Our microbiome health is critical for our overall health, and promoting good bacteria in our gut is critical for a healthy microbiome. And now, with new discoveries indicating how not just your physical health, but emotional and mental health are tied to the gut, the microbiome has become even more important. That’s why we need probiotics that help build up our good gut bacteria, and resources that can help us better understand all these complex issues!

 

That’s why today, we are talking all about the connection between gut health, mood, probiotics, and more with Sylvia Hall! 

 

We answer these questions:

– How is mood linked to the brain and the gut?

– What should you do before every meal?

– What does the connection between gut health, mood, and probiotics look like?

– What are some tips for using probiotics?

– Why is it important to replenish your good gut bacteria?

– And more!

 

Still want to learn more? Schedule with Dr. Barter today!

 

About Sylvia Hall:

Sylvia Hall is the co-founder of Lifted Naturals, a wellbeing brand known for their revolutionary MOOD probiotics. She and her fellow cofounder/husband Tim host a weekly show, The Lifted Life Podcast, where they share insights and inspiration for feeling good. Sylvia considers herself both a people person and a dog person. She lives in Kansas City with her family. To learn more, visit www.liftednaturals.com 

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Dr. Ann-Marie Barter is a Functional Medicine and Chiropractic Doctor at Alternative Family Medicine & Chiropractic. She is the clinic founder of Alternative Family Medicine & Chiropractic that has two offices: one in Longmont and one in Denver. They treat an array of health conditions overlooked or under-treated by conventional medicine, called the “grey zone”. https://altfammed.com/

https://drannmariebarter.com/

 

Transcription:

Sylvia Hall: One of the main things that I really focused on lately, as I just kind of elevate my gut health game has been the energy and emotional state I bring to the dinner table or to the lunch table. So before I eat my food, I think it’s just as important the state that I’m in to be able to digest properly and get the nutrients from my food. And so by getting my body into a state of appreciation, elevated energy, I just be like, that is almost as important as what is on my plate.

Intro: Are you struggling with bloating, gas, constipation and fatigue, but don’t know what’s causing these problems? The Gut Health Reset Podcast with Dr. Ann-Marie Barter dives deep into the root causes behind these issues that start in the gut. This podcast will give you the knowledge you need to heal your gut and reset your health.

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: Today on the Gut Health Reset Podcast, we are going to talk about the connection between gut health, mood and probiotics. Thank you so much for being with us here today. I’m your host, Dr. Ann-Marie Barter and my guest joining us today is Sylvia Hall, who is a wellness advocate and co-founder of Lifted Naturals, a wellbeing movement that’s leading a feelgood revolution with their mood probiotics. Sylvia, thank you so much for coming today on the podcast. I think it’s going to be so fun to have a little bit of a different podcast episode really talking about your journey and your struggles and how you came out of that. I think it’s going to be a really fun episode. So thank you so much for being here.

Sylvia Hall: Yeah, I am. I’m really thrilled. I can’t wait to share my perspective. I definitely do bring a bit of a different story than some of your amazing guests, but hopefully we can still all inspire.

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: I think so. I think it definitely will. So let’s dove into your story and in what took you on this health journey that you’ve come out of?

Sylvia Hall: Yeah. So let’s see. At my oldest, our kids are now 10, 12, so 12 and 10. And so that puts me about 14 years ago that I decided I wanted to become a mom. I’ve always been entrepreneurial. So for me, it actually started as making jewelry and being a mom and wanting to stay home with my kids. It was after my second child that I then started to feel really cruddy. Just I don’t know if it was the back to back. There are about two and a half years apart, so maybe it was a little bit too much on my system to, especially because I didn’t know or care about health at that point. I mean, to be really honest with you, I really did just see the whole world differently as far as health because I hadn’t struggled yet. It’s those dark nights of the soul that really push us into the research and the desire to fuel our body in a healthy way. I hadn’t gotten there yet, and so after my second child, I really started to feel not well, and it was one thing to not feel well as a person. But I could tell I was also not showing up as a mom the way I wanted to. A lot of irritability, a lot of thought loops where I just felt like I was in my head and not really present with them. And that really hurt because being a mom was so important to me. And so that struggle led me down the rabbit hole that I called the gut brain connection and the idea that my digestive issues and my mood issues are perhaps not so separate. But to be clear, I didn’t really think I had digestive issues, but I wasn’t going as regularly as I should and kind of putting all that together for myself. Like I said, once I went down that really fun rabbit hole.

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: That’s great, I think that you bring up just such an amazing point about how we talk about neurotransmitters, we talk about mood and people just think mood is related to the brain. That’s that’s I think one of the biggest things that I’ve come up on on practice in practice is that mood is definitely just related to the brain. But you bring up this very, very important point. That mood is actually very much linked to the gut. So tell me why. Mood is linked to the gut,

Sylvia Hall: so we love that you bring up the neurotransmitters because we usually do just select serotonin because it’s when a lot of people have heard about. So we say, Hey, did you know over 70 percent? Some say over 80 percent of your body’s serotonin is made in your gut and not in your brain. And that’s just one to highlight the one. We’ve heard about serotonin, but there’s many other neurotransmitters at play, and so much of that development is made in the gut and not in the brain. And so by nourishing the gut, you are in fact really nourishing the brain in that two way communication. To me, that was the other really exciting thing I learned about was the two way communication the gut to the brain and the brain talks to the gut. And so once you kind of start to live in harmony with that idea, so much else falls into place and it just kind of want to share. I was trying to think like, what’s something about gut health that I could share that all these other doctors haven’t had? And so one of the main things that I really focused on lately as I just kind of elevate my gut health game has been the energy and emotional state I bring to the dinner table or to the lunch table. So before I eat my food, I think it’s just as important the state that I’m in to be able to digest properly and get the nutrients from my food. And so by getting my body into a state of appreciation, elevated energy, I just be like, that is almost as important as what is on my plate. So kind of a unique perspective to the gut health game is really continuing to see our bodies and our spirits as this whole whole picture, whole whole game. And that’s kind of one of my takeaways.

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: How does that practice look for you as you’re sitting down for dinner?

Sylvia Hall: So I have two kids, so things move fast. So I found that one just activity can be putting up my hands kind of under my plate a little bit and just kind of like holding it there and just, you know, a moment of pause, of appreciation of slowing down. Of course, they’ll put the fork down between the bites is another great trick. I find myself to be a very fast eater. I honestly am not super inspired by the fact that everybody in my house wants to eat three meals a day. I have other things to do that I like to do that like does this whole life have to revolve around the nourishment? Like, I’m really creative. I love creative projects. But for me, the ultimate creative project is not one that disappears in 15 to 20 minutes called a meal. And so really just kind of reworking my attitude and state towards that. Slowing it down by putting my hands under my plate and just adding appreciation to my body, to my food, I really do feel like that’s a really powerful way to enhance your digestion. There are a lot of people are talking about.

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: Yeah, that’s a great tip. So let’s talk about how you actually healed your gut. So you talk about the connection between gut health, mood and probiotics. So what does that look like?

Sylvia Hall: So for me, what it looked like long ago was starting to type in the specific types of strains of probiotic bacteria and then going out and finding it. Whether that meant driving somewhere, ordering online, scouring the web, finding as many standalone probiotics that I could that were single ingredient, single strain and then combining it in a way that was slow and meticulous. I mean, this was just my personal. At this point, there was no idea for a probiotic brand or a whole line of food probiotics. It was just, I need to feel better. And and ironically, I needed to feel better naturally. And that’s actually our tagline for Lipton Naturals is feel better naturally. And that was the exact thing I was like typing in because I’m really sensitive to different side effects, and I’m also really sensitive to different probiotics. So I use that sensitivity as a gift to really tap in and notice. And that would be another gut health tip I have because there’s so much conflicting information. There’s this carnivore movement, there’s this vegan movement. Of course, those are on two totally different spectrums, and sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. But the higher level of awareness you can bring to your body, how do I feel when I eat this? It really does matter. And that was what I was doing when I was taking those specific types of probiotics and prebiotics. I tried a couple of different prebiotics, and the prebiotic juices is the one we ended up going with because we saw the most research for how the body handles stress being benefited from the prebiotic johns. And then also just how I felt everything was a combo of the research and then how I felt and then combining it, and I knew I was just one person. But being able to use that sensitivity, I mean, I’m sensitive to a lot of things right at caffeine. I’ll start rhyming or rapping. Alcohols there could be dancing. It’s a sense. This gal and so I use that as a gift to to kind of begin to feel it out now, of course, since then, we’ve created more formulas that are not just targeted to my sensitivities, but that’s where it started for me.

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: What did you find with probiotic strands as it relates to mood?

Sylvia Hall: Well, it absolutely just. I felt this leveling out that I hadn’t felt. Pretty much ever. For me personally, it was this leveling out of of things, just kind of clicking into place and making the utmost sense now could have just been that my body was finally eliminating in a healthy way. You know, there’s a lot of people would be run ads or something. Well, yeah, I’d feel better too if I wasn’t constipated. And it is that and it is more than that because these specific strains are targeted to help the body handle stress. And I feel like that is stress is what creates this weak link. The weakest link in our body is the more stress we have. That’s why I so often, even though we talk about, OK, let me help you walk through which of our four formulas is best for you. And let’s take a look at the emotional components of your spiritual being in this physical world. So it’s this whole picture approach that really has made all the difference for me, because when you do feel a bit lighter, I always say it’s not a magic pill, but it is going to create some momentum. Are you going to use it? So if you can use that momentum for feeling a bit lighter, feeling a bit less stress, now you’re putting a meditation practice into play, now you’re going for a walk every day. Now you’re taking a little more time to appreciate your food before you eat it. I mean. Many religions have been doing this for years, blessing the food. There’s a lot of ways you can say it, do it or look at it, but it is the slowing down and bringing an elevated presence and awareness to your own body because nobody knows how you feel in your body better than you.

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: So many people struggle with bloating, bowel issues, brain fog, fatigue. You might not even have any gut issues, but did you know the cause of it could be food sensitivities or gut infections? What I have done is I have brought a talented functional nutritionist into my practice. We have very similar training in the nutritional world, and her name is Alexis Appleby. She is awesome, so you can head on over to our website ult. alti fam fam Med Medi- and have a consultation with her and schedule so that she can help you get to the root cause of your problems, right? That’s that’s true. So, for example, in your formulation, in one of them on the on strains, I’m not sure what it’s called. You have something called Lactobacillus ram gnosis, right? And that one balms. Yeah. Correct. And so GABA, do you want to do you want me to talk a little bit about GABA or would you like to talk? Sure.

Sylvia Hall: Well, I just want to clarify to Lactobacillus from Gnosis. GDG is a specific strain that we included. As far as the formulas on the bottle, we did not list the strain. No, we shared the species. If a customer reaches out to us and says, Hey, I’d love to know what specific strain. We totally understand why and we share that privately, just because we are such a small company and so much of the work I did, I just kind of pulled it together and we decided not to list our strains. This not because we aren’t willing to share, and we just were trying to make it a little bit more protected because we are such a small company. So just to be clear, the is one that we do actually share publicly because in that formula, it makes up 10 billion CF use of it. It’s a big part of it. And so we really just wanted to kind of put that on display. But no, you can definitely do your science things together.

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: Yeah, so so for example, I think just kind of bringing home the point. RAM knows this farm, something called GABA in our gut, and GABA is basically an anti-anxiety. When you feel inward, attention, inward trembling, your mind is just going, you can’t stop it. It takes about three months, but it tends to form Gabbert at that point. And so that’s one of the biggest. I think it’s it’s a very, very beneficial strain of probiotics to just kind of bring that point full circle and help.

Sylvia Hall: Yes. And I will say to that hearing, you say the three months, you know, our bottle is a 60 day supply. So typically by the end of two months, we say if you aren’t noticing just a slight uptick that maybe you could try a different formula. Luckily, some people know they need longer because they’re helping out years of strife. It’s not just like this magic fix. However, one other really important thing as a sensitive individual that is kind of one of our top probiotic tips that I’m continually shouting from the mountaintop is that sometimes the best way to ensure that probiotic success is to go slower with your dosage? Because that sudden influx of all that good bacteria that your body’s been potentially craving can really be alarming. It can create the die off type reactions. And so I just feel like even if it’s not lifted, naturals probiotics, if it’s a capsule, you can open. Typically, the air hitting the open capsule will start to affect the good bacteria. But if you close that capsule back up, it’s not going to kill it all off all at once. So I suggest taking one capsule out of the bottle using that capsule for the first. We know how sensitive you are, right? Some people are like, Oh, I took one every day, the last three days, I’m doing great. I’m like, Oh, good, that’s good too. That’s great for you and not so great for some of these other, more sensitive people. So just knowing that you can slowly work your way up, you’re minimizing the chance of some sort of die off that your body is like, no, when really your body’s like, yes.

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: So I get this question a lot. I probably get this question at least two to three times a week. What’s a herpes reaction and what? What symptoms will you experience?

Sylvia Hall: So the ones we hear the most about can be gas bloating die off leading to headache type, maybe even fatigue. It can be a full body response. That’s why I really am such a big advocate for going. So I don’t have time for all those things I just listed, and I know most people don’t either. They’re saying I’m struggling with my gut health. Why is this making it worse? And the fact of the matter is it’s it’s this idea that your body really has been craving this, and yet it’s not had it. And so as your body gets rid of some of that, the imbalance, it’s getting back into harmony. And it’s not always pretty when it gets back into harmony. So the slower we go, the less likely. But everybody’s different, right? There’s the band aid people who are like, Nope, I went to I’m taking two every day and I’m going to power through it, and we all have a different tolerance for that. I have a sensitivity to headaches, so if I take something that causes a headache, I’m very I’m now irritable and I have a headache because that’s not the way I wanted to go with it. So I think it’s about knowing yourself. And and then on that note of die off too, it’s one of the most complicated things we deal with is, is it because you’re having a Die-Off response to our probiotics? Or is it because you actually have a histamine intolerance that you would do better with one of our non histamine producing probiotic formulas? Because a histamine response and a diet are very similar. So that to me, I think, is one of the trickiest things we’re dealing with. One of our formulas, mood boosting probiotic, has nine different feel good types of probiotic bacteria, plus the probiotics. That is our only one that we don’t label as non histamine or non histamine producing. It has a couple of strains that are actually potentially histamine producing, but a couple that are histamine degrading. So if you have a very mild histamine kind of situation where, oh, I do have seasonal allergies, but I love movies and probiotics because it really helps maladies. It’s really fascinating. On the other end, as someone who’s very histamine sensitive and they’re like, I can’t take that, I can tell. And so then we move on over to one of our non producing formulas. So die off and histamine response can be pretty similar and both can happen from a probiotic. So that, to me, is a really interesting tango of helping guide our customers.

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: Absolutely. Are there any other species or strands of probiotics or strains of probiotics that you would like to mention or help?

Sylvia Hall: I will say that out of the four we have out of the four formulas we have there, each a little bit different, they each have a different ratio of the feel good strain. Some of them are, oh, there’s an overlap of like long arms and both belong. It’s in both. However, it’s a different ratio, a different amount. So sometimes people say, what’s the strongest one? And it just doesn’t quite work that way. But the different amounts of it in the formulas can really change the response to it. And so I feel like with our four different formulas, it really is a matter of finding the one that’s right for you. But it’s not always as simple as list out your symptoms, then I’ll tell you the formula. It can be a bit more complicated. It can require a bit more trial and error because we’re not just like pushing in these neurotransmitters, we’re putting in the growth, the feeding grounds for that, which I think is really amazing, because wouldn’t you rather trust your body’s innate amazing wisdom rather than trying to guess how much you need of that?

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: Yes. Awesome. And then is there any other additional tips you’d like to add for having healthy gut health?

Sylvia Hall: Well, OK, so I will share two that I it took a long time to put this timeline together, but I it it did eventually click that after my second child, when I felt really terrible, I had an antibiotic drip during my delivery and nobody mentioned anything to me about replenishing that good bacteria. And so I just feel like that’s kind of one of my other statements that I’m here to help make. Its doctors are more and more. Actually, our customers are coming to us. My doctor put me on antibiotic. They suggest I get a good probiotic. They mention yours. Which one should I take? So I do feel like that’s becoming more and more norm to say, you need to replenish that good bacteria. But I just feel like kind of reframing that again, that I think it was Dr. Zach Bush. I’m a big fan of his. He was sharing how one round of antibiotics can really increase your risk for mental health issues by 50 percent in a second round puts you up into 70 percent or some crazy statistic. I just don’t feel like we know about. So antibiotics, when 100 percent medically necessary and then a replenish of that good bacteria. So some people don’t even realize that the antibiotics they took quite a while ago could still be impacting their gut health. Another thing is I’m totally terrified of hand sanitizer. There’s there’s just nothing that feels right about it for me energetically. As I said, I’m a bit sensitive, but when I’m like, no, when I think about wiping out all the bacteria because we become a kind of fear bacteria, and I’m like, No, no, the bacteria is good. There’s good and bad, and it’s all about the balance. So just kind of reminding listeners of that idea that there’s there’s better alternatives than what is just setting out everywhere for you to use?

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: Totally. And where can listeners find you if they want to get in touch with you?

Sylvia Hall: Yeah. So every week we actually create our own podcast called the Lifted Life Podcast, and that’s a lot less focus on gut health and a lot more on the emotional components of maintaining your momentum towards feeling good. And so that is available wherever podcasts are produced. And then as far as just finding out more about our brand and as it’s listed naturals dot com or our website, and then we do tend to show up on Instagram and Facebook. So try to it’s an ongoing game of how much time we give to those platforms,

Dr. Ann-Marie Barter: as I’m sure most people understand. Yes, it will. Thank you so much for being here today. Great talk on probiotics. Thank you, everybody for listening. And if you want to hear something specific, please comment and let us know what you want to hear more of and stop by and say hello. Thank you so much for being here. Take care.

Intro: Thank you for listening to the Gut Health Reset Podcast. Please make sure you subscribe, leave a rating and a review. More people can hear about the podcast and hey, take a screenshot of this episode and tagged Dr. Anne Marie on Instagram or Facebook at Dr. Ann-Marie Barter. And for more resources, just visit Dr. Ann-Marie Barter.com.

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