Restoring Your Relationship With Food

Adapted from episode 57 of The Perfect Stool podcast and edited for readability.

Lindsey:  

So your approach to gut health is a little bit different than my approach, and I know it’s very diet focused. Which is not to say that I don’t address diet with my clients, but it sounds like you use it as a primary vehicle for change. Can you tell me more about that?

Laura Martin:  

Not so much, I focus more on the gut-brain connection. There’s two different ways that I do that. A lot of people get wrapped up in food sensitivities and elimination diets and things of that nature, when really, when it comes to IBS, it has to do more with the nervous system. So the foundation of Healing To Happy, is, okay, what’s the mindset first? If you think of a triangle, the foundation is mindset. So what are the daily habits? What are things that are impacting that? Where did that start? And then the things that come together are lifestyle and nutrition, because you can’t have those two built on an unsteady foundation. Really what we focus on is the gut-brain connection to get balance back in. And then also we focus on restoring the metabolic function. That looks like, what are your core body temperatures, what organs aren’t functioning properly? Instead of focusing on what foods to take away, we’re focusing more on what nutrients need to be added back in so that we can really optimize the body to start taking in food normally again.

Lindsey:  

So it’s interesting that you mentioned core body temperature, because I know that’s a factor in fungal overgrowth. And I know personally, I have a low core body temperature. And I’m curious what foods help bring that up.

Laura Martin:    

When it comes to core body temperature, we look at more of the lifestyle practices; just a simple bubble bath will help bring that up. So it’s getting more into, how do we balance the circadian rhythm? Because people that struggle with anxiety or struggle with food sensitivities or depression, their entire body’s core temperature is all thrown out of whack. So we focus more on what it is throughout the day that’s throwing that off. Yes, we need some root vegetables. We need some heartier foods. Oftentimes, when we think of, “healthy,” we’re thinking of salads and smoothies and things that are very light. When our body is telling us it’s not functioning optimally, and things like our body temperatures, or our pulses are not really being optimized in the way that the body needs to be using it, we’ve got to work our way backwards. So we need heartier foods. Think of more of the fall kind of foods; stews, eggs and potatoes; things that have more sustenance to them. We often shy away from them because of a weight thing or we don’t like to feel full, which over time actually decreases our body temperature. And when we’re talking about metabolism, a lot of people will refer to that as skinny-ish people. But really what I’m talking about is core body temperature. What is the temperature of your body? And how is that impacting the rest of your health?

Lindsey:   

So when you say hearty foods, are we talking like meat?

Laura Martin:   

In my practice I’m doing organ meats, because we’re not really eating those as much anymore. We’re talking about fish, seafood, fatty fish, more of the salmon, the fatty tuna, sardines, mackerel, oysters, depending on where we are in our hormone cycles. Things of that nature, and just kind of playing around from there.

Lindsey:   

So organ meats are a tough sell. I can tell you I tried my darndest to make some edible pâté out of chicken livers. And I could not do it. Although my friend who was a chef did make chicken liver pâté that I loved, I wasn’t able to pull it off and have multiple jars of pâté sitting unused in my freezer.

Laura Martin:  

100%. It’s one of those things where I can’t even stomach it. So that’s actually one that I do supplement from a certain company. When I was living in Thailand, I was like, “well, this is easier.” It’s in everything. You don’t have to think about it, it’s just in curries, but here, we don’t use it. We don’t use all of the animal anymore. I was doing a panel the other day and someone mentioned that you can get ground organ meats inside of ground beef, but again, that’s not a common thing people are out there looking for. It’s definitely an acquired taste. So I personally just take a supplement form of it.

Lindsey:   

Yeah. So is that a beef liver supplement?

Laura Martin:   

Yes! It’s this company called Ancestral Supplements* (use code TRIBE10 for 10% off), not sponsored or anything, I just genuinely like them. It’s pasture raised, locally grown, it’s sustainable, all that stuff that we’re all into nowadays. I have not had any side effects and my clients have not had any side effects from it. And so I just kind of go that route as opposed to being like, “well, here’s some iron here’s some vitamin K.” Just eat the organ you’re trying to support at the end of the day.

Lindsey:   

I’ve sent people to look for various and sundry organ meats, especially people who are dealing with autoimmunity and those types of things. Sometimes they’re out of stock though, I think they get into hot demand when people catch on to that being a good one. I buy from a local farm, and I wrote to them and suggested they do that, try to mix in some organ meats [into their ground beef], and they took that into consideration but I have not yet seen a product. So we’ll see. I’ve also heard of people cutting up pieces of liver out of the freezer and swallowing them whole.

Laura Martin:     

Yeah, I saw people do that, but I like to enjoy my food.

Lindsey:   

Yeah, that’s challenging. So how many beef liver supplements you have to take in a day to make it worthwhile.

Laura Martin:   

So it says six, I take three. Because it’s one of those things that after you do it for a while, your body starts to catch up and you don’t need that stuff as much anymore. As time goes on, I don’t really need that many B vitamins in my body. I’m pretty wired when that happens.

Lindsey:   

So back to core body temperature, what should we be shooting for? And are we talking about basal body temperature, when you take your temperature right after you’ve woken up and not done anything?

Laura Martin:   

Correct. For any of my ladies that are trying to get pregnant, test your temperature right when you wake up just to see if you’re fertile or not. You want it to be around 96.8 when you wake up. By the time you go to sleep, you want it to be around 98.8, because it’s supposed to get hotter as you go throughout the day. And then you take it again 30 minutes after you eat to make sure that you are increasing the temperature of your body, because that shows that your body is actually using the food. For a long time that was not my case, that did not happen. I do see that quite frequently in a lot of people with IBS and anxiety. It’s just our body temperature’s all over the board, and really, it actually goes down. This is when you’ll see cold toes and fingers all the time, your hair’s falling out, you’re getting hangry. We normalize these things, but they’re really not normal. You really want to aim for getting this back up. Oftentimes that means getting more nutrient-dense foods into our body while also working on lifestyle practices that downregulate the nervous system.

Lindsey:   

My niece was doing some type of thing, I think the person she was following was named Ray Peat. It involved carrot salads. Are you familiar with that?

Laura Martin:   

Yeah, the raw carrot salad binds to estrogen dominance. That’s a big thing for migraines, or PCOS. I suggest that in one of my programs, but it’s interesting because it doesn’t work if it’s a cooked carrot. It’s only a raw carrot that binds this excess estrogen fiber to get it out of the body and helps really balance it out. The study was started based off of migraines, and then it caught onto the metabolism world and restoration and kind of ran wild there.

Lindsey:   

So 96.8°, that would be pre-ovulation, right? Post ovulation, you’d have a higher temperature, correct?

Laura Martin:   

Correct. Right.

Lindsey:   

So that would be more in the 98 range.

Laura Martin:   

That’s what we’re looking for.

Lindsey:   

And for men, what should they expect?

Laura Martin:   

I don’t study them as much, so I can’t give a full answer on that. I really do dedicate my time to women.

Lindsey:   

Fair enough. You were saying a bubble bath would bring up body temperature, are there any other lifestyle practices that tend to bring it up? And by that, I don’t mean at that given moment, but bring it up over time?

Laura Martin:   

Yeah, it’s just slowing the body down. How do we get the circadian rhythm of our body back into balance? That’s essentially what it is. It’s just thrown off all the time. We’re not in balance. It starts with how you start your day. Are you up? Are you jumping? Are you snoozing? Slamming a cup of coffee and booking it out the door? Or, are you slow to rise? Letting your body really adjust to getting out of those brain waves at that moment? Or is it this fight or flight response right away? And then out of the day, are you moving? Not going to cross fit. Are you going on a walk? Are you moving your body? Are you downregulating? Are you getting in nature? Are you seeing the sun? Are you breathing air? Now we’re working from home and we don’t go outside that much. It’s not a common thing. You have to actively add it into your routine. And then, do you keep all the fake lights on throughout the day? Are you turning them off, getting by candlelight? Or, are you rising and falling with the sun and really adjusting with that so that your body can get into that rhythm as well?

Lindsey:   

So what mindset obstacles or issues do you find tend to be related to IBS?

Laura Martin:   

Oh my goodness, that low FODMAP is the only solution, and elimination diets and restriction! You know, of course it feels better at first, but then people cling to it, not realizing that the longer they cling to it, the more damage they’re actually doing. I will get on calls with people and they’re like, “I have been doing [low FODMAP] for like 25 years.” I’m like “what? It was supposed to be six weeks!” It’s definitely not supposed to be that way. I sit down with doctors, cardiologists or endocrinologists, and they’ve even said low FODMAP was just a way to distract the clients. “As long as you just tell them that, then they’ll be hooked on food.” And that just breaks my heart. That’s what they’re taught. This is just a distraction. So a really big roadblock is then getting off of that, because this is the only thing that makes them feel safe. This is the only thing that makes them feel like they have any type of control. Restrict what you want for the time being, but do the work on restoring why your body isn’t digesting those foods to begin with.

Lindsey:   

So when you have somebody who has restricted their diet severely down to the point where they have very few things that they can eat, how do you work with them to expand what they eat?

Laura Martin:   

That was my own personal experience. So I focus more on, do you have the right resources where you’re also repairing your relationship to food? It doesn’t matter what diet I give you, we’ve got to do that psychological work around food. I think it’s called food re-intake disorder, which often we see a lot with children where they don’t eat something because it’s a color or a texture, but then they generally grow out of it. People with IBS, oftentimes it’s gluten or dairy, or whatever showed up on the food sensitivity test, that they’re now afraid to consume. That fear is actually what’s spiking up their relationship with food. I have multiple different master classes and programs because I personally went through that as well. But at the same time, if it’s so deep, we need to do psychological work and we need to get you help around that arena. And then we can start addressing nutrition. But if we don’t heal the relationship with food, it really just isn’t healthy to throw anything else on top of it. They’re just going to become obsessed with it and go the whole orthorexic route.

Lindsey:   

And how do you heal your relationship with food?

Laura Martin:   

A lot of work, and everyone is different. Oftentimes, it started when we were younger. I have been on a diet since I was 13. I had to realize that my relationship to food was my sense of belonging, and then, really challenging what I knew. A lot of times we think we’re doing our best and we don’t realize how disordered it actually is and how it’s stressing the people out around us. When we take radical responsibility over that, we have to be able to be honest with ourselves. It’s not like it just goes away, it’s not ideal, but it stays with us for a lifetime. I know how many calories are in a banana, I know how many calories are in a tomato, that doesn’t leave my brain. I know what’s made up of these different foods. Going out to eat, I know what oils they cook with. That’s in your brain. It doesn’t just go away. But the way you let it impact you changes. You’re able to sit there and be like, “I’m gonna be okay.” Even if they’re using polyunsaturated fats, it’s fine. I do the majority of the work 87% of the time, and I’m good. If something bad happens somewhere along the line, my body’s okay to clean up that mess. It really is learning how to radically trust that your body, given the right tools; doing the work of restoring your metabolism, healing the mindset, doing the lifestyle stuff, trusting that you got you; can really carry yourself through that. Even if there is gluten or dairy or something in the food, your body is going to be smart enough to taper that off because you’ve done the work over this time period.

Lindsey:   

And so are you finding that people are able to eat things like gluten and dairy after they’ve worked with you?

Laura Martin:   

Oh my goodness, yes! That’s the coolest thing! Of course it’s not an everyday thing, but they’re able to go out to dinner again, they’re able to go on dates, to family parties. That is what the whole purpose of this work. People sit there and they’re like, “yeah, I’m a little bit bloated but I’m not running to the bathroom like ripping off my pants on the way. This is a lot better.” We’re making that progression.

Lindsey:   

Yeah, I got to the point where I can now have gluten or dairy, probably a little more often than I do, maybe every four to six weeks. It doesn’t feel good, I get a sore throat from the dairy, and a little acid reflux. I get bloated if I overeat, because, invariably I overeat because it’s good and I don’t get to have them very often so I’m just like, “forget about it, I’m just having as much as I can because this is it for the next six weeks!” But yeah, it’s not the end of my world. It’s not like my entire health is destroyed or my Hashimoto’s came back, that doesn’t happen.

Laura Martin:  

Exactly. Your body is going to be like, “well you don’t normally eat this.” It’s like going to the gym and thinking that you’re going to pick up 100 pound weight and it’s going to be perfectly fine. That’s not how that works. If you don’t have the digestive enzymes, it’s going to give you a little bit… Like for me, I probably eat dairy every day. Whether it’s Greek yogurt or it has some cheese, my favorite meal is charcuterie board. I know that’s not what you were expecting. With gluten, I know that does affect a little bit of my cognitive function because I am more prone towards depression. So that will slow the synapses in my brain a little bit but I still have it probably once a week. I’m dating a New Yorker. He loves his pizza. I’m not going to always be like, “no, we’ll opt for cauliflower and opt for gluten free.” Sometimes he wants a regular pizza. I can’t win all the battles. It’s one of those things where, my body’s fine, I just wear a looser pair of pants that day.

Lindsey:  

That’s practical. So I understand you deal with the issue of hypothyroidism. And I’m curious what diet changes, if any, or what lifestyle changes that you’ve found particularly effective in reversing hypothyroidism, both in the context of Hashimoto’s, and autoimmunity, as well as non-autoimmune hypothyroidism.

Laura Martin:  

It would be the same thing as restoring the metabolism, because the whole reason we have autoimmunity responses is, yes, we have the gene in our system, right. But for some reason, somewhere, that light switch got turned off and on. And so we have to work our way backwards. And that’s often because of those temperatures. That’s also because of our metabolic function. The gut isn’t absorbing the right kind of food, so that starts to set off an alarm response to the rest of our organs. And they aren’t replenishing where they need to replenish. So we’re working our way backwards from there. When it comes to hypothyroidism. It really is, what is that iodine? What is the copper? What’s the vitamin K? How is that really working? It really is just kind of supporting the thyroid, the adrenals, different areas like that, so that it can start to function out of this fight or flight response, and really start to actually absorb the nutrients again.

Lindsey:  

So are there particular foods that are nourishing to the thyroid?

Laura Martin:  

Same thing, it’s those organ meats. I’m so repetitive of it, because a lot of people are like, “okay, so what’s the supplement? What’s this raw carrot salad thing?” Where it’s like, no, not really, it’s the organ you want to support, which I can list off the vitamins and things, but then you’re going to be a walking pharmacy. Or you can go and choose the organ you’re trying to replenish. Or there’s things like making sure you’re getting your weekly dose of oysters, because that’s the zinc, the selenium, the magnesium. It’s your multivitamin, and you just get it that way. So it’s just using whole foods in that direction. If you have to supplement and do things like that, you run that by your doctor and you have to run those things. But from there, you want to continue to restore the metabolism so that the organs start to function in a steady calm state.

Lindsey:   

And what if you don’t like oysters?

Laura Martin:  

People keep asking me that! But I’m like, “put extra hot sauce on it!” I don’t know, I do believe we can train our taste buds, but you can do things like sardines, which again, I know, aren’t the hot topic. But they really are just so nutrient dense. I don’t want to give any alternative because it’s just so good.

Lindsey:   

Yeah, no, that’s a tough one. I am not a fan of fishy fish and not a fan of slimy things. But who knows, who knows. I have trained myself to like a number of things as an adult and it’s not impossible. I can train myself to like oysters but in the meantime, I’ll just take my zinc supplements.

Laura Martin:   

Exactly.

Lindsey:    

So I remember hearing a really interesting podcast where they were talking about how corn, well I think all the phytates, deplete zinc. Oysters have like a ridiculous amount of zinc in them, I can’t remember if it’s like 800 milligrams (Note: It’s actually 74 mg in a 3 oz. serving) or something like that. But if you eat that with corn chips, basically that’s all gone. That corn will take away all the zinc you just ate.

Laura Martin:   

Really?

Lindsey:   

Yeah.

Laura Martin:   

I did not know that. I don’t know why I would eat corn chips with oysters.

Lindsey:  

Maybe it’s like an oyster ceviche, or something? I don’t know.

Laura Martin:   

But yeah, that’s interesting. You do see a lot of people, in the PCOS world specifically, downing oysters like it’s no one’s business. They’re like, “just put it on a chip and eat it if you don’t like it.” Maybe that’s why that study came out, because it stemmed from a lot of people being like, “I can’t stomach it, let me put it on a chip.”

Lindsey:   

So in terms of supporting the organ with the organ meats with the thyroid, I mean, I know they sell desiccated thyroid. Do you recommend that ever?

Laura Martin:  

Yeah, I mean, you could. But really, it’s a plethora of things. It comes from the liver, if our body isn’t processing, or detoxing what is ever being overloaded that’s causing the inflammation, that’s usually because of our liver. It comes from wherever the alarm bells are going off, but really the main focus is our liver because it’s our main organ of detoxification. So I always aim for that one and work from there because it’s how we get the nutrients back in our body. At the same time, yes, we’re focusing on the liver, as well as the nutrient dense foods, the things that are just darker in color, the things that are a little bit harder, the root vegetables, the things that look hearty. We want to add that back into our nutrition routines.

Lindsey:  

So tell me about the root vegetables you really like and how you prepare them. Because I’ve struggled to get into root vegetables to some extent, because I just love grains so much.

Laura Martin:   

I love potatoes, every single form, whether I make homemade French fries, or I do an air fry, mashed potatoes, I love them. They’re easier to digest than a sweet potato. I know sweet potatoes are super fun for everyone, but potatoes are where it’s at. Especially when you have gut issues, it’s just easier. And then beets, carrots, turnips, different kinds of things. I honestly just roast them, I just put a whole bunch in the oven. And then the whole name of the game is, what sauce are you putting on them today? Just sprinkle on the salt and pepper. So then the rest of the week, it’s not the same vegetable. They’re the same vegetable, but they don’t taste the same. You just make some fun sauces to dip them in or pour on top of them.

Lindsey:   

Yeah, roasting makes everything delicious.

Laura Martin:   

Oh, 100%.

Lindsey:   

I understand that you use the normal blood test people get from their doctors rather than stool tests to guide people. Can you tell me a little bit more about what you can discern about a person’s gut health from their blood tests?

Laura Martin:   

Yeah, again, I look at inflammation. Because at the core, I think when we’re getting those stool tests, yes, we want to know if you have SIBO. Yes, we want to know, if you have some type of Candida or parasite. That’s why you should go run those and make sure your doctor is checking that before you do anything. Otherwise you’re just wasting your time, because you’re going to keep getting trapped in that cycle. When it comes to matters of guts, you want to test, not guess. But then we’re looking at, where’s this inflammation? How much inflammation? Where’s that stem from? And usually, that’s back to the thyroid and how it’s functioning optimally and making sure we’re getting a full thyroid panel. How is that re-uptake? You know, beyond just, “are things normal?” No. Get a full panel, look at it. Is it optimal? Not normal? Where is our C reactive protein? How high? How low? What’s that going on there? And just diving into what their hormones are doing and why they aren’t functioning in the way that they are. Because, again, when it comes to IBS, it’s not a food thing, you know? Yes, if it’s SIBO, yes, if it’s a parasite, yes, if it’s Crohn’s, or things of that nature, that matters. But when it’s IBS, they push you off to the side and get you obsessed with the food thing. Let’s bring it back. Let’s look at what is happening with our body. How inflamed is it? And where do we start to have to replenish from there. Which, again, at the root, it’s just metabolism in the gut brain connection to downregulate the nervous system.

Lindsey:  

So let’s talk a little bit about the thyroid, and the normal reference ranges versus the optimal reference ranges.

Laura Martin:  

Yeah, I mean, when we’re looking at it, I mean, it’ll say on there, right? Like, if it’s low, and they’ll tell you and that’s when you have to ask your doctor, just like, what is the optimal range? The thing is, I’m not qualified to be reading things as I go over them with people. And I look and I go, and I go, okay, so it says “low”, what did your doctor say about that? And we start to build from there because I’m not a doctor, you know, that’s not my zone to be in. It’s, what did the doctor tell you in there like that, really, but it’s low. Okay? So go back, ask them these questions, tell them like you want to know what the optimal numbers are. Because some of them are way different spans than is printed and talk to them about them and see what that diagnosis is, what they have to say. And then we come back and we build out a plan from there.

Lindsey:   

Right? So I’ve gone through Hashimoto’s, so I’m pretty familiar with all this. Basically, my understanding is that the standard reference ranges for a TSH can go up until 4, sometimes even 6 for some labs. But the optimal reference range is really between 0.5 and 2. So above that, you should start to think about, well, I should probably get my antibodies tested and see if this is not Hashimoto’s rather than just plain old hypothyroid. But my understanding is about 80% of hypothyroid is from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.

Laura Martin:   

Hmm. Yeah, exactly.

Lindsey:   

I understand that you do group coaching programs around sensitive issues like gut health and anxiety. So I’m wondering how that works in terms of confidentiality and people’s comfort and speaking up in a group setting?

Laura Martin: 

Yeah, so when it comes to the anxiety courses, I realize a lot more people are willing to talk about that. But when it comes to poop, people don’t really talk about that too much.

Lindsey:   

Go figure! I love to talk about it, I’m not sure why other people don’t!

Laura Martin: 

I mean, I facilitate them. They show up every time but, okay, whatever it is. I feel like when we’re talking about anxiety, there’s more of a, “oh, you feel that way too.” Like a calming, especially with women, we love to nurture. When it comes to matters of the bowels, people want to learn, but they’re not so vocal in being like, “I don’t poop or I can’t stop pooping.” And all the time people say, “sorry, if this is TMI.” This is literally my job, it’s never TMI! This is the point! It’s totally fine. In group settings, the reason I like my containers is because it is confidential, it’s what I missed when I was going on this journey. I thought I was alone, I thought it was this foreign thing. Any of my personal friends, if I did bring it up to them, they would say, “no, that doesn’t happen to me,” and then I felt even more isolated and misunderstood. When I started to realize there are so many women that struggle with gut issues, and so many people that struggle with anxiety, I realized we just need to facilitate a conversation around it that doesn’t feel so crunchy. That really is open and communicated. And so it’s growing in that conversation, people will see it. But most often, on the back end, people will message me and then I will answer that in a group setting because if one person has a question someone else has that question somewhere. So we facilitate it that way. Also, the sisterhood in it. I think it’s just a missing thing inside of the healing world. Things beyond just, “what am I eating?” And, “what am I doing?” But like, “how am I feeling about this?” And, “how is this affecting my relationship?” Being able to facilitate and hold conversations around it. That is really important. That’s why I’m currently studying to become trauma certified, to learn how to hold space for things like that. A lot of times it is a trauma response, when our bodies are fighting against us, it’s a scary thing. And we don’t have the words to express it a lot of the time, we don’t have the people around us. And so how can I, myself as a facilitator, hold space and ask the right questions and create an environment where people feel safe enough to really explore the continuation of starting these conversations and truly healing?

Lindsey:    

It’s true that you really feel in your body, if you’re willing to stop and take the time to do it, your body speaks up for you in a way that sometimes your mind doesn’t. And, if you’re a person who is like me and is totally in your head, on the Myers Briggs you’re much more of a T than an F. So if you’re very in your head, you may not take notice. But your body will tell you something’s not right here. You are nervous, you’re tense, you’re something, because something’s not right. Something that’s happened is not sitting right with you, and your body will tell you. It’s just a matter of giving it a chance to listen.

Laura Martin: 

Exactly. And that’s why we get so scared of doing that, that’s why I said it goes back to childhood. When did we start disassociating from our body and start going cerebral? As opposed to being like, “my heart is beating really fast right now,” or, “my shoulders are super tense, I’m clenching my jaw, my back is hurting in this way, I’m feeling like I’m sucking in my belly, and I’m tensing my gut.” It’s in these ways that our body tries to subtly tell us something is wrong, but because we’re so cerebrally thinking, we don’t feel any of that.

Lindsey:    

Yeah, you really do have to stop and give a second to notice. But you do notice when it comes out the other end. That is sort of unmistakable. So when do you send people out for additional help versus dealing with what they are dealing with in a group or individual coaching context?

Laura Martin: 

Usually they come to me after they’ve been to so many people, and then it’s more of the mental coaching side of stuff. But when I start to see people respond to things, or the way they’re not responding to things, that’s when I’ll be like, “okay, so talk to your doctor about getting additional blood work here.” They’ll get PDFs of how to talk to their doctor, because I realized a lot of people don’t know how to and don’t like having a voice with their doctor. I realized that was a big thing for me. I can’t tell you how many doctors told me I was frustrating, and I told them, “thank you, do your job and figure out what’s wrong with me.” I’m not making this easy. But a lot of my clients don’t feel they can vocalize in that way. So I coach them on how to talk to their doctor. If there needs to be further testing, if there’s a parasite or there’s SIBO, if they need to go get more testing there, or if there’s things that they just need to continue the conversation about. It’s really just giving them confidence, that is how they talk. This is what we need to ask.

Lindsey:    

That is a totally challenging issue. I mean, I’m obviously somebody who’s well informed about gut health. I saw a gastroenterologist, and I was determined to go in there and say, “listen I’m somebody who knows a lot about this stuff, I know I’ve got this, this is what I want.” And I mean, I got three sentences out. And then I got a 12 minute lecture about how I knew nothing, how I should be getting a colonoscopy, I could have inflammatory bowel disease! Okay, there are blood and stool markers that will tell me whether I have inflammatory bowel disease, I do not need to get a colonoscopy to discern that. Now it’s possible I could have colon cancer, totally within the realm of the possible, although my Cologuard garden was negative. Obviously, there are false negatives. But that being said, I hardly needed to get a colonoscopy to deal with the symptoms I was having. And it was so frustrating. She was so condescending. I left there, so completely furious. And I thought, “well, maybe I will get a colonoscopy to make sure I don’t have colon cancer, but I sure as hell won’t be getting it with you! I wouldn’t trust you in a million years to put a scope up my butt, thank you!”

Laura Martin: 

Exactly, because you know it, you can come in and say things. More often than not, people don’t know the words. So they just sit there and then they’re scared out of daylights about their health and their body and their medical bills are through the roof. And it’s like, all this showed was you have a little bit of inflammation. That’s it. It breaks my heart to see the discouragement that comes and then oftentimes, the blame is shifted to them! They need to be more strict when they already have such a disordered relationship with food that they’re hardly eating anything. What do you want them to be more strict about? That’s not actually the problem. They just don’t have enough diversity and explanation of what’s going on. And now you’re blaming them, which is going to let that eating disorder brain or disordered eating brain come into play, because you’re just using fear. That is not the way we need to be talking to anyone, we’ve really got to break it down. Explain it, give people directions on how to really have conversations. Now, keep doing the digging, because believe that no matter what someone else is trying to tell you, follow through with that and make sure you feel healed and whole, until you get to your answers.

Lindsey:    

It can be very frustrating. Obviously, you have doctors that have a lot of expertise. You have doctors who are compassionate. And sometimes they do not cross paths, especially when it comes to gut health, right? So there are doctors who truly understand and of course, functional integrative doctors, naturopaths, etc. know typically a lot more about that health. But if you’re trying to stick to insurance, and you’re trying to see somebody who’s covered, then finding somebody who’s both knowledgeable and compassionate, and will listen to you and take you seriously, that combo is pretty rare. I feel for people out there who are in that situation, because I mean, I have the luxury of sort of self-treating, and I have the luxury of taking my time. I can wait another three months for the next referral and see somebody else and see if I like that person better. In the meantime, there’s plenty of things I can do. But not everybody has that option. So I’m curious how you help people to speak up and train them to do that in a way that actually results in some other outcome.

Laura Martin: 

I think when we start to be around people that get it, we stop feeling so desperate when we go to the doctor. Once you have someone that’s there being like, “we’ll get PDFs, we’ll print things out, we’ll go get these tests done, ask them more about what this is so that you can understand it a bit more.” When I’m coaching people I ask, “what do you want the outcome to be? How do you want to feel at the end of your doctor’s appointment? What’s usually come up that made you not succeed in that feeling? Okay, so what can we do now?” Questions we need to ask so that by the next time you feel supported, I mean, that’s what the coaching that I do is in between those three months. Over time, we start to learn how our body works, we stop fearing it so much. We can easily be those people that walk in and say, “this is what I need to know, this is what I need to ask.” It’s through our radical responsibility of educating ourselves, right? Like that doctor isn’t there to fix you entirely or learn about your family history, learn about your lineage, learn about your response to food, learn about all these different things. You get 12 minutes with them, right?

Lindsey:    

12 would have been great. I would take 12 minutes in a million years. That’s amazing. I got like three minutes. Six minutes, maybe for an annual physical. That’s what I got.

Laura Martin: 

That’s it right? They can’t give you that. So we have to do the work outside of the doctor’s offices to then be able to optimize those six minutes.

Lindsey:    

Exactly. My goal now with allopathic doctors, as I walk in I’m like, “these are the tests, I would like you to order.” And I’ve moved to writing them on a page, because sometimes it gets awkward as you’re like, “and then this one, and then this one, and then this one.” So I just hand them the page so they can just go down the list and go, I can order this one and this one, but this one you’re going to need to go to a specialist.” Okay, fine. But at least we got them done, eventually.

Laura Martin:   

Exactly.

Lindsey:    

Our Medical system. My favorite thing to gripe about. . .

Laura Martin: 

I was reading something that talked about how the healthcare system is about sustaining, or “managing,” a disease until it becomes unmanageable. Then we need it even more. So that’s when they give different kinds of medications. Because it’s just a management tool. It’s not a healing modality, and that’s at the root of the problem. And it’s not their fault, right? I’m not bashing doctors here. It’s just that’s not what they’re trained for, so they stick to one lane. So even if they’re busy professionals, they don’t really have the time to also sit down and do this other kind of stuff. They’re working 18 hours a day.

Lindsey:    

Oh, yeah, no, they’re working way harder than I am. Let me tell you.

Laura Martin: 

They don’t have the mental capacity to sit and read the journals and the studies and do an extra education system unless they truly, truly seek it. We all have our different arenas; that’s why you can’t go to one person for everything. You can even compare it to our relationships. We can’t just have our partner be our only friend and only best friend and lover. We can’t do that either. In our life spectrum, we have different friends for certain things, we have our partner to do certain things. We have different doctors for certain things. We have different coaches for certain things, we have different specialists. Not everything is going to be that one thing, we have to look at all spectrums and be okay with that. And yes, it might require a little bit more balancing of the organization system on our calendar, but it gives you the actual answers and fulfillment that we’re desiring, right?

Lindsey:    

Yeah, no, I rag on doctors, but I shouldn’t as much because they are part of a broken system. And that broken system requires them to spend very little time with their patients, because of the insurance reimbursement and everything. So I understand that they’re part of a system and I see this sort of helplessness and frustration in my own doctor who wants to be compassionate, who wants to be a good doctor, and simply does not have the expertise or the time to address the kinds of things that I’m bringing up because I’m getting deep into it. She’s a primary doctor.

So, I know you’re about to launch a group coaching program. Can you tell us a bit about the length and the format? And how do people find out more and sign up?

Laura Martin: 

I run two programs. One is the Gut Recharge program, and one is the Labyrinth, so it depends on what you are looking for. So this is where we are focusing on what is going on. Why do we have food sensitivities for daily practices? What are the new nutrition routines we have to implement? We talk about supplements, we talk about things like that. And it really gives you the foundations so that you can go talk to your doctors with confidence. That’s a four week program. The modules are automated, but we have our live coaching because I do think live coaching is so valuable. On Fridays, we have a live Q&A. And then, for anyone that’s struggling with anxiety, I have the Labyrinth which is focusing on the gut brain connection, and really optimizing our mental health and healing our relationship with food in our bodies in our life so that we can gain back control.

Lindsey:    

You described two different programs there?

Laura Martin: 

Yes I did, Gut Recharge is the metabolism program.

Lindsey:    

Okay. Then the Labyrinth was the anxiety.

Laura Martin: 

Correct.

Lindsey:    

Is one of them starting soon? Or are they both starting soon?

Laura Martin: 

Yeah, we just started the Gut Recharge program. We are on week one, we just finished. So we’re coming into week two right now. And then the Labyrinth starts at the end of October.

Lindsey:    

And that was also four weeks?

Laura Martin: 

That one is five weeks.

Lindsey:    

Five weeks, okay. And you have weekly group coaching calls?

Laura Martin: 

So the Labyrinth is all live. So it’s kind of just like you’re facetiming me inside of a Facebook group. And you get to ask your questions live.

Lindsey:    

I do occasionally hear people say, “I’m not on Facebook. How do I do this?”

Laura Martin: 

You can make a pop up Facebook group. You don’t have to use it for social media purposes. But that is where I host that program.

Lindsey:    

And what time of day do you do your group calls? What day of the week?

Laura Martin: 

Our Gut Recharge Q&A’s are on Fridays at 1pm Eastern Standard time. The labyrinth, that’s not until October, but that’ll be 2pm Eastern Standard Time on Tuesdays, I believe.

Lindsey:   

So it’s a once a week call?

Laura Martin: 

Correct!

Lindsey:    

So the link to sign up for The Gut Recharge Program is https://www.healingtohappy.com/highdeserthealth*, and the link for the Labyrinth is http://www.healingtohappy.com/labyrinth (enter “High Desert Health” in promo code spot so Lindsey gets credit for sending you)*. Do they receive any sort of one-on-one in the context of the group programs, or how does that work?

Laura Martin:

No, that’s my Gut Accelerator program. My one-on-one three month mentorship.

Lindsey:    

Can they email you?

Laura Martin: 

Yeah! They drop questions either through email or through the group, and then I answer them live.

Lindsey:    

Okay, so there is some chance to ask questions.

Laura Martin: 

Oh, definitely. That’s why the live aspect is so important.

Lindsey:    

Right, right. Anything else you would like to share with my readers?

Laura Martin: 

Just wherever you are, know that the harder we fight our bodies and the more we fear it, the longer the healing journey is going to be. We need to ask our bodies, “what are you trying to communicate with me, how can I honor that and where can I go?” To change the trajectory of the story of being, not stuck in this, but the journey. It’s a journey of a lifetime to learn how your body works, and what it’s trying to tell you. And we can’t be at war with it when that happens.

If you’re struggling with any type of gut health problem and are ready to get some professional help, you’re welcome to set up a free, 30-minute breakthrough session with me. We’ll talk about what you’ve been going through and I’ll tell you about my gut health coaching 5-appointment program in which I recommend lab tests, educate you on what the results mean and the protocols used by doctors to fix the problems revealed. Or if you’re ready to jump in right away or can just afford one appointment at a time, you can set up an 1-hour consultation with me.

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