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Why fuss about digestive health?

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I love talking about poop. (Excuse me – bowel movements.)

I know it’s kind of a taboo thing to state so matter-of-factly where hundreds of you could potentially read that statement, and, believe me, people frequently tease me about my unusual fascination with the subject, but I guarantee you this: if you spent as much time as I do researching how much of our health hinges on digestive wellness, you’d love talking about poop, too.

Keep reading this blog post to learn:

  1. exactly why I have such a deep reverence for digestive wellness
  2. what your bm’s might be saying about your overall health

(Also keep reading to experience two very short, ridiculous poems about gut health brainstormed by my brother and sister-in-law on a quiet day of fishing last summer.)

When I first began my health coaching career in 2005, my sole goal was to help people feel better and learn how to take great care of themselves. I didn’t give a second thought to whether I was going to “specialize” in any particular niche. I worked with clients around weight loss, cancer, autoimmune diseases, depression, etc. You get the picture. Guess what I noticed: Digestive distress was a common theme with a startling number of my clients, even if it wasn’t the primary reason they sought out my services.

That’s when I became keenly interested in the shape, size, frequency, and color of one’s do-do.

It’s important to remember there are no walls in the body. We love treating health concerns as if we have separate internal compartments, but we don’t. Each system in the body impacts the other systems, and the influence of the digestive tract is vast. I often refer to the digestive tract as our “river of life.” If that river is clean and flowing freely, it will be a source of nourishment and health for everything around it. If it’s dirty and sludgy, it’ll be a source of toxicity.

Simply put – good health begins with good health in the gut.

Every one of us has heard the saying, “You are what you eat.” Well, over the past few years that saying has morphed into a much nerdier (and less catchy) phrase, “You are what you absorb,” which many of us in the integrative/functional/holistic world embrace. What does that statement mean? It means you can eat the best food in the world, but if there’s a breakdown in the digestive process leading to poor nutrient absorption, there will be consequences. You’ll have to deal with the downfall somehow, sometime, somewhere in the body.

Come. Revel with me. Here are just a few astounding facts about your gut:

  • The surface area of the GI tract is the size of a tennis court – about 300 square meters.
  • Your gut quite literally functions as your second brain; it is formed from the same cells as the brain during development. When we “feel something in our gut,” that’s real information we should pay attention to.
  • 70-80% of the immune system is located in and around the digestive system.
  • More neurotransmitters are made in the gut than in the brain; we make 80-90% of our serotonin – the “feel-good hormone” – in the gut.
  • The human microbiome project has shown there are ten times more bacteria in the body than cells. In fact, some people say we are really only 10% human given this data! The project found that protein-coding genes in the bacteria in our intestinal terrain are 360 times more abundant than human genes in the body. This means that the genetic makeup of the microbiome (a fancy name for the intestinal ecosystem) has a greater influence on an individual’s health than the intracellular genetics of the individual.
  • Intestinal permeability, or leaky gut, in which the gut lining becomes weak and loose, is now thought to be one of the primary underlying reasons for the onset of autoimmune diseases and mental illnesses.

Now for some reflection on your own digestion and do-do. Here’s what your poop might be saying about you:

If your poop looks like rabbit pellets, you’re constipated. You might be dehydrated, your intestinal lining might be dry and not slippery enough, or perhaps you aren’t eating enough fiber overall. You may also have an imbalance in the good bacteria and bad bacteria living in your gut. This is called gut dysbiosis. If you poop fewer than 3 times a week, you’re officially constipated, but most experts agree having 1-3 bm’s DAILY is optimal. Yes, daily.

If your poop looks like a sausage or a brown banana, congrats! You’ve got a winner. (P.S. I’m sorry if this changes how you think about sausages or bananas.)

If you experience diarrhea or frequently have loose stools, your food is moving through you too quickly and you’re not absorbing adequate nutrition from it. Very, very often this is because you are eating something you are sensitive to like dairy, gluten, corn, or nuts, although it can also be a sign of a serious bacterial imbalance or a pathogenic infection.

If you burp or pass gas frequently after meals, it likely means you have low stomach acid and aren’t breaking down your food properly. That or you simply didn’t take enough time to chew your food until it was liquid. Remember – 30 chews per bite of food makes digestion smooth! Same thing if you experience heartburn or see undigested food in your stool.

If you consistently bloat after meals, it’s time to start sleuthing around for the underlying reasons because it’s not normal to bloat after eating. Perhaps you are eating foods your body doesn’t like, or you’re lacking the enzymes and stomach acid needed to break your food down properly, or you have a bacterial imbalance again. The reasons for bloating can be numerous; it can take some detective work to figure it out.

Conclusion:

It may sound dramatic, but life becomes way more enjoyable when you and digestive system aren’t at war with one another. Helping clients improve their digestion has been more satisfying than I ever imagined. I’ve seen clients start traveling again or attending yoga classes because they restored trust in their bodies.

Remember, imbalances in the intestinal terrain may lead to other, more complicated health concerns down the road. Resolve to deal with them now rather than waiting. And on that note, I’ll leave you with two short promotional poems my brother and sister-in-law brainstormed for me last summer while fishing on Lake Kabetogama:

 

“When your guts are in a bind

and relief is hard to find,

call Claudine!”

 

“If your bowels are smelling foul,

and you need the scoop on poop,

call Claudine!”

(Yes, it probably goes without saying, it was a very slow day fishing.)

Love,

Claudine

The Magic in the Rear View Mirror

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Wow, you guys. It’s so hard to believe we’re sitting at the close of 2016, ready to bust out our shiny 2017 calendars and launch headfirst into a brand new year. January 1 – a day oozing with possibility. We love the idea of a definitive fresh start, untainted and ripe with hopes, dreams, and goals.

What will 2017 hold for us? Maybe a few ambitious types have already jotted down a couple of resolutions, determined to harness the potential in the year ahead.

Don’t get me wrong – I think resolutions can be productive, but before we dive blindly into working out every day or saving a million bucks for retirement because these are things we think we SHOULD do to be a good human being, let’s push the pause button and back up a few steps.

I want to share a really simple process I have – consisting of three steps – that I use to reflect on the previous year and assess how on track I am (or not) with how I want to live my life.

One of my own greatest fears is that one day I’ll be lying on my deathbed and have the sinking feeling that I lived too much of my life accidentally, going along with whatever happened to me rather than co-creating it with rock solid intention.

I know I’m not alone with this fear; I hear my clients and friends talk about this, too.

For the most part, I’m on it. I really strive to be intentional and present and have clarity about who I am, yet there are certainly times when I notice I’ve been half-asleep and settling for things that are comfortable and easy rather than those that are going to nudge me into a satisfying life I’ll ultimately feel proud of.

So I’ve found great power and magic in pausing to look in the rear view mirror, scanning the last 365 days, and reflecting on what I accomplished and brought me joy, what was hard and forced me to grow, and what I want to feel more of in the coming year.

This gives me a better sense of what I want to keep inviting in or what I need to say goodbye to going forward. It guides me in creating meaningful intentions for the New Year that are ultra specific to me and don’t stink of any societal “shoulds.” “Shoulds” can be hard to get away from.

Sometime over the next few days I’d encourage y’all to get down with your bad selves, pen and paper in hand, and get real about what 2016 looked like for you. You can take five minutes to do this or five hours. It’s up to you.

Here goes (elaborate as much or as little as you’d like):

  1. REJOICE IN THE HIGHLIGHTS
  2. HONOR THE LOWLIGHTS
  3. FIND YOUR DESIRED FEELING/S

1. REJOICE IN THE HIGHLIGHTS

There can be a ton of questions you can use to drill down into the highlights of the year – those peak experiences that made you happy to be alive and grateful for all the goodness in your life. Some happened organically, some you created intentionally. This step is often fairly easy because we love remembering the good stuff. (Just make sure you don’t overlook the little good stuff that can get lost in the shuffle.)

Once you’ve identified the highlights, circle some of those you’d like to bring forward into the new year, if possible. Below are some questions to get you started.

Brainstorming questions:

  • What are the events, activities, or trips that made you smile from ear to ear?
  • What did you accomplish?
  • What do you feel proud of?
  • What new skills did you develop?
  • What’s something new you tried and liked?
  • Did you meed someone new who has become a bright light in your life?
  • Remember a time when you laughed so hard your belly hurt.
  • What’s your favorite story from this past year?

2. HONOR THE LOWLIGHTS

Let’s face it, every year has it’s low spots, those times when we feel devastated, hopeless, frustrated, rejected, exhausted, or lost. Sometimes we lose a loved one or have to say goodbye to a relationship that isn’t working anymore. People lose jobs, others deal with major health concerns. We all make mistakes and do things we feel badly about. Take some time to reflect on the lowlights from the year. These are the moments in life that typically stretch us the most and ultimately lead to personal transformation – if we choose to examine them.

Once you’ve listed your lowlights, take an extra minute or two to note what you learned and how you grew from those experiences. Then decide if there’s something you could do differently in the year ahead to eliminate or dim that lowlight. (Obviously this step doesn’t apply if the lowlight included something outside of our control, like the passing away of a loved one.)

Brainstorming questions:

  • What mistakes did you make?
  • Did you have to say goodbye to someone you loved or who was important to you?
  • What made you cry?
  • What disappointed you?
  • What made you bubble over with anger?
  • What didn’t go the way you had planned?
  • What sorts of things rocked your sense of safely in the world?

3. FIND YOUR DESIRED FEELING/S

Is is said that our choices are largely based on how we want to feel, that we are always trying to move towards pleasure and away from pain. Additionally, it’s fair to say we all want to feel loved and to feel love for others. Assuming that’s true for you, if you were to explore even more, what other desired feeling/s do you want more of in your life?

This might be the hardest piece of this whole process because, let’s face it, a lot of us are not very in tune with our feelings. You may actually want to refer to an online list of feelings to help brainstorm. Using a list can help us get away from generic words we grossly overuse like “happy,” “good,” “successful,” etc. and get to some meatier words that are more specific and meaningful.

Once you land on a word or two, then guess what? Your job in the coming year is to keep those words forefront in your decision-making processes. For instance, if you decide you wan to feel more “calm” in the year ahead, then you get to make more of your decisions based on that desired feeling. If a friend invites you to a concert and you get anxious just thinking about the crowds, then you will likely want to say no so you stay congruent with what you say your desired feeling is. If you consistently pack your schedule too tightly, causing stress and resentment, then some major shifts will needed to build more calm into your life.

Here are a few possible feelings to try on:

  • joy
  • resilient
  • peaceful
  • calm
  • thankful
  • strong
  • playful
  • optimistic
  • courageous
  • energetic

What do you think? Will you do this with me?

Claudine’s Answers:

In my newsletter I promised I’d post some excerpts of my answers here. If you’re curious how 2016 was for me, keep reading. Otherwise, go grab your pen and paper and get started, or leave me a note in the comments. :)

Claudine’s Highlights:

Overall, 2016 was a smooth year for this gal, especially when I compare it to previous years. I have a lot to be grateful for, and most of my highlights involve the beautiful people in my life – my incredible family, friends, and my hubby. I traveled more in 2016 than I had in a long time – both with friends and family – which brought me immense joy and fed my very real need for adventure. I saw some stellar stage productions and other live performances, and I began reading fiction again for the sole purpose of reading for pleasure, something this English major had been deeply missing in her life for YEARS.

After a tumultuous shift in my work environment the year before, I once again found myself with my feet on the ground and head held high in my business, which I feel quite proud of. I was reminded that I am more resilient than I sometimes remember myself to be. I created materials for my business that had been sitting on a to-do list for a long time, and I feel so ecstatic that I get to do work I love.

I have a new goddaughter who lights me up and reminds me of the pure love and potential inside all of us. I love baby snuggles.

I am so grateful to live in a neighborhood where we know our neighbors. Our neighborhood game nights, soup exchanges, and dance parties make me feel 20 again (except when I wake up with a charlie horse in the middle of the night from too much dancing. Ouch.) I have community. Real community.

Claudine’s Lowlights

While 2016 was fairly smooth sailing as far as my personal bubble is concerned, it certainly didn’t come without challenges and disappointments. Friends’ health concerns tore at my heart, the political climate in our country stressed me out and left me downright depressed, and the never-ending violence around the world leaves me feeling hopeless on days when my resilience cup is low. I’m also dealing with a health concern myself that will require surgery in the coming year, which bums me out big time. I still suffer from the mindset that as a health coach I should never have a health concern myself, which pretty much sets me up for failure. Sigh. Believe me, I’m working on shifting this.

What I’ve learned from the health concerns is a renewed appreciation for the very real mystery of life and a willingness to at least try to surrender to that mystery (some days, at least). I also feel even greater empathy for my clients and others dealing with health concerns.

As far as the bigotry, racism, and outright hatred that surfaced with a vengeance after our insane election, I felt embarrassed and grief-stricken and disappointed in myself. I had to admit that I’ve been naive, complacent, and lazy over the years, allowing way too many inappropriate comments, jokes, and behaviors to go unchecked in my presence. My inspiring godson is African American, my sweet goddaughter is African American/Native American/European American – I need to be fierce and protect them, which means I need to start speaking up and challenging beliefs that say they are somehow less valuable than other people.

And as far as the worldwide violence, I guess I’m going to keep this quote close by in the new year, which reminds me to keep working on myself, and trust I can somehow make a difference:

“You must purge yourself before finding faults in others.
When you see a mistake in somebody else, try to find if you are making the same mistake.
This is the way to take judgment and to turn it into improvement.
Do not look at others’ bodies with envy or with superiority.
All people are born with different constitutions.
Never compare with others.
Each one’s capacities are a function of his or her internal strength.
Know your capacities and continually improve upon them.”
― B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Life

Claudine’s Desired Feeling/s

Last year I determined that I wanted to feel more playful and adventurous, and I succeeded! Travel, reading fiction just for FUN, game nights, dance parties with friends, karaoke bars, Zumba, paddle boarding, snorkeling, snowboarding, hang gliding, and on and on.

FYI, I really know how to have fun.

This year I want to feel brave and free. I have no idea yet why these words are resonating , but next year at this time I’m sure I’ll be able to tell you. (P.S. Play and adventure are staying close by in the new year!)

There you go. Way more than you wanted to know about me. Now what about you?

Love, Claudine

Fudgy Holiday Goodness

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Happy holidays, everyone! ‘Tis the season for all things festive and magical and cheery and sweet (interlaced with stress, fatigue, and nasty beefs with Old Man winter – but hey, we don’t have to talk about that right now).

I sure hope you’re finding ways to soak up the wonder and joy of the season and that you are spending time with the people in your life that light up your insides with holiday sparkle.

December is my slowest health coaching month out of the year. This may come as a shocker, but it turns out not many people are interested in talking about the warming, grounding properties of root veggies or how sugar sabotages your immune system or how to follow the Elimination/Provocation Diet in the last few weeks of the year. Hard to believe, right?

So rather than delude myself and pretend anyone is interested in what I’d have to say about health right now, I thought I’d add to the merriment by sharing a recipe for fudgy goodness that makes me salivate like a puppy.

A client passed this along a few years back, and it falls in line beautifully with one of the guidelines I use in my work: Upgrade your food whenever possible.

Food is a touchy subject. Nobody likes to have his or her food messed with, let alone taken away, so I do my best to help my clients find “upgrades” for the dishes, snacks, and sweet treats they can’t imagine living without. Usually by swapping out an ingredient here or there or buying a higher quality version of something they enjoy (dark chocolate vs. crappy chocolate), we can uncover a win-win for one’s taste buds AND one’s health.

I love when that happens.

This recipe is a great example of a fudge upgrade. (Confession: I’ve never actually made real fudge so I’m not 100% sure what goes into it, but given the way my mouth feels fuzzy and my taste buds go manic after I eat a piece, I think it’s a safe bet there’s enough sugar in it for a neighborhood.)

THIS recipe may not taste like traditional fudge, but it’s so satisfying. I’ve been making it pretty much every week in December, and as a result, it’s been easy to pass up traditional sugary sweets. Enjoy!

 

Fudgy Goodness

Yield: 15 small servings

1/2 cup almond butter

1/4 cup coconut butter (manna)

2 Tablespoons coconut oil

2 mashed Medjool dates

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1-2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

2 Tablespoons hemp seeds

1/4-1/2 teaspoon sea salt

 

Combine ingredients in small pan and melt together over low heat. Stir together while heating, working to mash the dates more while stirring.

When mixture becomes liquid, pour into a small 5 x 7 glass dish or pan lined with parchment paper (you can also simply grease a pan if you don’t have parchment paper). Place in fridge and cool until it begins to harden – about 1/2 hour.

Cut into individual pieces and store in the fridge or freezer – they will melt if left out at room temperature. And you might be tempted to eat them all at once!

If you decide to make some fudgy goodness, please leave a comment and let me know what you think. Hearing from you makes my heart sing.

Love, Claudine

A Digestive Superhero

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This week I’m excited to introduce you to a digestive superhero I know and love, a veritable Wonder Woman of digestive health: psyllium husk.

Most of you know I love teaching people how to support their digestive health. Talking about poop is as normal to me as talking about the weather, and I feel confident this little seed could help you have such brag-worthy b.m.’s that you’ll start enjoying poop conversations as much as I do.

It’s one of those tools I like to keep in my back pocket, especially when I’m working with folks with constipation. It rarely lets me down.

Psyllium, or psyllium husk powder, comes from a shrub-like plant and is chock full of fiber, both soluble and insoluble. Think of psyllium less as food for you and more as food for the millions of bacteria that live in your gut. It’s vitally important we pay attention to and support these bacterial friends since they profoundly influence so many aspects of our health: immune function, mood, weight, digestive well-being, and much more.

In other words, psyllium can help build a healthy and robust bacterial ecosystem, which is critical to overall health.

When the bacteria in our gut feast on all the great fiber in psyllium, they produce a short chain fatty acid called butyrate, which is shown to increase insulin sensitivity and have anti-inflammatory effects, in addition to improving digestion. Furthermore, as this little husk makes its way down the intestinal tract, it absorbs water and forms a spongy gel, which adds bulk to stool, scrubs the intestinal tract clean, and binds to toxins, ushering them out of the body through well-formed stool.

Think of it as an “intestinal soft scrub.”

And yes, while I especially love using psyllium to jumpstart a stalled digestive system, it can also be helpful for those folks on the other end of the digestive spectrum – those who struggle with diarrhea. Because psyllium absorbs water and bulks up, it can help slow down or stop diarrhea.

It can speed things up, slow things down, bulk things out – it’s a digestive superhero!

In addition to enjoying bulkier, more robust stools (yes, these are enjoyable), side benefits of psyllium husk can also include:

  • more stable blood sugar: in general, fiber helps slow down the absorption of sugars into one’s blood stream, which is pretty much always a good thing. Stable blood sugar is a key building block of health.
  • lowering LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol numbers by inhibiting its absorption in your intestines
  • feeling fuller longer, thereby curbing the urge to overeat
  • weight loss, which is inevitable when you start clearing out toxins and built-up stool
  • clearer skin: psyllium husk can help move yeast and fungus out of your body, helping to clear rashes or other skin issues that have been exacerbated by these conditions

So, are you going to give it a try? What do you have to lose? Probably just some old, impacted fecal matter if you ask me, and that will certainly put an extra bounce in your step.

Keep in Mind

For those ready to experiment with this digestive superhero right away, keep the following tips in mind:

  1. Psyllium should not be treated as a replacement for the beneficial fiber you get when eating fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. It’s a SUPPLEMENT. Make sure you’re consuming plenty of whole foods daily. (FYI: 10-12 servings is considered the gold standard these days.)
  2. Drink plenty of water when you take psyllium – at least a full 8-ounce glass. Because psyllium bulks up, it does have the potential to cause an obstruction if someone is chronically dehydrated. Obviously that’s the last thing we want! Staying hydrated is simply a foundational building block of health, so aim for 50-70 ounces of water daily.
  3. Gradually build up the amount you take, starting with just a 1/2 teaspoon a day and increasing to no more than 2 Tablespoons daily. If the intestinal tract has become lazy, it can take some time to get it moving again. Be gentle with your body.
  4. Finally, if you take medications or other vitamin/mineral supplements, consume psyllium either an hour before or two hours after you take your medications, vitamins, or minerals. It can interfere with absorption if taken to close together.

How to Get Your Psylly On

Like any new food or supplement, psyllium can feel a bit mysterious, but it’s actually pretty easy to get into your body.

Most of the time I simply add it to an 8-ounce glass of water and drink it down. That’s likely the easiest method, and it ensures you’re taking it with enough water, which I mentioned is very important.

Other options include adding it to yogurt or smoothies, but you’ll want to make sure to send it down the hatch quickly if you add it to a smoothie. It starts gelling up within minutes and will make your smoothie pretty darn thick. Some people don’t like that texture.

Are you somebody who likes to make protein bars or power balls? You can often sneak in a couple tablespoons of psyllium powder to your recipe, and chances are you won’t even notice it’s in there. Psyllium acts as a binder, too, so it can even help hold gluten-free products together, which is a bonus.

If you have other ideas, please share in the comments section! I always love ideas and feedback!

So what do you say? Are you ready to get your psylly on? If you do, make sure to let me know how it goes.

Love, Claudine