Welcome back to the Inspired
Living with Autoimmunity podcast.
I'm your host, Julie Michaelson,
and today we're joined by Dr.
Vincent Pedre, and we're talking about the
gut as the gateway to excellent wellness.
Dr.
Padre's new book, the Gut Smartt
Protocol is the culmination of years
of research and clinical experience
as a functional gut health expert.
Our conversation dives deep into the
importance of gut health, including
why we've become compromised, and
what we can do to support health
and healing by focusing on the gut.
Dr.
Pedre, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks for having me.
It's such a pleasure to be here with you.
I am, as I already said, so
excited for this conversation.
And I wanna start by finding out how you
became so passionate about gut health.
You know, it's, it's the, the path to
becoming a gut health expert is something
that was under my nose my entire life,
and, and partly I didn't realize it
because irritable bowel syndrome or I
b s had become part of my normal and
all of the associated symptoms that I
call gut related symptoms were also kind
of part of the, the, the, the makeup.
My, my matrix of being that after a while,
and I'm sure that people listening to this
would probably can relate to this, is when
you have symptoms that have been chronic
and they've been going on for years
since you were a child, you, you start
thinking that that's just part of who you.
that there's no other
normal other than that.
So it becomes your quote unquote normal.
But I I, I remember all the way back
to when I was a li, uh, very young and
suffered from severe constipation to
the point I was in so much pain, like
having crying late at night trying
to go to the bathroom and I couldn't.
Um, and that at some point turned
into more like upset stomachs,
butterflies in the stomach
and what, what interlays over that time
is that I would get sick, like any child
gets sick, and my parents would take
me to the pediatrician and they would
prescribe an antibiotic and they would
prescribe an antibiotic pretty much every
single time, regardless of the fact that
it was probably just a viral infection.
Sure.
Now, my immune system was weak and
we know that 80% of the immune system
lives all along the gut lining.
And if your gut is compromised because
your gut micro microbiome has been
altered by antibiotics, then your immune
system is gonna be on hyper alert.
And so my immune system was
on hyper alert, couldn't fight
off infections easily, and.
At times they actually had to take
me to a clinic to get a gammaglobulin
shot, which is something that I,
I don't even think we do anymore.
Um, but it's basically pooled
immunoglobulins from, uh, blood donors.
And every time I got that, when,
and the reason that I was taken to
a doctor to do that is because the
antibiotics weren't even helping
Sure.
and I wasn't getting better.
Um, and I always felt better.
It was almost.
, it was like getting a surrogate
immune system because my own
immune system wasn't working.
And this went on for pretty
much all my teenage years.
I was on 20 plus rounds of antibiotics
probably two or three times per year.
And as a result, and the, and I
can only say this, looking back in.
Sure.
after I trained in functional medicine,
even after I was a doctor, I didn't
even learn this in medical school.
But looking back in time, um, by
my early to mid thirties when I
was discovered functional medicine
and started kind of going down
That rabbit hole , this
wonderful rabbit hole we live in.
yeah, the gut microbiome
and, and gut health and leaky
gut, all these things that.
you know, leaky gut at the time.
It wasn't something that Western medicine
even accepted as as a possibility.
And so I went down that rabbit
hole and realized that the 20
plus rounds of antibiotics had
destroyed my gut microbiome.
And as a result, I had
developed leaky gut.
And because of the leaky gut, I had
developed sensitivities to the two.
Food groups in a teenager's diet,
which were wheat, gluten, and dairy.
And I was eating, you know, frosted
flakes, frosted mini wheats for breakfast
with milk, um, you know, fruit loops.
I, I was having mac and cheese, I was
having sandwiches with cheese for lunch.
So I was poisoning myself.
My, my mom would take me to get a
vanilla milkshake at Burger King on the
way home from school every single day.
And we're not parent bashing.
They just
no, no.
I mean,
grew up very similar to you,
we, we didn't know any better.
And, and obviously the
pediatricians didn't know either
because no pediatrician ever.
, Hey, let's take dairy out
of his diet because he keeps
getting airway infections.
And it wasn't until, you know, I
did grow up in a, in a household
that was very, my, my dad was, was
very curious and focused on learning
about nutrition and supplementation.
You know, granted the knowledge that we
could get in those days was based on what?
Get from the bookstore,
from, yeah, from the library.
Like a book that you check out,
but you couldn't go online and hear
about other people's, you know,
sometimes you heard word of mouth.
So my dad went and had food sensitivity
testing done and I remember at one point
he couldn't eat all these foods and
we thought it was ridiculous as kids.
Like, oh my God, like I can't
eat this whole list of foods.
But it, but it was ingrained
in my, in, in my thoughts, even
though as a kid you kind of reject.
. So by the time I went to medical school,
I was, I was really trying to buy bio
hack, like, how can I not get sick?
I don't wanna be on
antibiotics all the time.
And I was very observant of my diet and
changes and, and when I went to medical
school, my diet took a a, a turn that
partly was accidental because, , I
couldn't sit and eat cereal with milk for
breakfast because I had to just run out
the door to get to my 8:00 AM classes.
So I cut out, um, a lot of milk from
the diet and it coincidentally, at the
same time I was cooking for myself.
So I started adding olive oil, avocado,
I started eating more healthy fats.
So without even knowing it, I
was, I was making some really
important changes in the.
and that first fall semester of medical
school, I noticed that I wasn't getting
sick the way I used to and I wasn't
picking up other people's colds so easily.
And, and that was my first like,
wow, there must be something here.
You know, but you don't,
you still are not making.
The full connections because I wasn't
being taught in medical school that
dairy is inflammatory and they can
actually increase mucus production
and, and increase your risk for,
for picking up viruses and colds.
So it wasn't like a
hundred percent withdrawal.
I didn't understand how important
it was at the time, but it was, it
was definitely part of my education
was all this self experimentation
that I was doing, trying to figure.
, like, how do I feel better?
I didn't fully understand that it had
to do with my gut and the gut microbiome
until years later, you know, over a
decade later when I started reading
about functional medicine and Dr.
Mark Hyman's books and, and finally
decided, okay, I need to do this.
I need to.
Restore my gut microbiome.
I've gotta change my diet,
we've gotta eat organic.
We've gotta be really selective about
the types of meats that we cook at home.
And I went through a big diet
overhaul around that time and
my gut health started improving.
And it was a big surprise because going
back to what I said at the very beginning,
I had thought that this was my normal
and that I was basically, by the time.
, I discovered functional medicine.
I had been through my residency
training where they would feed
us pizza and coke for lunch.
And, you know, you're, you're rating the
vending machine at three in the morning
because you're starving and you're up
all night and you're eating like, you
know, m and mss and, and horrible things.
And I was always running to the bathroom
like, and I didn't, What was upsetting
my, my digestion, I had no clue.
I wasn't making the connection and, and by
the time I discovered functional medicine,
I thought, this is just the way I'm gonna
have to live for the rest of my life.
I'm, I might be out at a restaurant
and something might not sit
right, and in the moment I might
have to run to the bathroom.
I'm sure people are who are listening to
this probably thinking like, that's me.
Like, that's happened
Uh, me.
Yep.
. Yeah.
Absolutely.
It, it's, I love that you,
when that's your experience,
that's your normal, right?
Like this is you.
You just think like, this is how I made.
and, and because I have li had lived that
way at that point for over two decades
of my life, I thought that that was gonna
be my normal for the rest of my life.
And it was quite a surprise
that the, the changes, the
improvements happened really fast.
Once I committed, once I actually
figured out through a blood test,
cuz I'm, you know, I'm still a
scientist, um, Western trained.
So
Like the
I, I really like data and I wanted
to, I felt like cutting out gluten
was this insurmountable mountain.
It just felt like a really big task.
So if I was gonna do it, I wanted to
have a real, like, solid reason to.
and it showed up in my
blood test and I lit up
Yes,
and, and, and, you know, and I
do that with patients sometimes
because I think that, um, sometimes
you need that extra motivation.
To know that gluten is toxic to your body,
and when you can see it on paper, then
it's that extra motivation to then create.
I mean, I was eating sandwiches, I
was eating pizza, like I w Bread was
a part of my diet, and from one week
to the next I did a complete overhaul
and had to one of the, the most.
challenging things.
It took probably like a month or more was
to reprogram in my head what I thought was
an acceptable lunch because now I couldn't
have pizza, I couldn't have sandwich,
so like running out in the middle of the
day and getting those things, I had to
change where I, where I sourced my food
because now it was gonna be more like a,
a rice bowl with vegetables and healthy
things, or it was gonna be a salad.
but no bread, no gluten, and no dairy
among some other foods that I had to
eliminate that came up on the test.
Um, and, and, and sure, there
were probably some hiccups
initially, but within two weeks
I started feeling so different
Okay.
amazing.
my energy levels came up,
my mental clarity, my focus.
So a lot of things that I, I write about
in, in my upcoming book, the Gut Smart.
about how the gut affects so many other
systems in the body that you may, you
may or may not realize because they
have also those symptoms that become
part of your normal, or you think that
they're, because you're just getting
older and that's normal process of aging.
And it's inflammation and
it's, it's coming from the gut.
And I love that you said that.
Um, it's one of the things I think
were your story, my story that, you
know, you had a lot of gut symptoms.
A lot of people have food sensitivities
and don't have gut symptoms, and
so they think, oh, my gut's fine.
And I'm like, well, but if you
have autoimmunity, Leaky gut,
like there's no question unless
you've already done the work.
Um, and they're always shocked
that it's like, oh, my headaches
or brain fog, mood anxiety.
I mean, so many other things are
and I had a lot of energy
issues by the time I finished
my, my training as a doctor.
And I thought that those energy
issues and the severe fatigue were
adrenal fatigue at the time, which
was kind of the end diagnosis.
And I thought it was because I was
just wiped out from my training.
, but I was also wiped out from
eating a lot of gluten and having
leaky gut and being inflam.
Yeah, which is incredible.
And I always, it, it's
always fascinating to me.
I actually just.
Conversation with a, a veterinarian
equine veterinarian yesterday.
Um, like, why are we trying to kill
people who want to be doctors ? Just
the, the, you know, everything you go
through in medical school, you're the
first person I've ever said heard, say.
You know, oh, I accidentally
started eating closer to what
supports me during medical school.
Just for you.
It was time restraints, thank goodness.
But usually it's, you know, I
started medical school and things
went downhill fast, so, uh, so,
know, the other, the other thing
that, um, I, I, I did at the time,
which I think also influenced
how I felt and I talk about in my
book, was I started meditating.
Ah, love it.
And, and I was doing breath work and
meditation for, I had, I had started
learning it about eight months before
I got into medical school or started
medical school and I continued
it throughout medical school, um,
and incorporated yoga as well.
And I think those things also made
a big difference cuz you can't
out diet a stressed out life.
and I love that you brought that up.
You know, when, when we're
trying to heal the gut, if you're
not getting yourself into that
parasympathetic state, you can't.
You can't heal.
And I see that all the time.
I have had people come in that have
their diet actually dialed in, you
know, but their stress is still through
the roof and they're not managing it.
Um, versus, you know, it's very
rare that somebody shows up.
I have one client who has a really good.
Practice, you know, does all the
things, meditation, breath work, yoga.
Um, so I love that, that
you brought that in.
Um, I want to, there's so many,
we have so many parallels.
Um, and listeners know my story.
It, it, it's always so fascinating
the things that improve and even
the way you connected the dots.
Like when I started.
For me, diet and meditation were the two
things that really moved my healing from,
from ra and increasing my healthy fats
was such a big piece growing up, low fat.
Um, so I, I love that part.
I wanna dig in a
and, and, and corn oil that,
uh, I mean, in my, in my,
a
in my house growing up, uh, we.
almost everything with, uh,
Mazola corn oil, which we know
is an inflammatory Omega six oil.
Well, and my family was in the dairy
business, which I, I, you know, now know,
I, I don't do , you know, is inflammatory
for me, but, Just to add insult to injury,
we used squeeze partay margarine at
the table instead of butter, you know,
because it was supposed to be so healthy.
Um, you know, so luckily we know
better now, and I remember when I first
started to get into functional medicine.
I kind of thought the whole gut health
thing, you know, it all starts in the
gut, was just again, like the buzzword
and the, you know, this is overdone and
now I'm like, oh my gosh, , we need to
have conversations about gut health, so.
So tell us a little bit about your
upcoming book, the Gut Smart Protocol.
um, I think it's revolutionary in a sense.
It's one of the first personalized,
uh, books for Gut of Healing.
That's based on a quiz that I designed.
And the quiz covers not just gut symptoms,
but also gut related health issues that
might happen in other parts of your body.
Because, uh, as you know, when you
have gut imbalances, that's gonna
affect every system in the body, the
skin, the lungs, the airway, the, the
brain, your mental health, um, everyth.
is affected by, by your gut and
how you're absorbing nutrients and
whether there's leaky gut weight gain,
metabolism, uh, your joint health.
So many things.
of it.
I mean, really all of.
and like you said, you know,
over the years I had patients who
presented with gut related symptoms.
, but had absolutely no gut health issues
and swore that their gut was fine, they
were having normal bowel movements.
And lo and behold, when you test the,
their gut, uh, I would find yeast
overgrowth, parasites, um, all sorts
of, um, um, inflammatory markers.
So sometimes the person is maybe not aware
or maybe the symptoms aren't strong enough
Right.
Well, we normalize, like, yeah.
Like people that say, you
know, oh, I poop regularly.
Well, you know, gimme details.
Tell me more.
Oh, twice a week.
I'm like, no, that's not, that's normal.
You might, that's normal for
you, but that's not good.
there's, uh, there's a lot of, um, well,
it's, it's the importance of not making
assumptions and, and understanding
that everybody uses, might use similar
language, but the language might mean
different things to different people.
So always, always asking, uh, people.
, what is it that they mean by that?
But part of the reason that I, I wanted
to create a personalized program is
that I learned from taking care of
people with gut health issues is that
there really no two guts are the same.
So saying that there is a one
size fits all diet that will
fix all gut issues is not
that again,
There's, there's no one size fits all.
. If what I, what I found, if you
have severe gut issues by my
quiz and you classify as severe,
you can't have fermented foods.
They're not gonna agree with you
right.
Yet, they're so healthy for some people.
Yeah.
That, but they can, they
can make you feel sicker.
Although, you know, you probably, you
know, read a lot of articles about how
great fermented foods are and, and the,
and what I wanted to capture in my book is
all the caveats, um, and to help people.
through the confusion of what, what
is it that you eat and what is it that
you don't eat, especially if you're
trying to, to heal your gut, but also
revitalize your, your whole body.
And, and so, you know, there is a very
strong, uh, part talking about the
science behind it, really trying to
educate people because I think knowledge
is power and the more you understand,
the easier it is to commit to making the
changes that are going to improve your.
. And then I teamed up with a chef who's
written, uh, a lot of cookbooks in
Australia, and she helped create recipes
that were classified according to mild,
moderate, or severe for people with who
are in all the different categories.
Um, obviously someone who tests mild can
eat moderate and severe recipes, so as you
go down in the categories, you can eat the
category before you and, and then we have
a very strong, um, Component of mind, body
and talking about the vagus nerve and the
gut brain connection and how important
that is for, um, improving gut health,
including teaming up with some breath
work and meditation teachers to create.
Some great, uh, breath work and
meditations for gut health, including
like a pre-meal ritual that you
would do right before you eat during,
during a mindful eating ritual
and a post-meal ritual as well.
So I really wanted to kind of address
the, the gut from the way I, I think
of it as the gut, body, mind, spirit
connection and, and like you said,
, getting people into the parasympathetic
state, the rest and digest and
assimilation state, which is also
the place where the body feels safe.
And when your body feels
safe, your body can heal.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love it's, I, I'm so excited
for the book, um, because it's
you, it's so comprehensive.
And this is for . We hear
the word holistic a lot.
This is actually what
holistic means, right?
Is our whole body.
Um, and so again, like just saying,
here's the diet you should be eating.
It's not enough to heal.
Are there.
enough and, and it's been, it's
been so influenced by, by my own
experiences, like discovering breath
work and meditation before I went to
medical school and yoga as well, and,
and just realizing how important it
was to incorporate all those pieces.
as part of a healing plan.
And, and it's interesting cuz over the
years, you know, you thought that, okay,
it's this thing that you do, that's it,
you know, you diet and supplements and all
that, that's kind of like the main thing.
And then, and then maybe you, you
add in meditation, breath work.
Now I
you're an overachiever, no, that's not it.
all of it is front and center
and I really do believe that.
If you can't get into a healing
mindset, it doesn't matter what you'll
do physically for the body, you're
not gonna be able to heal fully.
Oh, I love that.
It's so essential.
And again, that was another
thing through my journey.
Of, I used to like, oh, we'll handle
this and then we'll get to healing
mindset, and, and I'm like, no,
no, no, . I'm doing it backwards.
We have to start there
and get better results.
and, and over the years, that's,
that's how people usually approach
their, their healing journey.
I would tell them all the things I wanted
them to do and add on the, the meditation,
the mindset, and when they would come back
for their follow up, they would tell me,
well, you know, I started doing the diet,
but no, I haven't started meditating.
I haven't, and, and it was almost
like they, they saw it as, Adjunct
that was just like marked optional
Right,
and, and it's actually, you
know, I think it's part of
self-care that is non-optional.
Yeah.
And the results you get from making the
other changes are exponentially faster.
So I, I just look at it as I know I,
again, that's where we started now.
Um, I love, I love that you
mentioned, there's so many
things I wanna talk to you about.
Um, we're gonna briefly touch on bloating.
because I think that that even
people and so many people who
experience bloating will tell
you they don't have gut symptoms.
I feel like that's one of the ones.
Um, you know, when you're running for
the, the bathroom with diarrhea, you
tend to acknowledge you've got that.
Um, but again, people think,
well, I've always been that way.
That's just how it is.
So, , what causes blo?
So many things can filter
down and cause bloating from
imbalances in your gut microbiome.
Uh, so something we call a dysbiosis,
which is just really a fancy word for
an imbalance, gut microbiome, where
maybe you've lost some of the good,
uh, probiotic bacteria and you've got.
overgrowth of some bad bugs,
which could be bacteria, could
be yeast, could be parasites.
So those things can cause
bloating in and of, of themselves.
Um, other things that can cause bloating
include foods, uh, whether it's a food
intolerance like lactose intolerance,
uh, an intolerance to maps like fructans.
And a lot of times that's related
to a condition called SIBO
or small intestine bacterial.
Overgrowth, which is not
necessarily bad bacteria.
It's just bacteria that have
translocated and are hanging out in
your small intestine, whereas they
should be in the large intestine.
, but now they're hanging out in the
small intestine where they're going to
encounter food earlier before your body
gets a chance to digest and absorb it.
And then that leads to a lot of
fermentation and gas production,
which leads to bloating, which
can also, so that, that relates to
possibly an a more upstream problem.
And by upstream, I mean
upstream in the, in the gi.
It could be low stomach acid that's
causing bloating and, and a typical
way to know if you have low stomach
acid, maybe low, uh, proteases
ability to break down protein.
is you get full immediately after
eating, you might start burping.
So if you start burping, that's a sign
of low stomach acid and food feels like
it doesn't empty from your stomach.
It just kind of sits there and
you and your stomach expands.
After you eat.
30 minutes later, it still
feels like it's sitting.
So that could be an upstream problem,
not enough stomach acid that can
exist in conjunction with sibo, small
intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
You might have.
Another thing that's very common is back,
um, pancreatic insufficiency where your
pancreas is not secreting enough enzyme,
but what you, you might think that if
you have pancreatic insufficiency, that
it's the pancreas as it's the problem.
Usually it's not the pancreas.
The pancreas is.
It's the small intestine brush border
that's not signaling the pancreas
to secrete those enzymes because
that brush border is inflamed.
The, the gut is leaky.
. And so leaky gut itself can cause
bloating, food sensitivities.
So having an immune reaction to foods
like wheat, gluten for me, for a lot
of people or other foods, uh, it could
be a wide variety of foods that could
lead to this, can cause bloating.
And another one that often
is missed is a condit.
Called small intestinal fungal overgrowth,
sifo, which, um, a lot of people know as
candida, but doesn't necessarily have to
be candida yeast, could be another type of
yeast that's, um, fermenting and producing
gas and causing, uh, bloated feeling.
And surprisingly, people may think that
this is not a cause for bloating, but
if you're constipated, it's kind of like
having a clogged pipe and it's gonna back.
And if things aren't emptying while
you're adding more stuff to your
intestines because you keep eating,
even if you're not hungry and you're
severely constipated, well, when
you eat, you're gonna get bloated
and that bloating may last all day.
Um, and then you can kind of filter
down in all the, the different
causes for constipation, like, um,
meth, methane, predominant Cibo.
Uh, they can be low vagal tone,
which is really important.
Or even you mentioned.
Acid, I mean, it's all connected
, that there are things that signal
Yeah.
So, so, and a lot of times there's
not one singular cause for bloating.
A lot of times it's,
uh, it's interconnected.
There could be also, um, you know, if
your gallbladder was taken out because
you had cholecystitis, then you're
not getting that bolus of bile in the
gut, which is also really important
for controlling the microbial environ.
In the gut and helping to push
stool through it could be as simple
as you're not eating enough fiber,
so things are getting backed up.
Um, so, you know, there there's a lot
of potential causes of what might feel
like the same thing for a lot of people.
They just get bloated, their pants
expand, they've gotta loosen the button.
but it's not one thing.
It could be a whole combination of things
or different things for different people
that could be causing those symptoms.
and I love that you mentioned the button
cuz I was gonna circle back to that.
Like, if you have to loosen your belt
or open your pants, that's a sign.
Like that is not how our
body is designed to work.
When we eat, we shouldn't
need to change our clothing.
No, the, the normal way to the.
Yeah.
The, the normal way to feel is within
30 minutes of eating, your food is
digesting, your stomach's starting to
empty, and actually that full feeling
that you had when you finished eating
dinner is starting to dissipate.
And by an hour after eating dinner, you
should feel like your, your digestive
system is quiet, feels good, it's relaxed.
always say if you can feel it.
That's a, that's a symptom.
Like we shouldn't actually feel our food
from the time we eat it to the time it
leaves, I don't think like it should
just be doing its thing and, and just
like joint pain, brain fog, you know,
you name any other symptom, this, this.
, all these gut symptoms are information.
Even if you've had them your whole
life, like you did, like I did,
you know, it's still, it was your
body trying to tell you like, Hey,
and a lot of times what I feel and,
and part, part of what I talk about
in, in the book, the Gut Smart Protocol
is developing intuitive eating.
And, and I, and I divided it into
three parts, uh, before meal intuition.
, which relates to kind of like tuning in
and seeing, well, how hungry are you?
Are you really hungry?
And is there something that you're craving
because there's, there's an intelligence
in your body that might be saying, you
know, I really want some greens right
now, or, or I need red meat right now.
Could be that, that you need meat
because your body needs iron.
Um, and listening to that intuition
and then during meal intuition
is really about recognizing.
And slowing down and being mindful
and present to get the signals when
your body is full, when you can stop
eating and, and post-meal intuition.
Very important for people to develop,
uh, which I feel is like the, the part
that, that you and I as practitioners are
always kind of acting as a, as a surro.
In intuitive voice, you know, where
I'm, we're kind of like body whispers,
helping people to understand the
signals that their bodies are telling
them, but ultimately we want our
patients, uh, or people out there
who read the book to become their
own intuitive healers by learning to
listen to the signals from their body.
And, and post-meal intuition is
about recognizing how did this meal.
not just how is it digesting, but did
you feel really tired after eating?
Did you feel like you had to take a nap?
Uh, did you get a headache?
Did you feel, did your eyes get heavy?
Did you get like some sinus pressure?
Did your joints get achy?
Um, did you get itchy?
Did your skin get itchy?
Cuz all of these are signs
that maybe there's so.
That you ate that isn't quite
agreeing with your physiology.
But a lot of people, like you said, they
ignore these SI signals because they're
not, their awareness isn't there, and I
think it's really important to develop,
uh, these three types of intuition
I love that.
I, because especially I love that
you included the post because we
did, we did like we ate, we're done.
We're.
You know that we don't
think about it ever again.
And using your intuition can allow
you to then become the detective.
Like you said, this is what you
and I do all the time with people.
Um, so it's like, okay, if this
meal, oh, I did notice this meal.
I wanted an nap.
After I ate lunch yesterday, what was
in the, you know, then you go through
and you can start to really identify.
You talked about knowledge as
power, and that's another way, you
know, we don't always need a test.
I love testing.
I believe in it, and I, I think it
encourages people to stay on track.
Um, but you know how you feel,
by,
is
just by being really.
Observers, uh, we can learn a lot.
And, and as you know, not every functional
test is perfectly black and white.
Doesn't always read everything.
And, and that's why, you know, we
don't, we don't treat the test.
We treat the patient.
I love that.
Absolutely.
And if you look at my labs, I don't
ha I, I don't have celiac markers.
I don't seem to have any gluten
sensitivity that shows up.
Um, that's because I ha I haven't
eaten gluten in 15 years, . So, and
I never had the genetic markers.
Um, you know, so.
and there and, and those are only
a certain limited set of markers.
There are probably other pathways
don't know yet.
Yeah.
And, and that's why, yeah, going
back to the importance of this, this
intuition, and I actually use it for
also planning a meal by thinking about
how do I want to feel after I, I eat?
Uh, because maybe, maybe
I, I wanna feel light.
I don't wanna feel too, , or
maybe I'm really hungry and
I wanna have a heavier meal.
I'm just gonna relax at home.
I'm not gonna do anything major or what.
If you're planning to go out
dancing afterwards, you're not
gonna wanna have a big pasta dinner
that's gonna weigh you down, right?
You're gonna wanna have something
that lets you feel light and move.
Giving a presentation and if there's
a food that you, you know, include
sometimes, and you know, it maybe
leads to a little brain fog or
tiredness or that's not, you don't
do that before you get on stage.
Like that's where that power comes in.
I I, this could take us like way
down a rabbit hole, but I have to
ask you, are there certain foods
that you think nobody should be
eating or is there a starting point?
Um, obviously the quiz
and, and the book when
Yeah, the quiz is gonna, the
quiz is gonna filter down.
at least give you what's, where you land,
what's slot, mild, moderate, or severe.
And based on that, I created an exhaustive
food list with, uh, consulting with
nutritionist and, uh, fermentationists
to, to really filter down what foods
are okay in each of the, the categories.
But there are some
general guidelines, right?
Some, some things that we know that are
good for everyone, for example, When you
can buy organic, avoid pesticides, right?
Because pesticides are
like antimicrobials.
They go in and they, they
mess up your gut microbiome.
Um, for a lot of people, you know, a
good starting point is taking gluten out
because gluten affects the permeability of
the gut, or, or in other words, increases
gut permeability or causes leaky.
For people even who are normal,
quote unquote normal, who shouldn't
react to gluten, might have
some mild issues with gluten.
And sometimes you don't know unless you do
an elimination and then a reintroduction.
Uh, because when you're getting
overexposed to a food, a lot of times
the signals get all crossed and jammed
I'm old enough to remember the fuzzy
TV screen that younger people are
like, I don't know what you're talking.
That's how I think of it though.
Why doing an elimination diet
with a proper reintroduction
is so key to learning.
it is really helpful.
I mean, the other fact is that
the majority of the world is
70 to 90% of the people in the
world are lactose intolerant.
So taking dairy out of the diet
and, and that's just the, the tip
of the iceberg because, um, a lot
of people are also dairy sensitive.
It's one of the, among the, the top.
Food sensitivities out there.
Some of some things might
be surprising and are more
individualized, like some people
don't do well with eggs, for example.
Uh, but that's not, not
something that's for everyone.
Cross the board.
I'm gonna say sugar is bad, right?
Sugar is inflammatory.
, you're not gonna go wrong if you
can reduce your sugar intake.
You're also not gonna go wrong if
you cut out or you limit your alcohol
intake because alcohol is also a
gut re disruptor, and it actually
increases inflammatory signals in
the body and the older you get, you
probably like anybody who's listening.
probably thinking, you know, I
can't drink the way I used to when
I was in my twenties, thirties.
Like one drink just hits me harder.
I don't recover as easily the next day.
Or if I've got a couple of drinks,
well, it's causing more damage than just
your ability to recover the next day.
And it actually also is
increasing your risk for cancer.
So across the.
Limiting alcohol if you can, or if
you're, or if you're in the process of
healing because you've got inflammation,
you've got autoimmunity, then, then you
really wanna take away the obstacles to
healing and that includes those things.
You also have to be really
careful with health foods, you
know, things that are, that have,
quote unquote, health foods.
our brand.
To look healthy.
For example, there's a lot of bars and
foods out there that are using sugar
alcohols as substitutes for regular sugar.
The sugar alcohols feed certain
parts of the microbiome, and after
you eat that, you might end up
so bloated that you feel stick.
It can also cause diarrhea,
so like erythritol.
yeah, and some of these PR packages
have a warning on like, put, put
it down if there's a warning.
May cause diarrhea.
Why it's food.
It's not supposed to do that.
. Like that's not,
do that.
And, and, and also, you know, they
get, they sneak into toothpaste
also because a lot of toothpaste
are sweetened with xylitol and,
and some people, not everyone.
, but some people are sensitive to xylitol.
Some people are also sensitive to fibers
that are added to thicken the nut milk.
So if you're, you're trying to be good
and you're being dairy free and you're
buying a store made, um, you know,
a brand, uh, with gurg gum, Zam gum,
which are fibers that for some people
are good and they help them be, become
regular, but other people, it actually
irritates the gut and causes diarrhea.
So these are, these are.
To be aware of because you might not
be thinking like, oh, I went and I
bought an an unsweetened almond milk
is supposed to be healthy for me.
Well read the ingredients because you're
not just buying almond milk, you're buying
almond milk with these other ingredients
in it that might not agree with your gut.
Ab, absolutely.
And oh my gosh, we could talk for three
more hours, but I know you have , you
have other obligations today, as do I.
I I wanna also share with listeners
before we get to the next piece, um,
you have an incredible gift for people.
I know that the website
for the book is up.
Um, and it's gut smart protocol.com.
And if you do gut smartt
protocol.com/gift, which
will be in the show notes.
Um, you are giving listeners a
free chapter, which is amazing.
Um,
and, and a few little surprises in
Ooh, love
a, a sense sense of the book.
Um, Dr.
Pearl Utter wrote a forward to the book
and it's included with the free chapter.
, um, along with, uh, part of my gut
healing story that I talked about and
how, how my own gut health journey
and, and like I, I started in the
beginning how that inspired me to just,
uh, pretty much dedicate my life to
helping people with gut health issues.
which is so amazing.
And, and hopefully this conversation,
just hearing some of these, this
is why we have these conversations.
Um, hopefully people will be motivated to
take steps to start to address gut health
or look there, um, and then the, the
quiz and the book, incredible resources,
and, and to realize that you may not
have gut symptoms, but if you have
what we call gut related health issue,
Which can be just metabolism and weight
gain and inability to lose weight.
No matter what you do, you just
can't seem to drop the pounds.
Well, then you've gotta look at your
gut because it's probably leaky gut
inflammation, insulin resistance, and
a a foundational gut health issue that
needs to be addressed for your body
to be able to start losing weight.
Disagree if you, if, if you will.
Um, I would say anybody listening to
this, if you have autoimmunity, you have
got shoes, whether you feel them or not.
I, I think that there's, we've kind of
eliminated the question of whether the
we didn't get, get in there, but,
um, famous researcher, Alesio Fasano
uh, he's
Study on, on what is the, the
potential trigger for autoimmunity.
Like where does
autoimmunity, um, rise from?
And part of the theory is that it comes
from the gut and it involves three
things, an environmental trigger, a
genetic predisposition, and leaky gut.
And the environmental trigger
that he was looking at was gluten.
Uh, because gluten, in some ways to our
immune system looks like a bacteria.
The protein.
And so our immune system, when it
sees the gluten protein, it thinks
that it's a foreign invader and, and,
um, basically says attack, and then
it starts destroying the gut lining
and causing body wide inflammation.
and his later research has shown, you
know, it's not just for people who
are, who are gluten sensitive, that
gluten can create these issues at any
point, um, and, and start to, you know,
get those gut junctions to loosen up.
I think it's a cumulative hit hypothesis
and, and some people might reach that
threshold earlier because of genetic
predisposition and other people may take
a little bit longer in their lives, but
eventually they do hit that threshold
and you mentioned toxins and the
young, there's so many different things
that that play in and, and it is a
kind of a cumulative effect for sure.
Um, this has been so incredible and
you already have given amazing advice
for people, but I always throw my
guests under the bus at the end and
ask for one step that listeners can
take starting today to begin to.
Well,
I know it's, it's a tough one.
you know, um, it makes me think of
a, a study that they did in Cub.
During what they call the special period,
which is when Cuba lost its subsidies from
Russia and Cuba started rationing sugar.
So per capita, sugar consumption
dropped significantly in Cuba and they
also take really close, um, you know,
uh, population measurements of heart
disease, diabetes, weight, uh, heart.
and during this special period when
they were rationing, they, they
rationed and limited sugar quite a bit.
All of those health issues, the
rates of all of those health
issues dropped dramatically.
Like it wasn't just the little
drop, it was a dramatic drop.
And then you see the end of the
special period and then sugar it
consumption starts to increase again.
And you see all of these
health issues start to come.
in,
there's your science . So
your one step would be
to cut back on sugar intake, like cut
back on, on all sources of sugar where
it's, whether it's obvious cane sugar
desserts, sweets or adding sugar to
coffee, to drinks, but also sweetened
beverages and, and also hidden sugars in
refined carbohydrates and processed foods.
If you can do that, you're going to be.
Doing your gut microbiome a
favor because you're not gonna
be feeding those bad bugs.
And I would say that's, I, I, I'm very
much believe even though my, my 14 day
program is obviously more complex and
you're doing a bunch of things at once.
But I also think of the importance
of what I call step-wise activations.
Um, especially for people who
get overwhelmed, do one thing.
Conquer that well.
So if it's sugar and you're gonna cut back
on your sugar, that will be your one goal.
That's all you're doing
is cutting back on sugar.
And once you have that down pack, then
you go on to the next activation and
that will ensure that you are successful
in, in accomplishing your goals.
You know, whatever it may be.
It may be that you're learning to
meditate, and that's all you're
gonna do is you're gonna activate.
Meditation, but it's important to to, to
know yourself and know what type of person
you are and whether it's easier for you
to do one thing at a time and conquer
it before adding in the next thing,
rather than trying to do so many things
that then you just fail because it's
stuck.
Yeah.
Or you can do it for a
week and then forget it.
It's too hard.
And I love, I wanna highlight
that you said reduce sugar.
You know, be aware.
Um, I always tell people, start by
noticing cuz often if you haven't already
been really paying attention, you're
getting a lot more sugar than you think.
Um, but I love, it's not
about perfect, it's about.
Consistently improving, and as
you said, then build on the winds.
So you, you mentioned sugar and
meditation was kind of an aside.
I'll, I'll throw out on top of your,
one thing I asked you for because
you said it, and I wanna, I just
wanna highlight it for listeners.
The idea of where is your easiest
place to start, because that's how
you start to build the momentum.
And so, you know, maybe meditation, you're
like, ah, I can, you know, I can meditate.
I've already played,
for some, for some people it's
cut out bread when you go out to.
So you stop, stop eating bread
at the table, and that's the
first step in reducing your
grain and, and wheat consumption.
And then little by little you
expand that and you stop having
pasta and, and you know, so, so it.
It can be different for different
people, like you said, but recognizing
those little wins because it's much
more encouraging to build upon the
wins, then try to do it all at once
and fail, and then you just feel, you
know, you all the guilt and the shame
and all that comes up, which doesn't
help us get to our health goals.
I love it.
Amazing.
And for people listening on the go that
aren't gonna check out the show notes,
where's the best place to find you?
Because I know they're gonna
wanna hear more from you.
Certainly going to the book website,
gutsmartprotocol.com, but you can
find me on Instagram mainly as at Dr.
Pedre, d r p e d e r e, and I put
out a lot of free, resources and
information to help educate people.
Yeah.
Your, your feed is incredible.
I, and I try to do some funny
things and do some funny reels
and stuff for, to entertain and,
and educate at the same time.
I love it.
I love it.
Dr.
Pedre, thank you so much.
You have given us amazing gold today.
Thank you.
Thanks for having.
For everyone listening, remember, you
can get the transcripts and show notes
by Visiting Inspired Living Show.
I hope you had a great time and
enjoyed this episode as much as I did.
Go check out Dr.
Padre's book, the Gut Smart Protocol.