Episode 289: Probiotics: Are They Worth It?
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify
Probiotics are a 77 billion dollar industry (2022) and are expected to grow even more in the next decade. We all know how important gut health is, so if there is an easy solution to our tummy troubles, we’re gonna take it. Since we’re spending a lot of money on probiotics, we should probably ask the question…are they worth it?
Today's show uses the current research to explain what probiotics CAN do, and what they probably CAN’T do. After listening, you can determine for yourself: should you be using them, and if so, what kind?
Erin will also discuss specific ways to introduce probiotics & prebiotics with success – including what she refers to as “Microdosing Probiotics” for folks who are ultra sensitive. You’ll also learn overall strategies to support your microbiome and build a better gut!
In this episode:
Akkermansia & Pendulum probiotic: an update on what we're seeing with clients [3:58]
Can probiotics really "repopulate the gut"? [5:18]
Probiotics & leaky gut [15:22]
4 probiotic types & customizing based on your symptoms [16:57]
Specific foods & strategies to feed healthy gut bacteria [26:55]
Sensitive to probiotics or prebiotics? Start here [31:27]
Resources mentioned:
Build a Better Gut Supplement List
1:1 Functional Medicine Nutrition
Organifi supplement powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
Kion Aminos (Get 20% off monthly orders and 10% off one time orders)
Ned Natural Remedies (get 15% off your order with code FUNK)
LMNT Electrolyte Replenishing powder (Use code FUNK get a free sample pack with any purchase!)
Qualia Mind (get $100 off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with code FUNK)
Learn more about Immune Support and Gut Health
Related episodes:
252: The Holy Grail of Gut Health
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Erin Holt [00:00:02]:
I'm Erin Holt, and this is the Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast, where we lean into intuitive functional medicine. We look at how diet, our environment, our emotions, and our beliefs all affect our physical health. This podcast is your full bodied, well rounded resource. I've got over a decade of clinical experience, and because of that, I've got a major bone to pick with diet culture and the healthcare model, they're both failing so many of us. But functional medicine isn't the panacea that it's made out to be either. We've got some work to do, and that's why creating a new model is my life's work. I believe in the ripple effect, so I founded the Funk'tional Nutrition Academy, a school in mentorship for practitioners who want to do the same.
Erin Holt [00:00:45]:
This show is for you if you're looking for new ways of thinking about your health and you're ready to be an active participant in your own healing, please keep in mind this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment. I would love for you to follow the show rate, review and share, because you never know whose life you might change and, of course, keep coming back for more. Hello, friends. Happy November. Going to share a little listener love before we get started. This is from @agent2400. This is a five star iTunes review.
Erin Holt [00:01:25]:
Erin is captivating and a little sassy. The insight and education she provides on the podcast is so awesome. Great info. She speaks so well in the easiest way to understand. Her guests are top notch, too. Love that. I got a lot of wonderful feedback from Jade's episode last week, so I'm so glad you guys enjoyed that as much as I did. I was hoping that was the case.
Erin Holt [00:01:49]:
I'm really happy to be here recording and chatting with all of you. We're going to talk about probiotics. We haven't talked about probiotics in a while, so it's time to dig up the dirt. Pun intended. I want to remind you that Funk'tional Friday, that's November 24, we are having huge sales on all of our courses, so stay tuned for that. If you're on our email list, you'll be notified. So we're running that starting the day after Thanksgiving.
Erin Holt [00:02:17]:
And we've never done this before, just put all of our courses on sale, so I'm really, really excited for it. We also are running a November special for our one to one services. Those don't go on sale, but we are running a little special because drum roll, please. Dun, dun dun. We have added more spots, so at the time of this recording, we do not have a waitlist. I don't know the last time I could say that. It's been years, so we have no waitlist. So you can join as soon as this month, and if you do, you're going to get a free minerals test.
Erin Holt [00:02:51]:
If you become a one on one client in November. So yay, jump on. We'll link all the info up in our show notes. What I'm going to do today is really get into some self healing approaches for your gut things to try. Way to strategize gut healing on your own. But if you're feeling a little lost in the weeds, that's where we can come in and help you out. Just this morning, for example, I did a GI Map stool test on myself because I've been having some funky guts. And rather than just throw a bunch of random antimicrobials or probiotics or prebiotics at my gut and hope for the best with more information through functional lab testing, it will allow me to strategize a more effective treatment plan for myself.
Erin Holt [00:03:39]:
So they're great tools to leverage when the time is right. And I think working one on one with someone to help you out is such a good move, I also recognize that it's not in the cards for everybody right now. Today's show is going to help you out. We're going to outline some strategies and things to try for yourself. Now travel back to April where I did an episode on Akkermansia. Akkermansia is a gut bug. It's considered a probiotic. It's technically an archaea.
Erin Holt [00:04:10]:
But that was episode 252, The Holy Grail of Gut Health. And in the show, I mentioned a probiotic called Pendulum. And since writing the notes for this show, I have been served literally over eight, maybe even over ten ads in the past 48 hours. So I can say that their marketing is on point. And these Akkermansia probiotics, the Pendulum probiotic, are really growing in popularity, probably because they have a huge marketing budget. Rachel, our Lead Practitioner here at the Funk'tional Nutritionist, in a recent team meeting, shared that she's really seeing a huge uptick in clients coming to her that are taking these supplements, taking these probiotics. So they're coming to us and they're already taking the Pendulum. And what's interesting, when she runs a stool test on them, the GI Map is the one that we use.
Erin Holt [00:05:09]:
They are showing that they have low or even no Akkermansia on the stool test in their guts. And I just think that that's quite interesting. And I wanted to give an update because when I recorded that episode back in April, I had said the evidence is sort of mixed as to whether Akkermansia can really repopulate the gut. So we're seeing people come to us taking this probiotic, and we're still seeing low levels of Akkermansia. What does this mean? Does this mean that the probiotic is bad? Does it mean that it's ineffective? Does it mean that it's not worth it? I actually think the better question that we should be asking is are we asking probiotics to do a job that they're not really equipped to do? Are we putting unrealistic expectations on probiotic supplements? Are we using them as just another tool in our pill for every ill approach, or like I like to say, for functional medicine, a supplement for every imbalanced lab marker. Are we using these probiotic supplements and just like, hoping for the best without really understanding the complexity of the microbiome? So I thought it was a good time for a refresher episode on probiotics. And I want to say this, and I want you all to hear me. Microbiome and probiotic research is really in its infancy.
Erin Holt [00:06:31]:
So there are some things that we understand now, and our understanding of what we understand now might shift in the future. And that's showbiz, baby, that's just life in the big city. That's science. That's the human body. That's the field of research. It's how it goes. But one thing I can tell you that I think is pretty bang on, based on all the literature, is that we cannot spot treat our microbiome. It's just not as simple or straightforward as saying this species is low,
Erin Holt [00:07:05]:
so I'm going to use a probiotic supplement to bring this species back up. Generally, across the board, we don't see much success with trying to repopulate the microbiome with probiotic pills. And maybe an exception to that is soil based organisms. And we will get into those later. So if we're using them that way, we might feel a little discouraged if the low beneficial species on a stool test don't just quickly rebound back up. And just as a gentle reminder for all my practitioners out there, this is also why we don't spot treat a lab. And I'm speaking to non practitioners in today's show. So this is something for you to really understand too, if you're getting lab work done.
Erin Holt [00:07:53]:
If we are hyper fixated on just improving a lab marker, we can actually miss the benefits that we're experiencing on a body level. So you might take an Akkermansia probiotic and not see it improve Akkermansia levels on your stool test, but you might actually feel better when you take it. So we have to ask ourselves, what is the goal here? Is the goal a pristine lab, or is the goal that you feel better? And I think the question we want to ask ourselves today is even if probiotic supplements aren't able to repopulate the gut microbiome, does that mean that they don't have any utility? And so I'll just give you my answer no, I don't think it does. Because what the research says is that these probiotic supplements can have very positive effects while in transit. So like, as they're moving and grooving through the body, they are affecting us in really positive ways. And at the same time, I think it does make sense to attempt to repopulate the gut with keystone species that are missing or are low, because we know that that influences our entire health. Not just our gut health, but our brain health, our immune health, our mental health, all of it. So let's talk about how we can attempt to do that.
Erin Holt [00:09:12]:
Because it's not just as simple as popping a pill, unfortunately. So what we do know, based on the data, based on the literature, is that ingested bacteria or probiotics can positively influence and complement the resident bacteria that's already in our guts. And it does this in a few different ways, in kind of like pretty complex ways, actually. Some of the ingested bacteria or probiotics can produce growth factors like vitamins and exopolysaccharides. This can lead to cross feeding, what's known as cross feeding with the commensal bacteria. And when it does this, it leads to the production of short chain fatty acids, propionate, butyrate to name a couple. And when this happens, when there's an uptick in short chain fatty acids, number one, it's just really good for overall health. But number two, it can shift the PH to make it a less favorable environment for pathogens.
Erin Holt [00:10:13]:
So when we're taking probiotics, even though we're not just repopulating the gut, we can actually support the bacteria, the beneficial species that are there, and help to inhibit the pathogenic bacteria. It can also help to reduce pathogens or inhibit pathogens through niche competition. So I've talked about the parking lot analogy before. If you imagine your gut like a parking lot, there's only so many spaces. So if those spaces are filled up with good bacteria and then we're taking probiotic, those spaces are going to be more likely filled with the probiotics and less likely to be filled with pathogens because the pathogens or the opportunists will kind of sneak in when they get the opportunity to. And so when we're taking ingested bacteria or probiotics, it's less likely that they do that. And then taking probiotics can also help to stimulate the production of mucin, which positively impacts the mucosa associated bacteria. And it helps to feed those bacteria that live right there on the mucosal layer.
Erin Holt [00:11:21]:
Grace Liu refers to these as our protective key guardians. So they're a really big deal. So basically, ingesting probiotics can help the bacteria that are there, the healthy positive bacteria that are already there, thrive. Now, when we're looking at a stool test, what we're looking at is the colon. That's where the vast majority of our gut microbiome exists, in the colon. And so if we're just looking to a stool test to see evidence if a probiotic is working, we're going to miss a lot because these ingested bacteria, these probiotics, can have major and massive shifts in the microbiome of the small intestine, which is a really big deal. Now, by comparison, the small intestine has a lot less bacteria than the large intestine, but it's got some. And everything that goes down in the small intestine is so important.
Erin Holt [00:12:18]:
And so we need to keep this healthy and thriving. And we know that probiotics can have these big effects on the small intestine. They can support an overall healthy microbiome in the small intestine and this promotes optimal nutrient uptake. Remember that the primary site of nutrient absorption is the small intestine. But if we have dysbiosis in the small intestine, that actually decreases the capacity of the small intestine to utilize and absorb the dietary compounds, meaning you can eat a pristine diet, but if your body's not absorbing it, if it has a reduced capacity to actually absorb these compounds, you're not getting access to all of that nutrition. And then in turn, when we have optimal nutrient status, that helps to maintain a healthy small intestine. It's like a system that keeps feeding itself.
Erin Holt [00:14:55]:
Probiotics can also help to prevent establishment of unhealthy bacteria in the small intestine. So kind of that similar to what I was talking about earlier with that parking lot analogy. And then probiotics can also support barrier integrity.
Erin Holt [00:15:39]:
Probiotics fortify our intestinal barrier. They make it work better. They make it healthy and strong. You know where I'm going with this, right? It helps to prevent and even reverse and heal leaky gut. And we know that when our gut is leaky, that can lead to inflammation, inflammatory diseases, immune system dysfunction, autoimmunity. So probiotics really play a vital role in supporting, treating, preventing immune and inflammatory diseases through this process of improving intestinal barrier function. So it's a pretty big deal. And that's why in all the hullabaloo of people arguing about probiotics like they don't even make it down to the colon, this knowledge and understanding of how much the probiotics can influence things before it even gets to the colon kind of makes that a bit of a moot argument, if I'm using the word moot correctly.
Erin Holt [00:16:44]:
It's not a word that I often frequent. But really the big takeaway is that probiotics don't even need to get into the colon to still have some pretty significant positive effects. Now let's move into different types of probiotics because another thing that people argue about is like, what's the best type of probiotic? What's the best probiotic? If I'm going to buy one, what should it be? And of course, people ask me about my fave all the time and it's always an answer of, well, it kind of depends. So I'll break them down into different types for you. And based on the current research, whether or not we think that they can repopulate the gut or not, but also some of the effects that they have even if they're not repopulating the gut. So the very most well researched probiotics are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. They typically don't colonize the gut, but they can have a lot of health promoting activity while they're in transit. So these guys help to promote a healthy immune response.
Erin Holt [00:17:48]:
They can help with anxiety. They can be helpful for inflammatory bowel disease, IBD. They can be helpful for other inflammatory conditions. We know there's a lot of research with vaginal infections, urinary tract infections, so they definitely have a lot of utility. Now you can get a Lactobacillus blend, you can get a Bifido blend. Oftentimes the two will come blended up together. So there'll be Lactobacillus and Bifido all in one probiotic. I'm going to get into kind of how to pick and choose probiotics in just a minute.
Erin Holt [00:18:23]:
Then we have soil based probiotics. These are also known as spore forming probiotics. These are the guys that are typically found in soil. And so the big reason that we want to consider taking these is because we get such low exposure to soil, to dirt, to nature, to different terrains, that we're missing the exposure that our immune systems and our guts are really designed to have. So these are a lot of the Bacillus strains. And again, based on our current research and understanding, these do have the potential to colonize your gut. So I know Rachel sees huge clinical success with this. When somebody has a lot of low beneficial species and she starts them on a soil based probiotic, she sees really good success with this.
Erin Holt [00:19:21]:
I love soil based probiotics for stool consistency. I know this is like an n=1, just anecdotal. But I do see a huge improvement in constipation when I'm consistently taking these. And the research does back that up. They can improve diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating stool consistency might help with constipation. They can help to decrease leaky gut. They can decrease inflammation. They're good to take if you're taking antibiotics.
Erin Holt [00:19:59]:
They can kind of help with the adverse side effects of antibiotics. So there's a lot of research behind these little critters, and they can be really helpful. And then we got sac balati, Saccharomyces Boulardii, very well researched. This is actually a beneficial yeast. So you've probably heard me describe this as a yeast eating yeast. So not technically a probiotic. Again, this guy is not going to colonize your gut, but it has a lot of utility in research for C diff, that's a big one. IBS, certain inflammatory bowel diseases.
Erin Holt [00:20:40]:
And then also diarrhea, especially diarrhea associated with antibiotics. That's another one that if you are on antibiotics, your doctor might recommend that you also start Saccharomyces Boulardii. And then there's Akkermansia, just how we started this show, which is technically an archaea. And this is the new kid on the block in terms of probiotics, Akkermansia really wasn't in a bottle until very recently. And I believe that other companies are starting to make it. But right now, Pendulum is the company that makes it. And Pendulum has a few different products. Their number one product is it's just called Akkermansia, and that only has Akkermansia.
Erin Holt [00:21:24]:
And then they have a Metabolic Daily and a Glucose Control. So that has Akkermansia with other bacteria species. So just keep that in mind if you're interested in purchasing this. But Akkermansia, we know, is really important for metabolic health. It's really important for the lining of the gut, keeps that gut healthy and strong. It can reduce gut permeability. So it could be a helpful tool for leaky gut. And this is true for the keystone species in our gut, the ones that already lives there, but then also when we're taking it as a probiotic.
Erin Holt [00:21:58]:
Now, something that's so important to know about probiotics, the extent of integration - meaning whether or not they're actually going to integrate into the gut, colonize, recolonize into the gut - it's very species and strain dependent. So this is exactly what we've just been talking about. It can also depend on baseline microbiome. So what you've already got going on. But the other variable, the other factor that can influence whether or not these guys are integrated is dietary context. What are you eating? What does your diet look like when you are taking these probiotics? So if folks are taking Akkermansia as a probiotic and we're not seeing increased levels on a stool test, what would happen if we paired Akkermansia with dietary strategies and even with some specific fibers that we know can feed that bacterial strain? Because I'm not saying, I just talked about the fact that probiotics could have a lot of benefits even if they're not recolonizing the gut. But we still should make that a goal.
Erin Holt [00:23:12]:
We still want to try out to grow the species out that are low in the gut. Akkermansia is a big player. When levels are robust, that indicates a healthy gut. Low levels of Akkermansia are associated with disease. So we do want to try to grow these guys out. And the best ways to boost Akkermansia are to feed it the food that it wants. So we want to increase soluble fiber. That helps to increase mucin output, which feeds Akkermansia.
Erin Holt [00:23:47]:
The prebiotic fiber of choice to increase Akkermansia is inulin or FOS. So you'll see if you buy a Pendulum Akkermansia probiotic, that there is a bit of chicory inulin in that, that is the prebiotic that feeds it. But it's a super small amount. It's 278 milligrams, which is like 0.2 grams. And what we actually need in order to restore Akkermansia levels in the gut is a much higher dose, anywhere between 3 to 6 grams a day. Now we can do that through supplementing with a fiber supplement. We can also try to get that in through diet. Some of the biggest sources of inulin are chicory root, Jerusalem artichokes, and dandelion greens.
Erin Holt [00:24:34]:
And I just don't see too many people eating those that often. Garlic, leeks, asparagus, bananas, wheat bran, all of them also have inulin. But I think if you are really trying to restore Akkermansia levels, you're going to want to do a combination of food and also fiber supplements. Other things that can feed Akkermansia are red polyphenols. So we do get these through diet. Cranberries, pomegranate, red grapes, apple skins, red and rice quinoa. You can use Organifi's red juice. That's one of the reasons that I love to take that every day.
Erin Holt [00:25:19]:
It's got an awesome antioxidant blend with pomegranate, cranberry, blueberry, raspberry and strawberry. It tastes really good. It's super easy to take. You just mix it up into some water and chug it back. My mom says she puts it in her smoothie. I was like, what? That's crazy. I guess if you were doing like a strawberry, like a fruit type of smoothie, it would be good. I usually just drink it in water because I really enjoy it.
Erin Holt [00:25:44]:
It tastes very good. But you can head to organifi.com/funk to save 20% off of that. If you wanted to try it out, that's Organifi, organifi.com F-U-N-K will get you 20% off. But that is kind of one of my go tos, honestly, to support overall Akkermansia levels. But we really, really should be focusing on diet when we think about what influences our microbiome. Maybe genetics a little bit, but it's mostly environmental factors. The strongest environmental factors being diet and then medication.
Erin Holt [00:26:22]:
The obvious medication is antibiotics. But other meds can shift our microbiome too. And I would probably throw glyphosate exposure onto that mix too. But diet is a big one. Diet is a big one. So we know that we're getting the most exposure to bacteria through our dietary intake. That's how we get exposed to bacteria is through eating food. So do you think it makes good sense to focus on this? Hell yes.
Erin Holt [00:26:48]:
There's a paper, and I love the title, Diet Rapidly and Reproducibly Alters the Human Gut Microbiome. So we know that the gut microbiome will respond to our diet and it responds to diet changes as well. So, in other words, change your diet, change your gut. So if we're just popping a probiotic pill with, like, a hope and a prayer, we can't be shocked that it's not really doing what we expect it to do unless we're also feeding the bacteria and shifting our diet in such a way that it supports a healthy microbiome. So one way to do this is to include more probiotic rich foods. These are going to be your fermented veggies, like sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, kvass. Not sure if I'm saying that right, but it's like a fermented beet drink. Also including more sources of prebiotic fibers, because that's going to feed the bacteria.
Erin Holt [00:27:44]:
Things like roots and tubers, heirloom tomatoes, grains like buckwheat, legumes, lentils, making sure that if you're sensitive to those things, that you're soaking them and you're fermenting them. Onions, garlics, leeks, shallots, all of those got some good prebiotics. But really what you're shooting for is a very wide variety in different plant matters. Try to aim for 40 species a week, and if that feels overwhelming, just know that that can include dried herbs, dried spices, fresh herbs, all the veggies, all the fruits, all the grains, all the legumes, and see if you can come up with 40 species a week. I could say 40 species a day, so I'm being easy on you guys. Try. In order to get more variety, try not to cook with and eat the same foods over and over and over again. Your bacteria really do like diversity.
Erin Holt [00:28:40]:
They really thrive with diversity. One way to encourage this is to shop at a local farm, shop at your farmers market, or even get involved in a CSA, because it encourages you to switch things up based on what's in season. I also have an episode called How to Eat for True Gut Health. It's episode 78, so you can check that out too, if you need a little bit of assistance there's that.
Erin Holt [00:30:52]:
Okay, so now if you're like I really want to build a better gut.
Erin Holt [00:31:32]:
I want some of those benefits that Erin was talking about. I'm going to talk you through strategies to introduce probiotics and prebiotics with success. And I say with success because some folks, especially if you have a history of GI distress, digestive problems, some people feel like they can't tolerate probiotics or prebiotics. So if this is you, I'm going to help you strategize ways to introduce them to set you up for success. Now, if you have reactions to probiotics, like you've taken probiotics in the past and they made you feel not great, I want to help you troubleshoot why that might be. One, it can be as simple as there are certain things in the pill that are considered allergens. So, for example, some probiotics contain dairy, and you might be sensitive to dairy. So make sure that you're reading all the ingredients, not just the active ones, but everything in the pill.
Erin Holt [00:32:30]:
And just make sure that you're not overlooking something as simple as that. Like, oh, gosh, this says it has coconut. I'm allergic to coconut. No wonder why I reacted. The second reason is that if there's a lot of prebiotic in it, we have to have pretty strong and stable guts to be able to withstand a lot of prebiotic. So just make sure that there's not a ton of prebiotic fibers. In that, the one I referenced earlier, Pendulum, had such a small amount, it was 0.2 grams.
Erin Holt [00:32:59]:
That ain't nothing. So if it's that amount, it probably won't be problematic for you. But if it's more, then you might react to it negatively. If you take a probiotic, we've ruled out those two things. If you take a probiotic and you have a reaction to it, one of the things you can do is just wait. Because sometimes, especially if we're taking a pretty potent high strain probiotic, these bacteria can have some antimicrobial effect, and we can actually experience a little bit of a die off reaction. But that should not last any longer than a few days, up to a week. So if you're having some funky reactions after longer than a week, it's probably not a die off reaction.
Erin Holt [00:33:48]:
It's probably not just an adjustment reaction. Think about it like this. Like, all of a sudden, you're adding new bacteria. You're introducing new bacteria to your gut. The bacteria there might be like, hey, what the heck is going on? So you might have a little bit of an adjustment reaction. Remember, just helping to contextualize this can make things feel better. If you understand what the reactions mean and that they're not always bad, it's not always a bad sign. That can help you kind of navigate the waters a little bit.
Erin Holt [00:34:15]:
Go back to episode 287 where I discussed this, like how to kind of pre frame and understand that reactions to things aren't always a negative sign. Sometimes they're actually a positive sign. But you shouldn't have any of these reactions longer than a week. If you're experiencing them longer than a week, then that's a sign that your immune system is really probably triggered and kind of unhappy. You might need to do a little bit more gut healing before you reintroduce probiotics. You might be a good candidate for working with us one on one, so we can kind of help you troubleshoot that and navigate that. Another thing is to just slow your roll and titrate the dose up. So if you are really sensitive, if you're really reactive to probiotics, check and make sure that you're not taking a probiotic that is a blend of a bunch of different strains.
Erin Holt [00:35:09]:
You might do better with introducing one strain at a time. So maybe you do the soil based, or maybe you do Lactobacillus, or maybe you do Bifido. Or maybe you try a Lacto-Bifido blend, or maybe you introduce Akkermansia, or maybe you introduce Saccharomyces Boulardii. But start with one and see if you can tolerate that. And then add another strain. Because research does suggest that single species formulas are less effective than multiple species formulas. So as your immune tolerance improves, you can add more strains to get more benefit. So like I said earlier, your gut loves diversity.
Erin Holt [00:35:52]:
So we want to give it as much diversity as we can. And I know that I'm mentioning a lot of things. I do want you to know that I put together a resource for you on Fullscript. It's called Build a Better Gut. We will link it up in the show notes and it's just all the things that I'm talking about are all going to be in one place. So you can kind of look at different probiotics. I'm going to talk about prebiotics in a second. You can kind of poke around and see some different options.
Erin Holt [00:36:18]:
I absolutely don't expect you to go in and buy all of them all at once. That would be a little insane. But you can kind of look at different options based on what I'm talking about. I didn't want you guys flying blind out there so I did create that resource for you guys. Now if you are sensitive so start with one strain like I said and then go really slow. So maybe you start with one strain, one cap every other day. If that's still too much you can open up the capsule and just do like a half cap or a quarter cap, just put it into some water and drink it down and then you can gradually increase. And this is what I refer to as micro dosing probiotics.
Erin Holt [00:37:03]:
Sometimes when people are really reactive, really sensitive, really immune tolerant, we just have to take super duper duper baby steps and just micro dose our way to a full dose. And this could take time, this can take weeks, this can take months. So you have to be patient with yourself and you can take this same exact approach with fibers. You can microdose fibers. I prefer a combination of a lot of different fibers. Why? Because diversity, you can rotate them out. I usually have a bunch of different fibers and I'm just throwing them all into my smoothie. There's no real rhyme or reason at this point.
Erin Holt [00:37:40]:
I'm just kind of like haphazardly doing it. But this is another place where you can start with one fiber and see how you do. If you're really sensitive, I think that pHGG or partially hydrogelized guar gum is a good place to start because I have just found that people are not as reactive to that one. So you can start with a small dose. Usually I'm recommending people take 5 grams of that a day but you just start little, little and then you slowly titrate your way up and then from there you can do a good mix. So there's a lot of different options that I like. Designs for Health paleo fiber is one of my favorite. It has a lot of different types of fibers.
Erin Holt [00:38:22]:
Pure Encapsulations Poly-Prebiotics, it has prebiotic fibers and then also polyphenol. So that one has XOS, it has GOs, it has cranberry, blueberry, pomegranate. Another one is Metagenics Metafiber, that one has oat hull and apple fiber. I can't do oats so I don't do that one but if you can do oats, go for it. That one helps to feed Akkermansia and other bacteria as well. So if you can tolerate prebiotic fibers, no problem, you can go for it. Do a greens powder.
Erin Holt [00:38:57]:
Do a reds powder. I love Organifi. I love their greens powder, I love their reds powder. Work yourself up to two tablespoons of some combination of prebiotic fibers a day, take some probiotics, and that's a really good way to rebuild a gut. Again, head to the link in the show notes, Build a Better Gut on Fullscript. And I'm linking to some of the fibers that you can check out as well. And so we also, of course, want to think about stress, we want to think about sleep, we want to think about movement, feeding windows, exposure to nature. All of these things are going to influence our gut.
Erin Holt [00:39:37]:
But gosh, it's only one show, so I had to stop somewhere. And if you're listening to this and it seems like a lot of work or a lot of effort yeah, I mean, yes, totally. Our environment is radically different than what our microbiome needs to thrive. Our microbiomes don't need like, Instagram and Botox and Pop Tarts to thrive. So the world we're living in is not conducive to our microbiome. So our guts as a result, are radically different than they used to be. And we see a lot of digestive and immune dysfunction because of it. So if we want to override that and overcome that, we do have to put in some effort.
Erin Holt [00:40:24]:
I'm not going to lie to you about that. If it feels too overwhelming to even start by yourself, that's when you reach out to us. That's when you can work with us. Or if you're like, hey, I've tried a lot of these strategies and I'm still not improving. That's where we can kind of swoop in and help with the order of operations. Like maybe what you actually need to work on is more of your adrenal hormone thyroid picture before we can even start to repair your gut. So anyway, I hope that this was chock full of resources for you. Let's build some healthy, happy guts for the new year.
Erin Holt [00:40:58]:
I will check you next week. Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Funk'tional Nutrition podcast. If you got something from today's show, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and keep coming back for more. Take care of you.
