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The Plant Powered Collective Podcast helps women in their 40s, 50s, and beyond live vibrantly and nourish boldly. Hosted by integrative nutrition coach Lori Willinski, each episode blends science-backed nutrition with approachable strategies for hormone balance, energy, and healthy aging. Rooted in lifestyle medicine and personalized coaching, Lori shares her story of thriving on plants since age 14 and managing autoimmune disease with nutrition. Discover how a plant powered lifestyle fuels not only your health, but also your leadership and your future self.
Today I want to talk about something that surprised me. When we think about gut health most of us immediately think about food fiber, fermented foods, probiotics, legumes, 30 different kinds of plants. And you know if you've listened to this podcast for any length of time the last three podcasts have been about gut health because that's how important it is to our bodies. And you know that I absolutely believe that nutrition matters. And by the way my name is Lori important.
Speaker 1:Today we're going to talk about something that some people may not associate with gut health. Over the past year I've become increasingly convinced both scientifically and personally that some of the biggest improvements in my digestion and my gut health happened not because what I changed on the plate but my gut health improved because I changed what was happening around my plate. And one of those changes was walking. Not running, not training for a marathon, not hitting 10,000 steps a day. How many of you try to hit 10,000 steps a day and just then give up because it's hard to do that?
Speaker 1:I know it's hard for me. Just intentionally walking. So today I want you to imagine that we're taking a walk together. Maybe we're strolling along the beach. You guys know that many of you know that I live in Florida.
Speaker 1:Maybe we're walking through your neighborhood, maybe we're meeting for coffee and taking a lap around the block while sipping on a on a latte. Let's talk about why something as simple as walking may be the most overlooked tools for supporting gut health. Let's dive into the podcast. Can I ask you
Speaker 2:a question? When was the last time you thought about your gut health without thinking about food? Most of us don't. Right? We think about what we're eating.
Speaker 2:We think about what we're avoiding. We think about the supplements perhaps. But what if gut health is also influenced by how much we move, how stressed we are, how often we laugh, how connected we feel,
Speaker 1:how much time we spend outside. The more I learn about the gut brain connection, the more I realize that digestion doesn't happen in isolation. Your gut is constantly receiving information from your environment and one of
Speaker 2:the signals it receives every day is movement or lack of movement.
Speaker 1:So here's something to ponder.
Speaker 2:What if your digestive system isn't asking for another supplement, another fermented product? What if it's asking for a walk? I'll tell you. If you've listened to my podcast before, you know that I've gone through some changes in the last couple of years. I've lost some weight that I had gained during menopause, and I think that I was also holding on to some unresolved stress that perhaps I didn't want to
Speaker 1:manage or confront. I
Speaker 2:didn't connect as much with people because I was on a treadmill figuratively working all the time. And then, you know, when I learned that my ex husband, he told me that he had another family, I decided to make some changes in my life because I didn't have time to waste. I needed to confront my stress. I needed to move my body more. I needed to connect more with people.
Speaker 2:Now if you ask people in my in my circle, I connected with people during that time, but not in the way that was meaningful for me. A lot of it lot of the connection was around work and professional connections, which
Speaker 1:are important, and I love them. But I also made a lot of personal connections as well.
Speaker 2:And I moved. I moved my body. A lot
Speaker 1:of times when I was working full time out of
Speaker 2:the house, you know, if I didn't think that I was going to get 10,000 steps in, I'd just give up because I was exhausted and stressed. And
Speaker 1:when I chose to make a difference in my life, I
Speaker 2:thought, you know what? Yesterday, I got in 1,200 steps. Today, I'm gonna do 1,300 steps. I'm just gonna walk out to the to the mailbox and back. And then
Speaker 1:maybe I'll walk out to the mailbox and maybe just down the street and around the cul de sac to get in the extra 100 steps. And then the next 200 steps the next night, and so on. And now I still don't get in quite 10,000 steps, quite frankly. But I get in a lot more than I did the day before or last month or last year.
Speaker 2:And I can tell you, I am convinced both personally and bio individually,
Speaker 1:but as well as scientifically, that that helped me regulate my nervous system. It helped me regulate my gut, and so on.
Speaker 2:So, again, what happened to me was I got busy. Right? Really busy. And even now, I struggle to get out and get
Speaker 1:any type of walk in because I'm building Plant Powered Collective as we speak, as I speak right now on this podcast. I mean, I'm thinking about 10,000 things that I wanna do. My friend Charity, who, you guys, if you listen to the podcast, know that she has been on my podcast, twice before. And we walk together, and it's fantastic. We hold each other accountable.
Speaker 1:We talk about goals and about strategies for our businesses. And recently, we're going to start collaborating on some corporate wellness programs that that we're going to be offering, and we're very excited about it. You know, this podcast is really taking off. It's getting a
Speaker 2:lot of traction, and I love it. I also do a lot of community work. I'm caring for my dad. I'm managing a household. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Managing a home. You know, waiting for
Speaker 1:the plumber to arrive because, weirdly enough, I never knew that this was
Speaker 2:a thing, but, toilets can break. Like, the
Speaker 1:where the stopper goes, can disintegrate so that the stopper doesn't stop everything anymore. And, the water, you know, runs all the
Speaker 2:time in the toilet. So, anyway, I'm looking at, you know, a very big water bill this month and, you know, 8 or $900 to change out a toilet. So, you know, all of those things. And so
Speaker 1:I can't always get out and get for a walk. You know? And like many of you, I wasn't sitting around looking for more things to do. Like, oh, I have to do more. I have
Speaker 2:to get out and, you know, get in my 10,000 steps because I'm busy.
Speaker 1:And as I mentioned, when I was going
Speaker 2:through my divorce, you know, I made a choice to move more. I made a choice to
Speaker 1:support and care for my mind, body, and soul.
Speaker 2:And now I find that with a lot of different kinds of stress happening, I'm falling back into not being able to move a lot more. And, you know, I convinced myself that if I can't fit in like a real workout, near quotations, there wasn't much of a point. Can you relate to that?
Speaker 1:If I couldn't do thirty minutes, if I can only do five minutes taking my dog outside to go
Speaker 2:to the bathroom and maybe walking around the cul de sac while, you know, my dad stays inside, then, you know, that's not real. That's not a real workout. That's not really moving my body. But I started experimenting with something different instead of trying to exercise more. And one thing, even when I walked, I always had an earbuds.
Speaker 1:I was listening to a podcast. I was listening to an audiobook. I was listening to music.
Speaker 2:And now what I'm doing and it's
Speaker 1:just been within the last couple of weeks, I started trying to walk more intentionally, and that's the difference. I wasn't necessarily increasing my total step count dramatically. I just can't. I was creating little moments throughout the day where I moved. So sometimes after lunch, a
Speaker 2:ten minute walk, especially since the caregiver taking care
Speaker 1:of my dad is still here. A quick walk after dinner again because I have someone coming in in the evening, a caregiver to help with my dad, and I I am free to go for a little bit of a walk.
Speaker 2:And, you know, oftentimes when I'm walking, I might be thinking through a strategy,
Speaker 1:you know, especially around this corporate wellness opportunity and collaboration that, is very real. Sometimes I walk when I'm feeling overwhelmed, and recently I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Taking care of, you know, a parent with dementia is a lot. And my dad is nonverbal. He has aphasia, so trying to understand what he wants sometimes, can be really overwhelming.
Speaker 2:And walking sort of intentionally, intentionally feeling that one foot in front
Speaker 1:of the other, intentionally listening to my breath, or maybe feeling the slight breeze against my skin. I've noticed something. My digestion is feeling better. If you guys remember, I don't know, maybe two podcasts ago, we talked I talked about gut health and fiber. And one
Speaker 2:of the things about gut health is elimination. And,
Speaker 1:you know, I'm often constipated. What I found is when I'm even though I have been walking, when I'm walking more intentionally, I noticed that my digestion was better.
Speaker 2:My elimination was easier, and I felt less bloated, and my energy was more stable, and
Speaker 1:I felt calmer. So I'm kind of excited about that.
Speaker 2:And, of course, me being a bit
Speaker 1:of a science nerd, I wanted to find out, like, why that made a difference. And this is where it gets a little bit fascinating for me is because our digestive system and our brains are constantly communicating, again, through the gut brain axis, which is what I've been talking about, you know, the last, I don't know, three podcasts. And the thing
Speaker 2:is is when we're stressed,
Speaker 1:our bodies shift into fight or flight mode. And guess what isn't a priority when your brain thinks that you're running from danger? Digestion. The body becomes focused on survival, not absorption, not repair, not restoration. Have you ever eaten lunch while answering emails or texting?
Speaker 2:How does your body feel afterwards? Walking
Speaker 1:helps create a different physiological state. Actually, what I found was because, you know, I'm a little bit of a science nerd, and I like to look at these things and figure out, you know, am I imagining this, or
Speaker 2:is this real? Research does suggest that moderate physical activity can positively influence gut microbial diversity. How about that? It also can improve the gut barrier function and support healthier digestion. And it also helps regulate stress physiology and inflammation.
Speaker 1:Like, why aren't we walking more?
Speaker 2:If just walking can do all of this stuff for us? And, honestly, I think part
Speaker 1:of the magic is that walking reminds the body that it's safe.
Speaker 2:So something happened that completely changed my relationship with walking. I stopped trying to make walking productive. You know, I didn't listen to a podcast. I didn't listen to music. I didn't try to call my cousin, which is a big thing that I do when I'm walking.
Speaker 2:I didn't, I didn't. I just started making it present. I discovered walking meditation. And before you think that means, like, sitting cross legged on a mountain somewhere or on the beach, it's not
Speaker 1:what I'm talking about at all. Walking meditation is simply walking and paying attention. So like I said, no podcast, no phone, no
Speaker 2:multitasking, just walking. And at first, it felt like a little uncomfortable because I felt like I wasn't being perfect. I felt like I could do more, and
Speaker 1:there was more to do. There's always something
Speaker 2:to do, especially when you own your own business and you're starting a business, especially when you own your
Speaker 1:own home and toilets break and water heaters break and, you know, I need to put extra locks on the door so my dad, you know, won't open them in the middle of the night. Not that he has, but just in case.
Speaker 2:You know, all of those things.
Speaker 1:And, you know, my brain could go in a million different directions.
Speaker 2:But I didn't wanna multi multitask. I just wanted to walk. And it like I said, at first, it was, like, super uncomfortable because I do meditate in the morning, but this was something different because I was walking. And I felt like, you know, people walking by, could they tell that I was meditating? I don't know.
Speaker 2:Because I was breathing in through my nose, out through my mouth, in through my nose, out through my mouth. Sometimes I would box breathe, in through my nose, hold it for two to four counts,
Speaker 1:out through my mouth, hold it for two to
Speaker 2:four counts, and continue to box breathe.
Speaker 1:And I would notice when I started that I saw is that I would notice things. I noticed just how blue the sky was. I noticed the white fluffy clouds. I noticed the birds. I noticed a flower
Speaker 2:on someone's bush that I
Speaker 1:walk by all the time and really
Speaker 2:never realized just how vibrant the color was of the flower on that bush. You know, I started noticing butterflies and other things. I started listening to my breaths. I started listening to the footsteps. I could feel the sunlight on my skin, and I and I really appreciated it and thanked the sun for giving me vitamin d.
Speaker 2:So a question for you is, when was the last time you walked without listening to something, without checking your phone, without trying to accomplish anything? It's just something to think about. So another thing that changed my walking habit was my friend Charity. I've already talked about this. Many of you know Charity from the previous podcast episode.
Speaker 2:We started walking together, gosh, I don't know, late last year. And what began as exercise became something way more meaningful? Some days we talked about business. Some days we talked about life. Some days we solve problems.
Speaker 2:Some days we simply laugh. And that's when I started thinking about another piece of the gut health puzzle, connection, another lifestyle medicine pillar. Friendship regulates the nervous system. Community regulates the nervous system. Feeling supported regulates the nervous system.
Speaker 2:And when the nervous system feels regulated, digestion often functions better too. Maybe one of the reasons those walks felt so good wasn't just the movement. Maybe it was a combination of movement and connection. Maybe health is more holistic than we've been taught to think. And let's be honest, most
Speaker 1:of us aren't looking for another item on our to do list. So here's my challenge. Stop thinking about walking as an exercise. Start thinking about walking as a wellness practice.
Speaker 2:Try a five minute walk after meals, parking farther away, walking while waiting for an appointment, walking around the block after dinner, walking with a friend once a week,
Speaker 1:taking a stress walk instead of a stress scroll.
Speaker 2:Hi, dad. How you doing? My dad was taking a nap, and
Speaker 1:now he's just getting up. You want some lunch?
Speaker 2:Alright. I'm gonna sign off. I'll finish this podcast in a little bit. I'm gonna give my dad some lunch.
Speaker 1:Okay. So I just finished giving my dad his lunch. And where were we?
Speaker 2:We're talking about walking, walking with friends, walking, parking in
Speaker 1:one of the last parking spots to get in a few steps, walking around the block after dinner. Oh, yes. And taking a stress walk instead of a stress scroll. That's something I'm still working on. It's on my list of things to do.
Speaker 1:I have it on a sticky note on my mirror. When I get ready in the morning, I look at it, I remind myself that instead of taking a scroll break to look at social media, take a walk break. Let me ask you because it's something that I ask myself. Where could I naturally add five or ten minutes of movement into a day I'm already living? And I know for
Speaker 2:me, it's walking instead of scrolling on social media.
Speaker 1:So the idea is it's not a new day, not an ideal day, but my actual day. I think about this all the time. Where can I carve out five or ten minutes? I'd be interested to hear where you can carve out five or ten minutes out of your day. Is it maybe just scrolling a little bit less?
Speaker 1:Is it turning off a a streaming service like Netflix or Prime or Hulu or whatever and taking a step outside instead? I'm not talking about finding time or taking a break from things that are meaningful and that are valuable and not that scrolling and streaming aren't valuable. They are. But if you're like me and doing it too much, can you take some time away from that to give yourself a little bit of movement to walk, put one foot in front of the other, and really be present in that moment while walking? So after lunch, after I gave my dad lunch, we just took a little walk to help with his digestion.
Speaker 1:And it's not a long walk because he sort of shuffles, and, it's kind of going down to the end of my cul de sac and coming back home. And just being present in that moment. And maybe it's my false impression. But when we just took a walk after I gave him lunch,
Speaker 2:I said to him, you know, dad, the sky is so blue. Do you
Speaker 1:see the white fluffy clouds? You know, just trying to get him into that present moment. And I could see a little bit of a light in his eyes.
Speaker 2:I could see maybe a a teeny bit of a pep in his step. And, again,
Speaker 1:maybe that was just me wanting to see that. I don't know. But I know for me, it's there when I do that intent when I walk intentionally, and I hope you find that as well.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening. And,
Speaker 1:again, just ask yourself like I do, where can I naturally add five or ten minutes of movement into a day I'm already living? If there's one thing I hope you take away from today's conversation, it's this. Gut health isn't just about food. It's a lot about food. But just not everything about food.
Speaker 1:It's about the life that surrounds the food. It's about movement. It's about stress, connection, nature, nervous system regulation and the small habits that gently support the body every day. You don't need to become a marathon runner. You don't even need to walk 10,000 steps.
Speaker 1:Don't need to obsess over your step count. You don't need perfection. Maybe you just need to walk. Maybe it's just that consistency. A simple walk one foot in front of the other, a few deep breaths, a little sunshine, a conversation with a friend and perhaps over time a healthier and happier gut.
Speaker 1:So this week I'd love for you to experiment, take a walk, leave your phone in your pocket. Notice what you see. Notice how you feel. And notice what happens in your body because sometimes the simplest wellness practices turn out to be the most powerful. And until next time keep asking yourself what is nourishing you on and off the plate?
Speaker 1:So please nourish boldly so that you can live vibrantly.