Realfoodology - 75: Are Your Probiotics Arriving Alive? with Tina Anderson

Episode Date: January 5, 2022

Tina Anderson is the founder of Just Thrive probiotics with her husband Billy. We really dive into the world of probiotics: what are CFUs, do they need to be refrigerated, are your probiotics “arriving alive”, what to do post antibiotics, why we should all be taking probiotics, kids gut health, gut health during pregnancy, foods to support the microbiome, the connection between gut health and immunity, IBS, sibo, autoimmune disorders, digestive issues, mood, anxiety, depression, Eczema, psoriasis, acne and so much more! Show Links: 15% off Just Thrive probiotics when you use code REALFOODOLOGY and this link https://justthrivehealth.com/discount/realfoodology

On today's episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. We are living in this very antimicrobial world, and yet we are 10 times more bacteria than we are humans. So I just would encourage people to do everything that you can to support your gut health. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. I'm your host, Courtney Swan,

and today's episode is a really interesting one. You know, I feel like I say this all the time, but I just feel so grateful that I get to have these kinds of conversations because I really get a lot out of this too. You know, I am constantly learning. It's one of the things that I love so much about being in the health and wellness space is that I am always learning new things and new ways on how to just better my life and improve my health. What I loved so much about this conversation is that I got a lot out of this. There was a lot of stuff that I learned. And that's kind of hard for me when it comes to gut health, because it's

really one of my passions and something that I studied a lot when I was in my master's program. I also try to keep up to date with all of the science. And there was a lot of stuff in this episode that I had never heard before, which I love. It's why I'm so grateful to do this podcast because I learn a lot alongside with you guys. So when it comes to our probiotics, we should all be asking ourselves, did they arrive alive? And I don't mean off the shelf from your refrigerator. I mean, when you took that probiotic and it hits your intestines, your gut, and it's supposed to populate your microbiome and your flora, was it still alive when it hit your, when it went through your gastric system? This is something that Tina Anderson of Just Thrive Probiotics and I

talk a lot about in this episode. This is something really Tina Anderson of Just Thrive Probiotics and I talk a lot about in this episode. This is something really important that we should all be paying attention to because probiotics are really important. They're an important component to our gut health. But if we are not taking probiotics that are equipped to make it through our intestines and through our gastric barrier, that normally like our stomach acid, if you were to touch it with your fingertips, you would burn your fingertips off. So we have to think about that when we're

taking probiotics. Are these bacteria, is this bacteria actually making it to our gut? And what is so cool about this Just Thrive probiotic is that it is actually making it all the way through to our guts. And it is probably the best probiotic on the market. Tina Anderson and her husband, Billy are the founders of just thrive probiotics. And they have a really cool story that started out with big pharma. I'm going to let you hear that in the episode, but it's really interesting how they started out and then how they got into the world of probiotics. Tina and I cover a lot of ground in this episode. We go over common myths and misperceptions about probiotics. We talk about CFUs and what that means.

If you need refrigerated or if shelf stable is okay, what the difference is between the two, why a lot of probiotics don't work and how a lot of them are dead on arrival, what to do post antibiotics, how to take care of your baby's health and their gut health, the connection to gut health and our immune systems and so many conditions like IBS and SIBO and autoimmune disorders and digestive issues, mood, like anxiety, depression, skin, eczema, psoriasis. There is so much stuff that is linked to our gut. And this is such an important conversation. We also talk about foods that support our microbiome, other things that you can do to support your microbiome, things that you need to do in order to support it, and also things that we should probably stop doing or take out of our diets in order to really support

our healthy microbiome and gut. Do you want to hear the biggest discovery of our time for promoting healthy aging? Of course you do, because all of us are concerned about aging. There is a class of ingredients called senolytics that were discovered less than 10 years ago, and they are being called the biggest discovery of our time for promoting healthy aging and enhancing your physical prime. Now, when I'm talking about aging here, I'm not just talking about on a superficial level, wrinkles and saggy skin. I'm talking about energy, joint pain, your ability to show up for your life, cognitive function. I'm talking about the real effects of cellular aging on the body and what it does to our body as we age. Now, as we age, everyone accumulates something called senescent cells in their body. They cause symptoms of aging, such as aches and discomfort,

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episode. Did you know that most cookware and appliances are made with forever chemicals? Yes, that means your nonstick pans, your air fryers, your waffle makers, your blender could possibly have PFAS. And yes, even our beloved crock pots and pressure cookers. I have actually been talking about this for so long. Back in 2006, my mom came to my dorm room and made me get rid of all my nonstick pans because she was concerned about me being exposed to something called Teflon. Teflon is a coating that is used on nonstick pans and a lot of these appliances that I just named. So I've avoided Teflon, nonstick, PFA coated appliances, pots and pans, you name it for a very long time. And the only option for a very long time was just stainless steel pots and pans. So I was really

excited when a company like Our Place came out because they started creating really beautiful cookware and appliances that are like pieces of art. Every appliance that I have from Our Place, I legit want to store it on the counter. And I'm the type of person that does not want anything on my counter because I like it to look really just clean and minimal. But I'm so obsessed with all the ArtPlace products that I have so many of them displayed on my counter because they are legit pieces of art. ArtPlace is a mission-driven and female-founded brand

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loving as well. And I more recently replaced all of the bowls and plates in my kitchen because I really needed an upgrade. My other ones were so old. So I got some from our place and they are so beautiful. The ceramics are beautiful. The colors are amazing. Like I said, everything is like a piece of art. If you want to try any of the products from our place, go to from our place.com and enter my code real foodology, check out to receive 10% off site-wide that's from our place.com code real foodology. Our place offers a 100 day trial with free shipping and returns. Tina, I'm so excited to talk to you today. Um, gut health is one of my favorite topics of discussion. And I feel like there's a lot of confusion, especially around probiotics. So I have a lot of like myths that I want to go over today and kind of have you correct those and make them straight. But before

we dive into the probiotics, probiotic realm, I heard on a podcast a little bit about your story, how you started in big pharma. And I would love to hear how you started and then how this kind of threw you into this new world of probiotics. Yeah, it definitely was an interesting journey. I actually started out as an attorney. I was in litigation for many years and I was working crazy hours and I had started having children and I decided that I just didn't want that crazy life that I was living. So I was able to go into a family pharmaceutical business and I was really excited about being in that business because I thought, my God, we're delivering life-saving medications to people. We're really making a difference in people's lives. But after being in the industry for many

years, we started to see the abuses. You know, we saw the over-prescribing of medication. We saw, you know, a relative that like was on one pharmaceutical and the next thing you know, we saw the overprescribing of medication. We saw, you know, a relative that like was on one pharmaceutical and the next thing you know, she was on 12 different medications and never getting better, you know, because one medication was maybe she started, she started on, I think it was like a stomach issue. And then from a stomach issue, she started taking medication. Then she started having joint pain and then the joint pain caused a skin rash. And it was like all of these, you know, secondary effects started happening from the pharmaceuticals and she was really never getting better. And so we started seeing it in our business. There was one example that actually

came, it was awful. Actually, my husband had won, he was in the business as well. And they had won this huge bid at one of the largest hospital systems in the country. And they basically, they were all excited. And the pharmaceutical rep actually came into his office and said, this is great news that we won this bid. Now my job, my job now is to go to every cardiologist and lower the number of this medication that they prescribe. Yeah. Isn't it crazy? God, it makes me sick. Yeah. No, it makes me sick. And it was like we were surprised, but yet we weren't completely surprised because we're like, you know, this is what we're, you know, we saw this all the time with our, like I said, with our relatives and we were actually

more naturally minded anyway. We kind of live, we're living that lives already, that type of life with our children already. So it, it, we just said, we're not doing our life's work. I read a lot of Wayne Dyer, Norman Vincent Peale, all kinds of deep, great thinkers and minds out there. I read all of those types of books and so does my husband. And we said, we are not doing our life's work. We really need to do something that is more in line with who we are, with the way we live our lives already with our kids. And so we pivoted, we started researching and learning more about gut health and its importance. And it was what we learned a lot in that research, you know, that most probiotics weren't really working, that the gut is responsible for so much of our overall

health. And so we were just really, by being at the right place at the right time, we're able to license these incredible spore-based bacteria from London University. Dr. Simon Cutting, one of the leading experts out there on gut health. So it's been a really fun journey. And I always tell people, follow your passion, follow what you really want to do in life because it always, it always works out. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I found that to be true in my own life, but I love this story so much. It's so incredible that you guys were able to see that side of things and you wanted to be a part of the solution, you know, and, and it's interesting because you, you talked about how we're over-prescribing and then, you know, someone starts out on one medication and then they end up on another one to counteract the side effects of that first medication.

And one of the things I wanted to talk about is this overprescription of antibiotics. There is no denying that when you really need an antibiotic, it's absolutely life-saving. But when you think about all the times that we were prescribing antibiotics for viruses, like when they prescribe them for cold or something, and it's not actually going to do anything because antibiotics are to go after the bacteria. But let's talk about that because I believe that this overprescribing of antibiotics is a lot of the reason that we're in this problem that we're having right now with gut health and all these chronic diseases popping up. Yeah. So can we kind of dive into that and then the importance of why we need probiotics more than anything because of that? Yeah. I second so much of what you said. I mean,

one is that, yes, there is a place for antibiotics and they save lives and there's a place for pharmaceuticals. I mean, they save lives as the emergency type medicine situations, acute type of situations, but they're not a place for chronic disease. And I think that's where people really go astray. And then, like you said, people are taking antibiotics when they have a virus and it's like, that is such, it's so counterproductive because basically the antibiotic is killing the good bacteria as well. So when you, when you have an infection, that's a bacterial infection and you do need an antibiotic, that antibiotic is going in there and it's killing the bad bacteria, which is what you want it to do. But at the same time, it's also killing the good bacteria. But the benefit of it is outweighed

because you have an infection that could be deadly or could be very serious. And so you want to take that antibiotic. So of course you take it, but you know that it's disrupting the gut. But now when you have a viral infection, now you're taking it, you're killing the good bacteria, you're killing the bad bacteria. But what it's doing is now compromising your gut health. And now 80% of your immune system is found in your gut. So now you are literally handicapping your immune system by taking an antibiotic when you have a virus of any sort, because it's literally disrupting your gut microbiome, which is where your immune system pretty much lives. And so it's really, really

counterproductive. So I would always caution people. And you know what? Sometimes I don't blame the doctors. You know, a lot of patients are really pushing their doctors. Come on, just give me a Z-Pak. Just give me this. I mean, sometimes it's doctors pushing it, but a lot of times it's patients that are pushing it too. People will say, oh gosh, you know, I'm going on vacation. Just give me the Z-Pak or I'm, you know, I just need to get this. I want to figure out what's going on. And really, you know, a lot of times it is better to just make sure that it's a bacterial infection before you do start on a course of antibiotics. because actually the CDC came out with a study. It showed that the study showed that up to 50% of antibiotics are prescribed that are prescribed aren't really necessary to be taken. So we have to remember that, you know, be our own advocate.

One of our core values in our company is empowerment. And I know you have the same, similar type of core values because of the work you're doing. But I can't stress that enough. It's what I get so passionate, even more passionate about gut health, which is part of the empowerment picture. But gut health or empowering yourself, empowering yourself to understand health and listen to platforms like yours and read, you know, literature about health and really starting to understand it will give you so many more options and give you the knowledge is power in this situation. And of course, there's maybe too much knowledge, but find people that you trust and listen to them, but really be focused on empowering yourself to take control of your health. I'm so glad that you brought that up. That is one of my biggest messages in everything that I do, because we can, we need to work together with our doctor, you know, and it's interesting that

you brought this up and said that a lot of people go in demanding Z-packs or whatever from their doctors. And, you know, my doctor and I recently actually had a conversation about this because he was asking me about a podcast that I recorded and I was kind of talking about over-prescribing prescription drugs in general. And he goes, you know, to be honest, as a doctor, he goes, I struggle with this a lot because I'll have patients come in demanding certain medications from me, whether they want an antibiotic for something or they saw a commercial on TV. And then if they don't give them the drug that they're demanding, then they give them a bad

review online and then it makes them look bad as a doctor. Yeah. It's a terrible, it's a terrible, like vicious circle really that you're going in. Yeah. And this is why it's so important that there is this symbiotic relationship with you and your doctor where we are informed on kind of what to ask our doctors for. And then also our doctors listening to us and our complaints about our bodies and whatever it is, but it, yeah, but there is a fine line though, right? Because there is a lot of doctors, there are a lot of doctors complaining about like quote unquote, Dr. Google, you know, where people go in and they Google all their symptoms and then they go, you know, in the wrong direction and they're demanding certain things that the doctor's like, I don't think that's good for you or whatever. But anyways, we're kind of going off topic, but I just love that you brought that up. I cannot stress to people enough, you need to get to the root cause of issues. You need

to get to the root cause of why do you have this? Why do you have high blood pressure? Why do you have high cholesterol? Why do you have an autoimmune disease? Why do you have anxiety and depression? Why do I have psoriasis? Like all of these things, you have to get to the root cause. I mean, there is a reason why you have it. You're not deficient in this medication, you know, and I think that's where people have to remember you're not people aren't deficient in these medications. They're supposed to be meant for like a temporary situation, maybe, but not for chronic conditions. Absolutely. Well, okay, so you brought up a lot of things that I think can not even think that can be attributed to our gut health. So let's talk about why our gut health is so important and all the different like signs and symptoms that show up in the body

when the gut health is out of whack. Yeah. Well, the interesting thing is the human microbiome project launched about 10 years ago, 10, 11 years ago. And they launched the human microbiome projects by the National Institutes of Health told us more about the gut than we ever knew before. I mean, we basically now know the gut is dictating virtually every aspect of our overall health. I mean, every aspect of our overall health. Like I said, most people associate a gut imbalance or, you know, like with gas and diarrhea and constipation, bloating, all of those things. And those are, of course, signs of those things. And those are, of course, signs of some disruption in your gut health. But what people are just starting to

understand that it's any disease, I mean, from heart disease to cancer, to diabetes, to anxiety, depression, skin issues, autoimmune issues. I mean, it's really hard to find any disease out there that's not associated with an imbalance in your gut. And a lot of that is because you want your good bacteria and bad bacteria to be in balance. You want your good bacteria to outnumber your bad bacteria. But it's also your gut lining. Your gut lining is very critical. The lining basically prevents toxins from your gut to seep into your bloodstream. It that lining is very smart. It knows what type of nutrients that needs to go into your bloodstream, but it knows the

things that are supposed to stay inside of your gut. And most Americans really have a compromised gut lining. And that is very detrimental. That's why our gut health is responsible for virtually every aspect of our overall health. And we know we are 10 times more bacteria than we are human. So now we are literally living in this world that is so disruptive to bacteria. I mean, we have obviously antibacterial hand sanitizers, we have antibacterial soaps, we have cleaning supplies in our house, we have toxins in our environment, the fluoride in the drinking water that we're drinking. All of the antibiotics that we spent a lot of time talking about, so disruptive to our

gut health. Glyphosate, which is, of course, the active ingredient in Roundup, very disruptive to our gut health, incredibly disruptive, even worse than antibiotics. So we are living in this world that is so disruptive to our gut. And yet now we know the gut is responsible for all these aspects of our health. And it's really, it's so critical for people to understand that. And that's, what's been so fun about being in this industry is the profound changes we have seen with people because, you know, once they figure out it's their gut that's causing all of this, they start to see incredible, you know, benefits in their overall health. And it's just, it's really, really been exciting. So we know the offenders that are out there, like I mentioned, glyphosate, antibiotics, stress, I didn't mention that stress, huge, huge impact on our gut is that there's something called the vagus nerve that connects the brain

stem to the intestines. And they're always sending signals back and forth to each other. That's why we get butterflies in our stomach. That's why, you know, you could, you know, when your stomach, you know, you start feeling like you may want to go to the bathroom when you're nervous or excited about something. Those are all signals going back and forth to each other. So, you know, but we know that stress is a really a big offender to our gut health, fluoride, the toxins that were in our environment, all of the, you know, non-organic food that we're eating, all of the pesticides and herbicides that are found in our food supply. So we're living in this really, really toxic world that's offensive to our gut health. And so it's really important to support our gut health. Yeah. Okay. You brought up something really important that I want to highlight because

I don't think a lot of people really understand this. What percentage are we of bacteria? We are 10 times more bacteria than we are human cells. This is really exciting. Organifi now has kid stuff. They just released two kid products. One is called Easy Greens, and it's a refreshing green apple juice where kids will never know that it's packed with veggies. And the other one is called Protect. It's a delicious wild berry punch like the Kool-Aid that we used to have as a kid, but without any sugar. This is really exciting. And if you've listened to the podcast for a while, you know that I'm a huge fan of Organifi and most specifically because every single product that

they make is glyphosate residue free. So you know that you're going to be able to give these powders to your kids and know that they will be able to consume them safely without any glyphosate in it. So let's break down each one. The Easy Greens is a nourishing and delicious blend of superfoods and veggies that provides essential nutrients, probiotics, and digestive enzymes to bring balance to kids' growing bodies without fillers, additives, or junk. It helps to fill in nutritional gaps, aids in growth and development, supports digestive health, has a rich micronutrient profile, and includes digestive enzymes. This would be a great way to sneak in greens for your little one without them actually knowing that it's healthy for them.

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So we used to think it was our genetics that like dictated everything. It's our bacteria that's dictating our health. It's, it's quite profound. Yeah. And, and you brought up another good point that I just, it's really driving me crazy with everything that's going on in the last two years. We are over spraying everything now, you know, every store you walk into, they force you to use hand sanitizer. And, um, even when I go into like my nail place now, they make me like wash my hands and use hand sanitizer and all this stuff. And we are literally killing off all that good bacteria. I want to ask you, cause I get this question a lot when I bring this up on my Instagram

and I say, you know, stop using the hand sanitizers. We don't need it. We are over sanitizing. People ask me, well, what do I do instead? And I'm like, just wash your hands with soap and water, right? Just wash your hands with soap and water. It's very simple. I mean, it's like, and that's another thing that's so counterproductive because when we're

killing off of our bacteria, it's similar to taking an antibiotic because you're killing off bacteria and it's our bacteria that is helping us fight off immune issues, you know, helping us fight off viruses. So we don't want to do that. I mean, and in fact, there was a study that showed that households that use cleaning products that say kills 99.99% of the bacteria actually have children with a higher incidence of autoimmune issues, allergies, asthma. So it's really important to not, you know, I don't use it very, I don't use any of those cleaning products in my house. I would take some essential oils, some water, of course, like for the toilet and those types of things I will, but not for just cleaning off counters and

all of that. And I just use, you know, water and soap and, and you just, you know, we have to remember during this time, I've been trying to preach to people. It's like, our bodies are beautifully designed to heal themselves. They are beautifully designed. We are not like, you know, we're not prone to these infections and things like that. We are beautifully designed. We are not like, you know, we're not prone to these infections and things like that. We're actually designed to heal ourselves. And we have this beautiful immune system when working properly is so it's able to fight off all of these. We're faced with viruses every day, all day long, but it's, we have to continue to support our gut health and our immune system by supporting your gut health, you're supporting your immune system. And that's what I think people are just starting to understand

is that our gut actually signals to our immune system. So we could be taking all the vitamin C and vitamin D, and I think those are all really important nutrients to be taken. I mean, I would say that even before all of this stuff going on, I mean, I always would take those types of supplements, but if we could take all those, but if your gut is compromised, it doesn't even signal to your immune system to react to something that comes into your body. So very foundationally, your gut needs to be working optimally so that your immune system knows to start fighting off some type of an infection or virus that comes your way. Well, and this is so important. More than ever, we've been talking so much about immune health the last two years, but then we've been doing everything counterproductively, like spraying

down everything, using all the antimicrobials. Not being with each other. I mean, being with each other is what allows us to build our immune system. I'm so terribly worried for our children, who are these little, little kids who are not building their immune system and not being with other kids. It's scary to see what, you know, I pray nothing will happen, but it's like the fact that they haven't been able to build their immune system has been kind of scary. And I want to go into kids in a second and babies and stuff with probiotics. But before we do that, I do want to, I want to talk about your probiotics. But before we do that, I do want to I want to talk about your probiotics specifically, because I'm really intrigued by what makes this probiotics

so different. So can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, it's really very, very intriguing, actually. So I think you're right to be intrigued by it. But it's basically an entirely different category of probiotics. And so the majority of probiotics on the market are comprised of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. That's probably 97% of the probiotics that you find in the store shelves are comprised of those strains. And those strains were formulated based on what we used to know, you know, before the human microbiome project was launched about 10 years ago. And their idea was to, you know, get into the gut and to reseed the intestines. And the problem with that approach is that most of those probiotic strains, the lactobacillus and

bifidobacterium strains actually die. They never even get to the intestines alive. So just to be defined as a probiotic, the strains need to arrive alive in the intestines and confer a benefit onto the host, which means onto the body. And can you explain to people why a lot of them don't make it all the way? Like, why do they die? They are just sensitive organisms. These are Lactobacillus bifidobacterium. They were never meant to be consumed on a daily basis. So the only time we were ever inoculated with lactobacillus and bifidobacteria in our body, you know, as humans is during vaginal childbirth, close skin to skin contact and

breastfeeding. So we never got lactobacillus and bifidobacterium from the soil or from, you know, the food we ate or from our environment. We got it during natural childbirth. And so we, they were not found abundantly. And so as a result, these strains are very, they're sensitive organisms. They're not meant to be consumed. And that's why many need to be refrigerated. You know, I don't want to jump to the myths, but that's a huge myth that a probiotic needs to be refrigerated in order to stay alive. If it needs the refrigeration to stay alive, then how in the world will it ever survive your body temperature, which is 98.6, when it can't even withstand the room temperature of the store shelf. It has to be in the refrigerator. How would it survive your body temperature, which is much hotter at 98.6? Much less these strains,

these lactobacillus and bifidobacteria strains, they hit the stomach acid. The stomach is acidic, very acidic. It's meant to be the gastric barrier. Those strains actually, most of them are killed, 99.9% of them are killed in the stomach. So when they get to the intestines, they're basically dead bacteria therapy. And people will say, well, I've taken a probiotic and I have seen some beneficial results. And that is true. They may, even dead bacteria will provide some symptomatic relief, but they're not getting to the root cause. They're not changing the environment in the intestines. So with the spore-based bacteria that are used in Just Thrive, these are, they're spore-based

because they have this endospore shell around itself. And it's not something that we've entericoded or we've done, you know, we've engineered. These are actually, this endospore is the same type of coating that's on it when you find it in the environment. Our ancestors used to eat roots and tubers and they would eat the dirt off of land and they would get these bacillus spores on a regular basis. And so that's basically what these are. The only thing that Dr. Simon Cutting was able to figure out is to keep them in spore form during the manufacturing process. So we, yeah, go ahead. I'm going up.

No, I love this. I'm fascinated by this. I'm so curious. How did you guys figure this out? And how did you find these endospores and these strains that were actually able to get through our gastric system? Well, that was, unfortunately, I am not the scientist and I did not find them or discover them. This was Dr. Simon Cutting's work. And they've actually been used in Asia and Europe for years, these spore-based bacteria. It's just that in this country, there was a completely different story that was told about gut health and the lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. And again, I'm not saying that they don't do anything. They're just not really changing the way the gut is, you know, actually, let me just give you a quick example. You know, if you envision a garden and the garden has been stepped on and trampled on,

so there's weeds all over the garden and there's like, you know, the plants that are good are like all stepped on, trampled on. And you kind of compare that to your gut. And your gut is, you know, your gut has these good bacteria, but they're like not really flourishing. And you've got these, you know, bad bacteria that are like equivalent to the weeds in the garden. So the lactobacillus and bifidobacterium type of strains, you throw the seeds in the garden. Most of them never get to that garden, but even if they did, they would just pass through to the garden and they may plant a plant here and there. So the garden looks maybe a little bit better, but with the spores, we take them, we throw them into the garden. They actually get there 100%

alive. They attach to the soil and then they have the ability to get rid of the weeds in the garden. And then they have the ability to bring those plants that have been stepped on and trampled on back to life. So this is a completely different approach. So now you compare it to the gut, the spores are able to make it through the gastric system. And when they get to the intestines, they have the ability to actually help those beneficial bacteria kind of come back to life, if you will. And then they have the ability to get rid of the pathogenic bacteria. And they actually attach to the intestinal cell wall.

So they colonize. They stay there for about 21 to 28 days, where conventional probiotics would just pass through similar to food. And the other interesting part is these spores, when they have that spore shell around them, so it's not a mushroom spore. The spore just identifies it being having this spore shell around itself. That spore, you swallow it, it's dormant. It has the spore shell around it. It's dormant. When it hits the intestine, it takes that shell off. It recognizes the intestines as its home, and it takes the shell off, and that's when

it goes into its live vegetative cell state. So people are always like, we need live bacteria. Absolutely, we need live bacteria. You don't need it to be live in the refrigerator in the store. You need it to be live in your intestines. And that is really the biggest difference is with spores. It has the ability to survive the gastric system and get to the intestines alive. That's probably the biggest difference, but boy, do they, there's so much more to spores that are even more

fascinating. Yeah. Well, and I'm curious because I've heard a lot of different things floating around about probiotics. And one of them that I hear a lot, I hear conflicting things. I hear from some people that you need to take a probiotic every single day. And then I've also heard, don't take them every single day, because then after a while, you're overloading your microbiome with bacteria. Now, is that because we are just feeding dead bacteria? And after a while, it's like it doesn't need any more of that? Or is there a point where you're kind of like, okay, I'm good for a while and I don't need to keep taking more? Yeah, well, I would agree with that. You shouldn't be taking the conventional type of probiotics forever because you are just putting in, trying to put in more good bacteria. But remember that garden, it's like you're just throwing in one after

another. And then, you know, it's not really an effective approach. What you want to do is rebalance your gut. You want to recondition it. And we actually, we have a study with our spores that show that after being on this for two weeks, about two and a half weeks, it showed a 30% favorable shift in the gut flora. So it actually showed that these spores are actually creating a favorable shift. So better, you know, the more beneficial bacteria outweighing the detrimental bacteria, the pathogenic bacteria. So with the spores, the reason you would take these on a regular basis is that with our ancestors, they were meant to be consumed on a daily basis.

Our ancestors would eat them off of the land, like I was mentioning before, you know, they would eat off the land. They're almost like a functional food is really what the spores are. They're basically what we ate off of the land. And, but the other reason you would be taking them on a regular basis is that you are being, your gut is being disrupted every day. I mean, with like, we talked about all the offenders. I mean, we're drinking water, we're eating food that has glyphosate all over it.

I mean, even as clean as we try to eat, you know, you, you can't, you know, get rid of all the toxins and the chemicals and the stress and the life sugar. Thank you for bringing up alcohol. I mean, all of these things are so disruptive to our gut health. So that would be the reason I would suggest people taking it on a regular basis when you're talking about the spores, um, because we, we are disrupting our gut every day. Okay. That's so interesting. So what components of the microbial diversity confer health? So like, what are the different things like the number? Does the number matter like the CFUs? Or can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, so the CFU count is pretty

interesting. And for those listening that don't understand CFUs, colony forming units, and you'll see probiotics on the store shelf that will say, you know, 20 billion CFUs or 50 billion CFUs. There's some that are 250 billion CFUs. It's like it's gotten to become, it's really marketing. You know, there's no science that's saying more is better. Also, when it comes to, you know, the amount of strains, you know, you'll see a product that has 15 different strains on the, you know, that are contained in the, on the ingredient label. And it's like, because they're, they, everybody knows that having a diverse microbiome is health. I mean, when we, that's undisputed by every expert out there. I mean, we know when we have diversity

in our microbiome, we have lots of different types of bacteria in different types of amounts. We know we are, we have a health. And. And so people have now, brands have come out with products that are like, oh, we have 15 different type of strains and we have 500 billion CFUs. And that really is marketing. I mean, like I said, there's no study that shows more is better. What you need to focus on is what does, you know, 1 billion CFUs do? What does 4 billion CFUs? What is 3 billion? Our product has 3 billion CFUs.

And with that study I was talking about, it was just one of our strains that caused a 30% favorable shift in the gut. So, you know, you could have a product that has 500 billion strains and won't make any shift, a favorable shift in the gut. We have studies that show that one, one of our strains caused a 30% favorable shift in the gut. So this is, this is what we have to be focusing on. And unfortunately it's hard to, you know, get through the weeds in this as a consumer. And I feel sorry for consumers in this type of situation because it is hard to, you think more is better. You know, it's America, more is better, you know, bigger is better. And it's like, it's really not the case with probiotics. What the focus on is what are the strains doing? Most companies are putting these overabundance of strains in there because

they know most are dying. They're never getting to the intestines alive. Yeah. Wow. So we brought up antibiotics earlier. What would you recommend for someone coming off of antibiotics? Would you start taking a probiotic while you're on the antibiotic? Because I've heard different things about this as well. So I've heard take it while you're on the antibiotic, but then I've also heard don't because it kills it off and it doesn't matter. So what would be your approach? I would definitely recommend taking it while you start on the antibiotic. And we know this because we've actually done a study that showed that these strains survive the presence of antibiotics. The reason you wouldn't want to take probiotics while you're an antibiotic is the antibiotic would kill the probiotic strains because they're sensitive organisms.

They're not meant to, you know, fight off an antibiotic. But the spore-based probiotics, we've studied it, show that they survived, they completely survived the presence of an antibiotic. So they will work synergistically with an antibiotic. So that would be the one, there are a few times I would recommend, like our product, you just take one capsule with food at the end of the meal. It's super easy. But during a course of antibiotics, I would suggest taking two. And when I say take two, you would take two at the end of a meal. It's super easy. But during a course of antibiotics, I would suggest taking two. And when I say take two, you would take two at the same time. And I would take two for like during the course of the antibiotic, as well as like two weeks after the course of

the antibiotic. Because we have to remember, you know, there was a study that showed like a single course of clindamycin actually wreaked havoc on your gut for, there were like repercussions of that in your gut for over a two year period. So it's, it's pretty scary what a course of antibiotics can do to your gut. So it's really important that we're supporting it by taking, you know, a spore based type of probiotic. Yeah. I mean, it's antibiotics are tricky and very interesting because I have a lot of friends. I thankfully only had antibiotics, I think a couple of times as a kid, but you know, I had a lot of friends that had, you know, reoccurring ear infections or, you know, reoccurring this or that or whatever, or they were put on it for their acne for years, antibiotics. And then now we're seeing such a rise

in autoimmune disorders, eczema, psoriasis, depression, anxiety, auto, I already said autoimmune, but like SIBO, all these colitis, like all this stuff connected to the gut. And a lot of it, we're not even making this connection. And it's so interesting. And I'm so glad now that at least now we are recognizing that and is all is all lost. If we took all these antibiotics as a kid, and we're dealing with all these issues now, or can we really rebuild our gut with these really good spore endospore probiotics? Yeah, no, all is not lost. That's the beautiful part about the gut is that it does repair. I mean, we just need to focus on supporting our gut health. And I'm not saying like, it's not just spore bacteria that will support your gut health. There's lots of things that we could do to support

our gut health. I mean, what are some of the other things we can do? Yeah, we could be, one of the things is eating a diverse group of foods. So we know that as Americans, I think we average like we eat the same 15 to 16 foods a year, where we our ancestors used to have like 300 different types of foods a year. And so we need to eat a diverse group of foods. So you know, trying different vegetables, different roots and tubers, different types of foods a year. And so we need to eat a diverse group of foods. So, you know, trying different vegetables, different roots and tubers, different types of foods out there. You know, we are so conditioned now to go with like one diet, you know, paleo or, you know, keto or vegan or whatever it might be that people follow. But I'm of the mindset that we should be opening up our food as much as possible. And in fact, when you start to heal

your gut, you're able to tolerate foods that you otherwise couldn't tolerate. And we've seen that a lot, which has been exciting. So I think eating a diverse group of foods is really beneficial. I am a personal fan of intermittent fasting. I think it's really, really helpful for our gut lining. It really helps seal up the tight junctions in our gut lining. So intermittent fasting is another tool that could be really beneficial to helping our gut health. You know, this sounds really woo-woo, but just doing meditation and doing life, you know, managing your stress in your life, you know, meditation and mindful practices are super beneficial.

And people don't believe me, but then when they start doing it, they start to see, you know, like I said, there's that vagus nerve between that's talking back and forth between the gut and the brain. And so we need to remind the brain, you know, or the gut, you know, from our brain that we are calm and that helps calm things down in the gut. And so eating a diverse group of foods, intermittent fasting, mindful practice of avoiding sugar and alcohol. Those are the foods that we do want to permanently get rid of in our body. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but, you know, staying away, you know, just limiting it.

You know, nobody's perfect, but just taking baby steps to do those things are super supportive of your gut health. And then, of course, taking a spore-based probiotic is really very, very beneficial. And what is the connection there with our gut health and intermittent fasting? I've heard a lot about intermittent fasting as far as like our brain health goes, but what is it kind of doing to our gut health that's helping heal and seal the gut? Yeah, it's crazy because it's basically, food is very disruptive to our gut lining or to eating. And when we eat, it's very disruptive to our gut because it's actually disruptive to our health because basically most people are living with a leaky gut and they

don't even know it. The study, we actually did a double blind human clinical trial on leaky gut with these strains. And it was a study done on college students and 55% of them had a leaky gut and didn't even know it. I mean, 55%, these were healthy college students that didn't have, they were not on any medications. They felt great. There was no issue with their health that they knew of. And they found 55% of them actually had a leaky gut. And in adult population, they estimate that number to be like 80 to 90% of people have a leaky gut and don't even know it. So every time you're eating and food particles seep into your bloodstream, it causes this

inflammatory response. I mean, that's, you know, when people start having autoimmune issues. But when you, and I equate it to a drippy faucet, you know, you have this drippy faucet that really doesn't cause you any problems until that faucet overflows one day. And that's basically what's happening with leaky gut. So when we're eating and we're not giving our body a break from that, these food particles are getting into our bloodstream. It's not allowing our gut to heal. And so it's multifaceted, really, of how important intermittent fasting is to support our gut health.

That's really interesting. I had never heard it from that perspective before. I started practicing intermittent fasting a couple years ago, and I will say it has improved so many areas of my life. The biggest thing for me has really been controlling my blood sugar levels. It's really helped me with that. Um, but that's interesting. I hadn't really heard about the connection with leaky gut, but, and, you know, I think it's important to note for people to understand that the reason why we're seeing so much of leaky gut in so many people, I really believe is, well,

a lot of people believe this is glyphosate, you know, like the pesticides in our food and just all of this, like unnatural, you know, preservatives pesticides in our food and just all of this like unnatural, you know, preservatives, additives, you name it. Like we're just not eating real food anymore and our body doesn't quite know what to do with it. And this is a result of now what we're seeing when we're not eating real food. Yeah. And I'm so glad you brought that up because one of the biggest things I tell people to do to support their gut health is to eat organic. And I know it's not possible for everybody to do that, but that is so important. I can't believe I forgot that one because that's one of the most important things because we remember we were talking about how disruptive

antibiotics are because the antibiotics kill the bad bacteria, but they're also killing the good bacteria. Here's what's so bad about the glyphosate that's found in our food. The glyphosate only targets the beneficial bacteria. So it's not even killing the bad bacteria. It's only killing the beneficial bacteria in our gut. So I cannot stress that enough. I mean, try to eat grass-fed, try to eat organic, try to get away from all of those,

you know, like all of the toxins and the herbicides and pesticides in our food supply, because it is so disruptive to our gut lining. And that is why so many people have so many issues with their gut lining. Yeah, it's really important. And this is something that I talk about on almost every single one of these episodes, because organic is so important. And I'm constantly trying to provide people with ways to make it more accessible, more affordable. Thankfully, we are really starting to recognize the importance of organic food. And so we're able to find it at places like Walmart and Trader Joe's and Target and all these places that you normally wouldn't have found it before. So it

is becoming more available and accessible, thankfully. But yeah, it really is. It is probably the most important thing that you could do. And then on top of that, I would also add filtering your water. And I know that you mentioned this, but I don't think a lot of people understand that we are getting so much of those pesticides from runoff now into our water. And then on top of that, we're getting pharmaceutical drugs also from, you know, people flushing them and from their urine and whatever. So we're getting all, we're just getting infiltrated.

We're getting attacked on all different levels, you know, and then you talked about this to the cleaning products. And this is, again, what you brought up, which I hadn't thought about, which is why it's so important to kind of keep up with that good bacteria and constantly take those probiotics to keep make sure that our microbiome is full of that good bacteria. Yeah, absolutely. All of those things are so important. I mean, and I could not agree with you more about the organic. We need to be really, and there are ways we could buy the frozen organic, you know, foods, but there are ways to eat organic that are a little bit more affordable.

So, and just trying to eat clean and at least eat foods that are not, you know, processed and have all the different ingredients in there. But I'm sure those people listening to your podcast are doing all of that. You guys are, I'm sure, all doing that already, which is kudos to everybody that, you know, seeks out this type of information. Yeah. Yeah. It's, um, we're, we're all out here trying to do our best, you know? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I want to talk about kids. Cause I know I have a lot of listeners that have kids or hoping to have kids someday. Um, first of all, can you give probiotics? Can you give these probiotics to your children? Yep. Yes, definitely. I'm so glad you brought that up

because that is an area I'm particularly passionate about because when I was a child, which is, you know, was a long, long time ago, you know, I knew one kid in K through 12 that had a peanut allergy. I mean, I didn't know that it was like unheard of that people had allergies. Yeah. And it's like when my kids went through school, it was maybe, you know, there were peanut free tables. And then I mean, even from my oldest to my youngest, you know, that went through it. Now my youngest is in college. It's like we, there was not peanut free tables and all that. Now it's just like everybody has allergies. There's so many people, kids who have allergies. So kids are being born in this sterile

environment. They are literally, they are born and they're wiping off their bacteria. And it's like, oh my God, no, we need the bacteria. Yeah, you need it. So, and that's why it's just, it's so, first of all, it's just really important for a mother to be taking care of her microbiome. Because like I had mentioned earlier, that is the only time you're inoculated with your bacteria with lactobacillus and bifidobacterium is through vaginal childbirth, close skin to skin contact and breastfeeding. So a mother needs to take care of Oh, yeah, the mother needs to take care of her microbiome. I'm so sorry, I just before you kept going, I want to point this out. Because this was one of the first things that I learned when I was in my master's program for nutrition is that we were taught to ask our new clients two things. One, were you breastfed? And two, were you vaginally born? And I say all this, I want to preface this

because I know this can be a really sensitive subject for a lot of women. Not all is lost. If you had C-sections and you didn't breastfeed, it's okay. There are other ways like we've been talking about in the whole episode. But if you are wanting to be a mom or you're pregnant now, this is really important to note that you brought up is that this is how our babies first get inoculated essentially is going through the birth canal. And then they also get it from the skin to skin contact. And then on top of that, you also get bacteria from the mother's breast milk. And I think it's really important to note that, that if you are able to like find someone that will support you after birth in helping you do all of this, because it really

does help to set up your child's health for life. Right. Absolutely. And then even if you deliver a child via C-section, because obviously, you know, that's necessary at times. I mean, people, you don't ever want to put the mother's life in danger or the baby's life in danger. So of course that's necessary at times. But I would just encourage people to swab the vaginal microbiome and then get that and swab the baby all over. And a lot of doctors probably won't do it, but then have, you know, your husband do it or have somebody else in the, have the nurse do it, have somebody else that will do that because that's so important to get that bacteria on the baby. So exactly. All is not lost. And you're you're absolutely right.

All is definitely not lost if you are. But it is interesting how you see people when I talk to people. Yeah, I remember when we first started and I was talking to a lot of customers quite often. And I would, you know, I'd say like, oh, were you. Yeah. Were you vaginally born or via C-section? And sure enough, or were you on antibiotics because of acne? And she's like, oh, yeah, I've been on antibiotics because of acne. So all these things really do give us indications of, you know, how your gut is performing. So back to the kids.

So the kids, I just feel like they are being born in this, you know, sterile environment. They're being, they are faced with more pesticides and glyphosates and antibiotics in our food and food supply. And it is, it's just, they're faced with so much more than we ever were faced with. And I'm so passionate about kids because I think every child should be on, you know, sport-based probiotics. They need to be taking care of their gut because, and you can open, ours are, you actually open them up and mix them with food. So that's what you would do. If they're a baby, you know, you might want to talk to your doctor about it, but I mean, I, I have yet to find a doctor that has not, you know, said, oh yeah, you know, you could

take a probiotic because they're really, they were the same strains, like we said, that were meant to be consumed on a daily basis. They were off of the land, but really important to start your child on it. You know, maybe three years old or whatever, you could start opening the capsule, mix it with food. You could mix it in, even a mother who's nursing, you could take a little tab, a little bit of it on your finger and put it on your breast and the baby could suckle on it and get some of the bacteria that way. But I can't stress enough that we need to really support our children's microbiome because they, more than us, are going to be raised in this world that is so disruptive to their gut health. Oh, and it's so sad. I mean, you brought up a

great point with all these allergies now. I mean, we're seeing a rise in allergies like we've never seen before in children. And I actually had Robin O'Brien on a couple months ago, and she really kind of disrupted this whole world of, you know, kids having these allergies. And through her research, she found that really what's happening is that we have messed with our food system and our environment, you know, and it's everything we've just been talking about. So it is really important that we arm our kids with, you know, all of this so that they can go out into the world and not be dealing with, you know, chronic ear infections or chronic strep throat and, you know, eczema, psoriasis. What's the other one? Asthma, I feel like can even be tied back to that as well, too, right? Yeah, absolutely.

Or like autism, you know, we speak at autism events every year because it's just we are, we see children on the spectrum. They have a lot of gut dysbiosis and it's all, you know, so much of it is tied to a gut imbalance. And so, and the nice thing about our strains, I don't want to forget, is that we can actually bake with them. You could actually put them in like cookies. And so we have like recipes on our website all the time that people love to bake with them because you don't even know that they're there.

They're tasteless, odorless, colorless, like nobody would ever, like a child wouldn't even know that it's there. I used to put it in my son's piping hot oatmeal when he was younger. And, you know, my daughter never liked to swallow pills for many years. Now she can, you know, now that she liked to swallow pills for many years. Now she can, you know, now that she's an adult, but like a real adult. And so we just laugh because it's just nice to be able to have that option. Even adults sometimes don't like to swallow pills, but you could open the capsules, mix it with food, water, hot stuff, cold stuff. It doesn't matter. Great thing to put in your smoothie and in the morning, it won't compromise the integrity. That's something else that we've studied. So I, one of our biggest

things was just to elevate the standard in supplements. You know, I am a huge fan of supplements. I have been for many years. And I think that sometimes supplements get a bad rap because you know, there's the shysters out there, like the snake oil salesmen out there, but really supplements really have such an important place in our health. But we wanted to elevate the standard by doing human clinical trials, which is unheard of in the supplement space. But so I definitely, you know, if anybody has any questions, they could always like go on our website and look at some of our studies and talk to our customer service team. That's really, we have a health coach on there or a product coach

that talks about the different products that we have. But I cannot, I can't stress enough with the children how important it is to be supporting our kids' gut health. Yeah. Wow. This is fascinating. I've never heard of a probiotic that you could bake with or add into hot things. This is really cool. Yeah. We've tested up to 455 degrees and they remain completely stable. Wow. That's really incredible. And then, yeah, I mean, so that obviously, sorry, continue. Yeah, no, everybody thinks that they have to be refrigerated. So they're so, and that is true. Most of them do need to be refrigerated, but those obviously you could never bake with, but ours you could bake with and no problem at all. Wow. Okay. I need to get on these probiotics. You know, it's so funny. I

had a friend that told me about just thrive. It was probably about two years ago. And I, for some reason, like I, I just, I never got them cause I was on this other probiotic that I found for a long time. And now I'm like, okay, I am, I'm buying these today. I need to get on these. I'm really impressed by all the research that you guys have on it. So yeah, is there anything else that we haven't really covered that you think is really important for people to know whether it's about gut health or about the probiotic itself or anything? Yeah, I mean, I think the only thing is just to, again, just remember the overarching theme that we are living in this very antimicrobial world, and yet we are 10 times more

bacteria than we are human. So I just would encourage people to do everything that you can to support your gut health. Like I said, all the different things, eating a diverse group of foods, of, you know, eating organic, meditating, doing things to live a, you know, calmer, more mindful life, avoiding glyphosates, obviously, you know, like I said, but just remembering that and just remembering that other theme of just that we can repair this. We can, you know, it's all is not lost in this. And we have to take care of our children and just really focusing on getting to the root cause of an issue. Because we see this all the time with people who just, they find, you know, all of a sudden they get, and actually this is one of the funniest

parts about our product versus the pharmaceutical world is that, you know, in the pharmaceutical world, it's like side effects may include, you know, suicidal thoughts and, you know, all these awful side effects. Cancer, all this stuff. Yeah, cancer, exactly. Where ours is like side effects may include better mood um better sleep weight management i mean i see this all the time people may have started it because they had some gastrointestinal issues and then they're like my god i'm sleeping so much better or you know i'm noticing that i'm i've lost a few pounds and this is not a weight loss product but this is what happens when you start going to the bathroom regularly like really regular you think you think you might be regular, but when you really start going regularly,

you're getting rid of toxins, you're getting rid of, you know, this excess toxins, you're actually better able to support your weight, you're better, you have more energy, it just all makes sense. Yeah, well, you know, what's interesting that you brought that up? Because this was something I meant to bring up earlier. So we have found that we've seen studies that dependent on what your microflora, your microbiome looks like, it can actually drive your food choices as well. Because if you have an overgrowth, think if you have an overgrowth of like the bad bacteria, like candida, yeast, something like that, you're going to be craving a lot of sugar. But if you have more of that good bacteria and they're craving more of the,

you know, prebiotic foods and the greens and all that, then that is like a wonderful side effect of, you know, taking care of your gut health is maybe you drop a couple pounds, and you didn't even realize it, you know, or you didn't even try. Yeah, no, I'm so glad you brought up the candida because we see that all the time people like I have less sugar cravings. And I'm like, really, like that, you know, and then it's like, well, yeah, it makes sense because you're getting rid of that overgrowth of back of candida. And so you're of course not going to crave as much sugar. I mean, yeah, we, we see that one all the time. That's so interesting. Is there anything else that you've seen from people that have, that have really improved since they started taking these probiotics?

Oh my gosh. It's like, where do I start? I mean, it's so much fun to get the testimonials from people and to hear the stories. I mean, I save on my voicemail. I have a mom whose son had horrible digestive issues. He's also on the spectrum and the changes that he's seen in his life. I mean, I save the messages all the time because it's just, when you're helping a child, it's like like there's nothing better. I have another friend whose daughter had skin issues that couldn't would not they just were so persistent and were so stubborn that she started seeing incredible improvements within three days, you know, I mean, which is unbelievable. I mean, not everybody sees things that quickly. But, you know, I just I love when you're helping the kids. Those are the ones that I, you know,

are especially important. But I've heard it over and over people who have had, you know, gas and bloating. They're like, I've tried everything. I've tried every pharmaceutical. I've tried every over the counter. I've tried every probiotic out there. Nothing worked like this. And it's, it's really exciting. It's, it's really been fun. It's just, it's just, it's the best thing. I've never felt so grateful to be in a business than I have with this, especially during COVID, just knowing that, you know, the more you're supporting your gut health is the more you're supporting your immune system. And, um, but I mean, we have, we have so many testimonials. It's been, um, just, it's always like this changed my life and that makes me feel really, really cool. Oh, that's so incredible. I love to hear stories like that. You know,

there was one other thing that I wanted to ask you before we go. And I feel like I already know the answer, but I just want to audibly hear it for my listeners as well. Can you take a probiotic while you're pregnant? Oh, yeah. Well, yes, you definitely can. But I always preface that by saying you should always ask your doctor because everyone's pregnancy is different.

But it's super important because your gut, like it is the mother's gut bacteria that is dictating their child because that's when you're being inoculated. So if you have a compromised gut bacteria, you're going to be passing along the compromised gut bacteria to your child. So really important to be supporting your gut health during pregnancy. And as long as your doctor says it's okay, which I mean, I would imagine most doctors would say it would be okay, I would highly recommend taking the spores while you're pregnant because this is really changing that garden in your gut. And therefore, you're going to be in the best possible spot to be passing on your good bacteria onto your child. Oh, that's so important. And it's interesting how we have that small window of time, you know, when you think about it in a whole child, in a whole human's life, nine months to really make sure that you set them up for health for life, potentially. I know we would do anything for our child's health, anything.

And this is such a simple thing to do to support your child's health. I mean, and it's just I can't stress it enough. I mean, and taking care of your, your own health or your own gut health during that time is so important. So I would definitely encourage pregnant moms to be taking care of their gut health. Amazing. So I have a question that I ask everyone before we go, what are some of your health non-negotiables? So these are things that you do either on every single daily basis, or maybe, you know, weekly basis that really support your health, no matter how busy your day is. These are things that you do that are really important to your health. Okay. Let me think about what I do every day. So I wake up in the morning and I do

breathing. So I use a little heart math device. I don't know if you've ever heard of it. It's a breathing tool that I use. So I like to do deep breathing every morning. Occasionally I'll do meditation, but I, for whatever reason, just do deep breathing every morning. Occasionally I'll do meditation, but I, for whatever reason, just doing deep breathing really helps. I also do daily affirmations. So I have a personal daily affirmation, then I have a business daily affirmation that I love to do. And it's the same thing every day. I write in my gratitude journal, which is really important. Gratitude is another one of the core values of our company. And I have a personal story about gratitude that was huge. I think it's the most healing and it's a great just to practice gratitude on a regular basis. So it shifts your focus.

It's just really, really powerful. And then I walk. I'm a huge walker. I walk all the time. I mean, I wouldn't say it's every day, but I would say at least five out of seven days. I always say it's my drug of choice. And then of course, taking a spore-based probiotic, I mean, non-negotiable for everyone in my family. I give nobody in my family a choice. My mom and dad, my in-laws, my sisters, I mean, my nephews and my niece, my brother-in-law, everybody, everybody has to take it. My husband's family.

So I love that. It's so important. And I'm with you on the walking. That's one of mine as well. I go for a walk every single day with my dog. Oh, I love it. It's just so therapeutic. It's so good to do that.

Yeah. And I live in Chicago where it's really, really cold all the time in the winter and I still walk outside. So I would encourage, even when it's freezing out, I walk outside. It's just so important to get outdoors. I can't stress that enough. Yeah. That's really important. Well, thank you so much for coming on today. Before we go, can you tell everyone where to find you and where they can find Just Thrive? Absolutely. Um, Just Thrive Health. So that's justthrivehealth.com is our website.

Really easy. Um, it's super easy. I don't take the our website. Really easy. It's super easy. You don't take the probiotic one a day. It's super easy. And then if you have questions, you could always call. Like I said, we have a product coach on our, if you call our customer service number, they are the most amazing customer service team you'll ever talk to in your life. They're awesome. So, but yep, that's easy. Well, thank you so much for today, Tina. This was

really fascinating. Thank you, Courtney. And thanks for all the great work you're doing. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks for listening to today's episode of the real foodology podcast. If you liked this episode, please leave a review in your podcast app to let me know. This is a resident media production produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Chris McCone. The theme song is called heaven by the amazing singer Georgie spelled with a J. Love you guys so much. See you next week. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first.