From Bloated to Balanced: Gut Health, Hormones & Feeling Like Yourself Again

Welcome friends. Welcome back to Connectedness. I'm Fernanda, your host and founder of Filled Cups and this is the space where we explore what it means to grow, connect, and to trust ourselves and to show up authentically with each other.

Today's conversation is such an important one, especially for women navigating seasons of change in their bodies and lives, and I'm definitely in that camp. I I'm joined today by my friend Sylvie Brockman, a health coach who specializes in gut health and helping women feel vibrant, energized, and at home in their bodies. Again, what I love about Sylvie's work is that she doesn't just talk about symptoms. She really looks at the whole person.

Today we are driving diving into this topic and today we are diving into a topic that doesn't always get enough attention. The role of gut health during perimenopause and menopause and how supporting our bodies during this time can actually open up the door to a more fulfilled and connected life. And Sylvie has her own powerful story of healing her gut and reclaiming her energy which led her to help other women do the same.

So, this conversation is going to be both deeply personal and really practical. Sylvie, I'm so happy that you're here. Thank you so much for joining us. I would love it if you could start with your story. What led you into this work?

-Well, thank you first of all for inviting me, Fernanda, and I'm so glad we met. I always feel we meet people for a reason and I'm so thankful we have met and for the friendship and thank you for invitation to this podcast because I feel like this is topic that it's still not discussed enough.

-So what led me to become a health coach is my own struggles with my own health and it all started a long time ago when I first moved to the US. I started eating the sad standard American diet which is the typical you know heavy processed foods and fast food and artificial colors and artificial ingredients.

Yeah.

-And, at that point, it was kind of exciting for me right seeing bright blue colors and everything looks so yummy. And then little later, right, I started kind of looking at the labels on the packaging and I was like, "Wow, what is all that? You can't even read it. You can't pronounce it." So, you know, discovering later all this was making me sick. I started feeling really miserable. Like my sleep was horrible. my energy. You know those afternoon crashes like PM it was like woof I needed coffee or something to wake me up. I was experiencing a lot of like joint pain, back pain, a lot of digestive issues. I was diagnosed with girth um migraines. My skin was acting up and I also gained like pounds which was so not me.

-So yeah, through my own personal journey really when I started looking into the foods and how we live here in the US and all the stress and sedentary lifestyle that all combined was making me sick. So I was so sick of feeling miserable. I'm like I need to do something. So started with my own research and following all the best doctors in holistic medicine. I started paying attention and reading, learning and you know I was able to really heal myself and I feel like I that's was my calling really to start helping other women, especially going through perimenopause and menopause because that's when things started to change really for everybody for all the women out there.

Right. And so some of the things you said like you were feeling miserable not that your health I'm guessing was impacting your mental well-being probably also. You said that you felt disconnected from your body at one point. What did that feel like day to day?

-It was horrible. I I started experiencing like a lot of anxiety that I've like I didn't really know what the feeling was. I felt anxious a lot. It was like a cascade of effects and I like back then I didn't know it's all connected to our gut health because that's where our hormones are made. That's where serotonin the good feel hormone is made. It's in our gut. So it felt horrible. I felt like, you know, I was too young back then to feel like that. I was like, "No, this is not okay. I want to wake up energized in the morning and be excited about my day." And that was not the case.

Wow. Yeah. You know what? I do know some of the stuff you're talking about with the how it everything is related to the gut, but I didn't realize that the gut was so instrumental in your actual energy levels too. So when you're talk, I guess let's let's take a few steps back for the audience if they let's say like let's pretend our audience doesn't know a lot about gut health like what when you say gut health, what do you actually like what are you actually talking about?

-Well, our gut health, it's not, you know, just the it's the whole digestive tract, right? But it includes all the microbiome and I'm sure you hear a lot that's a kind of topic most so many people talk about you know do I take probiotics prebiotics what do I do so that's the whole microbiome all those good and bad bugs in our microbiome and what's interesting about that as we approaching perimenopause and menopause that that is completely changing with the dropping of the estrogen levels in our body.

-Our digestion is completely changing throughout those years. So we have to support that right the best way we can. The gut lining that's how it's important to have a really strong gut lining because that's how we absorb the nutrients. There is this leaky gut syndrome and I always tell people if you've never heard of leaky gut it's like those junctions in your gut lining should be nice and tight but with all different environmental things toxins lot of you know processed foods sugar that gut lining gets damaged over time and the junctions are not as tight. So we have these little spaces that were not there before and that's what most people started experiencing food sensitivities. So if you heard of anybody telling you, "oh you know I can't eat gluten", "I can't eat this or that", "My body is not feeling right after I eat that". It's because they have a leaky gut. So those foods start leaking into our bloodstream and we don't feel right. Some people experience bloating, right? A lot of just indigestion. Some people have even worse things like some get headaches, some might feel nauseous. Yeah.

So that's the gut lining. And then this is all connected how our gut communicates with our brain. So you might heard of people saying you know gut is our second brain.

-Yeah. So that is true.

So those two are always talking to each other. Right.

-Right. So like can I. You said one thing just now that I kind of feel like we need to dial in a little bit. You said during perimenopause and menopause some things change in our gut whether it's the gut lining or just in general like the microbiome or the bacteria. What changes during is it like the the hormones decrease so the microbiome changes or when our estrogen keeps dropping right it starts usually around age that's kind of the number it can be higher or lower for some women but on average about it's about our estrogen levels is going to start decreasing in our body naturally right as we are approaching approaching menopause and it can be years for some women.

-So with the estrogen decreasing estrogen supports the gut lining and the healthy bacteria once we have less and less of that, digestion becomes more sensitive. Women like number one thing I hear from women around this age you know whatever and as I always say it's a lot of bloating some women. Women even think that they think like they tell me oh I feel like I'm three months pregnant I have this belly down here and I don't know how to get rid of it so a lot of women thanks to the decline of estrogen start experiencing sensitivities to certain foods a lot of bloating inflammation fatigue like the that you know the energy drops down.

Yeah and the mood because again so many of our well majority of our hormones are made in our gut.

- Yeah.

Okay. So it impacts and it is everything you're saying sounds very familiar for not just myself but other people I know like for even like random people I I talked to at Zumba class. they're talking to me about the the symptoms you just described, you know. So okay. So now I kind of get it. It's the the estrogen dropping and making it kind of causing some upheaval in our guts.

So if we can tie it back to like living our best lives like if we are somebody if the woman who is listening here is like hey I resonate with everything Sylvia is saying and I want to be back to my normal self or I want to I want to be at my best. Like what kind of things can she do?

-Well, first of all, all the women need to focus on our gut health. Yes. No matter what. So, what does that mean? Right. We need to eat real food. Yeah. Stay away from as much as possible. And I know it's hard in this society. The convenience is important.

-So, eat real food. I don't even care like really what kind, but make sure it comes from single ingredients. Cook at home the best, the most you can because eating out, you're not doing yourself any favors. They're using inflammatory oils, the cheap ingredients, which increases inflammation again. So, eating real food, make sure we drink enough water. I know we hear it a lot, but still over % of women and in the like population in general walk around dehydrated every single day.

Okay, just well keep talking Sylvia. I'm gonna put myself on mute and you just reminded me you're going to finish the bottle by the time we are done with this conversation.

-So yes, stay away from processed food. Eat real food. Number one thing most women don't get enough in their diets, it's enough protein. There is a misconnection disconnect between again thanks to dropping drop of estrogen. Our body, our brain is telling us like oh I need simple sugars, I need starches, I need carbs, I need sugar. Have you ever experienced that? Like I need something sweet, right? or I need something salty. Some people experience salty cravings, right? But again, because of the estrogen dropping situation, there's a miscommunication. What our body is really asking for is more protein. So, our brain is telling us, "Oh, I need sugar. I need something quick now energy." Nope. Your body actually needs more protein. So if you do eat anything, you know, simple carbohydrates and it's, you know, I don't know, something sweet, make sure you always have protein with all your meals. And I tell people generally, you know, there are some formulations that we can recommend depending on everybody's weight. But if I would say like one number, I would say aim for about grams of protein with each meal you eat every time.

So, okay. I think and just from my own personal experience tracking calories and grams of protein lunch and dinner I think it's pretty it's achievable for a nor consider if I consider myself a normal person an average woman like it's somewhat achievable to do grams at lunch and grams at dinner but what about breakfast cuz some people skip breakfast and some or some people just have something light at breakfast. How do are you able to get grams for breakfast? Yes. How do you do that?

-So my first thing like everything I try to eat or drink throughout my day, I always make sure I add the most nutrition to it I can. So, if I'm going to be drinking coffee in the morning or of course make sure it's organic because non-organic coffee is usually filled with mold and we don't want that in our body. So, make sure it's always organic. I add lot of collagen to my protein which it's to my coffee. I I'm sorry to my coffee which it's protein right essential collagen is protein. So, that's one way to make your coffee more nutritious. I add plant-based milk that has some protein. Then I take my predigested protein, which there are pills. That's like number one thing. And it's like grams equivalent of eating it. And it has really calories. That's my go-to favorite for women especially because it helps you build the muscles without even working out and it helps with skin elasticity too. So good.

-Yes. So that's my other protein. And then I have usually my green juice with some added protein to it. So yeah, I'm usually at grams easily. And I don't count anything, don't get me wrong, you know, like I don't believe in counting carbs, calories, macros. No, this is not a way of living. No, but after a while, you just do things, it becomes a habit. And I'm big proponent of habits because if we do something like we go brush our teeth before bedtime, if we keep adding things throughout the day, okay, I do this, take my aminos, it's simple, right?

-People need simplicity in today's life. If I tell them go to the store, do this, choose this, do this, they're like, what? This is too much work. I don't have time for that. So, yeah, I love simplicity. So, yes, for people some that need more food in the morning, of course, eggs, salmon, uh, omelette, it's great. Farmer's cheese, cottage cheese. Some things are just loaded. Greek yogurt is loaded with protein, of course. So that's great way to start your day and it will help you with the blood sugar regulation throughout the day. It's going to eliminate those cravings so many people experience because if people start their day with oatmeal or donut or muffin hours later you are I'm so hungry.

Right. Right. So if you eat any of those make sure you always have protein with that. Okay. So, you gave us a bunch of good ideas of how to have more protein for breakfast and you know, it sounds like you believe in keeping things easy. You touched upon habits, which is wonderful to hear. You know, say somebody follows that protocol and I think you could probably even talk from experience too and maybe some of your clients like what shifts when a woman starts feeling better physically.

-So the number one thing they usually notice that their clothes starts fitting better. Okay. Around their waistline. Yeah. And I tell them even for people they don't they're not looking to lose you know a lot of weight for many women because number on a scale is very important right and I try to tell them don't focus on that. Focus on, you know, see, oh, my pants fit better. They're not as tight. And that's so that's number one thing most women experience. They start sleeping better, which is so crucial for our overall well-being. And when somebody tells me they sleep for five, hours a day, I'm like, that's not enough. Not enough for our body to recover because we detoxify when we sleep. So the deep sleep is extremely important.

-So the sleep when we finish our I always i'm big proposer of parasite cleanses. When we finish that and it's super simple again it's nothing to be you know afraid of the program I use but the brain lil fog lifts that's when like I can think clearly and skin improves too. So that's women love that of course because the one thing about parasites that and people ask me why do we have to do that I'm like well you are deworming your dogs right regularly so if you eat sushi you eat pork you eat raw vegetables or you live with pets you will have parasites and they're okay if we if they don't kind of you know they're just kind of coexisting with all the good bugs in gut. But if there are too many of them, there are symptoms and the brain fog is number one symptom actually and digestive issues and bloating. So the brain fog lifts, skin improves and then with all that because the parasites are actually eating your nutrition. That's how they live. So if they're eating your nutrition, your body is not getting it because the parasites already ate it. So you know people start feeling better, they digestion improves and the they seem they seem happier because now the body gets more nutrients and we start producing more hormones.

Oh. So well every all the things you just said about parasites I had no idea. No, I didn't know about any of that. So, I guess you learn a new thing every day.

-Yeah. Yeah. Most don't talk about it. And you know, I had this story. I had a client a couple years ago and she came to me. She said, "You know what? I've been to all these GI, you know, gastroenterologists. I had all the scanning done. I had all the testing done. And I don't know why, but like every morning I wake up, I have to run to the bathroom once, not once, but twice, three time. And she said, "Nobody can figure out what's wrong with me. Why, you know, I have to be like this." And she said, "Yeah, doctors, you know, diagnosed me with with with IBS, which is irritable bowel syndrome." And it's like a term when they really don't know what's wrong. Right? Kind of generic condition and it can be anything. So I said, "You know what? Just do this program for days. Do this parasite cleanse." And weeks later, she calls me crying. Honestly, she was crying on the phone. She's like, "You know what? This is the first morning in years for me. I didn't have to rush to the bathroom like I always have."

Wow. So no doctor ever suggested that she had parasites that there were just too many of them in her system.

-So I believe food is medicine and you know I believe how we feed our body. You know it's like a car. You have a nice car. You're not going to pour cheap gasoline in it because you're going to ruin it. Yeah. And we were giving one body to live. So I think it's kind of form of self respect how we feed it, what we put in it, right? That's how I look at it. that is kind of that I think you've just touched up touched upon something really deep related to self-care in relation to self-love and self respect where a some a lot of people and I I can tell you like I've had my own issues with obesity and a lot of times the habits that drive those unhealthy outcomes are related to some kind of psychological issue whether it's lack of self-worth or trauma or something like that and and it's all related, right?

So like what what the metaphor you just used about putting good quality gasoline in the car so that you don't break your car is like super powerful. Super powerful. So like if someone is listening to you now and they're feeling kind of overwhelmed and they're like, "Oh my gosh, it's a lot." Like what can they start doing today? Maybe two to three things that you think are the most important things for them to do to start kind of changing the trajectory of their situation with their gut. Like let's assume they are having all those bad symptoms you were talking about earlier.

-Like I guess they should feel they should look at how what they eat every single day. How do they start their day, right? I always tell people you want to start with one small change. You don't want to do all these changes at once because we get overwhelmed and then we give up and we are like so frustrated. So start with one small change, right? If you know you are eating ice cream every single night or doing anything that you know you should not be doing, be mindful of that. And always like, okay, I'm I want this ice cream. Why do I want this ice cream? Right? It's sometimes because we had a hard day. We want to we think we're going to feel better after we eat this, but probably not. you're going actually feel worse and you're going sleep worse if you eat ice cream at night. So, start changing those little things and say, "Okay, if I don't eat ice cream every day, maybe I can just have it twice a week, right?" Yeah. Cut back on those things that you we all know we should not be doing.

-I feel like when people once they start moving their body more again, we're going to start producing more of our happy hormones. Yeah. And you will not need those things like that ice cream or you know whatever that is that you're grabbing to feel better because yes, you are correct. It is usually connected to our emotions. It's connect. It's like something is always behind this. This is not just we sometimes it is a habit but you just have to find something else like okay I feel like I want to grab this ice cream but nope I'm going to go on go for a walk. Yeah. Or call my girlfriend right? Yeah. Go for a walk. Call your girlfriend. Take a nap or rest or Yeah.

That's all great. Great. It's almost like you're talking about some habit stacking but good habits that one kind of generates the other almost like a a snowball for good like once you start watching what you eat and moving and all of a sudden you're starting in to feel better so then you're like "oh how can I feel continue this feeling" or "feel even better", "oh I'm going to so you know veggies or something". What I want to mention like when we have our meals probably you know our meals structured properly which means you know we have a good fats we have a good carbs and we have a protein in them.

-We will not be experiencing those cravings right because we have balanced meals which will stabilize our blood blood sugar levels. And that means like we don't have cravings. Like I mean I don't think I really have cravings for anything honestly. So if you start your day with the lots of protein, if you eat your apple, you're going add maybe some walnuts with that instead of just the apple on its own, right? So we slow down the digestion. We get some of the good fats into our body which helps our brain. You know all these little habits that I typically suggest to my clients.

Yeah. So, okay, this is a good segue into my next section of questions here. Like you as a health coach, it's that's one of the services that you offer on your website like a health coaching. What does that actually look like if somebody were interested in that?

-So when somebody comes to me and says you know I feel horrible I have this that sometimes unfortunately they have to be diagnosed with something right that's like their wakeup call. Oh, I was just, you know, doctor says I'm pre-diabetic. I'm on the verge of start starting with metformin. Okay. And so I'm trying to prevent all that, right? Like prevention, prevention, prevention. So when they come to me, we go through, you know, we have, of course, I offer a minute consultation kind of discovery call. I ask lot of questions. There's a medical kind of questioner as well involved because we want to dig a little deeper, right? Like in the history, where were we, years ago, whatever. When was the last time you felt comfortable in your body? You know, you had the energy, what changed since then.

-So, we dig into that and then we come up with the plan depending on what kind of support they are looking for. if they are looking for accountability partner that's me and we usually meet weekly over Zoom or in person I even offer like a walk and talk session so if they're kind of in Charlotte area we go for walks actually we walk while we doing our session instead of sitting because we all need to move more our bodies are not meant to sit so much so so yeah and we meet weekly, we create a plan depending on the needs of the person and then you know there's always some sort of homework assigned small steps right.

-Yeah and because most people they kind of know what to do but for whatever reason they are not doing it right. Yeah. Maybe priorities they're too busy right? Oh I do it later. So I think accountability is what most people need on, you know it they say statistically it takes days to create a new habit till the new thing becomes a habit takes days. I didn't believe it and I had heard days before but I think days is probably closer to reality and and it's so fast to drop a good habit too or to go back to a bad habit right like very easy.

-Yes, we get busy. We don't plan properly. We don't plan our meals, right? We don't think about it too much because life gets in the way. And especially for women that have families and kids, we are wearing so many different hats every single day. We are like this. Our brains are like this multitasking Yeah. center of our fam for our families, right? it. It's crazy. Honestly, I don't even know how we do it. Like, there's so much going on. We are so special. We are amazing, right? We really are. We are. I mean, we don't give us give ourselves enough credit, but I feel like women, they always put themselves last. They make sure all the kids are fed, the husbands are whatever, you know, and then we are so exhausted at the end of the day that like there's no time for us. So I'm trying to teach women that it is not you are not it's okay to take care of yourself and take the time for yourself and go to go do whatever makes you happy and brings you joy. Yes. It's a go for a walk with the girlfriend. It's a gym time. It's a going on a little trip by yourself. It's okay, right? Yeah. Go salsa dancing. Go dancing. Right. Go dancing. Yes.

No, you're you're preaching to the choir. I I think you're right on like taking care of yourself should be a priority and it's totally okay for us to prioritize that. And it would actually be a vicious cycle for good. Like if you if you take care of yourself, all of the other areas of your life will improve. Your relationship. Yes, everything. So, yeah, definitely very important. So, Sylvia, I think we're getting close to the end of the episode. Are there things coming up for you that you'd like the the the listeners to know about? Cuz I I am going to publish this pretty quickly tomorrow.

-Yes. So, you know, I always we have our nutritional group resets. They are starting every Monday. And that's like a it's the program I use, you know, it's organic raw nutrition that's super simple. Even for people they don't need accountability, but they're just looking for better sleep, better digestion. This is amazing. I've been using it this program for over eight years myself, and I will never stop. That's what kept me going in my last, you know, difficult few years of my life and I'm here and I survived and I'm better than ever but ever but so that's the group reset and also in here in Indian trail we are hosting an in-person women's uh event going to be before Mother's Day on May between and that's me and three other holistic practitioners so hopefully you can join us as well.

I already registered.

-Yes, we're going to have some mini sessions, some really you're going to, you know, experience that from all the practitioners. I'm going to have some superfood samples. It's going to be just really neat event to just celebrate us as women and the self-care again goes to Yeah, we have to love ourselves.

That's beautiful. I'm excited for your event. I'll put the thing in the show notes for the listeners who are local in Charlotte to find out about it.

Sylvie, thank you so much for the conversation. I love how you've brought such a holistic and compassionate perspective to something that so many women are experiencing but don't always feel supported through.

-Yes.

Everyone listening, I hope this episode reminded you that your body isn't working against you. It's communicating with you. And even small intentional changes can create a ripple effect in how you feel, how you show up, how you experience life.

If you've enjoyed this episode, please feel free to share it with a friend or someone who who needs to hear it and, as always, thank you for being part of the connectedness community. Please like and subscribe and I hope to see you in the next episode.