“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” Hippocrates

It is no secret that hundreds of clients who have gone through the Wild Side Wellness and I seem to lose fat effortlessly, but you may be wondering how?

I indulge in donuts, chocolate, and cake (with intention), yet I remain very lean. Here’s the deal, I do not support deprivation or being unsatisfied with meals but I do promise to teach my clients how to use food in a way that helps them achieve health and wellbeing. My recipes taste amazing and I eat large volumes of food while simultaneously reducing body fat and gaining lean muscle.  Want in on my secret? Keep reading.

Digestion is one of the most important functions in our bodies. How our bodies digest food, determines the number of nutrients that we receive.  It also determines the amount of energy we have for growth and cell repair. Digestion is extremely complex and begins in the mouth, esophagus, stomach and then continues into the small and large intestines. If you want to experience effortless fat loss, it all starts with digestion.

Did you know the largest part of our immune system actually resides in our gut? The bacteria in our gut protect and support us, that is until they don’t.  While controversial, I  believe there is a significant amount of an undiagnosed condition known as intestinal hyperpermeability or leaky gut.

Before we dive need into leaky gut and how this impacts hormones and weight loss, let’s look at Symptoms of leaky gut. 

  • Seasonal allergies, eczema, or asthma
  • Other skin conditions like rosacea and acne
  • Changes to mood
  • Digestive issues: constipation, diarrhea, bloating, cramping, IBS, IBD, SIBO
  • Hormone imbalances like estrogen dominance
  • Autoimmune disease: Hashimoto’s, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, celiac.
  • Food allergies and sensitivities

Leaky gut occurs when the tight spaces between the intestinal cells separated. Essentially small tears develop in the intestinal lining and a tight coffee filter becomes a strainer.  These larger spaces allow for undigested food, bacteria, and waste (which should be confined to the intestinal tract), to escape into the bloodstream.  The body sees this leakage as a foreign substance and your immune system starts to attack resulting in significant inflammation. If the proteins on the surface of the undigested food particles, bacteria etc. resemble similar proteins on your own organs (known as molecular mimicry) your immune system will begin to attack your own body, as if it were an enemy, which is autoimmunity.

Often leaky gut is influenced heavily by the consumption of certain foods and toxins. Gluten, dairy, sugar, processed foods, antibiotics, acid-reducing drugs, pain medications, and environmental toxins like pesticides, mercury, and BPA from plastics, can all contribute to the development of leaky gut. Stress, emotions, and the environment in which we eat can also have a big impact on our gut microbiome.

Signs of a Healthy Gut

It is concerning the number of women that come to me, who overlook many symptoms of poor digestion. Just because you always have bloating or have always only had 1 bowel movement per week that doesn’t mean its normal, healthy or optimal. Ideally, for every meal, there should be an elimination. Having less than one bowel movement per day means you are constipated; this is NOT healthy.   PS Coffee lovers, you will need to give it up for at least a week to be able to tell if your body digests well on its own since coffee will stimulate elimination. To learn more check out the Bristol Stool Chart and rate your poo!

Why the Wild Side Works

My Wild Side wellness program works because we address digestive health.  If you don’t get the key nutrients and toxins in and out of your cells, you will not release weight efficiently. While we do track macros, I firmly believe weight loss is a welcomed side effect when we focus on healing your digestion and assisting elimination. To start healing your gut, we need to do a combination of removing inflammatory foods and increasing healthy bacteria to break down any remaining foods.

What can you do today to improve your digestive health?

  • Start by removing gluten and dairy. These are the top 2 food sensitivity triggers that I see consistently from working with women in my Wild Side program.
  • Identify unique food sensitivities by doing an elimination diet for 4-6 weeks or IgG food sensitivity testing. 
  • Start taking probiotics. Probiotics are live microorganisms that support your body in many ways. They help to break down nutrients, eliminate hormones, and improve your immune system. The play a key role in how your body extracts calories from food and how your body metabolizes them. When looking for a probiotic make sure to spend a little extra to make sure you are getting one that is both acid and bile resistant. This will ensure the bacteria actually survive through the first stage of digestion, which is getting past the stomach. Personally, I use and recommend Designs for Health probiotics.
  • Stop cravings. When we experience cravings such as for sugar it may be a sign we are actually cravings nutrients. Beneficial gut bacteria can help control appetite and help you feel more at home in your body instead of being taken over by a sugar-hungry monster!

I hope this information was helpful for you. Remember everything starts in the gut. When you optimize your gut health you may see improvements in everything from mood, weight loss, skin, hormone balance, energy and more! Comment below what you are going to do to improve your digestive health!

XO Breanne

PS. Many of you have found your way to my registration page before I even announced registration is open for January! Well NOW registration is officially open but that means there are even fewer spaces remaining.  You will want to register ASAP as January always fills fast. Click here to register for the Wild Side Wellness and ensure your spot.