December 6, 2023 • 30 mins
Bienvenidos todos! Have you ever noticed how stress or anxiety affects your eating rhythm? Have you ever noticed how your eating rhythm affects your digestion? Well my friends, I’m going to connect the dots. I’m going to culminate the Eating Rhythm series with a deep dive into the symbiotic dance between the eating rhythm and digestion system.
Here’s a overview of what I’m going to cover:
- Review the eating rhythm and its effects on health
- Describe my client’s digestive and eating rhythm journey
- IBS, the Low FODMAP why the eating rhythm helps
- Chrono-nutrition and Gut microbiome connection
- One small bite eating rhythm approach that helps the digestion
Where do I go from here?
For all the details and more about this episode, feel free to visit my website.
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Chop the diet mentality; Fuel Your Body; and Nourish Your Soul!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David (00:05):
Hola y beinvenido to the one small bites show where we
chopped diet mentality, fuelyour body and nourish your soul.
In every episode, you'll get aone small bite approach you can
implement to live a morenourished life.
This show is for educational andinformational purposes only.
So please make sure to connectwith the professional support.
(00:25):
You need at your own discretion.
Oh, and we don't bleep out cursewords.
So just a heads up in caseyou're with little ones.
Okay.
Let's do this.
Well, welcome to the one smallby podcast.
I'm your host, David Orozcoregistered dietitian,
(00:46):
nutritionist, and certified,intuitive eating counselor.
And in today's show.
I am going to talk to you aboutthe symbiotic dance between your
eating rhythm and the digestivesystem.
And boy, I've got a greatepisode for you today.
I'm really excited to bring thisinformation to you.
(01:08):
So one of the things that youmight've noticed in these
episodes is that I'm obviouslytalking about the eating rhythm.
If you start with episode 1 65,1 66, 1 67, you'll get a good
understanding of the connectionto mental and physical health.
(01:29):
And our eating rhythms.
And I've talked about how theeating rhythm affects the
circadian rhythm or your sleep.
I've talked about how youreating rhythm is affecting your
health, as well as your mentalhealth in these episodes.
And today I'm going to talk toyou about how the eating rhythm
(01:49):
or the eating patterns that youhave are also affecting your
digestive system.
And the wonderful littlemicrobes that we have in our
guts that are also creating thegut brain connection.
Or what we also know as thesecond brain or the second
(02:10):
nervous system.
Okay, let me give you a quickoverview of what I'm going to
discuss in today's show.
First, I'm going to start withthe circadian rhythm of
digestion and then.
I want to talk to you about thegut microbiome and eating
patterns and rhythms.
I'm going to also talk to youabout the mental and physical
(02:32):
health.
Of the digestive harmony and ofcourse of your consistent eating
rhythm.
Now, what I want to do is I wantto first talk to you about the
story of a client that I workedwith not so long ago.
She was dealing with a lot of GIissues and she also wanted to
try to lose weight at the sametime.
(02:54):
So after talking to her abouther body and her shape and size
and how that isn't nearly asimportant.
As getting a good rhythm ofeating and getting an adequate
diet to help her with her sleepand to help her with an anxiety
issue that she was dealing with.
We started getting into thenitty gritty of her IBS issues.
(03:17):
IBS stands for irritable bowelsyndrome.
And there are four differentsubtypes of IBS.
The first one is IBS D, which ismostly diarrhea and abdominal
discomfort.
The next one is IBS.
C, which is constipation.
And abdominal discomfort.
(03:39):
There is IBS mixed, which isalternating loose stools with
constipation and abdominaldiscomfort.
And remember pain is a big issuein all of this.
And then IBS-U, which is meaningundefined.
And again, remember what'scommon with IBS is abdominal
pain with all the four subtypes.
(04:02):
She had a little bit of diarrheafrom time to time, but she was
dealing with a considerableamount of constipation.
And one of the other things thatwas also happening was that.
She couldn't lose weight.
And again, if you listened tothe show, you know, that.
The weight of a person has somecorrelation to their health, but
(04:23):
it isn't the only thing that'sgoing on.
So while I was working with thisclient, we were getting into
specific foods that she couldeat that can be helpful for her
digestion.
We talked about the low FODMAPdiet.
And you guys might have heard ofthis.
You might've seen this in ablog.
On social media, your doctor,your gastroenterologist,
(04:46):
might've told you about this.
But generally speaking, a lowFODMAP diet is an approach of
eliminating certaincarbohydrates.
Now, these carbohydrates areFODMAPs and they stand for
fructans oligosaccharidesdisaccharides, monosaccharides,
the, a stands for, and, andpolyols.
(05:07):
All these are short chaincarbohydrates that are affecting
the gut microbes in one way oranother in the colon.
And I've had special guests onthat specialize in gut health.
I had my friend Kate Scarlata.
It's probably one of the bestknown GI and IBS experts in
(05:28):
nutrition.
She's a registered dieticiannutritionist.
She's in episode 18.
If you get a chance to listen tothat episode and episode 150
with Beth Rosen.
And Beth is just great atdescribing some of the problems
that are going on in the gut.
So listen to that episode, whenyou get a chance.
And in both of those episodes,we actually talk a lot about
(05:50):
IBS.
We talk about the low FODMAPdiet and different approaches
that a person can take.
And what's really, reallyimportant about this is that.
We have to understand that withIBS, the only GI condition that
actually has a well studiedevidence-based.
And reviewed.
(06:10):
Dietary approach that actuallyis very beneficial for a person
with IBS.
however, the approach.
Sometimes has to be personalizedfor the individual.
Because a low FODMAP diet doescome with a lot of bad side
effects that can occur down theroad, especially if a person's
dieted and tried to lose weightin the past.
(06:32):
Okay.
So we started working with acouple of low FODMAPs.
Now I don't take a low FODMAPdiet elimination process
directly with everyone.
And the reason for this is.
I have a concern, a majorconcern that as soon as you put
someone on a diet, It createsthe very same problems and
(06:53):
challenges of weight cycling.
Which then in the future, thebenefit of the diet gets lost
with a subsequent weight gain.
And then that becomes moreproblematic in the future.
Not to mention, we actuallydon't have good research on the
metabolic effect.
Of these diets.
(07:14):
We know that weight cycling.
Leads to a greater likelihood ofweight gain.
But we also don't know to whatextent that this has on our
bodies.
I know that our metabolism getsmessed up.
So I could imagine that a lotof.
Digestive problems also can becreated.
(07:34):
Now I don't want to project thather problems were because of
weight cycling.
I'm just trying to say that Ididn't want to do a diet,
especially not something where Ieliminate because she had a
history of weight cycling ofdoing diets in the past.
So, what we did is we did what'scalled a low FODMAP light
approach.
(07:55):
So we started looking atspecific FODMAPs that she was
consuming on a regular basis.
And we started taking some out,eliminating in abbreviated
methods and we started lookingat whether there was an effect
on that.
And we discovered a couple we'vediscovered two or three that
were creating most of theproblems.
(08:17):
And in eliminating them, itbecame a little bit better.
Her IBS symptoms were muchbetter.
She didn't have as muchconstipation.
So working through all of thiswas great.
Well, one of the problems isthat after few months of working
with her, We started seeing thesame constipation problems
(08:39):
coming back.
And we started realizing that,okay, there was something more
than just the specific foods.
When we look back, we realizethat her eating rhythm was quite
off.
We started seeing that.
she would go to bed at 10o'clock?
And then she would be on herphone or maybe on her computer.
And the reason she would do thatis because she couldn't fall
(09:01):
asleep very easily.
So we discovered that she washaving problems falling asleep
some nights she would go to bedat 12, 12 30 1:00 AM and she
would still get up at around thesame time between six 30 and
seven.
But it was a struggle to get upin the morning and it was all
she can do is just get out ofbed.
I got a cup of coffee and thenget to work.
(09:22):
Sometimes she'd grab something.
Maybe she'd grab something onthe way to work.
Maybe she would grab somethingat work, but it was hit or miss.
And then by 11 o'clock she'sstarving, she might grab another
snack.
And that might help a littlebit.
But then sometimes she hadmeetings at lunchtime 12 o'clock
1130 and they bled into herafternoon time.
(09:46):
If she was lucky, she might beable to grab something real
quick.
Either at the cafeteria at work,or if she worked from home, she
might be able to grab somethingfrom the refrigerator, but she
was finding that later in theafternoon, she was snacking
quite a bit.
And again, these snacks wouldhelp, but one of the problems
was it wasn't helping enough.
(10:07):
It wasn't providing her with anactual meal.
And the process, we discoveredthat her metabolism had slowed
down quite a bit because she wasstarting to get a lot of
fatigue, and she was gettingchallenges with focusing and
concentrating at work.
She was very easily irritated.
There were a lot of concernsthat were creeping up little by
(10:28):
little and she would get homeand the process would continue.
She would get home.
And she might end up eating lateor she might end up eating out.
She was a single parent andtaking care of two kids.
Her mother lived at home withher, but her mother had her own
issues that she was dealingwith.
So there was just a wholecomplex amount of issues.
(10:51):
One of them was also high levelof stress.
And she also dealt with aconsiderable amount of anxiety.
She also dealt with somethingthat we call the human giver
syndrome.
Now, if you haven't heard of thehuman giver syndrome, this is
very common with women.
But the human giver syndrome isessentially.
Women who typically give ofthemselves, give up their
(11:13):
humanity.
They are giving to the humanbeings, people who be or present
with their humanity.
Oh, and I wish I had came upwith this idea, but actually it
comes to me.
from the book burnout, thesecrets.
And unlocking the stress cycleby Dr.
Emily Nagorski.
and her sister Amelia Gosky.
If you get a chance, I highlyrecommend reading that book.
(11:36):
You'll totally understand.
But the human giver syndrome wasthis giving, giving, giving of
yourself and they.
The individual wouldn't havetime.
This was what's going on withthis client.
She realized that she didn'thave a good eating rhythm.
Now, this is where it getsreally, really interesting.
I started thinking to myself,okay, could her IBS issues.
(11:57):
Be a problem of the eatingrhythm.
So I looked into the research alittle bit and I was surprised
to find that there was a lot ofconnection there.
So let me digress a little bithere and tell you about the
digestive system.
And the connections to oureating rhythm.
(12:18):
We can actually say that thereis a circadian rhythm of
digestion.
And when I looked into theresearch, I found the few great
articles.
One article was this review thatcame from the journal of
clinical gastroenterology.
And I thought this was veryinteresting.
This was published in June of2022.
(12:40):
And it was titled disruption ofthe circadian rhythms and gut
motility.
An overview of underlyingmechanisms and associated
pathologies.
And one of the things that Ilike about this article is that
they go out to explain thatthere is a physiological control
of the circadian rhythms in thegastrointestinal track.
(13:01):
They talk about how thephysiology of the circadian
rhythms in the gastrointestinaltrack.
Are controlled and synchronizedby two complimentary systems.
One is the central mechanism inthe brain.
And the Oregon specificperipheral mechanisms.
Now, what do these mean?
(13:21):
Well, they talk about thesuprachiasmatic nucleus.
This is a cluster of neuronscells in the hypothalamus, and
it acts as the central circadianpacemaker, which signals the
various light from your eyes,that it is either daytime or
(13:42):
nighttime.
And this sets the 24 hourcircadian rhythm of day and
night wake and sleep right?
Now, the suprachrasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus is
essentially the brain's, if youwill, apple watch.
It, plays a central role in thedaily programming of organismic
(14:02):
functions by regulating day today oscillations of internal
bodies systems, synchronizingthem to the changing cycles of
day and night and the body'sstate.
The other thing that does thatare these peripheral clocks,
what we call gene clocks incertain cells, especially the
cells that line thegastrointestinal system in
(14:26):
particular, the colon.
These peripheral clocks.
play an integral and unique rolein each of their respective
tissues.
They're driving the circadianexpression of specific genes
involved in variety ofphysiological functions.
In this case, the digestivesystem.
What you do is you get this nicedance.
(14:46):
You get this rhythm.
And so it operates to fluctuate,certain hormones that are
released by certain functions.
So the digestive system,especially in the colon has
muscles that are bothlongitudinal and circular along
the digestive system.
(15:07):
Now they also come in differentshapes depending on what part of
the system like the esophagus orthe stomach, the small
intestines, but generallyspeaking there have mostly of
these two types, circular andlongitudinal.
And so what happens is, is thatyou get this timing.
And the timing happens in themorning where it's, stimulating
(15:30):
our colon to start moving atnight.
The colon doesn't move movemuch.
In fact, we don't get bowelmovements mostly at night.
We get most of our bowel momentsduring the day when we're awake.
And that happens because we'retrying to push food along.
And we're also trying to get oursystem set up.
(15:50):
So I've talked about the HBAaccess.
I've talked about cortisol inthe past.
You've heard me talk about that.
In the previous episode withLaney Jones, cortisol peaks in
the morning, cortisol is ahormone that's released.
As the stress hormone, but it'salso part of the clock system,
part of the circadian system.
And so working with this clientand knew that her.
(16:13):
Disruption of her rhythm wasaffecting the rhythm of her
digestion.
That clock was off Her stresshormone was overactive.
And she wasn't getting fed atregular times.
The stress caused more anxiety.
So I was thinking, could this bewhat would help.
So I started looking more intothe research.
(16:36):
The other research that I'vefound that connected, this was
in the journal nutritionreviews.
This was published in 2017 andthe title of the article was
complex interactions of securityand rhythms, eating behaviors,
and the gastrointestinalmicrobiota and their potential
impact on health.
(16:57):
And it was really interestingbecause they talk about the
known connection between the gutmicrobiome and the health of the
individual.
And so now we have thisunderstanding of the connection
with the rhythm.
A host symbiotic bi-directionalcommunication.
(17:17):
That works along the gutmicrobiome.
Um, and the brain access orwhat's known as the gut
microbiota brain access again,that second brain.
And these are the variety ofbacteria, metabolites that are
also created by thosemicrobiomes in the digestive
process.
(17:38):
And again, we have to understandthat it is an important function
of the body to be able to breakdown food and then how they are
affecting our digestion as well.
Okay.
One of the things that I foundthat was really, really
interesting was this essentialconnection that was going on
(18:00):
with this client.
Now what's the connection of therhythm and the gut microflora.
So remember IBS.
Is a problem with the gut microflora, because these FODMAPs,
these short chain carbohydrates.
Are creating some of these microflora to overexpress certain
(18:22):
gases.
Methane hydrogen, which is whywe get higher amounts of
flatulence.
And we get more burping.
This is also what creates thepain in the abdominal cavity or
in the colon area.
And so this is a classic symptomof IBS.
Is that pain?
(18:42):
And so we know that.
If the digestive system is beingmanipulated, or if it's being
taxed by the stress, which inthis client situation, She
wasn't eating when regularrhythm.
In addition to getting some ofthese high FODMAP foods.
I think the combination wasreally challenging.
(19:04):
So I thought to myself, okay, sothis is a really good
connection.
And what we ended up doing waswe started working on.
One small thing that she can doto improve the digestion.
By getting a rhythm of eatingthose.
That was a little tricky.
It wasn't just a matter ofsaying, okay, I have three meals
(19:25):
a day and make sure you add morefiber.
You know what?
Anybody can do that.
You can go online and find ahigh fiber meal plan.
The challenge was how to do thatwith the complex issues that
were going on in her life.
Now, what I'd like to get to isessentially what we ended up
doing, because this is theexciting part, right?
So I said to her, okay, let melook at the research, but why
(19:46):
don't we do this?
Why don't we try setting up,getting to a place where we're
having a regular rhythm ofeating and you can see in her
eyes, it was like, oh my God,David, that's so overwhelming.
Yeah, I'd love to have threesquare meals a day, but how the
heck am I going to do that?
And that's very, very common.
That's why I said a little whileago, anybody can go on the
internet and find a high fiber.
Meal plan that has three mealsand one or two snacks, but how
(20:09):
do we do this in light of all ofthe situation that's going on in
her life?
So I said to her, okay.
At night.
When you pick up your phone andyou can't fall asleep.
Where is your phone?
What are you doing?
And she, she described a coupleof things that was going on and
she said, well, it's, you know,right by my bedside, I plug it
in.
And I said, okay.
So by having it near you, youhave the desire to want to pick
(20:33):
it up.
And want to look at it becauseyou've been in a habit of not
being able to fall asleep.
She said exactly.
That's right.
And so when I said to her, why,w w she said, why just David, I
can't turn off my brain.
And when I try to go to sleep atnight, I mean, just a thousand
things are going through mybrain and I've learned that by
hopping on my phone or gettingto work, I get distracted and I
(20:57):
start getting tired and I fallasleep.
And then I say, well, whathappens later on?
She said, well, I usually willget up once, twice, maybe three
times once to go to thebathroom, at least.
And then a few other times to dosomething else.
And then I'm just up in themiddle of the night as well, or
can't fall asleep that easily.
And I'm tossing and turning.
I said, okay.
So I said, well, when you're athome, when you are gone before
(21:20):
you're going to bed, do you haveanybody that you talked to do
you.
Talk to your mother and kind ofjust unwind for the day instead
of just sitting and jumping onthe computer.
And she's like, well, we'vetried talking, but it leads to a
lot of arguments with my mother.
And I said, okay, that's not asolution.
And I said, okay, well, have youtaught, tried doing meditation
(21:42):
or deep breathing exercises?
And she goes, you know what,David.
Meditation has worked for me inthe past, but sometimes I just
don't have the energy to domeditation.
And I said, well, have you done.
Just breathing exercises.
She goes, well, that's how Ilearned how to do meditation is
by doing these deep breathingexercises.
So I went through this deepbreathing exercise that I
learned.
(22:02):
In Aikido of all places.
We called it.
Ibuky No-ho.
It's the way of breath.
And it was a way of taking deepbreaths into your nose and
exhaling out of your mouth.
Very, very, very slowly.
And there was a motion with ourhands and what we did would we
would concentrate on the breathin the center of our belly.
(22:24):
And as we breathe in, ourbellies would expand and then as
we're exhaling, they wouldcollapse.
And so I talked to her about allthis and she was very
interested.
I said the other thing too is,you know, journaling getting
some of your thoughts out onpaper and thinking about what we
can do.
And she said, you know, David,this all sounds great, but
(22:45):
sometimes I just, again, I don'thave the energy and I said, Hmm,
okay.
Well, it sounds like what weneed is maybe a little
disruption in some of the habitsthat occur.
At night before you go to bed.
So she started thinking, okay,well, I don't have to have my
phone by my side at night.
(23:06):
I can put my phone.
In the bathroom, or I can putthe phone on top of my dresser,
which is further away from mybedside.
And I said, well, that'sperfect.
This way, you don't have to lookat it and it's right there yet.
You literally have to get out ofbed.
That could actually be enough ofdisruption.
I said, maybe there's somethingelse that you can do too.
(23:28):
And she said, well, I mean, Ihave my journal and I said,
well, maybe you could put yourjournal on top of your pillow.
Now look, folks.
What I was trying to get at withher was of course creating a
rhythm of eating.
I know that's what we're gettingto.
But we have to break it downinto very bite sized pieces.
(23:48):
So that we can start somewhere.
What we're trying to do iscreate a domino effect.
And folks, let me tell you, thisreally works like a charm.
What ended up happening withthis client is that she ended
up.
Putting her phone further awayputting her journal on top of
the pillow.
And every night when she wouldgo to bed, she'd have to move
(24:08):
the journal out of the way.
And that was enough to remindher subtle cue to break the
habit of jumping on her phone orjumping on the computer.
And therefore she would eitherstart a meditative process or
she would start journaling.
And now of course, I know manyof you have journaled before,
and it's not like rocketscience, but one of the things
that happened was it allowed herto get a lot of her thoughts out
(24:30):
of her mind and onto a journal.
A lot of times she would do.
Just to do lists.
And it was enough that allowedher to go to sleep a little bit
earlier.
Now she wasn't going to bed at1230 or at one, she was going to
bed at maybe 10 30, 11 o'clock.
So it was a big shift, almosttwo hours.
That gave her enough sleep timewithout waking up in the middle
(24:51):
of the night, because that bluelight from the computer and her
from her phone and the stimulusfrom not being able to unwind
from the day, so to speakbecause of the distractions of
the T the, excuse me, thecomputer.
And then in the morning she hadmore time.
She'd get up refreshed.
She wasn't fighting the wake-up.
She had a little more time toget breakfast.
(25:11):
And so then we were able tocreate the same interruptions.
That we did at night with mealsin the day, I told her, go to
the grocery store, make sure youhave the foods that you like at
eye level in the refrigerator.
So it's a grab and go kind ofsituation.
And so in the morning she had alittle more time to make
breakfast.
She started having breakfast.
Then she was also able toprepare at least one lunch or
(25:32):
think about what she was goingto do for lunch.
And then she started gettinginto the habit of blocking out
her calendar at noon, at leastthree or four days a week.
So that people wouldn't makeappointments at that time.
And what ended up happening wasshe slowly over time started
building a rhythm of eating.
(25:54):
That really helped her get herdigestion back and track.
And she was able to add.
More fibrous foods.
Because the fiber that we canget in food also was helping
improve the microbes in her gut.
Yes.
She also tried a few probiotictype foods.
(26:17):
And I'm more about the prebioticfoods.
Now, this is where it gets alittle complicated with FODMAPs
and specific carbohydrates andfibers and stuff.
So we had to play with it alittle bit.
It took a while, but.
Her IBS was almost non-existent.
After about eight, nine monthsof working together, she started
getting into a good rhythm ofeating, and she was surprised.
(26:39):
I mean, she started realizingthat our clothes was fitting a
little better.
Her mood was better.
Her energy levels were better.
It was a cascade.
It was a domino effect.
There was one thing that she didthat started this whole process.
And it led to more changes,little by little.
Look folks again, I keepemphasizing the importance of
(27:00):
one small bite.
And sticking to that, beingconsistent with that.
And so it becomes automatic tothe point where you don't even
realize that you're doing itanymore.
And it is helping so much.
That now you can add somethingelse to it.
Like this client did.
So folks.
(27:20):
There's a very strong connectionwith that eating rhythm of the
day and our digestive system.
There's a good little dancethat's going on that I think is
very, very important.
Okay folks, this is what Ireally love about the show.
It's about that one small bite.
You can do this.
You can take one small thinglike my client did and help you
(27:42):
make the changes without tryingto force yourself to make a
change.
That journal on her pillow,moving the phone away from her
bedside.
Simple little things that justcreate enough of a little
interruption does enough of a,friction in your day that breaks
the habits.
(28:02):
And therefore that can then leadinto the changes that you want
to do.
So you don't have to force thatwillpower to do it.
If you want more on this, Iwould recommend the listen to
episode 167.
I talk about the recipe formaking habits.
Stick, listen to that.
I think it's going to give you agood foundation of what I mean
(28:24):
in relationship to this episodetoday.
And it'll probably be a gamechanger for you.
Remember the key here is to be.
Consistent so that you buildthat automaticity and that it
gets in the way of those oldhabits and those old habits
start to disappear.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
I want to say that for the nextfew weeks, I am going to take a
(28:48):
break for the holidays.
It is the beginning of Decemberright now, and I just want to
prepare a whole bunch of greatepisodes.
Starting the first quarter ofnext year.
So stay tuned.
My next.
Podcast episode is going to comeout in January and I'm really
excited about what I'm going tobring to you.
(29:09):
I'm also excited about theservices that I'm going to bring
to you as well.
So please remember to sign upfor my newsletter.
If you go to my website, Orozconutrition.com.
Scroll down to the bottom of thehomepage, right on the bottom,
on the footnote.
You'll see a little section thatsays newsletter, sign up, go
ahead and sign up for thosenewsletters.
So you can get the informationfirst before anything, even
(29:31):
before this podcast.
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If you could rate and reviewthis show because it really
helps.
More listeners get thisinformation that really needed.
And if you really enjoyed theshow share it with two or three
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Okay folks.
Just, of course, as alwaysremember chop that diet
(29:52):
mentality fuel your body andnourish your soul.
Until next time.
Hola y beinvenido to the one small bites show where we
chopped diet mentality, fuelyour body and nourish your soul.
In every episode, you'll get aone small bite approach you can
implement to live a morenourished life.
This show is for educational andinformational purposes only.
So please make sure to connectwith the professional support.
(00:25):
You need at your own discretion.
Oh, and we don't bleep out cursewords.
So just a heads up in caseyou're with little ones.
Okay.
Let's do this.
Well, welcome to the one smallby podcast.
I'm your host, David Orozcoregistered dietitian,
(00:46):
nutritionist, and certified,intuitive eating counselor.
And in today's show.
I am going to talk to you aboutthe symbiotic dance between your
eating rhythm and the digestivesystem.
And boy, I've got a greatepisode for you today.
I'm really excited to bring thisinformation to you.
(01:08):
So one of the things that youmight've noticed in these
episodes is that I'm obviouslytalking about the eating rhythm.
If you start with episode 1 65,1 66, 1 67, you'll get a good
understanding of the connectionto mental and physical health.
(01:29):
And our eating rhythms.
And I've talked about how theeating rhythm affects the
circadian rhythm or your sleep.
I've talked about how youreating rhythm is affecting your
health, as well as your mentalhealth in these episodes.
And today I'm going to talk toyou about how the eating rhythm
(01:49):
or the eating patterns that youhave are also affecting your
digestive system.
And the wonderful littlemicrobes that we have in our
guts that are also creating thegut brain connection.
Or what we also know as thesecond brain or the second
(02:10):
nervous system.
Okay, let me give you a quickoverview of what I'm going to
discuss in today's show.
First, I'm going to start withthe circadian rhythm of
digestion and then.
I want to talk to you about thegut microbiome and eating
patterns and rhythms.
I'm going to also talk to youabout the mental and physical
(02:32):
health.
Of the digestive harmony and ofcourse of your consistent eating
rhythm.
Now, what I want to do is I wantto first talk to you about the
story of a client that I workedwith not so long ago.
She was dealing with a lot of GIissues and she also wanted to
try to lose weight at the sametime.
(02:54):
So after talking to her abouther body and her shape and size
and how that isn't nearly asimportant.
As getting a good rhythm ofeating and getting an adequate
diet to help her with her sleepand to help her with an anxiety
issue that she was dealing with.
We started getting into thenitty gritty of her IBS issues.
(03:17):
IBS stands for irritable bowelsyndrome.
And there are four differentsubtypes of IBS.
The first one is IBS D, which ismostly diarrhea and abdominal
discomfort.
The next one is IBS.
C, which is constipation.
And abdominal discomfort.
(03:39):
There is IBS mixed, which isalternating loose stools with
constipation and abdominaldiscomfort.
And remember pain is a big issuein all of this.
And then IBS-U, which is meaningundefined.
And again, remember what'scommon with IBS is abdominal
pain with all the four subtypes.
(04:02):
She had a little bit of diarrheafrom time to time, but she was
dealing with a considerableamount of constipation.
And one of the other things thatwas also happening was that.
She couldn't lose weight.
And again, if you listened tothe show, you know, that.
The weight of a person has somecorrelation to their health, but
(04:23):
it isn't the only thing that'sgoing on.
So while I was working with thisclient, we were getting into
specific foods that she couldeat that can be helpful for her
digestion.
We talked about the low FODMAPdiet.
And you guys might have heard ofthis.
You might've seen this in ablog.
On social media, your doctor,your gastroenterologist,
(04:46):
might've told you about this.
But generally speaking, a lowFODMAP diet is an approach of
eliminating certaincarbohydrates.
Now, these carbohydrates areFODMAPs and they stand for
fructans oligosaccharidesdisaccharides, monosaccharides,
the, a stands for, and, andpolyols.
(05:07):
All these are short chaincarbohydrates that are affecting
the gut microbes in one way oranother in the colon.
And I've had special guests onthat specialize in gut health.
I had my friend Kate Scarlata.
It's probably one of the bestknown GI and IBS experts in
(05:28):
nutrition.
She's a registered dieticiannutritionist.
She's in episode 18.
If you get a chance to listen tothat episode and episode 150
with Beth Rosen.
And Beth is just great atdescribing some of the problems
that are going on in the gut.
So listen to that episode, whenyou get a chance.
And in both of those episodes,we actually talk a lot about
(05:50):
IBS.
We talk about the low FODMAPdiet and different approaches
that a person can take.
And what's really, reallyimportant about this is that.
We have to understand that withIBS, the only GI condition that
actually has a well studiedevidence-based.
And reviewed.
(06:10):
Dietary approach that actuallyis very beneficial for a person
with IBS.
however, the approach.
Sometimes has to be personalizedfor the individual.
Because a low FODMAP diet doescome with a lot of bad side
effects that can occur down theroad, especially if a person's
dieted and tried to lose weightin the past.
(06:32):
Okay.
So we started working with acouple of low FODMAPs.
Now I don't take a low FODMAPdiet elimination process
directly with everyone.
And the reason for this is.
I have a concern, a majorconcern that as soon as you put
someone on a diet, It createsthe very same problems and
(06:53):
challenges of weight cycling.
Which then in the future, thebenefit of the diet gets lost
with a subsequent weight gain.
And then that becomes moreproblematic in the future.
Not to mention, we actuallydon't have good research on the
metabolic effect.
Of these diets.
(07:14):
We know that weight cycling.
Leads to a greater likelihood ofweight gain.
But we also don't know to whatextent that this has on our
bodies.
I know that our metabolism getsmessed up.
So I could imagine that a lotof.
Digestive problems also can becreated.
(07:34):
Now I don't want to project thather problems were because of
weight cycling.
I'm just trying to say that Ididn't want to do a diet,
especially not something where Ieliminate because she had a
history of weight cycling ofdoing diets in the past.
So, what we did is we did what'scalled a low FODMAP light
approach.
(07:55):
So we started looking atspecific FODMAPs that she was
consuming on a regular basis.
And we started taking some out,eliminating in abbreviated
methods and we started lookingat whether there was an effect
on that.
And we discovered a couple we'vediscovered two or three that
were creating most of theproblems.
(08:17):
And in eliminating them, itbecame a little bit better.
Her IBS symptoms were muchbetter.
She didn't have as muchconstipation.
So working through all of thiswas great.
Well, one of the problems isthat after few months of working
with her, We started seeing thesame constipation problems
(08:39):
coming back.
And we started realizing that,okay, there was something more
than just the specific foods.
When we look back, we realizethat her eating rhythm was quite
off.
We started seeing that.
she would go to bed at 10o'clock?
And then she would be on herphone or maybe on her computer.
And the reason she would do thatis because she couldn't fall
(09:01):
asleep very easily.
So we discovered that she washaving problems falling asleep
some nights she would go to bedat 12, 12 30 1:00 AM and she
would still get up at around thesame time between six 30 and
seven.
But it was a struggle to get upin the morning and it was all
she can do is just get out ofbed.
I got a cup of coffee and thenget to work.
(09:22):
Sometimes she'd grab something.
Maybe she'd grab something onthe way to work.
Maybe she would grab somethingat work, but it was hit or miss.
And then by 11 o'clock she'sstarving, she might grab another
snack.
And that might help a littlebit.
But then sometimes she hadmeetings at lunchtime 12 o'clock
1130 and they bled into herafternoon time.
(09:46):
If she was lucky, she might beable to grab something real
quick.
Either at the cafeteria at work,or if she worked from home, she
might be able to grab somethingfrom the refrigerator, but she
was finding that later in theafternoon, she was snacking
quite a bit.
And again, these snacks wouldhelp, but one of the problems
was it wasn't helping enough.
(10:07):
It wasn't providing her with anactual meal.
And the process, we discoveredthat her metabolism had slowed
down quite a bit because she wasstarting to get a lot of
fatigue, and she was gettingchallenges with focusing and
concentrating at work.
She was very easily irritated.
There were a lot of concernsthat were creeping up little by
(10:28):
little and she would get homeand the process would continue.
She would get home.
And she might end up eating lateor she might end up eating out.
She was a single parent andtaking care of two kids.
Her mother lived at home withher, but her mother had her own
issues that she was dealingwith.
So there was just a wholecomplex amount of issues.
(10:51):
One of them was also high levelof stress.
And she also dealt with aconsiderable amount of anxiety.
She also dealt with somethingthat we call the human giver
syndrome.
Now, if you haven't heard of thehuman giver syndrome, this is
very common with women.
But the human giver syndrome isessentially.
Women who typically give ofthemselves, give up their
(11:13):
humanity.
They are giving to the humanbeings, people who be or present
with their humanity.
Oh, and I wish I had came upwith this idea, but actually it
comes to me.
from the book burnout, thesecrets.
And unlocking the stress cycleby Dr.
Emily Nagorski.
and her sister Amelia Gosky.
If you get a chance, I highlyrecommend reading that book.
(11:36):
You'll totally understand.
But the human giver syndrome wasthis giving, giving, giving of
yourself and they.
The individual wouldn't havetime.
This was what's going on withthis client.
She realized that she didn'thave a good eating rhythm.
Now, this is where it getsreally, really interesting.
I started thinking to myself,okay, could her IBS issues.
(11:57):
Be a problem of the eatingrhythm.
So I looked into the research alittle bit and I was surprised
to find that there was a lot ofconnection there.
So let me digress a little bithere and tell you about the
digestive system.
And the connections to oureating rhythm.
(12:18):
We can actually say that thereis a circadian rhythm of
digestion.
And when I looked into theresearch, I found the few great
articles.
One article was this review thatcame from the journal of
clinical gastroenterology.
And I thought this was veryinteresting.
This was published in June of2022.
(12:40):
And it was titled disruption ofthe circadian rhythms and gut
motility.
An overview of underlyingmechanisms and associated
pathologies.
And one of the things that Ilike about this article is that
they go out to explain thatthere is a physiological control
of the circadian rhythms in thegastrointestinal track.
(13:01):
They talk about how thephysiology of the circadian
rhythms in the gastrointestinaltrack.
Are controlled and synchronizedby two complimentary systems.
One is the central mechanism inthe brain.
And the Oregon specificperipheral mechanisms.
Now, what do these mean?
(13:21):
Well, they talk about thesuprachiasmatic nucleus.
This is a cluster of neuronscells in the hypothalamus, and
it acts as the central circadianpacemaker, which signals the
various light from your eyes,that it is either daytime or
(13:42):
nighttime.
And this sets the 24 hourcircadian rhythm of day and
night wake and sleep right?
Now, the suprachrasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus is
essentially the brain's, if youwill, apple watch.
It, plays a central role in thedaily programming of organismic
(14:02):
functions by regulating day today oscillations of internal
bodies systems, synchronizingthem to the changing cycles of
day and night and the body'sstate.
The other thing that does thatare these peripheral clocks,
what we call gene clocks incertain cells, especially the
cells that line thegastrointestinal system in
(14:26):
particular, the colon.
These peripheral clocks.
play an integral and unique rolein each of their respective
tissues.
They're driving the circadianexpression of specific genes
involved in variety ofphysiological functions.
In this case, the digestivesystem.
What you do is you get this nicedance.
(14:46):
You get this rhythm.
And so it operates to fluctuate,certain hormones that are
released by certain functions.
So the digestive system,especially in the colon has
muscles that are bothlongitudinal and circular along
the digestive system.
(15:07):
Now they also come in differentshapes depending on what part of
the system like the esophagus orthe stomach, the small
intestines, but generallyspeaking there have mostly of
these two types, circular andlongitudinal.
And so what happens is, is thatyou get this timing.
And the timing happens in themorning where it's, stimulating
(15:30):
our colon to start moving atnight.
The colon doesn't move movemuch.
In fact, we don't get bowelmovements mostly at night.
We get most of our bowel momentsduring the day when we're awake.
And that happens because we'retrying to push food along.
And we're also trying to get oursystem set up.
(15:50):
So I've talked about the HBAaccess.
I've talked about cortisol inthe past.
You've heard me talk about that.
In the previous episode withLaney Jones, cortisol peaks in
the morning, cortisol is ahormone that's released.
As the stress hormone, but it'salso part of the clock system,
part of the circadian system.
And so working with this clientand knew that her.
(16:13):
Disruption of her rhythm wasaffecting the rhythm of her
digestion.
That clock was off Her stresshormone was overactive.
And she wasn't getting fed atregular times.
The stress caused more anxiety.
So I was thinking, could this bewhat would help.
So I started looking more intothe research.
(16:36):
The other research that I'vefound that connected, this was
in the journal nutritionreviews.
This was published in 2017 andthe title of the article was
complex interactions of securityand rhythms, eating behaviors,
and the gastrointestinalmicrobiota and their potential
impact on health.
(16:57):
And it was really interestingbecause they talk about the
known connection between the gutmicrobiome and the health of the
individual.
And so now we have thisunderstanding of the connection
with the rhythm.
A host symbiotic bi-directionalcommunication.
(17:17):
That works along the gutmicrobiome.
Um, and the brain access orwhat's known as the gut
microbiota brain access again,that second brain.
And these are the variety ofbacteria, metabolites that are
also created by thosemicrobiomes in the digestive
process.
(17:38):
And again, we have to understandthat it is an important function
of the body to be able to breakdown food and then how they are
affecting our digestion as well.
Okay.
One of the things that I foundthat was really, really
interesting was this essentialconnection that was going on
(18:00):
with this client.
Now what's the connection of therhythm and the gut microflora.
So remember IBS.
Is a problem with the gut microflora, because these FODMAPs,
these short chain carbohydrates.
Are creating some of these microflora to overexpress certain
(18:22):
gases.
Methane hydrogen, which is whywe get higher amounts of
flatulence.
And we get more burping.
This is also what creates thepain in the abdominal cavity or
in the colon area.
And so this is a classic symptomof IBS.
Is that pain?
(18:42):
And so we know that.
If the digestive system is beingmanipulated, or if it's being
taxed by the stress, which inthis client situation, She
wasn't eating when regularrhythm.
In addition to getting some ofthese high FODMAP foods.
I think the combination wasreally challenging.
(19:04):
So I thought to myself, okay, sothis is a really good
connection.
And what we ended up doing waswe started working on.
One small thing that she can doto improve the digestion.
By getting a rhythm of eatingthose.
That was a little tricky.
It wasn't just a matter ofsaying, okay, I have three meals
(19:25):
a day and make sure you add morefiber.
You know what?
Anybody can do that.
You can go online and find ahigh fiber meal plan.
The challenge was how to do thatwith the complex issues that
were going on in her life.
Now, what I'd like to get to isessentially what we ended up
doing, because this is theexciting part, right?
So I said to her, okay, let melook at the research, but why
(19:46):
don't we do this?
Why don't we try setting up,getting to a place where we're
having a regular rhythm ofeating and you can see in her
eyes, it was like, oh my God,David, that's so overwhelming.
Yeah, I'd love to have threesquare meals a day, but how the
heck am I going to do that?
And that's very, very common.
That's why I said a little whileago, anybody can go on the
internet and find a high fiber.
Meal plan that has three mealsand one or two snacks, but how
(20:09):
do we do this in light of all ofthe situation that's going on in
her life?
So I said to her, okay.
At night.
When you pick up your phone andyou can't fall asleep.
Where is your phone?
What are you doing?
And she, she described a coupleof things that was going on and
she said, well, it's, you know,right by my bedside, I plug it
in.
And I said, okay.
So by having it near you, youhave the desire to want to pick
(20:33):
it up.
And want to look at it becauseyou've been in a habit of not
being able to fall asleep.
She said exactly.
That's right.
And so when I said to her, why,w w she said, why just David, I
can't turn off my brain.
And when I try to go to sleep atnight, I mean, just a thousand
things are going through mybrain and I've learned that by
hopping on my phone or gettingto work, I get distracted and I
(20:57):
start getting tired and I fallasleep.
And then I say, well, whathappens later on?
She said, well, I usually willget up once, twice, maybe three
times once to go to thebathroom, at least.
And then a few other times to dosomething else.
And then I'm just up in themiddle of the night as well, or
can't fall asleep that easily.
And I'm tossing and turning.
I said, okay.
So I said, well, when you're athome, when you are gone before
(21:20):
you're going to bed, do you haveanybody that you talked to do
you.
Talk to your mother and kind ofjust unwind for the day instead
of just sitting and jumping onthe computer.
And she's like, well, we'vetried talking, but it leads to a
lot of arguments with my mother.
And I said, okay, that's not asolution.
And I said, okay, well, have youtaught, tried doing meditation
(21:42):
or deep breathing exercises?
And she goes, you know what,David.
Meditation has worked for me inthe past, but sometimes I just
don't have the energy to domeditation.
And I said, well, have you done.
Just breathing exercises.
She goes, well, that's how Ilearned how to do meditation is
by doing these deep breathingexercises.
So I went through this deepbreathing exercise that I
learned.
(22:02):
In Aikido of all places.
We called it.
Ibuky No-ho.
It's the way of breath.
And it was a way of taking deepbreaths into your nose and
exhaling out of your mouth.
Very, very, very slowly.
And there was a motion with ourhands and what we did would we
would concentrate on the breathin the center of our belly.
(22:24):
And as we breathe in, ourbellies would expand and then as
we're exhaling, they wouldcollapse.
And so I talked to her about allthis and she was very
interested.
I said the other thing too is,you know, journaling getting
some of your thoughts out onpaper and thinking about what we
can do.
And she said, you know, David,this all sounds great, but
(22:45):
sometimes I just, again, I don'thave the energy and I said, Hmm,
okay.
Well, it sounds like what weneed is maybe a little
disruption in some of the habitsthat occur.
At night before you go to bed.
So she started thinking, okay,well, I don't have to have my
phone by my side at night.
(23:06):
I can put my phone.
In the bathroom, or I can putthe phone on top of my dresser,
which is further away from mybedside.
And I said, well, that'sperfect.
This way, you don't have to lookat it and it's right there yet.
You literally have to get out ofbed.
That could actually be enough ofdisruption.
I said, maybe there's somethingelse that you can do too.
(23:28):
And she said, well, I mean, Ihave my journal and I said,
well, maybe you could put yourjournal on top of your pillow.
Now look, folks.
What I was trying to get at withher was of course creating a
rhythm of eating.
I know that's what we're gettingto.
But we have to break it downinto very bite sized pieces.
(23:48):
So that we can start somewhere.
What we're trying to do iscreate a domino effect.
And folks, let me tell you, thisreally works like a charm.
What ended up happening withthis client is that she ended
up.
Putting her phone further awayputting her journal on top of
the pillow.
And every night when she wouldgo to bed, she'd have to move
(24:08):
the journal out of the way.
And that was enough to remindher subtle cue to break the
habit of jumping on her phone orjumping on the computer.
And therefore she would eitherstart a meditative process or
she would start journaling.
And now of course, I know manyof you have journaled before,
and it's not like rocketscience, but one of the things
that happened was it allowed herto get a lot of her thoughts out
(24:30):
of her mind and onto a journal.
A lot of times she would do.
Just to do lists.
And it was enough that allowedher to go to sleep a little bit
earlier.
Now she wasn't going to bed at1230 or at one, she was going to
bed at maybe 10 30, 11 o'clock.
So it was a big shift, almosttwo hours.
That gave her enough sleep timewithout waking up in the middle
(24:51):
of the night, because that bluelight from the computer and her
from her phone and the stimulusfrom not being able to unwind
from the day, so to speakbecause of the distractions of
the T the, excuse me, thecomputer.
And then in the morning she hadmore time.
She'd get up refreshed.
She wasn't fighting the wake-up.
She had a little more time toget breakfast.
(25:11):
And so then we were able tocreate the same interruptions.
That we did at night with mealsin the day, I told her, go to
the grocery store, make sure youhave the foods that you like at
eye level in the refrigerator.
So it's a grab and go kind ofsituation.
And so in the morning she had alittle more time to make
breakfast.
She started having breakfast.
Then she was also able toprepare at least one lunch or
(25:32):
think about what she was goingto do for lunch.
And then she started gettinginto the habit of blocking out
her calendar at noon, at leastthree or four days a week.
So that people wouldn't makeappointments at that time.
And what ended up happening wasshe slowly over time started
building a rhythm of eating.
(25:54):
That really helped her get herdigestion back and track.
And she was able to add.
More fibrous foods.
Because the fiber that we canget in food also was helping
improve the microbes in her gut.
Yes.
She also tried a few probiotictype foods.
(26:17):
And I'm more about the prebioticfoods.
Now, this is where it gets alittle complicated with FODMAPs
and specific carbohydrates andfibers and stuff.
So we had to play with it alittle bit.
It took a while, but.
Her IBS was almost non-existent.
After about eight, nine monthsof working together, she started
getting into a good rhythm ofeating, and she was surprised.
(26:39):
I mean, she started realizingthat our clothes was fitting a
little better.
Her mood was better.
Her energy levels were better.
It was a cascade.
It was a domino effect.
There was one thing that she didthat started this whole process.
And it led to more changes,little by little.
Look folks again, I keepemphasizing the importance of
(27:00):
one small bite.
And sticking to that, beingconsistent with that.
And so it becomes automatic tothe point where you don't even
realize that you're doing itanymore.
And it is helping so much.
That now you can add somethingelse to it.
Like this client did.
So folks.
(27:20):
There's a very strong connectionwith that eating rhythm of the
day and our digestive system.
There's a good little dancethat's going on that I think is
very, very important.
Okay folks, this is what Ireally love about the show.
It's about that one small bite.
You can do this.
You can take one small thinglike my client did and help you
(27:42):
make the changes without tryingto force yourself to make a
change.
That journal on her pillow,moving the phone away from her
bedside.
Simple little things that justcreate enough of a little
interruption does enough of a,friction in your day that breaks
the habits.
(28:02):
And therefore that can then leadinto the changes that you want
to do.
So you don't have to force thatwillpower to do it.
If you want more on this, Iwould recommend the listen to
episode 167.
I talk about the recipe formaking habits.
Stick, listen to that.
I think it's going to give you agood foundation of what I mean
(28:24):
in relationship to this episodetoday.
And it'll probably be a gamechanger for you.
Remember the key here is to be.
Consistent so that you buildthat automaticity and that it
gets in the way of those oldhabits and those old habits
start to disappear.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
I want to say that for the nextfew weeks, I am going to take a
(28:48):
break for the holidays.
It is the beginning of Decemberright now, and I just want to
prepare a whole bunch of greatepisodes.
Starting the first quarter ofnext year.
So stay tuned.
My next.
Podcast episode is going to comeout in January and I'm really
excited about what I'm going tobring to you.
(29:09):
I'm also excited about theservices that I'm going to bring
to you as well.
So please remember to sign upfor my newsletter.
If you go to my website, Orozconutrition.com.
Scroll down to the bottom of thehomepage, right on the bottom,
on the footnote.
You'll see a little section thatsays newsletter, sign up, go
ahead and sign up for thosenewsletters.
So you can get the informationfirst before anything, even
(29:31):
before this podcast.
And listen, if you have amoment, please I really love it.
If you could rate and reviewthis show because it really
helps.
More listeners get thisinformation that really needed.
And if you really enjoyed theshow share it with two or three
people.
Okay folks.
Just, of course, as alwaysremember chop that diet
(29:52):
mentality fuel your body andnourish your soul.
Until next time.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com