Bloating, Stress & Perimenopause: How Your Gut Health Affects Everything, with Just Thrive's Tina Anderson

Renee

Tina, welcome to The Mom Room.

Tina Anderson

Well, thanks so much for having me, Renee.

I’m excited to be here today.

Renee

Yes, because we are talking about one of both of our favorite topics, which is gut health and poop and digestion and all those things.

Before we get into that, I thought you could tell us a little bit about your story.

So you are a co-founder of Just Thrive.

You’re also a mom and somewhere along the way you became very interested in gut health, left your previous career and co-founded Just Thrive.

So can you take us through that story and how you ended up where you are today?

Tina Anderson

Yes.

And there’s just one title that you forgot about and that’s very important is I am also a grandmother, so, which is tiny.

Yes, yes.

My daughter two years ago had a baby and then she had another. My other daughter had a baby this summer.

And then my other, the same daughter that had the baby two years ago now has her second.

So all of a sudden I have 3 grandsons.

So that is my most proud title, I would say right now, so.

Renee

Love that.

I never would have thought.

That’s wild.

Yeah.

I feel like I could relate to your audience.

Tina Anderson

So, well, with being a mom, but also now with my kids having babies and I’m so like in the thick of it all.

It’s super fun.

So, but yes, before I became a mom and a grandma, I was in the legal world.

So I was an attorney and I was in litigation and kind of having a very unsatisfied, satisfying career journey.

And I just was like, I can’t, you know, I just can’t do this anymore.

I had my second child and I just did not want to be.

I was working crazy hours, you know, all weekend, face time, all that.

And so I decided that I wanted to just kind of, oh, and when I say face time, I mean face time in the office.

Like you had to go in the office on the weekends just to show your face.

I don’t mean like the FaceTime that we all know, where FaceTime it.

So I just wanted to be home a little bit more with my kids.

And so I was really fortunate to be able to go into a family pharmaceutical company and be in the pharmaceutical world, which I thought was great because I’m like, this is awesome.

We’re delivering life-saving medications. We’re doing all these great things.

But then after being in the pharmaceutical industry, I started to see a lot of the abuses in the industry.

I started to see like the over-prescribing of medicine and people being on one medication and then another and then never getting better.

And then seeing like how one story that comes to mind is a pharmaceutical rep came into our office and said, you know what my job now is?

My job is to go into every cardiologist and prescribe a medicine and tell them to prescribe it at a lower number than was actually necessary.

And so we, my husband and I are very deep thinkers.

We read a lot of Norman Vincent Peale, Wayne Dyer.

And we, you know, everything Wayne Dyer would always say is like, you’re not doing your life’s, you need to do your life’s work.

And we looked at each other.

We’re like, we’re not doing our life’s work.

So we started to delve into what is it that we are passionate about and we knew we were so passionate about natural health and wellness.

We had three kids at the time and we were like, well, we still have 3 kids, but you know, we have three kids.

And we were like always trying to do the more natural thing.

I breastfed before it was like the thing to do.

I got, you know, some grief.

It was kind of starting to get popular then, but got a lot of grief for that.

But we just, my parents are immigrants from Europe, so we ate kind of naturally anyway.

So we’re like, wait, we are not even in a field that we like that we’re super passionate about.

So we started to dive into a lot of the research about gut health.

And I swear it was like a lot of being at the right place at the right time.

We were able to license these incredible strains of probiotics from London University and we were complete disruptors to a market that was already, you know, pretty popular out there.

But we brought incredibly new story.

We didn’t use any of the strains that were out there and brought something that was totally new to the market.

And that’s how Just Thrive was born.

So it was, it was just a really fun journey.

A lot of, you know, steps along the way, but a really fun journey.

Renee

And it’s funny because nowadays I feel like people are talking about gut health so much.

You hear about it a lot, whereas before it wasn’t a term that was even used.

And now more than ever, we’re finding out that it’s connected to so many other things.

Whereas before, I feel like a lot of people would have issues and they would treat that issue, but it’s not being connected to the actual root of the problem.

Why do you think now?

Is it research or people having conversations?

Like, why do you think now we’re starting to realize that gut health is connected to so many other things in the body?

Tina Anderson

Yeah.

Well, I think for decades we just thought of the gut as primarily the digestive system.

You know, so you would eat food, you’d absorb nutrients, then you’d go to the bathroom and get rid of them and what you didn’t need.

And so something very significant happened in about 2007, the National Institutes of Health launched the Human Microbiome Project.

And that project told us more about the gut than we ever knew before.

And, you know, there was similar to the Human Genome Project that told us more about our human genes, but now we had this better understanding of the trillions of microorganisms that live in and on us in our body.

And it’s really, it was about I think around 2012 where a lot of the major findings came out.

And it really changed the whole conversation around gut health.

And what we found is that it was like the gut is related to virtually every aspect of our overall health.

And it’s one of the reasons that was, you know, I was so frustrated with the pharmaceutical market is because all they ever did was focus on symptoms and treatment.

It was symptoms and treatment.

There was never a focus on getting to the root cause of an issue.

And that is really what we’ve now found out thanks to the Human Microbiome Project, that the gut is really the cause of so many of our health issues right now.

Again, we thought it was only being digestive and it is certainly digestive.

I mean, we know if we have constipation, bloating, diarrhea, gas, and you know, all of those common things, acid reflux, all those things that you know are associated with our gut health.

Those are certainly signs that you have some gut imbalance.

But what we now know is that the skin is important, where the skin has its own microbiome.

So skin health, like things like acne, eczema, you know, skin rashes, those are all associated with our gut.

Brain health is associated with our gut, our mood is tied to our health.

You know, there’s, it’s actually hard to find any disease out there that’s not somehow associated with the health or unhealth of our gut.

And I think that’s really the biggest finding out there.

And, you know, I don’t think gut health suddenly became important.

What I think is that science finally developed the tools that allowed us to see just how important it has been all along.

So, you know, I think for moms, it’s such an empowering conversation because we’re all like learning about this ecosystem that’s beginning to develop.

And, you know, a child’s microbiome, for example, just is influenced by so much diet, environment, medications, and, you know, the exposure and then what happens during vaginal childbirth.

And so it’s, it’s really, it is a new popular conversation, but the gut has been so important all along.

Renee

It kind of reminds me of when I have a headache and I tell my husband like, I have such a headache and he’ll be like, well, did you take medicine?

And I’m like, that’s not the point though.

Like why do I have a headache?

Am I dehydrated?

Like am I this?

Am I that?

Like I want to know why it’s happening, not just put a Band-Aid on it?

Tina Anderson

That is such a good analogy.

I’m going to use that one because that’s exactly it.

It’s like, why do I have a headache exactly?

Renee

Yeah.

And then sometimes I wonder if we as a society are so much more comfortable talking about the other issues that might be coming from gut health, but then we’re uncomfortable being like, well, I’m constipated all the time.

I’m like, I’m super gassy, I’m bloated, uncomfortable.

So I wonder if there’s also an element of people are not necessarily being honest about their bowel movements, their digestion, how they’re like bloating and gassiness because it’s for some reason it’s like something embarrassing to talk about.

Tina Anderson

Yeah, no, I think that’s a really good point and it’s one that should be discussed because I also think that people start to realize that or start to think like, oh, it’s normal.

Like, oh, my friend says that when they eat broccoli, they get bloated or they can’t handle it.

So then they just don’t eat that food.

And it’s like, my argument is that if you can’t handle broccoli, that shows you that there’s some issue going on now.

I mean, you don’t want to eat like a pound of broccoli if you haven’t eaten a lot of fibrous foods and cruciferous vegetables or anything like that in a long time.

But, you know, you could slowly introduce it.

But the bottom line is that if you have bloating after you eat, that’s a sign that something is wrong.

You know, and just because somebody else maybe says they have it doesn’t mean that it’s normal.

We’ve normalized the abnormal in society.

But I do think that’s a really good point.

People don’t like to talk about that like, oh, I’m going to the bathroom all the time.

And you know, your bowel movements are such an indication of your health.

If you’re, you know what, having healthy bowel movements like 2 to 3 times a day.

I mean, my mom was like, that’s too many bowel movements.

I’m like, no, it’s not.

We should be having two to three bowel movements a day and, and like healthy.

Well, I’m not talking about liquidy diarrhea.

That’s not healthy.

But we only, we want them easy to push out.

We don’t want it to be difficult.

We just want a nice beautiful bowel movement two to three times a day.

Renee

Yeah, I know it is.

It’s wild when you look at what’s it called, the Bristol Stool Chart.

Tina Anderson

It’s just so interesting.

Renee

I feel like that whole like if you go to the grocery store, you go somewhere, you’re looking for, OK, I’m going to start a probiotic.

It can be very confusing.

There’s so many different products out there and they all have like confusing numbers on them.

Like how many of this is in that?

And anyways, it gets very confusing as a consumer who’s not like a researcher in this area.

So Just Thrive uses what’s called spore-based probiotics.

Can you explain what that means and why that makes it different from a typical probiotic we would see on the shelf at the grocery store?

Tina Anderson

Yeah, so spore-based probiotics have this armor-like shell around themselves and that allows them to survive the journey from your mouth all the way down to your intestine.

So remember when you buy your probiotic, you know, you swallow, you put it in your mouth, you swallow it, it goes through, it has to make its way all the way down to the intestinal tract.

Well, on its way to the intestinal tract, there’s a couple things.

One, it goes into your body, which is 98.6, which is very hot.

Then it has to get through your stomach.

Your stomach’s very acidic.

In fact, the stomach acidity gets down to a pH of around 1.2 and that is like incredibly acidic.

And most, and it’s, we want an acidic stomach because that is helping get pathogens and things that we don’t want.

So, but you want your probiotics to get to the intestines.

In order to be even defined as a probiotic, it needs to be a live microorganism that when administered in adequate amount confers a benefit onto the host.

And so what?

That’s what that means.

It has to get to the intestines alive.

And so the overwhelming majority of probiotics in the market never make that journey into the intestines alive.

And that is the really big difference with the spores is they have this armor-like shell around themselves and it allows them to make that journey and get into the intestines.

And once they get into the intestines, they go in there and they work for about 21 to 28 days making, you know, this helping feed the good bacteria and helping get rid of the pathogenic bacteria.

And then they eventually will leave the body, where most probiotics that you see on the market, like the overwhelming majority of them, will go through the stomach, will get killed off by the stomach.

But then even the dead bacteria may give you some benefit, but they’re not making a true change in the gut.

And the best analogy I could use for this is a garden.

So if you envision this garden and the gardener, or there’s a garden and there’s weeds growing all over that garden and there’s plants and the plants have been like stepped on and trampled on and they’re, it’s just the garden’s a mess.

And you kind of equate that to your gut and your gut in your intestines, you have the good bacteria and you have the pathogenic bacteria, the bad stuff.

And so in that garden, the gardener goes in there and it helps get rid of the weeds in the garden and helps bring those plants that have been trampled on and, and helps bring them back to life.

And so the spores are like the gardener that’s going in and getting rid of the weeds in the garden, getting rid of that pathogenic bacteria, or at least helping them not grow as much and then helping the good plants kind of come back to life.

So it’s going in, the spores are going into the intestines and helping bring those beneficial bacteria come back to life.

And so it’s, it’s a much, much more efficient way to make a true profound change.

Now, if you take the other types of probiotics that are commonly found in the market, you will, you’ll put those into a garden that, you know, I’m mentioning and they will maybe plant a new plant here and there.

But they’re not really doing anything with the weeds.

They’re not doing anything with those plants that have already been stepped on and trampled on.

They’re just maybe planting a new plant in there.

So that’s the best way I could kind of explain the difference between the two.

I would not get caught up in CFU numbers or that, that’s the number you were talking about.

You might say, you might see some that say like 50 billion CFUs, 100 billion CFUs, 250.

I mean there’s some of like 500 billion CFUs and there’s absolutely no science behind that.

That is all marketing.

Most companies know their probiotic strains are dying.

And again, I don’t suggest that those probiotics aren’t doing anything.

They may do a little something, you know, they may plant a plant in there, make it a little bit better.

But back to that root cause, you know, it might be treating some symptoms, but it’s not getting to the root cause.

The spores have been shown in studies that they’re actually getting to that root cause and helping bring this, your microbiome into a much more healthy and diverse state.

Renee

So you said it’ll stay in your system for 21 to 28 days?

Tina Anderson

Is that what you said, so.

Renee

Is it something that takes, so if somebody started tomorrow, is it something like, oh, is it like the next day you’re going to notice something?

How does it work with regard to that?

Tina Anderson

Yeah.

So the 21 to 28, I don’t want you to think it will take 21 to 28 days to see any benefit because very likely you’d see a benefit within a week or two, maybe even a couple days.

But, and you know, everyone is so different.

There’s some people where it’s like they feel it immediately and then there’s some that may feel it for, may not feel for a couple weeks.

And some people experience something called die-off, which is basically your, your probiotic is getting rid of the toxins and like you’re just, you’re, I’m sorry, you’re getting rid of the pathogenic bacteria and then like it’s releasing toxins, which sometimes actually causes more discomfort.

And I never want people to worry about that.

That’s a good sign.

It means that it’s, you know, going in and taking care of the bad stuff.

It’s just kind of like, I always suggest going slowly with it.

So it’s doing 1 every other day or one every couple days to start out.

And by a week you should be able to titrate up to just one every day.

So those, you might, those, know those feelings you might feel sooner than the 21 to 28 days.

But no, you will start feeling things usually within a couple weeks.

But I always say like the magic starts to happen after like a couple months, because when you start to like fix, you know, a lot of times people will come to us, let’s say for bloating or, you know, digestive issues or skin issues or whatever it might be.

They come and they start taking the product and then they’ll say, oh my God, it’s like after like a couple months, they’re like, now I understand.

Like, and now it’s like I have more energy.

I’m obviously going to the bathroom more regularly.

So obviously you have more energy and then you have people start experience weight management even.

And it’s, it’s crazy.

Like all these things start to happen.

You’re sleeping better.

When your gut starts to feel better, it’s like you just all these other things start to happen and it’s back to that root cause thing.

It’s like it’s all so tied together.

And one of the things I love about this versus the pharma world was just that they were just focusing on symptoms and we’re talking about just getting to the root cause and then seeing all these other things start to fall into place.

It’s really fun.

Renee

Are there things that if somebody is very determined to like improve their gut health?

I might be talking about myself.

So let’s say you’re taking Just Thrive every day, you titrate up to being like taking one every single day.

What are other lifestyle things that we should either be avoiding or that we should be mindful of that could have a negative effect on our gut health?

Tina Anderson

Yeah.

I’m so glad you asked that because the spores are one aspect in your tool.

It’s one tool in your toolbox.

I mean, there are so many other very important tools that you need to focus on.

One is that we need to really try to eliminate the processed foods as much as possible.

Nobody’s perfect.

I’m certainly not perfect, but really trying to eliminate things that are offenders to our gut like processed foods, sugar, all those things.

We also want to focus on, you know, being more mindful.

There’s a huge gut-brain connection.

So we know the calmer we are, we actually send signals from the gut up to the brain.

So we could actually, I would always recommend people trying to just be calmer.

One of the most important things is avoiding antibiotics.

Antibiotics are so detrimental to our gut health.

Also, things like, and of course antibiotics save lives and I never want to suggest that you don’t take an antibiotic when a doctor prescribes one to you, but you know, you may not always need an antibiotic.

You know, 50%, the CDC estimates that 50% of antibiotics are actually not necessary.

So, you know, really want to make sure.

And doctors are so much better about this right now because we now know how important the gut is.

But you know, antibiotics are in our food supply.

They’re in animal products.

So we have to be mindful of that.

Glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in Roundup, which is sprayed all over our produce, is also a huge offender to our gut health.

So as organic as we could possibly eat, I know it’s expensive, but sometimes, you know, if you buy the frozen organic at Costco or wherever, you could, you know, usually find some pretty affordable options of organic.

But trying to prioritize, you know, staying away from processed foods, eating a lot of whole foods, that is a huge help.

And eating a diverse group of foods is also really important.

We are such creatures of habit.

I think we eat like 8 to 12 different types of food a year where our ancestors used to eat like 200 to 300 different types of foods a year.

So trying to be really prescriptive about when you go to the grocery store, you know, finding a vegetable that you haven’t eaten in a long time or, you know, easy, eating seasonally, because the more diverse your microbiome is, the more healthy your microbiome is.

And this is especially true for kids.

We know, you know, kids are just, they’re just, I feel I’m so passionate about this, obviously because I’m a mother of three and a grandmother now of three.

But kids born nowadays are in such a, their guts are just born into this sterile environment and they are just, they, they’re just, there’s so many offenders out there.

And I would argue that my gut when I was born is way healthier than my grandkids’ gut when they were born because of the world we’re living in.

We live in this very offensive world to our gut.

You know, the antibacterial soaps and the antibacterial hand sanitizers, all of the household cleaning products.

Like, I mean, I would suggest you just use like, you know, water and essential oils on your counters most of the time, maybe once in a while do this deep cleaning, but this sterile environment and getting rid of the bacteria isn’t always as beneficial as I think we once thought.

So we live in this disruptive world, this world that’s so disruptive to our gut health.

And I don’t mean to paint a bad picture because there’s lots of things that we could do.

Like I said, trying to eat whole, real organic foods is really helpful.

Trying to be calm, taking walks in nature, whatever it is that keeps you calmer is really important.

And then, and obviously another tool in your toolbox is, you know, something like a spore-based probiotic is great, but lots, lots, there’s lots of other tools out there as well.

Renee

Yeah, just a little story about the antibiotic thing.

I get chronic sinus infections and for a while it was like, you are suffering so much and so eventually doctors give you an antibiotic.

And then I learned that most sinus infections are viral, they’re not bacterial.

So the antibiotic does nothing.

But what ends up happening is people start to take it and then after a few days, the sinus infection naturally goes away anyways.

And so they attribute that to the antibiotic.

But most sinus infections are not bacterial.

And so I just stopped.

I manage symptoms now and I just stopped because there’s nothing you can do but it has to run its course.

Like now, I work on prevention instead.

Tina Anderson

Yeah, that’s awesome that you do.

Renee

I never knew that.

Like nobody ever sat me down and was like, you know, most sinus infections are viral.

It’s not a bacterial thing.

It was just kind of like, oh, here’s antibiotic.

So I assumed that was the treatment for a sinus infection.

Yeah, isn’t that, and?

Tina Anderson

Here’s the worst part.

When you have a viral infection like you’re talking about, and obviously lots of people have viral infections that end up going on antibiotics, it actually, it harms your ability or it hinders your ability to fight the infection because 80% of our immune system is actually found in our gut.

So now we’re taking, our gut is now being attacked by this antibiotic and is not as strong and healthy to fight off the viral infection that’s out there.

So it is really important.

Now again, you know, I’m not a doctor and I don’t want to ever tell someone not to take an antibiotic.

But I think you have to think long and hard before you take one.

Just knowing what it’s going to do to your gut or, you know, giving it to your kids, which is, but again, you know, you have to use your own judgment on that and, and.

Renee

Yeah, it’s like one of those things where obviously there’s situations where it’s needed and it saves lives, but I think we just become like something happens and then we want antibiotics because in the past, our experience is that it just cleared something right up.

But it’s not always the best option.

If people are listening and they’re wondering like, oh, I wonder if I have issues with my gut, like what are the most common symptoms that people experience if their gut microbiome is off?

Tina Anderson

Definitely the digestive ones that I mentioned, like gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, acid reflux, all those types of conditions are definitely situations where you’d be like, OK, I definitely have some gut issues going on.

But I think what people aren’t realizing or are now just starting to realize, like I had mentioned, skin issues.

So someone’s experiencing acne, eczema, I mean autoimmune.

Almost all autoimmune conditions are tied somehow to the leakiness of the gut lining.

So we know that like things like eczema and skin issues are definitely tied to our gut and other autoimmune issues.

You’d want to be focusing on the gut as well.

You also want to focus on the gut when you’re talking about like mental health or mood issues.

You know, we know that, you know, anxiety, depression, all those types of conditions also have a connection to your gut.

We know there’s a huge gut-brain connection.

And so nobody, you know, people would never think of looking at their gut when they were talking about, you know, mood issues.

So, but we know that there is a huge connection with the gut and the brain.

Renee

What about stress?

I was reading about the connection.

So if you have a healthy gut, you may have more capacity to manage stress or handle stress.

Tina Anderson

Yes, I’m so glad you.

That is probably one of the biggest offenders out there next to like antibiotics and glyphosate with your gut, stress, which is why I was saying like try to like meditate or go for walks in nature or whatever it is that makes you feel just calmer.

You know, doing deep, some deep breathing, you know, for just three minutes three times a day, you know, just during different times your day because stress is very, very detrimental to our gut health.

And like the reverse is true.

If you have this healthy gut, you’ll, you should be able arguably be able to handle stress a little bit better.

Now, you know, we, we are all faced with stress obviously every day.

We can’t get rid of it, unfortunately, but we certainly could try to minimize it, and we could also try to allow our bodies to handle it better.

Renee

I remember talking to my naturopath about like constipation and she was like, Renee, your body thinks it’s being attacked by a bear all day.

How is it supposed to relax and go poop?

I was like, that is a fabulous point.

Tina Anderson

That is exactly what I was just going to say.

You know, our ancestors survived in this fight-or-flight state.

You know, we were, they would be totally fine.

And then all of a sudden they’d be being chased by a saber-toothed tiger.

And so they go into this fight-or-flight response and, and they’re, you know, running and running.

And that was so protective.

It’s a protective mechanism.

But now, I mean, our phone rings and we’re like, oh my God.

You know, or, you know, something happens or a deadline.

You didn’t meet a deadline.

You’re freaking out.

So yeah, we’re, you know, the kids are, you’re late for school.

I remember taking my kids to school every morning and I’d be like, let’s go, guys, we’re running late.

And my husband would say, have the kids ever been late to school once?

And I’m like, no.

He’s like every morning you say, oh my God, you guys, you know.

I’m like, oh my God, that’s such a good point.

So I just, it’s like we’re just always in this fight-or-flight response all day long.

And so the key is to try to minimize that as much as possible.

Renee

Chill.

Yeah.

And I’ve been talking a lot online right now about how over the summer I was so good at being chill and minimizing stress.

And, like, I started painting and I was walking twice a day.

Like, everything was just so lovely.

And now that it’s September and my son is back in school, I should be less stressed because, like, we’re not busy with summer plans and visitors and, like, but I’m so stressed all of a sudden in September.

And I think it’s like this mental loop of like, oh, it’s September.

Like you got to get back to, to doing what?

Like changing my whole life around, like being more organized and being productive.

And nothing has changed from August to September with regard to my work or deadlines or anything.

It’s just I’m putting all this on myself because it’s September.

Tina Anderson

Yeah. You know, Renee, that’s so funny that you said that because I always felt that way.

And I would be, you know, so many parents would be like, I’m so psyched for the kids to go back to school.

And I get that.

But I was like, there was something about that structure that caused me more stress.

And it was like, you know, you have to get school supplies, you have to make sure their homework was done on time.

You have to make sure, you know, you’re there at a certain time to pick them up.

And I totally can relate to that.

So I’m glad I’m not the only one.

I thought I was kind of a little bit oddball out.

Renee

Like, oh my God, I’m so looking forward to back to school in September.

I’m going to have so much time.

And it comes and I’m like, oh my God.

Tina Anderson

Oh my, I know, I know.

Renee

Can you tell us a little bit about the relationship between gut health and metabolism?

And maybe also, I feel like metabolism is something that’s talked about so much and I don’t even know if I really, like, understand that it’s your body burning calories.

Is that correct?

OK.

So yeah, maybe we could just give like a refresher on what your metabolism is and then how your gut health is related to that.

Tina Anderson

Yeah.

Well, you don’t, it’s like it’s the bacteria that we’re producing.

Like the more, the healthier your gut microbiome is, so like the more diversity you have in your microbiome, it’s going to be able to metabolize the food that much better and be able.

And I mean, think about when you start to go to the bathroom more regularly, you’re getting rid of food that, you know, that was meant to be leaving your body instead of staying there.

So, and we know that it’s allowing you, these types of bacteria will dictate whether you’re one of those people that could look at a cupcake and gain 10 lbs or somebody that can eat 10 cupcakes and not gain a lot of weight.

Obviously there’s also people who have, you know, there’s the skinny fat, that’s not good either.

People who are super skinny but aren’t absorbing nutrients and, and that’s not what we want either, but we know that the healthier your gut flora is, the more you’re going to, the better metabolizer you’re going to be.

And you know that.

And we know that that’s based on the type of bacteria that is in your gut, that’s actually in your gut.

Speaker 1

I was also.

Renee

Reading about because now we’re hearing so much about GLP-1s.

I am not educated at all in GLP-1s.

Like what they do to your body.

Like I’m not sure, I just, we hear about them all the time now. They’ve become very popular.

What’s the connection between if somebody was taking a GLP-1 and their gut health and taking a probiotic?

Tina Anderson

Yeah.

So I think it’s a really important conversation to have because they are so popular and gaining so much attention.

And I think there’s some really good data behind the GLP-1.

Obviously, if you’re somebody who needs it, I think there’s a lot of conversations online about microdosing and how if you truly are microdosing, you’re not actually losing weight, you’re just changing your inflammatory numbers and your, some of your metabolic markers like insulin, A1C, all those types of things.

But what we do know about GLP-1s unequivocally is that they cause, you know, for many, many people that are taking them, they cause nausea, bloating, have a lot of gastrointestinal issues because when you think about it, it slows your motility down.

So literally your food is just sitting there.

So you’re not going to the bathroom as regularly, which going to the bathroom is really, really important.

So it’s really important to like focus on your, you know, your gut health by taking either a probiotic or doing all the other things that we talked about.

But I also think it’s really important that every calorie that you take in, you’re thinking like, is it high in protein?

Is it high in fiber?

You know, you have to be very, very calculated about the foods you’re consuming when you’re on a GLP-1, because there’s no point in being on it and having a piece of bread with toast with butter on it and then not really getting any nutrients from it because your body could only start to handle a certain amount of food.

So I really think it’s key for people to, you know, if they’re on a GLP-1, to be taking a high quality probiotic because of that, because we know our gut is impacted by it with, you know, a lot of the symptoms that are out there.

And, you know, we, we also want to make sure that, you know, we want to lose weight.

I understand a lot of people want to lose weight, but that doesn’t always leave us metabolically healthier.

You know, we don’t want to be undernourished, we don’t want to be constipated.

We don’t want to lose a significant amount of muscle along the way.

That’s super important.

So, but you know, it again, it could be a very important medication, a very amazing tool for people, but we still have to nourish the body and that, you know, even with the weight that’s being lost.

So, and we know there’s a lot of gastrointestinal implications with the GLP-1.

So really, really important that if you are on GLP-1 to focus on taking care of your gut microbiome because there are implications there.

And so that’s.

Renee

Probiotics, I know Just Thrive recently came out with Digestive Bitters.

Can you explain what that is and whether someone should include that alongside a probiotic or how do we take Digestive Bitters?

Tina Anderson

Yeah, so Digestive Bitters are actually, they’re herbs that have been used for thousands and thousands of years to support digestive health.

I mean, they are, they’ve been used for so long and they just have kind of, you know, they’re not really around as much as we, they used to be and our body needs them.

We have bitter receptors.

People think of having bitter receptors just in their, on their tongue, in their mouth, but it’s actually, we have bitter receptors throughout our whole body, you know, mostly in our digestive system, but even in our lungs there’s, there’s digestive or bitter receptors.

So we, we think of bitters as, try, if you think about the probiotic as handling like the entire digestive tract, you know, from the, or the entire intestinal tract.

So like the small intestine primarily all the way down to the distal colon, what the bitters are doing are supporting the stomach.

The stomach is working so hard on a regular basis and it’s, you know, it’s over, really, it’s overworked and it’s kind of not being cared for the way it should be.

So we think of the Digestive Bitters as supporting our stomach.

And so it helps produce, what Digestive Bitters do is they produce, help our body produce digestive enzymes.

So we’re able to absorb, you know, our food better and break down our food better, helps produce more bile.

It actually helps our, ourselves, our own body produce more GLP-1s.

So our body naturally produces GLP-1s anyway.

And so taking Digestive Bitters actually helps our body produce their own GLP-1s, helps our body produce their own digestive enzymes.

So you could break down food better.

So the Digestive Bitters are really important for bloating and all of the things that are associated with like eating that become discomforting.

But also then the probiotic itself is kind of like, I look at the probiotic as like the foundation of your overall health because it’s touching, you know, that whole ecosystem in your gut and the bitters are kind of a help, an aid in digestion.

Renee

Do people take the bitters, is this like a daily thing or is this, you take it with a meal or?

Tina Anderson

Yep, you could take it.

I would always recommend taking it before a meal.

It’s kind of hard to remember, but I’ve finally got to a point where I remember it before my meal.

I leave it right next to my water filter cooler, my Aqua Smart.

Yeah, AquaTru.

Renee

And I always do.

Tina Anderson

That before dinner.

Some people take it before each meal.

I take it before 1 meal a day, usually dinner.

And you just, yeah, take it before you, like, 15 minutes, 10, 15 minutes before you eat.