Oct. 16, 2024

Start Pooping Better with Melissa Hall Klepacki [Ep. 117]

Don’t you want to talk about pooping? I know, I know–just the episode you’ve been waiting for!

In all seriousness, this is such an important topic. Pooping is one of the main ways we naturally detoxify our body. It’s literally the body’s pathway for getting rid of what we don’t need. We’ve got to poop regularly to be healthy and lose weight.

But sometimes things don’t just come out right! Whether this isa n every once in a while problem for you or it’s chronic, my guest Melissa Hall Klepacki will break down the root causes for constipation and what to actually do about it.

More from Well with Lisa:

Your Go-To Meal Guide: grab it HERE
Schedule your free strategy/coaching session: wellwithlisa.as.me
Want YOUR weight loss question answered on the podcast? Fill out this google form HERE
Let's be friends! Follow me on instagram: @well_with_lisa
Join the waitlist for group coaching HERE

Get your Fullscript account HERE

10% discount! (pssst: my clients get 25% for life!)

You’ll find the probiotic mentioned under my favorites and a basic supplement plan under Ready-made community plans →Basics for Women

More from Melissa Hall Klepacki:

Website: MelissaHallKlepacki.com
Free e-book: startpoopingbetter.com
Instagram: @melissahallklepacki
Youtube: @melissahallklepacki

About Melissa:

Melissa Hall Klepacki, M.Ac. a wellness advocate and healer, offers a vital perspective for those seeking answers beyond traditional medicine. With a Master's Degree in Acupuncture and a background in Education, Melissa has made it her life’s work to help people understand the WHY behind their symptoms.

In her 40s, Melissa battled persistent health issues, consulting 12 doctors before uncovering Lyme Disease as the culprit. It was a lengthy detox protocol that ultimately led to her full recovery, informing her work to lead others through the same journey.

Melissa now collaborates with individuals nationwide, offers access to functional lab testing and develops solid protocols for healing. She is the Founder of GutReset123, a 12-week program that offers precision functional gut testing and personalized protocols to take people from constipation to liberation.

More from Well with Lisa:

Schedule a free session: wellwithlisa.as.me
Your Go-To Meal Guide: grab it HERE
Instagram: @well_with_lisa

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.189
This is theEat Well, Think Well, Live Well podcast.

00:00:02.189 --> 00:00:05.700
I'm Lisa Solsbury and this is episode 117.

00:00:05.849 --> 00:00:08.869
Start pooping better with Melissa Hall, Klepacki.

00:00:09.509 --> 00:00:13.169
Melissa is a functional gut health expert, and really breaks down for us.

00:00:13.169 --> 00:00:15.150
The root causes of constipation.

00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:18.870
We discuss why you should even care about this because sometimes.

00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:22.140
You might consider constipation as just a normal human issue.

00:00:22.140 --> 00:00:25.320
Like it's not a big deal, but it really is.

00:00:25.710 --> 00:00:28.530
Honestly, if you're not pooping, you're probably not losing weight.

00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:31.440
It's not just the weight of the impacted poop in the system.

00:00:31.469 --> 00:00:35.039
It's all the detox not happening when you aren't pooping.

00:00:35.609 --> 00:00:42.960
In addition, this can really affect our live well pillar, if you are uncomfortable because you aren't pooping properly, it can make exercise.

00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:45.210
And even sometimes your social life difficult.

00:00:45.689 --> 00:00:54.030
Whether this is a chronic problem for you, or just an every once in awhile issue, you'll really learn a lot about how to remedy this uncomfortable situation.

00:00:58.442 --> 00:01:05.341
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.

00:01:05.971 --> 00:01:07.531
I'm your host, Lisa Salsbury.

00:01:07.921 --> 00:01:13.581
I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach, and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter.

00:01:14.191 --> 00:01:25.781
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 Welcome back to the eat well, think well, live well podcast.

00:01:25.790 --> 00:01:29.751
I am so excited to be interviewing Melissa Hall Klopacki.

00:01:29.751 --> 00:01:36.150
She is a functional gut health expert, and we are going to be talking all about the gut and.

00:01:36.906 --> 00:01:37.715
How to poop better.

00:01:37.775 --> 00:01:37.945
Yay!

00:01:39.236 --> 00:01:39.906
Hi.

00:01:40.146 --> 00:01:40.396
Sure.

00:01:40.876 --> 00:01:41.896
so welcome.

00:01:41.896 --> 00:01:46.525
Tell us a little bit about you what you do and then we'll jump in.

00:01:47.286 --> 00:01:47.936
Thanks, Lisa.

00:01:48.266 --> 00:01:51.436
My name is Melissa Hawkelpacke, and I am a functional gut health specialist.

00:01:51.436 --> 00:02:04.046
I work with women and men around the country, taking them from constipation to liberation by understanding the root cause of their constipation, because I once was super constipated as a result of having Lyme disease.

00:02:04.396 --> 00:02:05.046
I was sick.

00:02:05.055 --> 00:02:06.475
I got sick in 2009.

00:02:07.171 --> 00:02:09.971
I didn't get diagnosed until 2014.

00:02:10.401 --> 00:02:16.121
and when I was diagnosed, I was started on tons of antibiotics because I had a few different infections at the time.

00:02:16.741 --> 00:02:22.520
and while I did improve my overall health and respect to Lyme, my gut health tanked.

00:02:23.031 --> 00:02:23.311
and.

00:02:23.760 --> 00:02:31.411
Almost as much as my life was affected by Lyme disease, it was affected by being constipated, by never knowing when I would have to go to the bathroom.

00:02:31.721 --> 00:02:37.700
I, I tell people all the time, it really affected my social life in terms of the activities that I like to do.

00:02:37.721 --> 00:02:38.640
I love to hike.

00:02:38.950 --> 00:02:42.066
you can't hike when you're constipated and not knowing when you're going to have to poop.

00:02:42.336 --> 00:02:42.675
Right.

00:02:43.116 --> 00:02:54.616
And I had also developed because my gut was so damaged a bunch of food sensitivities and going out to dinner with friends was almost impossible because I would look at the menu and I knew that 90 percent of that stuff was going to make me feel rotten.

00:02:55.945 --> 00:03:02.936
So by healing my gut, by working with a functional med specialist and healing my gut, I changed.

00:03:03.300 --> 00:03:04.681
my life, right?

00:03:04.711 --> 00:03:06.461
I changed my social life.

00:03:06.681 --> 00:03:12.670
I was, I had no more illness isolation because I was able to get back involved in the things that I loved about life.

00:03:13.100 --> 00:03:18.850
and so now the, the patient population that I work with is generally chronically ill.

00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:29.181
And I got into gut health because that was the one common denominator, regardless of whether you had an autoimmune disease, you were fighting cancer, you had Lyme disease.

00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:33.341
People's guts are in desperate need of repair.

00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:41.300
and mostly it's in, you know, from our environment, from the foods that we're eating, from the lifestyle practices that we have that's ruining our gut health.

00:03:41.501 --> 00:03:45.461
And when you change that for people, you really can change their overall health.

00:03:45.540 --> 00:03:47.820
And so I developed a program.

00:03:48.756 --> 00:04:00.225
It's called Gut Reset 123, and it includes some gut health testing, some foundational health education, a community, which is really important for support, to get you pooping better.

00:04:00.366 --> 00:04:01.725
And that's gonna launch this fall.

00:04:01.906 --> 00:04:03.045
Fall of 2024.

00:04:03.786 --> 00:04:04.165
awesome.

00:04:04.209 --> 00:04:05.299
that's really exciting.

00:04:05.408 --> 00:04:20.468
I think that's something that we Kind of shy away from as far as talking about pooping and we don't really want to discuss it with our doctors and when we do, I know from my experience, I was chronically constipated for years, for years.

00:04:20.528 --> 00:04:31.358
And the first time I went to the doctor where, when we moved, we moved to Roseville about 12 years ago, ish, 13, and I got set up with a new doctor and I'm like, you know what?

00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:33.809
I'm going to ask her, I'm going to ask her what I should do.

00:04:34.709 --> 00:04:35.418
And.

00:04:36.009 --> 00:04:37.168
I live in California.

00:04:37.178 --> 00:04:46.238
And so any, anybody that is familiar, we, I use the HMO here, which is called Kaiser and, she handed me.

00:04:46.613 --> 00:04:53.824
A photocopied handout that had been photocopied so many times from not the original, right?

00:04:53.834 --> 00:04:56.894
It was like, it looked like a third grade worksheet, first of all.

00:04:57.644 --> 00:05:03.863
And I kid you not, it said to drink water and eat some vegetables.

00:05:03.944 --> 00:05:08.173
I mean, I was like, no, you do understand this has been going on for years.

00:05:08.175 --> 00:05:10.514
And I'm a competent, smart individual.

00:05:11.014 --> 00:05:11.949
I have Googled it.

00:05:13.459 --> 00:05:16.999
This is literally the first result of a Google search.

00:05:17.059 --> 00:05:20.129
I was like, this could not be more unhelpful.

00:05:20.139 --> 00:05:22.209
I threw it in the trash on the way out.

00:05:22.238 --> 00:05:26.509
I was so, I was mad, but also just disheartened.

00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:34.038
I'm like, okay, well, I guess the doctors don't know any better than Google because It was ridiculous.

00:05:34.439 --> 00:05:39.329
So I'm sure that this is what your, your clients and patients have gone through as well.

00:05:39.338 --> 00:05:42.088
They're like, here's what I've been told.

00:05:42.098 --> 00:05:43.358
Why doesn't that work?

00:05:44.798 --> 00:05:45.519
100%.

00:05:45.718 --> 00:05:46.178
Yes.

00:05:46.428 --> 00:05:47.879
Every, I call it the trifecta.

00:05:47.889 --> 00:05:54.228
You go to the doctor for constipation and they say, drink more water, eat more fiber, take some Miralax, and you'll be fine.

00:05:55.259 --> 00:05:57.939
And when my doctor said that to me, I said, When?

00:05:58.444 --> 00:05:59.194
And for how long?

00:05:59.204 --> 00:06:00.963
Like, I need to fix this.

00:06:01.334 --> 00:06:02.494
That's a band aid.

00:06:03.488 --> 00:06:08.108
he just looked at me and kind of I think he actually kind of shrugged his shoulders and walked out the door.

00:06:08.559 --> 00:06:11.048
I, mean, it was shocking.

00:06:11.658 --> 00:06:12.749
It is shocking.

00:06:13.119 --> 00:06:19.829
I know another gut health specialist that says constipation is not a MiraLAX deficiency in your diet.

00:06:20.649 --> 00:06:21.238
I love that.

00:06:21.829 --> 00:06:22.389
I love that.

00:06:22.428 --> 00:06:22.918
Right.

00:06:24.098 --> 00:06:26.959
that is not the problem that you are lacking MiraLAX.

00:06:27.009 --> 00:06:27.798
Like, no.

00:06:29.184 --> 00:06:34.651
I know you have some root causes of constipation that you teach.

00:06:34.740 --> 00:06:40.060
So how do you help your clients identify and address those underlying factors?

00:06:40.815 --> 00:06:42.615
Or so, right.

00:06:42.625 --> 00:06:53.826
So the so the tried and trusted, advice of drink more water, eat more fiber actually does work for some people because those are two root causes of constipation, not having enough water.

00:06:53.971 --> 00:06:54.151
Right?

00:06:54.151 --> 00:06:57.940
Which is dehydration leads to not enough water bulking up the stool.

00:06:57.980 --> 00:07:02.331
A lot of those people will have dry, hard stools that look like little goat pellets.

00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:04.831
That's generally a dehydration kind of poop.

00:07:05.290 --> 00:07:09.271
and then eating more fiber, you know, take a look at the standard American diet.

00:07:09.973 --> 00:07:12.144
I'm going to, I'm going to break it down for you, right?

00:07:12.163 --> 00:07:15.994
It's a cup of coffee and a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.

00:07:16.033 --> 00:07:25.144
It's two slices of pizza and a Coke for lunch and a cheeseburger and fries and maybe a Sprite if you're watching your caffeine for dinner, right?

00:07:25.173 --> 00:07:26.014
Where's the fiber?

00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:27.088
Right?

00:07:27.088 --> 00:07:27.918
Where's the fiber?

00:07:28.678 --> 00:07:31.038
How do you expect your bowels to move without fiber?

00:07:31.038 --> 00:07:42.298
We need that fiber to create bulk in the stool so that this basically the edges of your intestine have sensors that say, Oh, here comes a bolus.

00:07:42.649 --> 00:07:43.559
We got to move it.

00:07:43.608 --> 00:07:51.908
And your intestines contract both this way and this to move food through,

00:07:52.369 --> 00:07:55.619
Okay, so we don't use the video, so show me what, tell me what that is.

00:07:55.798 --> 00:08:00.053
So Right, so it moves, basically it squeezes.

00:08:00.473 --> 00:08:02.153
It squeezes and contracts.

00:08:02.863 --> 00:08:12.814
To move food through, but it needs to have the edges of the bolus touching the edges of the intestine to say, Hey, there's food here, we need to move through.

00:08:13.004 --> 00:08:18.774
If you've got a sludgy mess with no fiber, the cue is not there.

00:08:20.069 --> 00:08:20.379
Right.

00:08:20.629 --> 00:08:31.968
So if you're, if you do have a very fiber deficient diet, yeah, sometimes just starting to incorporate fruits and vegetables, working towards a Mediterranean diet will really change your bowels.

00:08:32.239 --> 00:08:44.208
Not only because you've got the fiber, but also, and this is something that people don't talk a lot about is because that fiber, those vegetable fibers are actually what feed the good protein.

00:08:44.589 --> 00:08:59.288
Probiotics that are currently living in your gut so we can do all of this work to work on our microbiomes and have healthy guts But if we aren't feeding the probiotics that we're putting in there They die, right?

00:08:59.288 --> 00:09:08.499
It's almost like, and I like to talk to people who don't have a lot of experience in gut health, Lisa, about your microbiome like your garden.

00:09:08.568 --> 00:09:10.219
It's your internal garden.

00:09:10.698 --> 00:09:15.009
The very first thing that needs to happen is the soil needs to be prepared.

00:09:15.739 --> 00:09:16.058
Right?

00:09:16.058 --> 00:09:20.769
If you try to plant a seed in a rocky, dried out, Garden bed.

00:09:21.479 --> 00:09:23.058
Good luck, right?

00:09:23.418 --> 00:09:28.818
So the first thing we need to do is make sure that the gut lining is intact, that there's enough mucus in there.

00:09:28.839 --> 00:09:37.188
One of the, one of the good bacteria called Acromansia Muciniphila is responsible for that nice, hearty mucus lining that's protective.

00:09:37.739 --> 00:09:44.859
and so, that's sort of where we start with the garden, making sure that the soil, and then we plant the seeds.

00:09:45.114 --> 00:09:47.764
And that is the taking of the probiotic, right?

00:09:48.104 --> 00:09:54.043
And we make sure that we're taking, we're planting different seeds in our garden because we want a garden of wildflowers.

00:09:54.333 --> 00:09:58.344
The microbiome we know from research is best when varied.

00:09:58.854 --> 00:10:02.293
We want a lot of different bacteria and steady levels.

00:10:02.293 --> 00:10:04.813
We don't want anything too high, right?

00:10:04.833 --> 00:10:07.734
We don't want anybody taking over, which can happen in the gut.

00:10:08.214 --> 00:10:12.234
So we like to see, Adequate levels of many probiotics.

00:10:12.244 --> 00:10:19.094
So we plant all of those seeds and then we need the water and we need the sun, right?

00:10:19.094 --> 00:10:30.553
The nutrients, and so for us, that means vegetable fibers, polyphenols, which come from the dark, the orange from the carrot and the red from the beet and the green from the spinach.

00:10:30.864 --> 00:10:35.344
All are polyphenols that help to feed the probiotics that you've planted.

00:10:35.364 --> 00:10:47.528
So if you're spending 50 to 100 a month on a probiotic and then your soil isn't prepared and then you're not feeding it and you're not getting results That could be why, right?

00:10:48.129 --> 00:10:55.158
So, the two reasons, the two reasons that we're all really familiar with for constipation, lack of water and lack of fiber.

00:10:55.739 --> 00:10:58.869
But then there's lots of other things that people don't take into consideration.

00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:02.528
One really easy one to look at is what medications are you taking?

00:11:03.208 --> 00:11:05.719
Medications impact what happens in the bowels.

00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:07.389
Birth control slows it down.

00:11:07.438 --> 00:11:09.249
Antidepressants slows it down.

00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:12.489
Some medications for diabetes can slow it down.

00:11:13.188 --> 00:11:17.619
so your transit time, if it's slowed down, Results in constipation.

00:11:17.619 --> 00:11:23.908
If things aren't moving through your intestines as fast as they should be, other problems can happen.

00:11:23.908 --> 00:11:28.089
You get buildup of bad bugs when the transit time slows down.

00:11:28.869 --> 00:11:36.009
and so we really consider, and that's part of an initial evaluation, is what medications could you be taking?

00:11:36.318 --> 00:11:40.568
Because sometimes it's as simple as a medication change, people's bells resolve.

00:11:41.649 --> 00:11:42.479
So that's number three.

00:11:42.548 --> 00:11:43.759
That's an easy one to look at.

00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:47.448
liver health is a big one, especially in the U.

00:11:47.448 --> 00:11:47.778
S.

00:11:48.198 --> 00:11:54.719
a lot of fatty liver disease, whether you've been diagnosed or not, non alcoholic fatty liver disease, really is coming from our diet.

00:11:54.869 --> 00:12:11.979
It's really coming from highly processed foods, and so if liver health needs to be addressed, sometimes, Just again, working on diet, removing alcohol, using some herbs that help to stimulate and regenerate the liver can be all you need.

00:12:12.298 --> 00:12:16.879
Because once bile production has been optimized, sometimes that's what it is.

00:12:16.899 --> 00:12:18.899
That's slowing the bowels down, right?

00:12:18.908 --> 00:12:23.528
So we look at liver function as another potential root cause.

00:12:24.208 --> 00:12:25.619
Are there any tests for that?

00:12:25.649 --> 00:12:36.558
How can you know if you're, if you, obviously if you've been diagnosed with, non alcoholic fatty liver disease, then you would know, but if you haven't been diagnosed, how, how would you

00:12:36.649 --> 00:12:37.068
Thank you.

00:12:37.099 --> 00:12:38.558
I think it's one of those things, right?

00:12:38.558 --> 00:12:40.599
It's one of those intuitive things, first of all.

00:12:40.629 --> 00:12:44.808
If you have a terrible diet, if you're overweight, if you drink a lot of alcohol, your liver's not performing.

00:12:45.578 --> 00:12:45.759
That's

00:12:45.828 --> 00:12:46.158
Yeah.

00:12:46.249 --> 00:12:46.609
Okay.

00:12:46.948 --> 00:12:47.219
So,

00:12:47.298 --> 00:12:49.028
nobody's immune to it, right?

00:12:49.038 --> 00:12:50.399
No one has, like, a super liver.

00:12:50.798 --> 00:12:52.899
Like, you're hurting your liver with those things.

00:12:53.509 --> 00:12:55.599
So stop doing those things, right?

00:12:55.629 --> 00:12:58.528
And let's see if your liver bounces back and if you're not constipated.

00:12:59.489 --> 00:12:59.769
Right?

00:13:00.058 --> 00:13:02.349
You know, I mean, eat well, think well, live well.

00:13:02.428 --> 00:13:05.298
Diet is so important for all of those things.

00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:11.119
And gut health, especially Lisa, when I heard you say that, like, eat well, yes, directly affects the gut.

00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:14.759
Think well, your neurotransmitters are made in your gut.

00:13:14.808 --> 00:13:21.458
There's no possibility of getting through life without anxiety and panic and depression if you don't have the right neurotransmitters.

00:13:21.698 --> 00:13:24.339
They're not made in your gut if you have an unhealthy gut, right?

00:13:24.839 --> 00:13:25.869
And live well.

00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:27.719
I told you, like, I couldn't hike.

00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:31.188
I couldn't go out with my friends when I, when my gut was a mess, right?

00:13:31.188 --> 00:13:32.538
We can't do any of those things.

00:13:33.528 --> 00:13:34.729
If our guts aren't on point.

00:13:35.453 --> 00:13:35.844
Yeah.

00:13:35.948 --> 00:13:36.509
Also too.

00:13:36.509 --> 00:13:40.448
I think that people don't, really associate the liver with the gut.

00:13:41.028 --> 00:13:51.808
Most people think about gut health being their stomach or, you know, I think most, most adults probably know that it's like stomach and then intestines and then you poop.

00:13:51.869 --> 00:13:54.749
That's probably what they're thinking of as gut.

00:13:54.759 --> 00:13:58.259
But when you're saying gut I feel like most people are thinking of gut.

00:13:58.479 --> 00:13:59.708
Their stomach, right?

00:13:59.719 --> 00:14:08.499
They're not really thinking of the whole system, the gallbladder, the, the liver, and all of the, you know, the contributing factors to digestion.

00:14:08.918 --> 00:14:09.327
right.

00:14:09.607 --> 00:14:10.148
Exactly.

00:14:10.148 --> 00:14:13.508
And liver and gallbladder and bile production is a very big one.

00:14:14.153 --> 00:14:14.543
Mm hmm.

00:14:14.548 --> 00:14:21.437
I was going to say also in this country, stress and anxiety is a huge reason for constipation.

00:14:21.837 --> 00:14:26.577
Being in that state of fight or flight does not allow you to poop.

00:14:26.668 --> 00:14:31.288
If you were being chased by a lion, you wouldn't think to yourself, Oh, it's a good time to

00:14:31.352 --> 00:14:32.863
You're not in rest and digest.

00:14:33.202 --> 00:14:33.623
No.

00:14:33.863 --> 00:14:38.293
And so and a lot of my clients will come and I will go over morning routines.

00:14:38.293 --> 00:14:41.763
That's a big part of what we do is really evaluating lifestyle and habits.

00:14:42.182 --> 00:14:43.942
And they'll say, Well, I wake up at six.

00:14:44.312 --> 00:14:47.763
My alarm goes off at six and then I'll hit snooze till like 605.

00:14:48.182 --> 00:14:49.842
And then I'll jump out of bed.

00:14:49.863 --> 00:14:50.982
I jump in the shower.

00:14:50.993 --> 00:14:52.942
I brush my teeth while my hair is wet.

00:14:52.942 --> 00:14:54.352
I feed and let the dogs out.

00:14:54.653 --> 00:14:57.873
Make sure my kids are awake, dry my hair, put my makeup on and I'm out the door.

00:14:58.607 --> 00:14:59.498
At 635.

00:15:00.212 --> 00:15:00.363
Mm

00:15:00.668 --> 00:15:02.788
No mention of pooping in there, right?

00:15:02.827 --> 00:15:06.357
No mention of any time to even go to the bathroom.

00:15:06.357 --> 00:15:08.518
And so that becomes a priority.

00:15:08.577 --> 00:15:12.158
and I always say a good morning poop is priceless.

00:15:12.518 --> 00:15:16.707
That's, that's the gold standard for the work that I do with the people that I do.

00:15:17.038 --> 00:15:24.648
And that sometimes we need to wake up a little bit earlier, as painful as that is, wake up a little bit earlier and get ourselves into a relaxed state.

00:15:24.697 --> 00:15:27.347
And start instead of starting that morning off.

00:15:28.207 --> 00:15:30.898
Like a gun went off, gotta go, right?

00:15:30.937 --> 00:15:35.057
There's no chance to have a morning relaxed elimination.

00:15:35.998 --> 00:15:38.378
And so there are techniques, there are things you can do.

00:15:38.418 --> 00:15:41.028
I have a meditation that I love to take people through.

00:15:41.307 --> 00:15:46.788
I co wrote with one of my meditation teachers that helps to take you into a relaxed state that you can do in the morning.

00:15:47.288 --> 00:15:49.437
but again, all of these things, right?

00:15:49.447 --> 00:15:49.977
It takes.

00:15:50.307 --> 00:15:51.457
Lifestyle changes.

00:15:51.457 --> 00:15:55.817
It takes being the girl or the guy that carries that water bottle all the time.

00:15:56.518 --> 00:16:00.717
It takes being that person at the restaurant to say, are there seed oils?

00:16:01.057 --> 00:16:02.658
Is that farm raised?

00:16:02.937 --> 00:16:04.918
Is it organic or whatever?

00:16:04.927 --> 00:16:06.668
You know, you're trying to do with your diet.

00:16:06.677 --> 00:16:07.918
Does it contain dairy?

00:16:08.418 --> 00:16:10.587
that's one of the big ones to when it comes to diet.

00:16:10.587 --> 00:16:12.577
I talked a lot about avoiding dairy.

00:16:12.607 --> 00:16:16.048
You know, dairy can slow people's bowels down almost as much as an opioid.

00:16:16.273 --> 00:16:24.222
If you've ever taken a drug like broken an arm and they give you that medicine and they say, and here's your stool softener, because we know it's going to affect your bowels.

00:16:24.503 --> 00:16:28.773
Some people that's what's happening with dairy, the daily dairy intake.

00:16:28.942 --> 00:16:32.302
They're actually slowing the motility of their bowels down unaware.

00:16:32.903 --> 00:16:34.822
and when we take dairy out of the diet.

00:16:35.716 --> 00:16:36.655
Amazing things happen.

00:16:37.035 --> 00:16:38.785
It's the very first thing people should think about.

00:16:38.785 --> 00:16:46.255
If you're constipated and you're listening to this and you've never really tried 21 days, no dairy and no dairy means no cow milk.

00:16:46.446 --> 00:16:53.615
Anything made from cow milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, butter, anything made from anything made with those products, right?

00:16:53.615 --> 00:16:56.666
Like a pastry or bread or cream sauce.

00:16:56.895 --> 00:17:09.675
You have to be really discerning and careful because the milk protein is pretty tricky and really needs to be completely If you want eliminated from the diet, but I've seen a lot of people walk away and be like, thank you for the help.

00:17:09.685 --> 00:17:10.215
Bye.

00:17:10.445 --> 00:17:11.355
I'm constipated.

00:17:12.185 --> 00:17:13.256
It's awesome, right?

00:17:13.266 --> 00:17:21.445
If that's the root cause of your constipation, there's a milk protein allergy, and you take the milk out, you fix your own problem.

00:17:23.165 --> 00:17:45.952
Yeah, obviously like it's uncomfortable to be constipated like I'm not gonna argue with that But I think a lot of people just deal with it and they are just like us just you know Like part of life sometimes aside from the discomfort or aside from the like Oh, I don't want to you know, go hiking because who knows what what's gonna you know?

00:17:46.123 --> 00:17:50.252
It's aside from that sort of thing just strictly from a health standpoint.

00:17:50.313 --> 00:17:56.057
Why do we care like If you're like, oh, I'm managing you know, am constipated, whatever.

00:17:56.067 --> 00:17:59.867
Like, if you're thinking it's whatever, why actually should we really care

00:17:59.913 --> 00:18:01.303
yeah, it's not whatever, right?

00:18:01.303 --> 00:18:04.042
It's the way we, it's the number one way we detox our bodies.

00:18:04.492 --> 00:18:06.613
So how do we get toxins out of our bodies?

00:18:06.663 --> 00:18:12.103
Our poop, our pee, respiration with our breath and through our skin through sweating.

00:18:13.343 --> 00:18:14.252
That's pretty much it.

00:18:14.262 --> 00:18:19.333
Now you can't, there's a lot of stuff you can't pass through your breath or through your sweat that you've got to get out in your poop.

00:18:19.333 --> 00:18:33.038
A lot of those heavy metals, if you're trying to work on parasites, If you've got some toxic mold, a lot of people that's, you know, talking about the root causes, that's another big root cause of constipation for people is both parasites and mold.

00:18:33.968 --> 00:18:35.948
Mold will slow everything right down.

00:18:36.317 --> 00:18:38.248
For some people, mold is not an issue.

00:18:38.278 --> 00:18:40.117
Some people will come in contact.

00:18:40.407 --> 00:18:44.087
They'll go on vacation and sleep in a bedroom that has a moldy air conditioner.

00:18:44.438 --> 00:18:51.357
They may wake up in the morning with a scratchy throat or a little stuffy nose and go about, they leave that vacation property and they're fine.

00:18:51.667 --> 00:19:03.107
Then there are the canary in the coal mine people that will do have that same experience and be sick for one, two, three months because they have a genetic inability.

00:19:03.323 --> 00:19:04.472
To get rid of that mold.

00:19:05.057 --> 00:19:07.748
And that mold is actually inside them and colonizing.

00:19:08.087 --> 00:19:09.538
So that has to be detoxed out.

00:19:09.567 --> 00:19:14.867
If that happens, it can 1 of the side effects of mold is constipation for sure.

00:19:15.117 --> 00:19:16.208
And same thing with parasites.

00:19:16.208 --> 00:19:20.157
If you have intestinal parasites, they're going to also cause constipation.

00:19:20.627 --> 00:19:21.367
Some backup.

00:19:21.748 --> 00:19:28.218
So that's another thing that we always look into and we say, if you have a, if you have a pulse, you have a parasite.

00:19:29.087 --> 00:19:30.928
We've always had parasites.

00:19:30.928 --> 00:19:32.928
We live with them symbiotically.

00:19:33.508 --> 00:19:36.877
The Native Americans used to do parasite cleanses regularly.

00:19:37.307 --> 00:19:37.708
Right.

00:19:38.178 --> 00:19:41.407
and we don't we don't anymore and we should be.

00:19:42.167 --> 00:19:42.278
Mm

00:19:42.458 --> 00:19:43.508
All my clients do.

00:19:44.178 --> 00:19:47.438
I just want to clarify for everybody the root causes, right?

00:19:47.438 --> 00:19:52.488
So it's lack of water poor nutrition, meaning no fiber or too much dairy.

00:19:52.508 --> 00:19:59.401
You need to look at those 2, the stress and anxiety component, the medications they could be on parasites and mold.

00:20:00.125 --> 00:20:02.846
and the last two, minerals lack of minerals.

00:20:02.855 --> 00:20:09.115
So we need minerals in our body to carry out so many of the processes that give, give ourselves energy to do things.

00:20:09.415 --> 00:20:12.316
And we are so demineralized in this country.

00:20:12.316 --> 00:20:20.685
We've been worried about multivitamins for a long time, but no one's really been talking about minerals and we're not getting minerals like we used to in our food.

00:20:21.086 --> 00:20:21.215
We're

00:20:21.371 --> 00:20:23.221
And specifically, those are

00:20:23.476 --> 00:20:26.066
multi just multi minerals, all the big ones, right?

00:20:26.066 --> 00:20:31.885
The zinc, the copper, the magnesium, the manganese, the calcium, the potassium, right?

00:20:31.885 --> 00:20:32.816
The big guys.

00:20:33.250 --> 00:20:34.840
We need those desperately.

00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:40.141
I'm happy to see more and more people drinking electrolytes because at least they're getting some of those, right?

00:20:40.141 --> 00:20:42.201
That's kind of become a big thing.

00:20:42.201 --> 00:20:45.971
They're getting some of those, but I really like to see people on a multi mineral supplement.

00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:47.131
A lot of things can change.

00:20:47.131 --> 00:20:56.121
And we know specifically that magnesium and even more specifically magnesium citrate can really help people to move bowels.

00:20:57.020 --> 00:20:59.141
So that's another big one that we like to look at.

00:20:59.141 --> 00:21:04.191
And then the last one is this piece that I call gut dysbiosis, which means something's wrong.

00:21:04.280 --> 00:21:05.730
Something bad is in there.

00:21:06.121 --> 00:21:14.780
If we've really scoured the other root causes and we're scratching our head, we'll do the gut testing because that'll tell us.

00:21:15.435 --> 00:21:17.066
100 percent what's going on.

00:21:17.086 --> 00:21:18.336
Is there H pylori?

00:21:18.605 --> 00:21:20.266
Is there enough stomach acid?

00:21:20.705 --> 00:21:23.385
how are, how's our liver doing and processing hormones?

00:21:23.385 --> 00:21:23.996
We can tell.

00:21:23.996 --> 00:21:26.816
We can tell on this test if there's gluten sensitivity.

00:21:27.365 --> 00:21:28.705
are there bad bugs?

00:21:28.705 --> 00:21:37.726
Do we have there's the full 1st page of this test is a whole litany of, bacteria and pathogens that you'll often pick up from water in other countries.

00:21:37.726 --> 00:21:40.826
A lot of people who travel that will wind up with the traveler's diarrhea.

00:21:41.266 --> 00:21:42.895
the whole first sheet is about that.

00:21:43.365 --> 00:21:45.925
and then it looks at all the good probiotics, right?

00:21:45.925 --> 00:21:55.026
We know there's probably about 10 right now they've really studied and they know that we need to have for an abundant and healthy microbiome.

00:21:55.026 --> 00:21:58.605
and it will tell you those 10 and the levels that you have.

00:21:59.026 --> 00:22:05.215
and so by looking at that information, you'll know, here's the probiotic I'm interested in taking.

00:22:05.365 --> 00:22:06.736
Here's what I'm missing.

00:22:07.455 --> 00:22:08.306
Do they line up?

00:22:09.175 --> 00:22:19.615
Because if you're just taking what's like, we talked about the garden, if you continue to just put in the tulip seeds and not all the other wildflowers, but you don't know that unless you test.

00:22:21.289 --> 00:22:25.712
do you start with the lifestyle things and then if it's not getting better, you do the testing.

00:22:25.772 --> 00:22:29.682
So basically like people listening, you can start with the lifestyle things.

00:22:29.792 --> 00:22:36.212
If those things aren't making a difference, then you would consider testing or do you do testing first?

00:22:36.907 --> 00:22:40.498
so you're both of those things are completely true.

00:22:40.807 --> 00:22:47.048
So if you're listening to this, please think about the root causes and try to fix it on your own, right?

00:22:47.077 --> 00:22:54.468
Like take the milk out, try to change your diet, get some movement and exercise, make sure everything else is on point, make sure your mineral levels are high.

00:22:55.137 --> 00:22:57.718
And then you work with a professional when you can't.

00:22:58.137 --> 00:22:59.407
When you can't figure it out yourself.

00:22:59.857 --> 00:23:06.478
The first part of when I work with someone is, of course, I will go over all of those and make sure that we've checked all the boxes.

00:23:06.798 --> 00:23:11.567
if someone joins the Gut Reset 1 2 3 program, off the very bat, we do the testing.

00:23:13.837 --> 00:23:20.367
So those people, if you're coming to a professional, you've, I think a lot of people, you've said, you know, you tried probably everything when you were constipated.

00:23:20.942 --> 00:23:26.002
We try everything and then we're like, I did prunes for three days and I pooped well and then it stopped working.

00:23:26.563 --> 00:23:36.752
So then I tried kiwi and then I went to magnesium and then I tried vitamin C and, right, it's like, oh, people are on this roller coaster of, it worked for a little bit and then it stopped working.

00:23:37.182 --> 00:23:37.593
Yeah.

00:23:38.182 --> 00:23:42.057
Magnesium does, did work for me and I've never stopped taking it.

00:23:42.442 --> 00:23:51.313
Yeah, and I like magnesium for every body, but if you're not citrate because that will weaken your bowels.

00:23:51.313 --> 00:23:55.093
You don't want, we call disaster pants, you don't want that to happen.

00:23:56.067 --> 00:24:00.248
yeah, I mean, I don't there's so many forms of magnesium, which I don't think people realize.

00:24:00.258 --> 00:24:06.788
So if you're just grabbing like the calm it, which is the really popular citrate brand in grocery stores.

00:24:06.788 --> 00:24:08.557
It's like a powder that you take at night.

00:24:09.147 --> 00:24:10.307
That's going to be citrate.

00:24:10.367 --> 00:24:12.768
I take glycinate, glycinate malate.

00:24:12.778 --> 00:24:14.238
There's lots of different forms.

00:24:14.461 --> 00:24:14.721
Yep,

00:24:15.540 --> 00:24:22.371
So I think that you mentioned that there is some promising emerging trends in the field of gut health.

00:24:22.790 --> 00:24:24.090
I'd love to hear about some of those.

00:24:24.747 --> 00:24:29.386
Well, I think a couple of things we're learning, you know, more and more about what belongs there.

00:24:29.396 --> 00:24:34.436
What are the hallmark, species that we need to have these strong, resilient guts.

00:24:34.457 --> 00:24:39.217
One of them, like I talked about, acromanthia, muciniphila is responsible for the mucus lining.

00:24:39.426 --> 00:24:46.446
You need that mucus lining before the edge of the intestinal wall, because you don't want anything rubbing up against that wall.

00:24:46.856 --> 00:25:01.997
But If that acromantia is gone, and over time, with age, we see levels drop dramatically, generally, that's when we tend to get leaky gut, when we have things rubbing up against that intestinal lining and the junctions loosen.

00:25:02.537 --> 00:25:05.307
so I think there's a lot of interesting work coming out about that.

00:25:05.592 --> 00:25:06.571
specific.

00:25:07.031 --> 00:25:20.922
and then, you know, interesting things with what's happening with GLP 1s and weight loss, Wigovies and Ozempics, and, talking about looking at what's in the gut that's important for weight loss.

00:25:21.287 --> 00:25:38.537
there are specific probiotics that we know, there's one called lactobacillus gasseri, for instance, that we know people who are optimal, who have optimal weight and metabolism generally tend to have more of that lactobacillus strain than people who are overweight.

00:25:39.196 --> 00:25:43.386
One of the really cool things that they're doing is they're starting to look at the microbiome of bacteria.

00:25:43.547 --> 00:25:45.436
specific patient populations.

00:25:45.777 --> 00:25:54.747
So, for instance, people with heart disease and they'll take stool samples from a subset of people with heart disease and they're finding similarities in their gut microbiome.

00:25:55.057 --> 00:26:04.823
And then if they're, and they're doing with animals, they're taking some of that heart unhealthy gut microbiome and transplanting it into a healthy animal and watching their heart health.

00:26:06.434 --> 00:26:12.765
So it's showing us that gut health is paramount to all other parts of health.

00:26:12.805 --> 00:26:15.317
You want healthy skin starts in the gut, right?

00:26:15.448 --> 00:26:18.077
You want to think clearly starts in the gut.

00:26:18.097 --> 00:26:21.667
You want your emotions to be stable starts in the gut.

00:26:21.904 --> 00:26:22.184
Right?

00:26:22.365 --> 00:26:34.359
And and I think that's that is the very exciting part because It's not terribly difficult if you just eat the right foods, right?

00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:38.210
Eat the right foods, take care of yourself, nourish yourself.

00:26:38.569 --> 00:26:42.309
That's what, when we nourish ourselves, we're nourishing our microbiomes.

00:26:42.349 --> 00:26:43.299
We're getting sunshine.

00:26:43.299 --> 00:26:44.250
We're getting movement.

00:26:44.259 --> 00:26:45.589
We're drinking clean water.

00:26:46.289 --> 00:26:48.430
I have a website called start pooping better.

00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:50.480
com because it's easy to remember.

00:26:50.940 --> 00:26:56.259
But in the, on that website is an ebook that I wrote with some tips for people to poop better.

00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:01.859
And in that is a recipe I developed called good poop vegetable soup.

00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:15.660
And it's the easiest recipe, and I say to people who are just starting out, changing their diets, trying to lose weight, trying to improve their microbiome, you can make this soup if you live in a food desert, and you can only get canned.

00:27:15.869 --> 00:27:16.490
vegetables.

00:27:16.750 --> 00:27:20.839
You can make it if you live on a farm and you have farm fresh stuff.

00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:23.549
If you're vegan, it gets made with vegetable stock.

00:27:23.779 --> 00:27:27.700
If you are really working on your gut lining, you might want to make it with a bone broth.

00:27:28.220 --> 00:27:40.339
You can add beans, you can add meat, but the point is it's just a tomato y, broth based, lots of vegetables, super nourishing food for your microbiome, right?

00:27:40.420 --> 00:27:44.500
We need to think in terms of that, in terms of how are we nourishing ourselves.

00:27:45.259 --> 00:27:53.130
I love vegetable soup for lunch instead of a salad in the winters, I often have a salad in the summer, but then in the winter, I'm like, well, my tomatoes are gone.

00:27:53.130 --> 00:27:59.190
And then I just want to have a soup and it's so easy to just make a batch and have for the, for the week.

00:28:00.119 --> 00:28:09.019
one benefit you haven't mentioned about pooping better that we always like to talk about on this podcast is how does this affect our weight?

00:28:10.714 --> 00:28:10.755
Hmm.

00:28:11.055 --> 00:28:11.644
Drastically.

00:28:11.664 --> 00:28:19.730
Well, I mean, you know, anybody who's listening who's been constipated, you can carry three or four pounds of stool when you aren't pooping.

00:28:19.779 --> 00:28:26.240
Like if I, and I'm a small person, but when I'm not pooping, well, my clothes aren't fitting, right?

00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:30.369
I'm not feeling well, I'm sort of feeling slow and lethargic.

00:28:30.380 --> 00:28:34.210
Like, but when I'm pooping, well, I feel like my.

00:28:34.644 --> 00:28:36.105
My stomach is much flatter.

00:28:36.105 --> 00:28:37.855
My energy level is much higher.

00:28:38.035 --> 00:28:44.795
I'm more motivated, I feel like, to do active things when I have a cleaned out bowel.

00:28:45.644 --> 00:28:54.125
I'm an exerciser in the morning, and so if I don't poop well in the morning and I go out and try to play tennis, it's just not the same, right?

00:28:54.384 --> 00:29:01.855
But when I've had a great poop and I'm feeling hydrated and well and healthy, I play great tennis with much more energy.

00:29:02.724 --> 00:29:06.535
So, I think energy levels are definitely impacted, with bowels.

00:29:06.585 --> 00:29:10.615
I think consistently pooping well every day.

00:29:11.150 --> 00:29:23.829
Is a weight loss tool if you are eating the right foods that are driving that bowel movement every morning, you're doing yourself a huge favor if your liver is not fatty and sluggish, right?

00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:27.500
And you're producing the bile and you're eating the right foods.

00:29:27.720 --> 00:29:28.890
You're going to move your bowels.

00:29:28.900 --> 00:29:30.869
You're going to be more motivated to work out.

00:29:31.160 --> 00:29:36.539
It's 1 of those things like a little step begets another step begets another step, right?

00:29:36.539 --> 00:29:39.380
When we feel good and it really starts with that elimination.

00:29:39.778 --> 00:29:40.878

Melissa Hall Klepacki

Functional Gut Health Specialist

In her 40s, Melissa battled persistent health issues, consulting 12 doctors before uncovering Lyme Disease as the culprit. It was a lengthy detox protocol that ultimately led to her full recovery, informing her work to lead others through the same journey.

Melissa now collaborates with individuals nationwide, offers access to functional lab testing and develops solid protocols for healing. She is the Founder of GutReset123, a 12-week program that offers precision functional gut testing and personalized protocols to take people from constipation to liberation.