Probiotics: With Brenda Watson
Probiotics have been receiving more and more attention lately, with good reason. They can drastically change the state of our health and are key components to many of the body’s functions. Although they may serve to improve your digestive health, they also have the ability to improve your skin, cognitive health, heart health, and can help boost your immune system.
MEET Brenda:
On this week's episode we’re excited to have Brenda Watson on the show. Brenda is a gut health expert, with a career spanning the last 20 years of educating people on the importance of keeping your gut healthy and happy. She’s an author, educator, public speaker and TV host that is passionate about sharing her own experiences in an effort to improve the digestive function of everyone she meets.
SOME POINTS WE DISCUSS:
How did Brenda Watson get into being a digestive health expert? (3:23)
Why is it that people may not be getting the desired results from their probiotics? (10:34)
What kinds of bacteria are in our digestive system? (12:46)
How do you read a probiotic label? (18:17)
What is SIBO? (32:48)
Should our pets take probiotics? (38:08)
SOME KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:
We all have a probiotic footprint and our environment, medications, and food impact our footprint. (10:48)
Probiotics are the multivitamin for the gut. (11:45)
A week to two weeks after stopping a probiotic, your body will naturally go back to a the footprint that you had when you were immunocompromised. (12:29)
Probiotics are not just to help you go to the bathroom better. They impact your whole body. (20:35)
Make sure your probiotics potency is guaranteed to the date of expiration. (27:17)
PRODUCTS + RESOURCES:
Thanks to this episode’s sponsor: Thorne.
GET SOCIAL WITH BRENDA:
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Brian Strickland 00:43 What's up everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Holistic Navigator Podcast, where we believe in the body's ability to heal itself. I'm Brian Strickland, the producer of the show. And today we have a very special guest with us in the studio, Brenda Watson. Brenda is a well known name in the gut health and probiotic community. And we couldn't be more excited to have her in the studio with us today. So without wasting any more time, we're gonna jump right into this conversation. Thank you so much everyone for listening. And we hope you enjoy the show.
Ed Jones 01:18 Thank you, Brian, for all of you out there listening, I do so appreciate your time, I value that. And I do want to request if you have found any value in anything you have listened to or any of my experiences, please rate and review the holistic navigator and subscribe because that is the gas that runs this engine. And I do appreciate every person who's takes their time out of their busy life and scheduled to learn more I'm all about and you've heard me before say this. I usually I do it at the end of the show. You know, I separate people into two different classes. Those who are non learners, and those who are learners and the non learners are going to be paralyzed throughout their life about health. Because it's it is a journey that requires solid, honest information. And that is one reason I am ecstatic today to have probably one of the most well known and credible people that we've ever had on the Holistic Navigator, Brenda Watson and welcome Brenda to the Holistic Navigator.
Brenda Watson 02:24 Thank you, Ed. I'm glad and so excited to be here.
Ed Jones 02:28 Well, Brenda Watson and I guarantee you that there'll be many people who will recognize your name from the PBS specials that you had on digestion and colon. But you've started this way before any other person that I know of, even after my 40 year history in this industry, there were companies but there was never an individual who who quite had the impact on educating this country, that our intestines is not a piece of plumbing. It is an organ that requires knowledge to for its care. For his rebuilding, it requires a good healthy colon for the proper mental emotional balance from anxiety to depression. It requires had knowing how to feed the colon and knowing what's damaging it in order to live a healthy life. So tell us a little bit about your history. And how in the world did you get so involved in being this expert that you are on colon and health?
Brenda Watson 03:34 Well, you sort of said it. In the beginning, it was a long time ago. And back, you know, 25-30 years ago when I started my own path towards natural health. I had a lot of digestive issues. And that came as a result of having probably too many antibiotics as a child, certainly too many antibiotics. So I had health challenges starting in the first grade with migraine headaches. Can you imagine that migraine headaches in the first grade hospitalized for them, and then it went into many other conditions and I never really realized until I got into my later on after high school into my 20s all through my 20s that my real problem was my colon and that I had constipation. I didn't even know what constipation was because no one told me. I didn't know you had you need to do to eliminate every day. So as a result of healing myself and remember this is in the the 80s. So colon health then was considered weird. What I did was weird. I mean, it was like I was cleansing and doing fasting and juicing and things like that way back then for myself. And I was so enamored with the results I got by changing my own health that I decided I had to go back to school and learn nutrition, and I live in Florida. And Florida was always a little bit ahead in terms of when the, you know, more traditional doctors started turning were more towards Holistic Health functional medicine. So I was very fortunate that once I went back to school, I went to work in a very busy clinic. And back then, and this is in the early 90s. Then back then we were doing, you know, acupuncture colon colonics, we were doing detoxification, like, you know, you sit in one of those steam cabinets with your head out. We sweated and, and we had, you know, wraps with clay. We did all sorts of things. And so that was my experience, in the beginning was working in a clinic. And then I decided I was going to open my own clinic. So I had five natural health clinics back in the early, early 90s, all through the middle part of Florida. And I learned a lot from working with, with clients with doctors, patients, I work with a lot of cancer patients. And so I also became an herbologist and began to formulate products and learn more and more and you know, Ed back then, we didn't even know, probiotics. I mean, we knew we knew the word acidophilus. That's what that's what everybody called it was acidophilus. So, as we evolved, I guess more into the light. I think my first lecture on leaky gut was in 1994.
Ed Jones 06:24 Wow.
Brenda Watson 06:25 And so I now I see everybody talking about it. And I'm happy that you know, the word is out there and people are becoming aware, I just was fortunate enough to understand it from very, very early on. And then I began to teach for the state of Florida anatomy physiology, which was wonderful for me. And so I stayed within the digestive care area, because it was what I knew, from myself and from working with many patients. So that's how I got started. That's how I got started in formulating products and bringing products to the Natural Products Association. And then in the late I guess, the late 90s, is when the probiotic we actually got a name for it probiotic. And we got the name going. And, you know, we began to bring awareness to the to the probiotic field, the real change happened in the early 2000s, when the when the national National Institutes of Health funded the Microbiome Project. And that's when we really evolve scientifically with probiotics. Because before then these, you know, and I interviewed all these guys at Colorado State, MIT. So I went around with PBS and did a lot of interviews in 2015 and 2016. But when they got money, because scientists, you know, in these universities, they have to have money to study things. So they begin to study the whole microbiome. And so that's how we were we are where we are today.
Ed Jones 07:52 What a wonderful history and you truly do have a PhD in life knowledge as to natural health and colon health. You couldn't go to school to learn what you learn, you had to do it, the old fashioned hard way, being the the frontline, the first group of people to actually journey into this whole conversation. I remember well, back in the 90s, because I've been I started this in 1979. A friend of mine, and I we were so into this colon health and cleansing, of course, I was doing colonics locally here for myself in the early 90s. And I actually think late 80s. And we would take wheat berries and ferment them. And wheat berries, of course are the berries you grow wheat from a farmer would but when you put wheat berries in a liquid and you ferment it, it is the most nauseating, sickening smell I have ever had in my life. And just speaking of it, I can still have that smell in my nose. And I can't believe I drank it. But I did. And I would take there was a product called huglin forte. And I don't know if you remember that it was from Germany, it came in a big box. And I would take that and I would put it in my enema. And I would blow up like a balloon because of the just the way it worked. But I was you know, again, I think I was ahead of the curve intuitively realizing that if we are going to live a healthy life, the colon has to have integrity has to have a type of balance. It has to be fed and nourished. And a huge part of this is the probiotics. Now, you know some people who are non supplement believers say why do we need to even take something because we should get everything from our foods and or this and that. But anybody with any history knowledge, if you look back even 50 years ago, let's say 1960 1950 you know, we weren't a nation that was taking an antibiotic from prescription every other month because we had a freakin little ear infection or a hangnail that looked red. We were also not ingesting all the cattle with the level of antibiotics. We didn't have glyphosate, which is Roundup, which really is an antibiotic. I mean, we're killing off quicker than we can rebuild it unless you have knowledge. You know, I've done about 12 stool tests through multiple companies. And I'm always somewhat disappointed in how my levels are, despite the fact that I'm feel like that I'm more aggressive than almost anyone. Why is it that you think that people who are walking into any health store any drugstore, any place that sells probiotics are probably not getting the results of implanting the right good guys, and then explain what the good guys really do?
Brenda Watson 10:48 Well, okay, that's a good question. First of all, when when what you're saying is, is very true. And the problem of it is, is when when we're born, whether we're born through birth canal, or ceserian, and ceserian of course is more more of a struggle, because the child doesn't get it get a footprint, unless the mother is smart enough to give them probiotics after they're born. And if they go through the birth canal, of course, they get whatever the mother has, one of the things that's very important to understand here is we have a footprint. Now, Ed, if you've got someone, like you said, coming into a health food store, and they have had that round and round and round and round of antibiotics, or exposed to glyphosate, whatever, and the the meat and all that, that we have antibiotics in their footprint is compromised. There's no doubt and I do still testing myself on hundreds of people, and all myself. And you know, what's interesting is and that this is one of the reasons I call probiotics, the multivitamin for the gut. Because if you have a compromised immune system, and like with me, and many people I work with their, their good bacteria has been wiped out. And it's not all just antibiotics. I mean, it's toxins, it's chlorine in the water. I mean, you could sit here all day and talk about the reasons that we don't have a good bacteria balance in our microbiome in our gut. However, one of the things that's very important is if you're not taking a probiotic, your footprint will go back to what it was when you are compromised. That's what they proven in clinical studies. A week to two weeks after stopping a probiotic, your body will naturally go back to a the footprint that you had when you were immune compromised. And that's what happened to me because I am immune compromised, but from what happens, so the good bacteria has to be re implanted. Now, to give you some some information, there's three kinds of bacteria in our digestive system. And think of this visual, it weighs the weight of a brick, three to four pounds is what we have inside of us.
Ed Jones 13:03 Wow.
Brenda Watson 13:04 Now, it's made up of three types of bacteria beneficial, which is the good guys, we hear a lot about lactobacillus and bifidobacteria, we have another type of bacteria in us, which is called neutral. Neutral means does neither good nor bad. It's just there. And then we have pathogenic. So each and every one of you sitting out there and us sitting here have a combination of these three types of bacteria, beneficial, neutral, and pathogenic. Now, if you keep your good bacteria and your neutral bacteria at about 80% of that brick, think about it that three to four pounds, then the pathogenic guys cannot raise their ugly heads, because it's like an army inside you. They go in and they go, Oh, that's a bad one. We want to knock him right down and keep him at bay. It's not that he goes away. It's just that he's not stimulated to proliferate and grow. And when the good bacteria goes away, like we're talking about, then that beautiful mucous lining and I say beautiful mucus because most people are mucus, but mucus is good. And when we talk about the mucous lining of the digestive system, the reason we have it is because it keeps that lining of the gut, which sits right there next to the bloodstream. It keeps it semi permeable, meaning it's like the screen on the window of your house. It lists the air in into your house but keeps bugs out. But when that mucus is gone, and you've got that inflammation and leaky gut is kind of like the screen gets holes in it. So the bugs can now enter the bloodstream circulate throughout your body causing inflammatory diseases. And so when we look at probiotics, we have to look at, okay, we have to have we now know that potency and number of strains is very important. You have to really know what you're purchasing store because, you know, you can walk into a store and I tell you, I can see how consumers confused. I mean, it is overwhelming what's out there on the shelf, you know what I mean? So the point being is you got to know what you're looking for. One is you want to make sure that you're looking for something that has the proper labeling, and that's very important. You want to see three names on the supplement panel fact you want to see if it's lactobacillus, you want to see lactobacillus. You also want to see that's the species. You also want to see the I mean the genus, you also want to see the species, which would be acidophilus, lactobacillus acidophilus, and then you would also want to see the strain. So that's three names, just like we have three names, three names on a box, and the strain differentiation. So you might see on a box, like a lot of lactobacillus acidophilus, but there are different strains. And here's the reason they don't all do the same thing. Most people add don't realize that there's a primary purposes of probiotics, most people think, Oh, well, I'm just going to go in and take a probiotic for, I don't know, immunity, or maybe they're having a GI problem. But really, the reason that you're taking the probiotic is because it has a primary purposes, it's not only that it's going to kill a pathogenic organism in your body is also going to help you with food allergies, it's going to help keep the mucosal barrier intact, it's going to make vitamins B and K. I mean, these are big important things. It detoxifies heavy metals. Do you know add that as we age, in many cases, people are losing bone, of course, with with with loss of bone? Yes, we're lead stored in the bone. So as we lose bone mass, then that lead is released into the bloodstream. Will probiotics help with detoxifying lead and mercury and those types of things? Most people don't know that they think of it as mostly as well. I've, you know, I've got you know, a digestive issue. And it does make enzymes and it does help with digestion. All of it does, but it really has a lot more purposes just like a multivitamin has that we take or for other reasons.
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Ed Jones 18:17 That is so well spoken. And yes, that's a lot of information again to digest. But here's where I see that I'm looking at the label of Vital Flora, which is your brand of probiotics. I can tell you through all my four decades of looking at labels, and we actually, you know, the business I have has about 12,000 different products in it. So it's it's a big deal to really know all of that. But when you talk about the species, like when you look at the word lactobacillus acidophilus, if there's not another designation after that, what that means is that you're really not sure what you're getting number one. And I know that I had heard some time ago, kind of and you tell me if this is correct, the kind of the explanation of that species is this. What if I had a big garage? And people were breaking into it? And I said, can you bring me some dogs over so that we can put them in the garage so that you know people if they break in they'll be you know, afraid and they'll run off? They won't steal my stuff. And you sure I'll bring you some dogs. And so I come a week later. And there's these poodles in there. Well, the poodles aren't gonna do one damn thing. So, you know, what do you did what I asked, you gave me a dog. No, the species is the Doberman. I want the Doberman in that garage. So is that accurate?
Brenda Watson 19:52 That's well put Ed, off the top of your head that is really, really good.
Ed Jones 19:58 So we got the right dog. So when I Is your label, you have the exact right animals for each of these, because when you go into PubMed, and you go into the real solid research for those who are skeptical, who are listening, we don't have to be anymore. We were not living in the industry that you and I grew up in, which was very minimal as far as traditional PubMed studies, because no one cared about what we did. And it was so fueled by just drugs and other things. But you know, what we now know, and part of it is capitalism, because there's a profit potential, there's people spending money, thank goodness and many ways. Now, again, you know, I'm a huge believer in advising people who have anxiety who have who have depression who have immune disorders, because you're right, most people who walk in, I want a probiotic because I need to go the bathroom better, or I need to digest. That seems to be the perspective of people have kind of what the benefit and you're of course, fully explaining, it's almost life changing, and is life saving, to put these good guys in. Again, when I did a lot of those skill tests, as you have, I found sometimes I might increase of 15 to 20%. But I write my stool test, like I would a report card, I truly have not been able to get above a, say a b minus. And that's depressing to me, because I am a perfectionist about my supplement program and my eating habits and all the things so what can I take first off just Paramount information before I forget it, can I take more than the label says if I feel that I need more?
Brenda Watson 21:40 Absolutely. You can't take too many probiotics. I mean, absolutely. Like, for example, if someone was dealing with c-diff, I see a explain that. Clostridium difficile, which is an antibiotic resistant bacteria causes extreme diarrhea. I've had people take, you know, up to 200 billion in potency twice a day to get rid of it. So yes, you can take more.
Ed Jones 22:06 And then I love the fact you brought that up, because my father passed away from C. diff. And it was antibiotic induced. And you know, there are many cases as we age that did just, you know, you almost can't say no to an antibiotic, when you're 70 you've got a UTI, you're in a you know, you're in a assisted living, you really have your hands tied. So, you know, he took the antibiotics over and over and then all of a sudden, you know, the symptoms, which is massive diarrhea that will not stop. If he had taken that preventatively, do you feel that it would have lessened his chance to get this? And secondly, let's say he didn't take it preventatively and he started getting it. It could also benefit him in high doses to take it even with the antibiotic.
Brenda Watson 22:57 Yes, I would. But you know, you always separate it, where you take the antibiotic within four to five hours of the probiotics. So yes, it would have helped him. I can't tell you the cases I've worked with with c diff it's been overwhelmingly positive of the people that I've worked with that have gotten results with the probiotics. And you know, I even filmed fecal transplants, really, yes, I went to Boca Raton hospital, and I had an interview with two twin twins, twins, two sisters, and she had C diff and this was a case I had nothing to do with, right. I mean, it was just that they I wanted to film a fecal transplant. And so I went to Boca Raton hospital with the GI doctor. And so her sister, she used her sister's sample, and they were they sterilize it, and then they re implant it back in and she got over it. Now, when they do a fecal transplant, there's at least they know 38 to 40 strains of good bacteria that they're transplanting into the person Yes. And that's why we'll The next point we'll talk about is strain diversity. But that's exactly what cured that lady and now at MIT and some of these other places, they're really getting into the fecal transplant. Now it's not for everyone and I'm not saying everyone has to do that has c diff but please if you do have it, it's a dangerous condition. And even if you have to take this to your doctor there's I just don't think there's many doctors today Ed that won't say that they you know that they've tried everything, the person still has diarrhea that they're not going to say it's okay to take a probiotic.
Ed Jones 24:37 You're exactly right. And you know, my father passed away probably nine years ago and it was only barely okay nine years ago, it is okay now because it has shifted where they would look like absolute fools if they don't say that. You know, the, I love the whole thing about fecal implants, so which somewhat frustrating to me, I read a book called the microbiome solution by Robin Chouqcon. And he she's a gastroenterologist has some great, great ideas about, you know how to replace the microbiome. She actually gives us kind of odd, but she gives homemade advice of how to, you know, do your own fecal transplant, because what does it cost for fecal transplant? It sounds ridiculous. Someone in the store said it was 25,000.
Brenda Watson 25:27 It's got to be expensive. I mean, got to be.
Ed Jones 25:29 Yeah. And you know, the idea of it is not super pleasant, but I had c diff, and nothing was working, I would certainly do it because it has no downside. You know, everything that I think about every person I advise, I say you weigh the risk against the benefit of any treatment you do. And that includes even in the area of nutrition, but the risk of so many things out there in mainstream options is greater than the benefit. So be a wise consumer. But the thing is, why can't we get the same results from probiotic supplementation that a fecal implant does because fecal implants, literally, as you know, can turn a person around in 48 hours?
Brenda Watson 26:09 Yes. So here's why. Okay, science has now caught up. And so one of the reasons is you don't take enough, okay, they're not using a product that has a delivery system. And I'm going to say this, I will say this very clearly. If you go into a store, I don't care what store it is health food, store, whatever, and you're purchasing a probiotic. If it's not in a delayed release, or some type of release. Enteric coating is outdated. Now, we use delayed release capsules, excuse me. And so you have to have that delivery system. The other reason is, because we're not giving them enough of the strain to give them strain diversity. Like I said, there's 260, different lactobacilus and they all do different things. So to go in with a product that says has that maybe has 10-15 strains, you can read them on the supplement panel facts it with a person with C. diff, you're not going to get the results Ed. You see what I mean? Is delivery system is make Okay, no big deal, making sure that the company is guaranteeing potency to time of expiration. That's critical. And in now you see time of manufacture. What does that mean? I mean time when you factor in it sat on a shelf. You don't you can't be sure that anything's in there. So those are quality things at that companies do. Now going back to diversity. In 2005. I came up with the with the 50 billion culture probiotic. 50 billion that was in 2005. And that was right after the first university had started doing some of the studies and I wrote the book, skinny gut diet based on bacteria having something to do with your weight. But anyway, they we knew then that potency was important. I came out with a 50 billion probiotic. People thought I was nutty. But guess what? I wasn't. Well, so time has come along, science has come along. And one of the things that's really important now we know just as important as potency is how many strains. Because of this one fact, we've gone back science has gone back and said, okay, we are losing strains that are never coming back. So they're gone. So these strains are very important. We have 1000s and 1000s of strains in our gut. And when the microbiologist around the world are looking at this, they're saying, Wow, I've got a study right here in front of me where they took people who, you know, we started out with hunter gatherers, we had a lot of diversity. And then we went to you know, the, the farmers and we had a steel, high diversity. But when we got into this urbanization and industrial world, and high sugar, you know, not wrong kind of fats, all of that kind of stuff. Then they started disappearing, and they're disappearing generationally. So they did it. In my studies, they took my studies, and I took a mouse in the wild that a wild diet had 1000s of strains, and then they started feeding them our diet. Yes, what it because they reproduce quickly, you can see quickly what's going to happen in their microbiome. So generation to generation, they got down to their strain being you know, really long and lots of strains into being very few. And that's going to hurt you know what that means for us. And it means that our branch, my grandchildren, my children, will have less strains than I will because they're not coming back. And so that's why with, you know, the vital flora, we really worked hard to get it at 60 strains. And, you know, potency, again, it's 60 billion cultures, which is the potency per capsule. But the 60 strains are very important because a lack of axcelis is mostly the, the good bacteria for the small intestine. And it begins to colonize in the latter part called the ileum. The bifidobacteria is your main friendly bacteria in the colon. And we just was seniors like me, people over 55, it declines with age, but this what they call it, now, they have actually an acronym for it. It's called l o, m, d, it's loss of microbial diversity. And this is what the scientists are calling this losing of strengths. Think about it, if you've got a strain, that's, you know, protecting you against pathogens, or making vitamins being okay or, or helping you against even cardiovascular disease, and those strains are gone. What do you think we're going to end up with our children and our children's children? I mean, we're bad enough today you see it every day in the store.
Ed Jones 30:58 Absolutely. You know, I love that topic and word diversity, because you know, I don't care what we deal with whether you're playing on a football team, you're flying an airplane, you're in a commune somewhere, we'd need a partnership to make it through life in a very safe and efficient way. Now, I want to say one thing, since it's still on my mind, you know, your product called Vital Flora and of course, it has your name Brenda Watson on it. And I know you're totally devoted to the support of an individual stores that believe in quality, believe in ethics, don't believe just in how much can we sell. And I just so we're so respect you for your commitment for that. So a person walks into a store, they want to look at a label, the two biggest bullet point says number one, they need to get something with bifidobacteria and something with lactobacillus. That's the first minor bullet point. Secondly, you want a lot of versions of those two categories. So you want a lot of different cousins to this to the original one. Thirdly, you want potency, so you don't want to 5 billion. And you know, I remember as you do, Brenda, I loved the brand colic when they had a probiotic, and they still do. And I was like, Wow, man, this is awesome. 1.5 billion, they still make it 1.5 billion. And there was a month that I took 50 of those a day because I was in the in the 90s realizing or at least intuitively, this is way too low. But what I so freakin love about yours is you list the species, because again, like my analogy of the dogs, you have to have the right species to get the right results. Now, what is cebo? Because it's coming up so often in conversations.
Brenda Watson 32:48 Ah, that is like, I'll tell you, it's epidemic, you know, Ed years ago, when we start talking about leaky gut, right, and, and that was back in the 90s. And so now what's happening is something called SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. And it occurs symptomatically in you if you bloat in the upper, up under your ribs right by your liver when you start bloating right there. Okay, that is because there is yeast and bacteria sitting right after the stomach and the first part of the small intestine, and it's fermenting producing methane, and hydrogen. Now, now let's think about that. They're not drinking alcohol. Most of these people that do have SIBO, but but because that methane is being produced right by that liver, than the liver is becoming fatty and it's of course, now an alcoholic fatty liver disease is epidemic. So SIBO has to be worked with, using some nice good herbs like you have in the store with maybe oregano, Uber ursi. Those types of you know, antifungal antibacterial properties so that you can get you can kill, you should not have bacteria in the upper small intestine. And if you do, then you're and here's why they do add, they do because when they eat at night, they don't wait three hours before they go to bed. So here's what happens. They lay down the spoon still coming from the stomach into the small intestine, and it's fermenting, you actually have a secondary backup called, I won't say this term, it's too complicated. But the enteric nervous system that controls your gut actually tries while you're sleeping to remove that bacteria and get it to the colon. You see what I mean? But when your gut foods still coming from your stomach into your small intestine, how can that happen? It doesn't happen. And so when people get this upper bloating, right up under their rib cage, Because I hear it all the time, that's generally SIBO. And generally speaking, they have leaky gut, generally speaking, they have yeast overgrowth, or some type of negative bacteria overgrowth. So it's important to do two things. First, they have to have something to knock down some of that negative yeast and bacteria. And of course, I'm always going to go to an herb, you know, always because they're the best. And then you want to repopulate. And make sure that you heal the leaky gut with the good probiotic, making sure. And also, the other thing that's in the vitae Flora is a pre buy. We have seven prebiotics in the ultimate in the Vital Flora seven prebiotics. Now, people want to know what what's a prebiotic, we used to call it fiber. Now, we call it prebiotics. Because it sounds better. But what that is, is the prebiotics is the food for the probiotics, and we have it right in the capsule there. So killing off the negative bacteria or yeast, and then repopulating and healing that leaky gut is, is really critical to SIBO.
Ed Jones 36:09 Wow. And you know, how many of us is not probably experienced some of those symptoms at one time or another and, you know, the whole concept of leaky gut. In fact, I just had a conversation at one and a half hours ago with a very, very credible physician, and he was a radiation oncologist who's now retired due to his own personal health problems. But you know, he's, he, he has a friend with Parkinson and and it didn't matter what question gets asked about super chronic diseases, we have to go back to the original foundations of why did we get sick to begin with, instead of treating a symptom? And I brought it up again, we have to look at this leaky gut. One quick question just on my own personal thing again, with leaky gut. Some people say to not do probiotics until you kind of get the leaky gut fixed. Is that a valid or not valid? That's only on SIBO. Only on SIBO?
Brenda Watson 37:04 Only on SIBO. Yeah, otherwise, you should start the probiotics and it was very, very important for the leaky gut is to take the at least 5000 milligrams of l glutamine in a powder. I don't like the capsules. So I'm gonna tell people that right away, a 5000 milligrams up to 10,000 milligrams first thing when you get up in the morning to heal the leaky gut, because gluten c glutamine is used in a lot of functions of the body. But the gut is so smart. That if you are if your gut is inflamed and needs healing, the glutamine, if you take it on an empty stomach, we'll go there first. Okay, heal it. Yeah, that's the that's how smart our bodies are to heal themselves. So it's important to get the glutamine in, it's important. I would do two weeks probably have some type of oregano, nose and things like that, and then immediately go on to the probiotics.
Ed Jones 37:59 Wow, you like are echoing my interview on leaky gut? That's for sure. And, you know, I know that. Also, because people may not have any clue of this. Probiotics are essential for our pets health also, right?
Brenda Watson 38:15 Yes, I have four dogs. So you know, I'm very, I love animals. And yes, we have dog and cat specific probiotics, because dogs and cats have different microbiomes. Cats are carnivores, dogs are omnivores. And a dog actually, you know, actually they did this thing called the American gut project. And what you did is you sent your stool sample and have your dog and you, right, this is at Colorado State. So they send them in and he could match the dog to the person.
Ed Jones 38:44 Oh, my you're kidding?
Brenda Watson 38:45 Yes. Without knowing who was who paths are different. They have to have more lacto they have different, you know, health problems. However, in our Flora Dog and Flora Cat, we have two clinically studied animal strains that that have been studied that are in that one. So you need a dog or cat probiotic versus given them your probiotic plus that it's it's less expensive to do that. And then yes, they need it. And ours just finished a study at the University of Florida. laughed about it a little bit about idiopathic, you know, we can't study anything. That's the disease. So we studied idiopathic diarrhea, which means I don't know why. And our Flora dog actually got two days quicker resolution than the antibiotic.
Ed Jones 39:36 Wow. Wow. And you know, I think and I don't mean to be harsh about I think the veterinarian industry is about where mainstream was in about 1980, which means they're so ingrained in the brainwashing of mainstream medicine. And it's, you know, there's whatever's wrong with the pet's health. Well, there's a drug that you need to fix. If you don't, your dog could die well, so they use fear to motivate you, they have lack of knowledge, they don't have a toolkit that they can pull from, I will be interviewing a holistic vet and I have done that three times before. And you know, once a person's perspective on health actually embraces the truth, which is the body has an intuitive wisdom for self healing. And the what we do is put is try to be a partner to that wisdom, and encourage it. And you know, what, if you just put a piece of tape on that red light of your dashboard, when it comes on you, you can keep driving, but you know, there's going to be a crash somewhere. And that's where we are with veterinary medicine. So, before we get at the very end here, if someone wants more information about your products, your company to learn more, how can they get in touch?
Brenda Watson 40:50 They can go to vitalplanet.com. And we have a lot of information on there. The company is called Vital Planet, the the we have Vital Flora, which is the probiotic we've been talking about, I am very dedicated to the independent natural products industry, as Ed alluded to previously. And so you know, you can go to your local health food store and look for it. And also, I want you to know that we're not gonna you're not gonna find us discounted on Amazon. So that's what I'm really proud of, because this is my second go round. And I want it right this time, you know what I mean? So yes go to vitalplanet.com. And you can look up and and get information and call us. I mean, we we have have a vet for animals, we have a vet, we're always there, we have a great customer service department to answer any of your questions. And we're very proud of bringing out the very first product that actually has the diversity, a science behind it, to put in 60 strains, this was quite a feat for us.
Ed Jones 42:00 Well, I can assure you, Brenda, that I will, before lunch is over, I will be taking your product because I have not at this point. But because I am the the one who experiments and is the guinea pig for myself so that I can share the information, I'm going to be doing that. And I feel very, very confident that it's going to be a positive journey. For me, I will say that there are times and I want people to know this. I mean, I've probably taken 100 different probiotic companies over the years, perhaps more. Some of those don't like me, well, and you know, why is that? Why is it I can take one and they say they're neutral or good, but then I'll take a different one. And I actually get what get problems that I'm trying to solve, which is more bloating, and maybe just not feeling well. Is that why?
Brenda Watson 42:48 Okay, so let me clarify something when you have when you're, when you're changing that microbiome, the first few days, you may have a little bit of gas and bloating because remember, you're going from good to bad, nothing changes without some react. Okay, probably some of the products that you were taking weren't doing anything. And then probably some of them had strain, a strain or something in there that you were reacting to. So that's that's the only way that I can say it.
Ed Jones 43:15 Yeah, but I still don't you do believe that sometimes we do have to be an experimenter and you may find brought one brand that would be feel more compatible than say another brand.
Brenda Watson 43:25 Yes, for me, I've always had a sluggish call. And that's probably why I got into clinics, but like my over 55 product, the Vital Flora over 55 I'm telling you what I have never in my life. I've always had to take something early. And now I can take that. And it's amazing what it's done for my colon.
Ed Jones 43:47 Last question with food or without?
Brenda Watson 43:49 Delayed release capsule anytime you want to.
Ed Jones 43:52 So doesn't matter. And I know the science behind that capsule is really exquisite. And it's very predictable. And again, you mentioned earlier, interior coating is a old fashioned thing of the past. We don't want that any longer because the ingredients made to make it number one are unhealthy. Secondly, it's unpredictable. It could be down in your toll and you'll never know it or it could be digesting early on. So that's old school. Time to grow up everybody and join the crowd here that have the the experts like Brenda Watson. Well, thank you, Brenda, anything else you'd like to add now
Brenda Watson 44:26 I'm so excited to be able to come in today and talk to you and get this message out. I'm excited.
Ed Jones 44:32 Well, you have again a wonderfully bright future because you are a gladiator and and I do believe the world and universe rewards those who have a heart such as yours. And I will say that on one of your on your website. I did say that Suzanne Somers that I admire Brenda Watson. She has a one woman Crusade for gut health and she went on and on and on about it. Well, I certainly admire you too. So thank you for joining us on the Holistic Navigator. And that's it for This week's episode. Thank you so, so much for listening. Until next time, I'm Ed Jones. And whenever a doctor cannot do good, please keep him from doing harm. Thank you so much.
Brian Strickland 45:13 Thanks for listening to the Holistic Navigator podcast. For more information, previous episodes and other resources, visit theholisticnavigator.com