Episode Three - Gut Truths: Exploring the Root Causes of Bloat & IBS

In this podcast episode, the host discusses the root causes of bloat and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). One common cause is a stressed out nervous system, which can lead to gut imbalances and leaky gut. Another cause is a high toxic load, which can come from processed foods and products with artificial ingredients. The third cause is a lack of stomach acid, which affects digestion. The host suggests implementing habits to support the nervous system, reducing toxic exposure, and assessing stomach acid levels. Welcome to the Wholeness and Health Podcast, where gut health, mental wellness, and entrepreneurship take center stage. I'm your host, Rachel Montero, a nurse practitioner who is dedicated to helping you confidently pursue your passions without digestive issues holding you back. In each episode, we'll dive into practical advice, expert insights, and inspiring stories to empower you. Join me as we explore how to become the best version of yourself. Let's dive in. Today, I'm going to dive into the root causes of your bloat and IBS, as well as how to properly address them, alongside uncovering deeper gut imbalances also at play with your bloat and IBS. There are many factors at play with your symptoms, never just one. We need to look at all of these components in order to truly overcome your symptoms for good. And when talking about IBS or irritable bowel syndrome, this can refer to symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, constipation, gas, stomach discomfort, as well as a bloat, too. Okay, so let's dive right in. A very common underlying root cause that I see in women experiencing bloat and IBS and see in my clients experiencing these symptoms is a stressed out nervous system. Your nervous system plays a profound role in your gut health. If your nervous system is overwhelmed and stressed out, then your gut will also be stressed out. Furthermore, the enteric nervous system resides specifically within your gut, which is wild. And if your nervous system is constantly in this heightened state, this survival mode of trying to protect itself from danger, protect itself from stressful circumstances, with a lack of proper support in that process, then ultimately, your gut is not going to be the priority. And this will further lead to, for example, leaky gut developing because of so much stress going on. And what leaky gut is, is gaps or holes in your intestinal lining. That is just one example of how these root causes lead up to these deeper gut imbalances. And I'll be diving more into specific gut imbalances and how to uncover and identify those as well, too. Okay, so a stressed out nervous system. And oftentimes, we aren't even aware of where the health of our nervous system is at because we live in a society that praises the go, go, go hustle mentality, yet that is costing our gut health immensely. For example, are you feeling like you need to constantly be doing something or productive? Do you feel like you need to be achieving something all of the time or the majority of the time? Or are you just constantly running around, taking care of the kids, going to work, taking care of other people, doing a million things all of the time, yet you're not taking time for yourself? Then this is a recipe for a stressed out nervous system as well. This also ties into a lack of boundaries in your life. This is all so eye-opening when we really unpack these deeper layers at play and what our symptoms are trying to tell us. Ultimately, your symptoms of bloat, of stomach discomfort, etc., are trying to communicate something to you. Ultimately, this is a gift because as a result of uncovering and unpacking, am I really stressed out? Am I constantly on the go and never taking time to nourish my body, to reduce the stress load, to care for myself in a way that just refreshes me? That was a big eye-opener for me in my own life because I was someone who was working like crazy, doing all the things, running around, constantly go, go, go, doing crazy workouts, never taking time to truly care for myself. I didn't really know at the time what that really meant or looked like either. I was in that productive mode all the time and I felt lazy if I wasn't doing these quote-unquote productive things. Can anyone else relate? This is a reminder of the value of rest and not just rest as in just binge-watching Netflix all day, but rest as in going for a nice walk outside without your phone or taking time to just go to the park, sit outside, enjoy the fresh air, soak in the beauty of the nature around you, taking some time for some deep breathing as well. These habits that may seem simple are profound, especially when done consistently. This is another key component of nervous system support is implementing simple and realistic nervous system loving habits that you can be consistent with. You can change up the specific habit. It doesn't need to be the same exact habit every single day, but in some capacity it needs to be a habit that really nourishes your nervous system well. This is key. Another great nervous system loving habit is gratitude, practicing gratitude, whether it's writing down a few things that you're grateful for or speaking out loud things that you are grateful for, telling your loved one what you are grateful for. This supports your nervous system immensely. It creates a sense of safety in your body, and it also helps to shift your perspective, especially in stressful circumstances. Gratitude is profound. So ask yourself right now in listening to this if there's anything standing out to you that you're thinking, hmm, maybe this is an area of my life that's lacking that I need to support more of. Maybe this is what my blow and my stomach discomfort is trying to tell me right now. Wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful. Now it's time to act on that. Pick one nervous system loving habit. Deep belly breathing, gratitude, more fresh air, screen time boundaries, avoid scrolling on the phone and swapping it out with reading a book, for example, or listening to music. Choose one of those things and commit to yourself that you are going to do that thing. Okay. A second root cause that commonly contributes to bloat and IBS is toxic load, and this can come in many forms, one being from the type of food that we are consuming. Processed foods have a higher toxic load. Artificial ingredients have a higher toxic load. So honing in on more quality whole foods will help reduce this toxic load significantly. Also, this ties into, say, you're consuming, quote, unquote, low calorie foods or sugar-free foods, but what are they filling that food with, right? Is there artificial sugars in there like a resveratrol? Those are not gut loving. Those wreak havoc on your gut. So even though they may be low calorie, are they actually serving you and your body well? This is really important to reflect on. Also looking at the balance of your meals, too. Are you consuming well-balanced meals that include a great source of protein, carbs, fiber, and fat as well? Are you just randomly snacking on an apple and maybe having some ground turkey or chicken sporadically? Are your meals kind of all over the place or just like snacking all day? This also further leads to other gut imbalances as well, and it negatively impacts digestion, negatively impacts gut motility. Another component when looking at toxic load is the ingredients in our day-to-day life and the products that we utilize, our skincare products, hair products, body wash. I love to utilize the resource EWG, Environmental Working Group, and on their website, you can type in the specific product that you'd love to look up or that you utilize to assess the toxicity level of those ingredients. And you may be thinking, well, Rachel, I mean, overall, I don't think I'm exposed to many toxic things. I mean, I can stick with this toxic form of, say, body wash or shampoo, for example, and I totally get it. The thing is, there are a lot of things that we are exposed to in our day-to-day that we cannot control when it comes to different toxins that we are exposed to. When we're out and about doing our thing, at work, different things that we cannot control. However, there are things that we can control in reducing overall toxic exposure. And this is tying back to the products that you do utilize, gradually swapping out more toxic products for more natural, toxic-free products, looking at the ingredients, bringing more awareness to that. Because even though you may shower once a day and utilize body wash once a day, that is being absorbed directly into your skin. And that is huge. And if the toxic load keeps building and building and building, then that wreaks havoc on our gut health, on our liver health, leads to more inflammation as well. So it's first bringing more awareness to different toxins that may be in your life, whether the food that you're consuming, the water you're consuming as well, looking at that. Ideally consuming filtered water as much as possible, as well as the products that you're utilizing, those are great places to start. And now there are also measures to support your liver alongside this. However, we want to be proactive and reduce toxic exposure overall. This will help your gut health immensely. This will help with reducing your symptoms immensely. Also looking at toxic load, this can tie back to lack of boundaries in our life, other stressors in our life as well that are toxic to us. A toxic relationship, a toxic work situation, that also ties into this piece as well. So I encourage you to reflect on that and unpack that too. Okay, so a stressed out nervous system, high toxic load, and now the third root cause that commonly contributes to bloat and IBS is a lack of stomach acid. This is another common one. There is a fun baking soda test that you can do right at home to assess your stomach acid levels. Reach out to me directly if you'd like more info on that test. That's a great way to get a baseline of where your stomach acid levels are at. But we ideally want your stomach acid levels at an adequate amount, not too much, not too little, to help with supporting digestion and absorption of the food that you're consuming. If your body lacks essential stomach acid, adequate levels of stomach acid levels, then your body isn't going to be able to properly break down the food that you're consuming, which can further trigger bloat, reflux. That's another one as well. Interestingly enough, a common medication, proton pump inhibitors, specifically the type of medication that is prescribed for heartburn, ironically, they actually lower your stomach acid levels, which is not the goal. Which is not what we want to do. That's actually going to aggravate things worse or aggravate things more. We want to support healthy stomach acid levels. How do we do this? There are different ways to go about this. One being to support the health of your vagus nerve, which is the nerve that runs from your brain to your gut. This plays a significant role in both supporting rest and digest mode and supporting overall digestion, supporting your stomach acid levels as well. Some different ways to go about this could be singing or humming, laughter, gargling water, for example, deep breathing, different ways to go about that. This will impact your stomach acid levels immensely. Also incorporating, for example, some apple cider vinegar before meals or once a day. Or sneaking in, so you do a homemade salad dressing, you can sneak in some apple cider vinegar there to boost your stomach acid levels there with the apple cider vinegar specifically. Now, if your stomach acid levels are too high, this is something that you do not want to do. There's a different approach that you want to take when it comes to addressing stomach acid levels that are too high. This is also why I encourage the baking soda test that you can do right at home to get a good baseline and see where you're at when it comes to whether you're too high, too low, or just right. More often than not, I see women experiencing a lack of stomach acid levels. Also, chronic stress plays a big role in lowering your stomach acid levels. This ties back to supporting your body's stress response, reducing stress, supporting your adrenal glands, which play a big role in cortisol production, which is your stress hormone. There are many different layers to that, too. Supporting your adrenal glands also supports healthy stomach acid levels. It all ties together. Everything's connected. How can you support your adrenal glands? Many different ways to go about this, as well. One being to bump up vitamin C and zinc intake. That's a great place to start. Then also incorporating some healthy, consistent routines. Simple and realistic routines in the morning and in the evening, as well. It could be even five to ten minutes of journaling, for example, or reading, or sipping on a cozy tea. A nice, consistent routine. Your body loves routines. That also creates a sense of safety, too. I dove into quite a bit there with three root causes, the deeper whys of what's really leading up to your bloat and IBS. Furthermore, these lead to and contribute to the development of deeper gut imbalances. When it comes to deeper gut imbalances, there are many that can be at play. This is why functional lab testing is beautiful, because it eliminates the guessing games and helps you to know specifically what's going on in your gut. The one that I run and highly recommend is the GEDMAP test. I run this test on my clients. It is a comprehensive stool test. It looks at over 90 different markers of your gut health. It is truly remarkable and incredible. It just eliminates the doubt and the worry in the process. That way, we can really target specifically what's going on in your gut, too. For example, say there's candida or yeast in your gut. If that isn't identified and addressed properly, then that will also lead to progression of your symptoms, too. This also needs to be honed in on while understanding the deeper why and addressing the deeper why of what's leading up to your symptoms and these deeper gut imbalances at the same time. Also looking for issues such as abnormal bacteria, a lack of beneficial gut bacteria, and overgrowth of gut bacteria. H. pylori is another common one that I see. Leaky gut. Looking at your immune function within your gut health. This is a biggie, too, because if your immune function is low, aka your secretory IgA, then your defense system is down and you're at a heightened risk for pathogens taking over. Harmful pathogens that further lead to even more gut issues as well. That's a big foundation to hone in on, too. If you're curious about the GI map test and would like more info on that either, check out my Instagram page in the link below, Facebook page, or send me a message directly. I also have a free masterclass called Bloat Relief Secrets. This is wonderful to get a more behind-the-scenes look at the GI map test as well as looking more into sneaky causes of your bloat and IBS and how to properly address it, too. I'll have the link below to check that out. Quite a bit that we honed in on here. This info is so good. Share it with a friend who is also on her gut healing journey. This is a game-changer. If you are truly desiring freedom from bloat and IBS, which is absolutely possible for you, it is essential to uncover and address these deeper layers, these deeper root causes of your symptoms and not continue to put a band-aid over it with a medication or even a supplement. Supplements alone will not resolve your symptoms. We have to get to the root of it. Or even strict dieting as well. That can be causing more harm than good, too. So if you're experiencing bloat and IBS, know that you can experience lasting relief. The key is to identify and address the deeper root causes. And if you would like to take that next step, then express interest in the form below or send me a message directly. I'd love to chat with you further and support you in this. Share this with a friend who is also on her gut healing journey. Reach out to me with any questions and have a lovely rest of your day.