September 4, 2025 • 19 mins
Have you tried all the gut-healing protocols, supplements, and diets, but you’re still constipated, bloated, or exhausted? You’re not alone, and the reason you’re stuck may not be what you think.
In this episode of the Love Your Gut podcast, I’m sharing the overlooked foundations that can make or break your gut healing journey. These aren’t the flashy, “quick-fix” solutions you see all over social media, but they’re the simple, powerful pieces that actually help your gut recover.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- Why eating the same 5–10 foods can cause dysbiosis, leaky gut, and food reactions.
- How mineral depletion keeps you stuck in a cycle of low energy, hormone imbalances, and poor motility.
- Why low stomach acid, enzyme output, and bile flow can trigger infections like H. pylori and recurrent SIBO.
- The connection between nervous system dysregulation and low secretory IgA, reflux, and constipation.
- Practical steps you can start using today to finally support your gut the way it needs.
If you’ve been “doing everything right” and not feeling better, one of these missing pieces may be the reason.
Resources and Links:
📥 Grab my free mineral guide to start rebuilding your foundation today
💻 Want personalized support? Learn more and apply to the gutTogether program here
➡️ For more tips, follow Dr. Heather on Instagram
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Heather Finley (00:03):
Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast.
I'm your host, Dr.
Heather Finley, registereddietitian and gut health
specialist.
I understand the frustration ofdealing with GI issues because
I've been there and I spent overtwo decades searching for
answers for my own gut issues ofconstipation, bloating, and
stomach pain.
I've dedicated my life tounderstanding and solving my own
(00:24):
gut issues.
And now I'm here to guide you.
On this podcast, I'll help youidentify the true root causes of
your discomfort.
So you can finally ditch yoursymptoms for good.
My goal is to empower you withthe knowledge and tools you need
so that you can love your gutand it will love you right back.
So if you're ready to learn alot, gain a deeper understanding
(00:46):
of your gut and find lastingrelief.
You are in the right place.
Welcome to the love your gutpodcast.
Welcome back to the next episodeof the Love Your Gut podcast.
I'm so excited to be here withyou today, and so sorry, my
voice is a little raspy.
I'm recovering from, I don'tknow what, my kids went back to
(01:06):
school, so whatever they broughthome, but we're just gonna power
through, and today's episode isgonna be a good one because.
I would say that one of the bigreasons that clients work with
us is because they've missedsome pieces in their gut
healing.
And the biggest thing thatblocks people from working with
(01:28):
us is fear because they've triedso many things and they think
they've tried everything.
But today I am going to breakdown the missing piece or pieces
in gut healing that nobody talksabout.
And that you've probably missed.
So honestly, it's not just onepiece.
There are several overlooked,very unglamorous foundations
(01:52):
that can completely change yourgut healing journey.
And trust me when I say that Iam a hundred percent guilty of
skipping these in the past aswell.
So I can't tell you how manytimes clients come to me saying,
like I said earlier, I've triedeverything.
I've done probiotics, I've doneantimicrobials, I've done
elimination diets, all these gutprotocols, candida cleanses, but
(02:15):
I'm still bloated.
I'm still constipated, I'mexhausted.
And when we dig in, the missingpieces are usually.
Actually pretty simple, but verypowerful.
So today I'm gonna walk youthrough four of the biggest ones
that I see, and then just giveyou some practical steps that
you can start to use right away.
So the first one that I wannatalk about is food variety.
(02:39):
Most people eat the same five to10 foods every single week.
Breakfast is the same, lunch isthe same, and dinners rotate
maybe between two or threemeals.
And I understand this.
I'm a busy mom.
I don't have time forcomplicated meals.
We actually just did a mealprep.
Call for our educational callfor the month for our got
together clients, and I actuallyasked everybody, I said, what
(03:02):
comes to mind when you think ofthe word meal prep?
And someone wrote in the chat,horror, and I had to laugh, not
because I want her to have thatexperience, but because so many
of us have.
That connotation with meal prep,that it has to be horrible.
It has to take hours, it has tobe miserable, and it has to be
boring.
(03:23):
And the thing is, it doesn'ttake a lot of work to prep a
couple things and also havedifferent things and have
variety.
So meal prep and feedingyourself should not feel like
horror because here's the thing.
Your gut thrives on diversityand research shows that dietary
variety, especially the varietyof plants that you eat, is one
(03:45):
of the strongest predictors ofyour gut microbio to health.
So the more diverse your diet,the more diverse your gut
bacteria, and that meansstronger digestion.
That means better immunefunction, that means more
resilience.
Overall, which is what we want.
We don't want you going toMexico and every time you go to
Mexico, you get sick.
(04:06):
We don't want you to besusceptible to every food
poisoning incident that couldpossibly be.
You probably know people thathave a sour stomach.
Constantly, their gut is notvery resilient if they're
feeling like that all the time.
So when you don't change thingsup, you're essentially starving
Your microbiome and certainbeneficial bacteria don't get
(04:28):
the fiber they need.
And then you can end up withovergrowths or depletions or
imbalances.
So.
Keep in mind, your gut thriveson diversity and research shows
that diversity variety ordietary variety is one of the
strongest predictors ofmicrobiome health.
And specifically what we'relooking for is 30 plants a week.
(04:50):
This might sound like a lot, butby plants, what I really mean is
fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds,beans, legumes, herbs, spices.
Think about making spaghetti youcan easily add.
Eight things to spaghetti.
You can add different herbs,oregano, parsley, garlic, onion.
You can add some mushrooms, youcan add some shredded zucchini.
(05:13):
You obviously have tomatoes inthere so you can get a lot of
variety by not actually makingyour meal.
Any more complicated withoutdietary variety.
Here's what happens.
Number one can be dysbiosis oran imbalance of bacteria in your
gut.
I talked last episode about yourgut kind of being like a target
(05:35):
parking lot, and we really wantall those parking spots full.
When you have low dietaryvariety, those parking spots are
not gonna be full.
There's more room for things tocome in and park where they
don't need to be.
You can also have loss ofbeneficial strains, especially
Akkermansia and Persi andbifidobacteria.
These are three keystone strainsof bacteria that you need to
(05:59):
have in order to preventintestinal permeability and are
big predictors of your overallgut health.
Consistently.
On stool testing, we see thesestrains low or not even
detectable, so this is a very,very common problem.
And then.
Research shows also that dietaryvariety or lack of dietary
(06:21):
variety can cause intestinalpermeability or what you may
know as leaky gut because yourgut lining isn't being supported
by short chain fatty acidproductions like butyrate.
When you eat prebiotic fiber,your.
Probiotic bacteria produce shortchain fatty acids, and that's
ultimately the goal of consumingfiber.
(06:43):
So long term, what does thismean?
This means less immuneresilience, more food reactions.
So here's just a practical tip.
If you always eat blueberries,swap in raspberries, maybe swap
in whatever is in season.
My kids are always asking forthe same fruits, and they're
probably sick of me saying thisby now, but.
Usually I'll say, well, that'snot in season right now.
(07:04):
Let's pick something else.
We're meant to eat seasonally.
We're meant to eat what isavailable.
So if oranges are in season, tryto eat some oranges.
And I'm not saying don't buy thefrozen version of whatever
veggies you or fruits that youlike, but try to eat seasonally.
And that's a great way toimprove dietary variety.
If you usually eat spinach, tryarugula.
(07:25):
Try bok choy.
Just start with one swap a week.
It does not have to beoverwhelming.
We've had so many clients thathave been so terrified of adding
variety because they're sobloated and they live on like
chicken and rice.
And when you gently expand yourdiet, you will actually improve
your gut symptoms so long asyou're improving all the other
(07:47):
underlying root causes becauseyou're actually giving your
microbes the nutrients thatthey're missing.
All right.
Cause number two or missing,step number two is mineral
depletion.
Now, you've probably heard metalk about minerals a million
times, but this is a huge one,and I talk about it a lot
because it's just thatimportant.
Minerals fuel your entire body.
(08:10):
They literally help your bodycreate energy, and if your body
doesn't have energy, it cannotheal.
So you can take all theprobiotics, all the.
Antimicrobials, all this,whatever, you will not get
better if your body does nothave the energy to actually push
it out.
We really started emphasizingminerals with our clients about
(08:33):
three years ago, probably fournow actually.
And.
It has been a game changer.
We're seeing results quicker.
We're seeing that we have to doless invasive protocols.
Our clients are tolerating theirprotocols better.
They're getting energy faster.
Their hormone symptoms arebalancing out.
They're not losing hair.
They feel overall so muchbetter.
(08:55):
So minerals, they power enzymes,they regulate your hormones.
They keep your energy stable,and they directly impact your
gut motility.
So if you're constipated,bloated, et cetera.
If your body doesn't have theraw materials, like I said, it
can't heal no matter how manysupplements you throw at throw
at it.
And here's the thing that we seeon testing all the time, is
(09:17):
women who have been stressed,they've been dieting.
Maybe they're a mom of multiplechildren, or even one child is
enough to do it, and they'vebeen restricting food for years.
They're so depleted, especiallyin the main four.
Things like magnesium,potassium, sodium, and minerals,
fuel, all the functions.
So without them, the wholesystem is just in a tailspin.
(09:41):
When your minerals are depleted,what happens is your nervous
system actually becomes moredysregulated.
So you might be wired and tired,you might have poor stress,
resilience, you might not sleepas well.
You might feel.
Overwhelmed more easily, and wesee this a lot on testing.
You might have hormoneimbalances.
Maybe your estrogen is notdetoxing properly.
(10:03):
Maybe your thyroid conversion islagging.
You're not able to convert Tfour into the active hormone T
three.
Maybe you have poor stomach acidor enzyme output because zinc
and sodium and so many otherminerals are critical here.
Maybe you have constipation or.
Sluggish motility because youhave low magnesium, low
potassium, low boron, so manythings.
(10:26):
We constantly see this on HTMAtesting.
I can't tell you how manyclients have come to us.
Super constipated.
The typical story of I've beenconstipated my whole life.
I've done MiraLax, I've donemagnesium citrate, I've done
magnesium oxide, I've donecolonics.
I've done all the things.
And then when we look at HTMAtesting.
They have like no potassium, nosodium.
(10:49):
They're in a super depletedpattern.
And once we support theirminerals, their bowels start
moving and they're shocked athow quickly that happened.
So here's just a practical tipfor this one.
Start with a daily mineraldrink.
You can add.
You can make this superaffordable.
You can download my free mineralguide.
I'll put that in the show notes.
But you can add cream of tartarfor potassium.
(11:11):
You can add sea salt for sodiumand you can do even like Epsom
salt bath for magnesium.
Or obviously there are magnesiumoptions.
There's even food options formagnesium.
So my mineral guide will walkyou through this step by step.
I'll link it in the show notes.
All right.
System number three as a missingpiece is upper GI support.
So when I say upper GI support,I really mean stomach acid
(11:33):
enzymes and bile.
This is the third missing piece,and really when you don't
support digestion from the topdown, it's supposed to work like
this.
Stomach acid breaks downprotein, and it signals the
pancreas.
The pancreas releases enzymes,enzymes, and bile.
Breakdown fats, carbs, proteins,to then be absorbed if that
(11:56):
chain reaction is off and yourstomach acid is low.
Or your bile flow is impaired orpancreatic output is impaired
food for mens instead ofdigesting, and that leads to gas
and bloating and nutrientdeficiencies.
And low stomach acid isincredibly common from possibly
(12:16):
stress.
From different medications,maybe proton pump inhibitors,
nutrient deficiencies, like Imentioned in the last section.
And then when stomach acid islow, it affects the whole
process.
So the pancreas isn't working,bile doesn't flow either, and
when stomach acid enzymes andbile aren't working, here's some
downstream effects that you see.
(12:37):
Number one thing that we see ish pylori infections.
This is so common.
Because h pylori thrives whenstomach acid is low, and we have
to address the h pylori as wellas the low stomach acid.
Because it's kind of a chickenor egg scenario here, we also
might see recurrent SIBO becausepoor bile flow allows bacteria
(12:59):
to migrate upward, and we reallyneed bile as kind of that
washing detergent in the system.
We might see gas and bloatingbecause food is fermenting.
Without enough enzyme output, wemight see nutrient deficiencies,
especially in fat solublevitamins, a de and K, with lack
of bile.
And this is why people can treatSIBO or candida or anything over
(13:23):
and over, and it keeps comingback because the root cause is
much higher up.
So here's a practical tip.
Slow down, chew your foodthoroughly.
That alone.
Increases stomach acid and youcan also sip ginger tea before
meals that can help.
You can talk to yourpractitioner about enzymes or
digestive bitters if needed.
(13:45):
We've had so many clients thathave said, I thought that
digestive bitters wouldn't work,or I thought that just chewing
my food wouldn't work.
And I was so surprised at howwell this impacted so many of my
other symptoms.
So sometimes it's the simplethings, taking a couple deep
breaths before eating.
Chewing your food, eating awayfrom the tv, all those things.
(14:06):
All right, fourth one that goesalong with what I just said is
nervous system regulation.
This is the last missing pieceand really the hardest one.
You cannot heal your gut if youare stuck in fight or flight
mode.
And when you're stressed, you'rerushed, you're anxious.
Blood flow is diverted away fromdigestion.
(14:28):
Stomach acid lowers, motilityslows.
You feel bloated.
You feel constipated.
This is why you can eat theperfect gut healing diet and
still feel terrible.
You cannot heal your gut ifyou're in fight or flight.
And I will say that so many ofour clients don't even realize
how stressed they are until theystart supporting their nervous
(14:50):
system and they realize thatthey've basically lived their
whole life in fight or flight.
We have actually brought on anervous system expert into our
program to do monthly nervoussystem sessions with our clients
because of how much we believein this and how important it is.
Sometimes even subconsciousbeliefs or past experiences with
(15:11):
your nervous system rewirethings, and you don't even know
how much your nervous system isresponding to scenarios until
you've had that insight anduntil you've addressed it.
So most of us are overstressed.
We're eating in the car on Zoomwhile scrolling on phones, and
our lives are just go, go, goand busy with no breaks and we
(15:35):
need to take a step back.
When your nervous system isstuck in overdrive, you might
see low stomach acid, which cancause more bloating, more
reflux, a lot of lower GI issuesas well.
You might see sluggish motilityconstipation or just incomplete
emptying.
You might see low secretary IGA.
This is something that weconsistently see on testing when
(15:58):
you are very stressed.
You've been under eating for along period of time, or maybe
you have really negative thoughtpatterns.
There is actually research tosupport that.
All of those things.
Lowers your secretory IGA, whichis your gut immune system that
helps protect you againstunwanted pathogens, food
sensitivities, and so many otherthings.
(16:20):
So when your secretory IGA islow, you will have a weaker gut
immunity and more susceptibilityto infections.
And then another one is chronicinflammation.
If you're constantly in thisoveractive stress response, that
can cause a low grade ofinflammation in your body.
So a practical tip is beforemeals, take three to five
breaths, try humming, singinggargling to stimulate the vagus
(16:43):
nerve.
Even just sitting down andeating without scrolling, your
phone can make a hugedifference.
We have so many clients that Icould talk about where this was
the thing that they were mostresistant to.
Even one client who was veryterrified of eating without her
phone because of the job thatshe had, and she noticed a huge
(17:04):
difference when she didn't.
Eat with her phone.
And that was a really hard habitto change, but it made such a
big difference.
So you have to work on chewing,deep breathing, activating your
vagus nerve, and you will see adifference.
You'll feel like a new person,a.
You'll feel like your digestionis working better.
Just a couple other missingpieces that I won't go too much
(17:27):
into, but some honorablementions meal hygiene, which I
talked about.
Um, motility support.
You really need to make surethat your bowels are moving and
clearing out bacteria and waste.
If you can't go to the bathroomevery day, you have to fix this
first.
And then you have to addressfoundations before protocols.
So foundations like blood sugar.
(17:49):
Sleep, hydration.
These matter so much more thanjust a fat supplement stack.
You have to address these thingsfirst.
So if you've been stuck in yourgut healing journey, I want you
to ask yourself number one.
Am I eating a variety of foods?
Number two, am I supporting myminerals?
Number three, am I caring for myupper gi, my stomach acid, my
(18:12):
enzymes, my bile?
And then number four, am Icalming my nervous system so my
body can actually digest?
These aren't the flashy thingsthat you see all over social
media, but they are the missingpieces that.
Can make everything else work.
So if this episode resonatedwith you, be sure to grab my
free mineral guide.
It's a great place to getstarted.
(18:34):
It's packed with practical tipsand recipes and links and all
the things that you need tostart replenishing your minerals
today.
I'll leave the link in the shownotes and then of course, if you
are ready for more personalizedsupport, that's exactly what we
do inside Got Together, we havean amazing team.
That is unlike any other team,and I can say that with full
(18:55):
confidence.
We look at the whole picture andbuild a plan that actually
sticks by getting to some ofthese unsexy pieces that really
make a huge difference.
So thanks for listening.
This was a shorter episode, butit was packed with information.
Hope you loved it, and I'll seeyou next week.
Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast.
I'm your host, Dr.
Heather Finley, registereddietitian and gut health
specialist.
I understand the frustration ofdealing with GI issues because
I've been there and I spent overtwo decades searching for
answers for my own gut issues ofconstipation, bloating, and
stomach pain.
I've dedicated my life tounderstanding and solving my own
(00:24):
gut issues.
And now I'm here to guide you.
On this podcast, I'll help youidentify the true root causes of
your discomfort.
So you can finally ditch yoursymptoms for good.
My goal is to empower you withthe knowledge and tools you need
so that you can love your gutand it will love you right back.
So if you're ready to learn alot, gain a deeper understanding
(00:46):
of your gut and find lastingrelief.
You are in the right place.
Welcome to the love your gutpodcast.
Welcome back to the next episodeof the Love Your Gut podcast.
I'm so excited to be here withyou today, and so sorry, my
voice is a little raspy.
I'm recovering from, I don'tknow what, my kids went back to
(01:06):
school, so whatever they broughthome, but we're just gonna power
through, and today's episode isgonna be a good one because.
I would say that one of the bigreasons that clients work with
us is because they've missedsome pieces in their gut
healing.
And the biggest thing thatblocks people from working with
(01:28):
us is fear because they've triedso many things and they think
they've tried everything.
But today I am going to breakdown the missing piece or pieces
in gut healing that nobody talksabout.
And that you've probably missed.
So honestly, it's not just onepiece.
There are several overlooked,very unglamorous foundations
(01:52):
that can completely change yourgut healing journey.
And trust me when I say that Iam a hundred percent guilty of
skipping these in the past aswell.
So I can't tell you how manytimes clients come to me saying,
like I said earlier, I've triedeverything.
I've done probiotics, I've doneantimicrobials, I've done
elimination diets, all these gutprotocols, candida cleanses, but
(02:15):
I'm still bloated.
I'm still constipated, I'mexhausted.
And when we dig in, the missingpieces are usually.
Actually pretty simple, but verypowerful.
So today I'm gonna walk youthrough four of the biggest ones
that I see, and then just giveyou some practical steps that
you can start to use right away.
So the first one that I wannatalk about is food variety.
(02:39):
Most people eat the same five to10 foods every single week.
Breakfast is the same, lunch isthe same, and dinners rotate
maybe between two or threemeals.
And I understand this.
I'm a busy mom.
I don't have time forcomplicated meals.
We actually just did a mealprep.
Call for our educational callfor the month for our got
together clients, and I actuallyasked everybody, I said, what
(03:02):
comes to mind when you think ofthe word meal prep?
And someone wrote in the chat,horror, and I had to laugh, not
because I want her to have thatexperience, but because so many
of us have.
That connotation with meal prep,that it has to be horrible.
It has to take hours, it has tobe miserable, and it has to be
boring.
(03:23):
And the thing is, it doesn'ttake a lot of work to prep a
couple things and also havedifferent things and have
variety.
So meal prep and feedingyourself should not feel like
horror because here's the thing.
Your gut thrives on diversityand research shows that dietary
variety, especially the varietyof plants that you eat, is one
(03:45):
of the strongest predictors ofyour gut microbio to health.
So the more diverse your diet,the more diverse your gut
bacteria, and that meansstronger digestion.
That means better immunefunction, that means more
resilience.
Overall, which is what we want.
We don't want you going toMexico and every time you go to
Mexico, you get sick.
(04:06):
We don't want you to besusceptible to every food
poisoning incident that couldpossibly be.
You probably know people thathave a sour stomach.
Constantly, their gut is notvery resilient if they're
feeling like that all the time.
So when you don't change thingsup, you're essentially starving
Your microbiome and certainbeneficial bacteria don't get
(04:28):
the fiber they need.
And then you can end up withovergrowths or depletions or
imbalances.
So.
Keep in mind, your gut thriveson diversity and research shows
that diversity variety ordietary variety is one of the
strongest predictors ofmicrobiome health.
And specifically what we'relooking for is 30 plants a week.
(04:50):
This might sound like a lot, butby plants, what I really mean is
fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds,beans, legumes, herbs, spices.
Think about making spaghetti youcan easily add.
Eight things to spaghetti.
You can add different herbs,oregano, parsley, garlic, onion.
You can add some mushrooms, youcan add some shredded zucchini.
(05:13):
You obviously have tomatoes inthere so you can get a lot of
variety by not actually makingyour meal.
Any more complicated withoutdietary variety.
Here's what happens.
Number one can be dysbiosis oran imbalance of bacteria in your
gut.
I talked last episode about yourgut kind of being like a target
(05:35):
parking lot, and we really wantall those parking spots full.
When you have low dietaryvariety, those parking spots are
not gonna be full.
There's more room for things tocome in and park where they
don't need to be.
You can also have loss ofbeneficial strains, especially
Akkermansia and Persi andbifidobacteria.
These are three keystone strainsof bacteria that you need to
(05:59):
have in order to preventintestinal permeability and are
big predictors of your overallgut health.
Consistently.
On stool testing, we see thesestrains low or not even
detectable, so this is a very,very common problem.
And then.
Research shows also that dietaryvariety or lack of dietary
(06:21):
variety can cause intestinalpermeability or what you may
know as leaky gut because yourgut lining isn't being supported
by short chain fatty acidproductions like butyrate.
When you eat prebiotic fiber,your.
Probiotic bacteria produce shortchain fatty acids, and that's
ultimately the goal of consumingfiber.
(06:43):
So long term, what does thismean?
This means less immuneresilience, more food reactions.
So here's just a practical tip.
If you always eat blueberries,swap in raspberries, maybe swap
in whatever is in season.
My kids are always asking forthe same fruits, and they're
probably sick of me saying thisby now, but.
Usually I'll say, well, that'snot in season right now.
(07:04):
Let's pick something else.
We're meant to eat seasonally.
We're meant to eat what isavailable.
So if oranges are in season, tryto eat some oranges.
And I'm not saying don't buy thefrozen version of whatever
veggies you or fruits that youlike, but try to eat seasonally.
And that's a great way toimprove dietary variety.
If you usually eat spinach, tryarugula.
(07:25):
Try bok choy.
Just start with one swap a week.
It does not have to beoverwhelming.
We've had so many clients thathave been so terrified of adding
variety because they're sobloated and they live on like
chicken and rice.
And when you gently expand yourdiet, you will actually improve
your gut symptoms so long asyou're improving all the other
(07:47):
underlying root causes becauseyou're actually giving your
microbes the nutrients thatthey're missing.
All right.
Cause number two or missing,step number two is mineral
depletion.
Now, you've probably heard metalk about minerals a million
times, but this is a huge one,and I talk about it a lot
because it's just thatimportant.
Minerals fuel your entire body.
(08:10):
They literally help your bodycreate energy, and if your body
doesn't have energy, it cannotheal.
So you can take all theprobiotics, all the.
Antimicrobials, all this,whatever, you will not get
better if your body does nothave the energy to actually push
it out.
We really started emphasizingminerals with our clients about
(08:33):
three years ago, probably fournow actually.
And.
It has been a game changer.
We're seeing results quicker.
We're seeing that we have to doless invasive protocols.
Our clients are tolerating theirprotocols better.
They're getting energy faster.
Their hormone symptoms arebalancing out.
They're not losing hair.
They feel overall so muchbetter.
(08:55):
So minerals, they power enzymes,they regulate your hormones.
They keep your energy stable,and they directly impact your
gut motility.
So if you're constipated,bloated, et cetera.
If your body doesn't have theraw materials, like I said, it
can't heal no matter how manysupplements you throw at throw
at it.
And here's the thing that we seeon testing all the time, is
(09:17):
women who have been stressed,they've been dieting.
Maybe they're a mom of multiplechildren, or even one child is
enough to do it, and they'vebeen restricting food for years.
They're so depleted, especiallyin the main four.
Things like magnesium,potassium, sodium, and minerals,
fuel, all the functions.
So without them, the wholesystem is just in a tailspin.
(09:41):
When your minerals are depleted,what happens is your nervous
system actually becomes moredysregulated.
So you might be wired and tired,you might have poor stress,
resilience, you might not sleepas well.
You might feel.
Overwhelmed more easily, and wesee this a lot on testing.
You might have hormoneimbalances.
Maybe your estrogen is notdetoxing properly.
(10:03):
Maybe your thyroid conversion islagging.
You're not able to convert Tfour into the active hormone T
three.
Maybe you have poor stomach acidor enzyme output because zinc
and sodium and so many otherminerals are critical here.
Maybe you have constipation or.
Sluggish motility because youhave low magnesium, low
potassium, low boron, so manythings.
(10:26):
We constantly see this on HTMAtesting.
I can't tell you how manyclients have come to us.
Super constipated.
The typical story of I've beenconstipated my whole life.
I've done MiraLax, I've donemagnesium citrate, I've done
magnesium oxide, I've donecolonics.
I've done all the things.
And then when we look at HTMAtesting.
They have like no potassium, nosodium.
(10:49):
They're in a super depletedpattern.
And once we support theirminerals, their bowels start
moving and they're shocked athow quickly that happened.
So here's just a practical tipfor this one.
Start with a daily mineraldrink.
You can add.
You can make this superaffordable.
You can download my free mineralguide.
I'll put that in the show notes.
But you can add cream of tartarfor potassium.
(11:11):
You can add sea salt for sodiumand you can do even like Epsom
salt bath for magnesium.
Or obviously there are magnesiumoptions.
There's even food options formagnesium.
So my mineral guide will walkyou through this step by step.
I'll link it in the show notes.
All right.
System number three as a missingpiece is upper GI support.
So when I say upper GI support,I really mean stomach acid
(11:33):
enzymes and bile.
This is the third missing piece,and really when you don't
support digestion from the topdown, it's supposed to work like
this.
Stomach acid breaks downprotein, and it signals the
pancreas.
The pancreas releases enzymes,enzymes, and bile.
Breakdown fats, carbs, proteins,to then be absorbed if that
(11:56):
chain reaction is off and yourstomach acid is low.
Or your bile flow is impaired orpancreatic output is impaired
food for mens instead ofdigesting, and that leads to gas
and bloating and nutrientdeficiencies.
And low stomach acid isincredibly common from possibly
(12:16):
stress.
From different medications,maybe proton pump inhibitors,
nutrient deficiencies, like Imentioned in the last section.
And then when stomach acid islow, it affects the whole
process.
So the pancreas isn't working,bile doesn't flow either, and
when stomach acid enzymes andbile aren't working, here's some
downstream effects that you see.
(12:37):
Number one thing that we see ish pylori infections.
This is so common.
Because h pylori thrives whenstomach acid is low, and we have
to address the h pylori as wellas the low stomach acid.
Because it's kind of a chickenor egg scenario here, we also
might see recurrent SIBO becausepoor bile flow allows bacteria
(12:59):
to migrate upward, and we reallyneed bile as kind of that
washing detergent in the system.
We might see gas and bloatingbecause food is fermenting.
Without enough enzyme output, wemight see nutrient deficiencies,
especially in fat solublevitamins, a de and K, with lack
of bile.
And this is why people can treatSIBO or candida or anything over
(13:23):
and over, and it keeps comingback because the root cause is
much higher up.
So here's a practical tip.
Slow down, chew your foodthoroughly.
That alone.
Increases stomach acid and youcan also sip ginger tea before
meals that can help.
You can talk to yourpractitioner about enzymes or
digestive bitters if needed.
(13:45):
We've had so many clients thathave said, I thought that
digestive bitters wouldn't work,or I thought that just chewing
my food wouldn't work.
And I was so surprised at howwell this impacted so many of my
other symptoms.
So sometimes it's the simplethings, taking a couple deep
breaths before eating.
Chewing your food, eating awayfrom the tv, all those things.
(14:06):
All right, fourth one that goesalong with what I just said is
nervous system regulation.
This is the last missing pieceand really the hardest one.
You cannot heal your gut if youare stuck in fight or flight
mode.
And when you're stressed, you'rerushed, you're anxious.
Blood flow is diverted away fromdigestion.
(14:28):
Stomach acid lowers, motilityslows.
You feel bloated.
You feel constipated.
This is why you can eat theperfect gut healing diet and
still feel terrible.
You cannot heal your gut ifyou're in fight or flight.
And I will say that so many ofour clients don't even realize
how stressed they are until theystart supporting their nervous
(14:50):
system and they realize thatthey've basically lived their
whole life in fight or flight.
We have actually brought on anervous system expert into our
program to do monthly nervoussystem sessions with our clients
because of how much we believein this and how important it is.
Sometimes even subconsciousbeliefs or past experiences with
(15:11):
your nervous system rewirethings, and you don't even know
how much your nervous system isresponding to scenarios until
you've had that insight anduntil you've addressed it.
So most of us are overstressed.
We're eating in the car on Zoomwhile scrolling on phones, and
our lives are just go, go, goand busy with no breaks and we
(15:35):
need to take a step back.
When your nervous system isstuck in overdrive, you might
see low stomach acid, which cancause more bloating, more
reflux, a lot of lower GI issuesas well.
You might see sluggish motilityconstipation or just incomplete
emptying.
You might see low secretary IGA.
This is something that weconsistently see on testing when
(15:58):
you are very stressed.
You've been under eating for along period of time, or maybe
you have really negative thoughtpatterns.
There is actually research tosupport that.
All of those things.
Lowers your secretory IGA, whichis your gut immune system that
helps protect you againstunwanted pathogens, food
sensitivities, and so many otherthings.
(16:20):
So when your secretory IGA islow, you will have a weaker gut
immunity and more susceptibilityto infections.
And then another one is chronicinflammation.
If you're constantly in thisoveractive stress response, that
can cause a low grade ofinflammation in your body.
So a practical tip is beforemeals, take three to five
breaths, try humming, singinggargling to stimulate the vagus
(16:43):
nerve.
Even just sitting down andeating without scrolling, your
phone can make a hugedifference.
We have so many clients that Icould talk about where this was
the thing that they were mostresistant to.
Even one client who was veryterrified of eating without her
phone because of the job thatshe had, and she noticed a huge
(17:04):
difference when she didn't.
Eat with her phone.
And that was a really hard habitto change, but it made such a
big difference.
So you have to work on chewing,deep breathing, activating your
vagus nerve, and you will see adifference.
You'll feel like a new person,a.
You'll feel like your digestionis working better.
Just a couple other missingpieces that I won't go too much
(17:27):
into, but some honorablementions meal hygiene, which I
talked about.
Um, motility support.
You really need to make surethat your bowels are moving and
clearing out bacteria and waste.
If you can't go to the bathroomevery day, you have to fix this
first.
And then you have to addressfoundations before protocols.
So foundations like blood sugar.
(17:49):
Sleep, hydration.
These matter so much more thanjust a fat supplement stack.
You have to address these thingsfirst.
So if you've been stuck in yourgut healing journey, I want you
to ask yourself number one.
Am I eating a variety of foods?
Number two, am I supporting myminerals?
Number three, am I caring for myupper gi, my stomach acid, my
(18:12):
enzymes, my bile?
And then number four, am Icalming my nervous system so my
body can actually digest?
These aren't the flashy thingsthat you see all over social
media, but they are the missingpieces that.
Can make everything else work.
So if this episode resonatedwith you, be sure to grab my
free mineral guide.
It's a great place to getstarted.
(18:34):
It's packed with practical tipsand recipes and links and all
the things that you need tostart replenishing your minerals
today.
I'll leave the link in the shownotes and then of course, if you
are ready for more personalizedsupport, that's exactly what we
do inside Got Together, we havean amazing team.
That is unlike any other team,and I can say that with full
(18:55):
confidence.
We look at the whole picture andbuild a plan that actually
sticks by getting to some ofthese unsexy pieces that really
make a huge difference.
So thanks for listening.
This was a shorter episode, butit was packed with information.
Hope you loved it, and I'll seeyou next week.
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