Constipation and Gut Issues That Affect Weight Loss With Functional Nutrition Expert Liz Roman [Ep. 32]

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Hi, welcome back to the eat. Well think, well, LivWell podcast. This is episode 32, and we are going to be talking to Liz Roman, who is a gut health specialist and the self-proclaimed poop queen. If you get nothing else out of this episode, go follow her on Instagram. She is hilarious and has the best, most informative reels. We chat here today about constipation gas, bloating. No, you don't have to deal with these things. They are common, but not normal. We talk about all the things you may be experiencing without realizing they are actually related to gut issues. So listen to the very end also for how to get a bonus clip from this interview.

Lisa: 0:43

Welcome to Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well; the podcast for women who want to lose weight, but are tired of counting and calculating all the food. I'm your host, Lisa Salsbury. I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach, and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter. I'll teach you to figure out why you are eating when you aren't hungry, instead of worrying so much about what you are eating.

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Before we jump into this interview with Liz. I want to remind you, I am still gathering names for interest in my upcoming group program. That link is in the show notes. Lots of information on that in my last couple of episodes. So I won't do that again, but Get yourself on that list and you'll get a special bonus for you. And if you want to bring a friend, she'll get that bonus too.

Lisa: 1:30

I am super excited to have Liz Roman as my guest today. One of her reels came up for me on Instagram recently and I was like, what? When she does her little spiel about moving your bowels one to three times per day pain free, I'm like, I love you. That's, that's it. I've gotta have you on the podcast. So, um, I'm gonna let her introduce herself and then we will jump into our conversation about some gut. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for asking me to be on. I'm excited to chat today. So I am Liz Roman. I am the co-owner of Fit Mom Lifestyle. We are a team of functional practitioners that work with clients all over the United States, the UK and Canada. And so we mainly focus on helping clients get to the root cause of their digestive issues, hormonal imbalances, autoimmune things like that. Uh, I know that Lisa, you talk so much about. Anti diet culture here, right? I'm with you. Mm-hmm. On Quint fad dieting, please nourish your body. That's a lot of what we do as well, because we want you to nourish your body, and that means eating enough to give your body what it needs to help you thrive in life. And so, yes, one of my big passions is helping women and just the general population understand that constipation is not normal. We need to be moving our bowels one to three times a day pain free. because there can be many repercussions of constipation. So brief backstory about myself, I was chronically constipated for eight years, ended up with a diagnosis of Hashimotos, which is an autoimmune thyroid disease, and constipation is one of the earliest signs of hypothyroidism or Hashimotos. And of course, I went to. Doctor after doctor saying, I'm not losing weight. I have fatigue, skin issues. I'm so uncomfortable and constipated, I need help. Everything they said was normal. Mm-hmm. You guys can, you're not, we're not videoing this, but there's my ear quotes there, you know, normal. Yet I feel totally crappy, you know? And. That's why I do what I do today because I was given a colonoscopy in college and the answer after that was to take MiraLax and to do a low FODMAP map diet and that should resolve my issues. But that wasn't the root of what was going on. And for me it was a lot of gut dysbiosis, imbalances in the gut, a lot of inflammation in my body. And fast forward to today doing the work that I do now with all of my clients. I'm off of thyroid medication. Feel amazing. I've lost over 50 pounds, kept that off since 2014. And I just wanna help as many people as possible improve their health. Uh, and I believe that all starts with the guts. Is awesome. I have also some chronic constipation in my history. I think, um, what I found with mine is it was probably a little bit more of the chronic dieting that I was doing and the just kind of weird foods that I would. Jump on with those bad diets, like just not excellent. Um, I g got a lot of relief with, I was definitely magnesium deficient, so that helped a lot when I learned about that. But it is really frustrating when you go to mainstream medicine. I distinctly remember. Talking to a doctor. It was like a first consultation getting set up with my new insurance, and I was like, you know, I really struggle with constipation. And she literally handed me a photocopied handout that had been photocopied a thousand times. The quality was horrendous, and it told me too, you can guess it, drink more water and add fiber. I'm like, do you think I'd be asking you if I hadn't tried those things? Like everyone knows those first things to do. So obviously we wanna get into a little beyond that because if you are chronically constipated and you've Googled it even one time, you know like, let's start with some water. It's pretty obvious. So. Let's get a little farther in. How do you know if your chronic con Well, like, I don't know if we wanna strictly keep it to constipation, if we wanna kind of go into some general gut health, but, I think there's some confusion. How do we know if the gut is where the issue is or if you know, how do you know if you need help in that area or if it's, you know, kind of something else. Yeah, so I think this is a really great question and there are certainly other symptoms that we can experience beyond just constipation. I do think it's important to define constipation too, for the listen. Conventional medicine says if you're pooping less than, you know, three times a week for longer than three months, you're constipated. There's different forms of constipation. It's not just which, can I just interrupt and say that's horrible? No one feels good at three times a week. No. No. Okay. Carry on. You feel like a whale? Let's be honest, that's very backed up, I mean, it's anybody who's experienced constipation, you just know if you haven't gone for a few days, you feel heavy, you feel bloated, you feel distended, right? And. There's many repercussions of this. You know, when we think about women, especially in our female hormones, estrogen and excess, estrogen that's sitting in the waste set for excretion from the body, recirculates, uh, as well as other toxins, metabolic waste products, right? And so this is inflammatory to the body. We're full of toxins. Now we may be experiencing worse p m s symptoms, acne. Signs of estrogen dominance, resistance to weight loss, holding more weight in our belly or the hip. The back of the arms, things like that. But we can tie a lot of things back to the guts. you know, if you've ever researched or just Googled gut health at all, you've probably heard the saying by Hippocrates that says, all disease begins in the gut. So beyond just constipation, other GI symptoms, That you may experience that are kind of classic telltale signs that things are, you know, not balanced in the guts would be heartburn, gerd, acid reflux, upper GI symptoms here that can be kind of a sign of low stomach acid and then downstream as things move through. This would be bloating, gas, really smelly gas. I think, you know, if we were eating quickly, as a lot of people do, we're busy. We're moms, we're entrepreneurs, we're just working. We got a lot of things going. Sometimes we don't always take the time to sit down, slow down, be present with our food, which we should be doing by the way. Uh mm-hmm. then we swallow air. And of course that can bring on either belching or gas, but I'm talking about gas in the way that you can clear a room. You don't wanna be around yourself. It's very smelly. Um, so mm-hmm. those are uncomfortable things. And then it could be other forms of alternating motility or dysmotility. So here's where we look at. I could be not going to the bathroom at all, or I could be straining to go small, pebble like stools. Uh, feeling like I don't completely go to the bathroom. I'm not satisfied, like I fully emptied my bowels. Could be loose stools, diarrhea. Here's where maybe you're alternating, uh, constipation to diarrhea. Abdominal pain is another big one. Um, because that can kind of tell us if there's issues with bile. For example, some people who have gallstones or gallbladder issues and bile becomes peanut butter. Like you can experience a lot of abdominal pain when they're trying to digest fats or it's going right through them, like a slip inside. So those are some of our classic GI symptoms. But when we think about how all of this correlates systemically in the body, We can tie asthma, allergies, hormonal imbalances, migraines, sleep issues, joint pain, brain fog, fatigue and energy issues, all back to some sort of imbalance in the gut. So there's a lot of things that, you know, especially too when we look at Hashimotos, right, or other, just autoimmune conditions, anxiety and mood disorders, all of that can be tied back to the gut as well. 90% of our neural transverses are made in the gut. 80% of our immune system is in the gut. Sinus issues, chronic, you know, drainage or feeling like you're sick all of the time. We always wanna look at the gut and see what's happening here and how is that then kind of like a domino impacting other things in the body. So, That's very important. There's so much and, and a lot of things that you listed there, people would be like, well, yes, that's obvious, but some stuff like bloating or you know, gas, they're like, oh, that's normal. Everybody gets that. And I think then normalization of women being bloated, just because you have some bloating maybe around your period doesn't mean that. Normal and doesn't mean it has to happen either. And I think that gets really confusing cuz you're like, well isn't that just part of digestion? Like No, it's, it's not this whole episode is, you know, feels a little t m I. I'll tell you, when I got off like the crazy diet foods and really balanced things out, I was absolutely shocked how much less gas I had. Like not just during the day, but like gas pains or like just, I just don't, and the natural, normal thing is to release gas while you sleep. And so. Don't think you're not releasing. You are and that's fine. But yeah, you actually don't have to deal with that during the day, which is like shocking to me. And I think of all the like, I think it's mostly just like the made for dieting shakes and things, you know, bars and just, just garbage that I used to eat to try to lose weight. And I think, yeah, that was really messing me up. I always say this like the, the. Farts or the whey gas. Right. A lot of people eating, oh yeah. A lot of, uh, I gotta get my protein, or that's my meal replacement. And it's all of these artificial ingredients and even like, let's say painted on things, right? Fortified vitamins and minerals. They don't act the same in the body as one ingredient. Whole foods, natural fibers that your body knows what to do with. Mm-hmm. So yeah, they can sit in the gut and then ferment, create that distension that you feel this bloating and. Then when you do have gas, it's very smelly because of the methane and the sulfur that ferments. It's funny you mentioned, you know, passing gas in your sleep, because I'm actually working with a couple right now and I asked her this past week, you know, so one of the big complaints that you had was that. He passes gas and it wakes you up because it smells so bad. I was, how is set going? And she said, you know what, it's actually much, much better. I'm like, okay, well there's a win. Yeah, We, we don't want those things. And I a hundred percent agree with what you mentioned, that so many of these things people think, you know, it's just normal. Oh look, it's just my body. Oh, I've, I've just always been that way. I don't poop every day a couple times a week. I've just always been that way. It's not normal. It's common, but not normal. And digestion should be a quiet event. We shouldn't feel really full after our meals. We shouldn't feel like we need to sit on the couch for 30, 45 minutes. You know, we should still have energy to continue on our day, continue working and being productive. Food should energize us, in fact. So if you are struggling with any of those things, you know, e exactly what you're saying with your diet. That's the first. evaluate what you're eating, processed foods compared to one ingredient, whole foods that can really, really nourish your body and provide it with the nutrients that it needs. Yeah. Do you think bloating is the most common thing? Women assume is normal? I would say that, yes. Um, bloating and then I would also say fatigue. Mm. Mom life, right? Oh, I've had kids. oh, it's part of aging. Hashtag mom life. Just like the way they normalize. We need a glass of wine to deal with our kids. Mm-hmm. you know, I, I just, we can't get down with those things. Uh, I'm a mom, busy entrepreneur. I only have one, so I cannot attest to having multiples, and I recognize that's a big difference for some people. But no, you, you should wake up in the morning. You should have good energy. You should feel rested. You should have energy throughout your day. And of course, depending upon what time you wake up. How many hours of sleep you're getting, you know? Yeah, you, you should be tired by, I'm tired by 8 30, 9 o'clock, but I also get up at four 30 or five, but I generally feel really good all day long, and a lot of that has to go hand in hand with things that are helping my body. Like build my body up, right? And provide an energy I never demonize food because I also don't believe in some practitioners or gut people will talk about like, just remove all of these foods. And yes, there are foods that are pro-inflammatory, but we're also human. And I wanna think about sustainability for my clients. So, you know, having some more moderation with some of those fun foods, if you will, and kind of watching the amount of. Things that drive inflammation in the body. But yeah, I, I, I mean, outside of bloating, I, I really think for women, the fatigue is one of the biggest things that I wish that we could shout from the rooftop. That you don't have to feel that way. Yeah. And you think, balancing the gut and attacking from the gut angle can really help with fatigue, and that's something people don't really connect. Right. Yeah. When we think about our guts, I mean, it is the foundation of our health when we ingest food, right? We, we are eating one ingredient, whole foods. Let's say you have the best diet out there. And you still feel like something is just off. I just don't feel a hundred percent. This would be some sort of insufficiency in the gut, so maybe low stomach acid. It might be low pancreatic enzyme function, so we're not getting the digestive enzymes we need to really break down, digest, and absorb the nutrients. It's one thing to ingest. Food, and it's another thing to absorb all of the, the nutrients that we need. So this is, you know, kind of where we get down into the weeds of, Hey, is it something that's happening functionally? Again, stomach acid, bile, pancreatic enzymes, uh, is it leaky gut? Is there inflammation in the guts? Right? Food's getting. Into the bloodstream or part large particles of food into the bloodstream. The immune's constantly reacting here to say, this shouldn't be here. Could be also toxins or other bacteria, viruses, and things like that. So when we have, you know, an overactive immune system, the body is sending a lot more energy to take care of these things to, you know, wherever it, it's happening rather than our brain, right? Mm-hmm. uh, and so, If you're properly breaking down, digesting and absorbing nutrients, we don't have a lot of mineral imbalances here. You, we shouldn't be experiencing fatigue or brain fog. Forgot what word I was looking for. Right? Went into a room and didn't remember why I went there. Because your body has the nutrients it needs and it's able to use them at the cellular level because of proper digestion. Hmm. Fascinating everything. I'm like, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Tell me more. Yes. Yeah. I mean, and it's so good. I mean, I feel like, well, I'm 47 and I, I do sometimes feel like I have that, I don't know if it's brain fog or, you know, we attribute it to age that walk into a room, forgot what I'm doing. Um, I definitely feel more fatigue, but I also think. I would be a lot worse if I wasn't doing what I'm doing with my Nu Nutrition and Activity Schedule. Would you consider that there are some symptoms that come also with pre perimenopause and that sort of thing? Sure. I mean, different phases of life all bring different hormonal seasons, right? Because if we're approaching, uh, menopause day, which is average age is 51, there's different fluctuations with estrogen. Most commonly here we see more of the sleep concerns, insomnia, you know, restless, sleep night, um, sweats, things like that are hot flashes. And again, this is when estrogen is you know, it's kind of getting. Uh, wild the fluctuations there. Actually, fun fact surge in the estrogen is where we get the hot flashes from. So then it's all about how do we support our body to properly detoxify estrogen, and what could we do to support, you know, progesterone as well through that season. So there's a lot of things that you can do nutritionally from, you know, a dietary modulation perspective. Fats are really, really important. You know, I, I know a lot of your listeners. Are probably listening to your podcast because they too wanna break free from all of the fat diets and overs restricting, and think back to the nineties, right? The low fat. Fat is bad. Fat makes you fat. Yes, we have low fat, right? We have low hormones. Fat is the precursor to our hormones. Really, really important. So oftentimes we'll see. Women, you know, in the menopausal age group feel a little bit better with a little bit more fats. Um, you know, so there's a lot of things and that could be a whole different, you know, conversation around the menopause age group. Sure. But it all comes down to properly detoxifying, estrogen two of constipation in Perry and post is really, really important because, again, If those estrogens that are metabolized already and are sitting in your colon ready to be excreted from the body, get recirculated, we see a lot more in, um, you know, estrogen dominance scenarios there can't lose weight. Mm-hmm. I'm tired, I'm fatigued again. We can tie that back to the gut because the gut impacts hormones. so, you mentioned a couple things already, but I'm sure there's a lot of things we can do within our diet, whether we know exactly where our gut health issues lie. What are some things that probably work for a lot of people as far as improving the gut? Things that probably most people need to do, whether they're low acid or have constipation. There's probably some general recommendations, diet-wise, that we can do to improve the gut. Yes, absolutely. So first and foremost, you know, you mentioned, okay, if I go on Google, I see that I should hydrate myself and I should eat fiber. Unfortunately, many people are dehydrate. Um, yeah, so I, I would say that is definitely number one, and I'm gonna add on here that you should be adding something to your water to really help your body absorb the water and use it. It should not come out looking the way that it does coming in, meaning your pee should not be clear. really should be kind of like a pale yellow. Um, which is by the way fascinating because that's been the standard of hydration for so long. Like you should have clear P I'm like, who, who has clear p I drink over a hundred ounces of water a day. Like I don't, yeah. So that's good to hear because we, because you're adding in like salts and that sort of thing. Yeah, absolutely. Electrolytes, that's the word I was looking for. Yeah. Mineral salt. Celtic salt. Redmond. Real salt. I love LMNT. Electrolyte packets. Sodium, potassium, magnesium. Plus, they taste good. You know, I think this is person, independent, of course. Depends upon the state of your health. Mm-hmm. but. Sometimes we can over hydrate to the point where we really deplete and throw off the mineral balance in the body, and that's important. So proper hydration is key. And then from there, fiber. So, so, okay, I'm gonna interrupt you. So we're, what would be the ideal then? I mean, of course the gold standard that we've heard for years and years is, Eight glasses of water, 64 ounces a day. Um, if we are not over hydrating, I mean for me to keep regular, I know for my body I need close to a hundred. Somewhere between 80 and a hundred usually works best for me. So would you say it's person specific or do you have kind of a standard? Yes. So according to the Nutritional Therapy Association and all of the research that they have done for females, uh, mid-life age group, so let's. I, I forget the exact age. I think it's 24 to 50 something. Mm-hmm. uh, 77 ounces is what's really kind of recommended. However, I do think it's very bio individual based upon the person. I really prefer to do half of your body weight and ounces. And then if you are someone who trains and you sweat a lot, let's say you do hot yoga or you know, higher intensity things, and you. Like I sweat when I go to the gym. Mm-hmm. um, or like two thirds of your body weights would be a good target to shoot for. You know, especially if you are training that day and sweating or using sauna, things like that. So half of your body weight announces I think is a good target. That said, for someone who says, oh man, you know, my weight is. Two 50 or, or higher? That seems quite a bit. I don't think we need to be consuming over a gallon by any means. I think three liters to a gallon is plenty of hydration. So again, add in the electrolytes, use the water. Um, that's really important. And then the fiber, you know, that we kind of already talked about instead of looking at. We have all these advertisements, right? High fiber, whole grains, heart healthy, um mm-hmm. you know, things that are fortified with fiber do not act the same in the body as natural sources of fiber. So here's where we would wanna use, you know, Beans, legumes, fruits, you know, things that provide us a blend of soluble and insoluble fibers. And then you need to figure out, uh, you know, nuts and seeds to it. Also be some other examples here, but figure out what you personally feel best with, because there is a. Something to be said that too much of a good thing is not always a good thing. Mm-hmm. I have some clients who say, you know, fiber helps them and others that say it really binds them up even more. So there is like a sweet spot with fiber for sure. Yeah. And speaking of just maybe the peri. Menopause years. Honestly, 15 to 25 grams is kind of what's, uh, one of our practitioners. She's a menopause expert, says she's found this is kind of a sweet spot for those years. And then on the flip side of that, you could have people that tolerate 40, 50 grams of fiber and feel amazing. I don't think we need to be shooting crazy high amounts, but find, and that's total both insoluble and soluble, those numbers. Mm. Yeah, I'm a big fan of diversity. Mm-hmm. you know, I'm a big fan of colors too, and not eating the same foods all the time, so that would be important. Bitter greens at the beginning of your meal can also be really helpful for priming the body for digestion. This will stimulate bile. This will stimulate. Um, stomach to give you some extra gastric juices as other foods are coming in. So here's where we would think mustard, greens, arugula, artichoke, things like that. I love arugula, personally, but that could be another great thing to add, to your diet. Lots of foods contain some natural digestive enzymes as well. Things like pineapple or papaya. those are really great to add in. Ginger is a really great one. We have a whole list. you know that I think I've, I've posted about a couple times on, my Instagram, but the common theme here is, hey, we want ingredient whole foods, right? Right. Fruit and vegetables, um balancing these things and. From a protein perspective, stomach acid is really important because one of its main jobs. Beyond just helping protect us from parasites, pathogens, viruses, things that we ingest like it will kill and detoxify those things from the body is to help us emulsify our proteins into amino acids that we can absorb. So a lot of times people will say, well, you know, I feel overly full when I eat protein. Or I just have kind of an aversion, you know, to protein. This is where I would say, you know, evaluating things you could do to improve your stomach acid levels because they do decline as we age. Mm-hmm. um, recent stat that I read, which I'd love stats and thought it was very fascinating. At the age of 40, we have 40% less stomach acid than we did when we were 20. Hmm. So aging and. Different, you know, things that we're consuming, of course will alter our stomach as a production. so it's important. And I just think, here's where I would say back to what I mentioned before, the eating hygiene comes into play sitting down. Getting into ideally a parasympathetic rest and digest state, looking at your food, smelling your food, being grateful for it. Did you cook it? Did you work hard to buy it? Right? Um, all of that stuff goes a long way, but digestion starts in your brain. And so allowing your body to get into that state that is more calm, prioritizes, digestion, and that gives us. Gastric juice, the release of, you know, stomach acid, pancreatic enzymes, all of those things to really blend your food in the stomach. I saw that recently and I mentioned it at, at dinner one time. I have two teenage daughters at home and we pray at the beginning of our meal and no one really wants to anymore. They're like, you just do it. And I'm like, listen, this starts digestion, because all we're doing is showing gratitude and we always do it after the meal is on the table. So I'm like, smell the food and be grateful. And they were like, wow, you have really gone crazy this time, mom. I'm like, no, for real. Oh my goodness. That's so funny. Um, you know, here's the thing. Think back to yourself as a teenager, I would think back to myself as a teenager, I would probably see the same things that your daughters are. Yeah. But it's really important, you know? And then the other thing there is like, chew your food. I mean, yeah. How many people, and I listen, I'm, this is the hard part. I'm to this, this is probably my worst thing I. I eat way too fast, and I know it's because I am not chewing and it, you know, as something like 2030 chews, I'm like, oh, I cannot, my job would die. But yeah, tell us about that. Yeah, so of, of course it's gonna depend upon. You know what you're eating, right? It's gonna be different if you're eating a steak compared to, you know, something that's cooked down really well. And we'll talk about that. Cause I know that you wanna talk about the cooking of things, but chewing your food until it's smoothie, like consistency, I don't really love Oh wow. Having like a number here because. Then people fixate on that. Mm-hmm. And then it takes away the enjoyment. But just chew your food. Savor it. Really taste it, you know, when you're swallowing something that, oh, that was a large particle of food, that was a big piece of steak that just swallowed Um, because essentially you're putting it into the, the stomach that way and requiring. The stomach to blend this into smoothly, like consistency as it moves through the digestive tract. Uh, and when you don't have enough gastric juices, if that's the case, you know, that's again, where this bloating and distension, can happen. And bacterial overgrowths can occur because the stuff ferments in the gut. So our mechanical digestion with your teeth is really important. The rest of the stuff, the rest of the chemical processes that occur, Really change unless of course we're supplementing with something. Right. But the mechanical digestion is part of our, you know, it's in our control and a big part of the process. So beyond that, getting to talking about a little bit of, you know, what I hooked you with, I guess with my, yeah. the cooking of vegetables or just the cooking of our foods, because. How we prepare our food definitely, makes a big difference in terms of how much work your digestive system has to do. And I think, you know, I was talking about vegetables in that video because there's, there's different compounds in different types of vegetables. Um, you know, beans and legumes have things like lectins that, you know, are kind of protective mechanisms. They're their defense mechanisms against other, like bugs and, and things, right. That's where something like soaking and sprouting could really help someone instead of having to avoid that food group or say like, Hey, I just don't tolerate beans, cuz hey, I love Mexican food and I love black beans or refried beans. could we soak, could we sprout, maybe pressure, cook them and start to break down some of those antinutrients so that your body can get the nutrients from it, digest and absorb it easier, less bloating, less gas, things like that. Vegetable wise, this is where we look at antinutrients known as phytic acid. and so this impairs the absorption of certain minerals, zinc, iron, calcium, and, and other minerals. So, you know, I love a good veggie tray. Uh, don't you know, I love raw vegetables. I'm not saying you can never eat raw vegetables, but if somebody is struggling a little bit with their digestion, Then, you know, trying to cook your food different ways instead of, again, You know, avoiding it entirely, you're missing out on all of those vitamins and minerals and micronutrients. Let's try to, to maybe steam it a little bit or gently saute it. I don't recommend submerging it in water and like boiling to the point that you're seeing. For example, the water, if you're doing broccoli in the water is becoming green. You're losing then, you know, water soluble vitamins and things like that. So, Yeah, how you cook your food can, can definitely help. If somebody says, you know, for example, the protein isn't something they feel super great consuming, you know, maybe try shredding your chicken or cookie in a bone broth. That's gonna make it real juicy and soft, you know? And doesn't require, like we all know, like the dry yeah chicken, the salad sometimes knowing on, that's not fun. So even from a protein standpoint, that can also help with like ground meats, things. I think this comes up for my clients the most when they tell me that they don't tolerate salads. They want to like salads, they want to have a salad for lunch. And I mean, I, I do love like one big salad a day can really help, but sometimes that's just not well tolerated. And there's a couple things that I tell them. Number one, I often put leftover roasted vegetables on a salad, so Combin. Both cooked and raw can help to just kind of decrease the digestive load there. But also if you don't tolerate salads, like don't worry, you can still lose weight. I think people think like what? I have to have a salad if I'm, you know? Obviously no, because there's no diet rules that say that, but. if you notice that you just don't tolerate salads that well or, for me, I started in one time, my listeners know I've done a thousand fat diets. I started in one time on the green smoothie diet where I was just like so much spinach, like blend it down all the way to a liquid and then fill the blender again with more spinach. Like, guess what? I did not tolerate that well. Partly I realized I was also, uh, sensitive to the banana I was putting in there, but I know now I'm like, oh, it wasn't just the banana. It was all of those raw greens twice a day. Like it was not doing what I was hoping, which was, you know, getting me healthy. So I assumed Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and I think this is where we have to look. there's fad diets that are a lot of processed foods, like think like Octavia, weight Watchers. I know for me, when I did Weight Watchers, I ate a bunch of those like smart ones, and anything that was zero points or one point, keep your points as minimal as possible. Mm-hmm. under calorie snack packs. But then on the flip side, in the. Health and wellness worlds. I have all of these real crazy things that are out there. All the detoxes, the teas, the juices, the smoothies. So for your listeners, and this is what I even say to our clients, cuz somebody asked me last week that's gonna be starting our program this week, can you tell me what this looks like with healing my gut? Do I have to drink smoothies every. It's like, oh girl, no, because that's sustainable. Um, you know, we want you to enjoy your food. And of course some individuals love smoothies, and I think that's great to me. I'm a busy gal. I don't wanna clean my blender every morning, so I don't do them that often. It's just not something that I would be doing consistently. And I'm a big fan of thinking about what can you do consistently? For sure. Consistency is the name of the game. If you're gonna lose weight, you gotta use the same habit. So, you know, maintain that weight loss as you did to lose it. You can't just go back then to whatever your old ways were. That's why we see so many diets fail and so many people these weights. And so I think I wanted to call that out because I don't wanna just harp on, which I often do, uptia and Weight Watchers and some of those other, you know, processed food diets essentially. Cuz I've seen a lot of clients, um, come in with. We've got microbiomes that are in a really rough place because of all of the processed foods and inflammation. But on the other hand, we have to be humans and we have to recognize that food is part of our connection with people, our social environments. And so the juicing and these detox cleanses and all this crazy smoothie stuff, that's also not good. you know mm-hmm. I think for our mental and emotional health. Yeah. Oh my goodness, we could talk forever. We We have a hard stop cuz clients coming in. So, I think we'll wrap up here. Maybe someday we'll have you on again, because like I have probably 20 more questions for you. So why don't you, give us a quick little, tell us where people can connect with you. Obviously I love everything she's putting out on Instagram, so for sure you're gonna wanna find her there. But tell us a little more about maybe what you do and where people can find. Absolutely. So yes, I am on Instagram at the Poop Queen. Uh, I also have a podcast, which we're gonna be excited to have you on soon. And we podcast three times a week, uh, on the food code Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You can find us on all podcast platforms. Uh, I do have a free guide that you guys can download. Lisa has the links and the show notes for you, and that is the Constipation Cure with different tips and triage. Things to help you. There's different recipes in there as well to help you if you are struggling with chronic constipation. And then our website is www.fitmomlife.com. If you are somebody who is in need of the functional aspect, um, you know, this is where we're utilizing different testing. Stool testing is very common that we do hair and mineral analysis, some different hormone testing and things like that. But our mission is to get to the root cost. I. So much in the tests that we do, because I don't wanna guess at what's going on. I have a lot of clinical experience. I have a lot of great educational knowledge, but every person is different, you know? And sometimes we're surprised or shocked with the results when we get those things back. And so we never want to waste someone's time. Or energy or finances, guessing, uh, we wanna get to the root cause and really understand what's happening internally. So that's something that you're interested in. You can find more about our program on our website www.fitmomlife.com, and this was awesome. I know that you may have many other questions and we can definitely do time, or if your listeners have, you know, rapid fire, we can always chat about those things. But I'm excited Okay. To have you on our podcast here in a couple weeks. Yeah, yeah, same. All right. Thank you so much. Have a great. Thank you.

37:33

Okay. As promised Liz and I recorded one short bonus clip, especially for my email subscribers. I asked her about caffeine and its usage for constipation. You don't want to miss her tip about your morning pu. The link to get that bonus clip is of course, in the show notes. I'll be back next week. I've got another great guest lined up and I'll be starting my movement March series, which I am super excited about.

Lisa: 38:02

hey, thanks for listening today. If you're ready to get some personalized coaching from me, I'd encourage you to schedule a free strategy session. Visit www.wellwithlisa.as.me or it's easier just to find that link in the show notes. We'll talk about where you currently are with your weight loss goals. And I'll give you some actionable tools. You can start implementing right away. Before you go, make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you can receive new episodes, right when they're released. And if you're learning something new and enjoying the podcast, I'd love for you to leave me a five star rating and a review. Thanks again for joining me, Lisa Salisbury in this episode of Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well.