Sober Vibes Podcast
Welcome to Sober Vibes, where sobriety meets empowerment! Hosted by sober coach, author, and mom Courtney Andersen—who’s been thriving in her alcohol-free life since 8/18/2012—this podcast is your go-to space for real talk, proven strategies, and inspiring stories from women who are redefining what it means to live without alcohol.
Each week, Courtney dives deep into the topics that matter most—from conquering cravings and navigating social settings to rebuilding confidence and finding joy in sobriety. Whether you’re newly sober, in long-term recovery, or simply curious about life without alcohol, the Sober Vibes Podcast delivers the support, insights, and encouragement you need.
Join a like-minded community and discover how sobriety can unlock a healthier, happier, and more fulfilling life. Don’t just get sober—let’s thrive together!
Sober Vibes Podcast
Alcohol's Role in Gut Health & Hormone Regulation w/Trish Tucker May
Episode 192: Alcohol's role in Gut Health & Hormone Regulation w/Trish Tucker May
In episode 192 of the Sober Vibes podcast, Courtney Andersen welcomes Trish Tucker May to the show. They discuss Gut Health and Hormone regulation and how Alcohol destroys both.
What you will learn in this episode:
- Gut Health Tips
- Hormone Regulation Tips
- How Alcohol Destroys Both Gut and Hormone Health
- Probiotics and Vaginal Health
- Trish's Sober Curious Journey
This is the first of the Sober Vibes Listener's stories!
Trish is a nutritionist and gut health expert. She aims to find the root cause of a client's health concerns and support them towards improved health. She is an awarded winning nutritionist and author.
The Netflix doc is called Hack Your Health.
Thank you for listening.
Reviews help the show. Please rate, Review, and Subscribe to the Sober Vibes Podcast.
Thank you to our Sponsors.
As a show listener, you get exclusive discounts from our Sponsor. Make sure to check them out and support the show. SOBERLINK, click here to shop and save $50 on your device. Listen to episode 115 to learn more about Soberlink.
As a show listener, you receive 20% off your order with EXACT NATURE. Make sure to check them out and support the show. EXACT NATURE, click here to shop and save 20% off with code "SV20." Free shipping on all orders! Please listen to episode 129 with Thomas White to learn more about CBD.
To Connect with Trish:
Website
Book
Instagram
To Connect with Courtney:
Follow Sober Vibes on Instagram
To Work with Courtney:
Come join the Sobriety Circle
Apply for 1:1 Coaching Here
Order My Book
Free Resources:
Join the women-only Sober Vibes Facebook group
30-Day Sober Not Boring Calendar
Sober Routine Checklist
Workshop Series
Mocktail Menu
Merch
Hey, welcome to the Sober Vibes podcast. I am your host, Courtney Anderson, and you are listening to episode 192. I got an amazing guest on today, but first I just wanted to catch you up in case you, if you did listen to last week's episode. I did send the little dictator off into the real world of preschool and he did great. Do you want to know that? He was the only child who cried when mama had to come pick him up. He said, and I quote I don't want to go home, I want to stay at preschool. I was like Colin, come here. I mean, he was doing this in front of his teacher. You know what I mean. I was like, oh, she's going to think he might have it bad at home. So he did great. The second day he was even more excited. He woke me up and was like I want to go to school. He's really big on to recess. I don't blame him. And then over the weekends we developed colds. I had a girlfriend who told me to expect this for the first year, on and off. So I'm just going to ride the wave of cold and flu season with a three-year-old who is now going out into the real world and being around kids all the time. So that's the 411 on the little dictator and his preschool adventure on the first week. I will get more into that on a solo episode. That I do, but of how I did, because that was strange. That was very, very strange those two days. But today's guest on another note, today's guest great, great, great conversation. I will have to tell you the connection was a little bit spotty. So if that is happening when you hear Trish kind of going in and out in some parts of these interviews, I do apologize for that, but it was such a great conversation I still wanted to put this out. I believe nothing's ever perfect, so I still wanted to air this episode.
Speaker 2:Trish is a award-winning nutritionist, gut specialist. Okay, I am a nerd when it comes. I find the gut fascinating, Gut health very fascinating. Okay, I am a nerd when it comes. I find the gut fascinating, Gut health very fascinating, all of it. And we talk about that. And Trish enlightens us on how alcohol misuse plays a role in the gut microbiome and overall health and hormone regulation. We get into some perimenopause menopause stuff on this too, and she even drops some tips on how to heal gut health and hormone balance. Okay, and then, too, she also shares her story. So she's a listener of the Sober Vibes podcast and, as I told you when I first started season five, we will be getting into some listener stories here coming up and their knowledge, and I again really enjoyed this episode and I could talk about gut health all day long.
Speaker 2:Everything that I referenced in this episode I will have in the show notes below. If, by some chance, I missed something, just reach out to me on the gram or email me and I will share with you. Okay, so all of Trish's information will be in the show notes below, as always. I hope this episode helps. Keep on trucking and stay safe out there. Hey, Trish, welcome to the Sober Vibes podcast, Thank you so much so good to be here.
Speaker 2:I'm excited. You told me that you were a listener of the show, so I appreciate you tuning in. I'm excited today to talk to you about gut health and hormone health, so why don't you share with us what took you on your Sober Curious journey?
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. I've been Sober Curious for 12, maybe 13 years and I didn't really drink. In my 20s I didn't really find a drink that I liked. A long time corporate job in Melbourne in Australia and we used to spend a lot of time in the Yarra Valley exploring fine wines, and that's when I discovered that, oh, I really liked wine. But it was in my perimenopause and my menopause years that I really worked out that wine was not loving me back. And I'm a menopausal mom with two young boys. I've got two teenage boys and I have my kids late in life like 38 and 42.
Speaker 1:And with the birth of my second son, I was told so both my kids were 11 pounds, or just my second son was just over 11 pounds and he was still in the middle of the Edinburgh fringe. I know, huge baby, right, yeah? And and my my midwife at the time said oh, you've got a really big baby there. You need to make sure you have a Guinness a day and plenty of dark chocolate, right? So I'm breastfeeding at 11.5 baby, 11.5 pound baby, and she's recommending that I have a Guinness a day. So enter mummy's little helper. This little guy didn't really sleep for three years. He had a bit of a twist in his back. He was such a big little kid, big fella, and he was hungry all the time and he would always pick up the last bit of the feed, so I was constantly exhausted. When I was told that I should have a Guinness a day, it was just like permission to have that one little dream. That sort of became mummy's little helper so when I weaned him.
Speaker 1:I really started to rely on the Guinness or two hour, the glass of wine or two a day to cope with having two small children under the age of five working, being self-employed, studying to be a nutritionist and living in two countries. So there was a lot of stress and not a lot of sleep. So, yeah, mummy's a little helper. That's when I really started to notice that I was relying on alcohol to help push on, help get me through, help switch my mind off. At the end of the day, it was definitely a reward for getting through the day and there was almost like nothing else left in the day that was purely for pleasure and joy.
Speaker 1:Then I was studying nutrition right, so I'd always been very interested in health. I had a big health transformation at the age of 32 where I transformed myself from being asthmatic and anaphylactic to healing my gut and healing my respiratory challenges with a nutritionist for eight weeks, and it was life-changing, and prior to that point I had never put the connection between my respiratory challenges, my asthma and my anaphylaxis down to gut health. Okay, so I already knew quite a lot about gut health. I was really inspired by my own transformation. So after my second son was born, I totally changed my career and I went to study nutrition and I wanted to specialize in the gut because my mind was blown by the fact that it was about candida, leaky gut, lyme's disease that was causing my respiratory challenges okay, so you had Lyme disease as well yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's when. That's when I really started to learn about the hormones and the gut health and what plays a big impact on the gut, and I was already aware that I was relying on alcohol as that little mummy's little helper. So then I thought, right, okay, I'm going to give up alcohol. And I was sober both my pregnancies no problem and I found it really hard, I thought, despite what I know, I found it really difficult.
Speaker 1:I found that actually I was verging on being addicted to an addictive substance. So, despite everything that I was learning about alcohol, I was still relying on it as a crutch, as a support mechanism, as a way of switching off. So then I had to really dig deep and explore what that meant for me, and it really took me back to being a child, Like. I had one of my first experiences with alcohol when I was 10. I was bitten by a dog, by the neighbor's dog. I was in their front yard on my bike and the dog came up and bit through my jims into my thigh, right deep into my leg. So I was taken inside into the neighbor's house and given a pint of cider to calm me down and to help relieve the pain.
Speaker 1:So enter alcohol as pain relief. Now I was using alcohol for pain relief in after my, after the birth of my sons. I had broken my neck in my late 20s snowboarding, so I had sort of like residual neck tension pain thing going on. And I was also hit by a car when I was 14. So I had this a couple of trauma, head traumas that I would manage. Oh well, the best way to numb pain is with alcohol Right.
Speaker 1:So I think after my second son at the age of 42, I pretty much went straight into the perimenopause with the lack of sleep and just being older and having kids older.
Speaker 1:And so I really became aware that alcohol was not doing me any favours. It was causing me sleep disruptions, it was playing havoc with my brain, like I had quite severe brain fog. It was definitely disrupting my sleep sleep like waking me up at 3am and I'm starting to have night sweats. And that's when I really started to go deeper into how alcohol can affect your gut health, how it can affect your hormones and how it is definitely not our friend in the perimenopause and the menopause. And yeah, so I started to go deeper and I went and started to listen to podcasts and started to read quick lit books because I found it really hard. I thought I'm putting so much emphasis on the, on the beliefs behind alcohol, and how much of that was wrapped up in my own managing, my lack of self-esteem, my lack of confidence, my desire to be a bit of a naughty girl my ability to switch off, like how do I manage my stress without alcohol?
Speaker 1:So I started to ask all the really big questions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, and too, I mean with your process of it and we talked before the show and it takes, and like we were talking about, sometimes you just have you end up drinking and you're like, why do I do this? Like after a couple of years or 11 months, whatever the case may be, where you go back and you're like, why did I do that? So then your body tells you no more.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely. My body was definitely telling me no more, all of those little symptoms. And I say to my clients the body whispers a long time before it starts to shout. My body was whispering a very and then it would be coming more loud and clearer. That alcohol was the one thing that often, if I have a question like a personal development question or you've got a burning desire to do something, or is it something that you really feel that you need, your you need to do that you're compelled to do but you haven't done it yet alcohol was always the answer to that. It was like I've got to stop drinking and there was alcoholism in my family, for sure, on both, both sides of the family. So I was really aware that and I think that's why I didn't drink in my twenties, because I thought, no, I know that this is a really damaging substance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, going to that because that was how I was like for a long time, up until I was 19,. I didn't really drink a lot and then it was all, because it's like, well, no, alcoholism plays a part. And then it's like you go buck wild. It's like if you were, you know, suppressed from either having like junk food when you were younger or always being told no, right Like. And then it's like you reach out into adulthood and you just go absolutely ape shit. So it is one of those things. Going back, though, going back to your midwife did your midwife suggest the Guinness to keep up with production, with breastfeeding?
Speaker 1:I mean, how bad is that? How bad is that Like? Oh yes, you need the iron, but it's really good for milk production. How can alcohol be good for milk production? I mean, come on.
Speaker 2:Right right.
Speaker 1:Yes, iron tablets, spinach, magnesium, any other form of iron. Maybe a steak a day like a steak a week or something, but not.
Speaker 2:Guinness, I mean hello, it's alcohol.
Speaker 1:It's just the most bizarre bit of advice I've ever had.
Speaker 2:It's alcohol, it's just the most bizarre bit of advice I've ever had. Yeah, I mean, I've heard in the States and I've heard that before with my friends, and even, too, when I was going through it that the lactation consultant told me that NA beers would be fine, because I think it's the wheat. There's something, though, in it that does help production, but I cannot remember what exactly it is, I think it's the hops.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's definitely look, it's got B12 in it, but so is kombucha. I really do love my Zero Guinness now, I think that is one of the best zero beers.
Speaker 2:The best Isn't it?
Speaker 1:just I love it. Like it takes me right back to that. Oh yeah, guinness a day for medicinal purposes. Well, I don't need the alcohol, but I still love my Guinness a day. It's just zero.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we discovered Guinness zero a couple of years ago. My husband saw it around Christmas time and so he got it, and I used to love Guinness and so he got it and I had one. I was like, oh my God, this is amazing.
Speaker 1:It tastes like a real thing.
Speaker 2:It really does. So I got to get some Guinness for the summertime, but okay, so it's very interesting to me. So, okay, a couple of weeks ago I watched, and I have always been very interested in gut health. A couple of weeks ago, there was a documentary that came out on Netflix and it was all about gut health, which, if you haven't watched it yet, to the good people of the world listening, watch it. Do you know the name of it? Trish? I'm drawing a blank on the name.
Speaker 1:It has popped up a little bit. I haven't had a chance to watch it myself, but I will watch it. I think it is how to Hack your Gut Health in the search bar I'm sure it will come up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a newer one, so if you haven't watched that, definitely watch it. So when I got sober, my gut health was a mess right From the years of alcohol abuse and not taking care of it and whatnot. And it wasn't until I probably was like in year two or three. That that's when I became more interested in learning more about healthier foods, proper nutrition and then also, too, that's when I was introduced to probiotics and I will have to say, like healing that, like I used to have IBS, my stomach was always on the fritz. And then when I started cleaning up in my diet and obviously not drinking and taking probiotics, my whole digestive tract and gut issues changed. Amazing. But I mean it amazes me that you were able to help yourself with asthma. That's like crazy Cure your asthma and Lyme disease.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I worked with a nutritionist to specialize in allergies and spores and parasites.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and she is a kinesiologist.
Speaker 1:She diagnosed me with high candida, leaky gut, a parasite, a hookworm, which I would have had from birth, so she can test how old it's been in your body and all through kinesiology and Lyme disease.
Speaker 1:And yeah, working with her for a period of eight weeks and now I will go back to her every year for, like servicing my car. I will go back because I know from my functional nutrition comprehensive stool tests that I did around the time that I was giving up alcohol, so I really knew what was going on in my gut as well, and I will repeat those every few years to know that I'm on the right track, that my beta defense and so the mucosal barrier in the gut, which is the first line of defense in protection against parasites and pathogens and opportunistic bacteria taking up residence and taking up too much space, my mucosal barrier was really compromised. Now I'm a twin, I've got a twin brother. He was born first so he would have got a lot of the mucosal from the vaginal canal, from the vaginal delivery, so he would have got that first few swallows of that.
Speaker 1:And also he went home while I stayed behind in the hospital because I was underweight and I had severe respiratory challenges. So he always got the first few feeds from my mum. My mum's still breastfed me but she was putting it into bottles and expressing, putting it into bottles, bringing it to the hospital, so it wasn't quite as fresh as what he would have got. So both of those two things would have populated the microbiome which we know now, and also and the weaker part of the body. So the parasites will always go to the weakest part of the body. And so any sort of parasites or the microbiome or any pathogens that are in my mom were transferred to me. So from birth I had that hookworm and that was giving me the feeling of breathlessness. So, working with a kinesiologist, nutritionist over the period of eight weeks I did lots of teachers, lots of liver work, lots of supporting that gut lining with some herbs like black walnut, wormwood clove, green cysteine, biofilm disruptors that would disrupt the biofilm in case of those pathogens. And eight weeks later now I've been medication-free for 23 years and I was told at the age of 14 that I'd have to be on medication for the rest of my life. Wow, I peaked at 32.
Speaker 1:What took me to a nutritionist was I peaked at 12 anaphylactic episodes in one year. That was 12 rides in an ambulance or hospital stays overnight hospital stays because I had life threatening anaphylaxis and I'd have to administer an epi pen or I'd have to get them to administer adrenaline or be in the ambulance administer my own adrenaline and yeah, so I was pretty toxic. I also had shingles twice as an adult, so my mucosal barrier was very compromised. From the stool tests that I do I do comprehensive microbiome tests. I'm looking at stool tests all the time. That's what I do for a living. I know that my pancreatic elastase, my pancreas, was compromised with the digestive enzymes that were being produced. I know that I had a very elevated secretory iga so I was quite reactive, which showed me that I had lots of food sensitivities. So I'm still a little bit sensitive, but I'm much more robust, like I was always the first person in the house to get sick yeah, I never get sick now very rarely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can count maybe once in the last to get sick. Yeah, I never get sick. Now very rarely I can count maybe once in the last five years. I did have covid once, not for very long three days. So my immune system is really robust now, yeah, so it's really interesting actually, since giving up alcohol, the difference in my microbiome that I've tested, that I see a greater diversity of the good bacteria, much less of the bad opportunity bacteria, definitely a strengthened mucosal barrier, better digestive enzymes, better reabsorption of my bile acids. My liver count is brilliant, all those things which were prior to just having had babies and a little bit postnatally depressed. And eating the wrong foods and drinking my Guinness a day, the picture of my hormones and my gut health was a little bit out of whack. It was a bit out of balance.
Speaker 2:Right, but with your story and, I'm sure, so many other people's stories and again, I will put all of trisha's information down below and where you can link up to her. But I also highly recommend you watch that documentary on netflix too, because it explains all of this in such a cute way, because they have these like little like. They almost look like Muppets Cartoons, but it's adults, and then they're talking about looking at your stool. They're talking about that as well. But what's awesome is that this is true, that you can change that from your story. In particular, you can change your health around just depending on what it's on. In particular, like you can change your health around just depending on what it's on, but you can change your health around in a healthy way and for you to help, I guess, support your microbiome, correct.
Speaker 1:Oh, there's so much that you can do, and we do know that alcohol definitely affects the liver.
Speaker 1:It makes it difficult much more difficult to deal with other toxins that are. We're being exposed to toxins all the time in our food chain, in our living, in our emotions, in our lifestyle, in our water, in our air that we breathe, all that sort of thing. So we're, so the liver is dealing with those toxins all the time. But alcohol definitely makes it harder to deal with those toxins because it's another um and we know that alcohol causes inflammation in the gut. So that's one of the things that I test. We don't want to see any inflammation in the gut. That inflammation can then migrate to other areas of the body like our joints.
Speaker 1:We know that alcohol is dehydrating, especially for the brain and us menopausal women. We need all those brain cells we can get because brain fog is a thing and we want to keep working and keep inspiring and keep up with our teenage children and all those good things. But we also know that alcohol destroys the gut lining and it causes anxiety and stress. So that was one of my big drivers that I was already deplete. Having young children.
Speaker 1:Being in my 40s, being in perimenopause, I was already struggling with stress and anxiety and alcohol lies to us and makes us think that we can relax. It helps us relax and it does for 20 minutes, but of course the next three days are not relaxing and of course it's so, so, so addictive. It causes so, so much problems to the liver fatty liver, scarring of the liver, yeah and it's often the fact that it wakes us up in the middle of the night makes us feel all regretful and remorseful and things. Oh goodness mine. But back here again feeling all crappy at three o'clock in the morning right and that is going with your gut health.
Speaker 1:I mean people refer to the gut as the second brain yeah, well, see, we know now there are more messages going back up from the gut via the vagus nerve, because all the way from the pelvic floor right through the digestive system up through the diaphragm, past the lungs, past the thyroid, up to the diaphragm, past the lungs, past the thyroid, up to the chin and then into the brain, we now know through science that there is more information going back up to the brain and all those neurotransmitters and all the immune system that exists within the gut, in that epithelial lining, in that mucosal barrier. That's really, really important and that's important for mood and for sleep and for energy and for, you know, all those really good and that motivation and all that good stuff that we need so much of in the menopause.
Speaker 2:Isn't, to the serotonin produced from your gut as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so. And serotonin is the precursor to melatonin. So if we're not sleeping well, we can be a little bit deficient in our dopamine, our neurotransmitter production. We can be running on empty, feeling a little bit wired and frazzled and tired and not producing enough dopamine. That's a precursor to melatonin. Serotonin is a precursor to melatonin. So therefore that disrupts our sleep. And if we've got disrupted sleep then we're feeling lethargic and exhausted and got brain fog and then we reach for the wrong foods. That's CASH-22, and that causes that disruption in the microbiome again. So it's like this vicious circle between our gut health, thyroid production and our stress response and our sex hormones. They're all doing this delicate dance.
Speaker 2:We've all been there. You say you've never drinking again and then you drink. But would you still drink if those closest to you knew you need something to make you pause before taking that first sip? You need Soberlink. You need something to make you pause before taking that first sip. You need Soberlink. Soberlink devices have built-in facial recognition and tamper sensors and send instant results to those closest to you, making it an incredible accountability tool. You know me, I love accountability. Devices are also portable and tests are always scheduled, never random, allowing you to test from anywhere, but still on your own time. Maybe you need a silver link to save your marriage. Maybe you need it to give to your ex-husband for when he has the kids, so you can test him, so he can hold himself accountable, or perhaps you just need something to keep you on track. Whatever the case may be, if you're in early recovery from alcoholism, this tool is a must and by far one of my most favorite recommendation. I've witnessed people benefit from Soberlink and I want you to be the next. Visit wwwsoberlinkcom forward, slash sober dashes to sign up and receive $50 off your device. You have to use the link so you can also visit the link in the show notes under Soberlink and it will take you directly to your website and the $50 will be applied at checkout.
Speaker 2:Exact Nature is a proud sponsor of the Sober Vibes podcast because we are both mission aligned. Both myself and Exact Nature are here to help support you in your sobriety. Exact Nature offers safe, healthy, cbd-based products of the cravings and changes in mood, focus and sleep that are a part of getting sober. Founded by a father and son team, both in recovery, this issue is personal for both of them and they are a dream the nicest people. Their oils, soft gels and gummies can help with the challenges of quitting alcohol and drugs, like addictive cravings, depression, anxiety and better sleep. Exact Nature's products are independently lab tested so you can be confident you're getting what the labels say and all their products are value priced. So you'll get a full month of serving in every bottle. As a Sober Vibes listener, use code SV20 at checkout for 20% off your order at exactnaturecom. That's exactnaturecom, that's exactnaturecom and, as always, I will put the link in the show notes below.
Speaker 2:I have been using Exact Nature for, I think at this point, a year and a half, maybe almost two years, for a long time. I use it every day and it has by far helped me with my mood. Again, exactnaturecom Enjoy. Yeah, I mean totally. I mean I'm just fascinated by this conversation Because I love it, because, honestly, like, even when I started to clean up my gut health, it actually truly started from, and I've never shared this, but this is like an all women's podcast.
Speaker 2:So it was a couple of years in and I was dealing with bacterial vaginosis. If you've ever had it as a woman before, it is the effing worst thing. It Okay. So for years and I started getting it. Actually, when my husband and I started dating, I was like what's wrong with you? I mean, nothing was wrong, but it was just that's when that happened.
Speaker 2:So, a couple of years in, and I finally I finally got my own insurance. When I was working at the pain clinic, I got my own insurance, so I was actually going to Planned Parenthood. They were putting me on a antibiotic, and this antibiotic you couldn't drink on. You had to take for like seven days, so I would do it.
Speaker 2:And then, finally, when I got my insurance, I went to the gynecologist that was in the same office building and this man also, too, was more on. He was just started his practice to start building it towards more of like a wellness center and incorporate nutrition and all that good stuff in there. And he was like, and that's he was the one who introduced me to a probiotic. He was like, just start taking this and you have to start cleaning up your diet. And I started taking a probiotic and it went away. And this was I'm not even shitting you after like two and a half no, probably at this point two and a half, three years of having to keep going on cycles of antibiotic to clear up this DB and meanwhile the probiotic. And that's when I started taking my nutrition more serious and never have.
Speaker 1:I had it again. Yeah, swabs, we'll send off a kit and then they post it back and then we have the labs look at that, because that will have a big impact on your ability to be fertile, to actually fall pregnant. And we know now that there is this direct link between the gut microbiome, the vaginal microbiome, the lung microbiome, the skin microbiome, the oral microbiome it's like all the mushrooms are talking to each other. Well, the microbiome is all communicating all the time and the things that will upset the vaginal microbiome can be whatever you're using for your period period your menstrual products, sex toys, different partner bacteria in the gut, that bacteria can migrate to the vagina and obviously they're very, very close to each other.
Speaker 1:Their openings are very close to each other, so this is migrating and cause all sorts of problems. And isn't it interesting? Now we have I use very specific probiotics to to treat bv and it is very effective. So anyone also with ladies who have this, you know, across the bladder axis and the gut axis they're talking to each other. So having a probiotic can be very effective.
Speaker 1:In looking at the balance of the vagina is very, very different to the gut. Where the gut we want a lot of different big range of commensal bacteria, beneficial bacteria, whereas in the vagina we don't want a big overgrowth, we want only one or two very specific helpful bacteria and that's all, whereas in the gut we want lots of helpful bacteria. So it's really interesting that the science now has come such a long way. It's such a brilliant time to be able to test these things and know exactly what's going on. Do a stool test or do a vagina swab. 15 days later, we know exactly what's going on in terms of the good and the bad bacteria and where to target our efforts and what type of probiotics, because there's hundreds of different probiotics available now, and we know that very specific strains of probiotics can be very targeted to that area and very effective.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, ladies, if that, if BV is happening to you, like again, it's the worst and I feel for you. And that was the other thing. Before I even got on the probiotics, like it was like, okay, no more soaps with scents, no more tampons, make sure everything's clean, Like. And then I'm like Matt, our chemistry is causing me BV right, like so.
Speaker 2:it was really so. I took out and still to this day I don't use soaps with scents in them, so now it's more common for them to have organic tampons. I used to use the Diva Cup, so a lot of that stuff I will never incorporate back just because I'm like it's so bad for you anyways just to be putting on your skin or inserting a regular tampon that's bleach soaked in you. So, just if you're dealing with it, definitely talk with your doctor, somebody about, or just put yourself on some probiotics. I mean, it was a lifesaver, for sure. So what are some tips besides? You know, what are some tips, though? To heal your gut health, and two, I kind of want to incorporate hormones into this as well. But first, tips to heal your gut health.
Speaker 1:Okay, so alcohol is an obvious one. Alcohol really plays havoc with your blood sugar balance. It also depletes your B vitamins. It will definitely diminish your pancreatic and lung cells. So you'll have less hydrochloric acid in the stomach and you will have less enzymes being produced if you drink alcohol. And of course you're putting an extra strain on the liver. So that's a given okay.
Speaker 1:And also, I think if you're new to giving up alcohol, then ideally you want to do at least what would have been, or is, three menstrual cycles, now alcohol to help them begin to balance the microbiome. So that's really very important and certainly if you've had any sort of antibiotics, it takes up to a year to rebuild that microbiome. So being on really high dosage probiotics with a high cfu count that's colony forming units count with a multitude of strangers, strains of bacteria is very, very good. But look, other things that you can do focus on real food. Focus on trying to avoid ultra processed food, and that is becoming harder and harder and harder because they've got a whole heap of genetically modified seed oils creeping in. That's putting out our omega-6, omega-3 balance and that is really really, really important.
Speaker 1:The other thing that is really easy to do is, when you're focusing on real food is to focus on a minimum of 30 unique plant foods a week. Now you might think that that's impossible, given that the government guidelines here in the uk are five a day, australia seven a day. I'm not sure what it is in the States we're talking about. What we're aiming for is diversity in plant foods and having around 30 unique plant foods a week. Now this will include seeds, nuts, herbs, spices, fruit and veg. So when you add up the list of all known herbs, seeds, nuts, spices, fruit and veg, there is well over 30, like there's 150 odd. So but adding those in, even if they're in small doses, like particularly herbs like your turmeric, your ginger, cayenne pepper, all your beautiful herbs like oregano, marjoram, thyme, basil, spinach, all of those leafy greens, can be very, very good.
Speaker 1:And think about prebiotic foods. So these are the ingredients that will feed the probiotics. So you need the prebiotics to feed the good guys. The probiotics, okay, okay, prebiotic foods include onions, garlic, if you can tolerate them. If you can't tolerate them, then for sure you have a SIBO or a small intestinal bacterial, later growth or something going on. That's a sure sign. But onions, garlic, artichokes, green bananas, leeks, all your leafy greens, having plenty of those really good to build up that good bacteria, yeah, okay. Now the other thing that I do a lot of work with clients is around stress, because the more stressed you are, the more likely you are to overeat or eat too fast and overeat the wrong foods. So eating more slowly, more mindfully, chewing your food well and slowing things down, so that may look like taking longer at mealtimes or eating just when you're eating, just eat. Don't watch the news, don't work, Don't sit at the desk, don't sit in the car working and eating and driving Just when you're eating, just eat. Just focus on eating and slowing everything down.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because stress also will feed into your hormones and we have that delicate dance between the thyroid, the adrenals, the insulin response, the stress response and your sex hormones. Okay, they're all related and, ladies, if you're in the perimenopause or the menopause, then it's the adrenals and the thyroid that pick up the slack when we stop making all the sex hormones all right. So you've got to look at stress, stress reduction techniques and in my sober kit as you probably will also have a big sober toolkit essential oils, hot baths, meditations, legs up the wall, reflexology, tai chi, dancing, music, podcasts, all those things, journaling, you know, daydreaming, sitting outside in the sun, having a nice slow cup of tea all of those things will be very beneficial for your gut health because the more stressed we are, the more we have compromised gut lining, the the more compromise will have to the enzymes.
Speaker 1:That hydrochloric acid levels in the stomach will become disrupted, and stress causes all of that. So focus on the stress and then I think the final thing would be to make sure you're adequately hydrated, but don't eat and drink at the same time. Oh, I've not heard this. So the reason for this is we want our hydrochloric acid in our stomach to be really potent, and we can tell whether we've got good hydrochloric acid levels in the stomach by doing a really simple burp test. Okay, so the burp test can be done at home very easily with half a teaspoon of bicarb soda or baking soda to you guys in a glass of water on an empty stomach. Now what we're looking for. So, first thing in the morning, if you've got some baking soda in the cupboard, first thing in the morning when you get up, take half a teaspoon, as long as it's in date if it's still be less than from covid down baking maybe it's been out of date and and take baking maybe it's been our date and take a tough teaspoon, stir it into some water like a glass of water and drink it. Now the bicarb soda should react with your hydrochloric acid levels in your stomach and it should make you burp quite quickly, generally under three minutes. A lot of my clients don't burp at all, which is indicating that their hydrochloric acid levels are low.
Speaker 1:If your hydrochloric acid levels are low, then you're not digesting your food well and in a timely fashion. Food will pass from the stomach partially undigested into the small intestine and guess what? You'll get bloating, you'll get gas, you'll get distension, you'll get battery pain, that sort of thing. So if you do the burp test and you don't burp under three minutes, then what you can do is start to add more bitter food into your life. So bitter leafy greens, greens, your rocket leafy greens that are quite mustard greens, or watercress, or rocket, any of those bitter greens. You could also add in fresh ginger so you could chew a bit of fresh ginger before your meals, or you could have a shot of apple cider vinegar before your meals, which will help to improve your hydrochloric acid levels.
Speaker 1:And that's really important for digestion. Because guess what, ladies, if we've been drinking for a long time, we will have diminished hydrochloric acid levels, we'll have diminished enzymes and you can Look, if you do the BERT test and you don't BERT at all. You can take digestive enzymes with betaine HCL. You can take digestive enzymes with betaine HCL, betaine HCL with digestive enzymes and that will make a massive difference to how you digest your food. And, of course, if you digest your food better, you will digest all that life has to offer better, because you'll be absorbing the nutrients from your food better, and then you'll have more energy and then you'll have full get up and go and you'll have probably better libido and less belly pain and less joy pain and less anxious feelings and less nice words and less all those things, because you will be digesting better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now the thing is with drinking and eating at the same time. If you have low stomach acid and if you have low enzymes and you drink water with your food, you are diluting the enzymes, you're diluting that hydrochloric acid. So keep your water and your drinks away from when you're eating and you will have better chance of digesting that food.
Speaker 2:And your drink's away from when you're eating, and you will have better chance of digesting that food. Isn't it good to drink water at like a room?
Speaker 1:temperature. Yes, so when we drink really, really cold water, our body will warm it up before it absorbs it. So it's giving the body extra things to do. If you're drinking really, really hot water, our body will cool it down before it can absorb into the cells. And we are ourselves we are 70 trillion cells. So we are, you know, we are doing what our cells are doing. So you know, if we want that water to be able to move freely across the cell wall and take with it those nutrients that are needed for the cell, for the mitochondrial function, uh, you know we want it to be at room temperature. But some people will say, oh, I mean like really really cold water. Well, if that's the water that you've been drinking, fair enough, that's better than diet coke or it's better than whiskey. It's yeah, I mean that ideally at room temperature. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in the morning time I always do my water and I put a little. I mean, I used to do pink Himalayan salt, but now I do my my relight. I put a little of that in my room temperature water and if it's just one for the day in the morning time, I think that that's fine and then go on and drink your cold water. But yeah, this is also fascinating, but that's room temperature in the morning.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:But I mean all of these tips to help heal your gut health, which will eventually then lead to your hormone health and all of it. Those are amazing tips.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Yeah, they certainly do work and sometimes you know when you make these changes the body can respond really quickly. The body wants heal and when you get it right it's amazing how quickly the body will respond to getting that balance back, to getting that homeostasis back and particularly the hormones. Because if you're not sleeping well and you've got thinning hair and low libido and night sweats and sugar cravings and you're feeling anxious and you've got head tension and irregular periods and you're feeling wiped out all the time, they're all signs that your hormones are a little bit out of balance. So bringing them back into balance can be not eating so much sugar, drinking more water, having real food, making sure you're getting plenty of b vitamins, zinc, vitamin c, magnesium. Sometimes you can be a little bit deplete in some of those nutrients and that will have a big impact on your hormones. That's another thing that I test.
Speaker 1:A Dutch test has nothing to do with being Dutch. It's a dried urine test and it tests all the neurotransmitters and the hormones and how well you're metabolising those and that can show whether we're deficient in B vitamins or how well we're clearing our hormones and some excess is. We've been exposed to xenoestrogen, particularly fake fragrance and perfumes and sprays and our beauty regime and our cleaning regime and all the regimes that we have. We've been putting a lot of toxic xenoestrogens on our body and so to really go clean go really clean, cleaning, low tox beauty regime, low tox personal products, low tox in your cleaning and and that can make a big, big difference to your hormones as well and that will definitely impact your microbiome. Because we share our microbiome with our family members, with our pets, with everyone in our home. We'll share a microbiome and we share the microbiome with our community. So we are community minded and we know where our food comes from and we want to be close to our food source. We grow some veggies and that's very helpful for the microbiome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's why I too, I never like with with our house. When my son was born, when the little dictator was born, I have not like, I will not continuously wipe the cabinets and the floors down with Clorox. Yes, I clean the home, but because even too, with Fiona, my cat, it's like those are good. Being exposed to all of that is good for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and cleaning just a little bit of white vinegar and a little bit of tea tree oil or a little bit of clove oil, that's very, very good. I mean, obviously you don't want to be exposed to mold because that could be very impactful for the gut, but we do want microbes. We do want those microbes being able to pass through and we don't want to kill all that good stuff. So just using gentle natural cleaners can be really good for the microbiome as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and too, if you're listening to this and this sounds overwhelming, I understand, but how you can start switching your products to low-tax, just do it one at a time, one thing at a time, don't feel like you need to do it all at once because that is overwhelming. But through the years this is something that I have worked on and during the pandemic I went rogue during the pandemic and just didn't give an F and went back, resorted back to habits and that's something now I'm getting back out of right, like I started using Branch Basics and that is a healthier brand of cleaning products. I will link all of that stuff below and I think you probably can only get it in the States, but I mean just by simply cleaning out a kitchen spray to a lower tax cleaning supply, you're doing something. So it takes a while. It takes a while to transition into a cleaner living. Yeah, it does.
Speaker 1:It does. And just when something runs out the next time, I recommend to my clients the Think Dirty app and that's that you can just barcode scan your app and how toxic are your products and then are they greener, more low-tox alternatives. And when things run out like I'll do, I'll do some big big thing of white vinegar and a few essential oils and and and then cleaning is nice, it's enjoyable because it smells nice and it's it's, yeah, it's good for good for the environment at home, good for yourself, but good for your microbiome. But yes, start slow and gradually. It runs out. You go. Okay, maybe try a different shampoo. That would be better for your hair and better for your hormones.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and that's good about that app, because there are things where there's products that are greenwashed out there, meaning that they're not good for you, and they're claiming that they are Same thing for food, and that's another trap you can fall in. That's why it's just good. Same thing for food. And that's another trap you can fall in. That's why it's just good.
Speaker 2:Even though something says organic, it might use some organic, but if you look at the ingredients and you cannot pronounce an ingredient, then don't get it. It's one of those things you want to be able to pronounce what you're eating. So this has been awesome. And another thing I wanted to say in that documentary which was very fascinating because they had four or five different people right that they followed through a period of time of doing this, and there was a woman on there and she was like I have done every diet. She was like I cannot, I think she said she was able to lose some weight and then always gained it back and what they discovered? What they discovered was that there was something missing from her microbiome. I cannot remember the name of it.
Speaker 2:I'm going to have to watch it, yes, but there was something missing from her gut, from the microbiome. And then they're like this is your answer. And I felt this woman where I would, it was like you could just see like years of relief from her, Like, oh my, I have my answer. And so then that she they gave her a diet to start whole foods cut out, cut that out. So I think that for any woman where you're like what is going on, it really is a wake-up call and especially if you eat the same foods over and over again, you want, as Trisha said, a variety, because it's all playing into your gut microbiome. Thank you for sharing all of this knowledge with us.
Speaker 2:This has been awesome.
Speaker 1:You're welcome Thank you.
Speaker 2:So where can the good people of the world find you?
Speaker 1:Okay, probably my best places on my website, trish Tucker trishtuckermaycom. So you can find my book there, which is called Nourish your Gut for Positive Menopause, and I'm across all of socials. I probably hang out mostly in my Facebook group, which is a free Facebook group called time to nourish, and I do spend quite a bit of time on Instagram and now a little bit on TikTok as well, sort of getting my head around that one this way, oh my goodness. But yeah, a little bit of fun there. And I do have quite a lot of videos on YouTube as well, so people can check some lots of great tips on gut a lot of videos on YouTube as well so people can check some lots of great tips on gut healing and balancing your hormones there as well. But probably the best way is through the website, because I've got all the links to the socials there.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I will link everything to yours and I'm definitely going to get your book and I just think that it's great how nourishing your gut can also help you in the perimenopause, perimenopause, menopause phase of your life, because from what I hear, it's not a good time.
Speaker 1:Well, it can be a really positive time. Yeah, some women sail through it and some people have a myriad of problems. But there is a lot you can do. There is a lot you can do with diet and lifestyle and supplements. That will make a big, big difference.
Speaker 2:So yeah, Well and that's why this past year, after my burnout in the fall time like that was one of the things and to have just not like out with you, like how you said you weren't really taking care of yourself in that postpartum phase and this past fall I was like I do not want to go into my perimenopause years feeling already like garbage right, like I want to go into it in a positive experience. I want to enjoy this because there's going to be a day I don't have my period anymore and I just want to be as healthy as possible and feel good as possible entering in those years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's absolutely possible. And like everything, even in sobriety, there's good days, there's bad days, and sometimes you just get a bit tired. I think that's what I'm getting to snap with now that I feel like I'm even. I've got teenage boys and I cannot do all the things that I'm like. I love doing a ton of things at once and now realizing that now I really need to focus my energy and do the things that really light me up, because it's really difficult. You cannot get to this age, mid-50s and spread yourself so thin like I've been used to doing, and that's weird, like it's taking me a lot to get my head around. So it's a different phase that you go through different phases, as you will. With motherhood, it's sort of like oh, this is this phase, okay, right now, here we go yeah, well, we're currently in the phase where the dictator is just yelling goddamn fuck.
Speaker 2:All around the house, because he heard me say that in a car, with a man having road rage on us, and it's like, oh my.
Speaker 1:God.
Speaker 2:Yes, because I know I have a potty mouth on this show, but I really try, I'm really mindful in front of him. Yeah, and this guy was being such a dick. This was like, honestly, this was probably like two months ago and the kid is still carrying on and like now I'm trying just not to react to him because I have tried everything, I've tried taking away telly's time out. I just feel like now I just have to ignore him.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so that's the fate I tell you the phase that I'm in right now. So I'm in the phase of my 16-year-old son going, please, mom, can you buy me some tequila? And I'm like, no, well, let me give you a really good. I'm not going to give you a lecture, but let me give you a gazillion reasons why this is not a good idea. Please don't make me do this, right.
Speaker 2:Well, but that's the thing. It's like your sons are of that age where it's like they're being introduced to alcohol and I mean it's going to happen. So it's like what do you do? It's like it's just one of those things. It's like what do you do? You educate them and then they have to figure it out on their own.
Speaker 1:I know that's right and you have to let go and just trust that they're going to be sensible enough, then you guys also. Well, I'm, I really want you to, or I'm going to go and score some weed from the neighbor and and if and they're not, if they're not going to give it to me, then I want you to go and get it for me. I'm like no, this is just like I'm not ready for this, please. I was hoping this was going to come in a few more years time, not at 16 no but it's 16.
Speaker 2:16 is like the age, and then that's the thing, it's like got to look, and then you look back. I mean I was smoking weed at 16. I was smoking weed and cigarettes, like, and it's just it's just one of those things. You just look back and it's like, okay, was I doing this? Were my friends doing this?
Speaker 1:So yeah, but it was a bit of a late bloomer, like I grew up in the country and and I was a bit of a light bloomer, but I sure didn't make up for it as soon as I got to university and was dabbling in all sorts of recreational oh my God.
Speaker 2:Right, he went ham and the college days, so I get it. Well, thank you so much. I'm so happy you came on the show and, like I said, shared your knowledge. I will post everything for the good people of the world. It's in the show notes below. And again, thanks for listening. And everyone kick ass and take names Brilliant, thank you you.
