Heather 00:00:08 Hi. Today I'm with Sue Ritchie, and she's a holistic health and fertility specialist. She's the award winning author of Love Your Gut The Practical Guide to Sustainable Weight Loss from the Inside Out. And she's also co-author of a book of soulful musings, Rise in Pursuit of Empowerment, dance in the Fire of Life, and Voices of Hope. She runs deep, she runs deep. And today we want to talk about how your gut health can affect your fertility. You might ask what this has got to do with relationships, but I actually think our relationship with our body is the primary one, and how we care for ourselves affects absolutely everything else. And if this actually affects how we have children, if we can have children, this is pretty fundamental to us in this podcast. Welcome to. Hi. Lovely to be here, Heather. Thank you for inviting me. You are so welcome. So tell me all about you and how you got interested in the gut microbiome. Okay, right. Well, I'm going to try and keep this short because it quite could be quite a lengthy story and, whatever, but, basically, I suppose just to sort of set a bit of background of, of, of my life is, I had a corporate marketing career for, for, for many years at the senior level.

Heather 00:01:36 I started my own direct marketing business, and, I suppose it was probably now, and that life, if you like, was one where I was always constantly stressed, working very hard. in many ways, if you like. my actually realization later on was that my self-worth and my self myself value were tied up in my work and working and you know, so I was always sort of putting everybody first, not looking after myself, not prioritizing, you know, my own self-care. And that sort of ended up, if you like, with me being sort of being in a place that's probably about wealth. Yeah, maybe 14 years ago now, of having horrendous brain fog, horrendous memory problems, to the extent that I thought I was literally going bonkers, going mad, which is quite scary. I had no energy. I basically had joint pain, which meant I couldn't go out and walk in nature, which I love. and, you know, all of those sort of health issues. And it took about six months, visiting my doctor before I got a diagnosis.

Heather 00:02:54 And the diagnosis I got was Hashimoto's disease, which if nobody knows what that is, it basically is an autoimmune disease that affects your thyroid gland. Now, I'd experienced having sinus problems many years ago, and I'd actually, on the advice of a friend of mine, actually gone to see somebody who was a, alternative, therapist, if you like, looking at allergies and things like this. And with her help and taking some things out of my diet, I literally particularly dairy, never had sinus problems anymore. So with that background in mind, when I was sort of, given this diagnosis and it was like, so I'm going to feel like this for the rest of my life. and I was like, I don't think I really want that. I've got a lot of things I want to do with my life, you know, and hoping I'm going to become a grandparent and, you know, be a grandmother and all of those things. I want to be able to sort of have the energy to chase a child round the round the garden.

Heather 00:04:00 So with that sort of background of knowing about alternative things, I sort of said to my doctor that, well, you know, I can get my, you know, immune system well again and get my health back on track to be really sort of stopped in my tracks with her. Her response, which was. No. And in quite angry voice. No. That's impossible. You'll be on medication for the rest of your life. And in that moment I thought, no, I won't. and, you know, and I'm literally I made that decision then to do everything I could to really learn about what was happening, understand more about my health, and do all the research to find out how I could get myself well again, which is what I did. but in that, it really as well as sort of learning. the key thing was actually finding out that gut microbiome was the problem. And, you know, visiting a doctor's website in the, in the States where all of my symptoms, I could literally just tick, tick them all off.

Heather 00:05:13 and knowing, you know, what that was. But the interesting thing was, was that my body actually gave me the answer. And in getting myself well again, I had to really step back in my in my business, I, I shrunk, you know, I call it shrinking the business. I got rid of staff. I took the business back home. I decided I need to work with my existing clients and started to set really good boundaries for my work life balance. If you like taking time out in nature, meditating and, you know, generally just having a good look at my whole lifestyle, where I was, where I'd come from And, you know, doing a lot of work as well on really my emotional healing, childhood stuff and things like that. which is really all wrapped up in the whole story of eventually being able to recover, from Hashimoto's within 18 months. So the key for me was that in the meditation that I did on a regular basis, the actual the guidance, if you like, came to me intuitively by literally, and some people might find this a bit strange and a bit weird, but it literally was just a word was just dropped into my head and that word was Candida.

Heather 00:06:42 And having had that word, I then obviously followed that whole journey and finding out more about Candida, gut health, and things like that, and then took myself through the whole process of rebalancing my gut, healing my leaky gut. I changed my diet. I had to take gluten out. I've already taken dairy out. taking out sugar and, you know, really focusing on having a totally natural diet, with no processed foods. And how did that affect you as you felt you could feel? Obviously, your gut was different. You. How did you feel in your physical and your mental health? It was quite amazing because really, within a few weeks of making those dietary changes, and, you know, working on with supplements to get my body back into it, into a really good place and heal my gut. I all of the issues I had with brain fog and memory problems, the energy levels, all of those things disappeared within, you know, with a matter of a few weeks. And the other the other big bonus I got was that in three months, I lost £35 in weight, which I'd never been able to to shift doing all sorts of, you know, other stuff if you like.

Heather 00:08:08 in the past when you rebalanced it, balanced your weight as well. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's brilliant. and you know, actually going on that her whole journey of really stopping, really taking that time to look at myself, look at my life, brought up a lot of realizations and as I said once before, was that I really felt that, I, I've always been a very spiritual person and certainly, you know, in my childhood days, teenage years, but then, you know, life sort of got in the way. And it was a big realization of the fact that I really wasn't actually living a life that was in true alignment with who I really was as a person. Yeah. that that is fundamental. Because if you don't, you're always living in a cross current. Yeah. And, you know, all of those things are, you know, not setting boundaries, people pleasing, avoiding confrontation. All of those things sort of come into play. And it really means that you don't make yourself a top priority.

Heather 00:09:27 So for me, you know, the key learning was I need to practice self-care. I need to put myself first. I need to make my health my top priority. because I, you know, I can't be the best I can for my clients. I can't be the best I can for my family. and, you know, and I, I'm not going to be able to show up as the best version of myself. But that's not just for the benefit of others, but that's for the benefit of me, as well. Really? Yeah, yeah. And yeah, you don't want to be miserable with all of that. And I was thinking about, you know, just how much, our culture is relentless in asking women to do lots and lots of men, too. But we're here primarily for women. And the. There's even a sort of in the British culture, I think, a bit of a scoffing or a judgement of vanity if you take care of yourself. Yes, I think I think that's right.

Heather 00:10:31 And I think that, you know, I don't know, I suppose it's we've had this sort of I suppose it really sort of came from the 80s, I think of, you know, it's, it's this whole concept of as women, we can we can have everything. Yeah. Yes. the cliche is that that means we do everything. Yeah. And the truth is, you know, we're supposed to. We're called human human beings. But we, we are where we tend to be human doings rather than human beings. And, you know, I just feel it's so important to, for everybody to just take that quiet time to step back, to take a look at themselves, to take a look at the life that you're living. Take a look at what's happening in your life and you know, is it really what you want? Or is it being pushed by, you know, all those thoughts of, well, you know, that's what somebody else that's what somebody else wants me to do because they think that I should be doing it.

Heather 00:11:33 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how do you see this, as the, the way it affects the health in the UK? Because if if lots of us are living in this way, how do you see it? What what's it affecting our health generally? Well, I think that I think there's a number of elements, but I think the biggest one, which I think is really being or maybe it's starting to being fully recognized now, with a lot of, the talk about how, you know, all the ultra processed foods and the amount of processed foods that we're eating, how they really have actually significant impact on creating very, you know, serious health, health issues for us. And I think all of that, you know, and I will admit to being a person who was addicted to busyness, as I call it. And, in all of that busyness, we are really forgetting about ourselves. And it sort of, you know, and, and I don't I don't know why, but we've seemed to have lost, touch with the whole concept of the pleasure of food, in a sense, the pleasure of.

Heather 00:12:50 But eating food, you know. In a social context, there's, you know, eating together as a family, having that family connection time round a table, sharing good food. And, you know, to me that's also when you're doing that. It's also good for mental health as well because it's, you know, giving everybody an opportunity to share and communicate and connect, as well. And I think connection is something that we're losing today with, with social media, which is becoming, you know, more of an online thing rather than the actual person to person, connection, which, yes, you know, is as human beings, we, we thrive on social connection. Yes. For me, there's the thing about emotional regulation. It's a very clumsy term for how we keep each other calm. You see it with a child that's distressed. Mother takes them in their arms or father takes them in their arms, and the child just settles because their anguish is absorbed into the parent's body. And then they can be calm again, and then you can get reassurances, verbal reassurance and all of that.

Heather 00:14:08 And we lose that if we're just on social media or busy with our phones or whatever we're doing, we're losing that ability to really cherish each other and calm each other. And there's the other thing as well. I mean, it does have an effect on your gut. It has an effect on your, emotional tension level. So, yeah, maybe you could speak a little bit about that and gut brain connection. Yes. Well, I think the the thing is, is like stress, stress is a huge problem. to today and it was stress has always been a huge problem for me. And stress has a big impact on our whole of our body and particularly on our gut microbiome. And stress is one of the key things that actually helps to get our microbiome out of balance, if you like. but it's also affected by what we eat and, nutrition and, you know, medications and drugs and alcohol, you know, all of those things, the contraceptive pill, all the toxins that we're exposed to today, you know, and we're exposed to a hell of a lot of toxins, which are really having a big impact on our health, but also on our fertility as well.

Heather 00:15:35 Could you say what some of those are just too quick? obviously pesticides, which are, you know, used on, on, on food. So many foods, hormones given to animals, you know, given to animals that were, that were eating. then you've got, you know, plastic. So you've got BPA in plastic, you've got PFAS, which are these sort of fire retardant chemicals that are used on our furniture, carpets, all of those sorts of things. what we put on our bodies because there are harmful, endocrine disrupting chemicals in body products, you know, moisturizers, makeup, cosmetics, all of those things which obviously, you know, we're putting on our skin and the skin has a microbiome as well. and, you know, we absorb things through our skin at a much faster rate than, than through the rest of our bodies. So all of these things, you know, it's so important to be looking at, the other things are the things that people don't consider a phase or also in, a lot of nonstick saucepans, which of course we're cooking food in, every day as well.

Heather 00:16:57 So there's a lot of things that, if you like, in modern day life, which probably weren't, you know, so prevalent around 40 years ago, and now having a big, big impact, on our health. But, you know, through our gut microbiome. And one of the things about the gut microbiome is as well is it's a key place because it actually it's connected to our brain and both of those organs. And I call the the the gut an organ, because in many ways it actually functions like an organ in the body. And they talk to each other constantly, throughout, throughout the day, all the sort of key hormones, a lot of the key hormones are managed and also balanced in the gut. And I think, you know, when you talk about, you know, more sort of depression and things like that and anxiety, that can come from the fact that you've actually your gut microbiome isn't in the best place. 80 around 80% of serotonin, which is that feel good? factor hormone.

Heather 00:18:04 you know, that's that's produced in the gut. It's not produced in the brain. Right? Goodness. Right. So if we're not producing that in our gut, then we're not going to feel very happy. Yeah. Yeah. And you know and you know and everything is holistic. You know from, from a health point of view is, you know, mind body and spirit are all connected to each other. We're not just a body on its own. and each has, you know, that connection and each has an impact on each other. So you know, how we think and how we feel affects, you know, the cells in our body and vice versa. You know, if we're not feeding our body the right foods, the right getting the right nutrition, then that has an effect on our mental health as as well. So what signs would we see in ourselves of poor gut health? What could we experience? Right. Well, I think the first one is probably the earliest signs.

Heather 00:19:08 And unfortunately, we just seem to get lots of television adverts that say you just need to take this stuff and it all goes away. Well, that's digestive problems, bloating and wind, which probably, you know, most people will think that, you know, it's nothing to worry about. you just take something that's advertised on the on the television, if you like, that's going to fix that problem. The problem is it doesn't fix the problem. It's really like putting your finger in the dike. And you're just ignoring actually the warning signs that something else actually is happening underneath in your gut that that is causing, these problems. So problems focusing, concentrating, you know, memory problems, brain fog, they're all signs, things like athlete's foot, fungal nail infections. a big one I think, for a lot of people is the cravings for sugar and carbs. And, you know, this is a is a big one when, you know, working with my clients as well, because people people feel that, they haven't got enough willpower, if you like to, you know, to deal with those cravings and, you know, oh, God, you know, I'm going to go for the biscuits or I'm going to go for some sweets or I'm going to go for, you know, I'm going to have a pizza because I really need those carbs.

Heather 00:20:35 And people end up beating themselves up because they think that they, you know, they they really should be able to control these, these cravings. But it's actually the bad bacteria in your gut. because it's favorite food is sugar and carbs and carbs convert into into sugar. That makes us want to eat more and more of those foods. Yes, that's a nasty little loop, isn't it? Yes it is. Yeah. and, you know, it's the thing is, you have to stop beating yourself up and, and really look to, to resolve the core problem. So the other thing could be mood swings, irritability, angst, anxiety, depression, obviously fatigue, feeling tired. You know, people who are suffering from chronic fatigue, autoimmune diseases, obviously I talked about mine, which is Hashimoto's, but other autoimmune diseases all have their, root cause, in, in a disrupted gut microbiome, skin problems like eczema, hives and rashes, they're, they're another sign of things not right with the thing.

Heather 00:21:43 And so it's, you know, and I think we tend to have this, typical, if you like, conventional medicine approaches. You've got something wrong with the skin. You put something on your skin, rather than taking the inside. What I call an inside out approach to to fixing the problem. and then obviously, you've got vaginal infections, thrush, you know, Candida, those sorts of, things that, that, that, that come into it, but also things like seasonal allergies as well. Hay fever as well can be, a factor of, the gut not being in a, in a good place. You know, when you talk about these things, I think about how many people I know who complain about quite a lot of them. It's, it's it's, it's a, it's a big problem and it's, it's quite, you know, it's nice to see that since I sort of started as I wrote my book, how now we're seeing so much more being talked about in the media about gut health.

Heather 00:22:46 about diet and nutrition. which is, you know, a really good thing. But the difficulty for, for so many people is, knowing actually how to, you know, how do I start to address this myself? Yes. Yes, of course. And, you know, like, with everything, you know, you Google online and you'll see one thing at one person saying something or somebody saying another, and you end up people can become incredibly overwhelmed, confused, if you like, about where to start. and that can lead to, well, I won't even start. And then of course, the big factor is, you know, you've got to make changes. And as human beings, we generally don't like making changes. No, no we don't. It's it's true. But it's really important if you want to live a long and healthy life and, and with our families to, you know, to create health for them, we don't want to be setting up the next generation with a poor biome and possibly even leaky gut.

Heather 00:23:48 Actually, you mentioned leaky gut before, so can you tell me a bit about that while we're at it? Yes. Well, leaky gut can, you know, quite often be part of this whole disrupted, gut microbiome. And basically, what happens is that the gut, if you like the I make it simple. So it ends up with lots of leaky, leaky holes. There are sort of joint pieces in the gut which then sort of open up. And so things that shouldn't get into the bloodstream, food particles and things like that, get into the bloodstream and your body being very clever and your immune system goes red alert it it it it it, these things shouldn't be here. and that's why you get this sort of immune response and auto immune response when, when your gut is leaking and when your gut leaking, it's really difficult for your body to actually use. Utilize all the vitamins and minerals and things that you might be getting your food. So even if you're actually eating a pretty healthy diet, you may not.

Heather 00:24:55 Your body might be actually lacking in in key vitamins and minerals. Right? Right. Okay. And presumably when you have those autoimmune responses, then that takes quite a lot out of your system just to fight that. It does. Yeah. Yes. Right. So what's the process to fix gut health. Feel better and be better. Well, I think the the key thing is really is, is sort of what I call and it's sort of a holistic approach of sort of called the sort of five hours, if you like. and that very much is looking at sort of, removing so removing potential foods that actually could be causing a problem. for a lot of people today. gluten is one of them. dairy can be another. And so really sort of stripping back if you like to not having sugar and, and, caffeine and alcohol and all of these things, for a while just to sort of really get, get the system, get those things out of the system so the body can work a bit better.

Heather 00:26:04 but then it's, you know, starting to replace things. and, you know, changing your diet to introduce really more, healthy options, natural foods, lots of, you know, vegetables, good protein, nuts, seeds, plenty of fiber, fruit. to really sort of, you know, start feeding the body with, with really good nutrition to really support, good health. and then it's also part of that process. Yes. You know, using prebiotics and probiotics to actually start to repopulate, the gut. because obviously taking sugar out and not having carbs and things like that means that the bad bacteria can't get hold of its food. So those bacteria start to to die off. And then obviously you want to replace, with good bacteria so that they can actually take over. And it's important as well to be eating the right foods that actually help the good bacteria to grow and thrive. in your gut and fiber, dietary fiber is one of the key things that's really important. And you know, when you're eating a food, a diet, which is very much, if you like a lot of processed foods or you're actually, you know, eating foods from, you know, takeaways and all of those sorts of things, you don't really know what the nutritional content is of those foods, and they really do actually harm the gut gut microbiome and, and cause disruption.

Heather 00:27:41 I'm getting a clear picture if I can just put in a minute because I'm getting a clear picture of do I want to feed the, the gut bacteria that are negative for me or do I want to feed the good ones. It's reminding me of that, that I think it's American native, saying, as you know, you've got a bad wolf on your shoulder and a good wolf on your shoulder. Which one do you listen to or which one do you feed most? You know? Yeah, I love that I love that that's a great analogy. It's almost a bit you know it goes a tangent with them, you know your negative voice and all that negative chatter that goes on. You know. Do you want to listen to that negative chatter or do you want to change that into a positive version. Yeah. Move towards health. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm sorry I interrupted you a little bit. Did you complete what you need to do to fix really. It's really, you know, doing all those things to rebalancing.

Heather 00:28:36 But the key thing is that with all of this is that when you do this process? The great thing is that what will surprise many people is that those cravings for sugar and carbs that you thought that you really were, you know, struggling with. Suddenly you don't have those really anymore. Wow. And once you start feeding your body, you know, healthy, good, nutritious food, natural foods, those sort of cravings for the most, you know, the the things that aren't so good for you just disappear. And, you know, you get the benefit because you, you know, your energy is much better. You feel calmer, less anxious, you sleep better and, you know, and you know, it does have that effect of feeling more positive about, you know, things, things in life. Yeah. I can really feel that. It's just that it's what do I want to feed is coming across really strongly in me. If all of that is possible, and I don't want to feed those nasty little creatures that are sort of parasitic on me and make me eat things that aren't good for me just to feed them, I don't want that.

Heather 00:29:52 And I think it's also about, you know, coming in to starting, you know, around, you know, being mindful of what you're eating as well, and making, you know, those choices that, that are good for you. and that, you know, fits back into this whole thing of, you know, really prioritizing self-care and taking care of yourself. Right. Yeah. And, you know, why don't we want to, you know, everybody sort of thinks that you go into being, you know, aging if you like, and there's this, you know, thing that you, you know, you've it's normal. Put it the way it sort of considered normal that, you know, all of these health issues come up as you age. But the reality of that is that it's not normal and you can age in a healthy way. Yes, obviously the body, you know, there is some deterioration and things do happen. But, you know, as we age, wouldn't it be better to be living a life where we are healthy and we can do things? I've got this fly here.

Heather 00:30:57 I have to excuse me, which is annoying. obviously something attractive about me, but I probably smell very nice. yes. It's helped me. Lost. Lost my train of thought now. yeah. So. Yeah. So it's like we have we have the choice to make, if you like, of whether we want to, you know, look after ourselves and be healthy. and I think, you know, a lot of the times we do have to take the time, actually, to do some healing, of, you know, things that have come from our childhood, From those, you know, events and traumas and things like that because they do, you know, they do get in the way of us, actually. You know, I think, you know, the probably the biggest one that, you know, people don't feel is they never feel good enough. and we're always trying to prove if you like, that was my thing, always trying to prove to others that I was good enough.

Heather 00:32:01 And that for me was why, you know, it was like I have to do all of these things. I have to be busy to prove that I'm actually good enough. Yeah. And then when we get stressed, we reach for the sugary foods because they do have effects on the stress hormones. So we get a nice little addictive loop starts. Absolutely, absolutely. So tell me how all this fits in with fertility. Yes. Interesting. Well, from where I my my whole view really on the fertility thing is that, it really pays to prepare for conception. And with all of the, you know, things that modern life brings, if you like the stresses and strains and issues that modern life brings. Fertility is under a lot of pressure today. and, but we can do things and we can take steps to actually get our bodies, our health and our mental state into a much better place before we actually, you know, get to that point of wanting to conceive a child. And, you know, we have a serious health crisis in the UK already.

Heather 00:33:17 And, you know, and it makes me so sad to see so many children, you know, young children having health issues, you know, when they're very young and seeing children was also being in that situation where, you know, they end up being carers for their parents. and so miss out on having a, you know, a proper childhood. and the key thing is that, you know, our bodies, if you like, are very clever. And if, if we are not, you know, having the right environment in our body, both from a sort of nutritional point of view, our bodies are very clever. And if our bodies think that they can't support, you know, conceiving a child and, and, and growing a child, if you like, then it's not going to happen. And stress is such a big factor in all of this as well because, stress, you know, is that sort of natural? very, what's the word? Almost like, you know, going back to very early humans.

Heather 00:34:27 It's a very ancient system that runs in our bodies that basically says, you know, you're being chased by this sabertooth tooth tiger. You've got to run like hell if you like, because you know you've got to save your life. and of course, the truth is, you know, that's not the situation that we're in most of the time now. it stresses of work and, you know, trying to keep up with everything. And, you know, one of the things that happens when you're in stress is that, you know, if you're running for hell to save your life, your body's not going to go, oh, yeah, I think it's a good time to conceive a baby right now. Right. So that's the sense of literally being on the run in life, never slowing down, never being in a receptive mode. We're always in an active mode. Get you and and basically the real the physical reaction in the body when when you're in that situation is it shuts down all the systems that it doesn't need.

Heather 00:35:31 because all it needs is for you to create enough energy for you to get out of that dangerous situation. That's that's a brilliant synopsis and I love that. Thank you so much. So. Where can people find you. Right. they can find me at my website which is WW dot sue hyphen ritchie.com and that's ritchie.com. I'm on LinkedIn. and I'm on Facebook. Lovely. Right. So it's very simple. LinkedIn. You're just Sue Ritchie. Yeah, yeah. And I see you're on Twitter too. Yes, I am on Twitter. Sue Ritchie coach. Yeah. So that's great. And where can they buy your book. So you on Amazon. Yes. The book is on Amazon. Lovely. Thank you so much Sue. It's been really enlightening and I hope it's going to be useful to everybody. Thank you okay. Thanks very much. Been great. Enjoyed it.