When Healthy Foods Make You Feel Worse

Welcome back, everyone to the Gut Health and Longevity Summit. I am so excited you're here, and I want you to take a deep breath right now, because what you're going to hear over these sessions could genuinely change the way you think about your body, the way you think about your food, and the symptoms you have been told to just live with.

We built this summit because the science connecting your gut to every other system in your body has never been more compelling, and most people have never heard it in plain language.

And our experts are here to change that. So today's conversation is definitely one I've been excited to talk about. It's one of my good friends, and we're going to talk about why some of the healthiest foods on the earth can backfire on the body, and what your gut has to do with it.

So I'd like to introduce you to my next guest. She spends her days untangling a mystery that leaves so many people confused and dismissed by their doctors.

Why? Foods that are supposed to be healing, such as fermented vegetables, spinach, avocados, and even leftovers can suddenly trigger bloating, migraines, and anxiety.

And she has a name for what's really going on and a way to fix it. So I'm excited to introduce you to Doctor Meg Mill. She earned her farm D from Duquesne University and completed a residency at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and began her career as a clinical pharmacist before training as a functional medicine practitioner who focuses on root cause medicine.

She is the host of the highly ranked podcast A Little Bit Healthier, which I have been on a number of times, and where she shares simple, practical steps to improve health and longevity.

And so I am so excited to have you here today. Meg, welcome. So I have so many questions for you. So let's just get started with question number one. Let's start at the very foundation.

Histamine gets blamed for everything from allergies to anxiety these days. But can you explain to us what is actually going on and what job is it supposed to be doing in a healthy body?

Yeah, I think histamines like cortisol, right. We get it gets a bad rap. It's like we need it. It's good for us. But what happens is it gets out of control.

So histamine is actually what we call a biogenic amine. So when the immune system detects an allergen or an invader, histamine is released from your mast cells and your basil's which are part of your immune system.

So they're like the first line defense. They're scanning to see if things have come in. So what it does is it increases the permeability of your blood vessels, and it actually allows your immune cells to reach the affected area more quickly.

It has purpose in our body. So it has immune defense. It helps protect protect us against pathogens. It regulates summit acid secretion. So we'll talk about that when we get to more dive into the gut.

It affects neurotransmitter activity allergic response. It actually also affects your inflammatory response. So it actually creates inflammation because it's trying to get again recruiting the immune cells to the site of infection.

So what happens is that histamine is is really good when we need it and when it's in short a short term response. But what happens is when it goes unchecked and we start to get an imbalance, we start to see all of these symptoms start to pop up, and it's just getting more and more prevalent.

And I think people are not understanding what's going on. There's a lot of different things that start to happen in our body, because there's actually four different types of histamine receptors.

So we think of histamine often from allergic response like we think of it with the H1 receptor. And I think a lot of people associate it with allergies.

But we start to see all of these whole body symptoms. Like you mentioned. We can see anxiety. We can see heart palpitations, dizziness. We can see increased PML for women, a lot of menstrual cycle symptoms, flushing, joint pain, so many other things that come up because of all of these different types of histamine receptors.

Okay. So with that I'm going to grab something because I want to talk about this a little bit more. So let's talk about this. So it's not about eliminating histamine altogether.

It's really from keeping that excess bucket of overflowing histamine. So you are just describing the cell. You know me I love my little cell model. Right.

So if this is a histamine cell and inside here if this is a mast cell okay. Mast cell. And inside here we have these granules. And then you've got these receptors on here.

And you're telling me there's four different types of receptors. Right. So tell me like when this is released let's just go over it because I like the visual.

What causes this to be released. And then what is the person feeling in their body. Because I think the most common thing we identify is, oh, we have seasonal allergies.

Let me take an antihistamine, you know, over-the-counter drug. But this is something that's probably happening more often than people realize. So so explain to me a little bit more of okay, these little granules come out of here.

What what are they doing? Yeah. Well, let's start by let's before we go, we'll go into types of receptors. And then but before we go into types of receptors, let's go into why they're released first.

And so I think that that is a really good thing that people need to understand the basics of what people need to understand when it comes to histamine.

So I like to give analogies. I think it's the easiest way to understand things. And so I like to give that bathtub analogy. So if you have a bathtub and you're filling the bathtub but you haven't plugged the drain, you're just filling water in and it's going through the drain and you're never overflowing.

You're just okay. You're just at steady state. It's fine. And that's the way most people are or should be. There's two different things that start to happen when we have histamine issues.

We either plug the drain and so the bathtub starts to overflow, or we turn up the faucet to high that we can't keep up. And so I think there's two separate problems that's start to happen here.

And so the first one is is plugging the drain. And that's how we metabolize histamine. So we can we'll get more. Again we can dive into more specifics in the gut.

But there are two different ways to metabolize histamine. First we have one that's in the gut. So we have diamine oxidase. And that's an enzyme in your gut that breaks down histamine I like to everyone knows about like lack taking a lactate if you're lactose intolerant.

So that's an enzymatic reaction. So this is another enzymatic reaction. Diamine oxidase needs to break down histamine. So if you haven't impaired gut and you have an imbalance of your gut bacteria you start to get a compromise of diamine oxidase enzymes.

So that's the first one. So we need to make sure that we are breaking it down. The second way that we break down histamine is in our cells. It's like you know you're saying so we have we have to methyl eight and so on.

Is is another reaction that we have in our cells. And we have to be able to break down histamine and methylated it. So we break that down through histamine and methyltransferase.

So there's a pathway in which we break it down. So if either one of those two things are compromised then we start to have an issue. Now the other thing on the other side is turning up the water.

So what's turning up the water. So we're seeing okay would we see increased infections. We see toxins. We see, you know, food that we shouldn't be eating that our body thinks are invaders.

We're saying, okay, what's coming in mold is another big thing. So we start to see things that also another one is actually hormones. So estrogen can increase the the release of histamine from mast cells.

So we see what's making the mast cell actually release more histamine. And when we have the most severe part of this is we start to get something called mast cell activation syndrome.

Now not everyone that has issues with histamine has mast cell activation syndrome. But some people, when you've had some exposure to things for years, when we've had a, you know, huge stress reactions, we have dysregulated nervous system, we start to get this misfiring of the mast cells.

So the mast cells to start to release histamine release, histamine release histamine, they do granulation as you're saying and the chemicals are being released histamine along with other things.

But a lot of the symptoms start coming from an inappropriate firing of the mast cells. So that would be like kind of the general idea. Now we have that we can get into the four types of receptors.

So we have the H1 receptor and that's found in the smooth muscle endothelial. And that's the classic allergic response through smooth muscle contractions increased vascular permeability stimulation of sensory nerves like that's the itchiness.

So that's what we're thinking when you're thinking about a Benadryl a zero tech, a Claritin or H2 is predominantly in the stomach lining. So that's where it regulates your stomach acid secretion.

But that one can also modulate heart rate and cardiac contractility. So that's actually an H2 blocker when you're thinking of a medication is something like a Pepcid.

So you might not even think that, you know, if you're taking a Pepcid for something, you know, for heartburn, let's say that that can be affecting your histamine receptors.

Type three, the third type of histamine receptor is mainly in the central nervous system. So it's less peripheral nerve tissue. And it actually acts more in the nervous system.

And this affects your neurotransmitters like acetylcholine or beneficence serotonin. So it can affect your sleep wake cycles. We often see people have what we call histamine dumps in the middle of the night, where they wake up anxious.

We can see insomnia as a big symptom of histamine, and a lot of people aren't. I've seen people that actually just have insomnia, and they've been able to drill down to the fact that this is a histamine issue because we've really dug deep, but it's not always presenting the way we think it is.

And I think that's a big point that you want to keep in mind when we're talking about all of this. And then we have four. And that's more in the bone marrow and the white blood cells.

So that can be also run through the GI tract the spleen the colon. And that also can affect mast cells and other immune regulators. So it is it's really kind of this enigma.

I think sometimes you're you're really getting a lot of different body symptoms. So sometimes when you have these different things like maybe you're getting migraine, maybe you just have classic allergies, but maybe you're getting migraines with okay, I'm congested two and maybe I have gut issues and I'm starting to see all of these different types of things going on.

Histamine can be a common thread. Okay. So that explained a lot. So now let's talk about this terminology. So maybe somebody has not heard like we talked about the allergy part of it.

But what about histamine intolerance. What does that look like day to day. And what are the signs that women are living with and probably even dismissing entirely, not realizing that it might be connected to a histamine intolerance.

So can you explain what that term means? And because I was feeling like our audience that's listening and watching will go, oh, maybe I've got to check in on my histamine here.

So, so when you, you know, one of the things that you can actually we'll go through some histamine foods. And one of the things that I often have people do is actually just start to track their symptoms with their food.

So I know a lot of people don't want to write down everything they ate every day. But sometimes when you start, we'll go through some of the symptoms.

But when you start to have some of these clusters of symptoms and you write down what you ate in the last 24 hours, it's like, oh, wait, okay, now I am starting to see a pattern with some of these.

So, you know, the biggest one is nasal congestion. Do you have nasal congestion? Do you feel like you're something somebody that's more sensitive, that more that reacts more?

So a lot of people with histamine and talents are the people that maybe can't tolerate smell very well. Maybe you can't tolerate noise or you just, you know, can feel overwhelmed by things.

It's like you're kind of the sensitive person. That's me. I was I was like, my mom's like, I remember, you know, it's funny how you go to these things that are like part of your life.

And I remember when I was a child, my parents repainted. I had a dresser that I kept my clothes in, and they had it repainted. You know, they just it was like, oh, we would need a different color.

Were you painting it? Well, then my clothes went back in the dresser and I would say to my mom. Oh, I can't wear these. Like my clothes are making me sick.

And she's like, your clothes are making you sick. What? You know what? Nobody knew what was going on. It was like, what's wrong? You know what's wrong with you? But.

But you know now, knowing what I know, you know, here I am. Like, my body wasn't processing histamine well, and. And so when that happened, it's like, okay, I'm bothered by my clothes.

Some people don't even, like, touch. And that can be, you know, you might not be sensitive, but you also I often see a lot of women particularly have headaches and migraines.

That's, you know, a classic for me. Is there a histamine issue when we're seeing this? Even fatigue is one of those things. Like if you can't figure out why you're tired, we can see things like heart palpitations, dizziness.

A lot of times hormonal like PMS, kind of more severe hormonal symptoms. And especially we can see this more in women. And so that's another thing that when we're seeing some women that are like, I've been fine my whole life, now all of a sudden, why do I have all of these symptoms?

Well, progesterone actually supports diamine oxidase, as estrogen has receptors on mast cells that can signal them to actually release more histamine and can degrade diamine oxidase more.

So we're seeing that change in the ability to break down histamine when we go through Paramita and see some of these hormonal changes. So that's another thing just to think of, because sometimes people like, why does this showing up now again we can see sleep disturbances.

So sometimes waking up and sometimes I see people wake up in the night with anxiety. So you're not just waking up. You might wake up with a start. And especially around 2:03 a.m.

if you're, you know, people often think it's a cortisol surge. But digging into it, we could also we also see it could be a histamine dump. So that's another thing that starts to happen.

And then other things that are more classic like hives, rashes, you know, skin issues, edginess you to carry out. Like it's those kind of things or other things that we often will see.

Yeah, I know my histamine triggers for sure. I'm like, oh, this is not fun. So I do get it. You mentioned that that an individual at night might be getting a histamine surge.

How would we measure such a thing? You know, it's hard. So it is it's one of those things. And I think it's just drilling down into sometimes because, you know, when you're having that like what what's the reason and why.

So it is more that's one that's not diet like diagnostically easy to tell. But I think it's really looking at bringing the overall histamine load down.

And then once we do bring the histamine load down then we see that it's getting better. So it's hard to tease that out sometimes from other things, but it's just something to look at in a constellation of it sounds like sometimes it's a process of elimination. Right.

So we already check the cortisol, we check the melatonin. And if that comes back normal and we're still having these issues, then looking at the histamine, which I also have my patients do a food diary.

And it's very enlightening. So let's talk next about food then. Right. Because usually when we are thinking about the gut and, you know, improving the gut microbiome, we are also being told, hey, you're fixed for a bloated gut and brain fog is simply to eat more plants or eat more fermented foods.

However, we know that in these situations that it can backfire for some of the people who need that gut healing. So can you explain a little bit more the challenges that that conventional kind of wellness advice of just eat more plants and is not quite the solution, and we'll talk to how can we do it?

But like, what are we looking for when we need the person to heal their gut the most? Yet at the same time, like let's let's talk about that a little bit.

Yeah. That's it's tough because everything that you hear not everything but a lot of it, I guess that you hear for general gut protocols actually cause problems for people that have histamine intolerance.

And so if you're someone who maybe has been through a gut program or worked with someone and you're like, you know what? It just didn't work for me. Everything they were having me.

Do I felt worse. And I, you know, I'm not getting better. Well, you might be someone also who wants to look into histamine issues. So all of our things, like our fermented foods, our bone broth, the typical gut healing protocols, even probiotics can be histamine producing.

And so we're we're kind of stuck here. And so what we need to do is we need to like be one very gentle. So I think one of the things that I always try to do with the people I work with is his, I mean, is, is ride the line of making progress without pushing too much because, you know, when we push through, that is not a good thing for people that have a histamine tolerance that can make reactions worse.

It can make them take steps of back. I've heard so many people come to me after like, oh, I did this program, or I work with this practitioner that just like pushed me in this protocol.

And he kept going. And now I'm just like so much worse. I'm so much further behind. So I think one go slowly, listen to your body and don't like, think, oh, well, I'm just pushing through this because I was told it might be hurt or it might be, you know, we want to make sure that we built.

So another thing we do is build very slowly. So a lot of times, you know, maybe you can't tolerate supplements and that's okay. So if if you get, you know, let's say there are certain histamine producing bacteria in themselves.

So things like Citra actor and tribe actor Klebsiella more Gonella protease. Those are actually histamine producers. So question for you sometimes is is it your body.

Is it your bacteria. Because we can have histamine producing bacteria that are, you know, affecting us too. And so we need to clear some of those bacteria out.

But again. Are you ready. So sometimes we just micro dose if you can tolerate, you know a very low dose of something. And and we'll do that for, you know, a long period of time like slowly build up in order to be able to tolerate.

So I think that's something that you really have to pay attention to when we're working with. So, you know, go slow micro dose, then, you know, when we're looking at things like probiotics, we want to be careful to because we can have certain probiotics that are okay, like lactobacillus plant or, you know, there's certain strands, but there are a lot of strands in high dose probiotics that people will react to.

So not all of the lactobacillus strands are low histamine. Some are histamine producers. And so sometimes when you're also taking high dose probiotics, that's another thing that can put you in a tailspin.

So it's it's really working with someone who understands like really the bacteria individually and what bacteria are good for histamine and what can actually, you know, put you in a more I'm not harmful, but really just more uncomfortable place.

So those are some things. So I think then like really also another thing I really want to target when I'm looking at the someone is the immune system.

So often I do see in combination a a low secretory IGA, not all the time, but sometimes we also see some immune dysregulation because of this has often been going on for a long time for people.

So we want to really make sure how are we supporting the immune system and make sure we're building the immune system. Will actually be doing some immune system calming.

I'm going to take one step back though. But while we're talking about this, because I can't talk about this without mentioning is the nervous system. And so I think that one of the things if you don't do the nervous system regulation, along with the gut healing protocols, you don't make as much progress in this case because we're giving our body the wrong messages.

So a lot of times we're we're focusing on, you know, the testing and the probiotics and the, you know, invaders and all the things going on. And those are important.

But when we're more sensitive, if we really go in and we hit those hard and we're not doing the nervous system regulation first, if we're not giving our body the right messages, we often again can just see things get worse.

And so I, you know, it's not sexy. It's never wants to be like, I want the protocol. But we also need to go back and we need to. What are we doing to calm our body down?

What are we doing to get back in that parasympathetic state? What are we doing to create this regulated place that we're actually giving our body the right messages.

Okay. So let me kind of summarize that a little bit. So that well-meaning cycle of eating clean then you feel worse has an actual scientific explanation behind it.

So some of the foods that individuals might be eating and I'll be honest I, I've done the same thing like I eat fermented foods, but certain ones I can't have, like I used to do kombucha I don't like.

I might have it once every two months now, like I, I won't do it right. So things like fermented foods, aged cheese, leftovers, spinach, avocado. But hey, I can have so much spinach without a problem, right?

So it can be very specific to individuals which foods. And that's why the food journal can be really beneficial. Avocados, tomatoes. Citrus all of these are high histamine histamine liberating foods.

So if your gut can't clear it for all these reasons, that's where you might be getting some of these symptoms. So with these symptoms and mind you I agree with the gut bacteria.

Right. Because I do gut microbiome testing, as I'm sure you do too. And I often see the Klebsiella and the citrus bacteria and these things high in individuals who are also still having having these issues.

So let's talk about the gut side of this. And how can somebody kind of clear this up, this, you know, this excess histamine that's getting getting broken down.

Like how how does an individual go about clearing this out, you know, in addition to their diet. But how are we going to repair this. Yeah. And I think it's a multi-step process that we have to do.

So you know, I think that we need to first go back, like I said, make sure that we're doing giving ourselves nervous system work and we're, you know, really getting our body into the parasympathetic state so that we can digest our food.

So we need to be able to digest our food appropriately. We need to be able to release enzymes and bile and do all the things that we need our body functionally to do digestive.

And so we really want to make sure that all of those digestive components are in there. And then I also do put people on a low histamine diet temporarily.

I don't think that that's the long term solution, but I think just temporarily reducing the load can be beneficial for a time being. And like you said, there are a lot of different foods.

So we have high histamine foods. And those are just me to go through some of the foods. Yeah, yeah. Let's talk about some of the foods because I'm sure people are like, oh, I thought that was like the healthiest food in the world for me.

And and they eat it every day and they might even eat it three meals a day. So let's talk about some of the tricky because a lot of them are good. You know, we're looking at like we talked about fermented foods like sauerkraut a key for pickles, yogurt.

We have certain like lentils, chickpeas, vinegar. So and another thing like you said is that some people can handle a little bit of apple cider vinegar and some people can't.

So there is individuality within that. We also have even things like some people can react to the tomatoes, the spinach, cloves. We also have histamine liberators.

So these foods don't actually have to mean them selves, but they trigger your body to release it. So these are things like banana, chocolate, citrus, pineapple, papaya, strawberries good ones.

Yeah. So yes. And then we have diamine oxidase blockers. So things like alcohol energy drinks tea those are things that you have to be careful. The other thing that is you know a big thing for people is leftovers because and that's where it gets tricky too, because histamine grows in food.

So if you eat a food and you're, let's say you're a meal prepper and you're like, okay, I have a busy week, I'm making my food for the week. I'm really good. It's all low histamine.

But you said, you know, you you maybe cook, cook like something and, you know, you make up, maybe you cook like beans and lentils and put a salad together and you're like, packaging it up for the week and then you like, think you're doing well and it's over 24 hours.

Then you have an issue with the with the histamines. And because they're growing in the foods. And so I think we have to be really careful with leftovers because and that's tricky.

So one of the things that I just imagine, you know, frozen meals are awful for you. But now if we are eating a regular diet of, you know, prepackaged, there's probably so much histamine in there.

One of the things that I'll do or like, or have people I work with do sometimes and it depends on like what it is, but if it's something that can be frozen, I will just say flash freeze it.

So make it flash freeze it and then warm it up. So if you do need a meal prep, it's like better than sitting in your refrigerator to actually have it like flash frozen.

And so because I get it is also a time thing some people just have struggle with, like having the time to prepare every day. So it's figuring out like, okay, what works for you and how can you do you do it. But I would say watch leftovers.

It is one of those things that's sneaky, because you could be doing everything right and then still have the leftovers in your diet, and then you're still getting the reactions.

And this is something I would have to say. It's it's worth a try. You know, this is something that's free. And we have a guide that, you know, we are sharing with you that gives it, you know, a list of all of these foods.

And, and there's recipes and stuff it's worth doing if you're, if you're thinking about it because you might see a big difference. Now you don't want to stop there because if you see a difference, then, you know, okay, histamines bothering me, but that's not the end all be all because you don't want to be. These are healthy foods.

We don't want to be limiting them for the rest of our lives. But it's a good clue to say like, oh, you know what? My histamine load is high. Bringing those foods down helped me.

Now what do I need to do? So now we need to say, okay, now we need to go and do the gut healing work that we were talking about in order to calm the body down, in order to be able to break down the histamine.

And so those are you know, it's a really good step, though to try. And it's something everybody can try easily. Okay. So how about this. We've talked about some of the ones that are we know they're good foods but they might be aggravating this histamine issue.

So why don't we talk about the ones that can actually help instead of hurt you. So can you describe some plant compounds that are literally nature's antihistamines or mast cell stabilizers?

I know you know, things like Kirstyn and vitamin C and others. And you know, I will, you know, when it comes to Kirsten, I'm like either an apple a day or half a red onion a day.

I mean, I'm all about the Castor ten. So can you tell us a little bit more about these, like how they work and which ones do we want to add when it comes to food.

Yeah. And I think that that that is a good example. I mean like the apple is like do you eat the apples? Apples and onions are, are really good places to start.

So you know, we want foods that are that they and the apple skins actually too. So and other things can be berries. So not okay. So I have to not strawberry.

That's where it gets a little bit. But like maybe a parmigiana it can be something you can do like a like keynote sweet potatoes all of well coconut oil like garlic is another one that can be that are low in histamine.

So you know, it's adding the things that are, that are good. There's a lot of things that we can eat. I think that sometimes we get caught up on the ones that we couldn't.

So even like like broccoli, collard greens, beets, arugula, watercress, artichoke, sweet potato, butternut squash. So you know, it's adding those foods in.

And that's what I say to people like concentrate on what you can have in your diet a lot of times not take away. Okay. All right. How about so if there was one food to add this week for the people who are listening, which one would you point them to and why.

Yeah I would probably I would probably say apples would be a good one because of the course or ten. And you know, I think that that's one that's just saying, okay, it's easy to, you know, eat an apple.

I definitely would leave the skins on it, but that has not. So of course, written is mast cell stabilizing that there's antihistamine properties and that.

So I think that would be you know if you're saying okay what's one thing I can add I would that's where I would go. Citrus. You had mentioned citrus I find that variable for people.

Some people will react to citrus. You know, there's vitamin C. But I do see that it can be a little bit more variable in especially with people who have migraines.

Citric acid bothers them. So I think but I think, you know, things with the question are really, you know, where we would start or other forms of vitamin C other than a citrus maybe.

So now for, for the people who've been watching along this whole time, you've been told multiple times to get on the Apple train. Okay. So has that come up, another that came up earlier because you know, so apples are good for histamine issues.

But I actually used to have a mentor and, you know, in the hospital and in the hospitals, we get free lunches and it's like, okay, you can just eat whatever you want.

Free lunches. The only thing he would eat every single day for lunch was a green apple. I mean, literally nothing all day long. I mean, he'd have his coffee in the morning, but then all day long, for seven years, all I watched this man eat was a green apple.

Okay, so you know, when they say the apple keeps the doctor away. So histamine. Yes. But then also recently we interviewed somebody who told us that there's research on eating two apples a day.

Can lower your cholesterol by 24 points. So when I'm thinking about apples, the fact that I have them in my fridge, I've started actually, sometimes I don't want to just eat the apple.

So I started putting them into my salads. Like I will just slice up and chop up. So I'm consistently getting the care in there on the fiber, you know, and all that stuff.

But so yes, it's just a little reminder to people listening. We're all about the apples. And that's generally also something that's nice. You can generally get decent apples all year.

So I think that that's another thing. Sometimes it's hard to get like it's certain like berries or, you know, different things at different times of the year.

But you usually can get organic apples most of the year. So yeah. And the best is like if you live somewhere like where you can go apple picking. When I used to live in the northeast, I used to go apple picking.

And yeah, who knew there was this many different varieties of apples, right? There's more than just green and red there. I could do that with the kids.

It would be like right before school. Go apple picking. Yes. Yeah. Get set up at the fall. Okay. So last question for you. I want to be very concrete.

So somebody watching right now recognizes themselves in this conversation. The bloating the migraines, maybe the skin flares, the anxiety that never quite made sense.

What should they actually do this week to start calming their histamine bucket. So let's be concrete. Like let's let's give them the exact like maybe next three steps to do if this is like really resonating with them.

Okay. So I think what first thing I want you to do is I want you to print a blank calendar out or just get a blank piece of paper. And I want you to write down what, like like Doctor Manisha said, what you eat specifically if you're having reactions.

So if something changes in your day, I want you to write down what it is that you've eaten in the last 24 hours. And I want you to start to become your own health detective and look at what you're eating, because we are giving our body information every time we take a bite.

So I think that that's something we've disassociated with a lot of times where it's just like, oh yeah, I eat. And I don't consider how I feel when I eat.

So I want you to say, okay, this is how I'm this is my food and this is how I feel now, if it's if you're so sensitive that you're not having like a particular reaction, but you're reacting all the time, you might not see a pattern yet, but I still I still want you to do that.

Then I actually want you to add some of these, like, let's say we can add an apple if you can tolerate we're in a gut health summit. So you might not be tolerating onions right now if you're, you know, have some other things going on potentially.

But let's add some of these foods that we just talked about into your diet. And, and then consider removing some of the ones that we talked about that are high histamine and see if they make a difference and do that.

Just give me a week. Give me two weeks. You know, just take these foods out and see like, okay, do I notice any difference in the way that I'm feeling?

I think those would be the first three steps to start. Then beyond that, it's it's a little bit more individual. So it's a little bit more. Okay. What does your microbiome look like.

What are your cells doing. What are you know how do we need to rebalance you individually. Where is you know we talked about like do we have the plug going on or do you have the water turned up to high or both.

You know. So those are we do interventions a little bit differently depending on the unique person. But I so I would say start with the diet things right now.

And then actually there is another thing you can do is is start with the nervous system work. I'm sure there's other people talking about nervous system here on the summit and start doing some thought reframing.

So I have a little method called the seven second switch that helps you just in seven seconds, start to give your body new messages through neuroplasticity.

We also have breathwork, you know, sit down before you eat your next meal, put both feet on the floor, relax and take a deep breath and sit there for a minute and just breathe deeply and get yourself in a calm state before you eat.

I that was one of the biggest things in my life. When I was having gut health issues years ago, I would stand at my island and I would like, eat my food so fast and I would be doing other things, and then I'd like, oh, my stomach hurt so much.

And like I would, and I was eating like, literally, I was eating wrong. And you know, you don't even think about it, right? A lot of people aren't even thinking about how they're actually eating.

So just that eating hygiene and being able to change the way you eat can be a big step of being able to digest your food better. Once we digest our food better, there's less for the bacteria to feed on.

There can be less histamine producing bacteria. We can start to see the balance. And the reason I'm not telling you to take a probiotic or, you know, prebiotics or, you know, different things right now is because I think you need to get some things calmed down before we start that and that that needs to be a little more specific.

Yeah, absolutely. I can just imagine you standing at the kitchen counter right now to just eating like I'm like, oh, busy, I'm eating. And full eating is really something that should be taught in school.

I know I talk about it in my book, The Anatomy of Well-Being, and I'm like, we even practice it at my retreats. Like, okay, let's mindfully have this, you know, fresh like coconut with fresh coconut water in it or whatever we're doing.

Okay, doctor Meg, this has been genuinely eye opening. The idea that our bodies are giving us signals and that healing the gut is what lets us finally hear them instead of just muting it.

And that's the message I want everybody to carry with them today. Now doctor men can be found at Meg. Com, and I encourage you to check out her podcast called A Little Bit Healthier for simple, practical steps to keep this healing going on today.

So key takeaway for our audience today. Your symptoms are not random. They are not just in your head. Heal the gut and you raise the buckets capacity to hold whatever life pours into it.

So thank you so much, Doctor Meg and I want everybody else to stay tuned for our next speaker. Thank you for having.