Help Hormone Imbalance, Skin Issues, Allergies, & Leaky Gut with One Single Thing

Tina Anderson: It's like you're reininoculating your immune system and your gut microbes. Um, when kids [clears throat] are eating boogers, it's like and just putting your hands in your mouth, you're getting that's all the way we evolved.

Bethany Cameron: You're listening to the Digest This podcast and I'm your host, Bethany Cameron. Hormone regulation, less bloating, nutrient absorption, better sleep, mental clarity, less sugar cravings, and clearer skin can all be fixed by one simple solution. And it all starts in your gut. I have Tina Anderson with me, who is the co-founder of Just Thrive Probiotics, which is a spore-based probiotic capsule you may have already heard of. We debunk common misconceptions about if probiotics need to be refrigerated. Why certain probiotics are refrigerated and some aren't. Why taking too many probiotics can actually cause more issues than you think. Why drinking with a meal isn't the best idea. And if you suffer from SIBO, how Just Thrive probiotics has been shown to help while others can actually harm with SIBO. Even if you think you know all there is to know about probiotics, I can guarantee you will learn something new like I did in today's episode. So, let's get right into it.

Bethany Cameron: Okay, everyone. We have Tina Anderson here from Just Thrive. And before we get into the nitty-gritty, I like to start my podcast with some rapid fire yes or no questions. And you can only answer yes or no. Are you ready, Tina?

Tina Anderson: Okay, sure. Let's go.

Bethany Cameron: Okay. First question. Does glyphosate affect gut health?

Tina Anderson: Yes.

Bethany Cameron: Are probiotics just a fad?

Tina Anderson: No.

Bethany Cameron: Do all probiotics need to be refrigerated?

Tina Anderson: No.

Bethany Cameron: Should kids be eating their boogers?

Tina Anderson: [laughter] Yes.

Bethany Cameron: Oh my gosh. Okay. And the last question is, is a sterile home a safer home?

Tina Anderson: No.

Bethany Cameron: Very interesting answers to some interesting questions. Um, Tina, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself and tell my listeners who you are and what you do.

Tina Anderson: Sure. Uh, my name is Tina Anderson. I am the co-founder of Just Thrive. Um, I've had a kind of an interesting background. I started out my career in law. I was an attorney or I still am an attorney but I um was in law and in litigation for many years and after being after having my second child I decided I wanted to um have a better work life balance. So I went into the pharmaceutical industry and I thought it was awesome because I'm like we are saving lives helping people feel better and all this you know what what we thought was happening but after being in the industry I think we saw a lot of the abuses. My husband and I were both in the industry and we saw a lot of the abuses in the industry and we wanted to do something that was more in line with how we lived our lives ourselves with our own three children and we got into researching natural health and wellness. We kind of lived our lives that way anyway. And we um we learned about the gut and the human microbiome project had launched and we were like this is what we need to get into. And um we f we wanted to focus more on helping people with chronic conditions. um we understand that pharmaceuticals are great for acute type situations or you know saving lives of course but we're talking about chronic conditions and we're kind of we wanted to get more into like the root cause of medicine rather than you know just treating symptoms and band-aids and so from there um we out of the grace of God a lot of meditation a lot of prayer we were able to license these very exclusive strains out of London University and we came to the market with Just Thrive which is a spore-based probiotics. So, we are complete disruptors in the industry. And so, for the last 14 years, I've dedicated so much of my life to the gut health space.

Bethany Cameron: Amazing. And I can only imagine the things that you saw being in the pharmaceutical industry with antibiotic overuse and things like that, which I'm I'm sure everyone knows it does disrupt the gut microbiome. Um now with so many people using antibiotics um the overuse of them like you said they can save lives um when you need them, right? Um actually my brother he had to take [clears throat] a really intense course of antibiotics to um save his leg otherwise they were going to chop his leg off. So thankfully you know he still has his leg. So, I'm very grateful for antibiotics in that sense, but um people are taking them or should I say medical professionals are handing them out like candy. Um so, can you just elaborate on what antibiotics do to the gut microbiome?

Tina Anderson: Yeah, so they're like a nuclear bomb going up in your gut microbiome. I mean, they are basically um destroying all of your beneficial bacteria. They're getting rid of the bad bacteria, which is why you're taking them, but they're destroying all your good bacteria at the same time. And in order to have a healthy microbiome, which of course leads to health, you know, you start to like you basically are getting rid of that good bacteria in the gut. And it takes years. I mean, if they've studied this, it takes years to grow it back and to like have it start to thrive again. And you know the CDC even came out with a study saying that 50% of antibiotics are actually unnecessary that were prescribed. So even the CDC is admitting that. So you could imagine that number is probably higher and a lot of it is yeah we blame the doctors but a lot of it [clears throat] is patients. You know people will say like I'm heading out of town and I have you know I have a little bit of a cold so give me some antibiotics. And you know not only is that detrimental for your gut health but it's actually not going to help you fight a viral infection because 80% of our immune system is found in our gut. And so now we're going to go and take something that's destroying or like you know harming our immune system that we need to actually help fight off the viral infection. So um but yeah I would be very cautious of taking antibiotics unless absolutely necessary because they really are so disruptive to your gut health.

Bethany Cameron: Now can you share about the study that was conducted on a three-year-old and how they mimicked her gut and what they did?

Tina Anderson: Oh yeah, that was the glyphosate study. Yes. [clears throat] Yeah. Yeah. So they basically took this, you know, pristine um they they mimicked her in a shine metal study and they mimicked her gut microbiome and they found that um after giving them the spores, this type of strains that are found in Just Thrive, and we could go into what those are, um it actually helped reduce that the effects of the glyphosate because glyphosate we have to remember is actually arguably worse than antibiotics to our gut because like we know that antibiotics actually kill off the bad bacteria, which we want it to do, but it's also killing off the good bacteria where glyphosate only mimic or only um kills off the good bacteria. So, it's actually worse than an antibiotic. So, oh my gosh. Yeah. So, that study actually showed that it um helped reduce that exposure to the glyphosate in the child's microbi. We didn't take a true three-year-old because, you know, we would never do that. But they, the researchers just took they mimicked their microbiome in something called the Shine Metal study.

Bethany Cameron: That is so interesting. And that just goes to show because so many foods today are bombarded with glyphosate. Even organic produce, they're finding gly trace uh traces of glyphosate in them. And I don't think that is the cause. I think it's definitely contributing to a lot of people's health and gut health in particular these days. Um, and would you say that a bad diet, let's just say a bunch of junk food and processed foods, do you think that's worse than taking antibiotics or do you think antibiotics are worse than eating a junk life like a junk food lifestyle? Does that make sense?

Tina Anderson: Yeah, the qu it's it's really interesting because I'm I'm gonna have trouble answering that one. I mean, they're so bad. They're both so equally offensive, but I guess if I had to, I would probably say antibiotics are worse. But wow. But they're both pretty darn bad. I mean, we we've got to clean up our food supply if you want to start healing your gut. I mean, the the this food supply is just so detrimental to our gut health. The processed food.

Bethany Cameron: Well, and I also think many Americans, maybe not my listeners, they're pretty savvy and smart, but a lot [clears throat] of Americans, they will, let's just say they'll pick up Just Thrive probiotics and they're like, "Okay, this is going to like help my gut. I'm going to feel better." But what would you say to them if they're not removing all of the offenders, right? They're not removing the fast food. They're not removing all these gut irritants.

Tina Anderson: Yeah. No, I would say that Just Thrive is a really powerful tool in your toolbox, but it's just one tool. You know, we have to start doing other things like removing the offenders, trying to stay away from toxins, trying to stay I mean, we can't get away from all the toxins. The air we're breathing is so toxic. You know, we're we're just like you said, even organic food has glyphosate and we we're having trouble getting rid of glyphosates altogether because it's in the rainwater. I mean, as clean as farmers try to be, it's like we they just there are things that can't prevent them. But, um, we really have to try to reduce the exposure of them. And and the biggest thing what I like to do is say we want to build resilience in our gut. And that's where I think that's why I feel like just Thrive is so powerful is that it's helping you build resilience in your gut because we we are going to be faced with those offenders. But we as a person need to really try to reduce the exposure. The um taking of antibiotics, exposure to glyphosates, even you know, stress obviously is a huge offender to our gut health. So all of these different offenders, personal care products, you know, using things like bleach and household products that are just really disruptive to our gut health. Um, I would I definitely would recommend, you know, reducing those to have the effects of something like a Just Thrive work that much better.

Bethany Cameron: Okay. So, I want to talk first about what probiotics are in Just Thrive because obviously you created it and you did not put certain things in and you put certain things in and why.

Tina Anderson: Yes. So, we chose four spore-based probiotics. We did not choose. They're all basillus strains of probiotics. So we did not choose the most common type of probiotics that you'll see on the market, lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. And there's a lot of reason for that. One of the reasons we intentionally left those out of our formulation is that we know lactobacillus and bifidobacterium strains just by their very nature are very sensitive organisms. They have a great deal of difficulty surviving that journey through the gastric system. The stomach acid, it's very very acidic environment. I mean, with a pH of 1.2 or 1.3, it would burn your finger off. It's so it's that acidic. So, most probiotics on the market will die off just from the acidic environment of the stomach alone. So, they never get to your intestines alive. And just to be defined as a probiotic, it needs to be a live microorganism that when delivered in adequate amounts delivers confers a benefit onto the host, which is the body. So the majority of probiotics out there, strains are not getting to the intestines alive. And that is the number one reason why we chose to not use Lactobacillus in our formulation because we wanted probiotics that survive. And that is one of the biggest advantages of spores is they have this endospore shell around themselves. And this is not something that we've engineered. You know, we know companies now know this. They know that Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains are very sensitive. So they do things like interic coat them or they do delayed release or they do all these different types of engineering to try to get them into the intestines alive and they might get to the intestines alive but then what happens when they get into the intestines and they hit the bile salts which are going to likely kill them off or the body temperature which is 98.6. So, um, most of those still are dying by the time they get into the intestines. And if they even if they don't die, they just pass through like food where the spores very different. They actually stay there. They stay in the intestines for about 21 to 28 days where they're working through the intestinal tract. When they get to the intestines, so maybe I can just explain how these spores stay alive. They're actually dormant when you swallow them. So, in the capsule, they're dormant. are not live bacteria. They're dormant. They're like asleep. So you swallow them, they're dormant. They hit the gastric system. They stay in their dormant shell and they when they're dormant, they have that shell around themselves. When they hit the intestines, they recognize at the as their home and they take their shell off and that's when they go into their live vegetative cell state. And that's when they do something called quorum sensing. And quorum sensing, of course, is where they're reading the microbial environment. And they're doing something very different in my gut than they're doing in your gut. They're reading it and they're taking getting rid of the pathogenic bacteria. They're helping get rid of that. They're helping get our good bacteria come back to life. And this is how we create diversity or this l lush garden, if you will, of in our gut.

Bethany Cameron: Amazing. And you brought up a great point because so many probiotics are refrigerated, right? And I always thought, well, if it needs refrigeration, how is it going to survive your 98.6 body temperature once you swallow it? Like that kind of defeats the purpose, right?

Tina Anderson: Yes. No, exactly. It just it made no sense from the beginning. We're like, this doesn't make sense. And doctors are saying this all the time. Take a probiotic when you're on an antibiotic, but make sure that you make get one in the refrigerator because it needs to be a live microorganism. And it's like, no, it needs to be alive in your gut. It doesn't need to be alive on the refrigerator store shelf. You know, it needs to be alive in your gut. And most of that, I mean, that is the biggest myth I debug all the time. I mean, if it needs to be in the refrigerator, it means it can't withstand the room temperature of the store shelf. So, if these strains can't withstand the room temperature of a store shelf, how in the world would it ever survive your body temperature, which is 98.6 and much hotter than the store shelf? So yes, that is there is absolutely no merit in that.

Bethany Cameron: Exactly. And so for those wondering like oh refrigerator is refrigerated is best that's sometimes simply not the case. Um what is your view on dairy for the gut like you know kefir and all of these probiotic dairy like yogurt and things like that. Do you think that's still beneficial?

Tina Anderson: I do think it's beneficial. I mean obviously if you could tolerate dairy but I do think it's beneficial. I just don't think it's a replacement for a probiotic because similar to the lactobacillus supplements out there these yogurts will still they'll produce lactobacillus and bifidobacterium but they will die in a stomach acid. That doesn't mean that you're not going to get some benefit. You know, we know fermented foods are very rich in lots of other great nutrients for your gut gut supporting nutrients, but it wouldn't necessarily be a replacement for them. So, I'm I am a fan of fermented foods. Um, but I and yogurts as long as they're of course yogurts are loaded with sugar and we have to be careful with that, but and then there's obviously many people who are sensitive to dairy, but I think there could be some benefit to it.

Bethany Cameron: Okay. Um, and then one of the probiotics is basillus coagulins. And I noticed that right away because many years ago I was doing research on basillus coagulins and reading studies of how this particular strain can help with candida specifically. Um, it's something that I had struggled with years ago and so I started taking basillus coagulins. Um, I know you have other basillus strains in here as well, but um, what other things can these basillus strains help in particular like candida?

Tina Anderson: Yeah, the candida thing is interesting because what they do is they actually kind of like elbow out the overgrowth of candida. Of course, we know candida is a natural part of our gut flora, but we also know that the overgrowth of it is where it becomes problematic. And so um we know that the coagulants are really great for that. We also know that that helps with diarrhea and um bloating and different abdominal type of pain that we would experience. The interesting thing is our basillus indicus strain. So it's our HU36 strain that's in the product that is very very unique. It actually produces antioxidants. So that strain actually is producing antioxidants right at the site of absorption. So right in the gut. So, it's this little nutrient fra fraction, I'm sorry, and this little nutrient factory that's actually creating all these antioxidants, which of course helps with oxidative stress. And to be able to have that right in the gut, you know, to um combat all of that oxidative stress is really remarkable. And it's why we see such incredible results with the product. So, um all of these strains have been so well studied for um you know, the typical gastrointestinal issues. But here's what's so interesting about our formulation and what I feel is the gold standard in the probiotic um space is that if we have probiotics that have been studied on how they work together, what a lot of companies are doing out there is that they take a single strain. So for example, Lactobacillus ramnosis GG, one of the most wellstudied strains of probiotics on the market. Well, companies are taking a a generic lacto ramnosis, just a lactose ramnosis, not the GG. That strain ID is very very critical in identifying the research that goes behind a particular strain. And so, you want to make sure that whatever probiotic you're taking has that strain ID at the end of it and that that research associated with that strain ID is what you know, you want to research, want to look at that research and make sure it's actually doing what you want it to be doing or the reason why you're going to a probiotic. But the absolute gold standard is to find a probiotic that actually has been studied together. the strains have been studied together and that's what we have is we took our strains studied them together to see how they worked in with each other and are they synergistic and in fact the studies show that they were we have a double blind human clinical trial on linky gut which we could go into later but um I just think it's really important for listeners to understand is that there are so many probiotics out there that have 10 15 even 20 different strains on the back of their label and they have never been studied to see how they work together. And that is the key. We want to make sure they work together because UC Davis did a study and they took about 17 different products off of California store shelves and they tested them and only one of them met label claims. So in other words, all the 16 other ones had strains in their product that either were not listed on the label or strains in their product that were listed on label were no longer there. And that's because what happens is people take companies are taking like probiotic strains mixing them in a vat together and one strain combines with another strain and creates a whole new strain that has not been tested for safety or efficacy. We don't know or one strain takes over another strain. So the strain that was originally listed is no longer there. So um I just always would caution people to you know be aware of first look at that they have strain IDs and then make sure that there is studies on that finished formulation to make sure they play nicely together. We can't assume function of the these are live organisms. We can't assume their function unless they've been tested together.

Bethany Cameron: That's a [snorts] really great point. Do you think that's why a lot of people when they start a new probiotic and it's just a concoction that people experience diarrhea?

Tina Anderson: Well, I think that die off happens even with our product, you might experience that. But what you will see is people people have a lot of negative effects with probiotics because of that because of that kitchen sink formula type of thing. Um, of course we always say to like go slowly with any probiotic that you're going to start with. you want to go slowly but then if you continue to have issues with it, it is likely because they may create some inflammation. I mean, we don't know what happens when these probiotics are working together. And we also know obviously with a lot of lactobacillus bifidobacterium strains that it actually makes the problem like SIBO worse. You know, people who have SIBO actually they creates more of an overgrowth in the small bowel. Um whereas we know with the spores, they don't do that. They they are actually very, you know, complimentary to people with SIBO because they do that quorum sensing. They read the microbial environment and they're really making sure, oh, if we have too much bacteria here, we don't want to we want to get rid of it. And and then they'll move on throughout the intestinal tract.

Bethany Cameron: I love that. I love that you uh brought up SIBO because I do get a lot of people on my Instagram saying, "Oh my gosh, I have SIBO. I can't do probiotics." So, maybe this would be something to to try.

Tina Anderson: Absolutely. I mean, we always tell people with SIBO especially, go slowly, but this is this will not contribute to that overgrowth in the small bowel at all because remember, it's doing that quorum sensing. It's having the ability to read the pathogenic bacteria and help get rid of it and actually help bring our good bacteria back to life. So, it's reading the environment. They're very intelligent bacteria. These basillus strains very intelligent bacteria and they have the ability to read the microbial environment. And so someone with SIBO would be a great probiotic to give a try.

Bethany Cameron: Amazing. Okay, we've [clears throat] already talked about glyphosate. We've already talked about antibiotics, about how they can ruin the gut, but what are some other offenders when it comes to gut health that maybe some people may not think about?

Tina Anderson: Yeah. So stress is a big one. Um, we don't think of that. It seems so woo woo, but we know the gut and brain are very connected through the vagus nerve. um you know we know that when we're nervous um or you know we have to go to the bathroom more regularly or when we're like really excited about something we get butterflies in our stomach. We know that there is a proven now scientifically back you know connection between the gut and the brain through that vag nerve. So when we are stressed the brain is sending signals down to the gut and that is very detrimental to our gut health. So, I would always recommend people, you know, meditating, going for walks in nature, doing whatever it is that really calms you down. Um, I would definitely do that. I would definitely try to clean your house with, you know, you don't need lots of cleaning products or anything like that. Just, you know, every once in a blue moon, you could use those cleaning products, but on a regular basis, take some water and, you know, maybe put some essential oils in it, spray your countertops or whatever. just trying to stay away from all those chemicals that are so disruptive to our gut. Um, we know leaky gut is very disruptive to our gut and um, we could talk about that now or we could talk about it later, but there's just so many Yeah, I mean leaky gut is a huge huge problem. I would say an epidemic in this country. The med medical term for it is metabolic endotoxmia. But the easiest way to describe leaky gut, even though I'm sure all of your listeners already know what it is, but I love to use like a coffee filter analogy, and it's like, you know, it's like you have a coffee filter, that's your intestinal cell wall, and it the coffee filter has holes in it. And so your intestinal cell wall starts to have holes in it. And if your coffee filter has holes in it, you start getting grinds of coffee into your coffee cup, which you don't want. And so when you have this leakiness of the gut, you start to the tight junctions open up on your intestinal cell wall and toxins like LPS toxins, lipopolysaccharides um start to seep into your blood bloodstream or food particles start to seep into your bloodstream. So um these lipopolysaccharides and the food particles are not problematic necessarily in your gut. It's when they seep into your bloodstream that they start to have this inflammatory response. your immune system recognizes them as an invader and starts this inflammatory response and this is where chron you have this chronic lowgrade inflammation and this is what leads to disease. I mean this is literally the biggest culprit of most diseases. I mean 90% of non-communicable diseases could really be tied back to that metabolic endotoxmia or leaky gut. And uh we actually University of North Texas did a study on the strains the spores used in Just Thrive. And the study they did this is crazy. They took 100 healthy college students. These are healthy college students, no allergies, no no known conditions whatsoever, healthy, thriving, and they tested them to see if they had a leaky gut. And of those hundred, 55% of them had a leaky gut and didn't know it. So these are healthy young kids full of energy and they didn't even know it. So what they did is they took that 55% of the college students. They divided them in half. They gave half the placebo. So just like a sugar pill, they gave the other half a um the spores that are used in Just Thrive. They sent them home for 30 days and with no dietary or lifestyle modifications. So these are, you know, college students. We all know what college students are doing to their gut. Nothing healthy. beer and pizza and late nights and all of that. So they came back 30 days later, they gave them a meal and then they tested to see their LPS toxin level in the bloodstream. They, you know, tested them again. Okay. Half of the group, the the treated group saw a 42% reduction in LPS toxins in the bloodstream. So that is like basically telling us that the spores are actually helping seal up that gut lining because it caused a 42% reduction in LPS toxins seeping into the bloodstream. But what's even scarier I think I mean what's what's scary is that the placebo group so this group that was not getting the spores actually saw a 32% increase in LPS toxins in the bloodstream. So, what that's telling us is that leaky gut is like this drippy faucet. It's like we got this drippy faucet and it's fine. It's fine and then one day you have an autoimmune condition. One day you have allergies, one day you have eczema or whatever it is. It's like one day it just happens and everyone's like, I never had allergies before and now I'm allergic to this. And it's like, well, it didn't just happen over one day. It hope happened over a long period of time. And so, um, it's so critical that we focus on the leakiness of the gut and that intestinal integrity of the intestinal cell wall.

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Bethany Cameron: Okay, this is amazing and I want to backtrack a little bit. So, basically what you're saying is the spores in Just Thrive helped seal the the participants leaky gut.

Tina Anderson: That's exactly what I'm saying. Yep.

Bethany Cameron: That is amazing. And that's just within 30 days.

Tina Anderson: 30 days. That's all this study was. Yep. And I don't know of any other probiotic. I don't know of any pharmaceutical. I don't know of any other product out there that has a study of this magnitude.

Bethany Cameron: Yeah. And so imagine if they kept continue taking it beyond the 30 days.

Tina Anderson: Right. Exactly. Well, that's what I always say. That's when the magic starts to happen. You know, people start to see improvements in in their, you know, digestive system within a couple weeks. But the magic starts to happen after 90 days, 120 days where they start to see the um you know better mood and more energy and even better weight management. All these things start to happen when you start to fix up all that stuff going on in your gut.

Bethany Cameron: Yes. And I think that's too why so many people get frustrated. We're like, "Oh, my friend can eat this and I can't and you know, they have no um repercussions and I get a stomach ache right away." Well, maybe they're not at that point yet where their gut has just completely um h has holes in it, right? Maybe it's going to take them a few couple more years until they experience that. And it's very frustrating to those that are like, I can't eat what my friend eats or whatever. But all that to say is it's going to come probably later in life for that person, unfortunately. Um and real quick, how can someone get tested for leaky gut if someone's curious?

Tina Anderson: Yeah, that's such a great question. Unfortunately, there's not a commercial test available. It's really only done in the research setting. But I just was talking on another podcast last week and I'm like, that's actually a really good business idea. You know, we should probably start finding some commercial tests to figure out how to test leaky gut on a regular, you know, on a on a basis because people want they need to see that. A lot of times people just need to see that they have it and and they want to see the improvements, you know, before they to see what is actually helping them, right?

Bethany Cameron: Yeah. I'm thinking like maybe not a blood test. That would be a little bit hard, but I mean maybe. Who knows? A blood test can share a lot now.

Tina Anderson: Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I'm sure it's coming out or in the works because I mean, it's done in the research setting all the time. They basically just test to see with the lipopolysaccharides how many seep into the bloodstream. That's the test.

Bethany Cameron: So, I I have a question. I I also want to talk about vaccines because I know that can disrupt the gut microbiome, but I also have a lot of mothers or mothers to be and the controversial topic of baby formula and unfortunately there is not a lot of good baby formula out on the market. I am not blaming any mother or pointing fingers at a mother that gives their baby formula. Um, if anything, it's the companies producing such powder, right? Um, and mothers are so limited now. And for whatever reason, maybe it's adoption, maybe it's, you know, they're just not producing enough milk supply, whatever the case may be, a mother has to substitute with formula. Um, do you believe that formula is causing gut issues in babies as they get older later in life?

Tina Anderson: Oh gosh, that's such a relevant question to me right now because my daughter just had a baby two weeks ago and

Bethany Cameron: congratulations.

Tina Anderson: Thank you. And so we've been, you know, she delivered her baby two weeks early and she's nursing and nursing and then like but then she went to her appointment and the baby didn't, you know, they always lose weight initially but lost a little bit more. So then the pediatrician recommended a goat milk type of formula out there. So, I'm kind of more familiar with this than I thought I would be. So, I'm glad that you asked that. Um, but you know, at the end of the day, like I the baby needs to eat, you know, and we want to make sure the baby is doing well. So, as naturally minded as I am and how strongly I feel about breastfeeding and all that, you know, my daughter's like, I I don't want you to be upset if I give him formula. I'm like, I'd be more upset if you didn't give him formula because I want to make sure that, you know, he's doing okay. So, and and eventually her milk supply came in and everything's going great now. So, that's good. But, um I haven't done any a lot of research on this, but we know that of course breast milk is just mothers, you know, it's like the most wonderful thing we could do for our children's microbiomes. I mean, and that's why you even say like moms who are about to deliver, that is the best time or when you're about to conceive, the best time to be focusing on your gut health because that is when a child is inoculated with their microbiome, with their bacteria is through vaginal child birth. And of course, if you have to have a C-section, just do a vaginal swab and they will be able and then then put it all over your baby. And even if the doctors say that's not our protocol, then just say, you know, then you do it yourself. you know, you have your, you know, just swab your vaginal canal and get those microbes, put it all over your baby so that you could the baby could get that. So, it's really important that you, um, pass on your your bacteria onto your baby and you want to pass on your health as healthy of microbiomes as you can. So, um, and then of course nursing is another great way to get those microbes going. But, um, I'm sure that the formula does contribute a lot of them. um the ones like that was recommended to her by her naturopathic pediatrician was a goat milk formula. So maybe just try with that. I I can't remember the name of it now. Like Cababrita or Bobs or

Bethany Cameron: Yeah, Cabriita. I think there's one like that.

Bethany Cameron: Um, I mean, I know there are better options out there, but even the quote better options still have seed oils and some of them still even have, you know, tons of sugar, which is not the same as um lactose sugar. Um, they're finding out. So, and this is interesting. You're you're going to um be interested in this. So, a while back I had shared some stuff on my Instagram about baby formula and I had so many people come to me and this one person just stuck with me and she her and her sister, one was breastfed and one was given baby formula. Well, the one given baby formula she said has tons of allergies, food sensitivities, gut issues, and the one that was breastfed didn't have them. And she's like, "This is so weird. It's just like me and my sister." Um, so I definitely think it plays a part, but again, we can only do our best with what we're given, right? Um, and as you mentioned, passing things on to the baby. So would taking Thrive Just Thrive, I'm sorry. Just Thrive. Would would taking it as your during pregnancy, would that translate to the baby's microbiome?

Tina Anderson: It wouldn't translate like it's not like the baby would be getting them. How it would translate is that you're you are improving your own microbiome. And so when you deliver that's when the baby is inoculated with their microbes. And so they are getting the mother's microbiome and that's how they're getting their microbes is from their mother. So yes, in an indirect way, but while in uterro they wouldn't necessarily get them. It's more during vaginal childirth when the baby is inoculated.

Bethany Cameron: Okay. cuz I've heard stories of like pregnant mothers and they were eating like tons of cookies and then like later on they find out their child just can't stop eating sugar and cookies and things like that. So, it's just interesting to me how how things work. Um, and also just speaking of kids, [sighs and gasps] [snorts] can kids take this? How would you incorporate them? And when would you start incorporating probiotics?

Tina Anderson: Yeah, so kids definitely could take them. Um they are and in fact I get as a mother of three and now a grandmother of two I feel like so passionate about it. Um you know when I was a child I had I knew one classmate who had a peanut allergy. You know I went to a huge high school. One classmate that had a peanut allergy. Of course now it's like an epidemic and their kids have allergies. There's peanutree tables. You can't go to a restaurant without them asking you know are there any allergies. So, um, I definitely would recommend kids take this as a regular part of their, you know, routine, even if they're doing it every other day. Um, how you could take them is great. You could actually open the capsule and mix it with food or water and you can't, you wouldn't taste it. These are so robust, you could bake with them. So, we've tested them up to 455°. They remain perfectly stable. In fact, I forgot to mention this when we were talking about antibiotics. You could take these while you're on an antibiotic. We've tested that, too. they survive the presence of an antibiotic where most probiotics would actually die with the presence of an antibiotic. Um, most probiotics would die in the presence of an antibiotic. And so, um, so yes, with kids, you could open the capsule, mix it with food. You could, um, I just recommended to my daughter to put some on her breast and just have the baby kind of like suck on it just to start getting some of those microbes in the baby. So, um, definitely great for kids. We have a gummy probiotic as well. Um, but you know, I I'm always partial to the the um capsule, but the the gummy, you know, the kids love it, so it tastes good and compliance is half the battle with kids, right?

Bethany Cameron: I know that's that's [laughter] the truth. And I love that you you brought up taking Just Thrive with probiot or with antibiotics because I have actually heard that if you are on a course of antibiotics, you should not take probiotics because the antibiotics will just kill the probiotics and it and then you should do it after you're done with the course. Um but that's not the case with yours.

Tina Anderson: Correct. Yeah. No. And I've heard the same thing. But no, we did a study with liver encphilitis patients who were I mean on some of the strongest antibiotics out there and it showed that the the spores used in Just Thrive actually survive the presence of the those harsh harsh antibiotics. So it's so critical to take it while you're on the probate and I would actually say it's normally just one capsule a day with food but while you're on antibiotic I would suggest two capsules taken at the same time. So, not one in the morning, one at night, but just two capsules at the same time. And you can take it a couple hours away from your antibiotic. But, um, but I would still recommend um taking it while you're on the antibiotic. And again, I'm not a doctor. This is not legal or not medical advice, but it's just that's what the studies have showed us.

Bethany Cameron: Yeah. Okay. I have to ask you, Tina, at the beginning of the episode, I asked you, should kids be eating their boogers? [laughter] And you said yes. I have to know why.

Tina Anderson: Yeah. It's so funny because our microbiologist Kieran Christian who's like you know gut expert talks about this all the time but like you basically are inoculating your immune like when you're it's like you're reininoculating your immune system by by and your gut microbes um when kids are eating boogers it's like and just putting your hands in your mouth you're getting that's all the way we evolved you know and and we're all about evolution how we evolved and it's the same thing with you the spores, they were found in our soil. Our ancestors used to consume these spores on a daily basis. They would eat roots and tubers off the land and then those roots and tubers were teeming with this really beneficial spore bacteria and that's we evolved consuming them. And it's kind of the same thing. I think kids, they just are they're picking their nose and they're eating their boogers. I mean, I don't want my kids to pick their nose and eat their boogers either, but I mean it's not the worst thing in the world.

Bethany Cameron: Yeah, it is. It's not a bad thing. Okay. Now, I [clears throat] did mention I wanted to talk a little bit about vaccines because their vaccines are just being pushed left and right and um I know many of my listeners um probably are not getting them um but maybe they got them as a kid or as a child, right? And how does that uh translate later in life as an adult? Let's just say you did get t tons of vaccines as a kid. Now, you know, does that translate to to poor gut health later?

Tina Anderson: Yeah, I mean, it certainly is one of the factors and and another offender in our gut health and what a lot of the vaccines are doing. I mean, whether it's over-the-counter medicine, pharmaceutical medicine, vaccines, all of those things are very disruptive to our gut health. And so um you know and what we could do the good news I always say like I'm always delivering the bad news like all these offenders whether it's vaccines drugs glyphosate antibiotics all these offenders but the good news is our guts can be healed. I mean you can fix your gut. I mean you are a perfect testament to that. We can fix our gut and that is the beauty in this is that a you know we've always been told like oh this is an incurable disease or we can't deal with this but we can do it. It takes a lot of work sometimes. We obviously we have a very powerful tool in our toolbox with Just Thrive, but there's a lot of things that we could do to heal our guts. So, um yeah, they those things do affect our gut. So, I would always, you know, caution people to empower themselves about vaccines. Um you know, I our team is all about empowerment. That is the biggest. This is why I love being on podcast because they have an opportunity to educate and explain why these spores are different. But I also feel like go take this information and go fact checkck it or go take it and you know read just read lots of different articles about it. We're just huge fans of empowerment and I think that's the same thing with vaccines. I mean I think we have to you have to empower yourself and make the decision that you think is right. Um there's I think a lot of the information was suppressed from people and we weren't making educated decisions and there's pressure and I think people now have become more empowered to know that they have the right to say no or yes to whatever it is that they choose to do.

Bethany Cameron: Yeah, agreed. Now, um beyond gut issues, tell us some other signs to look for if you're lacking probiotics in your gut. Because I think a lot of people think, "Oh, well, if I don't have gut issues, I don't need probiotics." But what are some other signs beyond that?

Tina Anderson: Yeah. So like skin issues like acne or eczema, rosacea, any type of skin issues also is a indication of that. Um if you're someone who gets sick all the time, you know, if you get sick all the time, that could be a huge indication because so much of your immune system is found in your gut. Um even you know things like low mood um anxiety, depression or being feeling down. Um those are you know not having energy that's another indication that you would have some gut imbalance going on. I mean it's it you know it's so funny people will take like a multivitamin without even thinking about it. And it and really it's where you really need to start is your gut. I mean we know this now from the human microbiome project told us more about the gut than we ever knew before. This is where we need to start is our gut. So it really affects almost every aspect of our overall health.

Bethany Cameron: Yeah. And I would say too hormone regulation because

Tina Anderson: Yeah. How can Yes. How could I forget that one?

Bethany Cameron: Yeah. I mean because or like if your hair is falling out because essentially you're not able to absorb the nutrients properly and if you can't absorb the nutrients properly then your body can't function and why aren't you absorbing the nutrients properly and then it all sims back to the gut.

Tina Anderson: Exactly. Absolutely. I'm so glad you brought that up, especially for, you know, women who are either trying to get pregnant, people who are in pmenopause, menopause, whatever it is. I mean, hormones are all produced or so many of them are produced in our gut. And so, we need to, we've got that estrobolome in there where our estrogen is being produced. So, we need really need to focus on our gut health when it comes to hormones.

Bethany Cameron: Yeah. So maybe if someone is trying to regulate their hormones, you know, maybe starting to incorporate these probiotics to see if that can help because obviously I mean it can't couldn't hurt, right? And you definitely need them. Um, [clears throat] okay. So there's a whole debate about drinking water with your food or with your meal. What would you say about that?

Tina Anderson: I would say it's probably not a good idea. But I will say that I'm kind of guilty of it quite a bit. But it's not a good idea because um yeah, it just it it takes away like your digestive processes. So we want to make

Bethany Cameron: Yeah, we probably wouldn't want to drink water with a meal because it essentially dilutes all of the gastric juices and um enzymes that are being produced when you eat a meal, right?

Tina Anderson: Absolutely. It's like it's stopping that digestive process that we're trying to start and Yeah, absolutely.

Bethany Cameron: Okay, so speaking of meals, I know you guys have digestive bitters. And what would you use that for or why would someone even need digestive bitters and how do you even use them?

Tina Anderson: Yes. So, we know digestive bitters have been used as herbal compounds for years, I mean ages and ages to start that digestive process to aid in digestion. So, you know, you would want to take it to help start that digestive process. So, we know digestive bitters actually increase our own digestive enzyme production. So, it's helping our our body produce our own digestive enzymes rather than taking digestive enzymes. It's also helping create more bile. So, we need that's obviously great for lots of different reasons, you know, um and you nutrient absorption is one of them. So, um it's also just it's helping with that digestion in the stomach. So, we're always focusing on the intestines and the gut and all that, but the stomach actually gets neglected. And so, um, it's really that's what the bitters do. So, they're meant to be taken before food or before you eat to start that digestive process. Um, and there's actually several digestive um, I'm sorry, bitter receptors throughout our entire body. So, also really important to take them for like um, like that whole like that burning feeling in our esophagus, that kind of thing. and um just helping you digest your food better. So, those are meant to be taken before a meal because they'll get the digestive process going.

Bethany Cameron: Okay. And then how would you take just Thrive probiotics? Would you do it first thing in the morning? Is there like maybe a recommended?

Tina Anderson: You're supposed to take the probiotic after you eat a meal. So, we've studied this. We know that the strains help germinate um the food will help germinate throughout the intestines and so we know that it's better to take it with food. So definitely take it after a meal or with a meal. Um, and that that's the best time to take it. But even if you forget, take it any time of the day cuz it's just it's so important for you. But we know that it'll work even better in the presence of food.

Bethany Cameron: Okay. And I know that we have a special deal for my podcast listeners. So right now, Just Thrive is offering you guys something special. Also, when you start a 90-day Just Thrive probiotic subscription, you'll get a free 90-day supply of their new digestive bitters, which is a $90 value. So, if you guys just visit Just Thrivehealth.com and/digest, so Just Thrive.com/digest, you can get your free digestive bitters with your first 90day subscription. Um, and it's 100% back. So, money back guarantee. If you don't absolutely love the results, you'll get a full refund even if the bottle is empty. No questions asked. That's pretty cool.

Tina Anderson: Yeah, we stand by the product.

Bethany Cameron: Amazing. So, I feel like people listening have nothing to lose. Just go to Just Thrivehealth.com/digest and that offer will be up for you guys. Um, and I mean, cheers to gut health, cheers to hormone regulation, clear skin, better sleep, [laughter] all of that, all that stuff that happens when you clean up your gut. Amazing. Uh, thank you, Tina, so much for coming on today. It's been such a pleasure for you, uh, for for me actually, and to have you share your story, um, and your amazing probiotics where I feel like everyone should know about them.

Tina Anderson: Oh, well, thank you. The pleasure was mine. So, thanks.

Bethany Cameron: Thanks for listening to this episode of Digest This. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review in your podcast app to let us know. If you're ever wondering how you can support me and this podcast, sharing it with your friends and family is the best way. This is a Wellness Loud production produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Mike Fry. To check out more shows by my team, go to wellnessloud.com. And to email the show, message us at digestthispodgmail.com. See you next time. The content of this show is for educational andformational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and does not constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor or health team first.