The Thyroid Gut Connection With Functional Nutritionist Divya Gupta

Intro to thyroid and gut health 0:00

Yes. You know, it's. I'm sure you hear it all the time. I'm fine. My gut fine and. All right. You know, my digestion is fine everywhere until you dig deeper. But nothing in the body works in isolation. Period. Just because the thyroid is here at the base of your neck and your. Your gut is actually from your the volatile, from your mouth all the way to your anus. You know how this is connected, but for your thyroid to work, well, your brain needs to work well. You need to have your thyroid. Obviously your liver, your adrenals and your gut.

You need all of these five organs need to be working in synchronicity for your thyroid to function well. Welcome to Doctor Talks, the podcast where every episode leads to a healthier you. Join us as we navigate the world of optimal health, uncovering groundbreaking strategies to conquer chronic disease. In each episode, we'll bring you the latest insights from leading health experts, medical innovators, and wellness warriors. If you are seeking to transform your health journey, or if you're looking for answers to burning questions.

You've come to the right place. Get ready to unlock the secrets of lifelong health and vitality. This is Doctor Talks, real talk from real doctors on the issues that matter to you most. Welcome back to this week's episode of back to the basics. I'm thrilled that you joined me this week. Before I introduce my next guest, we are going to be talking about thyroid disease in general. This is a topic that a lot of you guys I know really are is really, really dear to your heart when we post these. I had an episode with Michael McPherson.

I had one with Doctor Johnny. Pete, any time we talk about thyroid doctor Corey Rice. A lot of you reach out with tons of questions. So today I'm bringing you an amazing thyroid guest. We're going to talk about this a little bit more from Gut Health Connection. And we're going to talk a lot about like the food health or the food and thyroid connection. Her and I actually did a summit. And so she has a thyroid recharge summit that's actually live currently. So it came out on September 30th, the last day of interviews will be on October 6th, and then on October 7th, which is tomorrow.

All the interviews are going to be live, so you guys need to make sure that you get a ticket to this Thyroid Recharge summit. She has a bunch of amazing guests. I was previewed on Friday with McCall McPherson, so make sure that you check it out. Doctor Divya Gupta is a functional nutritionist who empowers busy individuals to surpass their parent's health legacies. Drawing from her corporate background and personal triumphs over gallbladder removal and Hashimoto's. Divya creates personalized wellness plans that fit modern, fast paced lives.

She bridges cutting edge functional approaches with practical solutions. Divya's mission is for her clients to regain vitality and live life on their own terms. Based in San Jose, California. Divya balances her thriving practice with hiking, cooking, yoga and adventures with her husband and eight year old son.

Divya Guptau2019s background and path to functional nutrition 3:00

Her journey embodies the transformative power of functional nutrition, inspiring clients to unlock their full health potential. So please help me welcome Divya Gupta to the back to the Basics podcast. Thank you. Cassie. So nice to be back with you here. You know, we just met in person I just a few days ago. So not great to be doing this with you. And it's such an honor to be on your podcast. Thank you for having me. Yeah. Yeah. So I got to meet Divya just last weekend. We were all at a conference in Arizona and McCall.

So a lot of people that I've done podcast with. So it was great. So I guess let's start. You know, you told me that you kind of got into this because of some gallbladder issues yourself. And Hashimoto's. So maybe just tell the guests how you kind of got into what you were doing, maybe like a little brief recap, and I'm gonna start firing, firing questions at you. All right. So, like a brief recap. So, if people who are listening, I'm still, you know, I'm an Indian immigrant, very stereotypical Indian.

So we all are either engineers, doctors or lawyers. So I took the engineering path. So I actually studied computer science engineering back home in India and came to the US for my masters. And I worked in corporate America for 16 plus years. I was in Silicon Valley, so this was something I know getting into the functional nutrition space is like a total of 80 degrees. And again, most of us are here because we have either seen somebody really near and dear to us going through health challenges or dealt with it.

I had both going for me. So as you mentioned in my bio, I lost my gallbladder at the age of 20. You know, we can talk about gallbladder health, but it was out of nowhere. Similarly young, you know, I had nothing as far as I know, no health issue going on or that I was aware of. But God later attacks. Two months later, my gallbladder was out and life moved on. I thought that was the best decision. I was in excruciating pain. I could come to the US for years. Later, I get diagnosed with Hashimoto's.

Knowing what I know now that it is connected. I wish somebody had dug in further of why does she have gallbladder issues. She's young like no apparent health issues going on. Let's dig in. But everything happens for a reason. So that's after getting diagnosed that I was still in my early 20s, and around the same time my mom got diagnosed with her second autoimmune condition of rheumatoid arthritis after Hashimoto's and Gassy. You have. You and I both know if want to get one autoimmune condition, you're three times likely to get another one.

And that was my tipping point of, hey, I need to do something. I need to take my health into my own hands because the doctor I saw at that point spent ten minutes with me, which is still the case right now. I think in most conventional practice it gave me synthroid and off you go. No other discussion? No. The conversation. And I just knew I just didn't want to end up like my mom in this regard. So I started getting into the space more to learn for myself, to change, to make myself healthier. And you know, eventually I, I think it found me or I found it.

I just knew I couldn't I just couldn't keep it to myself. I had to go and help people. There's so much, so much, so many people dealing with it. They didn't have to. But that's what brought me here. And I was curious. So you help people as far as, like, functional nutritionist. So you help them know what to eat when they go on these special diets, like my patients are used to the H. Pylori diet, the low Fodmap diet, the. So you're the person that they go talk to that says eat this don't eat this.

All those things. Yeah nutrition plays a huge role. But I also believe in testing, which I know you as well. Like I do functional tests. You know, the GI map, you know, give me a stool. Food sensitivity testing. You know what? You know, we can take guess, you know, take out the top eight foods that most people are sensitive to. But I really want to hear what are the foods that are triggering your inflammation? Even a slow rate of food activity. Testing hormones as needed. You know, running the running the blood panel because some doctors I don't know why they discount and it's such a battle.

So I love to do testing so I can actually build that. That is very personalized to my client so they can get get on the healthy train as fast as we get, as they get. Yeah. And get better. So so you mentioned GI maps and I love GI maps. What do you think give the listeners. So if you're listening GI map is a way that you can collect your stool and really look at your GI tract. So we do a lot of them I like to it tells us about your good bacteria, tells us about your bad bacteria, tells us about the integrity of your GI tract, how well the lining is, how well your immune system and your GI tract is.

Is your colon inflamed? Is your gallbladder working? Is your pancreas working? Are you digesting your food? Do you have food sensitivities? You know, it tells you so many things. So tell the listeners, if you have Hashimoto's or you have a thyroid disease, why would a GI map be beneficial? Oh my gosh. So Berkeley, RI said, what, 2000 years ago? All diseases begins in the gut. So when you have an autoimmune condition, you have a leaky gut. We know that. You know, we can I think we can throw your studies full out studies.

It's a fact. When you have a leaky gut and leaky gut is your intestine. Walls, which are just one cell wall take you know, they're not you know, if you're watching it live, but it's just one cell wall. They can very it's it's semi semi-permeable and it's meant to be that way. So nutrients can get through into the bloodstream and the food. What do I need to stay into. The hollow tube stays there. But over time due to toxins, inflammation, microbes you know dysbiosis which is imbalance

Why GI mapping matters in Hashimotou2019s 9:00

with the between the good and the bad, the big diarrhea can create holes. And now you have leaky gut. Now things are getting in that are not supposed to, that are activating your immune system and creating antibodies. And then it's like, you know, that leads to attacking itself. That's what autoimmunity is. So yes, if you have Hashimoto's or any autoimmune condition, we need to start with the gut. We need to see what's going on there. Exactly. Whether you know what kind of microbes you have, what what what's greens and H.

Pylori, is it, you know, is it Candida? You know, what are, the oh, gosh, it gets all migrating for me. Inflammation markers. Right. It gives you a digestion marker so we can start creating that protocol to start to heal your that, you know, just to close the hole, the, the wall can be healed. It's the plug. The hole can be plugged. It doesn't have to stay that way. So that's that's why we need to do the GI map. If you anything, but especially if you have Hashimoto's or any other condition. So if you have Hashimoto's or any immune condition and you do a GI map, I guess, tell the listeners what you're looking for or what things can run in, you know, run in packs, I guess with with Hashimoto's about, oh, gosh, I, I know sometimes like I can tell when I ran my, mine, it was there was definitely a lot of just biotic bacteria going on.

And that had been doing a lot of things, you know. Right. But and I can also see it with another client, we can talk about, so you can have a lot of the bad bacteria growing. And again, it's okay. You know, there are some. Everyone has bad bacteria. Your garden always has weeds, right? It's never going to be weed free. So there will always be weed. But I've seen a very common the streptococcus. Those ones are definitely b lab. Hi lab. Hi. Is Ben is. Hey. There is the reference range. That's why we like the GI map.

It quantifies how much of this bacteria of, do you have? I've seen that. And a lot of, you know, sometimes pseudomonas is a drawback, which are very inflammatory bacteria. I've seen those going back so that we know because there is underlying inflammation going on. So I've seen those definitely run come up positive. Along with oh my God this poor line so young. But also parasites which I know GI map is, you know, it's not always, you know, that's one place, but I see it's maybe not the perfect is catching parasites because there are like 300 different species and it looks for the meat types.

But I have seen that come lab high, especially the blastocyst. Narcissist is gosh, these words are so complicated. And also Candida that can also run. And I've seen that come in. And when I get into the into signing into the digestion. Starter. Correct. Definitely. If you know me, even with no gallbladder, I'm looking for that and that I've seen definitely, yellow or, you know, and I'm sorry. I'm looking at the I'm visualizing the results, but I've seen that come in along with the blade. Look around this.

You know, if you don't have in case a lot of people with Hashimoto's are especially if you have gallbladder removed, then there's we can talk about bile, how bile impacts it. And I've seen that being super high to the secretary idea being super low. That means your gut army, which is protecting you, is sort of dying off. And it's not fighting hard enough. So I've seen, a combination of these markers. Definitely. I expected when I run it like these are going to show up and it does. Yeah. And the other things I think that I see a lot with, with thyroid disease and gut.

So like you mentioned Morgan Nella Klebsiella very inflammatory bacteria that we need to make sure that we're monitoring if they've got a lot of inflammation going on, like you said, a lot of times their elasticity is low. Their strep and staff are high because they're having a hard time digesting H. Pylori so much H pylori, especially in people who have low iron. So if you have low ferritin levels and you have hypothyroidism, I tell patients is all the time, like if I check your labs and your ferritin is low, first of all, you're not going to feel well because you're going to be tired.

Your ferritin, you need that for energy. You also need it for conversion of T4 to T3. Right? So but one of the things I ask myself when I find somebody with a low ferritin level is why, you know, now we bleed, women bleed. And so sometimes that is the culprit. But still, if you're eating a diet rich in iron, if you eat meat products and animal products, you shouldn't have a ferritin of ten or 12 or 20. And so a lot of times what I find in these people when I do their stool analysis is they have H.

Pylori and H. Pylori eat your iron. So it's very common. You know, one of these autoimmune things with if you have horses, you have H. Pylori. And I just did a stool analysis about a month ago on myself. And unfortunately, I have a little bit of H. Pylori that I'm working on. So, I mean, it happens, you know, and like you said, Candida is really common as well. And so, yeah, and I had H. Pylori. And for everyone listening, 50% of the population has. And most a lot of people, you know we do have it.

It's like is it pathogenic. You know and especially looking at the symptoms and what's going on. Us and Kathy like said, if you have low iron, which a lot of women do, and especially the vegan or vegetarian, which I used to be as well. So definitely that can impact your, H pylori can even, you know, I've reduced digestion, you know, digesting a protein either well and then iron and then the domino effect malabsorption. Yeah for sure. So so we kind of talked about with thyroid and so y. So if somebody has spirit issues why do they care about their gut.

So let's say somebody is listening right now and they're like well I have hypothyroidism and I'm taking my medicine. Why should I care about my gut? You said that disease, you know, everything starts in the stomach. But maybe I don't have symptoms or maybe I don't feel like I have symptoms. So why should I care about my gut? You like what you've heard so far? If so, modern endocrine is now able to provide telehealth services in eight states, including Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Georgia.

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We do offer discounted lab rates with a nationwide lab service. And now, back to the show. Yes. You know, it's I'm sure you hear it all the time. I'm fine. My gut is fine. And. All right. You know, my digestion is fine everywhere until you dig deeper. But nothing in the body works in isolation. Period. Just because the thyroid is here at the base of your neck and your. Your gut is actually from your the molecule, from your mouth all the way to your anus. So we can see that word podcast. It's, you know, why?

It's, you know, how does it connected. But for your thyroid to work, well, your brain needs to work well. You need to have your thyroid. Obviously, your liver, your adrenals and your gut. You need all of these five organs need to be working in synchronicity for your thyroid to function well. And the reason is because there's like a symbiotic relationship between the thyroid and the gut. The, you know, the thyroid, the brain sends a signal, which is the TSH, for the thyroid to produce the hormone.

And the thyroid, say, listens and produces a hormone, which is T4, T3. I'm sure you've talked about this on your podcast, before, along with their T1, T2 as well, and small quantities, but T4 and T3 are the main focus, and we know T4 is inactive and T3 is active. So we need to convert default to T3. So some of it, some of these, some T3 is produced by the thyroid. But most of it is conversion that happens in the body. And when does the conversion happen. It happens in the liver and the gut. So that's why the thyroid and the gut are connected in for the gut to convert it, it needs to produce the right enzyme.

So we can actually do the conversion of removing that one iodine iodine molecule from T4 and make it to D3.

How thyroid, gut, liver, and gallbladder interact 18:00

And the thyroid also influences our gut motility as well, you know, and, you know, I guess, you know, if I don't believe it, if somebody has hyoid issues, they don't have gut issues because and they don't they're not dealing with some sort of constipation or diarrhea or both or all or alternating between the two, because the thyroid influences the gut mentality. So if you're constipated and you have toxins building up, and that's going to impact your thyroid binding globulin and how they end up conversion happens.

And if your thyroid health is not optimized, you're not extracting the nutrients from your food. And how important are your zinc, your selenium, your even iron, some of the amino acids for your thyroid help. So we need that. We need the gut to be able to extract the nutrients from the food we eat. So the thyroid can function. So it's the chicken and the egg. You can't you can't have a healthy thyroid. And imbalance or either. So we do need the gut to work functioning well. If you have tight issues, you need to fix your gut.

So there you have it. Your thyroid can not convert from the inactive T4 to the active T3 without a good functioning gut. And I would also agree, like you were talking about before, you know, you have all these cells, you know, in your in your gut that are very tightly put together. And as they start to open up and leak food, leaves your gut. Right. So it's no longer in this hollow tube it's supposed to be in. It starts getting into your your blood, into your soft tissue. And it that those food products aren't supposed to be there.

And so then you're immune system creates these immune complex molecules that come and attack this food because it's like what is this? It's leaking out of the gut. And when that attack happens, it brings the army, right? So it brings the white blood cells, it brings the leukocytes, it brings the interleukins, and it brings the tissue necrosis factor alpha. And so now you have this war going on outside of your actual lining of your GI tract, where there's a bunch of inflammation. And so it is very important that that gut not be leaky, because if so, you're going to waste a lot of your energy on this war that's happening outside of of your GI tract. Right.

And so then when that's happening, then you don't have any of this extra, you know, energy for your thyroid to actually work. And then if your H. Pylori is eating up your iron and your guts all inflamed, and so now you can't absorb your vitamin D or your B12 or things you need from your gut in order for your thyroid to actually work or iodine, then we're going to have a problem right away. And how many people with thyroid have fatigue, energy issues, weight gain. Now can you know we trying to uncover why is that happening.

Because your thyroid controls every function, every organ in the body, every cell in your body has a receptor for the thyroid hormone. We have trillions of that. So without the thyroid hormone B1 function and things are going to fall apart one by one. And everyone has different symptoms as well. So yes. Right. And the and the liver is very important as well because it does detoxification for us. And so liver health is important. And then you know you mentioned gallbladder. So your gallbladder is so important there.

I don't you know I have patients all the time who say well I have my gallbladder out. Do you take gallbladder enzymes or support. No. Why do I need that. Well, you know, for one gallbladder is a huge, you know, proponent or so gallbladder. So bile is bacteria static right. Like it's antimicrobial. So every time you eat you have this influx of bile to help you digest fat. But it also helps kill bad things that aren't supposed to be there, you know. And so your gallbladder, there's so many reasons you use your gallbladder.

But if you are somebody who has had your gallbladder removed and you have a lot of diarrhea, or you have issues, especially after you eat fatty foods, I mean, that's a problem because if you're fat is not digesting correctly, it gets lower into your into your stomach, into your, you know, small intestine, your colon, and you get bacterial overgrowth. Right. And so, you know, you were talking about you had gallbladder issues. So then what happened after your gallbladder was removed? Did you start having a lot of issues?

Did you just thankfully get started on support, like what happened with you? Did it make your thyroid disease worse? I wish I was 26 and I didn't know what the gallbladder did. Honestly, when my gallbladder was taken out, I said I was on a whole different path of studying computer science. I could do some c-plus Java programing for you at that point. But no, I, I, I nobody the I was still in India. The endocrinologist never really did it just said, hey, you can live without the gallbladder. We can take it up.

I had still had I had painful stones and I just maybe, you know, that was the right decision for me. You know, I can't look back and regret and be upset about it. It was done. And I think it it was an underlying when you have gallbladder issues. So everyone listening, even if you have your gallbladder intact. But I you know, we hear about gallbladder pain or, you know, digesting your fat. You have gallbladder issues. There could be some clinical hypothyroidism going on, thyroid issues going on. So if somebody had dug in at that point, maybe they would have uncovered my Hashimoto's or hypothyroidism issues and maybe, you know, could have turned the ship around.

But no, I was it didn't. Yeah, that was put on no support and I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's. A few years later. But I remember because I came moved to the country, I moved to the US, for my masters. I was 20, 21 or so, a new country, new food, new environment, you know? You know, it's stressful. So knowing what I know, when I look back, I think I was dealing with some, like a low spectrum of IBS for sure, because I would get a lot of tummy aches. It was like, stress related or like, I was not sure when my, you know, that's what IBS is.

You just just you have the syndrome, you have a very anxious stomach and constipation or diarrhea. I would go back and forth, but yes, I wasn't sure like I you just kept going when you're young, right? You just when you well push through what you need to just to get on with what you need to and you take on what you know, outside help, like, you know, to help with digestion. So no, I wasn't it wasn't until later when I started making some changes to my diet and started realizing when I wanted to cut gluten and dairy.

Wow. I used to be bloated all the time, period. I just, I just I wasn't even aware I got used to living that way. And I know how many people are just used to living the way they are. So yeah. So now I am, so once now that I know better and I, you know, hey, I need help digesting my fat because, as you said rightly, your gallbladder stores the bile that is produced in the liver. It's like a side liver sidekick. The small organ, it stores the bile. So when you eat your food, the bile can be squeezed out.

And, you know, the squeezing action takes a lot of energy. And it needs a thyroid hormone. So it can actually be squeezed out. So you can get the bill out so we can digest our food. And we need to diet. We need bile for a fat soluble vitamin ad and and how many people with hypothyroidism or iron issues are low in these vitamins. And then I look back. If I peel back the onion it's probably having bile issues or gallbladder issues. You know, the maybe the bile is not sufficient or it's not squeezing out as well.

And as you rightly said, it also helps with it. Multifactorial. Functional, right. Nothing in a body just does one thing I, I challenge anyone. If you can find anything in the body that just performs one function. So the bile also is an anti microbial. It kills any bacteria that we may have consumed to a food or any pathogens. And it also binds to toxins and ensures it's excreted out. So when my beta blocker on days was high on my GI map, I wonder why. If you don't have enough bile, it's not binding.

And then the estrogen can recirculate it and other toxins. Sorry. I went on a tangent. What your question was. I guess you do need bile to both, but I did find get to that much later. It was a journey and I don't want people to spend ten years. Figure it out. And you brought up a good point. If you're a beta blocker on a disease high, then a lot of times, you know, I tell people this to your recirculating your estrogen. And so we need to talk about that too. So that's where, you know, sometimes Dutch testing, hormone testing comes in.

But that's another good point as well. So if people are listening to this now with thyroid diseases, what sort of diet should they be following? I think you sort of mentioned this earlier, like thinking about gluten dairy free, but let's say we have somebody that's got Hashimoto's. It's got really high antibody levels. You know, I saw 5 or 6 of these people today TPO levels above 400. They're tired obviously because they're inflamed. But what sort of diet should we be following in today's typical, you know, American world.

Can we go to Starbucks. Can we get our pumpkin spice latte? What are we doing? Oh, even if you don't, please don't. Even if you don't have Hashimoto's thyroid, please don't drink that crap. You know, pumpkin spice villages. Google. Oh my God, please. They're not gonna. So Starbucks is definitely not going to be, you know, trying to promote this podcast or advertise on this podcast. Just give me oh, and I know you wouldn't you wouldn't support that be. No, no, no sponsorship, no sponsorship from Starbucks for me.

But go ahead. What. Okay I okay okay I will I will not name any brands or decent guests. But from a diet perspective, you know, we talked about gluten and dairy. Those are the two food groups. You know, at a minimum, one should take out because they are one of the most, inflammatory foods, that can cause inflammation and, and, you know, people come to me and, like, you know, we've been having dairy and gluten for like, hundreds of years. Yes. But it's not the same that it used to be.

Diet strategies for thyroid disease and autoimmunity 28:00

So the problem with gluten is it's the a wheat is not the same. It's been hybridized. And more than that it's been sprayed by glands of it which weedkiller that we are ingesting. So so those are the two foods. And the other problem with gluten is the protein molecule including which is a gliadin has a molecule structure very similar to our thyroid tissue. So when we have a leaky gut and we have this protein out into our blood or soft tissue, our immune system, which is working for us, it's very smart.

But it is blind guys. It's dumb and blind. It just goes off of the shape of the antibodies that our body's created. Doesn't realize, okay, this is bad. It's foreign. Let's go attack it. Oh, the thyroid tissue looks very similar to this. And the built in. Let's attack it to. That's the process. How different antibodies can attack. Different are like you know system and Ms. and rheumatoid arthritis your joints. So those two foods definitely go out. And initially I would say you know going on an autoimmune like paleo diet would be helpful.

So that's why the food sensitivity testing also helps because to figure out if there are certain foods that, triggering your inflammation to take those foods. So that's why it's not. Hey, just take all these five food groups, do the food sensitivity testing. I do the MRT, which I'm not sure if you do the same or it's. I find it the most sensitive and specific and really going on the, you know, being on a more anti-inflammatory diet. So a lot of whole foods, fruits and vegetables, which are allowed based on your testing and again, not forever until you heal your gut.

You can bring some of those foods back. But fruits and vegetables, a lot of spices like, you know, use the spices. We don't use that enough. Protein protein is super critical. And I know, as I mentioned earlier, I used to be a vegetarian, and I was very jungle like, you know, we can get all our protein until we learn more. Even. You know better, you do better. I'm like, okay, it's not possible. It's hard. Not because I am getting you know, I grew up in India and, you know, the diet was a certain way, but I'm taking in a lot of carbs.

And when you have an autoimmune condition, you may not you may have trouble digesting, metabolizing your carbs as well. So, you know, having animal protein is important. Again, organic pasture raised quality matters, organic batteries as much as possible, eggs getting the right protein, getting your fruits and vegetables, staying hydrated is important. Like, you know, it's simple. It's not rocket science. You know, it's no fancy foods are superfoods. You can add those if you want to, but just. And yeah, getting the sugar out, getting the processed foods outside on target because they are going to lead to inflammation.

So so what I heard you say is if you have thyroid disease, getting rid of the gluten is a must. People say this to me all the time. I don't think it's causing an issue. It doesn't matter. It's causing your body to possibly attack your own thyroid. And then I heard protein. You know, good sources of protein. So you're telling me a functional nutritionist just told me that she could not get her protein with a vegetarian diet? Is that correct? So what you're saying that's. Yeah. And so I have I have this really hard I couldn't I was vegan for a while as well.

I had this conversation with a gentleman today in my clinic who's just telling me, you know, I really think I should be vegetarian. I don't think that, you know, meat makes me feel bad. I, you know, yada, yada, yada. And I said, okay, that's fine. I mean, I'm fine with whatever you feel. Are you able to get 120 to 140g of protein a day? And he's like, well, no. And I said, okay, well then you're going to feel bad. Like I'm not going to be able to make you feel better because you're lifting weights.

You're doing all these things. And so maybe it's not the meat that's making you feel bad. Maybe it is the inflammation in your gut, in your Hashimoto's. It's making you feel bad. You know, it's so I would just like to point that out. And like I said, I will meet you wherever you are, people, if you want to be vegetarian, we can sure try. But a lot of the foods that you eat as a vegetarian to get protein, if you have a leaky gut or or, you know, small bacterial overgrowth are going to bother your gut more, right?

So beans, lentils love beans and lentils. Right now I'm kind of doing a low Fodmap diet myself, and it really stinks because you can't have a lot of beans, right? So you can't get your protein there. You know you're not going to be able to have avocados. You're not going to be able to have some of the things that you get protein sources from when you're vegetarian. If you're following a low Fodmap diet. And so the other thing too is, you know, there are things that help people. But I tell patients this all the time, if we're having a lot of bloating, we're having a lot of gas.

We're trying to eat things that are, you know, low on the inflammatory scale. Another thing you pointed out, which is really important, is it doesn't mean you have to do this forever. So people are like, oh my God, I can't not eat avocado. I can't not eat chocolate, I can't not, you know, this isn't forever. This is just while we're healing our gut right? So, you know, a month to three, it depends on your gut and your symptoms. But it is really important to to heal your gut and to listen to your body.

Absolutely. And it's the same here in my practice. I do have a few clients that a vegan and vegetarian. I'll meet them where they are, but I'm like, it's going to be hard. You know, you can only do so much. And you know, soy is another one we didn't talk about, which if you're a vegan, a vegetarian, you're leaning on soy. I it's a song that is organic and non-GMO and your body is, you know, not sensitive to it in small quantities every now and then. It can't be your main source of protein. You know, I'm.

I don't want to be so. But soy also us. We know it can cause a lot of. But that's again how it's farmed. It's changed. So definitely organic, non-GMO, is important, but not every day living every day. And I have people who say, well, like, dairy doesn't bother me. What's your stance on dairy? Like cheese doesn't bother me. None of that bothers me. I have acne and I'm taking spironolactone and you know all the things. But cheese doesn't bother me. So, like, what's your stance on that? If you have acne and if you have acid reflux, then yes, there is a problem and it needs to go out.

But, you know, until you stop, until you test it out, you would never know because you a body, you get used to feeling a certain way. And as I said, I, you know, for most cultures and even in cultures, milk was such a huge part of you to have a glass of milk before we went to school. Yogurt is a big part of it, and that I couldn't think of life at not having dairy product until I gave it a break. Let me try it for a week, two weeks and gosh, it made me feel so much better and the you feel the energy when you're not feeling so heavy in your belly area, in your gut area, it's amazing.

So if you have an autoimmune condition, it is very inflammable. And we know that. And my stance on dairy is organic can be something you may bring back in small quantities, but initially you will have to give it a break. Stop, let your body heal and then see what can you do? You know, maybe some people are okay with whey protein. Maybe some yogurt can be okay. But let your gut heal first and quality of milk matters. You know, maybe raw milk again. There's, you know, it has more nutrients or that the quality of dairy matters, but otherwise really ultra pasteurized here.

And we know the issues that, you know, the cows are fed antibiotics and the bad calm. If the cows eating car and you have if you have corn, your milk is gonna have corn. So yeah that's a that's a challenge then sometimes I think is the lactose do like some people just have lactose issues. So sometimes people can get away with maybe lactose free yogurt or something like that. But the lactose itself can cause a lot of people to have bloating and some issues like that. And I can see, you know, I'm being very honest, I'm not completely dairy free because paneer is my Kryptonite.

An Indian cottage cheese. I just I just cannot, you know, my son loves it if I'm, you know, I make my own. I get the best milk to make my own, and and I'll put it. But I'll enjoy it in small quantities. I know, and I have a ton. I don't feel good the next day, I. Yeah, it's like you knowing your body. And I know what I'm doing. Good. So that's, So yes, it's come back into my diet a little bit. I enjoyed every now and then, but it's not something I drink or eat every day. Okay. Okay. So we talked, you know, we were going to talk a lot about the thyroid and we sorted it by way of the gut and the liver and detoxification.

But I think that, you know, these are questions people have. And so I do think that what you're telling me is your your gut is important. Your food choices are important. And, you know, doing a GI map is probably very beneficial. You know, I've kind of toyed with this. I'm on the fence, but I kind of, you know, I was telling my staff and my husband today, I'm kind of to the point where I don't want to take new patients anymore unless they'll do a GI map, because I either want you all in or I don't want you like I can't fix you, truly fix you if I don't know what's going on in your gut, you know?

And so from what I'm hearing you, you believe that people should do GI maps and sometimes Dutch testing, food allergy testing, all my clients. That's those, GI map. And in my food sensitivity, you have to do that testing. If not, I cannot work with you. Yeah, unless. Unless you bring it from somewhere. You just did it recently with some other practitioner. Fine. You know, I'll take that. Is there something in particular patient should look for when working with a functional nutritionist? Like, is there something that they should be asking this person in particular to know that, hey, this is somebody that can work with me?

Is there red flags with certain functional nutritionist where they should run away? Like I tell people, you know, if you walk into a hormone clinic and they prescribe the same thing to you, they did your husband or your friend or someone else than run. I say that kind of jokingly, but not really. So what? What is there? How do you tell if you have a good functional nutritionist? So, other I would say somebody who's ready to listen to you. You know, I spent a lot of time I have my first sessions is 90 minutes, even half of the intake that I really want to get to know you where you go C-section, baby, where you want.

You know where you did. You have a natural birth. I get to know them, right? The history because whatever has happened to them today is not a byproduct of the last year or a month or a week. It's been going on for over length throughout their life. The choices they make for are made for them when they were younger. So that impacted. So, you know, work with somebody who is ready to spend the time and, you know, are invested in your success as well to getting to know who you are, your symptoms. Because because in those conversations, is when they'll mention things

Choosing the right functional nutritionist and closing remarks 39:00

that they don't put in the intake forms or the ideal time, like, that's interesting because then I can help connect the dots for them because it's not happening in isolation. It helps me get a bigger picture. So you want to find anyone that you work with, even a doctor who's ready to spend the time, get to know your symptoms. Because testing. Yes. It's important, I think. I think Jesse and I both, you know, we do want to test. But if taking the symptom presentation in conjunction with the test of how we, you know, that helps really dictate the what the protocol is and maybe the which what do we want to work on first?

You know what the order in which we go as well. So that's one. And who and the other is you have to like the person that you will be spending a lot of time. They will be talking about the bowel movement to poop. You want to make sure that there's somebody you can have a conversation you or you can connect with. And that's what I look for to like. Well, I have a fun, good time. You know, we've been having this one on this. These are spending a lot of time with them. You know, that's important. The personality needs to match as well.

Yeah. And I think also if you find a functional nutritionist who doesn't know what a GI map is or food sensitivity testing, you should probably run as well. Just, just that's just me. So, okay. And, you know, we will make sure that we link your stuff in the show notes. So if anyone I'm assuming you can scan, you see people in any state if they're interested. Yes, absolutely. I can see them in any state. But my practice is virtual, so you just need to complete perfect so we can make sure that we link all your stuff in the show notes.

If anyone is interested in a functional nutritionist. And again, Debbie, you put on a great thyroid recharge summit that's going on right now. I was a guest lucky enough to be a guest. A lot of my friends were guests. My interview came out on Friday this past week, so on October 4th with it was me and Divya, and then she had one with Michael McPherson, who was also my thyroid mistress. From another, she's my sister, from another mother. And so we have a lot of the same beliefs. So she has some good information on her thyroid recharge summit.

So we'll link that in the notes as well. Make sure that you download that they'll be available. All the lectures will be available through Monday September 7th. So there'll be a 24 hour period where they're all there. But I think that this is just beneficial. And thank you for coming on and talking to people about how your gut, you know, does affect your thyroid. And then if you're listening to this and you have thyroid issues or any other autoimmune issue, you really need to consider what is going on in my gut.

Am I allergic to things and finding a provider or somebody who can walk through that with you and really help you feel better? Because like you said, I tell this people all day long it is not normal to have acne. It is not normal to have acid reflux. It is not normal to have diarrhea or constipation. You should go poop one time a day, maybe two. It should be, you know, not super hard and not super runny. Pretty, fairly concise, is it? Right? I don't think like it should come out like a snake. And when you wipe, there shouldn't be a ton of stuff there.

It should just kind of be like, okay, if you've got stuff all over your tissue paper or it's not snake like, it hurt, you're going multiple times a day. It's weird. Colors are seeing blood. That is not normal. You should not have abdominal pain. You should not feel bloated. It shouldn't look like you're four months pregnant half the time. So if any of that is happening, your body is telling you something. If you're getting rashes, if you're breaking out, I mean, your gut is not happy. And I've said this multiple times and your body can't text you, it can't send you an email.

It can't call you on the phone and say, stop doing the stupid shit you're doing. You have to listen to your gut via the symptoms that you have. Right? And so I just really think that people need to, be empowered and realize that it's not normal to be on acid reflux medicine for ten years. It's not like what is causing you to need that medication. So I in a lot of times it can be gallbladder issues too. Like you pointed out, there's so many millions of people that have had their go already removed.

And modern endocrine we have a supplement called The Dissolve or it's got some ox bile in it. It's a great for people with with having their gallbladder removed. So just little things like that that can that can really go a long way. And so I appreciate you coming on talking to people about that. And then we'll link all your stuff in the show notes. Keep in mind that her summit is out right now. Also, keep in mind that modern endocrine can see people in nine states now. So all of our states are listed on our website.

But if you'd like to be a patient, we have the link for that as well. We do do virtual stuff. We can do GI maps virtually, just like Miss Debbie. You can. And then if you've listened to this and you know anyone that has thyroid disease, anyone who complains to you that about bloating and constipation, diarrhea, any loved one that could maybe benefit from listening to this, to kind of push them in the right direction, then by all means, please send this to them. Make sure that you follow, subscribe and leave us a review wherever you listen to your podcast are on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.

So thank you very much. Join us next week on for another episode. Back to the basics. Thanks for coming. Thanks. Thanks so much for having me and being it was an honor to have to be have you on the summit. And I think your mission called. And everyone who is on the side of the mission is to spread the spread the awareness. Hey, thyroid. I mean, you have thyroid issues. Is it really a thyroid? It's your gut. It's your liver. There's so much going on in. It's thyroid is another way. Your body's taxing you.

Yeah. You know, so that's it. Maybe that's how that's simple. So thank you so much for, you know, doing what you do and getting you know, we know how it's not easy to seeing patients and recording this at the same time so that we do it because we love it. And it's being passionate about it because we could all both be with our families right now. So yeah. Thank you. Yes. I always say your thyroid and your gut are a representation of your overall health. If they're not good, you know, so all right.

Have a good night. Thank you too. Bye. Thank you for tuning in to Doctor Talks. We hope today's episode has enlightened and inspired you on your path to optimal health. Each day is a new opportunity to make choices that empower your wellbeing. For more insights and strategies, subscribe to our podcast and visit our website w ww di doctor talks.com. Stay connected, stay healthy and join us next time on Doctor Talks. Real talks from real doctors on the issues that matter to you most.