The Tummy Whisperer

Ep. 12 - The Festive Guide to Gut Health: Embracing the '12 Days of Better Digestion' for a Joyful Season

• Renee Barasch

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Embark on a journey to digestive enlightenment with us as we unwrap the '12 Days of Better Digestion,' just in time for the festive season. Wave goodbye to bloating and discomfort with our expert guide to navigating holiday feasts without sacrificing gut happiness. From the benefits of natural foods to the art of meal timing for optimal nutrient absorption, our guide is your ticket to a happy tummy. Discover how simple actions, like savoring your food one chew at a time, can transform your digestive process, and why those innocent-looking snacks could be the secret culprits behind your digestive woes.

With the holiday sparkle in the air, we don't just stop at food. Dive into the realm of caffeine's complex effects on your body and learn why tuning into your internal health compass is vital in making informed choices for your well-being. Our guest, Janine, shares her transformative experience with our food processing approach, illuminating the path to not just surviving but thriving this holiday season. We spill the beans on maintaining your calm in the festive rush and extend an invitation to explore more culinary and wellness wisdom.  So, let your mealtimes be an oasis of tranquility, and join us for a harmonious holiday season and a healthier, happier you.



Get to the root cause of your Gut Issues!  Watch the Gut Restoration Masterclass at https://learn.digestivehealthsolutions.com/

For a FREE Gut Health consultation, visit us at  https://thetummywhisperer.com/.


Contact Renee:
Email: Nhsolutions@sbcglobal.net
Website:  www.thetummywhisperer.com 

Renee:

Welcome everybody. Welcome to the Tommy Whisperer podcast. I'm your host, Renee Barish, with a lovely name. I'm Karen Barish-Towler-Schimmie. I thought it was really fascinating today. I didn't even know that we are on episode number 12, but we are on episode number 12.

Renee:

Of course, I have prepared for us the 12 days and ways to eat better and improve your digestion. I just thought we'd give everybody some reminders of things they can do while we're approaching eating season, holiday season, and the things that people already know that they feel like they should do. But this is just a gentle reminder and things that you can try to step into. If it's just one thing or two things you're going to improve on, that, Do it for 12 days, Give yourself a 12-day mark and then add something else in if you can. Let's start off with the first thing.

Renee:

The first thing I have for ways to improve your digestion, improve your health, is trying to choose foods that are closer to nature, not so much bagged, refined, processed stuff. Yes, you need a little cookie, here and there you need to have something sweet, but can you also have something sweet with a little square of chocolate and half a banana? Or having what I like to have for a sweet snack is half a banana, some sunflower seed butter and I want a little chocolate, some of those allergen-friendly. What does it enjoy? Life chocolate chips. There's barely anything in there so good. That totally takes care of a craving. Things closer to nature are less refined. If you need something, find healthier things to put in your piehole. Stuff of less ingredients on there, that's number one. Number two, and I think I'm going to get shot for this.

Renee:

Everybody overly snacks they talk about. People say eat more often to stabilize your blood sugar. That actually doesn't stabilize your blood sugar. That actually causes more roller coaster with your blood sugar. You really want to try to give your body a break in between meals. Ideally it's four hours, but if you can do three, that's even better. So for those of you that eat breakfast in the morning, which I do I have a little hard boiled egg on, maybe a little like chickpea flour tortilla with some sprouts and a little like vegan cheese or something. As an example, I'll have two of those and maybe the pear or something, and then that's anywhere between seven, 30 and nine, and then I try to not have anything for three to four hours afterwards. The trouble is when you start having a little something. Sometimes you can't stop. I'll just have a cookie, I'll just have a banana. I need some chips. Oh, I need some tea. Oh, now I want some mango. And you write, do you?

Janine :

sound familiar? Yeah, I purposely. I only go grocery shopping once a week and I order my groceries online. So I don't go, because if I'm in the actual grocery store is when I'll start loading stuff in my cart that I don't like, the accountability for me it's helpful if I use an app like Instacart or Shantor, whatnot, because otherwise it's like a free for all.

Renee:

Yes, yes, and staying busy too, not thinking about if the hunger strikes, what are you going to do. Being prepared for that also comes in line with trying to snack less, having being prepared. That's like part two of part of number two. And if you're going to choose to snack, definitely choose a lower sugar items. You don't want to just have fruits by itself. If you want, like an apple, have some sunflower seed butter or some almond butter on there, something that's going to not bother you. I would choose fat for a snack over sugar or protein, so it could be seeds, it could be veggies and hummus. You like your meat sticks, leftover chicken bits in the refrigerator from last night's dinner. Those are great alternatives If you're home and if you're traveling around and you need something. Just make sure something you can find, something that's easy to open and going to be a good protein or fat snack for you, so you don't dip and spike your blood sugar, and for the holidays too.

Janine :

really quick, they started selling pumps, which is like the organic, the grass fed beef Chumps yes, target. So like when you check out, like it's in that aisle, so like, literally, if you're shopping all day, you're running around on the holiday season and you're like what am I going to stack on? Like I was able to grab that and it was a way better. It was better than a sneakers bar. Yeah, I'm like, yeah it's definitely better.

Renee:

Those are like high proteins there's got. They have those paleo valley things. Some of those things can be high in histamine too. So watch, you don't want too much of it. But if you need something quick and something to satisfy that craving, definitely don't go for a Snickers. It's just too sugary and too genetically engineered. They actually put on the label that we talked about the last time. They put on the Snickers label made with genetically modified ingredients. Oh, I'm sorry, made with bioengineered ingredients.

Janine :

That's sexy.

Renee:

Who does that? Who's going to eat that? I know that, as I know one person. My husband was craving it the other day and just threw it off. He told me he had a Snickers. I'm like honey. At least get a Hershey's bar if that's all they have at the gas station, because it does not say made with bioengineered ingredients or like dark chocolate doesn't have all that other crap in it, right, like pure dark chocolate.

Renee:

Even if you can't get something yet, a gaseous sheet you can get, like a Hershey bar with almonds. It's not ideal, but it's better than a stickers or any. Anyway, not promoting Hershey's, but okay. Number three guys, chewing your food. And I could take my own advice. Everybody eats fast. Nobody takes time to chew their food because they waited too long to eat and they gotta get it down the throat right. So chewing you don't have to count your chews where you're like I'm gonna chew 80 times, but chewing your food till it's a paste and then down the hatch, taking your time, just chewing it, enjoying it, just putting some energy into really actually tasting it and not just getting it down so you can get the next mouthful in. So number three is chewing.

Renee:

Number four water. Not an overconsumption of water, I would say most people don't consume enough water, but ideally you wanna drink your water in between your meals. You need water to make proper digestive juices, your hydrochloric acid and your chime and your digestive stuff to break your food down. If you're dehydrated you're not gonna make enough hydrochloric acid and enough digestive juices, so you're gonna have poor digestion. If you drink your water at meal time, you can also dilute a little bit of your stomach acid. So if it's a choice of I only drink water at meal times, otherwise I'm not gonna drink water then fine, drink your water, but be aware of trying to drink some water in between meals.

Renee:

I always have a little lug with me. I've got some chamomile tea in here right now and I've sweetened it with maple syrup instead of honey. Honey's like way too sugary and there's a lot of health benefits from honey. But on maple as well too, it just depends on what your palate calls for. So, chewing, chewing and water in between meals for proper HCL, all right. Number five and this is a big one, and this just doesn't have to do with the holidays but really trying to manage your stress levels. I don't know that we all try to manage our stress levels. I think a lot of us are on autopilot and we're just going with the flow. Right? I see you smile. You're like, yep, I'm guilty.

Janine :

I want to freak out and do something. What do you mean? Stress? I don't know what you're talking about. I know what stress.

Renee:

What? Who has that? I don't know anybody that has that. What? Trying to at least manage it by doing something, whether you're taking a deep breath in and just going okay, I'll just get to this in a minute Pausing, just by pausing. Pausing can help manage your stress levels or find what works for you Breathing meditation. I've talked about that before. I use my Stop Breathing and Think app for just a two minute breathing break. Right after a meal is ideal.

Renee:

Morning time, if you're crunched and trying to get everything done for the day, find a minute, just make a minute to do it, otherwise your health is going to make a minute for you in a place that you don't want to be just saying All right, movement. Number six movement walking, stretching, whatever floats your boat. Your movement could be something as simple as lymphatic breathing, where you're just even raising up your arms, inhaling up, chin up and exhale and down. That's movement. You've actually opened up your rib cage. You've made room with your diaphragm, you've made room with your stomach to actually break your food down. Those organs need room, guys. They need room to perform. So when they're all crunched in and you've got bad punch, you're all stressed, you're in the computer and they go. My God man, you're all what? Take a step back, take a breath, relax, breathe and move. You can move in your house. You don't have to get your shoes on and go out in the middle of winter. You can breathe at home.

Janine :

You can, unless you're at Lorda, where you're.

Renee:

Unless you're. I don't mean to Sorry, she had a rubbing in our face. Guys, I know it's cold here, but not that bad. It's in the 40s today. But any kind of movement, anything. It doesn't have to be yoga, you don't have to be a yogi. It could just be raising your arms at one time, whatever feels good, putting some movement in there.

Janine :

That really does help, renee, it really does for digestion. It's been a game changer for me just even after, because typically when I would eat I would sit and just stay seated, whereas after you eat that's when you need to at least stretch or have some kind of movement to where you're. That's why people always would walk after a meal like a light walk. A light walk is very healthy.

Renee:

Yes, that or the breathing, even just raising your arms up if you can't because you have shoulder issues, trying your shoulders head up, relax and exhale.

Renee:

So inhale exhale, relax the shoulders and it feels so good because it takes the tension out of your shoulders, whatever you can do to stop all those brain synapses from walking you into. I got to get the dishes done, I got to get the dog walked, I got all the things and just keep your body get break. Okay. Okay, number seven, and I know it's going to be hard for some of you guys because he has like a nice glass of wine but limiting alcohol and not saying not to have it on. Janine just shot daggers. I mean, did you guys didn't see that? I was just saying.

Janine :

No, I didn't. I swear Good, except last night. I had two espresso martinis and I was out. I was done.

Renee:

Oh yeah, and some of those martinis are so good. But again, I'm not saying don't, I'm saying limit. Don't have three, have one and sip it slowly and enjoy it and not have one every day. It's, I'm telling you, alcohol embalms you, it turns into formaldehyde, turns your, or it does. Alcohol turns into formaldehyde.

Janine :

So if you want to drink formaldehyde, it's in that way If you, when you're dead, yes, they embalm you with formaldehyde, that's awesome, oh, I had.

Renee:

So why?

Janine :

Yeah, explain that to me a little bit. Why Alcohol?

Renee:

how alcohol converts. Yeah, yeah, there's a chemical compound of the breakdown of alcohol that turns formaldehyde, some of the constituents of formaldehyde. That's actually what a professor taught told me one time that I Glastening, anyway, I know. Again, a half a glass of wine, fine, it's fermented, maybe okay. But choose wisely, guys, and limit. So we talked about alcohol.

Renee:

Number eight limiting caffeine, big one. I've been doing this, jenine, for coming up on 19 years Now. She gave me the daggers, guys. She's definitely eyeball rolling here. Can you see me? Her eyes are stuck up in her cranny and mirror top of her brain. Caffeine is one of those things that I've been I hear the story for years. I do not drink coffee, but because I can't tolerate the caffeine, the caffeine. But people say I need something. I cannot get out of bed, I can't start my day. I need something to just wake me up. It's fine to have some, but limiting it. Now, if you're having two cups of coffee, have one. If you have a one cup a day, have a half, do less, because the caffeine really does jack up the system. And if you need something to get you moving in the morning, then you're doing something wrong on the back end because you're not able to get out of bed in the morning, and it's causing-.

Janine :

How does it jack up the system? Because I'm a calf, I don't drink coffee anymore, but I use other forms of caffeine, like I'll drink Celsius.

Renee:

Yeah, it's just a drug. It's that ideal. It messes with your neurotransmitters and it messes with your hormones. Caffeine can Now, for some people, coffee can be beneficial Like my husband does well with it and it can be protective health protective, depending on if you've had genetic testing and how you know how you regulate caffeine and all that other stuff. It is just good to regulate it and lower it Because the caffeine, like I said it, spikes cortisol, causes hormonal destabilization, causes fatigue on the back end. We're on the front end, we manage it and do less, and that way you give your adrenals a little chance to be healthier so that you can have better sleep and wake up in the morning not feeling like you need four more hours of sleep and a whack in the head with a mallet to get yourself on a bed. I'm off my soapbox on caffeine. Guys, don't shoot the messenger. You guys already all know this anyway.

Renee:

This is not new news for people who love their coffee.

Janine :

But what's so messed up is and granted, I know what one of your, like the 12th one, is going to be I will say that there's so much misinformation out there as to, on one moment they'll say to do this, on another moment they'll say to do that. It's always they telling you this and that and the other. It's like where's all this misinformation and what can you trust?

Renee:

as far as because I don't trust the what you hear. Yeah Well, you would see, you would be those, you would be that I would worry about that.

Renee:

Listen, I'm Dalgo PP. I'm totally with you. I don't trust any of it either, and I will tell you that you have to be your own advocate. The day is there to do whatever they do, sell you this, sell you that, turn your mind into whatever you want to turn to. You have to be your own advocate. You have to understand and do your own research and experiment in your own body to feel what's right. So if they say something's good and you want to try it, I'm all for that. There's limitations. We won't get political here, but right, but be your best advocate. I'll tell you a quick story.

Renee:

I was on the phone with a client today who she had to take an antibiotic for a horrible E coli infection that she had vaginally and she was just struggling and she did the antibiotic. She did well with it and I just checked it on her to see how she was doing and she said not sure if I should start back on this. Prophetic, what do you think she says? I'm holding the bottle in my hand next to my stomach. What do you think she asked me? I said what do you think she goes? I don't know.

Renee:

I still get quiet and just ask yourself hey, what do I feel like when I hold this bottle in my hand? Does it make me feel happy or does it make me feel like, no, I don't need it? And she's like, yeah, just like I didn't need it I said. Then there's your answer. So that's what my point is. If you hear something and you want to try something, get quiet first and check in with your intuitive self. Everybody has intuition and everybody has their, that part of them, that kind of spiny sense that knows right, that knows that either something's wrong or something's good. And if people tapped into that a little bit more, they could be a great advocate for themselves about what to try and what not to try. And then honoring yourself first for trying if you want to try something is not wrong to try something, and if it doesn't work for you, on to the next thing Does that make?

Janine :

sense 100%. It's listening to your intuition and how you feel, and not just taking something to take it because someone told you to do it, but really feeling your body and understanding your body and everyone's so different and really knowing, hey, you know what, probably shouldn't take this or meet and hey, only you know your body.

Renee:

Just trusting your intuition. Again, everybody's got their spiny sense. How many times have you heard I don't like that person. I've never met him, but I just don't like him. Whatever horrible, that's not fair to that person. But it's your intuition, your voice, your intuitive side letting you know hey, good, or maybe not so good. So that's my answer for that.

Renee:

Okay, number nine choosing foods rich in nutrients. Our soils are overly farmed. They're depleted. Choosing foods that have good minerals in them, trace minerals, vitamins, essentials that we need fruits, vegetables. If you don't like fruits and vegetables, there's a reason why you don't like fruits and vegetables and then it's time to supplement. But choosing nutrient dense foods are helpful and again, I made a post about this on Facebook.

Renee:

You've heard the word superfoods right, it's all over. It's been all over and I hate that word. It's like superfoods. It's so overly marketed and get this superfood. Avoid anything that says superfood. Just if it says superfood, it means it's rich in something, but some of those superfoods are also high in oxalate or high in histamine and not ideal. So just something that's healthy from the earth, not from a package. I think that could be more helpful as well. We talked about water and this could have been part two of water, but drinking your water room temperature or warmer room temperature or warmer Ice water, not ideal for digestion, metabolism. You really want to have your water room temperature or warmer, number 11. Let's see, I switched the order of this. Yeah, don't watch the news. No, no, don't watch the news while you're eating dinner, guys, literally, it's just.

Janine :

It's so distracting and so unnerving and don't watch anything that you don't like Really and it will raise your cortisol and then you won't digest anything.

Renee:

Your cortisol and your blood pressure and then you're aggravated Right, and this is that's also part. This is number 12. The last thing and they go together is making mealtime ceremonies. Make your meals a ceremony. My teacher, dr Loomis, always said that he said mealtime should be, and he also said to not watch the news. Mealtime should be a ceremony. It should be time for you to be grateful for the food on your table that you're about to eat. Take some time to really some people say a prayer before they eat, some people just get quiet. Having just a minute of gratitude for thinking about the farmer that grew your food, how it got to your table, but had to go through several steps before it got to you and it didn't get there magically. So, having some gratitude for the food that you're about to consume and having gratitude every day. It's important to have gratitude for many things, but having some gratitude, making mealtime a ceremony, I think, is one of the biggest things you can do to help your body with better digestion. So just to reiterate, guys, I'll just go through them quickly so that you're like wait, what was number six?

Renee:

Number one was start to remove processed foods. Try to eat foods that are closer to nature. Number two try to snack less and if you are going to snack, choose foods that are a little higher in fat and protein. Number three chewing your food. Number four water in between meals for proper hydrochloric acid production and stomach digestion. Number five try to manage your stress levels by incorporating breathing or meditation or whatever you like to do to help manage your stress levels. If you don't know what to do, you can pick any app. You can go on YouTube and we're just at a sound bowl healing last week, mark, and it was amazing and there's just a million different apps you can use, for you can pick some bowl meditation and you can get beautiful. I'm going to find it before we end here so people can hear what sound bowl sounds like. In fact, hold on and then I'll finish the list. Sound bowl meditation yeah, here we go.

Renee:

According to very well-known as singing bowls or Himalayan bowls.

Janine :

Yes, and singing bowls are said to promote.

Renee:

relax. Play them in a minute. Okay, so sorry about that, guys. Number six movement, walking, stretching, some kind of movement for your body to help the energy flow, help you with digestion, get some blood circulating to your organs, to your digestion, so your body can break your food down more. Number seven limiting alcohol. Number eight limiting caffeine. Number nine choosing foods that are rich in nutrients, not just filler foods. Number 10, room temperature or warmer water to drink. Never drink ice water, ever. Only drink water that's room temperature or water or warmer. And also I'm going to add a little bit to that.

Renee:

Adding a tiny little bit of salt or minerals to your water is very helpful. Some kind of mineral. I like the Redmond's salt or sea salt. Stay away from pink Himalayan salt. It's got a lot of heavy metals in it. So Redmond's, but adding a little bit of salt.

Renee:

And if we're worried about blood pressure, guys, it's not. It's blood pressure from other things, not necessarily too much salt. People are deficient in salt. So if you crave salt, you need it. So that's. And then don't watch the news while you're eating and making meal time ceremonious and having some gratitude for your food, for how it got to you taking a moment just to pause and if you need some help doing that, I'm a visual person but I also like to hear things put on something to distract you so you're not thinking about a fight you just had with a neighbor or a client or a spouse. So I found the singing bowls and I'm going to put this on so people can hear. And I just googled it. I have singing bowl a YouTube here and you can hear what they sound like in just a second. So here we go and it got stuck.

Janine :

We've hit the ball, Guys. I love this because I really don't hear anything.

Renee:

Hold on. She's letting the bowls kind of go. So you look at you, you're all done. That is just a singing bowl. I just googled and that's what showed up, and there's also here's a sound healing crystal bowls. Let me see, this one probably sounds a little bit different, so here we go. I love this Isn't this great. It just brings your vibration into such peace. Everybody gets the idea it's a little sad.

Janine :

I don't know what that modality does, and everyone has like healing modalities that work. They all seem to be helpful, right, like alternative medicine, healing modalities, whatnot, but sound bowls just seem like you're doing a sound bath. It just seems to hit me in the right spot where I just I'm like putty, I'm like, yes, I'll do every alternative. It's like some feeling that when people would get a massage to relax them, that would work for me because I'm too tense. But with the sound bath I just I go into my body.

Renee:

Yeah, sound is wonderful. It just down, regulates your nervous system. It helps everything be in tune. It's vibrational therapy right, and the sound translates down all the way through your central nervous system and just out through your everything. That's why it feels so good. But that's I'm saying for those of you I can't meditate, I don't. I hear you. That's me. I'm not a big, I have to really force myself, but I put these sound bowls on and I'm like, oh yeah, I'm totally stoned.

Renee:

For sure For sad, so I'm glad we did this today. I want to just go through these with you guys. Hopefully they'll be helpful. You can gravitate toward a couple of these things, that kind of help increase your no, your help, decrease your stress levels and increase your health through this holiday season and for a long time after that too. We shouldn't just make holidays a time where we're trying to be healthier. This is an everyday for the rest of your life, for however long you're here. So, as always, if anybody anybody has any questions, you can always find me at thetummywhisperercom and, janine, you take the back part of the search. This is your jam, and thank you everybody for participating today and we'll see you in two weeks.

Janine :

Yes, and please follow, share, subscribe to thetummywhisperer. We are on YouTube, apple, spotify, iheart, amazon Music all the big ones and leave a five star review for Renee. She is unbelievable. Schedule a consultation with her. She has been instrumental in changing the way I process food in my own life. I've gone through our system. It is extremely helpful. I recommend her to anybody.

Renee:

Thank you, janine. Take care, guys, we'll see you in two.