Meg has been working as a Registered Dietitian for 15 + years. She has a diverse nutrition background in a variety of areas including: Eating Disorders, Weight Loss, Cardiac Disease, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Food Intolerances/Allergies and Diabetes. Meg earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition and Dietetics at Saint Joseph University in West Hartford, CT. Harmony With Food™ Radio Show on News Radio 920AM WHJJ and 104.7FM on the radio or stream it live every Saturday from 11am-12pm EST

In today's episode of the Harmony with Food podcast, we talked about why it's so important to go beyond the surface level for your health with tests for gut health, micronutrients, and more!

Is your doctor skimming the surface?

I have a lot of respect for conventional doctors and believe many of them are doing great work, but the truth is they don't learn very much about nutrition, the microbiome, or micronutrients. Are you having digestive issues? Weight loss resistance? Trouble sleeping? Testing can help with that!

Oftentimes, doctors can't run the type of testing that helps me dig deeper because it isn't covered by insurance. That's why I talk so much about becoming your own healthcare advocate. Don't leave your health up to your doctor and the insurance!

Leaky Gut

I have some news for you, if you've been on an antibiotic, even once in your life, you probably have leaky gut. What is leaky gut? Well, your intestine is made up of tight junctions. Think of it like cheesecloth. Certain things are supposed to get through your intestinal wall and other things are supposed to be filtered out. If you've been on antibiotics, you're eating a lot of junk food, drinking too much alcohol, or on certain medications, it can affect the integrity of your intestinal wall.

When you have leaky gut, it can lead to GI issues, fatigue, weight loss resistance, and more.

Fixing Dysbiosis Through Testing

One of the most important tools I use for healing dysbiosis is the Gut Zoomer 3.0. It helps me look at whether the gut flora is balanced, whether any beneficial bacteria are missing, and if there are any inflammatory bacteria or other microorganisms present.

One of the most common features of dysbiosis is low diversity. There are two main factors: richness and evenness. Richness refers to the number of different species present in the certain niche, and evenness compares the uniformity of the population size of each of the species present.

We look at two different indexes for this, the Shannon's index and the Simpson's index. We want to have a high number for both richness and evenness.

Having this information can help us figure out which probiotics and supplements will be most helpful to you. It can also help us decide what types of foods you should be eating.

When you just try different diets and supplements, you may or may not be trying the right thing for you and you wind up throwing time and money down the drain. With testing, we can get more targeted and help you heal faster.

Micronutrient Testing

Micronutrient testing really goes hand in hand with testing for gut health. This testing can help us figure out exactly which nutrients you may be missing. Nutrients play a huge role in our health. Certain metabolites can actually slow down your metabolism.

Your doctor may check a few things like iron, Vitamin D, and Vitamin B12, but there is so much more! Your vitamin levels can influence immune dysfunction, anemia, homocysteine, depression, fatigue, and anxiety.

If you're interested in getting testing done or learning more, you can head to the Biounique Boutique and set up a free 45-minute call with me to get started!