Why Your Gut Health Might Be the Missing Piece to Feeling Better

We sit down with health coach Jen Trepeck to explain the gut microbiome in plain language and why it affects immunity, mood, hormones, skin, and cravings. We also share practical ways to rebuild gut balance with food, smarter supplement choices, and one small habit you can start right away.

• what the gut microbiome is and why it matters beyond digestion 
• dysbiosis explained as an imbalance of helpful and opportunistic bacteria 
• common signs of gut imbalance including bloating, fatigue, brain fog, mood shifts, skin flare-ups, frequent illness, cravings 
• how antibiotics can disrupt gut bacteria and why rebuilding can take time 
• fiber from fruits and vegetables as the most reliable prebiotic strategy 
• why plant diversity and more colors on the plate support resilience 
• when stool testing may help and why foundations come first 
• supplement quality, dosing, and why guidance matters 
• how added sugar, artificial sweeteners, and ultra-processed foods affect gut health 
• why calorie counting misses nutrient quality and real-world variables 
• a realistic starting habit: more vegetables plus more water

Connect with Jenn to get a free 15-minute discovery call at her website:

https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/

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Transcript

Welcome And Why Gut Health

SPEAKER_00 0:24

I would like to welcome Jen Treppick to the Pivotal People Podcast. You might recognize that name because she did an episode with us a few weeks ago, which was one of our most popular episodes ever. It was our first episode on health and wellness. You know, the Pivotal People Podcast, I've done it for four years. It tends to be a reflection of things that I find are interesting. We've had lots of episodes on faith, lots of episodes on relationships and family. And I said to Jen before we started, I really am interested in health and wellness. I'm 62 years old. I think a lot of the people listening are too. It's no longer about what I look like in a bathing suit because who cares about that one's the last time I even gotten one? It's about wanting to be on this planet in a healthy, happy way as long as possible. It's about being able to play with my grandchildren. It's about feeling good, you know. So I think that's how we all feel. So I decided to start having some health and wellness experts on the podcast at least once a month with different topics. And Jen was so great last time. I listened to her podcast. Let me tell you, she has been doing health coaching for over 20 years. She is an author of a new book, which I've read and I recommend to everyone. It's called Uncomplicating Wellness: Ditch the Rules, Quiet the Noise, and Reclaim Your Life. And that is appealing. I've read it, of course. It covers a little bit of everything. But for more details, what I listen to every week is her podcast. You'll get a kick out of the title. Her podcast is called Salad with a Side of Fries. Okay, so she's real, but at the same time, she's giving us pretty serious scientific advice. So thank you, Jen, for being here. She's also available for private coaching. She's done that for over 20 years. So we're going to talk about that at the end because you can coach anybody from wherever you live. So she agreed today to tackle this topic, which you may have heard about you, but you might not fully understand, called All About the Gut Microbiome, or you might have heard it described as gut health. So Jen, yes. She thank you for having me. She's an expert at this. But it's so much more than just what's going on in our stomach. If you think that this is just about digestion, it's so much more than that. So I'm gonna ask her the big question, and we're just gonna go from there. So my question, Jen, for all of us is what exactly is the gut microbiome and why does it matter for overall health, not just digestion?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Great place to start. So fundamentally, the gut microbiome refers to the ecosystem of microorganisms. So, like mentally, go back seventh grade science, ecosystems, right? And microorganisms that live all throughout our GI tract. So thinking of ecosystems in that way, there's this interplay, right? Remember back to seventh grade science, and there were, you know, certain animals relied on other animals, right? Or they relied on algae or something else to be there that they could feed on so that they could survive, right? This ecosystem is like this interplay. Your entire GI tract, right? And when we think of the gut, most of the time we're talking stomach, small intestine, large intestine, which is also your colon, you know, to elimination. So in each of those places, there are different bacteria, different tiny microscopic organisms that live there. And they are responsible for digesting our food, for helping us absorb nutrients, for I'm gonna try to break this down, but fundamentally, every single thing in your body connects back to the gut. The gut is often referred to as the second brain. Over 80% of your immune system is in the gut. The microbiome, some of these organisms do certain activities that then allow something to happen in a different part of the GI tract. So they also produce neurotransmitters, right? There's a connection between the gut and the brain. So our mood, our energy, like I said, our immune system, our hormones, a lot of vitamins require activity in the gut for us to be able to use them, absorb them, or make them for that matter. So there's so much that happens in the gut, and because of the gut, that it becomes this piece of anything showing up probably connects in some way to the gut. So I mentioned the gut's been called the second brain. Some people will also say your skin is your intestines turned inside out. So if you're noticing something in your skin, odds are it's connecting to something in the gut. So often, to your point, we hear the phrase gut health or whatever, and we instantly only think about digestion, poop, bloating as those symptoms. Our hormones are also mean in the gut, right? So there's so many pieces there that, you know, immune, autoimmune, hormone imbalance, almost any kind of dysregulation can stem from what is or isn't happening in our GI tract. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

I think that's a pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

I'm trying to make it not complicated, but it's so much.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

But what when I first started learning about it, what hit me was that trillions of bacteria live in, but this whole idea of good and bad bacteria, that was a new concept to me. Could you elaborate on that and tell us what feeds each one and what happens when dysbiosis a great is a great big word that I didn't understand. And so so let's go there. Because when when people do notice, you know, for example, bloating, where you notice that you just don't feel well or you're getting sick a lot. And if something is messed up down there, what is going on then?

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Yeah. So I don't love the words good and bad in anything. And so even when it comes to the bacteria in the gut, there are some that we certainly want that do really helpful things, right? So some gut bacteria help like a fermentation process, which then creates short chain fatty acids lower in the gut, which do a whole host of things in the body. So, but the idea of good and bad, there are some that are more opportunistic. Opportunistic bacteria can overwhelm the bacteria that we need and want more of. So dysbiosis is when the bacteria in the gut is out of balance. And typically what that means is certain opportunistic bacteria have overgrown. So we have a lot more of those, a lot less of the ones that are really helpful. And then we can end up with a whole lot of symptoms. So, you know, then you can also, and there are people who are experts in parasites. There are people who are experts in candida, there are people who are experts in certain specific overgrowth of certain bacteria, right? Or causes of an imbalance in the bacteria. I think if you're in this world on social media, they make it seem like it's a lot more common, you know, that people have this dramatic dysbiosis. More likely we have more minor dysbiosis, more minor imbalance. And that's what's creating a lot of our symptoms of bloating, fatigue, brain fog, getting a cold all the time, skin, you know, irritation, eczema, psoriasis, a lot of these things that we often experience are stemming from what's happening in the gut in this way, from some of this bacteria or from other assaults to the gut where we're not, you know, repairing. And we can talk about some of that stuff too, with like leaky gut. But the idea of different bacteria that do different things, we understand, like even in digestion, there are different digestive enzymes that help us break down different kinds of food. So that makes sense, right? When we have an overgrowth in the intestines of opportunistic bacteria, it can even exacerbate cravings because the bacteria feed on sugar or the bacteria feed on yeast or whatever it is. And so sometimes without even knowing it, we think something's wrong with us, but it's really these gut bugs that are saying, give me this food because that's what I like to eat, versus maybe the low glycemic impact fiber that the healthful, helpful bacteria like to eat.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

So, okay, we'll use your semantics, your terminology. I hear good and bad, but I like Jen's positive approach. So we're gonna say helpful bacteria.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

And the reason why I the reason why I do that is because you're going to have some of those other bacteria in your gut, right? Like we don't need the some of those other ones to be zero. That's also potentially a dysbiosis.

Antibiotics Probiotics And Fiber Foods

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Okay, okay. So dysbiosis. So I said I wasn't going to talk about my personal experience, but you know that never happens. So I'm going to throw this in. Two years ago, uh I had an eye doctor put me on a low-dose antibiotic for a month. And after a month, I started noticing all these bloating and uncomfortable and pains. And I went and I did a battery of tests because whenever you have those kinds of symptoms, you want to rule out cancer. And the doctor had me do all kinds of tests and came back and said that those antibiotics had wiped out the helpful bacteria and the opportunistic bacteria had taken over. And that's when I began to learn what Jen has talked so much about, which is how do you feed the helpful bacteria and get back to balance? And sometimes it can take, you know, just a few days to restore balance. And sometimes for some other some of the bacteria take a very long time to come back. It took eight months. But in that eight months, I told Jen I was trying to address this short-term stomach issue, which ended up becoming, you know, fine. And as I experienced all these other health benefits that I didn't expect. I haven't had a cold or virus or anything in over two years. I always had a couple of years. And there's so now I'm a total believer in this, but let's, but I made a number of changes, which are not deprivation, totally enjoy. So when Jen talks about feeding the helpful bacteria, could we talk about when you say fiber? Some people might be thinking fiber supplement. Tell me what you're really talking about.

unknown 12:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

So we're really talking about helpful bacteria.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Vegetables and fruit are the fiber that really focus on giving us what we need. There are some fiber supplements that can be helpful. The bottom line is the amount of research that you probably need to do to make sure that what you're getting is quality. Either work with somebody who's done that research and can shorten that so that you don't have to, or stick to the fruits and the vegetables to give us that fiber. And certainly occasionally some of those whole grains and some other foods that are going to give us, you know, that fiber. I want to speak for a second to the piece of the antibiotics. Antibiotics are non generally nonspecific. So the way they function is essentially just by killing everything, more or less. So I had a doctor once recommend to me to take a probiotic for a week for every day. I can't remember if now I'm second guessing myself. Was it a week for every day or was it a month for every day? I think it was a month for every day that you're on an antibiotic because essentially we were trying to repopulate the bacteria. So probiotics are that bacteria. So we don't necessarily need a prebiotic supplement if we are eating fruits and vegetables.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

I was gonna say one of the things that was new information to me, because I've always eaten lots and lots of fruits and vegetables, was the diversity issue. Yes. If we have trillions, I didn't know trillions of bacteria, and each one of them might feed on a different type of fiber.

Diversity On Your Plate

SPEAKER_01 14:46

And you can there's only a couple different kinds of fiber, but nutrient diversity, right? When we eat fruits and vegetables of different colors, it's a complement of nutrients that are different. So there's only soluble and insoluble fiber, but we do need a combination of those in order to have a healthy GI tract microbiome and elimination and all of the things, digestion through elimination.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

So do you what do you think of the idea of? I've heard this common recommendation that you should have 30 different plants in a week, whether it be you know grains or fruits or vegetables, just to have this constant diversity instead of you know four or five. I think the average American has four or five different vegetables in a week, and maybe the same vegetables every single week, whereas if you are trying different ones, I always throw in a few new ones each week. Yep, that that seems to work better for me to have wider diversity.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Yeah, biodiversity, right? Diversity of nutrients, I believe, is one of the most underrated tools in our tool belt. The body thrives on diversity, thinking about a lot of different things in one meal. So not just week to week, day to day, or even meal to meal, but within a meal. To me, the idea of saying strive for 30 in a week sounds honestly a little overwhelming and unappealing. And to the point where I would be like, forget it, I'll eat my four. Like if 30 and having that benchmark is helpful, fine. I think of it more as, and when I work with people, it's like, okay, how many colors can we put on a plate? Right? How many different vegetables and fruits can we eat in a day, in a week? You know, do you purchase one thing that's different, you know, each time you go to the grocery store? Like I prefer a smaller kind of benchmark or challenge or thought process around it. That feels more, pardon the pun, digestible to me. I don't think there's anything magic. There's nothing in research I've seen about 30. With that said, the variety of nutrients that you're getting is not, yes, fiber, but it's also the antioxidants. It's also the vitamins and the minerals and the different things. So if you think back to like caveman times, right, our human biological evolution is that different colors indicate different nutrients. So if we have a plate that's all green, we're likely getting a lot of the same nutrients. So different colors give us different things, and that supports different parts of the body as well. So, especially when I work with kids and families, and frankly, even when I work with my clients who are 70, you know, it's how many colors can we put on this plate? And that helps with a different kind of nutrient diversity that helps the body kind of connects to microbiome diversity, but not really.

Symptoms And The Foundations

SPEAKER_00 18:03

How do people know if their gut is healthy or not? You you talked about cravings. Now, I would never have connected that to gut microbiome, but this idea of okay, the we're not gonna say bad, but the opportunistic bacteria. What are the kinds of foods that they like to feed on?

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Sugar, yeast are two of the big ones. But again, it kind of depends what bacteria you have an overgrowth of. So the piece to think about is more in terms of your symptoms, right? Do you wake up feeling great and by the time you're getting ready for bed, you're like, I look like I'm pregnant? You know, like that bloating that can happen. Do we have a hormone imbalance? Do we have mood challenges? Do we have brain fog? Do we have skin issues? Do it, right, all of these things that we might be experiencing can connect back to the gut. And it kind of goes back to what we were talking about the last time I was here, which is some of these fundamentals. If we aren't hitting the fundamentals of eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, moving our bodies every day, drinking water and enough water, sleeping, managing our stress, we will have some sort of something going on. It doesn't necessarily mean that you need to go get a stool test. What it does mean is that we want to start with the foundations and then see what's still showing up. And then we can get a little bit more targeted.

Supplements Without The Confusion

SPEAKER_00 19:49

And it sounds like, and I've heard you talk about you can't supplement yourself out of a bad diet. There may be some supplements that you would recommend. I think it's super confusing for people trying to figure out what can you give us a little guidance here?

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah. So supplements, despite what many will tell you, supplements are regulated. Nevertheless, that doesn't stop bad actors. And there is a difference in formulation. So a claim on the supplement bottle can be the same, even if one formulation has a therapeutic dose of an ingredient, and another bottle has what I like to call, you know, fairy dust amounts of a particular ingredient. So there's nuance to choosing supplements. That doesn't mean the more expensive formula is always the best one either. And it doesn't mean that the, you know, more economical one is cutting corners. It really requires somebody who understands some of the ingredients, some of the formulations, and specifically the ones that they work with. Like there are so many on the market, you know, like there are a handful of doctors that I work with. One in particular, like, I want to crawl inside her brain. Like she really knows every ingredient inside and out and all the research on all of them and that kind of a thing. Very few people are like that. But you do want to work with somebody who can help manage expectations. If they know the formulas that they're recommending, then they can say to you, you might expect some discomfort. That's okay. Or if you notice this, it's not working, we want to get rid of that. Or these two together aren't gonna be friends. Let's do this and then that, or whatever, right? So, like you want somebody who understands the formulations that they work with, if not even more. And yes, we cannot supplement our way out of poor nutrition, out of poor lifestyle choices. Full stop. By definition, the word supplement means to add to, right? So, part of where we want to use supplements versus where we want to choose foods is food. First, always, and supplement to add to so that we can then address potential, you know, issues that are happening or certain things that are going on. There are also times where we might say, we actually want to start with the supplement so that we can get over the hump. Or we're sort of like, I sort of think about it like if you have a house on fire, right? And you pour a thimble of water on it, you're gonna say water doesn't put out fires. But we know the fire department uses a hose with massive amounts of pressure and massive amounts of water to put out a fire. So if we have, you know, proverbial fire happening somewhere in the body, the supplements can help us get that fire hose of water. And then we can adjust once the fire is out or we're seeing some response. So there's a time and a place, and it's about kind of choosing and putting the pieces together. It's a little bit more of a puzzle than I think we want it to be. We want it to be much more straightforward. And the truth is the human body is just complicated.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

It is complicated, and it has hasn't been until recent years that I've really paid close attention to the you know annual blood tests my doctor does. But they actually, you know, show when we look at those, we can see what our vitamin levels are. Are you low in vitamin D? Are you they show your protein levels? They look at your blood sugar. So what are some at a minimum for women who are over 50? At a minimum, what are some of the supplements you recommend? Not by brand name. Let people figure that out later. But you know, just the basic, you know, is it vitamin D, is it magnesium, is it fish oil? What are the basics that you would recommend?

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Or does it vary by person? It does and it doesn't, right? There's sort of a handful in a foundation. So, yes, a high quality multivitamin. Sometimes that's including a vitamin D. Sometimes, you know, that's separate, depending on the formulas. Omega-3s are a great one. We want a couple different kinds of antioxidants, you know, and then it's like a toss-up in my mind between going to detoxification support or blood sugar balance, right? Then we can sort of get into what might somebody have going on. Are we looking for herbs to support, you know, menopause symptoms or, you know, other hormone balance? Are we looking at really focusing on the gut? Maybe it's a probiotic. So there's a few pieces in there that I think would serve everybody. But again, there's a major difference between a multivitamin that serves you and a multivitamin that just taxes the liver. So I almost hesitate to say, like, oh, just go find a multivitamin because they're not all the same.

Sugar Sweeteners And Processed Foods

SPEAKER_00 25:32

So now I do like these specifics, and maybe you don't, but I I have to ask this question regarding gut health. Do sugar and artificial sweeteners, how do they impact ultra-processed foods? Added sugar, I should clarify, added sugar and artificial sweeteners. That is one thing that with my little gut journey, I gave up all artificial sweeteners. And I've no one could have talked me out of it prior until the research. And what a difference that has made. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

So they can feed those opportunistic bacteria, so you can end up with more bloating, more reactivity from anything you eat. It can also disrupt the gut-brain connection. And so we end up with, again, it's just this snowball of, you know, if we're eating things, especially ultra-processed foods where they're devoid of fiber, they're high in, you know, a lot of food-like substances that our body doesn't really know what to do with, it creates a lot of work and stress on the GI tract. And then a lot of these ingredients are feeding the opportunistic bacteria. And it can actually create or exacerbate that dysbiosis that we were talking about before. And then we see a whole host of symptoms. And everybody's symptoms can be slightly different. That's part of what makes some of this so complicated, is that there can be just like with menopause, there are hundreds of symptoms. So, like we could end up in a place where, you know, candida can look very different person to person. It can also look very different, like phase by phase. So the other, not to get complicated, but certain bacteria, as you try to kill them or get rid of them, they mutate and stop responding to the approach of whatever you're using to address them. So again, it makes the argument for working with somebody who specializes in what you have going on. So that you're sort of taking it step by step as you get more information. But similar to what we were saying about supplements, like those ultra-processed foods, the food-like substances, the artificial sweeteners are not doing anything to serve our health. And when we think about what happens in the body with them, they actually detract from our health.

Why Calories In Out Misleads

SPEAKER_00 28:09

Okay. So what we're kind of getting back to, anyone my age, I've heard Jen talk about this, you know, and she first of all, she's younger than me, but the crazy diets we all used to do and the, you know, it's all about calories. It's all about, well, it is not all about calories. It's because 300 calories of an ultra-processed food item, which could be a granola bar, we think that's healthy. That's ultra-processed food. 300 calories of ultra-processed food is not, our body does not process it in the same way as 300 calories of a great big bowl of healthy roasted vegetables. And so this whole idea of, well, it's just about calories in, calories out. I've learned that it's more about feeding your body really healthy whole foods. And you're never hungry because you can eat, I'm sorry, you can eat as much as you want of healthy whole foods. As Jen says, no one gets fat on what? Eating nuts.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Well, I say nobody died from eating carrots, right? Like that's not the cause of death for any person, really. You know, we we lose our wits sometimes. So going back to the calories thing, it's the quality of the calories that matter. The quality of the calories is a function of nutrients. Nutrients are protein, fiber, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, and minerals. Some of those we need in larger quantities, your macronutrients, some of those you need in smaller quantities, the micronutrients. The quality of a calorie is about the nutrients that come with that calorie. So the 300 calories of your granola bar are not really offering quality calories. They are calories devoid of nutrients and nutrition, which you can see if you read the nutrition facts. The label, right? And reading labels is a whole other can of worms. There, I have a handful of episodes on those too. But what we ultimately see is like a granola bar is giving us a lot of carbohydrates, mostly sugar carbohydrates, and processed grain carbohydrates that are not giving us fiber, that are not giving us protein, that are not giving us quality fat, that are not giving us any of the vitamins and minerals. So none of the nutrients that the body needs and calories of nutrients, I can't even call them nutrients, but calories of things the body doesn't necessarily need, but can figure out how to use, right? So the body can figure out how to use sugar. The body can figure out how to use processed grain. It's also what tends to lead to disease states, you know, especially for people with cholesterol challenges, right? We really have to look at our sugar when it comes to cholesterol, despite everybody being told it's fat. It's not. So there's a lot of pieces to it of saying, you know, the calories in, calories out physics is correct in a closed loop system where there are no other variables. The human body is all variables, our human lives are all variables, which means calories in, calories out is not how the human body works. And you know that because if you sit here and you think about it, you would never have told your kids to eat Skittles all day. We know this, right? We tend to forget it when we hear some rule that we think is going to make things easier.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

I am looking at, you know, my sons and their eating habits, and I'm like, oh gosh, what did I what did I? I tried to raise them with healthy food, right? And they both told me that as soon as they got their driver's licenses, the first place they went was McDonald's.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

So I think, right. So, but that therein lies the piece of when we go to extremes in anything, we can create a boomerang. Right. Right. So part of it is for us to say, what place do these things have? Let us build a relationship with those things too, and understand how all the pieces of this puzzle fit together. Because those are part of the puzzle of living our modern lives and enjoyment, you know, like some of those things, maybe not McDonald's are my choice, but like, you know, some things are completely delicious, and I don't want to live the rest of my life without them.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

You know, it's about I've heard like the 80-20. If you, if we can, you know, eat our healthy foods 80% of the time, and occasionally you you have if you like ice cream, have some ice cream. I mean, life is to be lived too, but it's understanding that balance and not falling for there are so many products that are marketed to us as healthy diet foods that are so ultra-processed, and it's really just educating ourselves because you've said so many times in your podcast, you know, we can't come up with hard and fast rules that work for everyone because each body is so unique, right?

Balance Aging Hormones And Awareness

SPEAKER_01 33:24

Like even the 8020, your 8020 looks different than my 8020. Right, right. And the other thing that's interesting too is we talk about, you know, different age groups. So especially for women, as we age and we have less of that estrogen, estrogen is almost like your wiggle room. So what 8020 looked like in our 20s, 30s, 40s is going to be very different than what 8020 looks like in our 50s and 60s and 70s because of how much estrogen we have. So there's so again, like everything interplays. Now, we can also, I'll just tell you from you know, I'm sort of in this like perimenopause phase. And personally, I can see the difference in my cycle depending on what I eat. Interesting. So if we start to pay attention and we know what we're looking for, then we could go, oh, wait a minute, you know, and so and it's interesting, and we can start to play and experiment and see what we notice. And I think that is the most beautiful place to be, you know, that we're in this exploration and playing and figuring it out because it's also changing all the time. And as soon as we think we have something figured out, something happens, you know, and we're we're back to tweaking.

Start This Week And Work With Jen

SPEAKER_00 34:47

Yeah. Our bodies change and the the science never changes. What I think is that our discovery of science changes, and then we'll continue to learn more and more. I've had, you know, because our podcast of so many of us, faith is important to us, and there's always this like conflict between science and God, which I think is so funny because I'm like, well, who invented science? It's probably God. And it's not as if I mean, I look at taking care of our body, our body is a temple, right? I like to look at taking care of our body. If we can take care of our bodies and be here longer, we can love people better, we can love people longer, we can be here for our kids, we can be here for our spouses, we can be here for our grandchildren, we can feel good. So it's not just a self-interested thing. This is not about vanity. This is about, I think, respecting ourselves and like Jen said, experimenting. You know, your friend might be doing one thing, but we all have to try things ourselves because we all have different systems. But if we pay attention, I think Jen, I think a lot of people just don't pay attention. Or they accept this as normal. Brain fog is normal, being exhausted is normal, being bloated is normal, having bad digestion is normal. Well, it doesn't have to be. And I guess I'm just a real believer in this because of my experience with it. It really doesn't have to be. And you don't, when you talk about cravings, my mother used to have terrible cravings and she struggled with dieting all the time. Now looking back, I understand she had this big carb cycle. So every time you eat something high sugar, your insulin spikes. When your insulin spikes, it increases your appetite. And it's a cycle, and you you end up having cravings. But when you're eating all these healthy foods, Jen's talking about, by the way, if anyone comes to my house for a meal, we got 30 vegetables. It's like the it's like the salad restaurants. I have all these beautiful roasted vegetables, all these different varieties, hummus and guacamole and salsa, all kinds of greens, and I have these big bowls, and everyone loves it. Everyone puts together just what they like. I have vegan friends and vegetarian friends and diabetics and I have a carnivore friend. So there's something for everybody. And I, you know, I always have to give my lesson. I have to say, hey guys, you know, we we want to eat a wide diversity of vegetables. And everyone's like, this is so delicious. I mean, this isn't dieting. This is our feeding our bodies really good food. And I love to have people over. And it doesn't mean, oh no, I'm eating these foods. I can't socialize anymore. Yes, you can. You can have people over for wonderful food. So that's my soapbox. And, you know, there's it's a journey. It's taken a couple of years. It's not like we do any of these changes overnight. But I am going to ask you, Jen, for just one simple, realistic habit that someone listening could start this week to improve their gut health. What is just like the first little thing people could do if they haven't explored this yet? Eat more vegetables and drink more water.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

Because we can we can increase our fiber if we're not drinking enough water to help with the elimination. Sometimes that increase in fiber can then increase the bulk and exacerbate. So we need the fiber and the water to help with that. I think if you start paying attention to, you know, all of your symptoms, right? What are the things that you notice? What are the things that drive you crazy, you know, that frustrate you? Write them down and then let's see if we can connect the dots, right? Odds are they all connect to probably just a handful of things. And not even a handful, maybe a couple.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

And I asked Jen before we started if she would tell us about her coaching program. If anyone's interested in personalized coaching, there are a lot of folks out there who do a business card and they say they're a coach, but they don't have any training or certification. So, Jen, could you tell us about yourself and tell us what you offer in case anyone would like to follow up with more personalized coaching?

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Sure. So I'm a certified Go Trim Lifestyle Coach. That is the curriculum that I work with. It's 12 weeks, either one-on-one or small group cohort. And it's really 12 weeks to help build the tool belt so that we can go live the rest of our lives. A lot of times it's a weight thing that brings people, you know, into the space. The big things tend to be weight, blood sugar, and cholesterol. Those tend to be the big drivers. And we focus on all pieces of wellness, not just food, although we start with food and build on that. And we start with everybody from where they are. So I also do it's a personalized package of the coaching, a menu plan, and a supplement regimen. And because that is different for every single person, and that's a different plan and a different approach for every single person. There isn't like a one price I could tell you, you know, for what it is, because what you need is going to be different than what I need. I am also a field product specialist for the supplements that I work with. And I'm also connected to the formulators and have those kinds of questions. So if there's anything that comes up, we also can talk about, you know, working with medications that you're on and working with your physicians and your pharmacists and everybody else. I'm a big believer in a care team. So like to work with everybody's, you know, other health practitioners as well, so that we're helping you build a lifestyle that has the side effect of looking better, feeling better, having more energy. And it's really improving our health and our health outcomes.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

That sounds pretty good to me. So, where can folks find you? It's your website. Is it gentrepic.com?

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Gentrepic.com will take you to asalad with a side of fries.com. Okay. So asalad with a side of fries.com, all social media. I am at Gentrepic, J E N N T R E P E C K. So on my website, on the contact page, you can write me a message that'll, you know, be an email that comes to me, or on the left side of the page, you can book a 15-minute discovery call. So let's see if we're a fit, let's hear what's going on. Typically, you know, we have the discovery call, we'll then potentially do an intake. I also don't charge for my intake. From that intake, you get a menu plan and some recommendations that you can take and run with, or you can say, I need the added accountability, I need that voice of reason and that person to ask my questions to and to help me sort of go through this step by step over 12 weeks.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

Okay. That sounds great. I just want to thank you so much. She agreed to give us extra time before the call. Thank you so much, Jen. Thank you. Appreciate you. Appreciate being here. And I hope it's helpful for everybody. Absolutely.