We’re bringing you a bit of a “special edition” episode today by taking some time to really talk about all that is going on in the world. There are practical and evidence-based strategies and supplements that I’m using to focus on gut and immune health right now and to keep my family, hopefully, safe and well.
When I thought about who I should have this conversation with, my friend Tina Anderson immediately came to mind. Tina is an expert in all things gut health, especially since she founded a company that makes my favorite probiotic and IGG supplements (more on that in a minute).
Along with diving into the science on gut health and its importance for a strong and healthy immune system, as moms we brainstorm some stress-reducing strategies and lifestyle hacks that are inexpensive or completely free, and can help us all stay happy and motivated to make the best of our circumstances.
Episode Highlights
- What we are doing right now for ourselves and our families during coronavirus
- The connection between gut health and strong natural immunity to germs and viruses
- Diet and supplement hacks that can boost immune systems
- What IGG is and why it has a role in fighting viruses
- How emotions and stress play into our overall wellness
- Ideas for your daily routine to stay sane, connected, and even happy during isolated or difficult times
- Tips for families navigating difficult conversations with kids
- An antidote for stress for adults and kids that is completely free and available even during quarantine
- Why to consider intermittent fasting right now
- How we’re finding the silver lining in all this
- And more!
Resources We Mention
- Probiotics
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin D
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Books by Ryan Holiday
- Barrel sauna
- Infrared sauna
- Dr. Peter Attia
More From Wellness Mama
- 505: Dr. Michael Ruscio on Gut Health, Autoimmunity, Thyroid, and Sleep
- 539: Tina Anderson on Psychobiotics, Gut Brain Connection and Just Calm
- 685: Back to School Health and Stress Management With Tina Anderson
- 484: Steve Wright on Tributyrin Breakthrough Molecule for Microbiome, Histamine and Leaky Gut
- 244: Debunking Probiotic Myths With Just Thrive Founder Tina Anderson
- 322: Coronavirus & COVID-19: A Common-Sense Approach With Pediatrician Dr. Elisa Song
- 262: Dr. Andrew Weil on Integrative Medicine, Reducing Inflammation & Most Important Factors for Health
- 289: Stoic Wisdom for Modern Life and Parenting With Ryan Holiday
- 219: Why Everything We Know About Probiotics Is Wrong & How to Stop Leaky Gut With Microbiologist Kiran Krishnan
- 318: Fecal Microbiota Transfer (FMT) for Gut Health and Autism
- 11 Convincing Health Benefits of Sweating
- 8 Sauna Benefits for Body and Mind
- Tips to Naturally Reduce Stress & Starting Now!
How has the pandemic affected you? What are you doing to stay healthy and occupied? Please drop a comment below or leave a review on iTunes to let us know. We value knowing what you think and this helps other moms find the podcast as well.
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Child: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.
This podcast is sponsored by Jigsaw Health, my source for magnesium. You probably know, if you’ve read my blog, that magnesium is responsible for over 300 biochemical reactions in the body. It impacts blood pressure, metabolism, immune function, and many other aspects of health, including hormones. It’s known as the master mineral and it’s one of the few supplements I take regularly. And I have found a specific way to take it that works best for me in very specific forms because if magnesium is taken in the wrong way it can lead to digestive upset or if it’s taken too quickly it can cause all kinds of problems. So, I take two supplements. One called MagSRT which is a slow release form of the dimagnesium malate. The slow release technology makes it easier on the digestive system. So I don’t get any of the digestive disturbance that comes with some forms of magnesium. I take this form in the morning and at lunch. So, two capsules with breakfast, two capsules with lunch. And at night, I take a different product MagSoothe, which is magnesium glycinate which is magnesium bound with the amino acid glycine to help sleep. And in combination, I noticed the biggest effect from those two particular products. You can check them both out and save by going to jigsawhealth.com/wellnessmama. And the code wellness10 will give you $10 off any order.
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Katie: Hello, and welcome to the Wellness Mama Podcast. I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com and wellnesse.com, that’s “wellnesse” with an E on the end. And this special episode is all about some practical and evidence-based strategies and supplements that I’m using to focus on gut and immune health right now and to keep my family, hopefully, safe and well. And I feel like supporting immune health and gut health, that is important all the time, something we can all always improve and it’s really important to do anytime, but especially important right now, which is why I asked my friend Tina Anderson of Just Thrive Health to join me today. And we talk about several products that are backed by scientific studies, including her probiotic which is backed by a double-blind placebo study, and the effects those can have on gut health and what that looks like for supporting the immune system. We also delve into some other immune-supporting strategies that are inexpensive or completely free, and some lifestyle management stuff that we’re both doing to keep our families healthy and happy right now, in the midst of all of this. But I think this episode is packed with a lot of really practical tips, and I hope that it will help you and your family. And without further ado, let’s join Tina.
Tina, welcome. Thanks for joining me again.
Tina: Thanks, Katie. I’m so excited to be here.
Katie: I am so excited to chat with you, and that is one of my silver linings of us both being stuck in homes right now is that I have more time to do things like podcast, which means I get to talk to you today. So, I’m gonna be extremely grateful for that, and I know that that’s your mindset as well is to find the positive. And people have heard me quote you many, many times. You were the origin of my quote that everything will work out perfectly for me. That came from you, so I always have to say that when we’re together or chatting.
But I’m excited today. I think we have a lot to talk about right now just in a very timely way with all of the things that are going on and just how uncertain and a little bit wild everything has gotten in the last few weeks, of course, with the virus and everything else. And I can’t wait to delve into some practical strategies on this and then really go deep on a couple of them. So, to start, I’d love to hear both from your mindset and then on the practical side, what are you doing to support your own system and your family right now?
Tina: Yeah. I think from the mindset is super important, Katie. I mean, that is really the key to this. This is such a scary time for people, and I think we should just shift our focus. You know, you’re right. I talk about gratitude all the time because I think gratitude allows us to shift our focus, and I have been just focusing on how happy I am to have more time with my kids. My one daughter is in college in California, and she’s home with me now. So it’s so wonderful to have her around and having my son…you know, having my kids around and having time and eating dinner together at the table and all that kind of stuff instead of focusing on what’s going on in the news and watching the news. And I’ve been really trying to focus on my mind because it’s scary for all of us, even people like me who really try to look at…you know, shift my focus in that respect.
And one of the biggest things I do is breathwork. I’m a huge fan of doing deep breathing. I do meditate. I don’t meditate as well as I think maybe I should, but I’m really into breathwork, and meditation, exercise, sauna. All of those things are just so key during this time for our mental health as well as our physical health. And then, of course, taking all kinds of supplements, which are super critically important, like the probiotic, IgG, prebiotic, the vitamin C, vitamin D. Trying to get outside as much as possible to get vitamin D and all those kinds of things. Staying really hydrated I think is also really important.
Katie: Absolutely. And, yeah, I think we’re gonna delve into all of those strategies in detail today, and I’m always reminded of…well, first of all, every time I talk to you, I feel like you lift my spirits and you’re just such a good reminder of being grateful and finding the positive. And at times like this, I also think of one of my favorite books is “Man’s Search for Meaning,” and there’s a quote from Viktor Frankl. He said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” And I just keep thinking about that in a time like this because so many of us are told we can’t go anywhere. Like, so much we’re told we cannot do. And that’s what I’ve been reminding my kids and reminding myself is that we still have always the choice to choose to be positive and to be grateful and to be that for others in our life as well.
And also I know we both know Ryan Holiday, and I love all of his books, kind of his modern approach to stoicism. And it’s funny because there’s a Latin quote, “Amor fati,” which means love of fate or basically love what is. And that was kind of my quote for this year. I didn’t quite expect to get such a crash course in it because it’s easy to love your fate when…you know, like a month ago everything is wonderful, and the economy looks like…everything’s going great, and all the kids are healthy, and business is great. And it actually requires a little more work when we’re actually facing hard things, and so that’s been my inner lesson I think. And this is to learn to love even the bad things because there’s a lesson or there’s a silver lining or there’s a good in everything, not just the things that at first glance seem good.
Tina: Yes. Oh, my God, I love that, Katie. That’s exactly the way I try to live my life myself and try to spread that to so many other people. But I know it’s hard when people are struggling and losing jobs and the economic uncertainty. It’s very frightening, but then you’re right. We have the power to control our attitude toward whatever situation that we’re presented with.
Katie: Exactly. And that’s why I love that we started with mindset. I think that’s super important, and I just keep reminding people, too, is every storm runs out of rain, and this too shall pass. And before we move into the health strategies, I also just wanna say like I think our words are so important, and so I’m asking people to consider changing and stop saying social distancing. Maybe say physical distancing, but I think we need emotional and social connection. It makes me sad to see people being afraid of other people, and I know we have to keep our distance, but let’s not social distance let’s just physical distance for now.
Tina: I love that, so true.
Katie: Okay. So let’s talk about the health side now because the reason I wanted to have you on right now specifically is that you have done a lot of research and created amazing products that help gut health. And I know most people understand that the gut has a really important role in our immune system, but I wanna really like…can you walk us through that in detail and explain just how our gut health affects obviously our whole body but our immune health?
Tina: Oh, definitely. Really, this is a time that we should be focusing on our gut health, I mean, if there’s ever a time. I’m actually just so grateful that I’m in the business that I’m in right now because knowing that my kids and my parents and my in-laws and siblings and family members and close friends and our family of customers are taking these products because it is…this is the most critical time to be taking care of our gut health. This is a time that we need to build our resilience.
There is no treatment right now for COVID-19. There’s been nothing to show that there’s a drug or pharmaceutical natural remedy out there to show that we could treat or prevent COVID-19. But what we do know is that we have to count on our own immune system to protect us from this because there is no drug or treatment out there. And our immune system has to be functioning optimally. So all the things we do to be healthy are really important, and the gut plays a really important role in the immune system.
So, about 80% of our immune tissue is in the gut. We started following the recent studies on how the immune system battles this particular virus. There was a study out there that came out of Australia, and we found that the study was showing that there was a proliferation of cells called T cells and B cells that are required to detect and start to fight the virus. And most of that proliferation occurs in the tissues that are found in the gut in the small intestine, and that’s why it’s so critical to be taking care of our gut.
The key is a healthier microbiome because it’s our microbiome that stimulates those tissues to improve the proliferation of the immune cells. So, you know, keep in mind our immune system is our only defense against this virus right now, and 80% of our immune system is in the gut. So if you have a dysfunctional gut, your immune system can be suppressed or confused, or on the flip side, if you have a healthy and a functioning microbiome, your immune system should be working more optimally.
So the virus, this coronavirus does infect the gut as well. We know that, there was a recent study that showed that the virus presented in high levels in fecal matter. So it is replicating in the gut. And actually, there was another study that showed that 53% of the cases of COVID-19 show gastrointestinal symptoms first before even a scratchy throat, like diarrhea, cramping, that type of thing. So, the gut immune system is trying to figure out how to deal with it.
So, our immune system is predominantly in the gut, and the gut drives the functioning and the proliferation of the immune system starting in the gut but then everywhere else in the body as well. So, it becomes a really important part of our defense mechanism, and of course probiotics can help. You know, we show that the strains in Just Thrive actually up-regulates some of the beneficial immune responses in the gut, which then translates to the rest of the body as well.
We also know that the strains, the spores that are found in Just Thrive, also increase the diversity of bacteria in your gut, which is really important for keeping your immune system primed and can help keep down the pathogenic infectious bacteria and compete against them in the gut, which is really important. Because like the last thing we need right now is the overgrowth of any pathogenic bacteria that are producing toxins and increasing inflammation and increasing leaky gut because all of that works against a functioning immune system. So really, really important to keep our gut as strong and healthy as possible during this time because so much of our immune system is found in our gut.
Katie: Yeah. I think that’s such a great point. Again, to focus on what is in our control is we know that there aren’t any direct remedies for this, even medicine that’s directly working, although I know that there are scientists working hard on that. But what we can do, like you said, is to focus on ways to fortify our own system to be able to handle this. And I also always remind people, our immune system was designed to be able to do this. This is why we have an immune system. And so we don’t have to go into complete freak out mode. We just need to find some practical strategies that help our immune system be ready in case. And I think, like you just explained, that this is a really important factor is gut health. Can you talk about… I know you did in your first podcast episode, and I will make sure that’s linked in the show notes. But just give us a primer, again, on the different types of probiotics and why you wanna focus on these particular strains, especially when you’re talking about trying to optimize the gut like this.
Tina: Right. Okay. Yes. So the strains in Just Thrive are considered spore-based probiotics. The majority of other probiotics on the market are made up of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium type strain. And so the majority of probiotics are made up of these Lactobacillus Bifidobacterium strains are very sensitive organisms generally. They have difficulty surviving in the gastric system.
In fact, you know, many need to be refrigerated to stay alive. So we always wonder like if it needs to be refrigerated to stay alive, then how in the world will it ever survive your body temperature, which is 98.6, let alone the gastric system, which is so acidic and it’s known as the gastric barrier. And the answer is most of those strains never make it to the intestines alive.
One of the first studies that we did as a company was a survivability study. We took the leading selling probiotic sold at a major health food store that had 50 billion count CFU, colony-forming unit, and it showed that 99.99% of the probiotic strains die before they ever got to the intestines. Since then, an independent third-party lab has tested hundreds of different probiotics on the market showing that most of those die, 99.9% of the cells die by the time they get to the intestines.
So really, with a lot of those probiotics, we’re having dead cell therapy, which actually, there are some studies that show that even dead bacteria will provide some symptomatic relief. The difference with the spores that are found in Just Thrive is they have this endospore shell around themselves, and again, this is not something that we have done to…you know, we have not engineered them. These are the way these strains that we got from the environment, they naturally had this endospore shell around themselves, and when they have this shell around themselves, they’re dormant. So it’s not until they hit the intestines that they take the shell off, and they go into their live vegetative cell state.
So when they’re in the capsule, they’re dormant. When they were found in the soil, they were dormant. When they’re in production, they’re dormant. When you swallow them, they’re dormant. When they go through your gastric system, they’re dormant. It’s not ’til they hit the intestines that they take their shell off and they become alive, and that’s where you need a probiotic to be alive is in the intestines.
And then the other big difference is that when they get in the intestines, they actually stay there for about 21 to 28 days where they work. They go in. You know, I love to use this garden analogy, and I think I mentioned it in the first episode is these strains go into the garden, which you compare that to the gut…to the intestines. They go into the garden, and they attach to the soil. They have the ability to get rid of the weeds in the garden, and then they have the ability to bring plants that have been stepped on and trampled on back to life.
So in the gut, they’re attaching to the intestinal cell wall. They have the ability to actually get rid of some pathogenic bacteria, an overgrowth of bacteria. And then they have the ability to actually bring good bacteria. They create compounds and nutrients to bring the good bacteria almost back to life and really make this lush, beautiful, diverse garden in our gut, which is so, so critically important to our overall health.
Katie: Absolutely. I think that distinction is really, really important and especially right now. And I know that there are some other strategies that can go hand-in-hand with that when we’re talking specifically about gut health. Right now I’ve heard a lot of doctors, for instance, mention, remove anything that could be inflammatory right now, so things like sugar or processed food, anything that can cause inflammation. And then the beneficial side is putting those things in the gut to give it chance, like you said, for all of those good things to grow.
Another thing I wanna make sure we talk about, because it’s a new product for you guys, and I haven’t talked about on the podcast yet, but there’s also like potentially a really specific benefit right now is the role of IgG. So, to start broad, can you explain to us what IgG is first of all, and then we’ll go into the supplemental side?
Tina: Sure. Yep. IgG stands for immunoglobulin G, and immunoglobulin G is the most abundant type of antibody found in the body. So, it is the most common antibody that’s found in the body, and its job is to fight antigens, so things like bacteria, viruses, and toxins. So it’s really, really important that we have our IgG, our natural IgG working to fight that…you know, grab on.
So what IgG just does in the body is it binds. So it grabs on to these toxins that are found from, like I said, viruses, bacterial overgrowth, pathogenic bacteria, viruses like mold toxins and different type of environmental toxins, and they bind them. So they grab onto them, and then they neutralize them so they’re not spreading anymore. And then the body safely removes them from the body through defecation. So, IgG is so critical, especially right now in this time.
And so we have developed a product called Ultimate IgG, and so what that does is it allow…it gives our body about 25% more IgG in our body. And the actual formulation that is in our product has been studied in other viral infections. In fact, the way we found out about this ingredient was the work that we did with HIV patients.
We were involved in this consortium with HIV because we know that a lot of people with HIV are…they’re dying from gut enteropathy, not necessarily the viral load. So, when I say gut enteropathy, I’m talking about the leakiness of the gut or the permeability of our gut. So, when we have LPS toxins in our gut, they could seep into the bloodstream, and that becomes very problematic. It also is very problematic for people with HIV.
So, this IgG was actually also studied with different viral infections like HIV, and what those studies show is that the IgG dramatically increases the CD4 T cells. And these CD4 T cells are critical and what helps our adaptive immune response to proliferate. So we want an adaptive immune response. We don’t want an innate immune response. We want an adaptive immune response when we’re dealing with these types of viruses.
So, they also show that the oral IgG binds and neutralizes bacterial toxins, mold toxins, and viral toxins. And there’s no evidence that it’s binding COVID-19, and I’m not suggesting that at all. But there is evidence that it binds other toxins and pathogens, and this brings down that load on our immune systems, and it brings down the toxigenic effect in the body. So it’s a really, really important supportive mechanism.
They’ve done studies on using oral IgG and other viral challenges, not COVID-19, but other viruses. And they actually found that the presence of the oral IgG intake really helps the immune system clear these viral infections faster than when you don’t have oral IgG. So it’s really important. It’s a really supportive mechanism of the immune system and its antiviral component. I mean, basically it’s taking the load off the immune system. The best way to look at it is like if we’re taking…you know, reducing the amount of bad guys, and so now we have more of our natural immune system to be fighting what it needs to fight. So more tools in our immune system is basically what it does.
And, you know, you had talked about inflammation, and I think it’s really important to talk about the role of LPS, which I think I may have talked about briefly. LPS just stands for lipopolysaccharides. It’s an endotoxin that’s primarily found in our gut, which is not really that problematic when it’s in the gut. It’s when it seeps into the bloodstream that our immune system has this like inflammatory response to it. And we did a double-blind human clinical trial on leaky gut. It was published back in 2017, and that study actually showed that using the spore-based bacteria, we could actually reduce the amount of LPS leaking into the bloodstream.
You know, and not only is the constant leaking of LPS in the bloodstream causing low-grade inflammation and is the driver of most chronic condition, it’s also increasing the expression of target receptors of COVID-19 and other types of viruses. So, the more LPS you have in your circulation just is a major risk factor for the majority of chronic illnesses, but it also becomes even more important now because LPS in your circulatory system will up-regulate the expression of these target receptors of COVID-19 and other types of viruses. So, we really wanna make sure that we’re sealing up that gut lining.
And both the spores have been shown in double-blind clinical trial to actually help create proteins to seal up the tight junctions to make the gut lining stronger. But IgG has also shown to really be supportive of a much stronger gut barrier function. So, the combination is really…like I said, I’m just so grateful that my kids are taking it, my parents are taking it, my in-laws. You know, all my family and our family of customers are taking it because I feel like we are really helping change the world right now in this pandemic that we’re in because we’re helping people really support their immune system.
Katie: Yeah. And it’s so helpful just to have the tools and to know you can do something that’s gonna help your body in case you do get the virus just to have stronger immune health in general. And on the note of IgG, I think people might be familiar with that term if they’ve had, for instance, like food sensitivity testing or something like that because IgG is basically a marker as well in the body from what I understand that can…like, for instance, when I do IgG testing, it shows an allergy to eggs or an intolerance. So I can’t eat eggs. Can you explain like how all those pieces fit together?
Tina: Yeah. It’s a little different. I mean, it’s the same thing. It’s showing how our antibodies are responding to an infection. So, in fact, that study I mentioned in Australia, what that study showed is that there was a 47-year-old woman who was to develop COVID-19, and they were testing her blood. They were closely monitoring her, and they found that her IgG and her IgM levels were heightened when the symptoms started to go away, so when the COVID-19 symptoms started to go away.
So it’s telling us that it’s the IgG and the IgM that are actually fighting this particular virus, which is really interesting. It’s a different mechanism than when we’re looking at…I mean, we just know that the IgG is actually fighting…you know, grabbing on to these particular antigens and pathogens that are going on in our body right now.
Katie: Got it. Okay. That makes sense. And so I think that’s important to understand is that this is something that we have in the body, and you said it’s the most abundant one. I know there are also ones like IgM and IgA, but like you said, so IgG is the one that’s gonna be most involved in this fighting off infection in the body and our ability to withstand that kind of thing, right?
Tina: Right. It’s most in demand in the body, and it’s the most common immunoglobulin antibody in the body.
Katie: Got it. And I think it’s also important to highlight that like you said in the HIV patients in the study there that people weren’t actually dying of the virus itself. They were dying of the effects of it like in the gut endotoxins, and that appears to be what we’re seeing in a lot of cases with COVID is that people aren’t dying of the virus itself. They’re dying of, for instance, sepsis or secondary things. And so anything we can do to fortify the body to be able to better handle all of those things I think is just super important right now.
Tina: Yeah. I could not agree more. I mean, all of these things like the vitamin C is super important, but supporting your gut barrier is really so, so critical to making…we want our immune system to be functioning optimally right now, and that can’t be stressed enough. And we know that the immune system is primarily in the gut tissue. So it’s really, really important.
Katie: Absolutely. I know I will put links in the show notes at wellnessmama.fm to both the IgG and the probiotic as well as to some of the research that I know you guys have and that you…and some of the educational articles on your site so people can continue to delve into that. Like you said, I think we’re gonna continue to see research on this, and especially when it comes to COVID-19, we’re still very new in what we know and what we don’t know, but to be able to have some practical strategies that we can implement right now is so helpful.
And on that note, I wanna also talk about like other supportive strategies that you’re doing with your family. I think we probably have a lot of overlap in the approach we’re taking. You mentioned, and I know this is gonna be a big one for both of us but just spending as much time as possible outside. The research I’m seeing is we know not from specific studies on COVID-19, but we know from studies on respiratory issues, to begin with, any kind of respiratory illness, that vitamin D is super protective. And we know across the board that having optimized vitamin D levels, for instance, help you be able to better handle almost every type of illness, and so that is another strategy. Thankfully, it’s getting sunny in a lot of places but another strategy that we can all implement. I know I’m trying to spend as much time as possible outside right now, and I’m guessing you are, too. But let’s talk about like sunlight and vitamin D and time outside.
Tina: Oh, yeah, I could not agree with you more, Katie. I mean, even if you’re in cold climates, it’s so important to get outside. For mental health as well as our physical health, we know we need vitamin D to help support our immune system as well. You know, I’ve been trying to spend as much time outside going on walks, sweating. I’ve really been trying to sweat. I’m fortunate enough to have a sauna in my house like you. It’s so important to be getting that sweat, too. But I mean, even if you don’t have a sauna, going out and running and sweating and getting your body heated up, which of course helps combat, too.
I mean, the studies are showing now that the virus doesn’t like heat. So that’s a good sign. But we’ve been going outside, going on bike rides, going on walks. I think that’s another gift in this whole thing. I’ve seen so many more people outside on bike rides, even in the colder weather, and just walking as a family and spending time outside playing basketball outside, you know, just with the family and doing different things like that. There are so many gifts in this time. It’s unbelievable. I know there are a lot of sad stories, too, but there are so many gifts. I’m spending more time with the kids and being outside together and going on bike rides and things like that.
Katie: Yeah. I absolutely agree. I know school being deferred or canceled has been a big change for a lot of families certainly, and I know a lot of moms maybe weren’t quite ready for summer to start in the middle of March. But the silver lining of it, like you said, is you get time with your kids, especially with older kids, like you wouldn’t have probably gotten to spend so much quality time with them at this point in the year if they were still in school right now.
Tina: Yeah, absolutely. Yes. You are so right. My daughter is in college in California, and she came home, and so it’s just so wonderful to have her home with all of us and just to be together as a family. I feel so blessed to have that extra time and not be running. That’s the thing, running from practice to practice and game to game. It’s been really nice to have this time together.
Katie: Yeah. Exactly. I hope that we can all look back sooner than later and realize that this was a great time of bonding and getting to focus on the really important things like time with family. Again, I’m hoping this will pass relatively quickly. We’ll see. Time will tell. But I hope that we can all one day…
Tina: Yes, me too.
Katie: …look back and have positive memories and have found the good in it, and certainly be interesting to see what our kids look back and say, too.
Tina: Right. I think it’s so fun seeing the kids become so creative to do different things. You know, I just think it’s been a great challenge for them also. I’m not saying it’s not hard, and I agree. I hope it passes sooner rather than later, but just seeing them cooking together and being more creative and doing different things. My kids are older, but I mean, even like some friends you see on Facebook and Instagram doing different fun things with their families and cooking. And the memes have been hysterical. I mean, I have never laughed so hard with some of the memes out there. My mom and I keep sending things back and forth to each other. We have so many different group chats. We did a huge family group FaceTime with both my husband’s side of the family and my side of the family. They were like 20 of us. No one could hear anything, but we just laughed the whole time. So, it’s been a time to really laugh and enjoy and have time for humor.
Katie: Absolutely. And I figure like it’s one of those things like I’m gonna try to learn. I know your kids are on TikTok. I need to learn TikTok. Like all these things I would never have ever thought to do otherwise.
Tina: Oh, my God, that’s fortunate. That’s all they’re doing is doing more TikTok. That’s hysterical. I know. I couldn’t agree more.
Katie: Yeah. I agree. The memes are funny, and I think it’s also important to think of like this is such a rare thing that we truly are all in this together, not even just the U.S., but we are globally in this together. And so, I know that we’re all isolated but at the same time like we’re in something together. And if we can build the community out of this and use this time to nurture relationships and to make them stronger, I think we can, on the other side of this hopefully all emerge stronger and better and more connected. That’s my hope.
Tina: Absolutely. I mean, I see it already. I feel like I’m making more calls to people I’ve been out of touch with and just touching base with people that time didn’t allow me before to do that. So, it’s very, very true. And there’s so many cool learning. I think parents are learning all these different learning tools out there. There are so many online sources, and I think people are starting to realize that they could take a bigger role in their child’s learning. That’s pretty cool, too.
Katie: Yeah. It’ll be really interesting to see the lasting changes in the education system that come from this. And what I’ve been encouraging my kids to do…because I think boredom is the big struggle for kids especially as we all adjust to like, “How do you keep everyone busy when we’re all in the same house?” And so what I’ve been encouraging my kids to do is I’m like, “We have literally the entirety of information, human information available at your fingertips through the internet. So how are you gonna use this hopefully only in next couple of weeks but maybe months to improve yourself?”
And so I’ve even, since we do homeschool, been letting them negotiate. I’m like, “Come to me with a proposal and tell me how you’re gonna improve yourself in the next two months and what skills are you gonna learn. Let’s make this a time of like building and improving and not just thinking of all the bad that’s gonna happen.” And so we are collectively learning Japanese. I’ve got kids learning harmonica and piano. One is learning how to do a backflip, which I might die of heart fright from watching her, but she, I have no doubt, will get it. And so that’s my other encouragement to moms is like let it be fun. Let it be a game. And like how can we all improve ourselves. I’m finally doing some exercise classes much more regularly because I’m home and have time to do them.
Tina: Right. Me too. Right. Exactly.
Katie: Yeah. So the other thing we can talk about both from the mom perspective and the health side is the importance of a daily routine in general but also like an immune-supporting daily routine right now. And so like I’ll share some things that I think are helpful and you can build on them. I’ve mentioned it before, but I am a big fan of light. Not just for the vitamin D, I think that’s super important as well. But I’ve always encouraged people, and I try to everyday go outside really soon after waking up and get natural light as soon as possible after waking up, and that also is important for immune health and hormone health and so many other things because that light signals the whole circadian cascade. And so that’s something simple and free that we can all do is just get light as soon as possible after waking up.
Also, I’ve been tightening up my fasting regimen right now just in the name of supporting immune health. What I’ve been reading from the researchers on this like Dr. Peter Attia. He’s saying we don’t know if long water fasts are good right now because we just don’t have any research on that, and there’s a chance they could…like during a long fast, you might temporarily suppress the immune system. So they’re not recommending long fasts, but they are recommending kind of what they call circadian fasting, which is just eating in a shorter window during the day, whatever window that ends up being for you, and then just not eating after dark. And that’s another signaling mechanism because food is part of that circadian biology.
And so basically like we started talking about from the very beginning of this episode like what are some ways that we can work in harmony with our circadian biology and with our biology to support the immune system naturally and to support hormone health naturally and just to optimize every factor. So, those are a couple I’m doing. I’m also making sure we all take obviously probiotics and IgG and then also vitamin D and vitamin C and get movement every day. How has your routine changed since we have all become homebound?
Tina: Yeah. I wanna piggyback on that fasting because I really am so glad you mentioned that because that…I recently over the last year or so I’ve been practicing intermittent fasting, and I cannot stress how important that is enough right now because we know…from the leaky gut study that we did, it showed us that every time we eat, it causes…especially if we have a leaky gut, which a lot of people…they’re estimating 80% of the adult population has a leaky gut. It causes this inflammatory response. I mean, of course, we all have to eat. So I’m not suggesting that we don’t eat, but I think limiting the time is really, really critical to be supporting our immune system because we don’t want that inflammatory response on a regular basis. And we wanna make sure we’re tightening up the gut barrier and all of that and the leakiness of the gut.
But I agree with the fasting. I agree with getting outside like we talked about. And the breathwork with the sleep is so important. I’m so glad you brought that up because I was just on another podcast the other day, and I kept talking about how important that is. And I think it’s really hard right now with the kids not being on a regular schedule to allow them to sleep in, and yet that’s probably one of the worst things that we…
We want them to get enough sleep, but we don’t want them to be messing around with their circadian rhythm and their sleep cycles that they’re accustomed to because that’s not really great for their immune system either. So, I would definitely agree with you on that about the sleep for sure. I’ve been working out like crazy, too.
Just the sweating alone is just I think really important doing a lot of working out. I don’t think like really hard, hard strenuous workout is good either because that could cause too much stress on the body, too. You know, working out and getting a sweat going I think is really important, and like I mentioned, the breathwork.
I mean, I agree we need to stay away from sugar, and I’ve been really trying to do that as well. It’s really hard right now with the kids because they’re home, and it’s like, “Oh, let’s treat ourselves,” and trying to stay away from alcohol, but I’m always so grateful for Dry Farm Wines that they don’t have sugar in their wines. So, during this time it’s been really nice. I’m like, “Make sure we don’t run out of our Dry Farm Wines,” and I know you’re a big fan, too.
Katie: Yeah. Definitely shout out to Todd, and also just they have been a light and an inspiration during this whole thing as well. Even separate of the wine, I know the emails I’m getting from them they’re…even though they can’t all come together as a team, they’re doing group meditation and grateful practice every single day via the internet via Zoom, and they’re still making that a priority. And they have even been like letting other people join them and just trying to encourage everyone to keep the focus on gratitude even during the hard time. And thankfully, they were declared an essential activity, and so mine is still available. I think a lot of moms right now might agree that wine is an essential.
Tina: Yes. Exactly. And thank God for Dry Farm, exactly. And then, obviously, I’ve been taking lots of vitamin C. So, that’s been great, and of course, I love Paleovalley vitamin C. I think you’re a fan, too, so just lots of great…there’s so many great things out there that could help us just get through this time for sure, so many great supplements, so many great tools that you just talked about. I think we’re very fortunate to have all those tools in our toolbox.
Katie: I agree, and I’ll make sure, like I said, that everything is linked in the show notes, and if you guys are listening, I’ll also put swipe up links to these things on Instagram, so you can find them.
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I know as a lot of supplements and supplies are selling out everywhere, are you guys still in stock of these? Can people still get them?
Tina: Yes. Thank goodness, we just got a huge shipment in like two days ago actually, and so we’re really fortunate because it has been selling like crazy. It’s unbelievable how quickly it’s been selling, especially the IgG and the probiotic, of course, is always a top seller for us, but the IgG is just going crazy because we keep hearing about it.
You know, you listen to the press briefings, the White House press briefings, and you always hear the doctors talking about the IgG and your IgM and your IgG, and so I think people are starting to understand, “Wait, I need to pay attention to what IgGs do in the body.” So, yeah, that’s been selling like crazy. So, right now we do. So hopefully, it’ll stay that way so we could get it out to as many people as possible. We actually did start putting a limit on orders because we just don’t want to have a hoarding situation either because that was happening in the beginning, too.
Katie: Got it. Yeah. And that’s another thing to speak to from, like just the mom side through all this is I know there’s all kinds of encouragement online to please not hoard and only take what we actually need right now but just to reiterate that and also to be supportive. I know like I’ve been texting people that live near us and just checking in like, “Do you guys need anything? Can I leave anything on your porch?” You know, like I think that aspect of community is really important as things do stock out, which is really sad to see, and especially I know there’s even some elderly people in our area that weren’t able to get things like toilet paper because people were hoarding it. And so I also just encourage people like check in. I know we can’t like physically check in, but check in with people near you and see how you can support and build community. And I think like if we all focus on that. Hopefully, this thing will end soon, but if not, we’re all gonna get through it better than we entered hopefully.
Tina: Absolutely. And, yes, that’s I think another…I’m glad you brought that up, too. Just helping everybody in the neighborhood and community has been great, and I think it’s been great for the kids, too. And I think that’s another great thing to do for the kids is getting them involved in that, and maybe riding their bikes and bringing over a couple rolls of toilet paper to the elderly and other people in the community that are immunocompromised and shouldn’t be going to the store at all either.
So, I agree. Another gift is to show the kids how to give back because I think kids are so focused on their activities, and we have to go to this practice and this practice, and we’ve got homework and do this. It’s like this is a time to allow them to give back more than they maybe had time to otherwise.
Katie: Yeah, such a good perspective. Okay. So on a practical level just dosage wise. I know that neither of us are doctors, and we’re not trying to give medical advice. Although, for anyone listening, I know telemedicine is what they’re saying is the option right now. Like, don’t go anywhere unless you absolutely have to medically. So I will put a link to SteadyMD, which is my form of concierge telemedicine that I use with our family. So, if you do need to talk to a medical professional, I’ll put that link in the show notes at wellnessmama.fm. But without giving medical advice, Tina, I’m curious, like just walk us through what dosing you’re taking of all the different products right now to support your immune system.
Tina: Okay. Sure. So the probiotic I take normally I would take one a day. During this time, I’m taking two a day, and when we say two a day, I take two at the same time, and you always take it after a meal. That’s what I always do. But, you know, one or two a day is so, so important, and even if you took a half of the capsule every day or one capsule every other day, you are in such a better shape than somebody that’s not getting these spores in them. So I would definitely recommend doing that.
The IgG is probably my next priority. I take four of those a day. The normal dosage is four a day. The only reason I have my parents, my in-laws taking more than that because I just really wanna make sure that they are totally supported because they are saying it’s affecting the elderly a little bit more. Not that I consider any of them elderly because they feel so young, but they meet the age criteria, so four a day for most people.
You could take up to 10 a day because the study that was done on the ingredients actually was 5 grams, 4 capsules of our product is 2 grams. So anyway, you could take up to 10 capsules, but I usually take 4 a day. I take a scoop full of our prebiotic. Of course, the prebiotic is so, so important because it’s helping feed our good bacteria in our gut. So, I do that.
And then I take vitamin C. I take like four or five of the Paleovalley vitamin C. I’m taking about 30,000 IUs of the vitamin D but mostly trying to get outside trying to do that. What else am I doing for… I have so many supplements, Katie. You could only imagine, and, of course, our vitamin K2 I’m taking. Because when you’re taking vitamin D, you need to take the vitamin K2.
Oh, our Gluten Away product. That’s the other thing, Gluten Away. I mean, we don’t need to get into that. We could do a whole other episode. But that’s really important because when we’re eating gluten, there’s a study that show that everyone that eats gluten, even if you don’t have any outward symptoms of gluten intolerance, it is still showing this inflammatory response. So, I’m trying to take gluten away before I eat so it could help protect a little bit of that. It’s not a replacement for a gluten-free diet and that we could talk about that later. Mostly the probiotic, the IgG are a number one priority, our prebiotic K2 vitamin. And then vitamin C is also probably number three priority and vitamin D. That’s about it. I know I’m taking more, but I can’t really remember them all.
Katie: Yeah. I’m in a very similar protocol, and I’ll type that out and put it in the show notes so you guys can find all of those things directly. But I think as we like get close to wrapping up, it’s important to reiterate where we started, which is like do all of these things physically to support yourself and your immune system and get sleep and sweat and take supplements. But also at the end of the day, mindset is huge as well, especially for either moms listening, like our mindset so often affects the whole family. It like kind of has a ripple effect, and so to the degree that we can stay positive and grateful and all of those things, that will help our kids navigate this as well, and just to focus on the blessings that are hidden in this in the family time and the ability to for those of us who are home have more time to focus on things and projects and stuff that we’ve been waiting to do.
Tina: Yeah. I could not agree more. The mindset is so important, Katie. And the one thing I forgot to mention is affirmations and just saying that. You know, being careful, like you said, with your words, the words that you use but saying things like, “I am perfect health. I am health. I am in perfect health or I am healthy,” or whatever it is that you wanna say, but saying those things out loud. And it’s not that they miraculously happen. It’s that you’re putting that out there to the world, and then you make choices that will support a healthy lifestyle. So I think, you know, saying affirmations and having that positive mindset is so, so critical to your immune health, is so critical.
Katie: I agree. And like I said, links to everything will be in the show notes at wellnessmama.fm. So if you guys are hopefully maybe in the sunshine exercising while you’re listening to this, you can find all of the links there. And you guys leave comments in the show notes, and both of us will answer questions. I know we both wanna be to whatever degree we can be remotely a source of support for any of you guys, and I think the community is so, so important right now. And I’m so grateful for the “Wellness Mama” community and, Tina, for you and for your family and for everyone spreading positivity and being a source of support right now.
Tina: Well, thank you, Katie. I’m so grateful for you and for the platform that you have for people and listeners. You are an amazing human being. So thank you.
Katie: Well, thank you. And thanks to all of you for listening, for sharing your most valuable asset, your time with us today. We’re both so grateful that you were here, and I hope that you will join me again on the next episode of the “Wellness Mama Podcast.” And I hope that soon it will be with all of us not in isolation, but stay positive and stay grateful and stay well.
If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.
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