Gut Health, Food Choices & Yes, How To Poop Correctly

Welcome to the Abundance Mentality podcast.

20-minute snippets to improve your health,

Wealth,

Spirituality,

And relationships.

I'm Zach.

And I'm Maria.

All right.

Today,

We have a book called Gut Health by Julia Enders.

That's with a G.

I'll put it in the spelling.

Now,

This book you read all the way through.

I haven't read,

But you've been giving me the ongoing summary.

We've just had a little pre-chat about it.

So,

We'll sort of go through the key points from the book.

It is about gut health.

So,

Basically,

What does that entail?

Just improving your gut?

It's all about digestion and poo and cool stuff like that.

So,

Why do we care?

And also,

I'll pull you up on the cool stuff called poo,

But anyway,

Why do we care?

Why does gut health matter?

Can you give me like a single sentence?

Like,

You mentioned the idea that like the digestion,

The probiotics,

The health sort of stuff.

Why do I care?

Yeah.

So,

Basically,

It's a little bit underrated or under-talked about.

It's one of those things that everyone kind of needs to know,

But nobody wants to know.

There's certain things to do with health.

Like,

If you have good gut health,

It really helps your immunity.

And if you poo in a good way or a bad way,

It really affects your day-to-day life.

So,

Basically saying if we can work out our gut health better,

We will feel better in general.

We feel better in general,

We thrive.

We get abundant.

Absolutely.

Okay.

So,

We talked about some key points and we'll lead through those and just discuss them and how we can apply them and so we can get the key takeaways.

The way that you described this book being written,

This seems like something that I would suggest people don't necessarily read because what did you say?

It was like.

.

.

The way I felt reading it is that it was this,

Just this massive collection of facts,

Like an essay on the gastrointestinal system.

That sounds terrible.

But it goes on for the length of a novel.

It is a novel.

You're a bit of like an anatomy biology sort of nerd.

You studied that stuff,

So it's interesting to you.

Yeah.

So,

We can filter that lens through you to make it not tedious and boring because that sounds not so fun to read.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's exactly right.

But you love it.

But I enjoyed it.

Okay.

Enjoyed or.

.

.

Anyway.

All right.

So,

Look,

Let's just get the pooing out of the way straight up.

We'll go straight there and then we can move on to the better stuff.

You highlighted the idea of.

.

.

Good and bad pooing.

.

.

.

Pooing correctly.

And you said that we should.

.

.

Like,

Pooing posture and how you actually poo.

Now,

Obviously.

.

.

Sorry,

Guys.

It's out there.

.

.

.

A little bit gross,

But if you think about this for a second,

I'll give you the walking analogy.

Yeah.

We walk all the time.

Yeah.

Imagine if we were walking with a gate.

That's not good.

As in we were walking in a way that wasn't.

.

.

With a limp or that wasn't symmetrical.

Yeah.

If we did that for 40 years,

Our muscles would all be odd and off and disaligned and we would have lots of muscle pain.

That's exactly right.

So.

.

.

But if you didn't realise you were walking with a limp,

You could be walking incorrectly,

Bad postured,

Whatever,

Sitting incorrectly if you're at a desk,

Right?

The analogy goes across all of this and not even realising that you're stuffing yourself up.

Yeah.

So,

The same analogy goes for pooing.

You could be pooing incorrectly all of these iterations,

Once,

Twice,

Three times a day or,

You know,

However many times you guys are pooing.

You're doing it thousands of times in your life.

That's exactly right.

What if you're doing it wrong?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So,

Can you give the basic key points here?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So,

You.

.

.

From the book.

Yes.

So,

Basically,

You.

.

.

Sitting and pooing is actually very not natural.

So,

Western pooing.

Western pooing is bad.

Eastern Asian sort of squat pooing is good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But you can emulate the squat.

So,

The gut is shaped in such a way that when you squat,

It's easy for the poo to come out.

Yep.

When you're sitting,

The gut is not shaped in the same way and you're actually making it hard for the poo to come out.

So,

Then we end up straining.

Yep.

Which is also bad because then you're actually hurting yourself when you're straining.

I never used to know that.

I used to strain even we-ing.

Some women,

Like,

Do that.

It's actually bad.

You want to.

.

.

What you want to do is get yourself in the optimal posture,

Which is.

.

.

You can still sit on the toilet.

That's okay.

But if you put a little footstool under your feet.

.

.

Yep.

.

.

.

Get your knees up and then just lean forward a little bit,

Then your gut is in a situation where it's in that optimal shape.

So,

I'll put a link to a.

.

.

Like,

I think it might be like a $10 to $20 little stool that sort of slots in under the toilet.

Yeah.

So,

It's not obnoxious.

This doesn't take up any space.

And you just sit on the toilet,

You put your feet up and you're golden.

Yeah.

And,

Like,

From an evolutionary perspective,

I'm all about,

Like,

Thinking about the evolutionary sort of setup of how we should do things.

We didn't evolve to sit down and poo.

We would have went into a bush,

Squatted.

That's the.

.

.

That's right.

Like the monkey or whatever.

Exactly.

Does.

Yeah.

Which we,

You know,

Did evolve from.

So,

Sit in a good posture and relax when you're on the toilet.

It's a relaxation thing.

Yeah.

So,

That's the second point.

Deep breaths and actually relax.

As opposed to squeezing.

As opposed to straining and squeezing.

So,

If you're straining and squeezing,

You can squeeze,

You can injure yourself.

Yeah.

Over time.

Exactly.

So,

Once again,

All of these things that we're talking about aren't,

Like,

You know,

Don't kill yourself over it.

But if you just consider that you're doing multiple reps,

If you do multiple reps of something and you could hurt yourself.

So,

We're talking when you're on the toilet,

Get a little stool,

Put your feet up so that your feet are a bit higher,

Like you're almost emulating a squat.

Yeah.

And rather than straining and squeezing,

Relax.

Yes.

Deep breaths.

Cool.

Cool.

Let's go on to the next thing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because we've got.

.

.

There's a few things that we want to get to,

But we can sort of maybe get through.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We'll chip away.

I want to talk about this idea of immunity and then we're going to sort of relate that to allergies and gluten and some other stuff.

OK.

So,

Basically,

You mentioned saying probiotics and prebiotics is good.

Yeah.

And we should definitely focus on that.

Yes.

OK.

So,

What were you saying?

The immune system,

The book suggests that most of the immune system is in the gut.

Yeah.

So,

80% of our immune system is partly,

Like,

Living in our gut.

So,

The immune system is the thing that stops us getting sick from outside bugs and viruses and all that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

There's a lot of,

Like,

Cells of the body that attack bugs and viruses and a lot of them want to live in your gut.

And then you've also got heaps of bacteria in your gut.

But bacteria's got a bad rap,

But we're talking about good bacteria that's.

.

.

Your gut is.

.

.

Yeah.

Sorry.

Like,

Yeah.

There's so much good bacteria in your gut that's helping your immune system.

So,

Our immune system is basically a shield that stops bad stuff getting in.

That bad stuff would make us sick.

Yes.

The better our immune system is,

The less sick we get.

Yes.

That's why we care.

So,

We've got pre- and probiotics.

Yes.

Which help your gut health.

Which the book suggests you should have to improve the gut health,

Which means your immunity is better,

Which means you get less sick.

Yeah.

And less colds,

Less flus,

Just gets sick in general.

So,

Given the current.

.

.

Current climate,

This is probably a good thing.

Yeah.

Exactly.

So,

So we're talking about improving.

.

.

We're talking about taking probiotic tablets.

Yeah.

Would you suggest a brand or just generic probiotics or what are we talking here?

Yeah.

So,

Probiotic tablets are literally just like the.

.

.

The back.

.

.

Good bacteria that live in your gut and you're.

.

.

You're just putting more in.

And.

.

.

There's a variety of brands.

You're not.

.

.

You're not concerned about that or.

.

.

No.

You can just try one and if for some reason you feel it's not working,

Just try a different brand.

But.

.

.

How would you know it's working?

You should feel better.

Okay.

So,

You might not.

.

.

I'm not saying take one every day forever.

If you've had a course of antibiotics.

.

.

Yes.

.

.

.

You want to do then after that a course of probiotics.

Yeah.

And also if you're saying to yourself,

Oh,

Why am I getting so many colds?

Why am I getting sick.

.

.

Trucks them in there.

.

.

.

Get a course like for two months,

Take probiotics every day.

.

.

Yeah.

.

.

.

And then you might feel it settles.

You.

.

.

You're good at doing this and you don't get sick often.

No,

I don't get sick often at all.

Obviously,

Anything we say is.

.

.

Is tampered through the book's advice and then through our own experience.

So,

You know,

Take.

.

.

Take things we say with a grain of salt.

Look up.

.

.

Look up research on it.

Look up studies.

But.

.

.

Make your own decision.

It makes sense and.

.

.

And it does seem to work.

So.

.

.

And sometimes it's stuff you don't think about.

Like,

Eczema is.

.

.

Is in a way an immune thing.

There's a link there.

So,

I'm not saying it's going to fix your eczema but it might help.

It makes sense that if.

.

.

I mean,

Even with.

.

.

With.

.

.

With.

.

.

With the birth of our.

.

.

Our child,

There's options and things that you sometimes will need to give the kid a probi.

.

.

An antibiotic to make sure they're safe on the way out.

.

.

Yeah.

.

.

.

Depending on complications.

And we wanted to avoid that because we wanted your gut health in the baby.

.

.

Exactly.

.

.

.

Rather than wiping it with an antibiotic straight away.

That's right.

It's not.

.

.

It's not.

.

.

Like,

It's not the worst thing ever but let's try and keep that natural state going.

We get that natural state going by.

.

.

Yeah.

.

.

.

Probiotics.

And there's also foods that you can eat that encourage good bacteria.

Yes.

And you call those prebiotics?

Prebiotics.

What are some of those foods?

Yoga,

Like sauerkraut or kimchi but it's got to.

.

.

You've got to be careful because if.

.

.

If they've made it in a factory and then heat treated it and put it in a jar and just sold it to you at the.

.

.

At the supermarket,

It might not be live anymore so it might not actually be a prebiotic anymore so make sure you get the one that says fresh sauerkraut or fresh kimchi.

.

.

Okay.

.

.

.

That lives in the fridge.

So that.

.

.

Because we're.

.

.

We're.

.

.

Our bodies are basically a collection of little living organisms.

.

.

Yes.

.

.

.

That somehow work together.

Yes.

We want to encourage that working together.

Encourage the ones that are good for you and not the ones that are bad for you.

Yeah.

So the prebiotic foods,

They feed those good bacteria actually want to eat them.

So you're like feeding,

You're like giving a gift to your good gut bacteria which.

.

.

Give the gift.

.

.

Give the gift to your gut bacteria and it will give you the gift of health.

Yeah.

Cool,

Cool.

If you don't want to buy probiotics,

You could like make sure to eat yogurt every day for two months.

Yeah.

And like.

.

.

Like leaning into that is.

.

.

Is.

.

.

I've heard a lot of anecdotal stuff about that.

A lot of anecdotal stuff about,

You know,

Eating food that encourages that and.

.

.

Yeah.

I'm a bit lazy so I.

.

.

If I want to,

I just buy the tablet.

Buy the.

.

.

Fair.

.

.

No,

Fair enough.

I.

.

.

I fully.

.

.

I fully appreciate that and I've seen it working with you.

Now,

It does mention and does talk about.

.

.

And I've sort of had experiences with this so maybe we can talk about a more broader diet sense.

Yeah.

Talking about gluten and sugar and all of this sort of.

.

.

Frugal,

Hydrosal,

That sort of thing.

.

.

.

Allegies.

Yeah.

So,

I've.

.

.

I've recently realised that I have issues with FODMAP and that's a collection of different things that basically cause my belly to be disrupted.

And.

.

.

And for years of my life,

I didn't realise that I had this problem.

I thought my belly was just the way it was.

Yeah.

I always had to go to the toilet,

Always had to do poo,

Always had to,

You know,

Felt sick and bloated and crap.

And it's sometimes called irritable bowel?

Yeah.

It can.

.

.

It can be called irritable bowel.

It's related to mental health as well.

The more anxious I was,

The worse it was.

Yeah.

And.

.

.

But then,

Like,

It's sort of this double feedback loop anyway.

Mm-hmm.

What I've realised is,

Is that I have issues with the food I eat.

Yeah.

I can't eat.

.

.

Like,

Gluten is just terrible for me.

Lactose is terrible for me.

So,

Gluten is from,

What is it,

Wheat?

Barley and rye.

Wheat,

Barley and rye.

Lactose is dairy.

Yeah.

Mainly cow dairy.

Worst is milk.

Yes.

And then there's other things which.

.

.

Which is on the FODMAP,

Which is like if I have too much fructose in certain things,

It gets a bit confusing.

I'm not sure.

Sweet fruits and stuff.

Yeah.

Like,

Caramelised onion kills me and,

Like,

Too much sort of,

Like,

Very sugary foods really,

Really impacts my belly.

Yeah.

Anyway.

Long.

.

.

Long story short is I realised that I needed to sort of cut it all,

Eat what I knew was.

.

.

I was okay with,

Which was basically rice.

.

.

Yeah.

.

.

.

Rice and potatoes and protein.

And then slowly adding things back in and then I realised,

Okay,

It's this FODMAP idea.

Yeah.

And I.

.

.

Now I've gotten to myself to this stage where I've worked out all of the foods that I can eat comfortably and when something else enters my body that.

.

.

Like,

I.

.

.

You've seen me do this,

Right?

Yeah.

I.

.

.

I felt like having.

.

.

I was craving some licorice and I just bought some off the shelf,

Didn't look for the gluten and I had.

.

.

I ate three pieces and on the third piece I'm like,

Oh,

This has gluten in it.

Oh,

Wow.

Within three bites.

Like,

You saw that happening.

I know,

Yeah,

I'm astounded.

And then I looked at the package,

I'm like,

Oh,

Man,

Okay,

Because I could feel.

.

.

In the time it took me to,

Like,

Put that third one in,

I grabbed the fourth piece.

.

.

Mm.

.

.

.

It.

.

.

The food had gone down enough and I could just feel this familiar feeling and I'm like,

Oh,

This has gluten in it.

That's amazing because that's your nervous system.

.

.

Yeah.

.

.

.

Coming back to your brain going,

No,

No,

No,

No,

No,

No,

Don't do that,

Don't do that.

It's subtle though.

Yeah.

It's a very subtle feeling but I'm recognising,

Okay,

I can.

.

.

I can feel the gluten in this and I know that if I eat too much,

I'll feel groggy,

I'll feel tired.

Yeah.

And the interesting thing is,

Is because I've been eating far less gluten,

You've been eating far less gluten.

Yeah,

And I actually feel good for it even though I don't have what's called a gluten sensitivity,

I feel okay when I eat gluten.

Well,

Everyone technically does have a gluten sensitivity.

Yes,

Because.

.

.

Because we actually don't digest it very well.

Yes.

But my body handles it okay but.

.

.

Hands are five-footer than mine does.

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah,

But I still feel better when I have less of it.

So you do have a bit of an intolerance to it.

So I guess I do but I never would have noticed it.

Exactly,

Right?

Yeah.

So.

.

.

So.

.

.

And this is the thing,

If you think what gluten is,

Like wheat,

Barley and rye,

It's grass.

Like if you think.

.

.

Like once again evolutionarily,

We go back in time,

No caveman's looking at grass seeds.

Looking at a barley seed going,

Mm-mm,

Yeah.

Yeah.

And interestingly,

Like same thing with the.

.

.

The lactose.

Yes.

Right,

And same thing with the high sugar fruits,

Right?

Yeah.

None of that stuff is really that available in the wild.

Yeah.

The fruits are my least bad thing.

Yeah.

Right?

And they're more available than like,

You know,

Lactose for a caveman,

Right?

No.

You know,

Just evolved caveman.

It's really amazing.

And like they never.

.

.

You know,

You're never getting gluten back in the day.

No.

So like I know that I feel healthiest when I eat meat and berries and potatoes.

Yes.

Right?

Like that's just.

.

.

I don't feel bad.

Yeah,

The answer was yes.

Yeah,

I think it's worth saying that you did get a colonoscopy to rule out what's called Celiac's disease.

Yep.

Which is actually.

.

.

Apparently one in a hundred have,

And it's actually when the gluten actually damages your bowel.

And it's like a.

.

.

And I don't have that.

It's actually an allergy.

It's an autoimmune,

Like an allergy disease.

This is an allergy.

It's an intolerance.

Yeah,

It's a sensitivity or an intolerance.

But your body's like rejecting it,

But it's not getting damaged by it either.

So it's a tricky space to understand.

I.

.

.

I've also noticed,

Because I went a year where I cut sugar completely,

And I noticed when I did accidentally eat sugar I could feel it.

But did you feel it in a different way to the.

.

.

It felt sort of like headachy,

Sort of like sluggish.

Yeah.

You know,

Because once again we didn't evolve to eat sugar,

Just spoonfuls of sugar into your mouth.

Yeah,

And the book does go into that it's a hormone thing,

So it's actually a different response.

It's where your.

.

.

Spikes and drops your.

.

.

Spikes and drops in hormones.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Which is also bad for you.

So I guess the takeaway from this is you shouldn't feel terrible in your belly.

You shouldn't be feeling sluggish and horrible after eating.

Food should.

.

.

Like,

I now go to eat like rice and potatoes and meat,

Right?

And berries.

All of.

.

.

Like,

I know if I eat that I feel like.

.

.

I don't feel heavy.

Yeah.

You know,

Like I think back to when I used to eat pasta,

And it's like.

.

.

Just think past.

.

.

Like,

You just.

.

.

You just feel.

.

.

Yeah.

I've noticed it more now that I've eaten less of it.

100%.

But food shouldn't.

.

.

Do that.

Yeah.

So I think maybe we can talk about,

Like,

The take action now because it would relate to this.

Yeah.

Just feel.

.

.

Just check in a bit more mindfully to the food you're eating.

So the next meal that you have,

And maybe for the next day or however long you want to do this,

I suggest you do it all the time.

Yeah.

Just feel how you're feeling,

And then just,

You know,

When you eat,

Just feel your body.

Just sort of check into it.

Like,

How do I feel?

How does my head feel?

How does my body feel?

How does my energy.

.

.

Energetic-wise.

Not spiritual energetic,

But just like literal,

Just physical energy.

Just eat something,

And then the moment it goes into your mouth for like two hours,

Just every so often just check into yourself and like,

How is this making me feel?

And you'll start to get like a loose catalogue of things that are good for you and things that are bad for you.

And then it's your choice of whether you go down that path and investigate what is it.

If you realise that,

Hey,

It's a gluten intolerance,

Great.

You now have to decide whether you want to cut it.

And I tell you what,

Like,

Having cut it for like,

Now for like months,

I would never go back.

Yeah.

Never.

Like,

I feel so much better.

But it's so empowering that you've actually found.

The other thing that it is in the book,

And I think it's good to mention right now,

If you do find that there's something that's making you feel yuck,

Just pull away from it.

But you also don't have to act like it's on fire.

On the devil.

Yeah.

If you have an allergy that's going to kill you,

Like if you're allergic to peanut butter,

Sure.

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah.

For sure.

I fully agree.

Like,

I will go out and I'll make just better choices.

So if I go to a restaurant,

I'll be like,

Okay,

Is there gluten-free bread?

If not,

I'll choose something different.

Or sourdough because it's a bit better.

Sourdough because it's a bit better,

Or I'll just abstain for that thing.

But I'm trying not to make a big deal of things.

And if you're at someone's house for dinner,

You don't have to act like their food is disgusting.

I'll just politely just choose a different option.

Some sources have gluten in it,

Some of this and that.

And it's like,

Okay,

If I realise it,

I just won't.

.

.

I don't have to criticise.

Don't have a second helping or something.

Yeah,

It's about just acknowledging that rather than parading it everywhere.

Yeah,

And if there is a little bit of lactose in the sauce and you're like,

Oh,

I'll probably feel a bit yuck later,

Take your little lactase tablet subtly without offending the.

.

.

You don't have to be rude about it.

Whatever.

Yeah.

That being said,

Though,

I have found a lot of people are very accommodating.

And that's it,

Yeah.

When someone wants to go out now,

Do you have any suggestions?

I'll always suggest Japanese or Vietnamese because I know that they're mainly rice-based and I know that there's a very good chance that there'll be heaps of gluten-free options.

Yeah,

Exactly.

And people love suggestions.

Yes,

That's right.

So where do you want to go?

Where do you want to go?

And I'm just like,

Japanese.

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah.

Done.

It takes away that ambiguity because I do have a preference.

My preference is a place that has gluten-free stuff.

And if they're asking me,

I'll say like,

I'll always be like,

Look,

I'll figure it out because I know myself well enough now.

Yeah.

But if we can choose,

Let's go down that path.

Yeah,

Exactly.

So we're coming up on time.

I just want to just highlight this one little thing.

Calm meal times.

Oh,

Yes.

Can you just give me the very brief thing and then we'll sign off because we've done the take-off.

It's just mentioned in the book and it's something that I really relate to in my life.

So your gut is primed by your nervous system to digest when you're all calm.

So if you're in fight or flight,

You're just not digesting.

So we're talking about just chilled dinner time.

We're not freaking out.

We're not pushing.

Yeah.

Same thing with kids.

It's not like this big deal.

Like they'll just,

We're just chill.

Yeah.

So there's different contexts.

So if you're at work,

You're busy,

You're rushing,

You're eating when you're walking,

You're eating when you're like trying to work,

Your gut's just not digesting at that moment.

So it's not ideal for you at that moment.

Mm.

And if you're,

And then like another situation,

If you've got a toddler or a child that doesn't want to eat and that causes an argument.

Everyone's impacted.

It's not good.

Yeah.

So it's not like all of these things I think aren't the biggest deal.

Yeah,

And we're not putting that one down or anything.

No,

No,

No.

Yeah.

All of these things will add up,

You know,

So it's like,

Consider,

Consider the poo,

How to poo properly,

Consider adding some prebiotic foods or probiotic things,

Consider,

You know,

The take action of just contemplating how the food is making you feel and,

You know,

Making some different choices there and do your best to make meals calm.

Yeah,

Just a calm,

Joyful experience.

All of those things will make you feel better.

Rather than worrying about it too much.

I agree.

Yeah.

So,

Yeah,

We're up on time.

It's time for us to read another book and for you to take some action.

Figure out the food that makes you feel better.

Honest to God,

You'll.

.

.

You'll feel so bored about yourself.

The transition sucks.

Yeah.

And I do really,

Really,

Really want to eat some bread.

You know,

That hot crusty bread with butter.

But that's now transient because I just know that I'll get slapped in the face hard if I do.

It'll be terrible.

Yeah,

Yeah.

I'm just like,

10 seconds of mouth pleasure and four hours of belly pain.

And I'm just more and more and more seeing that it's not worth it.

So,

You can do it.

But if you ever do accident.

.

.

If you like give up 90,

95% of work and then one day you accidentally have some or whatever,

That you.

.

.

And you also.

.

.

It's not the end of the world if you like have a sneaky little one every now and then.

You'll end up training.

.

.

You'll end up being.

.

.

Becoming aware and you'll train yourself because you'll be like,

Yeah,

Like I'm going to be a bit more vigilant.

If that's the problem that you have.

Yeah.

Like I do.

I'm getting more and more vigilant.

Yeah.

And giving it up.

Do you find that giving it up wasn't as bad as you actually thought it would be?

Oh,

I feel amazing.

Yeah.

I'm so glad I worked this out.

Finally.

You're not suffering missing the bread as much as you thought you would.

Not going to lie.

There are no good blood supplements,

Replacements,

But I just.

.

.

Yeah,

It's.

.

.

The pain is not worth it.

Yeah.

Never again.

I love that.

Anyway,

We're gone over time.

Have a good one.

Cheers.

See you next time.