Healing from the Inside Out: How Gut Health Impacts Mental Wellness

welcome fearfully and wonderfully made humans to another episode of the holistic counselor podcast it's me Diana from through the valley therapy and as always I am glad you're here today I have a truly special guest who's bringing some serious wisdom about the powerful connection between gut health and mental health let me give you a little backstory I first met Kate through Zapata through the holistic business Network when I was looking for a nutritionist to speak at

the greater Federation of women's clubs for health month Kate absolutely knocked it out of the park blending science with practical teaching that left everyone inspired I knew right then I had to bring her on to the podcast to share her knowledge with all of you Kate is a holistic registered nurse nutritional therapist and founder of simple and sweet nutrition she specializes in helping women heal their guts balance their hormones and recover their health through personalized nutrition

within 15 years of nursing experience and a focus on digestion metabolic recovery and foundational nutrition Kate has helped countless women transform their lives I'm thrilled to have her here to dive into how the gut impacts our mental health so Kate let's get started oh thank you so much for having me yeah all right Kate so tell us a little bit about your personal story how did you end up from being a nurse a registered nurse right

to now what you're doing yes so um yes as as you mentioned I started as a nurse I was basically following all of the regular conventional guidelines and um I had some of the issues myself gut health issues some hormone issues um definitely a lot of um focus around energy and just totally exhausted and uh fatigued all the time um I suffered from migraines uh PCOS post um post uh birth control and so a lot of

those things were really addressed in the conventional way as in there's really nothing you can do uh just continue on I mean that's just part of getting older um and during that time uh funny enough my son had issues of his own he was probably at that time I want to say maybe six maybe nine and um suffered with what was diagnosed as um cough variant asthma and as a nurse I was like what is that

what can you tell me more what can we do we spent um like weekly visits at a doctor um just continuously asking what can we do differently because it's not getting better it's getting worse and at that point he was taking all sorts of um steroids and um inhalers and it was just not getting any better MH we ended up in an urgent care he was put on antibiotics yet again and um by some Magical Force

we ended up I ended up going to a yoga class and the lady that led the yoga class actually the owner of the place uh told me that they were having a wellness fair and um I sort of shared the story of my son and she's like I have this doctor that can definitely help I'm like okay I will at this point I was like please just give me anything that could could um make a difference

and he was a chiropractor and he actually practiced nutritional therapy I can tell you that within two weeks of seeing him um I've seen changes in my son and I was just like my mind was blown because we were doing pretty much everything we were told up until that point we had testing for food allergies we had testing for um Regular environmental allergies none of that was really changing they said he's not really allergic to anything

he can eat anything and you know standard American diet even though I cooked at home was still consisting of a lot of um processed foods a lot of breads a lot of pastas things like that um so when we started going to see uh the chiropractor he told me to change some some things in the diet we eliminated gluten because in my son's family on his dad's side there is um a lot of celiac disease wow

uh so we eliminated the gluten we have changed the uh Dairy conventional Dairy to raw dairy uh that was probably one of the first to um recommendations that he made and then he gave can I ask you how long ago that was how long ago did this happen that was I want to say probably 12 years ago or so yeah like I had a similar situation with my youngest um and it was about 14 15 years

ago um the same like you know like even longer but it was like he he got diagnosed with asthma he had eczema right right it's like soone and then I was like I I went to my pediatrician and I'm doing the right thing like I'm listening and following those and when I first saw him take the inhaler and I saw how his brain change and I'm like I there has to be a better way I went

to a chiropractor too what did the chiropractor say and I you know what I don't want to put down conventional medicine because these doctors are doing the best they can with the knowledge that they received and it's they're not trying to be mean right but times they just don't know and they don't you know they have one hour of nutrition maybe or like one day of nutrition right in their degree of of you know all the

years they're in medical school I do see a shift changing now finally 20 years later or so but what was it that the chiropractor do did they like any supplements or was there like yes it was so he actually did muscle testing I don't know if you're familiar with yes but my audience might not so like I might if I say yes I do but I would still love for you to explain so then the audience

that don't don't understand this might have a better understanding of what we're talking about okay so muscle testing is really a response of your body to any outside um anything outside of you and the way that is tested is that the uh the person the practitioner will um ask you to but usually it's with the arm or with a larger muscle group you hold your arm out and they will press on your arm and when you

are negatively reactive reacting to any food or substance your muscles will basically give out so you will not be able to hold out your arm and trust me I've tried it and I was shocked how that worked um and for my son specifically as he did the uh full testing of everything and uh he was on a lot of supplements in the beginning I will say um pretty high doses all of the supplements though were food

based so they were not like synthetic supplements right um so I felt comfortable with with doing that there was some detoxification that we did um down the line but uh really focusing on cleaning up the diet as well um and I'm telling you within two weeks uh his coughing would subside significantly and he stopped having chest pain and it was just getting better to the point where I'm like well this there is something in this and

um he gave me a book The the doctor gave me some recommendations to read um and I think the first one that we were reading was um uh Sally Fallon's book oh yeah and then so I dove into that wise Traditions um they're just everything wise Traditions right all the information that they have which I had holista Kilda on my show Yes Yes actually that's how I started listening to her podcast oh okay yeah um so

that uh traditional information and then obviously I read about Weston a price and a lot of it just went down the rabbit hole I started studying learning and to be honest there was no turning back at that point because you cannot um you know you have a year of uh just seeing how your child is suffering and then you see a change yes um so and what a difference right like I know difference that made that

be I wasn't introduced to Sally Fallon yet when my son was really really little it was after his 12 his traumatic brain injury but when he was really little with the with the asthma and the eczema and it's in the bloodline like you know what I mean like the ex but I did not know I did not know giving him that waffle you know I had no idea because I didn't you know I was raised on

Burger King I don't and rice and beans like both of those but but he said do this let's change his diet let's give him cod liver oil like I'll never forget the emulsified CER oil and it smelled like lemons and fish and I'm like ew CER and um take him to the ocean because we live by the beach and put him in the salt waterer and let him be and I'm like wait what do you see

how fair my kid is like you know yes but I I followed the and He adjusted him and within weeks I did not have to use the inhaler and for anyone that has asthma please do not stop your medic just go to the beach you need to have a holistic practitioner that knows what they're doing anyway so I get it I get it when you it's like when you see something all of a sudden you're like

become aware you're like whoa okay now that I've seen what it's done for me right and my family I want to now share this with you guys right and so you know you also had your own personal challenges with your body I did too right I was diagnosed with Graves disease I was diagnosed with all these different things but I had no idea that it was everything the stress as a mom yes let's talk about the

stress of motherhood in your 30s right early 30s right um just our food and our water and our air is not as healthy as it was hundred years ago okay and nobody understood that the gut is a second brain that's so true so true nobody really yeah exactly nobody really talked about it back then uh there was really no mention of the microbiome and now I feel like everybody knows oh all disease starts in the gut

and so Health also starts in the gut um and it's connected to so many different things but back then 10 12 years ago um you know when he told me you have to be gluten-free I'm like what do you mean like how do we do that that's all hogwash is what I heard oh come on even my husband I love you honey if you're listening but even him he's L like gluten-free I've been eating gluten I'm

this you know and and um but then when you really study what happened in 1995 with glysophates and all that and people are like what are you talking that's so woo woo so do you know about that stuff can you maybe explain what that means so we started spraying majority of our crops with glyphosate and it really disrupts not just the microbiome but the uh the mucosal health of our gut a and so now really we're

not only now I mean it's started probably early 2000s we started seeing just this explosion of chronic disease and I'm talking about every possible disease you can think of there's just so much higher rates of everything out there so um and and it's not just glyphosate there's uh you know other things are air or water uh but for example in the water we used to have you know magnesium naturally flowing in our Waters but since uh

all of those um additions agricultural things are running into our water sources uh that magnesium is no longer there so we are seeing so much depletion in uh minerals altogether just a lot of depletion and that's why people have all these issues and yeah it's unfortunate but um it's not just at this point I feel like it's not just uh enough to eat healthy you know eat vegetables and salads and this and that it's we have

to take it a step further and just really be mindful of replenishing uh and nourishing our bodies well yeah so let's talk about now the second brain a little more like the the gut health and mental health what does that actually mean because some people like I I you know I'm a holistic therapist that work with clients and I try to get them to understand what they're doing to their body and they're like well I hired

you for the mind right I'm hiring you because I have anxiety and depression and I'm like those are symptoms of something that's happening it could be what you're eating it could be the lack of sunshine it could be dehydration it could be ABC we have to get to the root cause so with es especially us women right because we have every month a different cycle I'm going through my second puberty now so because that'll show you

how old I am but but you know it's still I have to watch what I'm doing to my system you you know and people are some people will be like just have a little fun and I go well I have to make choices every day to keep my mental health well right but that includes what's what I put in my mouth right so let's talk about how that like what do you like what do I mean

what do we mean when we're like no like your gut health affects your mood yeah so just a quick example right we talk about tonin a lot when we are dealing with depression and just neurotransmitters and making sure that they're in proper levels right but as you mentioned sometimes that is just an outcome so it the way we feel is just an outcome of how our body is functioning so uh for example serotonin is majority of

it is really made in our gut so 90% of your serotonin is made in your gut about 50 % of dopamine is created in the gut so when we're talking about mental health we cannot um skip this part we cannot skip this part of uh what we're eating uh what we're doing with our bodies how we're replenishing how our gut is functioning and how we're using our food right so if you're we're eating a lot of

synthetic Foods uh things that are stimulating and really uh not good for our gut you will see that in the behavior and you can see that in children so easily right because if you feed them and there's this whole thing about Fruit Loops right now but all of those colors yeah oh yeah um so all of those colors how they affect our children's health you know moms firsthand can tell you that the way they the children

when your children are fed what they eat really makes them behave differently right because I can tell you I have a 5-year-old and he will for the most part eat healthy foods at home but then when he goes outside let's say there's a soccer game or maybe baseball game and there's snacks given out and he will get just usually it's unfortunately junk and his behavior just changes you can see it it gets crankier I see it

with my grandkids like all of a sudden and I get it like we have participate in community and life I understand that I understand that we go to these functions of whatever Community you're part of and you go in and there's you know the the bake bake offs or whatever it is but it's like you know there has to be better well I do blame the big food because in different countries what's legal in our own

country is illegal in their country and that's what that food babe I forget her real name she's fighting for but you're right like all of a sudden you get the Gatorade with all the red dyes and the blue dyes and the yellow lakes and every you know and then on top of that here is your cupcake with yes and now they just finished playing a game and then they they spin off and then you're wondering why

they're spinning off and it's like you know I bet you if these were more natural ingredients the kids you know we're we're the adults we should be teaching the next Generation on nutrition and how it it's all connected that we're istic beings so is there anything okay tell me about your company a little bit like tell me about I come to you pretend I am like all right I heard you on the holistic podcast uh Miss

Zapata and I hear that you can help me feel better because I'm feeling really crappy my skin is breaking out I'm not sleeping in you know in the middle of night I'm waking up at 3: in the morning I'm stressed out I'm being mean to my kids and I don't want to be mean I'm just really feeling really terrible and uh you know and I drink a lot of wine at night because you know that's how

I end up calming down after I put my kids to sleep yeah how would you start with me as a client uh so I ow the first thing I ask my clients is usually how ready are you make how ready are you to make changes to fix this right because you have to be involved in making changes in your life right so if you tell me that no I want to continue drinking the wine at night

and you know doing all those things and maybe skipping breakfast and whatnot um I of often ask you know how bad do you feel like what how would you rate that how much would how much better would you feel if you would be able to get up in the morning waking up with energy if you weren't irritable if you H didn't have mood swings right right how much better would your life be and is it worth

making the change so most of my clients will say yes I'm ready to make the change because by the time they get to me they've already tried pretty much everything on the internet right all these supplements all these different diets and most of those things did not work partially because it's really not suited to them right it's not individualized and then partially because those some of those diets that are touted as healthy are really not sustainable

right can you give me an example um well keto diet even though yes is it it could be beneficial for a lot of conditions I don't think that it's a diet that I would suggest to just anybody right because it's very difficult to sustain and our body does need some carbs and there's caveats in that obviously but um just in general so um what I do with my clients is we go over in detail through the

history health history and then not just health history sort of life history because I want to see have you had any big events in your life that could potentially um put a lot of stress on you right moving maybe losing your job maybe divorce um all of those things maybe death in the family so all of those things really impact Us and how we cope and really what happen is we are using up all of those

nutrition stores that we have in our body and we're just burning through them when we are in stressful situation so I like to sort of look at when your issues started your health issues started and have you had anything historically that we could um sort of not really assign to but kind of match up and then we decide um what testing would be beneficial because I don't think think that we can just um you know basically

know what can fix you if we really don't know how your levels are of specific things so I I focus on testing the gut I do um hair testing so mineral um hair testing and then I will do some blood work right allow us to see um what's disregulated and that is heavily focused on things like ey iron and um copper and just um different nutritional chemistries yeah and then at that point once we run those

tests we come back and really think about what would be the most beneficial at this point for you and I meet with my clients for about five months because I feel like just a one-time thing there's just so much stuff and so much accountability that needs to be there uh that I cannot help you in one visit exactly it would not be beneficial to my client um so it's sort of structured as a program with all

the testing and then meeting every two weeks okay adjusting things as needed um because we all know you know sometimes you can buy a supplement take it and you feel like crap it's not working you don't want to take it right there's no magic pill yes people need to understand that right it's it because when you're suffering you feel like you you need something right away to ease the suffering but honestly we have to understand that

suffering is the the obst obstacle that actually leads you to the way of your healing like we have to understand your body is a beautiful thing that will tell you what is up stop ignoring it yes right and so to me like I love that you hair testing like that's amazing like hair all those tests are because each human being is is their own biology right right there's not a one I love that you said that

it's no one diet no one magic pill because there isn't there isn't like that's the thing we've had fad diets for decades I've been on this earth right none of them work BEC none of them stick because really they're not sustainable longterm right um and you know you cannot I remember things like cabbage diet or something it's like just some random things that somebody I mean you can lose weight fast if you stop eating the grapefruit

diet remember that like if you just focus on grapefruits but is that really healthy and is a really sustainable long exactly so um not only the food I mean I with my clients I go through the food obviously we look at the diet I assess their um nutritional intake are they eating enough because we are led to believe that we are all overeating right we are all overeating and maybe in some sense we are but we

are really undernourished so we are eating things that are not nourishing us so we're not eating enough so our bodies are perceiving a lack and so if you're not eating enough of the things that your body needs um and you're just eating I don't know Oreos or chips or other things and some sometimes not even those things but maybe not enough of the things that are really needed like um uh minerals like protein you your body

will still perceive a lack so you will you can continue I mean you can eat a 1200 calorie diet and still gain weight or not lose any weight it is quite possible but 1,00 calories is really a toddler diet and we should never recommend that to women and that is frequently what women do well and and being trained at calories in calories out like one calorie is equal to the other and I'm sitting there thinking and

you know Dr Mark Heyman I'm sure you know who Dr Mark you know Doctor's Pharmacy like f a AR RM not Pharmacy pharmaceutical but he talks about that I learned a lot from him and what he says about calories and calorie like a calorie of from a broccoli is not the same as a calorie of a Little Debbie's cake yes right and so it's it's to me Dr David Bernstein who I had on my show uh

a couple of episodes ago he's the one who helped me he's a chiropractor nutritionist back in the day who really taught me a lot too um and he he was saying that with calories or like it's not a diet like stop thinking about this as a diet think of it as a lifestyle change because the word diet has such a negative connotation or it becomes so pressurized or so guilt and shame and and you know it's

like oh my gosh I have to be on this diet and it's like how do H Kate what do you do with your clients like how do you shift that perspective for them or help them shift their perspective with that yeah so I um what I explain is that you know somewhere along the way we have lost the way that we think has been lost kind of because we thought back in the day that eating regular

food which actually is food was really just nourishing yourself right now when you go to a restaurant and you order a healthy meal you're like when are you on a diet no it's not a diet it's actually what I eat every single day it's not a diet so we have to really reframe it in our mind that you're not on the diet you're really just eating healthy and eating healthy is supportive for your body and if

you want to show up to your family the best that you can and to friends and just in your life you really have to think about it differently and not as a another diet that you're going on it's really this is how we should be eating yeah for sure and and you feel better when you you know and I know people struggle so if you're a listener that does struggle because that is food can become an

addiction you know they purposely put that high fructose corn syrup in our Foods on purpose so they can make more money yes right so go ahead for sure um and so I tell people because it's you know most of the time we will hear Hey remove all the uh fast food remove the processed foods and just focus on Real Foods yes but just doing that can be extremely difficult for some people ex extremely difficult so my

Approach is let's start adding in some things that are healthy right let's add more stuff that is healthy and those other things will eventually fall off right because you will have less Cravings if you for example if you wake up in the morning and have a coffee to start off and then you eat a bagel right with some cream cheese by 10:00 a.m. or 11: you're going to be starving or you're going to feel like you

need some candy or or another coffee or something same thing happens with lunch right if you eat a salad that does not have any protein on it or good fat uh by 2m you will literally have food cravings that you cannot control right 2 p.m you need a coffee yes it's the drivethru it's the 2 pm drive-thru at Starbucks or or Dunkin' donuts and I'm like wow that's a big line yeah you know or three o'clock

yeah and I get it and if we can just focus and structure our day and structure our food in the way where uh you know you will add let's say you will focus your breakfast around some uh healthy protein and maybe healthy fiber you will not have those feelings so it will be so much easier for you to control the Cravings I'm not saying that you will never feel like oh I could eat a piece of

cake yes but it will be in a matter that you can control and it feels right and it's not like oh my gosh I open that bag of chips and I just eat the whole thing right oh my goodness I'm guilty of that I'm sorry I'm GNA be so honest right now it's like I know and I'm I'm self-aware that around 3:30 p.m. and I think it's a training that I had as a child when I

would come home as a latchkey child and turn on the TV to watch after school specials in the 70s and have a snack and it became comfortable and then all of a sudden I noticed that I have to crunch on something around if unless I have a client if I'm busy working then I I it gets through my system but I become aware of like oh I'm aware that I'm needing I want this not needing it's

a difference I'm wanting this bag of Puffs good it's called good evil cheddar Puffs yes I know those we have those you know we have those because sometimes you just need it's not about being perfect it's right you're not telling your clients to be perfect you're telling your Cent and I love that Kate that you tell and I kind of say that to the clients that have addictions right it's like I'm not asking to stop smoking

pot or stop drinking alcohol it's not that I'm asking you to try something new yeah let's change your brain and your gut because you get to train your brain and your gut right neuroplasticity and also the microbiome you change you have that power you're going to either choose for it to to master you or you're going to learn to master it one step at a time and is why I love having people like you on because

it is a team effort like anyone listening you could come to me for the mental health stuff right I could teach you cognitive behavioral therapy and you go to Kate for the nutritional stuff and she has that knowledge and wisdom that I don't have and we become you know a team for you until you get to be able to be free from whatever it is that's happening to you and have some great tools yeah so you

can actually become a better human being or the human being you're probably wanting to be you know and it's hard right it's hard because you don't know where to start I know I was overwhelmed when I had a bunch of thyroid issues when I say thyroid issues I mean you went to one doctor and another doctor and they're trying and then they're telling you you have to get you know your thyroid removed and be on synthroid

for the rest of your life and then you try that and then there's there's side effects and it's it's hard work so right it is hard work to shift and Andy try to F especially if your family doesn't understand or they're like what gluten come on that's just a fat glutenfree you know so tell can you tell me like is there certain foods that you absolutely love for for human beings to eat or like what do

you mean about protein and what do you mean about like healthy fats because some people really don't understand they think because a bar says you know protein 10 grams let's do that or insures like I've seen people be like I'm healthy I'm drinking insure I'm going let's talk about that a little bit so um yeah a lot of those healthy foods that we are told are healthy are not really healthy and for example uh canola oil

is one of those things or soybean oil or corn oil which is really touted you you know you'll go to Publix and you will still see a sticker on it heart healthy it is absolutely not heart healthy those are not not healthy fats polyunsaturated fats are not healthy for us uh we can have some of those fats that we are consuming in other areas so nuts are also polyunsaturated but just have a very different um composition

there is also vitamin E in there so that sort of allows us to um use it up better and not being really inflammatory to us because those corn oils and canola oils are really inflammatory and if you looked at the the graphs of when we started having all those heart issues um heart failure and really diabetes also because all of that is sort of um connected uh metabolic syndrome really that's what they call it um that

all started when we started massively producing those um not healthy fats right we started telling people hey don't eat real butter eat this margarine made out of canola and it was really in everything and at this point if sometimes I laugh because I like you really have to read every single ENT nutrition yeah every single ingredient every single label because uh dried fruit for example will have canola oil it's like just blows my mind why do

you need to add this to everything um well let's talk about that for a second why do you think these companies are putting all these additives and preservatives in our Foods well partially is because it uh keeps them fresh I suppose for a lot longer shelf fles for a lot longer and it's cheaper to make right there you have it and then I don't know sometimes I feel like are they doing it on purpose so that

we're sick that's kind of like that well you know there are there is dark side no it is there's a group of thinkers out there that think that is you know I don't want to say conspiracy theorists but right that really believe that that if you know if you control the food you control the humans and if you right or if sick care we have a sick care system in the westernized culture I mean think about

this you know America and I think it's New Zealand or Australia that are the only ones that are allowed those pharmaceu pharmaceutical commercials yes right all other countries all talk to your doctor yeah talk to but all your other countries they don't have the dyes and the chemicals we do here and they don't have the commercials that are bombarding us making us think that we are really sick because it's a money-making machine yes and we have

the I want to empower The Listener right that they have choices and it's free a lot of the stuff is free not food I get it but that's another thing I hear you know with the food deserts and I understand I come from the inner city where I remember you know there wasn't farms and fresh vegetables and everything like that so what do you say to somebody that's like Kate Diana that's easy for you all but

I can't afford you know I have five children I can't afford healthy foods what do you say to them yeah um so I understand if we're talking about things that are you know higher end type of like if you want to replace all of your children's snacks from the cheap gigantic multi pack of I don't know little bags of chips to something that is a little bit healthier I get it it's G to cost money but

what you can focus on is really increasing the amount of Fresh Foods that you're eating so um for example if you just want to focus on protein even if you don't get the highest quality at this point because you can't afford the highest quality protein any protein will be better than eating junk right and what do you mean protein can you give me an example yeah so protein will be any type of meat any type of

meat and I'm not you know most people when we think about Meats we think uh beef and steaks right but really there's cheaper cuts of meat which you will have to cook for longer maybe um roast or maybe just things that need to you need to put in the slow cooker and just cook all day that are a lot cheaper and a lot healthier for us add some um organ Meats to different things right that is

not popular anymore but that was always a cheaper option but to be honest is a lot healthier option as well so focusing on that um maybe doing things that will allow you to have multiple meals from one cooking right so for example let's say if you buy instead of buying chicken breasts because it's convenient buy a whole chicken cook that chicken and then you can make with leftover meat that you have that you pull off the

bones you can make let's say chicken salad that would could serve as a lunch and then you can also take that whole carcass with all of the bones and make soup out of it wow so there's just multiple ways that you can use um um you know different things to sort of go further but we are just so used to okay I'm going to go to the store and buy a bag of uh chicken nuggets but

to be honest is not healthy and it's not really cheaper right so if you just focus on those fresh things you could you know when like potatoes um I know people say oh potatoes are not good it's we are starting to fear real foods because for example because the fruit has sugar yes it has sugar but it it is sugar that we are um we are designed to eat so I'm not saying just eat only right

uh fruit right pineapple all day or something or bananas all day because that's something like you know we need a variety a variety of and I also learned something about like ancestral like Kate your your heritage is from Poland correct yes right and mine is from South America and the Caribbean and so it's also understand that is why you're an individual creation that's fearfully and wonderfully made and you have to become aware of who you are

listener like you have to have that understanding that your biology is not going to be the same as Kate or mine and but hon honestly the creator of the universe to me it's God um has created the herbs the spices the foods everything we need the the closer you get to Nature the healthier you will be and it's and honestly when people like I can't afford it I'm like you're gonna pay either way yes you will

you'll pay for prevention or you'll pay for intervention yes right and it's the same thing with time I don't have time to do this I don't have time to cook well I can tell you that you don't have time now but when you're sick your body will make you have time because you will have to take the time to make those changes and people will still say well isn't there an easier way that I can just

um maybe take something or even if it's natural and I say to you that you cannot create change without making changes right so nothing will change in your life unless you change something and adding a supplement is not changing something it's just adding a supplement and I can guarantee that you will not have results from that as much as you would if you changed your lifestyle I mean silly things like sunshine every day you know people

just don't give any credit to Sun anymore it's like we have scar hi from it yes yeah and they are so scared of the Sun and that's something I tell my clients when I give them their um treatment plan I'm just like Okay so this and they just started with me and I'm just like okay this week you you know what can you do I give them a list and I'm like pick one thing to do

and on that list would be 10 minutes in the sunshine in the morning not or the late afternoon not in the 12 o'clock one o'clock in the afternoon where you will get especially if they're Fair skinn yeah if they're darker I give them a little extra time because we need we're that's what I'm saying we're so different like your skin and my skin are very different I can handle it because I have higher melanin right but

even even with the differences in our skin you know it also depends on how are you getting sun because if you're never getting Sun you will burn no matter what your skin color is that's true um so if you consistently get you know a couple minutes here a couple minutes there and be mindful and really on purpose about being in the sunshine um your skin will be better tolerating of um of the Sun and of course

you know we're in Florida so yeah I tell people there there are some people out there it's like you never need to cover up you never need to use sunscreen we're in Florida if you're out there on the boat and you're on the water all day you will get burnt no matter what so you need to cover up you need to take precautions that's not ideal to get burnt but you still need some sunshine and same

thing with sunglasses right we see everybody with sunglasses first thing in the morning no remove the sunglasses get some some sunrays in your eyes because that really stimulates your circadian rhythm and really helps with balancing your hormone it's really beneficial to our gut microbiome it's just there's just so many benefits from Sun yes Sun Whole Foods this is what I'm hearing um so tell me like what what helped you like when you were shifting your perspective

right because it is a shift and renewing of the Mind what helped you when you first started on this path like what was the first thing you changed on your way you ate or or stuff like that or what helped you feel better so uh definitely removing a lot of the baked stuff right because we are very as a culture very reliant on bread and pasta and all the grain so uh cutting down on the grains

definitely was helpful um I was at that you know I was um at that point already living a healthy lifestyle you know I was outside I was gardening we were moving um so you know some of those things I was already doing but the diet portion making sure that you're remineralizing your water for example um switching from plastic bottles to just really making sure your water's clean and um healthy um and adding minerals and focusing on

foods that are the closest to their natural state as they can be wow so I know when this this episode comes out it should be right before New Year's and so this is where a lot of people are like all right I just heard this podcast on I can do it I'm gonna do it right and so can you just you know while we're closing out what encouragement or advice or um whatever comes to mind that

you would like the listener as they go into 2025 to help them out you know or is there resources or books or just tell me like whatever comes to mind yeah so um I think the number one thing to remember is that we cannot be like we mentioned before 100% perfect right because on New Year everybody goes in with the mindset that this is it you know this is what I'm going to do now and then

in two weeks maybe you slip up and then well it all goes to heck right we're like okay I'm not going to do that anymore so what I encourage people to do is just start with one small change one small change and see how you can stick with that and just commit to making sure that you are sticking with that one thing small small thing not like a whole diet change right just one small thing and

that one small thing will start making a difference for you and then eventually you will be able to have another small thing added or removed or whatever it is right so really focusing on small simple changes making it really simple and really um something that you cannot like just well it doesn't you know yeah one small thing um I know I had clients where I'm like tomorrow you're going to start with lemon water fresh lemon get

yourself and they're like that is the weirdest thing I ever heard I hired you to be a therapist not to tell me how to drink water and get can I tell you it made it's made a difference and then they they're like okay what other thing so is there a resources do you have anything on your website or how can people find you so I have a simple guide to uh really to gut health and you

can get that on my website simple and sweet nutrition.com uh under I believe freebies or free resources uh it's the first one on top it has simple things and I tell people just pick one from each page because we have pre meal during your meal and then after your meal just pick one thing uh that you want to do and commit to that and then you can see if maybe other things would make sense and you

are able to to um apply them as well that's wonderful all right I'll have all that in the show notes I also have a free pdf I'm still trying to figure out how to put that on my way it's there but I did it myself because I'm a sort of like Frugal in that manner at times where I'm like I'll figure it out myself but you'll see it it's a big circle a big PDF circle on

on my Resource page and I also have um other podcasts that like the ancient um is it ancient health and the model Health Show and Dr huberman I mean just these people that I've learned a lot from that I want to share because that's the whole point of the show is that I'm only one person and I can only handle a you know you know 10 to 20 clients a week but I want I want my

culture my Society the world to be better you know there's too many people suffering and that's because they don't have the knowledge and I want to freely give that information because it's not about me it's about all of us being together on this world especially we need to unite nowadays more than ever because you see how it is and that stress will affect your microbiome for sure and it'll affect your mental health yes so like we're

we're holistic beings that's why we're here right now Kate and I and I just hope that you check out her resources check out my resources and remember listener sweet sweet listener trust in the Lord guard your heart and renew your mind bye and now for the disclaimer to make sure you understand that you are responsible for you the content provided on the holistic counselor podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only and is not intended as

a substitute for professional medical advice diagnosis or treatment always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental condition never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you have heard on this podcast the views expressed on this podcast are my personal opinions and do not represent the views of any professional organizations with which I am Affiliated call your doctor

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