Episode 111 - Gut Healing for Beginners with Gut Journalist, Sarah K Hoffman, aka A Gutsy Girl (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 111 - Gut Healing for Beginners with Gut Journalist, Sarah K Hoffman, aka A Gutsy Girl

[00:07] Amy Sherman: Welcome to Nirvana Sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state, your Nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

[00:18] Katie Chandler: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

[00:24] Amy Sherman: You.

[00:29] Katie Chandler: Welcome back to the show. Today we are sitting down with Sarah K hoffman. She is the founder of a gutsy girl. The Gutsygirl.com. It's an online community geared towards women who are looking for reasonable approaches for healing. IBS IBD, SIBO and all things gut focused. What began for Sarah as an online journal documenting the day to day with one health issue after the next would shortly become less story focused and more research and journalistic based, which I very much understand that Sarah. Today, Sarah seeks out highly detailed information and then condenses it in digestible ways for women worldwide. After years of struggling with her own health issues and considering there must be more to healing than the answer she was given, she went on to study at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, adding a certified health coach to her education. And she continued to devote every spare second to studying, researching, practicing all things gut health and gut healing and has built this amazing community. A gutsy girl. And we are just super excited that you're here. We can't wait to talk to you. We have so many questions for you. So thanks for being here.

[01:36] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Thanks for having me. I'm super excited. I love being able to sit down and talk on the other end of the seat with podcasters and just kind of to be in the hot seat.

[01:47] Amy Sherman: Yeah, that's right, you have your own podcast so we will all have to check that out as well. And yes, thank you for being on. I know Katie is the one who introduced your page to me and she's been following you for a very long time and is a super fan of all your knowledge. So thank you so much for being here.

[02:03] Katie Chandler: Before we get started, we like to do a little Nirvana of the Week. Sarah, it's just something that just brought you a moment of joy. Amy and I will go first so you can get the feeling of it. But Amy, why don't you tell us what was your nirvana this week?

[02:16] Amy Sherman: So I was thinking about this this morning and I had a really cute moment yesterday. I was driving and you know, we're always like rushing and driving, whatever and I was just kind of like rushing through my neighborhood not paying attention. And I was driving on my neighborhood street and I saw this massive deer go across the street like really slowly. So of course I stopped and the person across from me stopped and it was like this massive mama deer walking across the street really slowly. And then like 2 seconds later there was this little baby deer. It was the cutest thing. It was so small. I don't think I've ever seen a deer that small. This little baby deer just like walking across this street, kind of like not even so. Just kind of like bouncing around and like a little toddler or something walking across the street. And the mom was just like, waiting on the other side and then she got to the other side and the mom looked at her like we would do with our kids, just like making sure she was okay and then off they went. But it was just so sweet when you see nature like that. And it's like we all stopped all the cars. Like my car, the car crossed from me. We all just watched them and took that moment. It was just a nice little smile on my face. So I really appreciated seeing that. It was very sweet to see other moms doing their thing. That was mine. What about you, Katie?

[03:26] Katie Chandler: Here in our backyard all the time, which has actually brought me not a ton of nirvana because my dog had a tick yesterday from it. But that's okay.

[03:34] Amy Sherman: Yeah, not in the backyard, but out in nature.

[03:37] Katie Chandler: I think mine was yesterday with Reese. I have two girls, Sarah. I have an almost ten year old and a five year old. And we just had some good snuggles last night. We both had really busy days and I took her to the dentist and I was running all day, she was running all day. And we just got in bed and watched the other half of Et. We watched this weekend and we watched it together. I haven't watched it since I was a kid, so it was kind of fun to watch with her, but it was just some good snuggles. What about you, Sarah?

[04:07] Sarah Kay Hoffman: I love those. Those are so awesome. And I love this question, too. It's such a peaceful and calm question. I have two girls too, about similar in age. We have a seven, eight and nine year old. So I have two girls and a boy. It's busy. I don't have too many nirvana moments with them, but I would say so. I was listening to yours and I'm just taking myself to a really peaceful moment. And it was this morning, actually. So a few years ago, about the time when my dad passed away, I started really getting into succulents and caring for them and keeping them alive because they're always on the list of the easiest plants to take care of, but they're not, especially when you live in Minnesota, because this is not the desert, obviously. I have been spending the last few years really taking care of them and so I have now brought them into my house in the winter and I put them under lights and then in the spring and summer I bring them outside. Well, my collection has just really blossomed. I have so many pots of succulents out on our deck and it was just the most beautiful morning overlooking the lake in Minnesota today. So I went outside and I just sat there and stared at my succulents and watched the water, just like the sun glisten off of the water over my succulents. It was so peaceful that sat there for lovely ten minutes enjoying the fruits of my labor with my succulents and love succulents.

[05:39] Amy Sherman: You'll have to send us a picture. I need to see what they look like so I can get some inspiration. I used to have some, and now they're no longer in as good health as yours, clearly. But that sounds beautiful.

[05:51] Katie Chandler: Very peaceful. Sounds like a great way to start the day. All right, well, let's kick this off because we have a lot of questions for you. I think first, if you could just give our community a little bit of an insight into the gutsy girl community, that would be great.

[06:06] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah. So I actually started the gutsy girl community way back when in I think it was 2012, when I bought a gutsygirl.com. And at the time and there's a reason I'm saying this first, but at the time, I created the brand and the community because I wanted to connect with women who were not only dealing with IBS and or IBD. As I was in 2008, was diagnosed with colitis, and then 2014 was diagnosed with SIBO, and I've been diagnosed with all the things. But also during that time around 2012, I was dealing with another super gutsy issue that many women, also, who have IBS and or IBD deal with, which is infertility. And so it was just this time of my in my life when I thought, you know, I'm going to just be really bold and brave and talk about this and form a community, because I didn't really have one like my offline. There wasn't really one. So I wanted one, and I wanted a space to be able to share and to talk about both the physical and the emotional challenges that I was dealing with. And so I created this community. And over time, it really has shifted and changed, I think partly because that's just the way that websites go typically, but also because I became less focused on the infertility part of it. I would do still talk about it sometimes, just not as often. And I got really hyper focused on IBS and IBD because I do a lot of plays on words. But I noticed that there were these stinky topics that people in general did not want to talk about, but especially women. And so I thought, these are my people, and these are the people that I want to talk to and hang out with online. And then ultimately yeah, I love that.

[08:01] Katie Chandler: It's so true that it's not like it's taboo. It's just like I feel like people are embarrassed to discuss these things, and meanwhile, it's super natural in common, and all of us have it. I've always been the first one to be like, oh, go to the bathroom in four days. I know people that are like, they don't want to talk anything about it, and I understand, but to be able to open up the dialogue and everything is great, and it's incredibly helpful, and obviously, you have a massive following that, and you've helped a lot of people. So that's why you have created it and why your community of people, they're coming to you because you find that they are dealing with similar experiences, having a challenging time, getting a diagnosis, and sorting out how to heal their symptoms. Those are the things that you help them with.

[08:52] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yes. So I feel like most women come into the community who have gone to Dr. Google and who are asking, why does my stomach hurt? It is the foundational feeling and question that many women have because it's very confusing. And I think the reason is because there are so many factors. And so on any given day, our stomach can feel off for one reason or another, and at some point, people just think, what's causing this? Why does my stomach hurt? Yesterday I was fine. Today I'm not. Last week is miserable. What's triggering it? And then they go down the rabbit hole, and there's all these questions. And so I think that's really the basis of the community and the foundational place that people start.

[09:48] Katie Chandler: Yeah, it makes a lot of sense, because I should be in your community because I experience similar things. My stomach will be great, and then it won't be. And then I try to figure out why, and it's impossible, and then you figure out why, and then it's something else. It's just constantly changing. So let's dive into a little bit more about what your expertise has taught you with all of this. Why is IBS IBD SIBO so prominent with women especially?

[10:21] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Well, I think there's a lot of reasons for this, and to be very clear, okay, so IBS is irritable bowel syndrome. It's a whole bunch of symptoms and things that then fall under this classification of IBS. It's pretty much when you go to your doctor and they're like, well, we're not really sure. So it's IBS. And to me and in my experiences and in different doctors that I've worked with and talked to and research and all the things, it's really just kind of a BS diagnosis. But unfortunately, so many women, that's kind of the place where they start and they stay for a really long time. Then there's IBD, which, of course, is inflammatory bowel disease, which is very severe. It's diagnostic. It's all the things. And I would say I tend to focus a little bit less there because it is so severe. And a lot of women not a lot women who have IBS can also have IBD, but they haven't gotten to that place yet. Right. So it's almost like a futuristic thing that I'm trying to help women get to faster, if that's really what the problem is. And then SIBO just falls underneath the IBS category. So SIBO stands for small Intestinal bacterial overgrowth. And it's a huge I'm sure you guys have seen it online, but it's a huge explosion of conversation because more and more women are being diagnosed with it. It's the diagnosis that you have been to your doctor, your gastroenterologist, whatever, over and over and over, and they said, it's just IBS, and turns out it's really SIBO. There's so many different terms, right? There's so many different things that people fall under. But that's where it's also very confusing, because when we come into any one of these, there are multiple symptoms, and you can have these symptoms on any given day, but that doesn't mean that you have colitis or Crohn's or celiac. Doesn't necessarily mean that, but it can. And so I think that these are the things that I work with every single day. And women are coming into this community because they feel these symptoms, and they know that they are not normal, but they have just learned to live with them, and now they're seeking greater answers. I will say that in my research as well, we talk about women come in into the community, and they're either more on the constipation I can't go to the bathroom spectrum or their diarrhea. And it is about 70% of women fall more on the constipation can't go than on the other end. That would be yes, and that's very common. And there's so many reasons for this. Of course, there can be underlying things. It could be a hormonal thing. It can be an actual medical condition. You could have parasites. You could have scar adhesions that have there's so many actual medical things that they could be. But honestly, what I find more often than not is it's a lifestyle component. So it's the stress. It's the lack of exercise or too much exercise. It is the diet. There are so many factors that play into it. And see right here, I've just described how many different things and this is why it's so confusing, because you're like, oh, my gosh, I don't even know where to start. Okay, now I'm done.

[14:13] Amy Sherman: Yeah. And I would think it's hard too, because it's very different, right, for every single person. Also, I would imagine the regular sort of traditional gastroenterologist type doctor would probably just put you on some sort of medicine and call it a day, which we talk about a lot on the show, of going further and figuring out what else you can do before going on some crazy medicine or doing so. It's also like, who do you even the fact that your community exists is amazing. And then it's like there's got to be other ways to treat other than just, like, taking some hardcore medicine by more integrative type wellness care, I would imagine.

[15:00] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah. And I think that's one reason why I'm able to connect with the community so well is because that was my exact story when I was first diagnosed in 2008. It was through traditional Western medicine and a gastroenterologist, which on the one hand, you're so grateful because they are able to do some of those more invasive procedures and testing and insurance can help get you to those answers. But unfortunately, not once was I ever mentioned anything about the way I was living and the factors in my life. And instead they gave me canasa, which is a suppository, and it made me worse. And it was at that point that I was like, okay, this isn't adding up because I got worse. And I remember a specific day, it will never leave my mind. I was so distended and so bloated. I could not breathe. I was absolutely miserable. And I called my gastroenterologist and he said, okay, yes, come in. I'm going to check you out. Whatever. So he looked at me and he said, oh, wow, you are so distended. The answer is you're going to go down to the Walgreens and you are going to get a bottle of magnesium citrate. It was red, by the way, that big, red, thick, gooey liquid bottle, and you're going to drink the whole bottle.

[16:22] Amy Sherman: Oh, my God.

[16:23] Sarah Kay Hoffman: And it's going to take care of the problem. And lo and behold, I went I did exactly what he said. At this time in my life, I didn't care. I didn't know any and it worked. And everything went through me. And I was like, but I was miserable. I mean, I was miserable. I was sick. Like, you hear about all the jokes about the laxatives? Yeah, that was me. That was me on that day. But I was like, there just has to be more. And I refuse to live the rest of my life like this.

[16:50] Katie Chandler: It's amazing how it can be something so complex and then also but something so simple, like taking magnesium citrate can help you in that moment. But the thing is that these are not long term fixes. So what is it that you did to adjust and to get to where you are now? Because from what I see on your site and what I've heard on your podcast, is that you feel great. You're really healthy, you've gotten your gut under control, and you're helping others do it. For our listeners that are struggling with this, maybe we can just throw out some high level tips that could help them get on their way.

[17:33] Sarah Kay Hoffman: So the way that I break it down is I have after I went through my whole thing, I ultimately got my SIBO diagnosis in 2014, and I healed for good in 2018. And then I'm just laying out the rest of my story before I give you these. So it makes sense.

[17:53] Amy Sherman: Yeah.

[17:54] Sarah Kay Hoffman: So I healed for good in 2018. Between 2014 and 2018, I relapsed from SIBO four times. I have taken all the antibiotics, all the supplements. I've done every last protocol that you can think of from a dietary and medical standpoint. And what ended up happening in 2018 was that I finally figured out how important that stuff was. Important, but the lifestyle component was. And so after I healed, what happened was in 2019, then I just got this let me back up too. My dad was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2017. So the irony though, was not lost on me because I have an entirely renewed energy and passion for people and digestive issues and disease and cancer. And so I got really hyper focused on what actually helped me heal, what was it and what did that mean? And out of that derived my three pillars for ultimate gut healing. And the first two are definitely in order. And the third one is you kind of have to start working on it right away, but it's diagnosis, diet, and lifestyle. So without the appropriate diagnosis, which for me was the SIBO, I went years and years and years of being told it's just IBS and then colitis, and then this, this, yes, those were contributing factors, but what was my bottleneck making me the most miserable was the SIBO. So I had to get to that diagnosis. You have got to have an appropriate diagnosis because if you don't, it's like you're constantly playing the guessing game. You're constantly just going to be analyzing symptoms and trying to figure out which symptoms fall in line with what gut health problem. Right? So diagnosis. The second one is diet. My biggest mistake that I made from a diet standpoint was that I believed that there was a diet, a templated diet out there that was going to heal me. And I believed that if I could so for instance, I would start with the Paleo diet. And if the Paleo diet was working but it wasn't fully working, then I thought I had to paleo harder. And so then I went to the AIP diet, which is the autoimmune protocol, which is just a more stringent version of that. Okay, so then I'm actually eating less and then, well, that's working, but there's still not. So then you just go down this.

[20:43] Katie Chandler: Awful, awful now let's try baby denim diet. And then let's do yes. It just keeps going on and on, right?

[20:51] Sarah Kay Hoffman: And so I had to learn the very hard way that there was no such thing as the perfect diet for me. And the only diet that would work for me, it was the one that I would create based on my diagnosis and what my body was telling me. And I did this through Meticulous Food journaling and listening to my body. We know, you know, inside, we know we don't need anybody to tell us that you can or can't have the white rice. Okay? You know, your body knows. So diet was a second very important thing. And then the last one, the last pillar is lifestyle. And it's so funny because in the beginning of my journey, I rolled my eyes big time at this one. I was like, yeah, right, what's my lifestyle going to do? How am I going to reduce my stress or who cares what supplement? Whatever it was with Lifestyle, I did not believe in it until I started practicing it. And miraculously or not, my life completely changed. It completely changed. I think the first time I ever realized it was so when I was on my healing journey and really stressed and really bloated, for a lot of women, the first thing they think is exercise more. If I go run, it's going to reduce my stress, maybe I'll lose a couple of pounds and we get women especially, really get into this mindset when you're bloated and miserable and maybe hanging on to any extra water weight or whatever. That was really working against me. Every time I would start training again for something new because I thought it was going to help me, I got worse. So the final time that I healed, I said, okay, I'm done, I'm done. I would just walk. I would do different stretches and yoga. I learned how to do all the digestive stretches and I healed. And I'm not saying that's what it is for everyone. What I'm saying is the lifestyle piece is so critical. I also started verbal therapy. I got massages, I did all the things that I always thought were so woo woo and wouldn't work. And I do them to this day. And I think the lifestyle pillar is the hardest one because it's something that you do forever. You don't just get to at some point, we hope we can, wean off of high doses of medicine. Or like in the case of SIBO, I did intense 28 days of refaxmin and Neomycin. Well, ultimately you do stop that, right? But you never get to stop the lifestyle piece. So that happened. I created those. And then I am just so passionate today about continuing to teach and preach my three pillars because in 2019, then my dad passed away from colon cancer. I ever hear that it's just been.

[23:40] Katie Chandler: This roller coaster of and then an awful tragedy like that happens and I mean, I can imagine that it's very hard to maintain the lifestyle that you're supposed to be maintaining. So it's probably a little bit of an up and down. But the fact that you're healed is amazing. And I can only imagine how helpful this is for people. And the lifestyle piece for you, what you needed was to be easier on yourself, it sounded like to be more gentle with your body instead of killing yourself in the gym, going on these walks and everything. We've talked a lot about that on here and how much it can really help on so many things, so many levels with inflammation and just achieving results on multiple layers. I want to circle back a little bit to the SIBO, because I've definitely had an experience with SIBO, and I think for some people that are listening, if that's an unfamiliar term, it's good to just understand that we have all of this bacteria in our gut and it works for us. And then if it gets out of balance, it can work against us. And that's essentially what it is, right? Like I've had candida of the gut overgrowth and that is like it's torture trying to get these things out. But the reason why I bring it up is because I just want to know what helped you get that diagnosis or what type of doctor helped you get to that point. So that our listener, if they're experiencing similar things, knows who to go to.

[25:04] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah, I definitely went the functional route for that. So because I was so miserable and kind of at my wits end, I'm like, I will try anything. At the time we were living in California and a friend of mine said there's this fantastic functional doctor, but it's going to be like an hour and a half away and he specializes in all these things. I was like, it's going to be super expensive. But again, I was desperate and so that's what I did. That's the route that I went as I went more functional. However, I will say that because it's become such a more known issue in the gut space, a lot of traditional doctors are testing for it now. Yes, I think that back then if you went to a western trained doctor, they're definitely going to roll their eyes. And I still believe that there are I know because people tell me a lot of eye rolls still. We're not going to test you for that, especially with people like what happened with me, I gained weight, whereas they're trained that usually you lose a lot of weight and so they might dismiss it, but if you truly think that you have it, do not let them. It's a very simple breath test. I'm not saying it's easy to do, but it is a very simple breath test. However, if you want to know that it's definitely going to be on the table for discussion, immediately, going the alternative.

[26:39] Katie Chandler: Route is probably it's interesting.

[26:41] Amy Sherman: I have a question about SIBO. Is that something you get that can be healed and you don't get it? Again? Because I know colitis is more of like an inflammation that you always have it that can flare up and flare down, but it's like a disease that you have versus is SIBO a disease or is it more just like something that you come down with that you can be healed from?

[27:05] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah, you can be healed from it. It's an overgrowth of bacteria. Okay, so like celiac or colitis those are autoimmune diseases that can be triggered. They can go into remission. But when I hear people say they're cured of it, I'm like, that's not the correct term because you don't get cured from it. There's no cure anyways. You can go into remission. But like with SIBO, so it's an overgrowth and it's not just SIBO is SIBO is SIBO, meaning there's a reason why the SIBO occurred to begin with.

[27:40] Amy Sherman: Right.

[27:41] Sarah Kay Hoffman: And usually you have to understand that to know if it's going to come back or not. For me it was chronic dieting for years and years and years, which led to super low stomach acid, like not even hypochlohydria. I had achlohydria, I had no stomach acid. And so until I figured that out, it did keep relapsing because interesting, also stress reduces stomach acid. So I had all the things anyways. So in that case, if you don't know you have low stomach acid, yes, it's going to come back. You can treat it with your refaxamin, your neomyosin, whatever you want, but it's going to come back. There's other things though, like so I had Doctor Neurology, she's a SIBO expert in Australia, she came on my show and we talked about all of the underlying causes and one of them is like scars or adhesions, like if you have surgery and in that case they heal over time. Yes, but I think it seems like it could reoccur easier because you're never really going to get rid of them. Right. And then sometimes people travel and they pick up a bug and that is actually what refaxamin was originally prescribed for, was travelers diarrhea. And so with a case like that, I feel like that is a little bit easier to overcome because that was like a one time thing. So it really depends on why it occurred to begin with.

[29:13] Amy Sherman: And you found out why it occurred through working with that integrated doctor integrative doctor. Exactly, yeah, because that's, I think such a key piece. I think we all struggle with whether you have stomach issues or migraines like me, et cetera, of like what is the root cause, not like how can I feel better? And yes, I want to feel better, but why am I getting it in the first place? And I think that is like the hardest thing to figure out. And I'm sure to your point, once you did, then you at least could try to figure out then how to resolve it.

[29:41] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Right. So for me it was understanding to the nth degree all about stomach acid and how I was going to increase it. And even to this day I have very adequate, obviously, stomach acid and I'm not relapsing anymore, but I still do things every single day to make sure that I'm always on the up.

[30:02] Katie Chandler: I want to ask a bit about that because I was listening to your most recent episode, which is exactly about the low stomach acid.

[30:08] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Piece.

[30:08] Katie Chandler: And I think that's my problem too. I'm pretty sure that mine stems from having Hypothyroidism and autoimmune stuff, and that's the low stomach acid piece for me. But just curious what you do. Do you do like the betane HCL or digestive enzymes and things like that to help you keep your stomach acid elevated?

[30:29] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah, I do both of those, which are also both in my supplement line because I'm so particular and adamant about them when I was first healing. Yeah, the next episode of the podcast is going to be my eleven natural ways that I increase it because I'm so passionate about it. But like okay, so you can do things that will increase it via supplement. There are also natural ways, like apple cider vinegar, you can do lemon, you can do breathing exercises. There's a lot of natural ways to increase it. My favorite one, honestly though, is just straight any type of added HCL, butane HCL with Pepsin and the enzymes. Because the thing about stomach acid is that we need it to break our food down. So that means we just need help, period, in breaking food down, which is one of the biggest challenges across the board for people. I think there's so many different factors and reasons for that. But the first place that we start breaking our food down is we put food in our mouth and there's all these natural there should be natural digestive enzymes, right? But even there, the digestive process gets off for people. And so having a really high quality digestive enzyme and or mine has the HCL a little bit added right to it. So it's kind of like an all in one will really help the food break down. So that it's easier from a stomach acid standpoint, it's easier for everything to just digest. And for us, ultimately, the goal is to absorb the nutrients, right? 90% of nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine, which is why when you have SIBO, it's a small intestinal issue. You have so many problems with digestion and then also weight, because either you're not absorbing them, you're not doing it right, whatever. There's so many different scenarios. I guess there's a lot of natural ways that you can increase your stomach acid. Something that's really interesting about stomach acid too, is how we've been told forever that we all have too much stomach acid. So we have to be so careful because we have acid reflux, because we have too much stomach acid. And now, of course, research is coming out and people are really being shown, and it's being proven that in fact, a lot of these symptoms are coming because we don't have enough. And then, unfortunately, doctors are putting people with, quote unquote, too much stomach acid on all of these PPIs, these acid reducers, which then is reducing their stomach acid even more, creating even more problems. I'm not saying that everyone is there.

[33:22] Amy Sherman: A test to know you have low stomach acid.

[33:25] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah. So I just talked about that too. So there is a medical one, but it's pretty invasive, so a lot of doctors won't start there. They'll do more of an at home test. The one that I did was with straight HCL and betane HCL and it's a pretty easy process. It's just getting the I think Thorne has a great one on integrative therapeutics. They both have just a great HCL with Pepsin. So the way it goes is you have to be eating protein. That's part of the test. So you eat at least like a whole serving of protein. You take one of the HCL pills, listen to your body, and if there's no burning or anything, then you know that you might not have enough stomach acid. So then the next meal you'd take two with high protein and see what happens. Now when I did this test, I was up to like twelve pills and nothing was happening. And my doctor is like, whoa, whoa, whoa, now we're having too much water with our meals, which also inhibits appropriate digestion. So I was on a protocol for a long, long time where I was doing eight HCL pills until I got it up. So now I'm way down. But that's one of the at home tests. And then you'll see a lot of people talk about like, baking soda challenge and stuff like that. I don't know, I never did that, but I know a lot of functional nutritionists will do that with their clients as well. Interesting, the only test that I know for stomach acid is that one, but it's invasive and it's costly.

[35:03] Katie Chandler: Yeah, you're jogging my memory. I was just going to say when I had SIBO, like peak COVID, I did some of those tests. I did the baking soda one, I don't remember exactly, but I just remember doing these like, at home experiments. It's funny. And also just really quickly, Amy, sorry, I think it was on your social page that I saw a very simple tip for digesting your food, which is chew your food a lot, right? Chew way more than you think you should, and don't drink any water because when you're drinking the water with those meals, you're flushing out those digestive enzymes instead of helping them do their job. So that one's always stuck with me. But anyway Amy, sorry, go ahead.

[35:46] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I know, that's interesting because I feel like I'm always drinking water with my meals, so good note. I wanted to go back to the food journaling because I think that that's interesting. I've never done it and I've always wanted to because it seems overwhelming. But like you were saying, you had a really in depth food Journal. Was there a certain template you followed or how did you track it? Can you just tell us a little bit about that? Because I think for people that are having stomach issues, it might be something worth experimenting with.

[36:12] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yes. So I have my own journal, actually, because it was one of my top tools, and I perfected the process over a decade. But I remember in the beginning, I have a post on my website, too, that shows kind of what my journals look like in the beginning, because in the beginning, they were really focused on calories, and I stood everything all wrong and then till today. So food journaling, if you do it correctly, can be life changing. And the reason why I love mine so much is because it's broken down into 90 days. And the thing is, a lot of people that use my journal, why they like it so much is because it's almost like this compilation of all the things that they're doing, the symptoms they're seeing in a very structured way that they can then also give to their doctor so that by the time they get to their doctor, their doctor is not like, okay, well, I think it's just IBS. They're like, well, no, because XYZ, I've been tracking So on my journal, you track your bowel movements. And I have the whole Bristol Stool chart in there so that if our bowel movements are off on just a random day randomly, we don't really think much about it. But like, for instance, if you are having diarrhea for seven days in a row and then there's blood in some of it, that's very telling. Your doctor needs to know that, and there's a way that you can track that and to be able to see it over time. But in addition to things like that, I also have women track their cycle days because that's very helpful information for the doctor. I have, obviously, water intake, which is pretty standard and basic, but I also have an entire key. So the way that I created my journal is bullet journal meets regular Food and Lifestyle journaling. So I provide a key and I teach you how to use it from the standpoint of okay, so S equals supplement. And so when I write S, I can write digestive enzymes, and then you write the time, and then there's different symptoms that you can write down, and it's all right there in a really detailed and focused and simplified way for you and for your doctor. Because I can't tell you how many times I would feel okay for a couple of months, and then I'd start feeling miserable again. And I'm like, what did I do these past couple of months? How have I been living? And there's just no way to remember all that stuff. And so this was kind of my answer to that.

[38:52] Katie Chandler: Very smart.

[38:53] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I'm going to check that out.

[38:54] Sarah Kay Hoffman: That's really helpful.

[38:55] Amy Sherman: Yeah, because to your point, it's like the food, but then it's like, what else is happening? And yeah, you're not going to remember how you're feeling on the daily, and.

[39:03] Katie Chandler: That'S a great tool.

[39:04] Amy Sherman: That's amazing that you have that.

[39:05] Katie Chandler: That's a good resource. I feel like we could probably ask you 1 million questions about this and just keep going on and on and on.

[39:12] Sarah Kay Hoffman: I feel like we're like, just I.

[39:13] Amy Sherman: Know we have to go back because I'm like, wait, I have so many.

[39:16] Katie Chandler: More questions, so let's just quickly touch again on your line of supplements. So you have the journal that you just mentioned. You have the digestive enzymes, the betane HCL.

[39:27] Sarah Kay Hoffman: What else do you offer? Yeah, the supplement line is only about a year old now, but the reason I did is because I was spending so much on everyone else's supplements, and I'm like, okay, well, I know exactly what I need and what the community needs, so I'm just going to do it. They're not on a gutsyroll.com. They're on gut healingsupplements.com. And I have a digestive enzyme which is called breakdown. I have herbal bitters because I truly believe in them for naturally increasing stomach acid and helping our bodies to just be able to do it on its own over time. And that's called digest. Plus, I have tummy soothe, which is my immune. It's my IgG immune. I'm obsessed with it. It's actually a powder, so you can add it to anything. It was unflavored. And then we have a brand new we just released last week is Collagen, which is one of my favorite things for all things, but not just gut health, but wellness in general. And then a magnesium, of course, it's called Move now and then just like two more that are they're just kind of like complementary to certain people or lifestyles or routines. One is moromega. It's really the inflammation reducer. It's a one to one ratio of DHA and EPA. So a lot of women love that one too. I don't miss a day with that one because inflammation and then the other one would just be my multivitamin.

[41:00] Katie Chandler: Congratulations. That's amazing to have that line and offer all of it. What is your favorite type of magnesium? What is your magnesium? Is it glycinate citrate? What do you use?

[41:11] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yes, it's glycinate. I think people are always surprised that I didn't use citrate. But honestly, that's really for emergency uses. It's explosive, and I don't want that. I have magnesium in the glycinet form, and you take it at night because the idea is that it promotes better sleep, which is foundational for my lifestyle pillar, but also more gentle as far as then your ball movements the next day. And I absolutely love that. Our whole family.

[41:44] Katie Chandler: I love magnesium glycinate, by the way.

[41:47] Sarah Kay Hoffman: I will say because this is one of my top questions people ask me all the time, why don't you have a probiotic? And I will tell you why. The reason I don't have a probiotic is because I have always used the just thrive one, and I saw no reason to create one. The reason is because I still believe at the end of the day that probiotics are very subjective and I really educate people on strains and species and understanding what can work for you. For me, to create a probiotic was like I felt like it was doing a disservice to people because I never want people to feel worse. And sometimes I swear by the just thrive one, but it's not for everyone. And I don't believe that there is one probiotic that's just like, for everyone can backfire.

[42:37] Katie Chandler: So you take yours every day, but.

[42:41] Sarah Kay Hoffman: That'S what works for you.

[42:43] Katie Chandler: It doesn't work for everybody.

[42:45] Sarah Kay Hoffman: It's not that a probiotic doesn't work for everybody. It's which one and which strains and species you're using might not. And also, if you have SIBO, when I was in the thick of SIBO and I was in massive flare mode, I didn't take a probiotic either.

[43:00] Katie Chandler: That's a dolphic.

[43:02] Amy Sherman: If you're constipated, should you be taking a probiotic? Does that help with that or does it not? Or is it not related?

[43:08] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah. So again, that's going to go back to the strains in the species and what you choose and also just how it's working with your body. And so, again, it's like working with.

[43:22] Amy Sherman: A doctor, nutritionist, integrative doctor to figure out what's right for you, essentially.

[43:28] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah.

[43:28] Amy Sherman: Which is why that food journal I.

[43:30] Katie Chandler: Think would be so great.

[43:31] Sarah Kay Hoffman: It's called healing blooms within. It's very intentional, too.

[43:35] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I would imagine. You just have to be consistent with it and then you can find out a lot of information. Okay, well, this has been amazing. I feel like we have so many more questions and we'll have to have you back, but thank you so much for joining us and just giving us kind of the one on one on Gut Health, and I'm glad it's become such a big topic. I feel like Gut Health, so many people we've had on the show have talked about, even if they're not experts in gut health, how important gut health is. And I think it's a little bit of such a vague term that sometimes it's hard to know what that means, what you do about it. If you somewhat feel okay, like, what should I be doing? So it's just really great that you're out there educating everybody. And just for our community, make sure you're following at a gutsy girl on Instagram because she has so many good pieces of information on there.

[44:24] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Thank you so much for having me. I will come back on the show.

[44:27] Katie Chandler: Thank you.

[44:28] Amy Sherman: Awesome. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to Nirvana Sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes. Please subscribe and leave us a review. Also, find us on Instagram at Nirvana Sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would, please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana Sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

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