Nutrition Resolution

If you've ever stood in the supplement aisle wondering which digestive enzyme to buy, keep reading.

In episode #111 of The Gut Health Dialogues, Erin explains why broad-spectrum digestive enzymes aren't automatically interchangeable with targeted enzymes, and why true pancreatic enzyme insufficiency requires a very different approach.

The full episode goes deeper into how to distinguish between enzyme deficiencies and FODMAP-related food intolerance, and where different types of enzymes fit. Click the link to tune into the full episode: https://youtu.be/jRZaVs9WmL0

Getting a list of foods from a sensitivity test can feel like you've finally found an answer, but what happens when removing those foods only helps temporarily?

In episode #111 of the Gut Health Dialogues Podcast, Erin explains why symptoms can shift from one food to another and why that pattern may suggest something beyond the individual food itself.

We also discuss the limitations of current testing and why food intolerance can be much more complicated than a simple list of foods to eliminate. Click the link to tune into the full episode of the Gut Health Dialogues Podcast: https://youtu.be/jRZaVs9WmL0

A food reaction doesn't automatically mean you have a food allergy.

In this episode, Erin explains why what people call a “food intolerance” can actually involve different processes, including enzyme deficiencies, gut microbes, gut permeability, and hypersensitivity. Click the link to tune into the full episode: https://youtu.be/jRZaVs9WmL0

That distinction becomes especially important when you're trying to understand why certain foods trigger symptoms and what to do about them.

Not all FODMAPs are broken down in the same way, which is why the specific enzymes being used matter.

In this episode, Erin Judge explains how lactase, alpha-galactosidase, and fructan hydrolase target different FODMAP groups, and why fructans can be particularly difficult to avoid in everyday foods.

She also explains where FODZYME fits into this approach and how these enzymes are intended to work with food.

Click the link to tune in to the full episode with Erin Judge on The Gut Health Dialogues: https://youtu.be/jRZaVs9WmL0

Not every pelvic floor therapist treats the same things, and that matters more than most people realize. If you book the wrong one for constipation, you can spend months and a lot of money without getting near the actual problem.

Pelvic floor physical therapist Rebecca Patton gives three specific things to ask about before you commit:

Does this therapist perform internal pelvic floor evaluations? Not every one does.
Do they treat re**al conditions specifically, meaning re**al pain, constipation, and dyssynergia?
Are they trained in visceral organ mobilization? That's separate coursework, and it's what addresses connective tissue and organ mobility after abdominal surgery.

Her advice: use the free phone consultation most practices offer and ask directly, before you book anything.

If you're ready to get evaluated but don't know how to find the right person, click the link to tune into Episode 109 of The Gut Health Dialogues Podcast for the full conversation, including the directories she recommends for finding a qualified therapist near you: https://youtu.be/ezVweXQn0p8

A lot of people avoid getting evaluated simply because nobody has explained what the exam involves. Here's the plain version.

When you have a bowel movement, some muscles contract to push while others have to relax and open at the same time. When that coordination goes wrong, the muscle that should release actually tightens instead, so you push and nothing happens. There's a clinical name for it: dyssynergia.

Pelvic floor physical therapist Rebecca Patton walks through how it's identified, including the pubore**alis, a muscle that wraps around the end of the re**um and attaches to the p***c bone.

During the evaluation, she presses on the deeper pelvic floor muscles that form a hammock and assesses what they do when you bear down. Good range of motion, or tightening.

If straining has never gotten you anywhere and you've wondered whether this applies to you, click the link to tune into Episode 109 of The Gut Health Dialogues Podcast for the full conversation, including biofeedback, balloon expulsion testing, and what treatment actually looks like: https://youtu.be/ezVweXQn0p8

**alis

If you've ever finished a bowel movement and still felt like there was more left, that sensation has a name, outlet obstruction.

It happens when the muscles at the very bottom of your abdomen, the pelvic floor, stay tense instead of relaxing and opening when you try to go.

Pelvic floor physical therapist Rebecca Patton explains why this shows up as straining, pain on pushing, and repeat fissures or hemorrhoids, and why laxatives don't fix it, because the problem isn't upstream in your gut, it's at the exit.

Most people with chronic constipation have never been assessed for this. If that's you, click the link to tune into the full conversation with Rebecca Patton on Episode 109 of the Gut Health Dialogues Podcast where she walks through what an evaluation actually involves and how to find someone qualified: https://youtu.be/ezVweXQn0p8

Most people think constipation starts and ends with the digestive tract. But what if the muscles surrounding your digestive system are part of the picture?

In this episode, pelvic floor physical therapist Rebecca Patton explains why chronic constipation isn't always about food or the microbiome, and how the way your body moves may be contributing to your symptoms.

Click the link to tune into the full episode to learn how pelvic floor health and gut health work together: https://youtu.be/ezVweXQn0p8

“Normal” on a lab report doesn’t always mean optimal in the body.

And this is especially true with methane.

Here’s what often gets missed:
👉 Lab cutoffs are set at a level meant to define clear positives
👉 But symptoms, especially constipation, can show up well below that threshold
👉 So results that fall under the cutoff can still be clinically meaningful

That’s how patterns get overlooked.
Because the report is answering: “Does this meet criteria?”

Not: “Does this explain what you’re experiencing?”

That distinction changes everything.

In Episode 102, I walk through how to interpret these patterns properly so you’re not relying on a single number to tell the whole story. Click the link, “When Your SIBO Test Is 'Negative,' But Your Symptoms Say Otherwise,” to tune into the full video: https://youtu.be/XShNCJk_Jxo?si=BPT_CSbWZNFfdrUu

SIBO tests assume your digestion moves at a predictable pace.

But what if it doesn’t?

That’s where things start to get misleading.

Here’s what most people don’t consider:
👉 If movement through the gut is slower, the test solution may not reach certain areas in time
👉 That can make gas levels look low, even when something is there
👉 And the result gets labeled “normal” simply because it wasn’t fully detected

So instead of showing what’s happening, the test ends up showing an incomplete picture.

This is one of the most overlooked reasons people feel stuck after testing. Because nothing looks wrong, but nothing was fully captured either.

In Episode 102, I explain how this impacts your results and how to recognize when this might be happening. Click the link, “When Your SIBO Test Is 'Negative,' But Your Symptoms Say Otherwise,” to tune into the full video: https://youtu.be/XShNCJk_Jxo?si=BPT_CSbWZNFfdrUu