Join Dr. Danielle and Aria, NTP as they delve into the surprising link between blood sugar and reflux. Discover how common remedies like antacids might be masking deeper issues, and learn practical tips to support your digestive health naturally.
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Check out this blog post where I dive deeper into relationship of blood sugar and reflux.
Transcription
Welcome to the crying my cheesecake podcast where we are in pursuit of living life abundantly not held back by our body size or symptoms Nor are we held back by our hurts habits or other obstacles in life? Learn the secrets to crush it in your health wellness relationships and spiritual life. I am Danielle and I’m Aria.
And we are your hosts and practitioners. And in this episode, we’re going to talk about blood sugar and reflux. I know that sounds really boring, but I am just directing to the point. And this is what I wanted to talk about today. Because a lot of people don’t realize that there is a connection between reflux and our blood sugar and reflux, honestly, and everything else down the line.
So if you think of reflux, we think of our stomachs, right? We think of our we think of heartburn. We think of GERD, we think of Angina, we think of, I don’t know, Tums, Mylanta, Pepto. Antacids, is that what it’s called? Yeah, antacids. Thank you. I’m just gonna name all the brand names out there. Maybe I should get, no, I don’t want any royalty or any affiliate links for that because we shouldn’t be taking any of those things.
Aria, do you want to explain? Do you want to explain what those antacids do to the body, actually?
Well, you know, I think if you’ve been listening to Danielle’s show for any amount of time now, you’ll know that most things have a root cause and they don’t just happen because, you don’t have heartburn just because you ate a piece of some tomatoes or something.
There’s a deeper meaning to that symptom. So a lot of times what the antacids do is they’re diluting or removing your stomach acid from working properly and this is what you actually need in order to not have those issues. So we don’t want to use antacids. We want to figure out why we are having the reflux to begin with and support that.
Yes, and a lot of times that some of the root causes, honestly, of reflux can be you’re not eating enough protein for your body because protein is what’s made or is what makes stomach acid. And what’s really cool in the stomach is where pathogens, bacteria, viruses, and stuff, that’s actually one of the first lines of defenses of those things.
So if you have. If you pop the Tums or you’re popping antacids of any sort and you tend to get sick easily, or if someone’s got a virus around you and you get it, it’s likely due to that depleted stomach acid that is not strong enough to kill those viruses, especially like norovirus and rotovirus.
Those things can like last forever, right? Like we feel like we’re like pooping our brains out and vomiting and all the things food poisoning happens. And it’s going to happen to some of us if we have bad food, right, like if we get it, but if you have low stomach acid or depleted stomach acid, you are actually going to have it really bad, like almost hospitalization bad where you need to have fluids.
Another reason that you probably have or could have low stomach acid is you’re not drinking enough water. Acid, acid is a fluid. We have to have enough water in the body in order to do that. Or you’re drinking too much water that could be a thing too. And too much water, we need to have a minimum of half our body weight in ounces of water.
So if you’re an international listener, whatever that is in the conversion, I literally use a conversion thing because I have tons of friends that are international and I don’t know these metrics and things like that. So I just use a conversion, whatever that looks like. I think a gallon is like three point something liters of water.
And so for my body weight you, you would drink no more than a gallon of water, no matter what your body weight is. But I had a gal she’s 19, 18, 19, 19, and she was doing that 75 hard Aria. And she was drinking a gallon of water a day. Girlfriend was only a hundred and thirty ish pounds. And she wondered why she was having reflux.
Hmm. She was like draining, like washing everything out. Washing everything out of her. And then she was constipated. And I’m like, so that’s where we’re going to go with this. It’s like blood sugar and reflux. So. Again, I’m going to, I’m going to talk about this and I will probably talk about this often, but our symptoms, we usually feel our symptoms bottom up.
We usually see like constipation, diarrhea, IBS, gas, bloating, that kind of stuff. We see that and we see our symptoms bottom up, even female hormone problems, right? Like our periods perimenopause, all of that. And just so you know, I will be 40 in August and my doctor is so excited that my perimenopause like, like going into perimenopause, it’s like symptomless and seamless and perfect because you know what?
You don’t have to have perimenopause symptoms other than the interruption of menses. So, like, that is the, and like what I’m going to say, like, you’re going to have a month that you don’t have ovulation, which that’s not much different than me because I do have ovulation issues as well. But that, that is not, you should not have tons of symptoms in perimenopause.
So those people that are saying, Oh, I, you know, I’m perimenopausal. Okay, cool. Cool. So am I. Technically, so am I. Anybody above 35 is technically perimenopausal. So you’re perimenopausal too, aren’t you?
Technically. I just learned that today. I guess so. But I guess though it’s similar to like your period, right?
Like you shouldn’t be having all that. Okay. That makes
sense. Yep, and you know, and the reason why, I realize we’re talking about reflux, but the reason why we actually have, and this, it still relates because everything is related in the body, but the reason why we have those symptoms of perimenopause and even menopausal symptoms of the hot flashes and stuff, which by the way, I’ve been having since I was in fifth grade because that’s when the Hashimoto’s apparently started and they threw the birth control pill on me because whatever.
But the reason why is because when we hit puberty, our adrenals go knock knock on the ovaries and they’re like, Hey, you take over these hormones and then I’ll take care of the rest of the world. And then we get so used to that for how many decades, and it’s different for every woman, right? However many decades and by the time that we are in perimenopause, we have three kids were homeschooling a husband who retired from the air force, still works for the air force and we’re running a full time business and all this stuff.
I’m just speaking for myself. We have the weight of the world on our shoulders at that point because we have the ability, our adrenals can take over. And so the adrenal fatigue is also a lie. There’s no such thing as adrenal fatigue. It’s cellular depletion is what it is. So when we hit perimenopause and our, and our ovaries are starting to knock back up on those adrenals to take back over those hormones, the adrenals are like, Oh, hold up.
I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, but I know I’m supposed to, but there’s all this stuff I’m dealing with and all the stress. I’m, I’m not sleeping. And then that’s when the insomnia starts, the cravings start all this other stuff, because the adrenals want more energy and the adrenals want more energy. And when they don’t get it, they’re That’s when you get irritable.
That’s when you get hot flashes. That’s when you stop sleeping. That’s when you have all these weird symptoms and all of that, but it’s all about cellular energy and managing our stress. So anyway, all of that to say, that’s why we get symptoms of perimenopause because we’re not taking care of our stress.
Because we’re not ready. We don’t know how to enter into that state, because we’ve been taught, at least our generation, Aria’s and my generation, we were taught, go to school, perform, be high achieving, do all the things, and don’t look like you have a problem, don’t look like you’re having a down day. You what?
Don’t ask for help, it’s weak. Yes, don’t ask for help, because that makes you look weak. You’re a girl boss. Yep. Girl. Hashtag girl boss. Wash your face. Go be a new age Christian. Oh, shoot. We just got another.
Oh, shoot. All this relates to reflex, though. And because reflux or your stomach acid or the quality of your stomach acid triggers your pancreas. So we’re going down the line, we treat, so I said that we have symptoms from bottom up, we treat top down. And we do that, and a lot of times our root cause is actually top down.
A lot of times the stomach acid, the quality of the stomach acid does not trigger the pancreas to work right. So the pancreas is in charge of three. Hey, this is on my study guide for my boards. The pancreas is in charge of three different types of things that it must excrete. Glucagon. Glucagon is the hormone that goes around to your muscles, your liver, your fatty tissues, and pulls glucose into the body.
When it needs it. So let’s just say you don’t get to go have you’re hungry and you don’t get to go have lunch right away. You still have another couple hours. Your pancreas is like, okay, cool. I’ll just go in and go around and go grab some glucose from somewhere stored in the body. Cool. No big deal.
You’re not going to get shaky. You’re fine, especially if you’re like most Westerners. You got plenty of meat on the bones. You don’t need to worry about getting super low blood sugar. Okay, so that’s glucagon. Insulin is the second thing that is pulled from or is excreted from the pancreas. Insulin is like the Swiffer.
Insulin goes out and it picks up all the blood sugar that you’ve eaten or made or whatever. And then it goes and puts it in your muscles, your liver. It creates fat if you have way too much and don’t have a place to store. And then where’s the fourth place it goes? Oh, adrenals. It’ll put it in the adrenals.
And so then if, again, if there’s no place left in those organs or those tissue, those things, it will create fat tissues to store it. Okay. No big deal. It’s called survival. And then the third thing is the amylase. And the amylase is a a digestive enzyme to help the process moving forward with, you know, with getting bile from the liver.
So that, if you don’t have enough stomach acid, you’re already having issues with your blood sugar. Blood sugar then controls those hormones we were just talking about with perimenopause in your period. Blood sugar and stomach acid controls your digestion, controls your gut health, controls all of, all, all sorts of things.
Your mental health. You ever wonder why women get more anxious or think that they have ADD in their 30s and they were never diagnosed? It’s probably their blood sugar. What do you think, Aria?
I would agree. And I think, you know, that’s so funny that you say that because I feel like that’s such a common thing nowadays for people to self diagnose.
Like, I feel like when you go on TikTok or Instagram, that’s all you see is like symptoms of ADHD. Yep. Yeah. I just made the connection, the 30 year thing, but yeah, no, it’s crazy. It’s like, you know. Everything in your body is connected. So if one thing’s off and other thing’s going to be off and it creates this chain.
So if you don’t have that one thing supported, then the others are not going to be supported. It’s not because you need reflux medication or something else. It’s because you need to make sure you’re eating enough protein. You need to make sure that you are not eating, you know, Cookies and candies and cakes all by themselves in isolation, which is gonna hit your blood sugar harder.
So you gotta, you gotta support the adrenals, number one, because like Danielle said, that’s gonna keep you stressed out and we’re already prone to stress as well. Yes, yes we are.
So let’s talk about the side effects of And I’m literally just talking this episode off the top of my head, by the way there’s no rhyme, like there is a reason for this episode because I want to like one of the one of the most prescribed over the counter medicines or purchased over the counter medicines has to do with constipation or your bowels, right?
Either IBS or IBD and reflux and reflux is so common now, That people think it’s normal. I remember when I was pregnant with my with my kids, I had such bad reflux. And it was because I was over 300 pounds with two of them. And of course all that extra, you know, I wasn’t eating great, all the things.
But the I would joke about wanting a Tums candy necklace. Because I’m like, I was and I was I had my favorite smoothies Tom’s that I wanted all of that, but I keep seeing people coming to me haven’t been having been on pylo sec and what’s a a puzzle. All me, so. It was like the purple box, whatever that is, I think.
Anyway,
I know exactly what you’re talking
about, but I can’t pronounce it. Okay, so the side effects of long term use of this, and you can find this on drugs. com, you can find this, you just Google long term side effects of antacids. It is mineral depletion. It is bone pain. It is losing cartilage. It is digestive issues.
Like, you know, when you go to the bathroom type issues, it can be urinary issues, blood pressure, because when we think of minerals, I always think of blood pressure. If your minerals are imbalanced, your blood pressure is going to be wonky as well. I think it’s inflammation, cholesterol levels rise. And while you, like, I want you to think of.
Anything that you suppress is going to show and rear its ugly head elsewhere, kind of like it’s, it’s really just a band aid and you can’t, you know, like that, what is that infomercial with the black tape that that guy put, like, he goes, wham, he slaps it on the water and it like, stops.
Oh, I know what you’re talking, like, is it something that could fix his holes or something?
Yes, yes.
There’s no I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know the name. I don’t either. But you know, like, that image is not I’m going to delete it somewhere else. Yes, you cannot do that with your human body. Your human body was innately created by the creator. The one who literally breathed Creation into existence?
Do you think that we can slap a band aid on it and outsmart him? I don’t think so. And I almost feel convicted myself. Anytime I want a band aid, anytime I want this weight to just fall off of my body, I’m convicted because I’m like, oh, wait a minute. If I put a band aid on that, it’s going to cause problems elsewhere.
Like this semi glutide and all of those. Oh, Zempic. Mm hmm. Oh, Zempic, all of that. It’s, it’s a band aid and look at what’s happening to these people. Did you see the blindness is now a side effect? I
didn’t see that. I mean, I heard about all the gastrointestinal stuff and then that was already enough for me.
Like, yeah, sure, you’ll be skinny, but you’re going to be pooping your pants.
Right. But I don’t think that people care. I think people want
to feel skinny. It’s like, they’re so chasing that, you know, outward thing. And
But it’s destroying your insides, like literally. Yep, and that’s honestly why I quit nutrition coaching, not nutritional therapy, but that’s why I quit nutrition coaching.
Because everyone came to me to lose weight and I’m like, but this is a surface level issue. Weight is a surface level issue. Just like needing to suppress the stomach acid or having reflux, that’s another surface level issue. And like, I just keep thinking of how many, like, this is another piece of vulnerability here, but I just think of how many people I just serviced.
While nutrition coaching with macros and only teaching the macros if it fits your macros, it should be good enough, right? You might look good. Except I didn’t I was at my leanest I had ever been and I was getting cystic acne because I was fasting all day Just so I could eat large pizzas that were like, you know, twelve thirteen hundred calories and I would eat the whole pizza myself I was only getting my macros.
It didn’t matter about the nutrients the minerals anything like I didn’t care You Me and I looked good though. Yeah.
No, that’s a struggle with it’s, it’s hard. Like there’s just so much pressure to look a certain way. As a woman, so, but, and that we get sucked into, and we forget that really matters is nourishing our bodies, and sometimes that looks different in other people, and that might be having a little extra fat on your bones if you need it, you know?
Yep. So, It’s not easy for sure, but, No. But yeah, It’s not easy.
No, so back to blood sugar, we just gave you examples of how to increase your or support your stomach acid for the reflux, which was the protein, drink plenty of water, but not too much make sure that you eat something bitter, like something bitter, if you need something, I’ll pop it in the I’ll pop it in the show notes, but like taking some bitters before you eat or drinking if you’re at the bar or you know, at a restaurant with someone you can ask for, is it remind me, is it tonic water or soda water that has no sugar in it?
I think what soda water is just like seltzer, right? So yeah, I think that one tonic, I think I know tonic is different.
Okay. Okay. So, okay. So the soda water, you can get that with a little bit of like squeeze of a lemon or an orange or whatever you want. And then ask them to put some bitter, like just a dropper of bitters in it.
And that could be your fancy fun drink. If you are trying not to drink alcohol anyway. Just a heads up though, most bitters are preserved in some form of liquor of some sort. So like maybe a rum or a corn, like a moonshine type thing. And if that’s not your jam, I will also, the one that I will prescribe or not prescribe, I’ll recommend down below in the show notes.
I don’t think it has any alcohol in it. I think it’s because, and it has a sooner expiration date. Like it doesn’t last as long if you don’t use alcohol in it. But what liver bitters do or digestive bitters do Is that it triggers on the tongue, you sprayed on the tongue or drop it on the tongue and it triggers the pancreas to start making or I’m sorry, it triggers the stomach acid to start making stomach acid ready to digest, then it that obviously then down the line says to the pancreas.
Hey, get ready. We need we’re going to need some insulin here and some amylase and then that triggers the the gallbladder if you have one or if not, then your liver to say, Hey, we need some concentrated bile. Now we’re getting ready to eat. Let’s, let’s digest this stuff. So then that helps with constipation.
That helps with diarrhea. That helps with your blood sugar, all of that kind of stuff. So I’ll pop that down in the show notes as well. for you. But those are ways, these are also ways to help balance your blood sugar and help support your hormones and help support your adrenals. And I know that adrenals are a big thing.
I already did an episode on adrenal cocktails being a scam and all they do is increase your blood sugar and you’re not actually getting those minerals into your blood system and you’re peeing them out anyway, which is fun. I mean, if you enjoy it by all means, but I don’t like that cycle. That doesn’t help anything that actually causes more stress on the adrenals.
So all of that to say simple things, And Ari, I think you almost hit on it, though. Like, we’re, like, we think that health should, or we should, excuse me, our body should look a certain way. So health must be painful. Health must be restrictive. The more restrictive, the better your results and the better you’re gonna feel.
You must be doing it right if it’s super restrictive.
Mm hmm. But just imagine what that does to your hormones and, and everything that’s, you know, inside, and then just sends you on a spiral.
Absolutely. All right, guys, all those notes. I hope that you got something from this episode and we will be back next week.
See
you then.
Thanks for listening to the cry to my cheesecake podcast. I hope it encouraged you to make the next best step for your health. Take a look at the show notes for more information or other links I mentioned in the episode. And if you got to this point, come find me on Instagram and send us a DM.
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