Episode 127: Are You Surviving or Thriving? Understanding Your Gut Health with Judy Hahn

Hi, everyone, welcome back to the podcasts. My name is Amanda Lee's love. And I'm a registered holistic nutritionist, and today's guest is duty. So welcome to the show.

Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here.

It's a pleasure to have you. So I always ask this question to every guest, what is your backstory of how you got into what you're doing today.

Um, it's kind of interesting and 2018, I, I went to take my supplements in the morning. And you know, you throw them in your mouth, you drink your water, and you kind of throw your head back. And I had bilateral tingling and numbness all the way down my arms into my hands. And that was interesting. You know, as a functional medicine wellness coach, I thought to myself, Well, okay, just pay attention, see, what happens? Does it get worse? Does it get better? Is there something that you know, starting to analyze what was going on, and I ended up going to see my physical therapist and in a couple of weeks of not being able to get any results doing that, I went and had an MRI just to see what was going on, because nobody could seem to figure it out. And basically, when he read the MRI, he said, You have four discs in your cervical spine that need to be fused together, you have two to six months to do that, because that's how severe the the narrowing is. And the other reason is, if you have terror accident, or you have a really bad fall, you could die, because that's connected to your breathing. And so I panicked a little bit, because I didn't know anything was wrong. And the idea of fusion, I knew about fusion and the small percentage of success with with Fusion. And so I started to do research. And in my former life as an IT person, and a woman in it self taught in the 80s and 90s, I, I had to be pretty bold, I had to be pretty tenacious in that. And so I knew that this was just another way that I had to take control and get out there and start researching. And luckily for me, I had a page that came up, that gave me the opportunity to figure out the biggest medical puzzle of my life, which was do I go and have artificial disc replacement. And that was a gentleman in Germany. And so that meant my insurance wasn't going to cover it. It meant, you know, finding a a way. You know, I was always good at putting these puzzle pieces together. And this one was fusion, where I'm 66. And I'm going to be immobile from the neck pretty much down because that's what happens when you fuse, right? Or taking a chance on a guy who I've never met who's in Germany, but who's been doing this procedure for 20 years or more. And my husband being as supportive as he was and knew how I felt about the fusion said, we'll figure it out, we'll find the money, we just have to get you well. And I can't say I've ever regretted that bold decision that I made to get on a plane with my sister and have the discs replaced. Because as you can see, at 69 I have full mobility, and therefore going forward in my life, I'll still be able to do pretty much everything I want to do.

That's cool story. Well,

you know the the interesting thing about it, the story itself is kind of crazy. Because when you don't know something's wrong with you, and from one day to the next, somebody gives you the kind of information. I realized how many people go to doctors and have them say, Oh, your blood work looks fine. So there's nothing wrong with you. And yet they feel like crap.

I got that.

Well, and isn't it true that you need someone to advocate for you? You need someone who can say to you No, don't worry. I now get to help people like you to be able to say, oh, it's not all in your head. Let's figure out why you feel the way you do. Do and let's, let's see how we can change your life. And so I became that person.

I love that you're, you're that person who can advocate for other people and stuff because I think we don't have we think we could do it on ourselves or we're just so tired of struggling with our health issues. We don't have anyone in our life that supportive that kid like, figure out what's wrong with us.

I think the other thing that happens is that we've been taught that doctors are some godly quality. And we are they say something that we were supposed to believe them because our parents kind of taught, at least at my age, my parents taught me that when I go to the doctor, I listen to the doctor, and then I do what he says. And being that bold, tenacious, audacious person, I was like, Nah, he can go stuck in a, you know, if I have to get my neck fused and be a mobile. That's ridiculous. Why shouldn't people? Yeah, why should people like you not be able to? To get real answers?

Yeah. And I feel like, that's sort of like my story. Like, I went to the doctor's, but my grandmother was, would be like, well, this isn't working. Like I only stayed on medication for a few days, because she's like, you're not staying on this for the rest of your life. So I had someone advocating for me, and finding, eventually a wellness chiropractor and stuff like that. And I think functional medicine is so important. Can you tell people like what is functional medicine?

Sure, cuz a lot of people look like deer in headlights. And as soon as you say functional medicine, because it's what 2020 something years old. It's it's not very long. Now.

I'm 32. So Oh,

wow. Okay, well, you're Yeah, I'm a little bit older. I'll be 70 in June. So I think the easiest way is a comparison, I look at Western medicine as the medicine of what? In other words, what what do you have? And what can I give you to mask your symptoms? And functional medicine, which is root cause medicine? In other words, why do you have what you have? And let's figure out what the underlying causes so that we can help you get rid of the symptoms and very possibly rid of whatever that condition or illness is. And so it's really, it's, I love it, because it's collaborative, as opposed to that white jacket walking in and you listening to what the doctor you know, with the finger, the whole thing, right? It? Okay, so here's, here's what I'm seeing, you know, I invite you to look at, you know, maybe giving up gluten for a couple of weeks, see how you feel, you know, it's not a do should have to kind of thing. It's a invitation to learn how to create an optimal health environment for oneself. Because I don't want people to be feeling like they need to be attached to me for the rest of their lives. I want to educate them and support them to give them the information. So that it going forward. Once they get into that optimal environment space that allows the body to start healing. They start to recognize, Gee, why don't I feel oh, yeah, I had some gluten the other day. Oh, yeah. And some dairy or whatever that happens to be. But I have no, no, I have a formula. Yeah. My formula is that in order to achieve the transformation, you desire, you have awareness, which a lot of times is what I provide, right? And then you have action, which I give them steps choices, and then they can do that on their own. And then accountability, which is not accountability to me. This is accountability that they have to themselves, right. It is still there. Your health, right? Yeah. You don't need to be accountable to somebody else. You just need to be accountable to how you want to feel. highlight that

because a lot of times we don't take accountability to like our health and stuff. We are like, Well, I feel sick, but I'm going to just put it to the side and I'm Gotta take accountability for maybe changing that way so that we need to change changing, cutting out the gluten or figuring out, we don't take accountability for any of it. and stuff.

Yeah, I think, you know, one of the biggest issues that I have is that people don't want to change. Change is hard. Okay, don't get me wrong. Creating the environment that allows your body to heal itself is incomparable. complicated, but it's not easy. Right? And so we've been brought up in a society that one is a magic pill society, give me a pill, make it all better, make it happen overnight. You didn't Yes, overnight. So I can't help you to make that kind of a difference overnight. And I think that people also don't realize that they, they're not coming to me because I heal them or fix them. Right. But I do, I do. None of those things. I educate, I support I guide, I give information. But the work the work has to be done by the person. It's their body, they're making the changes to help themselves. And I think that, that becomes a little challenging, because people aren't used to that. And people don't. Like I say, they were an instant gratification, society. And that makes it challenging for, for some people. And people,

what you're saying is people have to put in the work, and we just need to start doing the work if we want to change our health. And why? Why do people sick come to you? And they'll say, Oh, my blood tests live, everything looks normal and everything. What exactly is most people do they have to work on?

Well, first of all, the the really big shame of it all is that doctors don't really know how to read blood tests. And they probably are not asking for the appropriate blood tests to be done, depending on what the person's condition requires. But if we were just having this conversation yesterday, for instance, when I, when I look at a blood test, I'm really looking for data to tell me about the person's environment that they live in. Because it's about creating that optimal environment to help them to be able to get healthy. It's not about looking at it and saying, Oh, you have this, you have that too. Because Western medicine uses it to diagnose. We look at it to say, Oh, look, this number in this number indicate that the person is dehydrated. If the person is dehydrated, no wonder the sodium and potassium numbers are so high. Because if the the water in the body is lower, the concentration of those things in the blood is going to be much higher. But your western medicine doctor doesn't. I don't know if they've ever been taught how to do those things. And I'm not faulting anybody at all. They are who they are. They were taught what they were taught, right? If I break an arm, I'm not going to a functional medicine person. I want somebody who does acute care. Exactly. But for for me, when somebody comes to me, they come to me because they're exhausted. They have brain fog, they're constipated, they have diarrhea, they have gas, bloating, they have they're cold all the time, not just their hands and feet. They're their whole body is like cold. And you know, there's a variety of symptoms. But symptoms don't tell you what condition somebody has. So when I look at working with people, I just I want somebody who's committed to their health, ready to work on it. And somebody who understands I am not a healer, right? I am here to teach you what you need to know to be able to create the optimal environment so your body heals itself. Maybe we need some supplements to support it here and there. But Western medicine doctors who have gone into functional medicine seem to use, like supplements are the thing, but what they're doing is they're replacing medication with supplements. Yeah, even by the name of it, supplement means it's a, it's in addition to something else, it's not to replace. So we look at diet, we look at lifestyle, we look at stress management, we look at hydration, elimination movement, you know, there's, they're like six foundational things. If you're building as a foundation that's not solid, then when you build the building, there's going to be cracks, there's going to be things that happen over time. And that's kind of the picture of the body, get the foundation. And then things start to change for the better.

I like that. And I like that picture of the building and the cracks and stuff. What like what are like some of the foundations that we should be working on? If we're not doing it already?

Well, the there are six that I look at, and that's diet. But diet, you know, somebody will say I have a healthy diet. Well, I hate

their, their their answer.

Yeah, their opinion of healthy diet is different than mine. But besides that, you can eat organic, forever, all day, every day, and still not be healthy. Because one of the other steps is digestion and assimilation. So if your gut isn't healthy, which means your digestion isn't good. You're not assimilating the nutrients from the food that you're putting in, even though it's organic. Right, right. So diet, exercise, you've got to move the body it was meant to move. Do you have to do strenuous exercise? No, not necessarily. Some people, it's, it's they don't realize that they're stressing their body by the type of exercise that they do for the condition that they have. So stress, you know, stress management is physical, emotional, it's environmental. All right. Let's see, what am I missing elimination. So if you're constipated, that means you're holding on to the toxins that should be released when you go to the bathroom. And therefore when they sit in your body, they get reabsorbed, and then that causes more problems. And if you have diarrhea, well, then you're like steps just going right through, you may not be getting any nutrients whatsoever. So you have to look at elimination. But those six foundational things, diet, hydration, people think because they drink liquids, yeah, that they're hydrated. Well, do you drink coffee for every cup of coffee, you need to have two glasses of water, because coffee or tea are diuretics. But I drink two of these. And when I look at my bloodwork, I'm dehydrated. Wow. Now, this is two of these is 80 ounces.

Yeah, I drink a gallon a day.

But here's you can drink that. But when I look at my bloodwork, I can see I'm dehydrated. That tells me right away that I need to focus on something that's going to allow the water to go into the cells of my body. And that's something people don't understand. They think just as long as they drink or people don't like to drink because then they pee a lot. Well, that tells me something too, right? That tells me that the body's not holding on to it. We there are certain things there's a certain kind of there's a number of things, sometimes it's electrical EQ, electrolytes, sometimes it's salt, it because everybody is unique. There's no way to say to somebody, these are the things that you have to do. And if I give this same list to all people, everybody will be healthy. Yeah, I can say the six categories. Yes, are the same for everybody. But how those work and where people are lacking or overdoing or whatever it is, is going to be indented. You all for each person that I deal with. And I deal virtually. So I have the opportunity to deal with people all over the place. And and it's really interesting because sometimes people live in really hot climates. Sometimes people are living in altitudes. So they're the just those things by themselves, create issues that people may not be aware of.

And I like how you said, like your environment, because I think a lot of times, we don't even really think about our environment. And if we're in the mountains, we might need more water and stuff like that. We need, we need to think of our environment more, and we don't think about our environment. It's like, things,

I think, even beyond just that part of our environment, yes. For hydration, that people don't think about their home environment, how often do you open the windows and let the house air out? What kind of go outside

cleaning?

Do right? Go outside every day,

I tried to get back into that habit, because we all work from home. So it's easy just to stay in our apartments, or houses. We don't have something to do that day.

It's true. It is true. I, every day I walk my dogs for an hour.

I don't have any dogs anymore. So that's what I used to do. But now that I've been in Texas for eight months and stuff, and I'm like, Oh, I'm just like, Oh, I haven't been walking, or anything outside. And I think it's also just the seasons, sometimes certain seasons, you don't go outside as much. But now that we're going into spring in the US, then it's easier to get out and it's lighter. And the day, we have a longer day and everything. So yeah, this

weekend, we change the time. So we gain an hour of daylight on both ends. So that'll be nice.

Yeah, that's great. Do you find people feel like it's all about like changing their diet first? Or do they want to work on the other aspects of improving their health? First?

You know, I, I don't know that anybody has a preference? Because when they come to me, they're coming to me for my recommendations. And I think, you know, it's, it's not one or the other, it's kind of everything all at once. But it doesn't take I mean, it can still be baby steps in each category. But it's, it's not like, oh, let's just, well, sometimes it is I was gonna say it's not just like work on hydration before we do anything else. But I happen to have a client who, yeah, you know, it, that's kind of how it is. And until her hydration gets where it needs to be. Right? A lot of the other things aren't and she's so busy, and so not taking care of herself, right? That it's like, okay, well, I tell you what, instead of scheduling appointments every other week, which I used to do, let's, I have gone more to a, okay, so this is what you need to work on. Let's check in I have a program where I can check in through chat with people. And it's, it's like, okay, even though we're not meeting every week, I want you to check in, kind of tell me where you're at. And let's see if you're ready to move on to something else. And then I have other people who are like, layered on, you know, just tell me everything I got to do and I'll do it. So it depends on the people, probably more than anything it you know, the person has to be committed, but sometimes they believe they're committed. And when it's starting to do the things. It takes them longer than other people. Nothing's right. Nothing's wrong. It's everybody's body, and they have to do what works. You know, what's going to work for them.

And I love how you said, Everybody's body is different because we don't think about our bodies. Like we want to take the magic pill, that our friends somehow has the same health condition and we feel like they're, it's helping them. But how do you really know something's really helping someone else you really don't know because you're not that person. And that's the big thing about this society is we You take whatever our family's doing, our friends are doing. But they're probably on a different stage of life than you or they're dealing with stresses or relationships differently. So we're all different. So why not have

individual approach? Everything is customized to each person. And, and to address that whole family thing. You know, people will come to me and say, well, all the women in my family are heavy, and they all have diabetes. And I'm like, Yeah, okay. Well, you know, you, it doesn't have to be that way. You are, you know, so little of who we are, is really determined by our genes, if people don't realize, because that's the history we've heard. That's what doctors have always told us. That's what we hear now. Yeah. And I mean, think about it. Somebody I know a lady who was like, 43 years old, went to the doctor for something. And the doctor said, Oh, well, you know, you're just getting older. And I'm like, seriously, the doctor said to a 43 year old, well, you're just getting older. And that's what that's about.

Wow, that's crazy. That sounds that old?

No, it isn't. I mean, like I said, I'm going to be 70. And I know one well known anybody I go to see knows better. So,

yeah, well, they they would tell my daughter, my grandmother, they're like, well, she's probably depressed. Of course, I'm 20 years old when I kind of get off the couch. So painted, and stuff. Of course, I couldn't. Of course, I was a little depressed and stuff. But that's right. Oh, people.

Yeah. And then they want to give you an antidepressant. And that should make you fine.

Well, then they gave me like Cymbalta or something.

Yeah. Well, and Cymbalta of the antidepressants happens to have some pain relief. abilities, so of what they could have given you, they at least gave you something that could help a little for pain. But I mean, it's not the people call me it's not it's, it's the, she's the it's not all in your head health experts. Because I know that if you don't feel good, it's not in your head, there's really something that somebody has to listen to, and figure out.

I like, that's a great thing. Because I feel like, that's what, like my audience gets told they get hold is all in their head, and that they just have to deal with it. Or they're going to have to take this medication. And then the thing is, you get on 510 medications with all the side effects.

Ya know, if people are committed to, to getting healthy, and you know, really making the changes necessary to do that, there's no reason I mean, I can't say for people that they'll be 100% You know, everything will go away, but they sure can get during close, if not, all the way, depending on how much they change and do and, you know, lifestyle. It's really about nutrition and lifestyle. And that doesn't mean just change how you eat it means really, you have to find out whether your gut is digesting your food properly. So it's more complicated than just saying, Well, fine, I'll eat organic and I'll be healthy.

I'd like you to go into that a little more. Talk. Tell us a little bit about like the gardener's

Well, one of my favorite things is like in the morning, when you get dressed, you know, you put on your pants and everything's all good. And then you go through your morning, you have your breakfast, and then you go have lunch and maybe went out to a restaurant and had lunch and before you go back to the office or the house or whatever it is go to the bathroom and when you go to put your pants on. You notice they're tighter. And people just ignore it. They just go Oh, yeah, my pants are a little tight. Instead of realizing that something they ate, created some sort of gas or bloating in their body and they need to figure out what it is and then address it. Right. Or people I hit up. This was good. I had a woman who was a nurse who wanted to have a I used to call them Discovery sessions. Now I call them focus on fabulous use sessions. Yeah, but You know, a 20 minute 30 minute session to talk to me about her health. And I don't know what possessed me because I don't get into a lot of detail when I do that I have specific information that I want to find out. And I said to her, so tell me about your bowel movements. Are you regular? And she said, Oh, yeah, I'm regular. I go every three or four days always ignited? What is she said, I go every three, I said, Do you know if you don't go two to three times a day, you're clinically constipated? And while she read me the riot act, because obviously I'm not medical. Right? And right. They didn't agree, or actually, she just didn't want to know that that was the truth. And but the bottom line is, I mean, even think about our animals, right? They eat and then they go out and they go potty. Yeah, I mean, when you put something in, it's got to come out. Otherwise, the waste stuff is still sitting there. So that's, that's a big thing to me just knowing, you know, working with people and allowing them to have the knowledge that you know, you, you have to hydrate, in order to be able to go to the bathroom, right. And if you're not going to the bathroom a couple times a day, that's not normal. And your stomach is bloated. It's trying to tell you something. And if you have reflux, that's even a more fun one. indigestion or reflux, because people go to the doctor, and the doctor says, Oh, you have too much stomach acid. Well, newsflash, we do not have too much damage. Yeah, it's just in the wrong place. If if it's up here, and it's burning, these are not cells that have mucus around them that are protected, like the ones in your stomach where the hydrochloric acid is. So that means that something that you put in your stomach is not working. And sometimes it's even that you don't have enough stomach acid. That's what's really interesting about it. And but the doctor says, go take this little purple pill and until you have the burning anymore, and it's like, yeah, and 10 years down the road, or who knows how long you're getting hit with digestive problems, because you need the hydrochloric acid in your stomach to work on the protein that you eat. And when you don't, it sits there and ferments and gas bubbles. Imagine that's why your pants are tight. Right? So it's kind of a vicious circle. But there's no one answer fits. All right, right, just for your gut like, but like Hippocrates said, so many 1000s of years ago, disease begins in the gut. And for the most part, I'm, I'm pretty, I'm pretty down with his belief. Because if you don't have that digestion working properly, how can the rest of the body get what it needs?

Exactly. And I feel like a lot of things have gut health is becoming more popular. People are starting to, but they still don't know exactly. What does that even mean, right?

Well, they hear you know, people have a tendency to go to Dr. Google for answers. And that's

Yeah, that's right.

And so they hear about leaky gut, and then they go to the doctor, and they say, Oh, my God, I've got leaky gut. Well, that's scary, because we all have leaky gut to a certain extent when we eat, but the what stage is it and how bad it is and what it's causing in the body. All those kinds of things need to be addressed by somebody and not usually a gastroenterologist. Right? Somebody whose friend, you know, I guess that's really the point. The medical community sees the body siloed right, as the each part of the body has nothing to do with every right. And we, you and I and the rest of this alternative community if you wish. We understand that it's one big system, and everything is interconnected. And that's, that's really the beauty of it. You know that that But everything does affect everything else. And that's why we can help people because we see, well, if this is going on them, maybe this, it's never Yes, this, it's maybe again, because everybody is different.

Exactly. And I think that's what the message is that we all have different bodies. And we all need different recommendations. So thank you so much for this interview, and everything, is there any last tips that you would like to share? Um,

I guess in particular, just a couple of things, one would be, try it. If you're not a person who hydrates, do it slowly, don't don't do this overnight, you want to get up to maybe half your body weight in ounces a day of water. And I don't mean chugging it, I mean, sipping it all day long, so that it can actually get into the cells. And then the thing that is amazing is that most people don't know that the only part of digestion that is voluntary, is chewing. And so I share with people to take time to eat to slow down and chew and really, really do a good job. Because what you're presenting to your stomach from chewing, is what your digestive processes are going to have to deal with. So if you're running from one meeting to another, you're eating on the run. Not only does that stress, slow your digestion down, but now you're probably not chewing very well.

Yeah, yeah, go ahead. I was just gonna say and you're probably going to eat more food because it's not registering

that too, right. Right. So yeah, I guess that would be those are the two things I think of off the top of my head. Everybody can do. You don't have to pay anybody. You can just do it all yourself. Give yourself a start.

Thank you so much. This was a great interview. Thank you.