Podcast Episode #57: Hormones, Multivitamins, Post-Op & Special Diets (Oh My!)

Remember – If you're enjoying these podcasts, please leave us a review in iTunes. Thanks!

Topics:
1. Low estrogen, progesterone and high stress. [9:36] 2 & 3. Multivitamins & micronutrient sufficiency [18:39] 4. Glucose increasing on a Paleo diet? [32:40] 5. Pre & Post Op, What’s best? [42:00] 6. FODMAPS, SCD and GAPS, oh my! [50:29]

Click here to download this episode as an MP3.

The episodes are currently available in iTunes, Stitcher & Blog Talk Radio.

Show notes/links:

PALEO POWER SOCKS!
Check them out and pre-order here.
Naked Calories – book by Dr. Jayson and Mira Calton.

[smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/balancedbites/BB_Podcast_57.mp3″ title=”#57: Hormones, Multivitamins, Post-Op & Special Diets (Oh My!)” artist=”Diane Sanfilippo & Liz Wolfe ” color=”00aeef” social=”true” social_twitter=”true” social_facebook=”true” social_gplus=”true” ]

LIZ WOLFE: Hey everyone, I'm Liz Wolfe. I'm a nutritional therapy practitioner. I'm here with Diane Sanfilippo, as usual, who is a certified holistic nutrition consultant and the woman behind Balanced Bites and the new book Practical Paleo. Remember our disclaimer: the materials and content contained in this podcast are intended as general information only, and are not to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, treatment or a cursory Boolean search. Ha-ha-ha! Do you know what Boolean is?

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Funny.

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I do.

LIZ WOLFE: It's so old school. It's like…

DIANE SANFILIPPO: It is old school.

LIZ WOLFE: Back when libraries were useful.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: And like microfilm. And microfiche.

LIZ WOLFE: Card catalogues? [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: And the Internet was new. And I checked my email on a screen that was black with green letters.

LIZ WOLFE: Oh wow.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I think I'm a lot older than you are. I don't think you did that.

LIZ WOLFE: Was that through Prodigy? Did you use Prodigy?

DIANE SANFILIPPO: No, it was like a Unix thing.

LIZ WOLFE: Ah, you are older than me.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Totally.

LIZ WOLFE: But you're so pretty.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: [laughs] It's just the sunlight today.

LIZ WOLFE: It's lovely. Listeners, I just want you all to know that we can see each other. We have our Skype video going, and Diane is just…like harassing me constantly, being ridiculous. It's hard for me not to laugh.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: It's funny. I know, I think, you're the funny one, but I'm really good at making you laugh really easily. [laughs]

LIZ WOLFE: Oh my God. Classic Peg, okay. Well, since I made it through half of the introduction, let's do the rest. Welcome to episode 57 of the Balanced Bites podcast. Business. What's the agenda? Where are we going to be next, Diane?

DIANE SANFILIPPO: What's going on? So I'm actually heading to Pittsburgh this week, and I'm going to hanging with the Food Lovers, as will you at some point, I think. I'm not muted, am I?

LIZ WOLFE: No, I am because I'm about to take a bite of my frittata. I've been fritatting all day.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah.

LIZ WOLFE: I don't know, do you know what fritatting is? But I bet you can figure it out.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Partaking of frittatas?

LIZ WOLFE: The making and partaking of frittatas.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: There you go. So I'm going to be hanging out with the Food Lovers. I'm sure you guys, whoever follows Facebook and Twitter, you'll probably see a bunch of pictures and be like, oh, those crazy kids. Here they go again. Cooking all this food and hanging out and eating together. It's pretty much what we do. It's a good time, but we're also…I've got a book signing on Friday in Pittsburgh. It's at…I think it's called Penguin Books. There's a link to it on the website. You can check it out. We'll link to it from this blog post as well, and I think it's at like 6:30, so people can come check that out in Pittsburgh. And then next week, I'll be signing books at my local Whole Foods here in West Orange, New Jersey. That's on October 18th from 7 to 8:30 PM, and that's open to anyone. Please come by. I think, you know, it would be really great to have a nice showing at the Whole Foods because I was there just about a week and a half ago, or actually, it was less than that. About a week ago. And Rip Esselstyn, who wrote the Engine 2 Diet was there, and apparently, he works like kind of for/with Whole Foods, and they run this whole plant-based, plant-strong challenge at different stores, and just kind of you know, educating people on that message, and you know, it's not really the message that I necessarily teach and some of what he was saying, you know, I didn't really jive with, as you might be able to guess. So I just really want to make sure we have as strong of a showing as we can, so if you're in the northern New Jersey area, come down to, you know, West Orange Whole Foods October 18th.
What else? Then the next weekend we're in Rochester, New York. You and I.

LIZ WOLFE: Yay!

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Together again. That's our…

LIZ WOLFE: Together again [laughs].

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah, and that's actually our last fall workshop. I have one more workshop scheduled mid-November. It's November 17th, and I have a special guest teacher with me for that one. You weren't able to come with me there, so…

LIZ WOLFE: Sadly, no.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: So we…I'm excited, though, because it's just going to be like a little change of pace and have some different curriculum coming in, and we'll do our best to cover the stuff that we usually cover, but it won't be the same. It's going to be awesome. I'm actually really excited. And then we'll start talking about next year pretty soon, so if people are looking for us, they can, you know, keep their eyes peeled and their ears open on the podcast. What else? Book signings, I don't know. I'm all over the place. So at the end of October, early November, I'll be in San Diego, Los Angeles, and pretty much all over Texas, taking our friend Tony Kasandrinos, who has the Kasandrinos Olive Oil company. He's going to be like completely driving me all over Texas, and it's going to be awesome. So that'll be fun. So yeah. What about you? Oh!

LIZ WOLFE: Tony is an excellent driver, but he drives like a Greek person, and I drive like a covered wagon person.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I can confirm both of those points.

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs] It's just…that's funny.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah. I almost forgot. We don't have a video of the podcast, which I'm convinced that one day we're going to record a video because I think it would be really funny for people to see the faces we make at each other, but anyway. Socks! I've got Paleo Power socks on pre-order for people. I'm really excited about them. They're in the sidebar of my website. There's also a page under, I think it's a Shop tab on my website. And they're currently being made, and so I'm taking pre-orders just because I think, you know, people want to make sure they get a pair, and yeah, there's quite a few that are coming in, but quite a few have been claimed already. So there will probably be a limited edition. I don't know what's going to happen once these run out, but if you want to get some fun socks for the gym or for keeping yourself warm or gifts or whatever, they say Paleo Power, and they're red and blue stripes, and they're AWESOME.

LIZ WOLFE: Sweet!

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah. What are you working on? That's it. What are you working on?

LIZ WOLFE: Working on, you know what? Here's a little announcement. This is something I've been thinking about all day. This is for the sports fans. Well, this is for the Chiefs fans, which does not include Diane. But I have it on good authority that if everybody's been paying attention to the sports world, we're hearing that the Kansas City Chiefs fans booed Matt Castle when he got knocked out in the last game that we lost at home at Arrowhead Stadium. I want everybody to know that Chiefs fans are amazing, and they were not cheering Matt Castle getting knocked out. They were cheering the first down. Matt Castle's subsequent standing up of his own accord, and then of course, the second string quarterback Brady Quinn coming in. And I have it on good authority through Chiefs insiders that Eric Winston was just butt hurt because he missed the block and I just want everybody to know that.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Who are you?

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I thought this was a two chicks show.

LIZ WOLFE: I know!

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I don't know what all this conversation is. Like I think I understood 4 words that you said in the last 20 seconds.

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I have no idea what you're talking about.

LIZ WOLFE: I had to do it. This is my only platform to reach people. And Philly Sports was talking about it today, and it just makes me sad because Kansas City people are awesome. We shouldn't have a bad national rep. All right, onto…

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I'm glad you clarified that for our listening audience.

LIZ WOLFE: You're welcome, everyone. You're welcome. So back to actual stuff that's relevant to anyone besides me. I've been working on my book, my skin care guide, which I'm really excited about, should be out, probably end of October, early November. I'm getting a little bit of help and going back and forth a little bit with Trina of Primal Life Organics, who is amazing. Just skin care genius, and she's popping in some specific recommendations, helping me out there. I was just a guest with Hayley Mason of the Food Lovers on the Paleo View, which is a podcast that Stacy from Paleo Parents and Sarah from ThePaleoMom.com have put together. We talked a ton about body care, even a little bit about liver detox, and it was fun. It was a good time. Other than that, yeah, just plugging away on the book, which is…this is my word for it. My comedi-llectual…my comedic plus intellectual. It's like my comedi-llectual response to books like Skinny B-I-T-C-H, and you know, basically anything prefaced with the word “skinny.” Just really excited about it. I'm trying to put a lot in there. We'll see. It's probably going to be 5 thousand pages.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah, good luck editing it down.

LIZ WOLFE: You can get some school credit for reading it. It's like freaking Tolstoy over here. All right, so that's enough of that. Ready for questions?

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah, do you want to get rolling?

LIZ WOLFE: Yeah, let's do it.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Do you want me to read some questions today?

LIZ WOLFE: Yeah, why not? Why not?

DIANE SANFILIPPO: All right. We're going to have a little opposite day. [laughs] a la You Can't Do That On Television.

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs] You're so old. I'm kidding. I know that show.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: What did they use to get green slimed for? What did they say?

LIZ WOLFE: They…I thought that was, was that You Can't…that was Double Dare.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: No.

LIZ WOLFE: No?

DIANE SANFILIPPO: No, they dumped something on You Can't Do That On Television. But what would they say that they would get dumped on? Oh boy, you're way too young. I don't know.

LIZ WOLFE: No…

DIANE SANFILIPPO: All right, I'm…somebody's going to have to let us know. I'm going to look it. All right, let's get going. You ready?

LIZ WOLFE: I'm ready.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Okay. “Low estrogen, progesterone, and high stress.” Bec says: “Hi Liz…Hi Liz and Diane.” Well, it actually says Hi Diane and Liz, but…

LIZ WOLFE: You're terrible. You're terrible at reading.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I'm terrible. All right, I'm hiding this picture of you because it's completely distracting. Okay.

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Okay…”Firstly, I just wanted to say how much I love your podcast and approach to nutrition. It has given me so much inspiration! As an 18 year girl in my last year of high school, I have decided to work towards achieving a career in nutrition and health at university, but not conventional wisdom’s so-called idea of ‘health.’
My question involves a little bit of background information. after going on the pill for 4 months 3 years ago (I had been menstruating for a year and a half before that) I put on around 8 kilos, which is 17 or so pounds. As a teenage girl I felt a lot of pressure to lose this weight and drastically changed my lifestyle by what I thought then to be right, exercising to chronic levels and removing all fat from my diet. Through lots of running and training (I was also fairly heavily involved in team sports), I lost this weight over the next year and developed compulsive eating habits – very restrictive, skipping lunch. Looking back on it now, I can see this is where my eating disorder began. After losing all this weight, I lost MORE and got to around 55 kilograms which is around 120 pounds, I am 5’7. I looked very skeleton like! Around this time I had my last period and have not had another period nearly 2 years later, although I have put on 5 or 6 kilos, which is 12 pounds through eating whole, nourishing foods, paleo-style. Discovering paleo and your book and website has completely changed our whole family, I love cooking for my family and buying food direct from the farmers. I am currently working with a naturopath who has diagnosed me with hypo active adrenals and we are trying to stimulate my hormones through supplements (after blood tests I have very, very low estrogen and progesterone, and to control my stress levels.” Sorry, she…there's a bunch of side notes in here. Okay.
“I still struggle with some disordered eating and body image issues, by nature I am a perfectionist. However, I am about to enter my final exams for high school, a very stressful time, in a month and a half, and was wondering if either of you had any advice on how best to control my stress levels during this time, optimize my exam performance and possibly work towards having my period again. Any help would be appreciated” Do you want me to read her details here?

LIZ WOLFE: Maybe just the exercise down to sleep.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: All righty, so her exercise. She walks 4-5 times a week for an hour, lifts weights1-2 times a week
Supplements are Fermented Cod liver oil, which she began about a week ago, home-made sauerkraut, vitamin D, ferroxin, mixed B-vitamins, supplements to support menstrual and thyroid health and sleeps about 8-9 hours a night.

LIZ WOLFE: So her food looks good as well. Ferroxin is some kind of…I guess it's like a trace mineral supplement or something. Using it to enrich your water. It's not anything crazy.
So if I had my way, I would want two things to happen. First, incorporate more, as many as possible, nutrient dense fats. So I said her food looks good as far as quality, but it's looking like, grass-fed beef, pork, bone broth, vegetables, stuff like that. So we may be a little bit skinny on the fat, which that seems to happen a lot. Just with everybody. I think that a lot of us who grew up in this kind of fat cautious time still maybe don't incorporate as many fats as we could. So even like a tablespoon of really good quality butter, ghee, ethically sourced red palm oil, I really like. Any of those things at a meal would be great. Add fat, digestion support if necessary.
And the second thing I'd say is, and this is me, getting all hokey as I tend to do. After adding the healthy fat, continue having patience. Patience and persistence. Bec is young and this is true at any age, but it's especially true of someone at Bec's age, that she has the opportunity to create whatever landscape she wants as long as she persists in doing the right things. So she's identified some really powerful, really some very kind of larger than life sticking points that many women her age would be completely oblivious to, so she's really just impressed me with that right from the get go. I do think quite honestly, speaking from 15 years perspective on my own experiences at that age, that, so if anybody wants to guess how old I am, that actually will probably not help, but in the world we live in, for whatever conglomeration of factors, we've come to this place where 15 year old girls are on birth control, which I think is more than just some health campaign. I think it's a persistent off-shoot of A. a total lack of understanding of how to tackle the root cause of hormonal imbalances, many of which are caused by food and lifestyle issues and really first come to really affect us around that time, when we're young and when things are kind of starting to change hormonally in our bodies, and B. this body conscious sexual awareness that occurs earlier and earlier than ever, but that's a total tangent, and I have no solution to offer for that, but I'll just say that after more than a decade of having been on hormonal birth control, I can honestly say that it is not a light, breezy choice from a long term perspective that it's made out to be. It's not a consequence free choice to jack with hormone function. Whether that's with the Pill or a crappy food or what have you. So Bec, you're not alone at all. So many people have gone through this. You'd be surprised, and I really feel for you and respect you for how you're handling it. And if you feel better right now with what your naturopath has given you, then keep nourishing yourself with good food. Keep up with that regimen, practice conscious relaxation if you can throughout the stressful time of finals. Everything will fall into place, but right now, you know, she does need to focus on school. And if I can do anything to alleviate her worries, it's really just to say, it'll be okay. You know, Bec will get there. You'll get there.
The last thing I'll say is really a question for you, Diane. I noticed that Bec is taking some thyroid support, but she's stated that she's dealing with adrenal hypo function. Is this something you'd comment on? Would you see direct adrenal support as being a benefit, a la like glandulars or adaptogens or something like that?

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah, I mean, like, it seems like if she's…if the naturopath has her on the thyroid support, then, you know, it could be just from this cascade of stress and stress on the adrenals, stress from her hormonal imbalances cascading to a thyroid problem. And usually kind of the way we talk about digestion and looking back around the chain and looking up in the-excuse me-in the order of things, if you want to see what might cause some thyroid malfunction, you know, stress and adrenal malfunction is a huge contributor to that. So I think it would be, you know, in her best interests to look into some adrenal support, whether that's, you know, something like adaptogens, as you just mentioned, and I think those are…they're pretty simple, just kind of grab some. I think Gaia brand, which they sell at Whole Foods, I think is a pretty good one. I've taken that one many times. Or even to just ask her naturopath about maybe some adrenal support, but I think the real issue is also the overarching lifestyle factors that are contributing to that stress because when you are dealing with any sort of adrenal stressors and even thyroid problems that are the result of adrenal stressors, it's a matter of rearranging your entire lifestyle to support de-stressing: better sleep, better circadian rhythm health, you know, going to be bed when it's dark and waking up when the sun comes up. All of those things are what will do so much more to help support you than the supplements. The supplements can kind of assist in the meantime, but you need to make the lifestyle changes, so if she's someone who's always had this kind of mindset and this perfectionism, which is definitely one of those characteristics where you know, you don't see too many people with adrenal fatigue who are not perfectionists in some way. It's just like one of those things and that's maybe like a broad sweeping statement, but I think a lot of us who have kind of dealt with that, you know, it's because we're trying to do way too much, too perfectly, and it's just impossible. So, you know, really looking at her mindset and kind of getting that a little bit shifted so that she can alleviate her stress.

LIZ WOLFE: Yup.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: All right, so I think the next two questions are somewhat related, yeah?

LIZ WOLFE: Mm-hmm. Little bit.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Okay. I'm just going to see here. Okay, so the next two questions are a little bit about getting micronutrient sufficient. Something we talk about in the workshops. Actually another cool book on that if people want to check it out is Naked Calories by Mira and Jason Calton, and I think it's a really cool point because we talk a lot about nutrient density, but it's cool to kind of get into these details, so….here's the next one. Sage says: “I have recently been diagnosed with pretty severe adrenal fatigue and had a positive ANA test.” And just as a side note, that's just a sign that some autoimmunity is going on. So I don't know if Sage is a male or female here. “I also have IBS (…I am a hot mess).” That sounds like female.

LIZ WOLFE: Yup.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: “I am doing the autoimmune paleo protocol and I am on a supplement regimen prescribed by my D.O. in order to address these issues. I have also taken my foot off the gas with my exercise and basically just walk and do light exercises per Paul Chek’s book. My question is, though my D.O. is good and takes a natural, non-Westernized approach, she isn’t exactly paleo. Because I don’t eat any fruit and a limited array of vegetables due to my IBS and those I do eat I typically cook (roast, steam) in order to facilitate digestion, I am wondering if I should consider a basic multivitamin for micronutrients I may not be getting much of like C, etc.
I am taking 500mg of Magnesium and 50,000 IU of vitamin D 1 time a wk, and iodine as part of my prescribed supplement, but the remainder are specific to my adrenal fatigue and gut health.
I know this is a loaded question, but any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for what you do, it is great to see RDs” We're not RDs. “embracing the science of and promoting a Paleo way of eating. Thanks again!”
We're not RDs, Sage, just FYI.

LIZ WOLFE: We know some RDs though. Maybe we have a contact transfer.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah…

LIZ WOLFE: No.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah, so what kind of thoughts do you have for Sage?

LIZ WOLFE: One comment that I would actually have to request that Sage takes fairly lightly because it may not be relevant to her, just based on the details that she did and did not give is that it appears to me through what reading I've done on this topic that against the backdrop of a properly planned ketogenic diet, which she did not say that what she was doing, but we're talking about lesser, you know, vegetable intake, so I wanted to throw this out there against that backdrop, the bodily need for a vitamin C appears to me to actually be reduced. So I'm not saying that all micronutrients that you get from vegetables are unimportant, especially in her situation where she's probably dealing with some malabsorption in the first place, I wouldn't imagine necessarily that supplemental vitamin C would be a bad idea, especially if someone's dealing with adrenal burnout. And as a side note, I actually pop a Garden of Life C supplement now and then, just for funsies. Just why not? But other than that, I'm not really geeked out on multis if someone's eating a variety of good fats, which would include absolutely would include ghee, which is basically butter with the milk proteins removed. Butter fat is a really interesting, really complex, and a really nourishing fat, so if you can tolerate it, which most folks can tolerate ghee, I absolutely think it's a must. So that, red palm oil I'm really into right now as long as it's ethically sourced. Unfortunately, Tropical Traditions I believe is out right now, but I think you can still get some from Mountain Rose Herbs. I'll do like a teaspoon of it every day. The cod liver oil/butter oil blend we recommend is really important, doing some fatty cuts of grass-fed meats and eggs, some bone broth, and offal now and then. Supporting digestion as Sage appears to do, all of those, really important details.
If you do a multi in the short term as you're healing, because I do trust that eventually the goal is to get to a point where you can tolerate these things, tolerate a wider range of food. If you choose to do a multi in the short term, I don't trust a whole lot of them, but I do like Garden of Life so far, and I also like Dr. Ron's multi. DrRons.com. I've referred a couple people to that one. Other than that, it's really interesting to me because I have just been doing some reading on this until probably about 2011, the standard of care for most GI doctors was to like suggest that their patients eat more fiber. I only just read a study that was published in 2011 that indicated hey, what we've been telling people to do with regards to vegetable fiber actually doesn't help folks suffering from digestive distress. Wow, you know.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: News flash!

LIZ WOLFE: News flash. This is hard to digest.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: News! Fiber is irritating your gut.

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs] Story at 11.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah.

LIZ WOLFE: So those are my thoughts. What do you think?

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I think, you know, the same idea with the multi, I'm not really like super geeked out on multis. I think it could be a good idea, and again, you know, you've got a good practitioner there, maybe to do something like the organic acids panel from Metametrix, and see what kind of other deficiencies you might have. It's a pretty complex panel that can tell you some other micronutrient deficiencies. That might be more important to do like some targeted supplementation. I just think a lot of multis have sort of super supplementation and you just really may not need them, so it could be a big waste of money. Even if you end up with, you know, something that is adrenal supportive that has a bunch of stuff in it, like vitamin C, maybe some B vitamins and minerals, you still don't need like…a lot of them will have a pro-vitamin A, like a, you know, a beta carotene and all these other nutrients that may not be that useful and I'd rather, you know, like Liz said, see you get that stuff from food, which is very readily available, especially, you know, fats and animal foods. So yeah, I don't…I'm not really geeked out on it, but I also do agree that going with like a supplement from a practitioner line or something a little bit higher end. You know, I definitely wouldn't pick up like a GNC, Walgreen's type shmo supplement, as I like to call them. Just kind of like a, you know…

LIZ WOLFE: That's what you call them?

DIANE SANFILIPPO: That's what I call them.

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I call them shmo…I call low quality bacon Shmo bacon. I call low quality supplements Shmo supplements. I don't know where it comes from. It's like…who knows. Anyway. Yeah, I mean, I think you kind of get what you pay for and you know, as we've learned over the years, there's a reason why practitioner lines just are that much more expensive and only we can access them or your D.O. or naturopath or whomever can access those. They're just much higher quality, better tested, fresher ingredients. So yeah. Moving on?

LIZ WOLFE: Moving on. Oh, I forgot to say, eat sardines.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Duh. I mean, that's like, that's like the given. [laughs] Liz's…Liz's food prescription for life.

LIZ WOLFE: Sardines.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Start with sardines.

LIZ WOLFE: Yup.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: The rest will fall into place.

LIZ WOLFE: Exactly.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: All right, so a similar question from Magda: “Regarding multi-vitamins…I know you don’t necessarily recommend them, but was wondering what the “best option” is in your opinion. I am currently taking a whole-food based multivitamin called “Athletic Greens” (not sure if you’ve heard of it before). I’m hoping to get off the supplement, but find it is difficult to get all the micro-nutrients in a single day (based on FitDay…not sure how accurate it is?). Any recommendations for ensuring I get all the required micro-nutrients without supplementation?

LIZ WOLFE: I had to make sure I wasn't muted. All right, now I'm not going to fire a client that really really really wants to have a green drink, which is what Athletic Greens seems to be, but overall the ones that actually have some good or interesting things in them are usually also saturated with unnecessary stuff like rice protein or oat beta glucan, stuff like that. So with regards to Athletic Greens specifically, I do notice a few wonky things. First of all, flaxseed powder, which is just, in my opinion, totally not necessary ever. We talk a little bit about flax in our workshops. And one huge problem I notice is that the vitamin D in this product is D2 from ergocalciferol. And like Diane was saying before, a lot of these nutrients that are put into nutrient supplements are either the wrong form, a poorly absorbed form, or a synthetically produced form. For example, my understanding is that D2 is often derived from irradiated mushrooms. I could be wrong, but that's sticking in my head for whatever reason. And that's absolutely not the preferred form of vitamin D. In fact, there has been some conjecture that it could hold some toxic potential, although I haven't read any direct literature on that, only suggestions. What I do know and what is well represented in the literature is that vitamin D3, which is cholecalciferol, is the form of vitamin D we need. So my preference would be to have this person or anyone make sure they're getting the right type of vitamin D. I will recommend emulsified drops from Thorne. Those are decent T-H-O-R-N-E. You can get them on Amazon. Or better yet, some safe sun exposure. Or other good, you know, nutrients in real food. Some homemade bone broth, getting a good solid Paleo style diet going, one that includes red meat and good, healthy fats. That's really important. I have way too many people come to me that are eating “Paleo” but what they're actually eating is what we call the Chicken, Broccoli, and Coconut Oil regimen. There's no red meat. There's not a whole lot of complex or healthier fats. So making sure that you're getting those in intentionally. What else? Get the one and only fish-type-ish oil we recommend. The Blue Ice Fermented Cod Liver Oil/Butter Oil Blend, and maybe, maybe, if you're really just stuck on it, refer to the multi options that I talked about in the previous question. Magda totally just bore the brunt of my deep-seated implementation, you know, issues. My disdain for chicken, broccoli, and coconut oil, and for that, I'm very sorry. Not a shot at you. Just the question triggered that little rant. But that's my take on that.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah, I think this is one of those issues of like people often get stuck in some food ruts. So like that chicken, broccoli, coconut oil-it could also be, you know, steak, sweet potatoes, and avocado.

LIZ WOLFE: Mm-hmm.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: So the same degree that you, you know, forget to vary your foods. You know, you're not getting a variety of nutrients and we know that micronutrient deficiencies don't develop in the short term. We know that they develop in the longer term, so it's the kind of thing where you know, you're really looking at whether it's on a weekly basis or even monthly or seasonally that you're getting these micronutrients from different places. And a lot of us can even, you know, you get enough sun exposure over the summer, you know, it might be okay for your vitamin D levels to be a little bit higher, and then be a little bit lower, and you know, obviously, we have a different situation today than, you know, long in the past where autoimmunity is very rampant. So we do want our immune system bolstered by as much vitamin D as possible, but really looking at the seasonality of things and trying to eat more, you know, potentially vitamin C rich foods from fruit, if you're doing that in the summer time. Then maybe you taper off of some of that over the winter. You know, citrus fruits are pretty common in winter seasonal mixes. It was actually funny last year when I was cooking for the book, it was winter for much of that, and I was like, completely, like void of any fruit in the book because it was winter. And we just weren't eating fruit, and I used a bunch of citrus, and then, you know, a month later when I needed to do a handful more recipes, I realized, shoot, I need to get some fruit in here now that it's, you know, warm again and I can get it in the store and it's a little bit more local because I just wouldn't buy because it was imported from who knows where. So I think that that's one really good way to kind of address this micronutrient sufficiency as the Caltons like to call it. Micronutrient sufficiency, it's again, if you check out that book Naked Calories, and you know, it's not just a plug for that, but it's also understanding what are your lifestyle factors that are micronutrient depleters. So even if you're eating it, the same way you could eat food, not digest and absorb nutrients, you could be living a lifestyle that's depleting micronutrients and you don't really understand that that could be a bad thing. Like exercise depletes vitamin C, and that's okay, but that could be a bad thing if it's going too far for you and you're not getting enough vitamin C in. So it's just one of those little side notes, and you know, your body needs everything all the time, so recognizing that that doesn't always mean every single day. It just means a constant stream at some point with a good amount, varying your food, eating seasonally, you know, not getting stuck in a rut like that, should really be helpful. Sound good?

LIZ WOLFE: Sounds good to me.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: All right, so the next one. We don't have a name here? Just an initial?

LIZ WOLFE: Just D, but that might be it. That might be all this person needs. They might be that cool.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Whoa. All right, so “Glucose increasing on a Paleo diet.” “Have you seen/heard of glucose increasing on a paleo diet? I have been following paleo for 8+ weeks, strict for 30 days most recently. Felt great, positive body changes, lost 7lbs but not needed. Had blood work last week and fasting blood glucose was 118! Age 41 Never had high glucose before. Just trying to figure out possible causes. Have done lots of online reading (Robb Wolf, Mark's Daily Apple, Chris Kresser, American Diabetes Association, etc)” That's kind of a funny list. I don't know how the Diabetes Association ended up with those guys, but…

LIZ WOLFE: Yeah, I want D to know that some of my book research has taken me through like donors for some of these Associations, and I believe the ADA, one of their donors is Soy Joy, Coca Cola's in there, Archer Daniels Midland is in there for some of these organizations. It's just crazy.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Awesome.

LIZ WOLFE: Yeah.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah, be careful what you read. ” I will be seeing my general practitioner in a few days but she’s not a nutritionist and I am trying to get as informed as possible.
My only sugar was occasional apple (each week), some berries daily/or weekly, Larabars maybe every 3 days or less often. No grains, no grain oils, no dairy. Week prior to my testing had 4 glasses wine on the weekend for wedding anniversary.
Not looking for diagnosis but what could possibly be areas to look at as paleo is not normally-oh, is normally held up as great way to reduce diabetes risks. Thank you.”
Clearly, there's a reason why I don't read the questions every week.

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Just throwing it out there.

LIZ WOLFE: All right, I may be a little bit out of line here, and I'll be excited to hear what you think about this, Diane. But I probably at this point, it's probably not something I'd get too concerned about. This person feels great, seen good changes, and honestly, for most of the population unfortunately, that number is not all that far from in range. Now, not to say that in range is normal, Diane, you always make the distinction between what is normal and what is common. So this number may not be ideal for everyone, but there are probably a lot of adjustments going on here, and straight off the bat, I'd just…it's just something I'd probably track over a few months and see how she does.
As far as implementation of a Paleo diet, if the food is properly implemented, and there's enough fat in there, I'd absolutely never say, oh, this Paleo eating plan is to blame for an issue of chronically high blood glucose. I mean, dietary carbohydrate is related, but the quality of carbs will always be best in a Paleo template. I mean, that's just…I mean, you can tweak macronutrients, but getting more micronutrients as you would in a Paleo diet is always the right call over a Standard American recommendation. That's just, I mean, that's just basic physiology. I mean, what your body can actually with these carbohydrates and so, I don't know. One thing this person could look at is getting some good chromium in the diet. It's…there's not a whole lot of literature out there. I think I talked about this on the Paleo View, but that chromium is thought to provide I guess what's called a glucose tolerance factor. Basically helps the body deal with glucose. And she could do that, or D could do that, whether by supplementation or even using the Lewis Labs Brewer's Yeast. It must be Lewis Labs and it must be Brewer's Yeast. The reason I say that is because it is the only brewer's yeast I am aware of that's grown on sugar beets rather than as a by-product of the beer brewing process, and these are non-GMO sugar beets. You can get that online, you can get it at Whole Foods. It's really rich in chromium, B vitamins as well. That can help with glucose tolerance. Those are my thoughts.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah, well, I think if this were my client and I actually did have somebody recently who came to me a little bit concerned about some high blood sugar, I would probably just start testing it at home and watching this on a you know, just standard kind of $20 at home blood glucose monitor.

LIZ WOLFE: Mm-hmm.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I think that would be just a way to kind of put his/her, we don't know, mind at ease, and just kind of see what's going on. You know, it's something that, you know, it's possible, it's not too likely that you had a false high reading, and you know, again, if this were my client, I would just be like, you know what? Let's just see what's happening when you test it each morning fasted, regularly. See what's happening. If it seems the glucose is creeping up, little by little, it could actually be a sign that there's diabetes developing, and you know, it could be what's often called Type 1.5 diabetes, which is an adult onset autoimmune diabetes vs. Type 1, which is typically juvenile onset, and Type 2, which is, you know, typically diet/lifestyle related vs. an autoimmune abnormality. So I wouldn't attribute this change to the diet itself. You know, a lot of things happen congruently, you know, and it's kind of like that correlation does not equal causation thing. Like just because this happened at the same time doesn't mean that the diet is causing it. I'm not saying rule out that something that's happening in your diet. It could be causing it. Anything is possible. But you know, for you, it could be something where this was just the tipping point and, you know, you've made the change, but your body was already there. So I'm wondering when the last time the blood glucose was tested, and perhaps, if it was long enough ago, that the Type 1.5, you know, developed since then, it might not have been caught. So, you know, if however long ago, the test was normal and it's been a year, this is something that could have developed, you know, over several months, and you know, I know some people recently who, you know, Type 1.5 developed, and he had no idea. And then, you know, realized one day he was just feeling really bad. Blood sugars kept creeping up, creeping up, and they would creep up significantly higher than this 118.Like that would be a very, very early sign, you know, if this got caught and then you know, by checking it regularly, D's noticing that it keeps going up and up, that would be like, a huge win to just catch it right away. But it could also be absolutely nothing. It could have just been a fluke. You know, tests are subject to errors, for sure.
I definitely like the chromium, B vitamins recommendations. Some supplemental cinnamon can be useful. It's really great at. you know, helping to control blood sugar regulation. And then I'd also check out this post. I'm not going to go through the details of it, I'm not sure…I'm actually not sure where we are in time, but on Chris Kresser's website, he's got a post that's, I think it's called something like How to Prevent Diabetes for $16 or something like that. And he kind of goes through the steps of how to test your blood glucose, what kind of timing to use, you know, recording the results, and then what you're looking for in those results. And for sure, under something like 86 is what we would consider to be ideal. Anything that's coming back high, and so that's a fasting reading, and then you can watch what happens after meals for about an hour, two hours, and even 3 hours. So that might be a good way to just kind of put your mind at ease and see what's going on from there.
I think there's one other note, too. I can't remember…I think it might have actually been Chris who was talking about this as well on his podcast, which is one of the handful I listen to pretty regularly. And he was talking about maybe the next time you have your blood glucose tested at a lab, bring your own glucometer with you, and doing your own reading right away after that reading gets done, so that you can sort of calibrate your monitor. So what if you know, they came back with 118, but your at-home monitor says 115, then, you know, you're just calibrating against that. Again, that's assuming that that reading from the lab is more accurate than your at-home reading, but that's really what I would do. I mean, if my blood glucose came back high, I would just go spend 20 bucks, get a monitor and check it myself for a week or so. See what happens. I actually have two blood glucose monitors, so…

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I know, I have one, and then somebody sent me one to measure ketones, and because it had strips with it. I know. This is like a little…

LIZ WOLFE: One for each hand. [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Heck yeah, one for my toes. I mean, you know, you were joking that you sometimes will take some vitamin C here or there. It's like, we probably intermittently tried so many different things that sometimes you just have little testing things laying around. It's like, what can I do now? What kind of experiment can I run next?

LIZ WOLFE: Yup. Pretty much.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: How are we for time? Are we pretty good?

LIZ WOLFE: I have no idea, toots. No idea. Because we started talking long before this started recording, and it actually won't give me a time read until after we quit.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Oh, great. All right, well, I think we can go…I think we can go with one more.

LIZ WOLFE: Yes.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: We're probably not too far in. All right. “Pre and Post Op: What's Best?” Stacy says: I started eating pure Paleo in July and have lost 20 pounds!” Hooray!

LIZ WOLFE: Woo hoo!

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I have had chronic pain and inflammation for my entire adult life. I am 39 years old and cannot remember feeling this good… ever! There are NO words to explain how grateful I am for your book and for how eating Paleo has changed my life, energy level, and virtually eliminated the inflammation in my joints.” Woo hoo!

LIZ WOLFE: Awesome.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Love it.

LIZ WOLFE: Yeah.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: “My question is about preparing for an upcoming surgery. My husband and I have been infertile for our entire eight and a half year marriage. Today my doctor discovered two humongous polyps obstructing my cervix (kind of like a built in birth control… but I don’t want that!!) Interestingly enough-excuse me- it seems that one of the main causes of polyps is chronic inflammation. My wonderful doctor is going to do a hysteroscopy to remove them.” I think I said that right.

LIZ WOLFE: Mm-hmm.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: “A D&C to make sure there aren’t any more in my uterus, and a laparoscopy to check for endometriosis. How would you recommend that I prepare for my surgery and also what I can eat/do to best recover?
My surgery is scheduled for November 1, so l will be taking good notes! I’m planning to take 200” I don't know what that is. She's got some kind of homeopathic tablets for before and after surgery. Homeopathics are not something that you usually get kind of on your own, so those are usually pretty specific. She says: “I truly value your insight and input. I’m sure you get more questions than you can possibly answer and I truly appreciate your time and respect your advice so much. Thank you for all you have taught me through the podcast and the book!”
Do you want me to tackle this one a little bit first?

LIZ WOLFE: Am I muted? No, I'm not muted. Yeah, go for it.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: This will be the podcast where the comments are like, you guys need to figure out when you're muted and when you're not muted. [laughs]

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: That red button.

LIZ WOLFE: Oh jeez.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: All right, well, so first of all, we've actually covered this a couple of times before, so if she wants to search back through some of the archives and just kind of look at maybe surgery or I think that might be a good word to kind of search. I think we've covered this at least once, if not twice before, and I think we're at least responding to this one beforehand. I remember there was one where we weren't sure if we got to in time. But…

LIZ WOLFE: Yeah, I think this is our attempt to rectify any bad karma we got from letting somebody go into surgery without our advice.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Without our words of wisdom. So my best advice, seeing that her issues are rooted around female hormonal issues, possibly other endocrine imbalances would be like 1, avoiding sugar and sweet foods as a primary focus. 2. You know, nutrient dense foods within whatever else you're choosing. Well raised meats, you know, great fats, broth, well-cooked veggies, and then 3. working on and focusing on stress management through and after the surgery. So another note here. If you currently take any type of anti-inflammatory meds, you know, or Advil, Aleve, or so any sort of isolated fish oil supplementation, I would recommend stopping those in favor of really just supporting your system and allowing the inflammation that's going to come with this acute phase kind of with the surgery to do its job. You know, we don't want chronic inflammation, but acute inflammation is something that our body is wired up for, and we need that process to be able to happen in order to heal properly. So chronically suppressing inflammation when we don't need to be can be problematic.
So these areas of focus are particularly helpful for anyone dealing with endocrine imbalances. Obviously, women, you know, the focus could be eliminating all sugars and sweets, maybe some starches can stay. I would limit that only to what you need to maintain exercise levels, and then really, as I said, aggressively, as oxymoronic as that sounds, managing stress.

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: So, it's like Get aggressive about your stress!

LIZ WOLFE: That's like…that's like Hot Vinyasa Flow Yoga. It's like, yeah, no.[laughs] I love it, but it is not relaxing.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah, so well, this means, you know, saying no to things, and taking more time for yourself, and talking walks and reading and cooking and whatever helps you to feel relaxed and happy. And seriously, you know, it's as important if not more so than the food you eat. Because you can undo everything you do nutritionally and you know, you could be putting in the best food, but if your stress levels are just out of whack, this is something that I've definitely heard Paul Chek talking about with women. I'm starting to get to that point where I start to, you know, talk to somebody and I'm not even really coaching them yet, they're just kind of asking me some questions, and you know, I'm one of those annoying practitioners where I answer a question with more questions. But it's kind of what we have to do. We have to keep digging and I feel like 9 times out of ten when I've got a woman who's got any kind of health issue, and I ask her about her stress levels, it's like she almost starts crying, every time, and it's happened like time and time again because it's like, no one's ever asked them about their stress or how they're, you know, how their relaxation techniques are working or taken the time to just kind of give them that platform or they just don't think about it. Or they don't take care of themselves. They don't make that time. They don't carve time out in the day because they're putting everyone else first. You know, we've talked a lot about this with like, just super compassionate people, but sometimes it's not just that-that person. You know, sometimes it's somebody who's just too go go go, and I'm guilty of this myself. I don't know if I've got the compassion thing down [laughs]

LIZ WOLFE: Heh-heh.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: But I definitely have the go go go, Type A, like, you know, I just said this last night at the gym to somebody, like…I was finishing the workout and I was like, man, I wish I could just go home, eat dinner, and chill. And not have like 3 more hours of work to do after this. And the reality is, I could, right? I'm my own boss, but just the way I've structured things, I have so much to do and I'm constantly trying to, you know, manage that and find more people to get on board and be helping and work on projects. But the reality is, we have to just kind of take those directions and really see, you know, where are the different places in our lives that we can make that call. You know? And just say, you know what? This is stressing me out. I'm changing something about it right now.

LIZ WOLFE: Hear hear.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Your thoughts?

LIZ WOLFE: I like everything you said. I have no magic formula for all this, really, except eat traditional foods, which is about as close a magic formula as we can get, I guess.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: We're going to have to close up shop here soon because the workshops, it's like, meat, fat, and vegetables.

LIZ WOLFE: See ya!

DIANE SANFILIPPO: The podcasts, we're like, broth, sardines, and fermented cod liver oil.

L:[laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: We're just going to have to close up because it's just like, I'm sure our long time listeners are like, really, I could answer these questions.

LIZ WOLFE: We should start doing guest hosts. Come on down! You do it. See what you have to say.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Sorry, I interrupted you. I'm from New Jersey. It's in our blood. I'm muting myself.

LIZ WOLFE: I've been here long enough now to…I'm good with it. All right, so I love…I do love organ meats for surgery recovery. It's kind of hilarious, you know. If you just Google around for stuff like this, surgery recovery nutrition, it's always “Avoid red meat. Avoid dih dih dih doh” This kind of standard, conventional fear of foods that are actually quite nourishing. In particular, organ meats, which like liver and kidney, because they really like that good supply line of nucleic acid, which is something that liver and kidney are really rich in. Any organ that has to turn over quickly is a really, really good thing to eat right after surgery. So actually, US Wellness Meats, I think, has their liverwurst and braunschweiger back in stock, so I think either one of those would actually be great to have on hand. I like organ meats for everybody. Athletes, people with gut issues, anybody. Other than that, I don't know, maybe some l-glutamine, but yeah, like you said, Diane, it pretty much comes down to what we always say.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yup.

LIZ WOLFE: Yup.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: All right, one more?

LIZ WOLFE: [in German accent] Von more!

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Okay. So “FODMAPS, SCD, and GAPS, oh my!” Ilissa says…

LIZ WOLFE: Do you know the Wizard of Oz reference?

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I do know. I'm old enough for that. Thanks, Liz.

LIZ WOLFE: [sings] We're off to see the Wizard! [laughs] I'm going home to Kansas City tomorrow for a visit. I'm very excited.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Okay.

LIZ WOLFE: Okay.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Okay.

LIZ WOLFE: [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: I'm going to get into this question now from Ilissa.

LIZ WOLFE: Do it. [laughs] Get a grip, Liz. [laughs]

DIANE SANFILIPPO: All right. “I am a new convert to the Paleo lifestyle. I have been suffering with IBS-C my whole life (I am 38 years old and have had stomach issues since birth). I have been to countless gastroenterologists and have had many endoscopies and colonoscopies, all which never reveal anything. I also have GERD and have been on proton pump inhibitors for many years. Anyway, since I made the decision to go Paleo, I have been digging deeper into research into my digestive issues since just doing paleo hasn’t resolved themselves.
Today, in Paleo Magazine, I read an article about SIBO, so I started researching that. Then I came across low FODMAPS, SCD, and GAPS diets.
I am so confused! How do I know if I have any of the issues that would call for trying these diets? How do I know which one to try? I am not sure what the differences are. I was just reading an article at The Paleo Mom, and she suggested contacting you for further information. This is all so confusing, yet I feel like I might be on the cusp of finally getting to the root of my digestive distress. Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!”
All right, want me to dive into this one a little bit?

LIZ WOLFE: Yeah.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: All right, well, first off, breathe and relax. A lot of exclamation points in here. Well, not too many. So here's what's happening. It sounds like Ilissa's really learning a lot right now, and it can easily be very overwhelming. Like you come into this whole Paleo thing, and you know, you really have to give yourself at least a few months after making these changes to see what kind of different approach you might then need thereafter, within the scope of a kind of grain-free Paleo diet. So if you've had IBS-C, which is constipation prone, and GERD, which is gastro esophageal reflux disease, there usually are some pretty simple, you know, “fixes” to address before taking a trip, you know, down the diet a week rabbit hole, as I like to call it. You know, people are constantly changing things. I have, you know, some colleague friends of mine who are working with people who, you know, always coming back with, “Oh, I did this for two weeks. I did this for a week,” and you really need more time than that. So if you're eating Paleo, you know, a couple of things you can do, not necessarily in terms of tweaking your diet, but just to support your body processes are probably where I would go first.
So before you start eliminating even more foods, for the IBS-C, you know, my questions, as I said, when you have a question for me, I have more questions for you. Are you getting in probiotic foods and supplements? That's really the first question I would have if you're constipated. What about your water intake? Are you, you know, getting in enough water and water's not something I usually tell people to think about much. I'm kind of like, drink some water. Drink when you're thirsty. Hydrate for exercise. But I don't need people like carrying around a gallon all day. Making sure that you're getting in enough soluble fiber. So that's like the inside of a sweet potato vs. the outside. The inside is the soluble, and the outside would be insoluble. And then stress levels because constipation can absolutely be contributed to by high stress levels. I have had clients who tell me, you know, always they have trouble going to the bathroom. They hate their job. They're stressed out. And on the weekends, they're fine. And it's like, well, this is not something you can fix with food. You're going to need to change your lifestyle so that you can get your entire body to relax a bit, get the peristaltic contractions that are moving your whole digestive system along, moving accurately. So that's kind of really the first thing I would say on the IBS.
And for the GERD, I'm wondering if she's ever supplemented with something like slippery elm, marshmallow root, or licorice root, and what else she's tried for it. So if she's tried any other sort of natural digestive support, digestive enzymes could be useful, and I'd say some hydrochloric acid or stomach acid support, but it can be a little bit tricky with GERD, if she's already got this sort of diagnosed, you know, reflux disease vs. something that might be a little bit more intermittent. So it's not something I would jump in with first with the HCL, but it's something to keep in mind because also when we're having reflux, it's because we don't have enough stomach acid. It's not too much acid. It's not enough. Food is fermenting in your stomach, it's causing gas, and it's pushing back up on that lower esophageal sphincter, and it's causing that reflux. So, you know, these are all things that are covered pretty, pretty much at length in my book in the digestion section. I kind of cover every step along the way of what's supposed to be happening. You know, how to know if it's not working, how to fix it. There's a couple of different pages of sort of troubleshooting whatever, you know, whatever's going on in your system, and kind of what to do about it. So I would definitely check those pages out in the book, if you haven't already, you know, read that. Read it. Re-read it. If you don't have the book, just get it. That will really help you out a lot, so you know.
The only other thing, too, is that about, like pretty much all the other forms of diets that she's interested in, Paleo's a good starting point. So tweaking thereafter may or may not be necessary. And if your system needs the digestive support, that's where you need to start. So first, figure out if that's the issue. Then move on to further food eliminations because, you know, why eliminate foods if the issue is that you need more probiotics in your gut to be able to digest them. Or some digestive support, to be able to digest and eliminate them because most of the sort of excessive food intolerances, it's not the food that's the root cause, except for some, it can be, but when we're looking at like a lot of different vegetables and specifically FODMAPs or different categories of carbohydrates, there's some sort of gut imbalance that's making you unable to digest those foods. So let's work on the gut imbalance before you just look at eliminating more foods, if that makes sense.

LIZ WOLFE: Yes, it does. And I think you covered it.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Anything else you want to say about those diets? I think there's definitely some blog posts out there, recent, maybe again, like I'm always sending people to Chris Kresser's podcast because if I hear him talk about something, I'm like, let's not reinvent the wheel, but I think he's covered the differences between GAPS and SCD, FODMAPs. Just most of them are just different types of carbohydrate elimination.

LIZ WOLFE: Yeah, and the SCD…gosh, I wish that I had the website for it right off hand, and it may even be from Chris Kresser's host…

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Oh yeah, SCDLifestyle.com.

LIZ WOLFE: Yeah. Okay, SCDLifestyle.com. I don't know if these are the guys that put out a guide for the SCD diet, but I did sign up for it just because I like to know what's going on out there, and they do like, daily emails. I mean, it's a really good kind of support system for the SCD diet, so I think they're doing a really great job over there. But you're right, it really is just kind of the different take on which carbohydrates are eliminated, which are reintroduced, and sometimes with this stuff, you do just have to kind of 1. go with your gut instinct as to where to start, and then just kind of go around the table.

DIANE SANFILIPPO: Yeah, I think, you know, I think if you're curious about these other approaches, I would stick to what you're doing. I would look at digestive support, and then I would be logging your food intake and what's happening with your eliminations. All of this stuff again is outlined in the book, so, you know, keep…I think I even have a meal tracker now for a free download, one of the resources on the website for the book. Write down what you're eating and see what your body's doing as a result. You might find some patterns that you didn't realize were there. You might find that, you know, avocado are always what's bugging you or after you eat an avocado, you don't go to the bathroom for days, or you know, you might be able to find some different issues happening just with your own sort of research.

LIZ WOLFE: Agreed. All right, I think that will do it for today. We will be back next week with more questions as usual. Until then, you can find Diane at BalancedBites.com and you can find me, Liz, at CaveGirlEats.com or my professional alter ego at LizWolfeNTP.com. Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week.

Cheers!
Diane & Liz