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Licensed psychologist Dr. Jen McWaters, and wellness coach Kaitlin Reed, join forces to help women create an abundant life through holistic wellness practices, mindset shifts, and fostering a healthy relationship with food and their bodies. Join us as we take a deep dive and uncover the raw truth about mental health, nutrition, fitness, and beyond, offering insights and strategies for transformative growth.
Dr. Jen McWaters is a licensed psychologist and a holistic wellness coach for women. She is a Certified Integrative Mental Health Professional and is passionate about helping high-achieving women overcome their mental blocks, find freedom from anxiety, and create an abundant life inside and out. Find out more about her work at: awakeningholistichealth.com
Kaitlin Reed is a fitness, nutrition, and mental wellness coach on a mission to help women build the body and life they deserve and desire. She has BAs in Health Promotion and Wellness & Fitness Management, MA in Performance Psychology, currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Health Psychology. Her goal is to help women finally understand the science and strategy of nutrition and exercise so they can achieve their goals and live an empowered life. Head over to kaitlinreedwellness.com to learn more.
DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with your personal physician if you have any personal medical questions.
Welcome to the Counter Culture Health podcast. I'm doctor Jen McWaters. And I'm coach Caitlin Reed. We're here to help high achieving women overcome mental blocks, find freedom from anxiety, create an abundant life, and build the body and life that they deserve and desire. In this weekly podcast, we'll uncover the raw truth about mental health, nutrition, fitness, and beyond. Let's get to it.
Jen:Alright, guys. Welcome back to Counter Culture Health. Today, I have a friend with me, doctor Meagan Breining. Thank you so much for being here today. Doctor Meg, as she is commonly known, is a naturopathic medical doctor and founder of Bold Natural Medicine. She is most passionate about helping women in all stages figure out what is going on with their hormones. She also has a passion for helping her patients work through chronic health problems, including constipation, diarrhea, bloating, SIBO, thyroid and adrenal dysfunction, fatigue, and skin issues. Her personal experiences with gut and skin issues and hormone imbalances were ultimately what caused her to choose naturopathic medicine as her forever calling. When not seeing patients virtually, you can find her taking care of her daughter, Grace, walking her dog, polar bear, or cooking all types of gluten free dishes for her family at home. So doctor Meg, welcome to our podcast.
Meagan:Hello. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Jen:Me too. I am so thrilled that you said yes to joining us. You are such a wealth of knowledge. You know, I've done, like, an Instagram live before, so I knew I wanted to have you back. And today, we're gonna really focus in on digestive health and some things that link to that, like mental health and fertility.
Jen:I might even get into talking about parasites because that's a hot topic. So before we go into that and dive in, let me ask you, what about you and your practice makes you countercultural to maybe the mainstream narrative out there when it comes to health and wellness?
Meagan:So as a naturopathic doctor, I love this question because I get asked this question a lot. A lot of people don't understand what naturopathic doctors do, and so they wanna know what's different. And what really comes up for me when I think about myself in, you know, the big world of all different types of doctors is I really wanted to be a doctor that was going to listen to my patients, because I grew up going to different naturopathic doctors, and I struggled with a lot of stuff. And, like, at one point, the skin issues that I was having were just so big, and my mom and I were just like, oh my gosh. We just really need help.
Meagan:And I just really appreciated it when people when my doctors when they listened to me, and they thought through what treatments that they were gonna recommend, and they listened to my struggle. And they were open to doing things. Like, they were open to being investigative and running labs or trying different things. And so I always wanted to be that type of doctor. When I decided to become a doctor, I wanted to be that doctor that would listen.
Meagan:And that's consistently what my patients always tell me too is if they're, you know, kind of on the fence and they're not quite sure about spending the money to go see, you know, a naturopathic doctor out of pocket and all that type of thing, they're like, oh my gosh. I'm so glad I did because I felt like you listened to me, and that is always a huge win for me. Like, that's the point.
Jen:I love that. And that's why I always love sending folks to you when I can and then it's appropriate. But it's also kinda said that that is what is rare too. Right? The fact that you have to find it takes some work to find a doctor who's going to listen to you and see you as your unique person.
Jen:But I love that that's what you really care about because I think it is more rare these days, and it's so needed, especially women. I think, oftentimes, women can feel gaslit when I go to conventional doctors. Mhmm. And, yeah. So I think you offer something really special there with that.
Meagan:And, you know, part of it is just the system. The system is broken. And, as a naturopathic doctor, I'm very much I I feel like I'm very much outside of the system because a lot of it is cash, and a lot of it is people come to me and my own practice where I make the decisions. So I have a lot of freedom in terms of testing treatment, how long I wanna listen to your story about, you know, whatever it is. And, you know, I don't have insurance telling me what to do.
Meagan:And so I have a lot of freedom, and so I can sit down and listen to people and figure it out. But people that have, you know, a standard primary care or their OBGYN or their neurologist or whoever they're seeing, you know, they have 6, 7 minutes, and that's that's just how it is. And so until that changes, I think a lot of people are gonna feel like they're floundering a little bit at the doctor's office unless they come see somebody that's outside of the system.
Jen:I totally agree with that. I think especially when it comes to our topic today, digestive health, because it can feel so nebulous and, you know, it it can feel really abstract even for people. So give us kind of an intro of why is digestive health so important, and what does that even term encompass in your view?
Meagan:Yeah. So, technically, your digestive system is everything from your mouth to your anus. So, I love saying that on a podcast because people are like, what is your anus? So your anus is your butthole. I know.
Meagan:I I love being silly. So it's it's your mouth all the way to the end where the poop comes out. But this is important because you can have issues with your mouth. You can have issues, like, in your rectum. You can have issues with your stomach.
Meagan:You can have issues with your esophagus. You can have issues with your small intestine. And it's, the digestive system, it's all this giant tube, and everything that's, like, inside of that tube is technically considered outside of us. So we're really like, I've heard it described as being a funny shaped donut, which I think is fun. But you can have issues with all different parts of the system, and there's different functions with, different pieces of your digestive system.
Meagan:And so if one piece isn't working well, that will affect all of the other pieces. And I think that's why people are often just really confused because there's a lot of things that they may experience that they consider to be abnormal or normal. And then there's medically what we consider normal and abnormal. And Mhmm. Everybody's slightly different.
Jen:Can you I'm kinda jumping a little bit, but can you tell us more about Yeah. What is common versus normal? Like, what you you know, because I think that's a lot of things too. I've heard people that will suffer for years with digestive issues and not recognize that it's an issue because it made me, like, everyone around me struggles with that. Or far as I knew, people don't poop every day.
Jen:You know? So what is what is normal digestively? What's abnormal? Even if it might be common, doesn't mean that it's actually normal or good for us.
Meagan:Yeah. And this question intersects what you were asking about before, which I kinda wanna circle back to, like, why Digestive Health is so important is because it's it's the foundation of a lot of other body functions that affects how our brain functions. It affects our skin. It affects our hormones. It affects our ability to get pregnant and stay pregnant.
Meagan:And if digestive health is not working properly, then we see impacts all over. And so I I have a lot of people that come to me, and they're like, I wanna work on this thing. And then I say, oh, actually, we need to work on your gut for that. And so they're like, oh, really? And the whole common versus normal, I think a lot of people don't know that you should poop every day.
Meagan:And, I mean, that's that's kind of the biggest one that you should poop every single day. It should be, relatively formed and not too squishy. It should come out really nice. You should feel complete, like you had a really great bowel movement. And you shouldn't be experiencing cramping, blood in the stool, digestive discomfort, whether it's indigestion or, abdominal pain.
Meagan:Like, you should feel hungry. You should eat. You should process the food, and you should poop. And it should all just be like, oh, I feel good. There's no bloating.
Meagan:Your poops aren't changing from being really constipated to being really diarrhea to being mushy. Like, there should just be a lot of consistency with how things function. And so a lot of people report that their symptoms are all over the place. They're sometimes bloated. They're sometimes having constipation.
Meagan:They're sometimes having diarrhea. And, you know, of course, when I say that, our digestive systems, they don't function in a vacuum. So we're all going to experience symptoms here and there, you know, like when we travel or we get stressed or we eat something that, you know, was maybe a little bit too spicy, or that we know doesn't agree with us. But in general, on the day to day, our digestive function should be eat and absorb and digest it and eliminate it, and it should all go really without it should go really swimmingly without any sort of symptoms. And that is not what I see in practice.
Meagan:A lot of people have, you know, they they poop twice a week, or their stools are always going from, being really hard to being really soft, and that that shouldn't be the case. And we shouldn't have any sort of pain with meals, or any sort of feeling of fullness or discomfort, and it's it's very common. Same with bloating. There's just so many people out there that are walking around, and they don't know what a nondistended stomach feels like.
Jen:Right. So I'm my follow-up questions is, 1, why is it important to poach? I know there's a detox piece connected to this, and and along with other things. And then 2, what might be happening if you're not going regularly?
Meagan:Yeah. So pooping is essentially our body's way of getting rid of waste. So, you know, when we eat food, we break it down, and usually we're breaking it down into really, really, really small particles, the smartest the smallest that we can get, which is amino acids and, monosaccharides and things like fatty acids so that we can absorb it. But, you know, we eat things that have fiber and and other things that we can't digest. And so, we create waste, and that we have to eliminate.
Meagan:But we also always will take in different types of toxins from our environment, and so pooping is one way that we get those out. And so if we are not pooping every day, then we're not getting that out, and that can create excess stress on all of our body systems, but it often manifests in, like liver dysfunction, gallbladder dysfunction, hormone dysfunction. You can kind of track almost anything back to a poorly functioning digestive tract. So it's really, really important to poop every
Jen:day. Got it. Okay. So if if you're having digestive issues, like, could be diarrhea, constipation, what are some things that that could what are some things that you investigate? Right?
Jen:Someone comes to you with that. So what are the things you're trying to rule out when you have someone who's not looking great digestively?
Meagan:Yeah. So it depends on what kind of symptoms that they have Mhmm. And how often they are and what brings them on. So, one thing that I see really commonly in my practice is SIBO, which is small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. And so those patients often present with a lot of bloating.
Meagan:They have skin issues. They are sometimes anxious or depressed, so their mental health is really affected. They have nutrient deficiencies, so they're noticing problems with their hair, their skin, sometimes their nails. They're not feeling like they're absorbing food. So, one of the hallmarks of SIBO is just feeling really, really bloated.
Meagan:But with every digestive, diagnosis, you can also be asymptomatic. So sometime that's that's why I was saying before. It's really important to, take a history and sit down and say, like, what exactly are you experiencing, and how does it come on? Because that will dictate what tests we end up using if we do need to use tests. And, so SIBO is one really common thing.
Meagan:I often see a lot of yeast overgrowth in people, and that I think is due to a a couple of things. You know, we eat so high sugar in America, and its sugar has become very normalized. But if you think back a 100, 150 years ago, you know, we didn't eat anywhere near as much sugar. And so sugar has become like a multiple multiple time a day type of thing versus, you know, you've got sugar at a party once every 3 months. So sugar is very, much a problem.
Meagan:It helps the normal yeast that exists in your colon to overgrow, and that can cause a lot of negative, symptoms for people, gas, bloating, changes in stool, diarrhea, or constipation. So yeast is really common. Some people have low stomach acids, so they really don't have a sense that they're digesting well, and they are noticing that, like, their hair and nail quality is really going down. And some people have gallbladder issues. Like, I mean, I could just go on and on and on, in terms of, like, what symptoms help me figure things out.
Jen:But Do you feel like, doctor Meg, that there's because of just the toxicity in our modern culture and our diet, is that why we're seeing more digestive issues? And then for other doctors, I'm like, everyone has an digestive issue almost. Right? Like, it's so rampant. Is it is it more like that's just what humans struggle with, or this is really like a modern phenomenon?
Jen:What's your opinion on that?
Meagan:That's a really good question. I think I think it mostly comes back to diet. So, like, when we were talking about before, like, why is digestive health so important? Because you're eating food, and that food is literally fueling all of the parts of your body. And people nowadays are just very nutritionally confused.
Meagan:What's interesting about kind of nutrition over the lifespan is that we have different stages, and nutrition influences us at every stage. So we're born, and then the mother's nutrition has impacted our growth. And then depending on whether we're breastfed or not, that impacts, you know, the next year or 2. And then your family's nutrition, either, like, lack of information or maybe they do have good information. You know, your family's nutrition choices really impact what your parents feed you.
Meagan:And then, you know, you're with your parents for however long. Let's just say 18 years. And then you go off into the world, and you make your own decisions based on maybe what your family fed you, other experiences that you had. Maybe you go to college, you're in the cafeteria. Maybe you, you know and then you you come into adulthood.
Meagan:You have jobs, travel, marriage, different experiences that all impact what you're picking for your nutrition. And so it's just because we have so many different stages and part of our nutrition in our life isn't chosen for us, like, in our childhood, that shapes what people pick as an adult. And so, when I'm working with people, like, in their twenties thirties, a lot of people are just really confused about what they should eat because their family did one thing, and then, you know, their they did one thing while they were in college. And then they met their spouse, and now they're doing another thing. And, you know, you put in fitness goals and and other life goals and all of the, what I would call poor information that happens on the Internet with nutrition, and some of the old nutrition dogma that is still in place today, in terms of what universities and places are teaching people.
Meagan:People are just really confused. So that I see have a huge impact on the digestive experience that people have. Because if they got their information from a good place, then usually they're doing pretty good. You know, if they're eating a basic whole foods type of diet where they're eating lots of different types of animal proteins, They're having some carbohydrates. They're having some amount of vegetables cooked and raw.
Meagan:You know, they're getting a wide array of both macro and micronutrients over you know, I like to evaluate diets over the span of a week versus, like, a day, because if we look at a day, we get kind of a little bit too neurotic with our analysis. But, you know, people are generally eating a whole foods diet. Usually, they're doing pretty good. But then you also have to think about how else does our environment affect this. And you can be a person that eats a whole foods diet, but you had a ton of antibiotics when you were young.
Meagan:And then you grew up in a town that had, you know, something in the water that was had a negative impact on your health, and then you moved to the city to go to college, and then you were exposed to mold in the in the dormitories and, you know, smoke in the air. So, yes, your environment hugely affects what happens. And I wouldn't say that it's one thing, but, what I tend to unravel with people as we're going through their kind of digestive health workup is, like, where did you get your nutrition information? Are you confused? How can we improve your diet to, 1, give you the longevity that you want and the symptom free life that you want, but also to, clinically, right now, help improve your digestive function.
Jen:I love that. I love that you yeah. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Don't wanna
Meagan:I was just gonna say, like, sometimes we're temporarily doing a diet for a clinical reason. Like, we're going low FODMAP for a placebo person, or we are, doing a low sugar, low carbohydrate diet for a person that's tested positive for yeast. But for both of those things, those are just examples that are really hot right now, but we're not going to do that long term. That's not what we want to do long term. We wanna heal the gut and move on.
Meagan:And so sometimes we need to do a very specific diet for a period of time to get us a certain treatment outcome, and then we kinda go back to normal eating and, you know, new the nutrition conversation comes back up in terms of, like, where do you need help? And, you know, the the nutrition that you need is going to impact the next stage, and we need to make sure that your nutrition, that you're eating is in alignment with where you are currently and then where you wanna go.
Jen:I have so many questions. Okay. I wanna I wanna go back after this question to pharmaceuticals because that triggers something for me. So I was thinking about my own journey with gut health and, like, people often think, well, I eat so healthy now. Like, I'm fine.
Jen:But the reality is a lot of us had so many toxin exposures in the past. Like so I had a lot of antibiotic exposure due to, like, acne. And at that time, growing up as a teen, that's what my family thought was best. And what dermatology often thought was best is just load you up with antibiotics that destroys your gut health. And even now, I feel like I'm still dealing with the downstream effects of that and just process.
Jen:So I wanna think more about that for folks of, like, hey. Even though you are healthy now, eating healthy, these things in the past and even, like you said, mold toxicity can still be toxicity can still be impacting your gut health now and be showing up in different ways. So maybe let's so they just throw
Meagan:out that at you.
Jen:Can you speak a little bit more to that? Like, other things that if people are listening, like, hey. I feel like I'm doing really well. What are other things that might suggest that they might actually have something underlying that might need some healing?
Meagan:Well, I'm glad that you brought this up because a lot of people say to me exactly what you just said, which is, like, look at my diet now. It's, like, really good. This is what I consider to be really good, but I'm really struggling. And so when that happens, we have to consider all of the things in their past that maybe got their digestive system to where they were now. So their diet and their nutrition right now, even though on paper it looks great, might not be a really good fit for them.
Meagan:So antibiotics is a huge thing that will impact the gut negatively. For some people, that ends up being a huge, like, catalyst for a whole, like, gut health journey. Some people aren't as bothered by it in terms of their symptoms. Everybody's really, really different. And sometimes we don't always connect the dots until we're an adult and we're on a certain health journey, and then we look back and we think, oh, yeah.
Meagan:I had round and round and round of antibiotics when I was a child, you know, 1 to 2 because I had an ear infection every 2 weeks. You know, that's going to have a negative impact. But the antibiotics are a huge thing. Anybody that, like, goes to the hospital and and receives, different antibiotics back to back, or different antifungals, back to back, I see that can really throw people off, and we have to do a lot of rebuilding. I see the birth control pill really, really, impact a lot of women.
Meagan:And when you were talking, that made me think about just the fact that when we have something like antibiotics or birth control pill that has negatively impacted our gut health, and now we're in this, you know, gut health journey and we're trying to fix things, I don't think people really realize how long it can take the gut to heal because the gut is more than just a tube. It's a tube with a lot of different functions. And so when we dysregulate the gut, the gut's trying as well as it can to keep doing all of the things it needs to do, but it can get all messed up. And so we need to often work in in stages to help, you know, the stomach heal or the esophagus heal so that we can handle food again. And then, you know, we go downstream, and then we work on the gallbladder and make sure it's functioning again.
Meagan:Then we work on the small intestine, then we go to the colon. So, like, we're often not treating all of the different pieces of the digestive system at once because that would be overwhelming and not really helpful. Sometimes we need targeted treatment, but, it can take a long time to heal because, when we dysregulate the gut and we create a leaky environment so most people have heard of leaky gut, but leaky gut is just essentially this idea that at the layer of the gut mucosa, you have a single cell layer of cells, and it's in between those cells and through those cells that we absorb nutrition. And so when that barrier becomes leaky, then it's just essentially bad news bears because what's happening is that there are large pieces of food matter that are not fully at their broken down state. So it's like piece of steak versus an amino acid.
Meagan:So that piece of steak or broccoli or whatever or whatever food you wanna pick on, like, ends up kind of going through that that gut layer and goes directly into our bloodstream. And then our immune system is like, oh, hey. That should not be in there. And so then the immune system gets involved. The immune system is very active in our gut lining also.
Meagan:So when we disregulate the gut, we also disregulate the immune system. And so when we're healing the gut, we always have to remember the immune system and working on that piece too, and so that's why, you know, the the birth control pill can be so, hard to come off of is because everything is getting dysregulated, and and certain, medications also deplete vitamins as well. Things like b 12 and folate and magnesium and the list goes on. And so if you take certain medication that is damaging to the gut, and then you also have the downstream effects of the gut problem, but now you also have the deficiencies, and you have the immune dysregulation. And so that's why, like, we kinda work in steps to get people back on track, and it doesn't always heal in, like, that really linear way that people hope.
Meagan:So I'm talking about this specifically because I know people are listening, and they're like, oh, I just I just wanna get better because I've been there. And, it doesn't always happen in a really nice straight line, but that doesn't mean that those people are not doing what they need to do. We just need to give our body time to heal. So kind of a little tangent from the original question, but I love that. There are a lot of things that dysregulate the gut, and we do need to rebuild it.
Jen:Yes. So you mentioned food. And like you said, oftentimes, people will go on some sort of you know, whether it's FODMAP or keto or whatever it is, they're going on something ideally temporarily Yeah. And to heal. And then eventually, we wanna go back to diverse eating.
Meagan:Mhmm.
Jen:What is, though I know it's a big topic, hot topic. Your hot take, though, on people that might need to continue on things, like whether it's gluten or dairy. I have a friend who cannot do eggs, and she's working healing so she can do eggs. But is there a place? Because often here, it gets so much, like, pushback on, like, gluten sensitivity is not a thing, or you should be able to eat everything.
Jen:But I also believe, personally, that because of the way of agriculture and glyphosate that, people are still on this healing journey, that there might be a need to, for a longer period of time, maybe for some people indefinitely, avoid certain types of foods. Yeah. What's your hot take on that?
Meagan:Yeah. This is such a good question. I'm glad you asked it because there's a lot of weirdness on social media about people talking about this right now. And I will say if you ask different naturopathic doctors, you will get different opinions. And some of that is influenced by, you know, the schools that we went to or the patients that we have.
Meagan:But I do think that some people need to avoid certain foods for long periods of time or indefinitely, and that has a really positive impact on health. And part of that is because of how our immune system works. You know, some people that are gluten intolerant, there's, like, in terms of how the molecules are shaped, they're they're very similar. And so some people that are, gluten intolerant also can't tolerate dairy at all. And whenever you talk about a food, like, if we just talk about dairy for a second, there's so many different components in dairy.
Meagan:There's the casein. There's the lactose. There's the whey. And so you might be intolerant to the lactose. You might be intolerant to the casein.
Meagan:You might be intolerant to both. And then different animals have different size, shapes, casein molecules. And so it makes the decision of, like, are we actually reacting to this? Do we need to avoid this long term? Kinda tricky.
Meagan:And, really, the best way to figure it out is trial and error, which is annoying when you have a lot of symptoms. But, I do believe that some people, once they figure it out, should avoid it long term. And part of the reason is because some of these foods are just pro inflammatory for certain people. And for other people, they're not pro inflammatory. So I don't necessarily come in with all my patients, take them all off gluten and dairy.
Meagan:Those are kind of like the hot button ones. Right? But whenever we are considering taking somebody off, like, a big food group for a certain period of time or a long period of time, I make sure they really have a discussion with people and so that they know why are we removing this, what are we hoping to get out of this, and how long are we going to go about this, so that they can make the best decision? Because they're ultimately living that removal of that food. So I need to know that they understand why they're doing it.
Meagan:And I'm also, I would say, very knowledgeable in in the food, and disordered eating world. And so I always wanna be careful that we're in the pursuit of as much normal eating as possible, and we're not really just like it used to be very common, naturopaths 10, 20, even longer ago where, you know, the elimination diet was so, so common. And so a lot of people would do elimination diet and feel great and then just kinda stay on it or be really confused, and it would cause a lot of, like, fear around food. And so I like to have really straightforward discussions with people and educate and be like, okay. This is why we're doing this.
Meagan:And sometimes a food elimination diet is a really good place to start, but, we have to be really careful in how our, recommendations impact people, especially when people already are nutritionally confused. So, I often will have, like, just to talk about gluten and dairy for a second. So, gluten intolerance is a spectrum, in my opinion. And some people are all the way over here, and it's, like, celiac, which is an autoimmune reaction to gluten. And some people are all the way over here on the other side where, you know, maybe they have no reaction to gluten or maybe their stomach hurts every so often if they, you know, have too much bread.
Meagan:And then there's true medical gluten intolerance somewhere in the middle where you should be on a gluten zero diet just like you should be if you have celiac. And if people if we're suspicious that gluten is causing some symptoms for people, I really wanna find out where they are on the spectrum right now. Some people have leaky gut, and we can heal that. And then their reaction to gluten, you know, goes away. And if some people, through some testing and trial and error, we're like, you just really gluten is not a good fit for your body, and that's just how it is.
Meagan:And it's not something that we can necessarily heal or change. It's just, you know, this is your choice. Are you going to go gluten free for an indefinite period of time? Is that worth it to you? And and we have those discussions.
Meagan:And then sometimes people have, like, a food sensitivity because, there's other stuff going on. Like, they just have leaky gut, so they're reacting to a ton of foods. Or even they have, a parasite, which makes them more sensitive to certain foods. So, dairy is one of those correlations I sometimes see with people that have parasites. They, some people with parasites are very dairy intolerant, or their dairy intolerance kinda comes out of nowhere.
Meagan:Or, like, no matter what we do, we just can't get the dairy back in their diet. And so then we do, like, a parasite workup and a parasite cleanse, and then they're like, wow. My little pimples went away that I always had on my forehead. Or my digestive system is much more normal, and I don't bloat with cheese anymore. And I actually feel really good when I have dairy or something like that.
Meagan:So, the real answer to the question is we have to be really cognizant of why we're avoiding things. And, you know, you could argue why are we including certain things too. But I I I think food sensitivity and food allergy testing can be really, really helpful for people, but the testing varies a lot depending on company that you're using, depending on the technology that the test is using, because there's different ways to test for different food sensitivities. And the other impacting factor is if somebody has a really, really, really, really, really leaky gut, their test results are going to be falsely positive for a lot of food, sensitivities because everything is just going right through that gut barrier. So they're reacting to everything.
Meagan:So every so often, I'll have someone be like, I know my gut's probably leaky, and I'm, like, in the throes of my digestive dysfunction, but can we just do, like, a food sensitivity test? Because maybe it will help. And I'm like, sure. Whatever. We'll we'll take a look.
Meagan:And, you know, we get their test results back, and they're reactive to every single food in some way. And they just light up like a Christmas tree on the on the test. And so, that's when we have a discussion about, like, okay. Well, this is just an indication that your gut needs a lot of healing and a lot of love to get back to its normal function, and then your test is not gonna look like this anymore. So I'm not in the camp of food allergy and food sensitivity testing.
Meagan:We should never do them. They're totally inaccurate. I don't believe that at all. I know there are some people that take that stance, but I also don't think that they are, like, the best thing ever. Like, there's a very it's it's very individual in my practice for why and when I use them.
Jen:That's why I love talking to you because I think there's so much nuance, and I I appreciate that you see that. Right? And just even thinking about the gut, but thinking about it's really about the immune system often when it comes to food intolerances. And if we are, like, our immune is super sensitive, hyperactive, we have mast cell going on or whatever, right, like, it's gonna show up in how we eat and how we react to food. So I just appreciate that because I think there is so many layers to it, and it's not a one size fits all.
Jen:And, yeah, sometimes you might have to, like, be off of something for a time, or I even heard someone say something interesting about depending on, like, where our ethnic origins are from, that might also impact what we can tolerate more or not. Like, straight northern people in northern places may eat, like, a ton of saturated fats, a lot of animal meats. People may be close to the equator, very different diet, more plants versus that, you know, versus dairy versus not dairy, corn, no corn. So I also feel like there might be that layer of, like, how we kind of evolved as a people group, and that might also impact so that just because it's at the grocery store may not be the best for your body and really learning to listen to your body and work with someone like you to understand, like, what food really helps your body heal and be at its best.
Meagan:Yeah. I mean, if if people are ever lost, I always say, like, eat organic or, from a farm that you know has good practices, and eat local. And don't just eat bananas in winter if you live somewhere cold. And, you know, if you're, like, in a queer and it's really, really hot, you live somewhere really, really hot, you're not going to be having, like, really, really fatty fish all of the time. Like, there's a reason why we crave certain things in the fall and the winter than in the spring and the summer.
Meagan:And part of that, I think, is, we're designed that way to have a certain rhythm for our digestive function, and to go along with the seasons for where we're living. So, you know, if people are like, I have no idea what to do with my nutrition, eat local, and don't buy stuff that's shipped in. And you'll be amazed at how you feel because we're really just kinda working with the with the rhythm of the seasons in the Earth, and I feel a little crunchy saying that. I love that. Yes.
Meagan:I know. It's it's it's, seasonal. Yeah. It's so awesome. I really think that's how we are actually designed to eat is, like, what is around us and available.
Meagan:It's not, you know, like eating bananas in winter. Like, I live in New Hampshire now, and so, I was looking at the bananas yesterday in the store, and they were, like, all green. And, you know, they're gonna have to, like, you're gonna have to buy them, and they're gonna have to ripen on your countertop. And it's just like, oh, this is just not I'm not meant to be eating a banana from, like,
Jen:South America. Hard to sell it on a toddler, though, but, yes, in general, I agree with you. Totally. Yeah. They're wanting the same foods all year round, but I agree.
Jen:We should be more seasonal.
Meagan:And, yeah, thank thankfully, we have, like, modern transportation of foods for us moms who have toddlers so that we can always give baby a banana and things like avocado. So I'm thankful for that, but I think most most people would be really, like, benefited by eating for wherever state or country you're living in.
Jen:Yes. So I I know we're getting short on time, but there's 2 topics I really wanna ask you about. So, briefly, I wanna ask you about parasites because you mentioned that a second ago, few minutes ago. And just, you know, big questions are, is that really a problem in our modern culture in America? I would say yes is what I'm learning.
Jen:And then how would you assess for yourself that you may have that problem or might need to seek out professional help for, like, a detox? So if you could quickly talk about those 2, and then I wanna take us to hormones and fertility and mental health really briefly as we wrap up.
Meagan:Sure. So, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but, yeah, parasites are a problem. And you don't just get them traveling. You really can get them anywhere. If you want to, like, really gross yourself out, you can, Google, like, just how parasites live, in different fruits and different meats, and it's, it's very fascinating.
Meagan:I learned something about cherries the other day and how they're, like, the most parasite ridden crop.
Jen:What? No. Not the cherries. Yeah. Oh, she would have been eating those all summer.
Meagan:I know. And I haven't 100% verified that, but, it made a lot of sense to me. And I was like, oh, this is interesting. So I say that because they really are everywhere. I mean, we can get them just by walking around barefoot outside, sushi, just a lot of places.
Meagan:So most of us have stomach acid that's gonna kill off anything that comes down the trap from our mouth. And that's why stomach acid is so important because if you don't have good stomach acid, you set yourself up for getting infections like that. And so a lot of people's stomach acid is very subpar in America because we are so stressed. There's nothing about our life that is, like, pro stomach acid, that is, like, conducive for us to be not stressed and have enough minerals and have enough downtime to have, like, really good digestive fire. So the parasite and stomach acid problem kind of goes hand in hand.
Meagan:But, the thing about parasites that excuse me. I always like to mention is that, it's not always a slam dunk because every parasite is different. And a parasite can be not necessarily like a wormy type thing that we think of as being a parasite. It can be anything that is not beneficial to us that's living inside of us and is benefiting from being there. So it doesn't have to just be, like, a worm.
Meagan:It can be, like, different amoebas and protozoa that we pick up. And most of us need to do some amount of parasite detox. You know, if you are in your thirties, forties, fifties, and beyond, and you've never ever done a parasite cleanse, it's probably time. But the problem with parasites and why there's so much controversy is that the testing is not great. So we have like, if if you go to your standard medical doctor PCP, and you're like, hey.
Meagan:I wanna get tested for parasites, and they actually listen to you, they'll run a generic stool test at the lab that looks at, you know, the top 6 or however many on that panel, parasites. And that's good. That's a good starting point because sometimes that catches some stuff. But there is a lot of ways that parasites avoid, coming out in the stool. You know, we have feet and feet and feet of colon and intestines.
Meagan:And so, things can hide, and they don't always wash out in every sort of poop sample. And so, when we do a sample, we're not always getting, like, a perfect 100% look at what's actually inside of us. And that trips people up because they'll be like, I was tested for parasites. I don't have parasites, or, you know, something similar. And sometimes they have parasites.
Meagan:So I like to look at symptoms. The symptoms really tell us whether or not we need to do anything about it. So people that have parasites, they often have a lot of skin issues. It can be acne, can be psoriasis, eczema, seborrheic dermatitis. It can be, like, almost anything that's a skin problem can be parasite related.
Meagan:Even just like itchiness, flakiness, in, like inflamed skin, anything that's just off, and, it's never been good, like, if you've never really had good skin, and you're just rashy all of the time. That can be parasites. I always think parasites for people that have changeable stools where they're formed one day, diarrhea the next, constipated the next, formed diarrhea, constipate. They're all over the place, and what they're eating and the supplements that they're taking and their stress and their environment doesn't really line up to the changeability. Sometimes people have sleep problems with parasites.
Meagan:They don't always see that. But you can have, nutrient deficiencies with parasites because they're in the gut, And they take the first pass at the yummies, quote, quote, that are that that, chyme that comes from the stomach, that, like, nutrient rich, churned up, and digested stuff that comes out, of your stomach and goes in your small intestine. Your small intestine absorbs it all, and then it goes to your colon. So the parasites are like, I'm getting the first pass at this before this, person can even absorb this. So we can often see, you know, iron issues, b twelve issues, almost any sort of, nutrient problem with a parasite.
Meagan:Those are some of the main things that, I've thought of for parasites. And then, of course, like, all of the gas bloating, diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramping, dairy intolerance. And then I always look at, like, was there a sudden change at all? Some people have had parasites for a long time, so there's no change in digestive function. But sometimes people are like, oh, yeah.
Meagan:I went to Mexico in, you know, 2016, and I've never been the same since. So those types of stories. And it doesn't have to be travel. It can be like, you know, I did this, and I've never been the same since. And so sometimes there's a connection there.
Jen:Wow. I have, like, a 1,000,000 follow-up questions, but I wanna reserve those maybe for a second.
Meagan:Like a crazy topic
Jen:that we could Fascinating. Gaston. Totally. It's so fascinating to me and so weird. But I think it's, great people are more aware of that.
Jen:Yeah. Okay. For time, I'm gonna shift this towards digestive health and connection to hormones and fertility. I don't think we'll have time to talk about mental health today because I feel like I could do a whole hour with you on that. So maybe we'll do part 2.
Jen:Would love that. So let's start with that because we don't really think often about digestive health and fertility. Obviously, hormones is the mediator, I'm assuming, between those 2. So tell us about that because I know you work with women struggling with fertility. I've been on that journey talking about that on the show.
Jen:Like, I went through IVF and 6 years of infertility to have my son. And, honestly, no one really talked to me. I mean, when I saw naturopath and did acupuncture, no one really talked to me about gut health very much during that time, which is interesting. So I'd love to hear how you see those things as being connected for those who are struggling with fertility or maybe just struggling with hormone issues in general, right, period issues, maybe perimenopause. How does digestive health play into that?
Meagan:You know, hearing that nobody talked to you about your digestive health while you were going through all of that makes me really sad because, the way the way that I think about it is is your whole digestive system and your whole pelvic region that has all of your female organs, they're so close together. They're, like, practically in the same space. Your, ovaries and your uterus that exists more down in what we call, like, the pelvic bowl and then, like, the digestive, most of our digestive organs, like your colon and your small intestines because you've got a ton of small intestines. It's really quite fascinating if you've ever, like, really seen it in human body. They're just, like, there in the middle of you.
Meagan:But all of that kind of is on top of that pelvic bowl area. But, I mean, just think about how your rectum and your uterus and everything is, like, right there. It's all next to each other. And so because of the close proximity, they really play off of each other. So if somebody is struggling with infertility in any way, like, they're not getting pregnant as as fast as they would want to or that we would expect or, like, they're going through IVF, I'm always looking at, their, whole digestive function as a whole.
Meagan:And I'm often going to run a stool test kind of regardless of their digestive symptoms because, like I was saying before, sometimes things are, like, asymptomatic, and they are truly asymptomatic. And and people say, I don't have digestive issues because I I don't have those symptoms that, you know, were on your questionnaire that I hear people talking about. And you can have so much GI havoc and inflammation and and not really have any awareness of it. And so I always would do a really comprehensive stool test for those types of people to make sure that you don't have a ton of inflammation, that your gut lining is good, that you're digesting things appropriately, that you have good microbiome, that you don't have any parasites or yeast or I call them all critters. So parasites, bacteria, yeast, viruses.
Meagan:Like, they're all kind of in that that critter boat. So we wanna know if you have critters, because if you have some sort of critter, we need to get rid of it or figure out why it's there because that's gonna be causing issues with inflammation. And if there's digestive problems, there's something energetically that I think the female organs sense. And so, again, I feel kinda crunchy saying that, but I see this in practice where if digestive function is not going well, or even if somebody has, like, inflammatory bowel disease, they're not going to get pregnant in the same way as in in comparison to if they had, you know, gotten their inflammation levels down and address their gut health. So for somebody that is coming to me and they wanna get pregnant, I'm always, always looking at that because there's a huge, huge connection.
Meagan:And so once we figure out what is actually going on, then we can make a whole plan for, fixing it, eradicating it, healing it, whatever we need to do. And then that always improves their pregnancy outcomes, the healthy baby, and their experience in pregnancy, their experience postpartum, and just, like, the ability to actually become and fall pregnant, which is what we want, you know, when we're trying to conceive. Like, we wanna be pregnant yesterday. So, we need to figure out, is there anything in the gut that's preventing that? And, like, I have a patient right now who, you know, we just figured all of this out, and we have to go through that whole process of, you know, fixing the gut because she's having these recurrent miscarriages.
Meagan:So, there's definitely a connection in there.
Jen:That's fascinating. So I would just logically think then too, women who are struggling with period issues too, that would also be something that you would typically explore. Maybe health would be a thing to explore because I often see you know, I work with a lot of younger women still who aren't yet ready to have a baby, but they might have a lot of hormone issues. So they're getting birth control for that, which has been, as you're saying, exacerbating the gut issue probably or masking it. And often people will tell me, like, I have these crazy gut issues around my period.
Jen:So, yeah, that makes total sense that that's something you also need to dig into because they are so intimately connected and, like you said, play off each other. So I so appreciate you sharing that because I think, again, that is so it's a unique perspective that I think has been kinda talked about, but I haven't heard someone really pull those things together. So thank you for bringing that to our attention and our awareness. And, to wrap us up, because I wanna be, honoring of your time, you know, how can listeners find out more about you and connect with you, especially if they want to maybe schedule a consult? So tell us more about where to find you, and then, you know, do you offer consults?
Jen:Where are you licensed? Those kinds of things.
Meagan:Yeah. So, if you search, doctor Megan D, you'll find me. I am mostly on Instagram. My website is doctor meggand.com. So really easy.
Meagan:So people, if they wanna make a consult, they can, you know, read everything about me there and stalk me and do whatever it is people wanna do. I always recommend stalk me on Instagram. Kinda see me see see what I'm about because, you know, we invest a lot of money in our practitioners. And I want people to have results, and I want people to, like, feel heard. And, also, you know, you have to kinda like who you're going to go see.
Meagan:You know, you wanna have a good experience. So stalk me on Instagram. I'm fairly active on there. I do have a YouTube channel, which I update every so often, maybe a little bit less now that I'm a mom. But, I do consults, and I'm licensed in New Hampshire and California.
Meagan:And that's California is where the majority of my, patients and clients are because that's where I used to practice before kind of moving around a little bit before we have now settled back in New Hampshire. But I do work with people out of state, though there's some legality with that. And so it's kind of like a case by case basis depending on what state they're in and in different things. But I do offer webinars. I have some, like, prerecorded webinars on some topics that I talk about a lot, like bio identical hormones and low cortisol and progesterone issues.
Meagan:And so if people, like, wanna get a lot of good information, they can always purchase those. And I always have something in the pipeline.
Jen:So I love that. Yes. And then we'll for sure have your information too in the show notes so people can easily click and get to your website. And, again, I just wanna thank you for being here today. And, again, I could talk to you for hours and prove
Meagan:No.
Jen:This is Yeah. It is fun. And I would love to have you back if you'll have us just because I know there's so many branch off topics that we could go into. And, again, especially, like, mental health, I'd love to talk more about that with you and gut health. But, again, thank you for your time today.
Jen:And, guys, like, doctor Meg is amazing. She is such a good listener. I have, you know, a client who's super happy working with her. So please check her out. Look up her info.
Jen:Lots of great just free info available to you on her social media sites. And then I could just schedule a consult call if you're at all even curious and, connect with her and see how she might be able to help you guys out. So with that, thank you guys for listening, and we will see you guys next week on counterculture health. Thanks for joining us on the counterculture health podcast. To support this show, please rate, review, and share with your friends and family.
Jen:If you wanna be reminded of new episodes, click the subscribe button on your preferred podcast player. You can find me, Jen at awaken.holistic.healthand@awakeningholistichealth.com.
Meagan:And me, Caitlin, at Caitlin Reed wellness and Caitlin Reed wellness.com. The content of the show is for educational and informational purposes only. As always, talk to your doctor and health team. See you next time.