Podcast Episode 8: Gut Health Part I (with Transcription)
Jun 21, 2022
Welcome to our 8th episode of True Health Solutions Podcast with Dr. Lonnie Bagwell and Brigitte Spurgeon.
Join us as we discuss the gastrointestinal system including the microbiome. Learn what creates a fully functional system from birth as well as what kills it and sets us up for disease.
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Brigitte Spurgeon (00:00):
The two most important inoculations, and they're the ones that we will get behind. Is that coming, like coming through the birth con canal, getting that vaginal bacteria, and then the second, getting that, like that first mouthful of breast milk, I believe they, what do they call that, liquid gold or, or something like that. Welcome
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (00:18):
To the True Health Solutions Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, stress, inflammation and functional health clinician,
Brigitte Spurgeon (00:24):
And I'm your co-host Bridget Spurgeon Metabolism and nutrition expert.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (00:28):
This podcast is where we bring hope, truth, and inspiration for your holistic health journey
Brigitte Spurgeon (00:33):
Because the world needs the best version of you.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (00:38):
Welcome to True Health Solutions podcast. And I'm your host, Dr. Lonnie Bagwell here with as
Brigitte Spurgeon (00:45):
And I'm Bridget Spurgeon,
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (00:46):
The amazing Bridget Spurgeon. And, uh, and today we're gonna talk about one of our favorite topics. Uh, it would be one of our most common topics, whether we wanted it to be or not, whether we're talking about weight loss, whether we're talking about anything under the umbrella of functional nutrition. Um, and we even talked to probably 75% or more of our pain and inflammation patients about it. Today we're gonna talk about the ever popular topic, the GI system, right, the gut. So, um, and we were just talking pre-show and just reviewing, like, just in the last couple of weeks. Uh, and we can go through probably about a dozen, uh, conversations surrounding the GI system, not related to GI Labs. And then we could talk about all the patients that we talked to about those labs and such. So popular topic, we're excited. This is definitely gonna be a multi-part series. I think we're gonna try to get it into just a couple of parts here. Um, but undoubtedly we'll be talking about the GI system, uh, throughout, uh, the existence of this podcast. So, um, the first thing we were gonna kick off with today. First of all, uh, Bridget, can you share maybe just, uh, a single recent conversation that you've had with a patient as it relates to gi, maybe on the weight loss side or metabolically?
Brigitte Spurgeon (02:01):
Yeah, sure. So I, a recent patient, we were doing some problem solving and some nutrition strategies. And actually, I don't come up with this one too much to this extreme, but this patient has lost the ability to digest and metabolize meat and protein sources. You know, that's a problem. I see it as a problem when someone has to eliminate a macro nutrient, especially because that can't be a long term solution. Because if we're taking something out of the diet now, once again, taking something out for a temporary amount of time for healing purposes is one thing, but having the solution of eliminating it out of your diet for the rest of your life is a problem because you have to ask yourself, What am I missing out? What is my body? What nutrients is my body missing out on when I eliminate a whole food group?
(03:06):
Like fats or like proteins, you know, especially these, these two food groups. And so, so really in this conversation, we're having the mindset conversation of asking the right questions so that we can find the right solutions. I, I love working with this particular patient, uh, because she is right alongside us. Like she is tracking and her decision making paradigm always brings her to the best outcomes and solutions. And so we, we had to look at, you know, why is her body not metabolizing the, um, meats well, or, you know, it was even to the point of fish. And then she has some, some egg allergies. And so I'm so excited, Dr. Bagwell, that she is going to be working more closely with you doing some gut testing because like you always say, we, we test, we don't guess, you know, certainly we can make estimations, but the very best outcomes are going to come from the very best testing.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (04:13):
Amen. And that was actually, that's similar to the story I was gonna share just a couple hours ago. I just picked the most recent one cuz again, there's a hundred but to, to choose from. But, uh, patient did the exact test that we do, which is unique, um, with it, with another clinician, and then just felt like something wasn't right, Like it was getting kind of a canned response. And, um, and so I just said, Don't tell me, don't tell me what they said. I'm just gonna go ahead and read the lab right in front of you. So it's a longtime patient. Um, and, uh, and so I said, Come on. I had, I had five minutes, we went in the room and I just started breaking it down and, you know, I didn't even get 20% of the way through the test. And he's already like, Yep, I knew something wasn't right.
(04:49):
And he was getting like the can, like, just take these probiotics and just take more of this bacteria and more of that bacteria. And while that can certainly be part of a strategy, uh, the big major things we were missing was that he's actually doesn't have the right asset to be able to break food down, doesn't have proper enzymes at all to be able to break food down. And so, you know, as we'll talk about at some point on these episodes, if you're not possessing, if, if, if you're just pushing partially digested food through your system, good luck having a balanced, you know, microbiome, right? Which we're gonna talk more about. So, um, so yeah, so he's still having symptoms, not getting any solutions. Two months into this, you know, this protocol. And in about maybe five to 10 minutes we kind of got him lined up, right?
(05:28):
And, you know, now he's hopeful and confident and all that good stuff. So just conversations like that every single day. And then on the funny note, I literally had a friend of mine, you know, and it turned into a big joke through texting this morning, but I got people asking me about poop, just a friend. So it's like we talk about poop every day, you know, it's not taboo. It's, it's science, it's anatomy, physiology, health, it's all that good stuff that we love. So we don't mind talking about it. But, uh, but every day we're talking about someone's bowel movements.
Brigitte Spurgeon (05:56):
So yes, this episode now for our audience, we'll let you know this now gives us permission to talk about poop and body functions. Now for the rest of the life of this, this podcast, Dr. Bagwell, absolutely. It reminded me of something, uh, you and I have said in the past, is you, you, you know the phrase you are what you eat. Well, we would say you're not so much what you eat as you are what you assimilate mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (06:30):
That's right. What you break down properly, you know, properly digest, properly, absorb properly, turn back into healthy tissue, right? There's a lot of, there's a lot of metabolic pathways and, um, digestive pathways that need to be in play for that food. Whatever it is that you're consuming to turn into something good for you. Now, I think everybody generally agrees that food heals, food's healing, you know, food can cause disease, those types of things. But what you just said, yeah, that's the, that's the deeper conversation. That's why we test that, that that we do the right testing. Now we can determine where in that pathway, in those four major headings, is there a malfunction. Um, and uh, and I feel like, I feel like I do need, we need to go back and talk a little bit about anatomy, if that's all right. Real quick, just in case, cuz there's gonna be people listening that they're like, Wait, what are we talking about the GI system?
(07:17):
Um, you know, and, and so just simply put, it's from the mouth to, uh, to your backside, right? Just from all the way from the food going in to the food coming out and everywhere that, that food and those nutrients, micro macronutrients, touch all along the way. Um, and so that's what we're talking about the GI system simply, you know, it's the mouth, the esophagus, uh, which goes into the stomach. Um, and then you have those organs that are around the stomach there, the pancreas, which is contributing enzymes, the liver, uh, which is producing bile, the gallbladder that stores the bile. Of course there's all twists and turns in NCS and stuff like that, that need to be operating properly. That goes into the small intestine, into the large intestine, colon. And then of course, um, you know, waste within pass on to the, to the toilet.
(08:03):
And so, um, at the end of the day, that's the anatomy that we're talking about. And then another, uh, I think good thing to define, and this gets, this is where stuff gets really exciting, like with our understanding of, um, the microbiome. Cause people probably heard that a lot, but what does that even mean? And frankly, it can be a little complex to talk about, but what we're really talking about is all of the bacteria, uh, that exists on or in our body. And that, and with that said, we, we really aren't even just talking about the GI bacteria, we're actually also talking about bacteria that's on our skin and our lungs and our nasal passages, right? So there's bacteria all around us and all over us, uh, that we live have a symbiotic relationship with. And so, uh, so we have some pretty amazing statistics around that, don't we?
Brigitte Spurgeon (08:49):
Yep.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (08:50):
So here's an amazing fact. So most people when they think about genetics, they think about, you know, know the fact that I look like I do. And Bridget, you look like you do right now. And you know, that's a product of our genetics, right? Human genetics, the human genome. And I have some background in that. I have some studies in genetics, and then I actually worked in with some labs that worked on the human genome project, right? And so what we ultimately have discovered when it comes to genetics is that 99.9% of yours and my genome are identical, which is crazy, right? Like think, look what a difference 0.1% can make, right? Right. When it comes to what we look like and other, you know, predisposing factors of our, of our, again, anatomy, physiology, and health. Uh, and I always, I can't, I can't ever talk about that without, let's just reminding people it's not related to the gut directly.
(09:37):
But, you know, we have the same genetic code for heart disease that they do in Okinawa. Yet Okinawa might have the lowest rate of heart disease per capita of any culture in the history of the world. And we have the highest, right? So my point in saying that there has to be something different, right? There has to be something that has contributed to those statistics to be so radically different. And so, um, and we've, uh, we've hypothesized that it'd be a lot of different things. But here's the other crazy thing that we were just, we, when we, and if I'm being honest, we just learned this right, right before the show. This isn't something that, that I even knew. We were researching and it said that 80 to 90% of the DNA associated with our microbiome is different. So while we're at 99.9% the same human genome, we could be as much as 90% completely different when it comes to the biome.
(10:26):
And what's amazing about that is that when you know how much your microbiome is linked to all the different aspects of your health, it just starts to make sense about how we can have the healthiest people on the planet and the six people on the planet literally in the same room at the same time with our genetics, uh, genome wise, human genome wise being the same. Um, another thing that's amazing, uh, is that a lot of people know that their microbiome is, uh, is actually, uh, linked to their immune system. And, um, and so 80% of your immune system, 85, 90%, somewhere in that range, depending on what studies you're looking at of your immune system, resides in the microbiome. So a lot of people know it is the immune system. Most people don't realize that it's 80 to 90% of your immune function comes out of your, your microbiome.
(11:10):
And then something that very few people know. But I do talk about this a lot with patients, especially if they're experiencing things like depression and they're wanting to know why are we running, you know, stool testing? And that's because 95% of your serotonin is actually produced, um, in the gut. So if you don't have a healthy gut, then there's no way for that neurotransmitter to get up there that feel good, you know, neurotransmitter to be able to help you feel good, right? Um, and so anyway, so, so a little bit of, you know, kind of those amazing statistics that just, I, I hope people that are listening to this right now are getting like the excitement about this. Cuz look here, when you, when you hear those kind of stats, that means that there's a lot of explanation around the corner maybe for some of people's health concerns. But also opportunity is the word that comes to mind. So if there's something that is so profoundly impactful on my health, I better pay attention.
Brigitte Spurgeon (11:57):
Absolutely. 100%.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (11:59):
Yeah. That's where my head goes anyway. So most people aren't aware of the diseases that are actually that stem from an imbalanced microbiome. And so, um, and so one of the most obvious diseases is something that you deal with. Obviously primary thing that we focus on as a part of the opt burn pro program. But what, you know, what's the number one condition that we'll see come out metabolically because of an imbalanced microbiome?
Brigitte Spurgeon (12:24):
Um, so, you know, we can see multiple things, uh, certainly with that. But, um, with metabolic diseases, you're looking at insulin resistance and, um, diabetes, you're certainly looking at inflammatory conditions, uh, even the cancers, right? And, um, you know, then even, and we'll talk about this on a future episode, when you're looking at leaky guts, then you're getting into the, all the autoimmune diseases re really stem from that. Uh, but then also I think a lot of people don't tie these together are, you know, the food sensitivities and, and the inflammation that comes from that. And, and then obviously you have the obvious digestive issues and the acid reflux and um, you know, acidity, pH balance in the body, uh, all stem from the microbiome disruption.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (13:15):
Absolutely. Liver disease, right? Atherosclerosis. One thing that's interesting is like, uh, as, as fatty liver disease, um, there was a time probably 20 years ago, 15 years ago where people, if you said that they would say, Oh, must be an alcoholic, right? Sure. Like, right. That was like a big, that was all, that was like a taboo thing to say or think, right? Um, or you wouldn't share that with someone cuz they would think that you're enough. But now we hear it all the time because 99% of the fatty liver disease is actually related to our diet has nothing to do with alcohol.
Brigitte Spurgeon (13:44):
That's to change it. They had to say non-alcoholic fatty <laugh> liver disease.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (13:48):
Exactly. Yeah. Or, or abbreviated to the fun word to say nad that's what they like to say nad right? So aphid. So yeah. But exactly non-alcoholic fat liver disease, which is the majority of the fatty liver disease that's out there. Um, and that's because, uh, and that's something that I actually had to overcome myself after eating 10,000 calories a day, you know, playing college football for years, just getting calories however I could, I wrecked my liver through off on microbiome significantly, which we're gonna talk about right now as a matter of fact. Cuz people need to, by now, they wanna know like, okay, what did I do? Or what do I need to avoid doing that causes, you know, a major disruption to mind microbiome. And so, um, and so we, from my favorite thing to talk about with this, and it's hot right now, in fact, I just saw it on Facebook, it's like recirculating this huge debate around, um, around breastfeeding.
(14:36):
Hmm. Right? And so to go with breastfeeding is the birth process itself, which most people don't realize, or the, they maybe knew it but didn't put two and two together, is that the baby's in a sterile environment, and so there is no bacteria. But then the way that we get inoculated with our microbiome, so the high majority of our microbiome comes from properly passing through the birth canal. And so moms microbiome, like we just talked about, the all, you know, from, you know, bacteria inside the vagina, uh, to the skin, right? All that now becomes the bacteria of the baby. And so if mom's got a healthy microbiome, then generally the baby will have a healthy microbiome. And then of course, as bacteria, they're all living and we have different amounts all over our body and inside our body now we move over to breastfeeding. And so now we're giving that both inside and outside the contact, we're constantly inoculating that baby with mom's, uh, bacteria, uh, just building and building and building that immune system. But of course, nowadays, you know, that's just not happening.
Brigitte Spurgeon (15:41):
The two most important inoculations, and there are the ones that we will get behind is that coming, like coming through the birth con canal, getting that vaginal bacteria and then the second getting that, like that first mouthful of, of breast milk, I believe they, what do they call that? Liquid gold or, or something like that.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (16:00):
Yeah, absolutely. And with that said, again, we started this topic by saying like, what are the things we need to avoid? Well, we need to avoid not breastfeeding, which is like super hot topic right now. Like there are just this, no, like I can say it with the utmost confidence. There's just no better way to, to give yourself the best chance to have a healthy baby than to make sure that they're breastfeeding and if at all possible, and it's way more possible than the world might allow, allow you to believe vaginal birth. Right? And then, so we talk about, this isn't a birthing podcast, although that'd be a great one. And we have raising healthy families coming up in August, so maybe we can talk about that at the beginning of August. We could go through the timeline of, of, of like a, uh, you know, 18 years in the life of a child.
(16:44):
But, um, but uh, the things like, uh, c-sections we see high rates of failure to thrive, why there's a neurological reason which we can get into on a different podcast, but also we're they're robbed of the bacteria, right? Yeah. So now we don't have any of the symbiotic relationship going on there. Um, and so, uh, so anyway, so vaginal birth breastfeeding, so as much as we can do those things, but if you weren't, then we have to have a high focus on getting that inoculation to happen as best we can from the outside in. Um, other obvious things, you know, that might, uh, disrupt someone's microbiome. Throw, throw another obvious one out there for
Brigitte Spurgeon (17:21):
Us. Antibiotics.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (17:24):
There you go. Something that directly kills it. Yeah. Or antimicrobial says it in the work microbials, right? So
Brigitte Spurgeon (17:29):
Antimicrobial, right? Yep. Um, and it's so, it's just so, so interesting because like to me, it's just so logical that because I, I know that we need the healthy bacteria, so why would I do something to kill, kill bacteria? So I've actually never been one, like, never ever, ever used the antibacterial hand soaps, like the hand sanitizers and things like that. And I, I'm not sure if I've shared this on a podcast before, but prob probably I have, yes. I shared it on the last podcast. I, um, have not taken antibiotics outside of one time with, with my knee. And, um, and, and that's my real, like I just, now could I be in a life threatening situation where that might be necessary, maybe at some, at some point in my life, but, but I will, um, it would take a lot for me to take an antibiotic and for that same purpose, I like, I'm not gonna eat, um, you know, chicken chickens that have been given antibiotics because then the antibiotics and the chicken's gonna affect my gut.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (18:35):
Yeah. People don't think about that, do they? And then the water we drink, right? We could get into that how our filtration can't filter out a lot of that stuff. And so it's too small and passes through into our water supply, right? Yeah. So a lot of people say, I haven't taken antibiotics, but if they haven't taken other measures, they've probably still gotten antibiotics. Sure. Or at least the, the chemical constituents of it, right? Sure. Um, and then, uh, and then another thing related to, um, to foods. We, so we talked about this was, um, was artificial sweetener. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, So you had looked this up and, uh, and which one was it specifically that has the an
Brigitte Spurgeon (19:09):
Yeah, so it's specifically the splendor brand, which is the, a Cecil Vein, potassium and slo, uh, combo. And so I'd just seen the research on, on that a few years ago. And it's so interesting when like new sweeteners are coming on the market, it's so hard because, you know, we need to see this about, um, about drug new drugs on the market. Like when you haven't seen or a new vaccine on the market, when you haven't seen the studies from yours down the road, you just don't know. Because I remember right, you know, researching splendor when it was new on the market, I, like, I could literally actually, I could draw out the, or like the biochem, the, the organic chemistry. I could draw out the structure. That's how much I studied it. But then later on, learning specifically that it, like, it just, it, it just kills the microbiome. It, it, it kills bacteria in the gut. And I actually, cuz I used to eat, I used to eat splendor when I was younger and in my, I guess that was in my twenties or something when it came out. And it, it did impact my gut. I ended up, so one with, um, like diarrhea issues, which is very unusual for my microbiome. And I was like, what is going on with me? It was super weird mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then also I entered into a period of anxiety and depression.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (20:34):
Oh wow. Yeah. I was just thinking, I grew up on antibiotics because I had chronic ear infections. I grew up in a smoking home. They couldn't figure out where my ear infections were coming from, if they were even ear infections, who knows. And then, uh, they just kept me on like perpetual. And then when I got acne later on, you know, they, they were like, well, antibiotics are the solution for all the acne, so keep pounding that. And then, you know, I guess at that point I was older, so I actually was pretty non-compliant. That might have helped me out a ton <laugh>. And then when it comes to food, though, I did the sp Splenda thing also. Um, I cannot tell you that I, I was, my gut was so disrupted that I couldn't have told you if sp Splenda made a difference in my gut <laugh> at that point with the other foods that I was eating, you know?
(21:20):
Um, and, uh, and so anyway, so yeah, um, definitely major disruptor though. And that's what I've spent the last 15 years of my life repairing, you know, was because of all that. The, the long use antibiotics, the artificial sweeteners, and then just in general all those other foods that wreck the microbiome, like the processed sugars, the bad fats, right? I didn't know what fiber was probably for a decade of my life, you know, let, let alone seek it out in any way. Um, and then I've also gone through periods too, and I think a lot of people can relate to this is like, it's, we definitely believe in the temporary, uh, adjustments and temporary could be months, you know, it doesn't, we're not talking about just days, but uh, uh, uh, uh, of eliminating our, um, macronutrients, right? Like the carbs, fats or proteins. There's times when it's appropriate, um, for some healing to happen maybe, or, or to help drive parts of the body that we need to drive or whatever.
(22:14):
Um, but I, I did the long term carve carb starvation thing, you know, uh, like the zero carb. Don't let a carb touch your tongue, you know, for months and months at a time. And it turns out that actually starts to have a negative impact on your microbiome as well. Does. Um, and uh, and I would always feel better when I would add 'em back in, even if it was healthy carbs. Right? I'd feel better. And looking back, I'm sure that that's what it was, is that I, I went to a tipping point and now as soon as I add some carbs back and it gave some life back, uh, to those bacteria that needed some, they were on life support probably for a while starving
Brigitte Spurgeon (22:48):
Them. Yeah. Cuz you need the, you need the prebiotics with your prebiotics, you're gonna, it's gonna be like your, your potato and, and your, uh, bananas and things like that. So it's, it's so important. Right. That's exactly why we, we integrate, we integrate carbs back in with the majority of our weight loss patients month, um, after two months only. Yeah. Now a lot of the stats on that, just when I've researched, um, you know, ketogenic dieting, they, they actually no notice major gut issues. Um, when you get close to the two year mark is, is, um, is what I was research researching on that. So just that long term carb restriction, uh, the gut doesn't like that. No.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (23:34):
Yep. And I think that that would be in a healthy individual, like if I was already totally unhealthy and then I stard the carbs, like I feel like you could accelerate that process, right? Like you could, it could be a shorter term before you get that disruption because if I already had wrecked gut microbiome and then I starved what was left, you know, the little bit that was left with that. Um, and so I think that's important to consider. Like the, the health that you go into doing a lot of different crazy diets and stuff like that really determines your outcome. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, the trajectory at which you're gonna, you know, get through it.
Brigitte Spurgeon (24:09):
I have an interesting observation just talking about the things that disrupt the microbiome and then I'm always looking at how things affect us metabolically, but I, so, so this is anecdotal, but this is just what I noticed over many, many years in the clinic. And certainly, you know, these op we're working with large numbers of patients, uh, but I noticed when someone is doing all the right things metabolically, they're in fact burning because they are, um, they're, anyway, they're in a, in a ketogenic state in a healthy setting that for a temporary amount of time, I notice that when someone goes on an antibiotic or they introduce an artificial sweetener that their weight loss stops or slows down.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (25:00):
Hmm.
Brigitte Spurgeon (25:02):
Yeah. And even, and the same thing with even using like chicken that is antibiotics in it. So I, I remember having this patient, uh, we couldn't figure out like, you know, her weight loss was just such a pattern that you could just look at her journal pages and it, it was a pattern and then suddenly she gained a pound and like nothing had changed in her journal and I couldn't figure it out. And then I was like, Hey, so this, you had this chicken salad over here, you know, where like, did you eat that out? Maybe? And she was like, Yeah, no, it was a chick-fil-A chicken salad <laugh>. I was like, Oh, well the chicken that you ate was, was not like the chicken you're eating at home and your body had a, like an inflammatory response or something from it. So I remember just chuckling about that and then I noticed it in like, with other patients, like, oh yeah, when they ate like they thought was a grilled chicken salad at Zach's speeds. No, no, no. That, that chicken is is not the same. And so it's been so interesting to see the, just, just clinically, like the big thing with the antibiotics, it is like, it's almost like when someone's doctor puts 'em on antibiotic, I'm like, Oh no. Like their weight loss is gonna stall out and then we've gotta like fix it and yeah.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (26:17):
Right. Great examples. Absolutely fantastic examples of how our diet really manipulates the microbiome, but also how this stuff that, like the outside end stuff, the inorganic stuff just finds its, finds its way cuz we, this is like our job is to be problem solvers, right? That's what we do on a daily basis with patients. And so, um, these are the stuff that, this stuff we've realized over the years that are just major disruptors, disruptors, um, to health in general. There's all kinds of these things, which is what we're talking about in the podcast, right? Um, the other stuff that, that affects microbiome, that people don't think about sedentary lifestyle. So when you increase your metabolism, then you're increasing the demand that's put on the microbiome, on those bacteria. So just like, you know, I mean literally it's like exercising a muscle. Um, you know, like if you're, if you're putting zero demand on it, then the sedentary lifestyle becomes a sedentary microbiome.
(27:11):
But when you're actually putting demand on that microbiome, then it will respond as it was designed and, uh, you know, and obviously grow and multiply and do its job, you know, as needed. Um, that could even be said to some degree as far as the immune system, right? So even like just being exposed to things. So for example, when we travel that, that actually disrupts the microbiome, but can be a good thing. And, you know, so like we, we, we kind of wanna want it to flex its muscle without something infectious happening, right? And so, uh, so that microbiome, it might take some transitional time, you might go through montezuma's revenge or whatever, right? But then as our body now adapts and the microbiome kind of shifts to the new types of foods, the new spices, the new fats, the whatever it might be, then now it's ready for you. And now your immune system's back at peak performance. Um, so about the travel,
Brigitte Spurgeon (28:03):
Think about the word, um, herme, right? So where it's, we actually do want to have stressors. We don't wanna eliminate, we don't wanna live in a world of comfort. We want to have little stressors on our body because that's what keeps our body fit and keeps it working out. So with the, with the immune system, we don't want to be in a sterile environment. We want our immune system to practice being like exposed in small doses to pathogens. Like we, we, you know, we don't wanna live in a, in a bubble from viruses. We don't, you know, we, we wanna be exposed to the dirt,
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (28:42):
Right? Which, and, and, and on a, on a smaller, I guess simpler scale even, it's like we don't want you to eat the exact same thing every single day, right? You don't eat chicken for lunch, chicken for dinner, you know, like every single day and never introduce, you know, we, we like diet, uh, variability, right? Um, eating the seasons, you know, eating different food groups, that kind of thing, right? Um, and then, uh, lastly I'd be remiss if I didn't say one of the top causes of messing up the microbiome. It's a direct and an indirect hit. Uh, it's the cause of 21st century disease. And if we know that majority of the diseases we experience run through the microbiome, it kind of speaks to the intimacy at which our biome is related to our stress. And so stress, uh, I mean literally getting into a sympathetic or fight flight dominant state means that we can't properly be in rest, digest, recover state, like, which can't have both. And we'll talk about more, a little bit more about this in a minute, and as it, it relates to the vagus nerve, but, you know, stress just really suppresses the microbiome. It shuts it down, it stops digestion. Now again, you're trying to push partially digested foods through your small intestine, uh, just causing overgrowth of bad bacteria, suppression of growth, uh, and functionality of healthy bacteria. Um, so stress just is a, is a doozy, you know, when it comes to the microbiome.
Brigitte Spurgeon (30:09):
Well, we, so we will talk about the, um, basically the gut brain connection and we'll talk a little bit more about stress and the neurology included on our next episode, as well as Dr. Bagwell is going to walk us through leaky gut and give us an, uh, little in depth explanation of what that looks like in our body of the physiology of that. That is one of the biggest questions that I get related to gi. So, uh, love that we have the GI expert here to answer those questions. So we'll go, um, into that in more detail on the next episode.
Dr. Lonnie Bagwell, DC (30:53):
Thanks for joining us today on True Health Solutions Podcast. Make sure that you click to subscribe. Also go to our website, www.truehealthcharlotte.com, where you can download any resources related to today show or any future shows. And lastly, if you search for True Health Center Group on Facebook, you'll be able to join our free health community. We look forward to seeing you there.
