Episode 077: Stressed? It’s time to trust your gut!
Episode 77: Stressed? It’s time to trust your gut! With special guest Dr. Patricia May
Leanne and The Boyfriend are ready to let go of some stress this week. In addition to taking their bike rides, they’ve also been making a point to do some yoga. They’ve been noticing that their high stress levels can really take a toll which inspired a conversation with Dr. May this week.
07:00 Meet Dr. Patricia May. Dr May is a licensed Chiropractor and Radiologic Technologist in the state of California. She is an experienced practitioner of both Acupressure Relief Technique and Neurofeedback. Dr. May has over 30 years of experience treating and educating patients and postgraduate students in the areas of natural health care. She has a passion for helping others to maintain and regain their health through natural medicine. She believes that information and education are the keys to achieving optimum health.
Stress can expose many symptoms, fatigue, hyperactivity, sleeplessness, anxiety, no energy, depression, and more.
10:02 Functional medicine looks at the body as a whole. A specialist looks at one specific part, but Dr. May looks at how everything is interacting. She examines what you’re putting into your body, your external environment, lifestyle, and symptoms to get to the root of your issue.
11:00 When it comes to what you’re putting into your body, it’s important to know if you’re body is even benefitting from it. So although you may be eating well, you may not be digesting it properly and all those other things may be affecting that. It’s important to get the benefits of the good
12:00: “It starts at the mouth and ends at the buttocks. Everything that goes in must come out eventually.”
13:20 Our immune system is determined when we’re born. When we come out into the world we already have some immunity. Fast forward, the immune system is adaptive to our environment. If we are under more than normal system, our body has to kick in and do extra work to manage the stress. If our body is focused on the stress, it’s easier for illness to creep. That’s why we tend to get sick when we’re under a lot of stress.
16:45: There are five pillars of stress that are the foundation of a healthy life – fun, spirituality, exercise, nutrition, and sleep. We need a balance of all these things for optimal health. It’s important to be selfish and take time to incorporate balance into our life.
21:45: So where does Dr. May start when she sees a new patient. She really has to listen to all the signs and symptoms, what’s going on in their life, what their history has been. More often than not, most things link to the gut. The gut is the root of so many problems that Dr. May finds this to be the obvious starting point.
24:30 Our gut is our second brain. Maybe that’s why we say, “I had a gut feeling” or “My gut tells me…”. There’s a lot of life in our gut and it can be related to things like hot flashes, sleeplessness, rage, anxiety, and so much more. If there is a chemical imbalance, things are going to get thrown out of whack.
27:00 Dr. May spends time with her patients to collect a lot of data. She asks about diet and nutrition. It’s important to examine what we’re putting into our tank. Our bodies aren’t designed to consume processed foods. Dr. May will explore what lifestyle diet changes can be made to improve your performance.
29:00 Leanne shares her personal experience in changing her diet. It’s funny how many times other people object to someone else’s personal choices to be healthy. There’s also so many misconceptions of what’s healthy and what’s not. Dr. May shares an example of breast milk. Corporations who manufacture the baby formula want to argue that and are fighting back because they don’t want to lose money. Look at how differently the younger generations are developing. Foods have so much more antibiotics and hormones in them than they did 30 or 40 years ago. Those chemicals have changed how people develop (facial hair, sexuality, development, etc).
33:25 Stress can contribute to overeating, undereating, and craving foods high in sugar or salt. This affects the gut. Dr. May shares some details of a leaky gut and how our immune system has to jump in and help out.
36:29 Losing weight from stress isn’t as healthy as we had hoped. It can eat up our muscle mass and/or cause heart problems. Of course, if someone is living a healthy lifestyle and losing the weight, they’re in much better shape.
37:35 Dr. May shares information about the Dutch Test which is used for some patients to help determine their hormone levels. Depending on the patient different tests are used to help find the root of the symptoms. It really depends on each individual person. She has no cookie cutter process because each person is unique. It’s like taking an onion and peeling back the layers.
40:23 Dr. May doesn’t believe in band-aiding issues. She prefers more natural methods such as nutritional changes. “If you give a body what it needs, it will heal itself.” 
45:00 Leanne shares her experience with food allergy symptoms. She had been allergic to soy for several years when she met Dr. May. Dr. May set her up on a program to reset her body through nutrition and Leanne is no longer suffering from allergy symptoms. Of course, Leanne had to go through a transition to change some of her eating habits, but the payoff was tremendous.
48:20 Dr. May guides her patients back to good health through education and support.
Tweetables:
Tweet: Dr. May prefers more natural methods such as nutritional changes. “If you give a body what it needs, it will heal itself.” ep77 #divorce #stress #functionalmedicine #holistichealth #leakygut #trustyourgut #nutrition #podcast
Tweet: Losing weight from stress isn’t as healthy as we had hoped. ep77 #divorce #stress #functionalmedicine #holistichealth #leakygut #trustyourgut #nutrition #podcast
Tweet: “It starts at the mouth and ends at the buttocks. Everything that goes in must come out eventually.” #divorce #stress #functionalmedicine #holistichealth #leakygut #trustyourgut #nutrition #podcast
Tweet: Stress can expose many symptoms, fatigue, hyperactivity, sleeplessness, anxiety, no energy, depression, and more. #divorce #stress #functionalmedicine #holistichealth #leakygut #trustyourgut #nutrition #podcast
Links:
http://www.docmay.net/
https://www.facebook.com/drpmay/
www.lifelafterdivorce.com
www.twitter.com/lafterdivorce
https://www.facebook.com/LifeLafterDivorce/
https://www.instagram.com/lifelafterdivorce/
Additional reading:
The Ultimate Guide To Stress Management