Welcome to the Mastering Midlife Podcast where we talk about all the crazy fun things that happen when you are a midlife mama. I'm your host Heather London, let's dig in. A large number of my clients come to me with the issue of gut issues. There is a huge thing going on with midlife women and our gut health. Today that's what we're going to talk about.
I eat two pounds of vegetables a day. For me, my gut is always on point. I've never really thought about gut issues being a thing until many of my clients have come to me specifically with this issue. It was only then that I realized that how to eat a healthy, clean diet to make sure you have a healthy gut is not something that's on people's radars. It just isn't because we're never taught this in school. Our parents don't know anything about it. Our doctors, our
healthcare providers certainly don't know anything about it. This is why I wanted to share it with you because it's critical. It is so important when we talk about gut health. A lot of people say that the brain runs the body, but I want to offer up that there's a brain in the gut. It also runs the body. There's something called galt. So galt is the gut associated lymphoid tissue. It is the system that's kind of like the brain system of the gut. 70% of our
immune system is in our gut. And so our immune system is what keeps us healthy. And so when it's in our gut, we know that the foods that we eat will make or break it. That's the important part is that if we want to be healthy overall, we have to maintain a good gut health. So what does that even mean? I think the first place that we want to start at is looking at your bowel movements because that is just a reflection of what's going on inside. A good rule of thumb
is you should have a bowel movement for every large meal that you eat. And I eat a ton of vegetables. So I am super regular because this fiber just pushes everything through my system. And if ever anything is off in my system, I'll know by my bowel movements right away. So that's why it's really important to kind of have a system going on. And this is how you know, because otherwise how you're going to know what your gut is like, unless you get tested. I am a fan of
getting your gut biome tested. And I use biome. I'll put the link to their website in the show notes because biome is one of the very first gut biome testing companies that started and they have a huge database now of what they're testing with and against and all that. And so basically you would send in a stool sample and they will test your gut biome and they'll tell you what you have too much of and what you need more of, which is invaluable. Did you know that there's a thing where
people get stool replacements? If somebody is having health issues, they'll do. Now what's it called? I can't remember the name of it, but it's a stool replacement and they take other people's stool. So health people with healthy gut biomes and they will implant it into your system. That's right. And it will change your gut biome. Now the thing about that is it works for people who are struggling with gut health issues. But you got to maintain kind of like the lifestyle and
diet that that person was maintaining because that's how they maintain their gut biome. That's how they got their gut biome in the first place is by the foods that they eat. So I would highly recommend that you get your gut biome tested if that's something that you're interested in because then you don't have to guess because remember when it comes to our health, we want our body to be in homeostasis, which means it's perfectly balanced. And when it's perfectly balanced, it can heal
itself. So that's our mission in life is like, what does our body need to be perfectly in homeostasis? And if it's out of homeostasis, it's toxicity too much of something and deficiency not enough of something. And if you get your gut biome tested, it's going to tell you exactly what that is. So it takes the guesswork out of it because it's really hard to figure that out on your own.
So if you can figure out what that gut biome needs and then give it exactly what it needs, it's your body is going to balance itself out and your immune system, which remember, 70% of your immune system is in your gut, is going to be firing on all cylinders and you are going to be unstoppable. It's going to be taking care of all the things that are coming your way. It the body fights off so many bacteria, viruses. Half of our body is foreign organisms. And that
is super cool when you think about it. Like we are just part human DNA. So I guess the million dollar question is, how do we take care of this gut system? What's the best way that we can keep it healthy? Well, the obvious answer is with our food because that's what it does. It takes in the food, it digests it, it breaks it down. And how the digestive system works is simply insane. Different parts of the digestive track break down carbs, fats and proteins. So it's not
just everything gets digested into your stomach. It doesn't work that way. And everything starts with the saliva in your mouth. That's where the digestive system starts. And then it goes through it breaks down different parts in different areas of the digestive track. So the foods that you eat are critical to have a healthy digestive track to help boost your immune system. Some of the top things that you can do is to eat super healthy foods that feed your digestive track,
that feed that immune system. So number one is eating a wide variety of foods because you want to get all the different nutrients, the phytonutrients, the vitamins, the minerals, and all the different bacteria that go with those foods. Then fermented foods are really important for gut bacteria. And some fermented foods are like your yogurt. And if you don't eat dairy, you could have like a coconut or a plant-based yogurt. Kiefer, sour crout is really good. Costco
has a great one that has no sugar. You don't want sugar in these. Kimchi, spicy. I don't need it because it's too spicy. Miso is fermented soybean. You want to make sure that that is GMO-free if you use it. And tempeh, which is also fermented soybeans. Those are all highly fermented foods that help with your gut bacteria. They are amazing at raising your gut bacteria. So you want to make sure you eat one of those every day, every other day, every couple of days. Another thing that you
want to make sure you eat are high fiber foods. Of course, that's why we eat two pounds of vegetables a day because vegetables are the highest in fiber. We want our whole grains, our beans, fruits, nuts and seeds are high in fiber too. Meat has no fiber at all, none. So we want to have high fiber foods because the fiber is what pushes everything through your system to help clean it out. There's prebiotic foods which are garlic and onions, leeks,
artichokes and bananas, green bananas. Green bananas are a prebiotic food. And then we want our polyphenol rich foods which are berries. Bberries are amazing. They're low in calorie density, low in the glycemic index, green tea. You know, I'm drinking my green tea every day. At least one cup. Green tea is so good for you. Just overall in general, it helps fight off disease. Dark chocolate, super dark chocolate is always high in polyphenols, which is good for your gut
bacteria. But we're talking super dark chocolate with no sugar at it. And then you can do a probiotic supplement, which is fine, but I always recommend that we try to get our nutrients from foods. And then if we can't get them from foods, then we can go to supplements. So hydration is critical too. Hydration is the key to everything. We want to make sure that we're getting enough water in to keep everything flowing in the system. But the quality of water that you drink is critical.
At my house, we have a filter because there's so many contaminants in our water. First of all, fluoride. I'm not a fan of fluoride and they do put it in our water. And then there's chlorine in our water. There's a whole bunch of chemicals that don't get filtered out of our water as well that go through the system. And for that reason, I have an amazing water filter system that totally takes all of the chemicals and bad stuff out of my water so that I can I can totally hydrate
without worrying about what's in there. So I drink a ton of water to actually I drink a lot of my water in the form of tea as long as it's decaffeinated tea. It counts as part of your water intake. So make sure that you are hydrated. And of course, you need to have good sleep in order to make sure that all your systems are running smoothly. So some of the things you want to avoid are sugar
and processed foods. Of course, sugar is the worst because bad bacteria feeds off of sugar. So we want to try to get rid of all of the processed foods, all of the sugars, all of the chemicals that are added to our food. And then enjoy your food. Eat slowly so you can give your body time to digest. And I'm a big fan of not snacking. Snacking is something that we usually do because we're bored and it was invented by, you know, the food industry to sell more food. But our body
does need to rest after it's been digesting. So you'll eat your food and then your body is busy digesting for three or four hours. It depends on what it is. It could take longer if you're eating meats and that type of thing. And then after your body is done digesting the food, it needs to rest for at least an hour. So we're looking at anywhere from three, four, five, six, seven hours in between foods to really allow your system to function the way it needs to function.
The digestive tract does a ton of work, but it can repair itself in a couple of days because there's so much blood flow going through there. So if you have any kind of digestive issue or gut issue, one of the best things you can do, like of course talk to your doctor and see what they say, but one of the best things you can do is to rest your digestive system to let it heal itself. And you can do that with a juice fast or a smoothie fast or a water fast. And after
two or three days, your digestive tract is looking good again. But if it's busy digesting food, it can't repair itself. It then it's busy digesting. So that is why I also do intermittent fasting, intermittent fasting is wonderful for your digestion because it does give that digestive tract the time it needs to recover. It does need to recover and heal itself. If it's just busy working all the time, think about if you just go to work and work all the time and never rest,
you're going to have burnout and you're going to totally crash and burn. So be kind to your digestive digestive tract and give it the downtime. So for me, I'll do, I'll have my first meal at say 11 o'clock and I do two pounds of vegetables. I do the same thing every single day because it's easy. I don't like to cook. I'm lazy, but I love nourishing my body and I love eating a ton of food,
a ton of food. And that's why I do low calorie density. So I start my day with two pounds of vegetables and I might throw in a couple of eggs or right now I'm totally into glass noodles. They're amazing. So that's what I'll eat to break my fast first thing in the morning. And then I won't eat again until it's my dinner time and I go by how I'm hungry. That's when I eat my dinner is when my body tells me that I'm actually hungry. So it could be anywhere from
four o'clock, five o'clock somewhere in there is when I usually get hungry again. And for dinner, I'm going to have more vegetables and a ton of fruit. What else do I eat? I pre-make my sweet potatoes so I have all of my complex carbs because that's what keeps me satisfied. Potatoes are the most satisfying food on the planet. So they are always in my fridge ready to go. There's something also which is really good for your digestive track which is called
resistant starches. So resistant starches are in the foods like the complex carbs, but if you cook those complex carbs, so I'm talking about potatoes, rice, talking about oats. And when you cook those and then let them cool, they become even more resistant, which means they don't get broken down in your digestive track. They push all the way through the system and then they get decomposed, they get eaten up, they are food for your good gut bacteria. So this is how you feed your good gut
bacteria. And the way you feed your bad gut bacteria is sugar. So eliminate the sugar and eat all of the vegetables, eat all of the complex carbs that have been heated and then cooled. So if you make a big batch of potatoes and then you put them in your fridge, that's what I do. And then you just take it out and eat it. It's so much higher in being a resistant starch. And if you were to heat it and cool it and then heat it again, it's still a resistant starch. Once it's been heated
and cooled, it just has more resistance to it. And even if you heat it up again, it still has that same amount. So that's how you can feed your good gut bacteria. And remember too, when you're looking at foods the more colorful they are, the more phytonutrients they have. So the healthier they are. So if you're looking at a white potato, it's good. It's going to satisfy you because it's super low in calorie density. It's high in fiber and water and nutrients. But if you have a sweet potato,
which is a darker color, it's going to have way more nutrients in it. So it's a healthier food choice. Purple sweet potatoes right now. Love my Japanese sweet potatoes. Purple sweet potatoes. They are so good because not only can you just grab it out of the fridge and eat it as a snack or like just eat it cold for dinner, but you can turn it into chocolate pudding or a chocolate cake with only one or two other ingredients. It is so amazing because the sweet potato already has
the natural sweetness in it. But it also is packed full of fiber. So if you mix that with some cocoa powder, cocoa powder, unsweetened, and then maybe some vanilla and depending on what you're trying to make, a pudding or a cake or something, mix that with some plant-based milk. Oh my gosh, you've got the most amazing dessert,
but it's all whole clean foods. So eat as much as you want. If I'm feeling feisty, if I'm feeling cheeky, I'm just going to have chocolate pudding and I'm going to put fruit on top of it, but it's just sweet potato. That's all it is. So I'm having sweet potato so go me. It's so amazing. I'm winning all over the place like I'm loving my food and it's chocolate cake or it's chocolate pudding. Follow me on Instagram. I always put my food that I'm making up there. It's
super easy because I'm lazy. I hate to cook and now that I'm not cooking for my kids, I am just literally making the easiest stuff known to man and quite often for dinner. It's something with and then a huge bowl of fruit because the fruit right now is insanely amazing. At Costco, I got white peaches. I'd never had white peaches before and I'm not usually a fan of peaches, but I got to tell you, these peaches are the best peaches I've ever had and they are shooting
to the top of my favorite fruit list. I was like shocked by how delicious these white peaches were and I got of course a huge container from Costco so I will be going and getting those again. But listen, that's how I diversify. It's good to get to eat seasonal foods too. That's really important. It's also important to eat foods that are local because they don't have all the chemicals of having to transport from chili to year. It's insane when you look at a grape that is perfectly
crunchy and delicious and it's come from chili. How is that possible? It's not. It's not possible. Unless there's a whole bunch of chemicals put into it to make it last all the preservatives. So the more local, the more seasonal that you can find sourced your food, the better for your
gut biome. So I know I've shared a lot with you today but I just wanted to throw some ideas out there where how can you just make small little changes to really increase the health in the efficiency of your gut biome because not only is your stomach going to feel better, you don't have to worry about running to the bathroom all the time but it boosts your immune system in general.
Your gut should always be feeling good. It's not a normal thing to be going to the bathroom seven times a day or to always be having diarrhea or constipation or only going to the bathroom every five days. Like no, you want to go, you want to have a good bowel movement for every large meal that you eat. Let that be your guideline. If you want more help with this, reach out and I
will personalize this for you. We will work together and have your personal protocol to help you boost your gut biome and your your immune system and your health so that you can fall in love with food and use food for what it is, nourishing your body and go out there and live your life and not be thinking and obsessing about food and gut health and weight loss all the time because life is too
short. We want to go out there and live large and not worry about our gut all the time. So thank you for listening always always always love yourself first and have an amazing day.