Gut Health: 9 Steps to Better Digestion

Hey guys, Dr. Josh Axe here with Jordan Rubin. Welcome. Today we're going to be talking about the 9 steps to a healthy gut. And Jordan, I know this is something so many people struggle with, our digestive issues. I know you have an amazing story and testimonial of what you overcame with your own gut health. So Jordan, we're going to get into the top 9 steps to overcome digestive issues. And by the way, I'm going to be sharing some of my own personal stories. I want everybody to hear Jordan's amazing story right now. I think it's really going to inspire you. So Jordan, give us a quick breakdown of sort of your story and some of these things that you did that really helped you transform your digestive health years ago.

Absolutely. And we're going to do a program that is dedicated to overcoming digestive issues in the future, but just to tease, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, Crohn's colitis actually, and it ultimately spiraled into diabetes, chronic fatigue, parasitic, fungal, bacterial, viral infections. I was down to 104 pounds in a wheelchair, all at the age of 19. I was desperate for answers, visited 69 medical experts. Conventional medicine failed, natural cures failed, and I was able to meet a man who taught me how to eat and live as the Bible says, and in just 40 days, I was able to see my gut My body and my life transformed, and for the last nearly 21 years, I've been on a mission to share what helped me get well with people all around the world. So very excited about that. We'll do a program where we talk about again conquering digestive illness, where we talk about my story more in depth. I have an amazing before picture that really was based on my faith in finding an answer, and I wrote about. A lot of this information in books such as Patient Heal Thyself, Restoring Your Digestive Health, and The Maker's Diet. So gut issues are core to all of us and something that I'm very familiar with.

Let's talk about number one, number one thing to get rid of.

Am I the Vanna White of this?

You are the Vanna White, yeah.

Can we just press a button and have things— oh wait, wait, wait, wait for it. Oh, Josh, it's absolutely a secret. And believe it or not, it's the least expensive, most effective way to boost your gut. Think about this. Now listen, there's an enzyme in our saliva called ptyalin. It starts with a P, P-T-Y, I believe, L-A-N. Now I forgot how to spell it. And years ago, there was a man who actually overcame an illness by chewing his food thoroughly. You see, carbohydrates are a major challenge with digestion. That's why—

Yeah.

The low-carb diet, the Paleo diet, the Maker's diet, the GAPS diet, it's all about Reducing certain carbohydrates. Specific carbohydrate diet, specific carbohydrates. When you consume starches, the digestion begins in the mouth. So here's the tip, chew every mouthful of food 50 to 75 times, count. I know that seems tedious, but if you chewed oatmeal or rice, starts out as sort of bland.

Yeah.

It will become sweet as the starches turn into easily digestible sugars. I promise you, if you've got gut issues or stress issues, post-meal gas and bloating, chew your food more thoroughly. In 2 weeks after counting, you won't have to count anymore because you will more thoroughly chew your food. I don't know about you, Josh, but when I was a kid, my mom said, eat, stop, focus, you're swallowing your food whole.

Oh yeah, my mom used to call my spoon a shovel.

Yes. So chew your food. It will be one of the most important things you do for your gut.

You know, I'll tell you, one of the really practical tips that I know that I follow and started following years ago when I wanted to support my own digestive health was chewing 30 times at least at a very minimum per bite. I've said some people say as much as 100 chews per bite, but again, and I would challenge you, do this this week for me, chew 30 times Before you actually swallow per bite, I will tell you, it is going to radically transform your digestion.

You're the lenient one. I gave them 75, you're chewing. You know, there are some weird stories about celebrities that premasticate. Have you heard about that where they eat their food before? Well, my parents used to call it ABC, already been chewed. But there's a reason why they do that because I think birds or some animal, they chew their food and then Feed it to their young because it's predigested. You'll predigest your food if you chew. He says 30, I say 50. Do it and let us know who wins.

Okay, so here we go. Number 2, mono meals. I'll jump into this and then pass it off to Jordan. So mono meals is a great way of really simplifying digestion. You know, in order for your body to break down starch versus, let's say, a protein, Your body has to produce very different enzymes and it takes a different pH to break down these foods. And this is a big principle within Chinese medicine. There's really 2 things that they follow when it comes to this. They believe in something called mono meals, which Jordan is going to talk more about. And then I'm going to talk about one pot. And one pot is where you put a bunch of stuff in a crock pot or a slow cooker or pot and you cook it for a period of days. And they believe many of the enzymes in the food, they call it one pot not only because Everything's in one pot, but because the foods become one, they believe it's easier to digest that way. But Jordan, talk to us about going back to eating mono meals. It's almost like eating like a baby. I mean, this is something I've recommended my patients do, is consume one food at a time. And when somebody's really sick and has a lot of digestive issues, you want to almost go back to eating like a baby.

And it seems counterintuitive because we're always taught to have this plate where we've got our meat, we've got our potatoes, we've got our greens. We've got our fruit, but back in the day, a lot of us who are in this natural health movement heard about food combining. Now, I don't agree that combining fruits and vegetables is bad and meats and fruits necessarily, but if you're seriously compromised, consuming mono meals can be great and it can be any kind of mono meal. For example, if it's protein, eat just a steak. And I know people think that sounds nuts. But I guarantee you, if you think red meat is hard to digest, try eating just red meat. Do you know there are people online, I read about this, that only eat red meat? I read about at least 5 different accounts of people that eat ground beef only for 5 years. Now, that is oversimplifying it and it's also not something we recommend per se, but the principle is there. Try eating mono meals if you don't feel good. One area where I really practice this, the food combining chart used to say one thing that I still remember. Melons, eat them alone or leave them alone.

Yeah.

I don't do well when I eat melons along with other foods, and so I always tell my kids, if you're going to eat melon, eat it by itself and wait 20 minutes until you eat something else. That's personally how I feel, but try a mono meal. We certainly don't believe you should do it all the time, but if you do eat or drink something to the exclusion of other foods, You'll find that it's easier to digest and that's why people will say, I'm on an all-carrot juice diet, or the grape cure. It's because of that principle. It is easier to digest and assimilate one single food if you do that. So if you're someone who's really not feeling well, that's a great way to ease your body's burden and digest quickly.

And this really leads us into the next superfood, Jordan, here, which I'm really excited to unveil. And this is one of the things Jordan and I have recommended people do for years now, and that's do what's called a bone broth fast. You want to talk about the ultimate mono meal is just drinking bone broth for several days. Of course, we love Bone Broth Protein. It's a great way to do a bone broth fast.

An easy way.

An easy way to get it done. Dina here says she's actually done a bone broth cleanse and she's a vegan, which, you know, and I've noticed that a lot of actually people that are vegans and vegetarians The sort of one area where they're bringing in an animal-based product is bone broth because they understand how important it is for taking care of deficiencies.

Can we talk about why quickly? Collagen is really critical for health. And while there are minerals and other compounds that can boost collagen, collagen itself is only found in animal foods. And bone broth is so soothing. Josh, we talked about this yesterday off the air at my house and I forgot to mention it, but One of my— all my kids, one of their first foods is bone broth, really mixed with the meat, etc., as well. And we put it in a blender and that is it. It's bone broth, chicken soup, etc. And one of my kids, my 9-year-old son Samuel, consumed it almost exclusively for a year and a half. That's all he wanted. And even today, if you say, Samuel, it's your birthday, what do you want? He wants chicken soup, he wants bone broth.

Bone broth.

is the cleanse for people that want a good gut. I have recommended it thousands of times, if not tens of thousands of times. It is soothing but also restorative. It is different than a juice cleanse. If you have constipation, for example, a juice cleanse can be really good for you. If you're overweight, a juice cleanse can be good. But for someone who has a sensitive gut, juice cleansing may make it worse.

Yeah.

And there's also a reason in Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine for that, they don't believe that you should consume cold things all the time because it shocks your system. Bone broth is warm, it can be room temperature, but it is a gut powerhouse.

Jordan, I want to mention this as well. I've got a new product idea, bone broth baby food. There you go, with all the junk out there today, I think bone broth obviously is really healthy for kids.

You know that meeting we're scheduled for later?

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, let the cat out of the bag. X-ray on the baby.

Oudfay. Yeah.

All right, so bone broth. So I want to touch on a few more points here and then we're going to jump into point number 4 here. So bone broth, the reason it's so beneficial, Jordan mentioned so many reasons, but proline, glycine, and glutamine, these amazing amino acids, I want you to remember this principle. A lot of times people— I'm getting questions here about things like, how do I heal this condition or this condition or this condition? There is actually no single food that heals your body. Your body heals itself. Okay, remember that your body heals itself. One of the reasons why bone broth is so beneficial is that it's just easy on your body to digest. It allows your cells and tissues to regenerate and replenish, and it really allows your system to sort of rest in a way. That's why it's so great for a cleanse or a fast. It's why it's the same product I use every single day, every one of my patients takes, and again, it's even great for kids. And so obviously bone broth. Fantastic, a must-have of our 9 steps for gut health. So Jordan, let's jump into step number 4 here, fermented foods. What are some of your favorites and why do they benefit the gut so much?

Absolutely. Sauerkraut is amazing. There's a lot of great fermented foods, first of all, but sauerkraut is amazing, kimchi, pickled vegetables as they call it are wonderful for the body. Do you know what I really love? And I didn't know this growing up, pickles, but not the pickles that most people eat. Raw, truly fermented pickles, which are pickled cucumbers, are awesome. Pickled or fermented beets are great.

Oh, yeah.

Pickled ginger is great. Wasabi is a fermented food. Miso is really good. Miso is fermented soybean paste, and so many people get hung up on, I don't even want to look at soy, soy-based ink I won't even write with. Soy is not your enemy if you consume it in a fermented form, organic, and whole food. Dairy products. People who love dairy can consume yogurt, kefir, amasi, certain cheeses. Cottage cheese goes through a fermentation if it's properly prepared. All of those can be good for many people. And then there's fermented beverages. Apple cider and coconut vinegars are really good. Kombucha is really good. Bottom line, consume more fermented foods. You know what else is fermented that people don't really talk about? Olives, you can get raw fermented olives and I have a 3-year-old, almost 4-year-old, Isabella, who gets olives with many of her meals. She's had some gut issues and we're going to unveil something here. If you're someone watching that has occasionally struggled with constipation, which means everyone who's watching because it is so common, I'm going to give 4 steps to overcome constipation and olives are a great part of that because they have several components.

Yeah.

If they are properly prepared, can be a powerhouse food that people don't talk about enough. They talk about the oil but not the olive. It's a fruit.

Absolutely. I'm pumped about this last step we're going to unveil too, Jordan, really excited. I want to mention this with fermented foods. You look at other countries and traditionally how a lot of our ancestors ate, I mean, they were sitting down there with sourdough bread. They were having these fermented olives and pickles. They were doing cheeses. I mean, it was this whole Jams and jellies were fermented.

Every condiment was fermented. Yeah.

I mean, it is really extensive and it's something we're missing. You want to talk about the 2 biggest things that our ancestors ate that we're absolutely missing in our diet? Bone broth and fermented foods. It's something that all of us need to be getting more of on a daily basis. And one of my favorites, Jordan, is kvass. They actually have a fermented beet juice which is fantastic as well. So obviously, and Jordan has mentioned this before, but organic acids, I mean, they're kind of like, You know, a great pH and fuel for probiotics in your system. So fermented foods, fantastic for that reason. And Jordan, there's great research on one of the probiotics in fermented foods, Lactobacillus plantarum, right?

Absolutely. That's in sauerkraut. Lactobacillus plantarum is getting a lot of press lately, as are many lactobacilli, but that's been one of my favorites for a long time.

Jordan, let's talk about step number 5, blueberries.

The reason I mentioned the cranberry is that everyone knows that cranberry is good for the urinary tract. When I say everyone, many people. I believe blueberries are to the gut what cranberry is to the urinary tract. Now, blueberries are amazing. We know they have what? Antioxidants. The blue color comes from anthocyanins. Those are really great. Blueberries are good for the brain, but they're great for the gut because of the antioxidant pectin combo.

Hmm.

They have a pectin content and additional soluble fiber. That helps carry waste out of the body. I believe they're great for heavy metal detoxification as well. So the person who asked earlier, what's a great breakfast? A smoothie with a whole lot of blueberries is really good. Now, my dad, who's an old-time chiropractor naturopath, told me recently that he was at a farmer's market and met a woman who was dealing with a serious issue that said, I consumed a pint of blueberries from the farmer's market from the day it opened in May Till the day it closed in November last year and my issue was gone. So I've been consuming a pint every day since. I love them, I just needed an excuse. There are always blueberries available fresh or frozen. So think blueberry when you think gut.

Blueberries are one of the highest fruit sources of resveratrol. I know most people only think that grapes are the only food with resveratrol. And resveratrol has been shown to have so many health benefits, but blueberries, that skin also contains resveratrol, antioxidants, all the things you're talking about. And on a regular basis, if I have a patient that I'm taking care of who says, Dr. Axe, what are the best fruits for digestive health? My top 2, number 1, blueberries, number 2, I mentioned figs earlier. Those are 2 of my absolute favorites. All right. So we're going to talk essential oils here. No surprise here, I don't think, but it's peppermint oil.

Peppermint oil has significant research on its ability to calm an angry gut. I think that qualifies for a great benefit. When I say angry, what do I mean? Your gut is best if not seen or heard from, if you know what I mean. Think about it, if you're always feeling something there, that's not good. Peppermint oil is soothing.

Yeah.

And relaxing for the gut. And it's great inhaled, applied topically, and consumed. I, this morning and every morning, I have a special toothpaste that we're formulating and working on, and I put peppermint oil drops right on it. I love it. I do it every single morning. Peppermint oil can benefit your digestive tract. Some people take what you'd call enteric-coated capsules, but you don't even need to. Peppermint oil is good, peppermint is good in general. Peppermint tea or herbal infusion is good, but when you think of an angry gut, think of cooling peppermint.

Absolutely. Peppermint, one of my absolute favorites. I want to give you a recipe idea here. I do a chocolate bone broth smoothie for breakfast where I do a scoop of chocolate bone broth protein and I'll add 1 to 2 drops of peppermint oil and it tastes like a Thin Mint smoothie, absolutely delicious.

Wow, we're formulating, we got baby food and now we got a new flavor.

I want to mention this with essential oils. Number one, my favorite, peppermint oil. A few others that are fantastic, fennel oil. So fennel with an F essential oil is so beneficial for the digestive tract. Ginger essential oil, also coriander oil is really great, as is just a few other favorites here. Cumin oil is another good one, but again—

Lemon is good too. A lot of people benefit from lemon oil.

Yeah, lemon especially for fat digestion is great.

And frankincense is good depending on if you're dealing with deep gut issues, frankincense, boswellia is good.

And I know in the future we're going to start seeing more about turmeric oil as well, another great one. But for starters, peppermint and ginger oil, 2 of our favorites, which brings me to our number 7 step, and this is the herb ginger. So Jordan, talk to us a little bit about the benefits of ginger for digestion.

Peppermint is a great soothing oil, but ginger is the spice of 100 uses as it relates to the gut. We're most likely to hear about ginger's benefits for nausea, particularly morning sickness. Ginger is really amazing. If you're looking for something to calm upper GI issues, a ginger infusion or a ginger tea, ginger syrups are wonderful, ginger extract. I make an herbal decoction or infusion every day and ginger is one of the key 4 spices in there.

Oh yeah.

Ginger and turmeric are cousins. And we happen to love that family. Ginger is really great. You can consume ginger in so many different foods, just grate it or buy grated ginger, include it in your diet. People that do around the world are much healthier for it.

Yeah, absolutely. One of the things, Jordan, I know you and I love bone broth recipes. I love grating some ginger in my chicken broth.

Absolutely.

So when I'm doing a chicken ginger soup, so I remember when I was a kid, Jordan, my mom would always give me she would give me ginger ale and canned chicken soup, which I always joke around with her. I say, you kept me sick like 2 weeks longer versus— and the reason is the sodium, the MSG, the noodles and stuff in the chicken soup, the ginger ale was full of sugar. But my great-grandmother actually did ginger tea and chicken broth when they were sick.

Yes.

And so again, if you are struggling with any type of general health issue or you need natural immune support, Bone broth and ginger are, of course, the way to go.

Yes, we need to be careful about talking about our mothers because on one of the previous shows, Josh mentioned that his mom got one of our great new products and I mentioned mine didn't and my mom texted me and says, I'm waiting for my product. So good. Hi, Mom.

All right.

No ginger ale for me.

We're going to jump into a few other things here. Actually, I want to mention this. So ginger, again, a great superfood to add in foods. Turmeric is great. Licorice root extract for upper GI is fantastic as well. Now, this is something, Jordan, step number 8, and I think this is important. A lot of people overlook certain aspects when it comes to their digestive health. A rebounder. Now, my mom really needed support for her lymphatic system. And so 10 minutes twice a day, she got on a mini trampoline and just jumped up and down. She was tired all the time. She struggled with fatigue issues. But this is something that she could do every day and it made a big impact on her digestive health.

I was going to tell you, I didn't really mean to send— I sent the wrong list. This was sort of what was important for our basketball team. But anyway, Josh is exactly right. A mini trampoline helps to move the lymph, but it also helps to move the gut.

Yeah.

If you really want to get your bowels moving, try this. We talked about lemon water yesterday, we talked about green juice. I told you I do bone broth and green juice every morning. Drink 16 ounces of a healthy fluid, about 10 or 20 minutes later, jump on a mini trampoline, jog on one for 20 minutes, you'll get some things moving. And these don't have to be really expensive. It doesn't have to be called a rebounder. Just go to your local sports equipment store and get a mini trampoline for $40, and it's a very gentle form of exercise and it really gets things moving.

Yeah, absolutely. And I want you to know too, I mean, my mom's in her mid-60s. And she can still do this. I think sometimes people are concerned that we're not asking you to do double backflips on a trampoline. We're just saying you just get on there and you don't— your feet, you don't have to have liftoff. It's just simply up and down or moving your legs like this, but just that action is great for peristalsis. It's great for supporting the digestive system. So rebounders are fantastic. Let's talk about step number 9, Core 4. Jordan, what are we doing?

Core 4 for your core, and I'm going to go in order of importance now. We had 2 folks that— 2 ladies who guessed the core 4, but it was the last 2 because it's obvious, that's what people think about. Great job. But number 1, hydration. You could say water, but it's hydration. A dehydrated gut is a gut that doesn't move. Think about the fecal matter that's sticking there and staying there, it's dehydrated, it sucks in water.

Mm-hmm.

And a dehydrated gut is a constipated, slow-moving gut. So consume more fluids, water, juices, bone broth, fermented beverages, and juicy foods and fruits. Today, with a lot of the packaged processed foods, even our food is dry. People may not realize this, a piece of cooked chicken has over 50% water.

Wow.

An apple may be in the 90s, but a cracker? And probably a lot of sodium, so it's dehydrating you. Absolutely. So hydration through proper fluids. Number 2, lipids or fats. Certain fats are great to move the bowel, particularly long-chain fats. People might say coconut oil. Well, not exactly. One of the main benefits of coconut oil is that it doesn't get to the gut. It's digested quicker and more easily due to the medium-chain fats. Fatty acids. Butter, short-chain fatty acids. We want long-chain. We want fats from olive, fats from avocado. We want fats from flaxseed, which is not the longest, and even fish. Fish has long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Wow.

So fats, one time someone said to me, when you think you're dehydrated, you're really Dilapidated. Dilapidated means you're fat deficient, and now we know fat is really, really good. So we've got hydration, we've got fat, and number 3, we've got fiber. There we go. It's not number 1, it's number 3. Soluble fiber is great if you've got an upset gut, and insoluble is great if you are more on the constipation side.

Got it.

Soluble is great if you're Gut is irritable, insoluble is great if it's very slow. So look for foods that have a combination of both, fruits certainly, vegetables. In fact, on tomorrow's show, we're going to talk about high enzyme foods that will transform your health. Do you know that enzymes may actually reverse the aging process? We're going to talk about how to build your enzyme bank account through food.

Wow.

Tomorrow, same time, don't miss it. And these foods will also do great. One I'm going to give you a hint on right now, my favorite fruit or really food for constipation or to move the bowels is kiwi. Fig is so close and we're going to talk about that too. But kiwi fruit has an enzyme called actinidin and it is similar to bromelain and papain, but in clinical studies, kiwi helps to move the bowel very effectively in people of all ages, especially the elderly. Yeah.

Yeah.

It can be very slow. And number 4, so we got hydration, we've got good fats, fiber, and number 4, probiotics. Probiotics are critical for your gut health. Do you know that by weight, your fecal matter, your stool is more bacteria than it is food matter? Probiotics are critical. I recommend a combination of plant-based and soil-based probiotics.

The last tip I want to mention here, and then we're going to answer just a couple of questions, is your emotional health. In fact, I was talking to a patient here recently and they said, my child is struggling with being backed up, somewhat backed up. And I said, well, tell me about what's going on in the house and some other things. And she's like, well, we've been moving and there's just been a lot of frustration in our household recently. And within Chinese medicine, frustration is referred Certain to as qi. emotions actually cause what's called liver stagnation and literally can back you up. And so impatience, frustration, and anger, if you're a person that's struggling with a lot of frustration or impatience, that can actually cause you to be backed up and cause digestive issues. And so just a practical step for taking care of that is really scheduling some things in your week, giving yourself more free time, going for a walk, reading scripture, things To where you're just getting things off your plate, but really releasing frustration and anger and getting rid of impatience. That's another important factor in really supporting overall digestive health. We got a question here from Simran. What about water kefir?

Water kefir is really, really cool. Josh mentioned the beneficial yeast and fungi. Kefir is a great example of a symbiotic relationship between bacteria, yeast, and other fungi. Water kefir can be really good. As is with apple cider vinegar, some people when they drink water kefir can be a little nauseous.

Yeah.

But it is really good. It's something that if you haven't heard of, you're making kefir with water but you're using a starter culture and you're using a food source. So it's usually some type of high sugar substance. The starter breaks down the sugar. And creates organic acids and other compounds. So if you have a taste for it and you enjoy it, it is likely good for you and it's good for your gut.

All right. Question here from Ashley, what do you think about aloe vera?

Great question. I think aloe vera can be really good. My favorite though is raw fresh aloe. Most people haven't heard of this. A lot of the aloe that you buy in the health food store has sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate which I don't particularly like as additives or preservatives. And if it looks and appears like water, it's probably mostly water. But if you can get a fresh raw aloe, which I've consumed before, some places, some juice bars make it, you want the inner leaf, the gel. And we actually use aloe vera inner gel in some formulations that we're going to talk about in future programs. But aloe vera can be very soothing if you get the right quality.

Great question here from Erin. She says, do you take probiotics even without gut trouble or gut symptoms?

Great question. Absolutely. Probiotics are needed by everyone if you breathe the air we're surrounded by, if you drink the water, if you think the thoughts and eat the food. Everyone needs probiotics. You know what we should do? I thought of a program. I wrote a chapter in The Maker's Diet. about 12 years ago that was everyone's favorite. It's called How to Get Sick, 25 Things to Do Today to Ensure Illness Tomorrow. We were thinking, what are you talking about? I have sometimes difficulty getting people to make positive changes, and so therefore, the results are not always uniform, but I guarantee I could get anyone sick. And part of that goes into the reason why we need probiotics because whether you are born via C-section, if you don't breastfeed enough—

Oh yeah.

Drink a lot of caffeinated beverages. I'm not against coffee, but that can disrupt your beneficial bacteria. If you consume antibiotics, put topical medications on, oral contraceptives.

Oh, big one.

If your mom put certain things on your skin for boo-boos, you didn't do it yourself, but you likely came into this world with a compromised gut. Even the birth canal that we're born in, if the mom had yeast infections, etc., or was on medication, You need probiotics. I can think of a lot of reasons. We'll get into that in the future, but probiotics are great for everyone. I saw a study recently on probiotics and athletic performance. I saw a study today on probiotics and lung health. It's unbelievable what probiotics can do for you.

Yeah, I absolutely agree. And before we jump in, we're going to answer a few more questions. Hey guys, this is, you know, Jordan, I love this topic. It's something I believe everybody needs to know about. I think back and I wish my mom and family members and friends I had, I wish they would have known this information so they wouldn't have had to go through the suffering they went through. We're going to do a couple more questions here and then wrap up. Let's see here. What do we have questions about? Someone says probiotics are a must. Absolutely. Jordan, what do you think about kombucha?

I think kombucha can be good for many, but in my experience, I don't know if you agree, Josh. Those that are healthy do well with kombucha. The most compromised people, not necessarily. Sometimes even the carbonation that is often added can cause issues. That being said, I love kombucha with chia seed in it. We make kombucha that's absolutely amazing and we have in the past. But for people who really need help, I don't recommend kombucha right away, but it is something that has benefits.

Yeah, a question here and I'll answer it, Jordan, you can jump in. I got a question here. How do you know if you have a healthy gut or digestive system? Well, one of the best ways is looking at your stool and your regularity. If you're having 2 healthy, well-formed bowel movements or 1 to 3 daily, that typically means you're healthy. If you're having more than 3, for most people, that's not good, or if it's falling apart, if you're having what's called a loose stool, that's a big warning sign. So really, how do you know if your gut's healthy? One big warning sign is if you're having any type of irregular bowel movement, if you're only going every other day or if you miss a day, that's not normal and healthy. If you're, again, if it's not holding form well or if you have a loose stool, that's a big warning sign. And here's the other thing, Jordan, I mean, you and I both know this, your gut is related to almost every area of your body. Your skin, if you have skin issues, it's absolutely gut-related, brain issues, immune issues. So many of these things can be related to the gut.

All right. So if you're not in perfect health, you need probiotics. Now, we all have them. It's not about getting probiotics because they're a miracle. We're supplying the body through food and supplements with probiotics that were meant to be in our diet. We don't play in the dirt enough, we don't eat close to the ground. I've been telling people this for 20 years. Plus years. If you want to be clean, you got to get dirty, and we don't do it enough. They even show that people that have pets that go outside are healthier and have less allergies because probiotics help balance the immune system and the immune cells called Th cells. It's a more in-depth educational program, but probiotics really are for everyone.

Absolutely. Well, hey guys, this has been Jordan Rubin, myself, Dr. Josh Axe.