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Ep 64: Top Tips for Uncomfortable Bloating · Love Your Gut

• 0:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast.
• 0:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: Heather Finley, registered dietitian and gut health specialist.
• 0:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: I understand the frustration of dealing with GI issues because I've been there and I spent over two decades searching for answers for my own gut issues of constipation, bloating, and stomach pain.
• 0:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: I've dedicated my life to understanding and solving my own gut issues.
• 0:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: And now I'm here to guide you.
• 0:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: On this podcast, I'll help you identify the true root causes of your discomfort.
• 0:31
  Dr. Heather Finley: So you can finally ditch your symptoms for good.
• 0:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: My goal is to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need so that you can love your gut and it will love you right back.
• 0:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if you're ready to learn a lot, gain a deeper understanding of your gut and find lasting relief.
• 0:46
  Dr. Heather Finley: You are in the right place.
• 0:48
  Dr. Heather Finley: Welcome to the love your gut podcast.
• 0:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: Hello, hello and welcome back to the next episode of the love your gut podcast.
• 0:57
  Dr. Heather Finley: Today's topic is highly requested and we are going to be diving into one of probably the most common complaints that I hear from clients and from followers and listeners of this podcast, which is uncomfortable bloating.
• 1:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: I know how frustrating it can feel to be bloated.
• 1:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: I was bloated for like 20 plus years.
• 1:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: So when I say I get it, I.
• 1:18
  Dr. Heather Finley: truly get it.
• 1:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: Whether it's that tight, puffy feeling after meals or the discomfort that seems to just linger no matter what you do, you might feel like you're six months pregnant by the end of the day.
• 1:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: You might feel like you're bloated when you wake up, whatever pattern your bloat is showing you.
• 1:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'm glad you're tuning in today.
• 1:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: We are going to talk about some top tips for quick, just easy bloat relief that you can implement literally like right now as you are listening to this episode.
• 1:45
  Dr. Heather Finley: But here's the thing.
• 1:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you don't address digestion at the top.
• 1:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: Things like how you chew, your stomach acid, digestive enzymes, then the downstream fixes won't last.
• 1:57
  Dr. Heather Finley: So hear me when I say that we are going to talk about some bloating tips, but I also am going to walk you through the root causes of bloating and how to identify what might be driving your discomfort.
• 2:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: Because if you truly want to heal and find lasting relief, that's what you need to do.
• 2:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: Also, if you are a practitioner, I have a very exciting opportunity for you on February 5th, which is about a week from the time this podcast is going live.
• 2:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: I am hosting a free webinar called Back on Tract, pun intended.
• 2:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: It is designed for dietitians and health professionals, so health coaches, nurses, etc.
• 2:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you want to learn how to confidently tackle complex GI cases and get better client results, decrease burnout and build a really sustainable, exciting business without relying on endless elimination diets and fixes that don't work for your clients, then be there.
• 2:57
  Dr. Heather Finley: The link to register is in the show notes, and I'm really, really excited about this.
• 3:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: I have not done a live training for health professionals since like 2021.
• 3:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: So really excited to do this, but we are going to just jump right in on this episode into some quick tips for bloating relief.
• 3:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: We're going to start with the easiest, most.
• 3:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: actionable tips.
• 3:18
  Dr. Heather Finley: These are things that you can do today to feel better.
• 3:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: Number one, it's going to sound obvious, but chew, chew, chew, chew, chew your food.
• 3:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: I know this sounds basic, but how many of us actually chew our food thoroughly?
• 3:31
  Dr. Heather Finley: Probably none myself included.
• 3:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you're swallowing half chewed bites, your stomach has to work a lot harder to break it down.
• 3:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: And you're going to learn later in this episode.
• 3:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: Why you probably don't have enough stomach acid either, and that's further exacerbating your bloat.
• 3:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: So we're going to aim for 20 to 30 chews per bite to really kick off digestion.
• 3:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: You really want your food to be kind of mush by the time you swallow.
• 3:56
  Dr. Heather Finley: So chew and chew and chew some more.
• 3:59
  Dr. Heather Finley: Number two, take a walk after meals.
• 4:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: This does not have to be long.
• 4:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: It does not have to be intense.
• 4:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is not like for exercise.
• 4:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is for movement, enjoyment, perhaps some sunshine.
• 4:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: A gentle 5, 10, 15 minute walk after eating can do wonders for your digestion.
• 4:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: It helps your body move food through your digestive tract.
• 4:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: It reduces gas, bloating, that can happen when food lingers too long.
• 4:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: I actually saw this TikTok.
• 4:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: this was probably like six months ago, this lady was talking about how she goes on a fart walk after eating and I was dying laughing that she called it that.
• 4:37
  Dr. Heather Finley: So maybe you can implement that for yourself, but I will have to find the tick tock.
• 4:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: I don't even go on tick tock.
• 4:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: I think maybe somebody sent it to me, but it was hilarious.
• 4:46
  Dr. Heather Finley: So, okay.
• 4:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: Tip number three.
• 4:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: So we're going to stick to the script.
• 4:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: Activate your vagus nerve.
• 4:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: So your vagus nerve is your longest cranial nerve.
• 4:56
  Dr. Heather Finley: It connects your gut and your brain and it plays a huge role in digestion.
• 5:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: So simple practices like gargling, humming, singing, all these things can help tone this nerve and keep your digestive system running smoothly, which is what we want.
• 5:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: My kids love to take deep breaths before eating.
• 5:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: We kind of have this mealtime ritual of praying and then taking some deep breaths.
• 5:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you've been at my house for a meal, then you have likely done this with us before.
• 5:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: They get really into it.
• 5:27
  Dr. Heather Finley: So you can implement this for your family.
• 5:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: next sip on ginger, fennel, or peppermint tea.
• 5:32
  Dr. Heather Finley: You could do one of these, all of these, a mix of these, these herbal teas are great for soothing and upset stomach.
• 5:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: I like buying loose leaf tea and making it, myself.
• 5:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: but you can, Buy bagged tea as well.
• 5:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: I like using Mountain Rose herbs for just bulk tea.
• 5:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'll put a link in the show notes if you want to check it out.
• 5:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: but tea is great.
• 5:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: Ginger is going to help stimulate gut motility.
• 5:57
  Dr. Heather Finley: Fennel and peppermint are going to help dispel gas.
• 5:59
  Dr. Heather Finley: Kind of relieve that like sore stomach feeling.
• 6:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: A combo of these is really great.
• 6:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can add lemon, you can add honey, whatever works for you.
• 6:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then lastly, Try the I love you massage.
• 6:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is a gentle abdominal massage that can help relieve bloating by stimulating gut motility.
• 6:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: You're essentially going to trace the letters I L U on your belly.
• 6:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: So you're going to start at your right hip and go up towards your ribs, massaging like 20 to 30 seconds.
• 6:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: So that's the eye.
• 6:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: Then you're going to start at your right hip, go to your ribs and go across to your left ribs.
• 6:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: so that's the upside down L and then you're kind of getting the just now, then you'll do an upside down U and that's going to help encourage things to get moving, especially if you're dealing with slow motility or constipation or trapped.
• 6:46
  Dr. Heather Finley: gas.
• 6:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: Our clients like to use a little coconut oil or some kind of oil to help do this.
• 6:51
  Dr. Heather Finley: They'll do it before bed and find that they have a better bowel movement in the morning.
• 6:55
  Dr. Heather Finley: you can also do it when you wake up before you get out of bed or both.
• 6:59
  Dr. Heather Finley: and it can work super great.
• 7:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: So while these tips are great for immediate relief, they really are just the tip of the iceberg.
• 7:07
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you want long term relief from your bloating, you have to dig deeper and address the root causes.
• 7:12
  Dr. Heather Finley: So today on this episode, we're We are going to dig into the five common root causes of bloating and how to figure out if they're a part of your picture.
• 7:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: There are tons of root causes of bloating.
• 7:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: So please don't hear this episode and think, well, none of those apply to me.
• 7:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: So I must be broken.
• 7:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: There are tons of root causes.
• 7:31
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'm just going to cover the top five, but know that there are many, many more.
• 7:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: So number one.
• 7:37
  Dr. Heather Finley: is poor meal hygiene.
• 7:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: So we talked about this a little in the quick tips, but let's dig a little bit deeper and talk about why meal hygiene is foundational to digestion.
• 7:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: It is foundational because how you eat affects how you digest and often how you eat is a lot more important than what you eat, especially if you're bloated, regardless of what you eat.
• 7:59
  Dr. Heather Finley: That was a mouthful eating.
• 8:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: isn't just about getting food in your stomach.
• 8:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: It is a full body process that begins in your mouth.
• 8:07
  Dr. Heather Finley: So when you rush through meals, you eat while you're multitasking a la eating while you're working, driving, et cetera, grab and go.
• 8:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: You are going to miss out on the first critical step of digestion, which is salivation.
• 8:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: So saliva doesn't just moisten your food.
• 8:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: It contains enzymes like amylase and lipase, and these things start breaking down carbohydrates and fats in your mouth.
• 8:31
  Dr. Heather Finley: Salivation also acts as a signal to the rest of your digestive system, which basically lets your stomach, your pancreas, your liver, your gallbladder, no, Hey, food is on the way.
• 8:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: We need.
• 8:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: digestive support.
• 8:45
  Dr. Heather Finley: So here's why this matters.
• 8:46
  Dr. Heather Finley: Stomach acid production is very important and saliva helps stimulate the production of stomach acid.
• 8:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: So without enough stomach acid, food is going to sit in your stomach longer because your stomach has to fill with acid in order to empty.
• 9:02
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this will affect bowel emptying.
• 9:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's going to lead to gas and bloating and fermentation.
• 9:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: Stomach acid also activates enzymes and helps break down proteins.
• 9:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: A lot of our clients deal with low stomach acid from H pylori, from low mineral status, from poor meal hygiene, from stress, from all the things.
• 9:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: Next up is bile flow.
• 9:27
  Dr. Heather Finley: So bile flow is, is very important, especially if you don't have a gallbladder.
• 9:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: So don't tune out if you think, Oh, well, that doesn't apply to me.
• 9:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: I had my gallbladder removed.
• 9:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is even more important.
• 9:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: Salivation triggers your liver and your gallbladder to start producing and releasing bile, which is essential for digesting fats.
• 9:45
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if you're eating quickly or under stress, bile flow is going to be sluggish.
• 9:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: It can cause fats to go undigested, which will lead to bloating and discomfort.
• 9:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then lastly, pancreatic output.
• 9:57
  Dr. Heather Finley: So salivation will also send signals to your pancreas to release digestive enzymes.
• 10:02
  Dr. Heather Finley: And these enzymes are crucial for breaking down carbohydrates, proteins, fats, etc.
• 10:07
  Dr. Heather Finley: So they can be absorbed.
• 10:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: So what happens when you rush through meals?
• 10:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: You skip This entire process, the entire digestive process is disrupted your stomach, your liver, your pancreas.
• 10:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: Don't get the memo to start working.
• 10:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: This means that food doesn't break down efficiently.
• 10:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: And this often leads to bloating and digestion and even nutrient deficiencies because you absorb minerals via stomach acid and digestion.
• 10:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: So here's how we can fix this.
• 10:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: Number one, slow down, set 15 to 20 minutes.
• 10:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: Aside to eat without distractions, number two, chew thoroughly back to the chewing.
• 10:46
  Dr. Heather Finley: We want to chew because it's not only going to break our food down, but it will increase salivation and help that whole process that I just talked about.
• 10:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: Lastly, deep breaths.
• 10:56
  Dr. Heather Finley: So before your first bite, do those five, just deep breaths.
• 11:00
  Dr. Heather Finley: There's many different breathing exercises, but Any kind of deep breath will do to get your body into rest and digest mode and calm your nervous system.
• 11:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: Especially if you're having food fears and thinking, is this going to make me bloated?
• 11:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: Can I tolerate this food?
• 11:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: What's going to happen?
• 11:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: La, la, la, la, la.
• 11:17
  Dr. Heather Finley: The whole process that happens after that.
• 11:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: So deep breaths, calm your nervous system.
• 11:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's really going to help.
• 11:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: So when you focus on meal hygiene, you will notice that you are bloated less.
• 11:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: You have more energy because your body's processing food the way it's designed to.
• 11:32
  Dr. Heather Finley: It sounds like such a simple and dumb shift.
• 11:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: And a lot of times our clients roll their eyes at us when we talk about this with them.
• 11:40
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then they come back and they're like, Oh my gosh, you were right.
• 11:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: This makes such a difference.
• 11:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: So I hope that you will test this out and try this.
• 11:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: All right, root cause number two is poor digestion.
• 11:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: So kind of building off of the poor meal hygiene, what I really want to talk about more is stomach acid, pancreatic output, and bile flow.
• 12:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: So these three things are really important for being able to break down your food.
• 12:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: These organs are the powerhouses of your digestion.
• 12:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: They produce stomach acid, digestive enzymes, bile, which all work together.
• 12:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if any part of this process is impaired, bloating is a common result.
• 12:17
  Dr. Heather Finley: So let's start with stomach acid.
• 12:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: Stomach acid is critical for digestion.
• 12:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: Your stomach should be almost as acidic as battery acid.
• 12:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's going to break down proteins.
• 12:27
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's going to activate digestive enzymes.
• 12:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: And a really important part is it kills off harmful pathogens from food.
• 12:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if you're exposed to something, your stomach acid can actually prevent you from getting the stomach bug.
• 12:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: Getting salmonella, getting food poisoning, etc.
• 12:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: When your stomach acid is too low, it can lead to undigested food, fermentation, and bloating.
• 12:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: It can also lead to slower bowel function, which we're going to talk about in another root cause.
• 12:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: When your stomach doesn't fill with acid, it won't empty as quickly, leading to sluggish bowels, etc.
• 13:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: One of the most common reasons for low stomach acid is actually an infection called H.
• 13:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: pylori.
• 13:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: which is the most common infection in the world.
• 13:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: This can suppress stomach acid production and H.
• 13:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: pylori thrives in the stomach lining and can lead to bloating and reflux and poor protein digestion.
• 13:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: you might be dealing with H.
• 13:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: pylori if you're bloated, especially after high protein meals, you have acid reflux or a burning sensation, you have chronic burping or even bad breath.
• 13:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: I always say look out for the three B's, so bloating, burning, and burping.
• 13:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: You really want to work with a practitioner if you have H.
• 13:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: pylori.
• 13:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's really easy to pass this via saliva and other bodily fluids.
• 13:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can even get it from pets, but getting rid of it is really important.
• 13:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can use things to improve stomach acid production, such as digestive bitters.
• 14:00
  Dr. Heather Finley: I would not recommend using apple cider vinegar or betaine HCL without consulting a provider.
• 14:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can do more harm than good with some of these things.
• 14:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: but digestive bitters can be really supportive.
• 14:12
  Dr. Heather Finley: especially the non alcoholic ones.
• 14:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you have any kind of stomach lining, irritation, et cetera.
• 14:18
  Dr. Heather Finley: Next is bile flow.
• 14:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: So your liver produces bile and your gallbladder stores and releases it to help emulsify and digest fats.
• 14:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if you have sluggish bile or even if you don't have a gallbladder, you still have bile flow.
• 14:32
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's just not getting ejected from the gallbladder.
• 14:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: Like it normally would, but we don't want to have fats go undigested.
• 14:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: This will lead to lots of burping after high fat meals, feeling heavy after meals, greasy or floating stool, kind of that stool that you feel like you have to wipe a ton.
• 14:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: This can be an indicator of sluggish bile flow or gallbladder issues.
• 14:57
  Dr. Heather Finley: poor hydration, low fat diets, ironically, can cause bile flow issues because you need cholesterol to help with bile.
• 15:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: Hormonal imbalances like estrogen dominance, stress or sluggish liver.
• 15:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: one of my favorite tools for the gallbladder is castor oil packs.
• 15:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's really effective at supporting the liver and bile flow.
• 15:18
  Dr. Heather Finley: And you gently just place this over your liver.
• 15:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: with castor oil, it can promote lymph drainage.
• 15:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: so you're going to put it over your liver with a wool cloth.
• 15:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: Typically we use the Queen of Thrones one.
• 15:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'll put the link in the show notes.
• 15:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: really easy to use.
• 15:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can do this for, 30 to 60 minutes while you're watching TV at night.
• 15:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can wear it overnight.
• 15:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: Sometimes people recommend that.
• 15:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: Of course, Consult your health care provider.
• 15:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is not medical advice, but that's typically what we recommend for our clients.
• 15:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then lastly, kind of the last, organ.
• 15:51
  Dr. Heather Finley: At least involved in the first part of digestion is your pancreas.
• 15:55
  Dr. Heather Finley: And this helps with the release of enzymes that breaks down carbohydrates and proteins and fats into smaller molecules that your body can absorb.
• 16:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if your pancreatic output is low, you may experience bloating or gas or even nutrient deficiencies.
• 16:12
  Dr. Heather Finley: bloating after eating, especially high carb or high protein meals, fatigue or food comas after meals can indicate pancreatic output is low.
• 16:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: Floating stools, undigestive stools, off colored stools, so if you've got like yellow stool.
• 16:27
  Dr. Heather Finley: Digestive enzymes can be helpful here, I wouldn't just take a random enzyme, elastase, which is a marker that we can see on stool.
• 16:37
  Dr. Heather Finley: Stool testing that will show us a bit more about pancreatic output.
• 16:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can also eat smaller meals to just slowly reduce the workload on your pancreas, but ultimately you want to address the upstream piece.
• 16:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: So making sure you're salivating, making sure you're addressing the stomach acid piece.
• 16:55
  Dr. Heather Finley: Chewing your food, getting your stomach, to produce enough acid where it's then signaling your gallbladder, your liver, and your pancreas to produce enough enzymes, for food breakdown.
• 17:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: The next piece is stress.
• 17:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: So before you turn this off and think, that does not apply to me, stress is actually one of the most overlooked contributors.
• 17:17
  Dr. Heather Finley: to bloating and poor digestion because it impacts your body in ways that you might not realize.
• 17:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: So I hope to provide perhaps a different perspective on stress.
• 17:27
  Dr. Heather Finley: When you think of stress, you might picture like work deadlines or family obligations, but stress isn't always in your head.
• 17:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: And this is something that we common commonly see with our clients is your body doesn't know the difference between.
• 17:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: Whether you're worried about eating the quote unquote wrong food, or actually being chased by a tiger, your nervous system reacts the same by flipping into fight or flight mode.
• 17:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: So in this state, digestion will just take a backseat because your body is focused on survival and not breaking down your last meal.
• 18:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: So here's how stress shuts down.
• 18:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: Digestion.
• 18:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: Number one, it suppresses stomach acid production in fight or flight.
• 18:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: Your body.
• 18:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: stops or slows the production of stomach acid because it's not worried about breaking down food.
• 18:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: If it thinks it's being chased by a tiger, it will also reduce enzyme output.
• 18:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: So it will suppress the release of digestive enzymes and then will also contribute to sluggish gut motility.
• 18:27
  Dr. Heather Finley: Chronic stress will move blood flow away from the gut and to your muscles because again, you're getting ready to be chased by a bear.
• 18:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this can slow down the bowels.
• 18:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: or speed them up really fast, which can also be a problem.
• 18:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: So stress is not always emotional and it's important to recognize just what stressors you might have.
• 18:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: things like under eating, too little or skipping meals.
• 18:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: This sends a signal to your body that resources are scarce, triggering a stress response.
• 18:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: Chronic under eating can also slow your metabolism, slow down digestion and worsen bloating.
• 19:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: Food fear, obsessively worrying about eating the wrong foods.
• 19:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: is a stress.
• 19:09
  Dr. Heather Finley: When you eat in a state of fear or anxiety, your body isn't in rest and digest, which can amplify bloating mineral deficiencies.
• 19:17
  Dr. Heather Finley: We see this all the time.
• 19:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: Low levels of magnesium, potassium, sodium, et cetera, can make it harder for your body to manage stress.
• 19:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: And you burn through more minerals.
• 19:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: when you are stressed.
• 19:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: So magnesium, for example, is known as the relaxation mineral because it helps calm the nervous system.
• 19:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: A deficiency can keep you stuck.
• 19:37
  Dr. Heather Finley: Same thing with potassium.
• 19:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is the stress mineral.
• 19:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: So when you're more stressed, you use more.
• 19:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: Most people don't even get enough potassium helps with muscle contraction, AKA gut motility so it can slow down there as well.
• 19:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then even over exercising, so movement, it's great for stress relief, but overdoing it, especially if you're not eating enough is a stress.
• 20:00
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then also having underlying gut infections is a stress.
• 20:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you have Candida, H.
• 20:07
  Dr. Heather Finley: pylori, a parasite, whatever it is, this is a stress on your body.
• 20:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: So we want to look under the hood and see what's going on in the gut and address it to reduce stress on your body.
• 20:17
  Dr. Heather Finley: some questions to ask yourself.
• 20:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: Does your bloating get worse during stressful times, like busy work weeks or anything that's more emotional?
• 20:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: Do you often feel rushed or anxious while eating?
• 20:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: Are you under eating, over exercising, relying on caffeine to get through the day?
• 20:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: Those can be some signs.
• 20:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: So just some simple things that you can do.
• 20:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: Number one, shift into rest and digest mode.
• 20:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: Just take three to five deep breaths before you eat.
• 20:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is going to activate your vagus nerve.
• 20:46
  Dr. Heather Finley: support your nervous system with minerals.
• 20:48
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you haven't done that yet, supporting your minerals is a great way to support your stress.
• 20:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: So a simple adrenal cocktail, Any kind of mineral mocktail is going to be great.
• 20:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: I have plenty of episodes on this as well as a mineral guide that you can download with several ideas.
• 21:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: Find balance in your movement.
• 21:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: If it's a really stressful week and you're not sleeping enough, maybe the HIIT workout's not a great idea.
• 21:12
  Dr. Heather Finley: go walking or do yoga or Pilates.
• 21:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: working on your relationship with food.
• 21:17
  Dr. Heather Finley: trying to address the food fear.
• 21:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: And getting professional help can be really helpful for this because sometimes we need someone to speak that into us.
• 21:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then practice just daily relaxation.
• 21:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'm not talking about meditating for an hour.
• 21:32
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'm a mom of three and I run a business.
• 21:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: I don't have time to do that either.
• 21:37
  Dr. Heather Finley: So I'm not going to tell you to do that.
• 21:38
  Dr. Heather Finley: Five to 10 minutes of mindfulness, journaling, deep breathing, even spread out throughout the day.
• 21:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: reminders on your phone, to go off and just have the reminder, say, take three deep breaths.
• 21:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: It doesn't have to be super complicated.
• 21:53
  Dr. Heather Finley: So when you reduce stress, you're going to create an environment where your digestion can thrive.
• 21:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: And over time, this is going to lead to less bloating, better nutrient absorption, and then overall improved health.
• 22:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: All right, number four is slow gut motility.
• 22:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is one of the most common things we see with our clients that struggle with really chronic bloating and constipation.
• 22:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: Gut motility is referring to how quickly food moves through your digestive tract.
• 22:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: Your digestive system is kind of like a conveyor belt, so food should move at the right speed to ensure proper digestion and elimination.
• 22:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: When motility slows down, food sits longer than it should.
• 22:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: This leads to fermentation, gas, and bloating.
• 22:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: There's a lot of things that will impact motility.
• 22:39
  Dr. Heather Finley: Number one, nervous system dysfunction or function.
• 22:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: So the enteric nervous system, also known as your second brain, controls how food moves through your digestive tract.
• 22:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: If your nervous system is stressed, then motility will slow down.
• 22:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: Hydration and fiber intake.
• 22:55
  Dr. Heather Finley: So dehydration is going to slow gut motility.
• 22:59
  Dr. Heather Finley: You need water in your intestines to move things through.
• 23:02
  Dr. Heather Finley: Minerals are going to play a big deal into this as well.
• 23:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: You need minerals like magnesium, sodium, et cetera, to draw water to your bowels and then insufficient dietary fiber.
• 23:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you're not eating 25 30 grams of fiber a day, your bowels will likely be slower.
• 23:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: and this is kind of a Goldilocks mentality as well.
• 23:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: We don't want, more is not always better.
• 23:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: More is not more.
• 23:27
  Dr. Heather Finley: 25 30 grams.
• 23:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: Maybe 35 grams and slowly working your way up.
• 23:32
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you do a recall and you're eating seven grams of fiber a day, don't go straight to 30 slowly increase and make sure you're drinking enough water with fiber.
• 23:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: You need more water mineral imbalances.
• 23:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: Like I mentioned, magnesium, It's going to draw water to your bowels, potassium is also going to be really helpful here as well.
• 23:51
  Dr. Heather Finley: Potassium is going to help the gut muscles contract and then any underlying conditions like hypothyroidism.
• 23:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is going to slow the bowels, SIBO, vagus nerve dysfunction, et cetera.
• 24:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: So all these things are going to affect how much the muscles of the gut contract.
• 24:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: Remember, your gut is a muscle, so we need it to be in shape and contracting and moving things through.
• 24:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: So some questions to ask would be, are you having fewer than one bowel movement per day?
• 24:20
  Dr. Heather Finley: We should be completely emptying our bowels one to three times a day.
• 24:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: Do you feel bloated or uncomfortable after meals, especially as the day progresses?
• 24:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: Are you bloated when you wake up?
• 24:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: This can be a big sign of slow motility.
• 24:36
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then do you notice incomplete bowel movements or this sensation of never going enough?
• 24:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: if you're going a tiny bit each day, or each time and you're not fully emptying, then slow gut motility is probably at play for you.
• 24:51
  Dr. Heather Finley: And no probiotic is really going to fix that.
• 24:55
  Dr. Heather Finley: So we want to address it.
• 24:56
  Dr. Heather Finley: comprehensively.
• 24:57
  Dr. Heather Finley: So you can support your gut motility number one by hydrating.
• 25:02
  Dr. Heather Finley: Start your day with a large glass of water with a pinch of salt.
• 25:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: Maybe squeeze a lemon.
• 25:07
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is going to help support minerals.
• 25:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's going to support hydration.
• 25:10
  Dr. Heather Finley: Magnesium can be great.
• 25:12
  Dr. Heather Finley: Citrate or glyconate are probably the two that we use the most.
• 25:15
  Dr. Heather Finley: Citrate is going to be a little bit more appropriate if you're constipated.
• 25:18
  Dr. Heather Finley: Glyconate if you're stressed or you have trouble sleeping.
• 25:21
  Dr. Heather Finley: Movement, go for a gentle five to 10 minute walk.
• 25:25
  Dr. Heather Finley: Like I mentioned, do the I love you massage, yoga, any kind of abdominal massage to help stimulate the digestive tract.
• 25:32
  Dr. Heather Finley: Activate your vagus nerve.
• 25:34
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can see that all of these things kind of all go together.
• 25:37
  Dr. Heather Finley: So some of these lifestyle habits are going to.
• 25:40
  Dr. Heather Finley: support a lot of these underlying root causes.
• 25:44
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then the last root cause that I want to tackle today, at least, is dysbiosis.
• 25:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this is an imbalance in your gut microbiome.
• 25:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: And dysbiosis occurs when you have either too few good bacteria, too many quote unquote bad bacteria.
• 25:59
  Dr. Heather Finley: This can also, translate to yeast or other pathogens.
• 26:04
  Dr. Heather Finley: But essentially, these unwanted bacteria, yeast, or pathogens are outweighing the beneficial bacteria, leading to Excessive fermentation of food.
• 26:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is going to create gas, bloating, and a whole host of other symptoms like food sensitivities or irregular bowel movements.
• 26:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: But here's the key point.
• 26:23
  Dr. Heather Finley: Digestion is a north to south process.
• 26:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you skip over foundational issues like meal hygiene, stomach acid production, gut motility, and you jump straight to fixing your microbiome, maybe you jump straight into a SIBO protocol or, I can't tell you how many times I've gotten on the phone with someone and they're like, I've done candibactin, AR, and BR twice or three times and it hasn't worked.
• 26:47
  Dr. Heather Finley: Or I've done eight SIBO protocols and it hasn't worked.
• 26:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'm like, okay, What did you do to address your digestion, your motility, all these other things, and they look at me like a deer in the headlights.
• 26:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: there's been so many missed pieces, and it makes me feel so bad that they got a completely incomplete treatment.
• 27:06
  Dr. Heather Finley: But an imbalanced microbiome is often the result, not the root cause of poor digestion upstream.
• 27:13
  Dr. Heather Finley: So some questions to ask yourself would be, do you experience chronic bloating regardless of what you eat?
• 27:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: Do you have a history of antibiotic use, poor diet, unmanaged stress?
• 27:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: Do you notice worsening food sensitivities or irregular bowel movements?
• 27:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: Do you feel six months pregnant with bloat by the end of the day?
• 27:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you resonate, dysbiosis could be playing a role in your bloating.
• 27:37
  Dr. Heather Finley: So there's no quick fix for this because your microbiome is incredibly complex.
• 27:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: And while, different probiotics or protocols or supplements may offer short term relief.
• 27:48
  Dr. Heather Finley: They rarely address the full picture.
• 27:50
  Dr. Heather Finley: So restoring this is going to take time.
• 27:52
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's going to require creating an environment where beneficial bacteria can thrive.
• 27:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: You can support your microbiome by eating prebiotic fiber, which you might feel like you don't tolerate.
• 28:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: So go low, go slow.
• 28:05
  Dr. Heather Finley: garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus go really slowly and don't.
• 28:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: at a time or you're gonna worsen your symptoms.
• 28:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: Spore based probiotics.
• 28:16
  Dr. Heather Finley: These are incredibly resilient and they are very helpful at promoting diversity in the gut, reducing inflammation, et cetera.
• 28:26
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then immunolin.
• 28:27
  Dr. Heather Finley: I have another podcast episode specifically on immunolin and colostrum.
• 28:33
  Dr. Heather Finley: It's a couple episodes back.
• 28:35
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'll link it in the show notes, but this is made from bovine immunoglobulins and it helps bind to and neutralize harmful bacteria.
• 28:43
  Dr. Heather Finley: So this is especially helpful for calming inflammation and just reducing the microbial load.
• 28:49
  Dr. Heather Finley: when you focus on these three things, you can slowly rebalance your gut, but really remember that what works best is when foundational digestion and motility issues are addressed first.
• 29:02
  Dr. Heather Finley: as I've mentioned, digestion is a north to south process, starting with salivation, meal hygiene, stomach acid production, enzymes, bile release.
• 29:12
  Dr. Heather Finley: And then we finally get to the microbiome.
• 29:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if you skip the upstream steps and you go straight into fixing your gut bacteria, you are very unlikely to see lasting results.
• 29:24
  Dr. Heather Finley: And that's often why people hit a dead end with probiotics or gut protocols that aren't addressing foundational issues.
• 29:31
  Dr. Heather Finley: So if you are tired of feeling bloated and just guessing what's wrong, I would really encourage you to check out Gut Tested.
• 29:42
  Dr. Heather Finley: This is our testing package that includes testing and one on one support to help you identify these root causes if you're not getting anywhere with what you're doing for your bloating.
• 29:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: Or Overall GI issues right now, you're going to do the stool test.
• 29:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: You're going to uncover what's really going on.
• 30:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: You're going to get one on one support with an expert trained gut health dietician to create a plan tailored to your needs.
• 30:08
  Dr. Heather Finley: And bloating does not have to be your normal.
• 30:11
  Dr. Heather Finley: With the right tools, the right support, you can take control of all of this and have a long term plan to prevent it.
• 30:19
  Dr. Heather Finley: So I'll put the link in the show notes if you want to check it out this is our great testing package for those of you that are really looking into, what your root causes might be.
• 30:28
  Dr. Heather Finley: So just to recap this episode real quick, chew thoroughly, walk after meals, sip on herbal teas, and then look at.
• 30:37
  Dr. Heather Finley: Some of these underlying root causes while you're doing that.
• 30:41
  Dr. Heather Finley: So hormonal hygiene, stress, slow motility, bloating.
• 30:45
  Dr. Heather Finley: Like I said, does not have to be your normal.
• 30:48
  Dr. Heather Finley: When you work on these foundational things and you address the root causes, you can start to feel like yourself again.
• 30:54
  Dr. Heather Finley: So I hope that this episode was helpful.
• 30:58
  Dr. Heather Finley: If you have questions, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram.
• 31:01
  Dr. Heather Finley: I would love to chat with you.
• 31:03
  Dr. Heather Finley: And as a reminder, if you are a practitioner, And you want to learn more about how to interpret testing, how to create comprehensive protocols for your clients.
• 31:14
  Dr. Heather Finley: Make sure that you come to my webinar on February 5th, and you will learn exactly how to do that.
• 31:22
  Dr. Heather Finley: I'll show you how to confidently address GI issues and build a practice that you love.
• 31:27
  Dr. Heather Finley: So the link is in the show notes.
• 31:29
  Dr. Heather Finley: Can't wait to see you there.
• 31:30
  Dr. Heather Finley: That's all for today.
• 31:31
  Dr. Heather Finley: Thanks so much for tuning in, and I will catch you on the next episode of the Love Your Gut podcast.