vesna-naturopathy

7 Reasons Why The Modern World Is Making You Fat, Tired & Infertile

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 05:11:43 GMT

Is it me, or does it feel like the majority are sick, tired, distracted and struggling with some form of disease? - Let's uncover the reasons why and what we can do about it.

We are the first humans in history to be drowning in calories, yet starving for nutrition.

The biology of the human race is shifting beneath our feet. Sperm counts are free-falling, and testosterone levels in young men are lower than ever. Women are facing an uphill battle with fertility, often struggling to conceive during their peak years.

Meanwhile, we are seeing an explosion of ADHD diagnoses in teenagers and young adults who simply cannot cope with the modern environment.

Adults are exhausted by the afternoon. We are allergic, anxious, and chronically inflamed.

We are living in the most technologically advanced era in human history. Yet biologically, we are crumbling.

It is a cruel irony that the more "advanced" we become, the sicker we get.

Since World War II, we have walked into a trap. We traded fresh, local produce for ultra-processed, hyper-palatable factory food. We swapped sunlight for artificial blue light. We replaced movement with screen time.

The environment has shifted so radically that our biology has not had a chance to catch up.

Let’s look at the 7 reasons why the modern world is making us fragile and what it is actually doing to our health and how we can counter act it and regain our vitality.

I call these 7 reasons the fragility stack.

1. Nutritional Collapse & Soil Depletion

We assume that an apple today is the same as an apple from 50 years ago. It is not.

Decades ago, farming & production focused on quality.

Today, we live in a sterilised environment that leads to nutrient-depleted fruit and vegetables. Due to aggressive industrial farming, the soil itself is often bankrupt of minerals. You can eat a "healthy diet" and still be micronutrient deficient because the food itself lacks the density it used to have.

But there is a secondary trap. Why are we eating so much ultra-processed and hyperpalatable junk food?

It is not just laziness. It is the environment we've manufactured for ourselves..

We are forced to sit in synthetic, blue-lit workspaces for 45+ hours a week.

This artificial lighting and high-stress environment trick our brains. It drains our energy and drives a biological craving for fast, easy calories. We reach for packaged foods, synthetic pre-workouts, and energy drinks just to survive the workday.

A dangerous ripple effect for the next generation

To get a sense of the cause and effect, we need to talk about epigenetics and how they affect a baby during pregnancy.

A pregnancy does not start with a clean slate. The mother carries the nutritional building blocks for the child. If the mother is depleted from years of stress and nutrient-poor food, the child is born into a deficit. We are seeing babies born "pre-polluted" and nutrient-deficient because the mother simply did not have the stores to pass on.

2. Ultra Processed Oils and Chemical Slop

This is perhaps the single biggest change in the human diet in history.

If you want to understand what has changed, just look at a McDonalds french fry. In the 1950s and 60s, McDonald’s cooked their fries in beef tallow. It was a natural, stable, saturated fat. Today, those same fries are submerged in ultra-processed canola or vegetable oil.

We have replaced stable ancestral fats with industrial slop.

Most people do not realise that these "vegetable" oils were never designed to be food. They originally entered the market as industrial lubricants and engine fuels during the industrial revolution and World War II. When the war ended, there was a massive surplus of these oils.

The industry needed a new place to put them, so they marketed them as "heart-healthy" and poured them into the food supply.

Note

Believe it or not McDonalds was pretty healthy back in the day. Real beef patties, minimally processed buns & single ingredient fries. Everything was cooked in beef tallow.

This will never replace a home cooked meal, but it wasn't completely synthesised and fake like fast food going into 2026.

How processed are canola & vegetable oils?

Extremely... You cannot simply "press" a canola seed to get oil like you can with an olive.

How are processed oils made?

To extract the oil, manufacturers must use high heat, extreme pressure, and petroleum-based solvents like hexane. This process turns the oil rancid and grey. To hide this, they bleach it and deodorise it with more chemicals just to make it edible - Yikes….

The implication for your biology is disastrous.

Your body uses the fats you eat to build the walls of your cells. When you eat stable fats like butter or tallow, your cell membranes are strong and resilient.

When you eat unstable seed oils, they get incorporated into your cells, making the membranes weak and "floppy." They oxidize easily which creates systemic inflammation. This essentially "retards" the cell.

It slows down mitochondrial function and leaves your metabolism struggling to produce energy.

Next time you want to watch a horror movie, play the video below. It shows the process of how Canola Oil is made

Note

Next time you’re in Coles, look at the ingredient list. 99.9% will have some kind of ultra processed seed oil in it.

Look out for Canola, Vegetable, Rapeseed, Grapeseed, Sunflower, etc. .

3. Microplastics & Endocrine Disruptors

We absorb microplastics constantly.

We get them through the fish we eat, the synthetic polyester clothing we wear, and the plastic containers we heat our food in.

Most people do not understand how a plastic bottle or a frying pan can possibly change their biology. It comes down to a simple case of mistaken identity.

Many of these chemicals are what we call Endocrine Disruptors or "xenoestrogens." They are found in synthetic fragrances, parabens, aluminium deodorants, and Teflon cookware.

Think of your body's cells like a lock. Your natural hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone, are the key. When the key enters the lock, it turns on a vital function. This could be producing sperm, regulating ovulation, or building muscle. The problem is that these industrial chemicals look almost identical to your natural hormones. They fit into the lock, but they do not turn it effectively. Worse, they snap the key off inside.

They block your real hormones from doing their job while sending a chaotic and toxic signal to the cell.

This creates a state of "Estrogen Dominance" where the body is overloaded with fake signals that the liver cannot clear fast enough. This is devastating for fertility. These chemicals literally feminise the male body and drive the global collapse in sperm counts. For women, the hormonal noise disrupts the delicate signal needed for ovulation.

We also see young girls entering puberty far earlier than nature ever intended.

Note

A void the above like the plague

4. Amygdala Hijack

Many live in a perpetual state of fight or flight.

Did you know?

According to the American Psychological Association, 77% of people experience physical symptoms caused by stress (fatigue, headache, upset stomach, muscle tension) regularly. Furthermore, Gallup's "State of the Global Workplace" report (2022) found that global stress is at an all-time high .

In the past, when you left work or school, the stimulation stopped. You were forced to be bored. That boredom was actually a biological requirement. It was the space where your brain reset and where creativity was born. Today, we are subjected to constant stimulation.

We have hijacked our own neurology. Dopamine is designed to be a reward for hard work. In nature, you received a hit of dopamine after you hunted an animal, built a shelter, or learned a difficult new skill. It was the biological fuel for pursuit.

It drove men to conquer, to improve their status, and to find a mate. Technology has hacked this pathway.

Video games, social media scrolling, and app switching provide "synthetic dopamine." They give you the chemical reward of success without the effort. When you level up in a video game or get likes on a photo, your brain releases dopamine as if you had achieved something in the real world.

You are building neural pathways that wire you for instant gratification rather than resilience.

This is a disaster for your motivation and your hormones.

If your brain feels like it has already "won" by scrolling TikTok for two hours, it loses the drive to do the hard things that actually matter. You lose the urge to approach a partner, to learn a trade, or to socialize in the real world. This apathy creates a vicious cycle. We see young men with tanking testosterone levels because they lack the competitive drive and "winning" signals that come from real-world achievement.

They become socially anxious and fragile because their brains are wired for a screen, not for the complex nuance of human interaction.

The result is a brain that is exhausted yet addicted. The amygdala stays hijacked in a state of fight or flight, but you are too mentally fatigued to move.

Tip

You need to make your phone a tool, not a drug. Here are some tips to help you get your dopamine back.

Turn on Grayscale: Go into your settings and turn your screen black and white. This removes the "slot machine" color cues that trigger your brain.
The 9 PM Rule: No screens past 9 PM. Period.
Bedtime Mode: Automate your phone to go on Do Not Disturb an hour before sleep.

You have to starve the distraction to feed your focus. .

5. The Sedentary Sloth

Movement was once required for survival. Now, we sit for long periods of time in synthetic environments.

We sit in temperature-controlled boxes to go to other boxes to sit for 8 hours, then return to our home box to sit on a sofa.

Think about the previous points. You are already eating nutrient-depleted food and inflammatory oils. You are bathing in endocrine-disrupting chemicals. You are stressed out by blue light and dopamine addiction.

Now, add this deadly habit to the mix...

A sedentary lifestyle creates a compounding effect that locks all those other problems inside your body.

The human body has a sewage system called the lymphatic system. It is responsible for clearing out toxins, cellular waste, and inflammation. But unlike your heart, which pumps blood automatically, the lymphatic system has no pump. It relies entirely on muscle contraction to move waste.

When you sit all day, that system stagnates. You become a stagnant pond rather than a flowing river.

This means the microplastics, the excess estrogen, and the inflammatory markers from the seed oils just sit there. They accumulate.

This is why studies consistently show that sedentary behaviour is linked to a massive reduction in longevity and healthspan. It is not just about burning calories. It is about flow.

When you compare active populations to sedentary ones, the difference is not just in how long they live, but in their quality of life. Sedentary people age faster. Their metabolic machinery shuts down. By staying still, you are essentially letting the modern world rot you from the inside out.

6. The Hormonal Sabotage

Birth control pills are prescribed liberally, often without explaining the long-term costs. They shut down the female reproductive cycle with synthetic hormones for decades at a time.

We are told it's fine and just a convenient switch, but biologically, it is a major disaster.

The negative side effects of the pill

The pill is well known to deplete key nutrients, specifically B Vitamins and Magnesium. You need to understand what these actually do to see why this is dangerous.

B Vitamins are the fuel for your mitochondria and your liver. They help you produce energy and, crucially, help your liver detoxify used hormones. When you are low on B vitamins, you feel chronically fatigued and anxious.
Magnesium is the body's "relaxation mineral. " It regulates your stress response, sleep quality, and muscle tension. When you deplete magnesium, your body stays stuck in a rigid, stressed state.

Tip

If you've been on the pill for a while and have symptoms of excess estrogen & endotoxins, try this simple home remedy.

The Raw Carrot Salad

It sounds too simple to work, but here is the thing: raw carrot fibre is unique. It acts like a little scrub brush for your insides. Instead of letting all that excess estrogen and toxic junk get reabsorbed back into your blood (which is what’s making you feel terrible), the carrot fibre binds to it and carries it right out of your system.

It gives your poor, tired liver a chance to flush everything out.

T ry this every day:

Grab one medium raw carrot. Don’t cook it! It has to be raw.
Peel it into long ribbons. Use your potato peeler lengthwise (it works better than grating).
Add a splash of Apple Cider Vinegar and a teaspoon of Coconut oil. This helps kill the bad gut bacteria and gets things moving.

Eat this once a day, before lunch. It’s cheap, it’s natural, and it helps "take out the trash" so your hormones can settle down and go back to unity.

Let’s quickly go over and look at the full picture we've got building up.

Imagine a woman who has been on the pill for 10 years. She is already nutrient-depleted (Reason 1).
Her liver is overloaded with microplastics and xenoestrogens from her water and skincare (Reason 3). She is stressed and sleep-deprived from the dopamine trap (Reason 4).

Then, she decides to come off the pill to have a baby.

She expects her cycle to just "turn back on," but her body is in crisis mode.

The pill acted as a band-aid that masked underlying issues for years. Now that the band-aid is ripped off, she is trying to jumpstart a reproductive system that has been dormant, while lacking the very minerals (Magnesium and B Vitamins) required to run it.

This is why we see so many women struggling to conceive. It is not just "bad genes." It is the result of a system that is under toxic load and deprived of nutrients.

7. The Nature Deficit

This is the final nail in the coffin.

We evolved, spending almost all our time outdoors. Now, we suffer from minimal sunlight exposure.

Majority spend 90% of their time indoors under flickering LED lights. They fear the sun and slather on creams that block Vitamin D production.

This disconnection from nature breaks your Circadian Rhythm.

Your body runs on a 24-hour clock that is set by light. Morning sunlight tells your body to wake up, produce energy, and be alert. Darkness tells your body to produce melatonin and repair cells.

But we have flipped the script. We stay inside during the day, missing the "wake up" signal. Then at night, we stare at screens and engage in late-night eating. This blasts our eyes with blue light and tells the brain it is still noon.

Think about what this does to the "fragility stack" we have built. Throughout the day, you have accumulated damage from inflammatory oils, endocrine disruptors, and stress.

Sleep is the only time your body can detoxify that waste and repair your brain.

By wrecking your sleep quality with blue light and staying disconnected from the sun, you are stealing your body’s only chance to recover. You are never cleaning the house. You wake up with yesterday’s inflammation still in your system, only to add more on top of it.

This is why we feel so fragile. We are damaging ourselves at record speeds, and we have removed the organic mechanisms we had to fix it.

Is There A Way To Wake Up From This Nightmare?

The fragility we see today is a normal biological response to an abnormal environment. The fatigue, the anxiety, and the gut issues are not defects. They are warning lights on the dashboard.

We are facing a fundamental conflict. Technology advances exponentially, but our biology evolves glacially. Every year, the gap between the world we live in and the world we were built for gets wider. As society becomes more sophisticated, our health is becoming more primitive.

This leads us to a strange paradox.

To survive in the modern world, your habits must regress.

The more advanced technology becomes, the more you must root yourself in tradition. As screens get brighter, you must seek more darkness. As food becomes more processed, you must cook naturally. As our lives become more sedentary, you must move more intentionally.

We cannot stop the world from advancing, but we can stop our biology from collapsing. The future of health does not look like more bio-hacking or better pharmaceuticals.

The future of health looks like the past...

Keep it simple, keep it organic. Eat whole foods, get outside in the sun (ideally barefoot), surround yourself with people you love that inspire you to be a better person, and keep learning.

Are you experiencing any of these symptoms?

If you found yourself nodding along to the "Fragility Stack," you are likely already feeling the physical effects. These aren't just random annoyances; they are your body's way of telling you that the modern environment is overwhelming your biology.

Do you struggle with:

Gut Health: Bloating, Food Sensitivities, Leaky Gut, or SIBO/SIFO?
Hormonal Imbalance: PMS, PCOS, Endometriosis, or difficult Menopause transitions?
Mental Wellbeing: Anxiety, Depression, OCD, or constant "Brain Fog"?
Energy & Sleep: Adrenal Fatigue, Insomnia, or waking up unrefreshed?
Immunity & Autoimmunity: Frequent colds, Autoimmune Diseases, or Thyroid Disorders?
General Vitality: Chronic Headaches/Migraines, Skin Problems (Acne/Eczema), or stubborn Weight Gain?

I'm here to help

If you are ticking off boxes on this list, it is not because you are broken. It is because you are overburdened.

The modern world has thrown your biology off balance, and no amount of caffeine or quick fixes will correct the root cause. You don't need another generic pill; you need a strategy that subtracts the interference and restores your natural rhythm.

I help you identify exactly which part of the "fragility stack" is holding you back and build a personalised protocol to fix it.

GI Mapping - What is it & why is it important?

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 16:33:48 GMT

What is a GI Map?

GI – MAP (Microbial Assay Plus) test is a tool that Naturopath use in clinic to identify and diagnose the problem in your gut. The test is designed to assesses your microbiome, as well as immune and digestive markers, from a single stool sample.

This test identifies pathogenic and beneficial (commensal) bacteria, along with opportunistic pathogens, parasites, fungi, and viruses, using new technology mainly multiplex, automated, DNA analysis. Intended for particular attention to microbiomes that cause disease, or that disrupt normal microbial balance, lead to dysbiosis of gastrointestinal flora and contribute to root cause of the many diseases such as: Leaky gut, IBS, SIBO/SIFO, Crohn’s disease, Gastritis, Abdominal pain, Bloating, Constipation, Diarrhoea, Food poisoning.

After ordering test, a kit will be sent to your home which contains everything you need with simple to follow instructions. you have completed the test it is then sent back to the lab for analysis via express When post. results Once will come (take around 2 weeks) follow up consultation will interpret, and treatment can be initiated to combat any issues found to restore optimal gut health.

Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (What It Reveals About Your Health)

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 16:20:19 GMT

What is a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis?

Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) is a comprehensive test that provides the right information to help us get to the root of chronic disease.

Other lab tests can provide very valuable information such as what foods we are allergic to, the state of our gut, if we have infections, or if our hormone levels are up to par.

With HTMA, we have something extremely powerful.

from one strand of hair, we can tell if you are pre-diabetic, depressed, if your immune system is compromised, or if you have too much aluminium in your system that is impacting your brain health.

HTMA uses a small hair sample to get up to 3 months of information on the status of your mineral ratios and heavy metal toxicity which gives us insight into what is throwing the body off-balance.

The hair is the ideal testing mechanism because it shows a cumulative pattern of health information that is safe and non-invasive in nature.

It reveals health data far more detailed than a blood or a urine test.

Data on more than 35 minerals is analysed as well as 25 important mineral ratios that dictate your health.

What does a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis reveal?

Mineral deficiencies and imbalances
Level of exhaustion present in the body (adrenal fatigue)
Psychological imbalances (i.e., depression, anxiety, ADD)
Heavy metal toxicity
Metabolic rate (slow& fast)
Thyroid function
Nervous system imbalances
Energy levels
Protein synthesis
Liver & Kidney stress
Tendency towards inflammation
Carbohydrate tolerance
Blood sugar imbalances (i.e., diabetes, insulin resistance)

What does a HTMA Test For?

Nutritional Elements

Minerals are essential to health. They are the building blocks of life. Your body cannot make substances like proteins, hormones, antibodies, digestive juices, and acids without them. Each nutritional mineral is essential for health and incorporated into molecules and compounds needed to keep our body functioning. A Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis will test for the following nutritional elements:

CALCIUM

MAGNESIUM

SODIUM

POTASSIUM

COPPER

ZINC

PHOSPHORUS

BORON (Available at additional cost)

IRON

MANGANESE

CHROMIUM

SELENIUM

COBALT

MOLYBDENUM

SULPHUR

Additional Elements

Your Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis also tests for 14 additional elements. Research suggests they are involved in digestive function, mood, kidney health, insulin sensitivity, skin health, antibacterial function, and the metabolism of other minerals. Although there is less research for these elements, high levels still indicate potential toxicity and may interfere with nutritional elements and so act like toxic elements. And many additional elements are found in the manufacturing industry or in certain trades.

GERMANIUM

BARIUM

BISMUTH

RUBIDIUM

LITHIUM

NICKEL

PLATINUM

THALLIUM

VANADIUM

STRONTIUM

TIN

TITANIUM

TUNGSTEN

ZIRCONIUM

-
Toxic Elements

Toxic Elements do not belong in the body as they have no known biological function. These will impact the absorption, retention, utilisation, and metabolic function of nutritional elements. These elements are antagonistic to nutritional elements and will displace them.

URANIUM

ARSENIC

BERYLLIUM

MERCURY

CADMIUM

LEAD

ALUMINIUM

ANTIMONY (Available at additional cost)

I will work with you to come up with a custom care plan to improve your chronic health problems by starting with this incredible test and using serial HTMAs (if you need) to monitor progress to achieve balance.

How Does The Gut Affect Your Health?

petar@mesmeriseco.com (Petar Petrovic) — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 13:57:40 GMT

Why is gut health so important?

There’s good reason to pay attention to your gut even if it doesn’t give you much trouble. Your gastrointestinal system is not only the avenue through which you digest and absorb nutrition, it plays a multitude of other parts when it comes to keeping you in tip-top shape.

Your Gut and Defence

Your gut helps manage defence in three broad ways:

First, the stomach and its mighty acid destroy many ingested pathogens and toxicants.
Second, the lining of the gastrointestinal tract acts as a smart filter, bringing the good stuff in and keeping the bad stuff out.
Last, over two-thirds of the immune system is housed in the gut.

Your Gut and Detoxification

Your body is detoxifying 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s not something you have to do yourself or think about. Your gut holds two of the big five organs of detoxification. The liver and the large intestine are responsible for detoxifying and eliminating a mind-boggling array of compounds, both introduced from the external environment and including normal by-products of your metabolism. The other organs of detoxification - kidneys, skin, and lungs - are also influenced by the digestive tract.

Your Gut and Hormonal Balance

Many hormones are assembled, activated, detoxified, and excreted via the gut.

Up to twenty percent of thyroid hormone is converted to its active form by the activity of the microbiome (the colony of beneficial bacteria residing in your large intestine).

Spent estrogens are metabolized by the liver and sent to the large intestine to be pooped out. It’s not an oft thought of cause, but if hormonal imbalances are present with gut disturbance, they can be improved by tuning up digestive health.

Your Gut and Brain

Your digestive system has a brain all its own, called the enteric nervous system (ENS), or more affectionately, the Second Brain. This is a massive network of nerve cells that are responsible for monitoring and managing every aspect of digestion on a second-to-second basis.

There are so many nerve cells - 7 - that it is equal to that of the spinal cord. It operates independently of your central nervous system - the brain and spinal cord - but takes input from it and gives feedback to it in a bimodal relationship. More and more evidence is suggesting that the state of the gut may have more to do with the state of your central nervous system and even your mental state than was originally thought. Not only is the Second Brain a player in neurological health, but the microbiome is also too.

 Final Thoughts

The health of your gut is foundational to the health of your body. Your digestive process and how easy or painful it is for you is an indicator of this state. When you understand how it works and the many components that go into it, you can begin to adjust your daily nutrition and lifestyle to promote healthy and pain-free digestion.

The Digestive Process

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 13:52:47 GMT

What is the digestive process?

While the physical breakdown of food starts in the mouth, digestion begins as soon as you think about eating.

Here's a step by step overview of the digestive process:

1. The thought of an incoming meal sends signals from the brain to your gut, priming it by increasing your production of digestive factors and getting your body ready to receive the meal or snack.

2. As you pop the food in your mouth and begin to chew, your teeth crush it up into smaller pieces, and enzymes contained in the saliva begin to break it down.
You swallow, and after a six-second trip down your oesophagus, the chewed food is in your stomach.

3. The stomach is a big blender. Not only does it continue the mechanical breakdown that the mouth has started, but it is also the mixing place of food, stomach acid, bile, and digestive enzymes, all of which cleave the proteins, carbohydrates, and fats that you have eaten into their readily absorbable building blocks of amino acids, sugars, and fatty acids.

4. After being reduced to a very soft paste called chyme, the food moves from your stomach to your small intestine. Your small intestine is a rather impressive organ, up to 45 feet long, with so many folds and crypts that if you were to stretch it all out, the surface area would equal that of a tennis court.

That’s a good thing, considering that the job of your small intestine is to absorb the macronutrients and micronutrients of your food.

The small intestine acts as an intelligent gatekeeper, letting nutrients and beneficial compounds in and keeping harmful compounds and pathogens out. Since the surface area is so large and the potential for exposure to harmful things through what we eat so high, the small intestine is embedded with immune tissue and cells.

5. Peristalsis is the rhythmical, muscular contraction that propels food down and out and helps you poop regularly. Orchestrated by your “Second Brain” - it is responsible for transferring food from your stomach to your small intestine, and from your small intestine to your large intestine. Problems with peristalsis are related to motility - constipation, diarrhoea, or both - and are a common reason for distress.

6. By the time lunch makes it to your large intestine, much of the usable nutrition has been extracted, and your large intestine reabsorbs most of the water. The fibre you have eaten has its time to shine in the large intestine.

In addition to helping you keep things moving, fibre is also fuel for your microbiome.

7. The approximately 100-trillion-cell strong colony of beneficial bacteria turn fibre into short chain fatty acids, which the body uses for energy and as anti-inflammatory agents.
Keep in mind that you’re not just eating for you, you’re eating for at least a trillion!

8. Working through the large intestine, the digested food reaches the end of the road and when enough accumulates, you get the urge to defecate. This is the first time that you have had a conscious say in your digestive process since you swallowed your food. Your body does it all for you, under the direction of your Second Brain.

To sum it up - Your brain, mouth, stomach, intestines, pancreas, and gallbladder all play a role in your digestion! This is important to know, because symptoms can give us clues as to which of these parts of the digestive system could be contributing to the problem!

If you're having digestive issues don't hesitate to get in touch and let me know of any symptoms that you may be having.

5 Signs Of Digestive Problems and How To Heal Them

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 13:52:47 GMT

How Digestive Problems Start

Eating foods that are not appropriate for you, failing to eat based on symptoms or diagnoses, low digestive ability, an imbalance of the microbiome or frank infection of it, lack of integrity of the intestinal lining, a stressed-out Second Brain, and any combination of these factors underpin much chronic digestive distress.

Bloating

Bloating is one of the most common complaints that people report.

Most of us can say that we have felt bloated at one time or another in our lives, but bloating every day, or after every meal, is simply not normal. You should not have to get into a one-sided wrestling match to peel of your jeans at the end of the day, especially if they so smoothly zipped up in the morning.

Figuring out the WHY of bloating will shed good light on HOW to de-bloat.

Avoid gas-causing foods

You may bloat because the foods you eat are inherently gas-causing. Beans, broccoli, cabbage, whey, dairy products, protein powders, protein bars, soy, fructose, FODMAPs, inulin, eggs, fake sweeteners, and sugar alcohols are common culprits to look out for and minimise.

Support your digestive fire

If you’re not producing enough enzymes, acid or bile, bloating is a natural result as food compounds do not get broken down. Enzymes are particularly useful here and be sure to see the section above for a more complete discussion on how to improve your digestive ability.

Chew your food

Eating on the run, scarfing down a sandwich on the way to your car, or slamming down a protein shake standing by the sink doesn’t give your body much time to get into a nice, relaxed state to support optimal digestion. Eating quickly and talking with your mouth full introduces a lot of extra air that eventually must escape. Sit when you eat, slow down, and chew your food until it is a soft paste. This will help decrease gas and bloating and cut down on overeating, too.

Support your microbiome

Rapid bloating after meals is a common symptom of SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth). Bloating that increases during the day and comes with distension is also a sign of SIBO and other forms of dysbiosis. Consider implementing some of the microbiome-boosting strategies, and if those do not help, it’s time to get tested.

Use carminative herbs

Carminative is another way to say gas-reducing. These herbs often are available as tea, singly or in blends. Chamomile, fennel, anise, peppermint, and caraway are all excellent choices, and you can determine which ones you enjoy most. If tea is not your thing, they are available in drops or capsules that can be taken after meals.

Peppermint should not be used by those with GERD, heartburn, or reflux because it can worsen symptoms. For everyone else, it’s wonderful.

Constipation

What is Constipation?

If you have less than three bowel movements per week (some would argue less than one per day), feel as if you are not quite “done” at least 25% of the time, feel as if there is an obstruction at least 25% of the time, if stool is hard 25% of the time, or if you need to use an instrument or enema or some other form of help at least 25% of the time - you’ve got constipation. As with bloating, there are many themes to look at, including the foods you are eating, your ability to digest, the health of your microbiome and the flexibility of your Second Brain. When it comes to tackling constipation and regulating your motility, there are several factors to look at.

Eat more fibre and stay hydrated

When it comes to constipation, fibre can be a tricky issue. One: not all fibres are the same. Two: in many cases, constipation is not the result of a fibre deficiency, and when we begin to load up on Metamucil because our doctor said so, it can slow us down even more, particularly if we are dehydrated! Fibre adds bulk and volume to the stool, which helps our Second Brain push it along and out.

This ONLY works, however, if we are well hydrated. So, if we are indeed fibre-deficient, the very first order of business is to begin to increase our water.

My very favourite form of fibre is the type found in vegetables. If you are getting in non-starchy veggies, you are also getting a bit of water to go alongside your fibre and helping the entire process move right along. Eat at least four cups of vegetables daily, at a bare minimum. Not only are the veggies providing fibre and water, but they are also providing minerals (also key for regularity), vitamins, antioxidants, and a variety of healthy phytochemical. Veggie intake is hugely important. Some are interested in supplemental fibre, and for that, the gentlest one on the block is acacia.

Like probiotics, fibre is something that you want to start at low amounts and slowly increase over time to not exacerbate symptoms. Start with 1/2 teaspoon in 250 ml of water, and every 3-4 days increase this amount by 1/4-1/2 teaspoon until you are doing 2-3 teaspoons in 250-300 ml of water twice daily.

Eat healthy fats

Intake of healthy fats helps keep the bowel lubricated and thus things moving along.

Choosing high-quality fats is of extreme importance, not just for digestion but for overall health and wellness.

In addition to being a lubricant, fats are key for building hormones, cellular communication, and nerve signalling/ transduction.

They are also crucial in the production of the inflammatory and anti-inflammatory compounds your body produces, and you want a correct balance of both for wound healing (to fight infection and to clean up the mess left) and to be able to reduce free radicals and other inflammatory compounds as well.

A mix of fats, of animal and plant origin, is ideal. When it comes to animal fats, buy the absolute best that you can afford, focusing on fish that are wild caught, meats that are grass-fed, and chicken/poultry that is pastured. In the plant kingdom, the easiest and safest options to stick with for cooking are extra virgin olive oil (look for labels that say “100% olive oil” - otherwise you may be getting a blend cut with canola or soy oil), coconut oil and avocado oil.

Oils to stay away from are canola, soy and anything labelled “vegetable oil.” Seed oils are best consumed raw, as in a salad or other veggies. Avocado, nuts and seeds and their butters, coconut and coconut products, egg yolks, fatty fish (salmon, mackerel), and fattier cuts of meat (ribeye, chuck) are all good sources of fats.

Add minerals and electrolytes

Minerals and electrolytes help maintain appropriate hydration levels and help keep the bowel open and flexible so that overall, movements are easy and painless.

Magnesium, potassium, calcium, selenium, sodium, and zinc all work in harmony to achieve this state of fluid balance and open bowel. Veggies and fruits are loaded with electrolytes and minerals, and thus can exert their beneficial effects that way.

Certain medications readily deplete minerals and electrolytes, particularly ones that regulate blood pressure and cardiovascular function, but antibiotics, antidepressants and birth control are culprits too.

A complete mineral complex or a multivitamin that has a multi-mineral complex embedded in it can be beneficial for those who do not or cannot eat a wide variety of veggies or fruits, or for those taking these medications. Try magnesium ascorbate (MA) powder First thing in the morning, drink 250 ml of room temperature water with a squeeze of lemon and 1/4 teaspoon magnesium ascorbate powder. This is a vitamin C powder buffered by magnesium. It is a very gentle laxative and bowel re-trainer, without the risk of dependency like some of the herbal laxatives.

The trick with the MA powder is to find the right dose. If this dose does not stimulate a bowel movement within an hour, slowly increase it by 1/8 teaspoon every several days until you hit the right dose.

Establish a bathroom routine

Your bathroom should be soothing and pleasing to the senses. Using aromatherapy, candles and fun wall coverings, art or paint can all help create a relaxing atmosphere.

Each morning, sit on the toilet and empty your mind.

Focus on your breath.

Sit for 5-10 minutes each morning, whether you have a bowel movement or not.

Bring a small foot stool into the bathroom It doesn’t have to be special or fancy or a Squatty Potty, but as you sit on the toilet, put your feet up on the foot stool.

Your knees should be above the level of the hips.

This puts your anatomy in the right place for a smooth bowel movement. Use the foot stool every single time you sit down for a bowel movement, whether you go or not.

Utilise perineal acupressure daily

Stay with me here. Research suggests that daily perineal acupressure can reduce constipation by up to 80% over a 4-week period. This is an enormous improvement. The acupressure point to press is the space between the anal opening and the genitals (your perineum). As part of your bathroom routine, apply firm but comfortable pressure there for 60 seconds each morning when you are sitting and breathing.

Go for a daily walk

Gentle movement, in the form of a leisurely walk, helps to retrain the Second Brain and the body and is a secret weapon against chronic constipation. The walk should have an element of mindfulness to it. Try to immerse yourself in the sensations: feel the sun and air on your skin, notice the sounds around you. When your mind wanders, bring it back to those immediate sensations. Aim for 30 minutes daily.

Magnesium

Around bedtime, take 400-500mg of magnesium glycerinate This gently helps dilate and retrain the bowel and helps to set you up for a bowel movement in the morning.
You can increase by 200mg every several days until you achieve movement.
Magnesium is very safe to take in high doses, with the worst side effect being loose stool.
Magnesium is good for cardiovascular function, blood pressure, tight muscles, and sleep.
It covers a lot of bases. Pairing magnesium ascorbate powder in the morning with magnesium glycerinate in the evening helps with even the toughest constipation.

Consider triphala in hard cases

This herbal formula (a mixture of three herbs) helps to stimulate both digestive fire and peristalsis.

Diarrhoea

Diarrhoea can be categorised as infectious or non-infectious .

Infectious diarrhoea means you’ve got some pathogen and your body is doing its best to get it out. Infectious diarrhoea typically resolves on its own or is something you receive an antibiotic for.

Antibiotics, of course, can create diarrhoea as well.

Non-infectious diarrhoea implies that there are no pathogens or bad bugs responsible and that there is some other cause.

Diarrhoea can be a predominant symptom of IBS-D, colitis and IBD. As with bloating and constipation, uncovering the reasons why diarrhoea is present will shine the light on how to approach it.

Look at your nutrition, your digestive ability, the health of your microbiome and digestive lining, and most importantly, your Second Brain.

Get a stool test

Any diarrhoea that lasts longer than two weeks deserves a thorough evaluation.

A stool test can rule out frank pathogenic infections like giardia, C. diff, clostridium, and harmful E. coli.

A comprehensive digestive stool analysis (CDSA) can also determine your levels of beneficial bacteria, markers of inflammation, and if you are spilling fats, proteins, or fibres into the stool, all of which will help shape treatment.

Buy non-GMO products

Many researchers are studying the effects of Roundup (glyphosate) on human and bacterial health.

Roundup is typically sprayed on genetically modified, Roundup Ready crops (wheat, sugar, and soy being the most common).

They conducted that Roundup can interfere with the serotonin metabolism and signalling of bacterial cells. Chronic, non-infectious diarrhoea often accompanies high serotonin or serotonin excessive states. Serotonin helps initiate the wave of peristalsis - the muscular contraction that moves food down and out - and diarrhoea is peristalsis gone awry. While the safety of Roundup and GMO crops has not been fully elucidated in humans, chronic diarrhoea sufferers would do well to avoid these items.

Take a probiotic

Probiotics help regulate bowel motility and calm the Second Brain.

They are particularly important if you have taken antibiotics recently or if antibiotics preceded your diarrhoea. Aim for 50-100 billion CFUs of a probiotic that contains Bifidobacterium breve, longum and infantes at a minimum. Consider acacia fibre It’s not just for constipation.

Acacia is very gentle and a great stool binder, helping to add bulk and consistency. Start with 1/2 teaspoon in 250 ml of water, and every 3-4 days increase this amount by 1/4-1/2 teaspoon until you are doing 2-3 teaspoons in 250 ml-300 ml of water twice daily.

Take zinc and zinc carbonise

A zinc lozenge containing 5mg zinc can be taken two to three times daily to help slow you down. Zinc carbonise can alleviate diarrhoea and will also help relieve the local irritation and inflammation that can come with it.

Avoid raw foods, for now

Raw foods are harder for your body to break down and more irritating to the lining of your digestive tract. You may notice more undigested food in the stool when you are eating raw items. Focusing on warm, cooked foods and broths is not only soothing, but broths will help replenish fluids and electrolytes lost from diarrhoea.

Low Stomach Acid Levels

Your stomach acid serves multiple functions. It helps break down protein and absorb certain vitamins and minerals.

Stomach acid acts as defence against bad bacteria and other bugs and viruses that can make you sick and maintains an appropriate pH throughout the entire system. Low stomach acid is most common in those who take acid-blocking medications, the chronically stressed, and the elderly.

Symptoms of low stomach acid include excess belching, bloating, difficulty digesting proteins, anaemia (both iron and B vitamin deficiency), frequent urinary tract, vaginal or upper respiratory tract infections, and reflux.

It is possible to be tested for low stomach acid through the Heidelberg test, although not many doctors perform this test.

Based on your symptoms and your history, your health care provider may recommend a trial of supplemental acid (known as Betaine HCl) taken with meals to see if it improves symptoms. If you have gastritis or an active ulcer, you should NOT take supplemental acid.

Gut Infections/Parasites

You have learned that dysbiosis is a major factor in much chronic digestive distress and has implications for disease not limited to the gut. Sometimes, there is more than just an imbalance present in your microbiome - there is frank infection. A pathogenic bacteria, yeast or parasite is on board. Get a stool test If you suspect an infection, it is imperative that you get a stool test. A GI – MAP (Microbial Assay Plus) test will not only pinpoint which bad guys are present (or if they are not present), it will also determine exactly what pharmaceutical and natural antimicrobials they are sensitive to. It will tell you exactly what you need to kill them, and that saves you a lot of time, money, and guesswork.

Go low-FODMAP

For the course of your treatment, choosing foods that are low on the FODMAP scale will help reduce symptoms of gas, bloating, spasm, cramping, and any motility changes by reducing the levels of fermentation done by your infected gut flora.

Commit to the long haul and gut restoration.

Sometimes infections are easy to treat and are readily knocked out, and sometimes they are not. Anyone experiencing a frank infection should be prepared for 12 weeks of gut-healing practice (focusing on nutrition, improving digestive fire, supporting the microbiome, healing intestinal integrity and de-stressing the Second Brain) in addition to their antimicrobial therapy (even though antimicrobial therapy may not last that long). Some folks choose for both conventional and natural antimicrobials, using the best of both worlds. If you take that approach, natural antimicrobials are typically swapped every 3-4 weeks.

Taking the time to focus on healing your gut knocks out the infection and improves the health of your digestive tract, making relapse or another infection less likely.

Choose antimicrobials that are appropriate for your condition

Your sensitivity test should be the primary way that you determine what antimicrobials to use, whether they are natural or pharmaceutical.

There is good data that demonstrates the efficacy of a variety of plant-based antimicrobials. Grapefruit seed extract, berberine, black walnut, plant tannins, garlic/allicillin, oil of oregano, wormwood and wormseed are examples.

Don’t overlook biofilms .

In chronic infections or in those who relapse regularly, biofilms may be present. Biofilms are a mini fortress that the bad guys build over themselves to protect against your immune system and antimicrobial therapy.

The interlopers group together and use building blocks from your body (calcium, polysaccharides, even metals) to make their fortifications. While it makes them tricky to treat, it simply means you need more tools.

Specific polysaccharide-busting enzymes like glucoamylase, chitosanase, beta-glucanase, cellulase, hemicellulase and pectinase should be used, along with other specific enzymes like lysozyme, protease and peptidase that have DPP-IV activity.

An additional enzyme called serratia peptidase or serrazyme is often used, and the best products will also contain disodium EDTA, which helps remove metal.

There are several products on the market that have these enzymes in them, specifically for biofilms.

Biofilm busters should be taken at the same time as your antimicrobials to enhance delivery.

Final Thoughts

The number one rule when considering any type of digestive problem, whether it is candida, another type of yeast or parasites or unhealthy bacteria, or SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth), is to test for it.

Stool testing can rule all these things in or out, minus SIBO, which is a breath test.

Do not assume you have an infection and go on an extensive protocol without knowing what is going on. Testing allows us to diagnose and form a treatment plan with effect.

vesna-naturopathy

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