137: Microbiome 101: How Your Gut Shapes Hormones, Mood, and Health

The Everyday Awesome Project · Aug 6, 2026 · 43m · transcript

Your gut is not just where food goes. It is where your immune system trains, where inflammation gets decided, and where your brain’s chemistry gets a huge vote. Coach Sam goes solo and shares the gut microbiome science that has her genuinely fired up, sparked by Cynthia Thurlow’s work on menopause and gut health.

We walk through what the microbiome actually is, why microbial diversity matters, and how the gut lining can become vulnerable to permeability (often called leaky gut). From there, we connect the dots between short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, immune regulation, and metabolic…