Emily: 0:09

Welcome to wellness myths today we have Amanda Salsita. She is a registered dietician nutritionist, specializing in mindfulness and gut health. Amanda quickly realized that gut health is more than digestion, the microbiome or the food we eat. It's also about honoring our gut feelings. This is why she created the mindful gut. It's a holistic way of helping people find their gut-friendly foods and lifestyle. Amanda has a virtual private practice where she runs group programs. P S her favorite food is pizza. same. welcome, Amanda.

Amanda: 0:43

Thank you for having Me

Emily: 0:45

Awesome. I'm so glad you're here. I'm really excited to learn a bit today. So, so let's start with, what does gut health actually mean?

Amanda: 0:57

That's a really like loaded question. Right? Got health. Isn't one of those trendy words you're hearing more and more, and it's kind of like, what does this even mean? And honestly, No, there's no like standard definition, um, of what gut health actually means and the kind of definition that I've come to as evolved as I, you know, experienced like my own digestion issues, which I think is what most people assume gut health is like solely digestion and a large part of it is right. Or they think like digestion problems, like pooping problems. Yeah. Very common and I talk about poop all the time on my Instagram.

Emily: 1:44

You have the best infographics about poop on your Instagram. Let's just get that out of the way you. win that.

Amanda: 1:51

Thank you. Um, they're fun. And, something we need to talk more about because you'd be surprised or you probably won't be surprised, but other people would be surprised with how prevalent, issues with poop are. Anyways. Okay. Getting sidetracked. Um, but that's a large part of it, right? Digestion digestive issues is what we most often think of when it comes to gut health. You might also think of another kind of catchy term, which is very popular now, which is the microbiome. And that's kind of referring to all the different gut bugs or gut bacteria that we have, you know, living inside of our digestive. The other part though, of gut health that I've really started to lean more into, which is kind of how I developed, like the mindful gut is honoring and looking at your gut feelings like that gut instinct. We all have. And I think that's a really large part of gut health is really listening to what's coming from within ourselves and trusting ourselves and trusting that gut instinct. So all of those three things combined digestive system digestion, microbiome, and then your gut feelings is my interpretation of what gut health means.

Emily: 3:06

Yeah, and we hear so much in at least I do definitely in my own practice about what a huge impact emotions have on the gut and feelings.

Amanda: 3:15

It's you can't talk about gut health without talking about feelings and emotions.

Emily: 3:21

Before we get into even more details about gut health, Since it's such a trendy topic, such a buzz word lately, what should consumers watch out for in the wellness space regarding gut health? Like how do we tell what's bullshit from what's actually supportive.

Amanda: 3:38

Oh my God. How much time do we have,

Emily: 3:40

Yeah,

Amanda: 3:42

So there's a actually, so funny, you mentioned this because I'm going to be coming out with a post very soon about like red flags to watch out for when it comes to gut health. So it's pretty timely that you asked me that question. There's quite a few things you can be on the lookout for of like, what is actual bullshit when it comes to gut health. One of the things is really, really. Common and prevalent within the gut health space is the automatic elimination of foods. And those foods tend to be foods. People love dearly and enjoy quite often. In of itself could be a whole topic and not to say that elimination diets don't have their place. They can. And they do, but that is definitely not the hard and fast rule. Of, you know, improving digestion is, you know, eliminating foods and then eliminating the forever forever, and then adopting all these new foods that you never eat that are like 20 times the price of, you know, what you're used to when it comes to the grocery store. Uh, yeah. So I would say that right there is a huge red flag is the automatic elimination of foods without any regard. Your history, lifestyle needs wants concerns that's a big one for sure.

Emily: 5:07

Yeah, we see it so much where there's absolutely zero consideration for the individual needs and differences from person to person.

Amanda: 5:16

it's insane. Just like these blanket recommendations of, of doing do this, do that. So that's a big one I would say is the automatic elimination and then another, another, okay. A couple I'm like my mind is like, kind of going so many different places. Okay. Which one should I mention?

Emily: 5:35

There's so, so much, to pick from.

Amanda: 5:38

There's so much, let's say. Okay. So another big, common thing that I see out there is the need that everybody should be taking, like supplements specifically, like digestive enzymes. That's a huge one that I see out there too. Pretty much for the same reason I mentioned with the automatic elimination that there's no regard or consideration to what the person's body actually needs. So yeah, you don't need to be taking digestive enzymes. Every time you eat or, you know, more often than not. And if, if you feel better and you do, then you need to dig deeper into why, because

Emily: 6:20

It's such an easy market to, to kind of like convince everybody that they need to be taking all this extra stuff. We talked about that a lot in our podcast.

Amanda: 6:28

And a lot of it is like really expensive. Uh, when it comes to these supplements are like really expensive. Need to be on them for the rest of your life. No, you don't another really big misconception out there is that you need to heal your gut. I think that's a huge one. Uh, this idea that everyone is out there walking around with a broken gut that needs some type of healing like that. There's so many things we could talk about when it comes to that, but chances are You probably don't need to heal your gut. That's another, so yeah. Say those are like three that I see pretty often in the space.

Emily: 7:12

Yeah. I feel like we kind of see a lot about that healing. The gut is sort of a common theme among like wellness influencers. We'll just say that to be nice. Maybe like 30% of your Instagram is all about poop, I would say. Which rightfully so. And I love that and it's too bad that Vanessa is not here this week because she really loves to discuss this. but I'll try to, uh, do my best and convey her passion. So let's talk about that. How often should an average person be having a bowel movement?

Amanda: 7:47

So there's really good. A rule of thumb. You want to keep in mind. And there's really no hard and fast rule. So, which is why I say a rule of thumb. And the rule of thumb is kind of the rule of three. You ideally don't want to be pooping more than three times a day, and then ideally don't want to be having, or being without a bowel movement. Once every three. So if you're falling somewhere within there that you're probably doing okay. And this goes back to a big part of gut health or just wellness in general is like consistency. There's going to be times where, I don't know you get a stomach bug and you're going kind of often or. You eat a lot of spicy food. Oh my God, there's this one time I came here to you guys, but like, there was this one

Emily: 8:32

No. Tell us.

Amanda: 8:35

and there was this one time. I was really, I like spicy, but like, I'm not huge on spicy, but I'm trying to get like more Intuit. And I was eating a lot of spicy, uh, tamales and, um, yeah, it, it made my Belmont is looser than normal, but so what, you know, whatever. That's why it's kind of a general rule of thumb, you know, if, if it happens every once in a while, no big. And there's going to be times too, where you go without pooping. Ideally I would say try to poop, you know, like once a day. But again, everyone's normal is going to be different. I figure at least pooping once every three days, it's better than not. And like I said, there's going to also be times where maybe might be a little bit constipated and you skip a bubble. Your pooping schedule is very sensitive. That's another post. Someone just requested recently. Actually, I have to do one on that. But yeah, your schedule with how you poop is very sensitive to things like how you're feeling sensitive to travel sensitive to, the diet, you know, what you're eating or what you're not eating or things you've changed.

Emily: 9:38

Travel can really just throw you all different kinds of ways. Often justifiably that's for sure. I had a lot of people who would kind of complain about feeling kind of bloated or constipated with travel. And then I found out they were drinking like a bunch of seltzer water the day they were traveling. And I'm like, Yeah, like, I don't know if that's really going to be helping you. That's like always my top tip for that.

Amanda: 10:02

Your diet changes so much when you're on vacation. I mean, oh my God, I eat so well. Cause it's like, you know, like you, you have to hit, you have to hit the free breakfast at the hotel and then you're buying out food all the time. So yeah, of course it's going to change. Right? You don't normally eat like that.

Emily: 10:19

So how about, and this is a question that I receive a lot from people since I am specialized in plant-based nutrition and council, a lot of vegan and vegetarian folks. How much gas is normal, quote unquote. We know there's a spectrum already.

Amanda: 10:35

yeah, there's definitely going to be a spectrum when it comes to gas. And I don't know if there's necessarily like an. I guess it's easier to kind of define what would be abnormal and when it comes to abnormal gas, if it's starting to like interrupt your life where you're noticing that it seems to be more often than not, or. But two PS persistence and pain it's really persisting. It doesn't seem to be letting up your diet hasn't changed drastically. The way you've eaten, hasn't changed drastically. That could be a sign that something might be up or should be investigated. And then pain would be another one. Like, you know, does it feel trapped that's definitely not a good feeling if you're not able to pass the gas that's could be assigned to. So it's not just about like having gas, but are you able to pass it? And if you're not, if it's feeling more trapped, that might be something you want to investigate further and then. When it comes. I think another common thing, I guess we don't talk a lot about, it would be like odor or smell. Some smell might be normal, kind of like a bowel movement, some smells kind of going to be present. There might be some odor, but if it's like clearing a room, the time. Maybe want to take a look at like what you're eating. Let's see like a lot of hard boiled eggs recently. I dunno, sulfur things just go for like a eggs or a broccoli or cauliflower. So if you're like, oh my God, you know, switching to a more plant-based style and you start eating these veggies that tend to have a lot of soul for you might notice a difference. When it comes to gas and it can be related to relate it to that could also be related to just changing the way you're eating. So always doing it slowly and gradually. But yeah, those would be the things I'd watch out for that would be less than ideal, but yeah, we all do it.

Emily: 12:40

Yeah, it's having some acceptance. Maybe it. would be a good

Amanda: 12:44

Yeah. Having some acceptance, knowing it's probably going to be like a daily thing, whatever. Yeah.

Emily: 12:53

And then while we're on the topic, we kind of, you had mentioned broccoli and cauliflower a little bit, but fiber is obviously so important in gut health. And we're just wondering if you could explain that a little bit and then your tips for maybe adding a little more fiber toward it.

Amanda: 13:09

Okay. Yeah. So Firebird is definitely something. The majority of us, myself included, honestly, don't eat enough of on the daily. And so increasing that can do so much for your gut health in regards to digestion, it can do so much to help with feeding your microbiome. Both of those things. And that's the other cool thing about fiber? Is it also can help other areas of your body, like your heart health, your blood sugar metabolism And so with fiber, one of the golden things you need to keep in mind. Especially if you're switching to like more plant-based or if you're just wanting to eat more vegetables and have more vegetables in your life doing so gradually and slowly because your guy doesn't like change. And so if you, if, if Monday rolls around and you're like, oh man, especially if you've come back from a vacation and you're like, I want to get back on it. I want to get back into my, like, you know, daily vegetable routine, or I just want to start eating more vegetables, and start eating, you know, quote unquote healthier or whatever. Your gut will be like, oh no, what do you think you're doing? And then you'll be like, oh my God, this healthy life. Isn't for me, not true, not true things to be added slowly but surely there was a study that recently came out. I can't remember the name of the study that looked at how diversity is really important, obviously for your gut and shooting for like 30 different. Not a day. Was it a day? Was it a day or in a week? I think it wasn't a week. Oh my God. A day would be insane. Um,

Emily: 14:49

That would be tough.

Amanda: 14:51

right. I think so behind, uh, it was 30 shooting for 30, less in a week. So that's kind of a nice little marker too. So, you know, assessing where you are seeing with what you normally get, to help you kind of game plan with where you want to go. And then as you start increasing different vegetables, which we'll have all these different fibers in them, drinking more water, definitely want to drink more water to keep things moving.

Emily: 15:20

yeah, I think it's, I think it's kind of a common misconception that sometimes we can overdo it on the fiber as well.

Amanda: 15:29

Yes, there is such a thing as overdoing it, especially if you're overdoing it too quickly on top of it. Oh, it won't be pleasant. And that's when you'll probably experience that gas, that's like seemingly unstoppable or feeling a lot more persistent because your body's like, I don't know. I don't know about. Eating too much. Fiber is definitely thing. I don't see it as much, but yes, it definitely is a thing.

Emily: 15:55

I have kind of a funny story. We eat a lot of kale and a lot of green, like cooked greens in general and cooked greens. It can be so easy to consume so much without like really realizing they're very cooked down. They get a lot smaller. My husband ate literally almost. An entire, like pound of kale, one time on his own and with like a load of garlic and stuff. And he was like, so ill the rest of the night. Like it did not go well. And he's really used to eating a lot of fiber too. Like he's plant-based as well, but it can really do you wrong for sure. At times.

Amanda: 16:32

Yes, it can. I'm glad you mentioned that. Yeah, definitely. Greens can be very sneaky when you cook them down and you started with a, you know, a huge bag of whatever. And now it's like, looks like five leaves, but it's not really, it's not really. There's, there's still a lot of fibers. It's very concentrated now.

Emily: 16:51

It's good to know, like both ends of it. I hear all the time from clients, like, oh, I started eating more broccoli or cauliflower, and now I'm like feeling even worse than what is this. So starting really small, even like tablespoons, I think is like the recommendation, if you're really not used to it.

Amanda: 17:09

Yeah. If you're really not used to it. And you're like the only vegetable I touch is a French fry. You know, that's my daily thing, eight that still counts. And then B just start with one, you know, like you said, maybe a couple tablespoons or just, you know, a fourth of a cup, which is pretty small of whatever vegetable and let that be your thing and just get acclimated to. And I think that also helps not just for your digestion to get acclimated, but where the mindfulness piece can also come in is to help you get used to adding this into your life, because it's real easy to do things in short bursts, but that's not the goal is right. The goal is consistency. And to do this more often than not, if for your, you know, for whatever health benefits or health goals that you have. And so it helps you get used to doing this.

Emily: 18:01

While we're on the topic of food, how do food sensitivities affect the gut? I know there's so much misinformation about this out there.

Amanda: 18:09

Yeah. So if food sensitivities are pretty common and I worked on lot with food sensitivities, and a lot of the sensitivities are worked with, showed up with as digestion issues. So a lot of irritable bowel syndrome type issues where people might be more constipated or I tended to see a lot more people on the opposite end of the spectrum, where it was, you know, going too much versus not. And so food sensitivities can kind of pop up in a bunch of different ways. I think one of the very, common misconceptions when it comes to food, sensitivities is the idea that if you're sensitive to something you absolutely can never eat that food. And you should just automatically again, eliminate it from the diet. And that's not true. Food sensitivities are not like an allergy where if you're allergic to something, you know, there could be that potential for like a bad reaction, like an anaphylaxis and a collectic reaction sensitivity. Your different sensitivities are dependent on two factors. They're dependent on how much and how often you eat. I guess I give this example quite often of me and bell pepper and how much I love thought pepper, bell pepper. Doesn't always love me. And so if I eat too much bell pepper, I actually get like constipated. This is where like getting to know your gut, getting to know your body is powerful because there's no test out there. There's no doctor out there that can tell you, Hey Amanda, if you eat two bowel peppers, you're going to have a problem, which is so easy. If you just like throw a plate, if the heat is in front of me, but these are things you kind of have to experiment and learn, know how much and how often you're eating it to see how that plays a role with, you know, any digestive issues.

Emily: 19:59

Yeah,

Amanda: 20:00

I'm trying to think. Okay.

Emily: 20:01

That's an awesome, way to explain it too. And I think it's really empowering to kind of give people that sort of agency over their health and be like only you are the expert in your own body. And so you kind of mentioned the Tesla. We've talked briefly about food sensitivity tests before, but I would love to hear your feelings on food sensitivity tests.

Amanda: 20:24

Yeah. So I don't know what the other, you know, other guests might've had, um, or their perspectives on this. I may be against the grain a little bit and I actually have used them in the past. And, and w. Taken on anybody one-on-one to use them lately, just because I've kind of, uh, pivoted, there's what I'm looking for. But there's one test that I did use and I did find it helpful. And for my clients, I did find it really illuminating kind of, it's kind of like this. It's kind of like search. So when people have issues and it's very common for many people to have sensitive sensitivity issues and you do not need to test by the way and testing should not be. The first route you go down, what really you want to start working with is doing like a food and mood journal, journaling to kind of help you identify patterns. That should be your first step. So if you do suspect that you have food sensitivities really starting with journaling, that's going to be really, really powerful. And going to be a tool that you'll use, even if you were to do testing. And so clients that I did take that did do testing, found it to be like a flashlight to kind of help give guidance and like a starting point to aluminate what foods could be an issue. But we would always go back to that, those two things I mentioned with how much and how often now there are quite a few tests out there. In fact, the majority of them are useful. So, but the one I use, I would find helpful, but I would say the vast majority, especially, oh my God. Especially the ones you see, like on Groupon that are like insanely cheap. And you're like, how is this so cheap? Cause it's trash.

Emily: 22:13

Yeah. Can you, is a test that you use something that consumers can use or is it just for providers?

Amanda: 22:20

So it's definitely something that consumers use, but I most often see it and I would never. Give it to somebody without seeing them. That was kind of just my like ethical, you know, as a provider thing that I did. But yes, you, you could get it as a consumer from the company, but I feel I would really highly, highly recommend you working with somebody and not just like taking a test and running with it. Why it's helpful to have that guidance and that reassurance of these aren't foods you're eliminating forever. These are foods we're going to start to figure out how it, how they play and work within your body. Cause no test can tell you that how much and how often, nothing, nothing can tell you that. And that's where life experience comes in. And it's nice to have a dietician to help with guiding you through that process. So short answer. Yes.

Emily: 23:20

Yeah.

Amanda: 23:20

Okay.

Emily: 23:21

We've had a few dieticians Yeah. Who have spoken about food sensitivity testing. And it's basically the exact same answer every time. Like you can't just blatantly trust everything. If this food sensitivity test comes back and you're like, I eat onions all the time and I have zero reaction to them. Okay. Then there's no need to eliminate them. If you know, for a fact that your body isn't having a reaction, that's resulting in symptoms for you.

Amanda: 23:46

Exactly. I mean, you could pick up someone off the street who has like no digestive issues and they might, you know, the test might come back with something, but just because it came back in a lab, doesn't mean that's the reality in your everyday living body?

Emily: 24:00

I think that is a very useful perspective for people to hear about that. because I think people just kind of want an easy answer. And so we're like, okay, just tell me what I don't have to

Amanda: 24:10

Yeah.

Emily: 24:10

to get rid of. Yeah. And they're like, then let's just move on. And they're like, no, you're not going to create change like that.

Amanda: 24:17

It's not that simple, unfortunately.

Emily: 24:19

Moving on to stress, such a big one. I'm a yoga teacher myself. So this is something that I definitely work on with, in my practice too. But can you tell us a little bit about what stress can do to your gut and how that's all related?

Amanda: 24:35

Honestly, what can it not do

Emily: 24:37

Yeah.

Amanda: 24:38

that? Certainly that should be the question. Really. I think stress is so underrated with how it impacts. Your digestion with how it could impact your microbiome and how it could also impact your gut feelings and your gut instinct and that connection we have with our inner wisdom. So stress, and this all goes back to because like the science-y part of it. Is this mind gut connection that we have your mind is connected to your gut and your gut is connected to your mind. So how we feel, you know, up talk like our emotions and our brain can impact how we feel down in our gut and vice versa, how we feel our, you know, in our gut can affect how our we're feeling emotionally. So these two things talk to each other. They're besties. They talk to each other all the time. Sometimes that connection is. You can get a little fuzzy and that might, that might be in the form of stress. So if you're stressed out about something, I mean, great example, have you ever had, do you remember back when you were in middle school, do you remember your first crush, first person, like you were excited about and get us all butterflies in your stomach or, you know, like if you've ever had. You know, presentation in front of your class and you get like all sweaty and clammy and you feel like a pit in your stomach that is like the mind gut connection at work. We've all experienced that at one point or another. And that's like a cute kind of fun way. To explain it, but that's, unfortunately, you know, it doesn't show up, but that succinctly, sometimes stress can be very, very sneaky. So you might notice if you're stressed that you're running to the bathroom more often, you might notice if you're stressed, you're not going to the bathroom or you feel like you're getting a lot of indigestion. And can you even impact your different routes of your digestive system? This is again where the mindfulness piece can come in. And let's say you're really stressed thinking about this long to-do list that you have later in the day, and you're eating and you're not even really chewing your food. And because you're just kind of thinking, oh my God, these are the million things I have to do later. And before, you know, you ate really quickly or you didn't treat your food very well. And you just feel like there's a lock in your stomach and maybe it wasn't even the food. How you eat the food and again, so stress can show up in many different ways, both with our gut health, but those are some, some examples.

Emily: 27:07

Yeah. it's kind of funny. Basically my whole family is in healthcare and one of my aunts always will tell me if we're like, kind of talking about things. She'll say, oh, don't tell your mom, that'll give her diarrhea for a whole week. Like we should, we totally like talk about that all the time. It's such a big, it's like, Oh, that's the risk. Don't tell your mom, that'll give her diarrhea.

Amanda: 27:30

That is so funny.

Emily: 27:32

But it's so true. And.

Amanda: 27:34

it is it truly,

Emily: 27:37

And everybody will have like, such a different reaction, like with, um, eating, you know, I practice intuitive eating principles with my clients and it's like, you know, some people are really working on, okay, how do I get myself to eat when I'm stressed? You know, I have no appetite and there's nothing I can do. And, you know, we employ nutritionist self-care and all these other things. And then others are like, oh my God, every time I'm stressed. Overeating like crazy. Right. Everyone has such a different reaction.

Amanda: 28:08

I think that that is like a beautiful thing. Oh my, I think I need to do a post on this. I'm like, literally thinking about that because stress can just pop up. Yeah. Some of us don't get hungry. If I know I'm truly stressed when I don't want to eat, that's when I know I've pushed myself too hard. I won't recognize it until I've gotten to that point sometimes. Because I absolutely love to eat. So if I'm not eating, like that's a problem. And kind of like your mom, like if I'm like nervous about something or if I'm stressed about something, sometimes I'm like running to the bathroom, so yeah. Yeah. I get it.

Emily: 28:45

It's all just so connected. And that's another like huge red flag thing, right? Like, oh, if you're stressed, try to not overeat so much. Well, some people don't even have that problem. So

Amanda: 28:55

Yeah. Some people don't even have an appetite.

Emily: 28:57

Right. Yeah. And they're like, wait, what's wrong with me? Like, I can't even get myself to eat. So another reason to work with a provider. And then this is a great one. How does alcohol affect our gut?

Amanda: 29:10

I think a good one. I think I had a post a long time ago. Maybe I need to like bring back, wine and how it could impact your gut. So awkward. Isn't going to be like, and this is in regards to, well, yeah, kind of like your digestion as well as your microbiome. It's not going to be the best. You sometimes

Emily: 29:32

Okay.

Amanda: 29:32

more, if again, it falls back to those principles of how much and how often it truly does. So if you're just enjoying a glass, you know, with your dinner at night. Okay, cool. If you don't feel unwell, then. You're cool to go. Like you're good to go. It's again, it goes back to how much you're having and how often you're having it. I will say though, that there are certain different, like beverages, different alcohols that seem, some people seem to tolerate better. That's a, that's a thing, you know, some people don't tolerate wine very well. But they'll tolerate something else. Totally. Okay. So, if you do notice that, that could be it, or it could also be like the different ingredients that you, it, depending if you're having like a mixed drink, it could be all the different things that are in there versus the alcohol. So yeah, I would say how much, how often is really what it comes down to.

Emily: 30:29

Yeah, definitely. And for me, I always think about kind of the connection. people who are socially or casually drinking or drinking at close to bedtime. And how does it affect if it's affecting our sleep?

Amanda: 30:43

Yeah, that's a good one too. You know, that's so funny. I didn't even think sleep when you said that at first I thought acid reflux, um,

Emily: 30:50

Uh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Amanda: 30:53

Yeah. So it could do like, yeah, it could impact sleep, especially if you're, you know, like winding down after a busy day or whatever could impact sleep, it could impact acid reflux. And another thing to take into consideration too, would be if you've eaten recently. And if it's on an empty stomach, sometimes that could be more of an issue. You might feel a little bit more inflamed, maybe. I don't know. But yeah, that's another good point is, you know, how you're drinking and when you're drinking it and feeling down right after.

Emily: 31:26

So we kind of talked at the beginning about, you know, not everyone is walking around with this broken gut that we need to do. And different things to heal. but what are some signs that folks can watch out for that might point that there's something amiss or not working properly with their gut?

Amanda: 31:46

Kind of goes back to what we talked about a little bit ago, about what? Like the gas question. So persistence pain, if you're having digestive symptoms, whatever they might be, maybe it's gas, maybe something else and it, or like bloating. Oh my gosh. Like bloating is a question I get asked about a lot. It's normal to bloat sometimes. Like that's okay. You ate a lot. You're bloated. No big, but let's say. You're waking up feeling bloated. Or it seems like after every meal you're bloated or after every meal, you feel like you're running to the bathroom or you're having loose bowel movements more often than not, or the opposite end. You're having no bowel movements more often than not. Maybe you're alternating between the two. Is there a consistency with how you're feeling, if there's no consistency, if you're like I could swing one way from the other at any given time, that could be a red flag that you need to dig deeper, something it could be going on with your gut health. If there's a lot of pain with whatever symptoms you have, I just mentioned that could be another sign that you need to dig deeper. So that persistence, that pain, that lack of consistency, Those would be the ones that I would say really want to figure this out. And, or is it interrupting your life? Like I am concerned if, you know, driving home from work. I have to know where every bathroom is on the way home. Like. That's not normal. Like those types of things where you're like, okay, or I'm not sure, I don't know if I want to go out to eat because I don't know if what I'm eating is going to agree with me. And I need a bathroom close by like those types of situations where it's, you know, impacting your everyday decisions. Like, oh, I can't do the things they want to do because it's dictated by how my gut is feeling that that should be a big sign. That something's up. You want to work with somebody to figure it out.

Emily: 33:48

And I think when you're kind of going back to, it's a consistent problem, right? And if you're having your normal schedule and your everyday life and, you know, that's, you're still experiencing some issue. I know a lot of the times people will go on a vacation and then. I mean, we all know how every dietician feels about like a big juice cleanse or something like that. Um, but you know, I think sometimes people who are feeling a little bit off after like a week of inconsistency or. You know, we just went to Hawaii a couple months ago and we came home and my husband's going to laugh when he hears this. But I like came out into the living room one morning and he was like really serious hands fold. And he looked at me like, I think I have IBS. And I was like, oh, you've never mentioned anything about this before. Like why do you think? Yeah. I'd have like, um, okay. You know, I'm not trying not to like invalidate what he's feeling. And, um, he's like, well, Yeah. you know, I just, I have not felt right. Like, and this is like, you know, within the week we got back and I was like, you know, we were there for 10 days and we were drinking, you know, a lot of tropical cocktails, a lot of, you know, fried foods, a lot of coffee drinks and all this kind of stuff. And I'm like, why don't we just give it a little bit? And you can take a probiotic, see if this helps you, you know, whatever. Doing what you're doing and hydrate all those good things. And then, you know, a week later it's like, Okay. you know, I'm actually feeling a lot better now. Right? So I think people, you know, it's helpful to hear. You're like there will be some shifts sometimes when your routine shifts and that it doesn't mean your gut is ruined or anything like that. It just means you need to get back to that center point.

Amanda: 35:32

Exactly, exactly. Love that. Like getting back to your center point, knowing that it takes time and it'll happen. You'll find your way back there. And re I think just normalizing that, that out of the ordinary things that can happen. And sometimes that's just part of having a gut.

Emily: 35:51

Right. Part of being alive and partaking in all of life's pleasures.

Amanda: 35:56

Totally. And you know what, sometimes I'm going to eat more bell pepper because I love it. And if I get constipated, I get constipated. That's a choice. That's an intentional choice I made. So going back to your intention.

Emily: 36:08

There is a lot of different factors that go into food choices and you can totally do whatever feels worth it in that moment. So before we let you go, I'd like to leave listeners with some sort of practical solution list or advice at the end? We know everybody's different, but what are some general tips for supporting our gut health that listeners can do?

Amanda: 36:33

So one thing would be, and this is the thing I see most often lacking with people like the hardest thing truly, and it would be variety. Getting a variety of different fruits, veggies, proteins in your everyday lifestyle. That's a thing I think is one of the hardest things for people because. Used to like, okay, I'm going to have this on Monday or not. Even if it's not this on Monday, like, you know, you go to the grocery store and you pick up the same things every time it's just automatic. Uh, so I would say that would be like, if there was just one tip I could give, that would be the tip would be increasing the different variety of foods you're eating in your everyday life. And then the other thing would be kind of hitting on that mind gut connection. So finding, I don't know. Here's a good one again, mine spinning. So another good one to help kind of put you in a rest and digest state would be to take a couple breaths before you eat, to kind of move your body into digestion mode, which would also help with just calming the nervous system and getting you relaxed and hitting on that mind gut connection. So that would be my. And a few breaths before a meal to help put you in rest and digest.

Emily: 37:52

awesome. Those are easy enough and pretty accessible.

Amanda: 37:57

Yeah. Make it your own.

Emily: 37:59

Well, thank you so much, Amanda, for taking the time to chat with me today.

Amanda: 38:05

Thank you for having me. It was fun. I love talking to you.

Emily: 38:09

Yes. It's such a great topic. And if people are interested in seeing more from you, where can they find you on the internet?

Amanda: 38:17

Yeah, the easiest place is Instagram. So it's going to be at gut health dot nutritionist is where you can find me on Instagram or you can go to my website. And my website is my money. It's Amanda salsita.com. And there's also a free food and mood journal that I have is. So if you're like, I need to figure out what are some of my foods that might be bugging me, or what are some of the foods that are working for me? And I have a template with how to do that. I would download that free for the week.

Emily: 38:50

And we will definitely link in our show notes to Amanda's website and her Instagram. So it can be nice and easy for everybody to find her. Thanks again so much.

Amanda: 39:03

Thank you.