The importance of stool analysis for your health

Gratitude to nature, trust in my body's wisdom, and a heartfelt request to inspire and empower. Aloha and welcome healers of all ages to Energetic Health Institute Radio, a show perfect for people who are ready to stop being a patient and start being a student. A show perfect for healers and aspiring healers, and a show perfect for beings of light who are interested in love, logic, and light. So if you're ready to learn about the safest and most effective, most wonderful medicine in the world, then this is the show for you. And hey, thanks for showing up and taking the time to tune in.

I know life gets busy, and the fact that you're investing in your health and well-being is a beautiful and powerful thing. I'm your host and friend on this journey to being well, Addie Hartkin. And today we're going to talk a little bit about poop. And I know this is not a topic that most people really want to talk about. I know it can be a little bit uncomfortable and icky feeling sometimes, especially if you're not used to it.

But in my practice, I talk about poop all day long, pretty much. To so many different clients, because it's such an important tool to understand what is happening inside your gut microbiome. There are not a lot of ways for us to tell exactly what's happening in there without testing and doing a stool analysis, which is going to look at the poop and see what types of microbes and different things are living inside there. But then also gives us a lot of clues in terms of other areas of gut health, such as your gut function and your gut immune system, and how you are able to detoxify from different hormones and things like that. So I want to explain a little bit more about stool testing, what it is, how to understand your results and what to do about them.

And we're going to cover a lot of information in this hour today, but hopefully you will come out the other side feeling more prepared to get a stool analysis done and be able to navigate those results. It is definitely something I recommend finding a practitioner who specializes in stool testing to help you understand all of it, because it is a complex topic. But this will hopefully be a very empowering show for you today in order to help you feel more confident in understanding those results. So, before we dive in, just remember to tell all your freedom friends that they can also join us. live on America Out Loud Talk radio network and via the recorded podcast at americaoutloud.com and on the iHeartRadio, Spotify and Pandora networks.

Just download the America Out Loud phone app for Apple, Android or Alexa and listen in wherever you may be. So remember that stool testing is the way that we understand about our gut health. And that's so important because your gut health is linked to so many different areas of your body in terms of health. So there is a gut brain connection. There's even a gut lung connection, and your digestive tract is very closely linked with your nervous system.

You know, you'll notice. that's why you get butterflies in your stomach when you are nervous. There's also a very close connection to your immune system. A huge percentage of your immune system actually lives in your gut. And so if your gut health is impacted, then your overall immunity is also impacted.

And we're seeing this a lot. I see a lot of people who are impacted by either the COVID jab or by actually having COVID that they have impacted gut health as well. And so it's so, so important to take care of your gut, because it can affect so many different areas of your body, even your hormones, your thyroid, your neurological health, neuroinflammation. A lot of that is very intricately linked to your gut health. There's just so much there that affects every other area of your body, pretty much.

And understanding what specifically is imbalanced in your gut will help you to get to the root of the problem more quickly so that you can really address exactly what is going on. Sometimes doing cleanses can be really, really helpful. Doing a digestive cleanse like a GI cleanse, or do a just overall cleanse for your liver or something like that can be really helpful. But sometimes there are certain imbalances in our gut that need a specific attention. And getting a stool analysis, a comprehensive stool analysis, is a way to figure out exactly what that is, what that imbalance is, so you can know exactly what you need to do to approach it in an effective manner.

So stool testing is something that is not very popular yet, but I think it is something that really is a very important tool. And one of the first things that I usually check with my own clients, because it does affect so many different areas, it's such a root cause of so many other different things. And so that's definitely something I would recommend that you check out and explore. And the thing that stool analysis can tell us, which is really kind of amazing, is it can tell us about bacterial pathogens, parasitic pathogens. It can even tell us about viral pathogens, but those don't live in your gut very much.

So I don't usually find that that shows up often. But if it's like on its way out, it will show up. But it also can tell us all about the beneficial bacteria levels. Are there enough? Are they imbalanced in different ways?

It can also tell us about any sort of dysbiosis. Dysbiosis just means like an imbalance or an overgrowth of bacteria. And so it can tell us about, you know, if there's any opportunistic bacteria overgrowing that normally just lives with us. So there's various different types of bacteria. So there's bacterial pathogens like C.

diff or E. coli or Shiga toxins. We've got. salmonella is in that category. So all of those like foodborne kind of bacterial pathogens that you hear about, maybe like affecting the food supply or things like that.

Those are. those are like ones that we don't usually coexist with. And they can be very damaging when they get into our bodies. Parasitic pathogens are things like Giardia. And that's probably the most common one that most people would know.

And then there is something called opportunistic or overgrowth bacteria that is, like I said, it kind of coexists with us. So it's in our bodies in very small amounts. That's very normal at very low levels. And it's totally fine. And it doesn't impact our health to be there.

We're talking about things like streptococcus, staphylococcus, pseudomonas, morganella. These are all just names of different types of bacteria that coexist with us. The problem is, is that when they start to have an opportunity to overgrow because maybe our immunity is impacted, or we have a lot of inflammation or we're not digesting our food properly, then they have an opportunity to overgrow, especially when beneficial bacteria gets low and and then they become overgrown, and then they cause a lot of problems when they're in these higher numbers. And so that can be really a huge problem. And it's something that I see very commonly, especially with low stomach acid or low pancreatic enzyme production, or sometimes with low bile production or blockages in the gallbladder, things like that.

It can be really common for these opportunistic bacteria to overgrow in the gut and take advantage of that opportunity. And then we need to address them at that point and get them back down to normal, very low levels. There are also different kinds of bacteria that tend to be more inflammatory and autoimmune related, and so a good stool analysis can look for those as well. Those are things like citrobacter, klebsiella. These are all like big, long names that you probably will not remember.

But as you look at a stool analysis, it will start to make more sense if you get one.

And these ones have been linked to things like rheumatoid arthritis and even, I think, MS and things like that. So there are different autoimmune related conditions that have been linked to an actual overgrowth of certain inflammatory related bacteria. And so there's so much that we can see from the bacteria in your gut, and that's just kind of touching the tip of the iceberg. There are so many types of bacteria in your gut. Of course, any stool analysis is not going to tell you every single one, but it's going to give you a snapshot of the most keystone or most important ones that exist, that have the biggest impact, that are the most researched.

And then you can kind of zoom out bird's eye view, and, you know, through your own bird's eye view lens, consider if this is the zoomed in version of just these few strains, what is the zoomed out version look like? And it's probably going to be very similar. And so addressing this zoomed in version, addressing these specific ones that show up on your stool analysis, can definitely help the overall microbiome and the health of your overall microbiome.

In addition to bacteria and the different kinds of, you know, overgrowth, parasitic pathogens, bacterial pathogens, all of that, a good stool analysis will also test for fungi or yeast overgrowth, which would be things like candida or the geotrichum. There's a bunch of different types, microsporidium, but most commonly what we would see in this section, if something does show up, is the most common one is candida. And you can get candida overgrowth in your gut and that it can be a very stubborn infection to have and can require changes in your diet and in your supplement regimen in order to help eradicate that. So that's something that we will talk a little bit more about in the next segment. But it is definitely important to know if that shows up there or not.

Now, in full transparency about candida or yeast overgrowth, it is also something that is not 100% always a perfect science on a stool analysis, because it is not something that survives well outside the digestive tract. So when there's two ways you can actually detect for candida or yeast overgrowth, and one is to culture it and then one is to do a microscopic analysis. And when you culture it, the problem is that if it does not survive well outside the digestive tract, like candida and yeast do not, then you may not be able to culture it and it might be difficult to get anything to grow on the petri dish, essentially. So that's just something. to keep in mind that even if you get a negative candida or yeast result on a fungi or yeast culture, it is still possible that you have it if you have matching symptoms.

It also is not dispersed uniformly throughout the stool. So, depending on how you collect your stool, if you collect certain areas, there might be pockets without it or with lower levels of it than others, and it can falsely lower your stool analysis results. So keep that in mind. And there are several types of tests out there, though, that do also a microscopic analysis as well and can tell you a lot more about your candida levels by looking microscopically, for even the fungi or yeast that is not alive or active, that is not going to grow on a petri dish. So that can be helpful information as well.

Again, it's not uniformly dispersed throughout your stool, so it's not a perfect science, but that is something that can be helpful to know. And then stool analysis can also test for parasites, which, again, is also not a perfect science, but it can tell you some information. Now, parasites, the only things that are going to show up are parasites that live within your digestive tract and ones that release and actually come out in your stool. If they are not releasing themselves, they can be hard to detect because they can still be in your digestive tract and not come out through the stool. And also, parasites can live in other areas of our body, sad to say, not to make you feel all creepy and crawly, but they can be in a lot of different areas of our body, including our liver, including our eyes, like everywhere pretty much that you can think of, there could be a parasite potentially.

And I'm not saying that there are, but the stool analysis cannot detect a parasite in your eye, for example. It's going to only detect what is in your digestive tract and what actually comes out in your stool. So that would be things like protozoa and worms and all of those wonderful things that we don't like to really hear about. So the last thing I want to tell you a little bit about what a GI stool analysis detects is also the digestive function. So it can look at your undigested fat in the stool, sometimes called steatocrit.

It can also look at the enzyme level in your pancreatic enzyme production. So this is like your digestive enzymes. When you take digestive enzymes, that's what you're taking it for is for your pancreatic enzyme production. That's what it helps with the most. There's also a small amount produced in the first part of your small intestine as well.

And in terms of pancreatic digestive enzymes, there is a marker on most stool analysis called elastase or elastase one. And that can tell you a little bit about that level. A lot of them also will test for occult blood, which is kind of like hidden, hidden blood that you can't see easily, or just blood in general, like red blood cells. They will also test for and your immune system. So something called SIGA or secretory IGA.

So we're going to dive into what all of these things mean. Your inflammation levels can also be tested. Your calprotectin. We're going to dive into all of this, what it means, what you can do about it, how to understand it and and more when we come back. But remember that you can listen to Energetic Health Institute radio live Monday through Friday, 1 p.m.

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m. Pacific. And I'll be here every Monday. But also check out Dr. Meg Montano's, Carmen Adams, Jolene Goring and Dr.

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So stay tuned as we chat more about the stool analysis and all the little nitty gritty details of your microbiome. And we'll be right back with more Energetic Health Institute radio just for you, right after these messages.

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So beneficial bacteria, what you will hear about most commonly is probiotics, and you will hear about lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. Those are the most common strains in the different probiotic supplements out there, and they are pretty popular. So yes, those are important, but they are not the only strains. There are many, many different beneficial strains of bacteria in your gut, and we want them to be balanced. We don't want them to be too low, for sure, but also when they are too, when they start to be like elevated or too high, it can also be a sign of inflammation in the digestive tract.

And so it can kind of go both ways. You really are looking for balance. Bifidobacterium is maybe one of the only ones where it can be pretty elevated, and that can still be a beneficial thing.

And so looking for balance in these bacteria, but also making sure that you are looking at all the different strains that are really, really important. And again, this is a very kind of zoomed in version. We're looking at just a few strains, typically on stool analysis, because it's impossible to really look at every single strain in your gut. And there also is not research about every single strain. So I'm going to talk to you today about the most researched strains, because we like to base things off of science and understand what they really mean.

On the stool analysis I use most commonly in my practice, it looks at Bacteroides fragilis, Bifidobacterium, which is the kind of broader species. And then there's specific strains within that species.

And Enterococcus, again, the species, Escherichia, which is a species, Bactropacillus species, Enterobacter species, and then a specific strain called Acromantia. And that is one that we're going to look at in more in depth as well. And then there's also F. Pruschnitzi. And so F.

Pruschnitzi is another really important one. And both of those two are ones that are not included on every single stool analysis. So I think it's important to find out what is included on the stool analysis you're going to get before you get it, because I would definitely recommend knowing what your levels of those two are. Roseburia is another one that kind of goes in a similar category as them. That's a species as well.

But the strains Acromantia and F. Pruschnitzi are the two that usually are not included on most stool analysis. And those are specific strains. And Bacteroides, or Bacteroidetes actually is something we call a bacterial phyla. So it's kind of like an even bigger category of that contains many different types of bacterial species.

And Firmicodes is another phyla. So those two are important to look at as well. It can help us understand what the overall landscape of the digestive microbiome looks like.

So if you have a test that tests for those, then it can be really helpful because it can kind of tell you, like overall your, you know, bacteria is low or high. So Bacteroidetes and Firmicodes between the two make up roughly like 90% of your microbiome and can be really helpful to see what is happening there.

So Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are very important. Yes. And that's going to be very common in probiotics, but specifically Acromantia is a newer strain that has a lot of newer research on it, but it is very well researched.

And it's something that maybe you haven't heard much about before, but it's spelled A-K-K-E-R-M-A-N-S-I-A. And it is

a type of strain that has many different benefits, but specifically for your microbiome, it is most important for the health of your mucosa. So your mucosa is the protective layer inside your intestines that kind of helps to protect from different pathogens. And your mucosa is where a lot of the short chain fatty acids live and the different beneficial bacteria. And it is a very, very important piece of gut health. And so knowing that your mucosa is strong can be a really good indicator of gut health.

But when it is compromised and not very healthy, then you make yourself more susceptible to bigger infections.

It's more likely to get leaky gut, have like damaged actual gut lining, all of those different things. So your mucosa is very, very important. And Acromantia, F-proshnitzi, and Roseburia are three different strains of beneficial bacteria that are very important to helping that mucosa to be healthy.

And so, Acromantia, not only affects your.

mucosa of your GI tract, but it also has a huge effect on your metabolism. And that's why I want to talk about it today, because it can help with so many different things. And this is one way that gut health is so interconnected with the rest of your body. It's just the health of your overall body in so many different ways. And so one of the things that Acromantia can help with is it actually helps with increase your GLP-1 production.

Now, many of you may have heard about GLP-1 production or GLP-1 agonists, which is a kind of medicine that helps to, kind of like mimics GLP-1.

. GLP-1 stands for glucagon-like peptide. And essentially, when that production is higher, it's going to help your metabolism. It's going to help the way that you metabolize carbohydrates. It's going to help with a lot of people take it.

So you may have heard of like Metformin, for example. They take it for blood sugar management and also, you know, weight related issues as well. And so Acromantia is our natural, our body's natural version of that that we just naturally contain. that helps with that GLP-1 production. And the benefits of that are many.

And Acromantia has been even shown to help strengthen the gut lining and reduce the gut permeability, but also to help actually lower glucose and improve metabolism. It more effectively, it helps to more effectively convert food into energy more efficiently. It helps to sustain those energy levels. And there's a lot of in vitro studies that have been done on it that have been really actually very interesting to read and just overall, improving your metabolism. So when you think of Acromantia, you think about metabolism, blood sugar management and then the integrity of your digestive tract, the lining and helping to prevent that leaky gut.

So if your Acromantia levels are low, then it can really impair all of those different things and have a major effect on it. And Acromantia is also really important because what it does is it basically like feeds off of the mucosa in your digestive tract, which almost sounds like it would be a bad thing. But what it does is it actually stimulates the production of more mucosa. So it helps your mucosal layer to stay healthy and continue to reproduce new and replenish new mucosa to help protect your digestive tract. F-Proshnitzy is very similar.

It also helps with that mucosal layer. It doesn't have as many benefits when it comes to blood sugar and metabolism, but it is nonetheless a very important strain and not tested on every stool analysis. Roseburia is similar as well, and it can be incredibly important in order to make sure that you have a healthy gut lining.

And the way in which this happens with the F-Proshnitzy and the Roseburia is primarily linked to short chain fatty acid production. So short chain fatty acids are things that help with your mucosal layer and the integrity of that. And you may have heard of some of them, but butyrate is probably the most common one, butyrate or butyric acid. Some people will take butyric acid for gut health. But butyrate is a very important short chain fatty acid that has many different anti-inflammatory processes.

It helps with, again, your mucosal lining. It's also been shown to help with, like neurological health. And F-Proshnitzy is a major producer of butyrate. It also,

the Roseburia species also helps to produce short chain fatty acids such as acetate, propionate and butyrate as well. So it can really help with energy balancing, again, homeostasis,

colonic motility even can be really helpful and reducing inflammation. So you can see how these are such important species to be able to know what your levels are. It can, they can do so many different things for your health overall. And knowing this information then can help you, because there are things you can do specifically to help increase these species. One of the things that helps a lot is prebiotics.

So prebiotics is like, found in a lot of basically like insoluble, not insoluble, soluble, rather soluble fiber, soluble fiber like inuine, and you know, maybe you've heard of acacia fiber, things like garbanzo beans, like beans in general, have a lot of this, but that's not the only way to get this fiber. You can also get it from fruits.

You can also get it from things like oatmeal, and that can really help. And for some people who have major digestive imbalances, things like beans and fruits and oatmeal can be difficult for their digestion and it can cause more gas and discomfort and bloating. And so for people like that, there are supplements on the market specifically safe for things like SIBO, and they are prebiotics that do not create that digestive discomfort. And so that's something else you can check out as well. Psyllium husk fiber is also helpful for prebiotic activity.

There are so many different ways you can get this into your body, but for some people it can be uncomfortable unless you get the right types. And this is where having a practitioner to guide you can be really helpful.

But knowing if these, the levels of these key strains are low can be important for you to know whether or not you need more prebiotics in your diet. And then also there is a company now that specifically makes acromantia as a supplement, and it is the only one, I believe, that has been able to successfully put that into a supplement form, because it is difficult to survive outside the digestive tract, but you can specifically get that as in a supplement form as well. So there's lots of different things you can do to correct these issues when you do find these imbalances.

And there's also a lot of things that you can do just with your diet. overall. I mean, just eating a whole foods. diet can help so many things and it can help clear up so many imbalances in the digestive tract when you do it longterm and you avoid things like pesticides, and you really focus on clean and nutrient dense nutrition. So those are definitely things that you can do as well.

In addition, making sure that you are managing your stress levels. that can compromise your digestion and your mucosal layers and your short chain, fatty acid production and all of those things. So that's another really important piece that I talk about a lot. And, and then also, you can take probiotics as well that can help with the other levels. But again, you want to know what your levels are, because if you're just supplementing with lactobacillus and bifidobacterium, for example, you can actually, those levels can get too high and you can just be imbalanced.

So, balancing your microbiome, if you're just supplementing with like one or two strains constantly and you're not getting a good broad spectrum and you're not eating enough prebiotics that help to actually create a desirable environment for your probiotics. So that's really important. But we're going to talk about this and more. We're going to talk about some more, about the actual overgrowth bacteria, the ones that you don't want, the bad guys, so to speak, and a little bit about Candida when we come back from the break.

And we will also talk about what you can do about them. Always focusing more on solutions. We want to definitely help you feel armed with what it is that you can actually do to address these imbalances once you find them. And again, you know, working with a practitioner can be really helpful for this. A lot of holistic and functional practitioners tend to use stool analysis in their practices to really help uncover, you know, what's at the root cause of the symptoms that you're experiencing.

So that can be really, really helpful. But this hopefully will give you lots of information in terms of just like where to start and how to even further understand your results when you're starting, and you do get them from whoever it is that you are working with. So we will talk about that and more when we come back from this next break. So stay tuned and we'll be right back with more Energetic Health Institute radio right after these messages.

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And I would say, second up to that would be the actual function of your digestive tract. And the reason that that is so important is because a lot of times, when your function is impaired, that opens you up to susceptibility to these different kinds of types of infections. So both of those things are really, really important root causes of why your health may not be doing so well. And, um, when you look at a stool analysis, there is going to be, like I said, section about pathogens and opportunistic overgrowth and all of those different things. And, um, again, like parasites, if you find that you have any parasites or parasitic activity, then that's definitely going to be really helpful to know.

So you can try to eradicate those things and get them out of there. Um, but then also with the opportunistic bacterial overgrowth, that, that is also really helpful information, because a lot of times when you see that increase, then you know, there is some sort of issue with digestive function. Now, most stool analysis tests do not specifically test for stomach acid production. There's not really like a marker you can look at for that. Like you can with pancreatic enzyme production or, um, trying to figure out if your bile is functioning properly.

because, um, you look at the undigested fat in your stool. So there's not really a marker like that for stomach acid production, but, um, a lot of times you will see more inflammation. You will see more infections. Uh, you, if you use a stool analysis that tests for H pylori, which I've talked about on previous shows, um, then that can also be a clue that your stomach acid might be inhibited, because H pylori specifically inhibits stomach acid production. Um, and you can also, uh, look at if there are a lot of opportunistic overgrowth bacteria, such as staphylococcus, streptococcus, morganella, klebsiella.

Um, and so all of those can be, um, a sign of inhibited digestive function. And if your digestive function is inhibited, we are talking about specifically stomach acid production, pancreatic enzyme production, and bile production. So, um, if you look at a stool analysis and you see that your pancreatic enzymes are doing fine and there's no undigested fat in your stool, then, um, but you do have the opportunistic bacterial overgrowth, then you can kind of, by process of elimination, assume that there probably is some sort of issue going on with your stomach acid production. So those are some things to keep in mind that will give you kind of, you know, clues to the overall picture. And what is the root, root cause of all of your symptoms?

So your symptoms may be being caused by bacterial overgrowth or imbalances in your microbiome or some sort of infection, but what is the root cause of that happening? Because that doesn't just happen, um, in a normal health, healthy, functioning body with a healthy immune system and healthy digestive function. So you have to figure out what is the root cause of that and then address that, which usually goes back to digestive function, stomach acid enzymes and bile. Okay. So when we look at these things, if we do see them show up, what do we do about it?

So, number one, we make sure digestive function is supported. So we make sure that our stomach acid production is able to produce stomach acid, which means we want to make sure we're eating a nutrient rich diet. We have all the minerals that we need. You need a lot of minerals to produce stomach acid, especially zinc and magnesium and, um, and then, and chloride, your different, uh, electrolytes as well. So, uh, sodium, potassium, all of that, because you need to make sure that your electron pumps are working.

You want to make sure that you have healthy mitochondria to produce the energy needed in order to do these processes. Um, and so, you know, again, a nutrient rich diet, um, additional, uh, methylated forms of B vitamins, um, can be really helpful. And, um, and then you also want to look at your stress, because I've talked about this before that your stress can inhibit your stomach acid production. It can inhibit your overall digestive function. So making sure that you are doing a lot of work to keep your nervous system in a safe place, where it feels safe and calm and relaxed and ready to digest, um, can be really, really important.

And the easiest way to do this is with your breath and just using your breath in moments, um, throughout the day. And especially in moments of stress, to bring yourself back down to a regulated parasympathetic nervous system. Some people do yoga to help with this. Some people meditate to help with it. Some people journal, some people have a gratitude practice.

You can do lots of different things. You can do various mindfulness techniques. Um, there's so many different tools out there and ways that you can regulate your nervous system. But if you are feeling overwhelmed already, and don't feel like you have the capacity to research all of those things, then the best advice I can give you is just to breathe deeply and slowly, allowing your abdomen to expand and contract before your lungs. And, um, you know, do so until you start to feel some salivation, which is a sign that you're switching into parasympathetic mode when you have an increase in your salivation.

So that can be really, really helpful for your digestive function. Secondly, after we address digestive function, when we have some sort of overgrowth in our GI tract, then we also want to eradicate it. And with this, you want to eradicate with herbs. Typically, um, I would recommend that over antibiotics, because antibiotics can sometimes increase the issue, um, and, uh, make even more imbalances in your digestive tract. But that decision, of course, is a very personal one and completely up to you, how you want to approach things.

But that's my own personal recommendation. Um, when we look at, um, addressing things with herbs, then we want to typically do either a very broad spectrum herbal formula, uh, in order to cover all the bases of what that specific, um, bacteria or fungi or, or yeast or parasite might be sensitive to, um, and so a broad spectrum herbal formula can be really helpful for that, um, and take it in relatively higher doses. You also want to make sure that you're taking it between meals. So on an empty stomach, so it has a chance to directly get in contact with whatever it is in your gut that is, um, causing the issue. So it can be effective and it's not diluted with food, um, when it's trying to, um, actually eradicate that particular thing in your GI tract.

So you want to take it on an empty stomach. I recommend a minimum of, um, 30 minutes prior to a meal or two hours after a meal, um, would be ideal. And it's even more ideal for it to just be an, at least an hour away, um, on both sides. But with busy schedules, sometimes we have to do the best that we can. at least 30 minutes prior to your meal is best.

Um, and in combination with that, you also want to take a biofilm disruptor. A biofilm disruptor disrupts the biofilms. Biofilms are things like, um, they're, they are like films, like, kind of almost like a sticky layer that grows over, um, the bacteria or parasites, whatever it is. Most pathogens create these biofilms and they kind of hide under them, um, in order to, um, be protected from things like the herbs that you're going to put in your body to try to kill them. And they also create, like these little communities underneath the biofilms, uh, with other pathogens, where there is actually, they've, they've found that there's a communication network that happens to help each other survive, so to speak.

So it's like this beneficial community underneath these biofilms. So we want to disrupt those biofilms and break them open so that we can actually get to the pathogens that we're trying to eradicate, um, with the herbs. And so you always want to take a biofilm disruptor with the herbs, but you want to go slow, because if you have a lot under there that has not been uncovered before, you don't want to break it all open at one time. So you want to start at a lower dose and gradually increase, um, with biofilm disruptors. And again, this is where working with a practitioner can be really, really helpful, because they can guide you through this process in a way that is safe.

And, um, there's so much information I cannot give you about this in just one hour on a radio show. So, um, it's very individual as well for people. So you, you have to listen to your body, listen to your symptoms and know how to go. And then, anytime you're eradicating anything, you also want to, um, include a binder at some point, at least once during that day, but you want your binder to be completely away from everything. So you don't want it to be anywhere near your food, medication, supplements, um, anything like that, just water alone.

And you typically want it at least an hour and a half to two hours away, on both sides, before and after any sort of food medication, anything like that.

Um, binders, you can use bentonite clay. Um, if you listen to Dr. Ely or have gone to the Energetic Health Institute, you will, um, know about the bentonite clay shakes that he recommends. That's a wonderful option. There's lots of different types of binders out there.

Cellcore has, um, a type of binder. Um, there are, there's so many different companies that you can, can choose from. Uh, Global Healing, I believe, has a wonderful binder as well. So there's, there are so many different kinds of things you can choose from to get to the same end result. And it really just depends on what works best for you and your body.

Um, but you want to make sure that anytime you're eradicating something, you have eradicating herbs, you have biofilm disruptors, and you have a binder of some type. Um, so keep all of that in mind. Some stool analysis will tell you, um, when it finds something that is really in a dysbiotic range, um, in terms of like a bacterial overgrowth or candida or something like that, it'll, it'll test them for sensitivity and tell you exactly which herbs are it sensitive to. Um, so that can be really helpful information. But if you don't have the information, you can just use a broad spectrum herbal formula, um, meant to eradicate, um, any sort of, you know, like bacterial overgrowth or parasites, and they all kind of do the same thing.

So that can be really helpful, um, to, to figure it out. And if you're not seeing a lot of improvements within a couple months, then you may want to switch up which herbal formula you're using and try a different combination of herbs. So that's, um, what you can do for, for that overgrowth there. And then for your, um, quickly, just to kind of dive into your digestive function, when we're looking at, um, undigested fat in the stool, we want to make sure number one, that we challenge it. And we eat a little bit higher fat content before we take a stool test.

This is something that most providers may not tell you. So three days leading up to it, you want to eat extra additional fat, eat some extra avocados and handfuls of nuts and things like that to, to challenge your fat absorption ability and see if anything shows up as undigested on the stool analysis. And then for, um, for elastase, which is your pancreatic digestive function, um, we ideally want to see that number at 500 or above, and that's, um, 500.. Usually it's measured in, I believe, micrograms per gram. Um, but you want to see it at 500 or above for optimal range, but most tests will tell you at least 200..

And when you are below 200, that is the range that most doctors would typically, um, diagnose somebody with something called pancreatic exocrine insufficiency. Um, and that basically just means that you are in completely insufficient and digestive enzymes are very insufficient and digestive enzyme production. Um, again, you can't necessarily diagnose yourself at that level, but that's usually what that 200 number means. But keep in mind that optimal functioning, again, we always want to look at. like, what is what our body needs to be absolutely optimal is typically 500 and above.

Um, and the other thing to know is that when you look at the SIGA, the secretory IGA, that is a huge part of your immune system and your gut. And you want that number to be around 1250, at least, um, micrograms per gram. And, um, if it is really low, usually that is a sign that you have a chronic infection that's been going on for quite some time. And, uh, and your body is kind of depleted in a certain sense, in terms of your immune system and your gut. Um, if it is really high, that usually means more of an acute situation where your body is mounting, um, a big immune response to it.

Um, but sometimes this can be imbalanced as well due to adrenal function, which can impact your immunity. So you have to determine whether there is an active infection or if it is more based on your adrenal, um, health as well. So for that, you could also get a cortisol screening or do a full screening, um, with a, um, practitioner that knows how to, um, interpret hormone, uh, related issues. So those are the biggest things that you may want to know about a stool analysis. Um, again, I've just been able to barely touch the surface, um, but hopefully you've got some good nuggets of information and there, and, um, I really appreciate you tuning in today and, um, listening to this, even though it's an awkward topic to talk about, sometimes our poop.

Um, but as always, I will leave you with a few healing thoughts. as a believer in nature's profound healing power. I recognize the innate ability within you to heal and remember. the keys to healing are within your own grasp. Knowledge is power.

Food is medicine and nature heals all. And as you journey forward, may you be guided by love, empowered by hope, and inspired by your own resilience. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm Addie Hartkin, and you can learn more about my services at thebeingwell.com or find me on social media at Addie Hartkin. Make sure to tune in every Monday through Friday at 1 p.m.

Eastern, 10 a.

m. Pacific for more Energetic Health Institute radio. Until next time, be well and stay well, my friend.