Why is daily pooping important? Jillian Teta talks about the importance of optimizing our gut health and its connection to our hormones. We also chat about the things that we can do to positively impact our microbiome and promote digestive health beyond just changing our diet. You can find all the info and links about this episode at https://holisticwellness.ca/episode70. Topics Discussed in this Episode: The digestive process in a nutshell The connection between your gut health and your hormones How to overcome constipation Strategies that you can implement to support your gut Why it’s important to maintain a healthy and robust microbiome The two options for stool testing What candida is and how to get rid of it The optimal gut-healing diet What gluten does to your body in terms of digestion and autoimmunity The elimination challenge diet The role that nature plays in the health of your microbiome Jillian’s thoughts on the carnivore diet Key Takeaways: Your gut acts like the Grand Central Station of your entire body. It is intimately connected with every other cell and system in your body, including the hormonal system, the detoxification system, the immune system, the neurological system, and the cardiovascular system. The gut holds two of the big five organs of detoxification -- the liver and the large intestine. The liver is primarily in charge of metabolizing and neutralizing estrogen. Once estrogen is neutralized, it is sent to the large intestine to be expelled out of the body. If you’re not pooping every day, that means your estrogen is sitting in your stool, and it gets reabsorbed back into the system and ends up back in the liver. This contributes to estrogen dominance. About 20% of your thyroid hormone T4 is converted to the active form T3 via the activity of your microbiome. If your microbiome is not healthy, it’s arguable that this conversion is compromised. Candida is part of a normal human gut flora. Issues can arise if it overgrows. This happens when one of our defenses is breached, usually due to an antibiotic knocking out your beneficial flora. Gluten is not universally terrible for everybody, but it’s a fact that it causes an issue for the gut and impacts autoimmunity. Sleep is absolutely key for digestive health. When we sleep, the parasympathetic branch of our nervous system becomes more active.   Action Steps: Make sure that you poop every day. Overcome constipation quickly and easily by drinking lots of water and supplementing with magnesium glycinate. Heal your gut through your diet. If you have an autoimmune condition, avoid gluten at all cost. If you absolutely have to take antibiotics, make sure to take probiotics alongside it.   Jillian said: “If you think about that large intestine as a parking lot, you want all those spaces filled with good guys. If you take an antibiotic and knock some of those good guys out, the highly opportunistic fast-growing microorganisms are going to move in.” “I think we overemphasize candida, and I think we emphasize the wrong types of information about candida. And I think it created a culture that thinks that everybody and everything has candida.”   Thanks for listening! Important Announcements: Join my FREE 10-Day Detox! It’s a really simple way to give your digestive system a break if that’s what you need. It’s great to way to also support your hormones, get better sleep, and optimize your energy. Also, if you haven’t yet, connect with me over on Instagram, @holisticwellnessfoodie! And it would mean so much if you would leave us a rating or a review over on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher, or whichever platform you’re listening to us on. Take a screenshot of your review and email it over to us, and get our FREE 3-Day Hormone Balancing Meal Plan.   Links to things I talk about in the show: Natural Solutions for Digestive Health by Dr. Jillian Teta and Jeannette Bessinger Jillian’s Free Programs + Education   Where you can find Dr. Jillian Teta: Jillian’s Websi