October 12, 2023 • 23 mins
Struggling with a hot mess gut? Have you ever thought possibly your skin care or cleaning products could be (at least partly) to blame? If not, you definitely need to consider it! I go into all the science in today's episode.
Want to read the review article I mentioned in today's show? Check it out here!
Want to shop my favorite clean beauty products? Here you go!
Follow me on Instagram, and send me a DM to let me know what you resonated with in this episode. Ready to begin your gut rehab journey? Watch my program video and let's map out what that looks like for you.
Talk soon!
K
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Katie Lovitt (00:05):
Hey guys, welcome back to the nourished and
thriving show.
Today, as I was like scriptingout and planning out what I
wanted to be talking with youguys, I very quickly realized
we're probably going to need apart two because there's a lot
of information to share that youguys may or may not know about.
And I think it's reallypowerful.
I know it's really powerful andimportant information, so we're
(00:28):
going to dive in, we're going tosee how it goes, but most likely
we're going to have at leastone.
follow up to this episode.
So if this is something youreally enjoy hearing about, send
me a message over on Instagram.
If it's something that you wantto learn more about, definitely
let me know.
If there's specific questionsthat you have, or things that
(00:48):
you've heard about this topicthat you need answers to, let me
know because I always like totake that into consideration.
As I'm planning all of my copyout for you guys.
So with that being said, let'sdig in.
(01:12):
So, environmental toxins may ormay not be something that you
have taken a look at in your guthealing journey.
But it is one of the absolutepillars in my gut rehab program.
This is so important and it'snot Something that is always
talked about, and so, you know,it's, it's really something that
(01:35):
is necessary to consider, and sowe're going to go into all of
those reasons as to why itmatters, why environmental
toxins have an impact on yourgut, and what you can do about
it.
Okay, so we know that.
So let me just frame it up foryou guys.
Whenever we're talking aboutenvironmental toxins, what am I
(01:57):
talking about?
So these are going to be thingsspecifically today that we're
going to be talking about aregoing to be ingredients and
cleaning supplies, ingredientsand personal care products, and
even air and water quality.
We're going to touch on a littlebit.
I think that's going to be morein a follow up episode because
there's just.
Too much information to sharewith all of this, but we're
(02:20):
going to go in today as to likehow these things actually affect
your gut.
Because if you think about yourdigestive tract and the way that
I often teach it, I think it'sthe most like mainstream way of
teaching it.
And I think it's accurate.
You know, I think it's, I thinkit's for all intensive purposes.
Whenever someone is dealing withdigestive issues, it typically
(02:40):
goes gut.
out, right?
So we typically think, you know,we eat food, that food gets
absorbed into our body and ourbloodstream and circulates
around.
If we have leaky gut, thatinflammation is being driven
from gut out.
So if we have a skin condition,it's actually coming Possibly
from an infection in our gut oran imbalance of those organisms,
(03:01):
stuff like that.
But we're going to flip it alittle bit today and actually
not a little bit.
We're going to completely flipthat today and we're going to
talk about, but what abouteverything else in?
How does everything else affectyour gut?
So we're going to dial inspecifically today about the
skin.
We're probably going to talkabout air and like lungs and all
(03:25):
of that stuff in a laterepisode.
We're going to just touchbriefly on it today but we're
going to dig into somethingcalled the gut skin access.
So in case you haven't beenaround for long, you probably
know that there's actually likea gut, almost anything else
access because everythingaffects the gut.
Everything else the gut affectseverything.
(03:45):
So there's a gut brain axis, agut skin axis, there's like lots
of axes, accesses, axes going onwith the gut because it's all
connected.
Everything is connected.
Nothing can be looked at inisolation.
This is huge.
If you walk away with nothingelse today, you need to walk
away with this information.
Nothing in your body, in yourmind, or in your heart slash
(04:11):
spirit can be looked at inisolation whenever you were
working to create health in yourlife.
Okay.
This is really, reallygroundbreaking, and this will
change your life.
And I am very passionate that,and believe that this is the
future of medicine.
I know that's really bold.
I don't feel like I typicallysay super bold things.
(04:34):
I'm kind of middle of the roadand...
We're like reasonable andlogical.
Most of the time.
I don't say a lot ofinflammatory things.
This is so clear to me though,that this is a better way than
how we are doing things.
This is going to be the futureof medicine.
So everything affects everythingelse.
You're walking away with thatnugget today, write it down, say
(04:54):
it out loud.
So you can remember it committedto your memory.
Right.
Everything is connected.
So the gut microbiome, like Iwas talking about in your gut,
inflammation in your gut, all ofthat has a huge impact on your
skin, right?
We've already talked about thatsome, we're going to probably
talk more about that in anupcoming episode.
So talking more about the gutskin access from gut out.
(05:16):
But today we're talking aboutthe gut skin access from skin.
So how, let me frame that up anddefine that a little bit for
you.
So we're going to specificallytalk about how your skin
microbiome, because you actuallyhave microbes living on your
skin, around your skin, thatFunction to support your skin
(05:38):
barrier function.
If you've been around here andyou've heard me talk about the
gut barrier, your skin is abarrier too, right?
And so like inside of your gut,your gut lining is actually
epithelial cells, which are thesame kinds of cells on your
skin.
So there's a lot ofcommonalities here.
They both serve to keep theoutside world out and the inside
world in, and let things passthrough that need to pass
(06:00):
through.
Okay, so we're talking aboutskin microbiome, skin
inflammation and exposures todifferent chemicals and agents
and how they can actually affectthe microbiome, the gut
microbiome.
So let's kind of dig in.
We're going to get into thescience a little bit.
So we're going to zoom into somescience and then we're going to
zoom out and talk about Whatdoes this mean?
(06:23):
What can you do with thisinformation?
Okay, so whenever I wasresearching this episode, I know
this information, right?
I know I've learned a lot ofthis information in courses I've
done and advanced credentialsI've done and, you know, ongoing
trainings and certifications,but I always like to go in and
look at the research and seeWhat's new, what's coming out,
(06:44):
you know, just making sure thatI'm really clear and being
science based in myconversations with you guys.
This is really important, youknow, and if you're studying
somebody that's saying orfollowing somebody, probably not
studying them, but followingsomebody that's saying, Oh, the
science says this.
And, you know, research showsthat.
But they don't actually tell youwhere they're getting their
(07:04):
information from, call them onit.
Ask them to send you thecitations for those research
papers.
Call me on it.
If I don't cite something or saywhere it's coming from, or you
just want to better understandhow something, how I came to a
certain conclusion, let me know.
You know, I'd be happy to sendyou research, but.
So I was looking at a specificone specific review in
(07:25):
particular from 2022.
It was published in theInternational Journal of
Molecular Science.
I'm linking it to my show noteshere.
I'm putting the citation inthere so you guys can see it is
a free article on PubMed.
So it's open access.
Anyone can get it.
You don't have to subscribe tothis journal to get the study.
(07:46):
So that's great.
You know, and if you have alittle bit of a science brain,
you might actually really enjoyreading it.
It does a really nice job ofdefining terms and then going
through different conditions andconnections.
And I think you might reallylike it.
So just kind of another point onresearching and reading
articles.
Whenever I dig into research,individual studies can be really
(08:10):
great at new breakthroughs, newdiscoveries, all of that.
But they also can be some ofthose inflammatory headlines
that lead to so much confusionand conflict.
You know, if you think aboutlike the news, right, or media
or influencers, where they'reall saying eggs are great for
you, eggs are bad for you, eggsare great for you, eggs are bad
for you, eat whole grains, eatno grains, like all these like
(08:31):
inflammatory extremes that makeyou feel like you are like
having whiplash over here,listening to all of this.
A lot of those headlines, yeah,maybe they're coming from
science, but they're zooming inand looking at one specific
study that showed one specificthing, but they're kind of
losing the forest through thetrees with it.
You know, they're zooming in soclose to one thing that you
(08:53):
forget about all of these otherfactors.
You forget what the big picturelooks like.
And for that reason, I reallyenjoy looking at review studies
because it helps to keep thingsin perspective.
And then if there's somethingthat you want to dig into and
get more detailed on, youabsolutely can.
You can go you know, if there'sa topic that you're reading
about in a review study, andyou're like, I want to hear more
(09:14):
about this.
You can, you know, definitelygo.
But I think the review studiesare nice to be like, okay.
Let's pull out all of thestudies that were well done on
this topic and go through whatthey say, and they do great.
So there's a tip for you as youresearch.
I think it's important foreveryone to advocate for
themselves, become educated, andread scientific literature as
(09:34):
you're able to.
If nothing else, read theabstract and the conclusion.
Okay, what were we studying?
What was the net net?
What's my walk away?
What are the results here?
But anyway, I hope that'shelpful.
So go look for this review inthe show notes and take a look
if you are interested.
But let's get into what thisreview actually said.
After I totally geeked out onyou guys for a couple minutes.
(09:55):
So Just going through a fewdifferent things.
They specifically were talkingabout the gut skin axis.
And remember, we're going skinout this time.
So they were looking at vitaminD concentrations in your serum
which is exposed associated withexposure to sunlight, right?
So how much sunshine are yougetting?
(10:16):
And they were looking at themicrobiome and seeing that
sunlight exposure actuallyaffected relative abundance.
So how many of these certaintypes of organisms?
And so they were finding likemore sunlight was more positive
increase in more beneficialorganisms.
Those organisms were lowerlevels whenever you didn't have
(10:39):
enough sunlight.
So we think about Oh, you know,our good, good bugs do good
things for us and they help makevitamins and short chain fatty
acids and all of this, but alsothey are really affected by our
environment.
And so, you know, vitamin Dsunlight exposure has been shown
to affect that.
So that is an instance where weare seeing something coming into
(10:59):
the body via the skin, right?
Our skin cells absorb thatvitamin D.
Into the bloodstream and theninto the gut and actually
changing our microbiome.
So yeah, like the vitamin D tipis cool and important and
everyone needs to get sunshineevery day.
But really, we're also lookingat this mechanism here where
(11:19):
we're seeing, okay, we absorbsomething in through our skin
into our bloodstream andinfected our microbiome.
That is a principle there that'simportant to remember.
Okay another thing that thisreview is talking about in the
SCUT, the SCUT.
Wow.
The skin, gut access, gut, skinaccess was showing that food
allergies can actually be causedby exposure to a protein on your
(11:45):
skin from household dust.
So if there's a really dustyenvironment you know, or like
mold it didn't specifically callthat out, but it would probably
have a similar function oreffect, right?
You are, it, it's leading toimmunoglobulin E, which is i g
e, which is food allergyimmunoglobulin mast cell
(12:07):
expansion into the intestine.
So it's showing there, okay, wehave lots of dust around us.
We're absorbing those that dustinto our skin.
It is getting absorbed into ourgut and it is causing this IgE
activation inside of our gutthat is a food allergy.
Reaction that can be triggeredpartly from environmental dust.
(12:30):
Okay, so same mechanism is thatvitamin D.
So that vitamin D was kind ofbeneficial.
And then we see this dust comingin and being actually harmful.
And then there was a mouse modelstudy as well where it was
showing that the mouse that waslike scratching its skin caused
these cells to releaseinflammation in the local area.
(12:52):
And then it led to a lymphoidcell secretion.
So your lymphatic system toactivate mass.
cells of the small intestinethat increases intestinal
permeability and foodanaphylaxis.
So food anaphylaxis is like thescary, like your, your airway is
closing up, right?
Like think of like the typicalone is like the peanut allergy,
(13:13):
right?
Where you have the EpiPen, yourthroat, your airway is closing
up.
So, you know, skin issues fromlike an eczema or psoriasis,
where you're like scratchingthat inflammation can go all the
way.
through your lymphatic systeminto your gut and increase leaky
gut and cause those issues aswell.
So those are just a few.
Those are three different waysshowing this principle.
(13:35):
That's what I really wanted todemonstrate is if you put
something on your skin, I thinka lot of the time we think like
grabbing my arm, but my arm istoo low for you to see it.
I think a lot of the time wethink, okay, I put something on
my skin and it just stays righthere.
It just active right where I'mputting it.
So You put sunscreen on yourface.
It just stays right there.
(13:56):
You know, we're face cream like,right, we all, we all put our
face creams and serums on.
It just stays just undersubcutaneously right under the
skin, right where we're puttingit on.
But the science actually showsthat it is absorbed into your
bloodstream, absorbed into yourlymphatic system and all of
that, and actually goes allthroughout your body and into
your gut, and then affects yourinflammation levels, your gut
(14:18):
microbiome, all of that.
So, This is all to say, if youare going through dealing with a
hot mess gut, and you're makinga lot of changes to your food,
to your water intake, you'rereally prioritizing your sleep,
you are working so hard tomanage your stress and reduce
stress.
But you're in ignoringenvironmental toxins.
(14:41):
Specifically today, we'retalking through the skin.
This could make a really hugedifference for you.
And honestly, these changes aresometimes easier to make, which
we're going to talk about herein a minute.
Then like all of the nutritionstuff that honestly, whenever
you feel like you're reacting toeverything.
Those food changes can feelreally, really hard, right?
(15:01):
Because you're like, I can eatfive foods, or I never know
what's going to flare, and so Ilike to eat the same foods over
and over again.
Or, you're just tired ofthinking about food, you know,
because it doesn't seem to behealthy.
This could be another thing thatyou could do to work on lowering
the levels of inflammation inyour body and working to create
health.
This is actually a huge topicfor me and it's really close to
(15:24):
my heart because ingredients incleaning supplies were actually
the first thing I cleaned up inour home after I was wondering
what it was.
What are we using it to cleanour floors when our oldest child
she's now eight was a baby andshe was crawling and I would
look at her crawl and then putthings in her mouth right and
(15:45):
you're like.
What are we using to clean ourfloors?
And then she's like, basicallylicking the floor.
You know, it's something that'sreally important.
And so this is something that'sreally near and dear to my
heart.
Cause it kind of opened up thiswhole gateway to what I do now
for my living.
And so it can be that for you aswell.
It can be a gateway for creatinghealth in your life.
(16:06):
Like I said before, our bodiesare systems of systems.
Everything is connected.
What you eat, drink, breathe,and put on your skin circulates
through your bloodstream andconnects into your gut and
affects your microbiome andinflammation levels.
So it's really, reallyimportant.
I hope that that just summary ofeverything I said was really
helpful there.
I'm going to get into the actionnow because I know that that's
(16:27):
what a lot of you guys come herefor.
And you're like, what's the netnow?
What can I walk away with?
So first of all, start withsomething, take action with
something because we know thatthat motivation comes through
action.
So as you work to change onething, motivation continues to
multiply and expand and you feellike you have more bandwidth to
(16:51):
make more changes in otheravenues of your life.
So if one of these changes I'mabout to recommend here feels
attainable and doable for youmore so than nutrition right
now, do it.
Open that doorway and just getstarted with something so I'm
going to list three out when I'mdone, or as I'm talking, I want
(17:12):
you to think about is changingsomething in my environmental
environmental talks andsomething I want to prioritize
right now.
Or am I really prioritizingsomething else, and I'm going to
table this and come back to itin a few months.
And then to.
If you are going to prioritizethis right now, which of these
three things are you going tostart with and dive into?
(17:32):
Okay, if you pick one of thesethree things, and you're like,
okay, now, where do I go fromhere?
These would be other really goodfollow up episodes, actually.
But if you want some personalguidance and personal tips on
how to get started, I'm going togive you like a couple of things
here.
Reach out to me on Instagram,send me a message.
Hey Katie.
The second thing you reallytalked about resonated.
(17:53):
I want to do it.
Where do you recommend I start?
I will be so happy to point youin the right direction.
Okay.
So let's get into this.
So step one, we did not talkabout air and lungs very much
today, but it's something I'mreally.
Passionate about and believe in.
So I'm going to go ahead andshare it.
And then we're probably going todo a deeper dive on lungs and
gut in the coming weeks.
(18:14):
So this is pretty easy though.
So I'm going to just, I'm justgoing to talk about it real
fast, real fast.
So step one.
Become a plant mom.
Get some plants.
It's so trendy right now andfun.
I'm not a great gardener.
I mean, I have some plants andthey're doing okay right now,
but I feel like I don't knowwhat I'm doing and I just hope
for the best.
But if I can do it, you can doit is what I'm saying.
(18:35):
But they help purify your air.
Another option is getting an airpurifier.
You can also open up somewindows if the air quality in
your area is good to get somefresh air on pretty days.
Get outside.
And you know, one that you cando like if plants feel
overwhelming right now for you.
not a plant mom, you live inlike an urban area without the
cleanest air quality, just stopshooting yourself in the foot.
(18:58):
Like avoid fragrances such ascandles and air fresheners,
because that's just making itworse, right?
Like if you aren't going to doany of those like positive
things to improve your airquality right now, at least just
like, Stop the bleed.
Okay.
So stop using your candlesunless they're like scented with
essential oils, which even thosecan be linked to like hormone
dysregulation and stuff.
(19:18):
So just research it a littlebit.
Stop using those cheap airfresheners that just are adding
insult to injury there.
Okay.
Step two, clean up your cleaningsupplies.
I shared with you guys just aminute ago that this is actually
where my family and I started.
And you actually don't need allof those fancy cleaning supplies
that are at, you know, thegrocery store, the home, home
(19:40):
care store.
They're also kind of expensive,right?
To use simple rubbing alcoholand vinegar is all you really
need to clean your home.
One person who I really love tofollow and get some recipes for
is Becky at Clean Mama.
And I'm also a huge fan ofNorwex pots.
They really last forever and doa great job.
And then don't forget aboutcleaning up your laundry
(20:01):
detergent too.
So check out what you're usingin there.
A lot of them are heavilyscented, have gross ingredients,
all of that.
And there's a lot of reallygreat.
alternatives out there.
Again, if you need some tips,reach out and I'll give you
some, some options.
And then the last option iscleaning up your personal care
products.
You know, the skin used to becalled the largest organ.
A lot of people still call ityour largest organ.
(20:22):
Your microbiome is now actuallyconsidered to be your largest
organ.
But you know, whether it's thelargest or second largest, your
skin is still a huge surfacearea.
So if you've seen me, if you'rewatching this on video, you
know, I'm a hair and makeupgirl.
I like having my hair done.
I like wearing makeup.
I like how I feel with that.
But what is in those productsreally matters.
(20:44):
And we walked through some ofthose mechanisms today.
Personal care products.
are highly highly unregulated.
It's gotten a little bit betterin the past years, thanks in
large part to beauty counter.
But there's still a long way togo.
And there are ingredients in ourskin care products that have
actually been linked to hormonedysregulation, cancer and just,
(21:04):
you know, inflammation.
And they're not necessary tohave in there, but they're in
there.
Beauty counter is actually myfavorite brand.
I love what they do for advocacyfor updating regulations so
that, you know, the hope is oneday when my girls are old enough
to wear makeup, they walk into astore and they're not having to
choose a product based on whatis not going to make them sick.
(21:25):
They can just trust thateverything in the store that's
being sold is.
Safe and okay to use.
But I love them.
I love their products becausethey are yes safe They have a
very extensive list ofingredients they avoid and don't
have in their products They'reactually leading the way with
this.
They're leading the charge Theyactually are informing the ewg
(21:46):
on a lot of research thatthey're doing So I really,
really like them.
I feel very confident in thequality of their products.
They test every single batch.
They've been around for I thinka decade now.
And to boot their products areactually super effective.
It's all I use.
I love it.
My skin honestly has neverlooked healthier after using
their products.
(22:07):
So if you need, you know,recommendations for products
where to start anything likethat, again, reach out happy to
share some resources.
So I hope that this whole likefrom the outside in from the
skin into the gut perspectivewas interesting to you today.
And, you know, again, thinkabout what actions you want to
take to create health in yourlife.
(22:28):
And like I said, some of thesechanges can honestly be easier
to make than food and maybe areally great place for you to
start.
So let me know what you'redoing.
Keep me know what I said, Parttwo is going to be coming and
it's going to be great, but letme know what you would like to
hear more about first, because Ithink we can actually build off
(22:50):
of this and do a little serieson a few different topics
because it's really important.
So hope you guys have a greatday and we'll talk soon.
Hey guys, welcome back to the nourished and
thriving show.
Today, as I was like scriptingout and planning out what I
wanted to be talking with youguys, I very quickly realized
we're probably going to need apart two because there's a lot
of information to share that youguys may or may not know about.
And I think it's reallypowerful.
I know it's really powerful andimportant information, so we're
(00:28):
going to dive in, we're going tosee how it goes, but most likely
we're going to have at leastone.
follow up to this episode.
So if this is something youreally enjoy hearing about, send
me a message over on Instagram.
If it's something that you wantto learn more about, definitely
let me know.
If there's specific questionsthat you have, or things that
(00:48):
you've heard about this topicthat you need answers to, let me
know because I always like totake that into consideration.
As I'm planning all of my copyout for you guys.
So with that being said, let'sdig in.
(01:12):
So, environmental toxins may ormay not be something that you
have taken a look at in your guthealing journey.
But it is one of the absolutepillars in my gut rehab program.
This is so important and it'snot Something that is always
talked about, and so, you know,it's, it's really something that
(01:35):
is necessary to consider, and sowe're going to go into all of
those reasons as to why itmatters, why environmental
toxins have an impact on yourgut, and what you can do about
it.
Okay, so we know that.
So let me just frame it up foryou guys.
Whenever we're talking aboutenvironmental toxins, what am I
(01:57):
talking about?
So these are going to be thingsspecifically today that we're
going to be talking about aregoing to be ingredients and
cleaning supplies, ingredientsand personal care products, and
even air and water quality.
We're going to touch on a littlebit.
I think that's going to be morein a follow up episode because
there's just.
Too much information to sharewith all of this, but we're
(02:20):
going to go in today as to likehow these things actually affect
your gut.
Because if you think about yourdigestive tract and the way that
I often teach it, I think it'sthe most like mainstream way of
teaching it.
And I think it's accurate.
You know, I think it's, I thinkit's for all intensive purposes.
Whenever someone is dealing withdigestive issues, it typically
(02:40):
goes gut.
out, right?
So we typically think, you know,we eat food, that food gets
absorbed into our body and ourbloodstream and circulates
around.
If we have leaky gut, thatinflammation is being driven
from gut out.
So if we have a skin condition,it's actually coming Possibly
from an infection in our gut oran imbalance of those organisms,
(03:01):
stuff like that.
But we're going to flip it alittle bit today and actually
not a little bit.
We're going to completely flipthat today and we're going to
talk about, but what abouteverything else in?
How does everything else affectyour gut?
So we're going to dial inspecifically today about the
skin.
We're probably going to talkabout air and like lungs and all
(03:25):
of that stuff in a laterepisode.
We're going to just touchbriefly on it today but we're
going to dig into somethingcalled the gut skin access.
So in case you haven't beenaround for long, you probably
know that there's actually likea gut, almost anything else
access because everythingaffects the gut.
Everything else the gut affectseverything.
(03:45):
So there's a gut brain axis, agut skin axis, there's like lots
of axes, accesses, axes going onwith the gut because it's all
connected.
Everything is connected.
Nothing can be looked at inisolation.
This is huge.
If you walk away with nothingelse today, you need to walk
away with this information.
Nothing in your body, in yourmind, or in your heart slash
(04:11):
spirit can be looked at inisolation whenever you were
working to create health in yourlife.
Okay.
This is really, reallygroundbreaking, and this will
change your life.
And I am very passionate that,and believe that this is the
future of medicine.
I know that's really bold.
I don't feel like I typicallysay super bold things.
(04:34):
I'm kind of middle of the roadand...
We're like reasonable andlogical.
Most of the time.
I don't say a lot ofinflammatory things.
This is so clear to me though,that this is a better way than
how we are doing things.
This is going to be the futureof medicine.
So everything affects everythingelse.
You're walking away with thatnugget today, write it down, say
(04:54):
it out loud.
So you can remember it committedto your memory.
Right.
Everything is connected.
So the gut microbiome, like Iwas talking about in your gut,
inflammation in your gut, all ofthat has a huge impact on your
skin, right?
We've already talked about thatsome, we're going to probably
talk more about that in anupcoming episode.
So talking more about the gutskin access from gut out.
(05:16):
But today we're talking aboutthe gut skin access from skin.
So how, let me frame that up anddefine that a little bit for
you.
So we're going to specificallytalk about how your skin
microbiome, because you actuallyhave microbes living on your
skin, around your skin, thatFunction to support your skin
(05:38):
barrier function.
If you've been around here andyou've heard me talk about the
gut barrier, your skin is abarrier too, right?
And so like inside of your gut,your gut lining is actually
epithelial cells, which are thesame kinds of cells on your
skin.
So there's a lot ofcommonalities here.
They both serve to keep theoutside world out and the inside
world in, and let things passthrough that need to pass
(06:00):
through.
Okay, so we're talking aboutskin microbiome, skin
inflammation and exposures todifferent chemicals and agents
and how they can actually affectthe microbiome, the gut
microbiome.
So let's kind of dig in.
We're going to get into thescience a little bit.
So we're going to zoom into somescience and then we're going to
zoom out and talk about Whatdoes this mean?
(06:23):
What can you do with thisinformation?
Okay, so whenever I wasresearching this episode, I know
this information, right?
I know I've learned a lot ofthis information in courses I've
done and advanced credentialsI've done and, you know, ongoing
trainings and certifications,but I always like to go in and
look at the research and seeWhat's new, what's coming out,
(06:44):
you know, just making sure thatI'm really clear and being
science based in myconversations with you guys.
This is really important, youknow, and if you're studying
somebody that's saying orfollowing somebody, probably not
studying them, but followingsomebody that's saying, Oh, the
science says this.
And, you know, research showsthat.
But they don't actually tell youwhere they're getting their
(07:04):
information from, call them onit.
Ask them to send you thecitations for those research
papers.
Call me on it.
If I don't cite something or saywhere it's coming from, or you
just want to better understandhow something, how I came to a
certain conclusion, let me know.
You know, I'd be happy to sendyou research, but.
So I was looking at a specificone specific review in
(07:25):
particular from 2022.
It was published in theInternational Journal of
Molecular Science.
I'm linking it to my show noteshere.
I'm putting the citation inthere so you guys can see it is
a free article on PubMed.
So it's open access.
Anyone can get it.
You don't have to subscribe tothis journal to get the study.
(07:46):
So that's great.
You know, and if you have alittle bit of a science brain,
you might actually really enjoyreading it.
It does a really nice job ofdefining terms and then going
through different conditions andconnections.
And I think you might reallylike it.
So just kind of another point onresearching and reading
articles.
Whenever I dig into research,individual studies can be really
(08:10):
great at new breakthroughs, newdiscoveries, all of that.
But they also can be some ofthose inflammatory headlines
that lead to so much confusionand conflict.
You know, if you think aboutlike the news, right, or media
or influencers, where they'reall saying eggs are great for
you, eggs are bad for you, eggsare great for you, eggs are bad
for you, eat whole grains, eatno grains, like all these like
(08:31):
inflammatory extremes that makeyou feel like you are like
having whiplash over here,listening to all of this.
A lot of those headlines, yeah,maybe they're coming from
science, but they're zooming inand looking at one specific
study that showed one specificthing, but they're kind of
losing the forest through thetrees with it.
You know, they're zooming in soclose to one thing that you
(08:53):
forget about all of these otherfactors.
You forget what the big picturelooks like.
And for that reason, I reallyenjoy looking at review studies
because it helps to keep thingsin perspective.
And then if there's somethingthat you want to dig into and
get more detailed on, youabsolutely can.
You can go you know, if there'sa topic that you're reading
about in a review study, andyou're like, I want to hear more
(09:14):
about this.
You can, you know, definitelygo.
But I think the review studiesare nice to be like, okay.
Let's pull out all of thestudies that were well done on
this topic and go through whatthey say, and they do great.
So there's a tip for you as youresearch.
I think it's important foreveryone to advocate for
themselves, become educated, andread scientific literature as
(09:34):
you're able to.
If nothing else, read theabstract and the conclusion.
Okay, what were we studying?
What was the net net?
What's my walk away?
What are the results here?
But anyway, I hope that'shelpful.
So go look for this review inthe show notes and take a look
if you are interested.
But let's get into what thisreview actually said.
After I totally geeked out onyou guys for a couple minutes.
(09:55):
So Just going through a fewdifferent things.
They specifically were talkingabout the gut skin axis.
And remember, we're going skinout this time.
So they were looking at vitaminD concentrations in your serum
which is exposed associated withexposure to sunlight, right?
So how much sunshine are yougetting?
(10:16):
And they were looking at themicrobiome and seeing that
sunlight exposure actuallyaffected relative abundance.
So how many of these certaintypes of organisms?
And so they were finding likemore sunlight was more positive
increase in more beneficialorganisms.
Those organisms were lowerlevels whenever you didn't have
(10:39):
enough sunlight.
So we think about Oh, you know,our good, good bugs do good
things for us and they help makevitamins and short chain fatty
acids and all of this, but alsothey are really affected by our
environment.
And so, you know, vitamin Dsunlight exposure has been shown
to affect that.
So that is an instance where weare seeing something coming into
(10:59):
the body via the skin, right?
Our skin cells absorb thatvitamin D.
Into the bloodstream and theninto the gut and actually
changing our microbiome.
So yeah, like the vitamin D tipis cool and important and
everyone needs to get sunshineevery day.
But really, we're also lookingat this mechanism here where
(11:19):
we're seeing, okay, we absorbsomething in through our skin
into our bloodstream andinfected our microbiome.
That is a principle there that'simportant to remember.
Okay another thing that thisreview is talking about in the
SCUT, the SCUT.
Wow.
The skin, gut access, gut, skinaccess was showing that food
allergies can actually be causedby exposure to a protein on your
(11:45):
skin from household dust.
So if there's a really dustyenvironment you know, or like
mold it didn't specifically callthat out, but it would probably
have a similar function oreffect, right?
You are, it, it's leading toimmunoglobulin E, which is i g
e, which is food allergyimmunoglobulin mast cell
(12:07):
expansion into the intestine.
So it's showing there, okay, wehave lots of dust around us.
We're absorbing those that dustinto our skin.
It is getting absorbed into ourgut and it is causing this IgE
activation inside of our gutthat is a food allergy.
Reaction that can be triggeredpartly from environmental dust.
(12:30):
Okay, so same mechanism is thatvitamin D.
So that vitamin D was kind ofbeneficial.
And then we see this dust comingin and being actually harmful.
And then there was a mouse modelstudy as well where it was
showing that the mouse that waslike scratching its skin caused
these cells to releaseinflammation in the local area.
(12:52):
And then it led to a lymphoidcell secretion.
So your lymphatic system toactivate mass.
cells of the small intestinethat increases intestinal
permeability and foodanaphylaxis.
So food anaphylaxis is like thescary, like your, your airway is
closing up, right?
Like think of like the typicalone is like the peanut allergy,
(13:13):
right?
Where you have the EpiPen, yourthroat, your airway is closing
up.
So, you know, skin issues fromlike an eczema or psoriasis,
where you're like scratchingthat inflammation can go all the
way.
through your lymphatic systeminto your gut and increase leaky
gut and cause those issues aswell.
So those are just a few.
Those are three different waysshowing this principle.
(13:35):
That's what I really wanted todemonstrate is if you put
something on your skin, I thinka lot of the time we think like
grabbing my arm, but my arm istoo low for you to see it.
I think a lot of the time wethink, okay, I put something on
my skin and it just stays righthere.
It just active right where I'mputting it.
So You put sunscreen on yourface.
It just stays right there.
(13:56):
You know, we're face cream like,right, we all, we all put our
face creams and serums on.
It just stays just undersubcutaneously right under the
skin, right where we're puttingit on.
But the science actually showsthat it is absorbed into your
bloodstream, absorbed into yourlymphatic system and all of
that, and actually goes allthroughout your body and into
your gut, and then affects yourinflammation levels, your gut
(14:18):
microbiome, all of that.
So, This is all to say, if youare going through dealing with a
hot mess gut, and you're makinga lot of changes to your food,
to your water intake, you'rereally prioritizing your sleep,
you are working so hard tomanage your stress and reduce
stress.
But you're in ignoringenvironmental toxins.
(14:41):
Specifically today, we'retalking through the skin.
This could make a really hugedifference for you.
And honestly, these changes aresometimes easier to make, which
we're going to talk about herein a minute.
Then like all of the nutritionstuff that honestly, whenever
you feel like you're reacting toeverything.
Those food changes can feelreally, really hard, right?
(15:01):
Because you're like, I can eatfive foods, or I never know
what's going to flare, and so Ilike to eat the same foods over
and over again.
Or, you're just tired ofthinking about food, you know,
because it doesn't seem to behealthy.
This could be another thing thatyou could do to work on lowering
the levels of inflammation inyour body and working to create
health.
This is actually a huge topicfor me and it's really close to
(15:24):
my heart because ingredients incleaning supplies were actually
the first thing I cleaned up inour home after I was wondering
what it was.
What are we using it to cleanour floors when our oldest child
she's now eight was a baby andshe was crawling and I would
look at her crawl and then putthings in her mouth right and
(15:45):
you're like.
What are we using to clean ourfloors?
And then she's like, basicallylicking the floor.
You know, it's something that'sreally important.
And so this is something that'sreally near and dear to my
heart.
Cause it kind of opened up thiswhole gateway to what I do now
for my living.
And so it can be that for you aswell.
It can be a gateway for creatinghealth in your life.
(16:06):
Like I said before, our bodiesare systems of systems.
Everything is connected.
What you eat, drink, breathe,and put on your skin circulates
through your bloodstream andconnects into your gut and
affects your microbiome andinflammation levels.
So it's really, reallyimportant.
I hope that that just summary ofeverything I said was really
helpful there.
I'm going to get into the actionnow because I know that that's
(16:27):
what a lot of you guys come herefor.
And you're like, what's the netnow?
What can I walk away with?
So first of all, start withsomething, take action with
something because we know thatthat motivation comes through
action.
So as you work to change onething, motivation continues to
multiply and expand and you feellike you have more bandwidth to
(16:51):
make more changes in otheravenues of your life.
So if one of these changes I'mabout to recommend here feels
attainable and doable for youmore so than nutrition right
now, do it.
Open that doorway and just getstarted with something so I'm
going to list three out when I'mdone, or as I'm talking, I want
(17:12):
you to think about is changingsomething in my environmental
environmental talks andsomething I want to prioritize
right now.
Or am I really prioritizingsomething else, and I'm going to
table this and come back to itin a few months.
And then to.
If you are going to prioritizethis right now, which of these
three things are you going tostart with and dive into?
(17:32):
Okay, if you pick one of thesethree things, and you're like,
okay, now, where do I go fromhere?
These would be other really goodfollow up episodes, actually.
But if you want some personalguidance and personal tips on
how to get started, I'm going togive you like a couple of things
here.
Reach out to me on Instagram,send me a message.
Hey Katie.
The second thing you reallytalked about resonated.
(17:53):
I want to do it.
Where do you recommend I start?
I will be so happy to point youin the right direction.
Okay.
So let's get into this.
So step one, we did not talkabout air and lungs very much
today, but it's something I'mreally.
Passionate about and believe in.
So I'm going to go ahead andshare it.
And then we're probably going todo a deeper dive on lungs and
gut in the coming weeks.
(18:14):
So this is pretty easy though.
So I'm going to just, I'm justgoing to talk about it real
fast, real fast.
So step one.
Become a plant mom.
Get some plants.
It's so trendy right now andfun.
I'm not a great gardener.
I mean, I have some plants andthey're doing okay right now,
but I feel like I don't knowwhat I'm doing and I just hope
for the best.
But if I can do it, you can doit is what I'm saying.
(18:35):
But they help purify your air.
Another option is getting an airpurifier.
You can also open up somewindows if the air quality in
your area is good to get somefresh air on pretty days.
Get outside.
And you know, one that you cando like if plants feel
overwhelming right now for you.
not a plant mom, you live inlike an urban area without the
cleanest air quality, just stopshooting yourself in the foot.
(18:58):
Like avoid fragrances such ascandles and air fresheners,
because that's just making itworse, right?
Like if you aren't going to doany of those like positive
things to improve your airquality right now, at least just
like, Stop the bleed.
Okay.
So stop using your candlesunless they're like scented with
essential oils, which even thosecan be linked to like hormone
dysregulation and stuff.
(19:18):
So just research it a littlebit.
Stop using those cheap airfresheners that just are adding
insult to injury there.
Okay.
Step two, clean up your cleaningsupplies.
I shared with you guys just aminute ago that this is actually
where my family and I started.
And you actually don't need allof those fancy cleaning supplies
that are at, you know, thegrocery store, the home, home
(19:40):
care store.
They're also kind of expensive,right?
To use simple rubbing alcoholand vinegar is all you really
need to clean your home.
One person who I really love tofollow and get some recipes for
is Becky at Clean Mama.
And I'm also a huge fan ofNorwex pots.
They really last forever and doa great job.
And then don't forget aboutcleaning up your laundry
(20:01):
detergent too.
So check out what you're usingin there.
A lot of them are heavilyscented, have gross ingredients,
all of that.
And there's a lot of reallygreat.
alternatives out there.
Again, if you need some tips,reach out and I'll give you
some, some options.
And then the last option iscleaning up your personal care
products.
You know, the skin used to becalled the largest organ.
A lot of people still call ityour largest organ.
(20:22):
Your microbiome is now actuallyconsidered to be your largest
organ.
But you know, whether it's thelargest or second largest, your
skin is still a huge surfacearea.
So if you've seen me, if you'rewatching this on video, you
know, I'm a hair and makeupgirl.
I like having my hair done.
I like wearing makeup.
I like how I feel with that.
But what is in those productsreally matters.
(20:44):
And we walked through some ofthose mechanisms today.
Personal care products.
are highly highly unregulated.
It's gotten a little bit betterin the past years, thanks in
large part to beauty counter.
But there's still a long way togo.
And there are ingredients in ourskin care products that have
actually been linked to hormonedysregulation, cancer and just,
(21:04):
you know, inflammation.
And they're not necessary tohave in there, but they're in
there.
Beauty counter is actually myfavorite brand.
I love what they do for advocacyfor updating regulations so
that, you know, the hope is oneday when my girls are old enough
to wear makeup, they walk into astore and they're not having to
choose a product based on whatis not going to make them sick.
(21:25):
They can just trust thateverything in the store that's
being sold is.
Safe and okay to use.
But I love them.
I love their products becausethey are yes safe They have a
very extensive list ofingredients they avoid and don't
have in their products They'reactually leading the way with
this.
They're leading the charge Theyactually are informing the ewg
(21:46):
on a lot of research thatthey're doing So I really,
really like them.
I feel very confident in thequality of their products.
They test every single batch.
They've been around for I thinka decade now.
And to boot their products areactually super effective.
It's all I use.
I love it.
My skin honestly has neverlooked healthier after using
their products.
(22:07):
So if you need, you know,recommendations for products
where to start anything likethat, again, reach out happy to
share some resources.
So I hope that this whole likefrom the outside in from the
skin into the gut perspectivewas interesting to you today.
And, you know, again, thinkabout what actions you want to
take to create health in yourlife.
(22:28):
And like I said, some of thesechanges can honestly be easier
to make than food and maybe areally great place for you to
start.
So let me know what you'redoing.
Keep me know what I said, Parttwo is going to be coming and
it's going to be great, but letme know what you would like to
hear more about first, because Ithink we can actually build off
(22:50):
of this and do a little serieson a few different topics
because it's really important.
So hope you guys have a greatday and we'll talk soon.
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