Welcome Back! - IBS Freedom Podcast #201

Welcome to Season 3: Life Updates, Strategies for Healthy Habits, and What's Next for IBS Freedom

In the kickoff episode of season three of the IBS Freedom Podcast, hosts Dr. Nicole DiNezza and Amy Hollenkamp reintroduce themselves and share life updates, including Amy's new baby and Nicole's trip to Orlando. They reflect on challenges and strategies around behavior change, particularly as it relates to gut health. Nicole discusses her program, FODMAP Freedom, and Amy announces her revamped IBS Proof Plan. The hosts highlight plans for the new season, including inviting more guest experts, covering a variety of topics, and the adjusted schedule of bi-weekly episodes.

00:00 Welcome Back to Season Three!
00:44 Amy's Life Updates: New Baby and Adjustments
01:55 Funny Baby Stories and Hair Adventures
07:46 Harry Potter and Hogwarts Houses Discussion
12:18 Book Writing Progress and Challenges
16:18 Exciting Plans for Season Three
18:15 The Importance of Behavioral Change in Gut Health
21:10 The Challenge of Dealing with SIBO
21:38 Stress and Gut Health
23:58 Behavior Change and Discomfort Tolerance
25:56 The Importance of Habit Formation
27:42 Health Anxiety and Mindset
34:43 Coaching and Prioritizing Interventions
41:34 Working with Us: Programs and Offerings
45:06 Season 3 Preview and Closing Remarks

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Nikki's Info:
- Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TriangleHolisticGutHealth
- Instagram: @Gut.Microbiome.Queen
- FODMAP Freedom in 90 Days: https://www.fodmapfreedom.com/enroll
- Private Appts: https://infinityholistichealth.com/

Amy's Info:
- Practice: https://sibodiaries.com/
- Instagram: @Amy_Hollenkamp_RD

Transcript

# Welcome Back - IBS Freedom Podcast #201

Hello, hello, and welcome back to season three of the IBS Freedom Podcast. Woo hoo. Hello, I am joined as always by the lovely, the intelligent, the amazing. Amy Hol, camp R to the D. Hello people. Good to be back. Yes, we were just kind of roughly calculating Ed saying that it's been a good five months or so since we've recorded an episode for the podcast.

So forgive any errors in this one as we fumble. I. Fumble through our words here. We're getting the rust off and getting ready for season three, and we just thought that we would come back, say hi, tell you what we're up to, what we're planning, and what we are gonna be up to for season three. So Amy, I feel like you arguably have had the most life updates since we went on to hiatus slash like we went on hiatus kind of because of you.

Mm-hmm. So what do you wanna share with the gang? Yeah, so I mean. Clearly we have another baby on board. Little Francis Irene Anari. She's a gem. She's very smiley. Um, she, how she's five months now? Um. But yeah, she's very cute. Pretty easy baby. She was a great sleeper at the beginning. Now I feel like she's regressing a little bit, but we're still doing good.

I feel like the adjustment to the two kids has gone maybe smoother than I had anticipated. I feel like I heard a bunch of people being like, two is so much harder than one. Like you're in for it kind of mentality. And maybe it's because she is an easy baby. Um, it's been fairly easy, I would say. Um. I thought going from zero to one was harder than one to two is basically what I'm saying.

Um, I think that bodes well for Frankie, that she's an easy baby then. Yeah, she's definitely very social. It was funny, our, my friend watches Cece and Frankie while I work and she's watched Cece for forever and it was funny 'cause she would say, she sort of came up to me one day recently and said. Yeah, CE didn't really smile at me until eight months.

She said, I didn't wanna tell you at the time. And she's like, but Frankie smiled at me right away. So Cece's kind of an observer a little bit. She does. She will sort of just stare you down as a baby. She was more intense, but Frankie's very happy. Happy go lucky. Even when she had RSV, she was just smiling at all.

The doctors and the nurses. When we were at, we didn't go to the hospital or anything, but like at Urgent care, I felt sort of dumb bringing her into urgent care thinking. She was like, I swear she's sick. Well, yeah, no, that's totally the thing. And you bring them into urgent care and there's. Kids that look like they're at death's door almost in the waiting room, and you're like, oh, I don't wanna get.

Frankie's sick with all these waiting room germs. So you're in your head be thinking, why did I bring her in? She's happy and smiling and all these other kids are like, uh, like in the waiting room, um, struggling with, with, you know, life, severe illness, things like that, and the urgent care waiting room. So I'm just like, Ugh, did I expose my little tiny baby to all these germs in the waiting room?

Um, but yeah, she had RSV was. Uh, it, I would've never known it 'cause she was kind of happy as a clam. She was only wheezy for one day and then was fine. Um, but yeah, so she is, she's a fun little whipper snapper. Uh, that's and more hair than many adults have on their head. That's true. But way less hair than cece.

Well, Cece came out with like a toupee, like Yeah. I'm just, I've, I've tried to think of like a famous figure that has like a really good head of hair. Mm. I dunno. Elvis, but was El, did Elvis wear a wigger? A tope? I feel like that might've been fake hair, but you know, like Cece had like Elvis hair. Yeah. Cece black hair.

Right. Cece was so funny 'cause they both have made hair statements. 'cause Cece's was just so much hair and Frankie's straight up. Yeah. Yeah. Frankie's. Frankie's looks like she's been electrocuted recently. Yes, exactly. So Frankie has definitely been, um. Very much straight up in the air hair. Um, and it's really funny actually to, to look at her 'cause they're just little tiny face.

It's like so happy with her straight up in the air, uh, Albert Einstein hair. So yeah, it's, it's been good though. And she does look more like me. It's funny 'cause Cece. When Cece was first born, there were like moments where I felt like she looked like me, but no, like now I feel like she looks so much more like Armand.

And now Frankie definitely looks more like me with blue eyes. Hmm. But darker, like a darker version of me. Um, so it's just kind of interesting 'cause they do look different. Yeah, when I was pregnant with Jess, we had this really horrendous but really fun, uh, party game that we played where my mom printed a bunch of pictures of Mike and I when we were like two, and she found, you know, got the sizing kind of similar and like the type of headshot, kind of similar and.

People were instructed to cut out the parts of the faces and like make a mishmash of what our baby would look like. Oh my gosh. And oh my God, those pictures still haunt me to, to this day. Like, like they would cut out my eyes, gosh. And like glue them on his face and then like my lips and my hair like glued onto Mike's face or vice versa.

They were deeply terrifying. But it was a really fun game. And we still have those somewhere in, I think my mom's attic 'cause we've got a bunch of storage over there at her house still. And every now and then I find 'em in the attic and every single time I'm like, oh God. Yeah. Well you don't thank God.

Just doesn't look like that. It's trippy too because now they have all the AI tools that can age gener, like can do the age progression. That's a good point. Like this is how old I am. I guess we've done that for Frankie and Cece and it's so strange. So, and some of the AI tools are not that great because she'll jump from.

10 years old to like 35 and you're like, wait, what happened with this AI tool? It was kind of going well and then it went to 35. There was a big age jump. Um, yeah. But yeah, those tools are kind of fun just to be like, oh, this could be what she looks like when she's older. Um, well we did the analog version of that.

Oh yes, you did The old, old school version apparently at our baby shower, but that was 10 years ago and that was seemed terrifying. The AI is has is not as terrifying. But I'm gonna dig them up. Next time I'm at my mom's house I'll dig some up and I'm just gonna text you those at random. And you're gonna have a jump scare.

Yes. I can't wait. It'll be good fun. I can't wait. We'll have, do a reveal. We should do a big reveal. I don't know if the internet is ready for this. Oh my gosh. Oh, maybe we could, maybe I could do that for like a Jess birthday post. 'cause I'm pretty big on not showing Jess on my business, social media accounts ever.

Um, she made. A, a very small guest appearance in a YouTube video that I did, and she was on camera for literally like one and a half seconds. I kind of like flashed her almost right on the camera and then she was gone. Um, but otherwise I don't share pictures of her online anywhere. So yeah, maybe that could be like the hooray.

It's Jess's birthday right post, but they're not really pictures of her. They're just deeply troubling pictures. Oh my gosh. That you'll wish that you could forget. Yeah. Right. Um, well, let me think. I'm trying to think of what can I reciprocate with. You've had a very exciting five or so months. Um, we went to Orlando and I am proudly wearing my new Hufflepuff t-shirt.

Excellent. I feel like this is like mandatory for the millennial dating profiles and MySpace pages is like, you have to have your, your Hogwarts house. So now I'm curious, what Hogwarts house do you think you would belong to? Amy? I think I'm gonna very much disappoint you, but I've never read the Harry Potter books or I've seen one, the first Harry Potter movie and the fourth Harry Potter movie.

That's it. What I know. I know What, so, I don't even know. I don't know enough. But you know, it's crazy. Is my little sister's obsessed with Harry Potter? Um, I'm actually, she's lives in Dayton now. Um. And she's coming down. We're gonna have dinner on Friday, so I'll have to ask her what, how she thinks that I am in Yes.

And maybe figure that out. But yeah. Um, she actually went to Orlando when they had all the actors and actresses. It was like Harry Potter were weekend or something, and they had the actors and actresses there, and her and my, my, uh, mom went down. I don't think like the biggest people were there. I think Ron was there.

Okay. And I don't think Hermione and Harry were there, but all like the ancillary people were there. Yeah. It's too funny. Oh my God. I would nerd out. Yeah. Well, for the record, universal Studios is a must see if you are at all a Harry Potter nerd. Mm. And we, we definitely like Harry Potter in this family, especially my daughter and I, and she basically looks like Hermione Granger with her, the thickest longest hair you've ever seen in her life, I think.

Yeah. Um, so yeah, so we had a lot of fun daughter. Definitely a Gryffindor like that tracks me. Definitely Hufflepuff, my husband for sure. A Raven Claw. And we, we did the Buzzfeed quizzes, by the way, to confirm. So it's legit, like, don't worry. Yes. Um, my mom tested as a Raven Claw. I'm gonna call bullshit. I, I think both of my parents are slitherin actually.

Oh, wife Slitherin I feel like, reminds me of a snake, so I'm guessing it's bad. Isn't that what a Malco, what's his name? Malfoy. Malfoy. He's he a Slitherin. There you go. He totally slitherin. Yes. He was a meanie. I think that there can be, here's the way to look at it. Not everybody in Slitherin is bad, but pretty much all of the bad people are slitherin.

Okay. Does that make sense? Like that makes sense. That makes sense. You know, not all, what is it? Um, not all rectangles or squares, but all squares are rectangles. It's one of those kind of, yeah. Thought, thought patterns. Um, is snape a Slytherin? Are, are teachers Slitherin, or what are they? I think, yeah, I think Snape is the, I think he's the headmaster of Slitherin.

Oh, okay. Now I feel like you're, you're quizzing me on my knowledge here. Sorry, I'm just asking. No, ITM trying to No, it's good. It's good. I'm, I'm mentioning all the Harry Potter characters that I can remember. Yes. Yeah, it's, it's good. I think. I'm now curious what Hogwarts house you belong to. I don't actually know for you.

I, I don't, I can't think of it off the top of my head. I kind of feel like you could be a Hufflepuff like me. Hmm. I'll ask, we're an underrated house. I'll have to ask. Uh, Michelle she'll know. Yeah. She's known you longer. Yeah, for sure. So she's got intimate knowledge of the situation, and I feel like also we have to keep in mind that when you get sorted into your Hogwarts house, you're 11 years old.

Right. Because like it's 11-year-old that go to hogs for school. Well, boy, I was so you almost have to think. How would you have tested? I was tested at 11. Yeah. Like how would you have tested when you were 11? That's a more interesting one. Okay. I married, maybe I'll ask my sister both questions. Yeah, yeah.

And see what she comes up with. See what her gut instinct tells her. Okay. I married a nerd, like he would've tested as a nerd back then. He's a nerd now for sure. Ravenclaw. Okay. And I, I've been hufflepuff my whole life. I think so. I think it tracks, but maybe, maybe like one of my other friends was like, oh, I would've tested as Gryffindor.

I. When I was 11. 'cause you're bold and you don't think you could be defeated by anything. Right. And you know, you're foolish. But now she claims to be a Hufflepuff, so I don't know. Hmm. Food for thought. But yeah, that was our big exciting thing was the big trip to Orlando. Um, it was one of those where you get back and you're like, I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

Right. It was one of those. Um, but yeah, that was my big excitement for the last five months. Mm. Yeah, just trying to fill the time when we don't have podcasting to do, I guess. I know, right? I know. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I know my, unfortunately, I feel like my book, well, I guess it makes sense I'm not beating myself up, but my book, I just have not, I just started to get back into it.

I like took totally five months off and I'm like, where am I in this project right now? And I know where I, I. Knew where I was at, but I generous. It's like hard to get back into a project like that when you've been out for a, you know, five months or something. Yeah. So I just started that back up last week, um, doing some editing and things like that, but that's coming along.

I'm, I'm hoping to start getting it out to be reviewed by people like you or past patients. Um. Again, I would say like if I can get that out in the next year, I will be very happy. Uh, um, I'm, again, I'm like 80% done, but it's the last 20% that's not overwhelmingly fun. I feel like, like to me, the research and like digging into all that stuff and sort of writing willy nilly, like to start just to get words on paper and to get sort of thoughts down to me is the, the funner part and the.

Editing and, you know, finding an editor and worky work. Yeah. It's just like the not fun work. You're not learning anything new but just has to get done like that. It's, it's not as, you have a little bit of Raven Claw just for the record, like Okay. Little nerd tendency here. Right. So I think, I think once I get in a better flow and can be committed to it, 'cause I don't know if I'm always gonna be super motivated to do that.

Type of work, but I just need to sort of set some time and be pretty committed to doing, you know, five hours a week on it until it gets. Done. Um, and I think there'll probably be months in there where I, where I'm just waiting on other people to get stuff done and you're almost managing the situation more, um, with editors and book designers and that kind of stuff.

So I've kind of like dipped my toes a little bit in that, but, um, I wanna get like some people's feedback first before I. Sending it to the editor and things like that. Um, yeah, just to make sure it makes sense from both, from like a, a science standpoint. So having like some colleagues read it, but also having some people that would be in the population who I'd be selling it to, like some past clients.

Read it and see if it makes sense. Yeah. It's normal people, right? Normies? Yes. The target demographic. Right? So I wanna send it out. 'cause sometimes, again, just being sciencey, it's nice to check in and make sure things that I'm saying are registering properly, which I feel like we're both pretty good at explaining things, but still sometimes.

There's certain things that probably go over people's heads. Yeah. Um, at times. And I just wanna double check that, that, that, that, that is not happening with my book. Um, so yeah, that's where we're at with the book situation. But that has definitely taken a, a backseat during this time. I thought I'd get into it sooner, but no, I feel like this feels right, right about the best time to start.

I think I speak for the entire community when I say we, uh, we will cut you some slack. Thank you. Thank you. We won't come with pitchforks and come knock on your door demanding this book quite yet. I mean, we're all excited to read it, but we will. We'll let this slide one time though. Not again. You got that.

I got it. Mm-hmm. I got it. Mm-hmm. Well, I'm looking forward to reading it and I'm, I'm excited that I'm one of the in-crowd that I get. I mean, I would hope so. After 201 podcast episodes. Right. I should Sure as hell hope that I get to read this thing first. Yeah. Um, I. Yeah, I'm super pumped about that. Yeah, speaking.

This is very tangentially related, but I'm gonna make the leap anyway. Um, speaking of books, I am excited to have some more guests on our podcast for season three. We were talking about this and. We still have plenty of ideas for what we could do here on this podcast. Um, I know like for example, we had talked last year or maybe even the year before about doing a single nutrient deep dive series at some point and having like a whole episode dedicated to riboflavin or, you know, whatever it might be.

Um, and like micro, like highlighting different microbes, for example. Um, but I think I really wanna get some new perspectives here on the IBS Freedom Podcast and have some, have some guests from related fields and maybe, maybe people within our own space. But, um, I think that's gonna be a really nice addition to the podcast and.

Like help our people in different ways. 'cause I think it's not al always, obviously if you've listened any of our episodes, it's not always about just healing the tummy directly. It could be something even as like seemingly unrelated as, okay, the reason why your tummy is upset is because your stress level is really high.

Well, what if your stress level is really high because you have a million things on your to-do list and you always feel behind and you feel like you can never get stuff done. And it's like. Work and kind of scheduling kind of stress, that's your main driver of stress. Well then even talking about something like productivity or like time, you know, management, like those kind of skills could maybe help somebody with their tummy in a really weird, rounded about way So.

I'm hoping to have, again, some people from like directly from the health and nutrition world to come on and talk about gut health with us, but also maybe some things that won't make sense until they make sense. Yeah. I mean, I feel, and I believe you agree with me, but the longer we do this, the more, I think behavioral change is probably the cornerstone of.

The work we do as co as coaches. It's like, okay, you know, everybody that comes to us has tummy issues and there's so many different levers that you can pull on to help move the needle in the right direction. But usually it's some sort of like. Behavioral change, which is great in a lot of ways because I think you have more control than you realize.

Mm-hmm. Um, but changing behaviors is hard too. It's not easy. Well, and it's also like when you just said it's great because you have more control over the situation than you realize. I'm gonna flip that the other way and say, oh, that sucks, because you have more control than you realize. That's right. And that's kind of like a roundabout way of saying some of this is on you.

And, and like, I'm not saying that to be a meanie pie and point a finger and say, it's all your fault. You're doing this to yourself, but like, we have to take responsibility for our lives and our actions and, and you know, nobody's gonna heal. Your gut for you. Nobody's gonna change your nutrition or manage your dog sh*t schedule or work on your horrible relationships for you.

You need to suck it up and do it yourself. Yeah. Um, it just, it is what it is. But I feel like that's part of what makes it so hard is it's almost easier to spend the money on the antimicrobials and the SIBO test and the leaky gut test and the glutamine and the whatever. And live in this like, blissful state of ignorance versus acknowledging, oh, I actually need to prioritize sleep for the first time in my entire life, and I can't scroll on my phone for an hour before bed.

Hmm. Damn it. Dammit, dammit, dammit. Like, I don't want, and, and I have these conversations in my q and as for FODMAP Freedom almost every week, where, uh, we had in the last week we had talked about. S like stress and the adrenals and sleep and that sort of stuff. And a couple of people came on and they, they were kind of dancing around it, uh, this idea of like, yeah, this was eye-opening, but also, ugh, I don't wanna change this thing.

And I kind of called it out, was like, yeah, kind of sucks, doesn't it? Right. Dunno what to tell. Like, I don't know what to tell you. It just, you gotta do what you gotta do. Just suck it up and work on it buttercup. But, um, yeah, it, it's. That is the trick. I think I've gotten to a point, even where I've said publicly that I don't think SIBO is hard to treat.

People are hard to work with and people are hard to coach. Mm-hmm. And it's hard to convince people to change their lives, their habits, their lifestyle, their preferences, their whatever. Like that's really fricking hard, but. Dealing with SIBO is not hard at the end of the day. Hmm. If you had somebody, theoretically who was 100% compliant and they, they listened to you and did exactly what you said, every time, I think Sibos really easy.

It's, you know, it's those clients where you keep coming back into the q and As or the meetings and you're like, oh, did you work on the thing? They're like, no. Right, but let's focus on this. And it's like, no, no. Yeah. Those are the hard ones. Yeah. It's funny you bring that up. 'cause you know, I had a, a discussion with someone from my program recently too, where it's like, oh.

They're, they're talking about how, like, oh, across time stress seems to be a big factor in their triggering their gut stuff. Like if they go back in history, seems like they're flaring through big periods of stress, they get a new job. Um, that kind of stuff where it flares up, but then in the same breath it's like, oh, I'm taking antibiotic, or, sorry, an antimicrobial and.

I don't know if it's helping. It seems like it might be hurting. Like, oh no, I'm doomed. And it's like, no, let's go back. Let's go back to the stress. You just wanna grab it by the shoulders and shake up like a ol, don't you? Right. Yeah. So I, and again, like, I, I think this is, was very true in my case too, so.

You know, I feel like I got very wrapped up in chasing things and part of it's anxiety too, because some of the, the things that will move the needle for you and help you progress might be the things that are the most anxiety producing. I think that's a, a big component for a lot of people in this space.

So I do have a lot of empathy, like with people moving through it, especially if there's an anxiety piece, just because, you know. I was scared to try to change, try, right? I was scared to try foods. I was scared of the change and the, the doubts that I had surrounding that. But that was something so pivotal for getting better.

So I think that there's sometimes, like in the IBS space, a lot of underlying anxieties or doubts, just naturally and, um, that can be a, make it even harder sometimes to change habits. Uh, layering that into things, but doesn't change the fact that you should, and that, yeah, we need to find ways to change habits.

It's just, you know, I do think that there is a, a persony personality profile that I typically see in the IBS space. Yeah. That, you know, has a little bit more anxiety that can affect their ability to. To tackle some of these habit changes, especially with diet change in particular, um, and that sort of stuff.

Yeah. Well, I'll go another layer too, and we'll talk about this hopefully with this guest. So we've, I found this lady maybe a couple years ago and we've both been following her and we're. Uh, we should be on target to get her on the podcast this year. Um, we were, we had something lined up but had to get rescheduled at the last minute.

But there's this gal, Carra Norton, um, I follow her on Instagram. They have, she has a YouTube channel as well, uh, but she has a PhD and her full focus is behavior change. Mm-hmm. And it's bridging that gap between knowledge and behavior. Like, oh, I know I should do something, but I don't do it right. Or like, I know I should exercise.

But I don't do it. I know I should quit smoking, but I don't do it, et cetera, et cetera. And um, one of the things that she's talked about a lot is this idea of like, basically discomfort tolerance. Yeah. And part of. Change is discomfort, but a lot of people you know, will make the New Year's resolution and we'll go to the gym on January 1st, and then the next day we're not feeling quite as motivated or maybe we're tired or we didn't get as much sleep as we'd hoped, or we're sore or we're really craving a Big Mac or whatever.

Or like a Frappuccino with a million grapes of sugar from Starbucks and we fall off the wagon. And that it's like, ah, screw it. We're, we're just done with this resolution now. And it's, she talks a lot about, you know, going and doing some movement, or, God, by the way, I hope I'm not butchering her whole messaging, but this is kind of my takeaway, I guess my translation of it, but I think.

It's this idea of like going to the gym when you feel really good and you feel really motivated and you feel like super hot in your Lululemon pants or whatever. Those aren't the days that really change you. Mm-hmm. It's when you go and you do, I. 10 minutes of yoga, or you go on a walk around the block or you do a half-assed workout at home on the days that you really, really, really, really, really don't want to, and it feels uncomfortable and icky and there's resistance.

You're like. Oh, I just wanna scroll on TikTok, right? I don't wanna do this. And you're having a temper tantrum with yourself when you do the thing anyway, and you can cope with the discomfort of doing it imperfectly or doing it when you really don't want to. Those are the days that actually change you.

And those are the days that build the habit. Like right, everybody could do the thing on the days that it feels easy. It takes fortitude and it takes gumption to do the thing on the hard days. And similarly, it's like. Anybody can reintroduce FODMAPs when they feel totally akay and they get absolutely no gas and bloating from it, and they have a flat tummy for the entire day and you know, yay.

I got blueberries back in. Like, it's still great to reintroduce that food and reintroduce blueberries. It's much harder to keep pushing on the day that you try to introduce onions and it does not go well, and you get. Weird poops and bloating and gurgles, and you are tempted to frantically email us and say, it's all gone to hell and I have to do the elemental diet again and like raining in that part of your brain on the days that that happens and like pushing through and continuing on the plan anyway, those are the days that actually make or break this journey for most people.

Hmm. Yeah. Not the easy days. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And I think, again, like. Um, that's something too, I feel like that's so common in like the anxiety work that I've done. It's like the, we're usually trying to avoid the discomfort. Yeah. Some sort of discomfort or uncomfortable feeling. Um, and I think it could be translated into a variety of different behavioral changes.

Um. So it's so cool, uh, and I hope we do get Karen Norton on to sort of discuss that. Um, yeah. But I, I think it'll be a good episode. Yeah. I think it's like, how are you responding to the, uh, discomfort? Mm-hmm. Are you kind of, are. Having a bit more of a, oh, I'm accepting that I'm going through a healing journey, and you're kind of rolling with it to a degree and rolling with the ebbs and flows, or is it a hitting of the panic button, I have to fix this.

I have to like, um, ruminate or research or that sort of stuff. I think like there's sort of a fine line there with people where it's like, Ooh, we still need to kind of continue forward when there is some. Uncomfortable, uh, periods during our journey and things like that, or things that push us outside of our comfort zone, that's where progress is, is outside of the comfort zone.

Yeah, and, and I'll throw this out there too, like it could be, I. Specific to one area of your life. Like we were just talking before we hopped on camera, right. That one of your loved ones has a lot of anxiety in other areas of his life, but not when it comes to health. Right. And you're like, uh, like isn't it funny how that like, didn't get brought over to the health arena?

Right, right. You know, I kind of wanna twinge in the health, like at least a little bit more here. Yeah. Like, please care a little bit more. And, and similarly like. Um, I talked to a mutual client of ours I had a meeting with, um, and you know, he was basically saying that he, if he gets any symptoms in like gut symptoms, he just spirals and it turns into a major freakout for him and it's really like gut specific.

He, he kind of wigs and he's getting some awareness around it now. We talked about like, you know, a little bit of, well maybe examining why that's so triggery for you and like why that's so stressful for you. Um, versus before I met with him it was maybe what, like a week or a week and a half prior to that and your house got a tummy bug or food poisoning or something.

And AP nonchalantly, what was it you texted or you, Marco Polo me one day. Day. Marco, Marco Polo. Yeah. And you were like. I had diarrhea 10 times yesterday. Isn't that weird? And it was very like, huh. And then you moved on and you like told me something about what the baby was doing. And I was like, okay. Like that's a little different than the energy we typically get from people.

Mm. Um, but you know, it could be, but if you would've talked me like 10 years ago, I probably would've had a different ener energy towards it too. Yeah. So there's been growth, I think, in the background. Mm-hmm. Around my mindset too. So, yeah. Yeah, it can be done. And again, I think going back to this idea of kind of in line with exposure therapy, like you start with little bits of the discomfort, right?

You start with little bits that you're able to tolerate. You don't like it, but you can tolerate it, right? And you kind of build up. Um, and yeah, and you know, honestly, I've gotten, I'll give a really weird example, um, for me too is like, I. I don't have a lot of health related anxiety, particularly in my adult life.

Again, I, it's hard to say what it would've been like, you know, when I was in grad school and my gut was pretty bad. Um, but, but I think I could kind of take things in stride with my health now for the most part. Um, but for some reason I'm still stuck in this weird place that it's been a couple years like this, where checking YouTube comments.

Checking emails really, really freaks me out, and I'm convinced that there's a bad boogieman and there's gonna be like one person in there who just vehemently hates me or threatens or whatever, which is certifiably insane because the majority of the comments I get on YouTube are wonderful, positive, like appreciative comments, but.

You know, in reality, I've avoided looking at my YouTube comments for a couple of years now, and I probably just need to take on an exposure therapy model with myself. I'm like, okay, this day I just need to go in there and I. And moderate some YouTube comments for one minute. Just set a one minute timer.

Mm-hmm. And then I can go out and then I'm, I'm good. And then the next day I do three minutes, and the next day I do five minutes and like, kind of building it up until I finally get the memo that there's no boogieman, not really a boogieman in the YouTube comments. Um, but, you know, it, it can be specific things, it can be really weird things.

I think we all have our little neuroses to work on. Yeah. And I. Not, uh, I'm not immune myself. Yeah, for sure. Um, but it's, it's hard when it's your health. Yeah. And then for sure, you know, the cycle of stress and stress chemistry and poor vagal tone. Inhibiting rest and digest and then that causes or exacerbates your tummy symptoms and you get stuck in this loop and just being in that loop inhibits your healing, you know?

Yeah. And I think, I think part of that, which can definitely feed into like health anxiety, that sort of thing, is just the wellness worlds. Um. Sort of discussing the microbiome so intensely of like, oh no, you have sibo, so nothing else matters. Or like you have, um, the pseudomona showing up in your stool test.

So like that's the number one priority. And the only priority, like it that there's that mentality where everything microbiome takes precedence to everything else. Yeah. That mentality I think is super damaging because, uh, again, not that certain microbiome issues aren't. Uh, important, but you know, probably working on your gut brain axis solves a lot of microbiome issues, uh, in and of itself.

So I, I think that that's where people get pulled in that direction where they ha they, they think like, oh, I'm doomed 'cause of my microbiome. I have to focus on that. Mm-hmm. And like, whether I'm getting sleep or whether I am managing my stress doesn't matter because I have pseudomonas. Yeah. So it, it does become like debilitating in, in a sense, to they're getting better because they're only focusing on.

That one piece? Well, it's, it's the blinders, right? Right. The blinders. It's like you have total vision and the only thing that you see is the pseudomonas. Right. But meanwhile, your crap sleep and how that's affecting your gut and your microbiome is right here too and inches from your face and you just can't see it.

Right. Um, yeah, and I mean, frankly, that's one of the benefits of. Getting feedback from another unbiased person. Mm-hmm. And getting coaching and getting clarity is like, you know, honestly the stuff that I teach people in fodmap freedom is not rocket science. At least not to me. Like I've taught it for so long that none of it's super surprising to me anymore.

But, um, a, I will say. The old adage of common sense is no longer common comes into play and like, yeah, just something as basic as how important sleep is can boggle people's minds. But then beyond the stuff that I teach and like the book learning, there's. The coaching and the conversations and like, okay, these four different things made sense to me, but like, how do I pick one to work on first?

Right? And like, right. How to prioritize and how to customize to you as an individual. And like, it, it's really hard to do that for yourself, by yourself when you know it's, it, it's like.

You're using your brain to treat your brain and it's, it's, yeah. This is gonna be a bad analogy, but I think it works anyway, is it's when you think about like the stress and the anxiety and the stress and the poor vagal tone and like using that brain that is. For lack of a better word, compromised. Hmm.

Right. Or like not super present and like calm and able to make perfectly rational, good choices because of like the stress and the anxiety and the panic. So it's like you're using your brain to try to treat something that inherently has quite a lot to do with the brain. And it's almost like if you had an Alzheimer's patient and they were trying to figure out and treat the Alzheimer's using their Alzheimer's brain.

Right, right. Like that brain is not going to be capable of that kind of work, but like. And again, I know that none of you people have Alzheimer's. Like I know that, but it's almost, you get what I mean, like you're, you're using a compromised nervous system to Right. Understand and treat a compromised nervous system and sometimes it just takes another uncompromised nervous system to help you get clarity and like give you a direction to go.

I guess that's my point. Yeah. And I think you're right. Like the, to me. The priorities are all skewed, and so coaching around how to prioritize. Your interventions is really key. And I think an underestimated, uh, value of the work we do with patients, um, is, you know, making sure that they're doing things in the right order.

Mm-hmm. And not, and prioritizing the right things. And it, it could, certain things might take, might need to be more prioritized for certain people than others. So I think there can be, um, differences there. But yeah, if like. Basically the only thing you're working on. 'cause you know, I'll talk to people all the time where they'll say, well, I've done everything.

And it's like they've done every antimicrobial and every, yeah. Restrictive diet. But that's pretty much all they've done. And it's like, define everything, right? It's like, I don't think I could see like why, maybe in your mind it feels like you've tried a lot of stuff, but there's so many different interventions that you haven't tried that I think would be way more relevant to the than the ones you've tried.

Like it actually makes sense. Maybe why you're not feeling, feeling well. Um. So, yeah, it's, it's, again, it's, it's challenging to, to coach, but it's, it's fun and, uh, rewarding and, uh, yeah, um, really nice when people are receptive and can make changes and 'cause I think again, um, a lot of the solutions work great.

It's just about how to implement them and be consistent and getting people to implement them. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah, and I'll, I'll throw one more plug out there for the idea of like, coaching or working with somebody like us, is that if you think about it, and I'll, I'll tell you, like I, I, uh, did an internship as a personal trainer at like a pretty high end training facility.

Like there were Olympians, professional athletes, combine athletes. Um, I will tell you every single. Athlete, like every single high-end athlete in the entire world has at least one coach, if not several coaches. Hmm. It's not that they're dumb. We're here, like runners know how to run, rowers, know how to row, and they probably have been through the same bajillion workouts of bajillion times.

Right. Like, how many times in your life could you do like a sprint or a pyramid or, or whatever. So. Think about it through that lens. It's like you could be perfectly smart and perfectly capable, but it's just really hard to coach yourself and be objective about yourself. And I'll take it one step further and say too, is that every doctor goes to a different doctor for their medical care, and part of it is just like.

It wouldn't work physically. Like you can't give yourself a pap smear. Right? I don't care how flexible you are unless you work for the actual circus. I don't think any woman could give themselves a pap smear. Um, but that's a c cha. Is that a challenge? Are you challenging the ob? Sure. GYN Listening, please.

For love of God though, don't send pictures of videos. Just, I will take your word for it. If you comment under this video that you could do it, but you know, it's, it's. There's a reason why doctors go to other people for their medical care, or they should at least go to somebody else for their medical care.

Everybody, myself included, we all have our own version of blinders on and it's really hard to be objective and totally aware of all of your bags of bullshit floating around. Mm-hmm. And it's, it's nice when somebody could point out, Hey, that thing is like right next to you and it's super important. Right.

Can you work on that now? Yeah. For sure that's coaching. Mm-hmm. I think a lot of people come to people like us and they expect us to have like a secret magical herbal blend or like a super secret probiotic that we haven't talked about publicly yet, but it works like really well, and that's not what our work looks like.

We're not gatekeeping, we've talked about. Every single tool that we probably have ever used, we have talked about somewhere on this IBS Freedom podcast. Right? I should you not. It's, you know, we're not holding all of the secret goodies over here under lock and key. It's just, it's, again, it's helping people understand the importance and then learn how to implement them in their own life.

Like that's, that's the art of what we do. So that being said, um. I have a follow up question on this line of thought in that I wanted to give people a quick like minute or two heads up of what they could expect from season three of the IBS Freedom Podcast. Um, first though, I think that this would be a good segue from our current conversation to let the good people know.

What we do and like how we work with people. Mm-hmm. And what we have to offer them. So, uh mm-hmm. For once, I'll go first. 'cause usually I kick it to you first. I'll mix it up this time for season three. So I'll say hi, I am online. I'm known as the Gut Microbiome queen. You could find me on YouTube under that name.

My channel name is Dr. Danza. Gut microbiome queen, and my handle on Instagram is gut microbiome Queen. Um, I have a lot of free content on both of those platforms as well as here on the podcast. Obviously, if you want to work with me, then the way that you could do that is by joining by program, which is called FODMAP Freedom in 90 Days.

Before you ask, you don't need to be on the low FODMAP diet or have anything to do with FODMAPs. I just thought it was a cute name and the alliteration was fun, but it's really a course and a program that can help people with IBS dysbiosis or SIBO or somewhere in between. Um, we enroll three times per year.

The next one is coming up in late April, 2025. So if you want more information, go to fodmap freedom.com and you can learn a little bit more about working with me now. Amy, you wanna give people kind of your information? Yeah, so I guess I'm primi primarily here on the IBS Freedom Podcast and, uh, on Instagram at Amy Hallen camp under rd.

Um, I am currently. Um, seeing people for one-on-one, uh, for six months, like a six month package. Um, so that is available if you wanted to work with me one-on-one. Um, and I'm also kind of rebooting some online programming. Um, my program's called the IBS Proof Plan. It's kind of all about how to IBS proof your gut.

Um, but that, um, I started at pre-pregnancy. I did like a. While I was pregnant, I did a, a, like a pilot version of it. And then I just, this is the first round, true round of it. Um, I'm wrapping up with and am gonna do it every 12 weeks or so. It's, it's a 10 week program. Um, so that. Again, restarts in April or the beginning of April and or end of March.

Um, around that time is when it should be restarting. Um, but then it should go every 12 weeks or so. It should, I should be kind of redoing it each time, um, around that time. So yeah, that is also available. So I have kind of both options right now. Um, yeah. Yeah. So, you know, certainly we hope that we can help you here on the IBS Freedom Podcast and our Instagram channels and my YouTube channel.

Like we, again, we have a lot of free content that you can learn from and benefit from, and I swear, cross my heart, hope to die. We don't gate keep anything. Yeah. But if you feel like you could benefit from the coaching from mm-hmm. The perspective from, you know, conversations and just like bouncing ideas off of somebody else who's.

Not you and therefore could see things that you're not capable of seeing. Then hopefully you will check out one or both of our stuff and hopefully we can help you in some capacity in the near future. Now with that being said, uh, I wanted to give people a couple minute summary of what they could expect with the IBS Freedom Podcast seasoned.

Three. I already mentioned one thing, which is that we're hoping to have more guests on the podcast. And for that matter, I'm gonna invite everybody here. If you are watching this episode on YouTube in particular, if you could comment down below with the names of any, like influencers or people in this world that you think would be great guests for us.

Uh, bonus points if you have their contact info or like an email address or something, but. I dunno, what would you say that we're open-minded to and looking for? Yeah, sure. Guests or even like if they have topics that you're. Oh yeah. Wanting us to cover too. Either of those would be great. Yeah. Yeah. So we wanna hear from you again.

Comment on this video in YouTube and then we'll make a point. Yeah, I'll make a point to check these YouTube comments, I promise. And I, I do think too, that you can comment in Spotify now on specific episodes. Um, really? Yeah. I haven't seen many. I've kind of looked. Periodically 'cause certain podcasts. Um, I have looked at the comments so you can comment on specific episodes.

I was gonna pull it up, but I don't have any podcasts on Spotify right now. I just have K-pop, so I'll have to, I'll have to look at it later. Um, okay. Well, okay, but I've got news for you. If you're inviting people to comment on Spotify, then you get to figure out how to find those comments. Because I don't know how I'll be looking.

I will be looking. I can check YouTube super easy. Okay. That's, you know, I could find this episode real quick. Spotify, that's a little bit more advanced, so I'm gonna leave that one to you. Alright. Um, so yeah, so suggest topics, suggest guests. Uh, we already have some people that we're lining up for season three also, and, um.

Right now we're thinking that we're gonna be posting an episode every other week rather than every week, which we did for episodes one through 200. That'll just kind of take some pressure off of us for like the filming schedule and making sure that we're caught up at all times, and now Amy has two babies to wrangle.

So just being mindful of our. Workload and power kind of adrenal situation, so to speak, in our vagal tone. So we're thinking that you can look forward to one episode every other week, and we'll be posting on Mondays like we always did. So, look forward to the latest and greatest episodes here on the IBS Freedom Podcast.

Amy, do you have anything to, to say? No, I don't think so. No salutations, no tu to lose. Tutu. Lou. Tu lou? Yeah. Tu.