Episode 124: Finding Your Best Digestive Health

doTERRA: Your digestion impacts your body in so many ways. Starting with the intake and absorption of nutrients and water, the digestive process provides the building blocks the body needs to live, to function, and to stay healthy. And today, we're going to be exploring how you can support your digestive system.

Welcome back to Essential Oil Solutions with doTERRA, the podcast where you'll hear exciting, useful, and simple everyday uses for essential oils from experts in the field. If you like what you hear today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. We always appreciate hearing from you.

Today, we're excited to talk to Jennie Wiegand about supporting your digestive health every day. Jennie, thank you so much for joining us here today.

Jennie Wiegand: Thanks for having me!

doTERRA: This is a topic that is important to everyone who eats because your digestive health is directly affected by your eating. Can you tell us a little bit about why our digestive health is so important?

Jennie: Digestive health is key to so many parts of our overall health. If we think about that—the digestive tract influences not only how we process our food and get nutrition, but it also affects our immunity, our mood, and our hormone balance. In addition to cardiovascular health, which is key through the way foods are processed in our body and how our cholesterol may react, gut health stems to everything.

doTERRA: Absolutely. And with something that can affect such a large part of our body, what are some things that a lot of us are probably doing every day that might be having a negative impact on our digestive health?

Jennie: I think whether we knowingly or unknowingly make choices every day about what we put into our body, I think we also don't always think about the condition of what we put into our body. So when farmers used to farm 40 years ago, our soil was much richer. It had higher magnesium levels. It was much more nutritious. So even those of us to eat as clean and as healthy and as organic as we possibly can, we're still getting food sources that don't have as much nutrition as they have in years past.

Then add to it that we have increased levels of stress. People are having a lack of sleep. They choose to partake in things that maybe aren't as great for our body. And then we also look at the quality of the supplements that we take or don't take or the frequency or the lack thereof. All of that can negatively impact our digestion.

doTERRA: It sounds like we might have a lot working against us. What are some lifestyle changes that we can make to ensure that we're taking better care of our gut health?

Healthy Diet

Jennie: We can always address our diet, right? All of us probably can make some healthier choices with our diet. And when we don't do that or when we do do that, and we still need to see some improvement, we look at the choices we make as far as our supplements and especially our gut health supplements.

Effective Supplementation

So in our house, everybody starts the day with a probiotic in order to get that good bacteria in our gut, to set us up as much as possible for success. Then we make sure we're taking LLV or kids a2z vitamins. And then we also rely heavily on TerraZyme.

If you think about the food we do eat, it doesn't always move through our gut as easily as possible, even if it's healthy, clean stuff. The digestive enzymes really help break that stuff down, allow our body to get the nutrition it can from the food we take in, and then also helps us get rid of what we don't need to have.

Drinking Enough Water and Cutting Down on Sugar

We work on supplements especially, and then we begin to look at are we having enough water? Are we minimizing the amount of sugar that's in our diet? That's super important because that sugar feeds the bad bacteria and gets our digestion completely off.

High-Quality Sleep and Minimizing Stress

And then we try and get the best amount of sleep and high-quality sleep we can get. That's so important for us. And we work at minimizing stress.

Moving Your Body

And then what I think is super key, and what I think a lot of people don't relate to their digestion, but is so important is getting moving. I don’t mean you have to run a marathon every day. But I tell people all the time, “Walk ten minutes in the morning. Walk ten minutes at night.” You're still getting your body moving, and that helps your gut to get moving, which helps you have a healthy digestive system.

Eating Gut-Friendly Foods

And then the last thing I try and work on especially is working on some restorative stuff for my gut. When I know I haven't been making as healthy of choices I can when it comes to eating or I've been under a more than usual amount of stress, maybe haven't slept as well. And then especially at the beginning of our seasonal time period, we work on things like taking in some bone broth, working on some fermented foods, maybe upping our yogurt intake, all those things that help us give us some properties for our gut.

doTERRA: And those all sounds so amazing, and they're fairly simple changes that you can incorporate into your lifestyle. The next thing I want to know about is how do we work essential oils into that? And what are some of your favorite essential oils to use to support your digestive system?

DigestZen^®

Jennie: Such a great question and near and dear to my heart, because digestive health is actually what started me on my oil journey. I had suffered from some pretty long-term stomach issues. I started my oil journey with DigestZen, and it's still in my daily arsenal. It's actually the first oil that gets used in my house every day.

Fennel, Frankincense, and Zendocrine^®

I use DigestZen, and I use Fennel seed, and Frankincense, and Zendocrine. And those are sort of my—I call them my GI cocktail. They're what I take faithfully every day to start the day. And I actually end the day with that as well, because I know those oils are going to help with the pH in my stomach, and they're going to help my gut to work the best that it can.

Tamer™

The other thing that we use in our house—and I will tell you, this has become my husband's go-to—is the Tamer roller. We have one stashed pretty much everywhere—in my purse, in the car, multiple places in the house. And those oils in there have such a soothing effect. It's an amazing blend for our family.

PB Assist^®+

The other things that I tell people all the time when they're beginning to look at supplements is making sure they have a high-quality probiotic. And I love that doTERRA has the dual encapsulated probiotic, because I tell people all the time, if you take just a run-of-the-mill probiotic, it gets in your stomach, and it's gone before it gets to your GI tract, which is where it really needs to be. But I love the fact that I know that when I take it in the morning, it's getting where it needs to be, and it's doing its job.

DigestZen TerraZyme^®

And then lastly, probably for me is TerraZyme. It's one of those things I know if I miss it after a meal, that I'm going to feel it. And it has made a huge difference for me personally.

doTERRA: Those are all incredible recommendations. And there's such a variety, which is amazing that people can choose the ones that are working best for them. You mentioned a couple different supplements. Are there any others that you use regularly to help support your digestive system?

doTERRA Lifelong Vitality Pack^®

Jennie: I would say for me, I'm always on LLV, and I know that if I don't have it, I can tell after a couple of days. If we've been away on vacation and somehow that hasn't gotten into the suitcase, I can tell that I'm a little more bloated or maybe just my stomach's a little off, and I'll be like, “Oh yes, I know what I've forgotten.” I would say LLV for me has been helpful.

Zendocrine Softgels and DigestZen Softgels

I at times have used the Zendocrine Softgels. I at times have used the DigestZen Softgels. It just depends on what I'm running along with for my combo of oils for the day as to whether or not I'm grabbing the softgels or doing the oils myself.

doTERRA: Well, Jennie, thank you so much for talking with us to help us understand a little bit more about digestive health and how we can help our digestive system work the best that it possibly can. We really appreciate your recommendations.

Jennie: Absolutely. Thanks for having me!

doTERRA: Thanks for joining us and congratulations on living a healthier lifestyle with essential oils. If you liked what you heard today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. Also, if you want to try any of the products you learned about, go to doterra.com or find a Wellness Advocate near you to place an order today.