Sauerkraut, kimchi, kefirpodcasts Sauerkraut, kimchi,
(10:35):
kefir, yogurt, dairy-free ifyou're intolerant miso, miso
soup, kombucha all of thesethings are fermented foods with
a high concentration ofprebiotics and probiotics.
They are great in replenishing,feeding the gut properly and
all the good guys.
We talked about the gut in myanalogy as the military system
(10:56):
in the body.
Right, there are this hugemilitary of good guys, but
sometimes some bad guys get inthere too.
We don't want to be feeding thebad guys because they will
proliferate.
Bacteria grow very fast, samewith viruses.
So that's why we want to beeating a healthy, fibrous, rich
diet to supplement the good guysand not feed the bad guys with
(11:16):
simple high fructose corn syrupsugars.
Any bacteria that eats sugarreally fast is usually pretty
bad.
Anyone that eats, you know,protein really fast is usually
pretty bad.
Those are the bad bacteria.
If they can break down humanflesh, they're bad, right.
They're the bad guys.
That's the issue between that.
So the good guys are typicallyfiber-based bacteria and biome
(11:41):
type organisms.
We want prebiotic rich foods aswell.
You know the food forprobiotics garlic, onions, leeks
, bananas that are slightlygreen, not super sweet.
Asparagus, chicory root theseare all prebiotic rich foods
that can be added at any time.
(12:02):
Maybe cook with some garlic andonions, maybe add some leeks
every now and then for some fun.
Banana is great, the greenbananas they love that sugar,
that type of fructose that comesfrom the banana and that feeds
the gut as well.
And then we want to add healthyfats.
We won't usually cook withhealthy fats.
Avocado oil, avocados, oliveoil, wild salmon, flaxseed,
(12:24):
adding a fish oil to your dietAll these things help with
nutrient absorption and motilityin the gut.
And then, lastly, hydration.
Back to this from where westarted, critical for keeping
things moving.
It's typically a dehydrationissue for most people, even
children, if they're not goingto the bathroom every day, at
least once a day, then and we'retalking about number two, not
(12:46):
urine Urine you should be goingand kids should be going to the
bathroom five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 times a day,
depending on how much water theydrink, but going with a proper
bowel movement, at least once aday Children maybe might be
going twice a day Make sense.
That's the recap.
For that we want to be focusingon fiber, fermented foods,
(13:08):
prebiotic rich foods like garlicand onions, healthy fats and
hydration.
That's the fundamental basisfor a good gut health.
What we want to limit is a fewthings like ultra-processed
foods Always lead to bad things.
When they're ultra-processedand in a box, they're just not
(13:29):
going to have any nutrition tothem, first of all, and second
of all, they have no realbenefit in the gut, the bacteria
don't know what to do with it.
Your gut doesn't know what todo with it.
Nobody knows what to do with it.
It's not real.
Then we have refined sugars,the ones that are highly
processed.
They're usually high sugarcontent.
Artificial sweeteners.
No one knows what that is.
Your bacteria don't know whatthat is.
(13:49):
Your gut doesn't know what thatis like.
Sucralose and aspartame Alcoholbody really doesn't know what
that is.
It's just a poison.
Drinking alcohol kills off somebacteria.
Seed oils and fried foods whenwe eat these types of foods,
nothing on the planet knows whatto do with them.
When you rancidly deep fry foodin rancid oil like canola oil,
(14:15):
and you coat the food in that,it's cooked in that and you eat
it whatever it is whether it'sfried potato, whether it's fried
calamari, whether it's friedwhatever and you put that into
the body, the gut and themicrobiome don't know what to do
with it.
It's not real.
It doesn't exist.
It doesn't exist in theuniverse to have deep fried
anything or rancid seed oils.
(14:36):
Alcohol Alcohol is fermentedfood gone too long.
That's where alcohol comes from.
So eating fermented food isgreat for there's so much great
bacteria in there.
You don't want to be eatingspoiled fermented fruits.
You know what I mean.
Have you ever seen a bananastart to rot or an apple start
to rot?
That's the fermentation process.
If you let that go for too long, you'll get an alcohol die off
(14:59):
from that as well Controlled.
When we do that, we actuallyget alcohol and ethanol.
But what we want to do is notget to that point.
When we eat our foods andtypically you won't it comes
with an odor, comes with a smell, tastes horrible because the
bacteria in it.
No one eats spoiled food, solimit those for good gut health.
Gluten and dairy you want totest these and remove them from
(15:23):
your diet to see if it helps.
That's where we start a lot offamilies off, especially
children and even adults.
We're like, hey, try to gogluten-free, dairy-free, and
just do it for 14 days.
See what happens.
Do you feel any better?
It takes about five to sevendays to kind of get it through
the system and then that secondweek you'll see if you notice
any differences in gut motility,bloating, discomfort, and we
(15:44):
can start from there.
Testing is easier allergytesting, blood testing to see
what the allergens are.
But allergy versus sensitivitycan be two different things.
You may show up with noallergies and have lots of
sensitivities that don't show upon the test.
So elimination diets are greatat trying to find the root cause
to diet issues and then eatmindfully.
(16:06):
You know, chew your foodthoroughly.
Some of these kids just swallowchunks of food and makes it
harder for the body to digest.
That can be a simple thing ofjust masticating the food more
to help take pressure off thegut and its digestion.
Don't eat on the go.
You want to take time to.
Don't eat food in your car whenyou're driving.
I mean it's hard to digest thatwhen you're in a stress
(16:28):
response, in a fight or flightresponse, you're not in a rest
or digest response.
And just try stop eating two tothree hours before bedtime
Gives that decline inperistalsis in the gut time to
get ready for nighttime and maygive you time to have a bowel
movement before bed.
If not, you go to sleep and youget all the benefits of sleep,
(16:48):
and when you wake up in themorning, maybe some coffee might
help you move and get themotility going there as well.
Now there's some things we cando on top of a healthy diet and
movement that can help with ourgut, and it comes with
supplementation.
If we need these thingsdigestive enzymes, magnesium,
citrate, probiotics that arestrain diversity, l-glutamine
(17:13):
for gut lining repair, bpc-157peptides there's a few
supplements we can look into.
We don't want to take all ofthem all at once.
We want to introduce them witha strategy.
So if we get heartburn,difficulty eating, bloating,
getting full fast, we may havean enzyme issue where digestive
enzymes can play a huge role.
(17:33):
Eating them right before a mealto help digest food, that's one
.
Magnesium citrate stimulatesperistalsis and movement of gut
motility.
Caffeine does as well.
Probiotics we talked about thisthoroughly over the last three
podcasts help sustain properbiome and L-glutamine helps heal
(17:54):
gut lining.
So there's a few differentthings that are going on there.
One are we able to digest foodthrough the enzymes that we
naturally produce through ourliver and bile?
Two, are we having a gutmotility issue or peristaltic
issue?
Are we having a biome issue andwe need probiotics?
Or do we have a damaged gutfrom years of eating poorly or
(18:15):
alcohol consumption?
Or even pharmaceuticalconsumption A lot of the
pharmaceutical things thatpeople take diabetics that are
on metformin and other drugs,cholesterol medication a lot of
different ones.
Nsaids.
Nsaids are the number one gutlining damaging drugs that are
most common in our societybecause they're over the counter
and each time you take one itcauses a little bit of gut
(18:37):
lining bleeding, even with asimple Advil.
Taking an Advil or a Tylenolwill cause stomach bleeding
immediately.
Not enough for you to seethrough your stool or to throw
up, but that's the damage thatit instantly creates on the
lining your body repairs.
But if you're taking thesethree times a day continuously,
this is where we can lead up toserious gut damage over time.
(18:59):
So there's many differentreasons for this Alcohol
consumption, poor diet, nsaids,pharmaceuticals a lot of reasons
why this stuff happens.
And the past is the past.
Now is now.
Now is where you can takecontrol and make some changes,
and that's the things that youcan do to try and help.
So a typical day of eating let'sgo through breakfast, lunch,
(19:19):
maybe a snack, some dinner andsome hydration.
For breakfast, scrambled eggswith spinach, some avocado maybe
throw some sauerkraut in thereor onions, or cook with some
garlic.
Or chia pudding with berriesand almond butter these are all
fantastic ways to start your day.
Whole grain toast with somealmond butter on it, that's a
great little start to the day aswell.
Lunch, a quinoa bowl or a brownrice bowl with grilled chicken,
(19:44):
roasted veggies, olive oil,drizzle kimchi on the side.
You're adding sour.
Some more fermented food thereDill, dill pickle.
You could add that that'sfermented food too.
That's good Not as good as therest of them, but that's a
fermented food that's great.
Snacks apple with almond butteror peanut butter on a green or
a green smoothie with flaxseedand greens and fruit in it.
(20:05):
You could do that as a snack.
Dinner, wild salmon, beef,steamed broccoli, sweet potato
with ghee Ghee is a type ofbutter.
And then for hydration, herbalteas, lemon water, filtered
water, electrolytes, lmnt.
Herbal teas, lemon water,filtered water, electrolytes,
lmnt, emergency liquid IV.
(20:25):
These types of things to keepyou hydrated once a day can help
in combination to promote ahealthy gut and motility.
So good health, good gut health, comes with good whole body
health.
I mean the things andstrategies that we talked about
today was mostly about motilityand movement.
So I invite you to add morefiber, fermented foods and
(20:49):
hydrate every day and see whathappens with your overall gut
health.
You know even journaling anddocumenting bowel movement.
I know it sounds funny, butkeeping notes somewhere in your
phone of the motility and howoften you go and making sure it
is every 24 hours can beeye-opening and show that that's
not normal to be going everythree days.
(21:13):
So review the gut-brainconnection that we talked about
on the last episode.
Maybe go back a couple episodesand listen to the probiotic one
that we talked about and themicrobiome and piece this all
together and what you'll noticeis we've strained together a
phenomenal gut health trilogy ormaybe it's four in a row of how
to really improve your overallgut health through this, and we
(21:34):
encourage you, if you have anyquestions, to reach out to us at
info at fulllifetampacom.
Our functional med doctor, drHafer, loves going through this
stuff, and a lot of it can bedone virtually and tests can be
done delivered straight to yourhome.
It's great to get a gutmotility test.
A stool sample, an allergy testwhatever it is, can bring
insights to finally conqueringpoor gut health.
(21:56):
So if you need help, we're herefor you.
Stay well, stay healthy.
Thanks for listening.
Share this with othersubscribers and leave a review.
Helps other people find ourpodcast.
Have a great week.
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